Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Ghostly Invitation ( Chapter 115 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"Dimitri Maximoff, I presume?"

The demonic figure laying atop the sarcophagus barely seemed to stir for several moments, but then the lips of the otherwise motionless body began to twitch, then formed the words, "He speaks…and here all along I merely assumed that you were a mute lackey."

The masked form of Larva gave no hint of taking offense at this comment but merely responded, "I have a voice…I just seldom see fit to use it. But I am here on behalf of my Princess…"

"Begone and trouble me no further, Shinma," Dimitri retorted, "I do not trouble myself with mere underlings. If your precious Princess wishes to discuss something with me, then let her come here for herself, not delegate a mere messenger boy to do the task as if I were some unruly peasant…"

"My lady has duties that must otherwise occupy her time or she would address you herself," Larva replied, "And not, I think, in a manner much to your liking. This is the second time that you have trespassed into our territory, and my Princess would know why. What further business concerns you with the house of Tendo?"

"That is none of your concern," Dimitri spat, only to wince abruptly as though his very words pained him for some reason.

"You seem troubled, Dark Lord of Pain," Larva remarked, "Is anything the matter?"

"Damn you," Dimitri sat up and swung his legs over the cement lid of the tomb upon which he had been laying, only to lean against it as his face contorted like a mask of pain, and he brought one massive hand up to his forehead as though to massage his temples.

"I see," Larva remarked, "You are in some manner of…distress?"

Dimitri bared his fangs and snarled at the robed Shinma, but it was another voice that answered for him, "Lord Dimitri is indisposed to dealing with common rabble. State your message and leave here at once, else you will be…compelled to vacate his presence."

Larva's masked eyes moved but a fraction to take in movement from an unseen corner of the chamber, "My lady Anslat? I had no idea that you were involved here…"

"Where I go and what I do is of no concern of yours, Shinma," said a tall and willowy women with long pale green hair as she sauntered up to the side of Dimitri, "I am not subject to the whims of your lady, nor do I think it wise of you to press your luck by trying my patience. State your business then leave, that is the only warning that I will extend you."

"My apologies if I seem forward, Morgan Anslat," Larva replied, "But your presence is of great concern to my lady, as is the timing of your visit to this suburb of the Tokyo region. You know indeed of what I speak."

"Yes…we know indeed," Dimitri replied, "You are concerned lest your child-Princess become involved in our affairs…however indirectly. You seek to warn us off from interfering in your personal affairs…but I assure you that it is of no concern of mine what sort of delicate negotiations you are contriving to work within this district."

"My Princess would be most gratified to learn of this, Lord Dimitri," Larva replied, "These…negotiations, as you put it, are indeed quite delicate and are of significance to one who ranks above you in your tribe of Jezril, and I know for a fact that your uncle would take a dim view of…"

"Do not speak his name, Churl!" Dimitri lurched to his feet and seemed ready to strike but for another wave of pain that crumpled up his features into a mask of agony.

"My lord…?" Morgan made a half-step towards him, but he waved her off with a hand as though refusing her offer of support and comfort.

"It is nothing…a trifle," Dimitri forced himself to stand alert and wrapped his cloak about him before glaring at the Shinma, "You'll forgive me…the daylight hours are not when I am at my best. Depart now or there will be trouble between us."

"As you wish, my lord," Larva replied before stepping into the shadows and vanishing like mist into the daylight that lay just beyond the tomb's doorway.

No sooner was the Shinma prince gone but Dimitri reached out and gripped Morgan's arm to steady himself, even as another figure detached itself from hiding and said, "Boss? Y'all right?"

"Damnation…these pains grow worse and worse!" Dimitri sat down once again and clutched his head with both of his large hands, "Every hour of every minute I feel them eating away at my very being until I can no longer think straight! The nausea…the bloating…the disgusting purity of these thoughts…"

"Purity?" both Morgan and the Zombie King named Raptor chorused together.

"Yes, purity!" Dimitri snarled the word, "I cannot abide such awful virtue and inhuman waves of compassion! I can feel her presence corrupting my very soul with her love and charity…her desire to protect the ones she cares about! I will go mad if I cannot sever this damnable link and am forced to abide her light and sweetness for yet another hour! I must be rid of her now or go insane from further contamination! Only then can my Darkness nurture me away from the warm emotions that she keeps projecting into my very being!"

The Zombie King blinked his eyes then said, "That's it, Mate, ya finally gone and lost it…"

"Oh, for the love of the Demon Realms," Morgan grimaced, "Are you still obsessed over that girl you turned into a Master? What in the name of all that is dark and unholy were you thinking biting into a mere wench like that when you could have been draining my neck…"

"I did not bite her, Morgan," Dimitri replied.

"Oh, that's a likely story," the Succubus huffed, folding her arms over her substantial chest while reeking of jealousy and outrage.

"I swear to you by my mother's grave that I did not," Dimitri replied, "I gave her some of my blood to drink, but only so that I could control her and use her against her own family. I had no interest in the trollop other than to use her as a pawn for getting closer to her sister, and I fully intended to cast her aside when she was of no further use to me…"

"You'd better not just be saying that, Mister," Morgan scowled, "Because if I find out you were draining her…"

"Er…luv? Boss?" Raptor said rather meekly, "What're we gonna do about her Nibs if she gets it into herself t'try an' interfere in our business?"

"We will do nothing for now," Dimitri responded, "Shinma are powerful but carry with them their own rather unique…shall we say…limitations? If the so-called Princess does choose to interfere with us it will be to her ruin, and I will delight in absorbing her powers and adding them to my own dark abilities. As for these so-called negotiations being conducted under her auspices…well, I am not so easily deterred by the mere mention of my uncle."

"That much is good," Morgan noted, "We went to a lot of hard work and trouble to set this up, and if anything were to go wrong at this point…"

"Nothing will go wrong…eh?" Dimitri glanced sharply to the side at the sound of something rattling behind one grate that served as a drain for the tomb, at which point the Vampire Lord and his colleagues all stared crossly in a single direction.

"Might be rats," Raptor suggested.

"Oh yes, big ones," Morgan mused.

"It would seem that we have spies listening on our private conversation," Dimitri's smile was more of a snarl than anything pleasant, "Well, if so, then my Ghouls will take care of them. We need not sully ourselves in dealing with anything so trifle...""

Meanwhile, down beneath the grate, Lenore the Vampire and Chloe the Werewoman huddled together with mutually sheepish expressions, the former saying, "Oh man…why did he have to go and hear us?" at the level of a dull whisper.

"Sorry," Chloe apologized, "I guess I got excited…my tail sorta brushed that can, know what I mean?"

"I wasn't blaming you, Hon," Lenore replied, "But I think we'd better crawl on out of here before fangface comes after us or sends someone else to do the job, like Raptor."

"Um…say, what do you think he meant by Ghouls?" Chloe asked as she perked her ears and sniffed the air inside the narrow tunnel through which they had been crawling.

"Trust me, you don't wanna know," Lenore started to ease away from the grate, only to freeze as her own senses alerted her to danger, "Oh crap!"

"Huh?" Chloe turned around as they both became aware that they were not alone, at which point she growled a low, subtle warning, baring fangs as her features became more bestial and she prepared to defend both herself and her best friend from the appearance of creatures of the Dark who loved not humans or those who "collaborated" with creatures of the day time…

"Here we are, kids, home sweet home, at least for you," Frank noted as he pulled his Monster motorcycle and side-car up alongside the Tendo household.

"Thanks," Ranma said as he dismounted from the rear of the bike, straightening out as he turned to the glance at the house before saying, "Sure hope we're in time to help Oneechan. There's no telling what could happen if that Dimitri creep's been sniffing around here again."

"Sure made good time flying from that submarine back to the home digs," Keiko mused as she dismounted from the side-car.

"Oh yeah," Nabiki said faintly, "And you managed to find every bump along the way from here to the coastline."

"Huh?" Ranma turned to see the rather shaky expression of his wife, "You okay, Nab-chan? Uh…you're looking a little pale…"

"Just take deep breaths and unfold your legs, kid," Frank remarked as he removed his helmet and glanced crossly at their surroundings, "Shelly, do a quick scan and tell me what you've got."

"Already done, Boss," the motorcycle replied, "I've got three life forms, one breathing, one not, one…kinda between states. Profile matches previous scans of Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Kasumi and-one surprise here-her royal nibs, Miyu."

"Say WHAAAT?" Frank reacted, "The Princess? What about Lenore? Why ain't she here?"

"Can't answer that one, Boss, but I definitely don't pick up her signature bio-readings," the sentient computer relay system replied, "Think maybe her nibs did something to cause that?"

"I sure hope not," Frank growled, "Lenore's a good kid, and I'd hate to have avenge her and all that. Gotta wonder what Miyu wants with Kasumi…or is that too stupid a question?"

"Gee, what would one Master Vamp want with another?" the motorcycle asked rhetorically, "Maybe they're exchanging recipes for blood pudding, but whatever it is I don't pick up her pet Shinma anywhere around, no bioform match for Larva…"

"Huh?" Frank scowled even deeper, "That's weird…he usually trots after her heels like a faithful puppy…"

"Never mind all that," Nabiki said as she shook off her general stiffness from cramped riding in the side-car, "I want to know what's going on with my big sister! If somebody's done something to Kasumi…"

"I'm with you on that, Nabiki," Ranma assured his beloved.

"Me too," Keiko cracked her knuckles in a meaningful fashion, "Kasumi's too nice a girl to let anything bad happen to her, so what say we go in there and break a few heads to get some answers?"

"Now hold on there!" Frank barked, "This is the Princess Miyu we're talking about. Don't go flying off any handles before we know the score card…"

"You take score," Nabiki said as she headed towards the gates, "I'm gonna go find my Oneechan and give this Princess character a piece of my business…"

"Don't worry, Doc, I'll back her up," Ranma called over his shoulder as he and Keiko hurried to keep pace with the middle Tendo sister.

Frank just growled, "Kids these days…they never listen."

"So, are you going to let them find out the hard way?" Shelly asked.

"Serve 'em right if I did," Frank growled as he hooked his helmet over the handlebars of his bike then headed off after the three teenagers, "…Only if I did that they'd take away my Good Guy card…"

"Eh?" Miyu broke off in mid-sentence and turned her head towards the front entrance to the household, "It would seem that we have company, and if I am not mistaken an old colleague of mine is with them. We will continue this at another time, but for now…I must be going…"

"But…wait!" Kasumi pleaded, "Don't go…I have so many questions that I want to ask you…"

"Then save them for the next time that we meet," Miyu replied as she leaped into the air and vanished, leaving behind the ethereal words, "But for now…I have other business that I must attend. I bid you a good day and evening, Tendo Kasumi…"

"But…" Kasumi tried to stretch out her senses to perceive the presence of the other girl, but instead she felt the rapid approach of three very strong life-forces…the pulsing warmth and strength of their Chi coursing through them like the potent rich red fluid that filled their veins, and among them Kasumi identified the familiar signature that marked her younger sister, Nabiki, along with the equally vibrant life auras of her 'little brother,' Ranma, and of Keiko Arigami.

Following after them was a much heavier tread, of someone who moved with incredible light-footedness and yet bore the stamp of a massive frame quite literally rippling with energy of an entirely different sort than to what Kasumi was accustomed. The masculinity of this individual was almost overpowering, very different from Nabiki's 'Kaneda' persona, yet still quite magnetic, and she wondered at why it felt more than slightly familiar to her recently expanded senses…

Before further speculation could ensue, however, Nabiki burst into the room with an urgency that was plain in her expression, "Oneechan…are you all right?"

"Nabiki-chan?" Kasumi asked, surprised at finding her sister home at last from her honeymoon vacation…and at least two weeks ahead of schedule at that.

"Mom!" was Ranma's immediate first word as she rushed in behind Nabiki, and like a shot he was at the older woman's side, lifting her into his lap as he critically examined her then said, "Mom, are you all right? Mom…can you hear me? Dammit, who did this to you…?"

Nodoka stirred, opening her eyes and looking up at her son before murmuring the words, "Language…"

"Uh…" Ranma abruptly colored, "Sorry about that, Mom…but…you're okay?"

"I believe so," the older woman remarked as she felt along the sides of her neck then sat up under her own power, "It was very strange…this young girl just looked at me and then I went to sleep. She seemed to be some sort of…friend come to visit with Kasumi…"

"Ah…" it was Kasumi's turn to look somewhat sheepish while Keiko swept the room with a glance then seemed to relax slightly, though she was still poised on the balls of her feet as though ever ready for action.

"I don't sense anything, other than a rather interesting perfume," the redheaded kickboxer noted, "She must have just left here in a hurry…"

"Yeah, she tends to do that a lot," rumbled Frank, who only just them caught up with the party.

"Oh, Doctor Steinberg?" Kasumi suddenly realized exactly why that male presence had felt so familiar, even as she noticed immediately the difference between the Bio-signature he gave off and that of her human friends and relations, reminding her at once that the gigantic gaijin was something other than a normal human, "What is going on here? Nabiki, Ranma-kun, I thought you were still on your Honeymoon."

"Um…we kind of cut it short on account of a family emergency," Keiko answered on behalf of her two friends, "Someone sent word that you might be in some kind of trouble, Tendo-san, and so naturally we wanted to see if you were all right."

"Trouble?" Kasumi turned to see the curious way that Nabiki was looking at her and said, "Imoutochan?"

"Ah…" Nabiki hesitated before beginning, "We were just wondering if you were feeling…well, like yourself lately, Kasumi."

"Like myself?" Kasumi asked, "Who else would I be feeling like?"

"She means…ah," Ranma paused before looking the older girl in the eyes and asking, "…Oneechan, you know what happened to you a couple weeks back?"

"Of course I do, Ranma-kun," Kasumi replied, "Do you think I could easily forget about a thing like that?"

"They mean are you a Vampire now," Keiko asked bluntly, earning harsh looks from both Nabiki and Kasumi, which she ignored as she continued, "Have you reverted?"

Kasumi looked down, her chin almost touching her breastbone as she murmured very faintly, "I…don't really know…but I think that…I may have…"

To her surprise she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Keiko smiling at her in total acceptance, "Hey, don't feel bad, it's not the end of the world, Kasumi. There's far worse fates that could have befallen you, believe me."

"Interesting," Frank said as he put down the emptied glass that he had been sniffing, which still contained some residue of the blood mixture that Kasumi had been drinking, "Rich formula, cow's blood, if I'm not mistaken. That Beiko can sure whip up a recipe from a few stray clues and all that."

"Wait a minute," Nodoka said, "Vampire? Are you saying that Kasumi…?"

"Has relapsed into Vampirism," Keiko replied, "But not to worry, she seems to have it under control. My guess is that Dimitri character is still in the area and still has some residual influence that might be affecting her indirectly."

"That doesn't sound too likely," Frank remarked, "I know Donovan, and when he puts the whammy on you it's pretty damned effective. About the only way that I can figure that you still retain the effects of what Dimitri did to you, Miss Tendo, is if you drank blood before he performed the exorcism. Well, did you?"

"Ah…" Kasumi sighed again, "I…believe that I did…"

"Oneechan?" Nabiki was shocked.

"I didn't mean to do it," Kasumi hastily added, "But…while I was in that other world…the one where my counterpart…ah…went to Jusenkyo…"

"You mean the Kasumi who was a top-notch martial-?" Ranma began when his wife gave him an affectionate elbow in the gut to stop him.

"Yes, that was the one," Kasumi nodded sadly, "How oddly parallel to our own world that seemed…and yet there on that timeline Ukyo seemed to hate me for some strange reason. It was very strange…she was much like the Ukyo we know, only she had pink hair and seemed to bear some sort of grudge with my counterpart. I tried to convince her that I was not an enemy, but I had to…restrain her…"

"Restrain her how?" Nodoka wondered.

"Um…that was the oddest thing about it, Auntie," Kasumi replied, "I looked her in the eyes and told her to stop…and she did so."

"Suggestive Hypnotism," Keiko remarked, "Definitely a Vampiric ability, though it usually takes most vamps a lot of practice to get it just right."

"And how would you know that?" Nabiki wondered.

"Hey, I've hung out with all types when living on Lao's ship," Keiko smiled, "And there was this girl who Lao picked up in a Hong Kong port who had this really sweet personality, even given that she's a drinker, and her two best friends in tow…well, we kind of got to talking…"

"Talking?" Ranma arched an eyebrow to give special emphasis to the word.

"Well, okay, we were doing that too," Keiko waved the point aside, "But the point is…she told me a lot about Vampires, especially her own tribal bloodline of Loire…"

"Oh my," Kasumi blinked her eyes, "Was her name, by any chance, Lenore?"

It was Keiko's turn to look surprised, "Why yes, how did you know that?"

"It figures," Frank rumbled, "I had to liberate Lenore and her two buds from Lao during one of visits to check up on the big-bad pirate Kitty, and once I **explained** to her that they were friends of mine she was willing to let them go in my custody, for which Lenore especially owes me a big favor."

"So that's why you assigned her to check up on Oneechan," Ranma remarked.

"But who were the other two 'friends' you mentioned?" Nabiki added.

"That would be Chloe and Kiima," Keiko answered, "Chloe's a werewolf, you see…"

"A werewolf?" Ranma repeated.

"Actually she's from a tribe of Romani-descended Gypsies who live in California," Frank explained, "They were all born as Were-folk, but they're all right as that thing goes. A bit wild around the edges, but hardly the rampaging, mindless brutes you see in Hollywood flicks…"

"Oh, you mean like Mister Werewolf, who helped us out a while back," Kasumi beamed.

"John Talbain," Frank simply nodded, more than a little taken aback by the pleasant way in which the transformed Tendo girl referred to his lycanthropic friend as "Mister Werewolf."

"So…" Nabiki drolled as she turned back to her vampyric sister, then glanced at Keiko, "Who is this other one you mentioned again…Kiima?"

"Ah, she's…different," Keiko replied somewhat sheepishly, "It's a little hard to explain, but…well…she's kind of like…dead, only not-dead, if you follow my meaning…"

Lenore kicked viciously at the reaching claws of the ghoul that were reaching for her, then she spun around and attacked the ghoul who was attempting to grab Chloe from behind as the transformed were-woman slashed and hacked in all directions, rending undead flesh with her full bestial fury.

The two friends fought back-to-back as they managed to back out of the narrower tunnel into an adjoining lower sewer where they had more room to maneuver, yet still they were being pressed hard by the gray skinned decaying creature, the lower minions of Dimitri seemingly endless and without number. Chloe could not even made full use of her abilities due to the basic repulsion she had for these foul-smelling animated corpses, the taste of which flesh would be as bad as eating poison. Though relatively slow-moving their sheer weight of numbers was taxing, and even at full strength Chloe could barely handle more than five or six at a time, leaving the rest to Lenore, who covered for her backside.

"This sucks!" Lenore declared as she reached under her collar and pulled out a sword from concealment, slashing with rapid thrusts that took three foes apart in a series of skillful fencing moves that eliminated one threat and gave her room enough to deal with another.

"How come they're so many?" Chloe asked in her own bestial voice, "Where are they coming from?"

"Dimitri's a careful strategist, he probably prepared for this in advance!" Lenore declared as she took the head off yet another walking corpse, "He infected these people with his filthy poison and turned them into these ghouls…and now he's using them like cannon fodder without the least concern for the actual people they might once have been!"

"These are people?" Chloe gasped, "Then…isn't there someway we can save them?"

"Afraid not, Honey," Lenore said with regret, "He's taken their souls and animated them with his own foul evil, now we're only doing them a favor by getting rid of their bodies! That will weaken his hold on them and allow them to possibly escape from his clutches…"

"How amusing," a disturbingly familiar voice said, "So you think to thwart me with a few feeble efforts. Truly my enemies must be desperate if you are an example of what they send to spy upon me."

"Huh?" Lenore and Chloe said together, only to suddenly find themselves confronted by weaving streams of discolored white bands that wrapped themselves around both Werewoman and Vampire and wound them up immobile.

"HEY!" Lenore cried as she struggled against her bindings.

"What is this stuff?" Chloe asked, then she tried to take a bite out the bandages holding her, only to retch as she exclaimed, "UGH-disgusting!"

"My thanks to you, my ally," Dimitri said as he, Morgan, Raptor and another figure stood together at one dry end of the sewer tunnel storm-drain system, "However, I wish to interrogate these two before you have you way with them, so do not bind them too tightly."

"Uh oh," Lenore winced, ceasing her struggles as she made out the fourth character as the Egyptian Mummy known as Anakaris.

"We're in bad trouble, huh?" Chloe asked in a rhetorical remark as her form shifted to her less bestial state.

"Very," Chloe murmured in the same stage whisper.

"So, now they're sending children to spy on us," Morgan mused.

"Eh, couple'a frails, no biggie," Raptor declared dismissively, "'Course the redhead's a bit of a cutie, so try not to hurt 'em too much, will ya Annie old buddy?"

The dour-faced Egyptian just glared at the Zombie king and said nothing.

"Speak to me, Minions," Dimitri demanded, "Who sent you and for what reason? Was it the Princess? Did she think one lackey insufficient to take a measure of my whereabouts?"

"Get stuffed!" Lenore snarled as she sought to find release from her bindings, "I don't work for any Princess."

"The one of the others, perhaps," Morgan mused, "Tell me…was it our dear old friend Stein who put you up to this? He does have such a fondness for the weak and timid."

"What did you call us?" Chloe snarled.

"We'll show you who's weak and timid, Succubus!" Lenore snapped.

"Stein is it?" Dimitri asked, "Has my old friend returned to Japan looking for me? How appropriate, considering all else that is now taking part in these provinces. I must pay him my respects when time permits…or perhaps I will send him your heads as a token of my esteem."

"Shit!" Lenore exclaimed as she braced herself for a tightening of the bandages around them, "Looks like this is it…sorry to drag you in on this one, Chloe-chan…"

"What d'ya mean…drag me in?" Chloe gasped, "I'd follow you…anywhere, Lenore…you know that…"

"Huh?" Lenore gasped, momentarily surprised beyond mere concerns for their mutual welfare.

"How romantic," Morgan mused, "Make their endings a quick one, Anakaris."

The Mummy merely nodded then extended a bandaged hand, preparing to tighten it…when all at once something flashed out from the shadows and struck him on the wrist, causing the Egyptian to cry out in pain as his hand fell away, even as the white light move on and arced around the room, striking one Ghoul after another and causing them to fall away as though their wires were cut, several of them falling apart all together.

Lenore and Chloe were both startled to discover their own bandaged bonds had been sliced away, but then the light took form in the space between them and Dimitri, resolving itself into the shape of a young girl with pale skin and gray hair and eyes that gleamed like rubies in the shadows.

"Kiima!" Lenora gasped.

"Kiima-friend?" Chloe marveled.

Dimitri frowned, "Who are you, and why do you interfere in my business?"

The pale grey woman regarded the renegade Vampire lord and spoke in a voice that quavered as though not entirely on the same wavelength, "Are you the one who's been troubling my friends?"

Morgan gasped, "My lord…she is not what she seems…I detect no life aura…"

"I am well aware of her displaced nature," Dimitri stated imperiously, "She is not so much supernatural as a victim of science gone mad…how appropriate for Stein to select such a one as an ally."

"Eh there," Raptor said to the stricken Anakaris, who was clutching at his now hand-less wrist, "Gonna put a bandage on that, old buddy?"

The Egyptian just glared at the Zombie King and bared stained teeth with a most malevolent expression.

"Kiima…how did you find us?" Lenore asked.

"I only had to look for where the signs of trouble were greatest," the pale girl replied without taking her eyes off of Dimitri, "I knew you and Chloe would be involved, same as always."

"A fine deduction," Morgan mused, "But one that will cost you."

"Are you sure that's what your boyfriend wants?" Lenore asked, her own ruby eyes gleaming slightly as she added, "You wanted to question us, right? Not tear us into little pieces."

"I will find great satisfaction in doing both," Dimitri bared his fangs, "And do not think I am at all impressed with your little display of theatrics."

"We will leave now," the ghostly woman explained, "Do not attempt to stop us or I will destroy you."

"You think that I am intimidated by the weak threats of a mere phantom?" Dimitri sneered, "If you go at all it will be with my indulgence…yet I have not bestowed such a favor upon you."

"You do not understand me at all," the 'mere phantom' replied, "You cannot prevent me from taking my friends with me."

As she said this the strange light surrounding her grew brighter than before, and all at once Dimitri and the others were compelled to look away as the light engulfed both Chloe and Lenore, then winked back out again, leaving all three girls vanished from the sewer chamber.

"By Chaos, how did they do that?" Morgan gasped.

"Some kinda teleport spell, right Boss?" Raptor asked as he picked up the severed portion of the Egyptian's anatomy and offered it to him, "Lemme give you a hand there, Mate, you look like you could use it."

The Mummy accepted the proffered member, but only to begin beating it against the Zombie's head, much to the latter's profuse protest.

"It matters not how it was done," Dimitri said coldly, "Yet clearly she is more to be respected as an adversary than either of her two allies."

"Does this mean we should alter the plan, Dimitri?" Morgan asked of her vampiric colleague.

"We change nothing," Dimitri decided, "They know little that is of importance, and in any event it is too late to alter the plan. Things are already in motion, and very soon the results will be seen, and then…then will my revenge be at hand against the House of Tendo…"

"Huh?" Ranma replied.

"You mean that she's a ghost?" Nodoka asked.

"Well, technically anyway," Frank replied, "She's kind of in-between the states of life and death, sort of trapped in a transitional phase distortion that keeps her partially outside the normal flow of timespace, only she can manifest a body in the temporal sphere by merging herself into Akashic matter, thus giving her temporary solidity, which dissolves when she relaxes."

"How on earth did she wind up like that?" Nabiki asked.

"It was an experiment of her father's that went kind of awry…" Keiko began when Frank hastily interrupted.

"Trust me, you don't want to know the details," he said, "I know the details and I wish I didn't, and I'm not exactly a stranger to ugly. Lenore shouldn't have told me, but she did, and now I'm telling you that you don't want to know, got that?"

"Ah…kind of," Ranma scratched his head and shared a bewildered look with Nabiki.

"Look, it's like this," Frank explained patiently, "Every human being on this earth is granted a soul, which enters the body during the early first trimester. Before that time, following conception, the zygote in a mother's womb generates a kind of preliminary soul membrane called Melenta, which matures during the embryonic stage and forms into a kind of psychic placenta that sustains the cellular mass of the body and helps charge them into a resonant pattern. Often during this stage the body detect genetic anomalies, or the zygote-embryo proves non-viable…by which I mean to say it gets rejected as defective, which is why two thirds of all pregnancies tend to end in miscarriage…"

"Oh yes, I've heard something about this before in one of Tofu-sensei's books," Kasumi noted, "In some cultures it is traditionally believed that the soul does not enter a baby until they are somewhat further along in their pregnancy, where the embryo has been accepted and goes on to mature into an actual baby."

"Right," Frank gave the elder Tendo sister a curious look before continuing, "The point is…there is a residual pattern of soul energy that exists at all times within the body, which animates the cells and keeps them functioning as a coherent unit, but the actual soul of a person is centered around a soul-core, known as a Monad, and THAT doesn't enter the body until the early third of the pregnancy is usually completed. The Monad contains three concentric shells surrounding it, which contains a personal energy pattern of Akashic memory…the personality and central make-up of the individual himself, the part of him that is reborn from body to body, from lifetime to lifetime through the process of Reincarnation…"

"I get you," Ranma said, "My big sis, Kaoih, told me something like this…only she said that a person has seven souls, each one surrounding the other…like the layers of an onion."

"Smart kid," Frank nodded grimly, "The three central layers form three more layers that form the concentric shells surrounding the Monad, and the Melenta shell is the seventh level, the one that holds the rest together. Something goes wrong, the body gets massively disrupted, the Melenta pattern fragments and five of the other six layers of the soul escape from the body. The two that are left, the Melenta pattern and the secondary Epidurial layering, get left behind while the Monad and its five surrounding shells transmigrate towards the Astral plane of being…"

"You mean they die?" Nabiki fathomed.

"That's the technical term for it, Nab-chan," Keiko winked, "And once you go to the Astral plane your fifth layer comes under critical scrutiny and replays the contents of your entire life cycle. They call that The Judgement, where the weight of your life is measured and determined, at which point you move on towards whatever level of the Other Realm you most appropriately belong, either Hell or Heaven…"

"Yeah, and once you get there you kind of nestle in and take a spot next to all the other departed souls that currently reside there," Frank continued, "You kind of enter a cocoon phase where you go to sleep and dream a dream that can last for decades…or years, depending on how long it takes to purge your Karma of the excess charge. After a certain period of time elapses you get tugged back towards the earth to get reincarnated once again, forming a soul-chord attachment with the Melenta patterning of a whole new body, and once the embryo is developed enough you get drawn in and start the whole thing all over."

"Kinda sounds like cosmic recycling," Ranma remarked.

"In a way it is," Keiko smiled, "In theory a person is reborn into each new life in an attempt to solve the problems that were left unsolved in your last one. That's why you tend to meet many of the same people you met before in a previous life during the course of your travels, especially people who meant a great deal to you in a prior incarnation. Sometimes you feel a touch of memory when that happens, and it can spark a renewal of old affections, like falling in love at first sight, or instantly bonding with a new friend as if they were an old one…"

"And this process goes on and on until a person reaches total enlightenment and has no further need of spiritual growth through continuous reincarnations," Nodoka smiled serenely, "At which point you are finally able to move on to the next level of being, the one beyond all others, where only the gods may dwell, where death has no meaning and the future is truly endless."

"Fascinating," Nabiki said, "But what does all this have to do with my sister?"

"Just laying the ground work, Kid," Frank explained, "You see…in some forms of Vampirism the Monad and its surrounding layers get forcibly evicted from the body and are displaced by a Vampire soul known as the Goya. The victim is essentially a soul-less being since they are demonically possessed and have only the two peripheral layers of the soul remaining with them, the parts that tie the Goya to the body and gives it the residual memories and personality of the former human. Goyas are nasty buggers who lack the normal human restraints of morality and conscience, and they delight in feeding on others to create more Goyas. That's the tribe that you generally have to watch out for, the ones who come the closest to fitting the stereotypes about Vampires. Loire tribe is something else yet again…they have their souls still intact within their bodies, but the Vampirism has been inflicted on them like a kind of virus that transforms the body and renders them partially etheric. Basically a Loire is the very same person that they were before the transformation, only they are trapped in a transitory state that induces chronic anemia, which can only be relieved by a steady diet of blood, preferably in small quantities, muck like orange juice in a normal human diet."

"Oh my," Kasumi spoke up, "It didn't taste very much like orange juice…" she covered her mouth as she realized what she had just said and went, "Oh my…." with a disquieted expression.

"Ah…right," Ranma said, his uneasiness plainly written in his expression.

"Okay then," Nabiki said, "So this Lenore is a Loire vamp…and my sister…?"

"Is Jezril…with something else added entirely," Frank noted, "She's human in all the ways that matter, and she's got a soul as pure and clean of the taint of the Dark as anything I've ever run into. Jezril vamps are kind of like an elite branch of the same line that Loire hail from, only they're kind of like Super-Vamps with all sorts of really powerful abilities like Telekinesis and Elemental Plane Shift. They can control the elements of Earth and Sky, summon creatures to do their bidding, go ethereal, teleport and do the whole animal-shapeshift bit. They're bloody tough to kill and can take more damage than a normal Vamp, and they're unbelievably strong, maybe even stronger than me. They're still vulnerable to silver, garlic and wolfsbane, however, and anything formerly living can affect them, like wood or bone, but you have to take out their central nervous system before they can actually feel it. Most of them don't like sunlight either…it gives them a rash to be exposed for too long to direct contact, but they're not as vulnerable as Goya, who would literally burst into flames if you expose them to intense UV rays."

"Interesting tips," Nabiki scowled, "But I still want to know what this means about my sister."

"Oh yes," Kasumi agreed, "I don't think I very much like the sound of what you are describing, Doctor."

"Well, I don't mean to upset you, Kid," Frank said truthfully, "But I thought you ought to be prepared to know what's what…just in case we can't complete the reversal of your condition. You drank blood, though, and that activated the catalyst element in the Vampire blood that Dimitri fed you. He's Jezril, but he's also part demon, Rakshasa to be exact, the worst sort of parasitic life form since Vampirism was originally developed to combat the Rakshasa."

"Rakshasa?" Ranma asked, "What are they like?"

Frank gave him a pale-eyed stare and said, "Nasty…worse than anything you could imagine. Completely inhuman, alien, predatory shapeshifters who suck the life out of their victims and delight in raping humans. Ever see a Tentacle-rape Anime? That's them, only they don't just go for human females since quite a few get a kinky fetish about doing the same thing to men. What they do is wrap themselves around you and try to suck the energy out of your soul matrix, literally destroying a person right down to the Soul Core, which alone is indestructible and beyond their ability to leach."

"How do you fight monsters like that?" Nabiki asked.

"If you're human…you don't," Frank answered coldly, "Only Vamps are immune to the touch of a Rakshasa, and a normal Vampire can kill a Rakshasa. That's why we weren't overrun in the primitive days when humans hid in caves and told old stories about their fallen Kingdoms of Lemuria and Atlantis. They Rakshasa wait beyond the fringe of the world we know, hiding in the shadows, waiting and biding their time for when they can emerge again and go about with their feasting. The Vampires are a primary line of defense against their intrusion, which is why most world governments allow them to exist, even going so far as to protect their existence from common human knowledge."

"But I thought that Goyas were as destructive towards humans as they are to the Rakshasa," Nodoka pointed out.

"Right," Frank nodded, "Goyas are among the least stable of Vampire tribes and the ones that even other Vampire tend to treat like bad blood cousins. Governments the world over fund extermination programs to eliminate nests of Goyas wherever they can find them. It's like with the Nosferatu, who are also seen as poor vampire relations, though not as perniciously destructive as the Goyas. Loire and Jezril vamps are the more socially acceptable breeds, and they have a tribal pact with the human governments that allow them to exist relatively unmolested. The Vampire council ruthlessly enforces their edict to keep the peace between Vampires and Humans, and woe betide any Goya who crosses the line and expects to get away with it since the big-bad D-man is likely to have something nasty to say about it."

"D-man?" Ranma repeated.

"He means Dracula, Big Boy," Keiko explained, "One of the ruling nobles of the European Union of Vampire Nations. Of course, there's also the legendary bounty-hunter who goes by the name of D, but it's said that he's the son of the bigger D, half-human, a Vampyr, and possessed of a demon hand, whatever the heck that's supposed to mean…"

"O-kay," Nabiki said slowly, "But I'm still waiting to hear what all this has to do with Kasumi."

"Just this, Kid," Frank nodded, "She's a Daywalker…mostly human, but she's got Jezril and demonic elements now fused into her very makeup, which makes her close to being a vampire, but not quite all the way. She has the thirst for blood, but it's pretty muted by comparison with a real vamp, and the tests run on her by Doctor Tofu at my request…"

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "You mean you've been consulting with Tofu-sensei?"

"Ah, yeah," Frank nodded, "Hope you don't mistake the guy's intentions, they're honorable. He's been pretty concerned about you, and since I offered to lend him my advice on your condition…"

"Get on with it," Nabiki said impatiently, "What about those tests you mentioned?"

"Ah…well," Frank hesitated, "Normal blood tests didn't show anything unusual, but when I subjected them to my own methods they turned up a number of…really interesting characteristics. You see, even normal Vampire blood contains antibodies that try to weakly attack the vampire elements in the bloodstream…but Kasumi here doesn't have any such antibodies at all. She's clean, which means her system has totally accepted her vampire traits and has incorporated them into her genetic matrix. That's…pretty unusual for a human, and it kind of suggests that there might have already been some unusual features in the Tendo bloodline…"

"Get to the point," Nabiki demanded, "Can you cure Kasumi?"

"Um…in a word, no," Frank answered before hastily adding, "At least…not that I can determine at the present without running further tests. I'm just saying it might not be as easy as giving her an inoculation or something of that nature. Kasumi's body has completely adjusted to her present condition, and in order to change her back into full human…well…that's gonna take a lot more hard work to reverse than anything I can come up with on the spot. Of course, it might be possible using high-level magic…"

"So, do you know any wizards who could help Oneechan?" Ranma asked.

"Um…maybe one or two…I think," Frank reluctantly answered.

"Oh my," Kasumi remarked, "Does this mean that I will have to remain like this…indefinitely?"

"Hey, don't sweat it, Kasumi-chan," Keiko gave her a wink, "We love you anyway, and no one's going to hurt you while I'm around to kick their butts. Besides…did you know vamps can give you the most incredible kinds of hickeys…?"

"It would seem that my niece will need special attention for the present," Nodoka decided, "But since she is still the Kasumi that I have known for over ten years, I will take it upon myself to see that she is cared for."

"Just let her drink that formula she was having before and there won't be any problems," Frank said, "A few ounces of blood a day will control her thirst and allow her to retain full conscious control over all of her senses. Meanwhile I'll have my staff work on researching a cure and possibly getting in touch with a good Necromancer…if that ain't a contradiction in terms…"

"But what about Lenore?" Kasumi asked, "If she also has this vampirism as a part of her make-up…"

"Lenore's been a Vamp for over seventeen years," Frank replied, "About half her full lifetime, but…you know, it is kinda strange that she ain't here to report in. Which reminds me…" he reached up and touched the side of his neck before saying, "Shelly, you been following this? Got any updates on Lenore's pattern?"

He paused to listen in to a voice that only he seemed able to hear, then frowned and said, "Okay then, widen the search area, and get some peripheral stations online. If she's anywhere within the Tokyo area, I wanna know about it." He turned back to the others and said, "Now I'm actually worried."

"Is Lenore-san all right?" Kasumi asked in genuine concern.

"I don't know and that worries me," Frank scowled, "You guys wait here, me and Shelly are gonna go have a look."

"Uh," Ranma spoke up, "What about that other vampire lady you mentioned before…the Princess?"

"Miyu?" Frank sniffed, "Stay out of her way and she won't bother you, but she's a Shinma, and they're almost as nasty as an Old Blood Jezril. No way would I recommend pissing her off. Stay here and I'll be in touch…"

And with that the big man took his exit, leaving Nabiki to scowl before saying, "There's something he's not telling us…"

"Where would you like to start?" Keiko mused.

"I dunno, he seemed pretty much on the level to me," Ranma noted.

"I'm worried about Lenore," Kasumi fretted before turning to Nodoka and saying, "Would it be all right if I go up to my room, Auntie? I'm feeling a bit tired, but I'll be happy to do the rest of my chores later."

"You take care of yourself and do whatever you have to, Child," Nodoka patted the younger woman on the cheek then smiled as she watched Kasumi take her leave of the kitchen.

Once the elder Tendo sister was out of the room, however, Nabiki glanced sharply at Nodoka and said, "Auntie?"

"No one will harm Kasumi, especially me," the Saotome matriarch softly declared, "You heard what the good doctor said about her condition…that in spite of what has happened, she is still basically our Kasumi."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that, Saotome-san," Keiko admitted, "You seemed ready enough to give her the coup when she was still under Dimitri's spell…"

"That was different," Nodoka informed them, "At that time I feared for her immortal soul, but now that we know that she is still essentially Kasumi, it would be impossible for me to wish to see her dead. She is so much like my own daughter now that I could not bear to draw steel against her."

"Kami-I should hope not!" Ranma averred, "Kasumi doesn't deserve anything like that…not Oneechan! She the nicest person a guy could ever look up to in a sister."

"I hear you there, Ranma-kun," Nabiki softly averred, though still she seemed more than a little upset about these recent dramatic revelations, wanting desperately to have the 'old' Kasumi back, even if it meant having to endure Kasumi's continuing infatuation with her male half, Kaneda. Even having to endure being splashed by her sister with cold water from time-to-time seemed a small price to pay for having Kasumi around the way Nabiki had always known her.

This thought brought forth another, which prompted Nabiki to reflexively put her hands over her abdomen, even known as she did that she was still in the early stages of pregnancy and would not be showing signs for a few weeks hence. Madam Lao had placed a spell over Nabiki to temporarily block out her Jusenkyo curse, but how reliable could such magic be, and what would become of Nabiki's baby by Ranma if she accidentally reverted to her cursed form? Could she really trust herself around Kasumi…given what she had learned about her beloved older sister's current condition?

Franks explanation about souls and their migration to and from the body made her feel more than slightly apprehensive, especially in light of that talk about 'miscarriage.' It faintly horrified her to think of such a fate befalling her own child, the one attempt in her life that she had for nurturing a baby within her own womb without relying on another woman to be her child's surrogate mother, or even real mother, as was Shampoo for their infant daughter, Lylac.

She thought fleetingly of Shampoo and their child, both of whom were safely back on board the Nautilus, and then she thought on the oddity that she might feel safe about leaving the rest of her family in the care of a man who thought that he was Captain Nemo. But then again, she was rubbing shoulders with Frankenstein and talking casually about Dracula and Vampires, so what was to be considered normal about this whole situation? That Kasumi was herself a vampire only added to the unreality of it all, and this on top of the other events of an altogether crazy day that had seen her Posse ride to the rescue of Madam Lao and beat up a kid who was the Prince of a floating turtle-based island.

"I really need a break from this vacation," she murmured aloud at the level of a low murmur.

"Tell me about it," Ranma said, then she saw him smile at her…and that made everything seem a whole lot better, if only for the next few moments…

Continued

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