Chapter 3 : Incursion.

Disclaimer: Additional OCs with minor roles and major roles will be present from here on out. Their names (Such as Alice Kesari) are of my own imagination and if they exist in any fiction or are someone's real name somewhere in the world this is pure coincidence.

"Blood is more than that which transmits oxygen and nutrients to the body, it is also that which can seal the most firm of contracts, for those who are true Nosferatu, the devoured is not truly dead, their memories, thoughts and personality live on a a separate personality, it should be said than that the true strength is not their power but their ability to preserve their own sense of self."

Location: London, Present Day. 8:45 pm Local Time.

Ray walked the moonlit streets of London dressed with his black tenchcoat, the purpose of this walk was to clear his head of old memories.

So long as no incidents occurred he was free to roam at night and after several coffee shops he came across a park with a small pond and found a bench to sit on and stare at the reflected moonlight in the water.

After about an hour he was about ready to get up when someone approached him, he noticed a red glow in her eyes but immediately recognized her face afterwards, the girl he had saved back then during his encounter with Yumie.

Ray sat back down as the girl took a seat next to him and began a conversation, saying "It's been almost a year since that day."

Ray turned to look at her and replied "More or less, have you been able to sustain yourself without an incident?" The girl nodded her head and said "I already had a illness that required regular transfusions, that keeps a steady supply without harming anyone. What about you? I can sense someone turned you."

He looked at the moon directly before saying "A member of some vampire hunter group saved my life by turning me. They supply my needs with donated blood that they keep a supply of. Believe it or not one of them is none other than the legendary Dracula."

The girl gave him a slight push as if disbelieving and then said "You're not serious. Dracula is a myth or perhaps a misunderstood legend." Ray shook his head and said "No, Vladdy, who would probably berate me or kill me for calling him that, is the real deal. Most of Bram Stoker's book was accurate except for the ending. He's much more powerful than the book explains though, probably due to the sheer number of familiars stored within him. I know most about Vampires' truths from the first vampire I knew who apparently Vlad knew personally in the past. I do wonder though if there is any other differences physically between us as you have a chip in your head that rewrote your DNA whilst I was turned by a true vampire though she is still a servant, not a No-Life King."

The girl turned to look at the reflected moonlight in the water before getting up and saying "Well it was good to come across you again, I was too petrified to thank you back then for saving me both from that vampire group and the vampire hunter that you were with."

Ray got up and shrugged, saying "Don't worry too much about it Cathy, I don't see this curse as irredeemable, perhaps one day I'll find the means to reverse it but that's probably just wishful thinking."

She nodded and said "Well still, Thank you. Good luck on your hunts." Ray nodded and walked off back to the urban streets, thinking back to his "disagreement" with Yumie Takagi in the Northern California wilderness regarding what to do about the hostage. That was a tale for another day however, he decided he was done sightseeing and proceeded back to the Hellsing estate.

Later that week.

Ray sighed as he drained another pack of donor blood and then proceeded to clench and unclench his hand as if feeling completely rejuvenated since his injury.

The sound of gunfire took his moment of tranquility as he immediately rushed to equip himself with new armaments that Walter had supplied him (He had also supplied Seras and Alucard with new weapons as well including a much larger and black rimmed pistol dubbed Jackal and a 30mm AT Rifle dubbed Harkonnen).

His Colt .45 remained but also a personalized Desert Eagle (Caliber .50 AE) with a blessing ceremony supposedly taken care of in addition to using silver munitions, the weapon was larger than a normal Desert Eagle to accommodate a larger magazine with a capacity of 12 rounds as opposed to 7 or 8. By comparison it was on par with Alucard's .454 Casull but not his Jackal. Several Mk.4 Fragmentation Grenades with silver fragments embedded in a lead shell (The pin was made of brass instead of silver to avoid burning Ray's fingers.).

Ray had managed to convince Integra to let him keep his "Last Resort" in addition to changing his attire slightly to incorporate thick black leather gloves which he tested to success so that for as long as he was wearing those he could hold and operate a silver object (such as Silverware or a silver framed firearm. Most importantly however was the handling of his own sword as the hilt was silver and Ray had to change the way he held the weapon to avoid burning himself.)

Despite the obvious dangers to himself he still filled the scabbard of his blade with Holy Water and even further during the past week he had personally recasted the blade, discovering that it was nowhere near sharp enough to deal with Anderson's bayonets.

Ray kept his scapular and silver crucifix on his neck but now wore a turtleneck to avoid burning himself with the object, he found the scapulars which were cloth also caused a painful sensation though not a deathly one like silver (As if grasping a hot object that is hot enough to hurt but not enough to burn) which was because they were blessed objects. Ray also however noted that sacramental bread and wine did not harm him for some reason despite Bram Stoker's novel stating the opposite and personal experience with Alice Kesari whom Ray had convinced to convert to Catholicism whereas before she was an atheist had convinced him that perhaps the sacred object cliche (which to him is what it seemed like) perhaps had something more to it than a simple blessing.

These thoughts passed by instantly as he suddenly felt a large degree of sorrow and shock despite not knowing the situation, perhaps Seras was unwittingly transmitting these thoughts telepathically?

Ray didn't delve further into the telepathic feeling and came to feel those emotions himself as he saw several Hellsing men fighting an army of Ghouls with riot armor and riot shields in addition to Uzi SMGs, they were being led by a slightly dark toned individual with several facial piercings and an abnormally loud and foul mouth.

Ray shouted to the soldiers, telling them to withdraw and refocus their defenses to Integra, this attack was no random occurrence as there was a Round Table Meeting that was called, Ray noticed another man walking alongside the loudmouth and decided not to face this attack, recognizing him as Lucas "Luke" Valentine, the only one who escaped that incident last year.

The only thing he remembered was that he could not keep pace with him even if in a defensive stance, only Yumie and perhaps Alucard could hope to match his speed, Alexander could probably defeat him as well though still Ray was not confidant even with his new state as Luke had an army to support him this time.

Ray dashed past the gunfire and was spared getting shot by some kind of dumb luck (As those were ordinary lead bullets and thus it would be like getting shot at by BB Guns.)

POV Shift - Lucas Valentine

Luke noticed the face of the dashing man amongst Hellsing's ranks and more specifically his attire.

He grinned, getting a second chance to kill the Dancing Shadow though he brushed off that thought, he had a specific mission and thus his opponent was the legendary Alucard, his master's arch enemy. Looking towards his brother Jan he said "Be careful with that one, he's only human but he's killed more vampires than all of Hellsing's current grunts put together."

Jan replied "I don't give a f**k who he is, I'll slaughter him like all the rest."

Luke changed his pace and was heading towards the basement and said "Don't underestimate him, he was able to survive impossible odds though it was his companion back then that forced me to withdraw, she is not here so I doubt you will fail but that being said, be careful not to screw this up."

POV Shift - Ray Zenji

Ray had reached the basement and came across Seras who was with some wounded soldiers just as the PA Speaker began sounding with the loudmouth's voice, ranting about how they were going to kill everyone and suggesting that everyone was pissing their pants and some other fruitless insults a 7 year old could retort without a sweat.

Ray looked at Seras and said "I need your help along with anyone else who is able to fight, a proper plan of defense needs to be set up and we need to spread word to aim for the legs and arms of the Ghouls unless they're carrying silver munitions, if we can't kill them we have to immobilize them and disarm them."

Seras nodded and said "Everyone here is in no shape to fight but I'll do what I can. They've cut off our escape though, how will we get into a proper defensive position?"

Walter made himself known, coming from behind and saying "I've already talked with Integra and Alucard about our course of action, there is a series of vents leading to the meeting room where Integra and the members of the round table are at, Integra mapped them out some time ago when she became the head of the Hellsing organization and the three of us should have no trouble fitting through them."

Ray nodded and said "I suppose those wires around your wrists aren't decorative or restraining the gloves. Even I've heard some tales from the others since I aligned myself with your organization, I suppose witnessing the 'Angel of Death' will be an interesting sight."

Time passed and they managed to get to the third floor via the vents with time to spare, Integra was confident in her bearing and expression whilst the rest seemed fearful of the situation or at the least concerned.

Ray knew the plan, Walter would directly ambush them whilst Seras would provide fire support from a distance and Ray would then support Walter for close range combat.

And it played out perfectly as Ray watched Walter make short work of the attacking ghouls, for a man his age he was surprisingly agile enough to evade gunfire and maintain a fluid motion of attack with the cutting wires he was using (He would not call them piano wires due to the complex materials and thin bladed construction designed solely for slicing through objects of nearly any durability as they easily cut through the riot shields and firearms of the ghouls.

Walter had even fed the loudmouth's words right back him whilst menacingly approaching and dispatching what ghouls remained until a large number quickly arrived and reformed as the loudmouth seemed to begin enjoying this fight, the formation of the shields suggested the wires would likely not be able to make any headway as the phalanx of ghouls advanced though Walter had mentioned for Seras to open fire with her new weapon, the Harkonnen (Which Ray silently noted that it's name was taken from a character from a sci-fi series of games and books, even a movie that he was mildly familiar with) and tore through several lines with one shot before loading an explosive round at Walter's request which then prompted Walter and Ray to move out of the shot's path as it decimated the remaining ghouls that stood before them, leaving only Jan who defiantly charged at them only for Ray to quickly charge and slash with his blade though Jan was able to evade the metal, the holy water that spread out doused the right side of his face, horribly scarring it with third degree burns.

"You little shit! I'm going to kill you wit-"

Ray interrupted Jan's response and made a roundhouse kick which not only shattered Jan's spine (which was a temporary injury for a vampire) but also sent him flying near Seras who then proceeded to restrain him with a maneuver she learned in the Police.

"Shut up already." said Ray as he walked slowly towards Jan whilst sheathing his sword before saying "Nice move, I assume you were in law enforcement before this?' Seras nodded with a smile on her face as she then said "Well there's a reason Master calls me Police Girl."

She tightened her lock on the loudmouth when he complained about his situation as Walter walked towards him and said "Don't presume you've won, nor expect to die so soon. After-all we do need answers, specifically about who you are, who you work for and why you've attacked us."

The loudmouth grinned and headbutted Seras, breaking her concentration and thus giving him room to escape though Walter quickly wrapped his wires around him whilst Ray drew his new Desert Eagle which was silver plated (His thick leather gloves enabling him to wield it as otherwise it would burn his hands) as Walter continued to pull though Jan continued to rush forward, disregarding his now severed left arm though Ray immediately opened fire though Jan was able to evade the shots by ducking into a corner, Ray however rushed forward to pursue, knowing Jan was heading right after Integra.

Turning to the corner he saw a terrible sight indeed, members of Hellsing that had been turned into ghouls and were charging after him, though it had only been a week, a few of them he considered friends though he knew now that they needed to be released, freed from this curse and so he drew his sword and charged directly at them, hacking through them with an ease of motion enhanced by his vamparic state, Seras and Walter came across the corner to witness the sight as Ray moved about, his black trenchcoat fluttering due to the motion, to their eyes it was as Alexander mentioned what his colleague mentioned, a dancing shadow.

Jan kicked open the door only to face the members of the round table with Integra at the center of the line, all aiming sidearms at him, Integra specifically was smiling as she said "Hello, I am Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, you've intruded upon private property." and with those words said a hailstorm of bullets erupted into Jan, Integra specifically fired with well placed shots making a cross symbol of injuries in Jan's head that then began to ignite as the bullets were mercury tipped incendiaries though this would not be enough to kill him, it would be enough to immobilize him.

Integra slowly walked up to him as Ray appeared from around the corner, soaked in blood with his eyes glowing stark red as more of Hellsing's members who were turned into ghouls charged at him, the sight horrified both Integra and the round table members who also took notice.

Ray danced with his sword held with one hand (A feat indeed as a Japanese Sword is meant to be wielded with both hands) and his Desert Eagle in the other he quickly dispatched the "reinforcements" with ease and more noticeably, a calm and well disciplined facial expression and as Integra caught her senses again after seeing the sight, Ray had dispatched the remaining ghouls and turned to look at Jan, face still calm and expressionless as he slowly approached with his blood soaked sword, holstering his Desert Eagle in the trenchcoat as Jan grinned, saying "Well this is interesting, my bro said you were human but I guess that changed since he encountered you."

"Shut up."

Said Ray and Integra simultaneously, Ray stopped just 7 feet from Jan whilst Integra stared directly at him and said "I will not kill you, not yet, if you want a quick death then you'll answer my questions immediately. Who are you and why have you attacked Hellsing?"

Jan's grin increased as he looked directly at her and said "You should already know, We've attacked you because of the chip in our heads, We're known as the Valentine brothers and do you really think that the chip merely controls us? It's feeding our masters everything that's going on, all that we see, hear and say. Do you really think they'll let me live when I'm about to tell you f**king everything?"

Ray immediately slashed the air with his sword which removed the blood from it and then pointed it directly at Jan before lowering it to a place it should not be pointed at and said "Speak."

Jan's grin could only get worse as he suddenly lit on fire though the flames were blue, this surprised Integra, Ray and Seras and Walter who had been behind Ray after he dispatched the ghouls, he said "I'll give you, one word. Millennium!" He said the last word with his middle finger extended at Integra's face though before the flames completely consumed him, Ray quickly amputated the risen finger without so much as a snipped hair for Integra who was unshaken by the quick strike, the flames doused and burned any blood that would have slashed about.

Ray sighed and said "Millennium, I think I've encountered a group with that name before."

Integra turned to face Ray and then said "Explain."

Ray nodded and said "It was a year ago, I was searching for the killer of someone who was very close to me and I came to a small town in Northern California where a group of vampires had set up shop in the nearby forests. I worked alongside a member of Iscariot, Yumie Takagi and took them down, one of them mentioned they were working for an organization called Millennium before he erupted into flames like our attacker. I would tell you in detail what happened but we still need to deal with the other attacker."

"That is no longer necessary, I've already taken care of him." came Alucard's voice as he rose from the floor into view.

Ray looked at Alucard and said "I see, he wasn't too much trouble for you was he?"

Alucard replied "No, to be honest I was disappointed, for all that he claimed and for the speed he boasted and wielded he was still trash just like the rest, he could not heal his wounds nor summon any servant demons to battle. By the way Walter, the new gun is working perfectly, I'm confident it will do some real damage the next time I face that priest."

Walter bowed lightly and said "I am glad it's working out to your liking."

Ray looked back at Integra and said "I'll explain my encounter with them at a suitable time, it will take some time to explain though there are probably still some ghouls left in the estate that we should deal with. I will warn you, some of them were members of Hellsing, these bastards turned our own against us after killing them."

Integra nodded and said "Very well, we will deal with the current problem for now, once everything is situated I would like a proper debriefing as well as what you know about Millennium."

One of the members of the round table approached and said "Furthermore, we would like to receive a proper report once this is all taken care of."

Time passed as any remaining ghouls were cleaned up and funeral services were held, Integra took the responsibility of finishing the incapacitated ghouls that were members of Hellsing and putting them to rest.

Plans were to be made in investigating Millennium and correspondence with Iscariot was likely necessary to a limited extent.

Ray had explained his tale regarding Yumie Takagi and the girl Cathy.

Flashback - Ray Zenji, one year ago, North California Wilderness

Ray finished the climb quite easily along with Yumie and he took out a pair of binoculars to examine the series of wooden structures ahead of them, structures that should not be there.

Lowering his binoculars after witnessing no guards (likely as it was now daylight) he said "No daytime guards, which means they aren't using human servants or familiars which is odd in a way, the vampires I've been encountering lately are different, their ghouls do not ash when their victimizer is slain and not all of them turn to ash when they die. Furthermore I've recently uncovered that they have some kind of small chip implanted in their head, I noticed it when taking one out with my blade, the chip was visible in the severed cranium."

Takagi unsheathed her blade and said "I'll be sure to leave at least one or two of them alive for you to interrogate as we agreed, just remember that I will be present during that interrogation and afterwards, they die." Ray nodded and said "I have no complaints with that."

They dashed at the buildings, Yumie with her blade drawn and Ray with his pistol unholstered.

Upon kicking down the doors they found a hatch in one of the buildings leading underground whilst the buildings themselves were empty except with a few trinkets and logging axes.

Descending down the ladder they came across a series of hallways and somehow tripped an alarm as a red light supported by a klaxon was blaring.

Ray and Takagi proceeded down the hallway to a larger room which seemed to be full of rows of hospital beds though all were empty except for one which Ray noticed the occupant was the girl they had saved last night, she was abducted yet again though she was unconscious.

Ray rushed to the bedside and checked her for any signs of injury, she was fine, no IV was inserted and it seemed she was simply laying there asleep in medical scrubs. Ray looked towards Takagi who said "She's not dead, so leave her be, if they wanted her dead she would be by now. They probably haven't gotten to devouring her yet."

Ray sighed and nodded, saying "You're right, I'll lea-"

They were interrupted by gunfire from both exits/entrances to the room which prompted Ray to quickly over turn the table with the girl so as to keep her from being perforated in addition to using it as cover for himself as he blind fired a few rounds whilst Takagi immediately dispatched the attackers behind him.

Ray peeked from the bottom right of the cover and then reloaded and fired precisely taking out the attackers but merely wounding one of them and he got up and fired at his gun, destroying it.

Walking slowly whilst reloading and then holstering his gun he drew his Katana and held it to the vampire's throat only to take a bullet to the shoulder from behind, he turned around quickly and noticed Takagi fighting another vampire, Lucas Valentine (Though at this time Ray had not discovered his name).

Lucas moved with such speed that he left an afterimage most of the time though Yumie's spatial distortion was able to keep up. Ray then sheathed his sword after filling the scabbard with more holy water from a container he kept in his trenchcoat and dashed in their direction, drawing and slashing at the air, spreading the water over a large swath which Luke managed to evade only for Yumie to slash a horizontal cut across his back, prompting him to retreat.

Ray and Yumie both sheathed their blades and walked to the incapacitated vampire Luke failed to save and Ray spoke simply, saying "Who are you working for, and more importantly, who is the musket wielder. I know you are connected to her so do not lie. You can die quickly and painlessly or horribly slow and in acute agony."

The vampire chuckled and said "We've been keeping an eye on you Ray Zenji, a pity you do not know the truth. The woman you seek is a member of our organization, Millennium and her name is Rip van Winkle. You can not hope to avenge your friend if that is what it could be called. Other then that though, you do not need to know anything else."

Prior to any further threat the man erupted in blue flames, preventing any further interrogation.

Ray sighed and walked towards the unconscious girl and noticed she had woken up and her eyes had turned crimson red, she yawned which showed her fangs though she quickly realized her surroundings after waking.

She stared at Ray, recognizing him as one of the people who saved her last night and said "Where am I? What's going on!?" Ray sighed and said "Calm down, the people who took you are no longer a problem, my name is Ray Zenji, what about you?"

She managed to calm down, partly because Ray's voice was consoling and calm despite the odd situation she had found herself in and she replied "Catherine Durandt, everyone calls me Cathy though."

Ray nodded and said "Then I'll call you Cathy then. I'll help you get out of here, the situation should be resolved by now."

"No, it isn't." said Yumie.

Ray helped Cathy up and stared directly at Yumie, saying "There's no bite marks but she's wearing surgical scrubs, my guess is that they inserted a chip into her. She never asked for this."

Cathy felt like she wanted to say something, the idea of something being inserted into her without her knowledge was not a good thing (And it sounded like a computer chip at that, she began to fear various science fiction themes such as mind control to spying on her every move.) Ray looked at the table nearby and said "But it seems they didn't have time to insert an incendiary device since it's laying there on the tray, they can't control her."

Yumie shakes her head and says "That is beside the point, she's now a vampire, regardless of whether or not it was her choice or that the method of turning was different, our path is clear. I told you about Iscariot on the way here, you seemed interested in joining us but you cannot be lukewarm in-"

Ray was done talking and quickly moved himself into an upwards roundhouse kick, hitting Yumie in the head and catching her off-guard and then turned to Cathy and said "Looks like you're going to have to run, I'll explain everything when we're back in town, until then please trust me."

Confused but unsure of anything anymore, the girl merely followed as Ray took her hand and led her out, Yumie was not knocked out but she seemed dazed and confused, before leaving earshot Ray heard her say something in a different tone of voice, more timid.

"Huh, where am I? Why is Yumie asleep?"

To be continued...

Afterword: To me Jan's defeat in the Hellsing anime far outclassed his defeat in Hellsing Ultimate because of that one detail regarding the pattern of injury (One was intentional the other was just a hailstorm of bullets whereas here I merged the two so that the Round Table members perforated him and Integra skillfully shot a cross pattern into his face with incendiary bullets.)

- 'till next time.