Part 5

Anderson raised his blades and crossed them over his chest. Alucard aimed his guns straight at the Vatican Priest's heart. "Now we'll see just how good of a regenerator you really are Vatican lap dog." The vampire thought to himself as he cocked his Jackul and prepared to fire. The two combatants stood perfectly still for a moment visually and mentally sizing each other up. Without warning Anderson began rushing toward Alucard cutting the air with his blades. Alucard stood perfectly still and fired a single shot from his gun. The missile hit Anderson right between the eyes. He went down flat on his back. For a moment he was silent.

"Hmph. If it's going to be this easy I don't see why I should even bother. Some regenerator you are." He scoffed. Then his eyes widened as Anderson's seemingly lifeless body began to move.

"Is that all ye got vampire?" Anderson jeered as the bullet hole closed by itself.

"Hmm, perhaps you'll be more of a challenge after all. Let's see just how many bullets it would take to put you down once and for all." Alucard said with a toothy grin.

"I don't think ye got enough bullets to put me down you undead abomination." Anderson snarled.

"Sticks and stones father. Enough of this prattle. Talk is cheap, and you're starting to bore me." Alucard said cocking his gun again.

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Seras followed the Hellsing soldiers in their pursuit of the ghouls. They ran toward a secluded area. For a moment the ghouls seem to have disappeared leaving Seras and the others to wonder exactly what happened to them. But before anyone had a chance to start formulating theories the run away ghouls plus a host of reinforcements surrounded the human army and their vampire compatriate.

"Bloody hell! Where did all these other ghouls come from? I know the FREAKS can move fast but they couldn't have made all these so quickly!" Garreth exclaimed.

"I don't know. It can't be helped now anyway! Just shoot and keep shooting til they're all silenced!" Seras shouted.

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Alucard fired sending the silver bullet rocketing toward Anderson's chest. It hit him right between the shoulder blades but the priest only flinched. He then raised one of his blades and sent it hurdling toward Alucard. The blade hit the vampire in the left shoulder. He easily removed the blade from his flesh. Then he proceeded to empty the rest of his ammo magazine into the priest's body. Anderson fell to the ground lying flat on his back. Alucard walked up to the seemingly lifeless paladin and looked down.

"How disappointing. I honestly thought he'd put up more of a fight. When will I ever find an opponent who can give me a real challenge?" He muttered looking down upon his fallen enemy. As he was about to turn to leave Anderson suddenly sprang back to life. Before Alucard could react he felt the coldness of a blessed silver blade make contact with his throat. His head fell to the ground and then his body with it. Anderson stood over Alucard's decapitated body and let out a laugh.

"This was Hellsing's most powerful weapon? How sad." Anderson sneered as he began to walk away. He got two feet from the body when he heard laughter suddenly ring out. Anderson turned and stared in shock to see Alucard standing complete and unharmed.

"What the?" Anderson gasped in shock.

Alucard let out a psychotic laugh. "Oh it's been ages since anyone's decapitated me! You're more impressive than I first thought. It was actually fun having my head lopped off again."

"How? I cut ye head off! No vampire comes back after its beheaded!" Anderson shouted.

"Oh but I'm no ordinary vampire my little paladin. It's going to take more than that to finish me off." Alucard replied.

"Well, it appears Hellsing not only employs a spawn of the devil, but dabbles in his black magic as well!" Anderson yelled.

"And Iscariate hasn't? How may I ask is it that you have the regenerative powers that you have? It would appear we've both been guinea pigs for man's experiments. The difference being I am the actual success of Hellsing's efforts." Alucard said.

"You're nothing but demon enhanced by the devil's magic. After I destroy you I will be more than happy to bring the heritics of Hellsing to their knees and make them pay for their crimes." Anderson retorted.

"Not if I make sure you don't leave Romania in one piece."

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Seras and Pickman went after the fleeing ghouls. They were both puzzled at the fact there were no human troops anywhere to be seen. "What happened to the soldiers? There were more than enough to take care of the remaining ghouls!" Pickman shouted.

"I don't know!" Seras exclaimed. "It's like they vanished into thin air!"

"We couldn't have lost an entire troop so easily!" Pickman yelled.

They both continued running until they found themselves completely alone. They looked at each other in utter confusion. Seras concentrated to see if she could sense the prey. "Nothing. They've just vanished and the Hellsing troops with them. I don't understand it."

"Why in the bloody hell would a bunch of ghouls try to lure us away just to disappear?" She asked.

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right about this." Pickman answered.

"I'm with you. I hope my master is having better luck than we are." Seras replied.

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Alucard and Anderson were in the midst of trying to tear each other apart. Bullets and blades flew in all directions as the two hurled them at each other. Alucard of course having the benefit of using his guns to fire bullets at Anderson, but Anderson had very good throwing capability as well. The two spent several minutes trying to fill each other full of silver. The exchange stopped for a moment while the two battered foes stood eye to eye several feet apart. Alucard and Anderson just glared at each other, one daring the other to start the battle again. Alucard's chest, arms and upper thighs had blessed silver blades sticking out of them. This would have surely incinerated a lower or even an ordinary vampire. He proved he could take as much punishment as he could dish out.

But the No Life King had not failed making his mark on Anderson. The Iscariate Palidan had bullet holes all through his body, including one through his throat. He stood heaving and gasping for breath as the wounds began to close. Alucard knew his enemy had to be stinging, but the vatican priest did a good job of hiding his pain, at least on the outside.

"You are indeed an impressive opponent. It would appear you've cleaned me out of silver bullets." Alucard said with a measure of respect.

"Normally I'd be willing to destroy ye now vampire. You've no ammunition left so there'd be no real sport in your destruction. I'll leave ya be this night. But the next time, whether you've bullets or not, I'll make sure it's the last night you spend on this Earth." Anderson warned and disappeared in a flurry of white scriptures.

Alucard was left alone with the holy blades still embedded in his flesh. A twisted smile on his face as he looked into the fluttering paper trail left by the priest. "Indeed you are more than I thought. I will look forward to our next battle Judas Priest. And I intend to make sure you regret not finishing the job." He said to himself with a cryptic laugh.

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"Steadlum!" Pickman called.

"Where is he? He was supposed to be guarding this post." Seras replied.

"Unless he was snatched up by the ghouls I don't understand why he's missing. I honestly don't understand why Ferguson took him on as a Hellsing captain. He's rude, arrogant, and seems to make it his job to get on everyone's nerves. I'm suprised he's still breathing after some of the things he's said to you Seras." Pickman said.

"That's only because my master is not allowed to do anything to him unless Sir Integra states otherwise. It's hard enough for me to keep my temper under control when he's around." Seras replied.

Suddenly without warning a bullet whizzed through the night air hitting Seras in the arm. Pickman raised his guns ready for a fight. They both looked on stunned to see Steadlum emerge from a dark patch of brush. Seras was none too pleased.

"Why the blood hell did you shoot at me Steadlum!" She yelled.

"Get over it Victoria. It was dark, and I couldn't tell if you were from Hellsing or if you were a ghoul. It's not like it would have killed you." Steadlum said sarcastically.

Seras fought to keep her temper in check. She wanted to lash out and tear him apart. But she knew that would have gotten her into a world of trouble, especially with her master. She tried to keep her emotions under control.

"You had a scope Steadlum. You could have seen if it were Seras Victoria or not." Pickman said feeling suspicious of the Hellsing captain.

"You calling me a liar?" Steadlum asked angrily.

"There are a lot of things I'd like to call you, but I learned not to use that language in front of a young lady." Pickman growled.

"But we're not in the presence of a young lady are we?" Steadlum sneered.

Pickman wasted no more time with words and rushed toward Steadlum in defense of Seras. Steadlum threw down his weapon and put up his fists. But before one punch could be exchanged a stern order for the two to break it up came from Ferguson. He was just coming upon the three Hellsing officers.

"Steadlum, Pickman, what's going on here?" Ferguson demanded.

"Steadlum shot at Officer Seras sir." Pickman answered.

"Is this true?" Ferguson asked.

"It was dark sir. My scope wasn't working so I couldn't be sure if it was a ghoul or not." Steadlum replied.

Seras glared at the Hellsing captain. "You bastard. You're lying and you know it." Seras thought to herself.

"Where are the others? Were they turned into ghouls?" Ferguson enquired.

"We don't know sir. Officer Seras and I were running to help the other soliders after we'd gotten done with the ghouls at the crime scene and when we arrived there was no one around." Pickman answered.

"How in the name of the queen could an entire group of soldiers dissapear? What happened to the ghouls?"

"We don't know sir. No one was in sight. It's like they all just vanished. Wait a minute, Garreth was with that unit. And Steadlum was supposed to have Garreth's back. Maybe he saw what happened." Seras said giving Steadlum an accusatory look.

"I had my own problems with a small pack of ghouls that nearly ripped me apart! How was I supposed to protect Garreth when I couldn't hardly defend myself!" Steadlum lashed out.

"That's enough Steadlum. Officer Seras was not implying anything other than perhaps you might have information on what happened to the soldiers. There's no call for these dramatics." Ferguson said sternly.

"I apologize sir." Steadlum replied gritting his teeth.

"I'll dispatch a search party to find the missing soldiers. Pickman, you're heading up that search party." Ferguson said.

"Yes sir." Pickman replied.

"The sun will be rising soon police girl. Stay where you are until I come to you." Alucard's voice ordered in Seras's mind.

"I must stay here sir. My master will be coming to get me within a few moments." Seras said.

"Very well. All remaining troops report back to the bunker. Then we'll begin a search for the missing soldiers." Ferguson replied as he led Steadlum and Pickman away with him. As soon as they were gone Alucard appeared still healing his wounds.

"Master, what happened to you?" Seras asked with sudden concern.

"It appears the Vatican lap dog knows more tricks than I gave him credit for. He saw fit to try turning me into a pin cushion with his silver blades." The elder vampire answered. His eyes narrowed when he saw dried blood on Seras's arm.

"What happened to your arm?" He asked.

"Steadlum shot at me. He says his scope didn't work. He said he didn't know if I was a ghoul or an officer of Hellsing. Even if his scope didn't work, it wasn't cloudy. The moon was shining clearly on Pickman and I. Steadlum's lying about not being able to see me. I'm sure of it. He's hiding something master. I don't trust him." Seras answered gruffly.

"I don't trust many if any humans at all. But Steadlum would be at the top of the list. Unfortunately I can do nothing unless ordered by my master. Like all humans she will require hard evidence that Steadlum is hiding something. If he is hiding something, we'll have to gather proof of that." Alucard replied.

"Ferguson is sending out a search party. Several Hellsing soldiers have gone missing after they went after a group of ghouls. The only one who seemed to escape was Steadlum. He was hiding in a bit of brush when he 'accidentally' shot me." Seras said.

"We will discuss this more when we return to the castle. I'm afraid we won't have any time for lessons tonight. This evening has been used up erradicating ghouls and cheap imitations. Although I must admit the battle with Alexander Anderson was very interesting." Alucard replied. Seras took her place at his side and grabbed onto his coat as he took to the air.

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