For no reason at all, Jono woke up at 3:45 AM. In his opinion, anyway. He slowly forced himself to a sitting position on the old couch that served as his bed. “Prob’ly nothin’ on the ruddy telly,” he thought, wondering what if felt like to yawn. He’d forgotten long ago.

He was just thinking of going back to bed when he heard a voice. “Jono, are you up?”

He blinked for a moment. “Yeah, luv. Come on down.” After all, there wasn’t much else to do down here. He could at least find out why she was up at this hour.

But the minute Paige stepped into view, Jono begin to regret that decision. She was wearing that see-through outfit that Jubilee had often teased her about. While he’d only thought it a myth, he could plainly see that it was all too real, and all too revealing, at that. If he had a throat, Jono could’ve sworn that he’d have swallowed. His head was reeling as it was.

“Like what you see, Mr. Starsmore?” Paige asked as she came closer.

“Gel, what in bloody ‘ell do you think yer doing?!”

“I thought it was obvious,” she replied. Without a hint of hesitation, she sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Paige, get off!” he commanded angrily.

She only arched an eyebrow. “Well, Ah’m glad to see that blast that gave ya these powers didn’t take everything,” she remarked.

Jono turned bright red, which was very strange, since he didn’t really have any cheeks. “Paige, yer drunk again!”

She frowned at him. “Ah am not. Ah’m perfectly sober. Now shut up and let me kiss ya.” She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

Jono leaned back, confused and angry. “You forced me hand, gel. Remember that.”

The next thing Paige knew, she was sitting on the floor. “You blasted me off?” she asked, still in disbelief.

Jono said nothing as he walked over to her. “I’m the Beast, Sunshine. You’re the Beauty. This would never work. It’s time you learned that.”

Paige frowned as he helped her up. “You never finished that story, did you?”

He shook his head. “Seemed a bit too depressing for me.”

“You know, Beauty and the Beast got together at the end,” Paige whispered.

Jono stared at her. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious! He was turned back into a handsome prince, and there was dancing and singing and...” Paige trailed off.

“And what?” Jono asked after a while.

“This.” Before he could register her thoughts, Paige pulled Jono closer and kissed his nose. Then she kissed the scarf that held back his raging psionic energy. “Can you honestly say you don’t want me, Jono?” she asked quietly, staring into his eyes.

Silence. Deadening silence. Jono didn’t have an answer for her; he was too busy thinking. So busy that he ignored the sharp pain in the back of his neck. But just before he lost consciousness, he decided that maybe Paige was right about Beauty and the Beast. After all, there weren’t many fairy tales with sad endings.

* * * * *

“This is taking too long. Isn’t she done yet?”

“Patience is a virtue, Rainbow Head,” Jubilee muttered.

Gaia’s cold gaze fell on her. “So is resisting the urge to tear your head off.”

“Now, girls,” Ev interrupted. “You know the boss wouldn’t approve.”

Jubilee stuck her tongue out at Gaia and wrapped her arms around Ev. “You’re just jealous cuz I got the cute guy.”

“For now,” Gaia replied, smiling at her.

“No offense, chica, but if I gotta listen to this? Just go ahead and kill me.”

Gaia turned to Angelo. “You’re hardly in any position to order me around, Ange. Besides, the boss wants you alive. He’ll see to your initiation personally.”

Angelo didn’t like the sound of that. “Now would be a great time to wake up, M,” he whispered to Monet.

Nothing.

He sighed and drummed a beat on his sneakers.

A few minutes later, Paige walked in, followed by Chamber and Banshee.

“So much for the rescue team,” Angelo mumbled.

“Don’t look so disappointed,” Paige said. “I’d have bitten you first, but the boss said to wait.”

“I’m flattered,” Angelo replied, “but I prefer living. Not that I have much choice in the matter. So where’s this boss of yours?”

“I say forget the boss,” Jubilee said, staring at Angelo hungrily. Normally, he wouldn’t have minded, but in this case it was just sickening.

“I agree,” Paige said, coming closer. “With all that skin, he’s bound to have gallons more than average people.”

“I vote to wait for the boss,” Angelo said quickly as they surrounded him.

“Shut up,” Ev hissed.

Monet chose that time to awaken. “What’s going on here?” she asked, blinking.

“Oh, now you wake up!” Angelo shouted.

The vampires halted their approach.

“Nice going, Hayseed. She must’ve heard your big mouth,” Jubilee muttered.

Paige laughed. “My big mouth?! That’s a laugh!”

“Both of you shut up and bite me!” Angelo shouted. Then he paused. “Wait, I didn’t mean that!”

“I should hope not, Espinosa,” Monet said calmly.

“Don’t talk to me,” Angelo said irritably. “You’re the one that couldn’t bat an eye to save us. Now Penny and Emma are dead and everyone but us is a vampire!”

For a moment, Monet said nothing. Then she laughed. “I’m invulnerable, Angelo. Even with their increased strength, they couldn’t pierce my skin. You’re the one that should be worried. And by the way, speak for yourself.”

Angelo was thinking about slapping her again when he noticed her eyes. They were blood red, the same way Penny’s entire eyeballs were cloudy blue. “Not you, too!” he wailed.

“Afraid so, Angelo,” she replied. “Now be a good boy and come over here. I promise you won’t feel a thing.”

Angelo scrambled across the bed and bumped into Paige. Her hands clamped down on his shoulders. “Got him, boss.”

“Excellent work, Paige,” Monet almost whispered as she crawled closer.

“Wait! You’re the boss?!” Angelo cried. “But they said it was a he!”

Monet leaned over him. “Simply a psionic suggestion. It fooled you, didn’t it?”

Angelo said nothing as he felt her silky hair brush against his cheeks. “So this is how it’s going to end for me. Bitten by a vampire. And I always thought it would be a drive-by.”

Monet smiled. “Biting you is the furthest thing from my mind.”

“So you’d consider letting me go?” Angelo asked hopefully.

“Not hardly,” she answered. “Though it is fun to see you cling to false hope. Everett, if you’d be so kind?”

Without a word, Ev stepped forward and grabbed her right wrist. Angelo shut his eyes when he saw Ev’s teeth aimed for it. “Open your eyes,” Monet demanded. After a few seconds, Angelo looked up. Monet’s face was a few inches from his. “You’re very lucky, Angelo. Out of all the other boys, I’ve chosen you to be my prince.”

“Not to rain on your parade or anything, but interracial relationships are way overrated,” he said.

“Witty, even in your darkest moment,” Monet mused, staring at him. “You’ll be very useful to me.” She pressed her wrist to his lips. “Drink.”

Angelo pulled away. “Can’t you just kill me or something?”

Monet sighed. “Yes, but it will be very difficult to mate if you’re dead.”

Angelo stared at her. “Did you say...mate?”

Monet nodded. “Of course, if you’d prefer one of the other girls...”

“Um...no, you’d be great!” Angelo said.

Monet didn’t bother to hide her smile. “I’m glad you approve.”

“Wait, that didn’t come out right!”

“Just drink, Angelo,” she told him, becoming slightly irritated. “You don’t have any other options.”

As if to emphasize her point, Paige tightened her grip on his shoulders. “Can’t I just bite him?”

“No!” Monet said sharply. After regaining her composure, she offered Angelo her wrist again.

With a sigh, Angelo slowly took her wrist. It had been bleeding freely the whole time, and now Monet’s blood was just about everywhere. She didn’t seem to notice, though. Scrunching up his face, Angelo slowly began to drink. He wondered just how much of the stuff he had to swallow. The blood was surprisingly sweet to him. It was somewhere between lemonade and Kool-Aid, but much thicker.

After a couple of seconds, Angelo let go of her wrist. He wiped the blood from his lips as Monet looked at him expectantly. Without warning, there was a sharp pain in his chest. Angelo doubled over in pain, rolling across the bed. Monet grabbed him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Still, Angelo writhed like a dying thing, screaming for all he was worth. The others watched in amazed silence.

Ten minutes later, his screams died down to whimpers, and he finally stopped thrashing about. “Madre de dios,” he whispered. “What’d you do to me?”

Monet pulled him closer and kissed his forehead. “Welcome to the family, Angelo.”