A/n: And here's the next part! Sorry for keeping you guys in suspense for so long, I had really hoped to get this up sooner but it just wasn't coming out the way I wanted to tell it and then Life got in the way again.
Hope you enjoy though! I'd say this battle will probably have one to two more parts to it.
Please read and review as always, I'd love to hear what you think of the story so far
The Witch House (18.3)
The first thing he registered was that it had a shell. Or something that looked kind of like one.
It was the gray-blue color of rot and crumbling at the edges, protruding out of the waters like a massive tumor.
Spindly barbs jutted out from every possible angle, black slime oozing down their lengths in oily rivulets. A large, thoroughly decayed fish hung skewered through the head, the flesh having rotted away enough that the bottom half of its skeleton stuck out.
It fluttered in the wind like a tattered flag.
The opening had crested out of the bay—a huge, pitch black cave with jagged cracks all around the rim. Nothing could be seen further inside.
Tentacles squirmed in a wet tangle at the lip, half submerged in the murky waves. Two other slightly thicker ones were raised far above and slick black in the moonlight, coiled so tightly around something that veins bulged out of the appendages' sides.
…I'll kill you… The voice rasped inside Pip's skull.
And that was when he saw, between the coils, the corner of a bright crimson coat. Pip's stomach dived into his shoes..
Oh, fuck. He thought, and must have said it out loud too, since Seras turned to him in alarm.
Pip hardly noticed, his one eye fixed on that red coat, on the black hair that hung loose over the side. There was no movement. Pip wondered in vague horror if Alucard was even still in one piece, before the voice suddenly spoke again—a menacingly soft whisper.
…I hear you….
The boat trembled. A hard breeze swept through, intensifying the smell of decomposed flesh. Pip watched without breathing as the great, hulking misshapen thing turned further, until he was looking directly into the abysmal darkness that lay within.
It charged at them.
Time slowed. Pip saw it crash through the water, creating massive rogue waves that violently rocked the boat. He watched Will lose the last of the color in his face and open his mouth to scream.
And even though time had slowed, there was still no goddamn time. None to react, none to even think.
Well, at least not for a human anyway.
BOOM
The monster froze in its tracks about four hundred meters away from them, swirling the dark waters all around it.
In the sixteenth of a second, Seras had raised the Harkonnen with one hand and fired, not even flinching at the recoil that could have ripped a grown man's arm off. Pip missed all of that in the moment it took to blink, but was left to stare at the sudden smoke curling from the muzzle.
Another gust of wind swept through the bay, whipping Seras's hair about her pale flashing eyes. Her razor-edged teeth glinted in the night and it was all perfectly badass save for one small detail.
The bullet went rocketing wildly off course, a trail of thin smoke spiraling towards the moon.
"Bollocks," she turned to him in panic, "I think I only grazed it!"
Pip nearly snorted in shock.
"No, you definitely missed…" he trailed off. His single eye widened when he saw exactly why the creature had stopped.
There, where the tentacles had been constricting Alucard's body, something was…trickling out. It was the only way to describe the strange, liquid-like blackness that was rapidly slipping through the coils, despite how they tried to keep hold.
What? Whatisthis? Nonononono I killedyouKilled you. You'redeaddeaddeaddead…. The voice muttered in his head.
Simultaneously, Seras suddenly dropped the Harkonnen and leaned over the crumpled railing, sightless eyes just as wide.
"Master!"
Almost on cue, the dark substance suddenly began to glow red and writhe, gaining shadowy, flickering tendrils.
When Alucard's head and upper torso suddenly formed out of the darkness, Pip didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified. Blood dribbled from the vampire's mouth—his ribs having been undoubtedly crushed. Yet he had the most fucking nightmarish grin on.
He watched the vampire raise his hand, where the Jackal was clenched in his white, white fingers. Pip's face drained of all color when he saw where it was aimed—upon the wriggling tentacles flowing out of the shell.
Merde, this is going to hurt… He thought distantly, without even understanding why it would. Only that it would. Horribly.
It was all he had time to think, before Alucard pulled the trigger.
Pip's world dissolved into white soundless agony.
To say Seras was no longer all that fond of water anymore would have been the understatement of the century.
She could hear the waves calm as the thing (and God was she glad she couldn't see it) suddenly stopped, but there was no howl of pain, no scent of fresh blood that heralded a fatal blow.
At least Will had ceased shrieking, but she was all too aware that she had barely managed to hit the thing. Pip muttered back something at her voiced disappointment, and she had barely begun to process his words when her attention was swiftly yanked away.
Quite literally out of nowhere, a crimson aura had appeared before her third eye. It was a brilliant shade, only deepening in hue with each passing second and Seras knew it better than her own name. The Harkonnen slipped from her limp hands.
"Master!"
The thunderous discharge of the Jackal replied. She heard the water split as the bullet shattered through the depths and ripped wetly into flesh. The railings quivered again as an inhuman howl echoed from below.
And then Pip was screaming. An agonized, breathless sound.
Seras spun around, her undead heart nearly bursting from her chest.
"Pip?!" she called in alarm, reaching out blindly with her hands. The Jackal fired again in the distance. There was a sudden thud at her feet and Seras grabbed air.
"O-Oh…God…G-God…make him stop…make him stop, please…" she heard him rasp weakly from somewhere in front of her. His voice was soft and choked with pain, far from the cocky, debonair tone she was used to. It was frail and utterly human.
Seras kneeled down and groped with trembling hands until she found his arm. He was on his side, in a near fetal curl and she could feel his taut muscles quiver through his sleeve.
"Pip! What is it?" she shook him in panic, but there was no reply as the man continued mumbling hysterically to himself. She wasn't even sure if he knew he was speaking at all.
His hands were clenched tightly around his ears, his nails digging into his temples. Seras pried them away as gently as she could.
"Stop it, you idiot! You're going to hurt yoursel—"
She froze. The smell of Pip's blood filled the air as soon as she lifted his hands.
"Oh, bugger," she whispered, nearly feeling light-headed at the scent. That was a lot of blood. The monster inside her surfaced and shuddered with pleasure, but she quickly shoved it back down.
What the hell was going on? Had something fallen on him? Had Master somehow—no, that made no sense.
Another shot from the Jackal rang out. Seras's eyes widened in shock when Pip jolted violently beneath, a guttural scream of pain escaping him. If it had not been for the distinct lack of blood exploding in all different directions, she would've thought he'd actually been shot.
"Pip," she said soothingly, holding his hands, "Pip, it's alright. Master's going to kill it and then we can get out of here."
Or she hoped they could anyway. The boat was groaning desperately and she could feel the deck beginning to tilt ever so slightly to one side. Seras heard the water slosh along the flanks of the vessel and felt her stomach somersault inside her. There were no life jackets and she had no idea how quickly she would sink if she hit the water.
She was forced to turn away from her worries when Pip's writhing began to become more desperate. In a sudden burst of strength he ripped his hands from her grasp and wrapped them around his ears again.
"Please make him stop…" he moaned lowly, "Oh, God, he's killing me…"
"Who?" Seras demanded helplessly, picking up the Harkonnen again in aimless frustration, "Who is?"
But there was no answer. He couldn't hear her and she couldn't see what was hurting him. She was powerless.
Cold fear nearly gripped her heart, before a quiet, trembling voice suddenly spoke up somewhere a few feet from them.
"I-It's because he's killing that thing…"
Seras nearly leapt out of her skin, having all but forgotten Will was even there.
"What?"
There was the patter of boot soles against wet metal as Will moved closer. Her third eye blinked open and Seras could see his aura—a pale, nearly white, yellow.
"I-I don't really know how," he continued nervously, "But I think the Cap'em's…connected to it. That monster, that thing, whatever it is. I-It doesn't bleed, Miss. Just this…this black stuff comes out and then the Cap'em's ears, they start—"
Seras didn't hear anymore.
"Master!" she screamed, shooting to her feet, "MASTER, STOP!"
Silence answered her, save for the violent slapping and splashing of water by long spindly tentacles. The moan from deep below had grown louder, more desperate.
The air around them lowered by several visible degrees.
Next to her, Will sucked in a thin, horrified breath that set the hairs on Seras's arms on end.
"Jesus, h-his shoulder—something's coming out of his shoulder…"
A sudden gust of wind whistled by her ears, and beneath it she could hear the sound of an inhuman snarl. A feral howl of glee.
Baskerville.
"MASTER!"
It was futile. Alucard saw nothing but the mission at hand and was too caught up in his own bloodlust to spare them a glance. The thing wailed again, creating large ripples upon the water's surface. And despite the strange, alien quality to the sound, Seras could hear its fear—raw and primal, like any other wild beast's.
It knew what was coming.
Almost simultaneously, Pip curled further into himself, the green of his single eye nearly pale with terror.
"No, no, s'il te plaît, oh God, don't let him eat me…"
Seras pounded on the mental link, but it was as if attempting to barrel through an iron wall.
Alucard's aura was growing into an increasingly darker red. Her third eye strained to focus in on the faint outline of her sire's rail thin body, taut in a predatory crouch. She could see the flame-like glow over his arm and the beginning contortions of Baskerville's maw.
"Holy shit! What the fuck is that?!" Will suddenly screamed, landing hard on his rump as his legs gave out, "Jesus, i-it has teeth...!"
There was no time left. Ice crawled down her spine as she forced whatever power she had into the mind link, nearly grinding her teeth with the effort. Her head began to feel like it was filling with water.
No
Pip moaned again from somewhere far away. He was going to die right in front of her. The iron wall crumbled almost unnoticeably.
No
The water in her head turned to lead. In the darkness of the mental link, strange green beams of light chased her away from her master's mind. A woman with a half-rotted face and a bulging eye flashed before her.
Out of my way, she snarled and tore through the images, almost blacking out a second later once she reached the other side.
Alucard's end of the link was a storm of ravenous bloodlust and psychotic delight, which poured forth overwhelmingly the moment their minds reconnected. She'd forgotten how…hungry her master always was.
The monster in Seras surged upwards in eagerness, but she forced it back down with the sound of Pip's agonized moans.
MASTER
Somehow, he still couldn't hear her. Baskerville's jaw opened. Distantly she heard Will scream and curse.
Without thinking, Seras pushed forth every ounce of her psychic presence, sending it spiraling into Alucard's consciousness.
STOP!
It pierced through his mind in the form of an ear-splitting screech. Seras felt her master recoil in surprise and the howling of his familiars reverberated in her skull.
Baskerville shrunk and vanished like a doused candle flame.
Seras nearly collapsed from relief, her head pounding with the dizziness and nausea of the power surge and the salty air of the bay.
"It's okay, Pip," she murmured breathlessly, "It's okay now."
It occurred vaguely to her that Alucard was probably furious and bewildered. Despite her light-headedness, Seras gathered her energy to send a meek, apologetic pulse towards him, hoping to assuage his anger and explain.
It was to her shock when all she felt from him was pain.
Master?
There was a sickening snap, like bones breaking. The wind blew to her the scent of Alucard's blood.
"Oh, no…" Will suddenly whispered, full of dread and horror. Without warning, he leapt to his feet and Seras heard him dash across the deck.
Not even a second later, something hit the water with a violent splash.
11:00pm
"What?" Integra stood from her seat, planting her palms on her desk, "I sincerely hope for your own sake that you're joking."
The man standing in front of her sweated, looking nervous and uncomfortable as she glared daggers into him.
"M-My apologies, Sir Integra," he stuttered, fumbling with his papers, "The inspections were done according to protocol. I'm not quite sure what happened."
"Well you had better be sure soon!" Integra snapped, "Who did the final inspection? A boat deployed for supernatural combat has no lifejackets onboard and they did not think this was relevant enough to report?!"
The poor paper-pusher visibly shrunk further into himself. As a member of the lower circle of management, he had never come face to face with the Director before. Needless to say, he was only beginning to realize how bad of a mistake had been made now that he was.
"Ma'am, please look at this," Walter interrupted suddenly, hurrying over with the other half of the man's paperwork, "These last few inspection reports haven't been signed."
Integra narrowed her eyes at the forms. Indeed, the reports had been filled out, but the inspector's signature and personal information had been left blank. The lifejackets had also been verified to be onboard in each one.
If it had not been for the voiced concerns of one of the mechanics, they would've likely never known.
Integra nearly crumpled the papers in her hand. She had personally checked and made sure that there were four lifejackets on board before the official inspections took place. What the hell happened?
"I want the name of whoever filed this report," she ordered, "Interrogate, raid and seize, analyze the handwriting if you need to, but find them. Am I understood?"
The man quickly nodded
"Go now."
If he had moved any quicker, he would've teleported. Integra clenched her teeth in frustration, trying to rein in her anger at the strange incompetencies that seemed to be plaguing this particular week.
"Prepare the helicopter, Walter," she commanded, "We are going to Dorset."
The butler nodded and exited swiftly. Integra lit a cigar and tried to keep her rising dread at bay.
Neither of you better fall in. This is not the time to be clumsy.