Duty

C2: Hiding Journey

[Disclaimer: Kouta Hirano owns "Hellsing."  I own whatever I write/create.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

Seras walked down the hallway of the commercial cruise ship and paused.  She leaned on the railing, smiling as she watched the sunset, the glowing red orb turning the sky blood red.  The young woman had always wondered what a sunset would look like out somewhere on the water.  It was glorious until the very last few seconds.

A loud barking brought Seras from her staring.  She walked down the hall swiftly, knowing exactly was making the noise.  One of the cleaning staff was up against the thin wall of the hallway, shaking in terror.  A massive black dog stood protectively in the doorway, barking at the top of its lungs.  Its hackles up, it snapped at the wheels of the cleaning cart.

"Bad dog." Seras walked up and spoke sharply to the black-haired canine, "Back inside.  Go!"  The dog barked softly once more, and padded back into the room.  Seras pulled the door towards her and stood in front of the room's entrance.

"I'm sorry." Seras said pleasantly, closing her eyes and smiling, "My dog is overprotective of my things, and I must have forgotten to put the 'do not disturb' sign on this morning.  In the future, please, don't try to clean my room."  She slipped inside the room and locked the door.

The vampire let out a sigh of relief when she heard the cart roll away.  Seras glared angrily at the black dog sitting on the chair in the main room.

"Syn, I know for a fact that I put that sign on the door." Seras pointed at the 'do not disturb' sign on the floor, "Why did you take it off?  And when, for that matter?"  The dog's form seemed to fade, leaving only red eyes in a black lump.  It reformed suddenly into the vampire Syn.

"I would like to actually have a decent meal." Syn replied, standing from the chair, "I'm not against fresh blood, and I'm not going to drain your reserves.  And I took it off when you left."

"Are you mental?" Seras kept her voice down, "You can't just take someone's blood!  Someone will notice a missing person!"

"Well, you can't expect me to try and take blood from a number of people." Syn sighed, "That's a way to make a vampire sick!  Either you take a large enough drink from a single blood type, or you take small drinks from the same type.  Otherwise, the types don't mix, and a vampire is liable to be ill.  So unless you want me to start biting you, I suggest you find a way around it."

"Can't you find some people with the same blood type?" Seras asked.

"I'm asleep most of the day, and you don't let me leave the room because you're scared I'm going to bite someone.  Besides, I'd actually have to get near people.  And besides, you know what happens when a vampire takes the blood of a human without killing them.  I'm not going to be anyone's servant except Master Integra's."

"Then we need to find someone that's…expendable." Seras shuddered at the idea of innocent human death.  Syn suddenly stared at the door, her eyes narrow.  She ran to Seras and kicked both feet out, knocking Seras against her and suddenly rising into the air.  She pressed both of them against the ceiling and stared down at the door.

"What are—"  Seras couldn't get more than two words out before Syn locked her lips to hers.  The door's handle rattled angrily just before the wood shattered from a hard kick.  A burly man in military fatigues shuffled into the room.  He walked swiftly into the other rooms, and soon left.

"How convenient." Syn smirked as she let gravity take a slow hold on them once more, "That was a ghoul."

"You're kidding." Seras was getting used to Syn's abrupt kisses.

"Nope." Syn pulled her gun from her jacket and handed it to Seras, "Time to go ghoul hunting.  Who knows—maybe there's someone that's in shock and bleeding."

"Shouldn't we be more concerned with keeping the ghouls from the humans?"

"That too."

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"Hurry up and round up the people already!  Ugh, you damn ghouls!"  A man in a robe pointed angrily at the doors of the large dining room.  The five ghouls groaned in their normal fashion and just shuffled around aimlessly

"I don't believe this.  How can a normal human be controlling those ghouls?"

"Magic." Syn replied in a whisper, "Very strong magic.  Definitely human magic, as well.  The ghouls don't answer to him much.  And our door is the only one that's been broken."

"Ghouls know where other vampires are, don't they.  Dammit.  They can probably sense us right now."

"You catch the sorcerer.  I suppose that my gun would be too loud.  I'll get the ghouls."

"That's it?  That's all you want me to do?"

"If you hear something that sounds strange to you, close your eyes and don't dare look at that guy.  If he has access to ghouls, he'll have access to a vampire to make the ghouls.  His spells are dangerous.  Now go!"  She and Seras leapt from the balcony and down to where the ghouls and the spellcaster stood.

Syn ran swiftly at the ghouls, pulling her staff from her back and stabbing to kill.  Seras crept carefully around the tables, watching as the sorcerer screamed at his minions to destroy Syn.  The blond vampire leapt over a table and grabbed the man in a sleeper hold.

The silver-tipped staff sliced through the cursed undead flesh, dust piling on the floor.  Seras watched in both admiration and awe at the speed and accuracy of the blows.  She considered herself a good mark, but was really piddling in comparison to everyone she had seen at the Hellsing institute.  A strange murmuring came to her ears, past the howls of the ghouls.

Seras closed her eyes and brought her head back angrily.  She nodded hard and fast, cracking her head against the sorcerer's.  He stopped his chanting immediately with many an angry curse.

"OK, mister magician, where exactly did you get the spells and the ghouls?" Syn asked as she walked to where Seras held the sorcerer.

"That's none of your business, you freak!" the sorcerer shouted.

"I'm anything but." Syn narrowed her eyes and pushed an errant strand of her long black hair behind her ear, "Seras, give him to me."  The moment Seras let the sorcerer go, Syn's hand latched onto his neck.  She bit into his neck fluidly and turned from Seras.  Seras turned her back to Syn and bit her lip to keep any thoughts from her mind.

The bloodlust was terrible, and getting worse.  The first time she had actually drank her given blood was after she had seen Alucard feed off the reporter.  It was so enticing—too enticing.  The chilled medical blood was very good, like a favorite meal from childhood, but it was still only good.  Seras wanted to know what fresh blood—real blood—tasted like.  Was it better?  What was it like?

Seras didn't want to admit it, but she was enjoying the trip was Syn.  She was enjoying being around Syn.  She was even starting to enjoy the kisses Syn gave her unexpectedly.

A sharp sound brought Seras back to the world.  Syn had stabbed the man through the heart with her staff to avoid him returning as a ghoul.

"We had better clean this up." she said, "And we had better fix our door."  She didn't look at Seras for the rest of the night.  When the sun rose, the dog that was Syn gave Seras a sad look as she walked away.

The door clicked shut.

—to be continued—