From the journal of Seras Victoria
20 May, 2007
I don't know why, but tonight I found myself remnisciative. I felt an urge to write down once again how Hellsing Institution fell and rose once more. It all started with Incognito, that strange African vampire. He had such despicable powers. When Master fought him, there was a time I believed he'd lose. The way Incognito fired his own bullets back at him… It was terrifying. But Master was not defeated. No, he was more powerful than that. The only thing that had prevented him from destroying Incognito on sight were those stupid seals. There was once a time I'd be grateful for having a human presence to control my vampiric self, but not now…. I've sunk too deep on the dark.
Darn, caught myself rambling. Well, in the end Alucard (my Master) used his power to full extension and impaled Incognito with a silver spear he magically created. We were the only two operatives that survived the mission. Walter had a heart attack and died in hospital. He did force himself too much. Poor guy… Integra, to keep up appearances, was sentenced to a lifetime penalty. As for Master and me, we kept working for Hellsing. Even though we couldn't rescue Lady Integra for political reasons, we still had to do our job as FREAK hunters.
Those were the best patrolling days I've had. We didn't have access to all the amount of info the organization once supplied us, so we had to work things out another way, listening to rumors and such, stalking ghouls back to their master's den. I was obviously better than Master when it came to intel gathering. He was as fierce as a dragon in combat, as always. At dawn, before we went to sleep in the manor's dungeons, he'd teach me the vampiric ways. I became very good at scanning minds and passing through walls. Though I was too young to learn the most advanced skills, Master was very encouraging. I never thought he actually cared about my training until then. To supply us with blood, I used to steal nearby Hospitals. Shame on me, but it's better than assaulting the citizens. Fortunately for us, our ammunitions suppliers were still operating.
But every good thing must come to an end. Truth be told, even our best efforts were not enough to control the FREAK's, who'd became much larger in numbers after Incognito. The Vatican now had every excuse to intervene, and they sent many other paladins like Anderson to London. The battles in the streets became so frequent that soon everyone knew about the existance of vampires. The British government called Integra to a martial trial, and she stood accused of failing to fulfill her duties as a protector of the country. She was sentenced to death, to appease the bloodthirty Londoners who sought someone to accuse. Alucard and myself would not stand for it, of course, and we attempted to bust Integra out. We had to kill many men. That didn't bode well for Integra's side.
We managed to rescue Integra, though we only furthered the feeling she was the one to blame, since she had resorted to vampires to release herself. The Vatican understood it like their way into the hearts of Britain's children, and attacked us. Anderson was sent as always, claiming he had a score to settle with Alucard. He brought two others with him, as brutal as himself, though not as skilled or experienced. I had to fight both while Alucard fought the Judas Priest, he was the only one who could defeat him anyway. Even with all the training I had endured they were too much for me. One of those bastards stabbed me with those bayonnete swords, and threw me against a wall. The other, who was closest, kicked the sword further in, so that I was stuck into the wall and couldn't release myself. They used their opportunity to assassinate Lady Integra. Master felt it when Integra was decapitated. In that brief moment's time, Anderson managed to cut him upside-down, and he was torn in two. The three paladins walked up to me, ready to finish the job.
They didn't expect what happened next. Neither did I. Master transformed into a flock of bats (he really enjoyed that) and stood beside me, the only thing separating me from their wrath. He told them he no longer had a master, and therefor was free. But before that, since he had failed in his task, he'd have to kill his master's assassins. His powers were once again unblocked, and he nearly destroyed the manor in the combat. Anderson's companions were killed, but Anderson escaped as always, disappearing amidst the "true" bible's leaves. Alucard helped me get up, after painfully removing the sword piercing my torso. He looked at me with dissapointed eyes, like I had failed him. And I did.
There was no point in continue fighting together. That was the fact. Hellsing was destroyed. Alucard now spent the nights alone in his cell, drinking like mad. As for me, I tried to live a relatively normal life. Though all the jobs I took were, well, crap. Having to choose between being a stripper and a cleaning girl was barely an option, in my opinion. But apparently I was only "skilled" at those jobs. In case someone's reading this against my consent, I chose the last!
Eventually, the FREAK's took over. A normal life for me was about as likely as falling in love with Maxwell. No, Stetra. So I did what I thought right: I once again fought for the now fallen Hellsing. Though the Institution's bank account was frozen, I managed to use Walter's account (that had miracullously remained untouched) to hire new staff. The old man had never spent a pence in himself all those years.
Mercenaries, most of them, like after the Valentine brothers had attacked. Alucard watched apparently not very interested to my attempts at controlling the infestation. First, we acted like the Mafia, being payed by private employers to protect their properties. That gave us financial backup, though I was far from reaching my goal. It was an exhausting experience! Not only I leadered the men in the field, but I had to take care of all the paperwork. It was only after a few weeks that Alucard decided to help me out. Under a few conditions: he'd only do what he wanted, otherwise I'd have to ask him. After all, he was still my master.
Somehow, the thrill of leadership must've gotten into him, and he claimed he'd never been so entertained ever since he defended his lands against the Turks. While I did the paperwork, he acted as the commander. His warcraft skills did the job just fine. In fact, we'd have lost many men if it wasn't for him. He, of course, wasn't the least bit interested in his men's lives, and didn't think twice when he had to use them as bait. That didn't make him very popular amidst the mercenaries. During those times, it was almost like we changed our roles. I was the master, and he the fledgling. I never really had to ask, as he was always eager to send FREAKs to Hell.
In the meanwhile, a civil war had broke out. On one side the FREAKs, organized in clans, and on the other the British Government, who had moved to Northern Ireland, under the Vatican's advice. They were being soundly defeated by the FREAKs, despite their efforts. Not only on London, but the whole of Britain, that now appeared to be a nesting ground for the damn things. Other major countries were having FREAK problems, and monsters as well. It seemed WWIII was being waged between Humanity and Hellspawn. I didn't like it the least bit, so I decided to go back to active duty as a spy. I found out that the vampire clans were leadered by long forgotten No Life Kings, who saw this as the chance to regain influence in the world. Alucard frantically laughed at their stupidity when I relayed that bit of info to him.
That left me intriged. It meant that true vampires had connections to the ones producing the FREAK chips. Regardless, three major clans had sprung from the ashes of London. The Tetsubo, street FREAKs leadered by a Japanese vampire dating back from the XVIth century, the Damphir, skilled in Dark Arts, and the Nosferatu, composed by the strongest FREAKs ever. Their titles were stupid, but their power was for real. Hellsing was yet to have grown strong enough to compete with them. Master didn't think like I did, and ordered me to join him in an attack against the Damphir in order to "make an example". What we didn't expect was that we'd attack their base during a meeting with the other two clans.
Before we knew it, we were surrounded by vampires. I never thought I'd dodge so many bullets like in that day. Fortunately our soldiers remained at the base, otherwise we'd have lost our entire army. Though we did suffer a tremendous loss. The leader of the Damphir, a vampiress by the name of Letice, imprisoned Alucard with a spell similar to Anderson's own. From a black book she used to carry around, leaves written in what seemed to be blood poured out and wraped around Master. The Japanese vampire decapitated him with a blow from his katana, grabbing the head for himself. The leader of the Nosferatu, a truly monstrous vampire, wriped his heart out. I was lucky to have escaped. But I had once again failed my Master.
I try to convince myself that it was his fault. And it was. He was the one claiming he could deal with all three leaders at the same time. But it isn't a good excuse. I should've stood for him 'till death. Somehow, I know he isn't dead. Again, that is… I've read every record on the experiments the Hellsing family had made on him (poor Master) and found out that such spell can be reverted if the pieces are recollected and the blood of a virgin is dropped within a proper altar. I'm still a virgin, lucky me! Well, sort of… Ahemm, well, now all I have to do is get back my Master's pieces from the clans. Luckily for me, some blokes from Tetsubo mistakenly threw the head into a garbage bin a few days ago, which meant less work for me and executions for them. I can't wait to get back the other pieces and restore Master to his former self. I miss him so much. Even though he taunts me all day, calls me Policewoman with that sarcastic grin of his and is quite literally a blood-sucking bastard, I can't help but like him.
next episode: Seras attacks the Damphir! The quest for Alucard's restoration begins! Reviews are welcome!
