Blood Red Moon Part 8: Reunion

     This is a crossover fanfic including the characters from Tenchi Muyo, and
CastleVania, more specifically, the newest version out for the N64.  All
characters belong to their respective copyrights, and I take no credit for
them beyond their usage in this story.  Comments, quips, insults, flames, and
death threats can be sent to Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com
     This is based on the OVA characters in the Tenchiverse - but don't be
surprised if you hear one or two TV references.  The original concept came
when I noticed that Carrie Fernandez sort of resembles Ryoko in powers and
looks, save that Carrie is only twelve.
     In the last chapter, after Carrie bested the Fernandez Vampire, she
collapsed, and Tenchi came forward, to get her.  Just before reaching her,
though, he had realized that he hadn't been intending to help her, but to try
to drink her blood.  Pushing the instinct with disgust, he told Reinhart that
he had best carry her.  They boarded the lift, and it took them to nearly the
top of the tower.  On the way, Tenchi began to hear their hearts beating.
Once again, he pushed it away.
     At the top, four passages led to each of the corner towers on the clock
tower, and Reinhart said that in each one, a key to the final door would be
found.  Tenchi suggested splitting up, but Carrie, who had just woken up, told
him no, that they were going to stay with him.  Shaking his head, Tenchi
relented, and they entered the first passage, the Tower of Doors.
     Tenchi opened one door, and found himself looking at his home, with all
of the girls waving, and at that point, the vampire's Rage finally took him.
Ryo-Ohki turned, and saw it, warning Carrie and Reinhart.  Carrie grabbed
Ryo-Ohki and ran ahead, while Reinhart told Tenchi that they would led him to
the werewolves that they could hear, where Tenchi could spend the rage and
bloodlust.  He ran down the corridor, with Tenchi close behind.  Just before
Tenchi lost the last of his control over himself, they made it to the door,
and Reinhart opened it.  Tenchi went through.
     Once inside, the vampire had Tenchi completely.  He massacred the
werewolves that had been waiting for them, hypnotizing the last and drinking
its blood.  When he had finished, the bearded man appeared, and had offered
him a place in his ranks, and Ryoko if he would come to serve.  The vampire
had found himself in a struggle, with only a small flame that he could feel in
his mind keeping him from accepting.  Just before he agreed, Ryo-Ohki came in,
and the vampire remembered the girls.  The memories were fuel to the flame,
and it burned the controlling touch that the bearded man had on the vampire
out.
     Reawakened, Tenchi turned and saw the bearded man.  Attacking him, he
managed to wound his shoulder, but the man disappeared before Tenchi could
kill him.
     Outside, Reinhart and Carrie had been waiting.  When they saw Ryo-Ohki go
in, they looked at each other, and went to open the doors to look inside.
Before they came close, however, the doors were flung open, and Tenchi stepped
out, with the morning sun rising at his back, wearing his Juraian armor.
There, they swore to not stop till either Dracula was dead, or they were.

*****

     Ryoko's body stood as the bearded man suddenly reappeared, clutching at
his shoulder.  Trapped in herself as she was, and with terror gripping her
thoughts so she could barely think, she still somehow managed to make herself
look, pay attention.  The ancient vampire moved quickly over to her, and back
handed her body.  She was tossed part way across the room, but her body simply
stood back up.  The part of her that really was Ryoko wanted to rage, try to
tear him apart for striking her, even in the absolute terror that she was in,
but her body refused to respond, just as it had refused to respond every time
before.
     "How could it be possible?  The boy was mine!  The curse had taken full
control of him!  How could have have pushed it away!" he raged, looking at his
shoulder.  A long, faintly glowing gash had been drawn there, and she knew
that it had been Tenchi.  A little bubble of hope formed inside, pushing back
the terror just a little tiny bit.  He wasn't dead.
     "I warned you of his power, but you would not listen to me."  A chiming
voice faded in, as a woman in a gray dress appeared.  The bearded man turned
to her, a deadly cold smoldering in his eyes.  She watched with interest.  The
two didn't like each other, not in the slightest, near as she could gather.
The man was above her in the ranks, but the woman called him as her equal.
     "I warn you, witch.  Remember your place.  High you may be, but none save
the master are higher than me.  You know as I what he thinks of...
dissenters."  Although a dangerous gleam appeared in the woman's eye, she did
shiver just slightly.  The woman turned to her.
     "Must you keep her like that?  I had thought you to have at least some
decency."  Involuntarily, what was Ryoko turned away from the scene.  The
bearded man, after placing the circlet on her head, had forced her to obscene
things, and hadn't allowed her clothing at all.  He had forced her to take it
off with her own hands, just to please him, and though she had tried to fight
every movement, her body had just kept on, just as it had when Kagato had
taken control of her.
     "She is a gift for the Master, but he does not mind our looking.  Unless
you have a better reason to be here than just to anger me, begone.  I must
sleep, and heal this wound.  The boy is strong, and even though I am away from
that damned sword of his, I can still feel its power trying to destroy me."
The witch looked at Ryoko again.
     "Would you battle the boy without using all resources at your disposal.
As things stand, they will arrive here soon.  They are very, very strong.  We
have Rosa still; Death is preparing a trap with her as we speak.  And I
have... my hold on the Fernandez girl.  But there is nothing to slow the boy,
and I feel that he will be the deciding factor in this, especially now that he
has the vampiric powers.  You have something that could change that."
     The bearded man looked at her, and then turned a thoughtful gaze on
Ryoko.  She understood what they were planning, and once again began to throw
herself against the walls of her invisible cell.  But when the vampire began
to give her her orders, her body listened, and followed his commands.  The
tiny, fragile bubble of hope that had formed inside her popped, and the terror
rushed in to claim her again.

*****

     Tenchi, Reinhart, Carrie, and Ryo-Ohki jogged back down the long
corridor, and back to the center room.  Looking around, and seeing the sun
rising, they decided to split up after all.  Tenchi went into the tower
directly across from him, Ryo-Ohki tagging along behind him.  Their tower lead
into a huge, open space, the ground filled with molten lava.  Tenchi felt the
heat, and wondered why he wasn't drenched in sweat, but after a minute
realized it was because the dead couldn't sweat.  When the sun had shone
through the windows, Tenchi had thought that he was done for, but as it came
up, fuller and fuller, he realized that he wasn't evaporating.  Breathing a
sigh of relief, and saying a short thanking prayer, he had looked down at
himself and realized that he was covered in blood.  His shirt was soaked
through, and his hands were coated in the stuff.  Looking around, he realized
why.  Scattered around him were the corpses of eight werewolves, ripped and
shredded apart, and at his feet, a lone human, sans a shirt.  Holding his
breath, Tenchi bent down, and turned the body up a little.  At the base of the
neck, just over the jugular, were two small holes.
     Spinning away, Tenchi had vomited, realizing what had done that.  When
his stomach was empty - he noticed that there was no blood in it, and he
shuddered to think where it had gone, he slowly stood up.  Wiping his mouth
with the back of his hand, he felt his fangs press against the back of his
lip.  With a shudder, he pulled his hand away, and looked at the small ring
around his finger.  Standing straight, he had pressed the button worked into
it, and the Juraian armor that Ayeka had given him what seemed like ages ago
formed around him.  The skin tight suit seemed to pulse for a minute.  Ayeka
had explained it once - the armor was partly sentient, and would only protect
its true owner.  Settling down, it seemed to have decided that it really was
Tenchi.
     "Miya?"  Tenchi turned toward Ryo-Ohki with a grin, and picked her up.
     "Thanks Ryo-Ohki.  I needed that," he said, ruffling the cabbit's fur.
For a moment, when he had been fighting to hold on in his mind, he had thought
that he wouldn't make it.  But when Ryo-Ohki had come into the room, the
vampire, which had full control of Tenchi, had turned, and partly recognized
her.  Tenchi was able to rally, and regain control of himself.  He had looked
around, and seen on a pedestal the first key.  Stepping gingerly to avoid the
scattered remains of the wolf-men, he moved over and grabbed it.  He handed it
to Ryo-Ohki for safe keeping.  She had settled on his shoulder, and miyaed
happily.
     Tenchi turned his attention back to the matter at hand.  The room wasn't
totally devoid of features beyond the lava lake.  Strung along in the lave
were small islands, but they didn't look very stable.  All of the way across
the room, he could see a tall statue of Death, and at its base something
sparkled and shimmered in the heat.
     "Miya!"  Ryo-Ohki backed up a little, and began to hop from stone to
stone, slowly making her way across.  Tenchi watched her, and realized that
was probably the only way to make it across.
     Tenchi stepped back a bit, and took a running leap.  It was quite to his
surprise when he felt himself change, gain wings.  He opened his mouth to
shout in surprise, but instead of words, the cry of a hawk came.
     Tenchi found himself soaring through the air, unevenly until he got used
to the idea that he really was flying.  Feeling a gust of warm air, he found
himself pushed high up.  He would have laughed in joy if he could have.
Getting used to the wings, he started doing turns and spins.  Diving low, he
soared just above the surface of the lava, exhilarated by the danger of it.
Flapping them, he pulled away from the surface, and wheeled to avoid a gout of
flame that burst up from the lava suddenly.  So this is what Ryoko felt like,
soaring through the air, he thought to himself.  The freedom that she always
talked about caught up Tenchi, but at the thought of her, he forced himself
back to his task.
     Flying over the stones, he saw Ryo-Ohki still jumping towards the statue.
He swooped down, and lightly caught her shoulders in his talons.  With the
added weight, it was a little harder to fly, and Ryo-Ohki struggled in
surprise for a moment, until Tenchi sent a soothing thought to her through the
mental link.  Flying toward the platform, he let her down, and then landed on
the edge of the statue.  Ryo-Ohki bounded up, and they found the key, set on
top of an altar.
     Ryo-Ohki grabbed it, and all hell broke loose.  Great eruptions  raged
out of the lava, and huge blobs of lava flew into the air.  Tenchi took off,
and grabbed Ryo-Ohki.  He flew back towards the exit, avoiding the eruptions
as best he could, getting a little cooked by a few near misses.  Using a
thermal to push him up higher, Tenchi wheeled around a lava bomb that was
flying at them.  Ryo-Ohki miyaed in fright, but kept a death grip on the key.
Diving under one last lava bomb, he flew out the door, and it slammed shut
behind them.  Down the corridor they went, towards the meeting spot.

*****

     Reinhart stepped into his tower carefully.  The room was full of tall
towers.  Looking over the edge near him, he saw that, far below, there was a
thick, glowing, green fluid.  He had no doubts as to what would happen if he
were to fall in.  Slowly, he began the treacherous journey across the towers,
leaping from top to top.  At one, he nearly slipped, but caught his balance
before it was too late.
     Jumping onto one, he was met by a howl of anger.  Looking to his right,
Reinhart saw a werewolf charging at him.  Diving to the side, he pulled out
his whip, and lashed at the foul creature.  The whip struck it, and it yelped
in pain, but kept coming toward him, claws extended.  With his free hand,
Reinhart drew his short sword, and slashed at the wolf man with it.  It
avoided the slash, and swept its foot out, catching Reinhart and knocking him
down.  The short sword flew out of his hand, sliding almost to the edge.  The
were wolf leapt at him, but Reinhart rolled out from under him, and it landed,
its claws driving into the ground.
     While it was trapped, Reinhart stood, and flicked his whip at it again.
The whip wrapped around its neck, there was a quick flash, and it dropped
dead.  Reinhart went to retrieve his short sword.  As he bent to pick it up,
something slammed into him from behind, knocking him down.  He rolled, on the
edge of the tower, to see another werewolf.  It reached down, and began to
clutch at his throat, cutting off his wind pipe.  With arms that felt like
they were in water, Reinhart tried to jam one of the creature's eyes, but to
no use.  The werewolf slobbered down on him, a cruel seeming grin on its
muzzle.  As the edges of his vision began to go black, Reinhart looked over,
and saw his short sword.
     Slowly, his hand stretched out for it.  Spots began to dance in his
sight, and he heard a loud buzzing in his ears, but he focused all of his
attention on reaching the sword.  His hand got there, and he forced the
fingers to close around it.  With the last ounce of his strength, Reinhart
brought it up and over, shoving the blade into the werewolf's back.  The tip
came through its chest, and almost to Reinhart's stomach, but the energy in
the wolf's grip left it, and its eyes clouded over.
     Sucking in a deep breath of air, Reinhart pushed the werewolf off of him.
Coughing and hacking, Reinhart thought that even the foul air of the castle
was some of the sweetest he'd ever tasted.  Coughing a few more times, and
shaking his head to clear it, he stood, pulled the sword from the werewolf,
and unceremoniously kicked it off the tower.  It hit the fluid with a splash,
and the body seemed to melt instead of sliding beneath the surface.
     He continued along the way, fending off a couple more ambushes, until he
found the key, resting on an altar before a tall statue carved of Death.  As
he grabbed it, the tower that he was on suddenly started to sink.
     "Oh hell, why can't this ever be easy?" he shouted, as he dashed back
across, leaping from tower to tower on his way back.  As his foot was leaving
the tower on his last jump, some of the green fluid seeped on, and touched the
bottom of his boot.  Reinhart caught onto the wall that was under the door,
and began to climb up.  Once his reached the top, he looked at the heel, and
found that a good quarter of an inch was missing from one, burned off by the
fluid.  Pausing a minute to chop off enough heel so that he could walk evenly,
he hurried down the hall.

*****

     Carrie entered her tower, and looked around in wonderment.  Before her,
huge crystals that fairly oozed magic floated in thin air, winding a path
upwards.  Below her, there was nothing.  She stepped onto the crystal, and
began making her way up.  Soon, the crystals began having breaks in them, and
she had to make leaps to get across.  Continuing on her way, she soon found a
tall tower, with a set of the crystal steps winding up and around it.  She
followed these up.  They lead to  the top of a huge crystal, in the middle of
which was a tall statue of Death.  Before it, an altar with a key stood.
     She walked slowly forward, and was about to touch it, when she sensed the
magical ward, being emitted by the statue.  Backing up, she powered up a magic
blast, and flung it at the statue of Death.  With a great snap, it fell
backwards, and ended balanced on the edge of the crystal.  Another small
blast, and the statue fell over the edge.  Listening, she heard no crash drift
up to her.  Shivering, she approached the altar again.  The ward was gone, and
she picked up the key.  Nothing seemed to happen, so she turned back.
     Below her, the crystals began to flicker, in and out.  Carrie looked down
as the one that she was on too began to change.  When she started to sink
slightly into it, she leapt forward.  Racing down the stairway, she looked to
her left.  Crystals appeared for a moment, and then disappeared only to
reappear somewhere else.  She leapt forward, and landed on one that was just
appearing.  Readjusting her course, she leapt to another one, and then
another.
     Almost half way back, she leapt as one of the crystals began to flicker
into life, but as her feet left the one she was on, the flickering stopped.
She sailed through the air, and began to fall.
     Quickly, she muttered the words for a spell her step-mother had taught
her, and her descent slowed, and stopped.  She floated there for a moment, and
then began to rise.  She felt the spell draining away her magic power quickly,
and she hoped that she would make it.
     The disappearing and reappearing crystals came back into view, and she
angled herself for the mass of them.  One in the center seemed to be staying
there.  Just before her magical reserves ran out, she crested its edge, and
grabbed on.  Pulling herself up with a heave, she panted for a moment, and
then gathered herself.  The crystal that she had landed on wasn't far from the
exit.
     Just before she was about to jump off, she felt a different type of
magical weave.  Looking around, she cast a very minor light spell, almost all
that she could handle.  The sphere of light drifted away, and towards the
door.  Suddenly, its progress was stopped, and it spread out.  The light took
the shape of a bridge.  Carrie walked over, gingerly touched it with her foot.
The bridge held, her foot not sinking in the slightest.  Closing her eyes, she
stepped onto it.  When she didn't fall, she grinned, and then ran the rest of
the way across.  As she reached the door, the light spell died, and she felt
herself slip as the bridge disappeared.  Windmilling her arms, she caught her
balance, and made it through the door.
     She made her way back to the center room, and got there just as Reinhart
was walking out of the corridor to his tower.  He was holding a key.  They
looked out the window, and saw that they sun had just crested its high point.
     "Where's Tenchi?" she asked, sitting down.  As if his name were a
summons, they heard the cry of a hawk coming from his tunnel.  They looked at
each other, and then stared as a huge hawk, with shimmering white feathers,
flew out of the hall, Ryo-Ohki held in its talons, who in turn held a key.
The hawk let the cabbit drop to the ground, and then flew a little farther.
It began to glow, and its shape changed from that of a hawk to that of Tenchi.
He touched down to the ground as the transformation finished, and shook his
head, as if a little off balance.
     "What a rush," he said, turning back to them.
     "You were a hawk!  I didn't think that vampires could become anything
other than a bat or a wolf, and certainly not a creature so associated with
the light," said Reinhart.  Tenchi shrugged.
     "I don't even know how I did it.  One second, I'm me, the next, I'm
flying."  He sat down on the ground.  "Did you two get the keys?  Reinhart
nodded, and showed it to him, while Carrie said yes.
     "I think that we should rest here for a little bit.  We'll need our
energy when we meet Dracula."  Carrie nodded, and Tenchi cleared his throat.
     "I'll keep watch, if you want to sleep."

*****

     Tenchi watched as Carrie and Reinhart went to sleep, and then leaned back
against the wall himself.  They were almost there.  He looked out the window,
at the sun which had fallen halfway through the sky.  At sunset, he would wake
them up.
     The sun.  When Tenchi had realized that it hadn't killed him, he had
wondered why.  The answer still hadn't come to him, but he was positive that
it had something to do with the Jurai power.  That was the key, he realized.
Something about the power had altered the curse somehow, had kept it from
harming him.  Something danced just out of his reach, but he knew that it was
the answer to the problem.  Ryo-Ohki came over to him, and hopped into his
lap, and started purring.  He had felt unease from her at first, when he had
picked her up after the final transformation, but finally, she had accepted
his new form.
     He turned his thoughts to home once again.  What were they doing there?
Ayeka would probably be storming around the house, looking for him and Ryoko,
while Mihoshi tried to keep her calm.  Tenchi was almost certain that Washu
wouldn't have told them yet that they had disappeared.  His dad would probably
be getting home from work right about then, and Tenchi had no doubts that when
he found out that both Tenchi and Ryoko had disappeared at the same time, he
would grab his camera and start searching the country side for them.
     In fact, the only two that he could see keeping their calm would be
Sasami and Katsuhito.  It sometimes surprised him that a little girl could
keep as level a head as his grandfather, but then, considering that she was a
goddess as well...  Tenchi looked at his sword.  It had served him well in the
past few days.  Maybe he really was starting to get the hang of it.  His
grandfather had always said that he would eventually gain full control of its
powers.  Smiling a little, he inspected it.  The depression where Ryoko's gem
had been brought, surprisingly, a thought of a happier time.  He hadn't really
expected it, but he knew that he wouldn't have been as happy as he was if he
hadn't of gotten the keys away from Katsuhito the year before.  Even through
all the battles, Ryoko and Ayeka's constant fights, they had formed a close
family, one that he wouldn't trade for a peaceful, normal life, no matter what
the cost.
     The cost...  He wondered how Ryoko and the others would cope with his new
'life.'  The rage that he had felt was gone now, spent in the bloodlust.  But
he could still feel that hunger, a little stronger now since time had passed
since draining the werewolf.  What could he do about that.  Although it seemed
that he could walk in the sun, he knew that that would follow him wherever he
went.  He knew that he couldn't risk an accident happening, not knowing, not
wanting to know what he would do if he were to awake from a bloodlust to find
Ryoko, or Ayeka, or any of the girls at his feet.
     Lost deep in thought, he didn't notice it when another presence entered
the room.
     "Teenchiii..."
     His gaze shot up, and Ryo-Ohki leapt up.  He stared in wonder, as before
him, Ryoko appeared.  Still wearing her stripped dress, and now a strange,
black circlet around her head, against the window with the sunlight streaming
in behind her, he could have sworn that she was an angel.  He thought of
Reinhart's words as they had entered the castle.  Even Castlevania itself
would try to stop them.  Tenchi reached out and grabbed Ryo-Ohki before she
could go to her.
     "You aren't real.  You're just the castle trying to stop us," he said.
Her eyes changed, getting the look that they did whenever she was deeply hurt,
and Tenchi had to fight down the impulse to try and take his words back.
Ryo-Ohki stared at him, and miyaed, but he wouldn't let her go.
     "Tenchi, how can you say that?  When he wasn't paying attention, I was
able to escape!  He thought that he had control over me, but he was wrong."
Her voice was so honest...  No!  He squeezed his eyes shut.  It was too close
to what he had been hoping, her just appearing before him.
     "I know you're an illusion!  Get away!  You can't stop us!" he shouted.
     He opened his eyes when he heard weeping.  Ryoko was still there, but was
looking away from him, hands over her face.  Slowly he stood.  Did he dare to
believe?  Slowly, he reached out, and was surprised when his hand came to rest
on her shoulder.  She pulled away from him a little, still crying. Swallowing,
he stepped closer, and pulled her hands down.  It was easier, he noticed, than
before.  She was far stronger than he, but with the vampiric strength, they
were on even terms.  She looked at him, and he stared deep into her golden
eyes.  Far within, he saw the true emotion that she kept hidden within
herself, and he knew.
     "Ryoko, I'm sorry.  I... didn't know.  So much has happened on the way
here..." he said softly, and then shook his head.  That was no excuse, but she
stopped crying, and smiled just a trifle.  He glanced to the side as Reinhart
woke up, and then stared dumbfounded.  Ryoko touched his cheek lightly, and
cringed.
     "What happened to you, Tenchi?  You're so cold..." she asked.  Tenchi
stepped back a bit, looking away.
     "I'm a vampire, Ryoko.  I got scratched by one on our way here, and I've
become a vampire."  She took a step back, mouthing the words oh no.  His
expression firmed.  "We have to get going.  Dracula will gain his power soon.
I've bloodied him, and I won't stop now."  Reinhart stood, and clapped Ryoko
on the shoulder, and then woke up Carrie.  She was quite surprised to see her,
and smiled warmly.
     For her part, Ryoko smiled back, her eyes half-closed, giving her a
remarkably cat like appearance.

*****

 Here is a preview of the next chapter:
     Tenchi gripped his blade tightly, as the Lord of the Night laughed, and
approached them.  Suddenly, he felt something slam into him from behind, and
he staggered down, falling to the ground.  A silvery, tinkling laugher filled
the air, a sound that he hadn't heard since the night that he had released
Ryoko.  Feeling a terrible dread, he rolled over.
     Ryoko floated above him, her blade in hand, laughing softly.

---
The Platinum Dragon
"The rising sun will eventually set,
  a newborn's life will fade.
  From sun to moon, moon to sun,
  Give peaceful rest to the living dead." - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of
Time
http://dragonsanime.dreamhost.com - Dragon's Masaki Shrine of Tenchi Muyo
Proud Member of the Ryoko Forever Fan Club