Chapter 14
Alucard's P.O.V
Hearing her final thoughts as Wolf drifted into slumber left me angry. I would not allow her to die fighting these cockroaches. If she had to die, it would be my hand; it was what she deserved. Once in my coffin, I stepped into her dreams, influencing them as best as her protective mind allowed. She sat sideways in a throne of bones, one leg over the arm and the other hanging limply inches above the ground. "I assume this is your doing? After so much time worried about my continued existence, I had hopes for a dreamless sleep" she stated, her leg swinging lazily. I stepped forward, only a foot from her with a growl "You will not die fighting for my master. As much as you think you shall, I will not allow it. These foes are nothing but dirt beneath your feet. They are not worthy to give you a proper death". Her ebony locks cascaded forward and shielded her eyes from mine "You and I have the same problem. It is why you chose Seras. Despite her situation, she still had the will to live. It wouldn't take much to kill me you know, especially after spending so much energy fighting the curse of that wretch". I picked her up by the neck, holding her in the air with a snarl "What happened to the cocky whelp who dared to tear my flesh from me? She would not go down without trying to live first". She went limp in my hold which only served to frustrate me more "I have no purpose that will last in this world. Hunting and killing has been all I've lived for. Take those away and what am I? A monster? An animal? There's no point to continue this life. If you won't let me die, I will become nothing but a mindless beast that lives only on instinct". I dropped her to the ground, a permanent scowl on my features "You're pathetic". Her dream began to fade to black, the last thing I heard was a faint "I know". I rose from my coffin, determined to beat the will to live into this loathsome runt.
Wolf's P.O.V
The end of the manipulated dream signaled my awakening. The sun was gone, so I left my room to head outside. Red Night followed close by, unwilling to let me leave him again. I was outside for no more than a minute when I heard a familiar gun shot. The even more familiar sting of silver and the pain of being shot erupted in my shoulder. My eyes only caught the sight of a red coat before my vision tunneled, focusing on my target. I launched myself towards the target, dodging bullets as necessary. With a leap I was on top of his shoulders, ready to tear him limb from limb. My goal was halted as I dodged pulsing shadows. Growling, my human form corrupted itself to become more wolf-like, half my face elongating into a muzzle with fine black hairs. Another bullet was fired, though there was some sort of shouting I could no longer make out. It was me and my target and nothing would get in my way. I caught the bullet in my hand, it stung and singed my skin. Dropping it, I began to go after my target. Something was in my way. The form in front of me had short blond hair. I tilted my head "Who are you to stand in my way" I questioned, voice two toned and sounded more akin to growls. The figure spoke again, completely unintelligible to my ears. I sniffed the air to test its power level. Weaker than my target, it could be neglected without threat. My assessment made, I leapt over her and went back to attacking the one in red, the one who shot me. His laughter pervaded the air like a disease. The shadow of a shit-eating grin spread across its face. Another bullet pierced through my stomach and neck. Normally such shots would have been disabling, but the flesh and bone healed behind the bullet as it travelled. I moved forward to enter close quarters combat. Blows were exchanged back and forth. A punch aimed for my face was caught in my jaws as I aimed to remove his fingers. They were disjointed with ease and the blood of the enemy filled my mouth. The taste was vaguely familiar and tasted positively divine. It tingled against my tongue and tasted both of life and death itself. If possible the laugh grew, my opponent seemed very pleased. This would not do, my enemies should cower, beg that I end them swiftly. This enemy was different, some part of me wished to fight him for all time. Yes, killing him would be a waste. I jumped back to avoid one particularly deadly hand to the chest. "I could fight you forever and still be pleased with this battle" I remarked, licking some stray blood from the corner of my mouth. The fuzz from my vision faded and everything came to be sharp. The figure in red stood with both his guns pointed in my direction "You're different. I like this you better. Maybe you, Anderson, and I can have a fun time". My thoughts whispered images of this Anderson that he spoke of. Yes, the priest was another worthy opponent. More thoughts surface, ones that denied me of my purpose. They told me my purpose would be for naught. I scoffed to myself, if fighting weak opponents could not be my purpose, I would fight this being before me for as long as my days afforded me. Alucard was his name. My power dimmed and the sharp aura around me was enveloped back into my skin. It did not take long to find a new purpose, especially considering the immortal in front of me. With a grin I had not sported for some time "Thank you for that Count. May our fights be just as great if not greater until you finally decide to kill me". The grin was returned as he put away his weapons "That I can promise". The familiar mop of blond hair appeared in front of me again, Seras. "You could have been killed Police Girl. Had I seen you as a threat, Alucard wouldn't have a fledging" I remarked, poking her forehead. Her eyes widened comically, "I tried stopping you from getting killed by my master". I chuckled and patted her head as you would a naïve child, "Seras, I couldn't understand a damn thing you were saying. Sounded like gibberish". She puffed out her cheeks in a pout and left, thankfully. Shaking my head, I looked down to assess my clothes. The pants were fine for the most part, but my tank top was basically garbage. It was littered in holes that exposed tanned flesh underneath. I approached Alucard and gave him a solid punch in the chest "That was for ruining my favorite shirt". He gave a short chuckle "All your shirts are the same". In reality, there wasn't much height difference between us, with me being 5'9. I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck on a whim. His arm wrapped around me and the shadows took hold.
We appeared back in my room, my back against a wall. "I trust that you will no longer seek your death in this war" he said, a growl just behind his voice. "Sure, I'd rather die at your hand than a Nazi's anyway". With a grin, he stepped back. I moved to lounge on my throne of furs, "I can't wait to fight that Captain. Pureblooded werewolves are uncommon these days. Didn't you wipe most of them out?" Alucard chuckled as if remembering a fond memory "Looks like a missed a few, considering the lycanthropy in your bloodline". I reached over the edge of the pile to grab myself a bottle of Firewater. I took a gently swig that burned harshly down my throat. He cocked his head to the side as I held the bottle out to him "Share a drink?" He took the bottle and took a small drink "I can see why they call it Firewater". I nodded and took the bottle back, setting it aside as I had no intentions of getting drunk. With a casualness only Alucard could pull off, he sat beside me in the pile of fluff. His face lost its near permanent grin as he appeared deep in thought "Tell me something Wolf, how does my blood taste. You've been one of the very few to have done it since the beginning of my unlife". His question was a surprise, but not entirely unwarranted "The first time it tasted old, but a powerful old. The second I couldn't tell considering the whole rejection issue. But the third time, yes, the third time it tasted of power, that of life and death itself. Also, very tingly against the tongue". I leaned back and stared at the ceiling as I thought. "Your body isn't rejecting it now, yet you were not in the hunt. Your eyes weren't clouded over like a storm" he remarked. I moved my eyes to look at him, his expression was blank with only a vague interest. I shrugged "Maybe I got an immune boost from surviving a wendigo bite, I don't know. I'm just glad to be coherent and full." My thoughts moved back to Seras as she stood between Alucard and I in battle "How exactly did Seras try to convince me not to fight you? Her words sounded like a buzz to me". Almost unconsciously he moved his hands to my hair, running his gloved fingers through it "The police girl tried to remind you of who she was. When no recognition crossed your features, she told you that you wouldn't survive if you kept fighting. She assumed that the silver incendiary rounds would do more damage. You healed very quickly from those by the way. I will tell you that she was scared of you when you didn't recognize her". I shrugged, "If she keeps onto her humanity as tightly as she does, she'll continue to be afraid of the dark. Maybe she'll learn after experiencing war for herself". He made a noise of agreement "She's young yet, she'll learn. After all, she is only 19. You've got a few years on her, and I have many more years over you". Throwing my legs into his lap I sighed in content "You know, I'm not really sure how long I'll live. Twenty-four seems an awfully long time to be alive with my line of work". In a familiar fashion, his fingers set about taping against my legs like a piano "You will live as long as I want you to". I scoffed at his arrogance "Whatever you say vampire". The night continued on for a while in silence before Alucard stood "Integra wants us in her office". He placed a hand on my shoulder and we reappeared in her office. "It appears that Millennium has taken over an aircraft carrier. Wolf, your mission is to get your ass on that ship and kill everyone who is on board. Alucard will be accompanying you, I trust that you can get him back here in a timely manner. Alucard, your orders are search and destroy. No enemy is to be left standing". The task would be simple enough for me, but Alucard could not cross water as easily "I hope you have an aircraft fast enough for him to get past the defenses. I can get there no problem, but our resident vampire will need an aircraft to approach from the air". This is where Integra was stumped. Walter walked in with a suggestion, to which Alucard knew everything about. "The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, an advanced long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of Mach 3 and an altitude of 85,000 feet!" Integra raised her brow at him "You sure seem to know a lot about it". With an innocent sort of fury Alucard shouted "Do you even read my Christmas list!" I grinned, "Looks like Christmas is coming early this year vampire".
The plan was simple, I would get in close from the water while Alucard would use the Blackbird to get in from the air. My getting close would be delayed so I could go unnoticed. Under the cover of night the mission began. From the debrief, we knew that the one called Rip Van Winkle would be on this aircraft carrier. I would not be interfering until she was dead as I wanted to remain under Millennium's radar until the last possible second. They already knew about Alucard and likely devised a way to defeat him in some way. Of course, they knew about Seras, but most didn't think about her potential as a powerful opponent. When Alucard took a nose dive towards the carrier, I sped up my approach in the boat. Red Night had stayed in London with orders to protect Integra while we were away. By the time I reached it, everyone was dead and Alucard was laughing manically "They thought I would be trapped on this ship, the Major is invading London as we speak". My boots splashed in the blood of the fallen as I approached "You should be able to ride back with me in my boat correct?" He nodded, "So long as it has space for my coffin". With his coffin on board, we made our way back to London, or tried to anyway. The boat ran out of gas half way. My eyes narrowed in thought. Walter was responsible for setting up the boat for travel. There was no extra gas container in storage. I growled to myself, "This is Walter's fault". Alucard was not even the least bit concerned, his shadows wrapping around the boat to move it. The movement was barely better than a crawl and from what Red Night had communicated, things were going to hell in a hand basket. My muscles twitched with anticipation. The smoke and flames of London came into our view, the only expressions to be had were grins that threatened to split our faces in two. This battle would be the most fun I've had in ages. The boat hit the shore and we launched ourselves onto the nearest building. The Christians were crusading as the Nazis were invading. All eyes turned with the dramatic entrance of Alucard. I remained on the top of a burning building, wishing I had a bag of popcorn to watch this shit go down.