Title: A Matter of Life and Death

Author: Jos Mous

Email: wotan_anubis@yahoo.com

RATING: R, I think.

PAIRING: Nicole/Sam; Brooke/Lily

DISCLAIMER: None of these characters belong me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You know, 'The Bitch and the Beast' was pretty much supposed to be a one-time thing. I just wanted to see if I could pull off something pretty outrageous and get away with it (and I'm not just talking about the werewolf-thing). Now it has evolved into an entire series. Who'd have thought? I certainly didn't. Anyway, the following story _could_ be the last one, but then again, maybe it isn't. Who knows? What I _do_ know is that the last two stories ('Lost Soul' and 'Forever') focused more on Lily and Brooke and less on Sam and Nicole. Well, not any more if I have anything to say about it (which I probably don't).Anyway, on with the story.

Part One

Prologue

"You ready?"

Samantha McPherson and Nicole Julian stood in front of a church. Every dead person still remaining on this earth knows that entering a space that is considered sacred is where you'll move on. How it exactly it worked none of them knew, because no-one had come back to tell the tale. And now they were preparing to leave here as well.

Together, like they were meant to be.

"I'm ready." Sam answered.

"Sure?" Nicole asked. Being dead just a little longer had given the blonde more time to prepare for this.

Sam looked over at her and smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure."

They walked through the doors and landed in the middle of a service. Or at least, it seemed to be a service. The priest near the altar looked into his church with a peculiar smile on his face. Several people in the benches were nodding as if in approval of something. A small tad of applause could be heard in the back. But the church was for the most part filled with shocked silence.

"Hey, isn't that Mary Cherry?" Sam asked, pointing as someone in the front row.

It was indeed Mary Cherry, she looked like a fish on dry land, gasping for air and her eyes uncannily wide, but not seeing anything. Whatever had happened here had really shook her world.

"Ladies." A soft voice said.

Nicole and Sam, somehow knowing that they were the ones spoken to, turned around and saw a skeleton, dressed in a simple grey habit.

"What? No scythe?" Nicole asked. "I'm disappointed."

"This way please." The figure beckoned the girls to follow, which they did of course. It was why they were here in the first place.

"Hey, Death, could you tell me something?" Sam asked.

"Of course. But please, my name is Thanatos. I would very much prefer it if you would call me that."

"Ooookaaaayyyy." Sam said slowly. "Thanatos, do you happen to know what's on the other side?"

"No."

"Oh." Sam said, slightly disappointed. "Why not? I mean, it _is_ kinda your job, right?"

"I am bound to this earth, like everyone else here. We tend for it and take care of it, but we do not know what comes after it. It is my job to lead you to the doorway, not to follow you through it."

"Fair enough. I guess."

Thanatos opened a small door in the back of the church. Nicole and Sam instinctively tried to look through it, but saw nothing.

"So, this is it? We just walk through that door?" Nicole asked.Thanatos nodded.

"OK. Here goes nothing."

And with the two girls stepped through into whatever lay beyond.

The idea most people have about the afterlife is usually some large tunnel with a light at the end, or people walking around in white robes or something like that. But what Sam and Nicole ended up in looked more like a government building. Men and women in boring brown and grey suits were hurrying along, carrying lots of paper and trying to look both important and busy. A woman with short brown hair and wearing yet another boring brown suit walked up to them.

"Samantha McPherson and Nicole Julian?" She asked.

"That's us." Sam answered.

"This way please." And without waiting the woman turned around and walked away into the crowd of people.

After a short walk the three of them ended up in front of an office.

"The co-ordinator will see you now." The woman said, before she walked off.

Nicole and Sam kept staring at the door, not really sure what to do now.

"Well, I suppose we should go in." Sam said.

Nicole nodded. "Yup, we should."

The girls remained lingering outside the door a little longer.

"Oh, this is ridiculous!" Sam exclaimed as she reached for the door.The inside of the office looked exactly like any other office in the world. There was a desk facing the door, a chair behind it and a few file cabinets lined the wall. In the chair behind the desk sat a short bald man wearing glasses. He too wore a boring grey suit. The man was right now busy with writing something down. Undoubtedly it was just a grocery list, but by writing something and not looking at the persons who just came in you gave your visitors the impression that they were not very important.

The man looked up with a friendly, if somewhat fake, smile on his face.

"Please, sit down." He said and immediately there appeared two chairs for the girls to sit in. Which they did, of course.

"Now then," The man continued. "I must say that the two of you have really messed things up." His voice was much too cheerful for his 'bored bureaucrat'-exterior.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Well, you weren't supposed to die. Not yet."

"Excuse me?" Nicole asked. "Are you saying someone screwed up and we ended up dead?"

"Exactly." The man answered. "But the person in question who screwed up would be you. You see," The man stood up and started pacing his small office. "Destiny is a strange thing. There is indeed something resembling a 'grand plan'. But usually we only make sure that the right person is at the right place in the right time. What comes before or after that is completely up to themselves. Anyway," The man sat down again. "We have big plans for the both of you, so you can see your deaths are somewhat inconvenient."

Sam and Nicole merely stared at him with eyes that didn't really see anything, and mouths hanging very open.

"Stop that, you look ridiculous." The man said. Immediately two mouths snapped shut and four eyes started seeing again. "Much better."

"So… what happens now?" Sam asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." The man said cheerfully. "You see, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Did you know that Winston Churchill was killed in a car crash in 1938? Or that Abraham Lincoln died of cancer in 1852? Or that William of Orange was assassinated in 1563? Or that…"

"OK, OK, we get the point." Nicole interrupted. "Lots of important people died much to soon, we get the picture."

"Good." The man said. "Now then, the plan is simple, we send you back a day or so before Nicole was killed and you two are supposed to prevent it. Simple, isn't it?"

"Wait, won't that create enormous temporal paradoxes or something?" Sam asked.

"Of course it will." The man answered. "But don't you worry, we've got an entire department to deal with things like that."

The door opened and the woman with brown hair and the brown suit entered.

"You called?"

"Yes, I did." The man answered. "The girls are ready, please be so kind to send them back."

"Of course." The woman said. Then she looked over at Sam and Nicole. "This way please."

"You know," Nicole muttered. "I think I've heard 'this way please' one too many times today."

They walked once more through the din of people and ended up in front of another door.

"Let me guess, we go through that, we end up back in the past."

"Exactly." The woman answered. "Now then, if you would be so kind…"

Sam and Nicole looked at each other. This was not the way they thought eternity would turn out to be. Another chance at life was starting to sound pretty good.

They stepped through the doorway, determined to save themselves.

Part Two

NOTE: I would like to say at this point that I don't have anything against Christians or anyone else from any other religion. It's just the mindless fanatics who kill others in the name of their deity that I have problems with.

Nicole felt strange. To be more precise, she felt large. It was as if her limbs had become much too floppy and clumsy. A brief view at her own body quickly explained why.

She was not in her body.

She looked up to see some woman she had never seen before standing next to her. She was about her current height and had fiery red hair hanging on her shoulders.

"Sam?" Nicole asked.

"Nicole?"

"How do I look like?" Nicole asked.

"Taller." Sam said. "Brown hair, brown eyes, but still drop-dead gorgeous."

"Flatterer."

"Me?"

"The same. Except with red hair and blue eyes."

"Why do you think they did this?" Sam asked.

"Don't know, don't ask." Nicole answered simply. "As far as I'm concerned we're just gonna have to prevent me from dying and get it over with."

"We don't even know where, when or even who we are."

"I'm Nicole, you're Sam and we're in an alley during day time."

"Thank you Oh Wise One."

"Well, if you really want to know _all_ the details I suppose you shouldn't keep standing here, chattering like a mindless moron." Nicole said in her sweetest voice.

A quick trip to the nearest newspaper store revealed that they were indeed four hours before Nicole would die. And those four hours looked like an eternity. Trapped inside bodies that weren't quite their own, being spoken to by people they had never met. And the worst part of all was that they were human. And being human is probably the worst thing that could _ever_ happen to a werewolf. To a werewolf mind humans were trapped. Not only in one form, but also in a world that was completely disconnected from reality. Humans would never experience the freedom werewolves had at night, would never know what it was like to just get away from everything. Humanity had more or less unconsciously developed ways to emulate those feelings, but could never and would never truly experience them.

So being human again was a horrid feeling to both Nicole and Sam. But it also taught them one thing.

They would never be afraid of any kind of torture ever again, because nothing could be as horrible as this feeling of imprisonment.

You can imagine their relief as the sun started to paint the sky a bright red and orange. They were both huddled in the back of some alley, waiting for a man with a gun filled with silver bullets would enter.

They didn't have to wait long.

He looked fairly normal. His black hair cut short, his suit impeccable, his shoes well polished.

But some people say that eyes are to mirror of ones soul.

And if you were to look straight into those blue eyes hiding behind his glasses you could easily see that this soul was one of a fanatic.Nicole got up from her hiding spot behind a dumpster, ignoring the hushed objections from Sam.

"Hey there." She greeted the man. "What's a guy like you doing in an alley like this?"

The man looked at her for a moment as if he was searching for something. After he didn't find it he put on a friendly face.

"I could easily ask you the same question, madam." He said. "But rest assured, what I'm doing is for the good of humanity."

Nicole snickered. "Killing werewolves is _not_ for the good of humanity."

The man's friendly exterior fell away and became maniacal and paranoid. "How do you know of those foul creatures?" He demanded.

"I know a few." Nicole said

"Impossible." The man responded. "Werewolves are nothing more than mindless killers. Trust me, I know. If you truly knew one they would've killed you by now."

Nicole chuckled. "I think I know more about them than you do." She said. "And about the killing part, I'm pretty sure I'd have more to fear from you than from any werewolf."

And with that she launched herself at the man, knocking him over. She sat on his chest and started pounding his face. The man tried to block them at first, but then decided to use his arms to grab Nicole by her side and throw her off of him. He crawled back to his feet and drew his gun.

"Pray that the Lord will be merciful." He said as he aimed at Nicole.

"Shooting an unarmed woman? Yeah, you're definitely the saviour of humanity." She said sarcastically.

"You do not understand. I have been chosen to rid the earth of all the abominations that populate it. And nothing is allowed to get in my way."

"You're insane." Nicole cleverly remarked.

Meanwhile Sam still sat behind the dumpster, not seeing, but hearing what had been going on. She didn't know what to do. It was only a narrow alley so if she got up she would end up behind Nicole and in the man's line of fire. If she would climb on top of the dumpster she would be an easy target as well. She quickly put any doubts from her mind, jumped on top of the dumpster and from there leaped. The man was too taken by surprise and before he realised it he was on the ground again. Sam tried to wrestle the gun from his hands, but he was too strong for her. Nicole quickly ran over and started pounding his face yet again. The man instinctively tried to put his hands in front of his face to block the punches, but in doing so Sam managed to get her hands on the gun. She stood up and pointed it at the man, which was a tad difficult since Nic was still pounding away on him.

"Nic, that's enough." Sam said.

Nicole reluctantly got up and walked over to stand next to Sam.

"So, what are you going to do?" The man asked. "Kill me? Go ahead. The Lord is by my side and I have nothing to fear."

"Will you shut up?" Nicole said. "You know nothing about God."

"For one thing, I've got it from a pretty reliable source that the Lord is in fact the Lady." Sam added.

"Who told you that?" Nicole asked.

"Harrison." She answered, as if that explained everything. The brunette -or should I say redhead- turned her attention back to the man. "I think it'd be best if you'd just get lost."

"Sam!" Nicole exclaimed. "You can't do this. He'd just go after them… us… whatever… again."

"Nic, you should know by now that _we_ don't kill humans."

Nicole stared angrily at the man. "Well, you heard the lady. Get Lost."

The man got back up to his feet. "This isn't over yet. The righteous _will_ prevail."

Nicole sighed. "You just don't get it, do you?"

The man looked at them a few moments longer, basking in the knowledge that these heretics would find their just reward in due time. Then he turned around and left.

"Well, I suppose that's the end of that." Sam said.

"Not a moment too soon might I add." Nicole said. "Look, there I come."

And it was indeed Nicole Julian who came walking down street.

Blissfully ignorant of the fact that she would've been dead in a few minutes if it wasn't for herself and her girlfriend.

"So what happens now?" Nicole -the one who had been dead, but came back- asked.

"Beats me. This is the first time I did something like this. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"I just hope that I won't get stuck like this forever. I hate this human body."

"You and me both." Sam agreed, "Maybe we could ask you to bite us." She said, indicating the Nicole who had just passed them.

"Better not. We'd have a whole lot of explaining to do. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't believe it."

Brooke McQueen quietly ate her breakfast. Mike and Jane were gone off for some work-related business-meeting. Sam had probably met up with Nicole the other night and -knowing that the parents would be gone- stayed over with her. So Brooke sat at the kitchen table, completely alone.

Well, not _completely_ alone.

The voices that had haunted her ever since she came back from the Void were all around her. Brooke tried to ignore them, but with no-one around there was nothing could block them out or push them into the background. Somewhere deep down she was already convinced that the whispered accusations were true.

Brooke stopped eating and swung her arms around herself in a childish attempt to protect herself.

It didn't work.

The shadows made it quite clear that they were here to stay. They relentlessly continued tearing away at Brooke's mind and soul.Then it hit her. There _was_ a way to escape.

She made her way over to the cutlery drawer and took a knife. She ignored the question of why the shadows enthusiastically encouraged her.

Brooke winced once as the knife cut into her flesh.

Five minutes later Brooke lay on the floor in a puddle of her own blood.

Soon the shadows wouldn't bother any more.

She felt darkness creeping over her and rejoiced in the knowledge that she would free.

Part Three

NOTE: OK, there's a very obscure reference to another book in this part. Spotting it will be easy, but telling where it comes from will be harder.

Also, I'd like to point out that I REALLY NEED FEEDBACK! If I don't get feedback it's likely we'll never know whether everyone makes it or if everyone dies horribly. This is not a threat, it's a fact.

*65 minutes earlier*

Sam drowsily opened her eyes and looked straight at the neck of the other occupant of the bed. She turned over and looked at the clock. The night had come and gone. If she had been in her own body, at her own house instead of in this motel room she would probably be already up and about. But instead she turned around again and snuggled up against Nicole.

"You awake?" The other woman asked.

"Sorta." Sam answered.

"Why are we still here?" Nicole asked.

"Dunno." Came the muffled response.

"I mean…" Nicole shifted onto her back, causing Sam to lose her comfortable position. "We saved me from getting shot, right?"

"Yeah." Sam sighed.

"So, we both don't die, don't end up at that Afterlife Agency or something, so we both don't come back and rent a motel room with your credit card."

"It wasn't my credit card." Sam said. "It belongs to some 'Jennifer Madison', whoever that may be."

"That's not the point. The point is that we shouldn't be here. We shouldn't even exist, right?"

Sam sighed. "I don't know. And I don't care. Right now I'm stuck in here and I really don't like it."

"Know what you mean." Nicole chuckled. "Who'd have thought I'd ever crave for a piece of raw meat?"

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "But, bacteria, diseases." She sighed again. "Hey Nic?"

"Yeah?"

"What if we're stuck like this? What if we remain like this forever?"

Nicole shuddered. "I really don't want to think about that."

Sam sat up straight. "No, really. What're we gonna do?"

Nicole groaned. "Not now, please?"

Sam, however, was about to persist on the subject when someone quietly knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Sam asked.

"Your second chance." The voice behind the door answered.

Sam and Nicole looked at each other for a moment. Then they realised who it was.

"Just a sec!" Sam shouted as she frantically started searching for her clothes.

About two minutes later both Sam and Nicole were slightly presentable and Sam opened the door. The short bald man they had met before briskly strode into the room. He looked around for a moment before seating himself in the nearest chair.

"Now then, ladies, I suppose you have lots of questions, right?" He asked cheerfully

"How'd you guess." Nicole said sarcastically.

"Well, they'll have to wait. You know, it's a good thing you haven't finished your assignment yet." He continued.

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked. "I didn't get shot so I'd say we succeeded."

"Well, you didn't get shot _yet_, but that's not the point. You see, we have a bit of a problem."

"Another one?" Sam asked.

"Yes. The matter is that saving Nicole here has created a bit of a temporal paradox. Now normally we'd send our own men to handle something like this, but since you two are currently available…" He left the sentence hanging in the air with a much too wide grin on his face. "Anyway, in the reality where Nicole gets shot Samantha doesn't meet up with her and after a nights hunt she returns home. In the morning she accompanies Brooke at breakfast and everything turns out OK, for Brooke that is. Unfortunately in _this_ timeline Nicole and Samantha do meet each other and they spend the night at Nicole's house. This leaves Brooke all alone during breakfast." The man paused a moment. "If you would be so kind to turn on the television you will see the results."

Not really knowing what this guy was steering at Sam picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

The image of Brooke with her wrists cut open lying in her own blood appeared.

"Wha…?"

"H…?"

"Whe…?"

"Are you girls ever going to complete a coherent sentence?" The man asked cheerfully.

Sam was the first who managed to regain her composure. "When did this happen?"

"About thirty-five minutes from now." The man answered. "So I suggest you hurry. That is, if you really want to prevent this from happening." Even before the man had finished speaking Sam and Nicole had already left.

"Thought so." The man said smiling.

Brooke McQueen quietly ate her breakfast. Mike and Jane were gone off for some work-related business-meeting. Sam had probably met up with Nicole the other night and -knowing that the parents would be gone- stayed over with her. So Brooke sat at the kitchen table, completely alone.

Well, not _completely_ alone.

The voices that had haunted her ever since she came back from the Void were all around her. Brooke tried to ignore them, but with no-one around there was nothing that could block them out or push them into the background. Somewhere deep down she was already convinced that the whispered accusations were true.

Brooke stopped eating and swung her arms around herself in a childish attempt to protect herself.

The doorbell rang and for now the darkness around her retreated. When she opened the door she saw two women in their early thirties she had never seen before in her life stare at her with a slightly surprised look on their faces. The woman with red hair was the first to speak."Hi, you must be Brooke. Mike's told me so much about you."

The woman with brown hair briefly glanced over at the redhead with a look saying 'What the Hell do you think you're doing!?'

"Do I know you?" Brooke asked.

"I doubt it. The last time I saw you you were still in diapers." The redheaded woman stuck out her hand, smiling a strangely familiar smile. "Jennifer Madison. Your father and me used to be friends at High School."

"Really?" Brooke said, shaking the hand half-heartedly.

"Yes, really. Well, since I happened to be in the neighbourhood I thought I'd drop by. Is he home?"

"No." Brooke answered.

"Oh, well, can we come in?"

Normally Brooke would think twice before letting two complete strangers in, but since she didn't want to be alone right now.

"Sure, come on in." Brooke opened the door and allowed the two women to enter. "I believe I didn't catch your name?" She asked the brunette.

The woman looked like a deer caught in headlights for a moment.

"Rebecca Edenvale." She quickly said. "I'm Jenn's… partner."

"Are you her business partner or something?"

"Well… no."

"Oh." Brooke said. "Right." She added soon after.

"Well, this _is_ a nice house." 'Jennifer' said, completely going up in her role.

"Yeah, I guess." Brooke said, wondering why she had this vague feeling that she knew these two women. "Can I get you something to drink?" She offered. "I know it's still early, but…"

"No thanks." 'Jennifer' said as she sat down on the couch.

There was something about how this woman walked around like she owned the place that really started Brooke thinking. She knew the answer was right in front of her, but somehow it managed to hide itself excellently.

The front door opened and moments later Sam stood in the room. To Sam it was a very strange experience, looking at herself. Of course, Sam was completely oblivious to the fact that Sam was right now sitting on the couch.

"Brooke, who are these people?" Sam asked.

Before Brooke could answer 'Jennifer' spoke up. "I'm a friend of Mike's. We came around in the hopes of seeing him again, but since he isn't here I suppose we should get going." She stood up. "It was nice to meet you." She said to Brooke, smiling warmly.

A few seconds later Sam and Brooke stood alone in the room. Sam was looking at her with an expression that quite clearly said 'Would you mind telling me what the Hell that was all about?', while Brooke stood rather awkwardly and not really looking in any particular direction.

"'Rebecca Edenvale'?" Sam asked as she and Nicole started to make their way back to their motel room.

"Hey, I had to think of a name fast and it was the first that popped into my mind."

"And with good reason." A third voice said, mingling into the conversation. "For you see, the body Nicole right now inhabits is always called 'Rebecca Edenvale' whereas Sam is always 'Jessica Madison'. It's really quite simple."

"So you do this sort of thing a lot then?" Nicole asked, not really surprised that that little bald guy had shown up once again.

"Oh yes, I'm afraid so. Earth has always been very problematic. But of course, that makes it all that much more fun, doesn't it?"

"If you have a very strange and disturbing view of 'fun', then yes." Sam said. "But personally I'm already sick of it. I want my own body back."

"In due time." The man said. "Still, I must congratulate you on the way how you handled it. It was simply brilliant improvisation, especially for an amateur such as yourself."

"Gee, thanks." Sam said sarcastically. Right now she couldn't really care. All she wanted to do now is go to sleep next to Nicole and either wake up her werewolf self again or not at all.

"Don't worry." The man said as if reading Sam's mind. "As soon as you're finished here you won't have any more problems."

"Then what else do we need to do!?" Sam asked angrily. "We already saved Nic _and_ Brooke. What more is there?"

"Oh no. You haven't saved them yet. You've just postponed their deaths for a while." The man was silent for a moment, thinking over whether he would tell them or not. "You see…" He started hesitantly. "Saving Nicole will be quite simple. Just stop the human hunting her

permanently. Brooke will be slightly more difficult. She needs to be at the right place with the right person at the right time. If one of the three is missing then she will succumb to her shadows and die."

"Great, that's really helpful." Nicole said. She too was in a very sarcastic mood right now. "And would you mind telling us where, with who and when that's going to be?"

"Sorry, not really allowed to. Rules and regulations, you know."

"Figures." Nicole muttered.

"But who cares about rules anyway? It needs to happen tomorrow night, understand? I suggest you prepare for that."

"OK, that's a start." Sam said. "Any specific time?"

"No, anywhere tomorrow night will do. I'll leave the 'where' and 'with who' parts up to you. After all, that shouldn't be very difficult."

The man smiled that broad grin again which was seriously starting to annoy both Sam and Nicole. It gave them the feeling that all this was just one big joke to him. As if playing with their lives was a very humorous pastime. Sam almost expected the man to pluck a piece of orange silk out of the air any second now. "Well, I need to get going, someone's gonna die in a plane crash above India and I've got to prevent it." And with that the man disappeared again.

Part Four

NOTE: Wow, seems like I unleashed an entire feedback-debate, just because my non-existent self-esteem needed a little boosting. Makes me feel ashamed I don't give feedback myself very often.Oh and Aeryn, I apologise for playing with your mind, but honestly, what kind of a fic would this be if everything went along smoothly? But apart from that I got a little problem. I already have an ending and a climactic battle-scene just before that, but I just don't really know how to get there. Anyway, on with the story...

Jack Peterson was furious. He could not believe that his mission had been interrupted so gravely by two women. Two women who now also possessed most of his precious silver bullets. To make matters even worse he hadn't managed to rid the world of another werewolf. Time was running out, Jack had already sold his house. It was a lesson he had learned dearly. Never stick around too long after shooting a werewolf. He had to be out of here by tomorrow, but he was determined to make the world a bit brighter once again. Sure, he knew that this process was slow, tedious and expensive, but in the end all would be well.He was sure of it.

He searched his now almost empty house looking for his other gun. He grinned as he saw that there were still enough bullets inside.

Enough bullets for one werewolf and two meddlers who stood in the way of the Lord's will.

The first thing Sam did when returning to the motel room was turning on the radio. She pulled a chair close to it and sat down, listening intently. After a few moments she sighed relieved and leaned back. It hadn't come.

"Good news?" Nicole asked.

Sam closed her eyes and swallowed difficult once. She then started speaking in a monotone and very rhythmic voice. "The body of a young girl has been found dead this morning. She had been shot in the chest three times. The body was later identified to be from one Nicole Julian. Police are still investigating the case at this time and have found no suspects yet. Nicole Julian's parents were unavailable for comment." Sam got quiet again and stared in the direction of the radio, even though she didn't really see it.

Nicole knelt down next to the chair and put her head on Sam's shoulders. Tears started to make their way down Sam's face.

"It's OK." Nicole whispered soothingly. "We prevented it, remember?"

Sam tried to say anything, but didn't manage to form any words. Instead she simply kept crying.

Time progressed like it always did and during that time Sam and Nicole were breaking their heads over the question of what to do now. They had stationed themselves more or less around Kennedy High, hoping that when the answer came to them they just might be able to carry it out instantly. But after hours of thinking and wandering around aimlessly they felt like they were still no closer to finding out.

"There just has to be a logical solution." Nicole said suddenly. "OK, what happened the night you died?" She asked soon after.

"Not really sure." Sam answered. "I left home, beat up Clive's bar… but after that it gets kinda blurry. The only thing I remember after that is seeing my heart monitor indicating that I'm dead."

"You beat up Clive's bar?" Nicole asked amused.

"Yeah, well, I was upset. I had to blow off some steam. Well, what did you do?"

"Lemme think." Nicole said. "I attended my funeral in the morning. By the way, I just want you to know that I'm still a little angry at you for not showing up."

Sam shrugged. "Meaningless human ritual." Was all she said.

"After that I kinda walked around town, looking for you. When night came I still hadn't found you, so I went to Brooke to ask for help." Nicole left out the part that she went to Brooke in panic and on the brink of tears. "Anyway, I managed to trace you to the church and since I couldn't go in there I sent Brooke." Nicole was quiet for a few moments longer. "Then I saw you being picked up by an ambulance, so I followed. I spent the rest of the night in your room. Well, that's not entirely true. I also talked to Brooke for a while outside the hospital."

They were silent as they turned a corner and once again walked past the school's front gate.

"Was Brooke alone at the hospital?" Sam asked.

"I think so. No, wait, Lily was there too." Nicole said with a sheepish grin.

"Still blocking the unpopulars out of your memory, huh?" Sam asked smiling

"I can't help it. It's a subconscious reflex. But I'm working on it."

Sam became silent as an idea entered her mind. Well, it didn't exactly 'enter' her mind, more sneaked in by the back door and hid in a corner, while Sam was now busy to lure it out in the open again. Then the proverbial light bulb was switched on.

"Tomorrow night in the church with Lily." Sam said.

"Huh, I thought it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick." Nicole remarked.

"What?" Sam said distracted. "No. I mean, think about it. You've been with Brooke for most of the night that night, or tomorrow night or whatever. And while you were with her nothing really special happened. The only time you _weren't_ with her was when she was inside the church. And then later she shows up at the hospital accompanied by Lily. Something happened at the church, I'm sure of it."

"Well, you got a point." Nicole agreed after thinking about it. "But how do we get her there with Lily on time?" She asked.

"One problem at the time, OK?" Sam said. "I think we need to focus more on keeping both you and her alive long enough to do something."

"Too bad we're not dead." Nicole said.

"Excuse me? I probably didn't hear that right."

"Look if we were dead we could ask some other dead guys to keep Brooke company so she won't do anything stupid. Like commit suicide again."

Their conversation was cut short as when someone tapped on both their shoulders. Sam and Nicole turned around and saw teenagers flooding out of the school gate. They also saw Lily looking at them suspiciously.

"Don't I know you two?" Lily asked. Her face turned into a mask of disbelief a few seconds later. "Sam? Nicole? Wha… I mean, how? I just saw you. And in your own bodies too." Her face turned from surprise to an intrigued frown. "Why aren't you in your own bodies?"

"How do you know it's us?" Sam asked, completely baffled by the fact Lily recognised her.

"I can see who people really are. It's a trick I learned from a soulreader once. Only usually it's more about character." Lily explained. "Now, would you mind telling me what's going on?"

Nicole smiled as a plan formed inside her mind. She put her arm around Lily's shoulder, earning a slightly suspicious look from the brunette, and more or less dragged her along with her.

"Lily, we need to talk." She started, gesturing for Sam to follow her.

Part Five

NOTE: A writer on another list said that any spelling mistakes should be blamed on her beta-reader. Unfortunately since I don't have a beta-reader all spelling mistakes should be blamed on me, after which I can blame them on the fact that English isn't my primary language. OK, this had nothing to do with anything, so I'll just get on with the fic.

And remember, this is not meant to insult Christianity. Well, not much anyway.

"Wow."

"We know."

"You're really not joking, huh?"

"Nope."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I think we already covered that part."

Lily buried her head in her hands, not wanting to think. Unfortunately one thought kept haunting her mind.

(Everyone's going to die.)

Sam and Nicole had retreated into a tactical silence as well. After having explained Lily the whole story they wanted to give the little brunette a little time for herself. Time they really didn't have, but that was needed all the same.

"So… If Brooke is alone for too long she kills herself?" Lily asked, desperation evident in her voice.

"Yeah." Sam said sadly.

"But… How? Why?"

"We don't know." Sam answered. "We just know that it will."

Lily looked up with more determination than anyone had ever seen before in her. "Well, I'm not gonna stand by and let that happen. I can't let that happen." She stood up and went to get her coat. "I have to go."

"Good." Nicole said. "Now, remember…"

"Yeah, yeah. Church, tomorrow night, I got it."

"Good." Nicole said again.

Nicole and Sam let out a sigh simultaneously as the door slammed shut.

One problem solved, one more to go.

"I think he's already hunting."

Nicole Julian looked away from the window through which she had just been peeking. She turned to look at Sam who looked back with a smile on her face.

"Well then, let's see what's inside."

"Not much." Nicole said. "All I saw was an empty room. And I do mean _empty_."

Sam shrugged and walked over to the front door.

"You don't really think he left that unlocked, now did you?"

Soundlessly the door glided open.

"You were saying?" Sam said smugly.

Nicole didn't answer and followed Sam into the house.

Like Nicole had already said, the house was empty. Only a few bare necessities were left.

"Well, seems like our favourite fundamentalist isn't too fond of furniture." Sam remarked.

"Speaking of, I always wondered one thing about those guys."

"Yeah? What's that?" Sam asked as she looked through a rather empty closet.

"Well, they say they follow the letter of the Bible, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much the problem."

"But, somehow they always manage to forget the story about the Roman centurion."

"Don't think I heard that one before." Sam said as she continued searching.

"Basically it's about this Roman centurion and one of his men is really ill, so he goes to Jesus and humbly asks him if He could do anything about it. And then Jesus is really surprised to find so much faith in a man from a different religion."

"Well, now I know why I don't know that one." Sam remarked as she headed into an empty kitchen.

"If you wanna read it it's Luke, chapter 7, verses 1 through 10." Nicole said.

"Never thought you knew the Bible by heart." Sam said.

"I don't. I use just that one to annoy Jehovah's Witnesses."

Sam chuckled as she wandered back into the main room. "Look what I found."

"What?"

"Papers. The guy who lived here sold this house and has rented an apartment in Detroit."

"Probably to decimate the werewolf population a little more over there." Nicole remarked darkly.

"'Decimate the werewolf population?'" Sam said. "Nic, are you alright?"

"No." She answered. "I'm starting to think like a human again."

"Don't worry. Tomorrow night it'll all be over. One way or the other." Sam looked at Nicole with a half smile on her face. "Come on. Let's see if we can find that guy."

Jack grinned as he saw two girls approaching. Well, not exactly girls. Demons taking human form to corrupt mankind. Jack took out his gun and aimed. He briefly wondered who to shoot first. The short blonde? Or the taller brunette? Ah, so many decisions to be made in such a short time. It didn't really matter of course. They'd both die. He decided to shoot the brunette first. The blonde had this strange air of aggressive arrogance and he wanted to see her face when her companion died before her very eyes. It was one of the few pleasures his laborious task provided him. Smiling he carefully took aim. His finger was about to pull to the trigger when he pushed down from behind. He randomly fired one shot into the air as he hit the ground. He felt one pair of hands trying feebly to wrestle the gun from his hand.

Then he felt something pressed hard against his skull and heard a click.

"Drop it or I'll shoot." He heard a voice say. "I'm serious."

Jack reluctantly let go of the gun and felt the pressure going from his back. He stood up, holding his hands in the air. As he turned around he saw that his assailants were the two women who had stopped him yesterday.

"You know, hiding in the same alley twice is a really bad idea." The woman with brown hair said.

"How did you get behind me?" Jack demanded.

"That's really not that difficult. That wall over there isn't all _that_ high and it's easy to climb over it." The redhead said.

Jack suddenly smiled. The girls were with their backs to the entrance of the alleyway and therefor didn't see the two demons slowly sneaking up behind them. Perhaps the demons had decided to take out the aggressors first, which in this case were these two heavily misguided souls who now held him at gunpoint.

The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed.

When the two women were suddenly grabbed from behind by the two abominations Jack saw his opportunity.

"I suggest you break this up and head your merry way, understand?" The small blonde practically growled.

"You idiots!" The brown-haired woman screamed.

Jack leaped forward and quickly managed to regain both his guns. He smiled as he quickly aimed.

"Pray for your souls people. If you have any."

The sound of gunshots filled the air, followed by the sound of a body hitting asphalt.

"NIC!"