Title: A Matter of Life and Death

Author: Jos Mous

Email: wotan_anubis@yahoo.com

Part Six

NOTE: I wasn't really sure if I would post this _now_, but I decided to do so anyway. After all isn't fanfic (or any fiction for that matter) at least partly meant to escape reality for a while? And Carla, I really hope your family is OK.

Lily liked the dark. It felt like that's where she belonged, the place where she could be herself. In the dark she didn't have to hide who and what she really was. She loathed the fact that each day she had to lie to her friends. But they couldn't find out, it'd destroy their world. She often wondered if it hadn't been a mistake to tell Brooke, even after everything the blonde had already gone through.

Brooke.

Lily knew that the girl loved her completely and unconditionally, but she just couldn't figure out why. What had she ever done to deserve someone like her? Lily often felt ashamed of the fact that she couldn't love Brooke with the same intensity. She continuously feared the day that Brooke would realise that and that the dream she'd been living would turn into a nightmare. But for now she felt content to just hold the girl in her arms as she slept. Brooke mumbled incoherently a few times in her sleep and managed to snuggle up to her even closer. Lily absentmindedly stroked Brooke's hair, traced the line of her jawbone, descended down her neck and abruptly halted at the bite marks.

Bite marks.

Oh God, what had she done?

It had been earlier in the evening. They had been watching some movie together when all of the sudden Brooke had turned around and looked at her.

"Are you hungry?"

For a brief moment Lily had thought Brooke was talking about snacks or something.

She wasn't.

What on earth had compelled her to offer herself to Lily? To risk the possibility that she might not be able to hold back? True, she was still partly human, but a part of her was also a vampire. A much larger part. And that part had been very hungry.

Lily closed her eyes as she tried to block out the memories that flooded her.

The sound of a heartbeat pounding wildly in Brooke's chest.

The taste of Brooke's blood on her tongue.

The sound of Brooke's ragged breathing close to her ear.

The feeling of Brooke's body pressed closely against her own.

The corrupt feeling of power that filled her as the blood that Brooke had freely given her flowed through her.

Lily swallowed her tears when she remembered what Brooke had hoarsely whispered just before she had taken her fangs out of that delicate neck.

"I love you."

Lily felt a deep feeling of shame coming over her once more. Brooke had offered her very life to her, to do with as she saw fit.

She didn't deserve it.

She didn't deserve her.

Maybe it was better if she just left.

Maybe she should just bring her to that church tomorrow night and then leave.

She looked at sleeping figure lying next to her. That peaceful smile on her face that could melt the coldest of hearts. She felt a strange but pleasant ache fill her heart as she realised that she could never leave this heavenly creature.

Without knowing it, Lily loved Brooke just as much as she loved her.

Nicole Julian spent too much of her life in hospitals. It had all started with Lily and her sudden and mysterious blood loss, then Brooke slowly withering away in a coma, Sam dying because of her and now herself, unconscious with a bullet in her body.

Jack had been careless when he managed to retrieve his guns. He barely took the time to aim properly and before he had pulled the triggers Sam and Nicole had already figured out the real situation. The fact that one of the guns wasn't loaded had also been helpful. After a few random shots and a short struggle Jack had managed to escape, but only because they had let him go. There was someone else who had been more important.

And now here she was, looking through a large window into a hospital room at herself lying in bed and Sam sitting in a chair next to it, whispering soft pleas to wake up again.

Rationally Nicole knew that the girl was going to wake up. No vital organs had been hit and werewolves healed much quicker. But Nicole knew all too well that information like that meant nothing if it concerned someone you love.

Ironically the red-haired Sam standing next to her displayed almost no emotion.

"Why are we like that?" Nicole asked.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked calmly.

"You know, only openly displaying emotions when the other can't see it."

"I don't know." Sam answered honestly.

"We should do something about that."

"Yeah, we should."

An uncomfortable silence descended over the two girls. After a few moments Nicole groaned annoyed.

"Where's that little bald guy when you need him?" She said angrily .

"We don't need him." Sam said, relieved about the change of subject. "You're not dead. And to my knowledge, neither is Brooke."

"Yeah, but he got away Sam." Nicole said, referring to Jack. "He might just show up here tomorrow and kill me while I'm defenceless."

"No he won't." Sam said. "I think I know myself well enough to know that I won't let him see tomorrow."

Sam proved to be right. After a few more minutes the door to the room opened and Sam left the room with grim determination in her eyes.

"It's not gonna work." Sam said calmly.

Sam looked at her with fury in her eyes. "You know nothing about me. Leave me alone." She growled.

"We saved both your lives twice already and this is how you thank us?" Nicole said. "Honestly, werewolves these days. No respect for others."

Sam eyed them suspiciously. "How do you know about us?"

"Ah, so you _can_ pay attention to us mere humans."

Sam started to back away. "I have no time for this."

Sam had already turned around and was about to go as she felt a hand on her arm stopping her. "I'm sorry about Rebecca. Sometimes she just doesn't know when to shut up." The red-haired woman said in rather fond tones.

Sam turned around and looked at the redhead. There was something very familiar about her. She instinctively felt like she could trust this human, even though she had no idea why.

Sam freed her arm from her grip, crossed it along with her other arm in front of her chest and stared angrily at the woman. She might be able to like her, but that didn't mean she was going to show it. "OK, I'm listening."

Part Seven

NOTE: 'In light of recent events' (God, don't you just hate that phrase?) I've decided to push the main plot onto the background for a while.

The darkness of the night was already fading when Sam crawled through the window into her bedroom. She'd much rather stayed at the hospital, but the staff had told her in no uncertain terms that she couldn't. It wasn't until she curled up on the floor next to an unused bed that she realised that she just as easily could've come in through the front door since the parents weren't home. Old habits die hard and all that. It didn't really matter anyway. The conversation she had with the women at the hospital briefly played through her mind. While the small speech had sounded goo it had basically came down to 'we know what we're doing, so you better stay out of it'. Sam wasn't about to follow their advice of course, but right now she didn't really think about it. Right now she only wanted Nicole awake, OK and next to her.

Sam yawned and closed her eyes. Maybe she could get a little sleep in before the new day awoke.

She found herself wading through the snow. As she looked around she discovered that she was in a forest covered in snow. The sky was bright and cloudless and a little sun provided light, but not warmth. That wasn't much of a problem since her fur could easily take the cold. She started wandering through the trees, not really caring where she was or where she was going, just enjoying the white landscape. Before long she came across a black wolf with a small patch of white fur between the ears. The other wolf was lying on the ground, sleeping. She walked over to the over wolf and gently prodded her nose against the other wolf's neck. After a few moments the black wolf opened her eyes and yawned. She got up and shook the snow out of her fur. She then looked at her and she briefly growled excitedly in greeting.

She growled back.

The black wolf turned, but kept looking at her inviting her to follow her.

Which she did, of course.

A small way off two humans had watched the exchange. They smiled, but their eyes betrayed that they weren't exactly carefree. Still, the two were content to just watch the wolves, who by now were engaged in a playful and almost childish chase through the frozen forest. The two humans turned around and walked away, satisfied in the knowledge that everything would turn out fine eventually.

Brooke slowly opened her eyes and found her bed empty. A tinge of panic came over her, but it quickly evaporated when Lily sat down at the edge of her bed. The brunette smiled at her, but Brooke could see the feeling of guilt in her eyes.

"Good afternoon." Lily greeted cheerfully.

"What time is it?" Brooke asked, at the moment only technically awake."Noon-ish." Lily answered. "I considered waking you, but I figured you could use a little rest."

(Mainly because I drained a lot of your blood.) She thought, but didn't say.

She didn't have to. Brooke could guess her mind.

"I don't regret it." Brooke stated simply.

"I know you don't." Lily responded. "But you can't stop me from feeling guilty for hurting you."

"You didn't hurt me."

"That's just because of the sedating toxins."

"That's not what I meant." Brooke said. She crawled up to a sitting position and looked Lily in the eyes. "I wanted to give you something, something personal."

"I know." Lily said. "But I'm just afraid I'd go too far. That I might kill you or turn you into something like me."

"I'm not." Brooke responded. "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat if you asked me to."

"I know." Lily said again. "And it scares the Hell out of me. Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful and I wish I could repay you somehow, but I'll suppose I have to settle on this."

She leaned forward, took Brooke's head in her hands and kissed the blonde. They stayed like that for a few moments and after their mouths broke free didn't let go for several minutes. At last Lily reluctantly let go.

"Come on, I'll make you some…" She was about to say 'breakfast', but since the morning was already over she said: "…thing to eat."

Brooke eagerly applauded the idea. She'd never admit it, but the blood loss had weakened her, hence the fact that she slept the morning away. And now her body wanted to make up for the loss by eating as much as she could.

Sam reluctantly returned to the world of the awake. The images from her dream where still vivid in her imagination and she smiled. Nic was OK, she knew it. She stood up and noticed. Much to her chagrin, that she was human. Right now she didn't feel like having two arms and two legs, but she sadly realised that shifting right now was not a good idea. While Brooke knew about her and Nicole being werewolves Sam didn't think she'd react normally when a wolf came into the room. And besides, going down a flight of stairs was considerably harder as a wolf. She straightened her clothes a little, brushed a hand through her hair and decided that was enough to make her presentable for now.

She eventually came into the kitchen and was met with a rather strange sight. Brooke was sitting in front of a plate filled with all kinds of food which she was now hungrily shoving down her throat. Lily just sat by and watched amused.

"Hi." Sam greeted.

In a single movement both Lily and Brooke looked up to her. Brooke tried to smile as elegantly as she could with her mouth full, but Lily looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Hey Sam." Lily greeted back, nervousness in her voice.

Sam was about to ask just why Lily was so nervous when she noticed something. Something that gave Lily every right to be nervous, something which also explained why Brooke was so uncharacteristically hungry.

"Lily," Sam asked in a cold, even tone. "Why are there bite marks on Brooke's neck?"

Part Eight

NOTE: Sorry it's rather short. Seems I've hit a writer's block. I'm presently waiting for it to be cleared.

BORING VOICE-OVER: "Previously on 'A Matter of Life and Death'."

Cut to McQueen/McPherson kitchen. LILY is sitting on a chair, smiling to BROOKE who is hungrily eating.

Enter SAM

SAM: "Hi."

Cut to BROOKE, smiling with her mouth full

Cut back to complete view of kitchen

LILY: {nervous} "Hey Sam."

Close-up on SAM, whose eyes narrow

SAM: {cold and even tone} "Lily, why are there bite marks on Brooke's neck?"

BORING VOICE-OVER: {tries to sound exciting, but fails miserably} "And now the continuation."

Lily's eyes quickly flashed between the marks on Brooke's neck and the oppressed anger in Sam's eyes. She realised she needed a very good excuse very badly.

"It's not what you think." She quickly said. She winced inwardly as she realised she had just used the worst excuse ever invented in the history of mankind.

"I think you drank from Brooke, is that right?" Sam said, her voice carefully held neutral.

"OK… so it is what you think." Lily said lamely.

"I see." Sam said calmly. But both Lily and Brooke knew an outburst was just about to happen. They didn't have to wait long. "What the HELL did you THINK you were DOING!?" Sam actually managed to shout several words in capital letters for further emphasis, a skill she rarely used. She glared venomously at Lily for a few moments, trying to regain a facade of control. "Lily, you used to be my friend, so I'll be kind and kill you swiftly." She said through clenched teeth. "What would you like on your tombstone?"

"I won't let you do that Sam." Brooke said determined.

"Stay out of this!" Sam growled, just barely managing to keep using human words. "You have no idea what she's done!"

"I know _exactly_ what she's done." Brooke said, positioning herself in front of Sam, and staring her right in the eyes. "I know everything about the effects of vampire toxins. Probably even more than you. It was a decision _I_ made and I don't regret it."

"You what!?" Sam hissed. "Don't tell me you just suddenly bared your neck for her."

"I did." Brooke stated, daring Sam to say anything about it.After a few more moments Sam broke the staring contest, which in her mind meant admitting defeat. For now. She then glared at Lily.

"OK, so I admit it wasn't what I thought. Just know that I'm really not happy about any of this, and that I'm very mad at you for accepting." She turned her attention back to Brooke. "As for you, we're gonna put a bandage on there. And I don't want to see it removed or punctured before it's completely healed, understand?"

Before Brooke could say anything else, she had already disappeared with Sam from the kitchen. Not that she had really wanted to say anything, because arguing with a very angry werewolf is not a wise thing to do.

"When were you bitten?" Sam asked as she tried to clean the wound.

"Early last night." Brooke answered.

Sam growled something, which was probably a word that couldn't exist in the human language and had most likely something to do with either parentage, the status of several specific bodily functions or the blasphemous use of the name of a certain deity. "So the toxins are already in your bloodstream." Sam sighed. "God, Brooke, what were you thinking?"

"Will you give it a rest?" Brooke asked annoyed. "You're not my mother."

"No, I'm not. But obviously I'm the only one with a working set of brains around here." Sam worked silently on the wound for a few moments longer. "There, all patched up." She said. "And I don't want to see that removed for a very long time, understood?"

Brooke sighed. "Yes mommy."

Sam grumbled a few more displeased sounds and left.

Brooke waited until the door was closed before she started talking.

"Hi Danny, whatcha got? … Calm down, you're not making any sense. … Yes, it's a very nice feather. … You found it _where_? …. Nah, it was probably just a pigeon."

Pete Ferguson was a very rational man. He was also a doctor. These two facts have little to do with each other if it wasn't for the fact that his job required him to be at the hospital and that his logical view on the world had left him in a bit of a shock.

For you see, dogs were not allowed in this hospital. So when he saw one walking down the corridor he tried to somehow grab it. The dog was obviously displeased about it and started growling and struggling. Fortunately Pete was a very strong guy so he managed to more or less hang on to the dog. To say that he had actually stopped it would be an exaggerration, but at least he had managed to hamper it. After a while he had pushed the dog to the ground, all the while thinking that wrestling with a dog shouldn't be so difficult. The dog had started barking ferociously and had easily thrown Pete off. The dog had run away, turned a corridor and disappeared. Pete had looked everywhere, but the only thing he had found was a girl waiting in front of a doctor's office.

It just didn't make sense. First of all, dogs didn't just appear in the middle of a hospital, second dogs didn't just disappear in the middle of a hospital and last of all dogs were not so insanely strong.Pete was sitting in the cafeteria, waiting for that one moment of clarity that would explain everything, that would make sense of everything.

It didn't come.

With a trembling hand he managed to bring his cup of coffee to his lips. It was then that he noticed that the dog had bitten him. Pete was quietly pleased about this. Now he could go find a bandage and maybe some disinfectant. Now he could go do something to distract his mind so that he didn't have to think about dogs for now, or forever.

Part Nine

NOTE: I finally managed to beat the game 'Septerra Core'. And man, am I upset about the ending. Two of the main characters, who I thought had definite slash potential, die! One is (mortally?) wounded, the other sacrifices her own life to save the world! It's not fair! :( I'm so pissed off I'm gonna write a fanfic in which everything turns out OK again.
After I finish this one of course.

"Nurse, the girl in room 241, where did she go?"

Jessica Partridge looked up from her position behind the desk. In front of her there were two women, who seemed slightly upset.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.

"Well, simply put, we would like to know if the girl in 241 has already left the hospital."

Jessica checked her computer. Well, there it was: Room 241, Nicole Julian, bullet wound, staying for observation.

"No, she's still here." She said.

"No she's not." One of the women said.

"But the computer says…"

"Yeah, I know what the computer says. But right now the computer is wrong."

Jessica stood up from behind her desk. "Alright, let's go check it out."

She calmly walked down the small hallway to room 241. When she opened the door she discovered that the room was indeed empty. She immediately ran back to her desk to report this. Then she looked back at the two women to say something comforting like 'don't worry, we've got it under control'. But the women were already gone.

Sam and Nicole were hastily making their way towards the exit. Nicole was gone, and it was very likely that she hadn't gone to buy a new pair of shoes.

"OK, you know yourself best, what would you do?" Sam asked.

"Depends." Nicole answered. "If I were a wolf I'd just go to your house, pick up you and go hunting for the guy who shot me."

"And if you were human?"

"The same. Only I'd go home to get a change of clothes first. I mean, come on, you do not see Nicole Julian walking around in a hospital gown, now would you?"

"So we'd better go to my place then." Sam stated.

"Sounds like a good idea."

"And if you're not there, what good excuse do we have for showing up?"

"One problem at a time Sam."

The two of them passed a small room with the door standing wide open. Inside stood a man who was whistling a merry tune as he was bandaging his right hand. The bandage had already turned a light red colour , but somehow the man just couldn't look any happier.

Yeah, humans were definitely strange beings.

Of course, unknown to all three of them the man was not human any more.

Nicole Julian quickly walked through the streets. She found it slightly amusing that nobody really seemed to notice her. Sometimes people would look at her strangely, but after a while they would always look away again, knowing that she could not be a wolf, but just some overgrown stray dog. If she was a three-horned dinosaur people would probably think she was an overgrown stray salamander or something. What worried her more was the taste of blood in her mouth. She didn't really know why she should be tasting blood right now. Then she thought back at the fight she had with that doctor and groaned inwardly. She had been barking fiercely and he had tried to restrain her. Then he had more or less managed to grab a hold on her head. It was probably somewhere during that short period that he had accidentally got his hand between her jaws during another bark.

Needless to say, Nicole was not happy about it. They couldn't just go around biting people, for not all humans make good werewolves. Sure it had occurred before, but it showed a lack of self-control. What was even worse was that she was going to be the one who had to break the news to that guy. How she was going to do that she didn't really know. She didn't even know where that guy lived and even if she did she couldn't just barge into his house and say 'Hi, guess what, you're a werewolf!'. Fortunately it was still several more weeks before full moon, so she had a little time. Maybe if she just shifted in front of his eyes? That would explain a lot, but he'd probably freak.

Nicole decided then and there that if she ever was going to get caught in a fight with a human again she'd shut up to make sure she didn't bite anyone.

Well, first things first. She put the all thoughts about the human from her mind, crawled up to her hind legs and managed to push the doorbell. After a few moments the door opened.

"Hi Nic, come on in." Brooke said as she held the door open. "Good thing the parents aren't home." She added. "I take it you're looking for Sam?" She asked.

Nicole growled in agreement. Brooke probably couldn't understand what she had just said, but she was more than able to guess.

"She's in her room. And at the moment not talking to me."

Nicole wanted to ask why, but for that she would have to shift and she wasn't _that_ interested to find out right now.

With little effort she clambered up the stairs and before long she had sneaked into Sam's room, grateful for the fact that the door hadn't been closed properly.

Sam quickly noticed her. Smiling she walked over and sat down next to her.

"Hey," She said. "Never would've thought you'd be released so soon."

"I wasn't." Nicole casually said back. "I just decided to leave."

Sam stroked through Nicole's fur, earning a very pleased sound that emanated from somewhere in the wolf's chest. "Any plans for today?" Sam asked.

"I had, but I rather enjoy this." Nicole lay down on, and put her head on Sam's lap, looking at her with the best puppy-dog eyes she could muster.

Sam laughed. "You know that technique only works with cute little puppies."

"Seems like it does a good enough job."

Sam gently smoothed Nicole's black fur in silence for several moments longer.

"I love you."

Nicole was a little surprised by this. Sam wasn't the kind of person who would say something like that very regularly. Come to think of it, neither was she.

"Love you too Sam."

"I know I don't say or show it very often, but…"

"But?"

"Last night, when you got shot, I was so scared. Afraid of losing you, of never experiencing moments like this ever again."

They remained together like that for some time. Simply content with who they were, where they were and with whom they were. Any thoughts of hunting were far from their minds and it would've stayed that way for quite some time if the doorbell hadn't rung again a second time that day.

Part Ten

Brooke was a clever girl, even when she was at a loss for words there could be a hundred thoughts racing through her mind. She would never have guessed that there would be a time when her mind got completely stuck on one word. However, that time had now arrived.

"Wow."

In her defence of course is the fact that Lily had the exact same response after hearing the almost the exact same story. Sam and Nicole had left out the part of Brooke's death, since they thought that would probably derail her thoughts even more, if that was possible.

"So…" Brooke managed to say after a while. "You got shot."

Nicole nodded.

"And because of that Sam died as well."

This time Sam nodded.

"Wow."

"Boy, this conversation brings back memories." Sam muttered, earning a slap on the arm from Nicole. Lily would've slapped her too if she wasn't sitting at the other end of the table.

The sound of footsteps entered the kitchen and in came Sam and Nicole, still as a wolf. Brooke looked up at them with a strange and slightly stunned look. Fearing she might start saying stuff that the two werewolves were not meant to know Lily, Nicole and Sam all gave her a simultaneous warning glare.

Sam instantly recognised the two women sitting at the table.

Or at least, she thought she did.

"OK, who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked unfriendly.

"No need to thank us. It was our pleasure saving both you and your girlfriend." Nicole said.

"Thank you." Sam said, with only a hint of sarcasm. "But forgive me if I don't show more gratitude. I have no clue who the Hell you are, but you do keep showing up."

"That might be a little difficult to explain." Sam quickly said before Nicole had a chance to put a word in. "Suffice to say we're hunting for the same guy."

"Why?" Sam asked, still looking rather unfriendly.

"For the same reason as you do. He killed someone very dear to me." Sam answered. "And since you're his current targets we better stick close to you."

"Fair enough." Sam said. "If you want you can help us track him down."

Nicole growled something and Sam and Nicole were a little upset to find that they couldn't understand her.

"I know." Sam answered. "But if we don't go now they might go out on their own and we'd probably have less chance of finding him."

Nicole growled something in return which caused a mischievous smile on Sam's face. "I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow." The brunette then turned her attention back to the other two women. "OK, lead the way." She said just before she shifted.

Day slowly turned into evening and with each passing hour Lily became more nervous. This did not go unnoticed to Brooke who had already managed to get her brain functioning properly again a few hours ago.

"Lily, what's wrong?" Brooke asked.

"Nothing." Lily answered. She looked out of the window as if waiting for something, then paced around some more.

Brooke stood up from the couch she was sitting on and in doing so she launched a small white feather into the air. She briefly followed it for a while until it was snagged away by Danny. The little dead boy really liked feathers for some reason. Brooke watched him scurry out the room before she walked over to Lily. She managed to get behind the girl and draped her arms across her waists, stopping her. She put her head on Lily's shoulder and asked again.

"What's wrong?"

Lily sighed happily at the contact. "Nothing." She was still trying to find a way to get Brooke to the church without mentioning the word 'suicide'. "It's just…" Lily trailed off. Then she had a thought. It was so silly it just might work. "I haven't gone to church in a while and it's starting to bother me."

"Is that all?" Brooke asked teasing.

"It's a pretty big deal for me Brooke." Lily lied. "I really want to go, but I want to stay here even more."

Brooke laughed. "If it's such a big deal, we'll go together. What do you think."

Lily screamed with delight and pleasure. But only on the inside. On the outside she turned around in Brooke's embrace, looked at her and said: "I'd like that."

"Well, you've been really helpful guys." Sam said sarcastically.

Sam and Nicole turned around. "You didn't shift just to tell us that, did you?" Nicole asked.

"Basically, yeah." Sam answered. "We've already gone to some empty house and after that we wandered around aimlessly." She looked up at the sky. "It's already starting to get dark and I'm getting hungry."Nicole growled in assent.

"Now, if you'd come up with a more useful plan than just walking around, I'm all ears. If not, then we're outta here."

"OK, think." Nicole said. "You're a fanatical fundamentalist who can't go to your own house any more and you're on a mission from God which you didn't manage to finish yet. Where would you be?" Nicole pondered the question for a while. She came up with an answer much too soon for her liking.

"Church."

In the fading daylight the church loomed up uncannily like a dark fortress somewhere on the horizon. Irrational fear started to grip Brooke and she squeezed Lily's hand a little more for comfort. It eased her mind a little, but with each step she took she felt more and more scared. She could even faintly start to hear the whispers again. They had left her alone for more than a day already, yet as she came closer to the large building they too grew in power and volume.

Lily noticed Brooke's rapidly growing anxiety. The blonde was staring at the church with an expression of untold horror. Yet she kept walking along with her. Lily considered turning around and leaving, but that wouldn't be an answer. Whatever it was that was tearing away at Brooke it was slowly growing stronger and if she didn't manage to eradicate it any time soon it would eventually overpower her and not even Lily would be able to save her then.

She couldn't let that happen.

So she kept walking.

The church was almost empty, apart from a priest who was more or less cleaning up, and a man kneeling in one of the front rows, praying. Lily didn't know what was going to happen, but she didn't think outsiders should be able to see it. Brooke leaned heavily on her, her body was trembling in fear and she softly pleaded to things only she could see and hear to be left alone.

"Father!" Lily said as she made her way towards the altar. "My friend has become unwell, is there maybe someplace where she can rest?"

"Of course." Father Samuel answered. "There's a couch in the back room, this way." He said as he gestured for the girls to follow him.

"Thanks." Lily simply said.

Only moments after father Samuel had disappeared into the back the doors of the church opened once again and two Nicole's and two Sam's entered, while only one Nicole and one Sam was actually aware of this fact.

"There he is." Nicole whispered. "Right in front."

"Good." Sam said. "Now we take him out, while you ladies should avert your eyes."

Sam shifted and she and Nicole stalked forward. They weren't exactly planning on sneaking up on him and killing him in cold blood, they were definitely prepared to snarl once in warning. Just before they'd jump him and tear his throat out.

Unfortunately they didn't have to. The man got up and looked at them.

"How _dare_ you show your faces in the house of the Lord!" He shouted. "I assure you, you will not survive this insult!" He took out a gun and aimed.

Not knowing how many bullets Jack had left Sam and Nicole jumped out of the way and into the benches. At the back the _other_ Sam and Nicole had quietly begun making their way to back by hugging the walls. They hoped Jack would be too distracted by the werewolves to pay much attention to them.

"Do you really think you can hide in the face of the Lord?" Jack said mockingly just before he relieved his gun of a few more bullets. Sam raced through the row, the bullets whizzing just a little too close to her ears.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Father Samuel had re-emerged from the back. The first thing he saw was a man with a gun.

"Don't worry father." The man said. "I've got it under control." The gun fired a again, this time aimed at Nicole who jumped out of the way and into another row of benched further in the back.

"I will not tolerate violence in my church!" Father Samuel shouted.

Jack quickly rushed over to the priest, all the while keeping an eye on Sam and Nicole who were searching for an opening.

"Forgive me father." Jack said, before he hit father Samuel in the face with his gun. The priest lost consciousness and slumped to the ground.

Sam let out a loud howl and charged froward. Smiling coldly Jack took aim and fired again. Sam yelped and fell to he ground. Nicole immediately ran over to see if she was hurt too badly. Seeing that the bullet had only grazed Sam she looked up again and growled at Jack.

He merely smiled. "Funny. It almost seems like you care for each other." He raised his gun again, aiming directly at Nicole's head, who realised a little too late that she was out in the open. "Goodbye."

"HALT!" A voice rung through the air, filling the entire church with its sound.

Five heads turned to see who was the owner of the voice. It turned out to be Brooke. Her eyes were shining a soft blue light and she radiated an air of confidence she had lacked for quite some time.

"And who might you be?" Jack asked, contempt clear in his voice.

Brooke merely smiled. Then something started bulging under her shirt. A large lump seemed to be moving all across her body. Then her shirt tore open and two large wings of the finest white feathers were revealed.

Jack immediately fell to his knee, while the others merely kept staring at Brooke in disbelief.

"A messenger from the Lord." He whispered reverently.

Brooke laughed. "Not exactly." She slowly started to move forward.

"Now then, if you would be so kind as to show your true self."

Jack looked up at her, his eyes filled with rage. He too started changing. His skin turned red, his eyes yellow and two large wings like the wings of a bat sprouted from his back.

"A corrupter." Brooke said calmly. "Strange." She said ponderously. "I have never seen or heard from one of you before, yet I know everything about you. Your kind corrupts the soul and uses it for your own purposes."

"Hate to burst your bubble," The red creature said. "But I had only very little influence on this one. He came up with most of the hate himself." The corrupter chuckled. "Fanatics are so easy, it just isn't a challenge any more."

"Well then, allow me to pose a challenge." Brooke said.

The corrupter laughed. "You're just a trainee, and this is only your first time. You don't stand a change against me, you're still much too human."

"Perhaps." Brooke said. "But the way I am now, I'm not mostly human." Now it was her time to chuckle. "Vampire toxins run through my blood at this very moment."

The corrupter's smug attitude evaporated instantly. "No. That can't be."

"I'm afraid it is." Brooke flashed a smile, showing off her slightly sharpened teeth. "Only one percent of me is a vampire, and that part will disappear again soon, but for now it is enough."

The corrupter shouted in rage and threw a fireball at Brooke. She simply caught it in her hand, and carefully studied it for while before she blew it out like a candle.

The corrupter howled in frustration and threw more fireballs at Brooke. They all disappeared before they could hit her.

"I'm sorry." Brooke said. "But all of your attacks are designed only to harm the creatures of the day, while those of the night remain untouched. I think it's ironic that the night now lights up the day, don't you?"

She smiled one more time before the blue light that was shining from her eyes surrounded her. The light soon started growing in intensity and filled the church. The corrupted howled in pain for a few seconds before the light destroyed him.

Somewhere during the fight Lily had quietly entered the main area of the church again. She now rushed over to Brooke who had fallen to ground. Lily took Brooke in her arms and smiled.

"I always knew my girlfriend was an angel." Lily said. "I just never thought it'd be that literal."

Brooke smiled back and they were about to engage in a kiss if Sam hadn't chosen that moment to make her presence known again.

"Hey guys, ready to go home?"

Lily and Brooke groaned simultaneously. They slowly got up from the floor when Brooke noticed three things.

Her soft blue glow was gone.

Her wings were gone.

Her shirt was gone.

Brooke turned several very interesting colours of red. Lily quickly managed to save Brooke a lot of further embarrassment by draping her jacket around her shoulders. Sam had already shifted and she and Nicole were making their way out of the church.

Brooke and Lily slowly followed, their arms draped around each other, enjoying the feel of warmth the other emitted.

Father Samuel opened his eyes, groaned, and crawled back to his feet. He had a smashing headache and was most definitely not pleased about the events of tonight.

Then he saw two girls standing in the doorways of his church. How it was possible he didn't know, but he quite clearly saw that the two of them were surrounded in a beautiful blue light.

He also saw that they were kissing.

Father Samuel smiled as an idea for tomorrow's service entered his mind.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine."

"You were hit by a bullet."

"It grazed my shoulder, that's something completely different."

"Sam, you're in no condition to hunt."

Nicole moved in closer to Sam and rubbed her snout against her neck."Besides, I think I got a few better ideas."

Sam smiled. Yeah, she was definitely in no condition to hunt.

Fortunately she was in an excellent condition to do some other things.

"Race you home?" She said, before she dashed off.

Nicole laughed and swiftly followed. Soon the two were engaged in a frivolous chase. It was pretty childish, but they didn't care.

They were together after all.

And that's what mattered.

Epilogue

"So what happens now?" Sam asked.

"What do you mean?" The little bald guy asked back.

"Well, you know, what's going to happen to us." Sam said, indicating herself and Nicole.

"Simple really, in about five minutes you will cease to exist."

Nicole let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I was getting so sick of this human body."

Sam smiled at the remark, even though she agreed full-heartedly.

"And what's going to happen to the other us?" Sam asked.

"I'm sorry." The man said. "I'm not allowed to say." He pushed a few buttons on his desk and the back wall of his little office changed into a picture. A picture of Sam, Nicole and this cute little ball of black fur lying between them, sleeping peacefully.

"We're going to have a baby?" Sam asked.

The man said nothing, but nodded.

"Who's the mother?"

The man pushed a few more buttons on his desk and the image zoomed in on Nicole.

"ME!?" Nicole shrieked. "I'm not fit to be a mother!"

"Aw, don't be so hard on yourself Nic." Sam said reassuring. "You'd make an excellent mother, I just know it." She turned her attention back to the man who smiling from ear to ear. "And Brooke and Lily?"

"Sorry, but I don't know. The two of them are very exceptional as you may have already guessed. They form their own destiny and I don't know what their lives will be like. What I do know is that they will have _very_ interesting lives."

"That's good to know." Sam said calmly. "So Nic, ready to disappear into oblivion?"

"What are you talking about?" Nicole said smiling. "I plan on living many more years. And I'm going to have baby too."

"You know, you're right. And I'm looking forward to raising her with you."

The two girls leaned in to each other, kissed, and vanished.

The End

Well, here it is. The last part of this fic and, I think, a very nice conclusion to the series as well. I might return to this particular universe again one day, but for now I'll retreat into lurkerdom while I angrily write my happy ending to 'Septerra Core'.

Later all,

Jos

Jos Mous

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