Following the shadewraith that occupied Krystal, the second shadewraith closed its hate-filled diamond eyes and appeared to breathe in the emotions around it. “Fear and anger. Hate on so many levels..” Brienne walked right up to Jason and flicked a cw under his chin. “Be a good blood-shell and don’t fight it. When you struggle it just makes us more powerful.” Brienne-wraith yanked her cw away and left a deep gash in Jason’s chin.

  Without any bloodstone to his name, Jason waited for the st possible moment to attack the person he once knew as Brienne. Figuring that there was no reason to try and attack her vampire form, Jason with his vampire reflexes and razor-sharp cws, plucked out the twin diamonds that bore all of the shadewraiths apparent hate. Dropping the gleaming diamonds on the ground, He watched as the shadewraith stumbled back and howled in rage. “Daniel, go for the rest…” He watched as Brienne’s body stumbled and held onto her empty sockets.

  Things were much different for Krystal’s shadewraith, it took a bold step forward and seemed to growl with delight from its partner writhing in suffrage of being blinded. “Thank you, blood-shell.” Krystal-wraith reached down and picked up the twin eyes of its companion and swallowed them. Not taking its eyes off of the taller vampire, Krystal’s form darted to the left and in a single leap, nded on top of Daniel and pinned the small vampire to the ground. “Blood-shell…” Krystal dug her own cw into Daniel’s cheek and heard the tiny vampire scream out in pain. “Yes, feed me…”

  Before Daniel tried to act, Jason felt his anger surge and he threw himself into Krystal with all the force he could. Without any warning Jason felt himself being flung into the air and happened to look down right before he hit the portal entrance. Shifting into his bat form and did an unnatural aerial flip in order to escape the flowing waters of the portal. Once clear of the immediate danger, Jason hit the ground and turned back into his vampire form and braced himself for an attack that never came.

  Whether by luck or a miracle, Jason managed to see a set of eloquent yet fierce teal eyes appear from the dark and within a same second had a stake through Krystal’s body. Before Krystal’s body fell helplessly to the ground, Jason marveled as Amber streaked by him and somehow deposited what he thought was bloodstone crumbles all over Krystal’s body. “There’s another one!” Jason frantically pulled Daniel from Krystal the moment the vampire's body hit the ground.

  “I am aware.” Amber said coolly and pointed to the body. “Jason, toss Krystal into the pool.” She then stabbed the shadewraith that had Brienne’s body with another stake that had a burned tip for good measure. It was only after she’d spread bloodstone over Brienne and tossed her into the portal as well, that Amber turned to face her twin friends. “Great idea about the eyes. We know it works.”

  Squatting down, Amber began to quickly yank the remaining osciltors. “I just had a feeling that something was wrong, and I…” She paused to look at the couple. “...I felt something of a vampire-mix. It is hard to describe really.”

  “How did you know a stake would work?” Daniel finished with the st of the quartz and noticed the change in the song instantly. “We did it?”

  “I didn’t. I knew they were vampire bodies and also shadewraiths. So I brought both.” Amber ughed and pulled the earbuds from Daniel’s and Jason’s ears. “Listen, the song is beautiful. Serene.”

  While it was true that Amber somehow had the instinct for an ongoing situation, Daniel figured out the truth of what happened. “By blood…I get it.” She waved for her companions to head back to the Mill parking lot. “It is the reverse of what powers them. It is beautiful and calm…” She saw the confused look on their faces. “They don’t feed from it. They are trapped in … euphoria. It’s like they are stoned.” Daniel pointed to the colonies of bats fleeing the area and the Shadewraiths dropping themselves into the portal without so much as a sound.

  Amber, Daniel and Jason collectively dropped to their knees and leaned against the burned-out cars. “You know that is going to bring Archaios Enas back.” Jason offered quietly.

  “Shhh..” Daniel looked at the gash under Jason’s chin and licked it closed. “A tiny scar, love. Makes you look dangerous.” Daniel lightly punched Jason and Amber, and they both sat down. “Let’s just sit here and take this win.” She then spread herself over her two companions. “Let’s just hope Jessica finds some blood.”

  Amber reached into Jason’s pocket and dialed Sylvie’s number under protest from the tattoo artist. “You could ask, teal-eyed freak.”

  “Why are you looking at my eyes?” Amber hit the send button and smiled at Jason. “You have a set of copper ones right there to admire.” Expecting Sylvie to answer her phone, Amber was a touch shocked when Casey answered. “Oh, Hi.”

  “Amber.” Casey responded with clear joy in her light southern accent. “Sylvie, Kody and I heard the change already.” Casey hesitated and covered the receiver for a few seconds. “We are having a few Kody technical difficulties. We are coming as fast as we can.” Amber punched the speaker button. “What are Kody's technical difficulties?”

  “Our luck its a null value.” Jester muttered and got frowns from both Daniel and Amber. “What?”

  Rather used to Jason’s attempt at jokes, Daniel pced her finger yet again over Jason’s lips. “Null value, really? That was not really all that funny.”

  “I couldn’t think of anything else about Kody Technical … without thinking of a college of engineers, so I went with…” Jason heard ughing from the other end of the phone. “Kody?”

  “Null Value.” Kody kept giggling, “That was great. I think after I tell Lucy, we will have a new troupe name.” Kody kept ughing, “Ahh…Null Value..”