There was blood everywhere. It covered her uniform, hands, face and weapons. It wasn't just the blood of her enemies either. Seras winced from dozens of cuts and injuries she'd sustained. She was tired. So tired. She struggled to hold up the guns that had felt so light mere hours earlier. She could feel her movements become sluggish. The endless fighting in this underground maze had taken its toll.
But there was no time to rest as another vampire and his ghouls rounded the corner, intent on slaying the interlopers.
"Please, Sir Integra!" Seras cried out again as she fired the massive guns. "Release the restraints!"
Her cries fell on deaf ears. Integra was just as exhausted as she was. Fresh beads of sweat ran down her face and her suit was also covered in blood. Her pistol had run out of ammo long ago, and she cut down the ghouls one by one with a razor sharp sword.
The vampire was the larger threat though, and he went straight for Seras. Dodging her hail of bullets, he was on her in seconds, knocking her weapons to the ground. The two became locked, wrestling on the ground as they rolled across the stone floor. The two supernatural creatures were caught in a test of strength, to fail would mean death. The vampire leaned in closer, his eyes wide with bloodlust and his fetid breath coursing over Seras' face. His tongue was split giving him a reptilian hiss.
"When I show your corpse to the othersssss" hissed the vampire, "even Seriphus will have to acknowledge my powersssss."
Seras had no idea what the hissing vampire was talking about, but as he wasted time talking, she managed to get the upper hand and pin him to the ground. The vampire roared and struggled, but Seras didn't let up. She grabbed onto his arm and pulled with all her strength. She could feel the sinews of his shoulder snapping as the fibers split. Soon, the flesh gave way and Seras ripped it clean off.
As the vampire cried out in pain, blood gushing from his wound, Seras crawled over to where her weapons had dropped. In one fluid motion she picked them up, turned and fired on the injured vampire. His body shook, as if possessed, as dozens of rounds tore through his body. Finally, as he grew still, Seras stopped and allowed herself to collapse to the ground, exhausted.
Soon she was roused by Sir Integra, who seemed equally as tired. But despite her exhaustion, she never showed anything less than unwavering determination.
"Please, Sir Integra," she begged again. "Release the restraints."
With her full powers, Seras could kill all the vampires here with ease, just as she had the Nazis. Why wouldn't Integra let her?
"You don't need to release your restraints to kill this scum." Integra offered no more explanation before moving on.
Seras would probably have been angry if she wasn't so tired. She took a look at the bullet-riddled corpse of the hissing vampire.
I could drink his blood. Regain some of my strength…
She shook her head. When you drank the blood of the recently dead, you took a part of them into you. Their souls became mingled with your own. True, she would grow more powerful and it would heal her wounds, but she didn't want any part of these monsters inside of her. She turned away from the vampire and followed after her master.
How many vampires had they killed? How many more were there? The past hours had become a blur to Seras. Some of the vampires and ghouls carried weapons; crude knives and guns that looked like they belonged in a museum. The vampires seemed disorganized, refusing to work together so they could claim all the glory for the kill. Their arrogance made it possible for Seras and Integra to fight their way deeper into the lair until they finally came to a massive wooden gate.
The two ghouls guarding the entrance were quickly dispatched with two swipes of Integra's sword. But as the pair neared the gate Seras hesitated.
Something's wrong…
It was some sort of instinct, some sort of hidden nature that told her not to walk through that door. Integra noticed Seras' reluctance.
"What do you see?"
Seras closed her eyes and focused. She imagined a third eye, just as Alucard had taught her, and with it she could see into the next room. It was a large chamber. The largest Seras had seen so far. A single stone slab covered in dried blood lay in the center, chains hung loosely from the side. She shivered as she pondered the fate of the slab's former occupant. Moving on, Seras continued to examine the room.
It's a trap!
There were several vampires and swarms of ghouls hiding in the shadows, waiting to attack as soon as Seras and Integra entered the room. It seemed that this group had put aside their individual ambitions in order to defeat their common enemy. The moment the wooden gate opened, they would strike. Seras shared what she'd learned with Integra.
"This changes nothing." Integra was unfazed. "Now that we know they're waiting for us, we can catch them by surprise."
"But Sir Inte-" Seras was stopped by a single icy glare from her master.
"…Yes ma'am…"
Seras considered the situation. If they had walked into the trap, then they would have been slaughtered. Though, as Integra had pointed out they had the element of surprise. But Seras was so weak. If they had fought these vampires when they first entered the Catacombs then there wouldn't be a problem. But now…
No! I can do this.
Seras lifted her massive machine guns and fired them through the wooden door. Many of the unsuspecting vampires were killed immediately as the silver cored bullets pierced their hearts. Scores of ghouls were mowed down by a hail of gunfire as Seras charged into the chamber.
It was complete chaos. The vampires hadn't anticipated this kind of attack and any semblance of organization they had was destroyed. Some turned to run behind cover for fear of another volley, others tried to rally their undead minions and many of them lay on the ground dead or dying, while their minions tripped over each other in a feeble attempt to attack. Seras glanced over as Integra charged into a horde of ghouls. Then, suddenly, a group of vampires who'd been fast enough to escape injury leaped at her from the shadows.
It happened so fast and before Seras could react they were on her. The vampires tore at her like wild beasts. She screamed and struggled as their claws ripped through her skin, spilling her blood across the floor. The frenzied attack was so intense that Seras couldn't even fight back. She fired her guns blindly in a desperate attempt to ward off her attackers but it only bought her a moment of reprieve before the vampires took the weapons from her and ripped them to pieces.
Seras struggled to stand as the vampires returned to finish her off, but before they could reach her something happened…
Power.
Seras could feel her strength returning. More than that; she could feel her powers, long dormant, resurfacing. The vampires sensed it as well and hesitated.
So much power.
She could feel her body warping. Cuts and wounds sealed themselves, her strength and senses felt enhanced beyond that of any normal vampire, and her arm…
The vampires watched in horror as the flesh on Seras' left arm melted and rolled off revealing an arm made of pure shadows. Her transformation even seemed to give pause to the mindless ghouls.
The restraints had been lifted, and after so long, Seras was at the height of her power once again. She laughed.
I'd forgotten how good this felt.
Her laughter grew and seemed to bridge on the edge of insanity. She couldn't help it. This feeling was euphoric! Seras had spent so much time worrying about when to feed and avoiding the sun, but none of that mattered now. These vampires…no…these gnats couldn't hope to stand against her.
Her attack was sudden and merciless. In the blink of an eye, all the remaining ghouls seemed to explode as Seras ripped them to shreds. She savored the vampires fear as they turned to run. She even let them get close to the door before she reached out with her shadow and ripped out their hearts.
One of the vampires tried to attack. His eyes were wide with fright as he desperately slashed at Seras. She effortlessly sliced his arm off, then the other. She took her time as she dismembered the vampire piece by piece until finally granting him the mercy of death.
This is fun!
When Seras had fought the Nazis, she had been fueled by grief and rage over the death of her friends. But now she relished in the slaughter. She especially enjoyed letting her prey think they were safe; giving them a small glimmer of hope as they neared the exit, or hid in the shadows before she would appear and kill them.
There were also some who were too wounded to run. They desperately tried to crawl away from Seras or pretended to be dead. Either way, Seras would casually walk up to them, and slowly lean down to their faces before ripping out their hearts. The last things they would see were Seras' cold, merciless, red eyes.
They deserved it too. There were countless ghouls in this room alone; men and women whose lives had been stripped away cruelly by the vampires. Honestly though, Seras didn't care about that right now. She was killing them because she could and because it was fun.
Too soon, Seras' dance of death had killed most of the vampires. There was just one left; a vampire woman hiding in the corner.
"Please…no" begged the woman as Seras slowly walked over. The nightmarish visage of the vampire was now a mask of terror.
"Please…no" mocked Seras, a twisted grin on her face. Something made the woman looked oddly human as she huddled in the corner.
It's the fear. Such a human thing.
Seras picked up the woman by the throat and held her above the ground. The grin on her face changed into a demented smile as she contemplated how best to savor this final kill.
I'll start with the arms.
She used her shadow to cut through the woman's flesh like butter. The toes went next, then the feet. The sound of bones breaking mingled with her cries of pain was music to Seras. Sinews of muscle and flesh fell to the ground at her feet. She was enthralled by the sight of the woman's blood flowing down her broken body. It was like a game. How much pain could Seras inflict before this pathetic excuse for a vampire died?
AN: This is where, after spending ten chapter to set-up the characters, I could finally start writing some action. Also, while I'm sure it was apparent, the hissing vampire Seras fought was Darius.
It was from reading Game of Thrones that I got the idea to write from the perspective of multiple characters, so that I could have interactions like that occur. Even though Seras and Darius have never met, the reader still knows who they both are when they meet for the first time. I think it builds some excitement for how they will interact. (Okay, maybe not Darius and Seras specifically, but there are other characters who have not yet met, who I hope the readers were excited to see meet).
This is also when To Be A Monster started getting some really interesting reviews. I was excited to get a review from Ludifer, who wrote "New master, New servant" a fanfiction when inspired me to write To Be A Monster. AlsoSprachOdin left an extremely long and very helpful review!
Regarding character names
It was also pointed that Newt was a reference to the Alien franchise. I am a fan of the alien franchise, but I actually hadn't realized that's where the name had come from! In reality, I chose Newt's name to serve as a representation of how she's lost her identity, along with her past morals. Fun fact: Newt's original name was Root.
As pointed out by another reader, Seriphus name was inspired by Sephiroth (from Final Fantasy), but it was chosen intentionally so that I could use that name to develop his character later on.