++++++
Hellsing still isn't mine.
Okay, ready? Good.
++++++
I retreated into the sanctuary. Seras must have realized that the horses had to die before the knights were vulnerable. She only faced two now. She was using her gun and her bare hands to fight them.
I heard Walter shout something, and Seras went through the window with no hesitation. Alucard aimed his gun and dispatched one knight. Not wanting him to claim any more victories than I could help, I threw two blades and disposed of the other. I turned back. Alucard was waiting, a faint smile on his face.
*~*
Walter ticked through options in his mind. He was slower now than he had been when he was young. Thankfully, he doubted Integra was used to her new speed by now. He could guess that her first priority was going to be to kill Maxwell before his shots hurt her too badly.
"Seras! Your help, please?" Walter needed better odds than this. Integra snapped the last of his latest batch of wires and stood. She smoothly aimed at Maxwell. No fool, he was already ducking behind his desk.
Trying to ignore the sick feeling that it gave him to attack a Hellsing, Walter fired a shot into the back of Integra's neck, aiming for the vulnerable small vertebra. He didn't think he could kill her quickly-she was of Alucard's blood, after all. He could slow her.
Integra was getting up before he'd hauled Maxwell halfway across the office. Seras came through the door, gun in hand. "Get him to safety."
"But you-"
"I'll be able to fight better with him gone," he said. "Get him out of here."
"I'll be back." Seras whisked Maxwell from the office, keeping her body between the vulnerable priest and the other vampire.
"It is not pleasant to see you like this," Integra said. Her voice was oddly brittle. Perhaps the wires had hurt her more than she realized, Walter thought.
"Nor you." Walter was undecided. Should he aim for the head, or the heart? He thought that one of Maxwell's shots had hit her cranium, with little effect. Heart. He aimed.
Integra's shot burned across his sleeve as she aimed her gun just a fraction to the side before firing. At the same time, Walter's shot thudded into her left shoulder. She went back a half-step to take the impact. "I missed intentionally. Did you?"
Walter coldly took aim again. This time, the gun was aimed higher. Part of his brain again tried to pull his aim off, but this time he expected it and locked his muscles in place. The recoil was made worse by his tension. The vampire's expression turned surprised as the bullet hit home in her skull. Grunting, Walter lowered the gun, grabbed Integra's ankle, and dragged her out of the office. The shelter for the Vatican cars wasn't far off when she twisted free. "Walter!"
Was that fear in her voice? He doubted it, even though her recovery time was slowing. Or perhaps it was the same fear that was threatening to rule him: fear of loss. She knew what this was doing to him. A tremor went through him, the only disruption to his mantle of calm.
He raised the gun again, sighted, fired. He anticipated his reflexive jerk that would have put his shot to one side, and suppressed it with iron control. His arm was starting to throb from the effort. He drew the recovering vampire into the shelter of the automobiles. Spare munitions were stacked behind one jeep, while fuel was piled a careful distance. A quick loop of his wires halved a small fuel drum. Gasoline splattered on them both as Walter rolled it over the hood of the jeep. The fluid soaked into the munitions packaging. Walter reached into his pocket, coming up with Integra's silver cigar lighter.
Awareness returned to Integra's eyes.
Walter lowered the flame to the trail of fluid.
Integra moved fast. The resolve he'd seen earlier on her face was gone. The fury that burned in her eyes had faded. She seemed suddenly young, free of the burden of duty, and for a moment he saw what loss had driven her decision. He shot once more, intending to keep her motionless long enough for the fire to begin its work. She staggered, but still reached him.
And then he was airborne. His sleeve was burning. Beneath it, his skin was aflame. Walter hit the ground rolling, smothering the fires. He stood, looking back as he heard the fire build. He didn't hear anything, but he knew Integra would face death in silence.
Instead, Alucard's scream told him all he needed to know. Walter started running towards the church, ignoring the sudden clutching in his chest.
*~*
At first, it was the standard eye-for-an-eye engagement I'd learned to expect with Alucard. The devilfish harpoon, survivor of one encounter with him, managed to pin him down long enough for me to significantly reduce the mass on him. Now we were playing a glorified game of keep-away, with me trying to keep him from re-absorbing his lost blood. It was made more difficult by the fact that one bullet would delay me for too long.
He faltered suddenly. I put three blades in him, then backed away hastily as his face changed. And then he shrieked in pure anger. I winced, ears ringing. He knocked me to the floor and ran. He moved to the window almost faster than I could follow. Halfway there, he stopped. For a moment he was completely still.
He swung around. I momentarily rethought the question of whether or not he was soulless. I'd seen that expression before in the faces of people who'd just lost home and family, in the exhaustion of a soldier fresh from the battlefield, in the stupor of someone who'd just heard that they were in the last stages of a fatal disease.
My surprise vanished in the force of his attack.
He didn't seem to care that I held a weapon level, didn't seem to care that I had recovered fully by that time. He accepted two swords through his torso. I realized what would happen when he pulled his elbow back, hand at his waist. I dodged before his hand flashed out. His other hand caught me on the side of the head. He pulled his hand back again.
I felt the impact; the sound was worse. He'd aimed above my heart, and hadn't carried the blow through to my spine. I passed almost immediately into a state of shock. Alucard waited a moment, judging whether or not I would recover, and then pulled his hand back out of my ribcage. My vision went black.
Alucard was still standing in the same position when I was healed enough for my brain to register things again. I knew by his expression that I wouldn't be allowed to heal fully before the next injury. He had recovered his gun. It dangled loosely in his hand. I mentally took stock of how many blades I had left. But this wasn't a battle anymore. It was an execution.
I saw Walter limp into the doorway, far behind us. I had to move. I jerked sideways, spitting blood. Alucard stepped back slightly, giving me space, either in curiosity or sheer sadism. It didn't matter which, so long as I was able to start away.
I was almost at the back of the sanctuary when I made the mistake of moving a bit too fast. Deciding I'd recovered enough, Alucard put a bullet into my spine. I waited, again, hoping Walter had the sense to stay out of it. He must have seen the purpose in my movements, because he didn't attack then.
"Broadsword," I said aloud when my vision was a lesser gray again. Alucard didn't comment. I twisted around, looking at the vampire again, half- panicked that he might have read my mind. He was watching me with an almost emotionless calm. Walter had vanished from the doorway. I hoped he'd thought of what I was thinking.
We couldn't kill Alucard.
So. . .
I got to the stairs of the Knight's crypt. A bullet caught me in the side as I started down them, sending me falling in. Alucard pushed the door closed, watched it swing back towards him. I blacked out again. When I was able to see again, Alucard was standing above me putting in a new clip into his gun.
"Too gradual," he said. "Let's find the limits of your regenerative ability."
I saw Walter for a moment. The door slammed shut, and we were in darkness. I heard the sound of a vampire slamming into a door, a growl, the sound of a gunshot, the sound of muffled blows.
"Forget it," I said. "This place was used to contain all the Knights."
"I'll find a way to break out." Footsteps passed by me in the dark. I checked my pockets, coming up with a small flashlight. My other light was broken. I flicked the light on.
The crypt interior was covered in silver strands of holy symbols and runes of binding. They formed a spiderweb around us. The door was almost a shell from the inside, clawed away by centuries of knights tearing at the barrier, but the symbols remained supported by each other in an intricate net. Alucard fired a bullet. It bounced off a powerful line and ricocheted off the wall.
*~*
Walter stared at the silver broadsword. Anderson had mentioned it, asking for him to move. He wished there was a way to get the vampire in there alone, but he already knew it would have been impossible.
Picking up a shattered piece of pew, he went back out to the fire. The fuel had burned itself out, and he had to be sure that nothing remained of Sir Integra.
He felt something outside the door. He froze, fearing for a moment that Alucard had risen from the earth. "Seras?"
"Yes?"
"Good." He turned. "What's wrong?"
"Maxwell shot at me." Seras sighed. "He's with the rest of his soldiers now. I lost them outside the cemetery. They're hunting for me."
"I took my car over that rise earlier this evening, while I was thinking of ways of destroying Integra. If you would care to leave with me?"
"Are you going to have to kill me?" She fell easily in step with him.
"I hope not. Anderson would say undoubtedly. . . but you're still yourself."
"So was Integra."
Walter tried not to think of the little girl he had glimpsed again. "No. She was ready to kill humans. You aren't."
"Walter. . . your heartbeat. . ."
"A murmur? Yes. The doctors say it's nothing serious, yet." Walter glanced at her. "Made worse recently by stress. I think it will get better."
"What happened to Anderson? Is he dead?"
Walter suppressed a shudder. "By now, I'd hope so."
*~*
We were silent. There had been quiet for the past few hours. I had turned the flashlight off to conserve the battery.
"Praying?" Alucard's sneer broke the silence.
"Yes," I said. "Mourning?"
"I can't expect a human to understand, but we vampires never truly lose each other." Alucard sounded somehow tired. I heard him stand. "Well, priest, you decide. Should I use bullets, or bare hands?"
"Sorry?"
"Do you honestly think I'm waiting in here for sunrise, so that you can kill me while I sleep?"
"Your seals no longer diminish you," I snapped. "I don't know that you'll be asleep in the day."
"Ah, but in here my power is contained." I flicked on the flashlight, shining it as his face. Alucard's expression was closer to how he'd usually looked, although he still maintained a cast of grief. "And you still have your weapons. So. Should I use my guns? I think I will. I think I can finish you by hand when I'm out of ammunition."
"Arrogant spawn of the devil." I stood.
"How does that door open?" He crossed his guns over his chest, a layer of protection in case I threw a sword at his heart.
"Someone opens it from the outside. And only Walter knows we're here. You're trapped forever, monster."
"As are you. Which means I have to kill you tonight, or be killed." Alucard smiled for the first time. "This ends as it should: you and me, fighting."
I threw a short sword at the smug expression on his face, and charged.
But I understood.
This felt right.
Hellsing still isn't mine.
Okay, ready? Good.
++++++
I retreated into the sanctuary. Seras must have realized that the horses had to die before the knights were vulnerable. She only faced two now. She was using her gun and her bare hands to fight them.
I heard Walter shout something, and Seras went through the window with no hesitation. Alucard aimed his gun and dispatched one knight. Not wanting him to claim any more victories than I could help, I threw two blades and disposed of the other. I turned back. Alucard was waiting, a faint smile on his face.
*~*
Walter ticked through options in his mind. He was slower now than he had been when he was young. Thankfully, he doubted Integra was used to her new speed by now. He could guess that her first priority was going to be to kill Maxwell before his shots hurt her too badly.
"Seras! Your help, please?" Walter needed better odds than this. Integra snapped the last of his latest batch of wires and stood. She smoothly aimed at Maxwell. No fool, he was already ducking behind his desk.
Trying to ignore the sick feeling that it gave him to attack a Hellsing, Walter fired a shot into the back of Integra's neck, aiming for the vulnerable small vertebra. He didn't think he could kill her quickly-she was of Alucard's blood, after all. He could slow her.
Integra was getting up before he'd hauled Maxwell halfway across the office. Seras came through the door, gun in hand. "Get him to safety."
"But you-"
"I'll be able to fight better with him gone," he said. "Get him out of here."
"I'll be back." Seras whisked Maxwell from the office, keeping her body between the vulnerable priest and the other vampire.
"It is not pleasant to see you like this," Integra said. Her voice was oddly brittle. Perhaps the wires had hurt her more than she realized, Walter thought.
"Nor you." Walter was undecided. Should he aim for the head, or the heart? He thought that one of Maxwell's shots had hit her cranium, with little effect. Heart. He aimed.
Integra's shot burned across his sleeve as she aimed her gun just a fraction to the side before firing. At the same time, Walter's shot thudded into her left shoulder. She went back a half-step to take the impact. "I missed intentionally. Did you?"
Walter coldly took aim again. This time, the gun was aimed higher. Part of his brain again tried to pull his aim off, but this time he expected it and locked his muscles in place. The recoil was made worse by his tension. The vampire's expression turned surprised as the bullet hit home in her skull. Grunting, Walter lowered the gun, grabbed Integra's ankle, and dragged her out of the office. The shelter for the Vatican cars wasn't far off when she twisted free. "Walter!"
Was that fear in her voice? He doubted it, even though her recovery time was slowing. Or perhaps it was the same fear that was threatening to rule him: fear of loss. She knew what this was doing to him. A tremor went through him, the only disruption to his mantle of calm.
He raised the gun again, sighted, fired. He anticipated his reflexive jerk that would have put his shot to one side, and suppressed it with iron control. His arm was starting to throb from the effort. He drew the recovering vampire into the shelter of the automobiles. Spare munitions were stacked behind one jeep, while fuel was piled a careful distance. A quick loop of his wires halved a small fuel drum. Gasoline splattered on them both as Walter rolled it over the hood of the jeep. The fluid soaked into the munitions packaging. Walter reached into his pocket, coming up with Integra's silver cigar lighter.
Awareness returned to Integra's eyes.
Walter lowered the flame to the trail of fluid.
Integra moved fast. The resolve he'd seen earlier on her face was gone. The fury that burned in her eyes had faded. She seemed suddenly young, free of the burden of duty, and for a moment he saw what loss had driven her decision. He shot once more, intending to keep her motionless long enough for the fire to begin its work. She staggered, but still reached him.
And then he was airborne. His sleeve was burning. Beneath it, his skin was aflame. Walter hit the ground rolling, smothering the fires. He stood, looking back as he heard the fire build. He didn't hear anything, but he knew Integra would face death in silence.
Instead, Alucard's scream told him all he needed to know. Walter started running towards the church, ignoring the sudden clutching in his chest.
*~*
At first, it was the standard eye-for-an-eye engagement I'd learned to expect with Alucard. The devilfish harpoon, survivor of one encounter with him, managed to pin him down long enough for me to significantly reduce the mass on him. Now we were playing a glorified game of keep-away, with me trying to keep him from re-absorbing his lost blood. It was made more difficult by the fact that one bullet would delay me for too long.
He faltered suddenly. I put three blades in him, then backed away hastily as his face changed. And then he shrieked in pure anger. I winced, ears ringing. He knocked me to the floor and ran. He moved to the window almost faster than I could follow. Halfway there, he stopped. For a moment he was completely still.
He swung around. I momentarily rethought the question of whether or not he was soulless. I'd seen that expression before in the faces of people who'd just lost home and family, in the exhaustion of a soldier fresh from the battlefield, in the stupor of someone who'd just heard that they were in the last stages of a fatal disease.
My surprise vanished in the force of his attack.
He didn't seem to care that I held a weapon level, didn't seem to care that I had recovered fully by that time. He accepted two swords through his torso. I realized what would happen when he pulled his elbow back, hand at his waist. I dodged before his hand flashed out. His other hand caught me on the side of the head. He pulled his hand back again.
I felt the impact; the sound was worse. He'd aimed above my heart, and hadn't carried the blow through to my spine. I passed almost immediately into a state of shock. Alucard waited a moment, judging whether or not I would recover, and then pulled his hand back out of my ribcage. My vision went black.
Alucard was still standing in the same position when I was healed enough for my brain to register things again. I knew by his expression that I wouldn't be allowed to heal fully before the next injury. He had recovered his gun. It dangled loosely in his hand. I mentally took stock of how many blades I had left. But this wasn't a battle anymore. It was an execution.
I saw Walter limp into the doorway, far behind us. I had to move. I jerked sideways, spitting blood. Alucard stepped back slightly, giving me space, either in curiosity or sheer sadism. It didn't matter which, so long as I was able to start away.
I was almost at the back of the sanctuary when I made the mistake of moving a bit too fast. Deciding I'd recovered enough, Alucard put a bullet into my spine. I waited, again, hoping Walter had the sense to stay out of it. He must have seen the purpose in my movements, because he didn't attack then.
"Broadsword," I said aloud when my vision was a lesser gray again. Alucard didn't comment. I twisted around, looking at the vampire again, half- panicked that he might have read my mind. He was watching me with an almost emotionless calm. Walter had vanished from the doorway. I hoped he'd thought of what I was thinking.
We couldn't kill Alucard.
So. . .
I got to the stairs of the Knight's crypt. A bullet caught me in the side as I started down them, sending me falling in. Alucard pushed the door closed, watched it swing back towards him. I blacked out again. When I was able to see again, Alucard was standing above me putting in a new clip into his gun.
"Too gradual," he said. "Let's find the limits of your regenerative ability."
I saw Walter for a moment. The door slammed shut, and we were in darkness. I heard the sound of a vampire slamming into a door, a growl, the sound of a gunshot, the sound of muffled blows.
"Forget it," I said. "This place was used to contain all the Knights."
"I'll find a way to break out." Footsteps passed by me in the dark. I checked my pockets, coming up with a small flashlight. My other light was broken. I flicked the light on.
The crypt interior was covered in silver strands of holy symbols and runes of binding. They formed a spiderweb around us. The door was almost a shell from the inside, clawed away by centuries of knights tearing at the barrier, but the symbols remained supported by each other in an intricate net. Alucard fired a bullet. It bounced off a powerful line and ricocheted off the wall.
*~*
Walter stared at the silver broadsword. Anderson had mentioned it, asking for him to move. He wished there was a way to get the vampire in there alone, but he already knew it would have been impossible.
Picking up a shattered piece of pew, he went back out to the fire. The fuel had burned itself out, and he had to be sure that nothing remained of Sir Integra.
He felt something outside the door. He froze, fearing for a moment that Alucard had risen from the earth. "Seras?"
"Yes?"
"Good." He turned. "What's wrong?"
"Maxwell shot at me." Seras sighed. "He's with the rest of his soldiers now. I lost them outside the cemetery. They're hunting for me."
"I took my car over that rise earlier this evening, while I was thinking of ways of destroying Integra. If you would care to leave with me?"
"Are you going to have to kill me?" She fell easily in step with him.
"I hope not. Anderson would say undoubtedly. . . but you're still yourself."
"So was Integra."
Walter tried not to think of the little girl he had glimpsed again. "No. She was ready to kill humans. You aren't."
"Walter. . . your heartbeat. . ."
"A murmur? Yes. The doctors say it's nothing serious, yet." Walter glanced at her. "Made worse recently by stress. I think it will get better."
"What happened to Anderson? Is he dead?"
Walter suppressed a shudder. "By now, I'd hope so."
*~*
We were silent. There had been quiet for the past few hours. I had turned the flashlight off to conserve the battery.
"Praying?" Alucard's sneer broke the silence.
"Yes," I said. "Mourning?"
"I can't expect a human to understand, but we vampires never truly lose each other." Alucard sounded somehow tired. I heard him stand. "Well, priest, you decide. Should I use bullets, or bare hands?"
"Sorry?"
"Do you honestly think I'm waiting in here for sunrise, so that you can kill me while I sleep?"
"Your seals no longer diminish you," I snapped. "I don't know that you'll be asleep in the day."
"Ah, but in here my power is contained." I flicked on the flashlight, shining it as his face. Alucard's expression was closer to how he'd usually looked, although he still maintained a cast of grief. "And you still have your weapons. So. Should I use my guns? I think I will. I think I can finish you by hand when I'm out of ammunition."
"Arrogant spawn of the devil." I stood.
"How does that door open?" He crossed his guns over his chest, a layer of protection in case I threw a sword at his heart.
"Someone opens it from the outside. And only Walter knows we're here. You're trapped forever, monster."
"As are you. Which means I have to kill you tonight, or be killed." Alucard smiled for the first time. "This ends as it should: you and me, fighting."
I threw a short sword at the smug expression on his face, and charged.
But I understood.
This felt right.