Chapter six: the shadow of the scythe

"Mr. Helsing, by the royal power given to me at the dawn of Equestrian society, I hereby declare you a free man, removed of all charges as soon as the offer has been cured of her ailment

Helsing absent mindedly rubbed his cheek, he could feel the energy humming through his teeth, he had to control it.

"If that's all your honor, then I'll go and get it done."

The hunter took his hat and placed it carefully on his head, his black hair only slightly obstructed by the large leather ornament.

"Once you have completed your task, you shall be free of all punishments placed upon them beforehand."

"Thank you your honor."

"Please," the judge said dryly, her voice sounding much more calm than before than beforehand, "call me Luna."

"Excuse me miss Twilight," Applebloom said as she and her two friends were awkwardly stuffed into the doorframe, "is Mr. Helsing here?"

Twilight was looking at the fillies with wide eyes, first of all because they defied all laws of mass by being crammed into the tiny doorway. She quickly shook her head however, determined not to seem rude.

"Yes, he's in the guest room," she turned around to give them some directions when she noticed spike reading one of his magazines, "I'm sure spike can show you the way."

The dragon peeked curiously over the tip of his comic, his look however turned from interest to frustration once he figured out they wanted him to actually do something. He carefully placed the newest issue on the closest shelf before waving a claw vaguely in their direction, indicating for them to follow.

The crusaders finally wiggled themselves free with loud grunts and yelps of slight pain. They followed the dragon down the nearby hallway, noticing that the tree was more withered further down the way.

"It's here," spike said, bringing himself and the fillies to an abrupt halt. Scootaloo's hoof went right for the doorknob, but was almost immediately after smacked down by spikes claw.

"Let me knock," he said, while smacking the door three times in perfect rhythm.

"Who is it?" Came the unmistakable voice of the hunter, who seemed to be completely unaffected by last weeks events.

"It's spike and company," the dragon said.

"Come in."

Spike carefully opened the door, peeking in and waving at the three fillies to follow.

The room, like all the others, had walls composed entirely of natural wood. But unlike the rest which looked healthy and crisp, this part looked old and gnarly, like the tree was growing older in this section.

Other than that it seemed homely, for the hunters standard at least. There was a large chemistry set on the far end table, his coat and hat was hanging on a nearby chair, and Helsing himself was bent over another table, scribbling something down on a large piece of paper.

"What is it spike? I'm rather busy."

To anyone who hadn't met Helsing, that would seem rude as all tartarus. Those who had met him knew that the equivalent of what he'd said was a deep loving kiss.

Furthermore spike seemed to be the only one to get that kind of treatment.

"The Cmc wants to talk with you." Spike said, pointing a thumb at the fillies who had once again managed the incredible feat of getting stuck in the doorway.

Helsing placed his pen down and looked at the ceiling before sighing loudly. For some reason that helped a lot of humans to relax, both in stressed situations and when they needed to stay calm.

Eventually he pulled the chair back and stood up, but much unlike his day to day routines he wasn't wearing any of his standard gear. The leather coat and trousers had been replaced with a pair of linen breeches with a matching shirt. His mask had been removed, revealing a long scar going from his right cheek down to his chin. What made up for a beard was some slight scruff that was a slightly lighter color than his hair. His hat was gone, of course lying next to his coat and trousers.

"Yes?" He asked, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised in thinly concealed irritation.

"Well, were supposed to write about a person for a school project," Sweetie belle started.

"And we thought that we could write about you!" Scootaloo continued while nodding enthusiastically, first at sweetie, then at Helsing.

"Cause we thought that writin' bout Equestrias only Vampo- Vampire hunter could be a cool project." Applebloom finished, simultaneously wiggling herself free of the door, "so whaddya say?"

Helsing tapped his chin thoughtfully, he actually did have some important things to do today. The fillies could just tag along and they wouldn't create too much hassle.

"Alright then, but only ask questions that you deem absolutely necessary, and only when I'm not talking with someone! Understood?" Helsing asked, looking at each of them successively.

The three fillies saluted with a serious look, "sir yes sir," they said in faulty unison.

"Great, then come, I have some things I need to take care of around town, you can tag along." He turned around to the table he had been sitting at to find spike bent over the paper he had been scribbling on a minute earlier. He tapped the dragon on the shoulder, making spike jump back and collide with the bed. He rolled his drawing together, put on his coat, his hat and his trousers.

"Let's go."

As spike saw the quartet leave the treehouse there was two things buzzing inside him. First was his back that hurt from the collision.

And second was the drawing Helsing had made.

He went to find twilight. Seeing her hunched over the vampire book that Helsing had lent her.

"Twilight, can I ask you a question?" He asked, rubbing his back absent mindedly to try and make the pain go away.

"Sure spike," twilight said, looking up from the book and smiling at the dragon, "ask away."

"What's a Minigun?"

"What's yer special talent?"

Spike looked rather dumbly at Applebloom. So far the peaceful walk through ponyville had gone by without questions, which had suited him perfectly well. But of course the wonders were not to last.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." He said, shaking his head while trying not to sound like an idiot.

"Yer cutie mark, what is it?"

Helsing finally understood, but he had to grin beneath the blood red bandana. This was going to be an interesting conversation.

"Humans don't have cutie marks."

That made all the crusaders raise curious and slightly distressed eyebrows. Before they all turned their heads back towards Helsing.

"Well how do you know what your special talent is?" Scootaloo asked, sounding unconvinced.

Helsing thought about it for a while. Because in truth there really was no way for a human to know exactly what his or hers special talent was. But eventually he settled on an answer he found to be simultaneously true and not too confusing.

"When I have one thing I do that I love, and if I'm really good at it, then that's my special talent."

This made Applebloom cringe slightly, "no squat Mr Helsing, but how do'ya show what yer special talent is?"

Helsing sighed, thinking of one particular heirloom, that might serve his purpose. His hand went into his jacket, grasping onto something cold and hard.

When he dragged it back out it became evident to the fillies why he thought of this as a cutie mark. It was a delicate silver emblem with gold lines drawn in careful patterns. In the middle there was three different weapons crossing each other. A revolver, a sword, and a whip. But the weirdest part was the back of the emblem, there was a small paper strip that read the words.

"Vincent alucard drakuul, son of Dracula and founder of the order of ethereal slayers."

"Who's this Vincent guy?" Scootaloo asked, eyes still firmly clasped on the silver emblem.

"An old friend, and one of my best colleagues." He said, memories flooding his mind.

"What happened to him?" Sweetie belle asked, not as easily impressed by the medal. Her sisters work encompassed working with much more delicate jewelry. So a medal was not the best piece she had ever seen.

"He died."

"You seem to have a tendency of people dying around you dear Helsing."

Helsing's ears perked, he whipped around at the sound of a familiar voice. A man, much larger in build than Helsing, and as Helsing knew, that size came not from fat, but from pure muscle. The man was wearing a large black wool coat with a large wool hat to top off the look. His big bushy beard made his row of completely white teeth look out of place. But the most unsettling part of him was to be found slightly higher up his face.

In stead of his right eye, there was an empty glowing hollow.

"Mein gott." Helsing said in a hushed voice, he didn't even have the words to express his shock. He stood face to face with a legend.

"Balor," he paused to gasp, his breathing now being quick and unhealthy in stead of his usual calm and collective in and exhale. It was almost perfectly in touch with his voice.

"Master guard of Lord Draculas castle," Balor said, his black beard split by the white grin shot towards the hunter, "and you must be Helsing."

Helsing finally regained his composure, breathing in a large portion of air and carefully breathing out afterwards, "what are you doing here?"

Balor coughed, still with that big toothy grin on his face. But once his coughing fit receded, the smile had turned from amusement to smugness.

"Why I'm preparing dear Helsing, what else would I be doing?" He said, chuckling with that eerie smile still on his face as if it was nailed on.

"Preparing for what exactly?" Helsing asked, his nervousness long gone replaced by pure primal rage.

The large man smiled, before drawing out a most peculiar artifact, it looked to be a small scythe, almost like a sickle. But there was a few interesting things about the sickle in question.

It was made of bone, and was glowing.

"No," Helsing said, his hushed voice returning and draping his vocal cords like an uncomfortable duvet, "NO!" He shouted as he charged forward, knife held to stab Balor square in the stomach.

But the large man just pushed him out the way.

Helsing collided with the wall of a nearby house, sliding down and landed In a heap. The crusaders came running for him, encouraging him to get back up, checking in the mean time if he was hurt.

"The plan is in motion Helsing," Balor said, scythe receding back into his wool jacket, "you know what the master needs." He turned around on his heel, walked away, his body blurred for a few seconds.

And then he was gone

Back in the treehouse, twilight and spike was busily rearranging books when Helsing came running full sipped through the door.

"Death!" He said to twilight in particular who just raised a curious eyebrow, "he's going to summon Death."

This however got twilights attention.

"I'll send a letter!" She said, jumping down from the ladder where she was currently located. She charged for a quill and paper and went to her desk.

"How did I not predict this!" Helsing said, burying his head in his hands.

Spike squirmed uncomfortably in place, "whats all the hustle about?"

Helsing looked up from his self pitying position to stare at the dragon with urgent eyes.

"Our lives."