A woman in medical clothes was alone with Ardeth

A woman in medical clothes was alone with Ardeth. She was drawing blood from his arm, slowly filling a little canister. She finished and withdrew the needle, storing the canister in her black bag. Cleaning the needle, she got out another canister and began drawing blood again. Suddenly, her patient's eyes snapped open. She started in surprise as he grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?" he asked in a deadly voice. Foggily, he blinked to clear his eyes, giving no outward sign of the vertigo he felt. The doctor smiled. "I need some of your blood for… tests. Don't worry, I didn't take too much." She finished her second canister and held it up for him to see. "There's plenty more where that came from." Something in the way she said that made him shiver.

She quickly packed the canister and started cleaning the needle again. Ardeth sat up, coming more awake. He felt terrible, as if he had just finished walking through the desert for a whole day with no water. He frowned thoughtfully, glancing at the woman, whose back was turned. She looked very familiar, but he really couldn't place her. "You're fever's gone," she said, turning around. "You'll be fine in a matter of days. Just rest up!" She picked up her bag and headed for the door, on her way bumping into Rick and Evy, who had just entered. Rick touched her shoulder. He didn't notice that she curled her lip in slight revulsion to his touch. "How is he?" the adventurer asked. She quickly pulled her shoulder away and, about to speak, was interrupted by Evy's "Oh! You're awake! Wonderful." She pushed past the doctor and hurried to where Ardeth had gotten up from the bed. Instinctively she hugged him in delight. He blinked, startled, but as she pulled away, he gave her a little half-smile. No one noticed that the doctor had quietly slipped away with no payment.

Evy put an arm around Rick as Ardeth straightened up. The look he gave the O'Connells was very serious. "My… deepest apologies, my good friends. I…" he closed his eyes in momentary pain. "I have something to tell you…" Rick and Evy listened intently, apprehensively. "Anck-su-namun has returned."

The doctor parked her rented car on the side of the road by the hotel. Grabbing her bag, she fumbled excitedly with the door and opened it, hurrying out of the car. She trotted into the building, ignoring the bellboy's offer to help, and ascended the stairs to her level. She rummaged in the bag for her keys, hissing as she accidentally came in contact with the uncapped needle. Finding her keys, she opened the door to her room. Inside, everything was the way it had been when she'd rented the room. In fact, she'd hardly used it at all. She locked the door and turned the bag upside-down on the counter, spilling out all of the contents. Impatience getting the best of her, she quickly picked up the first container of Ardeth's blood. She held it up to the light, laughing hatefully. She continued to chuckle as she flipped open the lid of the container. Closing her eyes, she sniffed the canister briefly, sighing in pleasure at the familiar odor. Then she tipped the contents into her mouth and swallowed.

After a moment of pregnant silence, she stumbled backwards, half-falling onto her bed. Gasping in growing pain, she squeezed her eyes shut tight against the sensation that came seconds later. She tried not to scream as her soul was ripped from her body and brought into contact with the air. The spirit twisted and convulsed, shuddering into a slightly different countenance. It dived back into her limp form, flexing and thrusting the skin painfully into a different shape. Just seconds later, the doctor no longer, Ardeth Bay stood up from the bed and shook himself (herself?), trying to be rid of the aftereffects of the metamorphosis. He/she looked in the mirror, touching the odd tattoos briefly in puzzlement. Then, satisfied, "Ardeth" walked out of the room, turning off the light behind him.

"No."

Evy came up behind him and hugged his neck. "Well, why not?" Rick gently lifted her arms and turned to face her seriously. She countered by kissing him. "I love you," she said affectionately. "Mhmm," Rick said tolerantly. "And I love staying alive." He walked out of their room, knowing that a battle with his wife face-to-face would soon end with him losing. "Alex!" he called, trying to distract Evy. She followed him out and said, "Rick, we have to! We've done it before-" Rick turned and held up his hands. "Lemme stop you right there. That is exactly what I am saying. We have done it before, you're right. So, we're done. That's it. We've already saved the world twice, okay? I think we've just about paid our dues." Evy looked at him with those gorgeous eyes, pouting a little. He blinked distractedly. "There is no way in hell I'm going near this stuff again," he said warningly. Evy continued to pout, saying nothing. They stared at each other for a long moment.

Rick yanked at the clutch, in a sour mood, shaking his head. "How did I let you talk me into this?" he asked rhetorically, wheeling out of their driveway towards the general direction of the airport. Alex leaned forward, craning his neck to see his father. "Because Mum made the Pouty Face," he replied matter-of-factly. "You always say yes to the Pouty Face." He looked back at Evy. "She told me so." Evy smiled sheepishly and put a hand over her child's mouth, dragging him back to his seat. Ardeth, on the other side of Alex, shook his head. "You three are the strangest family I have ever had the dubious privilege to meet." Alex bowed as well as one can bow while sitting in a car and said, "Why, thank you, Apocalypse Man." Startled, Ardeth stared at Alex, then began to laugh. Soon, he was laughing wholeheartedly, glad to have a lightening of the intense depression he had been feeling. Alex looked from Ardeth to his smiling mother. "What?" he asked, a little confused. "What'd I say?"