Chapter Ten: D is Alucard's last hope.
Alucard smiled at Horatio because he knew it was unnerving. He was secretly offended by the hat comment but so long as his bloodlust was slaked by the end of the evening he felt he'd get over it. Even if Horatio was a piss-poor excuse for a vampire, at least he was a true Nosferatu. If not a No-Life King, then at least Duke or a Lord of some description or maybe an uppity bastard child… He was digressing.
"Horatio, let us at least conduct our affairs like the gentlemen we are."
"One would hardly consider you gentle, Dracula," Horatio steeled himself as much as he was able, which wasn't much, "You've cornered me, so I will defend myself."
Horatio broke into pieces of midnight and threw himself at Alucard.
"Now that's more like it," he said and smiled with all his pointy teeth.
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They were everywhere. The monsters were just… everywhere. They'd been sluggish on the ground but now they were hopping portals with every step they took. They had taken down eight of them outright but every one since had been an uphill battle. It was taking all of Pip's skill not to accidentally shoot one of his own men. He couldn't risk a second strafe, the beasts would have been on the Geese like white on rice the moment they hit the floor.
Malcolm (who had missed the previous night's festivities on account of being a teetotaller) screamed and Pip threw his favourite bowie knife towards him on reflex. He cheered internally when he heard a cut off howl in reply. Malcolm was wedged in a corner, now trapped under half a tonne of ugly, eyeless dog (if you were feeling a tad hyperbolic, as Pip was). Pip ducked under the flying body of Jareth and wrenched his knife from the animal's skull. He heard Jareth hit the glass doors and start swearing, so he presumed he was still alright.
"SERAS!"
"No need to shout captain." Seras dodged over toward him and their fallen comrade.
Seras picked the monster up, checked it wasn't attached to anything vital of Malcolm's and then threw it one of it's brethren that was crouching on the sidelines. She picked Malcolm up and ran for the entrance. Pip covered them. He shot two, two of the things, by some miracle, out of the air while he was running.
Norris and Robson were standing almost back to back, up against the far wall. One of the rookies was behind them, bleeding casually all over the place but the ground around them was littered with beasts. Seras almost threw Malcolm outside and started running for them. A DRB phased in right on top of Norris. He didn't even have time to get his gun up past chest height. Seras grabbed the beast by the head and twisted, arms straining.
Pip waited to check it was dead and then started shooting elsewhere.
"How many is that?" He yelled.
"Fourteen and counting, sir!" Replied one of the men outside.
"Lucky they're just guarding the inside of this place, oui?"
A DRB appeared above one of the medics. Malcolm managed to throw off a shot at its chest and it phased out.
"Captain, you are such a damn Jinx!" Seras shrieked, running towards the exit again, this time with the rookie on her back.
"Just shut up and mind the wounded, would you dear?"
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Alucard's hounds screamed when the shards hit them. It was such a clever move. He'd have to save it for himself, later. He drew the Jackal and fired three rounds into the maelstrom that Horatio had become. All things come in threes, even bullets. He pulled back the hounds and let himself be carved down to his bones. He spread his blood around the room and reached up, catching pieces of his adversary and throwing them as far apart as he could manage.
For those of you who remember that Alucard is mathematically inclined, think 'space-filling curve'.
Horatio realised more quickly than Alucard would have thought him capable and ripped himself back together. Alucard stayed as he was, eyes floating in a sea of black blood.
"You are a creepy bastard, with no aesthetic sensibilities whatsoever, aren't you?" Alucard allowed a smile to arise from his liquid form.
"At least I'm good at surrounding myself with attractive young women, unlike someone else we know."
"You ran all of them off to the colonies!"
Horatio turned on a heel and strode into the nearest shadow. Alucard reluctantly reformed his legs and went after him. He walked right into a silver blade. He quirked an eyebrow at it and then glared at the vampire grasping its golden hilt.
"That hurts." he said and then fired a bullet into Horatio's shoulder.
Horatio punched him in the head in retaliation and threw his weight into the sword with all his strength. Alucard's back hit a wall and started sizzling. He glanced back and saw it was covered in holy paraphernalia, crosses, relics, sheets of paper from the bible and…
"Is that a picture of Integra?"
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"How many?" Pip shouted out hoarsely.
"Four left, Captain!" replied a harried-looking Norris.
"FUCK!"
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"Why is there a picture of my Master on your abomination of a holy wall?"
"I put up images of all my enemies!"
"Then why can I see Seras' photo and not my own?"
"I skewered you onto yours."
"Likely story."
Alucard looked up.
He blanched, just a little.
Alucard glared at Horatio. He took hold of the curved handle of the blade and pulled it from his belly. Horatio gulped visibly and seemed too surprised to move immediately. Alucard punched him so hard his neck snapped backwards.
"I do not appreciate you taking voyeuristic photographs of the women in my life." He grated out, "It is exceedingly disrespectful."
A clawed hand extended itself from Horatio's lax mouth and took a swipe at him. It missed but tens more of them were sprouting from it. Alucard knew it wasn't time yet, so he decided to dodge and kept himself focused on the beating of Horatio's shrivelled heart. If the Geese didn't hurry up he was either going to get hurt or worse, bored.
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Pip nailed one in the shoulder just as it was about to bisect Robson. It landed heavily against the glass doors, creating a tree of fracture lines, before phasing away. He turned around in time to see Seras swinging the reception desktop into the neck of a beast as it tried to blindside him. It fell to ground gasping shortly.
Then there was silence.
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Alucard felt it, the moment they were all gone. He stepped away from the demon hands, pulled his Casull and aimed it at the shadows.
"You've fought well, old man." He said, "Next time, spend less effort on hiding and you might just win."
He fired and hit Horatio's heart, carefully hidden out of sight but not earshot.
"See you in another lifetime." He murmured quietly.
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Seras shifted from foot to foot, tabletop at the ready to hit the next creature that materialised. Nothing came.
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Alucard looked down at Horatio and waited. He listened for a long moment until it was clear enough that none of the beasts had returned. He could feel that Seras had survived and was fairly floating in relief, which meant that everyone else had too. Horatio stayed still, his neck bent unnaturally behind him. 30 per cent probability of success, indeed. Alucard turned around and Horatio twitched.
"Fuck you," he whispered and twisted his hands in an ornate gesture.
Alucard shot him again but he was already too late.
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Pip was smiling underneath his mask like a sonofabitch, deliriously happy that he was still alive. He dropped his standard issue pistol, custom made and named by Walter to suit it's purpose, onto the floor. He'd spent his last bullet saving Rob. What conveniently nerve-wracking timing.
"Well, Seras, looks like we made it." He rasped, eyes scrunched into joyous crescents.
She returned his grin immediately, he could see it in her cheek bones, but lost it just as quickly.
"Captain, move!"
Pip turned to see one last DRB, the one he'd sent tumbling into the plexiglass, snarling at him. Pip suddenly came to the startling conclusion that he was going to die. Little details came into sharp focus, the hair drifting around Seras' face as she ran at him, the fluted nose on the beast, the Darth Vader sound of his own breath through his mask…
Seras tackled the beast in mid air and both of them disappeared.
Alucard jumped out of the wall.
Time sped up again.
Alucard roared and all the windows shattered.
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Integra heard Alucard, even though she was miles away, carefully orchestrating the transfer of headquarters to a temporary location along with the rebuilding of her birthright. From the anger that she could feel through the wards, from the bone-deep despair, she learned that Seras was gone from them. It was like the Valentine incident all over again.
Integra sat down on the rickety school chair and table that were serving as her desk. She allowed herself to rest her head against her hand.
"Walter, do you have a moment?" She called, voice level.
He came in bearing tea that was made from leaves that he kept upon his person but served in a mug proclaiming 'Life's funny, hain't it?'. He put the steaming cup down in front of her.
"What went wrong, sir?"
"Something has happened to Seras."
Walter went pale. He sat down in the chair opposite hers and mirrored her by placing a hand over his face.
"Oh, oh no." He managed.
Integra pushed the cup over towards him. He took a sip of the tea and passed it back.
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D woke up to see his father looking down at him. His glasses and his hat were missing and his eyes were wild. D unclasped his hands from their place on his chest and sat up.
"What went wrong?"
"Seras is gone."
D digested that information for a moment.
"Irrevocably?"
Alucard ran a hand through his hair. His jaw clenched and unclenched rhythmically. D waited for him to be able to speak again.
"I can't get her back." Alucard stared mournfully at the stone walls around them.
"It was the dimension-ripping beasts, wasn't it?" D asked, "You went after them once the fire burnt out?"
"Yes, that's the long and short of it."
"She's alive though or you wouldn't be here." D flexed his left hand to see if he could get the circulation going, "Which means there's still hope."
Alucard didn't say anything.
"I need to know some things," He replied, softly but deadly serious, "After that you can tell me what you need me to do."
Again, sorry for the AN. I was supposed to post this yesterday but I spent the night with family and forgot my laptop.