Disclaimer: Power Rangers is owned by Buena Vista Entertainment or whoever. The vampire mythos used in this story is entirely ripped off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is the property of Twentieth Century Fox and Mutant Enemy. The characters and scenes you recognize don't belong to me; the ones you don't, do.

Author's Notes: READ THIS TO AVOID CONFUSION!! This story is considered to take place during and immediately after the mini-series, “There’s No Business Like Snow Business.” It butchers parts of the rest of Ranger continuity. Also, there will be slight inconsistencies with what was said in the preceding episodes. It was stated by the radio DJ that “Angel Grove’s hottest day of the year is in the middle of winter!” Well, for the purpose of this particular story, consider those episodes as winter was looming—that is, let’s say the weekend of December 6-8, 1996. It doesn’t make much difference, since Angel Grove is in California near the Los Angeles area (at least that’s my personal take on it) where there’s really no such thing as weather anyway, but I thought I’d better clear this up. Why is this important? You’ll get it as you read on; if you don’t get it by the last part, drop me a line and I’ll let you know what the importance is. The other inconsistency is that Kimberly and her friends have finished the Global Games, when it was stated in the letter that they were getting pumped up for the competition, but to disregard that makes this story a heck of a lot easier for me to write. Let’s assume she left in early January and the competition was in November, then the girls had another week of clean-up practice and evaluation. And yes, this technically could be considered a Buffy crossover, because it’s set up to put the Rangerverse in the same continuity as the Buffyverse, but I put it in the Power Rangers category because it has little to do with the actual show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Bite Me
Part I
by MegaSilver

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out, Tommy,” sighed Katherine. “I wanted everything to be perfect.”

Tommy looked up. “Just forget it, Kat. I mean, what you did was incredible.” He fingered his glass. “I’m just really lucky to have a friend like you.”

Katherine smiled briefly. “I just thought it would help take your mind off things if you had someone in your life.”

“I know,” agreed Tommy. “It’s just gonna take some time; that’s all.”

Just then, a new tune came flowing out of the radio. Katherine suddenly perked up. “Oh, I love this song!”

“Hey,” smiled Tommy, an idea suddenly implanted into his mind, “what would you say if I asked you to dance?”

“I’d say, promise not to step on my feet and you’ve got a deal,” agreed Katherine.

“All right!” Tommy took Katherine onto the dance floor and they began to waltz, drawing closer together as the song progressed.

Nearby, Ernie looked up from stocking fruit and grinned. “I love happy endings.”

Outside, the sun completely disappeared into the horizon and a young woman with caramel-colored hair stepped out of a sporty red car. She snuck along the side of the Youth Center and peered into a window, watching Tommy dance with Katherine. She smiled to herself. “That’s right. Dance away. You’re only kidding yourself.”

A young man rested his hands on the girl’s shoulders and began to rub. “Kim? Ready to go?”

Kimberly rose to face her boyfriend and ran her hands along the back of his neck. “Not quite, Jeff. It’ll be a few minutes before they’ve cleared out.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “Until then… we’ll just have to pass the time ourselves.” With that, she pulled Jefferson into a long, engaging kiss.

***

A little over a week earlier, Kimberly and two of her friends were laughing together at a table in a teenage nightclub. With the Pan Global Games just finished, gymnastics training was out for December and would resume in January to prepare the girls for the next year.

“So what are you doing this month, Cindy?” asked Marlene.

“Well, I’m doing Europe with my parents the last half of the month… but for the first half, I’ll just sit around, bored out of my skull,” Cindy sighed. She looked off into space. “What about you?”

Marlene rolled her eyes. “Sit at home, play Nintendo like a dork. Just my luck my parents moved to Chicago right after I left. Christmas is gonna suck.” She regarded Kimberly with a knowing smile. “Dare I ask about your plans?”

A smile spread across Kimberly’s face. “Well, I’m sticking around and just seeing the sights and enjoying Florida for a few days, maybe pay my dad’s family a visit. Then I’ll be flying back to Angel Grove for a couple of weeks, and then I’m flying to Paris with my mom’s parents to be with my family for Christmas.”

“Oh, oh, you have a life! You’re out. Get going!” Cindy teased.

“So you’ll get to see Tommy, then?” enticed Marlene.

A wide grin spread across Kimberly’s face. “I’m so excited!” She sipped her soda. “He doesn’t know I’m coming back. I haven’t seen him in so long!”

“Hey, speaking of hunks, there’s Jeff over there.” Cindy nodded towards a young man who had just entered the club.

“Hubba, hubba, hubba!” grinned Marlene.

“Break me off a piece of that, huh, Kim?” Cindy licked her lips.

Kimberly shook her head. “Nah.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Marlene nodded. “Tommy.”

“You’re just jealous,” Kimberly teased.

“I never even met the guy!”

“Yeah, that’s what makes it so pathetic,” said, Cindy, winking at Kimberly.

“Hey!”

Jefferson, the college-aged assistant coach at the gym, approached their table and rested his hands on Kimberly’s chair. “Hey, ladies.”

“Hi, Jeff!” Marlene and Cindy grinned bashfully.

“Hello, Kimberly.”

Kimberly looked up from her soda and smiled. “Oh, hey.”

“So… how have you three been?”

“Oh, we’ve been great!” gushed Marlene. “What about you? I haven’t seen you in over a week! Where have you been?”

Jefferson shrugged. “Oh, just lying in wait, y’know.”

Suddenly, a chill of old instinct ran through Kimberly’s spine. Come on, she told herself. Shake it off. It’s nothing. This is Jeff! As she told herself this, the DJ began to play “Crazy” by K*CI and Jo Jo.

“Hey.” Jefferson patted Kimberly’s shoulder. “You want to dance?”

Kimberly shrugged. “Okay, sure.” She rose from her seat, took the hand Jefferson offered her, and accompanied him out to the dance floor.

***

A few hours later, Kimberly approached her friends. “Hey, guys? I’m feeling kind of worn-out. Think we should head back?”

“What, now?” exclaimed Marlene.

“Come on, Kim!” protested Cindy. “We’re all worn out from the last few months. Let’s just enjoy ourselves all night!”

Kimberly sighed. Cindy and Marlene were nice enough, but quite often she wondered whether or not their heads were really just five feet off the ground.

Jefferson piped up from behind Kimberly. “I’ll take you home,” he offered.

“No, that’s okay; I don’t want to make you leave—”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Jefferson assured her. “Another few minutes here and I’ll be dead myself.”

“Okay.” As Jefferson led her away, she waved goodbye to her friends.

When they were out of sight, Cindy moaned at Marlene. “What’s he hitting on her for? He knows she’s got a boyfriend!”

“Beats me,” Marlene shrugged.

***

As they exited the club, Jefferson led Kimberly into an alleyway. “I parked it in the garage,” he told her.

Kimberly stopped midway through the alley. “Umm… then it would be faster just to go down the street, wouldn’t it?”

“Oh, come on, Kim. I love the scenic routes.” He walked up to her. “Plus… all the more time spent with you.”

Kimberly nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “I am seeing someone, you know.”

“I know.” Jefferson smiled. “But that means I can’t enjoy your company?”

Kimberly sighed and smiled. Jefferson could be quite charming, she had to admit. Still… what was up with him tonight? She’d been well aware from pretty early on just how much he noticed her, but he’d never been nearly this forthcoming. Little did she know that she was about to learn why.

As Jefferson smiled down at her, his features became wrinkled and distorted. He bared his teeth, which had transformed into razor-sharp fangs, perfect for tearing through raw flesh.

Oh, my gosh, what the hell is going on here?

Kimberly screamed and pulled away, but Jefferson grabbed her by the wrist. She spun around, punched him in the face, kneed him in the groin, and began to make her way out of the alley. But he recoiled before she could exit and extended his hand. Kimberly froze, dead in her tracks, looking back in horror as Jefferson walked towards her, his hand still outstretched. He had her under his hypnotic power. Nothing could save her now.

Jefferson grabbed onto Kimberly’s shoulder. “Oh, baby, how sweet you taste,” he commented as she breathed more and more heavily. Leaning down, he sank his teeth into her neck and sucked a nice big gulp of her blood. Kimberly collapsed into his arms, her heart slowed to a faint creeping. “You know, I could use you around. To watch my back,” he purred to her. He bit a small incision into his left index finger and held it up to Kimberly’s lips.

As the blood entered her mouth, Kimberly’s body was revived by a sudden rush of predatory power. Although she remembered the events that had transpired in the last few minutes, she was aware that she was no longer Kimberly. She was someone superior. Someone with the instincts of a predator, the body of a warrior, and the spirit of a demon.