Seras eases the storage room door to behind her, then fights back the urge to squeal and swat at the tiny thing scampering up the back of her shirt. She gently plucks David off her shoulder and sets him in the floor.

"Change back." She whispers.

It takes a few minutes but he finally manages to resume his normal form. She'd have to work with him on that later, along with getting his shadows under control. No sooner than she starts looking through boxes a scream echoes through the hall quickly followed by several more. Grabbing the door handle she motions for David to remain silent. Whatever was causing the racket she sure as hell didn't want it finding them in a corner like this.

It seems like hours had gone by before everything falls silent, but she knew it was more likely only minutes. She eases the door open and peeks into the hall.

"Grab one of those trash bags and stuff all the IV bags and tubing you can find in it. Oh, needles too."

She couldn't see anything, but that isn't the least bit reassuring. If anything it makes her even more nervous.

"I think I got everything." David whispers.

"Good, let's go. And stay close."

Both vampires step cautiously into the hall.

"What's going on?"

Seras turns a stern gaze on the young vampire and he immediately drops his gaze. She hated doing that to him, but her instincts were screaming at her that there was something bad wrong with this situation. They round the corner to the main hallway and stare dumbfounded at the sight before them.

It looked like someone had blended up the hospital occupants and just tossed the sludge all over the hall. She had seen this before. The club that had been attacked before they had left London. Her first instinct is to call for Alucard, but he was in Romania and she was the master vampire here. She had to keep David safe.

Carefully they make their way down the gore covered hall till they reach the main lobby. And there, crouched over the body of a freak is the last thing she wanted to see, the gangly starved looking form of a mutant.

"David….run."

The boy blinks, "W-what?"

The mutant looks up and lets out a outraged shriek.

"Run!"

David bolts for the main doors and the mutant makes a lunge for him, but Seras' fist connects with the creature's jaw, sending it crashing back over the front desk. The mutant looks almost confused as it climbs onto the counter to look at her.

Seras smirks, "Not used to someone being able to fight back, hm?"

The mutant shrieks and leaps off the counter with enough force to knock Seras backwards, teeth snapping an inch from her face.

"It's one of the rebels!"

Seras looks away from the struggling creature to the soldiers filing into the hospital. Could the night get any worse?

"Shoot! Shoot!"

Yep, it could. She lets out a pained cry as bullets tear into her side and she loses her grip on the mutant. Unfazed by the rain of bullets the creature makes a lunge for her throat, but the draculina manages to get her arm up in time that the creature misses its target and sinks its teeth into her arm instead. Ripping her arm free she grabs the mutant by the throat and slings it into the group of soldiers before bolting for the door.

"Should we follow her?" One of the soldiers asks.

The sergeant shakes his head slightly, "Even wounded we wouldn't be able to catch her. Let's get the doc's pet back to him."

"Yes sir."

x*x

Integra closes her eyes with a faint smile as the aroma of the tea fills her tiny office. It was a homemade blend Walter had created for her years ago. It always helped her focus even while it settled her nerves. How many hours had she spent chatting with the old man over work while they enjoyed a cup of tea? Now she couldn't drink it and the face across the table from her wasn't that of an old man. His eyes were still the same. Despite his gentle manner Walter's eyes always held an intensity that didn't match his age or mannerism. No matter his age or what role he decided to play he was at his core the Angel of Death.

She eyes his cup with envy, gaining a smirk from the man, "You're a prat for teasing me so."

His smirk shifts to a grin, "You're the one that decided to let that arrogant ass bite you."

"You're no saint yourself."

"No, but at least I can enjoy a cup of tea."

Whatever retort she had is lost as the door bursts open to reveal a panicked David.

"Come quick, Seras is hurt!"

Tea and argument forgotten the two jump up to follow David. What could manage to hurt Seras has Integra terrified. It wasn't like they had a hospital for vampires and the only one who likely could help her was gone for now. Despite being covered in blood the first thing she notices is the bite on Seras' arm.

"Walter, her arm, cut it off!"

"What?!"

Seras whines as the last of her strength fades as she collapses into Walter's arms, "Do it. Please."

Walter closes his eyes for a moment, the lowers Seras onto the concrete floor of the tunnel. He loops a wire around her arm just above her elbow. The black streaks running from the bite hadn't gotten that far yet.

"Ready?" He asks.

Seras nods slightly with a weak smile then grits her teeth to keep from screaming as the wire slices through her arm. She presses her face against Walter's shoulder when he gathers her into his arms and reaches up with her good arm to cling to his vest.

Integra pulls up the tattered remains of Seras' shirt to look over the bullet wounds. The holes were smoking.

"Silver. Come on, let's get her somewhere I can remove these and she's going to need blood."

"No…I'll be fine." Seras whispers.

"Like hell you'll be fine!" Integra snaps.

But even as the last word leaves her lips the bullets rise to the surface of the draculina's skin then ping against the concrete.

"Let's go get you fed, love." Walter croons against her ear.

Integra watches as Walter picks Seras up then heads down the tunnel. With a frustrated sigh she runs a hand back through her hair.

"I nearly got her killed for nothing."

"Not nothing." David points toward the large garbage bag stuffed full, "We got the supplies! But…what was that thing? It was vampire…I think."

"The Iscariots created a variation of the vampire using a modified form of black magic. Runes carved into the skin that changes the nature of the vampire."

David frowns slightly, "There wasn't any runes. None that I saw anyway."

"I'll ask Seras once she's recovered."

x*x

Seras groans and reaches up to rub her eyes. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck; a big angry truck with really big tires. She starts to raise up only to have a strong hand grab her shoulder. Peeking an eye open she smiles as she looks up at Walter then rolls over to lay her cheek on his thigh. She closes her eyes with a soft moan when he runs his fingers through her hair.

"How long have I been out?"

"A few hours. I'm…I'm sorry about your arm."

She blinks then raises her head to look down at the stump of her arm, "Oh, right." She holds her arm up as the appendage reforms then wiggles her newly formed fingers, "Good as new! If you hadn't cut it off whatever that thing did to me would have spread and….yeah, I can't reform from that."

Walter pulls her over into his lap and wraps his arms around her when she settles back against his chest, "What happened?"

"David and I were getting the supplies when the hospital was attacked. It was like one of those things that priest created, but there weren't any scars on it. Also, it didn't attack the soldiers."

"Sounds like our friends have learned how to create their own version of the mutants."

"It's a good thing Alucard has gone to get help. We're going to need it."

Dan watches David bustle about Margaret's kitchen with a look of pure disgust on his face.

"It was bad enough having the handful of them down here then that stupid bitch goes and invites the rest of that filth here."

The man sitting on the stool beside him raises an eyebrow over his mug of beer, then sets the glass down with a thunk against the plank wood counter, "Still mad about that, huh?"

"Don't you see what's happening here?"

Karen smiles faintly as she sets a full mug down in front of Dan, "It's just an equal rights thing is all."

Dan narrows his eyes at the woman, "Equal rights? She's hated you from the start. Seriously, when has she even spared a glance your direction."

Karen plucks at the tail of her tshirt, "She's busy and I just work the kitchen."

Dan snorts and picks up his glass, "Sure, right. She's just pissy cause her husband or whatever he is to her brought you here and she wants you gone." He waves a hand toward the people mingling around the station, "How long you think this is gonna last? They'll make the effort to 'harvest blood' for a while, then they'll realize it's just easier to eat us!"

The other man grins, "I pity the vampire that decides to chew on you. Indigestion would be putting it lightly!"

"I'm serious!"

"Yeah, I know. You've gone up against that woman twice now and failed. You really wanna go for round three?"

Dan grins, "Third time's the charm, right?"

"Or maybe 'don't push your luck'?"

"She had the majority behind her then, that's not gonna last. I know I'm not the only one who thinks we're walking straight into hell. I'll get more people on my side and we'll put an end to this shit."

The man shakes his head slightly, "I hope you know what you're getting into. Good luck to you I guess."

x*x

Travis frowns at the racket and starts to yell at whatever bumbled headed idiot was disturbing his peace when the door to the lab flies open and the mutant comes tearing across the lab to duck behind his chair.

"What in nine hells is going on?!"

The sergeant braces his hands against his knees. He may no longer need to breathe but that didn't make it any less exhausting dealing with a wild animal. "It does not like riding in the jeep. At all!"

Travis chuckles and reaches down to pat the mutant's head and the creature chitters happily, "I'd imagine not. It's just a closed in box. How did the test run go?"

The sergeant straightens up and walks over to hold out the tiny camera to the doctor, or what used to be a camera. "No video, the camera was smashed during the attack."

Travis reaches out to pluck the remains of the camera from the sergeant's hand, "Oh, the locals put up that much of a fight, hm?"

"Not the locals, one of the rebels. The blonde girl…short haired."

"Ah yes, Alucard's fledgling." He grins eagerly, "My creation is still alive so I assume it went well."

"Well, she got away, but with a nasty bite on her arm."

Travis frowns as he taps his fingertips against his desk, "A bite on the arm isn't going to be enough to take a vampire of her caliber down, but I didn't expect a single mutant to be able to destroy such a vampire. Did you manage to track her to wherever she's hiding?"

The sergeant hesitates a moment before shaking his head slightly, "We didn't follow her. Didn't think we'd be able to catch up to her."

For a moment he's angry, but that anger quickly fades. Even if they did know where the rebels were hiding he wasn't ready to launch an attack. He only had the one success so far.

"Probably for the best you let her go. We don't want to tip them off before we're ready."

"Er…does Gregori know you're doing this? I don't mind helping, but…"

Travis rolls his eyes, "Of course he knows! He just can't oversee every little detail so he's put his trust in us to get this project going. We're off to a very good start as well. I was just looking to turn a bunch of wild animals loose on the rebels, but the behavioral modifications seem to be working out very well. As long as it isn't being transported in a jeep. Maybe we can modify a couple of the jeeps with the containers Gregori provided?"

The sergeant nods slightly, "We can try."

"Get your men on that until we're ready for the next phase of this plan."

"And what if that other bloke shows up again?"

Travis sneers at the computer screen. He knew exactly who the sergeant was talking about, Gregori's sire, the supposed mastermind behind all this. A load of horseshit really! It was Gregori and himself that had made this invasion a success. Not that fat little pig and his crackpot doctor, or some ancient deformed vampire.

"Just try to keep everything low key. All we can do at this point."

"Alright, we'll do what we can."