The Lost Priest

Chapter 4

Father vs. Father: The Battle of Two Priests

(A/N One or two of you asked for a battle between Anderson and Abel, so here is that chapter. Please enjoy it.)

SOUNDS/sounds

Thoughts

Telepathy

Three days passed since Abel had joined the Hellsing Organization. He had recently received his new set of clothes, which consisted of three sets of dress shirts in white, light blue, and black; 2 pairs of pants, both black; a pair of black dress shoes, a pair of black boots, a black vest, and a black leather trench coat with collar similar to his traveling cloak. He even got a pair of light blue P.J.'s and some new underwear and socks. Well, he was set in the clothing department.

Also, in those three days; he was brought up to speed about what was happening in the vampire situation and how he was to go around getting rid of the menace quickly and quietly. He was put in with the other new recruits for training, and much to Integra's surprise, he already knew a lot about military training and the protocol that went with it.

He barely had any time for anything else in those three days; in fact, he hardly got to see Seras, and he was supposed to make sure she started eating. Heck, he didn't even know where her room was! Speaking of rooms, Abel got lucky; instead of staying in the barracks with the other soldiers, he was given a room of his own. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one he spent first night in but it was better than nothing.

Night blanketed the sky by now, and it was the first time they didn't have any training at this time. Perhaps now he could finally talk to Seras about her hunger strike, but he first had to find her room. He asked the only person he could find at the moment, Walter, who told him where to go.

Abel quickly hurried down a long flight of stairs to the lower levels of the building and a dark hall with very little light to see by. He continued down the hall until he found a solid metal door to his right. Abel knocked lightly on the door and got no response, so he knocked a little harder, but yet again he heard nothing within.

He opened the door slightly and looked in. There was a wooden table, a wooden chair, and a four-poster bed with a canopy that looked rather like a coffin lid. He stepped inside carefully to have a better look around the empty room; perhaps she wasn't in at the moment. He was about the leave the room when he heard something that sounded like something liquid being poured into another liquid.

I just can't do it. I know I need to, but… Seras was slowly poured out the plastic bag of donated blood into the toilet like she had done many times before. I just can't bring myself to drink blood.

"Ms. Victoria, what are you doing?"

"EEEEEEEEKKK!"

She whipped around in a panic and threw the transition bag in her hands at the intruder, hitting him square in the face. The man just stared at her in shock as blood dripped off his face and long white hair onto his clean new clothes. She stared back at him, equally shocked.

"OH, DEAR GOD, FATHER ABEL, I'M SO SORRY!" she screamed, grabbing the toilet paper in such a hurry she didn't even bother to take it off the holder. "Let me get that off of you! I'm terribly sorry! I didn't mean to!"

She quickly started wiping off his clothes as best she could tearing off pieces for him to wipe off his face, glasses, and hair. He sighed as he wiped the blood off his skin, listening to Seras apologize over and over again.

"I am so very sorry! Please forgive me," she wailed, handing him another large piece of toilet paper.

"It's all right, Ms. Victoria, I can assure you of that. You need not apologize any longer; all is forgiven," he said with weak smile, wiping his white bangs.

"But these are new clothes and I just got them dirty," she said, looking as if she was about cry. "I mean, you just got them today and all! To make things worse, blood stains are the hardest to get out!"

"Well, yes, but the good thing is that it's my black shirt, so you can't really see any staining," he said with a whimper, trying not to sound upset about his new shirt getting bloody. Why does something like this always happen to me? I must be jinxed!

"Please, let me make it up to you, Father," she said with a sheepish smile. "Wait, I know! I'll take you on a small tour of London tonight- if you have enough spare time, that is!"

"Really? I'd love to," Abel said with a large grin.

"Great, I'll give you some time to get cleaned up, and I'll meet you out front," she said in a slightly happier tone. "Again I'm totally sorry about throwing the transfusion blood at you!"

"Please, you've apologized enough already," said Abel, gently patting her shoulder. "Just let me get out of these clothes, and I'll see you in a few minutes."

Three hours and hundred apologies later the twosome had seen some of the major sites that were still open after dark, which wasn't much but better than nothing. They would even gaze at the closed ones from a distance. For the most part, Seras was a pretty good tour guide. She only got lost a couple of times; oddly enough, Abel knew where all the main streets were.

"So, you lived here before," she asked as Abel nodded.

"Yes, but it was a long time ago, and the city's changed quite a bit since then," he said with a happy sigh. It's really amazing what a few hundred years can do to a city. It's nice to see what it looked like in this time.

"Why didn't you tell me before," she said, crossing her arms. "Now I feel like an idiot, dragging you around town only to find out you've lived here before!"

"Well, I was very young at the time," he answered as she glared at him. "What I mean to say is that I really don't remember it all that much, so it's like seeing the city for the first time anyways!"

"You remembered enough to get back to the main roads," she grumbled, walking off. "Can't be that new."

"Ms. Victoria, wait up," Abel said, running after her.

"You can call me Seras, Abel. You don't have to call me Ms. Victoria all the time; I mean, we're friends, right?" she let out a sigh, looking up at Abel's blue eyes. "You hungry? I know a good restaurant around here."

"By all means, lead the way," Abel said, quickly following her across the street.

Seras, of course, ate nothing, watching Abel wolf down food equivalent to eating a horse. She sighed as she felt her stomach grumble. Abel looked up from his plate as Seras lurched over a little.

"Seras, I don't mean to preach to you, but you need to start eating very soon," he said as Seras snapped straight up. "You will grow weaker if you don't. Besides, it's donated after all. You're not hurting anyone but yourself by prolonging your hunger."

"I know that, but when I try to feed, I find myself hesitant to do so," she whispered, biting her bottom lip. "I've had a few meals, but they've been very few. I just can't do it."

"You can't do it? Now who could possibly say that when you've barely put forth the effort to do so," he said with a large smile. "You shouldn't starve yourself, Seras. The next time a meal rolls around, try it; you might find yourself feeling better."

"I guess so," she mumbled as she looked off the side and spotted someone off in a dark corner of the room. Bloody hell! What is Paladin Anderson doing here? "Abel, we need to leave! NOW!"

"But I haven't had dessert yet," he said, getting a wicked glared from the female vampire in front of him. "Right. I don't think I really need it anyway. Heh… Heh…"

"Waiter! Waiter, we're ready to pay," Seras said hurriedly to a passing waiter. "Can you bring the bill here as quickly as you can, please?"

"Right away, ma'am," the man said as he hurried off.

"What's the matter?" Abel asked in a hushed tone. "Is something wrong?"

"You see that man over there?" Sera said as Abel turned to look only to have his face grabbed on both sides and pulled back to meet face her. "Don't look at him!"

"But you just said—" Seras pulled him in closer, squeezing Abel's face so that he appeared to be pouting.

"Listen, Abel, that man is Father Alexander Anderson, the Paladin," she said, hushing her tone even more. "He's bad news! He's from Section XIII, the Iscariot Organization. We need to get out of here quickly and get back to HQ. He's insane, and once he starts vampire hunting there's no stopping him! And with my master being on suspension, this won't turn out well."

"I think I understand. Can you let go of my face now?" Abel said as Seras let go of him and took the bill from the waiter and he rubbed his cheeks gently. That name rings a bell… I know I've heard of it before.

Seras quickly paid the rather large bill and left a tip on the table, and the two quickly shot up from their seats and headed out the door in a hurry; they had to move swiftly if they wanted to avoid getting in a fight with the Paladin. By the time they exited the restaurant it was rather late and the streets in that area were very quiet and almost empty; this would not be a good place to be attacked.

Their heavy, swift footsteps echoed down the dark sidewalk. They had to get to a crowed area quickly so Anderson hopefully wouldn't follow them. For some reason, the quiet street seemed to be taking longer to move down than it did earlier. The two were almost at the end of the road when a tall figure from a side alley cut off their path.

"And just weyr are ye two goin' aff tae? Don' tell mae ye planned tae run for it," The man had menacing grin on his face.

"A-Anderson." Seras swallowed, backing up and away from him. "AAAAGH!"

"Seras, get behind me," Abel said sharply, taking her hand and pulling her behind him. "I don't know what your business here is, but we have done nothing to warrant this assault."

"Ah'm not 'ere fer ye, lad, ah'm 'ere fer t'e wee lass," Anderson sneered, pulling out two long blades. "Nae step ae side, 'less ye want tae join her. And Ah have no problem wi' tha'."

"Father Anderson, I demand that you stand down," Abel said, pulling out his gun. "I will not hesitate to shoot!"

"Then by all means shoot. It ain't goin' tae do ye no good no how," Anderson said, coming straight at Abel and Seras.

"Abel," Seras said as Anderson came closer with great speed. "Abel, do something!"

I can't do it! I can't bring myself to hurt fellow a clergyman. Abel just froze as Anderson came within striking range.

"Tough words but ye can't back 'em up," the Paladin hissed, thrusting a blade into Abel's middle. "Nae fer ye, wee lassie."

"D-don't touch her," Abel snarled, grabbing hold Anderson's arm. "I won't let you hurt her!"

With one swift movement Abel threw Anderson down the street with far more strength that any human should have. Anderson hit the ground, skidding to a stop on his backside, hitting a wall hard. He quickly pushed himself up as he watched Abel pull the long blade out of his abdomen and hold it firmly in his hand.

"Be ye another yin o' them freaks," Anderson asked, pulling himself off the ground. "Ah just have tae aim for yer hert next time."

"I'm surprised you can even move. A throw like that should have kept you down for a while, but now I'm starting to remember something; I knew I had heard your name somewhere before," Abel said, handing Seras his gun. "And now I remember it. Father Alexander Anderson, the Paladin. A regenerator, the only one out six to survive the experiments. The project was abandoned to cover up what happened. You were supposed to have been executed, but the same organization that created you staged the execution and hid you away to use as a trump card against vampires and other unholy creatures of the night."

"How do ye know all this," Anderson snarled, looking incredibly furious. "Who are ye, ya son of a bitch?!"

"I am Father Nightroad, just a random traveling priest," he answered flatly.

"Ye're the yin Sir Integra asked about," Anderson said, looking somewhat surprised. "Well, this saves meh the trouble of lookin' fer ye at Hellsing HQ."

"And just why would you be looking for me, Project Regenerator REG03," Abel said coldly.

"Heh… Hahahahaha! Oh, ye ARE good, Nightroad," Anderson laughed. "Ah was ordered tae bring ye back tae the Vatican. Maxwell wants tae have ae few words with ya."

"What if I decline?" Abel asked icily as Anderson pulled out another blade. "Are you going to kill me, then?"

"Ah'm not tae kill ye, but Ah was ordered tae take ya down if needed tae an' tae drag ya back there," he said, running at Abel at full speed. "Ye could have gone easy but this is ae wee bit more fun and Ah get tae kill the Draculina tae!"

"Seras, hold your fire until I tell you," Abel said, making sure he stood directly in front of her.

"R-roger," she answered, wrapping her finger around the trigger.

"RRRRRAAAAAGGGGHHH," Anderson yelled, coming with in striking range.

"NOW, SERAS!" Abel ducked out of the way just as Seras fired the gun, hitting Anderson in the head, knocking him to the ground.

While Anderson was dazed, Abel quickly picked up the two other blades, spread out his arms, and ran them through the Paladin's arms straight through the concrete, pinning him to the sidewalk. He then took the third blade and held it to Anderson's throat. By that time Anderson was back and glaring up at the tall, white haired man above him.

"Tha' was ae dirty trick," Anderson grumbled, seeing Seras still holding the gun at his head. "What is ae priest like ya doin' with Hellsing? Protecting a vampire, no less."

"That is my business and my business only, Father Alexander," Abel replied in a monotone. "When you return to the Vatican, I want you to tell this Maxwell that if he wants to have an audience with me he has to come here himself, not send his dog out to bring back the prey."

"Ye're ae strong yin, Ah give ya tha'," Anderson said with a smirk, trying to free his arms. "Too strong. Ye're not really human are ya, Father Nightroad?"

Abel flinched slightly as an evil sneer slid across Anderson's face. Suddenly the sounds of sirens were heard coming towards them. No doubt someone had called the police to report the fighting. He and Seras took off into the night and headed back to Hellsing HQ on foot.

An hour or so later they returned, the both of them huffing and puffing as they entered the front door. It just so happened that at that very moment Integra was coming down the steps and talking with Alucard. They stopped and stared at the two in the entrance hall before Integra cleared her throat to get their attention.

"What the hell happened?"

Suddenly the two began screaming and yelling at her and Alucard, hysteric to the point that it was nothing more than jumbled words and really bad acting. Integra and Alucard started at them before looking between each other and then back at the two crazy people still ranting and raving before them.

"AND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED," they both yelled in unison as Integra and Alucard stared at them, totally clueless.

"Okay… I didn't understand a single word you said but I'll take your word for it," Alucard said, scratching the side of his face and looking mystified.

"Could one—ONE of you tell us what happened, CALMLY, please," Integra huffed, crossing her arms.

"Okay, to make a long story short, Seras took me out to tour the town since I had some time off—"

"And then we went to eat, and at the restaurant I spotted Anderson at a table and I told Abel we needed to leave—"

"You spotted Anderson," Integra growled. "Why didn't you report him to us, Seras?"

"Well, you see, we quickly left the restaurant to get away but he cut us off by using a side alley. I quickly told Seras to get behind me—"

"Anderson quickly came charging at him to get to me and ran a blade straight into Abel's middle. Abel then grabbed him and threw him like there was nothing to it. Abel then remembered something about the Paladin—"

"I'll explain that bit later. Moving on a little farther, we came to find out Anderson wasn't really here for Seras; he was actually here for me. He said this Maxwell guy wanted to have a word with me, but I wasn't planning on going with him so he came at me to take me by force—"

"Just before that, Abel gave me his gun to use in a trap. Anderson came running at him again with a blade in each hand, Abel ducked. and I fired off a round into Anderson's head. He fell the ground, dropping the blades—"

"While he was out of it I quickly picked up his knives and ran them through his arms, pinning him to the sidewalk. I told him that if this Maxwell wanted to see me, then he would have meet me in person—"

"Not long after that, we heard the police coming and we ran from the scene right back here, and that's what happened tonight."

"That makes a lot more sense," Alucard said, looking first at Seras and then at Abel. "So, the Paladin was here for you, Crusnik?"

"So, it would seem. I even have a couple souvenirs from the fight," Abel sighed, opening his coat, pulling a large blade out from underneath, and pointing at the large, bloody hole in his white shirt and black vest. "These were my new clothes to boot. I was hoping to keep them somewhat clean for a while."

"I assume that since Anderson was left at the scene, he is most likely in police custody," Integra said, watching Abel study the blade.

"We can only hope," Abel said before he broke the blade. "This thing really hurt."

"They're blessed blades, and to us vampires they're very dangerous," Alucard smirked, running a hand though his long black hair. "You seemed to plug up that hole quickly enough. And before my Master starts nagging me…"

Alucard walked up to Abel and put his hand out. Abel looked at it, not quite sure what was going on.

"I apologize for my actions to you three days ago," he smiled, still holding out his hand to Nightroad. "Since you're going to be staying here until my suspension is up, let us be friends, or at least comrades."

"Hmm… Alright, friends," Abel smiled back, taking Alucard's hand.

(2 day's later. The Vatican, Maxwell's office)

Anderson stood in front of Maxwell's desk as Maxwell himself went over Anderson's report. He sighed and took off his glasses before looking up at Anderson.

"Is this everything?" Maxwell asked as Anderson nodded. "So, this Abel… you don't think he is human, but he's not a vampire either?"

"Aye, Ah don' know whit he is but he's no vampire Ah ever seen. Ah even saw him eatin' food as we would eat," Anderson said, pushing up his glasses.

"And the only way for me to talk to him is to meet him in person in that filthy Protestant country," Maxwell sighed, picking up the phone. "Well, now, I think it would be best if I told Miss Hellsing I'm coming for visit."

(A/N That is the end of chapter 4. I hope it was good. I'm really working hard on this.)

Millie M. Banshee

Beta: 2stupid

(BN: "before he brake the blade over his knee"… interesting way to put it… it feels like it came straight from the Bible… or any archaic, Old English book. But yeah, this was a fairly interesting chapter. Anyone want to see the look on Integra's face when she picks up her phone?)