1Chapter Nine: Training Days Part Two
Lui shivered uncontrollably. Not from the cold, but from the sheer exhaustion. He was so tired, that he couldn't sleep. His body had shut down, leaving his mind on. It wasn't a good situation.
He reviewed an average day he had gone through the last six months.
Wake up, and do sprinting exercises. 1 mile in 25 seconds. And he had to do that ten times.
Next, strength training. Lifting insanely heavy objects as many times as you could until your arms gave out or snapped.
Then it was live fire weapons training. They rotated weapons every so often, but mostly it was pistols, rifles, and swords. The first two he was pretty good at, and now he was getting pretty good with a sword to. This wasn't that bad.
Next, combat situation training. Again they rotated. You had to complete objectives in either forest, urban, or desert environments. And you had to do it alone, with a small squad, or using as many as twenty five people. And it was always something nearly impossible like rescuing hostages without using vampire powers, or just having to take out all of your opponents. This wasn't that bad either, but it was still hard work.
After that, they were given their half a pint of medical blood for that day. If they were lucky. Actually only about half the people got blood. Lui had actually went five days without any of the crimson liquid. And when he finally did get some, it was less than half a pint. Insufficient to say the least. And that he had to fight for with someone else.
Then came his favorite. The 'Hiking Trip'. Basically, it was a hundred mile jog with about three hundred pounds of extra weight on you. And you had to complete it. If you collapsed, you had to get yourself back up and keep going when you could. Of course, if you were there for too long Dimitri would come and get you, but the general idea was that if you fell, you got back up on your own.
Lui had the distinction of being the first to actually complete the exercise without completely collapsing. Granted, he had fallen down to his knees once or twice, but he hadn't passed out.
And then the real kicker. Depending on what week it was, you either got to sleep then, or you had to stay awake. Basically, it went in shifts of three days. For three days about half the vampires would stay awake the entire time. Then they would get three days of being able to sleep.
Not that you did much while your three days were up. Dimitri just watched as you were forced to sit in the sunlight in nothing but pants and a shirt without sleeves. And he was sadistic with all of this.
Oh, Lui almost forgot. Before the hundred mile run, you had to stand and let Dimitri shoot you with a blessed, silver, mercury ignition bullet. And he kept shooting every ten seconds until you went down. Not dead, since gut wounds didn't kill vampires, just fell to the ground in pain. However, there was motivation to try and suffer through as much as you could. Every time he shot you that you didn't fall, was five miles you didn't have to run. Now, getting shot in battle was one thing, adrenaline and the power surge you get cancels out most of the pain. But standing there and letting yourself get shot is a whole different story. The most anyone had gotten was five. And that was Sara.
Hmmm... ya that just about covered all of it. Dimitri was so far living up to the promise, his oath that seemed a solemn as Alucard's oath to serve the Hellsing family.
'I'm going to make your un-lives and un-living Hell'
Lui tried to mutter something, but his lips failed him. Nothing came out but senseless babble. He tried to get into a more comfortable position, but found it impossible.
Another thing, they weren't allowed to sleep in coffins except for one day a month. Other than that you got cold, hard floor. At least they had separate rooms.
Lui actually managed to say his favorite saying, "Thank God for small favors..."
Frustration. Anger. Hate. Dimitri seemed to live off the suffering of the Americans he was training. And for some reason, he enjoyed tormenting Lui even more than the others.
Average shifts involved three days of constant wakefulness, then three days of being able to rest. Lui's were six days of being awake, then three of sleep. It didn't matter how many times he let himself be shot, he always ended up running more than a hundred miles every day. And while Lui bragged about being a free spirit, he knew he wasn't so disrespectful as to deserve the punishments he received.
It appeared Dimitri was trying to brake him down. In truth he was just making Lui ever the more angry and wild. The only reason he hadn't tried to kill Dimitri more often (He had tried twice, failing miserably both times. So far he hadn't even come close to hitting Dimitri), was the one thing that could brake Lui.
The more trouble he caused, the more Seras would suffer.
The thought caused the much weakened Lui to slam his fist into the stone floor with enough force to crack the rocks under it. He felt energy coming back to him, strait from the place of his mind he had banished his darker half.
Seras. His wife, his love. He hadn't talked to her since training began (The males and females were separated at the beginning into different barracks and living areas, though they did compete against each other in combat training often). He hadn't even seen her in training for two months. Not that he was able to talk to her much during that. If two vampires from opposing sides said so much as 'hello' to one another and Dimitri heard it, both were shot three times.
And trying to sneak over was almost impossible. Dimitri wasn't human. He wasn't vampire. He was something different, something that saw everything, that knew everything, that could punish you before you did something and leave you in shock because you were actually going to do it. He didn't sleep. He didn't need to.
Not that Lui cared. He didn't care how tough Dimitri was, how bad the punishment would be, he just didn't care.
He summoned up his coat and began to fit it with his weapons. He was going to see Seras.
Shurikens, pistols, rifle, a pair of new short swords, several knives, a small shotgun, ammo, and finally something Dimitri didn't know about.
A pistol clip with silver bullets.
Dimitri was good, but he hadn't caught it when Lui had grabbed one off of him. He wasn't going to kill Dimitri. He wasn't sure if he could. But a clip of silver will slow down anyone (Except for maybe Alucard).
He felt secure, fully armed as he was. Sure, half of it was useless, but it still made him feel ready to go.
He walked out of the room, down the hall, and opened the door to the outside. He noted pleasantly the sun was just setting, turning the sky a blood red.
He strode confidently passed the group of Americans who were 'standing guard'. They looked at him, shocked that he was walking after now seven days without sleep. Lui headed for where he sensed Seras to be.
Dimitri stood waiting, smiling sadistically, "You think far too loud Romeo."
"Out of the way."
The older vampire cocked and eyebrow, "Giving me an order?"
"Yes. Get out of the way." Lui repeated evenly, pulling out his shotgun, cocking it, then holding it over his shoulder.
Dimitri's grin widened, "I think it's time to finish breaking down the stallion."
Lui aimed his weapon between Dimitri's eyes, glaring behind his sunglasses, "Good luck."
He fired, and the battle began.
Dimitri ducked to the side, and the spread shot missed completely. Lui ran forward, cocking the gun again, letting loose another burst of lead.
This time Dimitri slid under it, pulling out his sword and using it to expertly shield himself from some of the small pellets. Why he bothered was beyond Lui. Lead was nothing. Probably just to enforce the point that he was better than the American. Lui didn't care.
Dimitri dashed forward, jumping over another blast from Lui, and bring the sword down on the younger vampire.
He used the shotgun to deflect the blow to the side, but found himself with two halves of a shotgun. Instead of throwing them to the ground though, he threw both of them at Dimitri.
The older vampire smirked, knocking one away and catching the other. He threw it back, harder, and hit Lui in the stomach.
The American slid back from the force of it, but refused to go down. He used his hand to keep his balance, then stood, smiling insanely, "Is that the best you have Dimitri?"
Lui became a blur as he tossed dozens of deadly throwing stars at the older vampire. Again, he reacted in an uncaring fashion, dodging some and knocking a few away with his sword. When Lui ran out, Dimitri held up his hands to reveal about twenty caught between his fingers. These he tossed back.
They ripped through Lui's body, lodging in his arms and legs. He cried out in pain, and actively forced his body to expel the weapons and heal itself.
The American threw away his sunglasses, revealing crimson eyes that burned in pure fury. He reached down, and drew his short swords, twirling them in his fingers for practice.
Dimitri continued to smirk, shaking his head, "Foolish boy, you'll never beat me with those."
Lui, much to Dimitri's surprise, smirked back. Then he threw the sword in his right hand.
It flew strait towards Dimitri, but slower than it could of been. Lui sprinted forward past it, brandishing his other sword in his left hand (He's ambidextrous, what can I say?). He ran up to the slightly amused Dimitri, and jumped. He flipped over the older vampire, slashing all the while, until Dimitri put a gash in the American's left arm. Lui landed on his back, but with a pistol in his right hand, which he unloaded barely three feet from the older vampire, smiling triumphantly.
Dimitri grimaced. Darn that American!
He quickly whirled his blade, knocking all of the bullets away. As he did so, he had to turn and reach with his other hand (Putting his body into a rather unnaturally and painfully stretched position), and grabbed the sword which only just missed his head, by the hilt. He used his momentum to continue spinning, and threw the blade.
It impaled Lui's pistol, knocking it out of the American's hand and pinning it to the ground inches to the side of his head. Lui stared up in wide eyed horror as Dimitri's blade settled an inch above his heart.
However, a look of shock spread across Dimitri's face as well. He reached back, and touched the back of his neck. When he brought it back around, he saw blood. He must have missed a bullet, which grazed the back of his neck.
And it must have been silver for such a small wound to not have healed by now.
"You... Where did you get silver bullets?" Dimitri asked, infuriated.
Lui licked his lips, trying to back away.
However, Dimitri put it all together before Lui could explain. Lui closed his eyes, fully expecting to die this time.
Dimitri didn't kill him though. Instead, he sheathed his sword. The noise caused Lui to open his eyes again, confused.
The older vampire was smiling in approval, glancing at the blood on his fingers again, "I'm impressed."
"You, you aren't going to kill me?"
"For what?" Dimitri asked casually.
"Stealing silver bullets and trying to kill you?"
"Kill me? Ha! It would take more than a few pieces of silver to kill me. Besides, I was trying to get you to attack me."
"Why?"
"Orders from Vincent. He thought you had potential." Dimitri told him, holding out a hand to help Lui up, "And it looks like you do. The deal still goes, you hit me in a fair fight. You just graduated kid."
Lui took his hand, and stood up unsteadily. Had he just heard that right?
"You mean, I'm done?"
"No. Now I teach you how to lead this mob. But first, you've earned yourself a brake. Go on, I'm not going to stop you. Darn it, do I have to make it an order Romeo?"
Lui blinked, then started walking. He couldn't feel his body anymore, and he didn't care.
Sara appeared beside Dimitri, smiling, "I told you he was good."
"Ya, you and Vincent both. There's potential there. I mean, not even you have hit me in a fight yet. I've never seen anyone do anything like that. I wonder how long it took him to figure out he could do it."
"He probably thought it up during the fight knowing him. Oh, by the way, en guard."
Dimitri caught the kick without looking, and threw her away, "You aren't going to sucker punch me. Nice try though."
Lui suddenly realized what he had just done, and was both horrified and ecstatic. Ecstatic because he had actually hit Dimitri, even if it was just a grazing wound. Horrified because he was actually going to kill Dimitri if he could.
'I was trying to get you to attack me'. Nice job.
But he pushed the thoughts away, and replaced them with one. A thought that made him speed up a little bit.
The other barracks were a short distance away. And he was covering ground pretty darn quick. He could sense Seras still inside the building and opened the door. He dashed down the hall, and then found her room.
He almost kicked the door down, catching her standing, but only just waking up. She looked at him with wide eyes, "Lui-"
She was cut off. He put his hands behind her head and brought her face to his, locking together in a kiss that they had both been longing for.
After a few seconds though, Lui took a few wobbly steps back, a smile on his face. Seras looked at him quizzically, many questions on her mind.
But she never got to ask them. Because at that moment seven days of hard training, no sleep, and his fight with Dimitri caught up with him. He fell back, and was asleep in seconds.
Seras stood still, looking at him in shock, "Um... What just happened?"
NEXT DAY
"Wake up Romeo."
The American didn't stir.
"I SAID WAKE UP ROMEO!" Dimitri screamed, his mouth barely a foot from Lui's ear.
However, this just caused him to roll over and mumble something. Dimitri looked at the American in shock.
Seras, who was returning from that day's training, looked at the male vampires wearily, "You mean he's still there? He's been asleep a full 24 hours now..."
Dimitri kicked the American, to no avail, "Thomas isn't this hard to wake up, and he slept through a German artillery bombardment!"
A devious smile spread across Seras's tired face, "You have to know where his priorities are. Watch."
Seras knelt down beside the sleeping vampire, then screamed at him angrily, "LUIS IF YOU DON'T GET UP RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR GUITAR AND BRAKE IT OVER YOUR HEAD!"
Lui's eyes shot open, and he sat up quickly, looking around, "I'm up, I'm up, leave my guitar alone and don't hit me in the head! Wait..."
"Like I said, the priorities are there. You just have to know how to exploit them." Seras told Dimitri, still smiling.
The American was confused for a minute, then glared at his wife, "Traitor."
"Well, now that you're awake, let's go. You've managed to sleep a full day. Time to restart your training."
Dimitri walked outside, leaving Seras and Lui alone for a moment. Lui was still glaring at her, "Darn it, you know you screaming in my ear is enough. Why did you have to freak me out and threaten my guitar?"
Seras sat down against the wall, laughing, "Because."
"Oh ya, did Dimitri kick me?"
"Yes. Why?"
Lui grimaced as he rubbed his stomach, "Cause it hurt real bad."
She giggled some more, then Lui left. If there was one thing he was good at, it was making people laugh.
Dimitri waited outside impatiently, "Took you long enough Romeo. Alright, you've passed the physical part of the training. Now it's time to move on to step two."
"But I'm still no where close to being able to beat you. I thought that's why we were training..."
Dimitri rolled his eyes, "Child, if I was training you to beat me it would take three hundred years and a couple million silver bullets. I was training you to hit me. If it came to the point where you beat me, I would get someone to kill me, and willingly banish myself to the deepest, darkest pits to hide my shame."
"Hey, I'm better than that."
"Not compared to me you're not. Not yet. But that's beside the point. Now we move on to the fun stuff. Specialty and tactics training. In simple terms, we train your special abilities and I teach you tactics. Fair enough?"
"Um, sure."
"Alright. What kind of skills do you have?"
Lui smiled. Dimitri had ordered them to use only a little of their vampiric powers during combat training. That had cut Lui's speed quite a bit. He hadn't seen his specialty.
The American drew out one of his pistols, and took a few steps back.
"How mad are you at me for stealing those bullets?"
"Furious, why?"
"Shoot me."
"Uh... Ok, gladly."
Dimitri pulled out his pistol and fired a shot. Lui whirled, and fired back. The bullets connected in mid-air, barely halfway between the two vampires.
The blond drill-master took a step back in shock. Alright, now he was impressed. He had seen people move that fast before, but they were few and far between. He laughed and put away the pistol, "Alright, I'll admit, I wasn't expecting you to be able to do that. You're speed is more impressive than I thought. I take it that's why you carry six pistols with you in battle."
"Yep."
"Ok. Speed. Not my strongest area, but I think I can teach you method to go with you're madness. What weapons do you favor?"
"Pistols and rifles."
"Semi-automatic, revolver, or automatic pistols?"
"Semi-automatic."
"Alright. Sniper rifle or regular rifle?"
"Regular, M1 Gerrand preferably."
"Sharp shooter?"
"Hardly, it just packs more punch. I'm a pretty decent shot, but the main reason is I happen to pride myself on my bayonet fighting abilities."
"Bayonet? Show me."
Lui became a blur as he assembled his rifle in about two seconds, snapping it together securely. He glanced over at Vincent, "Can I have my original bayonet back?"
"The silver one?"
"Ya."
"No. You've tried to kill me three times, I'm not going to give you a silver bayonet."
"You were trying to get me to attack you remember?"
"I know. You aren't getting the bayonet back."
Lui cursed under his breath, fitting the regular steel one to the tip of the rifle. Dimitri watched in half-expectation, "Well?"
"Well what? You haven't told me to do anything yet. And it looks stupid fighting air."
Dimitri shrugged and drew his sword, "Fine, fight me."
Lui nodded, then pointed his rifle forward and charged. He thrust hard, but found it parried easily. However, he used his forward momentum and hit Dimitri upside the head with the shoulder rest of the weapon.
The older vampire took a few steps back, finding himself face to face with a very sharp metal point three inches from his head.
"Don't underestimate me. I've had nothing but time for two hundred years, and this is what I do."
"I can see that. You have some semblance of skill about you. Good, it will make this easier. However, if I wanted to you would have been in pieces. You were moving too slow bringing the point back around."
"I know. But you weren't taking me seriously so I thought I would wake you up."
Dimitri nodded, "You are full of surprises. I had thought Vincent had finally judged someone's skill wrong and you were a lost cause. Perhaps you are better in battle than you give off."
"I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or complimented."
"Whatever, enough small talk. Down to business. You have graduated physical training. You will still accompany us on the hundred mile march, as well combat and weapons training. Oh ya, the perks of graduating. You only have to stay on guard one day, then you get the three days of rest. You get your coffin back. I actually give you blood regularly. Oh, and you get to supervise the others in training."
"What's the catch here?"
Dimitri smiled, and though he was shorter than Lui, seemed to tower over him, "The catch is, now you're mine boy. I am going to beat every ounce of fighting knowledge I have into you over the next year and a half. And I do mean, beat it into you."
Lui grimaced. For some reason, he felt the urge to turn around and run as fast as he could screaming his head off. And for some reason he had a distinct feeling that Dimitri would catch him, no matter how fast he was.
"Oh ya, one more thing. Combat training gets real interesting now. Because you lead one team, I lead the other." Dimitri's sadistic grin sapped Lui's strength, "You have half an hour before the next training session. I would start thinking of a plan Romeo."
ALUCARD
Russia. Not his favorite place in the world, but he preferred it to say, Britain. His personal preferences were irrelevant though, because this was his new home.
He looked over the city he had chosen with silent approval. Fairly large, modern, and best of all, no vampires he could sense. That's something that had always baffled him about Russia. They had large cities like this, that no vampire wanted to claim. They just seemed to wander, occasionally moving out to the Siberian wastes. Why he didn't know, Siberia was cold for vampires, and that's saying something.
The No-Life king looked around the city for a place to stay. He found a place almost emmediatly. It was a medium sized home, and he could sense no life in it. Phasing, he entered the building, and began to explore it.
It seemed to have the modern amenities large homes demanded like electricity and running water. He looked out one of the windows, and spotted a sign. It was in Russian, but he could read it. Essentially, 'For Sale'.
Alucard smiled at his luck. He was afraid he would have to run the owners out for a moment. Although that would have been fun, this would attract less attraction.
He searched for a 'telephone'. He hated modern machines, but had to use one of these once. Only once. When Luna was born, he himself had called the hospital. Integra had actually started laughing at him in the middle of it all because he couldn't figure out how to work it. Then she told him what numbers to hit.
Integra...
He shook the thoughts away and found a phone. He picked it up, and looked outside to see what numbers to hit. He did so carefully, as if he hit them wrong any number of strange things could happen.
It rang a few times, then someone started talking in Russian. Alucard praised his own language skills, "Hello?"
"I'm calling about the home for sale."
"Ah! So you want to buy it?"
"Yes. You see, I'm a business man in need of a home in Russia, as our company has recently opened up dealings here."
"Good, good. Russia can always use more business. Our economy struggles as it is. Anyway, let's discuss the price."
"Name it."
"Excuse me?"
"Money is of little concern to me. I need a home quickly. So if this can be done in a timely manner, I will be very grateful."
"Um, of course."
Alucard laughed at the man's uncomfortable voice. Sometimes things seem to good to be true.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Nothing. Now, how much will this cost?"
"I believe it will be a fair price. It will be a few days to get the paperwork ready, Mr.?"
"Vladimir. Vladimir Tepes.". Alucard regretted saying that as soon as the words left his lips. He desperately hoped the man wasn't a history fanatic.
"Alright, Mr. Tepes. Let's set the price at... Six hundred thousand American dollars?"
Alucard shrugged. He had that tenfold, and wasn't really experienced on the amount. His last dealings in such matters had been with Jonathan Harker, and that was for buying houses in London, in British pounds. This was Russia, and American dollars. Why everyone seemed to use American money baffled him.
"A fair price for the home I guess. When shall we finalize this deal?"
"I'll contact you when the paperwork is ready."
"Right. Oh, would you be opposed if I moved in now?"
"The home is yours, we need only make it official. May I ask a question?"
"You may."
"What business are you in?"
Alucard chuckled as he remembered the look on the jeweler's face. The poor man had not seen such a large amount of gold, of such pristine quality. And this was only a small sample of the No-Life king's wealth. Six million dollars in gold. Not to mention the jewels.
"I do business in gold, jewels, other precious items of that nature. Thank you, I await your call."
Alucard hung up the phone, still smiling. Indeed, that could be his business. Maybe he would do that. For even his stockpile would run out eventually, and he would need an alternate source of income.
He walked over to the counter he had set Luna down on, watching her play with her new 'toy'.
It was a locket, made of gold. And on it was a sapphire, which matched the small girl's eyes exactly. She held it up, and giggled as it sparkled in the light. Alucard took it, and opened it, the sapphire/gold covering swinging out, revealing the picture inside.
Integra Wingates Hellsing, holding her child and smiling.
Alucard couldn't think of any better place or use for the picture. He showed it to his daughter, who looked at it curiously.
The No-Life king snapped the locked shut, smiling. This was going to be an interesting span of time. He wondered if his daughter would act like Integra had when she was younger.
Only time would tell...
End Chapter Nine