Raziel and Azrael met up with Jennifer shortly afterwards. She was sitting on a bench with a few of the civilized fans.

"You're here," a short girl wearing a black dress said.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle, Raven," Azrael smiled.

"I saw what happened," Jennifer said, smirking.

"Then why didn't you come help us?" Raziel demanded.

Jennifer pointed at Azrael with her thumb. "Like he said, you could handle it."

"Barely," Raziel shuddered.

"Anyway, some of us were going to hit a bar for some beer. Are you up to it?" Jennifer asked.

"Sure," Raziel said.

They noticed how Azrael had turned a peculiar shade. "I'd rather pass on this one," he said. Raven glomped onto his arm, making it clear that she would go wherever Azrael went.

On the way to the bar, the three other fans introduced themselves to Raziel. One of them preferred to be called only by his online handle 'Varewulf.' The girl introduced herself as 'Seraphim,' but reluctantly gave Raziel the option of calling her either Sera or Alice. The last introduced himself as Dennis, 'same as the director of Blood Omen,' but with the online handle 'Irmok.'

"Whose fan are you?" Raziel asked Dennis as they walked in.

"Can't I be both?" Dennis asked. "You worked towards the same ultimate goal in Defiance."

"I seem to recall that I ended up in the very situation that I had been avoiding," Raziel said crossly.

"Okay, bad example," Dennis said, recognizing that Raziel did not like this topic.

They sat down and ordered one pitcher of beer to share. Raziel took a glass as with the rest. He figured that since it took a bit of hard liquor to make him lose control, that he could handle one beer without much difficulty.

"What about you, Alice?" Raziel questioned.

Seraphim positively blushed as she said, "Well, it was the vampire that originally drew me in, but…" she shyly let her sentence fade away unfinished.

Raziel took a sip of his beer and stared at Seraphim in expectation of her continuing.

Seraphim fiddled with her glass. "I'm not sure why I started liking you better the way you became."

Raziel turned to Varewulf, "Your turn."

Varewulf poured himself another beer. "It was your world, the way it decayed. I found it fascinating." He took a sip of his beer. "I felt like 'I' was the one whose reality had been challenged. I felt like you."

Raziel took this comment gracefully. He had noticed how Jennifer had sometimes lost her identity and referred to the character on the screen as 'I,' though she always seemed to refer to Raziel and Kain's avatars in the third person.

Though Raziel had stopped when he finished his one glass of beer, the others finished off the pitcher. Raziel felt a little funny, so he excused himself for some fresh air. Shortly afterwards, Dennis also began to feel strange. Jennifer ran her fingers along her lips, noticing that they had become numb.

"Let's get out of here," Seraphim recommended.

They got outside and noticed that Raziel was staring intently at the decorative fountain. He was in his wraith form and leaning against the guardrail.

Jennifer went over to Raziel and put her hand on his shoulder. Raziel turned to her. If it was possible for his expression to be blank, this was it. Raziel then lost his balance and fell to his knees, dragging Jennifer into a crouch.

Jennifer tried to pull Raziel to his feet, but she found that her strength had left her. Fortunately, Varewulf was capable of lifting the disoriented wraith. Jennifer couldn't focus well enough to force Raziel into his plush form, and she didn't want to do it in front of his fans anyway.

Varewulf carried Raziel draped over his back, though Raziel's fangs were still sharp, and lightly shredded his t-shirt clad shoulder. Dennis had to resort to carrying Seraphim in a similar manner.

All of them had only gotten sicker as they walked from the bar. Jennifer's mind surfaced from her haze just long enough to say, "The beer, someone must have drugged us."

By some miracle, they made it back to the hotel. They stole a clean sheet from a cart and wrapped Raziel in it to disguise him.

Dennis took Seraphim back to his own room, saying that he would figure out who she was staying with later.

When they got to their own room, Raven and Azrael were already there. They were lounging on the bed and watching television.

Varewulf dumped Raziel on the bed, but didn't bother to unwind him from the sheet. Varewulf then slumped into the only available chair. Jennifer collapsed next to Raziel on the bed.

"What happened to you?" Azrael questioned.

"Someone tried to drug us," Jennifer murmered. "I don't know why."

"Yet another reason why I'm glad we didn't go with you," Azrael chuckled.

Jennifer turned over in the bed, too disoriented to sleep. She needed something real to distract her from the way she was feeling. "I take it you had fun?"

"We had a blast," Raven grinned. "We found a park just a couple of blocks from here. Azrael didn't like that it was on the river, but we threw rocks at the ducks."

Azrael was about to add something else when he noticed that Jennifer had finally passed out.

At that moment, Janos landed with a thump on the balcony. Azrael disentangled himself from Raven to let the angel in. Janos entered slowly, having been taught his own painful lesson about rabid fangirls. Janos shrunk back in alarm when he saw Raven, but he relaxed again when she rolled her eyes at him.

Azrael was in the middle of telling Janos what had happened to the others when a knock sounded at the door, Raven answered it.

"Is Varewulf in here?" a guy asked. "We were sharing a hotel room, but he disappeared."

"That's him over there," Raven said. "He's been drugged."

"Figures," the other guy grinned. Then he finally noticed Janos and Azrael standing in the room. "Oh my god," he breathed.

"You're not one of those obsessive nutcases, are you?" Janos asked.

"Naw, I'm a pure storyline fan," the stranger said. "Still, I didn't believe that it was possible. You are here."

Azrael helped the stranger carry the barely-conscious Varewulf back to their room. Raven took that moment to go back to her own room as well.

The next morning, they all sat in the hotel room and ate the bagels that the mysterious stranger had retrieved from the hotel lobby. Raziel was excluded from eating, as his system did not burn off the drug very quickly, and his ability to disguise himself was impaired.

"Who are you?" Jennifer groggily asked.

"My handle's Kakarot," he said.

"Oh," Jennifer said, a sour expression crossing her face.

"Who are you?" Kakarot asked.

"Draconic," Jennifer said, referring to her forum handle.

"Oh," Kakarot said in understanding.

"What's going on?" Raziel asked.

"He and I have a tendency to butt heads on the forums," Jennifer said. "The only problem is that he's a Taurus, so he has a natural advantage."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I doubted you," Kakarot said. "It's still hard to believe that they're here."

Jennifer shrugged. "I gave up on convincing anyone."

"You know, that's the problem with you," Kakarot told Jennifer. "You'll get into an argument, then suddenly back down as soon as it starts getting good."

"Says the guy who likes to stir things up just because he's bored," Jennifer retorted. "I know of a wasps' nest that could keep you occupied for hours."

Kakarot grinned. "So, you do have some fire."

Jennifer snapped her fingers, and a brief tongue of flame flickered on the tip of her thumb. She returned the amazed stares with a bored expression before reaching for the other half of her bagel.

When it was time to go, Raven and Azrael went off to the side to say their personal farewells.

"I wish I could take you with me," Raven said sadly, "but my roommate just wouldn't understand if I brought a vampire home."

"That is such a shame," Azrael said, hugging Raven against his chest. "When I'm with you, I don't long for the empire."

"I could try to get my own place," Raven thought aloud. "We could write to each other. Do you know how to use email?"

"I'm sure I could learn how," Azrael said.

A/N End Notes: Varewulf is a real person. Even though he's MIA, he did ask to be included in the fan invasion long before I announced it. Raven is a real person, and the only fan that I saw asking to be in it after I announced it. Kakarot is a real person simply because the character was inspired by the real Kakarot, and I gave up on trying to hide that. Kigon is a conglomeration of some random Kain-only fans that I've seen on the forums, but no one in particular. I think everyone else is an OC.

Btw, as far as Jennifer knows, Raven and Azrael spent all day throwing rocks at the ducks, and doing nothing else.