Have you heard? TokyoPop is no longer in business. What does that mean for my beloved Loveless and Vassalord series . . .  It means I have to completely move into the arena of online scans.

If you haven’t heard the word about TokyoPop you can just Google it and you’ll pull up several sites talking about it and what may happen.

For me, it is what it is. If the owner has decided to move on then so shall I! I will move on and support the sites that provide us with translated versions of our beloved manga. Is it right or legal? At this point, I don’t care. I faithfully followed the so called “rule” I tried supporting the artist and not do anything “illegal” and where did that get me . . . with an unfinished manga collection.

So, I give up  trying to be the good manga girl. I’m heading over to read the online scans and so far I’m liking what see.

They say that big corporation don’t care about their customers it’s about $$$. I don’t know what the case maybe with TokyoPop and at this moment I can really care less. I have several manga I want to complete and enjoy and that is where I will be placing my attention and possibly my money.

If the anime business continues to tie our hands like this we will continue to go outside their recommended lines to get what we so desire.

As my favorite, TV financial adviser Suze Orman says: “it’s people first, then money, then things” Businesses always put money first. If they followed Suze’s advice, with people first, they would probably have a lot more devoted and loyal customers which would ultimately lead to more money.

Okay, I am through with my rant. On to read the next volume of Loveless #9.

Take care!

I’m so excited the next   is being released November 30. Can’t wait, can’t wait. I’ve already placed my preorder with .

I only wished Loveless volume 9 would be out this year as well. Oh, how I miss you Loveless. Please come back soon.

Well, at least I have Vassalord to get me through the cold winter months :-).

If you love Vassalord as much as I do. Place your today!

That’s right my Vassalord fans, One Stop Yaoi Shop has just named our sweet and oh so handsome Johnny Rayflo December’s boy of the month.

You can read all about why he is so awesome (which I’m sure you already know why) at onestopyaoishop.com

Congratulation Johnny! You totally deserve it (I Love You!)

Sexy Johnny Rayflo

Charley finds the drug dealer and he is looks ugly. His muscles and bones are totally exposed (from being toss into the acid bath and because he mostly liked took the immortality drug he can not die).

Meanwhile, Craig and Mr. Liu continue their discussion and tossing of the fruit. Mr. Liu says he tried to get the drug dealer to talk by using extreme torture techniques but the guy wouldn’t say a word. Mr. Liu then asks Craig what’s in it for him if he tells the whereabouts of Wayne? Craig decides to come up with a new deal. He say he can get the drug dealer to talk (he says his face is much more appealing then the scary Mr. Liu) in exchange for #86. At this time Craig has the orange in his hand. Mr. Liu laughs as he sees what Craig really wants, the drug dealer. Mr. Liu tells Craig he needs to get his partner away from the drug dealer before the drug dealer starts talking or his partner (Charley) will die. And just as Mr. Liu is saying this the orange in Craig’s had totally incinerates. Mr. Liu had injected the fruit with some type of poison (now Craig is worried). Mr. Liu then accuses Craig of being a Woodsley employee since he has a connection with the Wayne family, Harold (oh, no!)

Back to Charley.

Charley gives the horrible looking drug dealer the watch from Harold and tells him someone on the outside is thinking of him. The drug dealer recognizes the watch and tears (I think it’s tears. It could just be bodily fluid, comes streaming down his face). Ouro tells Charley they have to go. The bombs will be going off in 20 minutes. Charley tells the drug deal, “I’m sorry . . . This is gonna hurt but just endure it!” He picks up the drug dealer and starts running for the exit (remember Charley was supposed to leave the guy there and get the information only. That’s why Charley is so great! So, compassionate).

Craig maybe over his head in dealing with Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu has now decided he wants a new deal. He has removed all the bombs Craig and his team had set to go off to create chaos. Mr. Liu is willing to let Charley and the drug dealer live in exchange for #86. Mr. Liu takes out his cell phone and dials one of his associates. He informs Craig that the associate is in LA, California outside his apartment. Mr. Liu asks Craig one more time where is #86 and Craig reluctantly begins to say “He is in my room’s . . .” There is a gunshot and the associate enters Craig’s bathroom. Mr. Liu says the deal is done (however when the associate enters the bathroom #86 is not there. He actually escaped and is standing outside the apartment building. hmm . . . )

Craig is extremely worried now, because he hears death bells and instantly thinks of Charley.

Outside a rundown building an assassin arrives. A man at a counter asks where is Emporio the usual assassin. The new assassin says “He must’ve screwed up.” No matter really, the counter guy tells the assassin that the targets are hiding in Ouro’s room (oh, no Charley, Ouro, and slimy drug dealer guy are in trouble).

Inside the apartment Charley is not looking or feeling to well. The smell of the drug dealer’s raw flesh is making Charley hungry (he hasn’t eaten in while). It’s 2:32, Ouro is worried that Pablo the Escapist hasn’t shown up yet and those darn death bells are ringing. The drug dealer says an assassin is mostly likely on his way to kill them all. Then they all hear a noise outside in the hallway. It’s the assassin, he is getting closer to their room. As the assassin is walking down the hall he is dropping his briefcase (that’s the noise they heard), hat, scarf and other articles of clothing. Now the assassin is right outside their door. Charley tells the others to hide. He prepares himself to take on the assassin. The door opens . . . . . . . . . and there standing before Charley is the always  handsome Rayflo (he looks so good) Obviously, Charley is in totally shocked (I am too!) Rayflo leaps into Charley’s arm and looks Charley straight in the eyes and then totally flips out. He is all gaga by Charley’s bad boy appearance. Charley tries to make sense as to what has happened but he can’t. He can’t even talk. All he can say is Mas. . .ter? Rayflo says he hasn’t the time to explain and while he is undressing he says “I’ll just have to satisfy you and rescue you at the same time” And Charley take a wonderful and big bite of his Master!

OMG, I just love Rayflo and Charley so much! And to have this volume end on such a cliffhanger is sheer torture. But I’m all geared up for the next volume. What’s going to happen? What’s going to happen? Ugh, I can’t take it – it’s sooooooo good

Until the next volume!

Location Isola di Capri, Italy

Craig is waiting to meet Mr Liu. Mr. Liu Yaoding arrives and presents the forbidden card with the #86 written on it. Craig expresses his surprise at how Mr. Liu took the bait. While hurling an orange at Mr. Liu, Craig immediately asks for the whereabouts of Alford Wayne. He is willing to get the information in exchange for #86.

Meanwhile, back at Mr. Liu’s office, the new rookie has made a mistake. He tried to steal the drugs but luckily for Mr. Liu Corvo caught the rookie. Since Mr. Liu is busy with Craig one of his associates issues punishment. The associate sends the rookie to Costiera Amafitana. It looks like a construction site. Once inside all these guys surround the pretty looking, blonde headed rookie. It’s Charley! A big huge guy, name Ouro, enters the room and picks up Charley and carries him off; apparently, this guy likes blondes. Once they are away from the other guys Ouro sets Charley down. Ouro is in on the whole infiltration thing. He tells Charley all about the place. The place is called the Bianco Dirupo, the White Wall . It is the mafia prison. Those that are sentenced to Bianco Dirupo usually die there and their bodies are placed within the concrete walls. Charley then asks Ouro to show him to the basement.

Back to Craig

While tossing this fruit back and forth Craig and Mr. Liu talk about the man Mr. Liu has captive in his basement. The man first approach Mr. Liu to sample a drug which made its users immortal. Mr. Liu was curious but caution. He hired a woman to be his wife and had her take the drug. At first he was impressed with the results but felt something totally different when he heard the side effects which where you can’t get your heart injured (you’ll die), you can’t walk in direct sunlight, and finally you’ll have to drink blood forever. Well, these side effects were unacceptable for Mr. Liu. He shots his fake wife in the heart and sure enough she’s dead and then he places his attention on the drug dealer and has his men beat the crap out of him and later placed him into an acid bath before locking him up in the basement (at some point earlier the drug dealer had taken the drug himself and therefore no matter what Mr. Liu did to him he wouldn’t die. Even still Mr. Liu enjoyed torturing the man).

Mr Liu takes his position as mafia boss very seriously. He knows that assassins always go for the heart (the drug fails there), he also wants his immortally to make him tough so he can walk a desert without ever needing water to survive, and finally he feels by drinking blood one will evidently hurt the ones closest them in order to survive.

Location Sacramento CA USA

Rayflo meets up with Barry at night at a park. Barry is so excited. Rayflo asks Barry if he wished things were liked they use to be. Barry says he does want things back to the way they were when he would eat and be eaten by his Addie. Barry continues by saying that ever since Father created him he has always been Addies Hierocles (this was in the title of chapter 2  volume 1, any correlation?). As Barry is talking Rayflo interrupts and says “I meant back when you where always chasing after me” and well he is saying this Rayflo is jamming his hands deep into Barry’s stomach causing a shocked Barry to collapse to the ground with his blood spreading over the ground. Rayflo looks at a stop watch and says “Now the games begins” (OMG, what’s going on?!)

Location Italy (2 days ago – this is basically a lookback at Craig, Charley and Hal’s arrival into Italy)

Craig, Charley and Hal arrive in Italy. They immediately get to work on giving a reluctantly Charley a makeover. He needs to look like a low-level thug in order to get into the organization. Craig informs him that with the help of Corvo and Ouro he should be able to get into the Mafia prison and met up with a person being held in the basement. And no matter what happens he (Charley) mustn’t help this person. He is only supposed to get information.

As Charley is undergoing his transformation, Hal gives Charley his watch. He tells Charley to give the watch to the person in the basement. It’s the same watch his father wears. He hopes then when the person sees the watch he will realize that there is someone on the outside thinking and trying to save him (oh, how sweet Hal)

It’s morning! Craig wakes up and heads to the bathroom to have his morning pee. As he is relieving himself he starts talking to a guy who is handcuffed in his bathroom. They start talking about the missing Wayne and his drug company. They mention somethings about a mafia and two guys named Nulla and Zero. The bathroom guys tells Craig that Wayne must of did something wrong and that’s way he is missing or most likely dead. He also tells Craig that he wants to see Zero but then instantly flips out saying that he can’t return home. Craig leaves the bathroom obviously over the situation.

Charley and Hal are driving over to me the one cop Hal trusts. While they are driving, Charley zones out thinking about Rayflo and his lies. Hal senses Charley’s worry over Rayflo and starts feeling guilty about the situation. Charley assures Hal that Rayflo’s not returning has nothing to do with him. It is he (Charley) who Rayflo is avoiding. They arrive at a scary church. As they wait for the cop to arrive, Hal recalls when he met Charley for the first time. Charley starts to recall the meeting as well and remembers the paperwork Hal had spilled on the floor and instantly grabs hold of Hal’s shoulder. He asks Hal if he knows anything about Vassalord (the last thing Miranda said before being killed). Hal states he doesn’t know anything about it. He was just delivering the papers to Father Mailer per his father’s request. Then someone overhead says that Hal is a liar. It’s Craig. He informs both Charley and Hal that he feels that Hal was involved with the sale of the drugs. He continues by saying that even though Hal may not have known what the drug was specifically for he knew something was going on because ever famous person he met ended up dead.

Hal breaks down into tears. In his mind he thought the drug was designed to cure people and those who died where incurable but after processing what Craig has said he starts to realize that his father may actually be a murderer.

Craig and Charley sit down to talk. Craig informs Charley that a man named Zero approached Nulla for a sale but for some reason Wayne and the others disappeared around this time along with their failed attempt of kidnapping of Hal. Craig tells Charley that he is going to Italy to infiltrate the organization to find Wayne and get some information.

Hal tells Craig not to waste his time trying to save his murderous father. Craig tells Hal not to worry. He will have a strong and powerful priest with him. Needless to say Charley is surprised by this bit of information. Charley reluctantly agrees to go with Craig. Hal also decides to go to Italy as well

Charley calls Rayflo to let him know that he will be going to Italy with Hal and Craig and to take care while he’s away. Rayflo comments to himself “Guess it’s time I made my move.” He sees Barry’s “thing” on his shelf and tells Barry he has a fun new game for them to play (he says all this while giving Barry the finger)

In Italy we me a man name Mr. Liu who kills a former employee for being a traitor (ruthless) After killing this traitor he is transported to his next location. One of his associates tells him about an American who wants to met with him. The associate shows Liu a piece of paper with the number 86 on it. This number correlates to the number tattooed on the bathroom guy’s butt in Craig’s room. Mr. Liu is now very interested in meeting with this American aka Craig.

When Mr. Liu returns to his office he is informed of a new rookie added to the organization. He has other pressing matters on his mind (Craig) and tells his associate to handle the situation.

Hal calls the police officer Craig to let him know of his whereabouts but gets Craig’s voicemail instead. So, he leaves a very polite message telling Craig that he is doing well and will try back later.

Back at the apartment, Charley asks Rayflo what has happened to his room and why is he in bed when he has his coffin to sleep in. Rayflo pretending to be drunk says that he uses beds for 2 things – meals and pillow talk. Charley quickly exits the room. Minea tries desperately to leave Charley’s arm and return to her injured Master but Charley places Minea into her kitty bed and grabs a hold of something from within a cabinet. He returns to his room and starts spraying Rayflo with a water hose.

Rayflo is shocked. Charley says that it’s his room and he can use whatever method he wants to clean it. Then Charley gets on top of Rayflo pinning him down on the bed and then with a sympathetic expression tells Rayflo that he knows that he was violated. Charley breaks down into tears. He is deeply saddened by the fact that he was not there to protect his Master and by the idea that when his Master dies he wants to be the only one there by his side.

Rayflo sweetly tells Charley that he will never vanish again (and reflects back to the past when they first met – Chris was very little then)

Charley attends to Rayflo wounds and just as he is about to suck the vile blood from his Master’s body, Rayflo unexpectedly pushes him away. Unbeknownst to Charley – the little, odd shaped “thing” from chapter 1 is looking at Rayflo and Charley and this is why Rayflo pushes Charley away. Rayflo says he is going to sleep in his coffin and leaves Charley’s bedroom. Needless to say, Charley is stunned! The “thing” Rayflo saw belongs to Barry. He uses this creature to spy on whoever he wants pretty much whenever he wants.

Craig the cop is at another crime scene when he finally gets the message left by Harold. The crime he is investigating this time deals with a drug company’s lab that was torched beyond recognition. It appears the company my actually belong to Arnold Wayne – Harold’s father. According to what evidence they had collected so far, a drug deal was or had occurred. Wayne had being talking with a guy named Victor (who was the middleman) to set up a drug deal with 0 (who is 0-zero?). After running this information with an under-covered cop, Craig’s boss enters the room and tells Craig he needs to leave Arnold Wayne alone and that they will no longer be investigating this case. The boss says it’s his responsibility to protect his men but Craig knows it’s much more than that. It has something to do with 0.

Craig tells his chief that he is taking some time off. He hands his chief his badge and leaves the police station (what’s Craig up to, now?)

This chapter ends with various scenes. We see Harold and Sacra the dog peacefully sleeping, Rayfell begging Cheryl for forgiveness (he pretty much stays on bended knees) and the final and saddest scenes are of Charley outside his apartment building with his packed bags looking back at his building and the other scene is of Rayflo with Minea in his arms looking down at Charley from behind curtain windows.

Barry returns Rayflo’s bit of spine before the wounds heals. While he is doing this he ask Rayflo if he was angry with him about blowing up Miranda Segal (He did that?!) Rayflo is in too much pain and very pissed off with Barry to comment. He is more concerned with healing his injuries. Barry notices how slow Rayflo is recovering and offers his neck to Rayflo to spend up the recovery (a bit).

Meanwhile, Charley is extremely worried about his Master. Then, he received a phone call; from the conversation he is having on the phone it appears to be Rayflo on the other line but Charley states that the call originated from a payphone (how can that be? Rayflo is severely injured and can’t move  . . . me, thinks it is Barry on the other line). Charley is confused. His Master needs him but he must watch over Harold. As Charley contemplates what do, Hal enters the room and tells Charley to leave – that he will be already. Charley tells Hal he will be back in the morning and quickly leaves the mansion.

Charley arrives outside the apartment building and finds Minea badly injured. As he starts to pick her up she begins lashing out. She sees Barry standing behind Charley. When Charley looks around he sees a beautiful little girl before him (but it’s really Barry). The little girl tells Charley that she can heal the cat and as she tries to place her hand upon the cat, Minea lashes out again (way to go Minea!)

Charley tucks Minea under his arm, apologizes for Minea’s behavior and heads for his apartment.

As soon as Charley leaves Barry comments on how Rayflo lied to him about Charley. Charley finally arrives at the apartment and discoveries that it is in total disarray. There are feathers from the pillows covering the apartment and things are destroyed or thrown all over the room and in his bed Charley see a heap that looks like his Master?

This chapter begins with Rayflo outdoors burning paperwork and books. He recalls a warning he once remembered about an Incubus/Succubus who enters human’s dreams and fills it with lustful scenes. While the human is blissfully dreaming the Incubus consumes his soul.

As he completes his burning fest he unexpectedly collapses to the ground due in part to Charley having drained his blood earlier (oh, Charley). While Rayflo is lying on the ground an odd shape “thing” is observing his every movement from the shadows.

Back at the mansion Harold and Charley are talking. Harold asks Charley what type of relationship he has with Rayflo (he remembers how they were all over each other at the church – Volume 1). Charley is taken back, a bit, and can’t quite find the words to explain his relationship with Rayflo. Charley tries his best to come up with some reasonable explanation but Harold ultimately concludes that they must have some type of dysfunctional family relationship. Charley settles for this conclusion. Meanwhile, Rayflo sneaks back into the mansion and overhears parts of their conversation. He misinterprets what they are saying and thinks Charley is making a pass at the kid and storms off. As he is walking down the hall he hears Harold ask Charley if he loves his father (Rayflo). Once again Charley is speechless (Rayflo is very curious to hear Charley’s response). Harold reveals that he does not love his father at all. In fact, he even goes as far to say that he hates his father. His father does not give him any attention or love. All he cares about is his drugs/drug company.

Rayflo continues down the hall to a room where he writes a letter to Charley and then he leaves the mansion. As Rayflo is leaving the mansion Charley enters the room down the hall and reads the letter left behind. It reads:

“I cleaned up my stuff so I’m headed home. The mansion is yours. Just don’t go outside no matter who comes knocking. If you hear someone call your name only once, don’t open the doors or windows no matter what. Even it if’s me. –At least answer with I Love Him”

Rayflo returns to the apartment and is relaxing in bed when an unexpected visitor arrives at his window. It’s Charley! After Charley says “I Love You” Rayflo rushes over to the window sill but stops abruptly in his steps when he sees that it isn’t Charley at the window. It’s Barry (volume 1. He was also the character from volume 2. He was the one who kept calling Rayflo Addie which he does again in this volume). Barry enters the room and tells Rayflo that he enjoyed playing the Incubus just moments ago. Barry wastes no time in pinning Rayflo to the ground. While Rayflo feverishly demands to know why he has appeared; Barry starts clawing and ripping at Rayflo’s flesh. He tells Rayflo that he is doing this as punishment for all the cancelled dinners and for moving without a forwarding address. Barry then goes on to ask Rayflo if he enjoyed his little performance as Charley. Rayflo is freaking out. He tells Barry that he was trick (obviously) and that Barry is basically a crazy loony. Barry replies “I’m sure father will also be happy to hear those words,” which instantly silences Rayflo.

Minea (the maid who is also the white cat) appears with a knife and attempts to save Rayflo but Barry is to powerful and severely injures Minea (she’s alive but in bad shape). Barry picks up the knife and stabs it into the hands of Rayflo pinning him to the ground. Then, Barry viciously starts to eat Rayflo’s flesh and skin (Barry’s eating habits are nowhere near as sexy or sensual as Charley’s – Barry is an animal)

FLASHBACK

Rayflo (at least it looks like him) is badly wounded. He is being offered an exchange for his life for the powers of a mysterious person

END FLASHBACK

PRESENT TIME

Barry has finished feasting on Rayflo’s body and is licking a small bone from Rayflo’s spine (like a person sucking on a chicken bone or something) Rayflo looks like half a man (His lower half is not visible at all. It’s just a bloody mess). Barry really did a number on him (bad Barry).

Oh baby, my copy of Vassalord arrived yesterday (the best day ever!) So, I had originally planned on reading it today but I just couldn’t resist it (I have no will power when it comes to Cherry and Rayflo) So despite having to get up early the next morning I stayed up late and read the whole volume (I honestly intended to read one chapter and then go to bed but like I said before, no will power)

My initial impression after my first read through was “Boy, there sure is a lot of stuff going on” and the thing I found disappointing was the fact that there were hardly any Charley and Rayflo scenes of them “together” (boo who) and when it finally looked like a classic Charley and Rayflo scene was about to happen BAM! it was the last page of  the manga which means I’ll have to wait (again) before I find out what happens between the sexy duo (oh, man . . . that’s torture, just plain torture).

I know I’ll have to read this volume a few more times to figure out what’s going on. The story is really taking a interesting turn and now the scenes take place in Italy (which I don’t mind) what I do mind is the limited scenes between Cherry and Rayflo (did mention that already?)

We are introduced to some new and very vicious characters (very scary). That Barry, oh he is a little monster. What’s his deal? And then there’s that mafia guy. 2 very scary dudes but I know some how Johnny and Cherry will come out on top but I’ll have to wait until the next volume to find out how they do it (just too cruel)

Well, I’ll be re-reading this volume and working on the volume 3 walk-through.

I love Vassalord so much but why does it have to hurt so much as well! I guess that saying is true Love Hurts!

Later! :-)