Let's throw in a Kaiko cameo while we're at it.

This contains violence and adult themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Gumi returned to the open basement doorway— and froze. She saw Luka and the man locked in an embrace that was obviously a duel to the death.

And then, she heard the elemental speak. "Oh, this is good! This is very good!" he cried. "You have actually inflicted damage on my corporeal form! You may continue, vampire. Let us see how much damage you can do to me before you die!"

Assuming that Luka the vampire was feeding on the man, Gumi silently wished Luka strength and cheered her on. Get him, Luka! she thought. Get him good! Suck him dry!

But Gumi's spirits fell when she heard the man speak again. "And even if you should succeed in melting this body entirely," the man said, "the floor of this chamber has a drainage system. The water of my corporeal form will flow back into the earth, where I can draw upon the elemental energies of this world and be reborn. It will take many years, but I shall be reborn as surely as winter follows summer. And you will be dead."

Gumi looked down at the finished concrete floor under Luka and the man, and saw a trickle of blue-tinted water begin to run from a puddle under his feet. She looked across the floor, and saw one of a few small open drains in the floor. The closest drain was several meters from the man, but the floor had been sloped so that it would drain properly, and Gumi realized that she had only a minute or so to act before the trickle of water reached the drain.

Gumi's brain automatically went into overdrive. Think, Gumi! she thought. You're supposed to be the smart one! It's all up to you now! THINK!

Looking around the basement, she saw a handyman's workbench in one corner, with a small red canister at one end. That's probably a dry-vac, Gumi thought, but it isn't plugged in, and I don't have time to find an outlet or an extension cord. I have to cover that drain first!

She ran up to the workbench and frantically rummaged through the equipment and supplies piled up on it. No, this stuff won't help, she thought. No... no... no... YES!

Meanwhile, the elmental slumped to his knees— because his arms and legs had melted away to his elbows and knees. Luka fell to her knees with him, but somehow still held both of them upright.

"Die, vampire!" the man said eagerly. "I want to see you die! You have proved to be the most worthy adversary I have ever faced, and I shall relish your death as none before!"

Luka did not respond at all. She imagined that she could feel her own body shrivel and decay, and she found herself wishing for her own death as well. But she gathered what strength she had left, and poured it into her reverse feeding.

And then, the man suddenly heard strange ripping sounds. He looked up past Luka's shoulder to see the second human tear several strips of duct tape from a thick roll with her teeth, and then press them firmly over his escape route.

The man's eyes widened as the water from his body began to pool over the covered drain. He tried to shake Luka off, but he realized that he had waited too long. His limbs were nearly gone, along with most of his body's strength.

Gumi was far too terrified to gloat, or to give the man the finger. But she took a moment to glare at him silently. Never underestimate an engineer with a roll of duct tape, she thought. And then she turned and ran back for the dry-vac.

The elemental realized that, not only had he been defeated by a vampire, but also that he was about to be captured by a pathetic human. As Gumi plugged in the dry-vac and carried it back towards him, he began to laugh hysterically.

And just as Gumi switched on the dry-vac, what was left of his body suddenly collapsed into a large puddle of bluish water. Gumi went to work, and quicky captured most of the elemental water before it even reached the taped drain.

Gumi switched off the dry-vac and sighed in relief. And then, she turned to Luka, who had fallen to one side when the elemental collapsed.

She kneeled in front of Luka, gently shook Luka's shoulders, and then began to lift her pink hair from where it had fallen over her face. "Luka! Are you OK? What should I— *GASP*!"

"DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Luka shrieked. In an instant, she was up on her knees in front of Gumi, gripping Gumi's arms so tightly that it hurt. "CLOSE YOUR EYES! DON'T LOOK AT MY FACE!"

Her triumph over the elemental forgotten, Gumi silently trembled with fear. She had expected to see Luka's beautiful face, but instead, she had caught a glimpse of a decaying corpse.

"You STUPID GIRL!" Luka growled, also trembling with weakness and the doomed effort to control her bloodlust. "Why did you come back within my reach? I could have willed myself to die peacefully, and you could have lived! But now, I MUST take your blood! ALL OF IT!"

Gumi realized that neither she nor Luka could stop what was about to happen. Tears came to her eyes immediately, but she felt the unnatural calm of a pedestrian who has just seen an oncoming bus too late to escape from its path.

So I'm going to die at the hands of a monster after all, Gumi thought. It's just not the monster that I first expected.

"I understand," Gumi said quietly. "It's OK, Luka. It's not your fault. Go ahead and do what you have to do."

Luka's voice briefly took on a more human tone. "...forgive me, Gumi," she said. "This is going to hurt."

Tears ran down Gumi's face, but her last thoughts were not of herself. "Take care of Miku," she said.

Luka howled in anguish like an animal. She tore Gumi's coat and clothing open, and sank her teeth deep into Gumi's shoulder.

Gumi screamed.

Gumi slowly opened her eyes, and looked up at what appeared to be the bottom of her own bunk-bed. "Aw, man," she whined weakly. "I was hoping that, when I got to the after-life, I could get the top bunk again."

"You'll rest in my lower bunk and LIKE it, you big nerd," a familiar voice said. "And if I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you going and getting yourself killed, then I'm never taking my eyes off you again."

Gumi turned her head to see a weary and teary-eyed Miku sitting at her side. "Gosh, Miku," she said, "you look terrible. You look almost as bad as I feel."

"Here." Miku held a juice carton to Gumi's mouth. "Drink. Yeah, Luka patched us up with her vampire voodoo the best she could, but we're both gonna need some down time. Be careful with your shoulder. It's gonna be plenty sore."

"What happened?" Gumi asked between swallows.

"I woke up in the stairwell, limped back down into the basement, and found Luka mauling you," Miku said quietly. "She was already human again, but she was still crazed. I pulled her off you just in time, and then I let her take some more blood from me until she came to her senses. All three of us are 'running on empty', but we should be OK as long as we don't have to save the world again for a few days."

"How did you pull Luka away from me?" asked Gumi. "I didn't think there was any point in resisting her when she was... like that."

"I don't know," Miku said. "I'm not even supposed to be alive... and I might not even be human. Gumi, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you about Luka or this stuff before now, but I have a lot of questions too, and we're gonna have to hold a 'Team Meeting' later with Luka.

"But since you're awake now, someone wants to talk to you. And don't be scared, OK? She's friendly."

Miku stood up, and then a female clone of the elemental took her place. "Hello, Gumi," she said softly. "I wanted to thank you for capturing my brother, and to apologize for what he tried to do to your friends. He has always been poorly behaved, but this tantrum was inexcusable."

"Oh, wow," Gumi said. "Are you really his sister? You sure don't act like him."

"We are literally polar opposites, both in geography and in personality," the elemental said. "I am sorry that I could not be of help myself, but Antarctica is a VERY long ways from here, and I currently have little more strength than a human. And it was all over by the time I arrived.

"I also wanted to reassure you that he will not trouble you again." The elemental held up a small solid block of ice. "This is the water of his corporeal form that you captured. Perhaps a few thousand years spent as a brick in the wall of my igloo will improve his manners."

Gumi gulped. "I almost feel sorry for him... Almost."

"I hope for your sake that we do not meet again," the elemental said with a gentle smile. "But if you should ever find yourself at the South Pole, please stop by and say hello." The elemental leaned in and kissed Gumi's forehead, giving Gumi a cold but pleasant shiver.

The elemental stood up. "I shall take my leave now," she said to everybody in the room. "Thank you again, and please take care of yourselves."

After the elemental left, Gumi raised a hand to get Miku's attention. "Hey, Miku? Is Luka here? I wanna talk to her too."

Miku grimaced. "Alright. But be careful, Gumi. She's still really upset about what happened." She turned away from Gumi and spoke towards the far corner of the room. "Luka? You heard her. She wants to talk to you."

The room remained silent. "...Luka, PLEASE," Miku said in an unusually emotional voice. "You have to deal with this sooner or later."

And then, Luka slowly took Miku's chair. "Guh- Gumi..." she stammered as she began to cry.

"Hi, Luka," said Gumi with a smile. "I'm glad you're better now... Oh, please don't cry. That's my job."

Luka held Gumi's hand. "How can you even bear to look at me?" she sobbed. "After what you saw... after what I did to you..."

"Everybody has a bad side," Gumi said. "Even me. If you hang around with me long enough, you'll see my bad side too.

Gumi began to cry too. "But I hope that... after you see my bad side... you'll still want to see... my good side again."

Luka leaned down and pressed Gumi's hand to her wet cheek. "Oh... Gumi... my dear friend... " she gasped between sobs.

Miku stood by with a happy smile, and brushed tears from her own eyes. But she was startled by a frantic pounding at the door.

"Oh, good grief!" Miku grumbled, as she walked up to the door and opened it. "It's getting so you can't even have a highly-emotional reconciliation around here— OOF!"

Miku was glomped by a small rain-soaked mop of long wild red hair. "I'm sorry Miku I know this is really weird but ever since I saw you at the coffee-shop I couldn't stop thinking about you and I just knew something was wrong and I was so worried about you and I was worried about Ms. Miku's Friend too and I just had to come and see if both of you were alright and I'm so happy that you're alright WHAAAAAH!"

"Thanks, Miki," said Miku with a still-tearful smile. "But if you came here to cry, you're gonna have to take a number and wait in line."