"An explosion?" Kate asked.

"Yeah," Victoria said, "after that power surge thing occurred, we went to check on Joyce and Mr Madsen, see if everything was alright with them. And… I don't know how it happened, maybe it was too old and the surge finished it, but anyway, we heard a loud crash upstairs, and it turned out the old CRT in Chloe's room had exploded and the rug was on fire!"

"Fuck!" Taylor exclaimed, before adding: "Sorry, Kate."

"No problem," Kate said.

"So what did you do?" Courtney asked.

"We tried to put the fire out but it wouldn't do, so in the end, Max panicked, she threw a bunch of bedsheets on it, made a bundle and threw it out the window… and it landed straight in the neighbor's yard."

"Oh shit!" Taylor erupted in giggles. "Hope you didn't burn their house, at least?"

"No, it's okay, just left a pile of ashes and a nice burn on their lawn. Luckily they're not there at the moment. Someone must've seen the fire cause the police came and it was quite a mess and they were pretty shaken up, so Max decided to stay with them."

"Oh? And you didn't stay with her?" Taylor inquired.

"No, I needed to get back to my room. To unwind, you know?"

"Okay, but how are you guys now?"

"Good. We're good."

"Sure?"

"Of course. Why?"

"You look like shit," Courtney said abruptly, which earned her a glare from Victoria. Quite oddly, Courtney no longer looked so afraid of Vic's death glares.

"Not exactly the way I'd put it," Taylor intervened, "but you look like you've been through a war or something."

"Oh, well, it was an exhausting night, you know? Our talk was pretty draining, and then that fire thing…"

Victoria found it hard to lie with a straight face, when all she really wanted to snap at Courtney something along the line of: "I know I look like shit, what the fuck do you think you'd look like if you had to drive over two hours in the middle of the fucking night and only had four hours of sleep?"

Over two hours. That was the time it took to follow Max to Portland International where she left Lacroix's car on the long-term park, and drive her back to Arcadia Bay. In the meantime, Chloe and Rachel had snuck into Lacroix's home to hack his computer and send Wells an e-mail. The alibi was perfect, nobody would look for him for a long, long time.

After she'd woken up way too soon, she'd gone looking for Tay and Court, and found her two friends in Kate's room, checking on her after the crisis of the night before, and that was where they were now, having a little pre-breakfast tea.

"What about you, Katie?" Victoria asked. "Are you feeling better now?"

The Christian girl nodded: "Much better, thanks. I still don't know what happened, according to the medics, it must have been some kind of panic attack because all my vitals were normal. Still, it was scary, I had panic attacks before, but never like that."

This startled Victoria: "You had panic attacks before? I didn't know."

"Well," Kate mumbled hesitantly, looking down at her mug. "It's rare, but it happens when I'm very stressed out. Like… when that video was published…"

"Oh, shit, Katie, I'm so sorry! I was such a monster!"

"Not again," Court grumbled, rolling her eyes. "What's done is done, Vicky, can we move on already?"

Victoria shot her another glare. What the fuck was wrong with Courtney? She remembered her old fear, that at the first sign of weakness, Courtney would take over as the Queen. Had the time come? Was she preparing for the final assault?

Though, what surprised her the most when she thought about it was how little she actually cared.

I guess high school clubs and popularity and shit aren't that important when you have other shit to worry about.

"I agree with Courtney," Kate added, though a lot more kindly. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Vic, we both agreed to let it be, remember? I was just telling."

"I didn't tell you about the angel, did I?" Taylor asked Victoria, sounding hyped.

"What angel?" Victoria frowned.

Kate rolled her eyes with a gentle smile: "There's not much to talk about, really. My plaster angel, here, cried blood last night."

"Cried blood? And you say there's not much to talk about?"

"No, it was pretty scare for sure, but Brooke explained to us that sometimes, when the weather is very wet, plaster can 'sweat', so to say, and it looks like drops of blood, but it's nothing extraordinary."

"Still, Court nearly shat herself," Taylor giggled.

"I did not!" the offended fashionista cried out.

"You so did!"

Courtney was interrupted by a knock on the door before she could say anything more.

"Come in!" Kate chimed, and the door opened to Alyssa.

The newcomer cast a disappointed and suspicious look around the room. Alyssa still didn't like Victoria's gang. Having been the butt of their jokes for so long, she still couldn't believe their turn for the better, and seeing them like this, having tea with Kate, she still suspected them of trying to gain her trust so they could hurt her even worse.

"Hum, hey Kate," she said, ignoring the other girls in the room. "Stella just called me, she's out."

"Oh this is great news!" the Christian girl reacted with a warm smile. "So I guess she's doing okay?"

"Very good actually. Apparently, all she needed was a transfusion and a good night's sleep. I'm taking the bus to pick her up, and I was thinking we could have breakfast at Two Whales, are you coming?"

"Sure!"

"I can drive you," Victoria offered so suddenly it startled the other girls. "Would be more comfortable with a car, don't you think?"

"You?" Alyssa asked with an eyebrow raised.

"The fuck?" Courtney asked, just as surprised as Alyssa.

"What?" the rich girl said. "Max and I found her, so I feel kind of involved."

"You did?" Kate asked.

"She told me, yeah," Alyssa confirmed. "But she said it probably didn't happen cause she was delirious as hell." She snorted as she added: "She told me she saw some crazy stuff, like a zombie that looked like Rachel Amber! Can you imagine?"

Upon hearing those words, Victoria had a sudden coughing fit, spilling the tea she was drinking everywhere on the floor and her lap.

"Vic, you okay?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry, it just went the wrong way," Victoria said with a coarse voice. "Sorry about your floor, Kate."

"It's nothing," Kate reassured her as she went for the towels.

"It looked like the idea of a zombie Rachel got you scared," Courtney sneered. "Afraid she might get out of her grave and come after you, Vic?"

"Don't speak like that!" Kate chastised her. "Sorry, Courtney, but I don't like jokes about this… poor Rachel, she must have suffered so much! I pray she's in a better place now."

"You have no idea," Victoria muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to say yeah, it did happen. "I mean, not the zombie Rachel of course, but Max and I did find her on the boardwalk after she was attacked by the… do we know what kind of animal did this?"

Alyssa shook her head.

"Wait," Taylor asked, "I thought you guys were at Joyce's last night?"

"We went to Joyce's afterward," Victoria replied a little too quick to be honest, which Taylor noticed. But she decided to let it slide for now, and replied with a noncommittal:

"Oh, okay."

"So it's settled? And you know what, I'll buy you girls breakfast. Tay, you coming?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great. Courtney," she added, assuming her most sickly sweet smile and tone, "I'm sorry but there's not enough seats in my car, so you can't come, hope you don't mind?"

Courtney blushed with fury, a pretty pleasant sight for Victoria. She had just invited Tay to hang out with her and the 'losers' and purposely left her out. A slap in the face would probably feel less like an insult than that for the fashionista, and the Queen knew it.

That'll teach you some manners. Bitch.

"No, Vicky, not at all," Courtney replied with the best forced smile she could muster. "Have fun."

"Will do. If you'll just let me clean up a bit, and we'll be good to go in a few minutes."

As Victoria crossed the hallway toward the bathroom, she met Warren as the boy was treading his way to Brooke's room, a load of Amazon packages in his arms.

"Yo, Vicster, what's up!" he saluted her merrily.

She froze like she just got punched in the gut. Vicster? Really? She swiftly collected herself and turned around to give him a proper roast, but much to her chagrin, he was already too far down the hall.

Okay, Graham, you get a pass this time, but I'll have to do something about you, mister. You've become way too confident since you got laid.

Unfortunately, Victoria's tribulations with Mr. and Mrs. Dork were not over yet, for when she got into the bathroom, she was treated to the sight of Brooke Scott brushing her hair at the sink.

Great. Just great.

Well, she's alone in there, that's a pretty good time to talk. But I really don't feel like dealing with her shits right now.

I know, but I guess I better get this done as quick as possible.

"Chase," Brooke greeted her with her usual coldness as Victoria came to stand at the next sink.

"Scott," Victoria replied with the same tone. Then she turned on the water, splashed some on her face, cleaned the tea off her skirt and tights, brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and was about to put on her makeup when she told herself she should stop dawdling already. So she took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing!

"Can we talk?" she asked.

Brooke jumped like her brush was electrified, and stared at her with wide eyes.

"You want to talk?" she asked with disbelief.

"Not really. But I have to."

"And what makes you think you have anything to say that will grab my interest?"

"It's about Max."

At the mention of this name, Brooke's attitude shifted from snarky to defensive.

"What about Max?" she asked defiantly.

"Well, I know you guys got into a fight last Friday, and-"

Brooke interrupted her with a burst of acid laughter: "That how she put it? We got into a fight? Hold it: 'Psycho bitch attacked us and fucking bit my boyfriend'. There, fixed your headline."

Victoria sighed. It was not going well.

"Okay, yes, she told me that. Look, I know you and I don't get along-"

"You don't say."

"Would you let me finish, please? So, I know you and I don't get along, but she's my girlfriend now, and you guys used to be friends and she's really upset that you won't talk to her anymore. She knows she went overboard, and she'd like to apologize to you, and have a chance to clear the room. If you could just… you know? Answer the phone? Hear her out?"

A minute of heavy, thoughtful silence. Then:

"Wow. She really fucked with your brain, didn't she?"

"What?"

"Listen, Chase: you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, and while I feel you're sincerely trying to patch things up – and believe me, I appreciate the sentiment – stay out of my business. I mean it. For your safety. And I'd stay away from that bitch you call your girlfriend, if I were you. She's bad news."

On these words, the Asian girl was about to leave, but Victoria grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Hey!" Brooke protested. "What are you doing?"

"We can't leave it like that," Victoria said with authority.

"What the fuck? You want me to kick your rich white ass?"

"I wouldn't play that game if I were you: I may not have a black belt in karate or whatever, but I have a very good lawyer. So I suggest you be a good girl and stay so we can have a civil discussion about why you called my girlfriend a bitch and bad news."

"Oh my, getting really protective aren't we? As if she needed that! Look, like I said, you have no idea what's really going on with your so-called girlfriend, so-"

"Then please educate me."

"You wouldn't believe me in a million years."

"Is it a dare?"

Brooke sighed. "You're not letting me go until you get what you want, right?"

"Right."

"Fucking shit, Chase!"

Fuming, Brooke grabbed Victoria's wrist and the blonde, caught unaware, gasped as she was dragged by the smaller girl into a shower booth.

"Hey what the hell!" she protested.

"Shut up!" Brooke shushed her.

Then she closed the door and turned on the water.

"What, you wanna take a shower with me?" Victoria sneered as she made sure to stay away from the jet. "Didn't know you had that kind of fanta-"

"Don't you ever shut that big mouth of yours?" Brooke whispered harshly through gritted teeth, and the look in her eyes effectively shut Victoria up. Those eyes! This was not the Brooke she knew and despised. She looked so commanding, so determined and yet so scared for her life, and also… wait, was this concern Victoria saw? Concern for… her?

"Look," Brooke murmured after taking a deep breath. "Like I said, you won't believe me in a million years, but I don't give a fuck, I see you're way too close to Max, so you should know. Get out of here and call me a dork or a schizo or anything you want after that, I don't care, at least you'll know the truth, what you choose to do with it is your problem. Here we go…"

She took another deep breath, and lay both hands protectively on Victoria's shoulders, which freaked the blonde out. Brooke, being protective of her? What the hell? Then she looked her dead in the eyes and dropped it:

"Max is a vampire."

There was a moment of anguishing silence as Victoria stared wide-eyed and mouth agap at her. Brooke expected her to laugh at her. Or to berate her. Or to ask her what kind of metaphor that was for. Any reaction, really, except this one:

"How do you know?"

This was Brooke's turn to stare.

"Wait," she said, "you knew?"

"Of course I knew, we do this thing people do in a relationship. You know, talk? You never do that with Warren? Getting to know each other is kind of a requisite if you want your relationship to-"

"Quit being such a fucking smartass, Victoria, we're not talking about comparing your political opinions or your favorite fucking pizza toppings! Max is a vampire, a fucking creature of the night! Like she turns to mist, shows no mercy, humans are her food source, shit like that?"

"Well, that's a bunch of horror movie clichés, really. Max is different, yeah, but automatically making her a monster because of that… it's kinda racist, and it's pretty disappointing coming from you."

"Why? Because I'm a chink?"

"I didn't say that!"

"No, but you thought it real loud!"

"No! I just meant… you're one of the smart ones around here, always boasting about not being one of the sheeple, I just didn't expect you to have such a… Republican mindset."

Brooke stepped back and hit the opposite wall, like she'd just gotten slapped.

"I… I-I'm willing to listen to what you have to say if you promise never to say that again."

"Deal."

"Okay." The brunette took a deep breath to relax, and asked: "So she told you all about her?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Even… about Chloe?"

"I actually talked to Chloe herself. Turns out we get along better than when she was alive. I wouldn't say we're friends, but we stand each other… a little."

"Wow. Okay, this… this is not what I expected at all. So… what is this shit all about? How did the two of them become vampires?"

Victoria bit her lip. What exactly was she allowed to disclose? Probably not much without Max's consent. But she needed to give Brooke something, if only to prove her wrong.

"Max… it was Max who became a vampire after Chloe died, so she could revive her."

"Wow! Now that's friendship. And how exactly did she become a vampire? Cause according to the literature, there's only two ways, either you get turned by an existing vampire, or you go to a church, stab the great crucifix with a sword and yell that you renounce God until the candles spill blood, and I definitely can't picture Max being so dramatic. So who turned her?"

"I… can't tell."

"Is it someone we know? Like, maaaybeeee… a teacher?"

Victoria flinched, but regained her composure pretty quickly.

"I can't tell you that! Look, there's a… let's say etiquette among vampires, you can't out another vampire without their consent, so there's really not much else I can tell you! I've probably told too much already, if you want specifics, ask Max. All I've been sharing was for you to know that… well, she's not the monster you think she is, she did all this to save her best friend, isn't that proof that she still has human feelings?"

"And that's why she tried to drink Warren dry."

"I keep telling you, she fucked up! She acknowledges this! She only meant to scare you guys because you kept following her, and-"

"Sorry to care! We just wanted to make sure she wasn't getting herself in trouble or about to do something stupid."

"Okay, well, anyway, she didn't want the attention, she wanted to keep the whole thing a secret. For obvious reasons, I mean, look at how you're reacting! Who knows how many torches and pitchforks they'd have to face if suddenly the whole town knew about vampires? So they tried to scare you, and she lost it."

"She lost it?"

"Yes."

Brooke sighed.

"Look," Victoria continued, "if you're willing to forgive her for this one time, one time she messed up with you guys, perhaps you could even help us!"

"Help you with what?"

"We're gathering evidence that Wells knew about Jefferson's Dark Room thing. It's something huge, we think even Nathan's father is involved, and God knows how many more people! We'd be the heroes of Arcadia Bay!"

Brooke took a moment to consider.

"Yeah," she said eventually, "that sounds exciting. And it's touching that she did it for her friend, and it's also touching that you care so much about her. Really, I'm moved."

Victoria nodded, a smile of relief starting to form at the corners of her lips. "Thanks."

"But I'm gonna sit this one out."

Her smile faded instantly. "What? Why?"

"Because unlike you, I don't believe what happened in the swimming pool was a one-time thing. I have every single detail of that night burned in my mind, you know? I remember perfectly how she and Chloe acted, their faces, their eyes… they really meant to hurt us, even if it was just for a second, it was real, and they can do it again, they have that in them, and I sure as hell am not gonna stick around them and wait for the storm to hit. Maybe you're right, maybe they still have their human feelings. Maybe they fight the noble fight. But they can't be trusted, and I'm not putting my ass or my boyfriend's ass out there for people I don't trust. So I'm still gonna give you the benefit of the doubt because you really made an effort: you do your thing, I don't give a rat's ass about it, if you take Wells and Prescott down, then kudos for you. But if they fuck up again, rest assured we'll be ready to defend ourselves. Here's my best offer, if you won't take it, you can go fuck yourselves."

Victoria nodded solemnly, trying very hard to hide her disappointment and maintain a semblance of aplomb.

"Fair enough," she said coldly.

"Oh, and Victoria?" Brooke added as the blonde was about to open the booth door.

"What now?"

"You're really into her, aren't you?"

"So what?"

"Do you love her?"

"It's… none of your business!" a suddenly very flustered Victoria yelped.

Brooke just nodded: "I'll take that as a yes, then. What about her? Does she love you?"

"I told you, it's none-"

"Just answer the question already!"

"Of course! I mean, she came out to me, she trusts me, isn't that a proof of love? And what does our relationship matter to you? You've been pretty clear that you want nothing to do with us anymore!"

"Just a friendly warning," Brooke said as she grabbed Victoria's hand, ignoring the girl's protests. "She literally sold her soul to bring Chloe back… are you sure it's you she loves?"

Then she let go of her hand and, without a further word, left the bathroom, leaving a very confused Victoria behind.

As she mused on her last words, the blonde felt something hard and warm inside her fist. She realized Brooke had slipped something in her hand, and, as a reflex, she'd closed her hand to keep it. She opened her hand.

In the middle of her palm was a small silver crucifix.

Meanwhile, in Taylor's room, the girl was getting dressed when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said, thinking it had to be either Victoria or Courtney.

But to her greatest surprise, her visitor, who waved at her with a sheepish smile, was…

"Warren? What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Taylor. I, uh, hope I'm not disturbing you?"

"No, just… surprised to see you here?"

They were not enemies, well, not since Victoria called a truce with Max and her friends, but still, they were not friends either and they must have barely exchanged a dozen words since September.

"I was just wondering if you could help me on a project?"

"A project?"

What could a science nerd want to do with her, who was in the arts curriculum?

"Yeah, I heard you're like, a Photoshop wiz?"

"Wouldn't say a wiz, but I want to be a fashion photographer, so yeah I took extra classes in photo editing and I'm not too bad at it, I guess? Why?"

"Here," he said, producing a stack of papers from his bag. "Could you take a look at these and tell me what you think?"