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Aurelia dazedly came to and was startled when she realized she didn’t know her surroundings. She quickly tried to sit up, but the pain in her stomach forced her to lie back down.

Scanning the room, she deducted she wasn’t in the crypt anymore. She was lying in someone’s very nice bedroom, and it certainly wasn’t her dorm.

The door in the far corner opened and Mordecai came creeping in quietly. He quickly noticed she was awake and sat in a chair at the side of the bed.

"Mordecai?" Aurelia asked confused. "Where am I?"

Mordecai smiled warmly and answered her. "You’re at my apartment, in my bedroom. We decided that this was the best place to keep you – or rather -- Min and I decided, and Colette complained, but she’ll live."

"But… where are you sleeping? How long have I been asleep? What happened?" Aurelia’s words were slurred due in part to the fact that she still wasn’t completely awake.

"I’m ok, I’m sleeping out on my couch. You’ve been out for a few days. We were all very worried about you. Colette apparently injured Erich enough to keep him in hiding for the time being. Right now, you just need to worry about getting better. We’ll finish off Erich when the time comes, now you rest." He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Mordecai…"

"Yeah, Aurelia?"

"Help me sit up… please…"

"You should really be resting, not---"

"Please…"

Mordecai caved and helped her sit up and lean against the backboard of the bed. He carefully sat on the bed next to her.

Aurelia brought her hand up and traced his distinct jawbone with her fingers. He leaned in and kissed her lovingly.

"Mordecai…?"

"Hush Aurelia…" and he kissed her again. "I intend to make up for ever trying to deceive you in the first place…" He put his arm around her waist, mindful of the bandage and the healing wounds.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She wanted to stay there forever, but the wound from where Erich had skewered her with the katana had started to tingle. She ignored it until it flared with heat. It felt as if the bandages had been set on fire. She writhed in agony and a startled Mordecai helped her lie down again.

Standing, and leaning over the side of the bed, he franticly asked, "Aurelia! What’s wrong?"

The pain was so intense, she couldn’t respond. She lay clutching her stomach until, as sudden as it had started, the burning stopped.

Mordecai rushed to get Min. Maybe she had an answer.

Min was scanning the ancient scrolls again when Mordecai rushed in with a worried expression on his face. "Min… Aurelia’s awake, but you should come quickly. There’s something wrong." With that, he rushed from the room.

Min got out of her chair and quickly tailed Mordecai. When they got to the room, she rushed to Aurelia’s side. Nothing seemed wrong, but there were remnants of tears in Aurelia’s eyes.

"Aurelia… what happened?"

Aurelia looked at her friend with a confused expression on her face. "I don’t know. It… it starts as a small pain and…" Aurelia could feel the tingle coming back. "It—" she didn’t have time to get another word out before the pain was excruciating. She yelped and grabbed her stomach. She just lay there, unable to do anything else.

"I think I know what this is…" said Min with a fretful glimpse toward her companion. "I’ll be right back." She said to Mordecai. She darted from the room and promptly returned with the scrolls. "… A simple binding spell…" Min mumbled under her breath and showed Mordecai the scroll.

"What is this?"

"They’re ancient scrolls. They’re full of old Vampyre lore. I’ve been working on translating them. I just translated this the other day. Look here." She pointed to a portion on the hoary parchment. "It’s a relatively simple incantation, the one hitch is that the vampire and mortal ‘host’ – if you will – must exchange blood. It was meant as a way for vampires way back when to bind with mortals. Not unlike your and Aurelia’s case, some vampires met humans they wanted to spend eternity with…" Min cast a worried glance in Aurelia’s direction. "This was meant as a way for them to do that. When the mortal died, the vampire would too." Min sat on the edge of the bed. "It was meant to be a neutral spell, but it was soon used for evil. There’s a way to manipulate the spell so that when the mortal dies, the vampire will come back, but the mortal won’t. The other hitch with it is," Min looked straight at Aurelia, "whatever harms the vampire, the mortal will get most of the effect; if the vampire dies, they both die. That’s what I think is going on."

"Erich isn’t stupid." Min continued, "He’s probably memorized these parchments if he doesn’t have copies. He and Aurelia exchanged blood. He stole it from her, and when he stabbed her –"

"His blood… was still on the katana…" said Mordecai.

"Exactly. He must be hurting himself, knowing he can’t die, but leaving Aurelia with the pain of whatever the hell he’s doing."

"So this means…"

"If Erich dies –"

"Then ‘Chosen One’ over there is worm food." Colette was leaning in the doorway. Aurelia and Mordecai looked up at her, startled.

"To put it bluntly… But Mordecai, I’m afraid Colette’s right." Min confirmed.

"So what are we going to do now." Asked Mordecai.

"What are we going to do?" Colette asked Min.

"Well…" Min began slowly, "we’ll—"

Aurelia pushed herself into sitting position and leaned against the headboard of the bed. "We’ll continue as planned. We’ll do whatever we can to defeat Erich." She said with determination.

"But—" Mordecai started to argue.

"Min," asked Aurelia, "What does it say about us killing Erich? He wouldn’t come back… would ‘e?"

"No…" Min shook her head slowly.

"Well then," said Aurelia as she slowly stood and leaned on the dresser, "we know what we’re going to do. Mordecai… please hand me my sword."

"No." Mordecai stood in her way.

"Do it!" She commanded.

"No."

"Damnit, Mordecai! Give me my sword!"

"I’m not going to, and neither will any of us. I’m not going to let you kill yourself by killing Erich. We need you, Aurelia. Let Erich do what he wants for all I care. I’m not killing him, and neither are you."

Aurelia flopped back onto the bed and put her head in her hands. "Fine…" she muttered angrily through clenched teeth, "we’ll go after the Blood Emerald and make sure Erich’s minions don’t get them first. "

"And after that?" Asked Colette.

"We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it."