Chapter 33

Marco

I swear, I was ready for this whole thing to end. I was fed up with it. First, I'm attacked, then, kidnapped, then unconscious. Between Cassie and I, I don't know whose got the worse end of the deal.

I wanted to be able to go home. Chill with my dad. (OK, I know what happened in 45. Got it, read it, bought the T-shirt. Anyway, this story is kind of like between 44 and 45. I wanted Marco to be able to go home and go to school and stuff. Yeah…). Do homework. Live life. I wanted- as crazy as it seems- to fight Visser Three and the Yeerks. Not vampires. Next thing you know, werewolves will be biting us and we'll need to stock up on silver bullets.

I sighed, trying to remember all that had been said. I didn't want to remember what had happened. I found as the days went by, I was able to remember more of what happened when I was stuck with Cassandra. And I didn't like it…

I shuddered, remembering. I tried to focus, but it was too hard. Sighing, I sat in the grass, just outside Cassie's barn.

I don't know how it happened. One minute, there was nothing. Not a sound, except for the zillion insects, birds, and other animals. But then….

Snarling, the huge beast leapt from the woods. I say huge meaning HUGE, big, and muscular. We are talking I-could-toss-a-truck-fifty-feet-easily-huge. The thing came at me, and I sat, frozen, staring in its yellow predator eyes.

It landed in front of me, saliva dripping from its fangs, eyes reddish yellow now. Growling in the back of its throat, it put its head closer to my face.

I could count the hairs on its face, smell his bad breath, and hear its voice.

Wait a second. Voice!? I thought.

"Fool," it snarled. "I could kill you easily. But I won't. The games wouldn't be as fun then." The voice was rough and sandpapery, it made me think of gravel against cement.

I backed away, still on the grass, facing the beast.

"Run," it mocked me. "I remember my past, now. Damon helped me."

Huh? Damon? The name sent a picture of that boy, the one who had attacked Cassie, had knocked me out.

"Don't you remember me, Marco? Your 'beloved Cassandra' from school?"

CASSANDRA?!

"You aren't Cassandra! You're a… a… thing!"

Her eyes became slits. Her mouth became a sneering snarl. More saliva.

"A 'thing'? No, the proper term, I would say, is vampire."

Vampire! She seemed to be a werewolf, not a vampire.

I shuddered at her hoarse, throaty laughter. Her muzzle shook, sending saliva everywhere.

I began to morph, praying it would work. Not a real prayer really, just wanting to get away fast, to make it in time.

I morphed wolf as fast as I could, and Cassandra, who saw me morphing, glared. But she didn't do anything.

Run, Little Marco. But I'll get you. I heard her voice in my mind, and I shuddered. And then I sped away as fast as my new body would take me.

Chapter 34

Rachel

There is a wolf outside the domain, Ax told me.

AX I HOPE THAT'S YOU AND NOT SOME OTHER ANDALITE! The wolf shouted.

Marco! Ax exclaimed. Did you remember anything important?

No, man. Just this- Cassandra at our school Cassandra is a vampire too! She and that Damon guy have teamed up, and are holding Cassie somewhere!

"We knew the last part. But the first?" I said.

Marco began demorphing. Yeah, she ca-

His thought speech was cut off, as he became more wolf than human.

"What I mean was, she visited me at the barn in larger-than-life-wolf version. Apparently, these vampires can turn into monstrous animals, instead of just normal ones." He shuddered.

I nodded. "We better tell Jake."

"Alright. Let me catch my breath first."

Ax looked up with his stalk eyes. We followed his gaze.

It appears that Jake and Tobias are coming to us.

Hey guys! We have news! We think we found directions on how to get to this place.

"Really?" I exclaimed. "LET'S DO IT!"

Marco rolled his eyes.

I glared at him, and he took a step back. "We have to save Cassie!"

We haven't got time to fight! Rachel's right, let's go! Tobias said.

Alright. Let me demorph though.

Jake landed on the forest floor, and became human. He rest a minute, and showed us a piece of paper he had carried in his beak. "See? We start here." He pointed to a place on the hurriedly sketched map. "Which is right where we are now!"

"You're right!" Marco cried. "It is right here! And see; then we go five miles northwest, seven north from there, and then it's just a mile-" He squinted. "The rest is all like, scribble."

"Crap!" I swore.

Jake shrugged. "We'll just have to guess from there."

Ax nodded. Yes. Let us go. We must save Cassie from this 'psycho'.

I could've laughed from the way Ax spoke, but I didn't. I quickly morphed cheetah. We needed all the speed we could get.

Chapter 35

Damon

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you?" I asked her, smiling amusedly at her. "I'm going to make you do horrible things to your friends. Especially Jake." Anger crossed my eyes.

Cassie sat, cowering in a corner.

"Would you like to see?" For the next few minutes, I fed her images of things I would make her do.

"No!" She cried out! "Not Jake! Not Rachel! Don't!"

I laughed at her. "Cassie, it's too late for that. Prepare to enter your worst nightmare."

I bent over her, and not for the first time since I had met her, I sank my fangs into her neck.

Chapter 36

Jake

We raced along, following the directions as Ax read them, who was still Andalite. We had all morphed cheetah, like Rachel.

As we raced along, I prepared myself for the worst.

Anything but what we saw.

A camouflaged building came into view as we slowed to a stop. We demorphed, and Tobias circled around to get the lay of the outer building.

No windows, He said, sounding giddy and wired. So un-Tobias like.

Is there any entrance?

Not that I c- Tobias broke off, leaving me worried. Wait! There's a door! He cried.

We slunk onward, keeping to the shadows. We knew Damon's tricks by now.

At least, we thought we did. After we had gone to our most powerful morphs- Elephant and Rhinoceros- we charged into the compound.

Roaring and stomping and trumpeting deafened us, making Marco and I almost useless in our Rhino morphs.

To the left. Straight forward, right- Rachel sighed. Marco, you missed! You hit a tree!

Oh. That's why it hurt.

I could picture Rachel's eye roll, but I ignored it. I was already in the wide corridors, racing down the tunnels, looking for Cassie.

I stomped by an endless stream of doors, and, even though I could barely see, the white blinded my eyes, burning them. And suddenly, I saw her. Cassandra.

But wait!

It was the old Cassandra! She looked puzzled, and, then her eyes widened as she saw me charging toward her, horn lowered.

I skidded to a stop, just in time. That's when I saw the other Cassandra.

Chapter 37

Cassandra

I stared at my doom. A huge, Rhinoceros horn was charging at me, certainly I wouldn't make it.

Inches from my face, the Rhino managed to stop, and it blinked, staring into my face.

Cassandra?! A mental voice said into my voice. I recognized it immediately.

"Jake!" I exclaimed. Some part of me awakened, renewed by our meeting. I blinked, as the Rhino began to shrink and become smaller until it was a human boy in a T-shirt and shorts.

"Uh." Jake blushed at his outfit.

"Jake," I said again. I was remembering what I had forgotten; waves of it overflowed my brain, overloading it with information.

"Where are the others?" I inquired. I looked around me, and, with a shock, acknowledged where I was.

I was at the compound again.

I heard a door slam open and a rip as it fell off its hinges from the force of its opening.

"Wha-" A harsh voice began. "CASSANDRA!!!!"

I whirled, and saw Damon. I felt the warmth of his embrace, and I sighed, happily.

I somehow saw Cassie and Rachel and Ax, Marco, and Tobias along with Jake stare at us, but I ignored it.

It was hard to ignore anything when we were suddenly flung into a dark void.

Space.

Chapter 38

Ax

"What the!?" Called the vampire Damon.

Space. I replied. The Ellimist. I pointed a blue-tan finger at the smiling bluish being.

WELCOME BACK. I heard and felt his, her, its voice in my mind, and out loud.

"Back?" Echoed Damon. "I was never here. And I don't wish to be." I could see the uneasiness on his face. Unusual, for what he had done, for me to see him uneasy.

Tobias and the others, along with Cassandra seemed to 'float' nearby.

"Please not inside out land. Please not inside out land." Muttered Marco in a half chant.

I could here and sense the Ellimist's laughter.

HA HA. VERY FUNNY, MARCO.

Marco muttered something else I couldn't hear.

"Why are we here?" Asked Rachel, getting to the point.

A GOOD QUESTION. I WILL ANSWER.

YOU WERE BROUGHT HERE BECAUSE AS SOON AS YOU ALL STEPPED INTO THE BUILDING, THE TIME-RIP WAS FIXED. AS YOU CAN SEE, THE OTHER 'CASSANDRA' IS GONE. ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE REAL CASSANDRA, DAMON, AND, OF COURSE- YOU SIX.

"It's all so clear now. Can we go yet? At least back to earth?" Grumbled Marco.

IN A MINUTE.

Marco smiled grimly.

"So what's the point of brining us here?"

NOTHING REALLY. I SIMPLY FELT TO EXPLAIN. NOW THAT ALL HAS BEEN RIGHTLY RESTORED, I COULD TAKE YOU BACK.

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you?"

He is just playing his game with us. I said, impatiently. I would've grounded a hoof into the ground, had we even been on earth, or any land for that matter.

Rachel snorted, but didn't say anything. Marco was smirking.

I was annoyed, but I had learned to get used to it.

I shrugged a human-like motion that I had picked up from my human friends and Prince Jake.

"Who the heck is this guy anyway?" Inquired Cassandra, slightly annoyed for her own personal reasons. Or else by being taken into a space-void with an almost all-powerful being that 'did not interfere'.

He is the Ellimist. An almost all-powerful being. I explained.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow, with the hint of a smirk on her face. "Almost only counts in horseshoes." She quoted.

HA HA. NOW, TO BUISNESS.

AS YOU RECALL, CASSANDRA, YOU MADE A CHOICE- TO GO BACK IN TIME TO MEET WITH DAMON. BUT YOU DIDN'T PROPERLY THINK OVER YOUR CHOICE.

Cassandra's head lowered, her hair dripping around it. "No," Came her answer.

DO NOT BE ASHAMED. ALL MAKE MISTAKES.

"Even almost all-powerful beings?"

The Ellimist laughed. EVEN ALMOST ALL-POWERFUL BEINGS.

ANYWAY, AS I SAID- YOU WENT BACK IN TIME, ONLY TO FIND YOURSELF HAVING NO MEMORIES OF THE FUTURE, AND THEN A NEW CASSANDRA APPEARED- TO TAKE YOUR PLACE ALMOST.

SHE HAD HAZED MEMORIES- YOUR MEMORIES.

The Ellimist paused, letting this sink in.

ONE MORE TIME, I WILL ALLOW YOU TO MAKE A CHOICE. WHAT WILL IT BE?

Cassandra bit her lip. I could see her thinking hard.

SO BE IT.

There was a blinding flash of light, and suddenly- we were back at earth. In Cassie's barn.

Chapter 39

Cassie

"Is it over?" Asked Jake as we sat inside my barn.

It will never be over. Even if we win the war, it won't. Tobias said, almost philosophically.

Rightly said, shorm Tobias. Ax approved.

"I wonder what happened to Cassandra and Damon?" I mused aloud.

"I suppose we'll never know." Jake said solemnly, walking over and taking my hand.

"Do you think they're happy, wherever they are?" Questioned Rachel.

Jake sighed.

"Rachel, if the Ellimist has any heart, Cassandra is in paradise with Damon."

"Not that he deserves it." Joked Marco.

We all laughed. The adventure was over, for now, at least. The Yeerks would fight us. We would fight them. But we had already one at least a million battles.

AN: Anyway, I finally finished this story! I hope you liked it. I know I did. Some of it was bad, I know. But, there will be other fics…. There ya go, folks.