Hellsing director Integtral Fairbrooks Wingates Hellsing picked up a
cigar from her desk as the doors to her office swung open slowly. After a
moment, a tall, raven-haired male entered the room, followed closely by a
young woman and the Hellsing family butler, Walter Dornez.
"The vampire in Exeter has been taken care of, correct?" Integra lit the cigar as she spoke.
The young woman, Seras Victoria, nodded. "The vampire had occupied a small abandoned church on the outskirts of the city. He also had about a score of ghouls with him. Master Alucard took out the vampire, but..."
Integra looked up, a frown beginning to settle on her lips. "But what?"
Alucard, whom had been silent all this time, cleared his throat. "Those ghouls, they'd all been branded, Integra. On the forehead, to be exact, with black rings. And on top of that, many of the church's walls had things etched upon them with blood. Mostly bloody rings and such, and some runes of the kind I've never seen before."
Integra took this calmly, but chewed irritably on her cigar. She then looked to Walter. "What in God's name were they doing? Have you been able to find out anything about this?"
The ever-faithful butler shrugged. "So far, we've only found obscure references to archaic runes, Norse mythology, ancient artifacts of Pagan worship. Nothing of real value to us at the moment. What we need is something, some key to narrow our search, something to throw light upon just what we're really dealing with. And I have a feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of such occurrences."
And with that, the three took their leave, leaving Integra to her office.
At once, Seras left to make her way to the shooting range for practice,
while Alucard and Walter conversed as they strode through the corridors.
"And what do you make of this, Alucard?"
"Rings, blood...makes no real difference to me."
"Well, it seems to me that we might be missing something here. Think,
Alucard, did the vampire say anything to you? Anything of note?"
Alucard pulled absently at the brim of his hat. "Aside from a myriad
of useless prattle, he kept shouting 'Reveal the ring and glory of the
King.' Made no sense."
"A King?" Walter echoed. "I guess I shall search for any 'Kings' in
the data we've already collected."
. . .
Father Enrico Maxwell of Vatican Section XIII sat in silence as he read a transcript of a report from Heinkel Wulf and Yumiko Tagaki. He shook his head and frowned. The report itself was eclectic. It merely gave a disorganized account of an anti-Vatican cult the duo had dealt with. Aside from the usual resistance Vatican agents met with when dealing with followers of other religions, they had found grisly artifacts of ritual sacrifice and self-mortification, statements written upon the walls proclaiming the Vatican and it's people to be 'shepherds of lies.'
Father Maxwell scowled. Heretics were heretics. But it seemed a new cult of some kind was on the rise. A currently unnamed one, that is.
But Maxwell's thoughts were broken as the sound of heavy footsteps sounded in the halls. A young priest and Father Anderson entered the room.
"F-Father Maxwell!" the youngest of the pair cried. "You must see this! It's unbelievable – I never-"
Maxwell disregard young Roderick's unclear outburst and nodded at Father Anderson. "Explain the situation, Anderson."
"Ae strange tale it be, Maxwell. Sae this lad here was going about his rounds, the usual cleaning an' sanitation. But he found something. In the nether floors."
Now Maxwell's attention was piqued and captured. He leaned forward in his desk. "Go on."
Now young Roderick took up the tale again. "I was in the substratum, Father. I usually don't go down there, but decided to clean it at least once this year. The bloody place was dusty and dimly lit, cavernous too. I was working hurriedly, for I wanted to depart from there as soon as possible. But then, I don't know, I must have hit some sort of switch or hidden device, Father, for a section of the walls gave way and fell back."
"And what did you find?"
Roderick now shivered slightly, as though the memory of his experiences frightened him deeply. "Behind it was a deep set of stairs, Father. It looked as though no one had touched it in many years. I even dare to day decades, so thick was the dust and grime upon them. But the stairwell had many small silver crosses scattered upon the steps. And written upon the walls, Latin phrases and quotes from the Bible."
Maxwell pondered this information for a full five minutes. What could be down there? He'd never seen any records of something down in the underpinning of the Vatican. "Then let us investigate this stairwell."
Here Roderick's eyes went wide and his shivering increased. "Father Maxwell, if I may say, it looked as though something had been sealed down there. Something that shouldn't be disturbed. Couldn't we just seal up the walls again?"
Maxwell snorted. "Coward. Whatever be down there, beast or relic, or monster, we can handle it. Father Anderson and I shall go then. Return to your duties. But, tell no one of this yet."
As Roderick scurried from the room, Anderson shut the doors behind him. "Sae, Maxwell." he said with his heavy accent. "When?"
A wicked smile arose on Maxwell's face. "Bring your weapons, Anderson. I have a feeling that Roderick may be right about not disturbing whatever's down there. But, whatever it is, we'll take it out."
. . .
The staircase was just as Roderick described it. It's dark stone steps were caked with signs of age. But the hundreds of silver crucifixes dropped upon it glinted brightly under the dust and cobwebs. Anderson, swords ready, went first, brushing cobwebs aside as he stepped down. But he was careful not to tread upon any of the crosses. Father Maxwell, armed with gun and lit torch, followed closely after him. He examined the walls as they descended in the darkness.
"The Latin phrases speak of some 'demon bound beneath six seals.' But the rest is too worn to read."
"Ae demon, eh?" Anderson chuckled. "We'll see."
The stairwell led them deep under the infrastructure of the Vatican. Maxwell marveled at how far down they were traveling. At one point, a section of the stairs had leveled to a flat surface. And upon the surface, an ornate circle was etched upon the ground, adorned with more Latin and phrases from the Bible. Such a thing occurred five more times, only with different symbols; the infinity emblem, the Celtic rune for eternity, a crucifix, a pentacle, and finally, a hexagram, or a Star of David.
After what seemed to be hours, the pair at last came upon a heavy pair of doors. They had been bolted shut and sealed. But a few shots from Maxwell's gun took care of that. Anderson reached forth and pulled open the gates.
A wave of stale air hit them as the doors swung away. And a pitch- black chamber stared at them. Anderson now held a sword in both hands. Maxwell held high his torch.
"Well then, may God protect us both from what be in here." Maxwell murmured.
"Aye."
"The vampire in Exeter has been taken care of, correct?" Integra lit the cigar as she spoke.
The young woman, Seras Victoria, nodded. "The vampire had occupied a small abandoned church on the outskirts of the city. He also had about a score of ghouls with him. Master Alucard took out the vampire, but..."
Integra looked up, a frown beginning to settle on her lips. "But what?"
Alucard, whom had been silent all this time, cleared his throat. "Those ghouls, they'd all been branded, Integra. On the forehead, to be exact, with black rings. And on top of that, many of the church's walls had things etched upon them with blood. Mostly bloody rings and such, and some runes of the kind I've never seen before."
Integra took this calmly, but chewed irritably on her cigar. She then looked to Walter. "What in God's name were they doing? Have you been able to find out anything about this?"
The ever-faithful butler shrugged. "So far, we've only found obscure references to archaic runes, Norse mythology, ancient artifacts of Pagan worship. Nothing of real value to us at the moment. What we need is something, some key to narrow our search, something to throw light upon just what we're really dealing with. And I have a feeling that this isn't the last we'll see of such occurrences."
And with that, the three took their leave, leaving Integra to her office.
At once, Seras left to make her way to the shooting range for practice,
while Alucard and Walter conversed as they strode through the corridors.
"And what do you make of this, Alucard?"
"Rings, blood...makes no real difference to me."
"Well, it seems to me that we might be missing something here. Think,
Alucard, did the vampire say anything to you? Anything of note?"
Alucard pulled absently at the brim of his hat. "Aside from a myriad
of useless prattle, he kept shouting 'Reveal the ring and glory of the
King.' Made no sense."
"A King?" Walter echoed. "I guess I shall search for any 'Kings' in
the data we've already collected."
. . .
Father Enrico Maxwell of Vatican Section XIII sat in silence as he read a transcript of a report from Heinkel Wulf and Yumiko Tagaki. He shook his head and frowned. The report itself was eclectic. It merely gave a disorganized account of an anti-Vatican cult the duo had dealt with. Aside from the usual resistance Vatican agents met with when dealing with followers of other religions, they had found grisly artifacts of ritual sacrifice and self-mortification, statements written upon the walls proclaiming the Vatican and it's people to be 'shepherds of lies.'
Father Maxwell scowled. Heretics were heretics. But it seemed a new cult of some kind was on the rise. A currently unnamed one, that is.
But Maxwell's thoughts were broken as the sound of heavy footsteps sounded in the halls. A young priest and Father Anderson entered the room.
"F-Father Maxwell!" the youngest of the pair cried. "You must see this! It's unbelievable – I never-"
Maxwell disregard young Roderick's unclear outburst and nodded at Father Anderson. "Explain the situation, Anderson."
"Ae strange tale it be, Maxwell. Sae this lad here was going about his rounds, the usual cleaning an' sanitation. But he found something. In the nether floors."
Now Maxwell's attention was piqued and captured. He leaned forward in his desk. "Go on."
Now young Roderick took up the tale again. "I was in the substratum, Father. I usually don't go down there, but decided to clean it at least once this year. The bloody place was dusty and dimly lit, cavernous too. I was working hurriedly, for I wanted to depart from there as soon as possible. But then, I don't know, I must have hit some sort of switch or hidden device, Father, for a section of the walls gave way and fell back."
"And what did you find?"
Roderick now shivered slightly, as though the memory of his experiences frightened him deeply. "Behind it was a deep set of stairs, Father. It looked as though no one had touched it in many years. I even dare to day decades, so thick was the dust and grime upon them. But the stairwell had many small silver crosses scattered upon the steps. And written upon the walls, Latin phrases and quotes from the Bible."
Maxwell pondered this information for a full five minutes. What could be down there? He'd never seen any records of something down in the underpinning of the Vatican. "Then let us investigate this stairwell."
Here Roderick's eyes went wide and his shivering increased. "Father Maxwell, if I may say, it looked as though something had been sealed down there. Something that shouldn't be disturbed. Couldn't we just seal up the walls again?"
Maxwell snorted. "Coward. Whatever be down there, beast or relic, or monster, we can handle it. Father Anderson and I shall go then. Return to your duties. But, tell no one of this yet."
As Roderick scurried from the room, Anderson shut the doors behind him. "Sae, Maxwell." he said with his heavy accent. "When?"
A wicked smile arose on Maxwell's face. "Bring your weapons, Anderson. I have a feeling that Roderick may be right about not disturbing whatever's down there. But, whatever it is, we'll take it out."
. . .
The staircase was just as Roderick described it. It's dark stone steps were caked with signs of age. But the hundreds of silver crucifixes dropped upon it glinted brightly under the dust and cobwebs. Anderson, swords ready, went first, brushing cobwebs aside as he stepped down. But he was careful not to tread upon any of the crosses. Father Maxwell, armed with gun and lit torch, followed closely after him. He examined the walls as they descended in the darkness.
"The Latin phrases speak of some 'demon bound beneath six seals.' But the rest is too worn to read."
"Ae demon, eh?" Anderson chuckled. "We'll see."
The stairwell led them deep under the infrastructure of the Vatican. Maxwell marveled at how far down they were traveling. At one point, a section of the stairs had leveled to a flat surface. And upon the surface, an ornate circle was etched upon the ground, adorned with more Latin and phrases from the Bible. Such a thing occurred five more times, only with different symbols; the infinity emblem, the Celtic rune for eternity, a crucifix, a pentacle, and finally, a hexagram, or a Star of David.
After what seemed to be hours, the pair at last came upon a heavy pair of doors. They had been bolted shut and sealed. But a few shots from Maxwell's gun took care of that. Anderson reached forth and pulled open the gates.
A wave of stale air hit them as the doors swung away. And a pitch- black chamber stared at them. Anderson now held a sword in both hands. Maxwell held high his torch.
"Well then, may God protect us both from what be in here." Maxwell murmured.
"Aye."