“Well, considering I’m still alive, I’d say so.” I reply, rubbing the residual sleep out of my eyes. A peek out the window revealed the early light of dawn cresting the horizon. It appears I had been out the whole night.
“Well that bullet wasn’t meant to kill you… just incapacitate you for a little bit.”
“Like that makes any of this any better?!? You still shot me!”
Benny sighed heavily on the other end of the line, clearly disappointed in me. ”I’ve been hunting for a lot longer than you’ve been alive, kid. Although they’re pretty rare, I know what a living hybrid looks like.”
“Shit, man.” I replied. I thought I hid it pretty well. “What gave me away?”
“You said Marcy kept you as a blood bag, right? To feed off of. But when I tested you, there were no bruises on your wrists or ankles from being bound and tied up. Your neck had no puncture wounds and you sure as hell aren’t anemic, weak, or frail looking. In fact you took down that vamp quite easily for someone who has supposedly been drained of blood regularly for the past few days.”
I shrugged my shoulders as I plopped my ass on one of the firm twin beds, letting a bout of nausea pass as my body healed itself. I inspected the tacky designs on the fabric with my thumb and forefinger. “Oh, thanks. Now I know for next time.”
Benny chuckled to himself over the phone. “There will be no next time Danny.”
“Cut the shit, Benny,” I quipp back seriously, growing tired of this tennis match of bantering back and forth. “Where are they? Beck and Jessica? I swear to god if you touched a single hair on either of their heads-“
“Relax. They’re alive… for now. All you have to do is something for me to get them back.”
“C’mon Benny, you trained me, taught me everything I needed to know. I really don’t want to kill you, but we both know one of us isn’t making it out of this alive. So, what are you planning?”
“Danny, you know I don’t want to do this either, but you’re not yourself anymore. You’ve changed. You’re a monster. An immortal one at that.”
A moment of silence passed as I sat there in stunned silence. Me? Immortal? Unable to die, immortal? Guess you learn something new everyday. “Wait, that’s why I didn’t die from that headshot?”
Benny sighs,” Now you’re getting it! I can’t exactly kill you but what I can do is chop your body up into a million tiny little pieces and spread your parts all across the world.” I sat there processing that information waiting for him to continue.
“I know you know where the rest of the vampires in the nest are. I’ll send you a location and you’ll bring them there, to me. Contact the Alpha of the wolves that bit you and lead that pack here as well. Might as well kill two birds with one stone here and rid this entire town of supernatural creatures like you.”
My phone vibrated as Benny sent a text message. It was a pinned location, an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town.
“And you’ll have an army of hunters waiting to massacre us there, right?” I asked as I put the phone back up to my ear.
“Danny don’t be koy, you already know the answer to that.”
I did, I was right. “Before I do anything, I want proof of life. Give them the phone.”
“Fair enough.” Benny chuckled. Some rustling noises came from the other end of the line.
“Danny, don’t do it! Run, save your-“ Beck’s voice rang out panickedly.
Benny’s voice returns,“There’s one.”
“Danny…” Jess’s whisper of a voice pleaded breathlessly.
“There’s the other. I’ll give you to, let’s say… noon? That’s four hours to get all your affairs in order. A good amount of time, no?”
The prick was smart choosing mid day- the time when a vampire would be at its weakest- to have everything go down.
“Alright, if it’s a war you want, it’s a war you’ll get. See you at noon, Benny.” I said before ending the call.
Of course I knew where the other vampires were, I had been at the location just the day before. Although we hadn’t run into them, I knew the others were at the safe house. Context clues are everything. The whole fridge full of blood bags, the abandoned coats and shoes that littered the entryway and hallways. The massive building in and of itself. Why have a big ass building to only house like four vampires of your nest? It’s actually a smart tactic to break up your nest into two locations. That way if one gets ambushed by hunters the other half can be on standby and be defense.
I remembered the directions back to the safe house and ordered an Uber to take me down the street from it. Sophia was her name, my driver. She was really sweet and kind, provided free water and a charging station for my phone, as well as played the music I requested. I gave her a five star rating before taking a quick snack… and her car. To be fair though, her confusion was warranted when I ended the ride early and gave her the rating. Sorry Sofia, but you were delicious.
I’d recognize Ashton’s black 2018 Nissan Altima anywhere, even if I briefly passed it driving down the road to my destination. The Paloma University and Sigma Theta Beta stickers on the back window were always a dead giveaway. He also had a paw print sticker on the lower right of the window as well. Very discreet Ashton, very discreet.
There were also a few other cars that hadn’t been there yesterday littered against the desolate street as I drove up to the safe house. I squinted my eyes against the rising morning sun, shielding my eyes with my forearm, as I got out of the stolen vehicle and approached the building. The front door had been left slightly ajar.
It was pretty easy to find Ashton and the rest of the pack, although the reason as to why they were there had yet to dawn on me. All I had to do was follow the sound of animalistic snarls, growls, and general carnage emanating from the center of the building.
One would think that with all the gruesome and gory sounds, I’d be inhaling the intoxicatingly mouth watering scent of guts and gore, but one would be wrong. I would soon find out the answer as to why that was when I came upon a room that was eerily similar to the room I was tortured in.
As you’ve probably already presumed, Ashton had taken the opportunity to dwindle this vampire clan’s numbers even more, and had launched an ambush upon the remaining fledgling vampires. I however, did not come to that conclusion until I came face to face with Ashton in his wolf form severing the head of a vampire lady around Jess’s age with his maw. It was clear he was the Alpha as he was the biggest wolf among the other nine wolves that were there.
Do you know what a dead vampire smells like? Contrary to what one would think, it’s actually this heavy ashy, musty, and somewhat moldy smell. Not very pleasant at all. The intense smell caused what could only be described as an asthma adjacent reaction as I started to cough violently, trying to get the unpleasant smoky smell out of my lungs. I guess enhanced supernatural smell does have its downsides after all.
The giant black and brown wolf, who I’m mostly sure was Ashton (I’d never seen his wolf form before this point but he had his scent), halted in his feast of dead undead and looked up at me suspiciously.
I hacked some more, almost coughing up a lung it seemed, as I gave a two finger salute to the wolf and his buddies. Some had started to growl at me while others went back to the carnage, all the while the big kahuna locked eyes with me. It didn’t take me long to analyze the room and see no vampires were alive in sight. All of their heads had been chewed off. Ah shit.
The sound of more skin and bones crunching and tearing filled the room, although this one resonated a bit differently in my ear canals as Ashton shifted back to his human form.
“Danny? What are you doing here? I thought you’d be dead by now.” The stark naked, well built, man asked as he wiped some blood away from his mouth with his arm.
I just pressed my lips into a thin line and shrugged my shoulders.
“Oh I see now, you were never going to die, were yo? You’re a living hybrid.”
“Yup.” I responded with a pop on the p as I rolled on the balls of my feet awkwardly. I tried my best to avert my gaze from his manly parts. “Mind putting on some pants?”
Ashton blushed as he realized he was naked, but to be totally fair it’s not like he hadn’t seen my bare ass just a few days earlier. He noticed my gaze subconsciously scanning around the gore filled room. He still didn’t cloth himself. “Oh, sorry…. About them. You’re not mad are you?”
I shook my head. “Nah, not really. It actually lessens my burdens, but I’m guessing you caught wind of the hunters and came here to finish the job?”
“What can I say? I saw an opportunity and I took it.”
I held out my hand for a fist bump,” mad respect dude.” Ashton happily bumped it back.
“What brings you back here anyway? When I heard you and your friends got sucked up into all that mess, I thought you’d be dead.” He asked as he led me out of the room. I found I could breathe much easier out in the hallway.
I had no idea how Benny knew that hybrids were supposed to be immortal and I also had no idea how much information Ashton was aware of about hybrids, so I decided to keep that little tidbit to myself.
“Got lucky I guess.” I said, brushing it off. “ Listen, that doesn’t really matter right now. Marcy is dead.”
“Figured.” Ashton said as he gestured to me being by myself. “She would’ve been with you if she weren’t, and I’d say half my pack would be fighting for their lives at this moment if she was here.”
I remembered all the times she complained about her counsel and the newbies. “Well, she didn’t really seem to like the new members all that much, so that’s debatable. She tortured the hell out of me just for shits and giggles.”
“Don’t get it twisted, Danny. I know you’re new to this and all, but her clan is still her clan. She was the sire and would’ve done anything to protect them.”
“Alright, geez. Sorry.”
Ashton just huffed at me.
“What does Marcy being dead have to do with you being here anyway? Why aren’t you riding into the sunset somewhere with your vampire pals?”
“That’s the problem!” I explained. “The hunter that ambushed the nest… after he killed Marcy and we were trying to escape, he got a hold of my friends. He’s holding them hostage in exchange for me bringing the rest of the clan to him. He’s trying to eradicate the whole nest. I came here to get them, but obviously you got here first.”
“What are you going to do now if you can’t bring him the rest of the clan?” Ashton asked as he crossed his arms into his chest.
I let out a heavy sigh. “I need your help. He wants me there by noon.”
Ashton began to shake his head. “No. Nuh-uh. Now way! It’s obviously a trap!”
“No shit Sherlock! He’s bound to be waiting with a few more of his hunting buddies to take out some vampires, who by the way, would be at their weakest and easier to defeat. Then after that they’ll kill my friends and then me, but what they won’t be expecting is me to show up with a whole pack of werewolves by my side. And come on, I’m a hybrid, that’s got to count for something at least!”
“So what you’re saying is,” He began after taking a moment to think things over,” you want to trap them in the trap they set up for you?”
“Yes! We get my friends back and take out the hunters. Everybody then lives happily ever after and my friends and I’ll leave you alone, never to be seen again.”
“This is such a glaringly obvious set up.” Ashton annoyingly reiterated.
“Yes, we’ve established that already! And who do you think they’ll come after next once they’re done with the vampires?!? I don’t know about you, but unless there’s a shroud of ghouls or something posted up somewhere else in this miserable little town, it seems your pack is their next target! So are you going to help me out or not?”
Ashton took a second to look the situation over again. He then turned around and headed back into the crusty-dusty ass smelling room. “Alright boys, hurry up and finish things up here. We’ve got some hunters to kill.”
I checked the time on my phone as I followed the Waze directions. I was going to have to get me one of these neat little phone mounts for Jess’s car once this was all over. I’m praying Beavus or Butthead told them where they hid it after we were unlawfully arrested. It was eleven forty-five am, fifteen minutes before noon. Fifteen minutes before everything starts.
As I clicked my signal to turn down the street, I looked in my rear view mirror at Ashton’s car following behind me, and behind his, two cars filled with his pack members. I pulled over and waited for the crusade to do the same. The abandoned warehouse down the street was just sitting there, taunting me. My friends are in there, counting on me to save them.
“All right, can you run us through this again?” The boy with sandy brown hair asked me after we all gathered into a collective circle. I learned his name was Kevin.
“I don’t really know what the situation is going to look like in there to be honest. But here’s what I do know: there’s going to be a lot of hunters in there.” I said calmly. The unease grew amongst the young wolves as I didn’t really have a solid plan here.
All I really knew was Benny and his hunting style. He’s not a lone wolf, not an idiot, he’s always got a team with him. Typically there’s Laura, his lore expert, then Max whose on weapons, and Finally Benny, the leader. The three of them, although small, make a pretty efficient and deadly team. So there’s those three I gotta look out for. Benny is kind of infamous in the hunting community as well, given his prison record, so he knows a lot of people he could call in for backup. We could be outnumbered here, even with Ashton’s pack of nine and with me that makes ten. Twelve if I can free Beck and Jessica in time.
“What I can do is stalk my way up to the building and try to listen for heartbeats. Obviously my friends don’t have them but the hunters will. This way we can kind of gauge how many were going up against. Sure we out-power them in strength and agility, but they’ve got our kryptonite melted into deadly weapons, so just remember to be careful.”
“Remember to wait for my signal.” Ashton cut in, fixing a backpack strap around his shoulder. “I’ll be going in with him to show them this.” The rest of the pack nodded as he held up the bag.
“We’ll be shifting out here so that way one, we aren’t at our most vulnerable positions in there when things get tough, and two, in the remote chance that one of them survives, they won’t be able to find us in our human forms.”
“What if they’ve got a sniper?” A tall, tan skinned pack member asked suddenly.
“I trust you and your wolf will be able to sense them long before they even catch a glimpse of you.” Ashton answered. “I trust in each and every one of you. We’ll make it through this fight together, as a pack! It’s us or them, and it sure as hell isn’t going to be us!”
The other pack members nodded their heads in solidarity and some even chest pumped as they hyped themselves up. Some of them looked like they were ready to howl. I didn’t want to ruin the inspirational moment, but I already knew not everybody would be making it out of this fight.
“Alright we got ten minutes until noon.” I announced after checking my phone again.
The boys started to take their clothes off as they prepared to shift, Ashton leading them. He gave me an affirming nod, trying to assure me. I walked away to take a break but mostly so I wouldn’t vomit up Sophia. Despite everything that’s happened, I still can’t deal with bodily gore, but I will say it isn’t as bad as it was before all this happened.
Truth be told though, I was uneasy. I didn’t have a full grasp on my hybrid powers and I was leading someone who I could almost call a friend into a massacre. All of this was my fault and now some of them would die because of me.
I should’ve just killed Benny when I had the chance.
Soon enough twelve pm sharp came around the corner and I walked through the rusted main entrance to the warehouse. My initial recon revealed about fifteen heartbeats, so we were severely outnumbered here by five hunters at most. Great, they have more manpower than us, the high ground, and the upper hand. The scale was definitely not tipping in my favor.
I stalked down the hallway with Ashton following me close behind in his wolf form. It was hot, dusty, and the air was stale. There were spray painted arrows leading us to our doom.
We eventually came into a giant room with semi-emptied storage shelves and a broken down conveyer belt. Being held at gunpoint by Max and Laura in silver cuffs were my terrified looking girlfriend and best friend. Both of their eyes were red as they hissed and bared their fangs defensively. Their eyes lit up when they noticed me enter the room.
“Max, Laura.” I nodded my head in their direction. Their once friendly faces were filled with disgusted scowls.
“You always were punctual.” Benny said as he emerged from behind a shelf, holding a semi-automatic rifle, brandishing a sling of silver bullets over his shoulder and a machete on his leg.
“You said to be here at noon. It’s noon. Where’s everyone else?”
“In position. You know Danny, I could be asking you the very same question there, bud. Where are the rest of your associates I asked you to bring?” Benny quipped back.
“In position.” I mocked. “Oh but one small change of plans…” I whistled behind me as I brought my hands up. Benny had pointed his rifle up at me.
A second later the sound of a set of paws making their way down the hallway echoed through the building and Ashton emerged, carrying the backpack.
“What’s this?” Laura asked, gesturing to the bag.
“Just a boy and his dog.” I replied nonchalantly. Ashton looked up at me and growled. I whistled and Ashton threw the bag on the floor where it slid in Benny’s direction. “Go on, open it.”
Benny cautiously made his way to the bag where he hesitantly opened its contents. With a stone faced look he pulled out one of the partially eaten vampire heads from the safe house. The fledglings’ fangs were still bared but half of his face was chewed off and one of his eyes and tongue were missing.
“Gnarly.” I heard Beck whisper to Jessica. Her face was just white as a ghost.
“As you can see, the rest of the vampire clan has already been taken out. Not much to be done about that now is there?” I say after Benny puts the head back in the bag.
He shrugs his shoulders in response. “Ah well that’s a shame about that.”
Benny then turned and yelled up to the top of one of the storage shelves. “Kill the wolves then the vampires!” There was a hunter hiding up there, and my eyes widened when I saw him aim his gun.
Ashton let out a ferocious howl, signaling the others, as he got into a pouncing stance. A loud pop rang out and like in slow motion, I could see the bullet zip right for Ashton’s heart. Without a second thought, I jumped and pushed him out of the way, taking the bullet in my right shoulder. It drug and burned hotter than the sun, but at least it hit the immortal one. I could feel my arm starting to heal already.
After checking on Ashton to make sure he was alright, the chaos really began.
Sounds of glass breaking throughout the warehouse erupted as the rest of the pack made their grand entrance into the fight. Hunters started emerging left and right as they began to shoot at the other wolves.
Ashton got up off the ground and shook himself off before stalking his way up towards Benny menacingly. I quickly blocked him. “Paws off, got it? He’s mine.”
He let out a quick huff before he turned and started attacking another hunter that was shooting at his packmate. Shots rang out as one of the wolves got pumped full of silver, while one of the hunters arms was currently being chewed off. Laura and Max were trying to drag Beck and Jess off into a corner while simultaneously shooting at wolves. The air was full of screams, gunfire, and the smell of blood.
I turned back to Benny and felt my eyes begin to glow. He quickly reached for his machete as he unsheathed it, a loud shing sounded from it.
“Ah! Don’t take another step, Danny. Remember… little pieces spread all over the world.”
“You don’t scare me!” I growled as I felt fangs grow in my mouth. Sharp claws began to grow on my fingernails.
“I know that! But, do you know what does scare you? Losing the love of your life and your childhood best friend. Don’t think I’ve forgotten our little heart to hearts about your fears for them. There was a reason why you didn’t tell them what your new job really was, wasn’t there? To protect them from the things that they’ve become. Well guess what Danny? I have a duty to protect innocent humans from things like you!”
“Just leave us alone man! It’s not like we asked for any of this!” I yelled back, after dodging a swing attack from Benny. He got a good slice of my upper arm though. “Look around you! Look what you started!”
Benny scoffed. “What I started? This never would’ve happened if you hadn’t gone and gotten yourself turned like a dumbass. That was the first thing I taught you as a hunter, and you failed!”
He charged again, this time swinging for my neck. I ducked then slashed at his abdomen and flung him away. He rolled across the concrete floor like a tumbleweed into a shelf. He let out a small groan as he seemed to be knocked out for the moment, definitely winded for sure.
A quick glance around the battlefield revealed the perfect opportunity to rescue Beck and Jess. We were almost evenly matched now, about ten hunters to eight of us. Most of the bodies that currently littered the floor were those of the human hunters, which meant good things for our side.
Max and Laura were still guarding Beck and Jess, who were currently trying to free themselves.
“Sorry it had to be this way.” I spoke into Laura’s ear while her back was turned. “You were always so nice to me.” Her body went rigid as I quickly sunk my fangs into the crook of her neck. I took a second to replenish some energy that had been lost to the fight and drank about a pint of her sweet blood. Max cried out in anguish as he dropped his guard and lunged for me, brandishing his machete, after I kicked her limp body out of the way. He was able to get a good hit in when he struck the machete deep into my shoulder, the same one that had been shot earlier. I cried out at the sharp sting and winced when he quickly yanked the thing out of the crevice he created. He went to swing at me again, but this time I strike first. Mid swing I clawed at his arm with all my might. Max’s machete fell to the floor, his hand still gripped tightly around it, after I had cleanly cut through it. He screamed bloody murder as he held the leaking remains of his appendage with his one good arm. In his state of shock, I kicked him down hard in the chest, where the self-proclaimed rugged tough guy hyperventilated hysterically on the floor, next to Laura’s corpse.
Beck and Jessica just stood and watched, holding their wrists out to me when I was done. First I was able to snap Jessica’s shackles in half with my bare hands before moving on to Beck. Immediately after his release, he lunged for Max and finished the hunter off, bringing him mercy by finally killing him. The first thing Jessica and I did was envelop one another into a tight embrace before we kissed. I didn’t realize how much I missed the feel of her body up against mine until now. We had finished the almost minute long hug when I noticed Jessica’s eyes go wide as she looked at something behind me.
Instinctually I let out a roar a split second after that same sharp feeling erupted in my shoulder. Only except this time whatever object had been slammed into the almost healed crevice didn’t snag on tissue and sinew. The right side of my body felt significantly lighter after a wet squelch sound was made when my hacked off arm fell to the floor. In the wake of the sound that exited out of my mouth, the whole room shook and almost everyone halted in what they were doing. I turned around to Benny standing behind me, bloodlust raging in his eyes, holding a bloodied machete. He took advantage of the silent room and chuckled to himself just loud enough for his eerie echoes to ring out through the whole building.
It took me a second to register what happened, but I started to get a grasp on things when Beck ran up to Jess and I.
I almost puked when I looked down at my appendage sitting there on the floor. For some reason I was fine when it came to Max’s forearm, but my own… no bueno.
“Jesus Christ! Danny, are you good?” Beck asked as his eyes darted from my arm on the floor to the side of my torso where it was supposed to be attached.
“Is that- is that my arm?” I asked, gagging.
“Yes, dear. It is.” Jessica said as she started to rub my remaining arm gently.
“Oh my god! Oh my GOD! OH MY GOD!” I started screaming. “THAT’S MY AMR!!!”
Jessica screamed and I lurched back. I looked to her frightened face as she pointed to the ground,” Look! It’s moving!”
My eyes dart to my detached limb as I see the muscles in my arm twitch as my fingers move. I tell my brain to clench and unclench my right fist and shockingly the limb on the ground complies as it normally would if it were attached.
I gag again in disgust. “Yup. It’s moving… why is it moving?!?” I gag some more, my eyes beginning to water as I resist the urge to throw up.
“Maybe the nerves are still connected?” Beck butt in, trying to help. Bless his heart.
“It’s completely severed!” I yell back. Beck backs a way, whimpering like a hurt puppy. Jess puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
Jess tried to comfort me next, but it wasn’t reassuring at all. “Maybe it’s a phantom- phantom- phantom something!”
I paced around panicking about my missing appendage, not trying to think about it still reacting as if it were still attached, when I came face to face with Benny. I didn’t even care that everyone was gawking at my freak out
“Dude what were you thinking?!? My ARM? Out of everything else you could’ve done, you go for my arm?”
“What are you getting upset at me for?” He quipped back defensively.
“Are you serious?! You cut off my damn arm!”
“Well, you cut off Max’s arm! What’s the difference between you and him that makes it okay for you to sever his arm off but that it can’t be done to you?”
Beck whispered in my ear,” he’s got a point there, Danny.”
I gently knocked Beck back with my shoulder.
“The difference is this!” I hissed and bared my fangs at him. Benny readied his machete and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two more hunters coming at me to aid Benny. This seemed to re-kickstart the fight as chaos broke out once more.
“A little help here!” I shouted as I fended Benny off with my one remaining arm as the other two hunters were fast approaching.
“On it!” Beck yelled as he dove for one and Jess went for the other. With Max and Laura gone we were all even matched. Ashton was in the middle of ripping a female hunter’s throat out. A few gunshots rang out as the sniper from the beginning tried to shoot at the remaining wolves.
“Ready to lose your other arm, sonny?”
Benny swung at me but I dodged. I returned the attack and swung for his face, slashing him in the cheek. Droplets of blood splattered on the ground as blood started gushing down his face. Due to my unequal equilibrium it took me a second to stabilize myself after my attack. He took advantage of this and returned the favor from earlier, kicking in the chest and knocking my ass to the floor.
I bit my tongue as the back of my head smashed against the floor. I just so happened to land right next to my arm. My head went fuzzy for a second as two Benny’s entered my field of vision. He knelt down to my level and pressed the blades of his machete against my neck.
“It’s been a good run, Danny, but it’s time to end this, once and for all.” He said genuinely.
“I-I can’t die, remember?” I laughed out breathlessly. This couldn’t really be the end, could it? Me, losing, after fighting so hard?
“You’re right. You’ll feel every part of you being dismantled atom by atom, spread apart from yourself as I scatter bits and pieces of you around the world.”
“But that sounds so nice though.” I crack back, sarcastically.
“I’m sorry, Danny.” Benny said, closing his eyes as he lifted the machete high in the air.
I brace myself and close my eyes tight. Suddenly, an intense electrical shock traveled down my spine as immense pain radiated from my shoulder. I screamed out loud and crunched up into the fetal position. Peeking my open I found my once detached arm, reattaching itself.
I must’ve fell so close that it started to heal and reattach itself, but man did it hurt.
My loud screams startled Benny into dropping his machete. In no time, my right arm was back on, like it had never been cut off at all, the only reminder being a stiff feeling and uncomfortable soreness in my shoulder. I rolled my shoulder before standing back up, feeling all kinds of renewed. Benny was talking slow, cautious, steps back as he looked between me and his weapon. “I’m sorry too.”
I lunge for Benny as I wind my right hand back, summoning my claws. The final look in Benny’s crystal blue eyes was a mixture of fear and shock as I used the edges of my nails and my raw strength to completely tear his head off. His head rolled off and eventually landed at Ashton’s paws. He just kicked the thing away.
After taking a second to process what I’d just done, I took a minute to take in the carnage around me. There was blood, bullets, and bodies everywhere. But the only people left standing were Beck, Jess, and myself. Including Ashton there were five wolves left from the mine that originally came in. Zero hunters were left from the fifteen that the fight started out with.
We won. We were safe. The fight was over… or so I thought.