Blood Red Moon: Eternity 
     Chapter 1: Morning Star
 

     Disclaimers: All characters belong to their various 
Copyrights; Reinhart, Rosa, Cain, and Elayne belong to me.  
Alucard, Carrie, Sheann'a, Drathar, and Dracula belong to Konami.
Tenchi, Ryoko, Ayeka, Mihoshi, Tsunami, Sasami, Yosho, Nobuyuki,
Washu, Mayuka, Ryo-Ohki, and Nobuyuki all belong to Pioneer/AIC.
Beyond my characters, I claim no rights to any of the characters,
beyond their use in this story. Comments, quips, insults, and death
threats will only be accepted at Platinum_Dragon@usinternet.com
     Blood Red Moon: Eternity is set one year after the events
in Blood Red Moon: Resurrection.  Reinhart and Carrie have been 
married, and their daughter Elayne has been born.  Alucard and his
familiars have built a small cabin near the rest of the clan.  
Blood Red Moon: Eternity is the last in a three series story arc.

"Here we belong, fighting to survive in the war with the darkest 
power!" - Queen, Princes of the Universe 

*****

	Sheann'a woke slowly, and frowned at the sunlight shining 
into her eyes, as if her expression alone could make it go away 
long enough for her to go back to sleep.  After waiting a minute, 
and finding that the sun wouldn't go away, she sighed, and sat up, 
blinking away the sleep in her eyes.  Stretching her arms and 
legs, she stood, and looked down from her little loft.
	The cabin was simple enough; a bed, a small woodstove, a 
table, and a dresser filled it fairly well.  On one wall, a tall, 
featureless statue stood.  Normally, that statue held the armor of 
Alucard; at the moment, it was gone.  Sheann'a frowned; he had 
left without them again.  A look at the bed to find it unslept in 
confirmed her suspicion.  Sighing, she flapped her wings 
experimentally, and floated down to the ground, shaking Drathar 
awake as she passed his niche.  Her fellow familiar woke with a 
startled snort.
	Landing lightly on the ground, the fairy walked over to the 
small dresser that held her clothing.  Remembering that today was 
a special day, she pulled out the dress she had been wearing when 
she, Alucard, and Drathar had come through the portal.  The light 
blue fabric was only a little faded, even though it was a few 
hundred years old.  Fairies made their clothing to last.  Taking 
off her shift, she pulled on the dress carefully, threading her 
delicate wings through the holes made for them in its back.  
Drathar dropped down next to her as she finished.
	"Gone again?" asked the demon.  Her companion had a pair of 
leathery gray wings, and his skin was a fairly even granite gray.  
He frowned, as she nodded, and then flew up to the mirror.  
Sighing, she grabbed her brush, and began to work the tangles out 
of her golden hair.  There were some muffled rustlings from down 
below her, as the demon dressed, and then he flew up to join her.  
Finishing, she put the brush back down, and they flew up to the 
only window in the cabin, a huge skylight that faced to the east.
	"He's been awfully restless lately, hasn't he?" she asked, 
looking at the demon.
	"Yes...  He isn't used to the peace and quiet."  She 
chuckled.
	"Then again, neither are we.  I think - Hey, he's right 
there!"  Sheann'a blinked as she looked out the window to see 
Alucard.  The dhampeal was stripped to the waist, and, from her 
vantage point, looked at first as though he was dancing.  Alucard 
spun and twisted in a small circle, flowing smoothly from one 
position to another in the blink of an eye.
	Suddenly, she blinked in surprise, as the sunlight glinted 
brightly off the gleaming two and a half foot length of a sword.  
His motions took on a new meaning, as he began to move faster and 
faster in the morning's light.  Sheann'a grinned slightly.  Even 
though he was far enough away that his features weren't entirely 
clear, she could see him smiling widely every time he was turned 
to face them.  The last time that she had seen him smile like that 
had been just before Maria had been nearly killed, and he had put 
himself back to sleep.
	Finally, Alucard slowed, drawing to a stop with the sword 
held vertically before him.  Floating down and grabbing a towel, 
she flew out the door toward him.  Nearly two thousand years of 
swordsmanship had left the dhampeal with a well defined chest, 
muscular and toned.  His chest was heaving in and out, slick with 
sweat, as he started to relax from his work out, and his mane of 
white hair hung limply, soaked.  She wondered just how long he had 
been out here, because she had seen him fight for over an hour 
solid without a single drop of sweat forming before.  The 
endurance of a vampire did have its advantages.
	Touching the blade to his forehead, he looked up as she 
approached him.  Alucard took the proffered towel with a murmured 
word of thanks, and began to wipe away the perspiration.  Sheann'a 
took a look at the sword, as he dried his face and hair.  It was 
beautifully detailed; the dragon along the blade looked as though 
it was about to leap off the metal.  Suddenly, she blinked, as she 
recognized the silvery metal, and realized that he no longer had 
the broken sword.  
	"Where did you get this?  And where is your sword?" Alucard 
looked at the blade that he held, letting the sunlight play off of 
it.
	"Ryuu-ken was a gift.  Tenchi gave it to me last evening, 
and I was getting used to its weight."  Sheann'a snorted.
	"You looked like you had held it for a thousand years just 
now.  But what about your mother's sword?"  He sheathed the blade; 
she noticed that a dragon matching the one on the blade marched 
along the scabbard.  He raised his hand; with a gasp, she saw that 
it was bandaged, and it was soaked through with blood over his 
palm.  Automatically, she began to chant a healing spell, but he 
stopped her.
	"No, Sheann'a.  The blade has been put to rest, a rest long 
deserved, and this wound must heal on its own.  I am bound to 
Ryuu-ken, now."  She slowly nodded, understanding that he would 
not say anything more on the subject.  Sheann'a had been his 
familiar for all but seven years of his life, bound to him in a 
ceremony older than time, yet there were things that he would not 
share even with her.  This time, at least, she had an idea why; 
his mother's blade was his most cherished possession, and his last 
link to her.  To have given it up...  Alucard had never been one 
to share his deepest emotions and pains.  
	All that she could do was be there to listen if he did 
decide to talk about it.  He picked up his shirt and armor, and 
began walking toward the cabin.  She followed alongside him, 
considering hitching a ride on his shoulder, but deciding not to 
because it was still covered in sweat, and she didn't want to 
dirty her dress.
	"I understand.  So what's next?" she asked, as he reached 
the doorway.  He looked at her over his shoulder, as he began to 
gather a fresh change of clothing.
	"A stop at the onsen, and then I must go to ask a favor of 
someone."
	"What's that?"
	"I need a shield, and I fear that there is only one place 
that I may find one.  Neither, I suspect, will you or Drathar be 
happy about it."  She frowned, and wondered uneasily what he was 
talking about.

*****

	Empress Ayeka, of the Juraian Empire, the most powerful 
woman in the universe, sighed in sheer bliss as she sank into the 
soothing waters of the floating onsen.  Having arrived on earth 
finally, she had decided to go directly to the bath before joining 
the others at the house.  She had taken a shuttle to earth, 
deciding to leave Ryou-oh with the main fleet, and unfortunately 
it had not had any place to clean up.  She certainly did not want 
to appear unclean.  Ayeka let the water cover her to her chin, and 
closed her eyes.  Being alone in the onsen, she had decided to 
leave her customary towel off, and simply soak.
	The recruitment had gone well.  Seventy of the major systems 
had pledged ships to use in the coming war, not to mention 
countless smaller planets.  But perhaps the greatest aid they 
would have was the surprise pledge of the universal thieves guild.  
Nearly seven thousand ships, ranging from simple fighters to 
powerful dreadnoughts, even a few ships that matched the Soja for 
size.  Planets that had been enemies for millennia had come 
together to face the common threat, and if nothing else, treaties 
had been forged that would last for millennia more.  If there was 
a universe for them to last in.
	Of course, for every two systems that came together, another 
two systems split between her and Tokimi.  Some races had joined 
her simply because their enemies had joined Tokimi.  But that was 
to be expected; Ayeka just hoped they could be counted on when the 
time came.  As it stood, though, she was now the leader of the 
biggest multi-planetary armada in all of history.
	Ayeka let herself drift as the waters soothed her aching 
muscles.  She remembered when Ryoko had made the onsen.  At the 
time, when Ryoko had been her greatest rival, she had been shocked 
that her then mortal enemy could create something so beautiful 
- until then, she had been certain that the demoness could do 
nothing but destroy.  She remembered when Ryoko had told her that 
she would be having twins when she had come to apologize to the 
demoness for her treatment in the past, and asked her to allow 
Ayeka to be her friend. 
	"You have got to be kidding!  Do you have any idea how hard 
it is to stay out of her grasp when we don't want to get caught?  
Now you're asking us to just fly into her lab???"  Ayeka blinked, 
surprised out of her memories by a slightly shrill, female voice, 
but didn't move, knowing that she was hidden from sight by the 
high stones around the pool.  She didn't quite recognize the 
voice, though she knew that she should.  The name was right on her 
tongue...  Who was it...  And why did she want to think of wings 
at the sound of it?
	"I realize that I am asking a good deal of you.  But I can 
not fight with my full ability without a shield to defend with, 
and she is the most likely source of one."  Ayeka's heart leapt 
into her throat as a deep, definitely masculine voice answered.  
That voice, she recognized all too well, and she sank deeper into 
the water.  Ayeka wondered why today, of all days, she had decided 
to go without a towel, as she heard the rustling of clothing that 
signaled Alucard disrobing.
	"You have no idea... that woman thinks that we are some sort 
of science experiment!"  She heard the water run for a moment, and 
then a splash.
	"I have gotten the impression that Washu thinks of 
everything as a science experiment.  I think that if I can survive 
her testing that you two can too," said Alucard dryly.  In spite 
of herself, Ayeka nodded in agreement.  Summoning all of her 
courage, she slowly turned, and peeked over the retaining wall.  
The dhampeal's back was to her, and Sheann'a sat on a branch not 
far from him, looking extremely agitated.  She held in a gasp as 
she saw how crisscrossed with scars his back was.  In some places, 
there was nothing but puffy scar tissue.  Still, it was well 
defined; she had no trouble making out the various major muscles.  
Not quite brave enough to stand far enough out of the water to see 
more than halfway down his back, she watched as he began to wash 
his hair.  On the branch, Sheann'a snorted in contempt.
	"Who says that you did?  Maybe you're just some... robot, I 
think Tenchi called them, here to trick us into her lab."  Alucard 
glanced up at her with an amused expression, while filling a 
water-basket.
	"Would a robot remember a certain too-curious fairy getting 
caught in a spider's web, and getting so tangled she couldn't get 
back out?"  Sheann'a's tiny face colored, and Ayeka giggled 
slightly at the mental picture she got before she caught herself.  
Alucard's head whipped around, and she saw shock on his face for 
half a second before she dropped back into the water, blushing 
furiously.  A shadow fell over her, and she looked up to find 
Sheann'a grinning down at her, before turning back toward Alucard.
	"Uh, Alucard, I think that the Empress would like a towel.  
Would you mind tossing one over here?"  The fairy grinned at her 
again, and then disappeared for a moment.  When she came back, she 
held one of the huge, thick towels that were always kept well-
stocked in the onsen.  Ayeka gratefully reached up, and took it 
from her.  Wrapping it around herself, she took a deep breath, 
gathered the shreds of her dignity, and, slowly, stood.  She found 
Alucard as expressionless as ever; damn the man, he was somehow 
already fully dressed.  His eyes widened, and he quickly averted 
his gaze.
	"I apologize, M'Lady...  I did not realize that anybody else 
was here," he said quietly.  She felt a little heat rise to her 
face, and did her best to ignore the fact that she knew she was 
still blushing red as a beet.  
	"It... It is of no matter.  I should have said something, so 
I am the one at fault," answered Ayeka.  She smiled slightly; 
never mind that she was very seriously trying to decide if she 
would be able to squeeze into a small hole that she could see not 
far away.  "I am sorry to have overheard your conversation, but I 
am under the impression that you needed something from Washu?"  
Sheann'a, who had been floating nearby, hiding a grin, nodded and 
spoke before Alucard had a chance to answer.
	"He wants Drathar and I to let her run her experiments on us 
in return for a favor."  Ayeka smiled again.
	"Yes, Miss Washu does enjoy... collecting data.  We've all 
felt her attentions at one time or another."  Alucard directed a 
hard look at the familiar.
	"I am in need of a shield; unfortunately, mine was lost 
before I came here in the final fight with Cain."  Ayeka blinked.  
Whatever would he need a shield for?  He did not have a starship, 
at least not as far as she knew.  She asked as much, and a smile 
tugged at the corners of his mouth.  "Not a... starship? shield, 
Ayeka.  A shield for defense in hand to hand combat," he 
explained.  She nodded, understanding.  More then six thousand 
years before, her own people had used such things.
	"I see.  Perhaps I could speak to Miss Washu and convince 
her to not have a need for any... testing."  Alucard blinked at 
her in surprise.
	"I thank you for your offer, but it truly is not necessary, 
M'Lady.  It is a matter that I must handle for myself."  Sheann'a 
looked at him flatly.
	"Speak for yourself, Alucard."  The fairy turned to her, as 
he frowned.  "We would be much obliged it you would speak to her 
for us, your highness."  Ayeka wondered why he let her do that to 
him, when she had seen him stop her with a glance at times.  She 
looked to him for confirmation.  He looked at Sheann'a again, and 
sighed, an almost resigned look coming to his eyes.
	"It would seem that my choice has already been made for me.  
As Sheann'a said, I would be grateful to you if you would speak to 
her on my behalf."  Apologizing to her again, he excused himself, 
and disappeared through the doorway before she had the chance to 
assure him that it was truly nothing to dwell on.  As if to give 
her the lie, the second the door had closed behind him, her knees 
gave out, and she dropped back into the water with a splash.
	"That was rather interesting to watch."  Startled for the 
second time that day, Ayeka yelped in surprise as Ryoko phased 
into the pool next to her, grinning like a cat.  With her golden 
eyes, the illusion that she was a feline was heightened quite a 
bit.  For a moment, she struggled with the idea of decking the 
demoness, but then slowly settled back into the water as her heart 
sank back into her chest, no longer trying to pound its way clear 
out of her body.
	"How long were you watching!" she exclaimed.  Ryoko shrugged,
grinning.
	"Since I saw him heading toward the onsen as you settled 
in."  Ayeka frowned at her friend.
	"My, thank you so very much for warning me he was coming, 
Ryoko," she said dryly.  Ryoko laughed.
	"Oh, don't hold it against me.  You know that I never could 
pass up a chance for mischief.  Besides, if I had of told you, you 
wouldn't have had the chance to show your affection for him."  
Ayeka blushed.  It was absolutely horrible.  She wished that she 
understood why she, the Empress of Jurai, had to keep falling for 
the most unlikely of men...  First Tenchi, and now this mysterious 
dhampeal.  It was enough to make her want to scream.
	"Well..."  Ryoko poked her lightly on the shoulder.
	"Shouldn't you be hurrying, little princess?  He was heading 
for the house pretty fast."  Sighing, Ayeka stood, and looked for 
a dry towel.  Ryoko floated alongside her, and Ayeka eyed the 
cyan-haired demoness for a moment.  She hadn't really changed 
much.  She was still the wild, mischievous woman she had been 
twenty-six years before, when they had all first come together and 
formed their odd family.  Of course, physically, she still the 
exact same as she had been over seven hundred years before, when 
she had attacked Jurai under Kagato's control.  The Empress paused 
for a moment.
	No, Ryoko wasn't the exact same as she had been then, or 
even twenty six years ago.  She had grown, from somebody driven 
merely by the want for fun, to a woman that Ayeka counted herself 
lucky to have as a friend, especially after how she had treated 
her for so very long.
	Patting herself dry - she forced herself not to hurry too 
much, no matter what Ryoko said, she wasn't going to rush herself 
for any man - Ayeka thought back of the family's time together.  
There had been so many trials that they had gone through to reach 
this point...  Kagato, Dr. Clay, Yuzuha...  Tenchi and Ryoko had 
disappeared for three years, and endured so much pain.  When they 
came back, Ryoko had been pregnant with Reinhart and Rosa, and 
Tenchi had held her gems in his wrists.  Only a year ago, Tenchi 
had fallen so ill, and Reinhart and Rosa had returned to Romania 
to save him, and had come back with Carrie and Alucard.  Maybe 
they all hadn't seen eye to eye all the time, and maybe there had 
been times when they couldn't face things together, as the family 
they had become....  But Ayeka knew that if she had her life to 
live again, not only would she live it the exact same, she would 
enjoy it all even more than she had the first time.
	She began the careful arrangement of first her 
underclothing, then inner kimono, then her inner robe, followed by 
her outer kimono and then her royal sash, tied in the knot that 
symbolized her ties to Jurai.  Jurai, which had been captured a 
year ago by Lady Tokimi.  Thankfully, all of her peoples had been 
evacuated long before by Ayeka's precautions, yet she still knew 
that she had failed in her duty to protect Jurai.
	"At this rate princess, he'll be an old man before you get 
there," teased Ryoko.
	"There is nothing wrong with taking the time to be properly 
- oh bother it all."  She pulled the protective sheath from her 
hair, and turned to find the demoness fully dressed and leaning 
against a tree.  She sighed.
	"Could I impose upon you to teleport me to the house, Miss 
Ryoko?"  Ryoko grinned, and walked over to her.
	"I thought you'd never ask, Ayeka."  She sighed again, as 
Ryoko stood behind her and wrapped her arms around Ayeka's waist.
	"Why do I have the feeling that I will regret this?"  Ryoko 
laughed, as an uncomfortable, queasy feeling washed through her.  
The onsen flickered in and out a couple of times before being 
replaced by the hallway that led to Washu's subspace lab.  The 
sensation passed just as Alucard strode into the room, flanked by 
both familiars.  She felt herself blush again, as Ryoko let her 
go.
	"See you at the party, princess," she said, her voice hiding 
laughter, before teleporting away again.  Alucard nodded to her, 
blue eyes revealing nothing, though something in his movements 
almost spoke of wariness.  But wariness of what, she wondered.  In 
any event, she smiled slightly, and opened the doorway.
	Going into Washu's lab was always an adventure.  Although 
most times, it simply opened into her garden workspace - which was 
so huge that it was slightly mind boggling - sometimes, it opened 
into one of her hundreds of sub-labs.  That could be anything from 
a holographic simulation of the seven worst hells to a simple 
enough computer station.  Unfortunately for them, this was one of 
those times that it didn't open into the garden workspace.  They 
walked in, looking about themselves.  It was roughly spherical, 
fairly dark, and all along the walls and ceiling were 
thousands of points of light, some brighter, some darker.  
	Looking down made Ayeka stumble in surprise, and begin to 
pitch over.  To her surprise, she didn't end up sprawling on her 
face; just behind her, Alucard had reached out and caught her 
before she could fall.  Catching her balance, she looked at him in 
surprise.  There was a bit of embarrassment in his eyes, but aside 
from that he remained dignified.  Smiling, and biting down her own 
embarrassment, she thanked him for catching her.  
	Looking down again still made her a little queasy, because 
it seemed as through they were walking on thin air.  More of the 
points of light dotted the ground underneath them.  The was 
something under them, obviously.  She hoped.  Suddenly, she saw a 
huge rock flying toward her head.  She had enough time to gasp in 
surprise, before it passed through her head.  She blinked, 
swallowing a shout of fright.
	"Are you alright, Ayeka?"  She jumped as Alucard spoke.
	"Quite...  I think that this must be a planetarium 
simulation."  Not far from her, a model of the Sol system spun 
lazily by, with a large, 'You Are Here' sign pointing at the 
earth.  She was sure that if she looked closer, that the point 
would be on the exact location of Tenchi's house.
	"Planetarium?  What is that?" asked Sheann'a.  She looked at 
the fairy.
	"It's a map of the stars, planets...  Actually, in this 
case, you'd probably be better off asking Washu, because this is a 
good deal more advanced than anything I have used."  Alucard 
nodded.
	"Father had... a far less detailed one in the castle," he 
said, blinking and shielding his eyes as a star exploded into a 
miniature super-nova not far away from him.  Drathar frowned as 
the shock wave flew by him.
	"Is there a chance that we could hurry?  I do not 
particularly care for the idea of staying here longer than we 
must," said the tiny demon.  They began walking deeper into the 
room, and Ayeka began to notice that it was a good deal bigger 
than she had first thought.  Abruptly, she realized why; after 
all, Washu wouldn't settle for an incomplete model of anything, 
even the universe.  Sighting, she was just about settled in for a 
very long walk when a door appeared before them, along with a 
hologram of the pint-sized scientist.
	"Hi!  Why didn't you just knock, you wouldn't have had to 
walk half-way across the galaxy!"  Ayeka frowned.
	"Miss Washu, why do I get the feeling you've been watching 
us for some time?"  The hologram laughed.
	"Did you really think that you could enter my laboratory 
without me knowing?  I was thinking about seeing just how far you 
would walk, but decided to give you a break."  Ayeka sighed, and 
opened the doorway.  It led into her garden workspace.  Even 
knowing that Washu's lab was actually several subdimensions linked 
together, it still came as a surprise sometimes to see the sheer 
size of it all.  Washu waved from a cushion floating in mid-air.  
"Master Alucard!  Not often I see you here!"  The dhampeal bowed 
to her, and Sheann'a landed on his shoulder as he straightened, 
looking decidedly unhappy to see the pink-haired scientist.
	"I have come to ask a favor of you.  I find myself in need 
of a shield, and thought you to be the most likely source of one."  
Washu nodded thoughtfully.
	"I think I might have something, given a day or two to find 
it."  The scientist eyed the familiars, and Ayeka cleared her 
throat.  The idea of what to offer Washu had come in the bath, 
though it was a course that she would rather not have to take.  
She looked at her.
	"Miss Washu, I would appreciate it if you would do this, er, 
no strings attached?"  She blinked at her in surprise.
	"Oh?  Why?"  Ayeka sighed, and summoned up her dignity.
	"Because if you do, I will see to it that you get a sample 
of the Water to study," she answered evenly, making certain that 
the stress on water was clear.  Ayeka thought that Washu's eyes 
would pop out of her head, as she silently mouthed her words over.  
There were only two things that Washu wanted to study, but had 
never been able to.  One was Tenchi's Light Hawk Sword.  He had 
told her that he would never create it for her to study.  The 
second was the Juraian Water of Life.  And she had tried.  But 
Washu had never been able to get a sample of the true water.  It 
was Jurai's most heavily guarded secret.
	"I think...  I think that we could work something out, 
Empress," she said slowly.  Ayeka nodded.  "Let's see...  a 
shield, then..."  Washu summoned her keyboard, and they shifted 
into her main lab.  "Sit down a moment, Alucard.  What I'm gonna 
do is scan your mind to find out what you're looking for."  He 
frowned, but sat in the chair.  Washu hooked up the scanner.
	"Are you sure this is a good idea, Alucard?  You never know 
what might happen here," said Sheann'a nervously, as Washu 
attached the last contact point.  She looked at the fairy.
	"Well, if you want to take his place..."  Sheann'a paled, 
and shook her head.  Washu snickered, and then turned to Alucard, 
summoning her keyboard.  
	"Ok, just think of what you want!"  She punched in a quick 
sequence, and a featureless gray holographic square appeared.  
Slowly, it began to take shape.  The upper edge gained two shallow 
dips, so that the edges and center became points.  The bottom 
extended down, tapering down to a point.  The entire piece became 
jet black, and then in scarlet edged with gold a bat with the sun 
on its back appeared on the front.  The entire shield gained a 
graceful outward curve, and from the top to the bottom a ridge ran 
down the center of it.  On the back, a pair of straps appeared.
	"There," he said simply, and Washu nodded.
	"Give me a couple hours, it will take a little while to get 
the machines properly set up." Washu frowned a moment at the 
familiars, no doubt wishing she could have a chance to study them, 
but then sighed, and unhooked Alucard from the machines.  The 
scientist looked at Ayeka.  "A sample of the Water, huh?"  Ayeka 
nodded.  She had given her word, and her word was binding.
	"As soon as Jurai is retaken."