Something was up with Vida, it didn't take a genius to see that. She had rushed head first into an army of Hidiacs with no thought once so ever of morphing, or fighting as a team.
"Whoa, look at V go," Chip exclaimed.
"This catching up on your sleep thing must really work," Xander agreed.
"Go Sis," Maddy cheered, before turning to the others, "I've never seen her like this before."
"Neither have I," Nick announced, "Now don't point out that I'm new in town and have only been here a few weeks. It's just extra aggression is often a side effect of an evil spell."
Everybody turned to look at Nick with a raised eyebrow.
"What?" he demanded, "My Dad's the leader of all the power rangers, he's higher ranking than Udonna, and my Aunt just as important over on the Masked Knights side of things. I learned a lot about recognizing evil spells. Of course, she could just be venting. My mom does that."
By this point Vida had taken out the last of the hidiacs. Nick followed the others over to congratulate her. There was a chance that she was under a spell, but hopefully the others wouldn't mention his suspicions to her. If she was under a spell, the last thing Nick needed was to inform her that he was onto her. From what he could tell she could get violent.
"Now how about a real challenge?" a voice called out. Koragg, he was here. That didn't tell him much about what was going on with Vida, unless she suddenly changed sides or address Koragg differently. But she didn't. She morphed and transformed into her zord with the rest of them. Maybe she really was just letting out a bit of frustration with her little display with the foot soldiers.
Vida wasn't acting strange as they battled Koragg, doing everything the same way she always did. That was, she was acting normal until the sun started to rise above the horizon, striking Vida straight in the eyes.
"Ahh..." she screamed, "The sunlight, it's too bright," before collapsing into a heap, demorphing and becoming so weak that she couldn't pull herself up off the ground.
"Are you okay Sis?" Maddy asked.
Nick was now really concerned, what could have thrown her out of her morph like that. Could it happen again?
"You lose one and you all quit?" Koragg demanded. Nick turned around to look at him, to be honest he had forgotten he was there. His father wouldn't have made that mistake, "You aren't worth my time." he announced, as he turned around and left through a seal.
…
Nick gently placed Vida on a sofa in Root Core, "What happened?" Udonna asked, rushing over, Clare right behind her.
"We don't know," Nick confessed, "We were fighting Koragg, and V just suddenly collapsed. She was acting weird before hand too, and she didn't show up until late last night."
"When did she start acting strange?"
"Well," Xander said, "She stayed behind to catch up on paperwork the other night. V hates paperwork. Usually she ignores it until Tony forces her to do it."
Nick turned to Xander, "And Leelee was there, remember? She wanted me to take her to a new club in town, DJ Fly? V was interested, she wanted to go with her."
"You don't think..." Xander trailed off, turning to Maddy, as her sister, Maddy would know better than anyone what Vida would do.
"She would," Maddy insisted, "But what happened at that club?"
"The best person to find that out would probably be Leelee," Nick said, taping his chin, "Someone has got to question her, but not me. I'll never get a straight answer from her,"
…
Xander ended up being the one to question Leelee. Nick had to admit he had a way with girls, just like his Uncle Zack, which turned out to be a good thing, for he was the one who got her to admit that Vida had stayed after she had left, and had seemed fine before that.
Just then Maddy arrived with V for their shifts at the store to start, V was wearing a jacket with the hood pulled up, a baseball hat with the bill pulled low and a pair of extra dark sunglasses. Her skin was super pale as well.
"Hi V," Xander greeted her, "Feeling any better?"
V shrugged, "I guess so," she confessed, "I'm just a little sensitive to sunlight."
"Pale complexion," Chip muttered, "Sensitive to sunlight," he turned to Nick, "What do you know about Vampires?"
"Vampires?" Nick asked, thinking for a second, "Not much, besides you won't find any here, Briarwood is too sunny for them."
…
"Where's V?" Nick asked as he glanced around Root Core, they had all decided to spend Sunday, when the store was closed for the day trying to figure out the Fire Heart scroll.
"She was still asleep," Maddy explained, "and considering how she's been acting lately, I figured I'll let her sleep."
"How was she sleeping?" Chip asked, "Was she standing up? Or hanging upside down?"
"She was asleep in bed like usual, why?" Maddy asked.
"No reason?" Chip insisted, quickly.
"Chip has a working theory that V has been turned into a Vampire," Nick confessed, "I don't know, unfortunately Vampires aren't common here in America, even my aunt doesn't know enough to help us identify one. Unless you happen to notice her lack of reflection."
"Let's just not talk about Vida and get to work," Udonna insisted, handing everyone a book, "The sooner we figure out what the Fire Heart Scroll says, the sooner we have the Fire Heart and Koragg doesn't."
Everybody agreed, as they all started to look through the books.
They were about ready to leave for the day when V finally showed up, looking better than she had the day before, if not still a bit pale. She had no explanation about how she had managed to sleep for twenty-two hours, but she seemed to be feeling better so Nick didn't press it.
"You must be thirsty," Chip announced, offering V a clear glass cup with a red liquid in it.
V grabbed it greedily, taking a deep gulp, before spitting it out in disgust, "This is tomato juice," she announced in disgust.
"Did you think it was blood?" Chip asked.
Nick sighed stepping between the two, even if V was a vampire taunting her wasn't going to get them anywhere, "Come on, maybe she thought it was some form of fruit punch or something, that's not proof that she's a vampire."
Maddy nodded, pulling out her camera, "Hey, Sis, want to say hi to your fans?"
V goofed around in front of the camera for a second, posing before they decided that they all should go home since they all had work the next day.
Chip hung back with V as the others left, "Look I'm sorry about the Tomato Juice," he confessed, "I just, you have the classic Vampire look."
"To be honest," V said slowly, "I'm surprised you're the one who figured it out before Nick, I mean he knows monsters better than Udonna."
"What are you saying?"
"That you're right, I am a vampire."
…
"I hope whatever Vida has isn't contagious," Toby announced, when Maddy informed him that V was ill and unable to come in that day, "I won't be able to get anything done if my entire staff takes ill."
Just then there was a knock on the door. Xander went over to it and pulled the door open a crack, "I'm sorry we don't open for another half hour."
"I know," a woman's voice said, causing Nick to look up in shock, he knew that voice, and it wasn't one that meant anything good. Like a policeman knocking on your front door in the middle of the night, "My name is Amberline Ranker, I'm a talent scout, I saw a video online of a very talented young DJ that worked here, I was hoping to do an article on her for my talent blog."
Amberline Ranker was a tall, slender woman with long golden curls, thick eyelashes, and large blue eyes that made her look like she had just stepped out of a photo shoot even right after battle. Today she wore black skinny jeans and a blue tunic style shirt that matched her eyes perfectly, a large sun shaped necklace dangled half way down her chest. For Nick that was a tell tale sign that Amberline Ranker wasn't here for an interview. She knew better than to parade the Sun Shield out in the open, unless she thought that she would need it at a moments notice.
"Wait," Maddy exclaimed, "You're Amberline Ranker? And you've seen the videos I posted of V online?"
"I am and I have," The woman insisted, "May I come in?"
"Of course," Toby announced, "Let her in Xander, just think of all the publicity we'll get."
"There's only one problem," Nick pointed out, "V called in sick, remember?"
"Well then, I'll just have to do my story on you, won't I Nick, you're an amateur magician aren't you?"
That was the last thing that Nick would describe himself as, but Amberline obviously meant business, "Yeah, I guess," he confessed, "Can this wait until after I get off work?"
"Of course, tonight after sundown, when Vampires come out."
"That's a weird thing for her to say," Chip muttered.
"Not really," Nick announced, glancing around to see that Toby had headed to the back, "She's a monster hunter."
Maddy snorted, "V's been following her blog since it started," she pointed out, "she's a legit talent scout."
"Monster Hunting doesn't pay the bills," Nick explained, "She's friends with my Aunt Star, She's married to my dad's cousin. The very fact that she assigned me a random talent tells me that she isn't here to discover new talent, but to deal with a monster that got to close to humans. Due to what Aunt Amby's powers are, and what she said, I think that there's a vampire running loose somewhere in Briarwood and she wants our help tracking it down."
"Why our help?" Chip asked, "I mean it's not like we know any vampires, right?"
Nick looked at Chip, he seemed nervous, his eyes darting everywhere, he also had bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept well the night before, and there was a distinct scent of garlic coming off him.
"Chip are you wearing Monster Repellent?"
Chip chuckled lightly, "Maybe a little bit."
"Why?" Nick asked, "We should really only use that stuff if we absolutely have to."
"Well, when one of us are turned into a vampire, I think it's the right precaution to make."
Nick opened his mouth to protest his claim that V was a vampire before stopping, turning around and heading to the door, "Aunt Amby," he called out, "How can you tell if someone has been turned into a vampire."
"Well, pale skin, aversion to direct sunlight, nocturnal tendencies, red eyes, thirst for blood," Amby announced, "Or simply not appearing on camera does it too."
"The video of V?" Nick asked.
"She wasn't in it Nick," Amby confessed, "I need to find the Vampire and get rid of it to turn her and any other victims back to normal."
"We traced her strange behavior to a club, a DJ Fly?"
"Thank you Nick," Amby said, "When Star told me that you were here, I figured that you would be of assistance, after all you are a Keeper."
"You aren't going to hurt V are you?"
"I'll try my best," Amby insisted.
