+Chapter 3: Turn back+

Heinkel watched from the window on the third floor as the last lot of the children where piled onto a bus and driven away, down the hill and through the small countryside, to the town not too far away.

She'd come up with a suitable excuse that it was merely a routine check after asbestos was found in an apparent wall of the building.

It was a lie, but it was all she had.

She knew they had to figure out what was happening at the orphanage and wasn't willing to risk the children' safety. Or any of the other' safety and health.

She stroked at her scarred cheek, glad that it was healing over slightly and it no longer stung for her when she lit a cigarette.

She'd survived the great battle in London and hundreds of missions.

She could easily find out what was happening.

But first, she had to wander why she kept having a strong urge to punch a priest in the face. Specifically a new priest who she quite liked.

In the kitchen…

Kat cleaned up the last cup for the fifth time, dipping into back into the water and making sure every spot was wiped off of it. It was her little habit when she was stressed or worried and could do nothing about it.

The kids were gone, Alex was no where to be seen and Yumiko and Angelo had separately confined themselves to their rooms.

A soft click and the feeling of someone else in the room made Kat turn around and she spotted the one person she needed to see at the moment.

"Alex?" She walked around the counter to where he was standing, gripping the edge of the counter, "Are you all right love? Jesus…Alexander, you look awful. Are you sick love?" Kat reached up and carefully touched the flat of her palm against his cheek, feeling along from his forehead to the back of his neck.

Alex had walked in, looking hot, flushed and ready to pass out. His hands had instinctively reached to support himself from keeling over and had been led to a familiar place with a familiar person.

"I just…I feel hot kitten. I feel hot." Alex managed to gulp down some saliva down his dry throat. His vision was starting to blur and the only thing that he could feel was the cool hand of Kat on his face, urging him to focus.

"You are, you're burning up!" Kat carefully took hold of a chair and gently urged him to sit down on it whilst fetching a kitchen cloth to clean his face, "You aren't even supposed to get sick! Oh love, what's happening?"

Alex focused on the damp cloth against his skin, trying to focus.

"I don't know…kitten I don't know," Alex squinted his eyes tightly shut at a sharp pain in his head, twisting his head away, "Water…please kitten water."

Kat was seriously starting to get worried. She grabbed a glass and rushed around to the freezer, grabbing a few ice cubes and tried to distract her thoughts away from the fact his regenerative powers might be failing him. She went over just as he appeared to be trying to stand up.

"Shhh…wait," she carefully held onto a shoulder and passed one ice cube up to his lips, "this will make you feel better. Here Love. Maybe I should go grab a doc-" Kat was suddenly stopped midway when Alex grabbed at her wrist.

"Get away," his eyes opened and he growled loudly at her, "GET AWAY!"

Kat stumbled backwards and nearly fell on her butt at the violent shove he gave her.

"Alex?!" She looked at her bruised wrist and gently rubbed it, "you hurt me…if-if you didn't want ice, all you needed to do was say-" Again, Kat' now small voice was interrupted by his loud growling.

"Dog…nothing more than that," he muttered and a twist of his hands brought out his bayonets from his sleeves, "got you at last!"

Kat glared at him, her battle stance ready as where her own bayonets as he dove upon her. She raised them above herself, crossing them either side and blocking his attack, though his strength against hers was substantially bigger and she was straining under his sheer power.

"Al-ALEX! What the hell are you doing?!" She used as much strength and speed as she could, springing back and breaking the contact, "Why?! WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?!"

Alex could hardly hear through the pumping in his ears and the voices in his head telling him what he believed was true. That Alucard, the vampire of Hellsing was standing before him.

"Putrid, disgusting vermin," Alex gave her a sadistic smile, "That's all you ever where. And now you shall die at my hands properly. Vampire!" Alex' coat billowed out around him as he prepared for another attack, ready to leap.

Kat couldn't believe it. Her arms fell limp at her sides upon hearing him call her such things.

"Vampire? VAMPIRE?! Are you crazy?! Alex, what in God's name has gotten into you! It's me! It's Kat! Kitten! Your-your Kitten!"

Alex dove forward in a flash of light before Kat could even think of moving, her throat suddenly grabbed as she was shoved violently back against the table and Alex' face pressed closed down to hers.

"I have you now." He said, but although he growled, for a mere second, it seemed the vision jumped and he flinched at the image of his wife Kat, before the smiling face of Alucard returned.

Kat gasped and dropped her bayonets as the impact hurt her back, and she stared up into his eyes, seeing something reachable within the fires of his insanity.

"Alex! A-Alex p-please stop!" She reached up and placed her own hands on top of his, attempt to pry him off as he squeezed, "Alex please!"

The words finally seemed to reach Alex and he shook his head to rid himself of the distorted images and terrible sounds, pulling away and dropping the bayonets.

"Stop-stop. Stop spinning," Alex' eyes opened and he looked at Kat, "Kitten-Kitten!" He suddenly realised what he had been doing and what he had also been about to do to her, "No…go! Kitten, something' wrong. You have to go-go!" Alex backed further away from her and took deep breaths as he tried to control himself, "Find Angelo! Go, Kat run!"

Kat was panting and rubbing at her neck, watching him and never having such confusion in her entire life at such a terribly wrong situation.

"B-but I…I don't want to leave you alone," she came forward out of her fear and stepped towards him trying to make her voice stop shaking and sound confident, "come with me. Angelo can help. Alex-" the sound of her voice wobbling and about to break off into tears was enough for Alex.

"GO! GO!" Alex pushed her firmly away again for her own safety, grabbing at his bayonets and beginning to lash out at around him, trashing whatever lay in his way in her small kitchen, "FOR GODSAKES LEAVE KITTEN!"

When he pushed her, she stumbled and really did fall back, her legs weak from the amount of emotion her entire system was taking. When he began to thrash out and scream at her, she'd hurriedly scurried up and ran as fast as she could out of the back emergency door, scared like a cat being chased by a big truck.

"Alex!" She sobbed as she ran to the greenhouse, tears running down her cheeks and unstoppable, "ALEX!"

She fell over once or twice and on the third time, when she was far enough to no longer hear the sounds of destruction, she wept bitterly into the ground, trying to control her tears and summon the courage to go on to help the priest she loved.

Meanwhile…

Yumiko had woken up feeling like she had been left to long in cold water. Her arms and legs ached as she struggled to move and her head felt as if it had been used as a football. She had a fever but was shivering, even though she knew her skin was hot to touch. And worse thing was, when she had awoken, so had Yumie.

Ignoring any obscenities and angry visions from her sister, she managed to summon the strength to stumble out of bed and out of her room. It had taken her a good hour to get down and out of the orphanage, a trip which would only last her about 10 minutes. When the cool night air hit her, she felt all the more dizzy but pressed on. She pushed her nails into the palms of her hands, the pain keeping her alert and awake. She even was tempted to bite her own hand to stop herself from fainting and giving power to Yumie, but there was no need.

"Angelo?" She walked through the familiar door and gazed about the place, concentrating on her breathing.

She had arrived at the lab and large greenhouse.

When she'd first walked in, she knew something felt strange. The plants had seemed to curl and distort even further around the large complex. It wasn't a nicely and neatly constructed 'jungle' as Yumiko had first seen. Now, it just reminded her of a deep, dark and scary wood that she'd only heard about in the horror tales. She didn't like the feeling it gave her at all.

She stepped over large vines carefully, ducking out of the way of things which had overgrown around her. She felt as if they were moving about her, waiting to snag her. She eventually caught sight of a figure, huddled over his desk in a small space, the white coat and figure clear to see.

"Angelo!" Yumiko whimpered in relief and ran forward toward him as best she could.

Angelo' head was raised and he slowly turned around to face her, Yumiko just coming within a foot of him before she caught sight of his eyes.

Those warm brown and golden eyes that always made her feel safe. But her smile turned into a frown as the golden eyes gleamed down at her and she felt like the mouse who was staring up at the hawk.