In the dark, above the long-dead ruins of a burnt out ghost town two men stand face to face.
   The first is a slender blond man with cobalt blue eyes.  He is dressed in a dark long coat, 
and holds his sword leveled at the other man.  It is a stance that is not widely used due to the 
fact that it leaves the slow-moving fighter open to attack.  It is known as the Sephiroth Stance,
and speed is its user's trademark.  Well, speed and confidence.
   The second is a man with silver hair and pale skin.  Dressed as a knight, he stands with his 
famous Demon Slayer blade in the Mandion Arc stance.
   A green haired woman holds an arrow on the silver-haired man.  She is dressed severely, and no
emotion plays across her cold features, no fire burns in her dead eyes.
    It is here, above the ruins of a town once called Lachesis that present has come to meet 
past.
    It is here that the rematch between Renaku, Vampire Knight and Demon Slayer, and Nigel is 
being fought.  Renaku knows not much of Nigel other than that he is a very powerful individual, 
and a member of the Blood Moon Society.  At least that was true twenty-five years ago upon their 
last meeting.
    Nigel leers at Renaku.  Clouds have obscured Lord Moon's beams, and only the watchful gaze of
his star children illuminates the world.
    It does not matter.  Neither man needs any more light to see his opponent.  
    Nigel laughs.  "You haven't changed a bit, Renaku!  Still as ambitious to have your revenge 
upon me, I see."
    Until now the battle has raged on unchecked.  Now, Nigel stops, undoubtedly aware of how 
neither of them is gaining any ground.
    "We're quite an even matching.  However, luck is on my side tonight.  Martina," he gestures 
to the archer, "is quite a skilled with the bow.  She won't miss her mark.  I trust you are 
aware of how deadly wood is to a vampire."
    Renaku looks over at the woman, and sees the arrow point is made of iron.  He turns to make
note of this to Nigel when something hits him with the force of a meteor.
    The vampire knight stumbles to the ground, knocked out cold.
    Martina looks at the large Yew club Nigel holds in his hands.
    "I'm not carrying him," she says.
    "Bah," Nigel smirks again, "this saves the trouble of convincing him to come with us."
    
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Vampire Legend R
Episode 7: When Demons Dream
By: Chandra Rooney
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Warning?  Sure why not.  There's some pathetically written stuff ahead and 
probably at least one bad joke.  Hey, I might even throw in a few references to
animes and video games, and pop other modern pop culture.  Feel free to laugh 
at my pathetic plot line if nothing else  ^_^  Oh, yeah, there could be blood,
gore, and kareoke with Lina and Amelia ahead.  The odds are on blood and gore 
tho.  Considered yourself warned.
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   It has been asked if Darkbloods and creatures of night dream.  For the most part when Renaku
closes his eyes it brings only darkness and release from the bloodhunger.
   Sometimes, however, when he sleeps he sees scenes from his life.  Happy memories of the days 
he spent before Lady Sun's loving rays could cause him so much pain and suffering.
   But not once since he became a vampire has Renaku truly dreamed as a human does.  Some would 
say that is because creatures of darkness don't dream.  They might suggest only something with a
soul can dream.  They might be right.

^^^

  The Demon Realm had swallowed the world.  Villages and towns burned.  The putrid smoke of 
charred flesh blocked the stars. 
  No one had seen the sun in years.  The world existed in a state of eternal night.  Not that 
anyone remembered what the word 'night' even meant.  The human populace didn't exactly do a lot 
of reading.  Or talking for that matter.  Grunts of hard labor and shrieks of pain will suffice 
for their masters.
  Darkblood Lords ruled over their human slaves with a indifference to what their slaves wanted. 
They were just considered cattle after all.
  Humans spent their entire short, tragic lives bowing before the Sons of Chaos, the Blood Moon
Society, the Fumu, the Feng Shui, the dark elves and the other clans of Darkbloods.
  Thirteen clans in all ruled over thirteen separate regions of the world.  It had been this way
for longer than any human could remember.
  Among Darkbloods, who could hold memories for longer than twenty or thirty years, the knowledge
of the Great War between the clans went back a hundred years.  The clans had warred over who 
would rule the world once the scales had tipped in favor of darkness.
  The war had finally been ended by the same great demon they had to thank for the scales 
tipping in the first place.  He could have stopped the war from happening, but then he'd have to
miss the carnarge and chaos that had ensued due to it.
  He wasn't a huge fan of chaos, but he did love a good bit of carnage.  Only if there was blood;
there had to be lots and lots of blood.
  To the clans of the Darkblood he was known as the Grand Master.  He was the leader of the clans
and their highest authority or lack there of.  He had united the Darkblood clans, and had given 
them their regions to rule over.  He put the organization into a demon world.
  Amongst the humans he had another name.  They called him, at least the ones that could still 
speak to each other, the Hellmaster.
  It paints a rather dismal picture of human existence, if one is daring enough to call it an 
existence, but there is a spark of hope to the tale.
  Some humans still remained free.  A small clan that called themselves the "Sureiyaazu" had 
managed to evade the Darkbloods.  They were composed of those gathered together to try to reclaim
their world.  They were demon hunters.
  Amongst them there existed a particularly young and good slayer.  He was a tall man of 20 with 
long, silver hair.  He'd come to them as a baby in a dying woman's arms.
  The Sureiyaazu Elders claim that the only thing the women had with her was a sword.  The sword 
had become the young man's weapon.  It had given him a chance against the Darkblood.  His 
mother's last word before she died had given him a name.
  She had whispered 'Sadaku'.
  Sadaku was a relatively intelligent young man.  He knew that the only way the Darkblood rule
could ever crumble was if they warred amongst themselves again.  The only way to do that was to 
cut out the only thread that held them together; their Grand Master.  Sadaku was perhaps the only
one to have actually come to realize this.
  He was also the only idiot to actually try to do something about it.  Sadaku had come to the 
central district that had been known as Lachesis long before the fall from grace.  He had come 
to challenge the Hellmaster.  He was betting completely on the fact that no one had ever done 
this before for it to work.  
  The Hellmaster's castle was the largest of the Darkblood Sires and surprisingly the least 
secured.  Once again, this was probably due to the fact that no one in his or her right mind 
would try to "off" the Grand Master.
  Sadaku himself had never been completely in his right mind.  Such was the downside of being a 
vampire/human half-breed.  Well, one of them at least.  But enough of this, and on with the tale.
  The young Sadaku walked up to the gate of the Grand Master's castle.  He was dressed in boots,
dark colored pants and shirt, and a blood red cloak.  The cloak was stolen from a Darkblood that 
he had slain along his way.  Concealed beneath the cloak at his side was his sword.  The sword 
remained the only possession that he had ever truly called his own.  It meant more to him than 
anything because it was a reminder of his human half, his mother.
  "Who goes there?" a voice called out.  It was a troll of some sort by the looks of it.
  "Talk about your stock dialogue," Sadaku muttered, but then Trolls have never been known for 
their wit.  'Who's trip-tripping over my bridge?' was the brute sum of their collective
intelligence.
  "Ahem, I sad, who goes there?" the guard asked again, coming out with his spear in hand.  He 
walked over to where Sadaku stood, hidden behind a scraggly tree.
  "Ding dong," Sadaku said as he jumped out and cut the guard in two, "it's the Avon Lady 
calling!"
  Stepping over the bloody mass, he proceeded across the gate and onto the castle grounds.
  *Relatively simple,* he thought.  *But I'd best be on my guard.  The Grand Master must surely 
have something more intelligent working for him.*
  Shrieks of varying pitches echoed throughout the darkened stone hallways.  Spider-webs 
blanketed every corner.  No doubt in the basement there was a vast assortment of chains, 
shackles, and human slaves in various stages of dying.
  Sadaku moved throughout the Darkbloods with his eyes lowered.  He peeked into various rooms, 
and found nothing to guide him towards the Grand Master.
  Finally, he came to a grand hall.  A throne sat at the end of it, and in the throne sat the 
vampire that Sadaku had been looking for. 
  Stories and legends surrounded the Grand Master, but he doubted that this creature could be 
anything else.  Dressed in extravagant crimson robes, the vampire sipped human blood from a 
jewel-encrusted goblet.  A crescent moon symbol was emblazoned upon it.
  "Grand Master?" Sadaku asked, hesitantly, as he stepped further into the room.  He used every 
trick he knew to mask his thoughts and true plans from the prying mind of the beast.  No one 
knew for certain if vampires could read minds, but he didn't want to take the chance.
  The vampire turned.  "Yes, what is it?"
  "I have come far to see you, Grand Master," Sadaku said, bowing low as he came closer.
  "From where, and for why?"
  He crept closer still for he had to be close enough to take the Hellmaster by surprise before 
the monster could attack.
  "I have come from Lahan," Sadaku said quickly.  "I have come for one very special reason."
  "Lahan is far," the Hellmaster agreed.  "This reason must have been special indeed.  What is 
it?"
  "To kill you."  In a heartbeat Sadaku withdrew his sword and slide into the Mandion Arc 
stance.  "To kill you so the world can belong to the humans again!"
  The Hellmaster laughed.  It rang off the high ceiling and bounced off the walls.  He laughed
and laughed.  "Well, it took you long enough!  Do you think I have not been expecting you, 
Sadaku of the Sureiyaazu?  Do you think you would have gotten this far if I hadn't allowed it?"
  "And why did you allow me to come so far?" Sadaku's eyes quickly scanned the room.  Was this a 
trap?  
  "You are no ordinary Slayer," the Hellmaster explained.  "You are not even an ordinary human.  
I have been following your little journey here.  You have great potential.  Your uniqueness of 
being half vampire means that you could go either way.  Why do you insist upon wasting your life
fighting a meaningless cause?  Join me, Sadaku.  Take your rightful place along side your 
Darkblood brethren."
  "Why would I do that?" 
  "I can give you the power you've always dreamed of.  Do you want it?"
  "No way!" Sadaku shook his head.  "You'll turn me into some sort of monster if I let you!  I 
came here to kill you, not to join you!  I'll never give in to the Darkblood!"
  The Hellmaster's eyes narrowed.  "There was a time when I, too, thought that I would waste my 
existence fighting against darkness.  But I saw the error of my ways, and now look where I am.
I am the Grand Master of the Darkblood clans.  I am, if you'll excuse my lack of originality, ]
the most powerful being in the world."
  Sadaku brought up his blade.  "Well, great for you."
  He swung and buried his sword into the Hellmaster.  The monster laughed.  It hadn't even 
bothered to avoid the blow.
  "You are a fool, boy, you cannot kill something like me with a mere sword," he stopped, and 
looked down.  "No...it cannot be...this sword...it is the Demon Slayer!"
  Sadaku didn't know what the Hellmaster was talking about, but he really didn't care.  He just 
hoped the vampire would hurry up and die.
  "This sword..." the Hellmaster began to laugh again.  "This sword once belonged to me...  Yes, 
it has all come to pass; everything she showed me has come to pass."
  The hysterical laughter was really started to creep Sadaku out.  He wondered how long it was 
going to take before the sword drained the life out of this over-grown leech.
  The Hellmaster looked up at Sadaku with eyes the same color as the young man's own.  "I am 
slain...by my own son with my own sword!"
  "Son?" Sadaku exclaimed.  "You're my father?!"
  The Hellmaster just laughed and laughed.  "I'd forgotten that it would be you.  I'd forgotten
that she had stolen my sword as well as my attention.  My son, you will be the new Grand Master
of the Darkblood."
  "I won't!" Sadaku screamed.  "You can't make me!  I won't!  I won't become like you!"
  The Hellmaster smiled.  "Like me, you don't understand how that sword works.  With each demon
you slay, more and more of your soul turns to darkness.  You have just slain the greatest of all
demons, Sadaku.  You have slain the Darkblood's Grand Master Renaku.  You have no hope of
becoming anything other than a monster."
  The Demon Slayer flashed brilliantly and Sadaku felt the darkness that was the existence of 
the Hellmaster enter his body.  It swallowed his heart.  It swallowed his mind.  It swallowed
his soul.
  It swallowed *him*.
  Grand Master Sadaku sat down in the throne and looked at the sword laying at his feet.  He 
picked it up and snapped it in two.  He didn't want to end up like his father, after all.

^^^

  "No," Renaku screamed.  "No, it cannot be!  It cannot be!"
  "It very well can be, and it certainly might be," a voice said beside him.
  Renaku looked around.  He was seated at a table in a restaurant.  Across from him sat a small
girl with elven ears and pale purple hair.
  "What...where am I?" He asked.  "What was that awful vision?"
  "Awful indeed," the girl nodded.  "Pasta sauce and white robes do not a pretty picture make."
  Renaku stared at her.  She was young looking, barely nineteen he'd guess. Her eyes were hidden
beneath heavy purple bangs.  She was dressed in a blue gown, and a white robe lay over the empty 
chair beside him.  It was dotted with red splotches.
  "Stains are damn near impossible to get out," she continued.
  "What..." he rubbed his eyes.  "Ye Gods, what was that?"
  "That was a possible future.  A possibility I dread becoming reality.  One that has been
appearing more and more often."
  "A possible future?  Who are you?"
  "It's got me worried," she continued, tapping a chopstick against her chin.  "It's not my job 
to worry.  Oh never eat spaghetti with chopsticks."
  Renaku searched for any grasp of what might be going on.
  "Oh," she looked up, "you asked a question, didn't you?  I'm Kanouseiko, the goddess of 
possibilities."
  "Kanouseiko?" He blinked.  "Who can see all that has been, all that is, all that might have 
been, and all that will be?  But you never appear to people anymore."
  She frowned.  "Now you see that's the kind of rumor that's created this anti-social reputation 
everyone seems to think I have!  No wonder I never get invited to any parties."
  "But what do you want with me?"
  "You saw the vision, didn't you?  That's just one of the many that have been haunting me.  
Over time more and more of them have come to show your-bishounen-self seated on the throne of 
Darkness.  I'm asking myself, Kanou, babe, what is it that is causing dear bishounen Renaku-chan
to be thrown to the side of the Big Bad Things?"
  He questioned whether this was indeed the goddess of possibilities, or he had been hit over 
the head harder than he had thought.  "I have been doing nothing different as of late."
  She made a face.  "That is such stock dialogue.  How come you knights always have to talk like
that?  Would it kill you to say, 'I dunno what the hell it could be!'?"  A glass appeared before 
him.  "Drink?"
  "Thank you but I-"
  "Humor me.  So, anyway, my conclusion is that sometime in the very near future you will have to
make a choice that decides whether you become a Hellmaster or a Savior.  You choose deadly wrong
and condemn all of humanity in the process."  She blinked.  "See?  Now you got me talking in 
clichés!"
  "So what should I do about it?"
  "Make the freakin right choice instead!"  She slammed her fist on the table and the cup flew up
in the air and landed on his head.  Wine dripped down Renaku's cheeks.
  "Uh, sorry about that.  Anyway, you will be given the opportunity to join up with one of two 
groups soon.  One group is going to make a pretty damn good deal with you, and the other will 
just say 'please'.  When it comes time to pick one listen to your gut and not the promises you 
hear.  The path to the Demon Realm is fun ride, Renaku-chan, but when the roller coaster stops 
you can just color yourself dammed.  And before you ask, dammed is a shade of grey."
  "That's all?" he asked, using a napkin to wipe the wine from his forehead.  "That's your great
advice?  Listen to my gut?  Aren't Gods supposed to be helpful and wise?"
  "Yeah, well no one said we had to be coherent," was the snappy reply.  "More wine?  Maybe you
could drink this glass instead of wearing it.  That's not the house bathtub-mix you know."
  "I believe it was your fault I'm wearing it."
  "How very true.  Would you also say it's my fault you're here?"
  "It is."
  "You're the one dreaming, Renaku-chan."
  "Then I suppose I am allowed to ask whatever questions I wish?"  
  "Your dream time.  But hurry it up, the clock don't stop."
  He considered correcting her grammar, but dismissed the idea.  "I was told once that I am only
one player in fate's game.  That not everything revolves around me."
  She smacked him over the head with the chopstick knocking the cup to the ground.  "What'd I 
tell you about listening to what every schmuck off the street tells you?!  You're the hero in 
this little play, Renaku-chan!  That means that everything *does* revolve around you!  Except 
the stuff that doesn't.  But that's usually just psycho-babble some punk is spewing to mess with
your kawaii, silver-haired head."
  He rubbed that aforementioned head.  "You want me to believe that everything is a plot against
me?"
  "No, because that makes you sound paranoid.  You are the *one*, Renaku-chan!  You're the one 
of the prophecy.   You'll either do the macarena on the darkness or become its tango partner.  
It's all up to you, although most of us would prefer you give it a good Rah Tilt to the head and 
then we can all have a nice chicken dinner to celebrate.  No pasta.  No sauce.  I've wrecked 
enough robes that way."
  "Is this why I retained my memories after I became a vampire?" He asked, deciding it was best 
not to risk another commentary if he asked what a 'Rah Tilt' was.
  "Bingo baby!" She tapped his nose with the chopstick.  "Or jackpot.  Whatever gambling victory
term you prefer."
  "But why me?"
  "I told you.  You're the hero, bishounen boy, that's how it works."
  "But why am I the hero?"
  She threw her hands up in disgust.  "Why are you the hero?  Why am I the goddess of 
possibilities?  Who knows?  Who cares?  We are and that's the only for sure thing in this world
or any other.  Although in your case the hero part could come into question in the future."  
She sat on the table.  "I asked why I was the goddess of possibilities once.  Do you know what 
the answer I got was?"
  "How would I-"
  "Rhetorical question, Renaku-chan.  It was 'just because'.  Sometimes there is no clear 'why', 
sometimes all you get is a 'just because'."
  "So the fate of humanity rests on my shoulders just because it does."
  "Is there an echo in here?  In the more appealing futures, the ones where you make the right 
choice, it doesn't.  You've got a few handy-dandy helpers.  Like a big, dumb, blond swordsman, 
and a cranky ol' shaman with funky ears, or an annoying, koo koo crazy magical girl and a talking
cat or maybe even some whacked-out, enigmatic, demon priest.  Or not.  I really can't say.  The 
possibilities are endless."
  "And I get no clues as to what choice is the right one?"
  "Who do you think I am, the freakin Psychic Friends Hotline?  How should I know?!  You know 
this omnipotent thing is another one of those nasty little rumors you people been spreadin about
me..." She hoped up and grabbed the stained robe.  "Watch out for wooden stakes and vampire 
hunters, Renaku-chan.  Keep it in your head what you saw, and remember...um...jeez I have no 
idea how to say this without sounding corny..."
  She tapped the chopstick against her chin.  "Gimme an 're', gimme an 'na', gimme an 'ku'!  
That's our boy, Renaku!  We're all cheerin' for ya!" She flashed an enthusiastic 'victory sign',
and stared walking away.  "I gotta go cancel out those futures that would have been if we hadn't
talked!"
  "What if I have more questions?  How do I contact you?" Renaku called after her.
  She turned.  "I find you when I have something to share!  That's how it works.  I don't 
exactly have a beeper, ya know.  So...um...yeah, until demons dream some more...laaaaaay-taaah!"
  As the scene faded around him, Renaku had one last thought.
  "What is a 'beeper'?"


^^^


  Renaku awakens, and rubs his head.  He is still having trouble believing that a Goddess would 
be so odd...but then someone who spends their entire existence being haunted by visions of 
endless possibilities would have to be a little off-center just so they could keep going on.
  She claimed a choice loomed before him, and now he fears that he won't be ready when it comes. 
The future she had shown him was not what he wanted.
  He becomes aware that he is in a dungeon cell, and it is night again.  How long had he slept?
Had long had he...dreamed?
  A whistle draws his attention to the other side of the cell bars.  A familiar blond man smirks
at him.
  "Rise and shine, little toy," Nigel leers.  "You've got an appointment to make.  You wouldn't
want to keep this lady waiting."
  "Who am I going to see?" Renaku demands.  He gets to his feet, and notices the wound from the
wooden club has still got some healing to do.
  Momentarily the world tips and spins, and then rights itself again.
  Nigel laughs.  "Got a little headache, do we?" 
  Renaku snarls at him, baring his fangs.
  "Now that's the boy the lady wants to see!"  He swings through a ring of keys and puts one in
the cell door.  "Lucky little leech, not everyone gets to meet a goddess."
  For a brief minute Renaku wonders how Nigel had known about his dream.
  "Which goddess is it that I am going to meet?" he asks.
  "Why her Ladyship, Diana, of course.  You remember the ol' Blood Moon Society, don't you?" 
Nigel's smirk broadens.  "Welcome to our new headquarters.  Now step lively, dead boy, you 
wouldn't want to keep Her waiting."

To be continued....
   
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Vampire Legend R, Created by Ben Overmyer
All the stuff and people I carried over from VLR 6 are copyright of Tso.
VLR 7: When Demons Dream is c-right of Chandra Rooney (Lady Chaos)
All the things I've mocked or made reference to are c-right to their wonderful 
and talented creators.  
I'd like to thank my partner in crime, GinkCat, for her proofreading and 
suggestions.
Send comments and death threats to: The Enemy of all who Live, Lina Inverse.  
Of course she won't care, so send em to:
The Enemy of all who Write Dead Serious Stories,
Lady Chaos at "cdrmoon@uniserve.com".  
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