Bonus Chapter 2

The gang came back into the living room and saw the mess the demon's fight with Kelly and Austin had made.

"Boy, when they fight…" Nadine started.

"Oh, no." Wendy raced over to the couch and knelt down in front of it. "She killed him!" She swept up the dust in her hand. "Oh, no, wait, that's just dust. I forgot to sweep up in here."

"What, are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" Sophie cried.

"Hey, don't blame me if you guys are too lazy to hire a cleaning lady!" Wendy snapped.

Sophie groaned.

Austin walked in.

Wendy noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong? What happened? Did you two do something?"

Daniella knew something was up and walked over to him.

"I wouldn't get too close if I were you, Danni!" Wendy informed her sister.

"Wait a minute," Sarah said, "You just walked in from the street. In broad daylight! That means—"

"You got an umbrella!" Wendy guessed.

"He's alive…" Daniella figured out.

Michael looked at her. "What?"

Austin walked into the sunlight. No smokes, no flames, no nothing. "Kelly and I were attacked by some kind of demon…" Daniella walked over to him. "…I tracked it, killed it…" She took his wrist. "…some of its blood mixed with mine…"

"And you wound up with a pulse."

"We've gotta find out what kind of demon it was—ow! My back…it hurts…"

"Everything's more real? Now that you're human?"

"Yeah…I'm mortal now…and…" He realized something. "I am so hungry!" He raced for the kitchen and started emptying the fridge.

"He's eating everything in sight!" Wendy ducked under the couch.

Daniella pulled her up.

Austin was devouring what was left of a sandwich. "Oh, I forgot how good everything tastes when you're alive."

"Yeah, they didn't even have chocolate overload ice cream in your day," said Lucy, her eyes widened.

Austin looked at her. "Oh, I want some. Can you get that?"

"It'll go straight to your thighs."

Austin didn't listen. He was too busy on the chocolate. "Oh! I love chocolate." He stopped. "Ugh…but not, as it turns out, yogurt."

"AUSTIN!" Daniella intervened.

Austin stopped.

"We need to focus here, try to figure out what's going on. We're in a situation here. Vampires are not supposed to just come back to life."

"Right. There's a reason this happened. We gotta figure it out. Sarah, your sister's on the South Side, searching for the demon. You've gotta find her and tell her I killed it." Sarah nodded and started off. "Wait." She stopped. "Don't tell her what's happened to me. Not till I know what it means." Sarah considered this but still walked off.

20 minutes later…

Daniella was going through a book.

Austin pointed at a picture. "That's it."

"Called a Mohra demon. Some kind of demonic assassin, soldier of darkness kind of thing."

Austin paced, listening to what she had to say.

"They take out warriors for our side like you and Kelly and us…"

He looked at her.

"Needs vast quantities of salt to live."

"It was headed toward salt water."

"Yet salt still blinds it, like Goblins. Quite contradictory. Aha! 'Veins run with the blood of eternity.' There it is! Its blood has regenerative properties. When it mixed with yours, it brought you back to life."

Just to test her theory, Austin looked in the nearest mirror…and saw himself in it. "That explains what happened to me…but it doesn't explain why."

"What difference does it make?" asked Wendy, "Demon's dead, you're alive. Now's party time!"

"What's going on here?" asked Austin.

"I don't know," said Daniella, "I thought these ruling creatures…the Powers That Be. I thought they were the only ones who could do something like this…" She inspected her book. "…and if the description fits properly…they're also the ones giving Kelly her visions." Everyone looked at her.

"And they could've done this?" asked Austin, "How come I get the feeling that you guys aren't telling me everything?"

"'Cause I'm not," said Daniella, "'Cause I don't know everything. We're all on a need-to-know basis here."

"Well, I'd say this is something I need to know. What, am I a normal guy now? Can I have a normal life? I need to speak to the Powers That Be."

Daniella imitated a buzzer. "Wrong answer. You can't speak to them. Not only are they on a higher plane of existence… The Oracles." She smiled. "That's it. Remember the Oracle who told us how to cure Kelly when Tiara zapped her? If we can contact her benefactors, we can at least indirectly speak to the Powers That Be. But, uh…the benefactor Oracles are a little more…troubling than the normal Oracles… Let's just say that if they turn you into a toad, don't say I didn't warn you."

Austin looked at her.

A while later…

Daniella was setting up a spell. "Now, look, these Oracles are finicky and unpredictable. If you do get in, don't dilly-dally, ask your questions, and get out!"

"So no one's coming with me?"

"You're the main warrior here. Kelly's the messenger. The rest of us are your sidekicks as far as they see it. However, if we do this right…" She pulled out a book and read from it. "'We beseech access to the knowing ones.'" She put up the book and got out some essence of violet. "…we may just survive." She poured out the potion on her spell set-up and a blindingly-glowing white portal appeared. "You're up!"

Austin walked into the portal. He appeared in a white brick chamber.

A man and woman, dressed in toga-like outfits and sporting oddly marked skin, appeared before him.

"Come before us, lower being," said the male.

"What have you brought us?" asked the female.

Austin looked at them. "Was I supposed to—"

"You come before us and bring no offering?" asked the male.

Austin thought about that and noticed the watch on his wrist. He took it off. "Brought you this."

The female held out her hand and the watch flew into it. "I like time. There's so little yet so much of it."

"Well, what's happened to me?" asked Austin.

The female looked at her companion as she began to pace around the room. "It's true then, brother."

The male began to pace in the opposite direction. "He's no longer a warrior."

"It was the demon's blood," Austin explained, "It wasn't the Powers That Be that did this?"

"The Powers That Be?" asked the male, "Did you save humanity? Avert the apocalypse?"

"You faced a Mohra demon, life goes on," said the female.

"My life as a human? I'm not poisoned or under some spell…?"

The female looked upon the bricks at the top of the wall and waved her hand. "The auguries say 'no.' If it has happened, it was meant to be."

"From this day," said the male, "you live and die, as any mortal man."

"Privy to all the attendant pains and pleasures."

"That which we serve is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty."

The Oracles walked off.

Austin stared after them. "That's it? I'm free?"

The male waved his hand.

Austin was shot out of the portal and he landed on the triplets. He quickly scrambled up.

"It didn't work?" asked Daniella.

"Oh, it worked alright."

"You just went in a second ago."

"What?"

"Just look at your watch," Wendy told him.

"I can't. Next time, remind me to bring a gift?"

"Oh, sorry."

"They're a little confusing, but…I think the gist of it is…it's real. I'm free."

"I can't believe it," said Sophie.

"Me either. I mean, what do I do now? I've got this whole new life spread out before me and…I don't know where to begin."

"Right, it's overwhelming. But you can pretty much do whatever you want now. So the question is…what do you want?"

Austin looked at her.

At the beach…

Kelly looked around. She'd decided to do one last sweep before going back to the tower (Sarah had already told her about the demon, this was just in case) and this was her last stop. Suddenly, she heard something coming and whirled around.

Austin came up to the beach and stepped into the light.

Kelly's eyes widened upon seeing no reaction.

Austin walked up to her.

Kelly stared at him, figuring out what had happened.

They gazed at each other for a few seconds before finally getting wrapped up in a passionate kiss.