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CRIMSON MADNESS

PART EIGHT

Blood there was blood everywhere, it seemed no one that ringed up was without some wound or blood covered. Janet had seen devastation and even massacres before but the injuries to SG1, those people who were the closest friends and loved ones in her life almost caused her to lose her professional detachment. She pushed personal feelings aside and kicked triage into high gear.

Jack was in the worse shape. The Jaffa dagger still protruding from his chest. His condition was complicated by his emaciated condition. Jack looked worse then the photos she had seen of him after four months in an Iraqi prison. He looked like someone who had just been pulled out of the gas chambers at Auschwitz before the Zyclon gas had been released. There was a vacant look in his eyes and she was amazed that he was even able to focus in on her, if for a fleeting second.

Sam's neck was bloody and she had a gash on one arm, she could wait. Daniel had a shoulder wound that was bleeding but he was holding the unconscious figure of the Vampire woman Umbra. She could see no particular injuries to the woman so she too would have to wait.

Jack had been gently laid down on the makeshift medical bed that they had brought with them. Janet had to stop the bleeding first. She was not a field surgeon but she knew she was the only one equipped to get the bleeding under control.

"Dad?" Sam looked at her father as she began to crumble into his arms.

"That's my girl" Jacob whispered reassuringly as he held her upright. He had the foresight of having a hand held healing device ready.

"No, the Colonel, Jack, needs it more than I do." Sam sobbed looking over at Janet and Jack. Janet had removed the Jaffa blade and was instructing Teal'c in hanging the first of many bags of O negative blood that she would be pumping into Jack.

Daniel and Sam tried to do their own first aid though they were watching Janet and Jacob working over Jack, one in bloody hands on way and the other with a nearly magical healing device.

Umbra, who had been settled down in her dark corner, was stirring and had managed to come to Daniel's aid. While she had always been alabaster in her skin tone, Umbra appeared so pale that she was almost transparent. Umbra knew what she could do, there were ways to heal the human but she was unsure if she should show them this ability. She doubted if she had the strength to do it. Instead she opted to use the simple ways that had been provided, bandages and human medicines.

"The blood, his blood is poison." She told Daniel simply as she pressed a thick wad of gauze to the dagger wound. He needed stitches. For now the bandage would have to suffice, until the healing woman, Janet, could tend to him properly. With concealed concentration and effort she pushed forth a fraction of her healing powers. Doing so would weaken her but it was just enough to prevent the wound from bleeding further. The stream of energy went unnoticed.

"Can you do anything for him?" Daniel asked wincing in pain, but noticed and easing as his concern was directed towards Jack. .

"There is nothing to do; the bad blood must be removed from his system completely. I fear that I will be ill myself from the taste of it from killing that demon. " Within her own stomach Umbra could feel what little blood she had tasted churning like acid.

"What are you saying? Total blood volume replacement?" Janet called over having heard what Umbra said.

"There is no other way. The poison that swims within him, must be completely eradicated. I have seen this with my own eyes, this poisoning. The demon, Camazotz, she poisoned some of my own people. They died painfully and with a madness. As to the Russno those that were not drained of blood, used for her evil feasting, if they managed to escape also died of madness. They felt as if they were possessed." Umbra explained simply remembering the seizures and suffering of her own people, those that she had been unable to cure herself.

"I don't have enough blood for that, even if I got donors. The colonel will not survive it." Janet had to tell them the truth, she had little hope for Jack .

"Okay, doc. Let me go." The whisper was so low she had not realized she had heard it. Jacob had and he leaned closer to Jack's mouth. The Goa'uld hand device had only been able to stop the bleeding but could not heal Jack.

"Jack, you got to hang in there, that's an order I still out rank you." Jacob tried to cajole the dying man.

"No, let me go… Can still feel the nanocytes, like before, losing this one." Jack's eyes were closed but he reached out a skeletal hand and touched the father of the woman he loved, the one he had tried to kill.

"Colonel, we will figure out a way." It was Janet; she was brushing his unruly hair off his forehead.

"No, if you can't get them out of me, "Jack gulped and suddenly convulsed in pain, pain that his famished body could not continue to bear. The guttural groan of agony that escaped his lips shot through everyone assembled. It was the agonized sound his imminent death, the sound of rusted iron chains rattling on the creaking gates of a cemetery. What precious little blood Jack had bubbled up into his throat and mouth, dripping from his dry lips.

"The Nox." Daniel yelled out. "They brought us back from the dead when we first met them. They could might be the only ones who save Jack."

"Dad, can you get us to them? Can you contact them, as a Tokra they would listen wouldn't they?" Sam was desperate and no longer hiding the tears.

"Let me see what I can do. I can plot a course for their planet. Gate travel would be more efficient." Jacob moved to the pilots seat.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep him alive. The Colonel doesn't want to live any more." Janet had walked up behind Jacob. Sam and Daniel were now standing with him.

"Leave immediately. I will return to the planet surface and assist Jabril in establishing a new order of free Jaffa. We will see to the freedom and restoration of this planet and any captive will be returned to their home worlds. Doctor Frazier I know you will succeed in maintaining O'Neill's life." With that Teal'c went to the rings and signaled for Jabril to transport him down. As much as it ripped through him like a staff blast to leave O'Neill there were other priorities and the mission was better served with him staying on the planet. He was no help for his best friend and fallen comrade.

Jack could hear them, his team talking about him, Teal'c going off to be the Spartacus of the Jaffa, Jacob and Janet futzing over him. He didn't want it, he wanted to die. The pain, the mental pain, this time was totally different from Iraq, it couldn't be compared. They had beat him, the torture he could take but Camazotz had nearly changed him, caused him to kill, no murder in cold blood for food and he had almost willingly, no check that gladly would have killed Sam and drank her dry of her blood. The madness, her disease had taken him over, how could he face any of them, go back to walking through the gate with them after this? Could they ever trust him again? He just wanted to sleep, forever.

Jack coughed up blood and convulsed. What light was before him was gone he was slipping deep into a coma, a guilt and apathy induced coma. No nightmares of Camazot came to his mind, but he felt a soft hand on his shoulder, a breath of a whisper on his ear. "Don't go dad."

Janet was checking Jack's blood pressure which was dangerously low, nearly non-existent when he mumbled one word. She knew the name, the Colonel's dead son. She knew the story. If Jack was seeing his son, she couldn't consider the possibility.

"Jacob we don't have much time!" Janet called out. She did not fail to see the look on Daniel's and Sam's faces.

Umbra, weak and doing her best to fight off the effects of the tainted blood, began to gather her strength. It was a difficult task, Daniel was avoiding her eyes. Could she blame him? No, he had witnessed the dark part of her, the inner demon, the creature that filled the legends of his world and brought it to reality. Her heart had melted for the sandy haired human, now it felt as if it has cracked open rather then thawed.

Umbra had begun to fall in love with the wise stranger. The taste of him was in her mouth, her mind and her heart. She wanted him physically, to drink his blood while they coupled. Daniel would know pleasure as he had never experienced it, and she would have her long desired soul mate. But he hated her, even feared her now. Umbra had to find a way to redeem her. There was one way but would these humans understand. Umbra made her way back to Jack's side, Janet was next to her.

"There is a way of my people that might help the silver haired one, but I fear it will be…" She hesitated.

"What is it Umbra?" Janet reached out for the vampires. "You have to do what you can till we can get him to the Nox."

"You must understand that it is the very way she, Camazotz, began to turn him?"

Unconsciously Umbra was rubbing the inside of her left arm; the vein with her rich blood was pulsing there. "I would have to feed him; he would have to drink my blood."

Janet kept her professional face in place while her stomach twisted in a ball at the idea and hearing herself mouth the words; "do what ever it takes."

Umbra placed her forearm to her lips her fangs extended and slipped into her own flesh. The taste of her own blood was welcome. Umbra pressed it against Jack's parched lips. His eyelids fluttered and for a moment he focused on her.

"Please no..." Jack focused on Janet. She had seen the look before when he knew or had thought he was dying.

"I am not losing you, damn it Jack! "

"I got a hold of the Nox. We can be there in eight hours, if I push it for everything I can." Jacob called back over his shoulder.

"Floor it." Daniel snapped.

Eight hours, Daniel looked at Sam and watched her cry silently. The walking wounded looked silently at their fallen leader and commiserated in silence. The vampire curled up in the darkest corner and closed her eyes and could still see the visions of her madness, the killing, and how it had felt so lavacious. Jack fell into the darkness of his approaching death with the taste of blood on his lips.

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Blood, the taste of warm, thick rich live giving blood on his lips again. This blood has such a different taste to it. It was not the spiced honey flavored he had drank from Camazotz, nor the victims she had thrown him like scraps to mongrels roaming so third world street. Jack, licked his parched lips savoring every drop of this new blood, it tasted old but not fouled, old like a fine red wine, the bouquet dancing over his tongue. For a moment he let himself be lost in the enjoyment how the pain seemed to disappear for a moment. The realization of what he was doing imploded in his mind; the fluid vitality lurched from his gut and dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Janet was at his side as was Sam. Sam's tears came silently as she watched Janet wipe away the slurry of blood that dripped down Jack's face. The face, the face she loved so much and could not have; could not have to touch freely, to run her fingers though the silvered hair, to feel her lips against his. The look on that face when he had first entered Camazotz's throne room, there had been no recognition of her. Sam also remembered when that recognition had come. There was horror in Jack's eyes an emotion she had never seen in the coffee colored eyes.

Those eyes opened for a moment and looked into her cornflower blue eyes and begged forgiveness before he began to spasm.

Janet pushed Sam out of the way and grabbed for her med kit. Ativan would ease the seizure but could kill him because it was a tranquilizer. She needed Jack to hold on hold on for another few hours until they could get to the Nox.

Umbra offered her cut flesh again, making it bleed, but Jack refused even in this fragile condition he had the dignity and stubbornness to refuse.

Jack settled back down, his vital signs marginal but he seemed to be resting and clenching onto what tress of life he had left. The cargo ship became silent, only the sound of seven people breathing echoed minutely against the gold walls in the darkness of space.

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The news had filtered back to CJ, Captain Nave and Sergeant Blaney, who had been fending off demands for status reports from a rather unrelenting General Hammond. They had little to offer until the cryptic communication came from Jacob Carter; Jack had been rescued, the Goa'uld killed, the Jaffa and slave labor was being freed. SG1 was now on its way to the Nox. No information was provided as the reason for the detour. Hammond was barely satisfied with the news.

C.J. looked at Nave who felt like he had just had his ass whupped with switch out behind the woodpile. She empathized. Between the two of them they had been taking turns give the General their 24 hour updates. The Sergeant had managed to luck out due to his rank. There had been no more Goa'uld visits or any attempts to dial in other than those from the SGC. This was something both of them could be happy about.

With her eye as a nurse, CJ checked out Nave's condition. The Obryi were not draining them of so much blood each night but it was taking its toll. She would get them some B12 and Iron shots when they got back to the inn which was now their makeshift headquarters. The information they had gathered on the Obryi read like a Grimm's fairy tale mixed with some vintage Jules Verne.

The Obryi along with the Russno had been taken by Goa'ulds somewhere in the early middle ages around 500CE. This in itself was amazing as it had been thought that the two gates found on earth had both been lost or covered up. The one in Egypt from the time of the slave uprising and the one in Antarctica had been thought lost even before that. There had been other cultures that the SG teams had met over the years that were from later centuries than those two cultures. It was still a mystery that even Daniel and Sam had been unable to figure out.

The Russno had been intentional, the Obryi accidental in their abduction and reseeding on this planet. There were forgotten, lost to the records in some Goa'uld war among the system lords and left to develop on their own. It was not until Camazotz had stumbled on them had they become her victims. She had come looking for a new host, and found first a Russno which later was found to be immune to the Sarcophagus and thus unable to regenerate. The next host had been an Obryi; they had learned it had been Umbra's mother and Yurik's mate. This is how the Vampire Goa'uld had come to being, though Camazotz's hunger for blood and blood sacrifices had been already legend even among the other System Lords.

But what did all this mean to the SGC and Earth, little, other than the history and legends, there was little of value on the planet. The planet and its two species should be left in harmony. The Asgard has already been contacted and would place the planet under their protection. There was little for the threesome to do but collate their information and wait for SG1 to return, well, that and fall perhaps in love. Yurik had taken a fancy to CJ and his visits were frequent. He really didn't need to feed on her each night but CJ had welcomed it, the euphoria that occurred while Yurik feed on her compared to nothing she had known. There had been the love making too, the sex, but it was beyond physical needs it was a union of two so deep as to blend them into one. In her heart CJ dreaded the order to return home, but earth was no longer home, her heart was with Yurik.

The moons was rising and CJ sat under a tree look feeling the cool light upon her skin when she heard the familiar rustle of the head vampires apparel. She had developed a sixth sense and could almost smell him before he got to her.

"It is true they have rescued your silver haired champion?" Yurik asked sitting next to her as if the two were on a moonlight picnic, comfortable with each other, relaxed and if no one knew he was a vampire you would have thought him just another devastatingly handsome man.

"Yes, the message was cryptic but they have Colonel O'Neill." CJ sighed wondering as she looked at the night sky if the flag ship team of the SGC was passing above them even now.

"They will return soon?" the dejection not hidden in the vampire's melodious baritone.

"No, actually they are going to another planet to see the Nox. I will have to explain about them too, fairy folke with advanced technology." CJ laughed softly at her own analogy. She, herself, felt like she was part of some fantasy anymore, star gates, alien cultures, vampires, fairies, glowing snake eyed demons, all she needed were werewolves and unicorns to complete the picture and her insanity.

"Do not leave." Yurik said quietly as he plucked a piece of grass and played with it like some common farm boy.

He was not common, he was not basic, he was not human, but he was simple, pure in truth, heart and mind and CJ knew in her heart Yurik loved her. There was only one answer to give him, bitter sweet as it was.

"I'll resign my commission once SG1 is back."

"I love you." Yurik spoke but did not reach for CJ or even look at her just continued to stare at the twin moons.

"I love you too." CJ replied her eyes transfixed on the moons, the moons of her new home.

Kris Martin was going to crap herself when she got the news.

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5/7/2006 11:37 AM 3251 wc TBD Chapter 9

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