Special thanks to Katsumara, neithan, CajunBear73, bigherb81, Isamu, MrDrP, whitem, JCS1966, screaming phoenix, BlueEyedBrigadier, Shrike176, and UtCyborg for their great reviews!
Thanks to everyone for reading these long-delayed chapters!
My deepest appreciation to my harsh editor flakeflippingsnowgypsy. No writer could ask for better.
I.
"Stoppable-san," Usui-san cried, grabbing hold of his arm. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to help Kim," Ron replied incredulously.
"Are you crazy?"
"Crazy? Look, Dude, I am the only one who can take out these guys mano-a-mano. Kim can't do it alone. Even if Karin bit her."
"But you can't even see, Ron-san!" she pleaded. "Listen to Usui-kun."
"I don't need to see!" he snapped. After a second, "Well, okay, I do need someone to point me in the right direction, but once I get there, I'll be able to take 'em down. I'm the only one who can do it!"
"Ron-san, please," Karin begged, "You need to go to a doctor. You can't be serious about fighting those monsters."
"Note serious face," Ron said, pointing to his defiant expression.
When he said this, he had not been looking directly at Karin. What's more, he was a good foot or so taller than she was. So she stepped in front of him, backed up a few steps to align herself more with his would-be line of sight, and, finally, stood on her tiptoes, so she could look him directly in his unseeing right eye.
"Usui-kun," she said a few seconds later, "I think we better do what he says."
II.
"You Earthers have a saying," Warmonga sneered, her merciless yellow eyes brimming. "'Payback' is a furry female quadruped."
As she brought down her staff, a sharp rock struck her right between the eyes. Kim rolled out of the way just as the alien collapsed to the ground.
"No," Kim said as she stood and brushed the dirt from the palm of her throwing hand, "you are."
She turned and began scrambling to the top of the debris pile. However, a sudden howl of anger stopped her in her tracks. Looking over her shoulder, Kim saw the alien warrior already climbing to her feet, more furious than ever.
You have so got to be kidding me!
III.
The fanged Earther's eyes sprang open.
However, Warhok had not taken any chances this time. With both of his hands pressuring her neck, he was able to stifle her frenzied burst of energy as she regained consciousness. Within instants, he could feel the fight dying within her.
He smiled. "You will adorn the Wall of Conquests."
She tried to speak, but only pitiful gurgling noises emanated from her mouth.
"Indeed. You will make a most excellent trophy," he said looking her over with calm satisfaction.
"I-I," she managed weakly. "I'll th-think about that ... as I ... w-watch ... my family ...," and then her tone became suddenly frigid and firm, "Suck. You. Dry."
Warhok's head erupted in pain. As his vision began to cloud, he realized that he was having difficulty breathing. He dropped the Earther as his hands reflexively went to his neck to fight off the powerful arm that was crushing his throat. He futilely clawed and tugged at the arm and turned his head so as to see this new enemy.
For only the second time since he was three sorbecks old, Worhok was frightened. The eyes were magma, and the fangs were as long as a Thorgoggle's. And the voice ... the voice was a howl from the base of a volcano.
"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY MOTHER!"
Within seconds, Worhok's body was airborne. The formidable space marauder, however, was not concerned by his sudden flight; he had already lost consciousness.
"Mommy! Mommy, are you all right?!" the tall vampire asked as he rushed to Elda. She sat on the ground, trying to catch her breath.
"Don't even!" she cried, turning the full red blast of her gaze against him. "What the HELL took you so long, Henry?! That idiot almost killed me!"
"I got here as fast as I could," he protested. "Are you okay?"
"Of course, I'm okay!" she snapped, leaping to her feet. Then she gave the top of the mound and the sky a few disapproving glances. "Let me guess, she isn't coming?"
Henry, who was still quite concerned about his mother's well being and the nasty bruise on her neck, had only half-heard the question. "Huh? I'm sorry?"
"Your worthless wife," she yelled. "Where is she?"
"WARMONGGGGAAAAA!"
The alien's outraged cry as she erupted over the edge of the hill caught them both by surprise.
IV.
As she tried to put some distance between herself and the rampaging alien warrior, Kim tripped and fell. As she staggered back to her feet, she discovered that she had tripped over the umbrella. She snatched it up and made ready to fend off Warmonga's first strike.
A strike that never came. Warmonga was standing perfectly still with a lost look on her face. "Warhok," she uttered softly as her head slowly pivoted to the right.
Kim glanced in the direction of the alien's gaze and witnessed Warhok's body plummeting to earth some twenty yards from the mound.
Warmonga violently shoved Kim aside and charged up the hill, her plasma staff glowing.
Kim got to her feet and chased after her. When she saw the alien reach the cusp of the hill, she tried to scream a warning to whoever might have been up there. Unfortunately, her warning was drowned out by the alien's thunderous battle cry.
Which was followed by a terrible blast.
And then Kim witnessed Warmonga's body as it flew through the air, plummeted, and tumbled to earth some twenty yards from the mound.
She jumped when a small object impacted the ground some three feet from where she stood. It throbbed with an incandescent pink for a second or two. Kim peered through the steam clouds the object was emitting. To say that she was unprepared for what she found would have been an understatement.
It was a fuzzy, pink slipper.
V.
"You were saying, Elda?" Calera Marker asked with unveiled contempt.
The distasteful fact that she had just saved her mother-in-law from a brutal attack was mitigated by the consequence that she had also saved her husband from the same threat. Furthermore, she could rub the last-second rescue in Elda's face for as many years to come as she wished.
Elda glowered for a second but then replied breezily, "Oh, nothing, nothing at all, Armash."
"Don't try to bait me, Mother Dear," her suddenly rigid daughter-in-law warned, "this is not the time. Where is Karin?"
"She's safe," Kim said as she reached the top of the hill. "Usui-san took her in that direction," she continued, pointing to the west. "They were going for help and to get a safe distance from the fighting."
The elegantly-dressed vampire turned and smiled at Kim. "Well, that's good to hear." Then her smile and eyes grew hard and dangerous. "And who might you be?"
VI.
At once, several things struck Kim about the vampire who had just addressed her. First, she noticed how similar the woman's platinum hair and pale skin tone were to those of Maaka-san's little sister. Second, like her friend's grandmother, this vampire's fashion sense was contemporary: she was wearing a low-cut red dress with heels. Third, Kim picked up a confident vibe coming from the vampire, very self-assured, almost haughty. Finally, Kim noticed that, much like the grandmother's, the fangs of this vampire were quite longer than Maaka-san's.
This final observation drove home the unsettling fact that Kim was the only one present who did not have fangs.
At least not yet.
"I'm--" Kim began.
"She's just another one of Karin's human friends," Elda interrupted with a dismissive gesture.
"Oh, really?" the other vampire called over her shoulder while keeping her colorless eyes upon Kim. "And you haven't tried to kill her yet?"
Kim so did not like the direction the conversation was going.
"Ho! Ho! I guess we mellow after passing the second century mark, eh, Elda?" she continued in a mocking tone. Then as the vampire looked over Kim, who was covered in cuts and scratches, her expression changed almost to concern. In a hushed voice, she asked Kim, "She didn't try to kill you, did she?"
Before Kim could reply, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand straight up. There was an imposing third vampire suddenly at her elbow. As she looked up at the ominous, towering, caped figure, she mentally checked off every cliché from every vampire movie she and Ron had ever watched together: black hair, bone-white pallor, gaunt features, remorseless eyes. She continued to stand her ground, but she couldn't suppress an anxious gulp as his ferocious glare bore into her.
Raising a thick eyebrow above his piercing right eye, he asked finally, "Kim … Possible?"
"Yes."
He quickly swooped down on his knees and engulfed her right hand with both of his.
"I'm Karin's father, Henry," he said pleasantly. "I've seen you on television."
Kim's attention immediately focused on the ridiculously long fingernails he had. Fortunately, he had taken up her hand in such a way that his … well … "claws" were posing no danger to her. In fact, she was surprised by how smooth and soft the skin of his hands felt.
"This is a great honor," he continued, shaking her hand in an anxious, overly-friendly manner.
"My … my pleasure," Kim said after a moment.
He suddenly dropped her hand. "Are you--" he started as he pointed to her tattered uniform. "Do you work for Julian now?"
"Well--," she began.
"That's fantastic!" he beamed. "My daughter is a big fan of yours, Miss Possible!"
"Really? Well--" Kim forced a smile. Henry's demeanor was so not what she expected from a vampire. She got the definite impression that the seven foot Dracula look-alike was about to ask her for an autograph.
"Calera!" he called, looking toward the vampire in red. "It's Kim Possible! Don't you recognize her?" He then added helpfully, "From television?"
As the other vampire looked over Kim's person once more, Henry took the opportunity for an introduction.
"This is Karin's mother, Calera, my wife." he explained cheerfully.
After a second or two, a vague flash of recognition crossed Calera's face. "Ahh, yes! I have seen you before. You and your boyfriend are always fighting that green floozy and her blue buffoon."
VII.
The only time Warmonga's head had pounded more intensely had been when it had collided with the Star Razer as their attempt to conquer Earth came to an unsatisfactory conclusion. That headache had lasted several moon cycles. With difficulty, she raised her head and blinked open her large eyes to discover that she and her companion, who was glowering up at the stars, were entangled in the branches of the same tree they had both landed against earlier.
Warhok angrily thrashed his arm against the bare branches that surrounded them. That was a mistake; he winced and held his wounded arm close to his chest. He brushed aside Warmonga's subsequent gesture of aid and stared at the figures atop the remains of the Earthers' structure.
"There are four of them now," he uttered flatly. He punctuated the statement with a sigh.
Warmonga gasped. She had never heard Warhok sigh before--it was almost as if he was ... having doubts. As she searched for something to say, her eyes fell upon ...
"The drone," she stated.
"Frackle!" they cried in unison. "Why didn't we activate it previously?"
"Drachrid!" Warmonga said cheerfully. "You are indebted to me for one Letzel!"
"Fine." Warhok grunted. Then he smiled. "Once our conquest is complete, you shall have you Letzel."
VIII.
"By any chance," Calera asked, looking intently at Kim, "did my daughter bite you?"
"Yes!" Kim exclaimed. She blushed, but then continued on as steadily as she could. "Actually, I have a couple of questions about that."
"What would you like to know?" Henry asked.
Still slightly unbalanced by Maaka-san's father's friendly and un-vampire-ish manner towards her, Kim hesitated two seconds before voicing her most pressing concern.
Unfortunately, two seconds was long enough for Elda to swoop over and strike her son violently across the back of his head.
"HENRY!" she screamed. "Are you insane?!"
"Mommy!" he wailed in pain.
"I would hope that I raised you well enough not to volunteer revealing secrets to humans!"
"Elda, we have no choice but to take her into our confidences," Calera reasoned calmly. "Obviously, too much time has passed since Karin bit her for us to erase only those memories."
"Unless you've forgotten," Elda responded, her crimson eyes glowing, "I'm the head of this family ... Armash!"
"Stop calling me by my maiden name!" Calera exploded in response.
Due to the nature of the household in which she had been raised, Kim always felt slightly uncomfortable around families that were less ... "functional" than her own. This was even more the case when the dysfunctional family in question was a family of vampires.
"My mother's not exactly … fond of humans, I'm afraid," Henry explained with a forced smile as his mother and wife loudly raged at each from only a few feet behind him. "What did you wish to know?"
"Uh," Kim started, still more than a little distracted by the on-going violent confrontation a few feet away. "Well, I wanted … well, since your daughter, since Karin bit me, does that mean I'm going to become--"
"Watch what you say, girl!" Elda snapped, turning her full attention back to Kim.
She angrily marched toward Kim, ranting as she did so. "I was this close," Elda held up her clawed fingers to indicate, "'this' close to almost tolerating you, human! And now you go and prove that you're as stupid and arrogant as the rest of your species!"
"Mother!" Henry protested, stepping between them. "Of course she's going to ask about that! It's a widely-held human myth."
Elda ignored her son and shouted over his shoulder at Kim, "If you get bitten by a dog, do you grow a tail? If it's a mosquito, do you spout wings?" Then she exploded, "We are NOT a DISEASE!"
Her cry was swallowed by the din of the Lorwardian drone coming to life.
IX.
"Oh! Mama and Papa are here!" Karin Maaka exclaimed.
Kenta and Maaka were slowly guiding Stoppable-san back through the maze of debris that had once been Julian. Kenta had urged his girlfriend to stay behind, but she had tearfully refused to leave his side. Although he didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone, it was much preferable to leading her into the eye of the storm. To make matters worse, he wasn't so sure about Stoppable-san.
Although he honestly believed that Possible-san's boyfriend possessed special abilities--how could he not if he routinely helped her save the world--he was not wholly convinced of his "Mystical Monkey Power" claim. It sounded too much like something somebody would say after getting socked in the head with a sack of rice.
"Your parents are here?" Stoppable-san asked.
"Uh-huh. They're standing right below the aliens' machine," she said pointing to the small figures some thirty meters away. She grimaced when she remembered that Stoppable-san couldn't see what she was pointing to or even that she was pointing at all.
"What's going on?" he asked. "Can you see Kim?"
"Uh …," she said squinting at the far-off figures. "Yes!" she announced. "Possible-san's there, too. So's Grandma."
"Okay," he replied somewhat nervously. "What are they doing?"
"They look like they're just talking," Kenta said.
"And I don't see those aliens," Maaka reported. "Maybe they already beat them." She gave Stoppable-san's right hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Uh-oh!" she said suddenly.
"Uh-oh? What do you mean? What's happening?!" he cried.
"Grandma just hit Papa." she explained.
A few seconds later, "And now Mama and Grandma are fighting."
"Sounds pretty normal," Kenta said with a forced chuckle. "Maybe they did already defeat the Lorwardians."
The hydraulic whine of the drone's four gigantic legs stopped them cold.
"Or maybe not." Kenta admitted.
"Oh man," Stoppable-san groaned. "There's no way that sound bodes well."
X.
As the drone's legs sprung out from the impact site and drove their talon-shaped ends into fresh earth, Elda and Calera took to the air.
"Why are these pathetic monsters so dependent on their toys?" Elda snarked as she easily flew out of the path of one of its legs.
The force the leg's impact sent Kim to her knees. She climbed to her feet and was about to run when two hands slipped beneath her arms and bore her up into the air.
"Are you okay?" Henry asked once they soared to a safe distance.
Kim turned her head to face the vampire who had just rescued her and nodded. "Yes, thanks, Maaka-san."
"Actually, it's Marker," he explained, "only the children have adopted the Japanese version of our name."
"Oh, really?" she asked, slightly distracted. "Look out!"
A barrage of green laser blasts hurtled sharply toward them from the left.
Kim snapped open Elda's umbrella and deflected the radiating plasma shots with ease.
"Well done," Henry remarked appreciatively and then yelped as one of the drone's appendages was suddenly right upon them.
He swooped out of the path of the mechanical leg at the last second. It impacted the trunks of two trees at the edge of the parking lot. Their trunks cracked, sending their upper sections into the air.
"Remind me how you defeated these things last Spring, Miss Possible," Henry said with growing concern.
"Well … vampires wouldn't happen to have the power to control giant mutant flowers, would they?" she replied doubtfully.
Henry didn't respond at first. On the topic of human myths concerning vampires, he thought he had heard it all. "That's a new one."
XI.
As Kenta Usui was debating which bit of cover was the least dangerous for the trio to hide behind, the top of a tree smashed to the ground some ten feet ahead of them and began tumbling end over end directly toward them. Kenta pulled Stoppable-san out of its path, but his girlfriend was so petrified that she couldn't move.
"Look out, Maaka!" Kenta cried.
At the last second, the dark mass of her grandmother's bats descended upon the tree and carried it safely away from her.
Kenta and she exhaled relieved sighs. After a beat, Stoppable-san, in blind sympathy, released one as well.
"Maaka!" Kenta yelled as he caught sight of a second treetop catapulting through the air toward his girlfriend.
A dark shape bolted from the shadows, snatched hold of her hand, and pulled her from the spiraling tree's path to the safety of a tangle of dining tables.
Karen and her boyfriend once again breathed sighs of relief.
"What just happened, guys ... uh, twice?" Stoppable-san asked.
Kenta called out. "Are you okay, Maaka?"
"I'm fine," she nodded and then looked about for her rescuer. "Yono-san!" she cried, throwing her arms about the simian. "You saved me! Thank you so so much!"
The monkey rudely squirmed from her grasp. However, before she could feel hurt, he extended his neck beneath her right hand. And then looked up at her expectantly.
"Oh!" she said, realizing. "I'm sorry, Yono-san." She began scratching furiously behind his ears.
Kenta watched his girlfriend and the monkey for a long moment. "Maaka," he began finally, "maybe you should get to a safe distance with Yono-san. I'll take Stoppable-san from here."
"Usui-kun?" she looked up in alarm.
"It's too dangerous," he said firmly. "I don't want anything to happen to you. Just keep trying to reach Load-san."
"Okay," she nodded, unconsciously biting her lip.
Yono took her hand in both of his and began moving it back and forth in an attempt to get her to continue her ministrations upon his neck.
"Oh man!" Ron exclaimed.
"What?" his friends cried in unison.
"I just realized what this reminds me of! Zombie Mayhem Seven: Zombie Trek!"
"Excuse me?" Kenta asked, now fully certain that the rice sack had done more than just give Stoppable-san a black eye.
"Don't you see?" Stoppable-san explained, looking a little to Kenta's left. "The Undead getting into a knock-down drag-out with some hard-core aliens!"
"Ron-san," Maaka said tentatively, "we … uh … aren't really 'undead.'"
"Well … yeah, but still you see where I'm going with this, right?"
Maaka and the monkey both shook their heads.
"Actually, Stoppable-san," Kenta admitted, "I don't think we do."
"This time," Stoppable-san affirmed with a broad grin, "the aliens are gonna get their biscuits handed to them!"
XII.
"Dammit!" Elda growled.
Dodging through a barrage of blasts from a laser turret located at the base of the Lorwardian drone, Maaka-san's grandmother had attempted to dismantle one of its four legs by hand. However, the lacerations she easily dug into the machine's surface did not last. Within seconds, a light green glow surrounded the damaged metal of the device which subsequently smoothed over back into a seamless surface. Angrily, the vampire had torn larger holes into the metal only to watch them self-repair as well.
Overhead, Calera wasn't having any better luck. She had aimed two charges directly at the ugly crest on the drone's top to no discernible effect. Moving out of the way of an incoming laser blast, she spied Elda flying from the machine's underbelly in disgust. "Where are your familiars?" she called.
"Where are yours?" Elda growled.
Calera dodged another blast from the drone and then took a temper-saving breath before she answered. "Maintaining a boundary around the area, of course. This battle would most definitely attract humans. Where are yours?"
"Protecting Karin," Elda snapped. "I thought somebody in the family should."
"Please! Stop fighting!" Henry begged, swooping in next to his wife with Kim still in tow.
"Do you have any ideas?" Calera asked, shooting a look to Kim.
"Ron would be able to take down this thing, no problem," Kim explained, "but he's ... temporarily unavailable."
"So what are we supposed to do?" Elda groused, "Just--" she dodged another blast from the drone. "Stop that!" she screamed at the aliens' machine. "Just keep this damn thing busy until Anju arrives?"
Since Kim had, for the most part, just been along for the ride, she had had ample opportunity over the past few minutes to scrutinize the alien machine's movements. Her attention kept retuning to the turret on the device's underside. Something about it reminded Kim of her brief imprisonment upon the aliens' mother ship the previous spring.
"I've got an idea," she said.
XIII.
With each passing moment, it was becoming clearer to Warmonga that the doubt she had sensed in her companion had been an illusion.
In fact, now that they had sequestered themselves securely and their new battle tactics were proving fruitful, she sensed a familiar level of confidence radiating from Warhok that suggested victory was within their grasp. As she watched him maneuver the drone via the small remote device, she smiled to herself, recalling similar pleasant instances from their past.
"Has your temperament undergone a positive gradient change?" Warmonga asked warmly, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Excuse me?" he asked, distracted. He did not turn to face her.
"Pay me no heed," she sighed, removing her hand.
"Did you utter something?" he asked turning his head slightly.
"Negative," she snorted.
"What was your request?" he asked with a show of concern, reluctantly taking his eyes from the battle.
"It is not of primary import," she answered testily.
"If you'll restate your inquiry once more," he said with an all-too-familiar edge. "Tadzimas!" He swiftly corrected the drone's uneven positioning and then asked through gritted teeth, "Can this not wait until victory is achieved?"
"Assuredly," she replied and crossed her arms.
XIV.
Like the laser cannon she and Drakken had faced aboard the Lorwardians' mother ship, the one on the underside of the drone was motion-sensitive. Kim hoped that if the vampires coordinated their flight paths in simultaneous yet conflicting patterns it would "confuse" the weapon's guidance programming. With a little luck, the drone might nail itself with one of its blasts.
Kim's guess seemed to pay off after only a few passes. Not being able to lock onto one particular target for any considerable period, the gun's blasts became erratic and wildly off target.
Prior to executing the plan, Henry had suggested putting Kim down somewhere for her own safety. A brief survey of the smoking remains of the parking lot beneath the Lorwardian device's churning legs, however, had made it clear to both of them that if there was a safe place nearby, it was not on the ground.
"So," Kim said as she and Henry completed another sweep and dodged another ill-aimed volley, "I assume I'm not going to become a vampire."
"Oh, no," he replied with a smile. "Vampires and humans are different species. That just can't happen."
She exhaled deeply.
Thank you!
"But then," she asked, "why do I feel so different now?"
"Well," Henry said after a moment, "that's kind of hard to explain, but the side-effects of our bites are only temporary. You shouldn't worry about it."
"But," she persisted, "I still don't get it. Why do I feel so energized if Karin drank my blood?"
"What?" Henry paused in mid-air.
A very close blast from the cannon and an angry cry from Calera as she flew past them from the other direction put Henry's head back in the game.
"My daughter did not drink your blood, Miss Possible," he stated as they regained speed and altitude.
"She didn't?"
"No, she is … unique … in many ways." He explained, "She does not burn in sunlight, she can't erase memories, she gets her nourishment from human food." He gave a weak laugh. "In fact, if it wasn't for her blood increasing, she'd practically be human."
"Excuse me--blood increasing?"
Her plane of vision suddenly changed to green, followed by a loud crash. However, once Kim's eyesight cleared, she realized the cannon had missed them and instead hit one of the drone's own legs directly in front of them.
"Spankin'!" Kim cried.
XV.
Warmonga cursed to herself as the explosion's fiery plume engulfed the drone's leg. She waited for a thunderous exclamation of disgust from her fellow warrior. But none was forthcoming.
When she turned to face Warhok, she was shocked to discover his head bowed. From where she stood, she could not discern his expression. She caught her breath and tried to argue away the unthinkable intimations such a posture conveyed.
Surely these Earthers have not broken the spirit of Warhok?
XVI.
Karin anxiously paced up and down the darkened corner; three meters or so overhead, her grandmother's colony of bats mirrored her every step.
"Come on, come one, come on!" she pleaded, staring into the Kimmunicator's screen. She was carrying it in both hands because she had been unable to get it strapped to her small wrist without it sliding off and landing on the ground.
A few minutes earlier, the static that had continuously filled the display unexpectedly ceased for a half second. She was now retracing her steps to try and relocate this break in the aliens' jamming network.
Finally, as she teetered on the corner's edge, the static faded and a fuzzy image began to emerge. While trying to maintain her precarious balance, Karin lowered and raised the device in an attempt to improve the signal. Unfortunately, it seemed to only get better the higher she positioned it. Holding the device above her head and balancing on the edge of the street on the side of her left foot, Karin found herself staring into the anxious, confused eyes of Wade Load.
"Load-san?" she asked.
"Uh, yes, hello?" He replied.
"Oh, hi, I'm Karin Maaka and I'm friends with Ron-san. And Possible-san, too … I hope."
"Ok, cool," Wade nodded rapidly, "What happened? Is everyone okay?"
"Those aliens attacked the restaurant," Karin explained.
"The Lorwardians?"
"Yeah, I think it was them."
"I was afraid of that. Is everyone okay?"
"I-I think so," Karin answered as she lost her balance and subsequently the signal. Quickly, she got back on the corner's edge, regained the signal, and continued. "Everyone's fine, well … Ron-san's blind, but he should be okay."
"Did you just say that Ron was blind?" Wade asked in alarm.
"Yeah," she nodded sadly, "he got hit with a sack of rice, but Usui--my boyfriend--says he should be all right."
"That's good to hear. Is your boyfriend a doctor, a nurse?" Wade asked.
"No," Karin shook her head, "he's a waiter."
"Oh, okay," Wade said uncomfortably. "Uh, can I speak with Kim?"
"Well, Possible-san's not here," Karin said right before losing her balance again. Once she restored the signal, she explained, "She went to help my grandmother fight the aliens."
Wade didn't say anything for a moment.
"Load-san? Can you still hear me?"
He nodded slowly. "So, okay, your grandmother is fighting the Lorwardians with Kim?"
Karin nodded and then went pale. Due to the excitement of the past half hour, she had momentarily forgotten that not everyone's grandmother could fly or shoot high-powered beams of energy from their palms. Not everyone's grandmother was a vampire, after all.
Wade shook his head. "Karin, I was hoping you might be able to help me."
"Sure, Load-san, sure," she said quickly, glad that he had not pursued her slip about her grandmother.
"GJ has already dispatched units to the location," he explained.
"Really?"
"Yes, but for some strange reason, … they can't find it."
"What? They can't find Julian?" Karin lowered the Kimmunicator for a moment and began to search her apron pockets for a spare notepad with Julian's address stenciled at the top. Realizing her mistake, she raised the device back to the proper height and explained, "W-well, I have the address if--"
"No, no, I already have that," he explained quickly. "I was able to pinpoint the location from the transmissions I received earlier in the evening from Kim. It's just that when the agents arrived at the address, they didn't … see it. They didn't see anything, in fact."
He explained to her blank expression, "Once they landed, it was almost like they were in some kind of fog. Agent Du even got out of his craft and searched on foot, but he only ended up walking in circles. So I was wondering if you could try finding him and maybe …"
Karin lowered her head in thought as Load-san explained the baffling situation.
"The boundary!" she exclaimed suddenly. "The familiars--that must be the reason!"
"Boundary? Familiars? What do you mean?"
"Uhhhhh." Karin felt like she was going to faint.
How could I be so stupid! What do I say, what do I say?
"Oh, uh … nothing," she said, giving him a very unconvincing smile.
"No," Wade urged, "you said something about a boundary. What did you mean by that?"
"Uh, I meant this wall," she said, pointing vaguely to the left. "It's a kind of boundary … and it looks … familiar, too. To me, that is. That's what I meant. Heh-heh." Sensing that her ruse wasn't going over too well, she desperately added, "Maybe you misunderstood what I said because of the noise from the bats." She was holding the Kimmunicator up fairly high, so it would not have surprised her if a few faint squeaks from her grandmother's bats were coming through on his end.
"Bats?" Wade asked. "What bats?"
Karin dropped the Kimmunicator. It bounced along the curb as she clumsily chased after it.
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she cried in the darkness.
I'm terrible at keeping secrets, why do I have to be responsible for so many?!
After picking up the device and walking slowly back to the corner, Karin decided that she would just tell Load-san that bats were common in this part of the city, especially at this time of the year.
He had a very uncomfortable expression on his face when the static cleared.
"Karin?"
"Yes, Load-san?"
"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but is there someone else around I could speak to?"
"Well, … it's just me and Yono-san."
"Yono-san?" Wade asked and then paused. "Do you mean Yono? Yono the Destroyer?"
"Yeah," she nodded looking around, "he's right … well, he was right here."
Wade didn't know quite what to think when the girl began calling to the powerful villain as if he were a lost dog. Finally, he interrupted her search. "Karin?"
"I wonder what happened to his leash?" she said absently.
"Karin?" Wade repeated.
"Yes, Load-san?"
"Um, I'm going to try GJ again and see if they've had any luck. I'll buzz you back later," he smiled weakly, "if I need to."
"Sure, no problem, uh, I mean--no big!" she smiled and waved.
He politely waved back before killing the transmission.
XVII.
As Kim watched the drone's cannon retract back into the belly of the machine, a blast crackled in the air past them. And then they heard the scream.
"Calera!" Henry cried as his wife's form tumbled from the sky.
The air crackled a second time.
"Look out--" Kim began, but Henry was struck in the shoulder before she could finish.
As she spiraled down through empty space, Kim lost her grip on the umbrella.
XVIII.
"As I argued at the Mlordockian Tribunal," Warhok said to Warmonga with grim satisfaction as the mini ion cannon that was fitted conveniently around his right ear began to recharge, "'hands-free' is the correct path to follow."
XIX.
As she plummeted to the ground, Kim reflexively went to activate the grappler on the Kimmunicator.
The Kimmunicator that she had given to Maaka-san.
Although her mind and body still hummed with the same inexplicably positive sensation, Kim knew the rapidly approaching ground would certainly dampen her mood.
"This is so going to tank!" she muttered as she closed her eyes and braced for the impact.
For a second time, Kim felt herself borne up into the night. She had been caught under her shoulders and knees and was being carried safely through the air. Her sense of relief, however, was seriously reduced when she opened her eyes and saw the face of her rescuer.
"So," the young man smirked, "we meet again."
"Yes," Kim replied flatly after a moment. "Thanks." Her disgust at being in the arms of the sleazy customer from table fourteen was short-lived, however.
Considering everything else that's happened to me tonight, I shouldn't be too surprised by this.
Once they had flown a relatively safe distance from the damaged but still dangerous drone, the young man stopped short next to an unlit lamppost and hovered in place.
"I don't believe we've been properly introduced," he said smoothly, his unblinking eyes fixed upon Kim's.
"You're right," Kim smiled evenly.
"I'm Ren." He looked her over slowly, unabashedly. "It's a pleasure."
"Wait, don't tell me," Kim said holding up her hands. "You're Karin's creepy uncle, right?"
Her remark produced the desired effect.
"What?" The young man's cool composure evaporated. "Her UNCLE?! I'm only five years older than her!"
"SHOT DOWN, BIG TIME!" an obnoxious voice bellowed behind them, "HAHAHAHAHA!"
As she twisted her head around to locate the source of the obscene chortle, a second voice, barely above a whisper, spoke at her elbow. "Possible-san."
Maaka-san's little sister was standing three feet to their right. Although her doll was quaking with hideous delight, the young girl was completely still, her small feet balanced upon the top of the lamppost.
"I have never heard a human woman speak to Big Brother in such a manner," the girl continued in her soft monotone. She turned her head slightly and regarded Kim with the faintest of smiles. "I am impressed."
XX.
"Calera! Calera!" Henry Marker cried as he ran to the spot where his wife's body lay.
He clutched his right arm to his side; the burning sensation that ran along its length was still bitterly intense. However, the pain kept his mind off what he feared he might find upon reaching his beloved's side.
She had rolled to a stop next to the pair of trees that had been severed by the aliens' machine. He fell to his knees and quickly brushed the tangle of hair from her pale face.
She was breathing.
Henry felt his chin begin to quiver and pinched his wound sharply. This was not the time to lose it emotionally; he had to be strong and get Calera out of danger. He cradled her over his knees. Fortunately, the agony of lifting her with his damaged arm secured him through a couple of rough moments where he would have otherwise dissolved into tears. He stood and prepared to ascend when his eyes brushed across the expression upon her reposed face.
It had been decades since she had looked so peaceful. Even on the occasions when she smiled at him, there was always some inner fury or turmoil beading within her eyes, working just behind her lips.
Suddenly he was overcome with nostalgia for a night some ten or so years after their marriage. He had been with her in the darkness of his coffin. She had been sleeping in his arms, snuggling in fact. He had smiled down at her and had tried to keep the giddiness in his chest from radiating to the rest of his body. This effort had failed and he had clumsily bit his tongue. His subsequent yelp had stirred her to furious consciousness.
Before this memory could fade, tears were streaming down both of his cheeks and running off the tip of his pointed beard. And onto his wife's face.
She winced as they landed against her skin. Then one went into her eye.
She blinked open her eyes and looked disdaining at her weeping husband. "Man up, Henry!" she yelled. "You're not a widower yet!" She hauled back and slapped him hard on his right shoulder.
His wail of pain as he dropped her was sufficiently overshadowed by her howl of anger as she landed on the ground.
XXI.
"Your parents!" Kim cried as Henry and Calera's shrill voices echoed across the parking lot.
"Don't worry about them," Elda snapped, "they're fine. Fine as they ever are, anyway."
Elda's sudden appearance had startled Kim, but, she noticed, not as badly as it had startled the vampire's grandson. In fact, when Elda subsequently placed her hand on his shoulder, Ren began trembling so violently that Kim was afraid he might drop her.
"Okay, Anju," her grandmother nodded as she knocked aside another blast from the Lorwardian's machine with her retrieved umbrella, "unleash your bats."
"Of course, grandma," Anju said. The amber hue in the young girl's eyes glowed and her pupils split vertically like a cat's.
For an instant, Kim thought she was going crazy because when she glanced up at the night sky, it appeared as if all the stars had turned bright red. A moment later she was certain she had lost it because they had all started to move.
Then the night erupted into a cacophony of multitudinous squeaks and the flaps of nightwings. Kim caught her breath. What she had taken for the sky had actually been a black canopy created by an enormous colony of bats that were hovering a hundred feet or so above their position.
The colony swirled past them toward the drone. Its black mass swarmed about the alien device so completely that within seconds not an inch of it could be seen.
XXII.
Kenta was leading Stoppable-san in a path around the edge of what had once been the street Julian had been situated upon. The area resembled a war zone.
Although it went against every instinct he had, Kenta had initially tried to pick his way toward the aliens' drone, assuming that Stoppable-san planned to unleash his "Monkey Powers" upon the gigantic machine. Fortunately, when Stoppable-san realized this was their course, he urgently requested that they change direction. Stoppable-san had then explained that he needed to find the aliens themselves, not their machine.
"That thing's just one mondo-huge distraction," he explained.
"Are you sure?"
"Trust me, Dude," Ron had said confidently. "I know all about that game."
To break the extreme tension of walking blind through a battle zone and to brush away the awkwardness that hovered between them, Ron decided to play the "friendly banter card" with his friend's boyfriend.
"So, uh, Usui-san, are you a gamer?" he whispered.
"A gamer? I'm sorry…" his companion whispered back.
"Do you play video games? You know, like Zombie Mayhem?"
"No. I've never played one."
"Really? Never?" Ron shook his head sympathetically. "I'm sorry, man." After a brief moment. "Hey! Do you watch wrestling? I hear its really big in Japan."
"No. My mother and I don't have a television anymore."
"Oh … sorry."
In desperation, Ron considered bringing up school as a possible topic for conversation. He realized this would, however, create two problems. One, since Usui-san took some of the same classes Kim did, Ron knew he couldn't dream of understanding anything that he would say. Two, the topic also opened the door for Usui-san to ask Ron how his "college" work was going. Of course, "college" meant Yamanouchi, and the school's code strictly forbid Ron discussing any of his "studies."
Then he realized that the one thing he really had in common with Usui-san was the person who was the reason for their acquaintance in the first place.
"Oh! That's right--Karin!" Ron exclaimed.
"Shhh!" Usui-san admonished as loudly as he dared.
"Oh, my bad!" Ron apologized quietly.
"What about Maaka?" Usui-san whispered.
"How did you guys meet up?"
"Well, we met in high school. I transferred in the middle of the semester when my mother and I moved here. Maaka was actually the first person I met."
"Cool, cool." Ron nodded. "So, uh, when did you know?"
"When did I know?"
"You know, that Karin was … different."
"Well," Usui-san laughed, "I've always known she was different. The first time we met, she passed out."
"Really?"
"Yeah, those first few days, she ran away every time she saw me." The smile on his face was very easy to hear. "And the look on her face that first night in Julian when she realized that we would be working together."
"Was she running away because of that 'blood surging' thing?"
"Yes, but even after seeing one of her nosebleeds," he explained, "I still had no idea what was really going on."
"When did you first think she was a vampire?"
"Well, I guess I suspected right after she bit my mom."
"What?!" Stoppable-san cried. "She bit your mom?"
"Shh!" Usui-san admonished. "She didn't know she was biting my mother," he explained in a rapid whisper. He then paused. "Yeah, that was when I started getting really worried."
"That she'd chomp on you next?" Ron offered.
"Oh no, I wasn't scared of Maaka," Usui-san laughed, "I don't think I could be." He grew serious. "No, I was worried because my mom changed afterwards. She started acting like another person. That was when I knew I had to find out who or what Maaka was."
Ron was starting to worry himself. Even though he had already learned from Karin that most of what he had heard about vampires wasn't true, he had been more than a little freaked out when Karin had admitted that she had bitten Kim. And now Usui-san was saying that his mother had become "another person" when Karin had bitten her. The troubling fact was he really didn't know what effect his friend's blood might have on his BFGF.
"Uh, Usui-san," Ron said rubbing the back of his neck. "What do you mean your mother became another person?"
"Well, she started behaving strangely … you know, different than I had ever seen her act before."
"Like how?"
"Well, for starters, she was happy."
XXIII.
"Something's wrong," Anju stated.
"What do you mean?" her brother asked, more than slightly surprised.
"They are unable to penetrate or alter the machine," she explained calmly.
All four watched as waves of bats began to slough off the sides of the drone and swarm back to newly clear spots on its surface only to lose their grip and fall once again.
"How can this be?" her grandmother protested. "They should have torn it to shreds by now!"
As Kim watched the bats' futile struggle, she remembered something Jack Hench had said earlier. "The biological code," she muttered. "Shoot! That's got to be it."
"What are you saying, human?" Elda demanded.
"The drone has some kind of biological lock on it," Kim explained, "it can only be operated and … manipulated, I guess, by someone with DNA from its home planet."
"No way!" Ren fumed.
"Unfortunately, yes way," Kim groused.
"Wait," Elda said scanning the ground, "where are those two green idiots?"
"I've been thinking along those same lines," Kim said. "This whole drone sitch has a major distraction feel to it."
"Keep us busy, so they can pick us off with ease?" Ren offered.
"Or maybe something even worse," Kim added darkly.
Elda was about to accost Kim over what could be worse than killing her family when a blast suddenly struck midway up the lamppost sending its top half crashing to the pavement.
"They're not very good shots, are they?" Anju asked, her position remained unchanged despite the destruction of the lamppost she had been perched upon.
"That didn't come from their machine," Elda said as she scanned the perimeter of the parking lot, her fists clenching rhythmically.
"No," Anju agreed, "It came from other there." She pointed to a dark, debris strewn corner of the parking lot.
Elda smiled and laid her hand upon her grandson's shoulder. "Hand the human over to Anju, Ren. You and your grandma need to go on a visit."
Shaking beneath his grandmother's touch, Ren reluctantly passed Kim toward his little sister.
"No, wait!" Kim said.
"Don't worry, human," Elda said rolling her eyes, "Anju will look after you just fine."
"No," Kim said shaking her head, "you shouldn't put any more members of your family at risk!"
Elda stared back at her.
Kim could feel the vampire's crimson eyes regarding her with a mixture of contempt and something similar to, but less charitable than, pity.
Finally, Elda spoke, "We're not doing this for your benefit."
"I know that," Kim replied. "But the Lorwardians are."
"What do you mean?"
"They attacked the restaurant to get to me and Ron. They didn't know Karin and your family even existed. Let me go with you."
Elda floated in heavy thought and then nodded. "I agree. All of this is your fault."
Kim closed her eyes.
"But how do you expect to help?" Maaka-san's grandmother pushed.
"You'll need a distraction." Kim explained.
Elda raised an eyebrow.
"And I have worked with the best."
XXIV.
Warhok's good humor over his propitious foresight at the Mlordockian Tribunal concerning hands-free weaponry was short lived. The hands-free device in question had sub-standard aiming past a certain radius. And the cowardly Earthers had decided to remain beyond this distance. Furthermore, the mini-ion cannon was slow to charge between blasts. The frustration was beginning to show on him.
"I fail to see how that will improve the weapon's performance," Warmonga reasoned after he slammed his open palm against the small weapon--and the side of his head. "Or yours," she added.
When she saw his shoulders sag, she immediately regretted she had spoken so critically. She had never witnessed him display such behavior. She feared what it might import.
Not without reason.
"Is this drone equipped with WDM's?" he asked in a frigid tone.
The shock his question caused her could only be partially hidden from him.
Is he serious?
"Isn't the Neural Atomic Disabler the most painful?" he continued, aggressively ignoring the expression she was presenting him.
"You are serious." Warmonga closed her eyes and shook her head; she had never known her consort to utilize the quick, easy and unchallenging path to planetary conquest before. Devices such as the Treberator or the Annihilatron were perfectly appropriate for a being such as The Great Blue, but decidedly not for a warrior like Warhok. Steeling herself against the disappointment welling inside her, she asked, "Are you certain the situation merits deployment of a World Dominating Munition?"
"Dead certain." His answer was sharp and hollow.
XXV.
After pondering Kim's offer for a long moment, Elda carelessly waved her hand, "Forget it, human." She quickly raised her eyes to her trembling grandson, "Let's go, Ren."
"What?!" Kim cried.
"Look," Elda said brusquely, "Even with Karin's blood, you're no match for those monsters. If they caught you, you'd be worse than worthless."
"Okay, time out!" Kim demanded. "'Karin's blood'? What does that even mean?" She looked from Elda to Maaka-san's siblings. "Could someone please tell me what is going on?"
"Possible-san," Anju said, laying a cool hand upon her shoulder. "Big Sister is not a normal vampire."
Kim met the girl's unwavering gaze and nodded for her to continue.
"She did not take your blood," Anju explained. "She gave you hers."