Wings of the Damned

Sapphirewyren

Chapter 6: Habemus Papam and His Name is Enrico Maxwell

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing.

Summary: Enrico is now Pope, but how's everyone feeling about that?

As the white smoke billowed out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, the large crowd gathered in Saint Peter's Square gave a loud cheer. It had been at least a month since the Pope had died and the whole world watched as Cardinal Mario Salvietti came out on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and declared in a loud voice; "Habemus Papam!"* The crowd looked in shock as the newly elected Pope greeted them. He was a tall, thin man, with his white hair tied back in a ponytail. The smile he wore on his face was one of arrogance and it reached his violet eyes. Despite the color of his hair, he did not look a day over thirty. However the crowd did not care about any of this, they were happy that the Catholic church had a leader after the tragic death of its predecessor.

Meanwhile, at the CIA Headquarters, Director Douglas watched her TV screen in shock, the very person that the former Pope had denied even existed, was now the new Pope. "I'll bet that he had something to do with his death." But now there was technically nothing the CIA could do. With the death of Dr. Thorton, his journals and proof that he worked for the Vatican disappeared. Douglas blamed Hellsing. Whether the U.N.S.C. gave Integra a tongue lashing, Douglas would never know, but she was sure that she still had her job.

Hellsing Manor

For some reason, one of the maids though that Integra should know that Maxwell was now the new Pope on the television. But she already knew this was going to be the result, inside sources had confirmed it. Blackmail, bribery, and promises were Enrico's ticket to the papacy. Enrico had no real intention of leading the Catholic church or shepherding people to God. To him, it was all about self- importance and power. Integra scoffed at the hypocrisy of his prayer on the screen and walked out of the living room. She could care less if he became Pope, just as long as he remembered her warning or he might find a bullet in his skull, all in the name of protecting her country from the satanic undead.

The Vatican- St. Peter's Basilica

Enrico gazed at all the people down in St. Peter's Square. Some of the people down in that crowd could be 'citizen vampires' or day walkers, who believed that the new pope would carry on his predecessor's legacy of tolerance. They were going to be in for a rude awakening. He would make sure that they were uprooted from Italy and destroyed. Enrico had many things that he wanted to get done and staring at these idiotic sheep was not one of them. But he had to say a Mass- the sacrifices he had to make. When he was able, he gathered together the Cardinals; Salvietti, Ricci, Romano, Piero, and Bianchi and told them that he would revert to the church laws to Vatican 1, in a few weeks everything would be as it should. The word 'tolerance' would not be in his papacy.

Buckingham Palace

She may be British and a Protestant, but Queen Charlotte was beginning to feel the full force of the new Pope's reign. It had been two months since he was elected and it was a tidal wave across the globe. He had banned citizen vampires from all Catholic churches. All priests were to know who they were and turn them away from the doors. "These Satanic creatures cannot be saved, no matter how much they pray; they already belong to the devil." He had convinced some of Italy's top leaders to make it a law. Any priest who knowingly allowed these vampires into their churches were immediately defrocked or excommunicated. Now priests in England were pleading with the Queen and the Prime Minister to find some way to repeal what the Pope demanded. The Queen, however, was essentially powerless to do anything, as she was the head of the Church of England and she doubted that Enrico would listen to any of her suggestions. And if that wasn't enough, Parliament was pressuring her to get married soon and produce an heir. These were one of those times that Charlotte missed Lord Wyatt. She could use an efficient way of handling things. He would know what to do, but he was killed after he overdosed on Dr. Thorton's serum Alucardium in hopes of becoming a vampire, by Integra. It seemed that everyone wanted something of the young monarch and as much as she wanted to scream and give up, she had to handle everything with poise and dignity. How the heck did Integra do it? "Well she has had more experience at doing this" came the baritone voice of Alucard as he phased into her private chambers. The Queen squealed with delight as she ran to hug him, "Alucard! You came!"

"Of course, Your Majesty. My master is busy dealing with a pest called the Iron Grin and since my suggestion of eating them goes ignored or annoys her, I thought it best that I visit you."

Charlotte giggled, "You always suggest eating your enemies."

"It is a permanent solution, but I prefer my master to direct her anger away from me."

As he listened to the Queen confide her worries, fears, and hopes in him, Alucard was reminded of Integra when she had first become the leader of the Hellsing Organization. The young girl was frightened of the momentous task before her, but one could not tell from looking at her. Just like Integra, Charlotte had to be brave in front of those who were watching.

"Sometimes I wish I was born a normal person. Then I could have had a normal childhood" sighed Charlotte. "Did Sir Integra ever wish for that?"

"There were times when she was younger that she did."

That made Charlotte feel better, knowing someone like Integra had wished for normalcy. Now this made her curious, she wanted to know more about Integra's childhood.

"What was Sir Integra like when she was a child?" queried the monarch. Alucard chuckled, "The way she is now, just much shorter."

"Come on Alucard, you must know some great stories about Sir Integra. Share."

"I don't think my master would appreciate me talking about her behind her back."

Charlotte pouted, "You're the only one I can ask."

"Why not ask her herself?" Alucard laughed, knowing that Integra would never talk about herself to anyone.

"You know she won't tell me anything!"

"I had no idea that Your Majesty was a gossip."

"I'm not! I'm just curious about the woman who works for me. I think I have a right to know about her, don't I?"

"Then ask her. She would know more than me, I was sealed away until she was twelve."

"How'd you get out?"

"She let me out."

"Details, Alucard, I want details!"

"There was some blood involved."

"Stop grinning, Alucard! I promise I won't tell her that you told me."

"It's not my story to tell."

"Why must you be so annoying? I just want to know about Sir Integra's childhood."

"I'm sure she will tell you if you ask nicely."

This was getting nowhere, so Charlotte changed the subject, asking Alucard questions about his own past and how he came to work for Hellsing. They talked late into the night and when Alucard returned to the Manor, he expected Integra to have gone to bed but was not surprised that she was still in her office.

"I thought you would be in bed by now, master."

"And I thought I told you not to keep Her Majesty up so late. She dozed off at the last meeting."

"She had a lot on her mind."

"She's infatuated with you. Perhaps someone needs to tell her the dangers of being in love with a vampire."

"You sound as if you speak from experience."

"Perhaps I do."

The darkened office became very still as vampire king and vampire huntress stared at each other for a few moments. Alucard spoke first, "You are in love with me, master?"

"Was, Alucard, was. That was when I was 16 or 17."

"But you never said anything."

"And how exactly would I have benefitted from admitting that?"

Alucard frowned, he had no answer to that question or better yet, didn't want to answer that question. If Integra had ever told him that, maybe he would have persuaded her to become a vampire, a No-Life Queen. And in her youth and the pressures of being a leader of an organization where the Round Table made it clear that they would have preferred an adult man to a teen girl. But knowing her duty to her country, she remained silent, saying nothing to anyone, taking that secret to the grave.

"And what are the dangers of falling in love with a vampire, master?"

"You lose your charm so quickly, as all men do."

Alucard stared at Integra dumbfounded, "What do you mean?"

"I feel like the mother of a five-year-old boy sometimes. 'Stop pestering the staff, Alucard'. 'Don't try and eat the soldiers, Alucard'. 'What part of 'I'm trying to work' do you not understand, Alucard?' 'Stop trying to dye Seras' hair green, Alucard.' Don't touch that, Alucard'. 'Put on some damn clothes before going outside, Alucard.' 'If you even think about lighting my hair on fire, there will be some SERIOUS consequences, Alucard'…."

"Ok, ok I get it."

"It's probably for the best that Her Majesty, not fall in love with you. Maybe you can annoy her out of love with you. It worked for me."

Hellsing Manor- The Next Morning

Looking through the folder, Integra only had one word that described the citizen vampires sympathizing group Iron Grin: parasitic. More like a bad case of herpes. This group was humans who thought that citizen vampires needed more rights, specifically the same right as humans. Which to the director thought was a pretty stupid. Now, the Iron Grin had become even more annoying. First, they sent emails and letters, telling Integra, what a despicable person she was for hunting vampires and for murdering citizen vampires, even though cases of day walkers going berserk was extremely rare. At first, the letters were mildly amusing, but then they became exceedingly annoying. The good thing was that Integra had people to read the junk mail and dispose of it. When the Iron Grin realized that Integra was not reading any of their correspondence, they tried a different approach. They sent a bunch of people with picket signs, but this proved to be useless, seeing as Hellsing Manor was located in the countryside outside of London and there was hardly anyone around to see them. The last useless attempt to get Integra's attention was vandalism. This was also another useless ploy, though the vandalism of her property pissed Integra off royally, the staff merely cleaned off the defacement and everyone went on with their lives. The Iron Grin finally gave up trying to get Integra's attention and went about pestering the police again, with their crimes.

The British police had tried to deal with the Iron Grin and their criminal antics, which included heists on hospitals to steal blood packs to feed citizen vampires and shooting matches with the police, when they realized that it was probably best to let Hellsing deal with them, so now Integra had these lunatics and their crazy leader to deal with. Iris Moynahan, the leader of the Iron Grin, was 26 and had outsmarted people that were twice her age. The tactics used by Iris to achieve her goals were best described as loud, reckless and so crazy, they just might work, kind of like her fiery personality. The Irish born woman was not afraid to try even the craziest of schemes. One day the chief of Scotland Yard told his secretary that Iris reminded him of Integra, only louder and since then, the Iron Grin and their leader became Hellsing's problem.

At the Iron Grin's next meeting, it was decided that they needed to do something bigger, bolder if they wanted Parliament and Her Majesty to finally give in to their demands. One of the members suggested, "Why don't we nab the Hellsing bitch? I'm betting the Queen would do anything to get her back." Another member named Wilt shook his shaggy blond head, "That would not be a smart thing to do. That house is crawling with soldiers, A.I. and their newest addition: attack dogs. Also, do you think that you could get in there without coming across that vampire Alucard?" The other members shivered, they had completely forgotten about the Hellsing's vampiric servant.

Another member moaned, "That place is built like some kind of military fortress, it's better guarded than Buckingham Palace!"

Iris jumped out of her chair, gaining weird looks all around, "That's it! We'll kidnap the Queen!"

Chapter End

Author's Note: Pretty short chapter, but there you have it. There's a new player in the story and will the Iron Grin go through with their plan of kidnapping the Queen? Will they succeed? Will it be worth it? Til next time.

*Habemus Papam is Latin for "We have a Pope"

*Baskerville Penitentiary is described in more detail in Winds of Change