Inheritance

Chapter 2: Jack (Part 1)

Sundance and her gang of popular kids waited around the steps for him. They all smirked at him as he walked through them, but he ignored them. He moved through the hoards of teens to his locker. Someone grabbed his arm. He turned swiftly, clutching their hand.

The girl - the girl who had been under the vampire's spell - gasped as he twisted her hand. Jack quickly let her go. She stood up on her tip-toes, kissed his cheek, blushed and hurried off. Jack stood frozen in the flood of students. He touched his cheek where her lips had brushed his skin. A crazy smile bubbled to the surface and Jack resisted the urge to throw an air punch. He turned to look for her, but she disappeared in the crowd.

"Maybe it is not so bad being a human vampire hunter," he said.

"You see!" Zephyr said. "Nothing is without its perks."

The kiss carried Jack through the day despite Sundance's gang following him around trying to give him a hard time. The normal pushing and crowding which intimidated other teens, turned Jack's day into a large moving obstacle course which he used to test the limits of his dexterity and sharpen his observation. 

His evening passed quickly with open books and sparring with Fortunatus. No wolf dream haunted his sleep.

"I'll be gone until Saturday evening." Jack told Olive as he hugged her good-bye.

"Enjoy the Expo!" She called after him.

"She really does sound like a mom," Jack whispered to Zephyr who giggled from his pocket.

He climbed on a bus with the other kids in his self-defense class, and they headed to the Martial Arts Expo in Sweet Grass, the nearest city to Dorian, Jack's home town. Jack sat in the back of the bus with twenty-four other kids, mostly guys, but a few girls here and there, and Mr. Rells, the self-defense\/drama teacher. Once there, they spent the day sparring with martial artist masters until Mr. Rells herded them all to a local buffet where Fortunatus joined Jack for the evening. 

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Jack woke with a start. His heart pounded and he grasped his chest trying to find some air. A quick glance at his phone showed it to be five minutes into the witching hour, five after midnight. His clothing and the hotel bed were soaked in a cold sweat. Fear shot through him as he sat up in the unfamiliar room. His stomach clenched in memory of his gunshot wound and the days he spent hiding from Manson in impersonal rooms like this. He hated hotel rooms, hated them. On top of the strange room, he dreamed of racing through the Spirit Plane - the world beyond the one he could touch, taste and see - again. Wolf dreams. Wolf dreams filled with the hunt for someone while a great darkness loomed behind him ready to swallow him up. Jack rubbed his face. The feel of skin, nose and eyes instead of fur and snout cleared his mind.

A tiny word and a glow from Zephyr lit up the hotel room. Someone groaned in protest of the light. Jack cupped her in his hands and moved her under his blankets.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

Zephyr swayed in his hands and her white moth wings trembled. Fortunatus appeared at his bed side.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," Jack said. He no longer flinched at Fortunatus' sudden appearances.

Jack climbed out of bed, Zephyr still cupped in his hands, and made his way through the maze of luggage and sleeping kids. He opened the door into the hall of the hotel and Fortunatus shifted out behind him. They looked down at Zephyr after pulling the door closed. Her eyes flew open. Jack jerked with a gasp and almost dropped her. The wiznit's eyes turned completely black. She swayed, trembled and spoke,