He stood beneath and behind his protective canopy and watched as he was lowered into London. The blessings on his shelter would keep Dracula and his minions as well as Millennium's vampires out. Bulletproof glass would shield him from stray weaponfire, and his knights and warriors would keep him safe until it was time to walk through the rubble, blessing the ground to reclaim it for the Church.
He was too important to risk, after all. He was an archbishop.
His lips skinned away from his teeth in feral pleasure as he watched the destruction of London. Somewhere out there was his only true enemy, the only one worthy of his personal attention. His people would fetch her and then she and Maxwell would speak.
Before he had her executed for heresy.
Perhaps he'd have Integral Hellsing burned at the stake for willfully consorting with a demon like Dracula. Oh yes, that seemed fitting – just another funeral pyre in the midst of the greater conflagration that pushed the dark of night away from London.
And then all of Maxwell's dreams and fantasies were quite literally blown to hell by one bullet that destroyed the helicopter that had been dangling him over the battle. Maxwell lost his smile to a grimace of terror as he plummeted to the ground, but he survived and his protective bubble was still intact. He let himself believe that he would survive this. It was God's will.
And there was God's servant, Alexander Anderson to protect him from the encroaching minions of Satan in the guise of Hellsing's vampire. Anderson would protect him as he had since Maxwell was a child.
He let himself believe that he would survive.
And he was betrayed, playing Christ to Anderson's Judas when he watched those blessed bayonets fly, not at the evil around him, but at Maxwell's own shelter. Anderson gave him not to the Romans, but to the devil himself.
"Traitor!"
"Chief. Please wake up. Chief Maxwell."
Maxwell pulled the newspaper away from his face and sat up, wiping the spittle away from his mouth. Only a dream. Thank God, only a dream.
Why then did news of Anderson's actions send a cold chill down his spine?