++++++
Hellsing remains in the control of Kouta Hirano.
On the other hand, I can play in it. Wheee! I love fight scenes.
Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed! But I'm not telling how it ends yet. ;)
++++++
It was no more than the smallest of inconveniences, like a bit of dental floss strung in a doorway. Alucard reached up through his portal, grabbed the blessed object, and threw it aside. He and Integra rose from the ground.
"Walter," said Integra, looking at the object. Alucard followed her gaze. He reached down and picked up the cross.
"A challenge," he said. "It's too bad the Angel of Death didn't decide to oppose me before. He may have stood a chance then."
Integra was staring southward. "Is that Seras?"
"Yes. And if you think the police girl will mount an effective resistance against you and me. . ." Alucard snorted, his face alight with wicked humor. "I'll almost be sorry when this is over."
Integra smirked at him. "My enemies will remain."
"I have not forgotten your betrayer." Alucard showed off his fangs. "I owe him."
Integra didn't like to think of what had happened if she hadn't been betrayed. Would she still have freed her pet? She turned away. "They're waiting."
"I can't disappoint my fans." Alucard's shape twisted, then spilled apart in a cloud of wings. Integra still heard his voice. "Shall we?"
*~*
They were coming, and coming fast.
Maxwell and the soldiers had retreated far behind the church. Seras and I were standing before the closed doorway of the Knights Templar's pit. My mouth was dry. Now that the knights were awakened by nightfall, I could sense them, and the force of their evil almost blinded me to Alucard's distant presence. I couldn't stand to think of what might happen if Alucard decided to watch me die and then moved on to kill Maxwell. Him and the knights freed on the earth-
Don't think about it. I swallowed, staring at the sword hanging over the door. That was the lock of the spell that trapped the Knights. I wasn't quite sure how to open it. Lifting the sword and opening the door should do it, or, perhaps, breaking the door down with the sword.
"Ready?" Seras asked.
I was going to tell her to wait until they were a bit closer, but the two vampires were moving too fast for me to want to risk it. I took a deep breath, reached out, and brushed the sword with my fingertips, preparing to take it.
My vision went blind for a moment as the power behind the door became overwhelming. The door exploded open. The stained-glass windows nearest us blew outwards in a colorful spray. Seras shrieked, grabbing my shoulders and flinging me away. I landed with an "oof!" on the far side of the pews.
The Knights Templar poured through the opening.
Two crashed through the pews towards me. It took me a moment to see they were mounted. Their horses were creatures of shadowy muscle. Glints of old bone peeked between sinews as they moved. The Knights were skeletal, dried figures covered in old metal and cracking leather. Only stretches of skin remained on them. I couldn't see muscles.
I took in the scene as I drew swords. I hadn't expected horses. Why hadn't Maxwell said anything about the horses?
I saw a dismounted Knight as Seras threw one of them from horseback. Another threw himself from his horse, crashing down beside me. I swung, cutting his skull in half like a grapefruit, scattering dried hair.
His hand was already close to my shoulder, and closed before I could duck away. Clawed fingers cut through my coat, shirt, and flesh like paper. The knight's head flew back together, his jaws gaping as he brought his head near mine. The second knight was dismounting behind me. I cut through the knight's skull again to buy a few more seconds. I heard laughter that was entirely in my head as I cut through the knight's sternum, hoping to find his heart vulnerable. My blade displaced a gout of dust and nothing more.
Seras smashed into the knight like a hurricane into an island. Her fist fragmented his skull again. I cut the knight's hand apart with another slice, pulling bony fingers from my shoulder and dropping them as I sprinted for the door. The last one jerked itself from my hand. I heard Seras scream. I glanced back to see her surrounded by knights as the ones she had attacked reconstituted themselves.
Good.
I threw myself out into the night. I heard hoofbeats as a few knights began a pursuit. They tore through the border of our defensive spells and followed me into open air. I danced away, flinging swords. I saw flurried movements in the sky, but I was a bit busy. I dodged to one side, trying to outmaneuver the horses. An ancient sword swept through the air after me. I ducked, parried another blade, and sprinted to the side, throwing another few blades.
Someone appeared near me, building himself out of small flitting bits. Alucard stared at the knights with undisguised fascination. One of my swords fell away from a knight as skeletal joints gave. Another tore its way through battered armor, giving in to the demands of gravity.
I snarled at Alucard, cutting the leg from one undead horse as it closed the distance between us. It crashed to the earth. Its rider dismounted. Slow without its steed, it approached. The other two horses began circling me.
Seras came crashing through a window, her arms and shoulders streaming blood, one hand missing, her eyes wild. The remaining knights came out through the wreckage of the front of the church. A horse leaped through the window after her, landing awkwardly. It seemed weakened. Seras hissed. I counted horses. Three after me, four after her. There were only seven? I noted the stutter of gunfire as Integra met our soldiers somewhere behind the church. I had no time for more than that.
Bones and bodies splintered around me as Alucard began firing. Two horses crashed over backwards with screams that seemed to tear at my mind. Their riders pattered apart in explosions of bone. As an afterthought, Alucard shot me once in the back. The knights, already healing, ignored him in favor of going after me. He moved to stand over me, laughing. Two blades sank through his torso.
I had to slow them all down. I stood as the vampire reeled, throwing the Bible I'd taken from the church. It spiralled apart, splitting in a shuffle of pages to spread itself among the knights. Seras seemed to anticipate being trapped, but I honored the agreement I'd made with Walter. Pages fanned away from her to trap the nearest knight.
Alucard seemed hardly bothered as loops of sacred text snared him. He grabbed a horse's neck. He caught its nose with the other hand and pushed. The horse's knight fell on him, attacking with claws and teeth. He ignored it for long enough to tear the horse's head free. Its body seemed to twist apart. Shadowy muscles fragmented into small flickers. Bones fell in a dry patter over the ground. The knight shuddered. Some of its power seemed to desert it with the passing of its mount. Alucard shoved one hand through its ribcage, seeking its heart, and made the same discovery I had.
I was too distracted. Teeth sank into my shoulder as the nearest knight pulled at his trap of pages, straining far enough to reach me. It jerked its head away, jaws working. I heard a scream I barely recognised as mine. The knight threw his head back and swallowed, gaining enough strength to tear free.
What had we let loose? I cut apart his head again, slamming my sword point- down through his ribcage and leaving it there. When his head spun back up from the ground and gathered itself over his body, he seemed weakened. A fresh patch of bone glinted, and I realized he lacked the strength to fully gather himself. I cut again. A wash of dust and broken metal hit me from the side. Alucard had successfully destroyed his opponent.
My pride awoke. I could not let him succeed where I was failing. I dodged the slowed knight and went after the nearest steed. The other knight was climbing on his horse. Alucard coolly shot him from its back and fired repeatedly into his horse. It charged him, swinging heavy hoofs. I realized that the screaming I heard was Seras.
The hurt in her voice acted on me powerfully. I slammed one sword into the horse's skull and ran. I was halfway across the yard before I remembered that she was a damned creature. Saving her was pointless. When her soul passed on, demons would attack her instead of these creatures. Was I losing my mind, thinking I should help her?
However, I was close enough for two of the knights attacking her to swing their focus to me. I parried a heavy swing. The rider's forceful attack cost me my footing. He dismounted, intending to feed. I remained down, waiting, swords in hand.
As soon as he was off his horse, I threw three blades. They split the horse's ornamental headpiece and scattered its skull. I started laughing as I saw the steed's shadowy muscles dissipate. Now I only had to deal with the knight.
Seras tore free of the knights and ran for the church. The three followed her, ignoring me for what they deemed a more dangerous enemy. My opponent remained.
Why couldn't anything lose its skills when it passed on? I wondered, parrying its first sweeping cut. Its broadsword swung again with tireless strength. I ducked, throwing a short blade into its shoulder. Ghouls kept their learned weapons skills. Why couldn't I ever fight something that just died?
With a quick slice, I cut the creature's leather gauntlet open. I shoved my fingers in the gap between the bones of its forearm, prying the bones apart, leaving a discarded Bible page between its bones to prevent it from healing. It dropped its useless hand from the broadsword and attacked one- handed. Its power seemed undiminished. I forced its blade up. It swung its empty hand up at my eyes. I ducked. It threw itself at me. I rolled with it, desperately holding it off. By the time I forced the damned creature away, I had lost half my ear and some of my scalp.
Furious, I shattered its skull and sliced straight down its spine. It jerked twice, trying to find the strength to mend its bones. I stomped down. Its pelvis splintered. I stood over it for a moment. I had to be sure that its power was too spread for it to heal. I spared a glance to be sure that Alucard was busy. He was enjoying his fight. He held one knight off with his bare hands, sparing a shot now and then to keep the other knight down. One horse was nowhere to be seen.
It would do. I sprinted into the church to find Seras, hands smoking, holding off two knights with the broadsword from the door. One knight was mounted. One's horse limped, three-legged. The third knight was a mangled pile of bones and armor. Seras' eyes were hidden in shadow, but she was radiating an unnerving aura. My newfound concern for her evaporated.
Alucard shot me in the back again and stepped over me into the chapel. When I could move, he was finishing off the wounded horse. I realized there was a knight standing over me. Cursing, I rolled over and stabbed at it. Its armor slowed my blade long enough for it to stab me in the chest. Uninterested in killing me quickly, it pulled its blade out. It dropped to its knees and hauled me up, biting at my injury. My cross necklace struck its hand. Its grip weakened for just long enough. I nailed its neck to the pew behind it with another sword and rolled away, trying not to see how much blood I was leaving behind.
Alucard fired several shots into the knight's carcass. It jerked. I glanced at him, measuring strength. He was indeed injured, and his cuts were closing more slowly than usual. I doubted he had fed before the fight. His way was to make his eventual victory as sweet as possible. He was waiting for my blood. Alucard fired twice more. The knight's body surrendered to dusty death.
"How did I overloook that one?" Alucard asked, watching as the knight's armor settled.
"He was mine," I protested. He looked at me. A horse's hoof slammed into the back of his skull. Grinning, I got to my feet again.
"Anderson!" I heard Maxwell's voice, desperately raised. Seras looked at me. I ran for the back of the church. She growled and attacked the nearest knight with renewed vigor.
I burst through the door into the priest's chambers. Walter was leaning against the wall, carefully working a jammed bullet free from his gun. Integra was breaking metal floss between her teeth, trying to free herself from wires wrapped around her body. Maxwell was firing bullet after bullet from one of the soldier's weapons. Somehow, he was managing to miss her half the time. I smirked, running at Integra. There was no way she could stop me or free herself in time. I was in full bloodlust, I still had my weapons, I was too close for her to survive, and Alucard caught up and put my head into the wall. Damn.
"Seras," I reminded him, spitting splinters.
"She'll figure it out." Alucard's gaze was almost benevolent. There was an unpleasant sound as Maxwell realized he was there and put a bullet into the side of his head. I lunged, swinging, and then backed away, trying to draw Alucard from Maxwell. He wordlessly accepted the challenge. I backed into the ruined chapel. Our gazes were locked, expressions identical. He knew that Integra was in danger, but he had to leave her to her own fight.
We were long overdue for this duel.
Hellsing remains in the control of Kouta Hirano.
On the other hand, I can play in it. Wheee! I love fight scenes.
Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed! But I'm not telling how it ends yet. ;)
++++++
It was no more than the smallest of inconveniences, like a bit of dental floss strung in a doorway. Alucard reached up through his portal, grabbed the blessed object, and threw it aside. He and Integra rose from the ground.
"Walter," said Integra, looking at the object. Alucard followed her gaze. He reached down and picked up the cross.
"A challenge," he said. "It's too bad the Angel of Death didn't decide to oppose me before. He may have stood a chance then."
Integra was staring southward. "Is that Seras?"
"Yes. And if you think the police girl will mount an effective resistance against you and me. . ." Alucard snorted, his face alight with wicked humor. "I'll almost be sorry when this is over."
Integra smirked at him. "My enemies will remain."
"I have not forgotten your betrayer." Alucard showed off his fangs. "I owe him."
Integra didn't like to think of what had happened if she hadn't been betrayed. Would she still have freed her pet? She turned away. "They're waiting."
"I can't disappoint my fans." Alucard's shape twisted, then spilled apart in a cloud of wings. Integra still heard his voice. "Shall we?"
*~*
They were coming, and coming fast.
Maxwell and the soldiers had retreated far behind the church. Seras and I were standing before the closed doorway of the Knights Templar's pit. My mouth was dry. Now that the knights were awakened by nightfall, I could sense them, and the force of their evil almost blinded me to Alucard's distant presence. I couldn't stand to think of what might happen if Alucard decided to watch me die and then moved on to kill Maxwell. Him and the knights freed on the earth-
Don't think about it. I swallowed, staring at the sword hanging over the door. That was the lock of the spell that trapped the Knights. I wasn't quite sure how to open it. Lifting the sword and opening the door should do it, or, perhaps, breaking the door down with the sword.
"Ready?" Seras asked.
I was going to tell her to wait until they were a bit closer, but the two vampires were moving too fast for me to want to risk it. I took a deep breath, reached out, and brushed the sword with my fingertips, preparing to take it.
My vision went blind for a moment as the power behind the door became overwhelming. The door exploded open. The stained-glass windows nearest us blew outwards in a colorful spray. Seras shrieked, grabbing my shoulders and flinging me away. I landed with an "oof!" on the far side of the pews.
The Knights Templar poured through the opening.
Two crashed through the pews towards me. It took me a moment to see they were mounted. Their horses were creatures of shadowy muscle. Glints of old bone peeked between sinews as they moved. The Knights were skeletal, dried figures covered in old metal and cracking leather. Only stretches of skin remained on them. I couldn't see muscles.
I took in the scene as I drew swords. I hadn't expected horses. Why hadn't Maxwell said anything about the horses?
I saw a dismounted Knight as Seras threw one of them from horseback. Another threw himself from his horse, crashing down beside me. I swung, cutting his skull in half like a grapefruit, scattering dried hair.
His hand was already close to my shoulder, and closed before I could duck away. Clawed fingers cut through my coat, shirt, and flesh like paper. The knight's head flew back together, his jaws gaping as he brought his head near mine. The second knight was dismounting behind me. I cut through the knight's skull again to buy a few more seconds. I heard laughter that was entirely in my head as I cut through the knight's sternum, hoping to find his heart vulnerable. My blade displaced a gout of dust and nothing more.
Seras smashed into the knight like a hurricane into an island. Her fist fragmented his skull again. I cut the knight's hand apart with another slice, pulling bony fingers from my shoulder and dropping them as I sprinted for the door. The last one jerked itself from my hand. I heard Seras scream. I glanced back to see her surrounded by knights as the ones she had attacked reconstituted themselves.
Good.
I threw myself out into the night. I heard hoofbeats as a few knights began a pursuit. They tore through the border of our defensive spells and followed me into open air. I danced away, flinging swords. I saw flurried movements in the sky, but I was a bit busy. I dodged to one side, trying to outmaneuver the horses. An ancient sword swept through the air after me. I ducked, parried another blade, and sprinted to the side, throwing another few blades.
Someone appeared near me, building himself out of small flitting bits. Alucard stared at the knights with undisguised fascination. One of my swords fell away from a knight as skeletal joints gave. Another tore its way through battered armor, giving in to the demands of gravity.
I snarled at Alucard, cutting the leg from one undead horse as it closed the distance between us. It crashed to the earth. Its rider dismounted. Slow without its steed, it approached. The other two horses began circling me.
Seras came crashing through a window, her arms and shoulders streaming blood, one hand missing, her eyes wild. The remaining knights came out through the wreckage of the front of the church. A horse leaped through the window after her, landing awkwardly. It seemed weakened. Seras hissed. I counted horses. Three after me, four after her. There were only seven? I noted the stutter of gunfire as Integra met our soldiers somewhere behind the church. I had no time for more than that.
Bones and bodies splintered around me as Alucard began firing. Two horses crashed over backwards with screams that seemed to tear at my mind. Their riders pattered apart in explosions of bone. As an afterthought, Alucard shot me once in the back. The knights, already healing, ignored him in favor of going after me. He moved to stand over me, laughing. Two blades sank through his torso.
I had to slow them all down. I stood as the vampire reeled, throwing the Bible I'd taken from the church. It spiralled apart, splitting in a shuffle of pages to spread itself among the knights. Seras seemed to anticipate being trapped, but I honored the agreement I'd made with Walter. Pages fanned away from her to trap the nearest knight.
Alucard seemed hardly bothered as loops of sacred text snared him. He grabbed a horse's neck. He caught its nose with the other hand and pushed. The horse's knight fell on him, attacking with claws and teeth. He ignored it for long enough to tear the horse's head free. Its body seemed to twist apart. Shadowy muscles fragmented into small flickers. Bones fell in a dry patter over the ground. The knight shuddered. Some of its power seemed to desert it with the passing of its mount. Alucard shoved one hand through its ribcage, seeking its heart, and made the same discovery I had.
I was too distracted. Teeth sank into my shoulder as the nearest knight pulled at his trap of pages, straining far enough to reach me. It jerked its head away, jaws working. I heard a scream I barely recognised as mine. The knight threw his head back and swallowed, gaining enough strength to tear free.
What had we let loose? I cut apart his head again, slamming my sword point- down through his ribcage and leaving it there. When his head spun back up from the ground and gathered itself over his body, he seemed weakened. A fresh patch of bone glinted, and I realized he lacked the strength to fully gather himself. I cut again. A wash of dust and broken metal hit me from the side. Alucard had successfully destroyed his opponent.
My pride awoke. I could not let him succeed where I was failing. I dodged the slowed knight and went after the nearest steed. The other knight was climbing on his horse. Alucard coolly shot him from its back and fired repeatedly into his horse. It charged him, swinging heavy hoofs. I realized that the screaming I heard was Seras.
The hurt in her voice acted on me powerfully. I slammed one sword into the horse's skull and ran. I was halfway across the yard before I remembered that she was a damned creature. Saving her was pointless. When her soul passed on, demons would attack her instead of these creatures. Was I losing my mind, thinking I should help her?
However, I was close enough for two of the knights attacking her to swing their focus to me. I parried a heavy swing. The rider's forceful attack cost me my footing. He dismounted, intending to feed. I remained down, waiting, swords in hand.
As soon as he was off his horse, I threw three blades. They split the horse's ornamental headpiece and scattered its skull. I started laughing as I saw the steed's shadowy muscles dissipate. Now I only had to deal with the knight.
Seras tore free of the knights and ran for the church. The three followed her, ignoring me for what they deemed a more dangerous enemy. My opponent remained.
Why couldn't anything lose its skills when it passed on? I wondered, parrying its first sweeping cut. Its broadsword swung again with tireless strength. I ducked, throwing a short blade into its shoulder. Ghouls kept their learned weapons skills. Why couldn't I ever fight something that just died?
With a quick slice, I cut the creature's leather gauntlet open. I shoved my fingers in the gap between the bones of its forearm, prying the bones apart, leaving a discarded Bible page between its bones to prevent it from healing. It dropped its useless hand from the broadsword and attacked one- handed. Its power seemed undiminished. I forced its blade up. It swung its empty hand up at my eyes. I ducked. It threw itself at me. I rolled with it, desperately holding it off. By the time I forced the damned creature away, I had lost half my ear and some of my scalp.
Furious, I shattered its skull and sliced straight down its spine. It jerked twice, trying to find the strength to mend its bones. I stomped down. Its pelvis splintered. I stood over it for a moment. I had to be sure that its power was too spread for it to heal. I spared a glance to be sure that Alucard was busy. He was enjoying his fight. He held one knight off with his bare hands, sparing a shot now and then to keep the other knight down. One horse was nowhere to be seen.
It would do. I sprinted into the church to find Seras, hands smoking, holding off two knights with the broadsword from the door. One knight was mounted. One's horse limped, three-legged. The third knight was a mangled pile of bones and armor. Seras' eyes were hidden in shadow, but she was radiating an unnerving aura. My newfound concern for her evaporated.
Alucard shot me in the back again and stepped over me into the chapel. When I could move, he was finishing off the wounded horse. I realized there was a knight standing over me. Cursing, I rolled over and stabbed at it. Its armor slowed my blade long enough for it to stab me in the chest. Uninterested in killing me quickly, it pulled its blade out. It dropped to its knees and hauled me up, biting at my injury. My cross necklace struck its hand. Its grip weakened for just long enough. I nailed its neck to the pew behind it with another sword and rolled away, trying not to see how much blood I was leaving behind.
Alucard fired several shots into the knight's carcass. It jerked. I glanced at him, measuring strength. He was indeed injured, and his cuts were closing more slowly than usual. I doubted he had fed before the fight. His way was to make his eventual victory as sweet as possible. He was waiting for my blood. Alucard fired twice more. The knight's body surrendered to dusty death.
"How did I overloook that one?" Alucard asked, watching as the knight's armor settled.
"He was mine," I protested. He looked at me. A horse's hoof slammed into the back of his skull. Grinning, I got to my feet again.
"Anderson!" I heard Maxwell's voice, desperately raised. Seras looked at me. I ran for the back of the church. She growled and attacked the nearest knight with renewed vigor.
I burst through the door into the priest's chambers. Walter was leaning against the wall, carefully working a jammed bullet free from his gun. Integra was breaking metal floss between her teeth, trying to free herself from wires wrapped around her body. Maxwell was firing bullet after bullet from one of the soldier's weapons. Somehow, he was managing to miss her half the time. I smirked, running at Integra. There was no way she could stop me or free herself in time. I was in full bloodlust, I still had my weapons, I was too close for her to survive, and Alucard caught up and put my head into the wall. Damn.
"Seras," I reminded him, spitting splinters.
"She'll figure it out." Alucard's gaze was almost benevolent. There was an unpleasant sound as Maxwell realized he was there and put a bullet into the side of his head. I lunged, swinging, and then backed away, trying to draw Alucard from Maxwell. He wordlessly accepted the challenge. I backed into the ruined chapel. Our gazes were locked, expressions identical. He knew that Integra was in danger, but he had to leave her to her own fight.
We were long overdue for this duel.
