Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ Hands that Hurt, Hands that Heal... ( Chapter 131 )

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.

"Man, this sucks!" Lenore complained, "Doing guard duty on a zombie while everyone else goes rushing off into battle is the pits, I tell ya! I'm so bored I could sawdust!"

"'Ey now," Raptor said, "If nursemaigin' me is too much of a burden for ya, you could always looks the other way and let poor old Raptor escape…just for old times sake, since you used to be a fan O' mine…"

"Not a chance," Lenore retorted, "You'd just run off to join Dimitri and his goon squad and then we'd have to hunt you down ourselves, and believe me, you don't want to get me and my friends angry."

"Oh, and what's there to be afraid of?" Raptor snorted, "A little girlie vamp, a werewolf who looks young enough that she could be wearing a sailor fuku, and a ghostly homebody who ain't that much older. Some fearsome warrior troop you make out to be."

"Don't push it," Lenore replied, "We may look young but we've seen our share of action, and we're not intimidated by an undead soul-sucker like you, old timer. Besides, we've got our own act lined up, and we've even taken it on the road a few times, us and some friends who aren't with us at the moment. We even call ourselves the Immortal Nightbreed."

Oh, that's quaint," Raptor snorted, "Not to mention original. Just another buncha slackers pretending to be the next bit girlie act to hit the market. I'd give ya a week at most afore the public looks somewhere else to the next hot number."

"Sounds to me like he's doubting us, Lenore-chan," Chloe remarked with a slight grin.

"That would be my conclusion also," Kiima agreed in her usual quiet, almost toneless manner of speech.

"All right then, girls," Lenore grinned, "Let's show mister skeptic here just how good we really are. And a one, and a two…"

"'Ey, wait a minute!" Raptor protested, straining at his bonds, "This some new kinda torture…?"

"We are Nightbreed, Creatures of the Evening,

Come into our world of twilight

And stay until the dawns first light has come;

Fascination, gaze into our hearts desire

The Star of Morning reflects upon us all…"

They went on for several stanzas singing out a lovely ballad with no musical accompaniment while Raptor sat with his jawbone hanging down, and when their song had concluded he spoke in a moment of rare candor and said, "Not too bad…you babes got a lovely set O' harmonics there. A bit light on the acoustics, an' ya could use a bit more screams an' some blood n' guts in the lyrics, but I've heart much worse. You kids could actually amount to something…provided you had the right sorta connections."

"Thanks for the offer," Lenore replied, "But the sort of connections you might want to hook us up with will probably demand a blood contract, and I'm rather fond of my soul where it is."

"Suit yourself," Raptor shrugged, "But if ya ever wanna lead for my band, y'could always look me up sometime. 'Course I'm still a bit miffed with you for destroyin' two O' me albums…"

"Those old things?" Lenore smirked, "Don't worry about it. They were worn and scratchy from me constantly replaying them, so they weren't worth very much. Besides, I'd already re-recorded them with my CD writer after downloading them off the net, so I've got pristine copies that I can listen to whenever I like."

"WHA-AT?" Raptor reacted, "Y'mean…ya pirated me own music?"

"What's the matter guy?" Chloe asked, "Haven't you ever heard of Napa?"

"Ya mean…all that time you was playin' with me, girl?" Raptor asked, "Y'made me believe you wuz casting me music aside, destroyin' me life work before me very eyes…and all along ya didn't really need 'em 'cause ya have better quality copies in backup?"

"Well, pretty much, yeah," Lenore answered.

For a moment Raptor just sat there, then all at once he began to chuckle, a soft noise at first, then louder, and then he broke out in an open guffaw of mirth and hilarity, right before his eyes started to glow and he said, "Oooh, I likes you, Girlie, yer me type after all. That was a good one, playin' wi' yer uncle Raptor to get 'im to talk like a bloomin' rat, and me fallin' for it like I did…good joke all around, an' just the sort I can appreciate. In fact, I like ya so much that I've decided not to kill ya and yer little buddies."

"What?" Lenore blinked, seeing a light fire up in the eyes of the Zombie King, and suddenly Raptor burst loose from his chains, his bones literally flying apart only to reassemble themselves a short distance away, only now he was holding his guitar in hand and strumming it like there was no tomorrow.

"Yessiree…I knows a true fan when I sees 'em 'cause a Raptor Chick like you is born inta the blood, an' once ya had a taste for Raptor ya ain't never gonna look twice at any other Metal Head or Banger!"

"But…how did you get…?" Lenore started to say when a wave of acoustical noise assaulted her sensitive hearing, doing much the same to Chloe while causing Kiima great distress in her semi-corporeal state.

"How did I slip me bonds yer asking?" Raptor grinned like a rictus, "Got you t'thank for that, Girlie-girl! Them wards that Donny boy placed over me only work on the principle of negative resistance, but when I listened to yer tune I got all sorts of sweet, positive vibes comin' offa me, just enough to weaken them Ofudo chants and give me the slip as I shrugged me chain like water off a duck's back! A nice bit O' work if I do say so meself…"

"You'll…never…get away with this…creep!" Lenore vowed over the din of the music that Raptor was pouring in their direction as she fought to maintain her balance and tried reaching for her sword, only to cover her ears once again as the zombie doubled his volume.

"I beg t'differ, Girlie-girl," Raptor said confidently as he strummed another set of notes on his guitar-axe, "Ah got the upper hand and I'm playin' it for what it's worth so's I can meet up wi' me mates an' get in on some O' Dimitri's power plays. But onna counta y'bein' fans O' mine and all that, I'll go easy on ya this time and just give ya a nightcap. 'Sides, kids yer age oughta be in bed right now anyhow."

With that, Raptor changed the tempo of his guitar and kicked up a massive sonic blast that picked the trio up and sent them hurtling towards the distant wall of the Tendo compound. At the last possible instant Kiima recovered enough to spread her ethereal body out and form a cushion to pad the impact for the others, then all three slammed into the wall together and were momentarily stunned by the blow. By the time the dust had settled and the girls had started to recover there was no sign nor trace of the Zombie King anywhere about, Raptor having fled into the night with the clear intent of linking up with the rest of his Dark Pack.

"Not good," Lenore groaned as she got back to her feet and checked to see if any bones were broken that would require precious minutes to heal back up again.

"No…definitely not good," Chloe agreed, her werewolf constitution serving her in good stead on this occasion.

"It seems that we have underestimated our nominal captive and permitted his escape," Kiima observed with far less evidence of stress in her atonal voice.

"No shit," Lenore grunted, "The boss is definitely NOT gonna like hearing about this. He gives us a simple assignment and we blew it, now we've gotta hi-tail it over to that cemetery to warn him about our screw up."

"You think Frank is gonna be mad at us, Lenore-chan?" Chloe asked.

"Worse than that," Lenore winced, "He might cut off our expense account, and that would be…very bad in my case. I got creditors to pay off, and you know what kind of leg breakers those guys can be…"

"You really should not gamble so much with your personal fortune," Kiima observed, "If you showed a little restraint then you would not always be in these tight financial situations."

"Yeah, tell me what I don't already know," Lenore winced, "Okay, so Raptor's split but we know where he's headed, and if we make time we might be able to get there before he causes too much havoc. Of course, by now there's probably already been a lot of punching and yelling, and the battle's probably been already decided one way or the other, so either his side's on top and we'll have to be the cavalry, or else…"

"Or else maybe Bone-head's the one who's headed into a bad situation?" Chloe suggested.

"I believe the term 'Bingo' fits this particular instance," Kiima replied with rare ethereal humor, "In which case our pity should go to him, because I think the odds will be very long against his interests…"

The landscape had changed for them with their passage through of the portal and the oddly mismatched group found themselves in an area consisting of rolling fields and hills that were otherwise barren of life yet somehow stood out much brighter than expected. The whole field was bathed in a silvery radiance that made it appear almost like daylight, though much less intense than the sun would be, and the source of the light was quite obviously the moon overhead, which itself seemed oversized and played out in such detail that you could actually see the hills and craters that dotted its surface.

Into this weirdly transitional setting Frank and the Tendo Posse looked around in search of any landmarks that would enable them to track their prey down. Talbain sniffed the air but reported upon finding no breeze to carry a scent upon, and simple vision did not avail them, nor was there sound conveyed over the unusual setting as everyone tried to take their bearings and make some sense of the unreality of the otherwise placid setting.

"So…this is a transitional dimension?" Nabiki asked.

"Sure is, Kid," Frank acknowledged, "It's kind of like a reflection of the world we know, only it's made up of the residual energies that go into maintaining the physical world. The only real substance here is energy, but it's made up of raw Ectoplasm, or Akashic matter, which is really malleable stuff and easy to shape if you've got a strong enough imagination."

"Some tech guys I know call it a Subspace zone," Talbain added, "And according to the theory the rules of physics work different here than what we're used to. For one thing, time's a funny concept that either stretches or contracts depending on your perspective. If you had a watch and walked around a bit while somebody else kept another watch separately, when the two of you link up again you'd find that the two watches didn't agree with one another. I don't really understand why that is, but a minute here could be as long as a day back in the real world, or days here could be only seconds back home. It's enough to drive a sane wolf crazy."

"Interesting," Ranma said, "Sorta like that weird place the girls took me too…"

"Huh?" Keiko turned a quizzical look at him, and Nabiki arched an eyebrow, "What girls?"

"Ah-nothing!" Ranma said a little too hastily, then concentrated on his hands and cupped them together, then summoned up an energy ball, at which point he said, "Whoah…I see what you mean. The energy currents are…weird…but you can tap into 'em a lot easier than in the real world. Takes a little adjustment, but I think you could really cut loose and do some major-league damage here with our Ki attacks."

"That's right," Frank nodded, "Be on guard that you don't overdo things. I've been here before and I know how it can mess you up if you're not careful. Just stay close and watch out for surprises 'cause the bad guys can do a lot worse than just work fancy light tricks…they could even summon up imaginary servants and turn 'em into the real kind, and those could be solid and real enough to kill you."

"So word to the wise is…if you see an attack coming, don't stop and question if it's real or not," Talbain advised, "Some illusions have real bite here, and unless you've got a strong enough imagination to shape up weapons or allies of your own…HUH?"

"What is it?" Natsume asked, sensing the shift in tone of the werewolf.

Talbain just extended a furry claw as if the power of speech failed him, and all heads turned towards Kasumi, who seemed to be standing alone in a beam of radiant sunlight with grass sprouting out from where her feet touched ground, and vines turning into trees where she walked while small animals and birds began to appear. Wherever she moved there were fields of green and bright flowers growing out from her immediate vicinity.

"Whoah," Kurumi exclaimed, a sentiment that seemed universal for the rest of their party.

"Oh?" Kasumi turned around with a curious look as if sensing the quizzical mood of the others, "Is something wrong? Nabiki?"

"Oneechan…um…what are you doing?" Nabiki asked.

"Oh, I wanted to look around a bit before we got started," Kasumi replied, "It's such a lovely place, it's a pity we can't do any sightseeing."

"Frank," Talbain said in a hollow voice.

"I see it," Frank replied, "Believing it…that's something else."

"Apparently Kasumi's aura is creating a positive field of life energy that is reflected in everything she touches," Mousse remarked very softly.

"Wha-?" Kurumi whirled around to find the tall Chinese boy standing next to her, "What are you doing here, Mousse? I thought Oneechan…"

"Nabiki does not command my loyalties to that extent," Mousse replied, "And you are my Airen, Kurumi-chan, so it is my duty to accompany you into danger."

"Indeed," Tatewaki spoke up, startling Natsume, "And though my admiration for the wife of my best friend is truly without limit, I would be loathe to remain behind and allow the woman I love to face peril by herself. Reprimand me if you must, but I know clearly where my first duty lies…with my fiancée."

"Tachi-sama…" Natsume's tone hardened, "I almost lost you once already, do you mean to throw your life away and leave me bereft of all my senses?"

"Nay," Tatewaki said to the novice Slayer, "I would sooner cut off my own arm than to leave you in tears, my love, but know that my resolve is firm and I will always stand by your side, now and forever, 'til death do us part and-nay-even longer…"

"Oh brother," Kurumi murmured faintly.

"I really ought to have a talk with you boys about the concept of following the orders of your clan-chief, meaning me," Nabiki noted, "But I suppose I'll let it go for now since we don't even know what we'll be up against this time, but if anybody gets killed because they didn't listen to my advice…"

"I think they already get the point, Nab-chan," Ranma said as he reached out and struck fists with Tatewaki, "Good to have you along for the ride, Tachi-kun. This fight wouldn't be the same without you."

"My true brother-in-arms," Tatewaki said back, "We'll face this danger as warriors born. To the ruin of our enemies, we stand united in one purpose."

"Swell," Talbain sniffed as he turned to Frank, "Where'd you find these guys again?"

"Easy, Wolfie," Keiko patted the werewolf on the top of his head, turning to Nabiki and saying, "Maybe Kasumi better hang back and let us do most of the fighting. She seems pretty powerful right now, but we all know that she's really not the combatant type."

"I agree," Nabiki turned to Kasumi, "Oneechan, I know you did pretty good against that Lilith character, but…"

"But you are afraid that I might not be of much help to you against Dimitri and his allies?" Kasumi finished for her, "Perhaps I'm not a fighter like you and Ranma-kun, but I am a Tendo, and with my family being threatened I…I want to be here to help you…in any way that I possibly can do so, Nabiki."

"Ain't the same thing as being in the middle of the action," Frank warned her, "The kind of battle we're headed into doesn't have fixed borders and clearly defined boundaries between combatant and non-combatants. Dimitri's allies don't see the world as divided up that way, and if you come with us you could wind up getting mixed into things whether you want to or not, Tendo-san."

"I understand this, Doctor," Kasumi replied, "I have watched battles waged by family members for a great many years, and I know that the sort of honorable fight that Nabiki and my sisters wage is of a different nature entirely from the sort of battle that we witnessed just a few moments ago. For one thing…more people got hurt, and I even saw my beloved Aunt kill a man in the heat of battle."

"Mom killed somebody?" Ranma reacted with a start.

"Sure did," Keiko answered, "Sliced him up clean and simple."

"Nothing clean about it from what I saw," Kurumi winced, recalling how shocked she had been to see her adopted aunt behaving like a Samurai out of legends.

"It was a justifiable killing," Natsume affirmed, "And honorably rendered. Besides…the man she killed had intended much worse towards her…"

"Yes, and you slew one of our opponents yourself, Arigami-san," Mousse nodded towards Keiko.

"That's different," Keiko replied, "I'm a trained Pit fighter. I've killed opponents in the ring before, and not all of them deserving of it either. That guy…well…I've never seen the point of showing mercy to somebody who'd stab you in the back and laugh about it later. It's like Mistress Lao always said…you let a proven killer live, by default you become responsible for everybody he kills from that time onward."

"Same thing could apply to the Cat," Frank sniffed, "But I happen to know she could be a lot worse than she is…"

"That's surprising to hear," Nabiki grumbled.

"But anyway," Frank turned back to Kasumi, "This ain't a game we're headed into, and I'm not really sure you do know the full impact of what it means having to kill or be killed in this sort of a fight, Tendo-san."

"You may be right about that, Doctor," Kasumi said, "I don't like fighting. It's why I gave up on my early martial arts training. Even hurting someone by accident seems…wrong to me. There has to be a better way…and I truly believe that a better way should be found before resorting to violence."

"Wish the world worked like that, Kid," Talbain said soberly, "But it's a nasty, brutal place out there, and the world can be a pretty cruel place towards people who think like you do. If it was different, if there really was a thing like divine justice, then innocent people wouldn't suffer and the bad guys wouldn't be the ones calling the shots in far too many social institutions."

"But still," Tatewaki said, "One would wish that more people felt as Kasumi-chan and sought means other than violence to resolve their differences. If so, then maybe a better place the world would indeed become."

"I dunno about the world," Ranma said, "But I like you just the way you are, Oneechan, and I'd fight to the death to preserve your way of thinking."

"But fighting shouldn't be necessary at all," Kasumi reasoned, "Is it written somewhere that all disputes have to be settled in the arena of battle? Does every challenge need to be met, and must every threat be answered by another threat of a similar order?"

"It's been that way in my experience, Oneechan," Nabiki said, "But I'm with Ranchan on this…I love the way you think and wish the world could be a place where reason trumps heated emotional bias."

"Feelings aren't something you just throw away, Tendo-san," Talbain remarked, "Donovan's tried doing it for years, but compassion is also a feeling, and without that we'd be little better than machines."

"Besides," Frank said as he faced Kasumi, "I'm trying to warn you that you could get drawn into things whether you believe in violence or not. You've got a lot of power, Kid…more than any Queen I've ever met, and Dimitri wants that power for himself, so you may have to face him down, and we can't all spare the energy to protect you if Jeddah carries out his plans to unleash a holocaust on the earth."

"I hear what you are saying to me, Doctor," Kasumi said sadly, "And I agree that I must do my part, and I understand what may me require of me, but…"

"Do you?" Frank said with a quiet intensity that drew everyone's attention, "Do you really understand what it means to be forced to take a life? I've been in this business for a long, long time, Tendo-san, and I've…done things I…find questionable…but I've always believed that it's better to act than to turn a blind eye to evil…"

"I know that, Doctor," Kasumi replied, "But you are a good man, I have always…sensed that about you."

"Good?" Frank arched both eyebrows then raised his arms, revealing the scars that marked his wrists, "These hands…you see them? They don't really belong to me. The Doc…the guy who made me…he stole them from some dead guys and stitched them onto me when I was just a lifeless body. They weren't even originally the same size…they had to be soaked for weeks in a special kind of solution and then magically size-adjusted to fit the rest of me. My whole body's a patchwork of mismatched body parts fused together through alchemy and charged with bio-electricity that keeps me animated. These hands…they've taken life before, they've soaked the earth in blood, and not all of it belonged to really bad people. I've tried to use them to build things, to repair, to restore life to the dying…but I can't ever wash the blood away, and it stays with me no matter what I do to even the score. Are you really ready to get blood on those delicate fingers of yours?"

To his surprise Kasumi reached out and cupped his hands within her own, smiling up at her and saying, "But these are also the hands of a healer, are they not, Doctor? You have used your knowledge of medicine to give comfort and to ease the suffering of those who are afflicted. You may have fought with these hands, but you are not a conscienceless killer, and if you had a choice between protecting the innocent or taking a life for selfish reasons…you know which way that you would choose, and so do I."

For a moment Frank seemed genuinely startled, but looking down into the radiant beauty before him, and then he looked down at the gentle hands that were clasping his own huge ones so softly, and he seemed visibly awed, even a bit intimidated by the soft glow of her benediction. For a moment he seemed even a little bit afraid of her, but then he seemed to relax and smiled, perhaps more moved by her kindness than his normally taciturn nature would suggest.

"Oneechan?" Nabiki asked, wondering if she were reading something into this that was not entirely…proper.

"Um…" Talbain shuffled a bit uneasily and said, "Maybe we oughta be moving on ahead. I mean…I don't think Dimitri or Jeddah have stopped their plotting to let us debate about the wisdom of fighting…"

"Wise words from you indeed, friend John."

"Eh?" Nabiki whirled about and saw the towering figure of Donovan Bane standing off to one side, accompanied (as always) by the twelve year old named Anita.

"Bane-san?" Keiko asked, "Have you been there waiting for us for very long?"

"Not long, Arigami-san," Donovan replied, turning a curious look towards Frank, who hastily removed his hands from Kasumi's grasp and turned an innocent stare off into the distance, "I came to find you once I felt the disturbance of your passage. You must accompany me now, the enemy is abroad and they are nearer to achieving their aims than you may imagine."

"How bad is it, Don?" Frank asked, reverting to a tone of all business.

"Bad," Donovan replied, "They are close to breaching the gap and summoning the Rakshasa."

"Not good," Talbain turned to the others and said, "This in-between zone is sort of like a transitional nexus for creatures that want to pass between one world and the next. If somebody opens a door to the wrong world…"

"We get the picture," Nabiki nodded, "So let's make haste, we've got a religious ceremony to break up, people."

"Yes," Kasumi replied, "By all means, let us prevent this evil from being released into our world."

"Easier said than done," Frank replied, nodding to Donovan, "If it was that simple you'd have done it by yourself, Don."

"You are correct on that, old friend," Donovan replied, "The enemy is better prepared than we had anticipated, and time is of the essence."

"Uh…" Ranma spoke up, nodding towards Anita, "Is it all right for the kid to come along? I mean, if Oneechan might be in danger of being attacked…"

"Do not worry about Anita," Donovan replied, "She will be safe, of that I am certain."

"No fooling about that," Talbain gave Ranma a sidelong glance, "Don't let her age and size fool you, Anita's got powers of her own that in many ways are stronger than the rest of us combined. Don thinks when she grows up she'll be a real firecracker, one even more powerful than him and Dimitri put together."

"That is if she grows up," Tatewaki said, "And if the enemy carries forth with their fiendish plans…"

"Then she won't be the only one who never gets to grow up," Mousse finished for him, "Every child on the planet will be in the same kind of danger."

"Then why are we standing around debating the propriety of violence?" Natsume asked, "Let us instead turn violence upon the enemy and see to it that they are the ones who most suffer."

"Can't argue with that, Sis," Nabiki said, nodding back to Donovan, "Lead the way, we're ready for action…"

"Hello, Reiko-san? It's me…Tofu Ono."

Doctor Tofu paused to hear the voice on the other end of the line respond with a much-surprised, "Tofu-sensei? But…what…?"

"I'm sorry if I'm calling you too late at night," Tofu replied, "I hope that I'm not imposing…"

"Oh no," the voice on the other end responded warily, "It's not too late…but…I'm just a little surprised. It's been…a few months since our parents arranged that meeting…"

"I know," Tofu replied, "And I'm sorry about not calling you earlier…it's just…the strangest thing, right out of the blue I felt an urge to call you. Isn't that odd?"

"Ah…yes…odd…indeed."

"But right now…well…" Tofu shrugged, "I was…well…kind of hoping that I might see you again. I hope it's not too abrupt for me to say this, but…well…I did enjoy our conversation that time we met. I've even been following your adventures on the wrestling circuit and I saw you win the Regional title…"

"You saw that?" the woman's voice became excited.

"Yes, you were very impressive," Tofu replied, "I was very proud for you, I know you worked hard to earn that."

"Tofu-sensei…you are too kind."

"No, not at all," Tofu smiled, "Anyway…I know it's kind of spur-of-the-moment, but I was wondering…would it be possible for you to make time to see me? Just to talk, nothing more than that…hello? Reiko-san, are you there?"

"I'll be right over!" she said enthusiastically, "You still have an clinic office out in the Nerima district?"

"Same place as before…hello?" Tofu blinked, "Hello? That's odd…she hung up. Oh my, I hope I didn't say thing to offend her…"

He put the receiver back down on its cradle then glanced up at the wall, reacting with a start at the time, "Oh my…is it that late already? I wonder if I've missed anything important. Odd…but I feel like I should be worried about Natsume-san for some strange reason. I do hope that she's all right…I haven't even had time yet to inform the Council…"

Tofu did some mental calculations, estimating the difference in time between Japan and England, then went to his main desk drawer and pulled out an old notebook to look up a certain number…

"Good thing the fight ended when it did," Natsumi said disgustedly as she examined her empty cartridge, "We're so out of bullets that we might as well have thrown our guns at those guys for all the good they would have done us."

"Quite true," Miyuki said, "But it was quite a battle that we were in, Natsumi-chan, and as it is we are most fortunate to have survived it."

"Indeed, you did quite well…for mortals," Leguire remarked as he finished checking the bodies, separating the dead from the merely incapacitated, "A pity the Queen has spoken against Turning you both over to our side…I suspect that you wold make a formidable team of Vampires…"

"I think they would prefer to remain as they are," Yasmina remarked, "Not every Breather dreams of being just like us, Jean, and these two would probably prefer to retain their options, much though it would be a shame to see such beauty fade with time, but all things must pass when it is their time."

"Ah…yeah," Natsumi said with a queasy expression.

"Thank you for the kind thought…but…" Miyuki gave a sheepish shrug.

"You'd still prefer to enjoy a sunrise or sunset together, eh?" Julian remarked, "Don't worry, the Queen's word is law in this timezone, and no law-abiding vamp is going to cross her word when her promise is given."

"So say we all," Miyu agreed.

"Even if none of us are very law abiding," Nagi tacitly reminded.

"At least no one was permanently hurt during the fighting," Soun remarked, "Though young Tatewaki did come closer to death than any of us would like."

"Yes, Tendo," Genma remarked, "Then your daughter wouldn't be marrying him and inheriting the Kuno fortune."

"Yes, but…WHAT?" Soun reacted, "Natsume…and Tatewaki…?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that?" Nodoka said with a sheepish grin, "Sorry about that, it sort of got lost in all the excitement…"

Muffled sound in the distance caused heads to turn, then Leguire said, "What are they doing over there? It sounds…almost painful."

"I think Queen Ling-Ko is busying herself working off her edge," Yasmina noted dryly.

"Indeed," Julian remarked, "And giving her cousins quite a workout in the process. I would not recommend disturbing them while Ling is getting rid of her pent-up frustrations."

"Better them than us," Leguire noted, turning to Julian and saying, "You surprise me, Fries…and here I thought your kind could not do battle on holy ground, yet you were there in the thick of things with the rest of us."

"Well, this is defiled holy ground," Julian remarked, "Doesn't carry the same onus…and besides, that proscription is mainly for dealing with other Immortals. Only those with the quickening need fear shedding blood on holy sites such as this one."

"How is that?" Natsumi asked.

"The quickening?" Miyuki wondered.

"It is said that Immortals cannot fight one another upon holy ground," Yasmina explained, "The only rule that applies to all of their kind, which even the most debased and wicked among them is compelled to honor."

"Indeed," Leguire noted, "I've always fought that rather curious about your kind, that you slaughter one another without reservations to steal the quickening power that gives you eternal life, yet you would refrain from doing violence even with a blood enemy in a church or consecrated place. How odd that even that debased coward, Sergei, would have respected that rule."

"Not so surprising when you consider what happens to those Immortals who break the proscription," Julian explained, "To the best of my knowledge it has happened one time and one time only when two Immortals hated one another enough that they were able to overcome the instinctive compulsion that governs all of us, and when they fought the results were…quite catastrophic."

"How serious a matter was this?" Yasmina asked.

"The scene of the battleground alone should tell the story on that," Julian said, "It happened three hundred years before my reign in a place known as Pompeii…"

"Oh," Leguire remarked, his eyes reflecting an immediate recognition of the implied meaning.

"Near as I can tell," Julian said, "The quickening reacts badly to certain environments, and once released in a holy area it can literally run out of control, especially if another Immortal is present. You've seen the fireworks that happened when I killed Sergei? Well…what happened at Pompeii was a thousand times worse than that, and Nerima itself might not have survived such an encounter."

"I…think we've heard enough about killing and dying for one night already," Natsumi sighed, "We're gonna catch hell if our superiors ever find out what went on in this place…"

"Especially our involvement, and why we had to discharge our weapons and exhaust three magazines a piece."

"Yeah, that's twenty-seven bullets now, plus the two magazines we shot off earlier," Natsumi calculated, "Which comes to about forty-five nine-millimeters each, and if somebody decides to do a forensics check to see where the ballistics came from…"

"Which reminds me," Miyuki glanced around, "Where are the police in this district? I can't imagine that we could have a free fire zone with lots of explosives going off and no one bothered to report it…"

A wind kicked up suddenly, causing all heads to turn to see a form rising up from the ground, a swirling cloud of bones that reassembled themselves and took the shape of the Zombie King, Raptor.

"Hey mates!" he cried, "Are you ready to rock and roll?"

Dead silence greeted him, and for a moment Raptor wondered at the reason, then slowly he began to take in the number of bodies laying on the ground, both mercenaries and HK zombies, then he did a slow pan and took in the group that was presently all chained up and gagged, then at the heroes looking at him with non-plussed expressions.

"Blimey…I'm late for the party, is that it?" Raptor guessed, slowly taking a wary stance as he saw Nodoka reach for her sword while Leguire and Yasmina were glaring in his direction. Soun and Genma seemed ready to make a point of it, with Natsumi and Miyuki giving the Zombie angry looks while Julian stood up and unsheathed his butterfly swords, clearly intending to make an issue of the matter. Miyu and her party looked up from where they had been engaged in a private conversation, all of them seeming quite annoyed as they took in Raptor's presence.

"Hokay…tough crowd," Raptor made a sniffing sound and said, "This party's so dead it's startin' to attract flies. Guess the boss took a powder to the other realm and left the lowlies behind to fend for themselves. No problem for me, though…Raptor's always been good for livening things up…in a dead kind of way."

He started strumming on his guitar, causing the heroes to reach for their ears and shy away, which was all the distraction he needed. Like that he spun about and reverted to his dervish form again, and then he went straight for the captive Darkstalkers and rounded them up into his vortex, then slipped in through the fold of time and vanished from the scene, leaving everyone else to stand around and gawk at their sudden passage.

"Where the heck did he…?" Natsumi started to say when all at once the sounds of police sirens flared, and floodlights blanketed the area, and there came the sound of a hundred rifles and handguns being cocked as black-suited figures popped up from all around them.

"FREEZE!" cried the collective voice of the heavily armored policemen.

"Oh wonderful," Miyuki sighed, "Now they show up…"

"Ah…" very slowly Genma and Soun began raising their hands, while Julian dropped his swords on the spot and Nodoka put away her katana.

Miyu made a quick hand-signal to her companions and they relaxed by a fraction, even Himiko putting away her favorite holy weapons.

"Princess?" Larva asked.

"Not yet," she said tensely, "Yui-chan…be ready."

"Mass hypnosis, Auntie?" the younger vampire princess asked of her blood sire.

"That would be my call," Nagi said, "Only…how do we hypnotize all of them at once?"

"Saotome?" Soun asked.

"Let's not make an issue of it just yet, Tendo-kun," Genma answered.

"All right then," a figure holding a bullhorn spoke up, "You people drop whatever weapons you have and keep your hands where we can see them or we'll open fire."

"But we're…!" Natsumi started to say when Miyuki hissed, "Don't tell them…you want this to get back to our department?"

"Eeep," the other policewoman winced.

"What to do?" Leguire glanced at Yasmina, "Their bullets will likely not harm us, but our allies…"

"Just play it cool, Jean," Yasmina said, "There may yet be a way out of this that does not involve further bloodshed...""

"Hey, look!" one of the policemen pointed, "What's that light-over there!?"

Heads turned to see the spot where Raptor and company had vanished, only now there was a different sort of radiance emanating from the timeslip...and this was not a wholesome feeling that it cast, for the feeling that came through was one of absolute…coldness…the coldness of the grave, or of something altogether…alien that was piercing through the veil.

"Uh oh," Julian murmured softly, "They're…here…!"

Continued

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