A/N: Please see Chapter 1 for Disclaimers.

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Bloodlust

II: Encounters


T Minus 2 Hours

Shinji sat 10' away from Rei on a balcony overlooking the operation grounds. Rei herself sat with her knees up to her chest, lost in thought. This was perhaps one of the riskiest operations mankind would ever partake in, but a part of her realized that it was just the beginning. Only 2 of the 15 angels had been defeated so far, not including the current angel left 12 more. By those numbers the war was only 20% over, she calculated… well, 20% after they killed this one.

But this one was what currently worried her. Rei's Sire taught her a lot about what she was, and what she needed to fear. Intense heat was one of the things she needed to fear… specifically fire, but in this case, trying to absorb a massive particle beam with a makeshift shield. This act would raise the internal temperature inside of her plug to levels where her flesh might just burn despite being submerged in liquid… either that or she'd boil to death. Neither thought pleased the young vampire.

"Rei, why do you pilot EVA?" Shinji's question roused her from her current thoughts.

"Because I am bonded to it," she said.

"Bonded?"

"Yes… it is a bond." She sighed as she turned towards him. "I never had the option to not pilot it… it is what I was born for. So I dedicated myself to it as my singular purpose." The fact that she was also the key to a controlled 3rd Impact never entered the conversation. "And you?"

"I… I don't know," he responded, sounding uncertain. "I guess because I was told to. I do not like it… but I know it is something I have to do."

Rei considered this for a moment before asking a question she already knew the answer to. "When the 3rd angel attacked, why did you pilot EVA?"

Shinji looked at her with his eyes widened. "I… father forced me into it!" He stammered at first then with a twinge of fear in his voice he continued. "They would have made you do it! You were there… all bandaged up… on that... gurney! I couldn't allow them to force you into it!"

"I see," she said calmly. "Then I am grateful."

Shinji blushed slightly and looked away as Rei stood up and approached the railing.

"Tonight we go into battle together… you and I. You protected me from something that would have likely killed me that day when you first arrived. Tonight, I will return the favor. May your aim be true… but if the angel manages to get a shot off… I will protect you."

"Rei." Her name was spoken barely above a whisper. She imagined that she might have looked angelic standing there between Shinji and the moon. A normal person probably would not have heard the inflection in his voice, but Rei's enhanced senses picked it up. The fluttering she heard from Shinji's chest told her all she needed to know about how he felt about it. As awed as he was by her, he was afraid for her....

....she was scared too.

T Minus 0

Operation Yashima began at midnight exactly… a hum spread throughout the countryside as massive cables loaded with more electrical energy than was thought safely possible began to transfer their load towards a singular point. Power plants all across Japan went into overdrive as men on phones shouted out orders, requests and status updates on an almost continuous basis.

Rei was scared of what would happen. Worse case scenario, the angel manages to defeat them all and mankind dies. Best case; Shinji manages to kill the angel in one shot before it had a chance to retaliate. The chances for a best case scenario however were at best remote and at worse neigh impossible.

The sounds of yelling over her radio woke her up to what was happening. The angel was charging faster than Shinji, but he had a head start. She gripped the shield and hoped she wouldn't have to make good on her promise.

He fired… at almost the same time as the angel. Rei watched as the magnetic fields around the two powerful particle beams altered each other's trajectories sending one shot into the side of the mountain and the other overshot the target completely.

Shinji quickly changed fuses and started the recharge cycle. Rei knew that if the angel was preparing another shot, that it would finish charging first. Apparently she would have to be a human shield after all. Nervousness gripped her heart as she gripped the shield tightly.

The positron rifle managed to get to 60% charge up when the angel unleashed another beam of intense particle energy. Despite the terror gripping her, she managed to get in front of the beam and plant herself in as the beam struck the shield with the force of a runaway dump truck. Her EVA slid back a bit, probably a good 50' or so. For an EVA, that distance was negligible.

Rei grit her teeth as the LCL in her plug suddenly became 20 degrees warmer. The energy was pouring onto the shield, quickly melting it. The force of the impact cut all the cockpit links to NERV, and this was a blessing. Rei felt her skin beginning to dry and crackle like burnt paper as a black spot appeared on her left cheek. Underneath her plugsuit, her skin was turning black and peeling away. A few more seconds of this and she would burst into ash.

Rei did the only thing she could do, she sucked in all the LCL she could and concentrated on regenerating her body. Her eyes turned red and her fangs extended of their own volition as she leaned 00 further into the blast to hold it at bay. She began to shriek like a banshee, her utter will and determination combined with continuous contact with the LCL keeping her alive even as her EVA's armor melted from the intense heat. The shield all but gone, 00 was taking the brunt of the blast directly.

Finally the beam ended as Shinji fired his own in retaliation. Rei wasn't sure if he made it at that point since she was already blacking out as the temperature of the LCL began to go down.

Rei found herself standing on a balcony overlooking a dark countryside. For some reason her hair felt a bit longer than it should be, reaching her shoulders. She looked down at herself and found she was dressed in some form of formal ensemble that didn't leave too much to the imagination. It was completely black and made of a light material that felt like some form of silk. The material glided across her skin as she moved eliciting sensations that could only be described as "most agreeable". She heard voices behind her and turned to face them.

There was a long table with many men seated at it. No food was placed out for these men but each had a wine glass full of blood. They were arguing but the conversation was impossible to keep up with. She tried to see them but their faces were blurry and indistinct. The word "Clan" was heard from a few of them.

A gentle touch on her shoulder caused her to turn. Another man was there. Though she couldn't make out his face either, she was able to see his eyes. They were beautiful and surprisingly alive seeing as how she knew this man was a vampire as were all who sat at the table.

"You shouldn't be here," he said in a polite but firm whisper.

She heard her name being called and her eyes drifted opened. She found herself still clad in her plugsuit and laying inside her plug. The LCL was barely over a foot deep now and the door was opened into the cool night air. She could feel that none of the damage her skin had suffered during the battle still existed. She shifted towards a sitting position but her back protested her movement and she moaned lightly in pain.

"Rei!" she heard the voice again and recognized it as Shinji. She looked towards him and his face was indistinct for a moment, just as the faces in her dream were. After a moment his face became clear again

"Shin…ji…" she whispered weakly. Her entire body hurt, reminding her idly of her activation experiment. Only this time if she did have broken bones, they would regenerate quickly. Still, she felt weakened and ill.

"Thank God your alive!" He stepped into her plug and helped her sit up. She weakly leaned against him and moaned softly in her pain.

"I'll live," she said just above a whisper. "Remind me never to do that again."

Shinji allowed himself a slight chuckle at Rei's quip. "I'll write you a memo," he said.

She smiled at this. "The rescue teams aren't here yet?" she asked. Shinji shook his head. "Figures… they're always late…"

"Don't worry, I won't leave you."

Rei smiled. "Do you know just how long I've waited for a guy to tell me that?"

Rei wondered if that comment was too much. The blush creeping over Shinji's cheeks and the sheepish look on his face told her all she needed to know.

Several Hours Later

Ritsuko Akagai stared at the mess that Unit 00 was in and sighed. She knew there was a high probably that this would happen, but the reality of it was now staring her in the face; melted armor and burnt components. Besides the hundreds of man hours this would take to repair, she had another mystery that needed to be solved.

After all feeds to the cockpit of 00 failed, the computers in the plug itself began recording. The video and audio data was corrupted beyond retrieval. But the rest of the pilot data was intact. Ritsuko was disinclined to believe most of it. It indicated that 4 seconds after they lost feeds, Rei was clinically dead. Her heart stopped and her blood pressure fell though the floor. Not only that but her Sync Ratio while she was dead jumped above 75 percent. When the battle ended, she apparently resuscitated during the fall but her sync ratio remained above 70 percent until her EVA went silent.

Ritsuko did not know the meaning of the word impossible… but she did know the meaning of the words "equipment failure". Rei has never shown a sync rating this high before, that was still in question. However Ritsuko had to concede that the failure to properly register the pilots vitals was due to malfunctioning equipment and not as a result of the 1st child actually having died.

Sighing she stepped over to the computer and ran the data from the plug again, watching the "death" of the 1st child coinciding with the spike in her sync rating. It Capped at 78.7 for about 3.5 seconds before slipping slightly to 77.9 and remained there until just before shutdown when it began dropping rapidly… a sign that she was blacking out. This was the point where she apparently came back to life.

"Something wrong Sempai?" came the voice of Lt Maya Ibuki.

"No. Just a mystery I can't seem to solve. Did you know Rei's sync ratio jumped over 40 points during the last battle?"

"No way! Is that even possible?" Maya's surprise was expected. While other bridge members knew only that higher was better when it came to sync scores, Maya, who was taught directly by Ritsuko, understood far more about them. She, like Ritsuko, realized the impossible when she saw it.

"Honestly Maya, I don't know. Some of the data is impossible while some of it may be. I'm just not sure."

"You'll figure it out Sempai! You always do." Maya's cheerful voice always seemed to bring out the best in her and she inwardly wondered how she'd ever be able to manage without her here.

Ritsuko was not blind, she knew Maya looked up to her as a role model and maybe even more. The thought had not escaped her that Maya could have a crush on her, and it actually flattered the doctor. Ritsuko was actually quite the wild one in college despite her seemingly no-nonsense demeanor at NERV, and was known by at least some of her fellow students to be experimenting with other girls. She had her chance with a drunken Misato Katsuragi one night and actually quite enjoyed herself.

That was a long time ago and she has been hesitant to go down that road again. However even she had to admit that for all her childishness sometimes, Maya was cute. Not to mention she was probably more fun in bed than Gendo could ever hope to be… although she had to question if Maya had ever actually done that before.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Maya."

"Of course!" Just as Maya said this she keeled over a second.

"Are you ok Maya?"

"Hai! I think I need to pee though," and with that she ran out of the room.

Poor girl has a weak bladder sometimes. I should see if I can give her something for that. Ritsuko went back to work, trying to decipher the puzzle. After almost an hour ticked by she looked towards her partner's station and saw that she had still not returned.

"I'd better check on her," Ritsuko whispered and left her station. She walked down the hall for a bit before finally reaching the door to the ladies' room. Ritsuko was about to call out to her as she walked in but the sound was cut off in her throat when she saw Maya on the floor leaning against the wall looking very pale.

"Oh my God Maya!" she slid down to a kneeling position next to the girl and immediately took her pulse. It was weak, but the sudden skin contact woke her up. She moaned, but oddly it didn't sound like pain. In fact she remembered making sounds like that during her own "private time".

Weakly her eyes seemed to begin to focus, finally finding home in Ritsuko's eyes. "S… Sem…pai?"

The weak sound in her voice caused Ritsuko's heart to wrench. "Yes.. its me Maya," she replied as she stroked the girl's hair. "What happened?"

Maya stared blankly towards an uninteresting spot on the opposite wall for a few moments. "I… I don't… remember…." Promptly, she passed out again.

"Maya?" No response. "Maya!" She moved a little and allowed another soft moan to escape. Ritsuko quickly picked her up and moved as fast as she could towards the hospital wing.

Minutes Later

Ritsuko managed to get Maya to the NERV Hospital and started running extensive tests tests. Poor Maya showed all the signs of being anemic but there seemed to be no cause. Her symptoms were synonymous with massive blood loss, but Ritsuko had gone over every square inch of the girl's body with a fine tooth comb, and there were no signs of any cuts, scrapes, gashes or even hemorrhaging. Then there was the moan upon awakening that couldn't have been anything else… and the unexplained memory loss.

She stared at the unconscious girl as she lay upon the hospital bed. Maya seemed so peaceful lying there and recovering, even with the I V in her body replacing lost blood and delivering other fluids to her.

Maya… what in God's name happened to you?

One Hour and Fifteen Minutes Ago

Rei walked into the ladies' room near the bridge. She was still feeling a bit queasy since she was rescued, but Doctor Akagi gave her a clean bill of health after her examination. She seemed surprised that Rei could recover this fast but then again, she healed quickly before and never scarred. This time her recovery was phenomenal according to the good doctor.

Rei hated her… with every ounce of her being, she desired nothing but misfortune and pain to her. She deserved nothing less, for the ancient laws dictated that the sins of the parent are carried to the child if they were not paid for. Naoko Akagi killed her… Ritsuko deserved to suffer for that. And so it came to the point where Rei could not stand to be in the same room with the woman, but in her presence, she tried to be civil.

Try, being the operative word here, which was not an easy thing to do. Somehow, Rei managed to simply deadpan everything to the point where Dr. Akagi didn't notice any changes. This pleased Rei but it still irked her to be in that woman's presence, let alone let her touch her in a medical examination.

She stared at the mirror and let the frustration seep out of her slowly. No reflection stared back at her and for once, Rei was grateful for this. She didn't even want to know what she looked like right now.

Rei turned on the faucet and splashed cool water onto her face in an effort to calm down. She was so distracted by what she was doing that she did not initially hear one of the toilets flush. However when she raised her head up she saw one of the stalls opening.

Wonderful...

"Oh, hi Rei." Maya said cheerfully. She was about to say something else when her eyes locked onto the mirror. Rei could see the realization in her eyes as the horror set in. Maya apparently knows what the lack of a reflection meant, and the implications therein. Rei turned towards her; the annoyance she felt reflected in her now glowing red eyes.

Maya made a break for the door but Rei's supernatural speed was far too much for her to escape. Quickly grabing her by one of her wrists and slapping a hand over her mouth before she screamed.

"I didn't want it to come to this," she hissed at Maya. "I really didn't. But now you leave me no choice." She slowly released her mouth ready to clamp it down again if she tried to scream.

"Rei… please," Maya pleaded. "I-I won't tell anyone I-I swear! Y-Your secret is s-safe with m-me."

"I really wish I could believe you Maya, I really do. But I can't take that chance. Trust me when I tell you this is for your own good."

Maya turned her head away from Rei and closed her eyes. She didn't fight back anymore. It was as if a part of her just gave up and all she could do was brace herself for her end. Rei felt a little sorry for her, but at least Rei wouldn't have to kill her.

As she brought her mouth close to her neck, Rei's sight pierced though the skin and saw the artery beneath it. "I can only promise you that the pain will pass quickly." Her fangs extended as all features in her eyes disappeared into a haze of red. "And you might just enjoy this."

Her teeth pierced her skin with all the resistance of a progressive knife though soft flesh. Maya squirmed a little and gasped in pain as Rei felt her teeth sink though the artery. She gently removed them as the blood began to pour free and wasted no time sealing her mouth over the skin around the new wound. Slowly, she began to suck up every drop that leaked down. As Maya continued to squirm beneath her.

Suddenly, Maya's stopped groaning in pain. Instead she moaned softly. She had stopped squirming and started to writhe instead as if she were now in the throes of ecstasy. Rei's Sire had told her that some humans find the blood draining ritual to be an erotic one, and apparently the young technician was one of them.

Rei decided to torture her a little bit by slowing the draw of blood from her body. This elicited powerful waves of pleasure in the girl. She could feel Maya's thin body rubbing against hers trying to create more friction and physical contact. The girl was clearly out of her mind right now, and was loving every blissful second of it. Rei could drain her to death and Maya wouldn't even have the mental capacity right now to care about it. However that was not her plan… it would not due to kill the tech, as she would be needed in the battles to come.

As Maya began to lose the ability to stand, Rei realized that she had drawn enough. She removed her mouth and with one long lick, cleaned the blood from her neck. As her tongue passed over the holes in Maya's neck, her saliva passed a small and very short lived bit of Rei's essence into her causing the wounds to quickly close and heal on their own. Within moments there was little more than a bit of redness left. Given a few minutes, not even that would exist anymore.

Maya moaned again as sense started coming back to her. "I… I don't… want… to die…," she cried.

"You won't Lt. Ibuki," Rei replied to her in a low voice. "Sadly, you won't remember our meeting either. I'd love to see what you're like in bed one day." Maya, despite her weakened condition managed a slight smile before Rei locked eyes with her and pierced her mind. Within a matter of seconds, Maya fell unconscious…

Rei sighed. The girl had a lot of passion within her, she realized. She dissevers better than Dr. Akagi… assuming she ever returns the girls advances.

"First things first," she whispered. "Akagi will answer for her mother's crimes, then if she lives after I'm done with her, we'll see if she is really worthy of Maya-chan."

With that, she made sure the girl was as comfortable as possible on the floor, before leaving the bathroom before someone else came in or came looking for the young tech.

Several Hours Later

Rei returned to her apartment that night feeling refreshed from the blood she drank. LCL was a powerful cocktail but it lacked something that was in human blood that apparently her body needed to sustain her undead existence. Tonight however, she would not have to hunt. The blood she drank from Maya was sustaining her quite well… perhaps a little too well.

She thought about the events of the past two days as she sat… or rather crouched on the back of the single chair in her room. There was nothing holding it down and she was perfectly balanced on the back of it facing away from the seat. She was wearing her school uniform but had other clothing laid out on her bed just in case she decided to steal herself off into the night anyway. Although the normal person would not think that such a position offered much comfort, it was to her.

"So how is your undead life?" came the voice of her Sire. He simply seemed to appear out of the darkness of one of the corners of her apartment.

Rei was used to his theatrics at this point. "Ok I guess," she replied.

"Uh oh, you don't sound very sure of yourself young one."

"Master, you're not that much older than me."

He chuckled at that. "Quite true. So what seems to be the problem?" He walked across the room parking himself right in front of her.

Rei frowned. "I guess I'm still not used to all these emotions and feelings," she deadpanned. "I keep feeling myself wanting to drift back into my old uncaring self."

"But you do not wish to," he stated. "You wish to keep going until you are more comfortable with it."

"Yes," she whispered.

"You've fed recently, haven't you?"

Rei nodded. Perhaps it was the color of her skin or the fact that she still had a bit of afterglow from her last feeding, but for whatever reason, her Sire always seemed to know when she fed. "I got caught in the ladies room. Lt. Ibuki saw I had no reflection. It seemed like she knew exactly what that meant."

"I see… Did you kill her?" he asked curiously.

"No, I wiped her memory."

"Good." Her Sire began to walk around the room. "You are learning quickly… even more quickly then I believed possible. I must say I am pleasantly surprised."

"Thank you Master," she replied in a low voice. "But I have to ask. Did you have a specific plan in mind for how to wreck The Commander's plans?"

"No," the answer was immediate. "The only thing that was planned was you. I knew that was all I needed to do. The rest will fall into place on its own. Try not to think on it so much and try to enjoy yourself."

She sighed. "I will Master, but it is difficult. Now that I understand the meaning of fun, I find it difficult to decide how to have it."

He chuckled at her. "All things in time my young apprentice," he whispered darkly. "You have no idea how long I wanted to say that. It makes me feel like The Emperor."

Rei smirked at that thought. "Master, is this another science fiction reference?"

"If you are at all curious my dear, look up pre-2nd impact science fiction works under the reference of 'Star Wars'. You might enjoy it. I sense that something else is bothering you. Please speak your mind."

Rei looked at him. "When Shinji and I fought the 5th angel, I blacked out near the end of the fight. When that happened… I had an odd dream."

Her sire seemed to express more interest than normal. "What about?"

Rei detailed what she remembered about it to him and tried not to leave anything out.

"Interesting. My Sire told me about similar gatherings. A long time ago, Vampires were the dominate lifeform on Earth. This you know. What I have not told you is that there were ruling families that controlled vast amounts of territory. The heads of each of these clans would meet in a secret coven once every seven years to discuss the political and social situation. I believe you had a dream about one such coven."

"But how would I have had such a dream?"

"The power of an individual Vampire Bloodline is passed down though each turned individual. Sometimes, along with this power there are memories."

"You mean, I am a member of one of these Clans?"

"As am I, and every other vampire that exists today. But we are too low on the 'totem pole' so to speak to even hear about or attend these covens… should they still be held. Perhaps after we have gained a measure of power and time under our belts, we will have that opportunity."

Rei thought about that for a moment. "I'd rather not. I am not one for politics."

He laughed at that. "Nor am I young one, but the opportunity to establish a relationship with a higher ranking member is never a bad thing. It is good to have friends in high places."

Elsewhere

Weakly Maya awoke. At first she was confused… remembering she was supposed to be on the bridge helping Ritsuko with her latest issue. Something about… Rei? Her combat data? Maybe?

I can't remember anything. What's wrong with me?

She looked around and saw she was in a hospital bed with a single I.V in her arm but a bandage over the other one… both were sore. As her eyes began to sweep the room her Sempai walked in, bringing a smile to her face.

"Sempai!" she said weakly but with enthusiasm. "What happened to me?"

Maya noticed a look on Ritsuko's face that seemed to indicate she was lost in the whole subject. "I'm honestly not sure Maya. Have you ever shown signs of being Anemic before?"

"Anemic? No. I work myself pretty hard but… that couldn't be the cause could it?"

"No," she stated directly. "But I'm running out of ideas. For whatever reason , all your blood cell counts were way down when I found you. Its like half the blood in your body just… disappeared."

Briefly, she got a flash in her mind of pain in her neck. Her eyes widened as she felt something akin to lust and ecstasy and heard her own voice moaning in the back of her mind. But any images she could try to pull forward were indistinct. It sent a shiver down her spine as she really couldn't remember the details. Which could only mean one thing....

I was attacked by a Vampire… why aren't I dead, or undead for that matter? Sempai can't know about this, she'd never believe it. Angels are one thing but Vampires? I'd just as easily get her to believe in the boogieman.

"Weird," was all she could say.

"Well I'm keeping you here overnight for observation. But it looks like you'll be well enough to return to your duties by next week.

"Arigato Sempai," she replied. "You know how I go crazy when I don't have anything to do."

"Even still, I want to make sure you recover fully from what happened to you. If you absolutely have to work, take your laptop with you when you go home tomorrow… but don't over do it. Do you hear?"

"I know I know, don't worry."

Ritsuko's look softened a bit. Maya normally doesn't get to see that look on her face often. Its when she's worried about something personally important. "I just don't want to see anything bad happen to you, that's all."

Maya felt her body heating up and her cheeks reddening. She also heard her heart monitor start pulsing faster. Everything in the room was giving her away. She couldn't even look at her Sempai now. What will she say, now that she has irrefutable proof that Maya is in love with her?

She saw that Ritsuko was eyeing the monitors, which only made her more nervous, until she noticed her Sempai smiling at the readings. "That means get some rest silly," she said as she mussed Maya's hair causing the girl to giggle despite herself.

Maya obediently laid back down as Ritsuko took one last look at the monitors before smiling and leaving. It was at this point that Maya realized that her Sempai knew. Either she was flattered or she felt the same way, she didn't really know for certain. What she did know is that now she didn't have to be so nervous around her Sempai.

Ayanami's Apartment, That Moment

"So what was she like, this Lt. Ibuki? How did she taste?"

Rei thought about it for a moment before she managed to answer with confidence. "She has the sweetest blood I ever thought possible. Not even drinking LCL was like that. I can only hope that when I finally drink from Shinji's veins… he will be as sweet."

"Do you like her?"

She smiled. "Perhaps as a plaything… but my heart still belongs to Shinji-kun."

"Don't be afraid to expand your horizons," her Sire replied. "It is part of what it means to enjoy your eternity."

"Very well," she replied. "But first things first. I have my own agenda to work against The Commander, and I must lay the ground work for it soon." She smiled. "Business before pleasure."

"Why limit yourself when you can have both?"

Rei chuckled. "Actually that is part of the plan."

End of Chapter II

Sanguis meus fervidus est,

Sanguis meus avidus est,

Sanguis tuus suavis est,

Sanguis tuus iucundus est

A/N: Chapter last modified on 11/27/2009