Chapter Ten: The Bayonet Priest

-Present Day, July 17-

Today is going to mark my first mission with Alucard and Hellsing's newest member Seras, a former police officer who was turned into a vampire by Alucard to stop her from dying from a fatal injury; which happened to have been caused by Alucard to stop a vampire priest from having his way with her then turning her into a Ghoul in a place called Cheddar. I was surprised to learn that Alucard was a vampire, but I got over that quickly. He hunted other vampires, so he wasn't out to kill humans, like other vampires were.

I climbed into the helicopter excitedly while Alucard climbed on board gracefully, I mean honestly, Alucard is the only man, (vampire or not,) that can actually pull off being graceful without looking fake. I sat down beside Seras as the pilot started the engine and I smiled sweetly at Alucard.

"Would now be a bad time to say that this is my first time in any form of aerial transportation?" Seras smiled gently and glanced at her master quizzically as he gave a snort of disbelief. He sat in his seat and glanced out the window and noticed Walter was standing off to the side, observing the helicopter. I waved to him, and he smiled and lifted his hand in farewell as the helicopter lifted off the launch pad.

"Next, you are going to say you've never been to Ireland?" I nodded at Alucard's amused expression and kept my eyes trained out the window. Mentally, I jotted down that helicopters make for a bumpy ride and that I was probably not going to enjoy the ride home. My poor bladder is going to be going on strike from this abuse when this is over.

"Hey, Seras?" Alucard's fledgling glanced up from the window to look at me again. "Were the vampires on your last mission difficult to kill?"

"It looked difficult at first; I had to use a heavy sniper rifle without a scope in the middle of the night. If I wasn't a vampire, I probably wouldn't have killed the vampire at all. But I think you'll do just fine tonight; after all, you're not on your own for this mission."

"I'll give you some advice, Non-Character." We both glanced up at Alucard as he folded his hands on his lap, his red eyes flashing through the lens of his sunglasses. "When you shoot, aim for the head or the heart. You need to remember that the Ghouls you may encounter did not choose to become monsters, so you are obligated to make their parting of this Earth quick and painless. That goes for you as well, Police Girl."

Bullets rang out as I ran down another corridor of this place, firing as accurately as I could. I had no idea where in Ireland we were, but this building was overflowing with Ghouls. Alucard was close by, observing me while taking out ones I missed. This place was by far the most disgusting facility I've ever been in; Ghouls were nothing more than decaying bodies moving around by a vampire's will, swarming everywhere looking for someone to bite. These things were really like zombies than vampire spawn, and it reminded me of those things from the Rossolue Shopping center.

I twisted down another hallway and fired several more shots as six Ghouls launched themselves at me. Only four went down, and then I realized that my clip was finished before the other two were obliterated by the vampire behind me. I reached into my pouch on my hip and blinked, I only had two clips left? Alucard noticed my expression and glared as he crossed his arms.

"What were you told about keeping an eye on your ammunition?" The scolding sounded rather repetitive and I couldn't help myself from glaring up at the man. I could feel my temper raising, seeing as I only receive this particular scolding when I ran out of bullets completely. I took a deep breath and decided to ignore him as he killed several more Ghouls on this floor. I glanced around as I threw away the magazine and replaced it with my second last one.

The sound of a door being broken down startled me, and I whipped around to see Seras rush past, her heavy rifle perfectly balanced as she ran. I felt a spike of envy at her accurately performed manoeuvres, and I glanced down at my rifle. It seemed small compared to Seras's, probably a little bit lighter so then I could manage it, and it didn't seem to pack quite as much of a punch either. I shuffled my feet a little, trying not to look as upset as I felt.

"She used to be a police girl, Non-Character." I was starting to believe that he could read minds, and I glanced over at Alucard as he motioned for me to follow. "She has more experience with weapons; do not expect perfection on your first mission, it will only disappoint you and dampen any future assignments."

"I don't understand." He stopped walking to give me his full attention. "How is fighting Ghouls going to help me find my friends?"

"My Master believes that you were attacked by someone from this Plain. We must fight to keep vampires a secret from the world and ensure humanity's safety at the same time. Find your resolve, girl, or else you'll never be strong enough to save your friends." He began walking again, and I had to jog to catch up with him. I felt a little bit better now and I was certain that he was right; I was just depressing myself worrying about it. Sir Integra was working on a plan to help rescue my friends, all we needed was time.

Seras had cleared the rest of the next floor by the time we had caught up to her, and she turned to us to receive Alucard's praise. I noticed that she was about to lick her hand, which was coated in what must have been Ghoul's blood, when a long thin blade pierced through her throat. My jaw dropped and even Alucard seemed stunned as several more pierced into her lower chest and back from behind her. That's when I heard heavy footfalls coming down a flight of stairs down the hall ahead of us.

The tall man at the end of the hallway was holding a thin blade in each hand, dripping blood onto the already sullied floorboards. Cropped blond hair seemed messy and green eyes flashed behind thin-rimmed glasses. He had a long scar on the left side of his face and a cruel grin in place.

"Lovely moon tonight, don't cha think?" His accent confused me, it sounded Irish, but I wasn't quite sure. Alucard stared at the man with a wide grin of his own. Seras seemed to be struggling to breathe and the man chuckled. "You sound lovely when you are in pain, young lady."

"Sadistic prick!" I went to aim my weapon when Alucard raised an arm, blocking the man from my line of sight. "But he's-!"

"Out of your reach, girl. If you were to fight him now, you'd die. What are you doing here, Catholic?" I froze, not even noticing that the man was wearing a crucifix around his neck before. I blinked, not quite understanding the situation we were now in.

"This is Catholic lands, Hellsing dogs, and yet you Protestants dare to waltz on our lands? We deal with our own vampire crisis, we never asked for your help." I felt the tension between the two men rise and Alucard began walking towards him.

"What happened to the vampire who was leading these Ghouls?" The man had begun to walk towards Alucard, grinning manically as Alucard was. The tension rose to a stressing peak and it felt if I moved, they'd both rain their fury on me. So I waited, barely breathing as they got closer to each other.

"I've already taken care of him; the only ones left are you." I felt sweat slipping down my face, not sure why I was shaking so badly. The man stopped after passing Alucard, and I seemed hypnotized by his green eyes that seemed to size me up. Without warning, they turned and attacked. I barely even registered that Seras was moving to shield me as Alucard blew a hole in the man's head.

"Stop struggling, Police Girl. You've been pierced by blessed blades; you've got to remove them slowly." She nodded, Alucard stopped talking as he was pierced by the Catholic with several of those thin blades and I screamed.

A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger, but at least it's a longer chapter. And yes, one of the guy's nicknames is the Bayonet Priest, which is why I named the chapter after him. And I know I screwed the actual dialog between him and Alucard; don't start watching the series and then flame me, I do not want copyright issues, okay? Rate and review, please?