More C&C! More!!!!


<snip>

 >
 >
 >     Chapter 3 Dawn
 >
 >     I hate my job.

    Ahhh... I'm seeing a chapter-transisition pattern, here.

I originally wrote the first chapters in one sitting. This trick made
me sit down. ^_^

 >     "Sergeant Victoria, I believe you've already read the recent
 > circular I sent out to all the departments of our organization, haven't
 > you?"
 >
 >     Not that a blood-drinking dead girl can have a very big field of
 > employment.

    Bah.  With her looks, Ceres could find work anywhere.  Well, okay,

most

of those openings would be in work she really wouldn't want to do....

Ceres has that buxomy blonde look which is quite the
attractive point. Problem is her funky fashion sense. ^_^

 >     "Let's take a look at it, shall we?"
 >
 >     I mean, well, my only other work experience is my time in the

police

 > force and not a very good experience at that. Well, I tried and I
 > tried... but they don't exactly give out promotions for trying.
 >
 >     "Reduced coffee intake...hmmm...sparing use of ammunition..."
 >
 >     Besides, I don't think they're taking any of my sort. I mean, a
 > vampire cop? Sounds like some queer little series on the telly for late
 > night BBC geeks.

    CBS, actually, althought the dropped it after the initial
test-of-concept movie, and the whole thing ended up in syndication.

LOL. Good catch.

 >     "Regular blood pressure checks and blood tests..."
 >
 >     I'd be up in arms trying to keep my little 'habit' secret,

partnered

 > with some curious little bleeder from Liverpool or Birmingham. Probably
 > try to find a cure for my little 'condition' with a cute medical
 > examiner down the morgue. Using my powers, if I had any, to fight the
 > good fight, for Queen and Country-

    In Toronto.

Again, good catch.

 >     "Ah... yes, here it is. 'All operations will have the standing

order

 > of keeping itself to a low profile, i.e. limited use of high-explosives
 > and heavy ordinance-"

    Oh, Integra, *look* at the people you're commanding.  You really do
write those things just to hear yourself dictate, don't you?

Yes, she does. It's her secret pleasure to just declaim her memos
out loud in her office. ^_^

 >     The calm-as-a-cat-strung-tight-over-a-roasting-pit voice of her
 > superior and her line of thought stopped in mid-sentence as they both
 > noticed Ceres was humming 'Rule Britannia' under her breath, an

    <running AWAY now!>

LOL

 > affectation from her time as a member of the living. Alucard's

amusement

 > for the moment was flooding her link with him and she could feel his
 > smile on her lips. The younger vampire would have glared at him if it
 > weren't for the fact that she was already in enough hot water.

    The worst part is, he can laugh his face of at her without Integra
hearing a thing.

Pretty much, yeah. But Al's not that subtle. ^_^

 >     Ceres noted the almost imperceptible tightening of Dame Integra's
 > eyes and knew what was coming. She thanked her vampiric senses for the
 > second's warning and, using a little trick she learned in police
 > academy, tuned everything out as Integra slammed her hand down on the
 > heavy oak table with a resounding smack and the last Helsing opened the
 > dam gates.

    "Floodgates," perhaps?  Or are you deliberately playing on dam/damn?
    This is right out of the OP of the anime....

Yes. We never do see Integra do that in the anime only in the OP.

 >     "-I bloody said 'low profile' and I bloody well meant 'low
 > profile'!! And what did you do?! Fire off a high explosive anti-tank
 > round in the middle of city!! How is _that_ low profile!? Two words.

Two

 > simple words. Low. Profile. Two words used in conjunction to bring

about

 > a particular meaning. Low profile. Are we even speaking language?! I

    Sug:  "speaking the same language?"

Will fix.

 > believe it's called English. English, isn't it?! You know English,

don't

 > you?! They still teach that in all the public schools, I believe. So

    Um.  I'm pretty sure that in Britain, "public school" actually means
something different than what I think you're trying to describe.  But
I'd have to research it.  I'm not sure just what the proper British term
*is.*

Public school is I think the same. State schools for those who
can't afford the boarding schools.

 > what, in heaven's name, made you go and decide that using what is
 > technically an anti-tank weapon in city limits and letting a building
 > blown up by incendiary charges were within purview of my express
 > orders!?!?!"

    <points at Al>  "HE told me to do it!"

And we all know that Al likes the big boom. ^_^

 >     Five minutes of watching Dame Integra not breathe as she delivered
 > her machine-gun artillery barrage, once a sight that had made her gape
 > in awe while flinching in terror, was something she was starting to get
 > used to.

    Which, sadly, says something about her life lately.

Yeah. She's gone numb to some things. The hazards of being dead.

 >     Ceres almost smirked. Alucard was a terribly bad influence after
 > all.
 >
 >     Integra's laser stare jerked her back into reality.
 >
 >     "I am waiting for an answer, Sergeant."
 >
 >     "Reflex, sir," Ceres responded in the military manner, using the
 > masculine address. Well, there's another thing to put on my job
 > application sheet: period of employment in a covert paramilitary
 > organization.

    Terminated for injudicious use of heavy firepower.  I can think of a
few organizations that would be glad to have her...

Integra won't ever fire Ceres. She's just tense. She needs the stress
relief. ^_^

 >     "Reflex?" Integra had composed herself back into her stiffly

relaxed

 > pose in her high-backed seat. An arched eyebrow above steepled hands.
 > "Ah, yes. The reach-for-the-big-gun reflex that seems to plague the
 > vampiric members of our organization."

    "I can understand what Alucard is compensating for, Victoria, but
what's *your* excuse?"

LOL.

 >     The sardonic tone of her voice accompanied the shift of her
 > attention. "And what were you doing while all this was occurring,
 > Alucard."

    I notice she didn't bother putting a '?' on the end of that line.

Will fix.

 >     Out of the corner of her eye, Ceres felt and saw her Master uncoil
 > from his amused stupor like a snake. His relaxed stance and wide grin
 > radiated that strange aura of menacing power mixed with bon homme good
 > humor. His response was couched in his customary drawling tease.
 >
 >     "Observing, master. Letting my fledgeling deal with the problem."

    I can *hear* this in his dub voice, which I always thought was quite
well-cast.

I agree.


<snip>

 >
 >     "Not just a vampire, master. A No-Life King and a true elder. He

saw

 > Rome burn."

    But the *real* question is, did he play a fiddle while it was

happening?

Actually, he was trying to kill the fiddler. ^_^

 >     Ceres shivered. The shadowy vampire that she had encountered was
 > that old? She remembered the burning eyes and the cold touch of gun-
 > metal on her forehead. But most of all, she remembered the laugh, the
 > mad cackling that had heralded the elder's flight from the building. It
 > was terrifying and majestic at the same time, a sight that matched any
 > of her Master's feats. To have at least survived an encounter with that
 > being, even though it seemed the creature was helping her...
 >
 >     Integra had narrowed her eyes and was in deep thought. Looking up
 > she asked Alucard her question point-blank.
 >
 >     "Then why did you not fight? I would think that if the vampire you
 > encountered was that powerful, I'd assume that you'd be the first to
 > jump into the fight."
 >
 >     Alucard had that look again. Ceres had seen that look every time

her

 > master was about to play a trump card. Usually the sort of trump card
 > that hurt a lot. His red eyes seemed to burn like the fires of hell
 > behind his orange-tinted glasses when he answered
 >
 >     "Cromwell's Pact was invoked. The elder did not wish a fight with
 > one of the vampires of the Night Guard."

    Sug:  "battle" for "fight."

Maybe...I'l think about it.

    Cromwell again, eh?  That old Puritan sure did a lot of dealing with
Vampires, it seems.

Cromwell's name gets to be used in vain a lot. It has power as some mages
would say. ^_^

 >     At the mention of 'Cromwell's Pact', Ceres watched Integra's face
 > harden. Silence reigned in the room for several minutes. Ceres could
 > hear the gritting of teeth as the last Helsing leaned back into her
 > chair, the smooth sliding of cloth against leather bringing a strange
 > counterpoint to the sound of clashing molars and canines.

    Hm.  Is this just because Cromwell's name is anatema to any Crown
Loyalist like Integra?  Or is there something more going on?

More like it's a reminder of Hellsing and Helsing history that she rather
not
be reminded about.

 >     "Victoria. You can leave now. Me and Alucard have to discuss
 > something."

    Integra always strikes me as the kind of person to have absolutely
perfect diction, even more so when she gets uptight.  So I suggest:
"You may leave now.  Alucard and I have something to discuss."

I agree with that. Will fix.

 >     Ceres could only blink as her senses returned to normal. Focusing
 > her attention on a particular person always had that effect of

enhancing

 > her senses concerning that individual. Rather distracting in a way.

    Causing a sort of tunnel vision as a side effect?

Yes.


<snip>

 >     Ceres blinked. She suddenly had an awful thirst, even though she

had

 > consumed her blood allowance that night already. Hmmm... must be

because

 > I'm a growing girl. Growing dead girl. Do vampires grow? Her stomach
 > churned and her fangs itched, a peculiarly ridiculous sensation she
 > always felt when she was thirsty. Maybe she could cadge a drink off
 > Walter, maybe a few pints or so of the red stuff.

    Ceres doubtless takes her Bloody Marys "extra virgin."

Actually it's all farm fresh. ^_^

 >     With that thought, Ceres Victoria walked down to the kitchen,
 > looking for a drink, forgetting anything about listening in to the
 > conversation in the office.

    Need a scene break of some kind here.  I'll admit to being dangerously
ignorant of the pulps, but didn't they use page and scene breaks?

Reform again. I think I fixed that in the later reposts.

 >     As the red streaks in the sky appeared, phenomenon unseen to the
 > mortal eye, she put on her sunglasses.

    Sug:  "a phenomenon"

Plural, though that would make phenomenon to phenomena. As I've
said, i usually write out loud. If it sound right to me I type it, damn the
grammar. I'll fix that.

 >     They were a pair of Ray-bans that were obviously meant for a man,
 > the blockish design she had once noted as unflattering on her face.
 > Ceres just sighed. Not as if I wear them to look good.

    Sug:  "a design"

I dunno. More visual with 'blockish'. I'll think about it.

 >     She didn't even get hurt by sunlight, her skin not even curling up
 > and burning like in all those movies. Walter had told her that his

    Rep of "even" close together.

Will fix.

 > initial warning about sunlight was because of the transition period
 > between her living and unliving states. She would have been a bonfire

if

 > she had gone out in her first few months, but now her body was totally
 > dead and the butler had mentioned to her she could stand the light of
 > day again.

    But can she use the good flatware, now?  Or is she still "argentium
contact explosive"?

Not so bad now. Silver still burns a bit but not the spontaneous
combustion levels of early anime.

 >     That was the day she found this place.
 >
 >     A forgotten tower in the east wing, when Ceres had first entered it
 > layers of dust where in residence, it afforded her a perfect vantage
 > point for the sun's rise. She opened a window and waited for sun to
 > come.

    Sug:  "the sun"

Will fix.

 >     And almost had her eyes burned out.

    oops.

Big time oops. ^_^

 >     Walter had calmly explained to her as he poured blood into her
 > burning optics that her eyes were still too fragile for a head-on
 > encounter with sunlight and rebuking her lightly that she should have
 > told her she wanted a look at the sun. He would have bought her a pair

    <ahem>  "she should have told HIM."  Unless theres something about
Walter you're not telling us.

Freudian slip. I have plans for Walter...

 > of sunglasses if she had only told her, he said in his gravelly voice.

A

 > thing which he did, that very day.

    her/him again.
    Gravelly?  I don't recall it being gravelly.  Unless you're using the
original Japanese voices.

Actually the Japanese voice was a bit high with a slight hint of a throat
problem.
But my ideal of Walter has a gravelly voice which is I think the best for
him. So I went with that. ^_^


<snip>

 >
 >     "Memories, Ceres, are important for humans. For us, they are not."

    Bah.  That 'tude is why you keep repeating the mistakes of your past,

Al.

Al's the classic example of reverse psychology. ^_^

<snip>

 >     Master always told her things that she wasn't supposed to do, but
 > never actually enforced any of them, sometimes actually praising her

for

 > doing something she was not supposed to do. It was as if he was
 > rewarding her for breaking the rules that he set out for her.

    Huh.  Yeah, that sounds like a teaching method he would use.

Probably,

Al can't really respect anyone who doesn't defy him, at least a little.
  I suspect this is something he has in common with Integra.

A similarity that will come into play in later books...^_^

 >     "Already learning, I see."
 >
 >     Ceres blinked at the elder vampire's statement as her Master

stepped

 > forward to stand beside her, pulling his hand out from underneath his
 > coat.
 >
 >     "I'm pleased. Here. Have a bunny."

    ...Jer?  Jer, is that you?  The Minbari finally let you go, I see.
    (In case this is coincedental, there's an Undocumented Features
character whose catchphrase was "have a bunny.")

First part of this chapter's massive injoke... You're the first one who got
it. ^_^

 >     "Er..."
 >
 >     Her Master was currently holding what was a perfectly healthy
 > specimen of species Lepus. Shiny brown-gray fur covered a sleek, svelte
 > body. Beady black eyes looked back at her as one long ear flopped
 > rakishly across its snouted face.

    It's BUNNICULA!  Hide your vegetables before he sucks all the juices
out of them!

And... not correct. Actually, the vampire bunny angle is an obscure joke
on the vampire animal movie subgenre made famous by 'The Dog of Dracula'.

 >     To put it mildly, Ceres was surprised.
 >
 >     "Take it, Ceres. It's a ... gift." There was a strange lilt he gave
 > to the word 'gift' that made his fledgeling nervous.

    Hah.  Beware of Bassarabs bearing bunnies.  I doubt Al ever does
*anything* for just one reason.

Al may act insane. But he prefers to call it genius. ^_^

 >     Wide-eyed, Ceres slowly raised her hands and took the rabbit from
 > her Master's hands. The black glass eyes gaze at her face as the snout
 > twitched convulsively. It was so cute!

    Since this rabbit hasn't been to the taxidermist yet, I'm not sure
"glass" is the right term to use.

That was supposed to be glassy! Damn that spellchecker for not reading
my mind! ^_^

 >     The Master was giving her something! He was pleased! He was being
 > nice to her!

    Which should make her back away hastily and start looking for other

shoe.

LOL

 >     "Master...I-I don't know what to say! This- this is just-"
 >
 >     Her act of thanks was interrupted by her Master baring a fanged
 > smile. His feeding smile.
 >
 >     "Well, he's not exactly a gift, actually. More like a snack, don't
 > you think?"

    Hm.  They don't require human blood?

Any blood is fine for the vampires of this universe. But human blood is
rather more nourishing...

 >     Ceres blinked. This was getting weird.
 >
 >     "Master, I've already drank twice my blood allowance for the night.
 > I can't-"
 >
 >     There was dark humor in Alucard's red eyes as he interrupted her
 > once again.
 >
 >     "But you're feeling thirsty again aren't you?" The voice was smooth
 > as silk and the question seemed to hang in the air for a few moments,
 > caressing her ear before finally being wafted away by an unfelt wind.
 >
 >     "I don't-" Her fangs started to itch. Stupid teeth.

    Hmph.  Al's a jerk.  I fascinating, fun-to-watch jerk, but still a
jerk.  Or, perhaps more accuarately, just arrogant as all heck.

Both. ^_^

 >     "You're thirsty aren't you? How about a little drink, then?"
 >
 >     "I-" Her stomach churned and she could feel the thirst rising.

Ceres

 > could hear the thumping heartbeat of the rabbit as she held it in her
 > hands. She really was thirsty and it isn't as if it was

human...Besides,

 > Alucard brought it for her personally...
 >
 >     Ceres bared her fangs and leaned down, ready for a bite when her
 > Master once again interrupted her.
 >
 >     "By the way, his name's George."

    What, not Peter?

LOL.

 >     Pausing in mid-bite, Ceres blinked again. She mildly noted that she
 > doing that a bit too frequently for the past few months. Closing her

    "she doing"?  Missing an adverb there, I think.

Damn. Missing words again... Will fix.

 > mouth, she gave her elder a suspicious look.
 >
 >     "George?" An unspoken question hinged after that statement. Rather,
 > several unspoken questions.
 >
 >     "Yes, George. Ginny loves him very much and will probably cry her
 > eyes out when she finds him missing."
 >
 >     "Ginny?" This was just getting better and better.
 >
 >     "Yes. Ginny." Her Master's smile was only getting wider and wider.
 >
 >     "Who's Ginny, Master?"
 >
 >     "Hmmm... Ginny Weasel? Whistler? Weasley? I forget. I wasn't

exactly

 > paying attention to names when I was looking for little George here."

    ...I'd be careful there, Al.  Harry Potter has as much Authorial Mojo
behind him as you do -- besides, he sells better.

LOL.

 >     "But you remembered _his_ name?"
 >
 >     "There was a name tag. Threw it away afterwards. Aren't you
 > thirsty?"
 >
 >     Her throat burned at the mention about her thirst. Why does he keep
 > on reminding me?
 >
 >     "I can't just kill George!"
 >
 >     "Why?" He honestly doesn't know!

    My, Al, how... Socratic... of you.  Of course, I'm not sure Socrates
would approve of your, shall we say, "heavy handed" approach?

Al is a graduate and professor of the school of hard knocks. ^_^

 >     "Somebody owns him! Somebody loves him!"
 >
 >     "You mean its perfectly all right to kill someone as long as no one
 > loves them?"

    Logical fallacy, reasoning fromthe specific to the general.

But that's what Al is saying. What he's thinking is another matter... ^_^

<snip>

 >     Yes, little Ginny will cry, but after a few weeks Georgie-boy here
 > will be forgotten for the next little cute thing. That's the way the
 > world works. We get born. We live. We die and are forgotten.

    Bah.  That's *part* of the way the world works, but hardly the whole

story.

True. But Al's being narrow for the lesson's sake. ^_^


<snip>

 >
 >     "This is totally disappointing, you know. Well, not totally. But,
 > disappointing nonetheless. If you were so worried about killing the
 > little thing, why don't you just turn him after you killed him? I would
 > think Ginny would be quite pleased that her pet would outlive her by
 > several centuries."

    No comment.

I mean wouldn't that be cool... ^_^

 >     Yes. A vampire rabbit. Just imagine all the fun of that! The wacky
 > hi-jinks, the hunt for a three-foot long blood-drinking mammal through
 > the green hills and meadows of the English countryside and, of course,
 > the large body count.

    But he could be your animal sidekick!  You could call him, say,
"Pallas," that's a good asteroidal name.

And we can make him a _talking_ animal sidekick via several
very weird magical rituals...^_^

 >     Just what England needs: another reason for Integra to shout at me.

    Oh. Good point.  Better not, then.

LOL.

<snip>

 >     "Why?" Her Master was acting weird again. Well, weirder than usual.
 > Usually, I have to face every abomination, hellish entity and
 > catastrophic situation blind. The sudden volunteering of information

was

 > suspicious, to say the least.

    Beware of Draculs bearing data.

Whenever Ceres gets info something bad happens as per anime. ^_^

 >     "My sense of the perverse."

    <facefault>  Ooooh, that makes TOO much sense....

Al's got a weird sense of humor. ^_^

<snip>

 >

 >     "Yes. H. E. L. L. S. I. N. G. Beautiful name, don't you think?"

    <blink>

 >     "But, I thought that it was named after Lady Helsing's family?"
 >
 >     "There's only one 'L' in Helsing, Ceres. If you wish to learn more,
 > better ask the historian."

    But there *has* to be some connection.  That's just too close to be
coincidental.
    Hmm... so who's the "Her"?  Queen Anne?  Victoria?  Or perhaps waay
back to Elizabeth?

The big E. Will be explained later.

<snip>

 >     She didn't know why, probably her Master knew, but to a vampire's
 > eyes sunrise is one of the most beautiful things in all of creation,
 > matched only by sunset.
 >
 >     When she was little, her Dad had rented a video of a Disney movie.
 > It was called 'Fantasia'. It was just like that. Some strange musical

    Sug:  "this was just..."

Okay. Will fix.

 > symphony that could only be heard by the eyes. Panoplies of colors, the
 > hues of the rainbow dancing to a tune that seemed to beat in time with
 > her heart. It had burned her eyes out the first time with its searing
 > magnificence and even now, her eyes hurt behind the dark sunglasses.

Her

 > reverie was interrupted by her Master.
 >
 >     "You know, I may not like the bastard. But He sure makes a

beautiful

 > sunrise."

    Now, Al, is that anything for a good Anglican like you to say?  (:)

Al's not an Anglican by a long shot. ^_^

 >     Ceres could only nod. And as it rose, Ceres could only use simple
 > words to convey the magnificence of it all.
 >
 >     The sun was bright and beautiful.

Okay. That's over... Thanks again and I love the comments!

Next!



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