Well hello hello hello!
You thought I wouldn't get this out in May, didn't you? Well, so did I. Life has been a bit busy, but as I promised, I intend to get at least one chapter out each month.
Now, I have little question to hardcore Hellsing fans: do any of you have any clue around when was Arthur Hellsing born? Or what his approximate age during Hellsing Dawn was? It would really help me set his birth, because frankly I don't have a clue.
Thank you for the amazing reviews: KitsuneButterfly, Tsuki no Rekuen, LimeKiwiEye, ZOMBIEAC, KrnYong, Andromeda, Kars, night, hellsingfan101, Lorien Urbani, Fleatcher, HollowTearsOfJoy, Myriad of Willows and Cyndane. Thank you so much!
Disclaimers: not mine, I still don't make any money with this.
CHAPTER 28: HELLSING
1899
She could not recall why she had been so afraid of this in the first place. When her Dark Master had first come to her, she had felt fear, revulsion and dread. But somehow Dark Master had talked her to come to him with his sweet tongue, and here she was, no longer human but a monster.
And she loved it.
This last week of her new life had been best she'd ever had. Before the Dark Master had arrived, she had been her short life always bedridden. Having caught a terrible decease in her young age, she had always been weak and shunned by others. Even her own mother, who did her best, acted outside of their house as if she was dead. But she hadn't been ready to die, not when she hadn't even lived yet.
But after her…"rebirth" she was rid of her sickness and she felt strong and alive. And hungry. Hungry for life…all life. First the idea of what she needed to do was repulsive, but now she couldn't wait for another meal. Thick and red certainly was better than those awful soups she had been given before.
She used her new superhuman abilities to run, jump and fly over the country road. She felt the wind blow against her and felt elevated. Moon was shining bright and she could see a reasonable meal candidate walking ahead alone on the road.
She prepared herself to strike, she liked the direct and quick attack over long and tasteless seduction. She felt her fangs growing as she jumped. Like a huge jungle beast she started landing to the poor man's back, ready to make him another victim of "a mysterious animal".
She barely registered hearing an unexpected sound when an arrow appeared from the dark, hit her right through her arm and cut her landing by making her fall to the bushes on the side of the road.
The intended victim turned around but didn't see anything. He shrugged his shoulders and continued on.
She quickly jumped from the bushes, frantically looking around her. Since she could see in dark, she saw a group of dozen men approaching her. They were all dressed in similar military uniforms and were carrying crossbows and rifles. She did not know who they were or how they had found her but she recognized their intent: they were here to kill her.
She ripped the arrow off her arm and fled. Despite them having weapons, they were still humans and could not stay up with her speed.
"Take your aim!"
"Too late, she's already out of the range".
She smiled when the voices of men was left far behind her. Had she really been weaker than them once?
Her run came to a sudden stop on a field, when she sensed a presence before her. In the middle of the field stood a man, who seemed to be in his early thirties maybe. He had black hair, pale skin, was completely dressed in blacks and his eyes were glowing red. For a short moment she thought it was her Dark Master, but this was someone different.
Someone scarier.
It was his grin that terrified her. The grin that showed his own fangs that made her cautious. She had a sudden urge to flee him as well, but seemed unable to do so.
"I am surprised" the man said, with a slightly foreign accent. "I really thought this new job would be unpleasant to me. Or at least more difficult to live with".
She didn't say anything, just stood there.
"But…if all we see are children like you playing big bad vampire…then I suppose this work isn't that hard after all".
Before she could blink the man was standing only few inches away from her. Snapping out of her paralyzed state she acted completely on instinct and slashed his throat open with her claws. Blood spurted out and the man took couple unsteady steps behind… but he didn't fall down. Moment later the wound on his threat healed and he grinned to her.
"My turn".
Suddenly he was onto her, literally. She could feel his sharp teeth in her neck before she felt his hands grab hers. He was drinking her blood…no, he was absorbing it, huge amounts.
That was all her shocked filled mind allowed her to realize, until death approached her for the second time.
#####
Professor Abraham Van Helsing sat in a comfortable chair by the fireplace, with a glass of brandy next to him on a table and a cigarette in his hand. The ideal scene of a hard working man relaxing. If only he would have felt relaxed.
Had it really been six years now, when he, along with his brave friends, had managed to defeat the king of all vampires, Count Dracula?
Van Helsing took a gulp from his glass and allowed himself to think of the events after No-Life King's defeat.
He had known, of course, that such an opportunity could not be wasted. Despite human courage, killing vampires was always dangerous, as poor Quincey Morris' death at the Castle Dracula had proven.
Only a human can kill a monster. His own words. But what if a human would be a master of monster?
It took lots of convincing with both John Seward and Arthur Holmwood. Neither of them understood his plans and insisted that they should just finish the monster off. It was Miss Mina who convinced them to trust in his plan.
Miss Mina, she was really something else. Van Helsing had been sure she would most of all be against his plan, having lost both the man she loved and her best friend to the Count. But she understood his plan. She understood that Dracula might prove to be the best weapon humans could ever hope to have against midians.
Having finally convinced others to follow his plan, Arthur had arranged their trip back to England and an unsuspicious little flat for Van Helsing, where Dracula's coffin was first placed. It was soon after their return to England that Arthur was approached by the Council of the Round Table.
England, it turned out, had its own secrets. The Council of Round Table was a secret group that consisted on some of the most powerful and influencal people of the British Isles. The shadowy group had existed since Roman's left Britain. As they name suggest, the stories of the Knights of the Round Table were based on them. The Council had its saying in all aspects of Britain, be it political, military or business. Kings, Queens and Prime Ministers may come and go, but the Council always remains.
The Council approached Arthur easily, he was son of a lord after all, and asked an explanation for the strange events that had occurred prior Arthur's sudden trip to Romania. Since not much could stay hidden from the Council, Arthur had told everything. He had then been asked to introduce Van Helsing to the Council.
The Council's first reaction was also that Count should be destroyed, but further thinking of it, they came to conclusion that maybe they should test Van Helsing's theory first. England, as any country in the world, had its share of ghosts, demons and other midians as well. With Council financing him, Van Helsing purchased an old mansion not too far from Whitby and moved the coffin there. The Council arranged some workmen for him to get the house fixed and working.
Then Van Helsing went through all the material he had studied of occult and magic for the past decades while learning of vampires. The Cromwell ritual was something he had had to put a lot of effort to finding it. It was named after a 17th century occult scientist Joseph Cromwell who had been a leader of an occult cult. Cromwell had studied how to summon demons and make connections to other realities.
It was while studying his works that Van Helsing realized how they could help him. In order for Dracula to become more than just a vampire, he would have to face himself and all of his past deeds. Van Helsing had long since reasoned that vampires most probably carried a spark of life from all those they devour, how else could they live so long?
The ritual itself was time consuming and difficult. A large room in the cellar of the mansion, former dungeon, was turned into a ritual center. A huge pentagram was painted to the floor, along with several symbols and incantations. The ritual went on for several days, with someone always supervising in the cellar. Van Helsing himself got hardly any rest during those days. The ritual also demanded blood and he used his own for it.
Then finally, the coffin had opened and out had come Vlad Dracula, in his truest form, in his Wallachian armor and armies. He had bowed to him in all his power and glory and taken the name Alucard to serve him.
The Cromwell ritual had allowed Alucard the access for all those lives and souls he carried inside of him. Slowly but surely they learned how it affected him. For one thing, the black straightjacket suit he had been dressed in during the ritual, seemed to have become part of his essence. Alucard no longer needed to wear any other clothing as he could change the black leather to any clothing he desired.
Another thing was how much stronger he became. Reading minds and dreams became far more easier to him than ever before, he could take the shape of not only one bat but a complete horde of them. Sunlight no longer weakened him, simply annoyed. He didn't need an invitation to step to a house he had never before been in.
But most amazing of all was his ability to regenerate. Even if his heart was destroyed and head cut off, one of the million souls he carried in him would die in his stead and he would simply regenerate.
His powers also affected his physical form. Depending how much power he was using his arms and hair would grow. The Cromwell effect, as Alucard called it, allowed him to use his power in four different levels. Level 3 was him using only minimum amount of his powers, level 0 was him going all out.
Of course, he could not go all out without his master's permission. Van Helsing had used his own blood in the ritual to bind Alucard to him. And Alucard served him as long as Van Helsing remained a worthy master.
As time went by the Council of the Round Table finally acknowledged the need of someone with wisdom and capability to protect people from darkness. The Holy Order of Protestant Knights had existed since the 17th century but never before had they had such intimate knowledge of midians.
To make sure public wouldn't by accident ever learn of their existence, Van Helsing figured it would be best to hide on plane sight. Through various middle men he contacted an Irish novelist named Bram Stoker and gave him some various details to use. His book Dracula became an instant public favorite, an amusing fairy tale based on real events, with a changed happy ending of course, in which Jonathan and Mina live happily ever after and Dracula is destroyed.
Van Helsing would always remember with fondness of Alucard's shocked face when he saw the book in 1897.
Arthur Holmwood became Sir Arthur Godalming and also a member of the Round Table Council. John Seward stayed in contact with Van Helsing, but the less he knew about Alucard the happier he was. The Council hired the brave and wise Mina to do some foreign work for her country, in some league of extraordinary people, Van Helsing understood.
Van Helsing himself officially changed his name to Hellsing and became an English citizen. And thus was born the Hellsing organization. The Council arranged a small army of capable men to the Hellsing property to train in monster hunting. After all, they couldn't solely rely on Alucard alone.
A sudden chill ran through Van Helsing's spine and he turned from his chair to see that Alucard had appeared to his room, seemingly out of nowhere.
Alucard bowed his head. "The mission is accomplished, master. Target is destroyed and I have all the information she had to give of the one that changed her".
"Do you know this vampire's location then?"
"Yes. While he does move around England's countryside, his nest would seem to be somewhere in the moors of Dartmoor".
Van Helsing grimaced. "A fitting place".
"What are your orders now, master?"
"A small group of men shall move with you and I to Dartmoor tomorrow. There you shall find this vampire and destroy him".
Alucard smiled. "Order received" he said, just before vanishing.
Van Helsing stared the empty space the vampire had just been in. The vampire obeyed him, because he was worthy master and would remain so. But Van Helsing would not live forever.
Earlier that same day Van Helsing had received word from Holland, saying that his wife Roseanne had died in the asylum. Roseanne had been dead for Van Helsing several years already, so he didn't feel sad, merely relieved. Still it was a remainder of his own mortality.
What then when I die, he wondered. Will Alucard become Dracula again? Such thing could not be allowed to happen. Alucard was tied to his blood so his blood must live on.
Van Helsing decided he would have to start making plans for the future.
To be continued…
Okay, I know this chapter was not from Alucard's POV at all, but I figured explained all the details how we moved from Dracula to Hellsing, would be better left for old man Van Helsing. Next chapter will return to Alucard's POV and tell how he feels.
Okay, so the Cromwell effect was a real headache. I tried reading stuff of Oliver Cromwell and find even a hint of him ever being into occult and stuff, but came out with nothing. So I created this very H.P. Lovecraftian character Joseph Cromwell to create the ritual.
Well, that's all for now. Do review and let me know how you liked it. Till next time!