Coming into Their Own

Disclaimer: if one door shuts, don't open any more until you find a window. Then you'll know where you are and can pick another door to try.

5. Interventions

After several rousing choruses of "the Song that Never Ends" and "99 bottles of beer", Zartan and the majority of Shadowatch arrived at the home base in time for an early dinner. However, what met them at the door was anything but pleasant.

"Please, do something with her!" Monkeywrench begged upon their entry. "She's gone psycho!"

"Who?" Bryan asked.

"That insane vampire's gone off the deep end!" Torch said. "She's on a rampage, I'm tellin' ya!"

"Kris?" Mitch stared incredulously. "Why would she be mad?"

"Guess her trip didn't go so well." Bryan shrugged. "Where is she anyway?"

"Right here, dumbass." A high voice called.

"Miss Mortisson, what have I told you about calling people names like that?" Zartan scolded.

"Not to, but I don't care. He is one, after all." The tiny raven-haired girl replied.

"Vampira, lose that attitude this instant!"

"Or you'll what? Fight me? Not like you can do anything to me. I'm undead!" She replied haughtily.

"Don't make me do this again, Kristen." Regan warned.

"Stay outta my head, Wyngarde!" Kristen hissed.

"If you don't stop this nonsense, I will have no choice." The grass-eyed girl replied. "Either tell us what's going on or I will pull it from you by force!"

"You won't take me alive, Mind-reader!" Kristen shouted, lunging at her teammate.

"Stop!" Neal shouted, firing up. Before Kristen knew it, he grabbed her arm and burned it. Kris squealed like a dying bird.

"You burned me!"

"I had to!" Neal protested. "Kris, you know I don't like to hurt people, but if you keep this up I will set you on fire!"

"Keep what up?" She asked. "Is this so strange to you all?"

"Yes!" was the collective response.

"It shouldn't be!" she hissed. "I have nothing more to say to you bleeders!" She stormed up the stairs. A slamming door confirmed she was out of earshot.

"What was that?" Mitch asked.

"I don't know." Bryan said. "I've never seen her like that before."

"We did once." Regan confessed. "Right after we escaped. Her sister went into something called bloodlust and attacked her. Kim apologized profusely for a week, but Kris wouldn't have any of it. Instead, she started acting like this."

"I think this has something to do with her mother." Neal sighed.

"You mean aunt." Reg said.

"No, I mean birthmother." The dark-skinned boy protested. "Kim called the day before she left. Their mother asked them to visit her."

"That sounds nice." Mitch said.

"At the asylum she lives in." Neal finished.

"Oh." Torch said. "That might explain why she keeps ranting on about not wanting to see that psychobitch again."

"Okay, so what do we do now?" Bryan asked.

"Let her cool off a minute." Zartan answered. "If we're ever going to get to the bottom of this, she needs to be in her right mind to explain things."

By the end of dinner, Vampira had calmed to a quasi-enjoyable state. However, the company came no closer to determining the exact cause of her violent state. The team hoped to change that.

"So, Kris, how's Kim doing?" Bryan asked. The aqua-eyed girl glanced up at him.

"Oh, she's just fine. Handling her powers much better now. A bit shaken though."

"By what?" Zanya asked. Kristen's expression darkened to the point of nightfall.

"Nothing." She replied. "Just forget I said that."

"Kris, it's not good to keep things bottled up." Mitch commented. "You remember what happened to Andi, right?"

The entire room fell silent. The mention of the blue-eyed girl's suicide attempt brought back vivid memories for everyone.

"I won't kill myself. That is impossible." Kris corrected.

"The point it still there." Zarana said. "You can't just keep secrets like that from everyone! Look, we all know something's eating at you, so why don't you tell us what's been going on here!"

"Nothing!" The vampirette protested.

"Bull shit!" Zanya shouted. "We all know something's wrong, bat-breath! Just spill it already!"

"It's none of your business!"

"It became our business when you decided to attack a teammate." Zartan countered. "Either tell us what is going on, or I will have Lady Mastermind enter your mind and retrieve the information."

Kristen gave a strangled cry, and then glared at her boss. "Fine. My dear mother is apparently the one responsible for the brunt of my mutation. She also tried to attack Kim and me because she believes we're in league with whoever my father was. Crazy bitch went nuts when Kim told her she's a sort-of telepath. Apparently our father was one, and since she hates him, she hates us. Oh, and she got loose for like two minutes and the guards had to open a window to stun her back into her cell. Hope I never see that harridan again."

Everyone sat in shock; none knowing what to say. Regan recovered first. "Well, you could have said that instead of trying to attack me!"

"Sorry." Kristen replied. "Man, that felt good!"

"See? Speaking helps!" Mitch grinned.

"Which is why you, Vampira, are going to two therapy sessions a week instead of just one." Zartan said. Kristen blinked.

"For how long?"

"As long as Sigfreid feels necessary." Zartan replied. "No arguments. When Atlantis returns, she will join you, since both of you seem to have some startling family issues."

"Yes, Sir." She growled.

"Good." He said. "I think that's enough for tonight. Why don't you all go unpack. It's getting late."

No one argued with that idea.

I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter. A little darker than usual, but don't worry, the funny will return in the next installment.

If you liked it, let me know.

If there's something you didn't like, definitely let me know, and I will try to fix it. (esp. spelling and grammar)

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