Chapter 23

The warehouse was still, smelled of mold and rust. It wasn't completely dark, but enough for any vampire. I knew the minute I stepped in the door I was being watched. My high heels clack on the old concrete floor and I expand my senses.

Vampires can hide themselves well, but a slight move I'd hear. There was none and I worried JR wouldn't be here. I find the stairs leading down and let out a breath. My nerves were on edge. It had been a sold 40 years since I'd last seen her. But I step down into the darkness, my eyes adjusting to the pitch black. My breathing was steady as I kept my senses on high alert. That's when I hear a voice, 'What do you want?'

It was a gruff male voice and I say, 'I'm here to see Jack.'

'She's busy.'

'I'm clanless.'

The silence was long but finally a figure shifts and comes from around a open doorway a few doors down. He was tall, not handsome, but built Iike a brick wall. He jerks his head for me to follow and I feel others move behind me. It was as if a flock of cockroaches had suddenly been shocked with light. I keep moving.

Finally the tall, gruff man knocks at a reinforced steel door. It opens and I come into a luxury room, it was shocking after the filthy hall and rotting smell. The sound of light classical music floated through the air as I step inside. It was quite but then I hear to my right, 'Natasha! Long time no see dear.'

Slowly I turn to the voice and it was eerie. She was beautiful. She was lounging on a velvet couch in silky PJs, with a glass of red liquid in a champagne flute. She smiles and says, 'Far too long.'

We were like yin and yang. While we were both blonde and green eyed, the similarities stopped there. Where I was soft and kind to the human race, she was sharp and cruel. It didn't take much to realize after I met her she enjoyed her brutality of humankind. She relished her roll and garnered a name both vampire and humans knew well, Jack the Ripper.

Despite the stories of a male killer, it had been female all along. the women killed had been people this woman hated with such a furry she had poured all her rage into it.

'Hello Jack.'

She laughs, stands, sipping at the liquid and I feel my stomach clench. The smell of blood finally comes over her sickly sweet pheremones. She was terrifying, her movements those of an Apex predator of both species. She twirls and says, 'What do you think of my newly redecorated room?'

'Its nice,' I say stiffly, keeping her always in my sights.

She had been bitten shortly before the famous London murders and had kept herself hidden since. Purebloods and all others stayed clear of her. She was a leader of a small group of vampires, almost a clan though she scoffed at that idea. If things continued with the five clans it wouldn't be long before she would be a major player. She smiles softly and says, 'Its been what, 40 years since we last spoke. I thought you'd forgot about me, Natasha.'

She poutes as she comes up, and gives me a peck on the cheek, looks me over, and asks, 'Still a bleeding heart for the humans?'

Unlike me, she had embraced her roll as a vampire. Relishing the idea of being more than the scullery maid she had been. I nod and she snorts, waves her hand as she steps away, 'So you are still clanless, have you come to pedge yourself to me?'

'No.'

She sighs dramatically and flops into a chair next to a small table where the vinyl records played. She pulls the needle and her whole demeanor changes, as she asks coldly, 'What do you want, clanless?'

I walk over and sit in the chair opposite saying, 'I need information.'

She swirls the flute, gives me a sideways glance and says before taking a sip of the blood, 'It will cost you, and if I remember the tabloids well enough, you don't have much anymore. Your firm closed.'

It was a ploy and I smile softly saying, 'Not closed, sold.'

'How sad, not doing well?'

'Its fine, what do you want?'

'I have more than enough money, so I want something else.'

'What?'

'How about that human in your fancy car?' She says with a grin starting to stretch her lips, making her look evil.

'That's a no go.'

Her smile disappears and says growl, 'Then we have nothing to discuss.'

She stands up and starts making her way to the door to let them know the conversation is over when, I say calmly, 'Jaclyn, don't make this difficult.'

Her whole demeanor turned black as she swings around and roars, 'Don't call me by that name!!!'

'Jaclyn McDowell,' I say, slowly standing.

She hisses and runs towards me, her pupils having gone to slits as she roars out, 'I'm going to kill you!!!!'

Just as she reaches me, I allow my ability loose and she flies back, air washing away her sickly sweet smell. She tries to get up with a snarl and I sigh, lifting my hand and she goes flying up, hitting the ceiling, then I push down, and she slams hard into the ground. She calms and slowly gets to her feet. Her eyes were full of hatred and she growls out, 'When did you learn to do that?'

'After Furlow.'

She let's out a clipped laugh and says, 'How sad he didn't see it.'

This burned in me and I felt anger swirl inside and my pheremones leak out. She smells them and grins as she walks towards me and I say calmly, 'I was going easy on you Jack.'

Her smile fades and she stops her forward movement. Though she was terrifying in her power, when she flew off the handle, she was easy to take on. I can best her when she is angry, but when she is sly it isn't as likely. I was older than she was by only a few years. Even with that I was more powerful. She huffs, walks over and flops back down in her chair, gulps down the blood, glares and says, 'Fine! You were always Furlow's favorite. No wonder he pawned me off to Lucas.'

Lucas had been another homeless vampire and after only a few years of dealing with Jaclyn's swinging moods, Furlow had handed her off to a calmer phantom than himself. I shake my head as I sit back down, letting my anger and hatred calm. She slams the flute down and asks with a sigh, 'What do you want to know?'

She knew it was pointless to ask me for what she wanted. So now that the testing was over she was willing to give up any info she had.

'I want to know about the Silent Phantasma.'

She drums the table for a moment, a frown miring her good looks. Finally she looks over at me and says, 'They are terrifying.'

'So I've gathered,' I say blandly.

'No, you don't understand,' she says finatically, and continues, 'Last month ten of my cronies went missing and the Phantasma left their calling card.'

Frowning, I glance over at her, not quite trusting what I'm hearing, asking, 'Calling card?'

'Yes, a blood red Ace. All the small time clans know it, it's the five royals that ignore our pleas.'

This makes me frown as I stare at her. Nick had never mentioned a calling card, or that the minor clans had been asking for assistance. I ask, 'What do you think happened to your men?'

'There is only two possibilities, one they are dead, or they have been turned into ghoul. Seeing how much news is going through the grapevine vine, I'm suspecting the later.'

My mind goes back to the civil war. It had only taken two weeks for a bitten vampire to go Ghoul and start attacking people at random. Looking over at Jack, I ask, 'How long since they last fed?'

'My men? About a week, why?'

I shake my head, my mind racing back to the horde of ghouls spewing into the hall of Nick's mansion. Looking at the old record player, I ask, 'Do you know anything about them besides their calling card? Any weapons, or tridium they might be buying?'

Jack snorts, flips her hair behind her and says, 'Oh please, not on my end. I may be evil, but I know when to draw the line. The Phantasma is on the fast track to ruining everything I've built so far. As for weapons, they don't seem interested. Tridium is another thing they don't seem all that interested in.'

She was getting at something and I ask it, 'What are they after?'

A smile slowly forms on her face, her canines glistening as she says, 'Now that's the real question. That isn't something I can answer, but I know someone who has dealings with them that might have an answer.'

'Who?'

'You know who.'

I jerk out of my chair and roar, 'No! He is worse than you!'

'True,' Jack says as she stands, putting the needle back on the record to allow the notes to float once again, 'I am even terrified of him.'

Hearing that from JR was more than enough to make me pee myself. The five royal Clans didn't even like to speak his name. But I knew him, he was the devil of all the vampire. Pure evil and made ghouls seem like puppy dogs. I glare at her and murmur, 'Dante.'

She shutters and says as if saying it left a bad taste in her mouth, 'Yeah.'

I walk towards the door and she asks in a sweet little voice, 'Having fun with the Pureblood?'

Swinging around I'm surprised to see her so close. It reminds me of how dangerous she is, but not nearly as dangerous as the other person I would have to say and growl, 'What?'

'I can smell the pheremones if a Pureblood on you. Are you sure you aren't clanned yet? Not trying to spy on my operation are you?'

'I'm not part of a clan or ever plan to be, and as for your... operation, it would be beneath me.'

She lets out a laugh, claps me on the shoulder and says, 'For once Natasha I'm glad you are who you are.'

'By the way whatever happened to Lucas?'

This was on question I had longed to ask her, and figuring this would be one of the last times I would see her, it was time. Sighing, she says, 'Oh that old man, I ate him.'