Though LaCroix was leading the way, Alluro was the first to reach the plateau.  He pushed past the others and ran toward the strange ruins in the center with Janette in his arms, determined to be the first to get hold of that cure and ensure her survival.  As he neared the altar, the others trailing him by several feet now, the Lunatac-vampire stopped dead in his tracks.  Luna and Amok were already there, and Luna was holding in her hand an artifact he somehow knew was the fabled cure.

Luna gave him a falsely sweet smile as he approached.  "Hello, Alluro.  Imagine meeting you here."

Something in her too-nice tone of voice instantly got him on alert.  This time, however, he didn't have time for her games.  He narrowed his eyes and addressed her.  "Give it to me, Luna.  Now."  He laid Janette down upon the stone slab and advanced toward Luna, holding out his hand expectantly.  It was clear that he was not going to put up with any hassle from her.

"No." Luna told him simply.  She sat atop Amok, holding the chalice, with a maddeningly smug expression on her face.  She had Alluro exactly where she wanted him, and she knew it.  He would have no choice but to submit to her and become mortal again, at least if he wanted his dear vampiress to live... which, judging by the pathetic, distraught look on his face, was a given.  Of course, afterward, she'd see to it that he never dared to show such insolence as he had in the past year to her ever again.  Luna was a bad loser, but she was an even worse winner.  The little Lunatac simply could not resist a chance to gloat.

Alluro was not amused in the least.  Growling slightly, he said, "I will not play games with you, Luna.  I mean it.  You will give that cure to me, and now."

"You'll do whatever I say!" Luna snapped in reply, her face twisting into an angry glare and her voice rising shrilly. "You seem to keep forgetting your place, Alluro.  I am your commander, you obey me!  You do not ever give me orders!  As for this," she gestured to the chalice, "the only way you'll ever get your hands on this is to use it on yourself first, and stop this immortal foolishness you've dragged us all into.  Once you regain your mortality, I'll allow your vampire lover to live.  If not, well," she shrugged, "it'll be a very, very long and lonely life you lead without her."

"Wow, she really is a bitch," Pumyra muttered under her breath, referring to Luna.  While she held no great love for either Alluro or Janette, she still found it obnoxious that Luna would be so vicious to one of her own.

Alluro stood silently in front of Luna, looking at her with renewed hatred.  He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised she would sink to a low like this, he had known the viciousness she was capable of for quite some time now.  He wasn't even a stranger to it being directed at him at times... after all, threats and force were all she ever had to keep people in line.  It sure as hell wasn't personality.  But this time... this time... he couldn't let it slide.  Not when, now, it was Janette's life she was toying with.  Someone that meant something to him.  Someone he cared about.  Someone he loved.  The realization of how truly deep his feeling for the vampiress ran was somewhat startling, but not unwelcome.

"Well?" Luna's voice was impatient and demanding, as always.

Alluro stared at the troll-like creature before him, years worth of rage and resentment starting to boil within him.  There were no words to convey how much he hated her at that moment.  Her cruel manipulation of using his attachment to Janette to bend him to her will was the final straw.  All he had put up with from Luna over the years flashed through his mind... all the times he had been forced to let things that bothered him go because he had been too afraid of Amok to stand up to her... all the time he'd spent under her thumb, being pushed around, being screeched at, being belittled and demeaned... how desperately he wanted to be free of her, for once and for all!  He remembered the time last year, the day after Janette had changed him into a vampire, that he had returned to Skytomb and sought his independence from Luna.  How rewarding it had been to give that order-barking bitch her due!  But even then, the little imp had still had managed later to get the better of him and keep him in her power.  It seemed no matter what happened or what he did, it was always the same result, over and over again!  How tired he was of this never-ending hell!  It had to end, he decided, and it had to end now.

The angry Lunatac glared at Luna and spoke in an icy tone.  "You won't be happy until the rest of the world is as miserable as you are, will you, Luna?  Janette never did anything to you, she even allied herself with you, but you'd let her die just to have it on me, wouldn't you?  Well, guess what?  What goes around, comes around."

Luna held up the chalice and narrowed her eyes.  She did not like the tone of her subordinate, nor the implied threat in it.  "Quit your whining and do as I say, Alluro!" she warned angrily. "Otherwise I might just have Amok smash this cure to pieces right here and now, and seal your dear Janette's fate for good.  Is that what you want, Alluro?  Imagine how it will feel to watch her die, to mourn her all over again for the rest of your precious eternal life, this time knowing that it's all your doing, because you were too selfish to not have your way?  Either way, I will win, so you might as well just do as I say and have her live."

The threat to Janette's life, outright now instead of just implied, was the final straw.  Shaking in anger and with a fierce, dangerous look in his eyes, Alluro stepped toward Luna and Amok.  "No, Luna.  Janette will not be the one to die here tonight." he snarled in a rage.  "Say your prayers, you hateful little bitch!"  Reverting to full vampire form and moving at lightning-fast supernatural speed, he charged at Luna, striking with full intent to kill.

It was then, moments too late to save herself, that Luna realized the one fatal flaw in her plan-- now that she and Amok were mortal, they had no real defense against a vampire attack.  She had assumed-- foolishly, she realized in retrospect-- that Alluro would not dare to come after her in a physical assualt, that he would fall in line simply at her threat to not save the vampiress he held so dear.  Save that one incident when he'd blown up last year, he'd never had the guts to actually make a move against her.  It never occurred to her that he might just snap.

Alluro tackled Amok in a rage, fangs bared and snarling like some hell-spawned demon.  He sank his fangs into Amok's shoulder and tore at it viciously.  Amok roared in pain and attempted to throw off Alluro, but his now-mortal body was too slow to match the might and speed of a vampire.  Alluro then lifted his head, reached up, and took hold of the bodyguard's thick neck and, using his immortal strength, snapped it like a twig.  It killed him instantly.  Once Amok was out of the way, Alluro threw the fallen beast aside so he could get his hands on Luna and the chalice-- which went sailing out of her hands shortly after she toppled off of her now dead steed's back.

The spectators, including Chilla and RedEye, gasped in shock.  They weren't sure whether to cheer Alluro on or stop him.  The chalice landed on the ground and rolled to Pumyra's feet.  Not taking her eyes off of the terrible scene unfolding in front of her, a scene that in a way horribly mirrored the dream she'd had earlier, she bent over and picked it up.

The terrified Luna managed to get out a shrill squeal or two before Alluro got hold of her tiny body.  The infuriated Lunatac-vampire dug his claws into Luna's neck, puncturing and mangling it, effectively silencing her forever.  As he tightened his deadly rip on her throat, she continued to struggle in vain while he met her eyes, which were filled with fear and surprise.  It seemed that even now, she couldn't quite believe that Alluro had somehow gotten the courage to stand up to her.  "You shouldn't have pushed me, Luna," he growled.  "But you never did learn when to give up, did you?"

The sound of his voice was the last thing Luna heard before she went limp in his hands and her struggles ceased.  It would be hard to say which killed her first... strangulation, the severing of her spinal cord, or drowning in the blood that flooded her lungs as a result of the wounds.  It didn't much matter-- the result was the same.  Finally, and permanently, he was free of her.

Alluro left her body on the ground and stood.  He felt a small stab of guilt for killing Luna... but not enough to truly regret it.  As he looked upon her silent, still corpse, and the large one that was once her faithful bodyguard, he could feel the eyes of everyone else upon him.

"Well, I suppose that takes care of that little problem." remarked LaCroix, breaking the tense silence.

"She deserved to die." Alluro said in a low voice.  "And you all know it."

"You didn't have to kill her." Cheetara whispered, horrified.

"No great loss anyway," muttered RedEye.

"Yes I did." Alluro retorted to Cheetara.  "You don't know even half of what I've had to endure over the fifteen miserable years I spent with her, so don't you dare start your moralizing with me, Thundercat.  I don't want to hear it."

An agonized groan from Janette's direction caught Pumyra's attention.  The Thundercat-vampiress looked at the artifact she held, then to Janette, Nick, and finally Alluro.  Though part of her wanted to keep the precious relic out of the hands of her enemy-- after all, she knew that there was a good chance she would never get her hands on it again, once she gave it to him-- she held it out toward him anyway.  "Take it," she said quietly.

Alluro raised a quizzical eyebrow.  "You're giving it to me?"

"If you wanted it badly enough to kill for it, then who are we to keep it from you?" Nick asked with a sigh.  "Besides, I want to see Janette live just as much as you do, remember?"

Alluro did remember... it was that same reasoning that had allowed him to tolerate Nick and Cheetara on their expedition here in the first place.   No one made a move to stop him as he took the chalice from Pumyra's hands and walked over to Janette.  He pulled himself onto the stone slab that was part of the altar top, and sat beside her.  He then realized he didn't even know how to use it.  Before he could pose the question, Nick came over and recited the ancient instructions... he had learned them from Cheetara when they first discussed the mythical item, and he already knew it by heart, out of his own desperate want to be free of the vampire condition.

Once explained, Alluro wasted no time in drawing up the healing water from the sacred well, and pouring a generous amount into the vessel.  Next he detached the chalice base and placed the gold and jade ring around Janette's wrist.  He watched in astonishment as it hummed to life and shrank, melding to her skin and glowing brightly.  Since the wounded vampiress was not even conscious enough to drink on her own, Alluro placed the chalice to her lips and lightly poured some in.  A sparkling, bright glow, the same hue as the warm green tone of the jade itself, surrounded Janette's body.  She levitated nearly a foot into the air and he watched her skin repair before his very eyes.  It healed even faster than his own self-repairing vampire flesh could, and seemed to easily remove whatever evil poison Divia had left that had halted his mistress' own supernatural healing abilities.

The light and warmth of the healing continued for a few moments, and then it faded as quickly as it started.  Alluro caught Janette before she fell from her levitation and held her in his arms.  She stirred and blinked, focusing first upon him.  Alluro broke into a wide smile of relief.  "You're alive," he whispered.

Janette nodded slightly.  "Yes.  I'm alive..."

"Shh, don't talk yet.  Give your body a few moments to recover."

"But Alluro..." her voice had an urgent edge to it.

"What?"

"I'm mortal."

Alluro's eyes widened.  That hadn't even occured to him... though when he thought about it, it made sense.  He supposed vampirism would be an unnatural condition that the relic would remove.  Fortunately, that could be restored to her easily enough.  "Don't worry.  I can fix that."  He pulled her closer and brushed the side of her neck gently.  The softness of her skin, the scent of the blood pulsing beneath, and the enrapturing look in her eyes drew his undivided attention once more.  His fangs fell into place, and his eyes lit up.  "In moments, nothing will stand in our way."  He reached his head back, then plunged forward, sinking his fangs deep into Janette's newly restored neck.  Her hot, now-mortal blood rushed into his throat, bringing him an intoxicating thrill with each swallow.  He drank faster, taking more and more of her into himself, soaring to a dizzy high, before stopping himself and releasing her.  It was tempting to go on, but after all this, he wasn't going to risk her death.  Alluro looked around quickly for some sort of sharp oject to cut himself with, but found none, so he bit into his own wrist.  He pressed the bleeding wound to her lips.  Instinctively she drank the immortal fluid, bringing the element into herself and accepting the dark gift once more.  When she finished, she lay panting in Alluro's arms, waiting for the change to be complete.

"Disgusting!  Thank the ancients I don't have to eat, or that would have been enough to make me lose my appetite for a week!" a sarcastic, booming voice sounded from behind the group.  Everyone turned to see the grinning, grotesque face of Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living standing behind them, armed with the fiery Sword of Plundarr.

"YOU!" raged LaCroix.  "Of all the things to top off a bad night."

"In the flesh, heh heh!  Oh, what's the matter, LaCroix, not happy to see me?" asked the evil mage with a laugh, enjoying the shocked, angry, and suprised looks of the assemblage on the plateau.

Cheetara growled at him.  "You were behind all of this, weren't you?  Lion-O's disappearance, the vampire attacks, the Lunatacs being here in Riyl-Miren, all of it!"

Mumm-Ra's eyes glowed and a smug grin spread across his face.  "I would love to take full credit for it, my dear Cheetara, but I am afraid I can't.  You see, I did have a little help from my new friend...."

"Divia." LaCroix finished, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Yes, father." answered a deceptively innocent, childlike voice.  Divia stepped out of the shadows, followed by Ren'fos and the tormented, raging Lion-O.

Pumyra gasped.  "Lion-O!"

"And Ren...." Nick mumbled in absolute horror, as he realized that Divia must have bitten his young Riylien friend and brought him across.  "What are you doing with her?"

Divia grinned.  "What's the matter, Nicholas?  You don't think that Ren'fos here makes a nice addition to our kind?  Or this big tough kitty-cat here?"  She reached and patted the growling Lion-O's arm.  He was fully under her command now.

"Ren, why?" Nick asked.

"It doesn't matter!" Divia interrupted angrily, before he could answer.  "He's mine and that's how it will be!"

Bengali took hold of his hammer and advanced toward Divia angrily.  "Rrrrowl!  He doesn't belong to you any more than Lion-O does."

Divia snarled back at him.  "I control his every move.  I infect him, my will is his every thought.  You don't believe me?  Ask your girlfriend... soon she will be mine as well." she replied arrogantly, referring to Pumyra.

"No," Pumyra protested, feeling another agonizing stab of pain-- probably at Divia's evil urging-- throb in her arm and flow through her body.  She winced and fought to keep from collapsing.

"Release her now!" roared Bengali.  "I won't stand for this!"

"And I won't stand for you!" Divia raged, and turned to her two companions, as well as Mumm-Ra.  "Annhilate them!"  Divia herself charged at Bengali, who fired  his hammer at her and jumped to avoid her deadly claws.  He was not fast enough, and she gouged his shoulder before he got loose.

Mumm-Ra cackled in delight at her request.  "With pleasure, my dear!" he called back to her.   He raised the Sword of Plundarr at swung it at LaCroix's neck.

LaCroix flew up and behind him, landing with his eyes glowing and fangs bared.  "I'm afraid you'll have to do a little better than that, devil-priest."

"I intend to." Mumm-Ra then shot the arrogant vampire with a fire blast from the Sword of Plundarr.  LaCroix slid beneath the beam and scratched at the decayed flesh of Mumm-Ra's legs, causing him to howl in pain.  Using the advantage, LaCroix tripped the mummy and brought him to his knees, but Mumm-Ra had time to pull LaCroix off of him.  "You fight dirty... I'm not surprised."

"That's because, unlike an ages-old loser like yourself, Mumm-Ra... I fight to win."

"Stop," Pumrya protested weakly.  Thanks to Divia, the pain she suffered had returned in full force, and this time it wasn't relenting.  In fact, if she had to guess, she would have said it now hurt even more than before.  Divia knew that pain was what she could use to drive her into the same twisted, evil madness that she suffered herself.  Pumyra was determined not to let that happen, no matter how much it hurt, and she was not going to let the brat-vampiress win.  "...won't let you do this..."  She stumbled toward Divia.

Ren'fos, intent on defending Divia as bidden, dove in front of the weakened Pumyra and blocked her.  He roared and prepared to strike at her.  "Don't make another move cat," he hissed.

Pumyra reverted to her own vampire state and growled at him.  She was weakened, but she still had a year of immortality on him.  "Don't threaten me," she growled back.  "I have no quarrel with you, stranger, but she must be stopped.  She's evil."

"I know." Ren'fos replied. "But still, she is my mistress, and I won't let you hurt her!"

"Then you're as evil as she is!" Pumyra raged, and snapped her lariot, as well as four exploding marbles, at him.

Startled, Ren'fos jumped back from the explosions.  She had called him evil.  He wasn't evil... was he?  No... he was doing the right thing... he was helping the one who made him what he was, isn't that what Divia told him?  And even if Divia herself was evil... that didn't mean.... or did it?  Ren'fos stopped for a moment, then caught up to Pumyra, who was fast rushing for Divia.  "I'm not evil!  And because of that, I won't let you go after her!" he yelled, flying in front of the injured Puma-vampire and blocking her path once more.

"Condoning what she's doing is just as bad as doing it yourself," groaned Pumyra.  The closer she got to Divia, the worse it hurt.  "Why do you defend her?  Why is she worth saving?  Look at what she's done!"

"Because..." his voice trailed off.  He tried to think of a reason to give her, but he could think of none.

Their argument was interrupted when the now insane-with-bloodlust Lion-O barrelled past Ren'fos and Pumyra, and made a full running tackle for Cheetara.  The nimble Cheetah got out of his path.  She spun her staff defensively.  "I don't want to hurt you, Lion-O."

"I don't want to hurt you either, Cheetara," mocked the feral lion.  "I want to kill you.  I want to skin you alive and feast on your brains.  I want to make you suffer and die slowly, begging and pleading for your miserable life."  He swiped at her with his claws and made a move to bite.  It was hard to match his speed... after all, he had beaten her, as he rightfully should have, in his annointment trial... but he could not hope to match her with her adrenaline pumping.

Cheetara leapt out of the way and fought back a cry of despair.  Lion-O couldn't be this far gone, could he?  Where was the Lion-O she knew and loved?  She couldn't let herself believe that he was truly lost.  "NICK!" she shouted.  "The Sword, Nick, get the Sword!"  If anything could snap her lord out of this, that would be it...

Without hesitation, Nick left the altar-side, where Alluro was holding Janette, drew the Sword of Omens and rushed to stop its old master from his attack on Cheetara.

Though her wounds were healed and she was now a vampire once more, she was still disoriented from being out of it so long and having a second major shock to her body.  "Alluro?  What's going on?" Janette asked, looking around.  She hadn't even gotten a chance to speak to Nick before he ran off to Cheetara's aid.

"A fight, from the looks of it." replied Alluro.  He had just spent the past few minutes explaining to her, with Nick standing by, what had led them to this strange ruin, and had only gotten to Luna's death by the time Mumm-Ra showed up and the fighting began.  So far they had been left alone by Mumm-Ra and his allies, and that was fine by him.  Mumm-Ra's gripe was with LaCroix and the Thundercats, after all.  Alluro himself didn't care for any of them... so why would it matter to him if they all killed each other?

"And Nicola and LaCroix are involved."

"Yes." Alluro answered.  He fell silent for a moment, then met her eyes.  He picked up on her thoughts so easily now.  It made him wonder briefly if somehow the vampiric bond had been strengthened.  He could ask that later though, there were issues more important than that weighing on her mind.  While he didn't care much about the fight going on, she did.  "You want to help them, don't you?" he asked.

Janette nodded.  "LaCroix or Nicola would do the same for me."

"They did." Alluro told her, and climbed off the altar.  "Come on.  I'm not going to leave you to defend them by yourself."  He wasn't thrilled about joining in, and was even less thrilled about defending Nick and LaCroix, but he understood why she wanted to.  He didn't like it, but he understood.

As soon as Alluro and Janette stood, Chilla caught sight of the chalice, left all by itself on the altar-top, next to the well.  She eyed it intently and edged away from the scuffle.  No one had come after her anyway.  With a quick glance back she saw that LaCroix, the one who would probably try and stop her, was far too engaged in his fight with Mumm-Ra to take notice.  She'd never have a better chance to get that cure for herself and get rid of the vampire condition.  In a flash she was at the ruin.

RedEye, who also had backed away from the fight,  was the only one who noticed her sudden dash.  "Chilla?"  He sprinted over.

Barely paying attention to RedEye, she quickly she donned the bracelet, and as it had for Janette, it shrank to fit to her limb.  "This is my only chance, RedEye... I don't want to be one of them, and I sure as hell don't want to be his." she growled, referring to LaCroix.  "I'm going to let it cure me, and then I'm leaving.  I hate this place, and I just want to go back to Skytomb and forget this whole mess."

RedEye nodded.  He didn't particularly feel like sticking around either.  "All right.  I'm with you.  Get cured and let's get the hell out of here."

Chilla refilled the chalice with water from the well, and quickly downed the fluid.  Before she knew it, she could feel herself growing light and dizzy, tingling with healing energies....

LaCroix saw the healing glow of the chalice out of the corner of his eye, and when he saw that it surrounded his newest fledgling, he became infuriated.  Another ingrateful one, attempting to heal herself against his direct wishes.  No, he would not allow this to happen, he would not lose her.  "CHILLA!"  He leapt into the air and rushed at her...

But one other got there first.  Chilla had no sooner been released from the curing spell when Divia pounced on her and began tearing into her newly-mortal flesh.  The icy lunatac, unprepared for the attack, attempted to spit ice at Divia, but she couldn't even draw in enough air as the vampire tore into her flesh.  She would have died right then and there if an electric shock from RedEye, knocking Divia off of her body, and a subsequent hit to the vampire from LaCroix, hadn't happened just in time.

"You will not take her from me!" LaCroix's voice was nearly unrecognizable it was so full of rage.

"Temper temper, father," growled Divia.  "Don't you know that hitting your daughter is child abuse?"

"If ever a child deserved abuse, it would be a wretch like you." LaCroix snarled back.  "You should have stayed in your tomb, Divia."

"And miss out on my revenge upon you, Lucius?  I think not."

LaCroix glared at her.  "There's nothing you can do to me that would make me regret anything I've done.  You were my daughter, but now, just like you were when I killed you, you're nothing but a menace.  The gods should have let you die when you took ill as a child."

Divia's jaw quivered slightly and her eyes burned with rage.  "And you call me evil... well, let's see how you like it when someone you love is lost to you!"

"Wha--"

"Already ahead of you, dear Divia!" Mumm-Ra interrupted.  Before anyone could stop him, he flew over to the groaning, dazed, and injured Chilla, and picked her up by the collar of her cape.

"Hey!" she hissed in a weak, pained tone.  "Put me down!"

"Release her!" demanded LaCroix.

Mumm-Ra grinned wickedly, and flew over to the southern edge of the plateau, which had a steep drop of well over seventy feet into a dense growth of trees below.  "As you wish, LaCroix!"  With that, he roughly her forward, and sent her sailing over the edge of the cliff.  Chilla let out a shriek of terror and flailed helplessly in the air as she fell, her cries growing muffled and then silent altogether.  Far below, the screeching and squawking of disturbed birds and tree animals sounded from the area she would have landed.

The expression on LaCroix's face was somewhere between pure hatred and deep sadness.  He could not speak, but only growled in Mumm-Ra and Divia's direction.  The others all heard the commotion and stopped their own fighting for the moment, instead turning all their attention to what they saw to their shock and horrow was the second death for the evening.  RedEye recovered first, turned, and ran from the plateau back down the path they had climbed up on.  Alluro just stood in place, staring and trying to let what had just happened sink in.  "Chilla..."

Janette put a hand on his shoulder.  She had never really gotten along with Chilla... but she knew what she meant to Alluro, in the same way he knew what Nick and LaCroix meant to her.  For that reason, she was sorry to see her die.

"Mumm-Ra."  Alluro's voice was quiet, but forceful.  The evil demon priest turned to face the Lunatac-vampire, a smug look on his face.  "Why?"  Alluro pressed, emotion creeping into his voice.  "Chilla was your ally.  She was my--"

"Mumm-Ra is a true ally to no one but Mumm-Ra." he replied simply.  "And simply for the look on his face when I killed her," he said, casting LaCroix another cruel smirk, "dispensing with the icy bitch was worth it.  If you don't like that, Lunatac, that's your own problem."

Alluro growled angrily, but was cut off by LaCroix.  "The one who has a problem here, Mumm-Ra, is not him.  I've tolerated your existence for far too long as it is.  Now you're going to learn what happens when you push me."  With that, the ancient vampire sprang at him with full claws and teeth bared, displaying the awesome power his age gave him.

Divia watched the display and grinned.  "I guess that means it's time to find the next victim.  Any volunteers?" she asked sarcastically, scanning the group in front of her for a fun target.  Bengali did not find it amusing in the least.  The angry Tiger-vampire roared and used his supernatural strength and speed to hurl his hammer right at her head.  Hammer of Thundera, strike true and strike her down for good, he willed silently.  It had worked once before in getting her out of the way, at least temporarily.  He was counting on it to work again.  Divia heard the rush of air around the weapon as it came careening toward her, and simply reached up and caught it in her hand, stopping it dead in its tracks.  Bengali might have been strong, but even in a child's body, Divia was stronger.  She crushed the mighty hammer's handle in her hand and locked her sights on the striped cat.  She found her volunteer.

No one, not even poor Bengali, had time to react before Divia had already launched herself through the air and knocked Bengali to the ground.  He struggled, but like all her other victims, he was no match.  She dug her claws into his thick muscles and shredded them, while sinking her fangs first into the side of his neck and then tearing his throat wide open.

Further complicating matters was that Divia's strike had spurred Lion-O back into action.  The crazed lion, who felt and mimicked every emotion of his vampire mistress, simply sat back and observed while she gloated with Mumm-Ra over Chilla's death.  But now that she was out for blood once more, so was he... and he wanted the blood of Cheetara and Nick most of all.  It was because the two of them were so busy fighting him off and trying not to hurt him at the same time, that they did not see Bengali in distress until it was already too late.

Pumyra saw her love fall almost immediately, but she couldn't get there fast enough either.  Divia's fury had stirred the pain she was already half-infected with up again to an intolerable level.  She had learned so far that it only went away when she felt herself agreeing with the urge to carry out vengeful, hateful, unthinkable acts... and when her kind and gentle nature resisted that, the conflict expressed in unimaginable pain.  She now knew it must have been that same type of torment that had driven Lion-O to his current state.  She wished she could help him... but right now... she could barely help herself.

But then, something stronger, something even more powerful, shook her out of it.  The sight of the man she loved being mauled to death made her forget all her pain... for really, no physical pain could even compare to what it would feel like to lose him, she realized.  Pumyra raced toward Bengali...

Ren'fos saw the puma running for Divia.  He had to stop her!  If he lost were to lose her now...

It was too late.  Pumyra shrieked at the top of her lungs when she saw what was left of Bengali up close.  The tiger vampire was beyond dead... no amount of immortal regeneration, even if he hadn't been infected with the poisonous evil Divia had that resisted it anyway, could have hoped to save him.  Bengali's handsome face was stained with blood, his neck torn wide open and his spine severed, the rest of his head connected to his body by mere strings of remaining muscle.  His chest and limbs were covered with deep cuts and even more blood, while parts of internal organs protruded and spilled out of the freshly-torn wounds onto the ground below.

The scream caught the attention of everyone else.  Cheetara gasped in horror and clamped a hand over her mouth at the sight of her comrade.  Nick lowered his eyes and made fists, trying to control his own urge to rip Divia to pieces.  Janette and Alluro froze.  Ren'fos turned away, trying not to face what it was that his mistress had just done.  He'd never wanted all this death, all this cruelty, all this evil.  Even Lion-O, enslaved in his own evil rage, was stunned... the sight of the acutal death of a Thundercat reaching the goodness that was repressed within him.  Only Mumm-Ra and Divia found the sight to be wickedly delightful.  Mumm-Ra returned his attention to LaCroix, who was watching with an unreadable expression on his face.  "Seems you vampires aren't as invincible as you think.  Rest assured, LaCroix... you will be joining the Night-Cat very soon."

Pumyra took in the terrible sight of her beloved and began to shake with uncontrollable rage and grief.  The awful vision of Bengali's mangled corpse burned itself into her mind.  Bengali was gone... dead.  She would never see him again.  She would now live forever, without the only man she had ever loved.  Unable to look any longer, her gaze shifted to the smug, twisted smirk on Divia's face.  Suddenly the evil fury that Pumyra had been trying to hold at bay for so long overtook her.  With a ferocius, powerful roar, the normally peaceful puma-vampire lunged at Divia, taking her completely by surprise.  Divia fell beneath Pumyra, who released the pain and hatred she felt by slashing at Divia with everything she had.  "Think you can just kill and kill and not answer for it, do you?" snarled Pumyra.  "Well let's see how you like it!"

Divia attempted to fight back, but the power of her own evil working within Pumyra made it hard to withstand the blows of the angry Thundercat.  The pair rolled around, snarling and fighting, but between her adrenaline and pure rage, Pumyra emerged with the clear advantage.  Divia took blow after blow, cut after cut, and began to suddenly worry that she might actually lose to the younger vampiress.  "Help..." she squealed, hoping that either Ren'fos, Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, or all three would come to back her up.

Ren'fos looked away.  After what he'd seen, he just couldn't defend her anymore.  Even if it meant his own death, he realized, that would be less traumatic than living as this demoness' slave for all of eternity.

Lion-O was transfixed on the scene.  Seeing Pumyra and Divia fighting brought a sense of urgency that broke through the evil controlling him to his true nature, now struggling to emerge.  His fellow Thundercats needed him...  Cheetara sensed this as well.  "Nick, the sword... give Lion-O the sword..." she urged him.  Nick nodded and placed the Sword of Omens into the hand of its rightful holder.  Lion-O remained rigid for a moment, but his fingers tightened around the handle...

Mumm-Ra was less than impressed that Divia seemed to be losing to a Thundercat.  She had boasted that she could handle them on her own... so that was just what he intended to watch her do.  He was tiring of the brat child-vampire anyway... if he dealt with her further, he wanted to be sure it wasn't a waste of his effort.  He remained still and watched.

"You don't deserve any help," growled Pumyra.  "What you deserve is to die!  And I'm going to see to it that you do!"  She reached for a large stick that was close by on the ground, and without warning, plunged it with all her might into Divia's heart.  The ancient vampire let out an unearthly screech and twitched violently.  As Divia lay there screaming in the throes of death, the remaining hold she had over Pumyra and Lion-O suddenly ended.  Lion-O raised the Sword of Omens, making the Eye of Thundera growl in a symbol of unity and strength.  The eye touched Pumyra, bringing her back to her senses.  When the magnitude of all that had happened flooded her thoughts, she collapsed on the ground next to the dying Divia, sobbing uncontrollably.

Divia rolled and attempted to pull the stick out of her body, but didn't have the strength.  "Help..."  She met LaCroix's eyes.  "Father, please... help me..."

Instinctively LaCroix stepped forward.  She was his child, once upon a time...

"NO!" Nick and Janette echoed in unison.  Nick sprang forth to restrain LaCroix.

The sound of a match striking and a fire starting made everyone suddenly turn.  Alluro, holding a stick with a burning cloth wrapped around the top as a makeshift torch, slowly advanced toward the dying Divia, stopping when he stood directly above her.  "So... you ask for us to spare your life, do you?"

"Please..." groaned Divia.

Alluro let out a short, hollow laugh and glared at her.  "After all you have done, you expect one of us to show you mercy, and let you live?"  He shook his head.  "You have nerve, Divia.  The only mercy you're going to get is the same mercy that you and Mumm-Ra showed Chilla.  Burn in the hells, you miserable wretch."  Alluro then dropped the flaming torch on her and stepped back.  Divia's linen toga immediately caught fire and within seconds the vampiress was caught in an inescapable blaze.  She let out a few more hellish, terrified screams before falling silent forever, her remains burning themselves out of existence in the fire.

Lion-O, fully recovered now, faced Mumm-Ra.  He raised the Sword of Omens and growled slightly.  "Your only remaining ally is gone, Mumm-Ra."

Mumm-Ra looked around.  Ren'fos was sitting on the ground by himself.  Mumm-Ra knew the Riylien vampire was not on his side, that he was too good-natured to be of use to him.  As for the Lunatacs, three were dead, and one had fled as soon as he sent Chilla to her death.  He looked at Alluro, but the hateful, vengeful expression on the remaining Lunatac's face told him that he was not his ally any longer either.  He supposed it was because of what he'd done to Chilla, but he didn't really care.  To be honest, he'd never cared much for the treacherous group of them anyway.

"Leave."  Lion-O's voice was bold and commanding.  "You are already defeated.  Return to your place of evil.  There's nothing here for you."

"You may think you have won, Lion-O... but at least I leave this place, knowing that I, Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living, have lost nothing but time.  I have forever to gain my revenge on you.  You, on the other hand, will leave knowing that your foolish quest has cost you the life of one Thundercat, forever changed the lives of all here, and in the end it was all for nothing.  You see, Thundercat... your 'cure' is worthless.  The bracelet that would have allowed the vampires who wish to become mortal was lost along with Chilla... and the chalice itself is useless without it.  So as I leave, Thundercat, I don't think of this as a defeat... I think of it merely as a delay... and I will sleep in my darkness laughing while you mourn and bury your dear friend Bengali."  The ancient devil priest let out an ominous cackle and vanished into the night.

Pumyra shakily attempted to stand but stumbled over.  She would have fallen, but someone helped her up, someone she would not have expected to show her any sort of compassion.  Janette.  Pumyra gave her a questioning look.  Janette's expression seemed to be one of concern.  "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Of course not," Pumyra replied in a choked, teary voice.  "Look at what I've done.  I've killed.  I've broken the Code of Thundera."

"You killed a evil little beast that was out to destroy us all.  I hardly think that's something to feel guilty about."

"Thundercats don't kill."

"Then they are weak," Janette argued.  "You saw your lover slain right in front of your eyes.  I would have thought there was something wrong with you if you hadn't tried to kill her."

"It was wrong." Pumyra argued.

Lion-O, fully recovered now, joined Pumyra, followed by Nick and Cheetara.  "Yes Pumyra, killing her was wrong." Lion-O agreed in a heavy voice.  "But given the circumstances, I don't think there is anyone here who doesn't understand why you did it."

"If you're worried about us forgiving you or not accepting you, then there is nothing to worry about.  Pumyra, I will tell you right now, I have already forgiven you." Cheetara told her in a heartfelt voice.

Pumyra burst into tears.  "How can you forgive me?  I am a murderer... I am a killer.  You can't forgive me!  I can't even forgive myself!  I'm sorry... but I can't be a Thundercat any more."  She fumbled with her insignia and removed it from her dress.

"Pumyra, please..." Cheetara pleaded.  "We can come to an understanding on this!"

"Yes," Lion-O echoed.  "We've already lost one Thundercat here tonight, to lose a second..."

"You lost me the second Bengali died because I failed to save him." Pumyra replied.  "All I could do was kill his killer.  I let a fellow Thundercat, the one who loved, trusted, and needed me most, down, because I was weak and out of control.  Then I broke the code and took a life.  Whether or not she deserved to die is not the issue.  The issue is that I am not, and never will be, fit to be a Thundercat, ever again."

Lion-O reached to give her a reassuring hug and change her mind, but she pulled away. "I don't belong with you.  Look at me... I'm a vampire.  I kill by nature.  Even when I try and do the right thing, I only make up for it by doing something that goes against the very grain of what we believe in.  Now that the cure, my one hope of restoring myself to what I once was, is gone, along with Bengali... for whom I brought myself into this life in the first place... I simply don't belong among the Thundercats any longer.  I don't belong anywhere."

"You belong with your own kind.  You belong with us." LaCroix interjected.  He walked over to Pumyra's side and put an arm about her shoulders.  She did not protest.

Janette nodded.  "Yes.  We vampires may not be the kind of company you are used to keeping, but with rare exception--" she gave Nick a pointed look "--we do not turn our back on our own kind."

"I haven't turned my back on you, not when you needed me," argued Nick.

"She needs you now, Nicholas." LaCroix told him, referring to Pumyra.  "As does your Riylien friend over there.  He seems a bit lost now that Divia is gone.  Perhaps he should join us as well."

Ren'fos looked up, surprised that LaCroix had offered to allow him to join the others.  "You would want me along, after I... after I defended her?"

LaCroix shrugged.  "If I can tolerate having both a once-Thundercat and a Lunatac together among my vampires, surely I can tolerate you.  You feel no love for Divia, nor hatred for us.  Am I right?"

"She made me believe that I had to defend her, that I was supposed to..."

"It's called manipulation," Alluro informed him.  "I should know, I attempted it on you myself, if you recall."

The Riylien vampire nodded.  "Yeah."

LaCroix met the eyes of each of the remaining vampires.  "It is settled then.  The six of us will remain together."

"Wait!" Cheetara interrupted.  "Nick... you aren't going to leave too?  Not both you and Pumyra... and after Bengali..."

Nick walked back over to Cheetara and Lion-O.  "I'm sorry.  I hate to admit it, but LaCroix is right.  Pumyra needs to work out what has happened in her own way, and I think it best if I stay with her.  If anyone can understand how she feels, and help her through this, I can.  Perhaps someday she and I both will be able to return to you."

Cheetara nodded and blinked tears out of her eyes, while Lion-O let out a heavy sigh and faced both Nick and Pumyra.  "I understand your decision," he told them.  "I want it to be known that you will always be welcome among us, Pumyra, Nick."

"Thanks, Lion-O.  Goodbye, my friends." Pumyra's voice choked up as she spoke the words.

"Goodbye, Pumyra," Lion-O replied.

Tears spilled from Cheetara's eyes.  "Goodbye, Pumyra."

LaCroix looked to the horizon, where it was starting to lighten.  "We will have to make haste back to the temple ruin and spend the day, and then we must move on.  Given recent events, I don't think it is in our best interests to stay here in Riyl-Miren much longer."

The others in the group of vampires murmured in agreement.  Nick and Pumyra gave their friends one last look before turning back to LaCroix and the others, then leaving with them as they flew off into the fading night.  Lion-O and Cheetara silently watched them leave, staring at the space they had been in even long after they were gone, before turning to each other and falling into each others' arms in a consoling embrace.

Far below the plateau, crawling through a thicket of vines, plants, and dense jungle growth, RedEye searched diligently for Chilla.  He was not a loyal, or even emotional type, but what Mumm-Ra had done to her was in his eyes, unforgivable, and he wanted to rectify it by at least giving her a decent funeral rite.  Like everyone else who knew her, he too had found Chilla intolerable at times, and had wished she'd go off somewhere and melt, but he never really wanted to see her dead.  Luna, maybe... he certainly hadn't made much of an effort to stop Alluro from giving the troll what had been coming to her for years... but not Chilla.  And one day, Mumm-Ra was going to pay for this, he vowed.  That mummy had screwed around with the mighty Lunatacs for the last time.

His thoughts of vengeance were brought to a halt when he spied a light-colored humanoid-shaped lump in the distance.  He hurried toward the spot.  It was indeed Chilla, but... something wasn't right.  She was still breathing, and moving slightly.  "Chilla?" he whispered, in shock.  She couldn't have survived that fall... even to an uninjured body, it should have been fatal, and she had been half torn to pieces by Divia before Mumm-Ra even threw her.  It was then that he noticed the bracelet on her arm, still giving off a faint glow.

"RedEye?" Chilla squinted, trying to make out the form of the Lunatac standing above her in the darkness of the jungle night.  RedEye might have been able to see clearly, but she could not.  "Is that you?"

"Gods, Chilla, you're alive... how could you have lived through that?"  RedEye bent down and scooped Chilla up in his arms.

"I hurt... so bad..." she mumbled.

"But you'll live." RedEye assessed her injuries.  Even with the fall, she was in better condition now than she had been in even before Mumm-Ra had tossed her over the cliff.  The wounds inflicted by Divia were half-healed.  He then put two and two together.  She was still wearing that bracelet from the chalice base.  Perhaps because she had been under its' influence to some extent when she was attacked, part of its healing powers remained within her.  They were apparently slower, but still working.  "I think it's the bracelet, Chilla.  Make sure you don't take it off.  I'm going to call Skytomb and have TugMug beam us out of here."

"I won't."  Chilla stirred and looked around.  "Where are the others?"

"Either dead or left on their own by now."

"What about Alluro?"

"I don't think he planned on coming back with us anyway.  Last I saw, he was with--"

"Janette." Chilla finished.  "Figures."

"Yeah."  Holding Chilla with one arm, RedEye reached for his communicator and called Skytomb.  "TugMug?"

"It's about time one of you checked in!  I was getting ready to leave without you.  Did you find that cure thing Luna's been bitching about?"

"Yes, we found it.  It's already served its purpose.  Just beam us back up.  Me and Chilla."  RedEye then gave the coordinates.

"What about Alluro and Luna and Amok?"

"I'll explain it when we get there."

"Whatever you say."  Moments later RedEye and Chilla were surrounded by a flash, and were beamed back aboard Skytomb.

Within the dark safety of his pyramid, the bandaged, mummified form of Mumm-Ra stared into his bubbling pool once more.  He was watching Cheetara and Lion-O in their grief, as well as looking over the three corpses in the area.  While he hadn't actually been the one to deliver Bengali, Luna, or Amok into the hands of death, he had to admit it was a pretty satisfying sight.  A Thundercat was dead, another had banished herself.  That pesky troll of a Lunatac would also never trouble him again.  All in all, it had not been a real failure, he decided.

It was only a matter of time before he found a weakness that would bring down the rest of the Thundercats, even if he had to pick them off one by one.  It was also only a matter of time before he caught up with that arrogant vampire LaCroix again, and gave him what was coming to him.  Mumm-Ra turned and walked back to his sarcophagus, settling into resting position and allowing the tomb to slide shut over him once more.

It was only a matter of time...