Jack had forgotten they were in a dream.
The board in Jersey’s hands transformed in to a sword.
He ran at his opponent, long blade aimed at Jack’s heart.
There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation.
A loud warrior cry split the air, coming from Jersey’s wide open mouth.
He was going to plunge the sword into Jack’s chest in the hope of killing him.
Jack conjured his own sword.
He darted to the side and clanged his blade against Jersey’s blade.
Jersey turned and swung the blade, but Jack used his sword to block it again.
Back and forth, they parried and thrust, using every fencing maneuver ever invented.
Jack shouldn’t have been able to defend himself so easily with the sword.
Somehow it came naturally to him.
Maybe he’d learned it in a past life.
“Enough of this,” Jersey said.
The sword became a rifle.
He pulled the trigger without a moment’s hesitation.
The bullet ripped through Jack’s upper abdomen.
He stumbled backwards.
Both hands went to the injured area.
It hurt almost as bad as when he’d been stabbed by that other demented werewolf.
Breathing became a painful chore.
Concentrating, he reminded himself it was only a dream.
Jersey smiled.
“Shall we wait and see if you wake up?”
“Let’s see if you do.”
Jack put his hands together and stood up straight.
Remembering how he’d conjured the flowers for Silver, he pictured the item he wanted most.
He smiled and opened his hands.
A grenade instantly appeared.
Before Jersey had time to realize what he had, he pulled out the pin and tossed it to the werewolf.
Jersey caught it.
It exploded.
Jack fell backwards.
Debris landed on him and around him.
He struggled into a sitting position.
He lifted his shirt and checked the bullet proof vest beneath.
A half-smile came to his mouth.
Good thing for him that he had thought fast enough to conjure the vest beneath his clothes.
He looked to the place where Jersey had been.
Nothing there.
Of course he wasn’t an idiot.
Jersey Clifford wasn’t gone.
It couldn’t possibly be that easy.
A slow smile touched Jack’s lips, because he was closer than ever to getting rid of the head werewolf.
Even if it wasn’t real, he had killed Jersey without hesitating.
It would come easier the second time.
After all, practice makes perfect.
******
Chapter Twenty-Three:
TRAITOR REVEALED
Jack opened his eyes and found
Silver
hovering over him.
She hadn’t even been asleep.
She smiled.
He lifted a hand and caressed her cheek.
This was real.
What he had with Silver was real.
Nothing else mattered.
Jersey couldn’t touch that.
“Where were you?” he asked.
“I was in the woods, and you didn’t show.”
“I was there.
I tried to get to you, but Jersey locked me in a cage.
Can you believe it?
Now I know what a canary feels like.
He told me he was going to finish you, and I couldn’t stop him.
I was so scared.”
She placed her head on his chest, and his arms encircled her.
He kissed the top of her head before saying, “I’m glad he didn’t hurt you.”
“Me?
He wasn’t after me.
He wanted to hurt you.
Are you okay?”
“I’m good.”
He grinned.
“Actually I’m better than good.
I blew the monster up.”
Her head lifted, and she marveled at him.
“What?
Do you think he’s gone for good?”
“I doubt it.”
“What about my necklace?
Did you find out who stole it?”
He shook his head, not wanting to scare her and reveal what Isobel had told him about
Summer
being alive.
He wanted proof before repeating such a crazy rumor.
“Isobel was there.
She wanted to help us find the rock.
She wanted to save me, and he killed her.”
“How?”
Jack reluctantly pushed Silver away.
He got up and walked around the room.
His nervous energy hit an all time high.
Isobel’s death replayed in his head as he gave Silver the details.
“He sucked her soul out.
It was unbelievable.
I wish you’d seen how fast, how easy it was for him.
It took him less time than it takes me to blink.
Bam!”
Jack slammed a fist into his palm.
“It was over.
It was that quick.”
The color drained from Silver’s face.
“We can’t win.
If I live to be a hundred, I won’t be that powerful.”
“Then I will be.
He took the gloves off tonight, showed me what he’s capable of.
I will defeat him this time no matter what the cost.”
Silver stepped into his arms.
They held each other tight and close.
They were screwed, and they both knew it.
Jack wished he could get his hands on the stupid
faerie’s
neck for starting this whole mess.
If it wasn’t for her and her stupid inability to make a decision, he and Silver would be a couple of normal kids.
“I don’t want you to die,” Silver said in a small voice, sounding so unlike the strong girl he’d come to love.
It was up to him to put things into perspective.
He had to convince her it was going to be okay—even if he didn’t believe it.
Jack held her at arm’s length.
He pasted on a bright smile for her benefit and said, “Lovely created Jersey, right?”
Silver nodded.
He added, “Then she must have known what could and would defeat him.
We have to believe she’s given us enough power to do the job.
Maybe she hasn’t revealed the whole story yet.
Pages pop up from time to time.
Maybe we’ll get a blueprint on how to do it when we need it most.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
His eyes went to the window.
“We need to find Isobel, make sure she’s really dead and doesn’t need help.”
Silver frowned.
“But we have no idea where her body could be.”
“I think I might know.”
He crossed over to the door and opened it before gesturing for Silver to follow him.
“Are you coming?”
She nodded and pasted on a wane smile.
******
Two days later they laid Isobel in a tomb.
Gray stone walls and black bars over the doorway, the crypt belonged to the Reign family.
Because they weren’t sure Isobel was actually dead, they wanted to put her somewhere where they could keep an eye on her.
The girl didn’t have a pulse, but no one understood what happened to a werewolf when their soul was ripped from their body.
According to the diary the soul moved on, but
Lovely
wasn’t always right.
No one had severed Isobel’s head from her shoulders, so it was possible she could come back to life.
Andrew and Ian had wanted to cut her head off, but Jack and Silver had the feeling she might still have a part to play in the whole werewolf battle—for better or for worse.
They placed her on a marble platform instead of inside of a coffin.
When they’d found her, her eyes had been staring up at the sky, just like in the dream.
They had found her in the field where she had first taught Jack how to suck out souls.
Apparently she had lain down in the grass and gone to sleep.
Somehow he had known she would be there.
Jack stood on one side with Silver on the other and said, “I feel like I should say something.
I mean, we shouldn’t just leave her here without at least a prayer.”
“Go ahead.”
His gaze returned to Isobel’s pale face.
He chose his words carefully.
He wanted to be respectful of the dead, but he didn’t want to feed Silver’s jealousy.
Speaking directly to Isobel he said, “I haven’t known you for very long.
I don’t know what your favorite color is or what you like to do on a Saturday night, but I do know you tried to save my life.
In the past you made bad choices.
When it counted, you turned on Jersey.
I thank you for that.”
“I want to say something too.”
Silver looked down at Isobel.
“Even though you lied to me and you weren’t the person you pretended to be, you tried to save Jack’s life, and I’ll never forget that.
I want you to know I’ll miss you in a weird sort of way, and I’m going to try to remember you as the girl I used to hang out with.
Rest in peace.”
“Do you really think she can be at peace after everything she’s done?”
Silver nodded.
“Deep inside I think she was a good person.
Unlike Jersey.”
Jack didn’t argue the point.
His days of defending Jersey were over.
Although he would always feel sorry for the man Jersey had been before meeting Lovely, Jack had come to hate him.
They had had some interesting conversations, but those days were gone forever.
From now on Jack planned to get ready for his battle with Jersey.
He was going to free Jersey Clifford from the werewolf curse.
Jack placed his hands on the marble slab and dropped his head.
A great sadness washed over him.
He could barely stand the pain.
“Are you okay?” Silver asked.
“I was just thinking about Billy.
I wish I had a body to bury.”
He swallowed hard and fought back the tears.
“I don’t even know what happened to him.
He could be in pieces, scattered—.”
“Don’t,” Silver interrupted him.
“Don’t do that to yourself.”
“Why not?”
He walked away from the tomb, but he mumbled as he went.
“Billy had to suffer through it.
I can at least deal with the thought.”
******
For the rest of the day Jack longed to be alone.
Well-meaning members of the Reign family wouldn’t allow it.
He was convinced they had a time sheet somewhere.
It was very well organized.
Every time one of them left his side, another stepped in.
Andrew sat in the living room with him when he pretended to read.
Vanessa hung out in the kitchen with him while he forced himself to eat.
Silver joined him when he wanted to take a walk.
The entire day was spent in the company of people he usually enjoyed.
Now he wished he could make them go away.
Even Silver.
He didn’t have time to think or time to grieve.
Inside, he screamed at them to leave him alone.
He didn’t want to hurt their feelings, so he went along with their plans.
Until bedtime.
After forcing the last spoonful of pudding into his mouth, he stood abruptly.
He looked around at everyone sitting at the dinner table and made an announcement.
“I’m going to bed early.
See you tomorrow.”
“Let me know if you need anything, honey,” Vanessa said.
He stopped behind her chair, planted a kiss on the top of her head.
She reached up with a hand and patted his arm.
It was hard to believe they’d hated each other when they’d first met.
She was a wonderful woman, and his mother would have loved her.
Silver followed him into the foyer and asked, “Do you want some company?
I can make an excuse.”
“No.”
When a hurt look came to her face, he added, “I’m really tired.
I don’t want to talk or anything.”
“Sure.
I understand.”
Her expression belied her words, but he didn’t care enough to give in to her.
Although he loved her, he wasn’t going to let her have her way every time.
She was going to have to deal with it.
His brother had died.
He needed solitary time to lick his wounds.
Jack hurried to his bedroom and shoved the door open.
Blanca jumped with a startled cry.
She spun around, and he saw the diary in her hands.
Her face reddened.
Caught in the act, she sneered at him.
“You got me.”
“Huh?”
Jack shut the door, not wanting anyone else to see his shape-shifting cat, at least not until he got to the bottom of this.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“It was me, moron.
I stole the rock, the necklace, and now the diary.
I’ve been working for Jersey.”
A thousand things raced through Jack’s mind, but his mouth produced one word.
“Why?”
“Why?”
She cackled like a witch.
“You were kind of cool when you were a vampire, sweetie, but now you’re just a stupid mortal.
No way am I hanging out with a loser like you.
Besides, every time I’m around Jersey Clifford this amazing power shimmers through me.
I can take any form I want.”
“Give me the diary.”
“No.”
She put it behind her back as he crossed the room with heavy steps.
Her eyes lowered, fake demure.
She was trying to be sexy, trying to seduce him into letting her get away with it, but she didn’t know who she was dealing with.
After all these years she had no idea what he was capable of.
Jack removed a dagger from a nearby drawer.
He kept it there for protection rather than a gun.
In a flash he had the blade pressed against her throat.
There was nowhere for her to run.
She was a shape-shifter, so she could be killed as easily as a mortal, and if he cut her head off she wouldn’t be able to rejuvenate.
“You wouldn’t,” she said.
“I would.”
He pressed the blade harder against her neck.
She gasped and a trickle of blood stained the blade.
He said, “Drop the diary.”
It hit the floor behind her.
He removed the knife from her throat and pushed her towards the bed with a forceful shove before she could try to get the upper hand.
She landed on the mattress.
Hissing at him, she jumped up and charged him.
He lifted the dagger.
She almost ran into it, but she came to her senses in time to save her own life.
“Know what else I did?” she asked gloating.
“I wanted you to be a vampire again, so I let
Summer
in to bite you.
It was too bad she screwed that up.”
Everything became clear in a heartbeat.
“You were the one who let Jersey into my bedroom.
You let him into the house.”