“You won’t have to miss him for long,” she said.
“He promised to return.
Maybe he’s being reborn again as we speak.”
Jersey’s pale blue eyes narrowed on her face.
“Reincarnation is nothing more than the imaginings of a feeble brain, the last hope of people who have wasted their lives.”
So Jersey hadn’t always believed in reincarnation.
Interesting.
Jack wondered if his return to life had anything to do with the change in Jersey’s outlook.
“You don’t think Tobias will return then?” Isobel asked.
Jersey shrugged, looking bored with the conversation.
He lifted his hand and checked his fingernails.
“It doesn’t matter.
If he does, I will simply kill him again.”
A strange smile tilted the man’s mouth.
“Being able to kill him again and again for eternity would be the equivalent of you getting to eat an entire chocolate cake and not gaining an ounce.”
Jersey didn’t seem to notice how her hands curled into tight fists at her sides.
She took a few deep breaths.
Jack waited for her to do something.
He hoped she was going
to drive one of those fists into Jersey’s smug face.
But her fingers relaxed.
An easy smile came to her lips.
She wasn’t even going to try to avenge him.
“I think I’ll part company with you for a while.
You killed Tobias and took away the only reason I stayed with you for so long.
He wanted to be your apprentice.
I just wanted to explore the world.”
Jersey looked at the horizon.
The sun was on its way down.
The dying rays painted beautiful colors across the evening sky.
Jersey’s smile widened.
“Go if you must.
I can always find someone to play my right hand man… or woman.”
******
This time Jack slowly returned to his body.
He looked at Isobel, surprised she hadn’t forced him out of the trance like people usually did.
It took a while longer to acclimate himself to his new surroundings.
Part of him remained on that roof sixty years ago.
He replayed the scene in his head, listening to every word spoken and watching every change of expression.
“You seemed surprised when Jersey killed me,” he said.
“I was.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, looking cold even though it was unseasonably warm.
“Then why do you look guilty all the time?
Why do you act like you took part in my death?”
“Because I did.
When he asked me to bring you to the roof that night, I knew what he was going to do.
I just thought I could stop him before he actually did it.
I thought we could kill him together.”
“Together?”
“Duh.
In my stupidity, I actually thought if we killed him together then you would want to be with me forever, instead of with her.”
Silver had been a girl named Katie in another life.
He wondered what she’d looked like.
Had her eyes been the same dark blue?
With everything in him, he wished he could remember meeting her.
Jack rubbed the side of his neck, afraid to ask the next question, but unable to stop
himself
.
“Did Jersey really kill her?”
“Of course he did.
Why would you doubt it?”
Because Jersey had become an important part of his life.
Although Jack was supposed to kill the man, he didn’t hate him.
The Jersey he saw in his memory had been without compassion, without mercy.
Had he changed or was Jack fooling himself?
“How did he do it?” Jack asked.
“How did he kill Katie?
Did she suffer?”
Isobel hesitated.
“I don’t think you really want to know.”
He allowed the subject to drop.
“What about you?
Why do you want to help me now?”
“That’s easy.
He killed the only man I ever loved.
If Jersey hadn’t taken your life, you would still be with me.
Tobias couldn’t have possibly made a relationship with Katie work.
He was a werewolf, and he loved power.
Eventually he would have come to his senses.
Or she would have.
Either way he would have returned to me.”
She was telling the truth.
He could see it in her eyes.
Isobel had loved him and lost him in the past because of Jersey.
Now she was willing to take his side, help him in his fight against the deadly head werewolf.
Maybe he could trust her.
“Teach me then,” Jack said.
“Show me how to do the soul-sucking thing right.”
“Well you didn’t do too badly for your first time.”
Isobel smiled.
“You just need practice.
It really isn’t something I can explain to you.
Someday you’ll find the rhythm that works best for you.
I know you will.
You can do this.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“You did it before when you were Tobias.”
A twinkling light hit her eyes.
“He was amazing at it even though he’d only been a werewolf for a short time.
It should have been impossible for him to suck out souls that fast, but he did it.
I believe he could have sucked Jersey’s soul out with a bit more practice.”
There was that word again.
Practice.
He got the feeling it was going to take a lot more time than they had available to them.
They were going to have to step it up if he was going to have even the slightest chance of besting Jersey in a fight.
“Ready to try again?” she asked.
He wasn’t, but he nodded.
Jack spread his legs apart and got into a fighting stance.
He clenched his fists even though he wouldn’t be using his physical body in the duel.
At least he knew what to expect this time.
Isobel faced him.
Their eyes locked.
“Start whenever you’re ready,” she said.
Jack reached into her mind with his, found her soul, and tried to drag it forward.
Although their bodies remained in the field, they were back in the abyss with fire raging around them.
It was either Hell or a close facsimile.
Smoke began to invade his lungs almost immediately, making it impossible to breathe.
Panic welled up inside of him, but he refused to give into it.
Concentrating, he pulled harder on her soul.
It budged an inch.
He almost had it.
Just another few minutes.
Isobel wasn’t strictly playing defense.
She was working on taking his soul from him at the same time he was trying to capture hers.
It was a horrible feeling.
Darkness took up residence in him as the essence of what he was slipped away.
Everything that made him a good person seemed to be oozing out of his pores.
Evil quickly took its place.
Jack couldn’t breathe.
Both of his worlds began to merge into a single picture.
He could see the open field again, only there was fire burning around him, and smoke choking him.
He fell to his knees.
His eyes blurred.
Isobel’s frantic voice floated on the wind, sounding as if it came from a great distance.
He couldn’t speak, couldn’t answer her.
Hands grabbed at him... another memory took him into the past.
******
Jack watched from a corner of the porch as Jersey sat on the steps and accepted a gift.
He tossed the bow aside, tore the dark blue paper, and opened the box to reveal a book.
With a wry smile on his face, he looked over his shoulder at Tobias.
Jack hadn’t noticed his alter-ego sitting in a chair off to the side until Jersey looked that way.
For the first time he wasn’t inside of Tobias.
“Poetry?”
Jersey lifted an eyebrow.
“Are you serious?”
“What do you get the three-thousand-year-old man who has everything?”
Tobias chuckled.
“You’ve probably read every great classic out there, so I thought it was time for you to try something new.”
He paused and wrinkled his nose before adding, “Chicks dig a guy who quotes poetry.”
Jersey’s smile faltered.
“You know I had my one true love already.”
“That brings up an interesting point.
Why don’t you ever talk about her?”
“She’s dead.”
“We’re friends aren’t we?
You’re supposed to open up to your friends, tell them your innermost secrets.
That’s how they become your best friends.”
Jersey stood.
Book clutched tight in one hand, he walked by Tobias on his way to the front door.
He stopped long enough to say, “You don’t want to be my best friend, Tobias.
I killed the last person who dared get that close to me.”
The screen door banged shut after Jersey.
As soon as he was gone, Isobel rounded the side of the house.
She climbed over the railing before taking a seat on it.
Frowning at Tobias, she asked, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?
Why were you asking about his wife when you know he doesn’t talk about her?”
Tobias shrugged and took a swig of beer.
“I’m not going to stop asking until you tell me,” Isobel said.
“You had a reason for pushing him.
I can see it in your eyes, and maybe he could too.
What are you planning?”
“I came across information about Jersey and his wife.”
Her brown eyes widened.
“Wow.
Is it juicy?”
Tobias looked to the screen door.
They both knew Jersey could be listening.
Isobel slid off the railing and walked over to Tobias.
She sat on his lap and put her ear near his mouth.
He whispered, “I think Jersey was married to the powerful faerie
who
created him.”
“Be serious.”
“Oh I am.
Deadly serious.
This faerie wrote a diary and handed it down her family line.
It’s got some amazing stuff in it.
If it’s true, I may know how to take him out.”
Fear entered Isobel’s eyes, and she shook her head violently.
“Are you crazy?
Don’t you think others have tried to get rid of him?
Somehow he always knows.
He can smell betrayal ten miles away.
You don’t stand a chance against him.”
“You’re the second werewolf.”
Tobias nibbled on her ear.
“You could help me.
Then you’d be the most powerful werewolf in existence.”
The idea seemed to appeal to her.
A new light entered her eyes, and Jack could practically see the wheels turning in her pretty head.
She whispered, “Maybe if I knew for sure how to take him out, I would.”
“The diary says he can be killed one of two ways.
Either a girl named Silver is going to do it, or a vampire turned mortal has to use a magic rock on him.”
Isobel’s eyes widened.
“You’re a vampire turned mortal.”
“Exactly.
And I know who has the magic rock.
I can get my hands on it, but I need your help to distract him.
Do you think you could manage?
She nodded.
He picked up her hand and entwined their fingers.
“You’re almost as old as him.
Did you know this faerie he was married to?
Did you meet her?”
She shook her head.
He asked, “Did he ever mention her?”
“I don’t know anything, Tobias.”
She sighed.
“When I met Jersey Clifford, he was insane with grief.
He’d just killed his wife and best friend, but he wouldn’t talk about it.
One of his loyal soldiers asked too many questions, and Jersey tore him to pieces.
Literally.”
She gripped her boyfriend’s chin between thumb and forefinger and forced him to meet her eyes.
“I would hate to see that happen to you.”
“So would I.”
“Then why push it?
If you don’t want to be around him, let’s leave.
We can go anywhere and do anything.
I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”