Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Attack of the B-Girls... ( Chapter 124 )

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.

"Um…so, Miyuki…what did you want to talk about?"

"I thought you were the one who wanted to talk, Natsumi," Miyuki pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Natsumi chuckled nervously, "Okay…well, it's just…how long are we going to hang around this place again?"

"Until morning," Miyuki replied, "When the vampires go to sleep."

"And what do we do until then?" Natsumi asked, "I mean…that's…eight or nine hours, right?"

"Ten," Miyuki corrected, giving Natsumi a wry look, "And if you want to know what I'd like to do until then…" she let her meaning shine through by the lustiness of her expression.

"You mean…now?" Natsumi blinked, "But…are you sure it would be okay? And what about all these vampires?" she lowered her volume to where it was barely a dull whisper.

"We'll be all right," Miyuki said, "Didn't you hear what the Queen said? We're under her protection."

"Yeah…but…" Natsumi glanced sidelong both ways, "Are you sure it's all right? I mean…this is someone else's property, and…well…somebody might object…"

"Oh, not at all," Nodoka said, startling both policewomen as they had not seen or heard her approaching, "We'd be more than happy to provide you with a room with all the privacy that you would need. We know full well what a great imposition this has been for the both of you, and as your hostess it is my sacred duty to see that you are both made comfy. Right this way, please, and I'll see to it that you are provided with blankets."

Natsumi and Miyuki shared a moment of mutual blank-faced surprise, then Natsumi turned to her partner and whispered, "Does it freak you out whenever she does something like that?"

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, Natsumi-chan," Miyuki smiled, then she took her partner by the hand and guided her forward as the both of them followed Nodoka into the Tendo household…

"How sweet," murmured a hooded figure perched in a tree outside of the yard, "Those two look like they're gonna make out together. Too bad I got orders to flame the place in another five minutes, just as soon as I get the signal from the big bad boss man."

The hooded figure consulted her watch then murmured into her throat mike, "Units two and four get ready. Unit three, on my mark unleash your payload."

From there it was a matter of progressive tension as her watch began to reverse count towards a mini-Armageddon, and all the while the Blood Queen and her court remained unaware of their impending peril…but not so a little old man who overheard the blonde woman's gloating and resolved to do something about it…just as soon as he called in for his own reinforcements, which is why he hurried off in the night in a certain fixed direction…

"Y'know what's really weird, Frank?"

"Yeah?" the big man asked as he glanced at Talbain.

"Where are all the cops at?" the werewolf asked with a puzzled expression, "I mean…we're on the outskirts of the largest city in this part of Asia that boasts one of the finest police departments in the world, standing amid a literal war-zone that looks like Bosnia on a Monday night…and there ain't a siren or cop around for miles, unless you count those two off-duty cuties. I mean…you'd think a neighbor, homeowner or somebody would have called it in by now or something."

"Yeah, that is weird," Frank admitted before adding as an afterthought, "Welcome to Nerima."

The werewolf only shook his mane and said, "And I used to think Transylvania could get a little crazy…"

"Sister?" Kasumi was asking of Natsume.

"How can I trust you?" Natsume demanded, keeping a firm grip on the stake in her hand, "You claim to be my sister, but you're also a Kami-accursed vampire, and you bit Tofu-sensei…"

"Yes, I did," Kasumi said quietly, "But…at the time I thought that I had…a very good reason."

"Other than you felt hungry and wanted a nighttime snack?" Natsume said in dry sarcasm.

"My love, please consider your actions well," Tatewaki urged, "I know that you must do what you believe is right…but she sounds and acts so much like our Kasumi…"

"Other than the fact that she flies?" Kurumi pointed out.

"Well, she hasn't attacked anybody since she got here," Mousse reasoned, "That ought to count for something."

"I can't believe that I'm actually agreeing with the Ape-boy here, but…" Keiko shrugged, "He does raise a good point. I mean, if she's as powerful as I think she is, and she really intended us mischief, then I don't even think you could take her on, Nab-chan. Besides, I'm willing to risk it on faith that she's still the same sweet Kasumi we've all known and loved, in one sense or another."

"Yes, but you've died once already, so you're used to it," Kurumi pointed out, "The rest of us…well…dying could hurt a lot, know what I mean?"

"There will be no dying or killing here, you got me?" Nabiki said with force, "Natsume, let it go. I'll vouch for her. She's still my older sister."

"Nabiki," Kasumi sighed with a quiet, poignant expression.

"Maybe you are willing to risk our safety on that assumption, but I am not so reassured," Natsume insisted, "How can we really be certain that she does not intend us harm? Just on her say-so?"

"I understand your feelings on this, Neechan, really I do," Kasumi said with quiet poise, "But…perhaps if you need a demonstration of my good intentions. Tatewaki-kun?"

"Yes?" the handsome boy asked.

Kasumi casually walked up towards him, ignoring the way Natsume tensed, and with an outstretched hand she took the Kuno heir by the arm and did something that caused a popping sound to resonate, and them a few quick moves with her hands and she stepped back away, leaving Kuno to flex his arm with a look of amazement.

"It…it no longer pains me!" he announced with a stunned expression, turning to gaze in wonder at Kasumi, "But…how…?"

"When I shared blood with Kuno-sensei I gained some of his knowledge about healing," Kasumi answered, "I saw from the way that you were holding your arm that you could no longer raised it…and I reasoned that you might have dislocated your shoulder…a simple enough thing to remedy as I knew how Tofu would treat this. And now for you, Doctor."

"Huh?" Frank said, "What do you mean, Miss Tendo?"

She smiled and walked up towards the hulking man-monster, then in a fluid motion she stepped around behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, then heaved. Frank was about to ask what she was doing when he suddenly gave a startled yelp, and another popping noise resounded in the air before Kasumi released and stepped away from him, with a gentle smile in his direction, leaving Frank to blink before he rotated his hips and flexed his arms with a look of amazement.

"Hey…my back no longer hurts!" he marveled, "What…?"

"And now for you, Nabiki-chan," Kasumi turned and stretched another hand out to caress her younger sister's neck, then a quick motion later and another popping sound was heard, even as Natsume tensed and prepared to leap, only to see Nabiki gasp and shake her head from side-to-side with yet another look of open amazement.

"My neck's no longer stiff!" the Tendo-Saotome heir announced, "Incredible…you did that exactly like…doctor Tofu…?"

"Yes, isn't it amazing?" Kasumi smiled, "Even I never dreamed that the doctor knew so many interesting things about pressure points and healing, and now I know how to do it too, and I find the prospect quite exciting. I have always wanted to help others, to study hard and become a doctor, and now at last I get to practice the knowledge that took Tofu-sensei several decades to master…"

"Stolen knowledge," Natsume pointed out, "Gained by unnatural means without having to work to earn it."

"Jeez, what is your problem, Natty?" Keiko asked, "Don't you get it by now? If she really were a bloodsucking fiend from the pits, then she could have used this knowledge to hurt us, not help us!"

"It is true that I did not study and sacrifice the hours it took Tofu-sensei to master these skills," Kasumi softly replied, moving up alongside Talbain and casually stretching a hand to rub his furry mane, "But I intend to put his knowledge to good use, Sister. Perhaps the ends do not justify the means, but I believe that it is what a person does with the talents that he or she has that makes a difference, just as you use your martial arts to help protect and defend others."

"Oooh…ohhh-ohhh, that's so nice!" Talbain cooed while reflexively wagging his tail and tapping one foot against the ground, "Do it a little lower…"

Kasumi smiled and did as she was asked, but then she moved away from Talbain and knelt down instead before Anita, smiling into the grey eyes of the child before saying, "And you, little one…you're so brave and considerate. I want to thank you for saving the life of Keiko-san. It takes a good heart to use the power you have for something so noble. Would you like to be my friend? My name is…"

"Kasumi," Anita replied, "I know, I'm not a little baby."

"Of course not," Kasumi replied, "You're a very nice girl, Anita-san, and it is a privilege to know you."

She straightened out again and this time oriented herself upon Natsume, coming to stand within arms length of the novice Slayer, the taking Natsume by the arm and pointing the hand that held the stake so that the wooden tip came to rest against her breastbone.

"Natsume-chan," Kasumi said softly, "I don't know how else I can convince you of my sincerity, but if you truly believe that I am dangerous, then do what you feel you must, and I will not think ill of you for the gesture. I love my family and would never bring shame or harm to any of you, and I would rather die at the hands of a sister than be thought of as a monster. I leave my fate in your hands, decide what you will, I am totally and completely at your mercy."

"Oneechan?" Kurumi gasped.

"Kasumi," Nabiki whispered, fighting to check the impulse to rush to her rescue.

"My love?" Tatewaki softly murmured.

Natsumi stood her ground and stared at the older Tendo sister, looking Kasumi in the eyes while holding the stake in a firm grasp with the tip pressing up against her skin, a single effort being all that would be needed to shove the lethal weapon into Kasumi's heart, and with no doubt in her mind that such a gesture would be lethal.

Time itself seemed to stand still as the sisters faced one another in the silence of the moment, then all at once a shadow fell over both young women and they looked up to find Donovan Bane towering over them, his golden eyes gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

"Trust is not easily earned nor given when one deals with the forces of the Dark," the huge man said somberly, "But accept my word that there is not the taint of Darkness within your sister. Though she has the mark of vampirism it is unsullied by hatred and other such negative emotions, leaving Tendo Kasumi in a pure state of grace that no hand of mortal man can tarnish."

"Can I really trust my senses?" Natsume asked, "If she is as powerful as everyone thinks she is, then she could mask her true intentions and force us to obey her…"

"You, perhaps, but not I," Donovan informed her, "I know the taint of the Dark as I know the blood that courses through me, but on my word your sister is unchanged save for her quasi-vampiric state, and if you must blame anyone for this, then blame me, for I am the one who failed to purge it from her. But know when you look at her you are looking upon a sister, and if you choose to spill her blood then it is the blood of an innocent you would claim. Can you honestly live with the knowledge of that?"

Natsume was silent for a time, but then she withdrew the stake and let her arm hang down by her side, "No. I…I don't want the blood of my sister on my hands. I haven't the right to judge you, Oneechan…please…forgive me."

"Natsume-chan," Kasumi smiled, "There is nothing to forgive. And if I ever do turn evil, I want to think that I could count on you to do what is necessary. But I know that I'm not evil, I can feel the love I have for all of you, and it tells me that I am still Kasumi."

"Oneechan," Nabiki sighed, sagging as she had not been aware of the tension she had carried.

"Well, that settles it for me," Kurumi said, "That's definitely Kasumi."

"Yes," Mousse agreed, "You can honestly say that there is no one else quite like her in the whole of Nerima."

"My love," Tatewaki said as he laid a hand to the shoulder of his iinazuke, "As always, your wisdom astounds and humbles me. I pray you never have so hideous a choice to make as this ever again, for I would be as loathe as you to be denied the continued presence of shining beacon that is the smile of your sweet sister."

"Better watch the poetry, guy, or your fiancée is gonna get jealous," Keiko grinned, turning a wry look towards Nabiki, "And take it from me, one Tendo sister at a time is more than a handful."

"Well then," Talbain said, "Now that we've got that bit sorted out, maybe we should get back to figuring out where that skunk Dimitri is hiding about."

"Good thinking," Frank nodded, "We still got some ass-pounding to get worked out of our system."

"Ranma," Nabiki's face and tone turned grim once again, "Dimitri took him to gain the knowledge of the Kamasenken. I can only imagine what that monster is doing right now with my poor husband…"

"He will not kill him," Donovan revealed, "My despised half-brother will find him too much of a resource to do away with prematurely. He may bite him, draw off a portion of his blood to gain knowledge and insight, but he will keep Saotome alive so long as there are memories yet to be pillaged…"

"Couldn't he do that if he, like, say…turned Ranma-kun into a vampire?" Keiko asked, earning a sharp look of reproof from Nabiki.

"Maybe so," Frank replied, "But think about it. He did that to Kasumi and look how she turned out. You really think he'd make the same mistake twice by turning Saotome-kun into a potential rival?"

"The boy is also a Reality Nexus," Donovan added, "The fates themselves will conspire to protect him so long as he is needed by the weave of destiny's pattern."

"Yeah, and just imagine what the kid could do if he turned out to be a Master, like Miss Tendo here," Talbain averred softly.

"A Master?" Donovan betrayed mild surprise, "Is that what you think she is?"

"Yeah," Frank replied, "Why? No…wait…don't tell me…you've gotta be kidding, Donny!"

"Old friend," Donovan replied, "In all the time that you have known me have you ever known me to jest?"

"Trick question," Talbain sniffed, only to have his own eyes widen sharply, "Aw no…don't tell me…you can't be serious!"

"I believe that we have already established that I am," Donovan replied as he turned to regard Kasumi, "And that is why Dimitri is so interested in gaining possession of Tendo Kasumi-san, for she is not a Master, as you erroneously suggested…"

"What?" Nabiki asked, "What the hell do you mean? What is Kasumi? Tell me, dammit!"

"A Blood Queen," Donovan answered, "The next highest stage above a Master."

"Excuse me?" Kasumi blinked.

"A Blood Queen?" Keiko marveled.

"What?" Kurumi asked, "What the heck is a Blood Queen?"

"Like that lady you met earlier, Kurumi-chan," Mousse informed her, "Ling-Ko the Dragon Lady, the Blood Mother of the Tsiel tribe of vampirism."

"Holy mother of Edison," Frank stared in wide-eyed wonder, "A Queen? That changes everything…"

"Yes," Donovan said sadly, "I rather thought you would make the connection."

"What?" Natsume asked, "What connection? What are all these riddles you speak concerning my sister?"

"Dimitri wants the Queen of the Tsiel, and I can guess myself at the reason," Talbain answered, "It's a full moon tonight, the perfect time to offer up a sacrifice, especially if the spell is dark enough to require a lot of energy…"

"Which the blood of a Blood Queen would provide in abundance," Frank hissed, "I should have figure it out before! I must be slowing down with old age, or maybe I need to get my batteries checked…"

"Kami…I just remembered something!" Nabiki winced, "Before he vanished that Dimitri creep said something about blood flowing and evening the score. You have any idea what he meant by that?"

"No," Frank answered, "But knowing Dimitri it can't be too good. I think we'd better get back to your place in a hurry, there's no telling what else that creep may have in mind before we get to the twilight hour of midnight."

All at once the sound of an engine filled the air, and a riderless Monster motorcycle taxied up on its own as if moving under its own volition.

"Boss?" the voice of Shelly called out, "If you're going back into the thick of thing, then you'd better get a recharge."

"Good thinking," Frank said, "Charge up the regulator, give me thirty-thousand at about three amps."

"You got it," the motorcycle said as he pulled up alongside the man-monster, then Frank reached over and removed a pair of metal objects connected to wires and nodded towards the others before saying, "Keep back, this'll be enough to send most of you through the roof…"

A moment later an electrical arc seemed to flow through the giant man, gong from one hand to the other, and he winced a bit as though in pain, but the moment was fleeting. A second later he put the electrodes away and shook his arms to free them of the tension, then smiled, "Ahhh…just like Momma Nature's cooking. Okay, Kids, saddle up and we're headed back to home base…"

"About time you said that."

"Huh?" Nabiki blinked, "Master Happy? Is that you?"

"Who did you think it was, you damned ingrate?" the little man said as he hopped down into view with a cross expression on his wizened features, "And what the hell are you doing moping around here for? Don't you know that there's an armed party of mercenaries about to strike at the house in about two more minutes?"

"WHAAATT!?!" came the collective gasps of all of the members of the infamous Tendo Posse.

"I overheard their leader chatting to herself about it," Happosai continued, "A real cuties with long blonde hair…only she covered it up in a red cloak of some sort…"

"A…red…hood?" Frank exclaimed in dismay.

"BB's back in town?" Talbain said, "Whoah…talk about old times! Wonder who else she's got with her? Thought the Dark Pack looked shy of about two or three members…"

"There is not a moment more to waste," Donovan declared, "We must return to the Tendo place before time runs out and we are left to face yet another slaughter!"

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "I certainly hope that father and Aunt Nodoka will be all right."

"They won't be if we lollygag around here!" Happosai snapped, "So pick up the pace a little and…"

All at once a malevolent wind whipped up and all heads turned to see the Zombie King, Raptor, reforming where his bones had been disrupted earlier by Donovan's sword. The Zombie stretched and shook his limbs and neck to work out the remaining kinks then said, "Ah…good to be back together again! Took a bit longer to pull me self back from me scraps that time. Good thing I always was good at jigsaw puzzles, ah…where's everybody go already? Don't tell me the scrap's already over?"

"Scrap?" Talbain remarked, "Smells more like warmed over leftovers to me…"

"Eh?" if Zombies could look nervous, then Raptor certainly did at that particular moment, "What's everybody looking at me for? Don't tell me the boss has scampered off and left me holdin' the bag again…?"

"All right," Frank said, "We won't tell you."

"However, you are staying right here," Donovan revealed.

"Seems to me as if you could be the key we need to finding out where your boss took Ranma-kun," Keiko smiled in a most unfriendly manner.

"We all do but insist," Tatewaki said as he brandished his bokken.

"How many chains you think I should use, Kurumi-chan?" Mousse asked.

"Well, he is mostly rotting flesh on a pile of festering bones, so…" Kurumi shrugged, "Better use all of them than to feel sorry later I always say…"

"Eh-now wait a minute!" Raptor started to back away, only to find his only path of retreat had been cutoff by Anita, "You guys can't be serious! You expect me to rat on the boss an' tell you the location of our secret base of operations?"

"In a word…yes," Natsume glared, rub-beater held at the ready.

"And don't even think of leaving," Nabiki growled while cracking her knuckles, "Trust me, you wouldn't get three paces."

"Mommy…!" Raptor cringed, finding himself confronted by the combined power of both Darkstalkers and Tendo Posse, and after all that he had seen the latter do individually he was ready to rate his chances of escape as about equal to Donovan Bane taking up a career as a late-night talk show host.

In other words, less than nothing, and given that incentive what else could he do but cringe and think of a good way of buying his own freedom by ratting on his comrades, which-given the same set of circumstances-he absolutely knew beyond doubt-that they would do to him without the slightest hesitation…

"You know," Natsumi said as soon as she and Miyuki were alone together, "Back when that Sergei creep was threatening me, you said something I've been meaning to ask you about…MMMMPPH?" she gasped as Miyuki took her into her arms and kissed her with great passion.

"Yes?" Miyuki asked her partner when at long length (eternities later) they parted lips to gaze fondly at one another.

"Gah…?" Natsumi blinked, nearly having forgotten the question.

"Natsumi-chan," Miyuki breathed as their faces hovered before each other with hardly a centimeter of width between them, "You know you mean the world to me, and when someone threatens you, I will always do what is necessary to defend you."

"Guh…uh…yeah…" Natsumi swallowed, "Ditto."

Miyuki sealed her lips with another kiss, and this time they felt the world dissolve around them and they fell to their knees in each other's arms, hands groping for a strong purchase as their tongues mashed together and they felt the heat of their blood rise up to consume them.

Just outside the room that they had been loaned for the evening…the same room that Nodoka had once shared with Kasumi before going back to sleeping with her husband, Nodoka smiled and listened to the muffled sounds of passion, then placed her hand over the door and concentrated her energies on a finite point…and a brief warmth surrounded the door as a powerful seal was cast to insure that they had privacy and would not be disturbed for the remainder of the evening.

"I do hope Kasumi does not mind that I've loaned them her bed," Nodoka murmured to herself as she headed for the stairs, having retrieved her own spare pillow just in case it might be needed. Almost as an afterthought she paused to examine herself in the hall mirror, parting the top of her kimono so that she could study the Queen's bite mark and marveled at how it seemed to have already mostly healed, leaving only a pair of tiny circles to mark the puncture wounds that had been left there.

"At my age…a hickey," she remarked, then smiled in fondness as she remembered the moment when she and Ling-Ko had been ever-so-briefly linked together. There was something decidedly sensual about allowing another woman to bite her, and were it not that she had her husband to consider…Nodoka was strongly tempted to believe that it would have gone a lot further. The Queen had left her with that sort of an impression…and to be completely honest with herself, Nodoka could hardly say if she would have refused the invitation.

As it was, she ran into Julian Fries when she returned to the main living area, and Nodoka was mildly surprised to see the man casually polishing his butterfly blades, the broad-bladed Chinese swords that he used with such deadly skill in his battle. Sensing a tenseness about the man she asked, "Is everything well, Julian-san?"

"Forgive me, dear lady," Julian replied, "I don't mean to alarm you, but a man in my position has to always be ready for anything which may or may not happen."

"You don't say?" Nodoka asked, studying the man's strangely ageless features, "They tell me you are an Immortal. It must be very hard for you to stay alive with everyone after your head for one reason or another…"

"You could put it that way, Lady Saotome," Julian mused, "All Immortals live with the shadow of death hovering just beyond our notice. It's the curse that comes with perfect health and an indefinite lifespan, but in my case I tend to be a bit paranoid even for an Immortal."

"I've heard one of the others call you Constantine," Nodoka mused, "I take it that Fries is not your original family name?"

"Hardly," Julian sighed as he paused in the act of polishing his blades, "But Constantine was the name of my great Uncle. You may have heard of him…like me, he was originally Italian."

"I sense a story of unusual length and depth behind your name change," Nodoka mused.

"There is," Julian paused then sighed and said, "But there's no reason you have to know it…"

"Please," Nodoka said, "I insist."

The blond man was silent for a few moments but at last he said great solemnity, "I was born in the year 331, as rated by what I once foolishly called the Julian calendar. My name was Flavius Claudius Julianus of the House of Constantine, I was briefly Emperor of Rome from the year 361-63, but my reign was cut short during a battle with the Persians in Mesopotamia. I was stabbed in the back by a trusted ally…but I didn't die. Instead I became what I am now, a historian and fool who wanders from one life to the other always regretting the follies of my ignorant youth, and history has named me The Apostate because of my heretical views on religious reform that I tried to undertake during my reign over the Empire."

"Julian the Apostate?" Nodoka asked politely.

"I was raised a Christian but I renounced the faith and tried to restore worship of the old gods," Julian replied as he resumed polishing his butterfly swords, "That was why I was assassinated, you see…I became a threat to the Christians, and they always dealt decisively with enemies of their faith. It's but one of many mistakes I made while Emperor in underestimating them to the extent that I did."

"I take it you did not like the direction the empire was taking since the reign of your great uncle?" Nodoka asked.

"To put it quite frankly, yes," Julian replied, "To me Christianity was, is, and will always remain essentially a death cult that stole its best ideas from what they label as so-called Paganism. The Christians of my time had an absolute mania for dead things…relics, the bones of saints and martyrs, even their afterlife, as though being perpetually bored for all eternity was something to be celebrated. They stole the Jewish god and his laws and then tried to make them their own, but they couldn't even live up to the rules of Leviticus, and they were constantly murdering each other over the question of the Trinity, whether God comes in three parts or one. My father was a casualty of these political intrigues, and my cousin, Constantius, slaughtered the rest of our family in order to insure he maintained power and stayed in good standing with the church. After my supposed death, the Christians tore my empire apart with over a thousand years of sectarian strife, even continuing the dispute between Arius Presbyter and Anathesius by converting the barbarians who conquered us to their heretical faith. For a thousand more years I have watched as Christian slays Christian, or Muslim, or Jew, all in the name of Jesus…so yes…I don't much care for Christianity, and perhaps that's why I actually enjoy the company of vampires and other Nightbreed. They are so much more open about their own predatory nature."

"Yes," Nodoka said, "I suppose I can see why you would feel that way. But it has been well over sixteen centuries since your time…do you still hate all Christians?"

"No," Julian answered, "I don't hate Christians, they're just people trying to make sense of a world that often appears quite senseless. They've just taken the easy path to knowledge by pretending they know everything, which is a trait shared by most adolescents. A man can be a Christian and still be a good man, but I don't respect the faith and I don't much care how politically incorrect that is. You can hate the sin and love the sinner, right? Well, the sin of Christianity is ignorance, and that's largely because they've never known what a real religion is, just the fake kind that they've been raised to believe in."

"And your ideals of what constitutes a real religion?" Nodoka asked.

"One that asks of you only that which you can deliver," Julian replied, "And yet demands a strict observance of the ethical code that makes one a citizen in good standing. Also one that doesn't blame human weakness upon the deceptions of an alleged King Devil, but asks you to take responsibility for your own conduct. Lying, cheating, stealing, murdering, committing adultery…all these things were outlawed in Rome long before there were any Christians. It's true that they are rules more recognized in the breach rather than the observance, but I believe that a man should be true to himself and not lie about what he stands for, and the priests of the Church lie by supposing themselves to be the wise followers of a god of ultimate forgiveness, then they behave quite foolishly as though they were above the rules that they preach unto others. And, of course, their god forgives them if they are penitent for their moral transgressions."

"Hypocrisy is a very human trait, however," Nodoka sagely noted, "And many of us pretend to be things that, in actuality, we are not. It takes a rare individual who can recognize the truth about themselves, and most people would prefer to remain ignorant rather than face certain truths even when they are standing right in front of them."

Julian paused in the act of sharpening his swords to look up at her shrewdly, "Indeed. And is there more to you, lady Nodoka, that men would recognize if their minds were not clouded?"

"Why, what would you expect them to see?" Nodoka asked, "I'm just a simple housewife and a mother who loves her family and would rather not see them ill."

Julian smiled a bit and said, "Good point. Very well, I know when not to pursue a secret. Indeed, I once read about a man who spoke only the truth that he knew but tailored his words to fit the comprehension level of his audience. It was a simple enough message, really, about love and tolerance of diversity and how playing god or judging others is an act of ultimate hubris. He said to others that they should love each other as they would love themselves and reserve judgement for the providence of a god of ultimate wisdom, and to not impose their beliefs upon others."

"Indeed?" Nodoka asked, "And what happened to this fellow?"

"The most terrible thing that you can do to a guy like that," Julian replied, "They forgot his words and instead took to worshipping him, and after they made him a god they started killing anyone who disagreed with them even slightly. Love and tolerance? Hah! They have practiced little enough of that over the years, and to this day they still can't see the irony and folly of their gospel, hating the Jews who were supposedly the Children of their God, and praising themselves as though they were the paragons of virtue."

"Is this Christianity or Islam that you are describing?" Nodoka asked.

"It's both, lady…it's both," Julian said sadly, then calmly resumed polishing his blades until they were gleaming enough to capture and reflect the moonlight.

"Well," Nodoka said, "I can understand your having strong views upon the matter, but then again these are just your opinions, yes?"

"And I'm not tolerant of them, how can I fault them for not being tolerant of me, eh?" Julian eyed the woman shrewdly, "A point well taken. Still, it is hard to live as long as I have without attaining a certain sense of cynicism about the whole matter. I once believed that I could change things by working from within, by helping to guide the church to a more enlightened stance, even went so far as to allowing myself to be elected a Pope once. Didn't really matter. The curia of the Vatican sees to it that nothing ever really changes, and Protestant churches are not all that much better at learning the lessons of tolerance for diversity. It is men who make the difference in this world, not institutions or governing bodies. Men of integrity and good will, who take the initiative to enlighten themselves and to help others by their example. I will put my faith in men and not in governing institutions…it is when men act like slaves to an institution that some of the greatest evils in history have been perpetrated."

"And do you know such a man as you describe?" Nodoka asked, "One worthy of service, who has the will to accept responsibility for his own conduct and will shape the world by his actions?"

"I do, lady," Julian replied, "My current employer. He's a man far different from what you might expect if you go purely by reputation, but he is honorable and wise, and I follow him willingly. In that way I serve the ideals that I once held sacred in my youth, to serve a cause greater than myself as a servant to humanity, to keep the peace so that men and women can dream in safety."

"Well then," Nodoka smiled, "Perhaps I would like to meet this fellow you describe-"

All at once she fell silent, and her hand drifted to the hilt of her katana as she shifted her eyes to the outside, even as Julian rose from the table with his swords in hand, also studying the night air of the outside with an equally intense expression.

Outside another private conversation was well underway as Miyu and Yui were discussing things in a light, low, level banter as between blood-kin and Sire. The older vampire was saying, "You really should turn in for the night, Yui-chan. You have classes in the morning and I worry sometimes about your attendance records…"

"That's rich coming from someone in the same grade as me, Auntie," Yui replied, "I'll never get over how you can drift from middle school to middle school without anyone catching wise to the fact that you never graduate. You could be a professor now yourself with the amount of class time you've taken."

"Never the less, Yui-chan," Miyu chided, "You need your sleep if you want to maintain your alertness. Do I need to remind you of the last time you failed to take care of yourself and the hunger came upon you when you were showering with your fellow students?"

Yui winced, "I wish you wouldn't bring that up. It's embarrassing enough as it is…"

"Nagi, what have you been feeding this girl?" Miyu teased slightly, only to notice the way that the Shi warrior was staring off into the darkness, "Nagi-san?"

"They are coming," Nagi replied, then suddenly he lunged for Yui and bore her down to the ground saying, "INCOMING!!!"

"Eh?" Miyu whirled around into a defensive crouch, only to find Larva had spread his cloak wide to shelter her from the glare of hot phosphorescence colliding with the invisible wards surrounding the yard. Himiko crouched low and took a defensive point at the side of her Princess while the other vampires reacted with varying expressions of collective surprise that another attack was being initiated against their persons.

"Go, B-Girls!" a blonde wearing a red cloak cried from her place of concealment just beyond the walls of the compound, "Unit Three-attack!"

A figure leaped high and threw off her own enveloping cloak to reveal herself in the moonlight as a rather attractive girl whose body combined elements of both human and insect. With a wave of her hand she caused a swarm of winged dots to appear and rain down against the compound, hammering against the wards as their tiny bodies flared up upon impact with the invisible barrier preventing them from entering the yard. More and more of them appeared, hammering in wave after wave against the wards, relentlessly battering them down until the magic sustaining them sputtered out altogether from exhaustion.

"Look, Sis!" Tsien-Ko cried, "It's Queen Bee!"

"But what is she doing here?" Mei-Ling gasped, "Is she siding with Dimitri?"

Before the question could be answered another figure went leaping into the yard, casting off her crimson cloak and standing revealed before their eyes as a sixteen year old blonde haired girl armed to the teeth with handheld weapons, both pistols and crossbows, which same she began to fire off with great abandon.

"HOWDEE-DOODOO, KIDDOES!" she cried, "LONG TIME NO SQUEAL!"

"Hood?" Mei-Ling cried as she ducked low under the reign of fire while her sister raised her wings and erected a solid shield of darkness.

"BB's here too?" the Chinese Vampire cursed under her breath, "Not good!"

Meanwhile the other vampires in the yard were faring even worse as Leguire went down sporting a wooden bolt in one shoulder while a half a dozen silver bullets felled M'shulla, whose skin began to hiss and fizz where his injuries had been taken. Yasmina managed to transform herself into mist to avoid the initial salvo, but suddenly a fine-mesh net was hurled over her ethereal body, and all at once it was born down to the ground by weighted ends that somehow effected the unsolid form as the mesh prevented the mist from seeping through the finely woven netting.

"What the hell?" Lenore cried as she, Chloe and Kiima found themselves in the middle of a free-fire zone with snipers taking pot shots at all three of them, to no effect as the bullets only went harmlessly through the body of the ghost-girl, "We're in the middle of a freaking war-zone!"

"Good observation!" Chloe said as she dove for the dirt, "Now how about taking cover?"

Taking cover was exactly the strategy adopted by the two men playing Shogi since their martial arts skills were not equipped to deal with high-tech mercenaries firing off enough ammo to topple a third world nation. From beneath the floorboards of the house Soun said to Genma, "Who do you think they are, Saotome? More houseguests come to visit?"

"I don't know, Tendo-kun," Genma replied, "You think they want refreshments?"

"You two," Nodoka shook her head sadly as she emerged from the house, along with Julian, then both of them spread out and moved away too fast for their assailants to target.

Nagi charged forward with sword in hand only to go down as a dozen armed men began firing from various points in the yard, the bullets causing him acute pain though they proved to be only steel jacketed, not silver. Seeing him brought to his knees caused Yui to cry out, "NAGI-urk!"

She staggered forward as a bolt protruded from the back of her chest, having just missed her heart by a matter of mere centimeters.

"Damn, pulled a bit to the left," BB Hood complained as she held up the offending crossbow, "I knew I should have had this sight adjusted…"

"YUI!" Miyu cried, then snarled as her body became a blur of forward motion. She was inhumanly fast as she headed for their attacker, only to find her path blocked out as another form took shape in the space between herself and the blonde mercenary.

"Hi there, by there!" this new assailant declared before landing a solid blow to Miyu's chin that felled the Vampire Princess as effectively as if she had been struck by a magical hammer.

"What?" Larva looked up in dismay, staggering under the weight of the considerable firepower that he had been steadily absorbing.

"Lilith?!" Tsien-Ko reacted to the sight of the slender figure who had so easily dispatched the Princess, "What the hell is this? Dimitri's second stringers?"

"My lady…cousin!" Mei-Ling called out to Ling-Ko, "Keep back and let us protect you!"

"No," the Blood Mother declared, "I will not keep back, I will not run and cower while Dimitri's dogs slay my friends and torment my allies."

Her eyes began to blaze with ruby light, and all at once the air around her shimmered and distorted and a wave of dark energy lashed out to strike those attacking mercenaries who had been pouring fire into their position. Even Tsien-Ko gave back in alarm as the Blood Wave struck those men nearest to them and caused them to scream out in utter agony as their blood boiled from within and their flesh turned to blistering hellfire.

"Whoah!" BB Hood reacted as she sensed the gruesome death that befell six of her best remaining men on her right, "Somebody's having their time of the month early. Well, I know just the cure for that. Team Five-YOU'RE UP TO BAT!"

"Huh?" Tsien-Ko raised her eyes to see a new group of heavily armed attackers drawing something dark and heavy between them, and with an ominous sense she said, "Sis…!"

"I see it," Mei-Ling declared as she stood back-to-back with her sister, "What say we combine and inform these rude people about what it means to attack a Queen and her defenders."

"Not that cousin Ling needs our help at the moment," Tsien-Ko duly noted before her sister transformed into a glowing ward, which same attached itself to the front part of the Vampire's headpiece, thus channeling her powers while helping Tsien-Ko to control her own fierce bloodlust.

"Let them taste their own blood, let them suffer for daring to attack me!" Ling-Ko snarled as another wave of force rose up to deflect the salvo of bullets being poured down upon her from all sides. She made a second gesture and drew a ward in the air, and all at once the wave fanned out and struck these attackers with the force of a million invisible chopsticks driven with enough force to penetrate even body armor. Her attackers went down, even as Tsien-Ko attacked the next wave of new arrivals with her claw-like wings ready to batter them into submission.

But all at once her path was blocked by Lilith, who appeared in front of her with a weapon of her own, smiling as she showed it to Tsien-Ko, which turned out to be a small framed mirror that caught the light of the moon and reflected it into the eyes of the Chinese Vampire.

All at once Tsien-Ko cried out, and suddenly she and Mei-Ling were trapped inside the mirror, hammering against it from within as Lilith held it up to examine them before smiling, "Oh yes…I believe I know just where to hang this in my den. It will make such a nice conversation piece for my guests…"

"Tsien-Ko!" Ling-Ko cried out in dismay, "Mei-Ling! You'll pay for what you do to them, Succubus!"

"I believe you have the tense wrong on that one, Sister," Lilith smiled as the dark shaped object was moved into position, "Allow me to introduce you to your new home…at least temporarily. It may not be cozy, but it ought to contain even the power of a Queen for my Master."

"What are you talking about?" Ling-Ko snarled before waving her hand once again and causing the air to shiver with yet another blood spell.

Lilith hardly batted an eyelash as the force wave passed her by with no effect, nor did it do much to the men holding up the dark shaped object as they effected to ignore it, moving automatically like robots to uncover the thing so that it was soon exposed to the moonlight.

"What?" Ling-Ko exclaimed, "But how can they…that should have killed anything human!"

"Yes, well…it might do that if they were alive," Lilith informed her, going over to the nearest of these newly arrived mercenaries and uncovering his face from the mask that he was wearing, "But as you can see they haven't been a live for quite some time now."

Ling-Ko gasped as she saw the face of a monstrosity…at one time clearly human but now kept on pseudo-life support by tubes and metal bracers that gave the decaying thing a horrific "life" that was anything but living.

"Zombies?" Ling-Ko gasped, "But…I ought to be able to control them!"

"You might at that…IF they were ordinary zombies," Lilith explained, "But these are Zevumbre, HK Units…that's 'Hunter-Killer' in high tech parlance. They're Cyborgs, technically dead yet kept alive through artificial means, and quite immune to your influence since they're largely electronic, governed by computer chips and machines of an extremely advanced nature. They obey only their pre-programmed instructions, and they're quite invulnerable to ordinary means of termination."

"Obscenity!" Ling-Ko declared, "Who is your Master who would use such…things as his minions?"

"Well now, that's for you not to know and for us to find out…or something like that," Lilith shrugged, "At any rate, we're on a strict timetable, your Majesty, so if you don't mind we'll just get what we came here for, which happens to be you."

"What?" Ling-Ko gasped, only to cry out as some invisible force suddenly seized hold of her body, and for all her tremendous power she found that she was unable to resist, and all at once she was lifted from the ground and went sailing the several meter distance between herself and the object causing her discomfort. She slammed into the thing with jarring force and though she fought to get free she found herself held fast as though glued to flypaper.

"Pretty neat, huh?" BB Hood said as she came up to join Lilith and the Queen-B, "Boss calls it a Flesh Magnet. Works by attraction to the magnetic properties of the human body, or something like that. I wasn't really paying that much attention during the lecture…the Boss can be so long-winded sometimes, it almost makes me puke."

Ling-Ko struggled fiercely but could not break free of the strange force that held her fast. She was still conscious enough to snarl, "If Dimitri thinks that I shall be humbled by the likes of this…!"

"Dimitri?" BB smiled, "You think Dimitri's the one who sent us?"

"Hardly," Lilith remarked, "We're allies of Dimitri, but we don't take his orders."

"The one whom we zzzerve is lord Jeddah, Dragon Lady," the Queen-B informed her, "Hizzz dark majezzzty izzz the cauzzze we zzzerve."

Ling-Ko stopped struggling and just blurted out an astonished, "What? Jeddah? But…he's dead!"

"So, when did a little thing like that ever keep him down?" BB smirked, only to turn in annoyance as she heard one of her remaining mercenaries call her attention.

"Ma'am, what are we to do with the rest of the prisoners?" the heavily armed man asked as he indicated Miyu, Nagi, Yui, Larva and the other remaining vampires, including a netted Yasmina, who had all been herded together into the center of the yard and were being held there at gun point.

"Don't really need 'em, do we?" BB smiled, "Just excess baggage. Waste 'em and have the flame thrower guys torch the corpses."

"You heard the order, men," the lieutenant relayed, "These Vamps are toast…"

Miyu snarled as she felt her arm, which was sporting another crossbow bolt. She still had fight enough to take a few of these mercenaries out, but not before they finished off the others, and so she found herself held to the spot with a brief hesitation brought on by indecision.

"Wait!" BB called out, "I just changed my mind. That girlie-girl there looks like she's still got some fight in her, so why don't I take a personal hand in this and finish her off myself," she drew her crossbow bolt back, cocked and aimed it, pointing it directly at Miyu's forehead, "Never killed a Princess before…guess there's a first for everything…"

Miyu tensed, knowing full well that the blonde had her dead to rights. At this range a bolt through her forehead would slay her in an instant, and then there would be no one left to save the others or rescue Ling-Ko and her kinswoman. Having tasted death once before she found that she did not relish it now, but better to die with dignity than to listen to this annoying human's continued boasting.

But even as the trigger was pulled a gleam of steel caught and reflected a beam of moonlight, and suddenly the shaft was sliced in two before it could fully leave the crossbow, and the next instant the blonde felt her hair being pulled back as the edge of a sword was pressed up against her jugular.

"Don't move!" Nodoka ordered the mercenaries, "Lower your weapons or you'll need a new leader."

The mercenaries hesitated a moment, and BB suddenly felt a wetness on her neck that had nothing to do with perspiration, so she barked out, "What are you waiting for, you fools? Do as she says!"

Two men exchanged looks then pointed their weapons right at her, "Sorry, Ma'am, but we've got our orders."

BB's eyes went wide as she realized that they were actually about to do it when all at once Julian appeared in the space between the two mercenaries…who was both missing their heads as the former Emperor of Rome held up his twin butterfly blades and said, "I believe that the lady just gave you people an order. Anyone else care to question it?"

The remaining mercenaries-four of them, to be precise-counted the sudden shift of the odds in their favor and all exchanged puzzled looks from behind their night vision goggles.

"Useless!" Lilith cried before launching herself forward, aiming for Nodoka, who somehow easily side-stepped her lunge, then struck with the blunt end of her pommel to the back of the succubus's head to stagger Lilith forward.

BB, however, feeling the absence of the blade against her own neck, reached up and drew an object from her web harness then dropped it and shut her eyes…just one instant before another phosphorous grenade went off and took Nodoka by surprise, causing her to release her blonde captive.

"SAY YOUR PRAYERS, GRANNY!!!" BB declared as she drew her guns and aimed them at the blinded Nodoka.

"NODOKA!" Genma left his place of safety with a speed that astounded even Soun, and suddenly he was there between Nodoka and the pistols, startling BB, who fired off a double-round only to totally miss her intended targets. Genma disappeared just as swiftly as he had appeared, to reappear around the bend of a tree holding Nodoka protectively against the relative safety of it broad, thick trunk.

"Are you all right, Wife?" Genma asked her.

Nodoka was no less surprised than the mercenaries at the suddenness of her husband's actions, but then she noticed a discoloration at the side of his gi and said, "Genma-chan…are you bleeding?"

"Huh?" Genma glanced down, then moved a hand and felt his side, staring up at the blood covering his fingers in horrified fascination…then all at once he fainted dead away, leaving Nodoka to gaze down at him in affectionate amusement.

"My hero."

"Where'd they go?" BB looked around, waving her pistols, "Dammit! Where'd that sword-wielding bitch get off to? And will you stop playing around over there, Lilith? We've got serious business to attend to!"

"Playing?" Lilith snarled as she exchanged blows with Julian, who was fending her off with great skill, cunning and tenacity for all that she thought that she had the rightful advantage.

"Sorry, my dear," Julian said between slashes, "You're good at this…but I'm a Toshindin warrior…I eat worse than you for breakfast!"

"Who cares about your pathetic sex life?" BB snarled, "Bee, go help the witch out, I…huh?"

The slight tapping on her shoulder brought BB around to face an annoyed looking Lenore, who said succinctly, "Excuse me for cutting in like this but…"

POW!

"Tag, and you're it!" Lenore snarled as BB went down like a stone. She turned around and gave her best feral snarl at the remaining gunmen, "Anybody else care to tango?"

The men never even got to answer as Chloe popped up in their midst, fully transformed to her Werewolf incarnation, "Oh me! I wanna play! You're it!"

And with powerful blows she laid the men out in a matter of mere seconds, never even giving them a chance to fire off a shot before they were chewed, slashed and shredded by a walking hurricane whose speed, strength and ferocity were anything but human.

The Queen-B had started to move forward to assist her stricken allies, only to find Kiima appeared in the space before her, and with a ghostly, ethereal voice she said, "My turn…" and all at once she seemingly dissolved and surrounded the remaining Darkstalker, causing Queen-B to gasp as though she were suffocating from invisible tendrils.

"Guess that's the last of them," Lenore dusted her hands then turned to regard Miyu, "What do you think? Not too shabby for a mere Loire vamp peasant, huh?"

Miyu smiled and started to reply to this, only to widen her eyes and call out, "LOOK OUT!"

"Huh?" Lenore blinked as she started to turn around, only to receive a staggering blow that came quite literally from out of no where!

"Huh?" Chloe asked as she turned to see who their new attacker was, only to cover her ears and cringe in terror as a shrieking cry split the air, driving the werewolf to her knees in an instant.

The figure turned and emitted a second cry, and all at once Kiima felt her hold over the Queen Bee shatter and fragment. She did the only thing she could under these circumstances to dissolve her mist and teleport to safety, leaving the victorious feminine figure dominating the field, along with the silent Cyborg figures holding up the plate-like device upon which was trapped a struggling Ling-Ko.

Miyu was not the only one to gasp as she got a better view of their new assailant, "You? Atuo…?"

The fin-crested Mer-woman merely regarded the vampire princess with a level stare, and then the night air shimmered once again, and in stepped a fiery form whose appearance painted the entire yard in horrific, flaming colors.

"No…not you…!" Miyu gasped.

"What is the matter, little Princess?" the flaming giant said, "Aren't you glad to see me? Is this not an appropriate forum upon which to have this reunion? Surely Pyron is not so unfamiliar a guest that you would cringe at my merest approach? I am hurt that you think so ill of me that you would believe that I have come here only to destroy you."

Larva risked much by looking up and glaring at the fiery figure, "Then…what do you come here for, Dread Lord of Malice?"

"Why, to collect Ling-Ko, of course," the flaming giant replied, "The Blood Queen is of value to my allies, and I certainly had to be certain that she would be taken in an intact condition. BB Hood, though she is quite the hellraiser, tends to be a bit less than tidy over such things. And Lilith…you really ought to know better than to pursue a personal agenda in this matter. Haven't I told you time and again that we are here for the Queen and nothing else?"

"Sorry," Lilith bowed her head, "Please don't tell Lord Jeddah."

"Now wait a minute here!" Julian protested, "You don't think I'd let you…"

A fireball struck the man and sent him soaring backwards into the far wall. Pyron surveyed the fallen Immortal to be certain he was not about to rise again the said, "As a matter of fact, I do believe that. Care to make an issue of it?"

That was the moment when Nabiki and her Posse arrived, accompanied by Talbain and the others, who took the battlefield in at a glance before all attention turned towards the flaming giant at the far end of the yard.

"You?" Talbain hissed, even as Donovan and Frank came up to join him.

"Whoops, time to leave," Pyron said, "This party is getting a little too crowded, and if I remain to do battle with you gentleman I may wind up late for the party. Do accept my rain check and we'll do this again…much later…"

And with that the giant was suddenly swallowed up in a wave of darkness, even as the Cyborgs bearing Ling-Ko on the massive face dial and all of the fallen enemy Darkstalkers were similarly wreathed in darkness, and then all of them faded out together, leaving only the fallen vampires and other victims behind, along with a battered yard and a house sporting more bullet holes than a limburger sandwich.

"Holy mother of mercy…" Frank exclaimed.

"Exactly," Donovan nodded.

"My house!" Nabiki exclaimed in stunned disbelief, "Dad? Aunt Nodoka…?"

"Ah…well…" her father said as he climbed out from under the concealment of the house, "It's…not quite as bad as it looks…"

"Father?" Kasumi asked.

"Kasumi?" Soun rushed up to her side with surprising alacrity, "Are you all right? I was so worried about you!"

"Oh father," Kasumi gently chided.

"Why is he the only one who doesn't look like they've been through the wringer?" Talbain wondered aloud.

"Do you really have to ask that one, Wolfie?" Keiko mused, only to turn and see Nodoka approaching them, "Aunt Nodoka?"

"Ranma…is my son with you?" asked the Saotome Matriarch, who herself looked as if she were only standing through sheer force of will.

"Ah…" Nabiki glanced away, feeling suddenly very wretched.

"I fear that Ranma-kun has been taken by the enemy, Aunt Nodoka," Tatewaki explained for her benefit, "But fear not, he is a strong, stalwart warrior, and Bane-san assures us that he is still alive for the duration."

"Yeah, and we've got somebody here who's gonna spill the beans about Dimitri's hiding place," Frank said as he hefted a chained up zombie, "Ain't that right, Raptor, old buddy?"

"Ah…sure, Mate…whatever you want," Raptor replied, and if he were not already dead, one had the impression that he wold have been sweating profusely.

"Ranma…" Nodoka murmured, then she started to sag, her knees giving out from underneath her.

"Auntie!" Nabiki was at her side, along with Kasumi, Kurumi and Natsume, all of them gathered around the woman who was as much like a mother to them as their own mothers, Nabiki vowing softly, "I'll get Ranma-kun back, Auntie…I swear it! No one's going to hurt my husband, that I promise!"

"I know, dears, but…ohhh," Nodoka said and seemingly fainted.

"Man, laying it on a little thick, ain't she?" Keiko murmured to herself.

"Eh?" Mousse said, "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh…nothing," the Kickboxer said with a patently innocent expression.

"This bodes not well," Donovan said as he surveyed the wounded and unconscious vampires spread out almost at their feet, "Dimitri…and Pyron together?"

"Yeah, what are the odds?" Frank grumbled.

"It is worse even than you imagine," Miyu said as she fought her own flagging strength and stood erectly, nursing her wounded shoulder, "Before he left, Pyron's minions spoke of another name…one whom they claimed to serve and not Dimitri…Jeddah."

There was dead silence before Talbain murmured, "Holy Kibbles'n Bits…"

"I thought he was dead!" Frank exclaimed.

"Apparently an exaggeration," Donovan said somberly.

"Oh, he's dead all right," Raptor spoke up, almost boasting, "Deader than a flat on an Edsel, but come back to life again to fulfill the prophesy he made when he was still among the living."

"What, that prophesy?" Frank blinked, "You've gotta be kidding…"

"Everyone says that," Anita sighed, "But no one ever means it…"

"A prophesy?" Nabiki stood up once again and squared her shoulders, "This is all about some dumb old prophecy? Well…I'm gonna make a prophecy of my own…" she whirled about and her eyes were suddenly gleaming with an inner fire that made even Raptor fall silent, "I'm gonna find Dimitri and rip his rotten head off…and I'm gonna do even worse to anybody else who gets in my way! He thinks he's bad news? Well, I'll show him what bad news is, because nobody does this to my friends and family, to my house and my father! I'm going to rip the gates of Hell apart if I have to in order to wipe that stupid smirk off his face, and then I'm gonna show him what Hell really is!"

And as she brandished a fist her battle aura grew to enormous proportions, and suddenly even Donovan seemed uncertain, for the determination in the eyes of the Saotome-Tendo heir was terrible to behold, and no one there had any doubts that she was sincere in her stated promise, at which point some even began to feel the tiniest bit of sympathy for Dimitri…if only because the fate promised in Nabiki's eyes would have lit fire under the heals of the most terrifying of night creatures, far more hideous than the lust of any mere vampire…

Continued

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