Surprise!

In hindsight, perhaps it had been a bad idea.

To begin with, the building was obviously a trap. She'd known it- surely Integra and Malcolm knew it. There was obviously no doubt Alucard had known about it, but this sort of thing was his cup of tea- a big, gory, blood-bath brand of tea.

Then there was, as she would no doubt refer to it later on, the notorious "wager". As of yet she could not quite say who was winning (although she had the sinking feeling that it would not matter in the end- Alucard was not exactly known for his good sportsmanship) and, even more worrying, there didn't seem an end to it.

Seras was only on the third level of the building, and somehow the number of ghouls had exploded from merely a dozen flimsy corpses to nearly forty, and still counting. Even at that moment she was emptying an entire magazine into a particularly resilient group, stumbling towards her, mouths gaping.

Pulling the trigger again, she found the barrel empty.

Yes. A very bad idea.

With a cry of frustration she flung her useless pistol to the ground, swiftly drawing her Baphomet rifle. Eyeing the group, she took aim and fired, decimating a good half dozen of the enemies and crippling several others, severing their legs by aiming slightly lower than she would normally. A good move- she could already see the end of the hallway. Rushing forward, she slammed the butt of her rifle into the sternum of one ghoul and kicked the legs out from underneath two others- then shot each unfortunate soul in the skull. In the back of her mind, her vampiric subconscious tallied up each of her kills for her. One of the few perks she rather enjoyed in being a vampire.

The smell of blood was overwhelming, but her instincts informed her that the blood was old- therefore unappetizing. Nonetheless, her stomach growled beseechingly at her, and she was unable to quell it. Climbing over the remains of her victims, her gaze fell upon the headless body of a more recent kill- probably someone off the street, dragged inside to serve as a meal. For this particular sight, her instincts seemed to have so problems. Neither did her hunger.

Just as her fangs began to lengthen, she realized what she was doing and wrenched backward, shame washing over her in a torrent.

No! she screamed at herself. NO!

Seemingly chastised, her hunger abated somewhat and she proceeded, anger at her own body making her eager for another group of ghouls to show up.

If she couldn't satisfy one craving, she'd indulge the other.

He could barely contain his excitement.

Whirling around, Alucard embedded bullets into all the surrounding walls, leaving a weaving line of holes as far as he could see. For some unidentifiable reason, he was unable to pinpoint Anderson's location- his smell seemed to come from every direction. But this did not discourage him in the slightest: he rather enjoyed a good hunt.

"Alexander Anderson!" he roared gleefully, his voice mocking. "Since when did the Vatican become such cowards, to hide in the shadows?"

No reply, but if he wasn't mistaken he could sense a certain hackled response.

Grinning, he continued down the hallway, vaguely acknowledging Seras's exploits on the lower levels. He'd prefer she not get involved- both for her own sake, and for the sake of his enjoyment.

Silence continued to be his companion, and now the only things he heard were the muffled gunshots below and his own heavy footsteps on the floor, leaving bloody footprints.

Then, a sound.

Jerking to the side he blew the entire wall open, unloading both pistols in the direction of the movement he'd heard. Smiling, he entered through his homemade doorway, fully expecting to see his foe.

What he did not expect to see was a weak vampire, gagged, wracked against the wall and writhing in pain. He was impaled by a pair of bayonets through each of his palms, slowly disintegrating from the blessed blades.

Alucard frowned in disappointment, and then unceremoniously yanked a new cartridge from his coat, ignoring the vampire's cries.

"Help me!" he screamed, his voice garbled from the blood filling his mouth. Alucard didn't respond, sliding the pistol's compartments back into place with a resounding click.

"Please! God, please-"

"Shut up."

A single shot, and the vampire was spread across the boarded windows. Unaffected, Alucard dusted off his blood-spattered sleeves and turned around.

He wondered if taking out Anderson's trash would count as a kill.

Seras heard the deafening thunder of several dozen shots up above, and peered up curiously. Surely Alucard wouldn't use that many just for ghouls, would he?

Then she smelt it. The unmistakable blend of incense, steel and blood that forever haunted her thoughts, and the invisible scar on her neck began to throb ominously.

Him.

Gritting her teeth, Seras picked up speed, reaching for the doors to the stairwell- only to be repelled by an invisible force. Paying no attention to the rapidly healing burns on her hands, she studied the other side of the glass doors- and saw pages nailed to the other side by a bayonet. So, this time he intended to keep her out rather than in, did he?

She hurried to the adjacent elevator, the power long since cut. Digging her hands into the doors, Seras slowly forced them open, metal grinding on metal. As soon as she could fit between, she slipped inside… and nearly fell down the empty shaft.

Stifling a frightened squeak, she stepped backwards onto firm ground. Then she looked up. The wall of the shaft had a rusted metal ladder, going all the way up.

Taking a few deep, calming breaths, she steadied her gaze on the nearest rung. As she did so, she willed her body to change form- willowy shadows replacing her human-like flesh, her tiny fangs now long and razor-sharp. Her spine cracked and stretched, and suddenly she felt as agile and flexible as a snake. With barely a twitch from her muscles she launched herself at the metal bar, clasping it in her black claws.

Her senses locating the source of the strong, familiar scent, she began to climb her way up the shaft.

Just as Alucard stepped back through the impressive hole he'd made, out of the corner of his eye he registered a blur of movement. Jerking backwards, a bayonet just grazed his nose before plunging into the elevator door at the end of the hall.

"Well, well. Yeh've gotten better since last time, monster."

Grinning, Alucard took in the profile of his rival emerging from the shadows. Garbed in priest's clothing and bearing two glinting bayonets in his hands, Father Alexander Anderson walked forward with purpose and conviction. He smiled, and though he had no fangs it was as frightful as Alucard's own.

"As have you, Judas Priest." Alucard replied, his legs widening into a more battle-suited stance. "How did you manage this little trick?"

"Simple." Anderson said, sharpening his blades on each other. "Ah merely filled this floor with the church incense ah always use." His thick accent was laced with more than a hint of bloodlust.

"How devious of you- can you really call yourself a man of God?" Alucard taunted, gleefully raising his pistols towards his rival.

It was not often that Alucard could face a truly powerful foe- the days of true warriors had been replaced by rich men with connections. And, while blowing the brains out of such garbage had its own little charms, nothing could quite compare to the sight of glittering metal in the hands of a well-trained maniac.

This time, there was no hesitation. Anderson shot forward, bayonets held out to slice Alucard to ribbons. Alucard dodged the attack, deftly shifting to the side just as Anderson recovered and buried a blade in his side.

Alucard barely acknowledged the protruding metal, too busy blasting two full magazines at Anderson's head. Blood sprayed outwards and stained the dingy walls.

Anderson recovered from the blows and tightened his grip on the bayonet, twisting and tearing it out of the vampire.

"Ah do the work of God, that his children shall not. If I must sin tae flush out the sinners-"

He spun and sank the blade into Alucard's neck, forcing the metal through his other cheek.

"- then so be it! Amen!"

Alucard let loose an animal growl and slammed the butt of his pistol into Anderson's temple, before taking the other and planting two bullets into the priest's skull. Both jumped backwards- one bleeding profusely from the head, the other leisurely extracting the blade from his face.

"I retract my previous statement." Alucard drawled, lazily tossing aside the bayonet. "You haven't improved. You've just become… impatient. More amusing."

Anderson snatched another bayonet from the confines of his robe.

"Damn ye tae-"

A deafening bang rang out from across the hall.

They both looked to the source. The elevator door sported a massive dent. Another followed with equal force.

"Another trick, monster?" Anderson snarled, one blade pointed at Alucard and the other at the door. Alucard, by contrast, had a mixed expression of interest and frustration.

The twin doors flew off their hinges and fell to the ground, revealing the black, swirling mass inside.

"Hello, Police Girl."

"Is there no word from inside?" Malcolm demanded, wincing when he tried to sit up.

"Communications died halfway up. And you know that my tech is the best." Joshua replied. He sat to Malcolm's left, tapping angrily at the keyboard. "No audio, no video- just goddamn static!"

Integra stood in the doorway, a cigar at her lips, silent.

"As soon as you have any kind of contact, get Seras out immediately." Malcolm said.

"Why?" Integra asked abruptly, grabbing their attention. "Seras is adequately trained, is she not?"

"Of course." Malcolm replied, with some indignation. "I trust Seras with my life- it's Alucard I don't trust."

Integra's gaze turned hard. "Are you implying that Alucard would disobey me and harm her?"

Malcolm sighed and pushed a hand through his mussed hair- an action Integra realized she'd followed.

"Maybe not physically, but emotionally? Psychologically? I've been led to believe he enjoys his mind games almost as much as killing."

Integra flicked her cigar.

"If Seras is capable of eluding both Alucard and my organization, she can handle a little game of cat and mouse."

SO. TIRED.