by Kasi Blake
Jack’s fingers tightened around the rock. “Not yet. First I want a fair hearing. I think everyone in this room deserves a vote on what to do with the rock, if anything.”
Vanessa placed a hand on her husband’s arm and gently pushed it down. “Sounds fair to me. Who wants to begin?”
“I’m the one with the rock.” Jack waved it in the air. “Lovely made it for me, so I’d like to go first, if you don’t mind.”
He didn’t know what he would do without Vanessa there to referee. When Silver opened her mouth to argue, her mother motioned for her to keep quiet. Vanessa got everyone seated and ready to listen. She gestured for him to begin.
“Silver has probably already told you that she wants me to kill Jersey Clifford.”
Andrew nodded. “The English teacher. Yes.”
“We’re reasonably sure he’s the head werewolf, and Silver wants me to use the rock against him, but there’s a more dangerous threat in the vicinity. The janitor is extremely powerful, and he’s psychotic. He killed my parents. He killed me.”
Andrew said, “But if Jersey Clifford is the leader, he’s the one who has to die. It’s what the stone was made for. Once he’s gone, the others will revert to normal.”
“That’s right,” Jack said. He looked pointedly at his brother, their gazes locked in understanding. “If I kill the teacher, the janitor becomes human. We can’t kill him then. He gets away with murdering our parents.”
Silver leaped to her feet. “Lovely didn’t create the stone so you can get revenge on your pick of werewolves. It has to be used on the werewolf.”
“Honey, sit down,” Vanessa said. “Allow Jack to finish. You’ll get your turn.”
Silver fell back in her seat, arms crossed. Her jaw was tight, and her hard stare was on Jack. He loved her, but he wasn’t going to let her ruin his chance for justice.
He continued. “Jersey saved us from the janitor. If it wasn’t for him, we’d be dead. I’m sorry. I can’t kill him. I just can’t do it.”
Jack went to stand behind Billy’s chair, hoping his brother would back him up on this. Vanessa waved to Silver, signaling that she could talk now.
She got up slowly this time and walked in a circle around the coffee table, deep in thought. Watching her was like watching a top-notch prosecutor getting ready to send a man to the chair. She spoke in a loud, clear voice. “I have several points to make.”
Jack steeled himself for the attack.
“First of all, killing Jersey will save an unknown number of lives.” She went to her father, her eyes silently begging for his help. “Lovely saw a long and bloody war. Even if I can kill Jersey myself, people will die in the meantime. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Maybe even millions.”
Silver went to her mother next. “We can stop the war before it begins. No one will die. How can that be wrong? We can prevent others from becoming werewolves. Do you have any idea how many lives will be saved that way? Hunters kill a high number of werewolves every year. If we put a stop to it now, there won’t be any more werewolves. How can you possibly say no to that?”
A few more points were made, each one more damning than the last. Jack felt his case for revenge slipping away. Then it was time for Silver to wrap it up.
She went to the center of the room and presented the rest of her case. “Now for a selfish moment. I want a normal life.” Her eyes touched on Jack for brief time. They glistened with tears. “Everyone in this room knows I want to be a lawyer. I was born to be a lawyer, maybe even a judge someday. I can’t do that if I’m hunting every night or involved in a war.”
She looked to her parents again. “Mom…Dad…you hated the idea of me giving up my life for something decided thousands of years ago by some woman we never met. I didn’t complain, did I? I did what was expected of me. I took on my destiny without whining. Now we have a way to stop me from losing another week of my life to this nonsense.”
She finished with Jack. “I can’t make you make the right decision. I can only give you the facts. Either you selfishly take out the monster responsible for hurting your family and condemn the world to war, or you can kill Jersey Clifford and save the lives of perhaps everyone on this planet. It’s up to you. Are you going to do what’s right for you, or what’s right for the rest of the world?”
She took her seat, and a heavy silence fell on them. Jack felt like applauding. She’d been so convincing that he felt like voting against himself. Only he wasn’t going to because he wanted to kill a monster. Speech aside, he didn’t care if he was being selfish. The janitor deserved to die and Jersey didn’t.
Andrew said, “I don’t want the rock used, period. It needs to be saved in case we have to use it later.”
“But we know who the head werewolf is,” Vanessa said. “We may not get another chance like this. Jack should use it on the teacher.”
“I vote he kill the janitor,” Billy said.
“Of course you do.” Silver shook her head and turned to her dad. “I don’t think he should be allowed to vote. The rock was made by a relative of ours, not his.”
Andrew frowned at her. “Your mother and I taught you better manners than that. Billy has been a gracious host, allowing us to stay in his home since the fire. You will speak to him and about him with respect.”
Silver apologized to Billy before sitting back down.
Vanessa called for a vote. “All in favor of killing Jersey Clifford, raise your hands.”
Vanessa and Silver lifted their hands high.
“Okay,” Vanessa said. “All those in favor of killing the janitor raise your hands.”
Billy and Jack shot their hands into the air.
Vanessa clapped once in frustration. “Great. It’s a tie.”
“Daddy didn’t vote,” Silver said.
Andrew shook his head. “And I’m not going to, because I don’t want the stone to be used.” He sighed and scratched his head. “Anyway, I think Jack is right about one thing. He is the one who has to use it. If something goes wrong, he gets himself killed. The choice is up to him.”
Jack could see how hard it was for Andrew Reign to say those words, but thankfully he had. The decision belonged to Jack. Silver sat with her arms folded and a cute pout on her lips. Vanessa and Andrew left the room together. Billy remained in his chair, his jaw tight. He wanted the monster dead as much as Jack did. At least Jack had one ally in the house.
Silver stood and took a last parting shot at him. “I meant what I said. I hope you think about it some more and make the right decision. You already have too much blood on your hands.”
He blinked at her. “What does that mean?”
“You told me yourself how guilty you feel about killing the werewolf boy and about Lily’s death. Think about it.”
Jack did.
He had a rough night ahead of him. Either he could kill someone who deserved to die, avenge his family. Or he could kill a man who had been nothing but kind to him, a man he looked to as a father figure. Yes Jersey had sent the wraiths, but maybe there was a good reason behind it. He felt sorry for the man. It wasn’t his fault he’d been cursed.
Should he kill one of them?
Should he throw the magic rock away?
What was he going to do?
Chapter Nineteen:
THE SECRET BENEATH JERSEY’S HOUSE
After their big argument over who to use the rock on, Jack felt he owed Silver special consideration. So on the following morning when she insisted they kill Jersey’s wraiths, he reluctantly agreed. Of course one reason he agreed was because they didn’t know where the wraiths were being kept. It was Silver’s idea to start at Jersey’s house. She was hoping they’d find a clue that they’d missed on their previous visit.
They skipped school and drove to Jersey’s house, if it was his house. Jack had sincere doubts. There was no way the head werewolf
, the strongest and smartest of all fur-covered creatures, lived in this dump. Lovely wrote about him, about how clever and resourceful he could be. It would be very smart to have a phony house.
Silver started in the living room while Jack searched the kitchen. He slowly moved around, not working too hard because he knew he wouldn’t find anything. Swinging a squeaky cabinet door open and shut a few times, Jack mumbled, “Even his cupboards bare.”
For half an hour they picked through the house, leaving nothing untouched. Jack even lifted the mattress in the bedroom. He removed the back from the toilet while Silver crawled under the bed. Neither of them found anything useful. It was a huge waste of time.
“Maybe his real house is in another town,” Jack suggested.
“He would want to keep the wraiths nearby.”
“We could touch something and see if we can get another flash of memory. Maybe we could figure out where his real house is at.”
They returned to the living room as a last resort. Jack walked over to the tipped-over file cabinet. He slid his fingers beneath it and tried to lift it, hoping there were important papers inside. It seemed to be nailed to the floor. Jack held his breath, gritted his teeth, and pulled harder. The metal creaked. It gave way slowly, moving an inch. It seemed to be stuck on something. With a grunt he used every ounce of strength he had to lift the thing.
A piece of the hardwood floor behind him popped open.
Silver gasped. “He has a hidden dungeon.” She crawled to the edge and peered into the hole. Raising her head, she smiled at Jack. “You are not going to believe this. Come on.”
She swung her legs over the edge and found stairs. Light shone from the room below, so they didn’t need a flashlight or candle. She walked down quickly, leaving Jack to follow when he was ready.
He was ready. In a flash, using his vampire-speed, he was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her, hand out to help her. She slid her fingers over his. “Showoff,” she said with a teasing smile.
Jack looked around, stunned. “It’s like we’re in another house.”
It was more like a mansion. They started off in a wide hallway decorated with red carpet, paneled walls, and a few paintings. There were lights that resembled torches on the wall. This was no dungeon; it was Jersey’s real home. Jack took the lead. He walked to the first door and pushed it open. Silver’s body pressed against his back as she tried to see past him.
It was a fancy dining room complete with a ridiculously long table and about a hundred chairs. Three chandeliers hung low over the table. Crystal goblets and expensive china had been set in front of each chair, even though Jack would bet his life that Jersey didn’t entertain guests in his home.
Maybe the places had been set for the wraiths.
Jack went to the next door and the next. At the end of the hallway they found another hallway. The place was a maze of endless corridors riddled with doors, and they all looked exactly alike. Jack and Silver opened every single one in an endless spree until...
Bingo. It was the den from their leap into Jersey’s memory. Jack walked inside, a little uncomfortable about being there in the flesh. He went to the desk and sat in the chair. It was surreal, kind of like being on a set of a popular television show after watching it for years. His eyes drifted to the tall angel statues in the corners. He hadn’t seen them in his visions, but everything else was the same.
Jack’s eyes went to the books lined up on the shelves. Jersey had probably read every single one. He’d had plenty of time.
“We need to find the wraiths,” Silver said from the doorway.
Jack touched a small angel figure on Jersey’s desk. A tiny electric shock warned him a flashback was headed his way. This one only lasted a few seconds. It was quick but informative.
Jersey stood in a hallway on the next lower level. He summoned the wraiths. With a shriek they left their bodies and their assigned bedrooms. They flew down the hall, streaking past Jersey in two thick lines of blue light. The tunnel they entered stretched for miles. The wraiths took the tunnel to a dry well. They flew up and out into the night sky, free at last.
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, only Jack knew this one was different. His flesh tingled in awareness. The wraiths were nearby.
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 the first of the 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. Stubbornly he pointed out, “Jersey 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 just 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. Holding his breath, he plunged the dagger through its heart.
Blood pooled around the blade. There wasn’t that much, a lot less than 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. 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 and 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. He 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.