Out for Blood

Alnwick

"How do you destroy a monster, without becoming one?"

I stared out at the imposing figure of Alnwick Academy as it rose over the hill that had been growing in the view of the windshield for the past ten minutes, until the building of the academy seemed to be the only thing that I could see. It was short, and squatted on the top of the hill as though it was some sort of malformed eagle, gazing down upon the rest of the world from its perch, which it had claimed as its throne. The building itself wasn't quite as majestic.

Built in the eighteen hundreds as a mental institution , Alnwick was probably the first thing that you could think of when it came to creepy buildings. It wouldn't have looked out of place if it was used on the set of a horror movie, in fact, if my trivia is correct, it was actually used to film Blood In, Blood Out, back in the 80's. It had been your usual 80's horror flick, a bunch of teens getting chopped to pieces in a fairly creepy setting, but I imagined that something much more menacing could have been made with this place as a setting.

As I got closer to the building, I began to see some of its distinguishing features, the round windows, on top of the long ones that soared up nearly the entire front face of the building. There was, in the center of the front, a clock that seemed to have stopped with its hands pointing to three, whether that was in the morning or the evening, I couldn't tell.

There were no students milling around, not that I could see, anyway. I couldn't blame them though, as a quick glance at the thermometer on the digital display of the Toyota Prius that I was currently riding in showed that it was a little less than forty degrees outside, ample weather for snow, which I hoped that the low, dark clouds on the horizon heralded.

Besides the fact that the school itself couldn't have been any more creepy, there wasn't really much to distinguish Alnwick from any other private boarding school. As my brother drove up the main road of the school, I saw dorms dotted about, all appearing at least two hundred years more modern than the building that they were centered around. There was a football field, off behind most of the dorms, with a track that ran around its entirety. From the way that the grass grew high on the field, I assumed that there wasn't much work done on it during the off season, though the track did seem to be in a fairly good condition, if my initial look could tell me anything.

I was suddenly brought back to the reality by the fact that my brother was speaking to me, having turned down the classical music that I had put in at the beginning of our ride, much to his chagrin. "You ready for this?" he asked, a smirk rising to his features as he spoke. I could tell that, despite my insistence on taking this assignment, he was wanting me to back out even as drew closer to the main building.

"I think you mean to ask, do I want to back out, since this is more or less my last chance." I corrected, which caused Aidan to chuckle as he turned his attention back to the road. "You don't have to take the assignment." He reminded me for possibly the thousandth time since I had spoken with our father about the assignment initially. "There are other hunters in the area, closer, more experienced hunters." I shot a glare Aidan's way, and balled my fist into the chair in order to resist reaching for the knife that was currently tucked away safely in the combat boots that I was wearing.

"I think that I'm the best suit for the job." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest and directing my gaze back out the window, toward the school as it grew rapidly in front of me. "Besides, Dad said I need the experience, right? The Hellsings aren't just going to let me onto one of their teams without going on a hunt on my own."

"True, true, but there's no reason for you to worry about that, being as young as you are. Most of them aren't younger than thirty." I shrugged, leaning my head against the window, the seatbelt brushing against my neck as I moved. "Maybe I'll be the first one under twenty." I replied, and I saw Aidan roll his eyes. "I wouldn't count on it Sis, most of them had already staked at least a couple dozen leeches, and some other things on top of that, by the time that they were your age." I scowled at that assertion. My kill count may not have been as high as that, but it certainly wasn't my fault. If anything, Aidan was to blame for me not going on as many hunts, him, or Dad.