The No-Life Queen

Disclaimer: I don't own any material contained within this story. All copyrighted content remains the property of the person, people, or organization that holds the copyright. This story is solely for fun.

AN: Shamelessly ripped from the Biblical story of Esther... obviously with some liberties taken. :p This is the tale of a 'bear' of a king and the unlikely queen who managed to turn his heart... only this time with vampires! Yeah, crossing the Bible with a vampire tale is probably one of my stranger ideas... but it ought to be interesting to see how it turns out, no? ;p Anyway, this is a story about what might've happened if Abraham Hellsing had been unsuccessful in stopping Dracula's conquest of England 100 years ago. The story is made up of mostly Hellsing characters - hence why it's filled under the Hellsing category - but you're going to see a few characters from other things mixed in. Don't worry, it should all be fairly easy to follow. Well, guess I should probably stop yakking and get to it. Hope you all enjoy. ;)

PS: Oh, yeah, just to let you know, Seras is only a baby for this opening Prologue, but after that the story will jump to nineteen years later, bringing her to just about the same age as in the Hellsing canon.

Prologue:

The sky was cloddy, and the day couldn't seem to make up its mind whether it wanted to rain or not. Instead the moister hung thick in the air around the young woman who sat in the king's courtyard, causing her clothing to stick to her and overall making her quite uncomfortable. She was sure that the vampires which so infested the land of her ancestors loved the miserable weather, however, as a steady stream of them continued to poor through the outer-gate to seek an audience with their king. None of them liked her, and she was painfully aware of the resentment most of them felt at having to answer to a human, even momentarily. But she was the official in charge of writing down each visitors' name and the purpose for his or her admittance to the castle, so it couldn't be avoided.

Yes, Integra Hellsing was little more than a glorified secretary, but the position was a good one... for a human at least... even if it did mean dealing with arrogant, elitist vampires all day long. Oh, how she hated them, most of them anyway, the way they'd prance around as if the world was theirs. Which, given the events over the past hundred years, it practically was. Even still, they didn't need to go around rubbing everyone's faces in it. They may have been strong, fast, unaging, but they were far from the immortal lords they considered themselves to be. Her own great grandfather, a mere human same as her, had come very close to defeating the most powerful of them. He'd failed in the end, but just the fact that he'd once forced the vampire to flee the land showed that they were not nearly as superior as they considered themselves to be. Oddly enough, it was this same vampire, who her ancestor had nearly defeated, who was one of the few Integra didn't outright hate.

Sure, he was an arrogant, ungodly bastard, same as the rest of them. A hard, unyielding ruler, but fair in his harshness. The same basic laws applied to all citizens of the kingdom, regardless of status or race. And the ruler, Vlad Dracula, seemed to care little whether those he surrounded himself with were human, vampire, were-creature, or anything else - just so long as they were capable and loyal. In fact her own position was a direct reward for her loyalty. A few years ago she'd overheard a couple of the monster's lieutenants plotting to overthrow him and had done her patriotic duty in reporting the conversation to a palace guard. As a reward she was removed from her position as a kitchen server and granted a far more prestigious one as one of the palace's gate-keeper/chroniclers.

Yes, Integra didn't care much for vampires. But if her people had to be ruled by the unholy creatures, she did at least take some solace in the fact that the Lord had not completely abandoned her and His other servants and had at least insured that the No-Life King was a fair... if somewhat tyrannical ruler. Surely he was better than most of the conniving, elitists who sought an audience with him.

An old woman approached Integra's little desk and without conscious thought the official launched into her usual set of questions as she prepared a new form. "Name?"

"I am Jessica."

"Last name, please."

"Fletcher."

"Uhuh, and your purpose here?"

In lieu of an answer, Jessica merely set a cooing baby down on top of Integra's pile of forms then turned and started walking away.

"Now see here, you can't just go leaving babies lying around," Integra vehemently protested. Just how senile was this old woman? "This is the king's courtyard, not a nursery. You'll have to find someplace else to leave your granddaughter." Integra stood up and picked up the child, holding her under the arms and as far away as possible, then took a couple of steps and quickly handed her back over to the old woman.

"The child is yours," the old woman replied as she rocked the infant.

"What?" Integra responded in a mixture of confusion and frustration. "Look, lady, I don't know what your angle is, but you might want to try this scheme on a man instead. I'm quite certain I'd know if I had a child."

"The child was born to your cousin Sarah Victoria, Richard Hellsing's daughter, and her husband. They were both killed a week ago. I'm surprised you haven't heard."

"I... We're not really in contact. Relations with my uncle have always been... strained."

"I see. Well, a gang broke into the house in the middle of the night. They killed both of little Seras's parents, possibly as retaliation for the father locking up their leader two days before. You are the child's last living relative."

"Well that's... wait, what about Richard?"

"Your uncle died two years ago, Cancer. You are the last, so it falls to you to raise the child... or she'll be placed in an orphanage."

"An orphanage?"

"Why yes. The child must go somewhere, and you're her last living relative. If you won't take her... or are unable to take her for some reason, she'll become a ward of the state and be sent to an orphanage."

Integra didn't like that idea. Vlad Dracula was not big on social programs unless he got something back for his efforts. The state run orphanages were merely a stepping stone on the way towards military service. Children placed within them were inevitably conscripted when they came of age... and most often turned as well.

"I..." Integra swallowed hard. She couldn't do this... could she? What did she know about raising a child? She wasn't the nurturing type. Heck the only pet she'd ever had, a bloodhound puppy, had even run away on her! Then she looked down at the child, her last living relative and pictured the girl serving as a vampiric shock-troop in Dracula's army. How could she let this little innocent be turned into a godless killing machine? "I'll take her."

Jessica smiled and handed the child over once more. "You'll be a good mother... I can tell."

Integra eyed the fidgeting little bundle placed in her care as if sizing up an opponent. "I'm not so sure about that," she replied as she continued to hold the child out as far as possible from her body, and little Seras started to look around and then began to cry. "What's going on? Is she hungry?"

"No, she's scared. You can't hold her like that. Here, bring her in close and support her head."

"Like this?" Integra asked as she followed the older woman's instructions, and the baby stopped crying.

"Yes, that's the way."

Seras cooed again and her stubby little hands reached for a lock of Integra's long hair. "Well, I suppose she is kind of..." Integra's words were cut off as the child grasped her hair and pulled it with surprising strength. "Youch, that's some grip you've got."

Jessica chuckled. "You two will do fine with one another. You'll see."

Well, what did you think of the opening? This is more or less just to set the stage for what happens in the rest of the story. But I still hope you enjoyed it. I'm planning to write the first chapter - hopefully have it posted in less than a week - then I'll take stock of how it's coming along and decide if I think it's worth continuing or if I should take it down and just concentrate more on my other fics. Well any feedback is appreciated - positive or negative - just so long as it's constructive.

Have a good day, and God bless.

Metropolis Kid.