For Who Would Bear the Whips and Scorns of Time?

Erica had ascended to a higher level of being. She had seen all her Dusk dreams come true. She had been elevated to the ranks of the immortals. Erica had become hot. Erica had become popular. She had been readied for a life of ageless beauty.

It incurred a few costs. No garlic, which gave Erica bad breath anyway. No holy water. But how often does a girl run across that? Not going into someone's house without an invitation? The way she looked, she didn't have to worry about that. Not with any guy she'd date.

Okay, the no reflection and no photograph part was awful. But Erica could always get an artist to paint her. That was more romantic anyway. That was what they did in Dusk!

And feeding on the blood of human beings? The way Erica was once treated as a geek, it was all part of the charm. And chewable mints were great for bad-blood breath.

But now, here Erica was. Reduced to being a normal human being. At least with her contacts and her cool new clothes, she was still hot. But eventually she'd get old, disgusting and wrinkled. And while Erica might be somewhat glamorous, she wasn't a powerful immortal being.

Now, everyday life was plain, ordinary and humdrum. The tiresome monotonous chatter of everybody around her seemed to scrape along aside the inside of Erica's skull like a scalpel picking apart her brain.

Eric's BFF Sarah, whom Erica would have thought could understand, just didn't. Erica had spent two years trying to talk sense into her BFF about how they were now above and apart from mere mortals. But, tragically, and against all the rules which should govern immortals, Sarah got her ridiculous wish to be human again.

Yet, even that wasn't enough for Sarah. No, her BFF had to go on and on and on about how great it was to be a human nobody. Sarah spent hours trying to impart the idea that vampires weren't glamourous and privileged beyond the wildest dreams of mortal men and women. Except, of course, for the imagination of the wise authoress who created Dusk. But no. Sarah said that Dusk was all well and good for a novel series, but in real life vampires were soulless evil parasitic bloodsuckers who suffered a cursed existence. Erica needed empathy for humanity! Unbelievable!

Erica was also frustrated that Sarah was now going steady with Ethan. Yes, Ethan's little nerd posse was good for a laugh. And they were friends of her BFF, so Ethan, Benny and Rory were worth tolerating. And Erica even used to have a slight obligation to Rory, having inducted that unworthy adolescent into the exalted realm of the un-dead.

But going steady with Ethan? It would have been bad enough if Sarah still had all the time in the world!

To make matters worse, Erica was humiliated when, in desperation, she tried to commiserate with Rory. Rory, at least, knew what he had lost. But no, Sarah and Rory's geek friends had reached his simple mind. Rory was deliriously happy to be normal; or leastways not a vampire.

"I know Sarah's been talking to you about how cool it is to be human again" said Rory, eagerly, as he opened his locker. "But I think the Ror-ster can tell it to you in a way you'll understand!"

"Try me" Erica scoffed.

"You remember Vampire Sasquatch?" said Rory, taking out his favourite stuffed animal. "How I told you I was upset that his show was cancelled after seven seasons? But you know why I was upset the show ended?"

"Because there'd be no more episodes" said Erica sardonically.

"That too" Rory admitted. "But I was really upset about the series finale. Vampire Sasquatch, hero and protector of the Great Northwestern Woods, was cured of his bloodsucking curse by The Mysterious Magical Shaman of Headless Valley.

"Headless is a great name for anything involved with that show."

"I thought that ending was totally bogus!" said Rory, ignoring the insult. "I was so angry I sent in an email. What the heck do you mean! Why can't Vampire Sasquatch be a hero with his super-awesome vampire powers? But, now that I'm no longer a bloodsucker, I know the truth! I get why they did it! Vampire powers aren't super. Vampires are evil bloodsuckers. And they can't do a lot of the fun things in life neither! Now, look at Vampire Sasquatch. Being cursed and un-dead he had to live on the blood of small animals to survive. Once The Magical Mysterious Shaman of Headless Valley cured good ol' V.S., he could go back to just living on nuts and berries. Like the protector of all the innocent animals in the northwestern woods should. Valorous Sasquatch! So that's why you should be happy not to be a bloodsucker anymore!"

Erica slapped Rory across the face and flounced off.

Erica decided to quit Whitechapel for good. She emailed one of the few surviving vampires for whom she had contact information. He cheerfully agreed to invite Erica over for a bite. As Sarah was Erica's BFF, out of courtesy Erica texted her a goodbye; Erica noted she was going to leave the city by bus after she picked up some things in her school locker.

It was very early in the morning when Erica decided to get her things. The school had just opened its doors. However, to Erica's consternation, she found out her combination lock had been swapped with a cheap replacement.

Benny's magic no doubt. Ethan, geek that he was, wasn't a safecracker.

Sarah had left a note. "Erica, meet us in the Student Lounge. Sarah."

"At least it's not signed Team Sabre" sneered Erica.

The members of Team Sabre were sitting on the student armchairs. Sarah looked sad, Ethan very guilty. Benny looked disgusted. Rory looked glumly at his feet.

"You can't do this, Erica" said Sarah imploringly.

"I want to" Erica replied.

"No, really, you can't" Benny snarled. "Those bloodsuckers will drain you dry. You're a bit of home delivery. The vampires really don't want to add anybody from Whitechapel to their ranks right now. Something rags them about, you know, not being able to get too close to the city right now. They must feel completely pwned."

"How would you know that?" said Erica.

"I saw it" said Ethan.

"I know how your visions work, seer" Erica replied. "You have to touch somebody to get into their mind. Or lately, just be close."

"Your mom will ask Sarah, Benny and me to help identify the corpse" Ethan replied angrily. "I've been close enough to Sarah to see her future. There's nothing like kissing your girlfriend goodnight and seeing visions of a morgue! Would you like to know what time we're going be at the morgue to identify your body?"

"That added detail's part of his new seer power super-duper expansion pack" Rory explained.

"I didn't ask for it" Ethan retorted, who had reddened after blurting out details of his last night's date. "It's just lucky, living in this town, I have this seer power here to protect us."

"You're just lying" said Erica angrily. "You'd lie just to stop me from fulfilling my destiny."

"Destiny?" challenged Sarah. "Given the choice,"Who would bear the whips and scorns of time?"

"I know you like poetry, Sarah" Erica fumed. "But don't think you can change my mind by quoting from Hamlet's soliloquy out-of-context."

"Told you guys" shrugged Ethan. "We can't get her to change her mind.

"Out of the mouth of a geek" said Erica. "I'll either be a vampire again or die trying."

"Then we'll make you a vampire again" said Sarah miserably. "It's either that, or for you to be bloodsucker food. And we're still BFF's. So I'll live up to my duty."

"I don't feel like I'm living up to anything" said Benny. "I feel like I'm Count Baltar betraying the twelve colonies to the Imperious Leader of the Cylons.

"Well!" said Erica, sitting down. "Tell me more. About my being vampire again. Not about the geek trivia."

"You have to make us a couple of promises, first" said Ethan.

"If you deliver" Erica replied.

"No biting anyone in Whitechapel, no draining anyone in Whitechapel, no killing anyone in Whitechapel" Ethan insisted. "And no arranging, prodding, or pushing anyone we know into being turned into a bloodsucker."

Ethan really emphasized "anyone we know." Erica didn't know whether that condition was made for the benefit of Sarah or for Rory, but she agreed nonetheless.

"You also have to wait four years" Sarah added.

"So you can try and talk me out of it?" asked Erica.

"Duh, you think?" said Sarah. "Also I know your mom. I don't want her grieving over her missing daughter. I know you won't come back to see her if it means turning human again."

"That's true, Sarah" said Erica. "Now, how about you tell me this foolproof plan. Or is it supposed to be a secret to prevent me from, you know, going along with it myself."

"No" said Sarah. "That's what makes it so foolproof. You need Ethan for it to work."

"Why?" asked Erica.

"I've tracked down those bloodsucking nurses who run that phony blood drive" said Ethan. "If you remember, my blood's supposed to be a vampire's idea of gourmet food. I trade a pint for them agreeing to bite but not drain you. They savour my blood, you throw away your life and go back to the dark side."

"A bloodsucking quid pro quo" Benny observed sarcastically.

"Well" said Erica. "Four years and I'll have reached the peak of my hotness. If I can trust you to keep the deal, well, I can live with a few years to stock up on photos to better enjoy my Dusk-like timeless youth and elegance."

"A supernatural contract is binding in all dimensions" said Benny. "And this is almost a supernatural contract"

"Will you take a handshake to seal the deal?" asked Ethan.

"A little geeky," said Erica shrugging, "but, with you, it'll do."

Ethan hadn't intended for it to happen, but with the handshake Erica's future passed before his eyes.

"Are you picking at my mind?" asked Erica, angrily pulling her fingers from his grasp. "You've been wringing my hand for a half a minute."

Ethan realized he was back among his friends at good old Whitechapel High.

"No, I was . . . further away than that" said Ethan, scratching his head.

Unusually, Ethan's memories of his vision were quickly becoming washed-out and confused.

"Really?" said Erica incredulously. "Because if I catch you reading my mind, I'll get you Ethan. I might not have my vampire powers, but there are other ways. How would you like me to ask the boys on the football team to use you for tackling practice?"

"Erica, Ethan just can't help seeing into the future . . . sometimes" said Sarah.

"Trust me" said Ethan, "I wouldn't want to read your mind unless I had a real good reason."

"How about reading me my locker combination?"

"Allow me" said Benny.

From behind-his-back, Benny produced a post-it-note with Erica's locker combination, as well as Erica's original lock.

Erica snapped the note and lock from Benny's hands and walked away.

"Dude, why didn't you just keep them in your backpack?" asked Ethan.

"I did" said Benny shamefacedly. "It was just a slight-of-hand thing. I was afraid to use real magic, because, I, er, was afraid I might lose them and have to ask my grandmother to get them back."

"Now for the real trick" said Sarah, "What exactly did you see Ethan?"

"I zoned into the highlights of Erica's future" said Ethan, scratching his head. "At least, the stuff that involved the four of us here. For decades to come. But, it's strange. The visions have pretty much faded from my mind. I mean, I just know that Erica will always be set on being a bloodsucker. And us four, we'll never be bloodsuckers . . . or never be bloodsuckers again. But that's all I remember. A couple of minutes ago I knew my own future, but it's gone.

"It's too bad about Erica" Benny groaned. "We all sort of knew it might come to that. But what's real bad is you forgetting all the stuff you saw about yourself, buddy. What a ripoff!

"I think Ethan's lucky to forget" said Rory. "Who wants to see their life before it happens? It's like being given the ending spoilers for a real good movie. I mean, being a seer is cool and all Ethan, and loads of help. But, dude, don't try to look too far ahead."

"That's actually very true" said Sarah. "You're lucky you've forgotten."

"I guess I am" said Ethan, idly wondering just what it was that he had forgot.

So, everything unnatural as well as natural has to come to an end. And the forces of good are more powerful than the forces of evil. So that explains how the fallout from the explosion led to a permanent decrease in the number of Whitechapel residents ending up each week on the missing persons list. And a new lease on life for Sarah, and even Rory though he didn't realize it at first.

But it wasn't the end of Ethan, Sarah, Benny and Rory's adventures upholding the right in Whitechapel. Only the end of the beginning.