. 16

~~The Ripper~~

God damn it felt good to be in the driver seat again. God damn it felt good to end someone's life with his bare hands.

Jack the Ripper dropped man's corpse, and it burst into a pile of ash as it collided with the street. Joe was no more. Finally. Fucking finally! Irritating god damn worm. Jack laughed as he stepped onto the pile of ash, and kicked it away. Finally.

He looked to the Carthians who'd shown up. Some stared down at him from nearby buildings. Some stared at him from across the street. The four ancilla, Garry's strongest, stared at him from twenty feet away, each of them injured and hurting. Cory backed away, putting more and more distance from Jack as he clutched the hole in his stomach.

Jack looked at the bag in his hand. This stupid necklace. It forced down the Beast, and Jack, new Jack, was bound to the Beast in a way old Jack wasn't.

But it was also the only reason Jack wasn't staked and tucked away in a cellar somewhere for years while the Prince and Jack's bitch grand sire looked for a cure. So he sighed, and tossed the bag to Vivienne.

"Hold onto that."

"I... wh-what? O-O-Okay." She snatched it up, and stared at him as he looked to the crowd of onlookers hidden around in the nearby buildings and alleys.

"All of you!" Jack raised a hand, like a fucking emperor, and grinned at all the stupid bastards staring at the kid in the boxers and shoes. "Your little leader is ash. I don't know what Joe said to convince you all that you should try this, that you should actually attack us, attack me! I don't know what lies he said, or what delusions he weaved, but let me set the record straight. Jack has been trying to keep the peace, to save as many lives as he could. Jack is the only damn reason I haven't buried you stupid assholes in the ground." He tilted his head to the side, and licked his fangs. "You should have listened. Now, you're all gonna die."

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~~Damien~~

Oh God no.

Damien stared on from a distance, buried deep in his Cloak with binoculars in hand. Close enough to hear what Jack said though, just barely. No, not Jack, not anymore.

Stake him? Could he stake him? Last time Damien had staked the Ripper, the curse had just finished a one-on-one with a giant spider monster the werewolves struggled with. He'd been a tattered, broken vampire, weakened and drained. Now, Jack looked like he'd just finished his warm-up and was ready for a proper fight. It would have been funny that he was standing around in his underwear, if not for the look on his face, a blend of excitement and psychotic glee.

Damien scanned the sky for movement. There was none save for two crows, who broke off from what looked like pursuit of fleeing Carthians, and now circled the sky above. Like vultures. But no swarm came, no flock of crows, no legion of rats, nothing. Either the Ripper was saving them for when he needed them, realized they wouldn't be of use with his targets fleeing, or he actually cared about the Masquerade. Strong as he was, even the curse couldn't take on a few billion humans armed with flamethrowers, and nukes.

Jack walked toward the Carthians. Damien recognized them. Garner, Kass, Bella, and Steve. Garry had about ten ancilla in the Carthians, but not all vampires did combat well. These four did, and were often considered the biggest threats in the Carthians save for Garry himself. Frontliners, fighters, people who liked to throw down. People who probably agreed with an anarchist like Joe.

The four of them spread out as they circled Jack. Were they serious? Did they actually want to fight him?

No no no, everything was going wrong. Killing Joe was recoverable. Everyone knew the man had a problem, that he was hungry for action. But if the Ripper started wiping out Garry's whole covenant, everything would be over. The war would turn into chaos. The Prince would get involved. It'd be a giant mess. And Damien and Maria's goal of reviving the Lancea et Sanctum in Dolareido would be lost.

Damien pulled out his phone.

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~~The Ripper~~

"Gotta be honest. I expected you fucks to run." He grinned at each ancilla as they surrounded him. "You really think you shitheads can beat me? Four of you?"

"You can't use your pets here," Bella said. "The cops will be here soon. You won't violate the Masquerade."

Jack tapped his chin with a finger. "True. I don't want to piss off the blue."

"You don't want to piss off your Prince."

"My Prince?" He raised a brow at that. "Ain't no Prince of mine. But either way, I won't summon my legion. Yet. But hey, if you fucks think you can really fight me, you better commit. Otherwise Cory is gonna die."

Bella stood up straighter before snapping her gaze to Cory.

Of course Cory stuck his head out from behind a car, and looked at Jack, confused. Looked him right in the eyes.

Poor Cory. The young Gangrel was only twenty years embraced, far as the Invictus knew, and a bit more timid than his stupid dog brethren. He clearly wasn't used to a Ventrue being up front and center, and a single mention of his name was enough to have the man looking at Jack with wide eyes.

Jack glared at him, and again, Cory didn't look away. Eye contact was powerful, even without Dominate. Predators knew that, human predators, humans who knew how to prey on weak-minded fools. If you wanted to crush someone's mind, break them, reduce them to a pathetic child incapable of a single thought, you met the eyes. Glare into their useless souls and make them submit. Cory couldn't look away.

Jack reached out, and broke the kid's mind. Like snapping a plastic spoon.

Come to me.

Cory walked to him.

Steve was closest, and he made a running dive to get in Cory's way, but Jack's suggestion was powerful and overruling. Breaking someone's natural desire for self preservation was the hardest part of the mind to break. Everyone had self preservation as the most basic, deepest instinct, and if you could override that, you could make anyone do anything.

Cory jumped over Steve, and ran over to Jack before standing beside him. Ah, the look of shock on Steve's face, and the blank stare in Cory's face. Fucking beautiful.

"So, get over here and fight me, fist to fist, or I rip off Cory's head, just like I did Joe. Or maybe I'll rip off his limbs first and see how much damage it takes before he finally goes poof." Grinning wider, Jack kicked at the pile of ash under his feet again.

The four ancilla glared at him, but they were smart enough to avoid meeting his eyes. When the fists started flying, Jack wouldn't be able to break their minds. Even Jack the Ripper took longer than half a second to Dominate someone, and they probably knew it. That was fine. He wanted to get his hands dirty tonight.

"Well, let's hear it," Jack said. "Let's hear the speech. Let's hear how much the Invictus suck, how horrible we all are. Let's hear about how we're all a bunch of soulless lawyers and greedy accountants. Let's hear the stupid bullshit about how Invictus are evil, and you Carthians are the passionate, sympathetic good guys trying to make this city a better place. Let's hear all the ridiculous, delusional crap you tell yourselves. Come on! Now's your chance for last words."

They looked at each other, checking to see if anyone actually had something to say. Apparently they did not. The only thing Jack saw there was panic. Joe was dead, and Cory was soon to follow. Say one thing for the idiots, they were in it for each other. A bunch of morons who shared stupid ideals, and they'd die beside each other for their stupid ideals.

"Oh, before I forget." Jack kicked at Cory's leg, the knee, the outside of the knee. Crunch. It was enough pain to immediately break his suggestion on Cory's mind, and the man fell to his side screaming. "Don't want you going anywhere."

That was enough to set them off, and the four Carthians ran for him. Perfect.

Of course, the Carthians weren't so stupid to think they could just take him in a straight fight. They'd been outside for a bit now, and in the chaos, some of them had gotten some guns again. So much for a fist fight, Bella pulled out a pistol and unloaded on him while her three friends rushed him. Hell, it was actually a smart move. The bitch was a good shot, and Jack had to lift a hand and cover his face to stop bullets from slamming into his head. Some bullets hit his chest, and one hit his jaw, but they flattened against his skin and flesh, barely able to scratch him as his pulsing snakes of blood emerged again as she fired.

She threw the gun aside, getting the hint, and he grinned at her as the coils of dark crimson seeped back into his skin. Of course the moment he did, the other three Kindred dove at him, a delightful mix of fear and anger on their faces.

It quickly turned to mostly fear as Jack spun, and backhanded the fucker going for his back, Garner. Slow, already injured, Garner fell to his side hard. Useless. But Steve came at Jack fast, looking for some payback for Jack smashing his head in with a gun. And sure enough, he came at Jack with a knife.

Jack stuck his hand out as Steve came at him for the stomach stab, and Steve sank the blade up through his left hand. With vitae hardening Jack's flesh, Steve had come at him hard and fast, intent on puncturing him like he was a wall of wood, and the blade pushed up through Jack's palm, right between the middle and ring finger. The pain was an afterthought, lost in the glory of a good fight. A great fight! Jack clamped his hand down on Steve's hand, over his knuckles and the blade grip, and squeezed. Steve screamed.

Kass came at him opposite of Steve, and Jack was off balance, holding Steve and slowly crushing his hand into mulch, but leaving his right side open. Kass's throat was looking better, but there was still a big dent there, and she didn't run with as much speed as she should have. Probably trying to avoid putting bouncing pressure on her fucked up back. Well, stupid her, she came at him a little too slow, and he turned to face her, Steve in toe, until they were face to face.

Kudos to her for still having the balls to come at him straight regardless, and she swung a straight punch for his face. He took it, head twisting slightly with the impact, but he punched her back a moment later, and he punched at lot harder. She went down, clutching her jaw; not broken, since she rolled with the punch, but close. She got up quickly and dove at him, full body tackle, maybe thinking if she got in close she could grapple him.

Jack spread his feet, braced his weight, and spun. Steve swung around him as his feet came off the street and stuck out with inertia, and Jack let go of his hand when he collided with Kass. A beautiful side-on collision that had them both rolling over the asphalt like fucking dolls. And hey, the knife was out of Jack's hand too, so that was nice. He watched, happy tickles working up his spine, as Steve and Kass rolled over the street hard enough to tear open skin.

And then thud, something hit Jack. The ground came up to Jack pretty damn quick, and he collided with his chest first before his chin crashed into it. Thankfully a Kindred used vitae to fuel their body, not their actual organs, not truly, or he'd have suffered a pretty nasty concussion from how hard his head hit the street. Someone had fucking tackled him when he'd been distracted. Bella was on top of him, and she was smart enough to pull out a knife as she dove for him.

Once, twice, three times she stuck him in the back with the knife, putting every bit of strength she had into it. But when she tried the fourth time, he forced the blood out through his skin again, and the knife sunk halfway into his flesh, and got stuck.

He rolled over. She was a smart enough grappler to stay on top of him as he did, letting go of the knife, but she wasn't strong enough to keep him from pushing down on the street until he was sitting up. And she didn't expect him to drive his forehead into her chest. Not a good angle for maximum damage, but enough to send her back and reeling.

"Ow! That hurt!" He reached behind him and pulled the knife out of his back. "You got a little fight in you. I like that." The best Ledger impression.

"Fuck you."

"Ugh, my wit is wasted on plebs like you." Laughing until it echoed through the street, he marched toward Bella, stomping his feet as he did. "Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of a Carthian bitch about the lose her head." He winked at her, and waggled her knife in front of him.

And there it was, panic, fear. Bella scrambled to her feet and put her fists up, eyes on his for a split second before she remembered to avoid holding his gaze. It was kind of annoying, how everyone knew now how quickly he could Dominate people. It was so much fun when they didn't see it coming.

He took a step toward her. She took a step back. He chuckled darkly, licked a fang as he drank in the fear, and took another step.

"I'm going to cut open your gut, and rip out your insides piece by piece. I wonder how many organs it'll take before you pop. Then I'm going to rip your friends apart." He pointed the knife at Garner, still recovering from what looked like a broken jaw, and Kass and Steve. They hadn't just hit each other when he threw Steve at her, they'd rolled over the street a dozen times at high speed. They'd broken bones. Well, more bones. "I'm going to collect all your ashes into envelopes and mail them to Garry. And--"

Bella stopped walking. He stopped talking. She blinked past him, eyes snapping to something else, something she didn't expect. Jack expected it, the sudden wave of power that came from behind him. It was bound to happen eventually, and it might as well happen now.

Slowly, Jack turned around, and sure enough, there he was. The mother fucking sheriff of Dolareido.

Daniel stood there in his usual dark trench coat, wearing his subtle glasses, and he looked at Jack with the steady gaze he always did.

"Carthians," the man said. "Take your injured and leave."

Jack laughed. Old faithful was a stone cold fuck.

"Howdy sheriff. If you're gonna entertain me instead of these fuckwads, I'm cool with that." Shrugging, Jack turned toward Cory, and kicked him. Of course he put force into it, bracing his weight as best he could, so he could send the dude half flying, half rolling toward Bella, screaming as he did. A fresh dent in his side, complete with ripped open flesh, threatened to spill his withered spleen.

She caught him as best as she could, but she wasn't in the best condition either. All of them had broken bodies, and running on vitae to keep from collapsing. She fell back with a whimper of pain as the man flattened her to the asphalt.

The others joined her. Slowly, Steve and Kass got up off each other, Steve cradling his hand and Kass holding her throat. Garner clutched his broken chest and jaw, but after a couple steps, he collapsed, and cried out in agony as he did. Steve and Kass helped him, each slipping under one of his arms and half carrying him as they walked.

"Bye guys," Jack said. "But remember, we're not done. You poked the bear. I'll make sure you're all dead, sooner or later."

Each and every one of them managed a quick glance to him, and he relished the look in their eyes. They were terrified of him now. He'd have been hard if he'd been Blushing Life.

"Jack," Daniel said. "Where is your necklace?"

Jack shrugged and gestured back to Vivi. "She's holding onto it."

"You didn't destroy it?"

"Well if I did that, you, the Prince, and Elaine would bust my ass and do everything you could to lock me up, wouldn't you?" He winked. "I'm just out for a bit of fun."

The sheriff, predictably, didn't react to his words. The perfect straight man, Jack could make a living telling jokes with this guy.

Daniel looked to the building beside them as it went up in flames. "We have four minutes before the police, and fire department arrive."

"Of course."

"Will you put the necklace back on?"

"Not until I've had a bit more fun."

Daniel glanced to the fleeing Carthians. "I... don't think Jack would want you to."

"I am Jack."

The sheriff frowned. Subtle, but any sort of expression from this statue was saying a lot.

"Vivienne, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes."

Ah, right, Daniel was her grandsire. Jack felt his smile grow as he looked at the sheriff, and then glanced toward his grandchilde. A menacing glance.

Message received. Daniel's scowl remained, and he adjusted his leather gloves as he glared at the Ripper. "How do you want to do this?"

"I wanted a good fist fight, but these Carthians failed to deliver. So, I won't summon my army, if you don't use the sword. Deal?" Jack looked the man up and down a moment, waiting for a response. "Come on, hit me!"

Daniel hit him.

'Hit him' didn't really put into words what it was like to get hit by a five-hundred-year-old Mekhet who'd been working as an enforcer for most of that. Daniel was a blur of movement. If there'd been any indicator, any tip off in his eyes and face, Jack didn't see it. All he saw was a haze of trench coat and glasses come at him, and then a fist collided with his face.

Jack had been smart enough to pull up his vitae and reinforce his flesh, but he'd also let the blood coils seep back into his skin, dormant. Mistake. Well, even someone as awesome as him could make mistakes and underestimate someone. But damn, the sheriff hit a lot harder than a Mekhet had any right to, and Jack flew back as the world spun around him.

The moment he landed, Daniel was on him, grabbing him from behind. Not mounting and punching, like Bella had tried. Daniel was smarter than that bitch. Daniel got behind him, and picked him up by hooking his arms under Jack's armpits.

Daniel was a tall man. Jack was not. Daniel hunched over him as he hooked his arms up under Jack's shoulders and then his hands behind Jack's head, pinning him under the sheriff's weight and forcing Jack's chin down to his sternum.

"You serious, sheriff? A full nelson?"

The sheriff said nothing. What an asshole.

Well, grappling was definitely an art Daniel knew that Jack did not. And Daniel had a hundred pounds on Jack. For all intents and purposes, Jack was already defeated.

Jack pushed his arms forward and together, driving the strength of them directly against Daniel's grip against his head. It hurt having his chin driven down into his own sternum, but it also directly put the strength of his arms against the strength of Daniel's forearms and ability to keep his fingers entwined. And Jack was fucking strong. Daniel's grip broke, and he slipped his arms out before Jack could trap them against his sides.

But he was too close to avoid getting a proper backhand as Jack spun around. Back of the fist to Daniel's shoulder was enough to have the sheriff flung to the side, but like a fucking acrobat the man rolled through the air with it, and landed on his feet and one hand. With the sword still in its sheathe on his back, and the trench coat flapping in air, he looked like a fucking shitty cyberpunk ninja or something.

Daniel rubbed his shoulder where Jack hit him. It'd been a good hit, something broke, but Daniel adjusted the shoulder with an audible crunch, and rotated it around as he looked at Jack.

"You heal fast for a Mekhet."

"Practice."

Jack laughed. "You get beat up a lot?"

"Not as much as you."

"Touché!" Jack rubbed his jaw as he grinned at the man.

In typical, cold, brutal fashion, Daniel came at him unannounced. Such a shame. The sheriff wasn't interested in goofing around. To him, this was just a job to get over with as efficiently as possible, and that meant no banter. Dude was not the sort to talk around the water cooler.