Cool. See ya. I barked to Wolf, before flying off back home. When I leapt up to my window, Jack looked up with shock.
"What happened?" he asked. Then I remembered my hair with a pang of dislike. It had snowed that night and Wolf laughed at me when I turned up with blond hair. Wolfgang's had lightened too, but not as drastically as mine.
"Ugh...I don't know." I told Jack, moving quickly to the bathroom to check the mirror. He moved in unison and joined me.
"You didn't bleach it?"
"No, I just woke up like this." I frowned.
"That is sooo weird." He told me with a laugh.
"It's no laughing matter." I uttered with worry soaking my voice as I sunk against the cabinet away from the mirror. "I look awful!" I felt tears coming, and my hands gripped the air as if I was in agony. I felt tears of stress fall down my face and took a deep haggard breath to steady myself. I knew it wasn't a big deal, but it looked horrible and I felt weak and unable to deal with it for some reason.
"It's not that bad, Baby." He comforted me, bending down to my level. "We can dye it back if you want." He said with a kiss. "It doesn't bother me. I don't care what color your hair is, but I think your mom's going to have some questions."
"Can we dye it now?" I asked wiping my face.
"Yeah, sure." He said, helping me up and then putting on his shoes and his sweatshirt. I followed and slipped on my shoes and one of the sweatshirts he left in my room. He checked his pocket for his wallet before jumping down and following me around the building to the road. We went to the drugstore that was located in the strip mall near the movie rental place. The artificial lights gave me a headache as we entered and we trotted to the hair section with the rows of different colors and the blocks of different brands. I found the black I always used and as we stood, waiting for the cashier, who kept staring at me, I saw another person in the hair aisle with bleach blond hair. Jack felt him too. He had loads of chakra and he had a distinct smell that smelled sort of like blood. His long hair was just as blond as mine and he had picked out the same black hair dye. When the cashier was almost finished, he paused to stare at him as he walked up behind us. I felt Jack's energy surge and could tell mine had done the same because of the burning sensation that was equally distributed on the surface of my skin. I felt like his presence was shooting lightning through my back and I couldn't help turning around to look at him. He gave me a friendly grin and uncanny laugh. Jack didn't turn around and I saw his jaw clench. He wasn't breathing either and the lights were flickering above us like the whole place was overflowing with energy.
The cashier spent a long moment staring at all three of us and Jack snatched the box of dye out of his hand before he could bag it.
"Who the hell is that guy?" I asked in frustration and apprehension when we had gotten back to my room. I felt like he had followed us and that he was going to kill me for some reason. I paced, resisting the terrible strong urge to phase and howl for help.
"His name is Romulus." He said darkly. "He was supposedly the first Lycan and probably the most dangerous. He's been going around turning a ton of people. This city is one of the more populated ones, so there's naturally a larger demon population. There's talk that one of the demons here is going to kill him so he's probably here looking for them and making more that are loyal to him that'll hunt his killer down." He explained.
"That's so creepy. How does he know that someone's going to kill him?" I asked as Jack opened the dye and put on the gloves. I had changed my shirt to one I didn't care about and sat on the floor next to his legs, as he stood at the bathroom counter and mixed the dye.
"A well-known witch made a prediction about it. There's another group of demons trying to get rid of him and they're trying to find someone able to kill him." He told me.
"So, they're in the city too?" I asked.
"Yeah, we thought we'd join forces to get rid of this guy, but we figured out that they're his own kind. They're Lycans." He kneeled down and started going through my hair with the dye bottle. I felt the cold dye and his hand was gentle as he moved it along my roots.
"Why does everybody want to kill him?" I asked, not understanding.
"He's turning a ton of people and too many humans are starting to notice. He wants to reveal us to the humans and rule over them." Jack explained, reminding me of the Lycans that killed the Brighteyes.
"What do you think would happen if people start to notice us?" I asked with an apprehensive frown.
"I don't know, but it won't be good." Jack told me, with his eyebrows furrowed. His touch was calming as he dyed my hair and I didn't want to think about it anymore.
"Hm." I hummed closing my eyes and focusing on his proximity to me. I felt his breath on my forehead as he leaned close to dye my bangs.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked me with his smooth, low voice.
"You." I answered simply with a smile. My eyes opened and his red eyes moved from my hair to my eyes.
"What about me?" he raised his eyebrow. I smiled, trying to phrase it and going the simple way.
"I love you." I whispered, feeling my heart beating hard, waiting for his reaction and response.
"Good." He smiled. "I love you too." He said, looking deep into my eyes. "Could you have picked a better time to tell me that?" he laughed, holding up his black dye-covered glove and the half-empty dye bottle.
"Sorry, it just came out." I said, kissing his cheek. "Is my hair done?" I asked, standing up and spinning to look in the mirror. It looked done.
"Hold on." He said, focusing again on my hair, and moving to the back with the dye bottle.
* * *
It was finally Christmas vacation and it was the weekend we were going to stay at Jess's for a few days until Christmas Eve. My mom and I were running around trying to find all our stuff before we left. We had to pack up for the couple days because we were staying over. I was excited to see Jess but I was nervous about everyone meeting Jack. He hadn't showed up yet and we had less than half an hour before we had to leave. My mom had told me that Marisol wasn't comfortable with Jack sleeping over and Jack didn't seem to care at all when I told him he'd have to drive back the same day.
I looked up when I heard hands on the side of the building and smiled when Jack appeared in my tall window. I closed my door as he climbed in and then ran to throw my arms around him. He was wearing straight black pants and a dark red collared shirt with a black and grey vest and a black and red tie. I was wearing a long, baggy red sweater that had black leather on the elbows and a large collar with black metallic leggings and a silk scarf.
"Does this look okay?" he asked as I finished surveying him.
"You look perfect. What about me?" I asked, feeling unsure as I stepped back with my arms out.
"Yeah, but you don't need this." He laughed, removing my scarf so he could kiss my neck. "Your make-up looks sexy." He smiled with pointy teeth. I smiled back and made a mental note to go for the 'smokey-eye' whenever I wanted Jack to think I was sexy.
"You're always sexy." I told him, standing on my toes to kiss him.
He went around to the front and knocked on the door.
"Silver!" my mom called after she opened it. I came trotting out of my room with a smile.
"Hiiii." I said smiling as I pretended to greet him like a normal person and tried to not look like I just saw him. He had put on his sexy black jacket and his deep red eyes stuck out from his smooth beige skin as he looked down at me.
"Hello, Silver." He said smoothly with his melodic voice that I loved. I hugged him lightly like I was hugging a stranger, pulling away after exactly three seconds. I didn't want my mom to think we were as close as we were. I was surprised that he didn't seem confused about why I was acting funny.
"Are you ready to go?" my mom asked me. "Where are your shoes?" she pestered as she flitted around trying to get her things together. I had my grey duffel and my backpack next to the door and my furry brown leather Sorel boots were next to them. I slipped them on, noticing when I looked down that Jack's black Docs looked like they were brand new and then I stood up and waited for my mom.
"Are you ready?" I pestered my mom back. She carried out her other bag and Johnny helped with the other larger one. I could tell she had over-packed just like me. Johnny was staying the night too and then we were going to celebrate Christmas at home when we got back.
"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled with a smirk as she realized I had caught her being a hypocrite.
"So, you're Jack." Johnny asked, surveying him. I could tell he was surprised by Jack's eyes, because he seemed stuck on them. "I'm John, Anna's boyfriend." He introduced motioning to my mom after a moment of staring. He had a friendly smile as he seemed to dislodge his eyes from Jack's with effort.
"Nice to meet you," Jack nodded and shook Johnny's awaiting hand. I noticed Jack was an inch or so taller than him and it was strange to see them in the same room. They had eerily similar outfits on. Johnny was also wearing a dress shirt with a vest only his vest was red, his shirt was black, and his pants were grey with black pin-stripes which matched his fedora that he sported over his longish bleached hair. His shoes were really fancy and dressy and made me feel under-dressed. My mom wore her only black dress that she owned and had on some ruby earrings that matched an antique ruby necklace that looked heavy around her slender neck.
When my mom had finished moving her bags to the kitchen, she took out the car keys from the drawer and led us all down to the cars. Jack carried my duffel bag even though he didn't need to. I could've lifted six of them without breaking a sweat...literally and metaphorically.
"Wow, nice car!" Johnny called to Jack as they made their way across to where Johnny had parked his black Impala.
"Thanks." Jack answered, coolly as I opened the shiny black door of his Maserati and sat down onto the clean leather passenger seat. I could tell he had cleaned every inch of his car because not only was it sparkling clean on the outside, but the inside smelled like oil leather cleaner.
"Do you like Christmas?" I asked Jack curiously as we followed Johnny's salt and mud caked Impala away from my apartment building, towards the highway.
"Yeah, but every year I care less and less. I feel like it comes quicker and quicker every time." He explained, his eyes moving back to the salt-stained road.
"Me too. I'm so sick of Christmas songs." I told him dramatically, making him laugh.
"Yeahh, me too." He groaned. "Let's listen to good music." He suggested.
We made a few music changes throughout the trip. It was noon when my mom and Johnny wanted to stop for lunch.
"You aren't hungry?" Johnny asked waving his sandwich, a bit of chicken dropping onto the table unappealingly.
"No." Jack and I insisted at the same time with a slight shrug.
"Whatever." Johnny said mirroring our shrug. My mom gave me a suspicious look and I ignored it, sipping my sugary ice coffee and focusing on Jack. He was sitting quietly with his black coffee in his hand and his elbow resting on the table. I noticed that he had picked the seat that was completely in the sunlight that filtered through the long windows. I started to wonder if the sun bothered them. I knew it bothered my eyes but it didn't bother my skin or anything and I wondered if it bothered Jack at all. Unlike him, I had sat completely in the shade and even had my arm in the shadow of his.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked me when we got in the car for the last stretch of the journey.
"Does sunlight hurt you?" I asked suddenly. I could see he was caught off-guard by the question.
"No." He practically bellowed. "It's the opposite actually. Vampyres need sunlight to survive!" He told me, making my eyes go wide.
"Why? Vitamin D?" I guessed.
"That and warmth. We don't make body heat very often." He explained.
"Wow, that's so weird." I frowned, with my eyes far away when I thought about how many times I noticed how tepid his body temperature was. "So, you can make body heat?" I asked, in confusion when I registered that he said 'very often'.
"Yeah, but it's easier to just use other sources to conserve energy. It allows us to go really long in between meals. As Vampyre's go, I'm one of the hotter ones." He joked with a sexy smirk.
"You just get it from me." I argued back with a smile on my face making him laugh.