Raised by the enemy

It was a chilly winter day in Kokomo, Indiana and the trees in Meridian Park was glistening and white with the snow that had fallen just the night before. The birds were chirping and the sounds of children playing at the park could be heard from down the street in both directions. Salena always loved going there to play with the other kids and swing on the swing sets, even when her mother refused to bring her. This was one of those days so Salena walked to the park, by herself, while her mother stayed at home  all day cleaning and cooking, or so Salena had thought, while she spent the whole day playing with any child willing to play with her, like the twin boys from next door, Steve and Mike or Suzanna from class.  She spent hours on the swings and playing hide-and-seek with the kids of the neighborhood. She even built sandcastles with Jack and Jasmine for a while. She played near the springs, as well, and of course threw a quarter in one of the falls making a wish in hopes it would come true. She had no idea that the chance to meet her father she asked for was going to come at a price that no one should ever have to pay, especially not a child. As the sun began to set, Salena sighed as she begrudgingly prepared to head home. She gathered all her stuff from the picnic table and went to the bathroom in the public restrooms at the park. After washing and drying her hands she picked her stuff back up and began walking home. Her house was on South Belle Street, just a few houses down from the Security Federal Savings Bank. As she passed the bank, Salena saw something small and fuzzy that caught her attention. She thought that it was a small animal struggling beside the dumpster or even caught underneath it in the dimming light of the setting sun. Being the kind-hearted and curious child, she was, she decided that she would have the time to stop and help the little fellow out before her mother would worry too much about her and her mother would be proud of her for helping the little fellow out. She began walking up to it thinking about all the names she could name it and what it could possibly eat. Thinking that maybe she could make it a pet, or she may even have to nurse it back to health. However, once she reached the dumpster, she realized that what she saw wasn’t a small animal, it was her mother’s slipper. And the animal wasn’t struggling. In fact, her mother’s cold body was very much limp as it laid in a puddle of her mother's own blood oozing from the wound created by the wooden stake sticking out of her mother's chest. Her mother was without a doubt dead. Terrified and hurt beyond anything, the girl's mind shut off trying to rationalize things. She knelt and tried to wake her mother up to no avail. She decided that she needed to call for help, so she stood up and turned around. As Salena took in a deep breath to scream as loud as her little lungs would allow her and began to stumble, walk a few steps forward in the hopes to call for help, five fully grown men wearing red cloaks jumped on her and proceeded to stab her repeatedly all over with knives. One of them stood out the most in the group. He seemed to be the leader and he was a tall, tan man with bright/blonde hair and green eyes his cloak seemed to have gold stitching along the seams. Salena tried with all her ten-year-old might to fight off the men but she was just too small and young to really do anything. Even having been stronger than any other kid in her class, she just wasn't strong enough to fend off all ten men. "H... Help me, please," the little girl managed to weakly get out before the one who seemed to be the leader of the group bit her on the arm, her vision began to swim. She thought she heard a scream as the dark spots began clouding her entire vision until everything went completely dark causing the little girl lost consciousness.   # Two weeks later, Salena woke up with a start and a blood curdling scream shaking the whole manner that she was in. Her spirit had previously had her thinking she was in some beautiful field far from where she was currently was. Somewhere safe, surrounded by animals that wanted nothing more than to protect her and make her smile even though she knew she had no reason to smile. I mean even as a spirit, she knew her whole world had been taken from her and when she came back, if she came back, nothing would ever be the same. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. She hardly even remembered who she was or what had happened. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had been hurt and almost died and that her life was changed forever. Next thing Salena knew, she heard “Ella está despierta, she’s awake,” come from a squeaky female voice, right outside her door. At this, she pulled the blankets up to her chin and sat up on the bed. Not even a moment later, a worried looking tall, tan man with white blonde hair and green eyes, the left one having an red eye patch over it, came in with an angry looking Asian woman that had brown eyes with a scar on the right one and red hair. She worriedly stared at the two, not recognizing either one now. “Oh, you’re awake! Thank the heavens. I was so worried that those awful vampires had successfully killed both you and your mother!” The man exclaimed excitedly while the woman scoffed, "You must be so hungry or scared. Maybe you're thirsty." "Excuse me sir, but may I ask who you are and what are you talking about?" Salena said. "My name is Poison Eye, and this darling little lady here is Scarlet Thorn," he said, "Do you remember anything that happened to you that day?" When Salena looked at him confusedly, something flashed in his eyes, Salena thought it may be grief, and he sighed. "You may want to eat before I tell you." he said but when Salena shook her head he nodded before going into the story of what had happened. "A few weeks ago, I was trailing a group of vampires. They had somehow given me the slip and by the time I found them, they had managed to drain the woman completely of her blood. This woman was found lying near you. They were also attacking you. I had fended them off, nearly killing all of them, just before they managed to drain you dry. Unfortunately, I didn't reach them before they killed the woman or could bite you. I assume the woman was your mother because there was a picture of the both of you neatly placed in her purse. So, I thought that you would never wake back up and those disgusting vampires had managed to kill you. I thought that I got there too late and couldn't save you. But thank God, I managed to track them down and stop them in time, obviously, because you're right here, awake, and alive." "Do you happen to know my name?" the girl asked meekly, "and thank-you for saving me." "I believe it's Salena, or that's what we gathered from your mother's old home and the back of the picture in your mom's purse." Poison eye replied. "How can I keep this from happening to anyone else? How do I stop the monsters from destroying another family?" She asked with cold hard determination written all over her face. "Well, unfortunately, you were bit, so you are like them." Poison eye replied, his face falling as he showed regret for what had happened to the girl, "but, I suppose that you could stick to animal blood instead of human blood. Oh, and we can train you like us. You know, teach you to fight, defend, and kill like a true hunter so you could fight against them.” "I will do it. I want to do anything I could possibly do to protect others from this horrible fate." Salena said with determination shining in her eyes and oozing off every word. "I want to see my old home though." "I honestly don't think that's a good idea, dear. The vampires destroyed it." Poison eye said, looking away from the little girl. "I understand." she said looking away from them. "Go ahead. Get some rest. You could also eat whatever you like in the kitchen. It's to the left down the hall and the bathroom is across from your room. Make yourself at home." This is when the sour faced woman finally spoke up. "You mean to tell me not only are you housing that... that.... that thing but you're telling it to make itself at home and eat whatever... whoever it likes." "Now, now, now Scar. That 'thing' as you called it is a little girl who was hurt under my watch and is now scared, alone, and quite possibly scarred for life and as hunters it's our job to protect the innocent so I see it as my job to right my wrong and protect her. Besides, she may come in handy sooner or later." "Whatever," Scarlet said and then turned around storming out of the room, slamming the door behind her. "She doesn't like me. Why?" Salena asked with her head tilted slightly to the right. "Don't worry about Scar, she's like that with everyone at first. She will eventually warm up to you. Just give her some time." Poison Eye said before walking out of the room and leaving Salena to her own devices and allowing her to mull over what all she was told and figure out how her life will be from this day forward. Of course, Salena was stubborn and her mind was on vengeance for her mother and protecting the innocents of the world, no matter what the cost would be to herself. "Starting tomorrow, I will train. Tonight, I will hunt my first meal." Salena whispered to herself before jumping out her window to go hunt her food. She hunted for five hours failing at every turn to catch even a mouse to eat, before she finally caught and killed a small rabbit. Draining the pore creature completely of its blood. Then she ran off back to her room, barely making it before dawn. As the sun rose and kissed her skin, she realized that it didn't hurt her skin. Just her eyes. Causing her to be thankful for answered prayers. She climbed silently back into her window, closing it softly behind her, as to not wake anyone, and hopped back into her bed quickly, pulling the covers over her head snuggly. Slowly, she drifted off to a restless sleep filled with nightmares of the day she lost her mother. By the time Salena reached a stage of sleep to be peacefully resting, someone barged into her room, slamming the door against the wall, waking her instantly. With what seemed like a gruff voice he said, "Wake up!" or more like growled and then he jerked the covers off her head. "I said get up bloodsucker! You want to stay here you must train and we train on my schedule, not yours and my schedule says we should have been downstairs on the training field thirty minutes ago. Get your ass out of bed right now and get ready." "Yes sir," she said with blue eyes as cold as ice staring up at the man. Almost mechanically, she swung her legs over the side of her bed. As she had no cloths but the clothes on her back, she started immediately for the door only to be stopped by the man. "Hold on, aren't you going to change?" the man said with disgust written all over his face "I have nothing to change into." she said coldly. The man cursed under his breath as he shook his head. With a soft sigh and a slump of his shoulders, the man looked back at Salena and said, "Ok bloodsucker, here's the deal. If you do good in training today and you do the dishes for very meal today, I will take you tomorrow to get you new clothes. If you don't then you will have to make your own clothes. Either way, after today, you will have to change clothes. You can't defend or protect anyone if you are sick and weak and the best way to keep from being sick or weak is good hygiene. Got it?" "Yes sir. By the way, my name is Salena not Blood sucker." "I will call you whatever I want to call you. Do you know who I am?" he said angrily. Salena just shook her head causing the man to sigh again. " Of course, you don't you was just a child before the attack and you just got here. Sorry, my name is Hellsing and I run this place and the hunters." "Ok, Mr. Hellsing." With that, Salena followed Hellsing down the stairs and to the training grounds. She thought it would be dummies she would be facing, but she had no such luck as Hellsing was making her face himself. He threw everything he could think of at her, figuring if she died in training it would be just one less problem he would have. One less possible threat to humanity.  Surprisingly, however, Salena was determined and she fought off everything he threw at her without so much as a complaint if she got hurt. Heck, one would assume she was emotionless, but truth was she was numb. The attack didn't just steal her memories, it also managed to make her not care about her own life or pain to the point she really couldn't feel pain. Eventually, Hellsing needed a break, while Salena did not. So, he decided to sit back while Salena fought other students of the hunter training camp. It was a girl around her age with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair. "You will fight Bella now." Hellsing practically growled out in exhaustion. "Wee, Magnifique." the little girl said but at the confused look on Salena's face she clarified in English. "It means 'yes, magnificent.' It's French." The girls fought until sunset. Each one making and taking equal amounts of blows. If Salena would make a mistake, Hellsing was always criticizing it. Salena didn't seem to care though. Every scratch she received just made her push harder. Hellsing offered no advice, only criticism. So, every move she made was pure instinct and ridding herself of mistakes she made. She slowly but surely became a killing machine and Hellsing wasn't sure if he should be scared or proud. She made the mistake of looking away from her opponent only once. When the little girl took her five second lapse of attention and used it to pin Salena down, Hellsing stood up and turned away from them. "When you are in a fight or even trailing someone, never let your guard down and never lose focus. That's how people get killed and loose fights. That's how your mother was killed. Remember, when you are out there, it's not training anymore and if you're in a fight, it's to the death. Take whatever advantages you can get but give none to the enemy." he growled out before walking towards the edge of the field then turning around and facing the girls. "Again." As he watched her fight, he thought, "She is the ultimate weapon. She is a killing machine and I for one don't want to be her enemy." Salena and Bella was both close to pushing themselves past exhaustion, panting with every breath, when Hellsing finally decided that she had had enough. " Alright, enough. If you keep going, you're both going to kill yourselves and though, I don’t really care if the bloodsucker dies, Bella is one of our most promising students. You did good. Go do your chores, eat, get cleaned, and go to bed. Tomorrow, as promised, we'll go get you new clothes, Salena. Bella, you are dismissed."