"I am not letting you become a spinster, you are marrying him and that's final!"

Diana and Christopher had never quite imagined that their daughter would rise as high as it looked as if she would, but things were looking that way. The local lord had chosen her, the most beautiful unmarried woman in the area, as the bride of his son. Diana couldn't understand just why she was balking so much. "You don't have much choice, do you?" Christopher returned.

Evanthe snorted, "Oh, yes, I do! I'd rather die than marry him!"

"Evanthe, the lord wants you to marry his son, he's practically ordered it. None of us have a choice in it!" Christopher stated. He had no idea how such a wild female had been produced from him and his wife, but it had happened. Perhaps it was because they had indulged her, letting her run wild, as she was their firstborn. They both regretted it now, though.

"I can't marry him if I'm not here! I'll run away!"

Diana interrupted. "You do, and we'll all die! Lord Deran will make certain of it!"

Evanthe shook her head violently. "Mother, Father, I don't want to marry without love, and I don't love him!"

"Love will come after." Christopher said. "It did for your mother and I."

The young woman sighed. "Father, I do not..I cannot...I will not marry him!"

Her father rose up to her. "You will, and that is final!"

"I will not!" Evanthe was out the door and into the woods before she could be stopped. Diana sighed.

"Now what are we going to do, Christopher?" she asked, taking her husband's hand.

The farmer sighed. "She'll cool off. Let's just hope she comes to her senses."

"And if she doesn't?"

"We make her."

Diana sat down slowly. "She is so stubborn!"

"Just like you were when we first got married." Christopher reminded her. There was a large difference, however, between Diana's stubbornness and her daughter's untamable nature. Christopher had a feeling that would be useful to Evanthe in the future, though.

Diana smiled a little. "My parents made the right choice for me. I just hope she understands that we're doing this for her own good."

At the sound of tears and running feet, he hid behind a tree and peeked slowly out, motioning his troops to hide. He smiled to see Evanthe, much younger but every bit as lovely and desirable to his twisted senses, coming through the woods.. Slowly she stopped running, but her tears kept falling. This will be easy, he decided, sliding out from behind the tree to get behind her, and seizing her tightly. "You are mine now!"

She screamed loudly, kicking as hard as she could at him. He was surprised to find her so weak, then remembered she wasn't a vampire here, and had only the normal strength of a farm bred teenager, infinitesimal compared to what she would one day have, if he didn't stop her. "Let go of me!" she screamed.

"Never!" he started to drag her away, intent on amusing herself for the next couple of days, when a sharp voice he hated spoke.

"Didn't you hear the lady?" Tommy said quietly. "She said no!"

Kim smiled briefly from beside him, remembering some of the first words Tommy had ever spoken to her. Then she struck her own defensive pose. "Get out of here!" she commanded

Goldar released Evanthe, growling, "I go now...but it will be stopped!"

Evanthe at once dropped to the ground, crying, as Goldar vanished. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before; she felt sick at the very touch of..whatever it was. She had felt only hands and heard a voice, never had she seen the face. One of those who had saved her came over.

"Miss? Are you all right?" Tommy asked quietly. She looked up.

"T..t..thanks."

Tommy smiled. "It was no problem. I'm glad we could help. Can we help you somewhere?"

"Know anywhere that I can get away from an arranged marriage?" Evanthe asked quietly. Tommy shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't."

Kim whispered softly to Tommy. "We have to keep an eye on her for three more days."

Tommy nodded, whispering back, "And get Goldar back to our time."

Evanthe looked up at them, tears in her eyes. "I guess I can't get out of it then."

"Want to talk about it?" Slowly she explained about how her parents had arranged her a marriage. Tommy and Kim both noticed something: she looked a lot more innocent than she had when they had known her in their own time. "One day," he promised her, "You will find your true love."

Evanthe sighed. "I don't think such a person exists. But if he does, I want to meet him."

Kim smiled, squeezing her hand. "You will, and it will be a match made in heaven!"

The girl shook her head. "Not if I marry the man my parents want me to."

"I wish I knew a way for you tog et out of it." Tommy said. He wished he could tell her that he knew she wouldn't marry him; she would be too busy being a vampire at the time. Evanthe sighed.

"So do I. But there isn't one."

"Want us to take you anywhere? You look very tired." Tommy suggested. Evanthe glanced behind her.

"I'd like to go home, but I was fighting with my parents." She really loved her family, but it twisted in her to even think about marrying someone she didn't love, and she most certainly didn't love the lord's son. She had seen a face in her dreams, one of two she frequently saw, and she knew that one of those was destined for her, as she was for him. She also knew it wasn't anyone she knew now.

Kim asked, "Is there somewhere you usually go to think?"

Before Evanthe could answer that, Kim and Tommy both came fully out of the shadows and her eyes went wide. "Where are you two from? I've never seen outfits like that before!"

"A long ways away," Tommy said. "Our coach was attacked and we were looking for someplace to rest until we could get what was left of it fixed."

Evanthe nodded. "Well, my parents do have a spare room. You could spend the night there. You saved me from whoever that was that attacked me. I don't think they'll mind."

Tommy smiled. "Come on, let's get you back there then."

"Thanks again." Evanthe sighed and nodded. "For saving me." She paused for a moment. "I'm Evanthe Foster."

"Thomas Oliver," Tommy touched himself. "This is my fiancee Kimberly Hart."

Kim whispered as they headed back through the trees, "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd swear that this isn't the Evanthe we know. She looks..so young!"

Indeed, as they walked back nearer to the farm, they could see that this Evanthe, this young Evanthe was nothing like the vampire they knew. This one almost seemed to dance through the trees, her eyes sparkling with courage and determination, despite her recent attack. The one they knew would have been almost slinking through them, her eyes shifting around, searching for enemies, or gazing adoringly into Billy's eyes. Tommy whispered back, "Six hundred years can do a lot to a person."

Kim felt a sense of sadness and mourning for this innocent child. "Hard to believe that what's going to happen to her in three days is the most horrible thing that'll ever happen to her, and we have to make certain it happens."

"Yeah. I wish it didn't, though. But it does." Tommy told her. Evanthe glanced back at them as they came up to the doorway, where her mother was waiting for them.

"Here we are!"

Diana came running over to her, hugging her. "Evanthe! What happened to you?"

Evanthe shrugged, noticing the rips and bruises from her mystery attacker. "Someone grabbed me in the woods. These people saved me, they frightened him away."

"Thank you," Mrs. Foster said quietly. She, too, looked different, though not quite as wise as they were used to. "Come in."

Evanthe caught her mother's arm. "Mother, I shouldn't have run off like that. I'm sorry."

"We can discuss that later." Diana said. "Let us attend to our guests."

Evanthe nodded. "Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" she asked politely. Kim shook her head.

"No, thank you. We've already eaten." As they settled down to talk, the two visitors from the future were surprised by the sudden invasion of small people: Evanthe's younger sister and brothers. The same thought went through both their heads. What in the world happened to them?

"It's not your fault!"

"It is." Elissa cried. "If I had been quicker, I could have teleported her here."

Adam sighed . "We got her and you out of there. That's what's important."

"We should never have been there!"

"Elissa, it isn't your fault!" he was severely tempted to scream that into her face, when would she stop blaming herself for things that weren't her fault!? What in the world had went so wrong with her lately? He wouldn't be surprised if she blamed herself for the Civil War!

"My communicator got caught on my chair." She sighed. "I couldn't get to it. It's my fault."

"That was an accident." Adam said through clenched teeth. "Accidents happen."

Elissa stared down at the ground. "I want to die." she murmured softly. Adam leaned over to kiss her. "Don't touch me." She ignored the look of pain in his eyes. I couldn't stop him. He raped her, and I couldn't stop him!

You were tied down herself if you remember! There was nothing you could do!

I should have stopped him at the hospital, but I didn't. I had the chance, but I panicked.

You were scared. It happens!

Leave me alone. She thought the rest of the sentence very softly, but he heard it easily. To die..

Don't you dare die!

I love you, Adam.

He almost glared at her, in mixed love and rage. Cut the self-pity out, Elissa. Grow up. You aren't responsible for everything in the world. Things go wrong. All you can do sometimes is just fix the mistakes when they happen. You never get anywhere if you meep and whine about how it's your fault. And nothing will get done if you kill yourself. You're a hundred and nineteen. Act your age.

He might as well not have said anything, however, as Elissa just stared at Evanthe, considering ways to end her life and Evanthe slipped deeper into her coma. He sighed. Elissa, please don't leave me. Don't die.

I want to die, Adam. I want to.

No, please, don't. I love you. If you die, I die. As much as she irritated him, he would love her forever.

I die, you take care of Gwen. I'm not important.

You're the most important being in the universe!

You're biased. I'm not, and nothing you can say can change the truth.

I love you, and will until the end of time.

You'll find another.

There is no one else.

"You be careful." Diana advised. She had some fairly important spells she wanted to study that day, and it would go faster if she wasn't entertaining company.

"I will be." Evanthe nodded, and headed out. Kim and Tommy watched her go.

"I think we'd better keep an eye on her," Kim said quietly. Tommy nodded.

"Think you can walk and not trip in that dress?" they had given both of them clothing appropriate to the time period, and Kim was in a gown that made it almost impossible to move with any bit of speed or agility.

She only smiled. "I can try."

"It's those Rangers!" his head Tenga declared. "We can't get to her!"

Goldar thought for a few moments. "Let's go. We shall find her, and when we do you, you will distract them, while I get the girl."

"Yes, Goldar!" the Tengas squawked, and they all headed out. Goldar chuckled to himself.

"Soon, my pet, we shall have fun, and you shall die!" he was going to kill her, to encertain she didn't become a vampire at a later date, but not before doing what he had always loved doing to her. Since tasting her for the first time, he had become almost intoxicated by how she fought and struggled, and wanted more, as much as he could get.

It didn't take them long to find her, and Goldar once more seized her from behind. "Hello!" he laughed.

"Who are you!?" she screamed, fighting uselessly against him. "Let go of me!"

"Not yet, my pet!" Goldar started dragging her to his cave. "First we have some fun!"

They all heard Kim shouting out Tommy's name with authority as the Tengas swooped down on them, and Tommy growled in anger. "Tengas. And where's Evanthe?"

Kim fought as best as she could in her tight outfit, and saw Goldar dragging Evanthe away. "Goldar!" she pointed him out to her partner.

"Great." Tommy struck a Tenga hard. "And we only have one day left until it happens!"

His face drained of what blood he had in him. "Evanthe...no!" Tears streamed down his cheeks as he did his level best not to fall apart. Alpha was trying to start her breathing up again, but to no avail.

"Goldar has done something that is changing history." Zordon told them. Elissa looked up, but said nothing, still feeling as if this were her fault somehow.

Billy breathed softly, "Come on, Tommy fix it."

"W..why are you doing this?" she had never felt so helpless in her entire life! I wish I could fight. I wish I were stronger. I wish...I wish I had power.

"I want you!" the creature laughed, hands sliding up her legs. "I like to hear your cries!" she tried to move back, but couldn't. "You don't know what pain is yet!" he laughed.

She cried deeply. "Please let me go!" she heard a rip, and knew he'd torn her bodice open.

"Never!"

A very welcome voice came after his. "I wouldn't if I were you, Goldar!"

"T. .Thomas?"

Goldar snarled fiercely, "Can't I ever get away from you?"

"Never!" the White Ranger declared. "You will not touch this young lady!" he kicked Goldar somewhere very sensitive. "Then again, you won't be doing that to anyone in the near future!" Goldar screamed in agony at the hit. "I'd go back to Vile if I were you. You aren't going to hurt her, not now, or ever!"

Goldar growled, backing away. "We'll see about that!" he vanished, but they could both tell he was still in that time period. Kim hurried over to untie Evanthe, while Tommy removed the blindfold.

"There you go." Kim smiled, comforting her as she cried buckets.

"Who...who was that?" she murmured. "Why m...me?"

Tommy shook his head. "I wish I could tell you." He picked her up. "Let's get you home. You need to rest."

Evanthe nodded, already falling asleep as she leaned against his arms. Kim whispered, "I wonder how this is going to change the Evanthe we know?"

"Maybe not at all."

Adam nodded as Elissa groaned suddenly. "Elissa?"

What?

She's going to be all right. And so are you.

Whatever.

I love you.

"Today's the day."

Kim nodded. "All she's ever said about it was that she had a bad fight with her parents, ran off, and then found Girard and Sophie tearing her mom's throat out, or so she thought at the time."

Tommy glanced at the house. "All we have to do is make sure that Goldar doesn't try anything."

"He will." Kim said; she knew him. "I can't believe what he was trying. She's only seventeen here!"

Tommy held her gently. "I know. To think he's done the same thing to her some six hundred years in the future."

"I have never seen someone hate and fear anyone as much as she does him. It wasn't even this bad for her with Girard and Sophie."

"What about Finster and Elissa?"

"True." Kim nodded. "I wonder if Elissa will ever believe in herself again?"

"I hope so." Tommy breathed. They both fell silent, hearing strong voices coming from inside the house. This day had truly begun. A day that would change three lives, and have waves that changed the future forever rippling out from it.

"A life of lovelessness and heartache, mother!" Evanthe snapped. "I will not condemn myself to that!"

"You will learn to love him, as your father and I have learned."

Evanthe's eyes burned. She had not spent the last three days avoiding one monster to walk willingly into the arms of another. "I will not learn to love him! I won't marry him, I won't even go near him!"

Her mother looked angrier than ever. "And just why not?"

"Because I can't stand the sight of him!"

"You are being nothing but a spoiled little brat!" Diana growled. Why didn't she just do as she was told!?

"And you're nothing but an overprotective mother who can't stand to see her child make her own decisions for once!" Evanthe retorted. Diana slapped her hard.

"You are marrying him, and that is final!"

Evanthe stared at her mother. "It is not!" Just as swiftly as ever, she turned and ran out of the house. Diana turned to her husband.

"She is not getting away from us this time!" Together, the two of them headed out of the house, and to their own destinies.

As if her thoughts had somehow conjured him, the voice came from the trees. "Hello, my pet! You are coming with me!"

Hearing it clarified her thoughts. Whatever her marriage to the lord's son was like, it wouldn't be as bad as being with this! "You again!"

"Yes, me!"

"Who are you?" she cried. "Why won't you leave me alone? What do you have against me?"

"I have nothing against you. I want you, as my own!" he laughed, and she shivered, not liking what he said. She turned to see Tommy slowly entering the clearing, with Kim a step behind him.

"You can't have me!" she shouted back, finding courage in her friends.

"If you don't leave this time, I swear I'll kill you the next time I see you!" Tommy shouted. Goldar growled fiercely.

"I won't let her go this time! She's mine!"

Evanthe hurried to Kim at Tommy's motion, and heard the white-clad teen saying, "No, she isn't! She isn't anyone's property, now or ever!"

"Yes she is!"

"Who is that?" Evanthe asked Kim. The pink girl held her hands for a moment.

"Someone you don't want to know. Tommy and I can handle him. You'd better go find your parents, they're in danger." She and Tommy had seen them meeting up with Girard and Sophie as they had come towards the cave. They hadn't dared stop, for many reasons, but they knew Evanthe had to meet up with them.

Evanthe nodded, then raced off to find them. It only took her a few moments to track down the sounds of their voices, and she came running up to the edge of a clearing, wanting to tell them she'd changed her mind, she'd do what they wanted.

"Time to meet your makers!" she heard, and saw for the first time a face that would haunt her for centuries to come. A woman was holding her mother in a tight grip, and Evanthe stared at the sight of brilliant, strong fangs.

"You're a vampire!" Diana stared; in all the days of her mage-studies, she had never seen anything like that before! Sophie, for that was who held the woman, bent down quickly and slashed her throat open with her fangs, drinking the blood deeply.

"Mother!" Evanthe shouted, not caring if they heard her or not. Sophie looked up, and dropped Diana. Girard would kill her if even a child got away, especially this one. He had chosen her to be made into one of their kind, along with her parents. She leaped quickly and seized the girl. "What have you done to my mother, you monster?" Evanthe struggled.

"The same thing I'm going to do to you!" Sophie declared, sinking her fangs into Evanthe's unprotected throat. Once she had drunk enough, she slashed her wrist open, and slammed it into Evanthe's mouth, forcing enough blood down her so that the change would begin.

Evanthe tried to spit it back out, but couldn't. Her mind went blank and she collapsed, her breathing starting to slow down. Tommy and Kim, just coming up to where they couldn't be seen but would see, stared in disgust.

"I had no idea it was like that!" Kim breathed. Tommy shuddered.

"This is what Billy went through?!"

Kim nodded. "We'd better make certain that they don't see us." The two of them ducked behind a bush for best cover, then Kim whispered, "We did it, Tommy."

They both watched in horror as Girard, who had already turned Christopher and Diana, slapped Sophie around a little. "How could she stay with him all those centuries?"

"That's how." Tommy breathed as Girard bit her deeply, removing the little shred of free will she'd had.

Kim shivered. "At least we know one day she'll be free of him."

"And married to Skull, after almost breaking up a wolven marriage. Come on, let's go home." They had already sent Goldar and the Tengas back. They had stayed just long enough to make sure everything happened the way it should.

Out in the field, Girard glared at Sophie. "Take her somewhere quiet until she wakes up. Don't let her know that her parents are still alive, no matter what. I've got a job for her once she's awake, and hungry."

Sophie obeyed, crying, and neither noticed Tommy and Kim going home. Their job was done. Evanthe's vampiric life had begun.

"The Pink and White Rangers were there in the past!" he protested. "They stopped me at every turn!"

Vile shook his head. "They were powerless and they stopped you! Some great warrior you are!"

"I tried!" he claimed. "I had her cornered three times!"

The sorcerer glared at him. "I should destroy you here and now, but I am feeling generous. I will give you one last chance. Fail this, and you will die."

"I will do whatever you command, Master Vile!" Goldar swore.

"Get the werewolf, for Finster."

"Yes, sire." Goldar bowed low.

"And don't touch Evanthe, got that?" he hissed. Goldar bowed again, a faint hint of a pout around his eyes. "Yes, sire! I take it you don't want her to join us any longer?"

Vile glared at his warrior. "Leave me now before I destroy you!"

Just as he asked the question, pink and white light became their leader and his fiancee. "Never mind."

As soon as the two of them were back in the Command Center, Evanthe's eyes began to flicker open. "W..what happened?" Billy quickly explained, and Evanthe shuddered. "Goldar...Tommy. .Kim."

"We went back to the past to make certain Goldar didn't interfere too much with history." Kim told her. Evanthe nodded, looking over at Elissa, who looked away. The feeling had gone from her back again, and there were tears in her eyes.

"Elissa?" Elissa didn't move. "Elissa, I'm going to throw my communicator at you if you don't look at me." Elissa didn't move still. Evanthe threw the communicator, and sighed when Elissa ignored it. "Fine. Be like that then. Adam stepped over to her, explaining in a whisper that Elissa believed it was her fault what had happened to them.

Evanthe glared at her. "Elissa, it is not your fault! I had my communicator right on my wrist and didn't teleport out! If it's anyone's fault, it's mine! No, it's theirs for even trying in the first place!" She slowly stumbled over to her friend. "Elissa, blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault is the quickest and easiest way to lose your mind. Trust me, I know." She sighed. "It's happened to me before, before I knew any of you."

Elissa held her gently and whispered, "I can't feel my back anymore."

"Walking or in this chair, werewolf or human, male or female, good or evil, you are always my friend Elissa, you know that."

"I want to die..." Elissa murmured. Evanthe shook her head.

"Don't. There are too many people who'd be left with large holes in their lives and hearts if you did, and too many villains who'd just love to have you dead to do that. Don't give them what they want."

Elissa didn't show any sign of having heard. She laid down and cried herself to sleep, and Evanthe sighed. Still not once had the Purple Ranger smiled or laughed. Billy took her into his arms and gazed at her. "One day, we'll all be free of evil, Evanthe. And one day, we will all be together, and whole again."

But how long would it take?