Chapter 9. The Helsing unit

Her back stiffening, Captain Hunter's parting words echoed inside of her head. 

For a moment Love struggled to control her expression as the nurse administered a small dose of pain relief before leaving her to rest. 

'The Helsing unit...' She repeated in a slight daze.

The unit that this unknown and unfamiliar Captain had just mentioned was one of great notability within the city, both throughout the inner and the outer zones. This was especially true for the military.

Civilian knowledge of specialist military units was very limited depending on the objective of the unit in question. Many specialised in stealth operations, scouting beyond the borders into the wastelands, and the handling of political operations, such as ensuring the safety of political figures during large events or in matters of foreign affairs.

However, this was not true for the Helsings. They were simultaneously rather famous and shrouded in mystery among the citizens of London. And it was this air of mystery which created further speculation and subsequent notoriety.

Standard military uniforms were typically camouflage designs of either a light green or dark grey, with an overlay of defensive equipment such as, a helmet, a bulletproof vest and usually a set of green or black vambraces and greaves. Accompanying this, each soldier carried the standard military photon guns, a comms watch and on occasion, some carried one or two additional weapons of their choosing.

There was little deviation to this even among the other units, with the colour schemes denoting a specialist or non-specialist team. The darker grey tones being the signature of those with special objectives, and the green uniforms denoting all other ground teams.

Unit 2-18 however, were always clad in black.

Their black uniforms consisted of a bodysuit made of a strange material that seemed to glow and dim at random intervals, revealing odd red lines that ran from the neck down to their legs; black masks, likely an improved version of the standard filtration types; and armour of an odd metallic black, devoid of light in a way that gave it the appearance of lustreless black steel.

Unlike the standard military armour, theirs included additional protection in the form of added pauldrons to their shoulders, cuisses at the tops of their legs, and a large cuirass in place of the standard bullet-proof chest piece.

Their weapons too slightly differed, appearing to include more advanced designs, and blades that glinted with the unmistakable shine of silver.

This difference in weaponry was well known and tied to the main objective of Unit 2-18. Their main specialisation was to assist in the subjugation missions of rogue vampires, those who went against the centuries old treaty between the two races.

Love did not understand a lot about the history of the current world, nor of the many clauses listed in the treaty itself, but there was one clause that every citizen, human or vampire, knew. It was the first, the simplest and the most obvious rule:

Section 1 - Vampires shall never cause intentional harm to a human/humans.

For any vampires who broke this clause, a separate institution was created to assess the level of threat to human life. If deemed a threat of great significance and if the vampire or vampires in question had not surrendered themselves to the military, specialist units were deployed, and the target would be brought down by force.

Typically, the objective for these missions was to bring in the perpetrator, 'dead or alive'. Yet unit 2-18, who wherever possible, took charge of every vampire subjugation mission, were infamous for mercilessly carrying out only the former option.

They therefore quickly gained a number of monikers for their efforts, the more popular of these being 'black suits', the Hunters and the most famous and most utilised moniker, the Helsings. 

This much was public knowledge between citizens and military personnel alike. However, the many mysteries surrounding 2-18 stemmed from the lack of information as to the identities of unit members, and the origins of the team itself.

Nobody, for example, knew how or why the unit was created to be made solely of human soldiers.

The speed and strength of vampires, although not as formidable for those of younger generations, was known to be significantly higher than humans. As such, the choice to not include a single vampire soldier was often a topic of great speculation.

For the citizens, the Helsings were thought of as superheroes, protectors of human life that would chase away the monsters that came at night.

For the soldiers however, the Helsings were the subject of whispers within the halls and barracks of every compound.

The typical conversation would usually comprise of:

Soldier A: "No I'm tellin' you, I was there! Four of 'em Helsings came from outta nowhere, just swooped on in and took out two of these crazy ass vampires in seconds. They're monsters, the lot of 'em!"

Soldier B: "That's impossible. You said there were 2 crazed vamps there, how can 4 humans take out 2 of those things on their own. Have you been drinking on the job again?"

Soldier C: "I think he's telling the truth mate. Honest to God my cousin saw one of those black suits punch through a wall one time. And Fred down in unit 5-3, you know Fred? Well, he said that he reckons they're doing all sorts of experimental shit with those soldiers, they might actually be monsters…"

Pairing this against the image that Love now had in her head of the handsome Captain with the pretty eyes and golden hair, felt like trying to connect two opposing puzzle pieces.

Kit Hunter appeared to be a little lax when it came to protocol and formalities, but besides this he had seemed to be nothing but pleasant and perfectly ordinary albeit more attractive than the average person.

Just as a small frown appeared on Love's face during her contemplations, and the nurse had exited the room through the large double doors, the second shock of her morning had arrived. For at that moment…

'Ah, alone at last. I thought they'd never leave.'

…uttered a clear and melodic voice.

**