Beginning's End
By: Lazeralk
Standard disclaimers apply.
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." – Semisonic
Part 6
To my reviewers, I love you guys. Sorry this is taking longer than Drowning in Darkness, my muse insists that everything be as accurate as possible so I have to do lots of research about Romania and guns and stuff. Blame her for the delay, I just type the thing.
D (Xdragon224@aol.com) - Loki, ah yet another thing I had to research. He's actually the god of chaos in Norse mythology, sometimes fire too. He starts out a trickster and then gets progressively more evil. He has a wife and a mistress. His mistress gives him three children, a giant snake who is said to devour the world, a daughter so ugly and evil that Odin make her queen of the dead, and a wolf named Fenrir who kills Odin at Ragnarok. Loki is also credited with tricking the blind god Hodd into killing Odin's son Balder who is god of light and joy. As punishment for this, Odin has Loki tied to three massive boulders and has snakes drip venom on his head all day. His wife, amazingly still loyal, holds a bowl under the snake to catch the venom. However, when she leaves to empty the full bowl the venom drips on him and he screams which is the cause of earthquakes.
Ok, fic.
*
Seras held the gun barrel up; ready to shoot at the slightest movement. Her back touched the wall and she peered around the corner of a doorway. Galina mimicked her on the other side and Arucard walked right past them throwing all caution to the wind. He entered the hall and was met by a pack of twenty or so werewolves.
The wolves bared their teeth, snapped their powerful jaws and growled low in their throats. Arucard raised both Jackals and began to fire as the wolves rushed him. One of the wolves, standing a good six feet on its hind legs, clamped its teeth around his arm and ripped it out of the socket. Arucard turned and shoved the barrel of his remaining Jackal down the offending wolf's throat and pulled the trigger.
Seras and Galina took up cover positions and began to push back the masses, giving Arucard time to regenerate his arm and retrieve his gun.
Isabella flung her arms wide and thousands of bats erupted from her cloak, appearing as if from thin air. The tiny hunters bit and clawed their way to the bones of the wolves, who howled in pain, swiping at the flurry of leather and fur. They snapped at the bats trying to rid themselves of the distraction. Arucard took advantage of it and calmly picked them off one by one.
"Next!" called Arucard, leading the small group along the halls he knew so well. The manticors followed behind their mistress pausing to rip pieces of the werewolves off as snacks.
"This is the main hall, to your right are original Da Vinci paintings, on your left you'll find my collection of Japanese swords displayed on the wall. I have everything from ceremonial tantos to absurdly long muramasas. And moving on, up the stairs are guest quarters, and the ambassador suits. On the ground level are dining rooms and the ballrooms. Below them are the kitchens and all that other servant stuff." Said Arucard in his best 'tour guide' voice.
"Master, try to be serious." Said Seras sternly as she kept her defensive crouch.
"Who me?" he asked, turning and sticking his tongue out at her. A werewolf was suddenly on his unprotected back and gnawing at his neck.
"See?" demanded Seras as she shot the wolf in the head.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be more careful, mother." He sneered. He brought his guard back up and proceeded up the stairs.
Seras sighed but followed. Katrina had a short knife in each hand and was glaring at everyone. She stomped up the stairs like a pouting child, huffing with irritation.
Isabella lurked near the back a cloud of bats obscuring her figure.
"Where's Loki?" asked Galina, the AKM braced along the inside of her arm.
"Probably in my old room, the twit." Answered the nosfaratu.
"Your old room?" asked Seras excitedly. "Do we get to see it?"
Arucard turned to look at her, arching an eyebrow. Why did she want to see his room? Its not that interesting.
"Sure police girl, whatever you want." He said scanning her thoughts.
-Yea! I get to see master's room! Maybe I can learn some new stuff about him. –
He grimaced, oh boy. This was going to be interesting after all.
When Arucard reached the top step and looked down the hall, he was momentarily caught off guard. Waiting for them there, in neat rows, were some two or three hundred werewolves, all in half-beast form. Behind the werewolves stood a seemingly endless army of ghouls.
"Uh, master? You do have a plan right?" asked Seras as she took in the sight.
"Not really, no. Why?"
Seras just looked at him and changed the clip in her gun.
"Oh c'mon police-girl, it'll be fun." he said.
Seras continued to give him her disapproving look.
Whatever reply Arucard was going to give, was cut off when the wolves rushed them in wave after wave of fur and teeth. Galina, Seras and Arucard stood shoulder to shoulder and mowed them down. Isabella's bats were back in action and even the manticors had joined the fray. Katrina stood behind the all and threw her endless supply of knives at them.
The elder fledgling paused for a moment and watched Seras and her master fight together and was struck with sadness. What had changed? Was is so long ago that it was her standing there, her fighting side by side with Arucard? Was this it, she was just shoved aside to make room for the new kid?
Katrina looked down, idly watching the river of blood as it flowed gently down the stairs, the tide rising as new bodies were split open to add to the flood. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Was she just second best now? Arucard use to be hers, just hers, and now she had to share. Only, it was more than that, she wasn't sharing, she was being utterly replaced.
Katrina looked back up at the man who'd raised her, who made her everything she was, her lover, her friend, her father and teacher and she cried. For the hundredth time in a hundred years, she cried for the loss of her master, but it was very different kind of loss this time. This time there was no hope of being reunited.
*
Arucard had run out of bullets a long time ago, and his arms were soaked through with blood that never cooled, but his face shone with a joy so intense that it made all who saw it shudder. Seras had lost the Cassul and had switched to the Berettas, one in each hand. The werewolves lay in mangled pieces and the ghouls were beginning to advance. Only then did Arucard realize their mistake.
Loki had gotten smarter over the years. By putting the werewolves first, he made all of them run out of blessed bullets. Now the only thing that would kill the ghouls was sheer force of vampiric power. Power they couldn't afford to spend on such a lowlife obstacle.
"Damnit." He whispered.
"Master?" asked Seras, her voice shaking with fright as she too realized their problem.
"Galina? Can the manticors handle them?" asked Arucard.
"Maybe." Said Galina as she watched the slowly advancing ghouls.
"They can if I stay to help." Called Isabella, her bats hovering around her.
"You guys go ahead, I'll take care of them."
Isabella then glowed the crimson power and her army of bats froze in mid- air. Each bat began to convulse, twitching and screaming. Their bodies began to grow, larger and larger until from wingtip to wingtip they measured four feet. The giant bats opened their mouths to reveal rows of razor teeth set in cherry red gums.
"Well that's bloody brilliant." Whispered Seras as she watched them, held in awe. There were so many things she still couldn't do, things she wished she could do so she'd be better in a fight.
Arucard grinned at them.
"That's great Isabella. See you in a few."
With a jaunty wave he pulled the other three girls down the west corridor and began humming as he ripped the heads off a few straggling ghouls. They walked along the quiet halls searching for only Arucard knew what when a human crossed their path.
"Va-!" he cried, tossing the tray he'd been carrying behind him in his attempt to raise his hands to cover his face.
Arucard raised an eyebrow.
"Va-! Vampire!" the man finally exclaimed.
Arucard arched the other eyebrow, and then smiled wickedly, flashing his fangs.
The man screamed, fear oozing off him in waves as his hands blindly searched his pockets for something. He smiled triumphantly when he found it and held a large clove of garlic to the nosfaratu's face.
"Back ye fiend of hell!" cried the man, trying to shove the garlic into our hero's mouth.
Arucard blinked at the man, silently marveling at his utter stupidity. Then he burst out laughing, one hand covering his eyes as he mocked his latest challenger.
"Garlic?" asked Seras in disbelief.
"Oh, for the love a'-how stupid can you be?" she demanded.
Arucard stopped laughing abruptly and snatched the garlic out of the man's hand. He crushed it and then sprinkled the pieces in the man's head.
"Perfecto!" he said in a very bad Italian accent, kissing the tips of his fingers. He then grabbed the man by the collar and sunk his fangs into his neck. He fed deeply, and then tossed the corpse on the floor absently. He smiled happily then continued prowling the hall.
He passed closed doors that Seras itched to open until they came across a plain cream colored one with the knob torn out and a bone hanging in the hole. He pushed the door open and blinked into the blinding light. Hanging from his wrists, suspended about half a foot off the ground was a vampire with long chestnut brown hair that hung in tight rows of curls to his waist.
"Hallow." Said Arucard, wonder in his voice.
"Mikado?" asked the vampire lifting his head at the sound and showing them his pupil less white eyes. Seras gasped at the sight he made, so much beauty all ruined by those blank unseeing orbs.
Arucard went to him, touching him gently on the cheek.
Hallow had been starved, his body coated with dried blood, all his muscles atrophied, his bones showing clearly though his paper like skin. His right leg was missing from the knee down, the severed tendons dangling uselessly.
"My name is Arucard now, old friend." The elder vampire said softly.
"Names mean nothing." Replied Hallow and they shared a smile, a secret smile as if the plain words were some sort of inside joke.
"No," agreed Arucard. "They don't."
"Listen to me, my king. Loki has made a pact with something far worse than werewolves. You must leave at once and return only when you have an army. The pure evil of his new allies has shrouded the castle in eternal night. When the sun rises in the morning you'll see what I mean, but now you must go." Said Hallow quickly.
"No. I'll not leave you behind."
"Master!" cried Seras holding the new would on her shoulder. Arucard spun to face a creature he had hoped to never see again. A greater demon had Katrina in one hand and a sword with Seras' blood on it in the other. Galina lay against the wall, the sawed off shotgun inches from her fingers. She was out cold.
Arucard roared with rage and hellhounds erupted from his body, he extended his arm and snatched up the shotgun, pumped in a round and fired the same instant the hounds struck. The beast roared and flung Katrina's limp body at him. He caught her and placed her gently on the ground at his feet. She winced but pulled out her throwing knives.
Seras rushed to Galina's side and found that the older vampire had saved her Cassul and stuck it back in the holster. She dug in the pouches attached to her belt and pulled Galina's last Browning with two extra clips.
She spun and began firing, two handed at the demon that was waving around the sword with deadly accuracy. Katrina had hit all the major organs and joints she could think of with her knives and was struggling to keep pulling her arm back. Arucard's familiars were pulling off chunks of meat and the rounds from the shotgun and the Browning were taking their tool. Still the demon didn't waver. It never stopped or even flinched, it's body was being reduces to scraps but it hardly blinked.
Suddenly, a voice that none of them recognized save Hallow echoed through the room.
"Well, look what we have here. Mikado the mighty king returning from slavery to try and take my kingdom from me. Tisk tisk, slave. You might think you can win Mikado, but you're wrong. You're nothing now, and I've got the power. I'm the King of the Night and you're just a washed up no body. Why don't you run home to your master little dog? You'll never be anything but yesterday's news." The voice sneered.
The demon waved its massive hand and the vampires nearly choked on the magic. The power slammed into them and then crawled along inside their skin like slow moving lava. Light erupted all around them and they screamed. The light over took them and then faded into the darkness.
*
When Arucard awoke, he was laying on his back in the forest outside the castle. The sun was at its peak in the sky but just as Hallow had said, the castle was covered with night. Seras, Katrina and Galina were also there, all of them still deeply unconscious.
Blood trickled from various wounds on the two youngest, but Galina seemed fine. Arucard sighed; Isabella and all the manticors were missing.
As if summoned by his thoughts Isabella came through he trees, looking exhausted but unhurt. Her bats once again hung from her shoulders, but only two of the manticors had made it out alive. Ranja and his mate Ahmiyn.
"Damnit." Said Arucard as he stood. He watched as the others began to wake up, silently glaring at the castle. If Loki had somehow forged a pact with demons, then they were screwed. The only thing that had let him kill the first two demons he'd come across had been the Blade to Call All Darkness and last he saw, it had been destroyed with the last demon he'd killed. Hadn't it? He didn't know, but none of them could find it after that so they assumed it had been destroyed. It hadn't contacted Seras in a good eighty years.
Taking back his kingdom was going to be a lot harder than he originally thought it would be. He also had to get Hallow out of there. Loki would pay for what he'd done; he'd pay most dearly.
End part 6
Part 6
To my reviewers, I love you guys. Sorry this is taking longer than Drowning in Darkness, my muse insists that everything be as accurate as possible so I have to do lots of research about Romania and guns and stuff. Blame her for the delay, I just type the thing.
D (Xdragon224@aol.com) - Loki, ah yet another thing I had to research. He's actually the god of chaos in Norse mythology, sometimes fire too. He starts out a trickster and then gets progressively more evil. He has a wife and a mistress. His mistress gives him three children, a giant snake who is said to devour the world, a daughter so ugly and evil that Odin make her queen of the dead, and a wolf named Fenrir who kills Odin at Ragnarok. Loki is also credited with tricking the blind god Hodd into killing Odin's son Balder who is god of light and joy. As punishment for this, Odin has Loki tied to three massive boulders and has snakes drip venom on his head all day. His wife, amazingly still loyal, holds a bowl under the snake to catch the venom. However, when she leaves to empty the full bowl the venom drips on him and he screams which is the cause of earthquakes.
Ok, fic.
*
Seras held the gun barrel up; ready to shoot at the slightest movement. Her back touched the wall and she peered around the corner of a doorway. Galina mimicked her on the other side and Arucard walked right past them throwing all caution to the wind. He entered the hall and was met by a pack of twenty or so werewolves.
The wolves bared their teeth, snapped their powerful jaws and growled low in their throats. Arucard raised both Jackals and began to fire as the wolves rushed him. One of the wolves, standing a good six feet on its hind legs, clamped its teeth around his arm and ripped it out of the socket. Arucard turned and shoved the barrel of his remaining Jackal down the offending wolf's throat and pulled the trigger.
Seras and Galina took up cover positions and began to push back the masses, giving Arucard time to regenerate his arm and retrieve his gun.
Isabella flung her arms wide and thousands of bats erupted from her cloak, appearing as if from thin air. The tiny hunters bit and clawed their way to the bones of the wolves, who howled in pain, swiping at the flurry of leather and fur. They snapped at the bats trying to rid themselves of the distraction. Arucard took advantage of it and calmly picked them off one by one.
"Next!" called Arucard, leading the small group along the halls he knew so well. The manticors followed behind their mistress pausing to rip pieces of the werewolves off as snacks.
"This is the main hall, to your right are original Da Vinci paintings, on your left you'll find my collection of Japanese swords displayed on the wall. I have everything from ceremonial tantos to absurdly long muramasas. And moving on, up the stairs are guest quarters, and the ambassador suits. On the ground level are dining rooms and the ballrooms. Below them are the kitchens and all that other servant stuff." Said Arucard in his best 'tour guide' voice.
"Master, try to be serious." Said Seras sternly as she kept her defensive crouch.
"Who me?" he asked, turning and sticking his tongue out at her. A werewolf was suddenly on his unprotected back and gnawing at his neck.
"See?" demanded Seras as she shot the wolf in the head.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be more careful, mother." He sneered. He brought his guard back up and proceeded up the stairs.
Seras sighed but followed. Katrina had a short knife in each hand and was glaring at everyone. She stomped up the stairs like a pouting child, huffing with irritation.
Isabella lurked near the back a cloud of bats obscuring her figure.
"Where's Loki?" asked Galina, the AKM braced along the inside of her arm.
"Probably in my old room, the twit." Answered the nosfaratu.
"Your old room?" asked Seras excitedly. "Do we get to see it?"
Arucard turned to look at her, arching an eyebrow. Why did she want to see his room? Its not that interesting.
"Sure police girl, whatever you want." He said scanning her thoughts.
-Yea! I get to see master's room! Maybe I can learn some new stuff about him. –
He grimaced, oh boy. This was going to be interesting after all.
When Arucard reached the top step and looked down the hall, he was momentarily caught off guard. Waiting for them there, in neat rows, were some two or three hundred werewolves, all in half-beast form. Behind the werewolves stood a seemingly endless army of ghouls.
"Uh, master? You do have a plan right?" asked Seras as she took in the sight.
"Not really, no. Why?"
Seras just looked at him and changed the clip in her gun.
"Oh c'mon police-girl, it'll be fun." he said.
Seras continued to give him her disapproving look.
Whatever reply Arucard was going to give, was cut off when the wolves rushed them in wave after wave of fur and teeth. Galina, Seras and Arucard stood shoulder to shoulder and mowed them down. Isabella's bats were back in action and even the manticors had joined the fray. Katrina stood behind the all and threw her endless supply of knives at them.
The elder fledgling paused for a moment and watched Seras and her master fight together and was struck with sadness. What had changed? Was is so long ago that it was her standing there, her fighting side by side with Arucard? Was this it, she was just shoved aside to make room for the new kid?
Katrina looked down, idly watching the river of blood as it flowed gently down the stairs, the tide rising as new bodies were split open to add to the flood. Was this how it was going to be from now on? Was she just second best now? Arucard use to be hers, just hers, and now she had to share. Only, it was more than that, she wasn't sharing, she was being utterly replaced.
Katrina looked back up at the man who'd raised her, who made her everything she was, her lover, her friend, her father and teacher and she cried. For the hundredth time in a hundred years, she cried for the loss of her master, but it was very different kind of loss this time. This time there was no hope of being reunited.
*
Arucard had run out of bullets a long time ago, and his arms were soaked through with blood that never cooled, but his face shone with a joy so intense that it made all who saw it shudder. Seras had lost the Cassul and had switched to the Berettas, one in each hand. The werewolves lay in mangled pieces and the ghouls were beginning to advance. Only then did Arucard realize their mistake.
Loki had gotten smarter over the years. By putting the werewolves first, he made all of them run out of blessed bullets. Now the only thing that would kill the ghouls was sheer force of vampiric power. Power they couldn't afford to spend on such a lowlife obstacle.
"Damnit." He whispered.
"Master?" asked Seras, her voice shaking with fright as she too realized their problem.
"Galina? Can the manticors handle them?" asked Arucard.
"Maybe." Said Galina as she watched the slowly advancing ghouls.
"They can if I stay to help." Called Isabella, her bats hovering around her.
"You guys go ahead, I'll take care of them."
Isabella then glowed the crimson power and her army of bats froze in mid- air. Each bat began to convulse, twitching and screaming. Their bodies began to grow, larger and larger until from wingtip to wingtip they measured four feet. The giant bats opened their mouths to reveal rows of razor teeth set in cherry red gums.
"Well that's bloody brilliant." Whispered Seras as she watched them, held in awe. There were so many things she still couldn't do, things she wished she could do so she'd be better in a fight.
Arucard grinned at them.
"That's great Isabella. See you in a few."
With a jaunty wave he pulled the other three girls down the west corridor and began humming as he ripped the heads off a few straggling ghouls. They walked along the quiet halls searching for only Arucard knew what when a human crossed their path.
"Va-!" he cried, tossing the tray he'd been carrying behind him in his attempt to raise his hands to cover his face.
Arucard raised an eyebrow.
"Va-! Vampire!" the man finally exclaimed.
Arucard arched the other eyebrow, and then smiled wickedly, flashing his fangs.
The man screamed, fear oozing off him in waves as his hands blindly searched his pockets for something. He smiled triumphantly when he found it and held a large clove of garlic to the nosfaratu's face.
"Back ye fiend of hell!" cried the man, trying to shove the garlic into our hero's mouth.
Arucard blinked at the man, silently marveling at his utter stupidity. Then he burst out laughing, one hand covering his eyes as he mocked his latest challenger.
"Garlic?" asked Seras in disbelief.
"Oh, for the love a'-how stupid can you be?" she demanded.
Arucard stopped laughing abruptly and snatched the garlic out of the man's hand. He crushed it and then sprinkled the pieces in the man's head.
"Perfecto!" he said in a very bad Italian accent, kissing the tips of his fingers. He then grabbed the man by the collar and sunk his fangs into his neck. He fed deeply, and then tossed the corpse on the floor absently. He smiled happily then continued prowling the hall.
He passed closed doors that Seras itched to open until they came across a plain cream colored one with the knob torn out and a bone hanging in the hole. He pushed the door open and blinked into the blinding light. Hanging from his wrists, suspended about half a foot off the ground was a vampire with long chestnut brown hair that hung in tight rows of curls to his waist.
"Hallow." Said Arucard, wonder in his voice.
"Mikado?" asked the vampire lifting his head at the sound and showing them his pupil less white eyes. Seras gasped at the sight he made, so much beauty all ruined by those blank unseeing orbs.
Arucard went to him, touching him gently on the cheek.
Hallow had been starved, his body coated with dried blood, all his muscles atrophied, his bones showing clearly though his paper like skin. His right leg was missing from the knee down, the severed tendons dangling uselessly.
"My name is Arucard now, old friend." The elder vampire said softly.
"Names mean nothing." Replied Hallow and they shared a smile, a secret smile as if the plain words were some sort of inside joke.
"No," agreed Arucard. "They don't."
"Listen to me, my king. Loki has made a pact with something far worse than werewolves. You must leave at once and return only when you have an army. The pure evil of his new allies has shrouded the castle in eternal night. When the sun rises in the morning you'll see what I mean, but now you must go." Said Hallow quickly.
"No. I'll not leave you behind."
"Master!" cried Seras holding the new would on her shoulder. Arucard spun to face a creature he had hoped to never see again. A greater demon had Katrina in one hand and a sword with Seras' blood on it in the other. Galina lay against the wall, the sawed off shotgun inches from her fingers. She was out cold.
Arucard roared with rage and hellhounds erupted from his body, he extended his arm and snatched up the shotgun, pumped in a round and fired the same instant the hounds struck. The beast roared and flung Katrina's limp body at him. He caught her and placed her gently on the ground at his feet. She winced but pulled out her throwing knives.
Seras rushed to Galina's side and found that the older vampire had saved her Cassul and stuck it back in the holster. She dug in the pouches attached to her belt and pulled Galina's last Browning with two extra clips.
She spun and began firing, two handed at the demon that was waving around the sword with deadly accuracy. Katrina had hit all the major organs and joints she could think of with her knives and was struggling to keep pulling her arm back. Arucard's familiars were pulling off chunks of meat and the rounds from the shotgun and the Browning were taking their tool. Still the demon didn't waver. It never stopped or even flinched, it's body was being reduces to scraps but it hardly blinked.
Suddenly, a voice that none of them recognized save Hallow echoed through the room.
"Well, look what we have here. Mikado the mighty king returning from slavery to try and take my kingdom from me. Tisk tisk, slave. You might think you can win Mikado, but you're wrong. You're nothing now, and I've got the power. I'm the King of the Night and you're just a washed up no body. Why don't you run home to your master little dog? You'll never be anything but yesterday's news." The voice sneered.
The demon waved its massive hand and the vampires nearly choked on the magic. The power slammed into them and then crawled along inside their skin like slow moving lava. Light erupted all around them and they screamed. The light over took them and then faded into the darkness.
*
When Arucard awoke, he was laying on his back in the forest outside the castle. The sun was at its peak in the sky but just as Hallow had said, the castle was covered with night. Seras, Katrina and Galina were also there, all of them still deeply unconscious.
Blood trickled from various wounds on the two youngest, but Galina seemed fine. Arucard sighed; Isabella and all the manticors were missing.
As if summoned by his thoughts Isabella came through he trees, looking exhausted but unhurt. Her bats once again hung from her shoulders, but only two of the manticors had made it out alive. Ranja and his mate Ahmiyn.
"Damnit." Said Arucard as he stood. He watched as the others began to wake up, silently glaring at the castle. If Loki had somehow forged a pact with demons, then they were screwed. The only thing that had let him kill the first two demons he'd come across had been the Blade to Call All Darkness and last he saw, it had been destroyed with the last demon he'd killed. Hadn't it? He didn't know, but none of them could find it after that so they assumed it had been destroyed. It hadn't contacted Seras in a good eighty years.
Taking back his kingdom was going to be a lot harder than he originally thought it would be. He also had to get Hallow out of there. Loki would pay for what he'd done; he'd pay most dearly.
End part 6