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Alone Chapter 1
Red eyes watched from an impassive face as the men stepped down from the coach, weapons ready in their hands. A few tossed scornful looks and taunts in his direction, but the vampire ignored them, entirely unmoved by the display. His Master was the last out of the conveyance, and a quickly-hidden flash of hate was visible before the vampire's face regained its blank display.
"There is the church where the vampires are believed to be. Take perimeter positions, shoot to kill if you see something." It was a repeat of directions given before they'd left the grounds, with the only change being the indication of the where the church was. Well-practiced, the baker's dozen of soldiers fanned out to surround the church in groups of three and four, weapons ready. Since the vampire had joined the hunts, it was unusual for any of their prey to escape its talons and be shot, but it could happen, and they were ready.
With an approving nod at their positioning, Abraham strode to the church, tossing a curt "Heel." back at the vampire. Silent and expressionless, the vampire ghosted behind him into the church.
x x
There were three vampires, another small family, and well-established from the age of the coffins. This was no young, uncontrolled, foolish group of undead, located due to their obvious predations and lack of sense. This...was a family. They'd been here for decades; a coffin did not attain that patina of age in any less time than that. Even the newest of the trio of coffins was not new, the wood long since aged to lose the odor of all but dust. If any of the vampires was less than a decade old, he'd be quite surprised. How had Abraham found them? Had a human acquaintance betrayed them? He longed to ask his Master but had learned to stay mute and obedient or face his wrath.
The best he could do was offer them a quick death. Not taking him on hunts had led to an unacceptable increase in the number of ghoulings and deaths; Abraham was forced to use him. Months of pretending to be lost in a blood-haze, unable to prevent himself from killing his prey, had convinced Abraham that it was useless to try and bring back a live vampire to study if Alucard was present.
That little victory had been worth every bit of agony from what disobedience he could manage. While Abraham still sometimes was able to obtain a subject for his "studies" it had been months since he'd done so, and Alucard's ears had been blessedly free of the screams of terror and agony as Van Helsing "studied" them. Tonight, he'd deny Abraham the pleasure of a research subject yet again, though it pushed him deeper into despair to destroy this little family. He had few qualms about destroying the careless, the loud, the greedy, those controlled by their lusts and desires. Honestly, he had no qualms, and had done his share of hunting them centuries before Abraham had captured him. No worthwhile vampire hesitated to kill them, out of disgust or self-interest. But this family...
His thoughts were cut off as a blur erupted from an alcove to his left. Faster than he could think, his hand flashed out to stab the vampire. If he'd paused, at all, to consider his action, the controls Van Helsing had enslaved him with would have stopped him, left him writhing in pain. He was expected to capture them when possible. But the controls required him to consciously disobey, and by releasing his actions to instinct and reflex, he could circumvent that. As long as Van Helsing wasn't aware that it was deliberate, he wouldn't forbid it. And so the male vampire was left on the floor, twitching briefly, eyes wide in shock, before crumbling into dust.
Alucard waited, staring at the dying male, as long as he could. It was a delaying action, both by the male in the attack on him, and in his pause to confirm the death. The remaining two vampires were given a chance, albeit slim, to escape.
"Move on." Abraham's brusque command compelled his reluctant feet into action, though as always he kept emotion from his face. A slow, steady predator's stalk, entirely unnecessary, gave his prey yet more time to escape. He could sense them, an older one nearby, just past the doorway, and a young one upstairs, frantically circling from window to window, trying to find an escape route where the soldiers outside would not see her. As the oldest vampire had done, the remaining one was trying to buy time for the youngest to find a means out of this trap. Cleverly, too; Alucard privately approved of her tactics as he realized what she intended to do.
The vampiress raced out of the dark to the side, flashing past, barely visible to Abraham...and on the opposite side of the man. Attacking her would mean going through Abraham, and the controls prevented that. A slight grin lifted the corners of his mouth, invisble to the human in the gloom. If she was that clever, she posed a threat to his Master. And he had to protect the man...it took precedence over the hunt. A few swift steps placed him between his Master and his prey, and in that time, she had flashed to another corner of the room. So quick, this one! And intelligent...it hadn't taken her long to realize that he was protecting the man, or that he was more than powerful enough to have destroyed all three of them in moments. He was delaying...and she would help.
A chunk of wood flew out of the darkness, and at the last possible moment, he batted it from the air in front of Abraham's head. Another, and another, came out of the darkness. Back to his Master, Alucard indulged himself in a wide, proud grin. He'd have to destroy her in a few minutes, there was only so much delay he could manage...but she was an excellent example of his species, and while he grieved to hunt her instead of wooing her, her quick actions made him proud.
"Dammit, Alucard, what is it doing?" Abraham's angry voice pushed the grin from his face, and Alucard forced himself to answer in a dead, emotionless voice, as had been beaten into him as "proper" for his new position.
"She's attacking you. You can't see her in the dark." Another projectile, a clasp covered in verdigris from an ancient coffin, slapped out of the air to clang on the wall beside them. "She's staying out of reach." Red eyes tracked her movement, as Abraham fumed. "Her aim is excellent. If I leave your side, you'll be injured." Hardly. He was more than quick enough to catch her before she could throw again, but Abraham couldn't know that, couldn't know that, while faster than a human, the other vampire was not particularly quick for a vampire.
"Hmmf". Abraham was nothing if not decisive. "Escort me to the stairs. Then capture her immediately. You will have one minute. She must be alive." Turning, the man strode to the stairs, fully expecting that his vampire would continue to shield him. After all, thought Alucard sourly, what choice did he have?
As soon as Abraham's boot cleared the last step, Alucard turned to his prey. He wanted to weep. She was clever, fast, fully in control of herself...and he'd be forced to listen to her scream and weep and beg for death for days until Abraham's "tests" finally exceeded her limits. But he could not resist the orders, and Abraham had been very clear, not giving him time to plan a means around them.
But she was clever, this vampiress, no fool. Holding a shard of wood ripped from a coffin, she braced herself, ready to fight...briefly. She'd seen him ordered about, heard Abraham's command, could see his misery in his eyes as he moved towards her, his pity for what would be done...and she could sense his strength. Within two steps, she'd turned the shard of wood towards herself, and thrust it into her own heart.
"Impressive." was the only thought that had time to cross Alucard's mind before his failure to follow directions and capture her brought him to his knees in pain. He refused to scream with the hunters in earshot, was determined not to give them the pleasure, and as white bursts flashed in his eyes as he twisted in agony, his jaw stayed clenched shut. A minute passed, part of another, and just before he could no longer bear it and was ready to shriek his pain, the heavy boots came down the stairs. Abraham stared at his as he writhed helplessly on the floor, then a heavy boot cracked against his ribs.
"Stop. Wait." With that release, the pain ended, leaving his gasping for unneeded breath and staring blindly at the wall. The footsteps moved away from him, the lantern brightened, and Abraham cursed quietly as he found the pile of dust. The steps returned as Alucard recovered, fighting himself to stop the shudders that were the aftershock of the agony. "Explain."
It took a few gasps before he was able to answer, his voice cracking and weak, humiliating him further. "Suicide...the wood...as you left."
"Hmmf." Abraham stood silently beside him, waiting until he could move, then walked away. "Heel." Alucard forced himself to move, knowing the pain that would result if he didn't, and scrambled after his master on hands and knees. It was humiliating to crawl, to be so weak, to appear to grovel, but it would be worse to experience that pain again for not obeying. Abraham didn't look back, his only concession to his vampire's weakness to slow slightly going up the stairs.
By the top of the stairs, Alucard's thoughts had cleared and the shock of the pain had worn off enough that he was able to pull himself upright. "Wait here." Abraham's orders were not for his benefit, the man had no mercy for him, no concern...but were only because it was time for Master to debrief his soldiers. He was put aside like any other unneeded tool for that duration.
The men gathered around at Abraham's summons, delivering their quick reports. Yes, they'd seen it, it had exited through a small back window, screened by a bush. They were proud of seeing the bush move, of recognizing what was happening, of acting so quickly to fire and destroy the beast. They had every right to be proud, for the vampire had been clever and stealthy. Alucard watched impassively, grieving inside while his dull red eyes stared blankly forward, ignored by the men now that his job was done.