AN: I possibly should have pointed out earlier in this story that the story of the Drac is essentially true. I made up everything beyond the woman losing her ability to see him. If it wasn't true, I probably wouldn't have given the monster such a dorky name. :)

----

Irene greeted them at the hospital, looking absolutely ravaged.

"What is it?" Molly began to panic.

"It's Ned."

"What about him?"

"He went out there... he wanted to see if he could find some kind of clue about who did this to Clu, and to Fi, and he was attacked. He fought back even though he couldn't see who it was that was attacking him, and... it's worse. Much worse than the kids." Irene broke down and Molly offered her a shoulder, gesturing behind Irene's back for Jack to go inside.

He tried Clu's room first, but decided not to disturb his sleep. His bruises and injuries seemed worse than Fi's, so it was difficult to look at him. He closed the door quietly, feeling the protective rage swell up in him again; he entered Fi's room with a renewed determination.

Fi was wide awake, drumming her fingers on the edge of the bed in an irritating pattern. "Hey," he said, trying to smile. "Feeling any better?"

"Not much. How's Clu?"

"Don't know. He's sleeping now." He handed her the photocopies from the library, and she paged through them eagerly, glad to finally have something to do other than stare at the ceiling. "We think you were attacked by a monster called The Drac."

"You do?" She looked up from the paper in surprise. "I mean, you think that?"

"I don't know what to think. It's impossible, right? Except stranger things have happened to us over the last couple of years, so maybe... maybe the most out-there, illogical answer is the right one. I don't know. I think we just need to have something to blame, something to go after. You know?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "I know." She scanned the pages and handed them back to him. "That's great. You found that stuff?"

"Yeah, Mom and I, we went on your computer..." At her look of outrage, he raised his hands in a surrendering fashion and added quickly, "We didn't look at anything private, we just looked up some possibilities on the web, and then we went to the library and found the rest of it."

"In books?"

"Yeah, in books."

"Well, I'm impressed," she said approvingly.

"Did you hear about Ned?"

"No, did something happen to him?"

"Apparently he was attacked by the same thing that got you two. Speaking of you two," he segued awkwardly, "um... just what were you doing out there alone last night?"

"Just driving around, you know, stuff," she answered evasively, looking around the room.

"Are you two... together, or something, now?"

"Well," she said and stopped abruptly as Molly entered the room with a brave smile.

"Okay, did he show you the information from the library?" she asked, all business.

"Yes. I think this is definitely a possibility."

"Good. Well, then, I got the exact location of Ned's attack from Irene, so I guess we'll check in on Clu and then be on our way."

"Oh, he's sleeping. He doesn't look any better today," Jack filled her in.

"Wait, wait, wait. You guys are going after this thing?"

Neither Molly nor Jack answered.

"You can't do that. What if it gets you? What if it kills you?"

"Don't worry, honey. We're well-prepared." Molly hugged her gingerly and pulled away. "I know there are risks, but if we don't put a stop to it, what happens tomorrow? Or next week? We've read the books. We know what to do."

"Mom, don't," Fi pleaded, but Molly and Jack made their good-byes and left her alone with a thousand morbid endings dancing in her head until the nurse administered a sedative, after which there was nothing to think about at all...