Alas! I have returned! I hope everyone had a good Christmas, I know I did. I finally got my fifth review that I demanded earlier today so I decided to write this chapter for you. And for the fact that its new year in a couple of hours... For me anyway. Hooray for Greenwich time! A little of bit of fluff here. Lord knows, I need it. Time to thank the reviewers however...
Ebony Redgrave: we have too much in common... DMC, Fenris, Hellsing... it's almost scary... I had to bring little wolf into it, he was begging XD
xVentressx: thank you :)
Poisedrose: thank you, and I hope this one is good enough for you lol.
Anonymous reviewer 'Fan': well, my mysterious reviewer, I am incredibly glad you took the bait for that :D ill make sure to take your ideas into account, but with his head gone at the moment, it would too easy for Lily to surprise him... However, these 'pesky arch-angels need a lesson taught. I hope this is enough ass kicking for you. You may just be along for the ride, but you're helping with directions ;)
Just-another-teenage-dirtbag: Thanks, everyone seems to like her - or at least tolerate her so far :) Is this soon enough for you?
Well, on with the chappy.
My eyes widened when I seen the very familiar face of Gabriel glaring down at me, arms crossed over his chest. Shit. The Arch-Angels. They had found us.
"Gabe!" I smiled sweetly at the tall angel, not the least intimidated by the height of him after spending so much time with another looming - now headless - creature. The angel gave a disgusted scoff and turned to look at Malachi, tossing a small brown sack at him, which the other man caught, opening up the drawstrings at the top, only for a couple of twenty pound notes to drop out. The bastard had sold us out for a bag of cash. Snarling, I locked eyes with the cowardly male, ready to lunge at him, to rip into his throat and drain his body of every ounce of blood. The slide of a sword from its sheath prevented me from doing so as Gabriel pulled his long sword, aptly named 'Justice' and held it firmly in front of him with one hand. Even with all the supernatural strength, his muscular arms were straining to hold up the weapon, which was just over a metre long. Pfft. Talk about compensating for other things...
"You don't speak to me, demon. You lost that right when you took an innocent life," He growled at me, his tone sharp and biting, as if he were a king speaking to a slave. That comparison was far from the truth. Again, a furious snarl ripped from my throat, my metallic claw grinding into itself as I clenched my fists, ready to fight at the first signs of an offensive manoeuvre, yet none came. That didn't mean I stopped being alert to the danger however. Glancing over to the body of Alucard, I found him still unresponsive, and began silently cursing in my head. Of course, Gabriel had a fucking blessed blade. He was the leader of the heavens, and even Alucard, with all his power, might take a while to recover from a removal of the head with such a weapon. Unfortunately, the angels also noticed where my eyes had moved to, and an evil smirk - none too different from the vampires - creeped across Gabriel's face.
He made a gesture, and one of the other angels moved off to the body, flipping over until it was on its back. Removing a short dagger that smelled strongly of blessings and silver, he placed it against Alucard's broad chest, right over his heart. I almost flinched, almost wondered if Integra would skin my ass if Alucard died... But any show of emotion would only allow them to, exploit the weakness. "Worried for your filthy mate, are we?" Gabriel laughed, jerking a thumb over to the body just as his foot pressed down on the vampires head, a wet squelching sound and cracking could be heard as the head protested against the weight, until it cracked. Two fiery red eyes were suddenly no longer in sockets, but rolling across the floor, brain matter (Alucard actually had one?!) was sprayed across the room, and us. Blood spatter across my face, along with a shard of bone that stung as it imbedded in my cheek, causing me to frown.
"Now that was uncalled for Gabe." I began in a half- chiding, half-amused tone, "if you wanted to hurt me, try again. He's little more than a work colleague to me," in my head, I corrected myself, Alucard was, in some twisted, strange way, my friend. "All you've succeeded in doing is making some mess on the walls," I tacked on at the end, taking a tiny shuffling step towards Alucard and the male angel that held him. Hopefully, if the angels didn't notice too much as I shimmied, inch by inch towards the other angel, I could grab him before he sunk the silver dagger into whatever heart the vampire had, and save him from an early death. Perhaps if I could carry both of us, I could stash him somewhere to recover... I started, feeling the slightest tingle of a feathery touch on my cheek, turning to see the source of my fright, whilst keeping an eye on the Arch-Angel and his dogs, who were watching me with interest.
Then I heard it, in my mind. A deep, rumbling voice that could only be one person. Alucard was piecing himself back together, the bone in my cheek turning to a shadowy worm and wriggling out of the flesh of my cheek. As not to arouse suspicion that the vampire was, in fact waking, I released my own shadows, flaring around me and summoning both my bow and twin short swords, given to me by Luce when I joined him. The voice called out to me again, growing stronger every second, telling me to run. Run... Run... So I ran.
The window shattered as I barrelled through it, tucking my feathery wings tight against my back as I crashed through the glass. Faintly, I heard Gabriel yelling to follow me, to forget about the vampire, that I was the target. Oh no, he wasn't getting me that easily. Unfurling my wings and beating them powerfully, I shot into the air, straight up towards the storm darkened clouds, pulling Sloth - my bow - out, whilst tucking Wrath and Pride into their respect sheaths on either side of my waist. The bow was made from a diamond type substance found in Hell, with hellfire glowing in the middle, reds, oranges and yellows intermingling with the darkness inside. Cursing myself for forgetting my quiver of arrows, I pulled one from the darkness, a black arrow tipped with red, sliding it into the keep on the bow. I was at the height I wanted now, penetrating through the thick cloud layers and into the storm. The atmosphere was intense, bolts of lightning fizzling around me, sparking out to other parts of the cloud.
I could hear the tell-tale wing beats of my enemy approaching from the side, trying to flank me no doubt. Readying my bow, I loosed the arrow in that direction, hearing only a snap as it was caught and broken. Shit! They were too fast and knew I was here. Too quickly, Gabriel had flew at me from his hiding spot on the other side, crashing into my wings and causing us both to drop. They had ambushed me! He tightened his grip as I struggled, his powerful wings holding both of us up as one of the others approached with the blessed knife. If that pierced my skin, I was dead. Demons and blessings do not go well together, as you would probably guess. The other angel grinned evilly, green eyes glowing with an unnatural light in the dreary overcast sky. He was partially covered by the clouds, looking like quite the executioner, covered in blood as he strode towards me, knife raised... Ready to stab. No! I was not going to die like this! Not so early in the game! Just as he reached me and was about to plunge in the knife, I twisted an arm loose and with all my strength, jammed the sharpened end of my bow into the base of Gabriel's wing. It worked a charm, the elder angel jerking to the side, only to have the blessed blade imbed itself firmly in his bicep, releasing me.
I danced away a few feet, licking the blood from my bow with a proud expression, I was sure my cobalt eyes were glowing, my ebony hair writhing around me. This would be a fun hunt, a dangerous one with death at every turn, relying on everything you had to give them the slip, or kill them. They were furious of course as I slipped away, disappearing and reappearing through the cloud. They were disadvantaged with their shimmering white and gold wings that shone clearly through, whilst my own black ones camouflaged easily with the dark cover as I flitted through, using Wrath, a slightly curved blade with a wicked edge, to inflict small cuts and wounds. Every time I did, they would cry out in surprise, then try to hunt me through the thickness of the clouds, whilst failing miserably, the lightning flickering around us. I had been struck once or twice by tiny blasts, but they merely served to urge me on in my play until I grew bored of this one sided battle. Gabriel was breathing heavily, his healthy wing working much harder to hold himself up with the other mostly out of commission, beating sluggishly. The youngest angel there, only a hundred years old, I guessed, only a teenager by our standards, was shaking violently, frightened like a rabbit caught in a trap, jerking whenever I ghosted by then. The other seemed rather nonplussed but then frustration was there under that cool face with the green eyes darting about in search of me.
Creeping closer, I touched the fidgeting one on the shoulder lightly, ducking to avoid a swing from his sword, only for it to graze my back slightly, the used a technique Alucard had taught me in my first week at Hellsing. My metallic hand was straightened out, the shadows inside tensing and hardening as I thrust it forward, the clawed tips piercing straight through flesh, muscle, jamming slightly on rib cage until the bones shattered and allowed me access to his heart. The tender organ thundered in his chest as the cold metal of my claw stroked it, almost tenderly, then brutally grasped it, squeezing until it burst, blood exploding from the gaping wound in his chest. Pulling sharply - and with some flexing of claws - I dislodged the heart and brought it out through the hole, turning to Gabriel, who was roaring in rage. lifting the organ to my mouth, I stretched out my tongue and allowed some drops of delicious blood to land on it, and I moaned. A virgin. I understood what all the fuss was for vampires, it really was the best thing I had ever tasted, sliding down my throat... My teeth easily parted the muscle tearing a chunk out of the heart as the body plummeted towards the earth, broken, dropping like a stone. The taste was like nothing I had ever had before, but the texture left something to be desired, like liver, it was rather slimy. Spitting out the gobbet of flesh, I allowed bloody saliva to dribble down my chin, adding to the already savage, demonic appearance.
"Tastes like fried shit," I coughed. It had the desired effect, both lunged at me, and in a comical display of aerial skill, I simply folded my wings in, dropped a few metres and watched as they collided above me, a loud cracking telling me that the other one had broken his jaw. Good. Both turned on me then, diving, but I was one step ahead, pointing my head down and spreading my wings the minimal amount to control my descent. The air whistled by my ears, my eyes watering as I accelerated towards the hard concrete ground, a sure fire way to kill any creature, especially if they hit it at a high enough speed to simply crush their body. I had always been an excellent flier, able to control every feather to have the greatest manoeuvrability without sacrificing much energy in the process. Being quite thin from my imprisonment, that only improved this. As the ground neared, I exhaled, it was a bad idea to inhale when you made a 'ground sweep' - a very dangerous movement executed only by the brave or stupid. I was both of those - a lethal combination. Gabriel had obviously guessed my intent, pulling up sooner than his companion, who continued his pursuit of me. Bad idea, he had a much bulkier body than I did, even with his much stronger wings, I doubted he would be able to pull up like I could. At the last possible moment, my wings shot out, bracing myself as the wind caught and I shot forwards, the tips of my talons grazing the ground, shooting up sparks behind me. A satisfying crunching splat followed as the angel met the ground at high speed. I didn't bother looking back, as I'd seen it often enough that I knew there probably wasn't even enough of the man to be able to guess it was human. Innards would be decorating the quiet road for years to come, most likely. Breathing a sigh of relief, I absently wondered if Alucard was doing alright after having his head cut off. Just checking, you know? I tried to search for his mind amidst this bustling town, and found it with ease. A black writhing mass instead of the colourful minds and auras of normal people. He was eating... Malachi.
"You weren't supposed to eat him, dumb ass," I scolded, pumping my wings until I was away from the ground again, a dozen feet above it, gliding steadily back towards the hotel to meet the vampire before we departed. Night was fully on us now and I was glad to see the darkness hiding me from sight. Another few lazy flaps of my wings then Alucard answered me.
"He attacked me, it was only fair. And he has been let in on the plans of your capture. Perhaps we can prevent this next time," He muttered, groaning at the end as I felt him swallow a mouthful of blood then quickly zoned out of his mind... bloodlust was kicking in with the onslaught of fresh blood rather that the bagged stuff and some of the... Images coming through involving me, the most suitable - and only available - female that he had close contact with.
That probably saved my life. He was projecting the thoughts at me, keeping me in my mind, using the sort of 'mind radar' to track him, when I felt a non-human mind come soaring down from above, aiming at my left wing. Flying faster, I pushed to the limit of my speed as Gabriel reappeared behind me, claws extended and an angry growl escaping his lips as he gave chase. Heading for the hotel room, I felt exhaustion quickly overtake my muscles, the adrenaline fading from my system, having been used up in the previous chases. I was panting heavily, my wings were aching, the pace and strength of the beat decreasing steadily. Just... A little... More... The building was in sight, and I tried to push forward quicker, my body becoming heavy and my vision blurring.
I never even felt it when the larger male grasped my ankle and used my momentum to drive me downwards into the ground, throwing his weight on top of me as he rode me to the concrete. What I felt after that was pure pain, something that had not been felt in years... The ground ripped and tore at my skin, muscles and tendons were stripped from the bones and the bared sides of the bones were ground down. It was as if he had forced my body onto a giant sheet of sandpaper. When we came to to a stop, I was gasping for breath, choking on blood as I willed myself to move, Gabriel leaning down to whisper in my ear.
"We have you now, demonic whore," I could feel the smile as I faded into darkness, being brought back only by the weight jerked from my back. A fight ensured, guns blasting, flesh meeting flesh, then I was lifted. I was awake enough to feel a tongue running tenderly across the destroyed side of my face, the pointed tip dug into the deeper wounds. It stung, but before long, I felt the skin re-knitting, drawing together in the wake of the vampires saliva as he moved down to the side of my lips. In a movement that caught both of us unaware - my body reacting of its own accord - I turned my head and planted a chaste kiss on his lips as he leaned in to begin his rhythmical licking once more. His lips were soft, surprisingly, and I smiled smugly at the shocked expression that crossed his face before I tucked myself into his chest.
"Let's go home," I whispered against him. No reply. I had caught him off guard and couldn't help the grin that tugged at my injured face.
sooooo... What did you think? I'm especially worried about this chapter because I don't write much action stuff. If I could, It would be all fluff and hearts for me, but of course, with Alucard, you can't rush anything like that. Please don't make me hold chapters hostage again, so get clicking that review button! Happy new year everyone!