Chapter 24:
It was black and Seras was a lone. She heard a voice, faint, weak; it called it her. The blackness swirled around her and took a form, bats. She half expected to see red glinting eyes and the Cheshire cat smile of her master, but it never came, just the bats. What is going on? A dream? She wondered as she felt herself floating in a void of emptiness. Blood splattered the ground, or whatever it was that she seemed to be hovering above. Drops dripped from an unknown source, falling in front of her eyes. Seras looked up, expecting to see someone or something bleeding, but that is not what she saw.
WHAT THE …Seras thought, but by that time it was too late. The blessed blade that was dripping blood above her drove straight down, into her throat. The pain seared her flesh, like it had done once before; the pain was the same, except it felt like it was not happening to her at all. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath that she did not need, but liked to have. She heard something behind her, and turned around quickly. Her eyes widened as she saw her master there, blood trickling down from apparently nothing, covering him.
Alucard stretched his arm out, and Seras did as well, but she could not reach him. The next moment, the place of the blood was made clear. A blessed blade shot through Alucard's head, and straight into his throat. Blood flowed weirdly down his hair, and plastered it to his face. Seras watched in horror and tried to call out, but her voice was lost in the fact that it hurt to speak. She heard a cackle, the same familiar cackle that told her a certain priest was enjoying himself.
Seras awoke with the cackle still in her ears. The fire had faded so it was completely dark. She, not knowing what was real and what wasn't, was dripping with sweat, like one who had a cold.
"MASTER!" She screamed, the cackles of her dream surrounding her. She knew something was wrong as she could not feel his connection to her, or it was so faint that it was hard to feel in her weakened state.
Alucard fell to his knees, the blade running straight through his skull. A swirl of pain engulfed him, and he started to drift. His mind and eyes swirled as they tried to focus on the priest, whose cross glittered from the light of the bar. Alucard could not breath, could not talk, and staggered to remain conscience. Then, a sound floated around him. It was a familiar voice, like out of some fairy tale; the distance made it sound mysterious. He knew the voice still, it could only be Seras.
Alucard tried to answer, tried to reach out, but to no prevail. If she is calling on me…she must be in trouble…my fueki, you should have taken your weapon. Why would you have left? He wondered, feeling the energy drain from him. Something inside of him started to stir at the thought of Seras being in danger. It was something that he had not felt in awhile, blackness; his true form.
The blades in his arms and legs made his movements harder than they should have been. A crazed demented smile gradually gained speed across Alucard's face. His eyes rolled over in his sockets and were blood red, a color so pure that it almost burned the priest's eyes. Alucard's teeth sharpened and jaws widened a bit, more like a beast than anything. His hair grew darker still, midnight black, and extended all the way down to the floor. It drooped over his face, but the red eyes still glinted through, showing a perception of evil. Alucard cackled, it stung his throat, but sounded like the melancholy of insanity. It was a sound so distorted, that the priest gasped in horror at him.
"N..New tricks monster!" Alexander stuttered a bit before he regained his foothold of reality. He crossed his blades again, one over the other, his favorite fighting stance. Meanwhile, Alucard's red coat turned black, but not black; it became a part of the blackness that was Alucard.
"Monster or no monster, you will die!" Alexander said, spitting against the floor to show his rage. However strong that seemed, the anger and anguish that welled in Alucard only made him blacker. He became so dark that the night looked white compared to him.
Alexander, in a single motion, spread out his blades and was on the attack again. He ran up as fast as he could, and with blades in both hands, swung at Alucard, who did not move one iota. The blades hit Alucard dead on, but they only seemed to pass right through him. The blades entered his blackness, and cut at him in every way, but it was like cutting at the night. Alucard's grin intensified as he stared at the useless effort of the priest.
Alucard's hand shot out of his mass to the priest. It grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him in the air. The priest gasped at the quick motion, and kicked his feet to get down. Alucard glared at him and said in a dark earth moaning voice, "Ah, priest. You never have learned. A regenerator can not kill a monster. MWH HA HA…" He cackled, filling the air with a high insane sound.
At this point, Wilhemina exited the bar to see what all the noise was about. She gasped as she saw the scene, with Alexander's blessed blades still hanging from odd ends of Alucard, especially the one erect in his head. Lawret was right behind her, and looked on in amusement. He knew Alucard well enough to know that this was only him having a good time.
The priest spat on Alucard and did a growl type noise. "You have not won, monster. Not as long as I am alive." He said and with a movement of his left hand, opened the hem of his coat and sprinted a hundred smaller versions of blessed blades known as blessed daggers. They pierced through Alucard and he grimaced a bit. A certain annoying one hit him on the side of his face, and stung annoyingly.
Alucard did not loosen his grip, but Alexander seemed to slide down. Once Alexander reached the floor, he tumbled and with another blessed blade, ran it right through the middle of Alucard. Still, no blood shed, but he knew it hurt him.
Alucard cackled more and lifted up the pathetic Alexander by the arm. Alexander struggled to break free and his arm ripped right out of his socket, and he fell to the floor once more, but this time, arm free. Alexander gasped and Alucard grinned at the sight of blood that spilled from the detached arm.
Alucard was toiling with him now and hoisted him up by the feet with his extended hair, bringing him close to his face so he could mock him. Alexander, not giving up, used the only attack he could and bit Alucard's nose. Alucard froze for a second in amusement and his hair that held his feet soon changed into a twin pair of black dogs, whose teeth were around his feet. Alucard's black mass of dogs soon changed his hair into a black mass of red eyes, which stared at Alexander from all directions. A little shake of the head and the dogs ripped Alexander's feet off as well, and we would have fallen to the ground a third time, but his teeth were iron clad onto Alucard's nose.
The priest's blood stained the ground and even through Alucard's amusement, he started to become annoyed. Priest's eyes were hard, and yet wavering, the pressure and lack of blood was starting to take effect. Priest's grip faded and he fell to the ground again, landing some how on his only arm left and pushing off to attack with his stubs of legs. Alucard just let him try to hit him; it was amusing to see his persistence. After a moment or two, Alexander found that it was useless.
"Run out of energy, priest?" Alucard asked sarcastically. The grin on his face still held its strangely long evil grin.
"It is not over, monster, never over. Not until you are dead. With the blades of God, I shall banish you. Amen!" Alucard cackled at this statement of the priest, seeing the irony of him threatening one who is immortal.
"He he he…Come back than, when you have strength to be my amusement for the evening. It would be ashamed to lose such a good playmate so early on." He said sarcastically, his eyes still glancing over him.
Priest did not respond, but simply sat there beneath him. He crawled a little ways away and the funda he had left swirled around him in chains. The funda lifted him up to a stand position about his normal height off the ground and swirled around him. In the next instance, he was gone, trailing funda papers everywhere.
Wilhemina in bewilderment rushed over to Alucard and saw all the hundreds of blessed blades sticking out of him. Lawret stood against the back of the door to the pub, thinking how this has been the most exciting night he has had since his days in the Hellsing manor.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed or is this how you chose to be seen?" Wilhemina said bitterly, but with a calm soothing vampric voice. Alucard merely looked at her, the pain in his throat finally caught up with him and he could not speak with it. "So what do you have to say for yourself?" She questioned again, seemingly forgetting or not knowing how deep the blade was embedded in his throat.
Alucard, still not able to speak held up his hand to quiet her. With all his strength he hoisted the blade from the top of his head, as his hair had already dropped down again with out the dogs or eyes that were so uniquely his. Pulling out the blade, Alucard spat up blood and all the wounds on his body started to trickle with blood as the blackness that was him started to return to his normal state. Once the blade was out, his throat burned a little, and there was a stench of burning flesh as the blades seared his undead skin.
Wilhemina's eyes widened as she could see the smoke from his mouth and wounds, as the burns on her legs were better now from the blood she had received from Lawret. "Does it hurt?" She asked, moving closer to him, and removing some of the daggers from his chest.
"Hmm...it hurts, but the fight was worth it." He grinned evilly at this, remembering the thrill of the fight and continued, "Priest's fights are always bloody. He is persistent…" Alucard trailed as he started to cough again and a little more blood he spat on the ground.
"You are not to fight for awhile. Your blood is quickly rushing from your body, any more wounds, and you would be lost." She said, now working on a particularly annoying one on his arm.
Alucard grinned and spoke no more. He tried to take some of his own blades out, but Wilhemina would not let him, and even walked him to the pub. Alucard half smiled when he saw the expression on Lawret's face.
"What? Not happy to be reminded of the old times, Lawret?" Alucard asked, amused at the odd expression.
Lawret shook his head, "No, Alucard-san, it is just that it was the same priest as last time and he looks exactly the same." Lawret paused for a moment and smiled nicely, "It was a good fight and I think a free drink is in order, though, I think you could have taken him down sooner. I know, there really is nothing for you to do, and fighting is your amusement. Come, and have a drink before anything else decides to attack you."
With that, all three of them went in and had some more blood, with the exception of Lawret who drank a brandy instead of blood. They talked for awhile until something started to bother Wilhemina.
"Lawret, as you know we are new here, and the dawn is approaching, do you know of a place we could stay for the day?"
Lawret nodded and smiled at her. "Yes, Wilhemina-sama, there is a place you two could stay. If you are finished with your drinks, you could follow me to the basement where I have accommodations for customers such as yourselves."
Alucard grinned, but another question than bothered Wilhemina. "Why would you have storage for vampires, and blood on the menu, unless you were a vampire? I can smell that you are human, so, why then?"
Lawret took a sip of his brandy and replied, "Yes, I am no vampire, but because of this town being very far out of the way, vampires tend to come here to relax. It is a safe heaven, if you will. I only suggest that they do not kill me or any of the villagers while they are staying here, with you two; I have no worries of that." He replied, and Alucard found it amusing how he used to kill vampires and now he is helping them.
After some time, when all the blood was finished and Alucard felt strong enough to walk on his own, Lawret showed them the way down to the basement. Lawret moved them to a secret separate door adjacent to the one to the store room. The stairs were steep and descended well into the ground. The basement looked like some kind of morgue; there were coffins and beds and a smell of decay. It was definitely a place of vampires, the mustiness was quite familiar to Alucard, and it reminded him of the Hellsing manor.
The coffins were not the same as the manor, however, as they did not sink into the ground, but they looked comfortable enough. Alucard took the one closest to the far right wall, and Wilhemina took one across from it. Lawret yawned and bid them good day as he went back to the store room and in the back he had his own bed, but he usually did not sleep that much.
Alucard stared at his coffin and nodded to Wilhemina before he got in. It was well sized and comfy, with a pillow that was kind of soft. He fell asleep quickly, but still wondered why Seras had screamed for him. Wilhemina stared at the inside of the coffin lid awhile before going to sleep, she had other things on her mind, but they were just as important to her. Mainly, they were about Alucard and Dracula, but sometimes, they were more estranged.
Hehe…I am back again. Grr…school is not allowing me to write as much as I want to, so sorry about that, but this one did take me awhile. -__-…oh well, if you get bored while waiting for new chapters, try to see what name you can make of Lawret, hehe, my own little bad pun^^.