I can't just leave the story there – I have to give it a decent eppy-log. Because so much stuff happened after that night, it would be exhausting to write about it all in a narrative style. You'll just have to make do with journal-style.
What a shame.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was finding out about the Desslers, who were not actually under witness protection. Their real surname is Bolton: Gregory and Meredith Bolton, with their children David (Nathan) and Caitlin (Joanna). Anthony/Gregory was known in the criminal underworld as a brilliant computer hacker called the Information Salesman. He believed that all information should be freely available to all people, and that there should be no such thing as 'classified' information or hidden government files, etc. For a price, he would 'sell' this information to certain people. The Boltons fled to Solitaria when one of their clients threatened to expose them.
Lola and Adrianna, wanted fugitives after a hit went wrong, soon found out where they were. They asked Gregory to help them forge some travel documents so that they could escape overseas, but this went against his philosophy: he wasn't just a computer hacker, he specifically only sold information. They managed to convince him to work for them by poisoning Joanna/Caitlin with a muffin laced with arsenic.
It was Joanna's poisoner, Adrianna, who exposed him in the end, as she told the police her whole story following her arrest. A whole bunch of police descended on the Bolton's home as they were trying to bolt for it (Ha, ha!...pun), arresting Anthony/Gregory and also Marie/Meredith. Nathan/David and Joanna/Caitlin were sent away to be put into foster care.



Adrianna Smythe was arrested and charged for the many crimes she and Lola had committed over several years. It emerged that Lola was a well-known hired assassin – she went around doing the dirty work, while Adrianna masterminded the actual 'hit' process so that they wouldn't get caught, as well as handling all the communication between Lola and her clients. You could say that Adrianna was sort of Lola's secretary. She says that Lola shot Lou because he'd found their weapons and forged travel documents hidden under a loose floorboard in the shop. In typical self-preservation mode, Lola killed him before he had a chance to say anything, even though Adrianna disagreed with her actions. Anyway, Adrianna's now in prison, and she'll be staying there for a long, long, long time.



Adam tried asking Anastasia Guildenstern out. She smiled nicely at him and refused, saying it would cause too many problems and that she'd prefer to stay 'just friends' for now. I think Adam was a bit crushed. He'll get over it.



Mystery and Artemis Meyer transformed into completely new people within the week. Artemis shed the eyeliner, removed the red streaks of dye from his hair (it's now a uniform black) and bought new clothes with the money he got from selling his guitar on ebay ("I really don't think I'll ever be able to play it properly, even if I did get lessons"). Mystery also changed her look and now speaks normally – however, she still loves Evanescence and enjoys singing along in her room, as she did before. Dream and Arthur haven't changed, so Amelia still has to battle with unpalatable dinners.



Tia Mink apologised to Hannah for not inviting her to her party. When she found out that Hannah was turning fifteen soon, she organised an even bigger party in her honour, inviting everyone in the village. Although all the adults left after the first few techno songs, all the teenagers stayed to give Hannah a party to remember. At the end of it, she even managed to say 'Thank you', despite her speech being slurred. We all cheered.



Jake Rosencrantz was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation centre by his father, as well as having to pay a pretty big fine for possession of an illegal substance. Tamara says that although she enjoys not having Jake around, she would prefer it if he was back home. Upon hearing that Jake would no longer be around for partying and sexytimes, Tia promptly dumped him, then immediately embarked on a plan to win over some guy she'd met in an Eridessa club.



Victoria Guildenstern gradually got through her grief, and chose to entrust Debbie Rosencrantz with the running of Lou's shop. It took a while to get the shop up and running again, but Debbie eventually had it back to the way it was before (although her coffee still doesn't quite match Lou's). She even remembered to sell me those books I'd ordered in.
Victoria officially changed her surname to R'hu, and a few months later she gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl vampire-alien, whom she named Louisa. She's incredibly cute. Amelia and I have both volunteered for evening babysitting if required.



And as for me and Julian?...

I was over at his house one evening, quite soon after the big adventure. We were both sitting in his room, in front of the fireplace, watching the flames flickering away.
“Your bedroom is huge, Julian,” I murmured. “Easily twice the size of mine…and I still can't believe you have a fireplace in it.”
He shrugged. "Well, the chimney was already there for the one downstairs," he said. "So I guess whoever built this house just decided to add another one."



"And you got it in your room," I said, looking at him and smiling.
"I did," he said, also smiling.
"It's almost…" I trailed off.
He looked at me. "What?"
"…romantic," I said, grinning coyly.
He looked at me, smirking. "Don't go there, Ellie," he warned.
"Why not?" I protested. "Come on. It's getting to be pretty obvious."
Julian sighed. "I guess not," he said.
There was a pause, during which we both stared at the flames a bit more.
"Actually, I invited you over here to ask you something rather important," Julian began.
I kept looking at the fire so he wouldn't see me smiling to myself. "Yeah?"
"You don't have to say yes, or anything," he said. "I mean, it's just a question. And it's completely up to you. And I should mention that I don't actually believe in romantic love - it's a flawed concept that's been popularised by Hollywood films and, well, really, it's nothing more than a simple biological mechanism to ensure humans find a mate to further the species, but…"
He paused again, and I said, "Julian, just spit it out, will you?"
He sighed. "Would you like to be my—my, uh, girlfriend?"
I looked at him, smiling again. "Well, I definitely don't want to be your boyfriend."
He snorted, and rolled his eyes. "I knew I could count on you," he said, shaking his head.
I shrugged. "I thought you just said you don't believe in romantic love?"
"I don't," he said. "I think it's too…I don't know. But I thought, you know, we could be…a couple. If you wanted to."
"I think I would definitely like that," I said, putting an arm around his shoulders.



He glanced at me. "What, no more witty sarcastic comments?" he said.
"Not tonight," I replied, and he moved slightly closer.
"Keep in mind, though," he said to me, "this doesn't necessarily mean that I like your attitude."
"'Course not," I said. "And I still think you're arrogant and patronizing."
Julian smirked. "You realise now that you'll have to send a sympathy card to yourself."
I stared. "What?"
"Remember?" He nudged me. "You once yelled at me that if I ever got a girlfriend--"
"Ohh," I groaned, burying my face in my hands. "I can't believe I said that."
"I can," Julian said, still smirking.
"Thanks," I said, "for reminding me of how much of a bitch I am--"
"You're not a bitch, Ellie," he said. "You're just you."
"No, I'm a bitch."
"I don't think so," he said, moving his face extremely close to mine…I saw him close his eyes and tilt his head slightly—
"Uh, Julian," I said abruptly.
His eyes opened. "What?" he said, alarmed. "What have I done wrong?"
"Nothing," I assured him quickly, "absolutely nothing. It's just that…" I sighed. "Stand up."
Looking thoroughly confused, he stood up, and I stood up, too, facing him.
"You sure know how to ruin a mood," Julian said, bemused and bewildered.
"No, no, there's just something I want to do first," I said, coming towards him.
He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "And what is that exactly?" but stayed still as I came towards him and embraced him in a big bear hug.



I sighed happily. "I told Amelia once," I said, still hugging, "that I knew I liked someone when I felt like I wanted to hug them. Nothing more. Just a big hug."
There was silence. We hugged for a few more seconds, until Julian gently broke us apart.
He looked me very seriously in the eye, and said, "Ellie?"
"What?" I asked innocently.
He sighed. "You are a strange, strange person," he replied.
And then he kissed me.

THE END