Chapter Twenty-Two
"We are all soldiers of the revolution." — Joseph Goebbels
Heinkel was moving before she'd even finished speaking. Knives at the ready, she lunged for her opponent's throat, intending to sever his jugular. An underhanded tactic, but she'd learned long ago that mercy and compassion had no place on the battlefield—the enemy certainly wouldn't show her any.
But her blades never touched him. Almost faster than she could follow, the regenerator dodged her strike and countered with a blow of his own. Heinkel barely managed to avoid it, his fist missing her by centimeters.
What the hell?
While she'd anticipated a worthy opponent, Jasper was much faster than Heinkel had expected—almost too fast. Even Anderson, formidable though he had been, hadn't possessed that kind of speed. Only vampires did. (Where was Seras when you needed her?)
Unfortunately, there was no time to consider this newest revelation. Jasper lunged for her again; and Heinkel found herself scrambling to avoid him. She was no coward, but at the speed he was moving, any blow he landed would be quite powerful—in fact, one decisive strike could end the fight altogether by putting her out of commission. Which meant close combat wasn't an option. Scheisse. Maybe she should have stuck with her guns, after all. If only she had Victoria's Harkonnen; even a regenerator would have a difficult time recovering from that.
"Impressive." Jasper leaned against the Archivist's desk, appraising Heinkel with a self-satisfied expression that made her blood boil.
The bastard was toying with her, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had to think, come up with a strategy for defeating him—there must be something she was missing. Yet even as she racked her brain for ideas, Heinkel's mind remained blank. Sweat glistened on her forehead as she fought to control her emotions, panic engulfing her at the prospect of failing another employer. Although she had no love for Integra, as a soldier it was her sworn duty to keep her superiors safe—Heinkel couldn't fail them a second time. Her eyes darted to the bag containing the Millennium file—less than a hundred feet away, and yet it might as well be on the other side of the world.
Jasper was still talking, twirling his crucifix around one finger as though it were a toy rather than a religious artifact. Heinkel's skin tingled, instinct pulling her gaze in its direction, but she ignored it, attention focused on detecting the slightest hint of movement, any indication that her opponent was about to strike. She would not give him an opening.
"I have to admit, you're more talented than I expected. You've managed to surprise me—and that doesn't happen often." He grinned. "Now I simply can't kill you—it would be such a waste."
Something struck her then, pain blossoming in her ruined cheek as the iron taste of blood filled her mouth. Heinkel hardly had time to note that she was falling before she hit the ground, air rushing from her lungs as her vision dimmed. She struggled to remain conscious, watching Jasper approach through blurred vision. While Heinkel couldn't see his expression, she knew he was smirking.
At least he didn't hit my good side. She resisted the urge to laugh, then wondered if the fall had given her a concussion.
More importantly, how had Jasper moved so quickly? He'd been fast before, but this kind of speed was on another level entirely. He'd been in front of her one moment, gone the next—moving faster than the human eye could follow. It was clear now that her opponent's love of his own voice was the only thing prolonging this; if Jasper were serious, the fight would already be over. But there was no time to think about that. Heinkel had to distract him, buy herself time to recover.
"What are you?" She croaked, every inch of her protesting as she staggered to her feet. Now that her vision was returning, Heinkel could see his eyebrows lift at the sight of her getting to her feet. Anger returned with a vengeance. Superhuman speed or not, did he really think the Wolf was so weak that a single strike would incapacitate her?
"What do you mean?" Jasper tilted his head in mock confusion, only the twist of his lips signaling his amusement. "I'm human, just like you."
"No human can move that fast."
As she spoke, Heinkel assessed her injuries. Her face would be even uglier than before and her right arm throbbed with a vengeance, but she didn't think anything was broken. It seemed Jasper really was trying not to kill her. His mistake.
He laughed. "Under ordinary circumstances, you would be correct. But I have a special…advantage." The regenerator stroked the crucifix around his neck as though it were a living thing, fingers lingering affectionately on the tarnished metal. "You see, this is a First-Class relic. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't recognize it."
Of course. Why hadn't she realized it sooner? Now Jasper's inhuman speed made perfect sense; he was using an object imbued with divine power to enhance his abilities. No doubt Alice had one as well. That would certainly explain her incredible strength.
How had these two managed to get their hands on such powerful objects? First Class relics were rare and heavily guarded, special weapons reserved for the elite. While Heinkel had heard many tales of the extraordinary gifts they bestowed upon their owners, she had never seen one in action—save for Anderson's use of Helena's Nail during the Blitz. The memory of that night made her stomach churn.
"You really should give up." Jasper was close enough to touch, but he made no move to attack. "It's useless to resist a man with the power of God on his side."
Heinkel might have been inclined to agree with him if she hadn't witnessed Anderson's defeat at the hands of Alucard. Horrible though the experience had been, it had taught her a valuable lesson: even the strongest of opponents had a weakness. For instance, a relic always took something from the wielder in exchange for supplying them with power. Helena's Nail had caused Anderson to be consumed by his emotions, blindly attacking Alucard until the vampire managed to penetrate his defenses. Unfortunately, things wouldn't be so easy for her.
Heinkel examined her opponent through narrowed eyes, scouring his body for any sign of weakness. Yet there was nothing to indicate that the relic was sapping his strength; therefore, it would be pointless to attack him head on. Not only would he dodge her, but she'd lost her grip on one of her knives, which lay harmlessly off to the side—even if she did manage to land a hit, it wouldn't do much damage. God, she was acting like such a rookie today. But that was about to change.
Heinkel inhaled, filling her nostrils with the tang of blood and the scent of old paper. Her earlier panic was gone—it seemed Jasper's punch had cleared her head. I'll have to thank him later. The edges of her mouth twitched as she took a step forward, hunching her shoulders and bowing her head to hide her expression. Yumie's voice whispered, Make him think you're broken. Be helpless—just for a moment.
"You're right." She rasped, surprised by how rough her voice sounded. That was good, though—it hid her emotions. Heinkel had never been a good actor. "Fighting you is pointless." She tightened her grip on her blade, sent up a desperate prayer. "But I don't need to fight to win." With that, she lunged for the crucifix with her free hand, fingers closing around the cross just seconds before Jasper jerked away. The sound of the chain snapping echoed through the room.
