Chapter 1: Curses
K.O Burger Parking Lot…
The small fast food joints lights dimmed as the last employ exited the establishment. The door shut behind him, letting him out into the cool crisp night air. He looked around the parking lot, as if searching for someone. Who would have been anyone's guess. The entire lot was empty.
The employee was a teen of roughly 16 or 17 years of age. He stood about 5'8, with a lanky build and pale skin. His hair was black and wild, seeming to have no real structure or order. He wore a grey over shirt and white long sleeved undershirt with blue jeans and sneakers. His eyes were stormy blue.
Jack frowned and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number and held the phone to his ear, listening to the dial tone. A moment later he heard a wash of static followed by a female voice.
"Jack? What is it?" Arcee, SIC of the Autobots and Jack's guardian, friend and partner, demanded in a hushed whisper. She was probably on a mission.
"Sorry Arcee, it's just that the parking lot was looking very empty when I ended my shift," Jack explained.
Arcee cursed, "Right, late shift, I forgot. Sorry Jack, I'm on a stealth mission at the moment. I can ask Ratchet to bridge you to your house if you want." she offered.
Jack smiled and started down the sidewalk, "I appreciate Cee, but I can walk home. It's only a few blocks, I can handle it."
"Jack-"
"I can handle a swarm of scraplets on Cybertron and an Insecticon Arcee. A few blocks won't kill me." Jack said, still smiling.
Arcee sighed, "Alright. See you tomorrow then Jack. Sorry for making you walk."
"Talk to you tomorrow Cee," he flipped the phone closed, slipping it into his pocket. He put his hands behind his head and strolled down the sidewalk. Things around Jasper were finally looking up again.
So much had happened to the teen in the past few months. First he'd met the Autobots, found out about their civil war with the Decepticons that had destroyed their planet. From there, he and his friends had helped them prevent an invasion of undead Terrorcons on Earth. The months after were a blur of running and screaming. Lots of running and screaming.
Three events stuck out in Jacks mind though. His encounter with Arcee's nemesis, Airachnid, a crazy spider con who liked hunting indigenous life forms so she could add them to her collection. Jack shivered, the con had hunted him through the forest for hours. Only quick thinking and a leak in her ship had saved him.
The next was when MECH, a human terrorist group dedicated to acquiring the most powerful tech on Earth, had captured his mother with help from Airachnid. Jack had been forced to try and rescue her, and if it hadn't been for Arcee and Fowlers timely arrival, he and his mom would have died.
The biggest and most recent though, was the near awakening of Unicron, the chaos-bringer. Turned out that the Earth's core was actually home to an entity of chaos and death. The Bots had managed to stop him from fully awakening, and saved Earth with Megatron's help. But at the cost of Optimus and his memories. Optimus had lost his memories defeating Unicron, and was turned into a con by Megatron. Only when Jack went to Cybertron with the Key to Vector Sigma, given to him by Optimus, were they able to restore his memories.
Since then, the cons had withdrawn for a time, probably planning their next move. In the meantime though, the past two weeks had been peaceful. Happily so. The bots had found a cache of Energon to double their supply, and the kids had been able to spend more and more time at base.
Jack sighed happily. One of his favorite pass times now was racing with Arcee. The femme wouldn't admit it, but she liked it too. Every time they went out, they went faster and faster, streaming through the wind at a crazy speed. It was exhilarating.
So of course, one night of walking home was fine by him. Jack checked his phone as he walked, double checking his messages. He wanted to be sure he hadn't missed any from his mom. It was late, the moon was rising high into the air, and he was the only person walking along the sidewalk. Best to not add his mothers wrath to a list of things he'd see when he got home.
A cold wind blew by and Jack shivered. Cold night. He looked up at the sky, noting that the clouds were thick and puffy, hiding the moon. It might rain that night. Arcee would whine about rust on her rims if it did. For as kick aft as she was, Arcee could be a real diva when she wanted.
An scream split the air, causing Jack to freeze in place. It was the scream of a woman, and it was cut off as fast as it began. Jack felt his blood run cold, and took off in the direction of the scream. Some small part of him said this was a bad idea. A much louder part didn't care, someone was in trouble, and he needed to help.
Jack ran past a small building, stopping at the alley between it and a larger convenience store. The alleyway was poorly lit, he couldn't see past two feet into the dark. A small squelching noise emanated from the darkness. It sounded like someone was eating. The noise caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end, but he ignored the feeling. All he knew was that this was where the scream had come from.
"Hello!?" he called into the dark, "Is anyone in here? I heard a scream." no response. the squelching noise continued. Jack moved forward, pulling his phone out and flipping it open. A dim light was cast on the ground, only adding a few feet of illumination.
"Hello?" he asked, feeling less confident. The alley was a good thirty feet long, so the noise had to be coming from somewhere.
Jack froze, his eyes wide as something came into view. A thick red substance pooled across the floor, slowly spreading towards him. Blood. Jacks hand shook and he raised his phone up. His heart was pounding in his chest, and his breathing grew short and rapid, yet something kept him from running.
Slowly the light cast up, and Jack felt sick. A human hand became visible, blood dripping down it in small rivers, adding into the pool. It was the hand of a woman, mid clench, as if she'd tried fighting off something briefly. More was illuminated, and Jack felt the urge to vomit coming up.
The woman's body was coated in blood, her clothes pressed tightly too her body from the thickness. Her skin was pale, and her face was fixed in a look of sheer terror. Her eyes were glazed over, and once blond hair was dyed an odd pink. But what caught Jacks attention, was her neck.
Someone, or something, was hunched over it, like an animal. Their head bobbed up and down, and the sound of flesh tearing could be heard. Jack dropped his phone, the device clattering against the pavement. In the near silence, it was painfully loud. The thing stopped moving, and the woman fell from its grasp. her body hit the pool of blood and concrete with a sickening thud.
The figure slowly stood, its head still drooped forward. A pitch black hood hid its head, but Jack could see small amounts of blood dripping from it.
"Interrupting my snack." the things voice sounded female, and old. Old but young.
"Was a bad idea human," the figure looked up, its light dimly lit by the phones light. Immediately Jack knew it was female, and she almost looked human. Almost.
Her skin was ungodly pale, whiter then snow, like a living statue of marble. Her eyes looked like pools of blood, draining into the pupil. She had thick black hair, as dark as she was pale. Her features could be described as incredibly beautiful, with soft looking skin, and sharp features. But her ears were pointed, and when she spoke, dozens of razor sharp teeth flashed in the phones light. Her entire mouth was coated in blood, making it look as if she were wearing clown makeup.
She was dressed in a simple blood red blouse, with black pants and a hoodie. A scar was wrapped around her neck. The hoodie was unzipped and splattered with blood. So were the knees of her pants.
All this Jack registered in an instant. He took a single step back, the females eyes staring at him, wide and unblinking. She smiled, her smile going unnaturally wide, spreading from ear to ear. Her mouth was full of razor sharp teeth, like a sharks. They were all stained red.
Jack then did what any sensible person would do in his situation. He turn and ran, abandoning his cell phone. He practically stumbled as he exited the alley. Adrenaline flooded his systems, and he heard a deep seductive laugh emanate from the alley.
"Run little human, run. It makes the chase more exciting." She taunted. Jack spared a single glance over his shoulder as he ran. The woman stood at the edge of the alley, watching him with those wide unblinking eyes. Her face was obscured by shadow and her thick hair, but her grin, her grin was still evident even from his brief glance. She did not open her mouth while she laughed.
Jack turned back forward, breathing hard as he ran, skimming around a corner. He had to get away, to get to base, or to the police station, somewhere! The laugh continued to echo across the streets.
Jack stopped at the edge of a street, panting hard as he tried to regain his breath. He looked behind himself to see the woman casually strolling towards him, her hands crossed behind her back. Her head was bent back over again, but now an eerie hum emanated from her. It sounded vaguely similar to the nursery rhyme three blind mice.
Jack looked back at the stores across the street. They were mostly convenience stores, all closed. One though, caught his eyes.
G.I. Army Surplus. Perfect.
The commercial section of town was abandoned, so Jack couldn't call for help. The humming grew louder behind him. He had two choices. Try and run. Or head to the Army story, see if he could find a weapon of sorts.
"Going somewhere!?" her hand gripped his shoulder and spun him around. Jack almost screamed in fear. Now that he was up close, she was even more terrifying. Her eyes still didn't blink, and blood dripped from her lips still. Her features in the twisted light of the night and street lamps were angular and sharp. Her grin was still present.
Jack struggled against her, trying to break the grip. He hammered at her hand and arm, but she didn't budge. The woman laughed through her serrated teeth, which were still locked in place.
"No need to run," she cooed, "It'll all be over soon."
Her mouth opened wide, unhinging like a snakes. One hand gripped Jacks hair and yanked his head to the side. the other held him in place. Jack reacted on instinct, and punched up. The attack was so sudden, he actually hit her, directly in the throat. She screamed and stumbled back, gripping her throat and hacking.
"Little…brat!" she snarled, looking back at him. She didn't look as scary now, since her grin had faded and her eyes were narrowed. Didn't make her any less intimidating.
Jack took off, running to the G.I. store. The doors would be locked, but the windows. They weren't. Shielding his face, Jack leapt at the windows. They shattered, and Jack fell through. He ignored the pain covering his body from multiple cuts on his face, arms, and body. He was in.
He weakly got to his feet, quickly scanning the room. Cages lined the store, filled with military apparel. He ignored those. The wall to his right though, had a line of rifles hanging from the wall. A glass display case held pistols and wicked knives inside it.
Jack ran towards the guns right as the double doors exploded off their hinges. The woman strolled through, her brow furrowed angrily, "Oh just stop running!" she growled.
He ignored her, and leapt over the display case, leaving a bloody hand print on it. Jack grabbed the first weapon he could find off the wall, a M .22 Rifle. He checked the chamber and saw it was empty. He cursed, of course it would be.
He quickly searched through the cabinets under the rifles, looking for any ammo. A display case showing off army helmets crashed to the ground. The woman had resumed her humming. Jack found a case of ammo, behind two others.
The cases were frantically shoved away, and he grabbed desperately at the box, "Come now kid… We all know this won't end well."
Jack said nothing, and suppressed the urge to whimper. He pulled a round out of the box and hastily slid it into the chamber, his fingers fumbling over it. He stood and turned to see the woman casually strolling towards him. He aimed it at her, silently thanking his dad for having been a gun nut before he passed away in a car accident.
The woman stopped, looking at the gun, and then to Jack. Then she tilted her head back and laughed. Her shark like teeth flashed in the dimly lit store. She looked back at Jack, her teeth bared, "I like you kid. You've got potential."
"S-stay back! I mean it!" Jack threatened. The gun trembled in his hands. His sights though, never left her body.
The woman began walking forward once more, and smirked. Jacks eyes widened. Her teeth looked normal now, except for her canines, which were still long and sharp. Jack shook his head and refocused the barrel on her. She stepped up onto the counter.
Jack pulled the trigger.
The crack of the shot echoed through the store and out the broken window. The woman stood there, stock still, her blood eyes glaring at him. A single entry wound pierced through the left of her chest. Small amounts of blood dripped from the wound. But the woman, she seemed unaffected.
Then, to Jacks shock and horror, the wound sealed shut. A small patch of pink skin being the only reminder of him having ever shot her. She smirked, "Oh, you have far too much potential. Feeding can wait."
She shot forward, faster than any human Jack had seen, and slammed him against the gun rack. The weapon fell from his hands, and rifles fell to the ground. Jack blinked wearily before looking up at the woman. She had a sick smile on her face, her fangs bared. Jack struggled against her arm, but it was like trying to move a mountain for all the good it did.
"Relax kid," she said sweetly, far too sweet given her fangs, "You'll only feel a slight pinch. But the rest, it will be agonizing."
Her mouth opened unnaturally wide, and she shot forward like a cobra. Jacks eyes widened and he tried to scream as her fangs dug into his jugular vein. No sound came out, and his vision almost immediately began to distort. It looked like he was seeing the world through a cup of water.
The woman pulled away from his neck, the edges of her fangs tipped with red, "Now sleep tight little one…" her voice faded as she spoke, along with Jacks vision. She stepped back.
He fell to his knees, and then face first, "You'll need it…"
Darby Residence…
Jacks eyes shot open, and a searing pain shot through his neck. It felt like hot needles were being shoved in, and flooding his blood. He arched his back and screamed silently, perspiration coating his forehead. It was unlike any pain then he'd ever felt before, and it only got worse.
He clenched his hands, tears poured from his eyes as it intensified. He felt like he was being torn apart. Anymore and he'd go crazy. Maybe he already was.
Then, as fast as it came, the pain faded away. Blissful peace engulfed his form as the pain faded away. He simply lay there, his vision cloudy as he breathed heavily. He raised his hands to look at them, only seeing fuzzy objects. His entire body felt numb, and for some reason his mouth felt crowded, like there were too many teeth.
Slowly his vision cleared and the numbness faded, replaced with new strength. His vision cleared and he realized he was lying on his bed in his room. He swung his legs onto the side of his bed, still feeling shaky. Slowly he stood, wondering, how had he gotten home? Had everything he last remembered just been a dream?
Jack stumbled forward, steadying himself on his desk. It was a small thing, painted black and covered in paper and trash. His mom kept telling him to clean it, but he kept putting it off. He looked up at the large mirror he kept hanging above it, and froze, eyes wide. He was standing directly in front of the mirror… but he had no reflection.
The trembling returned, and he reached his fingers out, touching the mirror. It was smooth and cold to the touch, but no reflection met his fingers. It was then that Jack noticed his hands were pale. It looked as if he was made of living marble.
He retracted his hands quickly, staring down at them in horror, "W-what is this?" he demanded of no one.
A soft laugh echoed through his room, "Oh Jack, you ask all the questions, don't you?" He whirled to see the woman that attacked him lounging casually on his bed. She twirled his house keys on her index finger. The blood stains on her clothes and mouth were gone.
Jack immediately scrambled back, bumping into the desk, "S-stay away from me!" he yelled.
The woman rolled her eyes and sat up, "Kid, if I wanted to kill you, I could have done it already." she told him. She smiled, baring her fangs.
"But you have far more uses to me like that then before."
Jack looked down at his hands and the empty mirror. She wasn't showing up in it either, even though she was sitting right in front of it. He looked back to her, "What did you do to me!?" he demanded.
She stood up, "I made you better, stronger, faster, smarter, and honestly far more attractive." She pulled a bronze colored disc from her hood and tosses it to him. To his surprise, he caught it without so much as a fumble.
"Human mirrors can't see us. Only bronze mirrors sanctified in a ritual can." she stated.
Jack didn't ask about the ritual. He didn't want to know. Instead he looked at the disc in his hands, and felt utter fear.
His skin had turned as pale as his hands, his eyes were blood red, and his ears pointed. He raised his lip to see that his mouth was full of sharp serrated teeth. To his shock, the teeth flattened out until only his canines remained sharpened.
Jack dropped the mirror in horror, backing away from it and the woman, "W-what are you? What am I!?"
She laughed again, a far more harsh laugh, "Really? You haven't figured it out yet?" she smiled sweetly, "I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with campfire, and involves a lack of blood."
If Jacks face could get any paler, it did. Everything that had just happened made sense now, the blood, her pale skin, the pain in his neck.
"Vampire." he whispered, "You're a vampire, they're real."
"Very good Jack," she praised, her voice sounding sincere, "You're the first human in over two hundred years to guess that right the first time. I knew turning you was a good choice!"
Jack grit his teeth, and felt a low growl emanate from his throat, "You… You turned me into some sort of blood sucking freak!?" he screamed.
She punched him in the gut, knocking the wind from his stomach. He fell to his hands and knees, the Vampiress kneeling next to him, "Just because you are a vampire, doesn't mean I won't hesitate to hurt you. Keep quiet, otherwise you'll wake the neighborhood."
She stood back up and waited for Jack to stand, "Why?" he demanded weakly as he struggled to stand.
"Because, I saw potential in you." she said plainly, "And that's all you need to know. You aren't the only fledgling of mine in town, and I don't trust you with my big plans yet Jacko."
She tilted his head up, "But I was impressed by the fact that you tried to fight back instead of hiding like most humans do. But you'll learn that soon enough." she smiled mischievously.
"What?"
"Oh silly fledgling. You're like me, you think I was tearing that woman's neck out for fun?" she asked. Jack shuddered at the memory.
"We need human blood to not only stay sane, but to stay alive. Human foods, while tasty, won't satiate us. The longer you go without feeding, the more dangerous you become. If you go a full week without feeding, you'll descend into a blood induced rampage that will cause you to kill the nearest human to satiate yourself." she explained.
Jack felt like he was going to faint. This woman had come out of nowhere and turned him into a monster. A sharp toothed super human monster. He shivered, if what she said was true… he had a week left until he wouldn't be able to put off the inevitable.
A thought occurred to him, and though he didn't want to, he asked her a question while she leant against his bed, smiling like a maniac. Which she was.
"How am I suppose to go out in public looking like this? Not a lot of humans look like this."
She smile widened, "That," she started, "Can all be explained here," she pulled a book out of another pocket. It wasn't very big, just slightly larger than the palm of her hand. It was pitch black, with a leather binding and cover.
"This," she explained, "Contains all you need to know about your new "condition". I'd recommend reading up." she tossed the book at him.
He looked at the small book in his hands. Then he looked up at her, "So that's it, turn me into a bloodsucking monster, then leave without telling me your name!?" he demanded.
She grinned and stood at his window, "Pretty much. I have better things to do then look over a fledgling. But you can call me Mariana." then she disappeared.
Jack looked at the book in his hands. His pale, pale hands. He clenched his eyes, resisting the urge to crush the book in his hand. His entire life was ruined. If what he'd been told and seen was true, he was like her. He'd have to feed eventually, whether he liked it or not.
He fought back the tears and sat on his bed, hanging his head. The book still in his hands. Slowly he opened it. The pages were yellowed with age, and the writing was small and neat. The first page read: Chapter 1: Fledglings.
A/N: So how's that for a Halloween story? Huh? So except for those I told, who ever expected me to write something like this? A headsup, this story will be dark, it will be bloody, and it will be rarely updated. But that shouldn't discourage you from reviewing! See that little box? Leave a review in it! Or if you have questions or ideas, PM me! I will respond. Oh and Happy Halloween!