The night was dark, with a low mist hanging over the streets. The occasional street light seemed ill equipped to deal with the darkness as much of the street was still shrouded in little more than lighter shadows. Through the mists, a singular shape moved… a timber wolf easily the size of a man prowled the streets of the city. But what prey could such a beast hunt for in the shadows of the city?

The beast paused taking in the smell of the night air, its nostrils flared with each intake of breath. Catching a scent it wanted, it continued running, now stealthily approaching a nearby alleyway. It peered around the corner, seeing a group of men dressed in cultist robes, the color of blood.

"We were told to keep looking," one of the men said.

"What are we going to do?" a second protested. "Does the mistress not realize we don't have the power to even slow down a creature such as that?"

"We have to try!" a third cultist stated. "She betrayed the mistress, she must die!"

A growl from the wolf got the attention of the men.

"The hell is that!" one exclaimed as the wolf came around the corner and immediately charged at him.

Impossibly, the wolf suddenly accelerated faster than the eye could follow, leaving afterimages in its wake. It pounced at the first man but rather than take him down the wolf speared though his body from the sheer momentum behind the rush. The other cultists were sprayed with blood as the impact literally tore the man to pieces. They watched as the wolf managed to stop its momentum and begin to turn.

As it did, it grew, shifting its form over the course of less than two seconds from a wolf into a humanoid female of around five and one half feet tall. She was dressed in dark clothes including tight leather pants, a leather corset, long black trenchcoat, and black fingerless gloves. Adorning the girl's face were glasses with dark rims, her hair was chocolate brown and hung loose. Her face was pretty but less so as she was sneering at the remaining cultists in an animalistic manner.

"By the Dark Lord, it's her!" one of the cultists cried. The three of them drew ritual daggers.

The dark lady retrieved a rapier with an intricate hand guard from the sheath under her trenchcoat. Undeterred the cultists attacked. The girl moved with grace and speed, quickly slicing though the neck of the first one before running the second though in almost the same motion. The third cultist instantly lost his nerve, dropping his dagger and running for the ally entrance.

A column of light appeared over the girl for a moment and she faded out of existence. Another column of light appeared a split second after the first faded away before the cultist, and the girl stepped out of it taking the cultist by the throat.

"Please! No!" the Cultist begged.

With a growl the girl slammed him into the wall, pulled his head aside and revealed her fangs. The man cried out in pain as the girl's fangs sank into his neck, his blood being drained quickly. He struggled but was far too weak to fight off such a creature.

In less than a minute, he was drained dry and unceremoniously dropped to the floor. The girl took a step back, seeming to have become dizzy for a moment. Her eyes were closed, but they were moving erratically beneath the lids like a sleeper in the midst of a nightmare. Her body twitching as if touching a live wire. Seconds later it stopped and her eyes snapped opened. They were now glowing red. She bared her teeth, as a tiny trickle of blood left the side of her mouth, her fangs still stained with the blood of the cultist. With venom in her voice she whispered a single word… a name…

"Carmilla…"

Archdruid Sephiroth Presents

The Second Movement of the "Symphony of Shadows"

Tragic Princess

I: There WILL Be Blood

Tokyo-3 served as the battlefield of a great war, one that was held between great powers. These powers consisted of mankind's attempt at survival, and the alien monsters that threatened to destroy them. Dubbed, the Angels, these monsters were connected to the world's deep past in ways only few understood.

The war had not been going well for either side. Recently, the Fourteenth Messenger unleashed its fury upon the fortress city and a massive rent was opened in the middle of Tokyo-3. This hole revealed the Geofront below, headquarters of the organization that was set up to defend against the Angels. Now NERV HQ in the wake of the attack of the Seventeenth Angel, was in shambles. One pilot was without their war machine, another unable to pilot due to being comatose. The last was a nervous wreck and by order of the Supreme Commander, isolated until further notice.

Mari was the last hope of humanity, and she would never get the opportunity to try. This was the day she arrived, and that day was about to end badly. The JSSDF was attacking NERV unprovoked, the EVA Series was circling, and Asuka was facing them, recently awoken and thrust into her EVA.

This young British girl with chocolate brown hair and dark eyes framed with dark rimmed glasses could only watch as the world started to end. She felt the energy of the world shift, and knew without a doubt that it was over…

"No, that's not how it happened."

The girl was talking to herself, for who would believe her. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, now wearing her NERV Special Operations Uniform for the first time. In her hand was her Minebea PM-9 Service Pistol. It was unloaded and currently had the slide locked back.

The dreams wouldn't leave her alone. Everyone knew that humanity won the war against the angels. Shinji and Asuka saved everyone from certain death, so why does she keep having these weird visions of some metaphysical event she could barely describe? It was one of many things that disturbed her lately. And of course, her life got shifted again.

Mari "Illustrious" Makinami was assigned originally to the UK Branch of NERV. She transferred over in the closing days of the Angel War but never saw any actual action. By the time everything was in place, the war was over. Unable to transfer back, she remained in a reserve unit for 13 months before she finally got assigned to NERV Security Ops, the same unit Shinji and Asuka were assigned to. Only now, both had gone missing.

It didn't make sense to Mari, and she knew little of what was happening. She was told by her superiors however that she was being selected for a special assignment, one that would push the limits of her abilities. She was looking forward to the challenge but had a bad feeling about it none the less. She loaded her pistol, slid the safety and holstered her weapon. It was time to go speak to her superior.

It took nearly 10 minutes to walk the distance from her quarters to Sub-Commander Katsuragi's office. The new NERV wasn't nearly as large as the old one, but the building was big in its own right. Sitting outside of Tokyo-4, the city established after the end of the Angel Wars, it overlooked the ruins of Tokyo-3 on one side, and the massive expansive city of Tokyo-4 on the other.

Upon entry into the Sub-Commander's Office, she was stunned by how disorganized it seemed. Papers were everywhere, one of the file drawers was opened with another file opened on top of the other files in it. To her right, she saw a warm water penguin eating his lunch in a bowl that was placed on a mat. That ironically enough was the cleanest part of the room.

"Lieutenant Makinami reporting as ordered, Mom," Mari announced with a crisp salute.

The sub-commander returned the salute idly while continuing to read a file. She was a woman in her mid thirties, though Mari decided she looked older than that. Her face certainly looked as if it was artificially aged due to the stresses of her profession. Her uniform was neat though she didn't wear the jacket, that was tossed over a nearby bookcase. Her hair was an interesting shade of purple, though errant grays were starting to infiltrate at her bangs, and her eyes were a dark shade of brown, almost black.

"Please sit down," the Sub-Commander replied.

"I can't, Mom. There appears to be a stack of files in the chair."

"Oh," the woman replied. "Um… just put those on the ground next to the chair. I'll get to those shortly."

Mari did as she was told and sat down in the chair.

"I see from your record you were assigned as a tactical officer as well as a field operative."

"That is correct, Mom."

The girl smiled slightly. "Shinji Ikari started calling me that during his last months here."

Mari noted the Sub-Commander's speech seemed less formal than most high officers she spoke to so she decided to see if she could have a casual conversation.

"Permission to speak freely," Mari asked.

"Lieutenant, always assume you have permission to do so," Sub-Commander Katsuragi replied. "I hate standing on ceremony unless we're in a battle situation. And please, I know I'm your superior, but you can call me Misato whilst we're so casual if you like."

"I… um… ok… Misato." Mari was a little uncomfortable with the sudden complete lax in formality but adjusted quickly.

"Much better. Please ask away."

"You were Shinji's guardian during the Angel Wars, were you not?"

Misato smiled thoughtfully at the memory. "I was… he was a… well, troubled young man. His father wasn't very nice to him."

"I wished I had a chance to meet him."

"I'm hoping you will," Misato said with hope in her voice. "In fact, Shinji is part of the reason I called you in. I understand some of your training in the UK was preparing you for a career in the RAF once the war was over, but since your contract was taken over by NERV Japan, that didn't happen. Never the less, you received a fair amount of training in that area, far more than any of my operatives here."

"Yes, I did."

Misato leaned back in her chair and folded her hands on the desk in front of her. "Good. I will require those skills. We believe Shinji and Asuka both have become caught up in some kind of occult conspiracy."

"The occult?" Mari could hardly believe her ears.

"Indeed. Don't look so surprised Mari, we've been having all sorts of… shall we call them, 'Supernatural Issues' since Second Impact. In the last year however, things have really started ramping up. The cult that was involved in Shinji and Asuka's disappearance is called 'The Sons of Shaft'."

"Sounds like some bad mother-"

"Mari, please," Misato said cutting her off. "If I had a 10 yen piece for every time I heard that joke, I could retire."

"Sorry," Mari replied with a smirk. "Couldn't help it."

"I do appreciate the humor though," Misato replied. "As I was saying, the cult has suddenly all but disappeared. There are some who claim that Asuka is still roaming the cities, but these are unconfirmed. Shinji however seems to have vanished completely and without even the slightest trace, and no one has actually been able to get a hold of Asuka. Stranger still, if the reports are to be believed, she's been seen with Glyphic tattoos and wearing an unusual outfit that seems part armor part dress."

"This does sound strange," Mari remarked.

"Indeed. With the Sons of Shaft having all but disappeared, we've had to trying to find other sources of information. We found one potential cult that may provide us with need information, known as 'The Circle of the Moon'. They operate here, in Tokyo-4. The cult leader has not been identified but we know the leader is female… and we believe she's a vampire."

Mari blinked at those last words. "Begging your pardon, but did you just say the cult leader is a vampire?"

"I did. I know it sounds crazy but its been proven that such creatures can exist. Last I heard, your unhealthy obsession with the smell of blood could make some believe you are vampire yourself."

Mari smirked at that. "I see my file contains all sorts of interesting tidbits, eh?"

Misato chuckled. "Shinji always hated the smell of LCL." Her face took a more serious turn. "So, your mission is this… I want you to infiltrate the Circle of the Moon; join their ranks, gain their confidence, and gather as much information as you can that could lead us either to our missing operatives, or to the Sons of Shaft. In addition, gather as much as you can about the higher ups of the cult. When the time is right, we're taking the entire organization down."

"I should probably brush up on Romanian Folklore as well as our current data. I have to admit though, this still seems a bit crazy to me. Any normal person talking about this stuff would be thought a nutter for sure."

"Oh believe me," Misato replied. "I know exactly how this sounds. But its all true."

"In that case, I have my work cut out for me," Mari concluded.

"Good luck, Mari."

"Thanks… I gather I'll need as much as I can get."

Seven days later, Mari stood beneath a street lamp wearing her old favorite outfit that made her look like a British schoolgirl, white button down shirt with her school crest on the left side, tie loosened, pleated skirt, thigh high stockings and buckled shoes. She leaned against the lamppost holding an occult book under her arm.

She had stopped to think, wondering how she was ever going to get into the cult. The dogma was confusing as hell, it spoke of Dracula as their "Dark Father" or Dark Lord. If she read the notes correctly, he was the source of all evil and darkness in the world. A monster who resurrected himself 100 years after each defeat but who now resided beyond reach.

It was all most difficult to take in or even accept at this point. It seemed completely insane to her, though she had to admit that the idea of attaining dark power was seductive to say the least. If magic was indeed something that actually existed, the cult would possess the knowledge needed to use it. The little bit of knowledge she managed in these books taught her nothing of how to access any of that power, but it offered a tantalizing look into the existence of such.

Mari sighed heavily. It would take a miracle at this rate to determine how to get into this cult. Their members could be anyone, any passerby in the city could potentially be a member of the cult.

"Speaking of which," she thought to herself as she heard approaching footsteps. She turned to see a girl walking towards her; she was pretty, by Mari's estimation, long black hair cut short in the front. She seemed shapely, though it was hidden under rather modest clothing.

"Good evening," she greeted her pleasantly.

"Hi," Mari returned. "Nice night isn't it?"

"Indeed," the girl replied. "The heat has been so oppressive lately. Its nice to have some cooler weather come though for once." She glanced the book Mari held. "Heavy reading. Are you a researcher?"

"Something like that," Mari admitted. "I just acquired this volume from a small bookstore a few blocks from here."

"I believe I know that one," she replied. "I shop there occasionally."

"Seems like this kind of material is difficult to find on the mainstream," Mari noted. "I suppose its only natural since so many people consider this kind of knowledge to be taboo." She looked back at the girl noting her taking interest in the conversation. "I'm Mari, by the way."

"Miranda," she replied.

"Not a Japanese name," Mari noted.

"Not my birthname, just the one I use with my friends."

Mari smiled gently. "I see. Well it is a pleasure to have met you, Miranda. I imagine you have places to go."

"I do, but I have to ask you something."

Mari looked at her, still keeping her smile. "Sure. Ask away."

"Do you too crave the night?"

Mari's eyes widened slightly. She knew from her occult readings that the cults tend to use this phrase to identify fellow members or potential adherents. Could this Miranda be a cultist herself? There was only one way to find out.

"I do," Mari said in a lower voice. "I am just uncertain how to reach it, how to find the way."

"You don't find the night," Miranda replied with a smile of her own. "The night finds you, and found you it has. I have… shall we say… acquaintances who want the same things we do. I can take you to them."

Mari couldn't believe her luck. It was as if the cult was meant to find her, but she didn't know then if that was a good thing, or a bad one.

"I would very much like that, Miranda."

"Follow me then," she whispered and turned down a nearby alleyway. Mari followed close behind, keeping her book clutched to her chest. The alley was dark as expected ending in a staircase down to a heavy door. Mari stood close to avoid losing the girl in this gloom.

Miranda knocked three times, then once, then twice, spacing each set by about a second. A slide opened revealing a pair of obviously Asian eyes staring out. They glanced at Miranda then to Mari herself.

"Who's the schoolgirl?" came a masculine if slightly higher pitched voice.

"A new adherent," Miranda replied. "I am sponsoring her."

The slide closed sharply, and the door made sounds as the numerous locks were released. The cult it seemed took its privacy very seriously indeed. Mari couldn't believe she spent the last 30 minutes standing less than 30 meters from their hideout.

The door opened and she was greeted with exotic smells like jasmine and other forms of incense. Following Miranda, she entered into the lair and was immediately impressed by what she saw. The cult lived in opulence; the walls were decorated in silken tapestries, the columns detailed in metallic paints, and even the wall art seemed rather expensive. The cultists wore red robes, mostly of silk, and many of the female adherents were adorned in silken vestments as well… at least the ones wearing clothes were. All of the girls wore expensive looking jewelry of long golden chains, slave bracelets and rings, and some were wearing nothing else, baring their bodies without a single sign of modesty.

Mari, having played both sides of the field before could appreciate the beauty that surrounded her. All of the girls seemed to be in very good health with skin that almost glowed with radiance. Many of the girls had their bodies adorned in various tattoos depicting gothic styles, and more than couple bore an unusual inverted cross design which seemed to bare a pair of wings similar to those of a bat. Some of the girls she noticed, also bore scars on their body but made no effort to cover them. These brought a feeling of dread to Mari, but she didn't understand why.

"Enjoying the view?" Miranda teased.

Mari gave a half-hearted chuckle and her face reddened slightly. "Well, I do find beauty in the human form, regardless of gender."

Miranda seemed to lick her lips seductively. "I was hoping you'd say that," she replied. "I find you quite beautiful, and would love to have you within me. For now though, business must come first. This way, I want you to meet our mistress."

Mari continued to follow the girl into a hallway. Several rooms lay on either side of the hall, some with closed doors, other with simple strings of beads or cloth to block sight inside them. The sounds of lovemaking could be heard from some of the rooms, and Mari was hard pressed to keep her curiosity in check. There was a scent in this part of the building that was different. It smelled to her like blood, and for the first time since she started this assignment, she wondered if Vampires really did exist. Certainly this pit of excess would attract such a creature.

The combination of sanguine aromas and the sounds of sentuality were quite a turn on, and Mari could feel her body trying to reach to what was happening around her. "Later", she told herself, this was too important.

Reaching the end of the long hall they now stood before a pair of doors. They were adorned with knockers, as if the front doors of some manor. Miranda knocked, and the door was opened a moment later by a large cultist in red. The front of his outfit was opened baring much of his chest, and Mari could make out the muscles the man possessed. She also noted he wasn't Asian, but looked like he could be Eastern European.

The man stood aside as the girls entered. Immediately the smell of blood intensified upon entering the room, and what a room it was! It appeared to be the entry hall of an actual manor with an upper level, two curved stair cases leading up, and a few doors leading to other parts of the first floor. The room had a marble floor, with large marble columns reaching up to the ceiling. Several other men, also of Eastern European decent were spread throughout the room, standing guard at doors. A few random cultists including a girl who was barely sufficiently covered were talking off to the left in the hall in hushed tones.

"Now we wait," Miranda said. Mari simply nodded and took in more of the splendor of this room. Light footsteps could he heard from the upper floor and Mari looked up to see who it was. Immediately, she was awed by the presence of who appeared.

The woman was obviously of European decent as well, with long and somewhat wavy raven black hair left free to drape over her shoulders. Her eyes were red, similar to what she remembered seeing in the First Child of NERV but lighter in color, more radiant. Her skin, at least what was visible of it, was pale and seemingly flawless, her body was perfect in Mari's eyes with curves in all the right places, an ample bosom and a perfect hourglass shape. She wore a thin dress the color of blood leaving exposed skin across her stomach, cleavage, arms and upper legs.

Her very presence seemed to exude charisma far beyond what a human could convey, and almost instantly Mari was in love. She could feel her eyes softening at the very sight of this girl who would be her leader as long as this assignment lasted.

"Greetings, Miranda," her sultry voice came. "I see you've brought a new adherent to us. What is your name child?"

"Mari, mistress," Mari answered immediately as if it were an order, not a question.

"Mari," she repeated softly. The sound sent chills of pleasure down Mari's spine. "What is it you hope to find here, Mari?"

Mari knew she had to answer correctly or she was as good as dead, but she already knew what she would say.

"Knowledge, Mistress," she replied. "I seek the power of darkness, and a place within the eternal night to come."

The girl smiled, melting Mari's heart further. Despite being fully able to see the fact that this woman did in fact have hypertrophied canine teeth, she wasn't afraid. She was fully taken by this woman and knew then that she was going to love this assignment.

"Well spoken," she agreed. "I can see great things in your future Mari." She spread her arms out in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome to our society; The Circle of the Moon. Here you will find all of the knowledge you crave, satiate the desires you deny yourself, and you will find your place in the darkness. Allow me to introduce myself to you formally. I am Carmilla, and I welcome you as a member of the circle." Her arms lowed. "Miranda, provide Mari with quarters for when she is here with us and get her acquainted with the rest of our coven."

"At once, mistress," Miranda replied.

Mari bowed respectfully before following Miranda out of the door.

"Such a beautiful creature," Carmilla whispered. "Tomorrow is the full moon… I must have her for myself."

The world is a vampire,

Sent to drain

Secret destroyers,

Hold you up to the flames

And what do I get,

For my pain?

Betrayed desires,

And a piece of the game

- The Smashing Pumpkins, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"

"This is going to get worse before it gets anywhere else, I think. My informant has been staying off of NERV's radar but he won't tell me why. He's cute… so cute I might just…"

Next Chapter: Into the Arms of a Demon