"What became of your parents, Hannah?"
That memory was worse than the burn on her back and though she tried to shy away from it, it was impossible to avoid once the scab was picked. "They died in a fire, when I was sixteen, Lucas's mother was in the house with them," she told him in a choked voice. "Lucas and I were here when it happened."
"I'm sorry."
"It was years ago."
"But it still hurts."
"Yeah," she admitted. "It does."
"What caused it?"
"A lightning strike. It happened so fast that they weren't able to escape in time."
"I see."
"So?" she asked as he changed the towels on her back again. "How did you and William meet?"
"Well that my dear is quite a long, interesting story."
"I'm not going anywhere for awhile."
He released a small chuckle. "No, I suppose you're not."
CHAPTER 11
Jack continued to change the towels on her back as he told her about how he had come to live with the rebels in the forest. Astonishment filtered over her features, he was relieved to see her finally start to look at him like what he truly was, a man. A flawed man, but a man all the same, and not just a prince. She began to look at him not as someone who had been spoiled and coddled, but the vampire that he actually was.
"It all sounds so strange, so different," she whispered.
"It was."
"You enjoyed it though?"
"More than anything," he told her honestly. "I found a family amongst the rebels, and acceptance."
"Did you go to join them because of what had happened to your mother?" she inquired.
He shook his head. "No, no matter what a monster my father was, no matter how much I hated him, I left the palace because I still had this sick need to try and prove myself to him. I was determined to show him that I wasn't weak and useless by infiltrating the rebellion. Once I was outside of the palace though, and away from him, things began to change."
"The rebels knew what you were?"
"Not in the beginning."
"How did they discover you?"
Jack almost shied away from that memory, it wasn't one he was proud of, but neither was it an entirely bad one. His mind drifted back to the day David had found him and confronted him about his secret. Jack had feared that the little bit of solitude and make-believe he'd found in the woods would vanish like smoke in the wind when the man he'd come to admire and consider his friend stepped around that tree...
The crack of a twig made his head shoot up, his fingers curled into the velvety neck of the doe before him. The deer's struggles had ceased but he could still hear the steady beat of the animal's heart. His gaze searched the trees but though he couldn't see anyone yet, he knew someone was there. He could hear the muted beat of a human heart and even before David appeared from behind the tree, Jack had known that it was going to be him. He was the only man that could have gotten this close to Jack without him knowing it.
David stepped out from behind a large pine, his bow was clutched in his right hand but he didn't have an arrow in it yet and he made no move to lift the weapon. Jack wasn't fooled into thinking the man couldn't get the bow loaded in the blink of an eye though. In the past three years he'd come to learn that David's family was most at home amongst the forest and could move as fleetly as faeries through the trees. They were also lethal with a bow and arrow, especially David and Aria.
Jack slowly released the doe but he didn't rise to his full height as he studied the man across from him. He saw the revulsion and anger he'd expected to see amongst the rebel leader's eyes but there was also something more, something he'd never seen in anyone's eyes before. It was a sense of betrayal so intense that Jack felt as if someone had staked him through his non-beating heart.
He couldn't stomach that look on the face of a man he had come to respect and admire. He'd uncovered plenty of betrayal in his lifetime. Other than his younger sister, Melinda, he was the only one that knew his father had killed their mother and attempted to kill Melinda in order to start the war that had left the human and vampire population decimated. The aristocratic vampires that had attempted to stand up against the king had fled to lands that no one ventured into, and were still hunted by the king's men. His own brother-in-law, Ashby had been banished to a tree house prison after blinding and nearly killing Braith with a bomb.
But none of those revelations or betrayals had rendered quite the same look on anyone's face as the one on David's. Now that Jack thought on it though, he hadn't been overly floored by the discoveries he had uncovered about his family. His father was a sadistic bastard, everyone who had ever met the man, and even those that never had, knew that. There was nothing the man wasn't capable of, nothing he wouldn't do to seize power and twist the world into the perverted version of what he meant for it to be.
Now though, Jack was staring into the full face of disappointment and he found he didn't like it at all. Just when he thought he couldn't take any more of the protracted silence, David finally spoke. "So this is your secret."
Jack didn't know how to respond to that, it hadn't been a question but he felt as if he had to say something. "You suspected I had a secret?"
"I knew you had a secret. It's few that come through here that aren't hiding something, or running from something. Not everyone chooses this life, some are forced into it. Though I'd have to say that this is the first time we've harbored a vampire, Jack."
"Jericho. My name is Jericho."
Something flashed within David's eyes as his mouth parted on a breath of recognition. Most of the rebels knew little of the royal family, but David wasn't most of the rebels. He may not be out in public often, but he knew more about what went on outside of the rebel camps than most of the people that were still able to move between the camps and the people that lived on the fringe of society.
"Your father sent you?"
Jack thought about denying it, but he couldn't. The illusion of his new life here had already been shattered. He'd never known sorrow or grief before, not like this. "He did."
"Then what are you still doing here?"
Jack was taken aback by the question. He'd expected condemnation, hatred. He'd expected to have an arrow fired at him at any second and instead David was still speaking with him. "I don't understand."
"Don't you?" David continued to clutch his bow but he took a step closer to him.
Jack knew the man was fast with his weapons but he had no real concern that David would actually be able to hit him with an arrow he fired at him. He just wasn't sure what he would do when David fired that arrow. He should kill him, it was what he was supposed to do, it was what his nature and breeding expected of him, but for the life of him he couldn't bring himself to even consider killing the man standing before him. He'd been accepted here, he'd been welcomed and he'd found his home amongst these people. He'd made friends and he felt closer to some of them than he did his own family. In fact, they were his family now.
"You know all of our secrets; you know who I am, who my children are, the location of our camps and caves. So what are you still doing here, Jack?"
He didn't have an answer for that question. In fact, he couldn't find any words at all.
"You could have gone back three years ago and told them who I was and where we were."
"I'm sure I haven't learned everything about the rebel cause yet."
"We all must have our secrets," David replied with a smile. "But you and I both know that you learned enough years ago to go back to your father and to decimate us. So I will ask you again, why are you still here?"
Jack didn't have an answer for him; all of the things that he knew were expected of him faded into the background as he focused upon the one man that had ever given him a chance to explain himself, and who was still willing to listen to him in the face of Jack's betrayal.
"I don't know," he admitted as he rose to his feet and held his hands out before him. "When I first arrive
d here I had no plans to stay. I was going to return almost immediately to my father and reveal all that I had learned, but then..."
"Then?" David prompted when words seemed to fail him.
Then what? He pondered. What had happened? What had made everything different? And then he realized that the man standing across from him was what had happened. He'd watched this man with his children, had seen him with his people, and he'd found himself impressed by him. This was what a leader was supposed to be, strong, decisive, remorseless when he had to be, and yet he listened to his people and showed them compassion. And he was standing across from him asking him questions instead of trying to kill him as Jack had thought he would if he ever discovered the truth.
He'd known that it was inevitable that he would have to leave, he could only hide the non-aging aspect of his life for so long, but he'd hoped to just slip off into the woods on his own one day, and not to have the man he'd come to see as a mentor learn that he was a traitor. He didn't know what he'd do when he slipped away into the woods, but he did know that he wouldn't be returning to the palace, and he wouldn't have turned against this person. He didn't like to think about the fact that his time here would come to an end, but he now realized that he'd stopped having any intentions of returning to his home and family months ago.
"You," Jack said flatly. David didn't show any flicker of surprise at this statement as his eyes continued to relentlessly burrow into him. "Your family, the people here, the cause you are fighting for, and what has already been accomplished by the rebels."
"You're old enough to remember what it was like before the war."
"I'm old enough to remember what it was like before a hundred wars," he responded. "But the war that my father waged was an atrocity on humans and vampires alike."
"You didn't approve?"
"There is little my father has done that I approve of, but he can say the same of me."
"I see." David slid the bow onto his back. He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against a tree. Jack didn't know what to make of the gesture. "So what are we to do?"
Jack glanced at the woods behind David but he sensed no one else amongst the trees and the only scent that filled the air was David's aroma of pine and dirt. Even with no help around him, the man's heart continued a steady beat in his chest. "You're not going to try and kill me?"
"I consider vampires that persecute and abuse us to be our enemy. You have done neither of those things. In fact, you have had every opportunity to kill me, to kill my children, to decimate our supplies and essentially destroy this rebellion. Instead you have saved my life; you've protected my children and made friends with the people here. If you were my enemy we would not be having this conversation." Jack's mouth opened but no words came out, he closed it again. "Your father would kill you if he knew that you already had this info and haven't returned to him."
"He would," Jack confirmed but again David had not been asking a question.
"So Jack, I'm going to ask you once more, what are we to do? What is it that you want?"
No one had ever asked him that in his life. No one had ever given him the opportunity to even consider the notion before. "I would like to stay; I would like to help you."
"You would continue to stay with us and fight against your own family?"
The only people he could even remotely stand in his family were Braith and Melinda. Melinda harbored her own hatred toward their father and Braith had also never been given a choice in his life. If his father ever died Braith would assume the throne, he would do more good with it than his father had, but Jack doubted their father would ever die. No, the only way to even make an attempt to dethrone his father was here, in these woods, amongst these people.
Being part of the rebellion was also the only way that he wouldn't fade away and turn into something he despised. Without some sense of purpose he feared he might eventually become as evil as his father or worse yet, his brother Caleb.
"Yes," he answered.
David pondered this for a few minutes before stepping away from the tree. "You've been through hell haven't you son?"
Son, no one had ever called him that before. "Haven't we all?"
"Perhaps, but even most of us here still have someone to love them or at the very least a purpose to drive them."
"I've found a purpose here," he said.
"You've also found people that care for you. You are Aria and William's new favorite person to annoy, a fact that Daniel thanks you for, a lot. You've proven yourself here time and again but if you attempt to injure my children, or any of the rebels, I will kill you. I don't care how powerful you are, I will find a way to destroy you."
"I will defend their lives with my own," Jack vowed.
"I believe you."
"What will we do when they begin to question why I'm not aging?"
David clasped hold of his shoulder. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Jack nodded in agreement. "Why did you follow me here today?"
David broke into a big grin. "I've had my suspicions about you since the day you saved my life. Today was the first time I decided to see where those suspicions would lead by following you. I didn't know what I would find but I knew that something about you was not quite right. You were so fast, so strong." David shrugged as Jack continued to gawk at him, he was completely unable to process this man beside him. "But I thought I'd give you the rope to hang yourself with."
David's hand tightened reassuringly on his shoulder as he led him back through the forest. "I'm glad you've found your home here," he said after awhile.
"So am I," Jack admitted. "So am I."
CHAPTER 12
"Your home," Hannah murmured, pulling him from his memories and back to the beautiful woman lying before him.
"I considered it such," he told her.
"He was like a father to you."
Jack released a small huff. "He was almost nine hundred years younger than me."
"Still, he meant a lot to you and was better to you than your own father."
"He was," Jack agreed. "But more than that he was my friend, the first real friend I'd ever had."
Melancholy crept over her features as she nodded. "Friends are always a wonderful thing to have. It sounds like it was a lovely place to live, when they weren't hiding from your father's men or fighting for their lives."
"It was," he agreed. "Some of the time it was the most peaceful place in the world. Maybe I'll take you there one day."
Her smile was wistful as she shook her head and waved at the towels. "As you can imagine, I'm not much of a traveler, at least not during the day."
Sadness filtered through him, he felt he should comfort her somehow but she hadn't said it in a self-pitying way. He pulled the towel away from her back. The blisters had nearly vanished and her skin was pinker in hue than the mottled shade of red it had been. He had to fight the temptation to lean forward and press a kiss against the enticing hollow of the back of her neck but that wasn't what she needed right now.
"It's looking a lot better," he told her.
"It feels better."
"Good. Now Hannah, tell me about Calvin."
Her recoil was minute and instinctive, but he still saw it before she was able to cover it up. "There's not much to tell," she mumbled.
"It seems like there's plenty to tell. He's clearly interested in you."
He had to stop his hands from clenching into fists at the thought of someone else wanting her. The idea of anyone looking at her in such a way made his fangs extend. His almost total loss of restraint unnerved him as he forced himself to control his frustration. This kind of unreasonable anger was a first for him.
"He's been showing an interest in me since I reached maturity last year," she murmured.
Her words made him focus on something other than the urge to destroy something. He was glad she didn't deny it, but even still it wasn't something that he liked to hear. "I see," he grated through his clenched teeth. "And
how do you feel about him?"
Delicate lines marred her brow as her eyes searched his. "Calvin runs this town, he makes the rules, and if I'm going to keep my family and friends safe then I have to play along and be nice."
"I think he wants a lot more from you than you just playing nice."
"I know what he wants from me, Jack," her voice was tinged with annoyance as her eyes held his.
She wasn't the only one feeling irritated though. He rose from the chair and paced over to the door as he ran a hand through his hair. "And you accept this?" he demanded.
"What choice do I have? I can't leave here and even if I could, Uncle Abe can't. Our home is here, our friends are here, this tavern is our livelihood; it's all we've ever known."
"He'll only hurt you." Her eyes darted away but not before he saw a flash of red in them that stopped him midstride. The fact that she wouldn't hold his gaze made a warning bell sound in his head. "Has he hurt you already?"
Jack strode over to her side but her eyes were focused on the wall. "Hannah..."
"Things are different here," was all that she would say.
He remained unmoving at her side as he battled between shaking some sense into her and ripping this room apart with his bare hands. No, he felt like ripping Calvin apart with his bare hands. His gaze ran over her as he searched for any other injury beside the burns on her back. On the back of her hand he thought he saw a faint purplish hue against her alabaster skin but he couldn't be certain.
"What has he done to you?"
"Things are different here," she murmured again.
His patience snapped like a line pulled taut. Grabbing hold of the chair, he jerked it out of the way with enough force that he nearly smashed it into the wall. Her head finally turned toward him. If it hadn't been for the flash of fear he saw in her gaze he may have smashed the chair to pieces in an attempt to ease some of his frustration with the infuriating woman lying on the bed before him.
It took all he had to draw his temper in again. "I'm not going to hurt you," he told her.