LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 31: chapter 31
Chapter 31:
– Valerie –
We'd managed to stop the vampire menace from spreading across the city, and that was definitely something to be proud of.
Blade, being his typical stoic self, dipped his head toward me and Seras. "Thanks," he said. "You two really helped keep New York from turning into a goddamn buffet for those things."
I nodded back at him. "Couldn't just let them run wild," I said. My voice came out more tired than I intended. I'd been up for nearly forty hours. Even as a dhampir, that wasn't exactly good for my health.
Seras cocked her head at Blade and flashed a small grin. "Anytime," she said. "Though I'd prefer fewer severed flying body parts next time."
He shrugged. "Yeah, well, that's part of the job."
I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Blade didn't seem like the kind of guy who cracked jokes, but maybe I just read the guy wrong.
He mentioned he still had a lot of work to do hunting down the vampires who fled. They'd scattered all over the city, probably even beyond it.
Blade glanced at me again. "Also," he said, "tell your old man I appreciate him taking out that fake Dracula after it slipped away from us in the warehouse. That was a loose end we couldn't afford."
I blinked, then felt my cheeks burn at the reminder of Alucard, and that text message he'd sent me. "Right," I muttered, clearing my throat. "I'll let him know. Trust me, he's already bragging about it."
The message he'd sent me read as followed:
"Managed to bag a sexy vampiress and take down that faker you were supposed to handle. You obviously need more training if such a weakling slipped through your fingers. Guess I'm just built different! Maybe one day you'll be as awesome as your old man…"
And then it ended with a winky face emoji I refused to even acknowledge. I couldn't help but pout when I read it!
Without another word, Blade turned and hopped across the adjacent rooftop. Within seconds, he disappeared into the fading night.
"What should we do now?" Seras asked. She stepped close. I caught a glimpse of her pink tongue swiping across her lips for a moment, like she was hungry for something, and I think that's something was me! "We're finally all alone," she added and stared at me. "You want to go see if we can find a hotel…?"
Her question hung in the air. I bit my lip, feeling a twinge of something warm in my chest, but damn if I wasn't worn out. "Actually, I'm kind of tired," I admitted. "I haven't slept in like forty hours..."
Her face fell. She let out a long, dramatic sigh and grumbled something about always getting "cock-blocked."
I snorted, unable to help myself. "That's not very lady-like," I teased.
She shrugged and let out a short laugh. "Who cares about that? I decide what's ladylike. I'm the law, after all," she said, gesturing to her yellow police-girl uniform. The uniform was basically cosplay at this point, but she refused to give it up. And damned if it didn't look good on her.
We decided to just head back to the X-Mansion. "Maybe tomorrow we can actually go on a date or something, we can go on a date through the city if you want." I shot her a wry grin, and her red eyes lit up.
"I'll hold you to it!" she said.
A moment later, I dissolved into dozens of flapping shapes. Seras did the same.
We soared up off the rooftop.
…At first, the flight was fine. Although a bit windy for some reason. Then the rain started like the sky flipped a switch. Sheets of water poured down in near-horizontal gusts. Lightning streaked across the horizon every few seconds, followed by crackling thunder. It was the kind of storm that felt unnatural.
Within moments, I knew we couldn't maintain our bat forms in those winds. Some of my individual bats were getting knocked aside and battered.
Seras must have realized it too, because we both dropped out of the air at almost the same time, hitting the ground in human form with rough landings. Mud splashed up around my ankles as I steadied myself against a tree trunk.
"What kind of freak storm is this?" I shouted over the roaring wind. My hair stuck to my face, and water dripped into my eyes.
Seras shook her head, wiping rain off her cheeks. "No clue. I've never seen weather turn so fast," she said.
"Come on," I said. "Something's wrong."
I broke into a run, ignoring the thick mud sucking at my boots. Seras kept pace next to me with her rifle strapped to her back clanging softly. The rain hammered down so hard it drowned out a lot of my enhanced senses. I could barely smell anything beyond wet earth, and my hearing was muted under the relentless downpour. But I pushed forward.
Flashes of lightning revealed something that made my stomach drop: a line of unmarked black vans and buses surrounding the mansion grounds.
Instinctively, I slowed, raising a hand to caution Seras.
"What is all this?" She asked, and I shook my head not knowing either.
We crept closer, weaving between the dense trees. When we reached the edge of the tall stone wall that wrapped around the property, I could make out several men in black tactical gear sprawled across the ground, their limbs twisted in unnatural positions. All of them dead. It was a gruesome scene—some had stab wounds, others were burned badly, and a few looked like they'd been partially disintegrated.
"What the hell happened here?" I whispered, though the wind nearly tore my words away.
Lightning struck nearby, and the thunderclap that followed rattled my teeth.
"That's close," Seras said, eyes wide.
I vaulted over the wall. Seras hopped over beside me. The scene on this side of the wall was even more violent. A lot more dead soldiers in black gear. Pools of blood mingled with rainwater.
"What the hell?" I breathed. "Who are these guys?"
Before Seras could respond, a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky, revealing Ororo Munroe literally hovering high above the mansion's front lawn.
She was maybe fifty yards away, surrounded by swirling winds and rain. Her white hair whipped around her head, and her eyes glowed white. She looked like a wrathful weather goddess at that moment. Lightning arced from her fingertips, striking the ground and sending soldiers scrambling for cover anywhere they could find it.
I spotted multiple gunshot wounds on her—one in the leg, one in her abdomen, another on her left arm. My eyes narrowed in anger at seeing her so injured!
A loud scream tore my attention away from Ororo. A man soared through the air like a rag doll, landing with a sickening thud on the far side of the lawn. His neck broken and twisted around at an odd angle.
I saw Logan tearing into a cluster of these black-ops soldiers with metal claws on his hands.
"Kill him! Keep shooting!"
He wont fucking die!"
They fired on him in desperation, bullets hitting him again and again. I saw blood spatter from his wounds, but every time, the bullets popped out as soon as they embedded, and fresh tissue sealed over.
Huh, I guess he really did have a different factor.
Seras let out a shaky breath. "Val, what do we—"
I cut her off. "We help them." Our new friends at the mansion had been kind enough to give us a place to stay after Seras and Alucard burned down our last motel. There was no way we were letting them die here. "We can't just watch them get shot to pieces."
Seras nodded. She unslung her giant anti-tank rifle. "All right. But you get to explain to Integra why we might be going to war with some obvious shadowy U.S. government organization." She gave me a half-smile.
I grimaced. "Sure, I'll deal with her..." Integra Hellsing was going to have a field day with this, but I'd handle that later.
I reached into my red jacket and pulled out my custom magic revolver. Flicking it open to see it was full of ammo. I snapped the cylinder shut and took aim.
One soldier turned, spotted us, and shouted, "We've got more contacts!" That was my cue.
I fired off two rounds in rapid succession. The first bullet punched through his chest armor like wet paper, the second took down another soldier who'd turned to see what the hell was going on. Both dropped to the muddy ground.
Suddenly, a half dozen more swiveled our way and opened fire. I staggered as bullets slammed into my torso and shoulder, feeling the impact vibrate through my body. My healing factor sparked to life, forcibly spitting out the bullets after a few agonizing seconds.
Seras grunted, likely shot a couple times too, but she stayed upright.
"Shit," I hissed, ducking behind a tree. "That stings."
"Tell me about it," Seras said. "At least they're just regular rounds. These guys aren't equipped to deal with vampires."
"Count our blessings," I muttered.
The tree I was hiding behind was starting to take a beating from all the bullets slamming into it. I channeled magic through my revolver. "Protego!" A shimmering barrier formed in front of me to block the rest of the shots.
The moment the soldiers paused to reload, I returned fire. My next three bullets flew with supernatural precision, smashing into their chest plates and dropping them.
Seras was right beside me, unleashing hell with her monstrous rifle. Every shot made a deafening boom that echoed over the thunder, and each round hit like a small cannonball. Body armor, ribs, entire limbs—none of it stood a chance.
A few yards away, Logan roared as he slashed at a pair of soldiers trying to corner him. I heard screams over the storm. The men raked automatic fire across his chest, but he plowed right through it, claws ripping them apart.
Ororo hovered above as she summoned another bolt of lightning. Bright white light seared down from the storm clouds, striking a cluster of soldiers who cried out before collapsing in smoking heaps.
It looked like about fifty soldiers in total had been converging on the courtyard. A literal army had shown up to attack a school full of children!
Either way, we were turning the tide. The courtyard was now soaked in water, mud and…gore. The black-clad men were shouting frantic commands, but it was clear their formation had broken. A few scrambled behind vans, returning fire from behind the open doors. The muzzle flashes illuminated their faces, showing their fear and desperation.
I felt another bullet clip my hip. This impact hurt a lot more. Pain flared hot in my veins. "Fuck," I growled, pressing a hand to the wound. I could feel the large round already sliding out from under my skin. "Seras, watch the guy behind that far van. He's got a sniper rifle or something!"
She growled and quickly spotted him. "On it." She hoisted her rifle, bracing the stock against her shoulder. I caught the flash of her fangs as she grinned. A second later, the guy with the sniper rifle was just gone. The recoil kicked Seras back half a step, but the soldier was reduced to red mist.
More bullets raked across the muddy ground near my feet, so I dove forward and slid behind a toppled statue, my chest heaving with adrenaline. For a moment, I pressed my back against the cold marble and tried to steady my breathing as I reloaded.
"Val, you good?" Seras called from a few yards away, hunkered behind a low stone wall.
"Yeah," I rasped back. "Just catching my breath."
I glanced around the statue, spotting two soldiers creeping along the hedge toward Ororo's flank. "Seras, cover me," I shouted, then sprinted out.
She pulled out her sidearm and fired a volley of shots, forcing the soldiers to duck. I used the distraction to dash closer. When one of them popped up again, I put a bullet in his head. He went down instantly. The other spun toward me, eyes wide behind his night-vision goggles, but I was already pulling the trigger. Then he was on the ground, unmoving.
Mud squelched under my boots as I pressed on. The storm made everything slippery and I almost went down a couple of times just from the muddy ground.
Another soldier tried to swing the butt of his rifle at me as I rounded a corner near the mansion's porch. I ducked low, hearing the whoosh of air above my head, and then drove my foot into his knee, breaking it backwards.
"Motherfucker!" He dropped with a harsh cry.
Before he could recover, I pistol-whipped him across the jaw with all my strength.
I heard a snarl and turned to see Logan sliding through the rain. He looked at the dead soldier at my feet and nodded. "Nice," he said. Then he sprinted off after a group of four soldiers trying to flank Ororo from the other side.
Lightning crashed again, so bright I had to blink away spots in my vision. A wave of thunder echoed so loudly that it shook me to my core.
Goddamn! Ororo was powerful!
She just instantly turned 10 guys at once into smoking heaps!
But unfortunately, it didn't look like she had a healing factor.
I saw something that made my gut twist in concern. Ororo swayed in mid-air. The bullet wounds in her stomach and leg must have been getting to her. She landed heavily on the ground, clutching her side. Rain drenched her white hair and uniform. She looked like she was about to collapse, and the violent storm overhead started to ease slightly. The winds died down a notch.
I locked eyes with Seras and jerked my head in Ororo's direction, hoping she'd get the message. Seras nodded, hopped over some smoking wreckage, and hurried toward Ororo with her rifle. Meanwhile, I turned to cover them. A few soldiers realized the storm had lessened and were trying to rally. They fired sporadic bursts at me.
I gritted my teeth. "Damn it." There were maybe ten left standing in the courtyard. I was about to look for Logan, but I heard him roaring behind me, so I guessed he was busy with his own batch of them. If I could just hold these guys off long enough for Seras to get Ororo to safety, we could wrap this up.
I channeled another burst of magic into my revolver. "Expelliarmus!"
A soldier had his gun ripped from his hands. He yelped, falling backward in surprise. Immediately, I fired another round, finishing the job.
His partner screamed in fury and unloaded a hail of bullets my way. I pulled the trigger again but was met with an empty click. I was forced to take the hits as I sprinted towards the guy and leapt on top of him. He could barely scream as my teeth sank into his neck. His delicious lifeblood flowed down my throat, restoring all of the energy I'd spent so far in this fight.
I slowly straightened, my heart thudding. My clothes were drenched, sticking to me uncomfortably, and I could feel fresh bruises forming under my jacket. But we seemed to have taken out all the attackers here.
"Seras?" I called out, scanning the area.
"Over here!" she yelled back from near the porch. I jogged over. She was kneeling beside Ororo, who looked pale and weak.
I crouched down on the porch. "Ororo, can you hear me?"
She lifted her head, nodding faintly. "I'll be okay," she said, though she winced at her own words. "I just need medical attention."
"We can head inside," I started. "We'll get you to the med bay." But even as I said it, something tugged at the back of my mind. I knew the X-Men had advanced medical facilities here, but I also had another option. I wet my lips, casting a quick glance at Logan. Then I turned back to Ororo. "I actually might have something better. But you have to promise to keep it a secret. Both of you." My tone left no room for argument.
Logan let out a gruff snort. "You risked your pretty ass to help us tonight. We ain't sayin' shit," he said. He crossed his arms over his chest.
Ororo nodded tiredly, her grip tightening around my arm. "If it will help me recover, I promise I won't speak of it to anyone."
Seras gave me a questioning look. "You sure you want to do this?" she asked under her breath.
I swallowed. "Yeah. I think we can trust them." I placed my hand over my chest and closed my eyes, focusing on the Sacred Gear deep in my soul. The Healing Grail manifested in my hand.
Logan raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is that? It looks all shiny and shit."
Before I could answer, Seras rolled her eyes and did it for me. "That's the Holy Grail," she said. "The literal cup of Jesus Christ himself."
Logan stiffened, and Ororo's eyes widened with shock. "You're joking," Ororo said quietly. "That can't be—"
"It is," Seras insisted. "I've seen it in action before. It's legit."
"It's complicated…" I told Ororo. "But it'll help."
She studied the golden cup in awe, then turned to me. "So what…do I do with it?"
The Grail reacted to my presence, filling with a dark red liquid—my blood. I brought it close to Ororo's lips. "Drink it all," I said softly. "Trust me."
Logan shifted his weight, looking both intrigued and unsettled. I could almost read his thoughts: "Is this vampire shit or random holy miracle shit?"
Honestly, it was a bit of both.
But Ororo must have decided she had nothing to lose. She reached up, wrapped her fingers around mine, and drank. My blood slipped from the Grail into her mouth. She took every drop without hesitation.
A shudder ran through me. There was something about watching someone I liked drink my blood—especially someone so beautiful. It made my skin prickle. Was this some weird fetish I was developing as a dhampir? I sure hoped not, or at least I hoped I could keep it under control.
"Easy," I murmured, tilting the cup so she got the last of it. Then I took a step back and watched carefully.
Ororo's wounds began healing before my eyes. The ragged bullet holes in her shoulder and leg sealed themselves shut, pushing the slugs out of her body. She sucked in a sharp breath, rubbing her hands over the fresh skin in disbelief. Slowly, she sat up straighter, no longer grimacing. "I…I feel fine," she said, wonder in her voice. "This is actually the real Holy Grail?"
I shrugged, slipping the cup back against my chest and sealing it away in that hidden pocket of my soul. "It's one of them at least…." I added cryptically.
She shook her head. "I never put much stock in that religion. But…I can't argue with this result." I offered her a hand, pulling her to her feet. Her eyes shone with gratitude. "Thank you, Valerie," she said quietly.
"Don't mention it. SERIOUSLY, DON'T. It's supposed to be a big secret," I replied. "I really don't want half the supernatural world hunting me down for it."
Logan looked like he wanted to comment, but he just grunted and gave me a nod that felt like a silent promise to keep my secret.
The four of us surveyed the ruined front yard again. Bodies were everywhere. Gore mixed with wet grass.
Seras let out a low whistle. "Well, cleaning this up is gonna be a bitch and a half."
I turned to Ororo and Logan. "What the hell happened here? We got caught up fighting outside the gate, but it looked like the attack was way bigger."
Logan grimaced. "Don't fuckin' know exactly. We weren't here when the attack started."
"Where were you?" I asked.
Logan then began to explain. "I ran out of beer and decided to make a run into town. Ororo came with me. She was restless and wanted to wait for you all to get back. We figured we'd kill time, pick up supplies."
Ororo nodded. "But when we returned, the place was surrounded by unmarked military vehicles. These armed soldiers attacked us the moment we pulled onto the grounds."
Logan ran a hand through his wet hair. "I tried to sniff out the others—Scott, Jean, the kids—but I couldn't smell 'em anywhere. It's like they were all just gone..."
"Gone?" I echoed. "You think they were taken?"
"That's what it looks like," he growled. "We found signs of a struggle in the front hall. Blood, scorch marks, bullet holes. But no bodies. If they'd been killed, they'd be lying around like the rest of these guys. But they weren't. At least I hope they weren't."
We needed a lead to figure out where all the abducted mutants had been taken, and we needed it fast. After that, we had to grab our gear and clear out. It wouldn't take long for more government goons—or whatever shadowy organization these assholes belonged to—to show up.
I turned to Seras, Ororo, and Logan. "Let's make this quick," I said. "I don't want to be here when tanks start rolling up the driveway."
Ororo nodded, her eyes grim. "Agreed. We drew enough attention with all that gunfire."
The battle earlier had sounded like a small war. The X-Mansion was fairly isolated from neighbors, but I didn't trust no one heard everything that went down.
I stepped away from the others, treading carefully among the fallen soldiers. I checked for any signs of life—ragged breathing, a weak pulse, someone who might tell us where our friends were taken. "This one's alive," I called, kneeling in the mud beside him. His neck looked broken, but I could still sense a heartbeat.
I ignored the uneasy feeling in my gut as I pulled the Healing Grail out from within my soul.
Seras stepped closer. "You sure about this, Val?" she asked quietly.
I exhaled. "I hate the idea of my blood going into scum like this, but we need answers."
Ororo shifted on her feet, studying the Grail. She had already seen it in action once tonight, but the idea of using it on a hostile soldier clearly made her uneasy.
The Grail filled with my blood, dark red liquid rising up to the brim on its own. I grimaced, then lifted the soldier's limp head. I poured a trickle of blood down his throat, one hand pinching his jaw so his mouth would open.
Almost immediately, he began coughing and sputtering. Life flowed back into his limbs, and I felt the Grail's power knit his bones enough to keep him from dying. He choked, then blinked and looked around, eyes wide with terror.
"What the fuck!?" he rasped, voice shaking. "What's going on!? You mutant freaks!" He spat the words like venom. "You're all going to get what's coming to you if—"
"Shut up!" I snapped, tapping into my vampiric hypnosis. My pupils burned bright red as I focused on his mind.
He stiffened, locked into my stare, and his voice died in his throat. The soldier's expression went slack. "Yes," he said in a flat monotone.
"You're going to answer some questions. Who do you work for? Why did you attack a mansion full of kids? And where the hell did you take them?"
He responded in a dull, robotic voice. "Weapon X… We're a secret agency under government control, dedicated to subduing and repurposing America's most powerful mutants. We turn them into loyal weapons."
Logan clenched his fists. I noticed the muscles in his jaw ticking as he fought back rage. Ororo's face was pale.
The soldier continued, voice still flat. "We attacked the mansion to capture the mutants living here… They were all restrained and moved to our closest base."
Seras stepped up. "Where is it? Coordinates. Now."
He rattled off a set of numbers in precise order. I had no idea what they really meant, but Seras reached into a pocket, dug out a pen and a scrap of paper, and quickly wrote everything down.
Once she finished, she looked at me. "We got what we need," she said.
I bared my fangs and sank them into his neck without a word. He let out a gurgled scream, but I held him tight. The warm rush of blood filled my mouth, and he thrashed helplessly before going limp.
We had what we needed. Seras and I went back into the mansion to grab all of our things while Ororo and Logan grabbed all the supplies they needed as well. I used my magic to shrink down Seras and Alucard's coffins before slipping them into my jacket pockets. Seras strapped herself with all the ammo she could and I couldn't help but giggle at the sight.
"I can't believe we just got out of one fight just to immediately get into another…" she grumbled as we made our way to the mansion's garage. Logan and Ororo were waiting for us in a large jeep as we hopped in the backseats.
"Sorry I made us get involved," I told her.
She shook her head. "No, I would have too. This is some crazy evil stuff we stumbled on though. Also, you really need to call the boss now before things completely spiral out of control."
Shit, she was right. How the hell was I going to spin this situation to Integra without her yelling at me…?
Meh, that probably wasn't going to happen so I might as well just get it over with. I pulled out my phone and cringed a bit while hovering my thumb over her name in my contacts.
XXX
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Here is the list of Current Advanced Chapters:
The Fallen Gamer ch 315-319
The Fox Hole 52
Thunder and Black Wings 9
The Fox Hole 51
The Titan 24
The Fox hole 50
The Titan 24
The Blood Queen 32
The Fox Hole ch 49
Thunder and Black Wings 8
The Fox Hole ch 48