"Word has probably spread as to who we are."
"As to who you are my friend," William retorted.
"Your sister is the queen," Jack reminded him.
William scowled at him as he ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. Over the last year his shoulders had become broader; he'd put more muscle and bulk onto what had once been a frame kept slender by lack of food. Starvation wasn't a concern for him anymore though and his body had developed into the physique it was meant to have. William was still about an inch shorter than him, at about six foot two, but Jack was beginning to think that William would become broader than him soon.
"I always knew Aria would drag me down with her," William said.
Jack released a bark of laughter as they stepped off the wooden sidewalk and made their way across the street to the other sidewalk. Dust kicked up around their feet from their passing over the cobblestone street, the particles of it drifted through the crisp mountain air. They walked past an assortment of stores and homes, some of which had their shutters closed over the windows and others that held welcoming signs. He spotted people and vampires moving around within some of the stores and sitting at tables within the small diner.
On the surface it appeared to be like so many of the other towns he had passed through over the years but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something different about this one. Most of the occupants openly watched them but none of them spoke to either he or William. He got the distinct impression that they wanted to though, some of them took a few steps closer as if to start a conversation. A young vampire child stopped to watch them but his mother grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him in the other direction.
"Do we stink?" William asked and surreptitiously sniffed at his armpit.
"Something around here does," Jack said as a human couple stopped to watch them before retreating into a thrift store.
At the end of the road an old Victorian with two turrets jutting out the top of it, rose into the sky. It loomed over top of the other buildings like some ominous gargoyle marking its territory. Nearing the massive gray and black home, Jack knew who it belonged to even before he saw the wrought iron gate with two foot spikes jutting out the top of it, surrounding the property. Two dogs, each about the size of a pony, patrolled behind the gates in a pattern that had worn the grass down to dirt around the perimeter. The fading rays of the sun glinted on the windows as the sun slipped over the horizon.
William let out a low whistle. "I guess we know who owns that house."
"Hmm." Jack rubbed at his chin as he studied the formidable structure that sported fresher paint, newer roof and windows, and almost ten times the space as most of the buildings and homes surrounding it.
"Are you going to go in there and act all princely with him again?"
It had been amusing when William had turned that cocky smirk on Braith, he didn't find it amusing now. "I'd like to learn a little more about this place, and him, first."
Turning around, their boots clunked on the wooden walk as they strode back toward the tavern. It grated on his nerves that humans and vampires continued to step aside to let them pass by. He grew so tired of it that he threw the door open on the next business they came across. Shadows hugged the two dozen or so racks of clothing set up within the small store. A young woman, with hair the color of the sun, lifted her head from where she had been resting it on her arms. William perked up like a happy puppy being offered a bone as he sent Jack a questioning look.
"Human," Jack confirmed as he caught the faint beat of her heart.
William was smiling confidently as he strode toward the young woman. Jack shook his head and began to weave through the racks of clothes to the back of the store. His fingers trailed over the wool clothing that wasn't as fine as the wool and sometimes even silk cloth in the towns closest to the palace, but it was a far sturdier quality than the flaxen materials he'd worn while he'd been with the rebels in the woods. His fingers idly rubbed at the material as his mind drifted away to another time and place...
"Here you go."
Jack stared at the young girl that thrust the clothes into his hands and gave him a lopsided smile. Her auburn hair gleamed in the sun's rays, dirt streaked her freckled face but her teeth were good and she appeared healthy even though the edge of her collarbone stuck out from beneath her shirt. She didn't look any older than thirteen or fourteen but there was an air surrounding her that made her seem twenty years older.
In fact, there was something about all the humans gathered within the woods that made them seem at least twenty years older. He glanced at the faces surrounding him. Though he saw pride and determination in their set chins and steadfast gazes, he also saw an air of acceptance that their lives would never be any better than this, that most of them wouldn't live past fifty, and that if they were caught they faced a fate worse than death.
"They might not be the right size but given time, and proper measurements, someone should be able to make you something that fits you better. I don't sew but there are some other women in the camp that can help you with it when the need arises," the girl continued. She thrust out a slender hand that was marred with scratches and cuts. Her palm was rough against his when he took hold of it and shook it. "Aria."
"Jack."
She nodded as she released his hand and hefted a bow onto her back. "Welcome to the forest, Jack."
"I've been in the woods for a couple of years now."
The smirk she shot him made him realize that though she looked innocent, there was a mischievousness within her that made him want to hide his meager belongings. "But you haven't been here before, and this is where all the fun is," she told him.