It's a Lifestyle
By Flaming Trails
Disclaimer: I don't own Back To The Future. If I did, Doc would be my personal slave.
Chapter 1
Thursday, January 2nd, 1986
Hill Valley, California
9: 13 P. M.
Doc inhaled deeply the cold night air. It felt good to be outside again. The last few days, it had been snowing almost nonstop, leaving Doc cooped up inside his house. Tonight, though, the sky was clear, the stars shining brightly amid the blackness. The scientist admired it happily. "A new year, a new beginning," he thought, strolling within the forest.
Doc himself was beginning a lot of things himself. 3 weeks and 5 days ago, he had become a vampire after being viciously attacked and pronounced dead. The weeks before Christmas had been hectic ones, with Doc adjusting to his new state. There had also been the attacks of other, insane vampires (soulless vampires, they were called) to deal with. Not to mention the fact his house had been part of a vicious legal battle. Very recently, he had learned Biff Tannen was the force behind the attacks on himself and his friends the McFlys. He and his closest friends; Marty, Jennifer, and Mysteria (a vampire like himself) had vowed to stop him by all means possible, thus forming the Time Trippers.
But, so far, the Time Trippers had had nothing to do. Everything had been quiet since the 23rd of December. Doc had moved back into his garage home after Christmas. His fiancé, Mysteria, was planning to do the same in a week or two. Doc wondered what it would be like having a woman around the house. He and Einstein had lived alone for so long....
Suddenly, Doc snapped free of his idle musings. His supersensitive nose and ears had picked up signs of movement nearby. Judging from the smell, it was a vampire. A small prickle of fear slid up his spine. "Uh-oh. It's a soulless vampire. I'd better get ready to fight."
Sure enough, a young woman burst from the snowy underbrush, her face contorted into the soulless vampire's mockery of human flesh. Green eyes glowing like searchlights and fangs fully extended, she flew at Doc, clawing him unmercifully.
Doc flung her away easily and quickly. The scratches she had managed to carve on his face healed in less than a second. He vamped out, hissing at his attacker much like she was hissing at him. He noted with interest that her clothes weren't wrecked yet. "She must be new to the Change," he thought as they circled each other. "Hopefully, she won't be much of a fight."
The soulless vampire lunged at him, trying to tear out his throat. He grabbed her before she could land on him and threw her violently to the ground. She sprang up again and went for his throat once more. Doc held her off easily, and tore into her throat instead.
With a yowl, she broke free of him. Her red hair whipped her face as she hissed. "You must die," she rasped. "The master has decreed it."
"Attack me again, and you'll be the one killed," Doc growled, his adrenaline pumping. He detested soulless vampires, with good reason. "I hate your kind."
The soulless vampire ignored his warning and lunged at him again. She grabbed him firmly by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Doc's own bat wings spread to keep him comfortably aloft as his hands clamped onto hers.
For a moment, they remained like that, the girl trying to choke Doc, Doc slowly breaking her hands. They hissed angrily at each other, kicking and trying to bite. Then Doc got a closer look at the girl's face. He blinked several times in disbelief. Could it be? "Mary?" he whispered. "Mary Johnston, Class of 1962?"
Mary looked at him. Recognition dawned in her eyes too. "Professor Brown?" she asked, just as stunned as him.
They stared at each other for a minute, surprised at having encountered their past this way. Then Mary's expression of soulless rage returned. "The past is not important. Our leader says you have to die." She kicked him in the stomach as hard as she could.
Doc let go of her hands and grasped her by the waist. Putting all his strength into it, he threw her to the ground. She skidded for a couple of feet before coming to rest against a tree.
Doc landed as she got up to strike again. He didn't feel like fighting her any longer, especially now that he knew who she was. But how could he stop the fight? He didn't know if his hypnotic powers would work on another vampire.
Then, as she ran at him once more, Doc recalled what he always carried in his pocket. That would work! With movements so quick you could blink and miss them, he yanked the sleep-inducer from his pocket. He turned it on at full power and aimed directly for Mary's eyes.
Mary stopped dead as the sleep-inducer strobed a light into her eyes. Doc could actually sense her mind quieting as it did its work. After a minute, he shut it off. She fell unconscious at his feet.
Doc sighed. That sleep-inducer he'd bought in 2015 was a lifesaver. He stuck it back in his pocket and snapped a branch off a tree. He slammed the sharper end into Mary's heart to keep her from waking up anytime soon.
As he picked her up to bring her to the crematorium, though, his nose informed him of more vampires approaching. A sixth sense told him it was more of Biff's group, around 5 to 6. Knowing he couldn't fight off a group of soulless vampires alone, Doc left Mary where she was. As they neared, he ran off and took to the sky, toward home. Halfway there, he called Marty on the mental connection they shared. "Marty?"
Marty was reading a chapter in his science book for school. He automatically looked up as Doc contacted him. "Yeah, Doc? What's up?"
"Get Jennifer and meet me at my house in 10 minutes. I've got something to report to the Time Trippers."
Thursday, January 2nd
9: 43 P. M.
"So Biff's trying to kill us again," Mysteria groaned as Doc informed the Time Trippers of his brush with Mary. "Well, the only thing to do is avoid his 'friends' and watch him as closely as possible. If he wants us out of the picture, he's planning something."
"So what else is new?" Jennifer joked. "He's a Tannen. Tannens are always up to something."
"But this is a something we've got to prevent," Mysteria said. "Right, Emmett?" Doc didn't reply. "Emmett?"
Doc looked at her. "I'm sorry, Mystie. It's just that I knew that soulless vampire before she Changed."
"Really? Who was she?" asked Marty, interested.
"Marty Johnston, a pupil of mine from when I taught at Hill Valley University. She graduated in 1962, meaning she'd be around 44 today. I read that she had vanished 4 days ago in the Telegraph. Now I know where she went."
An uneasy look came over Marty's face. "A lot of people have vanished since Christmas," he said slowly. "Dad always gets the paper so he can check the stocks and stuff, and he mentioned it to me."
"Yeah, my Dad talks about it a lot too," Jennifer added, Marty's uneasiness spreading to her. "I think it reminds him of what happened to my mom. A lot of them were street people, and those who weren't didn't have any family. Doc, do you think Biff's-building?"
Doc looked at the teens with nervous eyes. He could feel Marty's heartbeat quicken in his chest. He didn't blame him for getting scared; he was scared himself. He clearly recalled his first two tangles with soulless vampires, and neither were experiences he'd care to repeat. "It's quite possible. If Biff plans to conquer Hill Valley, or even the entire state of California, he'll need a lot of manpower."
"So what should we do, Doc?" Marty asked quietly. "We can't watch Biff every minute. You guys need to sleep, and Jenny and I gotta go to school."
"The first thing to do is to find out more about these disappearances. Marty, Jennifer, ask your fathers for back copies of the Telegraph. If they don't keep them, try the library or their offices. And look at the Grass Valley paper too."
"Grass Valley? Why Grass Valley?"
"It's only 12 miles away from us, Marty. Biff might be getting new recruits from there too. Report back to us as soon as you know anything. Mystie, you and I will monitor the vampire population. You know the members better than I do, so tell me if you see a stranger."
"Gotcha. Shouldn't we also give some warning to the McFlys?"
"Of course, of course. I'll phone them right away." Doc let out a sigh. "Fingers crossed we can stop Biff's plan before any catastrophic events happen." He held out his hand, and everyone piled one on top. "We're all together on this."
"You bet, Doc."