“Chust so. I am her marster. I intent no harm to you. Vill you let me in so I may reclaim mine lost, stupid, vayvart pupil?” Scott and Leo’s eyes met, and Leo’s grip on his sword tightened. “I tink it best if ve compare notes. She hast found mine clan, und I vish to hear da full story.” Leo nodded.

“Alright, hold on.” Scott opened the window and erased the chalk sigil with his sleeve. “Okay. You can come in.” The vampire crawled into the room, his broad shoulders barely fitting through. He was dressed in an expensive black suit and a long overcoat. He unfolded himself to tower over them, nearly seven feet tall.

“Salutations. I am Lord Augustus Borya Nicholai Harvaste, marster of Medvěd Castle and Head of Clan Harvaste.”

“Uh, hi. I’m Scott Havenbrook, master necromancer and lord of…this room.” Scott said, on the backfoot. Harvaste sniffed disdainfully, and Genevieve tried to shrink behind Kevin. He looked the new vampire up and down.

“Dis ist who you haf changed, Genevieve?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. She jumped.

“y-Yes, Lord Harvaste.” she said, trembling. “A-Although I didn’t really mean to.”

“Humph. So I haf overhert. Very vell.” he dismissed with a swish of his long coat. “Ve shalt attent to dis matter later. Vhat haf you discovert of our clan?” She sat straight up on the bed.

“Yessir. I managed to spot Gregor on patrol over the town, and followed him to an old, abandoned mall on the outskirts of town. I-I know I should have reported back right away, but I had to know what had happened to Gregor. It-It wasn’t good. He and the others have been…transformed, into these horrible, frightening monsters that have strength beyond ours. And they’re now hideously loyal to some kid, Brian I think it was. He was floating around and he had a bone to pick with…Scott?” she said hesitantly, squinting at him.

“Yeah. I introduced myself.” he growled, annoyed, and turned to the vampire lord. “I know him, he used to be a friend of mine. At least until he fell in with the wrong crowd and got an entire book of magic shoved into his head. Now he wants revenge, or something. I never really did anything to him, but he’s not exactly stable right now.”

“I see.” Harvaste said, mulling things over. He looked at the group, out of the window, then stared off into space. “I tink, perhaps it ist best to lie low vor a bit. Tonight hast been eventvul. I vill search da mall on mine own lator. Vor now, you all shoult rest.”

“Hey now, we-” Scott started, but was cut off with an outstretched arm and a red glare.

“You vill do as I say. Ordinarily, none ov you vould be rememberink anyting, tanks to mine powers und bite.” He bared his teeth. “However, da situashun has become woaltile. I vill allow nosink to be done to inflame tinks vurther, not until I haff a clear picture of vhat ist goink on und da best move to counter it. Unterstand?” He seemed to fill the room with his presence, looking at Scott but each of them felt like his full attention was on them, like a snake before a mouse.

“Perfectly.” Scott said in an icily-clipped voice, looking away. Amber winced; she’d never known him to just back down like that. Then again, she’d never known him to just flee in abject terror before, either.

“Gut.” Harvaste strode to the window, then paused and turned to Kevin. He flinched. “Boy. Dough you vere not intented, you haff been sired by a member of mine clan, und dus mines responsibility. Ve haff tings to do vor now, but ve shalt be discussink your vuture bevore we leaf. I vould like you to know you vill alvays have a place vis us. Come, Genevieve. Da night avaits, und ve haff much to do.”

“Right, so…thanks for everything,” she said awkwardly, trying to cover up her rattled nerves with cheer. “It’s been great, gotta go.”

“Inteed. Ve shalt be in touch. In da meantime, take no action.” With that, they leapt out if the window, shapes blurring and molding into enormous bats silhouetted against the moon. Scott slammed his window shut.

“Good riddance.” he muttered, and turned to the group. “So, how we gonna take on Brian, the vampires, and an Elder God?” The all stared at him incredulously.

“Did-didn’t he just say not to do anything? And didn’t you say this serpent guy was way beyond anything we could touch?” Amber said, rubbing her forehead. He turned to her, a manic gleam in his eye.

“My dear Amber, if there’s anything you should have learned by now, it’s that I hate being told what to do! There are no limits except for what you decide, especially when it comes to necromancy! It is the greatest magical art there is, and I will prove it once again!”

“So how do you beat a god with necromancy?” Leo wondered. Scott winced.

“Yeah…there’s a way, I’m sure of it, but…it’s…probably gonna take some doing.” he admitted, downcast. “Hmm. Usually the Poisonous Thoughts can’t affect things on a large-scale basis, so running’s the best option. Super vampires to convert everyone they come across, I was gonna hit the road, but if it’s a fight, hmm…” He began pacing, muttering to himself. Leo shook his head.

“Anyway, it’s been a long night. A long night.” He closed his eyes, unable to get Mielios’s last moment out of his head. “We should get some downtime after everything that’s happened. Tomorrow we can all meet up at school and come up with some ideas. I would like to wait for Harvaste, but I also don’t like just sitting around.”

“Right? Right!?” Scott said, emerging from his manic mumbling. Amber sighed and hefted Leo up.

“Hey-!”

“Okay, everyone meet up tomorrow. Get to bed as soon as you can.” She was about to descend from the window, when she uneasily turned to Scott and tugged his sleeve to get his attention. “Everyone, okay Scott?” He looked confused, then gave her a warm smile.

“Yeah. I gotcha. This one’s worse than before, but…” He remembered the woods, how dead he’d felt inside. “Don’t worry. I learned my lesson. This time, I won’t run away.”

“Good.” She smiled in relief, and jumped out the window. “See you tomorrow!”

“Ow!” Leo said as they landed.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” Amber asked.

“Nothing, my keys just stabbed my leg.” They were off into the night.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, I guess.” Kevin said absently, letting Will climb aboard.

“H-Hey man, it’ll be alright.” Will tried to reassure, but sounded more uncertain than anyone else. Kevin silently nodded and headed to the window.

“It’s not all bad, you know.” Scott said when his foot touched the windowsill. Kevin paused.

“Huh?”

“Your condition. Trust me, I know a lot about undead. You could have it so very much worse. But you’re still here, you’re possessed of all your facilities, and you got kickass powers to boot. Yeah, you can’t live a normal life anymore, but normal’s overrated. You shouldn’t be feeling sorry for yourself anyway. The battle for truth and justice is never-ending. I think it would help you to remember. ‘In brightest day, in blackest night…’”

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“’No evil shall escape my sight.’” Kevin recited without thinking, and the necromancer nodded.

“’Let those who worship evil’s might…’”

“’Beware my power, Green’…no, Nightfang’s might!” Kevin finished, a small smile on his face. Scott grinned.

“Rayner forever.”

“No, John Stewart.” Kevin replied, frowning.

“Hey, I think I know that guy. Isn’t the Green Lantern Hal Jordan?” Will said. Both of them stared at him, then sighed. “What? What?”

“We’ll see you later.” Kevin and Will left. Scott resumed pacing.

“No, that won’t work. If only I had a Lantern ring. Ring? Ring…ring…ring!” That was it! He was a genius! He frantically poured through the Necronomicon, refreshing his memory of the spell. There it was! Writ in blood, he tapped his finger on the diagram illustrating the magical arrays needed. “That’ll work…that’ll definitely work, at least for a little while…” he mumbled, going over the half-formed plan in his head. He started pacing again.

“I mean, it won’t be permanent…still need to stop Brian…rrgh, how we gonna do that…” Scott tilted his head, weighing his options. “Then again, all we really have to do is kill the army…maybe…” His gaze fell upon his latest notes, detailing the project the dogs had been necessary for. “Oh!” He snapped his fingers as a wonderful, wicked idea blossomed in his head. “Yes, that might work, that might work! After all, the mind and body are connected! Ha ha! I’m a genius! Now…” The necromancer retrieved his notes, brain spinning with wild ideas of how to put his plan into motion, absently sketching designs of the sigils needed to repurpose for his needs, eyes starting to glow a toxic emerald green. “Hmmm...yup, gonna have to give her a call, no two ways about it.” He pulled out his phone, then paused. “But then where do I get the fish tanks?”

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The phone on her desk rang. There was a sigh, and a report was irritably tossed aside. She picked up her cell and held it to her ear.

“What is it?” Detective Cross growled, tapping a pen on her desk.

“Oh good, you are up. How many empty fish tanks can you get your hands on?” For a moment she froze, then groaned and put her head in her hand, slumping on her desk.

“Oh not you again.”

“Come now, detective. I would have thought you would have loved to hear from your favorite necromancer once more.” Scott said cheekily.

“You’re lucky you’re not here in person.” Cross said sternly, grabbing a doughnut form the box on her desk. “What do you want?”

“I need a police barricade around the entirety of Craven Falls in, hmm, two days max, and as many fish tanks and bananas you can obtain in that time frame.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. It was not a sensation she was unfamiliar with.

“Spit it out. What’s going on? I told you never to call me unless something like Halloween happened again.”

“And thus I appear. Tell me detective, have there been any upswings in missing persons cases in Nahaumville? Homeless disappearing, blood vanishing from hospitals, bodies found with puncture marks in the neck?” Scott asked.

“How do you know about that?” Cross said suspiciously, turning her chair around. The other cops didn’t need to hear this conversation, not if it was going the way she thought it would. “Half the goddamn force thinks it’s a case of goddamn vampire wannabes. Please, please tell me it’s crazy people.” she said, desperately hoping.

“Would I be calling if it was?”

“Damn it. So, I’m presuming actual vampires?” she asked.

“Ehh, kinda. If you count magically-enhanced, multi-limbed, deformed super mutant vampires to be real vampires.”

There was a moment as Cross processed that.

“What.”

“Yeah, turns out Brian-you remember Brian? Friend of mine ‘til he joined the coven? Abducted some vampires form Europe and transformed them into monstrous slaves to continue Stephanie’s work. Now he wants to convert the town, and presumably the world into them.”

“What-”

“And also bound his soul to an abominable god, unknown to benevolence, time, or reason.”

Cross was silent for a moment, then let out a sigh and hung her head in her hand.

“By god I’m assuming you mean an actual, fire-and-brimstone, my will be done god.” she said, the headache building already.

“Mmm, kinda, more like a supremely powerful interdimensional existence who understands so much more about how the universe actually works it’s like comparing a human’s wisdom to an ant’s. Spoiler: we’re the ants. Also, he has a total hateboner for human life, and seeks to wipe us all out.” Scott explained.

“So how do we kill it?” Cross growled.

“Dunno. No one’s ever managed it. But I’m working on something that should buy us some time, perhaps maybe even give us a chance of survival.”

“Hence the fish tanks and bananas.” Cross said, mentally checking her resources. “But why do you need the town barricaded off?”

“Oh detective, that’s merely step one of my master plan!” he said. She could feel his grin over the phone. “It will be a whole lot better if no one from outside comes into town, at least for a little while. And-” His voice turned somber and more serious. “I would like a little bit of insurance, in case things don’t go well. If you guys are blocking the roads, you can try and kill everything that tries to come out.” Cross drew herself up and sat very still.

“How bad is it?” she asked quietly.

“Pretty bad.” Scott said, all traces of joviality gone. “Think what happened on Halloween and the coven’s plan, but this time I can’t use a zombie army to stop them.” Cross hesitated, then licked her lips, not believing what she had to say next.

“I-I can get the guys to get some chalk again…” she began, but the necromancer cut her off.

“All that wouldn’t even slow them down. These things are vampires to vampires. If they want to, they could slaughter the whole town in less than a night. And their numbers would only grow from there.” He shook his head. “The pawns are too strong to fight. The only chance we have is going after the king-and he’s backed by a psychotic god.” He sighed. “If we fail, don’t let anything out. Kill everything, if you can. Set anything that moves on fire, and dump the remains in acid. I’ve seen what this vampirization process does to people. If we try to approach you, kill us.” She stiffened.

“I hope you realize what you’re asking.” Cross warned.

“Then you’ll help?” She swallowed, hard. Promising to kill children was not something she wanted to do today. But there was a duty to be fulfilled.

“I will.” she said, tendons as hard as steel.

“Good. And trust me, Detective Cross. I know what I’m asking of you.” He hung up, and stared at the phone in his hand. “More than you know.”

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“Here you go.” Kevin whispered, clinging to the side of the house like a fly, giving Will a boost into his window.

“Oof!” Will grunted as his shoulder thumped against the floor, stinging. He held still for a moment, straining to hear any movement. Nothing. He let out a sigh of relief; his parents were in bed yet. He got up and Kevin climbed noiselessly in behind him, took off his mask, then fell onto the bed with a soft groan.

“My life is over.” he said into the blanket.

“Hey, cheer up man. I thought you liked being a vampire.” Will said.

“That doesn’t mean I wanna spend the rest of eternity as one. Oh god, I’m gonna live forever. I’m going to outlive everyone I care about.” he said, realizing what he was in for.

“Unless you kick the bucket first.” Will tried to joke, but at Kevin’s stricken expression backed down. “Sorry. Still though, never dying’s kind of a pretty sweet deal. I know people’ve killed for less.”

“I guess. I mean, I guess there are some good points. It’s just, I thought I could go back to being human. Now though, now I’m disconnected pretty much forever.” He shifted uncomfortably. “What if I don’t age? I’m gonna be stuck at sixteen for all time.”

“Yeah, being stuck in the prime of your youth’s real bad.” Will deadpanned. Kevin decided arguing wasn’t worth the effort. He didn’t feel hungry, but it had been a long day.

“Humph. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long haul. I’m going home, getting some rest while I can sounds good.” He launched himself to the window and gave a two-finger salute. “See you tomorrow.” With that, he was gone.

“Hey, wait!” Will called after him, but the vampire had already melded into the night. “Crap.” He held up Kevin’s mask, having forgotten it. He stared at the cloth in his hands; his eyes went to the closet mirror. He started to raise it.

“Nah, no way.” he said, tossing it into a corner. What had come over him? He’d return it tomorrow, when they’d meet up and…plan how to take down a god and his minions. What was he even doing? How could he contribute? How did they even expect him to contribute?

He laid on his bed, trying to sleep, but it was useless. Too many thoughts were running through his head. He tossed and turned, and found himself staring at the mask again. “What do you want?” He could swear the empty eye holes were staring back at him. Judging him. He thought of what nerdy little Kevin had become, and the strange, amazing people he had met. He turned to the wall, but it was no use. He knew what his heart desired. “Fine. Fine! Let’s do this!” He threw off the covers and got dressed. Making sure his parents were asleep, he snuck out of the house.