Jack Templar and the Lord of the Demons (The Jack Templar Chronicles Book 5) Read Free

the same way Eva had gotten help to control her vampiric blood.
    “You wanted to fight him,” I said.
    Eva nodded, the confidence oozing out from her minutes before now fading away. “I … I can’t describe it. This blood in my veins, it just takes over. Vampires and werewolves are natural enemies.” She shuddered. “I just felt rage. I would have tried to tear him apart if he hadn’t fallen into the trap you set for him.”
    “And he would have tried to do the same to you by the looks of it,” I said.
    I reached out and took her hand. It was hot to the touch, as if she was feverish. I realized it was her left hand, the one that had regenerated when she drank the blood of Shakra, the Lord of the Vampires. “It’s going to be all right. We’re going to get through this. Together.”
    Eva pulled her hand back and walked over to the rabbit suspended over the hole. She reached and untied the poor creature as it slowly woke up from Xavier’s knockout gas. She placed it on the ground, petted it twice, and let it go. The rabbit scurried into the brush with one heck of a story to tell its friends back at the warren.
    She watched it go, then tucked her hands under the folds of the travel cloak she wore. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to. The sadness in her eyes broke my heart faster than any mere words could ever do. She walked away and disappeared back into the woods.
    The sounds of Will and T-Rex grunting behind me made me turn back toward the hole. They were down in it, their shirts pulled up to cover their mouths, trying to heave Daniel’s heavy body up over the ledge.
    “How about we start that whole ‘getting-through-this-together’ thing right now?” said Will.
    I reached down and grabbed one of Daniel’s arms, then pulled him out easily. On my fourteenth birthday, my strength had suddenly doubled, a result of my odd genetics: a father who was a legendary monster hunter for the Black Guard and a vampire mother who was the daughter of the Lord of the Creach, Ren Lucre. This ancient vampire was oddly enough both my mortal enemy, the creach threatening to destroy the world, and my grandfather.
    But what family doesn’t have issues, right?
    Will and T-Rex had been nice enough to wrap Daniel in the cloth we’d used to cover the hole until we could find Daniel’s bag with his extra clothes. Daniel lay on the ground, breathing softly as if in a deep restful sleep.
    “How long will he be out?” T-Rex asked, climbing out of the hole with some difficulty.
    “Couple of hours at least,” Xavier said. “Maybe longer.”
    “Then let’s get going. And you should make some more of that gas in case he wakes up. Daniel had a temper before he became a werewolf; I’m guessing it hasn’t gotten any better now.”
    Xavier nodded eagerly. He’d seen the werewolf charging at Eva, and none of us wanted to be on the receiving end of that look again.
    “Do you think Aquinas can help him?” T-Rex asked.
    “Of course,” Will said, not sounding convinced. “Look at how well she fixed Eva.”
    “Shh … she can hear you,” I said.
    “I watched Aquinas for part of what she did with Eva,” Xavier said. “It did make a huge difference. Eva was, you know, like an animal at first.”
    “Now she’s just like a regular old vampire,” Will said.
    “That’s enough,” I said.
    Will stopped brushing the dirt from his clothes and stared up at me. “Hey, you’re not the only one who would do anything for her. Or for Daniel for that matter.”
    “Then what’s your point, Will?” I snapped.
    “My point, Jack ,” he snapped back, “is that I don’t see what good schlepping Daniel a hundred miles back to Aquinas is going to do.”
    “A hundred and twenty three miles,” Xavier blurted. He blinked and shrugged. “If you want to be accurate about it.”
    “See? A hundred and twenty three miles. It might as well be a thousand. And probably the wrong direction to find the next Jerusalem