Part 2: A Matter of Survival
Seras' first thoughts were to back away; unfortunately such progress was impeded by the worktop and the wall.
Axel stepped fully into the shed. "Bitch, how dare you come here…You're so for it now. Sad things is; you wont be alive long enough to regret it."
He was by no means a short boy, and she felt inclined to call him a man, he stood just over average height and had a gymnast's muscle definition to go with it. His sartorial elegance consisted of a tight dark blue, long sleeved t-shirt and black jeans that were tucked into his knee high Dr. Marten boots. As accessories to this he also wore black leather wristbands and fingerless black leather gloves as well as a modest silver cross on a chain around his neck and a solid silver belt buckle in the shape of a deaths head skull. His sharp, cold eyes were light grey and piercing, making it seem as though he was looking into you rather than at you. His hair was dark brown and formed into short messy spikes while his right eye was almost completely obscured by a long spiky fringe that only hung on that side of his face. His right eye sparkled balefully behind the bars of hair like the gaze of a prisoner in a cell who has just seen the jailer who put them there. In his right hand he tightly gripped a crow bar; the same one Seras had seen in the CCTV image still shot.
"Why are you doing this?" Seras demanded, trying hard to keep her voice steady. She didn't know why her body wanted to shake; he was only a boy after all (no matter what her mind was registering). There was something about him, something profound and deep.
"Because it's what I do." he growled; 'growl' being the correct description for how he was speaking. He was also baring his teeth and his canines seemed distinctly longer than most peoples.
"Vampire?" she asked, staring.
"No!" he roared. "Just because I can hunt you it doesn't mean that I'm one of you, bitch!"
"Are you even human?" she said, voice trembling. She could feel something different about him.
"I'm as human as the next man." He was stepping gradually closer, the knuckles of his right hand showed bright white from gripping the metal shaft of the crow bar so tightly. "You damn leech! You dare come to my house, you invade my only sanctuary. Haven't you destroyed my life enough already?"
"But I-I've never even seen you before." Seras' hand snaked behind in search of her gun…but found it to be missing from its place. It must have slipped out of her waistband as she climbed the tree. She damned herself for not getting a shoulder holster.
"Oh, don't be so selfish. The world doesn't revolve around you y'know. It is your entire, pathetic, revolting excuse for a species that I have a problem with." He was now growing unbearably close. "Oh look, you're shaking."
He was now standing right against her, so close she could feel his breath on her face and feel his chest against her own as she breathed harshly through the fear of unknown origin. She had faced worse than he before so why did his mere presence chill her to the bone? He was almost obscenely close…and there was something wild in his eyes…something deep within those two frozen grey and black pools that reminded her of something or someone she knew…
She could stand it no longer and lashed out; swinging her fist straight at him.
With barely a grunt of effort and almost inhuman speed he caught her fist in his own and pushed her back over the work top, scattering paper and leaning over her.
"You can't be human!" she screeched as he dropped the crow bar and closed his other hand around her throat.
He was just too strong and too fast…there was surely no way that human blood could run through his veins.
"Oh, but I am." He told her, crushing her wind pipe with his fingers. "My GP agrees, so does my mum, the guy who delivered me when I was born, my dentist and everyone I know. Scary, isn't it?"
She tried to scream and he held on tighter. "Shut up, bitch! There's no need to disturb the neighbours; they're all good people, unlike you and your fucked up kind."
He whirled her around and threw her to the floor as he snatched up his crow bar again. "Get out, shit worm. I make a point not to spread my misery to innocent people and so I can't kill you here. I refuse to disturb the peace that this place represents. Leave, but don't think for a second that I won't come after you. I'll give you a head start just to make it fair. I won't have anyone say I'm an unfair guy. Now GO!"
Without a second hesitation she scrabbled on the floor, got to her feet and bolted out of the shed. She exited the garden the same way that she came; up and over the garage. She then retrieved her pistol form were it had dropped conveniently into a pile of leaf litter and ran from Axel's sanctuary.
She didn't stop until she had reached the 'pick up' point. She then fished around in an inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out two-way radio. "Hello, anyone?" she spoke into it after turning it on and leaning against a wall. "There's been…I mean…I've…oh hell…" she released the key button. She just didn't know what to say. How about 'I ballsed it up good and proper' she thought.
Then Walter's voice cut through the static – "Miss Victoria? Are you alright?"
"There's been a - a…a complication." She settled for.
"What?" he now had a worried tone.
"I was spotted. Axel caught me." She told him as she touched the sore red mark that ringed her throat.
"What! How could you let him see you; you've barely been out for two hours and most of that was the journey down there!"
"I know, I'm so sorry." It was then that she heard a metallic tinkling noise, not unlike the sound produced by dog-tags. "Oh no…I have to go…"
"Miss Vi-" was all that came through before she switched the radio off and jammed it back in her pocket.
The jingling was followed by a low animal growling, the kind of sound that might have made an ancient cave man go crawling home to mummy.
Seras drew her gun and thanked her own memory for making sure she had put a silencer on it for occasions such as this when she had to defend herself in a civilian area.
The growling grew closer and then a dark coated Siberian husky dog with its teeth bared stalked out of the shadows of a side street towards her; Mishka, Axel's faithful companion and partner in crime.
The husky wasn't alone; behind him his master emerged with a confident swagger in his step and a sly smile on his lips.
"I promised I'd come." He said. There was something strapped to his back but she couldn't make out what…although it did look suspiciously gun shaped. A leather strap of sorts had been tightened around the lower half of his right leg and thin shafts of metal with barbed tips had been wedged in. She also noticed that he was wearing the knuckle dusters she had spotted in the shed. Oh, and the crow bar was hooked on his belt.
"So is this how you go hunting?" she said, unsure whether to aim at Axel or Mishka.
"Yeah." He replied. "Now tell me this; why did you come here? If you came to kill me you would have done that by now and you wouldn't have run away, what with having that gun and all. Mishka; heel, sit." The dog automatically obeyed, went to his side and sat down. "Good boy. So, vampire; what's your answer?"
Seras just looked at him and sighted along her pistol at his shoulder.
"Well, that won't kill anyone." He said. "Try here." he placed one finger on his chest, over his heart.
"Well maybe I don't want to kill you." She said.
"Then why are you pointing a gun at me? The only purpose a weapon has is to kill. Don't you feel that sometimes it's the trigger pulling your finger rather than the other way around?"
"I never shoot for the sake of shooting."
"But you'll aim for the sake of aiming? Oh, come one. Either shoot me or put the damn thing down. Hurry up, I don't have all night y'know and neither do you. Make up your mind or lie down and die."
"I'm already dead." She mumbled and was then quite shocked to see that her hands, of their own accord, had tracked the gun to the boy's chest rather than his shoulder.
Axel began to walk forwards again. "Hang about…I think I've seen you before somewhere…"
Seras shook her head and tightened her finger on the trigger.
He shrugged. "Hell if I can remember. Who cares, in the end you're all the same. You all end up as shapeless piles of dust on the ground."
"I'll shoot, I swear I'll shoot." She warned.
"Does it look like I'm stopping you? Go ahead."
I cant do it…she said to herself…If he isn't lying, if he is just a human boy…I can't call this self defence because he hasn't actually done anything…I cant kill him for being threatening. What the hell am I going to do? Oh my god, he's right in front of me!
And indeed he was; the barrel of her pistol was flush with his chest.
"Well?" he asked, staring down into her red eyes.
She stared back. The trigger moved no further.
"What are you looking for?"
"Humanity." She told him as she searched the wasteland that his eyes represented. There was nothing in them…
"I meant in my shed." He corrected her, with a hint of annoyance.
"I'm not sure…I was just curious, I guess." She didn't move the gun, nor did she move herself.
"You're…not…a Freak." He said slowly and deliberately.
"No." she jabbed the gun against him. "I don't want to have to kill you."
"But I would very much like to kill you. So, it seems that this could work out really well; I get to rid the world of another chunk of scum while you offer no resistance. I like that idea."
"Well I don't!" she pushed forwards against him, knocking him briefly off balance and then, like a coward, she ran away; tearing down the alley as though the devil himself were after her.
She heard heavy steps from boots and tinkling dog tags following her.
Leave me alone. She thought desperately, as though some god somewhere might take pity on a poor vampire in distress. Please just leave me alone.
There was a click followed by a sound along the lines of smooth steel sliding against more smooth steel and then her left knee seemed to explode.
Screaming out in pain she fell to the ground, pistol dropping from her hand.
She had been shot but not with a bullet. Protruding from her shattered knee, piercing through the joint of her leg, was a silver-tipped, short, thin metal spear.
She tried to pull it out but the barbed tip prevented her from doing do and it wasn't helped by her own blood making the shaft too slick to grip.
Lying prone on the floor Axel found her. In his hands he held the gun-like weapon that she had seen on his back; a two and a half foot long spear gun more commonly used in fishing now put to the task of hunting vampires and ghouls.
Mishka trotted around and sat by her head while Axel stood over her, one foot either side of her midriff.
Looking up at him she saw him pull back the sling of the spear gun into the firing position with no effort at all and then slam another spear from the strap on his leg into place. "As I said before; I'm a reasonable guy." He reminded her as he pointed the spear gun at her heart. "So, is there anywhere in particular you want me to scatter your ashes? I'm feeling generous tonight so I'll even make sure Mishka doesn't piss on them."
Seras did the only thing she could think of; she kicked upwards with her good leg and was rewarded with a strained cry of "Gnnnmh!" from Axel as her boot connected with his crotch. The spear gun slipped from his fingers as he clutched at himself while his eyes screwed shut and he keeled over sideways.
Unfortunately her attack upon the self proclaimed vampire slayer caused his loyal Mishka to take action. The dog leapt towards her with a hellish bark of protective anger and it was all she could do to keep the teeth from tearing out her throat, let alone push the entire husky aside and attempt an escape.
While she struggled with the animal, Axel unfolded from his pain wracked foetal position and retrieved his weapon. "Mishka, heel!"
Mishka obeyed, leaving Seras alone to sit by his beloved master's side. "You are going to regret that big time." he said, aiming again.
He watched Seras' eyes widen, but not infear. A kind of joy washed over her face. He then felt cold metal being pressed against the back of his head.
Mishka suddenly went wild for it wasn't until he sensed the changed in his master that he noticed the red clad figure that had slinked invisibly out of the darkness.
The husky leapt at the creature that had dared to come so close to Axel.
"Mishka, no!" Axel roared. "Stop! Down!"
Mishka twisted in mid-air, landed and simply growled at the tall, pale humanoid that smelled of death.
"Master." Seras said happily.
"You seem to be in a spot of bother, Police Girl." Alucard grinned, and then he spoke to Axel. "You're lucky you called off your dog; I would have shot it."
"I know." Axel said. He had lowered his weapon but otherwise showed know signs of caring that there was a gun to his skull. His mouth twisted into a snarl. "So that's where I know you from. You're Hellsing's pet demons."
"Vampires, not demons." Alucard corrected him.
"Does it look like I care, blood breath?"
"I could smear your brains all over this alley."
"Go ahead; my psychology teacher says that I don't use them anyway."
"What are you, boy?" Alucard asked him the same question that Seras had in different words. He too could sense something out-of-the-ordinary about the teenager.
"Whatever I want to be." Axel replied.
"How bad is the damage, Police Girl?" Alucard enquired.
"I'll be fine as soon as I can get this bloody thing out of my knee." She informed him, sitting up. "What will you do with him?"
"Well…he's run off of his own accord, right? He left home alone, armed, and attacked you."
"What are you getting at, Master?"
"Say goodnight, boy." Alucard told him calmly and then hit him hard on the back of the head with the butt of the Casull.
Axel crumpled like a rag doll; knocked clean out, with a scalp wound now allowing blood to seep into his hair. Mishka leapt again and Alucard swiftly grabbed and dealt with him similarly.
"Master, what have you done?!"
"Rendered them temporarily immobile and incapable of further attacks." He looked at his gun and saw that some of the boy's blood had been spattered on the grip where he had hit him. Showing immense delight he traced the droplets of the deep red stain with the tip of his tongue and savoured the taste. His eyes suddenly flared in surprise.
"Master, what is it?"
The emotion was gone again. His face was carefully blank once more. "I'll explain later. For now, let's get you walking again."
He knelt down beside her and took hold of the spear in one gloved hand. "This is going to hurt." He said; just to let her know so she didn't blame him for what would come next and so she knew what to expect.
She nodded, closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.
Three seconds later a high pitched scream rang out through the streets as Alucard tore the short spear from the joint.
"Focus on healing." He demanded of her as she continued moaning and hugging her injured knee.
"Master, how did you know I was in trouble?" she asked as she blinked back tears.
"Walter was worried about your call, so he told me I should check on you."
"Oh…" she'd forgotten about the radio message.
Alucard grabbed Axel's limp form by the arm and slung him unceremoniously over on shoulder. "Bring the mutt and the weapons." He said and stalked off.
Hobbling a little, she did as her master asked.
----------
"What have you done?!" Integra demanded as she watched Alucard set about firmly securing the boy to a bed in one of the many spare rooms of the manor with chains, belts, ropes and anything of use that he could lay his hands on. Mishka was being locked in another room by Seras. "What is the meaning of this?"
Walter, hearing the shouts, burst in. "Oh my…but…you were specifically told not to touch him."
Alucard shrugged and tightened the last rope. "It was do or die. If I didn't do something, the Police Girl would die."
"Why the need to truss him up, Alucard; is there something that you are neglecting to tell us or are you being aberrantly cautious?"
"Former." He said and stood back as Seras returned from ensuring the husky was well contained.
"Well?" Integra crossed her arms. "You know how I hate to be kept waiting."
The trademark grin began to spread again. "How does this boy appear to you? What does he seem to be?"
"Alucard…" there was a hint of warning in the tone of her voice; she wasn't in the mood to be messed about.
"Please just humour me."
From the corner Seras hesitantly supplied some information. "Well…his teeth, strength and speed suggest vampire and so does this feeling that I get, but everything else about him just screams human."
"So your conclusion is…?" he urged her to make a decision.
"Vampire?" she suggested uncertainly.
"Wrong."
"So, he is human then." Integra said.
"Wrong as well." The grin as very smug now.
"How can he be neither, Master?"
"He isn't really." He explained. "He is, in fact, both."
Jaws dropped all round.
"Explain." Integra stepped over to the bed and took a good long look while Alucard continued.
"His blood is both human and vampire at the same time for he is one of a race of creatures that are almost nil in numbers; confused beings who suffer self conflict every moment of their existence. Outcasts amongst both humans and vampires, few survive into adulthood due to suicidal tendencies and health problems. Few are even born. In most cases the child is stillborn. Axel Jaeger is, in short-"
Integra interrupted and finished the sentence. "A dhampir."
To be continued……
Author's Note – As requested, the story continues. Thank you for the reviews everyone! Reviews make me happy and a happy author writes faster (hint hint). It helps me to know what people think of the things I do. If there is something you might like to see happen don't hesitate to let me know as I always end up being stuck for 'filler' points between main events. I hope you continue to read, enjoy and review. Thanks again!
Also; I am a fan of both Manga and Anime and I know that there are differences in the names. I use 'Alucard' and 'Integra' rather than 'Arucard' and 'Integral' purely because I think the former look/sound better, not because of any significance behind them.