Who can truly know the mind of a man? Only those who have sustained such a wound as he can truly understand him. And yet, when one abandons those wounded similarly, who can understand him but the Empathetic?

- excerpt from the journal of Abraham Van Helsing

Chapter 25: Revenge of the Empathetic

Alucard stumbled into the safe room, unaware of how he got there. He was tired, very tired, and he lost consciousness as he passed the threshold. He fell to the ground, and into a deep sleep.

He awoke sometime later, immediately noting something was wrong.

"Uh", he said aloud, looking around, "where is everybody?"

Suddenly, memories from the night before came flooding back.

"Oh, shit", he said, snapping up to his feet and racing out the door.

...

She awoke to water splashing into her face. She was greeted by two people directly in front of her; one was a cowboy that she had seen before, and the other was a British man in a red uniform with a leather sashe and blue cape that she had never met before. She was restrained on a stretcher, with leather straps covering her limbs and torso.

"So", the British man said to the cowboy, "this is the apprentice of the infamous Alucard?"

"Eeyup", the cowboy confirmed in his gravelly voice.

The man in the cape gave an evil smile.

"She will make an excellent centerpiece", the man said devilishly, "and when I inevitably win, she will make a perfect wall mount."

The cowboy wagged his finger, decreeing, "One step at a time."

The man in the red uniform looked annoyed.

"No one survives the pit", he snapped. "In any case, it's time to move her to the chamber."

He gave another evil smile.

"That way, she'll get a taste of what's in store for her master."

...

Alucard searched desperately through the night. He ducked into an alleyway, catching the brief scent of onion and baguette. He followed his nose, hoping to God he had only been out for a few minutes.

The very God you just scorned, of course.

"Shut up brain, I'm trying to think."

Why do you always do this?

"Fuck you, I'm thinking."

The salvation you had been begging for was at hand, and you reject it out of petty revenge?

"Shut UP."

Of all the enemies you fight, the worst is by far yourself.

"Wait a minute", Alucard said, stopping in his tracks. "You're stronger than usual. You're not interior, are you?"

Mind Speak was a fairly common power amongst those with tainted blood who had accumulated some power. Alucard was able to block the mind speak of tainted creatures, mainly because he was so overpowered himself. The only kind of mind speak he couldn't block was that of a-

"-human", the man in the wheelchair finished.

"Holy moly", Alucard said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you are old, even thought that's a, uh… bit hypocritical coming from me."

Alucard was doing his best to hide it, but he was actually surprised. There weren't many humans out there who had mastered mind speak, so finding one who had done it was usually someone to behold, despite how normal they typically looked.

"Surprised?"

Fuck, this guy could read him like a book. Alucard tensed, his left hand instinctively itching for his gun. If this guy was a true vampire hunter, than a wheelchair meant nothing. Alucard wasn't fairly confident that he could level this guy for the second time… hopefully tonight.

"Looking for your friends, I presume?"

"If you mean the Frenchman, no. I smelled musty armpit and hoped he knew where my apprentice had gone."

The old man with the long silver hair cocked his head, asking, "Apprentice?"

Alucard cocked his own head in turn.

"Fuck. I was kinda hoping you had seen her, and maybe taken her hostage somewhere safe. Killed any vampires tonight?"

"As a matter of fact", the man said, stretching his arms, "I haven't."

"Oh, good. At least she's not… waaaaaaaait a minute, did you run into the Frenchman tonight?"

"Goodness, no", the vampire hunter said with a shake of his long silver hair. "In fact, I took him and his friend captive nearly a week ago."

"Oh, you gotta be FUCKING KIDDING ME!"

"Afraid not", the man said with another shake of his head.

"Then… did you kill any vampires this time a week ago?"

"Five."

"Damn, really?"

"It was a good night."

"Any standouts?"

The man gave a smug smile, saying, "I can't say so. Three females, one male, and one so badly malformed it was hard to tell what it used to be."

Alucard allowed himself to be relieved. If he had come across her, she would have been something certainly noteworthy. She was, after all, not your average vampire.

"The problem I can see with that", the old man continued, "is that your apprentice was undoubtedly not among them."

"You would have noticed, yeah."

"I still have your Frenchman and his friend."

"Keep 'em, I don't give a fuck."

The man raised an eyebrow.

"Why so callous? Were you in their place, would you not want their help?"

"No."

"Then prepare to be in their place."

As he said this, he pushed a button on his chair, and nitros bottles under his chair activated, shooting him back. Too late, Alucard saw the trap. Werewolves were above him, and a silver net was upon him.

Werewolves could hide their scent in many different ways. A walk through campfire smoke, copious amounts of deodorant or scent-be-gone. The problem was, Alucard knew of all of these.

How could he have let his guard down so? He had worn himself down, sure, and he was desperate to find his apprentice, but was that excuse enough? Not for someone like him, no.

This was punishment.

And he wasn't about to be punished by anyone.

He flicked his wrist, and a Derringer popped out and into his left hand. He thumbed the hammer, aiming for the nitros tanks. The old man, seeing his mistake, gave himself a simply eulogy.

"Oh, nuts."

Alucard fired, and the tank exploded, tearing apart the wheelchair and turning the old man into hamburger meat.

"FATHER", one of the werewolves cried out.

Alucard boomed with laughter.

"Father Flambe", he cackled.

"You'll pay for that", one of the werewolves shouted.

They all descended upon him with stakes.

Alucard laughed.

…

Alucard awoke, strapped to an upright stretcher, with a mask over his face, pumping something that smelled like garlic into his nostrils. Not going to help against him. he leaned forward slightly to see several tubes sticking out of his arms, pumping silver nitrate into his veins. That would help against him. He tried to move his arms. No good, held down by silver chains.

"Impressed by the setup", someone he thought he recognized said.

Alucard lifted his head, focusing his blurry vision to see none other than the Baron himself standing before him.

"Baron", Alucard said excitedly, "good to see you! It's been… what, two, three years?"

"Eighty-two", Baron corrected him. "It would have been shorter, but I've been a little bit… busy."

"Interesting. What schemes have you cooked up this time?"

Baron gave an evil grin.

"I have far outdone myself this time. Under the nose of every vampire hunting organization, I have set up a gladiator ring for all the ghastly ghouls of the new world, and you are going to be my new main attraction!"

Now that was bullshit. No one could do something as outlandishly grand as to set up a gladiator game, much less multiple, without hunters getting even a whiff of information about it, much less him. Then again, America didn't have the same hunter organizations that an old, established country like England did. Maybe he wasn't bullshitting.

"Quite a scheme, Baron! But you know the second you get me out into the ring, I'll escape!"

"I've thought of that, too! Meet Kevin!"

Out of the shadows hobbled a short, emaciated-looking man with a large beard, circular glasses, and a wizard hat.

"You… brought a troll?"

"I'm not a troll, you clam fucker", Kevin said in a high-pitched voice. "As a matter of fact, I am ten times the vampire you are!"

"I see", Alucard said, pretending to be in deep thought, "yet you wear a wizard hat."

Kevin smirked.

"He said the 'wizard' word", Kevin said, producing a Molotov cocktail and lighting it. "Which means it's wizard time, motherfucker! Fireball!"

He chucked the Molotov at Alucard, who screamed in agony. His scream slowly dipped into a moan of pleasure, and then a sigh of ecstasy.

"Thanks", Alucard said, "it's pretty drafty in here."

"Remember", Baron said to Kevin, "you don't have to break him, just drain him of all his energy. I don't need a good fight from him, just an execution."

"An execution it is", Kevin said, glaring at Alucard. "I can already tell he's going to be a gigantic asshole for this entire experience."

"Holy shit", Alucard exclaimed in amazement. "Finally, someone gets it!"

"I doubt that very much", Baron said to Kevin, whilst looking straight at Alucard. "After all, we have his precious apprentice under lock and key, and he wouldn't want anything to happen to her, now would he?"

It wasn't like he could open up his nose and make sure they weren't bluffing. He had a plug in it, after all, and it was shoving garlic down his nostrils. He had to assume they weren't bluffing, for Seras' sake.

He sighed.

"Is she being tortured like I am?"

"Well", Kevin said, "I gave her the fingers for a moment, and she readily admitted she was your apprentice, so, yeah, kinda, but not for long."

"The fingers", Alucard replied in mock shock. "That sounds fun!"

If he had fingerblasted her for information, he was going to get blown the fuck out. Alucard still had enough in the tank for a good, hard strike.

"They are fun", Kevin said, "for me, anyway. Care for a demonstration?"

"Hit me."

Lightning shot from the short vampire's fingertips, jolting Alucard like never before. His clothes singed, his hair burned, and his muscles spasmed. Now he knew what those poor bastards on LiveLeak felt like when they hit a livewire. It still wasn't painful enough to make him scream, and he doubted anything ever would get that reaction out of him again, but it was high on the list of torture methods that still got some reaction out of him.

The lightning stopped, and Alucard went limp for a moment, regaining his composure.

"Yep, I can see why she talked."

"That's it", Baron smugly asked, smirk planted firmly on his face. "No witty retort? No act of defiance? Broken in a single moment, eh?"

"Shut yo ugly ass up boy", Alucard retorted, "you look like a mo-fuckin' 'Tom Bombadil was a merry old fellow'!"

"Ah, a Lord of the Rings reference", Baron said gleefully. "Have you read all of the books?"

"Man, I've read everything Tolkien has written", Alucard told him. "Even the stuff that aint got nothing to do with LOTR."

"So you've read the first and second age stuff?"

"Of course."

"God I hope some major corporation doesn't turn it into a shitty tv series to try and appeal to an audience that doesn't even care about the source material and thus the new material."

"That's oddly specific."

"Random Foresight is a horrible curse."

"I forgot you had that. Have you seen how you die yet?"

"Not exactly. But I guarantee it's not you who kills me."

"Why's that?"

"Call it Foresight Intuition."

"Yikes. Have you seen how I'm going to escape?"

"All I see is you getting choked to death."

"Interesting, but unspecific."

"I love my powers", Baron exclaimed. "Anyway, have fun being tortured and all that good stuff."

"I will", Alucard said with a smirk.

"Truly, it pains me to execute you, old enemy", Baron admitted, "but the revenue and prestige your death will generate for me will shoot me into the forefront of vampire society. Then, I can use my powers to take over the world, or something like that."

"Jesus", Kevin said in exasperation, "get a room! I have a job to do and neither of you are making it easy!"

"You're a torturer, Kevin", Alucard said sarcastically. "It's not supposed to be an easy job."

"Hey, fuck you, man", Kevin shouted. "It's been easy up until now! I've never had someone be as nonchalant about being tortured as you two fuckers! Even your apprentice squealed like a pig when I hit her with the fingers!"

"She's new", Alucard said nonchalantly. "She'll get it eventually."

"Get this, pigfucker!"

Another jolt from the fingers. Alucard seized yet again, feeling the power drain from him. When it finally stopped, he hung limp again, allowing himself to recover.

"Blow me", Alucard said behind a grin. He turned to Baron, asking, "Is this seriously the best you can do?"

"Like I said, Alucard", Baron reiterated, "I don't need to break you. I just need you tired. Anyway, I'll let Kevin here get to it. Tally-Ho!"

"Toodles", Alucard replied, waving his fingers at Baron as he walked out of the room.

"Jesus, what's with him", Kevin asked Alucard.

"He's probably still mad that I shot his bitch-ass biplane down over France. Then spanked his tank. Then mustard gassed his ass."

"Fuck knuckles, dude, now I know why he hired me."

"Hired you", Alucard questioned.

"My services don't come free, you know", Kevin explained.

"No, wait, what the fuck do you mean he 'hired' you? Did you put an add in the fucking paper?"

"No, my services are well known in the Dark Mar- oh, shit, I'm not supposed to talk about that."

Alucard resisted the urge to narrow his eyes. The Dark Market was the Black Market for every ghastly ghoul that still had two braincells left to rub together. A meeting point would be established, usually in the middle of nowhere, and word would travel by mouth about where and when it was being established. As far as Alucard knew, the last Dark Market had occurred in 1859, when he and Abraham bombed the shit out of it, killing almost everything attending.

If they were bold enough to host the Dark Market again, then America was out of control. Before he and Abraham had joined forces in 1843, Europe had hosted them almost yearly. If America was still hosting them, then someone wasn't doing their job.

"Dark Market, eh", Alucard said. "Since I'm going to die anyway, why don't you tell me all about it?"

…

"Look at her", one of the guards outside Seras' cell said with a hungry fervor. "Look at her just sitting there, asking for it."

They had been at this for a while now, and Seras was beginning to think they wouldn't go through with it. She had made herself a makeshift shiv out of a sharpened rib bone she had found and some old fabric. They were just begging to lose an eye over her.

"Fuck it", one of them finally said. "I'm going in there, it's too much, I don't give a fuck about the consequences."

They were really slacking out here, giving up their careers over her. She was becoming more cynical the longer she was down here. She gripped her shiv tighter.

"Look, I know that's some hot pussy", the other guard tried desperately to discourage, "but have you seen what Kevin can do? And did you not hear that Baron is sending everyone to the chamber who opens up a cell without permission?"

"Who's gonna tell him, you?"

"No, but-"

"Then get in line", the guard said, as he opened up the cell.

Seras stood up, keeping her shiv behind her back, and backing towards the far corner of the room. The guard approached her with greedy eyes and hesitant legs. Seras was beginning to doubt that he would go through with it.

She heard someone whistling "Tipperary" behind him, and the guard turned to see someone half a head shorter than him behind him, whistling. From behind the guard's frame, all Seras could see was a familiar black duster and wide-brimmed hat. The guard seemed startled to see him.

"Oh, hey", the guard said hesitantly. "You're that guy who speaks for Cain, right? You wanna go before me, or what?"

The other guard who was keeping a lookout slumped and fell over. The guard looked from the other guard to the man in front of him, and his body began to tremble. The man in the coat and glasses lifted his hand, and the guard's head spun around, his wide eyes meeting Seras'.

It didn't seem like the man in the coat was finished with him, though, as he grabbed the back of his head, and pulled, ripping it free from his neck. Blood gushed out in a geyser, shooting up so high it hit the ceiling, and came down in the floor to pool in a puddle. The man in the hat gave an evil-sounding cackle as the dead guard dropped to his knees and Seras could finally see the man.

It was the same man that had brought her in. He took a tentative step, using his cane to support himself as he hobbled forward. A smile flashed across his face, and he spoke.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, girl", he told her. "On the contrary; I still need you, almost as much as you need me."

The man cackled again, turning around and exiting the cell, closing the cell door behind him as he left.