Avarus stepped into the large bathhouse and got down on all fours, his skin turning black and eyes a deeper, bloodier color. His body began to morph and his blackened skin split open like a bug coming out of a cocoon. Hans' eyes went wide at the monster being born before his eyes. Avarus had begun to turn into some sort of shadow creature with a huge, gaping maw filled with teeth of all shapes and sizes. Hans didn't want to know what the needle teeth felt like. So before the monster could be fully born, Hans transformed into his giant wolf form and lunged forward at the dark beast.

Avarus turned to him and Hans dug his sharp claws into the ancient creature's flank, snarling like the beast he was. Avarus' eyes betrayed no fear and he simply shook the werewolf off of him, throwing him across the room and into the steaming water. Hans immediately flipped back onto his feet and lunged at the vampirwolf, earning him a quick slap to the ground with a huge shadow paw. The werewolf again got back to his feet and shrugged off the pain. He had to stop whatever this was from being born. Avarus turned his huge, canine-reminiscent head and his eyes formed into pools of red flames.

Hans lunged forward for the third time, and this time, Avarus simply backed away, pushing the ceiling up and then having it collapse to the ground at his feet. Hans snarled at the beast, but it simply grinned back at him, revealing nearly a dozen layers of misshapen and mismatched teeth. Hans backed away and growled even more angrily. Avarus simply underwent more transformations as his forelegs began to taper at the ends and his tongue became frayed at the end. His back and shoulders bubbled with dark miasma, heralding more changes to come.

"What's the matter, poochy? You too scared of what your big bad forefather can become?" Avarus asked with a leer. Hans remained without a word and leapt straight up, tearing away the large crimson tarp and getting into the fresh air. Avarus sprang off of his hind legs, giant maw open and about to snap at the werewolf when he came within range. But Hans was already up over the wall of the bathhouse and sprang off from it, hitting the snowy street below. Already, there was a huge panic out here as well, and Avarus shadow-shifted over the wall and reappeared the ground, now with a triple set of spines on his back and two huge bat wings on his shoulders. Avarus didn't hardly look like a wolf anymore.

Hans looked around for a moment before taking off down the street at a full sprint. If anything, the Vatican Sections would come to his aid. And seeing as he looked more 'normal' in this situation, they'd be on his side. Avarus chased him, but the vampirwolf was having a rather difficult time doing so, seeing as his two front legs were huge praying mantis claws. Still, he gave chase to Hans.

The werewolf searched ever single street for a sign that would tell him where Vatican City was. Everythign was written in Italian, so he tried a different approach. Hans found the nearest sturdy building and clambered up its side to the roof. He searched for a moment and then found Saint Peter's Basilica, the huge domed building off to his right. Hans was about to jump to the ground, but Avarus swung a massive foreclaw and the building's foundations crumbled. It began to fall and Hans' claws scraped against the concrete in a vain effort to pull himself up. Hans tumbled to the ground and Avarus immediately assaulted him, bashing Hans in the head with his claws. The werewolf howled in pain and struggled to get away.

He caught a break as Avarus swung both claws and accidentally hit Hans all the way down the street. The werewolf skidded to a stop and limped to his feet, trying to heal himself, and began to run in the direction of the basilica. It was his only chance in this fight. Avarus…that monster was just too strong. Nothing Hans had ever seen could throw him down a street, nothing! He weighed more than most tanks at the moment, and he had enough strength to resist being moved or thrown. This…this monster was impossibly tough and strong.

So Hans ran down the street with Avarus slowly falling behind. The werewolf was scared out of his mind right now. He was fighting something that could shrug off being ripped into by a werewolf's claws. That was truly amazing to say the very least. Hans decided to give his own attacks one last try before he resorted to getting the Vatican to help him. Hans whipped his entire body around and Avarus swung his great claws. Hans ducked below them and threw his entire body into the vampirwolf, snapping his jaws shut on the monster's neck.

Avarus simply stopped trying to fight and stood up, pushing himself up further with his massive foreclaws. Hans was a bit worried now. He was standing on his hind legs, his forepaws on Avarus' black, shadowy chest. He clawed at the monster, but when he pierced Avarus' chest, blood sprayed out all over Hans' body and he felt like he was boiling alive. Still, he managed to dig his two front legs into the monster and begin ripping up his insides. He whimpered from the boiling pain. Unfortunately, Avarus simply chuckled darkly.

"Vampires can shapeshift, you do know that?" he sneered. The huge spines on Avarus' back retracted into his body and then sprang out from his chest, piercing Hans' underside all the way down to his tail. The werewolf unlocked his jaws and tried to force himself away from the monster. He howled with pain and agony as the spines began to move inside of him, shadow tendrils ripping through his body.

"KILL THOSE MONSTERS! BOTH OF THEM!" roared a voice. Immediately, there was the thunderous roar of thousands of guns and Avarus was struck with thousands of bullets and explosives, ripping his body up in every place. The vampirwolf immediately reversed his direction and scuttled backwards, dropping Hans to the ground. The werewolf hit the ground with a dull thud and whimpered feebly. He couldn't move. This pain was unbearable for him. He'd been through everything from having a silver tooth shoved into his heart to being shot with a tank. Never had anyone reached inside of him in an attempt to disembowel him.

In a few seconds, a few priests encircled Hans as Avarus decided to fall back down the length of the street to simply watch. Hans knew that he was enjoying this immensely. Hans stared at the priest right in front of him, and suddenly realized that this was no man. It was a woman, specifically Heinkel Wolfe, the priestess he had shot in London. He whimpered this time in defeat. She was going to kill him, no doubt about it.

"Well, you two fought you could make a meff of Rome af Miwwenium did in Wondon, did ya? You fought ve Vacican vould jusk row over and wet you two make a mockery of vis howy pwace? Well, you got anoger fing comin' wolf (Well, you two thought you could make a mess of Rome as Millennium did in London, did ya? You thought the Vatican would just roll over and let you two make a mockery of this holy place? Well, you got another thing comin' wolf)," she said, receiving a large bazooka-type weapon from a priest.

"Heinkel…" Hans moaned, transforming back into his human form. The priestess jumped in surprise and her eyes went wide as she saw that it was Hans on the ground before her. She growled deeply and aimed the weapon at Hans' face. The werewolf moaned in pain and dragged himself to all fours. God, it hrurt so much to even breathe!

"You! You did vis ko me! (You did this to me)," she roared, righteous fury in her eyes.

"Heinkel…Marian said…zat changing…your name didn't…stop you from being…her sister," Hans breathed. Heinkel froze, fingers twitching ever so slightly.

"W-What?" she stammered, lowering her bazooka. Hans gasped for breath and calmed his aching body.

"Marian said zat…changing your name didn't stop you…from being her sister," he repeated. Heinkel dropped the bazooka and fell to her knees. She slumped down and began to weep, hot tears falling to the bloody snow at her feet.

"It waff you, whasn't if? Ve laft perfon to tawk to her? (It was you, wasn't it? The last person to talk to her?" Heinkel asked softly.

"Yes, und she vas killed by zis creature, Avarus. He vants to destroy ze Catholic Church und kill ze Pope in ze name of his god. Help me fight him," Hans pleaded, clutching the edge of Heinkel's robe as he pulled himself upright. The priestess Grabbed Hans' shoulder and glared at him. If looks could kill, Hans would have lost any fight against her. She looked more enraged that Hans had ever seen anyone ever before.

"Letf kiw dif baftard! (Let's kill this bastard)" she said, a look of holy fire in her eyes. Hans nodded and Heinkel helped him to his feet. Hans reformed his damaged insides to the point where he could transform. And he did so, changing back into a massive white wolf, snarling and growling at the huge black creature before him. But Avarus had changed again, and he was much worse than before.

Avarus' lower jaw was now jutting out and had a row of spikes jutting from the rim, like a row of stakes meant to skewer anything that came near him. His massive foreclaws were white and now extended out from the elbow joint and fanned into a malicious array of thorny vines, whirling about above him. His form looked like a morphing shadow, rippling and moving like there was something under it. His chest wasn't as Hans had left it. It now had white bones sticking from it, and they looked like some sort of net, spikes lining its full length. His head had a fan of bony material where it connected to the neck, and there were now three rows of spines on his back. He had six crab-like legs now in place of his two back legs.

A/N: For those of you who've played Diablo II, just picture a scarier, black and white, Duriel who can kill you faster.

Avarus grinned widely and he opened his great maw and roared, billowing forth great globs of blackness and fleshy piles. Hans backed away, even though he was a great distance from the monster. He'd never seen anything like this. Yeas, Alucard was an incredibly scary vampire, but this…it was a thousand times worse. This thing could probably kill Alucard in a matter of minutes!

"Come now? You didn't think that this was all I had? No, it gets much worse from here on in. Enlisting help was the wrong choice," Avarus said, a thousand crying souls inlaid within his voice. Heinkel grabbed her weapon and swung it around, all the Section Thirteen members with her. She fired and the huge rocket whizzed through the air. Avarus simply raised his huge claw and the weapon tore the front side of it apart, causing blood to spill out into the ground. Unfortunately, Avarus' threat was in fact, not, empty and the blood began to squirm and move about, forming into a creature that much resembled a man with a goat's head. The other amorphous blobs of blood quickly formed into more bizarre creatures, some with limbs like crab claws, others like tentacles and with extra limbs sticking out of their chests.

"W-What is this Battlemaster Heinkel?" a priest asked, loading another rocket for the priestess. The Paladin growled.

"Hewspawns (Hellspawns)" she replied, aiming her bazooka at the growing crowd of creatures. She fired and another volley of death and destruction rained down on the beast in front of her, all the Vatican members trying to slay the vampirwolf and its minions. Avarus simply laughed like a chorus of demons and pointed one of his claws forward.

"Go, spill forth over the ranks of the Vatican and slay them all! Hell awaits their company!" he roared with delight, turning down another street and slunking off with the back half of his bulbus body dragging on the ground, more legs sprouting from it as he left Hans' sight. The werewolf turned to Heinkel and she barked orders to the others. She glanced at him and nodded.

"I vill eat his black heart. Marian vill be avenged," Hans said before leaping off into the side street to leave the Vatican warriors to do what they did best: kill everything that wasn't Catholic. Something pierced his cheek and he glanced back to see Heinkel with her original pistol in hand, the barrel smoking. She smirked as best she could.

"Now we're even," she said, returning quickly to the fight before her. Hans chuckled. She was so much like Marian. Hans shook the thought from his head and quickly sprinted off in the direction of his prey, and that would lead him into Vatican City. And over a mile of sprinting later, Hans found the winged black beast clambering past the feeble defenses of the Vatican's Swiss Guard. Their holy scythes did absolutely nothing to the great monster in front of them, but they loyally fought down to the last man. Hans ran in front of Avarus and spun around, lowering himself into a position he could pounce from. Avarus howled evilly and beat his claws against the ground.

"I'm not dead yet poochy! Your God doesn't exist! How else would I still be alive?" he aksed. Hans narrowed his yellow, lupine eyes and growled. The vampirwolf, no longer resembling either race he was from, lunged forward, though rather awkwardly. His huge bulk was supported by about fifteen short legs and two massive claws, not much of a help getting around. Still, he was bale to make Hans literally jump backwards to avoid the tentacle-vines and huge bony net of spikes jutting from Avarus' chest.

Hans didn't see how he was going to fight Avarus at the moment. Every part of the monster's body was covered with some sort of spike array of could beat him into a pulp. Hans' only safe bet would be to try and get around the net of spikes and got for Avarus' back half. There, the only defense was a triple row of spines, and they didn't seem to be able to do much in the way of attacking. If Hans could avoid them, he could do at least a little damage. But then again, Hans' attack of digging his legs into the vampirwolf's chest had done nothing.

Hans whimpered softly. Was there no beating this monster?!

"God, please, please help me," Hans prayed softly, hoping that the sudden thought that had come to him would work. The werewolf turned tail and fled to Saint Peter's Basilica, barreling through the great double doors. He quickly ducked back outside and dug his maw into the snow, getting as much of the stuff as he possibly could. Avarus swiped his big claws over Hans' head and the werewolf ducked backwards into the basilica, hoping to God that this plan would work. The vampirwolf bashed down the entire front wall of the building, turning priceless architecture and work into rubble. He glared at Hans and entered the expansive room.

Hans stepped backwards, slowly baying Avarus to come closer. The vampirwolf lunged again, still too slow to be effective. Hans spit a slurry of water and snow into Avarus's face, and much to his high hope's demand, the vampirwolf reeled backwards and back out of the basilica, crying out in pain and agony. The werewolf's plan had worked, seeing as the water was technically 'holy' as soon as it had come into Saint Peter's Basilica. Hans jumped up and bashed the ceiling with his head, causing much of it to collapse. Snow quickly fell to the floor and the werewolf felt a sudden pang of fear shoot through his head. The Vatican was going to kill him for that.

"You little wolf bastard! You son of a bitch, bastard! How dare you! How dare you do that! I'll kill you! I'll kill you here and now!" Avarus roared, changing shapes once again. He was now in the shape of a massive wolf, so big that he stood well above the roof of the basilica. Hans' heart sank. What had this creature become? Hans backed away, but Avarus glared at him through the hole in the cieling with ten sets of eyes. Every single fiery orb was filled with hate and rage against Hans. The werewolf whimpered. This can't be ze end, Hans thought. He was going to die here, alone. He couldn't embrace this death, not at the hands of such an evil creature such as this.

A single ray of sunlight struck down from the sky and hit Avarus' skull. The gigantic black wolf grinned.

"I told you my god was real. Yours is a fake, a joke, a lie! Accept the fact that you have fought for nothing, and then die!" the vampirwolf roared, raising a massive clawed paw high into the air. Hans couldn't believe it. It had happened. Avarus was going to kill him…and there was sunlight coming down from the sky. Hans' eyes went wide. Avarus' god was rea-

"TOUCH HIM UND I VILL KILL YOU!" a voice roared out of the snowy morning. Hans felt the heat of a massive explosion that came from somewhere from behind Avarus. The vampirwolf roared with a thousand tormented souls and toppled over like some huge skyscraper. The ground shook when he landed. Hans' entire form was trembling so hard that it looked like he was having a seizure. He stayed frozen in fear. What was happening?

Suddenly, a familiar form flashed before Hans' big yellow eyes.

"Guten Tagg, Kapitan," Schrodinger said, setting down something wrapped in a blanket. Hans immediately changed back into his human form and stared at Schrodinger. She grinned up at him.

"Schro…Schrodinger…" he said slowly, not exactly being able to take in the whole situation. One moment, he had been about to die. Now, Schrodinger was standing before him. Hans began to weep.

"Kapitan?"

"Danke, Schrodinger…you saved me," Hans said, hugging the girl to his chest as tightly as he possibly could. Schrodinger, in her normal form and with her Hellsing uniform on, was dumbfounded.

"Kapitan, I brought ze veapon. Please, finish ze job," she said. Hans let her go and blinked away his tears. She was right. Avarus still had to be slain. Hans unwrapped the blanket and found the last remaining panzerfaust of Millennium's armory, and he had brought two with him from the Hindenburg II. Schrodinger grinned sheepishly, seeing as she had used one of Hans' favorite weapons. There was a note scribbled on the remaining panzerfaust in marker.

Dear Hans, I thought you might need this baby to be blessed, so her ya go. Hope this bad boy helps you out- Marian Heinkel.

Hans grinned widely and shouldered the weapon, walking outside to find that Avarus was trying to reform his back half, which was turned to dust by the last explosion. Hans backed up about ten feet, now a safe ninety feet from the vampirwolf, and aimed his weapon. Avarus turned to him and growled.

"Sol Ivinicus will help me."

"In ze name of ze Fazer…"

"He'll destroy this place in a maelstrom of fire!"

"ze Son…"

"He'll slay you all, fools! All of you will die!"

"Und ze Holy Spirit…"

"You cannot escape his wrath! You will all burn!"

"Zis von is for Marian Heinkel…"

"Your God is a fake!"

"AMEN!" Hans roared, pulling the trigger. The pure uranium warhead rocket flew straight and true.

The last Hans ever saw of Avarus was a massive and blinding light of holy fire.

However, the explosion was so powerful that Hans was thrown literally out of Vatican City and into the street in Rome, skidding to a stop against the curb. The werewolf simply lay there on the ground, staring up at the sky. His body was completely still. God…thank you zo much.

"Thank you God," he murmured, beginning to cry in earnest. Tears rolled down his cheeks and Schrodinger stood over him, arms folded across her chest. She arched an eyebrow. Hans began to laugh merrily, even more happily than he had when he had thought Seras almost released him from his life. Schrodinger reached down and put a hand to Hans' chest. He didn't stop laughing. He had done it! He had survived his battle with hell itself! How could he not laugh?

"Kapitan…let's go home before zey find out zat you destroyed ze basilica," Schrodinger suggested. Hans calmed himself and grabbed her hand. Schrodinger teleported them back to the Hellsing Manor.

Arisia dried her tears, but more replaced the ones she had just stopped. She couldn't help herself. Hans hadn't come back! It had been two days now, and Hans hadn't even sent Schrodinger to tell her whether or not he was alive! So Arisia couldn't help but think the worst had happened. And the mere thought of her brother…her love being killed, it brought her to tears. So here she lay, on Seras' bed, crying her eyes out over the loss of her beloved Hans. She wanted to believe that he was alive, but she knew better. Hoping in vain was worse than accepting the horrible truth.

The werewolf began to cry once more and she drummed her feet against the bed. It was Christmas day, and she was bawling like a baby. Her heart was shattered into so many pieces that you could put any one of them through the eye of a needle. She felt a hand on her back, obviously Seras back to comfort her. Arisia didn't even acknowledge the vampire's presence as she continued to cry out her sadness. There wasn't a single soul who could make her happy now…not a single one.

But Seras' hand suddenly moved, tracing down the indention of Arisia's back. She thought hard for a moment. Was Seras trying to show some sort of sisterly love or something? Seras' hand moved further down and settled on her lower back, tracing a little circle over and over again at the small of her back. Arisia sniffled and slowly stopped crying. Seras really needed to just leave her alone now and let her grieve in peace.

"Seras, please, just……go……" the werewolf said, trailing off as she flipped over and stared.

"It's me Arisia. I'm back."

"HANS!" Arisia cried at the top of her lungs, leaping into her lover's strong arms. She pressed her lips against his and he toppled over, hitting the cold stone floor hard. Arisia kissed him fervently all over, his cheeks, his nose, his forehead, his chin, his jaw, everywhere. She was impossibly happy to see him. She felt like her heart would explode any moment now and that she would melt into a big puddle of happy. Arisia began to cry again, but not in sadness or pain this time. She cried in pure joy for seeing her brother again.

"I'm glad to see I vas missed, mein schwester," Hans said, hugging Arisia to his body. The she-wolf smiled happily and cried into his chest.

"I thought I had lost you Hans. I thought you were dead," she cried, weeping and chest heaving with every labored breath.

"I didn't know if I vas going to see you or my children again eizer. But God has allowed me anozer chance at life," Hans said, petting Arisia's head softly. Arisia hugged Hans around the chest and her weeping slowly came to a stop.

Hans stared into Arisia's deep blue eyes and gave her a genuine smile. He stood back up, Arisia still clutched in his arms.

"But nothing could keep me from coming back. You, Master, Schrodinger…all of you are too important to me to just simply die and leave you," he said. Arisia smiled gently and kissed him. Hans leaned into the kiss and slipped his tongue into her mouth. Before he could go any further, he felt a familiar presence behind him.

"Hans, you're back!" Seras cried, hugging Hans from behind. Arisia stepped back and allowed Hans to properly greet his master with a huge bear hug. Seras smiled up at him and beamed proudly.

"Master…"

"You came back…thank you," she said. Hans kissed the top of her head and smiled again.

"Zer ist no need to thank me. I did vhat any loyal servant vould for his master," Hans explained. Seras nodded slowly and le the werewolf go. She looked up at him and bit her lip innocently.

"You know you're naked?" she asked.

"A trivial detail," Schrodinger said, teleporting into the room next to Seras. Hans rolled his eyes.

"I don't have to be modest anymore. You three are mein family," Hans said, grabbing all three women and hugging them to his body tightly. He closed his eyes and laughed merrily as they all gasped and began to giggle in unison. Hans couldn't have been happier at the moment. He finally had a real family again, locked safely in his arms. And the werewolf found it ironic that the day his family was born was the same day Jesus had been born. Hans wouldn't ever have to be lonely again. And only now did Hans thank God for giving him immortality.

This was the most joyous day of Hans' life, and he was sure there would be many more joyful days to come.