Disclaimer: Don't own this, just write it.
Author's notes: Sorry about the strange lines in between the scenes but didn't allow them.
Changing Path
Chapter- 5 Love Story
Ceres awoke with a jolt, tears streaming down her checks. She didn't try to stop them. She had seen Ranma die, being stabbed in the neck by a ghoul, and she had only been able to watch on in terror.
He had died protecting her, she was supposed to fight ghouls, but she had only been able to watch on in terror.
Through sobs she looked around on where she was. She was lying in her coffin, back in Hellsing manor, but how she got there she had no idea. The last thing she remembered was darkness taking hold of her mind back in the alley.
She hugged her pillow for dear life, sobbing. She had lost the only person who cared about her, who treated her like a person and not like an object. She wept for the life lost.
Hours later the sobs began to reside a little.
Her eyes were red and puffy as she reached out with a trembling hand towards the button that would open the lid.
It opened without a sound and she sat up in.
She hugged her knees to her and continued to sob, she had seen the man she loved die by the hands of the ghouls.
The pain subsided for a moment replaced by a burning rage. She formed her hand into a fist and slammed it into the wall.
Her entire body was trembling in restrained pain and anger, she cursed herself for letting Ranma die. She was a vampire, she was supposed to be able to withstand ghouls, but yet she had failed and the price was Ranma´s life.
A spider web of cracks appeared on the wall, and a small stream of crimson blood trailed down her wrist.
She pulled her hand out of the wall and looked on it with anger.
Why wasn't she able to protect him?
She stood up on shakily legs and looked at herself in the full length mirror standing by the wall.
Her clothes was a mess, long rips was and dried blood was all over it.
Her hair wasn't better, hanging in strips from her face with dried blood holding it together. Her eye were red and puffy after hours of crying, her face was covered it dirt and dried blood.
Ranma´s blood.
She discarded the clothing and threw it into a trashcan and then took a quick shower to wash away the blood. The water took a pink hue as the blood washed away and went down the drain.
Her body going on automatic, she dressed in her usual Hellsing-uniform and went out the door.
Her face had an expression of absolute sorrow, of someone who had lost everything, a dead person.
She walked aimlessly through the halls of Hellsing manor, not carrying about the looks she received from the Hellsing operatives.
She climbed the stair leading to the higher levels of the mansion, just seeking a place were she could be alone. She looked out on the cloudless night trough the windows and then opened one of the balcony doors.
She stepped out in the cold night and sat down on a marble bench. Leaning her back against the wall, she pulled up her knees and hugged them to her tightly.
She wept silently, crying for her lost love.
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Sir Integra Fairbrooks Wingate van Hellsing was sitting behind the desk and listening to the captain reporting about last night's event.
"We arrived too late, the entire second team was already dead when we arrived, ripped apart or turned into ghouls."
"Any casualties from your squad?" Integra asked, but she already knew the answer.
Fighting ghouls or vampires always cost lives, and if the entire second team had been turned into ghouls they would be armed.
"No Sir." The captain said and seemed to think about something.
Integra raised an eyebrow, zero casualties meant that something unexpected had happened. Even if the Hellsing knights were trained to kill ghouls and vampires they would still have casualties if facing armed ghouls.
"We arrived too late to be of any assistance to second team, however..." The captain made a pause in his explanation.
"However?" Integra asked.
"Second team was dead, but so were every single ghoul, and the freak vampire" The captain said.
"Explain." Integra said simply.
"We arrived to second squad's position and found a few scattered piles of ash from the ghouls and blood from our team. However we found not a single ghoul alive in the area so we began to search the immediate surrounding area. We found the ghouls, or rather what was left of them."
"What do you mean?" Integra asked puzzled
"We found hundreds of piles of ash in an alley, plus gear and weapons belonging to second team. Something had cut every single ghoul apart."
He reached down to a backpack lying next to him and picked up an MP5-submachine-gun and handed it to Integra. Or rather the two pieces of a MP5, it was severed in the middle with a clean cut, no edges. Then the captain picked up two stones halves from the back. They too were cut apart, having a smooth polished surface that reflected her face.
Integra raise an eyebrow.
"When I said that something cut them apart I wasn't joking. Something shredded the ghouls..."He started.
He held up the rifle and pointed to the cut.
"Their equipment and weaponry..." He continued.
He then held up the two stone halves for her to see.
"And a half meter thick stone wall apart." He finished.
"Any idea who did this?" She asked and pointed to the destroyed rifle. She maybe would have tipped on the Paladin Alexander Anderson, he would have been able to kill those ghouls, had it not been for the fact that he wasn't able to cut down stone walls.
"Well, we found numerous discarded blades lying about the area." The captain said.
Integra began to suspect Anderson again, he was the only one who used blades to battle vampires.
The captain reached down and picked up a cloth bundle from the backpack, which he placed on Integra's desk. He unwrapped it and she could see numerous small daggers.
She picked up one and studied it closely, she recognised it was made of silver immediately. She weighed one in her hand and could feel that it was perfectly balanced. It was a formidable throwing weapon and would be deadly to any ghoul if used correctly.
She discarded Anderson again, he didn't use small daggers like these, and his blades weren't made of silver, they were of metal blessed to kill the undead.
The captain reached down once again and pulled up a long bundle wrapped in a grey military blanket.
In them she found two katanas, but unlike the daggers these weren't made of pure silver. They were made of steel and only had a small silver edge, but one sweep with it and any ghoul would have turned into ash.
These weapons were the tools of a vampire hunter, and if the dead ghouls were any evidence a good on at that.
But what really bothered her was why one would leave the weapons.
"The daggers we found a spread out over the area, lying on the ground for the most part. One of the swords was buried to the hilt in a stone wall and it took us a good thirty minutes to pull it out, and the other one..." He paused.
Integra looked from the object lying on her table to the captain.
"We found next to the body of a man." He finished as Integra's stern gaze met his eyes.
"Body? You mean he was still being turned into a ghoul?"
"No sir. He was wounded, but not from any bites or scratches from a ghoul or vampire. He had numerous bullet-wounds and a deep cut in his neck. He was almost dead by the time we found him, our doctors should be checking on him right now, if he survives I don't know... he was banged up pretty badly"
"So was it the man that killed the ghouls?" She asked.
"I don't know... however you should know that we found Officer Victoria lying next to the man. She too was unconscious but didn't have any wounds. We brought her back to her room. You may want to question her."
Integra looked on the man with an emotionless face and then nodded. The captain saluted quickly and left the office in a hurry, forgetting to take the weapons with him.
There hadn't been any reported Freak-activity so Integra had let Ceres take the night off. Unfortunately the freaks had attacked just a few hours before the sun would rise and they hadn't been able to get hold on Ceres.
As the door closed she sighed, they had lost another thirty men that night. And she couldn't send in Alucard to dispatch of them, now the freaks attacked numerous places every time, with hundreds of ghouls on every attack.
But right now she had different concerns, like what happened exactly with the ghouls, and why the hell Ceres was in the middle of it.
She really needed additional men but the next batch of recruits wouldn't arrive in another month.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Walter was walking down the corridor leading to Victoria's room. Integra had asked him to get the vampire for questioning. It appeared like Victoria had ended up right in the middle of a fight between a vampire hunter and some ghouls, or so Integra's believed.
He quickly walked through the underground corridors of the mansion towards Victoria's room.
He stood in front of the oak door and then pushed it open. He pressed the switch next to the door and the light went on.
The lid to the coffin was open and it was empty. The thing that caught Walter's attention was the huge dent in the solid stone wall, a small trail of blood ran down it. Taking a quick look around the room he found a bloody garment hanging from the trashcan.
Victoria wasn't in the room so he began to search the rest of the mansion. After thirty minutes he was walking along the corridor on the third floor towards Integra's office to report that he was unable to find her.
As he passed an open balcony door he heard someone crying. He stopped and walked towards the door, the drapery covering the door moving a little in the wind.
He pulled them aside and looked out. In the moonlight he could see Victoria sitting on a marble bench, hugging her knees to her and crying softly. Walter moved the drapery back, but the rustling alerted Victoria to his presence.
"Someone there?" She asked and looked towards the door.
"Are you there Miss Victoria?" Walter asked as to give the vampire some time to compose herself.
Victoria quickly whipped her tears away, put her red and puffy eyes didn't hide the fact that she had been crying. Walter pushed the drapery to the side once again and looked at the vampire.
"Are you okay Miss Victoria? I thought I heard crying" He said and looked her over.
"I... I am okay, just needed some time to think, that's all." She said but she was obviously lying, but Walter pretended like he didn't notice.
He really didn't think that it was his matter to pry into her personal business, and he didn't think he could offer any help to her.
"Sir Hellsing wished to speak to you." He said.
"Ye...yes of course, no problem." She said and forced a smile.
Walter only nodded and began to walk towards Integra's office, Victoria trailing after him.
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He could felt the fire cover his body but didn't feel any pain.
He launched another series of kicks and punches, but Saffron just regenerated the damage.
"You think you can hurt me? Foolish mortal I am a god!" He said with a deep sadistic laugh.
Ranma didn't say anything, he was breathing hard and sweat was pouring down his face. The fight was tiring him out, and he didn't know how much longer he could continue fighting like this. He groaned and clutched his stomach, he needed a plan.
He looked around where he was standing and could see the body of Akane. Her ki was almost nonexistent and it was flickering. She was lying motionless on the ground with a pale face looking up. He looked back on Saffron and his face became emotionless as he used the soul of ice.
The air around him became icy, and the ground was covered in frost.
He summoned his ki and a golden aura of light surrounded him.
Closing the gap between him and Saffron in a blink both combatants began to rain down blows on each other.
Even though Saffron had immensely bigger ki reserves he wasted much of it on ki attacks that didn't hit Ranma.
Ranma was hard pressed to match Saffron, even though he used everything he knew.
Ranma and Saffron met in mid air, trading punches at unbelievable speeds. They broke of their attack, Saffron flapping his wings to stay aloft and Ranma landing hard on the ground.
He coughed and blood flowed from his mouth. He wiped it away. His hands and arms were covered in burns, not how severe that you might tip coming from such a fight but still painful.
He had used every technique he could think of, even unconsciously using the neko-kens ki claws, but it still wasn't enough. His breathing calmed down and he looked on where Saffron was hovering.
The immense heat his fire aura generated was scorching the ground around him.
"Fire..." He whispered and then looked from Saffron, to Akane, to the spring of healing water and back to Saffron.
It would take everything he had but he was dead set to do it. Charging up his aura again he charged Saffron, but this time he began to circle the Phoenix. His soul of ice technique had now reached such temperatures that it would kill a normal mortal in less then a second.
Ranma was defiantly not just a normal mortal.
The fire the Phoenix generated was protecting him from the cold.
The circles he was running began to get smaller and smaller. As he began to reach the middle he began to summon his remaining ki.
He dodged the balls of flames and finished the last circle, Saffron flying straight above him.
Saffron threw another ball of fire but this one Ranma didn't dodge.
Ranma threw a sloppy uppercut.
The fireballs that were moving towards Ranma flickered out of existence as a huge tornado erupted around Ranma.
The tornado began to toss the godling around, but it didn't really do any damage. Ranma could hear the angry yell of Saffron as he tried to regain his bearing.
The screams of anger turned into screams of pain as Ranma unleashed hundreds of ki-loaded vacuum blades into the tornado.
"Rising Dragon Ascension Revised, Demon God Claw Storm." He yelled and poured every bit of his ki into the attack.
He directed one of the ki blades towards the spring, the spring broke and the water flooded down the hill and over Akane. The healing water began refill the girls ki reserves.
Ranma smiled as he could feel Akane's ki begin to stabilize, he then slumped to the ground.
The ki blades tore Saffron's body apart. The broken body of what was once the proud ruler of Phoenix Mountain falling limply to the ground. His attack began to fade and soon it was calm once again.
He just lay on the ground and breathed raggedly, he had used all his ki in that move. He was closing his eyes. His body was feeling heavy and cold, he needed to rest. With the last of his power he opened his eyes to make sure Saffron really was defeated.
He looked over to were Saffron's body was lying and could see that it had caught fire. Soon the only thing left was a pile of ash.
He began to close his eyes when he could feel an immense energy build-up. He opened his eyes again and could see that a ball of light was hovering over the pile of ash some few meters away.
It became brighter and brighter and soon he had to close his eyes not to become blind. The ball of light exploded and he could feel the energy slam into him and toss him up in the air. He didn't have the energy to move so he slammed into a nearby rock and slumped into a sitting position.
He could see that a huge crater had appeared in the ground where Saffron's body had been lying. The crater was a good fifty metres across and at least thirty metres deep
He stood up on shakily legs and began to move towards the crater. Somehow Saffron had survived and Ranma would be damned if he lost to him, Akane couldn't defend herself in her current state.
He stood on the edge of the crater and then began to slide down towards the bottom. Ranma scanned the landscape for any sign of Saffron.
At the bottom he found a small child, the reincarnated form of Saffron. Now he had the chance in killing the Phoenix, he would only have to strike once and he would be dead, gone forever.
But Ranma wasn't one to kill in cold blood. He lowered his fist, turned around and then walked away, slowly climbing the walls of the crater.
He could hear flapping of wings and turned around to see Kiima fly away with the infant.
He limped towards the form of Akane and could see that she had regained some of her colour and had a deep stabile breathing.
He dropped next to her and fell unconscious.
He awoke some time later, night had fallen. He looked around and could spot Akane standing with her back against him. Ranma stood up on wobbly legs and began to walk towards her.
He laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Ranma..." She said softly.
"Y..yes?" He asked with a tired voice.
She turned around, and stabbed him in the chest with a dagger. He just looked shocked at the weapon sticking out of his chest and then looked at Akane. Her face had a manical grin on it. He slumped backwards to the ground and could see that everyone he knew from his time in Nerima standing around him.
As one they began to attack him, stabbing and ripping him apart.
He jolted awake, looking on the unfamiliar surrounding. It was a hospital ward and both to his left and to his right he could see empty beds. The lights were of and when he looked outside he could see the moon.
He tried to move but failed, a sharp pain in his neck and chest alerting him to hi wounds. He gritted his teeth at the pain but then relaxed as it didn't to anything to stop it.
He was restless, he needed to get to Victoria to make sure she was okay, but right know he couldn't move an inch. He began to pour unbelievable amounts of ki into his wounds to increase his healing. His ki reserves had returned to normal after the sleep, but the wounds where still there.
Having godlike ki reserves sure had its advantages.
He could feel as the muscle and tissue began to knit itself back together, but it would still take some time before it would be fully healed. He closed his eyes and decided to rest for a while.
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M was sitting behind her desk and doing paper-work as usual when her secretary opened the door and stepped inside. She was holding a folder in her right hand and she looked a little bothered by something.
"The final check-up about Ranma Saotome just arrived from the Tokyo branch of the JSDF- Intelligence. The content of the report is... unexpected, and I thought it would be best if you read it." She said and handed her the report.
M looked puzzled, usually the report would be sent to the employer's office to make sure it was okay and not to M personally. On the other hand Ranma was one of the most unusual trainees she had ever encountered, being like a sponge when it comes to learning new things, so there was surely something in his past that could gain her attention.
"And why is that?" She said and opened the report, it was a good hundred pages long.
"Well when the JSDF-intelligence looked up his family the found almost no trace of his father... That's the reason this report took so long to get here. It took some time but they where finally able to find out who the father was..." The secretary looked mildly nervous.
M only nodded and took a sip from her cup of coffee.
"Well it appears that his father is...is a certain James Bond." She said and fidgeted nervously.
M just spit out her coffee over the entire desk.
"WHAT!? You mean there are two of them?" She yelled and stood up.
"It appears that he was adopted by a Genma Saotome as a small child."
"Good god, not another one." She said more to herself then the secretary, obviously not listening to her.
M sat back down in her chair and groaned.
007 was her best agent, but also her most troublesome one. He had gained a habit of blowing things up... expensive things. And when she thought back on how Ranma was, she couldn't help but see a certain resemblance, Ranma was almost an exact copy of James but with Asian eyes.
She couldn't understand how she didn't figure it out sooner, it was just so obvious. The resemblance wasn't just physical, when she thought back on it James and Ranma kind of acted the same. Ranma acted almost exactly as James had done twenty years ago when he had started working here.
Then another thought hit her, Ranma was almost exactly like his father but with one big difference... not even James had been through as much action during his first six months as Ranma had.
"You are completely sure?" She said, and hoped it wasn't true. She didn't dare to think how he would be when he began active duty...
"Yes, I am sure. Commander Bond is Ranma's father."
"But how?" M asked and looked totally defeated.
"Do you remember a Nodoka Takeda van Hellsing? She worked in the translation department, used to be a lot in Tokyo." The secretary asked.
"Don't think so... wait, wasn't she the one that got caught in that Yakuza incident?"
"Yes, and it appeared that she meet Bond during that incident. That was before he became a 00. In either case when he became a 00 three years later Nodoka returned to Japan and settled down. She married a man named Genma Saotome and five months later her child was born. In the official records Genma was Ranma's father but the date of birth didn't match with the time off when she meet Genma, so the JSDF trailed back and found out that Bond was Ranma's father"
M just groaned again, Ranma was just too much like James... and if he brought even more mayhem than James. She just shuddered at the thought.
"And what about Ranma?"
"Well nothing strange about his first six years, but after that he was travelling a lot for over ten years. He stopped in a district of Tokyo called Nerima, a little more then two and a half years ago and stayed there until he moved to London. During his stay in Nerima he had numerous strange encounters.
"Encounters?" M asked.
"Mostly martial arts battles, and he also caused major property damage but was always cleared by the authorities because of the fact that it mostly was necessary to help other people. And it seems he had... multiple girls chasing after him."
M's eye twitched violently.
"That proves it, Ranma is a Bond alright." M said and grumbled. James and his "encounters" with women where famous by now, and if Ranma was anything like his father in that aspect as well...
"May God have mercy upon all the women in England that has caught his interest."
Only one person seemed to get the Lords protection and sneezed as M said that, and that was Hellsing's fledgling vampire. There is irony there somewhere.
"And neither James nor Ranma seems to know who the other is." M said and looked up on the roof.
Her secretary was still standing before her desk.
"Where is Mr Saotome now?" M asked.
"He has one week's vacation, but should I call him to the bureau?" The secretary asked.
"No, it isn't an emergency." M said.
The secretary nodded and was about to walk down out the door as she remembered something else.
She walked up to M's desk and pointed towards the folder.
"There are some photos in the back, you should probably take a look." She said.
M did just that and looked over the photos of a black haired, pigtailed man in red Chinese silk shirt. Then among the last photos was one of a redheaded pigtailed girl in the same Chinese silk shirt.
She was short and petite and maybe a year or so younger then Ranma. She had a familiar face, looking a lot like a younger sister to Ranma.
"Who is this girl?" M asked and pointed to the photo.
"That was one thing I really thought was strange, when I read the report it didn't mention her by name once, and when I called up the JSDF they told me to ask Ranma, we wouldn't believe it otherwise."
M nodded, Ranma had gone from a strange person to a mysterious person, but when she thought about the fact that he was 007's son she could understand it. Ranma´s family was a strange one.
M was right, but little did she know that most of the strangeness didn't come from James side of the family.
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"So let me get this straight." Integra said and began to massage her temples.
"You ran into a band of ghouls armed with weapons loaded with silver."
Victoria nodded and sniffled a little, she was very close to breaking down again.
"After you where hit and incapacitated by the silver in the ghouls weapons, a normal human single-handedly defeated a group of more then a hundred ghouls AND one vampire?
Once again Victoria nodded and sniffled a bit. She had depended a lot on Ranma, and she could with all honesty say she cared about him a lot.
"And after taking numerous bullets he was able to walk over to you and carry you out of the alley. There he was attacked and stabbed in the neck by a lone remaining ghoul."
And once again Victoria nodded. She didn't dare to talk, she knew that her voice would crack up in seconds.
"And how do you know this man?" Integra said.
"I.. us.. usually met him on... my nights off." She said and could barely conceal a sobb.
Integra's face softened a little.
"We could go to the infirmary and se how he does. I am interested in meeting him." Integra said and motioned to the door.
Victoria looked up.
"You mean he is alive? But how? The wounds..." She trailed off.
Integra blinked, now she finally understood why the vampire seemed so down.
"As I understand he was in pretty bad shape but not dead when they brought him here. Should we go see how he is feeling?" Integra said. She was quite curious on how a human was able to defeat so many ghouls and a vampire.
Victoria nodded and followed Integra as she walked out of the door. They moved out of the mansion and walked the path leading to Hellsing's own infirmary. As they entered the building they were greeted by one of the doctors working there.
"How is he?" Victoria asked worriedly.
The doctor shifted his attention from Integra to Victoria.
"You probably mean the survivor from last night's attack." He said
"Yes, how is he doing?" Integra asked.
"He was hit with eight bullets, three in his left shoulder, four in his stomach and on in his chest. They didn't hit any vital organs, but did cause major blood loss. Then there was the wound on his neck. The blade missed a main artery with 2 millimetres." He said and began to walk down the corridor followed by Victoria and Integra.
"Is he going to make it?" Victoria asked worriedly.
"I can't say with one hundred percent accuracy but he seems strong and I think he may make it. You should know that he was very lucky, most of those bullets missed vital organs with only millimetres to spare." The doctor said.
"Can I see him?" Victoria asked.
"I can't see why not, as long as you not disturb him." The doctor answered and opened the door leading to Ranma´s room.
As they entered Victoria could see Ranma lying on a bed motionless, only the steady rise and fall of his chest showing that he was still alive. He was linked up to some equipment monitoring his vital signs.
She sat down on a chair next to the bed and took a hold on his hand.
"How are you felling?" She said softly.
He didn't answer.
"Please be alright. Please get better." She said in a carrying voice.
She could see as his lips moved a little but she couldn't hear anything.
"Did he say something?" Integra asked.
Victoria was shocked as Ranma opened an eye and then spoke so everyone could hear.
"I said I'm felling okay if you don't count the fact that my head hurts like someone hit me with a bloody sledge hammer." He said softly and opened both eyes.
"Ran.. Ranma!" She yelled.
Integra's left eye twitched. It couldn't be... it just couldn't be.
He rubbed his throat with the hand Ceres wasn't holding onto tightly.
"I am more worried about you then me, Ceres." He said and looked her up and down after any signs of bandages.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." She said and squeezed his hand a little in comfort, still a little shocked at Ranma´s revival.
Ranma nodded a little and closed his eyes and sighed in relief.
"Thank God for that." He whispered.
Victoria could only smile happily at Ranma´s antics. She had thought she had lost him back in the alley, but then found out he was still alive.
Victoria leaned down and gave him a long soft hug, and she snivelled a little as she buried her face into his chest.
"You don't dare to do that again Ranma. I thought you died." She said and sobbed a bit.
"Shh...shh. It's okay, it will need more than those small scratches to do me in." He said and brushed her hair softly.
They stayed like that for some time, Ranma stroking her hair and making soothing noises and Ceres crying into his chest.
The doctor deciding that they had bothered the patient enough coughed into his hand to gain the others attention.
"We should probably leave now, it is getting late." He said and motioned towards the door.
"Do get well soon." Ceres whispered into his ear.
Integra and Ceres nodded and began to walk out the room.
Ranma blinked then began to move, trying to get out of the bed.
"You should lie back down, your body needs the rest." He said in a warning voice. He was surprised that he was awake and even more surprised that he was moving around.
Ranma just groaned and a loud rumbling noise was heard.
"Right now the only thing my body needs is food. Lots of food. Do you have any idea how hungry you get after healing those wounds?"
"Please sir lie down, I don't want you to aggravate the wounds. Once your wounds have healed sufficiently you can eat real food. For now you have to be satisfied with the liquid nutrition's. We will change your bandage tomorrow, and if you are healed enough we might see about the food."
Ranma´s left eye twitched violently and Ceres couldn't help but think he looked like someone she should know. Ranma looked displeased but nodded in affirmative.
The doctor and Integra walked outside and Ceres followed shortly after giving Ranma a quick peck on the cheek
Ranma blinked and brought up a hand to his face where Ceres had kissed him.
He smiled and closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.
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Nabiki sighed as she dropped down onto her bed. Ranma´s absence had been hell to the middle Tendo daughter, and not because she missed him but because he had cost her a fortune. Her schemes had all in some included Ranma, and now that she was gone she couldn't get enough money in the ways she used before Ranma arrived in Nerima.
After she didn't find a trace of him in 4 months she had realised Ranma wouldn't come back and had cancelled the search reluctantly.
But she promised herself that when Ranma came back, he would regret the day he crossed Nabiki Tendo's path. She had checked up the contracts that her father and Genma Saotome had made with a lawyer and they would hold in court.
Nabiki smiled a evil smile, the contract would make it impossible for him to leave Nerima without risking severe consequences, and he would be forced to comply to her schemes or risk Nabiki dragging him before court.
Nabiki looked out the window and could see that Akane was smashing bricks inside the dojo. The youngest Tendo daughters temper had just gotten worse and worse for every day that went by.
Nabik knew that Akane put up a front and pretended that she hated Ranma, but deep down she cared for him.
That may be true, but the reason Akane was mad was that since Ranma's appearance over two years ago she had gone from being the best martial artist around to being one of the worst.
Even though she would never admit it she loved to be in the spotlight. But when Ranma arrived he had taken her place. Even though he had been gone for almost half a year Ranma was still the number one topic.
Akane growled a little and smashed another brick.
She couldn't believe why everyone still talked about that pervert, he wasn't even a real martial artist as he had run away from his obligations. He had only caused trouble and always had interfered with her fights.
Once he returned she would show him how a real martial artist fought and then he would be back as her fiancée so she could make sure he didn't do anything perverted.
Ranma had been given to her, and she was to prideful and stubborn to let him go. She would be damned if she let one of the others get their hands on him. To Akane it was a competition, and she was determined to win, if she had any feelings for the boy wasn't important. Once he returned she would show that pervert why he shouldn't make her mad.
Nabiki sighed and threw herself on her bed.
Her only source of income now was from the Nerima Wrecking Crew who paid her regularly for any information on Ranma.
The Amazons were blaming Akane for Ranma´s absence, and Shampoo had attacked Akane in full Amazon battle garb the other day. Only Nabiki's threat to call the police had stopped the furious Amazon from cutting her sister apart. Then Akane had been furious on her for stopping her fight, but Akane forgot that Ranma wasn't here anymore to pull her bacon out of the fire.
And talking about bacon, Ryoga he had been seen only periodically, travelling and searching after Ranma. The few times Nabiki had seen him he had been furious, Nabiki thought that that he was becoming more and more like Kuno, obsessed with Ranma.
Both Kuno siblings had sworn to defeat the foul magician Ranma/Pigtailed girl for taking away their beloved Pigtailed girl/Ranma. Both had become insane...more insane and was paying Nabiki for any information on Ranma´s whereabouts.
Ukyo was the only one who wasn't paying her for information. She had cried at the loss of Ranma and had then challenged Akane to a duel of honour. In this Nabiki didn't intervene, Ukyo was perhaps mad at Akane but she wouldn't kill her, and it would be a good lesson for Akane. The fight had been set on a Saturday on the soccer-field behind the school.
Naturally Ukyo had won over Akane in quite a skilful, and painful way, but Akane had told everyone that Ukyo must have cheated. So Akane challenged Ukyo to another duel, with the same result, and then another and then another. So it continued, and each time Akane had said that Ukyo had cheated in some way, beginning before the signal even when it was Akane who attacked first.
Ukyo had finally stopped accepting Akane's challenges and didn't care about the short tempered girl's taunts.
After three months and no sign of Ranma Ukyo knew he wouldn't return. She had gotten a letter from her father who wanted her to come home, apparently he had heard that Ranma wasn't part of the Saotome clan anymore and the matter of honour was fulfilled.
One week later Ukyo had returned, but she had changed, she was wearing a normal girls school uniform clothes instead of the boy school uniform she normally was wearing. Nabiki had found out that it was Nodoka Saotome who had told the Kuonji patriarch about Ranma leaving the clan.
As for the Saotome matriarch, she seemed not to be concerned by her son's absence, she lived her life as if nothing was wrong. The only one who she talked to, except for Kasumi, was Ukyo.
In the beginning of the search for Ranma, Nabiki had been monitoring Nodoka because she thought she would lead him to Ranma. She was greatly disappointed when she didn't get one single trail.
As for Doc Tofu he had finally gotten the nerve to ask Kasumi out. He had stuttered and his glasses had fogged over numerous times, but in the end he had managed to do it.
That was one of the few good news from the entire last six months.
Nabiki cursed Ranma's absence and for the hundredth time that day wondered where he was.
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The doctor was slowly removing the bandage around Ranma´s neck, careful not to reopen the wound. As the piece of cloth fell to the ground the doctor and could only watch with wide eyes. The wound was gone, and so were the stitches.
Ceres and Integra had returned after their brief visit yesterday, and this time Walter was with them.
The doctor began to open the bandage across his chest, and there to the wounds and stitches were gone. The bandage lying on the ground was caked with dried blood.
Ranma scratched his neck and chest absentmindedly.
"See, good as new." He said and patted his chest.
That wasn't completely true, there was still red marks where the wounds once had been, but that was the only trace of any of the life threatening wounds he had arrived with.
"How? What? When?" The doctor asked stupefied. Sure he had seen Victoria heal her injuries on one or two occasions but she was a vampire... Ranma was a human, all the tests had proved it, just a normal human, no vampire and no regenerator.
"I always have been a fast healer, and I have been training a lot if martial arts." He said with a shrug.
He picked up the simple white tee-shirt lying next to his bed on a chair and put it on. It had bullet holes in numerous places but it was clean. He jumped out of the bed gracefully and began to do some stretching to get the kinks out of his muscles.
Victoria smiled and then tackled him to the floor in a bone crushing hug.
"Ouch, that hurt." Ranma said as he put his arms around Victoria and stood up, holding Victoria in the classical damsel in distress position.
"Sorry." She said and hugged Ranma closer.
"No harm done." He said and sat back down on the bed with Victoria in his embrace.
He looked out the window, it was late evening. He was thankful that nothing happened to her.
"I am sorry I dragged you into this." He said to her.
"Into what?" She asked confused.
"Into my crazy life." He said and sighed.
"What are you talking about?" She asked, she couldn't understand what he was meaning.
"Somehow trouble always seems to follow me wherever I go." He said and looked her straight into her eyes.
Ceres didn't answer, she was content just holding Ranma.
They sat like this for some time, until Integra decided to ask the question she had been curious about the entire time.
"How did you do that?" She asked.
"Do what?" He asked and looked up from Ceres to meet Integra's blue eyes.
"Fight them off." She answered.
Ranma began to think about what to say.
"I've trained in martial arts most of my life." He said simply.
Integra wasn't satisfied with the answer, it didn't matter how good martial artist you where, you would still lose against a vampire.
"What exactly were those things? I have never seen anything like them. They just... Were just ..." He said but couldn't finish his sentence. How did you explain to a normal person that those creatures auras where completely wrong.
Integra looked on him and thought about what she would do and say. There weren't survivors from ghoul-attacks very often... when she thought about it there had never been a single one before. But now there was one, and more importantly one who could fight them, but still didn't have the smallest clue on what they where.
And another fact that bothered her was that he had been using silver weapons. If he didn't know about vampires then why the hell was he carrying weapons made of silver? And how the hell could he to it? It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to conceal two swords and over a dozen daggers.
"I will explain that latter. First it would be best if we introduce each other, I am Sir Integra van Hellsing." She said and looked on the man holding Hellsing resident fledgling vampire.
"Van Hellsing? Why does that sound familiar?" Well my name is Ranma Saotome..."
A violent twitch in Integra's left eye showed that she wasn't happy about something.
"Did you say "Saotome"?" She asked a little worriedly.
"Yes... what did Genma do this time?" Ranma asked and put his head in his hands. He was used to this reaction when he revealed his name from his time in Nerima.
Integra groaned, but didn't understand the Genma comment.
"You don't happen to know a certain Nodoka Saotome, do you?" She said and hoped that she got a negative in answer.
"You know mom?" He said and looked on her with wide eyes.
"Yes, I know Nodoka." She said and groaned again. That explained the silver weapons.
This wasn't her day. Her nephew had a run in with a vampire and a band of ghouls, he had taken care of them quite effectively, but had gotten wounded in the progress. She definitely couldn't lie to him, he would found out sooner or latter. And worse... Nodoka would kill her if she ever found out that a vampire had wounded her son.
"Wait... van Hellsing? But that means you are....Oh bloody hell." He said and groaned in a very Integraish fashion.
Both Walter and Ceres looked on at the conversation in confusion, understanding nothing of it.
"Well, it would be best if we return to my office. I have the feeling that this is going to be a long talk." Integra said and sighed.
Ranma only nodded and stood up. Ceres yelped in surprise, but Ranma still had a strong grip on the vampire.
They left after Ranma thanked the doctor and walked towards the mansion. At the massive oak doors leading to her office Integra stopped and turned around towards them.
"I wish to speak with you alone." She said in a commanding voice.
Ranma nodded and let go of Victoria.
"Walter would you please bring us some tea."
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Integra was sitting behind her desk, thinking on how she should begin this.
"So you are Nodoka Takeda Saotome's son?" She asked just to make sure. She didn't add van Hellsing to her name, because he hadn't recognised it immediately when she presented herself.
"Yepp." He answered.
"Do you know who I am?" She said and looked at the youth interestedly.
"As I understand it you are Integra van Hellsing, my mom's younger sister." He said and leaned back in his chair.
Integra only nodded.
"Did Nodoka explain anything about our family? What we do?" She asked.
"No, she just said that if I wanted to know more about my family I should seek you up." He answered with shrug.
"She didn't tell you anything?"
Ranma just shook his head in negative.
"And why haven't you tried to find me earlier, in a letter from Nodoka she said you have been in London for a good six months?" She asked again.
"To be honest I had almost totally forgot about it, I have had a lot to do lately." He said in an excusing voice.
Integra sighed and prepared to drop the bomb on him. She decided to see if she could ease the shock a little.
"Just one more question before I will explain exactly what our family are doing exactly. Do you think magic may exist?"
Ranma just blinked and then thought back on his life.
Jusenkyo, check.
Gender changing curse, check.
Mirrors with time travelling capabilities, check.
Love potions/spells/pills, check
Evil cat spirits shudder, double check.
This could take some time...
He scratched his neck absentmindedly.
"Well I am a bit superstitious, so I would say yes, I believe in magic." He said uncertainly.
Integra just sighed, she would soon find out how much he would be willing to believe. The fact that he had seen them up close would maybe help her make him understand a little easier.
"Well, the things you met in the alley they were something called ghouls, undead beings who do nothing more then follow every command of the vampire who spawned them." Integra said and looked closely for the reaction she was sure would come.
Ranma looked surprised for a second but then only nodded in understanding. He didn't show any sign of disbelief, or scepticism.
"That would definitely explain a few things." He said more to himself then Integra.
"You believe me?" She asked and raised an eyebrow. She was surprised he had neither declared her a mad woman nor blankly denied it.
"Why shouldn't I? That was the best explanation I have heard yet, well... it's the only explanation I have heard yet, but that's besides the point." He said a little sheepishly.
"Well, you seemed to take the fact that magic exists quite good..." She said and trailed off.
"Well, then I will explain in detail what exactly our family legacy is. As you might understand there is such things as ghouls and vampires, and they are a threat to all humans, killing only for the pleasure of killing.
That's why the royal house created the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, which had been lead by the Noble house van Hellsing's, since the beginning. Our work is to protect England and the crown against the legions of the undead." She said and was still looking for any signs of disbelief.
"So our family are some kind of knights?" He said and looked at Integra.
"Yes, every member of the Hellsing family that has fought the undead has been a Knight of the round table, but it would be more accurately to call us vampire-hunters." She said and looked on what could become the future heir to the Hellsing's institute.
Ranma nodded in understanding.
"Ranma... your mother sent you here for me to explain about our family. If what you told me was true then you didn't know anything about the Hellsing legacy. But still you don't react to surprised, care to explain why?"
Ranma looked a little uncomfortable, he didn't really want to tell her everything about his life now, his agent training had made him a little bit conscious about handing out information. But in this case he could do an exception.
"Well... to be honest I didn't know that it existed vampires, but I have had numerous encounters with magic during the last two years."
Integra looked on the young man with a flat stare.
"Guess it's hard to believe for someone who hasn't seen it themselves." He said uncomfortably.
"So what kind of magic are we talking about." Integra asked, she began to think the boy to be insane.
"Get me a cup of cold and a cup of warm water and I will show you."
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Walter exited Integra's and could see Ceres who sitting on a bench next to the door. She was looking at the door whit dread, and he could understand why, if Integra told him about the existence of vampires he would know what she was.
"What where they doing?" She asked with an unsteady voice.
"They where drinking tea. As for their conversation they seemed to talk about the Hellsing institute." He answered and the vampire slumped down a little.
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Integra looked a little shocked as he told her his story. He left out most of the things except the Jusenkyo curse, but she still looked a little unbelievingly on him.
"Now I understand why you seemed so familiar with the thought of magic." She said.
"Well, what can I say, chaos seems to follow me." He said with a shrug.
Integra nodded and then looked thoughtful for a moment.
"But could you please explain how you could defeat all those ghouls and vampires? What you did most of the best hunters wouldn't be able to do." She said and looked on him sternly.
"Well as I said, I was usually involved in some major fighting back in Nerima. One thing you have to understand is that they weren't the most normal of people. One of my rivals could blow apart solid rocks with one blow, another used something called hidden weapons to conceal hundreds of blades on him, and yet another could chop down trees with a wooden sword. And when you have all of them after your blood you get quite good in fighting." He said and scratched his neck.
Integra blinked and then nodded.
"The only real reason they got me so banged up was because they had guns and hit me in the beginning of the fight. I can't dodge bullets..." He said.
"Completely yet." He mentally added. After the first time he had encountered armed opponents in the training gym back at the academy he had stepped up his speed training. It had helped a little when he had been in that industry complex in Russia, but he wasn't able to dodge them quite yet. He could see the bullets as they were fired but he wasn't fast enough to dodge one fired on him.
He had managed to predict if one would shoot and dodge before firing, but he was getting closer and closer to being able to dodge them completely. The incident in the alley had convinced him to step up his training another notch or three. That was a martial artists worst fear, to face an opponent armed with fire-arms, but he had decided that he had to counter that weakness.
He was working on a ki techniques that would allow him those kinds of speeds, using the katchu-tenchi-amaguriken but on his entire body instead of just his hands, but the last time he had tried he had drained almost all his ki.
"You seem to have lived an interesting life." She said.
"You could say that... I will have to tell you about it sometimes, it would take to long to tell now." He said and skilfully avoided the question.
"So can you tell me a little more about Hellsing? How you work and so on? Isn't it expensive to have an organisation like this?"
"Well we usually have between five to ten teams of highly trained personnel, coming mostly from SAS and other military organisations. Depending on the situation we send different amounts of men, or in some cases when the situation is looking really grim our special operative."
"Special operative?" Ranma asked.
"We will probably talk about him later. As for the question about money, the Hellsing family have always had a generous amount of money in our treasury, and during the years careful planning and foretelling has made us invest in good companies. We bought stocks in both Microsoft and in Apple when they where just small companies, and together with a small donation from the British government we have no concerns about money.
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Ceres was praying to whatever god/deity/divine being that listened that Integra didn't tell him she was a vampire. She held no illusion he would never want to see her again if he knew, and that made her feel a cold dread in her stomach.
Chaos, who was keeping an eye on his avatar, was the only divine who heard the prayer said close by. After a second he decided NOT to do as she prayed. Using his almighty powers he changed a small thread in the cosmic weave.
He cackled evilly.
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"You must understand that we could not possibly hope to defeat some of the creatures we have encountered, so Hellsing needed something that could even the odds. That was the special operative, or operatives it is now, I was talking about earlier..." She said but was interrupted by a knock on the door.
Walter entered carrying another tray of tea. He placed it on her desk, bowed and left.
She knew she needed to tell him what Victoria was, he would find it out sooner or later.
"We couldn't fight some of them, so we had to use somewhat un-orthodox means to fight. Among them are the Hellsing institute's resident vampire Ceres Victoria..."She said and trailed off.
The door behind Walter closed.
Ranma's eyes widened in shock, he couldn't believe what Integra had told him.
"Vic...Victoria is a vampire?" He said disbelievingly as he managed to compose himself.
"Yes, she was turned a little over six months ago." Integra said.
Ranma nodded, but you could see that he wasn't listening any longer he was in too deep thought.
How was that possible, Ceres wasn't anything like the creatures he had encountered in the alley. She was a kind, sweet and loveable person, who didn't demand anything from anyone, who always cheered people up. That she was a creature of the night just seemed so wrong.
But then again he wasn't one to talk, he himself had a gender changing curse that made everyone think him a pervert.
"Can we continue this talk later I have something to do." He said and stood up.
Integra looked on her nephew and then nodded.
"I think it would be best. It's late and you could use some rest."
Ranma walked out the door still thinking what he should do.
As Ranma left Integra reached for the phone and dialled a number she rarely used. After three signals someone picked up the phone.
"Hello?" A voice asked politely.
"Your majesty you should probably know that we had an incident in which another member of the Hellsing family got involved."
"Another member?" The voice asked politely.
"Yes, the son of my older sister. He got involved in a fight with a vampire and some ghouls without knowing about his heritage." She said and rubbed her temple with the hand not holding the phone.
"I am sorry for your loss." She could hear the Queen say.
"Don't be, he is alive and well." Integra said.
"But..." The Queen said and trailed off.
"It is a long story, better suited to be told during our next meeting, you majesty." Integra said.
"Very well... but during our next meeting you have to introduce me to this young van Hellsing." She said.
"Very well."
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Ranma walked out the door and looked down the corridor both to the right and to the left for any sign of Ceres, but couldn't find a trace of the vampire.
He began to walk down the corridor to the left in search of her, and met Walter in the middle of it.
"Excuse me? You don't happen to know where Victoria is?" He asked the aged man.
Walter looked thoughtful for a moment.
"She walked down that corridor a couple of minutes ago, she may be heading for her room in the basement. But you maybe want to take a look on the balcony at the far end, she usually sit there when she need to think things over." He said and pointed down the hall.
"Thanks" Ranma said and walked fast down the hall.
He walked past numerous closed balcony doors and stopped by the one at the stair case. It was opened only a bit and the draping covering it moved slowly in the cold night wind.
He parted it to the side and looked out the open door. Ceres was sitting with her back against the wall and she was looking at the stars.
"Ceres?" He asked uncertainly.
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Ceres walked down the hall, a cold lump forming in her stomach. Ranma finally knew what she was and she decided to go out of his way. She could manage that the others looked on her in fear, but just even the thought of Ranma moving away with fear in his eyes from her made the cold lump in her stomach grow bigger.
She opened the balcony door silently and stepped out in the cool night air. Without making a sound she moved across the balcony and sat down on a marble bench. She could felt the cold from it even through her clothes, but she didn't care.
Once again she was alone, no human would accept a relationship with a vampire. She could feel a stab of pain in her chest at the loss of Ranma, but this time she hadn't lost him to death, but this time she had lost him because of her own fault. It hurt more then anything she had ever felt before, more then the time she had been shot in Cheddar church by Alucard, more then the time she had been stabbed in the neck by Paladin Alexander Anderson, and more then the time she had been shoot by silver bullets not even a day ago.
It hurt her more then those things combined, she could feel a little happiness that Ranma was alive, but it was fairly overshadowed by her feeling of loneliness. She wondered how she would manage without Ranma... During the last day she had understood truly how much she had depended on him.
He was a constant in a sea of chaos.
He gave her the feeling of being cared for, he treated with nothing less then absolute respect.
And most importantly he made her feel an emotion she thought would have died in Cheedar church...love. Ceres didn't lie to herself, she truly loved him.
But now Ceres just hoped Ranma didn't hate her to much.
"Ceres?" A voice asked from her right. She turned her head and could see Ranma standing in the door opening.
Ranma could see her edge away a little.
"Please leave..." She said weakly.
"Why?" He asked in confusion.
"I am a monster, just leave me please." She said, her voice still sounding weak.
"Why are you saying things like that? You are not a monster" He said and stepped up towards her.
She edged away.
"Please just leave... I know you can't be with someone like me." She said and didn't look at his face.
"I am a monster, a cold-hearted, merciless monster." She said and could barely conceal a sob.
She couldn't believe why he wasn't moving away in fright.
"No you are not. You are the most beautiful, caring and compassionate woman I have ever met." He said without a hint of lying or hesitation and sat down next to her.
She was still not looking at him.
"Just leave please... I need to be alone." She sobbed.
A clear-crystal tear travelled down her cheek. Ranma maybe had changed and learned a lot during his stay in London but on one fundamental point he hadn't changed one bit.
He absolutely hated to see a girl cry, and if he could he always tried to help.
He placed an arm around her shoulder and one on the bend of her knee and lifted her up and hugged her tightly. She tried to push him away, but he had a firm grip on the crying vampire.
He looked on the face of the beautiful woman and understood that she hadn't been playing or acting when he was around her. She was just a normal girl who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He hugged her tightly and remembered how he almost had lost her. The pain he had felt as he had seen her get hit was almost unbearable, without noticing it she had become such an important part of his live, he would rather give away his breathing then her. A small tear ran down his cheek as he remembered the fear he had felt not being able to protect her, the fear of those things getting their hands on her.
"Please, don't hate me." She said weakly.
"I don't, I promise." He answered truthfully.
"Why? I lied to you, I hid the fact that I am a vampire." She asked, her voice quivering. She was still struggling a little to get free.
"You are not the only one who has secrets Ceres." He said softly into her ear.
She didn't answer.
"Please don't hate me." She said again.
Ranma looked on the vampire and sighed. He wondered how he should make Ceres understand that he didn't care that she was a vampire. He thought back on his time in Nerima.
There the girls had treated him like some kind of prize to be won, they hadn't cared about how he felt, but Ceres... She was the complete opposite, she was sweet, caring, she listened to him, she was everything he could ever wish for and more. He understood then that he cared for her more then he had cared for any of the girls in Nerima.
He lifted her face so they could look into each others eyes, blue sapphires meting crimson rubies. Using his thumb he whipped away her crystal tears, her eyes were red and puffy.
She was looking afraid, unsure and lost, and then he understood that he was feeling the same. But it wasn't because she was a vampire but because he never had been good when talking about emotions. He decided, as he usually did, to let his actions talk for him. But first he decided that they should be even about their secrets, he knew that she was a vampire and she should know that he was cursed.
"I am cursed Ceres, I was cursed by some magical springs in China." He said softly into her ear.
He then crossed the small distance between their faces and kissed her on her lips tenderly. He could feel her stop struggling and see her eyes widen in shock. It was their first real kiss, and it had been given when they didn't have any secrets from each other. And for Ranma it was the first kiss he had given anyone of his own free will.
He could see that she closed her eyes and tears come forth, but this time it was tears of happiness and relief. His fingers were slowly trailing her cheek.
He prodded her teeth with his tongue and could feel her elongated canines. He truly didn't care about the fact that she was a vampire. After a long moment they broke the kiss, both blushing and breathing heavily.
He leaned towards her.
"I love you Ceres." He whispered softly into her ear, and nuzzled her cheek. It had taken all his willpower to say those four words, but he wasn't lying, he truly loved her.
"Thank you." She said and sighed in relief.
"No, thank you." He said and brushed her hair softly.
Victoria only nodded and hugged him tightly so to not let him leave her. During the last 48 hours she had lost the love of her life to a band of ghouls only to have him resurrect and once again lose him. This was the second time she had gotten him back and now she wouldn't do the same mistake like the last time.
She would hold on to him no matter what.
"Please don't leave me." She said.
"I won't, I promise." He answered.
Another tear left Ranma´s eye, he was just happy that Victoria was fine. He leaned back against the wall while hugging Ceres.
He was content just sitting there and so was Ceres. After some time had passed, he couldn't tell how long, he could feel that Ceres grip on him had loosened just a little. Looking down on her face he could see that she was asleep. He brushed a stray strand of strawberry blonde hair away from her face.
Ranma smiled a little at how innocent she looked as she slept, and to him it was the final confirmation that she wasn't the monster she told him she was. She smiled a little in her sleep and one of her fangs was shown. Ranma couldn't help but think that it made her look cute.
"Beautiful." He whispered and leaned down and kissed her tenderly.
Ceres snuggled closer in her sleep and Ranma couldn't help but hug her tightly.
Ranma could see the fake dawn and knew it wouldn't be long before the sun would rise. Knowing that vampires couldn't stand the sun he lifted her up carefully not to awaken her and walked into the mansion.
The butler he had talked too had said that her room was in the basement, so he walked down the stairs.
Finally finding the stairs to the cellar he quickly and stealthily made his way through the stone corridor. The lights where out, but his atoned senses allowed him not to walk into a wall or such. He tried every door he came upon but all where looked except one in the far end. Pushing the door open with his shoulder he found out that the light was on.
He looked around the room and could see the closed coffin in one corner. Deciding that it by logic only could be her room he stepped inside.
With a swift motion of his foot he closed the door behind him. Not understanding how to open the coffin he looked around the room and found that the only other piece of furniture was some chairs, a table, a couch and one chest of drawers.
He put Ceres down on the couch and walked over to the bureau and opened it. Finding what he was looking for, a blanket, he walked back to the couch and lifted Ceres up. As soon as he picked her up she took a firm grip around his chest. Ranma looked down and could see that she was sleeping.
He laid down on the couch with Ceres on his chest and then covered both of them with the blanket. He kissed her forehead softly and then leaned his head back and fell asleep, still holding onto Ceres.
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Alucard was pacing slowly around his room. He didn't know what he should tell Integra, he didn't know what had happened to the Police-girl himself. The only thing he knew was that she was dead and he would have to tell Integra that soon.
Being an over half a millennia old vampire there was few things he feared, but he still felt uncomfortable when he thought about the little discussion he would have with Integra. Being the one that turned Ceres into a vampire he knew that he was his responsibility to make sure she was safe. Even though the vampires didn't have any kind of laws their was some unwritten rules among the older and more powerful vampires on how to act, not something the trash he had been dealing with lately would know anything about.
One of these rules was that it was the master vampires responsibility to see to that his fledglings was trained in their vampire powers, and that they were safe until they where considered mature.
If a vampire could turn someone into a vampire he could also be able to protect them. Not being able to do that would just prove he wasn't a real nosferatu.
He could feel the morning drawing closer and decided that he would have to talk to Integra the next evening. Alucard was powerful enough so that sunlight didn't kill him, all true No Life Kings could withstand the burning of the sun that was fatal to all the younger vampires, but he still would prefer to talk with Integra during the night.
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"It is a long story, better suited to be told during our next meeting, you majesty." She could hear Integra say over the phone.
"Very well... but during our next meeting you have to introduce me to this young van Hellsing." She said.
"Very well." Was the reply.
The Queen of England put the phone back down and sat back into her chair. What Integra didn't know was that the meeting would be earlier then she suspected. Integra had perked her interest, she was really curious on the new van Hellsing. Anyone who could defeat a ghoul without prior knowledge had to be something special.
She decided that she would need to talk to Integra as soon as possible and had already begun to arrange a visit to the Hellsing manor for the next evening.
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M was sitting in her chair and thinking about her next course of action.
Now she had two Bonds in the bureau, and if Ranma continued like this he would without and difficulty become a 00.
She wondered if she would contact James, but in the end decided against it. It appeared from the report that Nodoka and James had wanted to make sure Ranma didn't end in their world. She wondered what James reaction would be when he found out his son was already in the middle of it.
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Author's notes
As I said, now that the school has started it will take some time between updates. And those of you that worries that I have abandoned Halo of the Hero, I haven't, it was just that I got so many responses on this that I thought it would be a good idea to continue it. The next chapter I will post will be on that story.
I have asked ShadoDragon if I could do a remake of Interlychantropy and he gave me the clear sign. Only problem is that I can only write two stories at the most or else there will take months between updates.
Once I have finished with this I will begin on my remake. Or perhaps on one of the two other stories I have planned.
I will try and cycle between my two stories, first writing a chapter for one and then writing a chapter for the other.