Chapter 5 - Confrontation

Walter reached the top of the stairs. He kicked open the nearest door, but found only ghouls disintegrating in pools of blood. He checked quickly, but they had all been efficiently destroyed, probably by Seras' Harkonnen.

That left the door at the end of the hall. He walked toward it, when suddenly a vampire materialized in front him. Walter caught a glimpse of delicate male features and long blonde hair before he shot at his heart.

The vampire ducked out of the way, laughing and shouting.

"Raine, Raine, we have a human come to visit!"

A female voice came from within the room. "Take care of it yourself, Gadel, I'm busy here."

Walter could only imagine what and whom she was busy with, and it nearly gave him chills. But meanwhile all he could see was a swirling blue cloak as the vampire chased him to other end of the hall.

Gadel grinned. "I have a gun, too," he said, indicating a holster at his side, "But I think it will be more fun to take your blood. Have to be careful though, wouldn't want to turn a pathetic old man into a pathetic new vampire, now would I?"

Walter shot at him again, and he did wince but kept coming, and grabbed the gun out of Walter's hand. Gadel dipped his head toward Walter's neck. Walter reached out with both hands, grabbed him by the hair, and pulled hard. Taken off balance, Gadel fell onto his back and stared up in surprise. Walter immediately launched himself on top of him, driving his knee into the wound in the vampire's side.

Gadel was easily able to throw him off, but meanwhile Walter had his wires out. He wrapped them around the vampire's neck and pulled. For a moment Walter saw a shocked face with bulging eyes, then the wires cut through and he saw streams of blood as the head was cut off and rolled on the floor.

Walter checked the body for signs of creeping or reforming but saw nothing. Gadel hadn't been produced by decades of experimentation as Alucard had... or perhaps he was just too young. He drew some garlic cloves from his pocket and put them in the vampire's mouth, just to be on the safe side.

"Now Alucard," he thought to himself as he grabbed his gun again, "would have had the sense to let go of his damn hair."

But it wasn't time to think about that, it was time to face what was behind the door before it came out to face him.

Walter reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open. It was dark inside, and he had to let his eyes adjust to the gloom. Finally he saw a figure in a chair. It was Seras Victoria.

He quickly scanned the rest of the room and saw a pale dark-haired woman in the corner, obviouly a vampire. He raised his gun to shoot her, but suddenly found he had no control over his arm. The gun clattered to the floor.

"Damn, mind control. Trouble indeed," he thought to himself.

Meanwhile Seras had raised her eyes to him. He could see that she was bound at the wrists, feet, and hands by chains. Her uniform was covered in various shades of blood.

"Walter..." she muttered in a hoarse voice. "Why did you come here? She'll kill you too now."

He tried to answer, but couldn't open his mouth.

The woman in the corner spoke. "I, of course, am Bloody Raine."

She stood up, and Walter saw that she was thin woman in a black bodysuit. She made a gesture, and he sat down hard on the floor.

"You're from Hellsing, obviously. I was expecting her master, and instead I get... who the hell are you, anyway?"

Seras spoke then, "He's just the butler. Let him go."

"Shut up," said Raine. "After what he apparently did to Gadel, he's no mere butler."

She addressed Walter directly then. "Why are you here?"

Walter suddenly found he could speak, though he still couldn't move. "I am here to retrieve Miss Seras of course."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening. Miss Seras has been a dreadful bother to me. She killed Lucius with her bare hands and teeth."

Raine pointed to a pile of bloody clothing which had apparently once been a vampire.

"She ruined a couple of my humans too, while they were chaining her. I had to drain them and throw them out with the ghouls. There's not much left of my little club, thanks to her, and now you as well."

Raine drew a knife then, and drew it down Seras' neck. Blood welled out, and Raine leaned over and licked it up. Walter winced.

"Vampire blood, it's just not the same. And I wonder what it will take to kill her?"

"More than you have, bitch," said Seras.

Raine frowned. "I do believe we must chain your mouth."

She turned to Walter. "Oblige me, butler, I don't care to touch the silver."

He was forced to walk to the corner where he found a silver chain. Still controlled, he approached the chair. Seras met his eyes with a combination of fear and pity.

"I know you can't help it," she said, with some resignation.

He wrapped the chain around her mouth, forcing it through her lips and gagging her, and watched with inner pain as sores and blood appeared on her skin and tongue.

"You're a Hellsing lackey," murmured Raine. "You should be enjoying torturing a vampire."

"If only you knew," thought Walter. He tried to force himself to reach for the chain again, to give Seras some relief from it, but couldn't.

Raine spoke again. "There's a silver knife over there, and one of the humans blessed it. Time to see how well she can handle that."

Walter unwilling walked to the table and picked up the knife. It looked like one of Alexander Anderson's bayonets. He knew those had never killed Alucard, but a good blow in the heart or head would be the end for Seras. And it would come from his own hands.

He approached the chair slowly, wishing he could turn the knife on himself rather than do this. Seras was still looking him in the eye, without even reproach. As he drew nearer, he suddenly heard a voice in his head. Seras' voice.

"Fight her, Walter. Fight her control; you're stronger than she is."

Seras was staring intently at him, and suddenly he realized he was capable of putting down the knife. But that wouldn't be enough.

The voice came again. "Don't let her do this to you!"

Walter was suddenly free. He whirled, and struck with the knife at Raine's heart.

Raine was surprised, but she quickly tried to move out of the way. The knife went into her neck. She doubled over and coughed, then jerked the knife out and threw it across the room.

But that took time, and Walter was able to lunge at Raine with the wires and catch her around the waist. Raine tried to run, and the wires cut though her body like gelatin. She fell to the floor in two pieces.

He knew it wasn't over yet. Raine's head was still laughing, and her legs were crawling on the floor trying to rejoin her torso. He ran and retrieved his gun, firing it several times into her head. Still she moved, but a bit more slowly. He strung the wires through his teeth and made as many cuts in her head and body as he could, and watched the black blood spill out. She didn't seem to be moving anymore, but Alucard had recovered from worse and Raine was probably almost as old.

Walter ran to Seras then, and took off the chains as quickly as he could. Seras slumped over for a moment, and he reached out and supported her until she could stand, still keeping an eye on the pieces of vampire which lay in a thick black puddle on the floor.

He took the chains and wrapped them around the larger pieces, watching them sizzle. He dropped bullets and garlic around the floor in the blood.

He turned to Seras. "Are you all right?"

The bruises were already disappearing from her face, but she still looked shaken.

She nodded. "Basically... They hadn't done much to me yet."

"Good. Do you know where the Harkonnen is?"

She shook her head.

Finally he kept one chain and helped Seras out the door. He bound the doorknob with the chain and they went down the stairs and out the front, passing the still unconscious human he had knocked out.

"We're probably safe enough now," he said to her. "I doubt she'll be able to get out that door for a while. We can walk back to Hellsing if you can handle it."

Seras nodded. She seemed dazed and her face looked worried, but she could walk. They went down the sidewalk together, Seras leaning on his arm for support.

"You must think I'm terribly stupid," she finally said.

"No," he answered, "I think you're terribly brave. And I didn't know Alucard had taught you mind control."

"He didn't; I had no idea I could do that. But, Walter, you warned me, and yet I went there, and you still saved me... I suppose thanking you wouldn't be enough."

"It's all right," he reassured her. "I only did what I had to, as an employee of Hellsing."

A black and red haze appeared on the sidewalk before them. Recognizing it immediately, they watched as it coalesced into Alucard.

He pulled down his sunglasses and observed them impassively over the lenses.

"Police girl," he said. "It would seem you have disobeyed your master."

Seras cringed a bit, but still met his eyes. "You're angry."

"Extremely. But as it seems I've arrived too late for the ball, perhaps we'll call it even."

Walter spoke. "You're not entirely too late. There's still a vampire down there at the Cremor Club who needs to be subdued. If you walk slowly she may be in more threatening chunks by the time you get there. There's at least one human too. It's policy to save his pitiful existence, but of course if you want dinner, no one will ever know."

Alucard waved his hand in dismissal. "Not thirsty. But the vampire sounds interesting. I'll meet you back at the office. Take care of the police girl, you seem to be doing the best job of it currently."

Seras took Walter's arm again, and they walked on toward Hellsing.