Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma ½ . They are the sole property of Rumiko Takahasi. Neither do I own the rights to Hellsing. Those characters are the property of Kohta Hirano. All characters used within are used without permission.

Chapter 2

Pandora had been right. Mere hours had passed and already the wrecking crew was tearing Nerima apart to find him. Akane was looking to kill Ranma. She had managed to convince herself that this was all some perverted plot of his to be with his OTHER fiancés, and not have to marry HER. Never mind that the coroner had pronounced him DOA and he'd lain there cold and stiff in the morgue for two days while the coroner's office had tried to figure out WHAT happened to his blood. The other girls felt that Akane had somehow hurt Ranma so badly that he'd seemed dead, and in a pique of anger she'd buried him alive. Genma and Soun had spent the first two hours drinking and celebrating before leaving, heavily intoxicated to search for the wayward son. Nadoka had begun by murmuring about how manly her son was that he could even overcome death, and proceeded to begin planning the next attempt at a wedding. Nabiki of course, wasted no time in selling this information to Ranma's rivals, and soon most of the Nerima district looked much like the Tendo Training Hall had merely days before.

But Ranma was nowhere to be found.

...somewhere in Kyoto...

"Ok, so explain this to me again. WHY can't I draw on my ki?"

Sigh "Simply stated child, you cannot access ki that is not there. Only the LIVING generate ki. YOU are dead. The energy you expended during our little scuffle the other night was the last of your internal reserve. This is why when it was gone, you were so tired and so easy to hurt. I didn't hit you any harder than the she bitch used to, it's simply that you didn't have ki reinforcing your body anymore. Now, this does not mean you cannot ever use ki again. Living blood carries a reserve of it, so each time you feed from a living being, you will add some ki to your reserve.

"Now, what do you think you know of our kind, vampires?"

"Not much, just what I saw in a couple of movies I snuck into a while back. Crosses and garlic, stakes and running water. Oh yeah, and mirrors."

Shaking her head, "I see I have much to teach you. First, almost everything you think you know is wrong, or at the least, seriously out of date. First and foremost, crosses, or any holy symbol for that matter, are of absolutely no effect unless the wielder is possessed of an incredible faith. In this day, it is an extreme rarity to come across one such. The only thing repulsive about garlic is the way it affects someone's breath. A stake will only paralyze, not kill, and even then it must be of ash wood. I don't know WHO came up with the running water idea, but if I'd found them before they died, I would have killed them. As for mirrors, look for yourself."

With this Pandora rises and walks to a nearby vanity where there is a mirror covered by a white sheet. With a smooth and gentle tug, she pulls the coving free to reveal Ranma to himself in the mirror. He stands and approaches, almost not believing what it is he sees. He is perhaps a touch paler than once he was, and when he opens his mouth to speak, he notices that his upper canines are extremely pronounced. And then he sees them. His eyes are wrong, no longer the steel blue they have been his entire life, but a deep crimson red.

thinking aloud "What the hell?"

"The eyes are the mark of our kind. There are perhaps five of us that are truly ancient. Are you familiar with the name Dracula? He is real, or, was anyway. I lost contact with him some hundred years ago."

"I have another question. Why didn't I change into my cursed form in the rain?"

"Curses reside in the blood. No matter how you may have contracted it, once your blood was gone, the curse dissipated. Dying helped to flush it from your system as well, thereby preventing any lingering side affects. I am afraid that there was no other way to be rid of it. Curses do not replace one another. They mount and combine, and you may have noticed in Pansuto Taro. Had you actually used the nanichuan, your curse would only have compounded, and left your alternate form as a hermaphrodite, or a person with BOTH genders." We hear Ranma's jaw snap shut as his question is answered before it can be asked. "Now, you have probably been wondering why I chose you Ranma. The answer is simple. I need an heir. You are the second and last vampire I will ever create. Once I made the mistake of thinking a mortal man could love me. When he asked to be like me, I thought nothing of it. I was young then, barely released from my own sire's tutelage, and did not grasp the consequence of my actions. He has been called many things since that time. To be honest, I'm no longer sure if the Judeo-Christian image of evil was molded from him, or if he directly modeled himself after it. Yes, the man I loved, was Lucifer. He had a laugh that could melt the coldest of hearts, and a temper that could vaporize uranium. I know he must be stopped, but despite his nature, I still love him. This is why I turn to you. As a mortal, you defeated Saffron, a demigod. Now, you must face a greater threat. Evil incarnate walks the earth, and prepares to wipe all mankind from it's face. I could not bring myself to face him when he betrayed me, I know I cannot now. Now, is there any whom you would fight and die for? Or perhaps a more important question, is there any you would LIVE for?"...

I have to see her. I need to know if she's someone I'd live to protect. I mean, I DID kill for her...

"The vengeance of Heaven is Swift and sure, I Tatewaki Kuno, The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, demand to know where you, the foul sorcerer Saotome have secreted my fiery haired, pigtailed goddess. Oh fiend without measure, how dare you damage one of my loves and hide the other from me."

Shit. Just what I DON'T need right now, the true blunder in all his stupidity. "Piss off Kuno. The Red Head is gone for good this time. Now go away or I'm going to have to hurt you..."

"You wretched beast. What have you done to my beauteous pig tailed girl? I shall beat the knowledge from your lowborn flesh. I Strike...

"Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike- Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Stri..." With a sudden start, Kuno realizes he's thrusting empty hands at a very angry looking Ranma, who just happened to be holding his boken.

"Did it never occur to you that a technique rarely works on me more than once, and I've seen you use that one HOW MANY TIMES? As for your pigtailed girl, she died the day you helped to ruin my wedding. You will NEVER see her again. In fact... I don't think you'll be seeing much of ANYTHING ever again..." Ranma then bends the boken in his hands until it breaks in two with a snap, and with speed he'd only displayed rarely before, shoved the splintered ends into Kuno's disbelieving eyes.

Screaming, Kuno reached for the broken halves and pulled them from his ruined sockets, feeling the blood pour down his face even as flickers of pain danced like light in the darkness that remained of his eyes. With a sudden shock he felt his legs kicked out from under him and with a jerk and twist, his shoulder was dislocated.

"What's the matter Kuno? You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

"You Bast-... Mph" He barely having time to open his mouth and start his sentence before Ranma's heel crashed down into his teeth, removing six and cracking his jaw in two places. Kuno promptly fainted from the pain.

"Why don't I leave ya one last thing to remember me by." Ranma then dug out Kuno's ceremonial tanto, and carved the word buffoon into his forehead, in memory of their first encounter. "Now everyone will know what you are as soon as they see you coming, asshole."

Now, let's see if I can find Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi.

Next Chapter: It's time to settle old accounts...
Authors note: My thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed. I've got some plans and ideas for the story, but am open to suggestions and ideas for what might happen along the way. I hope I clarified some of the questions that were brought up. I try and update about once a week, but sometimes it takes a touch longer since I'm in summer school at the local College. And before anyone asks, Pandora is OLDER than Alucard.