"How could tis happen?" Van Helsen asked his colleagues, who had gathered in his office to discuss the recent events, "How can the Lowlander turn into a giant, and how can the monsters call on Katulhu?"
Everyone in the room, namely Easton, Welles and Feuerstein, had no answer at the ready.
"Katulhu is known for being completely indifferent about life in general." Easton said, "So for him to join forces with them... just imagine what they can do with him."
"How can we fight them now?" Van Helsen panicked.
"There may be a way." Feuerstein suggested, "It's possible that whatever it was that kept the Lowlander alive, is what gave him the power to take on larger sizes. If we could somehow replicate that..."
"You forget one thing." Welles interrupted him, "We never had a chance to examine him properly. So we have nothing to replicate."
"In otter words, when the monsters call Katulhu, we can't stop tem?" Van Helsen needed to hear the exact words being said.
"Indeed." Welles replied.
Easton sighed at the sound of that: "We only just finished getting the Re-Actives to obey only us, and now another problem rears its ugly head. Those monsters are relentless."
A loud knock on the door sounded, and Van Helsen replied: "Come in!"
Everyone looked surprised when they heard their visitor buzzing its way into the office: "Doctor Van Helzen! You woulnd't believe what juzt happened!"
"Don't bother, Noyhe." Feuerstein said, "We all saw..."
Noyhe didn't listen to him: "The Lowlander waz fighting feroziouzly with that vampire woman..."
Despite the words of everyone in the room, Noyhe kept talking, mimicking as best as he could all the sounds and moves that the fighters made, all in grave detail.
"That's all fine and good..." Easton said.
"I thought it waz all over for the Lowlander." Noyhe ignored Easton, "Zo did the monsterz, who were then about to kill me, but the Lowlander, I don't know how, he muzt have known I waz in trouble, zo he brought himzelf back to life. He made all theze lightningz appear, and he grew into a huge man..."
"He used lightning?" Welles asked, suddenly more interested than anyone.
"Yez!" Noyhe was thrilled that at least he listened.
"Why?" Van Helsen wondered, "Is that important?"
"Lightning that would cause something like that, it would cause a number of strange weather-patterns." Welles explained, "Patterns that would have been caught by any weather-station. If we can find out what they detected, we may have a way of replicating what the Lowlander did."
Van Helsen sank back in his chair, relieved: "A man of honor, indeed. Even when he dies, he must leave us someting to stay on the fight."

While Cefabew was discussing the current situation, the monsters had returned to their mansion, relieved that this was finally over.
"I really can't understand why you were so reluctant to summon Katulhu." Eva brought up, "He's amazing! Now, we can just use him to crash Cefabew's..."
"No! We can't!" Setuh interrupted her.
Everybody was taken aback at his sudden outburst.
"What do you mean?" Bernard asked him, "If we destroy Cefabew's headquarters, we have nothing to worry about."
"I'm not saying we shouldn't do that." Setuh replied, "But we can't use Katulhu to do that."
"Why?" Bernard asked.
"Indeed, he is powerful." Setuh answered, "And yes, he could solve many of our problems. But one day we will have to pay the price for his services."
This caused everyone to look worried. Daguerre was the first to speak: "What might that price be?"
"I don't know." Setuh answered, "The Necrobiblos isn't that explicit."
"Then how does the writer know there is a price to pay?" Daguerre asked.
"Maybe it is so horrible, he didn't want to write about it." Lea suggested, "Or maybe it's different depending on who it is that summons him."
"So if we use him, it best keep it at a minimum." Bernard understood.
"But can we still use those animals as much as we like?" Eva wondered.
Setuh thought about this for a moment: "There is nothing in the book about paying a price for them."
"My dear Eva..." Lea hissed, as she sat herself down in the living room armchair, "I thought you grew out of playing with puppets?"
"I don't." Eva snapped back, "I just wanted to have a pet that can match up to my own strength."
"Why did you not say so before?" Daguerre asked her, "I could always change into my wolf-form and fight you every now and then."
"That is not the same, and you know it!" Eva retorted.
"Maybe you two should be less concerned about trivial matters, and wonder how far along the repairs on the house are."
Eva took a quick look: "The stairs look fixed."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Daguerre told her, "Maybe we should find Ivan first. He could tell us when it is safe."
"An excellent thought." Setuh agreed.
"What are we waiting for?" Eva already made her way through the house, looking for Ivan, and Daguerre and Setuh followed.

With those three gone, Bernard turned to Lea, who had made herself comfortable on the armchair. She raised her left leg to rest on her right leg, leading Bernard to notice her shoes again. The blood that was on them before had already dried up. It reminded him of something he said about those shoes of her before. With that in the back of his mind, he slowly hovered his way to Lea.
"Lea?" he was still careful in his approach.
Lea sighed, even covered her eyes with her right hand, as if hearing his voice gave her a headache: "What is it, Bernard."
"Nothing." he replied, "It's just... I know I have said some things before. I thought I was acting out of concern for you. Which I was, but... I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I underestimated you."
Lea smiled, more friendlier this time, then lowered her hand, only to let her chin rest on it: "Thank you. Many others have done so before you."
Bernard scoffed, even looked away, somewhat embarrassed to look at her directly: "I guess I should have known better. Like you said, you've been around for a lot longer than the spoken language. And vampires are a rarity. You would not have lived as long as you have without developing some survival skills. Even be able to use what many consider an inconvenience as a deadly weapon. You really are the most..."
He stopped talking, as he noticed Lea's eyes had shut themselves. This didn't surprise him in the least. Not only because vampires are nocturnal and sleep during the day, but she also spent most of the night, and even the day before, training herself to kill her centuries-old rival. And even the fight with him, both before and after he turned into a giant, it would have drained all the power out of her. Even the blood-bags she fed herself with could only do so much. He shrugged, and decided to join the other three. But as he turned, he caught something in the corner of his eye. There was Lea's crystal orb, which helped them detect the danger before. He wasn't sure how or why, but it only showed a clear picture when it was in Lea's left hand. With that in mind, he turned the dial on his Ranger-machine halfway, so he could pick the orb up from the table, and gently (so to not wake her up) put it into Lea's hand. This way, should anything come up, they'd be able to see it immediately, and not wait for Lea to show it to them. With that taken care of, he switched off his machine and left the living room.

Bernard will have wished he had stayed in the living room for a few seconds longer. Because as soon as he left, an image became visible in the orb. It was round, white around the edge, black at its center, with a thick blue edge. It was en eye, which looked around the living room, then at the woman holding the orb. It held its gaze for five seconds, before disappearing.

THE END