Blaine pulled the trigger four times.
Each bullet struck Jack’s upper body, tearing through tissue, muscle, and organs.
Everything seemed to slow down.
His body jerked with each hit.
He dropped to his knees, unable to breathe as his lungs filled with blood.
He heard Silver scream, but it was a distant sound.
Blaine used vampire-speed to get away from the sprinting hunters
Then his friends were there like a tiny miracle.
Silver wrapped her arms around him as Andrew and Ian tried to figure out what to do next.
They talked about hunting both Blaine and Billy down.
Jack struggled to speak.
He wanted to beg them not to hurt his brother.
It wasn’t Billy’s fault that he’d been turned into a vicious werewolf.
The only thing Jack managed was a tortured groan.
Time began to move faster, and terrible pain hit Jack.
He cried out and dropped onto his back.
He writhed in agony on the ground.
Silver yelled for her mom and asked, “What’s wrong with him?”
The pain was excruciating.
He couldn’t talk, think, or breathe.
Fists clenched, he tried to tell Silver it was okay even though he knew he’d be lying.
He didn’t want her to be scared.
Vanessa grasped the front of his shirt and tore it open.
Buttons flew through the air.
She and Silver gasped at the same time.
Whatever it was, it was bad.
Andrew and Ian stood over Jack and stared down at him with grim expressions.
Vanessa looked to her husband.
In obvious defeat, she told her Andrew, “I don’t know what to do.”
Ian said, “They’re silver bullets.”
Silver began to sob uncontrollably, and Jack had to see what was upsetting everyone so much.
Using his last ounce of strength, he lifted his upper body off the ground and took a long look at his exposed chest.
Angry red lines seemed to be drawn on his skin, making his flesh look like a road map.
As he watched, the lines grew longer.
If one stab from a silver knife could make him sick, four silver bullets were going to kill him.
There wasn’t a doubt in his head.
Ian pushed the girls out of his way.
He knelt beside Jack, shiny blade in his hand.
Without a comforting word or a stern warning, he sliced into Jack’s flesh.
Jack threw his head back, banging it against the ground, and opened his mouth on a loud scream.
Silver begged her mom and dad to stop Ian, but they ignored her.
“Those bullets need to come out now,” Ian said before cutting deeper.
Jack wondered if his uncle was trying to save him or finish him off.
To keep his mind off the pain, he tried to make a mental list of the reasons Ian might want to kill him and the reasons he might want to keep him around.
One side of the list was a lot shorter than the other.
Jack passed out.
His last thought was for Silver.
He hoped she’d be okay without him.
******
Chapter Twenty-Six:
THE FIRST VAMPIRE
“Am I dreaming?” Jack asked.
“Am I dead?”
In the woods again, he had walked for what seemed like an hour before finding another living, breathing person.
With their back to him, the black-robed figure did not respond to his questions.
It was possible they hadn’t heard him.
From that angle Jack couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.
He just knew it wasn’t Silver because she wasn’t asleep.
She was still outside the school, hovering over him as his uncle operated in the middle of the street.
Jack repeated the question, louder this time.
“Am I dreaming, or did I die?”
The figure slowly revolved, and Jack forgot to breathe.
Jersey Clifford’s pale blue eyes twinkled beneath the low-hanging hood.
The head werewolf looked like a picture Jack had seen once of the Grim Reaper.
Lifting both hands, palms up, Jersey replied, “You cannot die unless I kill you, and even then you won’t stay dead for long.
Haven’t you figured it out yet, Jack?”
“Figured out what?”
Jersey shook his head and clicked his tongue.
“Such a shame.
You were the most brilliant student I have ever had the pleasure to teach.
Alas, it seems that since I’ve left the school your education has fallen short.”
Jack remembered what Jersey had done to his brother, changing him into a werewolf, and a new burning rage surfaced.
His fists clenched, but he didn’t raise them.
He wanted to kill Jersey Clifford.
Unfortunately they were in a dream.
There wasn’t anything he could do to the werewolf on this side of reality.
Why bother trying?
It might sap his energy and keep him from healing.
“If I could kill you right now,” Jack said, “you’d be so dead.”
“Why the hostility?
I thought we were becoming the best of friends.”
“Are you kidding me?
After what you did?”
Jersey shrugged.
“I forgave you for taking the life of my assistant.
Pagan was family to me.
Why can’t you offer me the same consideration?”
“You changed my brother into a werewolf and sent him to kill me.”
Jersey didn’t confirm nor deny the charge.
Smiling, he looked up at the faux sun.
Talking in a quiet tone as if he was conversing with a family member while sitting on the porch, sipping lemonade, he said, “You must have missed the sunlight when you were a vampire.
I’ve often wondered how you found the strength to survive such a nasty lifestyle.”
Feeling insulted and in no mood to defend himself to a smelly werewolf, Jack stared off into the distance.
He had no intention of saying another word to Jersey.
The head werewolf could talk to himself.
Jack didn’t care.
Nothing could make him speak to his former teacher again.
He tried to tune him out, thinking about Silver instead.
Jersey went on.
“I realize you were brainwashed into believing that vampires are superior to werewolves, but I think you’re clever enough to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Surely you can see that werewolves are stronger and smarter than bloodsuckers.”
It wasn’t going to work.
Jack started walking again.
Somehow he would find a way to wake up before Jersey drove him to insanity.
He focused his attention on the pretty trees and the warmth of the sun.
It was a beautiful day in the world of dreams.
Jersey appeared at his side in a flash.
Unable to take a hint, the werewolf continued to talk without a filter.
“While vampires are only allowed out at night, werewolves can go outside no matter the time, and we don’t have to drink blood.
That is a definite advantage.”
Jack clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt.
He wanted to verbally rip the head werewolf apart.
A hundred vicious things he could say rolled around in his mind, but he kept them to himself.
No way was he going to talk to Jersey Clifford.
He wasn’t even going to acknowledge the man’s presence.
Jack continued to walk.
Jersey began to sing off-key as loud as he could.
That’s it!
Jack had to find a way to wake up.
He didn’t care if Ian was tearing into his flesh.
Physical pain would be a blessing compared to the mental anguish of dealing with Jersey.
Desperate to wake up, he screamed as loud as he could.
The abrupt noise caught Jersey off guard, and it shut his mouth for the moment at least.
Birds scattered into the air, exiting the nearby bush they’d been hiding in.
Other than that, nothing happened.
Jack balled up a fist and hit a thick tree trunk.
Pain shot up his arm.
Even though he was dreaming, physical sensations seemed all too real.
He held his injured hand against his stomach, hopped around, and cursed like a drunken sailor.
Little by little, the pain lessened until it vanished completely.
He glanced down at his hand and was surprised to see unblemished flesh. The skin should have been bruised at least.
Jack stood still for a moment and squeezed his eyes shut.
He willed himself to wake up.
Jersey’s amused voice intruded on his thoughts.
“That was quite a show.”
“Shut up!”
Jack couldn’t take it anymore.
He looked around, but he didn’t see Jersey anywhere.
Had the werewolf discovered a way to become invisible in Jack’s dreams?
“Where the hell are you?
Show yourself, you coward?”
“I’m not hiding.
I’m up here.”
Jack shielded his eyes from the bright sun with one hand and looked up.
Jersey sat perched in a tall tree.
It would have been amusing if it had been anyone other than Jersey.
He straddled a thick branch.
His feet kicked at the air like a happy child enjoying the freedom of being that high up.
Jack wondered if he could pick up a rock and throw it, knocking the werewolf out of the tree.
Tired of trying to ignore Jersey, he asked, “What do you want from me?
Seriously.
Just tell me, and get it over with.
What the hell do you want from me?”
Jersey jumped out of the tree and landed on his feet next to Jack.
“What do I want?
That’s simple.
I want you to put two and two together and not come up with a six.
I want you to get on the same page with me.
Can you do that?”
“Whatever.
I am so over your games.”
“What do you think I want from you?”
“You want me to embrace my destiny and fight you in some big showdown.
I guess that’s why you did what you did to Billy.
Well, you’re going to get your wish.
I hate you more than I’ve ever hated another person in my entire life.”
Jersey kept his stare blank, but his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
It didn’t escape Jack’s notice.
For some reason Jersey didn’t like the fact that he hated him.
Good.
Jack hoped the werewolf choked on the knowledge.
He added, “Since I can’t kill you here and now, I think I’ll leave.
Don’t follow me.
See
ya
.”
Jack tried to walk away, but Jersey appeared in front of him.
The robe had vanished, replaced with a modern black suit.
A bright red triangle stuck out of his breast pocket.
“What happened to your curiosity?
I have been waiting for you to figure out the truth for an eternity, and you still don’t have a clue.
I am extremely disappointed in you.”
“Boo-
hoo
.
Get out of my way.
I’m leaving.”
Jersey stepped aside and swept the air with his arm, motioning for Jack to go.
However, as Jack passed by, Jersey asked, “Haven’t you ever wondered why you?
Out of all the people in this world, why were you chosen to fight me?
Why were you reborn again and again?”
Jack frowned.
“I’ve lived more than twice?
How many times have we done this dance?”
Although he knew about being Tobias, for some reason it hadn’t occurred to him that he’d lived other lives.
How many times had he tried to kill Jersey?
And what about Silver?
Had she died at Jersey’s hands ten times?
Twenty times?
Thirty?
“I have lost track.”
Jersey walked in a slow circle around Jack as he explained.
“I admit it took me centuries to put it together myself.
Like you, I didn’t believe in reincarnation.
Then one night I had a dream about you and Tobias, and I realized you have the same eyes.
Why I didn’t recognize those eyes I’ll never fully comprehend.
Maybe I did not want to face the truth.”
“The truth?”
Jack folded arms over his chest.
Jersey grinned.
“I am the first werewolf.”
“I know that already.”
“Aw, yes, but did you know this?”
Jersey lifted a finger to accentuate his point.
For a moment they were back in the classroom and Jersey was teaching.
His eyes sparkled with knowledge, and he wore a smug smile.
“Did you know that you were the first vampire?”
Jack shook his head to clear it.
He must have heard the insane werewolf wrong.
There was no way that he had been the first vampire created.
That would mean he’d been the other man in Lovely’s life.
It would mean that he and Jersey had fought over the faerie, and she’d changed him into a vampire to hold onto them both.
As if reading his mind, Jersey grinned again and said, “Yes!”
He slammed a fist into the palm of his hand.
“Over three thousand years ago you and I were the best of friends, but we fell in love with the same woman.
When she chose you, I killed her.”
There was a brief pause, and Jersey stopped smiling.
“I killed you both.”
“We were friends three thousand years ago?”
Jack tried to wrap his mind around what Jersey was saying.
“We fell in love with the same girl?”
“That is correct.”
With a wistful look on his face, Jersey said, “We grew up in the same small town.
Our families were close, and we became closer than brothers.
Then we fell for the same sweet girl.”
“Wait a second.”
Jack’s expression turned grim.
“You told me that some old lady raised you and your best friend together.”
“Did I?”
Jersey’s eyes twinkled with amusement.
Jack shouted, “You are such a liar!
You’ve been lying to me this whole time.”
“No,” Jersey denied the accusation.
“There is always some truth in every lie.
They tangle together in a tightly woven trap.
Your mission is to figure out which part is the lie and which part is the truth.
What part did I make up?”
Mentally exhausted, Jack knew he had to rip himself out of the dream or lose his grip on reality forever.
He was tired of playing Jersey’s games.
Which part was the lie?
All of it.
No longer fooled, Jack decided the head werewolf had lied about everything.
Until he found evidence to the contrary, he wasn’t buying any of it.
There was no way that he had been the first vampire in history.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut tight and willed himself to wake up.
******
Unwittingly he took a deep breath and pain ripped through his entire body, grounding him in reality.
Memory returned with the subtlety of a charging bull.
The Albino Vampire had shot him with four silver bullets.
He should be dead, but he wasn’t.
Death would have been kinder.
Maybe Jersey had told the truth about one thing.
Maybe Jack couldn’t die unless Jersey killed him.
A soft hand soothed his heated brow and a sweet voice spoke in gentle tones, saying,
“Don’t
move.
You need to keep still.
Ian removed the bullets, but you lost a lot of blood.
We dosed you with some of mine.
It’s fighting the poison, but it hasn’t completely worked yet.
You haven’t healed.”