Jade Tears

Disclaimer: I don't own Blade; if I did he would be a lot nicer. Lol.

Note: This is a year before the first Blade movie. I decided to change it because I'm doing a sequel, which will be six years after this story. I also made a few small changes.

Chapter One

Looking around the small diner she was in, Jade Alden wondered if she had gotten a bad lead. She'd been sitting in a corner booth facing the door for little more then a hour and so far, no one she could identify as a vampire had walked in.

Scowling, she tucked an annoying strand of light blonde hair behind her ear, her pale green eyes scanning the diner again. Her hair was pulled into a thick braid that fell to the middle of her back and she was wearing a baggy pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt, a large brown coat and tennis shoes.

Sighing, she leaned against the back of the booth and started fiddling with the necklace she was wearing, an eighteen inch silver chain holding a small tear-drop shaped jade pendant. It was a birthday gift from her father when she turned seventeen three years ago, also the night her parents were killed.

After celebrating with her parents that day, Jade had gone roller blading at the skating rink with her friends that night. Pain and anger coursed through her as she remembered what happened when she got home.

Out of habit, she'd glanced into one of the windows and seeing more movement then usual, decided to get a closer look, just in case.

That was when her life fell apart.

There were three men in the living room and her mother was lying on the floor, obviously dead, with her father kneeling over her, crying. Frozen by horror, Jade had watched as one of the men kicked her dad in the side, knocking him into the TV stand. She could hear the other men laughing through the window as one of them kicked him in the face and blood had started flowing from his nose. She remembered one of the men putting his hand on her dad's face where he was bleeding and he licked the blood off when he pulled his hand away. Her dad, in desperation, kicked one of the men in the knees and knocked him over. However, this only seemed to piss the men off, because one of them punched her dad in the face and she heard his neck break from where she was.

At that moment, she heard screaming, but it was only when one of the men looked towards the window that she realized that it was her screaming.

She remembered falling back on the sidewalk, then stumbling to her feet and running as fast as possible away from there, not looking back.

Jade was startled out of her memories when she heard the ball chime, signaling that someone had opened the door of the diner and out of reflex, reached for the handle of one of her sais. It was only an elderly man, though and she relaxed as much as she could, loosening her grip on her weapon.

They were made out of silver plated steel and the handles were woven with dark green and black cloth.

Her mentor, Frank Gunn, had given them to her a month ago, when he thought she was ready for some real-world practice.

She met Gunn, as she fondly called him, two nights after the deaths of her parents. She hadn't eaten for those two days and had taken to sleeping during the day to avoid vampires. That was how he had found her, asleep in an alley behind the building he lived in. He took her in, fed her and was patient with her as she told him her story.

What surprised her, though, was that Gunn had offered to train her to fight them, vampires that is. As it turned out, he had been fighting vampires since his family was killed by them twenty years ago.

"Why would you want to help me?" She had asked and he'd given her a straight answer.

"I lost my family to vampires, too. I know what you're going through and don't see any reason not to help."

She remembered lying awake that night, thinking it over and she decided to do it. She owed it to her parents. Gunn and her had grown close, working as a team for three years now and he became like a grandfather to her. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost him.

Sighing, she looked up as the entrance bell rang again, expecting another normal civilian.

However, she wasn't sure when she saw him. He was a tall black man who was wearing all black and he had some interesting marks on the back of his neck. It was hard to tell if he was a vampire at this distance, but it wasn't like she could jump inside his head and find out for her self. No, that would be to easy.

She scowled slightly, agitated at having to wait there so long, because she couldn't stand to sit still for long. It was an issue she had and it always bothered Gunn, because he couldn't stand always moving around. It was the only reason they ever fought.

Sighing, she leaned against the back of the booth and carefully watched the man as he sat down in the corner booth on the other side of the diner. She noted that he looked semi comfortable, as if he didn't like being in public, but had learned to deal with it.

Folding her arms across her chest, Jade kept on hand on the handle of one of her sais and raised an eyebrow as he politely refused a cup of coffee from the waitress that had gone over to check on him. It wasn't exactly a red light, but it was something to think about, just in case.

"Miss?" She looked up to see another waitress looking at her. "Can I get you something?" Thinking for a moment, she realized she was thirsty and smiled politely at the waitress.

"Does this place serve chocolate milk?" She asked and the waitress nodded, jotting it down.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Jade nodded as the waitress walked away. She always preferred chocolate milk to coffee. Hell, she preferred anything to coffee. She never liked the bitter taste of it and couldn't see why people liked it.

Thinking, she turned her gaze back to the man and saw that he had folded his arms across his chest, his eyes closed. There was a pair of sunglasses on the table next to him, obviously put there when she wasn't looking and she knew he knew someone was watching him. She smiled slightly, because not to many people were ever aware of her as she preferred to stay in the background and it was always interesting when someone did notice her. Deciding to take this chance to study him a little better, she had to admit he was attractive. For some reason, his face seemed set in stone when he had came in and it hadn't changed now. It was somewhat intriguing and she had to remind herself that he could be a vampire.

"Miss? Here's your milk." The waitress was back with Jade's glass of milk and she motioned for her to set it down on the table while digging a five out of her pocket. Handing it to the waitress, she smiled slightly.

"Keep the change." Smiling, the waitress walked away and Jade grabbed the glass, taking a long drink. Setting the glass down, she licked the extra milk off her upper lip and looked up. Her heart nearly stopped as she collided with his gaze and faintly noted that he had brown eyes.

Oh, crap.

Startled and a little embarrassed, she looked out the window, mentally cursing as she felt him watching her. Oh yes, this was perfect. Little Jade on the run just because a man had caught her off guard. Yeah, Gunn would just love to hear about this. Damnit.

Suddenly, she noticed movement outside and saw six men surrounding a woman who looked very scared, herding her towards and dark alley.

"Son of a bitch." She hissed, getting out of her seat and walked as fast as she could without running towards the door. There was only one reason for six men to be terrorizing a woman in an alley. They were vampires and she damn near missed them.

Making her way towards the alley, Jade drew both of her sais, intent on helping the woman, unaware of the man from the dinner getting out of his seat and following her.

Reaching the alley, she heard the woman's scared voice.

"Please, leave me alone!" Hoping to take their attention off the woman, she kicked a trash can against a brick wall and all six of the vampires turned to look at her.

"Why don't you boys be nice and let her go?" She said scowling and one of them stepped forward, sneering.

"What are you gonna do about it, sweetheart?" She tensed slightly, getting ready for a fight when they stepped back, suddenly looking afraid and her back suddenly felt warm, like someone was standing behind her.

"It's the Daywalker." One of the other vampires said in a hushed voice and Jade remembered something Gunn had told her about the person in question. However, before she could say anything the vampires took off towards a split in the alley, three going each way. The woman didn't move and Jade motioned for her to leave.

"Go to the diner across the street." She said, pushing the woman in that direction and she ran like hell. Jade turned towards the person the vampires had called the Daywalker and was surprised to see the man from the diner, wearing thesunglasses. Before she could say anything though, he pointed to the alley going left. (A/N Okay, she'll call him 'the Daywalker' until the end of this chapter.)

"Take that alley, I'll get the others." Sighing, she resisted the temptation of a mock salute and ran down the alley.

"They should call him 'General Daywalker'." She said under her breath as she approached the end of the alley and saw two of the vampires, along with a dead end. "Hey boys, don't you hate dead ends?" She asked, grinning and they both sneered at her.

"Little girl, you should go home. You never know what hides in the dark." She scowled, disliking being called a little girl and kicked one of them in the face.

"Not a little girl." She growled, now very angry. "Now, who wants to play?" Both of them rushed her and she stabbed both of them in the heart, watching them disintegrate.

"That was easy." She said, suddenly wondering where the third vampire was and put her sais away. Sighing, she decided to write him off as an escaped and walked back to the alley entrance, where she saw the daywalker leaning against the wall.

"Done so soon?" She asked, sarcastically and he looked at her, scowling. Uh-huh, definitely takes his job to seriously...like she should talk. "Yeah, I got rid of them." She decided to be a little more blunt about it and he nodded.

"Good." Pushing away from the wall, he made likehewas going to leave but something seemed to catch his attention. Jade looked around and saw something run into the alley she was just in. She looked at the Daywalker, questioningly.

"Did you see that too?" She asked and he looked at her as if to say 'No shit, Sherlock'. Shaking her head, she warily stepped into the alley and unsheathed one sai this time. Looking around carefully, she was caught off guard when something grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards. She felt a knife at her throat and the person kept a hold of her hair, while the Daywalker drew an interesting looking gun.

"Put the gun down Daywalker and I'll let her go." It was the vampire she'd wrote off. She was pissed that he'd come back and even more pissed that he was holding her hostage. Noting that he had her in a position to shield his body, she groaned silently and tried to think of a way to get out of this mess. She winced as he gave a sharp tug on her hair and figured that he had it parallel to the ground, which gave her an idea. Thankful that she hadn't dropped her sai, she waited for an opening to put her plan into motion.

"I don't make deals with vampires." She looked up as the Daywalker spoke, noticing he was scowling and guessed he didnr't like being put in these kinds of situations. That was okay, she didn't either. Her captor gave another tug on her hair and she winced slightly.

"To bad, you could have saved her." He said and Jade decided to put her plan into motion. Moving quickly, she swiped her sai behind her head, cutting her hair free. Hearing a scream, she guessed she must have hit his hand as well and with a grin, dove away from him. As soon as she was clear, she heard a gunshot and looked back in time to see the vampire disintegrate.

Relieved, she let herself fall back against the wall of a brick building where the gravity of the situation finally hit her. She could have been killed or bitten. Shivering at both thoughts, she looked towards the Daywalker and saw him glaring at her.

"Thanks." She said quietly and he shook his head.

"You shouldn't be out here, little girl." She looked at him in shock, not believing what she heard and the shock was quickly replaced with anger. Without thinking, she flipped her sai so that she was holding the blade with the tips of her fingers and threw it at the light post he was standing next to. Her brain finally caught up with her movements as he looked at her with surprise and she swore silently, getting to her feet.

She had just picked a fight with someone who could easily kick her ass and because of a strict code of honor, she knew she couldn't back out. He watched her carefully as she got up, probably wondering what her problem was and she glared at him, masking her fear.

"Never call me a little girl." She said, almost growling and he almost smiled.

"You have no idea who you're fucking with." She shrugged and drew her other sai, since she had buried the other one in the light post he was next to and she had a feeling she'd get her ass kicked very quickly if she tried to get it out. To her surprise though, he moved away from the light post and she decided to take a chance. She walked to the light post and with a few tugs, it was out. Turning, she heard a sound that sounded something like metal grinding against a table and saw that he had just drawn a sword.

"Let's get this over with." She said, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach and charged at him. Their blades met with a loud crash and they matched each other blow for blow. As she began to tire, Jade began looking for weaknesses in his defense and surprisingly enough, she found one. Moving as fast as she could, she caught the blade of his sword between her sais and flipped it away from him. Without missing a beat, he kicked a sai out of her left hand and she winced slightly at the force of his kick. Recovering, she aimed her remaining sai at his head and he stepped aside, grabbing her arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her toone knee and making her let go of her weapon. She gritted her teeth together as she felt her shoulder begin to cramp.

"Had enough?" She heard him ask and tried to break his grip on her arm, only succeeding to twist her arm a little more.

"Fine." She said and he let her go, and then turned her to face him.

"Next time, watch who you fuck with." He said and she scowled, still angry.

"I'll be sure to avoid you from now on." She said dryly, grabbing her sais and keeping a close eye on him as he grabbed his sword, just in case. Putting his sword back in its scabbard, he nodded and started across the street, pausing only to watch for traffic. Watching him go, Jade hoped she would never see him again. She knew she'd have to explain the bruises, along with her new haircut to Gunn and she really wasn't looking forward to it. Sighing, she started in the direction of Gunn's place, trying to push her hair out of her face.

She justhoped he wouldn't ask to many questions.