The War (part 2)

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Mouse told Integra about the change of guards.

"They're spies." said Integra. "When we bring them in for the night, they will scope us out and report back to the knights."

"This is getting ridicules." complained Mouse.

"It will all be over soon. This is the ninth month. Dr. Cornelia says it could be any day now." informed Integra.

"Just great. The knights picked a perfect time to attack us. If they don't kill us, we'll be up to our asses in demons." complained Mouse. "I'd better go and check the inventory."

"Mouse." called Integra.

"Yes, master." answered Mouse.

"No matter what happens…Thank you."

Mouse smiled.

"Your welcome…stepmother."

Integra gave a Mouse a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Call me that again and I'll stuff you in an oven."

"Ha Ha Ha."

"It wasn't that funny." stated Integra, wondering why Mouse was laughing so hard.

"No, I was just thinking of Seras and Walter and a trail of bread crumbs." laughed Mouse.

"Hm. This will be interesting. You and your music, Seras and her stories. Alucard the vampire father and Walter the vampire butler. Good Grief, I am the only human here." sighed Integra.

"Worry not master. You and your children will be well protected." promised Mouse. "Now and forever."

Suddenly, something flew at high speed towards the house. Mouse looked up, grabbed Integra, and disappeared to Alucard's room.

"What the …!" exclaimed Integra, as Mouse grabbed her.

They had just appeared in Alucard's room when they heard a thunderous boom.

BBOOOOM!

"GO! Go! Go! Capture Integra! Kill all others!"

The Initial blast hit the front door and took the front wall with it. Hundreds of troops poured out of their vehicles and stormed across the lawn towards the house. Tanks positioned themselves to cover the driveways of Integra's home; cutting off any vehicle escape route. Well behind the lines of fire, One hundred Vatican Priests encircled the house. They set up their holy barrier and began casting their sacred spells. The grounds of the Hellsing Manor began to glow brightly with white light. And behind them, ten angry knights hell bent on Integra's destruction. From their command centers, they coordinated their attack.

"Alucard." called Mouse.

No sooner than she had called his name, than the screaming began. Alucard burst forth from his coffin, growling with all the fury of hell itself. His dark presence filled the room as he roared his pain. In their rooms, Seras and Walter also began to scream and writhe in pain within their coffin beds. Both of them jolted awake and screamed in agony as their chests burned with holy fire. They ripped at their chests, their heads, and their backs; ripping the clothes from their flesh and their flesh from their bodies.

"Make them stop!" shouted Seras, ripping her ears from her head and trying to shut out the sound of the chanting priests. "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!"

"Alucard." feared Integra.

But he didn't respond to her. He was to busy ripping the flesh from his own face. Suddenly, Integra screamed and bent over in pain.

"OH, GOD!" she screamed. "What's happening!"

Mouse too was now starting to feel the effects.

"It would seem master that even we dhampires are not immune." said Mouse, now shaking in pain and panting for air.

"AAALLUUUCCAARRRRRDD!" screamed Integra.

Finally, Alucard stopped clawing at his face and looked down at Integra. She was now lying on the floor, holding her belly, and screaming in pain.

"No!" he growled, as he went to her side.

He covered her with his body and began trying to counter the Vatican's spells with his own. His dark presence now filled the room creating a bubble of sanctuary for himself, Integra, and Mouse.

"Mouse." said Alucard.

"I know. Get the others."

Mouse disappeared and soon returned with Walter and Seras in her arms. She dropped them on the floor under Alucard's protective shadow. Soon they stopped screaming. They lay unmoving and unconscious as their bodies slowly regenerated. Alucard growled in animalistic anger as he sought to counter the Vatican's attack; but there were too many of them. His field of protection started to shrink.

"Mouse! Kill." ordered Alucard.

"Yes, sir." obeyed Mouse.

"Mouse" called Integra from the floor.

"It's us or them master." said Mouse.

"They're Catholics." sneered Integra, as she struggled to speak from the intense pain. "Give them my regards."

"Yes, sir." acknowledged Mouse, with a wicked grin.

BOOOM!

Again the house shook with all the violent force of an earthquake. Integra looked up at Alucard; he was in full vampire mode and looked more demon that man. His face showed the strain as sweat poured down from his face. As always, he was doing his damnedest to protect her. But not only her. She looked over at Walter and Seras who were passed out on the floor. He was protecting his family.

"Alucard?" called Integra, with worry and concern in her voice.

Alucard heard her and looked down at her. His eyes were so dark and so full of death. He would die before he let anything happen to them.

"Hurry Mouse." whispered Integra.

Mouse reappeared upstairs. And though she saw hundreds of men running all over the house, she ignored them and ran outside. She was greeted by the Army of the Knights.

"Kill her!" came the order.

Under a barrage of bullets, she pulled out her guns and started shooting every priest in sight. Shot after shot, each one hit its mark; ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…

Suddenly, she heard a voice inside her head.

"Hurry, Mouse."

Mouse rushed into battle. Hundreds of soldiers flew at her seeking to take her life, but she dodged them all; her first priority was the priests.

"Protect the priests." shouted Sir Kent, as he saw method to her movements.

Ten men each surrounded each priest. Mouse heard the sounds of chaos and communication around her.

"There's no one here!"

"They must all be in the basement."

"Converge on the lower levels."

"Kill everything, save Integra Hellsing."

"Too slow. I can't do this alone." reasoned Mouse. "Come my children. Chew through their lines of communication. Make them deaf and blind."

All of sudden, hundreds of thousands of rats scrambled over every piece of military equipment. Mouse's rats chew through all the communication lines, through all of the firing and visual equipment. Tanks rolled to a stand sill, vehicles stopped in their tracks as their engines were made dead. Everything form of listening, speaking, and seeing was cut off and chewed through.

"Alpha team…..report…..Crrsss."

"I've got….Crrss."

"We need ….Crrss."

"Damn it! She's cut off all our communications." shouted Sir Morse.

"Someone kill that little girl!" shouted Sir Kent.

Mouse continued to kill priests as her legion of rats now tore into the soldiers. Being overrun by rats distracted the more fearful cowards; but the seasoned vets just started shooting everything in sight. Sixty-five, sixty-four, sixty-three.

"MOUSE!"

Mouse heard it again, Integra's voice. Slow, still too slow. She needed to distract the priests. She needed….

Mouse closed her eyes and started singing; the Aria of the Assailed.

"Il mio dio nel cielo, che ha generato tutti io vede. Nella mia ora più grande, elemosino il thee lo sento. I miei nemici sono molti e cercano il mio demise. Elemosino e beseech il signore di thee, sento i miei cries. Occorra la mia vita, se quello che avete bisogno di; ma risparmi il mio stepmother ed il suo seme. Occorra la mia vita, quella che dò liberamente; ma risparmi la mia famiglia, lascili vivere."

Mouse sang so hard and so loud, that not even the sounds of war could drown her out. Mouse sang with all her being, all her might…and all her love. Tears of pleading ran down her face as she continued to sing. So beautifully did Mouse sing, that all stopped to listen. The guns stopped, the shouting stopped, the chanting stopped. In that moment, Mouse stood arms outstretched and face toward heaven. In that moment, the sun broke through the clouds and shown down on Mouse. In that moment, they would swear an angel stood before them on the lawn. Her face, her voice, and her being all shown with light and in that moment everything stopped…

Alucard broke free.

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

His demonic force of death and retribution ebbed from him like the great Atlantic Ocean. He pushed his field of protection out beyond the room, out beyond the house, beyond the knights. Now everything, within a two mile radius was under his command. He called his undead army to him. One by one, they sprang up from the ground. Mouse smiled as she felt their presence behind her.

"Heinkel, Rip, Schrödinger." called Alucard.

Each one formed from his shadows and stood before him.

"You too. Go." he commanded.

Mouse stood on the lawn, general to her father's army. She stopped singing when she saw the souls of Heinkel, Rip, and Schrödinger stand beside her. She looked at them. They stood ready. They were only waiting for orders.

"Kill them all. Save the Knights." ordered Mouse. "Father will want to see them before they die."

At Mouse's command, Alucard's army rushed into battle with all the fury of starving jackals. They cut, gutted, ripped, shredded, and murdered every man that stood before them. Mouse stood on the lawn, firing at and watching as every priest tried to run, butthey werecut down as though they were standing still. Soldiers ran in every direction, some to escape, some to rally and regroup. But their resistance was for naught and they died screaming as their bodies were torn limb from limb.

Walter and Seras had recovered. Alucard sent them to clean house. As Mouse killed every soldier outside, Walter and Seras killed every soldier in every room of Integra's home. Seras had always avoided bloodshed of humans when she could. Killing was wrong, but these men were no better than the men that had invaded her home, murdered her father, and raped her mother, when she was a child. They had killed her then. They had shot her and left her to die in a pool of her own blood. Only she didn't die, not then and not now. Seras roared with anger and hatred as she tore through every…single… one of them. She showed them no mercy as she ripped their heads off their shoulders. She ripped their hearts out and sucked the blood from them as they screamed in horror at their death.

Alucard watched Seras slightly amused. He knew she had it in her. It just took her a while to find it. Alucard looked down at Integra. She lay unmoving. He picked her up and carried her to his bed. He gently placed her there and then laid a hand on her stomach, checking the condition of his children. They would be fine. They were just exhausted from the strain. They all needed rest. Alucard left his dog familiar to watch over her.

"Let no one enter this room." he commanded.

The six eyed dog growled its understanding.

Alucard left the room and went outside. The war was over. It only took two hours and ten minutes. Alucard stood on the lawn and waited as Mouse, Heinkel, Schrödinger, Rip, Walter and Seras rounded up the knights and brought them to him. Alucard stood before them as a warlord and smiled wickedly, in victory, as ten Knights of the Round Table were forced to their knees before him. The knights watched in amazement and horror as Alucard stood his arms outstretched. Heinkel, Schrödinger, and Rip, all covered in the blood of their enemies, walked straight into Alucard's waiting body. He sighed in satisfaction as the souls of his conquered enemies retook their place among the lost souls. Walter sniffed the air and looked down at Sir Jeffery.

"Someone needs a change of underwear." he laughed.

Alucard growled at them with hatred as he spoke.

"YOU SOUGHT TO KILL ME AND TAKE MY WIFE FROM ME!"

The knights said nothing. Some didn't know what to say. They were so sure that they were going to win, that they were still trying to figure out how and why they lost. Others were too afraid to speak. They didn't need to say a word though, Alucard could read their minds.

"Please don't kill us."

"This is all her fault."

"We'll win next time."

"Damn you to hell."

He had heard these pleas before…so many many times before. Alucard was about to speak, but Sir Kent spoke first.

"We will not beg for our lives." he said proudly. "We the Knights of the Round Table protect England from beast like you! Next time, we will win. Next time…"

"Next time? What makes you think I will let you live that long? Beasts like me? I have never killed a pregnant woman in my life or my death. But I soon will, if any of your women are with child." declared Alucard. "Usually, I would impale men like you, butI want you to be the last to die."

Alucard smiled as he saw the faces of the Knights fall.

"Mouse, Walter, Seras. Crucify them." ordered Alucard.

"NO!" shouted Sir Jeffery.

"Stop!" shouted Sir Wright. "You can't do this."

"Enough!" shouted Alucard. "You'd better use what little breath you have left to pray for the live of your families, because I intend to keep my promise to you Knights."

Then he saw it. Their bravado fell as they realized the full weight of his words. Alucard had sworn to kill not only the knights, but ALL of their immediate family. Fear for their families gripped each man as he shouted his protest.

"NO!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"The Queen will not allow you….."

"The Queen." laughed Alucard. "Don't pull her into this now. Not when you've left her out of it for so long. Honestly, a bunch of grown men, hiding behind the skirt of a woman. Did you honestly believe that she could protect you from me?"

Suddenly, Integra walked up behind Alucard. She looked up at the knights, as each one hung from a cross. She smirked at them. Alucard looked at her. She was walking towards him, with his familiar by her side.

"I told you …" began Alucard, talking to his familiar.

"You told him to not let anyone into the room." said Integra, now standing before Alucard. "You never said I couldn't leave it."

Alucard just chuckled as he waved the dog away.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, concerned. "You should be resting."

"I wanted to see their faces, one last time, before they die." she said, looking at each one with nothing but contempt.

"Integra!"

"Integra, stop him!"

"Call off your monster!"

"My monster? Heh. Heh. Heh." laughed Integra, her anger finally past its point of no return. "He's not my monster anymore. He's yours. He's the monster you created with your lust for power and revenge."

One by one, she looked at them all as they hung hopeless, helpless, and powerless, upon her front lawn. All their plans, all their power, all the men and women at their command; and yet for all that power, nothing could help them now. She stopped at Sir Kent and addressed him.

"I would ask why, but I don't care anymore. I gave my life to protect England, her majesty, and you. And for my loyalty, you betrayed me, jailed me, kidnapped me, and now you try to murder my family. Never again. I have always protected England and her majesty, and I always will. However, I will do it without your constant interference and beratement. Alucard."

"Yes, Integra."

"Make sure their families know full well why they are about to die." said Integra, as she looked him straight in the eye.

Alucard smiled as he read her mind, about how she wanted him to kill the families of the knights. They really did think a lot alike.

"Ha Ha Ha." laughed Alucard manically. "Gentlemen, my wife. Isn't she grand?"

With that Integra turned and walked back towards the house. Alucard watched her go.

"Seras."

"Yes, master."

"Watch Integra. Mouse, Walter, and I…"

"Master!" exclaimed Mouse, as she rushed to Integra's side.

"Alucard!" called Integra, in intense pain. "They're coming."

"Who?" he asked, greatly angered that his revenge would be delayed. "Which enemy this time? More priests?"

"NO! The children are coming!" screamed Integra.

"What!" gasped Walter and Seras.

"Arrgh!" groaned Integra.

"Integra, now is not a good time." complained Alucard.

"Alucard!" screamed Integra.

"Father, you should get her to her room. I'll call Dr. Cornelia." said Mouse, pulling out her cell phone.

"Guess you guys will have to wait." snickered Walter. "Hang around; we'll get back to you."

"Walter, aren't you forgetting something. If Integra's in labor, the gates of hell are open! Sundown is in 30 minuets!" shouted Seras in a state of panic.

"Put them in front of the house." ordered Alucard, as he picked up Integra. "Maybe chewing on the knights will slow the demons down."

"Alucard!" cried Integra.

Alucard disappeared.

"No!"

"You can't leave us here!"

"Let us go!"

"NO, stop! Not like this. Not like this."

"Please! Let us go to protect our families!"

"DAMN YOU FILTHY BEASTS, LET US GO!"

"Hurry and hang 'em high." said Mouse, as she started trying to rebuild the barrier. "Then meet me in the armory. We got twenty-eight minutes to live."

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Note: Translation of Mouse's Song "Aria of the Assailed"

"My God in heaven, which created all I see. In my greatest hour, I beg thee hear me. My enemies are many and seek my demise. I beg and beseech thee lord, hear my cries. Take my life, If that you need; but spare my stepmother and her seed. Take my life, that I freely give; but save my family, let them live."