1Chapter 13
David held the serrated edge of his weapon against the throat of the regenerator that he had been fighting in the graveyard for the past half hour. Jonathan was right; the surgery that augmented his skeleton has holding off his demon so well that he didn't even sense a presence in him. "Why are you after me?!" David demanded.
Laura knelt next to Seras as she bandaged her arm from the wound that Alexander Andersen had inflected on her. "You're worse than that vampire monster over there, you don't deserve to live." Andersen said in his Scottish accent.
With that he kicked David in his side and pulled a sword from his infinite supply hidden under his trench coat. With the other he produced a series of short knives with parchment impaled on it, quickly he threw them to the surrounding tombstones and trees. A weak shock wave resulted as all the knives hit their target.
"What the hell was that?" David asked.
"We can't use any of our powers!" Seras shouted.
"Well that shouldn't be a problem." David smirked.
DS/
Three hours earlier...
It had been nearly two weeks sense that horrible night that Markus had taken over David's body; David could still mentally hear Markus screaming in his mind, demanding to be released. Slowly David put on his cloths and armor in his room. It had been three days sense he was released by the doctor and tonight was the sixth month mark sense his family was murdered. He felt pitiful; he had found Aundae but had learned that while he was the one that ordered his families death, he wasn't the source of the evil.
But know wasn't the time to dwell on what he had lost; he needed do something, tonight. Making sure that he had all his weapons at hand he quickly placed them in their hidden areas in the trench coat and left the room. Walking down the hallway he sensed a pair of eyes on him; they had an innocent feeling to them. He instantly knew that it was Seras; there wasn't anyone else in this organization that still had that feeling in their eyes.
He ignored the fact that she was spying at him and left the mansion. As he approached the gate a pair of Hellsing solders came out of the guardhouse and confronted him. "Sorry sir, Ms Hellsing's order's, were not allowed to let you leave the compound."
David looked at the guards straight in the eyes, he had no intention of harming them, but he had no intention of being denied by some cold hunter and her lackeys. "Open the gate and let me pass." David said in a hypnotic tone. The guard's eyes glazed over as they opened the gate and returned to the guardhouse.
Continuing his walk he still sensed Seras following him on the edge of his senses. He didn't care if she did follow him or not, though chances were that he would lose her in a few moments. Looking up at the sky he enjoyed the different colors that came with twilight, but like all other immortals of his kind, his power was limited to the night. During the day he was like any other human though he still was just as deadly, it just meant that most of his vampire powers were useless.
As the last ray of sunlight fought against the horizon and lost he felt the cool night air caress his body and felt a sense of strength return to him. He still sensed Seras following him but it no longer mattered. Bursting into a run he jumped high into the air away from his "sister".
As he reached the peak of his jump he slowly began to descend. Looking down he could see a sea of lights pulsating below him. Looking carefully he could see his destination. Taking aim he shifted and went head first for the ground.
With maddening speed he felt the air begin to rip at his trench coat, it felt exhilarating. Shifting his body around he was able to move in a zig zag pattern in the air. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw a jumbo jet screaming into his path but he didn't flinch.
DS/
Katie hated flying more than anything but her mom insisted on taking the plane saying it was the only way to visit her grand pa. "Katy why don't you open the screen and take a look, were over London by now." her mom encouraged her.
Not wanting to disappoint her mom by making her think she was still scared she did what she was told. Looking threw the window she saw a man fly by the window not six feet away from her. "Mommy! Mommy I saw an angel fly by!!" the young girl exclaimed.
Her mother assumed that this was just her daughter's way of dealing with her fear and decided to play along. "Well of course dear, God always sends angels to protect you."
With that Katie never was afraid to fly again.
DS/
David enjoyed buzzing next to the jet; who ever saw him would most likely need some major therapy after seeing him. The ground was coming up close now. Throwing his body into a spin he got his feet and head where they were supposed to be. As he arrived on the hill he landed with out making so much as a sound. Looking around the graveyard he began to walk towards the group that he was looking for.
DS/
Paladin Alexander Andersen, Iscariot Vatican of section thirteen, regenerator for God knows how long watched from his room as his target charmed the pathetic Hellsing guards into letting him pass. Shortly later he spied the nofaratu's child jump the fence in civilian clothing and began to follow the same path as his target.
Leaving his room the Paladin could hardly control his glee, it had been close to three weeks sense he was dispatched to take out the target and he finally had a chance. He started running as quickly as he could to catch sight of the blonde vampire. "She will lead me to him..."
DS/
Seras was walking towards her "brothers" room when she saw him exit in all his gear and walked down the hallway towards the exit. 'Well I guess that answers my question if he's feeling good.'
She was about to call to him when something stopped her. 'Why did he have all that gear?'
Instead she decided to follow him to see where he was going, most likely not one of her best ideas but it was still something to do. She watched him talk to the guards from one of the windows and was shocked to see them stand aside and let him pass. She was about to follow him when someone called to her.
"You're Seras, David's 'Sister', right?"
Seras turned around and was greeted by a woman in military fatigues. She recognized that it was one of the five people that came to bring David back to them. She originally got the feeling from all of them that it would be best to stay away at all possible, so she wasn't at all prepared if one talked to her. "Yes, my name is Seras Victoria, is there something I can help you with?"
"My name is Laura, and I was wondering if you knew where David was, he's not in his room."
Looking down at the ground like a little child with her hand caught in the cookie jar she admitted that she was following him and just witnessed him leave the compound. "Hmm, strange, tell you what, go follow him, ill catch up in a bit, I have a strange feeling about this." Laura said.
Seras blinked, she was about to protest and say something like she had no right to order her around, but before she could say something Laura gave her a look that would mean her death by her hand if she objected. "Good, here take this cell phone and hit one then send if you need me right away." with that she walked away.
Seras looked down at the small cell phone and blinked. Deciding not to piss off the one that called herself Laura she left the Mansion and jumped the fence turned and followed David.
DS/
David knelt before one of the tombstones and read the inscription under the name of his wife. Beloved wife and mother, you will never be forgotten. Of course David had no control over the funeral; everyone thought he was dead as well thanks to the dust of one of the vampires he had killed that night. His wife's parents had handled everything. Taking a rose from the inside of his coat he laid it on the grave.
"Oh how sweet, don't worry, you will be joining your wife and demonic offspring soon enough." a Scottish accent proclaimed behind him.
Turning to face the bastard that dared to say something like that he was greeted by a giant of a man in grey priest clothing and a tan overcoat, a large silver cross hung from his neck. David didn't have to ask who he was or what he was doing here. He knew he was a Vatican paladin just by the large cross the man wore.
Pulling his retracted staff from its place in his trench coat he thumbed the switch and the weapon extended to its full length. Quickly entering an attack stance he waited for his opponent to make a move. Chucking the Paladin pulled a pair of swords from his coat and charged towards his target. David felt the blood rush threw his body as time seemed to slow down, side stepping he watched as the man ran past him with his face turned towards his in a almost painfully slow motion. Looking to his right he saw the man bring one of the swords towards David as he ran past. Jumping out of the way he landed on the branch of a tree as time caught up with him again.
"You cursed monster, you disgust me. You're worse than the vampires or the humans that take the freak chip." the paladin spat out.
Looking down at the man David sighed. "In all the time I've been alive men like you have come up with creative names for me, its all been said. Now its time to end this..."
Once again time seemed to slow down as David jumped from the tree, his staff weapon sliced threw the air making a pure tone as is someone was running there finger around the rim of a wine glass. The paladin had no time to react as the tip of the staff slid threw his neck effortlessly, as time returned to normal for David he sped past the man causing the staff to twist. The result was the serrated edges neatly cut the remaining flesh. The body fell upon its knees and then to the ground as the head tumbled down the hill.
David didn't turn to look at his work; he hated killing humans more than anything. His true enemy was the vampire horde, not man, even those that would do him personal harm. He felt like he had just killed a fellow solder in this war, but in this war, it was becoming more difficult to distinguish from friend or foe...
DS/
Seras watched in amazement as she witnessed David leap up into the air and out of normal sight. Following with her vampire eyes she saw him slowly begin to descend like a professional skydiver. Didn't he say he was in the American military before he had joined Hellsing?
As she continued to watch she held her breath as she saw him fly only inches from a jumbo jet and continue to dive back to the ground. Suddenly he twisted and brought himself right side up for a landing. As he landed she noted the area and quickly ran to close distance. Reaching for the phone that Laura had given her she informed her that he landed in a cemetery. Quickly confirming that she would meet her there she continued to run. During this time she didn't notice the man running a block behind her keeping up with her pace.
DS/
Hearing a sound David turned with his weapon at the ready, quickly he spotted Seras. Relaxing he flicked the switch and the staff compacted and returned to its innocent looking pipe design, quickly he put the staff back in its hoister. Turning to the body he raised his right arm, suddenly the arm was engulfed in white fire. With a quick thought the fire flew from his arm and danced over the corpse, within seconds nothing but ash remained. With the grim task done the fire receded back to his arm and disappeared leaving nothing to hit or its presence.
Seras was just a few yards from him now, turning he greeted his sister. "Seras."
"David what are you doing here, you know you weren't supposed to leave the compound."
David chuckled at what she had just said; Hellsing sure was arrogant if she thought he would listen. "Seras, do you know what the date today is? Its exactly six months sense I met you..."
"What are you talking-" Suddenly it made sense to her, looking at the tomb stones behind David it was obvious, he had came to pay his respects to his family. "I'm sorry...."
"There's no need, you didn't need to know nor would I have expected you to.... GET DOWN!"
Suddenly hundreds of swords came flying towards the siblings with lighting speed as they emanated from a single man at the base of the hill. Seras managed to dodge the majority but a single sword embedded itself in one of her arms.
"Who the heck is that?!" David said in surprise as the swords continued to fly over their heads only inches above them.
"It's Paladin Alexander Andersen; he's the only one that can do this that I can think of." Seras said as she held her injured arm with the other.
"Another Paladin, great." David said grimly.
"What do you mean another?" Seras asked confused.
"Long story."
Pulling out his staff once again he activated it and looked towards his target. The Paladin seemed to float there as swords came from his body without end. Jumping into the air time began to slow down, he could see the Paladin moving to have the swords attack him, quickly David began to twist his staff rapidly to deflect the swords that started to come close to him. Landing next to the Paladin David took a swing with his weapon, Andersen jumped back as he pulled two of his own swords from his coat to meet the challenge.
Rebounding from jumping back Andersen leapt forward towards David, David side stepped as Andersen flew by. Once again time slowed as they looked at each other as Andersen flew by. "To slow."
David said to him and brought the staff down towards the back of Andersen's neck with the intent of severing it. Instead of meeting flesh he felt the vibration of metal against metal go threw his arm as he looked down he saw a sword guarding Andersen's neck defiantly. "What?!"
With his other sword Andersen stabbed David in his shoulder. The resulting shocks made David stumble back exposing his chest. Taking the opportunity Andersen used the other sword to cut across David's chest, leaving a large and bloody gash.
Looking down David tried to summon his body to regenerate the wound to no avail. Thinking on his feet he erupted his arm in flame and pressed it against the wound, sealing it for now. With the wound sealed hid pulled several throwing stars that sent them flying towards there target. Andersen quickly dodged and defected most of them, about two hit their targets in his arm and leg, quickly he pulled them out as his body healed instantly from the wounds.
"A regenerator huh, this is going to be interesting..." David panted.
Jumping up into the air David made use of more of his stars and threw them with pinpoint accuracy, unfortunately most of them were deflected but it didn't matter. As the Paladin was busy defecting the stars David descended with his staff aimed for the regenerators heart. Seeing him coming Andersen brought up his swords so that David would fall onto them ignoring the remaining stars that cut at his body.
Quickly David changed his tactic and used his staff to push the swords aside and landed on the regenerator instead, jumping back he readied himself once again for another attack. Fortunately Andersen was still recovering from the dodge so David took the chance and raced towards him. Pushing him against a tree he held the serrated edge against the throat of the man. "Why are you after me!"
"You're worse than that vampire monster over there, you don't deserve to live." Andersen said in his Scottish accent. With that he kicked David in his side and pulled a sword from his infinite supply hidden under his trench coat. With the other he produced a series of short knives with parchment impaled on it, quickly he threw them to the surrounding tombstones and trees. A weak shock wave resulted as all the knives hit their target.
"What the hell was that?" David asked.
"We can't use any of our powers!" Seras shouted.
"Well that shouldn't be a problem." David smirked.
DS/
Laura had arrived in the area while Master David and another man were busy fighting; quickly she spotted Seras and rushed over. "What's happening?"
Seras almost jumped when she heard Laura's voice but when she saw who it was relaxed. "David is fighting a man named Paladin Alexander Andersen, he's from the Vatican Section thirteen."
"Okay, but what's with the sword in your arm?"
"I can't pull it out, think you can?"
With a quick yank Laura removed the sword that had embedded itself in the young vampires arm, holding the weapon she sensed a power vibrating in the sword. Must have been blessed...
Ripping part of her coat she used it to bandage the arm. "Thanks." Seras said.
Suddenly a shock wave came flying towards them and pushed them back slightly.
"What the hell was that?!" David shouted
Seras knew what it was and quickly shouted back her answer to David.
"Well that shouldn't be a problem..." David replied
"I think it might be a good idea to get out of here." Laura said, as she pulled Seras up off the ground.
"What if he needs our help?" Seras protested.
"Master can take of himself." Laura said without thinking about it.
'Did she say Master?' Seras thought. 'What does she mean by that?'
DS/
David never thought that he relied on much of his vampire skills but as he fought the man he found that within the spell that he couldn't feel time slow or summon his fires, but his speed and agility was unaffected and that gave him his edge.
As they fought it reminded David of his sparring sessions with his master Berne. The sword dancer countered every move he made, normally his fights never lasted longer than a moment against a single opponent, but this one was different. He felt strangely being fulfilled in terms of finding an equal to do battle against and not have to hold back.
Kicking into the paladin's stomach they quickly separated each other by a few feet but once again that distance was closed by both of them as the advanced to kill the other. One sword came up high while the other came from the side, one for his head the other for his heart. With his left arm David blocked the sword for his head as he used the staff to deflect the one coming for his heart.
Blood trickled down the length of his arm from the wound that strangely didn't seal. 'Another one of those strange sword weapons I suppose'
David brought his staff's edge to Andersen's side in hopes of stabbing him threw. Quickly Andersen jumped back avoiding the staffs edge, David countered with turning the staff and catching him with the tip, cutting across his chest. Andersen stammered back in the pain of the slash, looking up he saw the end of the staff come flying towards his chest, quickly he brought his swords together in an attempt to deflect the staff. The weapon crashed threw the swords like paper, continued on its dead aim patch and entered Andersen's chest, slicing threw his heart.
Stammering back and forth, he finally fell back, the staff propping him up, keeping him from falling all the way to the ground. David looked down at the paladin, if he was a regenerator, this would only stall him, and there was no easy way to kill off a regenerator, at least none that David knew about.
David sighed, pulling a star out he quickly pulled his staff out and slammed the star into the wound in its place. It wouldn't keep him immobile, but it would hold him down until who ever sent him found him or he gathered enough strength to pull the star out. Taking one last look he turned and left the cemetery.
As he exited the gates he met up with Seras and Laura, looking at his sisters wound he put his hand over it, when he removed it neither wound nor scar remained. Looking up at Laura however... "Two questions, for both of you. One, did you put Seras up to this, to follow me? And what were you thinking, following me?"
Both girls looked at each other than looked down to the ground, both said nothing.
"Fine."
Taking a few steps David jumped up into the night sky and out of sight back towards the Hellsing manor.
DS/
Walking home both Seras and Laura kept mostly to themselves. Every now and then Seras would go to say something but quickly changed her mind. Finally arriving back at the mansion she handed Laura the cell phone back and went back to her room. Sighing Laura turned to watch the first few rays of sunlight greet her before she too entered the mansion and went to bed.