Chapter II Getting Lost

The two of them walked though the silent streets of London in equal silence. He felt strange; felt like following this woman meant following into a live beyond everything he knew. Beyond his terms of understanding and far, far away into a world he was yet afraid to enter…But something in his mind felt that he had yet taken this first step into this deep and dark world this woman was about to lead him to.

He looked into the wide nightsky, still hearing her calm voice in his ears. In the recent 90 minutes, his live had turned upside down; what has been a, if not exactly constant and safe, at least an official place in the ranks of D11. He tried to take a look at this mysterious thing that represented his live now; by chasing the ghoul and taking part in the strange conversation with the two strangers afterwards, he had managed to get himself into an organisation which was under the queens protection and which had the god-given task to banish all undead….."In the name of God, all impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen."

Amen...the sacral word echoed in his head; he had never said it with this certain emphasis before. In fact, with this new position of his, he was somehow forced to contemplain his believe over and over again….not an exactly comforting task. Especially for a former novice who fled the church, who fled this hollow and cold god that he was forced to represent.

He shook his head, strands of dark hair fell into his face; he was brushing them away with a still gloved hand. As he touched his forehead with his fingers, he felt something wet running down his face. He glanced at his hand, found his glove soaked with blood, as well as his whole arm; he stopped in his pace. Ripped down the blood-soaked sleeve and gave away the sight of a nearly nine inch long gash running down the inside of his arm...'must have been this…being'…The sight of his blood dripping down on the cold streets of London somehow paralysed him; he felt not the slightest pain. Slowly, he pressed his other hand on the gash, bending the injured arm slightly.

"Ah, Miss! Do you happen to have something to stop the bleedi…" he couldn't finish his sentence, the officer in front of him whirled around, he backed away, holding his arm protectively against his chest. He saw a strange light in the woman's eyes, felt some sort of panic rising in his chest. He felt a wall against his back…Meanwhile, the woman with this strange name had lowered her head, he was now unable to see her eyes. Something in his mind told him to run, to flee, to escape, this being was not longer human. She approached him, lifted her head again, he saw her mouth open, strangely long fangs were seen in it. She started to speak.

"Be careful not to get injured near me… it wouldn't do you any good." Mechanically, she reached into one of her pockets and tossed him a bundle of bandages which he slowly picked up, never leaving her unwatched. He tightened the fabric around his arm, something told him not to leave a strand of his blood to be seen. Meanwhile, Seras had started walking again, and he also picked up his pace again, jogging up to her. Their eyes met, he found the faintest hint of shame in her so strangely red eyes. For several moments, he felt the urge to speak to her, wanted to reach out a hand and just touch her….something held him back.

The sharp yell of an owl snapped her out of her lethargy; she felt him walk beside her, felt through her supernatural senses that he was frightened. And she knew it, oh she knew it so well…but yet he didn't say anything to cover the situation as she would have thought he would do…as far as she was concerned, he had proven himself as a daredevil so far…

But yet she was somehow grateful that he didn't start into screaming insults and running off into the night, babbling about monsters and murder like so many of the others have done before. Even though she had given him insight in the existence of vampires like herself, even though by the time he knew of ghouls, of freaks and the need of silver bullets, she felt like with his speechlessness he had lifted some of the weight off hers shoulders…at least for now, for now that he shared her loneliness.

She relaxed a bit. She had to admit to herself that he had proven not unsatisfactory until now, maybe she would give him a second chance…Maybe she would give him this chance just to spend some time in this comforting acceptance he spread out. Maybe she would give him this chance just to have one reminder of the human world she was once part of around her…

Her steps led them into the more noble parts of London, he looked around him. Still somehow being the poor boy who grew up in the slums of Dublin, he was now taken by the sight of the old Victorian mansion that was illuminated by a soft blue light.

The woman who accompanied him walked beyond the gates as he stopped dead. Something in his legs flicked and he was forced to rest motionless, taking in the sheer yet intimidating beauty of the estate bathed in silence.

"coming or what?" she was totally aware of his fascination and took sly advantage of it. No doubt, this boy has never been in such a house. Slowly, he made his way to her side again and together they strode into the house. The heavy iron gate gave a suffering noise as it swung open, giving way to a long and hollow hallway, bordered by huge grey pillars. He heard his steps hallowing off the huge thick walls as the only sound who tore the silence. The knot in his chest grew thicker as he noticed a lithe figure standing on top of a double staircase. Once again he stopped dead. Big round glasses blinked in the crisp light, sheer blonde hair and a fine face formed an image of intimidating beauty reflecting off the ageless man on top of the staircase.