Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Angel of Mercy ❯ Duel ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter 6

They drew near the castle, when the moon was full overhead. It was made of ancient gray stone, worn by countless winter freezes and spring thaws. The architecture was more blunt than delicate, and although it contained a few arches they where purely function not for elegance.

The high stone wall that surrounded the central building was beginning to crumble. It had been built more to repel attackers than to look impressive. The castle it’s self was not very tall, but quite wide and looked to have extensive rooms within. There where no guards at the gate, there was no need for them.

Julia told Seres the floor plan using her second sight, and told her how to find Tobias. Seres slipped through a hole in the wall on the opposite side of the castle from the entrance.

Once Julia knew Seres to be within the castle she changed her form to become nothing more than shadow. She fazed through the gates and the main door of the castle traveling the hallways until the came to the central hall, she could sense Vashnicalf there.

The hall was a great room with high wall and a vaulting ceiling. Ancient tapestry’s of long forgotten hunts dotted the walls. A blood red carpet ran from the main doors to a throne like chair at the other end, upon which Vashnicalf sat.

There where about twenty vampires in the room some old and powerful, some no more than fledglings still bound to their sire. They where all watching two girls at the center of the room who where dancing. They where both human and Julia could smell their fear. The girls where attempting some manner of Victorian waltz but one was trembling so badly she kept missing her part. The girls must have realized where they where and what watched them. Julia could only guess that it was some cruel game of the vampires.

Vashnicalf was leaning back casually watching the two girls with mild interest. His face was elegant and timeless somewhere between late twenties to early thirties. His hair was light as sunlight and his skin the color of snow. He would have seemed an angel if his eyes where not those of a demon.

Julia took back her human form, and strode towards Vashnicalf’s chair her head held high. She had learned in her many years of existence that if you gave off an air of authority and power most humans, and vampires would not dare challenge you.

The vampires moved out of her way as she walked. The two human girls also realized something was happening. They ceased their mockery of a waltz and moved quickly away from the center of the room, to a corner where they huddled together watching nervously.

Vashnicalf smiled when he saw Julia. It was the cold terrible smile one might expect from a snake, if snakes could smile. When she came to stand before him he said, “So, you chose to come to me after all.”

“I’ve come for what’s mine, return my fledgling to me.”

“All in good time lovely one,” said Vashnicalf his voice terribly smug. “But first there is the matter of the offer I had my messenger give you. You become my bride and I will spare your child.”

“Have I not made it perfectly clear to you, that you make my skin crawl and I would rather take a stake to the heart than lay with you?” asked Julia coldly.

“You are foolish to refuse me. I can make you mine by force if I wish.”

“And do you have so little charm, that you can not find a willing lover? Are you so little of a man, that you must purse an unwilling woman?” mocked Julia. Danger flashed in Vashnicalf’s eyes and he stood.

“You are unwise to refuse me. Do you wish to challenge me?”

“If refusing to surrender is challenging you, then yes I do.” Julia met Vashnicalf’s cold gaze defiantly.

“You know you are not strong enough to defeat me in a fight,” said Vashnicalf walking forward to stand directly in front of Julia.

“I would not pretend to be able to hold my ground in combat against one as powerful as you. I’ve brought an ally to fight that battle.”

“You bring others into this?” growled Vashnicalf anger beginning to distort his fine features.

“You brought others into this when you had your minions capture Tobias.”

“So who is your champion then, some other weakling like you?” Julia smiled wickedly and took a step back motioning broadly.

“I do not pretend to call him my champion. He’s here more for the sake of a fight than aiding me, but that shouldn’t really matter. He’ll still destroy you. I call upon you now, Alucard!”


Alucard materialized from the very shadows of the room. From the moment he took form, his and Vashnicalf’s eyes where locked. They tensed like two dogs preparing to fight. Then in a moment they where at each others’ throats. Alucard had his Jackal drawn and firing, while Vashnicalf slashed at him with an ornate saber drawn from a sheath at his waist.

Each vampire gave and received damage from the other, but in the next instant was healed. The other vampires in the room where wisely fleeing quickly, not wanting to get caught in the cross fire. Julia thought to help the human girls, but when she looked to the corner, where they had been, they where gone having wisely fled with the vampires.

Julia too slipped silently from the room. She realized the fight between the two vampires no longer had anything to do with her. Alucard and Vashnicalf where not fighting over her, or for power, or any logical reason. They where just two monsters testing each others strength to see who was stronger. They fought to do violence and receive violence, to cause pain and feel pain. It was all purely for the sake of battle.

Julia took the form of shadow again as she hurried through the halls she could sense that Seres was having trouble. Suddenly something struck her forcing her to return to her solid form. She pulled a bayonet from her left shoulder, only in time to be struck by five more, all mercifully missing her heart but still lodging in her back.

She turned to see father Anderson looking at her with a mad gleam in his eyes, silver blades in hand. She could smell vampire blood one him. She dodged out of the way and more bayonets came her way. She tried to change to shadows again but the blessed silver of the knives within her bound her to her human form.

Desperately she dove again as more knives flew. Anderson was laughing and mocking her, calling her evil incarnated, saying he would send her back to hell. If Julia had been a young vampire she would have felt fear, but she knew for all his insanity the worst the Paladin could give her was death, and she was far to old to fear death. Still she knew the paladin was stronger than her, and if she slipped up even in the slightest he would destroy her.

She couldn’t die now she still had to help Tobias. Julia saw her opening and lunged at Anderson bringing one of his own knives through his throat but more importantly her hand to his forehead.

Normally she could kill a human with no more than a touch, but with Anderson it didn’t work. He just flung her away and pulled the knife out of his own neck grinning manically and threw it back at her. Julia saw she could not fight him as she would any normal human or vampire. She would have to destroy him from the inside out.

As she tried to avoid his blades, she blocked out the sound of his words and looked into his mind. Though normally the paladin’s force of will would have been was strong enough to keep her out, he was too overcome by battle lust to realize her presence. Julia reached through the tangle threads of the priests memories until she found what she was looking for.

It was a memory locked away deep inside and filled with enough pain to paralyze. It had something to do with a vampire but Julia didn’t look to closely. She pulled the memory forcefully to the front of Anderson’s mind making him relive it.

Anderson’s eyes went black as he was trapped in his own memory and he sank to the floor dropping the blade he was prepared to throw. Julia took her chance and pulled the knives from herself her hand shaking slightly. She had received a great number of gashes and the holy nature of the blades made the wounds slow to close. She become shadows once again and fled. She knew Anderson would not be trapped by the memory long.

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Author's Note: In this chapter the fighting finaly starts I hoped you liked it. If you want to read more please review and I'll try and be quicker in writting the next chapter. On another note just in case anyone is confused the memory of Anderson's that Julia is using is from a scene in Order 07 of the anime. It's where Anderson and Alucard are fighting and Anderson loses both arms. For a moment he kinds of blanks out and then there is a flash back of him croutching against a wall with a figure like a vampire standing in a doorway in front of him. Whatever the memory is it causes him to make a final attack holding a knife in his mouth.

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