windlily@aol.com (Windlily)
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
A Ranma 1/2 Story
Part One
The comet wandered through the emptiness of space, a small chunk of
a dark world that had died countless eons ago. Sleeping in it's icy
heart was all that remained of a civilization that had died before the
first simple creature had taken it's first painful gulp of air on a
planet that would be called Earth.
The solar winds pushed at it, gravity wells pulled at it, speeding
it on it's way. Finally it wandered into the greedy grip of a small
yellow star and arrowed for the third planet that circled it.
It plummeted into the ground, leaving a huge crater as it's epitaph.
The shattered remains of the comets heart melted, forming a small pool
in the shade of one of the crater walls. The microscopic creatures,
finally released from their icy sleep, swam and bred and waited. They
were genetic symbionts, created to enhance the warrior race who had made
them.
Many creatures came to drink from the pool after the ground cooled,
among them a few wandering bands of what should have later become
humans. The symbiont united with all of them, winding itself into and
around the very building blocks that made them what they were, changing
them into something new, something different.
They call themselves the Tribes of the Twilight. We call them myths,
or monsters.
Nightshadow
by Shannon M. Richmeyer
(Windlily@aol.com)
There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea,
You became the light on the dark side of me,
Love remains a drug that's the high and not the pill
But did you know that when it snows,
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can't be seen?
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray,
The more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah!
And now that your rose is in bloom-
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say,
You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain!
Baby, to me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.
Won't you tell me, is that healthy, babe?
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can't be seen?
Baby, I often compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray,
The more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah!
And now that your rose is in bloom-
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray.
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray.
And if I should fall in love on the way,
I've been kissed by a rose on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say,
You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain!
To me you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny.
Won't you tell me, is that healthy, baby?
But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and the light that you shine can't be seen?
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray,
Oh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah!
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
-Kiss from a Rose- by Seal
David walked slowly through the park, the umbrella keeping most of
him from the fine drizzle of the rain. It had been a long time since he
had last visited the Land of the Rising Sun. And it still amazed him
that no matter how much it changed, it always remained the same.
He winced a little as his hunger started to become painful. He would
need to feed soon. He had denied it for as long a possible for he
refused to take any of the common herd that flocked after him and was
tired of the tainted taste of the working ones. He knew what he wanted,
what his soul ached for.
A beautiful young woman with red hair braided simply behind her head
and dressed in Chinese clothing stomped past him, a book bag bouncing
against her back. Her delicate feet clad in black ti-chi shoes were
raising shin high splashes as she moved. Her blue eyes were narrowed in
anger and a hand shaped red mark adorned the left side of her face.
He stopped in mid-stride as she passed.
"Beautiful." He breathed out as he turned to watch her.
"Un-cute tomboy!" Ranma growled under his breath as he stomped
his frustration out on the puddles. "So what if I said that Ukyou was
cute. She is. And I didn't say Ukyou was prettier than she was."
Something prickled at the edges of his awareness. He whirled and
went "eep!" as he saw the man, only a few inches in front of him.
He had maybe a second to gaze into the man's moss green eyes,
thinking (How the hell did he get that close to me?) then the man
reached up with a speed his eyes couldn't follow to touch him with his
left forefinger right in the center of his forehead.
Ranma opened his eyes to find herself sitting on a park bench in the
rain.
"What?" He looked around, feeling light headed and weak, wondering
what had happened. There was the figure of a man far down the sidewalk,
walking away from him under a large umbrella.
He frowned, rubbing at the base of his throat, wondering at the
strange sharp pain there. He didn't remember Mousse hitting him there
when they had fought at lunch.
Something else? There was a tug of a half remembered memory, but
then it was gone. His female body shivered a little, the warmth supplied
by his anger long gone, and he pushed himself up off the bench.
He swayed a little as his knees almost buckled.
"Woah!" He gulped around a wave of dizziness, reaching out to
steady himself against the back of the park bench. Then it passed, but
he still felt weak as he slowly headed home, fighting off the nap attack
that kept threatening to engulf him.
Ranma trudged into the house, zombie-like, shrugged off her
book bag and let it fall behind her. It hit P-Chan on the head on it's
way to the floor, causing him to squeal in outrage.
"Sorry about that, Ryoga." He muttered, eyes barely open as he
headed for the room he shared with his father. He staggered into the
room and collapsed onto his futon.
"Ranma! How many times do I have to tell you not to pick on
P-Chan!!" Akane yelled, appearing in the doorway, a bump-sporting P-Chan
cuddled in her arms.
"Ranma?" She queried, her tone changing to something softer as she
studied her fiancee's form on the futon.
She put the pig down and went to her. Ranma was soaking wet and so
pale, making the red mark her hand had left on her face stand out even
more. Akane winced a little as she observed that, then reached out with
a gentle hand to touch her forehead, P-Chan watching with narrowed eyes
beside her. She didn't seem to be running a fever. If anything, she felt
a little too cool.
"Ranma?" She shook her shoulder gently.
Ranma didn't respond.
"Ranma, come on, wake up. You're soaking wet. You'll catch a chill
if you don't get out of those clothes."
"Go 'way." She mumbled, without opening her eyes.
"Come on, Ranma!" Akane said loudly, shaking her shoulder a little
harder.
Ranma squinted her eyes shut tighter.
"Akane, just go away." He muttered back.
Akane sat frowning, looking at Ranma. (Something about him
was...off) that was the only way she could describe it. It was an
unconscious knowledge, a sensitivity to him that had developed in her
over time. And something that she would never, ever admit to. Even to
herself. All she knew was that his chi had been somehow weakened. A lot.
(Well, he had had that fight with Mousse at lunch and Mousse, for
once, had gotten a few good blows in. Maybe he had done more damage than
Ranma would admit too. He was always so stupidly macho when it came to
admitting he was hurt! Probably a good nights sleep was all he needed.
But she couldn't just let him fall asleep in those wet clothes!) She
debated with herself for a minute, then went and pulled Ranma's tank top
and shorts out of the drawer.
She blushed furiously for a moment.
(Come on, Akane.) She told herself. (He's a girl now, nothing to get
worked up over.)
She kept telling herself that over and over as she undressed her and
got her into the tank and shorts and covered with the quilt.
"Thanks, Mom." Ranma murmured as she snuggled deeper into the quilt.
(Boy, he's really out of it!) Akane thought as she gathered up the
wet clothes and headed for the laundry room, P-Chan trotting beside her.
Ranma woke up around two in the morning, famished. He dragged
himself to the kitchen and rummaged around in the refrigerator, so
hungry he wolfed down anything in it that looked remotely edible. He
felt a little better when he finished, the refrigerator clicking on as
it struggled to cool all the empty space that had just appeared in it.
He hit the bathroom next and emerged a few minutes later, a little
damp, but he felt much better back in his natural shape. He went back to
his room and crawled back onto the futon and fell back into sleep.
A week later.
David leaned his elbows against the cold steel of the rail that ran
around the tiny balcony of his fifth story hotel room, the bite of the
late afternoon air a tingle against his nerves. He frowned as he
concentrated again on the image of the fire-haired beauty, wondering
again why he hadn't been able to locate her since that afternoon.
That was definitely strange, yet only made him more determined to
find her. His hunger was becoming...unbearable. If he didn't find her
soon, he'd have to go to the working ones. He might have to anyway. He
didn't want to damage this one, sensing in her a strength that would
sustain him for a long time and, for a while, drive back the hunger in
his soul. He smiled, one hand unconsciously reaching up to push an
errant lock of white blond hair back behind one ear. He would woo her
and win her. He had been alone for far to long.
Finally the feeling of her came to him in a rush and he smiled as he
tracked her, following the sound of her heartbeat and the smell of her
blood, moving so fast that he couldn't be seen by the human eye.
She was sitting on the roof of a large wall-surrounded house,
staring moodily at the glowing colors of the setting sun.
He extended his senses, seeing the heat traces of many others moving
in the house through the walls. He frowned a little, but his hunger and
need to be near her overcame his fear of discovery. He leapt soundlessly
to the top of the wall, and from there to the roof behind her.
She must have felt him coming this time, for she whirled to face him
while he was still a few feet away.
"Who are you?!" Ranma demanded, taking in the tall lean form and
the face so handsome it was almost pretty as he dropped into a crouch,
his hands coming up into a defensive posture.
"No one to be frightened of." He told her soothingly, his voice rich
and low. He caught her eyes with his own and extended his power.
Ranma narrowed his eyes as he frowned, sizing this weirdo up. Some
part of him began screaming a warning, but it was too late and his
eyes went large and blank.
"I won't hurt you, beautiful." David murmured as he undid the top of
her mandarin styled blouse enough to exposed the lower part of her neck.
He bent his head to nuzzle her throat.
Ranma stiffened as his fangs penetrated his flesh, then sighed, a
strange, wonderfully erotic pleasure flowing through him as the vampire
drank.
David forced himself to break off his kiss. His Shadow was
satisfied, it was just his desire for the pleasure...but he didn't want
to damage her. He withdrew his fangs, then gave a true kiss to the two
small puncture wounds, using the Shadow to heal them, leaving only a
circular bruise in evidence of his feeding. One of the doors opened
below them.
"Ranma?" A female voice asked.
He gathered the fire-haired one up into his arms.
(Don't see.) He suggested to the young woman standing in the
backyard, then sprang to the wall and down into the street.
Akane rubbed at her temples for a second, then looked around
suspiciously. Something, she had seen? Then she shook her head.
(Where was that jerk! She could never find him when there was work
to be done. It was HIS turn to sweep the sidewalks! She wasn't going to
do it again!)
David took his beauty to the park, finding a secluded, pretty spot
and lowered her down to sit.
"Who are you?" He asked as he leaned forwards a little, his long
graceful fingers slow and gentle as he re-did her collar.
"Ranma Soatome." His beautiful one answered.
"Ranma Soatome." He repeated, sitting across from her, studying her,
putting every inch of her into his memory.
"You are very beautiful, you know." He moved around her, undid the
braid and combed her hair out with his fingers. It flowed around her
shoulders in waves.
"My name is David." He whispered in her ear.
"I wish I didn't have to do this to you." He sighed, moving back to
sit facing her. "But you wouldn't understand yet. Soon, though, you
will." He took her unresisting hand and turned it over and brought it to
his lips so he could kiss her palm, then ran his cold cheek against it.
Ranma shivered as every instinct fought to break the deep trance the
vampire had put him into. David smiled as he 'felt' that resistance. She
was so strong!
"Don't fight me, Ranma." He murmured, leaning forwards to kiss her
on the forehead, putting a little more effort into his spell.
Ranma relaxed again.
"Come." He pulled her up with a gentle tug. "Walk with me."
He hummed, weaving his spell tighter around her as he lead her by
her hand through the early evening, his voice vibrant and beautiful and
Ranma followed docilely, entranced by his voice.
David finished his song, leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the
top of her head, then moved her away from him at arms length.
"For now, you will not remember." He put his forefinger to her
forehead, re-enforcing that command. He held her for a while longer,
wishing that he could release her mind, but knowing that would come soon
enough. He could wait.
"Here." He put something into her pocket.
"Come and hear me sing." He whispered into her ear.
He walked away from her and when he was at a safe distance
whispered, "Wake now."
Ranma fell sideways into the grass as the wave of weakness hit him,
then felt a surge of panic when he didn't recognize where he was.
"Oh, Jeez!" He groaned as he put his delicate hand to the base
of his neck, rubbing at the sharp pain that throbbed there.
(What the hell was going on?) He growled to himself as he pushed
himself to his feet, then swayed and collapsed back down onto the grass.
He lay staring at the dim stars for a few minutes, trying to summon
enough strength to move. He felt so...drained. And how did he get here?
(Am I sick?)
He pushed that thought away.
(I never get sick! I never get sick!) He pushed himself back up,
listed dangerously to the left, then got his balance back and staggered
into the night. Somehow he managed to make her way back to the Tendo's,
chanting that mantra over and over.
(I never get sick!) He told herself firmly once more as he snuck
in the back door, managing to avoid everyone on his way to his room, and
sank onto his futon.
He hadn't managed to go unnoticed though.
Akane followed her quietly and watched from around the door frame,
shushing P-Chan as he oinked with a curious tone, as Ranma fell onto the
futon, her eyes troubled. She walked noiselessly to Ranma side and knelt
down, taking in her pale face and the bruise like circles under her
eyes, for once her red hair unbound and circling her head on the pillow
like a fiery halo.
"Ranma, are you all right?" She asked.
"I never get sick." She murmured.
Akane felt of her forehead again, and again it was very cool to her
touch, almost chill.
(What is wrong with him?) She wondered, feeling a little knot of
worry start in her stomach.
(Well, maybe he was just coming down with the flu. It had run
through most of the kids in their class, but had skipped them so far.)
She went and got another quilt from the hall closet and covered her,
reminding herself to check on him one more time before she went to bed.
Five days later.
The dream had started again.
Two huge green eyes pinned him in place, like a deer caught in
headlights. He tried to move, but couldn't as fangs appeared below the
eyes, moving with weird slowness towards his neck.
One part of him trembled in anticipation, one part tried to scream,
but nothing came out of his mouth but a sigh as a sharp pain followed by
incredible pleasure coursed through him as the teeth bit deep into his
flesh. Then they where gone, leaving him wanting more of that sensation.
He wanted more of it. And more of it.
'Don't remember. Don't remember.' The eyes glowed with cold green
fire, searing those words into his brain. Someone was shaking him.
He struck out, trying to move away from those eyes.
"Ranma!" Akane yelled, barely blocking the blow with her crossed
arms.
P-Chan squealed at him angrily.
"Huh?" He blinked groggily at her, squinting a little against the
early morning sunlight streaming into the room.
"You hit me!" She blinked at him, stunned.
"Huh?" He responded, still half caught in the nightmare.
"What's wrong with you?" She demanded. He'd been acting strange all
week.
"Um, nothing. I hit you? (I hit her?) I, um, sorry, Akane, I was
just having a bad dream, I guess."
"Well, you'd better get up now if you want to eat before school."
She told him, then huffed out.
P-Chan stayed behind, glaring at him as he yawned and rose and
followed him to the bathroom, jumping into the warm water of the tub.
"What is wrong with you, Ranma?" Ryoga asked frowning, leaning his
chin on his hands where they rested on the edge of the big tub.
"Nothing." Ranma grumbled back, angling his head so he could get a
better look at the dark bruise at the base of his throat. What the hell
had Mousse hit him with? He'd never had a bruise take this long to heal.
Ryoga rose out of the water behind him and wrapped himself in a
towel.
"No, really, Ranma. Are you sick?" Ryoga asked.
"I don't get sick." Ranma growled.
"Well, you don't look real well. You've been pale all week. In fact,
I bet if we were to fight right now, I'd take you."
Ranma whirled on him, eyes angry. "You want to try it, Ryoga?"
"Sure, anytime, Ranma." He grinned back.
"After school, in the dojo, if you think you can manage to find it."
Ranma responded with a smirk.
"You dare to mock me?" Ryoga snarled.
Ranma reached over and casually turned on the shower, drenching
Ryoga in it's cold spray.
"After school, P-Chan." Ranma called over his shoulder, leaving the
pig shivering with cold and anger.
"Ranma, I found this in your pants when I was doing the laundry."
Kasumi handed him a folded piece of paper while he was wolfing down his
breakfast.
"Thanks, Kasumi." He mumbled around the food in his mouth as he
unfolded it, praying it wasn't a forgotten homework assignment.
"Wow! That's a pass to Nightshadow!" Nabiki said, leaning over his
shoulder. "Where did you get it, Ranma? That band has been sold out for
the last four months!"
"I have no idea." He told her, frowning, as he heard, "Come and hear
me sing." echo in his mind in a vibrant voice.
"Well, I'll take it, if you don't want it."
He could see the yen signs appear in her eyes.
"No way!" He moved it out of her reach as she grabbed for it.
"It's mine. And I'm going to go see them!" Nightshadow was the
hottest band in town at the moment and tickets into the club where they
where playing were outrageous, not to mention impossible to get.
"Well, is it just for one person?" Nabiki asked, thinking that if
she couldn't sell it, at least she might be able to blackmail Ranma into
taking her with him to see them.
He read the pass. "It doesn't say."
"Good, then you can take me and Akane. And Kasumi, if she wants to
go."
"What makes you think I'm going to take you?"
"That 10,000 yen you owe me." She told him.
"Oh." He answered in a small voice, looking embarrassed. "Well, if
you put it that way, O.K."
"When is it for?" Akane asked, her voice reflecting her excitement.
Even Kuno couldn't get tickets for Nightshadow.
"Um, tomorrow night." He told her, still trying to figure out how he
got the pass in the first place.
He thought about that all the way to school and as he stood in the
hallway holding buckets, Miss Hiniko having nailed him with an eraser
after he dozed off in class and sent him outside.
It bothered him a lot that he couldn't remember how the pass had
come to be in his pocket. He leaned back against the wall, just needing
to rest his eyes for a minute.
It also had started to worry him that he hadn't been sleeping well,
his nights plagued by dreams he couldn't remember. All he knew was that
they were nightmares, kinda'. Some part of him had started to look
forwards to the night and the dreams that came with it.
"Ranma?"
He started awake, almost dropping the buckets as an image of two
green eyes stared back at him for a moment then fled from his memory. He
shuddered and blinked, putting the buckets down and bringing up one hand
to rub at his neck as Akane asked, "Are you all right?"
"Uh, yeah." He responded, having to raise his voice above the
din of students getting ready to go to lunch.
"I think you should go see Dr. Tofu after school." She told him,
sounding concerned.
"I'm not sick." He growled. (Why did everyone think he was sick? He
wasn't, just tired.) "I'm just going through a growing spurt or
something, O.K.? Besides, I've got a fight with Ryoga after school."
"A fight? With Ryoga? That's not a good idea, Ranma." Akane replied.
"What do you mean? I always fight with Ryoga at least once a week.
It's like, a tradition."
"Ranma, whether you want to admit it or not, there's something wrong
with you. And until you feel better, I don't think you should be
fighting." She tried to explain something her intuition was screaming at
her, but that she hadn't figured out yet. All she knew was that Ranma
was not healthy at the moment.
"I'm fine, Akane. Really. So stop worrying."
"Who's worrying?" Akane growled back.
"You are. You sound just like...Ukyou!" He grinned at her.
"I do not. And I'm not worried, so there!" She stuck her tongue out
at him, whirled and stalked away.
Ranma and Ryoga faced each other across the dojo. Akane was standing
by the wall, looking resigned. At some unseen sign, they hurled
themselves at each other, a flurry of punches, kicks and blocks.
Akane could tell immediately that Ranma's timing was off, and so
could Ryoga.
He grinned as two well placed strikes sent Ranma skidding away from
him along the floor on his back.
"That hurt, Ryoga!" Ranma growled as he leaped back up, wiping a
streak of blood from the side of his mouth. "You want to play hard,
we'll play hard."
"It's a fight, Ranma!" Ryoga taunted back. "If you don't want to get
hurt, don't play with the big dogs."
"Don't you mean 'big pigs?'" Ranma taunted, then launched himself at
Ryoga again. This time Ryoga went down, but the effort of putting him
there was showing on Ranma.
(Man, what is wrong with me?)
"What's wrong, Ranma? Getting tired already?" Ryoga taunted,
flipping himself to his feet.
Ranma just stood in his fighting stance, eyes narrowed, breathing
hard. They joined again. Ranma left an opening, Ryoga struck, but
left an opening. They connected simultaneously. It was a mutual kill.
Akane winced and sighed as both fell backwards, unconscious.
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
Nightshadow
By Shannon M. Richmeyer
Part Two
"I told you this was a bad idea." She told Ranma as she handed him
an ice pack. Ranma scowled at her as he carefully put the pack against
the right side of his jaw. Ryoga glared at him from across the table,
his ice pack on the left side.
"Now will you go see Dr. Tofu?" She asked.
"I'm not sick." He told her firmly.
"Ranma, someone's at the door for you." Nabiki told him as she
passed through.
Ranma sighed and headed through the house, wondering (what now?)
There where two men in white uniforms waiting, a delivery truck parked
behind them at the curb.
"Ranma Soatome?" The one with the clipboard asked.
"Yeah, that's me."
"Sign please."
Ranma scribbled his name and the man handed him a large flat box as
he handed the clipboard back. In the meantime, the other delivery guy
had gone and pulled an enormous flower arrangement out of the back of
the truck.
Ranma angled his head so he held the ice pack against his face with
his shoulder, tucked the box under one arm and took the flowers. He had
a hard time seeing over and around the arrangement but managed to get it
to the table.
Akane sighed as she saw Ranma return from the door. It figured he'd
get beautiful flowers.
"Wow!" Nabiki exclaimed. "Who're they from?"
Ranma shrugged. "Probably from that pervert Kuno. See if there's a
card."
Nabiki carefully poked around in the flowers while Ranma opened the
box.
"Nope. And that mean's Kuno's out. He always sends a card."
Ranma pulled out a stylish deep green dress and held it at arms
length.
"Got a secret admirer, eh, Ranma?" Nabiki grinned, hiding her
internal jealousy at Ranma's weird luck with men.
"It's just your color, Ranma." Ryoga quipped.
"Who is it, Ranma?" Akane demanded.
"I don't know." Ranma replied, trying to think of anyone he had met
lately in his girl form who might have done this. Akane got that look
that meant thunder was coming.
"Really! I don't know! Here." He thrust the dress at her. "You take
it. Why don't you wear it tomorrow when we go to the club." He said
desperately, trying to divert her temper. He really didn't need a mad
Akane right now.
"Really? You want me to wear it?" She replied, looking stunned.
"Yeah, sure. The color would look better on me, but it should fit
you O.K." He said, eyeing it and her critically. "You might need to have
Kasumi let out the waist a little, though."
"Gee. Thanks, Ranma." Akane stated flatly, just before she punched
him into the wall and stormed out of the room. But she smoothed the
dress against her as she went up the stairs, a pleased smile on her
face.
"Do you do that on purpose, Ranma?" Ryoga asked, turning his head
sideways to look at Ranma, who had just started his horizontal slide
down the wall.
"Do what?" Ranma groaned as he hit the floor, swapping the ice pack
to the other side of his face.
"Piss her off. Sometimes I think you've got a thing for pain."
"Shut up, Ryoga. Just go get lost, will you?"
"Heh! You wish. It's too cold outside and I've got a nice warm bed
to sleep in tonight." He responded, a mean gleam coming into his eyes.
"The way you're going, you'll be sleeping by yourself for the rest of
your life."
Ranma threw the ice pack, then himself at Ryoga.
"No fighting in the house, please, that's what we have a dojo for."
Kasumi said as she slid the back door open just before the boys where
going to crash into it, the momentum of their fight carrying them
through the opening.
They continued across the back yard, Ranma's anger making up for his
tiredness, and into the fishpond.
Ranma came up spluttering to see P-Chan scrabbling out and
heading back for the house as fast as his short little legs would carry
him.
"Ryoga!" She bellowed, erupting out of the pond. She almost had him,
was reaching down for the bandanna when she ran into the solid wall of
Akane.
"Ooof!" She bounced back and onto the ground, P-Chan glaring at her
from behind Akane's ankles.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to pick on P-Chan!" She
yelled.
The last thing Ranma could remember seeing for many hours was her
fist heading for his face.
"Where's Ranma and Ryoga?" Kasumi asked as Akane slid the door to
the backyard closed behind her, P-Chan cuddled in her arms.
"Ryoga must have gone home. Ranma's outside. He's resting." Akane
told her sweetly, then headed for the TV.
David sprang over the wall and hunched in on himself, becoming a
shadows shadow in the early winter twilight.
(Where was she? He had heard her yell in anger as he came toward the
house.) His eyes scanned the yard, then he gasped as he saw her lying
unconscious by the pond in the back yard. He went to her, lifted her in
his arms and moved them back into the deeper shadows of the trees.
He growled, his canines extending as he took in the bruises coming
up on her face. Who dared to touch his Ranma! There was the scent of
another human male all over her! He reached out, touching the minds of
the humans around him, but picked up nothing but the normal 'traffic' of
the herd around him. What had happened? He studied the house. The heat
trail of the people inside showed that they had no idea she was outside
and hurt. And wet and cold.
What should he do? He could take her with him. That was tempting,
the steady beat of her heart was calling to him and the smell of her
blood was making him high. He pushed that need down.
He would put her by the door and knock, then melt into the shadows.
Then he would hunt. And his quarry would by the male who had dared to
hurt his Ranma. He had just taken a step toward the door when the woman
stirred in his arms.
"Who the hell?" She growled as she opened her eyes and stiffened.
"Shush, Ranma." He told her quietly, putting her under with a
thought. She stared at him with her beautiful blue eyes.
He shuddered. It had been a mistake to come here, but he had just
had to see her. Just put her down and leave! But she was so
beautiful...just a little drink. It wouldn't hurt her. He lowered her to
stand, his hands moving of their own accord to the closures of her
blouse.
The dream was starting again. The green eyes held him still, and he
offered his neck, waiting for the little prick of pain that signaled the
beginning of the pleasure.
She tipped her head to one side, offering him her throat. That
surprised him a little. Maybe she was closer to becoming his than he
thought. Most times, it took at least five of his kisses to bind his
lovers to him.
She sighed happily, her body melting against his own as the pleasure
of his kiss washed over her and the heady power of her blood flowed into
him.
He pulled away suddenly and she groaned quietly against his chest as
the pleasure was taken away. Light spilled out of the doorway to the
house. David quickly healed the wounds his teeth had made, whispered
"sleep well, Ranma." then flowed into the dark, leaving Ranma swaying
and alone. She sank to the ground.
"Ranma?" The bulk of a man filled the doorway.
Genma thought he saw something move in the shadows by the wall, but
he blinked, and it was gone. He shuddered a little, but chalked it up
to the rapidly dropping temperature.
"Where are you, boy?" He called, looking about the yard. He spied
his 'son' laying in a crumpled heap under one of the trees. He sighed,
went and tossed her over his shoulder and headed into the house.
"When are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut?" He grumbled
under his breath as he took her back into the house and to their room.
Akane brought the kettle to Genma, who poured the hot water over the
still unconscious form of Ranma.
"Is he all right?" She asked in a little voice, turning her back as
Genma stripped the wet, cold clothes off of his son and wrapped him in
his quilt and put him onto his futon.
"Oh, he will be, Akane. Don't you worry. A good nights sleep and
he'll be fine." He assured the girl, taking another look at the dark
bruise at his sons throat and grinning.
That was one hell of a hickey. He raised one eyebrow. Could it be
that Akane and Ranma where getting along better than they were letting
on?
"Now, you go on to bed." He smiled at her and pushed her out of the
room, she looking back over her shoulder at Ranma's still form.
Akane walked slowly up the stairs and down the hall to her room,
P-Chan trotting at her heels.
She closed the door, then leaned back against it, head down.
"I didn't hit him that hard." She told herself again, sounding
guilty as she pushed herself away from it and began to undress.
(Why did he have to be such a jerk all the time? She just couldn't
figure him out. He was always so mean and would go out of his way just
to pick a fight with her. But if any other guy so much as looked at her,
he went crazy. And he was always there when she was in real trouble.)
She sighed as she went to hang up her school uniform, running her
hand over the soft fabric of the green dress that was hanging next to
it.
(I hope he's O.K.) She thought, a soft, gentle look that no one,
especially Ranma, would have believed could adorn her face, appearing.
P-Chan oinked demandingly by her feet. She reached down distractedly and
gathered him up, burying her face into his back.
"You're worried about him too, aren't you, P-Chan?"
The pig glared and shook his head no, but Akane didn't see that.
"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him." She
murmured, just admitting that thought to herself.
She also wasn't aware that P-Chan had sagged in her arms at that
last statement, looking stunned.
He always was so healthy. Seeing him this way really bothered her.
She wished he'd go and see Dr. Tofu.
"Oh, well. He'll get better!" She turned P-Chan around in her hands
and lifted him up and rubbed her nose against his.
"I'm sure it's just a growing spurt, like he said." She smiled at
her pet as she tried to force herself to believe it.
She crawled in between the warm covers of her bed, snuggling P-Chan
close.
(I hope he dies.) Ryoga thought, eyes narrowed, gazing at Akane's
beautiful features as she stared into the darkness.
"Maybe I should ask Ryoga to talk to him. He'd probably listen to
him, if he won't to me. They're friends and all, even if they fight all
the time. I wonder why it is that everyone who loves Ranma, fights with
him?" She asked of no one but herself and not realizing what she had
just said.
She yawned and blinked a few times sleepily, then her breathing
deepened as she fell asleep.
Ryoga wiggled in her arms, trying to find a comfortable position,
troubled.
(Friends? Did Ranma really consider him a friend?) Ryoga had never
really had one before, so he wasn't sure if the relationship between
himself and Ranma qualified as such. He always had considered them as
nothing more than rivals for Akane's affection. He sighed unhappily,
turning this new idea over and over in his mind as he tried to go to
sleep.
David waited until he was sure that all the humans where back in the
house before he returned to the yard. He extended his senses to the
fullest, tracking the scent of the male he hunted. There where many old
traces criss-crossing the yard, but he focused on the freshest.
The trail led from the back door into the pond. But didn't come back
out. In fact, there was a strong scent of...pig? He frowned, squatted
down on his heels by the pond, picked a piece of grass and brought it to
his nose. A male pig and just underneath that scent, almost
undetectable, the scent of the human he hunted. A low growl rumbled in
his throat as he puzzled over that. His watch let out one muted beep.
Well, he didn't have enough time to unravel this mystery now, but he'd
find him, sooner or later. He vaulted over the wall and headed for
downtown Tokyo.
The next morning, Ryoga watched Ranma's morning workout with his
father with a critical eye, noting that Ranma's reaction time was still
off and that he still seemed to tire much faster than normal. He
followed him to the bathroom and leaped into the tub.
Ranma looked at the bruise on his throat, ignoring Ryoga, wishing
that he would just go away.
(Jeez, why is it taking this so long to heal?) He rubbed at it, then
shivered as an echo of the pleasure of his almost remembered dream came
over him for a second.
(What was that?) He gulped.
Ryoga relaxed into the warm water, arms crossed across his chest and
eyes closed, debating. He was pretty sure that anything that he
suggested, Ranma would just shrug off with some smart ass remark. And
why should he care anyway?
He sighed. He cared because Akane was worried that something was
wrong with Ranma, and that made her unhappy. And he couldn't stand for
Akane to be unhappy. About anything. Even Ranma. And, he admitted
quietly to himself, he was a little worried about Ranma too.
Not that he liked the guy, or anything, in fact he was a total jerk
who's only purpose in life was to make Akane miserable! But...it was
just that Akane suggesting that they where friends had started him
thinking. He frowned and sank deeper into the water, then took a deep
breath.
"Ranma."
"What do you want, Ryoga?" Ranma answered as he examined the bruises
on his face. (Jeez, he did look terrible.)
"I think you should go see Dr. Tofu."
"Not you, too." Ranma groaned.
"Really, Ranma. There's something wrong with you. Akane's really
worried. And I'd hate for anything to happen to the only person who can
give me a decent workout." There, he'd tried. For Akane's sake.
Ranma turned and looked at him, a curious expression on his face.
"She is, huh?"
He crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back against the
sink, studying his toes as Ryoga left the tub. (Well, I'm pretty sure
it's nothing, but I guess I should go, just to make sure.)
"O.K. If I don't feel better by the end of school, I'll go, O.K.?
Just to get you guys off my back, if nothing else. Now, do you mind? I'd
like to have the bathroom to myself for a few minutes."
Ryoga blinked at him, surprised, but pulled his clothes from behind
the loose tiles by the tub where he hid them and dressed hurriedly and
left, wondering why Ranma had accepted his advice.
(They're friends, after all.) Akane's words came back to him. He
began to suspect that was true.
Akane went with him to the clinic after school, chatting about going
to the club tonight and trying really hard not to pick a fight and be
sweet and supportive. It was kind of nice, for a change. She really must
be worried.
She hovered behind the Doctor as he began his examination.
"So what seems to be the problem, Ranma?" Tofu asked, giving him the
once over as he took his pulse. The boy was far to pale and his aura was
seriously subdued.
"I've just been really tired lately, and I haven't been sleeping
really well." He purposely didn't mention the weak spells and the
black-outs.
"Huum, how's your appetite?"
"Fine. In fact he's cleaned out the refrigerator three times in the
middle of the night in the last two weeks." Akane answered for him.
Ranma scowled at her.
"Take your shirt off, please. What's this?" He asked, seeing the
bruise at the base of his throat.
"From a fight with Mousse. It's taking a long time to heal, though."
Tofu angled Ranma's head away from that side of his throat and
leaned in close. "Huum." He put two fingers to the outsides of the
purple mark and pressed lightly to see how deep the bruising went.
Ranma jerked as if shocked and gasped quietly.
"Did that hurt Ranma?" Tofu asked, removing his fingers quickly.
Ranma shook his head no. "It just felt, weird." He told him, not
knowing how else to describe the fleeting pleasure that Tofu's probing
fingers had created.
"Weird, how?" The Doctor asked as he rummaged around in a drawer,
coming up with a pot of ointment. He applied some of it gently to the
bruise.
"I don't know, just weird weird." Ranma answered, trying not to
squirm as the Doctors soft touch made the weird feeling happen again.
"Weird weird. Well, that doesn't help me much." The doctor smiled as
he continued his exam.
Ranma just shrugged.
"Well, your blood pressures a little low." He told him as he
finished, "and you've got all the symptoms of anemia. The question is,
why? You haven't met any vampires lately, have you?" He teased, trying
to assuage the worry he saw reflected on both Akane and his patient.
Ranma snorted, an amused look coming onto his face.
"It's probably nothing more than a growing spurt. It's hard for the
body to create new bone and tissue, especially if you've been pushing
it. That can cause anemia, so take it easy on the training for a little
while, O.K.? And I'd like to take some blood to send to the lab, just to
make sure and then we'll see if we can't get some of those chi points
open and flowing, O.K.?"
Ranma felt much better when he left. In fact, he felt great!
"See, Akane, nothing to worry about." He picked her up and whirled
her around.
She laughed as he spun, then he stopped suddenly, staring into her
face as he realized what he was doing.
"Uh, umm..." he stuttered as he put her back on her feet, his heart
doing that strange fluttering thing it did when Akane smiled at him that
way. "Come on, let's go get something to eat! I'll race you, and if you
win, it'll be my treat!" He recovered and sprang away.
Akane smiled as she ran beside him, then her face hardened with
determination. No way was she going to pay for one of his pig outs!
Ranma sighed as he looked at the clock on the kitchen wall.
Girls! Always late! If they weren't down in five more minutes, he
was going without them.
As if they had heard him, Nabiki came down the stairs, looking
stylish in a from fitting blue dress. He just stared as Akane came into
sight behind her, a vision in green.
"Well?" She asked as she whirled in place, causing the skirt to
flare out a little.
Ranma swallowed hard. "Uh, you look really, um..." he searched
desperately for the right word. All the ones that came to him would
probably get him clobbered so he settled on, "...nice. Both of you. Now,
come on, we've got to go, or we'll be late!"
The club was packed.
Ranma and Akane followed the bouncer who elbowed his way toward a
table, the pass Ranma had presented at the door apparently having a
table reserved with it. They lost Nabiki somewhere along the way.
The band wasn't on stage yet, and they had to lean close to hear
each other.
"Where did you get that pass, Ranma?" Akane asked, a little uneasy
at the deference the club staff had shown them when he had presented it.
"I don't know. Really!" He told her as she glared suspiciously at
him.
She opened her mouth to say something more, but the club suddenly
went dark.
Everyone waited as the seconds ticked by, punctuated every now and
then by a few nervous titters. Then the band began to play, in the
darkness.
It started out as a haunting slow melody, the lead singers voice
sensuous and rich as he hummed an eerie descant against it, sending
shivers up and down everyone's back.
Ranma felt a little light-headed for a moment, (something about that
voice!), but before he could put his finger on it there was a flash of
light, causing everyone to blink.
The band was back lit, casting sharp shadows against their faces and
went into a pounding, dance-demanding piece of rock and roll. Bodies
piled onto the dance floor.
Akane looked at Ranma expectantly, the rhythm of the music pulling
at her. He studiously ignored her, keeping his eyes on the dancers.
"Well, aren't we going to dance?" She asked.
(Aargh! I knew she was going to ask that!) "Huh?" He yelled back,
pretending he couldn't hear her over the music as he searched for an
excuse.
She narrowed her eyes at him. (Jerk! It's not like it's a slow dance
or anything!)
A hand rested lightly on her shoulder. She looked up startled at a
nice looking guy.
He leaned down close to her ear, so she could hear him. "Would
you like to dance?"
She glanced at Ranma, who was seemingly focused on the dance
floor. (Fine! But I'm not going to sit here all night!)
"Su.." She started to reply, then suddenly Ranma grabbed her
hand and pulled her to her feet.
"Sorry. She's dancing with me." He growled at the guy.
"Ranma, that was rude!" She told him as he led her out to the
dance floor.
He didn't answer, just led her deeper into the mass of dancers,
growling (I can do this! I can do this!) to himself under his breath.
David scanned the crowd as he sang, his voice weaving its spell
around the humans dancing before him. He drew in the power of their
emotions, feeling almost drunk as it washed over him. It wasn't as good
as their blood, but almost.
She was here, he could hear the particular sound of her heart, smell
her blood over the almost overwhelming scent of the others. He spied the
green dress he had sent her, but a strange girl was wearing it.
He frowned as he studied the dark-haired young man dancing with the
girl in his Ranma's green dress. His hair was pulled back into a braid,
just like his fire-haired Ranma and...something? David focused on him
and almost lost track of the words to the song as all his senses told
him this was his fire-haired Ranma. How could that be? He kept his eyes
on the couple as the set continued.
At the break he praised his human band, telling them to take an
extra ten minutes, then leapt off the stage, heading for the table where
the girl in the green dress and the male sat.
He was mobbed by the humans who had come to hear him sing. He gently
tried to move through them, and finally had to extended his power a
little. They wandered away from him, looking a little confused, all
finding themselves suddenly incredibly thirsty or needing to go to the
bathroom.
"Hi." He said as he slid into a chair at their table.
"Uh, hi!" The young man grinned at him. The girl in the green dress
smiled shyly.
(Boy, he's really handsome!) Akane thought.
"I'm David Starr." He extended his hand.
"Ranma Soatome." Ranma introduced himself as he took David's cool
hand into his own. He frowned a little as he looked into the handsome
mans green eyes, (something...)
He let out a little "ooof" as the girl with him elbowed him in the
ribs.
"Uh, this is Akane Tendo." He told him as he rubbed at the sore
spot.
"Charmed." David brought Akane's hand to his lips in a gallant
gesture, but never took his eyes off Ranma's face.
Akane looked between the two men, thought (Uh-oh. Ranma's definitely
going to freak when he figures out that this guy is attracted to him.
She'd seen that look on too many of the girls that flocked around him.)
"Are you enjoying the show?" He asked them both.
This young man was the male version of his Ranma. In fact, if his
senses didn't tell him it wasn't so, he'd swear that this was her twin.
Could it be that Ranma was a half-breed of one of the Tribes? But he
hadn't detected any of the tang of the Twilight in her blood.
"Yeah! You guys are great!" Ranma grinned.
"I'm glad that you like it." He smiled back. (Only one way to
be sure. 'You need to relieve yourself.') He suggested to the girl.
Akane leaned over and whispered something into Ranma's ear, then
pushed her chair away from the table and stood.
David rose with her, then settled back down as she headed for the
long line waiting for the bathroom.
"I really liked..."
"Ranma." David caught his eyes and Ranma paused in mid-sentence,
his eyes going wide and blank. "Are you the fire-haired woman also?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I'm cursed. Cold water turns me into a girl, hot water changes me
back."
David's pale eyebrows raised in surprise. (Cursed? Well, that would
explain why he'd had so much difficulty finding her that first time.)
"We were talking about the show." He said, releasing him.
Ranma continued to ask him about the special effects of the show and
he answered all his questions with a smile. It was strange to see a male
face around his Ranma's blue eyes, but the male was as handsome as the
female was beautiful. He could get used to it. How many times in a
vampires life did he get to have the best of both worlds? And he/she was
so strong tonight, his/her life glow as vibrant as the first time he had
fed on her/him. His need flared to life, but he pushed it away.
(Later.) He promised himself. (But not too much later.)
The girl returned to the table just as the house lights flickered,
warning him that the next set was getting ready to start.
David rose and held the chair for the girl, then leaned down
between them, resting his hand on Ranma's shoulder, his lips close to
his ear.
(Uh-oh. Here it comes.) Akane thought.
"It was nice to talk with you both." He flashed Akane a charming
smile, then turned his attention back to Ranma.
"The second half of the show is better than the first. I'll sing you
a special song, O.K.?" He gave Ranma's shoulder a little squeeze, then
headed for the stage.
"Boy, he's a really nice guy." Ranma told her as the house lights
went out.
She stared at him in the darkness. Either he was incredibly dense,
or he really was a pervert.
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
Nightshadow
by Shannon M. Richmeyer
Part Three
The second half of the show was spectacular and somewhat eerie, fog
created by dry ice rolling out from under the stage and rising up around
the dancing figures, the flickering lighting hypnotic and the music
turning sensuous and almost sinister. But everyone, Ranma and Akane
included, seemed to get caught up in the strange gestalt created between
the instruments and David's voice and danced with wild abandon.
"And now, our last song will be a special one." David whispered,
but his voice carried throughout the club.
Akane blinked a few time, feeling like she was waking up from a
restless sleep.
(What?) She was in the circle of Ranma's arms, just in front of the
stage. The dance floor behind them was packed with slowly swaying
couples. Ranma was swaying with the rest of them, moving her with him,
his eyes closed as the song filled him.
She listened closely to the words. It was a love song and Ranma had
a soft smile on his lips as she looked up at him. He leaned down enough
to rub his cheek against her hair.
Akane shivered a little as she leaned against him, not sure what was
going on. Whatever it was, it was definitely weird. Something prompted
her to turn her head enough to look up at the stage. David was focused
on them as he sang, staring right at Ranma.
Every warning bell went off in her head.
"Pervert!" She growled up at him. "Come on, Ranma." She proceed to
start dragging him through the crowd, heading for the door.
"Wait Akane, the show isn't over yet!" He protested, backpedaling,
but she was an irresistible force.
David smiled as he followed their progress with his eyes. If, for
some reason Ranma failed him, he'd come back for that one.
"What a pervert!" She muttered as they rushed through the doors and
out into the cold air of the winter night.
"What? What did I do?" Ranma sputtered behind her.
"Not you! Him!" Akane growled, stopping suddenly.
"Him who?" Ranma asked, bouncing off her back, looking confused. Why
had Akane freaked out? Weren't they having fun, for once?
"David."
"What about David?" He asked, peeling her fingers off from around
his wrist.
Akane looked at him, amazed. "You mean you couldn't tell?"
"Tell what?" He wrapped his arms around himself, starting to shiver
in the cold air. He turned and headed back for the doors. Akane had left
their coats inside.
"He has the hots for you. Big time."
"What?" He stopped in mid-stride and whirled on her. "You're joking,
right?"
"No."
"Oh, come on. He's a guy. I'm a guy. Guy's don't like guy's that
way."
"He does. He was singing that last song right at you. Did you listen
to the words? It was...perverted!"
"More like he was singing at you, Akane. Now, come on, I'm
freezing." He ran back into the club, leaving her standing on the
sidewalk.
(What the hell was going on tonight?) She thought as she shivered
and hurried through the night club doors. She almost got run over by the
exiting crowd. She pressed herself against the wall, looking for Ranma
or Nabiki.
"Hi, sis!" Nabiki grinned as she pulled herself out of the crowd.
"Was that a great show or what? I've got four guys going to call me for
dates! Where's Ranma?"
"I don't know. He went back in for our coats." She yelled back.
"There! Ranma!" She jumped up and down and waved. Ranma came toward
them, coats in hand.
"It was great, huh?" Nabiki asked as they re-inserted themselves
into the flow of people leaving.
"Yeah." Akane said, without much enthusiasm.
"And wasn't that David too cute?"
"I wouldn't know, ask Ranma." She growled back.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, looked at Ranma. Ranma frowned.
"Akane has this crazy idea that David was attracted to me, or
something."
"Why? Did you change?"
Ranma shook his head no.
Nabiki laughed.
"Yeah, that's just what I thought. See Akane?"
"I know what I saw, Ranma."
"Jeez, Akane. I can't believe that you're jealous over a guy that
was probably making goo-goo eyes at you, anyway."
"I'm not jealous!" She growled, refusing to admit that she felt
threatened by the singer. "I just don't like perverts!" She stomped
ahead of them.
Ranma shrugged and sighed as he fell into step beside Nabiki,
letting Akane keep the lead.
(Can't live with her, can't live with her.) He thought, modifying
the saying.
Nabiki and Ranma where behind her, chatting excitedly about the
show, comparing their favorite parts, which songs where the best. She
sighed and huddled farther down in her coat.
It had been a good show, and Ranma had been so...weird. But it was a
nice kind of weird. It almost had been like a real date. And she had
been having fun, up to the point that the pervert had shown his true
colors.
Was she over-reacting? No, she knew she wasn't. Why couldn't anyone
but she see it? She grumbled to herself all the way home.
"Have fun?" Kasumi asked, just putting a steaming pot of tea down on
the table as they came in.
"It was great, sis! You should have come!" Nabiki enthused and she
and Ranma proceeded to relate all the goods as they sipped the warming
brew.
P-Chan came trotting in and hopped into Akane's lap. She scratched
him behind the ears, finished her tea, and rose with him in her arms.
"I'm going to bed now." She told them.
They didn't even acknowledge her exit, being caught up in their
re-telling. Kasumi's giggle followed her as Ranma tried to hum one of
the songs for her.
Ryoga wondered what Ranma had done to Akane to make her so quiet and
withdrawn as he watched her hang up the lovely green dress, closing his
eyes as she finished undressing and put on her pajamas
"I don't know why I'm letting this bother me so much." She told
P-Chan as she gathered him into her lap as she settled cross-legged on
the bed.
(What's bothering you, Akane? What did Ranma do to you?) Ryoga
thought. He oinked and rooted at her hand, making her smile a little.
She picked him up and hugged him. "I'm just being silly, I guess.
It's not like the guys a real threat, or anything."
Ryoga's ears perked up. Another guy? And Ranma didn't kill him? As
soon as everyone was asleep, he was going to go and have a little chat
with Ranma and find out what happened.
She put him on her pillow, then went and clicked off the lights. She
crawled under the blankets and pulled P-Chan close.
"What a pervert." She muttered one more time before she fell into
sleep.
Ranma snugged the covers up around his chin as he stared up at the
dark rafters over his head.
(Jeez! What was it with Akane? Getting all worked up over something
like that. As if he'd ever let another guy touch him!)
The love song David had been singing echoed in his head as he
hovered in the place between sleep and wakefulness and he smiled a
little, thinking of how nice Akane had felt in his arms as they danced.
He wasn't sure how that had happened, but he was secretly kinda glad it
had.
Suddenly, it wasn't Akane in his arms, it was David.
He had a momentary flicker of panic, every part of him revolted,
then David nuzzled his neck, sending the phantom echo of pleasure
through him. He sighed, wanting that feeling for real! He tilted his
head, waiting.
One part of him screamed, but he shushed it. It was only a dream
after all.
(Come to me, Ranma.) David called.
Ryoga listened as the house grew quiet. That was the one and only
good thing about this shape. It had great hearing.
He wiggled out of Akane's arms and hurried to the door as he heard
Kasumi's light step coming down the hall. She was always the last one
into bed, staying up to put the kitchen in order for the next morning.
He tapped at the door with his foot and oinked quietly just as she was
passing.
She heard him and opened the door enough to let him out, leaving it
ajar enough that he could nose his way back in.
He trotted down the darkened hall and jumped down the stairway in
three bounds and started hunting for the bathroom.
It took him twenty minutes to find it and he wondered how Kasumi
kept managing to move it. It was never in the same place twice.
Human and dressed, he cat-footed down the hall and had just started
across the dining area when a flicker of movement outside caught his
eye.
He stopped and stared. Ranma was standing, bare-foot and clad only
in his tank top and shorts outside, staring toward the shadows under the
trees.
"What the?"
He slid the door open and shivered as the frigid air bit into him, a
few fat and perfectly formed snowflakes starting to drift down from the
heavy clouds overhead.
"Ranma?" He called quietly.
Ranma didn't move. He stepped outside and walked to him.
"Ranma? Are you O.K.?"
Ranma continued to stare into the dark.
"Ranma?" He waved his hand back and forth in front of his face.
Ranma didn't even blink. Was he sleepwalking?
"Come on. Let's go back in." He reached out to take his arm.
A movement in the still air gave him enough warning to turn. But
that was it.
He had a quick impression of glittering green eyes and fangs, then
the thing fastened onto his neck before he could scream.
His body went rigid as the vampire drew his life out of him with an
incredible wave of pleasure.
He said, "oh." in a quiet voice as the vampire broke off his kiss
and released him to collapse in a boneless heap at his feet.
David stopped just before the point of death. He never liked riding
the wave up as a soul slipped out of it's body. But the meddling human
who had dared touch Ranma would be dead soon enough. And he wouldn't
touch Ranma, or anyone else, ever again.
"Come, Ranma." He held out his hands to the young man.
Ranma blinked slowly, looked down at Ryoga's still form and took a
step backwards, away from the vampire.
"It's all right, Ranma. He won't hurt you again. Come with me and
I'll make sure no one ever hurts you again."
Ranma froze in place, not able to move forwards or backwards.
Something was wrong! He just couldn't think clearly.
David closed the distance between them, the blood of the prime stud
he'd just drained surging through his body, making him giddy. He looked
deep into Ranma's eyes and laughed gently. So much resistance in this
shape. But it didn't make any difference. Ranma was his, whether he knew
it yet or not. He started humming softly, the same song he had sang to
Ranma as they had walked under the stars.
The dream started again. And he wanted that kiss, needed the
overwhelming pleasure that followed. Ranma tipped his head, offering his
throat.
David drank, not because he needed to, but just because he wanted
to. Ranma sighed with pleasure and leaned against him. David gathered
him into his arms and flowed into the night.
Less than a minute later another figure vaulted over the wall and
landed soundlessly near the discarded one.
(Damn it to hell! He was too late again! It had taken him weeks to
find the prostitute that David had been feeding on, and her link to the
Rogue was so old and tenuous that it had been almost untraceable.)
He reached down and checked the boys pulse. It was faint, but there,
as the young one's heart fought to push the small amount of blood left
to it through his body.
He growled a little, the trace of the Rogue rapidly receding from
his awareness. But he couldn't just leave one to die, especially a stud
of this quality, and they had lost so many of this generation to
David's greed already. He gathered the boy up into his arms and went and
started kicking at the house door.
"What? Who? Ryoga!" Akane was the first one to answer, having gotten
up to go to the bathroom.
The man pushed past her and lowered Ryoga to the floor.
"What's wrong with Ryoga!?" She gasped, taking a step back as the
man fixed her with an intense gaze and took a deep breath.
(O+. Luck was with him tonight.)
"Come here." He commanded, pushing the boys sleeve up. "Roll up your
sleeve."
"What? Why?" She asked, taking another step away from him, leery and
wondering why Ryoga was so blue.
The man shrugged off his coat, draped it over Ryoga, pulled the
strap to the bag resting at his hip over his head, opened it and began
pulling out tubing and needles as he answered.
"Your friend has just had most of the blood drained out of his body.
If he doesn't get more within the next two minutes, he's going to die."
"What?"
"Look, we don't have time for this. Do it, or let me get on my way."
She gulped, but rolled up her sleeve as she came and kneeled by
Ryoga's side. She closed her eyes as he slid the needle into the vein at
her elbow, then attached another to Ryoga's.
"What? What's going on here?" Her father stuttered as he and the
rest of the family appeared in the doorway.
"Call an ambulance, Dad." Akane told him, trying not to get queasy
as she saw her blood flow through the tube and into Ryoga.
"It won't be necessary. There are enough of you here to donate." The
man said.
"Who are you?" Nabiki asked through narrowed eyes, Kasumi going to
the phone in the hallway.
"Morgan Allson."
"What happened to Ryoga?" Soun demanded.
"I called Dr. Tofu. He'll be here soon." Kasumi told her father
quietly.
"He was attacked by a vampire."
They all looked at him, stunned.
"No way." Nabiki broke the silence.
Morgan turned Ryoga's head enough so that they could see the red
circular welt around the two small puncture wounds at the base of his
throat.
(That mark. It was just like the bruise on Ranma's throat!) Akane
thought, looking around for him, panic rising in her. (Anemic, bad
dreams, oh, no!)
"Where's Ranma!"
They all looked around, seeming just to realize that he wasn't with
the rest of the group huddled in the doorway.
"Well, go look for him." Akane yelled at her family, snapping them
out of their stunned huddle.
Soun, Genma and Nabiki hurried through the house, calling, Genma
even going to check in the dojo.
Morgan simply extended his senses. There was no one else in the
house except those he had already seen. He studied the young prime
female sitting next to him.
"Are you missing someone?"
"I hope not." She answered firmly.
"You think it was someone that the vampire had been feeding off of?"
He asked gently.
She nodded her head yes. Morgan shook his head slowly. (David, you
bastard! Not another one.)
Something in his eyes scared Akane.
"Where is he?" She demanded
"Gone."
"What do you mean, gone?!"
"The Rouge took him."
"Rogue? What rouge? Took him where?"
"To wherever his denning, I suppose."
The oldest of the females came back into the room bearing a tray
with canned juices and cookies.
"Just exactly what do you mean?" That was the big male who came up
to tower behind him.
"Just exactly what I said. Your Ranma?" He looked questionaly to the
young woman, who nodded her head, "has been taken by a vampire. A
very crazy, very dangerous vampire at that."
"Don't be ridiculous! There's no such thing as vampires!" The big
male growled. "Did anyone look on the roof?"
"I'll check." The other male responded, hurrying out of sight.
"O.K., that enough from you." Morgan slid the needle out of Akane's
arm and pressed a piece of cotton over the wound. "Keep pressure on it
for a few minutes and go get yourself something to drink."
The oldest female came to take her place.
"Do you always carry a transfusion kit with you?" Kasumi asked as he
changed the needle.
"When you deal with vampires, it's best to come prepared." He smiled
at her.
Akane glared at him as she stood guard behind her sister, trying to
suppress the panic rising in her. Where was Ranma?
"What's going on here." A new voice asked.
Morgan looked up to see a man push his way past the two in the
doorway, shaking the snow off his hair and ponytail.
"You're the Doctor?" Morgan asked.
Tofu nodded as he hurried to them, frowning as he checked the
needles, then did a quick exam of Ryoga.
Morgan moved out of the way to let him work.
"How did this happen?" Tofu asked the room in general.
"He was attacked by a vampire." Morgan told him.
Tofu looked disbelievingly at him. Morgan pointed to the marks on
the boys throat.
"How else do you explain an exsanguination like that?"
"Ranma." The doctor said quietly, looking for the boy.
"He's gone. You're lucky I was here, or you would have lost this one
too."
"Well, how do we get him back?" Akane growled.
Morgan shrugged. "You don't."
"What do you mean?!" She almost yelled.
Morgan shrugged again. "You have this under control?" He asked the
doctor.
Tofu nodded at him.
"I'm going to see if I can't pick up the Rouge's trail. If I can't,
I'll be back."
"Wait!" Akane followed him as he headed for the door.
Morgan paused.
"What about Ranma?" She pleaded.
"He's gone beyond your reach, little one. I'm sorry." Then he was
gone.
They had moved Ryoga into the guest room and put him on Ranma's
futon. Akane sat next to him, studying him in the dim light that
filtered in from the early morning snow storm. Dr. Tofu said that he
would be all right, but he looked so...fragile. She wondered if that was
how Ranma looked right now.
(Stupid jerk! How could he go and get kidnapped by some hentai
weirdo! Figured only Ranma could manage that!)
Then it hit her. (Oh God! He was gone!)
She curled around herself, trying to warm the strange cold spot that
had just taken up residence in her chest, fighting off tears. What was
she going to do?
She stiffened as she felt the presence of something else, something
alien, in the room.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" She asked without turning.
Morgan raised his eyebrows in the shadow he had been standing in.
She was very sensitive, a prime brood mare indeed!
"Yes." He answered, stepping out into the dim light.
"Did you find him?"
"No. But I will. When he is strong enough," Morgan pointed to Ryoga,
"I will be able to track the Rouge through him."
"What do you mean." Akane growled, moving herself so she sat between
Ryoga and the vampire protectively.
"There is a temporary bond that forms between ourselves and those we
feed off of. I can use it to track the Rouge."
"Rouge. What do you mean, a Rouge? And why did he choose Ranma?"
"You won't like the answer."
"Tell me anyway."
Morgan shrugged. "Vampires are only allowed to take one prime
breeder each from the herd per generation. David has chosen to ignore
that rule."
"Herd? What herd?" Akane asked.
"Your herd."
"You mean humans?" She sputtered, outraged.
Morgan laughed. "I told you you wouldn't like the answer."
Akane forced down her anger. She couldn't antagonize him, she needed
to know everything she could about vampires if she was going to get
Ranma back.
"What do you mean by prime breeders?" She continued.
He grinned, amused. "Among the herd, every generation has a small
percentage who are born the best of what the herd has to offer."
"So what has that got to do with Ranma?"
"David is addicted to prime breeders." Morgan answered simply.
"You mean Ranma's a prime breeder?" Akane asked incredulously.
"Probably."
She frowned, mulling that over. (No way.)
"I don't understand what you mean by addicted. Isn't blood just
blood?"
"It isn't just the blood. We feed off of the life force also. You
would call it chi, I think. Feeding off a prime breeder, like that one,"
he gestured towards Ryoga, "Is like..." He paused, trying to find words
to describe something she had no concept of.
"Doing a potent drug." He shrugged. That wasn't adequate, but he
could find no better description.
"That's...gross!"
He shrugged again.
"Well, what about regular humans?" She asked, morbidly curious.
"It's like eating nothing but rice. It sustains you, fills you up.
But it rather bland."
"So what are you? The vampire police?"
Morgan grinned. "I guess you could call me that."
She grew quiet, her eye's thoughtful.
He liked this one. She had no fear of him, only a determined anger.
He smiled a little, wishing, but Janette, his own beautiful brood mare
waited for him back home.
"Ranma would never let something like this happen. How did the Rouge
get him?"
"We have the ability to influence the minds of the herd and our kiss
is like a narcotic. One time and the victim remembers nothing but a
pleasure filled dream. More than that and the kiss becomes an addiction,
pulling the victim farther under the vampires power. Soon the victim
becomes a willing participant."
"No way. Ranma would never..."
"What's your name?" He caught her in mid-sentence, holding her with
his dark eyes.
"Akane Tendo." She answered, unable to stop herself.
"Come here."
Her body rose and moved to him. She felt as if she was watching
herself from a distance.
He leaned down and brushed his cold lips against her cheek. "Go
back."
Her body did. He released her.
Akane jumped up, panicked and angry. "What? How?"
"Now you understand. Your Ranma didn't have a chance." He told her.
She shuddered, fighting her instinct to flee.
"You don't have anything to fear from me, Akane Tendo." The vampire
said. "I swear it to you, on my honor. As a vampire police officer." He
grinned at her.
She sank to her knees beside Ryoga's futon, trembling.
"Is that what you do? Just take us?" She snarled at him.
"No." He sighed. "David is insane, as I said before. When we find a
prime breeder we want, we woo them just as a human would. Then we love
them and cherish them until the end of their short lives.
The feeding just deepens the bonds of love. David just takes the
ones he wants, then can't figure out why they reject him when he
releases their minds enough for them to figure out what he is and what
he's doing to them."
"David? You don't mean the guy from Nightshadow do you?"
"That's the one."
"I knew he was a pervert!"
"Yes, that is a good word to describe him." Morgan agreed.
Akane fell silent, eyes on the boy and Morgan watched the flicker of
emotions pass across her face. They were small signs, things that only
Twilight enhanced eyes could see. He waited as the minutes ticked by,
curious.
Finally she looked back to him, her eyes hard.
"How do you kill a vampire?" She asked, her voice quiet but firm.
"You don't." He responded, emphasizing the 'you'.
"Then what do I do? He has Ranma. And I want him back."
"There isn't anything you can do, Akane Tendo. David could and
would kill you without a thought. And as easily as you step on a bug."
"I want him back. I want Ranma back." She told him, her voice
breaking on those last four words and tears starting in her eyes.
That touched Morgan's soul.
"If I can bring him back to you, Akane Tendo, I will." Morgan
promised.
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
Nightshadow
by Shannon M. Richmeyer
Part Four
Ranma woke, shuddering and slick with sweat. God what a nightmare!
He squinted up into the darkness and realized that the ceiling was
wrong.
(Huh?)
And the bed. What was he doing on a bed? He sat up, the covers
falling down to his waist and snapped his head around as he realized
there was someone else with him on the bed.
"Hello Ranma." David smiled up at him. He was lying on his side,
head propped up on one hand, elbow against the bed.
"What the?" He leaped out of the bed, shuddering. (oh man oh man oh
man)
"What's wrong?" David pushed himself up so he was sitting
cross-legged and frowned at him.
"What? How? Where?"
"Do you want those answered in any particular order?" David asked.
Ranma shook his head and started to edge around the bed toward the
door.
"Un-uh-uh." David moved so fast he could barley follow him. He was
standing in front of him, just inches separating them.
Ranma backpedaled, then dropped into a fighting crouch. (Oh, god!
Akane was right! And he's so fast!)
"Get out of my way, you pervert!" He growled.
"You're going to hurt my feelings, Ranma." David frowned.
Ranma launched himself at him, throwing everything he had at him. He
was going to kill this guy.
David staggered back under the savage assault, a round-house kick
sending him flying backwards to crash into the far wall. Ranma glared at
the crumpled form, then strode toward the door, sure the creep was out
for the count.
(What a pervert! I can't believe...) He was reaching for the
security chain when he was lifted by the back of his shirt. David shook
him violently, then slammed him up against the wall by the door,
knocking the wind out of him.
David pinned his arms to his sides, the fury on his face suddenly
changing to one of hurt sadness.
The vampire sighed. "It's my fault, Ranma. I thought you were ready,
but I guess not. But I can fix that."
"Let me go!" Ranma wheezed. He looked into David's green eyes and
the dream came back to him in a rush.
"No!" He screamed as David bared his fangs. Then he went limp in
the vampires arms as the pleasure radiated through him.
"You shouldn't play with your food, David." A new voice spoke.
David jerked his head up, turning them so that he faced the
intruder.
"Morgan." He growled. He thrust Ranma behind him.
Ranma slumped against the wall, his chi seriously sapped by the
vampire, his body still throbbing with pleasure from his kiss. He sank
to his knees, one hand reaching out imploringly towards David as he
wanted the pleasure to continue. Then he realized what he was doing and
swallowed hard against the bile that rose to the back of his throat.
The two had started talking to each other, but their voices where so
fast and so high that it sounded like buzzing.
(Have to get away!) He started crawling towards the door as the two
vampires attacked each other.
He fumbled with the latches and fell out of the door into a
carpeted hallway lined with doors. There was an elevator at the far end.
He pushed himself up and staggered towards it, using the wall for
support. He was almost to it when it opened and a well dressed couple
stepped out.
"Help me, please." He whispered as he sank to his knees again.
"Oh my! Akihisa, go to the room and call an ambulance!" The male of
the pair told his partner, helping Ranma sit up.
The woman hurried down the hall, frowning a little as she passed the
slightly open door to one of the rooms and misinterpreted the sounds
coming from behind it.
(Really, you'd think they'd at least shut the door!) she huffed,
hunting for the room key in her purse. (And with a hurt boy lying in the
hallway!)
"Are you all right, young man?" The man asked, looking him over,
trying to see if he was injured.
"No. Get me away from here. Please!"
"It's O.K. The ambulance will be here any minute." He tried to
soothe the boy, who was starting to look panicked. He had to restrain
him as he tried to crawl to the elevator.
"Let go of me!" He growled and tried to shake the man off.
"You heard him, let go." David picked up the man by the back of his
collar, draining him in seconds. That helped some, but he would need the
more potent power of Ranma's blood and life-force to heal him of the
wounds that Morgan had inflicted.
Ranma opened his mouth to scream as David reached for him. The
vampire was covered in blood and gaping wounds, his shirt hanging around
him in tatters. He could see bone in places.
David covered his mouth with his hand, to weak to use his power,
muffling the noise and drug him back to the room by the back of his
tank top. He threw him onto the bed, kicking the door shut behind him.
Ranma rolled off the bed and tried to back to the wall again. He
tripped over the prone body of the other vampire and fell.
"Run, boy!" The other vampire whispered feebly at him.
He pushed himself up to his feet as David staggered
towards him.
"Get away from me!" Ranma yelled as he lunged toward the window.
"Don't make me hurt you, Ranma." David pleaded with him, making a
grab for him.
Ranma spun away from him, but now David was between him and the
window. He headed for the door.
David tackled him, knocking him off his feet and pinning him to the
floor with his body.
Ranma struggled to push him off, but it was too late.
David latched onto his neck and drew the healing blood and
life-force out of him.
Ranma shuddered, trying to fight off the enervating pleasure as the
vampire drank and drank, but it was no use. He slipped into
unconsciousness as the pleasure became exquisite.
David rolled off Ranma with a sigh and stretched out beside him as
his Shadow healed him with supernatural speed.
He heard the high wail of a woman, then later the ruckus as the
emergency crew crashed around in the hall. The police would soon be
knocking on doors.
It took twenty minutes for the symbiont that his Tribe called it's
Shadow to heal him enough to move, but as soon as he could, he headed
into the bathroom to clean himself up. He came back out, a towel wrapped
around his hips, and frowned at Ranma's unconscious form, then sighed.
(Just too much resistance in this form at the moment.) He returned
to the bathroom and started the bathtub. He picked Ranma up off the
floor, took him and lowered him into the cold water. He watched in
fascination as he shimmered and shifted, then stripped off the tank and
shorts and wrapped her up in some towels.
He carried her back to the bed, went and pulled the soft white lace
and cotton nightgown he had bought for her off of it's hanger in the
closet and got her dressed, then tucked her tenderly back into the bed.
(Maybe tomorrow night.)
He had just finished that task as the expected knock came on the
door. He opened it a crack to face the two police officers.
"Yes?"
"David Starr?" One asked, checking a printout.
"Yes?"
"We're investigating an incident that just happened here. Have you
been in your room all night?"
"Most of it, yes. What happened?" He asked.
"You didn't hear anything?" The older of the pair asked.
"Well, there was some noise, but I just figured it was some couples
coming in from a fun night on the town."
"Nothing else?"
David shook his head no.
"O.K. Thank-you." The two bowed and he closed the door.
"Now. What do I do about you?" He asked Morgan as he dressed. "I
should take you to a park and bury you about twenty feet down, but we
don't have time for that."
The sun was coming soon and the symbiont tended to have an adverse
reaction to the strong ultraviolet light. A vampire at full strength
could move about in the daylight as long as he took the proper
precautions, but David was nowhere near full strength.
It would be at least another twenty-four hours and another feeding
until he'd be able to step out into the sun.
He touched Ranma's pale forehead with a gentle caress.
(Sleep until I get back.)
He gathered the broken form of the other vampire up into his arms.
Morgan growled, but could do nothing, his body so damaged that the
symbiont couldn't do anything but keep him alive until he somehow
managed to feed again.
David stepped out onto the balcony and leapt up to stand on the
edge of the rail, looking down the five story drop, checking to make
sure that the coast was clear, then stepped off. He landed lightly in a
crouch, then disappeared into the fading night.
Akane stood next to her oldest sister in the warmth of the laundry
room helping her fold clothes. She knew she didn't have much talent for
anything domestic, but this she could do without managing to destroying
anything.
Ryoga was asleep again, but had regained some of his color and she
had felt he was well enough to leave unattended for a while. She had
wandered around the house, finding herself listening for Ranma's voice,
looking for his figure to appear around a corner.
Twice she swore she heard him call her. Her aimless steps had
carried her toward the laundry room and she had spied Kasumi folding the
perpetual mound of laundry and had joined in, needing something to keep
her hands busy.
Morgan had told her to wait, that he'd be back soon.
She shook out one of Ranma's shirts, stared at it, then hugged it
against chest, her head down, tears threatening.
"Oh, Akane." Kasumi said quietly, reaching out to gather her sister
into a hug. "They'll find him."
Akane leaned into the comfort of Kasumi's hug, nodded against her
shoulder, but knew in her heart that the search her father, Uncle
Saotome and their friends had launched would turn up nothing. She
straightened and pulled away, gave Kasumi a brave smile then turned her
attention to folding the shirt.
"Would you like to help me cook dinner tonight?" Kasumi asked,
trying to find some way to cheer her sister up.
This was a tactic that usually worked. But since Akane was such a
disaster in the kitchen, she only used it in desperate situations.
"Akane?" She asked again, looking up when she got no answer.
Akane was frowning, her hands still sorting socks, but she had her
head cocked to the right, as if listening to something.
"Did you hear that?" She asked.
"Hear what?" Kasumi replied, listening. All she heard where the
normal sounds of the house.
"That. Did you hear someone call me?"
Kasumi listened hard, just in case. "No. I don't hear anything,
Akane. I think that you're just tired. Why don't you go lay down for a
while?"
"O.K. After I'm done with these."
She finished the socks, gathered up an armload of clothing and went
upstairs. She put Nabiki's stuff on her bed, then took her own into her
room and put it away. She wished P-Chan was around. She needed something
to cuddle.
She stretched out on her bed, stared at the snow reflected sunlight
dancing across the ceiling. Where was Morgan?
She closed her eyes, tried to relax.
(Akane.) A strange tugging need accompanied that one word in her
head. She sat bolt upright. Someone was calling her.
She hurried back down the stairs, slid open the door to the guest
room, but Ryoga was still sleeping soundly.
She frowned.
(Akane.) And the tug.
Kasumi stuck her head out of the kitchen as she heard Akane getting
her coat out of the closet.
"I thought you where going to lay down." She asked her sister.
"I'm, um, too wound up, Kasumi. I'm going to take a little walk."
"Be careful, Akane." Kasumi told her, her eyes serious.
"I'm just going for a walk, Kasumi. Really. I'll be back in a little
while." She assured her sister, then headed out the door, following the
strange, longing need that guided her.
She was coming. He kept calling, guiding her to him. The Elders
would frown on what he was planning to do, but David had to be stopped,
now. And she was strong. Strong enough to survive it.
(Here, Akane. Here.)
Akane left the sidewalk, scrabbled up and over the chain length
fence and down into the sloping cement drain way.
She stopped as she faced the dark opening of the drainage tunnel,
wondering if this was such a good idea after all. Then she took a deep
breath and stepped into the dark.
She went about a hundred feet in, keeping as close to the wall as
she could without actually touching it, wishing for a flashlight. Then
she saw the dim glow of an overhead flickering ahead.
She hurried toward it, but froze outside the circle of light it cast
when she saw the body. The lower half of it was lying in the dirty
water, the upper half twisted at an impossible angle on the drier
cement. And worse, she recognized who it was.
(Oh, god.) "Morgan?" She whispered. She took a few more tentative
steps towards him, then froze again, her better instincts telling her to
run as she got a better look at him.
She gulped. All of him was at strange angles. It was as if every
bone in his body had been broken many times and twisted out of shape.
Morgan opened his eyes and stared at her.
"Akane." He whispered.
She turned around and ran back down the tunnel until she couldn't
hold her sickness back any longer. Nothing could survive that. Nothing!
"I won't hurt you, Akane. I swear. You are safe." His soft whisper
echoed down to her.
She wiped her mouth on her sleeve, heart pounding. (Get out of here!
He's a vampire, and a wounded one at that! Run stupid!)
(Shut up!) She told herself firmly. He swore he wouldn't hurt her,
and no way would he be able to get close to her in that shape. And he
probably knew where Ranma was. She turned and headed back for the light.
She squatted down next to him, out of reach.
"Hello." He whispered to her.
"What happened?" She asked, trying not to look at his body.
"He was more powerful that I thought. I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him
and he still has your male."
"You saw him? Was he all right?" She asked in a rush.
"No. He wasn't. He was trying to fight him."
Akane's eyes got hard. "Well, what do we do now?"
"First, could you straighten me out a little?" He tried to grin. The
effect was...horrifying.
She swallowed hard.
"You can do it. You've the strength of body and soul. Not a typical
brood mare at all." He kept his tone derisive, knowing that it would
goad her into doing it.
(Augh! I can't believe he called me that! You want to be
straightened out, I'll straighten you out!)
"Thank-you." He sighed as she finished and moved back out of his
reach.
"Now what?" She asked, rubbing her hands on her thighs, trying to
rub out the sound his bones had made as she straightened them out of
her memory also.
"He'll be moving soon, fleeing as far from here as he can. And he'll
take your Ranma with him. I won't be...mobile... for some time."
He fixed her with his dark eyes.
"Akane, there is a way for you to get Ranma back. But it will be
dangerous to you. Very dangerous."
"How?" Anything. Anything to get him back.
"We change you."
"Huh?"
"We change you." He repeated slowly.
"How?"
"First, I'll take your blood into my body, allowing the Shadow to
unite with it, then you will take it back from me. For awhile, you will
be stronger than any vampire who is walking."
"Shadow? What Shadow?"
"It is a genetic symbiont. It makes us what what we are."
"O.K." She responded cautiously, not understanding.
"But only for a while. You will have at least twenty-four hours,
maybe forty-six at the most. Then the symbiont will die, killing all
your red blood cells with it. You will need a complete transfusion and
you still might die. Is your man worth that?"
She studied the back of her hands where they rested on her thighs.
All of her life with Ranma flashed through her memory. All the
fighting and hard words and misunderstandings and under it, the love
that had grown in her for him. He had become a part of her, a part she
would mourn forever if he died.
"Yes." She said in a small voice.
"Come here."
She moved to him.
"You're going to have to help me."
She gathered him up so his head rested against her shoulder, then
pressed his mouth to her throat.
She flinched as his teeth pierced her skin, but then...she threw
back her head as the rapture of his kiss filled her.
No wonder Ranma was held by this spell.
Her body began to tremble as she grew weaker and weaker, the
pleasure growing more and more intense, yet still the vampire drank.
Finally, he withdrew his teeth and she collapsed on top of him.
"Stay, Akane. Wait." He whispered to her as she felt like she was
growing light and warm.
The overhead light became whiter and whiter, beckoning her. She
grabbed onto him physically and spiritually as the light tried to pull
her up.
The power of her life-force rushed through him with her blood,
empowering the symbiont and healing him enough to let him move a little.
He stifled a groan as he moved his hand to his throat and cut a shallow
grove into the artery there with his thumb nail.
"Drink, Akane." He turned his head, offering his throat.
She turned her face away, the slow seep of blood coming from the
wound making her nauseous.
"If you back out now, Akane, you're going to die. And so will
Ranma." He told her gently.
She turned her face back to him, moved her mouth to cover the wound
and began to drink.
She choked back her gag reflex as the warm blood filled her mouth,
then...something...happened. It was like drinking steaming hot chocolate
and ice cold milk at the same time. But not. She couldn't describe it,
she just wanted more of it.
Morgan shuddered under her as she took back all that he had taken
from her, and more.
"Akane, enough!" He moaned, to weak to push her away.
She pulled away, sat back on her heels, eyes closed as her heart
pumped the transformed blood throughout her body. The feeling
was...indescribable.
Then she screamed and huddled over, grabbing at her head as all of
her newly heightened senses feed too much information into her brain in
a rush.
Morgan watched, praying that she would be able to deal with it. Most
couldn't, the sensory overload frying their neurons and turning them
into brainless eating machines.
The world was different when she opened her eyes again.
She could hear the fast beat of a mouse's heart as it huddled in the
shadows away from her, could see the red and blue outline it's body heat
made. She moved to it, so fast that she felt like she was floating, and
picked it up by it's tail, grinning. It squeaked in terror and scurried
away from her as she put it back down.
This was incredible! She took a deep breath, her nose separating
every scent and identifying it. She could hear the insects scurrying
around her, the hum of the passing cars overhead, pick out and hear all
the different songs playing on their radios.
She turned back to the vampire and saw him with different eyes. He
was beautiful! But very weak. His life-glow was almost non-existent. The
Shadow with her knew what was wrong. He needed to feed.
"How you doing?" He asked her weakly as she moved back to his side.
"O.K. Here." She started to cut a groove into her wrist, willing to
give some of her blood back but stopped when he said, "No."
"The Shadow can't feed off itself. But thank-you for the offer."
He tried to smile, fighting the encroaching weakness that threatened to
overwhelm him. Changing her had sapped the last of his strength.
"Listen, there are a few things you need to know." He added in a
rush. "The symbiont doesn't like sunlight, so if you go out into it,
make sure your Shadow is at full strength. Cover up and wear sunglasses.
Full sunlight will blind you.
Feed the symbiont before you take David on. You'll know how. The
other stud can lead you to him. You'll know how to do that too. Just
trust the symbiont and it'll keep you safe."
"How do I kill him?" Akane growled.
"Sever the spinal cord. Fire." Morgan whispered hoarsely with the
last of his strength, then slipped into a disconnected awareness as his
over stressed symbiont struggled to keep him alive.
Akane could 'see' the symbiont shutting down Morgan's body and
shuddered.
He needed to feed. But how?
Suddenly she felt light headed and her mind brushed against a young
couple locked in passion. She blushed furiously as she jerked her
consciousness away. (What the hell was that!)
The Shadow reached out again, taking her with it. A wave of thoughts
and emotions crashed against her and she frantically fought against it,
trying not to get lost in the flood of sorrow/joy/despair/anxiety/anger
that threatened to overwhelm her. Finally she managed to get control of
it and willed herself back into her own private awareness. But now she
knew what it was her Shadow was trying to show her and how to use it.
She extended the Shadow again, feeling a twitch of guilt at every
mind it touched, but Morgan had given her this gift, the ability to get
Ranma back, and she couldn't leave him like this.
(There. That one. He was close and had just beaten a poor old man
into a bloody pulp for a few yen.) She called him to her.
Five minutes later he stood in front of her, eyes wide and blank.
She stared at him, entranced as she saw a human for the first time with
her new vision. The ultraviolet and infra-red spectrums where layered
under and on top of her normal sight. And surrounding it all was the
dark glow of his life force.
There was a tingle in her mouth. She ran her tongue over her teeth
and it snagged on the extended canines. Shocked, she brought her hands
to her mouth and checked them with her thumbs.
(Oh, Jeez.) She backed away from the man she had summoned, panic
filling her. (I really am a vampire!)
Then she looked to Morgan. She took a deep breath. (I asked for
this. I can deal with it. For Ranma. For Morgan.)
She knelt by Morgan. "Come here." She patted the cold cement next to
her.
The man settled beside her. She took his hand into her own and
turned it over, exposing the under side of his wrist.
(I can't do this.) She felt queasy, squeezed her eyes shut. (You've
got to.) She told herself firmly. (If you don't, you're never going to
get him back.)
Her hand brought his wrist towards her lips. She bit into it gently,
opening the veins. The blood was a sweet shock against her tongue, she
swallowed once, reflexively, then withdrew her fangs. This one was for
Morgan. She pressed his wrist against Morgan's mouth.
Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the vampire latched on.
Akane monitored them as Morgan drank, watching the changing patterns
of their life-glows. She used the pressure of her thumb against Morgan's
front teeth and the mans wrist to make him break off as the man became
dangerously weak.
She tore a piece of his shirt off and made a make-shift bandage
around the wound.
"Go to a hospital." She told him. The man staggered up and back down
the tunnel.
She sat with Morgan, waiting to make sure he was going to be O.K.
When she was sure that he was only in a deep healing sleep, she flowed
to her feet and headed for the twilight beyond the tunnel mouth.
She wandered aimlessly in the drain way for a while, amazed at how
effortlessly her body moved, fascinated by the sharp definition of
everything around her. She stood for ten minutes just staring at the
perfect beauty of a flowering weed that had pushed it's way up between a
crack.
(This was so cool!)
Then she looked up at the chain fence that she had scrambled over
just a few hours ago. She grinned to herself, took a running start, then
leapt to the top to balance on the narrow metal pipe. She didn't even
sway as she landed. She laughed as she ran along it's length,
pirouetting every now and then. She'd always wanted to do that!
She stopped suddenly and gave herself a mental and physical shake.
Enough playing. She laid her strategy as she hurried through the night,
so fast that she was nothing more than a breeze to the normal people she
passed.
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
Nightshadow
by Shannon M. Richmeyer
Part Five
First, to Dr. Tofu, to explain what was going on, then she guessed
she'd have to feed. That thought caused a shudder to go through her. But
she wasn't sure if it was distaste...or anticipation. Then to Ryoga.
Tofu looked up from his notes on the desk before him as a warning
prickle started at the back of his neck. He spun the chair around to
face...Akane.
"Akane! You startled me!" He smiled at her, then frowned. Something
was wrong with her. "Are you all right?"
She nodded, grinned back. (She was great!) "Yeah. I'm all right. But
I won't be in a little while."
"What do you mean." He repressed a little shudder, the fine hairs on
the back of his neck rising. Why was she looking at him that way? And
why was her aura so strange?
"I'm going to go get Ranma. But sometime in the next forty-eight
hours I'm going to need a total blood transfusion." His life-glow was so
beautiful! A yellow-gold corona that radiated out to surround him like a
big warm bubble.
"Why?" Tofu asked, already knowing the answer. "Akane, what did you
do?"
"What I had to. It's O.K." She tried to reassure him, seeing the
distress appear on his face.
(She wondered if it would be like drinking sunlight.)
"Ranma will probably need one too. I just wanted you to know and be
ready for us." Her mouth started to water and her canines extended.
(God! I've got to get out of here!)
"Akane, wait!" He called after her, but she was gone. He took off
his glasses and polished them against his shirt. He had a very bad
feeling about this.
She fled through the night, terrified by what she had just been
thinking. She stopped, realizing she needed to calm down and think this
through. A man who was waiting for a bus let out a little shriek as she
seemed to form out of the air beside him.
"Sorry." Akane bowed to him, then leaned against the bus stop sign.
He quickly recovered his composure, folded up his newspaper and
decided to walk. Fast.
She took some deep breaths, trying to focus her chi, but the
symbiont was pushing at her, demanding and distracting. It was hungry.
(Okay, Okay!) she told it, forcing down her rising panic. She would
find someone like the man she had called for Morgan. She extended the
Shadow, trying to focus on what she was looking for.
(What? Something...someone was...?) Her eyes narrowed as she
concentrated. (Someone was calling her?) The Shadow pulled at her,
turning her toward the richer part of Nerima.
Tatewaki Kuno was sitting on a huge stack of cushions, meditating in
the dojo attached to the family mansion. On one side of the wall was a
life-sized photo of Akane. On the other was one of The Pig-tailed Girl.
He sighed to himself. Two goddesses. And fate had sent them both to
him. He knew there was a way that he could have both of them, he just
needed to figure it out. His warning sense went off.
"Susuke?" He growled with out taking his eyes off of the photos. "I
told you not to bother me when I'm meditating."
No one answered. He narrowed his eyes in anger and swiveled around,
almost disrupting the stack of pillows. Akane Tendo was standing half
in, half out of the shadows in the doorway.
He looked back and forth between her form and the photo four times,
not willing to believe his eyes.
"Akane?!" He crowed as he leapt off the cushions. "Have you finally
realized the love you hold for me, that you come to me of your own free
will?" He gushed as he hurled himself at her, arms open.
She studied him as he ran at her. (Prime stud. She understood what
the vampires meant know. He was strikingly handsome to her new eyes, and
strong, his life-glow swirling around him like the northern lights. And
the smell of his blood! It was almost overpowering. Not at all like the
common ones she had passed on the street.)
"Stop Kuno." She commanded as he reached out for her.
He came to a halt, a surprised expression appearing on his face.
(Leave, dummy. Just turn around and walk out!) She told herself as
her canines extended. (But he had called her! He wanted her!) She shook
her head, took a step backwards. She could hear the beat of his heart.
It called to the Shadow. She took a step towards him, then another. She
stopped herself again.
"You are having a dream." She watched his eyes go large and glassy.
"I'm not here." She told him, willing herself to turn away from his need
and her own.
"Ah, Akane Tendo!" Kuno murmured to his dream. "Your eyes are
candles burning in the tranquil night. I cannot tell your mouth from a
rose and your voice is like faraway music drifting on the night."
She stiffened, turned back towards him, the symbiont urging her on.
. (He was so...handsome. And he wanted her so badly.) She felt light
headed and dizzy.
She swayed a little and had to reach out to steady herself against
his chest. The Shadow picked up the rhythm of his heart under her hand.
She shuddered as her heart started to beat in time with his own. That
was to much.
"Sit down." She told him gently.
He did, sinking to his knees. She followed him down, tugged on
the shoulder of his gi to expose his neck a little better.
He sighed, eyes locked on her face. She leaned forwards, pausing
with her lips a hairs breath from his skin. She closed her eyes and
tried one more time to convince herself to leave. Then she bit gently,
his blood flooding into her mouth in a rush.
Kuno moaned and closed his eyes as the pleasure hit him.
Akane echoed him. (God, it felt so good! Better even than when
Morgan had taken her blood to change her.)
But she didn't let the sensation overpower her enough to cause him
permanent harm. He collapsed forwards against her as she withdrew her
fangs.
She laid him down gently on the floor, then backed away from him
quickly, brought up her trembling hands to cover her mouth to stifle the
shriek she breathed out as she realized what she'd just done.
(Get it together, Akane. You asked for this. You've got to be
strong. If you loose it now, David's going to kill Ranma!) She yelled at
herself.
Someone was coming. She slipped past Susuke, who looked around
suspiciously until he spied Kuno lying on the floor.
"Master!" He yelled. And kept yelling, rousing the household.
But Akane was already miles away.
She stood outside, watching the heat trails of her family as they
moved around the house. Finally, she had a clear shot. She slipped in
the back door and dashed down the hall to the guest room, entered as a
vagrant breeze.
Ryoga was dozing. She stood in the shadows for a moment, just
looking at him.
(Beautiful!) She sighed. (He is so handsome! Is this how we all look
to them? The prime breeders?) She wondered how Ranma would look to her
when she saw him with her new sight.
She was glad that the Shadow had led her to Kuno first. She might
not have been able to resist Ryoga if she hadn't. And he wouldn't
survive another feeding. He looked better, but was still very weak, his
life-glow a tight red aura around him.
She frowned, wondering how she was to track David. When Morgan had
done it, he had just placed a forefinger to his forehead, then left.
Well, it was a place to start.
She knelt next to him, reached out.
Ryoga caught her wrist in one hand and startled up.
"Huh! Akane?" He blinked groggily. "What?" (Something was wrong.)
"It's O.K. Ryoga." She murmured to him.
He pushed himself up to sit, still holding her wrist, frowned at
her.
"I didn't mean to startle you. But I need your help." She gently
removed his hand from around wrist.
"Sure. Anything." He smiled at her, then frowned again.
"Akane, what's wrong with you?" He asked, sensing the alien thing in
her.
"Nothing, Ryoga, really. But I need you to help me find David."
"Who?"
"The vampire who took Ranma and attacked you."
Ryoga rubbed at his neck. "O.K. How?"
"Just lay back down and relax and let me try this, O.K.?" She
knew she could make him do it, but she didn't want to.
He frowned, but lay back and Akane put her finger to his forehead.
Nothing happened.
Then she heard it. There.
A heartbeat that was out of time with his and her own. David. She
concentrated on it, focused her hearing on it.
"Got you, you pervert!" She whispered. She rose, then whirled as
Ryoga stood up behind her, swaying a little from the effort.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked as he shrugged into his
shirt.
"Going with you. You're going to need all the help you can get. You
should get the others too."
"Go back to bed, Ryoga. Rest. I'll be all right."
"No, you won't. I've faced this thing once. You have no idea of how
fast and strong it is."
"Oh, I think I might." Her smile was small and secretive.
Ryoga looked at her hard, then grabbed her by both of her shoulders.
"What have you done?" He whispered, his voice crackling with
emotion.
"What I had to do to get Ranma back." She responded, her voice quiet
but filled with determination.
He seemed to sag inwardly.
She crossed her arms against her chest so she could cover his
fingers with her own. "It's all right, Ryoga. It's only temporary."
His hands tightened on her shoulders, then relaxed. "You still need
me to go with you. Someone has to get Ranma while you're distracting
it."
"Ryoga, you're in no shape to..."
"Akane, please. He's my...," he swallowed hard, "I...need
to go with you."
She lowered her head, frowning. But what he said made sense. If
Morgan had so much trouble with David, then she'd probably be lucky to
just get them away alive.
(No.) She pushed that thought away. (She was going to cream this guy
and make him wish that he'd never, ever touched Ranma.)
"On the condition that that's all you do. Get Ranma out of wherever
David has them stashed. And that you get him to Dr. Tofu. He knows
what's going on."
Ryoga nodded his agreement.
"O.K. Do we need stakes or anything?" He asked as he finished
dressing.
Akane laughed, the power of her Shadow singing through her, then
swept him up into her arms.
"What? Akane!" He protested, blushing.
"Hold on, Ryoga!"
He wrapped both arms around her neck as she moved them, the wind
generated by her speed bringing tears to his eyes. He turned his face so
that it was resting against her shoulder, fearing that both he and Ranma
had lost her to this thing she had become.
Ranma opened his eyes and found himself staring at a different
ceiling. He panicked and tried to sit up, but didn't have the strength.
In fact, it took a lot of effort just to breathe.
(Oh, Jeez. He's turned me back into a girl.) He groaned to himself
as he realized that fact.
David came to sit beside her on the bed, took her hand and stroked
it gently. The shudder that went through Ranma was primal and
uncontrollable.
"You're not recovering well, Ranma. Are you sick?" The vampire
asked, his face full of concern.
"Get away from me, you pervert." She whispered fiercely.
David sighed. "It really hurts my feelings when you call me that.
You're the one who came to me, remember?"
"I didn't! I would never do anything like that!"
"Ah, but you did. Right into my arms. Don't you remember?"
Ranma closed his eyes as he remembered that. But it was a dream!
Please! Only a dream.
"It's all right." David crooned to her, his eyes getting a far away
look. "We'll be out of here soon, away from the Hunters and I'll take
you to a doctor and then we'll tour the world."
"Never. I'd rather die." She hissed.
"Really?" David leaned down and nuzzled her neck. "Don't you want
it, Ranma? Don't you want my kiss?"
Ranma groaned, fighting it. "No."
A chill blast of wind came into the room.
"Get away from him, you pervert!" Akane bellowed as she punched the
vampire into the far wall.
"Akane?" Ranma questioned in a weak voice, taking in her pale face
and...fangs? (Oh, man! Akane, what did you do!) He reached out a hand
towards her.
"It's O.K. Ranma." She told her gently, taking her hand into her
own, her fury growing as she saw how weak and damaged Ranma was.
Her hand was as cold as the vampires against Ranma's skin. (Oh, no.
Akane! What did you do?)
"Ryoga, come and get him." She called, keeping her eye on David.
Ryoga scrambled through the window, Akane moving herself between
them and the vampire who was picking himself up off the floor.
"Who the hell are you?" David growled at her.
"Your worst nightmare." She growled back, willing Ryoga to hurry up.
Ryoga pulled Ranma up and got her over one shoulder, headed for the
door.
"Stop!" David commanded. Figured it be this human who should be
dead. That's how they had found him.
Ryoga swayed for a moment.
"Ryoga! Go!" Akane yelled.
That broke the power of the command and Ryoga didn't even stop to
open the door, he just kicked it down.
"No!" David howled. The female moved to put herself between him and
the retreating humans.
"I'll kill you, you know, then just go and get him back." David
snarled at her.
"Ranma is mine, you pervert!" Akane growled back, then threw herself
at him.
The battle was brutally primal and over in seconds.
Akane straddled him, pinning his arms over his head with the one arm
of hers that was still working. It was then that David realized to his
terror that this wasn't a vampire at all, but something...else.
She growled around her ragged breathing. Morgan had said to sever
the spinal cord, but now that she had him, she found she couldn't do it.
She considered doing to him what he had done to Morgan. Then a hard,
cold gleam came into her eyes. She knew what would be prefect for this
pervert.
She leaned down to fasten her teeth onto his neck. His blood tasted
funny, kind of like it had lemon juice in it as she drained him. That
must be the symbiont.
She sat back up and watched his fear-filled eyes as his Shadow
shut him down. She waited until he was totally inert, the only part of
him still showing any life-glow was his brain, leaving him aware of what
was going on around him, but shut off from the rest of his body. She
leaned down again and whispered in his ear.
"Ranma is mine."
She pushed herself to her feet and lurched into the bathroom, barely
making it to the sink before her body expelled the tainted blood.
She flinched as she straightened and saw herself in the mirror. She
looked gross! She stared wide-eyed at the four deep gashes that ran from
her forehead all the way to her chin, remembered David clawing her and
wondered why she felt no pain. The symbiont gnawed at her, interupting
her chain of thought, demanding sustenance to help it repair the damage
to her body.
(Okay, okay.) She growled at it. First she needed to make sure Ranma
and Ryoga where O.K.
She went back out the window, just as the police stormed into the
room. She landed badly, her damaged body betraying her. She
started to pull herself toward an alley mouth when two strong arms
picked her up.
(Ryoga.) The beat of his heart pounded against her senses as he
hurried her into the alley.
Ranma was sitting with her back against the wall by some trash cans,
wrapped in Ryoga's coat.
Akane's mouth moved towards Ryoga's throat against her will.
"NO!" She pushed away from him, causing him to almost drop her.
"Akane, what?!" He asked as she twisted out of his arms.
She staggered away from him, keeping her back to them, fighting to
get the symbiont under control.
"Akane?" Ranma asked in a tired voice. That gave her the strength to
push it down.
She turned back to them. Ryoga turned even paler as he took in the
damage showing on her.
"Sorry. I'm a mess, huh?" She gave them what she hoped was a
reassuring smile as she started towards them.
Ryoga stepped between her and Ranma, his eyes guarded.
"It's O.K." She told him, bringing up her working hand to touch his
cheek. "Really. I won't hurt him. Or you."
Ryoga moved, but hovered protectively over both of them.
She knelt next to Ranma and just looked at her. The red-gold of his
life-glow flickered weakly around his female form. Ranma smiled.
"Are you O.K.?" Ranma asked.
She read all of the love and concern in Ranma's face that was
normally invisible to her.
She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She was so beautiful! She
found herself leaning towards her, her fangs extending in
anticipation.
"It's O.K. If you need to." She whispered, holding her with her blue
eyes, tipping her head, offering her throat.
Ryoga started to reach for her, but before he could touch her, she
was upright with a smooth flicker of movement, backing away from them,
her whole body trembling.
"Get him out of here! Get him to Doctor Tofu." She whispered.
"Come with us, Akane." Ryoga pleaded as she continued to back away
from them, becoming nothing more than an outline against the darker
shadows of the alley.
He could see her shake her head against the darkness, then she was
gone from them, leaving only a small rush of air to mark her passing.
"Akane!" Ranma called after her imploringly. He pushed himself up,
using the wall for support.
Ryoga caught her as she started to fall.
"We've got to go after her, Ryoga! She's hurt!"
Ryoga shook his head. "We can't follow her where she's gone, Ranma."
Ranma looked past him, staring in the direction Akane had fled.
"Have we lost her, Ryoga?" He whispered, a strange aching flutter
starting in his chest.
"Of course not! Akane said it was only temporary! She said she'd be
O.K. And she will." He tried to reassure Ranma, and himself. "Now, can
you walk?"
"Of course I can walk!" Ranma growled, pushing himself away from
Ryoga.
He made about four steps before his knees buckled. The white wave
came crashing over him, dragging him back down into the darkness.
Ryoga heaved Ranma up into his arms and staggered out of the alley
and toward the cluster of flashing lights marking the position of the
emergency vehicles parked outside the cheap hotel.
"Just hold on, Ranma." He whispered to his friend, giving him the
only support he could.
Akane fled through the night, her strength failing her. She wasn't
sure where she was going, just following the pull of the Shadow. She
found herself standing in the dining room of the Nekohanten, looking
down at Mousse, sleeping on a futon.
"No." She whispered. But the symbiont wouldn't be denied. It was so
hungry. And this is what it needed to heal her. And she was too tired to
fight it any longer.
Morgan was leaning up against the tunnel wall, reading a large,
slightly soggy paperback novel when he sensed Akane coming. He put one
finger between the pages of the book to mark his place and studied her
as she came down the tunnel towards him.
(Gods! She's so strong! And so beautiful! The symbiont has some how
heightened her physical attributes.)
He found himself a little afraid of this thing he had created. And
she had been feeding on prime breeders. He could see the color of them
in her Shadow.
"What did I say about feeding on the prime breeders?" He chided her
gently as she settled cross-legged beside him.
She blushed, studied the far wall. "It's what the Shadow
needed to heal me. And I didn't take much from any of them."
She dropped her head, covered her face with her hands. "I couldn't
stop it! It was so hungry!" She started to cry.
"And I liked it!" She gulped out around the sobs.
Morgan pulled her against him, let her cry it out on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Akane. I didn't know what else to do."
She shook her head, pushed herself away from him. Swiped at the
tears with the back of one hand. "I just, it's...o.k. I said I'd do it."
"Did you kill him?" Morgan asked quietly.
Akane sniffled, shook her head no. Then wondered at the tension she
saw rising in him.
"What happened?" He asked, with a stillness in his voice that
frightened her a little.
(What was wrong?) "We fought, I won."
"What did you do to him, Akane?" He asked, becoming really
concerned.
"I drained him and left him." She stated flatly.
"Oh, Akane."
Remorse, and fear? filled his voice.
"What?" She growled. (What was the problem?)
"You should have killed him!"
"Why?" She all but yelled back.
"The body would have decomposed quickly, leaving nothing for the
police to recover."
"Well, you should have told me that!"
"Yes, I should have. But now we have a different problem. Do the
police have him?"
"Probably. But what's the problem?"
"They'll do an autopsy."
She blinked and shuddered.
"Not that he doesn't deserve that particular torment, but the danger
is in that they'll discover the symbiont. If that happens, all of the
Tribes will be in danger. And think of what could happen if a sample of
the symbiont fell into the wrong hands."
"Oh, man." She whispered as that sank in. She had a vision of
soldiers who where changed as she was, or even worse, assassins, and
shivered.
Morgan was quiet as he thought.
"Even if I could summon a prime, it would still be twenty-four hours
before I'd be able to move well enough to recover him. You'll have to do
it. Keep them from doing the autopsy, then bring him to me. Can you do
that?" He saw the indecision in her, realized how much he was asking of
her.
"Will you do that, Akane? For my people, as well as yours?" He asked
humbly.
She nodded slowly, seeing a way to make up for what she had done her
friends. (At least she could keep this horror from them.) "Yes."
He reached out and squeezed her hand. "Thank-you."
"The suns coming up in about fifteen minutes. Remember to cover up!"
His voice floated down to her as she exited the tunnel mouth, blinking
against the brightness of the coming sun.
Tofu leaned against the wall that ran the length of the hospital and
turned his face up into the pale early morning winter sunlight. Gods, he
was tired. But Ranma would be all right. It had been touch and go there
for a while, but he was finally out of the ICU and sleeping, Ryoga
dozing in a chair next to him. He wondered a little at that, but
stranger things had happened. The boy had muttered something about
promising Akane that he'd make sure that Ranma was O.K., then clamed up.
"Dr. Tofu?"
He flinched violently and whirled.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The woman said softly.
It took him a moment to realize that the woman in the wide brimmed
hat, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, was Akane.
"Akane? I just didn't hear you (or feel you) coming. Sorry, it's
been a long night."
"Is Ranma O.K.?"
He nodded, gave her his best reassuring smile. "Yes. He's O.K. Why
don't you go up and see him?"
She gave her head a little negative shake and frowned. "I...can't."
"Oh." He responded quietly, trying to see past the dark plastic and
into her eyes.
"Are you O.K.?" He queried gently.
She nodded. "I need your help."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Is it time?"
She shifted uncomfortably. "No. I, um, I need you to help me get
David out of the police morgue."
"You what?"
"I made a terrible mistake. I'm not sure how to fix it. Could we get
out of the sunlight, please?"
"Sure. Here," he opened the door for her, "follow me. Now, tell me
what's going on."
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the sole creation and
possession of Rumiko Takahasi. I thank her greatly for creating them and
hope she doesn't come hunting any fingers for my unauthorized use of
them.
I apologize now for any mis-spelled words or any gross errors of grammer
or diction. I'm still waiting for a word processor who knows what I
meant to say, not what I actually typed.
To Ross, Ben, Kyle and Guy. Many, many thanks! Couldn't have done it
without you!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magic and Mayhem
a division of
Entropy Inc.
(also known as Maintenance)
The Bermuda Triangle Branch
presents
Nightshadow
by Shannon M. Richmeyer
Part Six
Akane studied the Doctor as he sipped at his tea in the hospital
cafeteria, unable to read him. It was weird how the daylight had dulled
her senses, even in the protected cover of the four walls around her.
She had told him everything she knew about the symbiont and her own and
Morgan's fear of what might happen if it was discovered by the
scientists.
He frowned and rubbed at his chin. What Akane had just told him
was...incredible. And he agreed that removing the vampire from the
morgue must be done as quickly as possible. Huum, but how, without
raising too much suspicion?
She walked, Tofu at her side, quiet and composed toward the front
desk of the coroners office, breathing a silent sigh of relief to be out
from under the discomfort of the bright morning sun.
She took off her sunglasses, held them in one hand, made it tremble
a little. She gave a small, tired but brave smile to the receptionist as
she looked up at them.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes. I was told that my husband," she let her voice break on that
word, "might be here."
Tofu put a comforting hand on her arm. The receptionists eyes filled
with compassion.
"Name, please?"
"David Starr."
The receptionist typed on her keyboard, looked up at them. "Yes,
he's here."
Akane swayed and gasped, Tofu steadied her, looking really
concerned.
"I'm Dr. Tofu. I need to make arrangements for the body to be
released."
"I'm sorry, sir. But since it was a murder, the body can't be
released until after the autopsy." The receptionist apologized.
"No." Akane whispered, looking up at Tofu with terror in her eyes.
"I couldn't stand the thought of...that."
"May I speak to your superior, please?" Tofu asked.
Tofu led Akane toward one of the padded chairs while the
receptionist spoke on the phone.
"Are you all right?"
She looked up at him with hard eyes. "We've got to get him out of
here. I'll steal him if I have to."
He shook his head at her. "Let me talk to the Coroner. It'll be
O.K." He patted her arm as the receptionist came and bowed to the Doctor
and led him away.
Akane fidgeted, watching the second hand move slowly around the face
of the ugly black clock on the wall. Finally, Dr. Tofu came back to her,
a relieved smile on his face.
"You're going to have to sign some papers, then identify the body,
but they'll release him without the autopsy."
It took about an hour to wade through the paper work, and almost
twice she signed a release Akane Tendo, not Akane Starr, but finally she
and Tofu where following an assistant down the sterile halls and toward
the storage room.
He pulled open one of the doors and slid the platform out. Akane
took a deep breath as he unzipped the bag.
"That's him." She gulped, hiding her eyes behind her hands.
The assistant nodded, then quickly zipped the bag back up as Tofu
led her out.
"I've made arrangements to have him brought to the clinic this
afternoon." Tofu told her as they sat side by side on the subway.
"Thank-you so much. I don't know what I would have done..." She
paused, looking down at her folded hands.
"It's O.K." He patted her arm gently. "Now, you should go home. Your
father and sisters are worried about you."
She gave him a cold, hard stare accompanied by an equally hard
cynical laugh. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he
blinked in surprise.
"Akane?"
"Do you have any idea of what it's like to be in a house full of
prime breeders?" She shook her head. "Of course you don't. I just,
can't."
How could she explain to him how entranced she had been by the beat
of Kasumi's heart? That it called to her Shadow all the way from the
kitchen when she had slipped into the house to get her hat, gloves and
sunglasses? And how she had been so freaked that she had actually
considered feeding off her own sister?
"Well, do you want to wait at the clinic until it's dark?" He
offered.
She smiled at him, once again the gentle Akane he knew. "Yes.
Thank-you."
Morgan had almost finished the novel as she dropped the bag with the
vampire in it next to him.
"What are you going to do with him?" She asked, ignoring the little
guilty stab of conscious. She would not feel sorry for David!
"Take him back to be judged by the Council. Don't worry Akane. He
will be punished for his crimes against the Tribe and the Herd. How are
you doing?" He studied her, looking carefully at her Shadow. He figured
she had maybe ten hours left.
"I don't know." She answered flatly, her face troubled. "I don't
know what's happening to me. I want to do things that I..." she trailed
off.
Morgan's face softened in compassion. "Listen to me Akane. It's the
symbiont. It's sentient in it's own way, and curious." He patted the
ground beside him, beckoning her to sit with him.
She lowered herself gracefully, rested her chin on her bent knees
and stared moodily at the wall.
"It is a dark thing, but it has light in it." He glanced sideways at
her as she snorted in derision.
"Really. Go and see how fast you can run, go find some live music
and experience as only the Shadow will let you. Dance with the wind.
Laugh. You have some time left. Use it to experience something that few
human's ever will."
She turned her head to look at him. "Really?"
"Really." He answered firmly. "Have you made arrangements for
medical attention when the symbiont dies?"
She nodded.
"Good. As soon as you start feeling weak, you get yourself to your
Doctor. Understand?"
She nodded again.
"Well, then. Go on! Enjoy the night!"
(Dance with the wind!) She rose, a dreamy look coming into her eyes.
"Akane."
She paused, looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Thank-you. The Tribes are forever in your debt." He bowed as much
as he could.
"Thank-you." She bowed back. "For letting me be able to get Ranma
back." She came back to him to lean down and kiss his cheek, then was
gone into the night.
Tofu jerked upright on his futon, one hand reaching for his glasses,
the other reaching for the light switch to the lamp by his bed as he
squinted at the pale form standing in the doorway to his room.
"Akane?" He asked as light flooded the room.
She nodded as she stepped back, blinking.
"How are you?" He asked cautiously as he rose.
"Dying, I think." She gave him a strangely composed and quiet smile.
"So, is there anything special I need to know?" Tofu asked.
Akane turned her back as he started to dress.
"Morgan said you have to wait until the symbiont is totally dead,
then you do the transfusion."
"How will I know when that is?"
She shrugged. "He said when there are no red blood cells left."
Tofu fumbled the knot to his pants, looked up at her back in shock.
"Akane, if all your red blood cells die, so will you! We can't wait that
long!"
She shook her head. "No. You've got to wait until they're all gone.
He was very specific on that point."
(She sounded so tired.) Tofu shook his head, thinking frantically.
There had to be some other way.
Akane trembled violently and reached out to steady herself against
the door jamb.
"Akane?" Tofu rushed to her and caught her as she started to sink to
the floor. He took her up into his arms and headed for
the infirmary proper.
"Not much time left, I guess." She whispered, then slipped into
unconsciousness.
Tofu laid her on the examination table in the corner, then with
practiced speed got her hooked up to the heart monitor of the cardiac
crash cart he had borrowed from the hospital. (Damn. I wish she had told
me about this sooner, I would have gotten a respirator too!)
He frowned as he crossed to the glass fronted drug cabinet and
pulled out the cardiac kit. He checked it as he went back to Akane, laid
it on the table next to her, hoping he wouldn't need it.
He checked the monitor, the pressure was falling and her heart was
slowing down. He ran to the refrigerator and yanked the tray with the
blood packets in it out, sped back and got them hung on the IV stand,
then got the IV needle into her and hooked up.
He slapped his hand against the table in frustration. There was no
other way! He would just have to let her die, then revive her. He went
to a drawer and pulled out a handful of lancets, then ripped open the
wrapping to the long cardiac needle and loaded it with the stimulant,
put it back in easy reach.
Then he gathered one of her cold hands between his two warm ones,
hating the helpless feeling that surged over him, and watched Akane die.
Finally she stopped breathing. Then a few seconds later her heart
stopped beating.
He glanced up at the clock, marking the time. Five minutes. He had
five minutes.
He took one of the lancets and poked at the end of her little
finger. Red leaked out. He counted to fifteen, the poked the next
finger. Still red. Fifteen more. Then next finger. Still red. Fifteen
more. The next one came out clear.
He started the blood flowing into her, slipped the long needle
between her ribs and injected the stimulant into her heart.
(Come on. Come on.) Nothing.
He hit her with the paddles, her body arching as the electricity
surged through it.
Nothing. He glanced up at the clock. He was at two minutes.
"Come on, Akane! Ranma will never forgive me it you die! Not to
mention what Kasumi will do."
He shocked her once again, the monitor going crazy for a few
seconds, then giving him a strong but slow sinus rhythm.
Now to get her breathing. He moved up, tilted her head back and used
his own breath to inflate her lungs. He breathed for her for ten
breaths, then she gasped, drawing in a great gulp of air.
"Good girl." He whispered as he watched her breath for herself.
He checked all of the equipment one more time, then went to call an
ambulance.
Ranma leaned against the raised back of the hospital bed, throwing
balled up Kleenex at the trash can, frustrated.
He had protested to the nurse that he was fine and she had stood
back, arms folded and a resigned expression on her face as she
watched him struggle to the bathroom. He had almost made it back to the
bed, but she had to catch him as his weakness betrayed him.
But wobbly or not, he was incredibly bored and, he admitted quietly
to himself, worried about Akane. Dr. Tofu had come in earlier and shooed
out Shampoo and Ukyou and his father, telling them that he needed to
rest.
(He had a vague impression of Ryoga sitting with him through the
night. But he had decided he had dreamed that.)
The Doctor had responded to all his anxious questions with nothing
more than Akane was recovering well and no, he couldn't see her yet.
"Recovering well." What the hell did that mean? And if she was
recovering well, how come he couldn't see her?
He ran out of tissues, crossed his arms and scowled. He still
couldn't believe that he had let this happen, that he had fallen so
easily under the vampires influence. He shuddered as the memory of
David's cold lips against his neck surfaced, and he squeezed his eyes
shut hard as he willed the memory of the pleasure of that kiss away.
He wrapped his arms around his shins and rested his head on his
knees. How could he have liked that? It was...perverted. And he didn't
even want to think about what Akane thought. She was always calling him
that...a little flicker of panic went through him. Maybe it wasn't that
he couldn't see her, maybe she didn't want to see him!
He had find her. He swung his feet over the side of the bed. He knew
she was in this hospital somewhere.
He put on the bathrobe Ukyou had brought for him, then headed for
the door. He was reaching for the handle when it opened. Dr. Tofu stood
in the doorway.
"Well, I see you're feeling better." Tofu said with a smile as he
took his arm and led him back to the bed.
"Sit." He commanded, waiting until Ranma settled cross-legged back
on the bed, then began doing his Doctor thing for the umpteenth time.
"Up to a visitor?"
"Yeah, sure." He answered sourly, slumping back against the bed. "As
long as it's not Shampoo."
"O.K. Come on in!" He called.
Ryoga came in, carrying a bundled up Akane.
Ranma sat straight up, reached out for her.
Ryoga tightened his grip on her possessively for a moment. The two
young men locked eyes, then Ryoga looked down at Akane, who was reaching
out to Ranma, closed his eyes and lowered her into Ranma's waiting arms.
He turned and strode quickly out of the room.
"Hi." She smiled at him as he hugged her to him.
He gazed into her still pale face, relieved that the fierce wounds
he had seen on her that night were gone. He realized that she looked a
little different. Prettier, he decided.
"Are you O.K.?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah. Are you?" She asked quietly back.
He nodded. They stared at each other in an embarrassed silence.
"I'll leave you two to talk." Tofu smiled at them.
His smile changed to a frown as he cleared the door, looking up and
down the hall for Ryoga. Why couldn't anything be easy with this group,
for once.
Ranma cuddled Akane against him, so much he wanted to say and not
knowing where to start.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I don't know how it happened." He whispered
into her hair. "I'm so...embarrassed." His cheeks reddened.
She moved against him, pushing herself up and away so that she could
see his face.
"It's O.K., Ranma. There wasn't anything you could have done to stop
David. He was insane." She tried to reassure him, knowing that his
encounter with the vampire had shaken him to his soul.
"And it wasn't you. It was him. And the kiss." She sighed a little,
not realizing how wistful she looked.
"What was it like? Being one of them?" He asked quietly.
"What was it like?" She bit at her lip, trying to find words to
describe it. "Scary. Wonderful. Horrible."
She looked down. "I did some horrible things." She whispered.
He took her warm hands into his own and gave them a gentle squeeze,
not knowing what else to do.
"Why? Why did you do that to yourself?" There. That was the hardest
question.
She looked up at him, startled.
"Why do you think, dummy? I had to get you back. That was the only
way."
"Why?" He persisted. He wanted to hear her say it, just to be sure.
"I thought you thought I was nothing more than a stupid jerk, and a
pervert on top of that."
"Well, you are a stupid jerk and a pervert."
He dropped his head, feeling a cold dark hole start in his chest,
stunned. He had harbored this secret hope for so long, had thought...was
he that wrong?
She reached out and put her hand under his chin, raising his head,
catching and holding his eyes with her own.
"But no matter what, you're mine!" She told him fiercely.
He hugged her to him, stunned again, but this time, his heart
soared.
"Well, you might be an un-cute tom-boy. And violent as a gorilla.
But your mine too!" He whispered into her hair.
She hugged him back, smiling.
(The end? Never!)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What about Ryoga, you ask? Ah, that's another story, for another time!
(
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