This wasn’t Jack’s first frenzy, but it was easily his worst. Not just in terms of casualties, though that was a concern, but the most awful part of this was the cat ears.
Finished screaming, Jack knelt down on the floor and put his head in his hands.
If it was just something like a lizard tail or a pair of owl’s eyes, He could have lived with it. But cat ears?
Dear God, he was a fucking furry.
If the ears didn’t fade away, then he would never be able to go home again even if he did find a way to get back.
He could just imagine what would happen if he tried. Everybody at court would start calling him a catboy or a neko and he would probably be banished to the wilderness or kept out of sight as a danger to the masquerade.
Worst of all, Sheriff Yui and that sadistic harpy Christine would probably think his ears were cute or something. Knowing Christine, she might even try to put a collar or a bell on him.
It was hideous enough before when she called him her “pet” without it becoming literal.
It was just too awful to contemplate.
Still, there wasn’t any point worrying about that unless he was sure the ears wouldn’t go away on their own. If they were still there in a week, he could freak out then.
A glance at the still feral if currently placid Leliana was a reminder that there were other things that the Gangrel should be worrying about.
“This would probably be easier with both arms.” Jack muttered as he pulled a crossbow bolt out of the quiver of one of the fallen guards.
“Hey Leliana,” Jack said as he walked up to the former sister, “I have something for you.”
Leliana swung a fist at Jack but he dodged and shoved his crossbow bolt into her heart.
As Leliana fell unconscious Jack grabbed her by the waist and hoisted over his shoulder.
“I guess the only thing I can do know is head back to camp.” Jack said to himself. “It’s not like I can head back to the village or stay here after I killed those people.
“I’m still going to have a lot of explaining to do. Which might be easier if I knew how any of this actually happened.”
Jack sighed.
“And on top of that I have to teach the Chantry sister how to be a Cainite. And I’m going to have to figure out how I managed to embrace her in the middle of a frenzy.
“I never should have joined the Grey Wardens.”
_________________________________________________________
When Jack got back to camp both Alistair and Morrigan were waiting for him. Both of them armed and looking rather upset.
Not Sten through. He was just sitting by the fire and looking stoic with the dog.
“Uh, I know that this doesn’t look good,” the Cainite noticed Alistair staring at the torpid form of Leliana draped over Jack’s shoulder, “But I can assure you that there is a reasonable explanation for all of this. And I someday hope to know what it is.”
Alistair lowered his sword and grimaced. “I don’t think it’s him.” Alistair said. “Roy didn’t talk like that.”
“Of course, Roy doesn’t talk like that.” Jack snarled. “He’s a dog. Now what the hell are you talking about?”
“You don’t remember?” Alistair asked.
“I do not remember anything from my frenzy.” Jack said frostily. “Now get to the point before I frenzy again.”
Alistair sighed. “Alright, but you should probably sit down for this. This might be a bit of a shock.”
___________________________________________
That turned out to be an understatement.
If Alistair was to be believed, and Jack was still skeptical of anything that came out of his mouth, Prince Roy’s consciousness was apparently floating around in Jack’s head and wanted to take over his body on a permanent basis.
Roy putting him under a blood bond back in New York had a hellish experience. But the very idea of the Ventrue possessing his body was so appalling that Jack couldn’t even muster the strength to be angry about it.
In retrospect, diablerizing Roy instead of tearing his head off may have been a bad decision.
But what made the situation worse was that Jack couldn’t think of any way out of this. Besides the unreliable promises of Flemeth he had nothing to go on.
If he was back on Earth then he would have had options. He could have asked an elder for advice, gotten a Tremere to use some sort of magic on him, or even tried to go down a path on enlightenment.
But here in Thedas, all of those options were closed to him.
Still, it’s not like any of that was Jack’s fault. There had been no way of knowing any of this would happen back on Earth, it was just bad luck that this had all happened now.
It’s not like Jack had any forewarning of this.
____________________________________________
New York City, October 3, 1999
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Hhm?” Jack grunted as he glanced over his shoulder. “What are you on about this time Dieter?”
While Jack didn’t really have any friends, Dieter Mach was probably the closest thing he had. The German Tremere had lived in New York City since 1934 and currently served as an unofficial leader for the city’s Tremere after the death of Regent Gavin.
Though Gangrel typically didn’t get along with Tremere, Dieter was an exception to that rule. Dieter had always shown a respect for members of other clans and had ideas about ethical uses of thaumaturgy that were unusual for the Warlocks.
Those sentiments didn’t make him popular with the Pyramid, but Jack and other younger members of the Camarilla appreciated it.
“I’m just pointing out that you haven’t really been acting like yourself lately.” Dieter said. “Honestly, I’m kind of worried.”
“That’s all you have to say to me? I just got myself acquitted from a bunch of Archons for diablerizing the former Prince in front of the whole court. Don’t I deserve some congratulations?”
Jack was still honestly surprised he managed come out the trial intact. If the circumstances hadn’t been so strange than he probably wouldn’t have.
While diablerie is normally illegal, it is the prerogative of a Prince to authorize it under certain circumstances. As such, at one point in 1998 Prince Roy issued an order legalizing diablerie against Sabbat elders to anyone who would assist in the war effort.
Of course, when Roy defected to the Sabbat himself a year later that made him a valid target for his own order.
What made the trial even stranger was that the Archons had handled it directly.
Normally a trial for diablerie would be handled by the Prince, but with Roy’s death Sheriff Medici, who had led the coup against him, took over the position. But a few days later when Medici’s childe Yui reported that he was consorting with demons the Archons had arrived in the city and had him burned at the stake.
And he had
been consorting with a demon. Jack and the rest of the court had seen the evidence firsthand.
The demon had even told them so itself.
But even with the unique circumstances surrounding the trial, it was still very odd that Jack hadn’t been executed. Technicalities had never meant much to the Camarilla when they wanted someone dead. And the elders never trusted anyone who had committed diablerie.
“I have to admit, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” Dieter said. “Your legal argument was absolutely brilliant. But that’s the problem. You’re not actually smart enough to pull that off.”
“I’m not smart enough?” Jack snarled at the Tremere. “Do you think that I’m an idiot?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Dieter said. “You’ve never been stupid, but you’ve never been intelligent either. Until now.
“In the last month your vocabulary has improved dramatically, you’ve stopped going on random profanity laden rants, and your general education level has gone from that of a high school graduate to a college graduate.”
“Where are you going with this?” Jack asked.
“Fine, I’ll be blunt.” Dieter responded. “When you diablerized Roy some part of him left its mark on you. You’ve even taken on some of his mannerisms.
“We overthrew Roy for a reason, and I don’t want him to come back in some new body. Things are bad enough as it is.”
“You’re full of crap Dieter.” Jack said. “You say that I’m behaving strangely? I think that’s normal when the entire world seems to be heading off of a cliff. If you hadn’t noticed, an Antediluvian just rose from its slumber and got nuked, our former sheriff summoned a demon which is still loose in the city, and the entire country of Bangladesh was turned into a radioactive pile of slag.
“If all of that isn’t enough to change a person than what is?”
“Alright I get your point.” Dieter said. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you if this goes wrong. Of course, you might not have that chance. I hear the Archons just came up with a plan to catch that demon. By using you as live bait.”
“Of course, they did.” Jack sighed. “Do you know what sadistic idiot came up with that plan?”
“Nothing I can verify. But I heard through the grapevine that Christine is the one who suggested the idea to the Archons.”
Jack grit his teeth in anger. “Damn it, not again. Just what else is this city going to throw at me now? Can it get worse than this?”
Dieter gave the Gangrel a tired smile. “Believe me kid, things can always get worse.”
_______________________________________________________
Okay, maybe Jack had been given a
little warning. But really, with all of the stuff that had been going on at the time he couldn’t be blamed for getting distracted.
At least that’s what Jack kept telling himself.
“So, what’s our plan now?” Jack asked Alistair. “Where do you think we should go from here?”
“What? Why are you asking me?”
“Because I don’t know a damn thing about this place.” Jack said. “So, what are our options here?”
“I think we should go to the Circle of Magi next.” Alistair said. “We need them to fight against the darkspawn and they might even be able to help with your condition.”
“Wait,” Morrigan interrupted. “Do you really think those fools will know anything that my Mother doesn’t? A bunch of cowards who let themselves be locked in a cage by the Chantry?”
“Maybe not.” Alistair answered. “But they might. And even if they can’t then it puts us one step closer to stopping the darkspawn and getting Flemeth to help.”
“What about the Templars?” Jack asked. “I doubt they’ll be pleased to see either me or Morrigan.”
“Morrigan shouldn’t go anywhere near the Circle.” Alistair agreed. “But I think I can convince the Templars to leave you be. Grey Wardens have wide authority during a blight and Commander Greagoir is a reasonable man. I think he will understand under the circumstances.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Jack said. “But I’m trusting you on this, so don’t screw it up.”
Jack held out the stump where his left hand used to be. “Also, I think we should stay here for a couple of days to recuperate. Also, I’m going to need a lot of human blood.”
“What?”
“I’m in no state to fight like this and I’m going to need a couple of days to heal.” Jack said. “And I’m going to need a lot of blood to do that. And animal blood won’t cut it for something like this. Which means that you are going to convince the villagers to let me feed from them.”
“That . . . won’t be easy.” Alistair’s voice quivered a bit.
“It’s either that or I starve and go on a rampage. And the second option would permanently ruin any chance of an alliance with Redcliffe. Which we
need to defeat the darkspawn.”
Alistair grimaced. “I can try. But can you do this without hurting anyone?”
Jack nodded. “If I make sure to feed without hurting anyone then I’m going to need to feed on three people a day for three to four days. We should also keep Leliana staked until we leave. She’ll need to feed as well, and I don’t want to take more blood from Redcliffe than I have to. And while you’re at it try and smooth out any hurt feelings regarding the incident at the castle.”
Alistair sighed. “I’ll try. But I can’t guarantee this will work.”
“Just try your best. If you want to get treated like a real Grey Warden, then you should start by doing something worthy of one. And this would certainly qualify.”
Jack felt his cat ears and frowned. “I just hope that these stupid things go away before we leave. They usually do but it’s not guaranteed. If they don’t fade, then I’ll never by able to set foot in any town again. Or I’ll at least have to buy a hat.”
_________________________________________________
Despite Jack’s worries, Alistair had somehow managed to keep the situation in Redcliffe under control. And strangely enough though the locals weren’t exactly happy with the slaughter of the Arl’s family and personal guard they weren’t that angry about it either.
It turns out that since the Arl’s family were under the control of a malicious spirit then they were already under a sentence of death from the Templars.
Basically, nothing had changed but the name of their executioner.
And to Jack’s utter confusion, Alistair had even convinced a few peasants to let Jack use them to feed. Apparently, they were thankful for Jack saving them all from being killed.
Still, a lot of the locals were pretty terrified of the idea drinking human blood. But after the first couple people Jack fed on turned out to be perfectly fine most of them calmed down.
They still weren’t happy about it but at least they wouldn’t be breaking out the torches and pitchforks.
Things seemed to be going fairly well, and after two days they got even better.
Jack’s cat ears went away.
Once again, he looked like an actual person instead of a disgusting animal creature. He hadn’t felt this good since killing Prince Roy.
After four days Jack was healed up and the Wardens were ready to leave Redcliffe.
The only thing left to do was to revive Leliana.
“Well, here goes nothing.” Jack said as he pulled the crossbow bolt out of Leliana’s heart.