Silver's Bane

Chapter Eleven Hall of Mirrors-2

“Kyle, I didn’t know you knew Hayley Reynolds,” Seth said, looking from one werewolf to the other.

“That’s Hayley Reynolds-Cooper to you,” Kyle said, putting an arm over Hayley’s shoulders.

“You’re married?” Seth asked astonished.

Ricky saw a scowled cross Landon’s face, but Landon remained silent.

“Look who it is,” Monica whispered to Jules. “I know you like him.”

“Don’t,” Jules said.

“Luc…” Monica began to shout in his direction.

Jules grabbed her waving arm. They exchanged a weird glance and then Jules shook her head minutely. But it was too late, Luca had already turned in their direction. His eyes met Jules’s for the briefest of moments and then he turned his back, stepping between Jules and the other werewolves.

“I’ll explain later,” Jules whispered so lowly to Monica that Ricky almost missed it, even with wolf hearing.

Monica nodded and stepped away from the balloon pop booth. “Mom, Dad. This is Seth’s friend Luca Cain,” Monica introduced, drawing all nearby attention. “And Hayley Reynolds, she was on cheer squad with me and I’m sorry. I don’t know your name?” she said to Kyle.

While the newly-arrived werewolves were distracted, Ricky saw Jules discreetly take a few steps farther into the booth.

Ricky decided belatedly to be helpful and stepped in front of Jules, obscuring her from the view of the others.

There was another pop.

“That’s a turtle,” Tasha said. Ricky didn’t move to hand her the prize. Tasha looked around confused, but Ricky pretended not to notice. Tasha rolled her eyes and walked over to retrieve the small turtle shaped bag of beans herself.

Ricky looked behind him. To his surprise, Jules was gone.

GABRIEL

Gabriel’s ship was running quite smoothly, so to speak. He had picked three kids to work with that were likely not to work well under lesser authorities. One was a detention-prone sophomore, one was a social outcast, and one had the richest family in school, along with a severe authority figure problem. These three students were part of opposite sides of the school hierarchy, and yet, they were some of his favorites this year. He enjoyed teaching the smart, well-behaved students of course. But the challenging ones always seemed to tug on his heart-strings. Every student had a story, Gabriel had learned not to ignore the ones with darkness in theirs.

“Gabriel,” Jules called from just outside the back of his booth.

“Missy, you’re in charge until I get back,” he said to the social outcast. The boys groaned. He ignored them and joined Jules on the other side of the tent flap. “What is it?” he asked her.

“Werewolves,” Jules whispered, peaking around the edge of the tent. “You’ll leave them alone, right?”

“You think I’m going to make a scene in front of my students?” He was a little offended, to be honest. He may have overreacted at the Promenade that night, but he definitely knew where to draw the line.

“No, of course not. But…” She back peddled.

“I’ll be sure to avoid them and, yes, I promise I won’t make a scene,” Gabriel interrupted. He would never risk the safety of his students that way.

“Okay,” Jules said, looking like she felt a little awkward about pulling him away from his booth.

“Thank you for warning me, Jules.” Gabriel squeezed her arm, hoping to make her feel a little more at ease. They exchanged a smile and he left her, returning to the inside of his booth. “Terry give that back right now!” he ordered sternly as the detention prone boy held Missy’s cell phone above her head. The rich kid wasn’t laughing but he wasn’t helping restore order either. “You have customers.” Gabriel pointed to the front of the booth. He turned and stuck his head back through the tent flaps. Jules was just about to step back into her own booth. “Jules!”

She turned toward him.

He walked back out and met her halfway. “Can you check in with the other booths? My leaving these three doesn’t appear to be possible.” Gabriel looked over in the direction of the front of Jules’s booth. He could just see the Beta werewolf conversing with one of Jules’s students.

“Sure,” Jules replied. “My kids will be fine for a little while.”

“Yeah, you got some easy ones.”

“You totally did that,” Jules pointed toward his booth, “to yourself.”

“What can I say? These are the ones who need me,” he said with a shrug and a smile.

Just then, Gabriel heard shouting from his booth. “What now?” he muttered and then went back to work.

JULIANA

Jules was moving to step back through the flap in the back of her booth when she discovered that the entrance was being blocked. What on earth? But as she peered in the small opening she could see Ricky standing in the entrance, holding the flaps of heavy plastic together discreetly. “Bye Mom, bye Carson!” he shouted a little louder than was necessary and stuck his hand through the flap, palm out. Probably signaling that she should wait there. Jules waited. After a few more moments, Ricky stepped aside.

“Sorry about that,” Ricky said quietly.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that,” she said. Understanding that he’d just put himself between her and the Alpha.

Ricky shrugged.

“Dude your stepfather is a beast,” Tasha said once both Jules and Ricky had joined her closer to the front of the booth. “He popped like eight balloons in a row.”

“He’s not my stepfather,” Ricky said flatly.

“But he is a beast.”

“You have no idea.” Ricky said this under his breath, but Jules heard it clearly.

“Was that really your mom?” Ethan asked.

Jules cut him off, “listen up guys…”

Tasha rolled her eyes and groaned.

“And girl,” Jules added. “I need to make a run to the other booths. Tasha’s in charge until I get back.”

Tasha smiled widely at this.

“Why is she in charge?” Ethan asked incredulously.

“Because she’s the girl,” Jules teased, raising her eyebrows at Ethan. “If you need anything, Mr. Prentiss is right over there,” she told Tasha.

Tasha nodded.

Jules left them to their own devices and walked by Seth’s booth. Silently, she asked the question of ‘how’s it going’ by moving her thumb sideways and up.

Seth gave her a thumbs-up and she moved on down the long row of booths. She was just about to check in with the forth booth when her phone beeped in her pocket. She stopped in the middle of the humans meandering the strip and retrieved it. The message was from Luca. It read, “meet me at the funhouse.”

She knew that she shouldn’t go but hesitated only a moment before replying and changing directions, heading toward the midway.

This section of the carnival was far busier than her own. The humans were more crammed together and much louder. She passed the ticket booth, which was being overseen by the administration staff. Then dodged around the Ferris Wheel, and approached a small, colorful building that was adorned with a creepy-looking clown.

She looked around for Luca but didn’t see him standing outside or anywhere near the funhouse. Shrugging, Jules entered through the clown’s open mouth to see if he was somewhere inside.

She walked up a moving staircase, across a bridge jerking this way and that, slid down a twisting slide, and walked into yet another room. This one contained a springy rope obstacle course. The family in front of Jules was giggling wildly. Jules supposed something like this would be fun with loved ones to share it with. For her, it was frustrating and unamusing. The family ahead of her skipped into the next room gleefully. Jules stopped short. She couldn’t enter. The room in front of her was a maze of mirrors. She couldn’t see the expression on her face, she never again would. As they bounded away, the family’s reflections were warping into many different shapes, sizes, and contortions.

Jules looked behind her, she couldn’t go back but she couldn’t go forward. The family successfully made it to the other side just as another group entered the rope room. It was now or not at all. Jules sped through the maze, her lack of reflection accosting her from every side. She hit a dead end, spun, and tried another angle. The next group was catching up to her. She heard them enter the mirror maze just as she ran into the next room.

The world around her went dark. The music was wild. Lights were flashing; obscuring her sight. It was enough to make you dizzy and disoriented, which Jules guessed was the point. She was just about to rush from this room as well when she felt herself being pulled across it. For a moment, she thought it was part of the funhouse until she realized it was strong arms moving her into position against the wall. A tall body pressed against hers.

The whites of his eyes were glowing down at her. “Hi,” Jules said, looking up at Luca.

“Hi.” Luca put one hand on her back and one behind her head. She stood on her toes and he bent to kiss her. She gave into the moment, her body desiring more and more of him. Their kiss intensified and then it stopped as Luca pulled back just a little. “Thanks for meeting me.”

“I wanted to see you,” she said, her hands coming to rest over his white tee-shirt.

“I’m sorry.” He looked at the wall over her head for a moment.

“Why?” she gazed questioningly up at him.

He dropped his gaze back to her. “Because I forgot to tell you something earlier.”

“Is that so?” she asked. “Let’s hear it then.”

“I don’t know if you’re ready to hear it,” he said, his hands coming to rest on the sides of her neck. He bit his lip as he stared down at her.

“I’m in love with you,” Jules said in a rush. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to say such a thing in this moment. Why was now, in this dark, dizzying room, the right time to inform him that she’d fallen completely in love with him?

Luca’s eyes grew wide. He seemed taken aback until an intoxicating smile spread across his lips. He laughed.

“Why is that funny?” Jules asked, trying not to be stung by his reaction.

“It’s funny because that is precisely what I was going to tell you.”

“There is still time,” she commented, stretching up on her tiptoes again.

“Nope, you’ve ruined it,” Luca said. “You...”

“Luca.” She said his name softly. “I love you,” she said again, looking up into his eyes.

“I love you too.” With this, he pulled her even closer and kissed her again.

CARSON

As the carnival began to die down, Carson meandered back through the games. The music from the midway started to fade into the background and the smells of the food vendors grew closer. Carson had come to this event to support his town and the local high school. He had encouraged his entire pack to do the same. As the leader of so many, it was Carson’s duty to enrich the community in which the majority of his wolves lived.

He had elected to come without the Den members. There was a lot of tension in the Den at the moment, between Kyle’s betrayal and Luca’s rebellious words. Luca, at least, seemed to be coming around. He had told him that the red-haired vampire was the school’s librarian.

Carson’s arm was draped lazily around Demetria’s shoulders. She was tall, shapely, and strong. He’d originally wanted someone younger to be his mate. However, his first love, the one that should have been his years ago, seemed like a deal he couldn’t easily pass up. Especially now that his first choice had been stolen from him.

Demetria squeezed his hand. “Let me go see if Ricky is ready to leave,” she said, sliding out from under the weight of his arm.

“Do you have to?” Carson asked with a playful whine. He grabbed the back of her dress and held on for a moment.

She turned back toward him. “He’s my son.” She walked over and kissed his lips quickly. “So yes, I have to.”

He took her face between his hands. “Alright.” He kissed her again and then released her.

She walked across the dirt while he watched her go. That’s when he saw what, if he was being honest, he’d really come for. Proof of Luca’s intel. The ancient red-headed vampire was inside the booth with Demetria’s son. It chatted lightly with Demetria for a few moments while Carson watched.

It was smaller than he remembered and young looking, despite the fact that it was supposedly on staff at the high-school. At first glance, the little vampire looked harmless, and yet, he knew it was a monster, more deadly and grotesque than all others.

Carson desperately wanted to run across the way and rip its head off where it stood. The world would be better off if he did but he resisted. There was a time and a place for such executions. He had tasked Jed with tracking its movements. The time would come. There was already a plan in motion that would ensure the vampire’s demise. Soon enough, Aboit and the wolves under his care would be rid of this threat forever.