"…That's when I came back here."
Kimiko stared, still shaking, into her cup of tea, watching the grains of sugar drift to the bottom. The others had gotten it for her a while ago, but she had not yet taken a sip and it was very likely she never would. She hadn't looked up once while telling her story, and did not feel like breaking her streak.
Kim knew what she would see and could not face her friends concern and pity at the moment. Besides, she could already feel their stares.
When the Dragon of Fire had finally made it back to the temple she found her friends looking for her. It surprised her at first, because she had not realized she had been gone long enough for her absence to be noticed. In her world things were going all too fast.
Kimiko supposed she must have looked frantic or in shock the way Clay had talked to her, like he was calming a wounded animal. Omi kept asking questions, all of which she ignored, until Riamudo had eventually told him to shut up. Rai's empathy was the worst; she must have seemed very fragile for him to give her that quiet, caring tone.
She tried to shrug them off a bit; Kim hated when people made a fuss over her. She was fine, physically she had no injuries, and there was no way, no matter what he could have possibly done to himself, that Jack Spicer could have scared her so bad that she needed help to get over it.
It was just that he had gotten pretty damn close.
The Japanese girl closed her eyes for a moment and saw it playing over and over inside her eyelids. iThe woods...the blood…the fangs…/iher eyes shot open as she tried to shake the memory off like a mosquito that would not leave her alone.
She finally looked up.
"I…can't believe it…I jest can't believe it…" The cowboy stared at her, wonder etched into his features, "You say it wasiSpicer/i?"
Kimiko nodded, and finding her voice again said, "Yeah…he's hard not to recognize." There was no sarcasm in her tone. It was a statement of fact.
"But it makes no sense! How would Jack Spicuh get fangs? And why would he eat a small animal?" inquired the smallest monk.
"I don't know Omi!" Kim snapped, and then with less anger, "He could have done anything! Sold his soul to Bean, become some kind of cyborg, or maybe he's possessed!"
Until she had said it, Kimiko had not actually thought about the 'how' at all, but it was true, all of those things were possibilities.
"Um, Kim…" Began Rai, his voice in that gentle tone from before. He was unsure how to continue; Raimundo hated to do this, he really did, but…he did not believe her. He trusted her, normally he'd have already been planning how they were all going to combat this new treat.
"I hate to doubt you, but, are you sure you really saw it?" Kimiko was glaring daggers at him. "Look, I'm sorry, but it's late, you were tired and, well, are you sure it wasn't a-a dream…or…something…"
Raimundo faltered at the end, afraid he was about to spontaneously combust. He looked over to Clay for support but was met with a disapproving 'you-are-on-your-own' look. But when Kimiko only continued to silently glare at him and he risked continuing.
"Hey, look, I trust you, but…you want me to believe that iJack Spicer/i, king of the girly scream, has turned into some kind of monster or whatever and was drinking animal blood in the middle of the forest, even thought he doesn't live in this area, using fangs he suddenly has now?"
"Yes." It was her only reply, unless you count the cold, angry stare as a response.
No one said anything for a while, though Omi looked back and forth impatiently.
"I was not dreaming, or hallucinating, or imagining it Rai."
Clay, a fairly good reader of people, could sense the argument in the air and wanted no part of it. "Uh, Omi, maybe we should jest go on to bed."
"But I still want to-"
"You can ask in the mornin'." The Texan shuffled the protesting Omi out, not to be mean, but the Water Dragon had a skill for unintentionally making disputes worse. This quarrel was between Kimiko and Raimundo, and, quite frankly, though he was glad Kim had been found safe, searching for her this late at night had worn him out.
"Look all I'm saying is-"
"What! You think I would really make something like this up!"
"I didn't say that!" He put his hand up in a placating and defensive gesture.
"Then what are you saying! Huh! That I was dreaming! I know dreams Rai, this was iNOT A DREAM!/i" Kimiko was standing now, and it was frustrated her that he was so much taller.
Rai had a feeling of impending doom. He had to admit, if just to himself, that had she claimed it was any other villain he would have believed her instantly. Perhaps it was simply his own arrogance, but he just couldn't see Jack Spicer as any sort of real threat.
"Fine," he gave in, "we'll check out Spicer's place in the morning. See what's up. Let's just go to bed for now."
Kimiko was still angry, but she was not going to let her anger control her. They were all tired, going to bed was the sensible thing to do and Raimundo had promised they would check out what was happening tomorrow.
"Fine." She stormed off to her room leaving him standing there.
O8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8o8O
Jack was horrified. For the first time since all this had begun the true gravity of his situation was finally getting through to him and it made him feel scared and unsure.
iShe had seen him. She wasn't supposed to, Wuya said the forest was secluded…but then she had been there./i
He didn't remember all of it. Mostly he remembered the hunger.
iHe followed the witch, trusting her when she had said to follow. No matter how quietly he had moved the animals still ran. They could sense what he was, or rather, what he was turning into. They had not wanted to die…but one did anyway./i
It was a cat actually. That much he could recall in perfect clarity.
iA cat, not his first choice, but his first choice managed to escape, so a feline it was. He was so hungry. He had a brief thought about eating /iAshleyi instead. He shook it off, no, just /ino.
His memory got fuzzy again there.
iWuya was not with him anymore. Did she mention leaving for a moment? She might have.
He was sooooo…hungry…no thoughts…if you think you will not do it…have to do it…thirsty…hungry…smells good…so warm…heartbeat…blood…
"Jack?"/i
There had been no room for humanity in the vampire's heart. But at the sound of his name he was Jack again, and had looked up in surprise, as if snapped out of a trance.
iHe looked around. The voice had been so familiar, but so quiet that if not for his new, more sensitive hearing Jack would have missed it. His first thought was that it was Wuya, after all, who else could be out here? But no, if it had been Wuya she would not have whispered, she would have just come out and said what she wanted to say.
The vampire was still so thirsty…and here was blood just oozing from the victim…and then a twig had snapped.
The vampire's head quickly turned towards the sound./i
In that moment, seeing her expression, he had truly felt like a monster.
iIt was Kimiko, of all people, where she had come from and how she had got there he did not know, and she had seen him feeding. She gaped at him as if afraid he would run over and bite her, but instead of the feeling of superiority he imagined he would have felt; he encountered an emotion he hated to acknowledge: guilt.
Then Jack was angry, because he did not want to feel guilty. It was not his fault! He had not asked to be bitten! He bared his fangs at her, a gesture that said/i 'Go ahead and stare! I don't care!'i Then the vampire ran away./i
It was nearing morning now and he still was bothered by it. They were no longer in the forest, after that incident he had only wanted to go home, to hide, and Wuya, when he had found her, had acquiesced to his request.
"Wuya?" Jack began sheepishly, "Can I ask you something?"
The witch was currently in the Spicer mansion's living room, relaxing on a dark, purple or bluish color depending on the light, leather couch, surfing the internet on her own dark red laptop she brought over from Chase's. It was ironic really, when she had been a ghost she was always complaining Jack spent too much time on the internet, now that she had her own body (and laptop) it seemed to be one of her favorite ways to pass time.
"What is it?" She responded, not looking up from the screen.
"Is…is there a way to, um, reverse vampirism?"
The witch's face jumped from the screen to the curled up form of her protégé, who was sitting in a black leather recliner, holding a book.
"Why on earth would you want to do that?" Her voice was careful, measured, not wanting to give anything away.
"Just out of curiosity," he lied defensively, shrinking a little under the weight of her stare, "you know, just in case."
"In case of what?" Wuya could tell when Jack was lying or hiding something; she had spent too much time with him not to.
"Nevermind." He said a bit too quickly.
"You can't 'reverse' vampirism Jack, and you can't cure it either." Her voice had a tone of finality to it and she went back to whatever she was doing on the computer.
"Oh." Jack looked away from her, staring into the book he could not seem to focus on reading.
It was lucky for Wuya that Jack could not tell when the witch was lying.