Hellsing Witch Hunter 1616

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 10: As Time Goes By

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing

6 Months Later

As Seras and her fellow Hunters rode from the scene of another hunt, she thought back on the last six months. The three women had learned to get along- well not all the time, there were, of course still squabbles and snide remarks from time to time. But Seras felt that they have all come a long way from when they first met. Of course, Seras still felt that Integra was still intimidating as ever, six months did not turn her into a snuggly teddy bear. Seras looked over saw Sam trying to reach over and grab Integra's butt, she rolled her eyes. A moment later Sam gave a yelp of pain. The petite blond couldn't help but roll her eyes again. She and Sam had scoured the libraries and the National Archive building in hopes of finding clues and evidence of George Whitehall's involvement in their families' murders. They had followed every lead with legal boundaries, but apparently, Whitehall had covered his tracks well. If anyone knew anything, they weren't telling, more likely paid off or killed off. The only thing Seras had were the memory of the men that had killed her family, they had run off, out of the country. Seras hoped that they were still alive and stupid enough to return to London for whatever reason. After all these dead ends, Seras felt like she was failing her family. She knew Sam felt the same because on some nights they would stay up late talking, thinking up plans and sharing theories, but it all seemed for naught.

Sam rubbed her hand, did Integra have to hit so damn hard? As the assassin reflected on the last six months, though she liked being a King's Hunter and the pay, she felt stuck. She had wanted to become an assassin, not a hunter. Thanks to a certain family, she was now on a detour and while the pay was good, Sam was not satisfied. She had been trained in the art of the killed. To become death itself, without her victims ever seeing her. This she told Seras, however Integra was clueless…or was she? Sam glanced at the Hellsing heiress out of the corner of her eye. Integra was busy lighting a thin cigar. Yeah, Sam pegged her as clueless to how she felt about being a Hunter. Besides if Sam told her, Integra would probably give her a two-hour long lecture about how being a Hunter was her duty and that she was not taking it seriously. Integra may be hot, but Sam did not want to hear a lecture from her mouth, there was so many other things that mouth could be used for. Sam knew that the only place that might hold the truth about her clan's murder would be located at one of the Whitehall's houses. While at the National Archives building, she made sure to commit to memory the blue prints of their properties and draw them in a journal. This was something Sam didn't tell anyone including Seras. Once she found the information, she would tell Seras, but right now she had enough to worry about and Sam didn't want Seras to worry anymore.

Integra didn't even bother to guide her horse, Baskerville knew the way to the estate anyway, especially now that two of the carriage mares were in heat. But the libido of her stallion was not where her mind was. Six months. Six months working with these…well she really couldn't call them idiots, she had learned to tolerate them a bit more. But it was obvious that their heads were not all on their duties as the King's Hunters. They were still focused on getting revenge. Integra guessed she couldn't blame them, seeing as their families were brutally murdered. As they told her on more than one occasion, she wouldn't understand. Her mother was dead when she gave birth to her and her father was poisoned by the Whitehalls. However, Integra refused to give those pompous fops the satisfaction of plotting revenge. They knew how badly Sam and Seras wanted to sink their claws into them and made every effort to upset them with snide, vague remarks. They had tried that nonsense with Integra, but she subtly reminded them she was in possession of what they wanted. The Whitehalls left her alone after that. Since Integra never dealt with politics, she rarely saw them except at functions, and she made a point not to attend too many of those either. Plotting revenge against such a powerful family was a waste of time, unless you had some serious evidence and judging by their nightly bitching, Integra could tell that her two fellow Hunters had nothing and knowing how crafty George Whitehall was, they will probably never find anything. It would be better if they could focus on their duty and something productive, but telling them this would only start an argument and Integra did not feel like diminishing her IQ level on idiotic reasoning. So, she said nothing, even though she knew everything. Integra knew that Whitehall would eventually make a mistake, but not with Sam and Seras' blundering attempts at an investigation. Oh boy, she needed another cigar. It's lonely being the only smart one…oh well.

When they returned to the estate, they didn't have time to rest as Walter handed Integra a folder. The folder reported that in the small village of Cheddar, young people would go missing only to be found dead or oddly enough elderly. Young people became afraid to leave their houses, but somehow the witch found her way in and stole their youth. This would happen when there were no people around, so no one could tell if the witch had the appearance of a youthful woman or an elderly one.

"Aww man!" complained Sam. "My feet hurt! Can this wait until after Philip gives me a foot massage?" Integra gave the assassin a hard slap to the back of the head; "Don't use my staff to do something as disgusting as touching your feet. They do not get paid enough to experience such horrors. Now let's go, we have work to do."

"I'm kind of hungry" stated Sam.

"Eat on horseback."

"Our horses are tired."

"There's 50 horses in the stables, pick one. I expect payment by the end of the evening."

Sam and Seras stared at each other, Integra was joking, right? They both ran out the office, behind her asking this.

The village of Cheddar was small, about 10 miles, with one main road going straight through it, that ended with a forest. The small houses were made of wood and most of them didn't go past 2 stories. Business buildings such as the black smiths and tanners were made of stone anddidn't go past 2 stories. The most prominent building in the village was the church. It's steeple and bell tower hovered over the rest of the buildings in Cheddar. The mayor of the small village greeted the Hunters, when they stabled their horses at the small livery stable. He invited them to his house for some light refreshments while they discussed the situation.

"At first it was one person, a young man, when we found his body, we put extra men to patrol nightly and for a month it seemed to work. But then the attacks started again, this time weekly. Any young person that went out at night could be a target. Trying to get young people to stay indoors, even if it was for their safety proved to be a hassle." The mayor shook his head; "They're not even safe in their own houses the only place the witch won't enter is the church, a young girl found this out. So now all the young people are being kept in the church, but they are getting restless."

"Won't she just go after the older people?" asked Seras.

"So, far no one over the age 30 have been attacked" responded the Mayor.

"That means we are the only young people not inside the church" speculated Sam.

"Does this witch attack every night?" asked Seras. The mayor scratched his beard; "We don't know, she probably prowls around, but there have been no attacks since the young people took shelter in the church at night."

That evening when the sun began to set the younger citizens were ushered into the church with several nuns and the doors were locked from the inside. However, two teens; Emelia and Paul had slipped away preferring to be by themselves, then stuck in some old church. It was their six-month anniversary and they wanted to take their relationship to the next level and they certainly couldn't do it in a church and a crowded one at that!

Several hours into the night, the empty village quietness was splintered by the ear-piercing scream of a girl and the cries for help by a young man. When the Hunters arrived at a small stable, for that's where Emelia and Paul had taken shelter, they saw two half naked people, one was a young man and the other an elderly woman.

"I didn't think cougars would take it that far" said Sam after looking at the odd couple. The young man sobbed; "Emelia was attacked and…"

"Weren't you two supposed to be in the church?" interrupted Integra. Paul nodded. "And you two fools decided that sex was more important than safety?"

"Sir Integra, you don't have to…" said Seras.

"Apparently, the witch saw what was going on and wanted to make it a threesome" chuckled Sam.

"Sam!"

"Is there a way to save her?" asked Paul desperately.

"Why? You don't like older women?" smirked Sam. This remark earned her a glare from both Seras and Integra.

"Make all the jokes you want. I shall take your youth as well" sneered the witch, who had sensed the Hunters' youthful aura. "Tonight, must be my lucky night. I will have my full of your youth." The witch had the appearance of a young lady; she had long dark hair, pale skin and a slender build. Her eyes were an eerie green. She was appareled in a white dress that was almost transparent and she was barefoot.

"Before you steal our youth. I have a question" stated Integra. The witch sighed; "Fine, what is your question and make it quick."

"How do you steal people's youth?"

The witch blinked; "Don't you mean 'why' I steal people's youth? You know, some kind of dumb moral question."

"I could care less about your morals. I would like to know the process of youth stealing."

"What kind of question is that?" asked Seras shocked.

This was new to the witch, usually people screamed in fear and tried to run, never had anyone asked how it was done.

"Well first, I open my mouth wide…."

"Do you mind showing me, I'm known to be quite the tight ass, so I'm not sure what 'wide' is."

The witch opened her mouth wide revealing sharp jagged teeth and a snake-like tongue. Quick as a flash, Sam shoved a large grenade into that gaping maw.

"What did you just put in my…."

BOOM! The witch exploded into fleshy chunks that flew in every direction, coating the inside the small stable in what used to be a lining being.

"I didn't think that would have worked" said Integra.

"Wonder what you would have done if she took people's youth by staring into their eyes, like the Medusa" stated Sam. "Still, it was funny cramming that grenade in her mouth."

"How come Emilia's not changing back?" asked Paul.

"Just because the witch is dead, that doesn't necessary guarantee a reversal of her curse" explained Integra. "And consider this a lesson, caused by your foolishness." Those who had their youth stolen and survived the ordeal, were turned into elderly people in a catatonic state; simply enough they were better if they died, at least Sam thought so, but she did not voice it.

As the Hunters led the 'couple' back to the mayor's house, Seras asked; "Is it possible to change the victims back?"

Sam shrugged; "No clue. Maybe." While the mayor was upset at the thought of another victim, he was glad to hear that the witch terrorizing his tiny town was finally dealt with.

That night Sera had no appetite for dinner, which was sad because the cook made a mean lasagna. She was too upset about the outcome of the battle of the youth stealing witch. She had thought that the destruction on the witch would mean the restoration of the victims' youth. So now all those young people had to spend the rest of their lives as elderly vegetables. When Sam had heard the words, 'elderly vegetables' she started laughing, not at the victims per se, but at the words, but Seras didn't find humor in the situation. It was no use talking to Integra, Seras thought, all she cared about was killing witches, not reversing their magic. There had to be some way of undoing such horrible damage. But try as she might, Seras could not find anything that could reverse the spell. The Hunters had been too hasty to kill the witch. Next time a situationsimilar like tonight's arose, Seras promised that she would demand that the witches undid their curses or spells on their victims. "Silly girl," Bahamut chided. "They would never do that. What is the point in doing that, when they are going to die anyway"

"I don't care if they think it's pointless, we can't have another situation like that!"

"You can't save everyone, master. Besides, the goal of these witches is to spread as much fear and fear as they possibly can. I should know because that was my goal before being sealed."

It would be amusing to see if any witches complied with the Hunter's wishes.

Whitehall Residence

Lord George Whitehall paced up and down in his private office. It had been six months since those girls had become the King's Hunters, six months he was stuck with the embarrassment of not wielding what was rightfully his. He thought back on his encounter with Integra during the installation ceremony. Cheeky bitch had the gall to challenge him in front of everyone. He would enjoy tearing her down, but how? It had to be in a way that would not be traced back to him. Everyone in the country knew that to raise a hand against a Hunter was to raise a hand against the King and one could swing for that. He had gotten rid of their families; how could he not get rid of three girls? But George was known for his cunning and he knew that eventually he could come up with the perfect plan and by the time Huntress' knew about it, it would be too late. That will teach that Hellsing bitch to mess with him.

Chapter End

Author's Notes: If you can't tell (and you probably can't at this moment) I'm trying to find creative ways to kill off these witches. The conventional swords and guns can get boring after a while…. yay they hacked off the witch's head with a sword…. sounds boring, but shoving a grenade down their gullet is more fun. Don't worry the Hunter's demon blades abilities will be shown in future chapters. Ok we know George Whitehall is scheming something and guess what, another Hellsing character will make their appearance in the next chapter, so you can try and guess who that is and I won't spoil it now! Ok see you in the next chapter!