Back on earth. The four kingdoms.
It was like a match had been struck in a world of gasoline. That moment when everything just clicked- pain, misery, and unease all sparked in a crazy mix. Then, out of nowhere, a flicker of hope, relief, and joy shows up, burning away the mess and filling her soul.
She watched as ripples faded across the mirror, and her reflection became stronger and more beautiful. That is how a queen vampire should look. More beautiful and deadlier than the gleam on a blade's edge.
Anastasia Von Alucard, bonded mate of Mikoto Misaka, felt her world slowly returning to her like the rising of a new blood moon. Her hand on the mirror, feeling the warmth of the morning sun. This connection they had, she'd felt so many times. Her blood warms up with every heartbeat, and her tired eyes start to sharpen. She cracks a smile, fangs on display. Her face and eyes shone like a true predator. The youth of the kill refreshed in the glowing blonde hair. The whole decade of nothing disappeared in a single phrase.
She leans back in her chair, shoulders spread, and rolls her neck until it cracks. Then, bam, she explodes with this wild, violent sound.
"YOU'RE ALIVE!"
Anastasia's fists clenched tight, her knuckles whitened, the delicate bones fracturing only to seamlessly reknit themselves. A surge of violent joy coursed through her as she exclaimed. The intensity of her emotions shook her to the core.
"Anna!" came the sound of her bedroom door bursting open. A young woman clad in dark modern armor etched with ancient runes. Tall and poised, raven hair pulled back tightly. She entered the room, eyes searching and quickly finding her mistress at the vanity table. The mirror quivered violently, threatening to tumble, but Anastasia stood and steadied it with a swift motion.
The young woman, too, showed the signs of the fading decade. After all, she shared the closest blood bonds as part of the royal guard and one of the queen's closest confidants. She looked at her mistress, smiled softy, but sighed regretfully. Moving closer, her expression shifted from warmth to narrowed eyes and thinned lips. "How long are you going to wear that?" she inquired, noting the lime green gekota Kigurumi draped over Anastasia—a laughing gift that carried the scent of her love. A comfortable reminder.
Approaching her mistress, the woman stood before her, a firm grip on her shoulders. With a single hand, she began to lower the zipper. Anastasia hesitated, her hand momentarily resisting before dropping to her side. "Sylvia, I saw her," she whispered.
Sylvia nodded, slowly sinking as the zipper descended. "I know you did?" she replied. "Right there," Anastasia pointed to the mirror. "I believe you, Anna," she said, and indeed, she did. As a bonded vampire, she often felt her queen's moods. She felt the return, now with Mikoto Misaka stranded in the other realm. She pulled her hoodie down and off her shoulders. "I felt you come back to us," she whispers."the entire kingdom felt it."
"It was some sort of portal," Anastasia said, lifting her left leg, then her right, and stepping out of the onesie. "When I touched the mirror, I could feel her as if she were right here. I kissed and tasted her," she blushed at the memory, her cheeks warmed. "I wanted to…" her fingers curled almost closed. "But she said if I broke the mirror, it would destroy both realms…something about the void between…" she sighed. "I need to see Katrina… tell them to ready…" her voice grew stronger.
"the bath.." another young woman interrupted, stepping out of the bathroom, a cloud of steam rolling out behind her. She was naked, her hair bundled on top of her head, and a towel over her arm. Another young girl followed behind her and waited.
"I don't have time…" she began to wave them off, but Anastasia was interrupted.
"you stink!" the three of them said together.
"What?!" taken aback, she sniffed herself. "Why are you holding my clothes that way?" eyes wide, then quickly thinning. Sylvia made a face while holding the clothes away. "Oh Anna, no offense, but these clothes have seen better days," she says, nose scrunched. "A long soak will lift your spirits!"
"Lift my spirits?" Anastasia quickly sniffed her gekota onesie, catching a whiff of sour lingering beneath." She wavered, her vivid blue eyes beginning to water.
"Are you familiar with the term olfactory fatigue?" Sylvia asks with a slight tilt of her head. Her sharp eyes slowly changing to a softer, more convincing expression. Her cheeks turned pink, lips plumbing- cute attack. one of the many weapons a vampire could use to draw their prey closer or nudge them toward doing what they wanted. "It refers to the temporary, normal inability to tell the difference between an odor after prolonged exposure to an airborne compound."
Anastasia groaned, "Don't even try that with…." Recognizing the attack.
"it means you can't tell how bad you smell." Mara, beginning to fade into the growing steam, rolled her eyes, sarcastically waving her hand before her nose. "The bath is hot, bubble-filled, and ready for my Anna to indulge."
"There is nothing wrong with my scent!" she quickly tried to deny, taking another deep breath, "and you are telling your queen she smells! How rude!" She sneered, crossing her arms over her breast.
Sylvia caught the fear growing in the young, silently suffering girl clenching the perfume tray. She had a slight frame and delicate, almost porcelain, beauty about her. Her emerald eyes stood out, framed by wispy blonde hair slipping from underneath her bathing cap. Her rosy cheeks faded with the steam as she bit her quivering lip. She forced the words out, "W-We s-simply waant you t-to bb-e fresh as a daisy…. B-before se-seeing Katrina." her voice cracking under the strain. And becoming woozy at the smell of her queen.
"Sweet Persephone?" Sylvia whispers, seeing the growing strength in her words. Before Anastasia could comment, another quickly walked into the room.
"Holy shit farm!" a shewolf walked into the bedroom chambers, waving her hand in front of her face. "About time you ended your little ten year depression," the shewolf said, walking to the large French doors at the end of the bedroom. "when's the last time you took a bath?! "grinning as she reached for the doors, "You smell worse than a wild boar, dead or alive," and threw them open.
A quick, hard breeze of cool mountain air through the thin curtains, filling the room and clearing the odor. " burn those!" she says, motioning her head at the green gekota pajamas.
"Diva?! What the…" Anastasia prepared to yell. Then she paused, her nose crinkled, and her eyes glistened, "Perhaps you have a point after all." A sour taste coating the back of her throat now. "I believe I will use this steaming hot bath you have drawn for me." She covered her mouth, cheeks puffing out as she held her breath. The attendants looked at each other and smiled as Anastasia hurried into the steam. "I can barely remember the last?" she disappeared into the bathroom.
Anastasia came out of the royal chamber. Refreshed and cleaned, dressed in her royal uniform. Something she had not worn in a very long time. Putting it on, she ran her hands over the fabric, smoothing out any unnecessary wrinkles. Her smile, a little wicked, remembered many of the stares she got from Mikoto. Those tawny red eyes glaring at her chest. Just for fun, she'd take a deep breath and hold it. Will the button hold? She'd say until Mikoto slapped her back.
Her three attendants, Sylvia, Mara, and Persephone, followed after her. All are now wearing the House of Alucard's sleek armor. The women walked purposefully through the corridors, warped by history's scars. Decades before, a single railgun blast melted the hallway's once ornate interior into an eerie glass oval. Mikoto Misaka defended a young vampire princess, Gwen, from kidnappers.
The damage was left as a reminder for those thinking of trying again. Along the hallway hung battered iron fixtures flickered, casting shadows that swirled into illusions of macabre dancers with each step. She kept thinking of Mikoto, still stranded in the other realm. And now, finally, she had proof she was alive.
Anastasia came out from the scorched hallway into the great fire hall following the railgun blast. Ghosts of the blast seemed to swirl around her. She often swore she could still detect whispers of scorched stone, burned flesh, and bedrock melted by the railgun's fury. The insane heat had left permanent reminders everywhere before its cooling. Splashes of liquified granite are captured in twisted mid-drip shapes along the walls and ceilings. Jagged spikes jutted up from the floors, frozen spikes petrified while reaching to reunite with the fractured whole.
She could still remember running through ghostly images of bone white ashes in the heated air like a winter's snowfall. Shaking off the memory, she strode past the firepit toward the massive portal at the cavern's end.
Anastasia used the portal to conceal the last traces of damage from Mikoto Misaka's railgun. The glimmering curvature of the enormous ring, adorned with engraved runes and a metallic sheen, overshadowed the vampiric guards and elder wolves. As she approached, the characters on the ring spelled out destination coordinates—her sister Katrina's realm. Being a daughter of a dragon of creation. She had access to the very powers of creation. And had created a world for herself to enjoy. But after the ambush in the other realm, while she lay sleeping and recovering, it became a place where wolves and vampires of the House of Mikoto waited for the order to rescue their queen.
Her heart quickened with renewed yearning and purpose. Anastasia couldn't be stopped by any force of heaven or hell from crossing through the portal to reach her bonded mate.
She nodded as she passed them and walked through the portal. And entered another realm. The sky was so crystal clear and blue that it almost hurt her eyes. The fresh air smelled and tasted clean and young. This was a world the ugliness of industry had not corrupted. Wild is what Katrina often described it as. If you can't build it yourself, if you can't hunt, kill, and cook it, then you go hungry. That still didn't stop her from having a few industrial refrigerators and freezers in her possession.
She stood for a moment, taking a breath, and enjoyed the memories as they flooded back to her. It had been too long. Here is where she and Mikoto would spend most of their time. And time moved differently here, and one had to be careful. One hundred years for every hour on earth. Perfect for being a vampire.
The ground extended with crushed white gravel like a thick carpet, while massive gray flagstones, side by side, created a pathway through the area. The sound of splashing water drew her attention to the sizeable three-tiered fountain surrounded by a shallow pool filled with multicolored Koi and surrounded by a ring of water flowers. Wolves walked the gravel path, the warbled songs of birds in the nearby cherry and sweet olive trees. And beyond loomed more ancient woods. Excited whispers and eyes staring as she walked across the yard to the central house. The enormous structure is a tall, single-story rectangular building built with granite and heavy timbers. A simple yet elegant architecture surrounded by a large covered wooded porch held up by stone pillars. Anastasia, followed by her aides, leaped two of the three porch steps, rushed to the double doors, pushed them open, and stepped inside, letting them slowly close behind them.
The rooms are large and spacious. The walls, made of mountain granite, and the bamboo floors shone. With a well-lit fireplace, large enough to walk into, warmed the room. Vampires of Mikoto and Von Alucard's house stood at attention; they had all heard the news.
Anastasia said nothing, making her way through the crowd and heading for the hallway. She groaned, and her expression quickly showed how much she hated this particular hallway. Looking like a regular short hallway, she walked and walked and walked. Something of a joke. Katrina would laugh. It's because you have such short legs, little sister. She'd tease. And finally, they would come to a stop. And she'd wait.
The wall warbled, and a door came into view. Finally, she heard Mara groan. Anastasia slowed, reached her hand out, and pushed. The door didn't open, it didn't slide, it just faded. And in its place, a universe of chaos spun- galaxies of stars swirled in reddish nebula clouds, black holes orbiting, and quasars spinning, ejecting jets of intense raw power and material. Planets of impossible size and mass drifted outward, asteroids glittered, and comets streaked past so close the door frame shook, leaving smoking trails of ice crystals. "That was a close one." She heard Ruiko Saten speak with a hint of laughter in her voice. Anastasi stepped out of the doorway, her boots hitting the rocky terrain of the giant asteroid, casually floating outside of all of the chaos. "not using the hot springs, I see." She said, looking around. "other side…" Ruiko says. Looking down at the depth of what her fall might be. "Don't worry," Ruiko spoke. There's a force field around it..."
Anastasia rounded the craggy edge of the asteroid and spotted her. Ruiko Saten standing close to the head of a colossal dragon. She knew this was her sister Katrina, still in her dragon form. "And where's Gabriella?" Anastasia spoke. Ruiko motioned her head towards the chaos machine churning. "We needed something special…so she said she would go."
"I guess I never knew how big she was.."taking a breath and walked closer. She held her hand out to touch her.
Katrina is a dragon. A pure daughter of a dragon of creation and a pathic, boring vampire self-name king. Dracula. He is nothing like the stories or legends. Most of it is due to his self-promotion. But Clarissa, a dragon of creation, found him amusing, and she was bored. Katrina never forgave her for that. And Anastasia would just roll her eyes.
Katrina stirred as Anastasia touched her sensitive skin. It pulsed slowly and settled. "She waking," Ruiko whispers with a smile. She blinked open one of her many gleaming eyes. This one swirling of blue and green jade. It slowed and focused on Anastasia. "I have questions to ask you, sister." She moved her head just a little as she peered. Her long serpentine body is armored in rows of overlapping crimson-hued scales. Much of them cracked and damaged for battle. Remained coiled as she slowly unraveled a bit to stretch out her numerous pairs of slender legs along her belly. She breathed, her broad, flat head sinking lower to understand her sister better. Wrinkling folds of skin and frills settled flat.