Chapter 6

"So I'm strolling through the park," Sean ranted, sitting next to Daniella on the couch in the foyer, "looking for a meal, and I just so happen to walk by the bench and see her making out with a chaos demon. So I said 'You know, I don't have to put up with this.' And she said 'Fine!' And I said 'Fine! Do whatever you like!' I thought we were going to make up."

"She sounds pretty unreasonable," Daniella said.

"She is. She's out of her mind! That's what I miss most about her."

Austin just so happened to walk by about then and see the two of them through a window. He ran for it and pushed his way through the front door.

Daniella gasped and then realized it was him and stood up. "You scared me!"

"What do you expect from him?" asked Sean.

"Well, for one thing, I'd think he'd be a little more cautious of our feelings now that he's all half-human."

Sean stared at the two. "What?"

Austin glared at Sean. "Yeah, they were all kind of confused with that. You touch her and I'll cut your head off!"

"Oh, yeah?" Sean grabbed Daniella. "You and what army?"

"That'd be us." Kelly knocked him back. She got out a stake.

"Robert!"

Kelly stopped. "You took him."

Sean smiled. "You do me now, you'll never find the little Warlock."

"And Nadine?" Benny asked as he and the others raced in. Except for Ryan and Lucy, who had gone off to look for their spouses.

"Her, too."

Austin Vamped, grabbed Sean by the neck of his shirt, and pinned him to the wall. "Where are they?"

"Doesn't work like that," Sean said, pushing him off, "And since when did you get all soulful again? I thought you outgrew that." He looked back at Kelly. "Your cousin's gonna do a spell for me. He does it right, I let them both go."

"You're not really famous for keeping promises," Kelly pointed out.

"Fine. If you and your friends wanna tag along, go ahead. But if you get in my way, you've killed them both."

Meanwhile…

Ryan and Lucy were walking down a street.

"Oh," Lucy worried, "what if they were kidnapped by Colombian drug lords? They could be cutting off Robert's ear right now…or other parts." She shuddered. Ryan suddenly stopped, making her stop. "What?"

"Nadine."

"Ooh, Witch's sense is tingling? Er…Warlock sense?"

Ryan nodded. "She's afraid…and unconscious." He ran off in the right direction.

Lucy followed. "OK, this is kind of disturbing!"

"I completely agree!"

Back with the gang…

Daniella was pawing through her potions bag as the group (except for Slam, who had stayed to watch the kids) walked down a different street.

"Could you hurry?" Sean complained, "I…" He stopped at a bench. "Oh, boy."

"What now?" Duck groaned.

"We killed a homeless man on this bench, me and Dame. Those were good times." Sean sat down on it. "You know, he begged for mercy. That only made her bite harder."

Kelly stared at him. "Guess you had to be there." She continued on.

Daniella followed. "I think I used the last of these ingredients on that spell to kill that pterodactyl last week."

"No problem." Kelly came to a magic shop, Vamped, and kicked down the door. "Give me the list." Daniella handed it to her. "'Essence of violet, cloves'…" She looked at them. "Jack!"

"Looking!" Jack started pawing through the shelves with the others.

"'Set of runic tablets…' Sean, you're getting the rat's eyes."

Sean sighed. "I used to bring her rats with the morning paper."

"Oh, great, more moping," Brenda commented, "That's gonna get her back."

"The spell's gonna get her back."

"Lot of trouble for someone who doesn't really care about you," Austin said.

"Shut up!" Sean yelled.

"You know, she always was pretty fickle."

"SHUT UP!" Sean punched him in the face. Austin punched him back. Kelly pushed the two apart. "What do you know?! It's your fault, the both of you! She belongs with me! I'm nothing without her!"

"Now that I can agree with!" Kelly shouted, "You're pathetic! You're not even a loser! You're a shell of a loser!"

"Yeah, you're one to talk."

"Meaning?"

"Oh, come on! The last time I saw you two, you were in a fight to the death. Now you're back making googly-eyes at each other like nothing ever happened! Love isn't brains, kiddies, it's blood. Blood boiling, screaming inside you to work its will. And I may be love's little lapdog, but at least I'm man enough to admit it." He grabbed a bottle on a table. "Eye of rat."

Back at the factory…

Robert was pounding against the door with his shoulder. He'd worn out with powers and his magic before realizing Damiana had made it magic-proof. Now he was just desperate. Then he saw Nadine stirring. "Nadine!" He ran over there and helped her sit up. "Are you OK?"

"Dizzy. What happened? Do I remember a fight with Sean?" Robert nodded. "We won, right?"

"Not really. We're locked in the basement of the factory."

"That burnt up a few years back and is now pretty much in the middle of nowhere?" Robert nodded again. "So we're basically in a 'scream all you want' scenario. Why didn't he just kill us?"

"He wants me to do a love spell for him. Damiana broke up with him."

"Wow. And I'd really hoped those two crazy kids would work it out. So what are our options?"

"I think…I refuse to do the spell and he kills us, I mess up the spell and he kills us, or I do the spell right…and he still kills us."

Nadine blinked. "Give me a fourth option."

"He's so drunk he forgets about us and we starve to death, which is pretty much the best one on the list."

"We are not going to die! Alright, he's drunk. As soon as he gets back, he'll be weak and we can make our move. And as long as my part of the move doesn't involve standing or using my limbs, we'll be OK."

Robert smiled. "Relax, I won't let anything happen to you."

Nadine didn't need to hear anymore. She made what use she could of her arms and hugged him.

Unfortunately, it was that moment that Ryan and Lucy came in.

Nadine and Robert separated and looked at them.

Nadine stammered. "I-It's not what it looks like."

"We have to get out of here," Ryan said, trying to hide his disappointment.

Lucy couldn't say anything. She was heartbroken and crying. She ran out of the room. But halfway up the charred stairs, they caved in below her.

"Lucy!" Robert ran after her, hearing the occurrence. He scrambled up the steps and looked in the hole. "Lucy!"

Lucy looked at him. "I fell…" She looked at the iron bar protruding from her abdomen, just below her ribcage.

Back with the others…

The group left the magic shop.

"Alright, Sean," Kelly said, "We've got what you need. Where are they?"

"What's your hurry?"

"My hurry is to get you out of my life as soon as possible."

"I'll be out of your life in a few short hours. No trouble at all."

A group of Vampires surrounded them.

"Sean," said the leader.

"No trouble at all," Kelly said, her arms crossed as she glared at Sean.