The airport was deserted at this time of night, the private jet
waiting and ready to go. Most of their friends were gathered and Anthy
was making her farewells nearby. Integra nodded slightly to Utena, "It's
been... interesting, meeting you."
"Thanks," Utena sighed. The pale, pink haired woman hesitated a
moment, making sure that Anthy was out of earshot before saying, "Take
care of her, please."
Integra hesitated, her gray hair blowing back from her face then
she nodded slightly. "You have my word," she said crisply, turning to
walk to the plane, the blonde vampire Victoria Ceres joining her a
moment later to wait by the boarding ladder.
"We may not like each other," Juri said to Anthy, her orange
hair flowing around her face, "but I'm going to miss our scraps."
Anthy was startled enough by that to laugh. "Take care of
Utena," the dusky vampire murmured, "she's far too trusting for her own
good."
"Will do," Juri half saluted then moved back to give them some
space.
"I"m sorry," Utena said, uncomfortably putting her hands in the
pockets of her black schoolboy's uniform, "I wish I had handled things
better."
Anthy reached out to stroke Utena's cheek, "I wish you had
asked, you know. I rather think things would be very different right
now."
"So you're joining the Holy Order?" Utena asked, nodding towards
Integra and Victoria as the hand dropped away from her cheek.
"It's familiar to me," Anthy said, "and I care for Integra a
great deal." She shrugged, "If I hadn't been chasing my brother all
those months ago, I might never have left her."
"Whatever happens," Utena said softly, "try to be happy."
Anthy took a step back, smiling slightly. "I will be, I think,"
and with that she walked to the plane, reaching out to take Integra and
Victoria's hands.
"Are you going to be all right?" Juri asked her curiously,
watching as the slim plane taxied to it's runway. It sped up along the
pavement, smoothly rising up into the sky. It soared up higher and
higher before it began to shrink off into the distance.
"I think so," Utena sighed, "eventually."
"Utena-sama!" Wakaba hit Utena with a flying hug, sending the
slim vampire staggering about, both of them clearly enjoying the game.
Ruka chuckled softly, the blue haired young man standing by
Juri's side. "So," he looked over at Juri, "what do we do now?"
"That's the question, isn't it," Juri said, taking a look at
Utena.
Utena walked over towards them and had an oddly distracted look
on her face. "We'd better get moving," she said, "Ms. Ohtori is leaving
town."
"How do you know..." Ruka started, then nodded, "the bond with
Shiori."
"I'd like to check their apartment out," Utena looked over at
the girls and sighed, "right after we drop them off at the apartment."
"But Utena..." the whining was loud but she ignored it stoiclly.
Sunrise was growing close as Juri focused her willpower, making
the landlord open up the apartment door. "Here you go," he murmured,
walking off in a cloud.
"I still don't like that," Utena said, leading the way inside.
Juri chuckled softly. "For a vampire," she remarked, "you have a
bit too much concience." They moved into the opulantly decorated suite,
looking around curiously. It was lovely, well taken care of, but still
had the feel of an abandoned home.
"Isn't this interesting," Utena murmured as they entered the
bedroom. A letter lay on the neatly made bed with her name on it, the
scents on it a mix of Ohtori and Shiori.
"Aren't you going to pick it up?" Juri asked curiously.
"Do I have to?" Utena sighed. "I't's probably a vow to hunt me
till the ends of the Earth or something," she complained.
"If you don't open it," Juri's voice was dangerous, "I will."
"Right," Utena popped the wax seal, unfolding it as two pieces
of plastic fell out. "Bank cards," Utena blinked, holding them in her
hands.
"In your and my names," Juri murmured, "read the damn letter!"
"Your are not what I expected," Utena read from the letter,
"none of your are. Vampires hunt alone unless ruled by a master,
vampires are solitary by their nature. Yet they stand beside you unbound
by power as do humans free of any compulsion other than love."
"I do not forgive you for my daughter Kanae," Utena continued to
read, "but as Shiori has reminded me I do owe you my life in return. We
will meet again when I am ready, and until then I want you alive,
waiting for me. These cards can access but a small part of my resources,
but they should be sufficient for you."
"Damn," Juri murmured as Utena folded up the letter.
Utena closed her eyes, reaching out to try and feel for Shiori
through the blood bond between them but she received nothing. "They let
us see this place," she opened her blue eyes, "Ohtori wants us to have
this, all right."
"The sun will be rising soon," Juri said, "do we keep them or
leave the cards?"
"We take them," Utena slipped the card into her pocket even as
they left the apartment. They went down the access ways into the utility
tunnels burried beneath the city, navigating through the darkness
together.
"So what do we do now?" Juri asked as they walked together,
their peternatural vision piercing through the shadows.
"I want to talk it over with the others," Utena said firmly,
"once we get back."
"Sounds like you have some ideas," Juri noted.
"Yes and no," Utena said softly, a slight smile on her face. She
tilted her head to the side, "Though if those cards are real it'll open
up a lot of options."
"Call Ayaka Kisaragi," Juri smiled wryly, "if anyone can find
that out it's her."
Utena chuckled softly, "It sounds like a plan." She recognized a
power box and nodded thoughtfully, "I think we're here."
They climbed up a ladder into a electrical room, emerging
beneath the apartment building they had been staying in. Utena led the
way to the elevator and up to their suite, the nervously waiting girl's
looking visibly relieved at their safe return.
"Did you find anything useful at Ms. Ohtori's?" was Ami's first
question as they entered, the blue haired young woman walking over to
look at Utena worriedly. She voice dropped slightly, "Mistress, are you
hungry?"
Utena forced back a yawn, feeling the effects of the dawn
working on her. "I'm all right for now," she reassured her, "I had some
blood last night at the Locket."
"We'd better rest," Juri fought back her own weariness and gave
Ruka a smile. "Call up Ayaka for us, too," she said, "I think Utena's
going to want to talk to us all tonight."
"You're right about that," Utena agreed, she and Juri stumbling
off to their darkened bed chamber to sleep.
"The cards are real," Ayaka dropped the two bank cards on the
table, "not to memtion tied to some impressively large accounts."
"Thanks," Juri smiled.
Utena looked around the room, at Juri, the small band of girl
groupies, Ayaka, Wakaba and Ruka sitting in the various chairs. "I
wanted to lay out our options," Utena smiled slightly, "before we make
any major decisions."
"First," Utena said calmly, "we can go back to Ohtori. The
girls, Ruka and Wakaba can continue their education there, and it's a
safe place for vampires."
"Just being safe," Juri murmured, "has never really appealed to
me." The others all pretty much chimed in their agreement to that.
"Second," Utena said, "we can go to Britain together. Apparently
Integra thinks we're rough but have some potential and before she left
she extended an offer to join the Holy Order for us."
Ruka frowned, "I hate sea trips. Besides, that sort of deal is
probably one way, I bet. We join, we can't easily resign later."
"Anthy did it," Wakaba pointed out.
"And had to phone in regularly," Juri said coldly, "or Integra
Hellsing came looking for her to find out what was going on."
"The third option is the most risky," Utena said. "We stay in
Tokyo, keep hunting vampires either from here or some other base of
operations. Now that I've killed Saya and fought Ohtori to a draw other
vamps are going to come for me," she said, "either to neutralize me as a
threat or just to make a name for themselves."
"If you do stick around Tokyo," Ayaka smiled slightly, "the
Phantom Quest Corp. can throw some work your way." She grinned, "Pretty
much the reason you wanted me to stick around?"
"Yeah," Utena smiled back.
"I doubt the vampire problem in this city is under control,"
Hitomi noted, the brown haired girl adding eagerly, "it's something we
could all help with."
Wakaba, Excel, Ruka and Keiko all chimed in their agreement. Ami
pushed up her glasses and added cheerfully, "And Tokyo has some fine
cram schools for us, too." There was a soft chorus of groans at that but
Ami just grinned.
"I'd say we're agreed," Juri gave Utena a smile, reaching out to
take her hand, "looks like we're staying here in Tokyo."
"They won't know what hit them," Utena agreed, squeezing Juri's
hand gently.
The End.
Final Comments and Author’s Notes
Well, that's the end for now, at least. I've left the ending
open to be continued if I choose, either continuing with Utena and
gang's adventures in Tokyo or covering Anthy's becoming part of the
Hellsing organization. I don't know for certain that I'll do that, but
keep your eyes open. As well I'm putting this up in a revised form on
adultfanfiction.net with additional chapters and more explicit content
under the title Blood Soaked and Honor Bound: Reloaded.
Below are the thoughts and concepts I startred out with when I
began this series. I didn't always manage to work all the materials into
the story but some of it was used. Anything I didn't use may turn up in
my revised version, but we'll just have to see.
In this story vampirism brings out the dark side of the person
who has been transformed, bringing up whatever he or she may be trying
to repress. Touga was a good man originally, struggling with a dark side
that was just too much for him as a vampire. For Juri, her dark side was
her conflicted sexuality, so when she became a vampire that side of her
was totally released, for good or ill. And in some cases a person’s
sanity can break under the change, like poor Saionji or Kanae.
Before Utena appeared, Ohtori academy was nearly the perfect
hunting ground for any vampire. A remote locale with all the students
confined to their dorm rooms at night allowed the vampires to ravage at
will, with only Utena and Anthy to try to stop them. Akio chose it well,
when he came there... or was sent there.
The curse of Vampirism in this series is being treated, at least
mostly, as an disease, not supernatural at all. It has effects that can
be scientifically traced, alteriing the body and brain in certain
specific ways, and changing when circumstances require. The virus
changes the body, altering it to be stronger, tougher, and more
resistant to damage. Of course, it also creates specific
vulnerabilities, including sleeping during the day, sensitivity to the
sun, and other problems.
The psionic gifts that Juri, Utena and Anthy are all beginning
to show are a result of their altered brain chemistry activating
dormant, unused parts of the human brain. As vampires grow older they
can develop even greater mental gifts, as Utena and friends will
eventually discover. And Mrs. Ohtori already knows...
Of course, I’ll also be introducing other, very different kinds
of vampires from Utena and Anthy. Vampire Princess Miyu being a good
example! I plan to raise the question of the existance of supernatural
vampires, something that will cause Utena to ask certain questions about
her own existance.
I decided to take Utena, Anthy and their friends out of Ohtori
because I was worried the series was slowly becoming the ‘Which Ohtori
character will be the vampire of the week?’ story. Setting the series
outside of the academy will hopefully allow a broad variety of new
characters to be introduced, as well as exploring Utena and Anthy’s
situation.
So why did I decide to mix up the Utena cast and the vampire
curse in the first place? Of course, I’m not the first writer to do so,
but I found that the highly erotic edge in much of the Utena material
really lent itself to a darker, more vampire oriented perspective. Akio,
Touga, Juri and the others are such flawed heroes to start with that I
thought making them vampires would bring all those various flaws up to
the surface. And for Utena herself...
A woman of deep moral convictions, Utena is tormented by the
urges and desires that have come along with her vampirism. Not to
mention the other desires that she may have been suppressing, like an
deep attraction to other women. She fights to live as morally as she can
manage within the limits of her curse, and she occasionally finds
herself slipping a bit. Her desire for Wakaba, her nearly attacking
Kozue, and her liaison with Juri are all moments which she was unable to
fight her deeper urges and desires.
Anthy is quite a different character than in the Utena TV
series. A woman with a mission, she long sought to eliminate her vampire
brother, to protect the world from his foul taint. She even went to
Britain and trained under the Hellsing organization. Now, she finds
herself reluctantly working with a vampire to stop the creations of her
brother. And in the back of her mind, she wonders if she will have to
slay her new ally as well. But now that she has become a vampire
herself, she is discovering the Utena’s self control is something that
she may not share...
Juri, unlike Utena, has totally embraced her vampirism and the
powers it grants. Wise enough to know that killing her victims would
likely lead to her own end, she only draws enough blood to satisfy her
hunger, and to grant pleasure. She longs for a equal, someone to share
her existance, and thought she found one in the transformed Shiori, but
Mrs. Ohtori has taken her away.
Mrs. Ohtori is a mystery, and I plan to keep her that way for
awhile... What we know so far: she’s an elder vampire, and more powerful
than both Juri and Shiori. She created Akio, as well as having changed
her daughter, Kanae.
About the Tokyo Interlude, I’ve thought about featuring the
fight between Utena and Akio for a while, but I didn’t see anywhere to
fit it in smoothly. I hope this flashback sequece isn’t too jarring, but
I wanted to get into Mrs. Ohtori’s head a bit, as well as explain why
she might be a bit worried about facing Utena...
The ‘prince of the school’ line Akio spouts is inspired by the
Utena movie. “It doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman, one of
strength and nobility is always a prince!” is another quote taken from
the first volume of the Utena manga. I was looking for a place to slip
it in one of my stories, and this seemed to work quite well.
The Tokyo chapters will feature characters outside of the Utena
series, as well as continuing the vampiric changes in Utena and Anthy.
Phantom Quest Coorporation, Vampire Princess Miyu, Hellsing and other
series will be featured soon.
Because I am usually a more comic writer, I’ve incorperated
certain elements of humor to give a bit of lightness to the story.
Wakaba is a major source of comic relief, and is the closest to being
purely normal in this story. The Girl Groupies I saddled Utena with will
be as much a source of trouble for her as a help.
About the Girl Groupies: I’m still in the process of naming them
all. Keiko is from the Utena series, Hitomi is from Escaflowne, Ami
Mizuno from Sailor Moon and Excel from Excel Saga. That leaves two other
Groupies to name, and I’ll happily take any suggestions.
The Research Materials! Well, all right, I didn’t actually do a
lot of ‘research’ on this series but there are more than a few authors
who gave me ideas and inspiration for this fic.
First, like any writer of modern vampire stories, I owe a large
debt of thanks to the writings of Anne Rice. Her first three vampire
novels Interview with a Vampire, the Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the
Damned returned the erotic edge to vampire fiction, something that it
had long lacked. The tortured Louis and the decadent Lestat were some of
my favorite characters and in part were the inspiration for how I
handled Utena and Juri.
I was also inspired by reading the “Blood” series of novels by
Canadian author Tanya Huff, who added a humorous take to Anne Rice’s
concepts. A night-blind private investigator and the vampiric bastard
son of Henry the Eighth investigate a series of supernatural threats in
and around the Canadian city of Toronto.
Robert Frezza’s book McLendon’s Syndrome is one of the better
‘scientific’ vampire novels, with a unique plotline. Some of my ideas of
the vampire disease came from this good book. A science fiction vampire
romantic comedy, I mean, what’s not to like? Not to mention all the
puns...
Some of the erotic vampire stories by Pat Califia were also
quite... eye opening. Not for the faint of heart, this transgendered
author features both gay and lesbian vampires, in explicity erotic
stories. Not something I would normally attempt, but quite skillfully
handled none the less.
I should also give a tip of the hat to Roxanna Ohtori, an
excellent author of darkly erotic Utena fanfics. I’m pretty certain some
of the tone of this fic comes from my reading her works. I'm sorry to
report that she's no longer writing fanfics. Milady, you are missed.
Back to Blood Soaked and Honor Bound: Tokyo Index - Back to Revolutionary Girl Utena Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction