By the time we got back to the pizzeria the sun was almost set. Everyone was tired, except me. That’s the weirdest thing, I wasn’t tired at all. I wasn’t sore, either. If anything I was just happy. Happy to be with my friends. Happy that, even though I wasn’t what I used to be, my friends still cared about me. Ever since I could remember, my friends had been so important to me. Like family. We did everything together. Hell, we didn’t even have to do things together all the time. Sometimes we’d go off and do things in groups of two and three. But we were always… us.

And now, with everything that had happened, with everything was happening, and everyone we’d lost… my friends were even more important to me.

They were literally all I had left in the whole world.

When we got back to the pizzeria I spied a fairly charred monster corpse. What looked like a three headed weasel the size of a Great Dane. It was only a couple feet from the front door of the pizzeria. I guess that’s what happens if something tries to enter a place protected by that ward stone bug-thingy. Wicked freaking gnarly. It’s just a shame it doesn’t work when there’s someone inside. That would be a great way to keep things out.

Wood, Teddy, and I stood back while Ellie walked up to the front door. I don’t know how I knew this, but I just had a feeling we should stay back. Maybe it was the deep-fried three-headed weasel corpse telling me that.

She walked up the steps, reached over and pulled the bug-like thing from the wall. In her hand it stilled, started losing its color, and turned back to stone.

For all the times we played Dungeons & Dragons growing up, and played video games and watched fantasy movies and read fantasy books, having the fantasy—the magic—come to life was actually really creepy. I was never going to get used to it. I could tell.

Out in the night something howled. It was close, too. Too close. I turned and looked around. Something huge and hairy rushed out the shadows and came barreling towards us.

I staggered back and tripped, falling backward onto the steps leading to the front door. Shit!

Somebody reached out from behind me, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me up the steps and through the door, slamming is shut just as the big, hideous bringer of death halted right outside the doorway. It was a good 4 feet tall, but it was on four legs. It was a gigantic canine. A wolf, but way bigger than any wolf I’d ever seen before. We live in Pennsylvania, and there are local wildlife preserves where we’ve gone on school trips to see the animals. Wolves are bigger than dogs, but nothing like this thing. I gawked at its menacing jaws, and its glowing orange eyes.

Immediately Wood and Teddy brought over a long two-by-four piece of wood to slide into the lock. I knew there were more boards that needed nailed into place to secure the door. A glass door is not very effective at keeping things out.

“Holy fucking shit-balls,” I said. “Is that a freaking werewolf?”

But before anyone could answer me, and before they could board the door shut, the huge canine jumped. It leapt from the ground and up onto the roof. Everyone stopped what they were doing, all eyes directed upward to the roof. We could hear its footsteps, its weight pressing down on the roof tiles, its claws digging in, searching for purchase. But then the sounds from above stopped. We stood there for a few beats, and started pulling weapons out of our inventories. I pulled mom’s frying pan out of mine, happy to have it in my hand, even though it was still covered in blood and gore leftover from our last fight.

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That’s when we heard scratching. Wood looked over to Ellie and mouthed the words What the fuck? But then a large paw smashed right through the roof. We all stared at the furry, claw-studded paw for a horrified beat, and when it pulled it’s arm back up through the hole it had made, it grabbed hold of and ripped out even more of the roof.

Shit!

“Goddamn it to hell!” Ellie said, but didn’t get a chance to say anything else. Immediately the werewolf started tearing more of the roof out. The only thing that bought us any time was that the beast was impatient, and didn’t wait until the hole was big enough for it to come through. It started trying to push its head in, it’s gigantic jaws and glowing eyes an absolute horror as it snapped at us.

Ellie raised her baseball bat and started to move closer, ready to take a whack at the thing.

But then, the beast suddenly fell right through the roof.

Big chunks of tile and wood hit the floor, as the beast landed on the front counter. It flailed for a moment, knocking the old cash register off and onto the floor, and sending some of the pizza boxes flying. When it got to its feet, it let out an ominous growl, baring its huge teeth at us.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

We all had our weapons out, but this was pretty close quarters, and there wasn’t a lot of places for cover. The beast stared at me and Ellie, crouching down and wiggling slightly, as if it was ready to pounce.

But from above, through the hole the monster had torn in the roof, a pale arm reached down, grabbing the beast by the back of the neck, and effortlessly dragging it back up through the hole. That made even more of the roof fall in.

Everyone’s eyes got wide, and then Wood and Teddy raced for the door. They had the long piece of wood barring the door off and were already outside before Ellie and I caught up. They didn’t have their weapons drawn for attack, and I couldn’t understand why. They were looking excitedly up to the roof. I turned as Ellie and I got to them and looked up towards the roof, too.

The werewolf seemed to hang there in midair, as if something unseen was holding it up. It was struggling, but then suddenly its head snapped to one side and the beast went limp. Its body was thrown off the roof, landing on the ground before us, a cloud of dust kicking up around it.

I looked back up to the roof and my jaw dropped. There, wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt, looking ridiculously good, was Oz.

Oz!

I felt excitement and relief flood through me. He really was alive. But then I noticed the freaking fangs in his mouth.

Oz?

Oz is a freaking vampire?

What the actual…?

But before I could say a word, Oz moved with blurry speed and was suddenly just standing beside Ellie, staring down into her eyes.

Did he just teleport?

None of this made any…

And then Oz leaned down and kissed Ellie on the mouth.

I just stood there, staring at the two as they clung to each other. They even used tongue.

“What the fucking shit-balls is going on?!?!”

Ellie jerked back from Oz, and Oz blinked, shaking his head before turning to look at me. His startling blue eyes narrowed. “What the hell is…” and then his guarded expression turned to elation—and I noticed the bastard didn’t have a zit or blemish anywhere on him. He didn’t even have his freckles anymore.

He walked unsteadily over to me, and then dropped to his knees in front of me. “Mort? Is that really you in there?”

His red hair wasn’t practically orange anymore, but blood red. And his usually pale green eyes literally shined like emeralds now—practically sparkling in his skull. I couldn’t stop staring at him. In my mind, him kissing Ellie kept replaying over and over and over and… and their vigorous use of their tongues…

I punched him. I didn’t know how hard I could punch as a gnome, but since I’m made out of pretty much indestructible shit now, I’m going to say it would hurt. I made the bloodsucker’s head snap back at any rate, and when he looked at me again, the emerald green irises in his stupid eye sockets were burning with green fire.

But I didn’t fucking care! I launched myself at the dirty, girlfriend-stealing son-of-a-bitch bloodsucker, knocking him over onto the ground, and tried my best to strangle him.