Hello, my freaky darlings!
Geez, it's been a long time again, hasn't it? Well, first I had a vacation, and I decided, no work of any kind then. But when vacation was over, I hit a writer's block. Hate it when they happen. Thank you all who have been patient enough with me.
Thank you for the wonderful reviews: NightWolf214, Tsuki no Rekuen, Andromeda, Kars, Elenisil's journey, hellsingfan101, Irena, Noitar Arat and Fleathcer.
Disclaimers: same as before.
CHAPTER 29: THE BLACK HOUND
Dartmoor, England 1899
It was sunset, but only those who were use to the completely grey sky would be able to tell that. Cold wind blew over the moors of Dartmoor, fog covered the landscape and all the villagers from the nearby village had locked their doors. It was exactly the kind of night you did not want to be hunting midians.
Unfortunately, as Abraham Van Helsing, now officially known as Abraham Hellsing, had learned long ago, this was a very typical night of hunting a midian.
Van Helsing and a group of couple dozen men had arrived to this area few hours earlier. They had gotten the basic layout of their surroundings and what was on the moor. Some old ruins, graveyard, mines and of course lots and lots of deep and deadly mires all around the area. Nearby was the Grimpen village and few miles away was the Baskerville hall, an old mansion build by an aristocrat back in the 17'Th century.
One of the soldiers walked towards Van Helsing.
"Sir! We have searched the surrounding areas. None of the amulets reacted to anything unholy in the village".
"And the people?" Van Helsing asked.
"They have locked their doors".
Van Helsing tried to see the last rays of sun through the gray sky. "They know. Our target is very old and most certainly powerful. He must have had his nest here for centuries already. People know better than to venture out for the night".
"Your orders, sir?"
Van Helsing turned and walked to one of the carriages they had come with. It carried only one huge black coffin that had small writing on it.
Bird of Hermes is my name. Eating my wings to make me tame.
"Time to rise, servant. Hunt awaits".
The coffin's lid opened only partly, just enough to let black smoke to escape. The smoke gathered in front of Van Helsing and materialized to his only non-human servant.
"You called, Master?" Alucard said.
"The target is somewhere there" Van Helsing said, pointing the vast wilderness of the moor. "What do you think we should prepare for?"
Alucard closed his eyes and exhaled the air. "This place has been unclean for a long time. He is out there and he is well protected against you".
"What do you suggest?"
Alucard smirked. "Why, Master, asking an opinion of a lowly servant?"
"A wolf knows wolf".
Alucard turned towards the moor. "Stay and protect the villagers. There are most probably ghouls here, maybe even lower vampires. I will hunt him down. He is old, I can sense his power all the way here".
Van Helsing took a deep breath. "Very well, Alucard. You know your orders: search and destroy".
"Yes, my Master" Alucard bowed.
As Alucard walked away from the road to the moor, he stopped and turned to two soldiers. Men tried to hide their fears when meeting his red gleaming eyes, but it was no use. He approached one of them and pointed a gun he was holding.
"Silver bullets?"
"A-Always" man stammered.
"How many shots?"
"Six".
"May I borrow it?"
Man all but threw the gun at him.
"Thank you. And do guard my coffin. It's my last kingdom" Alucard said and then disappeared to the moor.
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Although to Alucard the speed he crossed the moor felt nothing more than just quick walking, a human eye would not have been able to detect him. He more or less glided over the moor, enjoying the fresh night air and trying to locate his target. Which wasn't easy because his presence was all over the moor.
He has been here for a long time.
Alucard felt excited. Whoever he was about to face was old and powerful. A true undead ruler of England, who would have probably fought him over his territory, if Dracula's plans had succeeded.
Ah, that one brought unpleasant feeling to him. He had failed. Or rather, his former self had failed. Count Dracula had come to this land, all dash and dare, and had met his better. Not only that, he had been made to realise his own inferiority before mortal men.
He had gone through all those centuries thinking humans weak, because they die. Because they are so weak and only have small amount of time for themselves. He had always known there was no such thing as true immortality and that he too would one day end, but not by the hands of humans!
But it was through their hands that Dracula had ceased to exist. And he had realised the true power every human has. The will of being a human. When death approaches it is easy to give up humanity for some extra time in the world. But giving up humanity is not to become stronger. The weak ones do that, give up their power. He had given up that power.
Abraham Van Helsing would never, ever give up his humanity. And for that Alucard found he could not bring himself to hate the man. Instead he respected him with bitterness.
Maybe it was this newfound realisation, along with newfound abilities the Cromwell ritual had released, that his new role as slayer of vampires was not as difficult as he had expected. Then again the vampires he had so far discovered were all small fries. Incompetent little pups with no true understanding what they had become. He wondered if he would be able to raise his hand against some of his old comrades. Like Elizabeth or Asa, whom he knew to be alive because of his connection to them.
That's why he was excited to now test his powers against an opponent who comprehended what he was.
Speaking of which... Alucard thought, as he observed ghouls rising from the moors and heading to the village. He must have sensed our presence as well. Abraham's boys can hold their own for a while. But I bet he is not going to be happy if I take too much of my time here...
He stood in front of an opening that led to the old mine tunnels. An ideal place to hide from humans and light of day. Just as Alucard felt his presence oozing from the tunnel, he allowed the vampire to feel his presence as well.
It didn't take long before a figure stepped out from the shadows. The man had handsome, if a bit rough, features. He was dressed in a long black cape that nearly covered him completely, revealing only bits of the 17th century clothing he was wearing under it. His hair was long and unclean, and while his face would have seemed perfectly normal his fingers had huge claws on them.
The man was watching Alucard silently, measuring him with his eyes. "Who trespasses on my lands?" he finally asked, his voice rough.
"A former king who is now a mere servant. They call me Alucard, though that is not my true name" Alucard replied. "Who am I speaking with?"
"I was once called Sir Hugo, the only true ruler of these moors" the man replied. "I've heard of you. The very night air has whispered of you. You came here as a conqueror and now kill your own kind. Why?"
Alucard shrugged. "I'm so... changeable".
Without any warning Alucard pulled the handgun he had "borrowed" from a soldier and emptied it on Sir Hugo, shooting six silver bullets to different parts of his body. Sir Hugo staggered back a step in surprise and gave a howled in anger. His body then tensed and Alucard watched as the bullets came out of his body, landing to the ground.
"Did you think that would be enough?" Sir Hugo growled.
"Not at all, but I wanted to test this weapon. I've never shot one before" Alucard said and grinned.
In a flash Sir Hugo was gone. He was moving around Alucard, circling him, with such a speed Alucard had difficulty to tell where he was. He moved fast and stroke with precision. Alucard didn't bother to even move, he allowed the sharp blows to appear out of nowhere and rip his body to shreds.
When it was over, Sir Hugo stopped and looked down the bloody mess on the ground. He kept staring it with intensity. "Why aren't you turning to ash?" he finally asked.
Then he watched as the bits and pieces came back together and Alucard chuckled as his body was repaired. "You are strong, really strong. I want to know if you're stronger than I am. Control art restriction released to level 3...2...1. Situation A. Cromwell approval is in effect. Releasing the power restriction until target has been silenced".
Sir Hugo didn't say anything. Instead he watched as this vampire, who had just regenerated back together from a state which should mean death to anyone, was surrounded by black mist which held dozens, maybe hundreds, of glowing eyes. Alucard's suit changed to black leather jacket and his limbs and hair grew.
"Now, Sir Hugo, what do you have?"
Hugo didn't answer. Instead now it was Alucard's turn to watch as Hugo's body went through a transformation. His muscles grew, his limbs stretched out, his cape turned to black fur and his head split into two. Soon in his place stood a huge black hound with two heads and red eyes.
"A hellhound?" Alucard asked.
"My familiar and loyal servant. He only serves the strongest" Sir Hugo's voice came from within the hound.
The hellhound took a gigantic leap and descended on Alucard. One of the hound's heads sank its teeth on Alucard's shoulder while its paws trapped him beneath the creature's weight. Alucard's eyes winded when he realised that hound wasn't really ripping through his flesh, but consuming the souls from within him.
This... this is... amusing!
Alucard suddenly pulled up so fast that his body was shred in the process. Part of his body was left for hound's other head to consume, other part turned to mist and shot into the other head's mouth. As expected he didn't find any internal organs like from a normal hound, he found the chaotic sea of souls that this familiar had eaten. And in the midst of it all was its current master Sir Hugo.
"You are the first one to dare to enter inside my hellhound. But it will not give you any leverage over me. This sea of chaos and madness will swallow you" Sir Hugo said, his voice showing mild delight.
While the waves of thousand screaming souls washed over him, Alucard only kept coming forward until his misty form tightened itself around Sir Hugo, who had a look of surprised written over his face.
"Unlike any other opponent you've faced before, I have already went through this ordeal once" Alucard said and sank his teeth into Sir Hugo.
It felt like the whole world exploded around them the next moment. They were back on moor, Alucard had his body intact again and he was holding Sir Hugo, drinking his blood. The hellhound lay around them in pieces, and Alucard's shadows swallowed the parts.
"How...?" Hugo asked with a weak voice.
"You had excellent armour, so I had to destroy you from inside out. And you defeated the hellhound will now serve me. I will not add you to my souls. You deserve your defeat warrior" Alucard said.
He then ran his hand through Sir Hugo's chest and watched with glee as his opponent crumbled to dust.
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When Alucard returned to village, he saw that the soldier's were already packing things up and disposing of what little was left of ghouls' bodies. He walked to Van Helsing.
"Mission accomplished, my Master. The target has been silenced for good".
Abraham nodded. "Yes, I had a feeling you had succeeded when the ghouls suddenly died on us".
"I trust I didn't take too long".
"Henderson was wounded, but not fatally. No one died. The men hold their own good the little time they came to us".
Alucard nodded. He then took the handgun. "Master, would it be possible to have something like this made for me? They look like wonderful toys".
Van Helsing looked Alucard for a long time. "Perhaps. But why made? Can't you use ones we have?"
"They're so small and fragile. I fear I may break them".
Van Helsing nodded. "I'll see what can be done..." he suddenly stopped and his eyes winded. "Alucard, what the hell is that?"
Alucard looked over his shoulder and saw that one of the hellhound's heads had materialized from his shoulder.
"You're going to take a lot of training, aren't you?" Alucard huffed. He then turned back to Van Helsing. "It followed me from the moors, Master. Can I keep it?"
To be continued...
Next chapter hopefully a lot sooner than this one.