Well, I'm going to smack my head against my desk for a little while
because I forgot to thank my pre-readers, Mark and Robert, for their
work on this.  Thanks guys.

Disclaimer: All characters contained within belong to their original
owners.

Silent Angels
by Andrew Wilson

Chapter 2: Companions

When one thinks of vampire hunters, an image that often comes to mind is
a stoic, somber person dressed in black, who attacks the creature of the
night with blade and bullet.  Their hideouts might be caves, sewers,
abandoned buildings, or other remote locations where the hunter might
practice his trade and tinker with the 'toys' of his profession.

Alita, despite several years on the road, still harbored such
fantasies.  Therefore, it was a great shock to her when D and Alucard's
'hideout' was little more than a small hotel suite in downtown Tokyo.

"You have got to be kidding," Hotaru commented as they walked through
the door.  No attempt at subtlety was made, and the four simply walked
though the front door of the hotel after taking a very convoluted route
to the location.

"They saw us leave," D explained. "If they didn't see us arrive again,
questions might be asked."

"What about your swords?" Alita asked.

"They did not see them," Alucard replied, the tone of his voice warning
the women not to press the issue.

"That was a merry chase, wasn't it?" D asked almost cheerfully.

"I wouldn't call a trail of blood left over most of Asia 'merry,'"
Alucard replied.

"What?" Alita exclaimed.

D nodded. "I think we might have missed a few corpses.  We should take
the same route back that we took here."

Alucard shook his head. "We were thorough.  If any were missed, it would
have been in China."

"When we started to catch up," D mused.

"And the gap between when he was there and when we were there was less
than the incubation period," Alucard confirmed.

"What they hell are you two talking about!" Hotaru screamed.

D and Alucard both glanced at the women, then turned back to their
conversation.

"Good in a fight," D commented. "We could use them."

"They know next to nothing about the subject," Alucard replied. "We
cannot afford to have them tagging along.  Besides, we do not require
help."

"Really?" D teased. "I seem to recall a story about a lovely young woman
aiding you last time you were awake."

"Maria was a different story," Alucard shot back. "What could they offer
us?"

"Man," Alita stage-whispered to Hotaru, "Ahriman wasn't as thick headed
as this guy."

Both man stopped their argument and turned as one to regard the
Nightbane.

"Ahriman?" D asked.

"The Night Lord?" Ahriman added.

"Yeah.  We got dragged into one of his schemes.  It backfired on him."

D raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know how thick his head was?"

Alita's expression hardened. "Because of the sound it made bouncing on
the floor." While remembering that night was uncomfortable for her,
Alita remembered what the bastard did to her family.  Something big was
going on, and she wanted a piece of it.  Besides, no one insulted the
abilities of a Saotome.

Furthermore, she hated vampires.  Especially since...

She shook the thought away as Alucard sank into a chair and sighed. 
After a moment, he made a dismissing gesture towards D.

D shrugged and turned toward the two women. "There's a vampire
infestation I've been hunting down.  I woke up Mr. Happy here because
there was no way in hell I could do it alone.  Even now, we're barely
getting the job done.  We could have caught up with Dimitri in
Afghanistan if it hadn't been for all the messes he left behind."

"And you think there's still a bit of a mess in China?" Alita surmised.

D nodded.

Alita smiled. "Need another set of hands?"

Hotaru looked shocked at the question. She quickly flashed a small smile
at D before dragging Alita into the nearest corner and dropping her
voice below a whisper.

"Are you nuts?  What made you ask that?"

"It's my choice," Alita bit back. "I want to kill them."

"What brought this on-" Hotaru cut off when she saw the look in Alita's
eyes. "Oh, him."

"Yes, him."

"So," Hotaru said with a sigh, "because one former boyfriend decided
you'd make a better snack than a date, you've declared war on all the
undead."

"If I hadn't been what I am, I would be dead.  I don't want to see that
happen to anyone else if I can help it."

"You were hurt," Hotaru sighed, "and you weren't satisfied with hurting
him, you want to hurt everything like him."

"So?"

"Just admit it," Hotaru said, "you have your father's temper."

"I do not," Alita insisted, "I'm as even tempered as my mother."

"Right, and who bitch-slapped the Yokozuna two years ago?"

"He called me a little girl, he deserved it!" Of course, she was on the
small side, especially compared to the sumo wrestler, but the principle
still stood.

Hotaru gave up, and pressed her fingers to her temples in an attempt to
stop a massive headache. "Alright, let's do it."

"Huh?"

Exasperation gave way to smug satisfaction. "You really don't think I'd
let you go off on your own, did you?  What ever would happen to you if I
wasn't there to keep you out of trouble."

Alita was tempted to give her friend/cousin/sister the raspberry, but
refrained when she saw the amusement on the faces of the room's other
two occupants.

"We're in," Alita said while trying to ignore the blush forming on her
face.

*******

Of course, before they could truly be 'in,' the two women had to perform
a task that made going up against the forces of darkness seem like a
brisk jog.

They had to explain their soon-to-be-prolonged absence to their
families.

*******

"Why can't we just write a letter?" Hotaru asked.

"It's too impersonal," Alita replied.  The pair was already getting
ready to leave.  Hotaru was sealing and securing the apartment, while
Alita was stuffing a pair of packs with what she remembered needing last
time she was on the road with her parents.

"Impersonal is good," Hotaru replied.

"What are you afraid of?"

Hotaru stared dead into the other woman's eyes. "Quarter inch club."

"Oh," Alita said. "She still sleeping with the 9mm under her pillow?"

Hotaru nodded. "Yes, and I don't like the idea of Mom pulling it out, or
the rifle."

Alita shuddered at the thought of the 7mm magnum rifle Nabiki Tendo was
a very good shot with.  A good enough shot to qualify with an unofficial
'quarter inch' club, meaning that she could put three bullets in a
quarter inch-radius circle at a range of one kilometer. "Dad won't like
that."

"Considering it's him that Mom's usually aiming at."

Alita thought about the situation a little more.  Finally, she turned
back to the pair of backpacks and stuffed a few more items into each.
"Packing's done, let's get to writing."

*******

D and Alucard were waiting for them at the airport.

"What took you so long?" Alucard asked.

Alita shrugged. "We had to drop a message off at a Tendo courier
office."

D raised an eyebrow. "Don't trust the postal service?"

Hotaru just looked at the tall man. "No.  But the couriers are secure,
and hand-delivered."

"How can you be sure?"

Alita smirked. "Dad set it up.  It's secure."

"Last chance to back out," D said. "It could get scary from her on out."

"We aren't afraid," Hotaru replied.

"You will be," Alucard said. "You will be."

*******

Ranma was sweating bullets as he approached the doors to the sports
arena Nabiki laughingly referred to as her office.  The tone in Nabiki's
voice when she called him up was disturbing to say the least.  The fact
that he had been about to call her for a favor was an interesting
coincidence.

The doors opened before he arrived at them.  He gave a slight nod to the
guards stationed to either side of the door as he let his gaze wander
over the room.  Nabiki had the best security possible.  Ever since the
incident eight years before, Ranma had made sure that his sister-in-law
was better protected than most heads of state (before the Nightlords
took over, anyway).  Hotaru, on the other hand, didn't necessarily need
a bodyguard, especially since Alita was living with her.  Of course,
that didn't mean the guards were absent (one reason for his
nervousness).

Knowing all that did not help.  Knowing that he had made all the
arrangements, knowing that he had trained every man and woman in the
room did not help.  All he had done was no salve for the expression on
Nabiki's face.

"This isn't going to be good, is it?"

Nabiki snorted.  Even in her forties, Nabiki Tendo still managed to look
about ten years younger than she really was.  There were even rumors
that her business success had less to do with her skills than with her
ability to sleep to the top.  Those rumors only lasted until the person
met Nabiki.  The presence she had was a little intimidating, even to
Ranma (not that he'd ever admit it).

"Do you know what this is?" Nabiki asked as she held up a large
envelope.

"Courier run?"

Nabiki nodded. "There are two letters in here, one to me, the other to
you.  The one to me states that my daughter is going out of town for a
while, and doesn't know when she'll be back." With a flick of her wrist,
Nabiki sent a smaller envelope flying out of the large one to land in
Ranma's lap.

Ranma opened it, and nearly had a heart attack when he read the
contents.

"Judging by your face, I'd say that it's what I was hoping it wouldn't
be."

"You could say that," Ranma gasped. "I guess Kasumi's right, she does
take after me."

"No kidding," Nabiki replied. "I suppose there's nothing we can do?"

Ranma shook his head. "Even if we found them, do you really think they'd
listen to us?"

"I didn't think so." Nabiki's expression softened. "In any case, what
did you need to see me for?"

"Time off," Ranma replied. "Some old business."

"Oh?" Nabiki asked.  Ranma's explanation took five minutes. "Granted,
who'll be in charge while you're out?"

"Morrigan is coming along nicely," Ranma replied. "In another year or
two, I was going to reccomend that she transfer to our London office as
security chief."

"Sure she's not using some of her charms to get ahead, Saotome?" Nabiki
teased.  Morrigan was a youngish Nightbane (hard to tell with them, but
Ranma put her at a little under his own age) who's morphus enhanced her
already exceptional beauty and gave her a pair of black, bat-like wings
while it was at it.  She had come from a heavily religious family, and
her family had disowned her as some kind of demon.

Ranma laughed.  Coming from anyone else, that would have been a deadly
insult (deadly to the insulter), but it was normal for Nabiki. "Excuse
me?  Why would I cheat on my wife?  Especially considering how good she
is with knives."

Nabiki smirked. "Good.  Now how about-"

"Already taken care of," Ranma replied. "She'll be staying with a
friend."

"Your's or her's?"

Now it was Ranma's turn to smirk. "Both, actually.  Nice how that works
out, isn't it?"

Nabiki smiled warmly as Ranma rose. "Good luck."

"Thanks Nabs, we'll need it."

*******

Travel is usually a very boring process.  In fact, most travelers agree
that whoever said 'getting there is half the fun' should be drug out
into the street and shot.

"And why couldn't we take a plane?" Alita asked.

"Customs would have been a bitch to get through," D replied. "They don't
pay as much attention to slow moving cargo ships, since terrorists and
spies prefer something a little faster."

Alita resumed her position of leaning over the railing. "Right, I
gotcha."

"Are you alright?" D asked. "I don't think a person's face should be
that shade of green."

Hotaru chuckled. "Better not ask her that.  If it got around that the
heir to the Saotome-Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling got
seasick, there would be trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" D directed his question at Hotaru this time.

Hotaru's self-satisfied smile grew. "Oh, her father would think of some
kind of training to get rid of the motion sickness."

"He'd stick me in a submarine in the middle of a typhoon," Alita
groaned.

"Wouldn't that make the problem worse?" D asked.

Alita explained the theory of the Cat-fist.  D started looking a little
green.  So did Hotaru, she hadn't heard all the details before. 
Especially not about Genma Saotome repeating the process over and over
again.

"That's rather...harsh." Heads turned as Alucard joined the others of
the group at the rail.

"Well, if it isn't Mr. Happy," Hotaru sang.

Alucard looked at Alita. "You'll be happy to note we'll be making
landfall in an hour."

"Nice," Alita groaned. "At least we're going to China, not India."

"No," D said, "we pretty much took care of India."

"Where are we headed?" Hotaru asked.

"Several small cities near Mongolia," Alucard explained. "Then we will
be crossing into Siberia and catching a train west."

"Transportation?" Alita asked.

"Motorcycles," D replied. "Newest models.  We can go over a thousand
miles on a single tank."

"Fusion?" Hotaru asked.

"Close enough," D replied. "How'd you guess?"

"Mom's company is the one that made that engine," she replied with a
smirk.

"Enough," Alucard said. "Get ready to move.  I do not plan on wasting
time."

"You expecting trouble?" Hotaru pointed to Alucard's full battle gear.

"He's always expecting trouble," D commented. "But he's right to.  I
expect to find several infestations by the time we arrive."

*******

"Several infestations, huh?" Alita commented the next day.

The town, which D and Alucard had claimed would be having a vampire
problem by the time they arrived, was having a very large nighttime
party.  Everyone was celebrating, apparently.

"What's going on here?" D asked a nearby party-goer.

"The demons are gone," the man exclaimed in rapid Chinese.

"Demons?" Alita asked in the same language.

"Yes," the man replied after taking a swig from his bottle. "They came a
few nights ago, and tried to feed on our blood."

"What happened to them?"

"Strangers came, they killed the demons, then left." The man thrust the
bottle toward Alita. "Want a drink?"

D pushed the man back, then turned to his companions. "Strangers?"

"Freelancers," Alucard replied evenly.

An old woman approached the party with an inquisitive expression on her
face.  "Who are you, strangers?"

D smiled politely at her. "We are simply passing through, ma'am."

"You look familiar, like something from when I was a little girl...."
The woman studied Alucard a moment later, and her eyes widened. "It is
him!" she screamed. "Spawn of the demon lord!"

"Oh shit," D spat as the entire gathering turned toward them.  The woman
began screaming in rapid Chinese as she backed toward the crowd.

"We have to get out of here," Alita advised.

"I can't quite follow what she's saying," Alucard said.

Hotaru started backing toward their bikes. "Umm...judging by the torches
and pitchforks, I can guess what she's saying."

"Quite right," D said humorlessly. "I think we should run now."

"Agreed," Alita, Alucard, and Hotaru commented.

*******

The pattern was repeated for the next two towns that they had
encountered.  Get in, find out about a party, learn about the
'strangers,' then get out of town right ahead of an angry mob.  None of
them could figure out *why* they were constantly chased by the angry
mob, it was just something that happened.

"This is getting repetitive," Hotaru commented more than once.

Finally, between the third and fourth town, something happened.

"Is that a truck?" Alita asked as she pointed down the road.

"Looks like," D replied. "Older model.  Don't know how they keep going
out here, there aren't many gas stations."

"Probably extra tanks under the camper shell," Hotaru commented a moment
later.

Alita glanced over at D. "Shouldn't you two be more worried about the
shapes moving out there than a truck?"

Alucard gave the impression of smelling the air.  It was only an
impression since neither vampire hunter breathed except when they needed
to speak.

"Not vampires," he said.

"No," D agreed, "but seems familiar."

Alita studied the shapes for a moment. "Hounds."

"Are you sure?" Alucard asked.

Alita pulled out her oversized butterfly knife and grinned.  Hotaru
shook her head.

*******

It took a few minutes of careful approach before they could make out any
details of the fight.

"Twelve against two," Alucard commented.

D nodded agreement. "Looks a little unfair on the twelve, though."

It was very unfair, Alita saw after studying the fight for a moment. 
Twelve walking suits of black armor were attacking a pair of women.  One
of the women was holding the creatures back with a masterful display of
sword work, while the other (and more colorfully dressed one) was
tearing into her opponents with a trio of huge claw-like blades emerging
from her oversized sleeves.

"That's new," Hotaru commented as one set of claws was suddenly replaced
by a huge morning star.  The woman- Alita noticed that her skin was
blue, which contrasted oddly with her red and purple garments- swung the
chain in a huge overhead arc, crushing two of her attackers.

The sword wielder, who was much more normal looking than her companion
(then again, that's not saying much), kicked off her opponent and
flipped toward the other fighter.  Just before the pair collided, a
burst of multi-colored light enveloped the pair.  When the light
cleared, the blue-skinned one stood in the center of the ring of the
remaining hounds.  The only change visible was the addition of a slip of
something handing from the front of her cap.

The woman wasted no time showing off before she slammed her claws into
the ground.  For a moment nothing happened, and the Hounds crept closing
to their prey.  The moment ended violently as a ring of wide, sharp
blades sprang out of the ground around the woman.  Another ring appeared
just beyond the first, and another beyond that.  When the third and
fourth rings pierced the ground, and the hounds standing there, the
first began to retract.  All together seven sets of blades, serrated
like the teeth of a huge predator, shredded the eight hounds before the
woman removed her hands from the ground.

"Yeah, yeah," she appeared to say to herself, "there's something else in
the area.  I noticed."

The woman was enveloped by another burst of light, and her companion
seemed to melt out of the swirling colors.

Alit quietly slipped off her cycle and crept closer.  Hotaru followed a
step behind her, while the two men kept their distance.

Blue's oversized sleeves fell to the ground, and normal sized arms
(though still blue) phased through the fabric.  Without a word, she
reached into one sleeve and pulled out a small bag.  She methodically
sprinkled powder from the bag on each darkmetal weapon and scrap of
armor.  All the while, the other woman stood in the center of the
circle, eyes squeezed shut in concentration.

Alita felt a tingle on her skin as she approached the circle.  While she
had little aptitude for magic (something Zelgadis had proven over a
decade before), she could sense when the Art Arcane (as 'Uncle Zel'
referred to it) was being used.

The upper torso of a hound twitched, and Alita wasted no time in
whipping out her blade and driving it down.  The blade and Hotaru's
glaive both sliced into the hound's head less than a centimeter apart. 
The commotion caused the blue-skinned woman to spin toward the
intruders.

Alita smiled then pointed at the dead hound. "You missed a spot."

Blue nodded, then inspected the other bodies with a glance.  Satisfied,
she once again leveled her gaze at Alita and Hotaru. "Who are you?"
Alita noticed that the girl spoke English with a slight Chinese accent.

A wind began to pick up as Alucard and D dismounted and approached the
women. "We could ask you the same thing," D commented.

Any response the woman would have made was cut off as the wind suddenly
grew in speed by an order of magnitude.  Alita glanced at Blue's
companion, and saw the woman throw her hands to the sky.  A light
appeared in her hands and out of that light shot a stream of mist.  The
stream shot into the air, and then came back down as a kind of glowing
rain.  Wherever the strange powder had been sprinkled, the fragments of
weapons and armor glowed brightly before dissolving into nothingness.

"Now," the mystic (Alita figured she had to be one) commented, "can we
start this conversation over?"

"Who are you?" Hotaru asked.

"You first," Blue snapped.  Now that she was closer, Alita saw that the
woman was little more than a girl, younger even than Hotaru.  She also
saw more than a passing resemblance between the two.  If it hadn't been
for the difference in skin color, she would have guessed the two to be
twins.

"One of us is going to have to give," D said, "and I don't want to stand
in the rain all night."  He bowed formally and continued. "Quincy
Harker, at your service."

Alita sighed before giving a polite bow. "Alita Saotome, heir-designate
to the Saotome-Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling."

Hotaru's introduction was much shorter. "Hotaru Tendo."

"Adrian Farenheights Tepes," Alucard said simply.  Hotaru and Alita
raised their eyebrows at the man's full name.

"Wait a minute," the blue-skinned girl said, "Saotome?"

Alita nodded slowly. "What of it?"

"As in Ranma Saotome?" the second girl asked.

Again, Alita nodded. "He's my father."

"My name is Mei-ling," the second girl stated with a smile, "and this is
my sister Hsien-ko.  You have perhaps heard of our mother, Shampoo?"

End Chapter 2

Notes:

Wondering why D isn't the depressed, moody bastard he is in the movies? 
Consider that he's not yet 200, and has another 10,000 years before they
happen (if they even happens in this timeline).  That's more than enough
time to see civilization completely crumble around him.  More than
enough time to see loved ones grow old and die while he is immortal. 
More than enough time to aquire that thing attached to his hand. 
Besides, Alucard fills in the 'moody bastard' slot on the cast just
fine.

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