Assuming I am right that Joe is all right and still alive and still human, was there any reason really for Joe not to be found with me? No, there isn’t. And what does that mean? Nothing good that I can think of…

Suddenly I sense another presence in my room.

I watch a shadow glide towards me and recognize him. It.

Mephisto.

I steel myself against the mental compulsion that I know will come. To my surprise his directives bounce easily off my hastily constructed mental shields. I can see the shock in his eyes. Adam said that I could only be turned once…but does that mean I now have some immunity against their mental compulsion? Or does that mean that I retain some of the skills I learned from the Van Helsings? I do not have the time to speculate. An arm reaches out for me and slams me lightly against the wall. Mephisto has total mastery over his use of force. There is no thudding sound that will alert my parents. But I can feel the full force of his power behind that move.

“If your parents walk into this room now, they die, do you understand?” A gravelly voice delivers those threatening words quietly to me.

His tone of voice is so casual; I feel the coldness settle in my heart as I struggle to rein in the anger that threatens to spill over. I know there is nothing I can do against Lilith’s elite, even if I have a holy water soaked stake with me now, which I don’t.

I nod.

Did I ever mention that it had to be a holy water soaked stake to dust a vampyre? A piece of wood will but wound them.

He gives me an evil grin that sends shivers up my spine. I know I will not like what he has to say next.

“And you might like to know…” He leans down to whisper into my ear. “that we have your brother.”

Damn! A part of me already acknowledges that possibility, but I have chosen to hold on to hope.

And what of the Van Helsings, and the other hunters? What of them?

A soft cackle of laughter fills my room.

“They planned for you both to be found together, but I sent my revenants in….They managed to protect you, but we got your guardian of a brother. I’m afraid we left a number of hunters in fairly bad shape.”

Then he snarls. “We could have gotten to you after that, but the hospital you were in had a protection glyph built into its very walls and foundation. We could not breach the magical defenses.”

And then he smiles most grimly. “But you are home now…and yes, they are looking out for you, but they are being kept well-occupied for the time being.”

They? Is Jana around?

I can feel my heart speed up a little as I think of her. Yes, I know now that she is very special to me.

Then Mephisto hisses again into my ear. “But I am sure you will behave yourself…if you want to see your brother again…”

I let my fury shine through my eyes as I glare balefully at him and nod my head again in the affirmative.

He chuckles and grabs me.

I force myself to relax and let him carry me out of the window and toward an unknown destination. I watch dispassionately as Mephisto heads towards the coast. Soon we are moving down Shore Road, and I know we are heading for the cliffs. I can hear the waves as they crash onto the shore, I can smell the sea as the ocean breeze brushes by my cheeks.

I find myself sparing a thought for my poor parents. I was home for barely 12 hours, and am now gone again.

And I am desperately trying to psych myself into believing that both Joe and I will be able to find a way out of this together. I believe that we will make it, and that is half the battle won.

See Jana, I remember what you said. Let God handle the other half.

Then Mephisto jerks to a sudden stop. He almost drops me. Two more crossbow bolts whiz past and his grip on me loosens further. I suddenly feel very conflicted.

Shall I break free? But if I do, what will happen to Joe?

“Frank!”

Jana.

I turn instinctively towards her voice. At the same time, I feel something being placed in my hand. I automatically grab it. It feels cool and cylindrical and familiar. I know that it is a wooden stake.

I can sense Mephisto recovering from the surprise ambush, and his grip on my arm tightens. I twist around and slash his arm with that stake. I can see the burns form on his arm and he lets go of me. I scramble quickly out of his reach as the twins attack with their wooden blades.

Once I regain my footing, I prepare myself to join them in battle, even when I know I cannot match the grace and speed of the twins. Not as a human. But, I know I can watch for opportunities.

Another vampyre suddenly appears before me. I really thought I was done for. But I absolutely refuse to go without a fight, so I throw myself left and out of reach of the vampyre. I crash onto the ground in an ungraceful heap a distance away.

Imagine my surprise when I realize that I had moved faster and further than I anticipated! Now, what does that mean?

The outcome is unfortunate for that vampyre attacking me.

He attacks and I react.

I stake him.

Just like that.

Another vampyre appears and I dust him easily too. I am getting the idea of my abilities. It seems I can match the speed of the twins, but not the supernatural strength of a vampyre. But as more vampyres appear, I know that it is a battle that we cannot win.

Unless the twins have backup coming?

I have no idea and I can’t ask them at the moment. We are all too busy fighting. But I can hope, can’t I?

Soon, we are surrounded by a dozen vampyres. Given the fact that we are currently at an isolated spot on the cliffs overlooking the bay, I am not hopeful of a police cruiser coming past. In all honestly, it is not even nice of me to wish for one to come by. But wish I do. I am not exactly in the mood to be nice at the moment.

Then Lilith arrives. Her pale complexion glows eerily in the moonlight, her midnight hair floats behind her, so dark it seems to swallow any light that shines upon it. There are many more vampyres following behind her.

I can feel both Jana and Jonah tensing up next to me.

“Good evening Jana. Good evening Jonah. And I am surprised you are still alive, Jana.” Lilith greets politely.

“I am a survivor.” Jana returns in a careless but equally polite tone.

Then Lilith turns her attention to me.

“And Frank, do remember that we have your brother.”

“You do not.” Jana refutes.

Now, who is telling the truth here? Jana. Of course I will believe Jana.

“Then where is the younger brother then?” Lilith challenges Jana, her tone mocking and confident.

Yes, where is he?

She merely smiles.

What am I supposed to think?

“Here.” The voice, though soft, carries through the night breeze.

My heart lifts. That is Joe. I watch him move out from the shadows with Adam behind him. He looks a little too pale for my liking still. I wonder what happened to him.

Is he…? Did I…?

I swallow my rising fear and guilt. I honestly do not know what happened and should not be making any more erroneous assumptions. And, I guess now is not the time to ask. I sigh; whatever happened to my well-known patience?

I watch as some of the vampyres start to back off a little. They must have heard what Joe did the other night, and I cannot help but feel a morbid sense of satisfaction at their fear.

“Well Adamah, I was certainly not expecting to see you here tonight,” Lilith comments. “I did not know that you have a death wish.”

“Our age-old grudge ends today, Lilith,” Adam states in a tired yet firm tone.

“Yes, it ends with your death and that of your line, Adamah,” Lilith flashes back, then smiles viciously, “And I hope you are not expecting that guardian of yours to do the same trick again. I went back to the ancient texts, and have learnt certain truths…”

What does Lilith mean by that?

I feel suddenly anxious. I turn to look at Joe. He seems unperturbed.

That is a good sign, right?

“The light of creation is not meant to be used so carelessly. I already did that once, and have paid the price for that transgression. You are correct on that count,” Joe answers quietly, his eyes dark with something I cannot define.

Okay, that definitely does not look good. What am I missing here?

“Ah Lilith, I am here because the Lord decrees that everything ends tonight. He bids me tell you that He will do right by you,” Adam said.

“Will it?” Lilith questions. “I have defied His Will for millenniums, Adamah. He has never done right by me. Why should I believe Him now?”

“Because at the end of the day, He IS your Lord, Lilitu. If He says He will do right by you, He will,” Adam says softly. “And I admit that I did not treat you right back then. I am sorry.”

“You cannot change what was done, Adamah. You cannot take back my years of barrenness, and the agony of my years in a dark and bleak existence…”

“And I have spent equal years in the darkness as you, Lilitu.”

For a moment, there is silence as Lilith considers. Then again she hardens.

“But your darkness is not bleak, Adamah. You had your light and your descendents.”

Then she turns back to me.

“You know that there is no way you and your comrades can survive tonight, Frank. Unless I let them go…”

I concede she is correct about that.

“Join me, Frank, of your own free will, and they all go free. All except Adam.”

I know I should not be considering that offer…

One feminine hand entwines her fingers with mine on my left, and another hand firmly holds onto my right. I hold onto both tightly. I have a woman who loves me with all her heart, and a brother who loves me with his whole soul. What more can a man want in his life? I will not disappoint them.

“No,” I tell her in a firm voice.

For a moment she looks almost disappointed. The she shrugs and raises her hand….And they attack.

I push Joe behind me and dodge an incoming slash and easily dust my first attacker, and turn to face my next. These are the younger vampyres. The elites are just standing there next to Lilith watching; they are not attacking just yet. It seems Lilith still fears us to some degree.

A part of me scans my surroundings for Joe even as I battle my enemies before me.

Adam is graceful in his moves as he methodically turns vampyre after vampyre into dust. The twins are lethal as always, and they cover each other’s back perfectly.

Then I panic a little when I realize I cannot see my brother. I wonder if he can cope, since he does not possess the skills that the twins and I have. Then the silliness of it all hits me. We are all going to die tonight and soon. It is just a matter of who goes first and who follows. And what we are doing is merely taking as many of them as we can.

I deflect another potential hit from a bony vampyre and dust him, but the impact from that deflection throws me off balance. I land rather unceremoniously on my backside, and find myself sandwiched between a rock and an incoming dagger.

I know this is the end for me. Trapped as I am, I know I cannot avoid the incoming dagger. But I can take him with me. I force my arm, numb from the impact of the fall, up before me with the stake pointing outward…

Then the world around me…stills.

I can see the dagger hanging motionless in mid-air just two feet away from my heart. It will take only a split second for the tip to reach my skin, then pierce through to my heart, pressed down by the force behind it.

Yet it hangs there motionless in mid-air.

I stare at it, fascinated. My peripheral vision tells me that everything else is stilled too. Jonah is there, frozen in a half-leap, and Jana is close to staking another vampyre. I assume Adam and Joe are both out of my line of sight at the moment.

Joe… is my brother still alive? I muse.

There is music in the air. Sweet angelic music that is so soothing to my soul.

Is this what the instant before death is like?

Then I see Lilith moving. She looks stunned at the absolute stillness around her. Then she mutters under her breath and heads towards me. I can see in her eyes that she means to kill me personally.

“Lilitu…”

Joe?

She pauses in mid-stride. “What do you want, Guardian?”

“Do you not know me?”

Lilith frowns, and only answers a moment later. “Mika’el?”

I see Joe gives her a little smile. Then I realize that Joe looks different; he seems to be shining with an inner light.

“My Lord bids me tell you that humanity’s next step is in your hands.”

What does that mean?

“So you will hand Frank and his soul over to me?”

“I will never do that Lilitu, not even if My Lord bids me to…I tell you this so that you know that to some degree I understand where you are coming from.”

I know Joe will never do that, but I cannot help the relief coursing through me at his declaration.

“Then there is nothing for us to talk about,” Lilith snaps back.

“His soul will never be yours, or anyone else’s, for as long as I exist, Lilitu. But my Lord bids me tell you that it will be your decision if Frank Hardy lives or dies.”

“If I cannot have him wholly, I have no use for him; he dies.”

“It serves you no purpose to kill him, Lilitu. For I will simply follow him and bring him home where he belongs.”

“But it will serve to ease my bitterness and anger at what I cannot have…” It almost seems to pain Lilith to say that.

“Take a good look at what you are destroying before you make your decision, Lilitu,” Joe continues in a gentle, soothing tone.

“I am killing one of Yahweh’s Chosen…”

“Who was given to your keeping for a year, Lilitu. See carefully for yourself God Yahweh’s gift for you, Lilitu” Joe gestures towards me with his hand.

Lilith’s eyes narrows as she returns her gaze to me. She stares at me for a long time. Her eyes widen in surprise, and then soften. Her hand reaches out as if to touch me, but she is too far away. I swear I can almost see tears there.

Then Joe interrupts [at that moment].

“Frank Hardy will plant the seeds for the next Age of Man, Lilitu. And God Yahweh has given you the choice whether or not you want him to….Choose wisely, Lilitu.”

As Joe’s voice fades off, I feel the chains of time around us loosening. I can see the aura surrounding Joe fading away, and know that Mika’el is gone.

“No…Mika’el…wait…” Lilith calls out, but it is clearly useless.

I feel movement returning to my limbs, and see the dagger above me begin its downward journey. I close my eyes and look forward to finding out what Joe means by bringing me home.

But that dagger never hits me, and when I feel a heavy weight upon my stake, I open my eyes to see Lilith impaled on it.

I am shocked by that. I can hear her telling all the vampyres not to bother me from now on. And I can see the shocked expressions of all the vampyres within sight too.

She saves me, at the cost of her own existence.

Then she lifts a trembling hand to my face. For some strange reason, I let her. She smiles wonderingly at me. It is, I admit, a rather strange experience.

Then she frowns.

“What about the rest of my creations?” she whispers in a guilty voice.

A small bush near us bursts into flames that clearly do not burn, and a strong voice cuts across the night.

“They will be given a choice to return to Me; the Guardian will see to it.”

“Thank you, My Lord,” Lilith gasps.

“It is time, My child, for you to come home…”

I watch almost as if from an external perspective, as Lilith covers my hand with hers, and slowly draws the stake from her heart. And slowly, so slowly, she turns to dust. But unlike the other vampyres that I staked, hers is a powdery golden dust that swirls beautifully in circles up into the night sky and towards the stars.

When it is all gone, I see Joe lift both his palms skywards and release a multitude of floating lights into the night. Those little globes of light swirl around us all, creating a rather ethereal sort of atmosphere. It helps to calm and soothe the feelings of bitterness and anger that existed just moments before.

I watch some of the vampyres reach out for the floating globes of light. They hold them for a moment in their palms. For some, I can see wonderment light up their features; those vampyres close their palms over the light, and let the light suffuse their beings. Slowly, they turn to golden dust and rise into the night sky too.

But the remaining vampyres snarl in anger and vanish into the darkness.

Then Joe is there standing before me. He reaches out with an arm, and I let him pull me up to my feet.

His hands are warm.

The relief I feel at that warmth is tremendous. You see, there is this tiny fear in me that I really did turn Joe, that I gave him my fate. I am so happy to know that I didn’t.

For a moment I simply stand there just looking at him, taking in his dirty blond hair, the dirt-smudged face, and those ever-twinkling deep sapphire eyes. Then I reach out to touch him, tentatively at first. Then Joe must have decided I am taking too long and he just grabs me and draws me into a bear hug.

I hug him back. So hard I hope I didn’t break any of his bones.

I can hear him murmur how much he missed me and how glad he is to see me again. I can feel my shoulders getting wet. And I know his shoulders are getting wet too.

Not that I care.

It is just so good to be together again.

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.