by Grimm, Sonhaven and The Eurostar
"Danny."
"GAH!" Danny Hearn literally jumped as the voice came from behind him. He turned to see Grimm holding several vampire heads by the hair. Grimm tossed the heads toward the pit M'xy had built earlier. The fire inside the pit was still burning.
"This is taking too long. The storm will hit soon. We need to start moving the citizens to shelter," said Grimm.
"But we can't move them with all these monsters out here. We don't even know for sure how to stop all of them. Fire kills some of them, others it makes stronger. Grimm, I thought vampires were just stories."
"So did I, kid. Gather the others and start moving the people out. Leave M'xy and Wulf with me. We'll deal with these things."
"Okay, Grimm. Are you sure?" Danny asked as he half-turned, not wanting to leave any of his friends behind.
"Yeah, just go. We'll be okay," Grimm answered, seemingly unbothered by the winds and rain continually pelting the island.
Grimm walked over to where M'xy was tormenting some of the vampires, having turned them into cows, and sent a vampire cow of his creation after them. The vampire cow hissed at the former vampires and mocked them in a horrible Bela Lugosi accent.
"M'xy."
The fifth-dimensional imp in a human body turned away from his amusement. "Oh, hi, Grimm," he said nonchalantly.
"I didn't startle you?" Grimm asked, somewhat surprised.
"No, I was aware of your approach. I felt the butterflies' wings stop beating as you came near," M'xy answered.
"Uhhh, okay, whatever you say, man. Listen, I need your help. We have to destroy these things, quickly. The storm will hit the island soon, and the citizens need to be at the shelter before then. I need you to help me finish this now."
"Okay, but Danny said not to disrupt things too much; I could cause more problems if I wasn't careful." M'xy was now floating around Grimm while sitting in a cross-legged position.
"M'xy, are you in contact with Mick?" Grimm said, trying not to turn his head too far in keeping up with the imp's rotation.
"Yeppers, he's right inside my head watching TV -- Gilligan's Island, I think. It's a good one; the Skipper wants Gilligan to--"
"Not now, M'xy. Do you know what lightning rods are? Can you simulate the effect of lightning rods on these creatures that are attacking us?"
"Even better, Grimmers!" M'xy laid flat in the air and gestured as a giant lightning rod appeared out of the ground and began to attract all the vamps to it. Within moments, all the vamps were stuck like flies on flypaper.
"Now what?" M'xy asked, floating happily as his vampire cow mooed evilly at the trapped vamps.
"Now ask Mick what happens when White Rabbit peaks," Grimm answered, pointing at the dark clouds in the sky.
Now, M'xy was confused.
Inside M'xy's head, Mick Harrison was sitting happily in front a TV set, watching Gilligan and the Skipper try to build a raft.
"Heh, that Gilligan. Reminds me of Lance." Mick smiled to himself.
Hey, Mickers. Our buddy Grimmy wants me to ask you what happens when White Rabbit peaks.
"M'xy! What the hell... White Rabbit? What's going on out there?"
In a flash of thought-time, the imp downloaded everything that had happened into Mick's mind.
"White Rabbit peaks... Dr. Gonzo was in the bathtub, Grace Slick was... OH!" Mick slapped a hand against his forehead. He pointed toward the image of the vampires now stuck to the giant lightning rod as Gilligan and friends wondered aloud where this new oddity had come from. "Feed their heads, M'xy! He wants you to fry 'em!"
But won't that kill them? I thought killing was wrong.
"These things are already dead, M'xy. You'll be doing them and anyone they would have come across a favor. If they were to get to Shirley..." Mick trailed off.
The light in M'xy's eyes suddenly returned as his head lifted up. Grimm was still looking at him unmoving, as Blackwulf scratched the bottom of his chin.
M'xy lifted a finger toward the clouds, and static charges started to build up. Soon, a bolt flew out toward the lightning rod. It was joined by another, then another, then several more.
A few feet away, Light Boy, the teenager who idolized the PSI-Unit and had wanted to be a hero, now found he couldn't handle the idea of going back into the fray, even with Tayden's ability to soothe his shattered nerves. He had been standing watching for several minutes as the MBL Consulting people trapped the group of vampires and knew that his power to turn himself into ultraviolet light could destroy those vampires for good.
But the suggestion that he, even as a being of pure light, would have to come into contact with such evil in order to destroy it was so terrifying to him that he lost control of his current state and burst in a pop of photons, like a nineteenth-century flash bulb. Fortunately, that blast of photons was a strong blast of pure, ultraviolet light directed primarily at the trapped vamps.
The vampires screamed in agony as the double attack of built-up electricity and concentrated ultraviolet light began to fry both their hides and their insides. Their heads began to bubble and boil and finally to explode into piles of reddish-brown muck. Soon, all the vamps were little more than stains on the still-electrified rod.
And no one, not even Tayden, would ever know that Light Boy had succeeded in his one and only act of heroism.
"Comrades, is smelling very much bad here. I am thinking we should leave to join the others now."
And then, the hurricane made landfall and enveloped La Perdita within its fury.
Edulcore Cicciotto felt the urgency to leave. The bird living inside him was screaming, ordering him to leave immediately. He felt chills all up and down his spine and pain in his head.
"Big potato, are you okay?" Ameristar asked him, worried.
"It's... I am fine, I think," Ed whispered, trying to standing.
There were so many to save and too little time. He was tired and scarred from the battle with the vampire (and he found it hard to believe that he had really battled with the undead), and he had lost all his feathers and was now just a man with incredible aim and a UFO.
What use do I have? Ed thought. Maybe I should just listen to my inner voice, to the voice of the eagle. But that wouldn't be right. I have traveled across America to get to my friends, and although many of them are gone, and this place is so different from what I thought, and there is no joy, only pain and sorrow, still it is MY place. The hero now known as the Raptor knew he had to push himself harder, and although he was not sure what use he still had, he was here to stay.
Ameristar smiled at him and said, "Let's go, big potato. We have a job to do."