Chapter 10 - Dusk breaks

The girl whimpered in his arms, her cries for help muffled with his hand over her mouth. Her struggles were nothing to him. His strength meant hers was like a mere kitten. This one was a shop worker. She even still bore her name badge as she walked home from work. Jess it read, however the blood that was leaking down her top was masking the name from view. The monster that cradled her suddenly let go, withdrawing his fangs from her neck in the process. The girl fell to the floor, weak from blood loss and shock.

Jacob wiped his mouth of her blood, he was not interested in feeding on this one. The girl moaned in pain before him as she struggled to her feet. He grinned as her. He had done this countless times as he travelled the country, infecting the vulnerable on his journey. Creating many a new werewolf, ready to enact his plan when the time was right.

"Go now, clean yourself up." he whispered to her. She stared wide eyed up at him, before looking back out to her escape route from the back alley. She took what she thought was her chance and sprinted from him. Staunching the blood flow from her already healing neck. Jacob scoffed at the fleeing damsel and wiped his suit down. Another one to his collection, he did not plan on keeping any of the newly turned. He wanted them to think of themselves as human and carry on with their pretence at humanity till the time was right. A week from now, when the full moon was ripe. That was when they would all turn and cause havoc in the British Empire. He grinned. It would be glorious. A bloody battle from within. He turned to walk back down the alley way. Ignoring the obvious filth that was around him.

Soon the rushed footsteps of his new pup could not even be heard by his ears. Good, vanished back into the poor populace that had no idea the danger they were in. Jacob chuckled to himself, the British defence was so concerned about the dangerous monsters trying to get into the county that they did little to try and detect any that were already within the population. Although he had to admit it was difficult to enter the country. His skin still itched with the holy water that he was continuously doused in. Any lesser monster would have been killed by now, or if not killed would have been found out. It was only by his impressive resistance and acting skills that he had made it this far. He raised his hand to rub his forehead, a red mark was appearing on his head. He sneered. It was a mark that was a stain on his perfect features. The blasted humans had also laid a silver cross on his forehead as he had entered. It had hurt like hell, however only a slight red mark appeared. They had been alarmed but he had convinced them he had a slight allergy to silver. That was all. The fools had believed him. They let him pass even as others of his kind had been killed trying to pass into the country.

He glanced up at the sky, the last rays of sunlight were struggling to hold onto the day. Fingers of sunlight scratching at clouds to try and keep their hold. Yet it was no use, as the crimson rays were quickly falling into the encroaching darkness that was to come. It would be a good night, once again he started his leisurely pace towards his target. London. He knew this 'Elena Hellsing' would be no match for him. Not with that little pet of hers out of the picture. Away dealing with his pups across the country. However he was not an idiot, he knew that Alucard had sent him to kill the Hellsing so that his own little bitch was free. He had planned for this. When the whelp returned to find a dead Hellsing he would capture her and drag her back to Alucard as a hostage. To make sure that Prue was safe. And if he did not keep his side of the bargain. Then he would make Alucard feel his pain, he would destroy Seras Victoria.

Elena mumbled away to herself at her desk. Things were piling up on top of her. She lowered her head to her desk. She felt the weight that she was forced to bear a little more heavier today. She looked up into her office, the last rays of light lit up the room. Slowly she watched as the window shapes on her floor fled across her vision. Her eyes crept up to the rest of her room. The portrait of Integra hung there like always, her stern eyes looking down on her. As if telling her to never surrender.

"I'm trying…I really am..,." She spoke to the portrait. As if it was alive. She looked back down to her desk, her pen limp in her hand. She was busy filling in the usual reports, tracking numbers of soldiers, supplies. The same stuff. She signed her name at the bottom of the current paper she was on. Before pushing it away to stare at the next one. She groaned and rolled her eyes. Her vampires would be up soon. Which reminded her…

The king had ordered reports and footage on his last letter, of them both in battle. Before she knew he was visiting tomorrow night. It had been an easy job of acquiring the radio from Seras. She was happy to hand it over, however Wolfe was a different story. He had lost his. It was odd, he was normally so careful. He was the last person she thought would lose something. Especially on the field. It was quite suspicious actually. But then again, it may have fallen off when he was attacked. It was quite understandable. The radio would be the last thing you would think about when fighting for your life. It was insensitive of her. Never mind. She would replace it and that would be the end of it.

The headset was by her PC. She needed to upload the data from it before she could give it back, so she pressed the power button on her PC. The machine whirred into life. The screen flashed for a second before it started to load. While she waited she looked back to her papers. She frowned, the last problem was the Catholics. They were problematic as always. She had in fact spoken to them that very day about the report that was promised her. The reply was that they did not have time, they had taken care of a priority. They had started to send out missionaries round churches to get them back on track. She was slightly surprised they had made sure to include both protestant and Catholic views in the churches. However she was still angry that they seemed to have their priorities upside down. No wonder their Vatican had fallen.

Her PC had beeped at her as if alerting her it was ready. She turned back to it. The Hellsing insignia sat proud in the centre of the screen, in front of it was a blank bar in which to enter her password. She flicked her fingers into life and typed her password in. A ding sounded and then proceeded to carry on loading. In seconds the main screen appeared to her. She proceeded to load the headset's information onto the machine. She watched as it took no time at all. Always wanting to check just to make sure they were all fine she opened the folder which housed the video files. Sure enough there they were. She clicked the radio off, it had loaded all fine. She absently clicked through each of the many files before. She was not interested in seeing the bloodshed that often accompanied her Vampire Seras. So after a couple of seconds she turned each of the video's off. The second to last video was off the Vatican evacuation. She recognised the feed as Seras got off the Helicopter mid-flight to distract the monstrous hordes underneath. She did not carry on with the film and instead loaded up the last file. Sure enough this one loaded like all the rest. She was about to click it off, when something inside told her to watch. She watched as they both jumped off the helicopter to land in the park. It looked to be a standard mission to her. However the bump in with Prue reminded Elena too much of how her and Seras first met. Her eyes glanced up to the secret staircase down to the basement. She remembered how she was forced to flee down there to escape an attack by a pack of werewolves. That was barely half a year ago. Yet it felt like a lifetime away. As the video played on in front of her she was barely watching, she was reminded of her dear brother. Arthur. She had barely thought of him since he was killed. He was just one of the deaths that had played out since she was head. The deaths of many a soldier she had seen. Including dear Walter.

Killed by Alucard no less, same as Arthur. Her teeth gritted as tears threatened. No she could not be weak like this, she needed to be strong! She forced her eyes back to the video. Just in time to see Wolfe attacked by the monster that was Prue. Her huge fangs sliced down into Wolfe as if he was nothing more then butter. The blood brought bile to her lips, but she forced it down and watched more. She watched as Seras fought to save Wolfe. Something that appeared very human to her, it was almost odd to see her like that. Yet why did she not expect that? She had known her for months now and while a monster she did express softer sides often around her.

Elena could barely rip her eyes away, barely blink as she listened to Seras chant the familiar rhyme to release her seals. All the way to level one. She could not help a smile as Prue bore a frightened face. Good. So she should be. It was nice to have a monster like that on our side for a change. See how they like it. Yet something odd started to happen. The radio started to fade, black dots appeared around it and began to cover the screen. Elena's face grew serious. She paused the image and started it again. It was fine, apart from the blackness. She even rewound it. Yet the image was the same. She could only watch as the screen grew black. The only thing that remained was the timer in the top left. The timer carried on ticking even as the image was black, there was no sound either. Nothing. She was about to stop it again when all of a sudden a new image sprang into life. The timer carried on, suggesting only a few seconds had passed. Yet the body of the dead Prue was mutilated and decapitated on the floor. And a worried Wolfe was staring at her. Pale and breathing heavily. There was no way that was few seconds. What had happened? She was trying to work out what had happened…when she spotted something. Wolfe still bore the radio on his face! He had not lost it in the attack.

She carried on watching as Wolfe was talking oddly to Seras. Even Seras sounded confused as to his behaviour towards her. Yet Elena carried on watching to see what had happened to his radio. Still he had it on. She watched as the helicopter arrived to pick them up. Still he had it. She watched until Seras turned it off. That was just before they arrived. He had it on as he was sat in the great metal machine. He couldn't have lost it…yet why would he lie? Elena vowed to question him on it.

Elena looked up to see the time, yet she did not need to. It was dark in her office, she had not even noticed that her only light source was now her PC. She rapped her fingers on her desk thinking about what to do now. Her eyes roamed her desk once more. Then they fell on the radio headset belonging to Seras. With that she grabbed a hold of it and pocketed it. She stood up from her chair and quickly turned off her PC. It was loaded with sensitive information, it would be no good to just leave it on while she was not here. Once done she disembarked from her spot in the office and walked out of the room.

Wolfe awoke in his room, he felt groggy and did not want to move. Yet his eyes were wide now, and unlike back in his human life for some reason he could never sleep in. Must be a vampire thing he told himself. He knew it must be dusk, it always was the time his eyes opened. Again, a vampire thing. He yawned as he sat up. Stretching his arms in the process. Yet as his mind cleared he thought about tonight. He had such a night planned out for both the lads and Seras! To make up for the lost game. He was originally going to introduce her to them via the poker game. But this idea was much better. He grinned to himself as he was thinking. He pulled himself out of bed and started to get ready for the evening. He hoped and prayed to whatever god could still hear him that there was no monsters out there that picked tonight to ruffle the feathers of the army. He needed this day off.

Seras opened her eyes to her room, her vision was fuzzy and hazy. She felt awful. What was wrong with her? Her muscles felt heavy and her head was a dead weight. She lifted her head to try and focus. But her effort was rewarded with dizziness and sickness. Great. Being ill was a human complaint. What was happening? She laid her head back down and took a few breaths. Something familiar to calm her head. It appeared to work. Her dizziness faded. Once again she focused on rising. This time she managed it, even with her body feeling like a dead weight. Her muscles tired and complaining. She was reminded of that time that dreaded Paladin Alexander had used that new spell that turned her back to a human while she was trapped. It was a spell she had never seen before or since. It may have been a one trick pony he decided to try on her. But she was sure that was not what was happening now. She tried to think back to any illness she had had as a human. Yet it was a struggle, it all seemed like so long ago. Only flashes of this and that came to mind. Nothing of any illness.

Her eyes started to focus now, her gaze trailed her sweat covered body. Something on her arms caught her eye, red lines covered her arms. At first it appeared to be blood, yet on closer inspection she noticed they were bright red veins almost popping out of her skin. Her palms were up to her, sheathed in her leather fingerless gloves. She turned them over. Blood was slowly leaking from the backs of her hands. That was it. Getting up out of the coffin she made her way to the bathroom. Inside she slowly took off her gloves, they hurt today. That was odd. Her hands were shaking slightly as she placed the gloves on the floor. Then she started to unwrap the blood stained bandages. These were fresh on last night, yet they were soaked. Another thing that was odd. Yet the same thing happened last night. Was this to just get worse? She hoped not. Both bandages were dropped to the floor. Blood still seeped out of the runes, the wounds looked fresh. As if someone had carved into her skin minutes ago. She flexed her fingers. Her hands were sore and tingled with pain. She leaned over the sink and breathed in once again. This would not do. Yet she did not know what was happening. Such a thing never happened to her while bound to Integra. Nor had she heard of it from Alucard. But then again she doubted he would share even if he did.

She raised her head to her medicine cabinet where more bandages lay. She was about to open it when she noticed something in her eye. She stopped her hand just as her fingers traced the edge. She narrowed her eyes to focus and leaned in closer. She could not tell very well, she opened her eyes wider and even pulled down the skin under her eye. There now she could see. Specks of blue dotted her crimson eyes. She blinked back. What was this? Some sort of vampiric illness she had never heard off? Great she was sure Elena would find this hilarious. She wasn't sure Elena would accept her calling in sick…she laughed to herself. Seras shrugged in the mirror. You could not see the blue specks unless you knew they were there. Suddenly she swore something moved in the mirror. She swerved around. Was there something behind her? There was nothing. Just the bathroom wall. Her face grew annoyed as she turned back to the mirror…yet there it was again! Something in the mirror was definitely moving, a blackness. Some sort of shadow? She turned around once again. Slower this time. Yet once again she was greeted with nothing there. She moved her head back to the mirror again.

Yet what she saw shocked her to the core. The seething face of herself met her gaze. Bright crimson burning eyes and a look of pure hate filled her features. Her mirror image snarled at her. Seras stepped back in fright. The mirror Seras did no such thing and instead raised her hand to bash on the mirror. Seras reached the wall of the bathroom, her back touched the cool ceramic tiles. She did not know what to do. She was stuck in that spot. Afraid of what was happening. Her mind raced, yet it was all blank. This was a threat she did not know how to tackle. The mirror image raged in her prison and struck the glass once more. This time a tiny crack formed in the glass. Seras fell to the floor of the room, she could not tear her eyes away from the image.

Suddenly a knock on her door broke the trance she was in. Her eyes left the mirror to look to the doorway, she quickly shot her eyes back to the mirror. Yet it was blank! There was nothing there now, she could only see the bathroom wall in the glass…She stared intently at the glass. Even as another knock rang out. What was that? Seras laughed to herself, she truly was mad. She was starting to see things. Her form was shaking as she picked herself off the floor and neared the mirror once again. In its reflection was her weary face. Her blood red eyes now free of blue specks but her face covered in sweat. She placed her hands on her face. Forcing her breathing to calm, she had not even noticed that she had been breathing.

"Master?" A voice called unsure into her room. That was Wolfe. Seras pulled her hands away from her face, she did not want him to see her like this. She quickly slammed the bathroom door shut.

"I'm just in here. Be out in a minute." She called out, trying to steady her shaky voice. She heard him push her door open.

"Are you ok?" He asked. Possibly concerned that she had slammed the door.

"Y-yes! Just got out of the shower!" She lied to him.

"Oh, ok. Do you want me to leave?" He asked. Taking her at her word. Seras looked down to the sink, the blood from her runes was leaking still. It was now trailing down her arms and to the sink. The odd red veins from before had vanished to her relief. Her breathing had slowed to a stop now as she answered with a much calmer voice.

"If you want. I won't be long."

Seras ran the taps on the sink, first cleaning her wounds and the blood from her arms. The runes stung a little but she ignored it and cleaned them. The water in the sink turned a pink from the red liquid. As she cleaned she began to feel more and more like herself, the sickness dripped off her with the blood into the sink. Until she felt good as new. She sighed with relief. That was better. Even her runes stung less now. She straightened her back and stared back into her mirror. She examined the whole image. There was nothing out of place now. Yet she still felt unease staring at her reflection. She opened up the cabinet to reveal her bandages and scissors. This one was getting a bit low, but she had plenty more. Like many a time before she pulled a certain length out and cut it. Knowing instinctively how much she needed now. She wrapped both her palms up in the material and folded it into placed. Completing the look with her leather gloves. Good as new. She flexed her fingers. The pain was gone once again.

She was about to exit the room when she remembered Wolfe was outside, she glanced down at herself. She was still in her pyjamas. She called upon a little of her power. Her pyjamas vanished, to be replaced with her military uniform. Complete with her weapons. Even the sweat from her body was gone and she knew her hair was perfect again. She smiled. She felt like herself again. Her guise was back up as the trashman of Hellsing. Still grinning she exited the bathroom.

Elena knocked on the door to Wolfe's room. There was no answer. She knocked again. Still nothing. She glanced up and down the basement corridor. Nothing…where was he? She risked opening the door slightly ajar. Just enough to peer inside. It was too dark, she could not see. She cursed her human eyes and felt around to flick the light on. Her heart thudded in her chest as she knew she was intruding. She tried to tell herself she wasn't…but she knew the truth. The light fizzed into life above her. Illuminating the room before her. Her eyes scanned the room. No one. He was not here.

"Peter?" She spoke out, testing to see if he was there. No answer. She bit her lip as she looked up and down the corridor once more. She risked entering his room. He had to have that radio stashed somewhere, there was no way he would tell her where it was. Thoughts raced through her head. He probably had hidden it better then his room, she was being stupid. Yet she found herself tiptoeing into the room. Leaving the door slightly ajar as she entered. Her eyes scanned the room. Nothing yet, there was a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. She decided to check the drawers first. There was nothing on top, just like last time. She bent down and placed her hand on the drawer on the bottom. Her eyes shot up to the door as she pulled the drawer out. Worried that he would come in on her digging through his stuff. She cursed the noise it made as she dragged it over the wood. Inside was clothes. She dug through them,

trying not to disturb them as she went. Nothing. She closed it. She could not help her eyes once again going back to the door. What she doing? She could just order a search of his room if she needed to. She pulled open the second drawer. More clothes. Once again she searched through them. Nothing.

Elena closed that drawer as well. She now was stood up and pulled out the last drawer. This one was not clothes. It bore a pack of cards in the corner with condoms piled round it. Chips that looked to be used in a card game and a small pile of semi creased porn magazines. The usual sort of guy stuff that wound its way in here. She checked over all of them, feeling a bit dirty now. Nothing there. She checked the other side past the magazines. Where a few maps and weapon rounds were stored. Once again she poked around, now no longer expecting to find anything. She moved a map out of place….and there it was! The radio he had worn…Elena picked it up. Careful to leave everything else where it was. Why was he hiding it?! Elena turned to the door. Should she take it? He would know she had taken it. Who else was asking him about it. She debated putting it back….No! She had a right to know what was on this.

She pocketed the headset. Telling herself this was the right thing to do. So why did she feel so slimy about this? She flicked the switch off for the light and closed the door softly. As if she had never been there.

Woot another chapter done. Hope you all like!