Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 96

Jack asked, "If we can't get the magic rock, how do we kill him?"

"Well, I can't suck his soul out if he's the leader. We'll have to do it the hard way."

Meaning they needed an a.r.s.enal of weapons, enough hunters to fill the cafeteria wall to wall, and a lot of luck. Silver started to walk down the hallway to her next cla.s.s. Jack followed. Before she reached the door he said, "We should call your parents and get Billy involved too."

"We don't need to involve them yet. I have a plan."

The words sent a s.h.i.+ver up his spine. He hoped she wasn't going to do anything crazy. He wanted to see the janitor dead more than anything in the world, but he didn't want Silver to die in the process. He watched her step into the cla.s.sroom, heard her apologize to the teacher. Jack turned and hurried to English cla.s.s.

After school Silver was supposed to meet Jack at his locker, but she didn't show. He gave her ten minutes before going to search for her. It was possible she'd been given detention for being tardy. Or she could have lost track of time while catching up with a friend. Maybe she was in the bathroom touching up her make-up.

A horrible thought sprang to mind, unbidden. Jack remembered the way the werewolf-janitor had looked at Silver. If he was the first werewolf created, he wasn't as dumb as the others. He could be pretending to be an idiot. In that case it would be reasonable to a.s.sume he knew exactly who Silver was and if that was true-he would want to kill her.

Jack sprinted down the hallway to the library. The doors had been locked. He peeked through the windows. No sign of her. He tried the gymnasium next with the same results. He had to think like a werewolf. If he wanted to kill a student without getting caught, where would he take her?

His eyes went down to the floor; they were in the bas.e.m.e.nt. Jack knew it for a certainty as if he could see through the linoleum. He raced to the door and through it, taking the stairs three at a time. There wasn't time to prepare and only a second to whisper a prayer. Acid boiled in his stomach, and a wave of nausea hit him hard.

He heard Silver scream before he caught his first glimpse of her. The janitor had her by the neck and was holding her high over his head. Her feet kicked the air. She scratched at the creature's hands, desperate to get free, but nothing seemed to bother it. The animal choked her while laughing like a maniac.

For a moment Jack was in the past with his parents. His worst nightmare was happening again to someone else he loved. The last time had ended with three deaths. Jack grabbed a nearby steel rod and prepared to attack the werewolf from behind, knowing he would rather die a second time than to live without Silver.

"Let her go!" he shouted.

He hit the thing across the spine as hard as he could, but it barely flinched. The janitor revolved, moving faster than he had in the cafeteria. He kept Silver dangling high in the air. His free hand swiped at Jack. The invisible claws moved so fast Jack almost didn't see them.

Using his vampire-speed he darted to the side.

The werewolf-janitor wobbled, thrown off balance by his missed swing.

Jack took advantage. Concentrating hard, he tried to use his own invisible claws, but nothing happened when he swung his hand at the janitor. He couldn't control the new power.

The werewolf's free hand grasped Jack around the neck. He lifted Jack off the ground. He and Silver kicked in a wild rhythm born of desperation. The fingers crushed Jack's windpipe. He couldn't breathe. He tried to look at Silver, but he couldn't move his head. They were going to die together.

The werewolf howled in pain. It dropped them and went to its knees. Jack looked up to see Jersey standing over them, pipe in his hands. He hit the janitor with it again, and the beast went down hard "Run!" Jersey yelled.

Jack took Silver by the hand and pulled her behind him. They ran up the stairs as fast as they could. When they made it to the hallway, they stopped running. Silver coughed. Her hand went to her throat as she gasped for air. She stumbled. Her shoulder hit the lockers with a loud bang, and her eyes filled with tears. She threw herself into Jack's arms, hugging him with a fierce possessiveness that wiped the slate clean. No matter what bad things she did or said from that moment on, all would be forgiven.

He buried his face in her throat and breathed deep.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He pulled away and cupped her face between his hands. "You almost died. I'm the one who should be sorry. I shouldn't have gotten you involved in my childhood trauma. I should have taken care of that monster myself."

She shook her head hard. "He would have killed you." Her fingers sank into his hair, and she rubbed his scalp. Still gasping for air, she said, "We need to depend on each other. No one can kill either of us if we stick together. Deal"

"Deal." He leaned his head forward, briefly touching his forehead to hers.

The door opened, and Jersey emerged unscathed. He seemed surprised to see them waiting. The two of them stepped apart, all eyes on the teacher, and Jack asked, "Did you kill it?"

A werewolf could kill another werewolf with a tiny scratch. It wouldn't have taken any effort at all for Jersey to permanently dispatch the janitor. Jack had seen it, and he'd done it.

"No, I did not kill him," Jersey said in a quiet voice.

Silver's mouth fell open. "Why not?"

"I a.s.sume you told her about me," Jersey said to Jack. He turned to Silver. "Why would I kill one of my own? There are so very few left of us in the world thanks to hunters such as yourself."

"Few? I can't turn around without tripping over a hairy beast."

"It is true our population is growing, slowly, but humans still outnumber us about a hundred-thousand to one."

Jack doubted that. He wrapped an arm around Silver, preparing to take her away from the school before something else could happen, but she pushed him back, not ready to go just yet.

"Were you the first?" she asked Jersey. "You seem awfully intelligent, far smarter than the idiot in the bas.e.m.e.nt. It's you, isn't it? That's why you won't kill him, because you're already growing an army."

Jack sighed. He couldn't believe she was still convinced of Jersey's guilt after he'd saved their lives from the werewolf-janitor. What did a guy have to do to prove his innocence?

Jersey's lips compressed, and his eyes temporarily lost the chronic amus.e.m.e.nt they usually reveled in. "You are an angry little girl, aren't you? I was like you once. You need to invite peace into your heart and learn to forgive like I have."

"Forgive what?" Her hands went to her hips.

Jack remembered Silver had killed Jersey's close friend Kenneth. Before Jersey could lose his cool, Jack grabbed her around the waist and dragged her backwards, away from Jersey until he could spin her around and take her by the hand. He forcefully pulled her from the school.

As the gla.s.s doors swung shut behind them, Jack glanced over his shoulder to see a smug smile on Jersey's face.

The expression shocked Jack, making him wonder if Silver was right.

Was Jersey Clifford the lead werewolf?

Chapter Seventeen:.

A TRIP TO JERSEY'S HOUSE "Are you sure this is it?" Silver asked in a dull, lifeless voice.

Jack parked the car in front of Jersey's house after getting the address off the secretary's rolodex at school. He bent down in his seat so he could see past Silver and stared out the pa.s.senger side window at the little house. It was almost as bad as the old Miller place with an overgrown lawn, peeling paint, and broken shutters. Several acres surrounded the tiny home, unused land covered in wild flowers and weeds.

Disappointed, Jack shrugged. He had pictured Jersey living in a huge house, expensively decorated and piled high with books. This place did not fit the man's personality, and it didn't make any sense. Hadn't Jersey lived in Bliss for over three years? That seemed long enough to put a life in order.

It was a short walk to the front door. Since they didn't have a key, they looked around for a spare one. Jack didn't think Jersey was the type of person to keep a key under the doormat, but he tried it anyway. No key. They also didn't find one above the door or in the nearby potted plant, dead from neglect.

Silver folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the house. "Now what?"

"Maybe I still have the power to..." He reached a hand out and waved it over the doork.n.o.b. His reward: the sweet sound of a soft click. The door swung inward, and he smiled at Silver.

Her jaw dropped. "How did you do that?"

"Trade secret."

They stepped over the threshold and stopped in stunned silence. The interior of Jersey's house was worse than the exterior, if that was possible. The furniture was spa.r.s.e; there was a rickety three-legged sofa, a cracked gla.s.s kitchen table, and an empty file cabinet on its side. No pictures or paintings on the dull, gray walls. There was a clock on a corner table, and a stack of newspapers by the back door. That was basically it.

"This isn't right," Jack said under his breath.

There wasn't a single book in sight. Jack took a quick tour of the entire house. It took less than a minute. The bedroom wasn't any better than the living room. The bed didn't look slept in, and the nightstand didn't have a solitary possession on it, not even a lamp. Jack opened the single drawer. Nothing. It was like n.o.body lived in the house.

"Look what I found," Silver said.

She held up a dark blue handkerchief, and Jack recognized it on sight. Jersey had been wearing it the night of the wraith attack. Jack reached out, fingered the edge. He experienced the urge to grab both the handkerchief and Silver's hand. He didn't know why. Urges didn't come with logic or reason. He simply obeyed the impulse.

Jack's fingers slid over hers, and he grasped them tight. A familiar current of electricity traveled through his body. He braced himself for a trip into Jersey's memory. Silver's soft gasp followed him to the other side.

Jersey sat behind his huge desk in his comfortable chair, flipping through a hardbound book. He looked like he'd just come from a funeral in a black suit with a blood red tie. His blonde a.s.sistant was perched on the edge of the desk. She posed like a model, pursing her painted pink lips together while he searched the pages for something.

"What's happening?" Silver asked.

Jack looked sideways, surprised to see her with him. Then he realized he was still holding her hand. Lovely's scribbled note came to mind. This was their shared power. "We're in one of Jersey's memories.".

"What do we do?"

"Watch and listen."

Pagan said, "I don't understand your weird fascination with that boy. He's friends with hunters. That makes him dangerous."

Jersey quoted, "He's sweetest friend or hardest foe, best angel or worst devil. I either hate or love him so. I can't be merely civil."

"Why can't you speak English?"

"Elizabeth Barrett Browning," he said with a smug smile. "She was brilliant."

"Whatever." Pagan blew a pink bubble.

"In answer to your question, I am drawn to him for some inexplicable reason I can't quite fathom as of yet. Until I figure it out, and I will figure it out, I am most certainly not going to terminate him."

Pagan rolled her eyes. "Then kill that werewolf hunter at least."

"You are a bloodthirsty witch, aren't you?"

"That's why you keep me around."

Silver asked, "Can we get close enough to look at the papers on his desk?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "We can try."

Jack pulled her behind him as he approached the teacher's desk. They couldn't touch anything, couldn't pick up the papers to examine them or move them around, so they bent over the desk to get a closer look.

There wasn't anything interesting, just a bunch of seemingly random numbers.

Pagan asked, "Since your plan didn't work out at the party, what are you going to try next?"

"I'm not sure." Jersey rubbed his chin. "When I ordered the wraiths to attack, I was hoping to save Jack's life and gain his trust."

Silver and Jack shared a stunned look. Jack gritted his teeth and stared down at Jersey. He wished they weren't in a memory. His body shook with rage, and the scene flickered like a television station with bad reception. He'd like to wipe the smug smile off the liar's face.

Jersey added, "I underestimated him. Since he doesn't have powers anymore I was convinced he would run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Instead, he ran into the chaos to save some silly girl."

"You should have had the wraiths kill him."

Jersey slammed his hands against his desk, his anger aroused. His eyes flashed red for half a second and a wolf's face appeared over his own. Then it was gone. His expression returned to a cool and neutral rock-like state. "He is not to be killed. Understand? And as I've told you before, the girl is nothing. She can't hurt me."

Pagan made a huffing sound. "Right. Not yet. She'll get stronger and better as she grows up."

"If she attacks me, I'll kill her. Simple enough."

Jack and Silver were sucked from the memory and thrown back into the present without warning. The front door was opening; Jersey had returned home. Jack grabbed Silver by both arms and shoved her into the nearby closet. He closed the door in her surprised face. Better to keep her safe now than to be sorry later. He could explain why he was in Jersey's house, he hoped, but there was no way to come up with a believable reason for Silver being there.

Jersey entered with a briefcase in hand. He didn't even blink an eye at the sight of Jack in his living room. Smiling, he said, "I was wondering when you would get around to visiting me."

"We need to talk."

Jersey waved him to the kitchen table before peering into his refrigerator. "I'm afraid I don't have much to offer you in the way of food or beverages. The milk has pa.s.sed the expiration date. I have stale bread, a can of tuna, and tap water." He opened a cabinet. "Ah, I also have some instant coffee."

Jack made a face as he recalled the last time he'd tried coffee. "I really need to talk to you. It's important."

"Sounds serious." Jersey sat across from him. "Tell me, what is on your mind this fine day."

"You."

"Me?"

"Remember when you told me you'd killed your wife? I need you to elaborate. Please. Also, I'd like to know how you became a werewolf in the first place... and when."

"Look at this," Jersey said. He picked up a can of peanuts. "I forgot I bought these yesterday. Can I tempt you?" He tilted the can in Jack's direction. After Jack shook his head, Jersey poured peanuts into his own hand. He ate them slowly, one at a time, an amused glint in his eyes.

Feeling impatient, Jack said, "If you aren't going to tell me anything, I'll just leave."

"I suppose it won't hurt to share the information with you."