A/N: Hi guys! I ended up going through and reediting this chapter even though I promised myself I wouldn't. Please let me know what you think! As lame as it sounds, I would really like to hear from you as you read through. A review was the spur that got me back into this story's saddle and it makes me nervous to post when I don't get any feedback.

A huge thank you to everyone who has stuck around all this time; reviewers, favoriters, followers, and silent readers (I see you on my feedback graph! It makes my day to see the reader count go up with each additional chapter.) You guys are this story's lifeblood and I'll try to update as much as possible while on still on this writing kick. Maybe I'll even get around to completing the whole thing over the next few weeks!

Thank you all for reading, you have no idea how much it means to me that some people actually enjoy my writing style. The first review on this story was a mean flame so it is really great to read so much feedback (even if it's a criticism!) to keep me motivated.

Ps. I'm looking for a beta reader. I've read and reread this story so many times that it's getting difficult to find spelling and formatting errors even though I know they're there. I can feel it in my bones. If anyone is interested please shoot me a message!

Via Dolorosa (n.):

1. The route believed to have been taken by Jesus through Jerusalem to Calvary.

2. A distressing or painful journey or process.

"God forgives some who've sinned, Demon." That sinister smirk twisted grotesquely, morphing his once handsome features into something downright rapacious. It painted a specific picture of the sins to which he referred.

The manic blue eyed paladin grinned widely as he poked the center of his clefted chin with a finger. Pleasant nostalgia relaxed his shoulders. His eyes lifted to the night sky, recalling soft white morning light that bathed the scenery of a particular memory with a glowing feeling in his chest. The way her big crystalline eyes grew empty and despondent as she bled out on a battlefield when she proved useless; the frozen, broken look on that tall dark vampire's face when he found her there. Ah, happier days.

"Artemy. That was her name." He snapped his fingers as his eyes slid back to the vampire standing a short way ahead, relishing the hatefully narrowed red eyes eyes that cut through the night. He always enjoyed this part of their eternal dance. "Such a sight. Oh how she smiled when I chose her for the Scythe. She was always so desperate for my attention, wasn't she?"

Pop!

The slight resistance of the trigger pull clicked and a powerful explosion jumped Jackal's sleek silver barrel up an inch or two before settling back into Alucard's well-trained grip. Jace dropped to the ground, knocked completely off his feet by the bullet's forceful impact.

Killing this creature normally filled him with such fractious glee, it was similar to finally killing an unwanted pest after a long, disruptive fight.

A mosquito, or more fittingly, a cockroach.

With the echo of Angelica's distant, vulnerable, heartbeat ringing in his ears, the most ancient vampire was overcome with possessive fury as his trigger finger itched. Another bullet ripped through that smirking Paladin's body, leaving a vast hole in the side of his chest. Each rib cracked and exposed as fluttering pink lung shrunk away from the bitter, dry air.

Though he grinned at the grisly sight, he couldn't truly enjoy this fellow ancient spirit's temporary death.

Gurgling gasps and stunted cries freckled the night, dotted with the bangs and pops of each fresh shell from Seres's weapon. Humans fell around the small clearing. Blood spattered and streaked the trees with each dull snap of exploding propellent like red party streamers. A small wooden shack stood in shambles with a green Starry Plough flag pinned in the window. A dozen bodies scattered about the front stairs like fallen logs following a volcanic eruption.

Angelica's kind heart wouldn't have survived human bloodshed of this magnitude, it wasn't in her nature. She wasn't made of the same stuff as Integra or Seres. She was more cautious. She was soft.

Alucard strolled to the man crumbling into the blood mottled dirt.

"Those tattoos of hers are really something." The deflating sack of organs gasped with a smile woven through his lilting voice. Half of his face was sloshed with filth where he sunk into the muddy earth. One eyeball rolled up to the tall being looming above.

Jace's face went slack and pale when Alucard pressed his boot against the side of his head, pressing him more deeply into the mud to remind him where he belonged. Under the pale shock in his trembling expression Alucard knew he'd be dead in moments.

He's only human, after all.

Then the idiot decided it was wise to go on with his jovial jeer, dirt sticking to his teeth in clumps as he grinned wider still. "Maybe this time I'll just lock her away for my own amusement. After she kills you, that is." Another cheery grin bared straight white teeth. The crushing pressure of Alucard's boot cracked his skull with the slightest motion. Streams of vermillion flowed between each tooth, oozing from his mouth in thick, vibrant dribbles as he sighed, "Sweet Angelica, my destroying angel. If that damned Kraut wasn't so weak in the presence of divinity I'd already have her."

As much as the vampire wanted to rip his jaw from its hinging joint, he needed as much information as possible before he could enjoy this creature's gurgling death cries. Drowning in his own blood.

Alucard felt a pleased smirk pull his cheeks higher toward his eyes. Yes, that would be enjoyable to watch.

Jace's blue eyes grew wide under Alucard's shadow as he said, "I could have had her at any time, but I needed that extra leverage from the Kraut or our followers might have turned away from my teachings. With his examination of her abilities, I've gained quite the little retinue." He shuddered violently as shock set in, his voice trembling and sputtering. "I've decided a diff-different route, as you c-can see. Playing Priest isn't nearly as fu-fun as p-playing Prophet. As soon as that girl comes ba-back my way they'll follow me until death."

Then his trembling fell still, his absent eyes suddenly becoming clear as he stared up at the vampire. "I can't wait to finally watch you die."

Hate flooded Alucard's cold, dead veins. A human who sold his own soul for power, a different kind of power from what a vampire possessed, was mocking him with the pallid complexion of a corpse as he quickly bled out.

This thing thought it could kill him? More, he thought the soft soul of Angelica would cause his final demise? Alucard stared at the shuddering mass of blood.

He doesn't know that little contrarian very well.

The mocking grins didn't bother him as much as they had in the past. This time Angelica was sheltered under the protection of Hellsing; he couldn't get his putrid hands on her. This worm, squirming and twitching in the mud, would never touch her again.

This time she would survive.

Rather than stand there and listen to the inane threats of a dead man, Alucard instead opted to rain hell upon his miserable existence.

Blood splattered and flew into the air with every loud bang. His heavy boot crushed his head in one fluid motion.

Alucard lifted his gaze at the surrounding chaos. Seres had become a fine vampiress, he couldn't contain his prideful grin when a man shouting gaelic was suddenly blasted into a fine pink mist to his left.

A squeaking groan came from below. Alucard blinked his gaze back to the corpse in the mud. Holes in its chest and face began closing quickly as if he were a sponge filling with water.

Alucard's eyes narrowed. Well, that's new.

A new, pink fleshed arm shot from Jace's shoulder socket and pushed his chest from the ground. The other arm, still somewhat intact, crunched and popped gruesomely until it snapped back to its normal shape as his skull inflated like a popped baloon until it was whole again.

Alucard had to remind himself nothing was 'normal' about this particular human.

Rocking there on all fours he continued as if he'd never been so rudely interrupted in his life. "It's a shame I couldn't get into Mina before you could change her. It rotten luck that someone else managed to take care of her for me or I may have found a bit of trouble with the Big Man." His broken jaw clacked back into place. A line of magenta spittle flung from his deformed lips as he provoked the vampire now holding the square muzzle of a gun against his head. Jace's remaining blue eyeball rolled up to look at the grinning vampire high above.

Alucard's sharp grin shrunk an inch. The Paladin laughed, rather enjoying the sight.

"Ah, you get it now! It's like you didn't even listen to my little speech when I killed her the first time" He sniffed. "I was starting to feel a little insulted." Jace licked the blood from his sanguinary lips as his face reconstructed itself. The ground grew muddled with blood and wriggling strips of muscle and flesh that crawled back to their host. "Ripping my skin away was quite painful the last time, maybe you should start thinking of ways to truly end my life before trying that again." Then he laughed cheerily. "Oh wait! You can't—!"

The trigger pulled and his head exploded, his brain stem smashed against some far off rock. There was a dull thud as some piece of skull fell several feet away. Just for good measure, Alucard shot the unmoving body twelve more times, cracked his ribs, and crushed his heart underfoot.

The Count stood in that desecrated carcass for a few moments to ensure it was finally done talking.

He didn't want to accept what the paladin had to say. Somewhere inside he knew eventually she would go back to her paladin. She would believe anything he told her, and then she would die like all of the others before her.

"Burn it." He commanded Seres who was dragging her rocket launcher in the blood mottled mud with a look of shock and disgust on her pretty face. She was spattered with a rainbow of multi colored blood from several dozen bizarre creatures that had been patrolling the area. But that didn't appear to affect her as badly as the mangled puddle of a body at Alucard's feet. The police girl made a sound, 'ghee!' then tip toed around bits of detached and spilling organs to collect every last scrap of mashed paladin.

That monster was not getting his hands on Angelica Rampart; his salvation. The soul which called to him like a siren's sweet voice over the dark, torturous sea in which he found himself drowning.

That was in October. The following day he found his dear Slayer standing in the treasury staring at her pearlescent Scythe, her eyes a gleaming daze as she found herself inexplicable drawn.

He remembered the way Artemy's eyes lit with excitement when that bastard priest presented her with that very same weapon. It took him only a day to convince Artemy that her life long friend and protector was God's greatest enemy.

No, Alucard reminded himself, Angelica was different from Artemy. She was not easily fooled.

As intelligent as Artemy was, she was searching for acceptance after her hellish childhood. Acceptance a vampire could never give. And the one who finally gave her that loving embrace was the Church. And the priest who presided over her convent.

Angelica, on the other hand, distrusted everything. As a forcefully independent young woman she doubted anything within swatting distance until proven wrong. Alucard hoped that trait wouldn't eventually draw her back to Ireland in search of answers. When he told her so, that stubborn look in her eyes drew him to her like a magnet.

Her lips felt like a memory. The way she softly gave in to the static between them made him want to bite her right then. He wanted to hoard her in the darkness with him for all eternity. Softly, her lips parted against his as he pressed her for more. Her mouth was even sweeter than he remembered. His fingers slid around her back, gripping the sides of her shirt to keep from crushing her in his enchanted haste. His teeth sunk lower, aching to bite the porcelain flesh of her exposed throat and drag her into eternity.

Then she stabbed him and ran off without looking back to the way his insides fell from his navel.

He couldn't force her to acknowledge what they were. She would eventually realize that on her own. She wasn't a stupid woman. On the contrary, she was infuriatingly bright. So much so that she picked up on things he'd never told her; his unsettled feelings toward eternity and immortality, his desire to feel humanity's soulful grip. Somewhere within her fragile human body she wanted to know everything about him and his drives and one day he was certain she would. For now he had to keep his captive little moth from that particular flame.

He wondered if she would understand why he arranged that lab in her room. She would probably die of shock when it dawned on her. Who knew, maybe she wouldn't pick up on his attempts to distract her from leaving the estate on her own.

He smirked at the thought of her sputtering and blushing as she tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for his kind gesture.

The real shock came when more activity exploded into motion only a day later.

Monsters were unleashed in Germany, a tall creature in a tuxedo was eating small children. In China, a pair of creatures were eating the bones of virgins and leaving their corporal envelopes behind. Then there was that damned paladin and his cult, killing girls when they turned out not to be Angelica. He was certain they were simply drawing him out, just as Angelica had suggested.

Master Integra insisted he complete his assignment before returning, unfortunately he wasn't sure that would be possible without giving up his little Slayer to the enemy.

He wasn't desperate enough to sacrifice Angelica.

Which was why those dark blue eyes narrowed on him and hurled Artemy's name around like an insult. Though it may come as a surprise, Alucard was not renowned for his patient nature.

The overwhelming sadness she experienced at the mention of her damned lover's death put him on edge. She fell apart like a tantruming child. That edge didn't dissolve, it grew. It grew and grew until he was back on that helicopter to Germany, his eyes scouring the distant property for a flash of blonde that might dare to escape out of defiance.

He counted himself lucky that Angelica didn't leave in his absence when Seres found herself blasting dozens of rare, undefined monsters in a small village. There was a shadow creature that could slip its way into any human and take over as host. A long toothed monster with bat ears that chose to indulge in small sleeping children. These were the "pets" Angelica hoped to preserve? While snapping the neck of one monster he couldn't help questioning her sense of morality. Obviously she had no idea what she'd been feeding those creatures in her dark dungeon.

Every week they discovered a new creature until snow was thick and heavy on every housetop.

Just as it seemed that they had obliterated every monstrosity haunting the humans in some small hamlet of Northern Ireland when a familiar laugh started low and slow, echoing in the darkness.

"Oh, look. A cockroach." Alucard was frustratingly bored. This continued fight to keep this particular paladin dead was becoming tedious.

"Is... Is that…?" Seres gasped from his left, shocked that the semi-human paladin was alive and well after the brutality he'd enjoyed at their last meeting.

"A particularly persistant human fungus." Alucard's normally silken lilt was stiff with aggravation as he completed the blonde's shuddered thought.

The human had taken a handful of snow and threw it into the air. He caught it again and again as he encroached with a calm smile. "I am your eternal punisher, Demon. You can't kill me. We both know that."

Yes. He knew. But the reality was not one Alucard was comfortable with. He couldn't accept reality the way it was, so he'd create his own just as he always had.

So, once more, he and Seres tore that pathetic human apart and burned the pieces. If it gave them a few more days to come up with an alternative plan before he could resurrect himself to continue laughing at Alucard's failures then that would have to be enough.

…

When he entered Angelica's room for the second time that night it felt strangely empty.

They hadn't fought again, he'd been putting forth an exorbitant amount of effort not to argue with her about Artemy. Instead he simply abstained from answering her questions and the dark silence between them felt somehow worse, it felt heavy and curious. Too curious.

The darkness had been his home for so long that a light spark like her left him dazed and confused every time they met. He didn't know what to do with her interrogation, he wanted her to know it all. He wanted those muffled smiles to remind him what it was like to be human. But he also didn't want to become the reason she went looking for trouble.

Evidently his silence had done exactly that.

His chest felt oddly tight with something akin to worry; a human emotion he didn't tend to feel.

Alucard scouted her room for details.

It was more likely than anything that she's simply left to get something to eat. He had to remind himself that humans like her had needs aside from maiming and sleeping.

But that was too optimistic.

His lips fell into a line.

No, it was too empty. There was not a trace of her here. Not a flare of ambient heat remained from where her body had been tucked away in her bed or the rolling chair that sat askew before her lab table. It had been hours since she'd vacated the area.

Once again, his neglect put her in danger.

No one had taken her, that much was apparent. There wasn't the slightest dent that indicated she had left unwillingly, which made this much worse. If she had chosen to leave then it could only mean she planned to prove something. It was her nature to fulfill all of her curiosities and show her work to the world.

It quickly dawned on him that he'd made the wrong decision in telling her the paladin could regenerate. She left to find him for one reason or another. Either she had determined her connection to Alucard's past, or she had decided to take her life into her own hands to find the truth.

His fingertips tightly pinched the bridge of his nose and his crimson eyes squeezed shut.

There was no time to waste. As tough as her spirit was, Angelica wasn't ready to hear the answer to her earlier question, 'how did we meet?'

If she learned how they parted the first time, like Artemy had, she would never forgive him.

"Master! Where are you going?" The police girl followed briskly behind, fussing over his deranged expression as if she'd never seen him so angry.

"Our trip to Belfast has moved."

"Oh! When to?"

"Now." He ensured he had enough bullets in his weapons as he swept his way to the chopper. Seres followed closely, only disappearing briefly to get her bazooka.

"Is that where Angelica went off to? How could she leave us behind like that!" The excitable blonde threw her arm around in frustration as her cheeks puffed. "To think I was starting to like her!"

Alucard didn't think she left to join the enemy, but he couldn't pretend it wasn't an option. Her soul's past proved it was a possibility.

If that paladin manipulated the facts, Angelica would believe him just as Artemy had. He might even manage to turn her against Hellsing, in which case he'd be living a nightmare scenario where he'd be forced to kill her with his own hands.

Which he knew it wasn't possible anyway.

He was physically incapable of ending her life. The only one who possessed the power to end her life was that fucking paladin she loved so much. Until he killed her, Alucard couldn't touch him. It was part of the Dilemma the paladin sold his soul for.

A black pit balled in his stomach.

He had to keep from shooting the pilot when he came out to the helicopter. He wanted to kill something. Anything.

He wasn't even sure he could handle seeing Angelica at this point, she might accidentally set off his temper the way she always could. He was unhinged. He was desperate.

Especially if he found her in the arms of that vile bastardization of a holy man.

Then, before they could lift into the air, his Master appeared. Arms braced against both sides of the helicopter's open door, fury sparked sapphire eyes in the darkness. "Alucard, get your ass in my office. NOW!"

...

It was official. This was the most insane thing Angelica had ever done in her entire life. That list included getting engaged to a guy who proposed on a couch while watching Sharktopus. It included going abroad and doing Ecstasy to regain said asshole's attention. It even included her oddly affectionate feelings toward a violent vampire who once tried to kill her.

Angelica's heart was beating out of her chest the whole flight with contradicting (somewhat psychotic) feelings.

Anxiety was getting the better of her as she flew further and further from Hellsing. As strange as it felt, she really wished there was some way to bring Alucard with her on this little excursion. But no, he just had to be a petulant child.

If she'd been dumb enough to give him a heads up about her departure he would have (justifiably) thought she was insane for thinking she could succeed where he failed twice. And then he'd probably put her in a cage like a disobedient puppy who kept peeing on the floor.

She had about an hour of flying to think on the strange way her heart fluttered under that mercurial vampire's touch and she had come to the conclusion that she, along with her many past lives, cared for him.

Her hand went to her shoulder with a grouchy scowl and the old ache of silver bullets ripping through muscle and adipose tissues. For some stupid reason I actually like him.

If he planned to fight and kill and maim their enemy, then she was going through with this red eye flight to bring their fighting to a concise end through (hopefully) nonviolent action in the old fashioned "bad cop, good cop, bad cop again" maneuver.

A terrifying amount of trust went into this conclusion.

She was going to talk sense into a psycho cult leader, and he would probably kill her in an incredibly painful, violent way. But at least then Alucard could take care of the rest without their weird curse getting in the way.

He'd mistakenly slipped that Jace was able to restore himself. Angelica simply followed that stream information.

If Jace was the reason Angelica existed to begin with, then that meant he had been a part of this curse from the very start. He must have been the one to kill Artemy. Alucard couldn't kill Angelica so she had to assume Jace was the only one with that ability. The big, glaring question was why?

That's what she hoped to learn in Belfast.

Alucard needed see reason long enough to know she wasn't suicidal or trying to hurt him in any way. Instead she was terribly, foolishly logical. Just like he said the night prior, her curiosity would probably become the death of her. And if this did not go precisely as planned, he would be right.

Alucard and Seras would not be the heroes of Angelica's own damned story, that was for sure. She had things to accomplish before she died (at a very ripe old age, she hoped) and this bizarre speed bump was not going to ruin that.

First she needed hard answers to some incredibly hard questions soon or she'd die without ever knowing the answer to that massive why.

Unfortunately, there were only two people, one living and one dead, who could tell her.

She understood why Alucard was reluctant to tell her the truth, she had a very good feeling that it would reflect poorly on him and their tragic feelings toward one another. She didn't want anything to crush their fragile little affair either.

There was no one she'd rather argue with than Alucard. She was so used to feeling like the smartest person in the room that it felt aberrant to be told otherwise. Angelica genuinely enjoyed the way he challenged her beliefs, it gave her the chance to learn more about the world. What sweeter irony was there? A college aged atheist neuroscientist like her routinely schooled into submission by a devout six hundred year old vampire? Who'da thought she'd become such cliché!

It hurt that he was hindering the inevitable until she was pushed into a corner with only one direction left to turn. Even if that particular direction made her want to vomit.

Jace would be willing to explain for one reason and one reason only. She would learn something that could make her rethink her obligation to Hellsing and the vampire that resides there. If he wanted her special ability under his control then any bit of information that could push her away from Integra's organization would benefit him and his followers.

Last night she woke from one of her many eternal nightmares in a panicked terror. From that dream she was able to derive the meaning of her existence without any help from either party. Well, to a point. There was a ton of missing information, but now she understood the plot of her own story.

Once it all sunk in she called her best friend from college.

When she called, Lydia sobbed on the other end of the line begging her to explain where she'd been all this time. But Angelica knew she had to be careful about what she told her friend. The last she'd seen of Lydia she had been in Vatican City calmly sharing lunch with Jace, what, twenty months ago? She counted on her fingers. Hospitalized in February, starved until well into March… Yep. Twenty months. It had been nearly two full years since she'd last seen Lydia or Jace in person.

It was odd, after her latest nightmare she dreaded seeing the man she was so convinced she wanted to marry. It was even weirder to think of her affection toward him in the past tense. Although her mind knew she was beginning to feel strongly for someone else, some echo in the back of her heart begged for it all to be a lie.

But Alucard had no reason to lie, maybe avoid certain elusive topics, but lie? No. If anything he could be too honest sometimes.

She recalled those narrowed amber eyes that flared under her accusation and sunk her embarrassed butt into the uncomfortable plane cushion with a hand over her flushed face. I can't believe I called him a liar. What the hell is wrong with me?!

The pain of learning Jace's betrayal furnished a new perspective.

The pain in her heart made her feel safe. Nothing could cause her more pain than what she felt as she blinked her eyes awake a few hours ago.

No. Lydia couldn't slip up now. She couldn't tell Jace that Angelica was on her way to the middle of the war zone to extract the facts from him by any means necessary.

If he knew, she was as good as dead. Angelica's stomach turned, hands shaking as they clenched with all their might, recalling that awful nightmare. Or worse.

The element of surprise was on her side and if she messed it up she would be in some seriously deep trouble with both Guardian and Hellsing.

Her gut twisted when she imagined Alucard's expressive mouth falling from its impossibly incessant smile when he found her room empty and the Scythe gone. Would he be angry with her? Upset? Worried?

Would he be afraid?

No, Alucard didn't understand emotions like that. He wasn't exactly human and she was better off understanding that he was more animalistic. He likely wouldn't comprehend an abstract feeling such as worry. Fear, maybe, but she even doubted he had felt that level of discomfort in many centuries. He was very certain of his power, and so was she.

Which was why she sat at her desk and wrote out the many ways he might interfere with her plan so she could work around them.

This had to work. Angelica was sure it would. That obnoxious, mean, dementedly beautiful vampire would just have to trust her (which he definitely didn't). Then, just maybe, with a scrap (A LOT) of luck, she might finally break her soul's curse and end Guardian all at once.

It was reckless. But what was ambition without a little recklessness?

In February she would be twenty-three. It was odd to think that she began this journey arguing with a bank clerk about her Applebee's paycheck. A closed minded, bigoted, argumentative twenty-year-old rule follower who knew nothing about the world. The world was more comfortable when she thought she understood it all.

Fear and love could be explained by neurohormones, hate and anger were reactions to an overactive amygdala. Ghosts and goblins were only found in old arcade games, and vampires could only bite little children in their wildest midnight imaginings.

Nearly two years later, Angelica listened evenly as Alucard revealed that she was the reincarnation of a long lineage of vampire slayers and believed every word of it against her better judgment. Against her better judgment, she even believed Jace was a piece of shit blaspheming priest who manipulated her into a tool for his underground organization that was steadily killing young girls to draw an ancient vampire from the shadows to protect her.

She scowled at the little safety card on the back of the seat in front of her. It was mocking her for believing everything she'd been taught in school when it all seemed so obvious now.

She sighed her head to rest on her palm, edging against the large, smelly man beside her who was snoring loudly with his head back. A line of drool was falling from the corner of his crusty lip. Yuck. She inched away from him and laughed at herself. Hindsight is definitely twenty-twenty…

Any scientist worth their salt will admit defeat when their hypotheses and theories are confirmed specious time and time again. Her understanding of the world was the strange one. The Hellsing Organization ensures that idiots like her continued to live blissfully unaware of the monsters that lurk in the night.

Monsters like the blue-eyed priest who dwelled in her deepest, darkest nightmares.

At the memory of last night's shocking dream her hands automatically clutched for her weapon to protect her. Instead she grabbed at air, her nails digging into her palms as panic started to rise again. She breathed and utilized the exercises she'd found online. Something called "box breathing". It reduced oxygen intake enough to force her into a calm state.

Four seconds in… Four second hold… Four second exhale… Four second hold…

Two years ago she never would have considered breaking rules like this. Two years ago she obeyed her parent's rules, even from hundreds of miles away and felt shame if she wasn't studying. Now she felt a bit shaky disobeying Alucard's hardline rule to remain on the estate, but she didn't see another option. Integra told her she was a free woman; she could leave whenever she wanted. But for whatever reason it still felt wrong to go behind their backs like this.

Self defense. That's all this was. She was defending herself and everything she had left, including her new little vampiric family.

Alucard would definitely laugh at her if she ever saw him again and Seres would give her that censorious look of hers. Integra would likely furnish that cold, thin smile that could cut diamonds as she ripped her to shreds for causing her Count so much pain.

Angelica was completely vulnerable as she flew away on this secret mission.

Her mouth went dry and her nails bit into her skin. She had to check her Scythe under the plane and it felt too far away. Distance put her on edge, she needed it within reach at all times. Maybe Alucard was right about that too. Maybe she really was addicted to its power.

When the wheels touched down she could finally disembark. Angelica plowed past other passengers in a way only panicking college aged girls can and rushed to the baggage carousel, bouncing on the balls of her feet, nervously clenching her hands to get the feeling back in them. Damn it's so cold here. The Scythe was one of the last items and she felt her hair falling out from dire anxiety whenever a different bag slid from the back.

Integra would (rightfully) murder her if anything happened to that ancient relic.

Once she ripped it from airport security's hands all of her skin ceased its incessant squirming and warmth returned to her icy blood.

This was the right choice.

She needed to know the truth and Alucard wasn't going to crack. She was patient, very patient, and had been for nearly a year, but it was time to take action even if her hands shook the whole time.

She waited for her taxi to show up and told him where to go as she bounced into the back seat, fiddling with the screen on the back of his headrest. The confusion on the guy's face was precious when they pulled up to an old stone building next to a grubby moss eaten dock. She thanked him profusely and rushed out of the car toward the door. The snow was bitingly cold as it fell in softly fluttering sheets. Everything was white and she cursed herself for her stupid clothing choice. That stupid, thin white habit Hausmaister had given her was all she wore aside from her Scythe's holder. The straps made a leather X across her chest. Passersby probably thought she was a deranged lunatic. Which, honestly, she was.

She remembered the moment she met Alucard here on this, still ruined, dock. It was odd to recall no feelings of fear when he grinned at her in his iconic way. In fact, she recalled a twinge of pity, and he had picked up on her inexplicable mindfulness. It pissed him off to where he sent bullets through her side and shoulder. Her hand flew to her perfectly intact arm and willed herself to feel afraid of that jerk for shooting her. But she couldn't do it. She could only feel a strangely nostalgic feeling settle in her heart when she saw his pupils grow small and angry toward her lackluster neutrality.

Her eyes set themselves on that old stone building by the quay. It had a rounded, grubby old door that sat tightly against the surrounding mossy stones. It wasn't much larger than a cottage. If her hypothesis was correct, Jace was here. He wouldn't have wanted to be too far away while Hausmeister was keeping her holed up underground. That meant Alucard had met Jace the very same day she escaped. She recalled the shrieking screams that echoed through the streets, Jace's voice might have been a part of that horrible din.

She closed one eye and tried to see through the wood, but alas, there wasn't even a single crack in the ancient door. A soft growl rumbled a frustrated little huff. She pressed her ear to the frozen thing and as she did so, the door squeaked open from the light touch and her stomach suddenly disappeared.

She leaped back, her hand jumped to her shoulder to pull her scythe free, but hesitated.

Voices were inside shushing and hissing harshly to one another. She cursed herself in a way that held a surprising likeness to a particularly suave vampire. Great going, smart-ass. Now you're gonna die and it's no ones fault but your own.

The regret of marching to her death faded as she held her scythe tighter. With every ounce of bravery she could muster, she pushed her way through the door to find a meeting going on.

There were hundreds of people staring at her expectantly as she slipped through the door, but only one set of blue eyes had her attention at the center of the room under a single hanging light that flickered sporadically above his head.

She expected a rush of old emotion to come over her. She'd actually prepared herself for it. But in the absence of sweet nostalgia was sickening sinking feeling in her stomach.

Fear gripped her. A cold sweat suddenly made every inch of her body feel about ten degrees cooler than the already bitter air and settled deeply into her bones.

Don't shiver. Don't show your fear. You're in control here.

Jace appeared nervous, and oddly smug, when the shock of her sudden arrival wore off. "Thank you for finally coming to your senses babe. "

The large crowd watched their leader with such admiration in their eyes it made her regret ever calling Lydia. They whispered things like, 'Just as he prophesized!' and amazed gasps of, 'The holy mother herself!'

By the simple act of showing up she had given credence to anything Jace spewed to these people. Now she had become part of the problem.

He sauntered closer with his hands up in surrender and the mass of followers went dead silent as he said gently, "let me explain."

His voice crept into her skin and her eyes were suddenly glassy as terror's grip tightened around her lungs.

Damnit. As much as she hated to admit it— Alucard was right. She really was an idiot. By coming here she had made a lethal miscalculation.

Under the strain of every ounce of emotion she had in her body somehow Angelica managed to keep her face blank and her unexpected tears dried without falling; waiting patiently. She needed this to work even if she had royally messed up. There was no turning back now, and Integra would probably put out the order for her death any minute now.

All of these people were looking at her as if God himself had just waltzed through that door. These were Guardian's fanatics, and there were a lot of them. More than she could have possibly imagined. And every last one of them was a human. Normal humans who were spun into radical extremism by a cult of personality who manipulated every one of her past lives. Normal humans who would follow Jace anywhere because he foretold the second coming of Christ's holy mother. As insane as it sounded to Angelica, she knew how obsessed Christians were with their savior.

This was bad. So, so bad.

"I'm guessing you met Alucard." Jace smiled his brilliant smile that made all the girls cry, but today Angelica tried not to cry for a very different reason as he explained solemnly, "Whatever he told you, it isn't the truth. I hated lying to you about who I was, but I couldn't exactly just come out and tell you I had known you through twelve lifetimes. You would have thought I was insane."

Angelica's brows dipped a little and Jace picked up on her confusion with wide, consolatory eyes. The others in the room were murmuring quietly amongst themselves with bright awe in their eyes and voices.

"So he didn't tell you?" He smothered his laugh with a cough as he circled in on her like a buzzard on a carcass. "No offense, but he must really dislike this version of your soul. I've never seen him will hatred out of you before." As he approached he hesitated just beyond reach.

Angelica's insides were jelly. It felt like her guts had liquefied. She imagined this was what it might feel like to face a sexual predator in court. Perhaps she hadn't personally become a victim of his violence, but the graceful, strong willed Artemy had. That deep scar must have carried all the way through to the present to warn her.

Then his hand fell heavily onto her shoulder, gripping her in a way that made it plain: she wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

"You look very lost, Ang. Would you like to sit down?" She didn't need to nod for him to guide her to a foldable chair, dragging one before her with a maliciously grinning expression that frightened her in a way no vampire could as he addressed his followers. "We have so much to tell you about that creature and his associates."