Johan and Seras watched on in awe as the battle defied the very laws of logic. Such things just shouldn't be possible and yet here they were. The vampire and priest gave no quarter and continued their fight to the death. Eventually, Anderson would summon more bayonets from his sleeves like some sort of macabre magic trick and they were all sent sailing to their target. The force the blades were thrown at was so strong that it even shattered the windows. Even so, Alucard did not back down. Instead, he took aim and fired at the approaching bayonets. He had successfully shot all of them, but this was the distraction that Anderson needed to get close enough to the vampire. Roughly grabbing ahold of his arm in a vice like grip, Anderson sent himself and Alucard careening down the hall into the wall at the end where the vampire's hands were brutally impaled by the priest's signature weapon. He was stuck and he didn't have his weapon. He was right where Anderson wanted him.
Drawing forth eight more bayonets, each handle of the blades was gripped tightly between his fingers. The way he held them made them resemble shiny metallic claws. Anderson stalked forward like a predator stalking his prey with the same mad grin on his face and an amen leaving his lips. Upon getting closer, Alucard saw smoke rising out of Anderson's wounds. He watched on in shock as one of the bullets had been pushed out of the priest's forehead, revealing that his flesh had been all but unharmed. Soon the shock wore off and Alucard finally understood what he was dealing with.
"A regenerator." He said.
"Ce-rrect." Anderson said, his accent skewing the word slightly, "A living weapon engineered by the human race to defeat vile monsters like ye."
While Anderson was distracted, Johan took the time to get to Seras quickly and quietly. There was nothing he could do for her here, so the best thing he could do was get her out of here. Besides, what could he do? This was an opponent unlike any other they had fought before. If it were just another vampire, then he could have taken care of it by himself. But, as the man had just said, he was no ordinary soldier of God. He was also biologically engineered to fight vampires. If Alucard's silver tipped blessed bullets couldn't put him out of commission, then what hope did either of them have?
"M-Mast–" Seras tried to squeak out weakly before Johan quickly covered her mouth with his hand.
Before Johan could even breathe a whisper to Seras, they were interrupted by the sounds of glass shattering, flesh being torn through, bones snapping like twigs, and blood dribbling down onto the floor like rain. The two vampires had just seen their master's chest and abdomen being skewered by all of the bayonets once held in the priest's hands. And now, two more blades were drawn from Anderson's sleeves yet again. He slowly approached, taking his time, savoring the imminent slaughter that was about to occur. As he walked he grinded the two blessed blades against each other, making sparks fly with each stroke in order to intimidate his trapped opponent who he imagined was already reeling in pain.
This did not stop Anderson. He showed no mercy. Not even the slightest hint of humanity as he quickly and harshly ran his blade through the vampire's neck, sending his head flying with a stream of blood shooting out from where it used to be connected to the neck.
"Amen." Anderson said, his green eyes watching the severed head careen through the darkness until it was out of sight.
The best way to permanently kill a vampire is to pierce its heart and remove its head. This tried-and-true method is a sure-fire way to make sure that the vampire has returned to the grave where they belonged. Anderson had just done this to the king of the vampires, he had done the impossible, what no other vampire hunter had ever done before. Reveling in his work, Anderson stared at the headless corpse of the no life king, through his head back, and let out a loud and long laugh of victory and of madness. He was victorious but that didn't matter to him in the slightest. He had spilled the blood of a heathen, an abomination in the eyes of the Almighty God.
"That's it?!" Anderson taunted the headless body still pinned to the wall, "This thing was the Hellsing Organization's ultimate weapon?! The great domesticated vampire! What a disappointment. He's a joke! Bloody Protestants screw everything up."
Immediately, he remembered that his work was not done. He had two more vampires to confirm the re-deaths of. He turned around, expecting to see the young vampire girl still pinned to the floor and the male vampire still frozen in place. After all, he had just pierced a fledgling vampire with multiple blessed blades and the other was unable to touch them. They should have still been there with looks of fear etched into their faces and futilely attempting to beg or bargain for their lives. Instead, he was shocked to see that the two vampires had disappeared. All that seemed to remain that even remotely proved their existence was a pool of blood on the hard wood floor and Alucard's head had gone missing.
Anderson chuckled to himself as he adjusted his glasses. Even after all that, the two were still able to take advantage of the situation and escaped. He had underestimated the fledglings, but that didn't matter since they wouldn't get far.
Not only that but this meant that his job wasn't done. Alucard had completely disappointed him, and he was worried that this hunt would be over too soon. But it looked like he still had work to do. Even if they were extremely weak in comparison to Alucard, that didn't matter. After all, this was what he loved to do.
Johan had Seras's arm slung over both of his shoulders, one hand on her hip to keep her stable while she leaned on him, and his other hand was Alucard's severed head. His fingers gripping the long midnight hair tightly and the expressionless head swung back and forth with each step like a pendulum. Blood dribbled from the stump where the head used to be attached to the shoulders and left a trail behind them.
Johan knew that Anderson would likely use that trail to find them but he knew that his first priority was to make sure that Seras had the blades removed from her body. The first step was to make sure that he was not the only one who was mobile. Seras was a hinderance as she was now, so he had to remove the blessed blades one by one. A painful process for both of them.
He turned his head behind them and once he was satisfied that they weren't being followed, he gently set Seras and the severed head down on the hardwood floor. She was on her knees, her breath was shaky, and she let out pitiful grunts of pain with each passing moment. He checked behind them again and knelt behind Seras and spoke to her. "Hold still," he said, "this is going to hurt but I'll try to get these out of you as quickly as possible. These wounds will heal on their own soon enough, you'll have to feed though."
Not all his words reached the police girl as the pain she was enduring was too great. The blades being removed from her body only exacerbated her agony leaving her thinking that maybe death wouldn't be so bad. Weighing even heavier on her mind was what she had just witnessed. Her master had been defeated. She was under the impression that such a thing was impossible. Now, her eyes fell to the severed head that Johan had brought with him, and she looked to the younger looking vampire and spoke to him in a weak and wavering voice.
"W-What… is going on?" Seras asked in between breaths, "This is madness…"
"I hear you there." Johan said while pulling out the last of the bayonets, trying to keep his own pain under control, Seras had it far worse. "I didn't think we'd meet Father Anderson of all people here."
"Why didn't you help our Master?" Seras asked while trying to turn to Johan behind her, an exhausted look in her eyes that made the older vampire feel a twinge of pity in his dead heart. "We could have done something, but we… didn't."
Johan could feel sadness radiating from the fledgling vampire. She had barely known Alucard and yet still had managed to get attached to him. It was impossible to judge her for this though, she was all alone in the world and experiencing nightmares that she had been taught all of her life to be impossible. A mere night or two ago, she was just a regular human living her life expecting her destiny to be nothing but ordinary. And yet, here she was. It resonated with Johan in a way that he felt impossible for anyone else.
Feeling the urge to comfort her, he just helped her to her feet and told her, "Alucard's not so easy to kill. Besides, what could we do?"
Seras fell silent as her eyes fell to the severed head of their master, which Johan knelt to pick up. He looked up to see Seras looking down at the head, her eyes appeared to be on the verge of tears, her anxiety growing, and her confusion mounting. Johan wanted to help her, but he just didn't know how. Seras also felt a fear she hadn't felt in a long time. She was a police officer; she did not scare easily. But she was scared to death.
"I… I don't know what to do." Seras admitted, her voice shaking.
"We have to get out of here. That's the first thing." Johan said, trying to keep his own resolve from wavering. He needed to get Seras out of here, considering that she was his responsibility.
Looking down at Seras, Johan held out his hand to help Seras off the ground. Her movements wouldn't be as hindered as they would be, but the pain would still linger for a while. Her fear keeping her rooted in that spot on the floor, the police girl didn't have the will to get up on her own. It took all of her willpower to grab ahold of Johan's hand and squeeze it tightly. He helped her rise gently with one hand, the other still holding the severed head of Alucard. Once she was on her feet, Johan looked her in the eyes and spoke with as much sincerity as possible.
"Be brave, police girl." Johan said. He could see that she was frightened, even he was a scared. He tried to hide it though, he needed to keep a level head if he was going to help her through this and they were going to survive the rampage of a blood thirsty priest. "Follow my lead and try to be as silent as possible."
The two vampires began cautiously walking through the hallway, Seras' body still burning from the blessed blades, Alucard's head still swinging lightly by his hair which was still in Johan's grip. Seras averted her blue eyes from the head of her master, trying to ignore her confusion and despair. What was she going to do without Alucard? What would Johan do? She knew that he would have to rely on him, but she couldn't help but wonder how he was taking this. When she turned her eyes to Johan, she got a good look at how young he looked. He looked like he had to be at or around 18 years old, possibly even younger. He definitely had the face of a teenager, but the eyes of an old man who has seen the worst of the world. His eyes told her a story of a man who was no stranger to violence, and likely has seen too much of it. Nevertheless, the alertness of his expression made her realize that he recognized the direness of the situation. He knew something about their pursuer that she didn't.
"Who was that?" Seras asked quietly, trying to keep her voice down.
"Father Alexander Anderson. An assassin employed by the Vatican to kill monsters like us." Johan said bluntly, not bothering to look at Seras, his eyes scanning their surroundings. "I'm certainly surprised though. I thought assassins employed by the pope were just a rumor. I just thought they gave you candy and told you to keep your mouth shut unless you wanted Jesus to kill your parents."
Seras looked at Johan confused and shocked. Even in this situation, he was still able to make a joke like that. She would be impressed if his remark wasn't so tasteless.
Even if Seras wasn't convinced, Johan understood that they were in danger. He understood that Alexander Anderson was a threat to their safety. Someone who, for the first time in the many decades he had been an undead vampire, made him feel afraid again. Beneath the snark, he was very afraid. His joke was just a coping mechanism, a last-ditch effort to take their minds off the moment even for a few seconds. It wasn't until after the words left his mouth that he realized that his method of coping might not work for Seras.
Before the two of them could think about it anymore, Alucard's head sailed from Johan's grip. He felt a force snatch the head from his hand and send it soaring through the air and into the wall in front of them. To their horror, they could see that what had caused this was another one of Anderson's blessed blades. The holy weapon had pierced all the way through Alucard's pale and expressionless face and into the plaster, keeping it pinned to the wall in front of them in a gruesome display. Anderson had found them and to make matters worse, he heard Johan's crack.
"Joke while ye can, vampire." Anderson said, his voice commanding their attention and the grin on his face instilling unease. "It won't save ye from yer eternal punishment."
Johan and Seras stared in horror as Anderson approached them, his footsteps getting louder with each passing second, his arms stretched out on either side as if to resemble the cross, and in both hands were two more blessed blades gripped tightly. His eyes obscured once again by the moonlight creeping in through the windows, and his wide toothy grin still spread cross his face.
"You've got to be kidding me." Johan said, instinctively getting in front of Seras. "How did he…"
His red eyes trailed down to the floor to see a pronounced trial of blood. Some of it was Seras', most of it was Alucards, and all of it told Anderson exactly where to look. In his panic, Johan forgot all about the trail. Who knows how long Anderson was lying in wait, watching them squirm, only unveiling himself once Johan had made that off color remark.
"Now just lie don' and be slaughtered… ye goddamn monsters." Anderson said coldly, malice dripping from his voice, and his green eyes displaying his excitement.
Seras' mind was abuzz with panicked thought. 'I have to get out of here. I have to escape. I just have to run and find Sir Integra. We're gonna die. We're gonna die. Oh god, we're gonna die.'
Johan's mind was occupied by similar thoughts. His eyes scanned the room desperately looking for an escape route. He had his shotgun read to fire a round into Anderson the second he got too close, even though he knew that would likely do nothing. 'Now what?' He thought, trying to keep his gun steady while Anderson approached slowly, savoring their fear and agony, no doubt seeking to prolong it as much as possible. 'Are we really going to die like this? Not at all how I imagined dying again…' He thought, reminiscing about the first time he had died. It was a horrible end to meet at the tender age of 16 years old. Compared to that, this almost felt like a downgrade. Was he really going to die in place like this? Killed like a common vampire at the hands of a mad priest? 'I thought I was better than this. I thought nothing could scare me again. Look at me now. It's humiliating. I'm glad Alucard isn't seeing me like this.'
"Oh, but I am." A voice interrupted Johan's thought. It was eerily familiar. Laced with cruelty and malice, it slithered through Johan's brain and he recognized it.
Alucard.
"And just what kind of example are you setting for the police girl?" The voice spoke condescendingly, reminding Johan of his days training under Alucard. "Steel your nerves. Close your heart. Stand tall and fight. You are a soldier, are you not? You are a vampire. A proper vampire has no fear, and here you are… afraid. I tell you again, close your heart to your fear. He wants a fight… give it to him."
Running on adrenaline and pure instinct alone, Johan squeezed the trigger of his shotgun. A bright flash of light, a loud bang, and Anderson was sent flying back to the ground a few meters. Surprised, Johan stared at the body of the Vatican priest that lay unmoving, a string of smoke rising from his chest, and the sound of the gunfire still ringing in his ears.
Seras looked on in horror before hearing something. The same dark voice in her head. "Don't let this moment go to waste, police girl."
She blinked and let out a small gasp, not loud enough for Johan to hear as his ears were still ringing. Still, she knew she heard Alucard's voice. But his head was still pinned to the wall, his lips did not move, but she witnessed a horrific sight upon turning to the head.
The head began to melt. Alucard's flesh slowly rotted, turning from pale, to brown, to black before it turned to a chunky and bloody puss that slide from the blade to the wood floor with a loud, slimy plop.
Johan heard the sound behind him, and instinctively turned around to see the blood on the floor slowly crawling around the wood planks like it was a hideous living organism. The crimson sludge began to collect together and divide, finally forming into what Johan recognized as words.
"Drink my blood, police girl. Then you will no longer be treated like a slave. You will become a true master of the night. Drink blood by your own will, walk the path of the Draculina. Drink, police girl. No. Seras Victoria."
Seras stared at the words with a mix of frightened awe and utter disgust as the words formed in the blood, commanding her to ingest it. The idea would have completely repulsed her when she was a human, but now the idea intrigued and even excited her, though she wouldn't admit it. Johan watched the scene unfold, part of him shocked and the other relieved. It confirmed that Alucard was alive. He was watching and preparing for his moment to strike.
A chuckle broke through Johan's concentration.
A chuckle that soon broke out into a jovial cackle coming from the body of Father Anderson who still lie sprawled out on the floor. His fists clenching around the handles of his blades, the priest lurched himself up off the floor and stared at the two vampires. His eyes as wide as his smile, he quickly reached his full height and even though Johan put some distance between them, Anderson still seemed to tower over them.
"Still got some fight in ye. Not bad fer a fledgling!" Anderson said, "I love it. I can' wait te rip ye apart!"
In a state of panic, Johan's grip tightened on his shotgun as he cocked it and took aim, but it wasn't fast enough. In just the blink of an eye, Anderson was charging boldly at the barrel of the gun, not giving a moment's thought of the bullet waiting to be fired. Not that it mattered anyway. There was no time.
As if the barrel of the firearm was a stick of butter, Anderson's bayonet sliced cleanly through it with little to no resistance. The blade sailed through the air, nicking the bill of his baseball cap, sending it flying from his head revealing his messy jet black hair. Before he had time to register what just happened, Johan felt what remained of his weapon be lurched from his hand and his body be roughly sent careening to the floor. His head bounced off the hardwood floor, his vision blurred, he couldn't breathe.
A thick, heavy boot smashed down onto Johan's chest, forcing what little oxygen he had out of him. His eyes bulged slightly and for the first time in decades, he remembered what panic felt like.
"This is where ye die," Anderson said, raising his blade in a motion to swing it down. "Back ta Hell with ye, devil."
Anderson spat out the last word like it was venom. Despite the anger in his voice, Johan could still make out a wide grin of joy on the priest's face. Any bravery that might have been in the vampire's heart was now gone. His entire life, and his un-life, flashed before his eyes. He recalled his life, Hitler's regime, the war, his death, his resurrection, fifty years of torment in this world, living among people, looking sixteen forever. What was it all for?
'I suppose it doesn't matter now.' He thought. All he could do was hope that Seras could get away. She would take the opportunity to run. That would be the smart thing to do. There was no way they could be Alexander Anderson. She should do that. But it was all out of his hands now. All he could do was lie on his back, struggle to breathe, and wait to die again. This time he was certain the gates of Hell would be waiting for him.