A/N: Hey guys! I'm back. I'm sorry for not updating this story at all. I could have sworn that I had, but when I went back through all of my old stuff, I realized that I hadn't actually submitted anything. Oops! Anywho, here's the rest of it.

Chapter II

Dess took her cellphone away from her ear for the fourth time that evening.

"They're still not picking up," she said. "Where the hell are they?"

There were four minutes before the blue time hit and Melissa and Rex had yet to show up to their meeting spot in front of Madeleine's house.

"Let the two lovebirds be," Jessica mumbled. "They'll get here."

"They were supposed to get here minutes ago. What if something happened to them?"

"Like what?" Jessica shot back. "There's no chance that they could have run into darklings at this hour."

"Darklings aren't the only thing that could have held them up. They could have gotten into a car accident or held up by the police."

"Will you two just shut up?" Jonathan snapped. "They'll get here when they get here. We might as well go inside and avoid wasting our time bickering."

Dess slouched back in her seat with her arms crossed. "Fine," she said shortly.

The three of them climbed out of the car as the blue hour washed towards them. Not a single blue-tinted leaf stirred as the group made their way towards Mdeleine's house.

"Hello? Madeleine?" Dess called into the house, but received no answer.

"Maybe she's out," Jessica suggested.

"Madeleine? At this hour? She might be crazy, but she's not stupid," Jonathan said.

The sound of scratching came from the ceiling above their heads and the group was startled into silence. Jessica whipped out her flashlight and whispered its name as Dess and Jonathan did the same with their own stainless steel weapons. They crept around the corner to the stairs leading to the attic.

"Madeleine?" Dess called again, but her voice was more hushed this time. Ready to spring at a moment's notice, the group climbed up the stairs, wincing at every creak they made.

The dim lighting of the attic made it hard to see, but as soon as their eyes got used to the darkness, they all were shocked at the sight they saw. Madeleine's usual tea table had been knocked over and shattered shards of tea cups littered the floor. On the wally and the ceiling, blood was splattered and two dark red puddles lay dried on the floor boards. In the middle of the puddles lay a few pieces of jewelry and Madeleine's and Melissa's weapons.

The midnighters' hearts sank at the sight. Jessica's vision swam before her eyes and she rested her head against Jonathan's shoulder.

The same scrabbling noise that brought them to the attic came from behind them and they turned around. The thing that had killed Madeleine and Melissa had not yet left.

Jessica flipped the switch to turn on her flashlight and its white beam lit up the attic, blinding Rex. She quickly dropped the light towards the ground.

"Oh my god, Rex!" Jessica shouted. "I'm so glad you're alive." She ran up to him in a large embrace.

"What happened here?" Dess asked.

Rex's eyes flashed purple. "Nothing you should be worried about," he growled.

Jonathan knew that there was something wrong with Rex. The normal Rex would be distraught if his girlfriend died and would not act defensive and nonchalant about the matter.

"Get away from him!" Jonathan shouted at Jessica and rushed to her side.

In the midst of Jessica's hug, Rex turned on her, pinning her against the wall with enough force to rattle the windowns all over the house.

"Rex!" Jessica shrieked. "What the hell are you doing?"

She reached for the flashlight that she had stuck in her pocket only a moment before, but it had fallen out and was lying on the ground far out of her reach.

Jonathan reached Rex with his knife's blade already out and sliced his arm. Rex howled at the touch of stainless steel to his exposed skin and relaxed his hold on Jessica. Not being held up by Rex anymore, she slumped to the ground and then rolled away to grab her flashlight. She turned it on and trained it at Rex.

"Stop!" Dess called. Jessica hesitated and turned to give her a quizzical look.

"Rex is still Rex. Don't kill him," Dess explained.

"He tried to kill me!" Jessica moved the beam ofwhite light closer to Rex, but only held it at his feet. He caught on fire momentarily, burning him slightly. Unable to stand, Rex crumpled to the ground where he lied there writhing in pain.

"We can't let him go free," Jessica said.

"I know where Madeleine keeps ropes with stainless steel intertwined in it," Jonathan offered and ran off to fetch it. Dess remained at Rex's side with her steel blade still hovering next to his cheek.

"If you make one more move at one of us, I swear, Halfling, I. Will. Cut you," Dess hissed in Rex's ear.

Rex only laughed demonically. "Like that matters," he said in his creepy darkling voice. "In a few weeks' time we will rule the earth once more."

"What does that mean?" Jessica asked shakily.

Through pained eyes, Rex glared at her. "It means that you will be dead and we will be unstoppable." Jessica couldn't help but shudder at his words.

"Shut up," Dess commanded and pressed her blade against his skin once more. "We'll never let the darklings gain that much power."

Rex continued to laugh maniacally and both Jessica and Dess were more than relieved to see Jonathan climb back up the stairs with silver rope in hand. Rex's hands and feet were gagged and he was tied to the column that stretched from the floor to the ceiling on the ground floor.

"Don't struggle," Jonathan warned. "The ropes are stronger than usual; you can't through them. The more you strain against the bonds, the more they will burn."

Rex only glared up at them. His violet eyes still burned furiously. He was like a wild animal forced in a too-small cage. He refused to be tamed.

"How do we know that Rex won't get loose?" Dess fretted. "We can't have him roaming around Bixby on the loose."

"This isn't Rex anymore," Jessica said. "This is some half-breed monster."

"I'll watch him for the rest of the night if one of you will take over for me early tomorrow morning," Jonathan offered.

"But what about school?" Dess asked. "There's no way that I could skip."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow's Saturday."

Dess smirked to herself. "Right."

"Dess, will you take the morning shift? I don't think that I would be able to sneak out of the house until later without Beth getting too suspicious," Jessica said.

"Not a problem," said Dess. "I'll see you tomorrow bright and early, Jonathan," she said as the two girls began to walk out of the door. The blue time was almost at a close. "You'd better not be sleeping when I return."

Jonathan groaned, beginning to regret the long night that he had somehow just agreed to. Once the girls were out the door, he turned towards Rex. "I'm getting bored already," he said. "Got any darkling fairytales to share?" Rex only glared at him, not even letting a hint of a smile crack his stoic expression.

"There is one," Rex said at last and Jonathan grinned much too widely.

"Let's hear it, then!"

"Once upon a time, there were darklings and humans. Then, the darklings ate all of the humans. The end."

Rex's gravelly voice was enough to wipe the stupid grin off of Jonathan's face. "That was… quite a story," he grimaced. "I'm just going to watch some TV." Jonathan scampered away from Rex, not able to stand another minute in his immediate presence.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, favorite, or follow! I always love feedback :3