Duty
C3: Learning Experience
[Disclaimer: Kouta Hirano owns "Hellsing." I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.]
"Right, we can stay here for a while." Syn walked into the hotel room and looked around, "I don't see any reason to run around for a while."
"Syn, why are we here?" Seras asked as she turned the deadbolt lock, "If there was a problem with vampires in New York, you think there would have been some news."
"And that's exactly why there is a problem in New York." Syn chuckled, "Unexplained and strange deaths are a staple in the city. And that's why we're on the outskirts of the city. Let's not have some kind of lunatic try and kill us."
Seras left the question at that and sat on one of the two beds in the room. She couldn't help but wonder how Syn could afford to let them stay in such a posh hotel. The pay from the Hellsing institute had always been a healthy number, but Seras never thought to do anything with it.
"Money is a necessity in the world." Syn murmured, glancing out the window before drawing the curtains to a tight close, "A multitude of bank accounts is a good thing. That reminds me. Seras, change into your most comfortable clothing."
"What?" Seras blushed madly, "Listen, I might like some of your kisses, but I'm not going to do anything with you!" Syn blinked in confusion, shaking her head slightly.
"I said to change into comfortable clothing, not strip." she said, "Now that you're a no-life-king, you need to learn the skills you need."
"Which means what?"
"The first is regeneration. Have you noticed how many times Alucard and I have been stabbed and shot? We don't change clothing. There isn't a reason."
"But you just…how am I supposed to do that?"
Syn laughed and turned her back to Seras to let her change. The blonde ruffled through her rucksack and pulled a pair of faded black jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and a black jacket.
"You look good in anything." Syn turned about and smiled at the other vampire, "Good. It's really rather hard to describe how you use any kind of skill. It's instinct, mostly. But some skills you have to want. Telepathy, telekinesis, and flight—you have to concentrate to use those skills. Many of them just come with time, experience."
"Like a sixth sense?" Seras questioned.
"Right. That's something that comes early. Vampires need to know when danger is near, when something isn't right. How else would we live so long?"
"Is there a way to…test some of these skills?"
"Not unless you want me to shoot you. But from what I've seen, you're actually starting to develop your regeneration. It took a few minutes, but the cuts from the nun's sword on your clothing went away. And if I'm not mistaken—" She walked over and tilted Seras' chin up and pressed a gentle thumb against her neck. "—the scar from the priest's blade is all but gone. I expect that you'll probably have the skill down within a few days."
Seras closed her eyes tightly, feeling another scarlet blush paint her cheeks. Her neck had been very sensitive when she was alive, and it had only gotten worse with her turn to vampire un-life. Syn's touch was electrifying, and yet another hint at how she was starting to enjoy being with her.
"Can you stop, please?" she managed to sputter out. Syn blinked and looked at Seras directly. She smiled faintly at the blush, a soft pink touching her pale cheeks as well.
"Sorry." she pulled her hands away, "I've not been around other vampires for a while. I forget how sensitive our necks are."
"Does that happen to every vampire?" Seras massaged her neck halfheartedly to try and forget the feeling.
"It does." Syn sat on the other bed, "I'm sure that if there were any vampire couples out there, that'd be a place to start something." Seras blushed again, and Syn looked a bit self-conscious at the statement.
"Sorry again. I'll shut up now."
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"What are we doing in here?" Seras asked in a tone that was washed away in the beat of the music and voices. Though almost no one could hear her, Syn and Seras could whisper and still hear each other. Yet another wonder of vampiric senses.
"Call it a field test, officer Victoria." Syn teased, leading Seras over to an empty table to get things in order, "Back alley nightclubs like this are breeding grounds for ghouls and freaks. I don't even want to think of how many there are in here."
"Are you saying we're surrounded?" Seras' red eyes widened in shock.
"Essentially."
"You nutter! You're going to get us both killed! There was only one time I can remember eliminating so many ghouls, and that was with Walter!"
"Skill number two, Seras." Syn hushed her with a finger over the young vampire's lips, "Unarmed melee destruction. You've done it once or twice, haven't you?"
"Not that I can recall clearly." Seras shook her blond head with a frown, "I lost control, and it wasn't a good thing that I did."
"Now you see why your old master had the control art restrictions." Syn cast her eyes over the crowd, taking in every person, "He liked letting his wild side loose. You have to learn control."
"Haven't you ever been out of control?" Seras asked in contempt, "Or are you little miss perfect?"
"Believe me, it takes one hell of a lot to get me pissed off enough to let my wild side loose." Syn said without humor or malice, "And I did that four hundred years ago. I killed an entire village when I did. That's why you need control."
The two were quiet for a long while. Seras thought about the situation that was going to come about soon, and Syn was quiet after reminiscing. A lanky man with bleached and spiked hair strode up to where they sat, his gold eyes glazed over with drugs.
"Hey, ladies, want to come back to my place for a good time?" he leaned heavily on his arms onto the table, his whiskey breath washing over the two women.
"Oh, god, man." Seras waved a hand before her nose to try to alleviate the scent, "How much have you had to drink?"
"Enough, babe." the man chuckled with a lecherous smile. Seras frowned and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms in defiance.
"He smells of something other than alcohol." Syn murmured in a tone the man couldn't possibly hear, "Do you smell it?"
"Yes." Seras replied in the same whisper, "He smells just like the freaks at the Tower of London."
"Dandy. It seems we were right about this place. You've got my gun, right?"
"With the safety off, of course. Can we actually do this?"
"No doubt. In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen."
"Amen."
Seras managed to keep pace this round. When Syn drew the staff from her back and sliced the man's neck in twain, she turned out of her seat, aimed, and fired. Four men went down from her bullets, and four more from Syn. The two split and went in opposite directions. Seras emptied the clip in a matter of seconds, bringing down a veritable cloud of freaks and ghouls. She reloaded, saving the empty magazine for refilling.
As she dodged swipes and angry bullets from normal, human guns, Seras glanced towards Syn. The other vampire was making just as much progress, her staff cutting through the lesser creatures the same as it did air. A swift smile, a click of the gun loading, and Seras shot down another swarm.
It occurred suddenly to Seras how dreadfully outnumbered they were. There were well over two hundred people packed into the club, and she most certainly didn't have two hundred bullets. She regretted not having the Halconnen handy, but it was too cumbersome, as well as damn suspicious. She never would have been able to walk a step without a police officer harassing her.
Seras estimated that the three full clips Syn had given her would kill at least forty freaks, and a few more if she managed to blast through more than one at a time. She suddenly envied her master's exceptional marksmanship. The clip was empty again, and Seras loaded the last one she had. It had to count, get rid of a large number of freaks so Syn wouldn't be swarmed and—Seras shuddered in fear—overrun.
Ghouls mobbed her and she knew exactly why. The freaks, though much weaker than true undead, were still formidable in their own right. They moved their ghouls to her to draw out the blessed silver bullets to avoid their own deaths. Seras waded swiftly, getting close to the ghouls and firing through them to other ghouls, and some freaks. She repeated the process, sending a few dozen ghouls and freaks to a hell of pain, but was soon completely out of bullets.
The mass seemed just as big as before. Seras swore just before the wind was knocked out of her. One of the freaks had broken off the pack when he saw her bullets run out. He grabbed her shoulders and smashed his knee into her abdomen. Seras knew she didn't need breath, but the strike wasn't meant for that. It was meant to overbalance her so the freak could smash his fists against her skull.
Ghouls swarmed over her when she fell to the ground. Seras barely squirmed away, and managed to stand once again. She looked to see how Syn was fairing. The situation got even worse. Someone had managed to strike the silver staff from Syn's hands, and it was lost in a dark corner. Syn was fighting on fists and feet alone, barely able to keep the freaks at bay. The ghouls, mindless zombies that they were, started to move towards the rest of the fight.
Seras heard a muffled curse just before Syn vanished under the grasp of their enemies. Her eyes widened in shock. That didn't just happen. She ran forwards and threw ghouls over her shoulder to get to the middle of the mass. The ghouls stood again and clustered around her. Seras felt a familiar wire tensing inside her. It had happened before, and it was growing tighter. The anger was going to break her control, she knew it, and she didn't care.
The freaks were not going to bring harm to Syn. With an inhuman howl, Seras tore through the dead flesh of the ghouls around her and lay waste to those that came closer. Her eyes wild and her fangs bared, she stormed at the freaks and thrust her hand through one immediately. The freak woman screamed and exploded into dust, and Seras smiled darkly.
This was the animal side that needed to be tamed. This was the beast that killed its own, ate its own wings to grow tame. Seras tore freak after freak to shreds, anger overcoming the beast. She forced the beast to eat its own wings, gaining control of her strength and ability. They weren't going to hurt Syn, and she was going to make those who had tried to harm her pay, and pay with pain.
Syn grimaced at the rapid-fire shots being drilled into her torso at point blank. The close range and speed drove bullet after bullet clear through her and into the floor below. Blood seeped from the wounds, covering the floor around her. They would have to run out of bullets sometime, or they would stop when they thought she would never get up.
The gunman abruptly stopped. Everyone looked to him, and they all gaped at an immaculate white glove that was shoved through his chest. He howled, and vanished into dust. Seras stood there, looking beyond raged. She punched two men in the head hard enough to crack their skulls and turn them to dust. Instantly afterwards, she leapt at the man who was holding Syn's arms behind her and knocked him to the ground. Syn sat on the ground, her arms propping her up.
She didn't need to turn around to know what happened to that last freak. The crunch and splatter was enough. Blood on the floor turned misty and swept up into the gaping bullet holes in her torso, repairing the damage and reforming what had been destroyed. Syn turned to see Seras kneeling over the dust of the last freak, unable to see her face.
"I just killed all these people." Seras said in a calm voice.
"Seras, they weren't human." Syn reminded her quickly, "You can't feel so bad about killing people that aren't human."
"I didn't want them to hurt you." Seras whispered, "I don't care how many I killed, I just didn't want you hurt."
"It's all right." Syn didn't know how to react to Seras' words, "I'm not…I'm not hurt at all." A soft, trembling sigh came from Seras, and her shoulders began to quake. "Seras, no, I don't want you to cry. I don't want you hurt, either." Seras turned and took hold of Syn's jacket, burying her face against Syn's chest. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she couldn't stop them.
"I'm sorry." Seras cried softly, and she didn't know why.
—to be continued—
