Chapter 12

Integra

As soon as they determined the location of the base, Sir Integra was determined to lead the charge personally. Daniel came with her along with Alucard, Cameron, and Danielle. They were determined to do or die this time. But when they finally arrived, they discovered that it was too late. "They're gone, Master," Alucard said as he sniffed the air. Sir Integra spat out her cigar in disgusted anger and stomped it into the ground, "Fucking cowards." Daniel reminded them, "Don't think this is over. Be ready, they might have left traps for us."

Daniel then focused and made several copies of himself, as did Cameron and Danielle. The halfa copies led the way first, looking for traps and other nasty surprises. Only once an area was clear did they advance. It was nerve-wracking, and Integra only kept her patience by thinking about what this meant. They were running the werewolves to the ground, like hunters chasing after a fox. Soon, they would capture their prey, and all the dead would be avenged. It would be a bloody battle unlike anything the world had ever witnessed, she was sure, but it had to happen. Not a single werewolf could be left alive, or they may try to remake the Brotherhood of the Fang.

Eventually, after a half hour that felt like half a year, Daniel told her, "I found Seras." Integra told him, "Is she safe?" Daniel shook his head, "I don't know. She doesn't look physically injured. But she's curled up into a ball and won't respond to my clone. The way to her is clear. No sign of life or traps." The second he said 'traps', Sir Integra was off, running faster than most people would think a woman in her fifties could run. Daniel quickly flew ahead of her, leading the way to Seras.

They found her just as Daniel had described, curled up like a ball, holding onto her head as if it would explode at any second. The Draculina's body was shivering the entire time. "What's wrong with her?" Integra asked aloud. "There was blood here," Alucard said behind her, "I can smell it. Thousands of people died here, and their blood was splattered everywhere." Integra realized what had happened then. "They must have tortured her…" she whispered. "These lights are UV lights," Alucard told her. "And that cross we saw in the room…and the holy water…" Integra whispered as she walked closer to Seras.

She reached out her hand and touched her beloved's shoulder, and Seras looked up at her. Her face was streaked with bloody tears. "Integra…I couldn't stop…" Seras whispered, "I was so hungry, so weak, so tired… I couldn't stop… I didn't want to but… I devoured them all. They're all inside of me, everything that they were, everything they will never be, it's all inside me… And they won't…stop…SCREEEAAAMMMIIINNNGGG!"

Seras' yells devolved into feral shrieks like nothing Integra had ever heard before. The Lady Knight grabbed Seras and did the only thing she could think to do and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. Seras continued shrieking for ten minutes, and she never let go of her the entire time. Eventually, Seras' screams became sobs, and she regained enough of herself to hug Integra back. "I'm a monster now…I can hear them all inside me. I don't know how to let them go…" Seras whispered to Integra. Integra whispered back, "You're not a monster. Never you."

They let go of each other, and Integra wiped Seras' bloody tears off her face. "Monsters don't shed tears, Seras. You know that," Integra told her. "What can I do?" Seras asked her. "Use them," Integra told her, "Don't let their deaths be in vain. If you let this travesty stop you, then you've let the real monsters win. Don't let them win, use this power they gave you against them." Seras nodded and managed to stand up with Integra's help. Daniel walked up to them, holding a little girl in his arms.

"This is the only survivor," Danny sadly said. Seras looked at the girl and the girl looked at her with a small smile. "You do know Danny Phantom," the girl told Seras in Greek. Seras gave a small smile back, then turned away. Seras had to wipe away more tears, and Integra knew that the girl's parents were among the souls now inside of her. Alucard walked close to Seras and put his hand on her shoulder in a rare display of camaraderie as they all left the abandoned base.

Cameron

They all headed back to Hellsing HQ thanks to Alucard and immediately got to work trying to figure out where Alpha was now. Cammie was useless in this task, she was a doer, not a planner. Because it was daytime, the vampires were allowed to go to the dungeons to rest. Seras nearly teleported to her room and immediately jumped into her coffin, not even bothering to shut her door. Cammie let her be and went to her own room to rest for a few hours.

After sleeping like the dead for four hours, Cammie woke up and headed for the firing range. She fired away with her rifle as fast as she could. Alucard appeared next to her and said, "You're shooting like an American. You need to shoot like a vampire." Alucard pulled out his Casull and demonstrated by firing ten shots and hitting all ten targets right between the eyes. Cammie didn't argue and focused with her heightened senses and Third Eye and started hitting her targets consistently. "Keep up that accuracy, and shoot faster now," Alucard told her. Cameron fired twice as quickly, but her accuracy never faltered. She kept on concentrating on her targets, and Alucard joined her.

It quietly became a competition between them. Alucard shot over his shoulder, and Cameron did likewise. She fired with her left hand, and Alucard easily did so. Alucard shot one target in the eye without even looking, and Cameron shot its twin. So they practiced, so they trained, and for an hour Cameron was able to forget about Seras.

Eventually, Cameron realized she couldn't drive her fellow Draculina from her mind and she stopped shooting. "Master," she finally said, "Isn't there something we can do to help Seras?" Alucard put away his Casull and took off his sunglasses before looking at Cammie. "What she is going through is something that she must solve on her own. She has many souls inside of her now, and that is something that no creature of this Earth can stand. She must decide what to do with them. I subjugated the souls of those I devoured, and broke them to my will, it made me stronger, and allowed me to use them as needed. But Seras isn't like me, she hasn't faced the Darkness alone.

"The first person she ever drank from was a man named Captain Pip Bernadotte, the leader of a group of mercenaries called the Wild Geese. They were close, if their lives had been different; they would have been lovers. But he was grievously wounded before that could happen, and as he died, he offered his blood to Seras, that is how she ascended to becoming a true Nosferatu. Captain Bernadotte became part of her, while still retaining his individuality. Because of this, she was stronger than any other vampire, aside from myself. But the souls inside of her now are not like him.

"She was tortured, her body pushed to its edge, denied the rest of the night and even her coffin. You could not imagine how her body and spirit suffered. She was pushed to the edge, and as they left, the Brotherhood of the Fang slaughtered their captives, and left their blood for her. Seras gave in to temptation and consumed these unwilling victims. Now, she must decide what to do with them; break them, release them to their fated afterlives, or…perhaps…she may find a way to befriend them, like she did with Bernadotte. It is up to her now."

Seras

Even though she was peacefully resting in her own coffin finally, Seras had no real rest. The screams of those she had drank in. They were all screaming in horror and pain, and there was nothing she could do to relieve that pain. She could destroy them, but they didn't deserve that. Seras focused inward then and remembered that they were within her. This was her body, her soul.

Deep within the bowels of her being, Seras looked around at the people around her and in a voice that echoed within yelled, "BE SILENT!" Instantly, the souls of the victims were quiet, and Seras looked around at them all. They weren't quite mindless ghouls, like what Alucard had summoned fighting Millennium, but if she let them out they would all be bloody as hell, bearing the wounds that killed them. Seras looked at them all and told them, "You are all dead. That is a fact. Your bodies are no more. I'm sure that the Brotherhood blended them like a damn smoothie too. I consumed your blood, and that's why you are all here now.

"You are my servants now," Seras said. The souls all looked at her, and Seras was relieved to see that they all retained enough individuality for that. "Your murderers are still out there, killing as we speak. I can release you, and let your souls move on, but if I do that, then I might not be able to give you justice. I ask you now, what is your choice? If you wish to move on, then move to my right! If you wish to join me in the fight to protect what's left of human civilization, then move to my left! Now, make your choice!"

Seras looked around at the souls within her, and they divided up quietly. Once it was over, Seras knew that she had consumed 3894 souls in all, not counting Pip's. Of that, 2037 had decided to move on to whatever afterlife awaited them. Seras woke up and got out of her coffin. It was pitch black, and Seras was glad for that as she put her hands on the ground and focused. This was more like an instinct than a thoughtful action, as she focused inward again, and on the souls within her that wanted out. One by one they appeared and dissipated quietly into the air. It felt like she was vomiting with her entire body, but she didn't stop, not until all 2037 souls that wanted out were out.

She sighed once it was all over and went back into her coffin. She needed this rest for the battles ahead.