"Tojo, the Curse of the Vampire is… well, as you might imagine, a curse," Tama explained. "It's a curse that has existed for thousands and thousands of years."
"Thousands of years?" Tojo exclaimed, his eyes widening. "How come I've never heard of this before? I'm supposed to know everything!"
"Oh, no one's had the curse for a long time," Tama informed him. "When I went into that cave, I got bitten by a bat. I imagine that the bat was the only animal in the world that still carried the curse. When it bit me, it transferred its powers to me, killing the bat in the process." Tama bared her fangs. "And the rest is history."
Tojo sighed. "Great. So how come you didn't die when you bit me?"
"Because that bat was old," Tama told him. "Vampires aren't truly immortal, Tojo. It had probably been dying a slow and painful death for years. When I arrived, it jumped at the chance – quite literally – to bite me. It wanted to end its misery. But since I'm much bigger and stronger than a scrawny old bat, I can do a lot more with the curse. That's why I bit you."
"And you turned me into a vampire, too," Tojo concluded, frowning. "So every time you suck someone's blood, you turn them into a vampire?"
Tama nodded, an evil smile on her face. "That's correct, Tojo. All I have to do is bite into their necks, and they become like me. Well, not exactly like me. Every person I bite will be instantly in my power. That is, if I suck enough of their blood. Unfortunately, I miscalculated in your case…"
"Something I'm thankful for," Tojo muttered under his breath. "So I get to keep my free will?"
Tama nodded. "You'll be the only person with free will. By the end of the night, this whole pride will bow down before me. I'll have an entire pride of vampires!" Tama laughed evilly.
"An entire pride of vampires?" Tojo squealed, eyes widening in shock. "You can't do that, Tama! It's just… evil!"
A cruel grin spread across Tama's face. "Exactly," she said, chilling Tojo's blood as she said it. Why was it that Tama seemed even scarier when she was a vampire? "I'm going to give everyone the curse! Everyone will become like me! I'm going to spread the Curse of the Vampire throughout the world!"
"And there's no one to stop you," Tojo realised, horrified. "Unless, of course… vampires have weaknesses."
Tama shot Tojo an angry look. "I'd like to say that vampires don't have weaknesses, but unfortunately I can't."
A sly look crossed Tojo's face. "Oh… really? And what exactly are these weaknesses, Tama?" he asked sneakily.
Tama sighed. "Oh, it's quite embarrassing, actually. You see, in order to sustain this curse I need to turn at least thirteen people into vampires before the sun rises. I hate weaknesses. They make me feel so…"
"Weak?" Tojo suggested.
Tama nodded. "Good answer. Anyway, we need to put my plan into action."
"We?" said Tojo, raising an eyebrow. "Tama, I'm not having any part in this evil scheme."
"Oh, really? Well, Tojo, if you don't then I'm afraid I'll have to rip your head off and hang it from a tree," Tama told him threateningly.
"I don't think vampires can kill other vampires," Tojo retorted.
Tama rolled her eyes and frowned. "Well, Tojo – oh, I'm getting tired of saying this – you'd be surprised what you can live through."
"Look, Tama, you can't seriously expect me to help you turn everyone into a vampire," Tojo told her firmly. "I won't do it."
"Oh, you're not going to help me turn everyone into a vampire," Tama informed him. "Only the lead vampire can transform others. I just want you to be my… assistant. My lookout."
"I'm not doing it," Tojo declared, turning around and going to leave, before Tama jumped in front of him, grabbing him by the throat.
"Listen, buster, I've listened to enough of your babbling and I can safely say I've had enough!" she shouted. "Now you are going to help me with my evil plan, or I will personally see to it that you experience a fate worse than a fate worse than death."
"Don't you mean a fate worse than death?" Tojo choked.
Tama grinned sinisterly. "No."
"How many hours is it until morning?" Simba asked, hanging upside down from a tree branch, swinging back and forth.
Strangely, he wasn't feeling tired at all. The dark had a mysterious way of keeping him awake. All he felt right now was boredom, and lots of it.
Nala shrugged, as she lay on her back on a large rock. "I don't know. A few hours?" she suggested, causing Simba's face to fall.
"Great," he said flatly. "So we're stuck out here with nothing to do all night. I don't see how this is going to help me face my fear."
"I think it has already," Nala told him, to Simba's surprise. "You haven't complained about the dark for an hour now."
"Yeah, but—" Simba stopped mid-sentence, feeling quite stunned. "Oh. I haven't complained about the dark?" He scratched his head. "That's actually pretty good, I guess. I'm feeling better already!"
"You see?" Nala grinned, happy that Simba was making some progress. "What did I tell ya? Nothing to be scared of."
"Yeah!" Simba nodded, then lost his balance on the branch he was hanging from and fell to the floor with a thump!
"Ow…"
Nala rushed over to Simba's side, helping him to his paws. "Simba, are you okay?" she asked, concerned.
"It depends on how you look at it," Simba replied dizzily. "My head is really hurting, but now I can see five of you," he said with a bashful grin.
Nala giggled. "I didn't know you could be funny and sweet at the same time," she told him. "But I suggest that you don't try hanging upside down from trees for a long while."
Simba nodded. "Yeah," he muttered, collapsing onto the ground. "Maybe I should just… lay here for the whole night."
"As long as you don't fall asleep," said Nala. "Remember, we have to stay awake the whole night."
"Oh, don't worry about that. That dark is keeping me up anyway. It'd be more likely for me to fall asleep in the day than the night," Simba informed her.
"Hopefully we can change that by tomorrow morning," Nala said, hopeful that Simba would overcome his fear of the dark.
He was well on his way already, and Nala figured that, as long as nothing went wrong, Simba would no longer be afraid of the dark.
Unfortunately for Nala, she had no idea of the horrors which awaited her and Simba…
Tama chuckled evilly as she stood in the entrance to the den, staring at all of the sleeping lions. They had no idea what was about to happen to them…
"Here we are, Tojo," she said to him, gesturing with her paw to the sleeping pride. "I'm sure we'll find thirteen people to turn into vampires here."
"I'm counting ten," Tojo told her, taking a step into the den. "You got the King, the Queen and eight lionesses." He nodded. "Definitely ten. Unless, of course you count the cubs."
"Not good enough," Tama replied. "It needs to be adults. Or very strong, mindful cubs like yourself. On the bright side, I still have ten lions to transform. If I do that then it brings the total up to eleven. That means I'd only have to find two more…" A grin crossed Tama's face. "Like Simba and Nala."
"I thought you hated Nala?" said Tojo, confused. "I thought you would be the last person to say that Nala was strong and mindful."
"You have to admit the girl has… intelligence," Tama admitted. "And the mere thought of having her under my control makes me excited already! No one will be able to stop me!" Tama sighed happily. "I love it when I win."
