Jack's Story (A spin off of a Buffy Story, just read it)

Jack’s Story
It was back in 1963, in a sleepy little back-water town in Middle-of-Nowhere, Massachusetts. I had just dropped the body of a filthy little street whore, and was on my way back into the pub I had just vacated so I could drink unseen, when I saw her.
She was with a group of friends, but she stuck out and I could feel the power radiating from her. Her long brown hair was pulled back from her face, eyes outlined in black eyeliner. Her jeans were tight in all the right places, with a flare at the bottom. She wore a peasant top -which hadn’t quite taken off yet, with a grungy denim jacket over it. Her laugh was mystical, and I had a feeling that the ‘friends’ she was with were too.
I followed her into the pub, and the friends disappeared. She went towards the bar, and I followed, not far behind. She intrigued me in a way a human woman hadn’t in a very long time. She was beauty, probably brains, and I just knew she was powerful. I watched her from the shadows as she ordered a tall class of frothy beer. She turned on the barstool to scope out the crowd. When her eyes passed over me for a moment, I tried to look nonchalant. Shy, maybe, taking a pull from my own bottle of beer.
It wasn’t long before I found out her name -Jade. And that her skin was smooth and hot under my fingers. It was a quick decision to hold off on her slaughter. I wanted to know her better; who she was, what she could do.
She was one of the first women who intrigued me since my turning, 75 years before by my cousin William.
For nearly all of these 75 years, I had wandered from city to city by night, hopping a ship from England to New York City several years before now. Since then, I was making my way from the Big Apple to the South before slowly (but surely) making my way to all of the continental United States.
After my intial turning, I had lived with William and his woman, Drusilla, avoiding their other companions, Angel and Darla as much as possible. Angel could see to be particularly cruel to me, and Darla came off as a sort of love-sick skank, who would take it where she could get it, and Angel wasn’t about to say no to her. While I was with them, I never found a companion of my own. William had Drusilla, Angel had Darla. I had William, I suppose, in away. He had changed me, because I was the final link between him and his human life, and he spared me from death because the human side of him had missed me -his only friend. But we soon tired of one another, and I left.
I went of my own free will, not even a year after I had been changed. William was blood thirsty, and enjoyed the torture of his victims (usually with railroad spikes, hence his nickname, Spike), before taking that sublime pleasure in finishing them off, savoring the taste of them in his mouth for a long while after a good kill. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the killing, because I did. But I didn’t take the perverse pleasure in it that Spike did.
But now I was in Massachusetts. Killing dirty street-whores because the delectable bits I would prefer were getting smater, and traveling in groups. It was probably a sign that I could leave -when people became more aware of the death and decay around their sad little town. But I liked it there.
I liked the pubs, and the people. There was something different about this backwater town that wasn’t in any of others. And I just knew that "something" was Jade.
After our inital meeting, I began meeting Jade regularly at the pub where we first met. I don’t think she realized at first what I was, but she began to put pieces together -like when I couldn’t meet her for lunch, or how she never saw me around anywhere during the day. There were probably warning signals after the firs time had sex too. She was a smart girl, just as I had first thought. This was before the days of romanticized vampires in novels by authors like Anne Rice (although I always did have a soft spot in my heart for Marius and Armand...), but Jade wasn’t afraid anyway. She was a fool to trust me, and yet I let her. Something in me told me to let it go, let her think that I was a kind and generous person and not the monster I really was.
We had only known each other for a few short weeks when Jade led me from our usual haunt back to her place. She hadn’t figured it all out yet, but she was starting to realize that there was something different about me.
"I want to show you something, Jack. Come in." She grinned at me, unlocking the door to her flat. The interior decoration was 1960's Witch, if you can picture that. Hippie decor, along with all the supplies the up-and-coming witch of the time needed. It was nice.
The whole place smelled of spices, and aromatic candles. I made myself comfortable on the couch, propping my feet up the chipped coffee table, while Jade got us drinks.
"You know, we could have gotten the same thing in the pub." I pointed out. It wasn’t safe for her to be this alone with me. It was easy for me to get carried away if we were alone -which we had been before, and I had only barely been able to keep myself in check. In a crowd, I could still smell other people, pick out new victims...with Jade, I had to control myself.
"I love how you call it a pub, Jack. It’s a bar...we’re not in Europe anymore."
I took a sip of my drink, trying not to look directly at her. The smell of her flesh, the sound of her heartbeat was intoxicating.
"So...c’mon...tell me about you, Jack. We’re always talking about me. What do you hate? What do you like?"
I shrugged. "Well...I don’t like lite beer for one thing...but I like you."
"You are such a guy, Jack." She smiled, leaning back against the arm of the chair, her now bare feet nudging under my thigh, as she took a drink from the glass. "Seriously...where are you from?"
"Kent, originally. But I travel a lot."
"Really? Where have you been? Anywhere exotic?" She asked, grinning.
I thought. "No where exotic... Mostly small towns." Where a few deaths wouldn’t go unnoticed -that was my high. When the deaths I caused were found out, but never solved. "Like here. I’ve been all over Europe, and now I’ve made my way from New York, here."
"Where are you going next?" She asked.
"I’m not sure. I hope to eventually hit all fifty states." If I wasn’t killed first, anyway.
"Sounds fun." She smiled. "What do you do? For a job, I mean. How do you afford to travel?"
I smiled at her. I couldn’t help it. It was such an innocent question. I lived off the poor bastards I killed, but I couldn’t tell her that. "My inheritance from my parents keeps me on my feet. I live pretty frugally."
She nodded. "I couldn’t tell...all the drinking you do. Doesn’t seem to frugal to me."
"I don’t really drink that much. And besides...I’m there for the people, not the service."
She placed her half-empty glass on the coffee table deliberately, and leaned forward to kiss me. Her mouth was wet, and I could taste the beer on her breath. I set my glass down too, pulling her up into my lap. My fingers pulled the rubber band easily from her hair, letting the silky tresses fall around her shoulders, past her face. The locks brushed my face and shoulders.
Jade looked down into my eyes, soft panting emitting from her lips.
"You’re special, Jack."
"I could say the same about you." I whispered before shutting her up with another mind-blowing kiss.
She was the one that started taking off clothes. It was moving fast, and I didn’t want to stop it. Her hands swooped quickly to conquer my belt buckle, pulling it from my belt loops in a fast motion.
"You’ve done that before, have you?" I raised an eyebrow. She smiled, and kissed me again.
"Maybe...once or twice." She shrugged. Her skirt was next, my fingers pulling down the delicate zipper, pushing the fabric down her thighs, discarding it in the accumulating pile on the floor.
"Get rid of your stupid shoes." She sighed, leaning back. "I’ll be right back. Meet me in the bedroom. It’s through that door."
I watched after her, with a slight sigh. Women.
I did as she said though, removing the rest of my clothes, and my ‘stupid shoes’, leaving them beside the couch. When she came back, she was fully undressed too. We didn’t waste time appreciating each other. She licked a line from my shoulder up my throat, her mouth pausing for a moment on the scar from my bite mark. She didn’t question it yet, and instead continued her trail, ending with a nibble on my ear, then a kiss on my mouth. The fire hadn’t been dampened by her short little trip to the bathroom.
Only moments passed before I trapped her underneath me, liking the control-position. Her arms linked almost lazily over my neck, her knees tightened against my hips as I thrust downward into her the first time. She groaned, biting down into my shoulder, making sexy little grunting noises into my ear.
Afterwards, she curled up against my side for a few minutes, her index fingers tracing patterns against my stomach. The smell of her after sex was even more incredible, if that was even possible. The moon was casting a glow across the room as I ran my fingers through her hair.
"What is this?" She asked, stopping the pattern tracing, to examine my neck.
"Bite mark. I was bit by a...dog, when I was younger."
"Oh. Weird place for a dog bite." She sat up, the sheets still held tight across her chest. "You want to go get something to eat? On me."
I glanced over at the clock. "It’s kind of late. I should get going."
"...Am I ever going to see you again?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
I smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips. "You’ll see me again. Trust me."
Not long after I had left Jade, I felt the pangs of feed pelting the back of my mind. As soon as I was far enough away from Jade’s flat, I found one of the few people still out in the sleepy little town. A drunk who had just stumbled out of one of the many local bars. I had seen him before, from afar. He would circulate the bars, getting kicked out of each one nightly. It wasn’t hard to lead him down the alley, and then suck him dry. My jaw twitched afterwards, and I made my way into the bar for one more unknowing victim before the sunrise.
As I promised, Jade and I continued to see a lot of one another. Every evening, I would feed on the vile patrons of local seedy pubs, then meet Jade, sweet Jade, at our favorite place. I spend a few hours with her, talking or making love. I say that because that’s what it was. I may have been a soulless demon, but I can honestly say that I loved her, human or not. Afterwards, I would find another victim, disposing of the body in an alley way. I was getting sloppy with my feedings -leaving bodies in plane sight. I wanted them found. I wanted the town in panic. I wanted to suck the entire town dry until it was me and Jade...and then turn her, so I could have her with me for always.
It was about a month or so after I had met Jade, and we had begun our nightly rituals that I was caught for the first time by a police officer. I had just sank my teeth into the throat of a drunk teenaged girl, whose whimpers were like music to my ears. He pulled a gun on me, and I laughed, dropping her still twitching body.
"Go ahead, fat man. Shoot me." I smiled maliciously. "It’ll hurt, but it’s not going to stop me." I licked the taste of the girl’s blood from my mouth, savoring it for a moment as she scampered away on her hands and knees, clutching her throat, the blood seeping through her fingers. She would be the first survivor. The police officer however, wasn’t so lucky.
I clutched his skull between my hands. "I’ll make this quick and painless..." His eyes widened.
"No, please...I have a family...a wife, two kids...please." The begging only made me hunger for his death more. I smiled.
"They’ll be joining you soon enough, I’m sure." A quick twist, and loud crack, and he slumped to the ground, and I made my way to Jade’s place, the adrenalin still rushing through me.
I knocked before opening the door. "Jade? You here?"
"In the bedroom, Jack." She called. "There’s stuff in the fridge if you’re hungry."
"No thanks, I just ate." I leaned in the doorway of her bedroom. "So, what are we doing tonight, love? Playful banter? Watching the telly? Or are we going to shake the house down again?"
Jade smiled. "I can’t tonight. I have homework."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Classes started today... Remember? I told you a couple of days ago...I’m taking classes at the University of Boston."
"Oh...right, right. Sorry, I forgot." I sighed, entering the bedroom, and sitting on the edge of the bed. "So...you’re working on this for...a long time?"
"Probably. Sorry, it’s totally lame." She sighed. "Maybe tomorrow we can do something? Go to the movies?"
"Sure. It would be a nice change." I nodded.
Jade was quiet for a moment. "So...do you want to go to an early show? Or a late show?"
I stretched out on the empty side of the bed, beside her. "What kind of early are we talking about here?"
"Like...one?"
"I can’t." I shook my head.
Jade sighed, looking at me. "Jack...are you afraid to be seen with me during the day or something?"
"No." I smiled, shaking my head. "I...ah...I don’t like the sun."
"Oh." She nodded, and turned back to her books. "Well, how about the four o’clock show? It’s not so bright then."
"I don’t know, Jade... I really...rather avoid it."
"Jack, is there something you’re not telling me about you?" She asked. "Something...important?"
"Depends on what you think is important, love." I tilted her chin towards me, and kissed her softly.
She took a deep breath. "I think you’re hiding something from me. Either...you’re ashamed of me, or you have some kind of weird skin disease...or something else?"
I smiled. "You’ll find out in time." I kissed her again. "I better let you study. I’ll see you tomorrow. Seven-ish."
Jade nodded, and watched me go towards the bedroom door, before she stopped me again. "Jack?"
"Hm?" I turned, my hand on the doorknob, half way out of the room.
"Are you...are you some kind of a...vampire or something?"
I smiled softly and continued out of the door.
"What kind of answer is that?"
The next night, there was no movie. We spent the evening in bed, trying to find unexplored places of each other. Afterwards, Jade lay cradled in my arms.
"You didn’t answer my question last night." She turned her head up to look at me.
I smoothed the blanket across her legs, and shrugged. "What if I was?"
"I don’t know...I guess...it’s...I don’t know." Jade shrugged. "It’s something you probably want to know about -especially if you’re dating the guy whose the reason all of these people have been dying of mysterious bite wounds for the last couple of months."
I laughed. "It’s been going on a little longer then a couple of months, love. Just on here."
"How long?" She asked.
I smiled, and thought back. "How long since what? There are a lot of time frames to look at."
"How long have you...been a vampire? Been killing people?"
"First of all, I really only kill those who deserve it most, and second of all, you don’t want to know how long."
"Yes, I really do. I think I should know. I have some right to know."
I took a deep breath. "I was turned when I was twenty five, by my cousin William."
"How long ago, Jack?"
"Seventy-five years ago...or there abouts."
"You’re like...a hundred and five."
"Yea...there about." I nodded. "No where near as old as some."
"I don’t understand...how could...why would you..." Jade closed her eyes, pressing her palms against the sides of her head. "I don’t get it, Jack. Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why didn’t know? I am so stupid."
"No, no you’re not stupid. Jade, stop." I pulled her hands away from her face. "Hey, stop now." I turned her face back towards mine. "My being a vampire has nothing to do with you at all."
"Why are you here? Where you trying to...seduce me or something before you killed me?"
I sighed. "Jade, it’s not like that."
"Yes it is...you were slowly killing off the entire town before it was just me and you...and I was the last person here."
"No." I shook my head. "I care about you."
"How can you care about me, Jack? You don’t even have a soul."
"It’s possible to love someone, even without a soul."
"You’re a fucking demon... Oh my god. I’ve been screwing a demon." She froze at the realization.
"Hey, stop...Jade."
"I want you to leave. Now." She shook her head, pushing me away, pulling the sheets away as she climbed off of the bed. "Go, and don’t come back."
"You can’t keep me out."
"The hell I can’t." She shook her head. "Get out."
I nodded, and picked up my clothes in a leisurely fashion, fastening my jeans, and pulling on my boots. "You know, this kind of hysteria really doesn’t become you, Jade."
"Stop trying to talk to me, and get the hell out of my apartment." She turned away from me.
It hurt, being shoved away from her like that. I swallowed the pain, and shook my head. "Fine. I’ll go, but remember this later...I did love you...but that might not save you when the time comes."
"Get out." She hissed.
I stayed by the door for few moments after I pulled it closed behind me, my leather jacket slung over my shoulders. I could hear her moving around, probably putting guarding spells around the windows and doors, so I couldn’t gain entrance again. It was alright. I would get my chance with her eventually.
That night, I moved on to a neighboring town. I had grown sloppy, and the police were beginning to investigate, thinking the killings were due to a large animal of some kind. I was close enough to Jade, where I could still see her any time I wanted, and yet the ‘animal’ was moving on, towards the coast, which would hopefully deter any further investigation into the murders.
My new place was situated in a roomy crypt in a local cemetery that seemed to have been abandoned for the most part many years before. It was old, and hadn’t had a good mowing in a long time. It was good enough for a couple of weeks...and I would be careful for those weeks. Careful not to kill to many people, no matter how much I hungered for it, careful to show my face just enough that I looked like a tourist, not new to town. Careful that I wouldn’t be tracked.
I made my way back to the pub where I had met Jade, hoping to see her. She walked in with a group of her mystical friends, and I watched her from the back of the bar. She looked so sweet in her tight jeans, t-shirt, and red-down vest. I hungered for her, but I tried to resist the feeling. I just knew I would have the opportunity to change her soon enough, if I could just hold off on it a little while longer.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, touching my shoulder. I tried to look casual, sipping out of my beer.
"I like the beer. What’s your excuse?"
"Are you like...stalking me?"
"Hey, I was here before you even showed up, so back off, Jade." I plunked down my beer on the bar. "If anyone is stalking anyone, it’s you stalking me!"
"Excuse me?" She crossed her arms. "I’m not a vam-." My eyes widened and I shot her a look of contempt. "Vamper...you know...a flirt...ah...right. So, seriously. Why are you here? I thought you had like...moved on."
"I missed you." I shrugged. "I moved on, but I still want to see you once in awhile."
"I can’t, Jack." She shook her head. "Not right now. I can’t deal with that."
"C’mon, Jade. It wasn’t a big deal before you knew...why does it have to matter know?"
"Because! You could turn on me, and kill me in my sleep for all I know! I don’t know anything about you Jack!"
"You know I love you...that I’d do anything for you." I took her hand in mine, kissing her finger tips.
"Jack, stop...no. That’s not fair." She pulled her hands away. "You know I can’t say no to that..."
I smiled, pulling her closer to myself, my hand around her hips. I kissed her softly, savoring the flavor of her lips for a moment. "Let me buy you a drink, hm?"
"No, I should be getting home. I have class in the morning."
"You just got here." I pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, and kissing her again. "Come on...one drink."
"No, really, I can’t. I’m here with friends."
"You mean those people that disappear the moment you stepped into the bar?" I whispered in her ear. "I know they’re not real, sweet heart."
"I still have class in the morning."
"Then why are you still standing here?" I asked.
"I seem to be frozen in this spot..." She looked down at her feet.
"Let me walk you home, then?"
It took her a moment, but she finally nodded. "Sure. You can walk me home...but you can’t come in."
"Then why don’t you come with me to my place?" I offered.
Jade raised an eyebrow.
"Alright, so maybe that isn’t such a hot idea. How about getting a motel room with me?"
"No." She smiled, shaking her head.
"Alright, alright... C’mon. Let me walk you."
I was unaware at the time that Jade was secretly doing research, not only on me and my history as a vampire, but on vampires cursed with souls. I didn’t know yet that she wanted to return my soul to me. After she had read about my sprees across Europe, and my short time with Spike, she had become almost obsessed with returning me to human-state. She didn’t want me cursed, she wanted me to be whole again...to be able to resist the temptation of blood-lusting, and no longer thirst for the throats of innocents.
It was a long time, and four moves to various towns in the same approximate area of Massachusetts, until I found out what she was planning...and when I found out, it was much to late.
Jade had gone mad. Absolutely batty. I arrived at her apartment with a bottle of wine, and bag of take out. She had smiled at me, and invited me inside.
"I brought food."
"Oh, leave it on the counter. I want to show you something."
"...You already tried that ploy to get me to sleep with you, so this must be something else...what’s up?"
Jade laughed. "Come into the living room, and sit down."
"...Okay. Is this going to be something kinky?" I asked, sitting down on one of the satin pillows situated in the circle on the floor.
"...I don’t know...do you want it to be?" She asked. "I’ve got a pair of cuffs in the bedroom, but I was just gonna use rope..."
"What’s going on?" I asked.
"I need your help with something...with a spell."
"Excuse me? Jade, I can’t...I mean, what are you trying to do?"
"Can’t you just trust me?" She asked, sighing.
"What is this about?" I asked, trying to move away as she began to wrap the thick rope around my hands, behind my back. "Jade?"
"Just...sit and be quiet for a little while, alright? It shouldn’t take long."
"Jade, tell me what’s going on." I glared down on her as she moved, wrapping more of the same rope around my ankles. "Jade..."
"Would you please relax, Jack?" She requested, with a sigh, moving away from where I was bound, to get her supplies from the shelves around the room, situating it all in a circle. It was the perfectly round crystal ball, that glowed slightly in her hands that really clued me into what she was up to.
"Jade...what you’re doing...it’s not right."
"Jack, if you aren’t going to be quiet, I will silence you forever." Her voice was low, and serious. Her pupils were dilated, and I tried to struggle from the binds, but they were to tight.
"C’mon...let me go, and we’ll have dinner, have a drink. Please, let me go."
"No." She sat down on the pillow opposite of mine. "I will let you go as soon as I am finished, and no sooner. Now please...sit there, and be silent."
"Jade...what if something goes wrong?" I wasn’t going to just sit there and be quiet while the (possible) love of my life tried to curse me.
"Look, this isn’t what you think it is, okay?" She sighed.
"You’re trying to put a gypsy curse on me! I’ve seen it done!"
"No, I’m not!"
"So you’re not trying to re-instate my soul?"
Jade looked away, lighting the candles.
"Jade! Look, you can’t do this. I won’t let you do this."
"I have to! I can’t live seeing you like this anymore! I want a boyfriend who can go out with me during the day, I want a boyfriend who doesn’t have to suck people dry to survive. I want a boyfriend I can trust not to kill me in my sleep."
"I would never kill you in your sleep." It would be way to difficult to change her that way.
"But I can’t know that, Jack. I love you. I have to do this for us...alright?"
I was quiet then, still struggling to loosen the rope to free at least my hands.
I wasn’t paying attention to the words of Jade’s spell, not that I would have remembered them anyway. I wasn’t snapped back into the real world until I felt like my chest was being ripped open, and Jade started screaming, slumping over, her body twitching.
"Jade!" I tried to ignore my own pain, pulling harder at the restraints on my wrists. I felt the shedding of my old ways, suddenly much more human...docile then I had been before. More like the way I had been before Spike’s selfishness, of turning me.
And I had never thought that before...that Spike had been selfish in turning me. I had looked at it as a gift...but for that instant, as I watched helplessly as Jade died, trying to save me from a fate of evil, I felt that being a vampire had been a demonic curse.
When I was finally able to cut myself from my bindings, Jade was already gone, not that there had been anything I could have done anyway. I threw away the sliced ropes, and called the appropriate people. I was sitting at the kitchen table, tearing apart a piece of bread on a plate when the coroner’s office knocked on the door.
"Where’s the body?" The man’s voice seemed cold, and unfeeling, but I suppose in that profession you have to be a little harder then usual.
"Do you know what happened?" The second man asked.
"I don’t know." I shook my head. "I got here a little after seven with dinner...she was acting kind of strange. She was heavy into the wicca thing." I shrugged. "She must have taken it to far. She just collapsed."
I watched as they bagged her, and loaded her up onto the cart. The younger of the two, turned as a last thought.
"I’m really very sorry for your loss. I grew up with Jade. She was a great girl...but she depended on magic a little to much." He looked sad for a moment, giving me a weak smile, before pulling the door quietly closed behind him.
A few hours later, I was still in Jade’s apartment, just sitting on the couch, looking around. I almost didn’t notice the knocking on the door. I forced myself up from the couch, opening the door slowly.
"I’m sorry, Jade’s not here." I said, automatically, not recognizing the girl standing there. She was probably only about seventeen, and was flanked by two other vampires, and a set of werewolves. I could smell it on them. I moved in a defensive kind of mode.
The girl sent looks to the men behind her, and they stepped back, wordlessly.
"I’m not looking for...Jade, was it?" She shook her head. "I’m looking for you..."
And it was the first time I was ever introduced to the Protector -the one girl, in all the world, whose job it was to protect me, and my kind. Vampires with souls, and werewolves. She was spunky, wise...totally in love with one of the others, Damian. But I liked her. I agreed to join her Circle, even though I didn’t know many of the ropes in the gig, but I learned.
And I learned enough, that when Devon came around, I was the one who found her, along with Angel (who I had caught up with after I made my way to Sunnydale, California), and of course Gabriel...but we don’t talk about him very much anymore.
I’ll admit that I’m in love with Devon...but she loves me too. Sometimes, I still find myself missing Jade, but I know that she gave up a lot to try and make me whole again. Her entire dream didn’t get to come true. I still can’t go out in the sun, but holy water and crosses don’t bother me as much, and I can eat garlic with only a twinge of discomfort. Everyday, I thank her for her courage...to give up her own life, to save mine, even if that was originally her plan.