78Usagi Tsukino was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty average Japanese school girl. She read mangas and comic heroes, she loved going shopping for clothes and shoes, she liked to gossip and to look after handsome, young men. She also had an enormous appetite, was kind of clumsy at times and usually had bad grades… especially in math and physics.
There was no way that anyone could have believed her to be any sort of superhero, magical girl or monster slayer. She had no supernatural powers, no magical weapon and no talking mascot. She was just… Usagi.
So if somebody had told her just how much her life would change after she'd save a helpless animal from a gang of rowdy kids, she'd probably laughed at them.
It was a pretty normal day, and Usagi was from her way home from school, when she heard loud noise coming from a side alley. One quick glance showed her three young bullies, who were mistreating some sort of small animal that was lying on the ground. Usagi couldn't really see what kind of animal it was, but she assumed it to be some sort of small dog or cat.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" she shouted, running up to the three small troublemakers. "Three on one? That's hardly fair! Leave that poor thing alone, you big meanies!"
Even though the bullies were three on one, Usagi was older than them. On top of that, they were really nothing but a bunch of cowards, so they just laughed, stuck out their tongues and ran away, leaving the little animal lying on the ground.
Usagi quickly knelt down next to it. "You poor thing," she murmured. "Did they hurt you? It's all right now. They can't…"
She was a bit taken aback when the animal looked up at her. It wasn't a cat or dog as she had assumed, but instead a bat. It was unusual enough for a bat to be out in the daylight, as they were naturally nocturnal enemies, even Usagi knew as much. On top of that, this bat was unusually big for its species. Its black fur wasn't fuzzy at all, but instead smooth and shiny. It was looking at Usagi with big, intelligent eyes.
"Hey Usagi!" That was the voice of her best friend, Naru Osaka. "I'm going home, too. You coming?"
"Yeah, in a minute," Usagi called back as she turned her head. But then, she heard the soft fluttering of wings and saw that the bat was already gone.
"Well, I guess it wasn't really injured at all," she shrugged, stood up from the ground and ran after her friend. "Wait for me, Naru!"
Hanging from a nearby lamppost, the bat was watching the blonde teenager as she walked alongside her friend.
"Usagi Tsukino…" it murmured to itself in a female voice. "Are you the one?"
Meanwhile, in a dark, gloomy chamber hidden somewhere beneath Tokyo…
A pale, but beautiful woman was sitting in a tall chair, sipping a red beverage from the wine glass she was holding. She was clad in a red, victorian-style dress which showed her ample cleavage. Some of the red liquid ran down her cheek, and she licked it up with her tongue. As she did so, a pair of fangs was briefly visible in her mouth.
Another beautiful woman, this one with an even bigger pair of breasts, was slowly coming floating down from the ceiling. This one was looking even stranger than the first one, as she had a pair of giant bat wings coming out of her back. As it was common with her species, she was scantily clad.
"How is your drink, mistress?" she asked the pale woman sitting in the chair.
"Quite good, thank you," the vampiress smiled. "Still a bit warm, as I like it… let me guess…" She took another sip and savored the taste. "A young, male human, still a virgin?"
"Indeed, mylady," the demoness nodded. "You have an excellent taste."
"There will be much more where this came from… as soon as we find the princess." The vampiress put the half-empty glass down on a small table next to her chair. "But now, let's get busy… we have a lot of work to do." She clapped her hands. "Medusa!"
She scraping sound of dry scales on hard stone could be heard as a monstrous creature crept from the shadows. Below her waist, her body was that of an enormous, green snake, while her upper body was remotely human… however, her face was only the twisted mockery of a woman's face, with elongated fangs and slitted pupils, like those of a snake. And instead of hair, there was simply a squirming mass of snakes sitting atop her head. A forked tongue came darting out of her mouth as she bowed in front of her mistress.
"You summoned me, Lady Carmilla?" the thing asked in a hissing voice.
"Indeed I have," the undead noblewoman nodded. "I have a task for you. While our Succubus friend…" She gestured to the winged demoness floating next to her. "And I are searching for the princess, I want you to go and gather some more humans we ca sacrifice to our master."
While Medusa smiled in anticipation, a sour look appeared on the Succubus' pretty face. "But mistress," she whined. "Why does she get to have all the fun? I'm pretty good at luring in mortals, you know?"
"Good at luring in mortal men, you mean," Carmilla frowned. "For the ritual, we need girls and young women… their blood will be a much better sacrifice. It will speed up our plans tremendously… and you know there isn't any time to lose. The ritual must be complete before the next new moon. And then…" A broad smile appeared on her face. Her elongated fangs were shining. "Our Lord Dracula will return to us once more!"
She then sternly looked at her servant. "But before he returns, we have to find his true heir. The only princess of the vampires, reborn in a human shell… we have to find her and return her true memories after her."
"If only those blasted Belmonts hadn't turned her beautiful body to dust, all years ago…" Medusa hissed angrily.
"We will have our revenge, as soon as our master returns," Carmilla assured her. "The revival of Lord Dracula and his daughter will surely lure out the heir of the Belmont clan… after all, us vampires tend to draw in the Belmonts as light draws in moths. And then…" A wicked smile appeared on her face. "They will step right into our trap!"
She looked at her servants. "But now, get to work! Medusa, you gather the maiden sacrifices while you, Succubus, search the city for our princess at night. And…" She gave the demoness another stern look. "Don't you dare get sidetracked by playing with mortal men!"
The Succubus pouted a bit as she and Medusa bowed again in front of the vampiress. "As you wish, mylady!" they chorused, before they departed.
In the middle of the night, Usagi was lying in her bed, fast asleep. She was snoring loudly, and half of her blanket was thrown off by her thrashing legs… as she was having her favorite dream, about the hunky boy who took care of the Crown Game Center in town.
"Motoki…" she murmured in her sleep. "Take me on a date…"
She never noticed how suddenly, her window opened by itself, neither did she notice the small, black shadow that fluttered into her room.
The black bat landed on her bed, careful not to wake her, and slowly crawled towards the sleeping girl's head.
She looked at Usagi for a moment… and then winced and covered her ears with her wings.
"She definitely makes a lot of noise…" she muttered to herself. "But there's no doubt… she is the one."
She hesitated a moment and then sighed. "It has to be done," she murmured. "If I don't do it, others will… and they will just reawake her bloodlust, turning her into the same monster Dracula wants her to be… I have no choice…"
She silently came even closer, leaned over Usagi's bare neck, opened her mouth… and then softly bit her, just enough for her teeth to slightly graze her skin. A single drop of blood came flowing out of the wound.
Usagi stirred a bit in her sleep, but she just turned around and kept on sleeping.
The bat sighed to herself. "The deed is done…" she murmured. "I hope she can forgive me… once she understands her true identity."
After one last look at the human girl, the bat spread her wings and flew back into the dark night. Usagi snuggled to her pillow, unaware of the fresh bite mark on her neck…
In her dream, she was running after her crush, Motoki, through a bright spring forest, laughing as she tried to catch him. "Wait for me!"
Her heart jumped when Motoki turned around, smiling warmly at her. She was overjoyed and prepared to jump into his arms… when all of a sudden, a sinister grimace appeared on the young man's face. Shadows surrounded him, and his figure expanded, turning into a tall, pale figure with a black cloak that fluttered around him like a pair of demon wings. The demonic man laughed evilly as he opened his mouth, revealing the sharp fangs of a vampire. Usagi became afraid as the bright forest turned into a macabre mirror image of it, a dark forest with crippled trees that resembled twisted claws.
"Come to me!" the scary man commanded as he reached out to touch her with his right arm. "Come back to me, my child!"
All around him, horrifying monsters of all kinds appeared. They were snarling, laughing and screeching at her. Usagi stepped back from the horrible image. "No…" she muttered. "No… no… NOOOOO!"
With a gasp, she awoke. Panting heavily, she sat up in bed and looked around. No scary forest, no evil monsters and no creepy man. She sighed with relief. "It was just a dream…" she murmured. "Just a bad dream…"
Unconsciously, her right hand rubbed her neck, where just minutes ago, the bat hat bit her… but the bite marks were gone.
Next day in school, Usagi had almost forgotten about school. One reason for this might be the math test she and her classmates had written the week before, and that was now handed out to them by Miss Haruna.
With disbelief, Usagi stared down at the red writing of her teacher.
"An F?" she whined. "An F? WHY?"
Seeing the imminent waterworks, Naru turned around to her friend with a sigh. "I hate to say it, Usagi-chan, but you should have learned a lot more for this test."
"But it's soooo difficult!" the blonde with the twin pigtails sniffled.
Naru shook her head. Usagi was really unconvincible when it came to studying. Then she suddenly smirked. "You know what, Usagi? I know just the thing to keep you distracted from your bad grades?"
"And what's that?" Usagi wondered.
Her redheaded friend smiled. "There's a special exhibit of rare gems at our store today. They're way too expensive for girls like you and me, but looking never hurts, does it?"
Naru's mother, Mayumi Osaka, owned a jewelry store called Osa-P, which was situated in the shopping mall of Juuban.
Usagi's mood improved immediately. "Wow, really? I can't wait! Let's go right after school!"
But then she groaned. "Oh no! I can't!"
"Why's that?"
"I still have to do that homework for tomorrow. Mom will be furious if I don't manage to finish it in time…"
Naru sighed again. "You are hopeless… well, then just come after you're finished, okay?"
Usagi nodded and grinned. "That's right! I can still come!"
On her way home, Usagi had the uncertain feeling that somebody was watching her. She looked around a couple of times, but simply shrugged it off. It wasn't until she came close to her home that she got the idea of looking up.
She saw an unusually big bat circling over her head.
After blinking a few times, Usagi smirked. "Why hello there! Aren't you the same bat I saved the other day?" She chuckled. "You know, you're a pretty weird bat, aren't you? Flying around in broad daylight like that."
The bat tilted her head in mid-flight and then said in perfectly clear and understandable Japanese: "You know, it's impolite to call somebody weird."
Usagi let out a squeak of fear as she dropped her school bag. "The bat's talking!"
"I have a name, you know?" the bat huffed as she landed on a nearby tree branch. "Allow me to introduce myself… my name is Luna."
"I think I'm dreaming again…" Usagi muttered as she slowly backed away. "Stay where you are!"
"I'm not hurting you, don't be afraid," the bat called Luna sighed. "Honestly… pull yourself together. I've come to tell you of your true destiny, Usagi."
"H-how do you know my name?" Usagi nervously mumbled.
"I've been watching you for quite some time. Unfortunately, we don't have much time, so I'll keep the explanation short. You need to realize who you really are?"
"What… do you mean?" Usagi asked in bafflement.
"You are unlike the other humans, Usagi," Luna said. "You have special powers… powers that are the strongest at night, under the moon."
Usagi nearly laughed out loud. That bat was crazy! "Oh, please!"
"It's true," Luna insisted. "Was there never a night when you sat at your window and felt the intense desire to fly free, roaming the darkness of the night among others of your kind?"
"Th-that's not true," Usagi protested, although the bat was somewhat right. There had been a couple of times when she didn't feel like sleeping and instead wanted to explore the night. Up to this day, she had never found an explanation for this weird craving…
"And don't you like your meat especially bloody?" Luna asked.
"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?" Usagi asked.
The bat looked at her intensely. "You are only half human, Usagi… in your veins, vampire blood is running."
"WHAT? Are you INSANE?"
"I'm not insane, and I'm not lying," Luna replied. "Your ancestors were vampires… I suppose not even your parents know about this. However, this is not all. As a mere half-blood, I would have never informed you about all this. The reason I truly told you all this is… that inside you, you keep the reincarnated soul of an ancient vampire princess."
Usagi shuddered. What teenage girl didn't want to find out that secretly, they were really a noble princess? But… a VAMPIRE princess?
"You're lying! I'm not a vampire!" she shouted. "Leave me alone!"
"Listen Usagi, I can't lie to you about this. It is extremely important you accept your true identity before… before THEY do!"
"Who are you talking about?"
"The Lady Carmilla…" Luna shuddered. "The most loyal servant of… never mind." She shook her head. She doubted the girl was ready enough to learn that she wasn't only the reincarnation of a noble vampire, but in fact the daughter of Dracula himself. "She is a ruthless vampire, one of those who preys upon the humans. And she wants you to fully embrace your heritage, to become a full vampire who feeds upon the blood of the innocent. She prepares a dark ritual that will unlock your hidden imbitions…"
"No…" Usagi whispered. She couldn't listen anymore, but for some reason, she didn't dare to cover her ears.
"The only chance you have is to accept your heritage and try to control your instincts. You can overcome your bloodlust and live as a normal human… but only if you follow my instructions! Usagi, please believe me: I'm only doing this to help you!"
Maybe it was the pleading look inside the flying animal's eyes that convinced Usagi. She still didn't believe that she was a vampire or anything, but she realized that Luna didn't really mean her any harm, so she slowly nodded.
The bat sighed with relief. "Good. That's the first step. Okay, what we need to do is to awaken your powers… but without unlocking your inner bloodlust. That's why I bit you instead of a full-powered vampire, I…"
"WHAT?" Usagi was on her feet again. She glared up at Luna. "You BIT me?"
"Please, it had to be done," Luna winced. "Would you have let me bite you if I had told you in advance?"
Usagi thought about it and admitted the bat was right. "Well, okay… but what now?"
"Now we need to hurry. Carmilla's minions are out to capture innocents victim they can sacrifice to…"
"WHAT?" Usagi shouted. "How can they do this?"
"They are demons," Luna said firmly. "They are evil incarnate. You mustn't show them any mercy when you confront them."
"Confront them? Me? No way! Let's call the police and…"
"The humans can't do anything against the servants of darkness," Luna insisted. "Only a being with supernatural powers can hope to defeat them. You need to use your vampire powers to save the hostages…"
"But… but I don't know how," whimpered Usagi. She stared down at her hands helplessly. Why her? She was just a normal school girl… what had she done to deserve this? Why couldn't that bat find some other person to help her? "I don't even know where to find them."
"I don't know where Carmilla keeps her secret lair, but I do know that one of her personal servants is currently at a local store, where she took on the appearance of the owner to fool the other humans. And when enough humans are assembled, she will use her powers to render them helpless."
"Wh-which store is it?" Usagi muttered. She was fearing the worst.
"It's the Osa-P jewelry store here in Juuban," Luna explained.
Usagi let out a gasp. 'Oh no! Naru!' she thought.
Medusa was smiling herself. Disguised as the mortal woman, Mayumi Osaka, she was able to attract many humans to this shop. That there was a special display of rare jewels today helped tremendously. Now all she had to do was to wait until there were enough of them, then she could use her powers to turn them all into statues and bring them to her mistress…
"Mom!" the voice of a teenage girl called out. "Mom, can I talk to you for a sec?"
Medusa groaned inwardly. The only drawback this mission had was the annoying daughter of the true store owner. It wasn't so bad when she had been at school, but while she was at home, she had to make sure she didn't find out anything… especially not where she had hid the body of her true mother.
"Yes, honey?" she asked with an innocent smile as she turned around to face her 'daughter'.
Naru smiled at what she believed to be her mother. "Mom, I told Usagi of the exhibit… she's coming over in one or two hours. Is that okay with you?"
Medusa smiled. "Of course, Naru dear," she said. "Just tell her not to touch anything, all right? But for now, I'm a bit busy… so could you help me out with the customers?"
To herself, she had to grin. 'Excellent!' the snakewoman thought.'Another innocent victim that can be used to resurrect our Lord Dracula!'
"Sure, Mom!" Naru smiled happily as she vanished in the crowd.
When the store was full, Medusa nodded with satisfaction. 'Those are more than enough… time to set my plan in motion.'
With a magical mechanism, she caused all of the windows and doors to close. With another motion, she uncovered dozens of mirrors that had been hidden in the wall panels of the store.
Medusa looked into the mirror she was holding, the only mirror she would ever look into. For it was a magical mirror, one that did not reflect her ugly visage, but instead transferred her cursed gaze to the other mirrors in the building.
"You are under my control, feeble mortals!" she said. "Stop struggling… stop moving… turn into stone!"
Green rays were coming forth from her cursed eyes, rays that were emitted from all the mirrors in the room. Whenever a victim was struck by the rays, it instantly transformed into an immobile stone statue.
Naru froze in horror when all around her, the customers of the store were turned into stone. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a green light approaching her. In an instinctive reaction, she dodged the cursed eye beam with a backflip and landed close to the counter.
"An impressive maneuver, little lady," Medusa smirked. "But not enough to escape me!"
Naru screamed as the monster wrapped her arms around her upper body. "Who are you? You're not my mother!"
"Bravo for finding that out," Medusa laughed. "But I'm afraid it's too late… you shall be turned into a statue, too. Into a part of my personal collection… that is, until we'll sacrifice your soul to Lord Dracula!"
"No!" Naru screamed as she saw how her mother's arms were suddenly covered with green scales. Behind her, her legs were replaced with a giant snake's torso. And in one of the mirrors, she saw how her hair was replaced with a squirming mass of snakes. "NO! Let me go, you monster!"
"Now don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," Medusa hissed as her eyes began to gleam.
"YOU LET NARU GO!" a loud voice commanded.
Medusa looked around in confusion. Her eyes stopped gleaming. "Who said that?"
In one of the windows, a young girl who had her blonde hair in twin buns and pigtails was standing and glaring at her angrily. "I don't know what kind of monster you are, but you better let my friend go now, you stupid… thing!"
"Another victim?" the monster hissed. "Very well… the more, the better."
"Usagi, no!" Naru yelled. "Run!"
Inwardly, Usagi was shaking like a leaf. She didn't know where she got the courage to say that to the snake monster… and why its appearance didn't freak her out as it should. In fact, it somehow even seemed familiar to her…
"Don't just stand there, Usagi!" Luna shouted, perched upon a lamp hanging from the ceiling. "Use your powers! Transform into your true form! Fight!"
Naru was baffled. A talking bat? Usagi's powers? What was going on here?
"YOU!" Medusa hissed as she recognized Luna's voice. "As soon as I'm finished with these meddling girls, I will gladly bring your corpse to Lady Carmilla, you traitor! She raised her hand and squeezed her claws around Naru's neck. "But for now, let's just kill this annoying girl…"
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU!" Usagi shouted. A sudden rage filled her, combined with the fear of losing her best friend. The rage and sorrow clouded her mind, drove away the fear and innocence and unlocked her hidden powers that were carried over to her generation in her blood… the powers of a vampire.
Usagi screamed as she was engulfed in a black cloud that turned into a flock of vampires. Her skin grew paler while her clothes transformed into a skimpy, dark purple bodysuit that resembled a leotard. A cloak, as black as a moonless night, wrapped itself around her shoulders and fluttered like a pair of demon wings. Her eyes turned blood red while her teeth grew long and sharp. With one final screech, the transformation was complete… and the vampire princess was reborn!
Following her instincts, Usagi instantly recognized the creature down in front of her. As a reborn daughter of Dracula, she inherited her father's power of controlling all monsters. And while she was in no way powerful enough yet to make use of that power, it helped her to know the monster's name.
"You! Medusa!" she shouted in a commanding voice as she floated in mid-air. "Drop that human… or face my wrath!"
Naru gasped at this display. Was this really Usagi? Her demeanor had completely changed… underneath the helpless crybaby and clumsy schoolgirl hid the personality of a creature of the night.
Medusa frowned. "I don't know who you think you are, young upstart, but I think you should learn to know your place. You are apparently nothing more than a young fledgling, and you are a couple of centuries to soon to give me commands! And this human is none of your concern… so back off and don't interfere with things you understand nothing of, young vampire!"
While Medusa felt a certain unease in her presence, Usagi's powers were not nearly complete enough for the snake demon to realize that this was truly the vampire princess… the daughter of her lord.
"I've warned you…" the vampire Usagi had turned into snarled. She held out the palm of her right hand… and in a blast of darkness, a swarm of tiny bats shot forth from her hand, engulfing the creature and its victim. While both Medusa and Naru cried out in horror, only the demon was actually harmed. The bats were tiny, but they made that up with their enormous number. They scratched, bit and blinded Medusa, until she was forced to drop her hostage. In one quick motion, Usagi swooped down and picked up her friend. She didn't know why she was able to fly this easily when she had never done it before. It just came natural.
In a corner of the room, Usagi carefully placed her friend to the ground while her bats were keeping Medusa busy. "Are you okay, Naru?" she softly asked.
Naru nodded nervously. She didn't really understand what was happening, but she could tell that Usagi was still there. There was a certain, dark aura surrounding her that affected even her behavior, but Usagi was still in control. "Y-yeah… I'm fine. Those bats took me by surprise, that's all."
"Good," her vampire friend nodded. "Stay here, I'll be right back." And she flew back into battle.
Naru was dazed for a moment, so it took her a moment before she remembered something: 'Oh no… Mom! What did that monster do to her?'
While she heard the yells and screeches of the fighting creatures (she had to remind herself that one of the creatures was her friend), she searched the house for her mother. She finally found her locked in a wardrobe, bound with a thick rope. Naru quickly freed her.
"N-naru…" her mother murmured. "That monster… that was…"
"I know," Naru nodded. "Medusa. Mom… where's the key?"
"I… I have it…" Mrs. Osaka sighed. "But Naru… you know we swore never to begin this again… the reason your father is dead is…"
"I know that!" Naru shouted. "But that didn't help a lot, did it? They still found us…and Usagi, she's… she's in danger. I have to help her!"
Mayumi shook her head with sorrow. First fate took her man from her… her parents had always scolded her that she did not only marry a gaijin, but one who kept such questionable things in the house such as crucifixes, swords and holy water. Mayumi understood the reason but could never forget the day her beloved husband died in battle. And now… her precious little daughter wanted to take up the mantle of her father and fight.
Still, she knew it had to be done. She reached into her pocket – luckily, Medusa hadn't searched her – and gave it to Naru. "Here it is… take it. Open the chest… and take your father's legacy into your own hands. You are not just an Osaka… you are a…"
"I know, Mom!" Naru nodded. "Don't you worry."
After hiding her mother in her bedroom, she ran to the big, locked chest her father had brought along from when he moved to Japan from his home country in Europe. Using the key she got from her mother, she unlocked the chest and took a good look at its contents. She never had any training in fighting demons or the undead… but she didn't need it. It was in her blood.
She took a bottle of holy water, a couple of throwing knives… and her father's whip.
"I am… a Belmont!" she proudly stated, standing up with the ancient weapon of her forefathers, the Vampire Killer.
To be continued…
