Jack

"What would William do?" Werm's asked me that before and it did save my ass the last time, but I had no idea what William would do in this situation. My hands were pretty much tied. We knew nothing about these other vampires, and no matter how much of a headache I got at thinking about it, if they behaved themselves I wouldn't be able to get nosey even. And I'm not even a nosey person.

So as I watched Werm use handfuls of blue gel- that for somereason didn't stay blue- to glue his hair into the usual outrageous spikes, I was of course wondering what Seth would do instead.

Seth is my ex-best friend and a werewolf. Being that he's a different species than me, I'm always ready for his inside info on things I don't know. The only problem was Otis, our resident faerie, put Seth and Connie, my ex-girlfriend, on a magical invisible island in the middle of the river. The plan was to keep her out of Savannah and therefore out of the way of the ancient vampires that were looking to kill her, and protecting both her and my unborn child- who she thinks is Seth's if my plan works. The problem there is that Otis didn't know that the island only appeared every hundred years or so. So now I had to try to find out how to get Seth and connie off that island. So far, nothing.

"Are you going back to the mansion any time soon?" Werm asked. I'd been sleeping in my old storage area the last few days, and at thye nest before that.

"Yea. The Rin Tin Twins are there still. I can't leave them alone for very long." Which was all very true. But I was actually not happy about the idea of leaving Werm for the minute... as messed up as his face was, if that was a warm up, he could really be killed.

How depressing.

The Rin Tin twins, speaking of depressing, were William's twin enchanted guard dogs. The thing is they weren't really guard dogs, they're really a pair of twins that were enchanted by an ancient Egyptian priest to turn into dogs in the daytime and given to William to protect him in his sleep. I love those two like they're my own, but recently they decided that now that William was dead and the had no real obligation to stay, it was too dangerous not to leave Savannah. So now they're going to move in with the source of my other heart break, Melaphia and Renee, in Ireland.

Which gave me an idea.

"Why don't you move into the mansion with me?" I asked. Random, yes, I know, but I honestly didn't want the kid alone during the day anymore.

He paused in the middle of plastering his last spike into place to look back at me.

"Are you serious?" He asked.

"Well yea. I don't want you alone in the middle of the day anymore. We don't know their weakness if they decide to attack you again."

Werm frowned at the fact that I was implying he couldn't take care of himself, but I could also see that he was thinking about the serious ass-whippin he just got and was reconcidering.

"I guess you're right, but can't I stay at the Nest? Wouldn't it be easier?" Werm sidestepped. I looked up to see his reflection in the mirror.

He looked awful jittery.

"What's your problem, kid? I know you didn't get that beat up!" I teased, watching his reaction.

"Nothing, Jack! I'll head on up stairs now..."

I was already blocking his path.

"C'mon, Jack! I'm fine... more or less." He said trying (badly) to play it off.

"What do you know you weasel?" I demanded. I saw Werm weigh his options. They weren't good, but I guess he decided self-preservation won out.

"Andros left me a note to meet her at Tiffy's. She said it would just be me and her, and that she knew you wouldn't answer her questions truthfully." He fessed up.

"So pretty girl has a few questions. And you're such a bad liar she would get her info regardless. What game is this chick playing?" I leaned against the door thinking.

"There's an ancient artifact called the Ahnleh'Divi, or Star of Fate. They want it."

I looked at Werm in shock.

"She wrote it all in the letter. Silver is her sire and Aubrey is... I think she said third generation. Jager was also turned by Silver. She was a cobra shape shifter before she was turned and has been looking for that artifact for a long time now. They believe the artifact is in the marsh and are intent on getting it. "

The mind boggles.

"So what do they want with it? What does it do?" I asked.

"That's just it! I tried looking it up and got nothing. It's not a known artifact." He looked as frustrated as I felt.

"Don't open the club tonight. Go to the library and see if you can uncover anything. I'm going to the mansion to talk to the Rin Tin Twins to see if they know about it. If anything ever existed in this world I'm sure Deylaud could scare up some kind of info about it or I'll take a summer stroll through the park in the day. Come back to the mansion and crash there for the night." I ordered. Werm nodded his head and started up the stairs. I was righ behind him... then he froze.

"You weren't supposed to tell. Now I have to explain to you both." Came Andros's voice from in front of Werm.

"I wasn't going to but I'm not to fond of pain." Werm explained. I was surprised he stayed visible as he admitted to that.

"What is the deal here?" I asked frustrated. "No more games. I want to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, and I want to know now!!" I was so done with the games.

She held out her hands to us.

"Fine. I'll do better than tell you. I'll show you."

Werm (like an idiot in my opinion) took her hand without hesitation. He wasn't dieing on the spot, so I grabbed the other.

Then everything went dark.