Part Two
- Vinegar
Everything begins with an end.
Alucard felt his strength returning with each mouthful of blood he took from Integral. His hands, the ten of them, roamed on her trembling body; she was warm and pliable, soft and willing. Nude except for the gloves; he did not touch them. Yet he could not enjoy himself fully.
She moaned aloud, calling his name through breathy pants.
He tore her flesh further in pure ecstasy. Yet he could not reach the peak of his passion.
Her blood was a cocoon that shielded Alucard from Anderson's unsuccessful attempts to tear them apart. His bayonets shattered to the contact, his thorns withered and died, his hands burnt to touch their skin. The Monster of God growled, enraged, to his amusement. Above, the sun was dying before it could rise again.
Integral's heart stopped beating, her body turned cold and her spirit engulfed his body. He shuddered as he cradled her corpse close to him, soothed her soul with the promise of reborn as soon he could feed from others. She was afraid in the darkness and Alucard felt himself more powerful than ever.
But why did her blood taste so sour in his mouth? He ignored the impression and focused on his breathless Nemesis who expected him to stand.
"Do you want to fight me now, Anderson?" Alucard taunted, rising after gently laying Integral down. He wielded her sword firmly, the blade shone despite light having nearly disappeared from the sky. "Do you want to match the strength? Your God is gone from this city, you are powerless. You have failed."
Anderson snorted, grinning madly. "Father of Lies, I shan't listen to your speech. It is you who are the failure, Midian."
"That nail has numbed your mind, Judas… or should I call you Jesus Bloody Christ?" Alucard laughed, leaping to attack him, taking the initiative for the first time. Anderson tried to block his sword with his bayonets but they were destroyed with the impact. "Where is your God now, Messiah? He died by my hand, my triumph," he mocked, slicing his priestly collar with the sharp edge.
Anderson's features darkened and pressed himself on the blade. "No, monster, it was her choice. It is her victory not yours. Those are her life and sword you are wielding. You are a failure."
Alucard's sharp teeth bit down his bottom lip in fury. He would not stand to this lie. He had won! He had Integral! He had his Beloved Enemy in disadvantage! He had his lands, castle and servants! He would have laughed at his stupidity but he was mirthless, he hated Anderson for saying those words. He loathed him for becoming a monster and forsaking his complete triumph.
He would make him pay.
"You haven't realized your defeat, have you? You have thorns inside your head not over it," Alucard challenged, pushing Anderson to a side. A hellhound stepped over him, pawing his chest and growling fearsomely. It was guarding the former priest to stay down until he finished his work. "You wanted to play Messiah, Anderson? You will continue to this role to the end." His dog bit off the cross from around his neck and ate it. "You already carried a cross all your life, the miniscule weight of your sins. I'll make you one that fits you better."
His eyes swirled in spite and malice as he turned to the impaled Catholic Crusaders. He built a cross of made of molten silver, flesh and hair. He tore down limbs and sewed them together seamlessly, plunged the metal to add resistance in order to contain his enemy's weight. Alucard gave instructions for the hellhound to shift his angle so the Paladin could observe when he chopped Maxwell's hands and ate the flesh to the white bone, he shaped three 'nails' out of them.
"Will you ask your Father about your bleak fate? Forgive the sins of everyone when you are the biggest sinner?" Alucard interrogated, picking up his useless bible writ before approaching Anderson from behind.
Anderson just smiled benignly as response, "Failure."
Snarling, he lashed out with the writ. It hit the cloth twice, the third time it reached the flesh. Alucard kept with the scourging until he bled, it lasted until the thorns where soaked in red. He bent to taste his blood, it was bitter to his mouth.
"One of your Draculinas awoke, Failure," Anderson informed him. Alucard looked up and saw Seras Victoria, wrapped in Integral's blue coat and stumbling in their direction with a wide-eyed expression.
"M-Master?" she asked, hesitantly glancing at Integral's body.
"Keep her warm, Seras Victoria, my Countess will awake when I am over."
She shot Anderson a pitiful look before complying. The war had been a good influence for she did not longer protested in her role nor let compassion get the best of her.
"Where were we, Messiah?" Alucard asked, hauntingly.
"Does your 'Countess' approve this sacrilege?"
Alucard's eyes glowed and picked him up roughly, dragging Anderson to where the flesh crafted Cross stood. He lifted him with two arms while his hair tangled in his wrists like a net to spread his arms wide. The Paladin kicked fruitlessly, his strength was of an ant compared to his. He dismissed the bother by tidying Anderson's feet with a strand of his own mane.
"She chose my side over yours! Damnation over holiness! The last human!" Alucard howled, licking his fangs. "You chose too, Anderson. You wanted to be Christ! So be it! Drown yourself in the pain and self pity!" He plunged the nails, two on Anderson's palms and the other between his bound feet.
"I chose to take away your victory!" Anderson snapped, choking with his own blood, he spat it out on Alucard's face.
"Pray, Beloved Enemy, if you can remember the passages of your Bible… Ask your God aid in the dark times," Alucard proposed, unbothered by the smelly blood on his cheek. His mouth slipped into a smirk when realization dawned on Anderson's features. "You cannot pray, you don't remember the hollow worship words any longer. You sacrificed that way to communicate with God for a direct link… if He doesn't respond, it's because He's dead."
Anderson did not reply, his mouth twitched and trembled slightly.
"Your pain will not ease your people's. Your choice condemned them with you," Alucard informed him darkly. "The assassins are just sacrificial lambs." He turned to spot the living Iscariots, lying across the battlefield. Some were crawling on the ground while others could not move for they had difficulties breathing. "They were so eager to follow you to hell without realizing hell and its master is right here in earth."
"Don't dare, Black Devil! Stop!"
He did not stop; Anderson's desperation encouraged him. Integral agitated inside of him but he did not pause either, she would be freed when he tasted the first life to fuel his. Alucard lunged to the frightened male Iscariots, they did not have a chance to scream while he sucked them dry, soul and blood belonged to him. They would not battle against the legions of hell anymore; they would be the troops of Hades.
You failed, come to me.
"Motherfucker! Monster! Come and fight us!"
Alucard's eyes focused on the nun beneath him. She was Asian with long, messy black hair that covered her eyes and was handicapped of a leg. She tried futilely to stand with her sword as support.
"Fight what, Sister? You and your partner have nothing left to fight about," Alucard told them amused.
"W-we w-will meet our ends with honour," the shorthaired one vowed.
He finished with their team-mates before bringing the two living women to Anderson's feet. He was tempted to defile them to watch his enemy in all his impotence but he refrained, not for him but for them. As much he hated them, Alucard respected their strength, they were what Anderson could not be. If only he had fought them instead. Blood would be sweet instead of sour.
"Heinkel! Yumie!" Anderson writhed on the cross, struggling on the nails. "What will you do! Your quarrel is with me, leave them out."
"They chose this, Paladin as did you. You failed. They won."
Alucard pulled out his Jackal. He only had two bullets left and fired them, one to each nun in their chest. They barely shrieked or complained when they died, their expressions were gloating, contented, fulfilled. He knelt over then, lapping the blood of their wounds.
"They would never serve in your army."
Their souls are in another Hell now, Paladin, Alucard committed as he kept gathering blood, They won't be forced to stay and see this outcome. Do you envy them? You are such utter failure.
Anderson's face twisted in wrath. Alucard stood and turned around, taking steps forward, towards the new era Messiah.
How does it taste? The failure you wanted to attribute to me? You missed your chance to fight hell forever! For what? I am still here, you are hanging there in an exhibition, you failed, and you brought yourself this failure.
He levitated to face Anderson. There was sorrow and despair behind his disgust and ire.
Is your throat dry to remain so silent? he asked, lifting his chin roughly. You are a Monster of God, blood is wine and wine is blood. Allow me to quench your thirst, Messiah, Alucard purred playfully as he forced Anderson's lips apart with his mouth. He fed him with the blood he had taken of Heinkel and Yumi, maintaining the kiss until he swallowed loudly. The sight of his green eyes so big and soulful, bearing a shattered expression was so beautiful. He broke contact and whispered:
"How does the vinegar taste for you?" He twisted the lance deep into his right side.
"Y-You-" Anderson trembled, his face as red as the blood.
"Leave him be, Count."
Integral's voice brought Alucard down the floor once more. She was no longer nude, Seras had returned the coat and that covered her body. Her eyes were still blue but with a predatory hunger that marked her as Midian.
She walked to their direction, forsaking Seras behind. Her pace was remarkably balanced by such young, bloodless vampire. Her long hair replaced the lost light of the dead sun. She stopped next to him, smearing her gloved finger on Anderson's blood coming out his feet.
"If he's a true Messiah he'll stay on the Cross to wait for us, to meet his hour," Integral proposed, tasting her bloodied digit. "If he leaves his post, he's just one of us."
"As you wish, Countess," Alucard bowed, gesturing to Seras to come with them. "Then we'll hunt and return to see what he chose." He took Integral's arm and led the Draculinas to new hunting grounds.
He had what he had always wanted. A beaten enemy, the woman he had thirstily longed for, his domains and servant. He was victorious! Even so Alucard secretly wondered why the blood tasted like vinegar.
Edited by StrangeSingaporean .