Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction / Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Circle of Blood ❯ The Escape, From Abyss Into the Purgatory ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz, Hellsing and/or their characters do not belong to me, I just wish they would. Whatever they might end up doing in this... thing I've written are just consequences of my highly twisted thinking. If you have problems with that... flame me all you want, it's still cold in here where I live. ^_^

"..." Speech

//...// Thoughts

:: ... :: Telepathy

Warnings: Once again the unruly fellows known as sadism and gore are up to no good in my head. Following close behind is an ugly bastard known as language and a little midget known as sexual innuendo… a very small midget. ^_^ A bit of Yaoi and Yuri themes will be known through that happy little guy.

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Circle of Blood - Chapter 4

The escape, from abyss into the purgatory

By: Azrael's Wing

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Life of the assassin known as Bombay had been known to throw some mean curveballs at him, which was nothing new. From being kidnapped as a child and then trained as an assassin, to being chased by a girl that turns out to be your half sister and then gets herself killed, and finally being part of killing rest of your somewhat psychopathic family. It was all in the days work for him it seemed.

The last few of days however had been mess not even he could have expected, so surprising they were. In that time he had been kidnapped, tortured, turned into a vampire and had sex with Farfarello. Now he was in a morgue, talking to what seemed to be the ghost of Bradley Crawford the anal-retentive leader of Schwarz, accompanied by afore mentioned Farfarello and what seemed to be a cute teenage vampire. With his luck, things would get even weirder pretty soon.

At this moment though he had no time to wonder any further about the mysteries of his strange and unusual life... or was un-life now? As it now was, there was enough to do trying to follow Crawford's winding complaints about annoying madmen and their sexual habits. //The man must have been celibate or something while he lived to have such problems with it,// Omi thought, trying get through the lecture by thinking something intelligent. Like how the ex-leader of Schwarz could produce so much noise without having any actual vocal cords...

Finally after long list of complaints and colourful language, Crawford finally decided to get to the point as he 'spoke' to Omi.

:: Anyway, now that you're finally doing something else than fucking your brains out with Berserker we can get to the business. It's really quite simple, you want to get out of this place... so would I. I'd also like to get revenge on the bitch that did this to me, and with you I'm more likely to get it than on my own, being as what I am now. In exchange, I'll give you help and advise you're going to need in the future.... and believe me; you're going to need it. My last vision made that quite certain. ::

Omi took few moments to think this through. It was a curious offer, no doubt about that. Of course he could understand the man wanting revenge for his death, though it was first time for Omi to have the spirit of the murdered himself asking for it. Even the 'getting out of here' bit he could understand... now who in his right mind would wish to haunt morgue?

It was the other part that puzzled him. Instead of just passing on, he'd agree to stay around to advice me?! Concerning what? And what had that last vision of his been for that matter?

"Err... Why would you wish to advice me, and what was that vision of your?" Omi asked, still somewhat puzzled by this strange turn of events.

:: Let's just say that knowing of the existence of supernatural beings; I'm not too keen on finding out what's on the other side for me. Then again, I never really was that much for the physical pleasures anyway, helping you around would at least keep my mind somewhat active. And as for the vision I had? If we get out of here, you'll find out soon enough. Then I'll have time to answer your questions. So, do we have deal? We don't have much time to waste here after all. :: Crawford demanded impatiently.

The man... err, ghost did have a point. As long as they wasted time here talking they would just get caught again, not a nice thing to think about. He might as well agree, with his luck he'd need all the help he could get in the future. Another member of the Schwarz, dead or not, could be useful. It wasn't as if he had anything to lose at this point...

"Fine, we have a deal. So what am I going to do then? I don't know a thing about ghosts. I was taught to kill things, not to deal with them after that."

:: Talk to the brat over there, she told me that she could do it, :: Crawford spat out... so to speak, clearly annoyed of this 'brat' of his.

'Hearing' the comment the girl question just blew a raspberry at ghostly form and smirked as she shot back, "Hmph, a brat am I? Hell, I'm couple hundred years older than you are tight ass," she said with an amused tone. "Anyway, nice to meet you Omi… or should I call you Mamoru?" the girl asked, sticking her hand out for handshake.

"Eh... Omi will do for now I guess. What's your name?" Omi asked in hesitantly in response and shook her smaller hand, somewhat confused of how to deal with this other... older vampire.

"My name's Lisseth, but you can call me Li for short. And for the record, yes I really am more than 200 years old, I just don't want to act like one, looking as young as I do," she told to befuddled looking Omi. "But enough of this small talk, if we all want to get out of here in one piece, we'd better act fast. Here's the deal... See this pretty little collar I have on my neck? Well, it's has spell on it to make me obey their commands. It also stops me leaving this room without someone here to control me. I can't break it off myself and ghostie over there isn't much use either in this matter either. If you can break it, I can then use its remains to bond ghostie to it so he can come with us."

Hearing her explanation Omi took a look at the girl's neck, seeing the strange looking collar for the first time. It was made of tarnished silver, several runes decorating it here and there. Those runes seemed to glow faintly red as he stared at them, their dull light slightly captivating to his mismatched eyes.

Tearing his eyes from the hypnotic light, Omi took a hold of the band with his hands and started to twist it, one hand to one direction one to another. The metal seemed to resist for a while even against his greater than human strength, almost as if it was fighting back against the damage he was trying to inflict upon it. Finally it snapped apart from one point, causing Omi to feel a brief shock in his hands as its magic bled into them with a brief flash of light.

Seeing... or sensing the exchange, Lisseth looked at Omi an honest surprise in her eyes. "Impressive kid, I didn't expect you to be that strong; you barely felt the charge? Tell me, who exactly was your sire?"

Omi felt confused at first with the strange term but then it clicked to him. "I think he called himself Alucard... or something like that." Omi said, surprised to see her eyes widen when she heard the name.

"I see... Now that would explain it in part I guess," she mused, taking a closer look at Omi. "Not everything I think, but enough for now. Like ghostie said, we can deal with family histories once we're out of here."

For a moment Omi could almost feel Crawford's irritation at the nickname. It passed soon enough though when the girl went work, starting his work on the piece of metal. She began by picking up the broken collar and moulding it into some kind of a bracelet, then putting it on Omi's wrist. When Omi looked at her strangely, she explained to him what she was doing while she continued working.

"Well, you need something to keep this friend of yours with you. Ghost's usually haunt places and don't migrate like birds, their souls often bound to the places where they die. In this case, I'm binding ghostie over there to this piece of junk. It still holds enough magic in itself to make it work, I hope so at least..." she muttered before beginning to incant some strange chant, making the newly made bracer to glow in blue instead of red.

As the glow began to intensify, the ghostly figure of Crawford began to disappear into the glowing bracer, its outlines blurring as it vanished before their eyes. Finally there was nothing left and for a moment Omi thought Crawford had disappeared for real, a thought that was soon banished be a dry voice ringing through his mind.

:: Let's get going then. As soon as we're out of here and plotting for revenge the better, :: Crawford said into his mind, the emphasis on the word 'revenge'. It seemed as if someone had really managed to piss him of.

Omi could only agree with that thought as he started to leave, only to be grabbed behind by a small but strong hand. "I think I'll come with you as well. I'd hardly wish to stay here where they could enslave me again, now would I? You don't have any objections, do you?" Lisseth asked, the question sounding more like statement to Omi.

Then again, he really didn't have any objections. Another vampire would likely be quite helpful in getting out of here and this in mind Omi just shook his head in negative as he turned to face his quite confused looking lover.

For all this time Farfarello had stood next to the door, guarding against possible intrusions while trying follow the conversation. He had little luck with that though, not because he was the kind of idiot most people expected from the psychopath, but because after the first part he had not heard Crawford at all, the ghost apparently limiting his 'speech' only to those who needed to hear it. Obviously he didn't think it was necessary for Farfarello to hear it.

Unlike most people would expect, Farfarello indeed wasn't an idiot, but instead had higher than average intelligence. It was just that he focused that intelligence to only things that interested him, and things that interested Farfarello weren't that numerous... or that nice for that matter. In fact, those kinds of things could probably be counted with fingers of a single hand… Knives, hurting others and God, and possibly himself... depending on the mood of the man, recently he could add his newfound lover to that group.

As Omi could to certain extent understand this, he walked next to his lover and whispered to his ear, "I'll explain things after we get out of here, Jei..." and wiped that confusion out of his face with a long kiss, replacing it with something entirely different.

He didn't stop until he heard the irritated voice of Crawford in his mind, yelling about priorities, in which the ghost was sadly correct. This was proven by the squad of rookies that busted in the morgue, confident in their abilities to handle whatever they might meet in there. Unfortunately for them, they really hadn't been briefed on that the escapees consisted now of two vampires and one quite as bloodthirsty madman, a fact that might have briefly passed on their mind as they stepped in to what could only be seen as a meat grinder.

Few minutes and quite a few screams later, the three of them stepped carefully out of the room, leaving behind a scene more in home with a butcher house than a morgue. The tables and walls were dripping of blood, ripped pieces of flesh littering the floor here and there. There was even a piece of intestine hanging from a halogen lamp… In the end, it was almost ironic; meeting their deaths in the morgue their ripped remains would be in the place where they truly belonged without any need to move them at all.

Now more in their guard the team progressed carefully through the floor of the building, closely following directions coming from Lisseth. Of them, she was the only one that knew her way around the place. "A consequence of over decade of slavery," she answered when Omi asked her, her eyes glowing slightly at a brief burst of anger. //Hmm, it seems that we all have our own bone to pick with these people. Well, the more the merrier as they say. Between the three of us we'll gnaw that bone pretty well I'd think…//

According to her they were now three floors under the surface, deep in the hidden basement of the Ocean Red Corporation. It was mostly reserved for prisoners and storage, the main exception having been the late Dr. Nalim for whatever reasons. The nature of the place was soon proven to be disgustingly true when they came across a cage filled with what seemed to be homeless people, confined like animals in the small space.

As the passed by, Omi offhandedly ripped the cages door open, releasing the poor bastards from their prison. It was unlikely that any of them could escape on their own, being weak and famished as they were. Then again, if they were desperate enough, they might cause some trouble to the guards and thus help in their escape. It was the sad truth that their own safety of greater importance than of those they ran across. If those deaths could help them escape, so be it... he'd shed tear or two for them later perhaps, if he could anymore.

Numerous twists and turns later three of them reached the stairway up, guarded by several members of the corporations security force. Again though, they were no real challenge, making Omi wonder about the true extent of his abilities as they dismembered them. It seemed as if humans were no longer any real threat to him, even Farfarello seemed to move in slow motion, as deadly as he was. //Hmm, perhaps I can do something about that once we get out of here...//

One set of stairs upwards and things were looking slightly better, this level seemed to have at least a bit of life in it besides the guards. Unfortunately for them that life happened to be scientists, something that Omi wasn't feeling exactly fond towards to. As they raced through the hallways, Omi couldn't help but to release some of his leftover frustration on some helpless lab coated victims, leaving behind a trail of broken bones and random body parts lying on the floor. In the best case scenario for his victims that is...

At one point after a particularly gruesome mutilation, Lisseth felt prompted to ask what was bugging him. After Omi answered tersely, "Just one word Li-chan, Nalim..." Lisseth got an understanding grimace on her face and simply said, "Carry on." Interestingly, after that exchange Lisseth began to participate in Omi's random acts of violence, soon followed after by Farfarello. It seemed that Omi hadn't been the only one of them to feel Nalim's 'tender care' in the past. Farfarello on the other hand just saw it as fun thing to do; killing and mutilating `helpless' scientists would surely hurt God, right?

With all of them participating in this gruesome entertainment of theirs, the second basement floor soon resembled more of some crimson bowels of hell than nice and clean research facility. As they finally reached the exit from this floor Omi had brief and amusing thought, //I really seems that we're leaving our mark to this place. I wonder what reaction that Triad of theirs will have to our redecorations. That bitch in black will probably love them as crazy as she was... Hah, not that I'm one to speak...//

Finally they reached the last floor of the basement, weary of the constant fighting and in need of rest. As inhuman all three of them were Omi had just become what he now was and Farfarello... for all his abilities and skills was still but a human. Even Lisseth was starting feel some strain from all the fighting and she was oldest and most experienced of them. Sadly the much needed rest was not forthcoming as another challenge waited around the corner.

Almost as soon as they reached the first intersection in the floor, they ran into some heavy resistance in form of a group of people quite well known to one of them. Almost as soon as the man in charge squad bellowed, "Hold it right there freaks!" Omi could hear a hiss coming from Lisseth, the angry sound making her displeasure well known to both her allies and enemies alike. Interestingly, the man had yelled his order before seeing everyone and as Lisseth spat out her response you could literally see the blood draining from his face when he realized who was yelling back at him.

//It seems that Nalim wasn't the only bastard found in this cesspool of a place. Do I even want to know what went between those two?// Omi thought briefly, watching the interplay between two of them.

"Eiji Sakamoto! I told you that we were going to have a little chat sooner or later. It seems that the time has come sooner than either of us might have thought, not that I have anything against that," Lisseth said baring her fangs for an evil grin, her voice full of malice directed at the man.

Everything seemed to freeze for a moment as Eiji and his team reeled in shock at the sight of the unexpected member of the fugitives. After few seconds of stillness the man responded, his voice however quite shaken by Lisseth's sudden appearance in their midst.

"You! How in hell did you get loose? Oh well, I guess I'll have to put you back into your place bitch," the man said arrogantly but an undercurrent of fear was coloring his voice as he spoke and the sweat on his pale face seemed to amplify that impression, making it clear that the man wasn't as certain of things as he might have tried to sound.

"You can try but I doubt you'll succeed Mr. Sakamoto. I'll be ripping you a new asshole before you can touch me with that fancy stick of yours, I can guarantee you that," Lisseth said at the man. Then, without turning she spoke briefly to her friends, "Do what you will to others but Sakamoto's ass is mine, understand?" Lisseth growled at Omi and Farfarello, her eyes glowing with rising bloodlust.

//Someone has a grudge it seems. Well, I guess I can relate to, who am I preach against revenge… especially after leaving all those mangled scientists behind me.//

Omi could only nod in agreement before Lisseth launched herself happily at the charging men. Seeing no other choice (not that he'd have anything against killing or such…) Omi joined the grand melee, his crazed lover following close behind, eager to spill more blood.

However, as they chose their vict… err opponents, it soon became clear to Omi that this wasn't going to be as easy fight as the previous ones had been. They were fatigued, facing more than thrice of their numbers and their enemies seemed to be combat veterans instead of rookies they'd faced before. Indeed, that their enemies seemed unfazed by the fact that their opponents were inhuman hinted that they might have experience in fighting against vampires.

Happily though, for whatever the reasons might have been, their enemies were using non-lethal weaponry in this fight, instead of the usual firearms and grenades one might have expected from the troopers they had encountered so far. Their weapons seemed to be some kind of advanced stun rods as a sheet of crackling electricity could be seen in the `blades' of the weapons they wore. This did not make the men less of a threat however, as being taken down in this place wasn't that much preferable over death, vice versa more likely. That nasty thought in their mind, the three of them fought ferociously, seeking to kill or at very least main and dismember their enemies as quickly as possible.

For a while their plan seemed to work quite well. Of the twelve guards in the beginning, four were down, three of them permanently. After that their enemies fighting grew more frantic and desperate, the men knowing that their lives were hanging on this fight.

This began to show in the fight as whatever they might have been, their enemies were professionals. They were soldiers and had been trained to act like a team, something that his allies seemed not to be. He and Farfarello might have been members of their own teams, but his team definitely wasn't here and he'd never imagined Farfie as team player anyway. Of Lisseth's past he knew nothing at all but he doubted she was that much either.

This problem in their in their fighting came clear to Omi as he saw brief glimpses of the combat around him. Lisseth cared for little apart from her nemesis, attacking only those in her direct path as she chased the man. Farfarello attacked those closest to him and wasted time playing with them, delighting in the bloodbath he created. Of them, he was clearly the only one accustomed to teamwork, but unfortunately this was hardly a team but more like a random group of bloodthirsty psychopaths, he included.

This started to become more and more apparent as the fight went on. They began to take hits, perhaps not much but they were taking damage none the less, and for all their inhuman resistance for pain and durability of their bodies it began to show. When there were but five of the men left, two of them decided to gang on Farfarello, hoping to take down the teams `weakest link'. After all, reinforcements were bound to arrive sooner or later and removing one member of the group would make things much easier for the guards.

Deeply engrossed in the fight against two others, Omi didn't notice the trouble Farfarello was in until it was almost too late. Alerted by sudden gasping sound from Farfarello, Omi quickly dispatched one of his opponents, only to witness a sight he definitely didn't wish to see.

Farfarello was on his knees and in a daze; both of the men pulling combat knives from their sheaths and seemingly willing to use them. It seemed as if Farfarello wasn't as important to this group as the two vampires were, and therefore they were going to dispose this unnecessary threat to them.

This was something that got Omi's blood boiling, not a good thing for those in his vicinity ever since his transformation. A second later Omi's `new' eye gave a bright flash of golden light, thus giving hint to everyone that something extraordinary was going to happen. Were what happened a good thing or bad, that would be a question of point of view, but one couldn't deny that it was quite spectacular if not a gory sight.

Tapping into abilities inherent to him due his nature… and his bloodline, Omi's eye continued to glow brightly as the two guards suddenly fell screaming down to their knees, some parts of their skin and flesh almost… pulsing? Second or two later their skin burst open in several of those places, their blood bursting free from their bodies almost as if powered by high pressure pumps. Leaving behind the drained husks of the men, the blood floated above them forming a strange crimson orb.

Standing in his trance, Omi summoned the blood itself to him, making it form swirling ribbons around him and Farfarello. The two other men previously fighting Omi were just recovering from their shock of the sight when they were shocked again… permanently.

The streams of blood seemed to solidify into what seemed to be barbed spears made of blood. With a blink of Omi's demonic eye the strange weapons flew straight into to the men, impaling them like stakes before the men had even had a chance to react. Once inside them, the weapons seemed to explode into sharp splinters made of blood, cutting the unfortunate men into little pieces.

This spectacular effect was unfortunately wasted on Lisseth who had finally managed catch up with Sakamoto, not a hard task anymore since the rest of the guards were somewhat indisposed at the moment. She was playing cat and mouse with the man, hitting him now and then with painful strikes and dodging Sakamoto's frantic attacks with apparent ease.

Finally she seemed to decide that enough was enough and disabled Sakamoto with two sharp kicks into his legs, shattering both of them and making him fall to the ground. Malicious gleam in her eyes she stepped right besides him and kicked the stun rod away from the man, breaking the man's right hand in the process. Now unarmed and not able to escape, Sakamoto's eyes weren't so defiant anymore. Instead they showed fear and despair as the childlike vampire leaned next to him and whispered into his ear.

"I guess your time's up Eiji-chan. You had this coming you know, and after all that you did to me this is really the least I can do," Lisseth whispered sweetly into his ear and then suddenly kicked the man into his balls, turning them into a bag of bloody Jell-O. "You wouldn't be using them much in where you're going anyway. In fact, I hope you'll end up in Russian hell, it'd be quite fitting for you![1]" Eiji didn't have enough time to whimper a response before Lisseth snatched his combat knife from his belt and slammed it into his skull. There was so much force behind the strike that the knife sunk halfway into Sakamoto's skull, making it look as if he had a strange looking horn growing out of his forehead.

Omi had woken up from his combined trance and power high just in time to see Lisseth's treatment to poor Mr. Sakamoto, a sight that gave clear implications that the man had done something pretty bad to Lisseth in that decade or so she'd been here. Now though, their main goal would be to escape; he could questions from Lisseth when they'd be sake… or as safe they could ever be with a huge corporation with private army after their blood.

"Hey, you can gloat over the bastard later Lisseth, now we got to get out of here before they get reinforcements!" Omi yelled, catching her attention. After that Omi took a look at Farfarello, noting his weakened state as he was leaning at the wall next to him.

"Jei? You're all right?" Omi asked, seeing the bloodied state the man was in.

"I'll live; I won't give god the pleasure of seeing me before I kill him. Not with my crimson angel by my side," Farfarello said back, his voice slightly unsteady and eyes glazed. One could almost see a sweat drop form on Omi's head as he heard the response. It seemed to him that tired Farfarello is crazier Farfarello as well… not that many could tell a difference.

Checking his `partner's' conditions, Omi saw that they were as good as they were ever going to be after such fight and yelled, "Let's get moving before any reinforcements arrive!" to them. This seemed to pull everyone's mind back to present, and as Omi started to run towards the stairs to the first floor his friends were close behind, clearly as eager as he was to get out the god forsaken building…

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At the same time, outside the building in a nearby alley, there was another kind of a situation going on.

A pair of lowlife's known to their so called `friends' as Go and Roku, mainly because they probably couldn't count higher, were trailing after someone they thought they were going to mug, rob and maybe kill. As the strangely dressed gaijin had walked into a nearby alley, unaware of those shadowing him… or so they thought, the two of them came close behind eager to relieve him of his possessions.

Stepping into the shadowed alley they saw their quarry standing nearby, his back turned at them. Seemingly unaware of world around him, the red clad man seemed almost like a perfect victim for them. It wasn't until they were few meters from the man that he spoke to them, almost as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

"And so, the prey comes to the predator. Tell me vermin, do you happen to have a… cell phone with you?" the man said with a disdainful tone of voice, almost as if two of them were like insects to him… something almost beneath his notice.

"Huh? Sure we have, not that you're gonna use it to call cops gaijin. Now… give us everything you got, and if you're good enough we just might let you live. I'm sure you've got of dough in those fancy clothes of yours." Roku threatened the man, certain that this rich… if somewhat crazy gaijin would grovel in front of them like all the others before.

"Oh, I'll be sure to give you everything I have, as if you could handle it. I really do need that phone of yours though since I did happen to break mine. They are such fragile things… like you humans. I wonder if you'll last any longer the phone did?" the `man' said, his sharp fangs clearly visible as his mouth turned into a manic grin.

"What the fuck!!! What kind of a freak are you?!" Roku demanded from the red clad… being standing in front of him, his shaky voice betraying the fear he felt.

"Hmph, don't dare to compare me to any freaks, they're not worthy of being compared to what I am," this being growled at the two men angrily, his eyes flashing behind the yellow glasses he wore.

"Err… What are ya then?"

"I'm glad you asked… humans," the `man' said grinning evilly, "For I am Alucard, a No Life King and a vampire… and you human pests are as good as dead."

"Dead? What the hell do you mean? We're not dead you frea… <Argh>" Roku said, trying to brave when face to face with this unreal situation. Unfortunately, his attempt was cut short, along with his neck, causing a pretty crimson fountain to blossom besides his shell shocked partner.

"Oh fuck, stay away from me you fucking monster!!! Don't come any clos… <Gurgle>" were the last words of certain Kaji `Go' Yamanori before developing a very literal split personality. As the two halves of the thug fell to the ground he was already dead, his meaningless existence finally over.

These pieces of thrash disposed of, Alucard searched the bodies of the two men, hoping to find what he was looking for; a cell phone in a working condition… if not painted red with the lifeblood of its former owner.

"Ah, found at last. Third time's the charm, or so it seems to be for me at least. I probably couldn't say so about all the pieces of thrash I've had to deal with," Alucard mused amusedly as he dialed Integra's number into the still wet and dripping phone.

After few moments of silence the call was finally answered, and tired sounding voice of Integra Van Hellsing greeted him from the phone.

"I'm assuming you broke yet another phone Alucard; you're the only one with this number after all."

"You're as insightful as ever master, as I do seem to have some troubles with these machines. It really isn't my fault, I assure you. They just seem to go apart in my vicinity…" Alucard said innocently to the phone.

"Whatever Alucard… Do you have anything to report or is this just a social call? I'm having a headache at the moment."

"You do sound somewhat tired master. Are you having some troubles at the mansion or something?"

"Or something indeed!" Integra yelled to the phone. "Your childé was a bit too successful in her mission… and ever since I haven't had a moment of peace in here!"

"What do you mean master?" Alucard asked, eagerly waiting to hear what could have disturbed his master to this extent.

"I ordered her to find and subvert some member of the Reich, so that we could gain some information about their short term goals. I DIDN'T order her to seduce that werewolf girl of theirs and keep everyone awake with their… enthusiastic activities."

"Master, are you telling me that you're irritated because she and Victoria are having sex too laud in the mansion?" Alucard asked sounding amused, and perhaps there was even slight amount of pride directed at his childé. He had always appreciated a good joke… especially on his master's expense. She always had been too uptight on these matters.

"Just having sex?!! Bloody hell, they've probably marked every room in here except my office. That little bitch must be on heat or something, and that girl of yours isn't any better," Integra yelled into the phone, making Alucard's ears ring even while he was grinning like the madman he was.

Reason for the grin was twofold. Firstly there were Integra's complaints that were quite amusing for him by themselves, but the second part was something only he could hear at the moment; something that Integra would share in a moment or two. With his supernatural hearing he was picking up a conversation going on at the background, something quite related to Integra's current complaints.

<On the background>

"But mistress, it's the only room where we haven't done it yet," whined a female voice at someone.

"No is no! What part of it you can't understand you horny ditz? Besides, Integra will shove my Halconnen somewhere I wouldn't like if I'd do something like that in her office. I think she's mad enough all ready at us after the episode in the girls room."

"You just don't have the right motivation mistress... but I can help with that," and then sound of rustling clothes could be heard.

"What?! Hey wait, what are you doing? Stop that right now… oooh, before Integra… aah… hears ussss..."

"Let's not worry about that mistress, as there are better things to think about… like where my hand is right now."

"Uh… wait! The door… isn't locked… properly… <Crash>"

<On the background>

What the hell are you two sluts doing?! I'll throw in the dungeons if you're not out of here in this very moment," yelled furious Integra to the two women lying on the floor.

"Oooh… dungeons? Are you into S&M as well Integra? Perhaps you'd like to join us?" came teasing… and somewhat hopeful comment from the werewolf girl, accompanied by sounds of moaning from Celas under her.

He could almost see Integra turning red at the comment, and the high pitched, "GET OUT!!!" was almost enough to rupture his eardrums. Nonetheless though, that couldn't prevent his laughter at the absurdity of the moment, causing him to begin unstoppable bouts of maniacal laughter.

"A ha ha ha ha… Mua ha ha hah haa… Bua hah ha hah haa…"

"Alucard! Stop that right now or the next time I'll see you I'll use your guns at you in ways they were definitely not meant to!"

"<Giggle> Wha… what ever you say… m-master," Alucard said back with a silly grin, still fighting back his laughter.

"Enough! Give me your report on the Takatori. You didn't do anything to him, did you?"

"No need to worry master. I didn't harm in the slightest, in fact quite the opposite…" Alucard's said innocently at her.

"Alucard… What did you exactly do?" Integra asked suspiciously, knowing the annoying nature of her servant.

"Nothing much, just gave him a bit of my blood that turned him into a vampire and the let him loose inside Ocean Red corporation with the Berserker and Lisseth for company."

Oh… YOU DID WHAT!?! Alucard, when I get my hands on you I'll…" <Crunch!>

"Silly me, I broke another one. Well… I'm sure Integra didn't have anything that important to tell my anyway," Alucard said to the empty alley. "Now let's see where everyone is… ah, just in time. It seems as if all the pieces are on the board now. I hope they'll give me an entertaining show, or at very least he will. After all, to do so is in his blood…"

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They were tired, angry and hungry for blood… speaking figuratively AND literally. In fact, their demeanor was such that if you'd see the group in the streets, you'd probably find a very good reason to be somewhere else… preferably in another country.

Hell, if you'd see three pissed off maniacs with blood soaked clothes, two of them having glowing eyes and not-so cute fangs peeking from their mouths… not to mention a giggling psychopath with a quite apparent knife fetish, this was a group more fitting into Dante's inferno than an office building.

Indeed, they had gone through their own personal hell here, more arduous for some than to the others perhaps. No matter, they all bore their scars from it. Some in plain sight, some hidden in their souls, but they were there nonetheless.

Of all of them, Farfarello might have suffered slightest of them… if at all. Aside from adding more scars to his collection he was quite well of… and when you're a self mutilating sadomasochist (or something…) even that would have most likely been a positive thing for him. The escape that followed could have only been considered a bonus, giving him a chance to mutilate and slaughter at his hearts content. For Farfarello all this would have felt almost like being a kid in a candy store… but with a different form of stomach ache as a result.

Lisseth, as the saying goes, was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. A centuries old vampire hidden beneath the form of a teenage girl, her behavior often seemed to be in odds with her age and nature. Nonetheless, the experience of her years was clearly there, only glimpses of it seen now and then along with hints of her scars. Whatever they might be, they were buried deep within her soul and hidden from all but her. Whatever might have happened to her in her captivity or long before it, she clearly wasn't interested of sharing.

And then there was he himself of course; Omi Tsukiono, Mamoru Takatori or perhaps Bombay… depending on who'd you ask. He had probably changed most… physically at lest. Having gone through Nalim's tortures and his own rebirth into a creature of the night, his physical changes should probably be considered the most drastic of them all. Curiously though, in his mind and soul there had been surprisingly few changes, or so it seemed for him at least. Perhaps only thing he had really lost had been the last dregs of his humanity? His humanity having been eroded through all the years of killing and being trained to kill there hadn't been much of it left, his mind was already that of a predator. It had been only a small step to become such in both body and soul as well.

The only thing that bothered him right now was his eye… as for all its nice new abilities it did stand out from his face a bit and its appearance wasn't exactly commonplace. He'd probably have to use an eye patch or something in the future, wonder how his partners would react to that fashion statement? //Mamoru Takatori, the vampire pirate of the Tokyo bay… yeah right. I can just imagine Yohji's jokes about this predicament, that is if they could handle me being a vampire in the first place.//

Of well, as amusing as the thought was, he had other problems to handle at the moment. Foremost among them was of course how to get hell out of this infernal place. It felt as if they'd been hours there, running around like rats in a maze, and finally reaching the first floor after seemingly endless stream of hallways and stairs. Now if only they could find a way trough this bureaucratic mousetrap they had ended up in, so full of little cubicles that there could be entire new species of lawyers evolving there right now.

"Ok, that does it!" Omi growled, reaching the umpteenth dead end in the floor, "There has to be some way trough this shit!"

Faintly hearing more guards coming after them from left and right, their situation was becoming somewhat desperate. //Drastic situations require drastic solutions… Perhaps our powers could be of somewhat more mundane use? Those cubicles or walls can't be made of anything that hard. Now would be a perfect chance to see if these powers could be of use for something else than redecorating walls with blood and human entrails…//

"Hey Lisseth! Instead of running around in this maze, let's run through the walls of the cubicles! Farfie, you follow us through the holes ok?" Omi yelled at his companions.

"Through them?! What do you think we are; vampires or battering rams?" Lisseth yelled back incredulously.

"You got a better idea Lisseth now's time to tell us… I'm all open for suggestions but make it quick, we've got company coming."

"… I guess not," she sighed and then steeled herself, muttering obscenities about this indignity under her breath. //Hell, I'm gonna got a headache out of this…//

With no more time for an argument Omi and Lisseth began their battering ram imitation contest, running straight at the nearest possible exit trough a cubicle wall, greatly amused Farfarello trailing close behind. As they rammed trough one wall and then another and another, the shards of wood, plastic and random office supplies flying through the air in their wake, creating a proverbial monsoon of bureaucracy.

Finally they made it through though; their pursuers still close behind but now tumbling through the wreckages of the offices. It didn't matter for them though for their goal was in their sights, the glass and steel door gleaming at them like the very gates of heaven. At that very moment their thoughts were fixed on only one thing; escaping from this wretched place.

Not even trying to think another way, Omi ran at the closed glass doors at his supernatural speed, his friends close behind. Barreling through the reinforced glass, Omi and Lisseth and Farfarello left behind a piles glass stained in red, their bodies showing countless bleeding cuts from the doors. It didn't matter though for they were finally out, their escape was almost done. Now they only needed to find a way to get as far as possible from here.

Finally arriving to the parking space Omi looked for a vehicle to escape with. Suddenly he noticed something… a car strangely familiar to him. Taking a closer look he definitely recognized it, it and the women inside it as well… //Well now, it seems as if I'm not the only one having secrets around here. Too bad I have to interrupt the lovebirds…//

Omi ran to the car and pulled the door open, pushing his friends in as soon as he could and then jumped in as well. At this point the inhabitants of the car finally noticed that something was going on and pulled apart, showing their shocked faces to their brand new passengers.

"Hurry up! You can ask silly questions about Farfie and Lisseth later, right now there's legion of security forces closing on after us and I don't think you'll want to make any closer contact with them either…" Omi yelled at the two slack jawed Kritiker agents known as Manx and Birman.

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Waiting in a car can be boring, especially if you're doing the waiting in an almost abandoned parking slot in the middle of the night. That said, it's understandable that after a moderately long wait, even seasoned agents like Manx and Birman would grow bored and seek other things to do. Even more so if the only thing they've got was a nameless phone call that happened to interrupt the make out session they were having at the time.

A phone call telling them to come here in the middle of the night, cryptically offering them a way to continue Kritiker's existence… and threatening them with things no one should be able to know anymore if wouldn't be here this night. In the end they decided to humor their nameless `friend', at the same time trying to figure out whether there was anything really to see here or were they just victims of very elaborate practical joke.

Therefore, after several hours of staking out parking slot of the Ocean Red Corporation and not seeing even hint of what the hell was going on, the two of them had decided that this had indeed been just some kind of a joke, and were therefore directing their attention into a far more interesting past time; tonsil hockey…

This being kept in mind, it was understandable that they were `slightly' shocked when their make out session was interrupted again by a slightly… strange looking Omi, Berserker of the Schwarz and pale faced teenaged girl… all of the covered in blood, wounds and bruises.

Hearing Omi's order, Manx could only say back, "Err… right!" as she turned the engine on. //Farfie!?! What the hell is going on, and since when did Omi have a nickname for the Berserker? And who's this Lisseth girl?// She did it barely on time, soon after seeing black clad troopers pouring out from the innocent looking skyscraper. Seeing them, she made the best possible… and logical conclusion; it was time to get as far as possible from Müller and his goons and ask questions from Omi later… much later.

As she drove the car through the streets of Tokyo, she could hear Omi muttering seemingly to himself in the background. Listening this one sided conversation did not however make things any clearer to her, for Omi seemed to be talking to the leader of the Schwarz for some reason. In fact the entire situation, not to mention the background conversation was becoming absurdly surreal…

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"Oh shut up! It's not as if you'd have anything useful to say in a fight…"

"…"

"Oh really? I'll let you know that my actions were entirely justified… and for that matter, I didn't go overboard."

"…"

"It's easy for you to say, you're already dead. In my case however I haven't got a clue where I end up, so don't preach on me about use of excessive force!

"…"

"Anyway, now that we're finally out of there, how about some info about that vision of yours…"

"…"

"Bah, it's always riddles with you isn't it Braddie? You don't mind if I call you that do you?"

"…!"

"Sure sure, I'll keep that in mind. Too bad you can't do that to me without a body of your own <Smirk>."

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"Ok, that does it! We're far enough by now, so you'd better have some explanations about what's going on!" Manx yelled to the inhabitants of the car, interrupting Omi conversation with deceased leader of the Schwarz.

"If you insist, but are you sure… because you might not like what you'll hear?" Omi said back smiling infuriatingly at her. However seeing the look on her face was enough to convince him that if he wouldn't be forthcoming there would be price to pay, probably something that would hurt a lot in places he wouldn't like…

"Fine… here goes nothing," and with that he began a winding explanation of what had happened to him in the past days. The kidnapping, torture, becoming a vampire… soon followed by lurid description of his affair with Farfarello, his meeting with Lisseth and Brad's ghost. The following escape was but small news after that, just a bit of an icing on the cake.

Their reaction was somewhat understandable and expected as well, pure undiluted shock. No doubt they wouldn't had believed it without some hard evidence but `fortunately' part of that evidence was quite forthcoming, shown by the `toothy' grins Omi and Lisseth were giving at the women.

Eventually though the shock left their faces, leaving behind bemused if not bit strained smiles. It was something that puzzled Omi a bit, how could they accept all these things so easily? It wasn't as if these things happened to him… and them on daily basis, was it?

"Hey, what's with the smiles? Don't tell me you got some strange things to add this as well, `cause this is starting to creep me out."

"Well… you might want to take a look at this folder before asking any questions…" said Birman, handing a thick manila folder to puzzled Omi.

"What the…?" was Omi's only semi-coherent reaction as he looked through the contents of the folder. "Are you serious about this?"

"I'm afraid so Omi. To tell the truth, it'd be your best option to do so. Given the troubles you seem to be in, you and your… friends could use the protection you'd get if you'd accept," said Birman, looking slightly uneasy when referring to Omi's `friends'.

"Let me get this straight… You're advising me, a vampire of all things, to take charge of the pitiful remains of what's left of Kritiker… and to become the new chairman of the Takatori Industries. A corporation that has probably more connections to criminal underground than all the Yakuza's in Japan together!?" Omi exclaimed incredulously.

"Well, it's better there to be some rules in the underground than none at all. With out Takatori's… or other such group to maintain tight control on them, the wars and infighting might spread on streets and hurt the innocent that get on their way. There's no way to eliminate crime and such entirely so it's better to have at least some kind of a limiter on them…"

"…And you wish me to be in charge of that… or let's say those limiters? Heh, this might be interesting after all… playing both sides against each other and creating balance from the chaos. How fitting…" Omi murmured to himself as he thought things trough.

After few long moments Omi nodded to himself and raised his strange eyes to look at the two women, both eyes glowing softly with their own innate color. "Fine, I accept. Since you've been doing the job so far I suppose you'll continue working for me as secretaries, you know things best for now after all…"

"So what are your first orders then Mr. Takatori?" Manx asks from Omi… no, from Mamoru Takatori, their new boss.

"There isn't much to do about Kritiker for now… most of the agents are either captured or on the run. Instead, let's deal with `my' corporation first. Call in the board meeting… and for that matter, arrange another meeting with the criminal leaders that work for Takatori's," says Mamoru smiling rather evilly and then continues, "No doubt they'll think I'm just some foolish young boy at first, someone they can control easily. Let them have their illusion for a moment longer, for when I meet them I'll put the fear of G… no, the fear of the Devil in them…"

At that comment Farfarello cracks up and start to laugh, soft giggles first but soon it grows into loud and maniacal laughter. Manx and Birman then watch as their new leader joins the Berserker in his mirth, soon followed by amused giggles from Lisseth. Watching the three laughing maniacs, a single thought passes briefly through both of their minds: "Good lord, what are we letting loose…"

TBC…

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Author notes:

For those that might have been waiting for a new chapter, I'm sorry about the long delay… When you combine studying, working and large quantities of innate laziness that's what you get. Hopefully things will speed up a bit in the future but being what I am, I doubt it. Sorry… ^_^;

Omi's neat new ability comes from `Night Walker - Midnight Detective'. It's a 13 part series that's one of the better vampire anime's I've seen, though not perhaps dark and twisted enough for my liking in the end. Anyway, the thing is you can turn your blood into a weapon… a sword, whip or projectiles of your choice. Of course, if you'd use imagination you could do much nastier things with it as well. Sadly though ^_^; Shido, the hero of the series was too much of a nice… vampire to do so. Omi however won't be having similar troubles… :P

[1]: Don't remember where I heard it from, but Russian's hell was supposed to be about -40 degrees Celsius and an icicle up the ass, or something like that… X_X;

Anyway, that all for ch4 and the next part will be another interlude… but this time from not so nice point of view. We must let Nataku and Helena have their own piece of spotlight after all… :) As usual reviews are appreciated and definitely wanted!

-Azrael's Wing

`I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.'--Michael Aulfrey

`She has moments when she seems stable, but then so does nitro-glycerine.'--Unknown