Bullets.
The single word was her only thought as Heinkel ducked below a lethal claw strike, firing a round into the vampires head.
I'm running out of bullets.
Even if every shot killed a vampire, she simply didn't have enough bullets to kill them all. The entire town had been converted into vampires and ghouls, and their charge was completely undeterred by the bodies of their comrades.
Three more lunged at her from different directions. She shot one, and as a vampire women stabbed at her with a knife, Heinkel deftly stepped back, pushing her forward into the third attacker. They collapsed in a heap, their anger turned on each other.
These vampires are young, disorganized. Hardly a threat.
But there were just so many of them. A wave of ghouls charged down the streets towards Heinkel, and realizing she would be surrounded she leaped into a nearby office building. At least they would be forced into a smaller area.
As she ran down the hallway, she could see the street through windows and the open door. A horde of vampire and ghouls smashed through glass as they climbed over each other, crying out to devour her. Yet through it all she saw their master, Seriphus as he called himself, leaning smugly on a cane.
Heinkel didn't need to check her pistols. From the weight she knew there was only three shots in each. With dwindling time and ammo, she came up with a plan.
"Die, paladin!"
A female vampire charged through the drywall and pinned Heinkel to the ground. A former resident of this town, who would've once been honored to meet Heinkel now cried for her blood. She reared back her head, teeth barred only to have the barrel of a gun shoved down her mouth.
Heinkel didn't have a witty sentence to see of the vampire. She didn't have time. A moment later she'd used one of her last bullets to blow her assailants head clean off, and as she climbed to her feet she saw the oncoming horde was mere feet in front and now behind her.
It's a good thing the vampire had opened a third path.
Heinkel crawled through the broken wall, leading to a room with various cubicles arrayed throughout. Only a few ghouls were wandering around, their oversized white shirts stained with blood. Heinkel expended another four bullets on the office's former occupants before taking precious seconds to search the room.
She moved to a seemingly empty wall in the office, placing her ear against the wall and knocking. No, it was solid here. Another knock, still solid. It was becoming harder to focus with roar of the horde drawing ever closer
There!
A hidden room behind the wall. In her previous visit an agent had off-handedly mentioned it, and now Heinkel had found the town's weapon storage room. No doubt a hidden switch or command would open the door, but as Heinkel saw the dead rounding the corner towards her, she knew she didn't have time. She braced her hand and punched the wall with all her force.
Stone broke, along with something in her hand, but she managed to make a hole small enough for her to crawl her way through. Heinkel winced as the bones in her hand readjusted themselves, snapping into place as they pushed aside muscle and nerve. Nobody said being a regenerator would be painless.
"Damnit." She swore as she examined the room.
No doubt the townspeople had run to this very room when Seriphus attacked. The many shelves and racks were empty, devoid of weapons and ammo. All that remained was a pile of explosives, perhaps meant to be used as a final, fiery weapon to take their own lives rather than join the undead.
Heinkel looked back to the previous room, seeing all the townspeople with rotting skin and fatal wounds now charging after her. It clearly hadn't worked.
She mused for a moment of doing that exact thing. Remembering the paladins who had charged into Alucard's horde with explosives strapped to their chests, giving their lives in a fight that they were doomed to lose.
Not yet. I'm not going to die here.
Heinkel still had one bullet left. One bullet versus the army of the dead cutting her escape. They were nearing her now, closing in. There was only one option left; a creative solution that was likely to get her killed.
Heinkel quickly found a timed detonator, strapped it to the vast pile of explosives and starting a countdown. Thirty second would be good.
The explosion would be large enough to level the building…and then some. Heinkel had to make sure she wasn't here when that happened. She crawled through the hole in the wall, if she could get away before…
Too late. They reached her before she even regained her footing.
She cried out as someone bit into her arm, then someone else bit into her leg. They grabbed her limbs, pinning her to the ground as they started to gnaw at her.
Heinkel realized in horror that she was losing feeling in her arms. The lightning pain was replaced by numbness as her nerves were ripped apart. In a desperate surge of energy she twisted her body, swinging her limp arms like clubs at them.
It bought only a moment's respite. It was a moment for her to glance back at the weapons room and saw the countdown reach its end. It was a moment for her to charge over the crowd and barrel through the nearest window. It was a moment for her to brace herself as a blazing inferno surrounded her, spinning her wildly through the air as her body burned.
It was a moment for her to hit the ground violently, lying limp on the ground as she blacked out.
Time passed, but how much Heinkel couldn't tell. She lay where she'd fallen, forcing her eyes to slowly open.
Shapes and shadows. That's all she saw.
Heinkel's senses were buried beneath a fog as she regained consciousness. The crackling sound of flame sounded miles away. The voices she heard were distorted beyond comprehension, and what little, smoky air she could inhale might as well have been liquid.
"Search the ruins." A voice shouted. A human voice…or one cleverly disguised as such. "Find her!"
No, not human. Seriphus. The shapes coalesced into more vampires. How many monsters did Seriphus have at his command? As they moved among the smoldering wreck, turning up piles of rubble and looking under various ruin, they ignored the pleas of other survivors. The entire block had been leveled, with nothing but broken buildings and piles of ash to mark this part of the town. Heinkel would have grinned at the devastation she'd brought on Seriphus' army.
Instead she muffled a cry of pain as her senses returned. She could feel her skin reforming, nerves tangling back together and every bone snapping back into place. Her entire body was violently regrowing, ignorant to the pain it was causing her. It was as she bit her tongue so much it bled, that Heinkel remembered Makube's words.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Mere words, Heinkel had thought. But those words had become a Haven to Heinkel since becoming a regenerator. Makube's must have known how painful it would be. The fact that Father Anderson must have gone through all of this…Heinkel had never known.
"I found her!" someone shouted from behind.
Heinkel felt hands grip her by her torn robes as she was unceremoniously dragged across the ground. Her body, still recovering, refused to obey her commands.
My pistol…
Beside a fire, half hidden under a piece of rubble shined one of Heinkel's weapons. Forcing herself to move, she managed to break free of the vampire, rolling to the ground.
"Hey" He growled as he picked her up again, continuing to drag her towards his master. Only now, she now had the weapon, hidden within her pockets.
"Iscariot still has its heroes, I see." Seriphus mused, as she was brought towards him. "How I'll enjoy taking one of them away."
There had been only one bullet left. One bullet between both of her weapons, which meant that one of her pistols was empty. Which one was this? Heinkel grimaced as she felt her shoulder snap back into place, a tingling sensation running down her arm. It was impossible to judge the weight of the weapon through the pain. She would have to trust in God.
"Now, paladin." Seriphus, despite appearing like a wizened old man easily picked up Heinkel by the cuff of her robe, lifting her several feet off the ground. "You don't need to say anything. In fact, I admire that." He smiled, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "I like your spirit…I expect it will be delicious."
As she spoke the final words, his skin turned gray. He teeth grew larger and his eyes a full black. He no longer resembled a human, but the monster that he truly was. A monster that was about to drink Heinkel's blood.
Bang!
His smile faded. He stumbled backwards, as Heinkel fell back to the ground.
"I guess that was the loaded pistol." She said to herself as she marveled at the smoking gun. Then she realized she could speak, and the pain in her body subsided. She was rejuvenated, and healthy.
Seriphus brought his hands to the hole in his chest. With his now bloodied suit draped over his demonic form, he looked more like a parody of man than an actual human.
Then he grinned, and he looked up at Heinkel.
"You probably thought that would kill me, didn't you?" He laughed. "Sorry, paladin, but you've never faced a vampire like me before."
Actually I have…
It was all Heinkel thought as Seriphus began moving towards her. She had only heard of one other vampire surviving a blessed, silver bullet piercing his heart. Somehow this vampire had discovered a way to cheat death, just like Alucard.
"I tire of working through others." Seriphus' hands grew into claws, his eyes taking on a bloodlust of their own. "It is time for you to die."
In the blink of an eye he was upon her. Literally the blink of an eye. Heinkel had never seen someone move so fast. She hit him with all her force with the butt of her gun, only to pause in shock as he all but ignored the strike. His hands shot up, gripping her arms and trapping Heinkel in his grasp. He howled in victory as he prepared to bite into her neck.
With only a moment left, Heinkel slipped out of her robe. The sleeveless vest she wore beneath offered little protection, but it allowed her to get out of Seriphus' grasp. She jumped onto his shoulders, wrapping her robe around his head. The brief confusion it caused, let her quickly dash through the smoke that surrounded them. Heinkel quickly found the road and sprinted as fast as she could into the forest.
It was only after several minutes of sprinting, feeling like her lungs would burst that Heinkel realized she wasn't being chased. Had Seriphus simply allowed her to escape? There was no sign of his minions, or the powerful vampire behind her. No predators lurking in the shadows of the tree. Heinkel leaned against an ancient oak, contemplating what it could mean.
He wasn't after me. He as after Seras. Why would he let me escape unless…
"Damn it!"
The message that she'd been given. The note that said Seras was in Cheddar. It had been in Heinkel's robe! Could it have survived the explosion? Could Seriphus have noticed even as Heinkel fought him?
Of course he did. He was a vampire. He was beyond what is human.
And now he knew where Seras was hiding.
Heinkel checked her pockets. No cigarettes. No ammo. Only a single, unloaded pistol. She would have to sprint several miles to find the helicopter.
Heinkel started moving now. No doubt Seriphus was already on his way to Cheddar to find Seras Victoria. What could he want with Hellsing's pet vampire? Join her? Kill her? Did she have some secret he wanted? One thing was for certain, Heinkel would never let Seriphus find Seras Victoria.
Because Heinkel was going to kill her first.
AN: This was actually one of the later chapters I wrote. Writing fight scenes is difficult for me, and so I put it off to the end.
