After dumping our trays, all of us, including Alucard, headed outside for a quiet retreat from the school building. We walked our normal path down the dirt road of a track, with Alucard following at our heels. Desdemona brought along her manga book of Hellsing, Book One, probably to keep her mind off of the smirking vampire in the background (although I don't see how that works, since he's from Hellsing). Mirabelle, Danika, and I simply walked along and tried to talk to our otherworldly visitor, and of course, Adrina reverted to her naturally perverted self.

"You know, vampy," Adrina started, her eyes fixed on his shining leather boots. "You've got some pretty big feet... too bad I'm not into guys."

"We all know Scarlett is though," Danika smirked, and I gave her a mean, embarrassed expression right back. "No, wait, there's Billy."

"Billy who?" I asked, trying to keep my cool as I remembered the events of the day before, when I was most rudely blown off by a person I thought was all-around decent.

"Doesn't that trench coat get hot out here in the sun?" Mirabelle queried curiously. "Why are you always smiling? Why are you even a vampire? And what's with the big hat? And the sunglasses? And the boots? And the suit? And the bow tie? And the gloves with the pentagrams? And the ... the ... okay, I'm done."

"She's rather talkative," I smiled, "but I'm sure you figured that out."

Abruptly and without warning, a gigantic wad of mud came flying in my group's direction. The glob of brown mush flew haphazardly through the air and landed where the thrower least expected: on the breast of Alucard's spotless, flowing red trench coat.

"Oh crap!" I heard Abner Kimple scream as Alucard advanced out of the shadows of my friends and me. The smirk was no longer visible on Alucard's solemn face, and his glasses slipped down his bridge to reveal angry, fiery, intimidating red eyes. That Abner was in for one, that was for sure.

If it wasn't enough that he practically tried to soil Alucard's trench coat, he also caught the vampire when he was already in a not-so-nice mood. After all, most people that have read Hellsing manga know that Alucard despises the sun ... and most likely annoying little boys who squeal in the face of danger.

Adrina began laughing maniacally, which drew attention from everyone on the school ground. I swear, the girl nearly fell over onto the dirt she was laughing so hard. "That runt's finally gonna get it! Hells yeah!"

Danika looked to me. "Dude, when you explained to me before how Alucard gets... this just isn't gonna end well, is it?"

I was trying to be a nice person and look nonchalant in the face of this pandemonium, but I couldn't keep down my smirk. "Well, not for Abner... but all of us should come out of here alive."

To my surprise, Danika let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, good. I thought I was a goner."

Mirabelle was busy laughing at Adrina, who was laughing at Abner, who was currently running around the track at full-speed and screaming like a six-year-old schoolgirl. Abner's arms were waving wildly as he tried fleeing for his life, but as it is known, a vampire isn't only physically powerful, but he can also be one hell of a speed demon. As it goes, Alucard's long, thin legs only added to his advantage as well.

I wasn't able to make out Alucard's words, although he was speaking rather loudly, and the grin had resurfaced as he trotted along menacingly toward Abner. However, I was able to hear the pleas for "Mommy" from Abner's normally "trash-talking" mouth.

Abner kept looking back at Alucard, hoping to no avail that he might be able to lose the vampire. However, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and surely, even that anger can't compete with the wrath a vampire filled with once you wrecked something so trademark and valuable.

Abner is truly lucky he didn't stain Alucard's pristine white undershirt, or the poor little thing might've become the first shish kabob, or shish ka"Abner," ever produced by a flagpole near Clearview's main entrance.

Instead, Alucard simply drew one of his guns, "Jackal" to be precise, and shot one of the quicksilver, .454 rounds at Abner's feet. He intentionally missed Abner's sneaker, yet only by about a half-an-inch, which was just enough to make the inner part of Abner's jeans go wet.

The lining of his pants, from his crotch to his ankle, began turning a deeper blue, and a yellow pool collected around his feet. By this point, the boy was crying, and had, obviously, relieved his bladder in fear.

Luckily for Abner, that embarrassment, plus the wheezing and sobbing, was enough to satisfy Alucard's vindictive nature. I was also very relieved that I hadn't reached out and touched Alucard during our time within the cafeteria, for the vampire had indeed carried concealed. Although, I did begin to wonder vaguely how such a big gun could be hidden so easily, seeing as Alucard didn't seem to hide any other "guns" with such care and precision...

Trinity's screams broke me from my innocent-gone-dirty train of thought. Her face was pale, and her bright blue eyes bulged out from their sockets as she stared at Danika. "Did that guy just fire off a gun?"

Mirabelle looked to Trin with an over abundance of glee marking her face. This was her trademark sarcastic expression. "Yeah! Isn't it great?"

"'Great'! He could've killed someone... maybe even one of us!" Trin freaked, but I couldn't help but correct her.

"No, Trin, that wouldn't have happened. His aim is extremely accurate... didn't you see how close he got to Abner's foot?" I smiled, looking to Desdemona. "Did you see it, Dez?"

"No, but I heard the gunfire and Abner weeping. So I have a pretty good mental picture," she replied while flipping through the pages of her manga at rapid speed. "Scarlett, could you take a look at this?"

Before I even got a chance to glance at her book, I heard Jace Owens rambling on and on about something about necks, duds, and jumbled Spanish. I felt my eyes roll subconsciously at the ranting fool, and before I could think other wise, I began walking over to him to find Alucard and Jace face-to-face... well, almost.

"Dawg, that is some gangsta shit you just pulled!" Jace commently vulgarly with all of the random hand gestures he learned from what I assumed to be The Idiot's Guide to Wiggadom. His baggy shirt and half-mast jeans rippled slightly as a soft breeze swept over the grounds. "Where'd you get that crunk gun? It's off the heezy, fashizzle!"

Alucard, obviously about less fluent in gangsta speak than I am (which is saying a lot), stared at Jace, aghast at the boy's immense knowledge of absolutely nothing important. His glasses had slipped down, revealing wide red eyes and medium-width eyebrows curved in the classic, "What-you-talking-'bout-Willis" look. I felt the same way about ninety-seven percent of the time, and I couldn't help but smile at the priceless look on Alucard's expressive face.

"Give it here, my homie!" Jace held out a palms-down hand in his unsophisticated manner, his shoulders hunched and posture positively revolting.

However, Alucard responded hardly the way Jace expected, and held out his gun to Jace's hand, his finger on the trigger of the flawless, shining black monster. There wasn't a clear expression on the vampire's face, yet the feeling of the moment was read easily on Jace's: "Oh. Shiznit."

My friends, along with the rest of the school, had crowded around the scene, but luckily, my group and I were able to snag some front-row seats. Adrina appropriately laughed her normal obnoxious cackle, sneering between giggles, "You're finally gonna get shot, you wigga! 50 Cent, eat your heart out, right, white boy?"

Then, of course, she continued laughing. Jace, suddenly, threw Adrina a half angry, half scared-"shiznit"less look. "Shut up, you fat ass motherfucker!"

That sent Adrina raving. "Who you calling a fat ass, you lanky, brief-wearing, homeboy wannabe! Don't make me go Italian on your ass!"

I simply couldn't take it anymore. "Why don't you both shut up!" Now that I had everyone's attention, I went on, first looking to Jace. "Now Jace, you have a gun more powerful than a Casull pointed at your right hand. Do you know what a Casull is? It's the most powerful handgun known to man, and this gun... this gun could kick a Casull to the curb. So I suggest you shut your trap for a minute, think about what will happen to your reputation if your hand gets blown off, and step away while you still can. I know the last thing you need is to have to learn to write all over again during your freshman year of highschool... and since most girls like a guy with both hands intact, it won't help your dating status either."

Some black girl from within the crowd came at me, her dark eyebrows drawn in to a pinch between her eyes, and her nostrils flared. "Don't you be talkin' to my homeboy like that, little girl!"

"I'm sorry, but would you like to have that gun pointed at you instead?" I smartly retorted, looking to Alucard, who was intently watching me handle the situation with a smirk.

"I ain't afraid 'a no gun, little girl," she remarked, standing akimbo while bringing the top part of her torso around in circles while she spoke. "An' what makes you think he'll shoot me?"

"Oh, I don't know. Why don't you try that confusing handshake again?"

"You tell her, sista!" Adrina cheered, receiving a harsh 'hush' from everyone around her. "'Shhh' yourself!"

"I don't know her," I heard Mirabelle announce under her breath to Danika, who agreed with a nod.

"Well, while you humans are busy bickering, I intend to finish what I started," I heard Alucard's voice in my mind. My eyes flickered to his black beauty of a weapon, and I saw the tension building in the knuckle of his index finger around the trigger. At the last moment, I did something I thought I might never do in a thousand, no, a trillion years: I reached out my hand and grabbed Alucard's arm, hoping to stifle his urge to blow the hand clear off of Jace's arm. I was saving Jace.

"Don't do it, Alucard," I stated more than begged, and after realizing this, added a "please" at the end. I then thought quickly of reasons why he shouldn't shoot Owens. Amazingly, I was able to come up with one. "You just cleaned off the mud from your coat, do you really want to get out blood stains too?"

"Yeah, those things are hard as hell to get out of something white," Danika agreed, stepping out of the crowd and next to me. "Besides, dude, you're gonna get blood and little bits of flesh all over everyone here, and I don't really feel like trying to explain to my mom why I have Jace's remains on my clothes."

I inwardly flinched at the thought of having someone's blood splatter into my eyes, or splash into my open mouth. There were simply too many diseases out there, and I was in no mood to become infected before my fourteenth birthday.

Alucard seemed to think the situation over again, taking into consideration our reasons. "That's a good point. You passed the second test: audacity."

My mind went into an angry frenzy. "Whoa, wait a minute! You weren't gonna shoot him?"

Of course, he was such a big help in answering my question. In fact, all he did was smirk and push Jace out of the way with the barrel of his gun. He then looked to me, and I knew somehow that he wanted me to follow.