CHAPTER 10

Wheeljack agreed to take a look at Jazz. He followed Perceptor into the repair bay and walked over to the table where the porsche was still laying. He leaned over the body and got a good look at the marks on his neck. "I don't know what to tell you, Perceptor," he said after a long moment. "I can't think of any explanations."

"None at all?" Perceptor walked over to the table and looked down at the marks.

Wheeljack shook his head. "What did Optimus say about this?" he wanted to know.

"He thinks it was a vampire."

"A vampire?" the other scientist looked at Perceptor like he'd lost his mind. "Optimus thinks it's a vampire?"

"Well Powerglide saw it happen and he said the one who did this to Jazz had bitten his neck," he replied. He shrugged. "What else would he have thought?"

"A vampire...?" Wheeljack looked back down at Jazz and thought about it. "That might be it..."

"Not you too."

Wheeljack looked back at Perceptor. He spoke in a dead serious voice. "What other explanation could it be?" he asked. "I already looked over Ratchet's image scans. I know Ratchet would never lie about something like this. It can only mean one thing."

Perceptor still didn't want to believe it. "But a vampire?" he asked.

"They're real," Wheeljack told him. "Cybertronian vampires are robots that are built the wrong way. They can't process energon the way normal robots can. The only way they can get the energon they need is to steal it from other robots. Sometimes they drain it by injuring the victim just enough so he can't move then they drain it out through the damage using a machine and sometimes they do it the easier way by biting their victim in a place on the body, usually the neck."

That explained things. "How do you know this?"

Wheeljack didn't look at him. He turned his attention back to Jazz. "Let's just say I have experience in these things..."

Skywarp and Thundercracker entered the control room about the same time as Starscream. Skywarp ignored the red, white, and blue jet for the moment and looked around for the one that was black and red. He did not see her. He got ahold of Starscream's arm. The jet looked at him. "Where's Shadowstar?" he asked.

"How should I know?" Starscream snapped. "I don't want anything to do with her. Why would I keep tabs on her?"

Skywarp let the other jet go, knowing he wasn't going to be any help. Starscream didn't like the fembot so of course he would say something like that.

It turned out that Skywarp wasn't the only one who wanted to know where she was. Megatron was also looking around for the femmebot.

He'd already asked a few Decepticons if they'd seen her but nobody could confirm that they had. When he got to Starscream the jet said. "I may have but she's gone now." and then he just stood there smirking as Megatron gave him an impatient look. He pushed past the jet and caught Skywarp's eye. He pointed at the black and purpr, Seeker. "You!" he said.

"Me?" Skywarp asked, looking around, not sure if he was talking to him.

"Yes, you, dummy," Megatron said impatiently. "Find her!"

"Yes, Megatron," Skywarp said saluting clumsily and leaving the room, nearly tripping over Frenzy on the way out.

"Watch where you're going, you titanium turkey!" the cassseticon shouted after him.

Skywarp ignored the smaller robot and continued down the hall. He would find her. He just hoped he wouldn't find her in a dark room with only one exit. He also hoped she wouldn't be hungry.

Shadowstar conscintrated on the image of the white and black Autobot she'd attacked earlier. If she could remember enough details about him, she might be able to gain some control of him and maybe have him do her bidding. She wasn't sure if she could do such a thing. She had never tried it before. She knew that when she would take energy out of any transformer back on Cybertron she'd gain some of their own memories. Sometimes she'd go insane from the attempt but this time... well the Autobot seemed too laid back to have any terrible memories so maybe, just maybe she'd be able to take control of him for awhile. She'd gotten enough to know his name.

Jazz.

Maybe he's with the other Autobot's now...

She dimmed her optics and brought her body into what the humans called a lotus position. She consintrated on the name and called out to him with her mind. Jazz... Jazzz...

Perceptor and Wheeljack had gotten into a heated discussion about energy vampire Cybertronians and didn't notice the pale green glow under Jazz's optic visor. If they had they would have noticed the pained look on the Porsche's face and they might have been able to do something about a certain female Decepticon's attempt at mind control.

Somebody was in his mind besides himself. Jazz had been trapped in there ever since the femme had bit him and couldn't get out. It almost seemed like he was caged inside himself, unable to break free. It was bad enough being trapped inside by himself but now he had company. The female Decepticon suddenly entered the void, floating only a few feet away and giving his a challenging look.

"You!" he exclaimed, facing her. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled at him, her fangs showing. "I need a favor," she told him.

"What kind of favor?" the last thing he wanted to do was do any favors for the one who'd trapped him in his own mind.

"I need control of your body," she told him, and gestured around herself. "Of course I already know you won't let me control it out of your own free will so I'll just have to gain control myself."

He shook his head and even smiled a little. "Sorry, girl," he said. "but I won't give control over to anyone." he pointing a finger at her. "Especially not to a Decepticon."

"Of course not," she said, shrugging as if she knew that already. "But it's not my fault I am this way. Blame my creator." she put her hands on her hips. "But since I am the one who put you in such a position in the first place I feel it's my right to take control of this body and do with it as I please."

He actually laughed at such an assumption. "You got your work cut out for ya, girl," he said. "Because I'm not going to let you control my body."

She smirked. "Gaining control won't be as hard as you think it will be," she said. "All I have to do is-" she disappeared and reappeared this time right beside him."-trap the actual owner inside his own mind!"

Skywarp was still looking for Shadowstar. He'd looked in most of the rooms and didn't see wing or tail pipe of her. He started to wonder if she'd left the base altogether.

She wouldn't do that. She doesn't even know the way out, he reminded himself. So she's here somewhere. I just have to keep looking.

He went down another hallway into an area he hardly ever walked through. This part of the base was practically abandoned because most of the Decepticons that used it didn't spend a lot of their time at the base, mostly the Constructicons or the Insecticons. At the moment both groups were out doing what they were good at so the area was empty.

Or it should have been. He did not expect to see light streaming out of a room near the end of the hallway. "Huh?" He stared toward it, curious about who might be there. Did one of the Constructicons leave the light on when they left? he frowned. What a waste of energy!

Even in Jazz's mind he still had his gun and he didn't hesitate to use it on her, female or not. He fired at her but every shot missed her by seconds as she would disappeared and reappear again. "Keep it up, Autobot," she said, smirking. 'The more you fire on me the weaker you'll get. I won't even have to do anything to take control of you. I just have to wait for you to tire out!"

"That'll be longer than you think, Decepti-girl," Jazz told her, his voice as calm as ever. "I have a lot more energy than you think."

That statement didn't make the smirk go away. "You have no energy left, Autobot. I drained it and if you get more I can do it again."

"I'd like ta see you try it."

With that challenge she lunged forward. Jazz moved to avoid her but he wasn't fast enough. Her hands grabbed onto his shoulders and held him still. He screamed as her teeth sank into him.

Jazz's scream turned out not to be just mental. It echoed out of his body and Perceptor and Wheeljack stopped their discussion and looked down at him. The white porsche's body was jerking violently as if it was struggling against an unseen foe. The two scientists stared at him, not sure what they were seeing.

"What in the world?" Perceptor began.

And just like that he stopped. The two stared at each other then Perceptor leaned over him. "Hello? Jazz?" he asked, looking at the other Autobot's face.

The porsche sat up. Perceptor took a step back so they wouldn't bonk heads. Then Jazz just sat there for a moment, not moving.

The two scientists looked at each other. "Jazz?" Wheeljack said, worriedly.

Jazz looked over at them. For a moment he stared at them darkly then, like a delayed reaction, he smiled. "'Mornin' guys. What did I miss?"

"Uh nothing," Preceptor said, unsure what had just happened. "Are you all right?"."

He cocked his head. "What do ya mean?"

"Don't you remember?" the scientist asked. "You've been offline and we've been kinda worried about you."

"Why?"

"Because something happened to you and we didn't think you'd ever come back online."

"That would never happen to me." Jazz turned sideways and stood, planting his feet firmly on the meta floor. "Where's Optimus?"

"I think he's in the control room. Why?"

"Oh no reason," Jazz said, shrugging. "I just wanted to talk to him about something.

"Well I'm sure he'll be glad to see your all right," Wheeljack told him.

"I'm sure he will." He pushed past them. "I think I'll go find him now."

The two scientists watched him leave and, when the door closed behind him, looked back at each other. "Something's not right," Wheeljack said. "I can sense it."

Perceptor couldn't disagree. He'd noticed it as well. Jazz wasn't exactly acting like himself. "We'd better keep an eye on him."

A/N

I did not know that energy vampires were an actual thing on the show until I watched an epsiode called "Dweller in the Depths" or something like that that had these monsters sucking out all the transformers energy and making them vampires. I really wish it had never happened the Cyclonus. Anyway, having said that ,I can tell you the idea did not come from that and ,even if it had, she's not like those vampres because she uses fangs. And, as you know, if she's a vampire, she's bound to turn the one she bit into her slave. Of course this ability is limited to one person only and, even though she did it to Shrapnel in an earlier chapter, she did not know this and, since she got Jazz, Shrapnel is free from her control. Also, since this is her first time trying... well now she knows. and No. I do not hate Jazz. He's one of my favorite Autobots so don't even think that.