I glare at the girls receding back. I don't care what Elliot assigned her to do anyway. It's not like I wanted credit. Yes, I would fight wars when he needed people, but that was only because I wanted to protect SailHaven. I was not loyal to him anyways.

Maybe I could find a way to mess this up... 

I float over to Sprocket and Trillian. 

"Girls, girls," I say. "Calm down. You relize you are rapidly turning into vampires? I would leave, unless you want to be my next general." 

Apple walked into the marketplace with the cool grace of a swan in a lake of ducks. Her grimace was barely visible around the sides of her cloak, and her red hair was graying from the roots, but there was still a kind of beauty about her that came from many years of physical exercise and great care. 

The area was mainly silent today. There was something in the local papers about 'vampires', but she didn't quite believe the rumors.
"Tsk. Whatever it is... not my problem." she muttered. 

i grimace, elliot was right, i turn to Sprocket and say "truce?"

sprocket and i walk through the caves. as i had thought before there were some very evil traps so going was slow. we succesfully disarmed 3 spiked pit traps, 4 poison dart shooters, 23 tripwires, and a very nasty leaver that caused poison gas to flood the tunnel. there was also an acid trap that i missed and would have been caught in if sprocket had not pushed me out of the way in time. we finally reached the cave where the relic of blood was placed. we carefully enter narrowly missing a pressure plate that would have made the roof fall in on us. there is still no sign of the guardian i saw earlier. we step up to the relic and were about to take down it down when i say, "wait!" i can see a round pattern that the relic stands on. over in the far corner of the cave is another pattern just like it. "go stand on that circle over there" i say "the relic is trapped so that if it is taken and there is no weight on the other circle pattern the room will explode"

"Ahh, I see," I say, walking over to the circle. I stand on it an Trillian takes the crystal off. We smile at each other and then walk back through the now trap free tunnel.

We meet Elliot and present him with the crystal. "Now what did you say about generals and vampires?" I ask. 

I hear a ghasp of pain and turn to see sprocket doubled in pain, her face has gone all white and her canine teeth seem to be growing. the relic of blood! it must have the power to turn people into vampires! i brace myself for the pain im sure is coming... but it doesent! the only thing i feel is the EndStone in my pocket, slowly pulsing, as if it is calling to me, it must be generating some sort of shield. i turn to Elliot "we need to get sprocket fixed. NOW!"

I glare at elliot and take a step back. " you have no idea of the power of the EndStone, no way am i letting you have it." i grabe hold of sprocket and alunch myself into the air, turning my wings to the fastest setting. we jet across the sky as far away as i can get us. we land underneath sail haven at the entrance to a tiny tunnel that i can barely stand up in. sprocket was unconcious and she seemed to be turning into a vampire faster than ever. i press a button on the side of the tunnel closing it off. i had used an enchantment on it so that to any eyes but mine, this secret base did not exist. i walk a little ways down the tunnel and into a small room with a kitchenette, desk, and a bed. i put sprocket on the bed and take out the endstone. taking a deep breath i slowly lower it to her human hand. elliot had no idea what he was dealing with when he talked about the stone. i knew that even the strongest vampire magic was no match against it. the moment the stone touched her hand sprocket gave a sigh. color returned to her cheeks and the long fangs slowly shrank back to normal. i left it there untill i was sure there was no trace of vampire magic remaining. slipping the EndStone back into my pocket, i sit down and wait for sprocket to wake up

I groan. My head hurts. My mouth hurts. My everything hurts. But the thing that is hurting the most is my ego. Colapsing in the middle of the street like a damsel in distress? How pathetic.

It was all Elliots fault. Well, it wasn't, but it made me feel better to blame somebody. What had happened was scary and weird. I could have been a vampire forever.

I turn to Trillian. "I'm sorry, but what happened after I passed out? And what are we going to do now?" 

The ritual is incomplete. Ready the explosives. SailHaven falls tonight.