"Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been associated with long delays."
- Sun Tzu

"The main difference between being quick and being reckless is whether you win or lose; judgments like that are always made after the fact, I've noticed."
- Asuka Takami

Black Dragon Productions presents...
A Guardian sequel/spinoff...
Which also happens to be a Sailor Moon crossover...

All characters not created by me don't belong to me. Like, duh.
Knowledge of Guardian is required for full enjoyment of this fanfic. An unstable mind fueled by black rage and madness is NOT required, but recommended nonetheless.
Notes: Story may contain references to stuff in Guardian that haven't happened yet. To answer any and all inquiries to this effect, YES, that stuff will eventually happen.
Other Notes: Sounds, computer readouts, 'thoughts', (side comments)

Millennium
Chapter 10
The Phoenix Descends
********************************************************************

"I'm still not sure about this idea," Makoto said as she stripped off her shirt, stuffing it in an open, unused locker. On the door of the locker hung a shimmering evening gown of a deep, rich green, and a pair of matching pumps on the floor. "I mean, I'm normally all for charging headfirst into the enemy, but it seems to me that we're pretty much asking to be ambushed, here."

Asuka placed her body armor on the long bench running through the middle of the locker room, giving it a long, regretful look before turning toward her own dress: a black silk Chinese dress with an elaborate patchwork of vines and flowers stretched over it. "I usually prefer not to take things too quickly, but in this case time is of the essence," she explained as she unbuttoned her uniform. "Not only are the vampires quietly killing off innocent humans every night, but the longer we wait, the longer they have to regroup. They're more numerous than we are, and have the advantage of secrecy. When they attacked us, they were obviously surprised to find that we were more than competent defenders. The next time they came, they were small groups who acted independently and unintelligently. But if we give the vampires enough chances to learn from their mistakes, they will. I intend to take the battle to the enemy before they fully realize what they're up against."

On the other side of Makoto, Minako nodded as she admired herself - clad only in her black silk underwear - in a full-length mirror next to the locker she was using. Hanging from it's door was a strapless silver top and a miniskirt combo. "Look at it this way, Mako-chan: we got an excuse to go shopping, AND you get to go to a ritzy club with Ranma-kun!"

The taller girl grimaced as she adjusted her dress. "I was kind of hoping it would be, you know, a little more private? I really didn't want to deal with any man-eating monstrosities, either. Kills the mood. And your date."

"Well, I guess we could try and find the head vampire guy and let you and Ranma-kun eat dinner, or something," Usagi said uncertainly from behind Asuka. She had already changed into a long, flowing white gown that split on the sides mid-thigh, as she found out just minutes ago that whatever strange device that created the armored bodysuit could also synthesize a perfectly workable wardrobe at will. It was quite a handy ability, and one that she really wished she had been aware of before she had attacked Ranma for seeing her change.

Ami rubbed her head as she tried to recover her faculties lost in her earlier drinking binge. She was wearing a blue-striped blouse and a polka-dot miniskirt of the same color pattern, being much less fashion-conscious than any of the others. Also, she had been drunk at the time. "I think this is a little more important than that, Usagi-chan. Besides, Saotome-kun is on-mission. I'm almost POSITIVE there are regulations to consider."

"Focus, ladies, FOCUS," Asuka said, patting down her dress. "This is NOT an innocent night on the town. Although our enemy does not know we're coming, I have absolutely no reason to expect that we'll find him without getting into a fight somehow. Saotome and Kino will be following the rest of us, and they will be ready for combat." She crossed her arms over her chest as she made eye contact with Makoto. "That means keep your tongue out of his mouth until AFTER the mission is over."

Makoto frowned at the police captain. "So, what, now we take orders from you?"

Asuka raised an eyebrow at the taller girl. "That's a valid point. Tsukino!"

Usagi squeaked awkwardly and straightened. "Wh-What?"

"These people answer to you, right?" Asuka demanded, jabbing a thumb behind her at Makoto.

At Usagi's hesitant nod, Asuka pointed at her. "Despite being YOUR superior, as the rest of the Senshi aren't police officers, I have no authority over them. Thus, it will be YOUR responsibility to keep track of these girls, manage communication if we get separated, and direct their movements strategically. Got it?"

Usagi's face darkened. "What? Me? Why do I have to do all that?"

"Well, you ARE their leader," Asuka deadpanned, "that's a leader's job. What did you do before?"

"I mostly gave long speeches, finished off enemies when they were weak, and brought everyone else back to life after they all died," Usagi said honestly, scratching the side of her head.

The other Sailors winced. "Well, I guess I'll do what you say just for tonight," Makoto mumbled with a sweatdrop rolling down her head. Sure, she really did appreciate being resurrected, but would have much preferred to avoid death in the first place. Asuka seemed to be painfully hard-nosed and bossy, but she definitely had a better grasp of strategy than Usagi could have hoped for.

"Excellent. I think things will be much simpler that way." The police captain finished strapping a .45 caliber sidearm to her leg with a thigh holster, and then began strapping a combat knife to the other leg.

Minako winced. "Are you really going with that thing? What use is a gun on a vampire, anyway?"

"Regardless of how useful it is, it's suicide to walk into a situation like the one we're facing unarmed," Asuka countered evenly. "Of course, I do have three magical girls, a first-class cyborg, and a master martial artist to cover me, but I didn't survive this long by keeping my hands clean."

"Well, yeah, but you could at least find a matching holster instead of that ugly brown one. It really stands out like that," Minako reasoned, eliciting an annoyed twitch from the police captain.

Makoto shrugged. "I dunno, it could be good. Her legs are her best feature, don't you think?"

"I guess, but it doesn't do much good to draw a guy's attention there when they're just going to get scared off by the gun, you know?"

Ami cocked her head to the side as she observed Asuka's forlorn expression. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Asuka mumbled. "I'm just not used to being around normal girls, I guess. Or normal guys, for that matter. I can't remember the last time I've been involved in a conversation about fashion."

"Yeah, you do sort of have a crazy job," Makoto admitted as she spent a few final moments fussing with her hair. "I mean, sure, we fight monsters too, but you guys are hardcore."

"Such is the life of the intrepid police officer," Asuka mumbled. "Now are we ready to go or what?"

"Ready!" Minako and Makoto said at the same time, picking up their respective handbags.

Asuka nodded firmly and exited the locker room, stepping into the hall with the other women behind her.

"All right. Saotome, are you ready?" She called in the direction of the mens' locker room.

"Yeah, I'm right here," said a voice behind her.

Usagi promptly yelped at Ranma's sudden appearance and stumbled into an equally surprised Makoto, sending them both crashing to the floor in front of Ami.

"Gah! Too... heavy! Can't... breathe!"

"Ack! Sorry! Sorry! Oof!"

Ranma sweatdropped as he tugged Usagi off of her fellow Senshi and back onto her feet. "Geez, did I scare you that bad? Be more careful, all right?"

Asuka rolled her eyes, being more experienced with Ranma's sudden appearances and other quirks. "Stop messing around, Saotome. Are you ready to go?"

The pigtailed man was dressed in a full tuxedo and lace tie, and looked more like he was attending a wedding rather than a night club.

"Did you actually rent a tux for this?" Minako asked.

Ranma blinked. "No. This is my tuxedo."

"Not that I particularly care, but WHY would you own a tuxedo?" Asuka asked, looking him over. She had to admit that he looked good, but couldn't imagine someone like Ranma owning anything fancier than a proper sweater.

"There are all sorts of places you can't get into unless you're well-dressed," Ranma explained solemnly. "One of the tenets of my school of martial arts is to adapt to any environment in order to achieve victory. If that means following an opponent to a party or ball or even a wedding, I need to be prepared."

"Wouldn't it get messed up from fighting?" Makoto asked bluntly.

"Being really good at sewing is another tenet of my school of martial arts," Ranma continued, nodding. "We tend to be really poor, you see."

"Yeah, okay, great, shut up," Asuka said quickly. "Are you armed? I don't see your pistol on you."

"I've got it, don't worry," Ranma said, smirking. His smirk only twitched slightly when Makoto smoothly wrapped her arm around his, effectively securing herself to the pigtailed cop.

Asuka didn't see how Ranma could conceal the Jackal so easily, but quickly reasoned that concealing items too large to be easily concealed was one of the less impossible things she had seen Ranma do. "Okay, good. Let's move out, then. Saotome, you're with me. Kino-san and Tsukino will follow us as backup. Aino-san, you're in charge of keeping Ami-chan sober for the rest of the night."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Ami asked, indignant.

"It means that vampires are going to be the least of my problems," Minako murmured, looking miserable.

As Ami fumed about the slanderous exchange and Makoto sulked about having to stick with Usagi instead of Ranma, Usagi's brow creased as she looked around the hall.

"Are we the only ones going? What about the other officers?"

Asuka shrugged as she moved toward the exit. "This was a last-minute arrangement, so I couldn't get in touch with any of the people who would actually be useful. I can't imagine what Snake is doing right now, but it would seem that he's off the hook for combat duty tonight."


Braa-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah!

"GYAH! CUT IT OUT! STOP SHOOTING AT HIM!" Snake screamed, rolling desperately across the ground as bullets rained down upon him from a strategically placed portal. He eventually managed to roll under a nearby car, and he grit his teeth in frustration as he soon heard the sound of bullets impacting the vehicle exterior.

Rayden did as the American requested, frowning deeply at the vampire standing in the middle of the street grinning at them.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Come on, now! Don't give up so easily!" Kliff taunted, one hand in his pocket while the other was pointing to the shimmering pane of spacial disruption that was shielding him. "If you don't shoot, you'll never kill me! I haven't even shown you my full power yet!"

Kyle, who was still standing over minister Hikoshi, growled and tightened his grip on the heavy rifle he had gotten from Rayden, unable to figure out the strange mechanism by which bullets kept heading towards the vampire but hitting his allies.

"What's the matter? Have you insipid brutes given up already?" Kliff taunted, an infuriating grin on his face. "Humans and their guns. The moment a bullet can't solve all your problems, you really are helpless, aren't you?"

Kyle's combat instincts triumphed over his far weaker common sense, and he raised his weapon to aim at the cocky vampire's smiling face.

Blam! Predictably, the shell vanished en route to the target, and Rayden grunted as it zipped past him and stabbed into the ground, barely missing his back and blasting apart a portion of the street uselessly.

The super soldier hesitated only a moment before he grit his teeth and suddenly sprinted for the elder vampire, his weapon held securely over his shoulder.

"Yes! Come on, fight me! It's no fun if you don't struggle!" Kliff gloated, putting both hands in his pockets as the Russian leapt at him.

Shooft! The midian vanished as soon as Rayden punched for his face, and the gunman immediately turned around to block a sudden slash coming from behind. Skrak!

"Ha ha ha! Not too shabby!" Kliff cheered, his claws scraping against the hardened steel of Rayden's gun.

Shooft! The vampire vanished again just as Kyle attempted to bring a fist down onto his head, and the genetically altered blond barely managed to stop himself from stumbling into his vigilante ally.

Across the street, Kliff swiftly withdrew one hand from his pocket and thrust a punch directly forward into a smaller, plate-sized portal in front of him.

Thwock! Kyle staggered backward as a fist seemingly came out of nowhere and hit him in the nose, backing into Rayden.

The fist promptly disappeared as Kliff tugged his hand back, and then the elder vampire pointed at a random car parked in the street. Immediately, the car dropped down into the portal that had appeared below it, no longer having anything to resist the dread call of gravity.

It found new allies in that endeavor in Rayden and Kyle, both of whom grunted painfully when the car suddenly crashed down on top of them from a portal a mere ten feet above.

"These games grow tiresome," Rayden growled, pushing himself upright as Kyle shook his head.

Kliff raised an eyebrow as he watched the Russian man shove the car off of himself with ease, and cracked his knuckles. "Heh. You're a tough one, aren't you? Killing you will take time..." the vampire swept one hand forward in a shimmering arc, and Rayden flinched back as he felt something slash across his back. "Luckily, I have all night to finish you off! Don't give up, now!"

Kyle rubbed his head anxiously as the German vampire taunted them. "R-Rayden-san, what should we do? We can't hit him!"

"This is your area of expertise, is it not?" Rayden said as he readied Judgment, looking for an opportunity to fire. "Why do you look to me for the solution?"

"I don't know how to deal with this!" The blond man complained, leaping out of the way as another car suddenly came crashing down from above. "If Captain Takami were here, she'd know what to do! Or... Or Ranma! He'd take care of this!"

"Well, barring the appearance of any deus ex machina, we must find a way to fight back!" Rayden shouted, lurching back and forth as a number of slashes originated from portals all around him.

"Damn you!" The gunman snarled, raising Judgment and switching the weapon from its machine gun to its cannon.

Clank! The Russian blinked as a piece of metal rebar suddenly appeared and stuck itself into the back of the massive weapon, jamming the hammer.

"Now, now... that toy is a bit too dangerous to be playing with in civilian territory, don't you think?" Kliff said, kicking another length of rebar from the ground up into his hand.

Kliff thrust the second piece through another portal, and Kyle barely managed to grab it in time as it appeared barely a foot away and stabbed at his throat.

Clink! The vampire turned sharply as he heard something metal bounce on the ground, and then quickly created a new portal to catch the frag grenade that was bouncing toward him, ejecting it behind the parked truck where Snake was taking cover.

Snake grinned as the grenade tumbled out onto the sidewalk at his feet, and then swiftly kicked it back where it came from.

"Gotcha, freak!" The weapons expert exulted, turning to watch as the grenade came back out of the portal that had been originally used to intercept it... and then bounced across the street back toward its owner. "Oops."

BOOM!

Kliff turned just in time to redirect a shot from Kyle's heavy rifle, and Rayden shouted painfully as the massive bullet appeared seemingly from nowhere and stabbed into his back, sending the super soldier to his knees.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Do you see? Do you see now how useless your resistance is? The 'great and feared DAPC' is NOTHING before the might of the nosferatu!" Kliff crowed, stepping forward onto a car as he advanced on Rayden and Kyle's position.

Kyle stepped back awkwardly, glancing back at Tokyo's finance minister, who was watching the battle in a state of shock and disbelief. Then his gaze turned back onto the vampire. "I'm sorry, but we can't lose here," he confided, speaking in that calm, rational tone that he always used when conversing with his targets. "We have someone to protect, you see. The captain wouldn't like it."

Kliff snorted and barely choked back a laugh as he walked up the length of the vehicle onto the hood, moving closer to the pair of mutants. "That's adorable. Really. But if you recall, you can't hit me, and your allies are both injured."

A cough came from the side, and Kliff lolled his head to the side negligently as Snake staggered out into the street, blood trickling from his forehead and his left leg. The Texan was smirking, which might have disturbed Kliff had the man's last idea not failed so completely.

"Ah, but if YOU recall, that's the car I rolled under earlier," Snake said, tightening his grip on a small cylinder in his hand.

The vampire raised an eyebrow. "I fail to see-" BWA-BOOM!!


Suffice to say, Kliff's snotty retort was lost in the expenditure of two pounds of high-grade plastic explosives combined with the fuel tank of a 2002 Mitsubishi, along with all the mass that usually accompanied such objects.

Both Rayden and Kyle shielded their eyes as pieces of automobile and vampire flew past them, trailing smoke and flame.

Turning, Rayden immediately focused onto the torso of the unholy creature. "There! Destroy it!" He shouted, grabbing the chunk of metal stuck in his gun and trying to wrench it out of the firing mechanism.

Kliff's scorched body, which was now bereft of both legs and half of one arm, glowed ominously despite the fire licking at his flesh. "Guh! You... Ah!"

The midian's torso trembled as it floated up into the air, and Kyle gasped as he watched the missing limbs materialize in flashes of otherwordly light next to the severed joints.

"You... You will PAY for that!" The nosferatu snarled, his eyes flaring a brilliant red. "I will-"

BWOOM! Kliff was once again reduced to several small chunks as Rayden's cannon shell pounded his levitating chest, sending flaming undead bits showering all over the sidewalk.

"What are you waiting for?" Rayden shouted at Kyle, who flinched back.

"But if we shoot, then those portals-"

"His concentration is broken!" The vigilante shouted, "Fire now!"

Unsure of what, exactly, he should be firing at with the vampire reduced to bits, Kyle took aim at a burning leg and fired, splitting apart the hapless limb and splattering it all over the street.

Spluck! Rayden stomped on a hand that was writhing on the ground near him, and then scanned the streets for any sign of the head or torso, which contained the midian's most precious organs.

"Skreee!" All at once, the darkness of the ground seemed to come alive as the pieces of vampire exploded in a flurry of fur and flesh.

"Whoa!" Kyle leapt back as the wave of bats shot up into the sky, fluttering all around him in a leathery cyclone. "What the heck?"

"Damnation! Fire! It's getting away!" Rayden screamed as he switched Judgment back into machine gun mode.

"There's too many!" Kyle complained as he grabbed one of the fleeing mammals out of the air and squashed it in his hand, which he reasoned was no less effective than trying to shoot them down with an anti-armor rifle. The creature immediately turned to green vapor in his hand, rapidly dissipating away into nothing.

Braa-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah!

Rayden grit his teeth as a swath of green lit up the night sky, his effort and ammunition taking out a tiny fraction of the swarm.

Before the vigilante could come up with a new strategy, however, the bats all converged in a single spot, and then suddenly vanished in a bright green flare of light.


Thud! Rayden planted his weapon on the ground as he fell to one knee, his face slightly more grim than usual. "We... We have failed..."

"Yeah. Boo hoo. Poor us," Snake muttered, limping over to the pair of super-soldiers while using Rayden's shotgun as a crutch. "Of course, we're all still alive, so I'm going to call this a minor victory for team human."

"Snake! Are you okay?" Kyle asked fearfully, rushing over to his subordinate.

"I'll be fine as soon as I find something to dig the shrapnel out of my leg," the American muttered. "But that can wait. How's our guest?"

Hikoshi, surprisingly, was rising to his feet, though he looked quite shaken by what he had just gone through. "I... I'm fine..." the man said, as if in wonder that it was true.

"Excellent. Let's get you home," Snake said, yawning. "Then it's off to the emergency room for me."

Rayden stood up, frowning. "It is good that this man you placed in danger is safe, but what of our target?"

"Who cares?" Kyle asked. "We killed the one you were chasing, and we beat the other one, even if he did get away."

"I am concerned by the sudden appearance of such a powerful midian," the Catholic gunman explained. "Judging by the lack of other vampires attacking, he was not part of a greater attack upon us. Why was he here? Why would he risk his life to assault us alone when he could have escaped without alerting us at all?"

"I hate to say this under any circumstances, but I agree with the commander," Snake said, yawning. "Who cares? We ARE his enemy, after all. All that matters at this point is that we won."

"S-Sorry to interrupt," Hikoshi said timidly, standing up straight. "But... that... that thing. Do you... Do you really fight things like that all the time?"

Snake raised an eyebrow and looked at Kyle. "Like that? Well, he was a cut above your garden variety freak, but in general, yeah, that is the sort of thing we deal with. Why?"

The finance minister staggered backward, stunned. "That... That's insane! How have you survived?"

Rayden shrugged. "It is difficult to say, but I can assure you that competence has little to do with it." Snake stuck out his tongue at the gunman.

"I had... I had no idea," Hikoshi mumbled as he stepped up to Snake.

"Yeah, well, all told, it's better that way," the Texan said, not sure where the official was going with all this. Considering the man's earlier behavior, Snake naturally assumed he'd be even more furious after the danger had passed, but the old man seemed almost... chastened.

Rayden looked around the streets, frowning. "We should hurry. There is no telling what else is out here, and we are injured."

"Right, right. Let's get out of here."


"In here! Come on!" Rei shouted, kicking open the door to a storage garage.

Tsuna followed the raven-haired woman dubiously, constantly glancing around her. "Do you know where you're going? What are we even running from?"

"That's a question I'd prefer not to know the answer to, if I can avoid it," Rei groused, grabbing the other girl's arm and leading her further into the dark building. "There's something out there... and hopefully, it's more interested in that gunfire that we heard earlier than it is in us."

Rei opened the door at the end of the garage, and opened it silently before slinking down the dark hallway, conspiracy journalist in hand.

"Hino-san, how can you even see?" Tsuna complained. "It's pitch black in here!"

Rei hissed quietly as she heard a sudden scuff of shoes against tile that wasn't from her or Tsuna. "Well, then... let's get some light!"

Fzash! Tsuna shouted in surprised as a sudden flare of light came from Rei's hand, blinding her.

Rei frowned deeply as she held up the glowing Shinto talisman that she had snatched from her purse. Two men had stopped dead only a few meters away down the hall, covering their eyes from the sudden brightness.

"What a lousy ambush. If it's this easy to catch you by surprise, why even bother?" Taking out two more talisman wards from her purse, Rei threw them at her attackers, smirking as they sailed straight through the air and then stuck themselves onto the men's faces.

"Hrgh! Wha th' 'ell?" "C-Can't... move!" Both of the men twitched as their muscles locked up in place, unable to do much more than tremble.

Rei clicked her tongue. "Vampires. Damn."

"Wh-What? How do you know?" Tsuna asked, startled.

In response, the part-time priestess grabbed one of the vampires' cheek, stretching it away from the teeth to reveal unnaturally pointed fangs. "There's a big hint. So what're you weirdos doing here? Kind of a lonely place to be hunting for food."

One of the midians managed to force his lips into a crude, uncertain smile. "We're not... hunting for food... W-We've got... a m-much better t-target," he managed to stutter out.

As Rei glared down at the paralyzed vampire, Tsuna leaned forward to stare at the intricate drawing on the talisman. "Hino-san, what are these slips of paper?"

"They're Shinto wards," Rei replied tensely. "I was a shrine maiden all through high school. They're effective against all sorts of monsters."

"Even vampires?" Tsuna asked in wonder.

"Yeah," Rei sighed, slapping another talisman onto Tsuna's back, "even vampires."

Gzrk! "EEYAAH!!" Tsuna screamed as a sudden jolt of pure agony ran up and down her spine, and she collapsed in a heap a moment later.

Rei's eyes were stern, but somewhat shaky as she stared at Tsuna's gaping mouth, and the pointed, needle-like fangs that had replaced her ordinary incisors. "Unbelievable," she spat. "You too? You're part of this too?"

"W-Wait!" Tsuna said weakly, coughing as she felt the effects of the ward start to diminish. "Please! I had no choice! They took me by surprise! I have to obey them! It's like mind control!"

Rei's expression didn't change. "They got to you so fast, too... why? What are they after, Tsuna?"

"You haven't-ugh-figured that out yet?" One of the paralyzed vampires said through clenched teeth. "We're after you!"

"Well, that would have been my first guess," Rei allowed, not taking her eyes off Tsuna, "but that kind of begs the question of why a bunch of monsters would want me so badly. I mean, seriously? Turn one of my friends and then lead me into an ambush? I'm flattered, but I'd think that you'd all have better things to do."

Tsuna turned over so that she was no longer lying on her belly, though she made no threatening movements. "Hino-san... you're Sailor Mars, aren't you?"

Rei raised an eyebrow. "What? Sailor Mars? What are you talking about?"

Tsuna shook her head. "You can't fool me so easily, Hino-san. I've known for a while now, or at least suspected for a while. Why do you think I sought you out to begin with? Corroborating rumors is my specialty, you know?"

"Yeah, and look at where it got you," Rei spat. "So, you sold out my secrets and lured me into a trap. Anything else I have to look forward to? Are you keeping my family hostage in the next room, too?"

Tsuna winced at the acid in the taller girl's voice. "I told you, I can't help it! I have no free will anymore; if they say jump, my body just jumps!"

"I've had enough of this," Rei growled, turning away from Tsuna and walking past the two paralyzed vampires. "Nagase, I suggest you pick up whatever scraps of willpower you have left and run. I'm going to need a little while to sort this all out, but I'm pretty sure that 'Sailor Mars' won't be too happy to see you if you ever meet her face to face."

Tsuna shook her head. "Hino-san, please! Be reasonable! There's more of us waiting! There's no way to escape! We don't want to hurt you, but if-"

"Reasonable? REASONABLE?!" Rei snapped, her eyes flashing. "I'm surrounded by... by murderous, blood-sucking, filthy animals who know my most dangerous secrets, and you want me to be reasonable?" The feeling of anger, betrayal and regret that had been building rapidly ever since sensing Tsuna's undeath reached a peak, and Rei's henshin rod was in her hand with a snap of her wrist. "Maybe it's just the company I've been hanging around lately, but right now, burning you all to cinders seems real reasonable."

"Wh-What? Wait! Not yet!" One of the paralyzed vampires shouted, doubling his effort to move.

Rei's eyes narrowed at Tsuna, who gulped nervously and started crawling away backwards. "Nagase, consider your rumor 'corroborated'. Mars crystal power, make up!"


"Wow, this is a really nice place," Minako said, whistling softly as she got out of the taxi van and stared at the entrance to the Gintoshi Night Club.

The entrance was an elegant array of gilded steel poles and glass, and sat under a whirlwind of colored lights that managed to look both festive and dignified. Every few seconds, a couple dressed in impeccably costly outfits would exit their vehicles and hand their keys to the valet before meeting with the obscenely muscular bouncer manning the door previous to being allowed in.

Asuka took a moment to appreciate that most of the couples seemed to consist of old, balding men and woman forty years younger than them, and then shelved her feminism to give the mission at hand her full concentration. "All right, is everybody ready?"

"So, how are we going to get in?" Makoto asked as they approached the club. "Do you just flash your badge?"

Asuka shook her head. "Of course not. Being a cop doesn't give you free license to go anywhere you'd like. I can't force them to let me in legally without probable cause and a warrant. Besides, it would cause an uproar, and we're trying to be inconspicuous here."

"Are you going to bribe the bouncer, then?" Ami asked, looking worried.

"Again, not great for avoiding attention. Plus, it's expensive," the police captain explained as she led the others past the entrance toward the parking lot behind the structure.

Minako raised an eyebrow. "Uh... where are we going?"

"Hold that thought," Asuka mumbled as they stepped into the parking lot, where the rear of the building was visible. In the center of the rear wall was a single reinforced door which had another butler leaning against it, puffing on a cigarette.

Asuka frowned. "Saotome, what's this guy about?"

Ranma shrugged. "Definitely a vampire. Nothing scary, though." He mumbled as they all approached the door, alerting the man.

Asuka's frown turned into a grimace. "Ugh, and a smoker, too. Make it painful, Saotome," she ordered, drawing a line across her throat with her thumb.

The bouncer turned toward the group, his eyes narrowing as the only male among them suddenly picked up his pace to get to meet him first. "Hey, you can't come this way, you have-"

The man stopped speaking mid-sentence as the pigtailed fellow in the tuxedo suddenly bolted into the air and rebounded off the wall of the club before vanishing in a blur of motion.

"Wh-What? Where did..." the confused guard turned around to glance behind him, and thus didn't see as Ranma suddenly fell straight down in front of him instead, kodachi in hand.

Sshlk! The girls other than Asuka winced as Ranma plunged the blade into the bouncer's chest, causing the much larger man to gasp painfully and fall to his knees.

"Painful it is," Ranma said semi-regretfully, holding a hand over the vampire's mouth as he twisted his weapon while it was still lodged in his victim's heart.

Ami and Usagi looked away as the hapless guard let out a muffled scream of agony, and both sighed as he turned to dust.

"Damn girl, that was a bit harsh, don't you think?" Makoto asked, raising an eyebrow.

Asuka shrugged. "If I have to spend a few minutes standing around in his stupid toxic smoke cloud, then I think it's only fair that his death be slightly longer and more painful than it has to be. Tsukino!" She said suddenly, snapping her fingers.

"Y-Yes!" Usagi said immediately, straightening reflexively.

"Rip this door! Saotome, find the valet and neutralize him, if you can. We don't want anyone investigating the rear entrance, and we want to discourage more civilians from entering the club."

Ranma nodded and promptly dashed back around the corner of the building as Usagi stepped up to the door.

"Hmmmm..." the blonde cyborg frowned and raised her hands, her index fingers each opening up into strange, delicate-looking tools; her left finger resembled a soldering iron, except wide and flat, while her other was a long, thin rod with several whirling spines near the end of it.

"Uh... should I break the lock, or pick it?" Usagi wondered aloud.

Asuka crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, do you have any experience in picking locks?"

Usagi shook her head no; the most subterfuge she'd ever done was magical disguises.

"Okay. Do you have any experience cutting things with searing hot energy?"

Usagi nodded happily.

"Well then, stick to what you know," Asuka said simply, feeling more pleased than annoyed for once when Usagi grinned and got to work.

Makoto looked about the parking lot pensively. "Are you sure we should be sneaking in like this? What if we get caught?"

Asuka looked grim as she responded. "Then we should be prepared to fight. Ultimately we're here for information, which can come from files or people." She shook her head. "For now, just concentrate on blending in. Ami-chan, you and Aino-san will start searching the offices. Search for any paperwork that has to do with the patrons, or any strange or unique problems involving the patrons. Tsukino, Kino-san, you're with me and Saotome. First we'll help secure the offices, and then we're going to scour the actual club to search for targets, and run interference on anyone trying to get to the back."

"Right!" Usagi said brightly, smiling as she finished cutting through the lock bolt. "It's open!"

A moment later, Ranma suddenly fell straight down onto the asphalt, seemingly from nowhere, though this time he landed in front of the girls so as not to scare anyone.

"Saotome, how's that valet?" Asuka asked.

"Taking a nap. He'll be fine when he wakes up, though," Ranma assured her.

The police captain nodded. "Then let's get in there. Remember everyone, if you get caught, try to contact me or bluff your way out, but don't be afraid to take someone down if you have to. Still, discretion is the name of the game here. Move out."


The inside of the club was no less impressive than the outside, with even the offices being built with ornate oaken doors and filled with fine antiques for decoration. In place of efficient filing cabinets and bulky desktops, the offices had rows of hardwood drawers for storing documents, and wireless keyboards typed in commands on wide plasma screens built into the walls. Every square foot of the building was layered in wealth and opulence, testament to the enormous success and power of its owner.

Though all told, it was hard to feel exceptionally successful and powerful when your bodyguards were on the floor unconscious and a blonde girl half your size had you in a headlock.

"Let go of me, damn you! Do you have any idea who I am?" The large, portly owner shouted, struggling fiercely under Usagi's arm. Ranma stood near the entrance to the main office, frowning at the guards.

"No, actually, we don't," Asuka admitted, walking up to the man casually and then leaning over to rest her elbows on his desk. "And we don't really care. We're here for someone else, and you can either help us find him, or we can just knock you out and ransack your little club until we get what we want."

"I'll never help you!" The owner growled. "Release me!"

Usagi, for her part, looked rather nervous, not being used to playing the part of the common muscle in any of her previous adventures. "Asuka-chan, are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Address me as CAPTAIN," Asuka snapped, "and don't use my name in front of this clown! I don't want any trouble from him later!"

"Oh, you won't get trouble from me," the owner spat, "I have friends though. Lots of friends. Just thinking of all the things they could do with a bunch of uppity broads like you, why..." He started grinning vindictively, and Minako and Makoto both shuddered in disgust.

Asuka was unperturbed. "Friends, eh? Would one of these friends be a man called Ran?"

"And what if he is?" The owner snorted. "You wanna mess with him? You're out your mind, lady."

The police captain tried to suppress a smile as the conversation shifted perfectly to suit her. "Oh? Why's that? What's he going to do to us?"

"I have no idea," the owner said with a grin, "but whatever it is, you won't be heard from ever again. NOBODY messes with Ran and survives. Police, Yakuza, agents, nobody. The guy might as well be a magician, because anyone he doesn't like just up and disappears."

"And you don't know where they disappear to? Or what happens to them?" Asuka turned her body and shifted herself to sit on the desk, trying to get more relaxed as the conversation shifted away from being a strict interrogation.

"I don't know, and his people won't say. But he's dangerous, and for some reason, people don't seem to know that he's dangerous."

Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why not?"

The owner shrugged as best he could. "He's not real famous, for some reason. I think it's 'cause he doesn't run any major businesses, but people usually don't realize he's a big deal until their bodyguards are found in pieces in the parking lot."

"And you don't have a problem with wholesale murder going on in your premises?" Asuka deadpanned.

"There's not much I can do about it," the owner explained. "In this business, sometimes you have to cut deals with some real sketchy folk, and I'm in no hurry to get on the guy's bad side." Then his eyes narrowed. "Besides, it's not like he's done anything to me personally. Like, say, manhandling me in my own office."

Asuka rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop your whining. Now tell us-"

"Excuse me," Ranma asked suddenly, interrupting the discussion, "quick question: does this Ran person provide you with all your guards?"

The hostage of the night blinked. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

The girls also turned to stare at Ranma curiously, thinking the same thing.

Ranma pointed at the "unconscious" man on the floor at his feet. "Every guard we've run into so far has been a vampire, including the bouncer at the front."

The owner raised an eyebrow. "They're what?"

Before anyone could answer his question, the man at Ranma's feet suddenly lashed out to grab Ranma's leg, barely missing as the pigtailed cop hopped back out of reach.

Both guards promptly leapt to their feet, realizing that they'd lost their chance to ambush the intruders as well as the secret of their species.

Much to the vampires' confusion, no one but their employer seemed at all worried about their sudden recovery. Most of the girls just looked upset, while the blue-haired woman seemed almost bored.

Asuka snapped her fingers and then pointed sharply at Ranma so that she wouldn't have to use his name. "Kill them. Quietly."

Ranma nodded, his expression the picture of neutral disinterest. Both midians hesitated at the calm exchange, each having a sinking feeling that they had lost all control of the situation.

Minako frowned at the gaping club owner, staring at him critically. "So, is this guy human, at least?"

"Yeah, he is," Usagi confirmed, having checked with her scanners already.

"What? What are you talking about?" the man asked nervously. "What's going on? Of course I'm human. What else would I be?"

Splurk! One of the guards' heads tumbled onto the floor, and a moment later the body teetered over and fell against the wall, collapsing into dust against a fan of splattered blood.

Asuka shook her head at the owner's sudden distress. "If you don't even know that much, I doubt you have any information that would help us. We're here to find answers, not give them." She glanced at Usagi. "Do it."

Click! Usagi's wrist popped open to reveal a pair of metal prongs, and a ribbon of electricity flared between them briefly before the cyborg jammed the taser into the owner's back.

GZAKK! "GYEEAGH!" Thud!

"Hurk!" Thud! Ranma took out a rag from his pocket and started cleaning the blood off of his weapon as the second body began to disintegrate. "Guards're dead."

"Excellent, now we just need to-"

Asuka's orders were interrupted as Ami suddenly stood up, holding several papers from the files she had been searching through the entire time. "Found it! I think we've got a target!"

"Really? What is that?" Minako asked, rushing over behind the genius Senshi.

"Just a few bill receipts for some catering and entertainment services, signed for by Ran, no apparent surname." She winked. "Complete with address. Pretty important if you're going to send people there, obviously. Looks like he has a penthouse uptown."

"Fantastic," Asuka said, smirking. 'Wow, it's been a while since I've said that without sarcasm.' "Okay, we've got a location, but I'd prefer more. Ami, see if you can crack this guy's computer and check the employment records. I'd like to know how many of Ran's thugs he's contracting out, so as to have a better idea of how many he has available for guard duty elsewhere. Also check the supply channels. An establishment like this may be useful for routing supplies for the vampire factory clubs."

Ami nodded and brought out the Mercury computer, walking over to the owner's desk.

"Aino-san, check the other rooms back here for anything useful, and be ready to go Senshi or whatever in case we need backup. The rest of you are with me."

Makoto frowned as she stepped gingerly around the puddles of blood slowly seeping into the carpet. "We're still going to search for this Ran guy now that we know where he lives? What if he's not even here?"

"He's here," Ranma said suddenly, his voice sounding strangely bereft of its normal casual cockiness. "Or at least, I hope it's him I'm sensing. I'd hate to think that there's an even stronger vampire out there somewhere."

Asuka's expression turned grim. "Let's go. And remember..." she turned back toward the others going with her. "DO try to be civil, won't you? Sure, he's a murdering, demonic scumbag, but this is still too classy a joint to go in there with guns blazing, okay?"

"I'm glad we didn't take Snake with us," Ranma murmured. Makoto and Usagi nodded solemnly.


The section of the club that catered to guests was separated into two main sections: a lounge with many open tables, a large dance floor, and wild music playing on the bottom floor, and a dimly lit series of small secluded booths on the second floor. Both areas featured huge glass statues among fountains and artificial waterfalls, and had waitresses in scandalously short-skirted outfits taking orders and flirting with the men that hadn't come with any company.

The first floor catered to individuals that had come to have fun and socialize, and Asuka and Usagi quickly started circling the tables, searching for their prey while occasionally brushing off men that invited them to their tables.

Makoto, naturally, had latched onto Ranma and dragged him upstairs as fast as she could; that section of the club catered to couples who wanted a little more seclusion so they could talk and fondle each other in private.

"Man, this really is a nice place," Ranma said, a bit awed by the environment. He had seen a few mansions in his time, but they had all been old, rickety tributes to fortunes that had mostly collapsed; nothing the Kunos had ever built compared to this.

"Hey, can you tell where that vampire guy is?" Makoto whispered, frowning at the numerous curtains that kept people from peeking into the booths.

Ranma concentrated for a moment, then shrugged. "Not really, no... When you have an aura like this guy, the power just kind of... floats around, I guess. I know he's close, but not exactly where."

"Oh. How unfortunate," Makoto said disingenuously. "I guess we'll just have to take a booth ourselves and wait to hear from Usagi-chan, then."

"What?" Ranma mumbled as he found himself suddenly dragged inside and seated on one of the plush booth seats.

Dense as he was sometimes, Ranma caught wind of Makoto's intentions immediately when she sat down right next to him, practically in his lap, when there was an empty seat on the opposite side of their table.

"L-Listen, Makoto-san-" Ranma began.

"Call me Mako-chan," Makoto corrected him, speaking in a perfectly sultry voice.

"Right... uh... Mako-chan. Listen, now really isn't the time for this, you know?" Ranma offered, tugging his pigtail nervously in a gesture that Makoto found absolutely adorable.

"Oh, okay. When would be a good time? If we search for five minutes and don't find anything, can we come back?"

Ranma sweatdropped. "That's not what I... er..." He cleared his throat for a moment, and then looked away. "Look, I can tell you like me, and I guess it's nice and all, but..."

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "But what?"

"But I'm not really looking for romance in my life right now, okay? And, well... I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you weren't hanging off of me or anything." Ranma admitted fully, sighing.

Makoto's head jerked back, as if the idea repulsed her. "Not... looking for... romance? What?" To Makoto, love (or at least the satisfaction of shallow lust) was one of a person's top five basic needs, right after food and water, and barely beating out sleep. The idea that someone would NOT want romance or sex when it was practically handed to them was utterly bizarre to her. "Are you getting over a breakup or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Ranma said, shifting slightly as Makoto gave him some more space on the seat. "It's just not important to me. In fact, having a girlfriend could be kind of annoying right now; I have a really dangerous job, and it takes a lot of time and concentration. I can't be dealing with all the dating and fighting and drama."

Makoto mulled that over for a moment. While certainly strange, from her perspective at least, Ranma did have a point. "So what? It's not like we have to see each other all the time. It could be a more casual thing, you know?"

Ranma grimaced. "No good. If I get close to a girl, she's just going to get kidnapped, and then I'll have to go rescue her. I have enough to deal with, what with all the terrorists and vampires and stuff."

Makoto raised an eyebrow. "Ranma-kun, that's ridiculous. I'm not going to get kidna-"

Before the ponytailed girl could even finish that sentence, a hand suddenly darted in through the curtain shielding the booth, grabbed Makoto around the bicep, and then yanked her out of her seat onto the lounge floor, eliciting a breathless squeak from the surprised Senshi.

Ranma's eye twitched. "It starts..."


Sliding reluctantly out of his seat, Ranma exited the booth and promptly found the villain who had captured his not-quite-involved-but-definitely-interested-acquaintance. It was one of the waitresses, a rather small and wiry-looking woman, but she had a firm hold on Makoto and firmly registered as a vampire to his senses.

"Seriously now, what do you think you're doing?" Ranma asked dangerously, keeping his voice low enough so that the club's patrons wouldn't be able to hear. "Do you really think you can kill her faster than I can kill you? Lose the girl or lose the arm."

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, kiddo," the vampiress said, smirking. "I'm not here to hurt anyone. Let's not do anything rash."

"It's a little late for that," Makoto said acidly. "Grabbing me like that? Pretty rash."

"Listen up: Lord Ran knows you're here, and wishes to speak with you," the waitress said, snickering. "So whether you leave this place alive tonight is between you and him, no matter what happens to me."

Makoto looked over her shoulder at the vampiress nervously, and then glanced toward Ranma.

Ranma hesitated for a moment, and then visibly relaxed. "Well, if that's the case, you shoulda just said so. We'll go with you. Just let her go, alright?"

"As long as you don't try to run," the waitress said, shoving Makoto away. "It's useless anyhow."

Ranma quickly caught Makoto as the brunette nearly stumbled over, and the both of them glared harshly at the waitress as she turned around.

"Are we really going?" Makoto whispered as she stood up on her own.

"Well, she's willing to show us what we came here for, so I guess it's the best we can do," Ranma reasoned. "It's hardly an ambush, but I need to see this guy face-to-face."

Makoto nodded timidly as Ranma followed the undead waitress, glancing around at the few patrons who were paying attention to the minor scuffle. 'I hope Usagi and Asuka find their way up here; I have a feeling we're going to need them!'


Asuka was, at the moment, thoroughly occupied with some hefty mental calculations, and totally unaware that Ranma and Makoto had more or less located their objective.

Specifically, she was weighing Snake's psychotic tendencies and Kyle's stupidity against a newfound flaw of Usagi's: her appetite.

Half the patrons on the first floor were now staring in wonder and horror as the blonde decimated the buffet table, cleaning serving trays one after another and then emptying the food into her mouth right there at the buffet line.

'On the one hand, Snake would have definitely burnt or exploded something by now. On the OTHER hand, he would have probably completed a mission objective at the same time. Now Kyle would have definitely blown our cover by now, but he would do it in such a ridiculously moronic way that we could easily pass it off as a joke. Hmmm...'

"Chomp! Asuka-chan! Gulp! You HAVE to try the priscoo... the priscottage... the pros... this ham-like stuff! It's great!" Usagi cheered, her smile nearly splitting open her face.

"And how would I DO that, considering you just stuffed the last of it down your throat?" Asuka growled quietly. "And call me Captain, damn it!"

Usagi blinked, then gave an embarrassed shrug before shifting over to the next plate.

"Tsukino, I'm serious!" The police captain hissed. "You're attracting way too much attention! Did you forget everything I said about discretion?"

The ponytailed cyborg winced. "But it's not like I'm doing anything out of the ordinary..."

"What are you, kidding me? Is your mouth an actual garbage disposal? I've never even seen Saotome or Tekai eat like that!" Asuka moved closer and took hold of Usagi's arm, pulling her away from the food. "Aren't you mostly robot, anyway? How come you need to eat so much?"

Usagi lowered her head and pushed her index fingers together awkwardly. "I'm not really sure... Ami-chan said it had to do with my... uh... bio-spasmic reactors, or... or something like that."

"Oh, whatever," Asuka mumbled, sighing. "Just stop eating for now and help me search, okay? You're the one with the scanners."

"Pardon me."

Asuka glanced behind her at the request, and quickly looked over the woman who had asked for her attention. She was relatively tall, with long, platinum-colored hair, and a face that was mature yet free of any indication of age. She was wearing a silvery, shining evening gown that just barely contrasted to her hair, and a large silk mantle was wrapped around her neck.

Asuka frowned as she finished her assessment, and then glanced at Usagi.

Usagi had frozen absolutely stiff, and her hair was sticking straight out like bundles of iron rods (which they might have been, for all Asuka knew).

Asuka turned back toward the woman. "I take it my friend here knows you?"

Kimiko smiled gently. "Yes, we've met. Under rather trying circumstances, might I add. My name is Kimiko."

"No surname?" Asuka asked.

"No surname," Kimiko replied, her expression remaining utterly calm and unassuming.

Asuka crossed her arms under her breasts. "I see. And what can we do for you, a nosferatu?"

The elder vampiress didn't flinch in the slightest. "I want you to come with me. My master wishes to speak with you."

"Your master wouldn't happen to be some jerk named Ran, would he?" Asuka asked directly.

Kimiko nodded slightly. "Yes. I see you were expecting him. He would be most pleased if he could speak to you in person, before engaging in any pointless battles."

Asuka frowned, rubbing her chin. "Well... I really did want to get the pointless battle over with first, and then speak to him, preferably as his body was slowly withering away into dust on the ground..." She sighed and then shrugged. "But what the hey, since he invited us..."

Kimiko sweatdropped. "R-Right... if you'll follow me..."

As the vampiress turned around, Asuka poked Usagi in the side. "Hey. Hey, snap out of it. We're going."

A brief puff of steam came out of Usagi's ears, and she shook her head desperately. "A-Asuka-chan! That woman! She's a really strong vampire!"

Asuka nodded as she took Usagi's hand and led her on. "Yeah, I figured. And call me Captain."

"We're not really going to follow her, are we?" The cyborg asked fearfully. Out in the streets, in combat mode, and when she had people to protect, Usagi could easily muster the courage to fight the powerful midian, even while wounded. But in this environment, even she could tell that the vampiress had all the tactical advantages. The only thing stopping Kimiko from butchering them both was her cover as a human, and Usagi really had no idea how important that facade was.

"It'll lead us to Ran," Asuka said simply. "After that, we play it by ear, but right now we're completely within mission parameters."

"So... what should we do when we meet Ran?" Usagi whispered, apparently under the illusion that Kimiko couldn't hear them.

"Ideally? Elimination," Asuka said simply, her expression hardening. "But realistically? I'm hoping for survival."

Kimiko chuckled softly as she started up the stairs, the two DAPC officers following a few meters behind. "I must warn you: nobody has ever engaged Lord Ran in battle and survived."

"Then it's only fair to warn you," Asuka shot back, "there are two or three people who've engaged us in battle and survived, but we're working on that."

"Oh, I know," Kimiko remarked as she reached the top of the stairs. "Unless I'm mistaken, I'm one of them."

"Yeah, you are," Asuka said bluntly as she crested the stairs, Usagi following behind timidly. "Maybe we can resolve that a little later, after we have a chat with your boss?"

Kimiko made a face. "I would prefer not. I am not like so many of the others. I don't like to kill outside of feeding. It's cruel and wasteful."

"That's SO close to being respectable," Asuka mumbled sourly. "Which booth?"

The elder vampiress stepped forward silently and drew back the privacy curtain to one of the large booths near the stairs, gesturing for Asuka and Usagi to sit down inside.


Asuka immediately raised her eyebrow at seeing Ranma and Makoto already seated on one side of the booth. Ranma's expression was unusually serious, while Makoto seemed almost as nervous as Usagi was.

"Good to see you guys made it here," Asuka said, sliding in next to the brunette. Usagi hesitated only a moment before sitting down herself at the end.

Across from them was what appeared to be a young man in a black suede jacket. He had crystalline blue eyes, and flawless skin with a creamy alabaster complexion, but other than his remarkably attractive features, seemed almost painfully... ordinary. He wasn't even of average height, being perhaps an inch or two shorter than Ranma.

"Lord Ran, I presume?" Asuka said, feeling a little disappointed despite herself. She was expecting something a bit more... unique from the master of all vampires throughout Japan.

"In the flesh," Ran said simply as Kimiko slid into position next to him. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Miss..."

"I am Captain Asuka Takami of the Department of Abnormal Phenomenae Containment," Asuka said firmly. "If it's all the same to you, I won't have my subordinates name themselves. I'm sure you understand."

Ran nodded simply, though Kimiko felt a pang of distress as she stared at Ranma from across the table. Ran's goals aside, she dearly wanted to learn more about her new favorite food supply, and had thought that this would be the perfect opportunity.

"That's fine. Are you the commanding officer, or should I bring the two of you rummaging through the offices here too?" Ran asked, smirking.

If he was hoping to see Asuka squirm, he was disappointed. "I'm the commanding officer. Leave those two alone; they're busy."

Ran leaned forward and steepled his fingers as the booth's curtain shifted again, and the midian waitress from before set down a pot of tea and some cups. "Excellent. Straight to business, then."

Asuka interrupted the man before he could introduce the next topic, pouring herself some of the tea at the same time. "Before we get to the most important matters at hand, there's a small... peripheral issue I'd like to discuss. We currently have a vampire by the name of Garo imprisoned, and his upkeep has become a nuisance to me. I was wondering if you'd like to negotiate his release."

The other humans/cyborg in the booth turned toward Asuka, surprised, while Ran simply looked confused.

"Garo? Never heard of him. And what do you mean, 'negotiate his release'?"

Asuka took a sip of her tea before responding. "You must realize by now that your actions and objectives essentially amount to an open declaration of war against the human race. At this point, not just the safety of the populace, but the national security of Japan is threatened by the onslaught of feeding vampires, to say nothing of your direct assaults on a police station." She started pouring the others on her side of the table some tea. "As this is a war we're involved in, I'd be remiss not to offer rights of parley, such as prisoner exchanges."

Asuka then lifted up the kettle. "Care for some? It's very good."

Ran raised an eyebrow. "I never drink... tea."

"Right, right." Asuka suddenly took Ranma's hand and pulled his arm out onto the table. "Would you care for a bite of our close-combat expert, then? From what I can tell, he's quite the hit with you parasites."

"Wh-What?" Ranma asked, suddenly nervous. He didn't think Asuka would offer his blood as a snack just to break the ice, but he'd never have expected her to offer the release of a vampire back to the enemy, either.

Kimiko immediately leaned forward, her face flushed. "Actually, if you don't mind, I'd love some-"

"I was just kidding," Asuka deadpanned, letting Ranma go.

Ran snickered softly as Kimiko pouted. "My, my... saying you have nerves of steel doesn't give you enough credit, my dear. I can see what makes you so formidable." He sat back into his seat. "Unfortunately, I don't have anything I'd be willing to give you in exchange for this... 'Garo'. And if I did, I still doubt I'd bother. He is but one of many fools who've managed to stumble in your way and weren't strong enough to survive, and my race is better off without such weaklings."

"So, what, everyone who can't take us on is expendable to you?" Ranma asked irritably.

Ran glanced over at Kimiko meaningfully. "No. Not everyone." He shook his head. "Regardless, I'd rather move on. You may keep your... prisoner."

Asuka shrugged and drank more of her tea. 'Rather short-sighted of him. Not to mention cruel. Where does he think we got the name and location of this club? Does he not realize what kind of strategic asset we have, or does he just think it won't matter in the long run?'

"Your department has taken quite a toll on my people," Ran said, leaning forward again. "Naturally, this angered me greatly at first, to the point that I ordered an assault on your base. An attack that was ill-planned and ultimately futile, it would seem." He sighed. "However, as you say, we are at war now. Perhaps I had simply been avoiding that reality, thinking of humans still as ignorant, unwary cattle, but now it's quite obvious that the time has come for battle, not merely hunting. My people will fight, not for food, but for supremacy. And you humans will fight back, not simply out of self-defense, but to maintain your pitiful civilization."

"Yeah, well, okay then! Glad we got that out in the open! Can we go now?" Usagi said, becoming more nervous by the minute. The fact that Asuka and Ranma seemed perfectly calm was little comfort to her. She'd seen Kimiko fight, and knew that if the vampiress wanted to, she could easily slaughter Asuka and Makoto before she or Ranma could stop her; the fact that she was sitting next to an even more powerful vampire gave her chills, to say nothing of the warnings her battle computer kept bringing up.

"Take it easy, we're not done here yet," Asuka reassured the blonde. Then she turned back to Ran. "There's one thing I don't get, Ran-san, that I'd like you to answer if you'd be willing: just why are you starting this war?"

Ran looked rather surprised by the question. "Why? Really? Isn't it obvious?"

"No, it's really not," Asuka muttered, scratching her head. "I mean, let's be honest here. You guys didn't have it so bad before. You managed to get your food by feeding off the underbelly of civilization and killing the people who wouldn't be missed. As much as it disgusts me to admit it, this was probably even beneficial to humanity, and you didn't have any police gunning for you, because we didn't even know you existed. So you got fed, you lived the good life in places like this, and again, though it's still despicable and wrong, nobody cared. What's the deal? Why are you so desperate for a bigger slice of the pie that you're willing to put your entire race at stake?"

Then her eyes narrowed. "Because that is what's at stake here. I can assure you, now that we know about your kind, we will ensure that every last one of you is hunted down and crushed."

Ran smiled slightly. "No doubt... Well, I wasn't planning on telling you this, but why not?" Kimiko straightened and noticeably paid much closer attention as Ran started speaking again.

"To be honest, I didn't always have such ambitions. I have women, money, power, and believe me, I have no trouble getting a snack whenever I feel like it." Then he looked up at the ceiling, looking almost fond. "I was... too content, looking back. I hardly even noticed the greater condition of our species, constantly living in fear of human discovery."

The vampire lord shook his head. "And then... came a man. A strange, marvelous man, who claimed to have divine knowledge of the future."

Ranma sweatdropped. "Eh? You're kidding, right? You mean you started this because some fortune teller told you to?"

"He is no mere fortune teller, my friend," Ran said, grinning. "This man was a genuine oracle. Three times, he was able to predict the exact time and date of great calamities to this city. The incursion of steel, the light that split the sky, and the great meteor."

Asuka sweatdropped. 'That would probably be... Igov's first major assault, the ion cannon satellite, and the alien ship crashing into the forest. Still, there's got to be something to it...'

"And he foretold one last disaster to befall the human race," Ran intoned menacingly, "the final eclipse of the light, and the great incursion of the children of darkness into your world."

"I'm guessing that translates to: 'Vampires win'," Ranma mumbled.

"Yes, it does. With my destiny laid out before me like a roadmap, how could I not start down this path? With victory predetermined, how could I fail to grasp the opportunity of a thousand human lifetimes?"

Asuka raised an eyebrow. "But you didn't count on us, did you?"

"The prophet does not see all," Ran explained, "but what he does see is certain to come to pass. There will be many conflicts. There may even be defeats. But our ascendance is assured."

Makoto snorted, glancing at Usagi. "I don't know about that. Destiny isn't what it used to be these days."

Ran chose to ignore the strange comment, assuming that the brunette was simply rationalizing her resistance to the inevitable. "Now, then. This brings us back to you. The DAPC."

He started tapping his fingers together as he spoke. "You have destroyed one of our 'reproduction centers,' killed countless of our brethren, and successfully destroyed some of my most powerful nosferatu. You are obviously the greatest current threat to the midians in Tokyo, if not in all of the world."

Makoto pouted slightly that the Sailor Senshi hadn't even warranted a mention, though she couldn't really complain; the Senshi's record for fighting vampires was limited to chasing off Kimiko before she could butcher Usagi.

"Your men and women are... unique. Strong, experienced, dynamic, and resilient," Ran admitted grudgingly.

Asuka smirked. "Yeah. If they were competent too, just think of everything we could accomplish!"

Usagi and Ranma winced, but let Ran continue.

"I can only imagine that our losses at your hands will be grievous indeed if you're not taken care of immediately... one way or another."

Asuka's eyebrows climbed. "I have to admit, I was completely expecting barely-veiled threats, but what's this 'or another' thing?"

"Our conflict need not be resolved through violence," Ran said pleasantly, his countenance brightening considerably. "As you yourself expressed an interest in negotiation, I would like to provide you with other options."

Ranma blanched. "You're kidding, right? You want to turn all of humanity into a big cattle farm, and you're telling us, the officially licensed ghoul hunters, that it doesn't have to end in violence?"

"Humanity isn't all it's cracked up to be, don't you think?" The vampire lord asked, gesturing toward Asuka amiably. "I'd like to offer you the chance to... switch teams."

Asuka blinked while the others outright recoiled. "You want us to work for you? Humans taking orders from our predators?"

"No, no, not at all," Ran explained, waving his hand negligently. "I want to turn you all into vampires."

The others blanched again, and Asuka made a face.

"Think of it," the vampire lord continued, "immortality, invulnerability, power transcendent! With your skills combined with the vampire's might, you would become my new elite circle; everything your heart desires would be yours! Material wealth, power, companionship, health, longevity-"

"All at the low, low price of our very humanity, eh?" Asuka asked tiredly, planting an elbow on the table and resting her cheek against her fist. "Problem: I seem to remember an idiotic and completely arbitrary requirement for becoming a vampire... something about... sexual purity, was it? Is that going to be an issue?"

Makoto blushed and rubbed the side of her head. "Heh heh... what can I say? I've been playing the field."

Usagi gulped nervously and remained quiet, well aware that she still qualified as virgin material... even if her "other condition" might have made turning impossible.

"Normally, yes, it would be," Ran explained, interlacing his fingers. "However, there are other ways to be turned besides simply being bitten. Rituals that can be performed... in this way we can not only turn an... indiscrete human, but we can also make the newly turned far more powerful than a new vampire would otherwise be. I can guarantee you this special treatment."

Usagi grit her teeth fiercely, but was unable to stop the torrent of emotion caused by Ran's offer. "You're... You're disgusting!"

Ran blinked, surprised. "Pardon?"

"What you do to people... I've seen it!" The cyborg spat. "Ordinary, good people who had normal lives, just going to work and school, suddenly hiding in shadows and killing people! You think you can get away with this? You think you can offer it to people as... as some sort of privilege?"

Ran frowned. "Our turned hardly seem to mind... in most cases, anyway."

"That's the worst thing about it!" Usagi cried, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "When you turn people, they... they LOSE something! How could so many people who've probably never even thought of killing another human get used to murdering so easily? How could they turn on their friends and families?" She shook her head fiercely. "No. Never. I won't let you turn a single person more if I can help it! Even if I have to destroy you right here!"

Kimiko winced as Ran's face hardened. "I advise you take a more polite tone with-"

His reprimand was interrupted by some sudden, light clapping coming from Asuka. "Thank you, that was very well put, actually." She glared at Ran. "Normally I'm pretty careful about making decisions for other people, but in this case I think I speak for my entire department and our associates when I say: What she said."

Before the vampire lord could say anything, she continued. "I declare these negotiations over. We have a war to get back to. Would you like to start here, or take it outside?"

Ran looked decidedly displeased as his eyes flashed at the police captain. "As anyone who knows me can tell you, I can be quite impatient. Let's begin, shall we?"


At the declaration, Ranma and Usagi both tensed, ready to grab their more helpless companions and get to a more open area where they wouldn't be at such a disadvantage.

Asuka's reaction, however, was instantaneous. She reached below the table, pulled out her gun from her thigh holster, and calmly switched the safety off.

And then she pressed the barrel up into the bottom of her own chin and pressed the trigger.

Click!

Makoto and Usagi froze in abject horror at the seemingly random and sudden act of suicide, and it took each a few seconds to realize that the gun hadn't actually discharged.

Ranma sweatdropped as he leaned over Makoto's lap, holding the gun hammer in place and preventing the gun from firing. "Hey, Captain? Yo, snap out of it!"

Asuka blinked in surprise, and then jerked her weapon away from her throat, as if just realizing it was there. "Huh. Not a bad opening move," she admitted, her voice far too firm for someone who had nearly blown her own head off. "I wasn't expecting something so... subtle."

Ran frowned deeply, but made no further moves.

"Unfortunately, as a department, we don't really do 'subtle'," Asuka admitted, holstering her gun once more. "We'll continue this somewhere where we can cause a bit more ruckus without disturbing people's evenings. We are protectors of the peace, after all."

Usagi exited the booth stiffly, and Asuka was practically shoved out in Makoto's haste to get up.

Ranma left more slowly, observing Ran closely as he slid toward the booth entrance for any sign that the vampire lord might try something on their way out; it didn't escape Ranma's reasoning that the elder vampires were probably giving up the best chance they'd ever get to kill off the DAPC's leader and most powerful members. And while he was really glad he didn't have to fight the midians under these circumstances, he had to wonder why they'd give up such an opportunity.


Kimiko's thoughts mirrored Ranma's, though she spent the humans' departure staring longingly at the pigtailed man's back.

"Lord Ran, why did you do that?" She asked as soon as the humans were out of earshot. "I could understand if you ignored them completely, or attacked without restraint, but why make one attempt on the leader's life and then let them go?"

"I was just... remembering something," Ran said quietly, obviously disturbed. "The hypnosis was... impulsive of me. I had been warned against such actions, and I erred." The prophet's words echoed in his mind. 'Is it possible? Was I really so close to destruction, without even realizing it? Despite all my power, the prophet has always been right before. And these... humans are definitely not ones to be taken lightly.'

"Excuse me? Master, Mistress?"

Both nosferatu turned toward the waitress from before, who was looking paler than even a vampire had any right to be. "Yes? Whatever you have to say, be quick about it," Ran snapped.

The girl winced. "Ah, yes. I j-just received word, my lord. The Shadow Games club near the bay... it's been... it's been completely leveled, Master."

Ran clenched his teeth. "I see. Do we know who is responsible?"

"Uh, well, the rumor going around is that it was those mechanical... things. I haven't heard anything to confirm it, but apparently the club was suddenly shelled with artillery while it was still open and full of guests."

"Yes, that doesn't really sound like government protocol," Kimiko said wryly. "So that leaves but two of our little vampire nurseries remaining."

"Ah, right. About that," the waitress continued nervously. "I was told to inform you, Master, that two undercover officers were discovered in Fuji Deep club last night."

Kimiko slapped a hand against her forehead, knowing what the next piece of news likely was.

"B-Both officers were killed immediately before our men there really thought about what they were doing."

Bam! Kimiko slammed a fist onto the table as she massaged her forehead. "Imbeciles! Nothing but thoughtless, reckless idiots drunk with power! With so many other dwellings crumbling, now they invite the government proper to destroy us?"

"Kimiko. Come with me," Ran said suddenly, floating directly through the back of the booth chair.

The waitress blanched and looked around wildly, astonished that Ran might do something so unnecessary that could blow his cover.

Kimiko was not nearly so impulsive, and simply got up and walked around the booth to meet with her master. "Lord Ran, what's wrong? Are we to do something about the investigation?"

"No. No, we will not," the vampire lord snapped, walking straight toward the wall that separated the building interior from the rear parking lot, and then stepping straight through it.

Kimiko's eye twitched as she glanced around for anyone that might have been looking, and then quickly stepped through the wall after her master.

"You see, Kimiko, it would seem that the plots have unraveled," Ran explained as the two elder vampires floated high above the ground, the chilly, late evening wind battering their clothes. "Subterfuge, stealth, trickery... these are no longer tools that we can easily employ."

Kimiko frowned, not liking where that train of thought was going.

"No. Our good Captain Takami was correct. This conflict has evolved to the next stage; we are at war. No longer shall we build up our forces quietly, from behind the scenes. Soon we will march openly into the homes of the enemy. We will butcher their defenders, and turn their children!" He grinned savagely, his dagger-like fangs extending. "No more hiding. No more skulking or running. I wish to let all know and fear the power of the nosferatu!"

Kimiko's frown turned into a grimace. "Launching our campaign so soon, 'General'? In case you weren't aware, with the losses from having three of our clubs razed, our numbers lie somewhere in the realm of... oh, I don't know... four hundred vampires? Of these, very few have been in any sort of real fight, and I doubt that any save us elders are any match at all for the DAPC. We don't have an army capable of taking this city, much less Japan, much MUCH less all of human civilization. And despite the prophet's assurances, the sun still rises every morning, as far as I'm aware. How are we to combat the inevitable daytime incursions?"

"You needn't worry about that... yet." Ran said, his expression inexplicably brightening. "For in these dark times, there is a single candle, a single spark of hope." His expression turned fierce. "We need but grasp it, and that spark will grow. Grow into a conflagration that will consume our enemies."

Kimiko snorted. "Normally such 'light in the darkness' lines are reserved to bring hope to our enemies, not damned children such as us."

"Enough. Quiet yourself," Ran demanded as a stretch limo slowly pulled up next to the club, directly below the pair. "Our ride is here. Let's go home. I expect to have a pleasant treat awaiting for me when I return."


BWAKOOM!

Meanwhile, several miles away, Ran's "pleasant treat" walked calmly through a blazing, crumbling hole in the wall of the Nikogai Central Mall, heedless of the burning debris that littered the ground around her as she dragged a single horrified college-age vampiress out of the smoke and ash of the building interior and into the cool night air.

Crack! Fwoom! The ceiling of the mall structure started to collapse as the flames spread unchallenged, licking at the supports and dropping chunks of wood, glass, and concrete down into the piles of ashen dust below.

"Hack! Cough! You... You psychotic witch..." a young man who had probably looked rather handsome before having half his face melted off gasped while shifting slightly on the ground, his legs having been reduced to so many cinders. "You won't... get away with this... You can't-"

Whud! He was silenced by a sharp heel to the face, and the formerly human creature rolled away limply into the plaza outside the mall.

Sailor Mars snorted as she stood in front of the blaze of the mall, her hair floating on cold winds carrying precious oxygen into the flames. "I know you monsters are out there," she snapped, glaring at the trees that the mall's owners had planted in the plaza. "Not coming out? Fine." She lifted Tsuna into the air with one hand, eliciting a whimper from the undead girl. With the other, she pointed at the wounded vampire on the ground and snapped her fingers. "Fire soul."

THWOOM! THWOOM! THWOOM! The injured midian was consumed instantly, and the explosions provoked several more screams as some of the fireballs flew further and detonated among the trees and benches in the plaza.

"Die, pyro bitch!" One vampire snarled as he leapt out from among the flames to land atop a lamp post.

"N-No! Wait! Kazui!" Another one yelled, landing on the roof behind her. "We have to take her alive, man! Stop!"

"Shut up! I don't even care anymore!" The vampire apparently named Kazui swore as he dove down at the Senshi of Mars. The other vampire immediately followed, intent on preventing his friend from making a critical mistake.

Sailor Mars scoffed and flicked her wrist, summoning a pair of Shinto talismans before loosing them into the air.

"Bwuh?" The first vampire barely had time to realize that a slip of paper had struck him in the face before mind-boggling agony assaulted his senses, dropping him out of the air like a stone. His companion joined him on the ground opposite their target a moment later, screeching as he clawed at the ward on his face.

"Pathetic. And here you freaks almost had me worried enough to call in my friends for help," Mars mumbled, pointing to midian that had insulted her. "Mars fire ignite."

FWOOSH! "AGYAAAAH!!"

Ignoring the vampire's dying screams, Mars turned around toward the next one. "Ditto."

FWOOSH! "WAAARGH!!"

Tsuna gulped nervously as she watched her fellow undead disintegrate into charred skeletons, and then rapidly break down further into dust and ash amidst the flames. "What... What are you going to do with me?"

Mars glanced at her prisoner suddenly, as if just remembering she was there. "Oh, you? I'm going to turn you in to the proper authorities."

Tsuna's mind boggled. "What? The proper authorities? Who-"

"Now think about that for a moment," Mars said mercilessly, keeping one eye out for any more vampires, "what would be the proper agency to deal with a captured vampire, hmmm?"

Tsuna's face couldn't really get any paler at that moment, but the look on her face made it clear that she would have rather been incinerated then and there. "The DAPC? But why?"

"Well, besides the fact that I appreciate irony... hold on." She thrust out her palm toward a few shapes dashing by amongst the few bushes that weren't already on fire. "Fire soul!"

THWOOM! FOOM! BOOM!

"Where was I?" Mars asked, bringing her attention back to her prisoner, "Oh, right. When you get right down to it, I really don't feel like dealing with you myself, Nagase. I feel betrayed, sure, and you don't seem to have much regret for what you've become or what you've done, but I don't think I can blame you completely for this, so I'm not going to simply wipe you out."

"So instead you're going to hand me over to those psychotic murderers?" Tsuna demanded, finally starting to struggle within Mars' grip.

"As opposed to leaving you with these psychotic murderers?" Mars asked, gesturing to the burning piles of dust on the ground. "Yes. At least our murderers have some sort of obligation to the cause of justice. I can't promise you'll be treated fairly, or even humanely, but I can keep them from killing you."

"N-No! Stop! Please! Put me down!" Tsuna shouted, squirming within the Senshi's grasp, but unwilling to actually strike the woman (she wasn't so panicked yet that she realized that fighting back could only make her situation worse).

"Quiet down or I'll hit you with another talisman," Mars snapped, pointing further into the plaza as she started moving. "Burning mandala!"

Rings of fire blazed a path through the scattered brushfires, and Mars heard several more yelps of pain as shadowy figures quickly retreated further from the area. 'I can sense... three more? Maybe four? Could be more on the way. Have to get moving.'

"Hino-san, I'm begging you!" Tsuna said as she was hauled along, tears leaking freely from her eyes. "I don't like this existence! I didn't want to be this way! But now I am and soon you will be too! Fighting it will only make it more painful for everybody!"

"And that's the way it should be," Mars growled, glancing left and right as the light of the fires danced on concrete walls and iron statues. "If your humanity is at stake, then it's only right you spend every last second fighting for it." Then she glared back at her captive. "Did you?"

When Tsuna did nothing but stutter in response, the Senshi of fire snorted and continued toward the road, hearing the sound of fire engines in the distance. "Well, the cavalry has arrived, but I doubt that the DA would be called out to investigate a random fire, so we still have a bit of a walk on our hands."

She frowned, and then flicked her wrist, summoning her communicator. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to bring the others into this and have to explain you, but I suppose it would be best to be cautious. I don't know how many more freaks are still ou-"

Shooft!

Mars blinked rapidly as her communicator vanished right before her eyes, as if it had sunk right into her palm. "What? What in the... how?" She glanced at her palm, and then turned over her hand in wonder before looking around on the ground beneath her. "Where did... it just..."

Tsuna winced as she watched the scene unfold. "Oh no... I was hoping it wasn't going to come to this."

"We all were, my dear," said a new, distinctly male voice with a touch of a German accent.

Sailor Mars whirled about at the noise, and her hackles rose as she sighted a man standing above her, seemingly on top of thin air.

The fellow certainly would have seemed impressive, floating in the air and holding her communicator with one hand in his pocket... were it not for the fact that his entire body was cracked and charred, with great seams of cauterized flesh running all over his face and hands. His clothes looked fine, but Mars was quite certain the floating midian was in a great deal of pain.

"Sheesh, what happened to you? Did I already hit you by accident or something?" Mars asked, making a face.

Kliff's scorched eyebrow twitched in irritation. "No... some punks were giving me a hard time earlier. But it doesn't matter now." His eyes narrowed. "I see that everyone else failed to catch you off-guard. How annoying. You humans really aren't even worth the trouble."

"If that's how you feel, why don't you give me back my communicator and scurry on home?" Mars said, waving off the German man. "Normally I'd take the time to immolate you, but I've only got one hand free, and you look like a fast one to me," she reasoned.

"I'd love to, I assure you," Kliff mumbled, tossing the communicator up into the air and catching it on its way down, "I also wouldn't mind twisting that pretty little head right off your shoulders and then taking a quick sip from the drinking fountain that results. Unfortunately, neither option is available to me. I have orders to take you back, alive, and as 'unharmed as possible'."

"Wow," Mars mumbled, pointing a finger at the elder nosferatu, "that sucks for you, doesn't it? Fire soul."

A stream of fireballs blasted upward toward the floating vampire, who snorted contemptuously and held out his palm.

Sailor Mars growled as she watched her projectiles vanish right before hitting their target, only to reappear behind him and continue onward, scattering into the cold, empty night air and dissipating into sizzling sparks before floating down the streets.

"It took the last batch of idiots almost a full five minutes before they learned not to shoot at me. I do hope you're a bit quicker on the uptake," Kliff said. Naturally, he left unsaid that those same idiots had blown him to pieces and sent him into a panicked retreat. Just a fluke, he was sure.

Mars grit her teeth as her mind raced. 'Okay, so this guy's a little different from the others. Shooting him from the front won't work, and help isn't coming. I guess running is all that's left, then.'

Suddenly pulling Tsuna closer, she hugged the vampiress against her front and then hooked one arm under her chin, using her confused former friend as an (in)human shield. "You want me? I'm not going to make it easy for you! Fire soul!"

Kliff bared his fangs in anger as he redirected another stream of flames harmlessly into the air, only to see his target suddenly dash away, through the streets.

"The insolence of the humans nearly eclipses the incompetence of my young brethren," the elder vampire snarled, opening up a portal for his own transportation. "Nearly."


"Ack! Ow! H-Hino-san, you're s-strangling me!" Tsuna complained as Sailor Mars dashed along, carrying the girl around the neck.

Mars raised an eyebrow as she turned a corner, moving away from the firefighters and police that had arrived at the mall. "So what? You're already dead, right? Last I heard, vampires couldn't suffocate."

"It still h-hurts!"

"Deal with it!" The fiery magical girl snapped, stopping suddenly to get her bearings.

Almost immediately, she sensed something behind her, and Mars whirled around just in time for Kliff to reach out of a glowing portal, grabbing onto Tsuna's neck.

"Gotcha!" Mars shouted, flinging a talisman at the elder vampire just as he had realized he'd grabbed the wrong person.

The paper ward slapped onto Kliff's forehead, and the vampire was stunned for a moment as his undead magics struggled with the powerful spiritual energies.

After a moment, however, the ward glowed a bright green, and then burst into harmless shreds of paper.

"Tch! Burning mandala!" Mars shouted, tugging Tsuna out of Kliff's grip and launching another wave of searing plasma at the midian.

Kliff stepped backward and vanished, moving through a portal just a split second before the rings of flame could reach him, and fires briefly lit up the entire neighborhood before Mars canceled the attack, not wanting to start another blaze.

"This is annoying," the Senshi of fire growled, moving through an alley even as she tightened her grip on her hostage. "Hey, you know that guy, don't you? What's his deal? How can I take him down?"

"Wh-WHAT?! Take him down? Master Kliff?" Tsuna gasped in disbelief. "You're crazy! There's no way you can kill him!"

Mars' eyebrow twitched as she scanned the area all around her, well aware that an attack could come from any direction. "Well, is there any way I can try? He's obviously wounded already; I think if I could just get in one solid hit, I could drive him off."

"You're only making him mad!" Tsuna protested. "Please, surrender or he might kill us both!"

"Do as the girl says, Mars!" Kliff shouted from the roof above, and the aforementioned magical girl immediately turned to face him. "Don't think that a hostage will keep you safe. That one was merely a tool for finding you. Now that we have you, I honestly couldn't care less whether our tool breaks during your capture."

Sailor Mars was about to step backwards to continue her retreat, when she noticed the barely shimmering light in front of the elder vampire, holding place in the air in a surprisingly large pane.

'Is he just shielding himself in case I fire again? Or...'

A hesitant step back sent shivers up and down her spine as the reincarnated warrior felt her heel shift partially through time and space.

"Well? There's still time to make this easy on yourself," Kliff snapped, idly rubbing his tender face. The horrific veins of charred flesh had shrunk by now to thin, but prominent cracks, but the irritation was constant.

"I always was the stubborn one," Mars quipped, suddenly turning and shoving Tsuna into the portal behind her. Kliff could only manage a confused noise in the time it took the young vampire thrall to tumble out into him, almost knocking him over.

Mars, alleviated of her prisoner, took the opportunity to jump high up onto one of the lower roofs, immediately dashing in the direction of her school campus. 'I really did want to bring along Nagase... but I guess I have to be more careful.'

Kliff growled and shoved Tsuna away, nearly knocking her off of the roof. "Get out of my sight, you useless bag of meat! You're no use to me, and that means you're just in my way!"

Tsuna yelped and stared as the elder vampire vanished, curling up on the roof as both her enemy and ally left to continue the chase.

"Oh, Hino-san... I really am sorry... but you really can't escape..." she sniffled as she stood up, her vampiric body having already completely recovered from all the recent abuse. "Nobody can..."


"It would seem things just aren't going as planned tonight," Ran mumbled as he was updated on Kliff's progress via telepathic link. "I am beginning to wonder about the competence of my subordinates."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Vampires are ill-suited to being henchmen, and these tasks you give us are not simple matters. Given that the danger of our operations can only increase in the near future, a more personal hand may be required at times, don't you think?"

"It annoys me, but you're right," the vampire lord sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Unfortunately, I may have to refrain from going to the clubs after tonight, with the DAPC on my heels."

Ran glanced over at Kimiko. "As long as we're on the topic, what was that plan of yours all about? Offering them undeath? Did you actually think that would work?"

When Ran had detected the psychic link to one of his bodyguards breaking, his first instinct had been to find and slaughter the culprits, and his second was to leave immediately before the infiltrators could find him. It was Kimiko who had suggested a meeting between enemies, and that a deal should be offered.

Naturally, Ran thought the humans were idiots not to jump at the chance of joining the undead ranks, but he had fully expected them to refuse. And despite gaining some valuable insight as to his enemies by meeting some of them face-to-face, the entire exercise had been mostly a waste of time.

Kimiko shook her head. "I did not make the suggestion with the expectation that it would change anything. I simply thought the option should be offered, that the humans should make a choice rather than being pushed into the opposition by our offensive."

Ran gave her a look. "What difference does that make?"

"A wise man once said to me: 'humans choose their own nature,'" Kimiko said somberly. "A human can choose to be an herbivore or predator. A rebel or a conformist. A master or a servant." She snorted. "How little value we place on such a simple and basic thing as choice. How unimportant it seems in the face of immortality and the power of the unholy."

"Immortality nothing," Ran scoffed, "I swear, you sound more and more like an old woman every day."

The vampiress shrugged. "So, if you thought the meeting was going to end in refusal, why did you not kill them then and there? The attempt on the Captain's life was rather half-hearted, if not creative; had you given the order, we could have both destroyed them easily."

Ran snorted. "A wise man once told me: 'Lay off the DAPC until you get the flame girl. Bunch of lunatics...'"

Kimiko made a face at that, and quickly turned away. 'It's just like Ran to pass up a perfect opportunity to slaughter our foes based on that kooky prophet, but ignore my warnings and send Shio and Yamato to their doom.' "So what do you plan to do now?"

The vampire lord sighed. "My assistance is needed in capturing our newest recruit, it would seem. We should-"

Ran stopped speaking and frowned. "Do you hear that?"

Kimiko grimaced as the distant noise reached her ears as well. "It sounds like a rocket engine. I imagine that our opponents aren't so keen to avoid a confrontation as we are."

Ran nodded irritably. "That would be the blonde girl, then? The cyborg you told me about? Does she mean to land on top of us?"

"Oh, no, don't worry," Kimiko mumbled, having had much more recent and extensive experience with modern weapons, and being able to more precisely identify the device, "I imagine that particular engine isn't going to 'land' anywhere." She then leaned forward, calling out to the driver of the vehicle. "You'll want to brace yourself. It appears we're in for a battle."

KROOM!!


Asuka nodded as she watched the armor-piercing missile stab into the back of the limousine, blowing out the entire rear half of the vehicle and sending hot, flaming shards of metal flying in all directions.

"That's a start. Girls, you're with me; the moment you see something come out of the wreckage, you let loose with everything you've got. Tsukino, restrict your ordinance to low-yield explosives and take them on from a distance. Saotome, take off and then hit them from behind the moment you see an opportunity." The police captain barked out orders one after another as she dashed through the lot of a car dealership that had closed down for the night. "Take cover and don't let them get too close! I know they regenerate, but if you keep up your attacks, then they won't be able to strike back!"

Sailor Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, all already transformed, moved into a jog to keep pace with their temporary commander without overtaking her. Cyber Moon hovered overhead, another pair of missiles already poking out of her forearms. Ranma dashed along the side, his blades already in his hands; after landing on top of one of the larger vehicles, he jumped up into the air and then vanished from sight completely.

Once Asuka was in a comfortable firing range of the streets, she pressed up against the side of a car and peered over the hood at the smoldering wreckage of the vehicle, wishing for the twentieth time that she had thought to stuff a change of clothes into Usagi before they'd left; sure, she was armed, but a long dress and high heels didn't make the best combat gear.

The fact that the Senshi outfits weren't much better designed wasn't much comfort, unfortunately.

"I just don't understand why we're going after him now," Sailor Venus complained as she rushed up next to Asuka, taking cover at the other end of the vehicle. "Couldn't this wait until the rest of your men are around? Or better yet, in the daytime, when vampires are weak and stuff?"

"It certainly could," Asuka mumbled as she continued staring at the wreck, waiting for a target, "but Ran piqued my interest, so we're attacking now."

"What do you mean?" Mercury asked, pressing her back against a short concrete wall separating the lot from the sidewalk.

"I mean that Ran made one lousy attempt to kill me and then gave up," Asuka explained. "I'm not going to lie to you; I'm pretty sure he and his girlfriend could have massacred us all if they'd tried, under those conditions. But they didn't. That leads me to two possible reasons why: One, he doesn't want us dead. Maybe he really does want us as vampires working for him instead, though that little hypnotist's trick he pulled back there makes me doubt it."

"What's the other possibility?" Venus asked, glancing at Cyber Moon as the cyborg girl botched her landing and fell on her face just a few feet from Jupiter.

"That he's afraid of us," Asuka said, a slight smirk on her face. "Why he might be afraid doesn't matter; whether it's our reputation, a moment of weakness, or just him playing for time, Ran doesn't want to fight us before he's ready. That's more than enough reason for us to challenge him now."

All was silent for a moment as the women readied themselves, still staring into the obscuring smoke of the explosion.

"Well, we can't challenge him now if he just sits in his stupid wrecked limo all night," Sailor Jupiter groused, tightening her hands into fists. "Why isn't he coming out? That couldn't have killed the both of them, could it?"

"No way..." Asuka mumbled. "Something's not right, here..."


Ignoring Cyber Moon as she spat up some concrete, Asuka stood up and glared into the night sky, rather than at the wrecked vehicle.

"I know you can hear me, so you may as well come out now! We're going to find you!"

The air was still a silent for a few seconds, before a voice boomed back. "And when you do find us... then what? What will you do to us, little human?"

Asuka recognized the voice as belonging to Ran, though she wasn't able to pinpoint its source. "What then? Then I'm going to shoot you. A lot. I'll chase you as far as I can, and keep fighting you so long as I have bullets and ideas."

"Such insolence... what makes you think you have any chance against us?"

"Well, assuming you heard my little pep talk a bit earlier, you can call it a hunch. It's up to you to vindicate it or not," the police captain said, crouching back into her cover.

Mercury frowned as she scanned the area with her computer. "He's around here somewhere... but where?"

"Ah, to be so willful and defiant," the voice boomed. "Beautiful, passionate, intelligent... I would dearly like to invite you into our ranks, lovely Captain."

"We went over that, bloodsucker, it 'aint happening," Asuka snapped. 'C'mon, show yourself, you cocky bastard... I know you're dying for a monologue...'

"Indeed, you made yourself quite clear," Ran said, still remaining hidden, "And turning you, as you are, without your cooperation, would be... more trouble than it's worth."

Everyone tensed at the presence of a definite sense of... amusement within the reverberating speech.

"Indeed, with the... exception of your cybernetic blonde friend, all of you are spoiled, suitable only as feed and worthless pawns. However..."

"However..." Asuka prompted.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Sailor Venus suddenly shouted, putting her hands into a "T" formation. "Hold everything! Moon is the ONLY one here who's a virgin? Then that means..."

Sailor Venus stared suspiciously at Sailor Mercury, and Jupiter and Moon followed suit a second later once they caught up to that train of thought.

"What? Are you serious?"

"You? When did you...?"

"And you didn't TELL any of us? I want details!"

Mercury's face turned a brilliant red as she searched for some sort of response. "Th-That's... I... uhm, it's... that is-"

"That is NOT important right now!" Asuka snapped. "This is a battlefield! Save the gossip for later!"

"Actually, I have a question for the scary boss vampire guy, for clarification," Jupiter suddenly said, raising her hand in the air. "So, when you say that you need 'virgins' for the vampire thing, are we talking STRICTLY male-female penetration virgins?"

Sailor Mercury fell over as Asuka slapped her forehead. "How is THAT relevant?"

"Well, he said that Moon was clean, right?" Jupiter explained. "But don't you remember that one trip to Nara, with the 'special sake', when-"

"We swore never to speak of that again!" Venus shouted suddenly, her face flushing to match Mercury's.

"Well, I think it's kind of important!" Jupiter insisted, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, if it doesn't count, then that means most of the Outer Senshi are at risk. Heck, maybe ALL the Outer Senshi. I'll bet Pluto wouldn't be so frigid if she'd had any in the last couple thousand years."

Asuka groaned weakly. "I am SO sorry," she apologized profusely to the disembodied voice. "You don't have to answer any of that. Please, you can continue mocking and threatening us."

"... Yes. Thank you," Ran's voice said, sounding somewhat uncomfortable. "I will admit I don't know anything of these... 'Outer Senshi' or whatnot, but I am quite aware of another of your order who is... suitable."

Cyber Moon gasped, and a chill ran down her spine. That chill was replaced by red-hot rage a moment later, and her eyes flared a brilliant blue as her wrists split open into cannons and missile racks slid up out of her shoulders. "You bastard! You keep your filthy, undead hands off of Tuxedo Kamen!" After all the times he had been kidnapped and used against the Senshi, no way was she going to let him be turned!

There was a moment of absolute silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire that still engulfed Ran's limousine.

"Who?" The vampire lord asked.

Cyber Moon's fury promptly evaporated. "Tuxedo Kamen? Tall, handsome, eloquent? Throws roses and dresses real fancy?" There was more silence, and she looked around for a moment, still not spotting their opponent. "The vampire lady knows who I'm talking about, if she's still around."

"Kimiko?" The voice asked hesitantly.

"Don't bother," a different, feminine voice boomed back. "I've seen him in action. Not a good investment."

Venus scratched her head in confusion. "Well, shoot. Who does he mean, then?"

"Maybe it is one of the Outers, but he just doesn't know they're called that?" Jupiter ventured.

Ran's disembodied voice growled. "The prophet called her the 'flame princess.' Ring any bells?"

All at once, the Senshi did a double-take.

"What? Mars? Really?" Venus asked, making a face. "I mean, she'd never said anything either way, but I'd always figured she'd been around the block a few times..."

"I KNEW IT!!" Jupiter shouted, slamming a fist onto the trunk of the car she was hiding behind. "It all makes so much SENSE now! Not the vampire thing, but... well, I mean, I guess that makes sense too..."

"Well, she WAS my second guess, though I admit I'm still a little surprised," Mercury mumbled, hoping that her statement wouldn't remind anybody to question her sexual exploits.

"Huh. Well... if you're sure," Cyber Moon said, scratching her head. "But it doesn't matter anyway! We're going to stop you here and now!" Then she frowned as she saw something in her peripheral vision. "Hey, where's Asuka-chan going?"


The police captain was, in fact, dashing across the street toward the wrecked limo, having tired of the ridiculous conversation.

"Let them yammer on," she growled, her pistol at the ready as she approached the flames in a crouch, "if I don't find something to shoot soon, I'm going to end up murdering someone who doesn't really deserve it."

Reaching the edge of the debris, she got as close as possible to protect herself from attack, and then peered into the shattered windows of the vehicle.

Within seconds, she spotted something human-sized shifting about in the burning rubble, and slowly raised her weapon.

"Syaaaah!" All at once, a burning human face appeared in the window and then pushed forward through the empty frame, a pair of bright, blood-red lights glaring from empty eye sockets as the otherworldly creature's shoulders got caught in the relatively small crawlspace.

Blam! Asuka felt no small amount of satisfaction as the immolated monstrosity squealed and fell back into the limo, its brains gushing out the back of its head.

Klunk! The police captain whirled around when she heard something land on the hood of the vehicle, and then unloaded two more shots into the burning humanoid that had been crawling over the limo, sending it reeling back into the flames.

"Look out!" Asuka recognized the voice, and a moment later the plasma bolts, as belonging to Cyber Moon, and was pleasantly surprised to see another of the strange fire creatures being blasted aside once she'd turned around.

That particular target writhed in place for a few seconds as the plasma slowly burned through the blazing form's considerable heat resistance, until Asuka put the thing out of its misery with another bullet to the forehead.

"I don't understand," Asuka mumbled as she quickly backed off from the limo, back to the car lot. "Are those vampires? No... I don't think so... but..."

"Hey! You whore! What do you think you're doing to my fire ghouls?"

All the humans and semi-humans present snapped their heads toward the voice, which belonged, it seemed, to a haze of sickly green flames that were hovering over the car dealership building.

"Ah, yes. I was honestly hoping that the introductions could be put off until you had been eaten and the point was moot, but at usual, you prove more persistent than I'd hoped. May I present Mortis, my chauffeur and bodyguard."

The Senshi all cringed slightly when the bizarre flames receded, revealing the newest elder vampire. It was a female, alarmingly skinny, with straight, white hair in a shoulder-length bowl cut. She was wearing a gray pantsuit and tie, which seemed entirely appropriate for a chauffeur, and a solid black blindfold, which appeared to be quite the opposite.

"His chauffeur is blind? That doesn't seem like a very good idea, does it?" Jupiter mumbled over to Cyber Moon, who nodded rapidly.

"Ugh. All women. How boring," the vampiress scoffed, rubbing her nose with a bony finger as she bared her fangs.

"I realize it's not ideal, but they've worked very hard to dig an early grave for themselves," Ran explained, "help them fill it, would you? I have to meet with a young woman for dinner."

Before Asuka could give any orders in regards to the hiding vampire lord, a huge swarm of bats suddenly bolted into the air from all around the lot, emerging from the shadows and taking to the air.

"He's getting away! Tsukino!" The police captain shouted, keeping her eyes on Mortis; obviously her handgun would have been utterly useless in taking down the flurry of bats, and likely just as useful in taking down Ran himself. "Girls, back her up!"

Cyber Moon nodded grimly, and then launched herself into the air as her back opened up into jet boosters. "I've got him!"

"Venus love and beauty shock!"

"Sparkling wide pressure!"

"Shine aqua illusion!"

One by one the bolts of light, electricity, and ice blasted by the pursuing cyborg, cutting into the swarm of flying mammals and sending huge swaths of bats plummeting to the ground in flames and frost.

Once Cyber Moon actually caught up to the flurry of exploding animals, she slowed down and hesitated, unsure of which weapon would be most useful for the situation.

Whump! As it so happened, however, the matter quickly became moot as a rather large, flying corpse smashed into her from behind, latching onto her arm and pulling her down toward the ground.


"GAAAAAAAAAUGH!!" CRASH!

The Senshi winced as their princess once again learned about the more difficult and important aspect of flying: landing.

"Moon! Are you okay?" Mercury asked, horrified that her friend had impacted hard concrete at that speed.

Asuka, while also concerned, had her attention focused on a much more active problem than Usagi's injuries.

Gliding gently through the air on large, feathered, stringy wings covered in dried blood and leather stitching, was a ghoul.

The police captain's face darkened as the creature began flapping its wings rapidly, slowing its descent and landing on top of a minivan much better than Usagi could have dreamed of. "It's... It's a flying ghoul. That's just not right."

"Ah, I believe that Master Ran forgot to warn you," Mortis said smugly, wagging a finger at her opponents, "They call me the ghoul master. I assume you've seen the ghouls of other vampires? Weak, slow, mindless lumps of meat? Pitiful excuses for puppets, I'm sure you'll agree."

She lifted her almost skeletal arms into the air, and arcane symbols appeared on the back of her hands in a glowing, emerald green blaze. "I do better than that. I take those worthless sacks of flesh, and turn them into powerful, deadly works of ART. And now, by the will of Master Ran, you'll become the newest additions to my beautiful gallery!"

"You don't say..." Asuka mumbled as she carefully took aim at the vampiress's head.

At the last moment, she shifted her aim to the side, and Mortis blanched as her flying ghoul's head rocked back from a .45 caliber slug piercing its skull. "You bitch! Do you have any idea how long it takes to make those things?"

Asuka ignored the enraged midian and turned toward her compatriots. "Tsukino! Can you take off again? The big fish are getting away!"

"Uhhn..." Cyber Moon groaned as she rubbed her head. "No... my computer thing says the rockets are damaged..."

"Damn it!" The police captain cursed. She glanced toward Mercury. "I take it we're surrounded?"

Even as the genius Senshi nodded timidly, shapes began emerging from every shadowed corner of the car lot, stumbling out from behind the main office and stealthily dashing across the rooftops.

"I thought so," Asuka mumbled. "All right people, listen up. Stay close to each other and try and keep to cover. Use quicker attacks if you have them, and try to keep the enemy at a distance; these things are more fragile, but persistent."

"Right!" The others said, steeling themselves as they watched several silhouettes hop from one car to the next, long blades glinting in the moonlight.

'Saotome, don't let me down...' Asuka thought, taking a deep breath as she reloaded. "Fire at will!"


It became clear very quickly that their opponents were not ordinary ghouls.

Granted, the Senshi had never been involved in a full-scale firefight with the vampires' zombie henchmen before, but even they had a sense that the desperate viciousness of the ostensibly mindless drones was far beyond the norm.

The first group to attack were fast, agile ghouls that had both hands chopped off and replaced by long, rust-caked talons that had been firmly bolted to their crumbling sinews. These creatures leapt above the scattered cover of the car lot, bounding forward past Asuka's sparse covering fire to dash head-long into the Senshi in the hopes of surviving long enough to engage in hand-to-hand.

"Venus love me chain!" Sailor Venus shouted, sending a string of hearts twirling through the advancing ghouls. Several of the vile creatures were entangled as they leapt blindly toward their prey, heedless of the bizarre-looking snare even as it wrapped around them.

Asuka quickly pushed aside her revulsion at the painfully silly-looking attack, and took the opportunity to shoot the heads off of two of the clawed ghouls. "Keep it up! Don't let them get close!"

The second group went almost unnoticed at first, given the panic and danger aroused by the claw ghouls. These ghouls, the polar opposite of the clawed zombies, were thick, ponderous, lumbering brutes with bulging muscles and skin that had been patched together from natural, rotting flesh, stitched leather, and plates of junk metal that had been fashioned into crude armor against the decaying body. These creatures carried large, thick shields in one hand, which they used to cover their advance, and heavy weapons in the other, mostly axes.

Jupiter hesitated a moment when she saw the first of the armored assault ghouls, and then thrust her hands forward. "Sparkling wide pressure!" KA-ZRAAK!

The shield and armor did nothing to protect the assault ghoul from the attack, and it trembled mightily as its internal organs were rapidly cooked by the tremendous surge of energy.

Jupiter promptly backed away as more started filing forward toward the battle. "You guys! Over here! We have armored ones coming!"

Cyber Moon clumsily bisected a clawed ghoul with her energy blades, and then whirled toward the new threat, her missile racks sliding up out of her shoulders.

Jupiter and Mercury were forced to duck down as the flurry of mini-missiles sailed over them and scattered into the implacable, armored undead, detonating in furious waves that illuminated the entire car lot and made some of the ghouls flinch just from the glare.


Up above the explosions, Mortis growled as she watched the explosions consume her assault ghouls; although their armor fared better against missiles than magical lightning, the sheer scale of Cyber Moon's weapons seemed more than capable of incinerating her entire army if she didn't intervene.

"Sigh... I just wish there were at least one guy around. I hate feeding on women," the elder vampire mumbled as more arcane tattoos appeared over her face, glowing the same, ghastly color as her hands.

"Careful what you wish for," came a perfectly masculine voice from behind her.

Schlupt! The nosferatu gasped as the tip of a short blade burst from her chest, having stabbed directly through her heart.

"Wh-What the-?!" She squirmed against the pain even as the tattoos on her face and hands started to flicker, their energies dying; with her body trying desperately to maintain her heart's function, she was effectively paralyzed, and her powers were useless.

Ranma planted a foot against the elder vampire's back, ignoring her surprised stuttering as he pulled his Jackal from behind his back.

"Whoa!" Before the pigtailed man could fire, a pair of claws flashed toward him from behind, and he was forced to use his pistol to block the blades as a clawed ghoul ambushed him.

'I didn't think her stupid minions would jump me so fast! I have to finish her off quick!' Ranma kicked the clawed ghoul away, but didn't have time to do much else as a pair of flying ghouls dive-bombed him from both sides, screaming as their hands grasped for a target.

Spitting a quick curse, Ranma leapt away from the vampiress, sliding backward against the surface of the roof as the flying ghouls slammed into each other at near terminal velocity, shattering their bones and mangling their abused and poorly stitched limbs.

Ranma raised his pistol to fire, and blinked as he realized that one of the ghouls had managed to take hold of his kodachi - which had been left in Mortis' back - right before impact, pulling the weapon free. "Ah, crud." BLAM! BLAM!

Both bullets sailed unerringly toward the vampiress's head, even as the undead in question gasped painfully.

Crack! Thwam! Ranma recoiled when the projectiles slammed into a completely different target, which flickered into view even as it let out a tortured moan and subsequently evaporated into dark smoke.

"What... Was that a... a ghost?" Ranma asked, blinking rapidly. It had only been visible for only a moment, but the figure that had taken the bullet had been an older woman in a kimono with long, braided hair and blood running down her arms.

Mortis finally regained enough of her senses to feel her powers return, and she turned slowly, her mouth twitching into a smirk. "Yes. Yes, it was. Ghouls are not the only creatures that heed my summons. I am a mistress of ALL lesser undead. The spirits that writhe with hatred of those that live gladly come to aid me." Her smirk turned into a grin. "My, you're a handsome one. I'll have to have some fun with you. Would you prefer to play before or after I drain you of every last drop of blood?"

Ranma snorted. "You're not serious, are you?" Shwk! A quick slash of his remaining kodachi behind him decapitated a clawed ghoul in mid-lunge, and he aimed his Jackal almost casually to the side before firing, his eyes still locked on Mortis.

BLAM! The fire ghoul that had been climbing up to the roof of the office didn't have time to scream before its head was obliterated by the silver round, and its body only hesitated a moment before it fell down limply to the ground below.

"I don't think there's any way you can beat me," Ranma continued, approaching carefully. "I mean, I'm guessing you do most of your fighting with your zombies, right? When's the last time you had to fight someone yourself?"

The vampiress chuckled condescendingly. "Oh? Is that what you think?" After a brief laugh, another pattern appeared in a flash of bright green, this time directly on top of the blindfold over her face, this one in the pattern of an elongated eye. "Now... hold him in place while I run away!"

Ranma would have facefaulted at seeing someone else suddenly employing his family's signature technique, but was held upright as several translucent gray tendrils appeared and wrapped around his arms and legs.

He growled as Mortis leapt toward the streets, and glanced briefly at the pair of generic-looking, faceless gray ghosts that had wrapped around him. A moment later, Ranma began to glow a soft blue, and the spirits bristled as the life energy aggravated their undead forms.

"Mouko takabisha!" Ranma shouted, releasing the energies for his signature energy blast as a sudden burst of energy from all over his body, rather than a focused bolt. The ghost shrieked weakly as they were torn to shreds from the discharge, and vanished into more smoke.

"Forget it! You're not getting away!" The martial artist declared, leaping after the retreating vampiress.


Asuka was both pleased and annoyed to hear Ranma take off in pursuit of their primary opponent, guessing that the current attack force of ghouls wouldn't be falling limp any time soon.

"Somebody look for a line of retreat!" She shouted as she emptied the rest of her clip into another clawed ghoul that was trying to get Mercury from behind. "This is a waste of our time! We need to get out of here!"

The Senshi's responses were lost in the sounds of another magical volley, wiping out the last ranks of the assault ghouls.

"HRRROOOOOUGH!!"

Asuka turned around as she was reloading, and growled as she saw a new kind of ghoul clambering past Mercury, walking on its hands and feet to hide behind the cars. Unlike the other ghouls, this one seemed fairly normal, if not louder than usual. The only notable thing about it was that its belly was horribly distended, and it swung back and forth as the undead drone scrambled furiously toward Cyber Moon's back.

"Moon! Behind you!"

Almost immediately, Cyber Moon's shoulder opened up and one of her articulated, robotic appendages folded out, this one flipping backward to aim a long weapon covered in wires at the approaching ghoul.

FWEEOOOM! A blazing beam of red promptly seared a glowing hole through the ghoul's skull, and it tumbled forward for a few seconds as its body took the time to realize that its brain was dead for real.

The laser weapon began sliding back into Cyber Moon's shoulder, having defended her back without distracting her from shooting down the remaining clawed ghouls.

As impressive as the brief conflict was, Mercury and Asuka were both very worried when the ghoul's belly suddenly swelled even further, and began to glow a fierce, hot red.

BWOOOM!! Cyber Moon didn't even have time to shout in pain as the ghoul detonated with tremendous force, knocking over the nearest cars and slamming the other women into the vehicles they were using as cover.

"Ow! What in-" Jupiter rubbed her head irritably, then yelped as her cybernetic princess bounced past her, trailing sparks and smoke. "SAILOR MOON!! H-How did-"

Venus and Mercury were about to rush over as well when Asuka snapped at them, "You two keep covering us! If you see any more of those fat ones, put them down and then get clear!" She grit her teeth as she dashed over to Cyber Moon, keeping her head low. 'Suicide bomber ghouls! She has suicide bomber ghouls!' She had to admit that the prospect made a lot of tactical sense when she gave it some thought, but at the moment she was in no mood to appreciate her foe's sense of strategy.

"Moon! You still alive?" She asked, pressing up against the side of an overturned truck.

Jupiter was hovering helplessly over the Senshi's cybernetic leader, watching as sparks and small flames burst from the girl's shredded backside.

"I... I'm okay..." Cyber Moon said weakly, giving a hesitant and unconvincing smile. "It... It probably looks much worse than it is..."

"Glad to hear it," Asuka said grimly, scanning the immediate area for any more approaching enemies, "I think you'd better bust out the spider-bots and patch yourself up then, don't you agree?"

"Ah..." The blonde cyborg slowly pushed herself up onto her knees as her internal computer beeped.

Damage report: Indirect impact at 0.3 meters from high-yield biological explosive. Trauma classification: High-level concussive damage incurred. Critical damage to frame superstructure. Total systems down: 32. Powering down neural substructure to prevent energy leaks.

Cyber Moon shuddered as she felt her muscles involuntarily relax, and she slumped back onto the ground. 'Hey, can you bring out the spider-thingies, already?'

Negative. System analysis indicates that the repair bay shielding was damaged and cannot be opened.

"Awww... it says that the doors are jammed shut, I think!" The magical cyborg moaned, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Asuka frowned. "Those are the ones on your back, right?"

Cyber Moon nodded despondently.

Without discussing the issue further, Asuka stood up, pulled her leg back, and then gave the downed cyborg a swift kick under her armpit.

Clang! "Ow!" Both Asuka and her "patient" shouted out in pain from the impact, and Jupiter lurched back as the broken metal plates suddenly popped out of Moon's back and clattered onto the ground.

"Hey, it worked!" Jupiter cried in relief as the two mini-bots clambered out of Cyber Moon's back and got to work with their welding torches. "Wow, it's a good thing we have you around! I think only Mars would have thought of that otherwise!"

The police captain nodded. "Speaking of Mars, if we don't hurry up and get to her..." she trailed off as she looked around the smoldering remains of the car lot, the hiss of the repair bots' torches the only audible sound. "Wait a minute... are we all clear?" She asked, honestly surprised that they had held out against the ghoul ambush.

Venus shrugged. "I haven't seen or heard anything since they got Moon." The space surrounding the crater where the ghoul had detonated was liberally decorated with pieces of trashed vehicles and corpses; while the clawed and fire ghouls had to be dealt with carefully, the assault ghouls had proven completely ineffective against the Senshi's magic, and the entire lot was strewn with pieces of armored flesh from where Venus' attacks had hit them hardest.

"So the idea was to disable her to take out most of our firepower so we couldn't chase after them?" Jupiter asked, gripping her hand into a fist. 'Damn it! If only I had been paying more attention, maybe this wouldn't have happened!'

"More likely that Saotome got Morty, or whatever her stupid name was," Asuka mumbled. "I don't think they'd let us off that easy."

Mercury groaned suddenly, and all eyes turned toward her.

"They didn't," she explained bleakly, pointing toward the office building. "Over that way. I don't know what it is, but-"


CRASH! Glass and concrete burst outward as a massive shape barreled through one of the windows facing the lot, as well as the bit of wall immediately surrounding the pane.

"Groooohg..."

Jupiter and Venus recoiled immediately as they peeked over the cars they were using as cover, repulsed. The creature that had come through was enormous, almost ten feet tall, with flesh that looked to be a patchwork of stitched-together skin and leather over massive braids of pulsating muscle. Like the assault ghouls, plates of thick, rusted metal were bolted onto its chest, legs, and biceps, protecting its most vulnerable point. It also had a thick, bucket-shaped iron helmet protecting its head, with only a thin slot for its two glowing red eyes to peer out at its prey.

The strangest thing about the abomination, however, were its arms. Rather than having two large, humanoid hands, it had what looked like a steamshovel claw mounted on its right arm, and on the left some sort of fleshy, puckered mouth at the end of a bulbous, swollen wrist.

"You know, I could really stand to end the night without fighting this thing," Asuka mumbled, sighing as she ducked back down behind the car. "Any chance we can move Moon out of here fast enough to retreat?"

Mercury shook her head. "If we move her now, we'll just hurt her more!" She protested.

"Besides, what if that thing follows us?" Venus continued, even as the heavy footfalls of the abomination got closer. "It's not like those other zombies; that thing could do some real damage!"

"Crap!" Asuka snarled. "Well, then you three can go ahead and blast it! Nothing I've got is going to scratch that thing!"

"Gotcha!" Venus said cheerfully, standing up and posing before the advancing monster. "The bigger they are, the easier it is for them to squish you into a mushy pulp!"

"Incorrect, and yet, strangely accurate," Jupiter mumbled.

"Shut up and shoot it already!" Asuka growled.

The abomination stopped advancing, and its claw opened and closed loudly. Clang! Clang!

"Take this!" Sailor Venus shouted, twirling in place. "Venus crescent moon beam!" The stream of pure magic power erupted from her hands and sailed toward the undead chimera, causing the nearby vehicles to tremble from the force of the attack.

The abomination groaned irritably as it lurched forward, and then latched onto a car with its metal claw, the steel fingers digging through glass and steel to give the monstrosity enough leverage.

"Hrrrrrn..." with an exceptionally dull battlecry, the abomination hurled the vehicle straight into the oncoming energy beam.

BWOOM! The car was ripped apart by the force as the attack detonated, sending pieces of shredded steel raining down all over the lot.

"Gwah!" Venus ducked back down behind a truck, holding her arms over her head to protect it from the falling shrapnel.

"Well, that's just great," Asuka muttered darkly. "Size, muscle, AND brains." She knew very well that one of the minor strengths and major weaknesses of the ghouls was their total lack of self-preservation instinct; most ghouls didn't avoid needless destruction even in the simple case of avoiding an obvious obstacle or attack, which wasn't fully compensated for by the ghouls' fearlessness in the heat of battle. This creature, however, seemed to possess a defense, and Asuka was quite certain that she didn't want to know what its offense was like.

Mercury and Jupiter both stood up as the last chunks of debris hit the ground. "All right, now it's our turn to-"

The taller girl was interrupted as Mercury pointed to the abomination. The entire creature spent a moment trembling mightily, and the Senshi could just make out some sort of flesh sack on the abomination's back inflating briefly before contracting again.

Immediately afterward, the abomination's left arm started swelling suspiciously as the mouth of the appendage was aimed toward Mercury's position. "Wait! What's it doing?"

"Damn it! Never mind! Run! Run now!" Asuka screamed, waving the Senshi back.

Sploorch! A thick, repulsive-smelling stream of yellowish slime burst from the quivering orifice, and Mercury dove to the side desperately as the vile substance splashed all over the car she had been hiding behind. Almost instantly, most of the vehicle was vaporized, the metals turning into a thick, toxic puff of smoke that surged upward not unlike a mushroom cloud.

Mercury squeaked nervously as she clambered away from the pool of rapidly weakening acid, which quickly melted down the rest of the car before pouring down into the hissing pools of inert liquids forming in small craters on the surface of the concrete lot.

"Okay, well, now we know what it can do on the attack," Asuka said, sighing. "Okay ladies, this is the plan! Move away from Moon until she can move again! We need to draw it away from her! Try and get around and hit it from behind if you can! Above all, AVOID THAT ACID! Either kill it now or just buy time, but I need you to live through this!"

Venus and Mercury nodded nervously, and Asuka was fairly surprised when Sailor Jupiter smiled.

"Heh. You know, I guess taking orders from you isn't too bad, actually," the thunder Senshi offered, winking.

"I'm glad to hear it," Asuka said unenthusiastically. "Now hurry up and cover me."


"By the black star! What does it take to LOSE this maniac?" Mortis asked incredulously as she levitated across the rooftops, trailing a haze of smoldering green fire.

Bwam! Another silver bullet slammed into nothingness, which rapidly coalesced into ghostly material being just in time to vanish once again while releasing a tormented scream.

The vampiress halted and frowned as she watched another one of her guardian spirits lose its grip on the mortal world and slip into the afterlife. 'I only have two spirits left... if I let things continue on this way...'

Tak! Ranma landed on top of a utility shed that lie in the opposite corner of the roof Mortis was on, and calmly ejected the empty clip from the Jackal before replacing it with a new one.

Mortis gulped as she saw the engraving of the Christian cross carved into the ammunition magazine, labeling the contents conspicuously. "It appears I'll have to do something about that gun of yours. Such toys are too dangerous for the likes of you, anyway."

Ranma snorted as he took aim again. "What're you gonna do? Up here your zombies can't get to you very quickly, and your ghosts are a joke. You've got nothin'."

"A joke, you say?" Mortis asked, the eye symbol on her forehead flaring up once again. "I'd have to agree... in the sense that the next few moments are going to be absolutely hilarious."

"Yeah, whatever," the pigtailed cop mumbled, pulling the trigger of his weapon.

He was reasonably surprised, naturally, when instead of the tension of the gun trigger surrendering and subsequently firing, instead the trigger pushed back and dug into his finger like a sharp tooth.

Ranma's confusion was exacerbated when his gun suddenly growled at him.

"Hraaaugh!" The barrel of the Jackal suddenly split apart in a horizontal seam, opening up and growing sharp, hooked teeth to resemble an animal's snout and maw.

"What the hell?" Ranma shouted, staring in shock as his gun started thrashing about and snapping its jaws in his hands. The unreal scenario reached a peak when the iron sight at the rear end of the gun bulged into a general convex shape, and then split open to reveal a single eyeball staring hatefully at him.

"Gyeeah!" The Jackal snarled, lurching from left to right within Ranma's grip as its eye began to glow a furious red. On the other side of the roof, Mortis smiled darkly, and twin torches of emerald flame appeared in her hands.

Ranma, for his part, continued staring at his gun, and then his expression suddenly evaporated into mild irritation. "Knock it off!" With that short rebuke, the pigtailed man punched his own gun in the barrel.

Mortis gaped as the Jackal let out a sharp whimper, like a dog that had been kicked.

Ranma glared into the single eye staring up at him, though it now looked less angry and more surprised. "I swear, you either shut up and spit bullets like you're supposed to, or I'm going to take out one of those weird exorcism rounds and cram it in your eye! You got that?"

The pistol stiffened, and Mortis could swear that she saw a sweatdrop roll down the gun handle.

After a moment, the eye widened, and the entire gun wiggled up and down, in its best imitation of a nod.

"H-Hey! Wait a minute!" Mortis said nervously, backing away as the fireballs in her hand dissipated. "You can't... I mean, what just..."

Ranma took aim once again and squeezed the trigger.

BWOOM! A report more fitting for a cannon burst from the mouth of the Jackal, followed by a shining silver slug surrounded by an unholy green aura.

"WHOA!" Mortis put her last phantom on full defense, and the ghost flickered into view in front of the elder vampire, its burnt face locked in a picture of constant, semi-transparent suffering.

The ghost disintegrated instantly from the impact of the undead aura, leaving the bullet to sail unimpeded into the nosferatu's unprotected chest.

"AAAIIIIEEEEEEEE!!" Mortis screamed out in agony as the explosive slug detonated within her, slicing into the contents of her ribcage with shards of blessed silver.

The elder vampire threw her head back as she clutched her bleeding chest, and then fell to her knees, panting.

Ranma frowned, and then looked his gun in the eye. "You're setting my aim off," he muttered dangerously, "that missed her heart by like, four or five centimeters." The Jackal gulped nervously, and the eye quivered in fear. "I'm gonna be nice and assume that was 'cause your throat isn't good at firing bullets straight like a gun is made to do, but the next shot had better go into her forehead when I aim it there."

Once again, the Jackal did its best to nod, and once again Ranma aimed the weapon forward and squeezed the trigger.

BWOOM! Mortis' energies reached out desperately to the possessing spirit within the Jackal, trying to pacify the poltergeist, but it was to no avail as another silvery bolt encased in otherwordly green sailed toward the hapless midian.

Kablam! Both Ranma and Mortis were surprised when a blue fireball intercepted the bullet, creating a dark explosion that nearly knocked both off their feet.

With a subtle shimmer, Kimiko flickered into view in front of Mortis, her mantle whipping about furiously in the wind.


"K-Kimiko-sama!" Mortis gasped out, clutching her chest as much from the sudden relief as from the pain that still wracked her body.

Ranma stepped back a moment, and made sure to widen his senses to detect anything coming at him from behind. "Huh. You're still around, are ya?" He idly started stroking the muzzle of his gun, and was only slightly disturbed when the Jackal made a pleased, low-pitched grumbling noise as a result. "Then I'm guessing King Bloodsucker is still hiding nearby, isn't he?"

"Don't be in such a rush to get in over your head, human," Kimiko said imperiously, planting her hands on her hips. "I assure you, I'm more than a match for you myself."

"You know, it's funny," Ranma said off-handedly, sliding his remaining kodachi from its sheath and holding it at the ready, "you freaks keep saying stuff like that to me. And then you keep dying." The Jackal chuckled throatily, and its eye glared at the vampiresses opposite its new master.

"Then I suppose we should skip the pointless bravado for now," Kimiko said calmly, spreading her arms as her hands were suddenly engulfed in bright blue flames. Behind her, Mortis swallowed nervously and crawled away, still clutching the hole in her chest.

Ranma said nothing in response, still being very careful to stay aware of his flank; he was pretty sure that he could take Kimiko on alone, now that his weapon had been unexpectedly upgraded and he had plenty of room to maneuver and no one else to protect. Although he had never seen the elder vampire fight in earnest before, she, like all the others, suffered from a general lack of true combat experience and sense of the battlefield, which vampires typically tried to fill in with their innate physical strengths. No matter how powerful she was, he was sure he could surprise her if she left even the slightest weakness show.

Kimiko tired of the stalemate after a few seconds, and then let loose her attacks, firing a pair of azure fireballs that rotated in the air opposite each other in a corkscrew orbit.

Ranma crossed his arms over his chest as his own aura flared brightly, illuminating the roof. "Mouka takabisha!" He screamed, throwing his energy forward into the vampiress' attack.

The two attacks collided close to the utility shed, and Kimiko frowned as the brief flare of light and flame dissipated to reveal that her opponent was no longer there.

BWOOM! Kimiko suddenly burst into bats just before a spectre-enhanced bullet sailed through the spot her head had occupied a moment before, coming at her from behind.

"Clever boy..." said Kimiko's voice as the swarm of flying mammals whirled about and started toward Ranma, spreading out so as to better avoid the martial artist's defenses.

"Ah, damn it!" Ranma cursed, leaping away from the first roof and plummeting a good twenty feet down to the adjacent building. 'Crud! I knew I should have finished off the injured one while I had a free shot!' It was his sensibilities as a martial artist that kept him from playing the part of the assassin on the battlefield, and it wouldn't have surprised anyone who knew him that Ranma gladly chose to engage a capable foe rather than finish one who couldn't fight back.

The swarm of bats took a moment to reorient themselves, and then descended on the adjacent building in a virtual tornado of fur and fangs, swirling around the martial artist as they approached him from above.

'Huh. Bullets won't do much good... can't find the "real" one... no heat around for even a small hiryuu shouten ha... smacking them all outta the air before they get to me could work, I've managed it with bees... but that's pretty exhausting, and that kind of concentration would leave me open to attack from a distance... I guess more ki blasts and running is the best I can do.'

Ranma took a deep breath.

"Burning mandala!"

"Eh?" Ranma blinked as rings of flaming plasma sailed up into the descending swarm, turning huge swathes of the maelstom into free-falling patches of burning fur and flesh.

"Ha! Back off, undead freaks!" Sailor Mars shouted as she leapt up from below, landing next to Ranma and then posing triumphantly. "Or if you're serious about feeding the local stray cat population, keep coming! I'm sure the poor things would love some roasted bat!"

The swarm was evidently not too serious about its assault, and immediately scattered, taking off in all directions and fleeing to a safe distance.

As Ranma sighed in relief, Mars smirked at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, look at that; I just saved you. I guess we're even now, aren't we?"

Ranma gave her a lidded stare. "'Saved' me? From bats? What am I, a mosquito?"

Mars' eyes narrowed immediately. "You don't have to be so ungrateful, jackass!"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful and everything," the pigtailed man said, rolling his eyes, "but get real; I fought off a cyborg backed up by an artillery brigade. You scared off a bunch of rats with wings."

"Flying rats that were about to take you apart!" Mars shouted, leaning forward to glare at the impudent martial artist.

"Yeah, it would have been awful if I'd lost another teaspoon of blood in the time it would have taken me to kill 'em all," Ranma scoffed, rolling his eyes again.

Mars grabbed a hold of Ranma's collar and started shaking the man, which was about as close as she was willing to get at this point to actively strangling him. "Bats carry diseases! Do you want rabies? Or tetanus? Huh? DO YOU?!"


Up above the verbal spat, Kimiko's eyebrow twitched as she watched the exchange, and she quashed the urge to insist that she wasn't rabid.

'Kimiko,' came a telepathic command from a short distance away, 'despite their idiocy, they are still on their guard. Engage them, but be cautious. See if you can separate them.'

'Understood, Master,' she thought back, 'though I hardly need you to remind me to be cautious.'

Spreading her arms, Kimiko summoned her power to her, preparing for a massive telekinetic burst.


"I'm just sayin', you can't compare Igov to a bunch of little magical animals!" Ranma protested, "You don't have to get so worked up about it!"

"That's not the point!" Sailor Mars shouted back, "Would it kill you to show some damn respect? I didn't have to help you out, you know!"

"Well, if you didn't, you wouldn't be much of a defender of just-" Ranma cut off his retort sharply, and his eyes narrowed. "MOVE! NOW!"

Both of them leapt away from each other toward opposite sides of the roof just as Kimiko launched her attack.

CRACK! A jagged fault line promptly appeared in the middle of the roof, and the entire building shook as the roof slowly started to collapse inward. Kimiko gestured at the area once again, and the process suddenly sped up rapidly, with much of the roof crumbling instantly.

"Don't go too far!" Ranma warned, leaping to another adjacent building as Sailor Mars did the same, in the opposite direction.

Kimiko guarded herself as Ranma pulled out his gun and fired as Mars unleashed a fire arrow, and the midian's body flickered back and forth as half a dozen overlapping images confused her enemies' aim.

FWOOM! The flame sniper managed to find its target despite the confusing tactic, and the vampiress blocked the fire bolt with her mantle before having to levitate sharply out of the way of several more Jackal rounds.

Sailor Mars grit her teeth as she took aim with another flame sniper, and then blinked as she realized the bullets Ranma was firing were glowing green.

"Hraaayah!" The Jackal exclaimed in Ranma's hand, gouts of green sparks pouring from its mouth like the saliva of a rabid animal. BWOOM! BWOOM!

Mars let go of her fire arrow unconsciously, not even noticing that it missed her opponent by three meters and set a billboard over the street on fire.

"R-Ranma-kun... why is... why is your gun snarling?" She asked incredulously, her arms still in firing position, and her eyebrow twitching.

Ranma rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what happened," he said as the Jackal's handle spat out the empty bullet magazine without Ranma's assistance or request, "but I think it comes down to ghosts being more afraid of me than the vampires." The empty ammo feed writhed about hungrily, and long, curved teeth came out of the bottom of the pistol grip, clenching and unclenching in anticipation of more bullets. Ranma slipped another one of the Christian-based magazines out of his belt, and then held it barely within reach of the desperate maw.

Schlup! The Jackal promptly clamped onto the magazine and sucked it up into place, and then the barrel let out a short roar and a burst of green flame as it prepared to let loose once more.

"Hey, Mars!" Ranma shouted, his eyes still locked on Kimiko, "Can you crank up the rate of fire a bit? I'm going to try something!"

He didn't get a response, and the pigtailed man glanced over to his current partner, wondering why she was still standing in the same pose as before, frozen. Was it really THAT surprising that his gun had been possessed by an easily coerced evil spirit?

A second later, the fire Senshi suddenly collapsed onto the roof, unconscious, and Ranma's eyes widened; behind her head, which had been obscuring his field of vision, was a man's hand, sticking partially out of a small portal.

Instinctively, Ranma looked to the building behind him, and then he grit his teeth as he saw Ran and some German-looking vampire he had never seen before standing on top of the roof, looking down on him; Ran had his arm up to mid-forearm in a portal, while the new guy was gesturing toward the portal, probably to hold it open.

"Oh, come on!" Ranma growled, leaping away from his current location to get to the comatose Senshi.

"Don't bother!" Kimiko shouted, releasing another kinetic blade at the martial artist.

Shwk! The vampiress was quite surprised when Ranma didn't stop to avoid the attack, but grit his teeth and ran straight through in order to save time.

"Urgh!" Ranma gasped as he landed on the next building, and he didn't pause to watch a splatter of blood hit the surface of the roof before he leapt for the next one that held the fire Senshi. 'Just two more seconds! That's all I nee-'

Shooft! Right before he landed, the area of roof right below Mars shimmered, and her body lurched slightly before it fell straight down, as if sinking into the rooftop.

"Damn it!" Ranma cursed, reaching down toward the portal, but only hitting concrete by the time his hand got there.

Glancing upward again, he grimaced as he saw Ran smirking at him, Sailor Mars laying insensate in his arms. "You bastard! Put her down!"

"Actually, I think... no," Ran said condescendingly, staring down his nose at the police officer. "Don't think too ill of me, oh noble defender of the peace; much effort and many undead lives were sacrificed for this woman's capture." He turned toward his prize, and smiled widely as he caressed her cheek, his fangs glinting in the moonlight. "Seeing her like this... well, I must admit she already seems worth the trouble. But this one has so much more to offer than her beauty..."

"Don't touch her!" Ranma screamed, bolting forward once again.

Shoom! Shoom! A pair of blue energy blasts sailed toward him from the side, and Ranma ducked into a roll as he landed on the next roof, jumping again just in time to avoid a third bolt - this one a bright green - coming at him from above.

"Kliff," Ran snapped as the martial artist continued to approach, and the German vampire nodded.

"Erk!" Ranma seemed to redirect himself in mid-air as a shimmering portal suddenly appeared in front of him, and barely managed to catch the edge of the roof with one hand before swinging himself back up and landing in a crouch.

"Hmph. Impressive," Ran mumbled, still caressing the unconscious Mars, "but it's all for naught. Tonight we are victorious."

Kliff ground his teeth angrily, quite upset at having his portal evaded with an ease that even HE would have had trouble managing. "You're DAPC, aren't you? Lord Ran told me about you... A couple of your buddies got lucky tonight and made a fool of me... I'm going to make sure they regret not finishing me off when they had the chance." He grinned insanely. "How best to do it? Should I turn you ghoul and have you stumble into the HQ? Or maybe I should decorate the entire block with your limbs?"

"You'll do no such thing," Kimiko snapped, floating forward behind the martial artist, "you'd more than likely do something stupid and get yourself killed. I'll finish... this one... myself..." she was distracted at the end from having to wipe some of the drool off of her chin; seeing his blood spill had awoken a deep, gnawing hunger within her, and she had no intention of giving her tasty treasure to anyone else, much less one of her subordinates.

"Hey, I should be the one to finish him off!" Mortis said petulantly, appearing next to Kimiko and still nursing the hole in her chest. "Besides the fact that I actually have something to get him back for, you two would just let him go to waste!" she accused, suddenly clasping her hands together and smiling. "Do you have any idea what I could do with that body? If I could get him to retain even fifty percent of his fighting skill as a ghoul, I could make an undead assassin capable of wiping out small armies!"

Ran sweatdropped as his servants started glaring at each other.

"This is ridiculous! I deserve the kill!" Kliff snarled.

"No way! I'm thinking about the team, here! This is an investment!" Mortis insisted.

"It's a moot point! I outrank both of you!" Kimiko shouted, her hands on her hips.

"Shut up," Ranma snarled, causing all the vampires to flinch back suddenly.

The martial artist was aglow with a pulsating, light blue haze, while the small flames of green orbited the Jackal as the weapon's eye stared angrily at the midians.

Ranma's eyes were locked on Sailor Mars even as he addressed the vampires surrounding him. "You idiots don't even matter to me. Stay out of my way."

Kliff saw red, and his hand trembled even as he decided on a portal location. "It'll matter when I have your intestines strung out-"

BWOOM! The very moment the elder vampire opened a new portal, a silver bolt wreathed in green burst out of it and ripped into his shoulder, blowing his arm and a quarter of his torso off in an explosion of blood and gore.

"Guh! Ghg! GAAAAAH!" Kliff collapsed to his knees as he grasped at the ragged wound, his body contorted in agony.

Ranma's eyes were still locked on Ran and Sailor Mars, but the Jackal was pointed directly behind him, smoke wafting from its cackling maw.

"I warned the fool," Kimiko mumbled. "Mortis, with me. We'll settle our little quarrel after he's-"

"Stop. Both of you," Ran suddenly commanded, causing the two vampiresses to freeze in place.

"But, my lord," Mortis started, wincing when the vampire lord snapped his fingers.

"To me. NOW," Ran commanded, meeting Ranma's gaze the entire time.


The women offered no further argument, and hastily floated by Ranma to land next to their master.

"I see now what I've been blind to all this time," Ran said as Kliff slowly stood, the edges of his wound turning to wisps of shadow. "I see what we are up against. What we must destroy... and what we once possessed."

For the first time in the centuries that Kimiko had known him, she heard something akin to regret enter his voice, and she recoiled at the sound.

"I see now that perhaps my destiny, whether forged in stone or the delusions of a madman, may not be as grand as I had thought. I was so dazzled by the thought of future glory, that I did not look around me at what I had already gained. What I had to lose."

He looked down at Sailor Mars' face, and idly brushed a lock of hair away from her face. "This... This is supposed to complete the circle. To save us. When did we need saving? When did our pride, our heritage, our power fail us?"

Kimiko sighed wearily as Ran looked back up at Ranma.

"You, human. What do you fight me for? You stare calmly into oblivion, and for what?"

Ranma's brow furrowed slightly. "Well... for a few reasons, really. But the best one?"

Ran nodded silently.

"Well, I wanna say it's because of justice, right and wrong, and that sort of thing," the pigtailed man mumbled, holding onto his aura still, "or I could say it's 'cause I'm supposed to protect the Senshi, or because I don't want anyone else to have to die for your stupid, pointless vampire rebellion thing. And that would all be pretty much true, but honestly, I'm mostly doing it because it's my job."

Mortis and Kimiko blanched at the admission, and Ran's gaze hardened.

"I mean, maybe if I was a doctor or a businessman, I'd have better things to do than run around at night fighting bloodsucking monsters," Ranma reasoned, slowly raising his pistol to aim at Ran, "but I wanted to save and protect people, you know? I like doing it. So here I am."

Ran snorted savagely, and Ranma took a step back as black lightning started arcing around the vampire lord. "A simple answer from a simple creature. And this, THIS is what we struggle to overcome? This is what bars us from greatness? You pitiful insect!"

The lightning coalesced into half a dozen spheres of throbbing darkness, and Ran thrust a hand out at his human foe, holding Sailor Mars in one arm. "I may have been a fool... but if fate will have me, then I will do its bidding! If this is the only way, I will water the ground with your blood!"

Kimiko promptly winced, and started sweating anxiously.

"Tonight may not be the hour of your doom, but it approaches quickly, mortal," Ran intoned, great lines of dark magic spreading below him spontaneously to create a circle of arcane runes, "you shall stare into the flames, and they shall consume you."

With a mental command, the lightning spheres bolted forward, screaming toward Ranma even as the magic circle below the midians flared to life.

Ranma suddenly dashed forward, though Ran's view of him was promptly obscured by the energy blasts.

"You're not going anywhere!" The pigtailed man shouted, and Ran snarled as his foe appeared above in a blue blur, leaping down atop the vampires even as explosions of black magic rocked the adjacent building.

"Soon, human," Ran hissed under his breath, the teleportation spell taking effect, "but not tonight."


"Hit it! Hit it now!"

Sailor Jupiter nodded and hopped onto the hood of a small car, electricity dancing between her hands. "Supreme thunder!"

On the other side of the abomination, Sailor Mercury rolled out behind a truck. "Shine aqua illusion!"

The massive undead beast hesitated for a moment, and then shook mightily as both attacks crashed into it, covering one half of the monster in ice as lightning surged through the other half.

"Guoooooh..." Crunch! The abomination promptly shouldered forward again, shattering the ice that had tried and failed to impede its movement.

"My turn!" Venus shouted, standing up just a few meters in front of the massive ghoul. "Venus cresce-YEEP!" The blonde ducked in panic as the abomination casually smashed its claw into a car, sending the vehicle flying right over Venus' head.

A moment later, a sack of flesh on its back seemed to inflate, and Venus yelped again before dashing away.

Sploorch! A stream of acid was sprayed in a dense fan in front of the abomination, and the creature was briefly obscured behind a curtain of thick smoke as the chemicals went to work on the rapidly vanishing cover offered by the sales lot.


Asuka bit her lip as she watched Venus. "This is taking longer than I'd like... I can only assume that Saotome couldn't take out Miss Anorexia by himself. I just hope he's okay..."

Mercury ducked in next to her, frowning. "I'm not sure, but I think it's targeting Sailor Venus on purpose. I'm pretty sure it knows that her attacks are more dangerous to it than mine or Jupiter's." Ice and electricity only seemed to slow the abomination, and sometimes didn't even draw its attention away from throwing something at the Senshi of love. "On the plus side, it either doesn't know about Moon or doesn't care."

Sploorch! Asuka groaned as another truck collapsed into toxic steam and pools of bubbling chemicals. "Hey, what's with that thing on its back?" She asked suddenly.

Mercury activated her visor again and opened up the Mercury computer. "That sack is one of the glands that feeds the acid cannon; the acid it ultimately fires at us is far too powerful to be stored safely within any biological construct, so it keeps the primary compound in that bladder, and then the main catalysts are added in the arm cannon."

Asuka digested that information for a moment. "I see. All right, then." Turning away from her cousin, the police captain holstered her pistol, and then sprinted away from the battle taking place.

Crunch! The abomination clamped onto the jagged remnants of a car, and then swung it clumsily across the lot, missing Sailor Mercury by just a meter and sending the hunk of metal bouncing across the pavement behind Asuka.

"ASUKA!!" Mercury screamed suddenly, "Look out!"

The blue haired girl immediately turned and grabbed onto the approaching wreckage, lifting her feet off the ground and allowing the jagged mess of steel to carry her rather than smash into her.

After a few seconds of shaky riding, the remaining momentum of the wreckage dissipated, and Asuka hopped off of the makeshift projectile before landing painfully next to Cyber Moon.

She hissed as she crawled next to the disabled cyborg, fighting the urge to rub at her wounds; in order to get a sufficient grip on the debris, she'd had to hold herself much closer than anyone should to a hunk of uneven, sharp-edged metal recently bathed in toxic chemicals. Asuka could only hope that the wounds were less severe than they felt, as she didn't have the time to take care of them immediately.

"Tsukino, how are you doing?" She gasped out.

Cyber Moon sniffled, her eyes big and dewey. "I can't feel my legs!" She whined, droplets hanging from the corners of her eyes.

Asuka sweatdropped. "Well, from what I can tell, you're better off that way. Listen, remember those weapons I gave you before we left? What'd you do with them?"

Usagi blinked, snapping out of her depression. "I put them in those hatches in my midriff. Why? Are you out of bullets?"

"Not quite. Open up for me, would you?"


Jupiter flung her arms forward as she leapt out into the open, lightning coalescing into a sphere between her hands. "Sparkling wide pressure!"

BWAM! The energy bolt slammed into the abomination's arm, sending thick arcs of electricity surging up and down its bicep.

"Nuuhhhn..." the massive ghoul, instead of discharging another burst of acid, leaned to one side and then raised its leg as high as it could above the ground.

SLAM!! The concrete underfoot buckled instantly as the abomination brought its metal-plated foot down onto the asphalt, and Jupiter gaped in surprise as the ground started cracking and bursting apart in a line headed directly toward her.

"What? Whoa!" She started running after a moment's hesitation, and managed to dive clear just before the ground she had been standing on exploded outward, as if a land mine had been detonated on top of it.

"Jupiter! You okay?" Sailor Venus asked as the taller girl scrambled over next to her, hiding behind the corner of the office building.

"Yeah, it's okay, it missed," the thunder Senshi mumbled, "but this isn't getting us anywhere! We need a new strategy!"

"I'm working on it!" Asuka suddenly shouted, and both Senshi turned to watch as the police captain sprinted across the lot, jumping over pits of acid as she clutched a cylinder in her hand.

"Hrrhhhhn..." the abomination started stepping toward the human running past it, and then turned back around as Sailor Mercury started playing notes on a harp of water.

"Aqua rhapsody!" The genius Senshi shouted, launching a stream of water at the undead creation.

Jupiter clicked her tongue as Asuka fell in next to her. "Well, I don't think it did much damage, but maybe it'll help the smell."

Asuka took a few heavy breaths, and then held out her free hand to Jupiter. "Your gloves... give me one of them."

The taller girl blinked. "What? My gloves? What about-"

"Look, I don't have time to explain; just give me a glove, all right?" the police captain demanded.

Jupiter frowned, but started tugging on the edge of her glove. "It's not a big deal or anything, but I'm not even sure they come off."

"Sure they do," Venus said immediately, "it takes a little work, but you can take off the whole uniform by hand."

Asuka and Jupiter both froze and stared at the blonde Senshi silently.

Venus blinked at the sudden attention, and then flushed. "What?!"

"Never mind, I don't wanna know," Jupiter mumbled, successfully stripping off her glove and handing it to Asuka.

"Excellent." The police captain tugged the garment on over her hand, frustrated as it seemed to almost resist being put on. "Come on, already... stupid senseless magic nonse-"

"Look out!" Mercury suddenly shouted. "The acid!"

Sploorch! The three women all dashed away as a stream of yellow goo splashed into the wall of the office building, devouring the concrete and metal almost instantly.


Sailor Jupiter tucked into a roll, and shook her head as she stood back up. "Okay, so..." her eyes widened as she saw Asuka, who was jumping over an acid pool and charging straight TOWARD the abomination, which Jupiter was fairly certain no sane human being should ever contemplate.

"Hey! Takami-san, what are you doing?" She screamed, Venus doing a double-take behind her.

"I told you," Asuka shouted as the abomination groaned and stepped toward her, "I don't have time to explain it right now!"

The undead monster swung high, and Asuka dove low, hitting the ground on her side and rolling between the creature's legs.

Cursing under her breath at the irritation caused to her many burning lacerations, she pushed herself up, and then leapt onto the abomination's back, the thick stitches and metal plates making easy handholds.

"She's gone oranges!" Sailor Venus mumbled, starting to summon an attack.

"Wait! If you shoot now, you might hit her!" Jupiter warned.

"Unooohn..." the abomination stomped about restlessly, its arms utterly inadequate to reach behind it to remove the annoyance climbing on its back.

Asuka reached the monster's shoulders, and then found a solid foothold so that she could use both her arms, as one - the one protected by Jupiter's glove - was still clutching the cylinder she had received from Cyber Moon.

Shluk! Using her combat knife, she sliced open the pulsating acid gland, whipping her head away at the powerful burning stench that was released. Then the police captain bit onto the pin attached to the cylinder in her hand, and then shoved the incendiary grenade deep into the abomination's chemical supply.

"Disgusting," Asuka mumbled, nearly gagging as she jumped off of the monster's back and landed on the ground behind it.

"Gyoooorrrg..." the undead beast lumbered about, raising its arms to attack as it saw one of its enemies walking away tiredly.

Bwoof! There was a brief burst of light from the abomination's back, and the entire creature lurched backward for a moment as a fierce sizzling noise came from near its head.

The Senshi all stared slack-jawed as the massive ghoul shuddered mightily, its seams starting to glow hotly as small fires erupted at various points on its back and torso.

PWOOF! A small gout of flames burst from its acid cannon, and the flesh of the weapon started to shrivel as parts of it broke open, dripping hot, glowing thermite onto the ground.

"Goog... Guhuh..." The abomination shuddered violently for a few moments, its armored head rocking back and forth in its convulsions. "PLOOOTH!" Finally, a wad of molten, lava-hot thermite burst out of the vision slot of its helmet, and the undead monstrosity slowly teetered over backward as the rest of its body burst into flames.

Thwump!


The Senshi were speechless as Asuka slowly staggered toward them, trying to wipe the cuts on her body clean with a shred torn from her dress.

"That... That was awesome," Sailor Jupiter mumbled.

"Well..." Venus hesitated, "it was almost as cool as Snake destroying the robot with a beer can. Almost."

"Yeah. Sure. Go me," Asuka said irritably as she dabbed at her leg. "I mean, it only took us, what, twenty minutes to secure an utterly unimportant area that's already been ravaged beyond repair? Thirty, maybe? Surely this is a great victory for team human. Would you like to go home to celebrate, or should we actually see about accomplishing something important tonight?"

The Senshi's sense of awe promptly evaporated, which was more or less her intention.

"Sheesh, all right," Jupiter mumbled as Mercury got to work on her computer, "we were just happy that we won, is all."

"Yeah, well, I'm a tactician. It's kind of my job to worry about these things," Asuka frowned deeply. "If Ranma didn't stop the bloodsuckers from taking Mars, or worse, he died in the attempt, then this fight was less than meaningless, and the vampires will soon have all the pieces they need to start their sad little rebellion."

Sailor Mercury gulped, and within a second all eyes were on her.

"I... uh..." her face was pale as she fought the dread she felt suffocating her like a noose. "I... can't find Mars' energy pattern anymore. She's... Somehow, she's outside of the Mercury computer's scanning area. Or... worse."

Tak! Given all that had happened so far, the women could be forgiven for jumping into fighting stances at hearing something land nearby, and each one relaxed tremendously when they saw that Ranma had arrived.

Despite their relief, however, the obvious question hung in the air, especially given how Ranma's tuxedo was scorched, and he had a long cut along his arm.

"Saotome..." Asuka trailed off immediately as she caught his expression, although the pigtailed man wasn't meeting her eyes. His teeth and hands were clenched in frustration and anger, and she doubted it had anything to do with his injuries. "I see... thanks for coming back alive, then. That's all I could reasonably ask of you from that situation."

Suppressing her own anger and depression, she turned toward the Senshi. "Find a car that's still in one piece, and then break into the office and find me the keys. We have to get Tsukino back to HQ. After that... we need to get some rest." She clenched her hands into a fist. "Tomorrow is going to be a long and bloody day. I promise."


Elder vampires severely wounded: 2
Ghouls obliterated: 46
Vampires slow-roasted: 11
Other undead dispatched: 6
Evil plans come to fruition: 1

End Chapter 10