Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing. All I own is what I came up with. This disclaimer applies to the whole story, so I probably won't repeat it.

UPDATE: I'm posting updated chapters for this story. They'll fix my classic grammar errors (if you don't know, don't worry about it), Matt's appearance, a name or two (including Anderson's), and a few other upgrades here and there. I'll transpose a couple of the earlier notes. Few of them make sense anymore. Then it'll be a simple chapter replacement.

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'3…2…1…'

The young man whipped around the corner, bringing a semi-automatic pistol up to aim down the dark, dank corridor. Only air filled his sights. Slowly, quietly, he moved up the corridor, keeping his guard up. One could never tell when the enemy would appear, for this young man was hunting monsters.

It was that mission which had brought the young man to an abandoned factory at the far edge of London's industrial district that night. Monsters were gathering there, and he was needed to take them out. So there he was, a soldier in a hidden war, walking down the dark halls as his footsteps echoed through the darkness.

He approached a door, one like many of that factory. Slowing further, he edged up to the door. He let his right hand lower from the gun and hover near the doorknob. '3…2…1…' He grabbed the knob, twisted his hand, and flung the door open. Bringing his hand back to the gun, he stepped into and swept the room. Nothing. No monsters lurked in these shadows.

The young man stepped back into the corridor, only pausing once to look through a broken window at the distant lights of London. This factory of brick, mortar and iron had stood for ages. It showed its age, with many windows broken and all its equipment gone. However, the building had withstood the test of time, standing alone all those years.

His attention back on the mission, the young man turned and continued up the hall, wary for any sign of his prey. The hallway's corner was just ahead. Bringing his gun toward himself and pointing it to the ceiling, he edged up to the corner. '3…2…1…' He swung around the corner, bringing his gun to bear. Just as quickly, he turned it away. The young woman he'd been aiming at turned her twin pistols away as well. The young man looked her over, ensuring she hadn't been injured in their search.

Her reddish-blond hair was a little out of place do to the night's mission. Her face showed she was in 'combat mode', jaw set and eyes sharp. It was an expression which showed her to be older than her apparent twenty years. She was petite, not seeming the sort of person who should be on such a mission. Her police-style uniform tried to give the image of a cop, but was thwarted by the miniskirt she wore. The young man looked to be the same age, about twenty. He was broader, more muscular. He looked closer to the part of a hunter. His face, though, was calm. He wore blue jeans, and a denim and fabric jacket with a blue t-shirt underneath, giving him the look of just another guy. They both wore a coat of arms at left shoulder and left breast. The two shared one physical trait, red eyes.

These two were vampires, children of the night, bloodsuckers, whatever one wanted to call them. Unlike many, if not most, of their kind they did not drink the blood of the living. They protected humanity from the vampires that did. They were members of the Hellsing Organization, an organization tasked with the elimination of all vampires.

The young man had been a child of darkness for just over three years. Before then he'd been just another college student on a study abroad program to England from Florida. In a visit to a local mall, a badly times flash of curiosity had led to a decision; die, or join Hellsing. He had regretted his decision at times over the years, but he had to admit his life had gotten far more interesting. His name was Matthew Jemeth. He looked at the young woman again. She was Seras Victoria; his friend, his confidant, his partner, and his master. She'd turned him those years ago and had always been ready to help him adjust.

Matthew quickly packaged up his recent thoughts and the results of the sweep of this floor. He included his thoughts on their plan and modifications he wanted to make to it. Looking her in the eyes, he sent the package to her. As he did, he received one from her with similar information. He started to go over it.

The two of them had been working closely together over the years, and had learned several skills that had made them a formidable team. They proved this to Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing nine months before, when they had volunteered to tackle a similar mission, a many ghoul / few vampire clear out, alone. After a complete success with no losses, they became Integra's first choices from then on. Seemed that she agreed with the idea of protecting their human troops when at all possible. The night had already been intense, the piles of ash and ghoul parts on the bottom floor and the surrounding grounds a testament to their earlier activities.

He finished looking over Seras's information, worked up his reply, and sent it back, receiving her reply to his thoughts at the same time. After a quick glance, and seeing her plan was better, he nodded. Seras started toward the stairs. The entire exchange had taken less than five seconds. By earlier agreement, it was Seras's turn to lead to the next floor. She kicked in the door, aiming her twin pistols up to at the next landing, then slowly started to ascent the darkened stairwell. Matthew first swept any possible hiding places with his pistol.

The weapon brought back many memories. It was a Browning High-Power, a nine millimeter pistol. He'd fired one when he was younger, becoming very fond of it. After joining the ranks of Hellsing, he'd requested a pair. They had become his weapons of choice whenever he was in a tight environment. After seeing his effectiveness with them, Seras had requested a pair of pistols, though had opted for a more powerful pair of Glock ten millimeter pistols. Matthew had joked that she was trying to upstage him. However, while his magazines could carry thirteen rounds hers could only carry ten.

Seras turned and aimed her pistols at the door on the next landing. Matthew walked backwards up the stairs, ready to catch anything slipping out the door behind them. They paused at the door. Matthew took point. '3…2…1…' He flung the door open and stepped into the hall, sweeping back and forth quickly. Nothing waited for them. His head moved in an arc, Matthew scanning this floor with his vampiric senses. They'd taken full form about a year after he'd been turned. It took him that long to actually trust them. Since then, he'd steadily learned how to use them. 'Possible contact,' he thought to Seras. 'Location uncertain. Continue as planned. Use caution.'

'Understood,' her British accented thought voice came back. She started down the hall, both pistols pointed ahead. Matthew took the other side of the hall, starting once again for the far side of this section of the building. They had already searched the former work floor, nearly bare from lack of equipment, and had now moved to the building's administrative levels. Its rooms ranged from offices with dust covered desks and chairs to conference rooms which used to hold long tables to break and work rooms, now nearly identically bare and lifeless.

Matthew quietly crept along the corridor, rolling onto his toes to minimize the sound of his footsteps. He approached a door, and again let his right hand down from the gun to grasp the doorknob. As his hand approached, his vampiric sense flared. He recoiled, retreating a step. 'Here,' he thought. 'There are ghouls here.' Ghouls, cannibalistic zombies under a vampire's control. They were no longer among the living but were not allowed to die. Matthew would end their suffering. His right hand drifted down to his right hip pistol holster. From it he drew his second Browning, a mirror twin to the one in his left hand. He thumbed down its hammer, a bullet chambered in it long before. '3…2…1…' He kicked the door in and stepped in, guns coming to bear. He counted ten ghouls, all looking at him with dead, glazed eyes. They started shuffling towards him, as if he were to be their next meal. Matthew took aim and fired, taking down the ten ghouls in moments. 'Room clear,' he reported to Seras. He lowered the hammer of his right Browning, knowing there to be nine rounds left in it, enough to wait before reloading. Stuffing it back in its holster, he knelt down besides the remains of one ghoul and looked at it. Or more accurately her.

She now had a sizable hole in her chest, and while it did not bleed it did look moist. Not that she would… or could… bleed. Her blood had been drained by a vampire. 'Hmm,' he thought as he analyzed, 'these ghouls have not been here for long. Probably haven't been dead for longer than a day. Must be the early part of a gathering.' Some vampire was, or several vampires were, probably planning some offensive there in England. One didn't gather ghouls for no reason. Their motives, however, remained a mystery. He would try to get one of the bloodsuckers to talk before he sent it to Hell that night. "May you all rest in peace," he muttered to the fallen ghouls. "You didn't deserve this. I'll get the one responsible." Promises like that made his job easier on him.

He stood and went back to the corridor, continuing up the hall. He heard a string of gunfire, but continued on his way. He knew Seras could handle herself. Sure enough, a few moments later the gunfire stopped and the report came. 'Cleared.' No other rooms contained ghouls or vampires, and soon after Matthew was leading the way up the next flight of stairs. They had reached the top floor, and without even focusing his senses were screaming. He didn't even risk communicating with Seras vocally or telepathically. He looked to her, pointed at the door, and then went through the gestures they'd picked to mean 'vampire', 'ghoul', and 'many'. She nodded her understanding, her grip on her pistols tightening. He turned back to the door and grabbed his second Browning, thumbing back the hammer. He took a deep breath. '3…2…1…' He kicked the door opened and ran to one side of the corridor. Seras ran after him, covering the other side. Nothing there, but something was close. On Matthew's side of the corridor was a large wooden double door. Whatever was here was there. Seras knew this too, following Matthew in his run down the hall. There was no time for stealth now. Seras and Matthew each kicked in a door, running into the room and bringing their guns to bear.

This was the one fully furnished room in the building. It was a larger room with two levels. Likely it was some sort of head office in years past. A long wooden table stood in the middle, many chairs around it. The walls had a few shelves holding reference materials. A pair of curved staircases, one on each side of the room, went to the upper level on which sat a large executive type desk. This room was lit, and didn't have the same musky dankness the rest of the building had. It was also one of the few occupied rooms in the building. And occupied it was.

Matthew counted twenty ghouls, all on the lower level. Five vampires on the lower level were bent over the table looking at plans with three vampires on the upper level discussing something. When the two Hellsing operatives broke in, all the vampires swung around to look at them. Matthew thought to Seras, 'we may want the vampire at the desk. He's probably the leader.'

'Agreed. Silence the rest.'

The lead vampire hissed an attack order, and everyone in the room started moving. The ghouls, armed with pistols, opened fire where they stood. All the vampires leapt at Seras and Matthew, armed with a variety of weapons. The pair from Hellsing didn't stand still. Matthew emptied his right Browning at the ghouls, taking down six. His left Browning fired a trio of shots at a vampire. A mercury filled blessed silver bullet tore into the vampire's skull, causing it to scream and fall in a pile of ash. He landed in a crouch, pivoting to take out the remaining ghouls on his side of the room before punching the magazine releases on each pistol. After the empty magazines slid free, Matthew pressed them to a pair of magazine holders on his belt. Sensing the pressure, the holders released their loads, a pair of magazines being pushed up by springs into his guns. Matthew hit the slide releases, chambering a pair of rounds and readying the guns for action. Seras reloaded as well, having taken out all the ghouls on her side. She brought her gun to bear on a couple vampires on the lower level, while Matthew aimed at one jumping down from the upper level. The vampire fired first, and Matthew felt a bullet tear through the flesh of his leg. He flinched, but stayed in his crouch. He would worry about it later. He fired, hitting the vampire in the chest and dropping it in a pile of ash.

Another string of gunfire dropped the remaining four on the lower level. Matthew saw Seras take a hit to her arm, but she kept fighting. Soon, the leader was alone, sitting calmly at his desk. He was a larger man, with black hair and red eyes. He sighed. "My, my, good help is so hard to find these days." He stood, walking to the railing. Seras and Matthew kept their guns aimed, but held their fire. "I would have thought my fledglings could deal with a couple of Hellsing pets, but apparently I was wrong. I shall have to find stronger followers next time."

"There won't be a next time," Matthew said. "How about you tell us what you were planning here. Do it, and I'll make your trip to Hell a little less unpleasant."

He slowly chuckled. "Oh, I think not, young whelp. Actually, I think I must be going now."

"What's wrong?" Seras said. "Not going to have any fun tonight? Afraid you'll loose to a couple 'Hellsing pets'?"

"Oh no, not at all." He stood, smiling. "I highly doubt I would have any fun at all. It's hardly a fair fight; I'd beat you easily. No, I think I'll take my leave. Until the next time, Hellsing pets." He tapped something on his glove.

Beside Matthew, the table exploded. He was sent flying to the wall and felt pain as several chunks of wood stabbed into him. He looked up, seeing the leader start for an exit. Matthew tried to aim his guns at the leader as best as he could, opening fire. He missed. Sighing as the leader made his escape, Matthew looked down at himself. He had chunks of wood stabbing into his right shoulder, right flank, and left thigh, pinning him to the wall. Annoyed at his temporary entrapment, He holstered his left pistol and started yanking out chunks of wood. Luckily, he wouldn't have to worry about infections. 'Perk of being a vampire,' he thought.

Once freed he started for the center of the room, his wounds closing. He saw Seras walking towards him. "You all right?" he asked her.

"Yes," she replied. "You?"

Matthew nodded, then walked over to the remains of the table. "Damn," he said. "The bomb was placed to destroy whatever the vampires had been looking at." Whatever hadn't been torn to shreds had been burned up.

"Let's see if the master left anything useful on his desk."

Matthew and Seras walked up the stairs to the large desk. It was still intact, but the master had taken anything useful with him when he'd fled. All that was left was a single piece of paper on which was a symbol. It was a hemisphere of the globe, Europe and Africa on the right and the Americas on the left. A pair of fangs were jabbed into the globe's top and blood ran down the surface. Matthew looked to Seras. "Well, this can't be good."

"Hardly," she replied. She took the paper from him, folded it twice, and stuffed it in a pocket.

Matthew closed his eyes, stretching out with his senses. They'd agreed that he would use this mission to test his full ability, so Seras only used hers to verify what he said. "Nothing else. No vampires or ghouls left in the building." He opened his eyes. "We're clear."

Seras nodded. "I agree." She smiled for the first time that night, finally coming out of her combat mode. "You're certainly coming along well."

"Yeah. Only took three years." He looked around the room. "Well, let's call in a clean up team and head back to base. And, let's hope the analysts can make something of this symbol. If there's a new group out there, we'll want to take it out before it can build up too much steam."

Seras gave a nod of agreement, bringing out a radio to call for extraction and a clean up team while leading the way down the stairs and to the door.