Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Tales of the Iscariot Jerikor Veorraent ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 4 )

Standard disclaimers: don't own the Vatican or the Iscariots. Don't really want to, so who cares? I don't get no money for this although if you want to pay me, that's okay! Anyway, on with the story- it was supposed to be short, but it again got away from me, but it's not as long as last chapter, so don't worry!

Whoops, sorry it took so long ++grins++, but I have been mega busy lately, I will try and make more time for my writing.

Chapter 4: More secrets unveiled

Tess sighed. Man, she was bored. Since her aid in the destruction of the Balor some months ago, not much had happened. The first few weeks she had enjoyed as her Sifu had remained by her bedside and nursed her back to health. Unfortunately, despite their long incarnation all her attempts to wheedle or coax more information about him had failed. After she had healed, he had spent the following months probing her newfound talent of `shifting' or so he had called it. After much experimentation, they had found how to trigger the ability at will, although she could only sustain for up to two minutes at a time. He had tried to teach her `phasing' as well; teleporting through walls and such, like he did, however much to his frustration she had not yet gotten the hang of it. Something about the feeling of her being seeping through walls just creeped her out and sent shivers down her spine. She could achieve it, but she could not yet travel as far as her Sifu.

Her Sifu was currently on a mission, and despite her pleading he had refused to take her along. His refusal had stung, and he had remained distant during her training, she had hoped he would act with the intimacy he had on the mission, but instead he had remained distant throughout the months. She sighed again, feeling bored and rejected as she wandered through the echoing halls of the Iscariot headquarters, and despite the hustle and bustle surrounding her, she felt very alone.

She sighed again, she wondered how her Sifu was going on his mission, whether he was finished and when he was returning. She caught herself before she sighed again, she was sighing like some lovesick teenager, although she was really more than a bit lovesick. She had never had a boyfriend or had a crush on someone during her high school years, her foster father had frowned on such relationships, so her Sifu was the first man she had ever been attracted to. Quickly quelling such thoughts, she decided to go to a training room and train with her phasing technique, if she could go from their room to the training hall by the time he returned she thought he'd be pleased. She really wanted to experiment so she stopped where she was and sunk through the floor.

She reappeared next to a very surprised man who had been in the middle of sparring with another priest; she had managed to arrive when several fledgling regenerators were training. They all turned to face her, and there was much muttering amongst them, she distinctly heard "The monster's concubine" and she glared angrily at the man who had said it. The man was tall, although not nearly as tall as her Sifu, and powerfully built. He looked around arrogantly and he clutched his holy blades at all times, his posture was aggressive and it was obvious he was looking for fight.

"What did you say?" she asked, pointing at the man

"I said that you are a concubine to that monster!" he snarled

"Really?" she grinned, she had been working on a grin similar to her Sifu's, a wide manic grin that bordered on a psychotic smirk. It made most back away.

"Yes you are the devil's concubine for living with that…monster!"

"Want to prove it?"

He recoiled, "What do you mean?"

She smirked again, "If you can beat me in a sparring match it'll prove you right, and if you lose, you tell me everything you know about the `monster' I'm supposedly the concubine of."

"Till first blood?" he asked grinning

"Of course"

"Excellent, make us some room, this shouldn't take long" he said, standing with his blades in front of him.

"You're right, this won't take long," Tess replied, grabbing her katar and standing ready, her blades flashing.

The priests around them formed a large circle and two were left alone, surrounded by a ring of priests.

He lunged quickly, his twin blades flying towards her as he threw them. She had expected such an attack and she shifted for a few seconds to bat them out of the way. She met his first flurry of melee attacks with a series of easy parries. Tess noted that his technique was not very defensive, and although his attacks were above average, he left a lot of openings, however he did seem fanatic and almost untiring as he unleashed barrage after barrage of almost berserk attacks. She decided to wait for a big enough opening to get a definite strike so she fought defensively, dodging and parrying his rather obvious attack patterns. She finally saw a large enough opening, she batted aside his blade, spinning quickly she lightly gashed the priest's side and stepped back.

She ducked as the priest tried to decapitate her and quickly retreated out of attack range, "Wait, you said it was until first blood!"

"But, I'm not bleeding!" he smirked.

She looked to where her katar had sliced the priest and she saw no evidence of the wound except for the torn clothing. Impossible, she had felt the flesh give way underneath her blade, "Who or what are you?"

"I am Anrath, Holy Regenerator of Sacred Rome. I cannot bleed so why don't you give up, devil's concubine!"

A grin slowly formed across her face, and Anrath stepped back alarmed and uncertain.

"Excellent, I was hoping to have an actual fight, I've been very bored lately and this should cure my boredom well. I've always wanted to know how tough you regenerators are, so today I'll find out"

"A mere human cannot hope to defeat me!" he spat, his bravado returning.

Her grin became even wider approaching such manic proportions that even her Sifu would have been impressed. It had the effect she wanted, Anrath was severely confused, he was facing a five and a half foot tall girl who was grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"But I'm not entirely human anymore, Priest!" she spat the last word.

He snarled as he launched himself at her again, but she decided to play with him for a while, she phased through the floor making Anrath slide to a halt and look around wildly, as all the other priests fled from the hall, or rapidly retreated. Tess chuckled at the chaos she had caused as she stuck her head out of a wall.

"The thing about regenerators is that they forget that they don't fight many humans and that they are not the only enhanced beings on the planet. Not to mention the holier-than-thou attitude and the tendency to self-righteous sprouting," she mocked.

"Foul magicker, come out where I can smite you!" yelled Anrath.

"Hah! I'm not that easy to provoke fool. Just because you can regenerate doesn't make you invulnerable or immune to pain, for example," Tess phased her arm through the floor and drove her katar through Anrath's knee; he screamed in pain and tried to hack her arm, but she had already redrawn it.

"Still no blood? Well let's try this then."

His knee was already healing, and he haltingly regained his feet. She phased her torso through the ceiling above him, and unleashed a torrent of quick slashes that opened several deep gashes in his back. He cursed and spun around, but she was already gone.

"Come out and fight properly you coward" he yelled.

"Hmm, okay, but only because I was getting bored of this cat and mouse game." She replied, not to mention that her limit was fast approaching she thought to herself. She emerged from the floor, and stood at the ready. "Well come on!"

He screamed an almost incoherent battle cry, and launched himself at her again.

She decided to end this quickly and began shifting. Immediately everything else slowed down, her heartbeat thudded in her ears, reverberating like a giant drum. She easily evaded his attacks, reduced to an almost comical pace, and replied in kind with a series of cuts, stabs and slashes that Anrath vainly tried to parry, but his reactions were far too slow and she easily weaved her way around his clumsy blocks. After almost a minute of un-relenting attacks, she drew a line of blood across his cheek and she barely restrained the urge to decapitate him with the following blow. Her blades stopped a hair's breadth from his neck as she slowed down to reality. She collapsed in exhaustion as he raised his hand to his cheek and saw his own blood coat his fingers. She looked up from his fingers in amazement.

"Meet me here after midnight Mass." She barely managed to say, before phasing through the floor to land on her bed. She blinked several times, before letting out a feeble cry of triumph; she had managed to get all the way to her quarters! In a single jump! She fondly imagined the proud look on her Sifu's face before falling into a contended, dreamless sleep.

She awoke several hours later, sill exhausted from the amount of shifting she had done. She rolled over, aiming to get more sleep. Her eyes wandered to the clock. She was going to be late for her meeting with Anrath! Cursing soundly, as only a teenage girl can, she ran to the bookcase and yanked the correct book to open the secret door, and ran from the room and pelted down the corridors at full pace. She was already late, so she tried to phase through the wall.

She reappeared right behind Anrath, who had not noticed her silent entry, and called out a greeting, he jumped from shock and spun quickly, his blades drawn.

"It's only me, relax," she said soothingly. He visibly relaxed, and replaced his blades under his jacket. "Did you get the information I asked for?"

"Yes, although there is not very much, the only ones who seem to know much are Enrico Maxwell himself and strangely enough Paladin Alexander."

"I know why Paladin Alexander knows, apparently he tried to kill my Sifu numerous times before he joined the Organisation."

"That would make sense I guess. I warn you though; this information is mainly rumours and hypothesis. Many of the Brothers are curious about your Sifu, and as you know he is very tight-lipped about his past, so maybe none of this is true."

"Just tell me already," she insisted.

"Firstly and most obviously, your Sifu is not human."

"Hmm, I'd guessed that ages ago."

"No-one know what he is though, although we do know that he is not a Nosferatu, they avoid him like silver. He is also not a were-creature, there are several of those in this organisation, and they form a tight group, a pack really, and your Sifu is not one of them."

"So what is he?"

"We don't know, although there are a lot of wild hypotheses. Some think he is a being from another planet, others claim he is a daemon or devil, and some…" Anrath trailed off.

"What?" she demanded.

"Some think he is a Fallen," he whispered.

"Fallen?"

"A Fallen Angel; banished from Heaven for some crime, exiled to this plane of existence until he atones."

"What crime could an angel commit?"

"Maybe the angel had an over-fondness for humans, meddled too much in our affairs. Maybe the angel disobeyed an order from God, or maybe he sided with Lucifer during the Fall."

"A Fallen angel…"

"We also know that he alive during several dynasties in ancient China and was present when Jesus was crucified."

"So he's old," Tess muttered.

"Very old. Older than the oldest Nosferatu, were-creatures and even the Church herself."

"That would make him thousands of years old!" Tess exclaimed.

"Correct. We don't even know his name though so there is no way to verify the Fallen theory."

An image from the last mission flashed across her mind, she saw a brilliant aura and huge white wings that had sprouted from his body. "No, I'm sure of it, he has to be a Fallen."

"Hmm, okay," said Anrath dubiously. "Although some of the priests think that he is absolutely unique, manufactured by some organisation using the blood of many supernatural beings."

"Kinda like you then."

"Pff, hold your tongue, before I cut it out of your mouth"

"What do you think my Sifu is Anrath?"

"I think he is a heretic. A heretic and a blasphemer," Tess made a sound of protest, but he continued, cutting her off, "however he aids us, and though I loathe to admit it, he is exceedingly talented at his duties. Anyway, the enemy of my enemy is my friend as the old proverb goes."

"I don't think my Sifu is a heretic." Tess defended him.

"Hmm, he hasn't gone to a single service since his arrival, and since you've become his student, you too have been noticeably absent."

"We all serve God in our ways." Tess said, brushing aside his comment, "I'm not going to be a nun anyway, so I don't see why I have to shun people with Holy ramblings. I fight for God, when he tells me too, I'm no theologian."

Anrath stared at her, "Heretic!" he spat, "You sound exactly like your Sifu!"

"I consider that a compliment"

"You consider it favourable to be compared to that monster?"

"Of course, he's strong, he's fast, he's good at fighting and he knows a lot of interesting history that you never learn in school. A while ago he was talking about the crusades and the Inquisition, and what happened during those times and it wasn't the same as in my textbooks at school."

Anrath snorted dismissively, and rose to his feet, "Anyway, I've fulfilled my end of the bargain, so I'm leaving. Don't speak to me again." With this he turned and strode towards the door.

"Wait," Tess called out after him, "Where can I find more information about the Fallen?"

Anrath was silent for a few moments before speaking, "Go to the Library, on the 27th bookshelf you will find information," he said, before leaving Tess alone in the dark training room.

"But I'm not authorised for the library," she pouted to the empty room.

Jerikor punched through another ghoul, it's body turning to dust around his arm. This was an insult! He lashed out with a sweeping circular kick that sent more ghouls to their final judgement. Sending him to deal with mere FREAKS! In his anger he punched through a ghoul and impacted with the wall behind it. With a dull crack, the wall shattered, fractures appearing along its length. He swore that Enrico would hear of this, these scum that anyone could of dealt with! With a snarled curse he dispatched the last ghoul and stalked after the host. He was still cursing when several shotgun blasts impacted with his body, he rocked back the force pushing even him off-balance. He quickly regained his balance and laughed. "Why don't you come out here where I can see you? Parasite!" he mocked the shadows, "Or are you too afraid to deal with a single Iscariot? Punk!" she spat out the last word, and continued snarling, " Your kind are no better than the cockroaches I crush under my foot. You are nothing but insects, waiting to be crushed!" As he spat out these insults yet more shotgun blasts slammed into his body. He chuckled grimly, the shots having no real effect on him, although he would have some bruises tomorrow. However he feigned weakness, staggering under the repeated blasts. Soon a shadow stepped out into the light, revealing an arrogant looking man with telltale red eyes. He replaced his shotgun and unclenched his fists, his hands forming cruel talons. He snarled wordlessly, and launched himself at Jerikor, his talons aiming for Jerikor's heart. With a movement that was so fast it was invisible, Jerikor launched himself forward, his arm rising in a diagonal cut. The FREAK fell in two pieces, surprise visible on his face before he turned to dust, Jerikor begun cursing again, this had been a complete waste of time. He disappeared, teleporting to Enrico's office leaving the echoes of his curses ringing around the target building.

Back at Iscariot Headquarters, Tess lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, pondering how to get into the library. She couldn't lie her way through, and of course she couldn't seduce the guards, firstly they were priests, and secondly she had no idea how to go about seducing someone.

"The curse of my childhood," she said aloud, before closing her eyes in thought. She ran through different plans, but could not think of one that was achievable. She felt an odd shift in consciousness; she opened her eyes to find herself floating in a familiar in a familiar darkness. The mirror-image of herself floated into her version, wearing a revealing Elizabethan style dress with long red hair that would of touched the floor but instead was billowing out around her. The last time Tess had been here, her mind had been fogged with pain from her wounds, and concern for her Sifu. Now, her mind clear of distractions she was suspicious and wary of magick or something out of the ordinary. She almost laughed out loud, she had been teleported to an infinite black darkness, faced with a being that could have been her twin, and she was looking for something unnatural.

The other her stepped forward, "So we meet again."

Tess nodded, "So it would seem"

"You are suspicious of me?"

"Naturally"

"You need not worry, I would not willingly let harm befall you"

"Where am I really?" Tess asked, indicating their peculiar surroundings.

"You are in the deepest reaches of our mind"

"Our mind?"

"Yes, it is the untapped potential, and shared fate we share. However, only you can delve these depths"

"Wait, who are you?" Tess demanded.

"I am you" the other her replied simply.

"You said that last time," Tess said testily.

"And I say it again."

Tess slumped her shoulders in defeat, accepting the paradox.

"What do you call yourself now?" the other her asked.

"Tessera Ardroimas, or just Tess"

"Tess…" the other her rolled the name around her mouth, like a fine wine for tasting.

"Uhm, why are we here?"

The other brightened, "We are here to fulfil the bargain"

"What bargain?"

"You accepted my aid, and your shifting ability is only the beginning"

"What?"

"You did not think that that minor power was all that my aid entailed did you?"

"Well…"

The other her laughed, "Come now, I will far more helpful than that."

"But at what cost?"

"No cost, only your continued conversation from time to time, and share your experiences."

"Share my experiences?"

"Allow me a small corner of your mind, so that I may experience what you experience."

"Why?" Tess asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Do not worry, I will not try and take over your mind or such a nefarious thing."

"Hmm, I guess it's okay then. What do I call you?"

"What do you mean?"

"What is your name?"

"My name? Our…my name…call me…Ehlissa"

"Okay then, Ehlissa" they both smiled, "Can you help get into the library"

"Of course."

"How?"

"Just phase"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Tess said.

Tess blinked and was back in her room, lying on her bed `Our bed' Tess started.

"Ehlissa?"

`You can talk to me in here you know.'

"Are…are you reading my thoughts?" Tess asked, slightly panicked.

`Of course not, I am however poking through your memories.'

"Wha…WHAT?!?"

`You really like your Sifu don't you?' Tess blushed. `Hmm I must admit he does look rather handsome, in a roguish way. Good choice!'

"What…what are you talking about?" Tess asked aloud, still blushing furiously.

`You forget, I am you, and your memories are mine as well.'

"Anyway let's get into the library," Tess said, desperate to change the topic.

`Ah yes, you want to find your Sifu's true name.'

"Yeah," Tess said, and then asking on a hunch, "Do you know it?"

`No, I don't, but it won't be easy to find without some help.'

Tess walked through the wall, and phased into the library. It was a huge cavernous room, filled with towering bookcases each bookcase overflowing with books of all descriptions. Treatises on history shared shelves with Nostradamus' prophecies and Biblical studies. The odd torch, smoking in its bracket, throwing huge ominous shadows, and not really alleviating the darkness, dimly lit the library.

"This place is huge, we'll never find anything in this chaos, even with Anrath's clue."

`Don't worry,' Ehlissa spoke in her mind, `try saying these words: Na Dumar'

"Na Dumar," Tess repeated and was shocked to see a light spring from her out-stretched hand and hovered around her head. "How did you do that?"

`I didn't do anything; you spoke the words of power, and the effect you can clearly see. Now, think of the book you need to find and say Wanrag Kron'

Tess concentrated on the book she needed, and muttered "Wanrag Kron" The light that had been hovering around her head sped off into the darkness. Tess struggled to keep pace with the speeding light. The light stopped, hovering in front of a book on the fifth shelf.

`That will have the information you seek.'

Tess grabbed the thick tome, but it was heavier than she had expected and she tumbled to the floor, knocking over a chair with a loud clatter.

`Quickly,' urged Ehlissa, `someone's coming'

"Oh shit," Tess muttered struggling to get up.

`Phase back to your room, quickly'

Tess sunk through the floor and landed on her bed as she emerged from the ceiling. It took Tess a few breaths to regain her senses. She recovered and quickly laid the tome on the table, pulled up a chair she sat down. She opened the book to the first page, and not seeing an index, started reading.

`You know there are faster ways,' Ehlissa noted wryly after several pages.

"Of course, there are two of us, you read this side and I'll read the other," Ehlissa was about to interrupt, but Tess kept on talking, "Sifu could be back at any moment so we had better hurry."

`Your Sifu is already on his way back.'

"What?"

`And he is very angry with a certain Enrico.'

"Oh no, Sifu don't do anything silly," Tess murmured before re-applying herself to the tome in front of her.

Jerikor smashed open Enrico's office door, his rage almost a tangible thing, "Don't. Ever. Waste. My. Time. Like. That. Again." Jerikor grated, snapping each word. Enrico swivelled to face him, and Jerikor suddenly felt twin blades slice into his neck.

"What treachery is this?" growled Jerikor.

"Yours. We have no mercy for traitors," Enrico replied calmly and coldly, although his left eye was twitching.

"I am no traitor, the seals make certain of that."

"If ye nay be a traitor, why do ye continue ta train a pagan?" Paladin Alexander rumbled behind him.

"I train no pagan"

"Then why she be using magick?"

"What?" exclaimed Jerikor, surprise forcing him to almost jump, the blades sliced slightly deeper and he forced himself to calm down.

"She be channelling those dark energies here, in the very heart of the Vatican." Alexander continued.

"But you have controls on the recruiting process, if she was a pagan she wouldn't have been able to enter this compound!" Jerikor argued.

"Oh, we thought that too, and we checked the wards and they are still in place," Enrico said, "So there is only one explanation; you trained her."

"Wait…"

Enrico ignored him and continued, his voice rising until he was screaming in rage, "Finally everything makes sense, all those years you pretended servitude, even abiding the seals my predecessors placed on you, all the while you secretly take our most gifted agents and twist them to darkness, becoming servants of all our hell-spawned adversaries."

"Just wait…"

"This is it, the opportunity for the Iscariot Organisation to rid itself of our biggest parasite, and all his abnormal followers."

Jerikor cursed, Enrico was labelling Tess' emerging talents as witchcraft and using that as an excuse to destroy him and kill all the supernatural creatures in the Iscariot's ranks. Jerikor grinned; he would be damned if he was going to let them destroy him, or his student; the most promising he had trained in his time with the Iscariots.

"Does this mean you no longer require my services?" Jerikor asked, his manic grin spreading.

"Ye be worried `bout yer service? We are gonna kill you and all the other scum, cursed heretic." Alexander spat.

Jerikor ducked quickly and elbowed Alexander in the groin, forcing the large man to bend over and release his hold on Jerikor's neck. Jerikor slid through the floor, glaring at Enrico, "We'll see each other again Enrico, I promise."

The priest recoiled, and was about to sprout another insult, but Jerikor was already gone.

Tess suddenly stopped. "This is him," she said pointing at an illustration.

`That's a picture of the original angels who followed Lucifer, and how they were cast out of Heaven for their treachery.'

"Yeah, and there's my Sifu, he's to the left of the leading angel, who is he?"

`Well, the leader appears to be the Archangel Michael.'

"What? He fought with Saint Michael?"

`So it would seem'

Tess scanned down the list of names, she suddenly stopped, and went back a few names and settled her finger on one. "That's my Sifu's name," she said; wonder creeping into her voice, "Jerikor Veorraent, my Sifu."

Well, I finally finished. Man, sometimes I really hate school, I've been swamped under exams for a while, but now I finally found the time to finish this. I do however have no idea what should happen next, so please read, review and suggest.