"Hellsing One, this is Hellsing Two, we have confirmation. Targets have been sighted."

Colonel William Walter Jacobs III, "Hellsing One" or "Colonel Jacobs" to his subordinates, "that bloody cocker" to his enemies (and a few of his subordinates,) was not pleased to be commanding another vampire. Alucard was quite enough of a pain in the arse; he never followed orders, showed up when he felt like it and left holes in buildings that were hell for the cleanup crews to cover over before the civilians were allowed back in to the battle zones he left behind.

And this vampire was supposedly some Section XIII legendary monster hunter? That made about as much sense as the idea of Sir Olivia as a page three girl.

Sir Olivia had told him to send the new vampire in solo and observe. His orders were to stay out of the fight entirely unless civilians were directly threatened. Otherwise, he was not to interfere unless this Anderson got himself killed. Then it would be a standard mop-up detail.

"Right. Anderson, the vampires have been spotted here." He pointed to the tactical map. "There are three females. They have not been making ghouls. If they stay true to form with similar recent activities, any human these three have killed has been destroyed with fire and is beyond any chance of rising.

"The pattern of behavior we have seen in recent activities indicates that they will likely be in possession of stolen antiquities. It is your assignment to silence the vampires and retrieve the stolen articles. We don't have any information on what they've stolen tonight. The Winston mansion was burned to the ground after they left, another signature move of this group's.

"In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen.

"Now show us what you've got, Anderson."

ooo

On the hunt at last. Alex was feeling much better than he had since this nightmare had begun back in his church.

He reached out to feel the vampires he was hunting. There wasn't a vampire in existence that could hide from him when they were this close. They'd need a few miles' distance before he'd have any difficulty pinpointing their exact locations. The three were just ahead, moving quickly away from where they'd first been sighted.

He ran through the streets. Even in his prime, he had not been this fast or this silent. It was a godlike high. He closed on his quarry quickly.

He spotted the women up ahead. They bore no similarity to each other, being of different heights, builds and skin color. The only unifying factor was that all three were clad in red. He was able to destroy one with several thrown bayonets before they were aware of him. He hit the other two, but they were not killing blows.

The smaller of the two pushed her companion onward, "Go on! I'll hold him." She turned and blocked Alex's progress.

"You will die here." In her hands, two swords appeared almost magically. If Alex couldn't make the same magic, he might have been impressed. Her swords were unusual. The blades were somewhat leaf-shaped and graceful. She clearly knew how to hold them.

Alex's hands sprouted blades like grass between his knuckles. He threw six bayonets at her. She dodged, and those she could not dodge, she swept aside with her swords.

Introductions made, he charged in with his two swords. The clash of metal filled the alleyway as inhuman speed met inhuman speed.

In his human days they would have been well matched. However, undeath had brought with it even greater strength and speed. He clearly had her on the defensive and found himself enjoying himself. He struck past her swords, drawing blood from her shoulder and arm. After one such attack, she got through his guard and he was surprised by the line of heat her sword drew across his side. It did not feel like the burn of silver, but actual heat, as though her sword were fresh from the forge.

He retaliated with a brutal sword thrust that caught just above the hip. She grunted, but did not give. She pushed forward on his sword and surprised him with a vicious head butt. The force of her blow pushed him away from her and jerked the sword from her flesh.

He could feel the other one drawing away. If he didn't finish this soon, she would be out of easy tracking range and he risked losing her. He threw more blades and took advantage of his opponent's attention on the smaller bayonets to close on her with his swords again. With one last rush, he was able to pierce her heart and remove her head. He bent to sweep his bayonets up as she turned to dust and he hurried on in pursuit of the last vampire.

As he ran, he took stock. He made a mental note to retrieve the weapons that must still be back at the site of the first fight. The wound on his side wasn't hurting, but it didn't feel right. He didn't have time to examine it. It could wait.

Her footsteps were loud ahead of him. She was moving faster alone than she had been with her companions. His long legs brought him within sight of her and he threw another blade. It caught her shoulder and she dropped something she was carrying.

She hesitated, clearly torn between escaping and retrieving whatever it was she had dropped. Alex used her moment of weakness to throw more knives at her. She dodged one, but was struck in the chest by two more. She pulled them out with a hiss of anger or pain and threw them aside. It was clearly too late for her to make her escape. She took a defensive stance and watched him as he neared.

He didn't see any weapons. Alex wondered if she was going to try to fight him bare handed. He knew better than to think that an unarmed vampire was helpless, but he didn't understand why she would give him the upper hand in this manner.

He advanced on her cautiously. "Ye can't be out killing humans like this, lass. I'm here to send ye to yer rest."

"I kill only those who deserve it. Something you seem to know nothing of, kinslayer." Her voice was low and filled with loathing.

He slashed at her, but she slapped the blade aside as though it were a toy rather than a deadly sharp weapon.

"Traitor." He struck again and again she avoided it.

"Heretic." She spat at him and he began to lose his grip on his temper. She was toying with him as though his blades were meaningless to her.

"Abomination." The last was hissed and struck him with a physical force. She's playing some sort of mind tricks on me.

He rushed her and she dodged. Everywhere he struck, she knew in advance, and was gone a hairsbreadth faster than he could move. He disengaged and they stared warily at each other again. Alex's mind was racing for a way to get her out of his head and get past her speed.

He watched as a cruel smile played across her face. "Judas Priest, he calls you. Betrayer. Apostate. Beast!"

"Aye, these things are all true. I can't deny them." He reached into the place his magic awaited. "But when this night is over, I'll still be walking this earth and ye won't." He hit her with everything he had. She was engulfed in a wave of black pages that swirled around her, cutting her cruelly. He took his advantage and stabbed through the pages and through her. She crumbled around his swords and was no more.

He pulled the small phone from his coat and spoke, "Targets have been silenced. Their cargo has been retrieved."

He picked up the fallen object. It was a jewelry display box. In it was an amulet in the shape of a stylized eye with lacquer flames in the pupil. The flames reminded him of the pain of the one woman's sword. He checked his wound. It had healed, but it had scarred like a burn would on a human.