The Fall of the House of Hellsing

Good evening.

I'm back. After a coming out of a 2 year funk, I'm back and ready to write. For my first act, here is a small one shot I'm tossing into the world to see how people respond to it. I'll be going over my other stories and adding new chapters weekly if everything proceeds as planned.

Sorry for the awful delay.

As usual, please let me know how I might improve if you are so inclined.

Enjoy:

2000…

So much had happened in the last thirty years, both within and outside the Hellsing organization. The family –and by extension those it was sworn to protected- endured without their invincible protector. It was difficult, perilous at times, but Ms. Integra, and her blonde haired servant made due and pulled through. Mistakes were made, opposition was fierce, allies were lacking; but in the end, in the middle of the year 2030. Hellsing stood triumphant over the supernatural foes that sought to destroy England.

What's more, Alucard had returned not but a month prior. Just in time to witness his master's uncanny ability to lead England out of the greatest crisis it had sustained since WW2. PR worked overtime, Government agencies had the entire city locked down for weeks whilst every trace of the incident were expunged. Luckily –if you would be so inclined to consider it luck- the sheer scale of the damage worked in their favor. Every man, woman and child in the area was murdered. Those that were outside the perimeter were meticulously blocked off police at every turn. Hence, the only people aware of the existence of vampires were those already in the fold. Damage control became easy after that: spin a story about massive gas leaks leveling half the city, send off some unfortunate souls to a mock trial to serve as a public sacrifice, and all was forgotten as soon as the families grieved and London was rebuilt. As the monster returned victorious with all the powers of the grave at his disposal, he seemed nigh invulnerable.

And yet, the worst was still to come…

It did not come in the middle of the night. No religious assassin nor supernatural creature killed Hellsing's head. She fell to the most cowardly act known to man, taken by surprise as a suicide bomber set off the device tapped around his chest inside the private booth of a packed stadium to 'send a message'.

Her funeral was a cold one. The government was loathed to officially admit she worked for them. Therefore, no one but one person was able to attend the daytime burying. Her young son, a boy with the same blonde hair, blue eyes and determined attitude her mother possessed even if he were no more than a lad. However, those piercing azure eyes only conveyed sadness as he wept over his mother's grave.

That evening, he was given his inheritance. His home, a pension, a pat on the back from a government agent who wished him good luck as he informed him the organization her mother ran was to be transferred to a newly created Department of Supernatural Regulations effective immediately.

"You'd best try and forget all about it, my boy," the agent sympathetically ruffled the child's hair as the mourning Charles Harker tried in vain to protest.

"But, this is all I have left of her…" The kid stammered as his gaze wandered to a far off point. One where he was free to relive the short time spent with his mother. Why did it have to be this way?

'I know this is hard but-" he was interrupted by frantic chatter on his radio.

Puzzled, he brought it up to his ear just in time for Charles to note the agent's bewilderment. Without missing a beat, the agent turned to the boy and grabbed him firmly by the arm. "Come with me, boy." He ordered as they marched down several flights of stairs at a quickened pace.

They arrive just in time to witness the massacre. Men in cheap suits, much like the one the agent sported, were sprawled out on the floor in various states of dismemberment and with varying degrees of disfigurement; all of them had been viciously torn apart by something Charles had to classify as monstrous.

And he wasn't wrong.

On the other side of the field of corpses stood a towering figure the boy had never seen before, accompanied by the diminutive stature of a blonde haired woman that acted as his caretaker whenever his own mother was too busy –that is to say, for most of his life.

"Seras!" The boy screamed as the smiling vampires turned towards the Hellsing's rightful heir with a twinge of surprise. "What's the meaning of this?!" He yelled after noticing a speck of blood on her cheek. He was horrified to think of the implications of what he saw.

The taller vampire, dressed in crimson complete with a hat and sunglasses that had no business being used indoors laughed upon seeing the child. 'So this is the heir?" He cackled with overwhelming glee, well aware from experience that only a Hellsing would bark orders at such a young age with such panache.

The smaller vampire, Seras Victoria, for her part widened her eyes at the sight of her charge. "Charles?" She squeaked. "Go back to your room this instant, this is no place for a young boy like yourself."

Before she could whisk to a less bloodied part of the mansion, the agent drew up an arm in front of the boy as if to shield him from the undead menace. "The child has a point; what is the meaning of this treasonous act? I demand an explanation at once."

"Ah yes," the taller vampire set about examining the newcomer and deduced from his similar taste in fashion sense to be another lackey, "this country is truly remarkable: to be able to produce both such noble humans as my old master and trash like you simultaneously."

"What?" the agent barked. "You've been reassigned to 14th Grand Free-"

"Don't bother repeating what they said," Alucard gestured at his victims, "I politely refuse to be ordered around by your ilk."

The agent was now practically foaming a mouth. This stood as an insult to everything he swore to lay down his life for, or so Charles surmised. "How dare you?"

"No!" The centuries-old vampire growled. "How dare you! I was not bested by your weakling institutions or subdued by your spineless politicians. I was defeated by a single man. A man whose last living descendant is currently standing beside you. And from what I understand, is being stripped of his heritage by orders of a fearful bunch of maggots."

"It was Integra's directive that-"

He was interrupted once more. "That hardly matters now, does it?" Alucard took several steps forward until he was close enough to have his shadow lord over the young boy. "What matters now is my new master's directives." At that, he bent his knee and bowed his head slightly. His red eyes were still barely visible through the mass of black hair that ran down the front of his face but they fixated the boy so intently it was all Charles could see: two endless pits from whence only the darkest evil may arise.

"My master, Charles Harker I am told?" The boy nodded his head in acknowledgment of his name. "What are your orders? Shall I leave with my servant and protect the same filth that wishes to steal your birthright?"

The agent shrugged unappreciative of the jab but continued to watch the proceedings without voicing another complaint. For her part, Seras was busy trying to clean up the mass of bodies before the young Hellsing child could get another look at them. "Or shall I remain the faithful servant I have been for the last century? Serving your whims, protecting your interest, and defending your mother's legacy?"

The boy was trembling. A part of him wanted to comply with the agent's unspoken advice. However, these creatures were the last ties he had to his mother's memory. His nanny, Seras, and the monster he'd only heard hushed rumors of from frightened soldiers as they trotted down the mansion's hallways, Alucard. Every Hellsing was educated at length as to the true nature of the world and its abominable inhabitants, but the boy couldn't repress a shudder as he came to terms with his mother's death and dawning realization that this was the first time he'd met a vampire and known about it.

Oddly, he wasn't scared. He was angry at the sleight Alucard, saddened at recent events, but not at all afraid of the monster. For he could sense, deep down, that this was his monster, his household, his instrument for revenge.

Charles balled his hands up into fists and spoke up with vigor. "Agent, feel free to tell the guards they've been reassigned. And be sure to take possession of the archives in the library on the second floor." He dismissed with a wave of his hand, the best imitation of his intimidating mother he could muster at the moment.

"And the vampires?" The agent tentatively asked with a pit in his stomach. He could tell where this was going.

"Are mine."

"Now wait a sec-"

Alucard had lunged forward and set himself mere inches away from where the sole surviving lackey was trying his best not to piss himself. "Know that any act against my master will be an act you will not live to regret."

"Back away, Alucard." The boy commanded in a contained voice that barely masked his trepidation as he invented an excuse on the fly to prevent another needless death. "He needs to let his superiors know this was a misunderstanding."

At that, the vampire took a step back with a reverent -if almost mocking in how extravagant it was- bow. "As you command," he retorted simply.

As for the agent; to his credit, he did not make a sound when he saw the greatest monster in existence step forward and threaten him. He patiently waited for the creature to retreat before excusing himself with a sharp edge to his voice. No point in dallying now, the higher-ups expected an appraisal of the situation if things were to go awry. The black suit melded into the somber darkness the cloudless evening wrought. On that fateful night, Integra was put to the ground; and with her, the last of the Hellsing assets were transferred back to the state. The dream of protecting England perished.

All that was left was a single all-consuming imperative: Vengeance.