Vampires Rule (27 page)

It was only a flash of memory this time, and
he contemplated the power. Sometimes it happened when he touched a
person, and sometimes it didn’t. In a Silver memory he was in her
head, but in a Jersey memory he watched from the sidelines. It was
confusing. He wished he had an instruction booklet to guide him on
the use of the power.

“What’s wrong?” Silver asked.

“Follow me.”

Jack led her to a narrow set of stairs at the
end of the hallway. When they reached the bottom of the stairs,
they found another corridor. It was an exact replica of all the
others, but Jack knew this one was different. His flesh
tingled.

Silver opened the nearest door. “It’s a
bedroom. I think we’re on the right track now. You get the doors on
that side and I’ll do this side.”

They worked the hallway as a team until they
found their firsts wraiths. Jersey had put the ghostly women in
rooms across from each other. Jack and Silver shared a look, both
in their perspective doorways. She glanced into her room once
before joining him on the opposite side of the hallway.

Jack took Silver’s hand. He wasn’t sure if he
was doing it to reassure her or himself. They carefully approached
the bed. The thing writhing around on the mattress did not resemble
the electric wraith he’d seen at the party. It was hideous with
paper thin, yellowed skin and painful boils on the exposed flesh
that oozed a milky substance. The eyes had sunken back into the
skull.

It moaned, an inhuman sound.

“It’s horrible,” Silver said.

“Yes, it is.”

“Jersey did this, you know. The man you think
is so awesome and don’t want to kill even if it means saving the
world, he did this to these women. She might have been somebody’s
mother or daughter or sister. Only a monster would do this to a
human being. Jersey Clifford is a monster.”

It was hard for Jack to reconcile the Jersey
he knew with the one who had created the wraiths. “He saved us from
the janitor.”

“Then he had a reason, a selfish reason. I
guarantee you he didn’t save us out of the goodness of his heart.
He wanted to save your life to get closer to you. He even said so.
We both heard him.”

Jack dumped the bag on the edge of the bed.
He retrieved two daggers from it and handed one to Silver. He
remembered how Silver had told him to kill them: a silver blade
through the heart. “You get this one,” he said. “I’ll go across the
hallway.”

Silver moved closer to the pitiful creature.
She held the dagger in both hands, but she didn’t raise it. Her
wide eyes flickered over to him. “Can I talk to you for a second?
Over here?” She pulled him to the far off corner and shook her
head. “I can’t do it. No way. I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about? You’re a hunter.
You were trained to do this kind of stuff.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I suck souls
out. It’s easy and humane. I’ve never stabbed anything before, and
I can’t do it.”

Jack set his dagger aside and cupped her face
between his hands. His fingers buried themselves in her hair, and
he stroked her scalp with a soothing motion. “This was your
idea.”

“I know.” Her eyes calmed down a bit, and
they silently pleaded for his understanding. “I’m sorry. I can’t do
it.”

“Look at her.” He put an arm around Silver
and gently led her back to the bed. “She’s in pain. Believe me, she
wants you to do this. Look into her eyes. She’s begging us to
release her.”

Silver got closer to the wraith. She rested a
hand on the thing’s arm and looked into its eyes. Her lower lip
quivered. “You’re right. I’ll do it.”

She was trying hard to be brave, and it made
Jack feel horrible for pushing her. He shook his head slowly and
said, “You don’t have to. If you really don’t want to, I can do
it.”

“We don’t know how many of them there are,
and we don’t know how long it will take to get out of here. If
Jersey can somehow feel their loss, he could race home to get us.”
She forced a smile. “It’s okay. I’m fine now. Go. Do your wraith
and then move onto the next.”

Jack crossed to his dagger, grabbed it, and
went to the room across the hall. Without giving himself time to
think about it, he went straight to the wraith and lifted the
dagger high above its chest. He didn’t want to meet its eyes just
in case this one didn’t want to die. He held his breath as he
plunged the dagger through its heart.

Blood pooled around the blade, but not as
much blood as he’d expected. A blue light shot out of the body. He
jumped backwards, fearing the wraith had escaped and would kill
him. The light went through the ceiling and disappeared.

For a moment Jack stood over the decaying
body, stunned by what he’d seen. He heard Silver go into the next
room. The sound spurred him to hurry to his second wraith. He had
no idea how many wraiths Jersey actually had. Killing them all
could take a while.

As it turned out there were at least a dozen.
Jack lost count. By the time they were done, they looked and felt
like they’d been living in a war-zone. Jack took the bloody dagger
from Silver’s limp fingers and returned it to the duffel bag.

“Now we just need to find our way out of
here,” he said.

Silver tried to smile, but it didn’t reach
her eyes. Jack wanted to kick himself for making her kill the
wraiths. He should have done it himself even if it took an entire
day. He slid an arm around her, pulled her close. They searched for
the exit while he held her tight.

****

It took nearly an hour for them to find the
main hallway with the stairs leading out. Jack had started to think
they wouldn’t be able to escape before Jersey returned home. Jack
swept an arm toward the stairs. “Ladies first.”

“You two aren’t going anywhere.”

Jack and Silver stiffened. They slowly
revolved. It was Jersey’s assistant Pagan, and she had the biggest
sword that Jack had ever seen. Legs spread wide in a fighting
stance, she wielded the sword like an expert. This obviously wasn’t
the first time she’d used it.

Jack spoke out the side of his mouth to
Silver. “Get up the stairs as fast as you can. I’ll take care of
her. Run. Now.”

Pagan came at him. She lunged to the right
with her sword before swinging to the left with all her might. Jack
ducked. He shoved her, hands flat against her back. She flew in the
opposite direction. It gave Jack time to grab a weapon. Going to
his knees, he jerked the zipper on the duffel bag open and pulled
out a bloody dagger.

Pagan returned. She tried a different tactic
this time. She stabbed at him with the end of the sword, but he
easily deflected it with the short blade in his hand. Metal clanged
against metal as they fought. She tried to drive him backwards,
trapping him in the corner, but he wouldn’t allow it.

Jack pressed forward.

Pagan lifted her sword higher. She brought it
down hard, trying to split his head open, but Jack dove sideways.
His head hit the wall instead, rattled his teeth. He went down
hard. For a moment he couldn’t think straight, and he almost
blacked out.

It would take a few seconds to recover, but
he suspected Pagan wouldn’t give him the time. Any second he
expected to feel the sword cutting through his flesh. He hoped
Silver got away. At least she would be safe... but Silver hadn’t
left.

She was there in a flash, stepping between
him and the sword, the second dagger in her hand. She jumped into
the fight without hesitation. Her feet moved like a professional
fencer, but she was half the size of her opponent.

Jack cringed every time Pagan’s sword got
close to its target. He reminded himself that Silver was a trained
fighter, but that didn’t make him feel any better. He tried to
catch his breath so he could get up and help Silver. He liked the
odds of two against one better than Silver working alone.

There was a horrible screech from above, the
sound of a wraith returning. It distracted Silver. Her eyes went to
the ceiling for a second. Had they missed one?

Pagan drove the sword through Silver’s body
with a hard, smooth motion. The long blade exited her back, covered
in blood. Red drops dripped on the floor near Jack’s hands. He
watched in disbelief as Silver’s body slid off the sword and
crumpled on the ground. It couldn’t be real. His mind screamed in
vain; it wasn’t real. Silver couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave him.
He wouldn’t let her.

Pagan held the blood-stained sword in her
hands and flashed a vicious grin at Jack. She moved in his
direction, ready to kill him too, and he was going to let her. As
much as he wanted to see her lifeless body laid out next to Silver,
he didn’t want to face the world without her.

The sword flew out of Pagan’s hands. It
hovered in the air, held by an invisible person. Blue smoke
appeared, shaped like a woman, only it wasn’t a wraith, at least
not anymore. This woman had a beautiful face, flowing hair, and an
angelic smile.

Pagan cried out in protest, recognizing the
wraith. She had probably helped Jersey hold it captive downstairs.
Her legs moved to run, but she didn’t get far. The wraith flattened
her against the wall like a useless bug. It took the sword,
twirling it in the air. The sword moved fast, drilling a hole
through Pagan’s gut.

Jack crawled over to Silver. He smoothed the
hair back from her face and leaned forward until his damp cheek
touched hers. She took his hand and held it as tight as she could.
He felt the life draining from her body. There wasn’t anything he
could do. He was helpless.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said, lying to
give her comfort. “It’s not that bad of a wound. I’ve seen
worse.”

She tried to speak but couldn’t. Blood filled
her mouth and colored her teeth. She was drowning in it. Her hand
tightened painfully on his. She gasped for air. Her eyes began to
glaze over.

Jack shook his head, and his vision blurred
with tears. There was nothing he could do except hold her hand. He
closed his eyes and prayed for a miracle.

Her hand began to burn in his.

Jack opened his eyes to find Silver’s body
bathed in light. The wraith (angel) stood over her, hands stretched
out. He watched in fascination as Silver’s eyes focused again. A
smile tilted her lips.

He moved her sweater aside and searched for
the wound. The skin was smooth and blemish free. She had been
healed. He pulled her to her feet and examined her closer. He
wanted to thank the wraith, but he couldn’t tear his eyes off
Silver. She looked more beautiful to him than a thousand
sunrises.

Silver turned to the wraith, awe in her
voice. “You saved me.”

A musical voice replied, “You saved me.”

It was the wraith, the first one Silver had
killed, the one she hadn’t wanted to put down. Jack’s arm went
around Silver’s waist as they watched the lady of smoke drift up
through the ceiling. It was over. His nightmare had turned into a
beautiful dream.

He grabbed Silver by the shoulders. “Why
don’t you ever listen to me? I told you to go. You almost got
yourself killed trying to save me. Don’t ever do that again.”

She nodded, speechless. He pulled her into
his arms, held her tight. He didn’t want to ever let her go, which
could be a problem once they got home to her father.

Glancing at her watch, she said, “You still
have time to get to school in time for English.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Maybe he won’t suspect we let the wraiths go
if you’re in his class today. Just do it, okay? And act
normal.”

Act normal? Moments ago she’d been dying in
his arms. Now she wanted to go to school and play normal student.
He wasn’t sure he could do it. He wasn’t that good of an actor.

On the other hand he did want to have a talk
with Jersey Clifford. He hoped the man had some good answers,
because Jack was deciding on whether to kill him or not. Almost
losing Silver had tipped the scales in her favor. Jersey better
have a great argument for sparing his life.

For the first time since Jack had joined the
Jefferson Memorial student body, English class dragged by at snail
speed. He sat in the back row, twirling his pencil and tapping his
foot beneath the desk. He wanted to explode out of his seat, demand
some answers. His eyes drifted over the other students. Until they
were gone, he couldn’t say a thing to Jersey Clifford about the
wraiths.

Jersey was in rare form today. He led a
fascinating discussion on their next assigned book, but Jack only
heard half of it. Jersey was wearing the same outfit he’d worn on
Jack’s first day: black trousers and turtleneck with red sneakers.
His eyes rested on Jack a few times during class. It was obvious he
noticed Jack’s distracted state, but he didn’t call on him to
answer any questions, which was good since Jack couldn’t string a
coherent thought together to save his life.

The bell rang, and the students scattered.
Jersey dealt with the couple who wanted to speak with him after
class. He rushed them on their way while Jack remained in his seat.
Jersey closed the door and slowly revolved to face Jack, his
expression wary.

“Something on your mind?” Jersey perched on
the corner of his desk.

Jack took a deep breath and forged ahead,
knowing Silver was going to freak out when he told her later what
he’d said to the werewolf teacher. “You have wraiths. Why?”

An untrained eye wouldn't have noticed the
change in Jersey's expression. His face froze, but Jack saw him
swallow. He saw how Jersey tried hard to maintain a blank look.
There was a sliver of fear deep in his eyes. Then Jersey’s mouth
slightly lifted at the ends. “You’ve been to my house again?”

“I found your real home this time. A house
beneath a house. Clever. That junky place you claim to live in was
a disappointment. I was almost glad to see you have a mansion
underneath it.”