Disclaimer: Only the plot and original characters belong to me!

At the bottom of an extinct volcano, a strange gathering was taking place. A party, with several people, men and women, boys and girls, all laughing, talking loudly, drinking, celebrating. Many of them looked like normal people in jeans, t-shirts, and dresses, but some looked frankly monstrous. A few of them had gray skin, red eyes, and horns. Others had pale skin like corpses and eyes that were nothing but holes. And a third group had skin that was dark blue and shiny with black eyes.

Standing above all the revelers was a man and woman. One had dark eyes and short dark hair, and when he smiled, white teeth with the sharpness of fangs flashed. He had his arms around a black-haired woman whose eyes were cold as she stared at the group.

"I think it's time, Eric," she whispered.

He nodded, his voice magnifying. "Silence!"

The room lapsed into just that, and he grinned. "Thank you. We're here to celebrate the fact that one of us has found a host body. There has been no trouble since, and you know what that means. Soon, we'll be able to go and find hosts of our own!"

The proclamation was met with cheers and Eric grinned and went to join his fellows for another round of drinks as he wondered just what the first of their kind to successfully invade a human was up to.

"Hi, Jill…miss me?"

Jill sat up, her body warm to the touch as she pulled the covers aside, got out of bed, and strode toward Christian, who stood at the foot, grinning at her.

"Well, this is interesting," he remarked. "I had no idea you would still sleep naked after I left."

"It's only been recently," she told him. She grabbed his hand and led him to her bed then, glad that he was already as naked as she was because she didn't want to waste time undressing him. As she threw her arms around him, he pushed into her over and over, pausing only a moment to let her fall back onto the mattress as he kissed the warm skin of her stomach and then gently sucked on her breasts. The feeling was something she'd missed for sure. Then he pulled out of her and began rubbing her slowly and steadily while she moaned and cried…but soon, her cries didn't seem to be her own.

Then everything disappeared and she woke up to find herself in darkness with baby Sophia crying loudly in the bassinet beside her.

Jill was disoriented, that was for sure. But when she thought she had come back to her senses, she got out of bed and went to comfort her daughter, who sometimes slept the night with her, even though she had her own room also. "There, there," she whispered as she reached out for her. "It's okay. Mommy is sorry she woke you…" She reached out for Sophia, but as the moonlight illuminated the baby's face while she wailed and screamed, Jill was overcome with horror. Her daughter's eyes were red, the skin on her face was gray, and Jill could just make out the stubs of two little horns on her head. And it that wasn't scary enough, a little forked tongue poked out of her mouth for a second or two before going back where it belonged.

"Oh, god," she gasped as she backed away, hoping that sight wasn't real and that maybe she was still dreaming. She ran to the bathroom next door, trying to catch her breath. Then, she got a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her face matched what she'd seen on Sophia!

Wanting to run away from that frightening visage, she ran out of the bathroom and into the dark hallway, still hearing Sophia's crying.

The darkness made her disoriented. She knew she should go back and comfort her daughter, but she couldn't. It was just…it was too frightening. Finally, overcome by it all, she let out a terrible shriek, calling for Christian before she passed out on the wood floor and knew no more.

A few minutes later, Christian, in his own demon form, was standing over her. He'd turned because he'd been so full of worry at the panic in her voice. He picked her up and carried her to her bed, tucking her in before going to see what was wrong with his daughter.

When he saw her, he was a bit surprised himself, though not in the same way her mother had been. It had been something he'd been expecting when she was born, but to actually see that demon face on a child, well…since he knew what triggered the transformation, he wanted to make it go away as soon as possible. Since Jill was out of commission, it was all up to him.

As he cradled Sophia and helped calm her down, he heard a frantic knocking on Jill's bedroom door.

"Jill, sweetie?" Called Helene's panicked voice. "Are you okay? Is Sophia all right? Why did you scream?"

"Come in and I'll explain," Christian called.

So Helene did, turning on the lights and breathing a sigh of relief when she saw him. "What happened here?" She asked.

"Apparently, Sophia got upset enough to trigger her demon appearance," Christian told her. "And it must've really freaked Jill out. When I found her in the hallway by the bathroom, she was out cold."

Just then, Jill came to. "You would have fainted too if you looked in the mirror and saw that you had horns and gray skin and red eyes! I mean, I must've imagined it, but it was scary as hell! First Sophia and then me? What's going on?"

"I don't think it's something you imagined," Christian told her. "When I saved you, it was by giving you half my heart, which later turned into a whole one. Remember that? Apparently, it made you have some demon in you."

"Did you know that was gonna happen when you did it?" Jill asked, her jaw dropping.

"No, I did not," Christian shook his head. "But even if I had known, I still would have done it, because, call me selfish, but I would rather you be alive with a bit of demon in you than dead. Don't you feel that way?"

"Yeah, I guess I do," Jill nodded. "It's just sort of a shock, you know?"

"Yes," Christian nodded, recalling the first time he'd seen himself turn and shuddering. "Believe me, I do. It's no picnic."

"How does your head feel?" Helene wanted to know. "Does it hurt? Do you feel nauseous? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you see more than one of me?"

"You're holding up three fingers," Jill told her. "And other than a little head pain, I feel all right."

"Good," Helene nodded and stood up. "I'll go tell Malachai. He was worried out of his mind. And you get some sleep, all right?"

"Sure," Jill promised. "I will."

Helene left then and Jill looked at Christian. "Thank you for coming when I needed you. Although if you hadn't, I wouldn't have blamed you for it."

"Why wouldn't I have come?" Christian asked as he rocked Sophia, who had calmed down, but was looking at him with interest. "I know how mad you are with me, so for you to call me in that panicked tone, I figured something pretty bad had to be going on. It even made me turn myself I was so worried for you."

"Thank goodness you still have your magic so that when I called you like that, you heard it," Jill remarked. "If we'd both been powerless, it wouldn't have done any good."

"You're not entirely powerless, are you?" Christian asked. "Don't your powers still work sometimes?"

"Yeah," Jill nodded. "They do, but I don't get why."

"I would guess that it's because of that bit of demon in you, but I don't know for sure," Christian replied, giving Sophia a kiss as her eyes closed and putting her back in her bassinet. Then he went to sit by her mother on the bed, keeping his hands firmly in his lap. "If you're all right now, I'll go. You probably want to get back to sleep after all this, don't you?"

"I should," Jill nodded. "I did promise Helene, after all."

"Well, I'll be on my way, then," he said and got up. But when he had his hand on the doorknob, Jill said something surprising.

"Please stay," she requested. "At least for the night. You know, just in case Sophia has another upset, I'd feel better knowing you were here to help out. There's a room next door you can sleep in."

"All right," Christian nodded. "I'll stay…for Sophia. Goodnight, Jill."

"Thank you," Jill gave him a hint of a smile. "Goodnight, Christian. Sleep well."

"I will," Christian told her. "You too." He shut off the lights on his way out, then settled himself into the empty room next door, hoping neither Jill nor Sophia would need him again so soon.

"So you're telling me that you have no powers at all?" Amelia asked Selina. "You're completely human again."

"Well, I don't know if I can say that because I haven't tried to deal with my werewolf side, but I know for sure that I'm not a vampire anymore," Selina replied.

"And how does that feel?" Amelia asked. "Does it bother you? Cause we both know your experience at human life wasn't pleasant before."

"Well, just like you, I have the chance to have a do-over with someone nice," Selina smiled. "Things still good with you and Uncle Andrew?"

"Oh, yes," Amelia smiled. "He and Thomas are at Thomas' high school registration right now, getting his schedule and everything. Thomas says that now that he's human and won't have to hide, it's a perfect time to start with that."

"Well, good for him," Selina smiled. "And I know you can help him cause you're a teacher and all, but I have a couple of degrees myself, so if I can help any, let me know."

"And just what did you study?" Amelia asked curiously. "Not cooking. That's a natural talent you have."

"At one point, it was foreign languages," Selina told her after acknowledging the compliment with a smile. "French and Spanish, and at another, it was…psychology. Really helped me understand a lot of things."

"Yeah," Amelia nodded. "I bet it did." She paused. "We haven't done book club in a while. Wanna keep that going?"

"Sure," Selina nodded. "Do you have a book in mind?"

"No, but I'm sure we could find one that we both agree on," Amelia told her. "Right?"

"Of course," Selina agreed.

Amelia then got up to get Selina a drink just as Andrew and Thomas came through the door, grins on their faces.

"Guess who's signed up for high school?" Andrew announced.

"I'll give you a hint," Thomas said as he sat next to his sister. "It's me!"

"That's not a hint," Selina told him. "But…good for you! I'm so proud! What does Davina think of all this?"

"Well, she's bummed that it takes time away from us, but she's for it," Thomas said. "In fact, we're going out to dinner tonight to celebrate."

"That's nice," Selina told him. "You should. This is a big step."

"I know," Thomas nodded. "I'm a bit nervous. Not really used to structure like they have in school. What if I can't hack it? What if I get bored and run away?"

"Well, the good news for you is that your feelings are no different from anyone else's who goes to school," Selina informed him. "Lots of people find the way school is laid out tedious and have to fight the impulse to run every single day."

"Did you have that problem?" Thomas asked as Amelia put some tea down in front of her daughter and then asked her son if he wanted anything. "No, thanks," he told her. "I'm a bit anxious to be hungry."

"I always was fascinated by school," Selina told him. "When you hear your whole life that you're not worth being educated because of your sex, when the chance comes up to do just that, your impulse to take it on is stronger. At least it was for me, anyway. I mean, our mother even went and got a Masters and she was pretty traditional at one point."

"You know, I never thought of it that way," Thomas remarked.

There was another knock at the door and Amelia let Davina in. "Did you do it?" She asked Thomas, her dark hair flying in her face. "Did you sign up for school?"

"Yes, I did," Thomas nodded. "I start in a few days. I know that disappoints, you, but…"

"What I'm disappointed about is that I'm gonna see less of you because of all the studying and classes," Davina interrupted. "Not the fact that you're going back to school in the first place. I think it's great. Besides, I'll have plenty to occupy myself with helping Malachai and everyone else figure out why our magic is gone." She sighed and sat down. "Why we didn't just kill John and Christian when we had the chance, I'll never know. I mean, of course Jill and Leslie didn't want to, but we could have overruled them easily. Now John got away and all our powers are gone, and Jill was murdered. Where is the good here?"

"I'm sure it'll work out in the end," Thomas told her. "If you help me study, I'll help you be human. Deal?"

Davina looked up at his smiling face and scowled. "The fact that you're so damn optimistic about everything irks me."

"Let's put your mind on something else then," Thomas told her. "Wanna see my class schedule?"

"Sure, pass it over here and let me see just what sort of hell you're putting yourself through," Davina told him. She looked it over. "You know, that doesn't look so bad."

"You know, it might not hurt for you to take some classes," Thomas pointed out. "I mean, how much did they let you learn when you were trapped in the asylum?"

"Not much," Davina shook her head. "The thought of us being intelligent in addition to being powerful scared everyone too much. And I mean to catch up. But I'm gonna do it with books and stuff. School would just make me feel trapped again."

"All right," Thomas agreed. "I just don't want you missing out."

"Yeah, cause you wouldn't want an idiot for a girlfriend," Davina stood up, her eyes narrowing.

"No, that's not what I meant!" Thomas tried to reassure her.

"Yes, it is!" Davina nodded. "I know it is!" strode back toward the door, preparing to leave, but Thomas gave her pause.

"Since you're mad at me, does it mean we're not having dinner?"

"Of course we're still having dinner!" Davina told him. "It's at eight, we're eating at my house, and be sure to wear a suit and tie!" She then strode out of the house and slammed the door behind her, giving Amelia and Selina the opportunity to drop the pretense of pretending not to hear her outburst.

"She's a tad sensitive, isn't she?" Amelia remarked.

"Well, I don't blame her for having some trouble adjusting to everything," Selina said. "Being stuck in an asylum can do things to you. Think of all she missed out on."

"Yeah, sometimes it boggles my mind to think of it," Thomas remarked. "I wonder what she's making for dinner?"

"Whatever it is, I'd examine it first if I were you," Selina advised. "With the way she's feeling, she might spit in it before she gives it to you."

"I know," Thomas agreed. "It's something I'm keeping in mind."