"MAGNUS?! Is that MAGNUS??"

An elder vampire with glasses came out of the shadows beside the throne. Magnus told me the whole crowd froze mid-lunge, like someone had pressed pause on the entire room.

"Doctor Acula?" Magnus said.

"It's you! MAGNUS, my dear boy!"

And then this ancient vampire doctor crossed the hall and hugged Magnus so hard he heard his own ribs complain. That's Dr. Acula for you. Three seconds earlier, everyone wanted Magnus dead. Now an elder was squeezing him like a grandson home from war.

Leonard stepped closer. "Excuse me?!"

"Ohh, I'm sorry, Leonard. Did I interrupt something?"

"I believe so, Doctor. We are rather occupied at the moment." Leonard forced a smile. Even Leonard does not disrespect an elder.

"Is that true, my boy?"

"I'm afraid so, Doctor," Magnus said. "Leonard and I are trying to settle an affair regarding my recent mishaps."

"Mishaps?" Leonard's eyes went sharp as knives.

"Despite Leonard's assumptions, I'm here to reconcile and mend, not to stir up trouble."

"YOU!"

Dr. Acula stepped right between them. "Aaaalright! Enough with the quarrels, my boys. How cute you two are! I remember when you were very adorable wee vampires. So, how about we settle this the old way, eh?"

He pulled out a golden coin and pressed it flat against Leonard's chest.

"How about I buy Magnus from you, and we go happily ever after, eh?"

Magnus said the doctor's eyes were serious behind those glasses. Leonard stared at the coin for a long moment. Then his whole face changed, like a mask sliding into place.

"Very well, Doctor. For you and for the coven, I will put these grievances aside." Leonard turned to his brother. "Magnus. Welcome back, my dear brother!"

And he hugged him. Magnus stood there frozen while the vampire who had just screamed for his death embraced him like they were children again.

Dr. Acula spread his arms to the crowd. "My brothers and sisters! Set the tables, bring the bloodwines, summon the High Councils! THE PRODIGAL SON HAS RETURNED!"

The hall cheered. And just like that, there was a feast.

Magnus described it to me later and I'm still not over it. Long tables, wine bottles labeled with blood types in fancy calligraphy, a velvet cake that looked way too red. Vampires with perfect table manners, dabbing their lips with napkins. Somehow that was scarier than the fangs.

At the high table, Leonard raised his glass. "To the return of our brave warrior and prodigal brother, Magnus. And the enduring power of our coven!"

Then he even ordered a lower council vampire named Lazarus to prepare Magnus's old room, exactly as it was before he fled. Nothing but the best for his precious brother, he said. Remember that detail. It matters later, in the worst way.

Finally Magnus got to the point. "A friend of mine is in grave danger because of a wicked curse. I ask you to put our past grievances aside for the sake of someone's life."

He told them everything. Jake. The doctors. A twenty-three-year-old man rotting from the inside. The vision of a curse when Magnus touched his hand.

Dr. Acula stroked his chin. "It sounds like a curse of rapid decay. A misfortune we have never encountered before. But worry not, child. There might be a way to save your friend."

Magnus said hope hit him like sunlight.

"First things first. I need blood samples from the cursed human, and from the one who shared his blood with him. A full vial each. And the very soonest, for every second counts."

Jake's blood. And mine. Because Jake's blood was in my veins, from the night he saved me.

"You're not planning to flee and collect it yourself, are you?" Leonard cut in. "It is by law that whoever seeks our aid shall approach the high table. Not the other way around. Let them come and bring the samples themselves."

So I had to walk into a mansion full of vampires. Myself. In person.

Then Leonard's face went soft, and that was somehow worse than the screaming. "And besides, I did a lot of dreadful things to Marion. I believe she deserves an apology."

Magnus told me Leonard smiled when he said it, and I promise you, that smile should have warned us of everything that came next.