Shifters Rule (Rule Series)

by K. C. Blake

  Jack dug a hand deep into one of his front pockets. He pulled his car keys out and tossed them to his brother. “I can’t take the car. When we want wheels, we borrow them. A car makes it too easy for hunters to track us.”

  “I’ll take care of the car until we get you back.”

  Cowboy chimed in with, “And Jackpot has me to look after him.”

  Jack turned and walked away, heart in his throat. He felt like he might choke on it. His feet seemed to be weighed down by invisible steel, making it hard to walk. Once again he and Cowboy were going on a vampire adventure. Only this time they didn’t have any girls in their group.

  As if she’d heard his thoughts, Isobel stepped out of the darkness with a huge smile on her face. She inserted herself between the two young men. At Jack’s surprised expression she asked, “Didn’t Cowboy tell you about me? After Jersey died I found myself without power. I had Cowboy turn me. I’m too used to immortality to die now. And I’m way too pretty.”

  Jack was at a loss for words. Silver was not going to like him going off with Isobel, but what choice did he have at this point?

  Isobel handed him a book. “Jersey left this for you in case you managed to kill him. I found his hideout and I ransacked the place, took what I needed.”

  “I never did ask how you got your soul back.”

  “I have no idea. I guess because it was taken in a dream it wasn’t real. It just took me a while to wake up.”

  He wondered if that meant Blanca would wake as well someday. Or maybe not. The magical coin might have brought her back to life, and the coin was still in his pocket.

  Isobel said, “Anyway, do you want the book or not?”

  He hesitated. Jersey was gone and couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. Jack took the book and glanced at the cover. It was a first edition copy of Moby Dick. Nice. He hadn’t read it yet. There was a white edge sticking out from between the pages. He pulled it free and read it.

  It was Jersey’s handwriting: When you are old and gray and full of sleep and nodding by the fire, take down this book and slowly read and dream of the soft look your eyes had once and of their shadows deep.

  And that was it. A final poem. Yeats this time and not Byron. Well, Jersey hadn’t been as sure of his win as he’d pretended to be. He had left the note and book in case he died in Jack’s place. A final gesture of goodwill. Jersey had signed the note with big, swirled letters that took Jack back in time to his first day at school. For a moment he was back in Jersey’s class, answering the question on The Illiad.

  A lot had happened since then.

  Jersey grinned down at him from somewhere above.

  Jack crumpled the note and dropped it, littering. Isobel gave him a look but didn’t say a word.

  Cowboy asked, “Want to share?”

  “No. It was private.”

  Cowboy shrugged. “Have it your way.”

  Jack could feel Silver’s eyes boring into his back, but he refused to turn. No last longing look in her direction. It was better this way. They needed to make a clean break. She would live in his heart and in his dreams forever.

  Cowboy flashed a backwards peace sign at Jack and said, “Vampires rule, buddy.”

  Forcing a smile for an old friend, Jack flashed the sign back. “Vampires rule.”

  Isobel’s arms went around both Cowboy and Jack. The three of them walked down the drive until they were halfway to the road. That was when Cowboy suggested they run. They took off, faster than the wind. Their laughter lingered in the darkness even after they were miles away.

  Of course, Jack’s laughter hid a broken heart. Silver’s words replayed in his head. Maybe she would find another cure for him and they would reunite, both mortal. Stranger things had happened. If anyone could find a cure, she could.

  But if she never did, someday when his last hope faded away he would take a short walk in the sunlight. He would go out on his terms. The thought made a future as a vampire a bit more bearable.

  They raced past the cemetery where his premature gravestone waited, and a genuine smile touched his lips.

  .

  .

  The End?

  .

  WARLOCK’S RULE (Coming 2013)

  .

  Sneak Peek: CRUSHED

  Chapter One:

  .

  “Witch!” The word echoed down Titan High’s main hallway.

  Kristen stumbled in her flashy red stilettos, almost tripping the sibling to her left. She recovered her footing quickly and tried to maintain an air of dignity, but it was too late. Giggles assaulted her ears. Anger burned below the surface layer of skin and her blood heated. The laughing students didn’t need to worry about retaliation because she had bigger problems at the moment. Someone was calling her out on her turf.

  Unbelievable!

  Her secret had finally been discovered. The anonymous person with the loud voice was going to reveal her true identity to her unsuspecting peers. If she turned around, if she dared to look, she would find a finger pointed straight at her. Then it would be over. She’d lose her powers forever.

  Could this day get any worse?

  She slowly revolved, a spell waiting on her eager tongue. The anonymous shouter would be sorry they’d messed with her today. There wasn’t a thing she could do to stop them from publicly accusing her of being a witch, but she could certainly make them pay a hefty price for the big reveal.

  Brittany grabbed her arm just above the elbow and dragged her around the corner. Shoving her against a row of lockers, Brittany whispered even though it was apparent she wanted to scream. “OMG! Could you be any more obvious? Why don’t you just carry a big sign?”

  They were the Noah sisters, Titan High royalty. There were three of them, triplets; Kristen being the only one with an original face. She was a respectable five foot six, but her skyscraper-tall sisters made her look like a hobbit in comparison. Maybe that was why she’d developed such a high level of confidence, for survival.

  She looked at Brittany and cringed. How could anyone willingly leave the house dressed in purple pajama bottoms, a Black Metal tee, and a hundred silver bangles on their arms? Brittany’s waist-length blonde hair didn’t look like it had seen a comb in weeks and if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d applied thick eyeliner and black shadow with a heavy hand to both eyes. The girl looked like a raccoon.

  Poor Cyndi did too, because Brittany forced her twin to dress like her.

  Kristen wouldn’t be caught dead in that outfit. For her first day of Senior Year, she’d chosen a stylish pair of skinny jeans with a man’s button-down shirt, a borrowed tie from her dad, a black vest, and a hat that she wore tilted to the side. Each of her fingernails was painted a different color. Rainbow nails were her invention, a new trend that she vowed to make popular by the end of the first semester.

  If she died today, at least she’d die looking good.

  Kristen had tried numerous times to get Cyndi to stand up to Brittany and tell her replica she wasn’t going to be dressed like a store-front mannequin, but Cyndi refused to go against Brittany in even the smallest way. When she disagreed with her twin, she did it in a feeble voice. Like now…

  “Leave her alone, Britt.” Cyndi sighed. “It’s not her fault she thought we’d been found out. I almost wet my pants until I realized it was only Tina Jenkins, and she wasn’t even looking at us.”

  Brittany’s hands continued to pin Kristen to the lockers. Kristen allowed it because punching another student—even her own sister—could get her suspended. She swallowed the anger before it could consume her and said, “I’m okay now. Back off.”

  “All summer long you have been yammering nonstop about how awesome this year is going to be. Then you try to ruin it five seconds through the door. Get a grip! What is wrong with you anyway?”

  It was true; this was supposed to be their year to shine.

  Only one problem…

  “I had that dream again last night.”

  Cyndi patted her arm, im
mediately sympathetic.

  Brittany released her but continued to scowl.

  “It’s the second dream,” Kristen said. Her dreams came true once she had them three times. It was her (curse) gift. “I couldn’t see anyone’s face, but there were dozens of fingers pointed at me, and one person yelled the word loud and clear. You know I don’t usually freak, but this has got me really scared.” She made sure no one was close enough to hear before she continued in a voice tinged with desperation. “They publicly accused me. You know what that means.”

  “Paranoid much? We’re super careful. No one knows about us.”

  “Britt’s right,” Cyndi said. She gestured to the passing students who stared at them with open fascination. “Calm down and enjoy the adoration.”

  “Sticking up for your twin? Big surprise.”

  Kristen got hit by glares from both sides. The girls hated it when she referred to them as ‘the twins,’ but she was going to keep doing it until they stopped dressing alike. Even though the three of them had been born the same day, she was her own person while they were reflections of each other.

  Cyndi changed the subject. “Do either of you know who you’re going to Crush this year? I already have mine picked out.” Smug grin in place, she added, “Rufus McDillion. He’s a freshman this year, and I’ve been waiting for him to hit high school. I’m giving you notice. He’s mine.”

  Brittany snorted.

  Kristen’s mind shifted gears. She purposely pushed worry over being accused to the side and concentrated on living in the moment. She didn’t find Cyndi’s choice amusing. Rufus was as dorky as the name implied, and he would be ultra-easy for Cyndi to control. If Kristen didn’t make an equally wise choice, she’d lose the game. She’d won three years in a row, but this year was the most important one. She needed the money to buy her prom dress, a designer original from New York. Her mom could get her a sweet deal with a top designer, but it was still going to be expensive.

  Brittany stared at something over Kristen’s shoulder, a hungry look on her face. “I know who I’d love to Crush. Don’t look now, but there’s tall, dark, and scary.”

  Kristen didn’t have to look to know who Brittany meant. Disturbing rumors followed Zach Bevian like a bad odor, and his terrible attitude didn’t exactly contradict them. Her mouth went dry at the mere thought of him. She tried to resist the temptation to glance his way, but the magnetic pull was too strong. Although she hated Zach to the core of her being, she couldn’t keep her eyes off him.

  Hot! didn’t come close to describing him.

  Every time she saw him it was like seeing him for the first time. It really should be a sin to be so incredibly gorgeous and be such a jerk. Everything about him shouted Danger! from his dark hair, spiked on top, razor sharp—it didn’t exactly invite feminine fingers to delve into it—to the tattoo peaking from beneath the short sleeve of his black T-shirt. Although she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, a few students claimed he carried a switchblade.

  His clear blue eyes looked deceptively sleepy, disinterested in his surroundings. Kristen knew that was a lie. He was always watching, always waiting—for what? And every time those eyes rested on her or one of her sisters, they took on a heavily disapproving darkness that was close to suffocating.

  Zach stopped at his locker. He swung the metal door open but didn’t peer inside. Instead, he slowly turned in her direction. She tried to look away; it was too late. The jerk had caught her staring. His eyes narrowed on her face, and his lips twisted into a sneer.

  She lifted her chin a fraction and met his gaze head-on, silently daring him to do something about it. Zach Bevian had better watch his attitude. Titan High was her playground, and she could annihilate him if she got the urge.

  Brittany intruded on her thoughts with, “FYI, I think I might hook up with Bevian this year.”

  “Forget it,” Kristen said. “He has a worse reputation than you do.”

  Brittany stuck her tongue out, showing off her tongue piercing. She stared at the object of her desire with a secretive smile. “Why do you think I like him? He’s so extreme.”

  “Dad would hit the roof, and you know it. He would ground you for an entire year. You’d miss Senior Prom and everything.”

  In a sing-song voice, Brittany said, “I bet it would be worth it.”

  Kristen preferred to fly solo while Brittany made out with every guy she got near, and Cyndi had a steady boyfriend named Jake Petrie going on two years now. They were talking marriage. It would be a cold day in hell before Kristen fell into that trap. Someday the twins would learn the lesson she had learned years ago. Love didn’t exist. People often mistook physical attraction for love and wound up in deep trouble. It wasn’t going to happen to her. She certainly wasn’t going to let some guy ruin her future plans.

  .

  *****

  .

  The first class of the day went well for Kristen. She had one of her favorite teachers for World History and was looking forward to the challenging assignments. Familiar faces surrounded her as she reached her locker. Since she’d arrived fashionably late to school, she hadn’t had the chance to catch up with friends. There were hugs, laughter, and plenty of comments about what she was wearing. Everyone talked at once, rushing because they only had ten minutes between classes. She’d been in New York with her mom all summer and hadn’t seen the gang in months. Questions flew at her, and she did her best to answer them.

  Cyndi shooed away the crowd after a couple of minutes. Once everyone was out of earshot, she searched Kristen’s face as if looking for something important. Hugging her books tight to her chest, she said, “Britt’s not here, so you can talk to me. What’s up with you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Right,” Cyndi scoffed. She leaned close and lowered her voice. “I can see your aura, you know. It’s usually a soft blue or green pastel, but right now it’s a yucky...”

  “Dad called me reliable this morning.” Kristen slammed her locker, annoyed with the memory.

  “I’m... sorry.” Cyndi frowned, confused. “What?”

  Kristen fumed. “You call a middle-aged woman reliable, or an old faithful car, not a girl in her teens. I’m not even going to be an official adult for another eight months.”

  “Yeah, it’s kind of my birthday too.” Cyndi apologized after being hit by a heavy glare from Kristen. “Sorry. Jokes aside, you have been acting pissed off since we left mom’s. Did she say something to you?”

  “She did say something, yes, and I think she was right.”

  “That’s crazy talk. Mom’s never right... about anything.”

  Kristen scowled, remembering her mother’s words. “She pointed out that dad has been grooming me to follow in his footsteps since I was in diapers. He told me that I wanted to be a businesswoman. He insisted that I was born to run the Hong Kong offices. He brainwashed me!”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it?” Kristen made a face. “Do you remember our tea parties? Do you? I remember them very clearly? I remember dad making my teddy bear into a Japanese businessman.”

  “Maybe he did that because that’s what he’s comfortable with. If he was a dentist, we would have been having tea with a patient. You know, you should just be happy that we have a dad who cared enough to play with us.”

  “I still think mom was right, and I’m tired of being his little puppet.”

  “You seriously need to stop listening to mom.”

  “It’s not just mom. Dad called me reliable, and teachers always look to me to run for office, oversee committees, and tutor failing students. They don’t even ask if I’ll do it anymore. They just assume I will because they think I’m reliable.”

  “Wow. You really don’t like that word, do you?”

  Kristen wasn’t listening. Ever since her enlightening conversation with her mother, she’d been rethinking her priorities. She was going to make some changes. Thinking aloud, she said, “I’m not going to completely blow my gra
de-point-average this year, but I want to try something new just in case I decide later that I don’t want to be a businesswoman. Maybe I’ll even decide I don’t want to go to college. I don’t want to be known as Miss Perfect anymore. I’m thinking maybe I should have a little fun this year.”

  Brittany caught the end of the conversation. Stepping between her two sisters, her gaze swung back and forth between them. Her mouth curved, and a wicked glint entered her eyes. “Did I just hear someone say they want to have fun?”

  “I wasn’t talking to you.” Kristen glared at Brittany. The other girl would give her endless crap over wasting her life if she found out about Kristen’s doubts. No way was she going to let Brittany know what their mom had said to her over the summer.

  “If you really want to have fun, I can help you.”

  “No thanks. Your kind of fun gets people arrested.”

  Brittany rolled her eyes. “Relax. I’m not talking about that kind of fun. I’m talking about the game. We can make it more interesting. Let’s have a side bet this year, just you and me.”

  Kristen’s eyes narrowed. “Side bet?”

  “You get to pick my mark, and I’ll pick yours. I want you to Crush tall, dark, and scary. If you win, I’ll give you my allowance for the whole year, every cent, and you can take the car to college with you.”

  Cyndi’s soft gasp slipped between Brittany’s outrageous statement and Kristen’s reply.

  “You’re out of your mind.”

  Brittany laughed. “I knew you didn’t have the balls to do it. You’re always bragging about being the queen of Crushed, always bragging that you can put a spell on anyone and make it work. Well, it's time to prove it, sis. I dare you to Crush him.” She winked at Cyndi before adding, “I double-dare you.”

  “What, are we in Kindergarten now?”

  Cyndi took a step away from them. “This is getting a little too intense for me. I’m going to try to find Jake. I haven’t seen him all summer, and I can’t get him on his cell.”

  “Do you want to…?” Brittany started to ask.

  Before the question was out of her mouth, Cyndi nodded. “Then after school we can…”