Chapter 10:
On the same night, towards dawn, an exhausted Seras is still in flight. Her altitude started to become unstable as she winced slightly, birds tried to hunt her down for dinner before, so she still has cuts from that. She started to veer right, and knocking herself out of it, become straight again. She was still somewhat new in flying, so this was not helping much.
"No, I will not falter. What would master Arucard say to that?" Seras sulked slightly, even as the sky started to become a lighter shade of blue. "…Master…" The thought of her master at this point was very hard on her. He had never admitted it, but she knew he cared for her in some respects, and that he would not just let her go in that way.
The lack of blood, strain of flight, and now the thoughts of her master had made her weak. Seras veered far right, slightly thankful that she was so far up that she was not going to run into a tree unless she started to descend, which she just so happened to start doing.
"Shit!" She exclaimed as her descent quickened tenfold. She was over a forest, miles from the previous one, but still, coming down from that altitude at such a speed would leave her some marks. I'm going to die; I'm going to die...again! She screamed frantically to herself, as her descent was almost complete and she started to graze the tops of trees.
Seras, in self defense, crossed her arms in front of her, bracing for impact. Strangely shaped tree branches were already starting to penetrate her sides, making cut marks, fairly deep. She descended more, trying to move out of the way of a particularly big branch as she dived through a tree, but she was slow, and had to move her arm to do so. Seras right arm was hit hard by the trunk she nearly avoided, hitting from the shoulder blade down, blood squirted out as she passed, marking the tree with it. Her face was already scratched from smaller branches and her legs were mangled up. She screamed at the searing pain that now shot through her shoulder and arm.
Seras plunged into the ground, her left arm, the one not hit, helped her to grab a tree branch as she fell and swing half way around. Letting go, she landed swiftly on her butt with a loud thump. Her right arm hung limp at her side, and her dark eyes were glazed over with pain. It was darker under the trees, so she had nothing to worry about in the sense of light, but she would not be able to stand direct sunlight. At this point, she would be lucky if she could stand at all.
With her good arm, and kicking her feet slightly, she backed up to the nearest tree, which was only a few inches from her, and rested her back against it. She looked at her legs, which were fairly bad off, but nothing unsettled her more than her right arm.
Seras winced in pain and shouted the first thing that came into her mind, "MASTER!!!" She hunched over, passed out against the tree from the pain and weakness.
****
Alucard was still tailing behind Wilhemina as they entered a small cottage. He had not stepped more than three feet in the door behind her when something ear piercing shot through him. Alucard yelped with pain and fell to the floor, his eyes brawling out of his skull. He ran to a corner in what seemed like no time and stood there shaking from head to toe.
Panting heavily, his teeth bared. Seras…so much pain…What the heck is she looking for? A tear raised in his eyes as Wilhemina sat there in wonder. Alucard looked at her in saddened expression, and she knew what it was. Of course, she thought it was his master calling, but close enough.
****
Meanwhile, Vampire Hunter D was on a grassy patch of land, in the distance was a vast forest he has come to know as the Valley of the Lost, not because it is lost, but because of the supposedly mysterious happenings that go on in there. D looked up the sky, noticing that it was almost dawn, not like it mattered; he would just have to be a little more careful.
As D rode on horse back, his left hand was as loud as ever singing, "People are strange, when you're a stranger. Faces look ugly when you're alone. People seem wicked, when you're unwanted. Streets are uneven, when you're down." D started to get agitated at this, but was not about to do something, yet. Hand continued, "When you're strange- faces come out of the rain. When you're strange- no one remembers your name. When you're strange, when you're strange, when you're str..." D closed his left hand sharply cutting him off as he thought he heard something, but was unable to hear over his seemingly pointless singing.
"You, shut up." D said coldly to his hand, and strained to hear. He could have sworn her heard something, was not sure what, but it sounded distinctly female due to its high pitch. "Did you hear that before?" D unclenched his left hand a little, just enough for a few words, but not too much.
"What, you mean that ear piercing scream? Nope, I missed it, sorry." The hand said sarcastically, and D's response to most things he says; clench the fist as hard as possible and hope he shuts up. Thankfully for D, the hand decided to just let it go, he has ways of getting back, which he always managed to do.
D sat there on his horse, thinking, while the wind swirled around him. The sun, now on the horizon, blanketed the place with yellow colored light. D could have sworn that he heard faint screams, but it could have been the wind just as easily. I have to find this Alucard, not time for delays…but if this person is hurt, then I should at least try to help.
With his mind made up, he put his horse into a run, but even at that speed, because of the forest, he was unsure if he would be of any use. Who knows what could be across the plains and into the valley, which because of the heat, started to become surrounded in a fairly thick veil of mist.
Hm. As if someone does not want me to go there. D thought as he pushed his horse foreword. It would take him hours to get there, he knew that, and that is why he wondered if he would be too late to help. Not to mention, how long it would take just to find this person, he could be in there for days. The forest is as massive round as it is long, making it very confusing to navigate, D knew this as well, as he has had many dealings with this forest. Not one of these occasions have been good in any sense, either way, to a normal person, it would be a suicide mission; to D, it is life.