Episode Ten
Shades of Grey
Elsewhere, Johnny shows up at his Uncle Joe�s home and goes through the obligatory Hello�s. He notices his Uncle seems watching him closely.
Later, Astrid is in her dorm trying to get her roommates out the door. It�s a holiday weekend and the roomies are very emotionally leaving � lots of hugging and crying. Even though they live in the same town and will probably see each other over the weekend. They hug Astrid, asking her if she�s sure she�s gonna be okay by herself. Finally they make it out the door, and Astrid falls back across her bed and let�s out a load sigh! Almost immediately there�s a knock on the door. Astrid opens it and, Surprise! � It�s her Mom!
Josh gets on the Techno-Pagan Alliance website and is chatting with another member, who seems to know where something Josh is looking for may be located - in the secured section of the M.T.S.U. library. He suggests that security will be light as it�s a holiday.
Steph and Nick go shopping for dinner. Steph sees a demon in the backroom/dock area. She is able to stop it and save a stock boy without bringing Nick�s attention to the fight. She arranges to have Saul remove the now frozen creature.
Astrid�s mom, Abby, stays at her dorm. Saying she hasn�t been in one since her college days, she thinks ��it�ll be a hoot.� She gives Astrid a Dream Catcher type necklace and insists she wear it.
Josh heads to the library where he is able to get into the basement office, but he discovers that the items he�s looking for are in the attic, where the secured items are held. He almost gets caught by security, so he decides to wait until later to try again. He then heads over to Astrid's to pick her up and head over to Steph�s for dinner. When he gets to Astrid's, he meets Abby and the two of them hit it off, much to Astrid's chagrin. He invites Abby to Thanksgiving which she gladly accepts.
Johnny is approached by his uncle. He catches Johnny alone and mentions that he thinks it�s the right time to clue Johnny in on what made him the successful man he is, he alludes to a book, but before he can elaborate he is interrupted by Johnny�s mother. Uncle Joe tells Johnny that �...we�ll talk later.�
On a nice Thanksgiving day most everyone has arrived at Stephs. Abby is introduced and insists on helping with dinner. There are tables in the training room filled with assorted foods. Astrid is downstairs straightening up. Josh walks by and rubs Astrid�s shoulders before he heads upstairs. Steph and Abby are upstairs finishing the cooking. Leroy and Saul are watching the kick-off of the big game.
Abby is busting up some ice for tea when she notices a small box of apparently Native American design. Asking Steph about it, Abby picks it up. As Steph steps up for a closer look, a slight seam appears and starts glowing. Suddenly there is a bright flash of light and a ghostly demon bursts free. As the creature examines it�s surroundings, it declares that it�s hungry and attempts to attack Leroy. However Leroy is unaffected by the creature, which is annoyed and attacks the rest of the group, but simply goes through them, pausing only slightly to say that Stephanie was "almost right" as it passed through her. Extremely agitated, the creature is amazed that humans have became the dominate species since it�s imprisonment. At this point, Astrid entered and the creature grinned and stated that she is the one he needs and dived at her before anyone could react. But as the creature struck her chest, it started screaming and shrinking into a sharp light. When the group looked close they saw it trapped in the woven web of her Dream Catcher.
While the group wondered what just happened, Astrid attempted to change the subject. But Abby mentioned that it was probably after Astrid because she was half demon!
Josh stormed out with Astrid following, they argued and Josh drove off on his motorcycle as Nick arrived for dinner.
Nick is met by Astrid and ushered upstairs while Abby talks to Astrid. Nick and Steph share their first kiss and Nick joins Saul and Leroy watching the game.
Abby tells Astrid that she is sorry. Astrid comes to realize that the one thing Abby was ever mad at her father about was keeping his true self a secret. It�s taken her awhile to get past it. She realizes that she was wrong, asks for forgiveness and decides to go ahead and go back to Cleveland that night.
Johnny is asked to follow his uncle. He leads him downstairs into his private study. Johnny isn�t sure what to expect when Uncle Joe reaches onto the mantle and takes a book from an obvious place of importance and hands it over. It�s a Holy Bible. Hiding his disappointment, Johnny listens to his Uncle talk about how God is the answer and Johnny needs to accept him and stop all the �...drugs, sex, and rock and roll�.
Josh is seen heading down the highway when he is attacked by a group of vampires. Josh finds a good way to let off some steam fighting the three vamps, Josh seems to relish the experience, even killing Anne, the Vampire they let go a few days earlier, as she begs for her life. Josh is untouched by her sob story, mumbling mostly to himself, �There can�t be a grey area.�
The remaining group sat down for Thanksgiving dinner. Leroy and Nick razzing each other over the football game, everyone else's conversation a bit subdued � people kept looking at Astrid, but really can�t talk because of Nick being there. A glance or two were directed at Steph because of the spirits comment about regarding her. Nick complimented Steph�s cooking � however it tastes - and she smiled and patted his leg.
Late that night, Astrid was in her dorm, talking to her mother. They seemed to come to a truce and she mentioned that the rest of the group seemed okay with her being part demon, but no one has seen Josh. As she hung up there was a knock at the door. Astrid, with a weapon in hand, opened it. At first she didn�t see anything, but the strong scent of blood almost overwhelmed her as she looked down and saw Josh, lying in the hallway, unconscious - covered in blood.