A seemingly non-descript spot in a small clearing surrounded by trees served as a gathering place for a group of 11 individuals… here to mourn the passing of one of their own. A stone marker was all that indicated the resting place of a girl that was dear to most here, but one in particular who, kneeling before the small mound of dirt before the marker was crying her heart out for the girl she loved.

Misato knelt behind Ritsuko, holding the girl with an arm and a wing as the bottle blonde let her tears flow unabated; her heart broken beyond repair.

"Why?!" she cried out. "Why, Maya?! Why would you do this?! What have I done…"

"Rits," Misato whispered. "None of us knew what she was really going through… Stop blaming yourself."

"I should have been there! I was so wrapped up in everything that I couldn't see she was in pain."

Behind them, Mari let slip tears of blood. She had grown fond of the slight girl, and even she couldn't sense her pain… It hurt even more in a way, since it was she who found Maya…

Mari was walking up the stairs towards her room on the second floor when she smelled something in the air… blood… a heavy aroma like much was spilled at once, and she knew the scent… Maya Ibuki always had a pleasant scent to her blood. Realizing she was in trouble she ran the rest of the way yelling for help. She got to the door to Maya's room and forced it opened. The smell was coming from the bathroom, the door was locked… she kicked it opened and turned the corner. Her voice caught in her throat as she saw the grisly scene before her… a bathtub full of blood, and dark shape below its surface.

She hurriedly pulled her out of the tub but it was already too late. Maya was not beathing, both her arms were split open by a razor, the veins opened lengthwise to eliminate any chance of saving her. The only thing that could be done was the one thing Maya didn't want… vampirism. Footsteps were heard behind her, she turned to see who came…

Ritsuko's eyes widened, her hand to her mouth… and she screamed…

Hikari's hand rested upon Mari's shoulder. The bespectacled girl leaned against the flower girl for what little comfort she could feel at this point. Nozumi clung to her sister's side. Though she didn't know Maya so well, she still felt the sadness pervading the site and cried as well.

Rei stood impassively close to the other two, letting her tears flow. Maya tried to be a good friend to her during the Angel Wars, but at the time the azure-haired girl wasn't very good with emotions due to drugs and conditioning. While she still had some issues with her emotional range, she was getting much better.

Asuka stood silently near Rei. The last time the redhead saw Maya alive was when she invited the geek to join Mari and her in bed. Asuka had known that Maya was feeling off somehow and thought such a thing would cheer her up a little, or at least relieve some of the stress she was feeling, but without a word the girl closed the door, quietly declining the invitation. At the time Asuka thought it was simply her loss, but now she wonders if she should have seen other signs that Maya was in pain.

Kodama knelt next to the stone marker and used a new skill she had acquired, inscription magic, to engrave the marker stone with Maya's name, birth date, and date of death. Like Nozumi she knew little of Maya, and the one time they did meet, she had the impression Maya didn't like her for some reason. Now she would never know for sure.

Standing next to Shinji, Mayumi stayed respectfully silent. She hadn't even been here a week yet, and one of the Harem has taken her own life. The witch had found Maya to be quite aloof, and expressed her concerns to Shinji. He tried his best to get behind what was eating her, but failed… and this was the result.

Shinji blamed himself as much as Ritsuko did… He brought her into the harem with his first act of vampirism, and he worried that what he did fundamentally affected her. He watched as Ritsuko finally stood up from the grave to hug Misato fully, feeling deep down that he'd never be able to forgive himself for allowing this to happen.

The other members of the Harem, even Mayumi closed around Ritsuko in a silent group hug, doing their best to console the inconsolable woman. For nearly 20 seconds they stood that way, offering what little comfort they all could when suddenly Ritsuko jolted causing the other to let go and step back.

Ritsuko looked around confused… she felt like something touched her… but not just her body… and it felt like…

"… Maya?"

II: Nightmare

Maya stood silent as the skeletal thing before her brought its had before him, looking at it with an odd sense of curiosity.

"Strange… why can't I take your last breath?" it questioned.

She could say nothing, still mostly paralyzed with fear. Her silence seemed to change its curiosity to anger.

"Answer me, woman. How is it you resist release?"

"I… I don't even know what's going on here!" Maya nearly yelled.

"You're dead," it answered plainly. "What more is there to understand?"

Maya looked around. "This is the afterlife?!"

"Not much to look at, is it." The monster seemed to consider its surroundings. "Entropy is a fundamental force in this world, and death lies at the beginning of true entropy."

Maya dropped to her knees. "You're The Reaper."

"I'm simply known as Death. Not the Grim Reaper or any other stupid title you mortals thrust on me. Just plain old Death... and I am the last thing anyone sees before oblivion. I was put here on this earth to eat the last breath of every last one of you fuckers. I was there when the first sapient ape died, and I will be here when the last humans succumb to whatever end their fate and stupidity has brought to them."

Maya never expected Death to be so… crass. "You're not very nice you know."

"Am I supposed to be?" he asked, obvious annoyance creeping into his voice. He approached her causing Maya to push herself back away until she hit a wall, still on the floor. "I send you off to your just desserts and this is the thanks I get. Now answer the question, you stupid girl… Why can't I eat your last breath? What sorcery holds you here?"

"I don't know!" she shouted back. "I… I don't want this anymore… I don't want to be here…"

Death laughed at her. "It's far too late for that child… You should have thought of that when you were making this decision. Of all the stupid ways for you fuckers to die, suicide has to be the absolute dumbest of them all. While you live, you can change things, you have that power. While you live you have hope. Death is the absence of all hope."

Maya bit her tongue. Death was absolutely correct; she wanted to end the pain so she did, and she robbed herself of any power she might have had. Now she was in his domain… She had no agency anymore, no control over her fate. This was her greatest mistake and there was no taking it back.

"Ah… I see now… You were claimed by one of the Candidates for the Dark Lord."

Maya blinked; she hadn't considered that being part of Shinji's harem might have been the reason why Death couldn't take her now. "Dark Lord… of course! You have ever been the friend of Dracula! I remember reading about that. That's why you can't take my last breath."

"No… but I can do so much worse." Death held his hand out before him as a huge scythe appeared. "And I think I'm annoyed enough with you that this will be quite satisfying."

"What are you-"

"I'd run if I were you…"

Maya's heart, or whatever echo of it she had in her chest started beating hard. She scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. The front door was gone so she ran straight into the woods. Her heart beat even harder as she looked upon the gnarled and twisted shadowy trees that made up the forest. The sky was overcast like a storm about to break, but the clouds were moving faster than she had ever seen them. The wind blew but it wasn't as hard as the cloud movement would have suggested.

She glanced over her shoulder, watching as Death floated off the ground as he left the house, flying towards her… pure terror shot though her veins like an icy grasp and she kept running, dodging around trees trying to get as far away as possible. The more she ran, the less recognizable the terrain was becoming. She heard the wind pick up, it almost sounded like distant death screams were echoing at a low volume, barely audible above the wind. The cold bit at her exposed body, feeling like it was draining the life out of her, and she forced herself to keep going despite it.

She looked back again, but saw no sign of Death. She had no idea where he had gone and knew he could be anywhere at that moment. In front she saw the scythe swinging towards her horizontally, she slid under it in the world's most improvised limbo, before forcing herself back to her feet and kept running. Tears streamed down her face as pure terror grabbed hold of her. She made a sharp turn towards a clearing and came face-to-face with Death.

Maya screamed as Death slammed her in the stomach with his scythe, the blade punching straight though her body and out her back. Blood poured from her mouth as she was lifted by the blade and gravity drew it further up her body, before Death flicked her away. Her body slammed into a tree and fell to the ground. Again, her world had gone dark.

Gasping, she woke up again. This time appearing to be inside a dilapidated castle. Still naked, she pushed herself up off the cold stones. Her stomach hurt, and she looked down, horrified to see the scar running from right next to her belly button all the way to the base of her ribcage at a slight angle. The pain was immense, causing her to ball up on the floor. She felt the stretching of the scar on her back where the blade exited her body.

She cried… letting the tears fall to the cold stone floor under her.

"Why won't this end?" she sobbed.

"It won't end until I say it will end," came the last voice she wanted to hear.

As she tried to get back up, she was grabbed and slammed into a nearby stone wall. It felt like her spine cracked on the impact. She slid down as Death grabbed her by the shoulder. He seemed to tilt his head to the side curiously as he tightened his grip, causing Maya to cry out. Then his thumb punctured the flesh below the shoulder and Maya screamed in pain. Blood ran down her body, feeling burning hot against the cold she was surrounded by. Then with little care, Death threw her against the other wall, ripping his thumb out of her shoulder in the process.

Maya breathed hard as she shifted up. Her right arm now hung uselessly at her side.

"Why?!" she demanded. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Because I can," he replied simply, as if she should have known the answer. "Because it amuses me. Besides, isn't death supposed to be cruel. You mortal always seem to think so."

"But… you're supposed to be Dracula's friend!"

Death tilted his head again as if she said something curious. "Shinji Ikari isn't Dracula. Just because he possesses the power of Dominus, doesn't mean he has the sole claim to the position of Dracula's Hier Apparent. There is another candidate that has a far stronger claim to that role… and he will bring about death on this world in an unimaginable scale should he succeed in becoming the Dark Lord. Shinji would just waste the power trying to 'save' humanity. What a fucking joke. I'm surprised you've all lasted as long as you have."

Maya managed to stand up, pushing herself against the wall for support. Her body felt like it was going to give out again but she forced herself up. Even she had no idea where the strength to continue coming from.

"So now what, you just torture me like this until the end of time?"

"No… just until the magic that binds your last breath wears off, and you surrender it to me. You had better hope that doesn't take too horribly long."

Without ceremony he raised his scythe and brought it down Maya tried to get away but her body refused to move. The blade sliced though the flesh at the left of her neck on the shoulder and tore its way down through her left breast and upper abdomen, finally out her side. Blood shot out of her mouth as it tore through bone and flesh alike, to split its way though her lungs and other vital organs. Darkness claimed her mercifully quickly.

The howling of the wind woke her up again. She rolled on her back finding herself inside a cave. The entrance nearby and the forest beyond could be seen. Her left hand fell upon her chest, tracing the new wound that nearly struck her left areola when it tore though her body. Her right hand touched the scar still on her stomach. Every injury, every new death would leave its mark upon her, she realized. Death was no where to be seen this time and she pushed herself up, nearly crying out as the new scars squished as she moved. Now sitting up, she sobbed silently, feeling the pains in her body throbbing in time with her heartbeat.

"This is my punishment," she decided. "This is what I get for such a grave mistake… Sempai… I wish you could help me now… maybe bring me back as one of your night creatures so I can be redeemed."

She looked at herself, though no longer bleeding, her wounds oozed and burned. But this wasn't her body, this was her metaphysical form… the pain was different, far worse in many ways. The remainder of her existence in this form would be pain, until she had so many scars, she wouldn't be able to recognize herself anymore. The grim reality of this made her want to throw up, but metaphysical bodies didn't have anything in them to do that.

"How much longer must I suffer…"

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black,

With flowers and my love both never to come back

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away,

Like a new born baby it just happens every day

"How much longer must I endure this… this torment is killing me again and again… how many times can one die… wait… what's this place… is this where I was buried?"

Next Chapter: A Ghost of a Chance