"Are you sure this is it?" Silver asked in a dull, lifeless voice.
Jack parked the car in front of Jersey's house after getting the address off the secretary's rolodex at school. He bent down in his seat so he could see past Silver and stared out the passenger side window at the little house. It was almost as bad as the old Miller place with an overgrown lawn, peeling paint, and broken shutters. Several acres surrounded the tiny home, unused land covered in wildflowers and weeds.
Disappointed, Jack shrugged. He had pictured Jersey living in a huge house, expensively decorated and piled high with books. This place did not fit the man's personality, and it didn't make any sense. Hadn't Jersey lived in Bliss for over three years? That seemed long enough to put a life in order.
It was a short walk to the front door. Since they didn't have a key, they looked around for a spare one. Jack didn't think Jersey was the type of person to keep a key under the doormat, but he tried it anyway. No key. They also didn't find one above the door or in the nearby potted plant, dead from neglect.
Silver folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the house. "Now what?"
"Maybe I still have the power to..." He reached a hand out and waved it over the doorknob. His reward: the sweet sound of a soft click. The door swung inward, and he smiled at Silver.
Her jaw dropped. "How did you do that?"
"Trade secret."
They stepped over the threshold and stopped in stunned silence. The interior of Jersey's house was worse than the exterior, if that was possible. The furniture was sparse; there was a rickety three-legged sofa, a cracked glass kitchen table, and an empty file cabinet on its side. No pictures or paintings on the dull, gray walls. There was a clock on a corner table, and a stack of newspapers by the back door. That was basically it.
"This isn't right," Jack said under his breath.
There wasn't a single book in sight. Jack took a quick tour of the entire house. It took less than a minute. The bedroom wasn't any better than the living room. The bed didn't look slept in, and the nightstand didn't have a solitary possession on it, not even a lamp. Jack opened the single drawer. Nothing. It was like nobody lived in the house.
"Look what I found," Silver said.
She held up a dark blue handkerchief, and Jack recognized it on sight. Jersey had been wearing it the night of the wraith attack. Jack reached out, fingered the edge. He experienced the urge to grab both the handkerchief and Silver's hand. He didn't know why. Urges didn't come with logic or reason. He simply obeyed the impulse.
Jack's fingers slid over hers, and he grasped them tight. A familiar current of electricity traveled through his body. He braced himself for a trip into Jersey's memory. Silver's soft gasp followed him to the other side.
Jersey sat behind his huge desk in his comfortable chair, flipping through a hardbound book. He looked like he'd just come from a funeral in a black suit with a blood red tie. His blonde assistant was perched on the edge of the desk. She posed like a model, pursing her painted pink lips together while he searched the pages for something.
"What's happening?" Silver asked.
Jack looked sideways, surprised to see her with him. Then he realized he was still holding her hand. Lovely's scribbled note came to mind. This was their shared power. "We're in one of Jersey's memories."
"What do we do?"
"Watch and listen."
Pagan said, "I don't understand your weird fascination with that boy. He's friends with hunters. That makes him dangerous."
YOU ARE READING
Vampires Rule
ParanormalThey don't call him Jackpot for nothing. At seventeen, Jack was attacked by a werewolf, but vampires saved his life. When he grew tired of a life with fangs, a freak event returned his mortality. Now Jack just wants to live a normal life; but what's...
