Lemon Warning
Yuri Warning
Mari's eyes opened to a dark room. She was alone now, covered in blankets and lying in the bed she was given. Having cried herself to sleep again, she was fully dressed and now very uncomfortable. With a little effort she managed to stand, looking at her surroundings and saw a few bags from a local clothing store on top of the simple dresser in the room. She removed the clothes consisting of proper undergarments, a few pairs of jeans and several t-shirts, along with a note from Shinji saying he hoped they fit.
Though the room was small, she did have a private bathroom and decided to put it to use. Clicking the lights on, she saw that a few of the essentials were left for her including a proper bathing cloth, towels, body wash and shampoo. She stripped down and looked at herself; still pale, still pretty much hairless, and still very much undead. Her eyes shifted to the empty mirror and stared for a moment before turning on the water as hot as she could stand it.
She was only under the water for a few moments before her mind went back to that dark place where her life was ruined. Even through it all one thought stuck with her…
"Miranda," she whispered in a voice so low it couldn't even be heard. Tears of blood started to flow once more and Mari found herself curled up on the bottom the shower, sobbing…
V: Amor Vincit Omnia
With no windows in the apartment to speak of, Mari had to trust in the time pieces in the apartment, figuring it was now night time again and she had slept for roughly 16 hours. She was alone for the moment, no sign of Shinji or Asuka for that matter. With no one to talk to and nothing in her mind that could distract her, she simply sat on the couch in her new clothes. The jeans were about a size too big for her and the shirt was likewise a little oversized but oddly the underclothes were spot on, so she wasn't uncomfortable by any stretch.
Mari sat with her knees together, forearms leaning on her thighs and stared at the ground. She had no idea how long she kept her eyes focused on that non-descript patch of rug, before she realized she was being observed, not even registering the fact that someone entered the apartment. When she did realize it, she only looked up to the person standing before her, and saw that it was Asuka. For a moment she said nothing, and Asuka ended up being the one to break the silence.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Asuka asked, obviously referring to her current depressive state, though Asuka already knew what it was. There was no way the girl would get over what happened to her easily.
"You know the story now," Mari noted sadly. "Nothing else needs to be said."
Asuka watched as Mari's eyes returned to the rug. Not being one previously known to be sympathetic, she was a little out of her element here, but she knew that Mari was doing a little better than last night and probably needed a shoulder once more. Not wanting to invade the girl's space again though, Asuka simply sat next to her on the couch, keeping a respectful distance, and waited for Mari to make the next move. Despite her saying that there was nothing more to say, Asuka knew that wouldn't be enough for her.
Sighing heavily, Mari finally spoke. "I can't stop thinking about Miranda," Mari admitted. "She must hate me now, assuming she's even still alive."
"Do you think they would kill her?" Asuka asked, realizing after that this was probably not the best question to put forward.
"If I were Carmilla, I would," Mari admitted. "Carmilla escaped thanks to that monster Taleth, but NERV did a lot of damage to the cult that night. Removing her, preferably in front of the cult, would send a message to be far more careful then choosing adherents. I can't imagine she would suffer such mistakes again."
Asuka said nothing, just letting Mari pool her thoughts together. A moment later, the vampress spoke again.
"She was such a beautiful soul," Mari mused. "She was kind… gentle… beautiful… more than a bit deluded of course, she firmly believed in the cult's work… but she was too nice… she wasn't like the others… She didn't deserve the betrayal I gave her."
"You did what you had to," Asuka noted. "Emotions are powerful, take it from someone who let herself be ruled by them so stupidly often." Mari looked at her now. "Falling in love with someone you are working against is always a danger when working undercover… and its so easy to do. You have to play a role, put on a mask, and allow yourself to become someone else. It's like a form of escapism if you really look at it closely. You get to be someone totally different and take a glimpse at what a whole other world is like. And if you end up really liking that world on some level…"
"You're not saying I was meant to be a monster?!" Mari gasped in exasperation.
"Of course not," Asuka calmly replied. "But you told me your background. Would it surprise you to know I also lost my mother to suicide?"
Mari looked a little shocked at that. "I knew everyone who was in the EVA program lost their mother at some point in their life, but it's not like they explain how."
"She hung herself," Asuka admitted, earning a sympathetic look from Mari. "I didn't see her do it, I was too busy doing my final tests to see if I qualified for the program. I ran back to our room, so excited to tell her I was going to be a pilot… then I opened the door and…" Asuka stopped, nearly instantly choked up at the memory. "Sorry… it still hurts, even more since the memory was regained relatively recently, so it felt like it just happened."
"I'm sorry…"
Asuka smiled sadly. "I became an EVA pilot and threw myself into the role. I was a star, everyone depended on me, looked up to me… I had to be the best. EVA became my life; it was everything I was…
"Until it wasn't. Shinji was a pilot too, and he had more natural talent than my training could provide. Wonderful, Invincible, Shinji…. It felt like an attack on my very being. I cut into him with words, tried to destroy his confidence because I was so selfish… I never knew he truly loved me, despite how I treated him.
"After I lost my memory, I came into his world a completely blank slate. Hints about who I was came to me occasionally, but I had to become someone else because I couldn't go back. That Asuka died on a sacrificial table in the cult lair of the Sons of Shaft when Selina cut her away. And though I still have some of that old spark and aggression, it isn't the same anymore."
Mari just listed as the girl spoke.
"But I'm getting a bit tangential now. The point is I became what I was because the love in my life was gone; momma was dead, I never saw daddy again after I transferred to NERV Japan… hell, I rarely saw him when I was in NERV Germany after she died. He went missing after the war, along with so many others.
"But people loved me. And so, I became who I was because of that. Both of your parents were lost to you in such short order, the last… I'm sorry, that was beyond horrific. I can't imagine NERV GB gave you much in the way of support after that other than your training."
"They really didn't," Mari admitted. "I went to an all-girl's academy in Yorkshire, but I was on my own. The girls there were very keen on setting a pecking order. At 10, I wasn't doing much in the way of fighting back and so was treated pretty badly, but at 12, I gave the leader of a clique of some of the worst offenders a bloody nose and cracked jaw. No one messed with me after that… but few wanted to be near me."
Asuka slid closer to Mari, noting the girl was inching closer unconsciously.
"When the cult took me in, Miranda showed me nothing but affection. She was in love with me from the start I think, and we only became closer during the short time we were with each other."
Even though Asuka never understood girl-on-girl attraction, she accepted it as part of human nature, and let Mari continue her explanation unjudged.
"Even the demoness herself, Carmilla, showed me love on some level. She called me 'pet', told me I was amazing, kept me close to her… It was so bad that when I sent the last report to NERV, I actually felt guilt at that betrayal of trust. They were becoming a family in many ways, albeit about as dysfunctional as one can get."
"Putting it mildly," Asuka noted. "But that's exactly what I meant. They showed you the one thing you needed, and you embraced it because, of course you had to. You were love staved and totally gave into your role. Carmilla must have saw that in you and took full advantage of it."
Mari begrudgingly agreed with a soft nod. "And that's why I am a monster."
"I don't agree," Asuka countered, earning a surprised look from Mari. "Now that I have seen the real you, you're not a monster… just a damaged girl trying her best to survive under situations that can be charitably described as horrific. You did what had to be done, and you did the right thing. Being a vampire is a cross to bear, but you are not a monster. If you were, Shinji wouldn't let you stay here, and I wouldn't agree to that either."
"Thank you," Mari replied. Feeling slightly better.
"It's the least I could do," Asuka replied, and unconsciously reached over and brushed an errant set of strands from Mari's neck.
Unfortunately, Asuka did so in a way that Miranda had once done as well. Mari's emotions were still caught in a whirlpool of chaotic shifts, and she had been suffering through sorrow for the better part of a day. Feeling herself suddenly getting so close with Asuka caused the girl's hair-trigger libido to suddenly trigger. Asuka only realized she made a mistake when she caught the red glow in Mari's eyes after she contacted her skin.
"Scheiße."
Before she could formulate her next move Asuka found herself forced down on her back on the couch with Mari on top of her effectively pinning her in place. There was no anger in the girl's eyes, only desperation and desire. Asuka was just about to fight back and try to throw the girl from her when the memory of yesterday came to her.
I would have caused more harm to her if I stopped her…
Shinji's words sunk in… and Asuka had no choice but to accept what he said as truth. Whether that the true nature of Dominus, or simply her trusting in his words, she didn't know. She just knew one thing at that moment; things were about to get very awkward for her.
Mari leaned in closer to sniff almost animalistically at Asuka and the redhead took her advantage while she had it, pushing herself forward and kissing Mari. The kiss was clumsy, she almost missed, and her heart wasn't fully in it yet, but it was the signal Mari's instincts needed… Asuka was at least willing to see where things went from here. Her tongue taught the redhead where it needed to be in her mouth, and for a few moments, the girls began to fall in synch with each other. Mari wasn't holding her down so roughly now, allowing Asuka to take the initiative and begin to pull the other girl's shirt up.
They broke their kiss long enough for Mari to remove and toss her shirt aside. Wasting no time, she removed her bra as well, tossing it in a random direction before leaning over Asuka and kissing her again, almost more desperately than before.
"Mien Gott… I'm kissing a girl!"
Asuka wasn't sure if she was trying to speed things up, as this was beyond awkward for her, but she managed to unzip her own jeans and pull them down. Mari was all too eager to assist and before Asuka was fully ready for it, she was naked from the waist down. Asuka was about to voice a protest as Mari quickly slid down but could only moan when her flower was directly assaulted by the vampress's skilled tongue. Instinctively, Asuka wrapped her legs around Mari's head and torso as indescribable sensations assaulted her. Shinji had gone down on her before, but this was a completely different feeling. She couldn't say either was better than the other, but it was different and new.
So new was the experience that Asuka had a minor orgasm a mere two minutes into this round of cunnilingus. Mari slid up her again pushing her shirt up to nip at her stomach, eliciting a surprised sound from Asuka. They kissed again and this time Asuka could taste her own sweetness on Mari's tongue, the shirt falling back to its original position. It was then that Asuka noted that Mari somehow got out of her own jeans and panties while she was down there.
Pulling the girl forward, Mari shoved her knee and thigh into Asuka's bare pubic mound and the redhead responded with a slightly out of synch hip-roll. Pullling her against her, Asuka's face collided with Mari's chest, prompting Asuka to begin to suckle the Vampress's right breast. Mari moaned appreciatively, and Asuka continued to do her best by raising her leg into Mari's own mound, prompting the girl to grind her. Despite the desperation from Mari in this whole experience, Asuka was beginning to enjoy herself.
Asuka bit lightly into the flesh of the breast dragging another appreciative sound from Mari. Suddenly she found herself pushed back against the arm rest as Mari slid down again. Without warning, Asuka felt her bite into her neck. She froze up and gasped, about to push back when the feeling of blood leaving her felt nothing like she expected. It tore at her being, dragging feelings far beyond what she felt was possible from either her own solo activities or her fun times with Shinji. Though centered on her neck, the feeling reverberated throughout her entire being.
"I don't believe this… why does this feel so good?!"
Asuka let a loud moan go as her body seized up and she came hard, three fingers buried into the Vampress drinking from her, and before Asuka could get too light headed, Mari let go and cried out herself, energy and emotion pouring though her as her own fluids poured out. She collapsed on Asuka, instinctively licking the wound on her neck to seal the holes and allow Asuka to finish healing them herself with a glyph, though the red head barely had the concentration to do so.
Asuka almost passed out immediately from the exertion, but had enough presence to finish undressing so she wasn't so uncomfortable. Mari laid on her after the girl threw her bra away, wrapping her arms around Mari and letting the girl use her comparatively modest chest as a pillow before finally fully succumbing to unconsciousness.
Mari breathed hard a few more moments, barely aware of her surroundings. But she heard Shinji approaching, though she was unable to really react at all. The blood she took from Asuka was pleasantly being absorbed into her body, the first proper drink she has had for a while now, and that feeling lulled her towards sleep.
"How did I go from being completely sheltered when it comes to sex, to not even the barest feelings of shock upon seeing the two girls in my apartment passed out naked in each other's arms?"
The admission was amusing though Mari had no energy to react and simply allowed darkness to overtake her.
Mari's eyes opened slowly, and for a moment she thought she was back at the cult hideout entwined with her beloved Miranda, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness as her undead sight allowed perfect vision in even these confines, she realized she was lying with Asuka. The events of the last night began to filter back into her head though the haze of lust and heat.
"I'm such a Nympho…"
They were both in fact naked still intertwined. Asuka's head was resting against Mari's much more ample chest, and she seemed content with her current position. A slight sigh from Mari caused her to open her eyes and look up at the girl. Mari for her part was now blushing hard. It took her a moment to realize they were in her room and on her bed, not the couch as expected.
"Awkward," Mari whispered. Asuka chuckled softly.
"That's what I was thinking last night," Asuka noted. "I'd never lain with another woman before, and I'm not even sure if I did any of it right."
"My memory seems to indicate you were just fine, if a little amateurish."
Asuka chuckled again and laid her head back at its comfortable resting place. "Now I can really say I'm not the person I was. That Asuka would never have gone for such hentai things like this."
"Why though?" Mari questioned. "Why let me do that to you?" Her fingers gently traced the side of Asuka's neck, a neck that was still a little sore from the bite.
"I remembered what Shinji said about stopping you only hurting you more," she explained. "But… I think part of me was actually a little curious."
"Do you regret it?"
"No way," Asuka replied immediately. "That was more amazing than I thought it could be."
Quietly the door opened, and neither girl moved. Mari wondered how they had gotten back here, but then remembered Shinji had found them on the couch.
"I see the two of you are waking up," Shinji noted.
"Jealous I stole her from you?" Asuka teased.
"Oh, I imagine you weren't the aggressor this time," Shinji noted with a distinct lack of embarrassment.
"Not so easy to tease anymore," Asuka noted and she began to unravel herself from Mari.
"Well the last time you and I had a good night was recently. And as I recall, we ended up making love something like 7 times in less than 24 hours."
Mari laughed unabashedly as Asuka sat up. She continued to lay there, expecting to get slapped by the red head, but instead found Asuka was tracing lazy circles around her areolas and down her chest, getting her to shut up by a completely different tactic.
"Careful," she cautioned. "I know where all your sensitive spots are now.
"I'm a Vampiric Nymphomaniac," Mari pointed out. "I think at this point my entire body is a sensitive spot. Speaking of which, unless you're up for round two, I'd stop doing that."
Asuka chuckled and complied.
"Well now that you two are firmly not trying to kill each other," Shinji began, "perhaps now would be a good time to start making plans. I don't know for sure how safe we are here so we may wish to consider other options."
"What do you mean?" Mari asked, becoming far more serious now. "Something happening?"
Shinji nodded. "NERV did some damage to the cults but word on the street says they're even more active now. Carmilla is in fact alive… so to speak… and knows for a fact you are as well."
"I figured that from the goons I killed a few days ago," Mari agreed. "I used the 'Blood Memory' technique on one and I know that Carmilla found out somehow that I'm still living and is likely going to do her damnedest to make sure that changes."
"That's a complicated technique," Shinji noted. "How can such a young vampire like yourself do it?"
"Not well," Mari admitted as she sat up, though she made no move to hide herself staying completely uncovered. Asuka leaned against her back draping an arm over her front but being careful not to touch anything extra sensitive. "I managed to get a few visions from the man, and I think I saw their hideout, but… Honestly I don't know. There is no way to separate abstract thoughts from actual memories… I just don't have enough experience with that power yet."
"The house in the forest," Shinji noted, earning a nod from Mari. "I never found any links to an actual house in a forest owned by the cult. But who knows… For now, we should continue to lay low until the frenzy wears off."
"At least you'll have something to keep your occupied," Asuka noted seductively. "Think you handle both of us?"
Shinji chuckled sheepishly, finally showing some color. "This is all still so weird to me," he admitted aloud. "I'm still not sure on this whole Harem idea… but…"
"But?" Asuka echoed.
"I love you, Asuka," Shinji asserted. "I always will, but I think I feel some kind of love for Mari as well. Just… it isn't the same and yet it sort of is… I don't know if I'm making any sense."
"I love you too," Asuka asserted. "And I admit I feel for this one here as well." She squeezed Mari playfully earning a squeak and a content sigh from the girl. "I'm still new to this idea as well, but I am willing to try to make it work. Mari, you deserve to feel that same love you've lost."
Mari smiled softly at that.
"No matter what happens," Shinji asserted, "or how cheesy it sounds, I truly believe we'll be just fine as long as we stay together. Amor Vincit Omnia."
Although Asuka's Latin was anything but perfect she recognized at least one word in that phrase. Mari filled in the entirety of it.
"'Love Conquers All'?" Mari noted. "I don't think that idea is cheesy at all, especially since love is the one thing I've never had a steady supply of for very long in my life."
"We need to change that," Shinji noted.
A less than gentle nudge woke Mari out of her nap. Quickly opening her eyes, she saw it was Asuka who was in full battle regalia.
"Hurry up and get dressed," she said with a worried sound in her voice. "They're coming in force."
"Shit," Mari whispered as she got up throwing the sheet from her. She quickly dressed as Asuka left the room, hearing her talk to Shinji.
"How many?" Asuka asked.
"Is too many a valid response?" Shinji countered. "They're not taking chances it seems."
Mari entered the room, her rapier at her side.
"Sorry to wake you up and immediately throw you into combat," Asuka greeted. "Guess they really want you gone."
"Do they know you two are here?" Mari asked.
"I don't believe so," Shinji replied. "And what they don't know is going to be the end of them."
Outside several cultists were summoning skeletal warriors including three massive armored knights with huge swords. Other cultists were readying their own blades and spells. In all there were 30, draped in red robes, and calling forth minions to do battle on their behalf.
"Come out, traitor!" one of the cultist yelled. "Carmilla desires her revenge!"
The front door of the apartment, still missing, revealed three sets of footsteps. Not expecting this, the cultists readied themselves as they wondered at who the traitor managed to get to help her.
Mari walked out first, clad in dark leather with her glasses firmly on her face. As she stepped out, she shifted to the left, allowing Asuka to exit and shift right. None of the cultists here knew of Asuka and so looking upon her battle outfit, a mix of metal, leather, and flowing cloth, they wondered at just what they were dealing with. Finally, Shinji stepped out of the building, taking his position front and center. A long black trench coat framed the black T-Shirt beneath, and dark denim pants with steel toed boots completed his look. They didn't understand why, but seeing him brought feelings of dread in a way they couldn't comprehend.
"I'm going to give you all one opportunity to leave," Shinji threatened. "Refuse my generosity, and none of you will be leaving here alive."
The cultists, 30 strong, thought the situation laughable. They had a veritable army at their beck and call, and they were just three. Laugh they did… and then they sent there monsters forward.
"Mari," Asuka called. "Give me a hand with these Sword Lords."
"I'll deal with the rest of this rabble myself," Shinji growled out, his eyes turning red and his features becoming more feral.
Mari and Asuka quickly charged the armored monsters while Shinji simply strode forward, throwing his hands out to his sides and summoning minions of his own. But his were far more potent then the basic monsters the cultists summoned forth. To the cultist's shock, columns of light appeared behind Shinji and revealed a Slogra and Gaibon. Most of the cultists couldn't summon such monsters with anything short of a blood ritual and this young man did it with little more than a gesture. With another gesture of simply pointing towards the summoned army, Shinji's minions attacked. Gaibon took to the air and immediately began raining fire down upon the summoned minions while Slogra targeted the nearest cultist and leapt at him running him though with a huge three-pointed spear.
Realizing Shinji was the real threat, the cultists began unleashing their magic at him. All manner of lightning bolts, icy blades, and fireballs began to rain on his position. He strode forward, seeming to effortlessly shift to nearby positions to dodge the attacks, leaving brief afterimages behind him.
Having fought off a Sword Lord before, Asuka knew their limitations, but three together were a much bigger threat. Mari for her part seemed more than willing to get her proverbial feet wet fighting these monsters. She transformed into a bat as the monster tried to slash down at her location causing the blade to miss and lodge itself into the asphalt. The moment the transformation was finished Mari suddenly accelerated to near supersonic speeds and slammed her weight into the monster, punching through his breast plate with enough force to blow the armor completely apart. Asuka thought that was a novel approach.
For her part she dodged both blades swung at her location and summoned her Scythe. A heavy slash managed to severely injure one of the monsters while convincing the other that stepping back would be a good idea. Asuka used the momentum to bring the scythe up from behind, effectively launching herself into a forward flip at a shallow arc and cleaved the Sword Lord on the descent. As it fell apart, she activated her dash glyph and manage the catch the other Lord across the chest. As tried to recover, its head was taken off from behind by Mari. They watched the monster fall to pieces and turned to see who their next opponents would be, only to stare in awe as Shinji worked.
As soon as he was close, Shinji extended his vampiric claws and began his assault, brutally eviscerating cultists and leaving more afterimages as he dodged away from retaliation and directly into his next victim. Slogra and Gaibon were busy dealing with the legion of monsters the cultists had summoned, leaving Shinji to continue his massacre. One of the cultists managed to get a powerful stroke of lightning thrown at Shinji's back, but before it could hit, an armored figure with a huge shield interceded between Shinji and the bolt, blocking it without seeming to take any damage from the attack. Shinji threw his hands outwards unleashing wave of deadly knives that claimed the lives of four more cultists as he was being protected. More cultists tried to rain devastation, but the armored knight that had appeared blocked everything that was thrown at him.
Shinji, having had enough of the defensive play rushed forward, dismissing the Final Guard before summoning forth a Flying Armor to float behind him. A pair of swords larger than claymores and thicker than broadswords appeared on either side of him as he rushed forward. With a motion of slashing inward with his hands the blades followed the same pattern, cutting down half a dozen in a single strike.
The remaining targets tried to run, only to have Slogra quickly close the gap and slaughter them. Gaibon flew ahead of them and herded the back with a spray of flames before incinerating them when escape became impossible.
Within another minute, all remaining cultists were slain, their monsters banished back to whatever hell pit they came from. Shinji dismissed his minions and active powers, finally returning to his normal appearance.
"Holy shit," Mari managed.
"I really don't like letting that monster out," Shinji noted as he looked upon the destruction he caused.
"Slogra?" Asuka asked.
"No… Me."
"Carmilla likely knows we're all together now," Asuka noted. "I imagine she had someone observing the battle from a safe place."
"Or used scrying magic," Mari noted.
"Either way the result is the same," Shinji noted. "We can't stay here."
"We have maybe two hours till sunrise," Mari noted.
"That's fine," Shinji replied. "The cult doesn't like moving around during the day either. There are a few safe places within the city, but ultimately we need to get to my safehouse, and that's not in the city."
"We better get moving then," Asuka noted.
"This is all my fault," Mari lamented.
"Mari!" Shinji snapped, stopping his movement and facing her. "Stop blaming yourself! You did what had to be done. It may not be anything to be proud of, but dwelling on it won't help you or anyone else. No matter what happens, we'll get through it."
"You're not mad?" Mari asked.
"Of course, I'm not. This was a temporary base of operations at best. Everything here was expendable, and inevitably so. My family is not expendable."
Mari felt much better when Shinji referred to her in that way... Family…
"Asuka. Do it."
Asuka shifted to both of her Fire Glyphs and launched a powerful blast of flame straight down the main hall of the building. The heat and flames instantly ignited the wood and refuse though the main hallway and fire quickly spread into a conflagration.
"The files!" Mari yelled.
"Copies," Shinji replied. "The originals are at the safe house. Come, we have to get to a safe location for you. Then, come nightfall, we'll make our way to the safehouse."
They left as one, moving through what remained of the night. Mari looked back at the burning building, now hearing the sounds of sirens in the distance.
She couldn't help but feel like another chapter in her life just ended abruptly…
Tell me I'm the only one
Tell me there's no other one
Jesus was an only soon
Tell me I'm the chosen one
Jesus was an only son, for you
"A mysterious house in the words; Asuka's place of awakening, and now home for us nightcrawlers. Are we really safe here? How long can we be safe? All I've learned of this terrible time is that nothing is permanent, everything is subject to change, all thanks to Carmilla. I have to destroy her if we're ever to be free from this…"
Next Chapter: To Slay a Demon