And the Rest

"Okay" Benny said. "But what about Erica and Rory. Shouldn't Anastasia have wanted them dead too? This no-good-vampire-thing?

"There's more than one way to get rid of a good vampire" said Evelyn. "And evil prefers elimination, or even better, corruption. Remember, Sarah was virtually incorruptible, her worst fear was becoming like the other vampires. Anastasia must have realized she could twist your other two friends when and as she felt like it."

"Evil Erica, okay I get it" sighed Benny.

"If it wasn't for Sarah and that whole BFF thing, she'd already be there" Ethan said glumly. "In fact, at the Dusk premier, she was there!

"But Evil Rory?" Benny said. "Really? And why would Anastasia bother?"

"It must get boring sitting in a darkened room playing evil vampire overlord" shrugged Ethan.

"Little Miss Fang-fang must've needed a hobby very badly" Benny said.

"For the sake of being evil" Evelyn said. "And she had two major allies when Rory was under the bloodsucker's curse; time and his hunger for blood."

"And the fact Rory's insane" observed Benny. "In a good way, but yeah."

"Let's just say your friend's over-enthusiastic and more than a little gullible" said Evelyn kindly. "But it's true, the "Ror-ster's" always been the tweedle-dum of your group.

The old woman went on to point out, that had he remained stuck as a fourteen-year-old vampire, any dimension of a normal life Rory enjoyed would have ended the far side of university. Maybe Rory could hold out as a suspiciously young looking student when he entered, but by the end he'd be still a teenager while Benny and Ethan were adults. It would be increasingly difficult for Rory, Benny and Ethan to remain friends. Eventually, the only way to keep Rory out of trouble would be to hand-down responsibility for Rory as a sort of un-dead Morgan or Weir family heirloom.

"Harsh!" Benny exclaimed.

"That isn't the harshest part" Evelyn said gravely.

With Sarah out of the picture, Rory would only have the company of evil vampires. Just as Rory had once been unwittingly un-dead and under Jesse's thumb, so Rory'd be influenced by the only "people" he could call friends. Soon Rory would be encouraged to attack people for their blood. It was only a matter of time before he was entirely corrupted. And better for everybody when Rory was finally killed off entirely, whether it was merely decades or even centuries into the future.

"And then boys" continued Evelyn, "Rory and Erica's souls would go deep down where the souls of all the other unrepentant mass murderers go, whether they're natural or supernatural. Vampires' souls don't stay forever in sort of holding pattern, that was a lie Jesse told Sarah; Sarah just unsuspectingly passed it on to you. Eventually, they're forced to move on to their final destination."

"Man" winced Ethan.

"Ouch" said Benny.

"If that had ever come to pass" said the old lady, "your one consolation would be that there would have been nothing left of the Rory we know; nor anything left of the Erica Sarah knew before she was turned. Just as the little girl Anastasia was centuries ago had long disappeared under the influence of the bloodsucker's course."

Ethan wondered if that was what would really have happened to Rory and Erica. Probably? Yes, but not definitely. There was no way to know for sure. And what would have happened to Sarah if she had died as a vampire? Ethan was sure his seer power didn't allow him to see what were now alternate realities that now had no way of happening. Ethan realized that even if he could see it, he sure the frack didn't want to look! It was enough to know that wasn't the way things turned out.

Ethan violently shuddered. What was it? Although Mrs. Weir was outwardly composed as ever, Ethan sensed she had been very unhappy just thinking about what might have been.

"Consider how this looked to an a old lady" said Evelyn, smiling knowingly at Ethan, "who has seen many of the sorrows brought on by the bloodsuckers over the years. Now see how the fate of your friends looked through my eyes. An intelligent, imaginative girl like Erica, bullied and hurt by years of frustration . . . twisted into an un-dead parasite. Your friend Rory, ever-eager and excitable, who I watched growing up beside you. And Sarah, a girl so kind, full of life, with such a future before her? All three set up for a fate worse than death, as cliche as it must sound to you. How grateful I am, that, in the end, good is more powerful than evil. And how someone as old as I am can be still be pleasantly surprised!"

Benny, in a deft move on his part, decided to fill the glasses with more lemonade. Benny thought the occasion called for raiding his dad's liquor cabinet, but not only would his grandmother not approve . . . she had long since magically locked it in case he ever had that idea.
"This calls for a toast" said Benny, handing his grandmother a glass.

"To the devamped Team Sabre" said Ethan. "To the fact we'll never be bloodsuckers . . . and Sarah and Rory will never be bloodsuckers again."

"Cheers" said Evelyn smiling.

"L'chaim" said Benny, gulping down his lemonade in one shot.