Chapter 5
John watched Seras run around the dress shop. She really was like a kid in a candy store. He had to admit, Seras' cheerful attitude and all around fun personality were disarming. She had made him laugh once with her antics, which was rare. She also looked very good in designer dresses.
They had been in the dress shop for about two hours. Seras was modeling various dresses to see which ones John and Pierre liked. John got the feeling that she was trying to try on every single dress in the shop. The fact that she could get only one had her in an agony of indecision. She had just finished modeling the twelfth dress of the hour, a Sky-Blue sundress. John had raised an eyebrow, while Pierre had given a blunt shake of the head. Both of them were beginning to wonder if she would ever find one that satisfied her.
The time was 8:30. Seras had had to get up very early to come to this shop, but she welcomed the lost sleep for an opportunity like this one. She knew that getting up an hour early two nights in a row was not only going to make her tired, it was going to make Alucard mad. Even across such great distances, their sleep patterns still influenced each other. Seras didn't particularly care, however. She was having too much fun.
As Seras went back into the dressing room, John scanned the area with infrared. He had been doing this ever since the attack in the airport. If there were vampires nearby, he wanted to know about it ahead of time. The group was armed and ready. John had his entire concealed arsenal, as well as a 5.56mm SAW in the van. Pierre had his Katal and his Desert Eagle, and an M4 carbine with an M-203 grenade launcher in the van. Seras had a custom 10mm MP5-K, as well as the Halconnen, disassembled, in the van. They would not be taken by surprise again.
Finished with his scan, John turned back to Pierre.
"I'm surprised," he said. "She hasn't chosen a single blood-red dress yet. You'd think that would be the first thing she'd go for."
"You might, but I wouldn't," replied Pierre. "Miss Victoria seems to have quite a bit more fashion sense than that, something that is completely foreign to you." John grunted. Their differing views on the importance of clothes had long been a friendly bone of contention between the two men. Pierre felt that a man should always look the best he could, whatever the situation, whereas John thought that if clothes covered you and your weapons, and looked halfway decent, then that was as far as they needed to go. John was dreading the fashion attacks that Seras, pushed by Pierre, would undoubtedly put upon him. They'd have him wearing pink bows before this was over.
As John and Pierre bantered back and forth about each other's clothes, Seras came out of the dressing room modeling the newest dress. Both Knights stopped, stunned. Seras had chosen an evening gown that was a deep red. While not the color of blood, it was the exact shade of her eyes. A pair of red elbow-length gloves added some real elegance to the look. Some black stockings and a pair of black stiletto heels finished the outfit. It did, indeed, look stunning.
"Well?" said Seras, somewhat amused by the looks on their faces, "What do you think?"
"Beautiful, Miss Victoria. Excellent choice," said Pierre when he had recovered enough to talk. "I think this is the one."
"Uh, yeah, looks good," said John, mentally slapping himself. Seras smiled. The fact that John had actually complemented the dress meant that it must be good. For all the others, he had either remained silent or grunted noncommittally.
"I like it too!" said Seras. "Let's get it boxed up and purchased. Oh, and like I said before, call me Seras." As she went to change back into her uniform, she happily imagined Alucard's face when he saw this dress. He was sure to have some sarcastic and yet complementary comment to make, even more so when he saw that she had bought him some designer sunglasses. It would be fun to see. She hoped he would come soon.
- - -
Notre Dame rose impressively above their heads, silhouetted against a full moon. Seras ran around taking pictures to show Walter when she got home. She had used up almost all the memory in her digital camera. Just when she thought she was finished, she'd see something else that just had to be photographed.
Pierre watched her run around, shaking his head at her innocent enthusiasm. Seras Victoria really was a fun person to be around. She seemed to brighten the area wherever she went. It was odd, considering that she was a creature of darkness. But more and more, Pierre was seeing that, although Seras was in body a vampire, she was in mind very much human. Perhaps that was what made her so charming.
John was not watching Seras or Pierre. He was watching the street. As Notre Dame cooled for the night, it gave off heat that made it impossible to see anything near it with thermal. Because of that, John was keeping his eyes on the street. It wouldn't do to have his thermal vision messed up if a vampire showed up.
As John watched the street, he saw a tour bus pull up at the curb. He frowned, puzzled. The cathedral was closed to tours at this time of night, and the tour company whose logo was on the bus did not even go to Notre Dame. John began to get suspicious. He turned on thermal vision and scanned the tour group that was exiting the bus. There was about thirty of them. When John scanned them, he saw that they all gave of little or no heat. As he watched, they all pulled out automatic weapons and aimed at his group. Oh, great.
"Pierre, Seras! Look out!" shouted John. He dived to right as the ghouls began to fire, narrowly avoiding becoming hamburger. He rolled to the right and pushed off with his hands, sending him flying backwards over the ghoul's heads. He landed on the other side with his machine pistols drawn and let held down the triggers, aiming for the torsos. Several ghouls went down as the barrage of .45 rounds ripped through their hearts. As their bodies hit the ground John pulled out a grenade and rolled it into the midst of the group. He flipped away as went off, sending red-hot blessed shrapnel whistling through the ghouls' bodies. Two of them were killed by the blast. The rest were knocked to the ground. John ran forward to finish them off, but stopped when a projectile whistled by his ear. An explosion produced a crater a few meters away. He turned and saw the tour guide holding a pair of M4 carbines with 40mm grenade launchers. The vampire fired again, sending the other grenade screaming toward John. He dived out of its way just in time, and then was thrown away as the grenade went off a few feet from him.
Pierre, who had taken cover behind a pillar when John had shouted, ran forward to take out the rest of the ghouls. He saw Seras blow a ghoul's head off with her MP5-K as he passed her. Pierre pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired. Six of his shots took a ghoul through the heart. The other two blew off arms at the shoulder. The remaining four ghouls ran towards him, waving long knives. Pierre smiled. This was going to be fun. If they wanted to use blades, he was ready and willing. He holstered his gun and pulled out his Katal. The deadly blades were about two feet long, and sharper than a razor. Pierre stood, waiting, as the ghouls ran toward him. The first ghoul reached him and swung its knife in a decapitating arc. Pierre ducked the swing and thrust both of his blades into the ghoul's chest, sliding between the ribs and hitting the heart. He pulled them out and then slashed upwards, decapitating the ghoul in one quick stroke. As the second ghoul reached him, Pierre used its own momentum to run it through the heart with one blade, and then slashed its head from its shoulders with the other. The next ghoul attempted to stab him in the chest with a machete. He spun to the side, dodging the thrust, and then slashed the ghoul across the stomach. As the ghoul doubled over, Pierre brought one blade up and the other down in a scissors motion, cutting off its head. Then he turned and dropped to his knees to avoid a swipe from the last ghoul's massive Bowie knife. He knocked the ghoul's legs out from under it with a sweep kick, and then jumped up and brought his blades down into its chest with all his weight, going right through its ribs. Pierre cleaned off the blades and put them back in their scabbards, and then ran to help John.
John ran away from the armed vampire, trying to get to some cover. He reached the steps of Notre Dame and ran up one of the pillars. As the vampire attempted to follow his quick movement with its aim, John flipped off the top off the pillar and aimed at its face, firing as he came down. He hit the ground and rolled with the impact, and then ran forward and shot the vampire twice in the heart. John turned and saw another vampire and 5 ghouls heading out of the bus. The vampire, a huge male, was holding a 7.62mm Minigun, and the ghouls all had Uzis. The vampire fired the Minigun, narrowly missing John. He somersaulted up and over the bus. As he did Seras, who had just finished assembling the Halconnen, fired a DU round, blowing through all 5 of the ghouls. She hurriedly reloaded, slipping a huge incendiary round into the chamber.
"John!" she shouted. "Get clear!" John heard her and leapt away from the bus, landing about twenty feet away on the other side. Seras fired the HEAT shell, hitting the vampire dead center. The explosion ignited both his backpack of ammo and the bus's gas tank, sending a pillar of flame into the sky. Bullets from the backpack careened through the air, forcing both John and Pierre to hit the dirt. Seras stared at the inferno in shock.
"Heh," she said, blushing. "Oops."
John and Pierre growled at her, and they all headed toward the van as sirens wailed in the distance.
Seras took a lot of flak from John and Pierre about her accidental inferno as they went home. Any other time she would have just laughed it off, but right now she was not in the mood. She felt like a bad luck charm. Who was after her? Why were they trying to kill her? She stared at the floor, depressed. Her weekend in Paris had not gone well at all. She wished she had never come.
- - -
The phone rang on Integra's desk, breaking her concentration. She was not happy about this. She had been trying to get through her paperwork before midnight. This caller, whoever they were, had just ensured that she wouldn't.
"Hello? This is Hellsing," barked Integra.
"S-sir Integra?" said Seras' timid voice. "I have a report to give you."
"A report? What could have happened in the last twenty-four hours that could possibly require a report?" said Integra, hoping for Seras' sake that she wasn't just homesick. If she was calling at this hour just to chat, there would be hell to pay.
"I was attacked again."
"Really," said Integra, fully interested now. "Do continue."
"Well," said Seras, "I was out on a shopping trip and we went to see Notre Dame afterward. While we were there, a group of ghouls and two vampires attacked us. We're all right, but it was close. They had some major firepower. Somebody with connections doesn't like me."
"Wait a minute. Back up. You were on a shopping trip?"
"Oh," said Seras, realizing her mistake at admitting it. "Y-yes."
"What the bloody hell were you doing shopping and touring Paris when I told you to work on finding some evidence?!" yelled Integra. "If I had wanted you to go on a vacation, I would have said so! You are in Paris on Hellsing time, and you are expected to work. What were you thinking, Police Girl?"
"I'm sorry," said Seras embarrassedly, "But they gave me a gift certificate to this fancy dress shop and . . ."
"I'm not interested in your excuses. Don't ever do this again, do you understand me?" Integra sighed. "Now, tell me about the attack."
Seras related the details, leaving nothing out. When she had finished, Integra said,
"This is more serious than I thought. Someone obviously knows why you are there and wants to stop you. This is too much for you to handle alone. I had better send Alucard to join you. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble. Don't leave the Knights of Charlemagne headquarters unless it's an emergency. There will be no more shopping trips, understood?"
"Yes sir," said Seras. "I'm sorry."
"You should be. But, I suppose no one died, and now we at least know something that we didn't before. You were in error, but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Therefore, you are forgiven. But you had better not pull a stunt like this again, do you hear me? Good night."
Integra hung up. Seras sagged into her bed, drained. She was such an idiot! Of course Integra would be angry about the shopping trip. After all, the Director was right. Seras was supposed to have been working. But instead, she had run out to the nearest store like a stupid little girl. Feeling disgusted with herself, Seras went to bed. She just wanted this night to be over.
-------------------------------------
Sorry it took so long to get this up. I had a serious case of writer's block. Things should be heating up with Alucard around, huh? Should be fun! As always, please R&R. Thanks!
John watched Seras run around the dress shop. She really was like a kid in a candy store. He had to admit, Seras' cheerful attitude and all around fun personality were disarming. She had made him laugh once with her antics, which was rare. She also looked very good in designer dresses.
They had been in the dress shop for about two hours. Seras was modeling various dresses to see which ones John and Pierre liked. John got the feeling that she was trying to try on every single dress in the shop. The fact that she could get only one had her in an agony of indecision. She had just finished modeling the twelfth dress of the hour, a Sky-Blue sundress. John had raised an eyebrow, while Pierre had given a blunt shake of the head. Both of them were beginning to wonder if she would ever find one that satisfied her.
The time was 8:30. Seras had had to get up very early to come to this shop, but she welcomed the lost sleep for an opportunity like this one. She knew that getting up an hour early two nights in a row was not only going to make her tired, it was going to make Alucard mad. Even across such great distances, their sleep patterns still influenced each other. Seras didn't particularly care, however. She was having too much fun.
As Seras went back into the dressing room, John scanned the area with infrared. He had been doing this ever since the attack in the airport. If there were vampires nearby, he wanted to know about it ahead of time. The group was armed and ready. John had his entire concealed arsenal, as well as a 5.56mm SAW in the van. Pierre had his Katal and his Desert Eagle, and an M4 carbine with an M-203 grenade launcher in the van. Seras had a custom 10mm MP5-K, as well as the Halconnen, disassembled, in the van. They would not be taken by surprise again.
Finished with his scan, John turned back to Pierre.
"I'm surprised," he said. "She hasn't chosen a single blood-red dress yet. You'd think that would be the first thing she'd go for."
"You might, but I wouldn't," replied Pierre. "Miss Victoria seems to have quite a bit more fashion sense than that, something that is completely foreign to you." John grunted. Their differing views on the importance of clothes had long been a friendly bone of contention between the two men. Pierre felt that a man should always look the best he could, whatever the situation, whereas John thought that if clothes covered you and your weapons, and looked halfway decent, then that was as far as they needed to go. John was dreading the fashion attacks that Seras, pushed by Pierre, would undoubtedly put upon him. They'd have him wearing pink bows before this was over.
As John and Pierre bantered back and forth about each other's clothes, Seras came out of the dressing room modeling the newest dress. Both Knights stopped, stunned. Seras had chosen an evening gown that was a deep red. While not the color of blood, it was the exact shade of her eyes. A pair of red elbow-length gloves added some real elegance to the look. Some black stockings and a pair of black stiletto heels finished the outfit. It did, indeed, look stunning.
"Well?" said Seras, somewhat amused by the looks on their faces, "What do you think?"
"Beautiful, Miss Victoria. Excellent choice," said Pierre when he had recovered enough to talk. "I think this is the one."
"Uh, yeah, looks good," said John, mentally slapping himself. Seras smiled. The fact that John had actually complemented the dress meant that it must be good. For all the others, he had either remained silent or grunted noncommittally.
"I like it too!" said Seras. "Let's get it boxed up and purchased. Oh, and like I said before, call me Seras." As she went to change back into her uniform, she happily imagined Alucard's face when he saw this dress. He was sure to have some sarcastic and yet complementary comment to make, even more so when he saw that she had bought him some designer sunglasses. It would be fun to see. She hoped he would come soon.
- - -
Notre Dame rose impressively above their heads, silhouetted against a full moon. Seras ran around taking pictures to show Walter when she got home. She had used up almost all the memory in her digital camera. Just when she thought she was finished, she'd see something else that just had to be photographed.
Pierre watched her run around, shaking his head at her innocent enthusiasm. Seras Victoria really was a fun person to be around. She seemed to brighten the area wherever she went. It was odd, considering that she was a creature of darkness. But more and more, Pierre was seeing that, although Seras was in body a vampire, she was in mind very much human. Perhaps that was what made her so charming.
John was not watching Seras or Pierre. He was watching the street. As Notre Dame cooled for the night, it gave off heat that made it impossible to see anything near it with thermal. Because of that, John was keeping his eyes on the street. It wouldn't do to have his thermal vision messed up if a vampire showed up.
As John watched the street, he saw a tour bus pull up at the curb. He frowned, puzzled. The cathedral was closed to tours at this time of night, and the tour company whose logo was on the bus did not even go to Notre Dame. John began to get suspicious. He turned on thermal vision and scanned the tour group that was exiting the bus. There was about thirty of them. When John scanned them, he saw that they all gave of little or no heat. As he watched, they all pulled out automatic weapons and aimed at his group. Oh, great.
"Pierre, Seras! Look out!" shouted John. He dived to right as the ghouls began to fire, narrowly avoiding becoming hamburger. He rolled to the right and pushed off with his hands, sending him flying backwards over the ghoul's heads. He landed on the other side with his machine pistols drawn and let held down the triggers, aiming for the torsos. Several ghouls went down as the barrage of .45 rounds ripped through their hearts. As their bodies hit the ground John pulled out a grenade and rolled it into the midst of the group. He flipped away as went off, sending red-hot blessed shrapnel whistling through the ghouls' bodies. Two of them were killed by the blast. The rest were knocked to the ground. John ran forward to finish them off, but stopped when a projectile whistled by his ear. An explosion produced a crater a few meters away. He turned and saw the tour guide holding a pair of M4 carbines with 40mm grenade launchers. The vampire fired again, sending the other grenade screaming toward John. He dived out of its way just in time, and then was thrown away as the grenade went off a few feet from him.
Pierre, who had taken cover behind a pillar when John had shouted, ran forward to take out the rest of the ghouls. He saw Seras blow a ghoul's head off with her MP5-K as he passed her. Pierre pulled out his Desert Eagle and fired. Six of his shots took a ghoul through the heart. The other two blew off arms at the shoulder. The remaining four ghouls ran towards him, waving long knives. Pierre smiled. This was going to be fun. If they wanted to use blades, he was ready and willing. He holstered his gun and pulled out his Katal. The deadly blades were about two feet long, and sharper than a razor. Pierre stood, waiting, as the ghouls ran toward him. The first ghoul reached him and swung its knife in a decapitating arc. Pierre ducked the swing and thrust both of his blades into the ghoul's chest, sliding between the ribs and hitting the heart. He pulled them out and then slashed upwards, decapitating the ghoul in one quick stroke. As the second ghoul reached him, Pierre used its own momentum to run it through the heart with one blade, and then slashed its head from its shoulders with the other. The next ghoul attempted to stab him in the chest with a machete. He spun to the side, dodging the thrust, and then slashed the ghoul across the stomach. As the ghoul doubled over, Pierre brought one blade up and the other down in a scissors motion, cutting off its head. Then he turned and dropped to his knees to avoid a swipe from the last ghoul's massive Bowie knife. He knocked the ghoul's legs out from under it with a sweep kick, and then jumped up and brought his blades down into its chest with all his weight, going right through its ribs. Pierre cleaned off the blades and put them back in their scabbards, and then ran to help John.
John ran away from the armed vampire, trying to get to some cover. He reached the steps of Notre Dame and ran up one of the pillars. As the vampire attempted to follow his quick movement with its aim, John flipped off the top off the pillar and aimed at its face, firing as he came down. He hit the ground and rolled with the impact, and then ran forward and shot the vampire twice in the heart. John turned and saw another vampire and 5 ghouls heading out of the bus. The vampire, a huge male, was holding a 7.62mm Minigun, and the ghouls all had Uzis. The vampire fired the Minigun, narrowly missing John. He somersaulted up and over the bus. As he did Seras, who had just finished assembling the Halconnen, fired a DU round, blowing through all 5 of the ghouls. She hurriedly reloaded, slipping a huge incendiary round into the chamber.
"John!" she shouted. "Get clear!" John heard her and leapt away from the bus, landing about twenty feet away on the other side. Seras fired the HEAT shell, hitting the vampire dead center. The explosion ignited both his backpack of ammo and the bus's gas tank, sending a pillar of flame into the sky. Bullets from the backpack careened through the air, forcing both John and Pierre to hit the dirt. Seras stared at the inferno in shock.
"Heh," she said, blushing. "Oops."
John and Pierre growled at her, and they all headed toward the van as sirens wailed in the distance.
Seras took a lot of flak from John and Pierre about her accidental inferno as they went home. Any other time she would have just laughed it off, but right now she was not in the mood. She felt like a bad luck charm. Who was after her? Why were they trying to kill her? She stared at the floor, depressed. Her weekend in Paris had not gone well at all. She wished she had never come.
- - -
The phone rang on Integra's desk, breaking her concentration. She was not happy about this. She had been trying to get through her paperwork before midnight. This caller, whoever they were, had just ensured that she wouldn't.
"Hello? This is Hellsing," barked Integra.
"S-sir Integra?" said Seras' timid voice. "I have a report to give you."
"A report? What could have happened in the last twenty-four hours that could possibly require a report?" said Integra, hoping for Seras' sake that she wasn't just homesick. If she was calling at this hour just to chat, there would be hell to pay.
"I was attacked again."
"Really," said Integra, fully interested now. "Do continue."
"Well," said Seras, "I was out on a shopping trip and we went to see Notre Dame afterward. While we were there, a group of ghouls and two vampires attacked us. We're all right, but it was close. They had some major firepower. Somebody with connections doesn't like me."
"Wait a minute. Back up. You were on a shopping trip?"
"Oh," said Seras, realizing her mistake at admitting it. "Y-yes."
"What the bloody hell were you doing shopping and touring Paris when I told you to work on finding some evidence?!" yelled Integra. "If I had wanted you to go on a vacation, I would have said so! You are in Paris on Hellsing time, and you are expected to work. What were you thinking, Police Girl?"
"I'm sorry," said Seras embarrassedly, "But they gave me a gift certificate to this fancy dress shop and . . ."
"I'm not interested in your excuses. Don't ever do this again, do you understand me?" Integra sighed. "Now, tell me about the attack."
Seras related the details, leaving nothing out. When she had finished, Integra said,
"This is more serious than I thought. Someone obviously knows why you are there and wants to stop you. This is too much for you to handle alone. I had better send Alucard to join you. In the meantime, try to stay out of trouble. Don't leave the Knights of Charlemagne headquarters unless it's an emergency. There will be no more shopping trips, understood?"
"Yes sir," said Seras. "I'm sorry."
"You should be. But, I suppose no one died, and now we at least know something that we didn't before. You were in error, but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Therefore, you are forgiven. But you had better not pull a stunt like this again, do you hear me? Good night."
Integra hung up. Seras sagged into her bed, drained. She was such an idiot! Of course Integra would be angry about the shopping trip. After all, the Director was right. Seras was supposed to have been working. But instead, she had run out to the nearest store like a stupid little girl. Feeling disgusted with herself, Seras went to bed. She just wanted this night to be over.
-------------------------------------
Sorry it took so long to get this up. I had a serious case of writer's block. Things should be heating up with Alucard around, huh? Should be fun! As always, please R&R. Thanks!