Circle of Blood

Disclaimer: Weiss Kreuz, Hellsing and/or any of their characters
do not belong to me (I wish!!). They are property of some big
Japanese company. Their characters don\'t appear yet but just in
case... I\'m not gaining any profit from this either, and I\'m
simply having my fun twisting and turning the characters into
strange directions.

"..." Speech
//...// Thought

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Circle of Blood - Prologue (Dreams of Blood and Iron)
By: Azrael\'s Wing

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Somewhere in germany - 1944

Just beyond borders of a small village stand ruined remains of a
castle. Unaffected by war, the village and castle near it have
been there for centuries and it is as if they exist outside of
this mundane world. The castle itself, bastion of the long gone
lord, now lies in ruins but that does not mean it\'s forgotten by
him.

Right now, the last remaining lord of the castle is coming home.
The reason for that is also in there, hiding in the dungeon of
the keep. It\'s something most people wouldn\'t even want to find,
but that wouldn\'t matter to him. You see, he isn\'t that normal
himself.

He\'s is dressed in a finely cut military uniform, adorned by
finely crafted symbols of power that most wouldn\'t recognize. His
uniform resembling that of a SS officer but bearing marks of a
different company, the Sacred Order of Steel. The man himself is
tall and gaunt, his face almost looking as if drained of life.
His long pale silvery hair only amplifies the effect of his
drained appearance. Looking almost as if a walking corpse, the
only source of life in this man are his two bright red eyes that
seem to glow with far greater life than one would assume from his
otherwise frail appearance.

His name is Gabriel Müller and he is commander of the Sacred
Order of Steel, better known as Führer\'s spook squad. He\'s a man
that even those in high positions fear for a reason. And he is
here to take care of some unfinished business...

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Magus Gabriel Müller hadn\'t just had a bad day. He had a bad
month, or more likely a year or two! Being forced to look on as
the fools and their lapdogs tried to wrestle with powers beyond
their comprehension. Now that those forces had finally turned
against his so called masters, it was time to finnish his own
plans and get rid of this mess.

//Think of all these years I played servant to these morons and
their Führer, I cat sht shudder in disgust. That fool of a man
and his ideals of a perfect race. What an foolish dream that was,
filled with pointless ideology. But, perhaps his foolishness will
grant victory to me at the end, even as he falls from the height
of his own power. After all, was it not his project back then
that gave me the key for my own future?//

These thoughts running through his mind he opens the door to the
basement, hidden from the public view of morons that infested the
castle these days. Light of the lantern illuminates his way as he
step in to the dark void before him.

Following a long empty hallway he finds himself at a sturdy door
reinforced with strong iron bars. As the door is barred with a
lock that can be operated from only one side, he sets down his
light and pulls a rusty key out of his pocket to open the door.

The doors rusty hinges squeak loudly as he pulls it open, and as
he steps into the room behind it his lanterns light showers the
hallway creating countless shadows. He sees the bloodstains that
decorate the walls and ceiling of the room. Mutilated and dried
up bodies of soldiers adorn the floor this this room. As he
continues to walk towards his goal, deftly avoiding random pieces
of human anatomy on the floor, his mind starts drift back into a
day more than two years ago.

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Flashback - Müller castle, 1942

Soldiers running around in terror their commanders either dead or
hiding. The walls and floor decorated with blood and entrails.
This was the sight that greeted him as he re-entered the
summoning chamber from his final preparations. First thought that
come to his mind as he witnessed this abattoir on earth was quite
simple.

//That man is a utter moron!// It was quite obvious that the
nations of so glorious leader had taken to himself to finish the
ritual while he was away. //No doubt that idiot had thought that
all he had to do was to recite the words, do some gestures and
his super soldier for his army would just appear in puff of smoke
and bow down to his commands. He really must have had an
interesting surprise finding out that things are never as simple
as that.//

This in mind Müller looks around to see what is left of the
circle. What greets him is a sorry sight indeed. The sigils
broken and stone slab shattered, there was little sign of the
experiment at hand. In a corner of the room hides the gibbering
fool that was supposed to be his leader. //Little fool, I wonder
how this affects things. After all, he\'s supposed to lead this
nation world domination. Looks right now that he can\'t even
control his own bladder. Heh, if this isn\'t justice I don\'t know
what is...//

Stepping right into the chaos surrounding him, he grab one of the
more coherent soldiers running around. The pale and shaking
soldier points a towards the prison cells held near by. As the
soldier starts to babble he simply grabs him by throat and snaps
his neck. Throwing the now lifeless body to the floor he heads
towards the cell block that he was directed towards to.

There in the last cell, grouching on floor like some beast
instead of a man is the missing subject of the experiment, a
Japanese officer named Akira Takatori by name tag of his uniform.
Once clean it\'s now drenched in crimson blood and in it\'s face
two glowing red eyes are quite prominent. A mouth set in a grin
shows two long fangs as the beast continues to rip it\'s victims
throat.

While draining blood from the still warm body of a soldier in his
grasp it doesn\'t notice Müller\'s sudden appearance. Wasting none
of the time granted Müller pulls out a decorated wooden stake
from his robes and throws it at Takatori like a dart. Creature
has barely enough time to react to the \'dart\' as it flies powered
by something more than a weak mortal hand. As the beast flies
against the wall behind him and stops there with a loud noise,
the piece ood ood now decorates the place in Takatori\'s chest
where his heart would be.

Observing him for a moment and confirming hisgetsgets paralytic
state Müller quickly heads back to the room of the experiment to
see if there is anything left to salvage. //Perhaps this country
can still have a somewhat sane leader in it\'s future...// As he
suddenly hears mad giggling coming from a corner of the chamber
he thinks again. //Or then again perhaps not...//

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Back to present

//...or perhaps not, indeed. The way Hitler started to behave and
act after that mess hinted strongly that his mind was surely not
the same as it was before. Not that it ever had been anything
special... Soon after the incident war started to go downhill,
mostly because of Führer\'s desire to dictate the course of war
and control it\'s every move. Because of that this whole mess was
the result.//

//Not that any of it really matters to me anymore. I have my own
goals fulfill and that sad little man with his sad little dreams
of iron can go to rot in hell as far as I can care. Same could be
said of this entire war, though it seems to be going there nicely
already...//

His line of thought interrupted as he finally steps into to the
prison area of the basement. Looking around at the last cell he
sees what he came looking for, a strangely \'live\' corpse with a
stake still deep in it\'s heart. Stepping next to the body he
looks at it and smiles faintly. His mage-sight shows a faint red
glow around the body, the proof that though Takatori\'s body may
be dead, the un-life instilled by the experiment still exists
deep within him. Satisfied for now, Müller pauses f mom moment
and speaks aloud for the first time since coming to castle.

"Now you will help me to fulfill my destiny Mr Takatori.
Wheather you wan\'t it or not is not the question. Your blood is
far too important to me to let you go, it was that even before
our little experiment but now it\'s even more so. You and your
life, or what\'s left of it belong to me and I don\'t think there
is much you can do about it, can you Mr Takatori?" His cold
and amused voice echoes quietly in the empty halls of the castle
and fails to bring any life to his surroundings. It\'s as if he
already belongs to the dead and cannot bring any life to the
world around him.

Having finally found what he was looking for, Müller pulls a
radio transmitter from his belt and turns it on. After tuning it
for a while the crackles from the radio die and Müller speaks in
it with his calm and cold voice. "This is Müller, prepare
the container for the cargo I specified and bring it to the
castle. I will show you it\'s location when you arrive."

"Yes, Herr Müller. Everything is prepared and the flight
there will take an hour. Can you tell us where we are heading
after we get there so that we can make the preparations
beforehand?"

"Your new flight coordinates will be given only after you
have the cargo aboard. I don\'t want anyone unwanted to know our
destination by any chance. Remember to keep the radio silence
when necessary and contact only those in the Alfa list, after
that go for the others. These are your orders."

"Understood. See you soon Herr Müller, over and out."

Putting the radio back into it\'s place he turn towards the corpse
laying on the floor and speaks sounding faintly amused, "I
do hope you like Brazil Mr Takatori because you\'re going there
for a little visit there before you can finally get home."

That said the pale old man with bright red eyes sits down at the
prison bench still looking at the strange corpse beside him. A
faint smile forms to his face as he dreams of a future written in
blood, with his own and of course of others...

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To be Continued...

(Is it 1996 Already? How time flies...)

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Afterword:
I know there aren\'t any characters around yet, but they\'ll along
in the next two chapters, when the chapters are finished that is.
This and most of the first part are mostly for the bad guys...
Being my creations, I hope they\'re not completely cliched.

-Azrael\'s Wing

Never knock on Death\'s door: ring the bell and run away! Death
really hates that!
---Matt Frewer, as Dr. Mike Stratford in "Doctor,
Doctor"---