Chapter Five.

Seras was patrolling the motor pool for the third night in a row, and was beginning to wonder if the creature had decided an assault on the Hellsing Manor wasn't worth the risk. Drug dealers and cultists were one thing, but a small army of trained soldiers was another.

She had begun to think of the creature as a hunter. It's mode of combat and desire to take trophies seemed to fit with that thought. A wise hunter, Seras thought, wouldn't go charging in to a den of lions looking for a fight. She sighed, and wondered how many nights she would be cooped up in the compound before she was sent out to deal with a rogue vampire. That would be when she next time encountered the creature, she was sure of it.

"Bored?" said a voice behind her. She turned to see Alucard standing there.

"A little," she said, wondering what he wanted.

"A little bird told me you should wander over by the ammunition shed. Hurry, the two men guarding it are two of my favorites. I would hate to see them taken off the roster."

She ran past him and out the door. His words from a few nights ago rang in her ears, and while her two eyes were open wide and searching, the eye doing the work was invisible, and in the center of her forehead.

The two soldiers guarding the front door of the ammunition shed, a tall, curved building, looked at her with some concern. "Be on alert," she said. "I thought I saw something."

They looked at each other and shrugged. "What did you see?" said the one called Harris, standing on the left.

She looked around with all of her senses and saw nothing. Feeling foolish, she kept acting as though she was looking. "I, uh…never mind," she said.

Alucard and his jokes, she thought, walking back towards the motor pool. He truly was a horrible monster when she thought about it, playing pranks when lives were at stake.

She heard a wet splat followed by "Oh my God!" and felt stupid. She turned. Harris was dead and there was a red, dripping stain on the door of the ammunition shed behind where he had been standing. The other guard, Thompson, was looking around frantically.

"Get under cover!" Seras shouted. "Raise the alarm!"

Thompson pulled out his radio and began speaking emergency codes into it as he backed up, still looking at the tops of sheds and the perimeter wall. Seras saw something move behind him and watched as his chest seemed to explode. Two metal blades stuck out from his ribs as he was lifted off the ground and thrown at Seras.

She sidestepped Thompson's body and concentrated. She couldn't see the creature, not really, but she knew exactly where it was and how its body was positioned. "Not this time," she said, raising her rifle. She fired a three-round burst at the thing's heart, but knew as she squeezed the trigger it was rolling forward beneath the bullets.

She bound backwards in time to avoid being stabbed with its claw weapon as it came up out of its roll. She fired and heard her bullets ping off the thing's helmet. Suddenly, her legs were kicked out from beneath her and she landed hard on her buttocks.

Knowing she was now under the creature or at least level with its chest, she fired again. Green fluid sailed through the air as the monster's camouflage system crackled, giving her a brief view of its outline. She had shot it in the arm as it rolled away to avoid being hit, and was now getting to its feet.

Seras fired again, hitting the thing in the back of the leg. It stumbled forward, but spun around like a discus thrower, sending something at her head. She brought her rifle up to block and caught the metal disc the thing had thrown with the rifle's forearm.

The weapon had gone in deep and she could see where the barrel had been dislodged. Firing the weapon would likely make it blow up in her face, so she dropped it and ran at the staggered monster.

She dove through the air to tackle it from behind, but it spun in time to catch her. She landed on top of it and held on. It was strong and her frame didn't carry much weight. They tussled, and finally Seras was able to dive her knee into the thing's stomach, allowing her to free her right hand.

Punching the creature hard in the chest, she felt her knuckles crack over a metal plate. The camouflage system crackled and shut off. Not feeling the pain, Seras, now enraged, began sending blows to the thing's helmet, knocking its head back into the concrete. She punched the unconscious creature several more times and felt its grip on her go slack.

Teeth clenched, she grabbed the helmet by the jaw and pulled back, eager to know what her enemy looked like.

She didn't like what she saw.

Its skin was a pale, brownish yellow, almost scaly in some place. The thing had a wide, high forehead, with thick antenna-like appendages that might be mistaken for dreadlocks on a human. At the bottom of its forehead was its most human feature, a pair of closed eye lids. One was half open, and she could see that aside from the yellow iris, it wasn't much different from a human eye.

Its mouth filled her with revulsion. It appeared to be a wide, toothy hole fenced in by a set of four mandibles, two that came down near the cheeks and two from the lower jaw. The entire thing made Seras think of a spider crossed with some sort of reptile.

Seras rarely cursed and almost never cursed strongly. Almost.

"Ugly mother fucker," she said, shaking her head.

The creature's eyes shot open and their gazes locked. She got the sense it was surprised that it had been beat, but wasn't altogether disappointed.

"Ugly mother fucker," it said in a garbled voice, its mouth not meant to speak English.

Seras punched it even as it struck her. The blow it sent was powerful enough to send her flying backward where she rolled for a few feet. The blow had been to her ribs, and she slowly stood up. Now she heard the alarm blaring and the sound of rushing feet.

Cries of "What the hell is it?" and "Is it a vampire?" could be heard as two guard teams surrounded the creature.

Seras expected them to begin firing, but no one did. Perhaps the novelty of it held them at bay, she didn't know. As she looked at it lying there on its back, breathing hard, she suddenly wondered herself if it should be killed, or at least not until it answered some questions.

"Victoria, orders?" one of the guard captains said. Sir Integra would likely be out shortly whether the scene was secure or not, but Seras needed to make a decision. Hellsing had no protocols for taking prisoners, as they didn't take any. "Hold your fire," she said.

She got up and walked over to the wide perimeter that had been formed around the creature by the soldiers. No one present was a stranger to bizarre sights, but none had seen anything quite like the creature lying on the ground, breathing hard and bleeding green, almost florescent, blood.

It raised one of its arms to its face, and with its other hand began to tap something on its wrist. "What the hell is it doing?" the captain that had spoken to her said.

The thing stopped and its arms fell to its sides. Its chest began to heave as the sound of laughter welled up from its throat. Hideous, entirely too human, laughter.

Seras shouted for everyone to get back at the same time the captain shouted fire. The thing's body was immediately riddled with bullets, but Seras's sixth sense told her the danger was still present.

She was only a few meters away when the explosion hit. She felt a wave of heat strike her in the back and lift her up. She sailed through the air for what felt like a long time before striking a perimeter wall and breaking more than a few bones.

***

Seras thought if she and Alucard were normal soldiers, they would surely have been fired, or even executed. She thought she might die while sitting in a chair in the basement being spoken to by Sir Integra.

Integra hadn't shouted as much as Seras thought she might. It was clear she was beyond angry. Seras and Alucard sat quietly and listened as Integra systematically tore them to pieces. Seras was informed that her continued existence at Hellsing was entirely the result of her having been turned into a vampire by Alucard, who was himself no more than a rabid attack dog only kept around because he was too expensive to destroy.

The worst part was that Seras felt Integra was right. Over a dozen men had died because she hesitated to kill her enemy. No, they had died because of her pride. Alucard could have taken the creature out before it killed anyone, but she had to be one to settle up.

Neither had mentioned their arrangement to Integra, but Seras thought she suspected it anyway.

"One more slip like this," Integra said, "and I will have to seriously reconsider using either of you two in normal operations. Hellsing got along fine before you two and it can continue without, if need be. In fact, you're both going on suspension. I don't even want you on guard duty."

Alucard was quiet. Seras could sense he wasn't happy, but couldn't envision him complaining. To her shock, it was her who spoke. "Sir," she said.

Integra said nothing. She only looked at Seras.

"Did…did we ever find out what it was? You mentioned incidents…"

"Yes, our contacts in the CIA have spoken with us on the matter," Integra said, pausing a moment. Seras thought that would be it, but she continued. "The CIA believes what you encountered was an extraterrestrial. Based on testimony gathered after the incident in Los Angeles, it's believe the creatures are…intergalactic hunters. They come here periodically to hunt humans in much the same way as we would go on a safari. The theory is that they are attracted by high temperatures and violence."

Alucard made a brief chuckle, but Seras was left speechless, her mouth agape. "Oh my God," she finally said. "Aliens!?"

"It's none of your concern," Integra said. "Based on the conversations I've had with the CIA and other intelligence agencies, the actual threat posed by the creatures is minimal. A dozen people may be killed once every ten years or so, and there's not much we can do about them anyway. The CIA's interest in them likely stems more from a desire to recover their technology, not put a stop to their activities."

"That's horrible," Seras said. "Aliens are coming her from outer space and…"

"And the vampires that are already on this planet are causing more problems than aliens ever though of," Integra said. "Hellsing hunts vampires, not aliens. Leave the aliens to the Men in Black."

"The men in what?"

"Never mind," Integra said. "You're both suspended, remember? No more asking questions. In fact, go to your rooms, both of you."

Alucard stood. "Good evening, Sir Integra," he said, and melded into the floor.

Her head spinning, Seras walked out the door after saluting. Aliens, men in black, the CIA, incidents in Los Angeles…she was looking forward to returning to her simple life as a vampire hunting other vampires.

The End.