God Needs Evil (Extended history for Jack)

[Jack Ashcroft]

"You heard the news?" Adan began as he sat down at the table with the three tankards of ale. His two fellow farmers took their tankard and sipped, listening intently. "They're coming here!" Adan whispered to them, just audible over the sound of the chattering patrons.

Diego raised an eyebrow and placed the tankard down slowly.
"Who is coming?" He asked, his sharp blue eyes peering behind Adan at the bar maid bending over. Adan waved a hand in front of his face and Diego swatted it down before looking back to his farm hand.
"The Inquisition..." He whispered the reply.
The larger of the three, Fausto, chuckled and too a long drought from his ale.
"Rubbish, why would they come to this little town? We're God loving farmers, I give half my money to the d**n church!"
Diego and Adan quickly shushed him, in case another patron over heard his blasphemous remarks about the Catholic church. In these times a fight could easily break out from simply saying "God" in the wrong tone of voice, not to mention those who would run to the church to tell them of blasphemers.

Adan, the youngest of the three farmers and ever the gossip leaned in close.
"But that's not all... they say there's a demon here." He said, feeling important at being able to tell his friends something they didn't know.
Diego sat back in his chair and stroked his short beard.
"A demon? I doubt it. What would a demon want with us simple folk?"
Adan shrugged and lifted up his tankard.
"I don't know, just what I heard."
"And where exactly did you hear this Adan?" Fausto asked.
"There's a piece of paper posted up on the church door."
"But you can't read Adan..." Diego added, though not many in the village could read or even write their own name.
"No..." Adan began, "But I asked the priest and he told me what it said... before going off to the tavern down the road."
"That drunk..." Fausto said and received a few side long glances from other patrons.

Diego shook his head and returned his gaze back to Adan.
"So when are they coming?"
As if by some act of God the door to the tavern slammed open and a large burly man, followed by three shorter gaunt men, all dressed in red and white robes of the Inquisition all burst inside. Instantly the tavern was engulfed by silence.
"A fine gathering of sinners if ever did see one!" The large man cried out as his eyes scanned the patrons. "My God have mercy on these poor souls, waisting their money on mind affecting liquids." He added before making the sign of the cross.
All eyes were upon him now, which was just as he liked it.
"My name is Grand Inquisitor Ramiro of His Holiness' Pope Innocent VIII Inquisition. Many of you have heard of us, but now all of you know us." His booming voice commanded authority and not a single eye looked at anything other then him. "We are here because there is a demon amongst you!"
Gasp and low mutterings echoed out throughout the entire tavern.
"And we shall not leave until this demon is driven from this place."
Ramiro looked at each face in turn, his eyes seemingly boring into their very souls, searching for heresy.
"Our investigation has brought us here, to your village. Assist us and God will have a place for you in his golden kingdom, deny us of dealing His righteous justice and you shall burn for all eternity!"
Ramiro grinned wickedly and bowed his head.
"Amen."
All around him he heard mutterings of Amen and people making the sign of the cross. With that the Inquisition left and the tavern slowly reverted back to normal.

The three farmers all looked at each other and decided to keep silent on the issue, deciding it would be best to drink and worry about it tomorrow.

However on the other side of town the "Demon" was already hard at work, devouring one of the local sleepers behind a large wall. He drank deeply and let the blood flow all around him. If anything the first few years without his mistress was difficult but he simply continued his behavior as before except not at such a great volume. As soon as he finished he grinned and fled, leaving the body alone to return to his cellar room that he had "commandeered".

The sun rose on the small farming community of Alia and the cockerels cry was combined with the scream of a woman. The whole town converged on the dead body which lay between two buildings. She was instantly recognised as the local harlot and the Inquisitors were there to strike the fear of God into their hearts.
"You see!" Ramiro began, "This woman dishonored God's will and without His protection and holy light she suffered the wrath of this demon creature! Say your prayers lest you end up like this woman!"

For the next four days, each morning a fresh body was found, including the local priest. This terrified the locals to the core but Ramiro reassured them that this was simply because he was not a true man of the Lord and so the Lord took his holy light away. The vampire was having a great time, he enjoyed the slaughter and the feasting on lives, especially as these towns folk were so easy to catch.

However, the Inquisition now went into action and on the fifth day the set up a simple trap to catch the demon. The people were told to hide in the church, the largest building in the village and it was also said it would protect them from the devil spawn. They allowed only one person to walk the streets and the vampire, being of irrational mind, did not think and simply charged. The vampire, instead of just feeding, decided to play with his food and so chased the woman at a speed which she could sustain. The inquisitors had thought this might happen and set up a simple trap, a hole with a flimsy covering.

The vampire ran and fell into the hole, before he could escape the Inquisitors ran from their hiding place and threw chains of silver down onto him. Instantly the vampire burned and screamed in pain. The unholy sound echoed throughout the church and the locals feared that something had gone wrong.

The vampire was taken away with the silver chains still burning his being and preventing him from murdering Ramiro. He was taken away to a deep dark cellar where he was tied to the wall with more silver chains. It had been expensive to capture him but Ramiro was pleased. Now he had his vampire, now he was ready.

Ramiro left the vampire to scream and struggle for an entire day, before returning to the make shift prison the next night, though he told his entourage to leave him alone with the demon. At first Ramiro decided to test the vampires' pain threshold, pushing a silver rod against his pale naked torso. The vampire cried out and roared at Ramiro.

"Interesting." He began as he sat on a stool in front of the Vampire. "We knew silver affected you but now I know how much it hurts."
He grinned and looked the blood sucker up and down.
"So how old are you?"
He said nothing and Ramiro chuckled.
"Very well. We've let you have your fun, but now it's time for you to stop."

The vampire's eyes widened.
"You let me kill them?" He asked, suddenly very curious.
"Of course, you think we wanted to save the sleeper, the thief and the alcoholic priest? No, you came here and we waited for you take the scum of this village away before acting." Ramiro smiled and stroked his beard.
"You think the Inquisition is here to simply torture and kill demon? We are here to ensure the survival of the Catholic church, and you are a perfect tool in ensuring that."
The vampire growled and thrashed at his chains. He despised being used, except of course by his mistress who he was in thrall to.
"I have an offer for you hell spawn..." Ramiro began. "Work for me in bringing the fear of God into the hearts of the Spanish country men or..." He glanced up a window shutter. "I could let the sun shine on you once more."
The vampire looked up at the shutter and thought about the pain the sun could cause him.
"Think about it." Ramiro began, pulling the vampire's attention away. "You get to feed as much as you wish and simply play along with you capture when we apprehend you, then I re-enforce the will of the church."
The vampire let his head slump into his chest and said nothing. Ramiro sighed and rose from his seat heading to the stairs, but before he could leave a voice broke the silence.
"Where is the next village?" The vampire asked. Ramiro grinned.

[Jack Ashcroft]

"You mean the church is not upset with me?" The short scurrying priest Carlos asked, with a voice full of nerves and fear.

He had been found to be keeping money from the church. In this small town he had been demanding money from the locals for Indulgences, a well known Catholic document which, when paid for, would give the purchaser a quicker time through the que in Purgatory into Heaven. However the majority of the money is meant to go to the Pope, and recently Carlos had been keeping all the money to himself. Now that the Inquisition was involved he knew it was serious, but something was wrong. They seemed to know but did not care.

"No no, dear Carlos. The Pope forgives those as God would. You are a man of the cloth and a loyal worshiper of the Lord." Ramiro replied, making the sign of the cross as he spoke the name of God out loud. Carlos quickly followed suit and licked his lips.

"But, what of the money?" Carlos asked nervously. Of course he would not be allowed to keep it but perhaps he could find a way to keep some.
"The money?" Ramiro repeated as if he had forgotten. "Ah yes, the Indulgence money. Well His Holiness suggests that you take a good proportion of it to rebuild the church here." He added looking around the old wooden church as they walked along the aisle.
"And the rest?" Carlos asked, as they approached a door.
"Oh I don't know Carlos..." Ramiro started, as he opened the door. Inside was pitch black, even the window had been boarded up. "Perhaps buy yourself an Indulgence..." Ramiro said with a voice thick with anger. He shoved Carlos into the room and slammed the door.

After a few minuets of silence Ramiro heard the screams and tortured cries of a man being fed upon. A few minutes later Ramiro heard the familiar slump of a body thumping to the floor. The Grand Inquisitor sighed as the door slowly opened.
"Could you be a little quicker next time?" He asked as he dusted his hat.
The vampire left the room, closing the door behind him. He slowly wiped the blood from his lips and sighed.
"Where's the fun in that?" He muttered, glancing at the figure of Jesus.
Ramiro spun to look at him with a sharp glare. "You are here to do a job, you are not here for fun! Remember that! Or shall I ask my men to get the silver shackles again?" Ramiro grinned, he liked to know people's weaknesses, and his plaything's weaknesses were easy to abuse. Silver, sunlight, so far that's how he knew how to control him, that and blood of course. Oh the vampire liked to feed. But then of course that was what made him such a good plaything, his insatiable hunger.

The vampire simply brushed a hair from his eyes and walked up to the altar.
"So this is the man you worship huh?" He asked.
The Grand Inquisitor grew tired of the vampire's reckless disregard for the Lord.
"Yes, and if you desecrate His name I shall have you left in the sun tomorrow..." Ramiro replied.
The vampire shrugged and yawned.
"So what next? All these empty threats are getting dull."
Ramiro snarled and stormed up to the vampire.
"I could have you killed any time..." He started but the vampire grabbed him by the neck and forced him against a wall. Now it was his turn to snarl.

"Remember this Ramiro," He said spitting the name out, "I don't need you, you need me. It's been nice these past months wondering around without your bothersome group tracking and trying to end me, and the constant guaranteed meals, but I am sick of your threats. So you have silver? It matters not. In a blink of an eye I could end your life and all of your silly little followers."
At that moment his fellow Inquisitors rushed in, brandishing silver chains.
"Speak of the devil..." The vampire muttered with a grin.

"Help...me!" Ramiro managed to say through gasps.
The chains began to swing, the vampire could hear them disturb the air.
"Let him go demon!" One said.
"You know Ramiro..." The vampire whispered to the Grand Inquisitor, "I've grown tired of this game... I'm going to have some fun..." He flashed an evil grin and his fangs grew.
Ramiro's eyes widened in fear and he could only watch as the vampire spun around and tore the throats of each of the younger men. Blood poured over the stone floor, staining the holy building with a crimson colour. The silver fell to the floor with the bodies and the vampire laughed.

Ramiro was shaken to the core. So far the vampire had been playing with them, seeing what he could gain from the relationship. Now he was choosing to end it. Ramiro fell to his knees and whispered prayers to God through streams of tears. The vampire was licking a blood stained hand and he was watching the Inquisitor with fascination.
"This is the first time I've seen you pray holy man." He said with a wicked smile.
"You think he will save you now?" He added.

Ramiro slowly rose to his feet and grasped the silver chain.
"You... murdered them..." He muttered.
"Come now Ramiro, what about all those murders you had me commit? Hm? What's the difference?"
"They were men of God!" Ramiro shouted, enraged now.
The vampire shrugged.
"You want to die too?" He asked.
Ramiro glanced at the door, feeling all sense of power leave him. He gulped and looked at the chain. He could die here or he could live to fight another day and hunt this bastard down for what he has done. Ramiro threw the chain down and slumped to his knees again.
"Good boy." The vampire said and he started for the door.
"Oh and if you look for me, I will not be so kind a second time around." With the the vampire left the weeping form of Ramiro with four dead bodies and a furious heart.

[Jack Ashcroft]

Three years passed since Ramiro had been left alone in that blood stained church, a broken man. He thought he could control and use the demon for the Church, but it appeared the demon was stronger and faster then Ramiro first assessed. His three Inquisitors laid dead at his feet in that church, and he had to explain what had happened. Of course the Grand Inquisitor denied any knowledge of the vampire before that night, telling the Bishops that the creature simply appeared and murdered everyone while he was outside. Though he caught a glimpse of the demon's face and would not stop until it was dead.

The Bishops seemed to accept the story and allowed Ramiro to keep his position, but now his only task was to hunt and kill the vampire he had employed previously. It was a difficult task, but he had the motivation to do it. All he needed was silver to tie him down and wait for the sun to rise. A simple plan but one that was fraught with danger.

Now he had ventured into Southern France, alone and looking like a pauper. He rode a black horse with great saddle bags filled with silver chains, and on his back was a crossbow, that was hidden by his cloak. The bolts were silver tipped and he was told one shot would be enough to stop the demon for some time. He hoped.

The moon hid behind a veil of clouds and the night's air was only disturbed by the rustle of leaves in the mild breeze. Ahead on the road lay a small town, he knew not of the name, but it was his destination none the less. Tales had reached his ear of a bloodsucker along this road. It had to be him, it just had to be. Ramiro was sure.

The horse made it's slow way down to the town, it appeared to be like any night. The tavern was packed with the locals, the sound of music and laughter pouring out of the building. Ramiro, now aging into his forties, dismounted and tied the reins of his horse to a post before stepping inside. His cloak was tattered and muddy, compared to the patrons who appeared very much clean. He had not shaved for months, though a beard refused to grow fully onto his features. He certainly looked like a vagabond.

As he entered he received a few looks from the patrons but most ignored him as he approached the bar.
"Wine?" He asked in his basic grasp of the French language.
The barman nodded and brought a small goblet over. Ramiro sighed and sipped the wine. It was awful. Still it had been a rough ride and he needed to keep a sharp mind if he was to catch the vampire.

In a dark corner of the tavern a young maiden was seducing a burly male through the fluttering of eye lids and the suggestive caress of her lips with a finger. The man, large and fat, and obviously one who rarely laid with a woman, was in a trance with her. She was certainly a beautiful pale skinned, raven haired woman, with a face that could only have been crafted by God himself. So he thought anyway. She received looks from many other men, but the way she stared at this mammoth of a man was unbelievable.

Eventually she rose from her seat and seemed to float over to him. She whispered in his ear and smiled as she walked up the stairs. The burly man downed his drink and stumbled after her. She made for a room, making sure the man was following her. She sat on the bed and waved him in with an index finger. The man gulped and walked in, still in a trance of lust. The door closed on the hallway and a shy laughter could be heard from a feminine voice.

After a moment's silence there was a yelp and a muffled sound of struggling. The patrons downstairs could not hear the action going on, but Ramiro could. He held his loaded crossbow out before him, trying to remember how it worked.
"Just pull the trigger..." He muttered.
He could just hear the sounds of crying with the muffled sound of drinking.

Ramiro smashed the door down with a heavy boot to see the woman laid on top of the man, her teeth sunk into his neck as she drank his blood. Her head shot around to see Ramiro's worried face as his hand shook holding the crossbow. He gulped and she rose from the dead man's body slowly, hissing at the Inquisitor. Her once pale face was now drenched in a dark crimson. She crawled from the bed and stood before the Inquisitor with a dark smile on her face.

His hand still shook, he always thought about killing his demon, but he never considered killing another, especially a woman. She hissed again and took a step forward. His finger pulled the trigger and the bolt flew through the air, penetrating her chest. She gasped and glanced down out the bolt protruding from her breast. The gasp turned to a scream and she began to vomit blood.

"Back to Hell Demon!" Ramiro cried triumphantly as he watched the woman slowly die. When it was all over the Inquisitor sighed, relieved to be rid of one more demon.

"I just made her..." An annoyed, but familiar voice said from behind.
Ramiro grimaced and turned to see his vampire.
"I am rather annoyed at you Ramiro," He began, wiping a whisper of hair from his face. "I told you stay away and you go and kill my child... I think something will have to be done..."
Ramiro felt a sharp smack to his temple and he crumpled to the floor as the world faded to darkness.

[Jack Ashcroft]

A dreamless slumber was rudely broken by the sensation of water engulfing his face. Ramiro moaned as the sudden sensation of pain rushed through his mind, he still felt the affects of the vampires' attack earlier. Then again, how long had he been out? It was impossible to tell. He had no concept of time after being knocked out. Slowly his eye lids fluttered open and he gazed into darkness. All around him was utterly black, so dark that he could only just make out the outline of his own body, sat on a chair.

He was not bound in anyway and the first thing he reached for was the throbbing pain from his temple. On the side of his head he could feel a large bump, an obvious sign of bruising. With a groan he managed to get to his feet only to hear a voice speak from the blackness.
"Sit down." It commanded.

Ramiro wondered at first if he had imagined the voice but when it repeated itself with more aggression he decided to take his seat again. A candle seemed to appear from no where and the figure in the dark walked around the room lighting more of them, until Ramiro could see the figure and instantly recognised him as the vampire. The room appeared to be a cellar, along the walls were many barrels of wine and ale. However most worrying were the three coffins at the end of the cellar, and all were open. And by the coffins were all Ramiro's bags and his crossbow.

"I see you came prepared this time..." The vampire said walking over to one of the bags and lifting with one hand. He tossed the bag to Ramiro's feet and smiled.
"Quite a lot of silver in there, could do someone like me a lot of harm you know."

Ramiro gulped and looked at the bag, considering whether or not to leap for the contents.
"Go ahead." The vampire said, with a sly smile on his face.
Ramiro charged out his chair and reached inside the bag but instantly he felt a heavy boot to his gut sending him into one of the stone walls. He fell to the floor with a heavy thump and his headache felt even worse. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and looked up at the grinning vampire with hateful eyes.

"What's wrong? Did you really think I'd let you grab one of those chains?" He chuckled darkly and kicked the bag away before walking over to the Inquisitor and picking him up by the neck.
"Now what to do with you..." He whispered as Ramiro thrashed and struggled at the hand grasping around his throat.
"You see Ramiro I told you if you came looking for me I would have to do something. Yet here you are, i can assume searching for little old me, and to top it off you murdered a creation of mine. You know that woman had been given immortality for only a month?" The vampire sighed, acting in an overly dramatic morbid way.

Ramiro still struggled for air and the vampire smiled.
"Oh of course, silly me." He dropped Ramiro to the floor and watched him slump into a fetal position.
"But killing you in return would simply be to easy I think..." He began, talking over Ramiro's coughing fit. "I shall have to get creative..." He said musing on the issue at hand.

Ramiro suddenly spotted a silver chain that had fallen from the bag at arms reach. While the vampire had his back turned Ramiro dived for it and slowly rose to his feet, swinging the chain around.
"You're not going to touch me demon." He said through a set of bloodied gritted teeth.
"Oh?" The vampire said with an amused look on his face. He was surprised by the chain in the Inquisitor's hand but it was a mere annoyance. His fangs grew and he grinned at the man before him.
"It will be a shame to waste such a tasty specimen as yourself..." The vampire said as he took a step forward.
Ramiro retreated and he frowned.
"...What ... What do you mean?" He asked.
"Look at your wrist." The vampire replied, still grinning.

Ramiro looked down at his wrist and saw on his right wrist a set of bite marks, that looked like two small red dots. He gasped and looked back up at the vampire.
"You...?"
The vampire laughed and nodded. "Of course, I was hungry and you were there. Very tasty I must say, I may have to see if this true within all members of the ecclesiastical order..."

The expression of shock turned to anger and the Inquisitor charged with a roar, swinging the silver chain wildly. The vampire easily dodged and smashed a fist into the back of Ramiro's neck. As the vampire laughed the Inquisitor rose to his feet and charged again, and again he was hammered to the ground. A heavy boot applied pressure to the hand holding the chain and eventually he released his only weapon against the demon.

The vampire crouched down next to the human, still grinning.
"Such fire from you... " He said then rose to his feet, towering over the man.

"I think I'll let you live..." He said.
Ramiro lay on the floor for at least three minutes waiting for death before lifting his head. Many of the candles had been put out and the only remaining ones alight revealed the door out of the cellar. Slowly he rose to his feet and stumbled toward the door.

He lay a single hand on the door knob when he felt a brush of cold air on his neck.
"But then again..." A whisper started. "You tasted so nice..."
Ramiro grimaced as the teeth sunk into his neck.