"Anderson, how many vampires did you leave in the garden?" Olivia was testing the door out of the room as she spoke. She was unsurprised to find it locked.

"I was a bit busy, Sir Olivia, but I'd have to estimate that there were ten or twelve watching us fight in the garden."

"How long will the Iscariot hold?"

"Father Elias is no weakling. If he only had to face the standard triads we've encountered from this group, I'd expect him to have little trouble, but I don't know enough about their leader to know how well or how long he can hold up to her."

"Can you use that little trick of yours to get us out of here?"

The tall man shook his head.

"I should have known it couldn't be that easy. Mother, stay close to him, and I'm asking nicely for the moment: do everything I tell you to if you want us to get out of this alive." Olivia had crossed to check the solarium windows. "Anderson, do you think you can break these?"

Anderson, with Beatrice trailing behind, joined her at the windows. They looked normal enough. "Stand back and let me see what I can do." He winced at the crunch of bones that followed his attempt to punch through the window. He didn't wait for his hand to heal, but tried several kicks, which had as little effect. He shook his head at the two women as he turned away, flexing his hand while the bones knit. "I can try the door, but we'll have to fight our way out."

Olivia weighed the odds. There were more vampires waiting outside the door, leaving the room would expose the trio to them; waiting in the solarium was little better. "We can't expect to fight our way through all those vampires with two unarmed humans in the group. Remember what Alucard said about the sword wielders? One blow and mother and I will be torches." She came to a conclusion she didn't really like, but which made sense. "I'm going to need you to buy us time. If you go back out to the garden and help that Iscariot, the two of you might be enough to clean things up before Alucard gets here, and if not, at least buy us the time we need for him to arrive."

"Aye. I can barricade the door with some of the furniture in here, and I can leave ye the sword. At least it won't burn yer hand, but I don't like leaving ye here with no way of knowing if ye're alright or not." Despite his concerns, he began moving furniture in front of the door.

"I'll have Alucard relay any screams for help, Anderson. If I had a better idea, I'd be telling you."

•••

Father Elias was starting to flag. There were just too many vampires; the sword wielding undead were putting a severe strain on his regenerative abilities and the others were digging around in his head. It was all he could do to keep them out and keep enough concentration to hold his sword. He had destroyed four and he thought he would have been able to prevail if it hadn't been for the veritable queen of the damned who had entered the battle. She was fighting him into a corner and he was unable to call on his holy magic because of the mental assault he was under. He was desperately fending her off and making his peace with God when the demon he expected to take his life staggered forward against him.

•••

Alex had reappeared in the garden in time to see Elias clearly hard pressed under the cult leader's attack. The other vampires had pulled away and she had backed the priest into a corner. Alex sprang forward and hit her with his full strength, his fists hitting her back and neck. She fell forward under the brutal blows, but the watching vampires moved in to keep Alex from continuing his attack against her. The woman collided with the Hellsing vampire when the priest pushed her away from him.

Things became completely chaotic. Both Iscariots, past and present, were struggling to stay alive in the melee. Alex did his best to keep the cult leader as his primary target, believing that her subordinate vampires did not present the danger that she did. He sustained enough wounds from her and her cultists that he could feel his bloodlust rising. He needed more blood to continue the level of regeneration and exertion that the battle was forcing on him. From his time as a mortal regenerator, he knew that Elias was probably running mainly on adrenaline and would be burning his body's fat reserves with a vengeance.

It was getting harder to think. Elias' blood smelled better than that of the vampires he was fighting. Alex knew that if he didn't do something about it soon, he'd attack the priest whether he wanted to or not. He maneuvered himself into a position where the priest unwittingly shielded him and grabbed the next vampire to get within his reach. Alex hadn't been a vampire very long and he'd never fed from a living (well, mostly) victim; the flare of power he felt when feeding from the sandy-haired man he'd grabbed was beyond anything he could have imagined from drinking from bags of medical blood. He was almost oblivious to the injuries he sustained from the vampire's allies while he fed. He healed even the burning ones almost as quickly as they were caused, only caring to defend himself when his victim fell to dust in his grip.

There was a shrieking in the back of Alex's mind that he didn't understand and forced himself to ruthlessly suppress as he turned his full attention back to what was going on around him. He watched the woman who led the cult hit the Iscariot with a blow that threw him to the ground. Before she could finish off the human, Alex leapt between them.

Her face was still the frightening mask of evil it had been when he had first told her that Elias was loose among her disciples. His mind was filled with a memory – not his – of her in other circumstances, presiding over a ritual praising their avenging goddess of blood. He shook it away in time to receive a crushing blow to the chest from the woman. Another memory supplied her name, Artemisia. He was desperately missing his swords and bayonets as they fought hand to hand.

He was having trouble with her. He was strong enough to take her attacks and the Iscariot assassin was drawing enough of the attention of the remaining lesser vampires that he needed only worry about the woman – Artemisia - but memories and thoughts that were foreign to him kept intruding in his mind, slowing his reactions and distracting him when he could ill afford it. He couldn't get off the defensive with the handicaps his mind kept handing him and she eventually had him backed against a wall.

He thought he saw a flash of red from the corner of his eye, but when he spared a glance to the space where he thought he'd seen it, there was nothing but the green of the Mediterranean garden. He should not have allowed himself to be distracted by what he thought he saw, but his thoughts were so anarchic that he didn't have the presence of mind to keep himself as aware of his enemy as he needed to be. Her next attack was devastating, leaving his stomach gaping open and blood pouring from him. He could feel his stolen strength pouring out with the blood.

She stepped forward with a look of triumph on her face, only to have it disappear in horrified agony as a stubby silver blade suddenly projected from her throat. She stumbled forward into Alex's waiting arms when Elias jerked his sword free and the injured vampire took advantage of her shock to bury his face in her already gouting wound. His teeth tore further in and he bore her to the ground using all of his energy reserves to hold her until her struggles slowed and he was able to greedily drink as much of her as his body would take. He let much of her blood spill from his mouth, but consumed the final dregs that he drew from her as she died. His last thought before a tidal wave of memories swept him under was that he understood why vampires never seemed to settle for merely taking a little from their victims, but had to gorge on every last drop.

•••

Father Elias stood panting over the fallen vampire for a moment. All of the other demons had been vanquished. He had considered allowing Alexander Anderson to exist a while longer after the creature had come to his aid and helped him destroy all the other vampires, but the spectacle of a man who had once been a paladin of the faith feeding from that woman like any other abomination had banished any thoughts of staying his hand. He would be doing the man a favor by destroying him now. He prayed that God might take his former service as paladin and priest into consideration.

Elias spoke a quiet prayer and raised his sword to grant Anderson a mercifully swift execution. His arm was wrenched out of its downswing and bent behind his back hard enough to break bones in both his upper and lower arm and dislocate his shoulder. A sharp knee in his back and inhuman strength pushed him to the ground with a gasp of pain.

"The Judas Priest is mine, Iscariot. If you ever want to see another sunrise, you'll remember that."

•••

He was buried in memories. He was a young woman whose only crime was wanting to paint. He was a man whose greatest glory was in serving God. He was a teacher who grew up in mid-21st century California. He was tortured for reporting his rape at the hands of his teacher. He was turned into a vampire by a woman who told him she would show him the mysteries of eternity. He was stolen from his parish by a vampire in red. He died in late middle age with his children around him and rose from the grave goaded by his undying hatred and feelings of injustice. He fought vampires with the grace of God behind him. He punished humans who thought they could loot the mysteries of his Goddess. He served his Mistress Artemisia with a clear heart and mind. He…

Judas Priest. Wake up.

He had been Alexander Anderson. He had been Robert Philips. He had been Artemisia Gentileschi.

Alexander Anderson. Wake up!

He had been an Iscariot. He had been a disciple of Sekhmet. He had been Sekhmet's earthly representative. He had been…

Alexander Anderson! You are Alexander Anderson. You are a vampire in my service and in the service of the Hellsing Organization. You were a human who hunted vampires for the Catholic Church. You were a paladin. You were an Iscariot. You were my enemy and now you are my child. Wake up!

I am…

…Robert…

…Father Anderson…

…Artemisia…

…regenerator…

…vampire…

…paladin…

…apostate…

…Alex…

Alexander Anderson.

Alucard watched with satisfaction as Anderson's eyes opened. "What took ye so long?"