Maura Catherine O'Heainleigh (pronounced `O'Hanly) lived on the island of Inisheer off the coast of Galway in Ireland until she was ten years old. That year her parents were both killed in a car accident while on a trip to get supplies from the mainland. The courts decided that her uncle, Geoff Stevens, would be the best to adopt her, seeing as he was her godfather, and he had the highest income. The only big was that Geoff lived in Hope Springs, Colorado. She moved there soon after, and of course started school. It was here that she met Jack Phillips. They became close friends, along with two others, Dave Sav and Brian Christenson, whom everyone called Scooby. In December, 1998, after a year on the road, the Phillips came back for a few weeks, finding themselves in need of an acoustic guitarist. Maura instantly volunteered, knowing full well that Geoff wouldn't have a problem with her leaving. The Phillips accepted and Maura went on the road.
One other thing about Maura that you should know. Maura is not human. Maura is a witch. Born, will be, and will die a witch (just because you're a witch doesn't mean your immortal). She is technically a fire witch, which is basically means she can control fire in every aspect. Because she is a witch, her five senses are magnified, her strength is enormous, and she can sense things that humans can't. The two other characters presented in this overtake is Tony Niguara and Andy Ditmire. Tony is a long time friend of Maura's, they used to do all of their magic together until Maura got too powerful. They haven't seen in each other in a while, and decide to get together on that fateful day. Ditmire works with Maura at a place called LEOTS, which is where magical people work to save the human race. This is all the detail you should need to know about Maura for this version of Vampire. Please don't be mad at me for doing this! It's been playing in my head for about a year now, and I
need to get it off my shoulders.
Laying on the couch in the lounge, she had her walkman on, one arm draped over her stomach, the other above her head, resting on the table near her Discman, ready to change the track when she needed to. She wasn't trying to sleep; she really didn't want to sleep anymore than she had to lately. Some how though, she slipped off into dreamland. Unfortunately for her, dreamland had recently turned into repeats of the same night terror. As the terror started, she started to whimper in her sleep just a little. Then, in her sleep...
Maura was standing in front of a building that looked fairly modernistic. In fact, the whole front wall was a window. Sun shone on her back, and she could see the reflection of it in the center of the window. Morning birds chirped around her, and as she was looking at the building she noticed how she could see the inside, with desk after desk situated upstairs, and one huge lobby on the downstairs. She looked down at her neck to see that her Black Sarah pendant was missing. As she looked up, se realized that she wasn't outside anymore. Maura was now in a dimmed room with many candles lit. That was all she could see, but she knew that something was going on, behind her. She couldn't turn around, couldn't see, but knew her friends were in trouble. If only she could-
Suddenly she woke up. She sighed. It was always at that point. She closed her eyes, turned up the volume on her music, just concentrated on the music, blocking out the rest of the world. Which is how Maura managed to miss the entirety of the conversation which was going on in Fiona's room in the back, or the presence that hung on the edge of the bus looking in, first at Jack as he called Gabe, then, briefly, at her. While anything other than human should have known Maura was a witch at first site, Maura had put an obscurity spell on herself nearly a week ago to hide that fact. In her dreams the premonitions of an infallible evil was getting more intense. It was coming. Very soon. And she figured that she stood a better shot at tackling this thing if it thought she was just another fifteen-year-old girl, rather than a witch.
Suddenly the volume of her Discman was cranked up from fifteen to about thirty. She pulled the earphones off with a startled "Hey!" and looked up. It was Jack.
"Goodness Jack, I like my hearing, and I'll be happy enough if you let me keep it." She said jokingly, her Irish accent, still kind of thick, making the words melodious.
"If you like it so much, you should probably keep the volume of your CD player down low enough so that someone can get your attention in the first place." He said, sitting down at the table.
"Well, you've got my attention now. What's up?"
"There is a change of plans in our course of action." He said. "Instead of going directly to Chicago, we're going to take a side trip to Milwaukee."
"What for? We got another gig or something?" she asked
"No, actually, there's a chapter of the OSSN there, and when I told them where we were they invited us up. Mom said it was okay, then Ned Okayed the expedition, and so Milwaukee bound we are."
"Wow, I'm sure Fiona's excited about it." Said Maura, sarcastically. She knew that Jack loved to irritate Fiona with all he had learned from the OSSN.
"Yeah, she even renamed them as the-"
"Oh, jeez, how long is this going delay us?" she asked hurriedly.
"About three days, why?"
"I was supposed to meet an old friend in Chicago on the day we got there, remember? I was going to be gone all day?"
"Right, was that this week?"
"Yes. Ugh, I better call him." She said scrambling for her cell phone.
In truth it really wasn't a problem. Maura could get there in the blink of an eye, heck, get anywhere in the blink of an eye should she ever want to. But Jack still didn't know Maura's secret, and as of yet Maura wanted to keep it that way.
A plan was made. The people at the OSSN had offered a tour the morning before Jack was going to be initiated as a full member. Maura would join them, and then catch a cab to the "new" place her and her friend were meeting. Maura would have preferred to take a cab from the hotel room after they had left, but Jack insisted that she give the OSSN a chance and at least come and see what they were about. She wasn't too fond of the OSSN either, but, unlike Fi, was less verbal about. She used to be, until she noticed how important this was to Jack. Then she laid off the torment, although every once in a while she would still call him geek.
"Maura, are you almost ready? We're going to be late!"
"Jack, chill. We don't have to be there for at least forty-five minutes."
"Well, what are you doing in there?"
"I'm drowning a stray cat I found outside." she said sarcastically. "I'm putting on makeup, you can come in if you want." The door opened. Jack stepped in cautiously, wearing jeans, one of his nice shirts, and-can it be? Yes! Cologne.
"My, Jack, where are we going, the Ritz?" she said while looking at him through the mirror.
"Funny. I just want to look good, ya know? Got to make a nice impression. Speaking of impressions, what kind of impression does jeans, a lace shirt, and purple hair in two braids make?"
"The `You've got a snowball's chance in hell of getting me to join' look?"
"Maura, come on."
"Jack, I'm dressed for this afternoon, not for this morning, remember? Besides, I doubt they'll think any less of you because you friend showed up for a full twenty minutes showing a little skin and with her red hair tinted purple. I'm not the one trying to become a full member, right?"
"Yeah, I guess your right. Well, how do I look?" He threw out his arms and smiled the pose he always did when he wanted Maura's opinion on clothes.
"Fix your collar and I'll think you'll have the Yuppie look down pat. What about me?"
"Put on a sun hat, that should add a touch of something. And I am not trying to look like a Yuppie."
"Yeah, whatever you say Jack." She said, walking past him out the door to get her hat.
"Wait a minute, what's a yuppie again? Maura, what's a yuppie?"
Forty minutes later they found themselves getting out of cab in front of a very modernistic building. It looked like the entire front wall was one huge window. Maura looked at the building with a bit of distrust. It was familiar. The door in the corner, the way you could see a lot on the inside from the out, the-
"Oh, shit." She said under her breath. The dreams. The premonitions she had gotten every week since she had passed out back in December. When they had gotten intense two weeks ago, she had seen this place at least seven times. This was it. Wait a minute? This was it? I expected evil to come in a more frightening package. This thought lifted a weight off her shoulders, she knew that the powers that sent theses premonitions had the tendency to exaggerate, she just didn't realize that they exaggerated way too much.
"Maura, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost? You didn't, did you?" It was Fi. She knew about all this freaky stuff that was everywhere. That's how she found out about Maura. She didn't know about her premonitions, though. How they told her to accept the invitation to come with them and work for Molly just because this was how she was getting here.
"Maura?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little queasy from last night's binge Ice Cream trip." She said, lying. Fi took it though. And why shouldn't she? Maura was one of the best liars on the world, although everyone else called it acting. They walked up to the building, and let themselves in.
Maura scanned the room they had stepped into, basically the front lobby. A huge oval desk in the middle of the far wall, seats edging the other wall, and one huge recreation of a Monet on the wall behind the desk, plus the elevator was all that was in the room. Molly went up to the receptionist behind the desk and told her who we were. She picked up the phone dialed two numbers, and repeated what Molly had just said into the phone. She hung up, smiled, and said Brent would be down in a minute.
Okay, so this isn't so bad. Of course, this means that there is a lot of room for it to get worse. Stop thinking like that! This is going to be easy.
Suddenly the light went on over the elevator, and there was a cheery little ding as the doors opened and a young man walked out.
Lets see. Sex: male Age: lets go with 19 race: Caucasian weight: about 175
Height: 5'11" easily Obviously had his hair bleached Impression? Not a problem. Maura smiled.
"Jack. I'm Brent," He said, extending his hand to shake Jack's.
"Brent, nice to finally meet you. This is my mother, Molly, my friend, Maura, and my sister, Fiona." Brent shook each of their hands, and then turned back around to Molly.
"Wait a minute, Molly Phillips? From the Phillips-Kane band?" he asked
"That's me?" She answered,
"Oh my God Jack, why didn't you tell me? My parents had all of your CDs. Your songs got me through hours of studying. That song "Origami"? That cooks."
"Thanks." Said Molly, flattered.
"So, should I give you the tour?" asked Brent.
"That would be great." Answered Jack, already moving towards the elevator.
Brent took them on the tour, talking the entire time, although if you'd ask Maura what he's said she would have drawn a blank. She was taking in everything she could, looking at what they had, trying to decide what kind of demon they were dealing with here. Let's see, computers, desks, oversized window. Well those could be something.
The group stopped, and she started hearing what was actually going on around her.
"This is our next big project, a national blood drive."
"Yeah, that's subtle." Maura said under her breath
"Excuse me?" asked Brent.
"Nothing." She said, suddenly aware that someone was looking at her. She looked around, and suddenly here eyes fell on a boy standing on ladder fixing up one of the big signs in the room. At least that was what he was supposed to be doing. Instead he was looking at her, When she caught his eyes he started to look nervous but didn't look away.
Suddenly she realized that those darn butterflies in her stomach, which hadn't woken up since the third grade when her friend Dannan had kissed her on the cheek, were flying around, and her palms were getting sweaty.
"So Brent, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" said a voice. Maura looked and saw that two girls, one taller than the other, had walked up to them.
"Jack, this is Paige, and Rita. They'll be joining us at the initiation tomorrow."
"Hi, I'm Paige." Said the tall one.
"And I'm Rita" said the other one, quickly pushing in.
"Why don't you introduce Jack to the rest of the group." Said Brent. The two girls looked only too eager to oblige. They led Jack away, as he looked at Maura with a `get me out of this' kind of look. Maura just chuckled and ignored him.
Suddenly she glanced at her watch. 10:57. She was supposed to be in Chicago at 11:30, but Tony was always early for everything, was early for birth, and would probably be three weeks early at his funeral.
"Molly, can we talk?" she said. Molly nodded, and walked to a spot a few yards away to talk privately. Fi followed, as Maura started to go, Brent took a chance at her neck. Maura, who was not born yesterday, turned around.
"Sorry, I was just smelling your perfume. What is it?" he said, smiling his big grin of his.
Maura just smiled right back at him "Sorry, I'm not wearing perfume." She said. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you a prick. Brent's smile faltered.
"Oh, it must be your shampoo."
"Must be." She said, taking a glance at Pete, who was still looking at her. She gave him a smile and walked over towards Molly and Fi.
"I should probably be going now. Tony tends to be really early." She said.
"Yeah, Mom, you and I should probably go and let Jack meet his new little geek friends."
"Fi! Don't make fun of Jack's new geeks! I mean, Jack's new friends."
"Sorry."
"You're right though. We should go. I'll go tell Brent we're going to leave."
"I'll go give Jack the heads up." Said Fi.
"And I'll-... just stand right here, I guess." Maura said. She was glad, though, that she got another shot to look at this place. That "smelling of her perfume" had really cleared things up for her. She was looking around, when suddenly the boy from earlier was standing in front of her. Up close she could really see his features: brown hair, grayish-green eyes, about five-nine in height.
"Oh, hi. I'm Maura."
"I'm Pete." He paused nervously. "So, I saw you over there."
"Yeah, I saw you see me over there."
"Maura, come on." Called Molly.
"Okay." She turned back to say goodbye, and Pete was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged, and walked off towards the door.
"Alright, you'll have your cell phone, and we'll have ours so call if there's a problem, and you'll be back-"
"By six thirty. I'll probably end up seeing more of him tomorrow than today, so it'll be short today. Bye!"
"Bye!"
Maura only took the cab until she was out of sight, and then asked the cabbie to pull over. She paid him double, and got out of the car. But, when she stepped out of the cab, she was no longer in Milwaukee. She was in Chicago, in front of the Cheesecake Factory. Her jeans had changed to a red jean mini skirt, her t-shirt to a black off-shoulder shirt, and her braided hair unbraided and went up into a loose bun. The sneakers she had been wearing turned into red and black three-inch heels. Her red angel tattoo on her left shoulder was now visible. She walked down the stairs and to the front podium.
"Has anyone from the Niguara party shown up yet?" she asked the young women behind the podium.
"Yes, right over there." She pointed to the corner of the outside eating area, and there, with his back to the podium, reading a book, was Dannan O' Flattery, her old partner at the Spirit World NYPD. Maura hadn't seen him in nine months. She thanked the woman and walked over.
"Well, if it isn't Tony Niguara." She said as she approached the small table. Tony looked up smiling.
"Well, if it isn't Izzy Robinson." He stood up and embraced her, picking her up off the floor for a few seconds.
"Tony, put me down!" She said laughing. They both sat down.
"So, how is my favorite little witch doing? Dating any boys? Any girls? Both?" he asked, only half joking.
"I'm fine Tony. And no, I'm not dating, boys nor girls." She answered, picking up her menu. "What about you Tony? How are things between you and Angelo? He doing okay?"
"Oh, yeah, he's doing fine, and he actually asked me to say hi for him, so Hi!" he said, waving.
Maura giggled. "Hi!" And so it went for the next hour or so. They sat catching up on all that had happened since that September when they had last seen each other. They had just finished up their lunch (Tony had Buffalo Chicken Salad and Maura had an enchilada) and had ordered desert (who doesn't get desert at the Cheesecake Factory?) when Tony took on a somber expression.
"All right Maura, spill it." He said.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about.
"Maura, I'm not an idiot. You may be good at hiding things from people, but I know you. Everything you do when you're upset about something: the way you hide your mouth when you laugh, mixing Gaelic with your English, rubbing your fore finger and your thumb together, the signs are all there. So, I want to know what is going on inside that head of yours."
"You really want to hear this?"
"Every word."
"Fine, it's your funeral." She paused, collecting her thoughts. " It started in the last week of December. I was working in the Black Ice, you know the club back in Hope Springs....
"Hey, Maura, you wind going up to the second floor and clearing the tables?" asked Tom, her employer.
"Yeah, sure. Anna, you mind finishing the dishes by yourself?"
"There's not that many left, I'll be fine." Said Anna, barely looking up. Maura put down the plate she was working on, took off her gloves, and picked up a bus-boy container, some cleaner and rag and headed up the stairs. She cleared one table, was about to start on the next, when suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her. She wobbled a little, seemed to regain her balance, and fell flat on the floor, the dishes she was carrying falling next to her.
Maura looked around. She was back on Inisheer, but there was no town, no people, no anything. It was like she was in the past before the gypsies even came to the island. Well, I was just in Hope Springs, I was cleaning some of the tables, and- and I fainted. Geez, am I dead?
"Not dead. Just unconscious. You'll wake up, just not right now." said a voice behind her. Maura whirled around and there behind her was girl, a bit taller than her, with hair like hers, intensely red. She was wearing a peasant dress, and had a scar on her right cheek. Her eyes were black.
"Who are you? Why am I here? And just where the hell is here?" asked Maura.
"I am Dara. You are here because you need to be told something, and here is somewhere deep inside your mind."
"Wait a minute, Dara? The Dara? The last Irish Fire witch?" asked Maura, astounded.
"Yup, that would be me alright." She said.
"And you have a message for me?"
"Well, it's not exactly from me. It's from the Powers."
"Oh good gravy not them." Sighed Maura. "They've been getting on my nerves, and I haven't even had a job from them."
"Yeah, well, now they do. In about-well, let's say soon, you're going to get a chance to leave Hope Springs. Not necessarily for good, but the choice will come."
"Is this suppose to scare me, because if it is, you've never met my uncle."
"No, this is not supposed to scare you. Just listen, Okay? You have to take this opportunity. If you take this path, you will be able to stop an evil that will otherwise destroy this earth."
"Mmm-hmm, and if I don't? Wait, let me guess. If I don't, no one else will?"
"Of course. These guys can be real specific in that way, can't they?"
"Yeah, annoying, ain't it? Is that it? I think my friends might be worried about me."
"One more thing. You can't kill this enemy."
"Excuse me?"
"You can't kill it. Well, that's not entirely true. You could, but it would just come back, bigger, meaner, and harder to kill."
"Well then how am I supposed to defeat it?" she asked.
"It's your job to figure that out. Now, any questions before I leave?"
"No, I guess not."
"Good, I've got a date in about an hour." She said, and then disappeared. The world went black, and suddenly-
"Maura, Maura! I think she's waking up, Maura!"
"Oomph. Stop screaming, please."
"What happened?"
"Another case of the dizzies. I haven't had any since I was seven."
"But your okay?" asked Tom as he helped her up.
"Yeah, see they're already gone. Let's clean up this glass......"
"That's pretty intense."
"Keep listening. About three days afterward, my chance to leave town came."
"The Phillips asked you to be acoustic guitar in the band." Said Tony, slowly figuring out where this was going.
"Bingo. Not only that, the dreams started nightmares really. Cryptic messages giving me more and more clues about what the big evil was. Two weeks ago, they began to get more frequent and more specific. Every time I was standing in front of a modern building, where the whole front wall was a window, the sun was behind me, and I could see most of what was inside. Then I was inside a room, and there was candles everywhere, and something was going on behind me, but I can't turn around. Then I wake up."
"Wow, nightmares about a dark force brewing that's going to be your responsibility alone. Ouch."
"It gets worse. Today we went to go see the OSSN building, and wouldn't you know it, it was the same place, the same angle, the same sun, everything the way it was in my dreams. And then I meet the people inside."
"What were they?" he asked.
"Let's see, blood drive, big oversized window for overcompensation, taking a chance at my neck. You do the math."
"Vampire?"
"You got it babe."
"Wow, so now you've got to take this place down? No wonder you're on edge."
"Yeah. Wait, do I really seem on edge?"
"To the untrained eye, no, but to someone who knows you, you're on the end of your rope." He said, finishing the last bite of his cheesecake while simultaneously signally for the bill. Maura checked her watch. 2:49. A four-hour lunch. Impressive.
"I have three hours. You know what would take me off the edge?" She said excitedly.
"Shopping, honey. It's all about the shopping." Said Tony, equally excited. Ya know there's something to be said for a guy who can get excited over shopping.
And so for the next three hours they went store hopping, buying things here and there. Talking the whole time. Finally, Maura looked at her watch and realized she might be late if she didn't leave now.
"I had a wonderful time." She said, giving him that last hug.
"Maura, can I give you some advice?"
"Shoot."
"Tonight, go back to hotel room, and just relax."
"Relax, how can I relax now?"
"Okay, what did these powers that be tell you would be facing?"
"A big creepy, evil nasty thing."
"And what did you get?"
"A bunch of vampire Yuppies who mostly care about how high their grade point average is. Hey, you're right, I do feel better."
"See, what did you ever do without me?"
"Well, I was driven to tears of boredom with Ditmire almost every Wednesday night during the winter."
"And we'll save that story for another time. Bye, honey."
"Bye, gorgeous." She said as she turned to leave. Once again, as she turned she was back in Milwaukee, in front of her hotel room, wearing sneakers, jeans, a lace shirt and her hair in braids. She walked up to her room.
"Hey, Maura, you mind getting some ice from the machine down the hall?" Said Fi, holding out the ice bucket and making a pleading face. It was 7:07; Maura was reading a book out on the balcony. She didn't mind the interruption and agreed. She picked up one of the room keys, left the room, and walked down the hall to the machine. She filled the bucket to the top and walked back to their room. She was about to enter, when she felt someone standing directly behind her. She whipped around, and there was Pete. Looking horribly sick. Startled, she dropped the ice.
"Pete, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" She asked, a bit suspiciously. Pete only answered the second question.
"I had to go cold turkey, it was the only way I could build up enough strength to get here."
"Cold turkey? Pete-" She started to say, when suddenly Pete doubled over in pain, and dropped something on the ground. He hurriedly picked it up, but not before Maura saw that it looked like a test tube with a red liquid in it. Thick enough to be blood.
"What was that?" She asked, just for the sake of asking.
"Never mind. I don't have much time, soon I'll be one of them again. Stay back." He said as Maura tried to move towards him and help a bit.
"It's alright, I don't bite." She said, half joking.
"Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same. Look, Maura, Jack's in danger."
"From what?"
"That doesn't matter. Just don't let them make him a full member. Stay away from the OSSN." Suddenly the door behind her opened. It was Jack.
"Hey, did you forget your room key?" said jack. Maura turned back around. Pete was gone.
"Maura?"
"Pete...Pete was.."
"Pete was here? Why didn't you invite him in?"
"He left when he heard you coming." She looked behind Jack and saw Fiona coming. Good, I have got to talk to her.
"Yeah, he was a bit shy. And I think he likes you."
"Hmm. Fiona, why don't you help me go get some more ice? I dropped them before he showed up, I think I'm getting the dizzies again."
"Sure" As they walked down the hall, Maura explained all that had happened, with interruptions from Fi every now and then sharing her thoughts and weird feelings about that place. They decided that Fiona would do some research on the computer and Maura would go out and check town for anyone with information. They went back into the room; Maura put on a double skirt and her peasant top, and left. Halfway down the hall, though:
"Check the town for information, that's rich." She said to herself. She was going to a meet some friends of hers in EPCOT. She blinked herself there, and had a great time. Tony was right. I am so ready for tomorrow, she thought to herself as she headed back into her room a little after one
The next morning she woke up a quarter before ten. Suddenly she realized how late it was. I never sleep that late. Usually......my night terrors wake me up first. Then she remembered. No dreams the night before. Nothing evil. Nothing scary.
"Well, today really is the day." She said to herself. She looked at the clock. "And the party's starting in fifteen minutes, what am I going to do?" She looked around, and saw her cell phone on the table. "Of course, Ditmire." She ran over to the phone, dialed fifteen numbers, and waited. One ring...two rings...three rings, come on Ditmire pick up, pick up, pick up dammit, pick-
"Hello?"
"Ditmire, thank God you were home I need you now, how fast can you be in my hotel room?" she asked. Before there was a response there was a knock at the front door. She opened it and there stood a relatively tall man with blond shaggy hair and intense blue eyes.
"Ditmire, good. Look, I know that we're technically on vacation, but I need your help with a side project."
"If it's for you, Izzy, I'm game. What's the scoop?"
"My friends have been dragged into a vampire cult thingy and they're going to be made into full members if we don't leave now. Not only that, but I know I'm not going to kill the bad guy today because I've been told in premonitions so I need to find out the true identity of this guy which is where you come in but we have to leave now so take me to the OSSN building now I'll dress on the way let's GO!" she said in one huge breath.
Ditmire didn't make a fuss. He knew that Maura, or Izzy, only got like that when something important was about to do down. He grabbed her hand, and in an instant they were in the main lobby of the OSSN building. Maura's apparel had, indeed, changed, so that she was wearing a white tank top, black pants with slits up the side in each leg that ran up to the knee, one-inch heeled boots, and her hair pulled into a tight bun in the back. They arrived just in time to see them get into the elevator.
"Downstairs, in the basement." She said.
"How do you know?"
"My dreams, remember?" Ditmire sighed and they both blinked themselves downstairs. They got down there before the elevator.
"So what, they can't see us?" asked Ditmire.
"No, I made sure of that on the way over. Now remember, as soon as we hear anything that could tell us who this guy is, you get over to the office and find him."
"Got it." He said. Suddenly the elevator bell rang, and it opened. The two happened to be standing in front of the elevator.
"You initiate people in the basement?" she heard Jack say.
"Something like that." Maura watched as Brent turned around and waved a hand over the three still in the elevator, putting Molly and Jack in sort of a trance. Fiona, on the other hand had seen that coming, ducked, and ran out of the elevator.
"Run! They're vampires!" she cried. Right behind where Ditmire and Maura was standing there was a whoosh. They turned around and saw Pete.
"Where in the hell did he come from?" Ditmire asked. Maura looked up at the ceiling.
"The rafters, up there. Come on, they're going down the hall." The two ran down a hall where they found that Fiona had been cornered by the two Barbies, and was now being approached by Brent.
"Just leave us alone, we won't tell anybody." Fiona was saying.
"Yeah, that'll work." Muttered Ditmire.
"But, Fi, we want everyone to know about OSSN." Said Brent.
"You do?" asked Fiona, Maura, and Ditmire in unison. "Wow, this guy is something." Said Ditmire, listening as Brent explained what he wanted for the OSSN. "How did you manage not to his this guy yesterday?"
"It was hard." Maura answered. "Here's the catch, I knew there had to be one." Commenting on Brent's words.
"Of course we'll leave out that whole pesky vampire business. You humans can be so..."
"Provincial." Maura and Ditmire said.
"Provincial." Repeated Brent. Ditmire turned to Maura.
"You're sure that he can't see us?"
"Positive."
"Because that was really weird, how we all three of us said the same thin-"
"Shh, listen to what he's saying."
"And how beautifully ironic that we have Molly Phillips, who's very own husband was the meddler who discovered my father." Said Brent, getting angry.
"Yes, bingo, we have a winner. Ditmire, check the computer files for anything Rick Phillips ever did in the paranormal." Said Maura.
"Got it, you'll be okay by yourself?" he asked.
"Sure, he'll be easy to tackle." She answered. With a whiff of white smoke Ditmire was gone. Maura looked up again and saw that Brent had put Fiona into the same trance as the others, and the two Barbies were taking her and Molly into another room. Pete was taking Jack to a metal table.
One other thing about Maura that you should know. Maura is not human. Maura is a witch. Born, will be, and will die a witch (just because you're a witch doesn't mean your immortal). She is technically a fire witch, which is basically means she can control fire in every aspect. Because she is a witch, her five senses are magnified, her strength is enormous, and she can sense things that humans can't. The two other characters presented in this overtake is Tony Niguara and Andy Ditmire. Tony is a long time friend of Maura's, they used to do all of their magic together until Maura got too powerful. They haven't seen in each other in a while, and decide to get together on that fateful day. Ditmire works with Maura at a place called LEOTS, which is where magical people work to save the human race. This is all the detail you should need to know about Maura for this version of Vampire. Please don't be mad at me for doing this! It's been playing in my head for about a year now, and I
need to get it off my shoulders.
Laying on the couch in the lounge, she had her walkman on, one arm draped over her stomach, the other above her head, resting on the table near her Discman, ready to change the track when she needed to. She wasn't trying to sleep; she really didn't want to sleep anymore than she had to lately. Some how though, she slipped off into dreamland. Unfortunately for her, dreamland had recently turned into repeats of the same night terror. As the terror started, she started to whimper in her sleep just a little. Then, in her sleep...
Maura was standing in front of a building that looked fairly modernistic. In fact, the whole front wall was a window. Sun shone on her back, and she could see the reflection of it in the center of the window. Morning birds chirped around her, and as she was looking at the building she noticed how she could see the inside, with desk after desk situated upstairs, and one huge lobby on the downstairs. She looked down at her neck to see that her Black Sarah pendant was missing. As she looked up, se realized that she wasn't outside anymore. Maura was now in a dimmed room with many candles lit. That was all she could see, but she knew that something was going on, behind her. She couldn't turn around, couldn't see, but knew her friends were in trouble. If only she could-
Suddenly she woke up. She sighed. It was always at that point. She closed her eyes, turned up the volume on her music, just concentrated on the music, blocking out the rest of the world. Which is how Maura managed to miss the entirety of the conversation which was going on in Fiona's room in the back, or the presence that hung on the edge of the bus looking in, first at Jack as he called Gabe, then, briefly, at her. While anything other than human should have known Maura was a witch at first site, Maura had put an obscurity spell on herself nearly a week ago to hide that fact. In her dreams the premonitions of an infallible evil was getting more intense. It was coming. Very soon. And she figured that she stood a better shot at tackling this thing if it thought she was just another fifteen-year-old girl, rather than a witch.
Suddenly the volume of her Discman was cranked up from fifteen to about thirty. She pulled the earphones off with a startled "Hey!" and looked up. It was Jack.
"Goodness Jack, I like my hearing, and I'll be happy enough if you let me keep it." She said jokingly, her Irish accent, still kind of thick, making the words melodious.
"If you like it so much, you should probably keep the volume of your CD player down low enough so that someone can get your attention in the first place." He said, sitting down at the table.
"Well, you've got my attention now. What's up?"
"There is a change of plans in our course of action." He said. "Instead of going directly to Chicago, we're going to take a side trip to Milwaukee."
"What for? We got another gig or something?" she asked
"No, actually, there's a chapter of the OSSN there, and when I told them where we were they invited us up. Mom said it was okay, then Ned Okayed the expedition, and so Milwaukee bound we are."
"Wow, I'm sure Fiona's excited about it." Said Maura, sarcastically. She knew that Jack loved to irritate Fiona with all he had learned from the OSSN.
"Yeah, she even renamed them as the-"
"Oh, jeez, how long is this going delay us?" she asked hurriedly.
"About three days, why?"
"I was supposed to meet an old friend in Chicago on the day we got there, remember? I was going to be gone all day?"
"Right, was that this week?"
"Yes. Ugh, I better call him." She said scrambling for her cell phone.
In truth it really wasn't a problem. Maura could get there in the blink of an eye, heck, get anywhere in the blink of an eye should she ever want to. But Jack still didn't know Maura's secret, and as of yet Maura wanted to keep it that way.
A plan was made. The people at the OSSN had offered a tour the morning before Jack was going to be initiated as a full member. Maura would join them, and then catch a cab to the "new" place her and her friend were meeting. Maura would have preferred to take a cab from the hotel room after they had left, but Jack insisted that she give the OSSN a chance and at least come and see what they were about. She wasn't too fond of the OSSN either, but, unlike Fi, was less verbal about. She used to be, until she noticed how important this was to Jack. Then she laid off the torment, although every once in a while she would still call him geek.
"Maura, are you almost ready? We're going to be late!"
"Jack, chill. We don't have to be there for at least forty-five minutes."
"Well, what are you doing in there?"
"I'm drowning a stray cat I found outside." she said sarcastically. "I'm putting on makeup, you can come in if you want." The door opened. Jack stepped in cautiously, wearing jeans, one of his nice shirts, and-can it be? Yes! Cologne.
"My, Jack, where are we going, the Ritz?" she said while looking at him through the mirror.
"Funny. I just want to look good, ya know? Got to make a nice impression. Speaking of impressions, what kind of impression does jeans, a lace shirt, and purple hair in two braids make?"
"The `You've got a snowball's chance in hell of getting me to join' look?"
"Maura, come on."
"Jack, I'm dressed for this afternoon, not for this morning, remember? Besides, I doubt they'll think any less of you because you friend showed up for a full twenty minutes showing a little skin and with her red hair tinted purple. I'm not the one trying to become a full member, right?"
"Yeah, I guess your right. Well, how do I look?" He threw out his arms and smiled the pose he always did when he wanted Maura's opinion on clothes.
"Fix your collar and I'll think you'll have the Yuppie look down pat. What about me?"
"Put on a sun hat, that should add a touch of something. And I am not trying to look like a Yuppie."
"Yeah, whatever you say Jack." She said, walking past him out the door to get her hat.
"Wait a minute, what's a yuppie again? Maura, what's a yuppie?"
Forty minutes later they found themselves getting out of cab in front of a very modernistic building. It looked like the entire front wall was one huge window. Maura looked at the building with a bit of distrust. It was familiar. The door in the corner, the way you could see a lot on the inside from the out, the-
"Oh, shit." She said under her breath. The dreams. The premonitions she had gotten every week since she had passed out back in December. When they had gotten intense two weeks ago, she had seen this place at least seven times. This was it. Wait a minute? This was it? I expected evil to come in a more frightening package. This thought lifted a weight off her shoulders, she knew that the powers that sent theses premonitions had the tendency to exaggerate, she just didn't realize that they exaggerated way too much.
"Maura, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost? You didn't, did you?" It was Fi. She knew about all this freaky stuff that was everywhere. That's how she found out about Maura. She didn't know about her premonitions, though. How they told her to accept the invitation to come with them and work for Molly just because this was how she was getting here.
"Maura?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little queasy from last night's binge Ice Cream trip." She said, lying. Fi took it though. And why shouldn't she? Maura was one of the best liars on the world, although everyone else called it acting. They walked up to the building, and let themselves in.
Maura scanned the room they had stepped into, basically the front lobby. A huge oval desk in the middle of the far wall, seats edging the other wall, and one huge recreation of a Monet on the wall behind the desk, plus the elevator was all that was in the room. Molly went up to the receptionist behind the desk and told her who we were. She picked up the phone dialed two numbers, and repeated what Molly had just said into the phone. She hung up, smiled, and said Brent would be down in a minute.
Okay, so this isn't so bad. Of course, this means that there is a lot of room for it to get worse. Stop thinking like that! This is going to be easy.
Suddenly the light went on over the elevator, and there was a cheery little ding as the doors opened and a young man walked out.
Lets see. Sex: male Age: lets go with 19 race: Caucasian weight: about 175
Height: 5'11" easily Obviously had his hair bleached Impression? Not a problem. Maura smiled.
"Jack. I'm Brent," He said, extending his hand to shake Jack's.
"Brent, nice to finally meet you. This is my mother, Molly, my friend, Maura, and my sister, Fiona." Brent shook each of their hands, and then turned back around to Molly.
"Wait a minute, Molly Phillips? From the Phillips-Kane band?" he asked
"That's me?" She answered,
"Oh my God Jack, why didn't you tell me? My parents had all of your CDs. Your songs got me through hours of studying. That song "Origami"? That cooks."
"Thanks." Said Molly, flattered.
"So, should I give you the tour?" asked Brent.
"That would be great." Answered Jack, already moving towards the elevator.
Brent took them on the tour, talking the entire time, although if you'd ask Maura what he's said she would have drawn a blank. She was taking in everything she could, looking at what they had, trying to decide what kind of demon they were dealing with here. Let's see, computers, desks, oversized window. Well those could be something.
The group stopped, and she started hearing what was actually going on around her.
"This is our next big project, a national blood drive."
"Yeah, that's subtle." Maura said under her breath
"Excuse me?" asked Brent.
"Nothing." She said, suddenly aware that someone was looking at her. She looked around, and suddenly here eyes fell on a boy standing on ladder fixing up one of the big signs in the room. At least that was what he was supposed to be doing. Instead he was looking at her, When she caught his eyes he started to look nervous but didn't look away.
Suddenly she realized that those darn butterflies in her stomach, which hadn't woken up since the third grade when her friend Dannan had kissed her on the cheek, were flying around, and her palms were getting sweaty.
"So Brent, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" said a voice. Maura looked and saw that two girls, one taller than the other, had walked up to them.
"Jack, this is Paige, and Rita. They'll be joining us at the initiation tomorrow."
"Hi, I'm Paige." Said the tall one.
"And I'm Rita" said the other one, quickly pushing in.
"Why don't you introduce Jack to the rest of the group." Said Brent. The two girls looked only too eager to oblige. They led Jack away, as he looked at Maura with a `get me out of this' kind of look. Maura just chuckled and ignored him.
Suddenly she glanced at her watch. 10:57. She was supposed to be in Chicago at 11:30, but Tony was always early for everything, was early for birth, and would probably be three weeks early at his funeral.
"Molly, can we talk?" she said. Molly nodded, and walked to a spot a few yards away to talk privately. Fi followed, as Maura started to go, Brent took a chance at her neck. Maura, who was not born yesterday, turned around.
"Sorry, I was just smelling your perfume. What is it?" he said, smiling his big grin of his.
Maura just smiled right back at him "Sorry, I'm not wearing perfume." She said. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you a prick. Brent's smile faltered.
"Oh, it must be your shampoo."
"Must be." She said, taking a glance at Pete, who was still looking at her. She gave him a smile and walked over towards Molly and Fi.
"I should probably be going now. Tony tends to be really early." She said.
"Yeah, Mom, you and I should probably go and let Jack meet his new little geek friends."
"Fi! Don't make fun of Jack's new geeks! I mean, Jack's new friends."
"Sorry."
"You're right though. We should go. I'll go tell Brent we're going to leave."
"I'll go give Jack the heads up." Said Fi.
"And I'll-... just stand right here, I guess." Maura said. She was glad, though, that she got another shot to look at this place. That "smelling of her perfume" had really cleared things up for her. She was looking around, when suddenly the boy from earlier was standing in front of her. Up close she could really see his features: brown hair, grayish-green eyes, about five-nine in height.
"Oh, hi. I'm Maura."
"I'm Pete." He paused nervously. "So, I saw you over there."
"Yeah, I saw you see me over there."
"Maura, come on." Called Molly.
"Okay." She turned back to say goodbye, and Pete was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged, and walked off towards the door.
"Alright, you'll have your cell phone, and we'll have ours so call if there's a problem, and you'll be back-"
"By six thirty. I'll probably end up seeing more of him tomorrow than today, so it'll be short today. Bye!"
"Bye!"
Maura only took the cab until she was out of sight, and then asked the cabbie to pull over. She paid him double, and got out of the car. But, when she stepped out of the cab, she was no longer in Milwaukee. She was in Chicago, in front of the Cheesecake Factory. Her jeans had changed to a red jean mini skirt, her t-shirt to a black off-shoulder shirt, and her braided hair unbraided and went up into a loose bun. The sneakers she had been wearing turned into red and black three-inch heels. Her red angel tattoo on her left shoulder was now visible. She walked down the stairs and to the front podium.
"Has anyone from the Niguara party shown up yet?" she asked the young women behind the podium.
"Yes, right over there." She pointed to the corner of the outside eating area, and there, with his back to the podium, reading a book, was Dannan O' Flattery, her old partner at the Spirit World NYPD. Maura hadn't seen him in nine months. She thanked the woman and walked over.
"Well, if it isn't Tony Niguara." She said as she approached the small table. Tony looked up smiling.
"Well, if it isn't Izzy Robinson." He stood up and embraced her, picking her up off the floor for a few seconds.
"Tony, put me down!" She said laughing. They both sat down.
"So, how is my favorite little witch doing? Dating any boys? Any girls? Both?" he asked, only half joking.
"I'm fine Tony. And no, I'm not dating, boys nor girls." She answered, picking up her menu. "What about you Tony? How are things between you and Angelo? He doing okay?"
"Oh, yeah, he's doing fine, and he actually asked me to say hi for him, so Hi!" he said, waving.
Maura giggled. "Hi!" And so it went for the next hour or so. They sat catching up on all that had happened since that September when they had last seen each other. They had just finished up their lunch (Tony had Buffalo Chicken Salad and Maura had an enchilada) and had ordered desert (who doesn't get desert at the Cheesecake Factory?) when Tony took on a somber expression.
"All right Maura, spill it." He said.
"What? I don't know what you're talking about.
"Maura, I'm not an idiot. You may be good at hiding things from people, but I know you. Everything you do when you're upset about something: the way you hide your mouth when you laugh, mixing Gaelic with your English, rubbing your fore finger and your thumb together, the signs are all there. So, I want to know what is going on inside that head of yours."
"You really want to hear this?"
"Every word."
"Fine, it's your funeral." She paused, collecting her thoughts. " It started in the last week of December. I was working in the Black Ice, you know the club back in Hope Springs....
"Hey, Maura, you wind going up to the second floor and clearing the tables?" asked Tom, her employer.
"Yeah, sure. Anna, you mind finishing the dishes by yourself?"
"There's not that many left, I'll be fine." Said Anna, barely looking up. Maura put down the plate she was working on, took off her gloves, and picked up a bus-boy container, some cleaner and rag and headed up the stairs. She cleared one table, was about to start on the next, when suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her. She wobbled a little, seemed to regain her balance, and fell flat on the floor, the dishes she was carrying falling next to her.
Maura looked around. She was back on Inisheer, but there was no town, no people, no anything. It was like she was in the past before the gypsies even came to the island. Well, I was just in Hope Springs, I was cleaning some of the tables, and- and I fainted. Geez, am I dead?
"Not dead. Just unconscious. You'll wake up, just not right now." said a voice behind her. Maura whirled around and there behind her was girl, a bit taller than her, with hair like hers, intensely red. She was wearing a peasant dress, and had a scar on her right cheek. Her eyes were black.
"Who are you? Why am I here? And just where the hell is here?" asked Maura.
"I am Dara. You are here because you need to be told something, and here is somewhere deep inside your mind."
"Wait a minute, Dara? The Dara? The last Irish Fire witch?" asked Maura, astounded.
"Yup, that would be me alright." She said.
"And you have a message for me?"
"Well, it's not exactly from me. It's from the Powers."
"Oh good gravy not them." Sighed Maura. "They've been getting on my nerves, and I haven't even had a job from them."
"Yeah, well, now they do. In about-well, let's say soon, you're going to get a chance to leave Hope Springs. Not necessarily for good, but the choice will come."
"Is this suppose to scare me, because if it is, you've never met my uncle."
"No, this is not supposed to scare you. Just listen, Okay? You have to take this opportunity. If you take this path, you will be able to stop an evil that will otherwise destroy this earth."
"Mmm-hmm, and if I don't? Wait, let me guess. If I don't, no one else will?"
"Of course. These guys can be real specific in that way, can't they?"
"Yeah, annoying, ain't it? Is that it? I think my friends might be worried about me."
"One more thing. You can't kill this enemy."
"Excuse me?"
"You can't kill it. Well, that's not entirely true. You could, but it would just come back, bigger, meaner, and harder to kill."
"Well then how am I supposed to defeat it?" she asked.
"It's your job to figure that out. Now, any questions before I leave?"
"No, I guess not."
"Good, I've got a date in about an hour." She said, and then disappeared. The world went black, and suddenly-
"Maura, Maura! I think she's waking up, Maura!"
"Oomph. Stop screaming, please."
"What happened?"
"Another case of the dizzies. I haven't had any since I was seven."
"But your okay?" asked Tom as he helped her up.
"Yeah, see they're already gone. Let's clean up this glass......"
"That's pretty intense."
"Keep listening. About three days afterward, my chance to leave town came."
"The Phillips asked you to be acoustic guitar in the band." Said Tony, slowly figuring out where this was going.
"Bingo. Not only that, the dreams started nightmares really. Cryptic messages giving me more and more clues about what the big evil was. Two weeks ago, they began to get more frequent and more specific. Every time I was standing in front of a modern building, where the whole front wall was a window, the sun was behind me, and I could see most of what was inside. Then I was inside a room, and there was candles everywhere, and something was going on behind me, but I can't turn around. Then I wake up."
"Wow, nightmares about a dark force brewing that's going to be your responsibility alone. Ouch."
"It gets worse. Today we went to go see the OSSN building, and wouldn't you know it, it was the same place, the same angle, the same sun, everything the way it was in my dreams. And then I meet the people inside."
"What were they?" he asked.
"Let's see, blood drive, big oversized window for overcompensation, taking a chance at my neck. You do the math."
"Vampire?"
"You got it babe."
"Wow, so now you've got to take this place down? No wonder you're on edge."
"Yeah. Wait, do I really seem on edge?"
"To the untrained eye, no, but to someone who knows you, you're on the end of your rope." He said, finishing the last bite of his cheesecake while simultaneously signally for the bill. Maura checked her watch. 2:49. A four-hour lunch. Impressive.
"I have three hours. You know what would take me off the edge?" She said excitedly.
"Shopping, honey. It's all about the shopping." Said Tony, equally excited. Ya know there's something to be said for a guy who can get excited over shopping.
And so for the next three hours they went store hopping, buying things here and there. Talking the whole time. Finally, Maura looked at her watch and realized she might be late if she didn't leave now.
"I had a wonderful time." She said, giving him that last hug.
"Maura, can I give you some advice?"
"Shoot."
"Tonight, go back to hotel room, and just relax."
"Relax, how can I relax now?"
"Okay, what did these powers that be tell you would be facing?"
"A big creepy, evil nasty thing."
"And what did you get?"
"A bunch of vampire Yuppies who mostly care about how high their grade point average is. Hey, you're right, I do feel better."
"See, what did you ever do without me?"
"Well, I was driven to tears of boredom with Ditmire almost every Wednesday night during the winter."
"And we'll save that story for another time. Bye, honey."
"Bye, gorgeous." She said as she turned to leave. Once again, as she turned she was back in Milwaukee, in front of her hotel room, wearing sneakers, jeans, a lace shirt and her hair in braids. She walked up to her room.
"Hey, Maura, you mind getting some ice from the machine down the hall?" Said Fi, holding out the ice bucket and making a pleading face. It was 7:07; Maura was reading a book out on the balcony. She didn't mind the interruption and agreed. She picked up one of the room keys, left the room, and walked down the hall to the machine. She filled the bucket to the top and walked back to their room. She was about to enter, when she felt someone standing directly behind her. She whipped around, and there was Pete. Looking horribly sick. Startled, she dropped the ice.
"Pete, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" She asked, a bit suspiciously. Pete only answered the second question.
"I had to go cold turkey, it was the only way I could build up enough strength to get here."
"Cold turkey? Pete-" She started to say, when suddenly Pete doubled over in pain, and dropped something on the ground. He hurriedly picked it up, but not before Maura saw that it looked like a test tube with a red liquid in it. Thick enough to be blood.
"What was that?" She asked, just for the sake of asking.
"Never mind. I don't have much time, soon I'll be one of them again. Stay back." He said as Maura tried to move towards him and help a bit.
"It's alright, I don't bite." She said, half joking.
"Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same. Look, Maura, Jack's in danger."
"From what?"
"That doesn't matter. Just don't let them make him a full member. Stay away from the OSSN." Suddenly the door behind her opened. It was Jack.
"Hey, did you forget your room key?" said jack. Maura turned back around. Pete was gone.
"Maura?"
"Pete...Pete was.."
"Pete was here? Why didn't you invite him in?"
"He left when he heard you coming." She looked behind Jack and saw Fiona coming. Good, I have got to talk to her.
"Yeah, he was a bit shy. And I think he likes you."
"Hmm. Fiona, why don't you help me go get some more ice? I dropped them before he showed up, I think I'm getting the dizzies again."
"Sure" As they walked down the hall, Maura explained all that had happened, with interruptions from Fi every now and then sharing her thoughts and weird feelings about that place. They decided that Fiona would do some research on the computer and Maura would go out and check town for anyone with information. They went back into the room; Maura put on a double skirt and her peasant top, and left. Halfway down the hall, though:
"Check the town for information, that's rich." She said to herself. She was going to a meet some friends of hers in EPCOT. She blinked herself there, and had a great time. Tony was right. I am so ready for tomorrow, she thought to herself as she headed back into her room a little after one
The next morning she woke up a quarter before ten. Suddenly she realized how late it was. I never sleep that late. Usually......my night terrors wake me up first. Then she remembered. No dreams the night before. Nothing evil. Nothing scary.
"Well, today really is the day." She said to herself. She looked at the clock. "And the party's starting in fifteen minutes, what am I going to do?" She looked around, and saw her cell phone on the table. "Of course, Ditmire." She ran over to the phone, dialed fifteen numbers, and waited. One ring...two rings...three rings, come on Ditmire pick up, pick up, pick up dammit, pick-
"Hello?"
"Ditmire, thank God you were home I need you now, how fast can you be in my hotel room?" she asked. Before there was a response there was a knock at the front door. She opened it and there stood a relatively tall man with blond shaggy hair and intense blue eyes.
"Ditmire, good. Look, I know that we're technically on vacation, but I need your help with a side project."
"If it's for you, Izzy, I'm game. What's the scoop?"
"My friends have been dragged into a vampire cult thingy and they're going to be made into full members if we don't leave now. Not only that, but I know I'm not going to kill the bad guy today because I've been told in premonitions so I need to find out the true identity of this guy which is where you come in but we have to leave now so take me to the OSSN building now I'll dress on the way let's GO!" she said in one huge breath.
Ditmire didn't make a fuss. He knew that Maura, or Izzy, only got like that when something important was about to do down. He grabbed her hand, and in an instant they were in the main lobby of the OSSN building. Maura's apparel had, indeed, changed, so that she was wearing a white tank top, black pants with slits up the side in each leg that ran up to the knee, one-inch heeled boots, and her hair pulled into a tight bun in the back. They arrived just in time to see them get into the elevator.
"Downstairs, in the basement." She said.
"How do you know?"
"My dreams, remember?" Ditmire sighed and they both blinked themselves downstairs. They got down there before the elevator.
"So what, they can't see us?" asked Ditmire.
"No, I made sure of that on the way over. Now remember, as soon as we hear anything that could tell us who this guy is, you get over to the office and find him."
"Got it." He said. Suddenly the elevator bell rang, and it opened. The two happened to be standing in front of the elevator.
"You initiate people in the basement?" she heard Jack say.
"Something like that." Maura watched as Brent turned around and waved a hand over the three still in the elevator, putting Molly and Jack in sort of a trance. Fiona, on the other hand had seen that coming, ducked, and ran out of the elevator.
"Run! They're vampires!" she cried. Right behind where Ditmire and Maura was standing there was a whoosh. They turned around and saw Pete.
"Where in the hell did he come from?" Ditmire asked. Maura looked up at the ceiling.
"The rafters, up there. Come on, they're going down the hall." The two ran down a hall where they found that Fiona had been cornered by the two Barbies, and was now being approached by Brent.
"Just leave us alone, we won't tell anybody." Fiona was saying.
"Yeah, that'll work." Muttered Ditmire.
"But, Fi, we want everyone to know about OSSN." Said Brent.
"You do?" asked Fiona, Maura, and Ditmire in unison. "Wow, this guy is something." Said Ditmire, listening as Brent explained what he wanted for the OSSN. "How did you manage not to his this guy yesterday?"
"It was hard." Maura answered. "Here's the catch, I knew there had to be one." Commenting on Brent's words.
"Of course we'll leave out that whole pesky vampire business. You humans can be so..."
"Provincial." Maura and Ditmire said.
"Provincial." Repeated Brent. Ditmire turned to Maura.
"You're sure that he can't see us?"
"Positive."
"Because that was really weird, how we all three of us said the same thin-"
"Shh, listen to what he's saying."
"And how beautifully ironic that we have Molly Phillips, who's very own husband was the meddler who discovered my father." Said Brent, getting angry.
"Yes, bingo, we have a winner. Ditmire, check the computer files for anything Rick Phillips ever did in the paranormal." Said Maura.
"Got it, you'll be okay by yourself?" he asked.
"Sure, he'll be easy to tackle." She answered. With a whiff of white smoke Ditmire was gone. Maura looked up again and saw that Brent had put Fiona into the same trance as the others, and the two Barbies were taking her and Molly into another room. Pete was taking Jack to a metal table.