Hellsing - Blood Heritage

Second part of that awful cliffhanger!

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There were ghouls everywhere. It hadn't been an exaggeration when the transmission said they were surrounded on all sides. Pip had already ordered his men into a more defensible position behind the trucks. With the rain and the darkness pressing down on them, it was nearly impossible to see. Every shot they fired at the ghouls seemed to do nothing more than encourage them closer. The vampires controlling the things had moved off somewhere - probably to watch as they were all slaughtered.

Pip jammed a new magazine into his rifle. "Aim for zhe 'eart or zhe 'ead! Don't let zhem get any closer!"

The only ghouls they were hitting with any amount of accuracy where the ones that were almost within arms reach. They were the only ones close enough to actually see. But letting the monsters get that close was not something Pip or his men were comfortable doing. The tiniest hesitation or mistake would be enough to let the zombies through to attack.

"Where zhe bloody 'ell iz zhe other unit!?" Bernadette demanded, blowing the head off the zombie closest to him.

"Intercepting a group of ghouls in area C." one of his men, Stephens, reported. "Even if they kill them all, it'll take 15 minutes for them to get here."

Pip swore under his breath. That was too damn long. They could hold out this way for a while, but there was no guarantee that the ghouls wouldn't get any closer. As he continued calling out orders to the Geese, he noticed something unusual. The ghouls' attention seemed to be captured by something. The monsters looked away from their attack on the unit. The captain dared to follow their gaze, not seeing anything until a flash of lightning illuminated the motorcycle speeding right towards them. It collided with the monsters closest to them, and the rain soaked rider blew the heads clean off the ones she hadn't taken out with the massive piece of machinery.

"Grab what you can and head for the barn!" she shouted at them, not looking away from her targets.

"Are you insane?" Pip exclaimed. The barn was a good 200 meters away. getting to it would require them running across open terrain with nothing to shield themselves with. And from the way she was talking, it sounded like she was going to draw them off so they could make it. "We're not going to leave you out 'ere!"

Syn reloaded her handgun and fired more shots at the rapidly approaching ghouls. "I'll be right behind you. Now hurry! I can't distract these things forever!"

She was either incredibly brave or a complete idiot. Either way, it might be their only chance to get to a better position. Pip whirled around to address his men.

"You 'eard zhe girl! Grab what you can carry and move out!"

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Syn kept the ghouls chasing after her while the Geese packed up what they could carry and made a break for the barn.

'Where are the goddamn vampires?' she wondered. There were ghouls everywhere, but she could see no signs of their creators.

'Leave the vermin to me. You babysit the mercenaries.'

Alucard's voice was so strong, she halfway expected him to be right behind her on the bike.

'What? And let you have all the fun?'

'You don't let them live long enough to have any fun.' he replied. She suddenly had a mental image of a female vampire dashing through the trees, only to have his gloved fingers snatch her by the hair and impale her through the stomach with a tree limb.

Syn's eyes narrowed in fury at the thought of him playing around with a female. The fact that it was a vampire he was slaughtering didn't matter. It was the idea, the mere 'notion' that the damn thing was female, he was touching her, and he was enjoying himself. The sensation was enough to fuel her anger toward the ghouls chasing her. She shot at them with a renewed vigor, and was rewarded with his sadistic sounding cackle in her mind.

'That's it. Get angry. Let it fuel your hunger for destruction...'

Syn grit her teeth together and shut him out. She saw the Geese dragging the last bit of the gear into the barn, so she pulled a quick turn and headed in their direction. The men held the doors open so she could blow inside, then slammed them shut behind her. She skidded to a halt and jumped off the motorcycle.

"Light up zhe flares!"

The pitch black interior of the barn was suddenly lit up as the men pulled out flares and lit them. The moment she could see well enough, Syn began muttering seals over the door and any potential entrances she could find. The rain pounded on the roof violently as she worked, making it sound like they were surrounded by a chorus of drummers.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" one of the Geese demanded, looking at her like she had lost her mind.

"I'm putting blessings on the doors so they can't get in." she snapped. "Unless you want those things to trap us in here?"

Pip's brows furrowed. "You can do zhat?"

"If I couldn't, then I wouldn't be waisting my time!" Syn finished with the doors and turned to face the soldiers. "Now, do any of you have something reflective I can use?"

They all stared at her with blank expressions. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Reflective people! A mirror, a piece of glass... anything you can see your face in!"

"Em... there's a metal case over here you can use..."

"Hand it to me." she ordered. Bernadette looked like he wanted to say something - a smart ass comment about her checking her makeup at a time like this no doubt - but she silenced him with a look. Wisely, he dropped it and went back to the men.

"Alright men. Pick zhem off through zhe slats. Forget zhe 'earts and go right for zheir 'eads."

While the Geese jammed their rifles through the openings between the boards, Syn held up the case and tapped it with her gun.

"Lasher."

Instantly, the wide eyed boy replaced her reflection in the metal. "Mistress needs the Lasher?"

She nodded. "I need you to track down Seras and tell me how far away the other unit is. And let me know how many more ghouls we have to deal with while you're at it."

Lasher bobbed his head excitedly, then disappeared in a flurry of color. While he was gone, she dug through the gear the Geese had brought with them. They had focused mainly on bringing extra ammo, but there were some hand grenades that looked promising...

Lasher was back with a report within seconds. "Mistress! The cute girl and her good guys is chasing after a big group of ugly things! They is coming this way!"

Syn frowned at the spirit. "How many?"

"Um..." Lasher looked thoughtful. "There is maybe 30. And the scary man is beating up the vampires real bad! He is calling them bad names, and looks very scary!"

"Good for him." She wasn't particularly interested in what Alucard was doing. As long as he didn't chase the damn things toward them, she didn't want to know what he was doing with them. "Alright, come back to me, and let's kill some things, okay?"

"YAY!!! Lasher loves beating the bad guys!"

She waited for the hyperactive spirit to re-enter her gun before grabbing the grenades and joining the rest of the men.

"We've got a group of 30 ghouls heading this way. The others are on their tail." She reported. "I have no idea when they'll get here."

Pip took in the information, then glanced down at the grenades. One of his brows went up. "What's zhe plan?"

Syn squared her shoulders. "I think if we can get the ghouls huddled into a group, one of your guys can toss these at them from the roof and take them out in one hit. The guys down here can take care of the leftovers."

The captain did a quick scan of the interior of the barn, his eyes landing on the ladder that lead up to the hay loft. "I can get up zhere. But 'ow are we going to 'erd zhem up?"

"Give me enough cover fire to get outside, and I'll handle that."

For half a second, she thought he was going to argue. He surprised her when he simply sighed. "You are one crazy girl, you know zhat?"

Syn allowed herself a small smile. "You have to be a little crazy to do this job, Captain."

He shook his head, then went over to the men to explain the plan. A few of them put down their guns to position themselves at the doors, while Pip started up the ladder with the grenades. She was starting up her engine when the one of the guys at the door looked back at her.

"Be careful out there girlie."

Syn nodded, then gave the signal. She blew past the doors, surprising the hell out of the ghouls that were waiting just outside. She led them several meters away from the barn, then increased her speed and started circling around them. The ghouls were dumber than sheep, and it was about that easy to get them to do what she wanted. She closed down her circles, getting as close to them as she dared, then sped off. The moment she was out of the blast range, one of the grenades hit the group at it's center. Flames engulfed them and only the ones on the outer edges of the group survived the blast. They were easily picked off by the Geese in the barn.

The victory lightened everyone's spirits to the point that they actually looked forward to the next wave of monsters. They even felt comfortable enough to leave the protection of the barn to wait for the damn things. It would be an ambush - Pip's unit from the front, and Seras from the back. After what they had just endured, it would be a thousand times easier to manage.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out the way they planned.

They took out a pretty good selection of them, to be sure. But attitudes had grown cocky after their recent triumph, and the darkness and rain made it difficult to hit their targets accurately. The ghouls went down - but not all of them actually died. And Seras, god love her, wasn't the best at putting the things down for good either. She ran out of the woods at top speed, followed moments later by the truck carrying her unit of men. She had left the Harkonnen packed away in favor of using her bare hands to take the ghouls down. Which was all well and good if she actually ripped the hearts out of them. The draculina put on quite an impressive show - ripping several of the beasts into pieces around her. The Geese seemed to find the sight both frightening and entrancing at the same time. They hadn't actually seen her in combat before, and they were getting their first real taste of what a proper vampire was capable of.

When it was all over, there were pieces of ghouls scattered everywhere, and a large group of very proud and relieved mercenaries and a slightly out of breath draculina breathing a sigh of relief at surviving the mission. Aside from some rattled nerves, there were no injuries to speak of. Until one of the men decided to do something stupid.

It was Andrews. Syn recognized him as the one who had made the snarky comment on the first day of target practice. She should have known then it would be him that would be the first to make a fatal mistake. He sauntered over to one of the ravaged torsos laying about and planted his foot firmly on it's chest to light up a cigarette.

"That wasn't so bad." he bragged, self assured and cocky. "Hell, bring some more of the damn things on!"

A couple of the men noticed the ghoul's head move, but Syn was closest. She jerked the idiot away from the thing's jaws, only to have them sink into her lower leg instead. She hit the ground, screaming between clenched teeth as the monster ripped at the flesh, taking out a pretty good plug of meat. She kicked wildly, trying to get it to let go. When it refused to budge, she pulled out her gun and fired a single shot into it's head. The ghoul's remains collapsed into ash, and the rain washed the remnants away from the wound. Syn's head fell back against the ground, dizzy. Being bitten by Alucard was nothing compared to this. Her leg felt like it was on fire, and blood oozed from the wound, making her feel light headed. Andrews stared down at her in shock.

"It... it bit you."

She blinked, forcing the pain to the side to make herself sit up. "Ow..."

The man stepped backwards, suddenly looking uneasy. "It BIT you!"

Syn's head felt a little cloudy, so she didn't catch the fearful note in his tone. She shook her head and stumbled as she pushed herself up off the ground. 'Stupid mercenaries have no manners. Can't even give a girl a little help...' She took a step forward, only to have the butt of a rifle slammed into her face. She heard the snap of her nose breaking before she felt it. She hit the muddy ground again with a thud.

"OW! What the hell!?" she demanded, clutching at her bloody nose.

The commotion caught the attention of the others, who were packing the equipment into the trucks. They rushed over to see what was going on to find Andrews and two other men standing over her with their guns ready to fire.

"What zhe bloody 'ell iz going on?" Pip demanded, pushing to the front. He took one look at Syn's bloody form on the ground and his eye narrowed. "What are you doing?!"

"She was bitten Sir." Andrews replied, not moving his gun. "She'll turn into one of them..."

Even through the downpour, the sudden drop in temperature was painfully apparent. Alucard appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Andrews by the throat, lifting him a good two feet off the ground. His eyes flashed with fury, and when he spoke, it was a deadly snarl.

"What have you DONE?"

Andrews eyes went wide in fear. He opened his mouth to speak, but Alucard's fingers tightened around his throat, cutting off any response he would have made.

"Filthy, disgusting human. How 'dare' you raise a hand to her? That woman is MINE."

Syn's head was still reeling, clouded by the pain from her leg and her nose. The blood loss didn't help matters much either. But she could still tell that something was going on that she had to stop before it escalated to something no one would be able to handle. She didn't trust herself to speak at the moment, but she could still do something. Fighting to keep her thoughts straight, she reached out mentally.

'Alucard... please stop. He's not worth it.'

Her voice sounded pitiful, even in her mind. Alucard's eyes flicked down, and she saw just how pissed he was. He looked like he was more than willing to rip the man to pieces right there. Even so, he stared at her a moment, then slowly lowered Andrews to his feet.

"Police Girl!" he snapped.

Seras, who had been off doing something with some of the men and hadn't seen the altercation, came running up at the sound of his voice.

"Yes Mas... Oh my god!" the girl's eyes went wide when she saw Syn struggling to push herself up. "Are you okay?! What happened?"

Alucard narrowed his eyes at her. "Take Syn to the transport and stay with her while I teach this piece of filth a lesson."

Syn definitely did not like the way that sounded. His tone was murderous. She opened her mouth to say something but quickly snapped it closed when he glared down at her.

'Don't argue with me.'

Syn's eyes widened, feeling fear for the first time. Not for herself, but for what he would do to Andrews. She gave him a weak nod, then leaned onto Seras as she pulled her up from the ground. They made their way through the Geese - who all looked like they didn't know whether to be concerned about her, or scared shitless of Alucard - and into one of the trucks. The draculina lowered her down onto a seat, then handed her a wad of tissues for her nose while she hunted up something to stop the bleeding of her leg.

"Dear god Syn, I've never seen Master so mad before!" she exclaimed, looking worried about the whole thing. "What the hell happened out there?"

Syn's nose was throbbing, and the tissues she was clenching it with made her voice sound strange as she explained what happened. Seras pulled off her boot and cut through her pant leg as she listened, her eyes shooting up to her in shock when she got to the bit about them threatening to shoot her. Syn noticed the look, and tried to explain.

"Honestly, I probably 'looked' like a bloody ghoul." she admitted. "And I don't think they know about the immunity thing..." She hissed when the girl pressed something against the bite.

"I'm so sorry!" Seras gushed, wincing along with her. "I'm just trying to stop the bleeding..."

Syn took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "It's fine. Just... ignore me."

Seras was still holding pressure to the wound when the soldiers starting filing into the truck. They all looked like they had seen something out of the deepest pits of hell. Syn was only slightly relieved when she saw Andrews step inside and sit down. Alucard had left him alive, but he looked like he wouldn't be able to sleep for a long time after this. He looked at her apologetically, taking in both of her injuries.

"Are you alright?"

Syn would have responded had a large, imposing shadow not fallen over them.

"Keep your mouth shut human." Alucard said with a hateful glare. "You've done quite enough."

Andrews eyes shot to the vampire stepping inside and swallowed, nodding his head violently. The vampire's eyes flicked to Seras.

"Go with the others, Police Girl. I'll take care of this."

"Yes Master."

Syn was painfully aware of the fact that every eye in the vehicle was trained on her and the master vampire as he approached. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. He still looked pissed as hell, and she didn't want to say anything to make it worse. Especially since the man responsible for his mood was in the truck with them. Alucard lowered himself into the seat that Seras had been in, then snatched the tissues away from her nose. He looked at her carefully a moment, then gripped her nose and snapped it back into place with a quick jerk.

"OW!! Goddamn it Alucard!" she exclaimed, slamming her fist back against the wall. She grabbed another handful of tissues to try to stop the bleeding for a second time. Her nose had just started to fade to a dull throb, and he had to go and re-break the damn thing.

Alucard shot her a look that was almost scolding. 'Idiots who act foolishly deserve to be eaten.'

'What the hell was I supposed to do?' she demanded. 'Let him turn into a ghoul?'

'It would have served as a lesson to the others.'

Syn huffed as he turned his attention to her leg. While Seras had used a pair of scissors to cut through her pant leg, Alucard simply ripped the fabric apart with his bare hands. He surveyed the bite, the leaned forward. Syn sensed what he was going to do and jerked her away, wincing slightly at the sharp pain it sent spiraling through her.

'Oh hell no.' she declared stubbornly. 'I am NOT going to just lie here and let you lick my wounds while all these men are staring at me!'

Alucard grabbed her leg and pulled it back into his lap. 'Ignore them.'

'Damn it, I said no! Can you not wait until we get to the house?'

'You will lose too much blood.' He looked at her resolutely and narrowed his eyes. 'We can do this the easy way or the hard way.'

Syn glared back at him, unwilling to give in. Alucard drinking from her always felt... well, intimate. And the fact that he would be running his tongue all over her leg would only intensify the feeling. She was tired and sore and in a lot of pain, and she would be damned if she was giving the mercenaries a free show. Not that they would be seeing anything they particularly wanted to see... but it was the point of the thing. It just 'felt' weird.

'Have it your way then.'

He leaned forward and locked eyes with her, pushing himself deep within her mind. Syn felt his influence encouraging her to slip into a dreamy, relaxed state. The moment she felt it, she pushed back, unwilling to give up that easily. Alucard frowned.

'Don't fight me.' he commanded firmly. 'You are weak and tired, and you will lose.'

She tried to keep up her block, but he was right. She was tired. More tired than she wanted to admit. And that peaceful, relaxed feeling he sent sweeping over her made all the pain go away. It was like floating in a sea of warmth, and everything else just slipped away, letting her relax completely. It was so nice she didn't really want to fight against it. There was no awareness of where she was or who may or may not be watching - just her floating in that peaceful place in her head. Her eyes fluttered, and she faintly registered the feeling of his cool tongue running against the bite before sinking deeper into a comfortable blackness that swallowed up the world.

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Dude... this is what happens when you have people with unusual abilities running around somewhere. When the new guys aren't informed, accidents happen. And vampire's get pissed. And mercenaries get tortured mentally. It's just a bad thing no matter how you look at it. :(

Reviews are awesome, and I love them so much!