The Haunting of Spicer Manor - Part 2

Chapter 2

The day passed and pulsed into night, leaving Chase's head aching.

He'd tried to remember every fact he'd ever learnt about spirits. He knew surprisingly little, as the subject had never really applied to him. The few ghosts he'd met in his time were either passive presences that lingered where they had died, or in Wuya's case, furious poltergeists that refused to stay dead. But Jack was wasn't like any of them... In fact, the genius was somehow able to interact with this world in ways Wuya had never been able to. Downstairs, the floor of the manor was still torn in two.

Violent, furious, terrified... Chase eyebrows knit; Jack was lashing out, but at what?

The door to Jack's room shivered and Chase turned his eyes to it, just in time to see it slam closed and rattle on its hinges. Not moving from the bed, the immortal just watched it, waiting to see what was coming next. For a long time, it did nothing but stare back at Chase, then something crashed against the other side, pounding and beating until he thought the door would shatter.

Standing slowly, Chase approached the door carefully, then reached for the handle.

He barely got a chance to touch it, when Jack flashed between him and the door, holding it shut, "STOP!" Jack screamed.

Chase streaked away from the door and Jack, his eyes flickering over the ghost, who was clinging at his side. Jack's stomach was drenched with blood and it was dripping onto the carpet and soaking into it. Jack shook his head, coughing up a mouthful of the horrid stuff while he clung at the handle. He was trying desperately to stop it from spinning in his blood smeared hand. "Please!" Jack begged, tears burning into his eyes, "Please just leave me alone-!"

Then the door shattered and Jack screamed and vanished.

Chase stared at the door, as pieces of it fell onto the blood stain spreading across the carpet and eating up the walls.

Then, fury rippled through the immortal, and his dragon felt it too. It snapped and twisted in the warrior's chest, desperate to get out and find the thing that had attacked Jack. Someone had hurt him, they realized together, and Chase stormed out of Jack's room, eyes flashing around, looking for his ghost.

Another scream ripped through the air, and Chase ran down the stairs to find it, "Jack!" he roared, "Jack, tell me where you are!"

Tnk Tnk…

Chase bolted to the basement, only stopping when his feet sank into something too thick to water. Blood slicked around his legs and Chase slipped a few inches across the floor. It forced him to snatch at the banister to stop himself from falling. Then, the smell hit Chase, and it was overwhelming. Gagging, the immortal covered his mouth, while his eyes spun around the room. It wasn't just blood; there was something sharp in the air as well.

He looked around the basement, searching for the room's walls, but all he could see now was a dark haze creeping across the surface. Smoke, but alive and twisting like snakes.

"H-help… me…"

"Jack!" Chase said, and let go of the banister, ignoring the way the blood around his feet sucked him down deeper. It was at his knees now, clinging at him as he walked into the smoke. Ignoring the way it burned at his eyes, Chase struggled on, peering through the dark, "Jack- Jack where are you?!"

"… s-someone…" Jack's voice whimpered.

The blood rippled around Chase's legs, and the immortal spun, his hands swiping through the dark. Jack sounded like he was drowning now, like he couldn't breathe. He gurgled and begged while Chase's hands dove into the blood, feeling out for the boy. Then, Jack's breathing panicked, and the ripples grew stronger, "No- no please! You can't- SOMEONE- HELP ME!"

Jack's voice melted into screams and Chase staggered when pain pressed around him, burning across his skin. All along his arms, his flesh blackened and peeled away, as if caught in an updraught. Soon the burning even began to reach his bones, and Chase buckled, sinking deeper into the blood.

Fight it, his dragon hissed, surging up along Chase's burning spine. But even it was starting to feel the heat, and roared when the blood sucked them deeper again, threatening to swallow them whole.

"Jack…?"

A voice Chase had never heard before shattered the illusion, and a soothing silence swept around the immortal and his aching ears.

Blinking slowly, he found himself kneeling on the clean basement floor. Swallowing hard, Chase climbed to his feet, and spun when something moved out of the corner of his eye. It was Jack, at the stairs, covered in fatal burns, like he'd been caught in the inferno along with Chase. He'd been reliving the fire, Chase realized, as the burns along the boy's pale skin sank away.

Then, Jack looked nervously up the stairs, and climbed them.

The voice came again, it was smooth and sickly, "Jack? I know you're here…"

Chase followed and found Jack stopping at the corner of the hallway like he had before. It was like Chase was watching everything repeat. The spirit peered around the corner, sucked on his lip, turned back, but this time when he spoke, Chase heard him.

"How did he get in here?" Jack whispered, his voice giving his nerves away. He smiled anyway, and waved whoever he was speaking to away. "Wait for me downstairs, JB-15."

"Your mother came to see me, Jack." The man's voice called out again, chuckling nervously. "'Jack is haunting me!'" he mimicked the woman's frantic wails, "'He tried to kill me!'"

Jack walked from the corner, leaving Chase to watch from the shadows as the spirit approached a man, who had to be in his late forties, and was smiling at the carnage on the floor. He was familiar, Chase realized, but couldn't remember where he'd seen him before.

Whoever the man was, his smile faltered when he saw Jack, and he scurried back when the redhead grinned up at him.

"What brings you here, Luther?" Jack hummed pleasantly, then flickered closer to the older man, startling him.

Luther stumbled back again, his eyes wide and terrified for a brief moment, but despite his fear, a frantic smile crept onto his face. Chase's dragon sensed a fellow predator in the man, and hissed a warning to the immortal. Chase nodded.

"Y-You're still alive?" Luther laughed, leering down on Jack and licking his lips. "I don't know how you did it-" a knife appeared by his side and he lunged at Jack, but the blade sailed right through him.

That didn't mean Chase was any less infuriated. It took a lot to stay put, and watch Jack, who didn't seem to even flinch. Rolling his eyes at Luther, Jack smiled hatefully. "My parents aren't paying you to visit me, Luther, so why are you here?" Jack asked, shrugging, and Chase finally understood it. Jack was reliving a conversation; one he'd had with Luther when he was alive. Luther must've sensed it too, because he looked lost as the young genius threw him a familiar glare, "Shouldn't you be off somewhere, trying to siphon more money from the Spicer fortune?"

Then a shiver ran through Jack, and he began to flicker around the edges. "W-What are you doing?" Jack's voice was terrified, but his face was wrong. He was smiling in a horrible distorted way that didn't stop where it should've. With a horrible tearing sound, his smile split his face in two, releasing flames that ripped out of his mouth and across his skin. Jack began to crackle, as the flames crept up across his skin and hair, charring it until the bone began to reveal itself.

"What the fuck-?!" Luther screamed, then Jack was on him, and in seconds the fire had spread to the older man. "Get off of me! Let go!" he screamed and writhed free, before bolting for the door

The fire around Jack dimmed, and a panicked look flashed across his face, but this time, when he spoke, Luther's voice emerged, like an old recording; "Why are you hiding Jack? Come OUT-!"

The front door shattered before Luther could reach it, spitting shards at the man and driving him back onto the ground. He screamed and scrambled up again, but when he turned to run, Chase was there to stop him.

Having waited long enough, the immortal grabbed Luther across the face and mouth, and squeezed until his jaw cracked and teeth groaned. Inflicting just enough pain to keep the human conscious and screaming.

"Chase?"

For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Jack was finally looking at him.

Chase would've been lying if he didn't say it was a relief to have those red eyes seeing him again. Jack was slowly piecing back together, his skin growing back, and the fire retreating until it all but glowed within him.

"What are you doing here?"

The question seemed so innocent, that Chase almost didn't know how to answer. But in the end, he decided to go with the truth; "To find you…" he admitted, hating the way Jack looked back at him like he didn't understand. Shaking his head, Chase asked the question he was beginning to dread the answer to; "What did this man do to you, Jack?"

Confusion rippled through the ghost, and he almost flickered out of sight as his eyes fbroke free from Chase's, and trailed along his arm until he spotted Luther. The moment their eyes met, a pit sank from under all of them, swallowing them all in darkness. Luther screamed and shook, but Chase kept still, watching Jack, and the way he trembled.

The moment of darkness didn't last long, before they reappeared in Jack's room, before the shuddering door. Luther stared too, his eyes bulging with terror as he watched Jack- or what had been Jack, forcing the door shut and screaming at it; "STOP!" The handle spun in his bloody hands, "Please-" the door shuddered again, "Please just leave me alone!"

Chase sensed what was coming, and tensed when a blade shattered through the frame, slashing into Jack's arm and forcing him back. The door followed, smashing against the young man.

Then Luther was there, grabbing at Jack's hair. Without hesitation, he smashed the fist clutching the knife, against the pale boy's face.

The space around the trio dimmed, just as it must've for Jack when unconscious swept him away for a few blissful moments. Then the world returned, sluggish and blurred at its edge.

Chase's stomach twisted when he finally was able to see Jack again, and somehow he wished he hadn't. The pale genius was on the stairs, clinging at the rungs weakly, while Luther laughed and dragged him down a few more steps. Each stair drove the air from Jack's chest, and he wheezed and whimpered, "... please s-stop..."

The urge to turn away worsened when the immortal noticed Jack's clothes. They were torn from the beating, but his pants were unbuttoned and slipping against his bruised hips and waist.

When the stairs melted away, and the basement appeared, Chase let him grip on Luther's face tighten, so it mashed the broken pieces of jaw together. But the pleasure at hearing Luther wail was swept away when he finally saw Jack in the darkest corner.

Tnk Tnk

Jack was surrounded by an ever growing pool of blood. He was pulling weakly at a pair of handcuffs that had him trapped against one of his own machines. The sound rattled again and again, but the only damage Jack was doing was to his own wrists. Finally, exhausted, Jack rolled away from the pipe so half his face was pressed against the pool of his own blood. It rippled when he finally tried to speak; "Please…" he begged the empty room, "Please, someone- help me…-"

"M-Maaa-ster."

Chase looked down and found the Jack-Bot he'd seen when he first visited the house. It was ruined, dotted with holes where bullets had torn it open. It sparked and clawed for Jack, but was too weak to move. "I'm coming, M-Masteeerrr."

A bullet blew into its head and the Jack-Bot dropped and didn't move again.

"Endearing bucket of rust..." Luther said, as he passed right by where the Luther of the here-and-now watched; terrified and trembling, as his past-self dropped a jerry can of petrol at his feet.

Jack reeled away from him, but he couldn't escape the older man. Luther dragged Jack as far as the handcuffs would allow, before pressing their lips together and smirked when Jack gagged.

The dragon within Chase thrashed again, begging to be released, and every muscle in the immortal agreed. He lost control for a split second, and took one step closer, ready to race at the vision and tear Luther away from Jack. But then, his eyes snapped back to the ghostly Jack, standing beside him, watching on with exhausted eyes; like he'd done this all before.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to do this?" Luther hissed when he finally let Jack go, "Fucking years."

He released Jack, and the young man fell. His eyes were growing dull too, and Chase knew Jack was almost dead.

"For years, I wanted to get you alone. At every party your family hosted, I attended- not for those two idiots… But for you." Luther chuckled, his voice wild now as he remembered, "But, of course, I wasn't good enough- for rich little Jack…" he spat the boy's name as he reached for the petrol, and listened as he sloshed the liquid around thoughtfully. "You couldn't stand me, but thankfully your parents did. Didn't you love it when they gave me a key to the house?"

A chill swept through Chase as he imagined Jack, alone with this monster. The dragon within felt it too, and begged Chase to just smash the living-breathing Luther into the ground. He would've too, if he wasn't so absorbed in what the man said next.

"Then, you changed the locks- And when you weren't at home hiding, you were spiriting around the globe, avoiding me." Luther sounded genuinely hurt for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed to slits. "And when I did see you at those parties- All I heard you talking about, was him-" Luther's teeth snapped like a furious dog's "Who the fuck is Chase Young anyway?! I tried to track the fucker down- but do you know how many Chase Young's live in China-? In the world?!" the lawyer stilled, his eyes pinned to the ceiling now, "You didn't say it, but I could see it whenever you talked about him. Chase was what you wanted… not me."

Chase heart staggered as he watched on. He thought Luther had truly lost his mind, until Jack, almost-dead, seemed to revitalize at the mention of the immortal's name. He blinked his bloody eyelashes and looked around the dark basement, "Chase…?" he asked, and the hope in voice almost tore the immortal's heart in two.

"NO!" A boot slammed down against Jack's stomach, and the pale boy crumpled and moaned. "He's NOT here- and you're never see him again!"

Before Jack could recover, petrol splashed over his head. Gagging, the young genius tried to roll away, then froze when he realized what was happening, "No- no please! You can't- SOMEONE- HELP ME!"

A match lit somewhere, but Chase didn't turn to see it; he just watched as Jack crammed his eyes closed. Somewhere, half way up the stairs behind them, Luther dropped the match and said his last goodbye.

Chapter 3

Fire and screams and burning flesh filled Chase's vision for only a second, and then it was gone again.

In the blink of an eye, all three of them returned to the spot in the foyer they'd been standing when the visions started. They hadn't moved from their places, but had instead, been shown the last horrifying memories Jack had to offer.

When the dragon within Chase finally asked to kill the human, he obliged.

Without hesitation, scales slithering over Chase's skin and his fingers splintered into claws. Luther barely had a chance to see the change, before the dragon's teeth tore off his arm. The lawyer scrambled to clasp at the stump as he struggled free from Chase's grip. So terrified, he let the reptile's claws tears a hole through his cheek. He fell hard and choked on his own blood, "No, please!" he slurred through his ruined mouth, tears mingling with his blood as he crawled back, begging; "Stop-! Please- I'll do anything- Just-"

A clawed fist smashed against his chest, crushing his ribcage, and cutting the man short. Luther slid back against a wall, where he gasped and moaned in agony.

"Isn't it ironic?" Chase's voice rumbled between his bloody teeth, as his gold eyes watched Luther begin to suffocate. "Jack begged too... Now look at him?"

Luther didn't want to look, but he felt Jack now, beside him, breathing against his ear. Crackling.

Before the lawyer's flickering eyes could find Jack beside him, teeth slashed into his leg, breaking the bone and holding him still, while two small pale hands gripped his shoulder. The hands were worse than the teeth, and burned right through his skin, sinking into his shoulders and setting him alight.

As Luther writhed and died amongst the flames, Chase slipped back to the surface, settling his sated dragon. It had been a long time since it got to tear a human to pieces, and it had been even longer since one deserved it so badly.

Chase wiped the blood from his lips as he gazed across at Jack.

Now, the ghost looked anew; his face fresh and pale, almost glowing. If Chase thought that might make him feel better, the hope he felt was washed away when he saw Jack's eyes. They were welling with tears that dribbled down his face and hissed out of existence before they could reach the floor. Slowly, those weeping eyes slid to meet Chase's, and the immortal's stomach twisted; "Why did I have to die, Chase?" he moaned, "Why?"

Chase was beside Jack and reaching for him before he could think. His hands slid through Jack's, and the spirit clasped at them desperately, and sobbed harder. "It's not fair!" Jack gasped, slamming his eyes shut, and the walls of the manor shuddered around them.

Snarling, Chase didn't give up, "Jack." He growled, reaching out again, but this time, he called on his magic. Surely it could help. It rushed to his fingers and then Chase had Jack's shoulder in his grip.

With a gasp, Jack was pulled into Chase's arms.

If he had lungs to breathe with, he might've had the air crushed from them, but Chase didn't care, just pressed his face against Jack's temple, relieved.

Jack shivered in his arms, and Chase ducked his head until their foreheads pressed together, so they could see each other. "You shouldn't have been alone." Were the first words Chase could gather, and he shivered furiously; "If I'd known- I would've been here- I would've killed him for you."

Something in Jack's face broke, and he sobbed through a shattered smile. He clung back at Chase, nodding. "I know you would've…" Jack whispered back, but Chase knew by the look on the ghost's face, he hadn't known that as he died. In some horrible twisted way, he'd believed Chase would've let him burn.

But knowing the truth now, seemed to help, and Jack relaxed in Chase's arms, and his pale glow dimmed… Then darkened…

"No." Chase whispered when he realized what was happening. Jack felt it too, and clung at Chase with fingers neither immortal or spirit could see any more.

"What's happening?" Jack said, but as soon as he said those words, he knew as well as Chase that he was done with this world. Dropping his head, Jack loosened his grip, "I have to go, don't I?"

"No." two voices chimed together in Chase's throat, as he and his dragon came to a decision. "You're not going anywhere."

Jack barely got a chance to process those words before an icy feeling slid from every place Chase touched him. Looking to his hands, which had moments ago, been faint outlines, Jack found them reforming. They were solid. Jack stared, stunned still, until he saw it. A thin green line slithering through his arms and digging deeper. Jack felt them reach his chest, and winced when they hooked there, like small anchors.

When Jack finally tore his eyes free from the delicate strands of Heylin magic, he saw Chase, and he thought his world would end.

The immortal looked paler than Jack have ever been, almost grey now, like he'd lost every drop of blood. "Chase?" Jack's grip on the immortal tightened. He began to shake his head as his brain began to process what was happening. "What are you doing-?" Jack began to shake the warrior's arms, not caring for the hot glare the golden eyed immortal shot him, "Chase- stop it! Whatever this is- it's killing you- Chase-!"

"Wait for me," was all Chase said, and then he was gone.

Jack doubled over and shuddered. He felt the delicate lines of magic pull tight, and echoes of pain belonging to Chase rang down the lines. If the pain Jack felt was mere echoes of what Chase was feeling, then the immortal must've been torn to pieces…

The crackle of Heylin magic was weak, but Omi sensed it even in his sleep. He shot awake and clawed his eyes around his room until he found the source. It was out in the courtyard, but it wasn't moving. Omi shivered, and as quietly as he could, he dashed out of bed to see what it was.

He found Chase Young, kneeling in the middle of the temple garden, panting and shaking so badly that it made even Omi feel light headed. He crept closer, and shivered when the immortal didn't even try to lift his head; it was almost like he hadn't the strength to move.

Swallowing hard, Omi knelt beside the immortal and tried to find Chase's face amongst the mass of black hair falling around his head. The only thing the smallest monk saw were drops of blood and spit streak from Chase's gasping mouth.

"Chase?" Omi asked, reaching out for the immortal to help him, but stopped when a single golden eye found him through the immortal's thick hair.

"Bring me… the serpent's tail and the reversing mirror." The words slid from Chase's bloodied mouth, and were so quiet, Omi was afraid he'd misunderstood.

But judging by the look in Chase's slitted eyes, he was dead serious.

"Please…." Chase hissed, and winced his eyes closed as the tearing feeling in his chest deepened and split something in two. Woozy, the immortal groaned and struggled to open his eyes again, but smiled when he managed it.

Omi had already been and gone in that lost moment, and was holding both Wu in his shaking hands. "… Jack?" the name slipped from Omi's lips, and he paled, "He's dead?"

Chase didn't answer, just reached for the wu and gently took them from the monk.

Then, a crackle of magic passed around Chase, and he fell back to the manor floor, with the items clutched to his chest. He blinked when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders, but they weren't gentle and shook him until his eyes slid open. The first thing he saw was Jack flickering in fear, "Break the connection!" Jack sobbed, "Chase- I won't let you die!"

"And, neither will I…" Chase said, shoving the serpent's tail at Jack.

Stumbling away with the wu clasped in his fingers, Jack stared at the wu like he'd forgotten what it was. For the first time, he saw the Xiaolin magic in the wu, and it glinted back at him with pearly white light. It was ready and eager, even without Jack calling its name. Then it tugged in his hands, and Jack looked to where the tail wanted to go, and froze.

Chase was with the mirror, but now, it seemed he'd lost the strength to hold himself up anymore. He was slumped over the frame, eyes shut and still. Then, Jack felt one of the lines of Heylin magic snap, like it'd been pulled too tight.

Choking on the loss, Jack snapped his eyes to the reversing mirror; it glowed too, ready for him and the tail.

It was clear what he had to do. Strangling the serpent's tail in both hands, Jack lunged at the mirror.

And it threw him right back. Jack hit the ground hard, making him gag as his spine hit the floor and sent a shockwave of pain rocketing up into his scalp. It tingled there; twisting around the roots of his hair, making Jack moan and roll onto his side. The cold marble floor happily pressed back against his bare side, and Jack shivered.

'Skin', the thought snapped Jack's eyes open.

He felt his new heart begin to pound and rush his head with burning blood. It made his head swim, but he still took a few seconds to search his new body for the Heylin hooks. There'd been a few left when he'd leapt for the mirror. But now… he couldn't feel them anymore…

He tore his eyes to where Chase was, and shivered when he realized the immortal wasn't moving. Chase was still slumped over that damned mirror, eyes closed and pale- Was he even breathing-? With his heart bouncing around his ribs, Jack felt tears burn up into his eyes, "Chase-" he gasped and reached for the immortal, winding his weak arms around Chase's waist and arms. With strength he didn't quite have yet, Jack reared one foot back and kicked the mirror away, so Chase fell to the floor with him. Still the immortal didn't' stir and Jack shuddered. "You idiot!" Jack groaned, shaking the immortal with his weak arms, "Wake up! Come on, Chase! CHASE!"

"Shh-…"

Jack had just began pounding his aching hands down on Chase's chest plate, and almost didn't hear the immortal's whisper. He froze, his fisted fingers flaring out so he could clutch at the armour, like he could feel for the immortal's heartbeat through it.

It was only when Chase's golden eye peeked open and looked right back at Jack, that the human dropped his head on Chase's shoulder and sobbed. "Oh my god!" he gasped against Chase's chest, and cried until his eyes had nothing left to give.

Then Jack punched Chase in the arm.

Startled, the immortal flinched and gave Jack a scandalized look, but the young man glared right back.

"You almost killed yourself!" Jack spat, rubbing his red raw eyes furiously.

Chase blinked right back, "Yes."

Shaking his head in despair, Jack tried to push himself up and away from Chase, so he could think clearly; but the immortal was too fast, and snapped both arms around the younger man. Thrown off guard, the anger washed off of Jack's face. "Why?" Jack moaned, reaching up now to touch Chase's face. "I wouldn't have forgiven myself if you died…" Jack finally choked out.

Chase must've not liked what Jack was saying, because he grabbed the back of the redhead's hair gently and pressed him closer until their foreheads touched again. They both shivered, because this time they were both real to feel it. "It wasn't your decision to make." Chase said, and the words washed across Jack's face. "Even if you wanted to leave this world- I wasn't going to let you." He spoke each word carefully, making sure Jack saw he meant it. "Understand?"

Jack did, in a strange way that made him smile and lie against Chase, revelling in the arms of the immortal he'd admired for over a decade. As they breathed together, recovering slowly, Jack finally sensed a warmth he hadn't before, creeping through him like green vines. It moved through his veins, to where the hooks had laid before; but now they sat comfortably, nestled alongside Jack's heart.

Through that weave of magic, Jack felt Chase's smile before he saw it.

Chase chuckled, tightening his hold on Jack's back, one hand across his shoulder, the other, down across the small of his back. "I hope you can handle never dying again…"

For a moment, Jack had no words, and his heart which pounded before, skipped a beat. Then he smiled back at the immortal.

"Once is enough."

Thanks for reading! I had SO much fun writing this.
It's based on an artwork on my deviantart (Cold-Creature) - seen here - art/Jack-Ghost-512748175
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