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From: rache <rache696@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} Witchcraft Ch 4 (complete) by Rachael Ross (See Chapter 00 for story codes)
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Witchcraft
by rache


=-=-=-=-=Chapter Four=-=-=-=-=

Part One



After nearly ten years, nothing had changed. Pinky's was still a dive,
queer as hell, and crowded with wanting people. I felt right at home.
The juke box was blaring Marley, some good reggae to go with the
Christmas lights, and I made my way to the bar, catching some eyes,
feeding some looks.

"Hey." The girl behind the bar smiled and she probably had a big dick
to go with her Adam's apple, but she was still cute. I wondered what
Lisa would think of a girl like that.

"Couple shots of Bacardi and a coke." I nodded. "Make it three."

"Right." She shrugged.

"Hi." A number of women passed, but the one I liked was an older woman
who pushed herself against the bar, holding a twenty in her fingers.
She was slightly heavy, in a motherly sort of way, round and smiling
at me.

"Hi." I smiled back and then the bartender was there, lining up my
shots and pouring the rum, moving from one glass to the next without
lifting the bottle.

"Waiting for someone?" The woman asked and then looked at the
bartender. "Let me get a tequila sunrise."

"No." I picked up one of my shots and downed it quick. "Looking for
someone."

"Oh." She nodded and smiled. "Anybody I know?"

"Heh." I grinned at that. "I doubt it. I'm Wendy."

"I'm Ann. I love your eyes." She held out her hand and I took her
fingers for a moment.

"Everybody does." I shrugged. "People think they're contacts."

"Really?" She took the excuse to examine me closely, barely glancing
at the bartender as she paid for her drink. "I wouldn't have thought
so."

"Hmmm..." I smiled at her. "So who are you waiting for?"

"I don't know." She looked around at the customers crowding the small
bar. "Someone...Else." She looked back at me. "Someone like you. What do
you do?"

"Me?" I laughed. "Whatever I want. How about you?"

"I'm doing what I want." She nodded. "I'm a rocket scientist."

"Oh yeah?" I lifted my eyebrows.

"Yeah, I work out at NASA, the Ames Research Center." She laughed
lightly, sipping her drink. "I look like a soccer mom, huh?"

"You don't look like an astronaut." I had to admit and I was drinking
my coke.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I'm boring." She wrinkled her nose and she
wasn't unattractive, maybe forty years old without any grey yet in her
short black hair. A long face and a nice smile to go with her brown
eyes.

"No excitement in your life?" I asked her playfully, flattering the
woman with a little doubt in my voice.

"Oh, I like a little excitement sometimes." Ann responded lightly. "So
long as I can keep my feet on the ground."

"Or your head on the pillow?" I ventured.

"Heh." She laughed and stood a little closer, which was very close by
then. "Or my ass on the bed, you mean?"

"Well..." I moved a hand to touch her waist, just my fingertips brushing
the beige sweater she was wearing. "...I didn't want to be rude."

"Mmm..." She grinned. "...That's okay; I've been single a long time."

"Oh? Nobody waiting at home?"

"Just my cat." Ann shrugged and she put her hand on top of mine,
pressing my palm to her hip. "Want to go to my place?"

"Ummm...How about mine? I have a suite at the Hilton." I smiled. "We
might even be able to see some stars from the balcony."

"Sure." Ann nodded after a few seconds of looking into my eyes. "Yeah,
you're closer anyway. I live all the way out in Mountainview."

"Good." I agreed and this was about as easy as I'd imagined it would
be. Some things never changed.

=-=-=-=-=-=--==-=-=-

"Here we are." I gave Ann a touch in the small oh her back, pushing
open the door of my suite for her.

"Nice..." She was looking around. "...Oh. Hello."

Lisa was laying on the sofa, watching television in her panties and
she smiled at us.

"Don't be afraid. Come here." Lisa spoke to Ann, lifting her left arm
only slightly, inviting the woman. "Come here and love me now."

"Alright." Ann said, sounding almost surprised, but she was moving,
walking towards the thin blonde girl without hesitation.

It was an interesting skill and I wondered just how strong Lisa was
with it. I was familiar with such things and there were a number of
martial disciplines which included hypnotic suggestion, but the young
vampire was making it look easy and I remembered how her voice had
tugged at me earlier in the evening. Ann didn't have a prayer of
refusing anything Lisa might suggest.

"Here...Sit here...I want to kiss you." The girl sighed, making room as
Ann joined her on the sofa and I'd already closed the door and locked
it.

I sat down, content to watch and understand and Lisa would look at me
every now an again, smiling and happy. She called the woman mommy and
Ann didn't resist the kisses Lisa was giving her, soft loving touches
with her lips to the woman's face and neck. Ann undressed for us, for
Lisa, exposing her pale body, her large breasts and I could see she
was aroused. Her nipples were dark and stiff and she sighed with
pleasure when Lisa kissed and licked them slowly.

Ann's fingers traveled across the teen's shoulders, and down her back.
She was careful to avoid the splinted arm and only when the woman
touched Lisa's injured ribs did the girl pause, stiffening for a
second with pain, but determined to ignore it. Ann moved her hands
back and forth along Lisa's back, traveling her spin and cradling Lisa
close while the girl nursed lovingly on the tit in her mouth.

I felt my blood stirring, watching them make love as if they'd been
intimate for years, but my mind wouldn't forget my two lost Bonsai and
so I couldn't relax enough to truly enjoy it. There was some pleasure,
however, and I sucked my lips and stared as Ann removed Lisa's small
white panties, tugging them down the girl's legs. Lisa had a pink sex,
smallish and covered with a fine cloud of golden hair. She sighed as
Ann brought her mouth to the vampire's pussy, kissing Lisa's body and
crouching then, half on the sofa and half off of it.

The sound of the older woman sucking Lisa's cunt filled the large
hotel room and I closed my eyes, content to feel their presence. I
couldn't be sure how much control Lisa was exercising over the woman
then; Ann seemed completely at peace and she seemed to radiate a
healthy lust for the girl beneath her tongue. And Lisa, she was like
my children, her wa in perfect harmony while her passions rose. She
was moving her hips, lifting herself as much as she was able and Ann
was a talented lover, as I'd expected. She held Lisa's pert round ass
in her hands, keeping the girl's fifteen year old cunt hard against
her mouth.

I could smell them in the air, a scent heavy with their arousal and I
imagined I could taste it upon my tongue. Lisa was bitter-sweet and
the woman between her thighs gave off a richer, more musky smell and I
enjoyed them both together. The tang of salty sweat was in the air and
I breathed deeply, enjoying it as a sweet perfume. The girl was close
to her orgasm, breathing harder and murmuring her approval, stroking
Ann's hair and guiding the woman to kiss and lick the places most in
need of her attentions.

"Umm...ohhh..." Lisa moaned long and low, breathing out and then leaning
forward as her climax slowly passed.

She lifted Ann's face, red now and wet with the girl's juices, and
Lisa kissed her deeply, working her tongue against the woman's for a
long minute before pulling away. The vampire took her lover then;
kissing Ann's flushed cheeks and then her neck, finding the woman's
carotid artery. The change came quickly, Lisa's human disguise melting
away and she revealed her true self finally, achingly beautiful and
made terrible by her youth. Her eyes glowed hotly, shining red as they
focused on her purpose. Lisa's fingers grew stiff and curved as she
clutched Ann to her with her left hand behind the woman's neck.

I watched Lisa's fangs slip into Ann's flesh without drawing so much
as a whimper from the woman. Ann merely turned her head, lifting her
chin and smiled towards the ceiling, her eyes lidded with ecstasy
while her heart pumped hot blood into Lisa's hungry mouth. It was neat
and efficient and I was surprised at the young vampire's skill,
although I shouldn't have been, I suppose. She'd pierced the artery
neatly and I saw little more than a thin trickle of scarlet escape the
girl's lips as she feed slowly.

It took Ann a good while to die, although I sensed Lisa could have fed
much faster if she'd wanted to. She might have drawn the blood with
her mouth, or released Ann from the spell she was under, enough to
frighten the woman and let her victim's adrenaline speed her death.
Lisa was gentle, though, even loving and again I felt a sadness
overcome her, a genuine regret I thought, for killing that woman. It
enveloped her, which was what I found most interested. Someone else, a
normal person, would have felt something else besides, but with Lisa
it was all or nothing and smiled at that for it was so perfect and
honest. It was shinki kiitsu, the balance of heart, mind, and soul,
and I doubted the child was even aware of it.

"I'm sorry." She kissed the woman's closed eyes, leaving small red
roses behind and then Lisa looked at me, changed back now into a girl
and nothing more. "Do you want me?"

"Yes." I agreed because I did want her then, very much so and she knew
it.

We left Ann to rest on the sofa while I carried Lisa into the bedroom.
She was so light, so warm now, much more than I remembered.

"It's the blood." Lisa said softly, as if reading my mind. "I'm so
cold without it."

"Why did you have to kill her?" I asked, because it didn't seem
necessary to me.

"I didn't have to." Lisa smiled sadly. "But I couldn't stop. It's...What
I am."

We made love as gently as we could, but she was eager for it, as if
sating her hunger had spawned an appetite of a different sort. Lisa
needed sex and the two acts were joined in her mind, in her spirit
even. The girl's injuries had prevented her from taking everything she
needed from Ann and so I was giving it to her after, in our large bed
with the lights off. Lisa could see me perfectly well in the dark and
I saw as much of her as I needed to, her aura was clear and full of a
life that had been stolen.

I straddled Lisa carefully, lowering my sex to her mouth as I knelt
wide around her shoulders. She kissed my pussy lightly at first,
exploring me with her lips and tongue. I felt her teeth, dull and
normal, grazing my skin and tickling the soft hollows of my thighs. I
stroked her flat belly and lower, playing my fingers through her damp
pubic hair and then along her hips and thighs as I leaned forward. She
was so soft, so warm and smooth, a beautiful girl and forever fifteen.
I both enjoyed that knowledge and resented it to some degree, because
she would have grown to be a beautiful woman and I'd never see it.

Lisa reminded me of my Bonsai and I felt a pang of guilty anxiety, but
there was nothing I could do for it. I would trust Lisa's opinion that
they were safe and perhaps the next evening, or the night after, I
would set Lisa upon the task of finding this Michel. Lisa hadn't been
able to sense my children, but I had to believe that the other vampire
had, or else how would he have found them so quickly? It wasn't by
chance, I was certain. He'd sensed something and it had made him
curious, even nervous perhaps, and so he'd taken them away.

I had to still those thoughts and concentrate on Lisa, for she was
making me feel very good. Her mouth had found my anus and I shivered
with delight as I felt the tip of her small tongue pressed against my
tight sphincter. She licked all around it and then went to work
forcing her tongue inside my ass. I made soft sounds of agreement,
moving for her and relaxing my body and finding myself growing wet
inside, the moisture trickling from my pussy, escaping my swollen
labia to stain my thighs.

The girl was wet as well, of course, and I found Lisa's cunt humid and
ready for my fingers as I dug a furrow between her greasy lips,
tickling the teenage clitoris I found at the top. It was small and
hard and she gave me a low growl of pleasure as I stroked it gently
between my finger and thumb, looking for her reactions to tell me what
she liked. I slipped my long middle finger inside Lisa's pussy,
finding her hole tight and feverish. The soft walls gave way
reluctantly, grasping at my digit as I explored the soft bumps and
ridges, caressing her sex from the inside out and finally curling my
finger as I looked for that special place all women have.

Ummphhh..." Lisa moaned and lifted her hips, her left arm coming up
finally, despite her pain.

She had to touch me then, it was impossible to stay quiet as I found
the bundle of nerves at the top of her sex. I fingered Lisa harder,
rubbing her with the tip of my finger, the nail scratching gently at
the girl's fiery itch. My young lover closed her legs tightly,
pressing her thighs together with much more strength that I'd have
expected, trapping my hand while succumbed to her second orgasm of the
night. It was a small one, a nice one, and it interrupted her eager
mouth for only a few dozen heartbeats before I felt her mouth moving
back to my own sex and I lowered myself completely then, putting us in
a comfortable sixty-nine with me on top.

We ate each other for a long while, both of us full of energy and
desire. Her pussy was just as I'd imagined, bitter-sweet and strong
with her cum, filled with flavor enough to curl my tongue as if I'd
been burned. So delicious though, so beautiful was this girl, every
part of her. Lisa filled my senses. Her taste and smell and the feel
of skin beneath my body. My hard nipples rubbed across her stomach and
hips, sticking to her occasionally, catching and then releasing as my
flesh became taut with our friction. I held her legs in my hands,
stiffening my tongue and fucking her with it while she did the same
with me. We were playing that game, follow the leader, and it was as
good a way to teach and learn as any other.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"You're worried, huh." Lisa sighed and it was very early in the
morning, a few hours before sunrise. "You really love them."

"Yeah." I smiled to myself. "I've only known them a few days, but..."

"I know." She was close to me as we lay there naked, with even a sheet
to cover us, and I was holding her close in the dark. "Did you dream
of them?"

"Dream?" I shook my head. "No."

"Angela dreamed of me." Lisa said. "That was how she knew we were
supposed to be together."

"I've never dreamed of anyone." I told her.

"Me neither." She agreed. "At least not like that. Someday I will
though, maybe."

We were quiet for awhile I sought sleep, but it was elusive and I
sensed that Lisa wasn't tired at all. She was very patient though, for
being young as she was, but then I supposed she'd spent many nights in
bed just waiting for the sun to come up.

"Are you going to kill Michel?" She asked me.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "If I have to I will."

"I heard he's very old." Lisa said. "Angela said he was strong, even
stronger than she was maybe."

"What about the other one, the one you're looking for?"

"The nun?" Lisa snorted. "She was even weaker than me, except she knew
kung-fu. Hey, can you teach me that stuff?"

"Teach you?" I laughed lightly. "Well, it isn't really kung-fu, it's..."

"Well, karate or whatever then."

"...a lot of different things." I smiled. "I'm hisai-jo sensei."

"What's that?"

"Ummm...Like a ninja master, I suppose." I was trying to explain the
unexplainable. "But...More than that."

"A ninja? Really?" She moved slightly. "Like killing people?"

"Yeah." I answered. "Killing people."

"Why?"

"Well..." I narrowed my eyes at nothing. "...It's what I am."

"I wish I was a ninja." Lisa rubbed her cheek against the side of my
left breast. "Are there a lot of ninja masters?"

"Oh, I don't know." I shrugged. "I can tell you how many hisai-jo
sensei there are though. Four."

"In the whole world?" She giggled.

"Uh-huh." I kissed the top of Lisa's head. "I'm the only woman. When
I'm older it'll be my duty to find a student and teach what I've
learned."

"I could be your student." The girl said.

"You're too old." I laughed.

"What?" I could hear her frown. "Why?"

"I started when I was three." I told her.

"Yeah, but..." She tilted her head up, seeing me perfectly with her
vampire eyes. "...I'm not getting any older though."

"I know." I said. "But some things, only a child can learn."

"Hmph."

"I can teach you other things." I promised. "I'll teach you akido."

"What's that?"

"Using your opponent against himself." I ran my hand across her tummy,
between her breasts. "It's how you broke your arm."

"Me?" She laughed. "You broke my arm."

"No, see, that's akido. Your own momentum snapped the bone; all I did
was create a pressure point." I smiled. "You were going pretty fast
too."

"I can outrun bullets." She giggled. "I've done it."

"But not all of them, huh?" I teased her.

"No, I didn't see the one that got me." Lisa admitted. "Here, feel
it."

She took my hand in hers, bringing my fingers to her shoulder and
there was barely anything there, just a small bit of scar tissue that
was actually softer than the skin around it.

"Pretty cool, huh? Better than a tattoo even." The girl said happily
and then sighed. "Except I don't know anyone to show it off to."

"Yeah. It's cool." I replied.

I was beginning to realize how lonely this young woman really was and
Lisa was a child in many ways. Or perhaps I should say that I got the
feeling that she'd never been a child at all, as if she'd been born at
fifteen and now she would remain there forever. I had very mixed
feelings about her. I didn't trust her, not entirely, but she seemed
so open, so eager to befriend me and I wasn't sure why. I needed her
and doubtless Lisa wanted all the help she could get when she faced
this man, Michel, but I didn't understand yet who she was, or even
what Lisa was.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I'd wondered where the girl would sleep, but Lisa assured me she would
be fine in the bedroom. Sunlight didn't hurt her at all, but it did
make her weak and uncomfortable, and of course she needed to rest. I
slept with her until noon and when I awoke she lay next to me like a
corpse. She didn't breath and her heartbeat was nonexistent it seemed,
but it didn't frighten me at all. There were half a dozen exercises in
ninjutsu alone that that accomplished much the same thing, to one
degree or another.

San Francisco was always sensitive to my needs. Tosen Ryu was located
downtown and I was familiar with the dojo, it had been the school
where I'd exercised when I was sixteen. Even then I'd been far ahead
of the other students and the sensei was not discriminating, probably
because he had been so young at barely fifty years old. It was a kendo
school, training students in the art of Japanese fencing and after
changing into my hakama, the traditional split skirt which is was
black and signified my mastery of kendo, I passed the rooms where
heavily padded kendokas practiced alone or with each other using
shinai, bamboo swords. Their kiai were loud and welcome to my ears.

I was a kendoka shodan, or expert, but my real mastery was in the
art's predecessor, kenjustsu and to that purpose I carried Akakaze at
my side. The sensei, a man named Nomara, would appreciate the honor of
seeing her. He was in a six tatami room, meditating with students of
the first rank and I waited patiently just outside. He would sense my
presence and at length the students filed past me, only five of them,
studiously ignoring me.

"Fuchida-san." He looked at me from where he sat and I entered the
room, empty but for the man himself, and closed the screen behind me.

I bowed for a moment before sitting across from him, carefully
observing the proper distance between a host and his guest, for I was
not his student, and in truth I never had been, although we'd both
played at that illusion previously. I laid Akakaze in her scabbard on
the golden tatami between us and bowed once more.

"Nomara-san, thank you for your hospitality." I said, observing custom
and then smiling. "You look well, sensei."

"I am well." He smiled in return. "Seeing you now," he nodded, "I've
often imagined you grown and here you are."

I laughed lightly, which was a sound so completely out of place in
that room that even the old man chuckled.

"I do not like your hair though." He teased me. "You look like a movie
star."

We spoke of unimportant things for several minutes and it was a joy to
be with the man again. He possessed a gentle spirit and a good nature
which I admired greatly. For a brief time we'd been lovers, only a for
month when I was sixteen and he was fifty. We didn't speak of it
directly, of course, but only shared the memory in each other's eyes
without regret or sadness. It was a warmth between us and pleasant.

"Red Wind." He breathed as I leaned forward to lift my katana in both
hands, palms up and offering it to him with a sitting bow, zarei.

"She called to me." I said without smiling.

"Of course." Nomara took the eighteen inch hilt in his hand and drew
thirty inches of bright steel free with barely a whisper. "It's
magnificent. Where did you find it?"

"Hanging on a wall." I smiled. "In Singapore. A foolish Chinese
businessman with more money than sense was using it to decorate his
office."

"Singapore?" Nomara stroked the blade. "So far from home."

"It was lost at the end of the occupation, the officer who carried it
was killed." I shrugged. "I don't know the whole story, but Akakaze
became spoils of war."

"So do we all." The man nodded.

I didn't tell Nomara how I'd cut off the Chinaman's man's feet. Yueh
had been a fitting punishment, but my friend wouldn't understand that.
It was the difference between us.

"My war is with a man."

"Tell me." Nomara said at last, replacing Akakaze in her scabbard and
laying the sword once more between us.

"His name is Michel." I said, "A vampire."

"Michel?" He shook his head.

"It's important that I find him. He's taken something from me."

"Then he is very foolish." Nomara offered with a smile. "Vampires..."

"I've seen them." I shrugged.

"You walk upon a different path than I do, Fuchida-san." He lowered
his head slightly. "I do not know of these things."

"But there is someone who would?"

"Perhaps." He shrugged. "There is an alchemist, a man named Koga..."

"Tatai Koga?" I knew him.

"Yes." Nomara nodded. "He may know something. His shop is in
Chinatown."

"Yes. I will speak with him then." I agreed, and in fact I'd already
decided that even before speaking with my old teacher.

"It is good to have seen you once more." The man smiled at me.

"And you as well, sensei." I bowed my head.

"Hmmm, I am hardly that in your presence." He wanted to touch me and
we looked at each other for a long moment.

I rose with Akakaze in my hands and bowed low. There was nothing more
to be said and I left him there, but he stopped me as I opened the
screen.

"Wendy..."

I turned to see him.

"...Your hair is beautiful."

I smiled and lowered my eyes.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Koga was old and withered and he barely glanced at me as I walked into
his shop, but a second later he lifted his old black eyes slowly and
narrowed his heavy grey brows together, drawing his thin lips into a
scowl. He'd taught me herbalism, when I was six and seven years old,
coming to Las Vegas several times a month, staying just long enough to
make me hate him before leaving again. The man liked to slap my
forehead if he thought I was learning too slowly. I'd paid Koga-san a
few visits, when I needed something particular, like a poison made
from yew, for example. He was very talented and he did know a lot of
people.

"You." He spat. "You owe me money."

"Your incense gave me a headache." I examined a small brown bird in a
fine wicker cage.

"Don't touch that!" He sat straighter at his table, plain oak and
deeply stained and scarred. His shop was cluttered and smelly, the
walls and their dusty shelves held jars and pots and small wooden
boxes filled with unnamed things.

"It's a bird." I laughed.

"What do you want, eh?" He frowned. "Do you need an abortion?"

"Vampires." I turned to face him, my sword in a long thin satchel and
looped across my shoulder with a strap.

"Ah, and so you have come to me." He nodded.

"Michel. Do you know him?"

"I know everyone." Koga chuckled. "Everyone knows that and so everyone
knows me."

"Who?" I understood him immediately.

"He was wearing a suit." The old man shrugged, going back to what he
was doing, grinding small yellow seed with a pestle. "I didn't look
any further than that. I didn't have to."

I frowned. Sanderson had sent someone. That hadn't taken long.

"He was asking about you."

"It doesn't matter." I shrugged. "Tell me about Michel."

"Why?"

"Because you love me."

"Yes, yes. Why do you want to know?" He waved away my smile.

"He took something from me." I said. "I want it back."

"He won't see it that way." Koga tapped the pestle against the mortar.
"His city, it belongs to him."

"His city?" I chuckled dubiously.

"Vampires are like that." Koga agreed. "Like dogs."

"Where do I find him?"

"Necropolis." He said. "City of the dead, do you know it?"

"No. It's a cemetery?"

"Mmmm...Could be." Koga shrugged. "Go there, bring the girl. He'll find
you."

"How do you..."

"Jaho." He whispered.

"Magic?" I laughed. "I didn't know you were maho-zukai now. Sensei!"

I bowed, but only so far as I had to in order to insult the man
properly.

"A sorcerer?" He clapped his hands looking up and around. "Do you hear
that? She honors me!"

"They hear you, Koga-san. " I rolled my eyes, but I was reminded that
I hadn't gone to the temple yet and the day was fading quickly.

"Take this." The old man stood up, rummaging through his cluttered
shelves.

"Will it help me with the vampire?" I asked, watching his bent form
move slowly.

"What?" He turned his head, staring at me for a moment and then
turning with a small wooden box in his hands.

"What is it?"

"A comb." He held it out. "Sandalwood, for the girl. It smells nice."

"Oh."

"And you think you know everything there is to know about me." He
laughed. "You're a child."

"At least you didn't hit me this time." I smiled, but he was already
turning away.

"Do you know that old American saying?" He asked without looking at
me.

"Which one?"

"Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out." Koga chuckled
softly. "Goodbye Witch."

"Goodbye, Sorcerer."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=--=-=-=-=-=

I drew a deep breath and rose slowly after my prayers because there
was a man waiting for me, although he'd tried very hard not to
intrude.

"Miss Fuchida." He bowed low. "Mr. Yamashita is calling for you."

"Thank you." I said, accepting the telephone he produced.

The temple was very old, overlooking the pacific ocean and it had
taken an hour of my precious time to reach it. There were others,
closer to the city, but this one had been moved, stone by stone from
Japan and so it was home. Even the wooden beams and pillars were from
the northern forests of Hokkaido and I'd breathed their ancient scent
gratefully.

"I am Miss Fuchida." I said softly in Japanese, looking at the sun
falling just above the sea. It was dull and red and gloomy.

"I am always surprised by you." The old man's voice chuckled.

"Sir."

"I have very little information." Mr. Yamashita confessed. "Petofi
briefed you?"

"The Elder, yes." I agreed.

"Petofi was a valuable asset." Mr. Yamashita said.

"Irreplaceable?"

"Hardly." I could almost hear his shrug. "But there are things which
are, Miss Fuchida."

"I understand."

"Do you require assistance?"

"I require the truth." I told him bluntly. "If I do not get them back,
father..."

"Yes?"

"...I will not forgive you."

"It was necessary to discover the muhon-nin in my company." Mr.
Yamashita said. "Deception is the shadow of truth."

"And the wellspring of evil." I frowned. "There are complications."

"Yes?"

"Another vampire. Are you aware of this?"

"The one who killed Petofi's men?"

"Yes."

The phone was quiet for several minutes while Mr. Yamashita considered
that. He knew Petofi had taken my Bonsai, and that someone else, a
third party, had killed the kidnappers in turn, but that was all. News
of another vampire was disturbing, although...

"That would explain much." Mr. Yamashita finally said. "Are they in
danger?"

"I don't know." I said honestly. "Perhaps."

"Foxtrot must be protected at all costs." Mr. Yamashita sighed. "Do
you understand?"

"And the Bonsai?"

"I do not believe in coincidence." The man said.

"Nor do I."

"They must be recovered, Miss Fuchida."

"Then we are agreed, Mr. Yamashita."

"We are agreed." He sighed. "Eliminate the threat, return the Bonsai
to the facility, and ensure their safety."

I turned off the phone after the line had gone dead and I bowed to the
sun, which was now sinking into a sea of blood. Mr. Yamashita had
played a fool's game previously and now we were paying for it. How
much simpler if he'd given me such clear instruction from the
beginning, I thought.

Bringing the twins to the lab, to Petofi before his true nature was
revealed, however...I considered that carefully. Clearly Mr. Yamashita
had suspected the existence of a traitor, a muhon-nin, and so he'd
used the Bonsai as bait. Bringing them close enough to elicit a
response and depending upon my skills to thwart it. I'd become angry
and seek revenge, the traitor would be found and eliminated, and Mr.
Yamashita would reclaim his gift.

My employer hadn't expected a second attack to soon; nor had I, not
understanding that I wasn't the intended target. That was where the
flaw in Mr. Yamashita's calculations lay and where his deception had
made us vulnerable. It had been a risk and fate had favored Petofi at
the cost of his life.

But why San Francisco? Why to a place where there was a vampire
powerful enough to sense the twins and interested enough to take them?
Was it merely bad luck? Where had Stephen come from? Petofi had
suggested that there was little more to be learned physically from the
twins, and yet they were extremely valuable to him. If not for
research, than to what end? Something else, as a commodity perhaps. A
transaction? With this vampire, Michel?

I frowned and my thoughts were disturbed by Mr. Yamashita's agent who
was nearby, waiting for his phone, of all things. I handed it to him,
going back to my car and ignoring the man's wasted formalities. I
required nothing further from him or his employer. Mr. Yamashita was
unaware of it as yet, but I didn't work for him anymore.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"The Necropolis?" Lisa was soaking in the bathtub and the sun was two
hours gone by the time I'd returned to the hotel.

"Have you heard of it?" I asked her, sitting on the closed toilet and
admiring the girl, reminding myself that she wasn't human.

"Hmmm...No." She shook her head. "But Angela said there were places for
people like us, like vampires, where we could hang out or whatever."

"Hang out?" I smiled.

"I don't know." She giggled. "Maybe it's in the phonebook. Did you
check there?"

"No." I grinned and stood up. "I guess I could look though."

"Heh." Angela wiggled her eyebrows at me and she had her legs spread
invitingly beneath the clear water. "Hurry back."

"Hmmm..." I rolled my eyes and went into the other room.

I had to ask the front desk to find out for me and surprisingly enough
there was a listing for a Club Necropolis. I wrote the address down
and I might have felt slightly chagrined, but I was a novice in this
new world hiding beneath the real one and I had much to learn. What
better place to hide than in the open? If this was indeed the right
place.

"It was listed?" Lisa laughed as I held up the piece of paper and
nodded. "Yeah, see? I am useful!"

"I never said you weren't." I smiled. "How's your arm?"

"I can move it, see?" She held her right arm out which had been broken
almost exactly twenty-four hours previously. "My ribs don't hurt at
all."

"Really?" I narrowed my eyes and it was very much an incredible feat
of recuperation. The blow to her side should have killed her, in all
actuality.

"Yep. Good as new...Well, my arm still hurts a little." She shrugged.
"Probably by tomorrow it'll be fine though."

"Huh." I nodded. "Well, are you ready to go vampire hunting?"

"Can I feed first?"

"Do you need to?"

"Yeah, I'm starved, I mean...Well, I get hungry sorta, but not like in
my stomach." She giggled. "It's like, I get cold, you know? Healing
takes a lot of energy."

"Okay." I shrugged. "Do you want me to find someone, or..."

"No, I can get something on the way." She grinned. "I'm not gonna be
picky."

"Right." I licked my lips and I think there was something about seeing
the girl, looking beautiful and innocent as she was, but hearing her
speak so casually of murder...It was confusing and I wasn't sure how to
feel about it.

"What did you do with the one last night?" Lisa asked, standing up
slowly and I watched the water cascade down her pale skin.

"Ann?" I sighed softly. "I gave her to the sea. I prayed for her."

"I liked her." Lisa nodded.

"Yeah." I shrugged.

"Do you believe in God?" Lisa asked me while she dressed.

"I believe in the universe, in a power that unites us." I said. "And
its opposite, that which would drive us apart."

"That's cool." Lisa nodded. "You think it's in you?"

"They're both in me." I laughed. "They're inside you too."

"Not anymore." She said and her voice had an edge to it, a real
conviction.

"Perhaps." I shrugged, unwilling to argue.

"Do you think when you kill someone that God feels it?" Lisa stared at
me and her eyes were red, glowing faintly.

"We all feel it." I nodded.

"Good." She smiled and her eyes were blue again. "I was afraid it was
just me."

Lisa dressed in the same clothes she'd been wearing the night before.
A pair of boys boots, brown leather and scuffed, a pair of red leather
pants, hip huggers that fit her nicely and rode low enough to show the
waistband of her white panties, and a white t-shirt without a bra to
encumber her smallish breasts. It was tomboyish and sexy and I very
much liked her looks. She possessed a latent sexuality and her
appearance suggested that Lisa was trying to hide it, but that only
made her all the more attractive. I wondered if that was intentional,
or merely a happy accident she was unaware of.

I wore a simple skirt in black and a long sleeved blouse in forest
green, both loose and made of silk. Panties and a bra, none of it
fancy or terribly exciting, but comfortable and well suited to moving
in shadows. Dark stockings and low heeled shoes of black leather. I
made up my face, because it was a club afterall and I needed a
disguise perhaps to get me inside at least. Beauty is always a good
one and I watched Lisa do her own makeup, not very much, but she did
it quickly and without the help of a mirror, which was interesting.

"No reflection." She shrugged and I was already aware of that.

"Why?"

"I dunno." She giggled. "It's dumb, huh? I mean not having a shadow
would be cool. Not having body odor would be handy. But no reflection?
Come on. Somebody has a sense of humor."

"Heh." I grinned. "I guess so. Jinno Shitoki said, the mirror shines
without a selfish mind. Everything good and bad, right and wrong, is
reflected without fail."

"That Jinno person wasn't a vampire though, huh?" Lisa giggled.

"No. I guess not." I was getting Akakaze ready, placing her on the
bed, going through my ritual. Saika tanden, the Breath of the Void.

"What are you doing?" Lisa asked, watching me, but I didn't reply
immediately.

"I'm going to bring Akakaze." I smiled. "In my head."

"What?" She gave me a doubtful look.

"I put her in a certain place and once I know where that place is, I
can call her to me." I said. "It's jaho. Magic."

"What, like the sword flies?"

"No." I laughed. "It just...Exists."

"Yeah, whatever." Lisa shrugged. "You know serious, kung-fu, huh?"

"Oh yea." I nodded. "It's very serious."

"Can you do this?" She asked and the girl disappeared, suddenly
standing behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist and kissing my
neck.

"If I'd wanted to bite you, I could have." She whispered.

"I would have known before you did it." I smiled, turning slowly in
her arms and looking down into her eyes and her wa radiated warmth and
peace.

"Are you sure?" She asked and I answered her with a kiss, because I
wasn't completely sure and I didn't want to admit it.

Witchcraft
by rache


=-=-=-=-=Chapter Four=-=-=-=-=

Part Two



"There's another vampire here." Lisa suddenly said, here eyes widening
with surprise and perhaps even fear.

We were walking Fisherman's Wharf, shortly after ten and it was
crowded with tourists and vendors, street performers of all kinds. One
guy was dressed in camouflage, leaping out of some bushes to frighten
people for a spare change. San Francisco was always weird.

"Where?" I looked at her. "Here? At the Wharf?"

"No..." She blinked at me and smiled. "...She was up there. Going that
way."

Lisa pointed up and then towards the southeast.

"Maybe she can fly?" The girl was confused by it.

"Maybe she was on an airplane, circling for a landing." I grinned.

"Oh, yeah. Maybe." Lisa shrugged. "That was weird. Whoever it is, he's
strong too. Stronger than Michel I think."

"You can tell that?" I asked and we started walking again, looking for
someone to kill and sate the girl's hunger.

"Yeah, sort of. I mean I can tell they're vampires, you know, but this
one." She shivered. "He's cold."

"It's a he?"

"Well, it could be a girl, I don't know." Lisa admitted.

"We need to get to that club, it's getting late." I didn't wear a
watch, but my sense of time was excellent as always and the truth was
that it wasn't late at all for a dance club. I was merely impatient.

"Okay...Um..." Lisa paused, looking around and there were a lot of people
around to pick from and I was interested in watching how she would do
it.

"Do you need me to help?" I wondered and Lisa shook her head.

"No. I'll be right back." She breathed and apparently she'd made up
her mind.

The girl's aura shifted slightly, her wa changing as she moved, using
her unique ability to suddenly move some twenty yards away, appearing
beside a teenage girl standing alone near the wax museum, waiting for
someone probably. I kept walking, in their direction as it happened,
and Lisa put her arm around the girl, leaning close and the girl
listened, smiling and nodding and then they were gone, in the blink of
an eye.

It was a very good trick and you would have had to watch closely to
see it, and even then it would have made so little sense that you'd
dismiss it. People didn't just appear and disappear, not like that. I
tried to find Lisa then, closing my eyes and standing still. I could
sense the other people and that was no real trick at all, there are
more than the five ordinary senses and through meditation they can be
discovered and used, but I couldn't find Lisa and I wondered how far
the girl could go like that.

I walked for twenty minutes perhaps, moving slowly and ignoring a few
guys who tried to hit on me. They were drinking, hanging out and
having fun and I was ever a young woman alone. The story of my life,
but the boys were harmless anyway. I moved along and finally Lisa was
walking towards me, smiling and looking flushed and I could see the
change in her that feeding had brought. She was glowing now with
another girl's life and again, I didn't know how to feel about that.
I'd killed many times, and I'd killed innocent people, but always in
pursuit of a specific goal and I suppose survival was as good a reason
as any.

It was a little late in my life to discover morality anyway.

"Oh God!" Lisa threw herself at me, literally, wrapping her arms
around my neck with surprising strength and kissing me hard.

Her tongue filled my mouth and I had little choice but to hold her.
The girl's body was very warm, as if she had a fever and her sexual
hunger was unmistakable. I felt her nipples hard as pebbles through
her t-shirt, rubbing against my body and her right leg entwined with
my own, pulling our hips together so that she could grind with me in a
crude parody of sex.

People stared and talked, some astonished giggles could be heard, but
the effects of Lisa's ardor weren't lost on me by any means. I was
responding, instinctively it seemed, or at least without any real
ability to resist it. She was doing something, her body chemistry
exuding some pheromone, I thought, like an aphrodisiac that filled my
senses. It was almost intoxicating and her every touch upon my skin
was electric. I imagined this was what Ann was feeling the evening
before, this sexual attraction that seemed almost irresistible.

It was changing Lisa as well, now that she had an object for her
desires. I felt her nails growing long and sharp and her teeth, those
needle fangs extending and I cut my tongue on one of them, so that
blood filled our mouths and that brought a sudden moan from the girl
and we were moving in a blur, she was carrying me away and a second
later we were in the dark, in a park several blocks away, separated
from passing traffic by a thin hedgerow and some trees.

"Down..." Lisa breathed, "...Down here with me." And she was using her
voice, perhaps unintentionally and I resisted it, but even so I sat
with her on the grass.

We were kissing again and now I felt her hand moving under my skirt,
finding my sex through my panties and I gasped softly when Lisa's
fingers tore through the cotton easily, entering my moist cunt. I
brought my mouth to her breasts, sucking at her erect nipples, biting
them through the thin fabric with my teeth and she groaned, cradling
me against her. We were fuckin, my fingers working blindly to unbutton
her hipsters, wanting to finger her as well, and a short time later we
were in a sixty-nine, side by side in the middle of the city, eating
each other frantically.

I was tongue fucking Lisa's sex, her fifteen year old cunt opening
easily and the vampire was soaked, her juices strong and tart as I
swallowed her eagerly. I was vaguely aware that she was biting me,
stabbing into my sex with her long fangs, but there was no discomfort
there, only pleasure such as I'd never experienced before. Lisa pushed
her tongue inside me, closing her jaws over my throbbing clitoris and
sinking her teeth deeply into the soft tissue of my pubis. She was
supping on me, drinking my blood even as I came for her.

It seemed unreasonable to me that I'd succumbed so easily. The moment
was incongruous and made little sense, as if our actions were out of
proportion to our circumstance. I'd spent my entire life practicing
self-discipline, exercising control over every aspect of my existence
and yet somehow I'd lost that. I was making love to the girl, it was
the only thought in my mind and every beat of my heart was directed
towards pleasing Lisa, giving her pleasure with my body.

We came several times, both of us and we were stained with dew and
dirt and our musky arousal. I was panting and giddy as I hadn't been
since...Since I'd last made love with my mother, with Maggie in Greece.
The last time I'd felt happy and free. The emotions that filled me
were welcome and I didn't turn away from them even as I felt my
strength returning, my willpower reasserting itself finally. I
embraced that pleasure and the memories it brought and I thanked my
newest lover with my eyes and fingers as I stroked her cheek.

Lisa turned her head, nodding against my hand like a kitten and her
eyes were bright embers, glowing hotly in the darkness and I could see
her teeth as she drank the cool night air. We shared a companionship,
I realized, more than a friendship of convenience, there was something
between us. It was tenuous and weak, but a bond nonetheless and
growing stronger. Lisa could sense it as well as I and she turned her
face to kiss my palm.

"I could turn you." The vampire whispered. "I can feel it, inside me.
We can be together."

"We are together." I told Lisa gently.

"Forever?" She smiled.

"I don't want to be a vampire." I told her.

"I know." She shrugged and showed no disappointment. "I didn't want to
be one either."

"We should go." I said a few minutes later, getting up and lifting my
skirt to see my torn panties in the weak light.

"Oops." Lisa giggled. "Sorry."

"Oh well." I laughed, taking them off and tossing them away. "I'll
just have to be careful how I sit."

"Yeah...You want to borrow mine?" She asked, holding her pants in one
hand and her panties in the other because Lisa had ended up naked from
the waist down.

"Sure." I agreed and only because I did suddenly desire that strange
intimacy.

"Cool." Lisa stuck her tongue out and she was changed now, into her
beautiful, human form.

"This is weird." I grinned, pulling up her damp underwear, feeling her
juices against my own wet sex.

"I think I'm in love with you, Wendy." Lisa told me.

I looked up suddenly, catching her eyes and we stared at each other
for a long second before she swallowed thickly, looking down and
putting on her pants quickly. She was embarrassed, I thought, and
anything I might say wouldn't help, so I just smiled and remained
silent.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"He's close." Lisa told me, "Behind us."

"Just now?" I asked and we were approaching the club, which was
actually an old stage theater.

It was well lit outside and a line was queued up for entrance, thirty
or forty people, young men and women dressed as Goths for the most
part, waiting impatiently to be admitted by a pair of doormen. There
was something odd about them, the way they moved was unnatural to my
eyes, their physical appearance wrong somehow. There was nothing
specific, but I felt it, the way I could often sense something out of
place and dangerous without knowing specifically what or why.

"No, he's been close all night, since I fed." Lisa told me. "He
watched us in the park."

"You didn't want to tell me?" I glanced at the girl and Lisa shrugged.

"I didn't want you to stop needing me." She said softly. "I'm sorry."

"Lisa." I smiled at her and she really was a little girl inside, even
though she was older than she appeared. Whatever her life had been
before, it hadn't taught her how to trust someone, or even how to
love, I thought.

"Are we still going inside?" Lisa asked me and I nodded.

"Yeah, we'll invite him in for a drink. Maybe we won't have to fight."
I said. "You see the guys at the door?"

We were walking slowly, getting closer.

"Yeah." Lisa nodded. "They're not human."

"I know." I smiled at her. "What are they?"

"Beats me." Lisa giggled. "We must be at the right place though, huh?"

"Yeah." I agreed.

We skipped the line, figuring the worst that could happen was the
guys, the creatures guarding the doors, would turn us away and tell us
to wait. I had a feeling that if Lisa could recognize them as
something other than they appeared, they would be able to see through
her human disguise easily enough.

"Maybe I'm not old enough to get in." Lisa grinned at me and some
people were looking at us, the vampire wanna-be's standing in line.

"I don't think they're going to card you." I chuckled and we were
suddenly there.

"Hi." Lisa smiled and by silent agreement we knew it was her turn to
do the talking. I was just another human, she was something else.

"Hi there." One of the doormen said and he was large and brown,
smiling beneath his big bald head and he has a big golden ring through
his nose. "I haven't seen you here before."

"I just got into town." Lisa nodded. "Can we go in or what?"

"Of course." The man said agreeably. "Watch your step; you want to go
down the stairs."

"Thanks." Lisa grinned and looked at me with a shrug. That was easy.

Just inside the entry was another door to the left, unmarked and
unremarkable. The other doorman was ahead of us, pushing it open and
stepping aside so we could enter a stairway leading down. The stairs
were steep and long, with bare bulbs hanging from a rough cracked
ceiling. We could hear and feel the thrum of heavy music, the deep
bass going through us.

I followed Lisa and she was laughing, enjoying herself now and this
little adventure. Perhaps she felt like she was going home or
something, to a place where vampires were welcome and she didn't have
to hide what she was. There was an energy in the air, something
otherworldly and not easily defined and my friend's eagerness found
its opposite in my own sudden reluctance.

I was entering a dangerous place and I became increasingly wary and
suspicious with every step I took.

"Ohhh..." Lisa had found another door and another doorman and he was
tall and thin, an albino it seemed with pink eyes, milky hair, and red
tattoos of complex design and spiritual significance covering his pale
skin wherever it was exposed.

"Vampire? Yes?" The man seemed to be sniffing the air, scenting Lisa
as she blinked at him.

"What are you?" She asked.

"A prophet." The man chuckled. "Enjoy yourself, little vampire."

We walked past him and like the doormen upstairs, this so-called
prophet ignored me completely. I soon forgot about him as we entered
the club proper. It was reasonable in all ways, even typical of a
dance club. There was another entry, a large carpeted stairway and I
realized that it led up to the old theater at street level. There
would be another club up there, one for normal people, the humans, and
only a select few were allowed down there where we were.

The place wasn't overly crowded, but perhaps it was early, I had no
idea. There was a bar, a number of tables and booths where patrons
were sitting in small groups of two or three, many of them in close
conversation and paying little mind to anything or anyone around them.
A portion of the club was a dance floor, with a DJ mixing the music in
a large, neon lit booth nearby. There were a fair number of people
enjoying themselves there. Several waitresses made the rounds and one
of them passed us close, giving Lisa a smile, but not saying anything.

"I guess we can sit down." I said and Lisa shrugged at that.

"This place is weird." She decided as we settled into a crescent
shaped booth, sitting close together with our backs to the wall and
looking into the club.

"Any other vampires in here?" I wondered and Lisa was looking around.

"Not that I can tell." She said. "But half these people..." she giggled
nervously, "...they're not people."

"Yeah, I figured that much out." I nodded.

"Hi." A waitress came by a few minutes later. "What can I bring you?"

"Just a coke." I said.

"Nothing for me." Lisa shook her head and then answered my questioning
look. "If I have anything, I'll just get sick fifteen minutes later."

"What? Really sick?" I wondered.

"No, I just throw up." The girl shrugged. "It sucks, really."

"I guess so." I frowned at that. "You can't eat or drink anything?"

"Human blood, that's it." Lisa nodded. "Animal blood is like poison,
or so I heard. I never wanted to bite a cow anyway though."

"Heh." I laughed at that.

"I miss French Fries." Lisa sighed. "I get some once in awhile, just
to smell them, you know?"

"French fries?" I smiled. "I used to like those."

"Used to?" Lisa looked at me. "You don't like them anymore?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Maybe. They're not too healthy though."

"Are you a health nut?" She smiled. "One of those vegetarians or
something?"

"Hmmm...Sort of, maybe." I laughed. "I do eat a lot of fruits and
vegetables. A lot of rice."

"Well...Yeah, I figured that." Lisa laughed at me.

"It's not so bad." I said, watching the waitress set my coke down in
front of me. "You get used to it."

"Not me." Lisa said almost sadly. "Not anymore." She looked up. "He's
here, that one in the black suit."

"Him...That's Michel?"

I followed Lisa's gaze and saw him coming, a strikingly handsome man
with curious smile on his face. He was perhaps thirty-five years old
in appearance, but probably far older than that, finely dressed in a
dark silk suit with a blood red tie and white kerchief in his breast
pocket.

"I think so." Lisa said softly. "Who else would it be? The other one,
the new one, is close too."

"At last we meet!" The man said, staring at Lisa and she swallowed
nervously, but didn't turn away from his smile. "Would you like to
dance?"

"What?" Lisa blinked at him.

"Of course, introductions." He sighed. "I forget myself, I'm afraid.
I'm Michel, and you must be..."

"Lisa." She said.

"Lisa. Yes." He nodded. "I was so sorry to hear about Angela." Michel
leaned close, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath.

"Where's the nun at?" Lisa asked, spurred by the mention of her dead
lover.

"You have her upon you still, after all this time. That's good." The
vampire said after a moment and his voice was melodic and accented
with French.

"That Sister Ellen." Lisa was changing, trying to remain calm but
already her fingernails were long, razor sharp and hard as steel. She
was gouging the table deeply, dragging her fingers along the wood.

"Let's dance now." Michel was ignoring Lisa's question. "Combat
between such as ourselves is frowned upon, dancing is a much better
sport."

The man was holding out his hand, smiling still and Lisa looked at it.

I put my hand on her shoulder, sensing that the girl was tensing,
preparing to move. I wasn't sure if it was to dance with this other
vampire, or if she planned to attack him and I didn't think even Lisa
knew what she intended.

"I'll dance with you." I told him, giving Michel my blue eyes and a
thin smile as I moved slowly out of the booth. I didn't like sitting
there.

His smile flickered like a candle before he recovered, looking at me
for the first time and it was clear he'd considered me nothing more
than Lisa's pet human.

"And the pleasure will be mine." He said softly, watching as I gained
my feet, facing him with only a few feet between us.

"Perhaps." I smiled. "You have something of mine."

"Yes?" Michel tilted his head and we were dancing now.

"Twins, a boy and a girl." I nodded. "I want them back."

"I see." His eyes were turning red, staring into mine.

"The other as well, the nun." I said, for Lisa's benefit.

"And if I should..." He shrugged, "...Refuse?"

"You'll be unhappy." I promised him.

"I don't know you." He shook his head. "But you look...Tired."

"Don't." I resisted his suggestion easily and in that way at least,
Michel was weaker than Lisa.

"My apologies." He was unhappy now and he spread his arms slightly. "I
had to try. The nun? I don't know, you could go to Washington, her
master is there."

"Her master?" Lisa asked. "I thought that was you."

"By unhappy coincidence, so did I." Michel smiled. "Ellen serves her
church, the Cardinal Beschi. He's the one responsible for Angela's
death."

"I don't believe you." Lisa said, still sitting there, but the male
vampire only had eyes for me and they were crimson now. "Why? Who's
he?"

"He wanted a test, perhaps." Michel shrugged. "A demonstration of
Ellen's skills, her loyalty. Even her faith, knowing Beschi as I must
confess I do."

"So you had nothing to do with what happened?" Lisa asked. "You didn't
send her there to kill us?"

"No." He glanced at the girl. "What happened was unavoidable, but I
did not cause it. I give you my word."

"And the twins?" I asked.

"They're not for you." The vampire turned to me and he was very fast,
striking low with his left hand coming upward as if to disembowel me.

I was prepared for it and I stepped back and then forward, the
movement as much instinctive in me as his own had been. I caught his
wrist in my right hand, bringing my left hand up to cup the vampire's
elbow and it was akido, using my strength and his motion to direct his
energy up and back so that Michel lost his balance, his shoulder
dislocating with a loud pop that I could feel through his flesh. I let
him go with a push and he fell backwards, landing heavily on the floor
some half-dozen feet away.

He was up instantly, snarling and showing his fangs. Michel's left arm
hung limp and low, but his right hand was a deadly claw and he was
already springing towards me, his features contorted with a primal
lust for blood. I met his attack with Akakaze as she fell into my
hands out of the Void, bringing my sword in a kote strike. A cut to
the wrist as if the vampire's hand held a weapon of his own. My kiai,
my shout, exploded as I continued my movement beyond normal kenjutsu
form, kneeling low with my right leg, the knee between my breasts as I
leaned forward, and my left leg straight behind me. Akakaze had
already severed the vampire's hand completely and the blade swept
forward and down, an extension of my form, slicing through his stomach
and left side in an abbreviated gyakudo as his momentum carried Michel
past me.

He was dying, standing on his feet holding the stump of his right arm
high, and I had very little time to get my answers. I'd felt no desire
to kill him and if I'd had more time, or just patience, there'd been
other options available. The tanden, the second brain which is the
reflex center, hadn't allowed me to consider them and that was proof
that my skills, while appreciable, were not yet perfected. I'd made a
mistake and Michel was already on his knees.

"Where are the twins?" My voice was soft.

I stood in front of him and only his vampiric nature sustained Michel
now, but not for much longer. The blood of his recent victims, whoever
they may have been, was pooling around his knees. The man looked up
but didn't speak immediately.

"I will end your suffering. Tell me."

"How strange." He blinked and then sat down heavily, unable to hold
himself up.

"Please, tell me..."

"Nephthys." Michel licked his lips. "They're hers...Children."

"Who's Nephthys?" I asked, but he was gone, pitching to the side to
lay still and forever now.

I groaned, frowning and looking around at the customers. Some of them
were plainly amused, some of them concerned and others confused. Some
just didn't seem to care. The whole of our combat had taken only
twenty seconds perhaps, half a minute at the very most, and now I
stood there, holding Akakaze and feeling very much like I was caught
in a dream. No matter how fast I ran, I wasn't going anywhere. Petofi
took my twins, Michel took them from him, Now someone else had them.

"Do I have to kill every vampire in the world?" I asked under my
breath, because I would if I had to. If anything happened to my
Bonsai.

"I hope not." Lisa said softly and when I looked at her, she was wide-
eyed and perhaps even frightened of me. "You killed him."

"He was weak." I shrugged. "Who's Nephthys, ever heard of her?"

"He wasn't that weak." Lisa said. "And you killed him easy."

"It was a mistake." I sighed. "Who's Nephthys?"

"I don't know." Lisa shook her head.

I looked through Michel's pockets and found his wallet. Vampires have
driver's licenses? I smiled at that, although it wasn't his. It was
only a very good likeness, someone who resembled Michel, and the name
was Michael Smith. There was an address anyway, although I had no idea
if it was a real one or not. It was all we had.

Michel's jacket proved useful anyway. I wrapped my sword in it because
as I explained to Lisa, being able to call Akakaze was useful, but I
couldn't send my katana back. I was stuck with it, walking around
downtown San Francisco at midnight and I didn't need that kind of
attention.

"The other vampire is Nephthys, must be." Lisa said, stating the
obvious, but I forgave her for it.

"Give me a direction." I said and the address on Michel's fake license
was to the southwest and so...

"That way." Lisa pointed and I smiled, making a u-turn in my rental
car.

"Maybe we're going to get lucky." I said, pushing the speed limit as I
fought the traffic, making our way into the hills above the city.

"In there." Lisa said.

"Nice house." I nodded and I was stopped outside a set of closed
wrought iron gates, large ones connected to a high brick wall. Michel
liked his privacy apparently.

"Are you gonna do ninja stuff?" Lisa asked as we got out and I
retrieved Akakaze from the backseat, leaving Michel's bloody jacket
behind.

"Yeah." I grinned and walked to the gates, pressing the call button on
the intercom mounted nearby.

"Heh." Lisa giggled.

"Yes?" A voice answered, a man's voice, or a boy more like. He sounded
young anyway.

"I'm here to see Nephthys." I said with a shrug at Lisa.

There was no reply and I started looking at the wall, it wouldn't be
difficult to scale. About the time I was ready to go over it, the
gates began to open slowly.

"That makes it easy." I smiled and we walked up the gentle slope of
the cobblestone drive towards a well-lit mansion.

There were a number of lights outside and our way was illuminated
brightly. I felt little but my anxiety to find Ivy and Hemlock and
have them returned to me safely. The men who'd taken them from me were
dead, Petofi and the vampire both, and whoever Nephthys was, I hoped
she would be more reasonable in her judgment.

I'd met two vampires in combat now, the girl, Lisa, was just that. A
girl who happened to be a vampire and she lacked any skills but those
which came instinctive to her nature. Michel should have been more
difficult, or so I'd have expected, being older and more mature
obviously. But killing him had required very little effort and perhaps
I was disappointed by that, but on the whole I was only confused by
it. These creatures seemed to rely on stealth and fear, tricks of the
mind played upon their victims' weaknesses, rather than any real
prowess at killing.

I had to remind myself that every enemy is different, every opponent
unique in his skills and strategy, and so I wouldn't underestimate
this Nephthys based on Lisa and Michel. Lisa seemed to sense great
power radiating from the vampire and what that meant precisely I
couldn't know, but I had to consider it. I was preparing myself, as I
always did before meeting a challenge and I was actually relieved when
I found the woman waiting for us outside.

"Is that how you killed Michel?" She asked with something like an
English accent, but not truly that.

"Yes." I said, holding Akakaze reversed and away from my body in my
right hand, fist down and the edge of the blade, far sharper than any
razor, was towards her.

"I'm Nephthys." She said.

The vampire was dark and beautiful, unearthly as a goddess come to
life. She was from northern Africa, I would have guessed. Egyptian
perhaps, or Moroccan; from someplace exotic and she dressed in yellow
silk, not fixed to her form, but layered like gauze upon her sleek
body. I thought perhaps she was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen
and her presence was consuming, as if she drew the life from my blood
with her sultry gaze.

"Miss Fuchida." I said with a small bow.

"And?" Nephthys smiled at Lisa who promptly introduced herself.

"I've come for the twins." I said, feeling very little patience by
then.

"And I've come for Stephen." Nephthys stared at me.

"Who?" Lisa asked, but the woman had seen a flash of unguarded
recognition in my eyes. I'd been surprised by her words.

"My mate." Nephthys replied without looking at the other vampire. "His
blood flows in their veins. It's why I'm here. Michel found something
unusual, something to interest me."

"I know where he is." I said.

"I know where the children are." The woman shrugged. "Now, shall we
tell each other what we don't know?"

"They're safe?" I asked.

"For the moment." Nephthys agreed.

"I've seen Stephen recently, he is alive." I told her.

"Then we are both fortunate." She said. "Now tell me where, please."

"Give me the children first."

"And so we have our impasse." Nephthys sighed.

"The man who took him, Janos Petofi..." I paused but Nephthys gave no
sign that she knew the name. "...He's dead."

"And so is the man who took your twins." She nodded. "I only want my
mate."

"So..." I held up my left hand. "...Give them to me and I'll tell you
where he is."

"They're inside." Nephthys said slowly. "Sleeping."

"Stephen is in San Diego, in La Jolla." I said, giving her more
information than she needed probably. Nephthys would sense her mate
once she was close enough, I was sure, and she'd find him easily
enough and I'd just betrayed Mr. Yamashita.

"I would not wish to see you again." Nephthys told me and her meaning
was clear.

"I understand." I nodded.

"Do you know a nun?" Lisa asked, pausing the woman as she was turning
to leave us.

"We're becoming rare these days." Nephthys looked at the girl, almost
sadly. "I know her."

"Where is she?" Lisa wanted to know and the ancient vampire shrugged.

"I don't know." Nephthys looked around. "Stay here and grow older.
It's your house now. She'll come back soon enough."

"Why?" Lisa narrowed her eyes.

"She'll want to know what happened to Michel." The woman said, as if
that were obvious. "She already knows he's dead, just as I know
Stephen still lives. You have much to learn, it's unfortunate that
Angela died. I loved her once."

"Yeah." Lisa shrugged. "It's like that, huh."

"Sometimes." The other vampire agreed.

"You're the vampire who made her." Lisa blinked suddenly.

"And my blood flows in your veins." Nephthys smiled. "How do you
know?"

"Angela." Lisa said. "She spoke of you. That was you, at the convent."

"A very long time ago." The woman nodded.

"She loved you too." Lisa sighed and Nephthys kissed the girl's
forehead tenderly.

Nephthys left us and we entered Michel's house to find my Bonsai
peacefully sleeping as the vampire had promised.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"They're beautiful." Lisa was still awake, even though the sun was
rising.

She didn't want to sleep and the girl told me she could withstand the
sun, but eventually she'd succumb to the drowsiness it inflicted. For
the moment however, she was flushed and giggling, enjoying my Bonsai
and that pleased me greatly. Lisa had also fed, which gave her a great
vitality. Michel had servants, three of them, but no longer. Lisa had
taken all of them, one after another, gorging herself on their blood
in the basements. They hadn't resisted her at all and I'd made no
comment, her own servant, a girl named Natalie was coming and Lisa
assured me of the girl's devotion.

This was in fact our home now, as Nephthys had suggested, but I had it
in my mind to return to Berlin and be safe there with my children.
Lisa would take such news poorly, however and I wanted to invite her
along, to keep her near me as I did enjoy her company, and her love,
very much. We were growing close quickly, but I understood her need to
avenge Angela. It was her giri, her duty, to find the vampire
responsible and exact revenge.

I was trying to decide if I would stay and help Lisa in that cause,
which would be mine by choice alone, or if I would leave.

"They're perfect." I agreed, watching Ivy and Hemlock as they prepared
our breakfast, although Lisa wouldn't eat any of it.

The brother and sister were dressed in the white and lavender kimonos
they'd been wearing when they'd been taken and I'd have to make
arrangements to have our things delivered, as well as shop for more...If
we were staying.

"They can't talk though, huh?" Lisa frowned. "I bet they'd sound like
birds, you think? Some kind of songbird."

"Maybe." I laughed lightly and one of them, Ivy I thought, turned her
head and smiled at me. "I have something for you."

"I can't tell them apart. Which one is the boy?" Lisa wondered and
then looked at the box I was holding. "What's that?"

"A gift from one of my old teachers." I shrugged. "He told me to give
it to you."

"Really?" She smiled at that. "How did he know about me?"

"He's a magician, a sorcerer." I shrugged.

"More magic?" Lisa giggled and then gave a little gasp of delight.
"It's a comb! Beautiful. Oh, it smells good too!"

She was holding the sandalwood comb to her nose, inhaling deeply.

"It's too nice to use." Lisa laughed. "God, that's so cool. Hey!"

Hemlock had placed my breakfast before me with a bow and now he was
taking the comb from Lisa's fingers, smiling shyly at the vampire and
he began to comb her long blonde hair slowly. Ivy was placing a plate
in front of her and the girl bowed perfectly, which made Lisa sigh
with pleasure.

"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that." I said, picking up a
section of grapefruit with my chopsticks.

"It's nice." Lisa decided. "Natalie is the same way, you'll like her."

"Lisa...." I paused, "...I may have to leave."

"Where? For how long?" She looked at me.

"Germany." I said slowly. "I live there, I...We're safe there. There's a
man, a powerful man, he'll want to take my children."

"Who?" Lisa narrowed her eyes. "Can't you just...Ninja the guy?"

"He's my father." I shrugged. "He gave me the twins for safekeeping,
not forever."

"But you're going to keep them, right?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I won't let them go."

"Well..." She shrugged. "...I can help you, I mean what's he gonna do?
Send some more guys with guns? I can deal with them."

"No." I told her. "If he sends someone, he won't have a gun and you
won't be able to stop him."

"But you can, right?"

"Maybe." I licked my lips. "I just don't want to see you hurt."

"Can't hurt me." She grinned. "I'm already dead."

I smiled at that and we both knew it wasn't true. Vampires could be
killed like anyone else, it was just a little harder. It was proving
difficult to make up my mind and Lisa wasn't helping. She went to bed,
asking me if she could have the twins until she was asleep and I
agreed. I watched them make love with the girl for an hour before Lisa
was sated and closed her eyes, appearing for all the world to be dead,
but she wasn't. She was upon the Moonlit Path, I thought, getsumei no
michi, the place of dreams.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"I'm sorry." Lisa blinked at me as I turned on the lights. "Your sword...
It talked to me. Or something."

I smiled and Lisa was in a room, a large library holding Akakaze, my
dai-katana.

"That sounds dumb." She cleared her throat and replaced the blade
slowly in the scabbard.

"No." I shook my head and it was an hour past sunset. "She speaks to
me often."

"Really?" Lisa smiled, holding the sword out for me to take. "Why do
you call it a 'she' all the time?"

"Because Akakaze was a woman once." I said. "Her husband, Toeishido,
crafted the blade over seven years, working to do nothing else. He'd
been commissioned buy his daimyo, his lord, to create the finest sword
ever known."

"This one." Lisa smiled.

"For seven years Toeishido worked on it, folding the steel a million
times, over and over. His two sons burned wood, the sakaki tree, which
is sacred, they made charcoal for their father's forge."

I drew the blade and her wa was plain to my senses.

"Soon after Toeishido began crafting the sword, he discovered that his
wife whose name was Reiko, had taken a lover...Or been taken, for the
young man was the daimyo's son and it was perhaps not by Reiko's
choice. This was a secret, of course, and only by chance did Toeishido
happen to learn of it. He spoke of it not once, but turned his shame
and jealousy into the steel, forging into the blade itself the
tortures of his own heart. When the sword was finished, brought from
the final cleansing fire, the man killed his wife, quenching the blade
within her breast."

"He killed his wife? What happened then?" Lisa asked.

"Then?" I smiled. "Toeishido brought the sword to the daimyo's castle,
entering the lord's hall and there he recognized the man who was his
wife's lover and with a single cut, removed the boy from his head. The
next morning, Toeishido himself was executed by the sword he'd created
and so she holds the spirits of those killed by her touch. She is
love, hate and jealousy, betrayal as well, bound in a cloak of
vengeance."

"Do you believe that?" Lisa wondered.

"Oh yes." I nodded. "Akakaze is akuma, a demon possessing jit suryoku.
She has her own desires and purpose, not yet revealed even to me."

"So you have a possessed sword." Lisa stared at it, licking her lips.
"That's wicked cool."

"Yeah." I smiled back. "It is. She's neither alive, nor dead, but
something of both trapped in the katana's perfect form. There is a
harmony, do you see it? The sword's kami?"

"Ummm...I don't know." Lisa giggled.

"Okay." I decided, sheathing Akakaze and facing Lisa fully. "The first
thing I will teach you is how to bow properly."

"Teach me?" The vampire blinked rapidly.

"If you still want to be my student..."

"God yeah, Wendy!" She smiled quickly, nodding her head.

"Then you must learn how to bow." I told her. "And you will call me
sensei."

"I'm gonna be a ninja!" She giggled. "Yes!"



End of Chapter Four
End of Part 27 - End of Witchcraft
End of RBVS
rache696@yahoo.com

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