I woke up to the gentlest voice I'd ever heard whispering my name. I blinked a couple of times before really opening my eyes, feeling the soft touch of warm fingertips brushing my hair off my face. It was dark outside, and the golden glow of the lamp behind me showed Brandon crouching down by the bed, no hat, his head tilted to meet my eyes, lips pursed in one of his warm smiles.

*Memo to self: I wanted to wake up like this every day for the rest of my life.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered, like trying to wake up the swarm of infernal butterflies as well.

I frowned and scratched my messy hair, 'cause that's me: the queen of hot and sexy.

"Fine," I mumbled, and found my hand had left my hair to rest on his cheek. "You? How are you?"

"I could sleep a whole week, especially like this afternoon." His wink made me blush at the speed of light. "But we ain't done yet. You up for the last stretch?"

"Kujo!" I muttered, kicking the quilt away.

He let out a soft chuckle and helped me out of bed. I opened my closet and grabbed the first thing I found, which was, of course, my old turtle-neck sweater and my sneakers. Sure, why not look like a sack of potatoes? Not like I had an oldie-but-goldie smoking hot man there, right?

I felt an avalanche of chills when he helped me pull it down and brought my hair out of the thick collar.

"There you are," he murmured, that warm smile nailed to his face, and reached out to me. "Shall we?"

No gloves on, yet his fingers closed around mine to lead me out of the room. Another hundred chills and counting. His skin felt cool, not fevered like it did in the morning, and even though he was wearing his trademark black cargos and jacket, I spotted the dragon tee underneath.

The whole Manor was oddly quiet, and as we crossed the kitchen, I saw what looked like a lantern glow coming out the guesthouse's first-floor windows.

"The worms are still crawling up and down the house," Brandon said. "Your friend Trisha is there to keep an eye on things and let the housekeeper go home."

"Oh," I muttered. "Amy said something about taking Kujo there to deal with them."

"Yeah. She seems convinced you guys can command the demon to go where you want it to."

His words made me stop him by the basement door.

"Have you been down here today?"

"No. They woke me up like thirty minutes ago."

"Then let me go first."

He let go of my hand and motioned for me to take the lead. I hurried down the stone steps, anxious and excited like I hadn't been there in a whole year.

"Fran," my phone said as soon as I reached the basement.

"My boy!" I cried, running to kneel down before the corner, my hand up.

"Fran fine," Kujo said, touching my hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I was just wasted and fell asleep upstairs. How are you, my boy? You ready for what we're about to do?"

A discreet cough to my right made me look up that way. Amy was there, wearing her white robe and holding a big old book in her hands. Isaac was a few steps away, behind one of the three cameras he'd set around the corner, like we'd done the day before. A semicircle of tea light candles started at the end of the boiler, curving away from the corner all the way to the left wall. I hadn't stepped on one of them out of sheer chance.

"Oh, hi, guys. All set, then?" I turned to the corner again. "Ready too? Can I bring Brandon to cut your chain?"

"Brandon mad?"

"No, my boy. He's clean and back to his senses. He wants to do this."

"Bring Brandon."

The anxiety was gone, leaving only the excitement. So I sunk my head in the little shadows the candles left. The heat barely brushed my forehead.

"Fran hurt. Kujo careful."

"Sure you are. Nobody takes better care of me." I stood up and looked at Amy. Behind the camera, Isaac was celebrating Kujo's intelligence as usual. "And you called him a demon!"

I was heading back to the stairs when Isaac said, "Hey, Fran, gimme an entrance I can actually use. 'Cause you running to hug the shadow monster ain't gonna work for TV."

"Fuck you, Isaac."

"If we still doubted she's fine," said Amy with her usual mix of annoyed and amused.

Brandon waited halfway down the stairs. It was my turn to reach out to him.

"You guys sure that thing ain't gonna jump on me like the other night?" he said, taking my hand again.

"As long as you behave with me," I replied, making him chuckle.

I let him go down first, following up close, our hands still together. He took one step into the basement and stopped, so I stopped too, sticking to his side. He glanced at me and I met his eyes, pressing his fingers softly. A part of my mind could already imagine his solemn voice-over narration, saying I was afraid and needed him to give me the courage to face the monster he was about to do me the great favor of banishing. I couldn't care less.

We took our sweet time to walk all the way to the boiler, where Amy waited for us.

"Brandon," said my phone, and I felt him shiver.

"It's okay," I whispered.

He breathed really deep and stepped up past the candles. We heard a shuffle and I saw his back stiffen.

"D'you know why I'm here?" he asked in his best Haunter supreme voice.

"Yes."

Amy motioned for him to crouch down before the corner and for me to come closer.

"Come, Fran. You are the Manor's keeper, so you need to take part in this," she said. "Put one hand on the wall and take Brandon's."

I set my jaw to stay serious and went to kneel between Brandon and the wall, placing my hand as close to the back wall as I could. With his spare hand, he took the pendant that hung from his neck and held it facing the shadows. Amy came to stand by his other side, opening the big old book.

"Repeat after me," she said, solemn and mysterious like we were in a Haunters episode.

Don't ask me what language the counter-spell was written in, because I doubt even Amy knew. She started reading aloud slowly, pausing for Brandon to repeat her words. And as they kept going, I started feeling little cracks in the wall under my hand. Soon I was afraid a whole chunk of it would come off. They kept going for another three or four minutes.

In the following silence, Brandon let go of my hand, took the pendant off and held it firmly to stick his hand into the shadows.

"I release you," he said loud and clear.

All of us heard the crack in the wall, but only a little dust fell off. Then a metallic rattling, followed by a long hiss. A dark mist rose like fading smoke.

"Step back!" Amy warned, a heartbeat too late.

Brandon fell back, feet in the air, and the whole house shook like a bear was galloping out of the basement. Eyes welling in happy tears, I jumped to my feet, dodged Brandon and ran to the stairs. Isaac followed, camera in hand.

The backdoor slammed open, pointing the way, and I sprinted out.

"Kujo, wait!" I cried.

A chunk of grass flew in the middle of the garden, like the big grizzly had just stopped on a dime, and before I knew it, a hot wind knocked me down and wrapped around me.

"Kujo free. Free. Free."

"Yes, my boy! You're free!"

I was laughing and crying, arms spread out on the grass, wishing I could hug the ugly beast. A hot gust like a heavy hand slid up my cheek.

"I hope you're not licking my face, you mean thing!" I cried, still laughing.

"Fran promised. Fran did it."

The heat lifted off me and stretched out along my side, like the big bear was lying right by me. Amy walked up to us, shaking her head and grinning. Isaac kept her camera on us as Brandon came out to join us in no hurry, a frown halfway between curiosity and disbelief.

"Hey, Kujo, fancy two more cousins?" Amy said, and pointed at the guesthouse. "They're hiding in there."

Isaac jumped backward and spun toward the guesthouse when the heat left my side. The front door slammed open and we heard Trisha's surprise cries and giggles from inside.

My brain doesn't usually function as it should, and the dopamine rush I was going through didn't make things easier for it. When Brandon came to stop by my side, I turned to him and jumped to throw my arms around his neck. He staggered back but held my back.

"Thank you so much!" I whispered in his ear, holding him as tight as I could.

He rubbed my back, chuckling. "C'mon. We're on TV."

I let go of his neck, but he didn't quite let me step away, his hands resting on my shoulders as he smiled down at me.

"Should I thank you louder for the camera?" I asked mockingly.

However, my mocking ways went out the window when I faced his eyes and his warm smile.

"You're a pain in the ass, young lady."

"Look who's talking, old man."

"Hey, Bran!" Isaac called out. "I need a closing shot."

He didn't look away from me to reply, "Piss off, Isaac."

Amy had gone up to the guesthouse porch, and she jumped back, chuckling. The ground vibrated with Kujo's galloping again and I felt the heat pounce on me from behind, making me push Brandon two steps away.

"Hey, my boy! Did you find your snacks?"

"Fat tasty snacks."

"Both of them?" asked Amy, coming closer.

"Yes."

The heat brushed away, and Amy's look following him showed he was just running around the garden.

"What was that?" Brandon asked, approaching me with a suspicious look around.

"Kujo just ate your surviving parasites."

"It was true you can command it."

"I don't command him," I replied.

"Where is it now?"

"He's just roaming around," Amy said. "I'm calling it a night, guys. You should too. It's been a hell of a day."

"Wait," I said. "Kujo needs a place to stay during the day until we take him home, and I wouldn't wanna take him back to the basement. Time for the Blotters to claim their home back."

Amy nodded to the guesthouse. "The place needs some major repairs, so you can keep it closed. You can close the shutters and curtains to make him a nice doghouse."

"Good idea." I turned to Brandon and nodded to the guesthouse. "I'm gonna get it ready for him."

"Let's go. I wanna see if I can rescue some of my stuff."

"Night, guys," said Amy, heading back to the Manor.

"Night, Amy!"

Trisha was coming out of the guesthouse when we were near the front door.

"Fran! You think we can set up shop on the third floor?"

"Just try to keep it down, or Amy's gonna kill you bloody."

"Yeah, yeah." She dodged us to hurry toward Isaac. "I think I caught something!"

"Really? Let me see!" Isaac replied, surely waking up the Collins and half the county.

They too headed back to the Manor and we walked into the guesthouse. Trisha had left a warm LED off on the floor, and I picked it up to see around, because the energy would remain off until further notice.

The living room was a mess. All the furniture had been pushed against the front wall, away from the burned fireplace, but everything had been kindly sprayed by the firefighters and still dripped on the ruined rug. The dining room was in better condition, but the ceiling showed a big black stain around the hanging lamp. The kitchen and the restroom had been spared.

We headed upstairs without a word, our feet dipping in the soaking wet carpet. The bedroom on the left, where Isaac had been sleeping, was a mess too. The chimney ran behind one of the walls, and the boarding and the paint looked charred. Against all odds, Brandon's room was intact.

"Guess it had a sentimental value to the worms," I said, chuckling.

"Aren't you funny," Brandon replied, picking up clothes from the floor.

I left the LED on the bed, by an open duffel bag, and helped him pack his stuff. He closed the bag, grabbed the handles, turned to me and dropped it back on the bed.

"Wait. We're alone?"

I looked around. "Are we alone?" I asked, raising my voice. Nobody answered through the phone app and I faced him again. "Looks like. Why?"

He took my hand and pulled me closer to him, his arm circling my waist to keep me against his body as his other hand grabbed my chin gently.

"At last," he muttered, smiling.