First things first, the Legal part.

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Fool For Her

Chapter 6

I'm Back! I'd like to apologize to everyone for not updating in forever. Over the past few months I've had some serious changes that have kept me from sitting down and really writing. I've been able to read and review some stories, I will never not review stories, but my own story got pushed to the back burner in my life. I'm not making excuses, I'm just letting you all know why I was gone for so long. You're reviews have been very inspiring so I feel I owe you all that much. Currently things are still hectic but they are slowing down, and so over the weekend I was finally able to take some time out to sit down, and write. I hope you all enjoy it. If you recall I mentioned that another vampire hunting badass would make an appearance in this fic at some point, this is it. There's even another one I have planned for the next chapter, but one thing at a time. So withought further ado………

Spike was barely holding on for dear life in the alleyway. The last time he remembered being pummeled so bad was during his torture session with glory. He tried to block but it didn't seem to make much of a difference with the way Michael hit, and the few punches and kicks spike was able to get in were seamlessly shrugged off. Spike didn't know what the bleeding hell this thing was, but he knew for sure that his normal street fight tactics were not going to work. Spike tried quickly to think of a strategy but it proved difficult to do so when being throw over head into a concrete wall. Spike lay stunned on the ground for a few moments and Michael went in for the kill.

Spike knew he didn't have long so as he laid face down on the ground he glanced up and saw a long metal rod. As Michael charged Spike quickly sprang to his feet, grabbed the rod and shoved it forward like a pole arm. It pierced Michael's abdomen and the hybrid roared in pain and surprise, and for a moment spike smiled. That smile faded rather quickly when Michael walked forward, the rod was pushed further through until he was able to grab Spike and toss him yet again.

As he landed Spike saw Michael remove the metal rod and charge him with it. He braced himself for the inevitable in realization that he was not in a condition to dodge. The metal bar pierced his chest cavity and he howled in pain as the rod was impaled both through him and the wall behind him. Most humans or vampires at this point would be thinking, "Dear go, I've got to get out of here!" The only thing occupying Spike's mind as the long piece of metal was sticking through his back, just shy of his spinal column, was /"He ruined my soding coat!"/

"BLOODY BASTARD!" Spike screamed, the blood flying from his mouth. Spike gave Michael a knee to the stomach where he had shoved the rod through earlier and Michael keeled over in pain with a tremendous roar.

The vampire took his chance and quickly ripped the rod out of his chest with a gasp and swung it downward like a baseball bat on to the back of Michaels neck. Michael fell to the ground stunned, but quickly recovered and delivered a powerful uppercut which knocked Spike a few feet into the air. He landed onto the concrete ground and looked up to see Michael standing over him holding the metal pole over head with the clear intention of driving it straight down.

Then, just before he moved there was a loud bang and a brief flash on the handle of the rod where a bullet had ricocheted. Michael dropped the weapon and Spike managed to lean up enough to see Selene across the alley holding one of her pistols.

"WOULD BOTH OF YOU, PLEASE, CALM THE HELL DOWN!"

Spike gave an audible exhale whilst Michael gave a small gasp and looked at her with hurt eyes. Selene had never shot at him before.

"Michael, please change back and listen to what we have to say. William if you'd be kind enough to collect yourself and sit up."

To this Spike raised his hand and gave a rather ungentlemanly gesture(which, luckily, Michael didn't see), before pulling himself to a sitting position and rising to his feet.

By the time Spike had managed to stand Selene was already standing beside them and Michael had transformed back to his human guise. He glanced at Spike with red in his eyes and said,

"Selene. What's going on?" Selene took a breath and prepared to speak.

Then all hell broke loose. Suddenly there was a loud rumbling of nearby automatic fire and the three ducked instantly as bullets passed over head. They sprinted to the side of the alley into a small niche and caught a glimpse of at least three figures at the end of the alleyway firing at them. The group of three leaned against a wall and found a relatively safe position from the gunfire.

"GOOD GOD, WHEN WILL IT END!" Spike shouted over the loud cacophony of their attackers.

"HEADS UP!" Michael shouted. And sure enough the other too glanced up and saw that on the opposite building a good three more had taken position. Selene tossed two of her pistols to Michael and Spike and the six fired simultaneously. Spike was the first to feel a bullet pass through his shoulder and Selene the second through her side. Odly enough there was not the stinging sensation and death that accompanied UV rounds, they felt like ordinary lead? Curious. After a quick mess the three attackers from above dropped to the ground and it was clear from there attire they were not deathdealers, or even vampires but ordinary street clothed humans it seemed. Although the last had slightly blue skin so they were still more than they appeared. With the immediate threat gone Michael said,

"Keep the others distracted, I'll take care of them." Selene nodded and Spike snorted,

"And how do you propose to do that mate, your not exactly bullet proof I see." Michael ignored this and leapt straight up, several stories up to reach the top. Spike just stared, "But he can leap tall buildings in a single bound I see." Even he could only jump two stories at the most. Spike caught himself and proceeded firing around the corner with Selene.

From the rooftops Michael glanced over the side to see that they had missed two more of their assailants, making a total of five enemies, all apparently mortal in ragged clothes. Michael bent his hind legs and leapt down, straight behind the attackers. Oblivious to the hybrid, the first in the center suffered a broken neck while the second one was punched through the chest. The other three turned and fired at him but he simply punched another in the face crushing his skull. One tried to run and Michael pounced on him, probably severing his spine. Michael turned and saw that the other one had taken off running and had already sprinted into another alley. Whilst a human might have let it go Michael was a predator and he took off after it before even checking on Selene or her friend. Had he remembered the control the Monks in Tibet had taught him he might have thought better of it, but he still had much to learn. So with the speed of a cheetah he practically soared after the last assassin. The human had an extremely large running start, but his scent was fresh, and Michael craved blood.

Selene and Spike both took a look around the corner to find the remains of their attackers strewn about near the end of the alleyway. In disgust they both surveyed the remains. Selene looked around,

"Michael?" she spoke, and received no response. She tried again in vain.

"He must've chased off after another one." Spike suggested. Selene nodded. "Your right he'll probably be back soon."

"Yeah…" Spike replied gazing at the corpses at their feat. He cleared his throat. It accured to him that it might be best to take advantage of the situation and run like hell. It occurred to him that he might be able to reach the airport before Michael got back, but the remembered how fast Michael was and thought better of it, if he was going to see that bugger again he sure as hell was going to make sure Selene was in the room at all times. Suddenly Spike caught a scent he remembered all to well and turned to the opposite end of the alleyway. A short red haired man in casual clothing came running towards them.

"Wolf boy? What are you doing here?" Oz arrived in front of them, and it seemed despite his pace he still had plenty of breath.

"I came as soon as I could, but judging by that," he indicated the bodies, "I came too late. I got a lead on that Fyarl demon from earlier." This caught Selene's attention who was busy examining one of the automatic pistols the men where carrying.

"So talk." Spike said with post battle angst. Oz started,

"A little while after you left the club I spotted a demon in the crowd. Not uncommon but I still check them out when they come in. So after the band was done playing I started up a conversation. He was pretty cool with the fact I knew he was a demon, and he talked pretty openly. The kicker was when I saw this," Oz pulled something from his pocket and held it up for the two Vampires to see. Spike grasped the small ring and examined it more closely. All he could think was, why me?

"Bugger that!" he declared. Selene gave a sigh as well,

"The Order of Teraka, wonderful." Spike glanced at the bodies and knelt down to one to confirm his suspicions,

"We have a winner." He stated as he checked the left hand to find a matching ring on the finger.

"So what happened with this demon?" Selene asked? Oz continued,

"Turns out he was a new recruit so he revealed his target pretty quick. He said that his target was some kind of mutated werewolf. And they'd sent out a Fyarl earlier." Selene's eyes widened,

"Michael!" Spike snarled in understanding.

"The buggers probably knew you were here for days. They were just waiting for your pup to come home. The damn Fyarl was just supposed to take us out of the equation long enough for them to get the drop on him. Not like it would have done much good a coure." Spike made this last comment in observation of the destruction he'd caused.

"But the Fyarl wasn't part of the order, he didn't have a ring." Selene said. Spike nodded,

"He wasn't, but his Tamer probably is." Suddenly all the pieces fell into place.

"There's more." Oz commented.

"What more?" Selene asked.

"Apparently after you took care of the Fyarl they got knew orders. Shoot and run."

"A trap!" Selene realized.

"Run where?" Spike asked? Oz shook his head,

"He just said they were supposed to run. Didn't matter where."

"Great, how the bleeding hell did you get all this information?" Spike asked. Oz just shook his and replied,

"Some demons just can't hold their liquor. He'll wake up tomorrow without a clue where he is. Set me back a few but it beats just buying the information." Spike cursed the damn situation.

"What now. The scents to cold, I can't find them now." To this Oz lifted his nostrils to the sky and sniffed quietly.

"I can." They took off quickly in the direction Michael had gone.

Michael was impressed with his quarry. They were almost as fast as he was. But it was clear from the perspiration in the air that this creature was running on adrenaline and it wouldn't be long. He knew the technical term was "demon", but he couldn't bring himself to use it. He could accept there were Vampires, he could accept there were Werewolves, and he could even except that he was a hybrid between the two, but he could not accept that the forces of hell actually walked the earth, although in time he would realize this was far too general of a way to think.

Back to the present however, his prey had just finally run out of stamina and had decided to take refuge in an old where house. Michael took to the rooftop. There was a glass window on the top. He watched as his prey looked around to check and make sure no one had entered and at the perfect moment Michael broke through the glass and landed behind the man. He was corpulent, balding with a mustache, un kept jeans and coat, and a single horn coming out of his forehead. The "demon" looked at Michael with terror and backed away slowly. Michael controlled the urge to kill and asked,
"Why did you attack us." The man's lips quivered and spoke,

"I'm part of an assassination guild, we were hired-" Michael cut him off,

"By who?" The man continued,

"We don't know. Only the motherhouse has that information. We just take the mission." Michael growled and the man began to urinate.

"You'd better have more than that!" The man suddenly screamed,

"Don't kill me! I can tell you where the mother house is. You can work it out with them!"

"WHERE!" The man began to speak again but suddenly there was a large crunch and he simply stared forward. After a moment he looked down in surprise to see a long arm protruding through his chest holding his green hued heart still beating. His species could live even with their heart removed, until there heart was destroyed. As if in answer to this, the hand lifted itself upward until he was looking straight at his heart…and squeezed. The heart burst like a melon and he disintegrated almost instantly. The hand retreated back to the shadows, surprisingly free of any gore or goo.

"Who the hell is there!" Michael shouted, he had just lost his information and he was very, very pissed off. Even the calming techniques of Tibet were not going to help this son of a bitch now. He had almost lost Selene tonight, perhaps in more ways than one and he was tired and hurt.

There was a laugh, a chilling laugh. Suddenly Michael's anger dissipated. There was only that deep, cold, chilling laugh. Which probably wasn't the best way to describe it, but words couldn't begin to define how intimidating it sounded.

Then, from the shadows a figure appeared. Michael hadn't realized it until now but with his enhanced eyesight and other senses he should have been able to see the figure before now, but he hadn't! Why?

In any case the figure was now in plain view and Michael found himself wishing that he himself wasn't. The figure was over six feet tall, taller than Michael. The first thing Michael noticed was his unique attire. A long Duster coat fit his lean form tightly and fell down to his ankles with a large cowboy like hat atop his head. That was strange enough, but even more strange was the fact that both these items he adorned were blood red in color. Underneath the coat he where a seemingly well tailored black suit with an old red tie, on his hands he wore white velvet gloves, and on his feet he wore large black leather ridding boots. His hair was shoulder length, jet black, and very unruly as it hung in different looks across his face all around. His face was long, pointed, and very pale. His noise was a pointed hook, and his eyes were covered in orange tinted spectacles. Michael supposed that he could have been a decent looking individual, if not for that smile. The mouth of the man in red was open, with teeth clenched in the most disgusting and scary smile Michael had ever seen. Not just because of the large canines he sported which identified him as a vampire, but just the entire shape. His teeth were perfect, but that only seemed to add to the horror of it.

Suddenly the mouth closed and the individual frowned. He lifted one of his gloved hands to his spectacles and tipped them down slightly.

"Oh my god…" Michael whispered when he saw the man's eyes. Selene's Vampiric eyes where certainly creepy, but they were also strangely seductive in there own way. There was none of that in the two crazy red orbs that stared at him like twin red suns waiting to explode. They screamed one thing, death. Mercifully, the glasses where tipped back up to hide the man's eyes. Michael sighed for a moment, before the creature spoke.

"GARBAGE." It declared. Oh god that voice. Michael's immortal heart stopped momentarily when he heard the voice. It was as though the devil himself had just spoken. Michael realized in that moment that yes, the dark forces did indeed walk the earth. Much to Michaels dismay the thing spoke again, continually starring at him.

"No. You are lower than the garbage I hunt everyday. You are lower than pond scum, in all my years I have never seen something as vile or revolting as you!" Michael tried desperately, but all the teachings he had learned where forgotten once again. For the first time he could remember since he was bitten he was truly afraid. He had of course been scared since that fateful night but there were three sets of instincts within him now, three sets of desires and fears, the vampire, the wolf, and the man. But now as he stared at the red clad devil before him all three of sides of his instincts were scared beyond words. The vampire was scarred and intimidated, almost as if it had met something higher up on the food chain, as though a house cat had discovered a mountain lion. The Wolf in him was afraid as though it had met a natural predator. And the human in him was just plain out terrified at what stood before him. It continued speaking.

"As though the Zyveran scum's blood isn't weak enough, they actually believe they can increase their strength by diluting it even further! And with dog blood no less! You are the most pathetic excuse of a walking immortal that has or ever will be! There is nothing on this earth that would bring me more pleasure than to gut you where you stand and watch you writhe in agony on a pike!" Michael swallowed involuntarily. Then the thing took a step forward. And Michael took an involuntary step back.

"You may not realize it. But you are the luckiest scum on this planet tonight. No harm can come to you, as my master has declared." Now that that had been said Michael finally had the courage to say,

"Oh god, what are you?" The creature smiled once again and said.

"You're lucky I even acknowledge what you say scum. My name is Alucard. I am a Vampire, a true Nosferatu. Unlike those blue eyed Zyveran posers. I can crush you with a thought if I desire it, and believe me, I do. More than anything, but as I said, my master has given me my orders." With this the creature moved with lightning speed that far surpassed Michaels and hoisted him up by the throat. Michael found himself unable to even struggle as the darkness crept in and his vision faded.

"I promise you scum," Alucards voice continued, "If you survive the ordeal that follows you then one day, someday, I will hunt you down like the dog you masquerade as, rip your lungs out through your arm pits and feed them too you long before I grant you your death." Then the world went black.

Selene, Spike, and Oz arrived moments later. Oz was the first to speak.

"The scent ends here. I don't know about you guys but…it's not like a smell anything but, I feel something evil came through here." The other two nodded, they didn't know what could possibly leave such a dark trail behind, but it was like nothing they had ever felt before.

"Here doggy, come to mommy and daddy!" Spike yelled, there was no answer but his own echo. "Well the tears it, he's definitely not here." Selene looked at Oz her head,

"If the scent ends here then where is Michael?" Oz shook his head,

"I don't know. Something must have taken him." Spike cursed again,

"What, did they just fly away holding onto a six foot tall gorilla." Oz shook his head again,

"There isn't even a trail leaving this place. Michael was here, a demon…something else. But I think the demon died, disintegrated, and then Michael and whatever else was in her just vanished." Selene gave a sigh,

"Now what. We have to find him." Oz just shrugged.

"I suggest, we follow up our one lead." To this Spike was holding the ring he had looted from the Teraka assassin. Oz and Selene starred.

"You want to walk into the motherhouse of the guild of assassins and ask them who hired them to kill us!" Oz thought about it a moment and said,

"Bold…why not." The three looked at each other and took off. A thought occurred to Selene.

"Does anyone actually know where the Motherhouse is?" Spike nodded,

"I do."

"From when you hired them to kill Buffy?" Oz chimmed in. Selene looked with surprise at Spike. /"Bloody Wolf boy!"/ Spike thought.

"I thought you said you were in love with the Slayer?" Oz realized his mistake and said,

"They've kinda had a love-hate relationship over the years." Selene asked,

"But you love each other now William?" Spike looked over and nodded,

"Yes, well, I do, she does too she even said it…once. Well, more than that if you count Red's spell. And there's the robot-" Selene's eyebrow's shot up.

"Robot?" She asked. Spike kicked himself.

"You know, forget the last part."

"Happily." Spike kicked himself once again. Sometimes he missed being evil, at least then he actually got vacation time. And oh yeah coming back to the mother land was bloody brilliant. It was enough to make him want to brood!

Budapest

2004 A.D.

Integra Wingates Helsing stood at the drop point patiently, almost patiently, her long platinum hair framing her tanned straight face. Her clear round glasses hung suspended on her nose around her neon blue eyes. The suit she wore hid her voluptuous figure quite well. She truly was a beautiful woman, but she spent an enormous amount of time hiding that fact, as well as hating it. She glanced at her wrist watch, it was almost time. She looked out onto the streets of Budapest, the rain falling, never-ending and felt her nerves get to her. She was worried about Alucard. Certainly she was not worried in the sense that he would die or be hurt, as if he could be. And she most definitely could care less even if he did, he was a vampire through and through and meant absolutely nothing to her(or at least that's what she told herself). Nevertheless she had sent Alucard on an assignment he was most definitely not used too, capture and detain. Moreover she had sent him to capture something that would only fuel his undead hatred for impure vampires further than she could imagine. She had been very clear that Mr. Corvin was not too be harmed, but if anyone could twist her words to his own will, Alucard could.

Over the years she had actually come to understand how he thought to a degree, something which gave her nightmares, and it allowed her, to an extent, to anticipate his actions and behaviors to the point that she had at least some measure of personal control over him. She had no confusions about loyalty or trust though, Alucard would turn on her if he the ability too and she knew it. With that thought a cold dark presence filled the room behind her and she shut out her thoughts to keep him from peeking as he had a habit of doing. She didn't need to look behind her, she knew who it was. And she also knew he would not have returned unless he had succeeded in his mission.

"I've been waiting for a while Alucard." She said in her normal monotone.

"Forgive me my master, I did bring him, and he is relatively untouched."

/"Relatively?"/ At that she looked at the beaten body beneath her and gave Alucard an accusing glance.

"I did of course have to force him to come along, but I'm sure that most of the bruises came from the Teraka." Integra doubted that very much, but she couldn't prove it, and she had expected as much anyway. He was alive and stable, and that was enough.

"And the Zyvera woman accompanying him?"

"Was not present. Your ploy worked master. They will assume that it was a member of Teraka which the Zyvera hired and there will be no connection to us." Alucard said, his voice clearly revealing his dissatisfaction at not being able to kill anything.

"Good, ah here they come." Integra stated as three black vans arrived in the parking lot outside the designated building. Out of the vans two troops of black leather clad Vampires hoped out and waltzed straight towards the front door with automatic weapons in hand. Integra smiled, a rarity. If she should choose to have these vermin eliminated they could have brought there entire clan and all the military fire power they wished and it would have made no difference whatsoever. If anything it would have been more fun for Alucard. As they approached Alucard gave a small quite growl only Integra could hear. She glanced at the vampire and said,

"Be nice."

The head death dealer, a tall black man with scarring across his face stepped forward to see the impossible. The Hybrid they had been tracking down was lying on the ground, battered and bruised almost beyond recognition. He would heal of course back to perfect health, but how was this possible? He glanced up at the red clad individual, stunned at his height and felt a trickle of fear running down his spine. The red clad vampire smiled a horrible smile and said,

"Boo."

Slowly the man reached down and took hold of the hybrid and began dragging him outside with the help of two other death dealers. Another, more finely dressed Zyvera who did not appear at all a warrior stepped foreword and laid down a black case and said,

"His lordship Marcus thanks you for your services and hopes that this alliance between our clan and the Hellsing organi-" Integra cut him off.

"There is no such alliance and do not think otherwise." Integra opened the case and looked at the US dollars and Euros it was stuffed with and, satisfied, closed it and placed it back down.

"Inform your lord Marcus that what was done today was done out of necessity. In the future the Hellsing organization will not tolerate such dealings ever again. Do I make myself clear?" Alucard grinned.

"Crystal." The Zyvera man said. And with that they took off. In contrast to their slow walk to come inside, they almost sprinted out of the building.

Integra turned on her heel and walked back inside towards her hotel room.

"Do we now make deals with trash like them master?" Integra sighed.

"Alucard you know full well I despise it as much as you do. But the fact is that now that her Majesty no longer funds our organization we must seek outside funding." The Helsing family itself had a substantial amount of income and funds itself, but those funds were difficult to reach without attracting attention. Integra was a wanted individual, and even a slight withdrawal could send up flag and give away her position.

"Still master, what would your father say if he saw you like this." A flash of anger enveloped Integra, though she didn't show it. It was time to put him back into place.

"Would you prefer instead that we request assistance from the watchers?" Alucard lost his grin.

"Perhaps you remember the last time our organization had some slight financial trouble. There were terms I remember for the assistance. My family wouldn't kill you…remind me, what was the arrangement." Alucard quietly answered.

"I was bound and sealed in a basement for a minimum of two generations of the Helsing line." /"The bitch will pay for this humiliation later"/ Alucard thought.

"Good, I'm glad we're in agreement Alucard." She arrived at her room and took a seat at the small desk in her suite. "Trust me," She continued, "Those vermin have their's coming to them, you can be sure. Currently we cannot afford a full scale war with them, but very soon there so called "Coven" will be broken and then you may have all the fun you seek with them Alucard." The promise of a hunt was enough to water his mouth.

"Then if that is all I bid you goodnight my master." He made to leave.

"Just a moment Alucard, I have one more assignment for you." Alucard gritted his teeth, she had better be giving him something fun.

"Hunting?" She shook her head.

"No, delivery." Were it not for the control art restriction system which bound him in place Alucard would have gladly ripped off her head! The great Alucard reduced to capture and courier missions, it was far too much!

"As you wish, master." Even he could not control the clear anger that came through his voice.

"Oh calm down Alucard, you don't even know what it entails." Alucard didn't need to know, or so he thought. Integra handed him a paper and he glanced over it and saw the name of who he was delivering the information too, along with a picture. He grinned, a real grin.

"I forgive you for earlier, master." His voice was now its normal craziness.

"Thank you Alucard. But listen to me carefully. He is no longer a bottom feeder. He now holds a position of power. Power not even we can compare with…yet. I know you would like nothing more than to let loose but we cannot allow a conflict between us and that corporation. You may intimidate, inspire fear, gloat, whatever the hell you want. But as you already know you cannot kill him, and more importantly you cannot cause him any real harm that could be taken as an act of war. Do I make myself clear?"

"Of course, master."

"I mean it Alucard."

"As do I." With that Alucard's form shifted out of focus into a red light that faded out very quickly. He was gone.

Integra smiled again. All was going according to plan. If things continued as they were her organization would once again be something to be feared by the creatures that stalked the night, and an entire clan would sink to it's knees in a matter of days.

Los Angeles

2004 A.D.

Angel sat in his office at Wolfram and Hart with darkness all around him. Behind him, medieval weapons from all over the world were displayed. His desk was simply adorned with functional accessories with no truly personal items at all. The atmosphere was truly murky. This was his vacation. If Cordelia had still been alive she would have broken down the door and forced him to go out dancing or something. Cordelia, he smiled a moment. The truth was he needed this. He needed to brood, needed to dwell on the past, it was the only way he'd truly be redeemed. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't supposed to be. No one understood that. It was so tempting to just stop sometimes. Give up, let it go and enjoy life. Maybe that was why Spike didn't have to. His life had been a hellhole every since Sunnydale, there wasn't all that much to enjoy in his life really. Angel had even found himself brooding less and less. That was how low he'd really sunk. That was why he needed this vacation, to make up for time spent elsewhere. Suddenly in the center of the room a bright red light appeared. The light turned into a large pentagram in the middle of the floor.

/"Oh God no."/ Angel thought. His mouth dried out instantly. From the symbol a tall figure clad in red rose up and regarded Angel as man might regard an insect. The figure grinned an insane grin and said,

"Hello Angelus." Angel searched and found the words,

"Hello Alucard." Vacation time was over.