Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

A note: It's good to be back. In the middle of my small novel project of the School Wide Takeru Love Letter Challenge the creative energy bursts started flowing again and I was able to complete this chapter I had been working on for so long. It ends the history of the Original Digimon Villains, and we see just how each of them came to be. And you know by the title who this one is. To me he was the evilest of them all, but he was elegant in his evilness. He didn't' want to entertain, he just wanted to conquer. And he would have gotten away with it to if it wasn't for those meddling kids. (Could not have help but sneak that in.)

And now the pace is going to increase pretty quickly now that we have finally turned the corner. I will be cranking this out pretty fast because I don't think I can cohesively make it fit if I don't just unleash these next few chapters all at once.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Vampiristic Tendencies

Rei did not know how to explain it. Little by little as he advanced achieving his own ag his own agenda in the shadows, he thought he had started to notice one or two things connected to each other. Perhaps another Kurenada or government agency had dispatched assassins and hit men after him only to be devoured, but this was to be expected. What he did not expect however was a common financier to fund all of their activities.

'Madam B' the cryptic name suggested when he found the funder in all of the events. He considered doing some research on this 'Madam B' but decided with the hum drum of how boring life could be she actually provided him some fun. It was better than hooking up with some girl and finding out if she was negative enough to be a sustainable meal.

Things were still proceeding smoothly for his quest to find those beings who he would use to cement his grasp over the Digital World. So far he had the Dark Master's completed, The First obstacle Devimon, the Joker Etemon, but still one more. One more. He could not quite put his finger on it, but something about how Homeostasis had nearly decimated everything somehow still made him wonder if by chance that power would still return. If, it would after all, come back.

If that was the case, he would need some incredible dark power for it. A power, not just negative minded, not just reactionary to external stimuli. No, he would need someone inherently evil, naturally if possible. For only that, he realized could go against Homeostasis's power. If he could twist it to his cause then perhaps he would have the last general he would need to test the Digidestined to see if they had the potential to become strong enough.

With this shadowy presence stalking him, seemingly more often than not he decided if he could not tame it towards his side he would just eliminate it entirely. But for now, he needed to send them a message.

8 pm on a Saturday night. Rei Kurenada did not have to wait long. He had been minding his own business having just had an entertaining meal about a struggling actress with father issues. It did not take long to convert her. He wiped his mouth on a handkerchief at her place a smudge of lipstick still tattooed to his lip. Sure enough she lived by herself and no one would have ever have found what had happened to her aside from the marks of affection left on him.

He had just started to wrap things up, putting back a chair that had been knocked on the floor when he heard glass shattering, a bunch of men in black suits and armor coming in.

"It's over Rei Kurenada!" one of them shouted. "You aren't going to kill anyone else!"

"Oh?" Rei said glancing down at the half empty glass of wine he had been drinking and then draining it.

"I've been meaning to have a talk with you gentlemen," he added wiping his mouth on that same handkerchief.

They glared at him guns pointing as if waiting for him to make the first move.

"Before we begin this little dance of ours," Rei said. "Let's have a little introduction. My name is Rei Kurenada," he said taking a min bow. "And may I ask your name...Madam B?" he asked, the other men looking at themselves strangely.

None of them responded.

"By the looks of you all I would say our guest is not present with us. She's probably watching from afar at our little performance, isn't she?"

"We don't need to tell you that," one piece of junk armor said gruffly. "Come with us now or die!"

"Ah," Rei said walking closer to him, his shaking negativity lashing out. "So that's how it is then, is it?" he said with his left hand grabbing the faces of the two men next to him and absorbing them into himself. "The girl who I just dined on, she was your niece wasn't she?"

"Shut up!" the man yelled putting his gun directly on Rei's cheek.

"You're so negative right now because you feel guilty don't you?" he sneered.

"No! Say anything else and I will blow your brains out! I mean it!"

"She needed money, and you offered her this one time little gig. A struggling actress needs capital after all until she makes the big time. And they will subject themselves until they can at least achieve their-"

"-I said shut up!" the man yelled pulling the trigger, Rei ignoring a small prick touching the side of his face.

Rei glanced at his cheek and then back at him grinning. "You'll make a more tasty meal than before," he said reaching out his hand and touching the side of his face. "Keep feeling guiltier," he chuckled staring deep into his terrified eyes.

"Just shoot him! Shoot him!" Voices echoed around as Rei received a pummeling from all kinds of different weaponry Eventually after a minute or two the guns stopped firing, Rei feeling sleight holes in his whole body.

"Ah, look at what you did," he said. "Truly you have offended me. You've left me heartbroken, a hole in my heart. You'll have to pay restitution I'm afraid. Nearly all of you," he said putting his other hand on the assailant in front of him.

"You'll start as an appetizer. Bon appetit," he grinned, the man terrified as Rei converted him into digital particles and absorbed them into himself.

The other men looked at him terrified.

"You did a foolish thing using all your ammo didn't you?" Rei asked. "What about those long knives on your bottom strap? Certainly you can wield those can't you?"

All of the men glance down and drew their swords pointing them at him.

"Now that's more like it," he smiled. "Let's enjoy this wonderful dance of ours."

One of them ran at him screaming, Rei dancing between all of them quickly absorbing each of them in a wondrous waltz of death and data until at last only one remained.

He came at Rei, Rei kicking the blade out of his hand, the man defenseless.

He stared up at Rei, the man chattering his teeth, Rei smiling as he toyed with him. "So, it's just you left isn't it? Fortunately for you my fine armored-soiled friend," he said noticing the man had been so shocked he had relieved himself, "I'm not in the mood to kill you. Fortunate for you, am I right?"

The man looked up at him, nodding his head stuttering. "K-k-kill me," he said. "M-my f-family. I-f I don't kill you-then I have to d-d-ie o-oth-otherwise."

"I don't care," Rei said indifferently. "Think about it this way. I will let you live if you deliver a message to Madam B for me."

"To the madam? No, she'll kill my family."

"Well, that puts us in a bit of a predicament doesn't it?" Rei sighed. "I could just try to absorb you, but you don't really have that much negativity so-

"-Unnecessary," a voice said, Rei hearing an injection sound looking forward noticing the man starting to panic, grasping around, saliva building up out of his throat. He cried out, his voice garbled, his eyes startling to roll to the back of his hand, the man collapsing dead.

"Poison then?" Rei said indifferently. "I'm sure his family will be quite upset once they learn of his demise."

"Unnecessary again," a voice said echoing out from a speaker on the man's belt. "I had them murdered the moment he was the only one left."

"How cold of you," Rei said. "So, now that we're actually on speaking terms now, are you going to tell me what it is you want?"

The voice went silent for a second. "…It's hard to believe a being such as you exists," the voice said. "I've watched you make quick work of my men, but you have entertained me ever so," she giggled. "So consider this deceased individual as an invitation to my mansion. My address is on him somewhere. I forgot," she said a bit snippant. "But you are invited to it in forty eight hours. I want to discuss something with you in graphic detail in person. Will you accept my invitation?"

"On my terms," he said walking forward crunching the bones of the deceased man's face. "But you couldn't have anything I could possibly want could you?"

"...Granted," she said. "But for you anything you want will be yours if you come over to my mansion. Anything your mind can even dream of. So, will you accept?"

Rei Kurenada grinned. "I'll see you madam in forty-eight hrs."

Within Forty-Eight hours Rei Kurenada arrived at the mansion slipping in through their security main frame. Two men watched him, horrified looks on their faces as he emerged. Rei Scanned the area, glanced down at them and smile. "Good evening," he said. "Might I ask you to direct me to the banquet hall?"

They scrambled to accommodate him.

The two men escorted Rei to the main hall where two broad detailed doors of deep furnished wood waited for him. The insignia happened to be a very curious decoration of a bat, much to Rei Kurenada's liking.

"They will see you just inside your grace," both of the men said bowing and going their separate ways.

"Very curious indeed," Rei grinned opening the doors with both hands.

Inside he immediately was overcome by the visage of a grand banquet hall. "Welcome Mr. Rei Kurenadasama!" a host of menservants and maidservants exclaimed, each sex lining the left and the right side of a large table. A fireplace loomed majestically in the background, various exotic and exquisite dishes oozing forward tantalizing smells from the table.

Everything looked prim and prestigious, all of those in front of him remarkably beautiful, even if they were garbage.

But at the very end of the table, a woman sat crossed leg in a ruby red evening dress. She exhibited confidence, but certainly not graciousness. Her red hair flowed down from her hair like flames, her purple eyes burning with desire.

And yet to the side of her stood a very stoic, but solemnly built man, expressionless as if waiting at her every beck and call.

She immediately stood up raising a glass of champagne.

"Welcome my Dear Rei Kurenada," she smiled coyly. "I am pleased you accepted my invitation."

Rei Kurenada nodded walking forward and sitting down. "So, what are we having?" he asked.

"Anything you wish," she said. "You can have the most delicious feasts. All the maidservants or menservants you want for whatever your pleasures are, and anything else if it's within my power to give you."

Rei glanced at the menservants and maidservants noticing strange collars around their necks.

"I suppose the best servants are the ones who have no will of their own, am I right?" Rei Kurenada chuckled drinking a glass of champagne.

"Even this high class champagne is tasty," he said licking his lips. "But my tastes are far beyond that of what you possess," he said. "I desire nothing they have, but I will take all that I will. And that includes what you have."

"Truly," she smirked, "You have the same vampiristic tendencies I do," she leered. "You care nothing for any other lives, but will use them to your hearts content. Truly you are a monster as much as I am."

"As you are?" he said curiously crossing his arms glancing at her and then at her butler.

"Of course," she said taking a morsel of fish, wiping her mouth and drinking more champagne. "The legends are that the Bathory Family were originally descendants of vampires. A completely aristocratic one mated with a human and branched off from the main family and that's where my bloodline comes from.

"I take it then," Rei said, "You are familiar with the woman whose last name that is most recognized?"

"Of course," she said. "As I am her blood, I too am crazed with such passion for relentless beauty no matter how many I have to sacrifice for that."

"Let me guess," Rei said leaning forward, "You kidnap children and bathe in their blood?"

"Quite right," she said. "But I do have an eye for beauty after all. If I think they have the potential to be truly beautifying then they will receive my rigorous training, but remain nothing more than vessels to do my bidding."

"I see," Rei said curiously glancing up at the fellow to the right of her.

"Here, watch," she said taking her champagne glass and dropping it on the ground.

"Oh my," she said. "I seem to have spilled my drink. Clean it up for me won't you?"

A female servant nodded her head. "Of course Bathorysama."

The Countess's face contorted cruelly. "With your tongue."

"Yes Bathorysama," she said, Rei wondering as she bent down and started lapping up the spilled champagne mixed with fragments of glass. Her tongue started to develop cuts, Rei wondering about it, but he ignored her and focused back to his entertainers.

He could sense a malicious cruelty emitting from her, Rei wondering about this magnanimous negativity. But that was not all. Something else happened to be there, not even Rei able to decipher the contrasting negativity going in and out like a flame. He would have to solve this mystery before he could present an offer to see if she would qualify to be his general.

Rei took a bite of small delectable chicken, with a fine wine vinaigrette sauce. "You have your pets tamed well," he said, "But your main servant seems quite different than the others."

She nodded her head rising with a curtsy. "You can fill your night to your heart's content," she said noticing her servant still licking the floor with a bloody tongue, the whole thing a completely ridiculous farce.

She then took her foot, smashed it on her head and rubbed it into the glass, the servant groaning slightly.

"It seems you've lost your penchant for beauty my dear," she grinned. "Bowman," she said, glancing at him.

The large man stood next to her nodding his head. "Come then young lady," he said grabbing her by the arm and dragging her away.

Rei wondered about her not having met anyone like her in his life. This cruelty, this malice though seemed to be as worse as the Kurenada's, possibly even worse.

"We'll speak in the morning," she said. "Fill up the night with pleasure...and see me in my corridor if you wish for something more...passionate."

With that she winked, turned around, her flowing drapery following her as she left the room.

Rei Kurenada sat their a bit disenchanted enjoying the pleasures of the food. It was not like he could taste them as well as he thought he could, but he did not want to pass up on any opportunity.

"My lord," one of the maidservants said approaching him. "What would you like of me? Would you like my company? My conversation? My body?"

Rei Kurenada shook his head wondering about all of this.

"I was wondering something," he said. "Gather all of the servants and come to my corridors. This will be a night...of true abandon."

In the details of his room the menservants and maidservants stood before him, each of them seemingly having injuries bleeding through their makeup and tender frames.

"What shall I do with you?" he asked.

"Whatever it s you ask of us," one of the menservants said. "You could tell us to die, and we would willing do so."

Rei Kurenada scoffed a bit, recognizing a little bit of his past with how they were back when he was seen as prey among the Kurenada family.

"Ah, I see then," he said. "Every single one of you has been brainwashed."

"We are," one of the maidservants said. "We have no will of our own. We only wish to please the master. And if we please her we lead fulfilling lives."

"Even though you saw one of your maidservants be dragged off to be killed, and her blood used for that demoness's bath?"

"That is our purpose in life," another manservant said. "Even if it's dying, we are fulfilled if we serve her till death."

Rei Kurenada could not help but feel pity for these poor souls. "I guess even fleshly scraps of meat like yourselves deserve to live until the appointed time," he said. He after all had escaped the hell he had always been trying to run away from. No, it was more than that. He had not escaped it...he was born from it.

"Then tell me something," Rei said. "What is it each of you desire?"

"We want of nothing, but what Bathorysama wants of us."

"What about...freedom?"

"Freedom?" they questioned.

"You are brainwashed, and your emotions are chained down because of these chains around your neck. But once I remove them, all of you will be free."

"You mustn't!" one shouted. "Bathorysama told us if we ever removed these chains we would die!"

"Die?" he said curiously snapping his fingers as one by one each of the chains fell off from around all of their necks.

Their eyes lit up as if having found meaning in their brokenness.

"Free...dom," one of the menservants said staring up. "This is…"

"...A night to remember," Rei said pouring wine for all of them. "Now let us savor it. In return for your freedom, you will tell me all that you know."

Later on in the evening after Rei had dismissed them all and used the computers to free them back into the world without alarming security Rei decided to walk around and take a walk on the deck.

A solemn man stood up looking outward below, his face stone-faced, but dignified.

"I take it the Queen is asleep?" he questioned.

He nodded his head, Rei glancing down at his hand clutching what looked like a tuft of hair similar to the hair of the maidservant he saw earlier.

Now that he could meet him, Rei noticed he truly seemed to possess nothing but emptiness. He himself did not have a collar, but something about him intrigued him greatly.

"Mr. Bowman," he said, the man glancing at him, "I" m quite curious why you serve such an inept person such as her," he said. "Truly your talents could be used for other things."

"The Lady of the Mansion is my Queen," he said. "And I will do whatever is required of me."

Rei Kurenada snickered. "...Even if you're not brainwashed?"

The man glanced at him and scoffed. "Figured that out, have we?"

"Indeed," Rei said. "Which tells me as much as I ought to know. Care to have a glass of champagne with me? Me and you, Bathory and us, we have much to consider…"

The following morning Rei Kurenada sat down kindly to a meal of eggs benedict and a mug of hot brewed coffee. He wasted no time enjoying himself at his leisure, happening to notice the lack of maidservants and menservants.

It seemed security was up in arms about this.

All of a sudden through the main chamber, the inelegant Countess emerged a bit frazzled.

"They're gone!" she exclaimed. "Not one or two of them, but all of them!"

"Whatever do you mean?" Rei wondered.

"The servants have escaped."

"Escaped?" he said calmly drinking his coffee. "No, no no. You have it all wrong," he smiled antagonistically. "They never escaped. "I let them all free," he leered.

"You what?!" she snapped.

"It shouldn't matter right?" Rei said nonchalantly. "As long as you obtain what you want it doesn't matter what I do. That's what you said anyway. Or was that a lie?"

She seemed to control her temper, sighing out her frustration. "What you say is correct. For what you have done I demand compensation and I will give whatever else you want after you give it to me."

"And what possibly do you think I have that I can give to you?"

"...Eternal Beauty."

Rei dropped his mug, the contents spilling on the table.

"Oh dear," he said. "You want endless life and beauty?"

"Yes, I do," she said sternly. "That is what you possess is it not? I want to have endless youth and vitality. And despite my having looked all over this world for that secret, even going so far as to slay women and children and bathing in their blood I have yet to find the secret."

Rei Kurenada got up and checked his cuffs. "I'm afraid then that I can't help you," he said. "As it just so happens I also was looking for someone to bestow my gift to that just so happened to be what you wanted. But it's a shame," he laughed. "It seems you aren't worthy."

"Then I will just have to take it from you by force," she grimaced. "Even if you are immortal, Bowman does not feel pain and can beat you down long enough for me to imprison you in this cage and force you to give it to me," she said hitting a button as the whole room lit up a strange fiery light.

"Don't you see? I adapted this room into a digital cage from which you cannot escape! The computer networks have been blocked as well! The only way you could ever escape me, or this mansion is in pieces!"

Rei poked his finger to the side, his finger burnt slightly. "I see then," he said. "Truly, I am trapped."

"Of course you are," she snickered. "Now then, it's about time you give me this present of yours or I will take it by force. An evil queen such as myself descended from vampires can only maintain this facade of kindness for so long. Give me the secret!"

Rei Kurenada smirked, and then burst out wholeheartedly into laughter.

"You? Evil?" he wondered aloud. "Just because you do wicked things does not make you evil. Wicked of course, but evil? No, that takes a more 'special' talent," he scoffed.

"Oh, we'll have enough time for you tell me all about it," she said, her butler Bowman appearing by her side with a napkin.

"Bowman," she said raising her neck as he tied it around her neck.

He kindly tied it around it, a smug look on her face as she condescendingly stared over at Rei Kurenada.

Rei glanced back even more smugly. "Isn't that a bit tight around the collar?" he said playing with her.

She seemed to exhibit slight pain as if his words rang true.

"Mr. Bowman, this is getting quite tight," she groaned.

"Of course it is," Rei said sitting down and putting up both feet on the table. "Mr. Bowman is done playing the dutiful Butler."

"He what?" She snarled.

"Go ahead Mr. Bowman," Rei said leaning the chair back and forth enjoying the surprised look on her face. "Why don't you show your master just what 'evil' really is?"

"Of course," Bowman replied squeezing tightly, Bathory grabbing her neck. "I'm your master!" she screamed in a high pitch voice. You can't do this to me!" she squealed.

Her cries bounced off of him, Rei noticing her glaring into his malevolent eyes. "You weren't the one who dragged them away. You weren't the one who bled them dry. You weren't the one who put out the lights of their eyes never to resurface again. You merely enjoyed the benefits," Mr. Bowman smirked.

"What are you talking about?" she rasped. "I made you what you are! You should have no emotion in any of this! I brainwashed you!"

"You only think you did," Rei said leaning forward like he was watching an entire show. "You think torturing this man enough would break his spirit? You think he obeyed you because he contained no emotions?"

"Wh-what?" She squirmed. "No!" she said, her eyes lighting up in a horror.

"It seems you understand now," Rei chuckled. "This man didn't obey you and killed those people because he wanted to obey you. He did it...because he LIKED it."

With that, Rei smiled as Mr. Bowman finished the job and squeezed the life out of her neck with the napkin around it, until she was nothing more than a wide eyed corpse, her head thudding down on the table.

"Well done Mr. Bowman," Rei said getting up. "How do you feel?"

"Many thanks," he replied noticing scratch marks on his hands from when she had resisted him.

"I grew tired of killing children. I had gotten so bored," he smirked.

"It's just like I told you before right?" Rei asked. "You were only doing this biding your time until something else picqued your fancy."

"True," he said. "But I am not content with this. I wish to have my own castle, my own servants, and satisfy myself against my own people. I wish to be feared and worshiped. And you said you could provide that to me?"

"Of course," Rei said. "I was wondering about the swarm of negativity around that woman," he said. "Compared to you she was just a noisy little bee, but you were the massive swarm standing next to her. You truly fell in line with my values and not her selfish whims."

The man nodded. "I am ready to receive my vocation now," he said pulling a light crimson table cloth and tying it around his neck. "I look more like a count this way. It's more suitable for me than that corpse," he scowled.

Rei nodded his head. "The woman thought she understood vampiristic tendencies, but she was gravely mistaken about one thing."

"And what is that?" Mr. Bowman asked.

"...They think they are truly the vampire, but the one who is the prey is the vampire's prey. She thought she was feeding on her servants, but really, you were feeding on her until you finally broke free."

Mr. Bowman glanced down at his hands and gritted them solemnly.

"I have been searching for a man like you," Rei said. "Not a wicked man. Not a man that's not very nice. No, an evil man, one who would not think twice about cutting his own mothers' neck just for the twisted sense of joy it brings him."

He nodded his head and kneeled, Rei procuring his Viral syringe from his coat pocket. "Take it. And become the Noble you were meant to be. Not as a servant. Not as a murderer. No, just a blood thirsty tyrant feasting in the night.

Mr. Bowman lifted up the syringe, and easily stabbed it into himself. "And I will truly play this part," he grinned staring back at Rei, Rei happening to notice a darkness very similar to his own, "...For now." With that he grinned, laughing maniacally as for an instant Rei thought that his whole body had dissolved into traces of strange bat-like entities.

He chuckled to himself and then broke out into completely hearty laughter. "At last!" he exclaimed covering his face with both hands. "All of the pieces are there! Very soon Digital Creator! Very soon Homeostasis!" he laughed maniacally himself "I will use these forces to make your champions stronger until my reemergence. And then, once that happens," he laughed even more, "I will extinguish every trace of data of you that remains!"

With all the generals Rei Kurenada needed incubating to be reborn in their new forms eventually the Digital Creator would have to make his move. Rei confined himself to wherever he fancied biding his time and having his fair share of meals strengthening himself with the negativity of other people.

Looking back at what had happened to 'Madam B' and then Mr. Bowman, he realized he had certain vampiristic tendencies himself. "But it's not going to end in one night," he said licking his lips, converting the data of a shrieking shadow into himself. "All will be under my reign. All will be in my image," he sighed breathing out into the moonlight.

"But it's not done yet," he said to himself. "The seeds of chaos are beginning to flourish. I just have to wait until they bloom," he said, "And wait for the opportunity to release it…" he grinned.

"...The Yggdrasil System..."