Chapter 3
Chest heaving Seras gulped down the slightly chilled air in ragged breaths as she sprinted through the woods. It didn't help that it was so damn gloomy.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered why forests always had to be dark whenever you were running through them. Why couldn't they be bright and sunny for once?
Seras stumbled over another root and quickly righted herself, muttering curses that would make a sailor blush, not risking a glance behind her to see if any of those creatures were trailing her. The screams could still be heard faintly drifting alone in the direction that she had come from, this pushed her to run faster.
Her lungs burned as she tried to pull in enough air, mind struggling to stay focused solely on the task at hand. Briefly glancing up at the moon, she stopped dead. The sky was blood red... Why hadn't she noticed that before?
A shudder flickered down her spine as Seras set off again, her target now in sight as the vague outline of a building became visible over the next hill. Taking a deep breath and preparing herself for what was to come Seras slowed her steps, focusing more on stealth as she crept around the gravestones.
'God, I hope skeletons don't start popping out of the ground.' she thought as her footsteps slowly approached one of the high windows.
'Damn I can't even get a glimpse inside, sometimes I really hate being short.'
Seras sighed and edged along the side of the building with her back to the wall, gun held ready. The faint scent of candles drifted through a crack in the doors as she neared them, and cautiously she put a hand to one of the planks of wood.
Creeaaakk...
Cringing as the door swung inwards Seras quickly stepped inside, eyes darting around the building for any signs of danger.
After taking a step forward the familiar stench of rotting flesh hitting her nose before wide blue eyes locked with a figure standing near the back of the church only partially illuminated by the surrounding candles.
"The minister..."
Red eyes gleamed in the soft candle light, an amused smile pulling at the ministers lips. He walked slowly over to an altar with a book laying open upon it.
His smooth voice floated towards her, "Ah, a beautiful young maiden... Full of life, and yet so surprised at Hells messenger."
One eye turned to her and pinned Seras where she stood, a slight sneer curling back pale lips, "Pitiful."
Struggling to remain focused as something seemed to be pulling her mind in another direction, Seras forced her voice to work, "You... you're the minister who the people looked up to... The townspeople, they..." She shuddered recalling the creatures that attacked her men.
"The ghouls outside? Mere living dead existing to follow the commands of the vampire that sucked their blood.", he seemed almost smug as he said the words. The minister was walking towards her now and Seras couldn't help but notice his fangs. Mind screaming at her to flee, she noticed with a vague sense of dread that her feet had remained rooted to the spot and unable to move.
"Vampires..." Seras whispered in dawning horror. 'Now I just know I'm in a horror movie.', her mind commented helpfully.
"Indeed," came the melodious reply. "Not all humans are worthy to be turned into fellow vampires..."
Seras half listened to the droning minister while her mind skittishly raced ahead of her. 'What kills a vampire, what kills a vampire... Wooden stakes! Do I have any wooden stakes? No, drat. Um... Sunlight! Drat again, no sunlight hanging around in my back pockets. Immersion in cold water? Uhh.. Seras, I seriously doubt he'd let you dunk him in a bath, not that you have one of those handy either.' Seras sighed, it was a sure sign of stress when she started talking to herself like this.
'Silver! Crosses! ...Damnit I left the cross necklace dad gave me at home. I could have... well, poked his eye out with it or something... would a tiny silver cross to the eye kill a vampire? Uhh, what el-'
Her rambling thoughts were cut short as Seras' vision blurred and a wave of dizziness hit her. All her thoughts could conjure was a faint 'What...?' as her heart beat sang through her ears. Then her feet left the ground.
Seras felt weightless, mind struggling to keepup as her body seemed to float towards the minister. Her eyelids felt so heavy, but she still managed to voice a weak protest.
"Let me go..." she murmured, eyelids already drooping under the vampires hypnotic gaze.
"Ah, you have such a warm and delicate taste flowing within your body, I won't make you into a ghoul..." the vampire chuckled as his hand slid around to unzip the front of Seras' vest allowing him better access to her neck.
Seras grit her teeth, willing her body to move as she raised her gun with a shaking hand to press it against the vampires head.
"I... will shoot..." she warned as she felt her grip slipping, strength drifting away as a sluggish fog began creeping back over her brain.
A loud crash sounded as the church doors were suddenly blown inward, the sound of a single gunshot the only sound that could be heard after the dust had cleared.
The vampire staggered back from the shot to his head, not seeming to notice the wound as he turned enraged eyes to the girl in front of him, focusing entirely on breaking her mind and leaving her helpless.
A scream clawed its way out of her throat as Seras clamped her hands on her ears trying to stop the pain now running rampant in her head. She didn't even notice the ghouls now standing from the nearby pews to confront soldiers storming through the broken doors.
Seras couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain raking through her mind before a shot sounded near her.
The last things she saw before losing consciousness were the vampire minister falling into a swirling pile of dust, a hole clearly blown through where his face had been. Then there was the face of a soldier dressed in a green combat uniform as her vision faded into a comforting darkness.
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A/N: Yay another chapter. My writing ability has been playing dead for this past week, but I think it's finished now. So hopefully I'll still be able to get Chapter 4 done for next week.
Also, the only version I've seen of the Hellsing anime has kinda odd subtitles in the first episode. And I don't like to copy dialog right off something (it's just boring). That's why I shortened and altered what was said in the above scene, along with the obvious changes that I made specifically for this fic.
And of course thank you to WTFWonder, alucardgal, Ludifer, and EmeraldoftheFlame for your reviews of the last chapter.