Order two: Guardians
The hunter flew threw the waning night sky in the form of one of the local owls, one of the perks of being a guardian of humanity was the number of creatures he could morph. into for his needs. The night's hunt had been good, three gamma class demons and several minor ones had been banished into the abyss. He had managed to save several humans from possession, the one boy however, was a different matter.
Cloning, the process of creating a human without the act of sex, had produced the boy. It was also a trespass into God's territory of creation, another sin due to man's arrogance. Because there were not two parents, a soul could not be formed for the body, hence it was an empty shell, perfect for a demon to take hold of.
Typically a guardian wouldn't return to the nest for weeks at a time, another plus to being a protector of humanity, no need to eat or sleep. He could hunt down demons for weeks before he would need to return to repair his armor and replenish his supplies. But the discovery of the clone required him to alert the other nests.
He glided over the cities warehouse area just as the sun broke over the horizon. He had to admit that being an owl was an amazing thing, the sight, silence and grace of the bird had enraptured him as a boy before he died, now he could become any variation of one. Swooping down he found the warehouse he was looking for and dived through one of the open windows.
Inside a man was hard at work at a forge, classic rock was blazing in the background as he pounded away at the red-hot metal. Without looking up or even having to hear the sound of a body changing its shape, he shouted over the music. "Hey kid. Your home early wouldn't you say?"
At the moment the guardian, or kid, was between an owl and a man. His general form was human, but the skin pattern looked like tattooed owl feathers. A moment later that faded as well and was replaced with his clothing and weaponry. "Dealt with a possessed clone tonight, have to phone it in to the rest of the local nest's Will."
William looked up from his work, throwing the weapon into a pool of water he walked over and turned of the blazing music. "A what?!"
Kid just rolled his exposed eye, blazing music wasn't exactly the best thing for the man of fifty years. "I banished a demon that was possessing a clone." He repeated.
"Bloody hell, well smart move coming back to report it. Ill get on the computer and send out the message to the local nests to look out for any more of them. Anything else kid?"
"Yeah... encountered a vampire tonight." Kid said as he leaned against a table, un clipping his head gear he put the set down on the table before rubbing his head.
"Oh yeah, what generation?" William asked half interested as he began typing a string of code words on the computer.
"I'D have to say fourth, maybe five gen."
"Really? Not a lot of those running around anymore, most of them have gone the way of their ancestors. Kill it?"
Kid thought for a moment, why didn't he kill the fallen guardian? Because he didn't smell human blood on her, that's why. "No, this one was working with the local vampire hunters."
Williams looked up in surprise, he knew of only two supposed vampires that hunted their own kind. One had gone missing a while back. "Was it a girl? Looked about nineteen to twenty?"
"Yeah... how did you know about that?"
"Not many vampires of that generation hunt their own kind." Hitting a few keys he brought up a profile, the image matched the girl perfectly, save for the different eye color. "Seras Victoria, third generation, the sire was Alucard a.k.a. Dracula, Vald the impaler, etc. a second generation. Kind of a strange sire to fledgling pairing considering who Alucard was."
Kid looked at the image, when he saw her the darkness in the room hadn't revealed much about her looks, then again he didn't care at that moment. Now that he got a good look his head started pounding. "Kid you alright?"
"She's, she's familiar to me." Kid said as he rubbed his forehead. "What did the other one look like?"
William hit some keys on the board and a moment later a man clad in red with black unkept hair appeared. "Hmm, looks a little like you."
Kid just grinned, there were a few similarities, the black hair mostly, but that was really all that they seemed to have in common. "Well, the other nests have been alerted, go and head back out, ill see you in a few days."
Kid just nodded before putting the head gear back on. With any luck he would be able to back another dozen before the day was up. Selecting one of the local predatory birds he flew out the window while Williams flicked on the radio and went back to work. Before getting back to work he briefly wondered how the kid, as he had first called him when he was paired with him, could have known a fourth generation vampire. Well it didn't matter, if the fallen guardian got in the kid's way, he knew what he would do.
Time Stamp: Present, day after vampire hunting mission
Location: Hellsing Mansion
Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, leader of England's elite vampire hunting group, thought over the account that her new servant, Seras Victoria, had given her. The blood-painted hallway, the supposed possessed boy and the intruder that defeated the demon. That detail of the night's mission was what interested Integra the most.
A new breed of Vatican agent trained to hunt demons? If that was the case than why did he not engage Seras? No, judging by what Seras said the way he was dressed would seem to counter the Vatican. A rouge hunter then? Possibly, if that was the case then maybe they could convince him to join them in the fight against the undead. Then there was the third and most disturbing possibility, that the hunter was indeed an agent of an organization, but served under the Union jacket and the queen felt that there was no need to mention such an organization even though Hellsing and their path would cross. "Ridiculous..."
"What is Sir Integra?" Walter said as he was bringing in her afternoon tea.
"Oh just a thought Walter, about this hunter that Seras reported. He's not one of ours, doesn't stick to the way the Vatican and their sections operate, and the most ridiculous thought just came to my mind that the queen herself might actually have another group of hunters for demon hunting while we deal with vampires."
"Well, you will be able to ask her yourself in a week. This came with you in the mail." Walter said as he handed her a white envelope before mixing correct amounts of cream and sugar into Sir Integra's tea.
Opening the letter, she quickly read the contents. A low growl escaped her throat before she started to idly say out loud some of the sentences in the letter. "You are cordially required, formal clothing is necessary, a companion of a level five or higher clearance is required ... " Integra trailed off.
Walter merely chuckled. "It would seem that the queen herself wrote a special invite just for you, Sir Integra."
"Honestly Walter, I would give my life for my queen and country, but sometimes I feel that she treats me like I am her stubborn granddaughter." Integra said as she set the "obligated invite" down and picked up her cup of tea.
"Is there anyone that you would like to have accompany you to the annual ball Sir Integra?" Integra thought for a moment, she could easily see the queens underlying reasons for the special invite, the knights and their sons, single men of noble birth etc. would most likely be in attendance. A sly grin played across her face when she thought of the perfect companion and, unlike her progenitor, would most likely behave herself.
Time Stamp: three months prior to present, three weeks after Nathan's death
Location: Iscariot Head Quarters, Vatican city
Yumiko was shaken, the documents in her hand had to be a lie. But this was Section thirteen, nothing was a lie, and to top it off their boss, Encrio Maxwell, had his signature on the executing order. She walked pasted some of her fellow agents, now aware of the dull emptiness in their eyes. They seemed to pay her no mind as she continued on to her room.
"Heinkel?" Yumiko asked out loud when she entered the pairs room. Heinkel looked up from her desk, several of her hand guns, collected over the years laid partly disassembled.
"Vhat Yumiko?" Heinkel asked looking up from cleaning one of her preferred weapons.
"I found, I found the documents..." Yumiko stammered, still in shock over what was revealed on the official parchments of paper.
"So, is it true, about Nathan?"
Yumiko nodded, "And they have already started with the next phase of the plan, Heinkel we need to get out of here. What the boss is doing is ungodly..."
"Im sure if we took it to the pope tha...."
"Heinkel, the pope cosigned it!" both remained silent for several minutes. In their profession, they believed they were doing holy work, that it was God's will that they slay the undead and heathens without mercy, but after reading what was in the file, the two girls thought that Martian Luther might have been onto something after all.
"We need to get out of here, warn someone..." Heinkel mumbled
Time Stamp: Present
Location: In transit to Buckingham Palace, Ballroom
"Master, is it really needed that I attend this, this facade with you?" Seras inquired as she adjusted the red and black dress to better fit her frame. The pair were in an English style limo heading for the Queen's residence when Seras asked the question for the third time. Integra puffed at her cigar, maybe Alucard had left more of himself in Seras than she had realized, if this kept up than it wouldn't be long before Seras started popping in through the walls just to annoy her. Integra herself was wearing a deep blue dress and silver cross that strangely complemented her body that was normally hidden under her typical green suit.
"Yes, officer Victoria, it is. It's important that Hellsing shows that regardless of the loss of one of our trump cards that we are strong regardless. Besides, with you here the queens alternate plan will most likely go afoul."
"Oh? So all im here is to serve as a distraction, to all the male suitors is it?"
"Not at all Seras, you can have some fun, within limits of course."
Time Stamp: ten hours before present
Location: warehouse area
"Hey kid, remember anything about formal dancing?" Williams asked.
Kid was sharpening one of his arm blades in the workshop when Williams asked. "Im not going to like where this is leading to am I?"
Williams held out a letter for kid, taking it, kid read the contents. "Silver cross?"
"Yeah, one of the queens 'unofficial' organizations. They rarely make an appearance and when they do they never send the same representative twice. They do information retrieval as well as several other activities."
"And what's to keep them from appearing at this ball?" Kid inquired, hopping to find some reason not to go to the social event. He was positive he didn't care for such things before he became a phoenix.
"They made an appearance about two years ago, and their trend is usually four. Look, like it or not we need to figure out where that possessed clone came from, your going."
"Great... well, how are we going to pull this off?" Williams just grinned.
P-O2-G/
Several hours later the two were dressed in formal wear. Williams had brushed his grey hair into something presentable and Kid, at the recommendation of Williams, had altered his facial features to something that was a mix of his normal and hunting face to produce something of a count. To add to the effect he turned his hair pure white, tied it off into a pony tail and allow some hair to hang off as bangs in front of his face. The result was a man that looked like he was ripped from another time but didn't care if upset those around him.
"Here, put this on." Williams handed Kid a decelerated ring. "Normally you're able to see if someone is possessed but not if they have been near someone that has been possessed. This ring has some Latin words written about it that will allow you to see a kind of residue of a demon on someone."
"Nice, any draw backs?"
"It only works to about fifteen feet and it won't tell you how long the person was close to someone being possessed. With any luck will be able to see if the demons have just been taking the cloned bodies."
Time Stamp: Present
Location: Buckingham Palace, Ballroom
Six months ago Seras would have been thrilled to attend a ball, heck she would have been ecstatic if she could attend one after Alucard had turned her. But now, as with everything else recently, it didn't make her happy, in fact knowing that she was here just to encourage any suitor to ask her to dance instead of her master only served to darken her mood. Finally she had found some small comfort in watching the snow fall from the window. Most people found the weather an annoyance at best, a hazard at worst. Those that truly enjoyed the sight of course were children, if enough fell than they would get a day off from school. To Seras however, it was comforting to watch the frozen ice crystals fall and do there dance in the wind with the night as their back drop. Not many undead or mortals could truly enjoy the rare beauty.
Slowly, her thoughts turned to past winters with Nathan and his family. After her father had died, Nathan and his family were all that she had. To them, she was already family, life had played a twisted joke on her that night in Cheddar. It had ripped her away from Nathan, brought him back only to have it force her to end his life. She had hopped for something mystical, like Nathan somehow beating the odds and becoming a vampire like her, God knew she tried to feed him some of her blood. Or maybe something like he became a part of her, no luck there either. What they said was true. Life was a bitch.
P-O2-G/
"Announcing Commander Perry and Commander Lucas of, the Silver Cross organization." Most people turned in surprise of who was entering the ball room under the banner of Silver Cross, the Queen's unofficial intelligence and intervention agency. Unofficial just like Hellsing and the round table conference, but Silver Cross members always carried an air of mystery. Those that got to close to Silver Cross, even if they were allies, tended to disappear.
Slowly the two appeared at the top of the stair case, both seemed to be talking about something that confused both of them but quickly dropped the subject as they proceeded down the stairs.
The elder of the two commanders appeared to be in his mid fifties, but physically fit but time had aged him. The man's hair was grey and a salt and pepper goatee decelerated his face that seemed to partly hide a scar that ran close to his mouth. He carried a cane in his right hand and wore a black glove with the left. The other appeared to be in his early twenties and was physically fit as well. He was tall, well built but had some definite oddities about him. The most striking was his hair was white and the way he wore it. His dress seemed to be a mix of old and modern, strange yet tastefully done to create the idea that the commander was in fact a throwback from another time that was trying to bring back a trend.
The party continued as usual despite the surprise arrival of the Silver Cross. Integra had been watching the two commanders for a while after they were announced. There was always something about Silver Cross that she never really liked. They were the group responsible for informing Hellsing of most vampirc activity but from some of the rumors she heard about them sent shivers down her spine. Some rumors said that they didn't even report to the Queen, that instead they were a mere branch of a larger, global organization. Other rumors spoke of the darker side of Silver Cross, an elite group of assassins and spies that sold their services to the highest bidder, usually the Queen, but that wasn't always the case.
Integra noticed the younger of the two commanders had eventually found himself looking out the window not that far from Seras. An idea came to her when she caught the young commander stealing glances of Seras every now and then. Mentally, she sent Seras her commands, hopefully the younger commander would be willing to impress someone like Seras.
P-O2-G/
Seras was a bit surprised and more annoyed at her Master's command.
'I guess this is my punishment for failing to deter the men...' Seras thought sourly to herself. Again, if Nathan or Alucard were still around, she wouldn't mind mingling with people, but this felt like an annoying mother trying to get her child to interact with boys again after a breakup. Spotting her target she was taken aback by the man's appearance, she hadn't bothered looking when the Silver Cross commanders were announced.
From where she was standing she was able to see the profile of the commander, his face interested her the most. As she approached, the commander either didn't see her or paid no interest as he continued to stare out into the darkness being sprinkled with white. "Good evening, my name is-"
"Seras Victoria, age 22, sired by the vampire Alucard roughly four years ago. You were formally with D-11, about two years ago you were given a serum that allowed you to become mortal again and rejoined D-11. Three days later you rejoined Alucard and the Hellsing organization by allowing Alucard to re-embrace you. You will only drink donated blood, except for on one occasion..." The commander said before turning to address the surprised Seras Victoria.
Bowing slightly, "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Commander Nathaniel Lucas."
Needless to say, Seras was a bit taken aback by the man's apparent knowledge of her and her history with Hellsing over the past few years with the organization of vampire hunters. It definitely put her at a disadvantage, how much did he know about her and all she knew was his name. "Oh forgive me, I've put you at a disadvantage haven't I."
Seras thought quickly, this man wasn't like other humans. The typical male of both mortal and undead was more interested in her body, she doubted that this one was considered typical, but maybe... "Well, thanks for saving me the trouble of introducing myself, would you be so kind as to give me a brief lesson into your history?"
The Commander chuckled, "Of course, under the condition that I do so while we dance." Seras agreed to the commanders request, something about him reminded her of Nathan, it had to be the eyes. She soon found herself for the first time in three months actually enjoying the company of another, after a while she was throughly enjoying herself in the commander's company. And almost as if fate realized that Seras Victoria had found a moment of peace and happiness, the commander suddenly stopped their dance.
P-O2-G/
At first, kid thought the dancing would be a distraction, and he was right. This vampiris, this Seras Victoria, was maddeningly familiar to him. She wasn't the typical fallen guardian that he had come across and quickly silenced. There was an innocence in her, and yet at the same time a sadness that was vast becoming bitterness. That, in time, would destroy her innocence and he actually feared he would come across her one night have to silence her.
It was strange though, in his time of being a guardian of humanity he had developed countless abilities. One such ability was that he could sense others emotions. What he felt from Seras, was like coldness gradually giving way to warmth, had this girl been deprived of joy for so long? He wanted to ask her why she was bitter, but that would blow his cover.
She looked up at him, a small smile on her face, her red eyes were soft and warm. She looked as if she was about to say something when an image flashed through his mind. The two of them, Seras and himself, were walking along in a park, he had eventually gotten down on one knee and opened a small box. As if he was off in a distance he could hardly hear what he himself said. She apparently said yes, and as they drew closer together for a kiss he noticed something, her eyes were blue.
'Where did that come from?!' Kid shouted in his mind. He needed to get out of there, quick. He needed a reason, anything to get out of her presence, the fact that they were close was doing something to him. As if on cue, he felt a reaction from his ring as two men entered the radius and proceeded up the stairs to another room, in their company was Sir Integra.
"If you would excuse me, Miss Victoria, I must attend to a matter. Good night." Kid left before Seras could reply, within moments he spotted Williams mingling with some of the women from the party.
"If you would excuse us ladies." Kid quickly said to the ladies before grabbing Williams.
"Your timing sucks Kid, I thought I was going to get lucky tonight." Williams protested.
"..., And you became my operator how?"
"Hey, im human. So why did you pull me from entertaining the girls?"
"Your little toy worked, I spotted a pair of humans that have been near some demons heading up the stairs with Sir Hellsing. Im going to go up and take a look, I might need a distraction later, so get ready." With that, Kid was off.
"Um, excuse me, commander." Williams turned to find a young, strawberry, red-eyed blonde in front of him.
"Oh, Miss Victoria, how may I help you."
P-O2-G/
"Well gentlemen, what is the real reason for this meeting?" Integra had been led into an empty room by two of the queens personal aid with the understanding that the queen had given them instructions to pass onto her in private. Fortunately for Integra she knew the Queen like a favored aunt and detected the ruse instantly, she just decided to go along with the facade to see where this would lead.
"Well Miss Hellsing, we thought you would like to see your replacement." At that moment a door opened, stepping into the room was a was an exact copy of Integra.
"Good evening gentlemen, I trust everything is in order?" The copy said in the exact pitch, tone, and carry of the woman she was meant to replace.
"Yes, master, we will finish up in here, please go out into the party and enjoy yourself." One of the men said in a respective tone. The copy nodded her head before exiting the room.
"Vampire filth, do you think that Seras will be fooled so easily?" Integra smirked, these vampires, or freaks, weren't that smart to think that her organization would be fooled by copy like that.
"Vampires? Ha! Vampires would be too stupid to comprehend such a plan. Come now, as a Hellsing don't you know a vampire from a human?" One of the men said as he pulled out a small hand gun complete with a silencer.
"Should we do it here?" the other asked.
"Why not, we were promised new bodies after this, no need to be careful, enough rounds in her face will make an ID rather impossible."
"What the hell are you?" Integra demanded, she didn't have any means to defend herself but she would be damned if she would show any fear to these low lives.
"Hmm, funny that you would mention hell..." The man said as he leveled the gun at Integra.
Authors Note:
Okay, before anyone says im getting spiritual or putting any political views of cloning and what the church thinks of it into my fanfic I will say here and now that I am not. 1) Science has yet to yield a fully functional human clone so the way the clones will act in my story are totally a guess on my part. If man ever does manage to create a human clone and the clone acts like a normal human, ill think about changing my story (doubt it). 2) The demons taking over a clone body is yet another idea for the stories plot, if anyone thinks otherwise than that's your right to think that. 3) "Kid's" thoughts on cloning are entirely his thoughts and so he has no problem dispensing clones, think of how Anderson has no problem dispensing non-Catholics.