Family Blood
Chapter: 12
The Castle
Time to continue. Everything seems to always pile up near exam time. Oh, and it's time for a twist.
A/N: There are a lot of jumps in scene...sorry but I have multiple things to get so hopefully this won't seem too bad.
The sun rose over the mountains of the town of Brasov. On the high tops of the mountains sat an old castle that looked to be in quite disrepair. The morning was a normal one for the town. The locals began about their normal routines as the sun slowly rose higher in the sky. A whistle blew in the distance as a train came into view on the other side of the valley. After about twenty minutes the train pulled into the station and the passengers began to disembark into the town. Among the passengers was a young blonde haired woman that was not Romanian. Her blue eyes looked over the town as she walked onto the cobble stone streets. Seras stretched as she had finally made it to her destination. 'Now I just have to climb the mountain,' she thought to herself as she began to walk towards the castle off in the distance.
Seras slowly made her way through town. She did not really have time to spare but at the same time she did not want to stand out anymore than she already did. 'If Integra and crew make it here before I'm to the castle then the last thing I want is to be easily recognizable,' Seras thought as she continued on her way.
Seras looked up into the mountains as she continued her walk down the streets of the town. The castle had a look of age on it but at the same time it seemed to be in a better state then most would have thought. It was more than likely that the government had worked on preserving the castle to the best of their abilities while at the same time not making the preservation process obvious to tourist. Seras knew that the castle held a secret that not many knew of and it would be tonight that the secret would be awakened once again. She steadied herself while not stopping in her walk towards the other side of town. She had made her decision and she was not about to back down from what needed to be done. 'I have burnt too many bridges to turn back now,' Seras thought as she finally reached the other side of town.
Seras looked up the trail that lead to the castle that was quite steep and looked like it would take a few hours to climb. She sighed before head to the beginning of the trail and began her climb up the mountain side.
An hour and a half had past and Seras sat on a bench close to the top of the mountain. She had made good time and decided to take a break as she could feel her legs almost want to give out on her. As Seras rested on the bench she heard the whistle of the train as it came into the valley. Seras looked down to see another express train pulling into the station. "That's probably Integra and the rest. Well, if nothing else I have a decent head start and can rest for a bit," Seras spoke to herself as she had grown tired of the silence.
Seras sat and enjoyed the breeze on the top of the mountain as she knew it would take a while for her pursuers to catch up and that the ritual could not be preformed until the sun had set. She looked up at the castle that was just another thirty minutes away and could not help but smile. 'Soon this whole ordeal will be over,' she thought as she leaned her head back to relax for a bit longer.
'You seem very calm,' came a voice into the back of her mind.
Seras smirked before replying, 'They have a lot of ground to make up...and besides I can't begin the ritual until the sun sets. No reason to panic at the moment. As long as I enter the castle before they catch up with me then there will be no problems.'
Seras could feel Alucard smile before she heard his reply, 'Confident aren't we?"
'Again, I just have to be in castle before they catch up. I'm sure you will provide aid if I need it,' Seras replied as she looked back up at the castle.
Seras could feel the laughter over their connection before Alucard replied, 'Of course. You are getting the hang of this.'
'One more thing,' Seras began, 'I will not allow anyone to be killed. If you must stop them that is fine but they will survive this.'
'As you wish...,' came Alucard's answer before he added, 'You are growing strong with every day.'
Seras smiled at the rare compliment from the elder vampire.
Another two hours had passed and the sun was finally setting in the sky. Seras had hiked to the castle and found a spot just outside to hide until the site closed. After the last of the guards left down the mountain Seras stood from her hiding place and headed towards the gates. As Seras got to the gates she heard the large chains snap before the gates opened with a loud groan. Seras smiled as she walked through the gates and into the courtyard of castle Bran. She continued until she got to the stairs that lead into the main hall. As she was about to step up on the stairs she heard the click of a gun behind her. "That's far enough," came Integra's voice.
Seras slowly turned around to be met with Integra, Walter, and Eric pointing pistols at her. Seras smirked before saying, "So if you can't get me to be a good girl you'll force me to?"
Integra sighed as she moved forward slowly, "It didn't have to be like this. You just had to come here and seal him and that was it. We could have avoided this."
Seras stood her ground before asking, "Really? I think sooner or later it would have come to this. I'm not something to be controlled Integra...I have to be who I am."
All three were in the middle of the courtyard before Eric chimed in, "Please, Miss Victoria just seal him and we can go back home."
Seras' eyes darted to Eric before saying, "You stay out of this! I will not have a rent-a-cop telling me what to do," Seras then smirked before continuing, "ALUCARD!"
A low laugh was heard as it felt like a storm had kicked up inside the castle. Integra and company watched as a black line formed in front of Seras. In a few seconds the line began to grow into a human form. Another few seconds and the visage of Alucard was distinguishable as his clothes formed on him. Integra gritted her teeth as the vampire smirked at all of them. "You made a mistake my dear Hellsing. You came into my domain."
Integra ground her teeth together before shooting at the vampire. The bullet hit Alucard's shoulder and stopped. Alucard just smirked as the bullet was forced out of his body and the wound healed in a matter of seconds. "You should have prepared for this a bit more," Alucard replied before he turned and continued, "Seras, continue into the castle...I'll take care of them."
Seras nodded as she turned and began to walk into the inner sanctum of the castle. As Seras opened the door she heard Integra shout, "Don't do it!"
Seras sighed before walking into the castle to complete the ritual.
Alucard squared off with the three that came after Seras. He smirked before saying, "So I finally get to have my fun with the three of you."
Integra glared at Alucard before replying, "And, we finally get to square off with the demon that has been poisoning Seras' mind."
Alucard's smirk grew as Integra threw an insult at him. He crossed his arms before saying, "Well, are you three going to do anything or just let Seras continue?"
Integra turned and said lowly, "Walter you and Mr. Manning attack him and I'll try to slip through and stop Seras."
The two men nodded as Integra spun on her heel and fired twice more at the vampire. Alucard did not even attempt to dodge as the bullets hit him. The same thing began to happen. Alucard then smirked as he saw Walter take off in one direction and Eric in the other. 'This should be fun,' Alucard thought as he opened a black portal and stepped into it.
Integra took off towards the door as Alucard disappeared. She ran into the castle and turned towards the inner sanctum to chase after Seras. 'Hopefully, I can catch Seras before she reaches the site...and hopefully they can hold Alucard off,' Integra thought as she continued to run.
Eric stopped after he saw that Integra had made it inside. He held his gun as he searched for the vampire. "Looking for me," came his voice from behind Eric.
Eric spun and aimed his pistol but it was quickly knocked out of his grip. Eric dodged Alucard's slight attempt to swat at him before drawing the combat knife from its scabbard. Eric stood his ground and dodged again as he knew the vampire was playing with him. After dodging one more time Eric lunged forward and stabbed Alucard in the chest. Eric heard the vampire laugh before they made eye contact. "Silly boy," the vampire said, "You cannot harm me."
As Eric was pulling his knife out of Alucard he was hit full force. Eric went flying into a wall with his knife still in hand. He hit the ground with a thud and passed out from the force of the blow. Alucard smiled while thinking, 'You are lucky boy.'
Alucard then opened another portal and stepped through to hunt after the old butler.
Walter had heard a large smack on the other side of the courtyard but did not see Eric anywhere. As he was about to head towards where the young man should have been he heard from behind him, "Oh, don't worry. I gave the boy a little break. Your worry should be me."
Walter turned to be met with the vampire Alucard smirking down at him. Walter quickly dodged to the left as Alucard struck out at him. The butler fired off two rounds before landing and jumping again. Alucard laughed as the old man was much more spire than he had originally thought. "This is going to be fun," Alucard laughed as he struck out just to have the old man dodge again.
After about ten minutes of dodging; Walter had unloaded his entire clip into the vampire just to see the bullets fall out of the wounds they created. Walter ejected the clip as he continued to dodge and bound away from the vampire's attacks. He loaded a new clip and fired another round just to have the same thing happen. He heard Alucard laughed before the vampire called, "You can't hurt me...why don't you give up old man."
Walter continued his dodging act while replying, "As long as I keep you tied down then it doesn't matter."
Seras had finally found the chamber to complete the ritual in. She opened the door to the room and tried to walk forward but hit an invisible wall. She looked at the doorway for a moment before smiling and pulling one of her gloves off. She placed her hand on the invisible wall to feel it disappear. She placed her glove back on her hand before she began to walk through the passage way. "Stop," came Integra's voice from behind Seras.
Seras decided to ignore the warning and continued. It was then that a shot went off and Seras felt a burning in her shoulder. Seras dropped to a knee and clutched her right shoulder as she looked back at Integra and shouted, "You shot me!"
Integra moved towards Seras while replying, "I can't let you do this."
Seras felt a rage in her. She turned and thrust forward her palm covered with the glove with the fire spell on it. The symbol lit up and a fire ignited in the archway before Integra could enter. The young Hellsing was about to take aim again when Seras thrust her hand out again and the gun heated up in an instant. Integra quickly dropped the gun as it melted. She glared at Seras while she stood up. "I will not hurt you Integra," Seras began, "But, if you ever shot me again I cannot say I will keep that promise. Get out before it is too late."
Integra watched as Seras began to walk down the stairs that were at the end of the hall. "Do the right thing...seal him away!"
Seras continued down the hallway while clutching her bleeding shoulder. She made it to the bottom of the stairs to be meet by another set of double doors. Seras leaned against the doors and pushed one of them open. There in front of her stood the stone coffin from her dreams. Seras climbed the stairs before reaching the coffin. She let go of her shoulder and pushed the lid off to reveal a dried up body within the coffin. Seras took the gloves out of her pocket and placed them on the body that she knew was Alucard's body. Seras then pressed her fingers into her bleeding shoulder before she brought her fingers to the gloves and drew a symbol in her own blood. Seras then sighed and began the ritual, "Figure of darkness that dwells within dreams. Come to me and be my servant as this blood commands. Let this blood be our bond and let us walk together as master and servant."
Outside Alucard stopped attacking Walter as he turned towards the castle. He laughed before saying, "Well, seems like you have all failed," before disappearing into thin air.
Alucard's eyes opened as he looked upon Seras' face. He sat up slowly before saying, "Just one thing left Seras."
Seras nodded before pulling her collar down. She bared her neck to the vampire before saying, "Finish the ritual."
Alucard wrapped his arms around Seras before saying, "As you wish."
Seras gasped as she felt his fangs dig into her skin. She grasped his shoulders to steady herself as the pain of the fangs turned to into a wave of pleasure. Seras sighed before she passed out from the loss of blood she had already suffered. Alucard caught Seras before saying, "Now you are the true master of the monster."
Outside of the castle Eric stood up as he smiled. He had stayed down, playing dead so the vampire would not come back, but he had been fully aware. He pulled some swabs from his belt and collected the vampire blood before placing the swabs in a tube. He capped the tube before saying, "Mission accomplished," and slipped off into the Romanian mist.
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from Hellsing do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
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