"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 2: "Judas Priest"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. The former belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers and the latter belongs to Kohta Hirano. I make no profit from this story whatsoever and all I gain is the satisfaction of knowing that I have written a story that people will be interested in reading.

Author's note: There you have it. The first chapter of Vampire Genesis has established a new status quo for the Teen Titans, namely, that their leader has become a juggernaut of vampiric badassery. Trust me, you have not yet seen the full extent of his powers and you will have more opportunities to see the newly vampirized Robin in action, starting with this chapter.

Alucard was on the phone with Integra, reporting to her about his battle with Robin. "The boy provided a great deal of amusement in fighting him. I haven't had that much fun since Anderson."

Integra sighed on the other end, weary of yet thankful for her servant vampire's lust for battle. "What did you discover about him?"

"He's stronger than I expected. I shot him in the stomach with the Jackal and he regenerated from that."

"How? The Jackal's bullets have silver cores. A vampire cannot regenerate from silver."

"He did. I don't know how he did it, but he did."

Integra pondered this. A vampire so powerful that not only could he survive silver bullets but also regenerate from them like any other wound was a dangerous enemy to have. "It must be the pagan god he has inside him. Her presence within him must negate the holy nature of our weapons."

"I still managed to wound him. I even shot off one of his arms. He just grew a new one, but it wasn't flesh and blood. No, it was solid shadow, like the shadows I can make."

"What else?"

"He's very fast and his senses are quite sharp. He sensed Police Girl and he was able to catch a bullet from her Harkonnen while he was fighting me. Even when I released my restraints, he was still able to fight me and even hurt me." He chuckled. "It was a very pleasant experience. I believe I will seek out the boy again."

"I want you to watch him for now. Do not engage him again just yet. And be on the lookout for any agents of Iscariot that may come after him."

"Yes, Master." The vampire heard a click and then silence, signaling that Integra had hung up.

When Robin returned to Titans Tower and rejoined his fellow Titans, he found them gaping at him. "It's the arm, isn't it?"

"Yeah, what happened to it?" Beast Boy asked.

"I got into a fight with another vampire," Robin replied. "He had a gun too huge to be carried by a human and he used it to blast a hole in my stomach and shoot my arm off. That's where this came from." By "this" he was indicating the shadow-matter arm that had grown from the stump where his flesh-and-blood arm had once been.

"That's fucking awesome!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Catching the looks from the others, he quickly backpedaled. "Not that you got your arm shot off, but your new one looks kinda cool, even if it's a bit creepy."

"Where's the hole in your stomach?" Kid Flash asked.

"Healed," Robin replied simply.

"How?" Kid Flash asked.

"Vampires have a very high healing capacity," Raven replied. "The 'average' vampire, if there is such a thing, heals several times faster than an ordinary human. Older vampires, or younger vampires directly sired by older vampires, heal many times faster than an ordinary human. Finally, some ancient vampires can be reduced to a fine red mist and still pull themselves back together. Not necessarily uncommon, but not encountered very often."

"A vampire can become that powerful?" Starfire asked.

"Yes," Raven confirmed. "Unlike humans, vampires do not weaken as they age. Rather, they grow more and more powerful with every century that they 'live.' The older a vampire is, the more powerful he or she becomes. A purely human vampire hunter would be better served fighting a young vampire, who is still quite weak by vampire standards, than trying to take on an older vampire."

"Fortunately, ye demon whore, I am quite different from th' typical vampire hunter," a heavily accented Scottish voice spoke, prompting the Titans to turn in his direction. What they saw was a tall pale blond man with a heavy jaw and a scar on his face. He was dressed in a gray overcoat on top of a priest's clothes and a crucifix hung from his neck. Round glasses shielded green eyes that glittered with holy malice.

"Who are you and how did you get into the Tower?" Cyborg asked.

"Your security is not that good," the priestly man replied. "As tae my name, it is Paladin Alexander Anderson."

"Judas Priest," Robin spoke.

"Ye've been in contact with Alucard, haven't ye?" Anderson deduced. He flicked his wrists and a bayonet slid out of each sleeve of his coat and into his hands. "My mission here is tae exterminate th' demon filth an' those that side with them without leaving anything behind." He crossed his bayonets in the shape of a crucifix. "AMEN!"

Anderson charged at Robin with a speed that one would never expect from a pure human. In fact, he was so fast that only Robin and Kid Flash could see him coming. Robin dodged Anderson's charge by flipping into the air and throwing Birdarangs at the priest, who sliced the Birdarangs in half. Undeterred, Robin kicked off a wall and leaped at Anderson, meeting him halfway with a fierce kick to the head. The Dark Squire dropped onto his hands, spun on them, and flipped onto his feet to make a heel thrust with his hand at Anderson's chest.

This time, Anderson grabbed Robin's wrist and threw him into the wall with surprising strength. Robin quickly recovered and extended the blade from his shadow-matter arm. He lunged at Anderson and slashed, only for Anderson to block with his bayonets. Robin pushed his knee upward and into Anderson's stomach with superhuman force. Anderson's response was to push Robin back with his bayonets, pinning Robin to the wall and stabbing him in the hands – both flesh-and-blood and shadow-matter – with those bayonets.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed and shot Anderson with her starbolts. Addressing the priest, "You are a bad man!"

"And ye are a bad lass for siding with this monster," Anderson retorted, drawing two more bayonets and charging her with them. A black barrier materialized between Starfire and Anderson, preventing him from slicing Starfire in half. "If it isn't the demon whore."

Jericho gritted his teeth in rage and lunged at Anderson, his eyes flashing black-and-green. He was attempting to possess the priest, but the priest's glasses blocked the direct eye contact necessary for the possession. Anderson quickly sheathed one of his bayonets and used his now-free hand to grab Jericho by the wrist and slam him to the ground. Jericho's response was to kick Anderson, but Anderson did not seem much deterred by the kick. The priest held his remaining bayonet up in preparation to kill the mute boy.

"Ye have th' face o' a cherub," he complimented. "Too bad ye're in love with a demon."

Jericho's response was to thrust his free hand at Anderson's glasses, attempting to remove them so he could possess him. Anderson merely pinned Jericho's other hand, leaving him helpless. Suddenly, he glowed black and was lifted off Jericho by an invisible force, then thrown into a wall. Anderson quickly recovered, yelling, "Demon wench! I'll –"

The priest was cut off by a crimson energy fist slamming into him, followed by a purple-booted roundhouse kick and a sonic blast. He collapsed on the floor, seemingly done for. "Is that it?" Kid Flash asked. "Did we beat him?"

Kid Flash got his answer when Anderson got up again. "Guess not." He charged Anderson at super-speed, attacking him with a flurry of punches thrown at superhuman velocities and from multiple sides. Anderson rolled with those blows, waiting for an opening, and when he found one, he quite viciously took it, stabbing Kid Flash in the leg with a bayonet. Kid Flash collapsed in pain.

The next thing Anderson knew, he had been stabbed by his own bayonets, one protruding from his stomach and the other from his chest. "What?!" The priest turned around, finding a very incensed Robin in front of him.

"Raven, heal Kid Flash," Robin ordered. "The Judas Priest is mine."

Anderson pulled his bayonets out of his chest and stomach, yelling an enraged battle cry and charging at Robin. The Dark Squire dodged the bayonets and slid to kick Anderson's feet out from under him. Unfortunately, Anderson jumped out of the way and pulled out more bayonets from inside his coat, throwing them all at Robin, who rolled out of the way and onto his feet. Anderson rushed Robin again, only this time, Robin grabbed him and spun, drawing the older man's momentum into himself and channeling it into a powerful throw that sent him crashing through the supposedly shatterproof window and to his very probable death.

"Robin!" Cyborg yelled in horror. "What the fuck was that?!"

Robin couldn't answer; he didn't even intend to throw Anderson that hard. Of course, he should have known better; if he had enough strength to easily pull out of Starfire's hugs, he could easily kill a human. Within minutes, though, to both his relief and consternation, the doors to the living-slash-ops room of Titans Tower were sliced apart and a very healthy (and very angry) Alexander Anderson stepped in.

"What is this bloke?" Argent asked in horror. "How did he survive that?"

"Like I told th' demon whore, I'm not a typical vampire hunter," Anderson sneered.

"Fast healer, aren't you?" Robin remarked.

"Aye," Anderson answered. "A technique created by humans tae fight monsters like ye."

He rushed Robin with his bayonets and Robin ran at him with his shadow blade extended. The two met over the couch and slashed at each other viciously. Anderson sliced the couch in half trying to get at a dodging Robin and Robin dragged his blade across the floor slicing upward at Anderson. Anderson pulled out even more bayonets and stabbed Robin with them while the Dark Squire was too close to dodge. One pierced his eye and went straight into his brain, while another pierced his neck and the other four went through his shoulders and chest.

Anderson threw the severely wounded Robin onto the floor in full sight of the other Titans, reveling in their looks of horror and sorrow. "There! Do ye see? Th' likes o' ye can never overcome one such as me!"

Beast Boy lunged at Anderson as a cheetah, ready to avenge his leader and friend. Anderson easily dodged and was ready to slice Beast Boy apart when he suddenly found himself dodging one of his own bayonets. To the vampire-hunting priest's surprise, he heard laughter emanating from Robin's battered body. The other Titans were surprised, too, considering the wounds Robin had received. Anderson looked down and saw that one of the bayonets was missing and the others were removing themselves from Robin's body. To the priest's horror, even more of Robin's body was now taken up by the quasi-organic metal that his shadow-matter had hardened into. The eye that had been so grievously injured by the priest's bayonet was now replaced by luridly glowing shadow-matter.

Robin sprang up and kicked Anderson across the room. As Anderson flew across the room, Robin sped up behind him and struck him again, sending him across the room again from a different angle. This time, Anderson landed on his feet snarling. He threw more bayonets at Robin, but Robin manifested his shadow blade and sliced them all apart while speeding at Anderson. He rammed Anderson with the shoulder of his shadow-matter arm, which sprouted a shoulder guard with spikes that pierced the priestly vampire hunter in the stomach. Anderson took the opportunity to stab Robin with a bayonet, but Robin ripped it out and sliced Anderson with it.

Anderson snarled at Robin and punched him across the room. Robin somersaulted in midair and landed on his feet, smiling darkly at Anderson. As the two fought, the other Titans watched with horror at what seemed to be a contest between a mad angel and an equally mad demon.

"They're . . . ripping each other apart." Cyborg was beside himself.

Beast Boy was gaping at Robin. "Dude, I knew Robin could be scary, but with those powers . . ."

Finally, Anderson jumped away from Robin. "How is it that ye're able tae heal from my bayonets?"

Robin sneered at the priestly vampire hunter. "What, were those weapons supposed to have some kind of divine blessing? Read the memo! I have a goddess inside me, and that's plenty of protection against 'divine' power."

Anderson pulled out a heavy Bible from his coat and flipped it to the center. The pages began to fly out of the book and swirl around Anderson. "I see . . . ye'll be a difficult kill, just like Alucard. I'm looking forward tae it . . . and next time, I'll butcher ye all." The pages then disappeared, taking Anderson with them.

"Fuck . . ." Beast Boy uttered. "Is this what we're gonna spend the rest of our lives dealing with? Super-powered lunatics who want Robin dead because he's a vampire?"

"If that's too much for you to deal with, the door's that way," Argent pointed out, assisted by Raven's reproachful expression.

"Chill, Argent, that's not what I'm saying at all," Beast Boy defended. "I'm just saying I'm scared! You saw how tough that Anderson freak was!"

"We are all scared for Robin, Beast Boy," Starfire stated. "But we cannot flee and cower. Robin is our friend and has risked himself again and again on our behalf. We must be willing to do no less."

Robin suddenly collapsed on one knee. "Robin!" Argent exclaimed, moving to his side.

As powerful as you are, it is not without its limits, L'andira spoke in Robin's thoughts. There is only so much you can heal from without drinking blood.

"I can't," he muttered. "I won't. I won't become some fucking parasite that preys on the living just to survive."

Argent leaned forward, having been close enough to hear what Robin said, and whispered in his ear, "What if you didn't have to prey on the living? What if someone was willing to give you their blood?"

"Who?" Robin hissed, self-loathing clear in his voice. "Who would be willing to do such a thing for me?"

"Me," Argent replied.

Robin stared at Argent with one masked eye and one shadow-matter eye. "Do you understand the magnitude of what you're suggesting? If I lose control, I could kill you."

"I trust you," Argent whispered. "I trust you."

Robin looked over at the other Titans. "Could you give us some privacy?"

Understanding what Robin meant, Raven looked at him with a wary smile on her face and turned to walk out of the living room-slash-ops room. The other Titans followed her, Jericho sticking particularly close to her. If Raven noticed, she didn't seem to mind; in fact, Robin could have sworn that she had moved a smidgen closer to the mute boy.

With their privacy assured, and Robin could tell because he wasn't hearing any heartbeats or breathing directly outside the room, the Dark Squire rose to his feet, Argent helping him up. Once they were both standing, Argent reached up behind her and unfastened her collar, putting it aside and baring her neck to Robin. "How do we do this?" she asked. "Standing, or lying on what's left of the couch?"

"You talk like we're going to . . ." Robin started, only to find himself unable to finish the sentence.

"Going to what?" Argent prompted, holding her hands behind her back and tilting her head cutely. "You can say it, Robin."

Robin sighed and pulled Argent closer to him. Following L'andira's silent promptings and instructions, he placed his flesh-and-blood hand – which he'd bared – on the back of her neck and used his fingers to massage the muscles gently. Argent let out a small sigh of contentment and leaned into his embrace. Once her body relaxed enough, Robin tilted her chin up with his thumb and began to lick her neck. His tongue brushed the silvery-pale skin, eliciting another sigh from Argent.

It's time, L'andira urged. Take her.

Robin was in no mood to argue. Argent's heartbeat and pulse thundered in his ears, making him acutely aware of the life-giving crimson fluid in her veins. He found the vein in her neck and bit down, piercing the skin. He pulled his fangs out so as not to obstruct the flow of blood and began to drink said blood. As he drank, his sensitive ears caught a moan from Argent. The surprising thing was that it didn't sound like she was in pain; no, it sounded like she was enjoying what he was doing to her.

Surprised, my beautiful, naïve container? L'andira asked. Don't be. A vampire's bite, once the initial pain of penetration is past, is often very pleasurable to those bitten. Do you smell that fragrant musk? That is the scent of her arousal, of her pleasure.

To Robin's surprise, he found himself growing hard from hearing Argent's moans and from drinking her blood. She reached up to pull him closer as he drank her life essence, shifting her hips against him. As much as he wanted to remain in her embrace forever, he knew he couldn't, not unless he wanted to kill her. Clamping down on his lust (both for her blood and for her body), he pulled away from her and watched as the wound he had made healed, leaving behind only tiny marks as proof of what he'd done.

He looked upon Argent's face, seeing a sated, happy expression. It was the expression of a woman who had been carnally gratified by her lover. He could see it clearly now, why she had been so willing to give him her blood. It was in the memories he'd absorbed when he drank from her.

She loved him. It was really that simple. She had hidden feelings of that nature, more than the simple infatuation it had started as when she first met him, those feelings that had remained hidden because it was unofficial "fact" among the teenaged heroes that Robin belonged to Starfire or Raven. Well, he didn't belong to either one of them. He didn't belong to Starfire because Starfire had recoiled whenever faced with the darker side of his nature. He didn't belong to Raven because she was more spiritual kin than potential lover to him.

There was one way he could demonstrate that fact to her and it would be more expressive than mere words. He kissed her, kissed her with lips stained red with her own blood. She didn't pull away, simply returned the kiss fervently. As they kissed, she sucked his tongue into her mouth. To her, he tasted of copper and something indefinable by her mortal taste buds. To him, she tasted of honey and red licorice.

"Whoa," Argent murmured once the kiss broke. "You sure know how to kiss a girl."

"Thanks," Robin replied. "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Argent answered, smiling. "Yeah. I'd love to."

"It's a date, then," Robin said. He caught Argent looking at him strangely. "What's wrong?"

"Your arm," Argent replied, drawing Robin's attention to his arm. Said arm was flesh and blood again, instead of the shadow-matter that had grown in its place. She was looking at the eye that was exposed by his damaged mask and it was healed, too, a real eye instead of glowing shadow-matter. "I kinda liked it the other way."

"Considering what I'm probably in for, you might see it again," Robin remarked sardonically.

Argent chuckled slightly nervously. "Not that I'd want you getting your arm shot off again."

Somewhere else in Jump City, Alexander Anderson had phoned someone. "Th' damned hell-brat is stronger than I expected."

On the other end, a tall, thin man with silver-blond hair and violet-blue eyes listened to Anderson, pondering. "Is he like Hellsing's hunting dog?"

"Worse. He healed from my bayonets. No vampire should be able tae do that."

The silver-blond man, none other than Enrico Maxwell, leader of Iscariot, had an expression of trepidation. "The power of his heathen god protects him from the blessings of our Lord. Fear not, Anderson; we will find a way to slay this beast."

"What about th' beast's friends, particularly th' demon whore?"

"We will kill them, too. Vampires and those who ally with such filth all stand equal in the eyes of God; sinful dirty heathens to a man."

The next night, Robin was in his room preparing for his date with Argent. It was relatively simple; the shadow-matter that his clothes were constructed from merely rearranged itself into what he wanted to wear. Currently, he was wearing a chrome-shouldered black leather jacket over a black sleeveless shirt with no insignia and his pants and boots had not changed at all. However, his standard utility belt was gone, replaced by one that was not quite as obvious.

He exited his room to find Argent, only to find her making her way toward him. She wore a different corset than her usual, this one exposing some cleavage and split in the middle to reveal web-like netting between the two halves. She also wore a red skirt with an overskirt of netting designed to resemble connected spider webs. Fishnet socks with black shoes covered her feet, the fishnets rising up to her knees. The only part of her outfit that hadn't changed was the arm-covers.

"Stunning," Robin breathed out.

"You're certainly looking dashing," Argent commented.

"Ready to go?"

"Whenever you are."

As the two departed from Titans Tower, they were unknowingly observed by Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Kid Flash. "Whoa . . . Robin and Argent," Cyborg remarked. "Who would have thought?"

"Isn't Star going to be pissed?" Beast Boy asked.

"Let her be," Kid Flash answered nonchalantly. "Robin has the right to go with whoever he feels like going with."

"You both have good points," Cyborg said. "Yeah, Starfire will be pissed, but it's not like Robin's her property."

"I don't want to be around when she finds out," Beast Boy said.

Robin took Argent to his R-Cycle and straddled it. As soon as he touched the handlebars, shadow-matter extended from his hands and coated the motorcycle. It soon faded to reveal what looked like a scarlet Kawasaki Ninja. "You can get on now," he said.

"Cool," Argent remarked, sitting behind Robin and wrapping her arms around his waist. Robin put on his helmet and handed a spare one to her, which she donned. Robin started up the motorcycle and rode away from Titans Tower, soon reaching the open streets.

Robin rode at a respectable speed, trying not to go that much higher than 60 or 65 mph. Their destination was a dance club Argent liked to frequent, one called "Crimson Tears." The club was famous for goth-influenced electronic music, a.k.a. "electrogoth," and melodic gothic rock, a.k.a. "death pop." Given Argent's fashion inclinations and attitude, it sounded like something up her alley.

Of course, it wasn't as though the two could go unmolested. Along the way, Robin sensed that someone was following them and dong so very quickly. Robin cracked the throttle on his disguised R-Cycle and moved even faster, expertly weaving the motorcycle between the cars in his path.

"What's going on?" Argent asked.

"Someone's following us," Robin replied.

The sound of bullets being fired rang through the air, Robin telekinetically deflecting said bullets. Robin rode like a madman, Argent clinging to him for dear life. He rode onto a bridge and turned quickly, leaping off the bridge and onto the street below. Despite that, his mysterious pursuer was not deterred, judging by the scent of burning rubber behind him.

"Screw this," Robin muttered, making a sharp turn and riding at his pursuer. Robin could see his pursuer clearly despite the darkness, a dark-haired young man in black leather with deathly white skin and pointed ears. The pursuer's vehicle was a motorcycle similar to Robin's, only black instead of red.

The two rode at each other, Robin removing one of his hands from the handlebar. His free arm was ensconced in shadow-matter that hardened into the selfsame semi-organic silver-black metal. A blade extended from that arm and he moved to slash the dark motorcyclist, who unfortunately swerved out of the way. Robin merely swerved his R-Cycle and went after his pursuer again. Said pursuer turned and rode at Robin, who slashed at him with his shadow-matter blade.

The mysterious pursuer was cut by Robin's shadow-matter blade, but that hardly seemed to matter to him as he struck Robin in the chest with his hand. Surprisingly enough, the strike actually hurt Robin, leaving burning marks in his chest that had partially dissolved his shirt. Additionally, the strike had come with enough force behind it to knock Robin and Argent off the R-Cycle. Robin rolled to land on his front, taking the brunt of the fall so that Argent didn't have to.

Robin and Argent got up, both not exactly very happy about what had happened to them and that was an understatement. The mysterious pursuer stopped his motorcycle and got off. Now that Robin and Argent could get a better look at him, they could see that he was wearing some kind of gauntlets. The mysterious pursuer twisted his wrists and short blades came out of the backs of his gauntlets.

"Who the fuck do you think you are and what do you think you're doing?" Argent asked.

"The name's Dagon," the mysterious pursuer replied, "and your boyfriend's getting a one-way ticket to hell."

"You first," Robin answered, charging Dagon, who met him with one of his wrist blades. The two began battling, Argent following them to assist Robin in case he needed. The two dark warriors leaped about the tunnel, attacking and evading. Dagon slashed Robin with his wrist blades and Robin retaliated by stabbing Dagon with his shadow-matter blade. The two jumped away from each other, healing from the wounds they'd inflicted on one another.

"I'm getting sick and tired of having people coming after me just because I'm a vampire," Robin snarled. "Why are you after me?"

"Why should I tell you that?" Dagon answered. "The important thing is that you're going to die."

Robin's response to that was to run up the tunnel wall and jump off from the ceiling, spraying Dagon with shuriken. Some of the shuriken managed to slice Dagon, but Dagon healed from those and dodged most of the others. However, they were just a cover for Robin to tackle him to the ground. Robin thrust his blade at Dagon, but Dagon chopped Robin's arm, throwing off his aim and allowing Dagon to knock Robin off him.

Robin rolled onto his feet and withdrew six Birdarangs from his utility belt, holding them between his fingers. He threw them all at Dagon, who sliced through them with his wrist blades while rushing Robin. The Dark Squire blocked his attack and delivered a vicious kick to the other young man's side. Dagon trapped Robin's leg against his side and punched the Dark Squire, retracting his wrist blade at the last second. Robin flew back into the wall of the tunnel, denting it.

Crimson energy birds flew at Dagon, slashing him with their wings. "The plasma shifter," he concluded, turning to attack Argent, who blocked with an energy shield. Dagon didn't give up, retracting his wrist blades and thrusting a white-hot hand through Argent's shield, striking her right where her anarchy tattoo was. Argent fell back with a cry of pain.

"Argent!" Robin shouted, infuriated by what Dagon had done to her. He sped toward Dagon, only for Dagon to elbow him at approximately the same speed with which Robin charged him. The force of the elbow jab propelled Robin into the other side of the tunnel, denting it. Robin fell to the street and rose to his feet, spoiling to resume the fight.

Meanwhile, Argent had pulled out her communicator, which she'd taken the liberty of repainting black and red, and flipped it open. "Argent to Titans. Robin and I need backup. We're under attack."

"We're on our way, Argent," Raven answered. "Raven out."

"I just hope you get here before this bloke wastes me and Robin," Argent muttered.

End Notes: And thus I have finished the second chapter of this story. Where did Dagon come from? Why is he after Robin? As for Anderson, those of you who read the Hellsing manga or have watched the TV series and/or Ultimate OVA ought to know who he and Enrico Maxwell are. For those of you who've read the manga, Millennium is on its way. In the meantime, questions, tips, critiques, and comments are welcome.

Final note: Trouble in Tokyo never happened in this universe. The events of all five seasons of the TV series happened, but never the events of the movie. That's how I can write Robin and Argent as a couple, as inspired by my and Dark Charaxes' musings and fics. Those of you who are diehard Robin/Starfire fans, bring it on. I'm not afraid of you. Everyone else, you're free to keep on reading.