"Denn die Todten reiten Schnell. (For the dead travel fast.)" -Bram Stoker
"So Seras is at the Vatican," Integra mused. "I had wondered what became of her. Still, it explains the contradictory nature of these birds." She led Heinkel into her study. "At first I thought they were ghouls. But the birds subsist on not just the blood of their victims but the meat, like carrion. Furthermore, their vampirism so to speak is not contagious to members of its own species or others. Which left me with a more unsettling conclusion. They are familiars."
Integra shook her head in astonishment. "But I never heard of anyone outside of Alucard possessing millions of familiars. It's ridiculous. How would one go about controlling them? Or collecting them in the first place? It would have to be an enemy with boundless resources." Integra reclined in her father's worn leather chair. "Now with what you disclosed, everything makes sense. The Vatican amassed the birds. Then you had Seras somehow absorb them, and then let them loose on the world."
"I didn't do anything," Heinkel clarified. "Although that might have been the problem."
Integra tapped her cigarette case. "I will honor our arrangement…in time. I am disappointed that Iscariot is the root of all this suffering."
Heinkel understood her meaning. "When we meet again, we will be enemies."
"I would have it no other way."
"I see. You are an angel sent to detain me? To destroy me. To send my soul to hell."
A painful squelch and Alucard inhaled. He reached down and gripped the offending sword passing through his middle. "Yet this energy. It's not from God. The blade is tainted."
The vampire withdrew the weapon easily and the wound quickly closed to his opponent's consternation. "Why? Why won't you die? Tell me!"
A quiet, sinister chuckle, which grew to outright laughter. Then having his fill, he lowered his head and appraised his body. "What you see before you is merely a form I choose to take. To make others feel more at ease in my presence. In truth, I am nothing more than memories twisted around a perverted ideal. I am words. I am philosophy. I am purpose." Alucard quickly glanced up, a maniacal gleam in his eyes. "Looks can kill, did you know that?"
In truth Alucard was growing weary of dispatching armies of the fallen. What was the point in proving you have the darkest soul? He desperately wanted to see a glimpse of the light again. There must be a sign shining somewhere from a shore, back to where his true challenger awaits. A worthy challenger. Someone like Integra.
It was unfortunate that he never had the chance to push her as far as he intended to. The Major got in the way. And no doubt time took care of the rest. His challenger rested in the ground by now. Who could kill him then? Would it be another century before the right human came along? A millennium?
Seras was still out there. Too distant to communicate with, but he sensed an overwhelming sadness. He wondered if he should go to her first. But he also sensed a germinating seed of wrath in her heart. Who was he to interfere?
"Are you my last enemy?" he inquired of the looming giant of pulsing flesh. "A dragon. That is suitable. I think I will abandon all pretense as well. But if I do this, I'm afraid I will no longer know where the two of us begin and end."
Primal fears arise from things which have no distinct edges. Ghosts that bleed darkness in the night. The ensconcing of mystic will.
A million crimson eyes blinked in the moonlight.
His castle on Mount Izvorul. More dilapidated than the last time he left it. Finished with the inhuman hordes that had migrated to the country, he now lounged on his iron throne. He was tempted to take a nap, but thirty years inside his mind made him restless. His thoughts turned to his fledgling, wondering what she was doing right now. What could be making her so angry?
He creased his lips. No, not angry. Was that a tinge of hate? How...interesting.
"What shall I do with you, Seras?" he murmured. She had been on her own for a while now. She was still alive, as she should be. So, she had to have taken some of his lessons to heart.
He could bring her back to the castle. Start a new dynasty. These woods still contained many magical creatures. And the villagers would learn of and eventually accept their new masters.
"In time," he acquiesced. "For now," and a grin broke out on his unshaven face, "it's time to see what dear Britannia is up to."
He stood up, a long cloak of darkness billowing out behind him, and marched deliberately down the gothic hall towards the granite balcony overlooking the valley, eager to witness the passions of man once again. It had been far too long.
A smoky dog appeared and trotted beside him. Though at ease, it's oversized canines were nonetheless visible. It growled a greeting, and Alucard inclined his head.
"Zoltan, so you have decided to join me at last. Where were you when I was fighting, hmm?"
The dog merely sneezed and picked up the pace, pulling away from the vampire's side.
Alucard slowly shook his head. His oldest familiar was also his most disappointing. "Since you have shirked all duty for the last forty-five years, I have a mission for you. Find my fledgling and report back to me. In no way interfere."
Zoltan stopped and turned around, shooting Alucard a seemingly exasperated look.
Alucard only smiled. "Git boy," he mouthed, knowing it would only serve to get on the familiar's nerves more.
Yes, he could feel it. Looking out over the land with his superior sight, there was a great adventure to be had on the horizon.
There was never really any passion between them, Seras noted. Which is puzzling, because there was something they shared, some feeling she couldn't put her finger on. She wasn't even sure she loved him. And he certainly didn't love her back.
So then, why did she feel so bound to him? It wasn't just the vampire bond. He was her master, true, but its string was weak compared to the rope which tied them together, though stretched across continents and time.
She sleeps, and she dreams, though she doesn't understand it.
Perhaps something could come of their relationship in time. Admittedly, she knew very little about him. She had asked so many times, innocent queries, but he always refused. Her curiosity only grew to the point where whenever he wasn't looking, she stared, hoping that the lines of his face would reveal some mystery of his past. Without his past she'd never completely know what type of person he is. Was it so terrible?
Was it painful for him to recall? Or did he just want to spare her the gruesome details?
Seras was afraid she had a feeling she wouldn't care what he did in life. He could've been the worst human to walk the earth, and she might not even care. She'd end up falling for him anyway.
So perhaps she was better off not knowing. So, she could claim ignorance.
Yet on top of it all she sensed there was something deeper, secrets that he never told. Hidden in his soul. Things that never saw the light of day. Things that she coveted above all.
Alucard, to her dismay, had faded from her inner eye's view. His presence was no longer felt. And she wondered whether he was dead or whether he finally abandoned her.
She was alone.
I really wanted to know things once. Things like the warm hug of the beach sun. As a child I wanted to look out over the waters and see for miles. I never guessed that could never be. I'm not so much a slave to the night like Alucard would put it in his weird poetical way, but an exile from the day.
But like the wolf cast out from the pack, I have forged my own path, and now the outer territories are mine. Wilder territories. My followers have touched many shores. I have played the dutiful servant for my captors. Now the time has come.
Because they didn't realize. They went a little too far.
I open my real eyes. The ones my Master told me about so long ago. I can't see for miles. But I can see their hearts gathered around me. Twisted hearts. Like mine.
I claim them.
The chains fall like rain. The enchantments wither like a rose abandoned on the pavement.
Slowly I stand.
"Are the battlements ready?" Integra was happy that most of her strength had returned to her. At least she could hold a .45 and blow those damned birds out of the sky.
Naturally, the Vatican had prepared their own defenses. For the first time in a thousand years its walls were under siege. Integra thought it was fitting after the way they invaded London. Now she was bringing the war to them.
"Quite ready, Sir," her latest butler replied. Mister Samuel Horn, a gunsmith. He was in his thirties, tall and wide, built like a tank. She had seen him throw five men at once, and so she had decided he would do. "Per instructions, forty cannons will shell the north face, while two hundred of our best men will quietly circle around and climb over. The remaining one thousand and thirty will defend the canons and wait until the wall does fall.
"Very good," she mumbled around the shape of the cigar in her mouth. "It's time. Assemble the Wild Geese. We go through the catacombs."
"But Sir!" Samuel objected. "You must be kidding. It's too dangerous."
"A fool's errand, attempting to dissuade Lady Hellsing." Lord Winston entered the room. He would've been there sooner except for a small supply chain issue. "Pardon me, but I can assure you our bunker will receive the last shipment of ammunition on time."
"Good," Integra huffed. "Now as for you Mr. Horn, no arguments. Furthermore, you will remain with Winston here and report to me regularly on our army's progress. You did encrypt the radios?"
"Yes sir," Mr. Horn sighed. As big and skilled as he was, he had gotten used to protecting others. In that regard Sir Hellsing was very different from any noble he had ever met, and her ways took some getting used to. "Good day," he sighed and reluctantly left to do as instructed.
Integra studied the faded map. Her father smuggled this map out from the house of one of the archbishops in World War Two. Another thing she inherited for which she was immensely grateful.
"The Wild Geese?" Lord Winston inquired. "Sounds familiar." He stroked his white beard. "A remnant of your past, no doubt."
"Humph. Call me nostalgic if you like, but I think it's only right to honor their memory somehow."
He placed a hand on her back, and strangely she permitted it. "This is a totally different side of you. I thought the great Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing was above such petty sentiments."
She shook her head. "You would think. But time has given me a different perspective. In the end," and she recalled the 'glory days' with the four of them, Walter, Seras, Alucard, and herself fighting vampires, "sentiment is all we have."
"Indeed."
She rose like a woman who had been spared from being stoned. A bandaged husk only, perhaps, yet invisible strings did move her. From whence the strings came, she had an idea. But that was impossible. He was gone for good.
"H-how?" the men stuttered. As scientists they could only watch on. In their great arrogance they didn't think guards were required. They assumed everything worked according to their equations and laws. They were wrong. "But it is starved!"
Seras did not know where the words came from. It was like watching her life in third person. The wheel turning on its own. She found herself chuckling. "Do you not taste it? The blood? The blood in the air!"
In the blink of an eye, she pounced on the first scientist and sunk her teeth into his neck. The rest tried to flee, but the doors shut on their own. The candles began to flicker and so did the silhouette of her blood-induced frenzy.