"Hey, Simba, I've just had an idea," said Nala, stopping and turning to Simba excitedly as they slowly walked back towards Pride Rock.

"All right, what is it?" Simba asked, curious. Nala quite often had a lot of ideas, but usually she preferred to tell Simba them during the day. Unless of course, this particular idea somehow involved the night. That's just stupid, Simba thought, quickly dismissing the idea. Why would Nala think of an idea that involved the night? She knows how I'm scared of the dark. He chuckled in his mind. You're such an idiot, Simba.

"What if we don't go back to Pride Rock?" Nala exclaimed, sounding rather enthusiastic about this idea – the idea which Simba quickly widened his eyes at upon hearing it. Just what was she talking about? Now all of a sudden she didn't want to go back to the den? Simba had a feeling this night was going to be far from eventful…

"What are you talking about, Nala?" Simba said, confused. "We need to sleep, you know. It's what keeps us… you know, alive." He chuckled. "What are we gonna do, stay out here all night and not go to sleep at all?

Nala grinned and nodded. "Uh-huh," she responded. "I think it's a great idea! Don't you?"

Simba's face fell. "Not really," he replied. "Considering at this point in my life I think that darkness is one of the most terrifying things that I've ever seen!" he exclaimed, hopping over to Nala's side and tapping the top of her head lightly with his paw. "Hello! Earth to Nala! Have you forgotten that or something?"

Nala rolled her eyes and smiled. "No, Simba, I haven't forgotten. In fact, your fear is why I want to try this idea out," she revealed, prompting Simba to suddenly look a little bit interested.

"What do you mean?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "You're saying that staying out in the dark all night is going to help me?"

"Well… not exactly," Nala answered, straining to think of the right words to use. "Kind of. What I'm trying to say is that you need to face this fear, otherwise you'll just end up being scared of the dark your whole life. Now how's that going to work out when you're the King, and you have to defend the pride against evil predators who only strike in the middle of the night?"

"I protect the pride enough already," Simba muttered, looking down at the ground. "So, you want to stay out here all night?"

Nala nodded. "That's right. We're going to stay out here, and not go to sleep! That way you'll realise that the dark is nothing to be scared of."

"Easy for you to say," he said, looking up at the sky, an uneasy look on his face. He sighed. "I don't know, Nala. What if this doesn't work out? What if it makes me even more afraid of the dark than I already am now? What if I go insane, and lose the power of speech? What if my brain melts, or I lose me eyes, or even worse…" Simba gasped, horrified. "My tuft! I can't lose that!"

Nala laughed. "Simba, cool it. None of your body parts are going to fall out or fall off. You trust me, right?"

"Of course," Simba answered honestly.

"Yeah, well, if you trust me, then believe me when I say it'll all be fine," Nala told him, smiling as she put a paw around his shoulder. "Besides, I'll be with you. If it all gets too much then we can just go back to the den, right?"

Simba grinned. "Good." He took a few steps forward, and then turned around. "Yep, it's all got too much. We'd better get going." Simba hurried back in the direction of Pride Rock, only for Nala to grab him by the tail, sending him to the ground.

Nala let go of Simba's tail and helped him to his paws. "Come on, Simba. You can't just give up that fast! Give it a chance."

Simba looked around the darkened surroundings of the Pride Lands, and sighed. "Okay, Nala," he agreed, smiling. "I'll do it for you."

She smiled back. "Great! It means a lot to me, Simba. I don't want to see you stressed out like this. I want you to be the happy little cub I always have and always will know. Okay?"

Simba's smile widened. "Okay."


"Ow…" Tojo groaned as he awoke, rubbing a weird ache he had in his neck. "What happened to me?" he asked aloud as he got to his paws, struggling to remember how he'd fallen asleep again. But every time he thought back, everything was like a blur. He felt so dizzy, too. Just thinking was hard for him right now.

"Ah, you're finally awake," said Tama.

Tojo looked up at Tama, and saw her lying on her back on a large rock – the rock that he had originally fallen asleep on when Tama decided to venture into the cave to look for her 'magical genie'.

Oh, yeah, that was right, Tojo thought, suddenly remembering what had happened. I woke up, and Tama came out of the cave, with fangs and red eyes! Tojo stopped dead, his eyes widening. Oh, no! Tama has fangs and red eyes!

"Tama, are you back to normal?" Tojo asked. "Please tell me that you having fangs and red eyes was just a dream!"

Tama's fangs and red eyes suddenly seemed all the more visible to Tojo as soon as he asked that. "Oh, I'm afraid not, Tojo. You haven't been dreaming. In fact, I think you'll find you have quite the same gift as I do."

"Huh?" Tojo exclaimed, confused. "What are you talking about, Tama?" he asked, putting a paw to his chin.

That was when he felt the fangs that protruded from his mouth. Looking down, Tojo could seem them very clearly in the moonlight. Long, sharp fangs. Fangs that could tear someone's throat apart with a simple slash.

Tojo gasped. "What the…?" he exclaimed, horrified. "Tama! What have you done to me?" he cried, turning to her.

"How'd you figure out it was me?" Tama asked, hopping to her paws.

"Well, the fangs kind of give it away!" he shouted. "Who else is it gonna be? I didn't do this to myself!"

"Not to mention the red eyes," Tama added, staring into Tojo's new crimson-coloured eyes. "They were better than those old blue ones, don't you think so? They make you look a lot… eviller."

"I don't believe it!" Tojo groaned. "Why did you do this to me, Tama? What are you going to gain from turning me into a…a… Just what the heck do you even call this, anyway?"

"The correct term is 'vampire'," Tama informed him.

"A vampire?" Tojo squealed. "You turned me into a vampire? Tama, change me back right now!" he ordered. "If you don't, then you can kiss your partnership goodbye!"

"Hmm…" Tama narrowed her eyes, putting a paw to her chin. "It seems that I haven't made you a very obedient vampire.

I should have held on to that juicy neck of yours for a little bit longer… I'll keep it in mind for the next time I suck someone's blood – which will be very soon."

"What are you talking about?" Tojo asked. "Are you trying to say that you wanted to turn me into some kind of slave vampire for your own evil purposes?"

Tama nodded. "You're very good at this, aren't you, Tojo? I didn't suck enough of your blood to make you completely obedient to your leader – and your leader is me, by the way. You still retain your free will, which is a shame."

"Right, okay, so you wanted to make me a vampire why exactly?" said Tojo, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Because I've been given a very special gift, Tojo. A gift that I'm going to use to spread the Curse of the Vampire once more!"

"I lost you at 'Curse of the Vampire'," Tojo told her. "Would you kindly explain to me what the Curse of the Vampire is, exactly?"

Tama sighed. "All right, all right, I'll tell you the story. But don't be surprised if the story is so terrifying that it kills you."

"Aren't vampires supposed to be immortal?"

"You'd be surprised what you can live through."