Vampires Rule (10 page)

Silver stepped forward, ready to help, but it
was too late. A book slid off the stack and fell to the floor.
Rolling her eyes, Trina purposely let the rest of them go. The
books hit the floor with a loud boom and a few slid in opposite
directions. She opened her purse and retrieved a tube of lip gloss.
Smiling, she applied the pink tint to her lips while speaking.

“Your boyfriend is mega-intense,” Trina
announced. She compressed her lips together to equally distribute
the gloss. “I cannot believe he attacked Tucker. Even without
vampire powers he’s super-cool. You are one lucky girl.”

Silver wanted to deny the ‘boyfriend’ label,
but she decided not to waste her breath. Trina only heard what
Trina wanted to hear. Silver asked, “Can you get a ride home with
someone else? I’m waiting for Jack.”

“I’ll wait with you. I don’t mind being
late.”

“I kind of need to talk to him alone.”

Trina’s eyes widened. “You’re going to tell
him, aren’t you?”

“Part of it.”

“Which part?”

“Well, I think I’ll tell him he has to kill
the head werewolf. Maybe I’ll mention the war. I don’t think I’ll
tell him more than that right now because I don’t want him to run
for the Canadian border.”

“Aren’t you going to tell him he’s in danger?
I would think he’d want to know something like that, unless he’s a
complete moron.”

Silver shook her head. “I can’t. He’s so
happy being human. His eyes light up every time he talks about
something normal like going to school or mowing the grass. I don’t
want to be the one to sink his dreams.”

“Uh, don’t you think he’ll notice when he
starts getting bursts of strength or running faster than
lightning?” Trina stooped down to retrieve her books. “Anyway, how
can he protect himself when he doesn’t know he’s in danger?”

“I’ll protect him.” Silver bent over to help
Trina. She stacked a couple books onto the pile in Trina’s hands
and added, “I can tell if a werewolf or a vampire is nearby. I’ll
make sure nothing kills him.”

Trina made a face. “Sounds like a full-time
job to me.”

“He has a destiny to fulfill. He can’t die
before then. I think he’s safe.”

“Didn’t you tell me Lovely has been wrong
before?”

****

“Hey! I asked you a question! What’s wrong
with you?”

Silver’s loud voice broke through the memory
and transported him back to the present so fast he almost got
whiplash. One second he was inside of Silver’s head, talking to her
best friend, and the next he was in the car again. Motion sickness
made him nauseous. Silver tried to keep her eyes on the road, but
continuously tore her gaze from it to look at him.

“Well?”

Maybe if he confronted her with what he knew
she would accidentally spill some important information. He was
sure she wouldn’t hand him the truth without a fight. She seemed to
have a problem with total honesty. Was it because she didn’t trust
him?

“I have my powers back.”

“What?” Her eyes flew to his face. She lost
control of the car. They weaved into oncoming traffic. He reached
for the steering wheel, but she corrected the car before he could
do anything to help. “What did you say?”

“I’m mortal again, so why do I have
superhuman powers?”

Silver didn’t answer him for seventeen
miles.

He counted.

Jack stared at her profile. Her jaw
tightened, and she swallowed several times while her hands gripped
the steering wheel hard. She was doing her best to ignore him. It
wasn’t going to work. After ten years of living with Cowboy,
putting up with his insane ideas, Jack had developed a bountiful
amount of patience.

He cleared his throat.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

“What sort of powers are you talking about?”
Her tone emerged light and casual, but her stiff facial muscles
gave her away. She wanted the information more than she wanted her
next breath.

He wasn’t sure how much to tell her. “I
growled at my cat without meaning to.”

“I don’t think growling is considered a
power. People can growl too, you know.”

“It sounded inhuman.” He leaned closer,
intentionally making her nervous. “If you don’t give me the whole
story now, I’m going to ask your father.”

She choked. “What? What does my father have
to do with anything?”

“He has Lovely’s diary. Maybe I should read
it for myself.”

“He won’t give it to you.”

“We’ll see. I can be very persuasive.”

She jerked the steering wheel to the left in
a sharp turn that threw Jack against the passenger side door. They
weren’t headed in the direction of his house anymore. She was up to
something. He returned to his original sitting position and watched
the passing scenery. He wasn’t going to get anything out of her. No
sense in asking her more questions.

They turned onto her street and stopped in
front of her house. It was a cute two-story home with white siding
and black shutters. The garage door was open, revealing a
monster-sized truck. Silver’s father was somewhere inside that
house.

Silver killed the engine. “Time to meet the
parents.”

“Are you sure?”

“You want the truth? They’re part of it.
Besides, my mom can explain the legend better than I can. She’s
read the diary a thousand times.”

Jack stared up at the house, tried to imagine
what was waiting for him inside. After years spent avoiding the
company of hunters, it seemed crazy to him to waltz in and
introduce himself to two of them. They could stake him before
Silver explained his position.

“Relax,” she said with a cheeky grin. “I’ll
protect you.”

She exited the vehicle first and met him on
the passenger side. Smiling, she held her hand out to him. He took
it, lacing his fingers between hers. It was the first time they’d
held hands. They fit perfectly, two parts of the same puzzle. Her
hand was warm and silky, yet strong. She pulled him behind her.
They walked the cement path to her porch steps.

This was the happiest he’d ever felt—even if
he was about to get killed.

****

Silver’s parents reminded Jack of a wrestling
tag team. From the moment he crossed the threshold, they took turns
ripping him apart. Andrew Reigns had a hard mouth and cold eyes,
and Vanessa looked like an older version of Silver, but she was
every bit as intimidating as her husband. If he had to pick one of
them to be locked in a tiny room with, he wasn’t sure which one
would be the safest choice.

After entering their home, Jack was promptly
led to the formal dining room where the four of them gathered
around the large table. Cowboy had taught him to get to know his
enemies by looking at their environment. The way a person lived
revealed more details about them than their words, so he took a
moment to look around.

The house was clean but wasn’t immaculate,
not like Silver’s room. It was cozy with a lived in feeling, the
kind of place his mother would have enjoyed. Decorated in country
fashion with bare wood furniture, homemade items, and simplistic
drawings of cows on various things like the cookie jar, it
contradicted the rigid people Silver’s parents portrayed themselves
to be.

Andrew sat at the head of the table with his
wife on the other end. He waved Jack to a chair in the middle.
Silver hung in the background, an interested observer. Jack noted
how close she stayed to his chair. She’d meant it when she’d said
she would protect him from her parents.

As soon as he sat down the inquisition
began.

“Why are you hanging out with our daughter?”
Andrew demanded to know.

“Did you try to attack her before the
werewolf got you?” Vanessa asked. “Is that how you met?”

Andrew didn’t give him a chance to answer
before he shot another question at him. “What are you going to do
about your vampire friends? You can’t possibly expect us to believe
they’re going to take your defection lying down?”

Sweat formed under his arms, making him more
uncomfortable. It felt like the temperature had gone up eighty
degrees. He opened his mouth to respond to a question, but he
didn’t get a chance before another round started. Questions flew
over his head like rapid gunfire. A few barely even registered
before another dozen zipped by. It soon became clear the hunters
didn’t want answers. They were trying to prove he was dangerous,
convince Silver that he needed to die.

“And what makes you think you can go back to
school as if nothing has happened?” Vanessa gave her husband a
knowing look before tagging on another question. “How many innocent
people have you killed?”

“Why should we allow you to live?” Andrew
eyed the shotgun in the corner. “Human or not, you were killed ten
years ago. You shouldn’t be alive now. It isn’t natural.”

“Stop it!” Silver shouted. Her father glared
at her, but her mother didn’t even glance in her direction. That
didn’t keep Silver from demanding their complete attention. She
rested hands on the back of Jack’s chair and said, “You aren’t even
giving him a chance to speak.”

Andrew waved her protest away as if it was an
annoying fly. “This isn’t just some boy you’ve brought home for
dinner. He was a vampire. Do you have any idea what that means?
He’s lived a dark existence you can’t even imagine. His survival
instincts have been pruned and cultivated. He’s killed—.”

“No, he hasn’t.” Silver shook her finger in
the air, making her point. “He hasn’t killed a solitary
person.”

“Is that what he says?” Her mother flicked a
look of pure loathing at him before turning to her daughter. “All
the vampires I have met over the years have been liars and
con-artists and murderers.”

Without thinking, Jack said, “The hunters
I’ve met have been greedy and dishonest and would kill their own
mothers if the price was right.”

Andrew slammed a fist against the table,
making everyone jump. He pinned Jack with a hard stare. If he
didn’t love his daughter so much, Jack had no doubt the man would
kill him on the spot. Instead he gave Jack a warning. “You will
watch your mouth while you are in my house.”

Andrew and Vanessa exchanged a look. As if
they had spoken by telepathy, they rose from the table at the same
time and dragged their daughter into the kitchen to have a private
‘chat’ with her. Since they were shouting, Jack heard every
word.

“I can’t believe you brought a vampire into
our home,” her father yelled. “We have put up with a lot from you,
little girl, because you have such a heavy burden to carry, but
this tears it!”

Jack didn’t like the way her father was
talking to her. Furious, he forced himself into the living room.
The further he got from that man the better. Silver wouldn’t
appreciate it if he attacked her father, no matter how angry she
was at the moment.

The loud voices still reached his ears.

“He isn’t a vampire anymore,” Silver
insisted.

“You don’t know what he is!”

Vanessa jumped in with, “Even if he is the
one Lovely wrote about, he could still be dangerous. She wrote
about the boy developing strange new powers, but she didn’t go into
detail. We have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Your mother’s right.” Andrew had lowered his
voice, but Jack heard every word. “You are put into constant danger
because of who you are. That doesn’t mean we have to invite trouble
into our home. Stay away from him.”

Jack browsed through their collection of old
books and looked over their Indian art hanging on the walls. His
stomach plummeted at her father’s final statement. The thought of
not seeing Silver again plunged his soul into darkness. He couldn’t
stand it. He wasn’t going to give her up without a fight.

Apparently he and Silver agreed on that.

“Make me,” Silver said defiantly. “If you try
to keep us apart, I will never speak to either of you again. I mean
it. In less than a year I turn eighteen. If you try to mess things
up with Jack, I promise you I will leave this house, and you won’t
ever see me again. I can survive on my own. You know I can.”

Jack smiled, and his heart swelled with pride
at hearing her defend him.
That’s my girl.

There was dead silence in the Reign home
after Silver’s bold threat. It grew to epic proportions. Jack began
to wonder if the parents had dragged her out the back door.

The three of them emerged from the kitchen a
few minutes later. They found him in the living room, pretending to
be enthralled with their art collection. Silver made a quick path
to him. She turned, standing between him and her parents, hands on
hips.

Andrew glowered at them both, while Vanessa’s
face took on a defeated, pinched look.

“He is the one Lovely wrote about,” Silver
said. “He has to be. All evidence points to it. Now, we need to
help him get ready to do his job... unless you want the world to
fall into werewolf hands. Is that what you want?”

Andrew grumbled beneath his breath, something
about the world could go to hell for all he cared.

She pleaded with her mom instead. “You know
I’m right about this. You raised me to pay careful attention to
everything Lovely wrote. You practically had me memorize the entire
diary. We can’t ignore part of it just because you don’t like
it.”

“She’s right,” Vanessa said with a sigh. “We
did raise her to believe everything Lovely wrote.”

“So what’s the verdict?” Silver asked.

Andrew’s hard eyes moved to Jack’s face.
“Fine. You win. We won’t kill him today. But if he steps a foot out
of line, if he does anything we think is harmful, I will blast a
hole clean through him.”

Jack tried to swallow without making a loud
gulping sound. Andrew Reign was a truly terrifying man. In fact,
Jack figured he’d rather face an army of werewolves than Silver’s
angry father. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jack. Maybe he was one
of the people Silver had warned him about in her sleep.