Allied Powers part 2

"M-M-Master," Seras stuttered, turning back to the ghoul as it lowered its fighting stance.

"Mmmm," the ghoul mumbled, earning both vampires' attention.

The zombie was trembling slightly as it moved its mouth in a talking motion, lowering his hands further. The saw blades seized humming altogether and all that was left to hear was the ghoul trying to say something. Alucard moved away from his previous spot behind the hole in the wall and slowly stepped out to reveal himself in the moonlight. He began to grin when he saw Seras trying to make out what the ghoul was saying. The ghoul kept moaning through his motions until it finally produced what Alucard thought was the most interesting thing a zombie would ever say...

"Mijn huis... brand..." the ghoul dropped to its knees, looking up to Alucard and Seras.

With only the grace given by God, Alucard and Seras watched as the ghoul's face formed into a man with chiseled features. His beautiful grey eyes turning red from his last few tears. His skin was no longer that dusty brown symbolizing torn or dried flesh from death but a lovely tannish color filled with life and rosy cheeks underneath a handsome goutee. His hair, even the facial bit, was a vibrant red color with golden blonde roots. Seras gasped at this and crept towards the man. He was somehow still a human! She reached her hands out as she got closer to him, but Alucard raised his lanky arm ahead of the blonde fledgling and stopped her in her tracks. She snapped her head to her master only to see his grin erasing itself from his face.

"Mijn huis... mijn team... mijn familie..." the ghoul gasped from his tears dripping down his cheek then took a long gulping breath. He reached into his coat pocket and revealed a medallion with some foreign language scribbled at the bottom and a warrior holding the head of a large cat in his hand. Beneath it was a small coin that glittered gold in the moonlight. He held it up and heaved out, "Mijn vriend..."

"What happened to you?" Seras asked, fighting the tears about to fall from her own eyes.

"Vampier..." the man spat out, weeping in his sorrow. His hands were shaking as he brought them to support either side of his face. He closed his eyes and let the tears fall as he coughed in agony. He whispered, "Hinderlaag..."

"Master, what language is he speaking?" Seras asked, demanding some sort of sympathy from the man. She shoved Alucard's arm down then moved before him to see why he didn't react to weeping soul. She then called out to him, "Master! Please! If you can do something, then please help him!" Alucard remained silent until Seras called for him again, "Master!"

"What do you expect me to do for a dead man?" came her master's reply once his gazed changed from the zombie's to hers. He then challenged, "You can't make him your fledgling, your familiar, or your servant. This man is done with this world. You are no longer human, Seras Victoria. You accepted the path of a Draculina many years ago. On your own, you have learned to hunt and kill men like this in my absense. Will you continue to feel pity for a being you no longer are?"

"B-but..." Seras tried, looking back at the man crying and trembling with mortal sorrow. "Can't you spare him the way you did for me, master? Not all humans are bad. What would you have done if everything you knew and loved...?"

"Seras..." Alucard called, raising her chin with a lanky finger. He then said, "This man weeps for things that are dead. It was not his decision to watch everything around him die. Give him peace."

"Master, I-I-I can't..." Seras responded, drooping her head to cry for the lost soul behind her.

She didn't want to kill him even though she knew it was her job. She wanted him to be at peace but not at the price of death. She may not have understood his language, but she could hear in his sobbing that he lost more than anyone would ever know. He was the one ghoul who knew he was suffering; whereas, the others simply went on hunting for living flesh to feast upon. Why couldn't they spare this one soul - this one weeping mortal?

BANG! A shot rang through the air and a bullet pierced through the ghoul's heart as he kneel before the vampires speaking in his native language, the language neither of them had the chance to learn about. Seras and Alucard's eyes widened at the sudden death of the first ghoul to ever speak. The man spewed out blood from his mouth then descended to the floor as his eyes began to close. The last image of himself was simply a mindless zombie now lying on the floor dead. More gunshots raced through the air, piercing Alucard and Seras in major pressure points through the shoulders and collarbone respectively. Both vampires looked up to see a lit cigarette fill the dark hallways with a small amber light. As footsteps echoed and came closer towards them, the gleam from eyeglasses and the gold cross draped around someone's neck became clearer. Once the figure appeared before them with two pistols in her hands, Seras gasped at the figure and gritted her teeth in complete fury.

"Heinkel Wolfe..." she hissed.

"Pathetic vampire hunter..." the woman insulted, showing her masked face in the moonlight. "Why do you waste your time trying to save the enemy?"

"That was a human being, you bitch!" Seras spat out, clenching her fists tightly and ignoring her gunshot wounds. Heinkel simply stood there, clearly not understanding what Seras was insinuating and not caring what the ghoul was either. Seras's body shook with anger as her eyes glowed menacingly and her jaws tightened to the point that it began to hurt. She hissed then said, "You will pay dearly!"

With that, Seras surprised both Heinkel and Alucard as she lunged at the woman with impressive speed and only with her bare hands. Heinkel tried to defend herself by shooting at the vampire, but, in the end, she ended up having to barrel-roll away from the furious Draculina and fire a few rounds. Seras was in completely blind rage. Her eyes were flaming through the dark hallways and her strength came from the inside in waves until it reached to her fists in whisps. After flailing violently, she finally landed in several punches to her insensitive opponent. Heinkel retched out a handful of blood as she doubled over on the floor. She hadn't seen Seras behave in such a brutal manner before. The salty taste in her mouth almost made her vomit her stomach's contents.

Seras was already above her, letting a bloody tear fall from her eyes, and readied her next punch as it was surrounded by minute flames. Alucard's eyes widened at this, but he was rather proud of his fledgling as well and grinned at the seeping power. Heinkel got to the balls of her feet and jumped backward, just barely missing the obliterating attack as Seras landed her fist on the wooden floor. She gasped when she saw half her arm in the ground and gritted her teeth, seeing no other way to beat the angered woman before her besides using holy weapons from the Word. Seras yanked her arm out of the floor, bringing dirt and earth below the floor with her, and turned to Heinkel with a hiss. She breathed out an icy blow from her lips then beckoned Wolfe to fight with a few curls of her finger. Her hand lowered slowly then she bent both arms back and lunged at the priestess without a second thought. With a loud twack, Heinkel took a devastating blow to the face but countered it by grabbing the blonde's head and smashing it against the wall, forcing her head to break through the structure. Then, Heinkel removed a bible from her coat pocket and began chanting.

Seras snapped her head to Heinkel as she whispered holy hymns and scriptures. She then growled and yelled out, "You are my prey! You will not escape!"

Wolfe forced her hand into the bible and yanked out a bayonet blade from the pages, surprising Alucard and Seras. She reeled her armed hand back and thrusted the holy dagger into Seras's stomach, causing the blonde to scream in pain. Letting out a swear, she lifted her leg and kicked Seras in her chest, feeling the well-endowed flesh beneath the sole of her foot. Thinking she now had the upper hand, Heinkel leapt backwards into the shadows; however, Seras recovered from the kick with a swift flip to her feet and pulled the blade out of her body with a yelp in pain. Electricity rushed from the blade through her entire arm. She threw the blade at the nearest wall and lunged at Heinkel. Finding a better use for the holy blade, Seras pulled the blade back out and used her vampiric speed to rush at Wolfe. She then used the bayonet to cut across the priestess' chest. Wolfe's eyes blanched while Seras's glowed powerfully. Seras then punched Heinkel, feeling a rib or two fracture underneath her knuckles, and elbowed her in the stomach. She scoffed then spat out a bit of blood as she watched her enemy fly backwards.

Alucard was - dare we say it - a bit aroused by the two women fighting. Not that any guy wouldn't be, but this was simply fascinating! Seras walked up to Heinkel's damaged body, ready to tear her heart out, but she was foiled of this plan when Wolfe jumped onto her feet after springing from her hands. All the blood that spilled from her injuries retreated back to her body and closed her wounds from all of Seras's previous attacks. Smirking, the priestess took her pistols out and began firing. Seras dodged most of them, except for the one that grazed the left side of her cheek, and kept chopping or knife-handing Wolfe's sides to fracture more bones. Heinkel maneuvered passed Seras's attacks and managed to find her blind spot in the midst of leaps or bounds. She shot at it and hit Seras's left calf as the vampire girl sprung at her and slapped her across the face.

Alucard remained standing where he was since the ghoul had been shot and took out a packet of medical blood, provided by Baron vanGouge before his departure to Spain, to drink. He almost couldn't wait to go home and tell the butler or his master the exciting news of his fledgling and this oddly familiar face. Tonight was simply full of entertainment! He had completely forgotten about the ghoul dying at his feet. Reaching for the wrapped up straw attached to the bag, he grinned at the scene playing out in the distance. His Draculina had a rival of her own now; it was actually rather adorable, or say sweet if you will. He unwrapped the straw then pushed his straw's end into the hole and began sucking through the small tube for his food. After sucking for a while, he turned to the hall he entered to get inside of the antique building and proceeded to step outside to see the moon. Once outside of the door, he breathed the night's air and sucked at his blood pack again.

He then chuckled before saying, "What a lovely night to watch a movie. I have never been to Spain before, after all." Hearing moans from his fledgling and strings of curses from the priestess she was fighting, Alucard sighed in utter glee and said, "Then again, I did leave a great flick before watching the climax."

"Fight me, coward!" Seras screeched, yanking her hand out of a wall.

Heinkel tried shooting at Seras while she was stuck in the wall, but she had run out of ammo since her handling of the ghouls on her way here. Evidently, the head vampire wasn't anywhere near here, and there were ghouls crawling about to another part of the city. By the time she got to this holy ground, only one ghoul remained and this stupid blonde vampire couldn't find the decency or the balls to kill it. Heinkel would have loved to just fight with her bare hands and take the vampire down, but her mission was to rid this city of the ghouls. If she continued with this battle, her mission would fail and people would die. The priestess retrieved her bible once again and whispered yet another chant.

She said, panting for breath, "Another time perhaps. I cannot win against you like this. Not with your strength. Until next we meet, vampire lady..."

Pages of the bible ripped out of their binds as they engulfed Heinkel, rumbling the floors beneath them. The pages glowed a yellowish color then broke into pieces and disappeared with the wind like bits of dust, taking Wolfe with them. Seras gritted her teeth, still angry from the ghoul's death, still not satisfied with how it was treated, still bloodthirsty for battle. Not knowing what to do, she simply wept more bloodied tears. She hated this feeling of helplessness. She hated how a human being was treated by these vampire hunters. Why was everyone so cruel to the people they vowed to protect? Are they no better than the monsters they fight? Seras walked back in the general direction of the dead body to give it her condolences, hoping she could give the man some real peace. Everyone had been so cruel to him. No one cared. No one...

Alucard turned to the front door as Seras wobbled out, clothes tattered and bloody. Her top had been unbuttoned and unzipped, revealing a small view of her cleavage, but it was merely for a blood packet that was given to her. Funny how Baron somehow knew they would need them but didn't necessarily say why. Alucard then noticed the blood smudging her cheeks and a small blush creeping onto them. She was truly upset with that ghoul's death. Alucard looked into the night's sky, thinking of what to tell the poor dear, and simply came up with the simplest of ideas. He dug into his pocket on the inside of his red coat and pulled out a red Blackberry curve phone. Pressing the button with the green phone icon, per Baron's instructions before leaving, he noticed a short list of recent contacts. God knows he will never understand how humans find the time to develop these damn devices, but clearly Alucard could appreciate their convenience. On the top of the list was Baron's number. Alucard pushed the green phone icon again then placed the phone next to his ear. Seconds later, a clicking sort of noise sounded and that smooth, baritone voice that could freeze oceans came through. He wondered how Baron would fair as a vampire if he was granted immortality.

'Joshua, take that damn thing off the shelf before I set it on fire!' the butler threatened on the other end of the line, causing Alucard to chuckle a bit. Always so lively, that man! Baron's voice calmed down then asked, 'Hello, this is Baron speaking.'

"You never seem to lose my interest, vanGouge," Alucard responded, grinning at Baron's almost frantic tone of voice.

'I apologize sincerely, Mister Alucard. I - Josh just kill the bastard!' Baron shouted. Alucard heard the man clear his throat then continue, 'I come in the kitchen for two minutes to get Sir Integra her tea and there's a tarantula on the wall.'

"You're afraid of a spider?" the master vampire questioned, feeling Seras watch him speak on his cell phone. She wiped her tears a bit, sniffing her last few back.

'No, my daughter is. She fainted not too long ago. You know how some girls are, I'm sure. Afraid of bugs. Is it dead?' Alucard couldn't really understand the voice in the background, but it must have been relieved like Baron. He then heard the man say, 'Well, that's over and done with then. How's the mission coming along, sir?'

"Over now," Alucard answered. "The ghouls were taken care of in good time thanks to Seras handling the majority of them. Disregarding this, I have a request."

'Shall I get Sir Integra then, sir?'

"No, this is between us. It is a lovely night for a movie, don't you think, Baron? You seem to be a man of culture. What do you know of Spain's entertainment?" Alucard asked.

'You...want to see...a movie?' the man questioned.

"Just to pass a little time. This is the first time I've ever been outside of a country where I hardly had to fight," Alucard said, walking to the stairs. He sat down on one of them and leaned back to line his spine up the jagged stairs. This was until he deemed himself comfortable enough to relax as he spoke to Baron. Seras followed after him, sitting upright instead and drinking half-heartedly at the notion of her master trying to enjoy himself with something other than killing. It simply wasn't in his nature to enjoy the night life. Why try to mingle? Alucard placed the straw poking out of his bag onto his lip and continued, "May as well not waste the opportunity."

'...Wow...um, I'll see where you can go. Are you sure you don't want to tell Integra about this?'

"Very," Alucard shot back, annoyed at the mere mention of having to hear her logic forbading him. "One more thing," Alucard interjected, tilting his head back. "What do you know of Spain's fashion?"

'Wow, you're going all out, aren't you?' Baron commented, laughing on the other side. 'I'll find a men's store for you.'

"Something for the police girl also."

"M-m-m-me, m-master?" Seras questioned, perking up and blushing. Alucard wasn't trying to mingle; he was trying to cheer her up!

"She's been looking rather dull lately. Something with color will do. No more reds or yellows or blues," Alucard said. "She may as well try to wear normal clothes for once. Just because she's a vampire doesn't mean she can't get with the times. Is that what you, young people, say now?"

'Well, it certainly fits with what you're saying, sir. Any other requests, Mister Alucard?'

"Just a question now," Alucard hissed, almost purring beneath the sound. "Before we left, I heard you make a phone call to someone while you were eating lunch in the kitchen with some of the other staff. You were warning someone about me. Who was that person?" Baron said nothing more to him. Alucard merely grinned at this, knowing he touched the man's nerve, and said, "You cannot make up an excuse or lie, Baron vanGouge. Who was the person you were speaking to?"

'I see. You were planning on using this adventure of yours as a form of blackmail should I give Integra a few hints.'

"No, I am simply curious to know," Alucard defended, chuckling at his own silly lie.

'Well, in the event that I am already at risk of losing my job by letting you go catch a movie in the middle of Spain, I was speaking to a relative.'

"Baron vanGouge," Alucard repeated, a very faint hint of impatience underlacing his anticipation, "who was that person you were speaking to over the phone?"

'...My daughter...the one I said who worked as a vampire hunter...'

"The one you didn't mention was in Spain and spoke Spanish also. I clearly remember someone calling her a Spanish skank," Alucard said, eyes gleaming through the lenses of his tinted goggles. He chuckled at Baron's silence, knowing the man could hardly argue back with him. He loved cornering this human; it provoked some of the most intense emotions! He then said, "Tell me, Baron vanGouge. Does it frighten you knowing there is a vampire who has taken interest in your beloved, Spanish daughter? Does your blood run cold when men try to court her, or does it boil when you can never know if she is being seduced or accepts a man you would not approve of under normal circumstances? Does a war flag wave proudly beneath your burning gaze?"

'Yes...' Baron answered, voice dripping with fury and sparking Alucard's interest further. His eyes widened just as his grin did when he heard the man's honest answer. He continued on, holding back unlawful screams, 'It scares the hell out of me the more I think about it. No, more than that. It freaks me the fuck out! Sometimes, when I see men ask for her number, I forget that I have blood in me because I get so angry. I want to just choke and butcher them! Cut their eyes out so they never see her face, disect their brains so I can reprogram them - control them into thinking she was too good for the likes of their lusty visions, slice their tongues out so they couldn't speak. I forget that I am a human being. I just want to watch these men walk through the bowels of hell, mute, blind and dumb. But, unlike you, Mister Alucard... I know my princesa. She may seem like a naive person and far too innocent to be anything as heartless as a killer, but she's a smart gal. A daughter I am proud to call my own. She knows her limits, preferrences, dreams, and what she wants in her life better than any other girl her age. If a date with my daughter is what you're trying to get out of me, go fuck yourself with a rusty crowbar.'

Alucard chuckled then guffawed in a cynical laughter. Seras heard the threat from Baron over the phone, surprised that he had the courage to threaten her master, and then openly gasped at her master's reaction. Why on Earth does he find a rusty crowbar up his - well, you know - bottom amusing? His laughter wasn't completely crazed and filled with some sinister wish, though; in fact, her master, Alucard, sounded faintly amused. With his boisterous guffaws came a sort of playful challenge and an adventurous curiosity. It wasn't like the days when he laughed in the face of death looking into the eyes of danger. This laugh was almost genuine yet completely alien to the man's nature. It amazed Seras as she looked at him. He looked like a normal person as he laughed into his phone.

Alucard then stopped laughing and said, "Such life in this young man! Your fire never ceases to burn brightly! Forever passionate you are, Baron. You may yet be one of my fondest additions to our kind, dear friend. What do you say to being of the immortal race?"

'Shut up and go watch your movie, you dumb bastard!' Baron fussed, chuckling over his mild banter with the man.

_____________________________________________________

Integra was growing impatient with Baron as she sat in her office, waiting for her tea to arrive. She wondered if he was eating dinner with his children. It was their family supper time, after all. Throughout their short time being here, Integra learned that many of the staff had taken a liking to the vanGouge family in general. The Wild Geese men crowded around Baron's young red-headed daughter, Danny, almost every time she was on food or coffee breaks, and it was always pleasant to see them put in their place when Baron caught wind of the ruckus. It was even more entertaining to see Baron's son, Joshua, threatening the men with some form of butcher knife or cheese grater. Danny wouldn't even try to defend the unfortunate mercenaries; she would sigh, lean back in whatever chair she was in, and place her hands behind her head with a grin on her face in utter delight. However, even Integra had to admit the young girl was rather too sexy for her own good.

She had met the young, fresh-faced Danny Magdela vanGouge on her way to the fencing room. The redhead was bent over, displaying a plush booty, picking up a few sweat towels that were simply lying about. Her skin was a healthy tan color, and she had colorful rose tattoos on the side of her left thigh. She was only able to see the tattoos because Danny's one-piece janitor suit was ripped at the legs. As she rose up to toss the moist towels in her laundry basket, Integra had to let out a sigh as Danny tossed her head back to get her lovely red hair out of her sweet, darling face. As expected, Baron contributed greatly to her looks. She had long eyelashes to blanket her beautiful blue eyes like her father, rosy cheeks, semi-full lips, and delicate, glowing skin. The young girl let out a pleasant sigh as she tied her hair up in a ponytail. Integra then noticed something rather surprising. Although the child had feminine arms, they weren't fleshy but mechanical creations. The joints in her elbows were balls and the bend in her arm was assisted with a hinge. Baron had told her that the girl had cybernetic arms and that they needed to be maintained three times a year.

Young Joshua Vincent vanGouge was a very handsome young adult. Evidently, he was an excellent knife handler - possibly the reason he was such a fine cook, but he also excelled in archery and long-range shooting. The Wild Geese men liked talking to him and Baron from time to time about their combat skills. Sometimes, the men would brag about their adventures from thirty years ago when they first came to Hellsing for work. No one in the vanGouge family seemed to mind the tales of vampires or ghouls, which prompted the men to ask why, but that's when they learned of Baron's third child and personal vampire hunting trainer. They also learned other stories including Integra herself.

Integra sighed, reading more papers brought to her by different employees in the research department, and simply tossed them down for a moment to think. Thirty years into being Hellsing's heir and leader and she still had to attend the damned budget meetings! Tomorrow was going to be the Round Table's appointment. Now that most of the Table were replaced with new knights as well as the new queen, she had to explain why these various attacks were happening based on Baron's research and many others who accompanied him on the task of finding out what the hell was going on. She would have to practice and sort out what would be said.

"God dammit!" Integra complained.

"What a violent request, Sir Integra," Baron remarked, rolling in the woman's tea. He placed the chinaware and other such utensils onto her desk, carefully avoiding piles of paper containing data and graphs, and said, "Perhaps I should have made skull cap tea for you then."

"You ignored your family time for your chores again?" Integra questioned, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Quite the contrary. We already ate," Baron replied, pouring the tea into a blue cup.

"Any word from Alucard?" Integra asked, looking into the man's face. He hummed his response with a nod and waited for Integra's orders. She leaned her head on her hand then asked, "What happened?"

"The mission is done thanks to Seras. He said there was some activity elsewhere, so he went to investigate and found more ghouls in the area. He's moved on to clearing the premises. They have yet to find the head vampire, however. Just ghouls were about."

"This isn't good," Integra grumbled, leaning back in her chair. "The head vampire is somewhere. Why are ghouls only in these attack sites? Where are the head vampires?"

"We have reason to believe that the vampires are performing operations at a farther distance than they let on," Baron responded. "Since the attack in Manchester, these ghouls are attacking places along a path going towards Toledo, Spain rather than simply in the city itself. It is possible that the head vampire is moving during the day, away from the attack site, and is commanding his familiars at night in these randomly selected areas. I don't think stopping the ghouls is helping us much, but it is pinpointing different locations of attack severity. The more populated the city, the higher the casualty number."

"Yes, but the more random the spot of attack, the harder it is to predict where they'll strike next. This is almost too perfect of a plan," Integra complained, rising to stand. She walked over to her window, overlooking the land below, and continued, "Moving during the day from one place to another is one thing, but moving from one country to another is almost too much. There must be someone out there controlling these vampires in an organized movement. What if the person controlling them is moving the actual head vampire of the ghouls to someplace and putting another vampire in his place? In my report with the vampire tutor in Manchester, before you revised it accordingly, the tutor was the appropriate head vampire for the ghouls at the university - "

"But he wasn't the head vampire for the ghouls in the entire area," Baron concluded.

"Exactly. Even when we looked into the case at the Isles of Scilly, the head vampire should have been the leader of loan sharks but..." Integra suddenly stopped as a thought struck her. She hummed in thought then said, "Vampire hunter, huh? So that's it. Baron, I know you and Alucard have formed somewhat of a friendship in your short time here, but I need to know something and I want a straight answer from you. When you tend to Alucard's needs, does he mention meeting a female vampire hunter to you often?"

"Of course," the man answered, feeling this conversation about to go downhill fast.

"What does he say when he mentions her?"

"Only that she is a worthy adversary amongst other things I am afraid I am uncomfortable with mentioning to your delicate virgin-esque ears."

"What?" Integra questioned, clearly annoyed with Alucard and partly angry that Baron would openly talk about some skank who kills vampires with Alucard but not her.

"I'm just saying, sir," Baron defended, holding up his hands with innocent protest.

"And what exactly does he say that you wouldn't dare say to me?" Integra asked, snapping her head to the man.

"Are you sure?" Baron asks in return, smirking with some mischief in his eyes. There was something else that crossed his chiseled features, but Integra almost didn't want to know. Almost...

"What did he say?"

"Well, quite simply sir, he said that if given the opportunity he'd probably leave his post as Hellsing vampire hunter to fuck his fellow warrior. Granted, of course, her right-hand man isn't there to witness his act. Although, he did mention it excited him all the more to have someone watch the woman be bent in fairly compromising positions. It is also noteworthy to mention that he gets a boner when you say her name," Baron summarized, grinning quite evilly at Integra's blushing face.

"Is that what you two talk about down there?" Integra questions, clearly repulsed by the vulgarity of their conversations.