Jaded Ways
Chapter 11
A/N: There won't really be any Jade and Cat interaction in this chapter, due to the fact I need to progress the story. Just bare with me please. It will get more interesting as the plot thickens.
Jade arrives at her house to find Norm, the limo driver, and Shiva, the Yerbanian prisoner in her kitchen. Norm is preparing Shiva some food as Jade enters the room. "Good. You're here." Jade says as she enters the kitchen. Norm doesn't stop what he's doing, but Shiva looks up at Jade curiously. "Nice place." Shiva says in her deep accent. "Thanks." Jade says dismissively. "So, what you want from me?" Shiva asks. "I'll explain all of that later. For now, feel free to eat and stay here for a while. I have some things to take care of. I'll be back in a while. Norm, when she's done eating, I want you to show Shiva here, to the guest room. After, take her out and get her some clothes. I don't want her wearing such hideous clothing." Jade says in disgust as she looks at Shiva, who is still in her prison attire.
"Of course Ms. West." Norm says in a British accent. Norm is a very old man who works for the West family. Before Jade got her own car she had to have him drive her everywhere either in a limo, or in one of the West families many cars. Jade hated relying on him, so she got her license the second she got the chance. Of course even at a younger age she could still run places, which she often did. But for things like school and social gatherings, pretty much anything where she wasn't going off alone or over to see Cat, she had to have Norm drive her.
Jade walks out of the kitchen and quickly goes upstairs. Within minutes she's downstairs, back in her usual clothing. "Alright, I'm off." Jade shouts as leaves the house. Jade heads towards their base, and as she gets closer, she can sense somethings amiss. "This smell. The smell of death. And it's coming from the base." Jade mutters to herself as she quickens her pace and arrives at her base. Jade walks into her base to find dead bodies littering the floor all throughout her base. "What the hell is going on here?" Jade says in disbelief.
"Jade. You're back." Theo says, as he enters the room, his left arm resting in a makeshift sling. "Theo. What the bloody hell happened here? And what happened to your arm?" Jade hisses at Theo. "Jade. We were attacked." Jade's eye twitches in anger as she hears this. "When?" Jade hisses at Theo. "Wednesday night." Theo says as he looks at the dead bodies sprawled throughout the base. It was now Friday afternoon, as Jade and the others just arrived not too long ago.
"Explain." Jade says as she walks past him and the two enter the large conference room, which has a hidden entrance, so the enemies did not find it. All the rooms have hidden entrances so the base just seems like a labyrinth of empty halls to intruders. They enter the conference room and close the door behind them. The two sit down in their usual seats at the very large table, capable of seating over twenty people. Jade sits at the head of the table, where the large chair sits on the opposite end of the room, facing the hidden door. Theo sits in the seat on her right, his usual seat. The left is always reserved for Cat whenever she's in here. No one else is ever allowed to sit there. The seating arrangement is based on rank, but we'll go over that more another time.
"While you were gone, Wednesday night, a large force of around forty or fifty intruded our base and attacked us. I was out at the time and didn't make it back until midway throughout the attack. By then the others were already dead, and Garth was holding them off." Jade interrupts him. "ALL of them?" Jade asks, a bit surprised. "Yes all nine of the other pack members are dead. Garth and I are all that remains. Jade. This attack, it was highly organized. These weren't your typical vampires. The were highly trained, powerful, soldiers. Somehow they knew where our base was, and even knew you wouldn't be here. They waited until after you left the country and attacked us, hoping to eliminate your pack. Jade. The only the way they could have organized all of this, and even found our base in the first place, is if there's someone on the inside. There's a traitor amongst the order, Jade." Theo says grimly, and Jade stares at him utterly shocked.
"Garth and I managed to wipe them all out, but I was injured during the fight. My arm was infected by one of the vampires." Theo continues. "Yeah, I can smell it. Wait, that venom. That's only created by a small coven of vampires in the south. One of the sub-vampire races." Jade says, a bit shocked that he was infected by one of them. "This wasn't any specific coven who attacked. The blood seekers had various sub-vampire species and even werewolves attack us in one large group, as you could tell in the halls." Theo explains. Jade understands what all of this means. This was an organized attack, with specific, highly trained soldiers, who's only purpose was to eliminate her pack.
Before we continue, allow me to shed some light on a the whole sub-vampire species thing, with a little history lesson. While the pureblooded vampires go almost as far back as the human race, other vampire species do not. The original vampire, created the pureblood race long ago. It wasn't until one of them decided to try and mutate their DNA to create a new species, that the sub-vampire species came to exist. Because of this, various sub-vampire species were born. All over the world, various species now exist. Not all of them work for the Blood Seekers. Most are independent. And some even coexist with the purebloods. Though, they are looked down upon, like every aristocracy. The 'cold ones' as Jade refers to them, are any vampire species that are cold to the touch, which includes almost all sub-vampire species. However, the ones we say Jade kill earlier, were just a generic sub-vampire species, with nothing special. They are the most common, but also the weakest sub-species.
"What about Evan?" Jade asks as she looks at Theo. "He still isn't back yet. I'm not sure when he'll be back." Theo says begrudgingly. "I see. And what of Garth?" Jade asks sternly. Theo takes in a deep breath. "About that. In order to fend them off, Garth had to resort to using his alter ego to fight. After the fight, he refused to switch back, so I locked him in one of the cellars down on the basement level." Theo explains exasperatedly. Jade simply nods before sighing. "So, what happened to you, Jade? What did you discover on your trip to Yerba?" Theo asks concerned.
Jade laughs dryly. "Yerba! Hah!" Jade just shakes her head before taking in a deep breath and continues. "Well, let's see. Oh right, the chancellor of Yerba is an Alpha werewolf and one of the five leaders of the Blood Seekers, and the leader of their entire werewolf army!" Jade says angrily while looking at Theo. "Yeah. I knew I heard that name somewhere. While you were away I looked through my files and found a file on Yerba. I was going to go find you, but then we were attacked." Theo says begrudgingly. "Well, stupid fucking Vega got us arrested, and put in jail." Jade says angrily. Theo looks up at her with shock on his face. "What? You were put in jail?" Theo says in disbelief. "Yeah. And we couldn't use our powers to escape due to the vast circumstances, so we found a way to sneak out and fled in a duck truck." Jade goes on to explain how they got home.
"Wow. Sounds like you had a good time." Theo says mockingly with a slight laugh. Jade laughs at him. "Yeah. Definitely not the WORST trip I've been on." Jade says giving Theo a look. "Hey. If you're referring to that trip to Columbia, it wasn't my fault." Theo says putting his hands up in defense. "You planned it!" Jade yells at him. "We were young! I was still learning how to use my powers, and I wasn't very good at information gathering yet! I had no idea the sixth leader of the Blood Seekers was there!" Theo says defensively. Jade laughs at him, remembering the trip. "Yeah, well, we took care of him. So now there's only five leaders left." Jade says, with an evil smirk on her face.
"While this trip was troubling, it proved to be worth it." Jade says. Theo gets serious. "We lost nine pack members." Theo says sternly. "They were nothing but foot soldiers anyways. You know that just as well as I do. They were expendable. Plus I found some things that will more than make up for it." Jade says triumphantly. "Like what?" Theo asks, curiously. "I found a perfect new candidate for joining our pack." Jade says as Theo looks a bit surprised. "What? Who?" Theo asks. "A Yerbanian woman by the name of Shiva. I examined her blood and found she has the potential to be an elite pack member, like everyone who remains of our pack. I brought her back with us and she's with Norm right now. I'm turning her tonight." Jade says.
"Excellent." Theo says happily. Jade smirks. "That's not all. I found and extracted the DNA of a vampire moth." Jade says. Theo looks completely shocked. "What? You did? We've been searching for one for years! How'd you finally get it?" Theo asks excitedly. "Andre was bitten by one in Yerba. I treated him and extracted it's venom from him. After, I chased it and extracted it's life essence. I examined it and integrated it into my blood. Now I can create a much stronger venom out of my own blood." Jade says happily, with an evil smirk on her face. "That's great! So I guess this trip wasn't for nothing after all." Theo says a bit relieved, as Jade simply nods, before recomposing herself.
Jade gets serious as she looks at Theo. "Theo. Due to recent events, it's evident we must prepare. The war is coming sooner than we thought. Even though I don't like it, I have to create more still bloods. I'll bring Shiva here tonight in order to change her. After, I'll start looking for more possible pack members. The time has come that we prepare." Jade says with a dead serious face and tone of voice. Theo nods in understanding, his expression similar to Jades.
"Allow me to examine you for a moment." Jade says as the two stand up. Theo nods and Jade places her hand over Theo's chest. Jade closes her eyes and concentrates. "Hmm. Just as I thought. It's not that bad. You got out most of the poison, but some still remains and it's slowly harming your system. This is a vampire killing venom. I'm going to concentrate it all into your arm and keep it from spreading for now." Theo nods as Jade says this. Jade moves all remnants of the venom in his body to his arm and does something with his blood to keep it there. "Your arm will hurt like hell for a while, but I've stopped the venom from spreading. I've also altered the blood in your arm to fight off and kill the venom. In a few days it should all be gone, and your body should adapt to the venom, allowing you to fight it off if it ever enters your body again." Jade explains as Theo nods. "Make sure to avoid any harm done to your left arm. It needs to focus only on the venom, so regeneration of a wound will only slow down the process.
Use your shadows to transport the bodies out of here. After I need you on scout duty. Keep your link open for me to contact you at any time. Inform me of ANY developments as soon as possible. Understand?" Jade asks. Theo nods. "Yes, Jade. I understand." Jade begins walking towards the door. "Good. You get on that. I have to speak with Garth." Jade says as she leaves the room. Theo disappears into the shadows, and all of the bodies throughout the base do too. Jade opens a secret stair well and walks down to the basement level to speak to Garth.
Jade opens the door to a large open room and walks inside, closing the door behind her. She's now carrying a bottle of blood for Garth to drink. "Garth." Jade says sternly as she slowly enters the room. "well, well, well. If it isn't Jade. Come to beat me and force that wimp out again?" Garth says in a mocking yet spiteful way. Jade tosses the bottle to Garth, who thankfully takes it, but is cautious as he looks over at Jade. "No. I came here to talk to you." Jade says as she takes a seat on the table in the corner, Garth sitting on his bed on the opposite side of the room. "Oh? What about?" Garth asks as he opens and drinks the blood Jade gave him.
"I have a proposition for you." Jade says with a smirk. This peeks Garth's interest as he raises an eyebrow and says "Oh? What kind of proposition?" before continuing to drink the blood. "I know how much you love to kill. If you promise to officially join my pack, like your other side has, then I'll let you kill till your heart's content." Jade says nicely. "Oh? And what's the catch?" Garth asks as he finishes the blood off. "Simple. Both of your halves will coexist in my pack. Your other half will be around for all the normal, boring stuff, but when we need you, you get to come out and kill hordes and hordes of enemies." Jade explains. "Hmm, sounds alright. So, who are these enemies?" Garth asks as he raises an eyebrow. "Blood Seekers." Jade simply states. Garth begins laughing. "Blood Seekers? Alright! I'm in." He says laughing, before saying the last part seriously.
"Good. But understand, that by doing so, you no longer have freedom. You WILL do as I say, no matter what. Otherwise I'll use my power to lock you inside that body forever, never to come out again." Jade says with an evil grimace. Garth looks surprised, angry, and afraid. "What? Are you kidding me?" Garth says angrily. "No." Jade says with a death glare. Garth calms down. "Heh. Same old Jade. Alright, fine. I'll agree to these terms. Now let me outta here." Garth says as he stands up, walking towards Jade. "I will. But first. Return to your other self." Jade demands. "Kuh. Fine." Garth growls, angrily. Jade can sense Garth's blood change, as his other half emerges, and regains control.
"Good to have you back Garth." Jade says warmly. "Good to be back." Garth says, returning her smile. "So, that was your plan?" Garth questions as they leave the room. "Yeah. I need both of you, completely loyal to me. I'll fill you in on the details." Jade says as she begins explaining everything that's happened. "I'm going to look for new recruits soon. The rest of the pack needs to prepare as well. I'm leaving that up to you as I look for new recruits. Understand?" Jade questions Garth. "Yeah. I'll prepare this new recruit you brought back right after you change her. After all there's a lot of ground to cover." Garth says as they walk through the base. "Precisely. And I don't have time to find, change, and teach them, one by one. Garth nods in understanding, as Jade leaves the base.
Jade runs to Cats house. Jade opens the door and walks up stairs to find Cat on her bed, her laptop laying in front of her. She's video chatting someone. "Yeah, it was a really crazy trip! I'm so glad to be home! Although I kinda like the prison jumpsuit. Well except for the color that is." Cat says in her usual cheery voice. Jade leans against the door frame smiling as she watches Cat, who hasn't noticed Jade yet. "Really, Cat?" Jade hears Tori's annoying voice come out of the computer, and Jade scowls at hearing her. Cat nods vigorously. "Uh-Huh! It's so roomy! It's really comfortable!" Cat says cheerfully, which makes Jade smile again. That is until she hears Tori's voice again.
"So what are you doing for the rest of the vacation?" Jade hears Tori ask Cat. "I don't know yet." Cat says sadly. "Well what about Jade? Are you two doing anything?" Tori asks, curiously. "I'm not sure yet. Jade just dropped me off and went home. I'm not sure when she'll be back. She has some stuff to take care of, so I'm not really sure when we'll be spending time together." Cat says sadly. "Oh. Well if you want, we can hang out? Andre and Beck are coming over tomorrow. You wanna come?" Tori asks Cat hopefully. Jade can hear it in Tori's voice. "Hmm. Maybe. I'll let you know after I talk to Jade." Cat says. Tori's face drops and she sounds sad when she says "Oh. Okay. Well, I'll talk to you later Cat. I have some stuff I have to take care of." Tori says sadly. "KK! I'll let you know!" Cat says happily. They end their conversation.
"Tori sounded sad." Jade says smirking, startling Cat. Cat jumps from her spot and looks up at Jade with shock on her face. "Jade. When did you get there?" Cat asks, trying to calm her breathing. "Around the time you were talking about the prison outfits." Jade says, as she walks over to Cats bed and sits down next to Cat. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know when you'd be coming over so I just told Tori I wanted to talk to you first." Cat says a bit sadly. "Cat you have nothing to apologize for." Jade says reassuringly. Cat perks up at hearing this. "Really?" Cat says hopefully. "Really, Cat." Jade says, smiling warmly at Cat. "Yay!" Cat happily exclaims as she tackle hugs Jade causing them to fall back on the bed. Jade on her back, and Cat on top of her, her head in Jades chest.
Cat hugs Jade tightly and snuggles her face between Jades breasts. Jade giggles at Cat. "I came by to tell you, that I have somethings to take care of tonight, but that I'll be able to spend time with you tomorrow." Jade says. Cat leans up and looks at Jade. She can tell Jades going to do something serious tonight. "Jade what's going on?" Cat asks worriedly. Jade sighs. "Cat. I have something to tell you." Jade says solemnly. Jade sits them up and explains what happened to the base. Cat gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, eyes wide. "Oh my gosh." Cat says, stunned. "Theo and Garth are fine, but the nine others are gone." Jade explains.
"So...What are you doing tonight?" Cat asks hesitantly and reluctantly. "I'm turning Shiva and having her join the pack." Jade says seriously, not wanting to lie to Cat any longer. "Afterwords, I have to start looking for new recruits. I'm only going to accept the ones with the best blood. I need a small elite army." Jade says to Cat. "What for?" Cat asks, scared of Jades answer. "To try and save the order. And eventually...to eliminate the blood seekers once and for all." Jade says solemnly. Cat gasps at her answer. Cat doesn't want Jade risking her life like this. "Jade..." Cat quietly says. Cat tries to speak, but doesn't know what to say.
They sit in silence for a good while before Cat finally speaks. "I'll support you." Cat quietly mutters. Jade is surprised at this declaration. She thought Cat would try and talk her out of it, not encourage it. "I know, that no matter what I say, you're still going to go through with it. But you need me. You can't do it without me Jade. We both know it. So instead of trying to get you to stop, I'm going to support you. If this is the only way I can truly help you, then that's what I'm going to do." Cat says confidently.
"Cat..." Jade mutters. Jade is so shocked, she doesn't know how to respond. "You truly are the strongest person I've ever known." Jade says genuinely admiringly as she hugs Cat. "Thank you, Cat." Jade says with a warm, yet sad smile. Cat begins to cry into Jades chest, as the two sit there holding each other.
Even though Cat cries a lot, she is a lot stronger than anyone else in the world, in Jades eyes. Jade truly admires Cats strength. Most people couldn't handle all of this. But Cat isn't most people. Cat is Cat. And Cat is special.
Jade spends some time with Cat, before having to leave. Jade returns home to find Shiva in working clothes. Their not the most attractive, but she can get dirty in them. And they'll last. It is now night. Jade has to take Shiva to the base to turn her, but first. "Shiva. I need to talk with you." Jade says. "What you want talk about?" Shiva asks. "About my proposition for you. Norm, you can leave now. Return to your home." Jade says and with this Norm leaves. Jade turns her attention back to Shiva.
"I have a job proposal of sorts." Jade begins. "Go on." Shiva says. "I can give you more power than you could ever dream of. And all you have to do is do what I tell you to. Basically, I give you power, and you use it for me." Jade says. "What kind of power, do you speak of?" Shiva asks, not quite understanding Jades proposal. Jade smirks a bit deviously. Jade bares her fangs and her eyes turn black, and she hisses at Shiva. "Vampire!" Shiva says, as she backs away, scared. Jade retracts her fangs and returns her eyes to normal. "Yes. That's right. But not just any vampire. A pureblood. The most powerful vampire to ever exist. And the only ONE TRUE vampire race." Jade says as she smirks at Shiva.
"And you want to turn me into one of you?" Shiva asks. "Well, sort of. You'll be a still blood. You won't be able to create any vampires of your own, but you'll have amazing powers at your disposal." Jade explains. "We have warm blood as long as we eat and drink on a regular basis. We aren't affected by the sun. We live fairly normal lives. You don't even have to drink human blood, thanks to something I created." Jade continues to explain. "What?" Shiva asks, curious about her creation. Jade pulls out a blood tablet. "This. You simply putt it into water, let it dissolve, drink it, and you get all the benefits of drinking actual blood." Jade explains.
"So. What do you say?" Jade asks as Shiva considers her proposal. "Alright. I accept." Shiva says. "Good. Now come with me." Jade says as the two exit the house. "Where we going to?" Shiva asks. "You'll see soon enough." Jade says as she grabs Shiva and carries her on her back as she runs to the base. They arrive to the base and Jade puts Shiva down. "Whoa." Shiva says, trying to regain her composure. "This way." Jade says as she walks down the hall. "What is this place?" Shiva asks. "This is my packs base. You'll be coming here a lot." Jade explains. Shiva nods.
Jade leads Shiva down the hall until she arrives at her destination. Jade opens the secret door and enters the room. Shiva looks around in amazement at the hidden entrance. They enter a medium sized round room. There is one small window, which is positioned so that you can see the moon perfectly. There are small candles all around the room, hanging on little banisters on the wall. As they enter, the candles light themselves. There is a large drawing on the hard concrete beneath them. It looks like a large circle with all sorts of symbols and shapes and images throughout it. If you look close enough, you can see that it's drawn in blood. But not just anyone's blood. It's drawn from Jades blood.
"This is the ritual room. You will remain in this room for the next few hours. This will be a long and painful process. I need you to stand in the center of the symbol." Jade points to where she needs Shiva to stand and Shiva walks over there. Garth enters the room, wearing some weird blood red robe. "This is Garth. He's one of my still bloods and he will be your mentor after I have turned you. Garth and Shiva swap greetings as the door closes. "Firstly, I need you to get on your knees." Jade says to Shiva who obliges.
"Good. Now you must drink my blood in order for me to turn you." Jade says and Shiva's eyes widen, but she doesn't object. Jade walks over to her and cuts her wrist with a fingernail. She turns her wrist over and tilts it so it will drip into Shiva's now open mouth. Jade squeezes her wrist lightly and blood freely starts to flow from her wrist. Shiva drinks Jades blood, and begins to feel something happening in her body. Screaming can be heard outside the room, as Shiva writhes in pain, from Jades blood changing her into a still blood vampire.
A/N: Yeah, so this chapter's a bit...different. Next chapter I will tell you who will be turned next, even though I'm sure you already know who.