"All I want to do is see you," Liam told Mary over the phone as he sat in yet another hotel room. "Please? I understand why you feel you need to be on the run, but…it's killing me not to be able to look at your beautiful face."

"Did you bring a computer with you?" Mary asked. "If so, I might be able to grant your wish."

"I do have a computer," Liam replied. "And please grant my wish. Please."

"Okay," Mary replied. "I was going to anyway."

Liam set up his computer, turned on the video feature, and waited for Mary, who appeared a minute or so later. Seeing her smile almost made him cry from happiness.

"You're so beautiful!" He burst out.

"Am I?" Mary asked. "Thanks. It's nice to hear. I know chasing me around has been a big pain in the butt, so while I don't look creepy, I think I'll reward you."

"How?" Liam asked.

Mary then backed away from the computer for a bit, but was still in the camera's sight. To Liam's surprise, she then began stripping. "Three guesses how," she said with a wink, her tongue sliding over her lips.

"Oh, my god!" Liam shouted in surprise and backed away from his computer. "Mary, what in the world are you doing? I just wanted to see your face. I don't need to see anything else. I don't even think we're at that stage in our relationship yet!"

"You mean you want me to stop and put my clothes back on?" Mary asked.

"Well, no, you've already started," Liam replied. "You might as well finish."

"Oh, all right," Mary nodded with a smile. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that." She finished undressing and stood naked before the camera. "Like what you see?" She asked.

Liam leaned forward and stared for a bit before saying, "Did you honestly think I would say I didn't?"

"Well, no," Mary blushed a little. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I've never stripped for a man before. I'm new at this."

"I'm sorry," Liam apologized. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Oh, you didn't," Mary replied. "Don't worry about it." She blew him a kiss and said, "How have you been? I know that's kind of a stupid question for me to ask, considering the hell I've put you through lately."

"Well, I'm getting to do a lot of traveling, which is nice," Liam replied. "And don't worry, I've told your parents you're all right."

"Thanks," Mary told him. "It probably didn't help much, but we're trying." She paused. "Do you think I'm stupid for running off like this?"

"I think you're in a very bad situation that I can't possibly begin to understand," Liam replied. "And even though I would love nothing more than to be with you so I can help you through it, you have to do what you think is best to deal with it, you know? As long as you stay safe. That's all I ask."

"All right," Mary nodded. "I'll try." Talking with him made her feel very at ease, so at ease that she wasn't watching the clock and it was only as she felt herself beginning to change right in Liam's sight that she realized she'd waited too long. Liam tried not to look horrified, but he couldn't help feeling frightened. Her eyes resembled those of a crocodile, she began to develop a snake tail below the waist and her fangs and nails became razor sharp. She gave the camera one last hiss and then slowly disappeared, presumably to reappear again on the streets so she could do the horrible things her curse demanded.

Liam was left in his hotel room, frozen with shock that a girl as sweet as Mary could turn into such a horrible monster. Then, he steeled himself, grabbed his gun, put it under his pillow, and then slept fitfully, waking up at sunrise to pursue Mary again.

"Oh, my god!" Savannah cried and ran into Jonathan's arms the second he got home from school before bursting into tears.

"What's the matter, darling?" He asked and kissed her red hair.

"Liam...Liam's seen Mary transform," she got out. "He saw it on video and it wasn't pretty. He saw our poor daughter turn into a monster!"

"Well, does he describe it in detail?" Jonathan asked.

"Of course not!" Savannah replied. "He's sensitive enough to know not to do that! He just said it was awful."

"Well of course it is if Mary felt the need to run away to protect us all once it happened," Jonathan replied and stroked Savannah's hair.

"I wanna kill the bitch who did this to her," Savannah said. "If I could just get my hands on her, her death would be so slow and painful that I-"

"Do you really think murder is the best course of action?" Jonathan wanted to know.

"How can you be such a wimp about this?" Savannah asked. "You've spent time in jail for all kinds of bad stuff! You should have more of a backbone for crying out loud!"

"I went to jail for stealing magic," Jonathan reminded her. "Not for murdering people. I may have been a thief, but I still had principles."

Savannah rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna do it." She said. "Maybe not now, but eventually. People don't get to fuck with my daughter and live. It's been so long since I've had a good kill. This is gonna be glorious!" She had a look of such evil that Jonathan couldn't help but feel a little terrified. "Here we go again," he said to himself. "I've worked so hard over the years so we wouldn't be in situations like this and thanks to one jealous woman, it's all erased in two seconds."

"Yeah," Savannah nodded. "You're damn right!"

After a couple talks with her parents and Sean, they all decided that it would be best to move in with him, at least until her parents sorted things out.

"You really didn't have to do this, you know," she told Sean as he carried her bags into his room, opened them up, and then used his magic to unpack them. "I could've slept in a room of my own."

"Yes, but how fun would that be?" Sean whispered in her ear and made her giggle. "Have you been drinking again?" She asked.

"No," Sean shook his head. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, you're having a change of mood toward me that, while nice, is also sort of odd," Eva replied. "Not that I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, but…"

It was then that Sean cut her off by taking her in his arms and kissing her very, very deeply.

They pulled apart just as Sean's bedroom door opened and Sarah poked her head in. "Sean, I just came to tell you that-" She broke off when she saw Eva and frowned. "Oh, my god. What's she doing here?"

"I live here, cupcake," Eva replied, getting off the bed and striding up to her. "And you'll just have to get used to it."

"Her parents are going through a rough patch right now and we all thought it would be best if she stayed here with me," Sean explained. "That won't be too much trouble, I hope?"

"Well, it's not like I have any other choice, do I?" Sarah said. "Damn it, and I was having such a good day."

"Why?" Sean asked. "What happened?"

"Well, I went to visit Edele and she showed me the most marvelous news stories about Mary's curse in action," Sarah replied. "Wanna see?"

"No, I don't want to see, damn it!" Sean cried. "You do realize Mary's my sister, right? That she's going through all this misery because of Edele's petty jealousy."

"Can you really blame her for feeling the way she does, though?" Sarah wanted to know. "Your father replacing her dead sister with a human woman. Not a very good choice on his part."

"Get out," Sean told her, his eyes flashing as he pushed her against the wall and choked her.

Eva wanted to help, but then figured it would be better if Sean handed this on his own. He began squeezing tighter and tighter and Eva enjoyed herself immensely, only making one small change by zapping off Sean's shirt to enhance the viewing experience. When Sarah was finally dead, Sean dropped her on the floor and turned to Eva. "Looks like we have the house to ourselves now," he said.

"You just killed someone," Eva told him, in a rare moment of feeling sensible and mature as he came back to bed with her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Of course I am!" Sean replied. "She deserved it! She was in league with my aunt against Mary."

"All right," Eva replied and kissed him. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Thank you," Sean replied as he helped her out of her shirt and took her in his arms. "You're an angel."