Reinforcements
Abraham stood before the thirty-plus candidates for the Hellsing Organization, waiting to begin his speech. After the loss of several hunters due to their attempted abuse of Alucard, he needed to fill his ranks, and quickly. He had sent letters to clergymen and police officers, detectives and victims, asking for names. Names of men who had encountered the monsters whose attacks had generated the reports sent to him. Men, preferably police or military, who had the courage and incentive needed to hunt the monsters.
The people named were sent a brief offer of employment, tickets for conveyance on a train, coach, or boat, and a date to arrive for orientation. Abraham had been somewhat cagey about the employment itself. He had referenced "unfortunate experiences" of a "supernatural nature" as their primary qualification, but had kept the actual description concealed.
Before him stood the results of those missives. Nearly 3 dozen candidates, from young men in their late teens to near-grandfathers. Some would be sent home tonight, some would begin training.
With a deep breath, he stood in front of the assembled men, and began.
"Each of you has had an encounter with a creature most people would deem imaginary, whether in your childhood or within the last few months. Some of you faced ghouls, some vampires, some creatures that have not yet been identified but that were clearly not natural. A few of you have seen me before, during your encounter or shortly afterwards.
The following information is not to be shared, not with your loved ones, not with your priest. We operate best when people do not recognize us and do not realize why we are in their town or at the neighbor's farm. If we are recognized, the creatures we hunt will conceal themselves and some fool will come out to either "help" or to watch.
Quite frankly, the Hellsing Organization hunts monsters. The most common monster on British soil is the vampire, and vampires create ghouls. I am looking for hunters. Each of you has been recommended as a result of yThose of you that join the Hellsing Organization will receive boarding, a weekly stipend, training, and appropriate weapons for hunting monsters."
Abraham looked at the men. Most looked surprised, a few frightened. A handful seemed to consider this to be a tremendous joke at their expense, and a smaller number seemed truly serious. Abraham recognized two of those faces from previous hunts.
"Sir Hellsing," called a voice from the back. Abraham turned to see one of the serious men, a worried expression on his face. "You really expect humans to go hunt these beasties? You must be joking. The one thing I'm certain of is that when it comes to these monsters, the best offense is a good defense. I keep a cross on my doors and windows and stay inside at night. If a monster is what destroyed Johnson's farm, then based on the damage, you're a fool if you think a human can fight one."
Abraham nodded calmly. "And that is the problem. Even with the best training and weapons I could give you, the most detailed information about the vampire and its location possible, destroying a vampire is unlikely. Even in the best of situations, I would not expect to bring home more than a handful of men. And that is why we won't be hunting the vampires, not precisely.
Should you choose to join Hellsing, you will certainly be called upon to eliminate ghouls, sometimes to lure a vampire out of hiding. Your predominant goal is to protect the surrounding population from scattering ghouls and vampires, or from approaching too closely and seeing what they shouldn't. The actual hunting of the vampires will be done by someone else."
"SomeONE else? Hellsing, you have someone that will hunt a vampire? What sort of suicidal lunatic are you talking about?"
Abraham smiled wryly at the person who'd shouted the last question. This was one of the frightened people, one who had witnessed the destructive powers and cruel nature of a vampire first-hand and had at least a vague concept of what would happen to a single person attempting to destroy a vampire.
"Yes, and no. Hellsing has been joined by a very...unusual...individual. I assure you that he is indeed capable of destroying any vampires we encounter. What he cannot and will not do is keep track of dozens of ghouls while removing those vampires, and he is a poor choice for keeping site-seers and potential victims out of harm's way.
For those of you who choose to stay, you will be meeting this individual within the next few days. For those of you who do not choose to join Hellsing, I sincerely hope you are never in a situation where you will encounter him."
At this point, Hellsing allowed the men to question him about the organization. Their questions ranged from pay and vacation to what weapons they would be provided with and the frequency of their hunt. One of the more serious men asked frankly about the pension for the widows and children they would leave behind; his calm acceptance of his approaching death saddened Abraham more than anything else. The man was willing to fight, though he clearly expected to die.
After a few hours, Abraham dismissed the men. The barracks and spare bedrooms had been prepared to accomodate them, and the cook had a great pot of stew and loaves of bread waiting in the kitchen and had the large dining tables set to accomodate the men. Night had fallen, and there was a chill nip in the air, even inside. He had no doubt the hot stew would be appreciated, as would the fire in the dining room fireplace!
It wasn't until the shriek of terror came from the kitchen that Abraham realized what had occurred. He had not intended to keep them men in the meeting past nightfall, but night always seemed to come earlier in the wintertime than he expected and the meeting had run far longer than he had planned. Because Abraham was not in his office when he awoke, Alucard could be expected to be in the kitchen, mostly likely curled up by the chimney or hovering over the cook if his curiousity outweighed his preference for warmth and quiet.
And Abraham had just sent the men down to the kitchen.
He raced towards the kitchen, but stopped as he heard the cook berating the men, upbraiding them royally them for frighening her vampire. Her rage was audible through the entire house! One of the stellar characteristics of the cook which had led to his immediate hiring of her was her absolute lack of fear and humility. It made her a wonderful choice for working in a household with a vampire, but woe betide anyone that crossed her!
Seeing as the cook had matters well in hand in the kitchen, Abraham headed to the basement to make amends with his truly pissed-off charge.
