Chapter 2: Amongst The Dead I Stand

From her office in mansion of Hellsing, Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing inspected the storm that was brewing outside. Rain clattered against the window panes, the wind howled through the alcoves of the mansion and the occasional flash of lighting would cast a shadow on the floor of the desolate room.

As she continued to stare into the depths of the eyes of her reflection, a flash of lightning signalled the arrival of one of her most trusted and capable servants. The vampire hunter 'Alucard'.

"My, my, it truly is a fascinating night, isn't it Master?" Alucard said, his voice reverberated throughout the empty room, the maliciousness of his voice filling every nook and cranny.

Sir Integra took a last inhale from her cigar before she marched over to her desk and vigorously crushed the remaining tobacco in the ash tray. She sat down and exhaled the smoke through her nostrils, the mood reminiscent of a dragon ready to unleash its killing flames.

"What is it you want Alucard?" Sir Integra inquired as she leaned back in her chair, crossed her legs and joined her hands, patiently waiting for Alucard to make clear his intent, as he often did when it came to his fledgling vampire Seras Victoria.

"Oh I desire nothing but to inform you of a misfortune that has become our little police girl." he replied with a menacing grin.

"A misfortune you say?" Sir Integra asked, her interest peaked and her concern intensified.

"It seems that, in the process of eliminating the vampire in her theatre of operations, the police girl has caused some collateral damage." Alucard continued as he slowly marched towards her desk.

"How bad?" Sir Integra questioned. Although she was relieved no harm had become the girl, she was now very curious to know as to what damage she had inflicted by sending in an inexperienced operative.

"One." He said calmly.

"Million Pounds?" she asked, expecting the collateral damage to be material.

"No, one boy." he answered.

"What?" Sir Integra shouted as she jumped up from her chair and slammed her gloved fists onto her desk. "She killed an innocent civilian?".

Alucard allowed himself to chuckle, making it clear that there was a twist to this story.

"I guess you could say that." he affirmed with a grin.

A moment of silence followed, only to be broken by the telephone, situated a mere inch to the right of Sir Integra's closest fist, as it rang with intense fury. It was Sir Integra's way of reminding herself that every incoming call could be vital.

"That would be her." Alucard said, sounding as sure as ever.

Sir Integra merely acknowledged his unnatural certainty with a raised eyebrow, it wasn't completely unexpected, as vampires were undeniably capable of performing magical feats. Feats so powerful that even the Pope and his hunters had to turn to their ancient enemy, science, to provide them with a method of fighting them. She then continued to answer the phone, putting it on conference call, allowing for the entire room to be filled with the crackling static of an unstable wireless connection.

"This is Seras Victoria, calling in successive removal of vampire infection in the town of Hutton. We are now returning to the mansion. ETA is eight hours." a voice on the other side of the connection said.

"Roger that Seras." Sir Integra said, as she eyed Alucard once again. "Tell me, what of the boy you injured?" she asked.

Save for the static, the line remained silent, confirming everything Alucard had said up until this point.

"Well, uhm..." an uncertain Seras replied. "You see, when I shot the vampire...".

"What happened to the boy Seras?" Sir Integra queried, her voice cold and demanding.

"Well Ma'am, do we have place for another vampire at Hellsing?" Seras asked, her voice filled with anticipation of a lecture and impending punishment.

"What?" Sir Integra shouted.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I had no choice." Seras continued apologetically. "If I hadn't turned him, he would have died!".

"You knew about this." Sir Integra said as she lashed out towards Alucard. "In fact, I think you were the one that made her do it.".

"Ma'am?" Seras asked, unaware of Alucard's presence.

"We can't undo that which has been done. Have you discerned the boy's identity?" Sir Integra informed.

"Yes Ma'am, his name is James Morrison, 18 years old, born in Hutton. We have also retrieved soil for his coffin." Seras explained.

"Very well, see too it that you arrive here as soon as humanly possibly. Hellsing out." Sir Integra ordered before severing the connection.

"Surely she can get here faster than that." Alucard joked.

"Not funny Alucard. Besides, we need the time to prepare for our new guest." she retorted, simultaneously lighting up a new cigar, something that could arguably be seen as a aberration she had developed over the years.

"Very well, I shall have Walter prepare a coffin and quarters for our new guest." Alucard said with a wicked smile before vanishing as he had appeared, into the thin air. Flash and thunder accompanied his departure and Sir Integra Hellsing was once again alone in her office.

XXX

The young vampire James Morrison slowly roused. As he awakened, James found himself inside of a mildly damp room, reminiscent of a castle dungeon. He sat up straight and peered around the room. Besides the antiquated look, he found that the room contained no windows and no lights, save for a single candle. Yet he could see the entire room as clear as he would have in the case that the room had been lit by twenty high powered light bulbs.

A quick inspection from his seated position convinced him this was some kind of personal quarters, for it contained drawers, a closet, a glass cabinet and a desk. There, however, was no bed. Slowly James rose to his feet and found himself wearing some sort of yellowish military uniform. It wasn't until he inspected his hands and arms that he found what he was standing in and what he had been sleeping in.

It was a coffin.

Panic became James, and he stepped back without thinking, bumping his foot into the side of the coffin, causing him to lose balance and topple over. The fall wasn't like anything he had experienced before. The world seemed to pass by in slow motion, and instinct seemed to steer his movements more vigorously and quickly than anything he had experienced before.

As he neared the ground, he kicked up his foot and spun around in mid-air before planting both hands on the ground. He continued his fall in a more controlled fashion, allowing it to morph into a smooth, and above all, painless roll. All this he performed without thinking, allowing instinct to guide him to safety.

When James came back onto his feet, he turned back to face the coffin, and the room in general. Unable to grasp what had happened to him, and as to what was going on general, he walked backwards and collapsed in a corner, his eyes were widened, sweat running down his spine an hands shaking uncontrollably. All the signs that hinted at his growing mental distress were then complemented by a scream of terror that echoed through the quiet dungeons of the Hellsing Mansion.

XXX

Seras has been quick to navigate down to the dungeon room where Sir Integra had installed the new vampire fledgeling, her vampire fledgeling, when she heard the scream. Outside the room she found the two guards, rookies, that were assigned to guard this room. Neither of them had bothered to enter the room, a sound idea, since the creature that resided within was an emotionally unstable vampire. Their decisions were probably not based on that knowledge, rather the unsettling scream had likely had a impact strong enough to paralyse the two soldiers.

She, however, was not affected by the scream like they were. If anything, the scream had unchained feelings of concern, concern for her fledgeling like a mother would be concerned for her child. Before she opened the door, she wondered whether Alucard had felt similar emotions whenever she was in a bind. He certainly hadn't shown them, but then again, a more plausible explanation was that he had given up on emotions a long time ago.

She knocked on the door.

"Stay the hell away from me!" James shouted in distress.

She opened the door anyway, and found him James cowering in the corner.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now." she said as she inched closer towards James.

"I said stay away from me!" James continued to shout as he tried to manoeuvre even further into the corner.

Seres halted her advance. She could see the desperation and anxiety in his eyes, and she knew better than to approach a cornered animal, or person for that matter. Her approach would have worked, had it not been for her master, Alucard, walking into the room through the walls, scaring James even further.

A brief moment of silence followed Alucard's entrance, during which James stared at his red shades.

Amused by the sight of a cowering vampire, Alucard grinned, revealing his canines. The situation snowballed in a flash.

The sight of the canines prompted a momentary lapse in consciousness for James, during which he suddenly became aware of the tragedy that had become him, his family and the whole town of Hutton. The sight of his mother turning to ashes, and the vampire disintegrating into dust, the feeling of the supersonic round tearing through his abdomen.

When the lapse passed, all the fear and hate caused him to cascade down to the lowest form of instinct. Fight of Flight. In this case, his subconscious opted for fight and quickly launched himself past Seras and towards Alucard. He could see Alucard's expression changing slowly as he turned to meet him.

A reflection on the inner side of Alucard's trench coat caught James' attention. He quickly discerned that the light was coming from a pistol grip.

Without thinking, he grabbed gun and forcefully kicked Alucard backwards, slamming him into the wall. He clicked off the safety, as he had seen on television on so many occasions, took aim like he had seen in games and films and discharged the weapon once, twice. He continued to fire the weapon until the slide locked into place, at the seventh shot, signalling that all the munition had been spent.

The primal rage subsided slightly and instantly he was swooped to the floor by the Seras, forcing him to drop the weapon and pinning him to the floor.

"What the hell are you doing!" she shouted.

"Be glad, I killed that vampire son of a bitch!" James groaned as he felt Seras sit down on his back, effectively immobilizing him.

"Have you now?" a dark, low voice said.

James' eyes widened, and as he looked up, he saw the blood that had gushed from the wounds he inflicted retreat back to its owner. Alucard stood back up and placed the heel of his boot on the back of James' neck before he crouched down to pick up his weapon.

"What?" James exclaimed as he felt the rubber sole dig into his neck. "Impossible!".

Alucard laughed, his sadistic and malicious undertone further unsettling James.

"Not impossible." a third, female, voice said. "Improbable, yes. But not impossible.".

"Who are you people? What am I doing here? Where's my mother?" James asked as he relaxed his muscles and completely surrendered to the circumstances that governed his horrible situation.

"You may let him go now Seras." the female voice said, in a very persuasive and authoritarian tone.

"But ma'am." Seras protested as Alucard lifted his foot and retreated two steps.

"I said you could let him go." the woman reiterated, this time she added a threatening accentuation to the mix that was the undertone of her speech.

Reluctantly, Seras let go of James and stood up, placing herself in between the woman and James, should he decide to attack her.

Slowly James got back on his legs, glanced once at Alucard and then turned towards the woman, Sir Integra.

"Don't get any funny ideas." James heard Seras say, echoing through his head.

"What?" he snapped at her, prompting a raised eyebrow from both Seras and Sir Integra. He could have sworn that Seras had said something, yet he seemed to be the only one that had noticed.

"As for you questions. We are the Hellsing Organisation, and from this moment onwards you work for us. You are currently at our HQ, more specifically, you are standing in your personal quarters at the HQ." Sir Integra explained. "You were brought here following an incident in your home town of Hutton.".

"You mean that vampire crap?" he spat furiously.

"You remembered." Seras said with a smile.

"Okay, I still have no idea who the hell you guys are, but my answer is still the same. I will not let you change me into a vampire." James said.

"It's a little late to say that, don't you agree Master?" Alucard said.

A moment of silence fell, as the possibility of that horrific truth that Alucard was implying shook, stunned and shocked every fibre in James' being. A vampire? Even after killing his mother, the very person to which he dedicated his entire being, and seeing another vampire be vanquished before his own eyes, despite the tragedy he had been through, all his efforts had been in vane.

"You mean, I'm a vampire?" James asked, his voice quivering with fear, hoping that this was not actually the case.

"That is correct." was all Integra said, and all that was required to force the young fledgeling to the ground. His legs gave out underneath him at the confirmation of his worst fears. He dropped to the floor in a sitting position and remained mildly unresponsive.

Alucard chuckled once more.

"What a pitiful Dracula you are, cowering in corners, collapsing to the floor." Alucard said as he looked down on James. His disapproving stare turned into a grin as he turned to Seras. "Congratulations Police Girl, you are no longer the most pitiful vampire in existence. The title has been passed on to this kid, your fledgeling.".

James felt the primal instinct entering his head again, attempting to control his body. He raised his head and glared at Seras, the one that turned him. His master. He leaned forward, allowing himself to get back onto his feet before dashing forward towards Seras, his fist raised and ready to lash out at her.

Several feet in front of her however, his body came to a grinding halt, his fist still poised to strike but his body unable to move. He stared into her deep blue eyes.

He cursed at his own consciousness and its inability to ignore things such as beauty at such a moment. In reality however, it was something far more supernatural that was impeding his progress. A subconscious mix of respect, fear and appreciation, all bundled into an overpowering urge, the urge not attack her.

No matter how hard he struggled, his body would simply not allow him to move forward.

Slowly, he let his murderous intent subside and by doing so, gained back control of his body ever slightly. His rage might be gone, but one question still remained.

"Why?" he asked, still gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Because I bit you." Seras confessed, not quite getting what James was after.

"That's not what I meant!" He shouted. "Why did you even bother to change me?".

"You were dying!" She snapped back in defence. "What was I supposed to do? Leave you there to bleed out?".

"Yes! You should have!" James continued his verbal assault, in lieu of a failed physical attack. "I would have rather..." he said, suddenly feeling very dizzy and tired. "...died..." he muttered before falling over backwards, once again crashing onto the floor, like a lifeless rag doll this time.

"James!" Seras shouted in concern and rushed to his side, relieved to find that he was still breathing.

"Don't worry Seras, he is probably just fatigued." Sir Integra said as she turned to the door and made steps towards the exit. "Just let him sleep in his coffin for a bit. His training starts tomorrow.".

"Training ma'am?" Seras asked, surprised. She had not received any training when she joined Hellsing, save for a few tips from her master, such as aiming for the heart or head.

"Yes, unlike you, this kid has had no prior training whatsoever." Integra replied, peering back at Seras, who, at this point, was carrying her fledgeling in her arms. "You were a police officer before you were turned. You already knew how to shoot, how to fight. Your fledgeling on the other hand, is totally green.".

"I see." Seras affirmed as she lay James to rest in his coffin. "If you don't need me, I'll be staying here." she said as she grabbed a chair from the desk and positioned it next to his coffin.

"Very well, let's go Alucard." Integra ordered, and without an audible response from her subordinate they exited the room. Integra went back the way she came, up to the ground floor of the mansion, whilst Alucard retreated back into the walls, presumably on his way back to his own dungeon lair.

XXX

As she exited the dungeons, Integra Hellsing was greeted by her middle aged butler and ex-vampire slayer, Walter C. Dornez.

"Judging from the shots, I presume our new recruit is quite the feisty vampire?" He said in his casual manner.

"He berserked twice in the time I was down there. I don't know whether that makes him feisty, or just mentally unstable." Integra replied with a hint of cynicism.

"Oh my, I do hope Alucard did not go to hard on him. Fledgelings are not as resilient to bullet holes as he is." Walter continued to joke.

"Actually, it was Alucard that got perforated down there." she retorted. "With his own gun.".

"Did he now?" Walter asked, unable to completely hide his amazement.

Integra marched in to her office, where she sat down at her desk and continued reviewing a dossier she had been issued earlier on. There was a new batch of trainees coming in tomorrow, all recruited from special forces elements of the United Kingdom's military forces.

She then looked up at her butler, who had followed her all the way to the office.

"Walter, I want you to assign the kid to this group of trainees." Integra ordered as she handed him the dossier.

"Ma'am? Are you sure it's wise to have a berserking fledgeling among a group of inexperienced soldiers?" Walter said, expressing his concern for possible trouble down the road.

"I don't see any other way we could train this boy to become a hunter." Integra said as she lit one her pricey cigars. "He's too inexperienced to learn on the field. He must be taught the basics of combat first. I want you to observe him and teach him the things he won't or simply can't learn with that group. Things such as hand to hand combat, shooting and basic tactics.".

"Very well. I shall inform Commander fox immediately." he said, before he bowed and turned around to leave the room.

"Walter." Integra called.

"Yes, Sir Integra?" he replied.

"The group's training doesn't start until the day after tomorrow, I suggest you use that extra day to teach him the principles of fighting. Let's hope he's a quick learner." she said.

"Most certainly, Sir Integra." he said, bowing once again and leaving the room.

When the door shut, an action accompanied by a massive thud followed by a click, as the large wooden doors slammed into each other and locked, Sir Integra leaned back into her chair and let out a ring of smoke.

"Well, well, James Morrison. Let's see what you have in store for us."

Author's Notes:

An update was long overdue, but here it is nonetheless.

Edits have been made according to some of the feedback I've received.