For one brief moment there was absolute silence. Then the Auctioneer smiled gleefully, and the rest of the room erupted into hushed mutterings. Who was this new keeper? Did he come here just for the fledgling? Sure she was a nice catch, but she was just a fledgling. A full greater vampire was worth that much, but a fledgling was worth half that. What did he know that no one else did?
"Sold!!" The auctioneer cried out.
"Again you pay too much." The Mentor scolded with a half chuckle. "Though in this case it might very well be worth it."
Ranma ignored the specter at his side, and began to stride forward. At his side, his previous acquisition scampered after him with a half crazed smile. She then latched onto his arm, heedless of her nudity, and missing how Ranma tensed under her touch. To the audience the sight became even more fearsome as the slavegirl's mad smile took on a far more chilling aspect.
The auctioneer's smile became strained as the newest buyer approached. This was highly irregular, and the other keepers were starting to look restless. His nerve broke at the last second, and with a few panicked movements he thrust the key set into Ranma's hands and began to back away.
Ranma gave a soft humph as he looked at the keys in his hand, before looking to the vampire girl still on the stage. Finally he smirked widely.
Behind him, Keeper Sidarian grimaced slightly. The other keepers where muttering amongst themselves, but all of them were looking at him expectantly. He had already stuck his neck out, and now he was going to have to stick his neck out even more. He had wanted to observe the new keeper, but he had precious little that could deal with a Greater Vampire. In the end, he had little choice, and with a gesture the Warlocks at his side began to mutter their incantation.
"Keeper!" The Mentor warned.
Ranma's smirk never died, even as he lashed out his foot and kicked a nearby bench into the air. The large wooden bench went flying into the air and blasted the Keeper Sidarian's entire entourage across the room. For a brief moment the murmurs of the crowd stopped, and then the audience swarmed onto the knocked out creatures. They would awake naked in an alleyway sometime the next morning, if at all.
Getting onto the stage the young keeper looked at his newest acquisition. The vampire glared back, and for a brief moment their eyes locked. They ignored the loud near riot that the audience had devolved into, only matching gazes in an effort of will. Red eyes glared into Blue eyes.
It was Ranma who broke their staring contest, reaching out with a small smirk and flicking the vampire's nose. Flinching back, the girl then hissed loudly and lunged toward her 'master' mouth opened wide, only to miss as Ranma smoothly took a step back. Overbalancing due to the chains still around her the vampire fell forward, and was caught by Ranma.
The young keeper didn't say a word. His smirk seemed to soften slightly, and with a clink the heavy chains that had been binding the vampire fell to the ground.
Her eyes went wide, and she flexed her now free limbs. The other slave-girl then lunged forward, and wrapped her bony naked arms around the vampire with a happy cry.
Ranma chuckled slightly and turned to look at the slowly quieting crowd. Several of the members looked at the stage with wide fearful eyes. A simple slave collar wasn't enough for a Greater Vampire.
"Ya got a name right?" Ranma murmured to the vampire behind him. At his side The Mentor floated silently. It was quite likely that his newest student would die today.
"Seras." The vampire growled at Ranma, looking at the crowd as well. A feral blood lust was beginning to rage in her eyes.
"How would you like to work for me?" The Keeper replied cheekily. "You and your friend. I don't got much, but I could use a bit o' help."
"On one condition." Seres smiled as she looked at the crowd, delighting in their terrified shudders and frantic need to leave the building. They had begun to realize what Ranma had done.
Ranma winced as he looked at the audience. He knew what the Vampire wanted. His first purchase tugged on his sleeve, smiling up at him with a bright insane smile. Turning to her, Ranma sighed and tried to ignore what he was about to do. "Don't let any of them escape."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:10)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.