Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is property of somebody other than myself who shall remain nameless. However any character of my own creation, if there are any in this fic, is my property. They should be pitied by one and all. Snicker

Apprentice to the Blade

(Cross over taking place after the first two Blade movies.)

Prologue

Unknown location in Japan, June 6, 2000-

These were not the safest times for vampires. With the advent of second impact the major costal cities had been destroyed. With the loss of such a large food supply the vampires had been forced to operate more openly and whole households began to die off in a spectacularly sudden fashion. Despite their desperate hopes the Day-walker had survived.

And apparently he was very, very pissed off.

In the dead households they had found evidence of torture. The various blood-coated implements were scary enough, but they had found the bodies of the dead. Bodies that should have disintegrated into ash at the moment of death were instead preserved. The labs had still not been able to figure out how the Day-walker had done it.

The pictures had made Keel sweat.

To figure out that Second Impact was not caused by a micro-meteor was no mean trick. But, somehow, Blade had connected it to the vampires.

Fortunately, none of the house he had hit had been involved in the event. None of the houses had at all. A conspiracy within the vampires houses themselves.

The thought brought a smile to Keel's blood covered lips. Despite his prowess, it would take the Day-walker more that 30 years to piece it all together if at all. Maybe if the old man Whistler had still been alive he would have had a chance, he had been the supposed brains of the operation.

Really, the Day-walker had been the inspiration to it all. While Frost had become the Blood God, Blade had proven it possible to kill a god. And that was what Keel was going to do. The Christian god would die and be reborn as the Blood God. Life on earth would be come a paradise. For Vampires.

So to celebrate in defiance of the fact that the Day-Walker was "on to them" Keel Lorenz had indulged himself in an old fashioned hunt. A peach of a young woman, pregnant and all the sweeter for it. It had almost been too late when he realized who it was. A pity really, that they had plans for her, and her death at this point would raise suspicion.

Keel also knew that he had been lucky that the attack had been reported as by an animal. He would simply see to it that her medications would include something to prevent her from turning vampire. And get her blood out of the Nerv blood bank.

After all, thought Keel with a laugh, the wife of Gendo Ikari is a woman to savoir.

Later that day: City Hospital, Kyoto-

"Yui!" yelled a panicked man as he ran through the emergency room doors.

"Can I help-" began a nurse.

"My wife, Yui Ikari. They said she was attacked. I was out of town and got as fast as I could. Where is she?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Ikari?"

"Yes?" responded a haired Gendo, turning away from the nurse to the doctor who was speaking to him.

"I'll take care of this, Miss," the doctor told the nurse. "Mr. Ikari, I am Doctor Yamito. I was your wife's attending physician."

"WAS?!"

"No, no! Your wife is fine sir. She's just resting at the moment. We have her on antibiotics to prevent any infection. Sorry about the start," finished the doctor with a smile. Those "antibiotics" were going to give his bank account a healthy boost.

"Can I see her?"

"Of course," scoffed the doctor, "You're a lucky man, Gendo Ikari. You have a real pair of troopers on your hands."

"Nani?"

The doctor only smiled silently and be can to walk down won of the hallways leaving a stupefied Gendo to follow.

When the doctor final held a door open for the agonized man to see his wife, her neck wrapped in gauze, Gendo flashed by in a rush to his wife's side.

"Yui!"

"Shh," she hushed her husband. "Look, Gen-chan we have our son, Shinji."

A son? Damn, thought Gendo, looking up from kissing his wife at the incubator across the room.

"Doctor?" he asked, gesturing towards the machine.

"Don't worry. Your son is doing quite well for a premature baby, he was protected by the placenta from any infection from the attack," the doctor unknowingly falsely. "He will most certainly survive."

Good, thought Gendo, with a sigh. Then, I wonder how Yui would react if I got a hunting license and a gun, he thought vengefully, as he gazed at his son.

Keel's greatest mistake.

Shinji Ikari.

The prophesied third child:

Born to be the savior of Humanity.

And cursed as the Last of the Day-walkers.

End Prologue.

Author notes:

This was just something I decided to try and put out for the Halloween season. My first serious fanfic published since "A Partial Understanding." Reviews would be appreciated, but no flames please. I have a particular piece of work I am producing exclusively for the enjoyment of flamers, so if you guys can hold off a little longer it will be worth it. I promise. (Author grins insanely.)

Oh, and I am definitely looking for a pre-reader for this story. So if you are interested please let me know.

Thanks for reading,

Tarnished Blade