Chapter 9

Sunday, October 26th

11:29 P. M.

"AAUUGGHH!"

Doc gasped for breath, slapping his hand over the hole punched through his heart. Every movement caused agonizing pain. He lay on his back, still virtually paralyzed. "What happened?" he managed to choke out.

"We won, darling, we won," Mystie said, kissing him hard. "Louis just drove the last of the soulless vampires from Hill Valley. Oh, sweetie, I was so worried for you. . . ."

Doc moaned. "I've never -- been in so -- much pain."

"You got staked," James stated bluntly. "That always hurts. You'll heal in a few minutes."

Doc managed to look around a little, wincing with each movement of his head. Most of his friends were preparing soulless vampires for the incinerator. Josephine and Matt were holding Dennis, still staked. Near them, Marty was leaning against the wall, held tightly by Jennifer. "Great Scott," Doc croaked. "He didn't feel--"

"He nearly fainted when the stake first went in," Mystie admitted to him. "The blood-link shares almost every feeling, unfortunately. Don't worry, he'll be right as rain soon."

Doc looked back at Dennis. "I don't believe it. Why would Biff kill 3-D's sister if he knew that 3-D would turn on him for it?"

"Judging from what happened, I don't think Biff realized that would be the case," Josephine said. "I think we should unstake him. After all, he did save my life."

"Louis will have to approve of it first," Matt told her. "This guy is still a potential danger to us. This past summer he attempted to kidnap Marty. We can't be sure he's changed."

The pain was easing now. Doc slowly sat up. For the first time, he noticed Biff was nowhere in sight. "Where's Biff? Did he escape?"

"Nope," Marty said, with a shit-eating grin. "When he staked you, you fell on him. We already torched his corpse."

"Great," Doc smiled back. "Just what that bastard deserved." His smile grew larger as he recalled the information Marty's son had accidentally spilled on their trip to the future. "They're all gone. We're in the clear."

"Thank God for that," Mystie agreed, pulling him into a hug. "I'm so glad you're all right."

"Ouch! I'm not completely all right yet. But I'm glad you made it through." Doc gave her a gentle squeeze. "Marty, Jennifer, are you two all right?"

"Yeah, we're good Doc," Jennifer said, kissing Marty's cheek. Marty nodded, the color back in his face.

Mystie helped Doc to his feet as Louis returned, looking very pleased with himself. "We're officially soulless vampire free, everyone," he said proudly. "With no human casualties. I'd say we did good."

"We're not quite soulless vampire free," Doc corrected, indicating Dennis. "What are we going to do about him?"

Louis frowned at the still form. "I'm not entirely sure. On the one hand, we know he worked for Biff. But on the other hand, he saved Josephine's life during the battle and tried to attack Biff."

"I think we should unstake him and hear his story," Josephine repeated. "He deserves that much from us."

Marty was dubious. "What if he tries to attack us once we let him recover? I don't quite trust him."

"Marty, if he makes any moves on us, we can quickly introduce him to the crematorium," Matt said.

"He's right. And I'm interested to hear what his story is," Doc agreed. "Louis?"

"Same here. Unstake him, Josie, but keep the stake on-hand."

Josie pulled the stake out with a wet sucking noise. Dennis let out a short scream and nearly collapsed. "FUCK! Shit, that HURTS!"

"Tell me about it," Doc said, rather coldly. "Your former boss did the same to me. So what's your story? We thought you were a pretty loyal member of his gang."

Dennis needed a moment to reply. "I told you. Those bastards murdered my sister Abigail. And they didn't care worth shit. If the people I considered my best friends could do that to me. . . ."

"Yet you let them make you a vampire."

"I didn't let them do anything! They forced me into becoming a vampire! They jumped me! The minute I woke up, I left. I didn't want anything to do with those assholes anymore."

"We're supposed to believe that?" Marty snapped. "After you nearly dragged me off to them this summer?"

Dennis looked up at him, eyes sad. "I don't expect you to. Hell, I'm surprised you're letting me give you my side. I thought my fate was with the rest of them. Marty, I'm sorry for what I did to you. I just never thought about how it might feel to someone else."

Marty blinked, thrown off-balance. "O-okay."

Doc had a flash of insight. "It was you! You were the ones who left all those notes telling us about Biff's plans!"

"And I was the one who rented the radio station," Dennis nodded. "I wanted revenge on that bastard, and to make up for being such an asshole myself. I figured the best way to go about it was to act as a sort of unofficial spy for your group. I'm glad I was able to help out."

No one replied. Dennis sighed. "I understand. What I've done is really unforgivable. I guess you can just plunge that stake right back into my heart now."

Louis shook his head. "You've really changed, 3-D."

"Dennis, please. That nickname makes me sick now."

"All right, Dennis," Louis agreed. "You helped us with our plans enormously. You saved one of our own's life, even."

Dennis looked at Josephine, who gave him a dazzling smile. "Well -- ah -- I couldn't let them do that to her, could I?" he asked, blushing a little.

James sighed, realizing what Louis was building up to. "You want to let him live because he's 'turned a new leaf,' right? I think that's pretty risky."

"I have to agree with James. This guy was part of Biff's original gang," Marty said, frowning at him.

"I personally don't give a shit what you do to me. I don't care if you kill me, because that means I might get to see my sister again."

Louis turned to Doc, looking very thoughtful. "You know what he's done better than I do. What do you think we should do with him?"

Doc looked at Dennis, then probed into his mind. Biff's former crony had been completely sincere with them. He was truly repentant for his behavior. Doc frowned, wondering what to do. The desire for revenge was pretty strong, but if the guy had really changed his ways. . . .

Then it came. "I say, since most of us still have our doubts about his motives, that we put him on probation, so to speak. We'll observe him for a set period of time. If after that period, we decide he's really changed, we'll let him join the group. If not, he has to leave Hill Valley at the very least."

"Sounds fair enough to me," Louis said as the others nodded. "How about six months?"

"I'd aim for a year," Marty spoke up. "That'll give us plenty of time to watch him."

"Is everyone all right with that?" There were a few whispered discussions, then everyone nodded. Louis extended a hand to Dennis. "Then, on a provisional basis, welcome to the team."

Dennis hesitantly shook it. "You mean it? You're letting me in? After all I've done to you?"

"Remember the provisional part," Mystie said firmly. "You screw this up, it's all over. Emmett, the McFlys, and I will be keeping an especially close watch on you. You'd better stay a good boy."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Dennis promised. "I'll try my best."

"Good." Louis glanced around. "How's the body disposal coming?"

"Slowly but surely," Serena reported. "The crematorium can only hold so many bodies at a time, so we're probably in for a long night."

"I'll say. We have to clean up the damage, deactivate and reclaim all of Dr. Brown's booby traps, and start erasing memories. Now that the war is over, I don't want vampire-conscious mortals stumbling across our secret and trying to kill us." He started giving out orders.

"Do we have to erase everyone's memories?" Natalie said, glancing at the worried members of Darkness Falls. "Not all the humans could turn out to be potential threats, you know."

"I know, I meant all the ones who didn't know before Dr. Brown's broadcast. We kinda whipped them up into a vampire-killing frenzy in my opinion. Before the end of the month, I want some sort of normalcy restored to Hill Valley."

"Easier said then done, Louis."

Thursday, October 30th, 1986

Hill Valley

7:13 P. M.

"Lorraine, Linda? I'm here!"

Doc smiled as Mystie knocked eagerly on the door of the McFly house. As they waited to be acknowledged, a passing man gave them a scathing look. "Freaks, both of them," he mumbled under his breath. The pair ignored him.

Lorraine opened the door. "You got the wedding catalogues?" she asked Mystie, completely ignoring Doc. Mystie gleefully held up the stack of magazines. "All right! Let's get started! I've waited nearly a year to help plan this!"

"I know. Now that all the excitement's over, we can actually make some progress." Lorraine nodded happily and pulled Mystie into the living room. Doc rolled his eyes and followed.

The rest of the McFlys and Jennifer were finishing up some steak sandwiches. Linda and Jennifer immediately saw the magazines and abandoned the boys to help Lorraine and Mysteria. Doc, rolling his eyes again and chuckling, sat down with Marty, Dave, and George. "Well, how are you two doing?"

"Feeling a lot safer these days," George said, wiping off his fingers.

"Yeah, it's great to know my apartment's safe from being wrecked by those bastards," Dave added. "How are you two?"

"I'm kind of missing the days when the people of Hill Valley were nice to me," Doc confessed. "And Mysteria's so wrapped up in planning our wedding, that -- well--"

Marty patted him on the back. "Hey, you've always got us, Doc."

"That's true, now that Lorraine's into all this," George agreed, frowning at the giggling women. "She goes ga-ga for weddings."

"At least you don't have to deal with Josephine anymore," Marty said.

"Yes, and that's a blessing. I could still see the want for me in her eyes."

"James still giving you trouble?" Dave asked. "I know he was really acting like an asshole to you before."

"No, he's gone off to be by himself for the moment. He's very broken-up about Josephine leaving." He sighed. "I feel sorry for him. Not very sorry, but a little. He obviously wanted her to stay. I'd talk to him if I wasn't afraid he'd blame me for her leaving."

"He'll get over it. All of Linda's old boyfriends have." Linda shot her brother a dirty look.

"We saw Dennis yesterday," George said, changing the subject. "Apparently he's taken over Biff's old auto-detailing business."

Doc's guard went up. "He didn't try to hurt any of you, did he?"

Marty and George both laughed. "Hurt us? Doc, I've never seen anyone apologize that much! I think he might have tongue-washed the cars! Not that I'm complaining, he did a super job on my truck."

"Much better than Biff ever did," George nodded. "I don't have to constantly remind him we're paying for two coats of wax."

Doc relaxed. "I'm glad to hear he's sincere about being reformed. Only time will tell, though, if he ever works his way up to 'full member status' in our group."

Mysteria suddenly looked at him and started crying. Doc rose from his seat, concerned. "Mystie? Mein Liebe, what's the matter?"

Mystie sniffled. "I'm just so happy. I mean, this past year has been so hard. I didn't even know if I'd live to marry you. Now here I am, planning my wedding with some of my closest friends." She got up and pulled Doc close.

Doc held her tight, understanding. "I know. I was worried we weren't going to make it either. But it's over. We're safe. We did it."

Mystie looked up at him, smiling. "Yeah. We did it. Emmett, I love you."

Doc kissed her. "I love you too."

The End