Billy came whistling up the walk, feeling very good. He hadn't managed to get to Evanthe's the night before, the hunt had taken longer than he'd expected. I never imagined I'd be a vampire, or engaged to one. The most BEAUTIFUL vampire in the universe at that!! He smiled to himself, thinking about Evanthe as he tapped on the door. I hope she's not mad at me for not showing up last night!
"Hi, Billy!" her mother opened the door.
Billy smiled a little. "Is Evanthe here?" he asked Diana. The vampiress shook her head.
"I haven't seen her since right after the graduation party," Diana told him. Billy's eyes went wide.
"What?" he almost croaked. "She said she was coming straight home!"
Diana shook her head. "We haven't seen her!"
She probably just went for a walk and forgot to tell them. "Damn," he muttered. "If you do, would you tell her to call me?"
"Sure!" Diana nodded. "I'm sure she'll be back soon."
"Thanks," Billy smiled as he started back to his own home. Man, I love that vampire girlfriend of mine, but she really should leave a note or something if she's going out!
Zedd, master of all evil, laughed as he peered down to the Rangers. "What is this?" he murmured to himself. His wife Rita looked down through her RepulsaScope.
"Looks like a couple of Rangers are having problems!" she chuckled. Adam and Elissa were hardly even talking to each other it seemed!
"The two Rangers who couldn't keep their hands off each other, now she can't stand him touching her!"
Rita laughed, enjoying the sight. This could be very interesting to play with!" she declared. Zedd nodded.
"Amplitron, he is the perfect monster for this situation!"
"Yes!" Rita barked. "If they don't like each other now, they're going to hate each other soon!"
Zedd laughed. "Enough that they might do something truly evil!" oh, if only they DID! It would be so sweet to watch them destroy each other!!!! "Amplitron, go put your spell on those two Rangers, but be sure they don't see you!"
The monster, summoned by Zedd's will, bowed low. "As you command, my lord!" he declared, then was gone. Rita and Zedd held hands and watched the Rangers below, laughing softly. This plan was even more perfect than the last one they'd tried!
Elissa leaned back in her chair, eyes closed and thinking about the early days of her relationship with Adam. Things were so good then. We were happy, in love, and couldn't be away from each other without moaning so much we probably sickened more people than we know. What happened?
She looked over to see he was looking a picture of their wedding day, and smiled a little. I still do love him. But he does annoy me on occasion. As he looked over at her, she looked away, returning her thoughts to the day she had met Jareth. He looked so CUTE that first time. . .all covered in mud because he'd slipped into the swamp!
She practically ground her teeth as she heard Adam sigh behind her. "What is it now?" she muttered.
"Can't you stop thinking about him?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped back without thinking.
Adam practically glared at her. "You keep thinking about Jareth!"
"What?" she was surprised. " And you don't think about your exes?"
Adam shook his head. "Not constantly!"
Elissa did glare at him, she was getting quite tired of his accusations. "I don't think of him constantly!"
"Yes you do!"
Elissa brought herself to her feet to stare into his eyes. "The only reason I'm thinking of him recently is because you're being a major jerk!"
"I am not being a jerk!" he retorted. "What makes you think I am?"
"Ever since that day," Elissa bit the words off. "You have distanced yourself from me. Even when I wasn't thinking about him, you just can't accept that there was someone in my life that I cared about almost as much as I care for you!"
What she'd just said skipped right over Adam's head in a good many ways. That was made obvious by what he said next. "You're right, I can't!"
Tears almost welled up in her eyes. "I wish I never bonded with you now!" she hissed!
"Why? Because I love you?" he growled.
"Cause of how jealous you're acting!" she told him. "Over someone who's been dead for a century!"
"But you still think about him!"
Elissa clenched her fists. "Thinking and being are two different things!"
"But do you want to be with him?" Adam whined a little. "If he showed up, would you go to him?"
Elissa shook her head. "I love you more than I loved him. You are my soul! He was just my heart. You are a part of me, physically, mentally, and emotionally. He isn't. So no, I wouldn't. . .but if you keep acting like this. . .," she broke off, staring at him in rage still.
"Act like this!" Adam growled.
"Like a complete jerk!" Elissa growled as she stormed into the bedroom. A knock came to the door as she came out, jacket on, purse over her shoulder, and keys in her hand. "Don't bother getting it! I'll let them in on my way out!" she shouted. Adam's faced twisted with anger.
"Fine! Keep going!"
As she opened the door, she snapped, "The jerk's in the living room!" Tommy, on the other side, raised an eyebrow.
"Hello, Elissa," he ventured, almost knocked back by the force of the Rose Ranger's glare.
"Excuse me!" she snapped. "I'm leaving! Going to see someone about a divorce!"
As she stormed out, Tommy entered and looked at his long-time friend. "Adam? What's going on?"
"Just a ghost," Adam snarled, pacing back and forth with fury in his eyes, a fury Tommy had never seen before.
"I don't get it," Tommy shook his head.
Adam paused and looked at his friend. "She keeps thinking about Jareth, her late fiancé, almost constantly!"
"But he's dead!"
Adam snorted. "Tell that to her!"
His friend and leader sighed. "It seems to me that you guys are both acting a bit odd."
"I just can't take it anymore!" Adam declared. As Tommy asked what, the Black Ranger told him, "I see what she's remembering. Usually I can't, but recently I can, and I am sick of seeing her remember him!"
Tommy sighed. "Doesn't she remember you?"
"It doesn't appear that she does," Adam sighed as he went to the window and stared out of it. "I don't even know where she went."
"She said something about trying to get a divorce," Tommy told her. Adam glanced over to him.
"What?" I know what she's doing! "Damn it, she's going to Michael, to get our bond broken!"
Tommy asked gently, "Do you want her to?"
Adam shrugged, a sight that struck a chill in Tommy's heart. "Let her," his voice was even colder. "It's her fault that this happened."
As he spoke, their communicators both beeped. Tommy raised his. "What is it, Zordon?"
RITA AND ZEDD HAVE SENT A MONSTER TO ANGEL GROVE. REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER, RANGERS, came over the devices. Tommy nodded. "Let's go, Adam!"
As they teleported, a shadow moved outside the window, and Amplitron, tormentor of emotions, laughed. My work is done! With that, he teleported out.
Michael Cromsdale paused in his contemplation of a painting of Elissa to the sound of something pounding on the door. Quickly hiding it, he answered. "Break my bond," came from the living Elissa behind it.
"Again?" he stammered out.
"I hate him!" Elissa growled out.
At last!!! "Adam?" he asked to be sure. Elissa nodded agreement, along with a few profanities. "Elissa, a few months ago, you two were in perfect love!" he had to test this, to be sure this was what she wanted. Once she was away from him. . .
"That was two months ago!" she hissed.
Michael nodded. "If you're truly certain, I'll do it, but you know it can't be remade if it's broken."
She shrugged. "That's what you said about the bond. That it couldn't be broken. But you found a way!"
"All right," Michael nodded. "Let's do it."
Elissa went down to the basement with him as he started the ceremony. Suddenly, her communicator beeped. She groaned into it, "What is it?"
COME TO THE COMMAND CENTER, ELISSA. THERE IS A MONSTER TO BE DEALT WITH.
Elissa sighed and glanced to Michael. "This will have to wait!" he nodded as she hit the button on her communicator and teleported out. He smiled.
Don't be too long. He started to continue the ceremony. It would take longer without either of the bonded pair there, but it could and would be done.
In her customary rose flash of light, Elissa appeared in the Command Center, turning away when she saw Adam there. Her motion was echoed by him, and Tommy groaned in disgust. Zordon had already sent the other Rangers out to fight the monster, he'd said he wanted to talk to Elissa and Adam; Tommy was staying as a sort of mediator.
"Okay! You two start acting like adults!" he snapped out. Before I break out the pacifiers!
"Why should I act like an adult around someone who obviously doesn't love me?" there was a harsh, shrill tone to Adam's voice.
It was also in Elissa's. "Why should I love someone who doesn't trust me?"
"Why should I trust someone who's always thinking about someone else?" it was plain they would've kept going if Zordon's booming voice hadn't cut through their din.
Alpha stepped up. "We first noticed the monster that is attacking Angel Grove outside your house," he told Adam and Elissa. "It is called Amplitron, and can amplify and twist people's emotions. This is what we believe he did to you two."
Adam shook his head harshly even as he and Elissa were being scanned. "No way!"
Alpha nodded. "Unfortunately, you are both under it's spell"! he declared. Elissa stayed silent and tight-lipped the whole time, refusing to dignify any of this with her voice.
"Why us?" the Black Ranger wondered, until Tommy reminded him of the troubles they'd been having in their relationship. That had made them the easiest prey for the monster's power. Adam growled, "We're only having problems because she won't stop thinking about Jareth!"
Elissa turned to look into the Viewing Globe, and suddenly realized a familiar purple uniform wasn't in the fight. "Where's Evanthe?" she asked, the first words she'd spoken since Zordon had silenced her and Adam's arguing.
"She hasn't answered her communicator," Alpha told her. Elissa frowned a little, then stood up straighter.
"Let's go help the others. I have something to take care of," as much as I detest Adam right now, I'm not going to shirk my duties!
"White Ranger Power!"
"Black Ranger Power!"
"Rose Ranger Power!"
The three of them teleported out, and Zordon watched them go. Be careful, Rangers, he thought. His attention turned to the Viewing Globe, where Elissa was kicking the monster with a powerful blow.
He was still weak from the avalanche, but feeling stronger. She'd never felt about anyone the way she did about him. He was everything to her, he was the one she'd waited a hundred years for, the mate of her heart, her soul, her life. . .and they were about to make love for the very first time.
The first time of a lifetime together, she sensed. A thousand lifetimes.
Elissa smiled as the memory of their first time together flashed into her mind. She could sense Adam's own joy at that memory, then swore as half a dozen Tengas knocked her off her feet.
"Leave her alone!" Adam cried suddenly, launching himself over there to beat them away from her.
What have I done? she wondered as she got to her feet and attacked the monster again, doing more damage than she'd thought possibly in a flurry of blows.
What have I done, you mean? Adam wondered as he almost tripled the damage she'd done to the thing.
Let's take this thing down, then go see Michael, she suggested. She felt Adam's assent as they joined in a double attack on the thing, the other Rangers busily fighting off the Tengas.
Yeah, he smiled. I love you.
I love you too. Don't you forget that! she laughed as she kicked Amplitron into the nearby lake, the water destroying it on contact. She laughed as they all demorphed, and Adam caught her up in his arms.
"I love you," he said softly. Elissa smiled, then stiffened suddenly.
"We don't have time for this!" she snapped, teleporting out to Michael's. Adam groaned. "She's right!" he sighed, and was right after her.
At Michael's, he had almost finished the ceremony just as Elissa appeared in his chamber. "Michael, stop it!" she snapped. He looked up in confusion.
"Again?"
Adam, appearing behind Elissa, quickly explained what had been really going on. Luckily Michael had stopped the ritual in time and Elissa apologized for her inconstancy. "Could you two make up your minds?" he asked, grinning a trifle.
"Kind of hard when you've got two space aliens casting spells on you," Elissa chuckled. Michael nodded as she looked to Adam. I'm sorry if I've been thinking about Jareth so much lately. Seeing him again brought back a lot of memories.
I understand. I shouldn't have been jealous. I'm sorry. They joined at once in a passionate kiss, one that washed away their differences and fights, uniting them at last in purest love.
Let's go home, Elissa suggested. And have some fun. And talk.
Yeah! Arm in arm, they vanished from Michael's chamber. He growled, knocking the things around the room in anger. "I will have her!" he swore to himself. "No matter what, I will!"
As they walked up the front walk of their house, Adam industriously nibbling on her ear, Billy surprised them both by opening the door to the house ahead of them from the inside. "Billy?" Elissa frowned a little.
"Evanthe is missing," he said flatly. Elissa's eyes widened, she could plainly feel Adam's shock.
"What?" she whispered.
"No one has seen her since she left the Command Center after she fed from Ian, yesterday!" he groaned. Elissa suggested her friend might be somewhere thinking, after all, she had come fairly close to true death the day before. Billy shook his head. "Alpha scanned all of Angel Grove, she's not here!"
He's definitely worried! "You tried the cabin?" Elissa suggested, thinking over all the places she knew of where Evanthe might go. Billy nodded.
"We've tried everywhere!"
Elissa frowned briefly. "We'll find her, that's a promise," she told him. "Why don't you come inside and I'll make you something hot to drink?"
"I already had dinner," he shook his head. "It was to keep my mind off her being missing!"
"Then come inside and talk with us," Elissa surged. "I'm sure Zordon and Alpha will find her!"
Billy, a little reluctantly, joined them inside, and Elissa brewed them all up a cup of hot coffee. Adam, I'm giving him a sleeping pill.
Good idea! her husband agreed as he made brief small talk with Billy in the living room. Very brief, since all Billy would speak of was Evanthe. Elissa came back in and handed the cup to Billy.
"Drink this," she said, her voice brooking no denial. Billy nodded and drank, recognizing the tone in her voice. It felt a little strange to drink something that wasn't blood, but it brought back good memories of when he had been human. He smiled a little, he really didn't feel or act that much different these days. Except for his diet.
"Thanks," he said, smiling at her. Elissa nodded.
Any second now, he should be out!
Billy put the cup down and turned his thoughts back to business. "So, we have to fin. . .," he almost literally collapsed in the chair he'd been sitting in.
Elissa smiled as she put him into the spare room. He shouldn't wake up until morning. But we should call his parents.
Yeah, and we'd better find Evanthe!
Soon! Elissa nodded. I'm not sure I can hold out for you much longer!
Evanthe jerked against the ropes that bound her to the chair, cursing as they proved too strong for even her vampiric strength to overcome. Where am I? What's going on?
She remembered little about her abduction. Only that whoever had taken her had been incredibly strong, mentally and physically. Billy, where are you? Are you looking for me? How long have I been gone?
A single tear went down her face as she realized she had no more sense of time or location. All she knew was she had been unconscious for a time, and then had awakened in this dark and shadowy place. Her eyesight, normally strong enough to slice through the deepest night, failed her here.
Find me, Billy. This is something I can't get out of on my own. Please, find me. Elissa, Billy. My friend, my love. Be safe, and find me. But most of all, be safe.