Hungry.  He had almost killed that poor, beautiful girl, and it had
done nothing to fill his need.  He pressed a shaking hand to his mouth and
prayed for deliverance.  Surely a merciful God would end his misery...
        His only answer came in the form of his Master, who had escaped
detection even by his enhanced senses until it was too late.  She gripped
him by the scruff of the neck and shook him like a dog correcting her
naughty puppy.
        "Foolish young one," she hissed.  Ryoga growled and tried to tear
away from her, but she freshened her grip and pressed herself against him,
her cold breath brushing the sensitive skin of his neck.  Ryoga froze as
she nuzzled him, the hard dents of her fangs pressing against his throat.
Like a mouse caught in a snake's hypnotic glare, he was powerless to resist
her, and he waited with a thrill of dreadful anticipation for her next
move.
        "Foolish one," she repeated.  "I should kill you now for alerting
them to our presence.  They won't suffer our kind to live if they discover
us too soon.  You've almost ruined all my lovely plans."
        "You call this life?" Ryoga managed to say.  Without warning, the
fangs sank into his throat, draining what little strength he had gained
from the human girl's blood, yet giving him pleasure unlike anything he had
ever known in life.  His master released him finally, moving around to face
him as he sank to the ground.  She stood grinning down at him, licking her
lips.
        "You'll not repeat this offense," she said.  Ryoga barely had
strength left to crawl, and she knew it.  "You have two hours left of dark,
and you're no longer welcome in my lair.  I won't have a child I can't
trust, little one.  If you manage to survive the day, I might consider
forgiving you.  If not, well... you were practice for me, as I said.  It
matters little to me if you lack the strength of will to survive."
        Ryoga gasped, and struggled to get out of the open as  his master
disappeared into the night.  Sunrise would come soon, and he had no
strength left.  Where could he safely pass the day?  There was water
nearby.  Maybe he could turn into P-Chan... rest in Akane's arms...
        He seemed to crawl for an eternity, dragging his weary body with
his arms, sick with exhaustion and Hunger.  He finally made it to the
water...



        Akane finished her rounds of the downstairs, and headed for the
staircase.  She still felt uneasy; it was just a little too quiet.
Nabiki's door was locked, but Akane pressed her ear up against it and heard
her sister breathing steadily and deeply.
        Kasumi was lying on her bed, fully clothed and shivering.  Akane
sighed inwardly and smiled.  Kasumi had been sleepwalking again, and must
have made some sound that woke Akane up.  Akane pulled her sister's shoes
off and drew the covers up over her, then crept back to her own room and
went back to sleep.  It never occurred to her to check Ranma's room.




        "OhGodohGodohGod," Ranma panted as he raced down the darkened
street to the Tendo house, followed at a distance by Tofu.  Above him, a
silent figure watched and smiled grimly, then vanished into the deepest
shadows of the night.


        Ryoga groaned.  Of course the Curse only worked on living bodies!
He'd have to think of something, there wasn't much time.  He had to find a
safe place to hide...  with a sudden burst of desperation, he lurched to
his feet and began to stagger aimlessly.  There had to be a way...
        The Tendo house loomed in front of him, and he found that suddenly
he wasn't as weak as he had thought.  Akane was here... the Hunger sprang
to full life.  Swift and silent, he dashed into the house, up the stairs,
and down the hallway.  He stood in front of Akane's door for a long moment.
He couldn't do this to her.  Was this what the vampire had planned for
him?  That he make Akane his vampire slave so the master could take Ranma?
He couldn't do it, he just couldn't.  The Hunger was overwhelming!
        With an extreme act of will, he turned away from the door and took
a step.  The next step after that was easier, and then easier still as he
distanced himself from her scent.
        A few more steps, and he was at the door to Ranma's room.  The room
was empty; he could hear no breathing, detect no pulse.  He darted inside,
and then froze in shock.  Why would she punish him when she had already
alerted the household to the presence of vampires?  The humans would be
furious...
        The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.  The sun would rise
soon, and he didn't doubt what would happen if he got caught in it.  He
leaped out of the window, landed running, and made his way toward the Dojo.
There was a little crawlspace under the building, which Gosunkugi had used
to spy on Ranma.  Ryoga snuck inside, instinct guiding him.  He dug into
the soft earth with his bare hands and feet, building up enough of a wall
of dirt around him that it met the floor above him.  With a sigh, he let
his mind go just as the sun's first rays peeked over the horizon.


        The vampire made her way to her lair, and smiled.  It would all go
her way.  She'd have to eliminate that idiot doctor, and be sure that Ryoga
was either dead or loyal to her.  One way or the other, it would all be
hers.  She lay back, confident and serene as the small death of sunrise
overtook her.  She would sleep, and awaken at sunset.  Life without
sunlight was a small price to pay for life Eternal.  Perhaps, when she was
an older vampire, she'd be able to walk about in the daytime.  The One who
had created her had been able to do that.  It must be... yawn... must be
that a young vampire needed more rest, as did young children, while the
adults could wake or sleep at will.  She'd think about it later, because
the sun was almost-


        "Oh, God..." Ranma muttered as he bounded up the staris, his heart
pounding a frantic rhythm at the thought of Akane hurt, Akane's eyes going
dim like Ryoga's...
        He raced to her room and there she was, sleeping peacefully for a
moment after he burst through the door.  She sat up in alarm, frightened
and angry, and a moment later Ranma sailed out the window into the koi pond
with a smile on his face.  Akane was definitely in good health.
        "Pervert!" Akane yelled, poking her head out the window to glare
down at her fiance as Ranma floundered in the pond.  He had nearly scared
the life out of her!  Tofu jogged up, out of breath, and helped Ranma out
of the cold, stagnant water.
        "Good to see you, too!" Ranma called back, her smile dimmed
somewhat.  A cold bath could do that.  Akane closed her drapes with a huff
as Ranma wrung out her clothes somewhat and hurriedly ushered Tofu into the
house.
        "I'm gonna go get some hot water," Ranma said through chattering
teeth.  Tofu nodded, and watched as Ranma sloshed off to the bathroom.
Akane stumped down the stairs and Tofu walked over to her with a worried
frown.
        "Are you feeling all right?" he asked, noticing at a glance that
the smooth skin of her neck was unmarked.
        "Fine, I guess," Akane answered, glaring sourly at the closed
bathroom door.  "What are you two doing up so early?"
        "I think I'll let Ranma tell you that," Tofu said.  There was no
sound or smell from the kitchen, no indication that Kasumi was even awake.
"Maybe I could go fix some breakfast while you two talk."  Ranma stepped
out of the bathroom in time to hear the last of that, and grinned at Tofu
over Akane's shoulder.  That was one way to be sure breakfast would be
edible.


        "Goodness!"  A gentle voice from the doorway behind him made Tofu's
hair stand on end, and he nearly missed the cutting board with the knife he
held.
        Tofu spun around to face an angel in human guise, and the knife
slipped from his nerveless fingers and landed on the floor with a clatter.
He picked it up quickly, struggled to wipe the idiotic grin from his face,
and stammered, "K-Kasumi!  Meeting you here, of all places!"
        "Good morning, Doctor Tofu," Kasumi said with a puzzled smile.
        "I was, uh, I thought maybe some breakfast..." Tofu mumbled,
mentally patting himself on the back for at least staying close to topic.
"Give them a chance to talk, and you might want to sleep in for a
change..."
        "Why, thank you!" Kasumi smiled at him.  Good God, Kasumi was
smiling at him!  "As long as I'm up, though, why don't I help you?"  Tofu
shook himself, nodded his head eagerly, and worked side by side with Kasumi
as they prepared breakfast together.  It was one of the happiest moments of
his life.

        Breakfast was a mostly silent affair, with Ranma and Akane quickly
and methodically devouring every scrap of food in sight, and Tofu gazing
worshipfully at Kasumi whenever she wasn't looking at him.  Kasumi smiled
gently at him as she began clearing the dishes, and it was then that Tofu
noticed the slight hint of weariness behind that smile.  He was just about
to get up and help collect the dishes when Nabiki spoke.
        "So, Dr. Tofu, Ranma's filled us in on this little adventure you
dragged him off on this morning."  She paused a moment to be sure Kasumi
had moved out of ear shot before continuing.  "Supposing you two are right,
and Ryoga really is a vampire.  Just what do you propose to do about it?"
        "Hunt him down," Ranma said with a grimace.  Vampire hunting?  This
nightmare just kept getting worse!
        "And then what?" Nabiki asked.
        "To send a vampire to its eternal rest, we have to..." Tofu
started.  He swallowed hard, looking a little queasy as he continued.  "We
have to drive a stake through its heart, cut off its head and stuff the
mouth with garlic."
        A long silence followed, and Kasumi stepped back into the room.
        "Would any of you like anything else to eat?" she asked cheerfully.
Akane choked, leapt up from her place at the table and ran for the
bathroom.  The sound of her retching could be heard through the closed
door.
        "Oh, dear," Kasumi said worriedly.  "I do hope Akane isn't coming
down with something."
        "She's Ok," Ranma said through tight, pale lips.  He couldn't
imagine doing that to Ryoga...
        "I'll go make some tea, then," Kasumi said.  "Maybe it will help
settle her stomach."
        Nabiki remained frozen in place with her chopsticks raised halfway
to her lips.  Her wide brown eyes looked from Tofu to Ranma and back again
incredulously.  They weren't joking.
        "So where do we look?" Ranma asked soberly.
        "We don't," Akane said from the doorway.  "Even if Ryoga really was
a vampire, we leave him alone."
        Ranma turned to face her, noting that she still looked a little
green.  "You want us to do nothing?" he asked in amazement.
        "We have to act," Tofu chimed in.  "A vampire must feed.  The girl
he bit is still living; if we do this now his eternal soul is still human.
If we wait till after he kills..."
        "Who's to say he'd kill anyone?" Akane snapped.  "Ryoga's not like
that!"
        "Akane, I will NOT," Ranma said, standing to meet her eye to eye,
"I repeat, NOT, sit here and wait for him to come after you."
        "I can take care of myself," Akane replied.  "Besides, what makes
you think he'd come after me?"
        "I think Ranma's right," Nabiki said quietly from her place at the
table.  All eyes turned to her at this unexpected comment.  "Akane,
everyone but you knew that Ryoga had a crush on you.  IF he's really a
vampire, he's already dangerous.  And if I were a vampire, I'd want the one
I loved to join me."
        "I never...he never told me," Akane murmured.  Privately, she had
to admit that part of her had known all along, and had hoped the issue
wouldn't come up.  She couldn't imagine telling Ryoga that she could never
love him because she already loved...
        "So where do we look?" Ranma asked again.
        "I was hoping you'd have some ideas," Tofu answered.  "I have the
equipment we need in my bag."
        "Ok, so where would a vampire be in the daytime?" Ranma puzzled.
        "I dont' think this is such a good idea," Nabiki said slowly.  What
if they looked all day and didn't find anything?  What if they found Ryoga,
and he was really just dead?
        "Got it!" Ranma jumped up with a snap of his fingers.  "The cemetary!"
        "But that's..." Nabiki began again.  Ranma, Tofu and Akane all
raced out of the house, and after a moment's hesitation Nabiki followed,
grumbling about faulty logic.


        "Nothing," Ranma called, exasperated.  They had spent the better
part of the day touring cemetaries, and found nothing suspicious at all.
There had been no mouldering crypts, no open or disturbed gravesites for
them to investigate - just green grass waving over peaceful rolling hills.
        "The question," Nabiki puffed as she finally caught up to them,
"isn't where would a vampire be, it's where would Ryoga be?"
        "With his sense of direction?" Ranma said incredulously.
"Anywhere!  Wherever you'd least expect."
        "Your bedroom, Ranma," Akane said quietly.  They all turned to face
her, and Ranma couldn't help but notice how haunted her eyes were.  He'd
comfort her, if only she'd allow it...
        "I woke up before dawn because I felt something was wrong.  Your
room is the only room I didn't check."
        "Why?" Nabiki asked.
        "Because I found Kasumi in her street clothes, and I figured her
sleepwalking must've been what woke me up."
        "She sleepwalks?" Tofu cried, horrified.  "If ony I'd known
sooner!"  He sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands.  "All that
effort, and it was Kasumi herslef who sealed his fate."
        "Kasumi is no vampire!" Akane snapped.
        "No, but a sleepwalker is most susceptible to a vampire's power,
when walking the realm between conscious and unconscious thought."
        "Are you saying Kasumi-"
        "I'm saying someone had to have removed those flowers," the doctor
sighed.  "Let's not mention any of this to her.  The damage is already
done, and the knowledge can only hurt her."
        "Well, I'm sure not gonna tell her," Ranma said.  Tell Kasumi she'd
played a role in Ryoga's death?  He'd sooner eat glass!
        "Aren't we forgetting something?" Nabiki asked coolly.  Ranma
turned to face her knowing smile.  It certainly hadn't taken long for her
to collect herself.  "Namely, that there's an alleged vampire hiding out in
your bedroom?"
        "That's right!" Ranma cried, and a bare moment later Nabiki stood
alone again, watching their quickly retreating backs.
        "Thank you for your help, Nabiki," she muttered to herself as she
began the trek home at a saner pace.  "Oh, think nothing of it," she
answered herself.  Her stomach grumbled at her, and she quickened her pace
a little.  Hopefully she'd get home just in time for dinner.


        Ranma bounded up the stairs a half-breath ahead of Tofu and Akane,
and dashed into the room only to come to a screeching halt.  Tofu and Akane
stopped just short of barrelling into him, and all three stood staring in
shock.
        Ranma's father lay on the floor in Panda form, his limbs flung out
awkwardly and his black-and-white coat stained with blood.
        "Pop?" Ranma whispered, but the sound came out as little more than
a squeak.  His knees threatened to give out on him as he stumbled over to
the still form.  Akane's wide eyes peeked out from above her knotted fists
as Ranma sank to his knees and pressed his ear against the bear's massive
chest.   Tofu crossed the room, noted the torn throat and wide-open, glazed
eyes, and laid a hand gently on Ranma's shoulder.
        "He's dead," he said quietly.
        "Pop?" Ranma said, his eyes filling with tears as he gripped the
Panda by the shoulders and shook.  "Come on, Pop!  This isn't funny!"
        "Ranma..." Tofu tried again.
        "Wake up, Pop!" Ranma screamed, pounding on the Panda's chest with
his fists.  "Wake up!  Don't do this to me!"
        "Ranma!" Akane yelled, and pulled him away from the body
forcefully.  For a bare moment she thought he might hit her, then his face
crumpled and he sank to his knees again.  Akane knelt beside him and pulled
him into an embrace, resisting when he tried to pull away.  He buried his
face against her shoulder and cried, his sobs shaking his whole body.
Akane clung to him, crying with him.  She stroked his back and closed her
eyes against the sight of the Panda's face, frozen in an expression of
shock and horror.



To be continued...


Comments and criticism very welcome at "yoiko@earthlink.net" Thank you for
reading this!

^_^

Cindy


Yoiko's Home Page: "http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7183/yoiko.html"

Yoiko's Fanifcs: "http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7183/yoikofics.html"