The next day at school, Benny was watching Rory on his computer telling him about Jesse and his plan when Sarah came up to him in the halls.
"Hey Benny, what did I miss?" she asked him. Benny faced her and sighed, clearly annoyed.
"The absolute worst news ever," Benny groaned. "We have to go see Dusk III."
Benny and Sarah were outside in Benny's backyard practicing for beating Jesse, and as they filled their water guns with holy water in the night sky, Benny's grandma called them inside.
"We better go see what she wants," Benny said, and they set the guns aside and walked into the kitchen.
"I just wanted to make sure you guys have fun tonight," his grandma said with a kind smile. "Is there anything that you guys need before you go?" Jane's eyes widened.
"Wait, you're leaving again?" she asked incredulously.
"Don't worry Jane, we will be back soon...as long as we don't get sucked dry," Benny said, and Sarah elbowed him. He winced.
"What?" Jane exclaimed.
"Nothing," Sarah replied nervously. "Benny's just worried he'll cry during the movie because he's a wuss."
"Nice," Benny replied sarcastically. "Anyway, we don't need anything, so we'll just be leaving then, grandma."
"Wait, I have something for you," Mrs. Weir said, pulling something out of her bag.
"Sorry, we gotta go, I already ate and I don't think we need any," Benny trailed off when he saw that his grandma pulled out two knives.
"...knives?" he finished in confusion. Jane and Sarah's eyes widened.
"If you are gonna battle the bloodsuckers, you're gonna need these," she said as she gave them the knives. She also gave Benny a book.
"Also, Benny, I bookmarked a few spells for you," she explained. "But be careful — they don't always do what you want them to when you haven't practiced."
"Are you a witch?" Jane asked
"No I'm not a witch, Jane," Mrs. Weir said with a chuckle. "I'm what you call… an earth priestess."
She said a spell under her breath and a string of magic landed on Jane's drawing. To all three of the kids' surprise, the drawing of the rabbit came to life, and animated itself doing multiple hops on the paper.
"So you're a...a...how?! Benny asked in shock.
I didn't want to tell you until you were ready, as it would freak you out," she explained, "but there's a reason that you're drawn to the unexplained. You're a spellmaster, Benny.
"Really?" Benny asked in a happy voice. Sarah rolled her eyes.
"Yep," she said. "Anyway take my car keys and remember; the earth is good. You're fighting on the right side."
She paused, and added, "And if you scratch my car, I'll turn you into a toad!"
As Benny and Sarah were driving in the car, Sarah began to nervously tap the wheel. Benny faced her and frowned.
"Are you okay?" he asked. Sarah sighed, frustrated.
"Soul for soul, it's so evil!" she said, annoyed. "I can't believe I ever dated him."
"Well, he's a jerk if he can't see what I see, and that's a beautiful, smart girl," Benny said honestly, and Sarah looked at him as the car went to a stop in front of the theatre.
"Really?" she asked. Benny smiled.
"Really."
They shared a moment of silence, smiling at each other before Benny nervously looked down at his book and flipped through the pages.
"Anyway, Grandma failed to mention that the spellbook isn't even in English," Benny said in attempts to move on from the conversation. Sarah looked at the theatre longingly.
"Wow, Erica and I waited a full year for this screening," she said sadly. "Now I can't believe I'm going to have to ruin it."
"Wow, that's really interesting," Benny said, distracted by the book. Sarah chuckled.
"Just read your magic book, dork," Sarah replied, and Benny got out of the car and through the back of the theatre with Sarah by his side.
"Look, there's a spell that just makes all the vampires disappear," Benny said excitedly. Sarah looked at him, unconvinced as she tried to break the lock.
He said some words in Latin, stumbling through them and snapped his fingers. In a small spark, the spellbook in his hands disappeared.
"Nice going," Sarah said, pulling the lock open. "Let's get this party started."
Benny smiled weakly and walked in after her, ready to put the plan in action.
Meanwhile, Sarah caught Jesse and Erica talking. She hid behind the curtain.
"Come on, Jesse, I'm starving," Erica moaned. "When am I going to get some Dusker blood?"
"Souls first, blood later," Jesse said. "You know what to do...their souls are ours for the taking."
Sarah looked horrified as they walked onstage. Sarah glanced at her phone and saw the text from Benny — everything was ready.
"Welcome to the screening of Dusk III: Unbitten!" Erica announced as every girl screamed. "When you see what's coming...well, you'll just die."
Benny looked terrified from afar, and Erica pointed a finger up as if remembering something.
"But first, the door prize," she said, picking a number from Jesse's hat. "Ticket number 205?"
"That's me!" a girl chirped, walking onstage. "What did I win?"
"You get what every Dusker wants," Jesse said with a smile. "This."
He suddenly bit the girl and everyone watched in awe as she dropped down on the ground. Her soul flew into the Cubile Animus.
"One down, two hundred and eighteen more to go," Jesse said.
"Fire!" Benny screamed, and everyone began to panic.
"Everyone relax," Jesse said reassuringly, flashing his fangs. Suddenly, the whole theatre was into chaos and Benny began making his way into the crowd to defeat some vampires.
This led him back to the concession stand where a girl was trying to fight off vampires. She chucked loads of popcorn at them and Benny pulled out the light-bulb-lightsaber.
"This is so wick!" He yelled. "Evil, you are toast!"
When both vampires were down, Benny looked at the girl and leaned over the table.
"Use the force...vintage Star Wars t-shirt," he said, out of breath, "that is so hot."
The girl grabbed his shirt and was about to pull him into a kiss when he realized that she wasn't Sarah, who was the person he really did love.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly, pulling back and handing her a water gun with holy water. "Shoot anything with fangs."
Benny turned around and ran into Rory.
"Hey!" Rory chirped. "Are you going after Jesse and his box thing?"
"Yeah," Benny said hastily. "Have you seen Sarah? I need to find her and help her."
"Yeah, she's fighting Erica over there," Rory said, pointing in their direction. "I promise I won't bite anyone by the way. I'll see you later?"
"Cool, yeah, thanks," Benny said quickly, rushing off in the direction as he ran towards Sarah, who was cornered by Gord.
"Freedom!" he yelled, running up to him before Gord single-handedly punched him. He collapsed to the ground as he was knocked out cold.
"A brave geek is still just a geek," Gord said as he looked at the unconscious Benny on the ground. Sarah hissed at him for the insult.
"Leave Benny alone," she growled.
"Yeah? And then what?"
Sarah looked at him and Benny back and forth before she pulled out a lighter and held it out at him. Gord looked at his trio of vampire groupies and laughed.
"You know we're not actually afraid of fire, right?" Gord said with a grin. "You could've at least done some research or something."
Sarah smirked and threw the lighter up in the air and it made contact with the sprinkler. It turned on and sprayed holy water on all the vampires as Sarah threw her jacket over her head to protect them. All three vampires, including Gord, disappeared.
Sarah then ran over to Benny's side as she saw that he was still unconscious.
"Benny," she whispered. She shook him a bit, before realizing he wasn't waking up. "Benny?"
Her breath nearly stopped. "Why does it look like you're not breathing? B-Because...you're not breathing, are you?"
She realized that in that single moment by Benny's side, she realized that she loved him. She saw how worried she was about him, and looking at his pained face made her sick.
"You're not going to die," Sarah said. "You can do this. Just clear the throat…"
She began to do CPR, desperately whispering Benny's name as the holy water around her started to stop.
Before she knew it, Benny took in a big gasp of air and opened his eyes. Sarah looked at him, relieved.
"You know Benny, next time I put my lips to your mouth, you better be awake," Sarah said as she pulled him up. "Are you okay now?"
"I am," he said. "Thank you for saving my life."
Sarah blushed. "You're welcome."
Sarah paused, and then held his hand.
"Hey Benny, what if I told you that I—"
"Hold that thought," Benny interrupted, catching sight of Jesse who escaped out of the theatre. Sarah turned around to see it happen and looked at him.
"We have to go find him," he said quickly, dashing out of the theatre.
As they were walking out, Sarah then stopped by a post as she felt weak. After the whole incident with Benny, she could feel her hunger get to her.
"Are you okay?"
"Take the car, Benny," she said breathlessly. "I'm too weak...and the hunger's getting stronger…"
"But Sarah, I'm not leaving you here, we gotta stop Jesse!" he protested..
"Just go, Benny, now!" she yelled. Benny looked at her unsure and Sarah sighed.
"Just go Benny, I'll be right behind you and I'll catch up. I'll be fine," she said, trying to reassure him
"Fine," Benny said as he looked at her one more time and left in the car.
He traced Jesse back to his house and found him under his cherry blossom tree in his backyard.
"Hey lousy spellmaster," Jesse said, "did you really think you can beat me?"
It suddenly occurred to Benny that he didn't have his spell book. He sighed.
"Yes!" he shouted determinedly. Jesse laughed.
"You're just a loser without a wand," he said evilly, and Benny instinctively threw his hand in front of him and fired a spell. Jesse jumped out of the way.
"Face it, Weir, I'm too powerful," Jesse yelled, about to make a move before Sarah came up to him and tackled him on the ground. The Cubile Animus flew out of his hands and into Benny's.
"Sarah!" Benny yelled, terrified for her.
Jesse took ahold of Sarah in one swift motion and grabbed her neck. She began to choke, grasping for air as she struggled in his grasp.
"Now Benny, hand over the box of souls or she dies," Jesse growled.
"No, Benny don't!" Sarah yelled.
Suddenly, Mrs. Weir and Jane said a spell from the window and the box of souls rumbled.
"No, no, what have you done!" Jesse yelled as souls surrounded him and he disappeared in ashes.
Benny helped Sarah up and grinned.
"Wow, I can't believe you dated that guy," he joked. Sarah smiled at him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she admitted, "Jesse didn't hurt me too badly."
"You're definitely not okay, Sarah. Your arm is bleeding," he said, concerned. Sarah looked down and shook her head.
"I'm fine," she protested. "Really, I am."
Benny still wasn't satisfied as he said a spell that made the wound disappear. Sarah sighed.
"Won't be able to get used to that," she said with a smile.
"Hey Benny?"
"Yeah?"
"You remember what I said before we left the movies?"
"Yep," Benny said. Sarah sighed.
"Well I didn't say what I wanted to," Sarah said, taking his hand and saying, "Benny, I think I am in love with you."
"Y-You...what?" Benny asked in shock.
"I said I love you," Sarah repeated.
"You do?"
"Yeah, I do," Sarah said. "When Gord knocked you out, I thought you were dead. I was so worried for you…"
"I'm sorry I scared you like that."
"You're okay now, and that's all that matters," Sarah replied, before walking back towards the house. Benny grabbed her arm.
"Wait, Sarah," he said, stopping her.
Sarah turned around and Benny smiled.
"I love you too."
…
"So how was the rest of your night?" Mrs. Weir asked curiously. "Did you all clean up after? Did you guys do anything?"
Sarah smiled, unknowingly placing her fingers on her lips where Benny kissed her.
"Nothing much, it was pretty dead," she replied with a smile.
"3D glasses, who's crazy enough to believe that," Sarah asked as they walked to school the next day. Benny smiled.
"Well these are Duskers we're talking about," Benny said. "Besides the town is safe, and Jesse's rejoined his family. You're not still dying though, are you? I mean, you're normal body's going to be alright?"
"Yeah," Sarah answered, "plus your grandma makes a mean human blood substance
"That and she found my spellbook," he replied, and Sarah grinned.
"Hey guys!" Benny and Sarah heard a voice say looked over and saw Rory and Erica waving to them as they waved back.
"It's pretty much all over," Sarah said as her and Benny heard the bell ring
"Let's go to class Benny," she said as they walked into the school together holding hands.
"Benny, I love you," she said to him at last.
Benny kissed her cheek. "I love you too, Sarah."
As they were walking, Benny couldn't stop talking about the spells.
"They are pretty cool, they're like a splash of—"
"Benny, shut up!" Sarah exclaimed with a smirk, and pulled him into a kiss. When they pulled back, Benny smiled, a bit dazed.
"Sorry," he managed to say, and Sarah smiled, as they walked into school hand in hand.
