It was dim and misty on the morning of Beth's second death. Laurie jumped when he heard the shots. He looked up slowly towards the window, where his grandfather stood holding the gun that he had put down so that he might hold onto Jo instead. There was a black and red heap in the garden, and Jo was limp and silent as a corpse.

"Stay with her," Professor Bhaer growled without so much as looking back at Laurie, before he ran outside, taking Grandfather with him. With fingers that were numb and cold Laurie felt for Jo's pulse, and found his hand covering the rough skin on her neck where Jo had first been marked. There was no heartbeat and she wasn't breathing. He closed his eyes tightly.

Slowly he became aware of a strange feeling beneath his fingers, a tingling of sorts. When he dared to look again at Jo he saw the redness that surrounded the marks was receding. After a few minutes even the marks themselves were gone, as if they never had existed.

Jo's first breath was slow and shallow in the way of someone who was deeply asleep. Her eyes opened, but she made no other sound or movement. She didn't seem afraid. Her skin was very cold, but she was alive. He kissed the top of her head.

Laurie's grandfather peeked his head in the open door.

"You should both come outside," the old man said grimly.

Laurie would not have thought it possible for Jo, but she rose anyway in one abrupt movement. Laurie was reminded of the night in the woods when they had first seen Amy walking the night in her bloody dress, and he had to turn away from Jo, for he could only think of the walking dead.

'*'*'*'

It was with a strange sense of peace that Jo walked outside into the slowly dawning light of day. It was like being in a dream. She could hardly feel her body at all. Everything had gone cold and far away.

That was the only reason that she didn't scream when she saw the thing lying in the grass. The shape was undeniably human, yet the skin's texture was like that of a burnt Christmas roast. The mouth was open, the monstrous fangs exposed, and blood still flowed out of the hole in the thing's chest.

"Is it Beth?" Jo heard herself ask.

Professor Bhaer nodded.

The peace was beginning to retreat. Why had she been asked to come outside, unless…

"Did you need me to cut off her head?" Jo's voice cracked as she said it, and she made some feeble movement to pull her hand away. Bhaer took firm hold of both of her hands.

"Pray for her," Bhaer said, his voice soft and compassionate. Grandfather Laurence had already bowed his head. Laurie was staring.

Jo nodded. This time when she tried to pull away, Bhaer allowed it. She crossed herself in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but when she tried to think of words to bid Beth a final farewell and send her soul to a place where it would be safe and cleansed at last, her mind would not cooperate.

Jo thought of Beth's last smile as she lay on her death bed, months and months ago when death had seemed final. She had left so much behind, dolls and sheet music, brooms, dustpans, pieces of unfinished knitting that all seemed infused with the gentle spirit of the girl who had once loved them. These things still existed, Jo knew, in the home where Marmee and Father had been slaughtered. They were tainted now, demonic.

Beth's body turned to ash as the sun rose in the sky. When Bhaer lifted up a handful to scatter it Jo followed his lead, along with Laurie and his grandfather. It was not a task that took a very long time, and soon there was no earthly trace of Elizabeth March.

*'*'*'*