Hello! It's been a long time!

Well, the applications have been sent, man it was a job to do them, and now I'm eagerly waiting for answers. And I'm back in business!!!

Thank you so much for ALL the wonderful, beautiful, more-than-I-can-express people who reviewed my last chapter: KrnYong, Andromeda, KitsuneButterfly, hellsingfan101, BlackTiger6593, Tsuki no Rekuen, HollowTearsOfJoy, Irena, rosiepops, ZOMBIEAC, Fleatcher, Myriad of Willows and Kars! Thank you so much guys!!!!!

Disclaimers: same as always.

CHAPTER 27: DARKNESS

The first thing he came aware of was that his nose was itching terribly.

Then he realized many things so quickly that it made his head spin. He realized he had no clue where he was or even when he was. As a matter of fact, he was also unaware of who he was.

What he did know was that all around him was only darkness. No matter where he looked up, up and down, left and right, all he saw was darkness. He couldn't even see himself.

Maybe my eyes are just closed… No, no they're open.

It was difficult to say even what kind of surroundings he had. It felt like he wasn't standing on anything. He was neither on solid ground nor floating in air. The feeling was simply confusing.

"Am I…am I dead?" he finally asked out loud, not knowing what else to say.

"No, Vlad, no you're not dead. You have been neither living nor dead for over four centuries now".

He tried to locate that voice. It sounded so familiar yet he couldn't place it, for he had no recollection of ever hearing anyone's voice.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Have you forgotten me so easily? I have never forgotten you, Vlad. How could I after all?"

"What did you call me?"

"Vlad. It is your name. Try to remember".

He tried. Vlad. It had a familiar ring to it. Vlad…Vlad was his name…yes, his name was Vlad…

Vlad Dracula.

And then he remembered.

His name was Vlad Dracula. He was the second of three sons of Vlad Dracul, Duke of Wallachia. His elder brother was Mircea, his younger was Radu. Radu and he were given as hostages to the sultan or Turks. He escaped and he became Duke of Wallachia as well.

Now he could see himself clearly. He saw his hands and his legs and felt them too. While everything else was still covered by darkness he was able to see himself. He was dressed in a Wallachian armor and had a long red cape around his shoulders. He even had his sword with him.

"Now you remember who you are".

Vlad turned his head and now he was able to locate the voice. From the darkness stepped forward a man who was dressed in monk's clothes. His head was bald and he had grey beard and understanding eyes. Vlad had not seen that face in a very very long time.

"Father Sandor!"

"I'm glad you do remember who I am, Vlad. I was present on the day you were born after all. Both of them".

Vlad blinked, his mind confused once more.

"Both, what are you talking about? You are dead, aren't you?"

"Mostly yes, like you are. But I live through you. I have for the past four centuries. We all have".

Suddenly he no longer saw just darkness around them. He saw thousands… no, millions of eyes in the darkness. No faces, no bodies, just eyes surrounding him everywhere. And it felt he knew each and every one of them.

"We are all here, Vlad. All whose lives you stole to prolong your own unnatural one".

It was then Vlad remembered. Of course, he had died as a human and continued to live as a vampire. And not just any vampire, he was Count Dracula, No-Life King, ruler of all midians!

"All of them, starting from you?" Dracula asked.

"I was not the first one, Vlad".

"You were! When I finally awoke as a vampire yours blood was the first one I tasted!"

"But how did you become a vampire, Vlad? Whose blood was it you stole to make the pact?"

Whose blood…? He had taken the blood on the ground, on the battlefield after their defeat, the moment before he was beheaded. It was the blood of his fallen men, the blood of thousands.

And there they were! He saw them now! His men, his soldiers, his army! They were all here, he recognized all of them.

"How…?" he asked in awe and confusion.

"There have been times when you realize you have suddenly gained a talent you previously did not have. A memory that is not yours suddenly comes to mind. You know who you got them from, don't you? All the people whose lives you took. You took their blood and you took their souls. Blood transmits the life, it is the currency of the spirits. When you took our blood you took our whole lives to be part of you, Vlad" Sandor said.

From the darkness two more figures appeared. A man with red hair and eastern features, and a beautiful woman. Motoba and Teegra, his old vampire mentors. He had taken their blood as well.

"Now you truly understand what it is to be a vampire" Motoba said, smiling his wide grin.

Eyes became less and less as more shapes appeared. Countless masses of people whom he had killed. Sometimes for sports, sometimes to survive. The only ones who were not present were those he had given a vampire life.

"What is this place?" Dracula demanded.

"Can't you recall, Count?" a new voice shouted. From the darkness appeared the figure of Jonathan Harker. "Can't you recall how you tried to make my loved one your slave and she broke free from your will?"

Yes! Yes, he remembered now! Mina Murray had surprised and outwitted him and then… and then Abraham Van Helsing had defeated him.

--

"I am…truly defeated?"

"Yes, Count. Yes you are. Are you ready to face God? You who once fought in his name? You who once protected the whole Christendom? You who sled thousand enemies in His name? You who once walked head high as the most remarkable man on Earth? You who are now reduced to a wounded beast who prays on others… Are you ready to face Him?"

Dracula was quiet for a long moment, his red eyes stared Van Helsing's blue ones. Could he truly face God like this? A miserable creature of the night who had illusions of grandeur of himself and was defeated by two normal human beings. Could he really face his eternal enemy like this?

Ashamed by the situation he found himself in Dracula rasped out a single answer. "No".

To the vampire's confusion Van Helsing gave what seemed to be an almost but not quite smile.

"Then how about we'll try to see if you can still be something of your old self?"

Dracula was too drained to speak, but his eyes did show confusion and questioning.

"I imagine, Count" Van Helsing spoke, almost casually "that killing the No-Life King does not end your kind for good. There are other vampires out there, I know. All around the world, waiting in the shadows. And while we humans will always rise to resist your kind, nobody knows the ways of a vampire better than another vampire".

While the stake that was injuring his heart was draining all the power right out of him, Dracula did show signs of listening.

Van Helsing quite suddenly lowered his head very close to Dracula's. "Become one of God's soldiers once more, Dracula. Serve me to rid the world of monsters, to make this world a little safer place for humans. Show that you have the power to be more than this…thing you've lowered yourself as".

With difficulty Dracula managed to wheeze out "I have been a slave once, Professor. Never again".

"Slavery is forced. I am asking you to choose to become my servant. Not because I or anyone else or even God himself forces you to, but because you choose to. Once you would have had the power to do so".

Dracula's mind was racing. Van Helsing's suggestion was absurd, pure insanity. He would fight for God again? Slay others like him?

And yet…

There was a temptation there. This man, this human had beaten him, outwitted him, completely defeated him. While Dracula did feel rage for that, he was also very impressed. It was then he realized how perfect his defeat was: Van Helsing had made Dracula admire him.

"You think of it, Count, while we head back to England" Van Helsing said and closed the coffin's lit, while Dracula laid there with the stake still in his chest, preventing him from moving.

--

"Yes, yes I remember now. Van Helsing defeated me. And then he…he shipped me back to England. I had time to think of his ridiculous proposition in the coffin".

"Ridiculous, Vlad?" Sandor asked.

"Of course! How else could one describe it?!"

"And yet you are here" Sandor, or whatever spirit of him he was, spoke with a calm voice.

Dracula was speechless until the most obvious question came to him. "Where am I?"

"Inside of yourself. In whatever void was left when you gave your soul away. Our souls are here now to fill that void. That's why vampires can live without a soul".

But why am I here…?

Then more memories began to appear to him.

--

He had been in his coffin for months. Van Helsing had brought him with him back to England and kept him in his own coffin. Yes, in his OWN coffin, Van Helsing had actually moved him to his coffin from that one he was lying in. The Professor kept him alive by giving him small amounts of blood every day, just enough to keep him from turning to dust, but not enough to give him strength to pull the damned stake away.

He had no clue where they were staying, but he figured they were first staying with someone (Holmwood or Seward most likely) until Van Helsing got himself a place of his own, where his coffin was carried soon.

Dracula had long since learned to ignore passing of time but with a stake in your chest it became torturing slow to him.

Finally Professor opened his coffin and said "Well, Count, this is it. Either you will from this day onward join my crusade or I'll finish what I started in Transylvania. Fight or die, what will you choose? And remember, the choice is your own".

By that point Dracula was too weak to speak but he managed to raise his hand a little bit.

Van Helsing smiled. "Prepare the Cromwell ritual!" he shouted to someone.

Next thing he knew, Dracula was carried in his coffin to another room, stripped from his clothes and dressed in black straightjacket that covered him completely head below.

"Let us start, Count" Van Helsing said "and see if you really are a worthy warrior!"

And then came the pain.

--

"I see now…" Dracula muttered, surrounded by thousands of souls he had devoured during the centuries.

"That is correct, Vlad. If you wish to stand up proud again, you must make each and every one of us bow to you first" Sandor said.

Dracula stared the countless forms and eyes he saw in the darkness, all around him. He was outnumbered heavily.

He smiled. "Bring it on!"

--

Professor Abraham Van Helsing stared at the coffin which had been set in the middle of a huge dungeon room. There was a large pentagram with various symbols drawn to the floor and coffin was exactly in the middle of it. The symbols and markings were glowing faintly red. They had for several days now.

It has been nearly a week now but if Dracula can truly outcome this…

Suddenly, what can only be described as huge black shadows, flew straight out of the coffin. They seemed to surround and devour the entire room and appeared with such a force that Van Helsing fell to his back on the floor. Something landed next to him and to his astonishment, it was the stake which had been in Dracula's chest for weeks now.

Van Helsing raised his head and saw an army in front of him. Army of people, men and women, wearing outfits of different periods, all merging as a one huge group from the shadows. And all the shadows were connected to Dracula, who stood proudly up, dressed in his Wallachian armor.

He was an intimidating sight now, in his true form, and it took a moment for Van Helsing to get up and stare him straight in the eyes without trembling.

"Welcome back, Count".

Dracula stared at the human in front of him. Human who had defeated him. Human whom he could kill so easily now. Human who he admired tremendously.

"I can hardly call myself as Dracula anymore, if I am to be a complete opposite of myself. Call me Alucard" he said.

Then he kneeled in front of Van Helsing, and held his head down.

"Your orders… my Master".

To be continued…

And so we'll begin the Hellsing section. About time too, considering I started this freaking fic in July 2008 and it's now April 2010! I'm so sorry what a horribly slow updater I am but it really moves me to know how many of you people still support me after such a time. And now the real fun begins!

Don't worry, I know the whole Dracula's transformation to Alucard was pretty vague here, more detailed explanation will be in next chapter.

Until then, bye!

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