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CHAPTER 38: LONG LIVE THE KING
From volume 373 of the personal records of Countess Seras Victoria, duchess of British Isles, titled "Death of Dracula".
This volume, as the title suggest, details the events that led to the death of Count Dracula, also known as Vlad Dracula, Vlad III of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, Sovereign of the Damned, No-Life King, Nightwalker, Son of the Dragon, Alucard, the True Immortal and Sacred Ancestor. So many names for just one man, yet in all the years I knew him he was always Master to me.
By my calculations it is the year 20120 AD, although the traditional calendars of my youth have not been used in over 10100 years, not since the Apocalypse in 2049. Old habits die hard, as the saying goes. This volume shall join with all the others in my personal archives, which shall be left for others to view should they wish to. While not many research history anymore, I do feel it would be a crime not to at least leave an option to people.
As said, to me Dracula was always my Master. He became my mentor and, I suppose it can't be denied, a strange father figure the night he turned me in 1999 in the Cheddar village (see volume 1, "My Life, Death and Rebirth", for detailed accounts). Of course back in those days he went by Alucard and was the servant of the Hellsing organization which became my home for many decades as well.
Though I only knew Master for a short time before his thirty years of slumber, it was very obvious to anyone with two seeing eyes that he and the current head of Hellsing family, Sir Integra, shared what can only be described as special bond. They seemed to be able to understand each other with mere looks while clueless me was left to ponder what had transpired.
I remember when Master was about to leave to face off Millennium agent Rip Van Winkle who had high jacked a British naval vessel. Despite Master's incredible strength, the battle would take place in the middle of the sea and running water limits the movements of all immortals. Before leaving Sir Integra had given him a very clear order.
"Come back, my servant".
Four simple words that sound like an everyday order and at the time I took it as one. It occurred to me only later that in all the years I knew her I never heard her say anything like that to anyone working under her.
After the battle of London in 1999, the Master disappeared for 30 years. While he may have been the trump card of Hellsing, the organization had to go on even without him. Especially since the Millennium attack had brought the existence of vampires to wider knowledge. Of course government and media did their best to make people believe it had been a terrorist attack and the survivors were suffering from mass hysteria, but there were now more and more people determined to find out what had happened. Also, it started a vampire boom in media.
World had changed during the turn of the millennia.
I became aware very quickly how much stress and pressure Sir Integra was taking and just how much Mr Walter's betrayal and Master's absence affected her. In the short time I had seen them interact with each other Master had always had a habit of infuriating Sir Integra. It only now occurred to me that it may have been Master's way of helping Sir Integra deal with her stress. So I decided to step in my surrogate father's shoes. I made remarks, hints and innuendos about everything and everyone. I kept atmosphere light. Sometimes I even downright copied Master's appearance which usually resulted with Sir Integra throwing her silver ashtray at my forehead.
I like to think that we were friends.
Things changed when Master returned from, as he called it, between spaces. The return of No-Life King created instant unrest between Hellsing and Iscariot, who had been gathering more influence on midian related matters since the battle of London. They were convinced Master had been using the past 30 years to grow his armies that would attack and destroy humanity. Religious fanatics don't change, no matter what millennia we live in.
Master's return was difficult for Sir Integra as well. He still looked the same he always had while she had aged 30 years. Of course to Master the physical appearance was meaningless. I think they were happy with the little time they had after that. At least there were no titles like master and servant used, but Count and Countess. Though she was still mad at him for being gone for so long and forced him to read an entire Stephanie Meyer collection as a punishment. How glad I am none of those have survived to this day.
Sir Integra died only couple years later; a package of cigarettes a day for thirty years had caught up with her. She had no children, I for one never witnessed her having a romantic relationship with anyone. She did tell me Hellsing would end with her, that it would be state controlled government agencies who would deal with vampires in England. Other organizations were okay with Integra not having children as long as they thought Master was gone, and no new Hellsing was needed to command him. Master's return changed that and after Sir Integra's passing both the Round Table Council and Iscariot moved in to catch him.
In the days before his disappearance the battle would have been very one-sided massacre. However since Master had rid himself of every soul inside himself he wasn't as indestructible anymore. The only soul he kept was the Millennium agent Schrödinger and he used the catboy's power to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. He escaped his pursuers, only telling me he was going to meet some old friends. He said that since there are no more Hellsings there is no more Alucard.
"It is time for Dracula to emerge".
I too left Britain, not trusting the humans to show gratitude of my years in Hellsing, and I travelled the world. It wasn't until after the Apocalypse -49 that he called to me. In less than a year humanity had nearly destroyed itself and filled the world with mutagenic horror. Master had called for all the old vampires that were still around and together we started to salvage mankind. If they would all die so would we. We made sure to find as many un-mutated humans as we could and preserve them and their bloodlines. We made sure humanity survived and we made them forget our weaknesses.
We ruled over them. We became the Nobles.
All of this and more of what we did for thousands of years can be read in further detail from my records. I'm just waxing nostalgia. What I really need to talk about is D.
It was about 5000 years after the Apocalypse -49 when I discovered the experiments Master was doing. I wasn't even looking for him, I just noticed that a small group of people, young women and little children, had disappeared from numerous human villages. I could have ignored the whole thing but I guess I never really stopped being Police Girl. Besides when you get to this age you need to find things to keep you occupied.
I found him in one of the many castles we build when recreating the world; on the outside very old school medieval look but inside armed with the latest technology we had developed. I found him there in a room that stench of chemicals and blood. I saw operating tables with stains on them and dead bodies on corner. Failed experiments he called them. He explained to me what he attempted. He wanted to have a child; someone who would be his own flesh and blood. Not bitten, like I was, in fact he hadn't turned anyone after me. He had attempted this several times, even before his time in Hellsing, and now he had found that perfect combination of sorcery and science to create a living human-vampire hybrid.
I remember watching the growing foetus in the glass tank filled with green-blue liquid.
"My son, Seras" he said. "The one who will bring a new age to both vampires and humans. My one true success".
I questioned why he didn't grow her in the womb of one of the women he had used for experimenting.
"I only needed them to test the outcomes. But for this one I already had the human DNA in store. Something I had kept in safe keeping for a long time now".
He never said it out loud, nor did I ever ask him directly, but I've always known D was as much Sir Integra's son as Master's heir. Born thousands of years after the death of his mother.
Here I am rambling again. I have done my best to record D's life and events the best I could in volumes 298-334.
What I need to talk about is what happened last week. How Master died.
He called me to one of his many fortresses. I understood that something remarkable was happening as this was the castle that stood on the former Transylvanian grounds. He always had special fondness for this place. Twice he had born there and he was going to die there as well.
He met me dressed in fine black and red robes in a huge spacious throne room. He wanted me to be there, either because I reminded him of the old days or because I was the last of his "brides" still alive. Asa had entered the eternal sleep from her own choice centuries earlier and Master himself had impaled the Bathory woman when she had the gall to use name "Carmilla" to hide her hedonistic lifestyle that offended him. Good riddance, I say.
D arrived shortly after, dressed in his usual black cape and hat. He did look quite dashing that way. And he does look like his father so much it is frightening. Except expressions; D has always been stonewall while Master had Cheshire grin going on.
"My son" Master welcomed him.
"Father" D acknowledged.
"D" I happily greeted him.
"Seras" he replied.
"Brad! Janet! Doctor Scott!" shouted his left hand.
For the life of me I have never fully understood Master's decision of transforming what was left of Schrödinger's soul into a mutant parasite and place it into D's hand. Something about keeping D company, I guess.
"All of it, father. Was all of it for this?" D asked.
"Yes, my son. The trials you've faced, the enemies you've slain, the lessons you've learned… all of it was for this moment. When we will see which side of you is the dominant one".
"I don't suppose the two of you could leave me out of this?" asked the left hand.
Without any further delay the father and son swept across the huge room and clashed swords. Or rather D clashed his huge sword Master had given him centuries earlier and Master used his bare hands to block and attack. I did nothing to interfere for this battle had been a long time coming.
"Do you still hate yourself, my son? Are you still ashamed of your vampire side? Do you still think that killing every last one of us would somehow make you human?" Master attacked D with both physical and mental strikes. He plummeted D to a wall.
"No, father, I left all that behind me! I've seen the best and the worst of both worlds and I've accepted both sides as part of me! But I cannot accept what you've done just to lure me here! The mutants are going to attack human settlements. You planned it all, knowing I would attempt to stop it". D got back up, despite all the injuries he must have sustained and attacked again.
"Only No-Life King can stop them, my son, but I will not give the order!"
The fight that ensued was long and spectacular. More than once D managed to cute a limb from Master but he always regenerated them back. Master was holding nothing back either, he attacked his son with all the fury of a vampire war lord.
Finally D managed to throw Master off guard for a moment, for a mere second, but it was enough in their fight. He slashed his sword right through the Master's heart. Master flew back, coughed blood and was visibly trembling, but he didn't die. No-Life King is not taken down that easily. D jumped on him like a wild animal and pinned him to the ground.
"Go on, son. Take my blood and become No-Life King. We both know it's the only way" Master barked.
D's eyes flashed and his fangs pulled out, all too familiar symptoms of blood lust, and for a moment it looked like he was going to do it. But then he bit his own lip and raised his left hand over Master. I had heard but never actually witnessed that Schrödinger had in his new form developed an ability to literally suck magical energies. I saw as dark energy that all vampires have moved from Master's body and entered to D's left hand. Master started convulsing, fighting back and screaming but D didn't budge.
Finally, it was over. D stood up and Master lay on ground with a sword sticking out of his chest. I walked besides him and for the first time he looked weak and vulnerable to me.
"You told me long ago that only humans can kill monsters, father. If I take your blood I would just commit the same mistake as you did" D said.
"You taste awful, old man" his left hand said.
A smile crossed Master's face. It was the same I saw him giving to Sir Integra after he returned.
"See, Seras, he is my only success" he told me. "This world needs a new ruler. It needs a new Hellsing". Then he gasped and his eyes looked vacant. "I don't think I'll be able to follow your mother, son".
Then he was no more. On the floor there was only 10700 year old ash.
D spent a moment more looking at the ashes. "I have a mutant attack to prevent" he told me and left. He's never been one for farewells.
And that is that. That's how my Master, the Sacred Ancestor of vampires, the No-Life King, died. His throne has passed to his son who as the only human-vampire hybrid will make sure this world survives. I myself will leave this world soon. I think I shall finally go and see the City of the Night on Moon.
I suppose as a pure blooded English woman I should end this appropriately.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
The End
Done. Finished. It's over.
So yeah, that's that. I failed yet again to keep my schedule of updates and this time I took a very hard look at myself. I started this fanfic in July 2008. I was 19 then. Now I am 24. My life has changed quite a lot in that time. I no longer have as much time and energy to long fanfics. Still, it has definitely been a great experience to write this story.
In my original plans I had intended there to be at least 10 more chapters that would explore the post-Hellsing days of Dracula and link him to Vampire Hunter D. But since that would have taken an eternity I thought best would be to cram them into a sort of epilogue. It's not the best ending but it's better than nothing I think. I did want to give this story an ending.
I know Hellsing/Vampire Hunter D crossovers are not a new thing, everyone has done them but if you read some of my earlier chapters you'll see I did hint the story to go this direction a long time ago then. I am not too familiar with the whole Vampire Hunter D mythos so I may have done some big mistakes there, but that's done now. Just think of it as AU.
I would like to thank EVERYONE who supported this story at one point or another. I've had and lost some readers through the five years this has been going on but I am, from the bottom of my heart, thankful for everyone who showed support and encouragement. Your help has been the thing that kept this alive. You helped me becoming a better writer over the years and to explore this fandom and this character I love so much.
Special thank you goes to a certain individual who supported me from the beginning to end through all five years. You know who you are, deary, and you are precious.
Well that's it. Hope you enjoyed and maybe we'll come across again in some other story someday.
Thank you.