Shining Armour stood before his superior. She was the only member of Iscariot who superseded him in authority. Celestia's direct heir. her hair was a series of curly ribbons of various shades of pink and purple.Her skin was flawless and perfectly smooth. her eyes like deep violet pools. Shining realised he was staring and corrected his gaze, standing at a military style attention. The woman noticed and looked up from the documents she was reading.

"Something the matter Father Armour?" she asked. Shining shook his head emphatically.

"Nothing Miss Cadenza," Shining replied. He paused. "The technology we recovered...?"

"It is a rather curious piece of equipment isn't it?" Bishop Mi Amore Cadenza commented. "I must commend you as per usual Shining on you methods. You recovered the equipment with barely a scratch on it or yourself."

"Thank you," Shining said, smiling. "I am however... curious as to what it is."

"From what we have gathered it appears to be surgery related. Definitely vampire related."

Shining's hands curled into fists instinctively.

"However... from what our experts have been able to deduce it is compatible with some of our genetic alteration equipment."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Shining asked.

"I have always admired the vampire's healing prowess," Cadenza said, sitting back in her chair. "It makes them worth fighting don't you think? The tradeoff of course is it makes them much harder to kill, and out own agents much easier to be killed."

"I thought that was standard knowledge?"

"Oh Shining," Cadenza said smiling. "What good are facts if you can't update them?"

Twilight heard the ghouls before she saw them. Their heavy groans sounded from nowhere. Judging by the sound of their footsteps and the persistence of the groans, it sounded like there was a lot of them. She didn't more however, keeping her eyes fixed on the young woman who had identified herself as Octavia. Applejack however had no such qualms, leaving the two vampires to stare down their unknown enemy.

Octavia let out a breath of smoke before she plucked it from her lips and smiled.

"I was of course wondering whether or not this little plan of mine would work," Octavia commented, flicking ash off of the end of her cigarette. "But I guess I underestimated how much Iscariot gets under your skin. You responded within less than a day to that little calling card I left you."

"Interesting," Alucard commented, lowering the Casull slightly. "You left an Iscariot blessed blade behind so that we would come. A clever ploy, though it leads me to wonder how you managed to get your hands on one. After all, their blades burn the flesh of the demonic."

"Their blades perhaps," Octavia agreed. "But no such enchantment's are in effect upon the handles."

"Testimony to Iscariot's eternal arrogance it seems," Alucard chuckled. "It was a clever tactic. One I approve very highly of."

"Why thank you," Octavia said. "I have been following your own work Alucard. In your time working for Hellsing and before and I must say I find your methods both ruthless and fascinating."

"Why thank you," Alucard nodded graciously.

"Sir there are ghouls closing in," Twilight reminded.

"I am aware Police Girl," Alucard replied evenly.

"It's more 'en that guys," Applejack said. "They're armed."

This caught Alucard's attention, he looked around and stared into the distance. His lips curled into an approving smile. Applejack was right. There were ghouls closing in, and they were armed. Dressed in heavy militant combat armour, black, thick and sturdy. The restricted movements of the ghouls was easily made up fro their lack of extreme motion in the first place. Their dead eyes glowered intensely at the three Hellsing agents, pulsating with a deep magenta light. Each one held in their right hand a riot shield and in their left hand an Fn P90 SD machine gun. At least that's what Alucard believed. He was inclined to believe they may have been modified.

"Miss Applejack," Alucard said. "I suggest you find a location to take cover. The Police Girl and I are more durable to ammunition."

"Yes sir," Applejack agreed and jogged to the nearest house.

"Police Girl. I trust you to eliminate these fouls pests," Alucard told Twilight. "If this ambush is anything to go by, it could be assumed that Hellsing Headquarters is their true target."

"Yes sir," Twilight nodded.

"Oh you're very clever," Octavia commented. "Of course that's what I'd expect from you. I wondered for a while if there was anything more to you other than rumour. I guess tonight we shall find out."

"That depends on what the rumours say."

"Oh they say so very much about you. About the Nightwalker. A being so inhumane that the demons of the lowest circles of hell fear you. The one who glides over oceans of blood with a power that radiates a darkness that casts a shadow over darkness itself. The true pioneer of immortality."

"Fool," Alucard sighed. "There's no such thing as an immortal."

"Oh I know," Octavia smiled, reaching into the inside of her blazer, "And when I serve your head on a silver platter to my masters, even they will see."

And with that she lunged at Alucard.

Applejack ducked under the sill of the window she had taken position at and slid another shell into the clip of the Bitten, wincing as a hail of bullets flew in through the window. She waited 'til. they subsided before she popped up again and pulled the trigger. The ghoul she had been aiming at crumpled into a head on the ground as his head exploded in a shower of blood and bone. She pumped the Bitten and took aim a second time, wondering if she could pop the heads of two ghouls with one shot. She did after all have a limited supply of shotgun shells. She supposed it would always be possible to rush down to the ground and take one of the ghouls' dropped guns and ammo.

She pulled the trigger again and the ghoul the Bitten had been facing found himself without an arm. At that moment she felt a buzz at her hip. She twisted out of the way of the window and grabbed the walkie-talkie from her belt.

"This is Applejack," she panted. "This may not be the best time."

"AJ, where are you? Where's Thomas? I've been trying to contact him but he isn't responding."

Applejack pumped the Bitten with some considerable effort, somehow not dropped the walkie-talkie. "Sir Trixie, we've been ambushed sir."

"What? Ambushed? By who? Iscariot?"

"Ah reckon Iscariot wouldn't employ ghouls as foot soldiers sir," Applejack replied. "We've been tricked. Iscariot was never here."

"What? Applejack I need details!"

"Ah'll tell you in the debriefing ma'am!" Applejack said. "Right now Ah have work to do!"

She tossed the radio aside and spun back into the window, pulling the trigger and blowing the legs off of two ghouls simultaneously. She gave a small grimace of satisfaction and took aim again, ejecting the spent shell as she did so.

Alucard didn't bother to side-step Octavia as the other vampire swung for his face. Her fist sunk into his flesh, pushing his skull backwards into and through the stone of the building behind him in a cloud of dust and rubble. She glanced at the blood on her knuckles and smiled, pulling her arm free and leaping backwards, lifting a modified M1 Garand and aiming for Alucard, pulling the trigger twice in quick succession. Alucard jerked vividly as the bullets struck his flesh, sending up spurts of blood.

"This is almost too easy," Octavia thought, as she pulled the trigger of her weapon another few times, watching Alucard jerk again. "The great Alucard? Hardly."

Alucard remained with his head sunk into the wall as his right arm swung up, the Casull aimed directly at Octavia's heart as he pulled the trigger three times. Octavia jumped and twisted out of the way of the bullets, her body moving like the wind and the only sight of her movements the trail of smoke from her cigarette and the light of its glowing end.

Alucard leaned forwards, the many cuts on his scalp and face leaking blood down over his eyes and jaw. He aimed his gun again and pulled the trigger, emptying the clip as he shot repeatedly at Octavia. in response she danced away from Alucard's shots, returning with her own volley of bullets.

"He isn't even trying to dodge," Octavia thought, biting her lip. "He knows he isn't immortal. Does he just think himself indestructible? Or is he simply that arrogant? Either way he's taking far more damage than I am." With this thought, a giddy smile snakes its way onto Octavia's face. "I can win."

She pulled the trigger, only to be greeted with a dreadful clicking sound. She cursed and reached into her blazer, pulling out another clip, ejecting the spent cartridge. In the single moment her eyes left Alucard's form, the bleeding vampire cleared the gap between them and struck, the back of his gloved hand cracking against Octavia's cheek, sending her flying backwards and caused her body to crash into the wall of a nearby house. The strength of the blow sent Octavia through the wall and rolling on the floor inside. She grunted as she got to her feet and dusted herself off, inserting the new clip into her gun.

"It would appear playtime is over," she muttered, she reached for her cigarette, then realised she lost it and, if her probing tongue and pulsating mouth were anything to go by, at least two of her teeth. She growled and jumped through the hole she had made.

"You're still standing," Alucard commended.

"It would appear you underestimate me," Octavia snarled, spitting blood.

"Clearly. Not many foes could stand after such a blow."

"I am your death Alucard," Octavia snarled. "I am unlike any vampire, no, any creature you have ever faced before. I was hand-crafted with the sole-purpose of your destruction."

"Then show me," Alucard demanded. "Show me exactly what you can do."

Octavia glowered and lunged at Alucard again. Her shin collided with his head, sending him skittering off to the side. As Octavia's feet touched the ground again, she raced after him, raising her gun arm as she did so. She pulled the trigger, quickly emptying the clip into Alucard's back. Alucard himself twisted himself around and fired the Casull at Octavia, somehow having refilled his magazine.

Octavia swiftly spun to the side, reloading her own weapon as she doubled back away from Alucard and his often wild shots. She scowled, concerned and confused but above all else, angry.

"He's still not taking me seriously? Does he take me for a joke? I suppose the only way he will even treat me as an equal is to eliminate him." Her eyes narrowed in sadistic pleasure at the notion. "Of course that's fine with me."

She heard somewhere in the back of her mind her ghouls being torn to pieces by rattling gunfire but at that moment she didn't care. All she wanted to do was rip Alucard limb from limb. She dashed forwards as Alucard's gun clicked empty and she lashed the barrel of her gun against his cheek, her other fist swinging low, catching him neatly in the jaw. Octavia backflipped backwards and raised her gun, ready to fire, only to pause.

Alucard was lying on the ground, still, blood oozing from the many wounds she had issued to his body. She cleared her throat, surprised to feel that she was slightly out of breath, but smiling nonetheless. She looked at the gun she was holding and smiled. "Looks like the modified ammunition does the job just nicely," she thought, smiling. She slowly approached Alucard's prone form, her hand sliding up around her back and drawing out a short dagger.

"It always pays to be thorough," she muttered to herself, kneeling by Alucard. She rested the blade against his bruised and blood-stained neck for a moment, before raising it high.

Alucard's fist knocked Octavia backwards, sending her sprawling in the dirt. Her head was dizzy and her jaw throbbed with again as she pushed herself uneasily back onto her feet. She rolled her bottom jaw as she tried to focus on what was in front of her.

Alucard was standing straight and he was smiling. His red eyes were wide with carnivorous delight, his smile wide, bloody teeth glinting in the night. He began to shake, his chest rising and falling rapidly ion jerking motions, he threw his head backwards and cackled with laughter.

"Excellent!" he crowed. "I haven't had this much fun in ages!"

"Fun?!" spat Octavia. "You think this is a game?"

"Oh but it is! You are the first in a long time to have ever challenged me in such a manner! What did you say your name was again?"

"Octavia Valentine," she growled in response, furious that he had forgotten. Alucard's smile only seemed to grow wider.

"Octavia Valentine," Alucard smirked. "It is clear that you are above the common breed of vampires." His smile turned cruel. "But I think it only fitting you see how outclassed you are."

He began to move his hands in complex, smooth gestures. A cold wind blew up around them. A pale mist began to seep across the ground from beneath Alucard's coat. He began to speak in a soft, low murmur.

"Releasing control art restriction systems levels three through one. Approval of situation A recognised, commencing the Cromwell invocation." He lifted his hands before his face, forming a rectangle around his eye. "Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the target has been rendered... silent..."

It was like the night had become pitch dark in Octavia's mind. Every shadow sprouted eyes or blood red malice, staring intently at her, trying to rip her apart with their gaze. She spun on the spot, the thousands of eyes flying past her in a whirlwind of pure, unsaturated hunger. And with each and everyone she saw, she felt something at the pit of her stomach grow larger, until it consumed her whole.

Terror.

Everything suddenly went black. Save the light of the moon, everything was shadow and mist. Her eyes found a single, pulsating red pupil in the darkness. Alucard's eye. It stared at her, glowing with power. And then his voice like a knife on stone.

"Now Octavia Valentine. I shall educate you on how a real vampire does battle."

She blinked and in that moment he was there, leering into her face. His black hair flowed like liquid fire in the night, his eyes like blood and his teeth so razor sharp that it seemed that they could cut the very air itself. Octavia screamed in pure terror and turned on her heal, running almost blindly away from Alucard.

Alucard's presence moved to where she ran, his face still leering from the darkness like some great phantom of the night. Octavie skidded to a halt and raised her gun again, pulling on the trigger in a blind panic, squeezing the mechanism until it emitted nothing but a clicking sound. Alucard chuckled, the bullets seeming to have no effect. He opened his mouth, as if to laugh.

Then he spat Octavia's bullets straight back at her.

She screamed in absolute pain as the bullets tore into her chest. She staggered back, blood dripping between her fingers as she clutched at her chest. She screamed again as Alucard shot the Casull at her leg, severing the limb at the kneecap. She landed heavily on the ground, clutching the stump of her knee. She looked up at Alucard and rolled over, trying to pathetically crawl away. The Casull rang out again and she screamed as Alucard shot her other leg off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Alucard asked, walking around to kneel before her. His voice was different now. It was like his old voice, but layered beneath was the sense of pure evil. "You've only suffered the loss of your legs have you not? Summon up your demons! Regrow your lost limbs! Stand! FIGHT ME!"

"MONSTER!"

The word left Octavia's mouth before she could help herself.

Alucard's expression turned from one of malevolent glee, to one of surprise, then to one of disgust.

"So... your true colours. This is what you truly are?" He scowled. "You're pathetic! Nothing but a snivelling lump of meat!"

"At least I'm not a dog for a human bitch!" Octavia spat back. "You bow to a human master, no longer fit to call himself a vampire-"

"SILENCE!"

Octavia blanched.

Alucard straightened up. His right arm became like mist and vapour, a shadowy matter that quickly formed into the head of a giant monstrous dog.

"Well then since I'm the dog," Alucard said. The dog head growled at Octavia and dribbled drool onto the ground. "Then I guess you're dog food."

And the dog head lunged, maw open, teeth bared.

Author's Note

Thanks to Dragon M Dragoon for favouring.