Seras had hesitated at the sight of a human face. He had done the exact same. She didn't know his name, but his Hellsing uniform identified him as a fellow soldier.
I don't have any 'fellow soldiers' anymore.
Neither of them moved, each pointing their weapons at the other. It was completely silent, even the rumbling of the unstable corridor had stopped. With her enhanced senses Seras could hear his fearful breath, his racing heart, see the fear in his eyes and the infinitesimal trembling in his hands. The soldier held his ground, and at this range Seras wouldn't be able to dodge his bullets. Eventually, the silence was broken as the man's radio chimed in.
"Andrews, Sitrep. Have you found anything?"
That must have been his squad leader. Andrews slowly took one hand off his gun and reached for his radio-
"Don't respond to that!" Seras jerked her gun forward to emphasize the point. The last thing she needed were more Hellsing soldiers here. Andrews froze, fully aware that any sudden motion could be his last.
"Listen to me please," Seras couldn't keep the desperation from her voice. "I don't know what Parker's told you, but I've been working for Hellsing with Sir Integra for over a year. I've never even killed a human being before!"
Andrews didn't say a word, or lower his weapon. Instead, his gaze fell downward to her feet. Seras followed it and found herself staring at the corpses of the ghouls she'd just killed. Corpses of Hellsing soldiers.
"It's not…" she stammered. "I didn't…"
Oh god, I'm covered in their blood.
"They were…" Seras stopped as she noticed something strapped to the soldier's side, "What is that?"
It was a small device, barely noticeable except for a small red light on its side. Seras' eyes widened as she realized what it was.
A camera…
Sometimes on missions in unknown territory, a Hellsing soldier would be given a camera to collect mission data and relay it back to command. There was no mic, but it allowed commanding officers to see what was happening during operations.
And right now it's pointed directly at me!
She could hear footsteps running down the corridor, in mere moments the rest of Andrews' squad would be here.
I have to get out of here!
The path behind her was still open, where the vampire was fleeing. Seras hesitantly took a few steps back.
"Don't move!" Andrews shouted, he still didn't fire his rifle but Seras didn't doubt he would. She took advantage of his hesitation to fire a grenade from her own weapon. Not at Andrews, Seras wasn't about to shoot a human being, but the ceiling was unstable.
Giant chunks of stone came crashing down as the explosion rocked the corridor. Seras leaped to the ground, shielding her head with her arms. She lay there as the floor shook and more rocks fell around her. As the tremors finally ceased, Seras slowly climbed to her feet. There was now a wall of rubble between her and Andrews.
She took a second to catch her breath, the explosion had been more powerful than Seras had anticipated, and even with her inhuman endurance the shellshock had stunned her. Realizing what that could mean, Seras placed her ear against the wall of rubble as a sense of dread overtook her. At first all she heard was silence, punctuated by the occasional falling rock.
Thump Thump.
A heartbeat… Andrews' heartbeat. Seras breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't killed him.
Seras kept following the vampire, being far more careful then before. Just as she used her sense to hunt the vampire, she was able to use it to tell when there were soldiers nearby. The distant sounds of battle were gone and Seras had no doubt that most of the vampires were already dead. Hellsing was now solely focused on finding and killing her.
It shouldn't be like this.
Seras slowly hid in the shadows as a group of soldiers marched past her. Once they were out of sight Seras quietly moved on. Another right turn, if it weren't for the vampire then Seras would have been utterly lost.
After several minutes of sneaking through the dank passages of the Catacombs, Seras came to a staircase. The torches flickered and Seras felt a draft of fresh air on her face. Forsaking caution, she sprinted up the staircase and burst through a trap door to the surface.
Finally!
The dark stones and claustrophobic passages had unnerved Seras. She promised herself never to go to a place like that again.
She took a minute to take in her surroundings. The trap door had taken her to an open plain far from Hellsing. The few trees that stood nearby rustled as the wind violently blew through their leaves. The moon stood solemnly in the sky, obscured by a few clouds.
A few hundred meters away was the vampire, limping across the plains. Seras thought about just leaving him be, after all she didn't need him to get out of the Catacombs anymore, but then the breeze shifted and the familiar scent returned. Through the darkness the she saw the vampire held a sack in his arms. Whatever the contents, the vampire was being careful not to damage it which explained his slowness.
Curiosity piqued, Seras closed the distance between them in a few seconds. The vampire heard her coming and carefully placed the sack on the ground. Seras paused as the vampire growled at her like an animal ready for combat.
"You are the one who has been hunting me." His eyes narrowed as he sized her up. "The traitor."
"Traitor?" Seras was taken aback by his use of the word.
"A vampire that hunts her own kind. A vampire who has denied her own birthright and consorts with mortals" He looked around warily, "where are your human masters now, traitor?"
"I don't have human masters anymore." That wasn't entirely true, Seras was still bound to Integra's will and the restraints still contained her power.
"So the slave has been abandoned…" The vampire paused for a moment, cocking his head as if trying to listen to a voice in the distance.
"My master wishes you to join us."
"What?" Seras wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. "But I've slaughtered dozens of you."
"They were weak. You are strong." The vampire seemed to be repeating what somebody else was saying. "You have nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. You will be hunted, cornered and eventually killed. With us, you will grow stronger and thrive."
Seras got the distinct impression she wasn't conversing with this vampire, but his unseen master. He had a point as well. Seras had witnessed firsthand how ruthless Hellsing can be in hunting down vampires. A chill came over her as she came to realize how utterly alone she was. Alucard, Integra, Pip, Walter…everyone Seras knew was either gone, dead or trying to kill her.
Why should I even be loyal to Integra? I never had a choice. I've been her slave since my first breath as a vampire.
With these vampires she would stand a fighting chance. What would Alucard want her to do? He had always told her to embrace her vampiric origins. She looked at her choices. Joining the Masters would be her best hope at survival.
"One question" Seras gestured to the sack sitting in the grass "what's in the bag?"
The vampire hesitated, waiting until his master bid him speak. "It is a human girl. My master intends to turn her."
"Into a vampire?" Seras gasped. "But she's just a girl."
"Seriphus offers her the greatest of gifts," Seras assumed Seriphus was the unseen voice the vampire obeyed. "To become one of the Masters."
"She doesn't have a choice."
"We never do."
It occurred to Seras that this vampire had once been a human. That he had also been taken away from everything he knew and transformed into a creature of darkness. Now he was about condemn a girl to the same fate.
"I can't let you do that."
"Consider your words carefully" The vampire's eyes narrowed. "You are alone, with nobody to help you."
"You're right" Seras couldn't deny that she needed help, "and… I will join you, just let the girl go!"
Seras expected the vampire to back down. Clearly she must be more valuable to this unseen master than a single human girl. As the vampire cocked his head to listen to his master, it occurred to her that this girl was the only human she'd seen in the catacombs besides Hellsing soldiers.
But before she could finish her thoughts the vampire suddenly lunged at Seras! His injured leg didn't slow him down and the sudden attack caught her by surprise. She barely managed to dodge the unexpected attack.
Why is this girl so important that they'd rather turn her into a vampire than allow me to join them?
The vampire landed on all fours, quickly turning and snarling at her like a rabid dog. Before Seras could realize what was happening he grabbed her leg and pulled her to the ground. All semblance of control left him as he clawed at her with a blinding fury.
Seras quickly recovered and counterattacked. She struck the vampires injured leg with a strong kick. As he winced in pain she took advantage of the distraction to grab his neck. The vampire struggled to tear himself from her grip, but that just made Seras tighten her hold. In the heat of the battle she didn't realize her own strength and soon she felt bone breaking and flesh tearing. A second later the vampire's head was ripped clean from his body.
Seras heaved a sigh and pushed the vampires limp form off of her. He had been a weak vampire, unable to even heal his own wounds without drinking blood. It was the surprise of his attack that had allowed him to even the odds.
The bag still sat innocuously on the grass, undisturbed from the brief fight. Seras made her way to it carefully pulled a human form from out of it.
It's her!
The girls was years older, but there was no doubt it was the same girl from Seras' dream. The beautiful black hair was now bloody and tangled. Where there had once been a beautiful dress there was now just filthy rags. She was paler too. So much paler. If it weren't for a faint heartbeat Seras would've thought the girl dead.
Seras grimly realized the girl was losing blood through a wound in her arm. She tore a piece of her uniform for a makeshift tourniquet. The girl felt so weak and delicate in Seras' arms.
She needs somewhere to rest.
And Seras needed somewhere to hide. An entire army was hunting her. The vampire had been right. Seras had nobody to turn to. She'd just killed her only potential ally for the sake of this girl. But he'd been wrong about her having nowhere to go. She carefully held the girl and began to run southwest. There was one final place left to Seras.
Home…I'm going home.
AN: This completed what I would call the 'first section' of To Be A Monster. It would be roughly a year before I posted anymore chapters. Luckily you don't have to wait that long!