"What's going on?" Genie asked. "Why is your karaoke friend here?"
"I don't know really," Aadi admitted.
Contrary to Aadi's hopes, things were not looking better in the morning. They had slept late and awoken to find a frustrated Mariah searching unsuccessfully through the kitchen for something to eat that didn't upset her stomach.
Snow, as she had promised the night before, arrived by midmorning and had immediately sat down at the table with Miranda and Mariah. Feeling a little left out, Aadi had claimed a spot on the couch, where Genie had found them all soon after.
"Miranda said that Mariah's been poisoned, but things are getting pretty weird," Aadi added to Genie.
At the table, the air between the three women quivered almost visibly with tension. Mariah was clearly still upset. Snow watched her with something that seemed to hover between excitement and caution. Miranda, who looked no worse for having not slept, seemed to hold an eerie calm over a barely detectable storm of emotions.
"How are you doing," Miranda gently asked her girlfriend.
"Nauseous," Mariah said, "but hungry. I ache all over."
"That's normal," Snow said. "Unfortunately, it's the vampire blood. It's slowly killing you. In a day or two, you'll turn."
"Then I'll finally, completely be a monster," Mariah said bitterly.
"You're not a monster," Miranda insisted.
"I'm turning into a vampire," Mariah groaned. "That's literally a monster. They make monster movies about them!" 
"Mariah, I told you..." Snow started.
"Wait... what the hell?" Mariah interrupted. "Guys, are you seeing this?"
"Bluebell!" Miranda smiled, relaxing slightly. "Bluebell, you've already met Aadi. This is Mariah, Genie and Snow. Bluebell is my friend. I sent her to find mom and Gwen last night when I couldn't call them. Spotty cell coverage."
Bluebell chimed like a tiny bell.
"She says hi," Miranda added.
"Is that... real?" Genie said, awed. "It's like... a fairy or something..."
"I told you things were getting weird," Aadi said in a sing-song voice.
"And I thought all this talk about vampires was strange," Genie said.
"Can Gwen and Cassie help us?" Mariah asked hopefully.
"Bluebell says they're in Moonwood Mill, dealing with something," Miranda sighed. "She says mom said everything is under control and can be here instantly if we call her. Apparently, she told Bluebell not to mention the 'Wildfang troubles' ... which doesn't sound good."
"So, that's a 'no' on help from your parents," Mariah groaned.
"Mom will come. If I call her, she'll come," Miranda said confidently, "but, whatever's going on must be serious, or she would have already. Let's see what we can do for ourselves for now. Snow, please tell me you've got something?"
"Excuse me," Genie put in, "If Mariah's been poisoned or cursed or whatever, is there a cure? Like an anti-venom or something?"
"Yes, the cure," Mariah's eyes lit up with sudden, wild hope. "It's mentioned a few times in Vasmer Balke's Encyclopedia Vampirica. What? Liberty made me read it."
"Unfortunately," Snow said sadly, "Balke never gives enough details to actually create it. Most scholars I know think he was recounting a vampire legend."
"No, it's real," Miranda insisted. "I've read about it... during the Vampire Rebellion, the Old Families developed a cure for vampirism. They even used it as a weapon against the vampires, to strip them of their powers!"
"So, your people know the cure?" Snow asked.
Bluebell chimed.
"Damn it," Miranda cursed. "Bluebell says no. The vampires made a point of hunting down all the witches who knew the formula, killing them and destroying their books."
"How does she know?" Mariah looked, puzzled, at the fairy.
Bluebell chimed again.
"She was there," Miranda translated. "She says the only record of the cure that she knows about is in the vampires' own history. Balke's fourth volume - the Ultima Vampirica."
"Liberty only gave me three volumes," Mariah said, puzzled.
"Because there only are three volumes," Snow insisted. "The Ultima Vampirica is a..."
"Don't say it's a myth," Mariah interrupted. "I'm becoming a vampire. My girlfriend is a witch and her little glowing buddy there is a thousand-year-old fairy. I think we're well past the point where 'myth' means something isn't real."
"Alright," Snow allowed. "So how do we find a copy of a book no living person has seen in centuries?"
Bluebell's chimed answer sounded ominous.
"I was afraid you were going to say that," Miranda sighed. "She says the Master Vampire who commissioned the Ultima Vampirica would have a copy. The last surviving leader of the Rebellion, the Master Vampire of Windenburg - Vladislaus Straud."
"Straud?!" Mariah groaned.
"The one and only," Miranda nodded.
"Wait, I've heard of that guy," Aadi put in. "He was in the news... when the Landgraab Syndicate got rounded up. He's a vampire? And you know him?!"
"Long story," Miranda said, "for another time. I'll get the book."
"No, we'll get the book," Mariah insisted.
"I'll be faster on my own," Miranda said firmly. "Besides, no one's seen Straud in years. His mansion is standing empty..."
"Unless he's hiding in it," Mariah countered. "You'd be walking right into his lair! The last time you met him, he killed you!"
"Killed you?" Genie gasped.
"I got better," Miranda said, "and then I set him on fire."
"That was you?!" Snow said, shocked.
"Long story for another time," Miranda repeated.
"Look, this can work," Miranda said. "I sneak into his mansion in daylight. I find the book, find the formula and get out."
"I should go with you," Mariah insisted.
"You have something else you need to do," Miranda said pointedly.
"The Villareal Files? Do you really think this is the time for me to worry about the Altos?" Mariah moaned.
"Do you?" Miranda asked pointedly.
"But Genie's party isn't for days," Mariah insisted. "I... I won't last that long."
"So don't wait," Miranda countered.
"You're right. You're right!" Mariah nodded slowly but her eyes brightened. "We can go now. I can at least finish this before... before I can't."
-----------------------------
"We'll get through this," Miranda smiled.
They had all followed her out into the backyard, Miranda saying she intended to head for Straud's mansion in Forgotten Hollow immediately.
"I hope you're right," Mariah sighed.
"I know it," Miranda said, embracing her. 
Suddenly she whispered. "Genie's all in white. If you lose her, find her in the garden of bones."
"Is this like a Gwen prophecy thing?" Mariah groaned.
"It's a me prophecy thing actually," Miranda said. "Remember, look for her in the garden of bones... and when you need me, call my name under the moon and I'll find you anywhere."
"What if there's no moon?" Mariah said.
"There's always a moon," Miranda smiled. "Even when you can't see it."
"Uh, Genie," Aadi goggled, "Miranda is flying away... on a broom."
"Yes, she is," Genie replied, stunned.
"Genie, I think this is all for real," Aadi said.
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