A/N: Lemon Warning

The ambient light in the room was minimal but Shinji could still see. It was a sitting room he had seldom used in the past. A simple throne sat against the wall facing the windows that overlooked part of the forest. A storm was coming, and the room occasionally lit up with flashes of distant lightning. Holding a glass and silver goblet, filled with blood, he sat himself upon the throne and watched the storm approach. Downstairs, the rest of the residents of the forest manor went about their daily lives.

He closed his eyes, imagining what they were up to. Rei was likely spending more time in the library learning all she could, likely with Mayumi who was ever the consummate bookworm. Kodama likely was with them, helping to guide their studies as they continued. Ritsuko was likely in her workroom inside the manor planning her next major project, her faithful lover and student turned Death itself Maya ever at her side. Those two he knew would always be inseparable. Misato was likely watching TV and drinking beer, assuming she wasn't trying to get someone in bed with her for a little fun. She'd been known to join Asuka and Mari lately. Every Harem had its resident nymphomaniac, but Shinji's it seemed had three. Mana still felt like the odd girl out, the last to join the group and still unsure of her place here. She, Shinji knew, could be anywhere.

Shinji's thoughts shifted to their current situation; Shortly after they left the safehouse in the Kyoto outskirts, cultists in the region were suddenly attacking on a near constant basis. It took a bit of doing to lose them at last, and he gave strict instructions to his other girls to make absolutely sure they weren't followed as they returned home. The risk of being discovered here was high, but he knew his girls could evade being tailed. The step up in attacks tells him something important; whatever the exact nature of their current plans, they are coming to fruition soon.

The step up in attacks started nearly a week ago, forcing Shinji and his brides to go-to-ground and stay there for the time being… at least until they know for certain it is safe to operate. Meanwhile, word has reached his ears of his father's activities in the north. While he supposedly held a few public appearances, there wasn't so much as a single clip of any of them online or on TV, though he had heard the radio broadcasts. It was all rather strange to Shinji, but part of it made sense.

"Of course he would control all information leaving his territory," he thought. His father had always been a crafty schemer, how else would he have been able to run NERV during the Angel Wars, especially with the instrumentality committee breathing down his neck. Now though… he wasn't his father anymore…

"Gendo," Shinji whispered… the name was like a 10-fold curse off his lips, but he still couldn't remember why. Part of him believed it has something to do with Third Impact; something that happened during or perhaps after that event. He sipped the blood from his goblet and thought back to the beginning…

Something in the past had to point to what his real plan was…

Archdruid Sephiroth Presents

The Final Chapters of the Symphony of Shadows Saga

Principem Tenebrarum

(Prince of Darkness)

Arc I: An End to Angels – A Lament of Innocence

I: Remnants, Part I

A pounding resonated from the door, and Shinji didn't even flinch at the first pound. The apartment was dark, only the scantest of light entering though the mostly covered windows. His hands sat calmly folded before him as the pounding continued in earnest. Finally, the barrier gave way, the lock gave up its ghost and the hinges flung open uselessly. The splintered remains of the door were pushed aside as so much wasted wood. Four men in dark robes, three with their faces completely obscured by darkness and cloth entered the room. The one in the front wore a runic symbol upon his brow. He was taller than the others, and far more commanding. Though Shinji had never seen him in person before, guessing his identity was easy.

"Lord Decius, I presume. I've been expecting you."

Despite neither individual having met the other what continued sounded more like a civil conversation between friends, than a preamble to kidnapping.

"I'm afraid The Sacrifice made quite a mess of my hall." Decius's voice betrayed slight amusement. "Even managed to kill one of my best summoners. I expected to see her here."

"I'm afraid you missed her," Shinji offered. "She's already left for her next target. But don't worry, she'll be coming for you soon enough."

"Good," Decius replied with shadowed amusement. "I won't have to find her myself. As for you Ikari, I think you know what happens next."

Shinji's eyes shifted back to Decius' men. They were already pulling from their robes the items they would need; ropes and blades. But Shinji already knew that they weren't there to kill him… He had known for a time now that his purpose was too important to the cultists for them to hurt him.

Inside of him, he held a small fragment of a literal devil… Vlad Tepes Dracula. That part amounted to nothing at this moment in his life, but soon… depending on what happened next… it might become the very thing that defines his future.

"Yes I do," he replied, holding his arms up but not separating his wrists. "I'm going for a ride."

"Resigned to your fate?" Decius noted. "Smart."

"I am but the pawn of prophecy at this point… what happens next is out of my hands. But I think the way this is going to end, Decius, is not the way you envision."

"Is that so?" he asked as the cultists bound his wrists. "And how do you think it will end, Ikari?"

Shinji smiled gently. "The way it is meant to."

Shinji spent the ride blindfolded, he felt rather than saw where he was being taken, but somehow knew where he was going. From a car he was shifted between two other motor vehicles before finally being led to a boat. Though he could still not see, the feel of the ground under him and the way sounds echoed around him told him he was in a massive stone building of some kind, likely a castle. He felt this was a bit cliché, but in a way, it was probably most appropriate. He knew of no castles of this construction, but that meant nothing when the cults are able to warp reality itself. When he finally was sat down and his blindfold was removed, and he saw a small congregation of cultists.

"Its unfortunate Shaft could not be here for this," Decius noted. "I'm sure he would have like to see our mission succeed."

"Counting your candidates before their slain I'm afraid," Shinji noted. "Asuka will kill you."

"Your confidence in your girlfriend is almost inspiring, but her pitiable runic mastery is no match for a true master of the dark arts."

Shinji smiled then chuckled darkly as two cultists walked around him with incense censers softly chanting dark verses.

"What's so amusing, Ikari."

Shinji stopped chuckling and just smiled. "That girl has killed literal angels and destroyed things that would turn your soul white as a ghost. She's not going to let one of Shaft's patsies stand in her way."

Decius sneered. "Even if that were possible, which is isn't, you realize she'll be coming to kill you."

Shinji's grin only widened. "As well she should."

The radiant power of Dominus showered him as the energy tore Selina apart, and inside his heart, he felt a stirring. The dormant power of his shard of Dracula awoke and in that moment, his mind was flooded with the possibilities of what was to come. Now intrinsically understanding the power he was being offered, he accepted it within him, broke his bonds, and reached out to Asuka, grabbing her by the shoulder as the backlash of the energy released reached her.

Dominus is mine… The Power to Rule… and only I can truly control it. That power obeys only ME! It was Asuka who used the power, but Selina who forced her hand… Selina's soul is forfeit to its power… by MY command!

Images flooded his mind; Selina's life, her training, her induction, her plans… the pain and the torment of her existence, and the ambition that burned within her. But she was unworthy of the power she sought, even moreso than she accused Shinji of being unworthy of the power of Dracula. And yet, in that moment, touched by Dominus itself, he realized something that would only be something he could articulate later; That power was dark, but it was not evil. It wouldn't be for a while yet before that realization would come to the fore.

Asuka collapsed on him and he gently sank down with her, cradling her body. When her eyes opened, he greeted her not as a man, but as the aspect of the Dark Lord. In that moment, when her eyes met his, and the shock and nervousness were visible, Shinji knew what his destiny was… even if he would spend most of the next year fighting it…

The storm laid over the house in earnest now. The windows cascaded with flowing rain and the room was mostly dark. He swished his goblet again, taking another sip of the vitae within.

She was but the first… How was I to truly understand how far these prophecies would go…

He still remembered the time when it became obvious to him that he would indeed have his harem.

Shinji walked into a darkened bedroom on the second floor of his house. The sun had long since gone down, and a chill filled the room. Moonlight streamed in and a dark shape sat on the bed, outlined in that perfect light.

He said nothing as he approached her. He wouldn't be the first one to talk.

"You haven't touched me since that day," Mari whispered.

"I do not reject you," Shinji replied. "But I know words won't help." He covered the remaining ground in just a few steps. She tried to turn away from him but as soon as his hand touched her face, her resolve crumbled, and her body's imperative asserted itself. She kissed him almost fanatically, arms snaking up his back and holding desperately as if afraid to let him go. Shinji moved to sit on the bed and Mari immediately got up and straddled him. He just noticed she was naked as the day she was born.

Shinji struggled to get free of his own clothing to give her what her body wanted. She impaled herself without ceremony, rocking her hips while maintaining her kiss. He held her tighter, pressing her abundant breasts against his chest and enjoying the slick sensation of a hot body sheathing his own. Mari broke the kiss long enough to gasp and moan vocalizing her wish that he could drink from her.

"Drink from me," Shinji all but demanded. Mari's fangs complied. It was only the second time he allowed her to feed from him, but the result was the same. Somehow the feeling was simply intensifying their experience. Soon he was on his back and she dominating him from above. His hands settled on her hips as she slammed herself into him again and again. Shinji forced her to slow down, forced her to prolong and enjoy the experience, but it wasn't until a very naked Asuka settled behind and ran her arm under the vampress's breasts that she finally complied and calmed enough to make this less frantic.

Asuka's left hand settled below Mari's naval, and her right gripped her left breast roughly yet not so much as to cause pain. Mari couldn't even cry out at this point; the feelings welling up inside her robbing her of all ability to make sounds except the gasping of breath when possible. Shinji's hands never left her hips as they continued. Asuka for her part was simply enjoying the feeling of her body being rubbed by Mari's as she continued to make love to their master.

Soon their positions changed. All three were now on their side, Shinji taking Mari from behind as Asuka stroked and played with Mari at her front. The vampress could not stop gasping and moaning as Shinji continued to make love to her. She must have reached her climax at least four times already between the two of them entertaining her, and as Asuka began to suckle her, she ascended to her fifth. Asuka's hand slid past Shinji's, which was still gently clutching Mari's lower tummy, to gently stroke the flared opened outer folds, feeling them spread and contract as Shinji continued to slide in and out of her.

He finally spilled within the vampress at the moment of her sixth and final orgasm. The fluids spread and sank to the mattress, her body milking his for every last drop. And when the sound finally ceased from her lips, she collapsed into her mistresses' embrace and sighed contently. Before the night's chill could reach her, Shinji had already covered the three of them in a warm thick comforter.

Asuka smiled happily despite not having came herself this night. Mari was no longer depressed… she didn't feel rejected… and that was enough.

At the door, Hikari had watched the three of them play. Entuned with empathic emotion as she was, she had came herself without ever having touched anyone else or even revealed her presence. Truth be told, she was starting to worry about Mari and her feelings of rejection. Seeing this, she knew the girl would finally relax. Even if she did not become pregnant, she would be contented on an instinctual level.

Shinji knew she was there though; he felt her presence, felt her elation at seeing both Mari and Asuka so happy. He had wondered if she would join. She didn't that night at least, that was Mari's night.

A set of footsteps caught his attention.

"I thought I'd find you here," came Asuka's voice.

Shinji said nothing at first, watching the flashes of lightning as they raced across the clouds. He then sighed, took another sip of blood, and shifted in his throne a little. "I needed time to think," he finally settled on.

"Reminiscing?"

Shinji's mouth upturned a little in amusement. "How'd you guess?"

"I do the same thing when I start getting all nostalgic," she explained. "I find a nice quiet place to be alone with my thoughts."

"I'm surprised Mari leaves you alone that long."

Asuka chuckled. "She can be quite encourageable, can't she? Especially ever since that first night we had our little threesome."

Shinji chuckled aloud. "I was just thinking about that night funny enough."

"Too bad Hikari was sleeping."

Shinji now fully smiled. "Oh, she wasn't." Asuka looked surprised. "I saw her standing in the doorway, her left hand holding up the front of her sundress, and the other…"

"No!" Asuka almost gasped in amusement. "She didn't!"

"I've kept that secret all this time without ever being asked to." Shinji took another sip. "I didn't want to embarrass her. When that girl came out of her shell, she didn't leave any of herself behind it seems. She was finally free to express herself without self-imposed limits, or misgivings based on preconceived notions that were just too restrictive for her. I'm still surprised though, that she made love to Misato before she made love to you."

"To be fair, I couldn't keep Mari's hands off me!" Shinji chuckled at her words. "Seriously! That girl's appetites can be as insatiable as Misato's at times, and I'm definitely her favorite."

"You have literally had her more than I have," Shinji noted with amusement.

"So… why dwell on those times, if you don't mind me asking."

Shinji thought for a moment. "I've been thinking about everything that has happened since last year. I'm trying to remember further back than when you first were returned to me, but something is obfuscating most of those memories. It's similar to the obfuscation of the events that led to and occurred during Third Impact."

"I see," Asuka noted. "I wish I could be of more help, but my memories of that time are even more fragmentary than yours. That bitch did a number on my memories. I'm certain there is a lot that I'm simply never going to get back."

Shinji sighed. "I have one potential solution… but I know you won't like it."

Asuka frowned. "I think I know what you are going to say… and I don't think it's a good idea. Your father may be expecting you to try something like that."

"We still don't know what his motives are," Shinji pointed out. "I may not even matter to his plans."

"I know, but it's still a huge risk." Shinji stayed silent as he milled that over in his mind. "Think closely before you decide to act."

"I say we go for it," came a voice from the corner. Asuka jumped but Shinji just smirked.

"How long have you been there?" Shinji asked as Mana stepped from the shadows.

"Long enough," Mana replied. "I've been worried about you, master."

Asuka was flabbergasted. "Why didn't you smell or sense her?" she asked.

"She wouldn't be much of a Vampire Hunter if I could, would she?" he replied.

"We need answers," Mana continued. "If that accursed place is the only place we can get them, then we need to try. If nothing else, Mayumi can probably get to the bottom of it."

Asuka looked nervous; a look Shinji didn't like since she was one of the bravest people he knew.

"Whatever happened there," Asuka began, "maybe we're better off not knowing. Wasn't it mankind's own desire for knowledge that started this whole horrid situation and led to that place existing in its current form in the first place?"

"We're already pawns of history," Shinji noted. "We need answers, and the old Geofront is the place where we can potentially find them. Time to throw caution to the wind."

Asuka looked partly terrified but swallowed her fear and nodded.

"Come on," Mana offered. "We need to grab Mayumi and see if anyone else wants to tag along."

"Let's try to keep the party as tight as possible," Shinji noted. "The fewer we travel with, the less chance we're noticed."

Both girls nodded and left the throne room. Shinji laid back and sighed. The storm continued to progress outside, though now the rain was lighter. The wind however had picked up. Storms like this were becoming more and more common, as if nature herself protested what was happening in the world.

Shinji took the last sip from his goblet before staring out the window. In his mind's eye, he saw his father at his desk back in NERV. His hands were folded, and his eyes invisible behind the reflected light.

"Father…" Shinji whispered with malice. "I will learn what it was you were doing, and what really happened during Third Impact. Because I think you know exactly what happened."

He stood up, his stance advertising his anger as he tossed his goblet aside. It shattered off to his right somewhere.

"I will discover all of your secrets, and get to the heart of what you have done. Then… whatever your plans are now… I will end them."

I wish someone would wake me, 'cause I can't sleep at all,

Stuck in Purgatory,

Waiting for the fall

Auditioned all the endings, I find it hard to tell,

Is it better to serve in heaven,

Or better to reign in…

H E L L

-Five Finger Death Punch, "IOU"

Gendo sat upon a throne of steel, looking over his reports from the previous day. The office being part war room, part meeting hall, and part throne room… A vision of Spartan simplicity, and function over form. Banners for his new nation of Neo Japan prominently displayed on the wall behind the throne, but little else in the way of decorations were here. The room also conspicuously had no windows.

"It's going to get harder and harder to keep your secret," the man who resembled Rastur noted.

"Do you have a suggestion," Gendo asked (stated), as a girl who looked exactly like Rei approached him from the left. The girl was dressed as a gothic Lolita with lace edged garments of black, and a corset perfecting her figure. A black lace choker covered her neck with a silvery medallion clasping it at her throat.

"I can create a Doppelganger that you can control. This way if anyone does manage to photograph or film you, your secret would be safe. I can't imagine it would be difficult to do."

"How long?" Gendo didn't even take his eyes off of his reports.

"A week... tops."

"Begin at once," Gendo ordered.

"Yes, my master," Rastur replied, bowing respectfully before stepping out.

"You should eat, master," the copy of Rei whispered almost demurely.

Gendo finished reading the passage before closing the folder and turning to face the girl. She removed her choker and stepped forward. Without ceremony, Gendo pulled her in, his mouth opening into vicious vampire fangs as he bit down on the neck of the girl. She made a moaning sound as this happened and seemed to be writhing in ecstasy as he drank from her. He stopped just as she was reaching the cusp of lightheadedness, drawing his tongue across the wound to close them.

Unsteady a moment she almost fell, but Gendo held her firmly, yet gently. After a slow exhalation from the girl, she nodded once and Gendo let her go.

"Rest and recover, Eve."

"Thank you, master." The girl carefully made her way out of the room.

Gendo pressed a button on his desk. "Tashima."

"Yes sir," came an immediate reply.

"Put together a strike team from both your forces and whatever members of the Sons of Shaft you can get to volunteer. Go to the Tokyo-3 Geofront. I have a feeling my son is going to pay a visit. I want him alive."

"As you wish," Tashima acknowledged. "And if any of his concubines are with him?"

Gendo seemed to think about this for a moment, before he settled on an answer.

"Kill them all."