TOTAL DEFEAT

Stephanie and Jesse drank their coffee calmly, ignoring the stares of the three spell-struck teens standing in front of them. Or the teens' periodic attempts to move.

Neither Sarah, Erica or Ethan could move a muscle. It was hopeless.

Benny Jack Weir had reverted to a motionless black-eyeballed zombie in red bellboy uniform. Rory Ransom Keener, the Astronaut, had been placed on a table, his plastic face staring out of its helmet like a cheap knock-off of Buzz Lightyear.

"Any suggestions Jack?" said Jesse.

"No sir" said Benny, coming to life with a salute. "It wouldn't be my place."

"It would be mine" said Stephanie. "I'd like to take care of Ethan now."

Ethan had the indignity of being floated towards them.

"Sorry Ethan. Werewolves are dangerous animals" said Jesse mockingly, as he stood up and leaned cooly on the back of Stephanie's chair.

"I'm not going to cooperate" said Ethan. "I-I'm just going to warn you this isn't going to work."

"With your werewolf hearing, you can still listen" said Stephanie, unimpressed. "One thing I am disappointed in. Counterfeit or not, I was hoping for a more dog-like look."

"A werewolf has to have a human form" said Jesse. "There are some things that you need to be a man to do. Not that Ethan has the nerve. It took him almost two years to ask her out. Oh, what did the Rorster say? One year ten months?"

Ethan growled angrily, it would be better to call it a roar. Sarah, who was still bolted in place, could have killed with the look of hatred she gave Jesse. As for Erica, she was greatly offended on Sarah's behalf.

You weren't very understanding of David Stochowski, Ethan" observed Stephanie, with a giggle. "Maybe that's why it was your bad luck to be a werewolf for one night. You wanted to expose him instead of save him."

"We thought he was a typical evil werewolf" growled Ethan. "Not a reluctant were-dog."

"Your problem is a bad temper" said Stephanie. "A bad temper and intolerance. You can't stand jocks and your perpetually angry."

"I'm not perpetually angry" Ethan said, still in a growl.

"But when you get angry, you explode" said Jesse. "You don't know how to keep a cool head."

"I used to!" said Ethan. "Before this crap!"

"A proud, angry, jealous resentful geek" said Stephanie.

"That's not true!" said Ethan.

"You're going to deny being jealous of me and Sarah?" asked Jesse, looking at Sarah slyly (and meeting with her look of deadly contempt).

"I said it before" said Ethan, finally swallowing the growl. "Nobody's perfect. I'm resentful . . . but only sometime. But being human, we try to be good people. It's like what Leslie Neilson says in Forbidden Planet. "We're all part monsters in our subconscious, that's why we have laws and religion."

Jesse laughed.

"I watched that film when it was in theatres" Jesse told Ethan. "Back when Sci-Fi was actually considered cool. You know it came out in '56? New this year. Does the hotel have a copy of the film, Jack?"

"Jack" saluted to life. "We have a theatre room. I can check sir?"

"No, just wait" said Jesse. "I don't feel like watching it without your were-whelp friend. He'll be in no shape . . . or form . . . to watch it."

"What do you mean?" asked Ethan worriedly.

"You're so resentful of other people" mused Stephanie sardonically. "You were willing to expose David and ruin his life for a bit of film. You're so proudly self-assured."

"I'm not!" Ethan said.

"Oh yes, you are" Stephanie continued, again bringing down her gavel. "A proud geek, the worst kind. So really, you don't deserve to be a seer, or even to listen to your music, read your comic books or date your girl in peace. You will be a werewolf for life, cursed with werewolf instincts. And the more you're a werewolf, the more your personality will suit your instincts. So you might have to live in that cabin in the woods. Even a man who's pure at heart and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the Autumn moon shines bright."

"I know the poem" said Ethan bitterly.

"But you don't know I think I'll keep you in wolf form until further notice" said Stephanie.

"The full moon's almost a month away."

"You're forgetting the Canis Lupis spell . . . so simple even Jack could use it" Jesse observed.

"You do the honours, Jesse" said Stephanie. "And make it fast. I don't want to see Ethan stumble-around growing fangs in front of me."

"Ethan also thinks that part of being a werewolf is crazy" said Jesse, as he looked with amusement at Ethan's eyes.

The yellow eyes finally faded as fear replaced anger. Ethan struggled harder than ever to escape the spell holding him in place.

"Pay attention Jack" Jesse said slowly. "This is how you do the Canis Lupis spell so you don't have a ricochet. Open the double window there. The one behind Ethan."

"Yes sir!" said Benny with a salute.

"Canis Lupis" said Jesse forcefully, and seemingly throwing an invisible baseball, blasted Ethan.

The force of the spell pushed Ethan through the window, landing with a thud eight stories below.

Jesse sauntered over to look. For a moment, Ethan lay motionless on the ground. But then Ethan's werewolf healing ability coupled with Jesse's curse set in.

This sped up the process to less than a half minute. One moment, Ethan was a unconscious teen boy with a long haircut and pointed ears, groaning after what should have been a fatal blow. Then he was shaken by several rapid convulsions. Looking from above, Jesse was hard pressed to tell when Ethan had exactly become a werewolf in badly ripped and undersized clothes.

Jesse didn't even try to stop from laughing as Ethan struggled to his feet, or rather his back paws. The werewolf's confused look was of someone . . . or something . . . trying to get his thoughts in order.

"You want to see Ethan?" asked Jesse.

"No, I'll know by the howl, when it comes" said Stephanie. "Pass the Rory action figure over."

"Floatum Rory nummow" said Jesse.

With a point of Jesse's index finger, what was left of Rory floated to the air and landed with a clack on Stephanie's table.

Stephanie laughed.

"Whazzzz up . . . . . . . Whazzzzzzz up . . . . . . . . Whazzzzzzzzzz up" repeated Rory every once in a while.

"He's doing a good job" said Jesse.

"Rory?" asked Stephanie.

"No, Ethan" said Jesse, looking at his watch. "After that fall, the lycanthrope in Ethan should have taken over. Ethan's been trying to keep his mind working this time."

"It's impossible without magic" said Stephanie. "A human mind won't work in a werewolf brain. But just in case . . . I can send some skeletons to un-focus his mind."

"Ethan won't be able to keep his head if he see me" said Jesse dryly. "He was heading for the hotel. Now he's stalling, starting to stumble. Okay, Ethan. I see you're forgetting who you are. It's dusk, even in this fog. Onto your four paws, boy."

"Ahoooooooooooooooooooooo"

"And there he goes into the woods to look for prey" said Jesse, as he closed the window.

"And that's the last we'll hear of Ethan Morgan" said Stephanie. "In a couple of years, I might even turn him back.

"I think I'd show him some compassion" said Jesse. "Make it one year and ten months."

"I'll do that" laughed Stephanie. "Two years or one year and ten months, makes no difference. By then Ethan'll long be used to be a creature of the woods. Even when he's turned back, he'll find himself wanting to live in the northern woods like an animal. He might even make a good replacement for the Wendigo."

"Until it's summoned back" Jesse said. "Now, here's Erica. I'm almost sorry for doing this to her."

Erica was pulled before the two. She crossed her arms and gave a dignified stare.

"Don't think you're going to shame me" said Erica.

"No" said Stephanie. "In a way you're my most important subject. You're the only one who, if she died now, would have her soul pass to Mr. Scratch."

"Don't try that crap on me."

"Like me, you've never had any real regrets for what you did as a vampire" said Jesse, as he leaned on his chair and looked at Erica appraisingly. "If Ethan hadn't destroyed my flock, I'd still have you at my side."

"I'd have been finished with you" Erica announced. "Especially after you glamoured me. And by the way, you looked like a real geek at sixteen."

"There was a shopgirl and a scullery maid who didn't think so" Jesse said evenly.

"You may be finished with him" said Stephanie. "But I'm not with you. The point is that I can sacrifice you to his infernal majesty, and he'll collect your soul. He may even accept it as barter for my own."

"No, Scratch won't do that" said Jesse impatiently.

"I'll have to wait a week" said Stephanie, again rapping her gavel. "But until then, I'll let you be one of my cheerleaders. You'll find your uniform in the next room."

Stephanie didn't say anything further. But like Stephanie did a couple years before, she merely stared at Erica with glowing red eyes.

"Oh!" said Erica in sudden change of tone. "I can't wait."

"Do us a cheer!" said Jesse in a faux-pleading voice. "But first take off your jacket!"

Erica obeyed. And doing several cartwheels, sang at the top of her voice:

"Give me a D! Give me a E! Give me a V! Give me a I! Give me an L! Give me an S! What does that spell?"

"Devils?" asked Jesse mockingly.

"Yeah!" said Erica. "Whitechapel, Whitechapel, Go, Go. Go! Oof"

Erica had bumped into the motionless Benny. Who stayed motionless.

"Ooh, move over!" Erica said, and left the room to go after her uniform.

"What next?" asked Stephanie, once Erica had left.

"I think I have a soft spot . . . in my head . . . for the "our team is dynamite" cheer" Jesse said in a contemptuous tone. "But face it, the only thing that cheerleaders are for is to look at. No guy really cares what a cheerleader actually cheers."

"Yes . . . they . . . do!" said Stephanie.

Jesse shrugged.

"The rest of my deal!" he said.

The two plotters looked towards Sarah. This time, Jesse and Stephanie walked towards her.

"You may speak!" said Stephanie imperiously. "But we know you're better in martial arts than you have any right to be, so you'll find yourself still stuck to the floor."

Sarah had watched everything unfold with as much shock and anger as she could bear.

Now Sarah could finally speak. So she spoke her mind. It was just too bad she couldn't move. Some well aimed kicks and karate chops would have done wonders.

"I don't know what crimes you're going to find me guilty of" Sarah said heatedly. "Probably surviving on donated blood the year I was a full vampire. I wanted to live, and you know Jesse, you're the one who made me live that way! I accepted it, I had no choice. I could no more stop drinking blood than Ethan can stop eating raw meat. And you know why!"

"You saved Ethan's life" said Jesse, coldly. "Because you love the geek with all your heart. The awkward, clumsy comic-book reading, gaming, prank-playing nerd."

"I do" Sarah said indignantly. "I might be as big a nerd as Ethan is for saying it . . . but I love him. Far more than I ever liked you, Jesse. As for Ethan being a geek . . . he's cool where and when it counts. He's the sweetest guy I've ever known."

"Handsome is as handsome does" sneered Jesse.

"And if you think that your kangaroo court punishment will hold forever, just remember what happened the last time you put your curses on us" Sarah retorted.

"Mr. Scratch's curses" Stephanie replied. "But we're not going after you only for the blood. For your admiring vampires, and Dusk, and the trappings of romance without the love."

"I thought the Dusk stories were just novels" said Sarah, who felt slightly embarrassed.

"You might say it was poetic justice that I had turned you" said Jesse sarcastically. "You earned what you loved to read about, and obsess over. But you didn't want it in real life."

"You're an idiot, Jesse" Sarah said, still red faced. "Just because I read about a girl who fell in love with a teen bloodsucker, didn't mean I wanted to be her. Sparkling Dusk vampires aren't real vampires."

"No, it was Erica who took it seriously" said Jesse wryly. "And here she comes."

"Our team is dynamite, BOOM, BOOM, we're going to win tonight! LOUDER, LOUDER, we're going to win tonight!" sang Erica, skipping across the floor in the red Whitechapel High School cheerleading uniform.

"We are" said Stephanie. "Jack will take to the kitchenette and get you some tomato juice, Erica"

"I love red drinks" Erica replied. "Come on Jack!"

Erica pulled Benny by the arm, bringing him to life before he could salute.

"Tomato juice, Stephanie!" Benny said obediently. "Right away!"

"These spells aren't going to last" Sarah repeated, as she watched Erica and Benny disappear down a hall.

"Aren't you interested in what's going to happen to you?" asked Stephanie.

"What?" asked Sarah, sardonically. "Am I going to be a maid? A doll? A cheerleader? Or a werewolf? I know you can't turn me into a vampire."

"You're going to be mine" said Jesse, with a smirk. "That was part of Stephanie's offer. And you know why? I put a lot of effort in getting you as my new chick. I substituted Erica for you, but you know what? You caused me a lot of pain. The best way to put that behind me is by having you."

"That's never going to happen!" Sarah retorted, but only after a moment of stunned silence.

Stephanie didn't answer, but looked into Sarah's eyes with her own glowing red ones.

There was one hopeful sign amongst all this catastrophe. When Jesse kissed Sarah, she reacted automatically. Sarah felled him with a karate chop to the back of the neck.

"I think she hates you too much for the trance to work" said Stephanie, as she looked on from her high-back chair with amusement.

"Then she can just work for me until I make a love potion" said Jesse bitterly, as he brought himself up to his feet.

"I can make it up to you" said Stephanie.

"The last man you dated ended up with a flea problem" said Jesse. "No way."

"No, I'll give you a zombie slave" Stephanie said. "Jack. I'm getting tired of him anyways."

"Ethan's girl and Ethan's best friend" said Jesse wryly. "Not bad. Plus his friend Malcolm's car, once I get it running. The Challenger is my style.""

"Why not just take one of the Chrysler Imperials?" said Stephanie.

"A boat like that?" scoffed Jesse. "What do you think I am, a geezer? By the way, how long do you want me to stay with you in this dump?"

"Until I sacrifice Erica, and until we can make sure Evelyn doesn't have some plans of her own. I want your help if I have to fight her. And I really don't want you and Sarah leading her to me."

"About a week" shrugged Jesse, with a laugh. "I'll take Sarah and Jack to South America. I still have my money and I'll have Ethan Phillip Morgan and Rory Ransom Keener's passports. I just have to decide which passport to alter as my own."

"By then the trail will be stone cold" said Stephanie evenly. "Erica will have gone to the devil and I'll have gone to the French Riviera. And it's not as if Evelyn will be able to hunt down Ethan. He's just a wild animal now."

Stephanie laughed as Jack and Erica brought a tray full of hors d'oeuvre's for her to sample. She was blissfully unaware that in passing "judgement" on Team Sabre plus Erica she had sown the seeds of her own defeat.