Free Vampires Rule by K.C. Blake Page A

depart until Cowboy
introduced him to cigarettes. Chain-smoking helped them cope.
    And now he missed it (the sense of smell, not
the cigarettes). Actually, if he was going to be honest, he missed
being able to smell Silver the way he had at the cemetery. He also
missed being able to hear her heart beat from several yards away.
In a strange way he even missed being able to hear the blood
rushing through her veins.
    On the other hand, he didn’t miss wanting to
feed on her.
    “Didn’t you hear me?” Jersey hovered over
Jack. He gestured to the empty classroom. “Everyone’s gone home.
You don’t strike me as one prone to daydreaming, Jack. Do you want
to talk about what’s bothering you?”
    Jersey sat on the edge of the adjacent desk.
His tall and lanky body moved with graceful, fluid motions. The man
could have been a ballet dancer in a former life.
    “It’s nothing.”
    “You can trust me.” Jersey eyes narrowed. “I
can see the grief in your eyes. It darkens the soul. You know I
recently lost someone very close to me. He was like a brother. He
died suddenly. It was a shock.”
    “I’m…sorry.” Jack shifted in the desk,
uncomfortable under the scrutiny of Jersey’s probing gaze. The man
was a starving dog with a meaty bone. He wasn’t going to turn
loose. Jack admitted, “I lost my friends too. They aren’t dead, but
they might as well be. I’ll never see them again.”
    Jersey quoted, “I loved—but those I loved are
gone, had friends—my early friends are fled. How cheerless feels
the heart alone when all its former hopes are dead.”
    “Lord Byron.” Jack smiled at Jersey’s stunned
expression.
    Cowboy had insisted he spend his vampire
years defying gravity, the speed of light and every other mortal
law, but Lily had pushed him to read and learn to appreciate beauty
whether it was the written word, classical music, or an abstract
painting. He owed her big time.
    “Do you want to talk about your friends? It
might help.”
    “I don’t think so. I’m not really much of a
talker.”
    “More of an action man, huh?” Jersey grinned.
“I have a feeling you and I have a lot in common, a lot more than
meets the eye.”
    Jersey patted him on the shoulder. For a
moment the hand froze to him as if stuck. Jersey stared at him with
a look of total disbelief.
    “Is something wrong?” Jack asked.
    Jersey removed his hand promptly. He
swallowed several times and took a few steps away from Jack.
Something was wrong. Something had changed between them, but Jack
didn’t understand what or why.
    Jack stood. He picked up his textbooks and
headed for the door. He didn’t want to talk to the English teacher
about his vampire friends anymore. The only person he wanted to
talk to was Silver. She was forefront in his mind. He didn’t know
what he would say to her, but he knew he had to see her.
    Jersey followed him to the door. Jack looked
back at him once and saw that odd expression still on his face. He
couldn’t label it. It seemed to be a mixture of confusion and
awe.
    “I’m still trying to figure out where I know
you from,” Jersey said. “No luck yet, but I’ll continue to work on
it.”
    Fabulous. Jack wondered how long it would
take the English teacher to piece it together. It was another thing
he couldn’t tell Silver about. She would hit the roof if she knew
the teacher thought he looked familiar. To her, it would be one
more reason why he shouldn’t show his face in public, especially
not at Jefferson Memorial.
     
     

Chapter Six:
THE WEREWOLF POPULATION GROWS

    During the next two weeks, Jack found a
routine he could live with. He went to school, did his homework and
tried to stay out of trouble. Silver stopped pushing him to drop
out, but she still shot him warning glares now and again. He made a
couple new friends. Even Billy seemed to relax, let down his
guard...
    ...and isn’t that when the bad stuff always
happens?
    Another school day ended on a quiet note.
Jack searched the