CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It had been almost a week since Serpent's Kiss had mysteriously disappeared from the radar. The Unit had been in for a rough job when they had to clean everything up, but things finally appeared to be calming down. Skip had sent a few of his people to California to help Barry's old Unit as they dealt with the traumatic news that their boss had actually been a warlock.

Adam was still in Salem. Vynn's father had agreed to let her be buried in Salem. Dylan was relieved to have her close by, but he knew her body was only a shell. She was in the stars, looking down on him and smiling. He would never let himself forget that.

Dylan's grief was powerful. He processed it by writing music, mostly instrumental, in Vynn's memory. Their romance may have been brief, but it was the most powerful thing he'd ever experienced. Vynn was part of him now, and she always would be.

Somehow, he forced himself to move on slowly. He had to keep going through the motions until he found a way to heal from this loss. It was what Vynn would have wanted, and he owed it to her to try. She'd died to save his life. If he didn't live it, that would be a waste. He couldn't allow that.

The Silver Society was as busy as ever. Melissa was now living with Alex and Jesse. Although it was a difficult transition, Melissa didn't seem to mind living with them, and at least she knew she was safe now.

Cierra was still missing. No matter what they did, they couldn't track her, but everyone sensed that she was growing darker by the day. If they didn't find her soon, they were going to lose her for good.

Of course, there was one other issue looming. The case against the Erica Vitti Society was becoming stronger as they found more evidence linking the members to not only Pru's death, but Gary's disappearance and a number of others. When he wasn't busy writing music, Dylan threw himself into helping Kara and Jade with the case. He hadn't officially been assigned to it, but Dylan needed a distraction, and they both knew that. At least if he was working on a case, he was doing something useful. He tried to take comfort in that fact.

~*~

"They know about our ritual," Lydia said in alarm as she snapped out of a vision.

"What? How could they know?" Hugo demanded.

"It's the Unit cop, Kara... She had a vision. They're on to us, Hugo. They know we're warlocks."

"We have to complete the ritual, Lydia... We're out of time."

"We'll need a powerful sacrifice. I'll get word to Bianca and meet you back here in five minutes. You know who to capture."

Exactly five minutes later, after telling Bianca and the others to start the final preparations for the ritual, Lydia found Hugo chasing Tommi down the hall.

Tommi might be small, but she was fast, and it wasn't easy to catch her. Lydia joined Hugo in pursuing her until they finally split up to try to corner her.

Tommi ran into the girls' locker room. Lydia pursued her, while Hugo headed into the room that housed the school's swimming pool. Left with no choice but to run into the pool area, Tommi found herself cornered.

"Hello, Tommi," Hugo said with a sadistic smile. "How's it going?"

"Leave me alone, you psychotic freak!" Tommi shouted in response. She turned back toward the entrance to the locker room, but Lydia blocked her path.

"No running on the deck, Tommi," Lydia said with a laugh.

Tommi faced Hugo again as she demanded, "What do you want?"

"I think you already know, Tommi," Hugo replied "I'm sorry to say, you've failed to meet the standards of the Erica Vitti Society. This just isn't going to work out."

Lydia suddenly shoved Tommi into the pool. She jumped in after her and held Tommi beneath the surface. Tommi kicked and screamed frantically, doing everything she could to attempt to free herself, but she couldn't escape from Lydia's grasp.

"Help me out, Hugo," Lydia said. "She's fighting like crazy."

"I don't swim," Hugo reminded her.

"Then use a spell."

"You hate my spells."

"That's true, but I'd appreciate it if you did something right now."

"Honestly, Lydia, can't you handle drowning such a tiny girl?" He mocked her.

Lydia was about to reply when her eyes suddenly widened in horror. "Hugo, look out!" She shouted, but it was too late. A werewolf pounced on Hugo and pinned him down near the edge of the pool.

"Help me!" Hugo screamed in terror as he was trapped on his back, completely defenseless. "Get it off of me!"

The wolf sank its teeth into Hugo's chest and tore through it. Lydia watched in horror as the wolf mauled Hugo before her eyes. Finally finding the strength to move, Lydia released Tommi and fled from the pool. She ran as quickly as she could and tried not to think about what had just happened to Hugo.

I have to warn them, she thought. I have to warn Bianca and the others.

With that single thought in her mind, Lydia ran toward the basement and prayed the wolf wouldn't follow her.

~*~

Hugo was dead. That much was obvious. Shifting his focus, the wolf jumped into the water and sank his teeth into Tommi's sweater, being careful not to bite her flesh. He pulled her up and dragged her toward the edge of the pool. He managed to push her onto the deck before climbing out of the water.

Tommi was unconscious and not breathing. The wolf changed form back into Jesse. He immediately began to perform CPR on her.

"Come on, Tommi," he said softly as he continued the chest compressions. "Come on, wake up... Wake up!"

After what felt like centuries, Tommi finally coughed up water and began breathing again. Jesse sighed with relief and helped her sit up.

"You saved my life," Tommi said as she processed that fact. "Again."

"Yeah," Jesse replied. "You're okay now."

"Thanks... You look cute as a wolf," she teased him.

"You knew that was me?" He asked in surprise.

"I recognized your energy as soon as I saw you."

"Okay, then I'll tell you the truth, because I trust you not to tell anyone else. I'm a polywere. My soul is lycanthrope royalty. I'm Rhiannon's son."

"Wow. Talk about having a lot of responsibility."

Jesse laughed. "Yeah, tell me about it! The thing is, I'm also a vampire."

"Wait... Isn't that a big no-no?"

"It's a very big one. I got turned in September. Nobody knows except for Aideen and Alex."

"I won't tell anyone," Tommi promised.

"I know," Jesse replied.

"I'm glad you trust me," she said with a smile.

"We're in this thing together, Tommi," Jesse replied. "If I can't trust you, who can I trust?"

Tommi looked at Hugo's mangled corpse and said, "So, you just ate the club president... Does that mean you're in charge now?"

"No way. They can keep their evil secret society. I want no part of it."

"Did he taste bitter?" Tommi teased him.

"A little bit," Jesse replied with a laugh. "You're not freaked out?"

"Hugo was evil and trying to kill me. He deserved what he got, Jesse. Now, can we get out of here? I'm getting sick of smelling chlorine and death."

He helped her stand up and said, "Follow me."

~*~

"We have to get out of here," Lydia shouted as she ran into the basement.

"What?" Bianca asked in confusion. "Lydia, what's wrong? Why are you soaking wet?"

"Hugo's dead," Lydia replied numbly.

"What do you mean Hugo's dead? What the hell happened?"

"There was a wolf... In the pool... We have to get out of here, Bianca! Get the other members, and run!"

"Lydia, calm down. You aren't making any sense. Besides, we can't just run off. We have to finish the ritual."

"It'll find us!" Lydia sobbed. "The wolf... It will come after us!"

"Lydia, honey, it's okay. Relax, alright?"

"I can't relax! I just watched Hugo get ripped to pieces!"

"I don't understand how a wolf got into the pool, Lydia. Are you sure-?"

"It was a werewolf," Lydia whispered. "And of course I'm sure... It killed him... It killed Hugo!"

Bianca finally seemed to believe her. "Come on. Let's go get the others," she said. Bianca led Lydia to the ritual space, where the rest of the members of the Erica Vitti Society, minus Tommi and Jesse, stood gathered around a cauldron. Its contents were on fire.

"What happened to you?" Arthur asked Lydia, his eyes widening at her appearance.

"Hugo's dead," Lydia replied. "A werewolf killed him!"

"Is she serious?" Kyle asked.

"I think so," Bianca replied.

"Bi, she's practically in shock," Zack said in concern. "We should get her out of here."

"We have to finish the ritual or Hugo won't be the only dead one," Bianca insisted. "She'll be fine. Monique, Kendra, start adding in the herbs."

"You've got it," Monique and Kendra replied in unison. They smiled at each other as they started tossing herbs into the cauldron.

"We'll finish this, and then we'll handle everything else," Bianca decided. They would need a sacrifice, but she wasn't too worried. She had a feeling one would show up at any moment.

~*~

As they reached the door to the basement, Jesse and Tommi burst through it ready to fight.

"Cast!" Bianca commanded the others. "Cast the spell!"

Everyone began chanting furiously. Jesse was stunned. Bianca had just blown her cover, and the feelings he had for her suddenly seemed to shatter.

It was a love spell, he realized. I never loved Bianca... She was controlling me!

Jesse was a little bit hurt, but he was also relieved to understand the source of his sudden blind devotion to Bianca. He tried to focus on deflecting spells and keeping Tommi safe instead of worrying about what Bianca had done to him.

Jade and Kara suddenly appeared in the doorway and joined the fight. "Where did you two come from?" Jesse asked as a shield formed between the four of them and the E.V.S.

"I had a vision," Kara explained. "I called Jade and asked her to meet me here right away."

"Well, we can certainly use the help," Tommi replied.

"The shield they cast around themselves is powerful," Kara said. "This ritual needs to be interrupted, but we can't just break the protective barrier. We're in trouble. We need to distract them."

"How?" Jade asked nervously. The expression on Kara's face worried her.

"One of us stays behind," Kara replied softly.

"What? No," Jade said, shaking her head. "No way, Kara."

"It's the only way, Jade. I'll stop the ritual from the inside. I need you to get Jesse and Tommi out of here."

"Kara, no! They'll kill you!" Jade insisted.

"I know, Jade," Kara replied gently. "This is the path we have to follow."

"I don't know if I can resurrect you."

"You won't be able to... You aren't meant to."

"You knew?" Jade demanded, suddenly understanding the truth. "You saw this in your vision... You knew you'd have to stay behind, but you still came..."

"Yes. I'm sorry, Jade. This is the way it has to be."

"But... There has to be another way. You're my partner. I can't just leave you here to die."

The flames grew stronger. The spell was getting out of control. "It's either me or all of you, Jade. The three of you aren't meant to die today. Jesse and Tommi can't get out of this basement without you breaking through the spells trapping them here. You have to get them out of here, Jade."

Jade fought back tears. This wasn't the time for her to break down. If Kara could face this knowing it would end with her death, Jade could do the same.

"I'm sorry," Jade said softly. She focused all of her energy on shattering the barrier spell.

"Run!" She told Jesse and Tommi.

"What about Kara?" Jesse asked. "We can't just-"

"We have to go," Jade replied. The expression on her face kept Jesse from protesting.

When they reached safety, Tommi asked, "How do we help your partner?"

Jade shook her head. "We don't. Kara knew what she was doing," she replied.

"You mean she's going to die?" Tommi asked in horror.

"Yes, Tommi. She's going to die," Jade replied, keeping all emotions out of her voice.

"We should go back-" As Tommi was speaking, flames shot out of the basement toward them.

"Run!" Jesse screamed. He grabbed Tommi and practically dragged her toward the other side of the building. Jade followed behind them as fast as she could.

"The school's going to burn down!" Tommi shouted.

"No, sadly, it's not," Aideen said as she appeared and joined them. "Do I even want to ask what's going on?"

"People are trying to kill us," Jesse replied with a shrug. "What else is new?"

"What are you doing here?" Tommi asked.

"I have vampiric marks on you now, and you almost died... I felt the threat around you and got here as fast as I could," Aideen explained.

"Well, that's a perk of you marking me!"

"I'll be right back. I need to put out that fire before the school does burn down." Aideen hurried toward the basement.

"Does she carry around a portable fire extinguisher or something?" Tommi asked.

"She's pyrokinetic," Jesse explained. "She can control fire."

"That's a cool ability."

"Want to see how cool? Let's go back there," he said suddenly.

"Are you nuts?" Tommi demanded. "The evil teenyboppers from hell are still there, remember? If they survive the fire, they'll kill us."

Jesse ignored Tommi and began running back toward the basement. Tommi looked at Jade in frustration. "What the hell is wrong with him?" She asked.

"It's Bianca," Jade replied.

"What?" Tommi asked in confusion.

"She's still in his head even though her love spell broke. The mind control is strong. Jesse doesn't know how to fight it."

"How do you know?"

"I can hear her. I'm a telepath."

"Alright, great... So how do we fix him?" Tommi asked.

"I can try and break the mind control for him. I need to get closer, though. Maybe you should stay here, Tommi," Jade said cautiously.

"No way. Jesse and I are in this together," Tommi insisted.

"Alright, then hurry up." Jade began hurrying after Jesse. Tommi followed her lead. When they found him, he was standing perilously close to the flames that were coming out of the door to the basement. Aideen was so focused on trying to control the fire that she hadn't even noticed him.

Jesse, come join us, Bianca's voice whispered in his mind.

Fight her, Jesse, Jade telepathically shouted. You can't let her control you!

Bianca wasn't giving up yet. I love you, Jesse, she said. I want you to be my boyfriend, but that means you need to be one of us. Don't you want to be one of us? Your mother did. She would have done anything to fit in with us. In fact, she did do anything.

Jade could feel Jesse's mind trying to wrap around the fact that his mother had been an active warlock as a teenager. He wanted to fight, but Bianca knew exactly which buttons to push. He was going to give in.

No! Jesse, keep fighting her, Jade telepathically shouted at him. She tried to force her way past the last block Bianca had set up around Jesse's mind.

Suddenly, Jade felt as if she'd slammed her head into a brick wall. She cried out in pain and collapsed, clutching her head in her hands.

"Jade?" Aideen asked. She had successfully put out the fire and finally noticed Tommi, Jesse, and Jade. "What just happened?"

"I don't know... She said she was going to try and break Bianca's hold on Jesse... Then she just collapsed..." Tommi replied since Jade was unable to respond.

"Jade, are you alright?" Aideen called. She knelt beside Jade and tried to establish eye contact with her.

Jade was still holding onto her head, as though she feared releasing it might cause it to explode. She cursed under her breath.

"What was that?" Aideen asked.

"Nothing... My head just hurts a lot," Jade replied.

"Can you stand up?"

"I can try." Slowly, Jade stopped holding her head together with her hands and took Aideen's hand to help herself stand up. Once she was steady, she noticed that Jesse had vanished. She cursed again. "Jesse's AWOL," she said.

It was Aideen's turn to curse. "Okay, if anyone survived the fire, they're still down there, so he must be in the basement, too," she said. "Let's go."

As they walked into the basement, Tommi shivered. Jade and Aideen felt death in the air, but Tommi was the only one who seemed to notice the physical body count. She nearly threw up at the sight of Monique and Kendra, or what was left of them. Their corpses were clinging to each other in what appeared to have been a desperate attempt to find comfort in their last moments. The girls were burned halfway beyond recognition. "Doesn't this freak you guys out?" Tommi asked.

"What do you mean?" Aideen asked.

Tommi motioned toward Zack's badly burned corpse and said, "I mean the dead bodies."

Aideen shrugged. "Jade and I have both seen a lot of those. It's not that big of a deal."

Jade caught sight of Kara's corpse, which was burned beyond recognition, but Jade could tell who it was from the energy surrounding it. She looked away and tried not to think about what had just happened. Normally, she agreed with Aideen that dead bodies were not a big deal, but Kara had sacrificed herself to save them. That made her death different.

Kara's energy was all around them, and Jade understood what had happened. As Kara had allowed the E.V.S. to sacrifice her, she'd used her energy to overwhelm the spell with power. The force of too much power had shattered the spell, but unfortunately, that had left nothing controlling the fire. It had spread uncontrollably and left the three teenagers dead in addition to Kara.

"Yeah, but... I mean... They were just a bunch of high school kids. Doesn't it bother you?" Tommi continued speaking.

"They had it coming. Remember, they tried to kill you and Jesse, and they did kill Pru and Gary," Aideen pointed out.

"Guys, be quiet," Jade said suddenly. Her full abilities had kicked back in and she could hear Bianca's thoughts.

They're too close, Bianca thought. We need to dispose of them, Jesse.

Suddenly, Jesse, Bianca, Lydia, Kyle, and Arthur stepped into view. Arthur was limping. His leg had been badly burned, but nothing else on his body had caught on fire. Lydia was wheezing from the smoke and the bottom of her dress had burned, but she didn't look too severely injured. Kyle's arm was visibly broken. Bianca appeared to be perfectly fine.

Do it, Jesse. Kill them. Kill them all, Bianca whispered into his mind.

Jesse tried to lunge at Jade. She ducked out of the way. Aideen grabbed Jesse, who changed form into a wolf.

Lydia shrieked at the sight of the wolf that had mauled Hugo. "Did you know that Jesse was a werewolf?" She asked Bianca.

"No," Bianca admitted. "He must have blocked that secret off. It's fine. I've got him wrapped around my little finger right now... He's mine to control..." She took a deep breath. "Kill them, Jesse! Starting with Aideen!"

Jesse pinned Aideen down on the floor so quickly that she didn't have time to react. He was about to tear her throat out when his eyes caught hers.

Deenie, Jesse registered. This is wrong. You're not supposed to hurt Aideen. She's your friend. You love her.

Jesse's beast was out of control. He needed to maul someone. The urge to kill was too strong. He jumped off of Aideen and, before anyone could register what was happening, he pounced on Bianca.

Lydia ran and cowered in the corner. She began rocking back and forth while she watched in horror as Jesse's beast tore into Bianca. Bianca screamed in agony as Jesse's teeth snapped down on her shoulder, ripping her flesh to shreds.

"Help me!" She screamed. "Please!"

Kyle and Arthur looked to Lydia for guidance. Lydia, however, had turned completely catatonic by that point.

"We need to kill it," Kyle said to Arthur.

"How the hell do you kill a werewolf?" Arthur asked.

"With silver bullets, dumbass!"

"I'm sorry, but that wasn't on my list of school supplies this year!" Arthur retorted.

"Shut up. This is serious. He's going to kill Bianca!" Despite his broken arm, Kyle bravely lunged at Jesse and tried to pull him off of Bianca. He realized quickly that Bianca was already extremely dead. Her throat had been torn out and her chest was ripped open. Her eyes were wide with horror, staring blankly at him. As Kyle looked at Bianca's dead body, he felt a rush of adrenaline and shifted himself so that he could have better access to the wolf. He shoved a silver ritual knife straight into Jesse's chest.

"No!" Aideen shouted. She ripped Kyle off of Jesse and threw him against the wall. Kyle was no match for Aideen, and with one swift blow to his nose, she killed him. She tossed his corpse aside and pulled Jesse into her arms.

Jesse was whimpering. He was still in wolf form, but was slowly changing back into a human. That was never a good sign with a lycanthrope.

"Come on, Jesse," Aideen whispered. "Don't die on me."

Jade kept an eye on Arthur. He looked at her, put his hands up in surrender, and said, "Don't worry... I plan on behaving, and I don't think Lydia's going anywhere..." Jade took one look at Lydia's catatonic form and had to agree.

Tommi stared at Jesse in horror. He was fully human now. "Is he dead?" She asked Aideen.

"No," Jade answered when Aideen didn't. "But he's in bad shape."

"You can't leave me, you jerk," Aideen said. She was crying. She felt emotions she had never before associated with Jesse. She'd always written them off. She never liked boys her own age romantically, but now, she felt as if her heart was being ripped in half. "I love you, damnit. Do you hear me, Jesse? I love you. So you can't die on me."

Jesse's flesh began to mend itself. As Aideen wept over him, she willed him to survive. She couldn't lose him, especially not now.

"I love you, too, Deenie," Jesse whispered. He laid his head in her lap and looked into her eyes. Aideen allowed herself to cry as she stroked Jesse's hair affectionately. She knew he would live now, and that was all that mattered.

"What do we do now?" Tommi asked, finally able to focus now that she knew Jesse was not going to die.

"We get the Unit here to clean things up and they dispose of Lydia and Arthur," Jade replied numbly.

"Dispose?" Tommi's eyes went wide. "Are they going to kill them?"

"No. We don't automatically kill every bad guy we meet, Tommi. We only kill when we have to protect someone, or in self defense," Aideen explained. "Lydia clearly won't be hurting anyone for a long time, and Arthur willingly surrendered. There's no need to hurt them. In fact, the Unit might even be able to rehabilitate them. People can change, and if Lydia ever recovers from her shock, this might be enough to make her decide she wants to be one of the good guys."

"This is all really complicated," Tommi said, shaking her head.

"You'll get used to it eventually, if you keep hanging out with Jesse."

Skip, Joanna, Shooter, and Tammy arrived on the scene a couple of minutes later. Jade was suddenly overcome with feelings of guilt and regret.

"Kara's dead," she blurted out. "She sacrificed herself to save the rest of us."

Joanna put her hand on Jade's shoulder and said, "We know, sweetie. I had a vision. It's not your fault. There was nothing else that could be done. You all would have died before Aideen arrived if Kara hadn't sacrificed herself."

"So, now that you guys are here, can I go?" Jade asked. "Or do you need me to work?"

"Go on. We understand that you just went through something very traumatic. You can make your report in the morning," Skip replied.

"Thanks." Jade hurried out of the basement.

"Should one of us keep an eye on her?" Shooter asked.

"She'll be okay," Skip replied. "We just need to give her some time to process what happened. We all know what it's like to lose a partner." He shook his head. "I called clean up in. This is a real mess. Let's get to work..."