I can’t believe what I’m seeing…. John and the others would already be too far away by now…. We’re in the presence of danger….and there’s no one here who can help us!

I stand completely still, apart from my jaw that swings wide open…. It feels as though it's about to fall out of its hinges.

From behind me, Ina makes a slow step forward. Her posture is straight despite the apparent tension all over her body…. She’s approaching the intruders!….

Ina: “You…. Stop right there!…. This is a warning….so don’t make another move…. We’ll have you arrested….”

Ina does her best to keep her voice steady, although she strains herself to speak loud enough…. Maybe it's all the fear emanating from all of us that's drowning out the sound of people’s voices….

Monty lowers the guns.

Monty: “Haha….Ahahahaha!”

His shoulders heave up and down as he laughs, and he flings his head back causing the skin on his face to stretch into a devilish grin.

Monty: “Haha…. You…. You’re going to arrest us?…. Well… That doesn’t sound very intimidating at all…. In fact, you seem a bit scared!”

Ina flinches and steps back…. The floorboards she stands on begin to tremble under her feet. As if the floor itself were made of water instead of wood, it ripples away from the spot where Ina stands in perfect pulsating circles….

Ina: “Huh!?… Eghh!”

The floorboards creak and snap under Ina and then a pair of pale hands emerge from beneath her.

The hands clasp around her ankles and nails rip into her stockings. In a whirlpool of the stage’s floorboards the hands rise and drag upon Ina’s body, until a figure emerges from within the floor.

The inky, wet puddle that pulsates beneath Ina sloshes and drips to form a woman….Wait…I recognize her!

It's the vampire who was with Monty on the day of the wedding! It's Octavia! I remember getting the sense she was a vampire back then…. I knew I was right! She has the same disturbed expression on her face as she did back then…. She stands behind Ina now with a janky posture, her shoulders twisting back at odd angles…. I take a hasty step forward, reaching my arm out towards Ina….but it's too late….

Octavia: “….Surprise!…. It's me!…. I was under you this entire time!….”

Ina: “Huummgh!…”

Ina tries to pull away from Octavia, but her hands grip tight on both of Ina’s shoulders.

Octavia leans her head forward for a moment, letting some of the long, black strands of her hair fall over Ina’s neck.

Octavia drags her hands below Ina’s arms, she lifts Ina over her head, slamming her body down across her back. Ina clings for Octavia’s hair and scratches at her arms, but Octavia moves too fast…. In the next moment, Octavia lunges sideways, still restraining Ina above her. She heaves Ina over her shoulders with one abrupt yanking motion, and then she throttles her into the air…. Ina flails her arms as she is thrown across the backstage. She travels to the other side of the room and collides with the curtains before crashing to the floor.

Octavia slides across the floor, still moving from the force of tossing Ina. She skids before stopping and then raises her open, clawing hands beside her face.

Octavia: “Ehehe….Ehahahah! Haaa!….”

Monty: “Alright!…. Hey! You can stop that now!”

Roman: “Aahh! Oh no! No… No. Ina!….”

Roman huffs and trips his way over to where Ina lay besides the curtain.

I turn to face Monty and the rest of his group of criminals…. My breath hushes through my clenched teeth.

Luke: “You…. You’re insane! All of you…”

Venus: “Ehe…. We warned you to stay out of our way…. Didn’t we?…”

It's Venus… The other woman who was there at the chapel when Monty threatened us…. What’s going on here?!….

Monty: “Ughhnn! You kids are really starting to get on my nerves!…. Francis…. Kill the lights…”

A voice comes from the back wall, among the shadows and the other trouble Monty brought with him…

Francis: “Ehh?…. You need my help already, Monty?…. You slacker…”

Just then….what little light was left in the theatre goes out. The room turns black…

I hear the electrical systems within the building sigh as they power down…. What’s happening!? These vampires….

I can’t see anything!…. Without any lighting at all I might as well consider myself blind back here!

I hear the stamping of shoes move from my side further up to the front of the stage…. Justice?

Justice managed to find his way in the dark over to Ina and Roman…. I can’t say I’m not the tiniest bit impressed….

Roman: “Justice! Justice, is that you?!”

Justice: “Hey, be quiet! Roman, you have to listen to me!”

Roman: “Uh… I can’t see anything!… But… Alright, I’m listening….”

Justice: “Okay… Roman. The others are still somewhere in the theatre…”

Justice keeps his voice hushed in the dark silence…

Justice: “You have to go find them!”

Roman: “In the dark?!”

Justice: “Hnngh…. Just find them!”

Justice is right! I forgot he’s actually kinda smart…. That’s not the point…but he’s right! Link, Ginger, Fern and the rest are still stationed somewhere else inside the theatre…. If Roman can lead them here, then maybe we have a chance…. But, the lack of lighting poses an issue… The others must be wondering what’s going on as well… Roman will have to find them somehow, or else….I doubt we, alone, will be able to defend ourselves against Monty and his group of crazed and violent weirdos….

I hear Roman shuffle on his feet and then scamper off in the opposite direction from the rest of us. None of us has any way of knowing when or even if Roman will come back with help…. Until he does come back, we still have to mind this is a highly dangerous situation that we have found ourselves in….

Ina is hurt and the lights being out like this makes the situation worse by double…. I can hear heavy breathing and the swish of feet moving at a steady pace. Maybe it's Justice whose breathing is so loud, or maybe it's me…. The quiet echo of laughter bounces throughout the confinement of the backstage…. The sound tears through my head.

The people who ambushed us…. There’s no way of knowing where they are, or how close one of them may be to attack one of us again….

Luke: “Hrrngh…. We need some light in here…”

My frustration announces itself in the form of a whispery growl…

I raise my left arm out and up towards my face, though I can’t see it out in front of me. I squeeze my fingers into my palm and anticipate the first sparks of my flame until it flickers and burns along the roundness of my fist…

I watch as the flame wavers on my gloved hand…. As it turns out, the gloves John gave me do help to control the fire…. The little fire I created contains itself and does not leave the tips of my fingers.

The flames create a soft tangerine glow that allows me to see a handful of meters around me in all directions. The areas at the edge of my safe circle of light melt into the shadows. That frightening, dark place is still all around us….and it's full of monsters…

Justice: “Luke?! Luke?! What are you doing?!”

Luke: “What does it look like I’m doing?! I’m using my flames to our advantage…”

I turn and take a few steps forward. Justice is still crouched next to where Ina lay on the floor…. I can’t tell how hurt Ina is right now, but at least she can prop herself up on her side and try to recuperate…. She doesn’t lift her eyes from the floor, her head hangs low and she says nothing….

Luke: “My flames may not be very useful in closed off spaces like this theatre….but at least I can give us a little more visibility….”

Justice: “Luke…. It's them!”

I force my stiff body to turn around and face the back of the theatre once more.

Emerging from the shadows, I can see faces along with other body parts lurking within the darkness. I see Monty with his pointy hair and the severe scowl that cuts across his face. Octavia jerks in and out of view, her figure melding into the blackness of her surroundings.

I snap my head to the right. Standing only a couple arms length away from me is a slight looking boy. His large eyes are set deep into his pale face like round, dark pools of black, but something sparks in there….

His features are light and young but his expression says mischief…. He is a vampire, but what is he capable of?….

Francis: “Ehh? It seems modern society does know how to function in the absence of their much needed technology…. Or at least…these lame kids do!”

He sticks his tongue out halfway from the side of his mouth and stares into my eyes.

Then a tall and skinny man who’s slender in the sickening kind of way walks forward and places a hand on the youthful looking vampire’s shoulder.

He swivels his head from side to side, his long, stringy hair whipping all around him, and begins to shake with laughter.

Long Haired Man: “Ahahahahah! Francis! You’re a genius! Blackening the lights like that and scaring them half of the way to being deceased. It's almost like something I would come up with!”

Francis: “Haa? Quit barking you, good for absolutely nothing, dog… You don’t even know what you’re saying…”

Monty: “Houndz! Francis! Quit fooling around! We aren’t done with these nuisance kids yet!….”

Monty shouts at them from over to my left, a clear edge sawing through his voice.

Houndz: “But Montgomery…. We haven’t even finished taunting them yet…. What about all those cruel and menacing lines I practiced reciting earlier?…. I have no intention of coming off as self absorbed, but I—”

Monty: “Stop talking! Now!”

Houndz makes an ugly grimace and folds his arms together, apparently unamused by being interrupted.

Venus: “Ahh… Monty, I’m afraid you’ll end up popping a blood vessel if those two keep at it long enough…”

Venus struts up to Monty’s side and places a delicate hand on her cheek.

Octavia: “Ehehe… Forget popping a blood vessel…. His whole body will pop!…. He’ll explode and make a big, angry paint splatter shape on the wall!… Won’t you, Monty?… Won’t you?”

Monty: “Ugh! All of you! Quiet! Retribution’s gonna hear about this, and we’ll see who’s laughing then!….”

Huh? Retribution? But, that's the master of the elite nerds…. It can’t be that Retribution…. Surely he means something else…

Monty shuts his eyes and crosses his arms tight over his chest. He is brimming with hostility directed towards us, but perhaps also for his own fellows…. The light of my flames gleam on the harsh metal of Monty’s guns that are now strapped around his belt.

Monty: “I can’t stand this anymore! I swear! You’re useless! All of you!”

Just then, the room brightens as the back door behind the stage swings open yet again…. This time a man and a woman enter….

Monty: “Ah!… Well, it's about time!”

Venus: “Doroda, Fang… What took you two so long?….”

The woman speaks.

Doroda: “Sorry…. Fang had to finish feeding….”

Houndz: “Feeding?… Well, what were you feeding on this time, Fang?…”

Fang: “…. A rat…. Too small for a full meal….but good enough….”

The bald man licks his teeth and gums with a wet and skinny tongue…. The exaggerated points of his teeth show through his mouth….

I move to back away…. I find Justice and grab his arm, squeezing through his jacket sleeve….

Luke: “This…. This isn’t good….”

Justice: “I’m aware….”

The two of us retreat further back into the thickness of the curtains.

Monty: "Doroda, Fang it's good that you made it…. We've been needing you…"

I have no idea what Monty means by that, but whatever this Doroda and Fang are capable of cannot be peaceful…. They look calculated, but vicious!

I still hold my flame a fair distance away from my body…. The heat is starting to make me sweat….

Every person in this room is anticipating to make the next move….but it has to be someone on our side!

The sounds of feet climbing up the wooden boards of the stairs clamber in from the left of the backstage.

Roman: "Justice! Luke! You’re still there right?!"

It's Roman! And he's brought the others!... Thank goodness, it's not as if we have absolutely no chance of making it out of this situation anymore…. As it turns out, Roman is reliable, it's unfortunate that most people would doubt that quality in him.

Roman and the others gather around Justice and my torch for a hand.

Link: "Oh, Hell… Ina, what happened?"

Ina: "We have some unexpected guests, that's all…. This is the kind of situation John has been training us for…. This should be nothing we can’t handle…"

Ina kneels besides me and Justice.

Key: "Right…. Everyone keep your guards up…"

Before any of us can say another word, more unrest begins to exact itself at the back of the theatre.

Monty: “Doroda! All of those kids over there belong to VLAD… Get Fang to do something about them!”

Doroda: “Okay, Monty…. Fang…. You know what to do….”

Fang: “….A rat…and bothersome teenagers…. Two meals in one day….”

Fang, who is tall with long limbs and a slick, scale covered bald head, slinks forward. He approaches us slowly at first, but then he starts making swift and fluid movements. It's almost as if he has no need in putting any effort into his advance because he is so smart with his coordination.

Fang’s wide and folded eyes stab at us as he claims our presumed territory as part of his own.

Fang: “Doroda….you feed me well…”

Fang stops moving. Letting his back curve into a slumped arc, his arms fall limp at his sides. His face is expressionless. He lets out a repressed groan as something within him appears to take over his body….

Justice: “What?... What’s happening?!”

Green: “Ehh! Key…is that…”

Green, who is standing close to Key’s side, shakes his shoulders. He looks up at Key, then his scattered expression and anguished eyes make contact with each of us.

Key: “Huh?! It's… He’s a vampire…with a transformation ability!….”

Fang’s body convulses. He slouches forward with one knee on the floor, his arms and upper body twitching…. If Fang does in fact have a transformation ability, his transformation has a shocking difference from John’s power…. Fang looks like he’s in pain…

The convulsions last only seconds before stopping. The visibility backstage becomes dim again despite the hot light of my flame, as a thick, murky fog begins to float around Fang's slumped figure.

The darkness is dense and so is the silence… Then I hear a painful, high pitched hissing noise. I cringe from the pain of the sound ringing in my ears.

The black fog disperses… It reveals none of Fang, the man, who was once in that spot moments before….instead the writhing muscle and scaled, tubular body of the now transformed Fang distorts the entire area… Fang…. He can transform into a colossal sized snake!

Fang: “…Ahhh….Hmmmm…... I… must….feed…. Feed me….”

Fang’s muscles compress and curl as he coils his body backwards and points his long, flickering tongue towards us. He’s huge… Fang’s snake body fills almost the entire width of the theatre’s backstage…and his body isn’t even fully extended…

Key: “Everyone! Get back!”

We do as we are told. Key uses his ability, producing an extensive flood of his oil slick. He manipulates the black mass of goo into a large sheet of dense ink. He then lets the oil sheet fold outwards and in on itself.

Key lets his oil mass fall down and close in over the snake…

Key: “There! I’ll solidify it… That should hold him in…”

The opaque dome Key has made glistens as it hardens and whines as it warps into shape.

Key removes his foot from the trailing edge of the oil dome… The room is tense…and then I hear a muffled thumping noise coming from within the dome…

Green: “He’s… He’s gonna break out!”

The massive black dome shatters at just about the exact same moment as Green declared it.

Fang slithers through the crumbling debris… He advances and rams his head, all slick and scaly, right through us. Each of us makes an attempt to either lunge or jump out of the snake’s wake…. But, Green… Green isn't fast enough!

Green rolls over on the floor and is soon tangled up in the constraints of Fang’s abdomen.

Fang holds Green’s body limp and upright like he is holding a small doll against the tightening muscles of his serpent’s belly.

Green’s face turns pure white as he makes eye contact with his captor. His glasses fall halfway off his face and I can see that he is jittering with all the movement he can manage with the little room he is given…

Green: “Ahhgh!…. Ahhh… Hey! You guys…. Help! He’s gonna squeeze me….to death!”