chapter 14

Chapter 14:

– Valerie –

"Who are you?" I asked, eyeing the blonde Devil girl who popped up in the summoning circle. This was definitely not Regis Phenex. I wondered, could Devils change their appearance and gender at will? 

I shook my head, pretty sure they couldn't. 

The girl looked jumpy, her hands trembling slightly as she spoke. "My name is Ravel Phenex. Is this... a kidnapping? My family has a lot of money, and I'm sure they'll pay any ransom you ask for," she blurted out.

Tonks let out a laugh at that, shaking her head back and forth. 

"This isn't a kidnapping," I said flatly, staring at Ravel. "Well, technically it is," I added with a shrug, "but we were trying to forcefully summon someone else. We wanted Regis Phenex, not you…."

"Regis?" Ravel echoed, her brows furrowing. "Why would you want to summon that asshole? He's like a carbon copy of my third brother, except he's from a branch family. His bloodline is a lot weaker, and he's not exactly rolling in galleons. His parents wouldn't be able to pay a decent ransom."

"We don't care about the ransom," Seras spoke up, lowering the revolver but still keeping it in her grip.

I smirked. "Now, now, hold on. Let's not shut down that possibility so fast. How much money do you think you're worth?" I asked her, doing my best to sound serious. "How many of your fingers do we have to mail back to your family for them to know we mean business…?"

Ravel's eyes widened, and she took a few cautious steps backwards.

"Valerie! You're scaring the little Devil!" Tonks pouted at me.

"She's just joking," Seras said quickly, glancing at me with an amused but warning look. I pouted at her, this beautiful blonde vampire I'd kissed just a few days ago and was now spoiling my fun.

– Ravel –

"Why are you after my cousin?" Ravel asked again, trying to keep her voice steady, but it still came out shaky. She glanced nervously around the room. Two vampires, one of whom was almost impossibly beautiful, and the witch had her cornered. The room was also heavily warded, she could feel it, trapping her inside and cutting off any chance of teleporting away.

Ravel was never a fighter. She knew her limits. Among the Phenex Clan, she was considered the weakest. There were ways for a Phenex Devil to grow stronger, but neither suited her. The first method required exhausting one's magic power through intense, daily training. That meant constant exercise, sweat, and sore muscles. Ravel shuddered at the thought. 

She was a lady; she didn't like being sweaty—unless it was with her future lover of course. The thought brought a blush to her cheeks, and she quickly pushed it away. Now was not the time.

The second method was even worse. It involved abusing their regenerative powers by having their servants attack them repeatedly. Each time they regenerated, they would grow a tiny bit stronger. And by tiny, it was almost insignificant. This method required thousands, maybe millions, of deaths to reach anything close to ultimate class strength. The very idea of going through that kind of pain made Ravel's stomach turn. She had vetoed it without a second thought.

Being the weakest had never really bothered her. She played the political game, not the battlefield one. She hadn't expected her lack of power to put her in this kind of danger, though. Now here she was, stuck between a witch and two vampires who clearly meant business.

"Of course I'm going after Regis," said Valerie, the stunning vampire with ruby eyes that glowed as she spoke. Ravel couldn't tear her gaze away. There was something mesmerizing and terrifying about her. "He accepted the bounty Marius Tepes put on me. Now I have to kill him to send a message to the rest of your kind that coming after me is a very bad idea. They're going to learn what it means to go after the daughter of Dracula…"

'Daughter of Dracula!?' Ravel's mind spun in shock. That was really, really bad! 

There were certain beings Devils simply knew not to mess with. High on that list was the Archangel Gabriel. On the outside, Gabriel acted kind and approachable, but every Devil knew her reputation. In the Great War, she had the highest kill count against their kind. She alone wiped out over 50% of the Devil population. Not even the past Maous or Lucifer himself could stop her.

Then, there was Dracula, the monster who claimed more human lives than any other in history. 

The angels tried to kill him, of course. Rumor had it Gabriel herself was sent to kill him—and failed. He'd had her completely at his mercy. He could have killed her, or even corrupted her to fall from grace, but for some unknown reason, he let her go. From that day on, heaven declared that they wouldn't directly attack him again. If the church wanted him dead, humans would have to try and take him down on their own.

And now Ravel was face-to-face with his daughter. Ravel's stomach twisted. Regis Phenex was already a dead man walking, and his entire peerage would go down with him. As a member of the main Phenex family, Ravel actually had the authority to remove a branch family member in cases of extreme risk. This definitely qualified as an emergency.

Ravel swallowed hard, feeling her nerves tremble as she finally spoke. "I promise, I had no idea any of this happened." Her voice was sincere, and she hoped they believed her. The truth was, she'd just been visiting London to buy some gifts for a friend's birthday. She didn't take on missions from the Underworld and rarely even glanced at mission requests. She looked Valerie straight in her glowing ruby eyes. "I swear, my family would never have accepted Marius Tepes's request if we knew who you were." 

The other vampire, who was dressed like a British policewoman, scoffed. "That just means your clan would have happily taken an assassination mission against Valerie if she wasn't the daughter of Dracula. Don't pretend like this is some kind of misunderstanding and you're all innocent!"

Ravel nodded reluctantly. "You're right." If Valerie had just been a regular vampire, her clan probably wouldn't have cared one way or another about killing her. But that didn't mean Ravel was going to just stand here and get herself killed. She needed a way out, a way to turn this situation in her favor. Taking a deep breath, she looked Valerie in the eyes. "I can offer you a favor from the Phenex Clan and I can offer you Regis's head personally. As a member of the main family, I can summon him to any location and he must come at my beckon..."

Valerie's eyes narrowed, considering the offer. She looked deadly serious, but after a few moments, she nodded. "Fine. But I want to know the details of this favor first."

Ravel took a step forward, making sure her voice was steady. "When it comes to Devils, giving a favor isn't something we do lightly. It means you can ask absolutely anything of our house, within reason, and we'll have to agree to it!" she explained. 

And by "within reason", Valerie could ask for a lot…

The witch with the constantly changing hair color let out a low whistle. "That sounds pretty good. Let's get out of here and seal the deal… oh wait… McGonagall is just outside the door. Shit." She grimaced. "She's not going to let us walk out of Hogwarts with a Devil. She was expecting us to kill it…"

Ravel crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm not an it."

"What should we do?" the policewoman vampire asked, shifting the revolver in her grip.

Valerie glanced at the witch. "Can you distract McGonagall?"

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll slip out of the room first and tell her everything went as planned. Once she and I are down the hall, the rest of you need to get out of the castle. Fast. Before McGonagall activates the wards and everything in the castle comes to life and tries to kill you three," the witch said morbidly.

Ravel's jaw dropped at her declaration. "Where the hell did you all summon me!?"

– Valerie –

Seras handed me back my revolver as we crept out of Hogwarts. Ravel looked around, her eyes wide with surprise. It didn't take a genius to see she was impressed. Too bad we didn't have time to stand around and gawk at the place.

We moved quickly, sneaking past the gates. I let out a breath of relief when we were clear. "Let's summon Regis in that large forest over there," I said, pointing to the dark, towering mass of trees in the distance.

Ravel shifted uncomfortably. "That forest feels ominous," she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper. I glanced at her and noticed Seras nodding in agreement, which was surprising considering Seras still hadn't fully figured out her supernatural senses yet.

"It's called the Forbidden Forest nowadays," I said with a hint of annoyance. "Dangerous magical creatures moved in over the years, and the school just let it happen." I scowled at the thought. "The founders would be rolling in their graves if they knew the headmaster allowed such a valuable resource to be stolen from them. That forest is packed with magical plants and other resources, but now it's basically the playground of centaurs and whatever else decided to settle in."

"The perfect place to do a murder!" Seras said playfully. 

I had to agree with her there.

We went about a kilometer deep into the woods—not too far, but far enough that no witches or wizards would sense us or interrupt. Tonks still hadn't shown up, but I wasn't in the mood to wait any longer. I turned to Ravel and gestured. "Alright, summon your cousin…"

Seras cracked her knuckles, preparing herself for a fight, though I was hoping to keep it from going that way. Ravel nodded, her face tight with worry, and reached into some kind of pocket dimension, pulling out a flimsy flier. I sensed her pouring magic into it, and it began to glow. She tossed it onto the ground and stepped back. "Regis should answer soon enough," she muttered.

There was a flash of light—just like the one back in the ritual room when we summoned Ravel—and then a male Devil appeared in the middle of the clearing. For some reason, he was completely naked. He was tall, lanky, and looked like he hadn't showered in weeks. His greasy blond hair hung around his face like dirty straw. I almost snorted in disappointment. So this was the Devil I'd been tracking down? He looked nothing like Sairaorg or how I pictured other male Devil's would look. 

He was also…tiny, down there.

"Ravel?" he looked around, his face twisting in irritation. "Why did you summon me? I was in the middle of enjoying myself with my servants—"

He didn't get to finish. I pulled the trigger, aiming right at his knee, and the blessed .50 caliber bullet tore through his leg, blowing it clean off. He screamed and dropped to the ground, clutching the fiery stump where his knee used to be. Instead of blood, the wound leaked pure fire, sputtering and flickering in the dirt. It was an interesting sight, and I watched with a grim kind of satisfaction.

"What the fuck, Ravel!?" he shouted, writhing on the ground, his hands pressing desperately against his stump. "Why am I not healing?!"

"My bullets were blessed with holy water," I informed him coolly, watching his face pale as he registered the situation. Ravel also looked a bit queasy as she watched her cousin rolling in agony.

Regis managed to glare at me through the pain. "You're the bitch I was hired to take out! What the hell, Ravel?! Why are you betraying me? Aren't we family?"

Ravel took a shaky step back, clearly thrown off by the sudden violence but keeping her composure. Her voice stuttered slightly. "We might be family, but that's not the case anymore," she declared, her voice growing firmer. "Regis Phenex, as a member of the main Phenex branch, I cast you out of our clan for attacking Valerie Tepes... the daughter of Dracula himself."

Regis's eyes bulged, and his face went even whiter. He began sputtering, trying to process what she'd said. "Daughter of Dracula?!" he choked, looking at me in shock. "Marius Tepes didn't mention that! I swear I had no idea! I wouldn't have come after you if I'd known! Let me go, and I'll go after him instead. I heard he's high-class, but I can take him if I bring my whole peerage!"

I had to admit, I was tempted to take him up on that offer. But the truth was, when the time came, I wanted to be the one to end Marius myself. 

"Sorry," I said, lifting the revolver. "But the only use I have for you is to send a message. That message is: don't fuck with me." I aimed at his head and pulled the trigger. His entire skull exploded in a burst of flames and bone fragments.

Seras let out a low whistle as I lowered my gun. "Damn," she said, watching the flames sputter and die at his neck. Just like his leg, his neck wasn't bleeding, but flames were pouring from it, dying out slowly as his regeneration failed against the holy water from the blessed grail. It was almost too easy. Holy water made killing Devils a walk in the park.

Ravel seemed stunned, staring at the remains of her cousin with wide eyes. "So... I guess that's it, then?" She swallowed, regaining her composure. "I imagine you'll want his peerage taken care of too? Our clan would be happy to handle that for you."

I holstered my gun and gave her a small nod. "Yeah, take care of it. Let them know that coming after me or mine is going to end just like this."

Ravel nodded, her face pale but determined. "Understood. I'll get right on that–"

TWISH!

Ravel's eyes widened in horror, her hands clawing at the arrow sticking out of her neck, but she couldn't say a word. Seras and I barely had a moment to react before a second arrow zipped past, making my heart lurch. 

TWISH! TWISH! TWISH! TWISH!

"Shit! We're under attack!" Seras yelled. She didn't hesitate, lunging at me and pushing us both to the ground as a rain of arrows sliced through the air above us. The arrows thudded into trees and the dirt around us. My pulse raced, and I muttered a quick thanks to Seras before we scrambled to our feet. I raised my revolver while Seras pulled out a standard handgun from her holster.

The sound of galloping hooves grew louder, and then they burst through the trees and bushes—centaurs. A dozen of them, armed with bows and spears, and all of them with faces twisted in rage. They were rougher, more brutish, than I'd expected for a so-called mythical creature. They looked ready to kill.

"Die, abominations!" one of them shouted. "Casting foul and evil rituals in our forest!"

"This isn't your forest!" I spat back, my anger flaring. "This land belongs to Hogwarts. You're just squatters." The castle had recognized me as Rowena's successor, and their claim to the forest felt like an insult to everything she'd stood for. 

But they didn't care. The centaurs let out a collective roar and loosed another volley of arrows. I screamed as I felt the sharp sting of arrows hit me—one in each leg and another biting into my right shoulder. Pain shot through me, but I bit down on it and raised my revolver. I fired off five quick shots, each one aimed to kill. Three centaurs fell instantly, bullets tearing through their torsos, and a fourth collapsed, screaming, as I took out one of its horse legs.

That only seemed to make them angrier. Two centaurs with spears charged at me, their hooves pounding the ground with murderous intent. 

"You bastards!" Seras screamed, eyes blazing with rage. "How dare you hurt her!" She aimed and emptied her magazine into one of the charging centaurs. The centaur stumbled, blood spraying as bullet after bullet punched into its chest, and it collapsed with a bone-rattling thud. Without hesitating, Seras leapt into the air, higher than any human should have been able to, and landed squarely on the back of the other centaur. 

It thrashed wildly, trying to buck her off, swinging its spear in an attempt to stab her. Seras snarled and wrapped her arms around its neck, choking it with brutal force. The centaur's eyes bulged, and it let out a panicked, guttural cry as it tried to throw her off. Seras let out a scream of pain as arrows tore into her back while she was still trying to choke out the centaur beneath her. There were six other centaurs left, and they looked even more furious now, their eyes blazing with rage. 

I grit my teeth, taking a quick moment to yank the arrows out of my own legs and shoulder. The pain flared, but I could already feel my flesh knitting itself back together. I tossed the blood-soaked arrows to the ground and reached into my jacket pocket for more rounds. Just as I was about to reload, I had to dive to the side as a volley of arrows came flying at me, leaving me no time to even think.

"Kill the undead abomination!" one of the centaurs roared, charging straight for me, spear raised and aimed at my chest. But before he could cover half the distance, multiple fireballs flew through the air and slammed into him, setting his entire body ablaze. He screamed, thrashing around as he tried to put out the flames, but he couldn't even drop to the ground properly with his hooves. I glanced over and saw Ravel, back on her feet, eyes blazing with fury.

"How dare you attack a noble lady like me!" she shouted, tossing fireballs left and right at the other centaurs. They dodged and ducked, but her assault gave me just enough time to reload my revolver.

"Die!" I heard Seras shout in a mixture of rage and pain. 

Crack!

The centaur she'd been riding crashed hard to the ground as Seras finally snapped its neck. She stumbled off its back and hit the ground as well, looking battered and bruised, arrows sticking out of her.

While the remaining centaurs were momentarily distracted by Ravel's flames and the death of another one of their own, I raised my revolver and fired, my aim dead-on. I hit each centaur in their torsos, blowing massive holes through their bodies. One by one, they dropped, the forest around us falling silent except for the ragged breaths of my allies and me.

"Fucking hell…" Seras groaned from where she lay on the ground, arrows still protruding from her back. Without hesitating, I rushed over to her and knelt down, reaching for the arrows. I grabbed each one and pulled, yanking them free quickly to minimize her pain. Blood trickled down her back, but I knew her wounds would heal, even if it would be slower than mine. Seras still hadn't fully embraced being a vampire, and without drinking human blood, her healing abilities were limited.

"It's over now," I told her.

Seras winced, taking a deep breath as her wounds began to slowly close. "Yeah… thanks, Valerie."

"Fucking centaurs…" I grumbled, I was not expecting to get randomly ambushed like that.

"Burn, you assholes!" Ravel finished off all the crippled survivors by setting them ablaze before she made her way back towards us. "Well, that was a thing…" she said. Her perfect frilly dress was now covered in tears and mud. 

I honestly should have expected something like this, it wouldn't be a Hellsing mission if it didn't end in lots of death and violence. At least we should be good now…

Or not.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of chittering, along with eerie, clicking noises that seemed to come from all directions. I swallowed hard and looked up, dread pooling in my stomach. There were eyes—many, many eyes—staring down at us from the treetops. Giant, hairy, nightmare-fuel spiders, glared hungrily at the centaur corpses and then shifted their focus to us!

"FooooOOOOOOODDDDD!"

And the spiders could also talk…

Ravel's face turned white as a sheet. She looked like she was about to pass out. Seras, despite the arrows she'd just pulled out of her back, stood up and started reloading her pistol with shaking hands. "I kind of regret not being a full vampire right now," she muttered.

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "This is gonna fucking suck."

XXX

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