Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires (27 page)
Read Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires Online
Authors: Jeff Gunhus
Tags: #Children's Books, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Fantasy & Magic, #Children's eBooks, #Science Fiction; Fantasy & Scary Stories, #Sword & Sorcery
I nodded and turned my attention back to Eva. Her breath was more ragged now. She was slipping away.
“And I will give you one other gift, nephew,” Shakra said, her voice rising in volume. “One for which you will someday thank me.”
With our minds linked, I had a sense of what she intended to do even before she moved. I cried out, “No!” but it was no use. Part of me filled with terror. But it would be a lie not to admit a flood of relief washed over me as well.
It was fate, and I decided not to get in its way.
I
stood on the front deck of the boat as we motored slowly down the Seine River through the middle of Paris. It was night and the Eiffel Tower rose up in front of us, lit by floodlights. Tourists walked on the observation platforms, looking like little specks next to the massive structure. Will and T-Rex walked up next to me, taking in the sight.
“I’ve seen it in pictures so many times, it feels weird to see it in person,” Will said.
I nodded, welcoming any small talk to distract my attention from my brooding thoughts.
“It’s beautiful,” T-Rex said. “The way it glows like that.”
I turned and saw Daniel at the steering wheel with Xavier next to him. After Shakra escorted us back to street-level, we’d made our way to the river and borrowed the boat easily enough. We intended to put some distance between us and the vampires as quickly as possible, then leave the boat somewhere it could be returned to its owner.
None of us spoke much as we readied for our trip, each lost to our own thoughts. Dealing with our own emotions of coming so close to death. Dealing with how we felt about how it had all ended.
But we’d made it out alive. And we had the first Jerusalem Stone. Now I clung to one thing Shakra had said, that many of the Creach did not want a war with humans. Perhaps the other Creach Lords would be willing to part with their Jerusalem Stones in order to avert the coming clash. I could only hope.
Still, the revelation of my heritage on my mother’s side gnawed away at me from the inside. My mortal enemy was actually my grandfather. The blood in my veins was his as well as that of a Templar. It struck me that he must have known this when we met that first night in Sunnyvale. He’d been ready to kill me as quickly as a rat or some other pest. I knew not to expect a tender reunion when I met him next.
There were still so many questions. How had my mother been able to reunite the Stones to transform herself into a human to be with my father? How did she die? How did I fall into Ren Lucre’s hands? Gregor had apologized for his part in it, and Shakra shared the blame too. Even my mother had apologized for what she did. Yet none had been willing to give me a straight answer. I wondered if I would ever know the whole truth.
Until then, I must continue leading my friends into danger. Our quest was only one fifth of the way complete, and already I’d asked so much from them. Based on what Shakra had told me, I had a good clue where to look for the next Jerusalem Stone. Well, it was clear how we might find the Lord who guarded it, but where he kept his Stone was anyone’s guess. The Lord of the Werewolves was our next adversary, and he was sure to test us in every way possible. Even Tiberon had warned me of his fierceness and violent nature.
I had no idea how we would defeat him or rally him to our cause. But we had to keep moving forward. We would make the journey to the den of the werewolves and, I hoped, find something when we got there to help us form a plan.
I looked at the bow of our small boat. At the point most forward, keeping as much distance as possible from the rest of us, a figure in a hooded cloak stood looking out into the night sky. Even with the gentle rocking of the boat, the figure somehow appeared not to move. I stared, unsure of what to do.
As if feeling my gaze, the figure turned, the cowl of the hood casting a shadow. A breeze gusted, and the hood moved enough so moonlight illuminated the face.
Eva stared back at me. Her eyes cold and hard. Her mouth a tight, stern line. She reached up and pulled the hood back into place. For a brief second, her eyes burned like embers in the shadows. They were the eyes of a creature of the night. They were the eyes of a vampire.
She turned and looked ahead of us.
Will leaned in to me. “Is she going to be okay?” he whispered. “She hasn’t spoken since it happened.”
T-Rex was close enough to me that I felt him shudder. “Don’t talk about it,” he said, choking on the words. “Please…just don’t…”
It had been hard for all of us, seeing Shakra force the gift onto Eva despite my pleas for her to stop. But it had worked. Eva had come to, pulled back from the brink of her mortal death into a different kind of death altogether. It was terrible, that first moment of realization when she put together what had happened to her. The look she gave me was seared in my mind. So filled with betrayal and hatred that I had to look away. I also knew that if she saw my eyes she would see the truth in them. She would know I felt relieved she was alive. That deep inside, I was glad Shakra had saved her.
Eva hadn’t spoken to anyone since that moment.
I put my arm over T-Rex’s shoulder and I felt Will do the same. “It’s going to be alright, T-Rex.”
He looked up at me, tears in his eyes. “Is it? I mean, do you really think so?”
I glanced at Eva standing at the bow, her head tilted back to look at the night sky. I thought about the challenges ahead of us and the sacrifices we would need to make in order to achieve our quest. I told T-Rex what he deserved to hear. The truth.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I hope so, but I just don’t know.”
It was an unsatisfying answer, but it was all I had to give him. These were my best friends, and they deserved the truth. They both nodded their heads, and we stood there, arms draped over one another, watching the lights of Paris pass us by.
Whatever the future held, we would face it together, hopefully without regrets, with honor, and never forgetting the friendship binding us. I hoped that, in time, Eva would once again be part of that bond. Until then, all we could do was give her the space to heal and come to terms with what had happened and why.
I knew it would take time for Eva to heal, and I was afraid that she might not ever do so completely even if we were able to restore her humanity when we recovered the Jerusalem Stones. As I watched her stare up into the empty night sky, I couldn’t help but feel guilty.
I had tried to stop Shakra, but my heart hadn’t been in it. With our minds linked, Shakra had known this is what I secretly wanted in my heart. I admit it, I was happy Eva wasn’t dead. I could live with her despising me if it meant not burying her body. I hoped she would one day forgive me, but it wasn’t the most important thing. The fact that she was alive was what mattered.
I started to push those thoughts from my mind to think about the coming challenge of the Lord of the Werewolves, but then I stopped myself. There would be time for that later. Instead, I walked to the back of the boat with Will and T-Rex and joined Daniel and Xavier. We stood together in silence as Paris slid past us, finding comfort in the simple company of friends.
We had survived. We were a team. And we were ready for whatever came next.
We would do our duty, come what may.
THE END
A
s I warned you from the beginning, the act of reading this book makes you part of the monster hunter world. The Creach in your area have already sensed that you have this book, so you must be alert at all times.
I’ve set up a website to keep you posted on what’s happening and to help teach you how to fight:
The password for the secret area is MONSTER.
See you there. But watch out…there are monsters everywhere!
Do Your Duty, Come What May!
-Jack Templar
T
hank you for joining me in the world of Jack Templar and the Creach monsters. It’s been my honor to get to know Jack and help him get the word out about the dangers that lurk in the shadows of our world.
If you enjoyed the book, I would appreciate a review on any of the numerous online sites where readers gather, particularly Amazon.com. If you are a young hunter, make sure to get your parent’s permission first. This helps bring attention to the book and alert others who could benefit from having their eyes opened to the reality of the monster threat.
I look forward to sharing Book 4 with you…
Jack Templar and the Lord Of The Werewolves
.
Do your duty, come what may!
Jeff Gunhus
J
eff Gunhus is the author of the Middle Grade/YA series The Templar Chronicles. The first book,
Jack Templar Monster Hunter
, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His book
Reaching Your Reluctant Reader
has helped hundreds of parents create avid readers. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle with his wife Nicole in Maryland by trying to constantly keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the City Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel…always on the lookout of Creach monsters that might be out to get him! Come say hello at…