A Hard Day's Night [IC]

[alderwitch]

Taylor scrubbed one hand over her face, aware that she wasn't in the best mental state to have this conversation if any part of her brain thought that was a good idea and she looked up at him to say as much, "Let's talk about any further plans to deal with him after I feel like a person again. I've never felt helpless before, and apparently, I don't handle it with any real grace."

When Jack stopped the car, she unfastened her seat belt and reluctantly uncocooned herself from the blanket. She stood up with a wince and slipped out of the car, straightening slowly. Definately best not to talk about the zealot until after she'd healed up. She walked stiffly but Taylor knew the movement would help. Stiff bruises were worse than regular bruises, after all. Unfortunately, with that conversational topic gone, she'd have to stop ignoring the other one. When they got in the elevator she turned to face him, her chin lifting up.

"So.. How long?" She gestured with one hand towards him. It wasn't hard to mistake the meaning but she added, "We can wait, until we're upstairs. I've got a few questions."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I imagine you do," said Jack simply, looking down at her as the elevator rose up the few floors to his new apartment. He couldn't quite broach the subject, either of the two subjects between them, and so fell silent like a coward as they rose up to the fourth floor where his apartment lay. Jack's apartment was a few steps from the door, and an old-fashioned brass key got the two of them inside. The apartment was a big old-fashioned place, the furniture belonging somewhere around the middle of the last century, the brass-fitted windows with the faint haze of bulletproof glass. "C'mon, let's get you sitting down." He didn't want her near the kitchen. There was a lock on the refrigerator inside that nearly spotless room, the only part of his new place that didn't have that bachelor patina.

"So." Sitting down next to her, her presence inescapable, Jack let the look in her eyes carry him forward. "Five years. Give or take. I've developed faster than most, so don't worry that every...every vampire in the city can fight as well as I do."

[alderwitch]

That actually startled a laugh out of her and, after a moment, explained ruefully and with a thread of self deprication, "It's difficult to believe, but I actually do know about vampires. All evidence to the contrary, that actually was covered in my studies."

Taylor looked down at her linked hands and watched the rope marks fade from her wrists one at a time. She should have recognized what he was, hell, no wonder he made her sixth sense tingle. Fortunately, Taylor had already had time to call herself ten kinds of idiot over that on the car ride over. It had helped blunt her anger at Jack, in a way. She still felt indignant over the fact that he hadn't told her, but - really - how does someone bring that into a conversation? 'Baby, I have something to tell you' didn't even begin to cover it.

"I've seen you out during twilight, so you're of a different ancestry than most of Freedom City's nightlife. Am I right?" Her voice was remarkabally steady, although the face she tipped up to him had a somber cast. The next wasn't a question but it was a subject that had to be covered. Knowing that he was indeed a vampire, and knowing what they had done together, it wasn't a difficult leap to make, "And you've bitten me."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I've been told I am a direct descendant of Vlad Tepes," Jack explained to Taylor. "An ancient and powerful bloodline, stretching back to the beginning of our kind," he added sarcastically. "But one that breeds rarely, with many consequences when they do." He looked Taylor in the eye and contemplated how difficult it would be to grab her hands before she blasted him. "Yes," he finally said, choosing honesty above all else. "I have." And Scarab. And Stesha. I would have tried it with Moira but I'm not going to take any chances with the god-blooded. OK, maybe he wasn't picking total honesty.

[alderwitch]

Taylor's fingers curled into tight fists and she considered a good deal of physical violence before she managed to reign her temper in and under something like control.

"If you ever do something like that to me, again, we're done," she said flatly as she forced her hands to unclench, "I'm not talking about the biting part. I get that's something that's part of it all for you. Now, at least. I'm talking about the fact that you did something to me. Something that I wasn't aware of and didn't agree to."

She tilted her chin up so she could watch his face as she spoke once she was certain that she wouldn't commit an act of violence. "I have to be able to trust you, Jack."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I won't do anything with you that you don't want," Jack agreed. "Or to you, or near you." He'd have promised not to bite her, but he rather hoped that was one promise he wouldn't have to make! After all, she certainly hadn't minded! And perhaps it was foolish to plan so far ahead, but if she was going to take things this well... "I am capable of normal human interaction. Normal human emotions."

[alderwitch]

She let out a little breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Taylor had meant every word of that. It would be very difficult to walk away but she would do just that if she had to. The ramifications of not walking away, however, was a little too much for her shocky brain to work the details out right now. Taylor made a mental note to brush up on the vampires of Freedom City and specifically, Jack's blood line. Taylor would rather not have any more sudden and startling relevations.

"I'll hold you to that. I'm still tempted to knock you through a wall or two," Taylor informed him with a not-entirely-mollified expression on her face. "You haven't even appologized. You really can be a bit of a jerk, Jack.

She went to run a hand through her hair. Her face scrunched in distaste at the still drying strands. After this, she'd definately want to steal some shower time. Taylor shifted to make certain she wasn't leaning against the couch and martialed the thoughts chasing around her head.

"So, you became Avenger afterwards, clearly."

[Avenger Assembled]

"In January," said Jack carefully. "I thought the beginning of the year was an appropriate time." He studied her, his face all cool, pale perfection but for the emotion in his eyes. "I was at the Eclipse when Foreshadow drove out the nest there over Christmas. Watching a man fight vampires with nothing but his own courage and talent..." He shook his head. "It was an inspiration. I went out and bought a hockey mask and motorcycle gloves, thought up a suitably generic name, and went out on the street." He took off his gloves slowly, peeling back the heavy faux-leather to show his unmarked hands underneath. "I was better at it than I expected."

[alderwitch]

Taylor glanced down at the long hand and flipped her palm up to mirror it. The last of the bruises and abrasions had faded. She had a scholar's hand, fingertips more suited to holding a pen than curling into a fist. After a moment of examination, Taylor closed her fingers around his hand, one thumb feathering lightly across his knuckles.

"Brave, but very dangerous. You really have taken the double life to a new extreme," Taylor smile softened her expression, chasing away some of the shadows that lurked in her eyes. Her posture relaxed as she twisted to better face him, "How do you manage that all? Its layers of secrets wrapped in an illusion. I would go mad."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Guile," he told her simply. His hand was a little cool in hers, but she could feel the muscles moving underneath as she touched him. "And good luck. Put on a scary mask, talk in a funny voice, and most heroes will think you're just another creepy vigilante with a mean streak and want nothing to do with you. I stayed out of the way of the major villains so I wouldn't run into anyone with telepathy or super-senses, and concentrated on cleaning up street crime. Till I met Scarab, and we sort of stumbled into the Knights." A thin smile tugged at his features, just for a moment. "On the other side of things, my people in this city have learned to be careful. Until recently...we knew how to stay out of each other's business."

[alderwitch]

It was more than a little weird to hear Avenger's voice come out of Jack's mouth. His capability for deception was also daunting. To fool that many people, that much of the time...

Taylor blinked and thoughtlessly cupped his hand between her warmer ones. "The best laid plans... I can't imagine that Scarab didn't figure it out. She has a way of finding things that no one wants to face. It's as admirable as it is aggravating."

Her voice was dry, making her hesitation over the Lair earlier clearer. "Even with my habit of avoiding Elena whenever I'm not in a mood to talk, I still find myself in reluctant heart to heart chats. I've resigned myself to having to hide off world if I ever am going to actually be succesful in avoiding any issue and that just feels downright cowardly."

Taylor shook her head, dismissing the matter as she realized she was starting to ramble on about their team-mates. "You said 'up until recently'?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Scarab knows," Jack finally confessed. "When I thought she was trustworthy, I told her. I couldn't deal with going entirely alone, and I had a feeling she'd find out sooner or later. She took it differently than I'd expected." His hands flexed. "Most people did. As for what changed, my people found out. About me, not about Avenger." His hands flexed again, ever so slightly. "Our queen was named Melinda. Not particularly old or powerful, but she was smart enough to keep us alive in a city of superheroes. When she found out what I'd been doing, she killed me. Or thought she did, anyway. And then after that, I killed her." He remembered screaming in his ears and blood, the horrible sense of communion he'd felt as Melinda had burnt to ash before his eyes. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. "You want to know why I didn't tell more people?" he asked her suddenly.

He was on his feet, heading to a closet where he came out with layer upon layer of what turned out to be comic books, the true, licensed adventures of real superheroes published by Castle. Jack was evidently quite a collector of a certain variety of publication, and it was easy to see the theme in all of them: "Centurion #405; the Man of Adamant Takes on Dracula!" "Lady Liberty #38; the Light Against the Darkness!" "Ace Danger, Vampire Hunter!" "How Many Times Will Arrow Die?" Inside each adventure were pictures of superheroes slaying vampires, triumphant smiles on their faces as they tore their way through the monstrous hordes of the feral, screaming undead.

Jack didn't realize his hands were shaking until he actually saw them, spread out over the depictions of massacre. "Imagine living your entire life looking up at the sky and watching the heroes, knowing they were ready to save the day, ready to save you." He touched the pages. "And then one day, you become the thing the heroes fear. The thing they can track down and kill before the whole world, and be loved and celebrated for it as monster slayers. That's why I've kept it to myself, except for the people who I thought would find out anyway and I couldn't avoid. When superheroes meet my people, we die."

[alderwitch]

Taylor glanced at the glossy covers and wrapped her arms around her waist. She'd gotten very quiet during his impassioned speech. It was more than her usual habitual weighing of words. Taylor stuggled for a moment before she reluctantly uncoiled and leaned forward, lacing her fingers together.

"It takes a very rare human that can look at an eternity of existance and not buckle at the knees. We're meant to live a finite existance. One life, filled with family and friends, laughter and love. Joy and sorrow. Then at the end of it all, there's a time to rest." Taylor pressed her steepled fingers against her lips, her eyes veiled as she glanced down. The subject was a difficult one, one that bordered on very closely held personal pain.

"Eventually, for those of us unnaturally immortal, we lose everything. Family. Friends. Some go mad. Some indulge in a thousand shallow pleasures in an effort to find something - anything - to hold onto," Taylor gestured at the image of Ace.

"Vampires, by and large, are monsters," Taylor met his gaze unflinchingly. "It is very, very hard to hold on against the ebb of time. Most people are not good at 'hard' in my experience."

[Avenger Assembled]

The words struck Jack to the core, his own doubts about his humanity emerging at her words. "I wanted to be something more than what I was," Jack finally said, looking down at the glossy comic books spread beneath them. "I was faced with an eternity of being nothing. A slave, or a thug, or a schemer, nothing I did would ever really amount to anything. All just shadow plays against a deeper darkness, clinging to a lost humanity." He put his hand on Taylor's. "I had to do something more. I had to be something more than what I'd been all my life. Even before I died."

[alderwitch]

"I didn't know you then. However, any man who sticks around in the middle of a burning building to rescue over a dozen angry cats has to be some kind of hero," Taylor's smile this time reached her eyes and dimpled both cheeks.

She laced her fingers through his and tugged him closer as she leaned over the comics. Her eyes appeared dark in her pale face, "Its the actions you take that define you, Jack. I doubt you'll be a petty anything ever again. What you make of yourself, in the end, is up to you. I don't think, however, the hockey mask is really working to keep people away any longer.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Maybe it isn't," Jack reluctantly agreed. "But I need it now, more than ever. I'm happy for the friends I've made, but they knew me, and trusted me, before they saw my true face. You can't tell me that someone like Lady Liberty, or the Raven, would..." He shook his head. "I've seen it happen, Taylor. I know it'll happen. As for my own people..." He rubbed his eyes. "They know what side their bread is buttered on. As long as they don't have to dwell on the specifics of my working with superheroes, we'll get along all right."

[alderwitch]

That hadn't been quite what she'd meant, but Taylor was too distracted by the rest of his statement to correct him. She narrowed her eyes, recalling his statement about the murder of their queen. "What exactly are you to the rest of the vampires?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack's lip curled, just a little. "The youngling who murdered the queen. The reformer who's building a better world for everyone. The child to be swept away when it's time for them to assume power. When I killed Melinda, I took her position, even though there are far, far fewer vampires willing to follow someone like me. That was my new job, Taylor. That's what I do when I'm not Avenger."

[alderwitch]

Not just a vampire, but king of the vampires... Taylor's eyes widened in something between shock and horror, before she simply looked very, very sad.

Taylor reached out to cup his face between her hands, "You're going to ignore all of my advice on this matter, so I'll say it this once, and I want you to know that it's because I love you. Get out. Get out while you can. Eventually, this path will almost assuredly either kill you or, worse, destroy you."

She leaned forward to press a gentle, almost chaste kiss against his lips and smiled at him sadly, "But you won't."

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack blinked, surprised by her plea. "I can't leave them behind," he explained to her, emotion creeping into his voice. He wanted her to believe. Someone else had to believe. He put his hands on hers, looking intently into her eyes. "There needs to be a salvation for my people, Taylor. They can make the same choices I made. To put aside killing and death, to choose the path of decency and humanity. I never...I never had one of those magic spells cast on me, or anything, to make me want to do the right thing. I just realized it was something I wanted to do." He put his hand on her heart. "If I can make that choice, they can make it too. They just need someone to show them the right way."

[alderwitch]

Her heartbeat pulsed below his fingertips, leaping slightly at the gentle touch over her breastbone. Jack could feel the soft rise and fall with each breath she took and the deeper rise of the soft sigh she released at his words. She reached up to cover the hand over her heart and gave him a soft smile, "If there's anyone who could pull off what you're attempting, it could only be you. It's just such a very deadly game. As I said, eternity is a terribly long time. Life can be very empty."

It wasn't knowledge that Taylor should have had. By her own admission, even with years in other dimensions, she couldn't have been more than twenty five, but she spoke the words with a weight of conviction that could only come from some personal experience, "It's a heavy weight you've taken on. I just don't want it to drag you under."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Here you are counseling me, when you've already been through so much today." He smiled weakly, reaching down to take her hand with his. He knew that pulse, knew that rhythm, quite well by now. "Stay with me today. Your body might heal up, but it'll be good to be in a safe place through the night. And this is one of the safest places in the city."

[alderwitch]

She raised a brow and let the subject die. "I'll stay. I don't think my bed's salvagable if I remember correctly, anyways, even if I wanted to go home. I'll just start looking for a new apartment tomorrow. That'll be a nightmare with the school year already started, but I'm not living there any more."

Not only was it dangerous to tempt fate that the creep might forget Jack's warning, but Taylor didn't think she'd ever rest well in that particular bedroom again. She let him pull her to her feet, "Can I use your shower? I'm about ready to crawl out of my skin."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes," Jack said agreeably, reaching down automatically to put his hand on her arm and guide her towards the bathroom. Hmm, I should do something about the fridge. She can look into it even with the lights off and the door locked. "It's right this way." His bathroom turned out to be a fairly lush place, all black marble and silver-plated faucets. Perhaps surprisingly, he'd bothered with a mirror, or hadn't had the original replaced.

[alderwitch]

Taylor's gaze shot to the mirror automatically and visibally winced. Why things hurt more when you could see them, Taylor would never understand and she twisted to get a better look at the lacerations from the barbed scourge, appraising them with a practiced eye. It might take a day or two at most for them to vanish completely but they were fading quickly. At least the gash on her cheek had closed up during the conversation, leaving only an angry red line that would probably fade out in the next hour or so. In a day, she'd have no physical reminders of her time with Zealot. She pulled her gaze away from the mirror, and the creepy lack of Jack's reflection.

With a sigh of relief, she phased out of the remains of her costume and discarded them in a tidy heap that was sucked easily into the void. It took a little more digging, but she pulled her workout towel out of thin air and wrapped that around herself while she waited for Jack to start the shower. Not that there wasn't a preponderance of fluffy towels but Taylor wasn't about to wrap something around her that she wasn't willing to throw out until after she'd rinsed the fight off of her skin. Searching for something lighter direction to take the conversation, Taylor slanted him a considering look, "You know, I'd stay here just for a shower that's actually above my head. We should have fooled around in your shower rather than mine. I bet your hot water doesn't run out, either."