Lemon Warning

"Some days, it really sucks being me…"

"Look," Shinji tried to explain. "It's more complicated than your making it out to be."

"What's more complicated?!" Asuka yelled back causing Shinji to flinch. He still wasn't sure how this conversation even got started but here it was now… Asuka had learned about what happened in their room last night, and her reaction was just as full of vitriol as one would expect. The part that surprised him though was…

"There's nothing complicated about this… that vampire bitch RAPED YOU! Mein Gott, I learned enough about vampires studying under Selina to know she had you under her control. Why are you protecting her?!"

"It wasn't like that… something just… I don't know, it's like she was possessed or something."

"I'll bet she was possessed," Asuka hissed. "Well I'm not going to stand for this. I'm going to find her and deal with her myself!"

"Asuka, wait!" Shinji jumped up from the bed but Asuka was already well on her way out of the door. "Damn it… This is why I can't have a normal relationship… ever."

III: Repercussions

The streets of Tokyo-2 were just as dank as Mari expected this evening. The weather seemed as if it wanted to rain but decided that a foggy mist was all that it could muster. Enough to make her uncomfortable but not enough to soak her or really hinder her much. She sighed deeply as she leaned against a wall in an alleyway. She knew there had to be more members of the cult here, despite their recent move to Tokyo-4, they couldn't fully abandon a city that provided so much for them. Someone with a lead had to be nearby, and she had to make sure Carmilla would be in Tokyo-4 when the time came to go there herself.

Carmilla… that name still dredged up feelings of lust and love, and at the same time bitter hatred for what she had done, for what she turned Mari herself into. As she rested in the alley, her mind wandered back to that fateful morning after…

A small gasp left Mari's lips as she stirred to unlife. Her eyes opened slowly, feeling a soft hand stroking her head, through her hair, down her chest and stomach, and then repeating the action again. She didn't need to turn to know who it was, nor did she need her eyes to tell her that the one who held her was just as threadbare as she was.

Carmilla had Mari in a gentle embrace, stroking her head and body with her free hand. It seemed the vampress could sense Mari was waking up, and she leaned over her to gently place a kiss on her neck. Mari out of pure reaction fussed in her half sleepiness earning a gentle shushing from Carmilla.

"You've had an amazing night, pet," Carmilla cooed. "I can sense you're still feeling the aftereffects of all the sex. Good… let that radiant energy fill you."

Mari knew she shouldn't, but she also knew how good it would feel to just let herself go. Carmilla was expressing love for her, a love Mari seldom knew since her mother died. Why shouldn't she let herself be absorbed into the part?

Another kiss on her neck was delivered with the softest of touches. Mari relaxed, but realized too late she was being brought into a false sense of security. Pain quickly shot though her neck as Carmilla bit into her, but even now Mari wouldn't fight back. The pain vanished quickly, to be replaced with ecstacy. Carmilla's hands roamed her body as she drank her breakfast, squeezing Mari's breasts before tracing fingers down to her wet slit. Mari's legs spread obediently as Carmilla continued to play.

She stopped drinking and licked Mari's neck to stop the blood flow before shifting the girl to the bed and nearly rolling on top of her. They kissed passionately for a few moments, with Mari losing all sense of location or any ideas of her surroundings. The combination of being low on blood and being pleasured caused her to enter a state of reduced awareness. All that existed was the pleasure she was receiving, being spurred on by a gnawing hunger she couldn't ease.

Carmilla continued to kiss her before gently sliding down to kiss her neck, collar bone, and eventually lay licks and suckles against her breasts. Mari's head tipped back but she was too weak to make any sound. That didn't matter though, Mari was certain Carmilla could feel the depths of her emotions without having to hear them.

Slowly, Carmilla slid further down her body, dragging her fangs down Mari's stomach as she made her way to the girl's apex. At that moment, two human girls entered the bed, one from either side. One slid behind Mari letting the girl lay upon her and began to fondle Mari, leaning down to kiss her passionately at the same time. The other girl crawled up to her right breast and latched on, suckling and dragging her teeth across the sensitive nipple. Mari's right hand snaked up the girl's back to hold her while her left hand reached up to cradle the face of the girl kissing her.

Carmilla inserted her tongue into Mari's body causing the girl to break her kiss and gasp aloud in pleasure. Mari's fangs became visible at that point and a waiting wrist was offered to her. She bit down, quickly drinking the hot blood and listening to the girl's gasps of mixed pleasure and pain as she drank. The girl at her breast pulled herself up and began to trib herself against Mari's thigh while still kneeding the breast. Mari licked the wound closed on the girl's arm and forced her back down into a now bloody kiss. The girl got to taste herself in Mari's mouth, and enjoyed the coppery sensation.

A gentle bite on her shoulder altered her to the other girl still tribbing against her body. Carmilla pulled from Mari allowing her to suddenly roll onto the second girl, kissing her passionately before biting down on her neck. The girl cried out in pain and pleasure, wrapping her arms and legs around Mari as she fed. The first girl kissed Mari's neck and reached past her pert rear to insert two fingers into her wet slit. Mari moaned as she fed, nearly draining the girl she was on before pulling back and licking the wound instinctively.

Carmilla watched the girls continue to play with Mari, as she straightened into a kneeling position. The girl fondling her vagina from behind pulled her back into a kiss as the drained girl slowly sat up and contined working on Mari's breast. Both continued their ministrations upon Mari until she cried out in pure bliss and collapsed back onto the bed. The girls, while weak from being drained heavily still silently slipped from the bed to allow Carmilla access to her pet, even as the abused girl was still twitching from her orgasm. Mari felt herself being held again, now being spooned by Carmilla, with her soft hands running down her body to calm her still twitchy nerves.

"You were wonderful," the vampress noted. "Such passion! I knew you were special the moment you entered my sanctum."

"Mistress," Mari whispered as she was held. "I am glad."

"I knew you would be happy here," Carmilla continued. "Your soul is so strong, Mari, I think when the time comes, you will be the one to stand at my side and help me coordinate the harem."

Some small part of Mari was proud of this, though the truth of her situation was slowly dawning on her. She just drank blood… lots of blood. Normal humans can't do that without getting sick, which meant…

"Now that you are ready, I think its time to tell you about a ceremony… one that might be able to accelerate the return of our lord. He already walks amongst mortals, but he must be brought to the fold."

"Our Master lives?" Mari whispered.

"Oh yes, Mari, he truly lives. All we have to do is awaken him fully and we can do that with the ritual that bares the name of our coven!"

"The Circle of the Moon," Mari whispered. She was finally learning the deepest secrets of the coven… but the cost was indeed high…

Mari's daydream was suddenly and abruptly ended by the feeling of imminent danger. Acting on instinct, she lept from the wall deeper into the alleyway in time to avoid a sudden explosion of flames behind her.

"Damn, the cultists must have been looking for me as well," she thought as she fled into the back of the alley. Here three more alleys came together forming a sort of cross junction. The space here was bigger than each of the individual alleys as they didn't line up closely with each other.

Mari spun around to see what was coming and saw a streak of red and black descending on her from above at a high rate of speed. Jumping back, she managed to dodge the attack and finally get a good look at her attacker.

The girl stood up, red hair moving from her face revealing glowing blue eyes. Her face was German in appearance with a hint of Japanese making her look rather exotic. Her body was athletic and trim, dressed in a breastplate with cloth adornments. Her upper thighs were visible and the armor appeared to leave much of her back and shoulder's exposed. Everything else aside from her face was otherwise covered in metal or cloth.

"Found you at last," she said in a low and menacing voice.

Mari was about to open her mouth to speak when a gentle breeze blew her attacker's scent to her and immediately became recognizable. It was the second scent from the apartment Shinji lives in.

"Oh… shit," Mari whispered as she realized this was the girl Shinji was living with, and she was probably more than a little upset about the whole 'raping her boyfriend' thing. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Recognize my scent do you? Good. I want you to know that the girlfriend of the man you raped was the one to kill you in the end, you blood-sucking whore."

Realizing she didn't have a choice in the matter, Mari drew her rapier and watched as the swords in the red-head's hands transformed into sickles. Mari didn't recognize magic of this type, so she knew she had to stay on point if she wanted to survive this.

"Can't we talk about this?" Mari asked, already knowing the answer.

"You can talk if you want," the girl replied. "I'll be too busy killing you to listen." With that she launched herself towards Mari at inhuman speed. Activating Celerity, Mari was able to keep up with the attacks and fend her off, but only barely. Unable to even get a word out much less a sentence, she saw no choice but to abandon her attempts to talk her way out of this.

Landing on opposite sides of the alleyway, Mari was breathing hard, realizing that even an undead body it seems needs oxygen. Her body already started warning her of how quickly she was burning though her blood supply. The red-head barely seemed winded though, facing away on the other side of the alleyway still clutching her twin sickles. Mari took note of the glyphic tattoos in circles upon the girl's shoulders and arranged in a larger circle on her back.

"I don't suppose you'll listen to me now?" Mari offered.

The red-head said nothing. Instead turning and running straight at Mari. The vampress responded by reading her weapon and rushing forward clashing steel with her at the mid way point and continuing their dance. Mari was forced to dodge and weave more often then the red-head did, but was able, if only barely to stay ahead of her.

Rather suddenly, the red-head shifted her left hand to sword while her weapon disappeared from her right hand. They locked up and the girl raised her hand inches from Mari's face and snapped her fingers. A sudden blast of holy energy erupted from that point, and it felt to Mari like she was exposed to the sun momentarily. With a scream, Mari lept back swinging her weapon wildly to hopefully ward off an attempted advance.

"I bet that hurt," the red-head noted. "Vampires tend to be a bit allergic to Holy Power I've been told, and it seems it's true.

Mari opened her eyes once more. Though her sight was blotchy, she could see the red-head just fine. Glowing red, Mari's eyes narrowed and she growled, showing her fangs in the process.

"Oh, good," the red-head taunted. "You're finally taking this seriously, I should probably do the same." As she spoke she brought her other hand to the hilt of her sword causing the sword to lengthen and begin to glow white.

She rushed forward only to strike at a beam of light as she reached it. Knowing what was coming next she spun around and flipped over the series of three fireballs released by Mari after her Hellfire spell. Before Asuka returned to the ground, Mari made a few gestures before dropping into a duck for the last one. Asuka landed in time to see a ripple in reality emerge in the air above Mari and four angry balls of ectoplasmic fury flew up then homed in on her location.

With a flash of movement, she seemed to blink out each time the spirits nearly reached her, only to draw them in a different direction. Asuka however quickly realized that even with Rapidus Fio, she wasn't escaping the spirits, and finally resorted to her combined shield glyphs to tank the hit. Once they were gone, she slammed both her hands together unleashing a beam of holy light directed at Mari. The beam however missed as Mari had managed to jump over the beam. Her wings appeared for a split second to effectively double-jump, before she pushed all her momentum into a flying kick aimed at Asuka.

The red-head blocked the hit with her forearms but the force shifted both back nearly 15 feet. Mari back flipped and drew a second rapier, using both to block the torrent of daggers thrown by Asuka as she arched back towards the ground. Upon landing she continued to block the thousand blades attack until the ended. A breath leaving her body alerted Asuka instantly to her status.

"Haven't fed in a while I see," Asuka noted. "Your running out of energy I bet. I can keep this up all night, but you'll burn through your reserves soon."

"Not like I have a choice to concede," Mari countered. "I have too much to do before final death."

"You won't get the chance." Asuka taunted. "It's time to end this." Summoning her sickles again, she slammed them together to form Death's Scythe. Upon seeing that weapon, Mari knew things were about to get very… very bad. Seeing no choice, Mari readied herself and dashed towards Asuka at the same moment she did.

Suddenly, and just as they were about to clash, the girls were thrown back nearly 30 feet in both directions as a burst of dark energy greeted the appearance of a third party. Asuka readied her weapon until she saw the figure's glare turn towards her, and saw who it was. Feeling the power of his aura alone was enough to force Asuka to one knee, using her scythe for support. The power of that aura forced Mari to her hands and knees. Whatever just showed up, its power was immense.

"Enough!" Shinji yelled. "This madness ends now."

Mari raised her head despite the immense pressure of his aura and saw how different he looked in that instance. His hair was disheveled, his eyes glowing red, and a pair of vampire fangs were clearly visible in his mouth. The sight of him in such a powered up state brought her feelings of absolute terror so potent she couldn't move. And at the same time, Mari was also feeling the force of attraction again. She didn't understand any of it.

"Mari is not solely to blame for what happened," he explained to Asuka. "After all, if my power is forcing both of you to kneel now, do you not think I could have stopped her from what she had done?"

Asuka's face was unreadable, it was hard to tell if she was afraid, upset, or simply confused.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why did you allow it?"

"I would have caused more harm to her if I stopped her," Shinji explained. "Mari was turned by the Countess Carmilla, Dracula's mistress herself. As part of the fertility cult known as the Circle of the Moon, she was effectively programmed to seek me out."

"Seek you?" Mari managed. Then it suddenly hit her… instantly it all fell into place. "My God," she whispered at the realization. "You are the Candidate Carmilla spoke of."

"I'm sure she wants me badly," Shinji noted as his aura finally started to calm, and the feelings of terror and forced obedience left Mari and Asuka both. The girls stood up, quickly recovering from the ordeal. "She'll never have me."

"She wants to use you to complete some kind of ritual she said was named after the cult."

"I'm not interested in anything she has planned for me," Shinji said with finality. "I am not Dracula, and I do not want her or her cult. What you have felt is only a fraction of the power of the Dark Lord. For me… it's more than enough."

"I should have expected this," Asuka noted aloud.

"What?"

"A man as powerful as Dracula would eventually acquire a harem of his own, with or without the machinations of a cult to push forward such a thing."

"Asuka, I-"

"No," Asuka cut off gently while shaking her head. "It's fine… really. No matter how many girls you acquire, no matter how many fall for you, none of them will love you the way I do, and you will not love them the same way you love me… for I was your first."

"This isn't the way I wanted it to be," Shinji noted.

"That is irrelevant," Asuka noted, again with no sign of anger or aggression in her voice. "Mari, forgive me for my actions."

Mari shook her head. "There is nothing to forgive, Lady Asuka," she said, specifically using the title to show respect. "I would have likely acted the same in your situation."

"Now that the two of you have made up," Shinji noted, "we should head back to the apartment. Mari, you should stay with us. The sun will be up soon, and I know it doesn't agree with your complexion."

"Putting it mildly," Mari noted. She watched the other two link arms and begin walking back towards the apartment complex where Shinji was hiding out. Mari followed at a respectful distance from them.

"I got lucky," Mari admitted to herself. "Had Shinji not interfered, I'd likely be dead. Asuka is a far greater warrior than I."

Mari stood up only to feel a pull in her lower tummy. She gasped for a second, placing her hand below her naval. A few moments later, the feeling subsided.

"Odd…"

Now I'm naked,

Nothing but an animal

"But can you fake it,

"For just one more show?"

What do you want?

I want to change

But have you got,

When you feel the same?

"I'm still not sure how comfortable I am with this situation… I have to live with the girl who tried to kill me. I know she says she's okay but… Can I forgive myself for what I've done?"

Next Chapter: Monsters