Chapter VIII: The Reaper Of Time

"Now what?" Hugh questioned staring at the growing void before them.

Serenity's eyes hardened as she replied, "I don't know, but I think this is my fault."

"Don't start with that nonsense," Nathan began, "you saved Richter."

Shaking her head Serenity replied, "No, we don't know if Adrian was going to kill him or not. For all we know he would have stopped right before the blade came down on him."

Alucard regarded her with interest, "You called me by name just now, how do you know me?"

She looked back to him, but could not get her words to form. With her silence came the painful rumbling of the void, now five times its original size. From it began to emerge a dark being.

"Is that Death?!" Hugh shouted backing away.

"No," Alucard replied, "impossible. Death is gone."

Serenity joined the others by backing away from the being and said, "He's right, this thing isn't Death. Its power is far too great."

The being laughed deep and stated simply, "How amusing, four little mice running loose in time."

His voice sent chills through all of them. Simon bent down and slung an arm of the unconscious Richter over his shoulder. He dragged him back to the far side of the room and withdrew his whip.

"We may not have weapons ourselves," Nathan stated, "but we'll help in any way we can!"

At this Alucard stepped forward and stood side-by-side Simon. The two shared a look, and then they launched themselves at the beast.

"We can't just stand here and do nothing!" Hugh shouted, "They'll need help!"

Hugh was about to run after them when Saint Germain's voice shouted down to them, "Don't be a fool, you wouldn't last two seconds with that thing!"

"What's going on?!" Serenity demanded, "What is that thing?"

"Listen well you three," he began, "When you disrupted time that monster you see before you became aware of where you were. That's what has been hunting you, its called the Time Reaper."

"A reaper of time?" Nathan questioned.

"Precisely. As with any reaper the Time Reaper looks for souls to take to the afterlife, however it looks for wanderers of time and beings that threaten to alter the past, present, or future. When Serenity was seen by Alucard it began to alter the current and future timeline," he replied hastily.

"So it was my fault," Serenity stated absently.

Now Zed's voice called down, "In a word, yes. You don't have time to sit and curse yourself. You have to get away from that thing before it kills you all."

"What do you suggest we do?" Nathan asked coldly, "We can't just leave Alucard here to fight it by himself. You got us into this mess, now get us out!"

"Impudent little…" Zed began, but was cut off by Saint Germain.

"You can argue about it later, now listen to me, the only way for you to escape the Time Reaper is to seal it," he explained "You can't kill it, and the seal won't hold it for long, but once you return to your own time the Reaper will leave you be. Just like Zed and myself it cannot meddle in the affairs of the present time, there would be too many complications."

"Great, so all we have to do perform a seal and get out of here. Sounds easy enough," Hugh spat.

"Stop," Serenity stated as she watched Alucard and Simon get knocked away, "This was my fault so I'll do the seal. If Simon and Adrian can hold it off a while longer I can form the seal and the two of you can get Richter out of the castle."

"No, I'm not going to leave you behind," Nathan stated and put a hand on her shoulder.

Serenity looked at her brother deep in his eyes and replied, "I'll be right behind you as soon as I finish the seal. It would be too dangerous for all of you to stay here when I perform it," she grasped his hand, "Trust me, I can do this."

Nathan looked at his sister a moment longer before nodding his head. Serenity got into position and began chanting her most powerful sealing spell. Nathan called over to Simon and Alucard and told them to follow them out of the castle as soon as Serenity was ready. Once he had their reassurance he helped Hugh take Richter out of the room and down the stairs to the main floor.

"Serenity, are you sure you want to do this?" Simon shouted as he dodged one of the reaper's attacks, "It seems like an unnecessary risk."

Serenity remained silent for a minute as she finished her spell, then yelled, "Yes, if I would have let things run its course we wouldn't be in this situation right now. Both of you go, the seal is ready!"

The reaper laughed as Alucard and Simon retreated. The two ran past Serenity, but Alucard lingered as Simon left the throne room.

"You knew I wasn't going to kill Richter," he said to her, "How could you know something like that? Who are you, really?"

Taking a breath Serenity replied, "I can't tell you that Adrian, not now. You'll meet me again several years from now, but I won't know you then. My brother and the other hunters are on a quest to vanquish your father for good, but to do that we needed help from other hunters in different eras, that's why we came here tonight, we needed Richter."

Alucard's eyes hardened as she explained the task ahead of them and said, "Take me with you as well, let me be of aid to you."

Serenity looked at him with wide eyes, "Adrian…," she hesitated, "We can't take that chance. You helped when I first became…," she shook her head, "If I brought you with us you wouldn't be there to help everyone you are meant to."

Alucard turned to leave, then stated, "You're a vampire. I could sense it the moment I saw you. You have my father's blood running through your veins, but also…"

Serenity thought she saw him smile as he trailed off and left the room. It had been so long since she saw that cold beautiful smile, and she almost let her guard drop. As the door to the throne room closed she returned her attention back to the Time Reaper.

"Seal!" she yelled and sent the spell towards the reaper.

Laughing the Time Reaper hit the spell away with his scythe making it rebound off the far wall. Serenity's eyes widened in disbelief as the Time Reaper sent a powerful blast at her. It hit her directly, and caused her to crash against the door.

"How clever, little mouse," he laughed in amusement, "but it will take a much more powerful spell to seal me."

Serenity staggered to her feet and could feel warm liquid on her lips. The taste of blood coursed through her mouth and her fangs became more pronounced with each passing moment.

"Little mouse," the Time Reaper taunted "are you aware of what you are? What you have inside of you?"

"I am a vampire," she replied with a growl, "and I have the heart of hunter inside me."

Serenity struggled to remain calm, but the pain in her chest and the taste of blood was beginning to cloud her vision and mind. She could feel her nails grow sharper, and could smell every trace of blood within the castle walls. This was something she had experienced before when she first became a vampire, but there was something else she could feel as well, hatred and rage.

The Time Reaper laughed, "I see, so he didn't tell you. You, little mouse, are so much more then a vampire."

"I'm getting sick of that laugh of yours," she stated darkly.

As the words left her lips Serenity did not recognize her own voice. It was darker and deeper then her voice, and it was full of such bloodlust and hatred that she thought for an instant that it was Lord Dracula's voice. The thought of it sent shivers through her body, and suddenly the air around her began to grow warm.

"You see," the Time Reaper continued, "the air around the undead is cold, yet the air around you is growing hotter and hotter by the second."

What he said was true. She had not noticed it at first, but now the warmth that was surrounding her was as hot and as blazing as a wild fire. Fire. Serenity was suddenly looking at the world through a wall of fire. She was no longer in the castle, but in a village engulfed with flames. She could hear screams, and as she looked down she saw her hands covered in blood.

Serenity staggered and backed away as the vision disappeared, and in its place floated the Time Reaper. He smiled at her and struck her with his scythe. She was sent flying once more and struck the door for the second time. Once on the ground she coughed up blood and looked up at the Time Reaper as he advanced towards her with his scythe held high.

"Good bye, little mouse," he said, and brought the scythe down with incredible strength.