Title: Dissimulationem
Category: Anime/Manga ยป Hellsing
Author: StreakingHerculobus
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Supernatural/Spiritual
Published: 06-05-17, Updated: 03-31-19
Chapters: 4, Words: 7,789

This story takes place 45 years after the culmination of Hellsing Ultimate.

"Firstly, when the faith is in question, there must be no delay; but at the slightest suspicion, rigorous measures must be resorted to with all speed. Secondly, no consideration is to be shown to any prince or prelate, however high his station. Thirdly, extreme severity is rather to be exercised against those who attempt to shield themselves under the protection of any potentate, and fourthly, no man must lower himself by showing toleration toward heretics of any kind."

Now that I'm older...relatively, I see how naive I was to think that beautiful things never let you down. As an orphan, I was told I would go nowhere. As a troubled child I was told my prayers would go unanswered. I should've listened.

Everywhere I see you around. The person who ironically picked me up. The person who never came back. Far from perfect I know. My parents no doubt wanted a nice guy for me. But then, they also wanted me to live a long and fulfilling life.

I don't even recognize myself now. To think I'd end up one of those hedonistic vampires of legend, much like Master. Sir Integra would be disappointed. The only things I have left is my shadow and an out of control hunger.

I don't stay at the mansion anymore. It was turned into a museum a long time ago. This cave is my home. Unsuspecting explorers, as rare as they are, become my meals. But I prefer it this way. Draws less attention to myself. Even if I remain weak from the lack of regular sustenance.

I'd rather be a weak homicidal vampire than a strong one. I discovered the path from human to monster is indeed a slippery slope. I fell. I fell hard. And so, this meager existence is my last resort. Handicapping myself for the sake of my former humanity. I gain solace from this. Even if I do miss the strength to manifest Pip. I miss hearing him in my mind.

Alucard's always there, however, in the distance unable to hear me. It's probably my imagination. The madness that inevitably seizes creatures such as me. The visage is so persistent, however. I'm unable to help but to believe. His mark is still imprinted upon my neck after all.

The part I hate is how I'm hanging here, barely holding on, yet he never comes to me. So, the part I doubt is whether he still cares for me, if he ever cared at all.

If I could just sleep forever. And not be tormented with the questions of whether I truly knew him. So that I wouldn't feel that I'm simply killing time until judgement day.

Because in the meantime, I do nothing but build castles in my mind. Like the childhood game of 'house.' My master and I living the fairy tale life. The little lies I tell myself. The big dreams which will never come true.

My best bet is not to care. I pray I don't care.

The world had changed. Even the Catholic church strangely enough. Heinkel Wolfe hadn't. She didn't know whether to be thankful or not. In her eyes the righteous institutions of old, the Vatican or Rome, had fallen into disrepute. But no one could tell except her, having not lived for close to a hundred years now. So, she felt alone.

It didn't drive her to question her faith in God. She'd seen enough miracles and demons alike. But she seemed to have been mistaken in her youth about his goodness. Or rather his compassion.

The earth continued to rotate. The moon continued to revolve. The sun shone brightly as ever. Man continued its "destiny," a farce contrived by the humanists. The only thing you were destined to do was die. Even vampires such as the one before her. Albeit some must wait longer than others.

"Seras Victoria."

The vampire wasn't awake. She looked malnourished. All the easier for Section 13 to clean up. Honestly, Heinkel hadn't been expecting this. They were simply sent to investigate the disappearance of the relative of one of France's bishops. To think it would lead them to this cave and the location of one of the last known remaining Nosferatu.

"Shall I kill her, Father?"

Heinkel rubbed her forearm across her bandaged face, growing weary of their constant lack of understanding. "You can try. But I warn you, this one cannot die by ordinary means."

"What are you saying?" her subordinate anxiously inquired. "All creatures fall to the might of God." Images of Enrico Maxwell shouting pompous words flashed across her eyes in the same battle which took Yumi's life.

"Yes, but you aren't God."

"But we're his messengers! His instruments of divine punishment-"

Heinkel Wolfe spun around, no longer able to conceal her irritation. "Have you ever considered she is already being punished? That perhaps killing her would be a mercy? It is God who made her this way."

Heinkel Wolfe opened her mouth to say more, but she thought better of it. You couldn't tell these soldiers anything, so brainwashed by the Vatican. The problem, however, is what happens when the stooges take over? Truths are lost forever.

"Box it up," she demanded, weary of her own musings.

Deep in the cellars of the Vatican, where they kept their most secret and dangerous of artifacts, even creatures, those who never needed to see the light of day again, or in Seras Victoria's case, the light of the moon. "This is where you'll be sleeping, you protestant dog."

Her underlings toted the box behind her, disturbed by the presence of so many dark possessions around them, gathered on dusty shelves. She motioned for them to place the package down.

Prying open the lid, Heinkel appraised her quarry one last time. She grimaced when her eyes landed on where the vampires should be. Moldy sockets were all that remained.

Taking out a crimson and plain bandana, she told herself she wasn't doing this to preserve the vampire's dignity. That she simply couldn't tolerate the sight. Heinkel tied the cloth around the vampire's head.

She checked to make sure that all the engravings were in place around the circumference of the wooden box, special holy rites which drained the vampire of her powers. With these Seras wouldn't be able to perform her various vampire tricks like dissolving into liquid. She would be no more capable than a human. If she didn't taste blood, that is.

Heinkel tugged on the parchment binding Seras' hands and feet together, seals to keep her asleep, in this case, again, as long as the scent of free blood stayed far away. Hopefully, entombed in this cellar, the vampire known as Seras Victoria would be forgotten to the annals of Section 13 and man altogether.

Standing up she watched them as they replaced and nailed down the lid of the makeshift coffin. Then they lifted it and slid it into the designated space, a cove made of stone. With a heave they almost completed shoving the half-ton headstone across the entrance to the tomb when the Archbishop Luca Jessup waltzed in followed by an itinerary of guards.

Heinkel Wolfe's shoulders slumped a little.

"Paladin, I thought we discussed this," he began pompously. "The vampire is to be transferred to the research division."

"And I informed you that wasn't wise," Wolfe replied. "This is a category one creature and not to be trifled with."

"And I believe you. However, for the very reason it's such a dangerous possession, we require study. It's getting time for another crusade, I can feel it. With the knowledge this thing affords, we will be able to wipe out the British heathens."

"You mean you want to use the vampire the same way the Nazi's used Harker. What you are suggesting is blasphemy."

Jessup chuckled. "Allowing filthy protestants free run of Europe is blasphemy, Paladin. God gifted us with this resource, and I will be sure to develop every advantage. Without Alucard and with his progeny in our possession the Queen has no defense."

Growing enraptured with his own speech, he continued, "Our ranks have never been more populated. We will attack the continental UK by sea and march north from Rome to Germany, seizing control of both England and the European Union in one fell blow."

Heinkel rolled her eyes. "And what does the Pope have to say about these plans?"

"I will have his every blessing. This shall be a humanitarian operation, you see. The entire world will be begging for our assistance once we unleash dark parasites upon them." Jessup's eyes fell on the slumbering vampire, the key to all his designs.

Wolfe harrumphed and stormed out. She never thought she'd see a man more delusional than Enrico Maxwell, but nature never failed to top herself.

She lost Yumie in the last crusade...she shook her head. How many times a day does that thought cross her mind?

Stepping out into the warmer corridors, Heinkel stopped and turned her shoulders. There was a feeling of foreboding in the air. Above Seras' coffin a dark mist seemed to swirl and go on to form a sinister face. It was obvious to Heinkel that she was the only one to notice, the fools. Grimacing, she dusted her cloak and lumbered out of the cold cellar.

10 months later

Five men and one woman, silhouettes only, arranged around a circular table discussed the latest epidemic.

"Your majesty, there has been over one hundred thousand confirmed deaths. We don't have much of an option. Our own forces are not equipped for this."

The woman, beneath blond bangs, slowly shook her dainty head. She may be small, but she had earned a reputation that is fierce. "No, she began softly, "an' surrender our country to the Catholics?"

"Then what do you suggest?" another shadow asked earnestly.

"I 'member a story my mother used to tell me when I was a wee lad. About a vampire huntress. A Hellsing."

Someone was about to interrupt when she held up her hand. "She tol' me that when forces grow beyond our control, to look deep below the tower. A knight awaits us."

The figure directly across from her, furthest concealed in the dark out of all of them. All that could be seen was the outlines of his long curls. "Cold storage. What's down there. It just might be possible."

"What are you talking about?" the same anxious man from earlier sweated.

"Cryonics," another one supplied.

The Queen banged her hands onto the antique table. "Let's get to it then."

Heinkel's boots squeaked as she ambled higher and higher to the heights of the Vatican's research tower. She brushed past a couple guards, who barked after her. With one look, however, she shut them up.

She turned a corner and descended upon a landing. At the far end of a hall there was an iron door. It creaked as she carefully slunk past.

It was dark at first but candles deeper in illuminated an eerie scene. She felt like swallowing, but she was a soldier. She chose to spit instead.

"Unnatural," she grumbled.

Suspended on the wall, wrapped in bandages, the petite and shrunken form of the vampire who once went by the name of Seras Victoria. If you looked closely you could make out strands of faded blonde hair threaded between the loose cloth surrounding her head. Thick chains held her aloft and in the foreground of the body, outlined on the wall, the special holy rite keeping her asleep.

The scientists finally noticed Heinkel's intrusion and behind their spectacle urged her to leave at once. Heinkel paid them no more mind than she did the guards. Looking around, she got a feel for the kind of experiments they were conducting. Needles and surgical saws were thrown about haphazardly. It wasn't a sanitary environment at all. But then, you weren't going to find any self-respecting researchers engaged in this kind of depraved work.

Heinkel's eyes once again traveled to the trapped vampire as the venerable Archbishop Luca Jessup hurried through the entrance, a frigid expression in his face. "Now see here Wolfe! You were never given permission to access these premises-"

"Better yet, I have a mandate from the Pope himself to traverse any part of Italy which falls under suspicion of blasphemy." Heinkel turned to look at him. "I see your experiments have been fruitful. The English and even the Americans are dropping like flies."

The Archbishop had the gall to look pleased. "Yes," he crooned. "Everything is going according to plan."

Heinkel grunted and took one last cursory glance around the lab. "As long as you don't jinx yourself, Archbishop." She shuffled around to fully face him. "But I didn't come here to congratulate you on your seeming successes. I feel that it is my God-given duty to inform you of the mistake you're making."

Jessup quirked his head. "Is it a mistake to cull the populations of the heathens?"

Heinkel shook her head at his obtuseness. "It's a mistake to use this unholy...thing to ensure your designs." She looked him square. "The Lord will judge you."

The Archbishop narrowed his eyes. The Paladin was one of those devout types, an antique from the 21st century. Always challenging him. "As you said, what you see before you are nothing more than a thing. A scientific resource. How can a husk be either good or evil? That's all it is." He stepped closer and put an arm around her shoulders. "And you'll find that the Pope agrees with me."

Heinkel shoved past him, taking comfort in the fact that at the very least she warned him.

"Oh, and Heinkel," the Archbishop called out. "Let me remind you who was appointed to do the thinking. We all have our different skill sets, some more intricate than others."

Heinkel hesitated and grit her teeth, fighting her instinct to turn around and bash his face in. That's the way she was geared. But she remembered that Father Anderson often received the same treatment. He was able to stay his hand. So will she.

But the Archbishop wasn't finished. "And since you have so much time on your hands, to be investigating the Vatican itself, perhaps a mission would do you good. Go check out England for me. Report back on the situation."

Heinkel, with her face still towards the staircase, nodded. She left with one last warning. "In the kingdom of God, the ends never justify the means."

The Queen watched in fascination as the de-freezing process ended. The culmination of exactly 109 years of stasis lay before her and her entourage. Sir Hellsing, she was called. Not no ordinary knight, but a member of the Convention of Twelve, a descendant of the Round Table. The woman, a descendant of the Abraham Hellsing of legend.

Slowly you could see the life slowly ebbing back into the woman's veins. Her skin taking on more color, her blonde seemingly metallic hair defrosted.

"Are you willing, your Majesty, to bet all of England's chips on this...old woman?" a rather frail member of her adviser board doubted.

"Are you questioning me mum's judgment? Besides, it's said she dealt with the supernatural on the regular. Gentlemen, this is the right thing. I feel it in my bones."

Sir Integra Fairbrooks Wingate Hellsing opened her eyes.

So, more backstory will be explained next chapter. I'll go ahead and clarify that the only AU parts of this story are that Alucard never came back after 30 years and Integra was cryonically preserved. Let me know if there are any more confusions with what has currently been established. Also, Alucard will be a major fixture in this story. Just must wait for his dramatic entrance. Reviews are appreciated, but thanks for reading!