This being a sequel to Ranma's Bane, you might want to read that story
first, or else you'll be confused within two words of starting.
Ranma's Bane can be found at my site: http://templar.anifics.com/
also at the Chruch Of Ranma and Kasumi:
http://cork.anifics.com/home.html
and Tannim's site: http://tannim.anifics.com/

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine.  The changes are (and boy are
there changes).  Don't bother suing, you won't get squat.

Silent Angels
by Andrew Wilson

Chapter 1: Winter Break

Alita Saotome stared at the man in front of her as though he had grown a
second head.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

The man leaned over his desk and tossed Alita's ID at her. "Look, kid,
how stupid do you think I am?"

Alita snorted. "Very, since you apparently can't tell when an
identification is real."

The man laughed. "That's rich, kid.  I don't even have to examine that
ID to tell it's fake.  No way you're twenty-one.  Thirteen, maybe.  If
you were small for your age, but that's it."

*I can't kill him,* Alita told herself. *He doesn't know, and won't
know.  Even if he is the fourth landlord to laugh in my face when I want
to tour an apartment, I still can't kill him.*

The landlord sighed. "Look, kid, you can get in a lot of trouble if you
show this to the wrong person.  The police don't care about your age
when they're booking you for fraud.  Go home."

With a growl Alita stomped out of the office.  She resisted, just
barely, the urge to shift forms and turn the pompous jerk's car into
scrap metal.  Prudence, and a vision of her mother's reaction, stayed
her hand.

*She'd say that such a reaction is unbecoming of a young woman.  And
then she'd say how I should act my age even if I don't look it.* Alita
snorted. *As if she and Dad act their ages.*

That brought a smile to her face.  Her parents were in their forties-
Dad forty-two, and Mom forty-five- yet they looked less than half that-
seventeen and twenty, respectively- and acted in an odd mix of young and
old.  And when they needed to fight....

Alita shook away the daydream as she walked on to her last stop that
day, and hoped the people there would be a little more open minded.

*******

Ranma winced at the loud 'noise' (some might call it music) filling the
house upon his entry.  Quickly shedding his jacket and tie, Ranma crept
toward the kitchen.  In there he saw Kasumi was chopping vegetables for
dinner.  The pair of large earplugs told Ranma that Alita had been home
for a while.  Ranma turned around and was about to head further into the
house when a pair of knives flew though the air, passed within a
hairbreadth on either side of his neck, and imbedded themselves in the
doorframe.

A slim hand on his shoulder turned Ranma around, and he was greeted by a
pair of warm lips pressed against his.

"Nice," he said in her ear when they both came up for air, "but you'd
better go before my wife catches you here."

Kasumi chuckled at the old comment. "Welcome home.  I think you'd better
talk to Alita before the neighbors start complaining."

"Right," after kissing his wife once more, Ranma headed down the hallway
and into the dojo.  Alita was in the center of the room, performing a
fast kata in time with the music.

Ranma examined the musical selection next to the disk player.  Modern
music had become slower over the past decade, so Alita instead turned to
the older bands ('older' being bands that were performing back when
Ranma was young).  Ranma hit the stop button, and the harsh chords
vanished, plunging the dojo into silence for a moment.

Alita held the pose she had been in, on the balls of one foot with her
other leg fully extended in a kick and both hands in defensive
positions.  Moving only her eyes, she regarded her father.

"Hi, Dad!" she greeted him, her cheerful voice contrasting with the
stern expression on her face.

"You know, kiddo, just because you want to listen to music while you
practice doesn't mean the rest of the house has to listen too."

Alita sighed as she dropped to a ready stance. "Sorry.  I was just
trying to-"

"Work out some frustrations?" Ranma interrupted.  He continued after
Alita nodded. "I guess that answers my question about how the apartment
hunt went."

Alita growled.

"Have you considered trying to find a roommate?  It might help if you
didn't have to meet anyone official face to face."

Alita shook her head. "We've gone over that.  Heck, you and mom were
only able to get this house because of Aunt Nabiki's help."

Ranma shrugged, the walked over to the racks where a set of practice
swords were. "You didn't have to go to college.  There was always the
military." The last line was delivered with a smirk.

Alita giggled. "Sure, and I'd have been kicked out on the second day
after beating up the hand to hand instructors and telling the rest,"
Alita took a deep breath and called out, "'Sir, up yours, Sir!'"

Ranma chuckled as he pulled three blades off the rack, and tossed one to
Alita. "So how are classes going?" he asked with a salute.

Alita returned the salute. "Not bad, if you ignore the idiots teaching."

Ranma sidestepped her lunge, not even bothering to parry. "Can't be that
bad," he commented with his return stroke.

"Wanna bet?  One of them speaks German with a French accent, another
Russian with a Chinese accent, and I speak better English than the
third." Alita worked her blade in a quick zigzag to deflect her father's
multiple strikes. "I'm just glad the semester's over in a couple weeks."

"You're the one who wanted to go for multiple language degrees.  How
many are you up to?"

"Six," Alita jumped over a low slash while deflecting a high trust. "The
councilors think I'm crazy."

"There are worse things than being crazy.  You remember my stories about
the Kunos?"

Alita shuddered, then charged forward in an attempt to entangle the
three swords and close to deliver a few kicks.  Unfortunately, Ranma
didn't fall for it, and slapped Alita's blade out wide with one sword
and slapped her sword arm with another.

Neither noticed Kasumi standing at the door until she spoke. "Dinner is
ready."

Ranma put away the practice swords as Alita walked out of the dojo to
wash up.  He smiled to himself as a plan formed.  But first, he needed
to make a phone call.

*******

"Compile, damn you!" Alita screamed at her computer a week later.

"Why don't you just write the program directly?"

The new voice startled Alita to the point where she not only jumped, but
hit the ceiling.  Landing in a ready stance (and attempting to ignore
the new bump on her head), she spun to face the intruder.

The intruder was a slim, young woman lounging on Alita's bed.  There was
laughter in the woman's violet eyes and a smirk on her lips.  The black
turtleneck and jeans that Hotaru Tendo wore were identical in style to
what Alita was wearing, but the younger woman definitely looked better
in them. *Because she looks her age,* Alita grumbled to herself.

"Very funny, Hotaru," Alta growled.

"What is?  The fact that I snuck into your room while you were in it, or
my surprising you with an obvious suggestion?"

"The instructor wants a hard copy of the code for the final.  That's
kind of hard to do if you don't go through a compiler."

Hotaru shrugged. "Why are you taking an advanced programming class,
anyway?"

"The variety," Alita snapped.

"Only you," Hotaru laughed, "would take a class like that just for the
hell of it."

"I know you didn't drop by just to abuse me."

"Says who?  Sylia thought it was a nice idea."

Mention of her younger sister brought another growl from Alita. "Don't
go there," she ground out.

Hotaru's manner sobered immediately. "You still looking for an
apartment?"

"Did Dad put you up to this?"

"Answer the question."

Alita sighed. "Okay.  Yes, I am still looking for an apartment.  Rent
isn't a problem, not with the funds Mom and Dad set up for me, but
getting one is."

"I need a new room mate."

Alita stared at her cousin for a moment. "What happened, the glaive
scare people off?"

"They never saw it," Hotaru replied, her violet eyes hardening. "No, the
reason I'm talking to you is that I don't have to explain to you why I
wake up screaming in the middle of the night.  I don't have to explain
why I don't trust any government institutions.  I don't have to explain
why someone saying 'that is a secret' makes me want to kill the person. 
I don't have to explain-"

"Alright," Alita interrupted, "I get the point."

Nightmares were another of Alita's problems when it came to moving out. 
She just hadn't given the problem much thought, since she couldn't even
begin preparations to move.  In their sleep, both she and Hotaru still
relived the horrors from eight years before.  The violence, the killing,
and the fear was magnified in their dreams.  The only consolation was
that the dreams had been coming less and less often over the years.

"And because of all that, you're looking for a new room mate, and turned
to me."

Hotaru smiled. "And I got a call saying something about you not getting
anywhere trying to find one on your own."

"Gee, thanks."

Alita couldn't hold her grumpy mood, and soon the two friends were
giggling like schoolgirls.

*******

Ranma smiled at the laughter coming through the walls as he helped
Kasumi prepare dinner.

"How many people are going to be here?" he asked while measuring the
rice.

"Well," Kasumi ticked off her fingers, "the four of us, Hotaru makes
five, and Setsuna should be here soon, so that makes six."

"Not Zel?"

Kasumi shook her head. "No, Setsuna said that Zelgadis was away on
'business,'" the emphasis Kasumi placed on the word told Ranma that the
business had nothing to do with Zelgadis' position as a professor of
archeology at the University of Tokyo. "So I invited her over so she
wouldn't have to spend all her time alone."

Ranma shrugged. "She's never complained before."

"And she never will, that's her way.  But I can tell she hates it."

"Alright, food for eleven it is."

"Eleven?"

Ranma smiled. "Yeah.  You and Setsuna are one each, Sylia and Hotaru are
one and a half, and Alita and I are three."

Kasumi sighed and shook her head.

*******

Setsuna Meiou-Greywords never ceased to be amazed at the chaos of the
Saotome home.  As she entered the house, her senses were assaulted by no
less than five minds radiating three distinct psychic impressions in two
far-removed locations in the house. (Confusing, no?)

To be specific, there were three minds in the back of the house,
probably in the dojo was Setsuna's guess.  Two of the minds were
intensely focused on one another, like two razor-sharp knives juggling
each other.  The third mind was focused in a different way, and carried
overtones of child-like adoration.  The final two-

Setsuna pulled her senses back into her own body after the lightest
touch.  She also attempted to keep the blush off her face, but failed. 
How those two managed to concentrate so fully on each other and still
cook a gourmet meal was something she still couldn't figure out.

Not wanting to disturb the couple preparing the meal, Setsuna wandered
toward the Dojo.  Inside, Alita and Hotaru were sparring, which helped
explain the focused mindsets she had sensed.  It was an interesting
scene as well.  Alita had inhuman speed, strength, and reflexes, yet
Hotaru was almost able to match her smaller sparing partner, and had the
added advantage of reach.  The dance they wove on the grass mats was
both beautiful and deadly.

Setsuna wasn't the only one admiring the show.  Sitting against the wall
was a small, pink-haired form.  Sylia Saotome watched her sister and her
cousin in open-mouthed astonishment.  Setsuna smiled at what must have
been going through the six-year-old's mind.

*Pink?* Setsuna's thoughts were sidetracked by Sylia's hair color.

"Something wrong?"

Setsuna jumped a bit when Ranma's voice came from just beside her left
shoulder. "Don't do that!"

Ranma shrugged. "Normally I can't sneak up on you.  What's wrong?"

"Sylia's hair."

"What about it?"

Setsuna stared at Ranma for a moment. "Last time I was here, it was
bright red.  When she was born, it was black as pitch.  Now it's pink."

"Oh," Ranma said in understanding, "that.  It get's weirder.  If you
look closely, some of the lighter strands look almost blue."

"Why?"

Ranma shrugged again. "Long ago I lost track of the quirks that my
family has by the dozen.  I'm not going to get worked up over hair
color.  Now, if you said that the color was an indication of some kind
of possession, then I'd be worried."

Setsuna stared off into space for a moment. "I've never heard of a kind
of possession that changes a person's hair color."

"Another reason I'm not worried.  Come on, dinner's almost ready."

Somehow, even with the sparring match going on, all three girls stopped
what they were doing and rushed out of the dojo in the blink of an eye.

Setsuna smiled. "I seem to remember another night like this.  Only that
time started a chain of events that led us on a rather interesting
journey."

Ranma shuddered. "Don't remind me.  It's been close to seven years since
we were able to settle down again after that mess.  I'd rather not think
about it happening again."

*******

A bright light intruded upon the sleeper's rest.

"Well, I'll be damned.  Van Helsing was right for a change."

"Who are you?" the sleeper growled.

"I'll explain later.  Right now I need your help."

*******

<one month later>

Alita groaned as she set her load down on the floor of her new room.
"Why did you have to live on the twentieth floor?"

Hotaru smirked as she set a box down next to Alita's pile. "You didn't
have to take the stairs, or carry six boxes and a dresser- full of
clothes, I might add."

"I did it, therefore I can complain about it," Alita stated.

Hotaru broke down laughing. "At least this was the last load."

Alita shrugged. "Yeah.  I'm glad we waited until classes were done for,
this is going to take a while."

"So where do you want to start?" Hotaru asked, eyeing the pile of boxes,
books, furniture, and clothing.

"I don't know, pull something out of the pile and start there.  Then we
can go out later, my treat."

"With how you eat, it better be."

*******

Alita turned away from the door. "Another packed house."

Hotaru pointed down the street. "How about that place?  It doesn't look
too crowded."  Both women wore light clothing, despite the chill of the
mid-winter night.  Hotaru had on her customary black jeans and
turtleneck, with a dark purple sweater over that.  Alita, on the other
hand, was wearing black pants and a red t-shirt, augmented by her white
trench coat.

"These places are always crowded, and will be for a few more days."

As Alita had found out in previous years, the week after finals was
packed with parties put on by a good portion of the campus population. 
Though she and Hotaru lived off campus, they still had to deal with the
crowds of drunk frat members making trouble.  Some even tried to hit on
Hotaru, but she was usually left alone after the third or fourth
unwanted advance was met with cracked ribs and/or a concussion for his
(sometimes her) trouble.

The fourth club that night seemed less crowded because most of the
patrons were slumped in their seats.  A sharp intake of breath from
Hotaru caused Alita to examine a nearby woman more closely.

"They're dead!" Hotaru exclaimed.

Alita grabbed her friend's arm. "Let's get out of here."

"I don't think so," a deep voice said from the back.  Turning, the two
women saw a muscular man standing in front of a crowd of people. 
Several more filled the doorway, blocking any chance of escape.  To
Alita, their thin, almost emaciated forms and glowing eyes identified
them even without the bloodless bite marks on the victims' necks.

"Vampires," Alita whispered.

Hotaru bit back a curse as the man in the crowd laughed. "I'm glad
you've heard of us.  And the fear is nice, too.  I take it you've fought
our kind before."

"Once or twice," Alita replied. "I thought you tried to keep a low
profile?"

"That was then, this is now.  Orders, after all."

"Really?" Hotaru asked. "Can you at least tell us your name?  Your real
one, not one you made up when you threw away your soul.  After all, the
two of us have destroyed at least three pimply faced geeks calling
themselves Lestat."

The leader laughed. "No, I am merely known as Dimitri.  I am the
personal servant of... Well, why spoil the surprise." Dimitri turned to
the crowd of vampires behind him. "Kill them."

Alita's facade was already falling away when the first ranks of vampires
charged.  She also reached behind into her coat and pulled out a slim
box, which she unfolded to reveal her oddly shaped sword.  Hotaru simply
held out her hand and willed the Silence Glaive to appear.

The first ranks of vampires quickly discovered that the weapons they
were up against, while not made of silver or wood, were still very
painful.  Alita managed to keep them off her by severing the limbs and
heads of anything that came close.  The only problem with that strategy
is that the vampires regenerated the lost items almost before they hit
the ground.  A quick glance showed Hotaru suffering from similar
problems.

Both women were staying out of each other's reach, since they had rather
large weapons and moved around a great deal.  The more stable style of
two warriors fighting back to back or at least near each other didn't
have to deal with the large sweeps Hotaru was fond of, or Alita's method
of bouncing (literally) from one opponent to another.  Ranks of vampires
were being taken down each second.

But they got right back up again after few moments.  Alita and Hotaru
were being slowly worn down, and they knew it.

"Hotaru," Alita shouted as she knocked another blood-sucker back, "get
ready to level this place."

Hotaru slammed an opponent back with the butt of her polearm. "Are you
crazy?" she shouted back.  She was protected from her weapon's
destructive energies, but Alita...

"We don't have any choice!"

Dimitri, who heard Alita's comment over the painful shrieks of his
minions, shrugged. "Well, you could always surrend-urk!"

The 'urk' was because a long, slim blade had been driven through
Dimitri's chest, right through his heart.  A strip of silver was slid in
beside the blade before it was removed in a slashing motion that split
Dimitri's head in two.  The vampire dropped to the floor in an unmoving
heap as the strip remained in place.

The blade turned out of be a no-dachi with a western hilt and cross
guard, wielded by a slim man with long, dark hair and a black cloak. 
Alita stared at him for a second, then shook her head and cut down
another vampire that had been heading for Hotaru.  Hotaru was staring at
the newcomer, and Alita could have sworn she saw hearts in her cousin's
eyes, the same hearts Alita knew had been her own a moment before.

The newcomer instantly became the center of attention, giving Alita and
Hotaru a chance to eliminate the enemies that remained around them. 
Wishing she had paid more attention to Zelgadis' lectures on
supernatural menaces, Alita grabbed a broken chair leg and drove it into
her opponent's heart.  The improvised stake worked, and the vampire
dropped to the ground.

A hiss drew Alita's attention to a club-wielding vampire across the
room.  The undead woman raised the club over her head and charged. 
Before Alita could bring her blade up, a shadowy blur appeared in front
of the creature, and drove sword through her heart.  The vampire gave a
final shriek before dissolving into a pile of smoking goo.

"You should always be aware of your surroundings," the shadow advised in
a deep, male voice.

"Lighten up," the intruder commented. "We finally got Dimitri.  Let's
finish these suckheads off, okay?"

The shadow tossed back his hood, revealing a pale man with aristocratic
features and grayish-white hair. "Very well, but what of them?"

The intruder glanced at Alita and Hotaru. "They're good in a fight.  And
if I'm not mistaken the smaller is a Nightbane."

Alita banished her morphus, mildly peeved that the two men were all but
ignoring them.  She was also fighting to keep a blush from showing on
her face.

"Don't look now, brother," the intruder laughed, "I think those two
might be admiring more than your swordplay."

The shadow turned, and Alita could see that he was dressed in clothing
and armor right out of a museum.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You first," Hotaru demanded.

The intruder sighed. "You can call me D, and this is Alucard."

"D?" Alita asked. "Just a letter?  Or is it an initial?"

"Neither," Alucard replied. "It is his alias, nothing more."

"Right," Alita waved the comment away. "I'm Alita."

Hotaru decided that it was a good time to dismiss her glaive. "Hotaru,"
she stated.

D nodded. "Now that we've been introduced.  Alucard, would you do the
honors?"

Alucard drew his sword again, and Alita could see that it was a western
broadsword apparently made of silver. One by one, Alucard drove his
sword into the chest of each vampire present.  Every time, there seemed
to be a hint of blue flowing over the blade, and Alita could have sworn
she saw bubbles forming before the vampire melted. (1)

"Nice," Hotaru commented as the last body, Dimitri's, was destroyed.
"What now?"

D glanced up with a surprised look on his face. "Oh, you're still here. 
You can go home now, we're taking care of this."

"No way," Alita replied. "We want answers."

"What you want," Alucard stated, "is to stare at us like a pair of
hormone-driven teenagers.  We do not need that."

Alita turned to D. "Is he always this friendly?"

D glanced at Hotaru, who had summoned her glaive again, before replying.
"He's just been real moody lately, ever since I woke him up."

"What's going on here?" Hotaru growled.

Alucard raised an eyebrow as he sheathed his sword. "Can't you tell? 
You were the ones to identify your enemies as vampires.  They are
vermin, we are exterminators."

"And why are the 'vermin' out in force?"

D looked to the clock on the wall. "We've wasted too much time here
already.  The police should be here right about," sirens could be heard
faintly outside, "now."

Alucard motioned to the two women. "You cannot stay here.  And you
cannot leave the way you came.  You'll have to come with us."

"How generous," Hotaru remarked dryly.

"It's better than you should get, after you wasted so much time
babbling."

D shook his head. "Let's just go, we can argue when we get out of here."

End chapter 1

Notes:
1: The Alucard Sword, emits holy water when striking it's target (or
rather, that's what it looks like; any players of Castlevania: Symphony
of the Night want to suggest something else?)

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