Rip in Time 5: Jack
"Tell me about this vampire chit you had a thing for.” Spike asked as he spread his legs out on the front seat of his car. He and Ripper had walked out of the bar when it closed with a bottle of whiskey filched when the barkeeper wasn’t looking and broken into his car which still sat in the alleyway. The sun was almost up but Spike was unconcerned, all his windows were painted black.
“What vampire?” Ripper said from the backseat. He wasn’t drunk but he felt slightly euphoric. He passed the whiskey to Spike.
“The vampire.” Spike’s tone held a little bit of a whine. “The one you had an affair with.” He tilted the bottle back to drink.
He leaned against the cool window and closed his eyes, drifting in thought. “She was beautiful. Still can’t believe she chose me. Though, we just had a biting thing. But, it was amazing, I’d never felt anything like that before or since.” He rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. “She said that’s all we could have because she was in love with someone else. Some bloke named William. She told me that I reminded her of her of him.”
“The first night I met her, I’d gotten stinkin’ drunk with my mates and we were looking for something new and exciting to do. So, we went to one of these “vampire bite dens.” I mean, its easy to get shagged, but I’d heard that being bit by a vampire was better than that. I just had to know what it would feel like.” Ripper glanced at Spike to see how he was taking the news but the vampire was curiously silent, intently watching him.
“Anyway, we went to one of the higher end places. I didn’t want to get bit by some nasty minion. Only a master, well, mistress vampire. Y’know, just vamps out looking for a thrill. No blood whores for me. Must be fun for a change, instead of stalking and killing an unwilling human they get one eager to give ‘em their blood. It’s a whole different vibe. You just pay a hefty sum at the door for the privilege.” He smirked, though he got his money from robbing a market. “She noticed me first thing. Right when I walked in the door. “
”What did she look like, mate?”
“Tall and slender. She had long dark hair and mesmerizing eyes but she had a childlike way about her. I don’t think she was all there, if you know what I mean.”
“Her name?” Spike asked in clipped tones.
“Drusilla.”
“Bloody hell!” Spike reached over the seat and grabbed the dazed human. “ I should have known. You’re him!” Spike changed into game face and tilted the young man’s throat out of habit. He lunged and then doubled over in pain. Spike slumped back into his seat. “You’re Jack.”
“Right you are, mate.” Ripper said with a grin. “What’s wrong with your noggin’? I thought you were gonna rip my throat out there for a second.” He seemed unconcerned.
“I’ve been chipped.”
“Chipped? So, they found a way to neuter vampires in the future.”
“I’m not neutered. The bleedin’ government gave me this damn bit of tin in my brain, and I’m the only vampire that I know of that has one of these nifty bits of metal.” Spike harrumphed. “Be a cold day in Hell before I’m pay any more taxes. I’ll tell you that much. “
Ripper chuckled before he grabbed Spike by the back of the neck. “You ever touch me again, mate, and I’ll dust you.” He said this quietly, without a trace of anger.
Spike scowled at him. “Fine.”
“Fine. Now, do you wanna hear the rest of this bloody story or not?” He released the vampire.
“I already know the whole story, mate. She only hooked up with you in London, cause I was busy stalking a Slayer in New York. Killed the bird and took her coat too.” He smoothed his duster as he smiled at the memory. “She hated being around when I did that. Said I didn’t pay enough attention to her. So, she went to have a spot of fun in London.“ Spike looked at the young man fiercely. “And that’s all you were, Jack, just a light o’ love, or blood as the case may be. You were a toy while she waited around for me. My dark goddess confessed everything to me eventually.”
“I never knew that. She said that you could never find out. To be honest, I was surprised she didn’t kill me the night you came back to London or that you didn’t kill me.”
“She told me that I had to let you live. Because you were going to be a bleedin’ Watcher and important in my life one day.” He pulled out his pack of smokes and offered Ripper one. They lit it them with the car’s cigarette lighter. “She could probably see what would happen to me, all the way back then. Knew I’d need you when I got chipped.” Spike said quietly.
“She told me it was my destiny to be a Watcher.” Ripper said. “I knew it all my life, knew it was my bleedin’ duty to be one. But I don’t want to. Y’know, I think it gave her some sort of perverse pleasure to bite a soon-to-be Watcher, especially because you were chasing after a Slayer.”
“Poetic justice.” Spike agreed. Strangely, he didn’t hate Ripper. Though, it shocked him that he had this close of a connection to Giles and he had never said anything. Ripper watched over his princess while he was busy and only had a blood relationship with her, he could live with that. “So, how’d you get that bloody awful name?”
“Jack? She gave it to me after I started helping her hunt. Like Jack the Ripper hisself. I used to find victims for her.” He bent his head in something that resembled shame. “But they weren’t good people. Pickpockets and what not.” He took a deep breath. “I was only a kid and high to boot! What the hell did I know.”
“So, you go by just Ripper now?”
“She called me Jack but my mates called me Ripper.”
*******
Willow opened her eyes as the sunlight touched her face. She rolled over to find Buffy watching her. “Morning, Buffy.”
