Hey they, here we are again. Long time since I had an update, but what can I say if I don't feel like writing I'm not going to force it just more the sake of an update. All that being said I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this particular chapter and I hope it turn out okay and I hope you enjoy it, and be sure to let me know what you think.
Oh and also the names of the three vampires are a very intentional reference so Noone bite my head off over it haha.
"The vampire Alucard, The Count, The Dragon, Vlad the Impaler…he was Hellsing's most powerful weapon, and he has not been seen these past fifteen years. Hellsing's ranks are still thin and brittle. The Vatican's forces and Iscariot have been torn asunder and have been slow to recover. I appreciate your concern in the matter Markus, but now is the time to strike. We have waited far too long for my taste as it is, no tonight we will begin to claim the world that should have always been ours." Said an elderly looking vampires whose face a mired in shadow as he starred at his displeased compatriot.
"With all due respect Viktor, we've only a few hundred ghouls and no new vampires to our cause, should we not wait until our ranks have been bolstered by more substantial soldiers?" The much younger one pleaded with his leader, hoping that they would be able to salvage what he saw as a mess.
"Why wait?" a feminine voice said as a young woman made her presence known to her male cohorts. "Alucard is gone, the Paladin has fallen and the two largest organization that could have stopped us have are in ruins, these pathetic locals crumbled under our might and by the time they can marshal any sizable force our hold on the area will be unbreakable." She finished smirking, earning her a glower from Markus.
"You don't know that Amelia! We've been in hiding for centuries, we have virtually no intelligence on the current standing of Iscariot or Hellsing. We only know who fell during the war with Millennium, we have no idea what their ranks look like!" he shouted back at her, and she only smiled.
"It doesn't matter Markus, the only real threat to our rule was Alucard; perhaps that damned Judas Priest or Millennium's pet wolf, but now they are gone, more than a decade has passed since Hellsing's pet faded away, if he were going to come back he would have done it by now. Viktor is right, we have already waited far too long as it."
Markus was about to rebut her, but his words were cut off by thunderous boom that rattled the entire hospital where they had taken up residence. Viktor looked shocked for only a moment before his face returned to its previous state.
"So the humans have arrived faster than we foresaw, no matter, they could bring all of Britain's military down upon on us, their soldiers will only feed our forces and expand out ranks." Viktor spoke with little concern. "So Markus, what meager might have they marshalled against us?" he ask disinterestedly examining his nails as the younger vampire crossed the room and stared out at who had attack. He was silent for a while but he eventually answered in a confused an almost concerned tone.
"…two."
"What?" Viktor and Amelia asked in unison, surely he was mistaken. But there was no time to answer as a second shell fired and rattled their base.
Viktor was visibly seething at the assault as the barrage picked up and was no doubt tearing there minions apart.
"Let them come, they will soon realize with whom they deal." He said coldly as the volley of shells suddenly stopped.
"Knock, knock." Seras said with a smirk as her Anti-tank cannon receded into the black ethereal mass that was now her left arm. She didn't really need the weapon but she found herself still making heavy use the weapon. "Well that should have gotten their attention, shall we?" she asked her companion making a mock gesture of politeness towards the now shattered main entrance to the hospital. The man just grinned his feral grin as a set of blessed blades materialized to his hands.
"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and for thy possession, the ends of the earth. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces, like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, ye kings. Be admonished, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, though his wrath be kindled but a little." He spoke loudly enough Seras was certain those inside could hear him almost shouting. The sound of scraping steel echoed through the air as he honed the edge of his hallowed blades, walking briskly but calmly towards their target's current base.
Seras followed suit in almost a sauntering behind him. They had little to fear of their enemy fleeing once they were inside. Anderson had placed a barrier around the village so no ghouls would be able to wander out; a few had already been reduced to ash after stumbling into them, and he was to repeat the process once they were in side.
As bizarre as it was Seras was quite glad to see Anderson return to his former self while on this hunt. While she was certainly glad his wrath had not visited upon her in all his time at Hellsing, the mundane and disheartened Anderson of the last fifteen years was tantamount to watching a bear shackled by chains. Sure you knew there was the potential for danger, but it was mostly just depressing to watch.
'I guess a little kindness and a good hunt was all he needed to pull him out of his slump.' She thought to herself as they cross the threshold of the hospital. The very moment she had crossed into the building a storm of holy text and nails darted through the air and were tacked to all the windows and doors, all the undead were now effectively sealed inside.
"Ladies' choice, do you want to clear the first or second floor?" Anderson asked in a polite, though slightly fanatic, tone.
"Such a gentlemen." Seras responded placing her hand daintily over her heart before laughing off her own joke. "I'll go high you go low, sound good?" she asked.
"Works for me just fine." He responded with a grin and he took off like a bolt and before long Seras could hear the sound of ghouls being torn asunder.
Moving with no real sense of urgency Seras took to the stairs and made her way up to the next floor. The area was sealed and there were no members of the living still walking these halls; with the obvious exception of the Scotsman downstairs, so Seras took her time strolling through the halls. This was an attribute she had developed over the years, she had all the time in the world and there was really no need to rush so long as the job was finished.
She wondered for a brief moment if this was the influence of Pip, or if she perhaps was subconsciously taking up some of her masters old mannerisms. This line of thought was cut short when she heard hushed voices speaking to one another on the other side of the wall to her right.
She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, she could sense their vampiric presence from where she stood. With a small smirk she silently phased through the wall. When she rematerialized on the other side she was shrouded in the shadows behind what was undoubtedly her targets. For a moment she thought of just finishing them all in one fell swoop, but instead she opted to wait and see what they did next, it had been far too long since she had been on any sort of interesting mission. So she just leaned against the wall and listened to the trio bickering against the backdrop of Anderson's slaughter on the floor below.
"I told you we should have waited, now there's some unknown adversary downstairs tearing through what forces we have mustered." The younger of the two males said, and it clearly irritated his elder; whom Seras assumed was in charge.
"Let the fool come it will make no difference, perhaps we could turn him into a useful servant." The lone female of the group offered and Seras couldn't help but snicker at this causing the trio to turn and stare at her in surprise. 'Damn, blew my cover …oh well.' She thought as she offered them a gentle wave.
"Hello, and how are you this evening?" She offered pleasantly.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" The older man asked her in a hurried and irritated voice.
"Right, Sorry" She responded cheerily with a snap of her fingers acting as though this was a normal conversation and she had simply forgotten her manners. "Seras Victoria of the Hellsing Organization at your service." She finished with a mocking bow.
A look of realization dawned about the face of the elderly vampire and it was quickly followed by an almost knowing smirk.
"Ah of course, Alucard's fledgling, I had nearly forgotten all about you. You do so lack the presence of you former master." He finished with a smirk that quickly faded when he noticed that Seras simply smiled back at him. "What are you smiling about? You must realize you have no hope against us." He barked at her, to which she simply continued to smile.
"Maybe, just maybe if I was by myself you might be…hmmm no, not even then."
"You talk a great deal child, I think I'll rectify that." The female hissed through her teeth pulling a long thin dagger from her belt. "Perhaps I'll start with your tongue." But she was stopped dead by the sound of a deep voice echoing through the halls, and it sounded almost as though it were…singing.
"The king of glory comes the nation rejoices. Open the gates before him, lift up your voices."
Looks of pure bewilderment washed across their faces. Who in their right mind would be singing amidst hordes of the undead? The three exchanged glances with on another before Seras interjected.
"Which brings us to why we are here. The lot of you have been causing a lot of people a lot of grief and we have come to stop it." Her voice never lost its chipper tone. She was never known for her cruelty, but Seras found she took a certain amount of pleasure in watching the wicked squirm. 'Now that's definitely from Alucard' she thought to herself as she completely ignored the three furious vampires in front of her.
"I've heard enough of this nonsense, Markus silence this girl." The older vampire order and moving with surprising quickness the younger man withdrew a flanged mace and delivered a devastating strike to Seras' skull causing it to shatter like an eggshell, her blood splattering on the floor.
As he turned away from his fallen foe he heard a small giggle and turned to see Seras' head had reformed without any hint of damage.
"As I was saying, we've come here to stop all this nonsense. We clearly can't let you leave, so you have two options. You can surrender and we can make this quick and, mostly, painless. Or you can fightback and maybe I'll be able to put you out of your misery before he gets here." Once again they all gave her bewildered looks, except now there was a measure of fear mixed with the confusion. That was save for one; Seras noted, the eldest among them simply looked enraged.
"Who is the King of glory; how shall we call him? He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages." The voice rang through the halls once more, this time however they could just make out the slow, determine, and deliberate and heavy dull thump of boots on the floor.
"I would choose quickly if I were you. Normally he cites bible verses when he's enjoying a hunt, I have never once heard him sing, and when he's in a good mood…well…the undead don't fare so well." Seras told them having experienced the paladin's wrath in the past.
"Viktor…" The female spoke, the fear of what was coming was clear in her voice.
"Silence Amelia, do not cower in my presence, they have no strength that can match ours…she's bluffing hoping to scare us and force a retreat." He said confidently eyeing Seras with a smirk.
"Oh, by all means try and leave." She offered pleasantly gesturing to a nearby window.
She would never know for certain if any of them would have actually made an attempt to flee at that point as a lone figure appeared in the doorway.
"Now lass it's not nice to keep all the fun to yourself," a teasing tone came from the figure in the shadows.
"I'm terribly sorry Alex, I must have been too distracted by your lovely singing voice to inform you of my find," she responded through a smirk.
The trio turned to face the newcomer and once they laid eyes upon the man before them they all immediately recognized the infamous paladin and looks of terror spread across their faces. Even the Viktor's face flashed a brief look of shock.
"Impossible…" Viktor mumbled to himself as Anderson began to slowly and determinately approach them.
"Through the Lord all things are possible," he grinned cruelly at them striking his blades against one another the resulting sparks briefly illuminating his face.
"Well I think the time has passed for you to have any choice in the matter, how would you like to do this Alex?" Seras asked in an almost bemused tone.
"Well now lass, seeing as I'm a gentlemen and have already had a wee bit of fun downstairs, how about you pick which two you'd like and I'll take who ever is left," Anderson said in a disturbingly kind and gentle tone.
"Oh your so kind, let's see…" she responded in a bemused tone before tapping her chin thoughtfully with her forefinger and began to look over their foes like a child would look over candy in a shop.
Seething with rage the one called Markus darted towards her quickly his mace raised high before it came crashing down and shattering the floor where Seras once stood. His eyes grew wide as he realized she was now standing right behind him.
"You're much faster than the average vampire, stronger too I think…but it doesn't really matter right now does it?" Seras whispered in his ear before driving her hand through his heart reducing him to ash before he could even react.
Straightening herself she turned to face the other two and dusted herself off.
"Now lass, that wasn't very sporting of you he didn't even know what hit him. You really need to learn how to enjoy the hunt," Anderson said smoothly though his tone was similar to a parent chiding a child for eating too quickly.
"Well we can't all have a hundred years of experience under our belt, I'm still pretty new at this compared to you," Seras teased back earning a small chuckle from the former priest.
"Now now, there's no need to say such things, I'm not that that old yet," he said back to her with a grin.
"ENOUGH OF THIS! AMELIA YOU KILL THE GIRL THE PALADIN IS MINE!" Viktor shouted drawing a finely crafted longsword and stood forward with purpose.
"Yes! Come and face me monster, show what might you can muster!" Anderson shouted readying his blades for the coming clash.
Despite looking quite elderly Viktor moved swiftly and expertly sword the blade with the hopes of removing his foes head. But the sword was met with the blade of bayonet mere inches from his neck. Viktor glared and Anderson grinned.
In and instant the air filled with the ringing sound of steel on steel as the pair clashed again and again. Seras watched with an interested eye. This Viktor was no slouch, quite the contrary in fact, he was actually quite powerful. But Seras could tell Anderson was simply playing with him.
"Pay attention girl!" Amelia shouted at dove forward and made to stab her in the heart, a blow Seras easily dodged. "I'll flay you girl, I'm going to pick you apart, then we're going to tear your paladin apart," she hissed with a savage snarl.
Seras simply smiled back as she effortlessly and lazily dodged and slipped every strike made against her. She took note that woman's frenzied strikes, while seemingly wild and unpracticed were actually very deliberate and controlled despite their erratic nature.
Seras was actually quite impressed, this style of fighting was designed to keep an opponent guessing and off balance. Against someone else this may have actually proved quite effective but someone Seras' caliber it didn't really make a difference, and she soon found herself growing disinterested.
"Is this all you can do?" she asked with a lackadaisical tone. The look of shock that crossed her eyes told Seras all she needed. "Well…that's terribly disappointing…well I least I can enjoy watching what happened to your boss."
A brief look of confusion crossed the woman's face before it quickly morphed to terror as the enormous barrel of a personal cannon came rocketing out of the black mass that was Seras' arm and smashed with a resounding crack into her opponents mouth pinning her wall and shattering her teeth in the process .
"Tata," she said cheerily with a small wave before the thunderous boom of her Harkonnen reduced the vampire to bloody mass of pulp and bone before she purified the remains. Dusting herself off once more and nonchalantly took a seat in a nearby chair.
The clash between Anderson and Viktor grew more and more fervent. The occasional flash of steel or the sound flesh tearing would all that a normal person would have been able to make out as the two enemies came to blows again and again at inhuman speeds. But for Seras it was as easy to follow what was happening as if she were watching a football match.
The pair locked blades and glared at one another ,Viktor with utter contempt and Anderson with a savage glee.
"You died once paladin, and we will kill you once again," Viktor hissed up at the taller man who simply laughed.
"Hahaha, we? Look around monster, you're all alone," Anderson taunted causing Viktor to glance over to where Seras and Amelia had been fighting only to see a smiling Seras waving at him happily.
Viktor scowled and let out a seething hiss and gave a powerful shove and broke the clash and turned to try and flee. He just barley made it to the door before a blade pierced his calf and he began to tumble to the floor before his form burst in to mist and flitted out of the room.
"Oh, I haven't seen one capable of doing that in quite some time," Anderson said in bemused tone as he went to retrieve his blade that now lay abandoned on the floor.
"He's old, the other two were as well. These aren't freaks or some novice undead. But that didn't really matter all that much did it?" she said glancing up cheerily at Anderson.
"Aye, it's a decent hunt and now…"he said twirling his blades between his fingers "we get to have a wee bit of chase," he said through an almost manic grin.
"You enjoy this just a little too much," Seras teased causing him to look down at her his manic grin now changed to a gentle smile.
"Well…I do enjoy my work, and don't act like you haven't grown to enjoy taunting the wicked, I heard what you said to the others before you finished your work," he said knowingly, causing Seras to let a small laugh and gave him a faux bashful wave as if trying to dismiss the statement.
"What? Me? You must be mistaken," said jokingly.
The pair chuckled in unison for a moment before they were interrupted by a loud crackling and hissing sound followed by a series of colorful curses echoed down the hall.
"Guess he found the barrier," Seras said slightly amused as she turned to face the source of the sound. "Well…shall we?" she asked gesturing to the open down.
"Ladies first," he responded happily eliciting a small bemused chuckle from Seras as she left to walk down the hall towards their target.
A short walk later they found their quarry crumpled on the floor in a rather sorry state. Half his face had been see red down to the bone exposing his skull. He clutched desperately at his crippled left arm that was now smoldering and smoke from its contact with holy barrier. He sat slumped against the wall breathing heavily as his eyes traveled up and landed upon the duo slowly approaching. He let out a hiss of pain as he tried desperately to will himself to heal faster.
"And this, lass, is what happens when a vampire run full tilt into one of my holy barriers hehehe," the former priest with a clear amount of glee in his voice.
"Oh that looks like it really smarts, looks like I lucked out the first time we met," Seras commented flippantly.
A growl escaped from Viktor's lips as he struggled to stand "You dare mock me! Do you have any idea with whom you deal!" he tried to shout but his voice came out in only a hoarse whisper. "I am not simple ghoul! I am…" but he was cut off by the powerful voice of Anderson.
"Silence monster, the dead do not speak," his voice was calm and almost quite but still managed to resonate with a divine authority.
Viktor held his tongue, finding himself unable to speak as Anderson approached sliding one blade slowly across the other. His knees grew weak and began to tremble before they gave out entirely as a sudden and terrible fear he had never known gripped him as he scrambled desperately into the wall pressing himself against it as Anderson methodically sharpened his blades against one another as he spoke.
"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. We are nothing, but dust and to dust we shall return. Amen." Emphasizing every word with a long scraping sound of metal on metal.
"Wait…" Viktor began, his arm extended out pleadingly before one of blades sunk deep into his shoulder pinning him to the wall and bit back a cry of pain.
"Go ahead monster, go ahead and cry out, it may be your last chance repent," Anderson told him coolly as he raised another blade.
Grabbing the blade in his shoulder harshly and began to pull it out despite the hissing of his burning flesh against the holy blade. With a great deal of effort he managed removed the offending weapon and dropping it with a clatter to the floor. Letting out a ragged breath he glared up at his gleeful enemy and did not speak.
"Suit yourself," Anderson spoke evenly, and with that another blade pierced the body of the vampire.
There was a familiar sound and scent of burning flash filled the air as Viktor let out a grunt of pain, trying desperately to not cry out in pain, he did not want to give Anderson that satisfaction. It became even harder once a second blade entered his stomach. He let out a gargled cough but still did not cry out. There was a flash and suddenly a storm of blade peppered his body each one more painful than the last, each one miraculously missing anything vital and with that his resolve broke and he let out a shout of pain as his flesh was burned by sacred steel.
"Okay Alex you've had your fun, just end it so we can go home," Seras said her voice betraying her slight discomfort as the gratuitous display. She certainly felt no sympathy for the other vampire but she did not take any particular pleasure in Anderson's overtly drawn out execution.
"Fair enough lass," he responded a little dejected as he unceremoniously severed his preys head from his shoulders. "Do you sense any others?" he asked as Viktor's head rolled across the floor.
"Oh, right, just a moment," she responded as she closed her eyes as she searched for any vampirism or any other undead essence. After a minute or two she was certain that any other ghouls that may have been lurking about had fallen once the final vampire had been slain. "We're all good here, this place is clean," she said happily.
"Well…that's that then, it's a shame it was over so quickly I haven't enjoyed the thrill of the hunt in such a long time," Anderson responded in an almost disappointed tone. "But I suppose it is a good thing massive incidents such as this are so few and far between," he said his voice growing a bit softer.
"Well think of it like this, hunts might be sparse but you'll always have me," Seras joked jabbing him in the ribs lightly with her elbow causing a small laugh to escape his lips.
"Hehehe, I suppose you're right, I'll always have the little heathen draculina by my side pestering me about Christmas trees and other such matters of grave important," he teased back causing Seras to puff out her cheeks in mild irritation causing him to laugh more heartily. "But all joking aside, I would like to thank you lass," he finished his voice becoming considerably more sincere .
Seras let her semi-irritated face fall as a look of slight confusion replaced it. "Umm, For what exactly?"
"For today, you saw me in a low place and reached out to help. It may not seem like much, but it was nice to remember my past fondly instead of ruminating on what I've lost, thank you Seras Victoria," he finished softly giving her a small smile.
"Oh umm, your welcome I suppose, I mean I was just trying to be nice and you seemed like you were really down and needed a pick me up so…"trailing off as she rambled, she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "Plus you really help me out, I never would have been able to pick out a tree as nice as you did, all my choice were just dreadful," she offered fully aware of how lame this sounded especially when compared to what he had just expressed to her.
"Hehehe, that is true, you were rather bad at it," he responded kindly.
"Thank you so much for agreeing with me," she said with sarcasm dripping from her every word, this only served to make Anderson laugh a bit harder.
This continued for a moment before his lite chortle began to die down to a snicker and then stopped entirely
"Is that it? Are you done or do you have more in you?" Seras asked with a bit snarkily as she placed her hand on her hips.
"Aye lass, I'm done, come, let's go home. I do believe we have tree to decorate," he said warmly to her as he turned to leave the building.
"Oh yeah…home, let's go," she said with a hint of surprise. As she followed after the giant man she realized something quite remarkable had happened that night.
Alexander Anderson, former paladin and priest of Iscariot, the most ardent of their solider and once possibly her deadliest foe had just called Hellsing Manor his home for the first time in over fifteen years.