Time to resolve that cliff-hanger. Finally reached the end of the first episode of the OVA here.
The red haired girl appeared to have her head buried in the ground in despair as Anderson walked over, having realised she couldn't run or hide any longer. The other blonde draculina stared on in shock, frozen in place like a deer in headlights.
He chuckled, "Good. The creatures of the abyss should return to the ground from whence they came agreeably. To accept their fate is to ultimately yield to the Lord's mercy." Walking over to the despairing draculina's side, he steadied his bayonet over her head, ready to plunge it down and end her life quickly as he had Alucard's. The redhead began to giggle, her head still glued to the floor, making him hesitate. She reeked of a sinister aura, her body glowing with darkness. She lightly flicked her hand up to her side, pointing her revolver directly at her executioner's head without looking. Firing, the man flew backwards and hit the floor, giving Ranma a few seconds while he healed. When she stood up, Seras saw that her vampiric sibling had taken on a new air in the way she held herself. Her eyes were calm, but still raging in a brilliant scarlet colour.
Anderson felt his consciousness return as the bullet was pushed out of his head, but there was a new fuzziness this time that was lacking from the punch of Alucard's bullets. While being of a lower calibre, they were hollow point, so they caused greater internal damage. He righted himself, facing his opponent, who had appeared to have come into a second wind. "Quite fearsome, aren't ye, young girl."
Ranma didn't feel particularly stronger or more able than before, there was simply a feeling of liberation that had come upon her after she drank Alucard's blood. The blood had helped her to rapidly heal her still aching internal wounds from the bayonets, so she was in prime fighting condition once again. She felt somehow more in tune with her vampiric senses too. Previously, she had had to purposely and deliberately 'switch on' her vampire side, but it seemed like that switch had disappeared entirely. She was just - on. She decided to try a technique she had been thinking about trying for a while, keeping the revolver in her right hand with the complete twinspear in her left. As another flurry of bayonets flew at her from a holy agent with renewed vigour, she dodged the first few while spinning the twinspear to deflect the remainder, all while taking shots at him, slowing him down. He drew another pair of blades, meeting her head on with a crazed smile on his face. "Been a while since I've had this much fun. Too bad your failure of a master didn't get to join us." He parried the shaft of her twinspears, dodging the gleaming blade on its end as it spun towards him, and positioned himself to cleave at the draculina. She had only realised too late that she had overextended herself and was going to get cut in half, before a shower of gunfire flew in from the opposite side of the hallway, breaking his bayonets into pieces before he could use them. It was Integra.
"Those girls belong to us." She kept her smoking pistol held in front of her. "What on earth do you think you're doing..? Paladin Alexander Anderson of the Iscariot Organisation?" Ranma slid to the side inconspicuously, remaining wide eyed at the thought of the prospect of Integra having arrived only a few seconds later.
"Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. To what do I owe the pleasure, Director of the Hellsing Organisation?"
"This is a serious violation of the agreement we had. This was to be considered our territory, under our jurisdiction. Withdraw immediately, or face the consequences." She commanded fiercely.
"You're telling me to withdraw? Don't take Iscariot lightly, you whore!" He began to dash towards the two bodyguards next to Integra. They began to fire, but he shrugged their bullets off effortlessly and was about to cut them down, but was stopped once again by a familiar staff. Ranma stood between Integra, and a fury-filled Anderson, the two of Integra's bodyguards knocked on their backsides by Ranma as she had flashed in front of them.
"So you're the ultimate bioengineered regenerator." Integra stated flatly.
"You're all too weak! All of you! Even this girl was to be victim to my blade before you turned up!"
"Even..?"
"That's right. I chopped the head off that garbage collector of a trump card of yours!" He pressed down on Ranma harder, making her strain harder to keep him at bay.
"Hah! You only chopped his head off? That's all?"
"W-What?" His face twitched with a confused, disturbed expression as he questioned how Alucard could possibly have lived.
Seras, having adequately recovered, pulled the cocking handle on her rifle and trained it on the back on Anderson's head. "Back off of Ranma and Sir Integra, you monster!"
"Back down, Anderson, you don't stand a chance." Integra imperiously told the Iscariot Paladin.
His face became twisted once again with a maniacal grin. "What are you going on about? I'm just about to finish you off!" He pressured Ranma even further, forcing a growl out of her from behind clenched teeth as beads of sweat began to form on her forehead.
"Well go on! You'd better be quick about it or the vampire you decapitated will come back to make it four on one!"
"Eh? Wha-" He was promptly interrupted by the thunderous sound of bats flooding in through the windows, filling the air. The bats were abnormally large, spectral creatures, with a reddish aura surrounding them. A single bat stopped by Seras as she looked around, startled. 'You didn't drink the blood, did you, police girl? Idiot.' The bat flew off into the collective, which gradually condensed into a silhouette in front of Anderson, who had taken a few paces back from Ranma in surprise. Slowly the figure of Alucard took form in the storm of bats, which gradually diminished as he generated his clothes in a theatrical fashion, splaying his arms into the air. When he had fully returned to his previous, whole form, he pulled out his Casull handgun and rushed grinningly towards Anderson once again.
The two giants crossed paths, Alucard firing as Anderson cleaved with his bayonets. Overshooting their targets, the pair turned around to face each other. The nosferatu's arms slid off of his shoulders with a spray of blood, as the Paladin smiled, satisfied that he was in control. His delusion was shattered when Alucard's arms reformed immediately after their amputation, tendrils of shadowy matter erupting from his torso and filling the gaps where his former arms once sat. It was clear that Alucard could withstand any attack Anderson brought to him, and more, and he was not facing only him, but also Integra, the invigorated redhead, and the blonde.
"So now you understand the situation. What will you do, Anderson?" Integra challenged, standing firmly next to Alucard, with the two girls shadowing them.
"I see. I'll need to prepare further before I can kill him properly." He pulled out a mystical-looking book that floated in the air. It began to rapidly flip through the pages, which then seemed to spew out into the air surrounding him, similarly to the spectral sheets that lined the walls when he formed the spiritual barrier. Becoming obscured by the tornado of glowing pages, he spoke for the last time before disappearing into thin air. "We'll see each other again. Soon." Then he was gone.
With that, both Ranma and Seras fell to the floor, exhausted. "I thought we were done for back there..." Seras breathily murmured.
"So did I." Ranma concurred.
After consulting with Integra, Alucard sauntered over to the pair of draculinas. "You did well, both of you. But you- police girl. Why didn't you drink the blood?"
Seras stammered, stumbling over her words, "I- I'm... not sure. I felt like... if I drank it, then I'd be losing something... losing a part of myself. I'm just not sure I'm ready."
"You really are a fool... but maybe that's okay. For now, perhaps having you tied to me wouldn't be such a bad thing." He looked up and out of the window before walking away. "Looks like the humans have really started to rub off on me with how much time I've spent around them lately." Seras smiled to herself quietly, happy that her master had acknowledged her, despite how scared she might be of the dark path she found herself walking. Ranma on the other hand, had now plunged even deeper into the night. She no longer had any ties to Alucard as his thrall, although he was still her maker. She still wasn't a 'true' vampire having not yet drank a person's soul into herself, so she was more or less physically the same, but the same couldn't be said about her mind.
Seras looked over to Ranma, seeing that her blood tinged eyes had remained even after the conflict had ended. She had graduated as a free vampire after drinking Alucard's blood. "What's it like, being cut off from master now?"
The liberated draculina looked back at Seras, "It's hard to describe. All the parts of me that were vampiric felt separate before, but now it's like they've fused with me. I have to admit, I feel sort of lonely though." Her eyes turned melancholic. "Before it felt like no matter how lost I was, I always had the link to Alucard as his servant, but now there's nothing there." She paused, her eyes suddenly returning to neutrality. "Actually, that's wrong. I'm just looking in the wrong place. It's not that we're separate, but that he's part of me now, so there's no link to feel. I just... am."
Alucard called out to them from farther down the hallway, "Come, police girl, Ranma, do not sit idly."
Seras happily began to jog to catch up to her master, alongside Ranma who followed on behind. "Yes master! But my name's Seras, Seras Victoria!"
"Quiet, you coward. Police girl will do fine until you prove yourself worth of being a nightwalker." Alucard snapped at her with a half-playful, half-cruel grin.
"Aww... it's not fair." She sulked, making Ranma chuckle. "Don't laugh at me!" She pouted, then smiled. Seras was okay with letting Ranma go ahead of her for a while. There was no merit in rushing things, she had seen how Ranma had struggled already with that process. Her sister in undeath was simply beginning to come out of the other side of the tunnel after allowing herself to move at her own pace.
Alucard turned to gesture for Ranma to walk alongside him. "You have gained your freedom in the night, young Ranma. You have a choice now. The only concrete thing tying you to Hellsing was your thraldom to me, but you are my servant no longer. What will you do?"
Ranma hadn't thought about that. Where did this leave her? She had come out here for the express purpose of working for Hellsing, losing her familial ties in the process. What was it all for? Was it for nothing? No. It couldn't be. She'd begun to like working as a member of Hellsing, no matter how strange or different it could be, it was the only thing supporting her. There was no way she'd just walk away from it now, thrall or not. Besides, just because she was free didn't mean she knew what she was doing. If Alucard could remain her mentor, that would be in her best interest. "I... think I'll stick around. You ain't my master anymore, but I think there's still a lot I could learn from you, if you'd teach me."
Alucard broke into the widest grin she'd seen on his face before. "I'd be delighted to continue guiding you. Ranma."
"Do I get to ask you how old you are now?" Ranma completely broke the tension unceremoniously, making Alucard laugh heartily.
"Hahah! I knew you'd be an interesting one when I found you." He avoided the question, but after a pause, humoured her, "I'm much older than you think."
It could've been her imagination, but Ranma thought she saw Alucard stare into the distance longingly, as if reminiscing about some long forgotten memory, if not for a moment.
- - - The Following Afternoon - - -
Ranma had a rude awakening to knocking at her door - it was Walter. Checking the time she saw it was barely 2pm, considerably early for her to be getting up. She called out, irritated with the butler for having ruined her well-earned nap. "What is it Walter? It better be important!"
"I assure you, Miss Saotome, I think this will please you more than it will bother you to come and see." He called out, with a hint of pride in his voice.
"Fine. I trust ya to not say that lightly." She shot out of her duvet with a grunt, slipping into her uniform without delay. As soon as she was ready she opened the door to a patiently waiting Walter, who led her swiftly towards the armoury. The short walk over felt strange. Ever since she merged with her vampirism she had felt less human than ever before. Where before her mind would tune out the general noise and chaos her senses fed to her, now everything seemed to shove itself right in front of her face whether she liked it or not. She could hear the heartbeats and clumsy breathing of every human in a 100 metre vicinity. It was going to take some getting used to. Upon opening the heavy-duty reinforced doors, she found both Seras and Alucard waiting inside.
"I have brought you all here in light of the new weaponry I have finished preparing for you." The butler walked directly over to a small briefcase resting on one of the table tops. "First, Mister Alucard, I have been meaning to deliver this to you for some time now, since I gave to Ranma the prototype." He must have been referring to the Canina revolver he'd given her. He opened up the case to reveal a massive, black, engraved handgun similar to Alucard's Casull. "This is a custom Anti-midian 13 millimetre pistol, the 'Jackal'. Second only to Ranma's Canina, it uses custom ammunition. The bullets are custom explosive 13mm hollow point, mercury tipped, blessed Macedonian silver cased rounds. The pistol itself is 39 centimetres in length and 10 kilograms in weight."
Alucard smiled approvingly upon the handgun as he lifted it from its case. "It's perfect Walter, you've outdone yourself. I could even kill Anderson with this." Seras began to circle around him as he admired the handiwork of the new weapon in his hands, not even expecting to receive something herself.
"Much obliged, Mister Alucard. It should be more effective against regenerators like Alexander Anderson with the increased destructive power. Now, Miss Victoria, your new weapon."
"Eh?" Seras tilted her head like a puppy.
Walter shifted slightly to the left, standing next to a gigantic case, taller even than Alucard, leaning against the wall. Opening the case, he revealed a massive, intimidating rifle. "This is an Anti-midian 30 millimetre cannon. The 'Harkonnen'. It uses two variants of ammunition: depleted uranium for maximum stopping power of individual infantry targets, and exploding steel incendiary for ground and air weaponry."
Seras looked the cannon up and down as Walter slowly lifted it out of its case, with a look of complete exasperation. "What. Is. That." She pointed at it with her mouth agape. "There's no way I could carry that, right?"
Alucard chuckled, "You underestimate your strength, police girl. It fits your skills with long range weaponry perfectly."
"Finally, Miss Saotome, I have taken into consideration some elements of the experimental weapons I provided you with." He opened the larger of two cases, around the same length as the Harkonnen's case. Inside was something that actually rivalled Seras' cannon in impressiveness too, a behemoth of a spear. It was somewhat familiar to Ranma too. A naginata(*1)? It certainly had the long curved spear end of one.
"I call this the 'Izanagi' (*2). It is a 225 centimetre long naginata, as you may have suspected. Its blade is 90cm long and comprised of the same Macedonian silver alloy as your twinspears contain. Its pole is comprised of an extremely heavy, improved, high yield strength alloy. As before with the twinspears, I would exercise caution in use."
Now that was impressive. Something Japanese no less, and incidentally a weapon that Ranma had already practised with extensively. "Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout Walter. What's the second one?"
As the redhead examined the Naginata in her hands, he opened up the second case to reveal another revolver, but this one looked less traditional than the Canina. It had a, blocky, polygonal structure like the Jackal - more similar to a Desert Eagle - but was a sooty silver colour and slightly more futuristic looking in design, also including a bulky chamber with the corners rounded off. Walter presented it to her with his hands out, before explaining its specifications as the others. "This is the 'Chthonia'. It is probably the most dangerous weapon out of any of the selection I have presented today. The danger presented by this weapon also applies to the user, since the custom .50 Action Express hollow point rounds are unlike the Canina's in the fact that they are ignited with an explosive power that compromises the integrity of the pistol itself. To that effect its magazines only contain 4 rounds per, since any more than 4 consecutive shots will cause it to self destruct upon firing. Time between reloading must allow for it to cool down also, since it will reach critical temperature after a magazine has been emptied. Also, the custom ammunition is in low supply, so sparing use would already be appropriate." He had almost said that all in one breath.
"Well. Walter. I'm both flattered and worried ya'd give somethin' like that to me." She paused to look at the pistol again, remembering what Walter had just said. "Why're you giving this to me..? Ain't it a bit... too powerful?"
"Not at all Miss Saotome. I believe it will perfectly compliment your current loadout. Lots of power, few shots, emphasis on use as a last resort." He reassured her.
"Uhhh... right. Okay then." Ranma, heedful of Walter's warning, slowly lifted the handgun out of its case, fitting it to her left side in a new holster she'd been provided. She was a walking bomb now. It sort of felt good, but also anxiety-inducing that she was being entrusted with such a capability to kill.
"Think of it as a small thank-you from Hellsing for deciding to stay to work here of your own accord." He bowed courteously.
"You're kiddin' me, I'm a vampire, I ain't got a place out there in the world. This is the only place I belong now. But thank you, Walter."
"Much obliged, Miss Saotome." The butler bowed a second time.
Turning to Seras, Ranma got a closer look at the colossal cannon that she had been presented with. "That thing is awesome Seras. I don't get why you're so freaked out."
The blonde locked eyes with her, with an anxiously placed hand on the back of her neck. "It's just so big! What if I missed? Or I blew up the wrong thing?"
Ranma giggled at the jittery girl while putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ya won't miss, you silly gal. You can land a shot from 800 metres away with no sights, remember?"
Her nervous energy petered off slightly. "I- I guess you're right. I've got to believe in myself, right?"
"Exactly. You'll be fine."
- - - One Hour Later - - -
For the last half an hour, Integra had been absorbed in a meeting with Round Table Conference - also known as The Convention of Twelve - regarding the increasingly dire vampiric threat in England. From further research after the Badrick incident in Northern Ireland, it had been ascertained that not only had the ghouls not died after their master vampire had been killed by Alexander Anderson, but none of the victims, despite definitely having clearly been opposite-sexed virgins, had been turned into vampires. That was the final nail in the coffin that proved that there was no shadow of a doubt that a mystery organisation was churning out experimental new vampires at an alarming rate. Integra raised up a small chip in her gloved hand, presenting it to the eleven other members. "Investigation into these new vampire appearances has yielded... this."
Some of the officials on the other side of the table strained their eyes and righted their glasses to get a look at the small, metallic object she held out. "What... is that?" Asked Sir Penwood, Vice-Admiral of the Royal Navy.
"A vitals and location transmitter, found embedded in variously located vampires in recent incidents. It is thought they could send a live report of the mental, physical, and situational status of any vampire in which they are implanted." She took a drag of her cigar as the Convention members began to shift uncomfortably in their seats.
"What does this mean, Sir Integra?" Penwood inquired, his furrowed brow becoming more strained.
"It means..." She placed the chip in her ashtray, putting out the cigar on top of it. "There's someone behind the scenes controlling these vampires, and they know as much about vampires and ghouls as we do."
A moment of shocked silence went by, but it was rudely interrupted by a rumbling sound followed by the power suddenly faltering, making the lights flicker then fail completely, leaving the Round Table in an eerily dimmed room. "What's going on Integra?" Sir Hugh Irons, the Council President, questioned her.
The display on the phone to Integra's side began to read 'EMERGENCY' in red text. A voice echoed from the speakers, audible to the whole room, "This is Control, Sir Integra!"
"What's happened?"
"We're under attack! Ghouls are battling with our forces on the first floor! And we're cut off from external communications!" The voice sounded perturbed, almost shouting.
"What?! Keep them at bay or force them out!"
"Ah- Ah... yes! Roger that!" The line cut off, leaving the Round Table in silence for a moment.
Integra stood up from her seat, somewhat shaken by the situation. As the other members of the table began to chaotically discuss a plan to escape or buy time, Integra's fears were brought to life as she and the other eleven heard an explosion on the roof directly above them, since they were on the third floor. She collected herself, realising the true nature of the situation. "That was the sound of the helicopter being destroyed, I'm afraid. They already know our every move. The timing is no coincidence."
The phone at her side sounded out again, "Sir Integra! We can't hold them back! They're organised and well armed! We're - AGHH!" The phone went dead once again.
Gulping anxiously, the true seriousness of their predicament started to sink in as she stared at the phone, disturbed by what she had just heard. Unexpectedly, the phone came alive again, only this time an unfamiliar voice came through. "Helloooo? Halloooo? Can you hear me?" The raspy voice called out mockingly. "Good afternoon, all you Round Table bitches! Ya receivin' me, Miss Hellsing, ya fuckin' whore? We are the Valentine brothers. I'm the younger brother, Jan, and it's a great pleasure to finally meet ya. I'm sorry if I sound preoccupied, I'm in the middle of finishing a late lunch right now, but I owe that to you of course! Thanks for kindly providing us with all your men!" A slimy squishing sound came through the speaker, making some at the table recoil in disgust. "We'll be comin' to kill ya now. You gonna piss and shit yourselves? Ya gonna say ya last prayers? Ya ready to beg for ya lives like the little bitches you are? Well I suppose you've still got time to kill ya selves. See ya soon!" The phone cut out.
Integra had gotten seriously pissed off by this person, mocking her while killing her men. She bit her lip so hard in frustration it began to bleed. That was what she needed to force herself to stay calm. "The enemy is coming imminently. There's been a security leak." She stated flatly.
"Don't be so nonchalant, we're being targeted by ghouls!" One of the members called out.
Ignoring the table's complaints, Integra pushed a key on the phone, knowing she still had gas in the tank yet. "Walter. Where are you?"
"In Miss Ranma's room in the basement, Sir Integra. I already have a grasp of the situation. It will be hours until Military Police reinforcements arrive, ergo current forces will need to defend the conference room. I propose that two teams be formed. One team comprised of myself and Miss Seras, acting as defence upstairs, and the other comprised of Alucard and Miss Ranma who will go on offense. Does that sound satisfactory?" Ranma was becoming less and less surprised at Walter's exorbitant competence in all aspects of any problem that faced him. He was clearly even more than just a weapon-savvy butler.
"That will work provided you can get here, the passageway is full of ghouls. Also, what should we do in the meantime?"
"Do you remember how you reached Alucard in the basement 10 years ago, Sir Integra?"
"Ah, of course. The ventilation shaft." Integra looked up at the ceiling, knowing that there was bound to be a shaft passing directly over the conference room.
"Precisely. For now, I would recommend fortifying the doors to the room. There is only one way inside after all. Please wait for a short time, we will arrive momentarily."
"Very well. Before you go, Walter. They have tortured and eaten my people. This I will not forgive! Not one is to be left standing!"
"Unquestionably not, Sir Integra." He put down the phone. An air of anticipation came upon Walter as his usual stance shifted slightly.
"Hahah. Is this the return of the Angel of Death?" Alucard mused. It seemed Ranma's suspicions were coming true. Seras looked up at Alucard questioningly, prompting him to tease his protégé, "You'll soon come to understand what that means."
Walter turned towards Seras, ready to journey through the vents with her, "An old man and a fledgling should count as one at least, we should be going."
"Uhh, yes! Let's go Walter." They turned towards the vent at the end of corridor as they exited Ranma's room.
That left Ranma and Alucard. "I will be waiting in my basement chambers. I assume one of the rats attacking Hellsing will try to find me. If they can make it through you, that is." He smiled as he phased into shadowy matter and disappeared in to the wall.
Well, that was pretty unclear guidance. Ranma grabbed her new Chthonia spear, holding it in her right hand as she left the room. From the sounds she could hear upstairs it seemed the situation had escalated to the point that most of the human personnel on the compound had already been killed. There were a cacophony of unnatural footsteps on the second floor now, meaning they were probably going to reach the third floor soon. The ghouls appeared to have shifted mostly away from the first floor, leaving a few fleeting footsteps and noises lingering. There was one set of footsteps that confused her, they seemed to blink in and out of existence periodically, but had since returned to regularity. They were actually heading right towards the mirror door hiding the basement stairs. She decided now would probably be the best time to slip out and guard the door if they were already aware of its existence. They didn't have a heartbeat, so it was definitely a vampire.
Upon stepping out into the hallway, Ranma turned to her left, facing the irregular person that she had heard from the basement. It was a long, blond haired man with pale skin, wearing glasses and a full-white suit. Assuming this man was an attacker, it was also notable that he didn't have even one spot or stain of blood on his whole body. Actually, no he did. As he paused, taking in the view of the redhead emerging from the mirror door, he looked down irritably at his sleeve, finding a single splodge of blood staining his otherwise white jacket. "You are a servant of Alucard's, I understand? I am Luke Valentine. Now, out of my way, I'm going to kill your master."
Ranma snickered, "That's cute. I ain't a servant anymore, blondie. You'll have to get through me if ya wanna see Alucard." She stood sturdily with her naginata upright at her side, putting herself between the attacker and the way to the basement. The white dressed vampire raised an eyebrow in response, then suddenly moving rapidly through the air towards her. Before she wouldn't have been able to follow him at all, but her eyes seemed to instinctually follow the lightning fast movement of her opponent well enough now to be able to parry his knife just as he struck. He retreated, blinking back into his previous position just as fast as he had leapt forwards.
"So you could block that, hm? Looks like you're not just any servant of Alucard's after all."
"What kinda idiot attacks their opponent straight on and expects not to get countered?" She slid her feet, entering a Naginatajutsu stance from her martial arts training. It was a stance known as 'Icarus', meaning to imply that its defence was so effective that attacking it straight on was like flying too close to the sun. With vampiric speed and power, it would possibly be something even greater than its name already lived up to.
"We'll see if you can keep up this futile effort for long." He dashed at breakneck speed once again to attack, and just as he was about to slide to the right and attack what appeared to be a weak spot, Ranma shifted her eyes in his direction, made eye contact with him and smiled, all in what would've been an imperceptibly short amount time to a human. Before he could properly register exactly what was happening, Luke found Ranma's naginata blade twisting towards his face. Reflexively, he began the process of back-stepping away from the blade but found it was slightly too late. The tip sliced open a small incision in his cheek as he barely tilted the rest of his face out of the path of the attack. Putting some distance back between them, he returned to regular speed, pausing to wipe his cheek. It was bleeding, and it burned awfully.
"It's got blessed silver in it, if ya couldn't tell." Ranma taunted the disgruntled Luke.
His face quickly twisted and contorted as he started to lose his temper. "You won't get away with that! I'll show you what I can really do. I was designed to beat Alucard after all." He blinked out of her sight completely, moving even faster than he was before. That wasn't good. He blinked back into her sphere of awareness suddenly, behind her, as she picked up a disturbance in the air. He was so fast, she didn't have enough time to properly parry his knife, and he cut a deep gash into her side as she pushed him away with a retaliatory slice. His weapon wasn't silvered, but it was a nasty, hooked edge that had would have disembowelled her, had she slid away from the attack slightly less. That wasn't the kind of damage she could afford in her current state. Well, at least it would mean she wouldn't be able to keep fighting, but she'd probably still survive if she received no further attacks.
"Looks like your luck is coming to an end." Luke smiled.
It was time to do something ballsy or he was going to get the better of her. It was time. She rotated around to face him as he thrust with his knife once again, but this time she dropped her naginata and simply allowed him to stab her in the gut, giving her a moment of confusion to take advantage. She drew the heavy, blocky pistol from her left holster and extended her arm in the blink of an eye with a pained grunt, prodding the barrel straight into his temple. Luke's eyes widened as far as they could as she pulled the trigger. Everything turned red, and her ears started ringing, deafening her.
Wiping her eyes of the red that obstructed them, she gazed upon a still standing, headless Luke Valentine, whose body promptly fell to the ground with a thud. Well, that had worked. A little too well actually. Walter certainly wasn't joking about this pistol. "Kill Alucard? What an idiot." She wiped away the rest of the blood, and... brain matter - ew - from her face with her uniform sleeve, then checked her ears which still appeared not to be working. There was blood trickling out of her ear canals, partially blocking them. After tilting her head to either side and letting some of the blood pour out, her hearing began to noticeably return. Then she remembered, the knife. She looked down to find the gnarly blade still embedded in her stomach, upon noticing which, the pain of the sharp object jabbing her organs dawned on her. She let out a tortured groan, and sat herself down on the floor sluggishly. Pulling this out was going to suck. Doing it upright wasn't really an option either unless she'd want her intestines hanging out.
After a moment of laboured breathing and psyching herself up, she gripped the handle of the knife with both hands, and gently began to extract it from her body. She felt the hooks catch on something on the way out, provoking an involuntary squeak from her gritted teeth. It was out. She collapsed onto her back, trying not to concentrate on the pain as she splayed out her limbs on the floor. The floor was... wet. How unpleasant. At least she thought it was unpleasant for a second before the smell finally registered in her nose. It was blood, and most of it wasn't hers. It was Luke's, and it smelled amazing in the moment as her vampiric instincts kicked in to overdrive in her damaged body, starving for sustenance. Ranma didn't know if vampires could drink another vampire's blood, but it didn't really matter, she needed it. This Luke bastard owed it to her.
Shifting on to her hands and knees, Ranma crawled over to Luke Valentine's headless body, staring down at it with her fanged mouth hanging open. This was her prize. She had earned it. Forget not being ready to drink from a person, this one was freshly dead, and had just tried to kill her. She had to. The teeth in her jaw all shifted in place, becoming sharper, more suited for piercing into flesh. She nearly unhinged her jaw like a snake, before plunging her fangs into the still attached length of Luke's corpse's neck. She began to suck the life essence from his whole body, not noticing the surrounding spilled blood gravitating towards her, making sure she didn't even miss a single drop. After a while, she found the source to run dry, having completely consumed all the delicious blood and along with it, Luke's soul.
Lifting her head from the drained body, she felt a presence settle inside her, something separate from her, but chained within her. It had no residual will or thought, but it was there nonetheless. Luke's being had been absorbed into her. Having fed plentifully, her wounds quickly closed, but somehow even quicker than they had before after drinking from transfusion bags. Her flesh seemed to recombine and knit itself back together as if magnetised towards returning to its original state, rather than accelerated healing.
Letting herself settle, sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed, she explored her now plural inner world, within which she was able see in to hazy remains of Luke's memories. Instantly she locked on to memories related to who sent him here, and found herself shocked. Her eyes snapping open, she stared blankly into the ceiling as the imagery played back to her in the back of her mind. It was a Nazi flag; thousands of soldiers in line; a man with a sinister grin and blonde parted hair leading them; shadowy figures with powerful auras surrounding them.
She voiced her astonishment. "What the fuck?"
(1) Naginata / 薙刀 = long Japanese pole weapon
(2) According to the Kojiki (an early chronicle of Japanese myths and legends), Izanagi and Izanami - Shinto genesis gods - were responsible for creating the first land, and were given a spear called the Ame-no-nuhoko (天之瓊矛) to help them achieve this.