Sitting in one of the hallways of Castle Godfrey, Shelley and Viktor sat alone as people walked by.  Some stopped and looked at them, some ignored them.  But, either way, it was nice to have a place to sleep.  Maybe...just maybe...there could be some peace.  But Shelley wasn't so sure.  No one ever gave her peace.

Viktor holds her close against him, sighing softly.  They needed to figure things out.  With people here...Viktor assumed it was going to be a matter of time before Olivia finds her.  

Suddenly, they see feet stopping in front of them.  They both look up and see the man from earlier who was telling the small dick joke.  

"I have seen many broken people here.  But you two take the cake.  Just by looking at those eyes and that chaotic face, you both have such worldly deep pain and yet, I see you both support each other in extraordinary ways." The man says in admiration.  "Such a refreshing sight.  They say young love is dead.  But I see hope." He grins at them.  Earning a small smile from Shelley.  He holds out a hand, "I'm Aitor Quantic, by the way." He introduces himself.

Viktor shakes his hand, "Viktor." 

"Shelley." She says softly. "Why do you come here every day?" She asks. 

Aitor sighs as he kneels to meet their height, "I'm supposed to take expired food to the dump, but it's... it's completely edible. They just want you to throw it away, so you buy more." He scoffs. "So, I bring it here. Waste not, want not and so forth. How about you two?" He asks. 

Shelley shrugs, "What about us?" 

"What brings you two to Rooster Poot?" Aitor asks, catching their frowns, "Well, that's what the residents call this place, but I've yet to see a rooster around here, and I wouldn't know a poot if I stepped on one. But getting back to you."

Viktor scoffs a laugh, "We just need a place to stay." He shrugs. 

"Well, as places go, it's upwind of the dump. But I've stayed in worse." Aitor sighs and straightens, "Come on down if you get hungry...We've got pinto beans, all you can eat." He grins, earning smiles and a chuckle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Nate's study, Roman and Celena told Nate about what they saw the night Nadia and Miranda was taken, even showing them the drawing of the creature.  Nate scans over the drawing and sees familiarity of it.  He turns back towards them. 

"You think you actually saw something like this?" He frowns at them. 

"Not like. That's exactly what I saw." Roman states. 

Nate looks over the drawing again and watches them both, their body language, any sign of a lie, but they were both serious. 

"You're certain?" 

"100%." Celena says. 

Nate looks back at the drawing in shock and like a snap of fingers, he begins go through the papers and books over his round table, "Holy fuck. No, no, no." He mutters as he moves a big ancient book with a skull, but that wasn't what he wanted.  He was actually looking for is tablet. "Missing... Here it is. I'm always losing this fucking thing." He sighs heavily and types frantically. "This is an illuminated manuscript from 14th century Norway." He says and shows them both a picture on a website search.  It was an ancient scroll-like photograph of a winged creature that was an exact replica of Spivak's form. 

"Holy shit." Celena whispers. 

"It's him." Roman says in shock.

"That's Spivak." Celena gasps. 

"The Jörmungandr." Nate says as he begins to tell them both everything he knew about the legend. "That's what the Norse myths call it at least. It goes by other names, too. The Omul Negru. The Babylonians called it something completely different." 

"So, what is it?" Annie asks. 

Nate sighs and moves away, trying to remember his studies, "The myths say it was a serpent dropped into the ocean by the gods. It grew so large, wrapped itself around the entire world until it was able to bite its own tail. And it foretold the end of days. When the Jörmungandr would constrict..." He begins to flip through the pictures, "...choking all other life on the planet..." He turns and shows them a very familiar picture of a snake devouring it's own tail.  

Celena and Roman both shared a look of fear, "The ouroboros." She whispers. 

"The apocalypse." Nate adds.  

Annie scoffs, "It can't be real."

"As a single entity, no. I think I would have noticed a giant dragon wrapped around the Earth, but I do have a theory I've been working out with some paleogeneticists. I think the Jörmungandr wasn't a single entity but our ancient memory of an entire species, our evolutionary adversaries, if you will. Anyways, I think we wiped them all out, just like the homo sapiens did to the Neanderthals." Nate assures them.  

Roman scoffs, "Think again." He remarks. 

"And what would it be like, the one who survived?" Celena asks. 

"Well, if the folk tales about the Omul Negru have any basis in reality...It's... inconceivably vicious.  But...um...let me see...there's something in here about, um, here it is." Nate mutters as he flips through a few pictures.  

Celena and Roman looks at it in complete shock.  Roman covers his mouth and looks down at Celena.  It was a pyramid with a moon on the top and two familiar figures at the corners.  

"These figures were found in Egypt in 1957.  Right when it was founded." He looks at the picture and scoffs, "Several archeologists have gone over the translations, but none could explain it.  Something about a moon child born with the gift of light and power that could control motions and matter of the Earth." Nate snorts.  "And the moon has two followers." He zooms on the figures.  One of a man with a wolf's head and the other was another man eating a human. 

"Is that a...?" Annie frowns at the picture.

"A upir?  Most of us believe so.  But it's pretty obvious that the translations are bullshit." Nate snorts.

Celena frowns at him, "What do you mean?"

Nate zooms on the man with the wolf's head, "That, my dear...is a werewolf.  But no upir is that dumb enough to socialize with a wolf." He scoffs.  "But according to one expert, he has heard of this myth before.  In Norway." He holds up a finger. 

"Like the Jörmungandr." Celena says.

"Precisely." Nate continues to flip through some pictures and holds up a picture.  "Apparently, if the Jörmungandr did try to bring about the apocalypse, there had to be a way to stop it, right?" He explains.  "Well, the Norwegians added another part of the myth.  In the 19th century, an old woman came to the king and warned him about the end of days.  Of course, them being superstitious people, they believed her.  She warned them about the coming of the Jörmungandr.  And she said three warriors will arise from the dark world yet carry the light as bright as the moonlight and fight against the apocalypse." 

Roman and Celena frown at this information, "How?  How could they stop it?" She asks. 

Nate snorts and shrugs, "Something about the light inside them can destroy the death cloud the Jörmungandr shall bring." He suddenly places his finger over his lips as he thinks, "You know, I heard of this one story from the Carpathian peasants in Romania.  The gypsies spoke of something called...Lu..Lun..." Nate snaps his fingers, "Lunar Lunii.  The Luna of the Lunar.  The blood moon queen." 

"Blood moon queen?" Roman frowns.  

"Yeah, like the Egyptians Hieroglyphics, the Blood Moon Queen ruled way before Nefertiti was fucking the Pharoah.  The gypsies say that, um, her blood holds the key to the destruction or the salvation of creatures that are ruled by the moon.  Werewolves.  But her blood...well, I really call bullshit on this, but I heard from a guy from the college I'm teaching at that, in theory, her blood could also be the cure for upirs." 

Roman's eyes widen in shock and looks down at Celena.  Celena was speechless with this.  

"But again...bullshit.  There's no cure for upirs.  Even if there was, no telling if any of us would survive." Nate says. 

"Why?" Roman frowns.

Nate looks at him in disbelief, "We're already dead.  If we were cured, then nothing would work. Brain..." He points at his head.  "Heart..." He points at his chest.  "The family jewels." He grabs his crotch.

Annie sighs and rolls her eyes with a scoff. 

"All gone." Nate says.  

Celena sighs with worry as her heart skips a beat, "Ok, um, back to the..." She stutters the name for the creature. 

"Jörmungandr, yes.  Um, there's this one story out of the Crimeas that is just totally fucking insane..." Nate begins, but Annie tries to stop him, know what legend he was talking about.

"Nate." 

Nate waves her off, "No, listen to this. Actually, takes whole children..."

"Shut up." Roman begins to breathe heavily at where this was going. 

"...and grind them up into sausages..." Nate continues. 

Suddenly, the lights beginning to buzz furiously, "He said 'SHUT THE FUCK UP!'" The Darkling snarls loudly as Celena's eyes dilate and glow bright sapphire 

"HOLY CHRIST!" Nate jumps back till he hits his shelf.  

Panting, Celena grunts loudly and sways as she holds back the Darkling, "I'm sorry." She turns and runs out of the room with Roman following her.

"What the hell was that?" Nate exclaims as looks at Annie while guesting at what just happened. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breathing heavily, Celena rushes into the kitchen and leans on the cabinet as Roman paces to stand close to her.

"Are you ok?" He asks. 

Gagging, Celena covers her mouth and rushes to the sink to vomit.  Roman holds her hair back and rubs her back in comfort as she continues to vomit.  

Panting and gasping, Celena slaps the faucet handle and scoops up some water.  Her breathing finally calms as she swishes her mouth around.  

"Cell, are you ok?" He asks softly.

"We got to get her back, Roman." Her voice wobbles.  "We got to.  Who knows what he's doing to them?" 

Roman sighs and continues to rub her back gently, "I know.  That story..." He sighs heavily as he stomach churns a little as well.  

"I'm gonna rip him in half.  I swear." Celena says lowly in a cold voice.  

Roman gently pulls her into his arms and holds her, "And I'll help you rip up the rest." He smirks as she giggles.  

While Roman and Celena were occupied in the kitchen, Julie walks back into living room to find Megan.  But all she sees is an open sliding door with the curtains dancing to the wind. 

"Megan? Megan? Megan?" She searches for their friend in the darkness, then her eyes begin to widen in terror as she sees something approaching her from the shadows.  She couldn't even let out a scream. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the study, after Nate snaps out of his shock, he demanded Annie for answers.  Starting with what he just witnessed with Celena. 

"What the fuck is she?  You know, tell me right now!" Nate says strongly.

Annie sighs, "According to Roman, she's possessed by a Darkling." 

Nate stutters, "A Dark...a fucking Darkling?!" His eyes widen.  "She's carrying a life-sucking fairy and you fucking brought her to my house?!" He exclaims. 

"You know about Darklings?" 

"Of course, I fucking know about those bastards!  Those things wiped out an entire civilization till they wiped themselves out.  Or so I thought." He scoffs as he gestures at the door.  

"How?" 

"Like I've said, 'life-sucking' fairy.  They eat and eat and eat till there's nothing left of anything to feast on then they just fade into the dusts of times.  Banished into the underworld." Nate scoffs, then stops as he remembers something.  "Holy shit.  Holy shit!" He covers his mouth. 

"What?" Annie asks. 

"Remember when I was talking about the Luna Lunii?" Nate asks and Annie nods, "There's another part of the story.  The followers.  The Wolf and the Upir.  Mythology calls them The Black Wolf and the Angel in disguise.  When the Luna meets her followers, the light inside her begins to grow till she's a fucking search light in the dark world.  When the Blood Moon Queen's light begins to shine, she'll cast shadows and become a doorway for the underworld." 

Annie frowns and scoffs, "Are you saying that Celena is the Blood Moon Queen?" 

Nate was silent for a moment, "Did you see those eyes?  That was the light of the Moon inside her.  Now, even though she's called the Blood Moon in legends, that's not why she's called that.  Her blood...is power.  Beyond anyone's imagination." He states. 

Annie begins to think about that.  Her blood.  That begins to give her ideas.  

"Now...if Celena IS the Blood Moon Queen...then dear old Roman..." 

"...is one of her followers." Annie finishes for him with a gasp. 

"Which means they're associating with Werewolves.  He's the Upir...with a soul.  The Angel in Disguise is a Upir with a soul.  And that means he's capable of surviving the cure." He holds up a finger..."But with a price." He scoffs, "There's always a price.  That would mean he would have to give her up.  Her life...for his cure." Nate rubs his mouth in shock, "Jesus Christ, the Trinity." 

"The Trinity?" Annie asks. 

"The Moon, the Black Wolf, the Upir.  The Ouroboros...of the light.  Like the Jörmungandr, which spins around backwards, always in the dark, always in the shadows but the Trinity moves on and on non-stop.  Renewing itself, reborning decades through time.  They only show up when bad shit is happening." Nate explains. 

"If the Trinity is here..."

"Then so is the apocalypse." Nate states. 

Annie shudders in fear, if this was true, then the world was in very deep shit.  

"Annie, this is world-changing, epic shit. I need to get them in a room with a video camera and any documentation they have that would..." 

Suddenly, Nate was cut off by the doorbell ringing, she holds up her hands to stop him, "Okay. I'll get it.  You go talk to them." She says and heads towards the door. 

With a sigh, Annie opens the door and sees a woman standing not too far from the door, her face hiding in the shadows.

"Yes?" 

When the woman's face is shown by the faint light of the porch light, Annie's eyes widen in shock.  It was Hannah, Nate's girlfriend, but...something was wrong.  Her skin was more pale, covered in black cracks and strange substance. 

Hannah simply smiles, "Hi, Annie. You look great."

"Hannah?"

Hannah, suddenly, rushes towards the door, but Annie shuts it before she could get in the house.  She locks it tight and turns to see Nate looking confused. 

"What's going on?"

Before Annie could speak, the sound of glass breaking was made from another room and the lights go out all of the sudden. 

"We've got to get out of here. Roman, we've got to go!" Annie calls as she pulls on Nate's hand to run towards the kitchen. 

"What's going on?" Celena frowns. 

"It's..." 

Suddenly, a body is thrown from outside through the porch glass doors.  Celena screams and jumps and everyone shouts in surprise. 

"Megan." Nate gasps in shock as they see it was Megan.  

All of the sudden, growling was made as other creatures rush towards everyone.  Mickey grabs a frying pan and strikes one on the head.  Knocking her to the floor.  

A man growls loudly as he rushes towards Roman.  Roman grabs a kitchen knife and begins stabbing him over and over.  Another rushes towards Annie and she uses a wine bottle.  Slamming it across the creature's face and stabbing him over and over in the face with the glass.  More begin to rush inside.  

With a loud yell, Celena calls forth her powers of the light and both creatures begin to float in the air, growling and snarling as they struggle to get to her.  Closing her hands into a tight fist, the sounds of bones crunching are made causing the creatures to scream in pain.  With yank of her hands, the beings were ripped apart in the air.  Panting, she waves her hand sends the creatures flying out of the house.  

Mickey and Nate look at her in shock and horror, "Jesus Christ." Nate whispers.  

"Where do we go? Where do we go?!" Annie shouts furiously at Nate, snapping them both out of the shock. 

"This way! Follow me!" Nate shouts and leads them all. 

Roman grabs Celena's hand and they both rush to follow Nate and the others, but Mickey stops them.

"Wait! My wife!" He shouts in fear. 

"There's no fucking time, man. She's gone!" Nate shouts. 

Mickey shakes his head, "I have to! I have to!"

"Mickey! No!" Celena shouts, and Roman grabs her before she could stop him. 

"Let's go." Nate says and leads everyone towards a barn outside that was close to the house.  He rushes everyone inside, "Come on. Hurry up! This way! Get in!" He shouts. 

As everyone was inside, he locks up the door.  Everyone was panting out of breath.  Celena leans on her knees as she bends over to catch her breath.  

"Those were...Those were Hannah's cousins." Nate stutters, still in shock. 

"They're running in packs now." Roman says. 

"It's spreading somehow." Annie says in fear. 

"Wait, you've seen this before?" Nate asks Annie in shock.

"Just one. Some kind of disease upirs are getting." She explains. 

"Great. Like the fucking boogeyman being real wasn't enough." Celena says sarcastically and straightens her pose but catches Nate's nervous eye.  She sighs and rolls her eyes as she moves towards a window.  She couldn't see anything. She turns to face everyone, "Okay. We've got to barricade..."

Suddenly, a creature bursts through the window and makes a grab for Celena.  Celena screams and fights the creature off her.  Roman rushes to help her.  Celena could feel the creature's claws trying to make its way towards her stomach.  

"No!" She screams and fights.  With a yell, she calls the stone and feels the creature fly off her.  

Suddenly, Hannah bursts through the other window and Annie and Roman use any sort of weapon to fight her and send her back outside.  Roman uses a thick board, hitting her over and over in the head.  Hannah finally rushes back outside, gripping her head as she snarls.  

"Annie, open the door. We'll feed on the others, and we'll let you go." Hannah calls out from behind the door. 

"Oh, you're going to let her go? Total fucking lie, Hannah." Nate shouts out. 

"Says the guy who was fucking his masseuse." Hannah scoffs. 

"She's a kinesiologist, you fucking psycho!" Nate yells. 

Hannah growls and begins to ram the door with her body.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Castle Godfrey, or Roosters Poot, Aitor called it.  He stood before everyone as he begins to tell his nightly tale to everyone like does every night.

"Did you know that hippopotami are the closest relative to the whale?"

"No way." A woman scoffs. 

"That's a true, actual fact, because, at one time, whales, or the, uh, mammals that became whales, they walked on dry land." He says. 

Soon, Viktor and Shelley walk hand in hand together to catch the story.  From the corner of Viktor's eye he sees a few people keeping their distance away from them.  Shelley looks down shyly, but Viktor taps her chip gently, giving her a smile.  Silently saying...'be brave'.  Shelley gives him a smile and lifts her head high for him.  

"And then 50 million years ago or thereabout, they decided to pull up stakes and head back to the ocean from whence they came. Why? One individual...let's call him Moe...he did not look like the others. He... he was an outcast, and he was fat. He had short arms and tiny feet, but see, Moe was soon to discover that being an outcast also gave him power, because he was forced to think for his self. He was tough, 'cause nobody had his back. So into the drink he goes. He's splashin' around, he's havin' a grand old time. Now the others saw this, and they went, 'hmm...I want me some of that,' which is how fat Moe, the outcast, became Wet Moses...the first whale who led his pod out of their vapid, mud-caked existence and into the vast blue ocean. A place where there is never a rainy day." Aitor finishes his tale with a salute and moves away, flashing a discreet wink to Viktor and Shelley. 

Viktor chuckles as Shelley smiles, feeling how much, they relate to the one called Moe.  That's what they were to everyone...outcasts.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Andreas left, Peter sat on couch, waiting for Destiny to return home from work.  She has called him several times, but he couldn't bring himself to talk to her.  Afraid of spilling out his truth thoughts about Andreas and what he's been doing.

Soon, Destiny walks inside the loft with a smile, "Hey. So did you get my message?" She asks as she takes off her jacket and grabs a notebook that had a list of names for the wedding ceremony.

"Should we invite the Nehamkins?" She asks.

"Uh... Old Nehamkins or young Nehamkins?" Peter frowns and asks. 

Destiny moves to sit in a chair in front of the couch, "Well, both, because we went to their wedding. But then if we invite them, we have to invite the whole Dimitri clan, in which case we'll need a crowbar to pry Uncle Pavlov off of every single woman under the age of 75, not to mention Celena, so...Nehamkins, yea or nay?" She asks as she writes something down. 

Peter sighs heavily,  "I don't really have an opinion."

Destiny looks up, "So...What are you doing here?" She asks. 

"Have you ever thought maybe...you're rushing into this whole thing? I mean, how well do you really know this guy, really?" He tries to carefully ask. 

Destiny scoffs and arches her brow at him while tapping her pen, "This guy? Andreas is 'this guy' now?"

"You've only been together for two months."

Destiny frowns in suspicion, "Did you get in a fight?"

"I'm just sayin', you can read people better than anyone." Peter says.

Destiny sighs and closes her notebook, "I get what you're going through.  You almost lost Celena.  Lost the baby.  Your mom gone to the other side of the world.  Now you feel like you're losing me. But you're not.  You need to let go, so that I can live my life. Ride or die notwithstanding." She says and gets up to move to the other room, leaving him sulking.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After finally barricading the windows, Nate has been struggling for hours to get one bar on his cellphone, but every corner he turns to, not one movement.  

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on." Nate mutters as Annie keeps watch.  

Roman kept Celena in his arms, holding her close against him.  He couldn't believe he almost lost her again.  

"Any sign of them?" Nate asks Annie. 

Annie shakes her head, "Not for a while now. You've got bars on your phone?" She asks. 

"No." He sighs, but suddenly, he turns towards them all. "My neighbor has a land line. One of you should make a run for it."

"One of us?" Annie scoffs. 

"I tore my ACL." Nate explains. 

Annie rolls her eyes at him, "Thirty years ago, Nate."

"Yeah, but it still hurts a lot." Nate mutters. 

"Fuck it. I'll do it." Roman begins to get up but Annie and Celena both strongly argue. 

"No, no, no. No, wait." Celena protests. 

"You don't even know where he lives." Annie states. 

Nate waves it off, "Okay. It's really easy. You just go down the road, you go underneath the bridge. He's right there. You can't miss him. Go. Get going."

Roman gives him a bitter smirk and scoffs as he heads for the door, but Celena stops him. 

"I'm going too." She states. 

"No." Roman protests. 

"You're gonna need help if you run into those things.  You're gonna need her." She discreetly says. 

Roman sighs and nods in agreement, "Fine.  Stay close." 

"No... and then if they're still out there..." Annie says worriedly, mainly towards Roman. 

"Then we'll run." Roman says as he grabs a scythe and carefully opens the door.  Both of them walk outside, scanning their surroundings.

"Do you see them?" She asks telepathically. Afraid the creatures would hear them.

"No." He shakes his head and grabs her hand. "Come on." Together they pace away from the property.

Roman kept looking over his shoulder, making sure they weren't following them. But as soon as they reached the bridge, they skid to a halt when they see one of the creatures. Smiling at them with blood dripping from her mouth.

"We got two."

Suddenly, Hannah and more of them begin to rush towards them. Growling in insane hunger as they run.

Roman and Celena turn to run away but one stood in their way. The man goes after Celena but Roman pushes her away and uses his scythe to stab him enough to get away.  Roman grabs Celena, but she was yank back when the creature grabbed her ankle.

Celena screams and fights while Roman uses the scythe to chop at the creature's hand.  Finally she was free and they begin to run back towards the barn.

Celena cries out in pain when she felt her ankle snap.  She falls to the ground and struggles to get up, clutching her ankle in pain, but she falls again.

"Ow!" She cries.

"Come on! Hold on to me!" Roman picks her up bridal style and runs with her in his arms as she wraps hers around his neck and shoulders.

As Roman races towards the barn, the creatures were hot on their tails. Celena waves her hand to make them fly off the trail. But they were fast to get back on their feet. 

Panting heavily, Roman sets Celena down and bangs on the barn door

"Open up! They're coming!" He shouts.

Annie moves to open the door, but Nate grabs her to hold her back.

"No. No." He strongly protests, "If you open it, they'll kill us, too."

"Annie, what the fuck?!" Roman shouts in disbelief.

Celena holds on to the frame for support, "Open the fucking door!" She slams her fist over the wood. "Roman!" She screams.

Roman turns and the creature that grabbed Celena's ankle rushes at him. He grabs the creature's arms, holding him back but he was too strong. 

Suddenly, the man looks at Roman with guilt, apologizing with his eyes.

"Sorry, I can't help it." He says, then growls again as he attacks.

Roman shoves him away, bumping into Celena in the process and she falls against the wood, hitting the light switch and light shines above them all. And as soon as the light hit them, the man became confused, disoriented. As if he was blinded by the light.  Roman and Celena frown in confusion but Roman saw it as an opportunity. He furiously attacks the creature and Celena sees more approaching but they freeze as well when they looked into the light.

"The light blinds them." She gasps and turns towards the door, "Annie! Nate! Move the fuck... AWAY FROM THE DOOR!!!" Celena's voice turns distorted as her eyes dilated.

Annie and Nate stopped fighting each other and froze at that voice.  Annie snatches herself from Nate's grip and jumps out of the way when rumbling came from the barrel.

Nate couldn't move fast enough and the barrel flies off the door and hits his side, sending him to the floor, groaning in pain.

Annie unlocks the door and snatches it open, "Roman!" She shouts. 

Roman looks up and stops his attacks.  He rushes and helps Celena.

"Go! Go!" He shouts. 

Roman helps Celena sit down and turns towards the door.  But before Annie could shut the door, Celena arches her body and opens her mouth as the Darkling forces it's way out and holds the door and frame.

"Oooh! Special delivery?" The Darkling rasps. "Don't mind if I do."

Annie gasps in fright as she jumps away.  Nate's eyes widen as he remains on ground.

"Come and give Mama a big kiss!" Darkling growls and yanks the creature inside, laughing wickedly as she holds him down while he fights and growls.  With a furious roar, Darkling gives the creature the kiss of death, sucking the life from his body with loud slurping noises.  Soon the creature's body shrivers up into a crumbled, slimy mess on the ground. 

Annie grimaces in disgust as Roman frowns at the sight. Usually the Darkling's victims turn into dusts in the wind. But...it looks like the creature melted.

The Darkling sighs in bliss and moves away from the body, sucking on her fingers.

"Yummy yum!" She purrs and sucks herself back into Celena's body.

Celena gasps loudly and coughs in fits.  Roman rushes to check on her.

"Are you ok?"

Panting softly, Celena nods, "Yeah." Then she groans in pain.  Roman looks down, her ankle was still sore. 

"The barrel." Annie stutters and quickly shuts the door, locking it.

Roman rushes and gets the barrel, dragging it back to the door.  He pants heavily and moves past Nate, who continues to groan in pain.

"Ah, fuck." Nate mutters.