The Endless Night and The Great Bear

A Vampire Phantasm Fan-fic

By Firkasa

VP © Sarah N.

Chapter 1: Up the Hill to Go Fetch a Jill

The twilight of day fell as the bright sky was consumed by the darkness. Silence echoed through the land and those who were wise enough knew that the night was no safe haven. The darkness became a living being in itself for it lurked through the land, prowling for the light. Within the shadows lied demonic creatures and beings more terrifying and sinister then the worst of nightmares, far more terrifying and sinister.

An eerie shade of platinum blonde hair danced into the night as the person whom it belonged to dashed away from the shadows. The shadows clung onto the rich, light colored hair, as if wanting to engulf it. However, the person wanted nothing to do with the darkness. If there was darkness and shadow, then that man might be around, that damned kook.

Jill pushed herself away from the shadows and made her way through the outside world. She and that madman had another one of their quarrels. Her hair glistened in the twilight as she grasped the corner of a deserted shed in who knows where. The vampire fledgling prayed that the kook and his companions would never find her. Alas, things never went her way from the day she was turned. When Jill turned the corner, the young woman came face to face with a familiar batty… companion.

"Damn it. Get out of here bats!" Jill snapped at the hairy-legged vampire bat.

Bettie flew around the girl, chittering excitedly as she knew she'd accomplished her mission.

"Don't you DARE bring that madman here-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jill bumped into a shadowy figure as she backed away from the happy bat. Slowly, sweat perspired along the girl's skin as her head tilted upwards, centimeter by centimeter. A knot twisted up the girl's voice as she looked into the eyes of her psychotic sire.

"Were we running again love?" the dark yet suave voice of the "Prince of Darkness", Jack Price, whispered in a low tone as a lock of black hair draped over the girl's shoulder.

The young woman was forced to face her sire as she was rather violently turned around and pinned, in quite a painful manner, against the shack with the madman looming over her in a maniacal fashion. His mouth slowly turned upwards at the corner with a psychotic grin.

"You - know - I - hate - it - when - you - run - away," Jack annunciated every single word slowly, making sure that each and every one of them would be burned into the girl's head. "Now, we don't want to be locked in an isolated room - only to have an axe stick out of our backs again do we?"

"Damn you fiend! MONSTER!" Jill struggled and let one of her hands loose on the madman. Before anyone else could stop her, Jill attempted to strike her sire of the face. Before she knew it, Jill was punched in the stomach and nearly thrown over the vampire prince's shoulder. Thinking twice, Jack ended up tossing the girl to the side… hard. The large form of Vallov appeared like a ghost by the time Jack finished with Jill.

"Are you all right sir?" the drone asked in a manner that border lined the emotions of concern.

"Yeah. Damn girl went nuts again."

The moon, almost full, gazed down on the world with a seemingly sad light. Although it was almost a full moon, the light emitting from the great orb in the sky was soft and sullen. The stars joining the moon in the great sky glittered far, far away.

" Let's get out of here."

----------------------------------------------------

By the time Jack and Vallov returned "home", the dawn of day had already began to rise over the horizon. Jack was in a less then happy mood again. He tossed Jill's unconscious body like a rag doll over to his drone.

"Lock her up in her room again and make sure that she doesn't try any tricks. No open windows, no pick locking, the works."

With a bow, Vallov carried the girl away to another part of the estate as Jack entered his own room. Too frustrated and perhaps tired to get a change of clothes, the dark prince crashed into bed and closed his eyes. As the sun rose into the sky, the light was kept at bay with heavy drapes hanging over the window. Inside Jack's relatively dark room, he slipped into a deep sleep hoping, in the back of his mind, that he wouldn't have to wake up from his slumber to find Jill gone again.

Chapter 2: Into the Dark, Dark World My Prince

When the dark prince opened his eyes, he found himself in a strange world, a strange, dark world. As his red eyes pierced through the shadows, he realized that he was in a small room. Odd, he was just in his bed not too long ago and why was he sprawled out on the floor? As the man slowly lifted himself from the ground, his hands grasped an odd, soft material. Slowly and unsure, Jack brought the object closer to his face as he stood. It was a soft cloth of sorts, dirtied and ruined due to the span of time. Upon closer inspection, the man determined that the cloth was once a blanket of sorts. Brushing away at the dirt and dust, a familiar shape kept repeating itself on the pastel colored cloth. Where had he seen this "thing" before? Thinking back, Jack tried to piece together his memory in order to figure it out.

"Ah. That's right. What did that damned Riff Raff call that iron thing Ren had?" He thought to himself.

After a few more moments of thought and contemplation, Jack remembered. He called the damned thing a bear. The dark prince's red eyes gazed down at the seemingly meaningless object. "What human in their right mind would use such a thing?" He thought. "For what purpose did they have for this… fabric?" Still, something wretched inside him as he held the tattered cloth in his hand.

"What's this smell? I know-"

Before his other hand could reach out to instinctively stroke the cloth, the pathetic remains of a door swung open to let in a stream of moonlight. Jack had to shield his eyes for he was not prepared to see the light let alone for the room to be opened to the outside world.

"Who's there?"

The voice caught the vampire off guard. Jack would have thought that some mad man or crazy bitch would come along and throw some whacking stick at him to tell him to go away and leave "their property" alone. Instead, the voice belonged to an abnormally calm female. As Jack looked forward, his red eyes slightly squinting, he came across a nice looking young girl roughly around the age of 16 or so, perhaps younger. She had long dark hair that fell past her chest. Two ear tails draped either side of her face as if to give her some mysterious beauty. In many ways, the girl looked quite a bit like Jack on first impression, much to the vampire's annoyance.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing in that room? It's not safe to be in dark places nowadays you know sir," the girl replied with a kind voice.

The dark prince was taken back by the girl's attitude. Normally, a human would be shrieking in fear and praying to whatever they prayed to for salvation. Here, the girl was asking why he was in some blasted room and if he knew about the things that lurked at night. The damned fool should have realized that he was one of the things that went prowling in the shadows. The demonic red eyes should have been a damn giveaway. But here was the girl, quietly watching him as if she were watching a hungry tiger in its cage, pacing back and forth, waiting to see what it would do next.

As Jack tried to reply, he found his voice twisted up in a knot. No matter now hard he tried to utter a sound at that moment, he simply couldn't find himself to do it. His throat was fine as well as his voice box but the words just couldn't come out right there.

The girl tilted her head a little to the side and walked into the dark room. She held out her hand to the man and smiled at him with a smile that was almost never seen, a sweet and sincere smile.

"Here. Let's go somewhere else okay? I'll show you around."

The girl acted as if she were leading some stray kitten home, planning to take of it and feed it once they got there. However, there was no look of pity in the girl's eyes. No. There was simply a look that wanted to help the man because he looked out of place and badly lost. Jack gazed at the girl's hand with an emotionless stare and pushed it away as he walked out of the room. He let the fragment of cloth slip out of his fingers before he exited the shadows. Gradually, the piece of fabric fell onto the floor and into its original environment. The girl gazed down at the remnant before turning to leave and close the door behind her.

Jack found himself in another alien room. The walls were falling apart and were partially eroded away. The roof of the place was nearly gone. Some parts of the building even looked like they were destroyed by some random vampires. The scent of blood was everywhere. The blood was old, very, very old, but such a scent could never escape a vampire's nose. Patches of wallpaper still clung onto the wall as if history tried to leave a part of itself behind for future generations to see the terror that once lurked there. Jack inspected the wallpaper further, trying to piece together what kind of whacked out place this once was. Faded flowers decorated what remained of the wallpaper.

"Flowers? What kind of wallpaper is this?" Jack thought to himself, not impressed by the place. Still, the strange feeling of déjà vu came over the vampire as his hand reached out towards the wall unconsciously.

"Sir?"

The gloved hand jerked back violently before it even got close to the wall. Demonic eyes swerved to glare at the girl. Her dark eyes patiently looked into his without hesitation or fear. In the light the girl's appearance became more evident. She wore a tank top with straps that wrapped around her neck, a short skirt that went a little past her knees, a pair of sturdy but stylish boots and "hobo" gloves of rather dark colors, although not as dark as Jack's attire. A belt wrapped her waist and weaved across the front of skirt. A shawl draped around her arms to offer her a menial sense of warmth. A soft silk like scarf covered her neck for further warmth.

Again, Jack was perturbed by the girl's behavior as he turned away from her. In a fit of seemingly childish annoyance, the man stalked off and slammed his foot into what was the front door. The brittle remains of the door shattered into many fragments, a few which promptly struck the vampire in the face causing minor cuts and a few splintered pieces to be stuck in his face. Jack wanted to storm off into the outside world but his body froze slightly as he could sense the rising of the sun in the horizon beyond. It had been a long time since he ever felt uncertainty but the place, wherever it was, brought about a wave of uncertainty, much to the vampire's growing frustration.

Taken by surprise, Jack felt his hand being pulled off as the girl had intervened in his trail of lost thoughts and dragged him away to some other who knows where location. Before he knew it, Jack found himself in a quaint little cave not too far from the shack of a home.

"I'm sorry about that. But guessing your reaction to the coming dawn, you must be a vampire right?" The girl smiled as she caught her breath. "My name is Mitsuki. Or, that's what the woman who found me called me anyway. She was a foreigner hence the strange name. If I recall correctly, she came from Japan, or some place towards the east." A meek laugh escaped the girl.

Jack tilted his head in an odd manner. "What's wrong with this girl? Even though she knows I'm a vampire, she's still helping me. Why?"

"What's your name?"

The man looked at the girl with stern eyes. He made effortless attempts to try and speak but each attempt ended in dismal failure.

"Damn it! Why doesn't my blasted voice work!?" Jack fumed at himself within the depths of his mind.

Mitsuki watched the vampire quietly as he continuously argued with himself. Carefully, she reached out and pulled his face closer towards hers. In that fleeting moment, Mitsuki swore she'd seen his face before but her hazy memory couldn't remember from where. Taking out a handkerchief or sorts (more like a tattered rag made into a handkerchief), Mitsuki wiped away the excess blood from the man's face.

"Since you can't talk… Can I call you Dark? I mean, since you wear so much black and seem to like dark places and all."

The girl continued to ramble on about the "dark" as she tended to the nearly healed vampire. Jack simply looked off to the side. He thought it was strangely ironic that the girl would give him his own nickname. Jack could have written his name but he didn't care about what people called him, as long as they knew their place. As long as they feared him, he didn't care. But this girl was the total opposite. She neither feared him nor hated him. In fact, she seemed to think of him as an equal.

Jack felt at a loss. Logically, he would have returned home on his own. Illogically, he couldn't sense where "home" was. And this Mitsuki was driving him mad, but not in the same manner as annoyance. Although human, she was a complete mystery to him. One moment he looked at her, he thought he was looking at himself. Another moment he thought he was looking at… Jack pushed the thought away. The girl was probably like Jill or something. She was probably an embodiment of the person that haunted him from the day he first became a vampire… whenever that was.

Chapter 3: Remembrance- A Fairy Tale

Jack couldn't tell how much time had passed since he'd first met Mitsuki. Time had become such a trivial thing to him that it was one of the last things that entered his mind. During the day, he would slumber against the cold wall of the cave while the girl either wandered out to fetch some food or slept in a separate part of the cave. As night came along, Jack would awaken to find a way to get "home" and would sometimes look for the occasional "meal". Occasionally, Mitsuki would even bring back some human blood. How and why she did this puzzled Jack, but he couldn't inquire as to how the girl came by the human blood because of his voice that had mysteriously refused to work. Although the blood wasn't fresh, it was still… edible enough to drink. He also noticed that no matter what the girl choose to wear, the scarf was always around her neck, as if it were her emblem or as if it were hiding something.

During one particular day, Mitsuki decided to follow Jack or Dark, as she liked to call him, on one of his random outings into the open, trying to find his way back home. The cool night air felt "nice" to both of them, though Jack never showed any indication of feeling relaxed or at peace. They wandered around until they reached a sad looking lake full of black, murky water and greasy oil dancing on the top giving the water a shiny film over the surface. Mitsuki sat down along the edge of the lake as the vampire stayed standing, frowning at the other side of the water. Jack's eyes jumped open from his train of thought when a gasp broke the silence. Mitsuki looked up into the sky and gaped in awe at the sight above them.

"Look at the stars Dark!"

Jack turned his head to look down at the girl who pointed her finger straight into the eternal mass of black and speckled light that danced in the sky. He never gave much thought to the stars in the distance. They were just light, nothing more, nothing less.

"There's Crater," Mitsuki cheerfully pointed out a set of stars to the vampire. "Someone once told me that if you connected the stars in that area, it represented a cup. That person also said that that cup belonged to a 'God' of ancient times."

Jack gave a "feh" like sound for he didn't care about the stars. Even so, the girl went on listing the stars and constellations in the sky.

"Over yonder is the Hydra. Its supposed to look like a great beast defeated long, long ago by a great hero. Its was said to have seven or so heads."

Jack looked up at the sky merely out of respect for the girl as she pointed out the various figures created by the stars, the constellations. He knew nothing about them, but, whether or not he wanted to admit it, he was interested in the girl's little "history lesson".

"Finally, there's the Ursa Major or The Great Bear. If you ask me, I still can't see the bear."

Mitsuki looked over at Jack and laughed while his red eyes stared in bewilderment. He never thought he would live to see the day where someone would laugh freely and out of happiness.

"Its other names are The Drinking Gourd and The Big Dipper. I can see the "dipper" because it looks like a ladle. It almost looks as if it could scoop out the moon. What do you think Dark?"

Jack stayed quiet and stared up at the stars. The girl looked up and over at the man as a soft smile came across her face. Slowly, she got up and placed her hands behind her back, still smiling at the vampire.

"The North Star is also located in The Big Dipper. They say that people from long ago used that star to find their way home. In many ways, that star gave them hope.

Again, the vampire was silent as he gazed up at the dark expanse in the sky.

"I have a favor to ask you. Would you come with me to visit my parents?"

Red eyes slightly gapped in surprise as Jack turned to look at the girl. The sudden request simply came out of nowhere. He waited, wondering when the girl would take back her words. She never did. Averting his gaze, the dark prince sighed and nodded. The time he'd spent with the girl had definitely changed him. The girl had brought back a part of humanity that he'd thought was lost forever since the "infection" of vampirism had spread across the world. He wanted to see where the girl's smile would lead him.

----------------------------------------------------

Along the way to her parent's grave, Mitsuki had found a sad little flower hanging around the ground, clinging to its last strings of life. She plucked it from the earth and carried it. The flower would be nice for her parents. Though she never knew them, she thought that they might like it. Her parents' graves were amongst a large group of other stone graves; each labeling the names of those who'd fallen during the beginning of the vampire reign. Despite the vast amount of graves, Mitsuki show no hesitation and walked straight for the graves dedicated to her parents. She bent down in front of two graves and placed the flower between both of them. Jack stood quietly to the side and looked at the graves. To his surprise, neither of them was marked with any name or wish for their well being in the so-called "after life". One was simple marked with a sun like symbol while the other was blank, barren and void of anything except the erosion of time.

"My mother died when I was a baby. Her body was buried in the "sun" grave. I guess my caretaker thought she was the light of my life. My father on the other hand… My caretaker told me that she could never find my father's body. There was a lot of blood around my home, enough to indicate that there were two people living there but my father was gone. She said he was most likely 'turned'. I guess that's why his grave is unmarked."

As Mitsuki stared at the graves, Jack understood the grief the girl felt for it was a tale not that much different from his own.

"I don't know why I'm alive, or why I'm here. I often wonder if my father's alive. He probably is, but he's most likely forgotten about me… and my mother."

A firm hand grasped the girl's shoulder as Jack watched Mitsuki cry silently. Time seemingly passed slowly as her muffled weeping echoed in the silence. The crying gradually turned laughing in a weak fashion as Mitsuki smiled at the vampire with teary eyes. A part of Jack felt somewhat at peace when he looked at the girl. It was as if she had helped to release some of the sadness that he'd eternally felt ever since the day he was turned. But, such a thought was truly cursed.

The night air turned crisp as a lone wind howled through the night. Clouds slowly gathered in the sky as the moon's light dimmed and the land turned dark. Mitsuki looked up at the sky and noticed the foreboding aura that hung across the earth. Jack threw the girl to the ground and called forth the shadows to do his bidding. The howl of the wind intensified as darkness loomed across the land. A familiar feeling seeped into Jack's mind as the faint clop of boots came closer.

"This is… It CAN'T be! Not HIS mana!" Jack thought feverishly in a panic. If that man was here then he'd surely kill… no. He'd slaughter Mitsuki.

As a hellish shadow figure emerged from the looming darkness, Jack lashed out, bent on making sure that the past would not repeat itself. He couldn't let history repeat itself least he'd melt back into a state of madness. Silver hair glistened in what little moonlight remained. Eyes that looked bloodshot pierced through the darkness and into the very soul of Jack.

Jack felt himself cramp up and then he felt as if his blood were on fire. His neck arched upwards in an elegant but deathly position as Jack felt the embodiment of his sire toy with his existence. He gasped and tried to do something but found that his body was uncooperative. Willing everything that he had, Jack used the shadows to lash out at his sire to little avail. In fact, it made the "demon" vampire more psychopathic. Jack eyes watched in horror as his sire appeared and disappeared from the shadows, only to phase into existence a few feet away. Holding up a hand like a clawed animal, Jack's sire flexed his knuckles to prepare for the glorious "lesson" he was to give to his "son".

Jack looked up into the sky and stared at the dim stars, awaiting his punishment. The bladed hand struck as blood like wine seeped through the wound. Jack turned his eyes downward and found blood all over him. However, it was not his own blood that covered his body. In the mist of the fray, Mitsuki had gotten between the "demon" and Jack and placed herself in the way of the bladed hand. Silver hair painted with blood danced madly as its owner licked the blood on his face. With a simple pull, his hand released the girl's limp body from the cursed fate. Slowly, the "demon" backed away and melted into the darkness, licking the wine of life that thickly coated his hand.

Jack fell onto his knees as he gazed down at the hole in Mitsuki's body.

"Oh my god…" Jack's voice croaked out from the silence.

Dark eyes opened as a soft smile emerged on the girl's face. Meekly, she raised her hands and placed her arms around the vampire's neck using what little life she had left. Slowly, her lips reached the vampire's ear as she whispered her final wish.

"Please don't forget me… and her… Fa… -"

A massive amount of blood escaped the girl's mouth as Mitsuki struggled to hold onto what little life she had left. Softly smiling, as if content, the last of her life escaped her as the wine of life continued to flow out of her limp body. Slowly, her eyes so much like Emily's and yet not, closed as her arms loosened their grip. Mitsuki's right hand slowly brushed Jack's cheek, as it fell to the earth, never again would it point to the stars. Jack grasped the hand before it fell. His anguish was hidden by the darkness.

As if it had a life of its own, the scarf that always covered the girl's neck unraveled itself to reveal a hideous scar that ran across Mitsuki's throat.

"Julia…"

Chapter 4: Epitaph

Red eyes slowly opened as Jack gazed up from his bed. His face was almost emotionless as he stared up at the dim light above. He couldn't remember when he went to bed. He couldn't even remember what he "saw" during his sleep. Jack disliked using the word "dream" because it often reminded him of such unrealistic goals. Whatever the case, he could recall nothing.

The white hair of his dutiful drone/companion flowed into the room as Vallov opened the door to his charge. His massive figure could never escape the eyes of anyone, vampire or human.

"Sir. Are your all right?" Vallov asked in a low but somewhat worried tone. Being a drone and all allowed the white hair man to sense his master's need to aid as well as his emotional state. Jack took a long time before slowly responding to his companion.

"Yes," he replied hoarsely, "I'll be out in a while."

As the drone bowed and closed his master's door, the dark prince placed his arm over his eyes as he fell into a sea of thoughts. He couldn't remember what happened during the day but something deep inside of Jack didn't feel right. As if another piece of his soul had been torn out again, just like back then… when Emily died. He felt a great mass of emotion upon his chest but he couldn't name that emotion. Slowly, he recalled the state of sadness and grief he felt when his beloved died: sorrow. His chest… no. His heart was weighed by sorrow… but he had forgotten how to cry tears of remorse a long, long time ago.

Outside, a full moon sadly gazed down upon the earth casting a faint white glow across the land. A shining speck of light danced in the night sky as the North Star pointed the way for any lost travelers that still remembered its significance.