No matter how much I twist and struggle, no matter how much I try, I can't break his grip. He's getting too strong. The air is leaving my lungs; I can't breathe. Right before the point of death, his grip loosens and the oxygen returns gratefully to my lungs. Joss is facing D'Ablo. Before I even try to stand up and join him, he gets thrown right on top of me; his elbow lands on my ribs, and my leg uncontrollably kicks his face.

I push him off of me and clutch my chest. That hurt. At least it wasn't D'Ablo, my whole rib cage would probably break. I make an attempt to punch D'Ablo, but he grabs my hand and twists it harshly behind my back. I'd scream, but I don't want him to think I'm just a weakling. He throws me and laughs a strange, typical, evil laugh; almost like one you'd hear in the movies. "I feel so strong and powerful! Not even you and the slayer combined can defeat me!" He thrusts me into a nearby tree. It scrapes my face.

I try to stand again, but I find it really difficult to even crawl. Henry runs to my side, "Are you okay, dude?"

"He's too strong, Henry. We have to get out of here." I notice Joss has tried staking D'Ablo in a couple of places, but he's still too powerful. Maybe if he aimed just right, or got him in a weak spot to at least keep him from attacking us until we can get Sam away from Jack. That's it. We need to weaken him until we can get Sam back so she can help us! What's the worst thing that can weaken or even kill a vampire? Garlic is. I hope Joss is carrying some around with him. If he is, I'm lucky he hasn't used it on me… yet.

Sam:

Jack shows me to my new room. It's cold, has no windows, the floor is concrete, the walls are stone, and there's only one bed comforter, with a lumpy mattress and a small pillow. The only things of meaning to me are my blanket I've had since I was two and my stuffed-animal cat that I've had since I can remember.

This is the only way Jack would let Henry out alive. I take his place. Who knows what he's going to do to me. He may even kill me. The important thing is that Vlad has his best friend back and Joss has his cousin back. I can't really say they're safe, because D'Ablo drank a whole lot of my blood, and he's very powerful now. They'll figure a way out of it, they're smart. At least I'm out of the picture so I can stop messing up their lives.

Something about that thought sounds wrong. It brings me back to when Joss said those sweet things to me. No one's ever said that to me before; I've always thought of myself as an abomination to everyone. Then I met Vlad and Henry, and eventually Joss. Joss, who I may never see again. I feel my heart start to crack and a hot tear escapes my eye. What's this feeling? I don't think I've ever felt it before, well… to anyone. It's love. I've never felt it because I've never had anyone to love. Except my mom, but I didn't get the time to know her; she put me in an orphanage.

Vlad, Henry, and Joss are the only people-aside from Nelly and Otis-who have shown me any real love. They actually care about me. Now I may never see their faces again. I jump onto the bed and cry into my pillow; feeling pain and loss.

Joss:

I face D'Ablo, running out of ideas. All I can think about is Sam. She risked her safety, no, her life so we could have Henry again. When I'm done with this infernal blood sucker, I'm going after her, no matter what anyone says. I need her back. Life seems off without her. I don't care what she says about herself; I love her. She's smart, brave, honest (despite what she didn't tell us about her past life and her father), nice, and so much more!

I dodge D'Ablo's punch and try throwing a stake at him one more time. He grabs it and throws it to the ground. I hear Vlad call my name, "Joss! Use garlic!" Garlic! That's it! I check my pockets and my bag for some, but to no avail. It's gone. Vlad notices I don't have any and turns back to Henry. I hope he has a plan.

Vlad:

Otis! D'Ablo's attacking us and he's super powerful! We need garlic to weaken him until Sam can help us, we… I see Otis run to us with a bag of a deadly pack of garlic in his hand. It's huge! Big enough to tie someone up. "Otis! How… you… where have you been?"

"I've been comforting and distracting Nelly. We need Henry and Joss to tie D'Ablo." Joss looks and sees Otis with the most deadly vegetable to a vampire. Henry-taking a couple steps away from us- opens the plastic bag and throws a piece at D'Ablo. He yells.

While D'Ablo yells Joss kicks him to the tree we're standing nearby and Henry puts the garlic around him. D'Ablo struggles to get out of his incarceration but eventually gives up. No vampire can overcome the weakness of garlic, no matter how powerful.

Joss runs to the entrance of Jack's lair. What is he thinking? "We can't go now, Joss. We need a plan." He turns to face us in irritation.

"I don't care! I don't care what you say, and I don't care what her father says, I need Sam!" He's about to enter when Otis puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Vladimir's right Joss. If we go in there now we won't get very far. Plus I need all of you to explain to me what's going on. That way we'll be better prepared." Joss sighs. He know Otis is right. We all do. We explain everything as we walk to Nelly's.