Last chapter may have rubbed some people the wrong way with the effective cut-off of the remaining Ranma 1/2 cast, but fear not. I'm not done with them quite yet.
Hooooly shit I'm enjoying writing this, but I'm currently dealing with exams at the same time - kinda putting off studying to write instead. Shouldn't really be doing that, so chapters might slow down a bit from here on.
Tried to improve pacing last chapter, this chapter I'd like to focus more on worldbuilding. Enjoy!
.Chapter 2.
Integra smoked her cigar to ease her stress, slumped in her managerial chair at her desk. She had been poring over the details of the investigation regarding the experimental vampire outbreak in Japan for hours. In the pile of ash, left by the immolated attacker on the jet, she had found a half-melted chip, which must have been embedded in their body. Analysis of the chip revealed that within there was some manner of monitoring technology which likely triggered the vampire's explosive death upon interrogation, to prevent them from spilling any details about their employer. There were some pieces of information that Hellsing had managed to acquire from their visit to Japan, however, namely the fact that the vampires being created were somehow incomplete. The vampire who attacked the Saotome girl-boy should have turned her into a ghoul, having only partially drained her of blood (full draining usually resulting in becoming a vampire if the victim was an opposite-gendered virgin), but no such change occurred. The disappearances in Nerima beforehand also seemed to imply that there was some sort of cover-up taking place, after attempts to make ghouls had failed. Perhaps the kidnappings were always staged after a second visit by the vampire such that they could experiment on making vampiric progeny. The vampire was a male, and only targeting women after all.
Walter politely and quietly entered Integra's study to find her in deep contemplation. He interrupted her dazed state to deliver some news, "It appears there has been a new vampire incident, Sir Integra. In the town of Cheddar. It's serious this time, I suggest we send Alucard in immediately."
- - - Two Days Earlier - - -
Now having arrived at Hellsing Headquarters, Ranma found herself surrounded by sights that were completely alien to her. She had spent her whole mortal life in eastern Asia, so the idea of an expansive mansion containing ornate Elizabethan architecture and art was something she had barely even been aware existed. Being led to her quarters by Walter, she had an awed look plastered on her face as she ambled through the corridors, her arms casually joined behind her back with her neck craned upwards. She finally understood Integra's comment back in Japan as they boarded the private jet. Walter spoke to her entirely in English now, which was now possible due to her consumption of a couple more transfusion bags, to aid in her condition after her injury. "Your sleeping quarters will be located, similarly to Alucard, in the hidden basement of the grounds." He stopped suddenly, gesturing to a mirror on the wall. Smiling at Ranma's puzzled look, Walter then reached into a notch in the side of the mirror frame, and pulled, revealing a passageway of descending stone steps. This house was seriously cool. Crazy old art, massive ornate corridors, and now a secret tunnel?
She followed the butler down the passageway, which came to a fork, one of which led to a series of bedrooms. Reaching the final door in the series, Walter presented her the key to her room, allowing her to open it herself. Clunkily pulling ajar the large, metal decorated, medieval-looking door, she found herself in a spacious - although somewhat bare - room with a smooth, stone slabbed floor and granite walls. The four-pillar bed at the centre of the back wall was larger than any futon she had slept on or ever seen, probably almost twice her height in length. Above the bedside commode was a tall mirror, and to the front-right corner of the room was a long desk, with a couple of cushioned wooden chairs.
"This is... all for me? You sure this is cool for me to have to myself, Walter?" She double-checked.
"Oh, certainly Miss Saotome. This room is perfect for one such as yourself. The room is considered far too cold for most humans, not to mention the lack of windows." He confirmed, reminding her of an aspect of her vampirism she'd yet to even consider.
"I'll be sleeping, during the day..?" She wondered aloud.
"Why, of course. The sun, while not deadly, will irritate you now that you are undead. Also, from what I know of vampires - namely Alucard - I presume staying awake during the day is also quite difficult for a midian."
That was going to be a strange adjustment. She was glad to learn that the light of day was not lost to her, but it seemed like she'd probably end up not wanting to see it anyway. Due to the time difference between Japan and England it was still around the same time in the evening as when the private jet took off, so she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon. "Thanks for the advice Walter. What now?"
The butler lit up, as if he'd been waiting patiently for her to ask that exact question. "I do happen to have some experimental apparatus I'd like to show you. Miss Saotome, if you please." He promptly led her through another tunnel in the underground, taking her to a pair of bolted metal doors which he swiftly unlocked, to reveal a room full of a vast variety of weaponry. The walls were lined with rifles, handguns, swords, axes, and so on, all held in labelled glass cases.
"So this is the 'apparatus' you were talking about, huh?" Ranma giggled, amused to find out that the softly spoken butler had a violent side.
"Indeed. I have a strong feeling you would favour melee weapons to ranged as a martial artist, but I have both prepared in case you decide otherwise." He strutted over to a set of wall-suspended counters, reaching underneath to pull away a cloth covering on a series of strongboxes. With a slight huff, he lifted one of the longer strongboxes up onto the countertop. After being called over, Walter revealed, laying on a burgundy fabric bedding, a pair of spears, with matte black shafts, and on each end, a glimmering, razor-sharp spearhead.
"I call these," he gestured his palms towards the strongbox, "the Diarmuid (*1) twinspears. It is 70 inches in length when combined. The shaft core is comprised of a high yield strength alloy too heavy for a human could not handle. Its spearheads are comprised of yet another alloy, which contains blessed Macedonian silver, meaning it will be especially devastating when used against vampires and ghouls. For that reason I would recommend handling it with extreme care, although there are mechanisms for ejection and retraction of the spearheads into the core. As you can see, when combined, the centre of the weapon contains a locking mechanism which allows the two halves of the spear to be joined or separated at will. This is an experimental weapon, so please keep in mind that it is not meant for regular use." Walter rapidly fired off the information, most of which Ranma barely caught, but it sounded very impressive nonetheless.
Allowing her to get a look at the weapon, he moved aside. She picked up the spears carefully with both palms cradling each from underneath, finding them to be reasonably light in her hands. It was time to try it out. Thankfully she was dressed for the occasion now too, since she'd been able to change out of that awful stewardess uniform and back into the Hellsing uniform. The uniform was extremely comfortable, but slightly restrictive since she wasn't used to the whole female clothes thing. The skirt section created a strange situation where she had good leg mobility, but ended up exposing underwear if she wasn't careful, which was especially a problem as a martial artist. Oh well, not like she really cared.
After locking the halves together, she slid carefully into a bo staff stance, ready to give the combined weapon a spin, both figuratively and literally. She wouldn't quite be able to use this like a Bo staff exactly, but after clicking the retraction mechanism it was more or less the same. It was a double spring mechanism, activated by twisting the joining mechanism at the centre of the shaft, although it activated both, rather than one at a time. This really was a dangerous weapon, even for the handler if they weren't careful. Walter chimed in, noticing her considering the fact she might end up stabbing herself if she tried a thrust attack. "You simply need twist in the opposite direction from the retracted state, and the end lined with the red ring at the spear-end will activate solitarily." Looking more carefully at the end of each half of the spear, she found a yellow ring at one end, and a red one at the other. Okay, so yellow end good to point at self, red end bad. It was going to be instrumental for her to remember which way to twist the mechanism too, getting that wrong could be messy. Thankfully the resistance to twisting before clicking into a different state required a considerable effort, even with vampiric strength, so she wouldn't have to worry about it going off accidentally either.
Deciding to leave the spearheads out of the equation before she was more accustomed, she left them retracted and shifted through a few bo staff techniques. The length was slightly too long for her height, but that wouldn't be a big issue with some adjustment. The circumference was just about right, allowing her to manoeuvre it through her hands with relative ease. After a few minutes of testing it out Ranma realised she'd completely forgotten about Walter, who simply looked on with a sly smile. "Sorry 'bout that Walter, I got a bit carried away."
"It's no trouble at all Miss Saotome, it appears to suit you well." Walter commended, seeming impressed by her skills. She returned the twinspear back into the box, allowing Walter to continue. "I now present you with the ranged option I believe will suit you best." He led her to another set of strongboxes, this time pulling out of the stack a small, ornate slider box with a mostly wooden shell. Pushing the lid to the side, he revealed what appeared to be a revolver - similar to a Colt Python, but embossed with a series of religious texts on the barrel. "This is the 'Canina' (*2). It fires .357 custom jacketed hollow point rounds, with blessed Macedonian silver casings and blessed mercury tips. The revolving barrel is 6-inch, taking a total of 6 rounds at a time."
She was in awe once again. The twinspear was pretty damn awesome, but a revolver? She'd never seen one in her life, and her whole life had been focused entirely on hand-to-hand combat, so this was like a whole new world. "Can I try it out? There's gotta be a range round here somewhere right?" She questioned, bouncing with excitement.
"Unfortunately, I must disappoint you. There is no firing range on the Hellsing grounds. I imagine a mission will soon turn up allowing you to practise - although I'm sure your aim will be fine."
That was probably a vampire thing again. It seemed like being a vampire made so many things too simple. She'd spent years honing her martial arts, but all it took was one vampire to completely destroy her in a fight. It highlighted the feebleness of humans, that even someone like her could be beaten by a supposed 'fake' vampire - as described by Alucard. That was the past though; she was more than prepared for them now. She'd have felt more prepared if she could at least practise a bit before actually going out and using a firearm she'd never so much as touched before. Feeling slightly annoyed she couldn't test it out, she deflated, letting out a sigh.
"Now, I've been informed that I'm to bring you to Sir Integra for a brief on your between-mission activities on the Hellsing grounds, if you please." He stretched his open hands towards the door. Sounded like she was about to be given a list of chores. Ugh.
As it turned out she was almost correct. Integra laid out a list not of chores, but of books for her to read whilst she was on standby - mostly relating to the world's supernatural politics, including but not limited to: a background of every demonic defence organisation, an almanac on supernatural creatures around the globe, and of course an atlas. She was ordered to have memorised the names and top 3 major cities of every country with an active supernaturally-aware organisation by the end of the week. What a drag.
Following the mandate of reading, she was sent away to introduce herself to all the officers on the grounds. Most of them seemed to already be aware of her, a good proportion of them treating her kindly, but a few of them treated her with an undertone of either trepidation or even scorn due to her status as a vampire. It seemed Alucard's intimidating demeanour had done nothing to aid in her diplomatic efforts, but her tomboy-ish behaviour likely didn't help either. With that all out of the way, it was the dreaded time to start reading through that mountainous heap of books. Ranma was still getting used to reading English, but she'd have to learn it properly, fast, or this was going to be hellish. If only drinking blood bags could pass on more than just basic information like the meanings of individual words, some sayings and idioms were still a bit confusing - at least her accent was finally fading away now.
- - - Two Days Later - - -
Still reading at her desk in her room, Ranma found herself getting extremely bored. She'd been learning about various organisations that existed to combat the demonic, and the political landscape between them. One that caught her eye especially was the Vatican, which both made sense and surprised her at the same time. Apparently the Vatican weren't on great terms with Hellsing for some reason that had yet escaped her - something to do with being the wrong type of Christianity or whatever. She felt like her eyes were straining from all the staring at books, which wasn't supposed to be possible considering her enhanced stamina and regeneration. Her restlessness was just about to reach a critical high when suddenly she heard someone walking through the tunnels to her door. She shot up from her chair. It was Alucard. He opened the door, with a mischievous expression on his face. "Time for your first mission, girl."
After collecting her new weapons, she received her first mission brief. A vampire had taken over a section of a town called Cheddar, masquerading as or perhaps a former priest. This one was different to the previous two vampires she'd come across however, since this one was creating ghouls, in large numbers too. The local police had already been deployed to the area, before the threat had been identified to be vampiric, meaning that not only were the ghouls going to be even more plentiful, but also possibly armed. It was exciting, but also anxiety-inducing. It was her first mission, but it was going to be a highly delicate and dangerous situation. She sat in the deployed Hellsing shuttle with her revolver holstered at her right hip and separated twinspears sitting in her lap. In the last couple of days she had managed to get the hang of the ejection mechanism, with a few near-misses when she activated the wrong mode and almost stabbed herself in the stomach. The silvered spearheads had proven hard to handle even if they weren't stabbing her, so she wore the Hellsing issued gloves just in case, but even they wouldn't stop her from burning much. She was finally getting to actually try out shooting too, so she hoped to find out if Walter's assurance that she'd be able to hit her targets wasn't just a butler's politeness.
When the shuttle arrived, she stepped out behind Alucard, and waited with him for their orders from Integra, who was currently meeting with the chief of police to discuss the current status of the operation. Her crimson-clad master stared up to the moon through his tinted glasses, as if she wasn't there. She had felt somewhat distant from him since they'd arrived, which strangely enough bothered her more than she expected, considering how little she knew of him. It seemed the link between master and thrall had deep mental and emotional ramifications.
She decided to break the silence, by asking him something she'd been wondering ever since she'd died. "Why... why did you turn me, master..?"
The silence stretched on again for another moment, then he answered, "It's quite simple, girl, don't be stupid. You were an interesting specimen, and it would've been a waste to let you die."
Ranma wasn't quite sure if she was satisfied by that answer. He had found her pleasing enough to keep her around, but she wasn't sure whether doing so was out of pity or a whim. Watching him stare off into the moonlight once again, she wondered if this ages old vampire ever got lonely. She was the only one of his progeny as far as she was aware, so it seemed strange that after all this time he would suddenly decide to make descendants.
The tense moment of reflection was cut short, as Integra emerged from the police tent. "The police force was sent en masse to the church where the vampire is operating. The police are unlikely to have dealt with it well, but some may still have survived. You are to move in quickly to dispatch of the midian and prevent further casualties. Understood?"
Alucard smiled, "Yes master. I am your blade, and I kill any enemies before you at your command." He turned to his little fledgling, looking down at her through obscured scarlet eyes. "Come." He began to stroll off into the foliage in the direction of the church. Following him into the dark, she found that the lack of light was no problem whatsoever, being able to see even clearer than in well-lit conditions. After a few minutes of walking, they came up on their first sign of the nearing danger, a bleeding police officer slumped against a tree. Ranma instantly overtook her master, running over to check on the man - too distracted to notice the smell of his blood. She knelt by his side and put a gloved hand on his shoulder, to find him unresponsive. She moved in closer to check his pulse, forgetting the fact she could have simply listened for it, and suddenly the man started to move. His slumped neck cracked upright, revealing festering bite marks, upon seeing which she dashed away, drawing the twinspears defensively from the holsters on her back. "Your lingering humanity clouds your judgement, girl." Alucard chided her, drawing his own firearm and swiftly nailing the ghoul between the eyes. He was right. She should have relied on her senses but instead she acted on auto-pilot. Feeling frustrated, Ranma steeled herself to start doing this right. No way was she going to disappoint her master on her first mission.
Upon further travel closer to the church site, it was clear the police had not dealt with the threat very well at all. She tuned her ears to the air ahead, locking on to two ghouls, she decided to make up for her blunder at the last encounter. She joined the twinspear, and sprinted towards their sounds, finding them to both be armed. They both identified her, and began to raise their weapons to shoot. Instantly she locked onto their aiming trajectories and planned a path. They began to fire, but she had already entered hyperfocus, her eyes glowing red. Everything seemed to slow down, and she dodged the bullet fire with ease, although their aim was admittedly sloppy. After getting close enough, without ejecting the spears, she thrust herself in the air towards them and drove the end of the shaft into one of the ghouls, while kicking the other to the ground. Surprisingly, her strength alone was enough to impale the ghoul. Remembering her reading on ghoul and vampire killing techniques, she pulled the staff out of the ghoul and thrust again through its heart, then turning to the other ghoul and finishing it with a thrust to the head. While silver was effective on ghouls, it wasn't necessary if one simply destroyed the brain or the heart. Finding herself splattered with blood, she began to feel extremely aroused after that show of violence. Alucard looked on approvingly, chuckling as she almost drooled, staring at the blood on the end of the shaft.
'This isn't right', a small part of herself echoed in the back of her head. She froze, tongue hanging out of her mouth. These men were alive and human only moments ago, and she was about to just start enjoying their remains like some kind of vulture. Collecting herself, she came out of the blood-induced trance and wiped the blood off on the grass. Alucard's face twisted into a frown, seeing that she had resisted her vampiric instincts. "You'll have to give into your true nature eventually. Your attempts at resisting are a sham." He began to march off without her, heading towards the now visible church spire. Feeling somewhat ashamed that she had disappointed him, she let some distance build between them before following onwards. It wasn't like she hated being a vampire, there was just a part of her that didn't agree with everything that came with it. Alucard found himself frustrated for reacting so emotionally, he knew that there was no helping the way she was. It simply reminded him of a far away time that he had once forgotten. It was a strangely beautiful - the innate resistance of humanity to persist even after undeath - but also so bothersome.
Finally reaching the entrance to the church, Alucard came to a stop and Ranma caught up with him. "What's it look like, master?"
"It looks like a treat." He broke into a grin, beginning to stroll through the open doors into the main hall.
There was a scream from the back of the hall, near the altar, sounding like it came from a woman. Peeking out from behind the crimson coat in the way, Ranma saw that it was a police woman, being restrained by a red-eyed priest. Alucard turned his head slightly back, "Cover the outside, I'll deal with this scum." He walked further in, pulling his handgun from his coat. Following her master's orders, she kept watch outside the church entrance, listening in for what was going on inside. It appeared the priest had gathered most of the police forces as ghouls in the church stands, but he wasn't worried at all, despite being surrounded. After a moment of conversation between the two vampires, Ranma heard the priest become angered, calling upon the ghouls to finish Alucard off. Doubting whether it was going to be alright, she turned to check and saw her master being riddled with bullets. Panicking for a second, she almost ran towards the scene to help, but she noticed he was still standing, and he wouldn't have done that if he didn't have a plan. She trusted him. She heard some movement from around the corner in the bushes. Six ghouls, all armed, emerged from the bushes towards her. It was the perfect time to see if Walter was right. Slipping back into hyperfocus, she flicked the Canina out of its holster, loaded the 6 chambers, and tried to imagine that she could see exactly where the bullets were going to hit. One hand on the trigger at her hip, the other on the cocking hammer, she rapidly fired off 6 shots, all of which she thought had missed. Then all the ghouls collapsed, with bullet holes right in the centres of their foreheads. It worked.
Shifting her concentration from outside back to the church, she noticed that she could hear no further gunshots being fired. She turned to see Alucard, who before was riddled with holes, all in one piece, pointing his heavy-duty handgun at the priest, who was using the woman she'd heard screaming earlier as a meat shield.
The vampire priest began to desperately negotiate. "She's the only survivor, don't you want her to live?" The police woman in his clutches was wide-eyed, clearly mortified, and also quite young by the looks of her. "C'mon let's be reasonable here - can't you just look the other way?"
Not getting through to Alucard at all, he questioned the young woman being held hostage, "Police girl, are you a virgin?" At that question, Ranma knew exactly what his plan was. He grinned confidently.
The girl, embarrassed by the sudden question, blushed, while the priest caught on to what he was going to do. "You swine!"
Collecting herself, the girl replied, shouting, "Yes! I am!" Immediately after which Alucard blew a hole through her chest and the priest. The priest spewed blood from his mouth. The shot was devastating, but not quite lethal. To finish him off, the still grinning vampire drove his gloved hand through the chest of the priest, after which he cried out one last time, and then his body crumbled away to dust. The police woman, now gravely injured, almost collapsed to the floor, but was caught by Ranma as she fell.
Holding her up, Ranma saw that the girl was actually very young, probably around 19 or 20. She was achingly pretty, but her face was marred by tears leaking from her sapphire eyes similar to Ranma's azure. She saw herself in the dying girl, remembering having been in this exact position only 4 days ago now. Alucard took the girl from her, scooping her onto her knee. "In order to hit his heart, I had to pierce your lung. I'm sorry, but it's a high calibre gun, you won't last long." She raised her arm, as if to reach out for something, but only found thin air. Alucard asked her the critical question. "What will you do?"
She continued to reach into the air, before wheezing three words. "H-Help... me...please..."
He looked positively thrilled by her response. "What a great night." Then he drove his fangs violently into her neck, draining her life away, but also giving her a new one.
Ranma watched on as her master finalised the process of creating a new vampire, who would effectively be her younger sister in a sense. As the last drop of blood was drained from her body, she began to convulse for a few seconds, then ceasing all movement. The hole in her chest began to slowly grow smaller and smaller, vampiric regeneration completely healing her of all injury. Her jaw was hanging open, exposing the strange process of gaining fangs as her teeth seemed to become plastic and rearrange their shape. Then her body seemed to shift slightly, becoming more muscular particularly in her legs and shoulders. With that, a new vampire was born. She would remain asleep for a while, probably until the following evening, so Alucard had to carry her back to the police operating tent where they met Integra and debriefed.
"You made another vampire..? Alucard, I thought we discussed this." Integra seemed aggravated by the nosferatu's impulsive behaviour.
"They will be my responsibility, my master. I decided it was high time I made successors, and I am certain they will be immensely useful to you." He looked down at the police girl in his arms, then to Ranma, and presented her with the limp draculina. "You and she, will accompany me into the night. I hope you will live up to my expectations."
The crimson-haired tomboy reluctantly took the girl into her arms, and boarded the shuttle back to Hellsing HQ.
- - - The Following Evening - - -
Ranma awoke to find Alucard standing at the foot of her bed, probably being the one who woke her up. "Come. Your sister awakes." He informed her with his usual grin. She shared his excitement, darting out from under her sheets and getting dressed readily. It turned out her vampiric sibling's sleeping quarters were directly next to hers, to the left. When they entered, she stirred, seemingly having a particularly frightening dream, from which she awoke to see Alucard standing at her bedside. Sitting up, she stared blankly at him for a while, then broke out into a startled shriek, upon which Integra entered the room with Walter alongside her.
"You're too loud police girl. You may be a draculina, but you're still an Englishwoman, do have some propriety." The decorous leader of Hellsing rebuked.
"Sorry... where am I?" The girl looked around, seeing a smiling towering shadowy figure to her side, a red-haired, sheepish girl next to him, and a butler standing patiently at this official looking lady's side.
Integra began to rifle off all the same things Ranma had heard not long ago, about her old life having ended and working for the Hellsing Organisation, and all that stuff. It was samey to her but for the police girl it was her whole world being shattered apart, although she seemed to have resigned to her fate quite a lot more quickly than the former gender-flipper had. Walter offered to her the same tan-yellow Hellsing uniform, exclusive to the inhuman members of the organisation. Both Walter and Alucard beamed as Integra subsequently informed the both of them of a new mission having already appeared. "Another vampire incident has arrived. Kill the vampire police girl. You will accompany her, tomboy."
Looking over to the police girl, Ranma saw her staring back, with a nervous face. Time to make friends. She approached with a pleasant smile, "Yo, nice to meet you! The name's Ranma Saotome. I'll be your partner. What's your name?" She offered her hand forwards invitingly.
Feeling slightly less intimidated by the situation with a friendly face to help her along, the police girl shook the girl's hand and replied, "N-nice to meet you too, Ranma. I'm Seras Victoria."
"I know its scary, but you'll figure it out eventually. Being a vampire that is. That, and the whole working for a supernatural defence organisation thing."
"It's just all happening so fast. So... I died?" She looked down at her chest, checking under the pyjamas she'd been dressed in for the hole in her body which was now nowhere to be found.
Alucard answered her question, "Indeed, you are dead, police girl. You have now awoken again as a draculina, a walker of the night."
Providing her with a hand mirror, Ranma flashed her a toothy grin, showing off her fangs. Seras hesitated to lift her lips as she inspected her reflection, finding that her face was exactly the same as she remembered, no horns or demon eyes or anything like that. Looking more closely as she exposed her teeth, she indeed saw a pair of formidable fangs sitting exactly where her regular canines were before. She jolted back from the mirror, the fact that she was now a demonic creature was sinking in even further. She suddenly had a series of questions about being a vampire fire through her head all at the same time. Ranma could somehow tell that she was wondering what being undead entailed, through some sort of telepathic link, so she decided to enlighten her, "No, daylight won't kill you, but it's irritating; no, garlic doesn't do much except hurt your nose; silver will burn you and can kill you; yes, you'll need to drink blood. Is that everything?"
"How could you tell what I was thinking?" Seras asked, gobsmacked by the redhead's accuracy. Ranma replied simply by tapping her temple with her index finger, since she was unsure if she could truly answer in a way that made sense. "But... blood? I'll have to-" she paused, "or I'll die?"
Alucard commented, repeating a sentiment Ranma had heard a few times before, "You should embrace your new nature rather than fight it, police girl. If you refuse the pull of blood, you may as well have remained in the ground."
Walter then offered a solution, "If you should feel strongly against the consumption of blood, Miss Victoria, there is a necessary protocol you will have to follow to maintain your strength. You will be required to sleep in a coffin, lined with the soil of your birthplace, lest you begin to deteriorate."
Seras gripped the bedsheets in frustration with her predicament, head tipped downwards. She had known many monsters in her time who were human, let alone demons. It would be as if to fall below even those monsters to live off of human blood, at least that was the way she instinctively felt. She didn't detest Alucard or Ranma for choosing to do so, but found herself repulsed by the idea of stealing the life from others. "I'll do that, if it means I won't need to drink blood, Mr. butler. I'm just- I'm just not ready."
Walter smiled sympathetically. "Of course, Miss Victoria, I will make the arrangements. My name is Walter, by the way."
She smiled shyly back at him. "Thank you, Walter."
Alucard, appeared somewhat bored by Seras' wholesome attempt to retain her humanity. He put on his glasses with a deadpan expression, and faced towards the door. "Get ready, police girl. Your first kill awaits."
After all but Ranma had left, the new draculina seemed to be in a state of shock, her eyes glazed over and staring into space. Seras didn't really have many strong ties to her human life that she cared too much about, being an orphan and working for a police force that continually belittled her efforts. Despite that, she felt like everything was just moving too fast for her. She was still trying to process the fact that she'd died, without even considering the fact she was a vampire.
Seras turned to a concerned Ranma, "How did you deal with this? I just... I don't know what to think."
Ranma almost answered her, but was reminded that she'd effectively decided to cut off her mortal ties out of cowardice. She'd chosen to take the easy path, drinking blood without questioning it too hard, and made her family forget she even existed. Seras was right, it had moved too fast, but it was such a blur that she hadn't really even had enough time to process it. She'd decided to accept her new form, out of necessity more than choice, and she did miss her family. Her family. They wouldn't even recognise her now, let alone have the time to forgive her for leaving them so quickly. There was no way they'd have been able to accept her living permanently in England, let alone being a blood-sucking vampire. Ranma was supposed to be the easy going one, she had no idea how a girl like Seras must've felt. She'd powered through all of this so far, but her lingering feelings were catching up with her. Snapping out of the spaced-out state she'd slipped into, Ranma felt a tear roll down her left cheek and hurriedly wiped it away, deciding to show a strong face for her younger sister. "It's hard, but I've kept it together so far. I'm just... I'm trying to accept what I am now."
Seras noticed that her question had freaked out the tomboyish redhead a little, and came to the realisation that she was more or less in a similar boat, despite her formerly upbeat demeanour. "Ranma, when did you get turned? Was it recently?"
Still struggling internally, the redhead's lips quivered slightly before she answered, "It was about 5 or 6 days ago now. I used to live in Japan with my family, but I got killed by a vampire, so master saved me, and now I'm here."
"Your family are still in Japan? I'm sorry about that. I don't really have any family, so I guess I'm sort of lucky. Nobody's going to miss me."
"Nobody's missing me either, I don't think, other than maybe my mother, but I don't know where she is. My family had their memories wiped of me so I wouldn't have to burden them. I still don't know if I made the right choice, but I'm glad they're not worried about me anymore..." Ranma began to well up again, but stopped herself before any tears spilled out again. "I should probably tell you this. I actually, believe it or not, used to be a guy." She chuckled, eyes still wet and glimmering.
"A- a guy? You mean, a man? But... just, look at you! How is that possible?" Seras exclaimed, examining the curved womanly form in front of her.
"I know right! It's crazy right? That's why I'm such a tomboy though. I had a condition where I would change genders if I got wet when I was human, but when I died I was still a girl - so here I am." Curtseying sarcastically, she made Seras laugh with her.
"You know, after seeing vampires and zombies I'm actually not having a hard time believing you now." Seras giggled.
Ranma was glad she had someone like Seras to share her story with. The feelings she had buried over the last several days finally had a place they could be heard.
(1) Diarmuid Ua Duibhne is a demigod of Irish Fenian Cycle mythology, who wielded two spears: Gae Buidhe (yellow spear) and Gae Dearg (red spear) - which inflicted wounds that could not be healed.
(2) The golden jackal has the latin name canis aureus, belonging the canina subtribe