I hope 13 isn't a letdown after 11 and 12. Again, if you like it, let me know!

And what of our mysterious new characters....

Ch 13 - Scramble
	

	"Shit! She's gone!" Ranma cursed.

	"Who?" Happousai asked. "Is Akane-chan with you?"

	"Nah, this girl. Red hair. She was wearing a negligee and
stockings. I just met her today. I think she may be... one of
those vampires you were talking about. She led me here."

	"Big, round eyes?" Happousai asked.

	"Yeah."

	"Long hair?"

	"Yeah."

	"I'll help you look," Happousai offered.

	"That's about what I figured. Nah. She can take care of
herself. C'mon."

	Ranma led Happousai back to Ucchan's. When he got there, he
realized that all the lights were on. He swore quietly, and
knocked on the front door.

	Ukyou rushed out and embraced Ranma roughly. She was
obviously worried, but didn't allow it to show on her face.

	"Where were you?" she asked in an odd combination of fear
and playfulness. It unnerved Ranma slightly.

	"There was a monster. Beat the old freak up pretty bad, but
then I came in and saved his bacon."

	Ukyou scowled down at the little hentai.

	"Who saved who's bacon, ingrate?" He demanded.

	"We ain't got time to argue. He shoved Happousai into the
restaurant and into a booth. Worriedly, Ukyou sat across from the
ancient pervert, followed closely by Ranma.

	"You said you fought these things before," Ranma prompted.
"Tell me everything you know about 'em."

* * *

	Akane's wings were... unusual to say the least. The were
curved like a bird's wings, but had a small claw on the very tip.
Rather than being covered in feathers or left as bare skin, they appeared 
to be covered in some kind of short thin, flat, hairlike ribbons.

	They were the same blackish blue as her hair, and flexed
slightly as she breathed.

	"Not like bat wings," Tofuu noted, awestruck. "It's rather like someone 
took the best features of several different kinds of wings and threw away 
everything they didn't like."

	He walked up next to Athia who was using a cloth to clean
out the blood and gore from around the joints where the wings now
joined Akane's back.

	He ran a finger down one of the joints appreciatively,
noting the firm musculature and bone structure.

	"They should be quite functional," he noted. "This is one of
the bonuses of vampirism?"

	"It doesn't bestow any gifts that you do not have already,"
Athia lectured. "The process merely enhances what you already
have. In this child's case it had a *lot* of enhancing to do."

	"What're you saying?" Nabiki demanded.

	"Somewhere inside her... Inside her genes," Athia corrected.
"This child dreams of flight. Her distant, distant descendants
might have gained these wings eventually, had she not manifested
them, or taken our blessing."
	
	"Amazing," Tofuu noted. "This is really quite incredible."

	"Actually, it's going to be quite a pain," Nabiki noted.
"How is she supposed to go to school like--"

	The wings fluttered and flickered out of existence. They
returned seconds later. Akane wheezed in confusion, blearily
trying to look over her shoulders.

	Ryouga, already stressed from his concern for Akane, having
to act normally when Tofuu took her top off, and actually watching
the appendages burst out of her back, fainted dead away.

	*Hmm...* Nabiki thought. *Akane will be okay, but I'm
definitely going to have to toughen up Ryouga some more. Queasy
queasy...*
		
	It was then that the phone rang.

	Surprised, Nabiki ran downstairs to answer it even though it
was later than anyone would normally call.

	"Moshi--"

	"Shut up, Nabiki." It was Ranma. "Get Nodoka on the Phone".

	Nabiki scowled, considering hanging up the phone, but
thought that it might be a bad idea. Ranma would have to know what
had happened to her sister, and his mother was probably the best
person to tell him.

	"Auntie!" Nabiki called out. "It's Ranma. He wants to talk
to you."

	Nodoka appeared next to her. Nabiki wasn't certain how. She
merely held out the phone.

	"Son, I--"

	"Ain't got time for this, M--..."

	"Son?" Nodoka asked into the receiver.
	
	"Listen. Me and the old freak fought a Ravener. I think I
fought the same one this afternoon. Turns out that the freak
fought them in his village when he was a kid. At any rate, they
killed a guy, like the one to tried who off Nabiki. It can call up
a new ravener each day. That's why we got another so quick after
you killed the one at the apartment."

	"Ranma... I..." This was all new information to Nodoka.
"Thank you. Is there anything else you know?"
	
	"Nuh-uh."

	"Ranma," she asked. "When will you be coming--"
	
	"Ain't comin' home, so don't even ask. You fight the
raveners. I'll fight the raveners."
	
	Nodoka clenched her eyes and choked back a sob. It was too
painful this way...

	"Please, Ranma. Tell me why?"

	"My fiancee's a monster now, an' it's your fault. That's
why."

	The phone disconnected with a click.

* * *

	Ukyou's eyes widened in shock as she listened to Ranma's end
of the conversation over the sound of Happousai greedily sucking
down leftover okonomiyaki.

	He hung up the phone angrily, and plopped down in the booth
with a brooding stare on his face. He drummed his fingers on the
empty, steaming kettle he had used just before the call.

	"Monsters?" she asked finally.

	"Don't even ask, Ukyou," Ranma warned. "It'll only hurt you.
That's all it's done to me." He huffed angrily and jumped back up.
"I'm gonna get a shower. Unless you hear screams, don't interrupt
me for anything."

	Ukyou stared in shock. Even after the crying Ranma, this was
a Ranma she had never seen. He was mean... gruff and forceful.
Ukyou felt... Actually, she admitted, it really turned her on. He
was usually so spineless...

	After the martial artist disappeared, Ukyou turned to the
still glutting Happousai.

	"Do you know why he's so upset?"

	"Yup," the hentai replied from in between mouthfuls.

	"And..."

	"Martial Artists don't tell," Happousai said seriously.

	"I'll give you the panties I'm wearing."

	Knowing that he could just steal them from her hamper later,
Happousai politely declined.

* * *

	The next morning, Hiroshi and Daisuke sat at their usual
place near the door, waiting for the usual morning martial arts
spectacle. Kunou was waiting at the gate for Ranma and Akane as
usual, and as usual the betting pool was not on who would win the
inevitable fight, but on how many seconds it would actually take
to finish.

	Nabiki was back today, so she was granting odds on the
outcome as well. For some reason, she had given Kuno better odds
today than she usually did. Not that they still weren't fifteen to
one, but sometimes, the pair thought, you had to look for first
causes.

	Ukyou came through the gate, followed closely by a man in a
Furinken school uniform who...

	"Wait a sec..." Hiroshi called out. "That's Ranma. I can
tell from the pigtail."

	"Well I'll be damned. He's in a uniform. Wonder what
happened to his regular clothes?"

	"No telling. It looks a little tight. It might be Ukyou's.
That dog!"

	"Ooh!" Daisuke realized. "He spent the night at her place
and didn't have any spare clothes. You think they did the deed?"

	"Almost certainly, my friend," Hiroshi replied. "And you
know what that means..."

	Daisuke had to fight to keep from drooling. "It means that
Akane's---"

	"My sister is still engaged to Ranma," Nabiki cut them off
coolly from behind with a hand on each of their shoulders. Neither
youth knew where she had come from, or how long she had been
listening. "Any other information will come at the usual rates,
Gentlemen."

	Hiroshi and Daisuke were so shocked at the upperclassman's
sudden appearance that they neglected to see Ranma walk right past
Kunou, who was still waiting for a man in Chinese clothes.

* * *

	Akane was still recovering, sleeping in her room.
Unconsciously, Akane had her new wings were folded around her
naked body like a blanket. From the drugs and stress, the girl had
passed out shortly after Ranma's call and had not woken since,
even when the sunlight began to peek into the room. Nodoka, who
was sitting nearby, had no real idea if Akane knew what had
happened to her or not.

	She sipped her tea, glancing back to her friend, Athia, who
had forsaken her travel dress in exchange for a borrowed robe.
Kasumi sat nearby as well, where she was just filling Athia's mug.

	In the Daylight, Kasumi could tell much more about Athia by
plain sight than either her expanded senses could in the darkness.
Her hair and features gave her away as being of Scandinavian
descent. Kasumi had finally placed the woman's accent as
Scandinavian. Kasumi guessed that she was Danish or Finnish, but
couldn't really tell. She had almost no scent to speak of. Kasumi
couldn't tell if that meant Athia was very powerful, or intensely
fastidious about her grooming.

	Her features were sharp, but her voice was gentle and quiet.
She moved with a grace that Kasumi had seen matched only by Ranma
when he was performing one of his katas.

	That Athia was a vampire went unspoken.

	"While I have never actually seen one of these beasts like
your son describes," she lectured quietly, "I have heard tales of
a 'Ravener King'. My grandmother's grandmother wrote in her diary
of a dark sorcerer who was apparently allied with the raveners as
they attacked her village."

	"When was this?" Kasumi asked, topping off her own mug.

	"About 800 A.D." Athia responded. "It was the middle of what
we call the 'Dark Ages'. Luckily, a white sorcerer lived in the
village. With my Great-great-great grandmother's help, he created
a firestorm that burned the raveners badly enough that they could
deal with them one at a time. The village was mostly wood and
thatch, so they sacrificed it in the process. It's not something
we could replicate inside a city without causing more damage than
the raveners would.

	"What was odd about the black sorcerer was that the raveners
all defaulted to him. Half the young women of the village were
lost to them, but the sorcerer always took first pick of the
maidens. He would also keep them alive for several days after his
initial 'attentions' A few even survived the firestorm, although
they had been brutally tortured."

	"You spoke of a white sorcerer," Nodoka interrupted. "What
led your grandmother to believe that the black sorcerer wasn't
human?"

	Athia nodded and continued. "It wasn't until after he was
dead. After all the other raveners had been killed, they broke
into his encampment. He was sacrificing girls left and right in an
attempt to summon reinforcements. Usually, he wore a robe and
gloves all the time, but he was completely naked at the time my
grandmother broke into the camp due to the nature of the
'sacrifices'."

	"Oh, my!" Kasumi murmured. "He wasn't human beneath his
robes, was he?"

	Athia shook her head. "Below the neck, he was just as much
ravener as the others. I don't know much more about the battle
except that the white sorcerer lost his life in it."

	"And apparently, we have a 'Ravener King' wandering Tokyo
then," Nodoka groaned. "And no white sorcerers available to help."

	"Ah," Athia countered. "You are in a better situation,
though. Your younger sister emasculated it while it was trying to
rape her, did she not?"

	Kasumi nodded. "It must have been very unpleasant for her."

	"We have robbed the king of his greatest weapon, then.
Unless he can sacrifice the 'virgin blood' of young maidens, he
can only summon one ravener every day. Without a phallus, he can
only butcher, not rape. Those he kills die without losing their
'virgin blood'."

	"I don't understand," Kasumi said. "A virgin certainly
smells different than someone who's not, but how does that change
their blood?"

	Nodoka sat her tea down and pursed her lips. "There is a
magic in innocence, Kasumi. The act of making love releases that
tiny bit of magic. When a person's innocence is taken from them by
violence, then that magic is bound to their spilled blood."

	"Really?"

	"Honestly, I don't know," Nodoka admitted. "That's how my
mother explained it to me, and I would like to believe her."

	"I believe in the 'virgin magic' as well," Athia seconded.
"Especially as it applies to the dark forces of the ravener's
black sorcery.

	There were several seconds of silence as the three women
contemplated the threat.

	"How do we kill it, then?" Kasumi asked finally.

	Nodoka winced at hearing the harsh words spoken by one so
gentle. Again she found herself admiring Kimiko and her daughters.
Kasumi was quite willing to do whatever it took to protect her
home and family.

	"Frankly, I don't know." Athia grimaced in displeasure. "I'm
certain that between five of us and a young man who is skilled
enough to destroy a ravener, then one or even two a day will pose
little threat. There is a certain risk to allowing the ravener
king to wander free. He may simply decide to go to a different
city. Worse, he may have a way to summon another like himself that
*does* have the ability to rape as well as kill. We know so little
about them..."

* * *

	In the trees, behind a school...

	"Hello, Pretty..."

	"AAAAGGGHGHHHHH!!!!!"

* * *

	"Hello, Ranma," Nabiki greeted him.

	To his credit, Ranma didn't even flinch as she apparently
appeared out of mid-air in front of him. Ukyou, who was at her
portable grill, didn't even notice as she sold lunch Okonomiyaki
to the hungry hoards. Ranma merely glowered, and continued to
munch on his seafood specialty.

	"Akane was really upset that you didn't come back to the
dojo with her last night," Nabiki informed him as she smoothed her
blue uniform skirt and sat next to him. She leaned back against
the tree he was sitting against and inhaled deeply, savoring the
intense bitter aroma of the old oak tree.

	"So?" Ranma asked bitterly.

	Nabiki adjusted the tone of her voice, casting it only at
Ranma so that none of the others around them could hear.

	"You really hurt her," Nabiki responded seriously. "She said
that she didn't want to be a vampire anymore."

	"Well, good for her," Ranma quipped. "Tell her to look me up
once she gets rid of it."

	Nabiki raised one eyebrow in ire. There were very few people
who were as profitable or as irritating as Ranma.

	"You do know that there's no getting rid of 'it', don't
you?"
	
	Ranma shrugged and continued to eat.

	"She sprouted wings about eleven o'clock last night," she
dropped on him.

	Ranma's eyes widened momentarily, but he went back to
eating.

	"Riiiight." he muttered.

	"You think I'm kidding," Nabiki snapped angrily. "But we had
to cut open her back to let them out. She's at home resting from
growing two new limbs she doesn't want, and you're busy playing
house with Ukyou."

	Somehow picking her name out of the aural static when Nabiki
came close to losing her temper, Ukyou turned around and waved.

	"Hey, Sugar. How's Akane? She still sick?" Ukyou fished,
since Ranma wasn't talking.

	"Umm..."

	"Akane's a blood-sucking vampire now, Uc-chan," Ranma
explained sarcastically. "Let's just not talk about her anymore,
okay?"

	Nabiki stared at Ranma in shock, but Ranma jerked his thumb
back at Ukyou.

	"Geez, I knew you two had a fight, but that's no reason to
call her a 'vampire', Ran-chan." 'Cockroach', maybe, Ukyou thought
privately.

	"Cute, Saotome," Nabiki nodded as she accepted an
Okonomiyaki on a paper plate. "So, when are you coming home?"

	"I already told you, I ain't..." Ranma trailed off.

	"What?" Nabiki asked, looking along Ranma's line of sight.
She absently noted that Ranma had dropped his okonomiyaki.
Grimacing, she strained and masked the both of them to the rest of
the world, in case of a fight.

	"She's back."

	"Who? Akane?"

	"No. Her..."

	Ranma pointed. Suddenly, over in the practice field,
Nabiki's vision finally resolved a girl standing all alone,
staring at them. The fact that she, *Nabiki*, had to concentrate
to see through the illusion startled her. She was absolutely
certain that the girl was a vampire.

	"You know her?"

	"Yeah," Ranma answered. "She's been leading me around by the
nose. C'mon,"

	Ranma stood and strode across the field to the girl. Nabiki
couldn't keep her illusion in place while he was moving, so she
dropped it down so that it only covered her, and scampered after
the martial artist.

	The girl was wearing a thin, silk, navy blouse that clung to
her skin as if it was wet. Her dark skirt was made of the same
material, and her black hose were embroidered with a lace rose
pattern. Nabiki found herself staring self-consciously at the
girl's figure, and flowing red hair.

	"So, you come to show me another ravener?" Ranma asked as he
approached the girl.

	"Ah... I believe you're mistaking my intention. I've come to
see you!" She responded cheerfully.

	"Ranma-kun!" Nabiki exclaimed teasingly, doing her best to
hide her nervousness from Ranma and the strange girl, as well as
herself. "You've been gone less than a whole day, and already
you've found a new girlfriend."

	"No." Ranma denied. "Not a girlfriend."

	Finding herself staring at Ranma's calm defiance, Nabiki
didn't answer right away.

	The red-head pouted cutely, but continued her assault,
laying her demure hands on Ranma's arm.

	"I saw that you were speaking with this girl," she
explained, her eyes running back and forth between Ranma and
Nabiki. "Is she an ally, or is she aligned with the beasts?" she
asked, casting a suspicious glance in Nabiki's direction.

	Ranma glared. "I dunno that Nabiki's an ally, but she's
definitely against the raveners. Now, who told you that you were
*my* ally?"

	She lifted her head and pecked him on the cheek.

	"I'm your ally, because you'd not be able to fight without
me," the nameless girl stated as Ranma scrabbled away from her, a
look of near outrage on his face.

	"Apparently, you *do* have another girlfriend, Ranma,"
Nabiki chuckled meanly. "Whether you want one or not."

	The girl glanced at her curiously, and then knitted her
brows.

	"Listen," she commanded, her voice dropping to a hiss.
"There is no danger now, but I can feel him moving."

	"What?" Ranma demanded, his fists clenching, and his eyes
darting around the practice field.

	"A light just went out," the nameless girl explained. "He is
killing. I don't know where. No doubt, another of the beasts will
be set loose tonight."

	Nabiki and Ranma both nodded grimly.

* * *

	Four men worked at fortifying the Tendou-ke. Soun and Genma
were kneeling, patching chinks and and holes in the stone wall
around the house and dojo. Tofuu worked on installing a heavy
deadbolt in the front gate, while Ryouga was putting his immense
strength to work by pounding heavy logs into buttresses at even
places around the walls. On every log, he placed a small paper
ward.

	"So, Saotome-san," Tofuu asked, a hint of the panic in his
voice. "In your life, how much blood would you say you've
'donated'?"

	"Gallons," Genma stated bluntly, scraping his trowel over a
wet cement patch in the wall.

	"Thinking of becoming a 'donator', Tofuu-sensei?" Soun
asked, curiously. He knew of the attraction that existed between
his daughter and the doctor. He very carefully began to study the
young man. What were his intentions?

	"Heh..." Tofuu didn't answer, continuing to work at the
lock. Soun resolved to inspect his work later.

	Ryouga nodded wordlessly at the doctors exclamation, his
hand going briefly to the fading bruises on his neck. Although she
had taken very little of his blood, she re-punctured him each time
that they...

	Ryouga took a deep breath, willing away a nosebleed. He
couldn't afford to lose much more, he thought. Nabiki would get
upset, and that was something he was starting to want to avoid
more and more. Maybe if he made her happy, then she would... And
let him... And... again... and...

	"Heh..." Ryouga agreed with Tofuu.

	Nabiki appeared in the middle of the yard.

	Ryouga began to chuckle madly, and dropped the log he was
working on.

	"Not now, Ryouga-chan," Nabiki cautioned. She cleared her
throat, making sure that all the men were paying attention. "We've
got a problem. Ranma's got a friend that says they'll be another
attack tonight."

-To be continued....

Will we see more of Athia?

Will we see more of The Mysterious Nameless Redhead (as I've taken to 
calling her...)

Will we see more of Akuji Oto (And do we want to? This guy is a pretty sick 
bastard...)

Damn, I'm having a lot of fun with this story!

Next time: Amazons! That's right. Cologne and Shampoo begin to wonder just 
what the hell's been going on at the Dojo!

Until then... Heh heh heh.

* * *
Chris Jones - guilty@arn.net
The Ranma 1/2 Gallery - http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma

It's 1999. Do you know what your children are?