Chapter 7
"Lenny," Sean said to the lead Vamp, "How've you been?"
"Better since you left," said Lenny, "You should've stayed gone."
"Is that right?" Sean asked, glaring and throwing the bag to the side.
"You know, he was just leaving." Madelyn pushed Sean backed. "Don't you start anything."
"Stay out of this, Protector!" Lenny snapped, "And you and your little super friends can just walk away!"
"I die, your friends die," said Sean.
"Sorry, we're staying," Sophie said.
"Not for long!" Lenny attacked.
And so the fight started. Brenda staked two…make that three…nope, four. Anyway, Madelyn kicked a few Vamps away from Michael, who was frantically trying to decide which animal to turn into. Before he could, one of them grabbed him.
"Michael!" Madelyn cried.
"You should've stayed out of this, Protector!" the Vampire yelled, moving in for the bite.
Madelyn kicked him back. Unfortunately, a Protector isn't near as strong as a Slayer and the Vamp was too strong for her, knocking her back onto the sidewalk. Michael turned into a cheetah and clawed at the Vamp, pushing him away and giving Kelly a chance to stake him.
Austin punched one Vamp in the face, knocking him through the window of the shop. Austin jumped through the window and ran behind the shopkeeper's desk. While the other Vamps were gaining on him, he smashed the chair to use the legs as stakes. He grabbed one and immediately went back to work.
"This should be a kick," Sean said, standing back-to-back with Tech.
"I violently dislike you," Tech said, his eyes glowing green, before heading back into the battle.
Meanwhile…
Robert carefully climbed into the hole with Lucy. "It's gonna be OK, Lucy. Don't move."
Nadine looked at Ryan, getting up from the bed carefully as her strength returned, fearing for her sister. "Go get help." Ryan ran off.
Back with the others…
Lenny pinned Sean to a case. "I heard you'd gone soft. Sad to see it, man."
"Soft?" Sean grabbed a bottle of eye of newt and smashed it on Lenny's head.
Austin tried to open the back door, but it caved in on him and pinned him to the ground, letting in a few more Vampires.
Kelly ran over, staked a few Vamps, and then helped Austin up. "Are you OK?"
Austin just looked at the front window that hadn't been smashed. "That window's about to go."
Kelly looked at the violently shaking bookcase and then at a table display in the front…of holy water.
Sean finally pinned down Lenny. He grabbed a nearby smashed table leg and used it as a stake, making Lenny burst into ashes. He stood up and dropped the wooden table leg on the floor. "How's that for soft?"
"Sean! Get down!" Kelly commanded. Sean did so as the window burst, knocking down the shelf. Sean rolled out of the way before the shelf could fall on him. Kelly and Austin immediately started throwing bottles of holy water at any Vampire that came in, making them fall into hasty retreat.
Sean stood up. "Now that was fun!"
The group collected in the shop, looking around at the damage they'd done.
"Alright," Kelly said, "let's just get the things from the street, do a quick healing spell or two, and do this stupid love spell."
"Oh, forget the stupid love spell!" Sean said, "Your friends are at the factory." They all looked at him in shock. "I'm really glad I came here. I've been all wrong about this, weeping, crawling, blaming everyone else. I just gotta be the man I was. The man she loved. I'll do what I should've done in the first place: find her wherever she is, tie her up, and torture her until she likes me again." He walked off. Before leaving, he turned back to them. "Love's a funny thing."
Back at the factory…
"Lucy!" Robert cried as Nadine came up to the hole, "Come on, baby! Please hold on!"
"Rob…I can't see you…" Lucy closed her eyes.
"Lucy!" Robert cried. But she wouldn't respond.
The next morning…
Lucy was in a bed in the medical wing of HQ.
Robert came in, holding a huge bouquet of flowers. "Can I come in?" No response. He laid the bouquet on the table by her bed. Still nothing. "Those are flowers." Lucy stared at him blankly. "Look, I wanted you to know that I…"
"Robert?"
Robert smiled, hopefully. "Yeah?"
"Stay away from me."
Robert's smile faded. He hung his head and left the room.
While all this went on, Benny and Sarah were talking.
"We can't do this, Benny," Sarah said, "We can't be together."
Benny stared at her. "I know that. I just can't believe it." He left.
(Ashley Tisdale's "How Do You Love Someone" plays in background)
Michael came up to Madelyn, who was looking out the window of the living room (which was pretty much half the walls). "Hey, Mad. How you doing?"
Madelyn looked at him. "I've been thinking. After tonight, I…I realized what I have to do. And I am sorry, for both of us, that it took me this long." Michael smiled, hopefully…and then stopped when he saw that she was handing him back their engagement ring. "I'm leaving." Michael stared at her as she walked off.
Momma never told me how to love
Daddy never told me how to feel
Momma never told me how to touch
Daddy never showed me how to heal
Jack saw Brenda lying on his bed. He pulled an engagement ring out of his pocket and immediately knew what he had to do. He went in to talk to her.
Momma never set a good example
Daddy never held Momma's hands
Momma found everything hard to handle
Daddy never stood up like a man
I've walked around
Broken
Emotionally frozen
Getting it on
Getting it wrong
Jack sat down next to Brenda on the bed. "Hi."
She smiled at him. "Hi."
How do you love someone
Without getting hurt?
How do you love someone
Without crawling in the dirt?
So far in my life
Clouds have blocked the sun
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
Jack looked at the ring again and then at Brenda. "Can I ask you something?" he asked her at the same time she said it. They smiled at each other. "You go first," he said.
I was always a chosen child
Their biggest scandal I became
They told me I'd never survive
But survival's my middle name
"I…" Brenda said, "I wanna be friends."
Jack stared at her, confused. "But we are friends."
"No…just friends."
I've walked around
Hoping
Just barely coping
Getting it on
Getting it wrong
Jack processed this turn of events. "Wow. I totally should've gone first." Jack got up. "OK. Bye." He left, dropping the ring on her table as he left.
How do you love someone
Without getting hurt?
How do you love someone
Without crawling in the dirt?
So far in my life
Clouds have blocked the sun
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
Nadine knocked on Ryan's door. "Ryan, it's me. We need to talk."
Ryan just stared out the window.
"Look, it wasn't what it looked like, we were just… I'm your wife, you have to trust me. You can't just faze me out like this, please!" Nothing. She started crying and ran off.
Ryan looked at the door and sighed.
It's hard to talk
To say what's deep inside
Kelly looked at Austin in his building. "Hey." He smiled at her. "We need to talk." He stopped smiling.
It's hard to tell
The truth
When you've always lied
"This isn't gonna work. We still don't know if the Halfling thing is working or not. Duck interrupted every time we got close to the true happiness thing. And I can fool my family, and I can fool my friends, but I can't fool myself. Or Sean for some reason. What I want from you, I can never have. I'm not coming back here." She started to leave.
"There's gotta be some way we can still be together," Austin stopped her.
She sighed and looked at him. "There is. Tell me you don't love me." He said nothing, knowing it would be a lie. She left, trying to hide the tears.
How do you love someone
Without getting hurt?
Austin sat down on the couch, staring sadly into space.
How do you love someone
Without crawling in the dirt?
Michael was waiting in the foyer of the tower. Madelyn came down, carrying her suitcase, stared at him for a few seconds, and then walked past him and left.
So far in my life
Clouds have blocked the sun
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
Brenda sat on her bed, sobbing until her eyes were dry. Just when she thought she was done, she looked at Jack's picture on her bedside table and the tears returned.
Jack, meanwhile, just sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
How do you love someone
And make it last?
Benny was sitting on the couch in the living room. Sarah came in from the hall and looked at him for a few seconds before running off again.
How do you love someone
Without tripping on the past?
Nadine sat on her bed, her legs crossed, playing idly with her wedding ring.
Ryan did the same in his room before finally tossing it in the top drawer of his desk.
So far in my life
Clouds have blocked the sun
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
Robert was reading a book. Finally, he just dropped it on the floor.
Lucy, meanwhile, stared at the flowers at her bedside.
How do you love
How do you love
Someone?
Someone…
Kelly sat on the roof, looking sadly out at the sunset and remembering when she and Austin would do that together.
Tech came up to the door that led to the roof, looked at his daughter, sighed, and walked off.
While all this went on, Sean was racing his car out of town, singing to "Go Your Own Way" by Clique Girlz, which was blaring on the radio. " …You can go your own way! You can call it another lonely day! You can go your own way… "