"Hey, Craig," Bebe said, in her annoying baby voice, "Why didn't you call me yesterday? I really wanted to hear your voice. I waited all evening!"

"The lines go both ways, Bebe. You know that." Craig replied. He brushed a hand through his hair and pulled his signature hat onto his head. Looking over at her, he could see she was still in the process of pulling up her panties. Annoyance gurgled in his stomach.

"C'mon, hurry up or we're gonna be late." He said, picking up his bag. "I have a test in second period that I still have to study for."

"Okay, okay, hold your horses." She said. Quickly, she pulled up her panties, straightened her skirt, and fixed her hair. Within a few moments, they were out on the sidewalk in the morning sunlight, hurrying towards the school.

"So," she began, slyly, "What were you busy doing since you didn't have time to call me?" If there was anything Bebe was good at, it was not allowing a subject to rest. Craig groaned inwardly.

"I had to stay late at school, okay?" He replied.

"Late at school?" She repeated. "What could you possibly have been doing at the school that would keep you there all evening? I waited for you to call until eleven. Don't tell me you had so much homework you were at the school until then!"

A brief flashback involving Pip's large eyes and wide-open mouth swam through Craig's brain. Shaking his head, he groped for an answer that would appease Bebe's incessant nagging.

"As a matter of fact," He said, his words clipped short, "I DID have an ass-load of homework to do. Didn't I just tell you I have a test in second period? I was studying for it all evening."

She looked at him closely. "If you studied for it all evening, as you claim, then why do you need to study for it today? This test can't be so monumental that -"

"Bebe, will you fucking cut it out?" He snapped, suddenly. "I'm telling you the truth, so why do you insist on trying to turn it into a lie? What's wrong with you? Have you ever stopped to think that THIS might be the reason why I never call you? I mean, who wants to call someone when they know they're going to be nagged until they want to shoot themselves in the face? Jesus Christ!"

Shooting her an angry look, Craig quickened his stride in an attempt to get away from her. Bebe stared after him, cursing herself for being so suspicious, and cursing him for overreacting so harshly. While gazing at his back, she wondered where that sort of outburst had come from.

What's gotten into him? She asked herself, worried for him.

...

"The time is now!" Damien laughed to himself. "His little mind is so scattered he doesn't know which way he's going...and it certainly helps that his girlfriend is being so annoying!"

As quick as a thought, Damien morphed into a small spider. Poised on the end of a tree branch, he waited for Craig to walk by and hurled himself onto his shoulder. In a swift motion, he sunk his fangs into Craig's flesh, releasing a small part of himself into his bloodstream.

"Ow!" Craig screeched, clutching his shoulder. Deftly, Damien sidestepped Craig's flailing hand and jumped off of his shoulder just in time. As Bebe came running up behind Craig, a concerned look on her face, Damien skittered across the pavement and disappeared into the grass.

"Now the fun can really begin!" He chortled.

"Craig! Craig! Are you okay?" Bebe asked. "What happened?"

Craig took his hand away from his shoulder, wincing in pain. "I-I don't know. I felt something bite me."

"Let me see." Bebe said, and reached up to move Craig's t-shirt aside. She gasped. "Oh, my God."

"What? What is it?" Craig asked, alarmed.

"You certainly did get bitten by something." Bebe replied, sympathetically. "Look. It's already starting to swell."

"Move your hand!" Craig said frantically. Craning his neck to look at his shoulder, he yelped when he saw the bite. It was indeed beginning to swell, and at its center it was a sinister shade of red. "What the fuck?"

"How do you feel?" Bebe asked. "Do you feel faint? Should we go to the hospital?"

Craig stopped to think, his mind muddled from the sudden pain. Revulsion flared in his stomach - what the hell had bitten him? Was it still on him? Quickly he began to slap at his body, making sure that whatever had bitten him was either long gone, or smashed into oblivion.

"Craig! Calm down! Do you feel okay? Tell me!" Bebe cried.

Craig tried to calm down, realizing he wasn't doing himself any good flailing around like a moron. "I-I feel okay, I guess." He managed to stammer. "I mean, it hurt like fuck when that thing bit me, but I feel alright now."

"Are you sure?" She asked, watching him closely.

"Y-yeah." He assured her, shakily. When she continued to watch him suspiciously, he gave her a lopsided smile. "C'mon, Bebe. You gotta learn to trust me eventually, right? When I say I'm fine, I mean it, okay?"

Reluctantly, the features of Bebe's face smoothed until there wasn't a hint of worry. Shyly, she reached for Craig's hand and looked into his eyes imploringly. "Okay, I believe you, Craig. But if you start to feel sick, you'll tell me, right?"

Squeezing her hand, Craig said, "Sure. Come on, let's get to school."

Bebe smiled happily. In the back of his head, Craig was still worried about his shoulder.

...

"How long does it take for the poison to start working?" The girl asked. She was lounging on Damien's bed, clad only in a pair of panties and thigh highs. Her ears, which were decidedly long and elvish, were pierced multiple times.

"Long enough to lull that moron into a false sense of security." Damien replied. "When he least suspects it, he's going to start feeling very aggressive. Whomever he's harboring secret desires for better watch out." He grinned, his teeth seemingly growing longer.

The girl sat up, her breasts jiggling slightly. "But what if Pip's not the only person he's got his sights set on?" She asked.

"Believe you me," Damien said confidently, "I read that little punk's mind and Pip's name was plastered across every surface. In fact, I've never seen such deep-seated obsession before...it was rather unsettling."

The girl giggled. "Ooo, this is getting to be fun!"

...

So far, so good, Pip thought to himself while scanning the hallway. He'd managed to go the whole day without encountering either Craig or Damien. Maybe he wasn't about to be destroyed or forced into providing sacrifices for a heartless demon.

"Get the Hell out of the way, Pip! People are trying to walk here!" Pip was pushed aside suddenly by Eric Cartman, his ample girth filling the hallway.

"Sorry, Eric, I didn't mean-" He started to say.

"Shut up, Pip." Stan Marsh said dismissively. "We're in a hurry."

"But-"

"Shut up, already!" Kyle Broflovski chimed in. "Hey, Stan, can I borrow your notes from English? I totally fell asleep at the end."

"Sure, dude." Stan said, rifling through his book-bag.

Wistfully, Pip watched as Kyle, Stan, Eric, and Kenny walked away down the hallway. He wished desperately to be accepted into a group, just once. Sighing, he turned around, wanting to visit his locker before he made his way home. As he turned, however, he encountered a solid force that knocked him backwards.

"Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry! Please excuse - " Pip's words died in his throat when he saw who he'd run into. Fear prickled the back of his neck when he saw Craig standing before him.

"C-C-Craig," He stammered, "I-I'm s-s-sorry...p-p-please..." He trailed off, expecting a blow to come raining down on him at any moment. When it didn't come, he looked at Craig, puzzled.

Craig just stood there, smiling down at Pip in what seemed an entirely 'normal' manner. His eyes, which usually flashed with malevolence, were clear and serene. All about him hung an aura of peace, all of his usual violence completely absent. "Hey, Pip, how's it going?"

Taken completely aback, Pip managed to say, "I'm okay, Craig. And you?"

Craig flashed a million dollar smile, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. "I'm just great. Hey, there aren't any hard feelings about yesterday, are there? Because I really can't tell you how sorry I am."

He's sorry? Pip thought to himself incredulously. He made me perform oral sex on him against my will on school property and he's saying he's sorry? What on earth is going on here? Pip was at such a loss for words that he stood there gaping at Craig for what seemed like hours.

"Hey, Pip, are you alright? I know sorry doesn't begin to make my actions okay, but I really am. If I can ever do anything to help you, just say the word, okay? I mean it." Craig took a step towards Pip, who cringed away. Even though Craig's words sounded nice, that didn't mean he really meant them. Pip knew better than to take him completely at face-value.

Craig rested a hand lightly on Pip's shoulder and looked closely into his face. Pip gazed back suspiciously, not sure he liked what he saw coursing through Craig's eyes. They seemed serene, but it was as if Pip could see a storm gathering at their edges...ready to break free in a frenzy of violence. Casually, Pip backed away from Craig's hand. "It's alright, Craig. I forgive you. Really, I do." He smiled thinly.

Still looking unsure, Craig nodded. "Okay, well, I'll see you around. Don't forget what I said about asking me for help, alright?"

"I won't." Pip reassured him. "Have a good evening." Hurriedly, Pip rushed away from Craig, his stomach feeling a little sick.

I'm getting out of here, he thought uneasily, I don't need to go to my locker that badly.

...

"What was that, honey? Why was Craig so nice to him?" The girl was now sitting on the couch, nursing a screwdriver and wearing a red corset. Across the room, Damien was looking deeply into the mirror that showcased his prey wonderfully.

"The tension is building, kitten. The fun's not going to happen all at once. You know anticipation is usually better than the prize itself, right?" He looked over his shoulder at her and grinned.

She pouted. "This seems like a whole lot of trouble to achieve your goal, if you ask me. Why should you waste your time bending that Pip kid to your will when we could just be out collecting blood for the Master? That'd be a whole lot more fun than watching high schoolers play out their little melodrama."

"That's where we stop seeing eye-to-eye, hon." Damien said, absentmindedly. "You're always ready to spring into action, but me, I like to toy with my prey before I bite its head off. Besides, dad didn't just send me to earth to collect blood. He also said I should have a little fun, and that's exactly what I intend to do. And nothing gives me greater pleasure than screwing around with kids who are going through horrendously difficult hormone changes."

And it certainly doesn't hurt when one of them happens to be a dear childhood friend, he thought to himself gleefully. I was just lucky that he was in such close proximity to a raging psychopath.

Secretly, he was also eager to see Pip crack under his will. This will teach him to disobey me, Damien thought savagely. I still can't believe where he gets his nerve.

As his companion continued to pout, Damien turned back to the mirror, eager to see the events at hand continue to unfold.

TO BE CONTINUED.