"Jack... you never change." The boy smirked. Jack just stared, a barely remembered friend from his childhood, one he had thought was lost, was standing right before him.

"Come back a little late haven't you?"

"Jake... I..." Jack fumbled. Jamie wondered just how close the two had been if Jack was fumbling like this. The other Guardians were wondering similarly as they watched in silence.

"Let me guess, considering those are the other Guardians I've heard about from the master I'd say you're not here for me." Jack's mouth, which had been open, clicked shut and he seemed to shake himself from the shock a little.

"We thought you were dead."

"I am. In a manner of speaking of course."

"You're... one of them."

"Very good Jack."

"Jack... what's that mean?" Jamie said, shifting a little."

"Ah, you must be Jamie." Jack shifted closer to Jamie at that, he felt nervous now.

"Wait... you're... a... but that's impossible."

"Really now? You stand beside a boy who was frozen and resurrected by the moon and you're saying it's impossible for me to be a vampire?" Jamie was silent to that.

"All this time... why? Why did you never come see me if you knew..."

"Because I did but you didn't recognize me Jack. You didn't even know where you were born!" He snarled suddenly, causing the Guardians to shift to protect Jamie and Jack as if the other were threatening to kill them.

"I see." It was all Jack said but in his years of being alone he didn't remember ever encountering anyone who tried to talk to him. Was he lying or was it that Jack, himself, simply did not remember encountering a vampire? No... wait... he had. He remembered now. He'd been simply icing some streets during Halloween when he'd come across Jake who had been trying to seduce a child to come with him... Jack had stopped him... had broken the hypnotic spell with a touch of cold and the child had fled. The vampire had then tried to talk to him. He didn't remember what either of them had said though, but he realized now that the vampire he'd confronted had indeed been his childhood friend.

"Do you want to know what happened that night Jack? The night you and the others dared me?" Jack said nothing.

"The fog, of course, obscured my view but I found myself suddenly staring into what I assumed was the eyes of death when a boy much like you are now found me. Oh, but it isn't who you are thinking. The Pumpkin King rarely uses these portals since the first fall of Pitch. No, a boy who looked just like you came to me... but he was shorter and had the reddest eyes I had ever seen. I was just a boy then so the other gave me quite the shock. I assume you heard my scream. I was so easily frightened back then... but then the boy took me. He immobilized me with his charm and I was easy prey. I became like him, a creature of the night; and he gave me everything I could ever wish for. Except one thing. My friends." He leaned back against the tree.

"I came back for you all one day... only to find that they had moved from the village and you... Well, I saw the hole in the ice and realized what had happened. It wasn't until I caught my first glimpse of you centuries later during one Halloween that I realized that you, Jack, had been the one who had fallen victim to the ice of the early spring that year." There was silence, now what? Jamie was uncertain. He had been fully prepared to deal with a possible fight with the Pumpkin King, but a friend of Jack's?
"Why are you here Jake?"

"I was simply looking for my next meal. It was kind enough of you to bring me one." Jack narrowed his eyes at that.

"Don't you dare touch Jamie."

"Touche. I don't remember you being so possessive Jack. Is it because you were alone for three hundred years?" Jack's grip on his staff tightened.

"You're not my friend." He said suddenly, the boy looked startled a moment.

"I beg your pardon?"

"My friend never would threaten anyone. He wouldn't have done the things you've had to because he had a generous heart. He could never take from someone else even when he was starving!" The boy stared a moment then frowned.

"You don't know what it's like, Jack, to crave blood and not have it. It's not like starving for food. It's more potent and much more... animalistic."

"I don't care! The Jake I knew never would have succumbed! He would have found another way or perished in trying! He NEVER would have killed another human!" Jake's eyes narrowed as Jack went on.

"He'd never hurt another living soul if he could help it! He hated just having to hunt and fish! He refused to do either despite what his father said! He didn't even kill the pests that often invaded our homes! My friend is dead... and you... you're nothing but a monster."

"So be it."

"We have to open that portal some how." Tooth said, staring at the boy who had once been Jack's friend.

"Fools... you don't even realize you have crossed it! You are in my world now... for we are the gate guardians." They didn't like the sound of that and soon enough it became apparent why. How had it escaped someone like Bunny that the tombstones didn't have names on them anymore? That a fog had risen around them? The tree the boy had leaning upon looked even more dead than normal. It's wood dark as if it had been dead for decades, at the very least if not longer. They had made it. They were in the realm of Halloween's king... At the boy's words, however, came what looked like a flock of bats. They were everywhere and many of them dropped low to become human... no... human formed vampires. Vampires weren't human any longer; they had long since lost what it meant to be human, most knew nothing of compassion or what it meant to have a heart. Some driven to insanity by their hunger, by the carving or simply by the acts they were forced to commit to continue existing without vulnerabilities.

"I don't like this." Bunny said quietly as more and more of them appeared.

"Get the boy." Jake hissed and the vampires let out a primal hiss before lunging forward.

Sandy's whips were already out and sent several vampires flying back without trouble; Tooth knocked the creatures back with swift blows as she danced away from the creatures that flew after and around her. Jack kept Jamie close to him in one arm while he froze any vampire that dared get too close. Several that leapt towards them were frozen in place while a bunch more attempted to drop on top of them from behind; Jack danced away from them and shot into the air, clutching onto Jamie who clung to Jack's arm. He was simply along for the ride with this as Jack danced through the air, weaving and dodging the bats and vampires alike. Bunny kicked several of them into tombstones and several tasted the stinging blows of his boomerangs but no matter how much they tried the vampires always got back up. The longer this went on, the more showed up. Suddenly he was there, Jack sent ice daggers at his former friend; Jake dodged the barrage and tried to get close to snatch Jamie away, a second hovered off to one side and Jamie suddenly felt a tug on his mind. Like he was being drawn towards the vampires. Jamie let go of Jack's arm as Jake dodged another icy blast from Jack and tackled him into the air; forcing Jack's grip to slip on Jamie.

"JAMIE!" Jack struggled with Jake even as Jamie fell, but he didn't fall far as several vampires swooped towards the boy only to miss when Tooth swooped in and grabbed him. The vampires converged on her now and she flew as fast as she could, dodging them and kicking at those that got too close. Jamie sat in her arms, limp like a doll and this worried her; she knew that the mortal boy was in the grips of the beasts for no mortal could resist the charms or mental commands of a vampire. That was why they were so dangerous. How had they become so numerous though without any of the Guardians knowing? Where were they all coming from? She swore that it was like being chased by bees now and had to fight off the bats they commanded with one hand as they too converged on her. She had heard what the vampire had said; she knew just as the others did that they were fighting for Jamie's life. Something slammed into her and she staggered, dropping Jamie, who was caught by a flying, furry blur... Bunny... The vampires hissed, leaving Tooth alone to converge on him; Jack struggled with Jake in the air before blasting him with an icy wind, forcing the vampire to let go. Jake was keeping Jack busy though and keeping him from helping his friends as he relentlessly attacked him. The charm that vampires had only worked on the living, the Guardians - even if Jack and Sandy had been the only ones to actually experience death - were beyond their influence. They had nothing but brute strength to use against them, but that was enough because unlike the Guardians, excluding Jack and Sandy, they were tireless. Toothiana and Bunny had physical limitations and they were starting to show as Tooth pressed to keep up with those that were now pursuing Bunny, trying to knock away as many as she could but she simply could not keep up with the numbers and several converged on her to get her off the trail. Dozens upon dozens chased Bunny through the rotted forest that now was where they had arrived at. Another time Bunny might have used more caution about running about a place he was unfamiliar with, but he had to protect Jamie. He could worry about being lost later once the boy was safe. Bunny began to pant, but he pressed his aching muscles forward, took deeper and deeper breaths as he tried vainly to outrun those who flew behind him. Suddenly he was surrounded and he realized quickly his tunnels didn't work when he attempted it; he bit off a curse in his own mind.

How had things gotten so bad so quickly? He sent out his boomerangs, but the weapons were batted away as they converged. Bunny held himself against the squirming Jamie who was trying to get him to let go.
"OW! Geez!" Bunny cried out as Jamie bit him as the vampires seemed to block out whatever light was even there in the land. He only held Jamie tighter and curled up to protect the boy; he would never be entirely sure what happened next but he remembered the pain... then the boy was wrenched from him.

"No! Leave 'im alo-! Ack!" Then there was darkness.

North had stopped trying to break the chains, after several tries he'd found himself unsuccessful in each attempt. He wondered and worried about the others. Was Jack okay? How long would it take them to find out he was missing? How would they find him? Could they? What about all the boys and girls who were counting on him? Would the others take up his job and deliver the gifts? Had the yetis completed everything on time? Who was there to watch the elves and make sure they didn't get into too much trouble? What about the reindeer? Who was caring for them? He wondered about all of this and found himself saddened by these thoughts. No, he had had to have faith in the others that they could handle things. Hadn't Jack proven himself when they'd fought Pitch? He'd been so resourceful, after all hadn't he managed to get the Last Light to believe in him after centuries of failure? To continue to believe in them? He had inspired the boy to stand and fight with him, without even trying and he had, in turn, inspired his friends to stand with him. The mark of a true leader, if anything; Jack would have what it took to take his place as leader of the Guardians for the time being until he was found. He had to maintain the hope that they would find him; that they would find a way. He could almost hear Bunnymund's jeering remarks about how he couldn't lose hope now. That now, when it was so close to Christmas, was when he needed to have that hope and faith the most. You're right Aster. I need to keep up hope and faith in you, Toothiana, Sanderson and Jack. His thoughts were interrupted when the door to his prison was swung open. He hadn't expected the redhead who appeared.

"Got you some company North." North didn't like the sound of that, and even less when he saw the boy who was shoved into the room before the door slammed shut and locked.

"North!"

"Jamie!" Jamie ran over to him and climbed up on the bed.

"Vhat are you doing here?!"

"Helping!"

"Cui!* You should not have been involved! Vhat vhere they thinking?! You are just boy!"

"Hey! I helped with Pitch didn't I? Besides, I'm the one who figured out how to get them here." North looked at him in surprise.

"Wasn't easy and Jack's been against it the whole time." Jamie's words seem to settle the elderly Guardian a bit. At least Jack is no fool. Vhy involve Jamie though? North didn't find it hard to believe that Jack would protest; he was very protective of his first believer. North had seen proof of that first hand last winter when Jamie had accidently slipped on some ice; Jack had been there to ease his fall into soft snow.

"I... kind of insisted anyway." North raised an eyebrow at that.

"I couldn't just sit by and do nothing!"

"But now you captive like me."

"Yeah, but I'm not helpless." Jamie climbed off the bed and began to search the room for something, anything that might be useful. North watched the boy; he was so brave for so young of a boy. He had shown that same courage in the face of the doom Pitch had promised to bring, had fought with them fearlessly against the Nightmares; he had been key to returning them to dream sand and restoring Sandy. Jack always said the boy was bright, and there was no doubt of that even if many of the things he thought were real were just mere legends to hide things of the spiritual world. Jamie walked around the room slowly, his eyes missing nothing as he decided he'd need to get North out of those handcuffs first thing; but what could he use to help? Obviously he couldn't just get the key, especially not with vampires about; as much as he'd tried to fight their influence he'd been helpless, nothing more than a puppet. He didn't understand why he hadn't simply been turned into one of them. Wasn't that the reason he'd been taken? Well Jake had seemed to imply so. So why was he still human? He brushed the thought aside, it was a question for another time and one that didn't really matter. Jamie walked from one corner of the room to another, looking for anything that might be useful. A needle, a bobby pin, any scrap of metal that he might use to insert into the lock... he'd need two strips likely and the chains had seemed like ordinary chains to him so maybe with a lot of luck he could bust the locks open.

"Vhat are you looking for?"

"Something to use... anything that might help..." Jamie replied absently. He inspected the Jack-o-lantern. No luck there, nor the candles or in the night stand nearby the bed. Jamie thought through carefully as to what there was in the room; there really wasn't a lot... North watched the boy who seemed to be searching for something that North was sure wasn't there. Jamie scuffed the stone tiles. One was a little loose, curious at that he crouched down and lifted it up. There was enough room to hide something small beneath the loose stone, but the area itself yielded nothing. Jamie stared at it in thought before he replaced the stone. He wandered the room, almost ignoring North as if the Guardian wasn't there. North didn't speak though, he didn't want to discourage the boy though he did not think Jamie would find anything of use. Jamie wandered all around, looking for more loose stones but he didn't find any; he then searched under the bed as if he expected to find something but he came up empty handed there too. He stared up at the chandelier above, as if the wooden centerpiece and what light it provided could provide answers or any help. Still he watched the boy. What could Jamie be thinking? Obviously there wasn't anything in the room that could help. Jamie walked over to the door and rapped loudly. North wondered what it was the boy was up to.

"What do you want?" A gruff voice on the other end replied.

"I'm thirsty and hungry. Do you have any food?" There was a grunt and then the sound of retreating footsteps. North was just all the more puzzled. Why would the boy ask for food?

*A/N: I have maintained the movie preference of North using the names of Russian musicians as curse words.