Lethe breathed a sigh of relief as the last bits of necessary information flowed into the girl's head. She was dangerously close to waking up now, and Lethe had to scram! Sure, the plan was to eventually get killed off, and get a one way ticket to reality... but Lethe had to stick around until near the end of the 'game.' She had to be around for damage control, after all... some humans had a nasty tendency to get their memories back after a time, and if this girl was one of those, then that could really screw things up.
The imp wondered for a moment if she could sneak in a few extra skills or habits that some of the others might appreciate... a lot of the cannon fodder would be eternally grateful if the girl went through this topless, and Death had been complaining recently that just once, he wanted to have a chess game, rather than doing the whole 'throwing sickles' bit.
Unfotunantly, Nabiki was beginning to move on her own. Lethe removed her tail and flew behind a statue. She'd get a chance to make adjustments later...
* * *
Nabiki groaned... what had hit her? And where was she, for that matter?
(Unknown to her, the memories that Lethe had forced into her mixed with those the imp hadn't removed. Details adjusted themselves, leaving Nabiki with a mostly complete history.)
She remembered now... she was Nabiki Belmont, of the latest generation of the Belmont clan, destined to fight Dracula and his evil forces whenever he returns to the world of men.
She winced as she rubbed the back of her head. She hadn't even made it into the castle... and something had gotten the drop on her. It had to be complete dumb luck that she was still alive... and she couldn't count on luck anymore. Her father and sister would have been so embarrassed by her right now.
Really, it should have been one of them here, tackling this obligation. Her father, Soun Belmont, had waited for a son, but that had never happened. After the third daughter, he reluctantly had begun training them all in the use of the whip, and the powers that were their birthright. But it was Nabiki's younger sister - Akane - that took best to the combat arts. Kasumi, the eldest, had always been the healer... and Nabiki had always just... been there. She'd never really had a niche of her own in a family of monster hunters.
But only two days ago, that all changed. Dracula's castle rose from the ashes like a phoenix, and some demonic sorcerer appeared and placed a curse upon the Belmont home, turning all within into stone.
If Kasumi hadn't decided to go shopping and hadn't dragged her along... they'd have been transformed as well.
And that led to this. Kasumi stayed behind to protect their father and sister... leaving Nabiki to be the one to wield the Vampire Killer, and to destroy Dracula... again.
Nabiki turned her gaze skyward. Looming far above her was Dracula's throne room... a floating structure only connected to the rest of the castle by a staircase leading from the Clock Tower. It was the most likely location for Dracula to be... and thus, Nabiki's goal.
She took a deep breath, took the chain whip off her belt, and kicked open the entry door.
The entrance hall was once a tastefully decorated area with bright red curtains and large windows looking upon the inner courtyard. But that was about three centuries ago. Now the curtains were tattered, the windows broken, and the castle's inner courtyard wasn't something that anything human would want to see anymore, much less cross if they had a choice.
Oh, and it was crawling with zombies.
"Here goes nothing." Nabiki said to herself, lashing out with the Vampire Killer...
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(Posted Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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