[JUMP CHAIN.]

"What?" Carl was quite startled to hear a voice out of nowhere talking in bold caps. It was just something in the timbre of the voice that made him sure that if it had been written down it would be all bold and in caps.

He suddenly realized he was floating in a void. The darkness pressed in on him from all sides, feeling quite oppressive. In front of him, one of those sheets from those Choose Your Own Adventures self insert stories appeared. It was the only point of light Carl could see in the void. This one appeared to be for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel world.

[ENJOY YOUR TIME IN THIS WORLD. IF YOU WIN, YOU WILL RECEIVE MORE OPTIONS.]

And that was it. No matter how many questions Carl threw out, begged, demanded, or pleaded, he received no more answers from the voice.

Sighing at not being given a choice in the matter, Carl did the only thing he could and began reading the information sheet.

"Well, at least I have a decent working knowledge of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show." Carl sighed again at his predicament. He had a very distinct memory of dying in a car crash before coming here. He wasn't prepared to leave his world behind so abruptly, but he was dead and gone, and that was that.

"Okay, it looks like I'll be stuck in this world for 10 years. 'Anything you buy you will keep forever, even if you die before this 10 year trip is over'. Well, that's surprisingly generous. Although, mentioning death on the first page makes me think my second death is likely." Carl sighed again at thinking of his likely fate.

"Well, let's see, I get 1000 choice points, or CP. Is that generous, or stingy?" Carl wondered aloud as he hit next.

"Identity. 'A history in this world will be created for you when you choose from the backgrounds below.' The positives include gaining skills, abilities, and world knowledge based on the identity. The negatives include…new personalities? And they may change who I am? That's a pretty big negative." Carl snorted.

"Six choices of identity." He continued. "Spare Key, White Hat, Watcher, Initiative Member, Wolfram & Hart Lawyer, and Demon." Carl read through each description.

"If this wasn't my first world it might be entertaining to play a demon or lawyer. But screw that. I need powers, knowledge, and a stronger will power first before I go playing with such dangerous creatures. Surviving will be tough enough already without having demons and lawyers looking to enslave and torture me. In fact, the only option that doesn't mess with my mind is the Spare Key."

"And even though I'll be targeted by Glory later on, I should have a few years to prepare for that Big Bad. Hell, despite having difficulties defeating her, the group was able to pull out a win in the end. So I have at least a decent chance of winning."

Carl selected the Spare Key option, and then chose not to pay to choose his age.

"Let my age be up to chance."

When Carl selected the option to roll for age, a table appeared in front of him, with a single 8 sided die sitting on it. Carl picked up the dice and rolled. "A five. So I'll be 17 years old, one year older than the crew, if I remember right. They'll be sophomores when Buffy shows up, while I'll be a junior in high school. I can work with that."

The table disappeared from in front of Carl. A floating screen popped up in front of him with a message.

[You will be inserted randomly into one of the protagonist's families as a sibling. Your new family will have memories of you, while you will be flying blind. The choice of family will be a surprise for when you wake up in your new world.]

"Well, that's a thing." Carl commented, wondering who would become his new sibling. Shrugging since he couldn't do anything about it, he moved on.

Looking at the next page of the form, he saw that it was greyed out because he couldn't choose a Demonic Heritage. Carl moved on to the next page, Special Abilities.

There were 30 choices to choose from. Carl saw he could pick up Just Plain Snarky and Fashion Chaser for half off, based on his identity as a Spare Key. At 50 points each Carl figured he could make them work to his benefit to survive.

Just Plain Snarky would make sure he would always have a quip available, even if it ended up as a sexual innuendo at his own expense. But at least it would slightly distract enemies, giving him a chance to get the initiative in a fight, so that was a plus.

Fashion Chaser would give Carl knowledge about what is fashionable and "what to wear to catch the eyes of others". Carl figured he could use that knowledge to do the opposite if he wanted, and dress in such a way so he would pass unnoticed. That would be a great means of survival in a demon infested town like Sunnydale.

Looking at the prices for the various abilities, Carl soon determined that unless he took some hefty complications that would totally ruin his chances of survival, he would have to pick one specialty and stick to it. The complication points were capped at 600 additional points, and after the first two they only gave half the points. Completely not worth it in his opinion, because he was trying to survive for 10 years, not grab a bunch of abilities but still die.

Carl figured there were three paths he could realistically choose without going demon or picking crippling complications. A physical fighter, magic user, or scientist/researcher.

Because of the world being the way it is, if he wanted to become a non-demon physical fighter, he would have to swap his gender and pick up the slayer ability. Not happening. He needed a clear head to survive 10 years. Being distracted by his change of gender, sexual orientation, and very identity while hunting demons was a good way to end up dead.

Going the scientist/researcher route he could pick Technopathy, Robotics Genius, and Brilliant for 300 points each. Technopathy would allow him to communicate and command any electronic devices on the same network, but sentient machines could resist the commands.

"Actually, how many sentient machines were there? Wasn't it only Ted and that Moloch dude? Who was technically a demon, not a sentient machine. So aside from those two, I would be the hacker king of the world."

Carl briefly entertained day dreams of having the world's computer systems at his beck and call, before remembering it would be 1997 in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer world. Being a hacker king in that world wasn't nearly as impressive as if he had the same perk in say, the Stargate universe.

Robotics Genius would allow him to build robots that could be useful as guards, sentries, or shock troops. It would definitely help the Scooby Gang. But the huge downside was he would be dependent on technology to be able to defend himself. And knowing the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he would probably end up in many near death situations, without his robots to protect him, waiting for the slayer to save him. No thanks.

Besides, he would be a poor High School student, and electronics cost money. Sure he could hack his way into some funds, but he was sure that would bring him to the attention of certain groups he would rather ignore his existence altogether.

Brilliant would make him incredible in numbers, quantum physics, science, and have a natural talent for inventing. As awesome as that would be, it wouldn't directly help him survive his time as demon bait. And this first world Carl was all about increasing his survivability.

With survival in mind, Carl chose to go the magic user route. His magic would always be with him. He couldn't be disarmed of his main weapon so easily, and it would be great for offense, defense, and general utility.

He first chose the ability Sorcery Savant ability for 600 points to gain a great natural ability to perform magic. "'The spells you perform will be on the same level or possibly above that of the greatest witches on earth once you gain more experience.' Well, if I'm only as good or better than the best, why bother?" Carl sarcastically quipped.

"Now does that skill level include Willow? Cause she was able to get close to destroying the world at one point. Or at least killing everyone in it. Even if I don't get that powerful by messing with dark magic, I'll still be plenty strong enough to protect myself." Carl decided.

Next he picked the ability High Stakes Fighter for 100 cp. It would give him a working knowledge of jujutsu and aikido. While he wasn't planning to physically fight demons, knowing how to redirect force, use holds and leverage, and generally survive physical confrontations would be instrumental in keeping him alive through ambushes until he could bring his magic cannons to bear on the enemy.

Carl next picked up Cunning Linguist for 100 points. He chose Ancient Greek and Latin. He figured being well versed in a couple ancient languages would save him a lot of time on his magic studies, as well as make him more useful for research. He could always spend more time learning more languages, but coming into the world already knowing two would help immensely.

Satisfied that he would be able to survive as a magic user, Carl moved on to the available equipment list. He immediately chose the Book of Kelsor for 100 cp as the single most useful item for him as a magic user.

"'This detailed tome describes nearly a thousand varieties of demons, and provides insight on how to properly combat them. This codex has been around for centuries and steadily updated, one of the most reliable sources for generic demonic knowledge.' The tips on how to fight should give me plenty of pointers on how to make my spells more effective. Knowledge is priceless!"

By this point Carl had spent all his points, but he hesitated when he saw one particular item he really wanted at 100 cp. He agonized about whether it was worth getting. Was it worth picking up a complication in order to afford the item?

Finally Carl decided it was completely worth it. He selected the Root Beer Keg for 100 cp. "Refreshing and foamy, you have a refilling keg of root beer that maintains the perfect temperature all the time." This would make his stay in Sunnyhell just a bit more bearable. To always have a perfect mug of root beer. Yummm…

Looking at the complications that would give him the needed 100 points, it was a choice between Leporiphobia, Zeppo, Kleptomaniac, and Perfect Harmony.

It was a choice between fearing bunnies, an "interesting times" curse with a side dash of people dismissing him, a tendency to steal things, and having Harmony Kendell interact with him on a regular basis.

Carl first strongly rejected the "interesting times" curse of the Zeppo. Anything that brought extra danger into his life would have to have a much bigger point bonus to get him to consider it. Besides, the idea that the group he associated with would dismiss his abilities and ignore his suggestions when he was planning to be a world class mage chapped his hide.

If it was only his enemies underestimating him, that would be fine. But he didn't think he could become close friends with people who summarily dismissed him on a regular basis. Acquaintance, maybe. Friends? No.

Next, he rejected Kleptomaniac. He didn't have anything against relieving the worthy (aka vampires) of their material goods, but he didn't want to be subject to such an involuntary compulsion. It would probably kick off at the most inopportune time, like when he would be trying to be stealthy, and directly lead to being caught. Pass.

It could just be because he hadn't seen the show for a long time, but Carl honestly thought having to interact with a good looking but shallow blonde girl couldn't be that bad. And if enemies found out about his fear of bunnies, they could use it at the worst possible time to gain an upper hand by distracting him.

So, Carl chose Perfect Harmony for 100 cp. At least he'll always have root beer. He could always use it to console himself if Harmony got too bad.

Once Carl clicked finish, the room dissolved into darkness.

______________________________________________

Carl woke up in his bed in a mansion. The decorations and furnishing looks expensive. There was a bookshelf along the wall, a desk with a computer on it, one of those old CRT monitors. And posters on the wall of some of the hot actresses of the day.

Carl soon discovered that his computer had a dedicated phone line for internet. At least he won't have to fight with whoever his family was over the phone usage rights.

Looking around, he soon discovered a journal that started shedding light on his situation.

He was now one Carlisle Chase, the older brother of Cordelia Chase.

"Well, did not expect that. I was expecting to be a sibling to Willow or Xander. Somehow I can't be too disheartened to be a member of a rich family."

His parents wanted him to have a distinguished name, not some low brow name like Donald. "He's a duck, after all." But since he was being a teenager and rebelling against everything, he had everyone call him Carl just to annoy his parents.

As Carl read, he saw that he was given a suitable back story to explain his abilities. He had been enrolled in Jujutsu and Aikido for years. Carl continued to read about the people he knew from his time at the gym.

One of the diary entries explained how he gained his Book of Kelsor. One day while browsing a used book store, he found the Book of Kelsor just sitting alone on a shelf. Briefly reading the descriptions about demons and vampires, diary Carl had been entertained. He had purchased it, thinking it would be like a fantasy book.

But as he continued to read the book, it opened his eyes to the true nature of the world. He soon saw the lurking demons and vampires around Sunnydale. Deciding to learn as much as he could to protect himself, he started studying Greek and Latin because some of the entries in the book were written in those languages.

After learning about demons and magic from the book, he soon sought out more knowledge of magic.

He explored the local magic store, The Magic Box, and bought some basic magic primers to start training himself in magic.

He soon found he had an incredible gift for magic. He kept his ability secret from his family. He recognized that there was likely a magical field or something over the town that caused people to overlook and rationalize away the supernatural.

Unless his family chose to accept the reality of magic and demons, they would just think he was crazy if he started talking about it. So he chose to remain silent.

He did work on creating some magical items. And there were two magical items he had crafted that made him immensely proud of his talents in magic.

The first was a crucifix necklace that he wove many protections into. He gifted one of these necklaces to each of his family members to keep them safe. It was the best he could do to keep his family safe until they opened their eyes and mind to the supernatural.

From reading the diary, Carl found out he had a good relationship with his sister, although they were very snarky to each other. Carl found himself amused to read that his sister's friend, Harmony Kendell, had a huge crush on him, and so would spend hours around him if allowed to. Based on the anecdotes in the book, Harmony could be a sweet, if ditzy, girl. At least when she wasn't being driven to be a bitch by her parents or the other social leaches in the school.

Carl also learned that his father really wanted him to join him at the investment firm after he graduated. Carl shook his head. Based on his memories of the show, at this point his father in this world had already been evading paying taxes for 10 years. In two years the government would crack down on him, and send him to jail, while confiscating the family's money and leaving the rest of them destitute. Not something Carl wanted to happen.

He continued to read the rantings of the teenager Carlisle about the fights the father-son duo would get into. Because Carl's backstory teenager self had discovered his great talent for magic, he didn't want to go into the investment firm, but couldn't tell his father the reason why because his father refused to acknowledge the supernatural.

Diary Carl also found out about his father not paying taxes, and that too turned into a big argument, because his father refused to listen to Carl about paying back taxes. His father said he said he "had it covered".

"Huh. Looks like I have two years to lay a financial foundation that's not connected to dear old dad so that mom, sis, and I don't end up in the poor house." Carl muttered to himself as he began making plans.

Before getting ready for school, Carl ran through the magic exercises his diary talked about him doing. He found the telekinesis easy. He could even lift the weight of his bookshelf up. He split up his concentration and could individually lift 4 different items and control them separately.

He then found he could easily conjure softball sized fire, water, wind, and earth globes, and have them dance around the room under perfect control.

Banishing the globes, he worked solely on his fire control. First mashing down the softball sized fireball until it was the size of a golf ball. The more compact he made it, the hotter it burned. Good enough to immolate vampires. Now he just needed to work on his speed at conjuring the fireball.

He then worked on his delicate control, sculpting the fire to make different shapes. Square, donut, oval, and house shaped were just some of the exercises. That part was very difficult, and left him sweating.

Once he was finished with his exercises, Carl took a shower and got ready for school. "Back to High School." Carl laughed as he went downstairs and ate some breakfast their cook prepared for them.

"Thanks Rosalie, delicious as always." Carl called out as he exited the kitchen, so he didn't see the startled look of pleasure Rosalie had on her face for being complimented.

Carl knocked on his sister's door. "Hey, you ready in there? We leave in 20 minutes!"

"Sure, sure. Impatient much?" Asked his sister as she opened the door. By the looks of it, she was primped and ready for a day of socializing and solidifying her rule as the Queen Bee of Sunnydale high.

Cracking a grin, Carl just lazily waved. "I just didn't want to be lectured by dad for not giving you a ride, if you know what I mean." Carl froze. He did not just throw a sexual innuendo at his sister Cordelia on the first time they interacted because of a stupid Special Ability he purchased.

"Eww, much." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"Whatever. You're the one whose mind went there." Carl shot back with a grin. Oh well, if he's going to be doing that kind thing often, the only thing to do is to grow thicker skin. Be more shameless and no one can embarrass him!

"As if! Even if you weren't my brother, your looks are barely a 6. Not even worthy of gazing on the perfection that is me." Cordelia snarked as she passed Carl in the hall, pausing only long enough to slug his shoulder.

"She shoots, ahh, it's a hit." Carl melodramatically clutched his heart, pretending to swoon. "How will I go on?"

Cordelia's small snort of laughter as she descended the stairs let Carl know he'd won a small victory.

Carl smiled at their interaction. It was…fun having a sister. Maybe living here for 10 years wouldn't be all bad.

______________________________________________

Because of his schedule, Carl didn't see much of the future Scooby Gang until lunch. He sat with his small group of friends off to the side as he watched them interact with each other. When his sister passed a message to Buffy, Carl watched with narrowed eyes from across the green as Jesse McNally drooled over his sister's ass as she walked away.

Strangely, for having just entered this world, Carl found himself very angered at the way the teenage boy was eying up his sister. He felt very protective of her. 'That boy better watch himself, or he'll find a fireball up his arse.' Carl darkly thought before Harmony wandered up to talk with him.

"Hi, Carl!" She perkily called out to him. "Do you like this blouse on me? It's one of a kind, designed by the famous…" Harmony continued droning on about innocuous things while Carl simply smiled and answered monotonously.

Carl found he was correct in his assumptions about the girl. In front of a boy she liked, Harmony acted sweet and nice. Still ditzy, but nice. With others, she might be a bitch, but for him she was kind of a dopey adorable kitten.

It looked like he won a small victory in his gamble of taking the Perfect Harmony complication due to being Cordelia's older brother. He could only assume if he had ended up as Willow, Xander, or Jesse's brother that Harmony would do her bitchy act with him instead. That would definitely been very aggravating for 10 years.

It would still have been worth it for the Root Beer Keg, though.

Now Carl just had to figure out how to get her unplugged from the social scene and her parents that were trying to turn her into a shrewish bully. How to let her be the best she could be, instead of striving for fleeting popularity by stepping on others?

Carl continued to chat with the blonde beauty through lunch. He soon determined that his fashion ability was a lifesaver. If he didn't have all that fashion knowledge in his head, talking with Harmony would have been excruciating. But because of his newfound knowledge it was, dare he say it, kinda fun to just turn his mind off and chit chat for an hour.

Maybe he could encourage Harmony to use her fashion knowledge to create a career in the fashion industry, instead of relying on her parents? Then she wouldn't feel obligated to act like they want her to. It was worth looking into.

Later that evening Carl accompanied Cordelia and her friends to the Bronze. He danced with a couple girls, including Harmony while keeping an eye out for vampires.

After about an hour, Carl spotted two vampires talking up Jesse and Willow. When the idiots followed the vamps to the exit, Carl excused himself from the girls and followed them. Buffy and Xander weren't around yet, so it was up to him to save at least Willow.

He wasn't still holding a grudge against McNally drooling over his sister, nope. Not him.

The vampire that convinced Willow to follow him stopped right outside the back door. He changed into his game face, ready to feed. Willow screamed when she saw the vampire's face.

Hearing his cue, Carl quickly sent a cutter of wind to slice the vampire's pants pocket to drop his wallet, before another wind cutter beheaded him, turning him to dust.

Carl was just picking up the vampire's wallet to loot it for money when Buffy and Xander charged out of the door, looking for Willow.

Seeing that Willow was alright, and there was a pile of dust on the ground from the vampire, along with Willow babbling about the monster, Buffy started demanding answers from Carl while Xander tried to calm Willow down.

Carl was a little impatient with Buffy's imperious questioning attitude. He was pretty sure she acted like that by instinct from the Slayer spirit, but he was having none of it.

"Instead of wasting time here, shouldn't we be finding their friend? You know, the one who wandered off with Darla, one of the Scourge of Europe, to provide her with a nightcap?" Carl pointedly asked to change the subject.

"Who?" Buffy blankly asked.

Carl sighed. At this point in time, Buffy was not at all gung ho about her Slayer duties. While she would never get to the point where she would sink large amount of time into research, at least later on she would take her slaying seriously.

She was just not research girl material. Not necessarily bad, since she could usually handle herself, but the lack of information did sometimes put her at a disadvantage.

"Let's talk as we walk." Carl stated, moving past them towards the entryway of the alley. The tracking spell that he'd tagged Jesse with let him know that it would be quicker to walk than to take his car.

Buffy hesitated for a moment, then told Xander and Willow to get somewhere safe. Xander naturally refused.

"Jesse is my friend, I've got to help him if he's in danger!"

Which led to Willow timidly joining the group, unwilling to be left alone.

"Darla was a young woman who worked as a prostitute in the 16th century. She contracted a fatal case of syphilis and, just before she died, was turned into a vampire." Carl explained what he'd read in his Book of Kelsor earlier about Darla as they made their way to the cemetery.

"150 some years later, she turned a twenty something year old man named Liam. Once the vampire woke up, he entered Liam's family home by an invitation from Liam's sister, who said he must be an angel, to have come back to them after his death. Shortly after that the vampire tortured and killed poor Liam's entire family."

At their exclamations of horror, Carl nodded grimly. "I know, tragic, right? Well, the vampire decided he liked the irony of being called an angel so much, he named himself Angelus. The blood demon had inhabited a fairly good looking man, so over the years he has lured in many young women with his dashing tall, dark, and broody look. Many of them he raped and tortured for days before allowing them to die as his food." Carl saw they were suitably horrified.

"I wonder if vampires are able to be carriers for STDs? I mean, if they are, he would be a carrier for the fatal case of syphilis that Darla had. Not to mention any other STDs he's acquired over the years of rape." Carl idly speculated.

"Can you please stop talking about that?" Xander impatiently asked with Willow nodding along. "And get to the relevant-y info please. Jesse is in danger from this bloodsucker. Less with the sexual crimes, and more with the how do we stop the vampires from draining the blood of our friend."

"Fine, fine." Carl muttered as he pulled out several stakes and crosses. "Here, take these. Chances are you won't get a chance to stake a vampire, unless they are an idiot newborn, or you get lucky. But better to have them just in case. Stake to the heart kills them. A cross will repel them a bit from attacking, unless they are really determined. And if you have holy water, splashing them burns them. Great for blinding the vampires while you either stake them or get away. Easy peasy." Carl stated.

"Any way, Darla, Angelus, and two other vampires made quite the name for themselves over in Europe for a few decades before Angelus pissed off the wrong people and got himself cursed."

"He got cursed and died?" Buffy hopefully asked.

"Nope, he got cursed with a soul." Carl realized he was rushing to tell them this information while they may be too distracted to soak it in. But one of the things he'd always hated about the show was when Angel lost his soul, Buffy never tried to gank him until it was literally the world or him. He'd already lost his soul, why couldn't she bring herself to stab a soulless vampire?

And sure, she did the right thing eventually, but if he could convince her not to let a freaking vampire into her heart in the first place, things should never get that bad. Hopefully.

"Anyway. The point is that the little blonde vampire Darla is about 390 years old. She likes to pull the sweet and innocent act on people to sucker them in. But she is very dangerous. So be extremely cautious of her. Dust her if you get half a chance, but be extremely careful."

Carl finished just as they arrived at the area his spell said Jesse was in. They soon saw a shadowy couple embracing each other next to a sarcophagus. Darla had already started to feed on Jesse. Not good.

Carl threw a little water bottle of holy water at the vampire, splashing over her back. She reacted by screeching and throwing Jesse aside and running away. Smart vampire, instead of facing unknown odds of people who got the drop on her with holy water, she decided to retreat and regroup.

Buffy started to chase her, before aborting the action to go help Jesse.

Carl, meanwhile, used his magic to throw wind blades at Darla's legs. He managed to slice her hamstrings, dropping her to the ground. He could tell she was already healing, so he ran towards her, throwing a couple of fireballs.

Darla swiftly rolled away from the impact splashes of the fire. Thinking she was safe, she turned her head to glare at him to memorize his face before she would then slither off behind a tomb.

Which was exactly when the wind blade that Carl sent to circle around behind her sliced into her neck, and damaged her spinal column. She lost control of her body, flopping to the ground.

"Huh, the other vampire got beheaded by that move. Maybe it's cause she's older and tougher?" Carl theorized.

The damage to her spinal column made it hard for Darla to move, the signals from her brain weren't getting to her limbs. It gave Carl enough time to summon another couple of fireballs and send them her way from the left and right.

This time, flanked by the fireballs and unable to move well, the fireballs hit. She went up in a flaming pyre of screaming immolation.

Carl wiped the sweat from his brow. That took a lot out of him. Not to mention it was nerve wracking. If Darla had the initiative in their encounter, especially if she was armed with handguns, this night would have gone vastly different.

Carl moved back over to check on how the rest were doing. Ignoring the wide eyed looks from seeing him cast spells, he asked Xander. "How is your buddy?"

"Not good, I think he lost a lot of blood." Xander worriedly said as he held some cloth to Jesse's neck.

"Better get him to the hospital then. If you can get him to the entrance of the graveyard, I'll see if I can't give you a ride. Unless you'd like me to call an ambulance instead?" Carl idly asked.

After seeing the way Jesse looked at his sister earlier, and how he kept trying to hit on her in the club despite being shot down, Carl didn't really care too much about him. He wouldn't go out of his way to hurt him unless Jesse crossed the line, but he wasn't about to get worried about his health, either.

They eventually got Jesse to the hospital. Since Carl was Cordelia's ride, he made sure to get her from the club before picking up the group. Cordelia rode shotgun, while Buffy, Willow, and Xander sat in the back with Jesse across their laps.

Once the gang unloaded at the hospital, and Carl and Cordelia were driving back home, Cordelia couldn't wait any longer.

"What was all that? And since when are you friends with those losers?" She demanded.

"Dumbass McNally accepted the invite of a vampire to go make out in a graveyard. We only just got there in time to stop him from being drained of all his blood." Carl stated baldly. He wasn't going to sugar coat the dark side for his bluntly honest sister. Maybe she would believe him? In the show she soon accepted the existence of the supernatural and even helped the Scooby Gang from time to time before moving to L.A. and becoming part of Angel's Crew.

"Vampires? You expect me to believe that?" Cordelia incredulously asked.

"Well, yeah." Carl laconically stated as he held one hand up and conjured a fireball. "Magic. Ta daa." He sarcastically stated. "Found a book a few years ago about vampires and demons and magic. Turns out I'm pretty gifted in magic."

After staring gape mouthed for a while at Carl, Cordelia sat back and thought. Carl just extinguished his fireball and went back to quietly driving, letting her order her thoughts. He thought it was a good sign that she wasn't immediately denying the evidence in front of her eyes.

"Is that why you and dad have been arguing a lot lately?" Cordelia finally asked.

"No. Well, not directly, no. You are the first person in the family I've told about magic and whatnot. No, there are two issues that dad and I fight about. You know he wants me to join him in the investment firm after I graduate, right?" At her nod, he continued. "He wants me to work there part time while going to college. I, on the other hand, don't feel that's the path for me. So, we butt heads about it." Carl stopped talking.

"And what's the other thing you fight about?" After a few moments, Cordelia asked.

"Taxes."

"Taxes?"

"Taxes." Carl nodded. "And about how he hasn't been paying them for the past decade. He says he's worked out some loopholes so he doesn't have to pay anything, and that everything is fine. But I'm of the opinion that it's shady and that the government is going to be coming after him one of these days. Since he's gotten away with it for a decade, he thinks they'll never catch on." Carl finished with a snort of disbelief at his father. "The IRS loves their money. They don't have to be on the ball all the time, because they have enough people that they'll eventually get around to you. And I think when they do catch up to him, they'll want to make an example out of dad. You know, to make sure everyone knows to pay their taxes, or else."

"Oh." Cordelia quietly said, thinking about the repercussions of that scenario to their lives.

"Yup."

"What'll we do if they do come after dad? They'll take everything, won't they?"

"Yeah, most likely. Earlier today I finally decided I'd had enough of living on the edge, always waiting for the hammer to drop. I'm going to start squirreling away some money, and put it in accounts that aren't connected to him. Maybe drop by a lawyer and figure out how we can keep a decent portion safe so if the worst does happen, we aren't left destitute."

"I'll help. If it will make things easier and so we don't end up poor, I'll help." Cordelia offered, not wanting to lose her privileged life. Carl didn't want to end up poor either, so he couldn't blame her.

"Sounds good, sis." Carl looked at her from the corner of his eye. "How you doing with the big magic and vampires reveal?"

"Scared. I don't really want to think about it." Cordelia shivered.

"Yeah." Carl nodded. "The big thing to remember is to not invite people in after dark. Just kind of stand to the side of the door. If they can't come in without an invitation, they are bad mojo that you don't want in. Be sure that you wear that necklace I gave you, it's got protections on it. Holy water is easy to carry with you everywhere, and splashing them in the face should blind them enough for you to make an escape." He gave some advice to her.

Cordelia looked down at the necklace she was wearing, and felt some comfort. At least he was looking out for her.

They arrived home shortly and split up to their rooms to get some rest.