Jane ran to Jack, trying to unbind him as fast as she could. I sighed loudly. Why did I just save this sleazeball? I was going to kill him anyway. For Jane? Yes, pretty much. She didn't have to join me on this mission, or even the one were she had been bitten by the werewolf. But she was always there for me. I owed her whatever would make her happy, and right now, that was Jack.

I unenthusiastically helped loosen his legs. I could hear his rough breath, and I could feel his foot shaking as I undid the fasten, even if I couldn't see it. His clothes were nearby, and I handed them to him. Once he had his pants on, he went visible again. He was really shaken, you could tell that just by looking at his face.

"That's not my idea of a good date," he muttered. He looked down at Gwen, bleeding on the floor. "I don't think I'll call her back."

I picked up my special stake from her coat, and stuffed it in my jacket pocket. I couldn't help but spit on her remains. Jane ran to Jack as soon as he was visible again, throwing her arms around him. Then she drew back, holding his cheeks in her hands, gazing into his gray eyes seriously.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked Jack, but before he answered, she hugged him again tightly. Jack closed his eyes in contentment, and hugged her back.

"I'll live," he sighed.

I rolled my eyes. Spare me. Jane disconnected from the embrace and suddenly seemed cross.

"In that case-" She slapped him, very abruptly, in the face. He was shocked, and so was I.

"You traitor! What the hell were you trying to pull?" she demanded.

"Well, I-" Jack started, shamefully.

"-Don't give me any of that sweet talk. Did you think I would forgive you, just like that?"

She slapped him again.

Go Jane, I thought. This was getting good.

"Ow," Jack said, rubbing his cheek. "Love, I thought-"

"I don't want to hear it! Just because you got your hooks in me, that I actually fancied you for a bit... fell for your... aggravating charm and your disturbingly good looks and..." Her voice faded off.

Wait, I didn't like where she was going with this.

"You fell for me?" Jack retorted, surprised, his face lighting up.

"Yes," she said softly. "I did."

He smiled broadly.

"Fell for my... 'aggravating charm and disturbingly good looks'..."

He liked the sound of it too much. This wasn't the show I was hoping for.

"Shut up," she commanded, going close to him. "For once."

And she kissed him. She KISSED him. JACK! She was insane. Loony. Out of her mind. Whatever way you wanted to say it, that was her at that moment.

Jack's eyes closed in pleasure, and I laughed when he phased in and out of visibility, flickering on and off like a light bulb.

"Com'on," I said, attempting to break them up. "Let's get out of here."

I turned to go. They walked alongside of me, looking at each other fondly and holding hands. They went up the stairs together first, but I didn't. I had just realized something, and I looked back to confirm my suspicions.

Dracula was gone.

I was about to wonder where he had gone when I was tackled from the left. Both of us fell to the ground with a crash, down the stairs in a heap. I heard Jane scream, while Jack gasped. Once Dracula and I hit the dirt floor, I immediately felt his mouth on my neck, his teeth peirced my skin, warm blood trickling out of me. I shouted in pain, struggling to get him off, but his hold was strong. Jack somehow managed to grab at him and throw him off me. It was long enough for me to whip out my father's stake, and drive it into Dracula's flesh. He screamed, loud and high-pitched, calling for help, but it wasn't enough. He got to Jack, but I didn't see where, just heard him yell. I stabbed Dracula again, so that he fell to the floor in the intensity of the pain. Jane appeared to help out of nowhere, using some strange strength unbecoming of a thin young woman, and hurled Dracula to his back. It allowed me the moment I needed to drive the stake through Dracula's heart. He yelled once more, large and piercing like before, then breathed his last... if he ever breathed at all.

Only then did I realize he had gotten me bad. My shoulder and neck hurt like hell, and blood poured freely from it. I had fallen to the ground, before I was aware of it. The world grew dark, but I could still feel, feel Jack gently pick me up a few moments later, and carry me up the stairs. I saw the light of day, or maybe just a light at the end of the tunnel, before I passed out, in what I supposed was for good.

It wasn't, that was just wishful thinking. I awoke to the sound of Jane and Jack talking softly. She was tending to Jack's wounds, and I found mine already bandaged. Taking a moment to gather my surroundings, I spotted my car, and I realized that I had been out for many days, throughout the journey it must've taken to come back here. I looked back to Jane and Jack, leaning for another one of those infamous kisses.

"Take it to a room, you two," I said only half-jokingly.

"Liz!" Jane said, looking away before Jack connected. "You're awake!"

Jack sighed audibly, making sure I heard his frustrations.

"With perfect timing, as usual," he said disappointedly. Jane embraced me gladly.

"You should be dead," she said, confused. "Though, I'm not complaining..."

"That makes one of us," Jack commented.

"I don't know why I'm not," I replied. I peeled off the bandage and looked in the side mirror of the car to examine the wound on my neck. It was like it was poisoned, the veins around were purple, and the two holes were seemingly without injury, save for the fact that they were slightly red in color.

"Curious," Jane said. "I tended to that myself. Seemed fine last night, save for the usual bleeding."

At that moment, I began to understand. I got up slowly, began to gather my things.

"Gather everything. Let's go."

I was afraid. Afraid of what they would think, yet I could see that they already suspected, as they exchanged glances with one another.

I was no longer myself, you see. I had become what I had been hunting all my life. I thought about what I could do, how I could cure it. It seemed hopeless. Was I doomed to be like this for eternity? I could feel the foul ghost of a craving linger in my mouth. The feeling of hunger. Hunger for blood.

I closed the door behind me in the drivers seat, and started the trip home. Jack and Jane talked and laughed, but I stayed silent the entire way. It didn't take me long to figure out my life was changed, even if I could change it, I couldn't erase it. This was my life now. I was now both the predator, and the prey. I was now the hunter, and the hunted. I was the slayer, and the vampire.

END of Part 1

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-RedRogue55