Chapter 7 Double Trouble Heart

It was late in the evening and Tenna was about to go to bed. She wanted to check up on Eric to make sure he was doing okay.  Tenna opened the door to his room and peaked inside. As she slowly walked up to check up on him.. Eric had been dressed a very loose tan brown button shirt and black pants under the covers. She couldn't help but smile at him. Just odd feeling just made her want to smile, despite she could tell by his face he was sick. 

He seem to be sweating tiny bit and breathing a heavier. There was also like a dark "blush" around his cheeks, which was odd being he was a vampire, but Eric had told her that the kind of vampire he was, was not the undead kind. In fact, from what Magnus had told him, there is no such thing as an undead vampire. That was a belief humans made after witnessing people on the verge of death, becoming one after given blood from another and there ever so long life spans. They were more so a creature of it's own, related to that of demons and humanoid creatures like sirens or forest elves. 

 His face looked worn out and kinda looked sad as if he was suffering. That battled and being in the sun that whole time did a number on him.

She wondered if the witch had cursed him to making him sick, though he had ensured that, that wasn't the case .She also wondered if he could get a temperature even as a vampire. With that thought, Tenna slowly placed her hand on his forehead. He smiled in his sleep warmly upon her doing this. He was still a sleep but could still feel the hand and possibly was dreaming of someone doing the same thing. Tenna looked at him a little bit surprised. She then remembered how'd she'd take care of her siblings when they were sick and smiled warmly again. The strange feeling she had got stronger upon doing this for some reason.


 However, woke up Eric which made Tenna jump back a little bit.

"Tenna?" Eric said sleepily as he slowly sat up.

"Oh, sorry!" Tenna said as she felt a twinge of embarrassment as her face became bright red.

"Hmm?" Eric replied his voice a bit weak, as he sat up and looked confused at her."What's up?"

"Oh, nothing!" Tenna replied "I was just checking to see how you were doing..."

"Oh, I'm doing alright..." Eric replied politely but Tenna could tell by his tone and face, he was hiding his pain abit. "Thank you though."

"Yeah..." Tenna chuckled nervously as she stretched her arm to the back of her head. "Sorry to disturb you!"

"Oh its fine..." Eric replied warmly "I appreciate you looking out for me. It's been a very long time since someone did that for me."

"No problem..." Tenna said a bit touched but she felt weird, as she closed the door to try to get over it. Then she realized she forgot to say goodnight and open the door to do so, though it resulted in her leaning over too much on the door and falling over.

A surprised Eric asked "Are you okay?"

Tenna shot up and nervously chuckling said "Yeah! Hehehehahaha!"

Eric chuckled and said "You can be a real a goof ball sometimes!"

"Well, I like keeping people in good spirits..." Tenna said then sweetly "Ha! Anyway, goodnight and I hope you feel better soon."

"Thanks..." Eric replied "Good night to you too, Tenna." Then he laid back down and tried to fall asleep.

Tenna smiled warmly at him and finally closed the door. She sighed as she held her hand against her chest.

That was so weird! She thought What the hell has been up with me lately?

"Spooky?" Spooky replied.

For some reason, whatever Spooky had said, she didn't like it and grabbed her familiar and went "Shh!" Then head off to bed.

The next morning, though Eric had seemingly gotten worse. He wouldn't get out of bed and seemed weaker. Tenna was worried about him, especially if she wondered if he could go to a hospital being he was a vampire. Devi stopped by that day to see how he was doing. She had gotten ready to go to her meeting that day but decided to check up on Eric.

"How is he?" Devi asked as she followed Tenna to his room.

"He's paler than usual..." Tenna replied both as a joke but at the same time worried.  "If that's even possible. He doesn't seem to be doing good at all..."

Tenna touched Eric's hand which caused him to stir and wake up.

"Hey!" Tenna said "How ya feeling?"

"I could be better...." Eric replied weakly. He shook as his felt pain in his chest. "By the looks of it I came down with sun sickness."

"Sun sickness?" Devi asked.

"It's like a vampire's version of a cold or flu...." Eric replied weakly. "If a vampire stays out in the sun too long especially on hot days, the vampire can become very weak even in bat form...and show signs similar to a cold in humans. Though our bat forms suppose to prevent the sun from hurting us...It can still drain us..."

"Is there anyway to treat it?" Devi asked.

"Like how you treat a cold, the best way to treat it is resting..." Eric replied "And not getting into any type of light. ....Mainly sunlight...but they recommend that the vampire should stay out of any type of light....They also recommend drinking blood tea."

"Blood tea?" Tenna asked raising her eye brow.

"It's basically herbal tea..." Eric said "but mixed with animal blood in it... I don't need to drink it though to get better. It's just one of those fast relief things... "

"I see..." Devi replied kinda disgustedly

"Oh...back to the meat thing again..." Tenna replied as she rested her face into her palm.

Eric chuckled at their expressions weakly and said "It's fine....Like I said, I can just get better by resting and keeping the fever down. Just like a normal cold. I heard just regular aspirin will work even...."

Demi floated over to Eric and cuddled his face sadly. Eric looked at her little confusingly.
"I'm sorry, Eric..." Demi said guiltily "It's our fault that you're so sick. If me and Spooky didn't flew off yesterday, you would have stayed out of the sun...."


"It's fine....." Eric assured. "It's no harm done. I've gotten sun sickness before. I'll get better before you know it."

"Yeah..." Tenna replied as she reassured both familiars. "Things just happen sometimes and what has happened, happened. We just gotta help fix the problem."

"And if Eric says the only thing that can fix this is for him to rest, we should let him." Devi added to remind them that they should leave the room, so he could do so.

"Yeah..." Tenna replied as she got up.  "We'll check up on you later...If you need anything, you can let me know. Devi's got her meeting today so she's gonna be busy..."

"Oh, that reminds me, I gotta go." Devi replied "Demi, come on and be sure to stay quiet in the car, okay?"

"Okay!" Demi said she followed Devi.

"Seeya, Eric!" Devi said "I hope you get better soon!"

"Thanks!" Eric replied appreciatively and fell into a deep sleep. Tenna walked out of his room and as she closed the door shut, she sighed a worried sigh.

"Spooky?" Mr. Spooky asked Tenna something.

"Of course, I'm really worried about him." Tenna answered "I mean, he's my friend just like Devi is. ."

"Spooky..." Mr. Spooky tilted his head.

"Hmm?" Tenna replied and asked "What do you mean 'is that all'? You think there's something else bothering me?"

"Spooky."  He replied again. "Spooky, spooky."

"My feelings are jumbled up and my aura is confusing to read?" Tenna replied what he asked.

"Spooky..." Mr. Spooky nodded.

"Well, with all the battling we've been doing, are you that surprised?" Tenna asked "We don't even know what this darkness actually is and why these freak show rejects keep attacking us! They just all of a sudden want to kill us and we don't know why!"

"Spooky..." Mr. Spooky nodded "Spooky...spooky, spooky."

"Look, I'm not trying hide my feelings..." Tenna told him as she put on a assured brave smile, then sighed and said "I'm just a bit confused.... Plus things have gotten dangerous...I just don't want to lose any of my friends..."

With this Mr. Spooky floated up and comforted her which she cuddled her familiar back and said "Thanks, Mr.Spooky..." Then she looked at him with an another confused look and asked "And what you mean that my feelings have more to do with something else?"

"Spooky!" Spooky replied as he put his stubby arms up nervously and defensively as if to say "Nothing!"

Meanwhile, Eric kinda heard Tenna talk to Spooky. He looked at the shut door and quietly said under his breath with concern in his tone “Tenna?”

Tenna later on decided to make that "blood tea" for Eric, as she remembered that she did have some steak she had bought not too long ago. She decided to make some tea for Eric and make some normal green tea  for herself. 

As she made the blood tea for Eric, she turned around, facing the counter and little did she knew, she and her two friends weren't the only ones there. A long dark figure stood behind her. The figure stretched out a long slender hand to put, what looked to be, pink blossoms in the tea. These blossoms seemed to break up and blended into the tea with the wave of the eerie hand.

As soon as Tenna turned around, the figure was gone. She kinda got the creeps as a shiver went down her spine. She felt someone there but now was no where to be found.

Finally, she got the tea and went into Eric's room. She gently shook him to wake him up. She sat beside him on a stool chair she had brought.

"Here, I made that weird meat tea that you mentioned." Tenna told him.

"Oh..." Eric replied appreciatively as he took the tea. "Thanks...You didn't have to do that."

"No problem!" Tenna replied "I figure if you're sick you should get some liquids in you and tea has some calories, so it could help get some of your strength up."

"Thanks..." Eric replied managing to smile. "You're right..." Then he took a sip of his tea.

"You look like you're getting a little bit better." Tenna replied "Well, you look better then you were before anyway. It's kinda hard to tell whether a vampire is sick or not."

Eric nodded and said "Yeah, I guess it is. I'm still a bit weak and light headed, but I'm slowly getting better."

"Good!" Tenna said "I was worried. You looked like you were in pain..."

"Well, that's one thing that's different than a normal cold..." Eric sighed as he placed his hand on his chest over his heart. Tenna looked both confused and concern. Eric noticed this and explained "When a vampire gets sick, it hurts their hearts...No one knows for sure why...but I think it has to do with vampires needing to drink blood. A vampire's spiritual energy where our power comes from, pulses through from the heart, drying out a bit of blood, depending on how actively the power is used and taints the blood as well. Our hearts still pump blood but not as much as a human's, because of that power. That's why we still drink blood sometimes, despite being a living thing. " 

He paused a bit and then continued "Sun sickness drains our spiritual energy and thus..."

"It causes pain to your heart because that's where the energy is." Tenna ended. 

"Well, where the energy comes from, but yeah, basically that's." Eric said

"That must be rough..." Tenna added and then asked "Hows the tea?"

"It's actually quite good." Eric said warmly. "It tastes like a stew or soup. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it! I tried!" Tenna replied "Cooking is one of my favorite things to do and I like experimenting on new things."

"Well, you seem to be quite good at it." Eric added.

"Aww, thanks..." Tenna replied warmly as she felt her face turning red. Then she noticed a picture of someone on the dresser, next to the pillow side of the bed. She grabbed it gently and looked at it. It was that of a woman, perhaps in her mid 20s with light skin, jet black long, wavy hair. She was wearing a violet dress. Her eyes were jade green.  To Tenna, she was very beautiful. The woman had an elegance to her and seemed to be gentle and kind given by her expression in the photo.

"Whose this?" Tenna asked as she showed Eric the photo.

"Oh, that's my mother." Eric explained

"Oh, she's very pretty." Tenna replied and curiously asked"You never talked about your mother."

"She pretty much left for some reason when I was a kid." Eric explained kinda sadly. "She left me with my cousins, before they lost custody over to me. I never saw her again."

"Ohh..." Tenna replied apologetically. "I'm sorry..."

"No don't be." Eric assured "It was along time ago."

"Did she leave cause of your dad?" Tenna asked worrying that she might be asking a little too much.

"Yeah probably." Eric replied "She said that she had decided she had to leave, but wanted me to stay with my cousins to assure that I was taken care of. She said that she would come back one day, probably when things settled with her, but as I said, she never came back and neither of my family seems to know what happened to her."

"Dang..." Tenna replied, her heart became heavy for him. "I'm sorry to hear that..."

"It's fine..." Eric assured trying to cheer up. "I still have wonderful memories about her. I think, honestly, something must have happened to her. My mother was a kind and wonderful person. She saw the good in everyone. Unfortunately, that included my dad, but I think he got worse later on or something changed in him. Either way, I tried to find her as well when I became a vampire. As you may have guessed, didn't have much luck with that..."

"I'm sure you'll find her one day." Tenna said as she put a warm hand on his hand. 

"I hope so...." Eric replied a little sadly. This time, he didn't sound confident like he usually was. It seemed the long searching and hoping did seem to wear thin on him.

"Well you found Devi and new friends, so I'm sure she's out there somewhere." Tenna told him. "Chin up!"

"Yeah, you're right." Eric replied finally smiling. "Thanks....My mother use to say the same thing. Never..."

"Lose your ability to smile..." They both said at the same time as they shared a laugh. Tenna explained "Before you found us, Devi was talking to me about you. She said you told her the same exact words."

"Hmm, I thought I felt like someone was talking about me, before finding you two. Perfect timing..." This made Eric chuckle and said "My mother was the only real family besides my cousins, that truly loved me. She always had a kind and loving voice that kept me feeling safe and secure. Always telling me to be strong and kind no matter what."  He let out a sigh at the last part and continued "I always tried following her advice and not wanting to be like dad, was just a bonus influence. Though, I do realize it does make me sound like some what of a mama's boy."

"Nothing wrong with that!" Tenna replied warmly. "Your mother was a good influence on you, which to me is all that matters. My family said the same things and influenced me! I can tell your mother influenced you a lot. Well.... " 

Tenna searched around with her head as if embarrassed by what she was going to say "Well...I actually feel a bit happier when you're around and safer too... So...yeah..."

She chuckled and coughed a tiny bit in a nervous fashion, wondering what the heck had gotten into her just now. 

"Tenna...." Eric was a bit surprised and then warmly replied "Thanks! Same to you." He chuckled and said " You have such a cheerful energy to you, it's kinda hard to be sad or angry around you and you've done a lot for me. You're definitely a great person, Tenna." 

This just made Tenna get a tiny bit more flustered. Eric got a bit confused and asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" Tenna replied cheerfully, still a bit flustered over the whole thing. "Thanks!"

With that he cringed a tiny bit out of pain, but tried to hide it from Tenna by drinking a bit of his tea. He didn't want her to worry.

"Yeah, your mother reminds me of my grandma." Tenna finally said. "She use to say the same kind of things and she always smiled. Only time she didn't was something tragic of course, but other then that, she always laughed and I guess you can say that's how I got my spirit."

"Yeah!" Eric replied. "What your family like?"

"Ah well, my mother was a business woman and my dad traveled around a lot." Tenna said "And despite my parents had me, my older sister, my two younger sisters and my even younger brother, we all still did well."

"Dang!" Eric said "Lot mouths to feed!"

"Oh you're telling me!" Tenna replied "We had to share everything! Good thing about moving out, you get your own bathroom!" This made Eric busted out laughing as Tenna continued "My mother had a secretary job and then would come home around early evening. She and grandma use to cook great food and that's where I got my passion in cooking."

"I see." Eric replied "While you're very good at it. Your mother and grandma would be very proud."

"Aww..." Tenna replied shyly and at the same time, proudly. "Thanks....That means a lot."

Eric then started to feel a bit faint but Tenna noticed this quickly and supported him right away, putting her arm around his shoulder.

"Eric, are you okay?" Tenna said in a panicked voice. "You really are out of it then you claim to be...."

"No, its fine." Eric replied "I just got a little dizzy...Hmm?" He then notice something in his tea.

"What's wrong?"  Tenna asked.

He then fingered out one of the pink blossom petals. "What's this?" He asked

"Huh?" Tenna said as she looked like it. "Might be a piece of meat.... I thought I got all the chunks out."

"Nah, I don't think that's it." Eric replied "Looks to be some sort of blossom petal."

Tenna examined and said "Yeah, you're right it is. Weird, I wonder how that got in there?"

Eric just shrugged. 

"I hope it didn't hurt you though..." Tenna replied.

Eric shook his head. "Nah, not at all.  In fact, I felt a bit better after drinking some of it. Thanks, Tenna."

Tenna got a bit flustered a bit and said "You're...you're welcome...!"

"Something wrong?" Eric asked curiously.

"No! Nothing!" She said fluster as she quickly drank her own tea. Eric looked at his friend oddly and just chuckled a bit to himself. Tenna smiled a bit at her friend.

Glad you can still smile. She thought.

*****

Back in the dark area, Anne was getting over her lost and painful suffering of her punishment. She held her whipped shoulder and cringed. Nuka didn't exactly helped though as he came tumbling along.  She sneered at the crazy man as a warning not to push her.

"Speak of this and I will cut your tongue clear out!" She snapped.

"Alright!" Said Nuka nervously "I wasn't going to say anything..."

She glanced at him and then she noticed her crystal ball glowing in front of her. She glanced in it and it showed Eric all alone in bed, or at least the future of him later that day.

"Ek!" Anne snapped "It's that measly vampire child that insulted me! " Then she got a closer look and sarcastically said "Aww...the poor thing looks sick!"

Then it showed Tenna and Devi out and about. Tenna seemed to be doing some shopping of some sort, and Devi was still at her meeting. Then the crystal ball showed Tenna and Devi together, as if they going to meet some place after Devi's meeting. It was showing what was gonna happen. This made Anne think of a clever idea but she would need help to do it.


"What's going on?" Nuka asked as he looked into the crystal ball, in which Anne took it as she said "Now, sweetie, don't fog up my orb." She didn't mean "sweetie" as a cute thing, but rather just downing the man to that of a insignificant child.

Then Anne had an idea and said "I have a plan to deal with those brats and I actually could use some assistance."

"Yeah?" Nuka replied raising his eye brow "What makes you think I'd help you? Why not ask that precious master's pet, Nny?"

"Why, Nuka I thought you wanted to fall back into the Master's good graces?" Anne said "And this task is something even a chump like you can't mess up."

"Oh really?" Nuka asked. "What is it?"

****
Anne appeared before her master then bowed and said "Master, I have a plan to get rid of those children once and for all."

Though a voice wasn't physically heard, Anne could mentally hear the Master's deep voice. "Please..." She pleaded "Let me have this chance to redeem myself. With the help of Nuka, we'd be able to dispose of those wretched brats once and for all."

"Ha!" Came the haunting voice of Nny as he appeared "You must be desperate if you're willing to work with Nuka..."

"I'd do it myself..." Anne said "But this requires the assistance."

"May I asked what is it you're exactly doing?" Johnny asked

"It's simple." Anne replied "It's a simple process of separation and elimination. Separate two from the weakest link and destroy all of them while they're vulnerable."

"Hmm..." Nny replied. Then both looked up at their master.

"Thank you, I promise I won't let you down." Anne said.

****

"Hey, Eric?" Tenna said as she got done with her tea. "I gotta run to the store and get some stuff to make dinner. Will you be alright here by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Eric assured her.

Tenna giggled and said "You'll probably get more rest if I stop bugging you!"

"No, its fine." Eric told her. "I really do appreciate the help that you've done. Other than Magnus, no one ever really looked out for me especially after I became a vampire. So it's nice to have some friends to watch my back for me. "

"Aww, well you're welcome!" Tenna hugged him. "Anyway, I'm go. Is there anything you want me to get?"

Eric shook his head and said "No, I'm fine."

"K!" Tenna said "I'll be back. I might meet up with Devi being her meeting is suppose to be over soon."

"Alright, seeya!" Eric said. He decided to take a book out and read it for a while. He was getting kind of tired of not doing anything.

****
Mean while, Anne Guish and Nuka appeared in the sky once they settled with their plan or her plan to say the least.

Nuka giggled around and hopped around as he said "At last I get to fight and destroy those children!"

"Wrong!" Anne said "I get to fight while you dispose of that vampire child."

"Aww, no fair!" Nuka said "I want to fight and kick those little girl's butt! How come you get to?"

"Because its far too easy for me to do your part." Anne said as she grabbed him by the face "Your part is a simple task!" Then a wooden stake appeared in her hand. "The vampire child is sick and helpless as a puppy! All you gotta do is simply kill him. Something a simple minded foo...I mean assassin like you should be able to do without a problem."

"Why the wooden stick?" Nuka asked as she handed him the stake.

"Those humans believe that's the best way to kill a vampire." Anne said "You don't have to use it. Just kill the boy by any means. I'll take care of the young ladies. Now hurry! The sun will be setting soon! He could get his strength back by then!" 

"How come the dough boys or Nny ain't involved?" 

"Really, now...It's because it's way too easy! I can kill those girls myself and I know you can do a simple task, such as plummeting a stick through some bat boy's heart. If I catch one of the girls alone before she meets the other, it will be even easier! This is the chance WE need to prove ourselves!"  With that Nuka and Anne both went their separate ways. Nuka was still grumbling about his job.

****

Back at the apartment complex, a figure appeared on the roof, right over Tenna and Devi's. The figure waved his long slender hand that wore a gantlet, with a black gem stone over beneath his feet, as if to cast a spell. As soon as the figure did this, Eric felt a presence and then suddenly started to get dizzy again. 

"What the..." Eric replied. He could barely keep his eyes open and everything started to blur. "What's happening to m-e...." With that he fainted against his pillow and fell a sleep.

"Sorry, but you're still not strong enough..." Said the figure in a deep and monotone like voice. "I might need to fight this one, this time."

****

It was while after Tenna did some shopping, so she stopped by at the company Devi had worked at. Devi had gotten out of the building of her company and finally let Demi out of the car. She was kinda surprised to find her car still in one piece. She had worry that Demi would explode or go hey wire bored in the car, but to extent Demi had actually fallen a sleep in the car. As soon as Devi open the car door, Demi jumped into Devi's hands, giving Devi a welcome cuddle to the face like she always did.

"Sorry that took so long." Devi told her familiar. "Those idiots just never stop talking. Blah blah blah....ugh!"

"Aww, Devi's bored!" Demi said "We should do something fun!"

"Maybe later." Devi said. "We should probably head back and see how Eric is doing."

"Hey Devi!" Tenna said as she said coming over to her with four bags of groceries and supplies.

"Tenna, what are you doing here?" Devi asked

"I went out to get some groceries." Tenna said. "I wanted to get some stuff to make dinner."

"I see." Devi replied.

"Spooky!" Mr. Spooky floated up frantically.

"What's wrong Mr. Spooky?" Tenna asked

"Devi something is coming!" Demi

"Huh?" Devi replied and then looked up cause felt something from above.

"Well, well, we meet again!" Anne Guish said as she appeared above them. Then asked in a teasing sort of tone "Wheres your little pretty vampire boy?"

"Oh great!" Tenna replied as Mr. Spooky went into staff form for her. "Didn't we beat your sorry butt enough last time?"

"Demi..." Devi signaled her familiar that changed into her fude brush form.

"You won't be beating me so easily this time." Anne assured with a snooty grin.

Tenna jumped and tried hitting her with her staff, in which Anne dodged and kicked Tenna out of the way.

*****

Mean while, Nuka managed to find Tenna and Devi's apartment building. "Hehehe!" Nuka cackled to himself outloud. "Here comes Nuka! The vampire slayer! Maybe I should set the place a blaze afterwards. Have roasted toasted vampire!"

"Oh dear..." Said the figure who watched from a far, in a monotone kind of way. "They send out an idiot to do the job. Well...he shouldn't be too hard to handle...unless he's strong as he is stupid."

****

Devi and Tenna fell to the ground after exchanging a few blows with Anne. Anne laughed in exhaustion.

"What are you laughing about, you ghoulish old hag?" Tenna asked insultingly.

"Tenna, not the best time to be insulting her..." Devi said as she tried catching her breath.

"I'm just laughing on how funny it would be, to find your little friend lying in bed, with a stake sticking out of his heart!" Anne said

"What?" Tenna asked

Both of them turned and said "Eric!"

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" Anne said with in a sick smug tone. "Oh well. You see I'm not alone this time. Right now, my good associate, Nuka should be taking care of your little bat boy!" She said the last part while imitating as if to hold a stake and "stabbing" the other palm with it.

"What?!" Tenna said in shock.

"No!" Devi shrieked!

"Oh, I'm afraid it's true." Anne said "For at this moment, your friend is as good as dead! Once Nuka lands that blow to his heart, it will be all over!"

As Anne was saying this, Nuka finally got to Eric's room and then raised the wooden stake pulsing with his own dark magic.

Anne arched up with her black long nails and said "Course, not to worry. You'll be soon joining him!" and then attacked them.

As Nuka swung down his stake, someone grabbed him and threw him against the door. Eric woke up and recognized the man that stopped him.

"Magnus!" Eric yelled out in surprised

"Quite pathetic and weak that you would kill someone unable to fight back." Magnus told Nuka in a serious and strong tone. "You obviously have no honor or courage." 

"Hey!" Nuka snapped as he got up. "Who the hell are you?"

"Tis not your concern for who I am right now." Magnus told him.

"Huh?" Nuka tilted his head confusingly.

"Nevermind..." Magnus replied with a sigh. "Point is, I will not let you take the young boy's life."

"Oh, really?" Nuka snapped "And who are you to stop me!?"

 Magnus smiled and said "A mentor protecting his student is all I am. " Then he advised Eric. "Eric, stay in this room for a while and recover your strength." Magnus told him. "The sun hasn't set just yet. I'll hold him off."

With that Magnus charged, grabbing Nuka and tossing him outside by fazing through the walls.

Mean while, Devi and Tenna managed to give Anne a run for her money, for the wicked witch became too warn and beaten.

"I guess I under estimated you again...." Anne said with a smirk

"Why are you doing this?" Devi snapped

"Oh you don't know?" Anne asked and said "Well, I'll tell you. You see you are the legendary chosen knights, that are said to stop our master taking over this wretched world!"

"Huh?" Devi replied as she remembered those posters on that wall from the store.

"Did you bump your head when you came up with that story?" Tenna asked, not believing it for a second.

"Not that it will matter to you." Anne told them " We destroyed the weak link and it won't be long before you two will fall! For you have suffer a lost of your pitiful little friend. The pain of your loss will be joy enough for me..." She laughed sickly.

This enrage both Tenna and Devi, but surprisingly Tenna snapped before Devi could say anything. "How can you even think that's funny!?" Tenna cried "Every life is precious and you think its amusing for people to die!"

Anne smiled and said "Well, yeah..." Like it was obvious to her.

"You're nothing but a coward!" Tenna shouted. "Picking on defenseless people and laughing at them for your own amusement! It's disgusting!"  This reminded her of how she would defend the kids in her class from school bullies. Then she shot out "Spirit Star Rush!" and blasted her out of the sky. Anne collapsed to the ground. With that Tenna put her staff over her shoulder and said "Man, people like that tick me off! Cowardly bully!"

"You okay Tenna?" Devi asked a bit shocked at her anger.

"Yeah...." Tenna replied and then shouted "Eric!" when she realized they had to get back to their place.

Magnus managed to fight Nuka, who surprisingly put up a good fight. Despite they had been battling for a while, they managed to keep the area around in tact. Nuka had about enough and grabbed the elderly vampire and slammed him into the wall. 

Eric who had been watching the whole thing cried out "No!" over fear for his mentor. Nuka than focused his powers and seemed to have taken a little bit of Magnus' powers to faze through the wall again. He tossed the vampire to the ground.

"Magnus!" Eric called to him. "Leave him alone!" He felt angry. Clutching his fist as he was reminded of something from long ago. "I don't care if I am not strong enough! I can't just stand around and let someone get hurt for my sake! I won't stand for it!"

Before Nuka could attack Magnus, Eric jumped in away and forced him back, directly hitting him with a spark of black lightning.  As the sun went down, Eric's powers became fully charged and he was finally over the sun sickness.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't slice you in half?" Eric said threateningly as he summoned his black energy blade.

"But I thought you were sick?!" Nuka snapped.

"It's amazing what a little tea and rest can do." Eric replied "Or do you want to feel the wrath of a vampire at full strength?" With the last part being said Eric bared his fangs and his eyes began to glow red.

 Magnus got to his feet and stood beside him. With that Nuka couldn't work up the courage to fight two vampires, especially one at full strength and full of anger, so he disappeared, back to the dark dimension to coward in his defeat.

Eric calmed down a bit as Magnus touched his shoulder. Eric smiled proudly as he looked up at Magnus, who just smirked slightly and started to walk away.

"Thanks..." Eric said.

"It's nothing really." Magnus said in his usual monotone, elderly voice. " It's my job to see to that I've taught you well. I can't teach you well if you're stone cold dead. You have a destiny to fulfill after all..."

"What do you mean...?" Eric replied

"You will find out soon enough. Though, I've might have tampered with your tea a little bit." Magnus replied

"You mean you put those blossoms in my tea?" Eric asked curiously.

"Well, your friend didn't know about that special ingredient." Magnus told him. "You see plum blossoms blessed under the light of a full moon, is a strong herbal remedy for sun sickness. Something that humans naturally don't realize. Always following those stupid books and movies.."

"Huh, I see..." Eric said surprised.

As soon as Eric said that, both Tenna and Devi had come in and were happy to see their friend still alive.

"Eric!" Devi called out happily as both of them ran up for an affectionate greeting. Magnus just simply stepped a side and watched them.

"Aw, you're alright!" Tenna cheered as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders.

"I told you I would be." Eric said warmly as he cuddled her head with his and then warmly embraced Devi as well.

"What happened here?" Devi asked

"Long story..." Eric sighed and asked "I'm guessing you had a nasty encounter yourself?" Seeing that Tenna and Devi looked exhausted.

"Yeah, are you sure you're okay?" Devi asked "That witch from yesterday said she sent someone after you."

"Hmph..." Eric replied "So that moron was just an errand boy to do her dirty work? Knew he was too stupid to think of that himself. If it weren't for Magnus..." As soon as he said that he turned to where Magnus was but he was gone.

"Uh yeah, that tall creepy dude..." Tenna replied "He turned into mist and went out the window."

With that Eric replied "Hold on!" as he ran out the door to see if he could catch him. He flew up to the roof and with his luck, Magnus stood there.

"Magnus, wait up!" Eric replied "I wanted you to meet my friends."

"I already know of them" Magnus replied "and they already know of me. I've beyond socializing in such away. The only reason I watch over you is to teach you properly as a vampire, before my time comes."

"Your time?" Eric asked worriedly.

"As I once told you." Magnus said "Our kind don't last forever. We just live longer then most things on this earth."

 Eric looked down sadly and with this Magnus touched Eric's shoulder "There's nothing you can do about it. When the time comes, my time on this earth will be over and I can finally rest forever. It's just how life is but I do have quite a bit of time before it happens. " He put his hand under Eric's chin gently to raise it. "So, chin up. It's not something you need to worry about, especially now."

With that Eric nodded and then he asked "Magnus, what happens to a vampire after they...pass on?"

"Just like humans and other creatures, our souls live on in some way." Magnus said "I can't really say what happens in the after life, as death likes to keep it's secrets. Normally, I don't say such sappy things, but if you truly are worried, those who you hold close will always live on in here." Magnus pointed to Eric's heart. Eric finally smiled and nodded. 

"Those silly books delude you things like vampires ceasing to exist after they perish." Magnus said "It's the cause of fear of our kind and of course, human's foolish desires of living forever. You combine such things and you get the typical vampire from a horror movie. Tell me, do you now regret being a vampire?  "

"No!" Eric told him "I don't regret becoming a vampire at all!" This surprised Magnus a bit as Eric continued "If I hadn't become a vampire, I would have been lost forever, not being able to save Devi and Tenna. Not being able to meet you and learning from you. I have people that care about me now, that I wish to protect as much as they protected me. I mean, not that I didn't before. I had great friends while I was human, that I miss dearly sometimes. There's a good and bad to everything, but that's the point in living on I guess. With so much good that's happened to me, how can I even say I regret it?"

Magnus looked at him a bit surprised by the young one's wisdom but nodded with a proud look upon him.

"Now, what's this destiny that I have to follow, that you mentioned before?"

 "You as well as your friends are the chosen knights that will save this world."

"What?" Eric said surprised upon hearing this.

Magnus explained a little bit. "The ones you fight against are the ones that work for an ancient evil that spread long ago. This evil has awaken once again and the chosen knights must rise again. You three are the ones chosen for this destiny. You are the only ones that can stop this. Which is why, I must train you from time to time."

"What is this darkness?" Eric asked "Where is it hiding?"

"No one knows..." Magnus told him. "This ancient evil cannot be found in simple ways nor fought in simple ways. I will teach you everything I can in time but for now, I have to rest."  As he turned around he added one more thing "Eric, your meeting with your two friends was not a coincidence. It is your destiny to fight along side them, for this evil cannot be faced alone and as an important request, I bid you to stay together. Understand?"

"Yes..." Eric replied as he nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Magnus."

"I also want you to meet a girl by the name of Mina and her care taker, Edgar. They own a shop in the mall you were at before, where you faced that dark warrior, Johnny. They have the answer you seek and the proof of this legend."

"I think I know what place you're talking about too. Is it an antique store?"

"Yes."

"Alright, I'll tell my friends right away." Eric promised "Thanks again."

Magnus nodded and then disappeared into mist and into the night. Eric watched him disappear and then he went back inside. He opened the door to Tenna's apartment and happily said "Hey guys, I'm feeling a lot better now but there's something, you need to..." Then Eric noticed Devi had fallen a sleep on one of Tenna's lounge chairs, while Tenna had fallen a sleep on the couch.

"Guess, we'll have to wait until morning then..." Eric chuckled at them and with a little help from Demi and Mr.Spooky, he got two blankets and draped them over his two friends.

"Sleep well you two." Eric gently said "You deserve it."

As Demi floated over to him as he said "I think I'll just heat up a TV dinner and watch a movie tonight." Then he looked up at the ceiling as he thought about what had Magnus said.