A/N: Listened to Deadmau5 for hours. Also listened to Glitch Mob and Daft Punk on Pandora. Yes. Daft Punk. Rock on.
Anyway, this chapter was hard to create. I had to make another chapter after this one to make sure it flowed correctly...and I'm hoping things will go smoothly and that nothing will be disjointed...
But alas, I had a burning desire for reviews and I was wanting to post this for a while, so hopefully everything I want will fall into place. Reason being that my brother shined a light on another idea I'd only been, at most, thinking of using. muhahaha...
Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, own Hellsing or the characters in it. It is owned by Kohta Hirano, Dark Horse Manga, and any other business or people who assisted in creating these fascinating characters!
Coercion
Heinkel buried herself in the one thin bed sheet she possessed. An uncomfortable cot creaked under her frail body. She groaned as her body was laid to rest, if only for moments at a time. She curled into a ball and stroked her katana, remembering flashbacks of her old partner, and of her old paladin boss. Those days were a simpler time, a simpler world. Now, there was shadiness, grey areas where there should be clarity, and mercy where there should be none.
"He htold hme hto," She whispered, "Hi hwas hollowing horders…"
The agent hushed herself and glanced at each window, as if someone was watching her. She'd closed the blinds and darkened the room to an almost pitch-black state. It soothed her slightly, but a movement in the corner caused her to rip her pistol from its holster and point it straight at the intruder.
"Who's hthere?" She yelled.
A muffled answer replied, "Heinkel?"
The disturbed agent snickered and withdrew her weapon, "HMark, HI suppose HI should have hguessed hit hwas hyou who hwas hollowing hme."
The agent afar walked closer to her and placed himself at the foot of her bed, the cot creaking at his weight too.
"You know the whole rest of Iscariot is hunting you. The Vatican has put out an order for your death," he said softly, mournfully.
Heinkel snorted, "Hthey htaught hme how hto hbe hin hiding hfor hyears; hyou hthink HI hwon't hmake hit?"
Mark inhaled slowly, "They sent everyone to kill you…including me…" he whispered the last part and turned to her.
She looked at him with indifference, "Hare hyou hgoing hto hkill hme?"
Mark fidgeted, uneasy of the question and turned back around to not look at her, "Do I have a choice, Heinkel?"
Her expression turned to wistful insight as she smiled, "...Hyou halways have ha hchoice hin hlife. Hit's hjust hometimes heasier hto helieve hyou hdon't. Ha hpriest hmany hyears hago htaught hme hthat."
Mark stood up and turned to her once more, his figure towering over her own, "I just want to know one thing. Why?"
The first agent looked up at him, her eyes narrowing, "Hwhy hwhat?"
"Why did you kill Chief Makube?" he blurted out, practically shouting, "Why did you murder our boss? What could possibly make you want to kill him?"
At the name, Heinkel twitched, "Hdo hyou helieve hin ha hbetter hcause?" She bluntly asked.
Mark laughed bitterly and gripped at his pistol, "I ask you one simple question, and as an answer, you give me another question."
Heinkel's eyes darkened dangerously, "Hcomplicated hquestions hcome hwith hcomplicated hanswers. HI hask hyou hagain: Hdo hyou helieve hin ha hgreater hcause?"
"Better, greater cause for what?" he answered in a question.
"Ha hbetter hcause hfor humanity!" Heinkel shouted, "Hdo hyou hnot hunderstand hwhat Chief Makube hmade hme hdo? He hbegged hme hto hkill him hafter hwhat he'd hdone!"
Mark looked on with a perturbed face, "What?" The fire in his eyes dulled to a wave of confusion.
The first agent stood up, leveling the second eye to eye, "HMakube hwas hthe hone hto hlead hthe Vatican hon habout hthe Equilibrium. HMakube hwas hinfluential hin hconvincing hthe Vatican hto hjoin htheir hcause, hto hjoin htheir hpurpose, htheir hcalling."
Mark averted his eyes under her cold stare, "So the Vatican sided with the Equilibrium."
"Hthey hdid," She answered, her tone acidic. "He helieved hthat hit hwould hbring hlight hto Section XIII hin hits htime hof hdarkness.
"In feeling inferior, Chief Makube sought to redeem Section XIII's once great power by allying us with the E.O.H.? It was him?" Mark still needed confirmation upon so much information that had been kept from him.
Heinkel nodded, "Hindeed, hit hwas. Makube hthought hthat hsomehow hour hjoining hforces hwould hkill hthe hdisease hof hthe hvampire. Hit hwas honly hafter hthat hhe hrealized hwhat he'd hdone, hthat hit hwas htoo hlate."
Mark shakily sighed and decided to sit back down on the uneven cot, "So he asked you, begged you, to kill him."
She nodded silently and sat back down with him, "Hand HI hdid, hwillingly. How hfar hwould hyou hgo hto hobey hyour hmaster?"
"Heinkel, you know that," Mark softly whined, "To Hell and back."
She looked at him like the answer had been said to her before, but before he could ask, her gaze turned to a forlorn tone. The younger agent watched her expressions change, and noticed her state of dishevelment. Her hair was unkempt, her clothes filthy with mud encrusted cloth, and her eyes darting to every corner of the room. He swallowed hard, knowing that she was, or very well could be, going insane. The pressure put on her, as well as the stress, was enough to plunder any man. And what was worse was the fact that in following orders, and following her own religion's beliefs, she was now condemned to death. Mark knew what she stood for: Catholicism. And he also knew that what the Equilibrium was doing was flatly against it. But both knew that judgment was often clouded upon the presentation of such a tempting offer, and especially one that could possibly achieve the extinction of vampires.
"The worst part is that Hellsing doesn't even know…" Mark softly chuckled, "And if only they knew…"
Heinkel chuckled too, only a certain sound in it made Mark look at her. His eyes widened as she continued to chuckle, which turned into a laugh. He shook his head violently and gasped.
"You DIDN'T!"
"Oh," she murmured, "Hbut HI hdid."
Mark sputtered, trying to find the words that would calm his bubbling rage, "Do you have any idea how many Iscariot laws that–"
"Hto Hell hwith Iscariot hlaws hand hcodes hof hconduct!" Heinkel shouted, "Hif Father HAnderson hknew hwho hthey hallied hthemselves hwith, he hwould hcome hback hfrom hthe hgrave hand hpersonally hassassinate hthe Pope hwho hconsented hto hthis hmadness hin hthe hfirst hplace!"
Mark stopped in his verbal tracks and paused, letting in a quieting calm enter the room as well as to the conversation, even though it was a small pause. Both agents glanced at the other multiple times and then back across the room. Mark closed his eyes and placed his hands together on his lap.
"I do."
Heinkel looked up at him with a frown, "Hwhat?"
His eyes still closed, "You asked me if I believed in a greater cause. Well, I do. I believe in a better cause than what Iscariot's settled for."
The first agent sighed, content, "Hyou hsee hwhat HI hhad hto hdo. HI ham hnow han hagent hgone hrogue, hwithout ha title, hwithout ha hfaith hto hrepresent, hand hwithout hany hfaith hof hmy hown."
"I have faith," Mark lightly countered, "And this faith I have in humanity, guarding it against all evils, and the faith I have in agents like us…for that, I'm staying with you."
She turned to him, and for the first time in ages, she truly smiled, a light flickering back into her eyes. Miark smiled back and laughed.
"There is one thing I want to know, however…" he added quickly.
Heinkel let him continue.
"Why did you tell Hellsing? Why tell the very people who are our sworn enemy?" A sadness entered his eyes again.
She smiled, "HI hdidn't htell hthem hso hmuch has HI hleft ha hint…ha hclue, hif hyou hwill. Hbesides, HI'd hlove hto hsee Hellsing hburn hfrom hthe hinside hout; hwouldn't hyou?" the grin turned into a smile.
Alucard inhaled the night air and felt himself relax almost into a meditative state. It had been three weeks since the last time anyone had heard of the Equilibrium. The vampires of the Hellsing Household found themselves grow more and more frustrated at the dead ends of each investigation. The first was pulling up Lord Ethridge's phone records, email records, and camera recordings on every street in London. Nothing. Then came the investigation of every Convention member. Alucard grinned at the memory of the eleven men looking in utter shock and betrayal at Integra's request. Yet all were compliant, and nothing was found.
Then came the investigations of the SAS teams. Though bitter words were choked back and unspoken, there was some understanding that everyone, including them, had to be investigated. Still, nothing came up. Integra was beginning to doubt her team, as well as herself. Most nights, Seras would try futilely to comfort the director, and most nights Alucard would disappear with SAS on their missions for sport.
"NOW!" Colonel Voss shouted the command.
SAS infantry soldiers instantly fired their rocket launchers. Each weighed only 25 pounds and was able to be carried by a designated solder. Within seconds, the building was hit and the missiles exploded on impact. However, they were not ordinary missles. These were top grade AT4 rocket launchers that fired breaching fragmentation missiles; the first portion a shape charge that blows a hole into a wall into a concentrated charge within a 4ft. radius' the second portion a 70mm frag grenade that explodes 10-15 milliseconds after the first impact. The thrust of the missiles into the building continued them through the hole and allowed the grenades to destruct intide the rooms. Instantly, the explosion burst outward, a defaning din accompanied the impact and forced a wave of wind outward at unbelievable speed, causing a mini shockwave. Glass shattered, the wood bent and cracked, exploding outward a rain of splinters that were flying in every direction. Voss almost immediately heard the cries of the inhabitants of the building, and his heart began to race with anticipation. He held his hand out in a fist, ordering just SAS suits to go in first. No doubt, the vampires wouldn't leave their den. They would fight to their second death.
Rex led the way with Colonel Voss behind. Baako was in the shadows, where he liked to be. Rex shouted as he slammed into the rock wall. It caved in just as quickly and revealed a darkened room only lit by flames. Voss followed, noticing an eerie silence within the halls of the store as the dust began to settle and bodies and dust piles became visible. The flames were rising, and yet there was not a vampire to be seen. After a blast like the AT4s, what was once a huge room filled with vampires now was reduced to ash and dust.
"There here…just waiting for your move," Alucard muttered from within the walls.
Colonel Voss slowly crept into another room, watching the curtains catch fire and plastic melt as it dribbled to the floor. "Enough of this pussy-footing."
Rex agreed and gripped at his M134. But just as he was about to pull the trigger, a swarm of vampires appeared from the shadows and toppled over him with imeasurable speed. Colonel Voss ran forward and ripped them apart with his giant claws laced with silver tips that made the heathens scream as they burned. Voss quickly turned around and saw more coming on his flank. He opened fire with his gun and tore apart their line fast enough, but some started to seep from the ceiling and fell onto him.
"ALUCARD!" Colonel Voss shouted as his body turned within the suit. Three vampires toppled on top of him, causing it to sway.
A flash, and the three were ripped to shreds. A dark laugh followed their demise. As quick as he came, he left with the same grace.
"You may come with guns and bulky armor, but you're not as fast as a vampire," Alucard stood on the roof of the alleyway, already safely away.
Voss fired his gun next to the vampire and watched another newborn splatter all over the elder's red coat. He then slashed a different vampire's head off with his metallic claws, "We don't need to be fast in order to be effective! Now GET MOVING!"
Rex charged forward without hesitation and straight into the store. More vampires flooded out of the place in a frenzy, trying to fight with their lives intact. But each suited man fed silver and Holy water-tipped bullets into the skins of every vampire that was visible. Rex sheered off a vampire's arm with the butt of his gun, which was conveniently one long blade. He then punched another's face until the skull cracked and detached from the shoulders. Voss roared in laughter as more piled on top of his suit, desperately attempting to rip out chords, wires, and malfunction anything in the process. But to no avail, thanks to the high collar. Voss just reached over his head and picked off each, squeezing them until their bodies crushed under his force of his metallic pistons and armor.
"They pop so easily!" Rex yelled in glee, "Not so tough now that you've met your match!" He ripped another vampire in half.
Colonel Voss took his giant M134 out and fed more bullet rounds from his backpack into the clip. He pulled the trigger and proceeded to shred the vampires with alacrity at 3000 bullets per minute. In an instant, ten had their insides ripped apart, and had no time to regenerate nearly fast enough. Screams came as they began to charge him; but Voss laughed maniacally and egged them on as he fed more and more bullets into the mass until it started to thin.
Alucard formed into a huge hound and roared as he tore apart some of the last vampires within fifteen feet of him. Even though all of his victims wailed in agony, begging for him to spare their lives, he did not hesitate to end them. It brought him joy to see the light leave their eyes. Joy and happiness. No feeling in the world could replace it.
Alucard felt himself reform, but a shot fired right next to his head caused his black hair to whoosh pass and whip his cheek. The vampire looked up on the roof. A dark figure and a silver barrel of a Barrett M82 silhouetted the night sky. The vampire grinned.
"Baako," he whispered, "I'm surprised you didn't make your aim a little more to the left with that sniper rifle."
The sniper grunted and shifted his position to hit another enemy next to Voss. He still refused to ever speak, especially in the presence of the damned.
Alucard wiped blood off of his coat and proceeded forward. The more he tore things apart, the better he began to feel, even though he didn't need their life essence anymore. He was free of that bondage. He was now free of needing to worry about familiars, about actually dying, and about depending on humans to survive. Granted, he still drank blood to sustain his energy, but even that was merely for the taste and from the habit.
The vampire made his way through the last of the freaks and into the store along with SAS. They had cleared the area and were now searching through cabinets, drawers, and closets that hadn't been affected by the growing fires. The place they were in was a rundown store called Lucky's Grocers. The chain had been out of business for some time, which was an ideal spot for a pack of vampires; hidden in the open, but closed off to society. Aisle ways were pushed until they toppled over, doors were bashed down until they splintered, and windows were shattered. It began to resemble a battlefield.
"GO GO GO!" The Colonel shouted as the rest of the SAS soldiers flooded into the building.
The suits had paved the way with force and bulk, but now the regular team raced inside and fought the growing presence of the ghouls. On corners of the walls, they huddled and shot at the freaks with their own AK-47s, M16s, and some alterated FN SCARS back to back.
The last vampires, in their cornered state, began to summon their ghouls. Droves of undead formed out of the ground and lumbered forward. Few had actual weapons, but because of their number, it was hard to tell what damage they could do. Quickly, Baako and Voss threw air-bursting low viscosity napalm grenades, they themselves ducking for cover. The flash and spurt of magma-hot liquid sprayed all over the ghouls, as well as their masters. Vampire and ghoul alike started to scream in agony as the flames engulfed their bodies until all went silent as they turned into dusty, crumbled ash. The napalm left burned through the floors and to the ground, and plastic started to burn at the sides. The soldiers revealed themselves once more and began to pick up deserted weapons and some casings.
"The place is going to burn down!" Rex shouted over the growing roar of the flames as the regular infantry started to head out of the building.
"No!" Colonel Voss yelled back, though they could hear each other just fine in the suits with an intercom system, "We still have a few minutes. Baako captured one; we need Alucard over here."
Voss turned around slowly in the suit and signaled Alucard to come closer. He did so, and exchanged glances with the Colonel. One vampire left was chained to a metal chair. The chain, no doubt, was silver blessed in a church, and the SAS in suits would occasionally spray her with canteens of holy water. The woman screamed for her undead life as Alucard approached her. The elder took a cursory glance at the fact that the silver chains were digging into her skin, causing her to bleed out. But he had a few minutes to spare.
"Oh God," she whispered, "You're from Hellsing."
"God won't save you," Alucard whispered back, "It's just you and me and the abyss."
She tried to brush her brunette matted hair away from her face, a trail of blood trickled from her mouth. The room began to feel hot, stuffy as the fires began to hug the reinforced walls, "I suppose it's always been…"
She cringed as Alucard laughed and drew up close to her, "There is nothing left for you, especially not God. He doesn't like our kind, you know that," he softly chided.
The woman resisted her chains and tried to stand as she saw the first glimpses of fire. But the motion was abruptly stopped as the rings on her chains cut further into her skin, opening new wounds. She sat back down and bit at her tongue. Helplessness filled her eyes as they turned to her fate.
"Why?" She asked in a begging tone.
"It's fun," Alucard took no time to hesitate, "And I truly hope that someday you'll understand that the world means nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Please, I'm an innocent vampire. I'm not one of those who feeds on humans. I get my blood by taking it from the European National Red Cross or from blood packets," she begged as he knelt in front of her broken body.
"It may explain, but it does not excuse," Alucard countered, "Whatever your aspirations, you chose damnation. And for that, you shall be punished with the utmost severity."
"I was turned against my will and forced into becoming a vampire! I don't even remember how I was changed! One day I was human, then the next I remember I was a vampire! And yet I have nothing but good intentions as one now," she argued, starting to tremble.
Alucard grinned as he looked at the walls crumbling, "Well, you know what they say about even the best of intentions…"
She began to cry and shook her head.
"The road to Hell was paved with them," he whispered in her ear and grabbed a hold of her head. Pulling her face back, he felt his fangs lengthen. "For what it's worth, you should repent so you'll get a spot in Purgatory."
She hissed as he latched onto her throat and began absorbing her blood. She struggled and tried to fight, the last bit of innate human will to live dying within her. She eventually stopped and let him finish draining her. He was quick in his actions, knowing that she deserved a better fate. He tried to make it painless out of an old habit to be somewhat chivalrous. She could sense this and whispered a 'thank you' as the light dimed in her eyes.
Colonel Voss and Rex were watching in a sort of disgusted awe at the sight. Baako joined them moments later, but just grunted slowly which resembled a growl of disapproval. Though they dealt with death every day, the three men seemed to grow silent at executions. To them, it wasn't entirely the woman's fault if she had been unwillingly turned. And yet it was like a sick twist of correcting a Karmic injustice, trying to let vampires kill themselves.
Sparks flew as more things in the store caught fire. The soldiers looked anxiously around, knowing the frame of the building could collapse at any given moment. Alucard took his time, wiped his mouth, and laughed inwardly at their faces. The vampire searched her pockets and found a wallet. He opened it to a name; Clarissa Boyd. Alucard decided to bring it back to Hellsing and have Albert run her ID. He stood slowly, gently placing the woman's head forward to rest on her chest, and walked forward.
"I have all we need. We killed the leader a half an hour ago when we first torched the place with the rocket launchers."
Rex looked around at the charred building, some random parts on the ground still aflame, "Yeah, about that…I think we had a little too much fun with those."
"Nonsense!" Colonel Voss shouted, semi-deaf from the explosions and gunfire, "If you need to kill a horde of vampires, then what better way to do so than to burn 'em in the fire that created them?"
Baako grunted again, only this time it sounded approving, and scanned the room out of habit. Rex didn't argue and began to pick up valuable silver shell casings, "You know that London will paint us black?" Rex asked, his suit making all kinds of machine-related noises.
"They already have, from calling us tyrants to as low as naming us similar to the very monsters we try to kill," Voss groaned and tried to nurse his head only to find a huge operated and fully-clawed hand about to smack his helmet. He abruptly stopped the action and sighed in frustration.
"What a mess," the X.O. muttered as he checked his surroundings and realized how there were civilians on the ground, along with dead vampires, though most of them now were dust piles, "The police will have our heads for this...all of the bad PR..."
"We are out of Scotland Yard's jurisdiction, remember? We have full immunity from the King himself to get rid of vampire threats. These poor fools were in the wrong place at the wrong time mixed up with the wrong people…or I should say vampires," Colonel Voss reminded Rex.
Rex nodded and brushed off his suit. He checked all functioning systems and individual power levels of his suit, armor capacity, damage reports, and munitions levels. All seemed to be clear of any outstanding extremes and each of the soldiers began to make their way out of the building. The clunky metallic clanks were softly reassuring as the dusted smoke parted and they reached a bloodied street filled with ash. The scene was something that everyone was familiar with, and yet each time civilian and soldier alike saw their home in ruins with dead piling up, it broke hearts. It broke hearts to see a war drag on for fifty years, knowing it would never stop, knowing that it would never end; not unless something truly drastic happened.
Rex, and Voss hopped into the Armored Personnel Vehicle and used the computer's AI inside to scan for any possible vampires still lurking about. Nothing popped up on their screens, so they continued forward and into their huge jumpseats. Baako stayed behind to carry the dead into mortuary vans and wounded into paramedic vans. The fire department had already arrived and was trying to quell the spreading fire to other buildings. A light rain accompanied their journey, sprinkling their armor until plump beads welled up and trickled down the polymer. No one spoke; they just looked out the window at the dark streets seeming to wind on a never-ending maze. Voss glanced down at his claws and watched as the last bits of blood had washed away in the rain and dripped to the floow of the vehicle.
Alucard sat silently, not inclined to phase instantly back to the Hellsing mansion. He mulled over the idea that the vampires they had just killed were too easy to kill. A strange feeling crept into him the more he thought about it. Alucard decided to watch the men's expressions. Baako's indifference as they left, Rex's dull responsiveness, and Voss's hardened look of a veteran. There was no mistaking the fact that all of them had seen too much of war in their lifetime. But what they chose to do with it fascinated Alucard to no end. Where he himself would grow slowly more insane and blood-thirsty, they would revert inward and refuse to talk about it. They were more in control, clearly. But it took a keen eye to notice their durability, their strength, their endurance and stamina to handle such situations. They were the best of the best. They were SAS. No one else could possibly handle Hellsing's madness; and even they sometimes had trouble executing orders.
Alucard could tell that they were slouching into a sort of tired position. Colonel Voss had been a young man when the Nazis invaded England in 1999. He was a simple Lieutenant back then with sandy blonde hair and aspirations to one day become a Field Marshall for her Majesty. A bit on the cocky and arrogant side, but a good man in times of conflict. But one day would change his career path forever. Operation Sea Lion 2. He remembered it well. The stench of the dead. The blackened and marred grounds of his home ruined by enemy damned. His friends murdered one by one by an enemy he didn't think could possibly exist. He won the Victoria Cross for his bravery in holding to his post for ten full minutes with nothing but fifty men and no back up ammunition. No one survived but him and one other man who died later of injuries. He had lost everything, including his fiancée.
But what had he done? Alucard thought as the group of men continued forward at a slow pace through hollow green streets of the beginnings of the countryside. He hadn't turned away from his humanity, he didn't drive himself insane and kill off everyone else he'd come to love. Voss had run up the ranks to become British MI-6, and later transferred to SAS. In a world that almost sealed his dark fate, he defied all and not only succeeded in surviving, but kept his sanity preserved; something that was gone and forever unattainable for Alucard.
Each of them had turned away from the dark, including even Alucard's fledgling, and had the strength to live on. Humanity continued to perplex him, despite having the chance to figure it out thoroughly by living longer than any human. The longer he lived, the more surprises came his way. Was that his underlying reason for living so long? Because there was something worth living for?
"Alucard," Voss said softly, but the vampire heard the mechanical voice even through thick armor.
The vampire walked up and stopped, "Yes?"
"The rest of us are headed back to the armory to hand these back to Albert. We are then going to debrief Sir Integra on what happened…and of the fact that there is probably going to be a huge mob protesting outside of her gates tomorrow," he stated and turned slowly around.
Alucard nodded and felt himself fade away, watching the exterior surroundings melt away to old and chipping painted walls. He dug deeper and soon found the dark walls of his dungeon, his prison, his chamber. The familiarity soothed him as he instinctively sensed the sun's rays rising and headed for his coffin. Someone else's presence startled him, but he quickly remembered it was his servant. Peering over her coffin, he lifted it slightly ajar and looked down at Seras sleeping peacefully. He smiled as she opened her droopy eyes.
"Master," she said groggily, "Is there something you need?" Her hair was already matted to one side, making her un-groomed self look especially appetizing to a hungry master.
"No," he answered her softly, already attempting to close the lid. But a hand on his made him instantly stop.
"How did the mission go?" she asked, not a bit fazed by her outward physical contact, even though he made a point of looking down at her hand so she would notice.
The elder slid his hand away from hers and stood up gracefully, "We killed every last vampire. It was a complete success, in that regard."
Seras quickly sat up and pulled her knees up to her chest, "Meaning that everyone was hoping for a lead…"
"Mhmm," Alucard walked to his only crack of a window and gazed out, pulling a blood packet from the folds of his dark maroon jacket.
"You need rest," Seras looked over his tired face, sagging shoulders, and a sudden bitterness about his face she didn't understand.
He chuckled at her statement through the straw feeding him blood, "What I need is eternal rest, Police Girl."
She was at his side instantly and lightly put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "Then, perhaps since the next best choice is temporary rest...to sleep in a coffin…"
He turned around to face her and grinned, though his eyes dared her, "A mothering one, you are."
She smiled politely, her now sharp blue eyes glowing, "They didn't call me Kitten for nothing in the force."
He seemed almost inclined to say a furthering statement, but he paused and sighed instead, "I can't. I must inform Integra."
Kitten cocked her head to one side and frowned, "Of what? I thought you said the mission was a success..."
Alucard turned away from her and began to pace, "We did kill everyone that was present," he paused, "But I can taste manufactured vampire easily."
Seras's eyes widened, "W-W-WH-WHAAATT?"
He sighed, whispering something inaudible even to her ears and closed his eyes, "As I was consuming one of the vampires' blood, I could taste something that I hadn't tasted in over thirty years. At first, I didn't understand what it was. But a thought occured to me: that vampire tasted just like Luke Valentine, and all of the other damned Nazis I had to eat, which makes me wonder if she, along with the others, was actually manufactured."
Seras felt her skin crawl at the thought of more manufactured vampires invading England, "You're saying that you think...It's not like vampires today would consent to be copied or tested upon! Where would anyone be able to make a copy of a vampire? You can't just pick one off the street; they need to be of your blood like me or Mina because you directly turned us; and Mina's body was burned in the Zeppelin..."
Alucard shuffled his feet over to his black obsidian coffin and opened it with a simple hand gesture. The lid flew open and revealed a softly-padded inside. But the elder did not slide into it. He stared down into his comfortable resting place and contemplated his information. Everything had to have been destroyed that night. Between the explosion of Seras fighting the Captain, and between the Major and Integra fighting, and then Seras blowing up what was left; everything had to have been destroyed, including Mina's body...right?
"Mina's body would have been rendered useless after that many copies. Plus, her bones were frail and old; a much younger specimen would be used now," Alucard mused softly.
Seras and Alucard both snapped their heads up and stared at one another in a moment of epiphany and realization.
She slowly shook her head in disbelief, "Wait...no...that's not possible..." she whispered.
Alucard's eyes lit up as he began to laugh louder and louder, "It has to be...It has to be!"
I put it on a cliff-hanger. Hate reading them, but secretly love making them. Start thinking...hehe..everything that I throw at you is made for a reason.
Update finished! Reviews may commence.