Vera walked into the temple looking a little pissed and it was understandable after being sold out by one of her medicum, because now Mr. Morton had won himself a demotion which was rightfully deserved. Not only that but a werewolf had nearly killed her and she had paperwork to catch up on from her day job. Things were not going the way she would have liked but they had problems, several problems to take care of now. "Why is the trunk of my car damaged?" She stood in the temple looking at the Nichole and the wolves. Jack raised his hand not wanting to say anything out of turn since Vera was already short with him. "This isn't a lecture hall Mr. Morton, speak up. I'm sure we are all dying to hear the unfortunate news you have to give us."

"Alyssa was in your trunk, Grand Magus, we put her back there until we could find you and I guess she...got out."

"Wonderful, and when exactly were you planning on telling me this?"

"Right...now?"

"I admire your timing. We have a serious problem on our hands then, Alyssa is undead and unpredictable. We can't have an undead and unpredictable practitioner running around campus, especially considering what she'd become by now."

"She's just confused and disorientated."

"Mr Morton, she ripped open the trunk of a car." Yeah, he didn't have an excuse for that one. That was pretty abnormal, especially for Alyssa. "This is possibly one of the worst situations that could have happened but we can all thank Mr. Morton for that. Not only do we have this particular problem on our hands but we have two more that need to be dealt with. First things first, Jack, you Nichole are going to go visit an old friend. Unfortunately my knowledge of dealing with Necromancy are limited but I hear Ms. Marand is the best consultant on the subject."

"Wait." Jack interrupted her. "As in Renee Maranda's crazy sister? The one who tried to kill Alyssa and I?"

"The one and only." Vera put her hands together and licked her lips. "Let me remind you that even Edward Coventry didn't dare raise the dead because as I've said, it's messy. Necromancy has never been a clean form of magic to turn to and the side effects from them are, normally, very bad. You see Mr. Morton when you bring back someone from the dead you are only bringing their body back to life. Everything that made them who they are is gone. If you think Ms. Drake was bad without fear you get to meet her without compassion, without self control, and without a satiable appetite. Considering her relative strength it seems like your little friend Alpha picked a particularly dangerous incantation to raise the dead. Normally it's short lived since as you would assume, the person you bring back is still actually dead. Eventually the spell wears off when the body continues to rot. But there is one way to prevent slipping back into the state of death."

Jack looked at Vera waiting for an answer. "And that is?"

"Congratulations Jack Morton, because of you we get to deal with the first Sanguine Vampirus outbreak in over 100 years."

"Wait, like, vampires? Garlic, holy water, sunlight?"

"Not quite, all those things you see in the movies aren't true. Vampires have very few weaknesses outside of the complete destruction of the body and what is worse, every victim they kill is infected with a blood curse that raises them back from the dead under the control of their 'charge'. Luckily for us we have something of an expert on the situation. The last major outbreak happened in Brazil and we happen to have a Brazilian chapter member here with us. Which is why Hamish I am having you take Alejandro and Lilith to track down Alyssa and stop her before she kills too many people. Hopefully if Ms. Marand helps us out so we can have Alyssa back to her usual back stabbing self in no time, in the best case scenario."

Randal nodded his head, seeming rather excited about the whole aspect. "Alright, we get to go vampire hunting?"

"They are yes, you however, I need you and Ms Dupree to do something else for me. We need to get Alpha's hide locker and I want it back here at the temple locked up in the vault where it won't be finding itself another host ever again. I'd hope that two werewolves can handle the task?"

Randal kicked his foot looking rather disappointed. "Man, I wanted to hunt vampires not a fetch quest."

"As for me I have to contact the Gnostic Council. I've been putting off informing them about this new werewolf for too long and it's about time I face up to my mistakes. As I'll likely be too busy to assist with this I'm going to need you to report to Hamish should you need something. Until my fate is decided by the Gnostic Council I am making Hamish the temporary acting temple magus. I trust with Alejandro's help you should be able to handle things." Vera looked around a moment longer before throwing her hands out to the side. "Well, why are you all still standing here. You have work to do." Vera waved them away watching the groups start to scatter though Hamish stayed behind.

"Vera, I'd feel more comfortable if I could stay back with you and face the council. This isn't something you should do alone."

"It's something I have to do alone Hamish, besides someone needs to keep Alejandro from trying to kill me and put Lilith on a leash. She still can't be trusted. You are the only one capable of running this temple right now, I trust you."

"I understand Vera but I just don't want anything to happen to you two."

"I'll be fine, if I have any trouble with the council then I'll contact you. Our list of enemies is growing every day Hamish and we need to be in good grace with the council. If not then there is no hope and no future for us or our daughter. You do a good job protecting us from everything that's come our way, now it's my turn."

"Be careful Vera, please."

She smirked and put her hands into her jacket. "I'm not the one going after a vampire."

"And once we get Alyssa back to normal we need to make her give you your powers back so we can destroy the book." Hamish was quick to remind her that it was still in one piece.

"Ideally yes but let's worry about one thing at a time."

Hamish nodded his head about to leave when he turned around, "Vera, the reason you kept the Vade Maecum before. You did it to find a cure didn't you."

"I don't know what you are talking about Hamish."

"For the fors factoram."

Vera remained quiet again, looking away from Hamish. "Perhaps."

"And was there? Was there a cure?" He had to know.

"No, the only thing that could have helped me was a spell to prolong life which wouldn't matter in the end. The only thing it would do is prolong my suffering."

"There has to be a way Vera."

"Oh, there is, but it's not a price I'm willing to pay. The price of my humanity and our daughter, to become one with the book, to become magic itself. I've played with one dangerous spell and I'm not going to do it again."

Hamish walked towards her grabbing her hand. "Then I'll find another way. We aren't going to lose you, we both need you." He paused again, looking down at the ground. "How much time do we have?"

"Enough."