"I can't win this," Mari realized to her terror. "They're too fast…"

Realizing she had to get some kind of damage done if she was going to live though this, she suddenly shifted from defense to offense, dodging the werewolf's attempt to strike again and cutting deep into its chest with a well-placed rapier strike. She then rolled away as the axe from the minotaur was already on its way down to her. Mari tried to summon up some of her power for a quick advantage but still hadn't time to finish casting as the werewolf pounced upon her front and bit into her shoulder. She yelled in pain before running it though with her rapier and kicking it off, but watched in dismay as it immediately rolled up to its feet and quickly regenerated the damage. Mari didn't have any silver weapons to use against it.

As she tried to gather herself once more, she was slammed by the flat side of the axe and sent sprawling to the ground face-up. As she tried to get up, the werewolf's foot pressed against her throat, pinning her down. The beast snarled as the Minotaur approached, axe in hand.

"I was hoping for so much more from you Mari," Taleth sneered. "Alas, you were only worth so much entertainment it seems."

Mari glared in his direction and tried desperately to get the werewolf off her throat before the Minotaur got to her but realized there was no way she could.

"Minotarus! Finish her!" Taleth commanded. "Finish her for the Mistress!"

The Minotaur raised his axe…

VII: To Slay a Demon, Part II

As the Minotaur's axe reached its apex, a knife which seemed to come from nowhere, hit the monster in the right shoulder blade causing the monster to overswing and throw itself backwards.

"Sorry we're late," Shinji quipped as Asuka switched from knives to sickles. "Traffic in Tokyo-4 sucks worse than I could have guessed."

Mari quickly summoned a blade of her own from her sleeve and stabbed the Werewolf in the calve, causing it jump away from her. She quickly rolled back near Shinji and worked on recovering from her injuries, running blood from her wounds beginning to slow by the second. She took a moment to notice the new outfit; black pants and shoes with black socks, a crimson-colored vest covering a black button-down shirt with red pinstripes, a black trencher over it and a black fedora adoring his head. He even wore a black tie with similar stripes to his shirt. He looked more like he was going to a fancy dinner engagement rather than a fight.

"I can explain," Mari whispered.

"We'll talk about this later," Shinji immediately replied with a slight edge in his voice that did not go unnoticed. Mari sighed, realizing she was in trouble now.

"You!" Taleth yelled. "You don't belong here!" The Minotaur rose to its feet, barely paying attention to the dagger fading from his shoulder.

"That's just funny coming from you, freak!" Asuka retorted. "Who did you eat to get that big?"

"Knave," Taleth whispered sinisterly. "I'll have your head for that."

"Pompous attitude, overwhelming aura," Shinji noted as if going down a checklist while adjusting his hat. "You must be another candidate for the Dark Lord's Power."

"Candidate? Ha! I WILL become the Dark Lord."

"Aaand overconfident as well," Shinji noted. "That's three for three. I've killed so much bigger than you, Taleth. You'll fair just as well."

Taleth grinned sadistically. "If you think so, then you know nothing. I have no desire to waste my time with the likes of you, but should you manage to survive my manor, perhaps I'll deign to play with you." Without inflection, he then ordered, "Kill them," before disappearing into black mist.

"Ladies, deal with Fido over there," Shinji suggested. "I'll deal with the bull."

Asuka combined her sickles into a large ornate scythe as Mari pulled a Katana from her arsenal.

"I'll go in hard from the front," Asuka declared.

"I have no problem hitting it from behind." Mari agreed.

Asuka smirked. "Don't you mean getting hit from behind."

"That was uncalled for," Mari replied in mock offense.

"Ladies," Shinji cut. "Try to concentrate, will you."

"Yes, my Lord," Mari and Asuka replied in unison before launching themselves into battle.

I really wish they wouldn't call me that, Shinji thought to himself.

The werewolf already proved it was able to match Mari's speed in combat, but with two very fast fem fatales to deal with, it realized it was going to have to play it much safer. Utilizing its speed, it concentrated on keeping its distance from Asuka while not getting surrounded. It did not however, realize just how fast Asuka was, and found itself barely able to keep out of cutting range. It immediately tried to get closer to its partner but Shinji had that situation well in hand.

Minotaurus charged Shinji with its axe raised high and saw his target wasn't moving. Tasting victory, it swung down only to suddenly jolt to a halt. Looking behind it, a series of thorny vines held the axe fast in its position, forcing the monster to struggle to try to pull it free. Suddenly, more vines rose around it and entangled the monster in its grip. It struggled, and pulled, managing to break a few but ultimately was unable to escape their grasp. It stared at Shinji unable to fathom how this could have happened, until a huge red rose grew behind the young man opening and revealing a girl with pale green skin and long red hair, perfectly threadbare.

"Axes cut down trees and sever plants," Shinji noted aloud. "I think she takes offense to your choice of weaponry." The girl's glowing green eyes fixed on anger as she gestured forward in a graceful fashion. A pair of heavy vines, ending in spearpoint shaped thorns shot forward with blinding speed, impaling the monster though the chest and face, blowing out the back of both body parts and showering the sand of the small area with viscera.

"Sit!" Asuka yelled as she managed to slash though the legs of the Werewolf. It shrieked as it fell on its back. Mari fell upon it from above.

"Stay!" She yelled as she pinned it to the ground by impaling it through the stomach with her katana. It cried out in pain as the sword point pieced the sand.

"Play dead," Shinji quipped as his summoned Alura Une sent multiple vines though its body from below, finally ending the creature.

Mari breathed hard as she finally felt safe for the moment. Alura Une vanished in a burst of rose petals as Shinji approached. The young vampress knew she was about to get a tongue lashing.

"I'd ask what were you thinking," Shinji noted, "but as it stands, I can't fully blame you."

"I would have done the same in your shoes," Asuka noted.

"That's the only reason I'm not giving you a much more severe tongue lashing."

"I'm sorry, my Lord," Mari apologized.

"Oh, stop calling me that," Shinji growled. "Both of you! I'm no one's lord or master."

"Not yet," Asuka noted.

"Not this again."

"You know it's true," Asuka protested. "As much as you try to fight your nature, it always comes back to claim you."

"And you're basing this on…."

"Perfect, beautiful Shinji… Angel Killer." He flinched when she called him that. "I'm sorry, but it's true. You became the perfect warrior for the Angel Wars, and now the power of darkness is finding you. Make no mistake, Dracula's power wants to be reunited with its own. When you kill Taleth, you will gain his power for yourself, you know that."

"And I'll subsume that power," Shinji countered.

"For how long?" Asuka rebutted. "Look at you… You summoned one of the Master's Minions on impulse, you can teleport into a column of darkness and moonlight…."

"But I still control it," Shinji noted. "I'm using it because I have no choice."

"But how well do you control it?" Mari asked. "Remember the battle the other night? You can't deny you were enjoying yourself despite saying you 'hated letting that monster out'. You hate the blood but you love the rush of it. That kind of power can't be held back easily, it always finds a way out."

"Mari… how can you know that?"

"While trying to infiltrate the Circle, I learned a lot about the occult and about Dominus itself. Most of it was required reading in the circle. Dominus has a will of its own, and it wants to be used."

Shinji sighed. "Just another cross for me to bare," he noted. "And bare it I will. Now let's find Taleth and end this."

Mari nodded. "One thing bothers me. How did you find me so easily?"

"Did you really think you weren't followed?" Shinji replied casually.

"I see. You really don't trust me then."

Shinji stopped. "No… it's not that all. I always look out for those I love. Knowing you would try something crazy, I made sure to have one of my bats keep tabs on you just in case you did just that. Once it became obvious where you were going, we gave chase." He looked at her with concern. "I know Carmilla was the one who ruined your life, and that you will do anything to destroy her. She must be stopped, I agree, but you can't do this alone… and you don't have to."

Mari smiled slightly at his words. He was right, she realized; she really didn't have to do this alone, she had friends now.

"You're right about me you know… the Reluctant Gunslinger bit… It's true. I always seem to end up with power I don't want, but I'll use it… to stop others who don't respect the power they have. As tried of this as I am… I can never stand by while innocents suffer."

Asuka kicked open the doors on the opposite side, revealing a hallway ahead. Skeletal warriors armed with spears and shields arose from pits of darkness forming in the purple rug running down the center of the hall. On either side of the rug, the bare black marble floors were visible, and golden columns interspaced roughly every three meters were half subsumed into the walls. The polished ebony-colored bricks seemed to glisten as if wet, and symbols of darkness and the occult were placed on every section of the ceiling's stained-alabaster stone.

Mari smirked. "This is just asking for one of my favorite tricks," she noted before transforming into a wolf. Asuka stood impressed as the wolf rushed forward leaving a trail of afterimages behind her. Before the skeletons on the left side of the room could react, they were reduced to shattered bones on impact. Asuka wasted no time rushing forward, switching to her rapier glyphs in the closer quarters of this hallway. Shinji casually walked behind letting the girls have their fun as he stuck his hands into the pockets of his trencher.

Mari reached the other side of the hallway where a set of double doors waited, but knowing Asuka wasn't finished yet she turned around, returning to human form. Suddenly, four suits of armor appeared in the alcoves formed by the columns. Massive shields held in one hand, and double-sided axe boomerangs on the other.

"Not these fuckers again," Asuka shouted, annoyed.

"Child's play," Shinji noted with a sinister air about him as he shifted once more into his feral form. His claws and fangs extended as the first of the Axe Lords threw its boomerang at him. Kicking his celerity into high gear, he rushed forward and made a short jump. As he side-flipped over the axe, he snatched it out of the air, aiming his landing to just before the Axe Lord, and used the momentum from his spin to cleave the monster in half with its own weapon before it could use its tower shield to block.

Keeping the momentum, he spun and threw the axe at the second one, smashing through its head. As he continued to run, he grabbed the second axe and ducked under the incoming blades of the remaining two, arms back and body low as he charged. He slammed into both of their shields as they lined up but failed to push them too far back, even with his built-up momentum. With that spent, he backflipped over the returning axes and threw his own, knowing they would have to let their guards down to catch their own weapons. Both axes found home in the chest plates of the Axe Lords but this alone wasn't enough to fell them. With their attention drawn, both were taken out by blade strikes from the girls.

Shinji touched down and let his feral features slip. Both girls now stood there with their arms crossed waiting for his admission.

For a full five seconds, he said nothing before making an audible sigh. "Ok, so maybe I like it just a little," he admitted.

Minutes later, another set of double doors blew open from Asuka's forcefulness. This opened into a larger room, similar to a sitting room of sorts with similar aesthetics to the rest of the manor. Here, however it was more like a small throne room of sorts, though small was a bit of a misnomer. It was at least 35 meters on a side, with larger columns both along the walls and four holding up the ceiling in the middle. The height of the room was close to three stories easily but no upper balconies existed, just open celling, albeit stylized with expensive looking reliefs and precious metals. Sitting on the throne was Taleth, his massive almost statuesque form imposing even at this range.

A couch of sorts sat to the right of the throne where Carmilla was lounging with one of her girls from the first base. Mari recognized her as one of Carmilla's regulars, though the girl seemed to be in less healthy condition than she remembered, leading her to believe that either the situation at their base was less perfect than she perceived it to be, or Carmilla has been taking her frustrations out on her cattle. Mari was more inclined to believe the latter.

"So," Taleth's smooth Romanian voice echoed, "You've made it this far. I'm impressed. I figured you would have escaped while you had the opportunity."

"Take me for a coward, Taleth?" Shinji shot back. "It seems you know me about as well as you perceive that I know you. I suppose this will be an evening of surprises then."

"Carmilla," Mari sneered as she watched the girl stand up, simply pushing her nearly dead plaything aside. The cattle made a pitiable sound as her naked and abused form hit the cold marble but she made no effort to move. "Still treating people like tools, I see."

"How DARE you!" Carmilla nearly shouted. "You were the one who brought ruin upon my house! You have no room to criticize me now. I should have finished you off back at the coven… but no… some part of me couldn't go through with it."

"And now here I am… coming for your head!" It was more than a threat, and Carmilla knew it. "You have so much to answer for."

"My only mistake was assuming you would finish bleeding out and shrivel away to nothing," Carmilla asserted. "If I had known you would manage to survive long enough for one of those fools to pull the stake out of your back, I would have cut your head off then and there. Though… I hear you managed to kill an entire squad in your blood frenzy."

Mari's eyes narrowed as she fought off the guilt from that instant. But Carmilla noted the conflict within her and smiled, baring fangs. "Oh, how I wished I could have been there to see it. It would have been worth the trouble… watching you mindlessly kill that which you swore to protect… such delicious irony! Almost as sweet as virgin blood."

"Halts deine Fresse!" Asuka yelled at the vampress. "This world will no longer stand for your manipulative bullshit, Carmilla."

"Just as belligerent as ever, I see," came a far too familiar voice. Taleth's gaze shifted to his left as a cult mage walked from behind the throne out into the open. In his hands, an unadorned staff of black metal.

"Rastur," Asuka hissed. "Well, isn't this a surprise. I thought you worked for the Sons of Shaft. The fuck you doing with a fertility cult? Trying to get your hentai rocks off, are you?"

"Precisely the kind of insult I would expect from you," Rastur noted. "How juvenile. To answer your question, ask yourself this… what is it both cults really want? Did you think they would work separately, or does it make more sense that we would attack the problem from multiple angles? The Circle will find the perfect concubines for our Dark Lord, while we, the Sons, focus on his return."

"Do not you humans say that teamwork makes the dream work?" Asked Taleth. "We all crave the night. And together, we will achieve it."

"Don't bet on that," Shinji interjected. "We're going to stop you."

"I know you will try," Taleth countered as he stood up.

"Rastur is mine," Asuka hissed.

"Mari," Shinji cautioned, "careful with Carmilla. As your sire, she's likely more powerful than you."

"I'm not concerned about the power gap," Mari replied. "I always find a way."

Asuka activated Rapidus Fio and tried to take Rastur down with speed, only to realize that the mad sorcerer had managed to supernaturally enhance his own to keep pace. Her twin sickles blocked by a pair of curved swords. This confused Asuka for a moment as she remembered him holding a staff before. She tried to kick him, only to find Rasture had the same idea and came up with it first, knocking her leg aside before kicking her off. As Asuka regained her balance she saw Rastur leap forward bringing his blades over his head and saw them shift into red amorphous energy, forming into a large double handed mace before bringing it down. Asuka managed to slide back away from the attack. From the hole in the marble created by Rastur's attack, a pair of skeletons in light armor and short swords leapt from the ground and attacked her.

Carmilla had summoned a pair of thin epee's and entered into a dance blades with Mari. They lashed and stabbed at each other, both barely missing taking hits themselves in the process. Carmilla was faster and managed to push back hard against Mari. As the younger vampress was pushed towards a column of marble, two of Carmilla's wings extended, these from her lower back. Mari barely managed to get up and over Carmilla before the wings scissored on her position, tearing though the column like paper. Mari landed and spun, trying to catch Carmilla while the older vampress was recovering but only managed a superficial cut across her left breast where it was exposed. Carmilla didn't make so much as a sound as the cut leaked ash for a moment before quickly closing.

Shinji pushed forward with Flying Armor backing him. A pair of massive blades came down on Taleth's position but the vampire managed to catch them with his bare hands. Shinji spent one second too long in shock at the development and watched the blades shatter in the man's hands before he was grabbed by the front of his out fit and slammed into the stairs of the throne. Shinji grunted in pain as his back wasn't made for this kind of combat before allowing his feral side to take over. Taleth spun left, barely managing to dodge the attack of a Valkyrie lunging at him from Shinji's position. Shinji spun the opposite way off the floor and got to his feet in time to get punched in the face by a massive fist. Shinji slid a good 4 meters before stopping, then quickly rolled to the side as a Minotarus suddenly attacked him.

"Back for round two, are we?!" Shinji yelled as he summoned Slogra to deal with him. Then dodged another attack from Taleth. As Shinji regained his balance he watched as Taleth caught the lance of his Valkyrie and pulled her in, breaking her neck, then moving to engage him again before the summoned form completely faded into mist.

Great, I might be out of my league here, he lamented internally.

Mari was getting the upper hand on Carmilla at that moment, thought he vampress now had both of her sets of wings out. It was obvious she's never had to fully utilize her own offensive abilities before as her duties didn't really allow for it. Despite the power gap, Carmilla was realizing Mari's experience in combat made her more than a match for her. Taking another bad hit, Carmilla was running out of options. She tried to use her superior speed to get Mari but the girl was expecting the attack and managed to dodge by virtue of knowing exactly where she was going. Carmilla's amateurish combat style was easy for the former SAS operative to read, and for her trouble, Carmilla lost one of her upper wings to a precise cut from Mari.

Screaming in pain now as ash poured from the wound, she tried to put some distance between them, only to have Mari move in on her quicker than she anticipated, delivering a series of slashes that continued to chip away at the older woman's stamina. With the loss of her endurance came weakness and now it took most of what Carmilla had just to block. With sudden forward motion, Mari slammed Carmilla into a column and locked blades just under the woman's chin.

"Any last words?" Mari hissed.

"You might want to check on your boyfriend," Carmilla sneered.

Mari's head turned… Asuka was still locked in combat with Rastur only now on the far side of the Throne room. Asuka was inundated with multiple minions as well as the mad sorcerer himself who apparently knew more than a thing or two about direct combat.

Then she saw Shinji… bloody… battered… and being held off the ground by his throat. Taleth was preparing to finish him off…

Without any hesitation, Mari kicked off of Carmilla and shifted into Wolf Form, slamming into Taleth at full speed. It was enough to knock the massive man off his feet and drop Shinji. Carmilla took only a few seconds to recover before she shifted into bat form and made quick her escape.

Taleth recovered to see a pissed off Mari growling at him more like a wolf than a vampire; her fangs bared, and her eyes were crimson.

"Protecting your Master, little dog?" He taunted. "I told him he wouldn't defeat me. What chance do you have?"

"No one fucks with my family," she growled out, before attacking him with a fury even Taleth wasn't expecting. He took a few slashes at first but quickly figured out how to stay ahead of her. Within a moment, he had his opening and delivered the heaviest punch he had right into her chest.

Only for his to pass though as she turned into mist. Taleth knew some vampires could do that but had no idea she was skilled enough to do so at such a young age. Then he watched as the mist turned green and he felt his skin begin to burn.

"Poison!" he decried and started coughing. He tried to get out of the mist only to have it stay with him. He slammed his hands together finally dispersing the mist enough to knock Mari out of the form. Before she hit the ground she was grabbed and thrown through another column. As he breathed in his first good bit of air, he quickly tilted his head right only to take a slash across the left side of his face anyway from a Bat flying at ludicrous speeds. Somewhere behind him, Mari shifted back to normal before hitting the wall, landing on the vertical surface in a crouch, before kicking back off of it and running Taleth though with one of her rapiers. Only earning a grunt of pain, she let go of the weapon and dodged his attempt to turn and grab her by quickly rolling away.

Asuka finally broke though the veritable skeletal assault force Rastur had summoned, and reached him only to have her scythe pass though him as he was fading away, laughing as he went.

"Another time, perhaps," Rastur taunted as his voice faded away. With their master gone, the remaining skeletons fell apart.

Asuka immediately ran to Shinji who was still recovering from the beating he had taken, though many of the signs of damage had faded to some extent.

"Help Mari," Shinji commanded, and Asuka obeyed with no hesitation.

Mari dodged another attempted punch to her face as Asuka lashed at his back with a holy sword. Taleth grunted but didn't seem to have the same reaction Mari had to holy energy. Asuka quickly dodged the attempted counter attack but was too slow to dodge the follow up, getting back handed across the room for her trouble. Half a dozen knives buried themselves into Taleth's back as Mari retaliated to buy her friend time to recover but this did little to slow him down. He quickly ran at Mari, the girl dodging as much as she could before finally taking a shot in the stomach that felt like it hit her spine it was so powerful. Blood shot out of her mouth, and her eyes glowed brighter. She pulled herself off the floor trying to get air back in her body in time to see another fist heading for her head. She couldn't dodge it. 10 meters later, she hit the wall, and again concentrated on getting back up. Taleth approached only to get nailed with a blast of fire from Asuka.

With a roar he rushed her, though the flames. Asuka dropped the power before he reached her but didn't have enough speed to escape him, instead being pulled into a bear hug as his arms locked behind her. She kicked and punched and bit trying to get free, but the pain quickly became paralyzing as her air was forced from her and her organs felt like they were going to rupture.

"I crush you!" Taleth yelled. "You pathetic bitch! I kill you all!"

Suddenly, Mari was on his back with her teeth sunk into his neck. With a roar, he dropped Asuka to the ground and tried to get her off, throwing himself around. Mari held on tight, using Taleth's blood to regenerate her injuries. He slammed himself into the marble wall again and again trying desperately to dislodge her. Eventually, the blood loss was too much and he slowed down, dropping to his knees. Only then did she finally let go. He looked up to see Shinji was almost fully recovered, Slogra standing near him. His Minotarus, he realized had been defeated by the Knight of Hell.

"You… won't… win…" Taleth managed out before Asuka walked over with her scythe and took his head off with one smooth motion. Taleth's body fell to the floor and began to turn to ash. Asuka took one step back, dropped her scythe which disappeared before hitting the ground and dropped her her knees, spitting up blood. Mari went to her side immediately as Asuka just hung on her as if desperate for a non-fatal hug.

Shinji watched as black orbs of energy seemed to float out of Taleth's body and he braced himself for the inevitable. They flew into him suddenly filling him with dark energy. Slogra disappeared in that instance as Shinji could not concentrate on keeping him active anymore. The energy lifted him into the air, his dark aura appeared and flared up like a black sun. The girls could only watch helplessly as this happened. Ten seconds later, he fell to the floor. His feral features were still visible and he seemed to be struggling. Mari went to his side as Asuka continued to concentrate on healing her injuries.

"Are you alright?" Mari asked, concerned.

"It's…" he managed before taking a second to recover and collect himself. "The power… it's harder to subsume now."

"You have the power of two candidates now," Asuka noted. "It would be. You'll get used to it."

"I hope so…"

A low rumble began to echo through the halls of the Manor. Dust fell from cracks suddenly forming the murals and bas reliefs of the ceiling.

"Not this again," Asuka lamented.

"Time to go," Mari noted and helped both of them get standing.

In their condition they made it out with only seconds to spare as the manor collapsed into the forest it was built upon. The three looked upon the pile of rubble and sighed almost as one.

"Carmilla escaped," Mari noted.

"As did Rastur," Asuka noted in anger.

"Don't worry," Shinji replied, "We'll get another shot at them eventually."

Mari sighed looking at the night sky, noting a little bit of light appearing in the east. "We'll need to find shelter soon."

"Agreed," Shinji noted. "We had to park the SUV a good distance from here, and there's no way to protect you inside it. Also, I might be sun allergic like you now for all I know. Luckily, this area has plenty of caves."

"How do you know that?" Asuka asked?

"When I was doing research on where to put my safehouse, this was one of the areas I was considering. We have only an hour or two at most. Let's go."

20 minutes later, the three were deep inside a north facing cave.

"Not the most comfortable of environments, but it'll do."

"I don't know about you two, but I need to get some food," Asuka noted. "There's a town nearby, yes?"

"Yeah," Shinji noted. "A klick, maybe two to the northeast. Should be easy to find."

"Right then." She summoned her cloak and hood. "I'll be back."

Mari and Shinji watched her leave, and then got settled in.

"Thanks for saving my life," Mari whispered.

"Thanks for saving mine," Shinji replied.

"Did you think I would abandon you?" Mari asked.

"Did you think I would forsake you? Same answer I imagine. I meant what I said back there; We're family, something all of us have had more than a few issues with in the past."

Mari nodded.

"In any case, it worked out sort of. I mean, we stopped them from even attempting the ritual, and killed Taleth. Would have been even better if we took out Rastur or Carmilla but…"

"We survived," Mari noted. "Barely at that. We were all just trying to survive this. We wouldn't have even been in this situation if-"

"Stop," Shinji cut her off. "Stop right there. You did what you felt was right, and in a lot of ways, you were right. I wasn't exactly being amicable to the idea of storming the manor after that talk we had on the porch. If you want to point blame, point it at me. If I wasn't being so selfish at that moment, we would have gone in there with a plan, had a better shot at fulfilling all of our goals."

Mari frowned.

"Mari, I'm just as uncertain of the future as you are. For all of my posturing at times, I'm just playing a part, trying to be the good leader; have to be confident, must at least act like I know what the hell I'm doing, must not fear… It's not easy to do any of those things considering I was brought up to be a toolbox for my father." He paused, sighing deeply. "You reminded me of something I keep trying to ignore. Something you were beyond correct about… No one else can do this but us; not NERV, not the JSSDF, no one."

"Maybe there are more," Mari mused. "All these evil organizations have to be held in check somehow if the law is unable to do it. Otherwise, their goals would have already been achieved."

"Something we need to look into," Shinji noted. He laid back, finding Mari curling up on him. For the first time, this seemed natural to him. He simply hoped Asuka wouldn't be too jealous when she came back.

Two hours later, Asuka returned to the cave to find them sleeping in that same spot.

"Figures they get cozy while I was gone," Asuka mused. She chuckled lightly before sitting down and eating her snacks.

"SUV still where we parked it?" Shinji whispered, not wanting to wake up Mari.

"Yeah, at the edge of the forest. I can't wait to get home."

"Neither can I," Shinji noted. "You should see the rock trying to replace my second lumbar."

Credits

Castlevania and related properties, property of Konami

Neon Genesis Evangelion is property of GAINAX

Story by Archdruid Sephiroth

With Ideas by Wolfpackersson09

Special Thanks

Wolfpackersson09

Orionpax09

"Over the course of my misadventures, I met many old friends. I couldn't believe what became of some, or what would happen to them just by being around me. An old friend from Class 2-A became caught up in the tribulations, and then unwittingly, the crossfire. What happened next was my fault, and yet, in that moment, I created something beautiful…"

Next Story: As Nightshade…