When the lunch bell rang, both Amber and Scott bolted out of their classrooms and met at the third floor bathroom to discuss strategy.

“Are you sure? You’re really positive he was the guy?” Scott asked, hand on his chin and frowning in concentration.

“Well I can’t be one hundred percent sure, he’s not running around in black underwear. But he was talking closely with Will, he was about the right height and build, and he was paler than I was when I was dead.” Amber replied.

“Hmm. Sounds like our guy. Where’s Leo?”

“Here.” the football captain said, turning the corner. “Sorry, but we have to make this quick. I have class right now, I claimed to have to go to the bathroom.”

“Well, not technically untrue.” Scott said, eyeing the sign. “Okay, we’re in a crunch, so we gotta make this short and sweet. We go down there, nab ‘em, and take him somewhere for questioning. Got it? Good.” He started walking off, and the two blondes had to catch up.

“Um, I have a question. How exactly do we nab him?” Amber asked, more than a little afraid of the answer. “In case you forgot, were in public.”

“My dear Amber, I am always an advocate for the nonviolent solution.” Scott said, and the other two looked at him skeptically. “It’s true!”

“Uh-huh. Tell that to Stephanie and the daemon army.” Amber deadpanned.

“Anyway,” he continued curtly. “Leo’s our in. Since that other guy’s on the basketball team, Leo can go over and ask him about basketball stuff, I don’t know, maybe ask to join the team-”

“Hey, I love football.” Leo interjected.

“It’s not for real! Improvise! Just get them out, and once they’re isolated, we’ll move in, confirm the vampirism, and we’ll begin the questioning. Sound good?” Amber and Leo shared a glance.

“Sounds like an awful lot can go wrong, and an awful lot of winging it.” Amber put forth.

“No objections, perfect, just like I like to hear.” Scott said, and grinned. “Operation start!”

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“Ah, hello, Will wasn’t it?” Leo said warmly, beaming at the bewildered Kevin and Will. As usual, the female population of the cafeteria were drooling into their mashed potatoes over him.

“Uh, yeah?” Will said uncertainly. Why was Leo, Mr. Perfect himself, talking to them? It had to be related to the other night. He was immediately suspicious.

“Excellent! I was recently having a friendly game with the team when we decided on it, but we noticed you weren’t there. I don’t know if anyone else went over it with you, but there’s something that both the football teams and basketball teams have decided to work on, and-do you mind if we go somewhere else? You can bring your friend too, the more the merrier, and we could use all the help we can. It’s a bit noisy in here, and we want it to be a surprise.” he said, sparing a glance to a table of giggling girls, who had to suppress a bout of delighted squealing.

“Sure.” Kevin said, standing up. Will frantically grabbed his hand.

“What are you doing!?” he whispered quickly to the vampire.

“Relax. He doesn’t know who he was chasing, we were in disguise. It’s probably just as he said. ‘Sides, if push comes to shove, I’m faster and stronger.” Kevin reassured.

“Huh?” Leo turned back, innocently and clueless.

“Oh nothing, we got a test later. Hope this doesn’t interfere with that, I spent all weekend studying for it.” Will lied smoothly, frowning. He did not like where this was going.

“Ah, I don’t think it’ll take that long, today’s just the meeting to plan for some stuff. Let’s head to the gym, everyone’s working on it already. It’s kind of a surprise party.” Leo walked off, followed by the other two. Leo typed a message to Scott and led them to the gym.

When they got there, it was empty.

“Huh? There’s no one here, I thought the teams would be here already.” Will said, sounding confused, while he nudged Kevin’s ribs. The vampire nodded, readying himself and looking around nervously.

“Nah, this’s just to fill you two in, and hopefully we can ask you a couple things.” Leo said, pulling the door closed. Kevin saw that and felt his teeth tingle. This didn’t smell right, and that was literal. An unusual, slightly foul odor hung in the air. This game had gone on long enough. He started to move when-

“Absteros, thengos grim. Elstamganos, tula etsghat nam uub tenentios.” There was a flash of toxic emerald light, and Kevin suddenly found himself illuminated, a soft green aura encasing his body.

“What the-!?”

“Yup, looks like we’ve found our man.” Scott said, stepping out from behind the bleachers with a similarly glowing Amber. Kevin didn’t recognize him, but there was no way he or Will had forgotten the girl who had chased them halfway across the city in the air. His stomach dropped.

“Y-You!? What are you doing here? Will, get behind me!” Kevin commanded, instinctually baring his fangs as Will complied. His gaze flipped from Leo to the other two. This was bad; he was still feeling tired and lethargic, his strength diminished. Leo was one thing, even with a sword. If the girl and Leo both attacked now, he wasn’t sure he could fend them off. “What do you want?” he snarled.

“Hah! Vamping out as soon as someone discovers you? Should’a played that closer to the vest!” He grinned madly and necrotic power started to play across his hands. “No, we’re here to finally get some answers, and you will provide them peaceably! There won’t be a repeat of last gurk!” Amber threw her arm around his neck and pulled him away.

“Sorry about that.” she said pleasantly, squeezing the struggling necromancer. “What my friend here means is that we don’t want to hurt you.” Leo stepped in.

“All we want is to ask you some questions, try to figure everything out. We’re trying to make sure everyone comes out of this mess alright.” He held his hands up nonthreateningly. “Will you help us?” Will and Kevin shared a glance.

“O-Only if you tell us who you are and what you want. That’s fair, right?” Kevin said warily, ready to grab Will and make a run for it at any moment.

“That is fair. We agree.” Amber sighed in relief. It looked like there wouldn’t have to be a fight after all. She suddenly noticed Scott was weakly tapping her arm, and she let the necromancer go, gasping for breath.

“Jeez, (huff, huff,) woman! Remember I still need oxygen! Gahh.” he muttered, while she giggled and smirked. Will raised his eyebrows at this unusual display. This…didn’t seem like a trap, he was starting to turn blue.

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, if everything’s settled I have to get back to class. There’s only so much irritable bowel syndrome can excuse.” Leo said, heading to the door.

“Thank you for that information and lovely mental image Leo, we’ll see you later.” Scott said as Leo left, chuckling.

“Anyway, it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Amber, Amber Harris.” she said demurely, extending a hand. Kevin slowly reached out and timidly shook it.

“Nice t’meetcha.” he muttered, his shyness coming back. Now there was no threat, he was keenly aware a pretty girl was talking to him. Will squinted at her.

“Don’t I know you? And didn’t we have a memorial service for you, couple months back?”

“Aha, yeah, funny story about that.” she tried to laugh off, blushing and looking away. “You dated a friend of mine, Carla. I didn’t stick too close, didn’t wanna be a third wheel. Yeah, turns out, she kinda…joined a coven of witches led by my best friend and ripped my heart out to call forth an army of daemons on Halloween.” she said hastily.

“I-I’m sorry, what?” Kevin said, wide-eyed. “Could you run that by me again?”

“Uh, yeah. My friends found a magic book and decided to use it to rule the world. And they kind of killed me to sacrifice my heart to a daemon. Collectively, they were the Craven Falls Killer. But, we managed to stop them, so everything’s alright now.”

“Uh-huh.” Kevin and Will both nodded. Will gave Kevin a look that said ‘is this chick crazy?’ and Kevin could only shrug. “Wait. If you were dead, then how are you here now? I think I remember something about you just being injured…”

“That’d be all thanks to me.” Scott piped up, grinning. “See, Stephanie wasn’t the only one who found a tome of forbidden knowledge. A few months back, I found the real Necronomicon. Changed my life. Now, you’re looking at the world’s best necromancer.” His eyes glowed green, and he conjured necrotic energy in his hand, the unearthly light leaving no doubt.

“N-Necromancer? Y-You raise the dead?” Kevin stammered nervously, taking a step back. Will stared at him blankly, not comprehending.

“Easy, easy. It’s not what you think.” Amber tried to soothe. “I mean, yes, he did raise an army of zombies, but it was for a good cause, I swear!” Will paled, Kevin turned paler, Scott laughed his ass off, while Amber grew more flustered. “No, no, it was to fight the daemons! He got the zombies to fight the daemons, and then afterward put everything back the way it was, and everyone was fine.”

“Also totally slugged it out with an archdaemon in my giant Zombie Titan Mk. 1.” Scott tossed out. Amber glared at him, and he just grinned.

“…does that mean the rumors about the giant running around town were true?” Will asked in a small voice, feeling way out of his depth.

“A-Anyway, what do you want with us?” Kevin asked. Necromancers were usually bad news.

“First thing was to determine if you were a threat. ‘Cause, y’know, blood-sucking vampire. But your little display the other night convinced us of your good intentions, at least. Now, I kinda have a vested interest in any undead in this town, so I’d like to know what you’re doing here. Like, do you plan to turn anyone else?” Scott said softly, a hint of menace in his voice. Kevin furiously shook his head.

“N-No! Far from it! I was the one who was bitten and turned into a vampire, last week!”

“Really?” Scott said, raising an eyebrow. “So, there’s another one…”

“I’ve got a question. What do you do about blood? You know, to eat?” Amber asked, looking concerned.

“Um, I’ve kinda been hunting squirrels and such. They taste nasty, but it keeps me fed so I don’t go crazy.” he said apologetically. “It’s kinda hard. The first time I drank blood…it was difficult to stop. I was gonna go hunt down people for more, it was too much to resist.”

“Then, how did you?” Amber asked. AS someone who also had issues with sustenance, she had to know. All eyes were on the vampire. He chuckled and gave a small, helpless smile, shifting uncomfortably.

“It, uh, wasn’t much, really. It was hard, still is, but I thought to myself, ‘What would Spider-Man do?’ Um. I’ve, um, always been a big fan of superhero comics-of all kinds-and well…I, I just, I just always thought they’re cool, and did the right thing, and…I’ve always wanted to be like them.

“Look at me. I haven’t changed much looks-wise, you can see how skinny I am. I’ve always been a stringbean, and I never really had a lot of friends, I only met Will in high school. I’ve always been shy and uncoordinated and kinda tongue-tied. I’ve never really had any skills or hobbies beyond comic books. I’ve always kinda been…a loser. I don’t like to think that, but I have been. But, but now, I’ve been transformed. I’m fast, I’m strong. My senses dwarf anyone else’s. Moving my body is effortless. I know I have to find the vampire that did this to me to cure me, I know that. But, imagine yourself in my position. You’re a geek who suddenly gained supernatural abilities.

“What would you do?”

There was a moment of silence following Kevin’s heartfelt speech, each present digesting it. Kevin looked down in embarrassment.

“I think,” Scott said at last. “That we should go over everything, from the beginning.”

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“-so, I spent Sunday holed up in my rom sewing, and today, well, here we are.” Kevin finished.

“Hmm. Interesting.” Scott said, reclining on the bleachers and sharing a look with Amber. “So, you wanna try to the vamp that bit you and see if killing her can reverse the process?”

“Yeah. But as long as I have the powers, I’ve decided to do whatever good I can with them.”

“Huh. ‘With great power…’”

“’Must come great responsibility.’ Uncle Ben didn’t even say it, it was in the narration of the first issue.” Kevin snorted. “C’mon, gimme a hard one.”

“Well, you know your stuff, better than I do probably.” Scott admitted.

“Hey Scott, you know how to raise people from the dead, right? So if he’s technically dead, shouldn’t you be able to just raise/cure him right now?” Amber piped up, after mulling it over. All eyes were on him, hopeful.

“Sorry to say, but nope, can’t do it. If only it were so easy.” Scott said flatly.

“Figures. It never is.” Amber muttered bitterly under her breath.

“See, problem with that is I need both the body and the soul. Last time, we didn’t have Amber’s complete body. This time, we don’t have your soul.”

“W-What?” Kevin said, getting another sinking feeling.

“I mean you’re soulless. You have no soul. No ghost, no spirit, poof.” Scott said matter-of-factly, to the horror of everyone else.

“W-Well then, where is it? Heaven?” Will asked. Scott waved his hand up and down in a so-so gesture.

“Eh, the metaphysics on this are a bit weird. The soul isn’t lost anywhere, per say, but more like…reprocessed along variable space-time points X, Y, Z, and –A2, dissolving and redistributing along those points. Of course, the total energy is divided by roughly 13 trillion, fusing and coalescing among Yin Tang (EX-HN03) and Shao Yin. Unlike ghosts, vampires are, in a sense, supercorporial, and the vampirization process converts the anatomy into a veritable necrosis factory. But we can’t forget about space-time axis point Z, which the process leaves uneffused. That leaves an opening for universal cosmic flow to fill, as everyone knows nature abhors a vacuum. The results are often chaotic and unpredictable at first, but careful manipulation can draw upon those energies that are effused, without the necessary other components for magic, namely sigils, arrays, and incantations. Of course, the human body is suboptimal and can only withstand so much stress, so while the guidance of the flow can be unlimited in theory, in practice the cells and psyche would deteriorate beyond hope of repair. The process is exponential, you’d have to contain 1043 joules worth for every additional flow contained. Incidentally, that’s why vampires can’t be seen in mirrors. What?” he finished, perplexed. The other three were staring at him blankly.

“Can you repeat that? This time, in a way that we can follow?” Will said, looking a little dizzy.

“W-Where’s my soul? Do I have one? Or, what am I?” Kevin said, looking aghast. Amber turned and glared at the necromancer, promising trouble if he didn’t do something to fix it now. He sighed.

“Short answer is, no you don’t have a soul. That’s why you can’t be seen in mirrors. Essentially, your soul’s been pureed and absorbed by your body as necrotic energy. Downside, you die, that’s it. Upside, you don’t age and all your physical abilities increase. Dramatically. I wouldn’t suggest trying to run into any more burning buildings, but eh, I’m not your mom.”

“So…my soul’s still in me, just…not where it’s supposed to be?” Kevin asked, eyes glazed as he tried to work out an answer that didn’t make him want to run away screaming like a madman. Scott glanced at Amber, still giving him a hard look.

“Err, yeah. Sure, let’s go with that.”

“So, does that mean he can be cured? If we ill the vampire that bit him, Kevin will go back to normal?” Will asked, frowning.

“Huh? What? Where’d you get that idea, that’s the dumb-” Amber gave him a light tap on his ribs with an elbow. Scott was nearly bowled over, wheezing. “I mean-the Necronomicon doesn’t mention that. It talks of disposal of vampires sure, destroying the head or the heart, or setting them on fire. There’s nothing about a cure-” his eyes flickered to Amber “-but I wouldn’t rule it out. Magic can be unpredictable, so there could be a way. I suggest we capture the other vampire first though, before we do anything drastic like offing her to see if that does it.”

“Yeah, that makes sense-wait, ‘we?’” Will said. The necromancer nodded.

“Yup. As I said, I have a vested interest in any undead running around town. And honestly, from what I’ve seen you’re not the subtle type. It’s only due to some luck and your physiology that people don’t already know who you are.”

“What do you mean? That’s why I made the costume, so no one will recognize me.” Kevin said defensively. He’d worked hard on that mask! Scott merely pulled out his phone and pulled up a video.

It was the interview Saturday night after he’d escaped the burning building. Kevin’s eyes went wide. The reporter was talking to someone, and held the microphone out. However, there was no one there. She was holding it out to empty air. No sound came from the spot she was interviewing, although there was plenty of background noise. The camera suddenly panned, up, towards a building. Kevin remembered scaling it, but there was nothing to see now.

“See? Vampires can’t be captured in mirrors or on camera. It’s because your mind-bodies’ reflective properties are erased. You don’t show up in photographs either. If you’d seen the reports after the initial hubbub, there’s people wondering how all this’s done and whether or not it’s an elaborate prank. If you scroll down to the comments, you’ll see a bunch of ‘em calling it fake.

“And thank goodness for that,” he spat, putting his phone away. “You’re far too visible as it is! The town’s caught up in this ‘Nightfang’ craze and it’s all because you’re going around doing the impossible in front of their eyes!”

“I-I see.” Kevin said, starting to shake. He took a deep breath. This was rapidly spinning out of control, but he knew his purpose with crystal clarity. “Be that as it may, I will not waver. No matter what happens, I am a superhero. As long as he is needed, Nightfang will seek justice.” he said evenly, staring Scott right in the eye.

“That’s not the point, you dumbass!” the necromancer exploded, grabbing his shirt. “I don’t care what you do with your powers! Go kiss babies and save cats stuck in trees! But you’re doing it openly-and if they find out you’re a vampire, they could figure out I’m a necromancer and all my plans are ruined!”

A pin drop would echo in the silence that followed.

“Oops.” Scott said.

“Now we come to the actual reason you’re so gung-ho about this.” Amber drawled, hand on her chin. Scott sighed.

“Kinda, yeah, kinda no. I mean, yeah it’s bad if a bunch of people end up dying. It’s also bad if they figure out proof of the supernatural!” He turned to Kevin. “I can resurrect the dead. Do you have any idea how much trouble that would bring down on me if people knew? I mean, I like my anonymity, and no matter how much I would charge for my services I’d never stop being hounded.”

“Hmm. Yeah, I get that. Good point.” Kevin admitted.

“And the same’ll happen to you if people find out you’re actually a vampire. That is, if the government doesn’t kidnap us first and perform experiments to see how we tick and try to replicate them, and you’re really durable but I’m a normal human with a squishy body, and I really wouldn’t like that.” he said, a mad look on his face. The others stared at him.

“You’re kinda paranoid, aren’t you? Will said after a moment.

“When you hold all the secrets to life, death, and beyond, yeah. You’re only as safe as long as no one can trace it back to you. Which is why I’m a little alarmed when I see a vampire playing superhero!” Scott said, his voice rising with every word.

“All right, all right.” Kevin said, palms up. “I have to be careful. I know, I get it. So all I have to do is be more Batman than Hulk.”

“Exactly!” Scott exclaimed, pointing a finger at him. “If you must, fine. But you must stalk the night unseen, hidden in the shadows.”

“Evildoers never sure if I’m there or not, until the time comes to strike…” Kevin said, a grin creeping across his face, mirroring Scott’s.

“A nightmare phantasm, gone so fast they wonder if you were ever truly there…”

“Striking fear into the hearts of all criminal scum, the ever-vigilant watchman of the night, Nightfang!” They high-fived, to the horror of both Amber and Will.

“Oh dear lord, what have we done.” she sighed under her breath, Will shaking his head.

“Okay. So, when did you want to hunt Genevieve down? I think we’d find her after dark, but we’re still out of leads.” Kevin said.

“I have stuff I need to prepare after school anyway. Don’t worry about leads, I think I have something that’ll be able to track her down.” Amber’s head shot up, wide-eyed.

“Scott, don’t tell me your plan with the map again-”

“No, no, nothing like that. Well, sorta. While I was repairing Larry, I got to thinking about alternate ways to use the spell, and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” He gave her a wink, and she remained stone-faced, shutting him down.

“Right. So, meet at the school around seven?” Will said, checking his watch.

“Sounds good. “Amber said, shaking their hands. “Glad to have you aboard, let’s try to resolve this as quick and as painless as possible. C’mon Scott, let’s get back to lunch.”

“Right. See you then.” the sort-of dynamic duo nodded, and the necromancer and ghoul left the gym.

“Oh man, that’s only three hours. I hope I have enough time to-whoa!” He jerked back just before running into a young man much taller than him in a suit.

“Scott, watch where you’re going.” Amber scolded gently.

“Yeah, sorry man.”

“Oh, it’s no problem at all.” Scott and Amber strolled off chatting, while the young man watched them go. He smirked. “Heh. Knew it. He didn’t recognize me at all, the poor fool.” he murmured softly.

“Of course. You have had a complete transformation. There is no way one so limited as a y’sshk-gorrah could see what you were, not as glorious as you are now.” a voice whispered to him in the empty hallway. The young man’s smirk grew wider.

“When you’re right you’re right. I suppose I have grown up a bit. C’mon, let’s stroll down to the office. I gotta see what the official story is.”

He turned and walked away, the sun from the glass windows making the shadows stand out in sharp relief. His shadow reared up and grinned, a mouth full of daggers, terrifying and white inside of the black.