A Simple Memory
Luna Silvereyes
A/N: My first Hellsing fanfic. I sure hope it works out well. I've become a huge fan of it since I started watching it, though I have to say I prefer Hellsing Ultimate to the original. It's more in depth and follows the manga almost to the letter. Both are good, though. Also, this story will be more closely written to Ultimate than to the original Hellsing. Just a heads' up.
One
The smell of blood was potent; sweet and mouth-watering to the young Draculina as she made her way through the wreckage toward her goal. Her Harkonnen Cannon braced against her shoulder, she paused at the corner of a ruined building, peering through the smoke to locate her target. From what little they knew of him, this vampire was clearly a youngster lacking proper training. Alucard had told Seras the fate of young vampires whose masters either died or abandoned them to fend for themselves too early. Seras, only a year old, could sympathize with the youngster. She counted her blessings when she thought of Alucard, who trained her as a vampire.
Don't let yourself be distracted, Police-Girl!
Seras growled to herself. "Please stop calling me Police-Girl, master!"
This is not the time, nor the place to be arguing that ridiculous point, Police-Girl. Do you have your bearings?
Seras coughed. "Even with my heightened senses, it's difficult to maneuver." she replied. "I'm pretty sure the target is still inside one of the buildings,"
She heard him start to growl in anticipation. Excellent. I'm on my way there.
Seras stood up and quickly made her way forward, knowing she had superb backup in her master. She hunkered down behind a fallen slab of stone and waited, training her senses on one spot in particular where she could sense the presence of blood. Her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of grumbling. Her eyes narrowed and she loaded her gun, bracing the barrel on the concrete and waiting. Directly in front of her, she could see him; the tall, scrawny form of the fledgling vampire, feeding desperately off a human corpse on the ground. From her distance, Seras could see that the corpse was nearly drained of all blood. She almost felt sorry for the youngster; he must have been starving. Alucard had told her that poorly trained vampires had a 50/50 chance of survival in the world. This one wouldn't last the night.
The youngster abandoned the corpse, bending to lick the blood off the ground with desperate, heaving gasps. She could see his eyes, stained gold in the red irises. He was famished and heavily emaciated. She could sense that he wasn't that old of a fledgling. But she no longer felt overpowering remorse like she had as a human. She closed one eye and fired off a single round, striking the youngster in the arm. His arm exploded from his body in a shower of blood and his screech of pain and fear rent the night, sending shivers down Seras's spine. He fell to the ground with a sickening thud, wailing and thrashing about, but too weak to fight back. Seras felt a stab of anger. Integra had ordered them to eliminate this vampire on contact with no mercy. But this pathetic thing was barely worth the effort. She voiced this aloud and someone overheard it through her mind.
You're right; he's nothing to worry about. Put him out of his misery and keep your eyes peeled. His master is about.
Seras gasped and stood up, putting herself in full view of the poor fledgling. "Master!? But I thought he was abandoned!"
It's only a ruse, Police-Girl. This weakling was created for the sole purpose of distracting us. Pretty clever. Almost had me fooled. But enough chatter. It's time to start our true assignment. First, dispatch the weakling.
Seras's eyes widened in alarm as she watched the fledgling trying to struggle away. "But master, he's so weak. He's clearly starving! I don't think he's dangerous!"
Fool, a starving vampire is the most dangerous kind. If you let him go free, he'll fill the entire countryside with ghouls just to satiate his appetite. He wasn't trained well.
"But that's not his fault!" Seras practically screamed. Alucard snarled viciously, sending her shivers. Maybe not, but there's nothing to be done for it! Do as you're told, Seras!
Seras sighed. He'd used her name. That meant he was serious. Nowadays, he only called her Police-Girl just to toy with her. But when he called her by her name, he meant business.
"Yes, master," she thought bitterly, aiming one final time. The next shot took off the youngster's head and plowed through half of his chest, causing him to disintegrate into a pile of dust. His cries echoed through the sky and through Seras's heart. She heard Alucard sigh irritably. Remember, Seras, it's mercy.
She knew that. Once in a while, Alucard was understanding in her lingering hesitation to kill. Sure, it had gotten better, but she obviously still had a ways to go, yet.
Seras, scan the village for any ghouls. I'll search out our wayward sire.
Seras stood up. Alucard was going after the vampire who'd created that poor fledgling and abandoned him. Seras had to go after any ghouls that might remain from the fledgling's binge. She jumped over the lump of concrete that had been her base and hurried into the wreckage. There were bodies strewn all over the place, probably from the smoke. They wouldn't become ghouls, but they could become food for them. Seras had to be wary. If the ghouls followed the smell of decaying flesh to the village, it could get ugly. She glanced one final time at the dust pile that had been that unfortunate fledgling and hurried further into the chaos.
Seras checked the windows of the homes still standing, searching for any signs of life. Not that it mattered; if there were people still living, she had to either kill them or summon Alucard to wipe their memories. Unfortunately, or rather, fortunately, she found no traces of life. Nothing but bodies of men, women, children and pets. She could sense a heartbeat from meters away, yet felt nothing from them.
As she moved to the second house along the row, she stopped and ducked behind a fallen door. The smoke was thick, killing her sense of smell. Her eyes stung, but she forced them to stay open as she peered through the haze.
They were coming.
"Ghouls," she muttered. "Master, they've picked up the scent. Ghouls from elsewhere."
As I warned you, Seras, this fledgling had probably been busy for a while. Take them out. I'm almost there.
"Yes, sir," Seras replied. She was about to move when the receiver in her ear buzzed loudly. She hissed and reached up to turn it on before the ghouls heard it. "This is Seras," she said.
"Seras, has the vampire been taken care of, yet? It's taking you two far too long," Integra's voice snapped over the receiver.
"No, Sir Integra. My master says that the vampire I killed was just a decoy for the real threat. Apparently, his plan was to use the fledgling to make ghouls to keep us busy while he escaped."
"Damn it all. Where is Alucard?"
"He's on his way here. He's going to find the creator." Seras replied, casting a furtive glance at the ghouls heading her way.
"Walter and I are headed in your direction. We should arrive in about ten minutes, but we're running out of time. The district police are at our throats, wanting to know what the bloody hell is going on down there."
"I know. We'll take care of it, Sir Integra," Seras said, loading her gun.
"You'd better,"
Seras sighed and stood up, aiming once and firing an explosive round directly into the center of the ghouls. The explosion ripped through most of them, scattering the rest. They continued coming and Seras chose this moment to fire one more round, incapacitating them enough for her to deal with each one individually. She'd long since gotten used to putting ghouls out of their misery. Humans were still lived and others like herself were something of a different matter on occasion.
"I'm getting tired of this. Where's master?" Seras muttered. But there it was, that same prickling feeling in her mind of another vampire standing behind her. She grinned and turned, "Mas-" she started to say. The words hitched in her throat.
It wasn't Alucard. Whoever it was, to her ever-increasing horror, carried her master's head with him, but it wasn't him. The newcomer carelessly tossed Alucard's severed head to Seras. She just stared at it. "Not again. Master, are you getting careless or what?" she muttered, stepping backward as the new vampire approached, clearly under the impression he'd accomplished something big, "Master, this is the fourth time this month you've had your head cut off," Seras complained under her breath, "Please hurry this time."
She heard his voice in her head, chuckling with mirth. Ah, Police-Girl, you just don't understand. Fear and misleading are only half the game.
The new vampire leered down at her. His dirty blond hair hung low over his red eyes as he eyed her. "Hm, a fledgling in the very least. Not what I'd expect from the the famous Alucard's partner. I'd have thought you'd be at least as difficult to take down as he was,"
He gestured at the head in her arms. "I can reunite you with him, if you'd like. A fledgling should never be separated from the master too early, you know. It can lead to...problems," he hissed tauntingly. Seras's mind flashed back to the poor fledgling she'd been forced to kill. Her rage boiled over. "How could you do that!? That thing didn't even stand a chance against me! You're the reason he went berserk!" she shrieked.
The vampire shrugged. "He was too weak, hardly worthy to call himself my apprentice. You, on the other hand, radiate power like I haven't seen in a long time."
He moved closer, his eyes filled with power and greed. Seras couldn't stand that look.
"Trash like you doesn't deserve the title of Vampire," she snapped. Faster than she could blink, Seras found herself on the ground, her face stinging angrily. He'd slapped her.
"How dare you insult me, you arrogant youngster!" the vampire growled at her.
"Arrogant youngster? Really now. So what does that make you? A wise elder? Don't make me laugh,"
The vampire paused and stared up at the sky in confusion. "What? Who's there?" he yelled, whirling. "Show yourself!"
Seras blinked and looked down at her master's head. He clearly hadn't spoken; he was too busy pulling himself together. Literally. She gasped as a slight wind began to blow around them, the whistling sounding through the tree branches in an ominous harmony of nature. The vampire's eyes widened and he bared his fangs. "Show yourself!" he commanded again.
"Why?" a new voice said to their right. "I'm right here."
Seras glanced over, her eyes boring into the darkness. Two fiery orbs glared out from between two crumbled homes. She gasped and scooted back as the figure moved out of the darkness. Cloaked in black, long black hair blowing ominously in the wind, a third vampire made herself known. Seras just stared. This newcomer looked about her age, twenty or so. Her eyes were pure, bright red, shimmering with anticipation of battle. She opened her mouth, revealing blade-like fangs as she hissed menacingly. Her gaze shifted to the night sky and her expression softened. "Wow. What a beautiful moon," she whispered. She turned to Seras. "You there. You too are a vampire, am I correct?"
Seras shook fiercely before nodding yes, her jaw hanging open. The new vampire glided over, her movements quick and graceful, but unseen. She knelt to Seras's level and gently reached her hand out, resting her finger on her lower jaw and closing the girl's mouth with a snap. She smirked. "It's very rude to stare," she admonished with a smile. Seras just blinked and nodded slowly.
"Um, who are you?" she asked. The vampire straightened up, her body framed in the majestic moonlight. "There will be time for introductions later. For now, take care of your, um, item, there," she said, coughing a little. To Seras, her eyes seemed dimmed at the sight of her master's head. But for some reason, she didn't appear a bit surprised. Instead, she turned to the enemy. "Ah, Ludwig Johansen. It's been a long time. Ten years, maybe?"
"Cut the crap, who the hell are you? How dare you come between me and my prey!?" the vampire called Ludwig bellowed. He made a lunge at the female vampire and Seras fully expected her to be torn to pieces. But to her surprise, the second Ludwig charged, the female's eyes' gentle glow burst into a flaming red, burning through the darkness as her fangs lengthened. As Seras watched, a strange sense of familiarity came to her. The female deftly evaded Ludwig's claws, shifting a mock charge to the right before dashing to the left and grazing her teeth against his shoulder. Ludwig yelled in shock and vaulted out of the way as the female skidded to a stop on the hard ground. Her head shot up and she snarled, the sound much resembling a wolf's cry. Then, she stood up, taking a deep, albeit unecessary breath.
Police-Girl! Cover your ears!
Seras had no time to register the sudden appearance of her master's voice in her head before the ear-splitting howl burst forth from the female's throat, reverberating through the narrow street and slamming into both Seras and Ludwig. Seras cried out in pain as she felt her ears being pummeled by the sound, raising a single hand to cover them while still holding her master's head in the other. "What is this!?" she cried over the sound. She opened her eyes to see Ludwig, straining in agony, as he'd taken the full brunt of the blast.
Finally, the howl died and the female coughed just once before charging at Ludwig, her fangs extended. Ludwig screamed, but the sound quickly died as she reached his throat, tearing it open with a single wrench of her neck. Seras watched in numb horror as Ludwig was ripped to pieces before her, blood splattering against the walls. The female vampire ceased her destructive tirade as quickly as she'd started, sitting back with a sigh and spitting a mouthful of Ludwig's blood out. She cringed. "Egh. Disgusting." she growled. She got to her feet, staring down at her 'handiwork'. Then, she focused her gaze on Seras. She turned, wiping the blood from her mouth with her sleeve. She spat another mouthful of it out and gagged. "God, I think I'm going to be sick," she growled. "His blood tastes horrible."
"W-Well," Seras said, "I suppose the blood of your own kind would have a peculiar taste to it,"
The female vampire eyed her curiously. The flame in her eyes was beginning to die down slightly. She smiled warmly. "Ah, I recognize you. You're Seras Victoria, aren't you?"
Her gaze shifted downwards to Alucard's head. Seras briefly wondered why it was taking him so long to regenerate. The female vampire sighed and her shoulders sagged. "I see he hasn't changed much," she muttered, shaking her head. "He can be so irritating, I swear."
"Um, pardon me for asking, but how do you know my master?" Seras asked. Instantly, the female's eyes blazed. Before Seras could react, she'd flown forward, her face inches from Seras's. Her eyes bore deep into hers and she sniffed lightly. Her expression went from horrified shock to that of sad acceptance. "I see," she said, moving back upright. At that moment, Alucard's head dissipated into a thick black mist, floating upwards to join another cloud of black mist drifting into the ruined town. The cloud hovered blankly for a moment before morphing into a humanoid shape. Slowly, Seras's master appeared, quite alive and whole. He smirked, straightening his hat. Seras glowered up at him. "Master, I do wish you'd stop letting them cut your head off! It scares me half to death every single time!"
"Half to death?" Alucard repeated in bewilderment. "Police-Girl, need I remind you you're already dead?"
Seras bristled and her face went red. "You know what I mean!" she shrieked. "Honestly. How come you're always so mean to me?" she pouted. Gentle laughing made her look up to the female vampire, chuckling lightly. "I see you haven't changed a bit. I can't tell you how relieved I am, Master Alucard," the female said.
Seras's eyes widened.
"M-Master!?" she exclaimed.
A/N: This story kind of evolved. By the time I finished it two days ago, it had abandoned its first storyline in favor of another one entirely. This leads me to believe that there may be a sequel in the works. But lets' finish this one first and then I'll let you all decide what I should do, because I'm cool with it either way. HELLSING RULES! Hehe.