Disclaimer: I neither hold nor claim any rights to either Harry Potter or Hellsing. Credit for both goes to their respective authors. This is a work of fan fiction only.
Chapter 3 – The Paladin
"Target is moving around on the second floor, East wing" came the report over the radio from the spotters situated in the surrounding buildings.
Seras toggled her transmit key twice to signal that she'd received and understood. The two soldiers next to her had their weapons raised and aiming along the corridor with her, blocking the only way out for the ghouls on this level. Somewhere around here her master was hunting the loose vampire. Her job was to suppress the ghouls and stop them escaping into the surrounding area.
At the Hellsing manor, Harry was chafing at being held back from another mission. Integra had explained why she wanted Seras to build up some experience operating with the other Hellsing operatives and Alucard, and had pointed out that they hardly needed him there as well to deal with one lone, young vampire.
The intercom buzzed, and Integra keyed the speaker button. "Yes?"
Walter's cultured tones answered immediately "We've just received a report that the Vatican has sent an agent of their own, since they don't recognize Northern Ireland as a part of the United Kingdom."
Integra's head dropped to her palm and she sighed in frustration. "Those fools. It's like they're trying to start a war. Who did they send?"
"One of their men from section thirteen. The paladin, Alexander Anderson."
Her face turned white. "Dear God. We have to stop him before he gets involved, let alone before Alucard finds him, they could destroy the entire hospital."
Harry looked at her. "I take it ma'am that the mission parameters have changed and would now benefit from my presence?" The unspoken "I told you so" was clear.
Ignoring the implied insubordination she ordered him. "Get over there and keep Anderson from killing any of my men. That man is a loose cannon,and one of their best vampire hunters. The last thing I need is Iscariot killing my men."
Harry stood and gave a rare salute, before summoning his modified G36C. A thigh holster, attached to his trench coat with a sticking charm, cradled the bulk of a Desert Eagle, similarly modified. He nodded once more to Integra before turning on the spot and vanishing in a puff of displaced air.
Arriving outside the hospital, he quickly located Seras' team and the other Hellsing personnel in the vicinity, before concentrating on spreading his senses to encompass the immediate area. He picked out the ghouls quickly, and noticed the distinctive signs of Alucard, but he couldn't find the remaining vampire. He did however sense a third, unknown, human approaching Seras' team from behind and, swearing, he apparated directly to them after activating the disillusionment charm on his coat.
As he arrived, he immediately swung his rifle around, deflecting the three foot-long bayonets which were already in the air heading for Seras and her two operatives. The bayonets clashed into the walls, throwing sparks in all directions as their intended victims all spun to face the new threat.
Seras gasped at the large figure in white and grey, easily as imposing as her master, that was standing silhouetted by the light from a window behind him, the bayonets in his hands glinting an icy blue. As he raised his hands to throw them, blinding flashes of gunfire erupted from the air between them, and the newcomer was thrown backwards by the impacts. The distinctive sound as the weapon cycled identified it as a G36, and as the gunfire continued a familiar blue coated form faded into view, holding the weapon.
"Harry!" she cried out in relief.
Ignoring her, Harry kept his attention on his target, who appeared to be dead on the floor by the window. 'Good thing I'm a paranoid bastard, or I'd think he was actually dead. Probably would have caught Alucard out whilst he was immersed in his own monologue...' he thought to himself before speaking calmly. "Alexander Anderson, paladin of Vatican section thirteen, the Iscariot organisation. You are trespassing on lands owned by her majesty, Queen Elizabeth the second of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. You will cease these criminal actions and return to the Vatican immediately, or I will remove you by force."
"Sir" said one of the soldiers next to Seras. "I think you already used force... and I don't think he's in a position to argue any..." the man was interrupted by the slow laughter of the recently gunned-down priest, who struggled upright before standing up.
"Nice try boy" he spat at Harry, "but it'll take more than a few bullets to stop me. Drop your weapons and I'll make your journey to hell quick and painless." he said as he flicked his wrists, yet more bayonets finding their way into his hands from the sleeves of his coat. Without further ado he swung his hands down and launched the bayonets straight at Harry.
Throughout the speech Harry had prepared himself, and had allowed his G36 to fall to his side on its sling. He drew his Desert Eagle, hoping the larger rounds would be more effective. Ready for the attack he immediately disapparated, reappearing directly behind the paladin and firing a shot into the back of his head, sending him crashing to the floor again.
Looking down at the corpse, he commented idly "You know, that regeneration is really impressive. Has anyone actually ever figured out what it would take to kill you?" He jumped backwards as the paladin rose to his feet and took a vicious swing backward with a bayonet. "Clearly bullets aren't going to do the job, but I find decapitation works for most things" Harry continued as he threw the pistol to one side and drew his katana from the pocket of his coat.
Anderson's eyes widened as he saw the sword apparently materialize from nowhere, "Well aren't you full of surprises boy." and the two were off.
Seras tried to keep up with the fight but the two swordsmen were moving too fast, their weapons clashing together repeatedly as they attempted to eviscerate each other. She raised her rifle and watched with her third eye, waiting for the moment to take a shot, but they were too close together and she could never be sure of not hitting Harry.
"Fun, isn't it, Police Girl", came her master's voice from behind her. She turned to face him incredulously.
"Why aren't you in there?! He's trying to kill Harry!"
Alucard laughed and smirked. "He'll not have much luck with that. I'm finding this clash of the titans to be quite amusing, and I don't think I need to get involved."
Suddenly there was a sickening noise, unmistakably the sound of a blade penetrating human flesh, and Seras spun back and gasped as she saw Harry fall to the floor with a bayonet protruding from his chest.
Anderson turned to face the vampires, a sick grin on his face. "Well he wasn't bad I suppose, but I expect more from you, vampire."
He started to move toward them taking slow, threatening, steps, when he stopped and grunted, and a second later the point of a katana emerged from his chest. Harry's mop of black hair rose from behind him and moved close to his ear. "Aww, did you miss me?" he said tauntingly, as he jerked the katana sideways opening a massive wound in the paladin's back as he slid the sword back out.
Anderson grunted in pain, and staggered to the wall, before shooting a look of pure hatred at Harry. "You haven't heard the last of this, boy. I'll be back soon to deal with you and your little vampire friends." and with that he was surrounded by hundreds of parchments swirling in a non existent wind. When the wind subsided and the parchments fell to the floor he was gone..
Harry's shoulders dropped then, and he reached up and pulled the bayonet from his chest slowly, before throwing it to one side. "Watch out for those you two" he said looking at Alucard and Seras, "definitely blessed blades, I suspect they'd be a lot more trouble for you to deal with."
Seras shot forward and immediately positioned her shoulder under his, helping to bear his weight as he sagged down towards her. "Harry! How did you survive that?" she demanded.
He chuckled, wincing at the movement, and allowed her to take more of his weight. "I'm pretty hard to kill Seras. Don't get me wrong though, that really hurt. I'm just glad I got here in time to stop him from killing any of you". She adjusted her grip on him, easily lifting his weight, and then started to lead him towards the exit.
"Report" came the demand over the radio, answered by one of the two soldiers with Seras.
"Situation is under control. Target was taken down by a Vatican paladin. One casualty. Coming out now."
As she helped him towards the exit, Seras couldn't help but take in the rich scent of Harry's blood, leaking slowly from his rapidly healing wound. She gasped as she realized how hungry it made her feel, and fought down a surge of revulsion at the thought of drinking it.
As if he'd read her mind, which he probably had, Alucard spoke up. "Police Girl, you must drink blood to remain strong. That paladin would have taken you easily as you are."
Harry continued for him. "Seras, it's ok and it's perfectly natural for you now. We'll talk about it back at the manor if you need to. OK?" She nodded at him and then shot her master a grateful look. "I understand master." she said before they headed out to the transport.
Later that night Harry, now fully healed, knocked on the door of Seras' chamber. Waiting for a moment before entering cautiously, he found her sitting at the small table, staring at the blood bag in its bowl in front of her. Sighing, he walked into the room and made enough noise for her to note his presence. She looked guilty at first and then sheepishly apologised. "Sorry, I just can't bring myself to drink it. I know I should but it just seems wrong."
Harry nodded, and sat down next to her, pushing the bowl away. "You were turned so quickly, you had no time to prepare, to come to grips with what it would mean. Retaining these feelings doesn't make you weak, but your body needs this. It's not helped by the fact that it isn't how your body expects to feed. I know this must be difficult for you but your master is right. If you don't drink you will quickly weaken and I think you've seen that there are some opponents out there for whom you must be prepared."
"Like Anderson?" she said quietly.
He understood the subtext of her question. "Yes, like Anderson. He's not the only one. You've been lucky so far, your targets have been new, young vampires, created artificially not turned by an old vampire like Alucard. A real vampire would be a whole different challenge for you and I want you to be able to face such challenges and win. As for Anderson, he's special. Alucard thinks he's less than human and in some ways he's right. I don't know what Iscariot did to him, but he's able to regenerate pretty much any physical damage, although I think I almost had him with the wound he left with. Decapitation would probably work, or removing his heart entirely maybe."
He reached across to her, and laid his hand on the table in front of her, palm up. "Seras, I know you're having trouble adjusting and I would like to help if you'll let me. Will you let me?"
She looked into his eyes and nodded, whispering quietly "Yes."
He gestured at his open palm with his other hand, and a thin cut immediately opened in it, blood slowly seeping out and pooling in his cupped palm. Seras gasped as the smell instantly hit her, and her eyes flickered red and then back to blue, snapping down to his hand and then back up to his eyes.
"H-Harry." she whispered, almost pleadingly.
In response, he lifted his hand towards her face, looking compassionately at her. "It's up to you. Not even Alucard has had this, although he'd probably like to. I won't force you though."
She turned her face down towards his hand and subconsciously licked her lips. She stuck out her tongue and slowly, hesitatingly, lowered her mouth to his hand. As her tongue touched the blood in his palm she let out a guttural moan, tasting the metallic sweetness, and almost immediately her nervousness vanished as she lowered her lips to his hand. As she drank, his blood sang to her. After a minute however he silently closed the cut.
She quickly drank the blood he had let for her, and then looked up into his eyes again, her own now flecked with red. He tilted his head toward the blood bag and looked questioningly at her. Her gaze followed his and she hesitantly grabbed the bag, ripping a small hole in the top and testing it. She noted that it didn't taste as good as his, it was somehow duller, less alive. There was something else missing that had been in his blood, and she wondered briefly if it was his magic..
Harry looked on with a mixture of sadness and pride. It was sad, he thought, that she had in some ways been made less than human, but he was proud of her for being able to start to accept her new life. It wasn't much, but if she could still find any happiness then she would always have a chance of retaining some of her humanity, and that was enough. He ruthlessly quashed the part of him that had intensely enjoyed the sensation of her tongue and lips on his skin.
Standing slowly, he watched her finish off the bag and waited until her attention had returned to him. "There's plenty, we always have to keep a fair bit in stock for Alucard, and if you're ever in dire need come to me. Are you OK?"
She nodded, the voice in the back of her mind telling her that what she had done was wrong had been silenced by the more instinctual need to feed. It was still there but subdued, resigned somehow. Dimly she realized that it was a part of her that still hadn't let go of her old life, and she was grateful for the reminder, but it could only ever be a small part of her now.
"Thank you" was all she said as she turned from the table and walked towards her bed. "I'll see you tomorrow Harry".
He nodded, not saying anything, and turned to walk back to her door. As he was about to shut the door behind him he took one last look into the room and saw her laying down on her bed, still dressed, her ankles crossed and her hands behind her head. He appreciated her figure for a moment before closing the door quietly and returning to his own rooms.
Before Seras closed her eyes to sleep, she heard a voice. Whether in her head or actually present, she didn't know, but it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.
"Well done, Police Girl".
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has followed or made a favorite of this story, and especially to those who have submitted reviews. I really appreciate the feedback and I'm trying to address any points you have. One of these is a comment that the chapters have been fairly short (around 1500 words). This was definitely true for the first two chapters and the prologue, which was even shorter. Mainly this matches the pacing of the anime, which starts out pretty slowly, and my story layout of trying to make each chapter a discrete episode.
This chapter is quite a bit longer however, and the next chapter will be about the same. After that it'll start getting much longer, chapter 5 is around 4500 words since it covers what I had originally planned to be chapters 5 and 6. That does mean that my update rate will drop sharply as I've got to write, review, and organize more per chapter, but I will still be aiming for at least a chapter a week, probably more.
Anyway, this chapter had the first complex interaction between Harry and Seras, and I hope I got the tone right. It might seem odd that Harry would go so far to help her but then he's a bit of a white knight in that respect, and if he'd die to save someone I don't see him having a problem with giving a little blood to a vampire he quite likes anyway.
I hope you all enjoyed the introduction of Anderson. I know I've robbed Alucard of his bit of showing off but I felt that it was a good opportunity to establish a few things about Harry. Yes, he's bloody hard to kill, but that doesn't make him better than everyone else. In a straight fight Anderson beat him solidly, and got hoisted on his own petard when Harry got back up.
Apologies for the long A/N. Please read and review and let me know what you think of this chapter.
