Chapter 9
-Abraham
It had been called the crossroads of western superstition, the place where ancient demons still walked in the night thirsting for blood to appease their dark thirsts. To an outsider the fears of the natives appeared as distant and unrealistic as the land itself. The Carpathian mountains were a cruel and unyielding terrain that, from afar, reached heights of unsurpassed beauty and benevolence. The natives had a deep respect for the ferocity of their home and for the night creatures who hunted them should they stray far from the relative safety of the village. Survival required strength of both body and will. One without the other would leave nothing but a rotting corpse as food for the packs of wolves who dwelt at the base of the rugged mountains.
This was merely the surface of necessity, however. Rooted in the culture was a silent acceptance of the pervasive evil of the country. Ruled centuries past by an adored tyrant, this still medieval land continued to pay tribute to his restless spirit, though none of the country folk would dare to breath a word of it. The sign of the cross, a silver talisman, and a mumbled prayer were enough for them to ward off the fear in their hearts, but never would they be able to free themselves of the darkness of their home. Or so Abraham van Helsing had learned since coming to Transylvania. It had been mere months since he had chased Count Dracula from London, but just days ago he had found the bodies of his last surviving comrade, skillfully slain near the body of his equally dead mate. By who, Abraham could not guess, but it was clear that the couple he had fought so hard to save had finally succumbed to the ways of Satan and his children, God rest their broken souls.
After finding the bodies of Jonathan and Mina Harker, Abraham had seriously considered abandoning his seemingly futile quest to destroy the vampire. It seemed that no power of man could destroy him or his whores, and the wrath of the Dragon had branded the professor persona non gratta among the villagers, isolating him in a small room at the villages one inn to think and to pray. For the past days he had done nothing but rethink his old strategies, praying for guidance in divining new ways to, if not destroy, then confine this creature of darkness, this abomination. Scattered throughout the room, on every narrow lampstand, in piles on the floor, and spread over the top of the bed were diagrams of instruments that could, theoretically, contain the demon - a sealed cement tomb filled with blessed water, a silver coffin adorned with crosses, countless other oddities of such nature. But each time the Dutchman thought he had the answer he found yet another weakness in his design. The vampire's power seemed too limitless to contain, unless there was a way to control the source itself.
Abraham jumped from his reclined position in the padded chair, startled from his revelation by an urgent pounding that rattled the hinges of his door.
'Professor van Helsing! Professor van Helsing!' the heavily accented voice of the innkeeper cried out to him in distress. Fearing the worst, Abraham calmly grabbed his silver crucifix from the lampstand by where he had been sitting and cautiously approached the now silent doorway.
Would he dare attack by light of day? Abraham questioned as he unbolted the lock on the door and took a defensive step back, just in time to dodge the swinging door. At first he only saw the body of the innkeeper sprawled out in the hall, unconscious or dead, it was impossible to tell which. Steeling himself, Abraham strengthened his stance and raised the crucifix slightly in front of himself as the door continued its momentum and crashed into the opposing wall, revealing the source of the disturbance.
Only a few paces away stood van Helsing's adversary, cloaked in red and bearing a disturbingly grotesque burden. Not quite sure what to make of the vampire's daytime intrusion, Abraham stood his ground, silent and unmoving, not needing to wait long for the vampire to make the first move.
As if it had never existed, the vampire brushed through the doorway and van Helsing's seal on the room. Ignoring the man and the talismans throughout the room, the vampire strode into the room and laid his burden down on the paper-littered bed.
His face as deadpan as his voice the vampire turned and griped the old man by the throat, pushing him against the wall. 'If she dies I play, do you understand?' the vampire threatened, only inches away from Abraham's face. At a loss for an explanation as to what was happening, Abraham hesitated long enough to hear a thin whisper from the bundle on his bed.
'Put him down, Alucard,' the woman managed to whisper, opening her eyes to the barest sliver.
The vampire released the man and watched as amazement flashed in Abraham's steel-blue eyes. 'Dear God, she's still alive!' he muttered, pushing past the vampire to examine his new patient.
Pulling away the cloak and the woman's matted blonde hair revealed what Abraham had already assumed, two small bite marks on the other side of an already wounded neck. Her breathing was shallow, almost imperceptible. Feeling for her artery revealed no detectable pulse, though it was clear that the woman was still hanging on in some inexplicable way.
'I don't understand. Isn't this what you want?' Abraham mused as he went about his quick examination.
'Enough talking, old man. Give her a transfusion.'
Abraham stood from his crouched position near the bedside and looked up fiercely at Alucard's towering form. 'With no donor, what you demand cannot be done,' he stated flatly, not anticipating the vampires next move.
With hardly the flick of a muscle Alucard thrust a half-dulled whittling knife he had retrieved from the lampstand into the human's arm, slicing the veins he knew carried the blood his master needed to survive. The man's face distorted in pain as his hand flew to shield the wound from any further assaults.
'She is blood of your blood, old man, more or less,' Alucard clarified, the grim mirth on his lips carrying no overtones in his voice. 'I could easily kill you and give her your blood without your aid, if you so choose.'
Unable to move his arm due to the deep and profusely bleeding gash, Abraham gestured with his head to where his equipment was stored. 'I hope you know how to do this, Nosferatu, because you've sufficiently disabled my arm's capacity for fine motor function,' Abraham threw at the vampire, justifiably angry.
'Shut your mouth and work,' Alucard ordered, tossing the small case to the aging professor. Abraham managed to catch the satchel with his unwounded arm, his already blood-smeared hand leaving traces of the liquid on its leather surface. Unable to adequately counter the vampire, Abraham did his best to comply, focusing on saving the woman's life rather than helping his enemy.
Sitting on the edge of his bed Abraham was able to open his bag with only one hand and pull out the equipment he needed. He. grit his teeth and clenched his noticeably shaking hand before setting about his work. Injecting the needle into the woman's arm was not a problem despite the difficulties of his recent handicap, but his own arm was already slick with blood and the open vein was hardly manageable. In the end the annoyed vampire intervened none too gently and took over the procedure. When it was over Alucard had taken far more blood than van Helsing could do without despite the Dutchman's irate protests.
'Damn vampire,' Abraham grumbled, his skin visibly paled and drawn. Trying to rise the elder fell back onto the bed with his hand covering his eyes. The wound on his arm still leaked what precious blood the vampire had not taken, and Abraham was feeling the hard effects of the loss.
Gazing down at the woman next to him, still unconscious but not so dangerously pale, Abraham consciously knew it was his blood that had saved her; nevertheless, he could not help but feel detached, like it did not matter. If Dracula wanted her dead... but did he really want her dead?
Grumbling to mask his confusion, Abraham rose slowly, ignoring the tunnel that formed before his eyes. Setting his jaw he glared hard at the vampire, staring past the sunglasses set on the bridge of his nose. For a split second he considered engaging his nemesis in a verbal battle, but quickly changed his mind as his vision blacked and he fumbled to find the chair before he collapsed in it, rapidly falling into unconsciousness.
*****
Throughout the day Alucard stood silently against the wall near the window of Abraham van Helsing's temporary abode. Whether he was awake or asleep at any given time could not be determined as either his glasses or his wide brimmed hat blocked any view of his eyes, though as soon as his nemesis began to stir in his slumber he was instantly aware of it. In truth Alucard had spent a great portion of his time analyzing their situation - the danger his master's life was in, the probability of another attack from his counterpart, and the old man slumped uncomfortably in the chair not far from him. Though the strangeness of his encounter with the man who had enslaved him hardly bothered Alucard, the vampire could not help but find pleasure in the fear he could see behind those irritatingly defiant blue eyes as the man was forced to submit to his enemy.
Alucard granted van Helsing a sadistic smirk as the human began to stir and release a slight moan as his hands reached for his head. It was certainly ... amusing seeing the different ways this world's Abraham was plotting his counterpart's destruction, or capture. One particularly interesting concept Alucard noted near his left boot was a silver coffin filled with holy water. The concept produced a small chuckle that seemed to remind the aged professor of his forgotten 'guests.'
'How long do you intend to stay here, vampire?' Abraham growled, blinking a few times to focus his eyes in the darkness.
'Until my master is well enough to return to our world,' Alucard answered in a flat tone, ignoring the quizzical and annoyed look the human shot at him. 'Why? Do I unnerve you?' he asked, turning his head to look directly at Abraham, his glasses falling slightly on the bridge of his nose, just enough to reveal his red eyes.
'I think the proper word,' Abraham shot as he struggled to gain his feet and thought the better of it, 'would be irritate.'
'Ah, but your bible encourages selfless acts of kindness, old man, does it not?' Alucard mocked with a slight laugh.
'I'm sure you're a great bible scholar, Count, but you're the one who caused the damage in the first place to - whoever this woman is. Am I wrong?' Abraham responded casually, stretching his stiff neck.
'On more than one level,' the vampire replied receiving an exasperated eye-roll from the mortal. 'And the woman is your descendant, more or less.'
With a soft sigh Abraham closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, much in the same way Alucard's master did when she could feel the onset of another headache coming. 'I'm not even going to ask,' he muttered.
'Loss of intelligence resulting from old age?' Alucard taunted. 'Perhaps you should start a new career in the arts to spare your patients from your dwindling medical skills.'
Abraham looked up at the vampire with a bemused smirk. 'Do my drawings interest you, vampire? I made them all for you.'
With a laugh Alucard stepped away from the wall, drawing the Jackal from inside his coat as he approached the chair. His lips curved into his trademark smirk, he leaned forward, resting one hand on the arm of the chair and another on the small table next to it. His face only inches away from Abraham's, Alucard locked onto the man's defiant eyes and said in a low voice, 'Took you long enough.'
Abraham looked at him, completely confused and taken aback, but lacked the time to reply before Alucard spun, reaching into his coat with one hand and retrieving the Casull, leaving his black gun on the table where his hand had been resting on top of it.
Just inside the doorway an almost exact copy of the vampire stood silently, his head tilted slightly forward and his dark eyes eager with bloodlust. 'Put down your mortal's weapon, coward, and fight me as a true Nosferatu,' Dracula challenged, still unmoving.
Abraham looked between the vampires in utter confusion as Alucard's mad laugh rang out in the tense air. 'I thought you'd never ask,' he grinned standing at the ready. Keeping his voice barely audible he muttered a string of phrases, during which the shadows in the room seemed to deepen and come almost to life. Alucard's features seemed to change and his eyes burned even a fiercer red than before as he waited eagerly for Dracula's attack. 'I've been waiting a long time for a worthy opponent. Now hurry, let's fight!'
Dracula sneered and raised his head arrogantly. 'You talk too much,' he shot, his eyes turning into a fiery red as his illusion broke and he appeared directly behind van Helsing, aiming Alucard's discarded weapon at his adversary. Braced for the kick-back of the gun, Dracula adjusted his aim toward the shadowed figure on the bed, tightening his finger on the trigger.
Before he had a chance to fire a bullet from the Casull was sent through the back of his skull, and Alucard had his gloved hand around Dracula's wrist, retrieving the black plated weapon before his opponent regained his balance. This all happening in less than an instant, when Dracula's hand flew to his side to retrieve his sword his eyes could caught the residual effects of the other vampire's own illusion, a replicated form of Alucard standing a few feet away, still facing the door. As the illusion faded Dracula turned to bring his sword down on the vampire behind him, slashing through from his neck to below his ribcage and following through with a slice from the other direction, severing Alucard's head completely. With a smug but wary grin, Dracula took a step back and watched as Alucard's body fell towards the floor, only to hit it and explode into hundreds of small bats that gathered at the corner of the room.
'You'll have to do better than that, Count,' Alucard taunted as his body reshaped from the feet up.
In the mean time van Helsing had managed to stand and retrieve a vial from his medical bag near the bed. Leaning against the headboard for support, he gripped the glass vial in his fingers and threw it with perfect accuracy at Dracula's head. Momentarily stunned by the glass shattering against his face and the holy water within burning his skin like acid, Dracula was a waiting target for Alucard's Jackal whose bullet tore through the native vampire's head and sent his body flying through the glass paned window nearby.
As Abraham turned to question Alucard the vampire disappeared, only to reappear in the center of a red tunnel that encompassed himself and the other human and completely deafened the two of them to all but the vampire's deep chanting. As the tunnel collapsed to engulf the trio a large bat flew in through the shattered window, screeching as it hit the walls of the vortex and disappeared into the red light, leaving the room silent and as dark as the night outside.
End Part I
A/N: Thanks to Puck 3/4 for helping me out with the layout of the battle. much appreciated ^_^ This is the end of part I of III, if you hadn't noticed, and I'm very happy that y'all actually like this story. being as you seem so pleased by it, can I ask one thing in return? stop sending me reviews that say "great story... update soon." I've got about 60 of those and I find them very annoying. I'd rather have 2 actual reviews than 100 one-liners telling me the same damn thing. (not to sound bitchy) XD Anywho, sorry for the delay in updating. (two words - writers block) Hope you enjoyed and we'll see you next time :)
btw - chapter title in reference to the beginning of something, being as this one was a bit more unclear than the others. :D
extra: if you're interested and don't mind a small spoiler the following link is to a sketch I drew of a later scene in this story in a thread hosted at livejournal: http://www.livejournal.com/community/hellsing/198726.html#cutid1
