I was back on my feet in no time. Although Zoe pretty much kept me locked in my room for the rest of the healing process, I was still able to walk throughout the compound at night. A week after my return, Zoe and I were enjoying some hot chocolate in spirit of the Christmas season.

“Zoe,” I groaned. “How long is this going to take?” My mouth was so sore from my teeth retreating back into my gums.

“Anita, it's going to take a time, okay? I mean, first thing was that your eyes regain your pigment, right?” I nodded. “And now your fangs are receding. Next thing will probably be you gaining your UV immunity again.”

“But my mouth hurts! I feels like I have cuts all over it and I'm eating salt cubes!” I complained.

“Oh, stop your whining, it'll be over before you know it. And besides, it's Christmas! Enjoy being home, would you?” She teased.

“So, is Ustin-jay laying-pay Anta-say Laus-cay?” I said in pig Latin just in case Zack happened to be listening.

“As far as I know, unless you wanna give it another shot.” She offered.

“No no, I'm fine. Let the big strong man do it.” I made fun of him.

“Now why are you talking about him like that? I mean he did save your life.” She reminded me, getting up, me following her.

“True, but I probably would have gotten out of there eventually. Novak just gave me a few more feet on the leash like a few hours before y'all showed up. Shoot, I could've explored the building.” She laughed when we entered Justin's room. We then locked the door, and grabbed a large plastic box from his closet. In the box, we found three large rolls of wrapping paper, scissors, tape, a few presents that weren't wrapped, and a few that were. “Hey, can I ask you something?” I asked Zoe as we set ourselves up for a wrapping present time.

“Go ahead,” She replied, pulling our the few presents that weren't wrapped.

“Is there any way that I can go out and into the city before Christmas?” She looked at me with disappointment.

“Anita, we've been-”

I cut her off, “It's not for my benefit. It's for him. I was gonna get Justin a present as a thank you.” She just stared at me.

“Why don't you tell me what you want to get him, and I'll get it for you.” She tried to reason with me.

“But it would be more personal if I got it for him.” I sounded desperate.

Now she was a little interested, “What did you want to get him?”

I smirked a little as I finished taping up one of Zack's presents. “A necklace.”

“Okay, I'll think of something. I will get you to the city, during the day. I promise.” She smiled and we continued to wrap presents. A little while later, when we were almost done with the presents, Justin tried to get in to his room, but he kind of couldn't, because we locked the door.

“Orange Muffins,” he said, a little fed up.

Neither one of us wanted to get up, so we played a vigorous game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot. And of course, I lost. All three games. So I pulled my self up, and unlocked the door. “Sorry,” I apologized, then sat back down with Zoe. “And thank you for saying the secret phrase. It means a lot to me.” I said, mimicking him.

“I shouldn't have to say that stupid secret phrase to get into my own room!” He was really angry for some reason. Was he PMSing?

“What's up your ass?” I started to get a little frustrated with his attitude.

“Well, it's mostly the fact that I have to say a stupid phrase to get into my room.” Oh, great, another fight.

“Hey, it's not my fault that you wanted to play Anta-say Laus-cay! You wanted that job.” We were right up in each other's face. Now, I was just being stupid, and I really didn't mean it when I said, “See your fangs went away.”

And threw it right back into my face. “See yours haven't.”

Low fucking blow. We stared at the other for a while. But I broke contact by turning around and leaving and slamming the door on my way.

“Real nice, Justin. Real fucking nice.” Zoe sounded disappointed and angry.

Just then, Justin hit himself in the face very hard. “Real fucking nice, Justin! Real fucking nice!” he shouted at himself. “Oh, God fucking damn it!” Zoe was trying to understand what was going on in that little head of his. After hitting himself a few more times, he sat down on his bed all angry like.

“Okay, um, I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me what's going on with you.” Zoe said calmly, hoping that it would be contagious.

“I don't know why, but every time I start talking to her, I just get so competitive and I need to fight with her. I mean, why do I have to strike up a fight over something so small and stupid as locking the door and making me say a code phrase? I didn't even care about it.” He was so upset with himself, that he started hitting himself again.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Zoe came up to him and took his hands away from his face. “Why do you need to be competitive with her? Is it because she's back? That she's going to be taking my place in the field? Just tell me why you have to be so upset with her when she's done nothing to you.” Zoe was very concerned with this hidden anger that was locked inside him. If I was going to be part of the team again, then we needed to have a relationship that wasn't hostile.

“I just don't know. I think that I'm jealous at who she is, and how much more experience she has over me. I just want to be the best I can be-”

“Then join the army.” She interrupted him. “You don't have to be the best. Hell, the three of us combined will never even come close to the best. He was a solo act from the beginning, and he left a long time ago. And he's probably never coming back. So, why try to be the best solo act, when you can be good and have two other people to back you up?” She was always great at lectures, even when we were younger.

“Who was he?” Justin had turned into a curious child.

“His name was Blade. And maybe he wasn't a complete solo act, but he was alone, a lot. After his mentor, his father died, the defeat of Dracula, he left. And he was the best, and probably always will be. And the thing is, we shouldn't envy him. Yeah, he was the greatest, but, he had the worst situations. His life was horrible. So don't try and be the best, don't want to be the best, be as good as you need to be in the moment. And not any better.” She was like, his mom at that moment.

He took a deep breath, “I should probably apologize.” He stated simply.

“Yeah,” she rubbed circles on his back. “You probably should.”

He got up and went to the door, just as he was about to leave, he turned around, “What should I say?”

Now Zoe was at a loss for words.