High Life

Quotes

Director: "They think he would respond better to a man." PeanutGalleryChase: "And all they have to send is Gabe. Poor things."

PeanutGalleryChase: "Don't you just click your heels three times and say 'there's no place like home'?" [re: Gabe's request that DoH give him an emergency exit from the cave]

PeanutGalleryChase: "Pssst... this is where you pull out the thermal detonator." [re: Gabe's entrance into the presence of Kamat Cumquo Kwat]

Raveena: "Oh, you mean the 'extra-curricular' stuff."

Chase [after waiting for people to pick up the phone]: "I need some friends who aren't getting laid."

Raveena: "I've been invited to a dinner party... I'm allowed to bring a guest." Ethan: "... So you're going to ask Dr. Deaver?"

Gabe: "It's a chitlinectomy." [re: eviscerated bodies]

StonedRaveena [upon seeing Harvey]: "That sure is a weird dessert entrée."

StonedGabe [rubbing elbow]: "Ooh... this is cool." Chase: "You know, you should try getting Jade to do that." StonedGabe: "Hey babe, come here! " [Deaver mimics Gabe's action] StonedDeaver: "Hey Nikki!"

Chase: "Ummm... Raveena, you really shouldn't do that in that dress." StonedRaveena: "But I'm wearin' underwear." Chase: "Yeah. I noticed ."

Chase: "We... spent a little too much time at the Lone Star." [to Ethan during group bunny hop]

Chase: "I did try to be polite." [Demon gets cacked by Deaver & Raveena]

Geoff: "I think we can put the chair down now."

Kamat Cumquo Kwat: "BOO-TER-NOOT SQOASH!"

Geoff [calling StonedDeaver]: "Everyone needs to come to the hospital. NOW." StonedDeaver [to entire party]: "Okay everybody, we need to go to the hospital!" Geoff [calling back almost immediately]: "NOT everybody. Just the people we know." StonedDeaver & StonedGabe: "Everyone! Never mind."

The Daughters of Hecate tell the newly initiated Gabe that they have a mission for him: to negotiate with the demon Kamat Cumquo Kwat [a.k.a. "Kumquat" to the cast] for ownership of the Kla'adone orb, which the DoH needs to perform a spell. They would prefer to own it, but they'll trade for it temporarily if that's the best Gabe can do. Armed with some coordinates and a vial of dust in case of an emergency [it works a lot like floo powder], Gabe sets off for the demon's cave.

Gabe enters the cave, where Kumquat sits on a throne, surrounded by his demonic minions. One brown, leathery demon sits to his side, and serves as Kumquat's interpreter. Gabe manages to secure the use of the orb in exchange for a promise that the DoH will throw a party in McKennitt for Kumquat, who wishes to see the town (as he has heard much about it). He also expressly desires to try butternut squash. They set the date for late the following Friday night, and Gabe returns home by way of the powder he was given. [Lazy, lazy boy.]

* * *

Ethan picks up Raveena to take her out to dinner. They go to a nice restaurant, where Raveena sits at the table trying desperately to look less nervous and awkward than she feels [and failing miserably]. The two engage in small talk as Ethan tries to learn a bit more about her. A table behind them erupts in an audible disagreement between a woman and her date. One look tells Raveena the guy is a vamp. Ethan frowns at the couple briefly and then returns his attention to Raveena, who tries to keep an eye on the arguing table while appearing to listen to every word Ethan is saying [again, failing miserably]. The vamp grabs his date by the arm and starts forcibly escorting her from the restaurant. Desperate to help, Raveena politely excuses herself and heads towards the bathroom. As soon as Ethan looks away from her, she runs out the front door, catches the couple, and dispatches the vamp, telling the woman to run.

Raveena sneaks back inside and heads immediately for the bathroom, where she blinks at herself in the mirror and turns around and returns to their table. The rest of dinner proceeds without incident. Ethan walks Raveena to the end of her hallway, and sneaks a quick kiss on the cheek before she can say anything. He then saunters towards his own room [looking pretty pleased with himself]. Raveena stands and mutters to herself a moment before turning towards bed.

* * *

Chase is sitting tensely on her sofa, flipping channels on the television and not really watching. She gets up and makes a circuit of the room. Stops at the fridge, opens it, and closes it again. Sits back down. Flips more channels. At that moment, Julia opens the front door, her arms full of grocery sacks. She takes one look at Chase and asks her what's wrong. Chase tersely replies that she's just fine. She pauses a moment, and then tells Julia at least part of the truth: that Kevin scares her a little, and the stuff he and his friends have been dishing out at parties lately seems to be really addictive, so she's trying to lay off. She asks Julia to cover for her if Kevin comes by the apartment - just tell him that Chase isn't in and that she doesn't know where she is. Julia agrees worriedly. She changes the topic to the enormous amount of groceries that she has brought in with her - a couple from her close-knit Art History class just got engaged, and Julia is hosting a party for the group. She wants to test out the menu first though - does Chase have some friends she could invite over on Friday? Happy to have something to do, Chase gets on the horn and invites Gabe & Jade, Deaver & Nikki, and then evilly calls Raveena, announcing that she is expected to bring a date if she wants to get in the door. Raveena stutters a little, and Chase cheerfully hangs up on her. She pauses for a moment, picks up the phone again, and calls Geoff, inviting him as well. The time is set for 6:00 on Friday.

* * *

Raveena waits nervously outside of Dr. Deaver's physics class. She rehearses what she plans to say to Ethan, intending to ask him to the dinner on Friday. She almost loses her nerve several times, but just as she is about to run for it, class lets out and Ethan spots her in the hallway. After lamely stating that she's here to see Deaver, she eventually manages to ask him if he would like to go. He happily accepts, and plans to pick her up at 5:45.

Friday evening, Raveena gets a frantic call from Ethan explaining that there has been an accident in his room, and his roommate's fish tank has toppled. Raveena offers to help, and goes upstairs to his room. As she starts herding fish into the sink, Ethan tells her that he needs to go buy another tank - can she leave him directions and he'll meet her at dinner? She agrees, telling him to go - she'll finish getting the fish back in the water in the meantime. He leaves, very apologetically, and promises that he'll meet her there. Raveena gets all the fish collected and leaves a note, resigning herself to walking to Chase's apartment.

**

At the apartment, two chairs stand empty while the rest of the gang is working on appetizers. Julia is a wonderful cook, and everyone is having fun, even though Julia is miffed that some of the guests are late. Chase is drinking pretty heavily, even for her, with a more grim expression on her face than usual Raveena shows up, alone, and explains what happened - she then has a seat at the table and joins the rest of the group. Shortly after Julia serves the main course, Geoff drops his knife suddenly. Chase notices that his hands are shaking. He excuses himself from the table and heads back towards the bathroom. She looks over at his chair, and suddenly, there is a white rabbit on the table in Geoff's place. Somehow, Chase knows his name is ? "Harvey?" The others look at Geoff's chair, and see the rabbit too. A lot of conversation ensues, and Chase begins to realize that the food was spiked with something. Julia shoots Chase her "you have weird friends" look, and doesn't seem to see anything out of the ordinary (like, oh, say, a white rabbit sitting on the table). Geoff still hasn't returned to the table, so Chase goes to look for him. She finds Geoff in her bedroom, sitting there in the dark. He looks up when she enters. "Eliza?" Chase tries to explain that she's not Eliza, but Geoff is too busy being frustrated that it's been 10 years and "Eliza" hasn't forgiven him yet. He could have gone to jail - is that what she wanted?? Chase tells him to stay in the room, and that she'll be right back. Geoff doesn't want her to go, but she manages to get out. She immediately confronts Julia about the food, but she swears she didn't do anything. The gang at the table is still discussing Harvey the rabbit, and they are now completely messed up, staring at their silverware as though they've never seen a fork before. At that moment, Geoff's pager goes off. Chase picks it up and glances at the number, seeing something that looks very much like "611 ? bunny ow". Geoff comes back in to the room, having heard the pager go off, and takes it from her with a "Thanks, Chase". She glances at him suspiciously, but he seems fine, although his hands are still shaking a bit. Geoff takes one look at the number [which to him reads '911 morgue' - it helps when you look at it right side up] and swears. He quickly explains to the gang that there have been two eviscerations that have shown up at the morgue, and this call will make a third. Something is up. He tells them they need to over there immediately. Luckily, the hospital is within walking distance of Chase's apartment.

They arrive at the hospital and Geoff gets the entire gang into the morgue. He and Chase start examining the body, hypothesizing over what could be doing the damage - the wounds appear to be precise and deliberate incisions allowing removal of the stomach, but they weren't made with a knife or a surgical implement. The victims also have strange phosphorescent goop over their mouths and noses, which Geoff has been trying to analyze.

Meanwhile, Raveena spies one of the corpses vamping out and closing in, and she makes ready to stake it. Geoff tries to stop her, but it's too late - she plunges a stake right in to the heart of a very dead person. Chase and Geoff explain to the group that the food was spiked [independently, they have both figured out that it is some combination of Ecstasy, Speed, and LSD] and that they all need to verify with someone else that what they're seeing is real - if two people see the same thing without prompting, then it's a pretty sure thing.

As Geoff and Chase mull over the bodies, Gabe has discovered the heightened sense part of whatever cocktail was slipped in their dinner. He and Jade start making out on a gurney while Deaver and Nikki are on the floor. Geoff and Chase work hard to ignore them, but they can't help a little snide commentary.

Suddenly, Harvey (who came to the morgue in the arms of Nikki) decides he's had enough and goes hopping out the door. Raveena goes running after him. Chase manages to separate Deaver and Nikki and get them to go after her, followed by Gabe and Jade. She and Geoff then clean things up quickly and head out after the rest.

The group ends up outside on the hospital lawn. Harvey is sitting placidly by and Raveena is in the middle of combat with six vampires. The others [minus Nikki, who just clings to the rabbit] jump in to the frey, despite the fact that their reflexes aren't responding like they usually do. Raveena rolls over on to the grass and gets distracted by the feel of it, briefly taking her out of the action. The gang manages to keep their heads long enough to win the fight.

Harvey takes off hopping across campus, and Nikki follows suit, hopping along behind him. The whole gang starts hopping cheerfully back towards dorms when they run in to Ethan. Raveena is mortified and trying to hide, while Chase attempts to smooth-talk her out of the embarrassment. After leaving Ethan they hop north towards the stadium. As they approach, they see a woman who is suddenly hit in the face with a ball of phosphorescent goop. Geoff goes running towards the woman to help, and Chase looks wildly about for the attacker. She spies a brown, leathery demon getting ready to spit more goop - this time, at Geoff. Chase takes a flying leap at the demon, latching herself on to its back and ruining its aim. For some reason the rest of the gang, Geoff included, can't see the demon - so instead they see Chase wrestling with thin air, floating above the ground. Raveena tries and fails to break the demon's neck, and the demon throws off Chase and goes scampering out of campus and in to the wilderness beyond. Following Chase's directions, they take off after it.

The chase [lower-case this time] brings them to a cave, where there appears to be a party going on. The demon slips inside, and Chase and Geoff start in after it. Gabe realizes that this is the cave where the DoH is hosting a party for Kumquat tonight. He tries to keep them all from going in, but Geoff and Chase aren't listening. They hurry inside, where Chase sees her brown demon take a seat next to the big demon at the head of the table, who is eating an equally big plate of butternut squash. Chase and Geoff march right up to the brown demon and tap him on the shoulder. When a polite request to speak with him outside fails, Geoff and Chase pick up the chair with the brown demon in it and begin to haul it out of the cave, attracting a lot of horrified stares from DoH members.

Raveena and Deaver can now see the demon, and can't resist this opportunity to fix the situation - so Deaver grabs a crossbow and Raveena pulls out her axe, and they both hit the demon square [he was a pretty easy target, up in the air like that].

Geoff and Chase put down the chair.

By now, the gang with the exception of Geoff and Chase is thoroughly enjoying themselves at the party [Luckily for them, Kumquat did not seem too upset at the loss of his interpreter.]. Geoff points out that if he and Chase are feeling the effects of this pretty strongly, then it can't be good for the others and they're going to crash HARD. Chase agrees, and they leave the party - she will make a quick run back to her apartment and meet Geoff at the lab with a sample of the offending leftovers.

Chase enters her apartment, and comes face to face with Kevin and his buddies sitting on the sofa. She goes rigid with tension. She proceeds to the refrigerator, determined to get what she needs and go. Kevin asks with a smile how they enjoyed their dinner. She informs him archly that it was very ? interesting. And that now she really has to go, because she already has plans for this evening. Kevin insists that she stay and hang with them for a while, at which point two of the vamps grab her by the arms and lead her in to the living room, where they shove her down on the sofa next to Kevin. He tries plying her with one of the little red pills she has been desperately trying not to think about, but she takes a deep breath and turns it down, also recoiling from him when he starts nuzzling her neck. Every time she tries to get up off the sofa however, the three vamps standing "guard" shove her back down. Kevin finally tells Chase that if she's going to be so stingy with her friendship, then they'll just have to ensure that she hangs out with them ? permanently. He shoves her back onto the sofa and pins her down, slicing his own wrist and closing in. She fights back as the three vamps looking on laugh. She loses blood so quickly that she barely feels Kevin picking her up and carrying her down the hall towards her room before she blacks out completely.

[PLOT TWIST!!]

Raveena is still a little dazed, and wants to talk to Chase about the night's events, so she shows up on her doorstep. She hears the sounds of a scuffle and opens the door to see Kevin hauling a limp Chase back towards her bedroom. She starts towards them, swinging her axe at one of the vamps but missing. Kevin drops Chase, shoves something in to her mouth, and then he and his thugs escape off the bedroom balcony before Raveena can get to them. Chase is unconscious and bleeding, and Raveena still can't think clearly. She calls 911. Then she calls the first number in her cell phone, which happens to be Deaver, who is still at the DoH party. She tries to talk to someone else in the room, a DoH person, but can't get her point across. At that moment, Geoff shows up at the apartment. He gets one look at Chase and the situation and explodes into action. He orders Raveena to look for a very weird list of items while they wait for the ambulance: Drain-O, nail polish remover. He checks Chase's pulse - she's alive but just barely. He swiftly removes something from under her tongue before the ambulance shows up. They rush Chase to the hospital. Geoff calls Deaver and tells him to get the gang to the hospital. NOW. They all assemble (with the exception of Jade, who stays at the DoH party to do damage control), and Geoff and Raveena explain what happened at the apartment. The gang goes coldly furious, and Geoff gives Raveena an address on a slip of paper. Nikki takes one look at Geoff and announces that she's going to stay with him. Raveena, Gabe, and Deaver leave without a backward glance. Raveena explains quietly that she wants this to hurt, and they decide to wait until just before sunrise to make their move on the house.

* * *

The three reach the address and kick in the door, where three vamps meet them, two of whom Raveena recognizes from the apartment. Gabe's eyes go black and the windows blow out. That gets the attention of the rest of the vampires upstairs, who come down - the other apartment thug is among them. The gang cleans house, and it's ugly. Raveena stakes one of the apartment vamps through the side, pinning him to the floor under a window as the morning sun starts to hit him slowly. She then starkly asks for Kevin. The vamp laughs in her face. He continues to laugh as he bursts in to flames. Raveena leaves a note on the pile of dust which reads "Kevin: Looking forward to seeing you again. Raveena." They leave.

From a house across the street, a lone figure watches from an upstairs window as our heroes leave the house. It's Kevin. He knew they were coming. He doesn't look happy, but he doesn't look upset, either.

* * *

Geoff and Nikki are plastered to the operating room window. One of the doctors turns after what seems like a year and gives Geoff a thumbs-up. He promptly collapses. Nikki helps get him back to the waiting area. The rest of the gang shows up, and says that they found the den and took care of several of the vamps - but that Kevin was not among them. The group discusses what to do next and eventually disbands, while Geoff remains at the hospital.

* * *

A short while later:

Gabe sits in a circle of candles in the living room of Chase's apartment, facing the front door.

Deaver works furiously in his lab. Strange flashes of light are emanating from the table in front of him.

Raveena stands in front of Ethan's door with her fist raised to knock. She hesitates there a moment. Sighs. Turns around and leaves.

Geoff sits next to Chase's hospital bed, holding her hand, with the heart monitor reassuringly consistent in the background.

[HOSPITAL SCENE]

FINIS.