Vampires Rule (19 page)

“Do you need directions to my house?” Trina
asked.

“No,” Jack said. “I’m taking you to Silver’s.
She probably knows something about wraiths. There are some
questions I need to ask her.”

Trina smiled. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s why
we’re going to see her. You are so intense.” Her eyes went to the
roof of the car, and she shook her head, giggling. “If you want her
back, you’d better be prepared to get on your knees and beg.”

Jack and Trina waited in Silver’s bedroom
after arriving only to find the house empty. The Reigns were
probably out hunting. It was too bad they hadn’t been at the party.
Maybe they would have known what to do about the wraiths. Trina put
her hand in the hamster’s cage. The tiny furry creature dashed
around, avoiding Trina’s groping fingers, but she didn’t stop until
she caught it.

Jack stood in the corner. Uncomfortable being
in Silver’s room without her, he waited with crossed arms.
Everywhere he looked he saw a different memory. There was the bed
where he’d slept next to Silver, and the window he’d seen his first
sunlight in ten years through The book she’d dropped because she
was nervous at having him in her bedroom was still on the corner of
the desk where she’d put it that night.

The front door slammed shut below the
carpeted floor. He felt it through the bottom of his feet.
Footsteps raced up the stairs. In seconds the bedroom door opened,
and Silver’s eyes went straight to him. Her lips compressed into a
hard line. Shaking her head, she stepped inside and shut the door
behind her. “I ought to call my dad up here to kill you. What do
you want?”

Trina closed the hamster cage and stepped
forward, giving Silver her first glimpse of the girl. Although
Trina had been smiling while playing with the hamster, the
waterworks turned on as soon as she saw Silver’s face. She ran
across the room and threw herself into Silver’s arms, bawling
uncontrollably.

“Are you okay?” Silver patted Trina on the
back. “What’s wrong? Did Jack do something to you?”

Silver glared at him.

“He saved my life tonight.” Trina lifted a
tear-stained face. “We were at the party, you know, the one you
didn’t want to go to, and these things attacked us. They were like
real scary looking ghosts with claws and teeth. I almost died
tonight. One of them tried to get me, and Jack threw himself on top
of me. It almost got him instead.”

Silver gently pushed her friend aside to look
at Jack. Her expression turned from accusing to concerned. “Are you
okay?”

He shuffled from one foot to the other,
unable to meet her gaze head on. “I’m fine. It wasn’t that big a
deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Trina grabbed Silver’s
shoulders and shook her. “We were almost killed by those things.
After he threw himself on me to keep it from getting me, we had to
run to the car. Two of them chased us. It was crazy intense, and he
says it wasn’t a big deal.”

Jack said, “They were wraiths.”

“Did you know about wraiths?” Trina asked
her. “Cause you never told me about them. You warned me about
vampires and werewolves. You didn’t say anything about
wraiths.”

Silver sat on the edge of her bed. “That’s
because wraiths are very rare. I’ve never even seen a wraith and
neither have my parents. Lovely mentioned them in her book, half a
page, but I never thought anyone I knew would cross paths with
one.”

Jack forgot about being uncomfortable. He sat
next to her. In business mode now, he said, “I think maybe you
should tell me about them in case I see them again. Can they be
killed?”

“Yes, but it isn’t easy.” Her gaze met his
for half a second before dropping to her hands. She twisted her
fingers and played with the colorful bangles on her wrists.
“Wraiths can only be created by the lead werewolf. Now we know.
He’s definitely here in town. He’s probably already building his
army.”

“How can a wraith be killed?”

“They have to be killed when they aren’t in
their bodies.” She got up, walked to the window. “Wraiths are women
infected by the head werewolf. Instead of turning into wolves, they
become ghost-like. What you need to know about them is that they
are trapped in their bodies during the day. They’re immortal like
werewolves, but their bodies decay. They’re in horrible pain during
the day, but at night their spirits leave their bodies. That’s what
you saw tonight.”

Trina shivered. “That’s sick.”

Silver nodded. “I feel sorry for them. Being
a werewolf or a vampire would be a hundred times better than being
a wraith. Anyway, to kill one of them you have to drive a blade
through their heart while their spirit is within them.”

“What if you stab them during the night while
their spirit is gone?” Jack asked.

“Nothing happens. They can’t be killed during
the night. You have to catch them when they’re together, body and
spirit. It’s the only way.”

“Can they be stopped somehow when they’re
attacking? I didn’t know what to do when they were flying away with
those kids.”

“Wraiths can’t be stopped. They’re ghosts. If
you try to hit them, your hand will go through them. It’s not fair,
I know, but they can touch us. We just can’t touch them.”

Jack slowly took in the information. He felt
better knowing there was nothing he could have done at the party to
save those kids. At least he wouldn’t have that on his conscious.
His eyes returned to Silver. She looked good, incredible even. The
girl standing near the window didn’t resemble the one he’d seen
crying in her car. Maybe she was over him.

Silver added, “Wraiths are like slaves to the
head werewolf. Whoever he is, he sent the wraiths to the
party.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Trina asked.

“I have no idea.”

Jack asked, “What happened to the kids they
took? What do they do with them?”

“I don’t know that either. Lovely didn’t get
into it. She wrote very little about wraiths, just how to kill them
basically. Without knowing who the head werewolf is, there’s no way
we can find the wraiths, let alone kill them. They’ll be living
under his roof where he can keep human eyes off them. They would be
extremely hard to explain.”

Silver went to her friend and placed an arm
around her shoulders. They shared a brief hug. She added, “I’m glad
you’re okay.”

“Thanks to Jack.” Trina smiled at him. “I’m
going to go home now. Maybe I can get your father to give me a
ride.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to. Please don’t
mention Jack to him.”

Trina told her it wasn’t a problem and headed
out the door with one more smile for Jack. After she was gone, the
tension solidified. The air seemed to have been sucked from the
room at the closing of the door.

Silver’s eyes turned glacial. “I told you
everything I know about wraiths. Maybe you should leave now.”

“I don’t want to leave yet.”

“Too bad.” She went to the door, yanked it
open. “If you don’t get out right now, I’ll yell for my dad. You
want to deal with him? He’ll blow your stupid head off, and I won’t
try to stop him.” She closed the door and crossed to the window,
opening it. “Changed my mind. You should go out the window instead.
No reason for my dad to go to prison because of you.”

She motioned to the window, an angry gesture.
She kept her eyes averted when he closed the distance between them.
Instead of going out the window, he put his hands on her shoulders
and turned her in his direction. She swallowed and blinked her eyes
a few times. She still didn’t look at him.

Jack placed a finger under her chin, tilted
her face. Their eyes finally met. There was a great deal of hurt
and anger inside of those bright blue orbs. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“For everything. I shouldn’t have written the stupid note. I
shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. Trina was right. I am a
total jerk.”

Surprise registered on her face. “What are
you saying?”

“I’m saying I’ve missed you, and I want us to
be friends again.”

“You think it’s that simple?” She knocked his
hands away. “You hurt me.”

“I know.”

“No, I don’t think you do or you wouldn’t
think throwing yourself on the mercy of the court is going to fix
everything. I thought I knew you. I thought you were kind and good,
but you ripped my heart out and stomped on it. I’m not ready to
forgive you yet. Maybe I never will be.”

He took a deep breath and tried again. “I did
it to protect you.” A doubtful glint entered her eyes and he added,
“It’s true. My friends came to see me. They threatened to hurt
Billy. I figured they would be after you next.”

The tip of Silver’s tongue slipped over her
bottom lip, wetting it. “I’m a hunter, and I don’t need to be
protected. I swear you’re worse than my parents. I thought you
would understand more than anyone. I can take care of myself.”

“You’re mortal. No matter how good you are,
you can make a mistake. You can be killed. If you died because of
me, I wouldn’t be able to…I couldn’t take it.”

Her eyes softened. “I feel the same way about
you.”

He touched her cheek. “I have missed you so
much, you have no idea.”

“Me too.” Her gaze drifted to the door. “I
told my mom and dad I was going to bed. Will you stay and talk to
me for a while?”

He nodded. There were so many things he
needed to tell her. He wanted her to know everything that had
happened to him since they’d split up. It felt like a lifetime
since they’d spoken. In a short time she had become very important
to him, a best friend. Yet she was more than that. Much, much
more.

****

They rested comfortably next to each other on
her bed, talking softly and laughing for over hour. At some point
she had lifted her hand for him to take. He laced his fingers with
hers. They held hands as they talked about anything and everything.
She wanted him to know how much pain he’d caused her; he wanted her
to know how much he’d missed her.

“I have tons to tell you,” he finally said.
“It killed me not being able to pick up the phone. Every time
something major happened, I wanted to start dialing.”

Lying next to her in the dark, holding her
hand felt incredible. He couldn’t get over it. He was with Silver
again, and everything was right with the world.

“I want to hear everything,” she said.

“I’m not sure where to start.”

“Try the first thing that pops into your
head.”

“Okay.” The first thing he thought about was
Jersey, but he didn’t want to start with the fact their teacher was
a werewolf. He didn’t think she would take the news well. So he
went with the second thing that popped into his head. “I found the
werewolf who killed my parents.”

Her hand stiffened in his. “Where is he? Who
is he? Do I know him?”

“I expect so since it’s the janitor at the
school.”

He told her the whole sordid story about how
he was walking down the hallway and the janitor sloshed water on
his shoes. He ended with how shocked he was to see the familiar
eyes hiding behind the scraggly hair.

“Don’t try to take care of him on your own,”
she said. “He could be the leader. If he is, he’s too strong for
anyone to kill right now. I’ll have to grow up, train some more,
get better at sucking souls out before I can do him.”

Jack nodded before realizing she couldn’t see
him. “I understand.”

“Unless we use the stone, of course. But we’d
have to be sure about him first.”

“What about this dream stuff? I dreamed about
you the other night. I turned into a werewolf and attacked you. It
seemed so real and familiar.”

“That’s because we have shared dreams.” She
giggled before turning serious. “I had the dream about you changing
into a werewolf too. I was there with you. It was real.”

“How is that possible?”

“We’re connected, Jack. I’ve been trying to
tell you that. I’ve been dreaming about you for years, and you’ve
been dreaming about me too, even if you don’t remember.”

He turned his head to look at her. “Now you
tell me something new about you. How did your week go?”

“Well,” she said. “I know you broke up with
me to save my life and keep your nutty vampire friends away from
me, but it didn’t work. I was approached by the one you call
Summer—Ow! You’re holding my hand too tight.”

“Sorry.” He let go. “Did she try to hurt
you?”

“She threatened to if I don’t stay away from
you.”

“Never mind. Don’t tell me. Show me.”

“What?”

Jack sat up, facing her in the dark. “I’ve
developed a new power. I can touch someone and see the memory
they’re thinking about. Let me see what happened with Summer. I
need to know.”

Without waiting for her to give him
permission, he took her hand again. Instead of lacing their
fingers, he held her hand between both of his. This time he
concentrated on seeing the scene she’d had with Summer. Electricity
coursed through him and he was transported until he was once again
inside Silver, looking at the world through her eyes.

****

Silver and her parents were hunting at the
old Miller place. No one had lived there for years, so it was a
good place for the occasional vampire or werewolf to take up
residence. Silver and her parents had split up to search the area.
Each of them had a whistle just in case they found something—or
something found them.

She walked behind the barn, a stake in one
hand and the whistle in the other. Her father was inside the barn,
and her mother was searching the yard. Silver heard soft footsteps.
She spun around, hoping it was one of her parents.

The blond girl from the cemetery, one of
Jack’s friends, approached without a sign of caution. She didn’t
seem concerned about the wooden stake. Her hard crystal eyes pinned
Silver like a bug on a corkscrew board. She sniffed the air with
obvious disdain. “It’s you. You’re the one Jack was hanging with.
Is it true that it’s over?”