The world of, and mythology of, the vampires I'm creating is a mashup of four different fandoms. They are Bram Stoker's Dracula, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a little bit), Vampire Diaries (terminology), and Vampire Knight (parts). I'm also working to keep the characters in Sailor Moon as close to who they were in a way that makes sense for my story.

While I've mentioned characters from the other fandoms, the couples she met that taught her about vampire love. I won't reference Vampire Diaries characters since that hits too close to home for other fan fictions I've written. That said, the characters from other stories will be briefly mentioned as Easter Eggs. I'm not doing a crossover story.

I just wanted to lay out where I'm pulling some ideas from and add my own unique twists.

Edited 3/9/24

While Artemis was still at his desk talking to Luna, Usagi was at the arcade listening to Mamoru and Motoki converse. She loved feeling the thrum of her body in response to Mamoru and his voice. Everything about him pulled an involuntary but thrilling reaction from her. The stolen blood in her veins raced through her, and every nerve ending felt alive and was responding to him.

It was exciting in a way she'd never experienced before. Now, her centuries of feeling like fully bonded vampire love was a nuisance had melted away instantly, torn out of her by the tidal wave of his essence overwhelming her.

While what she said to Artemis was the truth, she could wait and be confident they would find each other; some of her did feel impatient. She at least wanted to meet him so he knew she existed; that felt imperative to her right now.

She used her highly enhanced vampire hearing to eavesdrop on the two friends. It was incredibly obvious to her that the two had known each other for a long time. It wasn't just that Motoki poured Mamoru black coffee as he stepped through the sliding doors without asking or any hesitation. It was in how they spoke to each other. They were guys, so they didn't speak much, but they spoke in a way that showed a shared knowledge base about each other's pasts.

As she listened to the friends talk, her brain was racing. She wanted to figure out how to introduce herself without seeming to put herself forward. Mamoru looked like the kind of guy who liked to be in charge and didn't like others interrupting his carefully crafted life.

It was the way he arranged his coffee carefully and stacked his books just so as he was studying that showed he was exacting—the kind of man who liked order and to be in complete control. Every time he placed his coffee cup down, he ensured the mug handle pointed in the same meticulous position. It all made her desperately want to bring some chaos into his life.

She decided the trick in this would be introducing herself in a way that completely ignored him. That made Motoki her way in. And since he made the most incredible milkshakes, she decided to focus on that.

She grabbed her finished milkshake glass and walked up to the cash register; after all, she still had to pay for her milkshake. It was her perfect way to meet him.

She gracefully walked over to the two men with her high heels, clicking on the polished linoleum, focusing on Motoki. She gently placed her empty glass down and smiled at him. "This was amazing! You make the best milkshakes."

Motoki smiled at her as he rang up her bill and told her the price. "I'm glad you like it."

She smiled sweetly and handed over her money, "I'm a milkshake expert, and this was delicious. You have no idea how much someone can screw it up."

He laughed and shook his head in amusement. "They aren't that hard." He then made change for her, placed it in her hand, and closed the cash register.

"I had a chocolate milkshake in Veliko Tarnovo*, Bulgaria. It was hot out, and I stopped and ordered one. Talk about disappointing. They put chocolate syrup in milk and, I kid you not, shook it. It was chocolate milk! Still good, but not what I thought I was ordering." She walked a lot around the city that day in the hot sun.

Mamoru turned his chair towards her. "Really?"

"Yeah. The city was beautiful, though. The whole city is in a horseshoe shape on the side of a massive hill with a monument in the center."

He smiled, "That sounds fascinating. What took you to Bulgaria of all places?"

She focused on Mamoru and said, "I've traveled a lot in my life. I love experiencing new things."

Then, she quickly turned her attention back to Motoki. "So I know an excellent milkshake when I taste one. I'm Usagi; I thought I should tell you that this will be my usual," she said, pointing to her empty glass. "I'm planning on being a regular here."

"Nice to meet you, Usagi. I'm Motoki, and my parents own this place." He then pointed to his friend. "And this is Mamoru."

Dang. She had been hoping to get him to introduce himself to her. She thought quickly and said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Motoki!" She then quickly turned to leave, ignoring Mamoru.

When she reached the sliding glass door, she spun around as it opened and shouted back, "Mamoru, you might want to try a milkshake just once instead of coffee. Live a little." She then spun around and walked out the door.

In the end, she didn't know what possessed her to challenge him rather than ignore him. Something in her couldn't resist teasing him. She shrugged to herself as she walked away. Good or bad, it was done, and she couldn't take it back. Well, she could take it back, but she didn't want to mess with his head and compel him to forget. When she turned him into a vampire, he would remember all the times she altered his memory. That she wasn't willing to do. She didn't want to manipulate their relationship, especially since one day he would know.

Mamoru looked down at his coffee after she left and wondered how she could be so spot on. Coffee that was his regular. Actually… did he ever try one of Motoki's milkshakes?

He reached over and adjusted his coffee mug. The handle wasn't pointing in the perfect 4 o'clock position. He heard his friend chuckle, and he didn't know why.

Motoki had a strange feeling about Usagi. He didn't know what was causing it, but all the hairs on his arms had stood when she walked over, and his whole body tensed. How he could have such a bizarre reaction to such an un-intimidating-looking woman, he didn't know. She looked like the type to break hearts, not bones, but still, she scared him a bit.

He mentally shrugged; she liked his chocolate milkshakes. Surely that boded well for him. He didn't know what possessed him to introduce Mamoru other than wanting her to focus her attention on someone else for a bit.

What he didn't know was that his natural instincts were reacting to a dangerous predator, one who could kill him in seconds and had killed quite recently. His body's fight-or-flight reactions were spot-on. She was the most dangerous thing he'd come across in his lifetime.

Later that night, Usagi smiled as she sat in her pink bunny-print pajamas and read her email on her pink iPhone. Artemis had come through for her, of course, and sent her lots of details on Mamoru. She had his whole sad life story along with his excellent grades and the address of his expensive apartment.

Uber Eats interrupted her thoughts by knocking on her door and delivering her dinner. She locked eyes with the delivery man, compelled him to step in, and then shut the door. She then forced him to stand quietly as she drank from his neck. She loved modern technology and ordering in for dinner. Blood literally knocked at her door.

She then licked his neck, healing the puncture mark left from drinking from him. Her vampire saliva had amazing healing properties. It was perfect for hiding bite marks, especially in clubs with drunk men. She could bite, drink, and then lick a man's neck, and she didn't even have to compel him to forget. The alcohol and the hormones did that for her. She left them turned on and hot for her as she looked for her next snack.

Once she generously tipped the delivery guy in cash so he wouldn't have to report it on his taxes, she closed the door behind him, and the beautiful, sweet aroma of cake wafted up to her.

There were so many advantages to being a vampire. Not the least of which was that calories didn't affect her at all, and she loved chocolate. While she watched young human women count calories, she gorged herself.

Once she had eaten her cake and tossed it out the trash, she picked up her cell phone —it was time to call Artemis.

She frowned at her phone. It bothered her that life after life, he struggled to connect with Luna. They always found love but took so long to meet and marry.

Part of her wondered if that was part of their continual rebirth or a side effect of the deep bond they shared, almost like they lived a lifetime's worth of deep love despite finding each other late in life.

Usagi still had yet to find out the mystery of why they were both reborn time after time all over the world and why, in each lifetime, she not only found them both but saved one of their lives.

Right now, she wanted to lock them both in a room together and tell them to kiss. They were being stubborn; well, she knew Artemis was.

She knew from experience telling them they were destined to find each other lifetime after lifetime didn't help. They both were perpetually too practical in every incarnation. Every time she tried that approach, they laughed in her face.

Raising the phone, she dialed him and rang him. He answered quickly; he was expecting her call.

He surprised her when he said, "Luna knows about you killing those guys and that you're a vampire. I told her."

She smiled softly despite the tension in his voice. She knew he was fighting his fear and had nothing to worry about. They weren't able to betray each other. He'd find that out eventually.

"When do I get to meet her?" she asked kindly.

He was startled at her easy acceptance of what he said. "You're not mad?"

"That you're being honest with the woman you love? Not at all."

"Oh…I thought…."

"Stop. I'm on your side in this. I want you together. I would absolutely love to meet her officially."

"Officially?" he asked nervously.

"Well, we've met, but it wouldn't have stuck out to her. I can be very nondescript when I want to blend in."

"Did you compel her to forget you?"

"No, and I wouldn't do that to her. I think she suspected something was different about me, so I didn't hang around."

She heard him chuckle over the phone. "That's because she already knows about vampires. She helped hide the death of seven people. They're all listed as missing people; the vampire she knows buried them in the woods."

"That's sooo dumb. You have to either cart a dead body around or risk being seen with a person who's gone missing. Unlike me, when I kill a rapist, they did all the work of making sure I wasn't seen leaving with them."

He rolled his eyes and sighed through the phone. "The point is we're both hiding vampires. I thought that would interest you."

She froze; she really couldn't explain right now, over the phone, why she wasn't surprised. Instead, she said, "What interests me the most is that you're talking and that she wants to meet me. Please tell me you're dating."

"We are-" he broke off when he was interrupted by a squealing noise. For being so old, she could act like a regular teenager, he knew.

"Can I meet her now? I could be right over."

"She's not here, Usagi," he said scoldingly. "We just started dating. I'm taking her to dinner tomorrow."

She pouted, "Fine. Can I meet her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking that's for the best. It's that, or you'll show up on her doorstep. You don't have boundaries."

"I do," she whined. "I just want to meet her."

"How many women did you scare away in my life pretending to be either pregnant with my love child or my wife? You don't know what the word boundaries even means!"

He had a point, but it was all to ensure he was available for Luna when she came into his life. Again, she refrained from explaining. To her relief, he changed the subject. "Did you read the emails about Mamoru?"

"I did talk about a tragic past. He's going to have a lot of walls, but I got this. I met him, by the way."

"So he's half in love already?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Men are drawn to you quickly."

She shook her head, "No, he's going to be a tougher nut to crack. It will be worth it, though."

"I can't believe I'm asking this. Do you need anything else when it comes to him?"

She chuckled, "I'm sure I will at some point. I'm good for now, though."

Artemis stood and walked over to the picture window in his living room. As he stared out into the night, he asked, "Tell me, this all works out, right?"

She knew what he was asking. He wanted to know his life was finally on track, heading to a promising career and a loving, happy marriage. "It does. I've been around long enough, and I've seen so much that I can promise you that it does."

"Thank you. I know I fuss, but I'm glad you're in my life."

"I know. I love you too, Artemis. I promise your life is going to be amazing and exciting."

"Just don't make it too exciting," he begged.

*The milkshake story in Bulgaria is true. My husband ordered it, and we laughed when we watched it being made.