Chapter One

Memories

I was born in 1799. My childhood wasn’t exactly normal. You see, I wasn’t born Darien Ravenloft. I was born Charles Ferguson Esquire. Yes, a rich kid. My father was Charles Ferguson, a business tycoon. He had a piece of the bank franchise way back when. He had met my mother in a bar. She had a nighttime job of being a prostitute. I’m really not ashamed of that fact. You could say it was love at first sight.

My father courted her even though she was still a hooker. But that’s what I loved about my father. He didn’t care. He loved my mother no matter what. Of course, she had this pale Oriental look to her. She still had her boss to answer to though, so my father paid off her debt and married her. To say the least, my grandparents didn’t approve.

The year is 1999. Its in January, it was one of those cold nights. I was sitting in my apartment, watching some television. I like my TV. It’s one of those Sony ones with digital stuff to it. Well, anyway… I was watching one of my favorite movies. One of those with Jet Li in it. I think it was called “Black Mask“. Thing is though I can do that stuff, rather easily. Thanks to my mother who taught me kung fu. Besides that fact it was an ordinary night, so I went out to one of the clubs.

I'm really not one of those great dancers, but I can still dance like nobody’s business. Well, to tell you the truth I still have that urge to drink blood. Guess I'm an addict. Can’t blame a guy for trying to stop, right? Anyway, I decided to go to the Red Dragon. Strictly Asians only though. Of course, I frequent the place quite often. You could say I’m a regular there. Yeah definitely. You could tell though. I just drove my Civic there and pulled up to the front gate. I saw one of those guys come over. “Can I get your car?” he said. I just nodded. I gave him my keys and told him to be careful. I went inside and man somebody had that bass up.

Soon as I entered that door, I was almost knocked down on my ass. I should have been used to it by now. I went to the bouncer and told him I wanted to see his boss. “Tell him its Ravenloft.” He just nodded slowly. Man, these powers rock. I waited for what must have been an hour. I heard the bouncer finally come down those darn stairs. “’Bout darn time. Guy’s like Frankenstein, for God’s sake.” He came down and simply pointed towards his boss’s door. I went up those stairs and opened the door. Of course his men had their guns on me.

“Nice welcome committee. What’s next, hot cakes?” I said. He simply grunted. “Please, you know better than to have your men put their guns on me. They would have been dead by now.” He gestured and they put their guns away. “Darien, you fraking asshole, what the hell you want?” I smiled. “What, is that the way you treat you treat guests?” he simply grunted. “Only kind ones. After all, most of guests don’t blow up half of my shipment of crack cocaine.” I laughed. “Spare me your druggist poop-heads. You got the other half. So shut the frak up.”

“I should kill you for that. But I won’t, you see. I still have my uses for you.” I simply sat down. “Thanks for letting me know I'm still needed, uncle.” He laughed. “Good to see you alive, nephew. Hahahahaha, but anyway… why did you blow up my shipment?” I simply yawned. “Truth is I didn’t. My partner did. Hey remember, I'm a cop.” He simply grunted. “I see. Maybe I should kill your partner.” I got up real quick. “Don’t touch her!”

“ Oh. So, your partner is a woman. And you must have a soft spot for her.”

Well, I must have turned red, really red. “Ha. So my nephew is in love again.” Maybe I should explain it. My uncle is the only blood relative I have left. He is my mother’s brother and also one of the eldest vampires alive…so to speak. He deals in the underworld and he is one of the most notorious oyabun alive. Governments are after him. I need to protect him. He’s the only link I have to my mother now, besides this pendant I have with me. It has a dragon’s eye. Oh and yes, dragons still live. I know quite a few of them. My mother knew her before she died of old age. The dragon had no name. Being a dragon they are the most powerful, having the elements at their command. This pendant has protected me quite a few times, mostly from vampires and undead.

The pendant felt cold against my skin. ‘Something is wrong’ I thought. “Uncle, I feel something is wrong.” He just looked at me and nodded. His goons pulled out their guns and so did I. Its my favorite gun. A Desert Eagle, enough power to blow through a steel door. I call her “Angel”. Of course after one of my loves. Well, she came knocking. ‘Darien, there is somebody over there. On the roof. He's got a sniper rifle.’

“Uncle, get down!” That’s when the shot was fired. It hit uncle square in the chest. He fell over “dead”. I saw where it came from and jumped out the window. I landed on the other roof and pointed it at him. “Put that gun down, now!” I yelled. He got up calmly. I knew then what he was right then. “Who’s your master?” He was a blasted familiar. Some other vampire must want uncle dead. He shrugged. “I serve no one.” I shot him in the leg. He fell over in pain. “I’ll only ask one more time. Who’s your master, you lower being.” That got him worked up pretty quickly. He got up and tried to charge me.

I stopped him with a simple mind blast. He stopped dead in his tracks. I smiled. “Now you die.” That’s when he started to talk. After that I threw him a couple blocks away into the water. I saw to my uncle. He was all right. After that shot to the chest, he just got back up. “ So what did you find out?” I just looked at him. “An American vampire is after you.” He looked at me startled. “Is it Stele?” I nodded.

“Yeah, that bastard found us.” ‘Man,’ I thought. ‘How in the heaven and earth did he find us? There’s no possible way. I killed him so long ago.’ I had found I couldn’t kill him. We had a duel about three hundred years ago. I pissed him off somehow. I killed him just to be short, but he came back after all. Man that really sucked. I needed to go away. “Uncle, I’m going now. Nice to see you again.” He nodded. “Oh, wait.” He tossed me a stone. “What’s this?” He smiled. “It’s a wind tiger’s heart. Put it together with the dragon’s eye and see what happens. You’ll see.” So I did. There was blinding light and some stinging sensation. After I got up, the pendant was gone. “Hey, where is it?” Uncle came up to me and pointed at my chest. “There.” That’s when I could feel the dragon and wind tiger’s power. “Whose heart was that?”

“A powerful nemesis of dragons. He was a good friend of the family, along with the dragon, they were the family Guardians. Now they live in you.” I smiled. “Cool.” He nodded. “Since they live inside you they now have they ability to talk to you. Go ahead guys, say hi.”

‘Greetings, Darien.’

‘Hey Darien, pleasure is all mines.’

‘Shush, must you talk like that. Like a ruffian?’

‘Hey scale-belly, look who’s talking.’

‘ Both of you stop it. No need to argue.’

Of course, Angel shut them both up. That’s the way she shut me up sometimes.

‘That’s better. We all live in him now, remember. Since I’m the one who’s been here the longest you all should stop fighting. Okay?’

‘As you wish.’

‘No problem.’

I sighed. “Thanks Uncle. I’ll leave now.” I bowed and left. The club music was still far to loud, even for my highly sensitive ears. Guess it sucks sometimes to be a Dhampyr. Anyway, I just headed home after that. But I was thinking why Stele would want to knock off my Uncle. Unless he was working for another Ancient One. I just looked up one of my vampire books and looked in it. The only known Ancients were Vlad Tepes, my uncle the Red Dragon, and a few others. I looked down the list and spotted one of the Ancients I killed and took power from, Frahmoya. He belonged to the clan of vampires known only as ‘Blood Angels.’

These guys were actually located in Osaka. If I took the train there it would take a few hours. I decided I would go later. I looked down the list some more. I found one of my uncle’s only allies, Togakura. His clan was once a prominent influence in the yakuza ring, but they are long since dead. I wouldn’t bother him anyway. I kept looking and eliminating names. The last one, I realized, had to be the one Stele was working for. He was evil and cruel enough to do that. His name was Caine. Most say he was the first one, and that a vampire hunter killed him. I remember that hunter, because I helped him kill Caine. His name was Josef. But Caine always came back, about every two hundred years.

Josef was actually a good friend of mine, even though he knew I was one of them. Last time I saw Josef was when he died at the hands of Caine about one hundred years ago. I swore I would eventually kill Caine for him. I put the book down and looked at the object that would kill Caine for good. The katana known only to some people in the dark arts as the legendary rune sword called Shikigami. It had enough power to kill an Ancient. After all, I killed Frahmoya with the Shikigami. And that’s how I gained his power of controlling the undead, summon demons, and all sorts of necromancy.

I saw to it that I got my hands on that sword. I stole it from the Blood Angels. It now recognizes me, as it’s new master. The world most people don’t see is the world I live in. A world of the supernatural, a realm where people die everyday. I try my best to keep my friends away from it. But sometimes Ayumi tries to get into my darker side of life, but she never finds out anything. I put the book away and took my jacket.

“God, its hot in here.” I telepathically turned the dial and it went down a few degrees. I pulled off my shirt and sat down on the couch. I wanted to get some sleep, but then the phone rang. “Son of a bitch,” I said. “Who in the hell would call at this hour?” I got up and answered. “Hello?”

“Darien? It’s me, Ayumi.”

“Ayumi? What’s up?”

“I want to meet you over at the restaurant. You know our usual place. We need to talk.”

“Sure. Let me take a shower.”

“Shower…hmmm.”

“What?”

“I'm coming over.”

“What?!”

“I’ll be over in thirty minutes. Be ready.”

She hung up after that. I took a shower and got dressed in twenty-five minutes. I waited for the time to pass by just watching television. I got up and answered the door when it rang. She looked rather beautiful in that white dress. “Hello, Darien-san. May I come in?”

I just nodded and took her shoes. “Come in. I don’t have much, but if you need anything…” She nodded. “Its okay. I just wanted to tell you something. Listen we have new orders from higher up.” She sat down at the table. “The captain is assigning us to another mission.” I looked at her. “So, what is the new mission?” She just frowned at me. “Sorry. I forgot.”

“Its okay. You are after all, a gaijin,” she said. I just looked away at the starry night. “You know how I feel about that word. Its degrading towards me and my fellow foreigners. Why would you use that word towards me?” She said nothing. I looked at her. She was crying. I wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. I finally said something. “What’s wrong?” She looked at me. “My father died this morning, of a rare disease. It killed him by stopping his heart and lungs. I wanted to tell you at work, but you were with your friends. I would have dishonored you.” I walked to her and got on one knee. “Listen, I’m here no matter what. I don’t care if my friends are there, you are more important to me. I'm sorry about your father; he was a great man who took me in when I first came here. I owe him by protecting you.” She cried some more and I hugged her tightly.

“Darien-san, thank you,” she said when I let her go. I got up and sat on the couch. “Don’t worry. I will show up for the funeral. Don’t worry.” I heard her get up and sat next to me. “Darien-sama,” she said. “Please help me get through this.” I smiled at her. This was the first time I ever saw like this. She was asking for my help. She usually was never like this. She also called me with sama as well. I couldn’t tell what she was feeling because all I could see was a whole bunch of emotional strain on her.

She wasn’t feeling well. “You should get some sleep,” I suggested. “You’ll feel better in the morning. Go on.” I helped her into my room and put her in bed. She must have fallen asleep rather quickly because all I could hear was her light breathing. I left the room and went back to my living room. “Boy, I'm hungry. Just might as well eat some oyako-don,” I said. I called the restaurant and had them bring delivery. Besides, I'm a regular there and they owe me. The sword was glowing blood red then and I looked at it and nodded. “You are going to see some action soon, don’t worry.” It then glowed green and then stopped glowing at all. I just sighed. I needed to look in my library again. I went over and looked for a specific book.

I found it a few shelves high. It was the Necronemicon, the book of the Dead. I looked through it and found what I was looking for. “How to summon a demon,” I said. “Good this is all I need. Let me see…hmm yes. Here we go.” I put the book down. I started to chant the ascribed words over and over again. The room started to disappear and another dimension grew in its place. I saw a huge form begin to appear the recognizable form of huge black wings and a slender body. The hair and eyes, the clothes and sword at the hip, she again came into being.

“Dinas, I call you forth.” She looked at me and smiled. She charged at me and gave me a hug with both her arms and wings. “Darien,” she said. “It has been a while since we have seen each other. What is it you wish of me?” I looked at her. “Let’s go to the real world. We have work to do.” The dimension closed up and we were again in my library. “Listen, somebody tried to kill my uncle. I wish for you to help me find out and destroy whoever was responsible. After that you are free to go.”

“Oh, is that all? Is it even human?” She asked

“No. He is one of my kind. A vampire named Stele. Do you remember Stele?” I asked her.

“All to well. That bastard killed my brother, Greca. I have wanted revenge for a long time,” was all she said before transforming to her human form. She looked like what she always looked like, a normal Japanese high school age looking girl. I just turned around. “Put on some clothes will you?” I said. I heard a rustle and turned around. She was in some normal clothes, with the exception of that sword she had on her back. The doorbell rang. I walked to the door and opened it.

“Oh, thank you,” I said as I grabbed the food. I pulled some money out of my pocket. “Here, and thank you again.” I bowed and gave him the money. I closed the door and looked at Dinas. “Want some?”

She shook her head no. “You know I hate human food. It tastes weird and smells bad.”

“Well that’s your opinion, not mine,” I just told her.

“Oh, you just hurt my feelings, ya know?”

I just looked at her. She is such a pain in the ass sometimes. That was Angel again. I just sighed and ate my food. “Listen, when I'm done, I'm going away for awhile. I don’t want anybody bothering me again. I’ll come back in my own time. And don’t argue, Dinas,” I said. I could tell she was about to say something. It was true too. I needed a vacation. I should ask the boss for the time off. I thought. I looked at my room and heard Ayumi’s light breathing. She was sure taking it easy. But what made me wondered was if she was going to be a little better in the morning. I decided it would be better to head for Osaka in a few minutes. “Dinas, lets go. I don’t want to waste anymore time than this.”

Dinas got up. “Okay, Darien. I’ll wait downstairs.” She opened the door and went off. I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote a little note and stuck it on the table. I then took my trench coat and Shikigami, then activated the security system. I closed the door and waited. The lock automatically locked the door and other “trinkets”.

I jumped down the stairs and landed gracefully. I headed towards the garage and saw Dinas waiting. “Darien Ravenloft, what took you so long?” she asked as I opened the car door.

“Hey, I had something to do,” I said as I started the blasted car. It was one of those killer sport compacts that I upgraded. More speed and more horsepower. Dinas got in and I put it into drive. The car raced down the garage and out onto the streets. I drove quickly to the bullet train station. I talked to the guy and asked when it would come. He told me in two minutes. I waited and Dinas watched for the train.

You see Dinas has only seen a train. She’s never been on it. I had often laughed at her when I tried to put her on one of those “metal monsters”, as she would usually call them. When it finally came around, I looked at Dinas and smiled. She was trembling and I could sense her anxiety. It was quite amusing. “Let’s go,” I said as I boarded. She slowly walked on and opened her eyes.

“Wow, it won’t eat me,” she said as she sat. I simply smiled and looked at a newspaper on the floor. When I read it, I suddenly had that feeling we were being watched. The headline said “Four Killed in Bizarre Accident in Okayama”. Something is wrong here I thought as the train lurched to a grinding start. The feeling was really cold and evil. The train kept going as usual, but that feeling of dread would not just go away. It felt terrible, like a thousand people died at once and their psionic energy was gone at once. That’s when the train’s lights started to fluctuate and then went completely dead. At once I drew out Shikigami and Dinas drew her sword, Angelbreaker.

“Something is here,” I said as Shikigami glowed red. Feed me, Darien…Shikigami said to me. I hunger…let me draw blood from thy enemy…

I looked up as I heard the huge footsteps and then the roar. Good thing we were on the last car. “Dinas, go protect the people in the other cars.” She simply nodded and ran towards the other door. A huge claw then ripped through the roof and nearly grabbed me. I sliced it and it drew away quickly, roaring in pain. Shikigami then glowed brighter red and I went to the door. Dinas had all the people calm and I looked at her. “Is it gone?” she asked.

“No, but Shikigami knows what it is,” I said. I put Shikigami away and pulled out Angel. “I'm going to kill that demon. I know how to.” I rushed out and waited for it to come again. The claw came down and grabbed me and threw me into the door. I landed with a thud and got up again. The demon came down and roared. I looked at it and saw everything. It was huge taking up more than half the car, including it’s tail. It also had lots of teeth and claws, but it also had four huge arms. But I had the advantage. I simply shot it in the head when it roared. It fell dead. “Asshole,” I said. I opened the door and walked through to sit.

“Love blossoms when it is the least most expected places.”

Darien Ravenloft