Vampires Rule (23 page)

He’d lost Lily.

That was enough.

He wouldn’t give up Silver too, not ever.

The next morning, Jack rode to school with
Silver since they were living in the same house. She drove so he
wouldn’t have to borrow Billy’s car yet again. There were flowers
lined up against the school building in memory of the three missing
teens. The police were calling them runaways because no one
believed a word the witnesses said about flying zombie
creatures.

Jack walked Silver to each of her classes,
and he insisted on carrying her books. All day her cheeks carried a
wild pink blush. The other kids stared at them as they walked down
the hallways, a few of them pointing while others whispered. By
lunchtime everyone in the school knew they were a couple. The news
spread faster than Jack could run.

“This is so intense.” Trina blocked them as
they tried to enter the cafeteria. “Why didn’t you tell me you were
engaged?”

Silver shared an amused glance with Jack
before bursting Trina’s bubble. “We are not engaged.”

“Oh. I guess the other things I heard aren’t
true either then.”

“What did you hear?” Jack asked.

“That you’re going to the prom together.”
Trina shrugged. “You have a cabin where you meet every other
weekend, and you’re having a baby.”

Upon seeing Silver’s shocked expression,
Trina added, “I squashed that rumor real fast.”

“Thank you.” Silver glanced around the
crowded room.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” Trina said.
“I’m sitting with Lauren and Braden today. They’re like an old
married couple now, so I’m sure they won’t mind having the
company.”

Jack bought Silver lunch even though she had
her own money. Once again he insisted, reveling in the new feeling
of being her official boyfriend. They sat at the vacant end of the
table nearest the doors. She took a bite of the greasy pizza and
opened her carton of milk. It took a few minutes for her to notice
he wasn’t eating. He sat with elbows on the table, watching the
other students interact.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m people watching. Human
behavior still fascinates me.”

“Oh wow, he was right.”

“Huh?” Jack dragged his gaze away from the
other students to look at her. “Who was right about what?”

“Your upper lip curls when you say the word
human. You really need to work on that.”

His hand went to his mouth. “Sorry. Bad
habit.”

“Do all vampires sneer when they talk about
people?”

“Yeah. It sort of comes with the territory.
We also can’t say the word werewolf without practically choking on
it.”

“I noticed that too.” Her eyes took a trip
around the room. “What do you find so intriguing about them?”

“I was trying to figure out who they are by
observing the way they interact with each other. There are certain
small groups that migrate away from the others. I may not be a
vampire anymore, but I can still smell fear. I still have no idea
who half these kids are, but I could point out the alpha dogs real
fast.”

“You need to stop saying the ‘v’ word. We
need a word to replace it when it comes up in conversation in case
someone is listening.”

He removed the plastic wrap from his sandwich
and took a bite. He chewed twice before he made a disgusted face.
It tasted like sawdust. “Yuck.” He dropped the sandwich and wiped
off his tongue with a napkin. “What word do you want me to
use?”

“Let’s try using the word
kid
.”

“Okay, we’ll try that.” He smiled wryly.
“Part of me kind of misses being a kid, and I miss the kids I used
to hang out with.”

Her smile faltered. “It works. Good.”

She turned her full attention to the horrible
food, and Jack realized he’d said something wrong. He replayed the
words in his head. Was she upset because he confessed he still
missed his friends? Lily was dead. Of course he missed her. He
probably always would.

“You got quiet all of a sudden,” he said.

“Just thinking.”

Silver pointed out a variety of people around
the room to Jack. She told him what piece of the puzzle each person
represented as if she wanted to help him figure out where he fit
in.

“The two guys flicking paper footballs over
there are Tyler and Steven. They are the biggest class clowns the
school has. Each has been trying to outdo the other for years.” She
sipped some milk through a straw before adding, “Last year they
were both put in the same class. The school won’t make that mistake
again. Their pranks almost literally drove the teacher nuts. I
thought they were going to have to commit the poor woman over the
summer.”

Jack laughed.

Silver continued. “The cute couple heading
for the door…that’s Lauren and Braden, the ones Trina mentioned.
They have been the ‘it’ couple for almost three years. If you want
to find one of them, look for the other one. They are always
together. They like to pretend they’re married.

“That girl over there with the black hair and
the green halter top is Mary Brass. She and I have been friends
since third grade. She’s good in a fight, but don’t tell her
anything you don’t want everyone else in the school to know.”

Jack gestured to a small group giggling in
the corner. She explained they were the drama club kids. She said,
“The petite, dark-haired girl is Claire. She has wanted to be a
famous movie star since Kindergarten. You can’t talk with her for
more than five seconds without hearing about it in depth. She
spends a lot of time in the bathrooms crying about one thing or
another. Whoever put together the words ‘drama’ and ‘queen’ were
talking about her.”

Silver tossed her half-eaten pizza aside.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked.

Silver forced a smile. “Everything’s
great.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I was thinking about the janitor. When and
how should I go up to him?”

Jack had already set a plan into motion. He
caught the eye of a fellow student across the room and gave him a
quick nod. It was time for the kid and his friend to do the job
Jack had paid them to do.

The kid grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes
and threw them. The second kid dumped the entire contents of his
milk carton on the student sitting next to him. It started a chain
reaction. Food began to fly from every direction. Jack took
Silver’s hand and pulled on her. They slipped under the table
together.

She gaped at him, half-smiling. “I have two
questions for you. How and why?”

“When the janitor comes to clean up the mess,
we’ll both be here to see him. Just let me know when you’re
satisfied the dagger isn’t going to burn.”

“It will burn,” she corrected him.

He didn’t have a single doubt he was right.
The werewolf janitor had killed his parents. He was the lead
werewolf. Once Jack proved the fact to Silver, they could work on
killing the monster.

Principal Hardwick barreled into the
lunchroom with three teachers in tow. They rounded up the students
throwing the most food items and sent everyone else back to class
early. The two Freshmen Jack had paid to start the fight had
vanished out the back door a few minutes ago.

Jack and Silver remained hidden beneath the
table.

A couple minutes passed before Jack heard the
tell-tale sound of metal dragging across linoleum. The janitor
brought his metal bucket and mop into the room. His stringy hair
obstructed their view of his face as usual. He lifted the mop out
of the soapy bucket and slapped it against the floor. Moving it
back and forth in a chaotic rhythm, he began to whistle
off-key.

“Let’s do it,” Jack said.

The janitor had his back to them; they
approached with caution. Jack held Silver’s hand tight in his own.
They took a few slow steps in the creature’s direction, but both of
them were ready to run at a moment’s notice. They were almost close
enough to touch him. The janitor continued to whistle while
swishing the mop back and forth.

Jack looked at her and mouthed, “Well?”

She shook her head. The dagger wasn’t
burning. Satisfied, Jack turned to go, triumphant smile on his
face, but Silver wasn’t ready to admit defeat. She yanked her hand
out of his and tapped the janitor on the shoulder. Jack shook his
head vehemently and mouthed more words.

Are you crazy?

The janitor turned, shoulders hunched. It
took him a long time to finish the turn as if he was eighty, and
his reflexes were shot. He squinted at her beneath the long hair
and grunted. “Huh?”

“Have you seen a math book? I think I left
mine in here.”

He shook his head. Before returning to his
work, his eyes skimmed over Jack’s face. They remained on him for
one second longer than necessary. The janitor remembered Jack.
There was a smug twist to his lips. He began to whistle and mop
again.

Jack grabbed Silver’s hand and yanked her
from the room. Once they were in the empty hallway, away from
prying eyes, he shook his fists in the air. “Are you crazy? Do you
have a death wish? If he’d wanted to, he could have killed us both
at the same time with one hand tied behind his back.”

“He isn’t going to want to draw attention to
himself.”

“Why not? You think his great job as a
janitor will stop him?”

She rolled her eyes. ‘I thought maybe if he
looked at me the necklace might start burning.”

“And did it?” Jack couldn’t keep the smile
from his face because he already knew the answer. The janitor was
guilty as sin. He was the leader, and they needed to kill him fast.
No one could stop him from taking the guy out now.

She reluctantly shook her head.

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 arsenal 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 class.
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 shiver 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
classroom, heard her apologize to the teacher. Jack turned and
hurried to English class.

****

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. 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 assume 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 basement. 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. He prayed he would be able to save her.
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 too. He and Silver kicked
in a wild rhythm. 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.