HELLSING: BLOOD KNIGHT
Chapter 03 - Prognosis Antiquity

The hallway stunk of death and drugs, but the young black-haired boy pressed on despite his injuries. He hands left bloody imprints on the corridor's surface; a grim reminder that he, the Angel of Death, had passed by.

"Alucard...you..." He whispered to himself, blue-grey eyes looking dangerously towards a slowly nearing door.

Farther away, a young girl of probably the same age, donning a perfectly white suit, coat, rabbit-fur hat and scarf, all framed by long black hair, stood eagerly between the rails of a train track. She grinned, looking so strikingly demonic that one might almost think she's not a little girl at all.

Having arrived, the boy pressed both hands against the door's rough surface and pushed out, feeling the cold September air rush into the building, followed by a bright light.

Walter opened his eyes wearilly, and before him loomed Seras Victoria. He was almost surprised, but the pain he felt was wreaking havok on his old body.

"Miss Victoria?" He murmurred.

"Mr. Walter...Sir Integral found out what happened to you, and sent me to bring you back." She replied, almost as confused as Walter was himself.

"She's all right?"

"That's open to interpretation." She answered, holding up a small case that contained the steward's regular clothing, and set it on the chair next to his hospital bed. "She has Dr. Trevelian on call in case anything happens to you when back at the manor, but in her own way she's really happy you're okay. She thought you'd died in that crash.."

"You saw it?"

"Not directly, but I heard the crash after I tried to bring Mr. Alucard more bullets."

Walter nodded, but then looked back at the young woman with a curious expression, "'Mr. Alucard?'"

"Oh!" She seemed almost mortified at what she'd said, "...I accepted his offer..."

He looked at her kindly, as if a father who'd gotten to see his daughter graduate preschool, "I'm glad for you, Miss Victoria. There's no need to explain further. Do an old man a favor though and help him get up out of this dreadful contraption.."

~~~

Integral had already endured the humiliating task of allowing Dr. Trevelian (once again) repair her pride as the Hellsing heir by having him inspect, clean and close the lasceration drawn across her face. He at least was kind enough to spare her any comments or questions on how it happened, focusing instead on simply telling her to keep it clean and to try not picking at it. She wasn't about to let anyone gawk at her though while she had to allow the bandages to cover her cheek, so she began making habit of wearing a long wine-red colored scarf that she wrapped around her face and shoulders.

When she sent Seras to go retrieve Walter, she had only just learned from the doctor that he'd even survived the crash, so as she sat at her desk, mulling over the details of her accusation and replayed the events of the last few days in her head repeatedly, she was also going back and forth emotionally on how to deal with it all. She felt relief for the life of her steward, yet anger at the country for having framed her. She felt humiliated at how the media had so openly accused her family business when not long before then, they didn't even know it ever really existed, but then she felt frustration as to how it all started in the first place.

"Could it really be as stupidly simple as that ninny explained?" She thought, going back to Gabriel's drawing and pie chart, wherein he so meticulously recounted the events of how he'd come to be involved with her to begin with. "It can't be just that...I'm sure he's either hiding something, or he's lying...but to have the Queen herself fooled, or even the notion that she's in on this, is just absurd." Her cheek throbbed, though it didn't really distract her much, "Why would she send that fool to protect me when he can't even stand the sight or sound of a gun? Alucard protects me well enough anywa--.." She paused, then grabbed the drawing and crushed it into a ball in her hands, throwing it across the room.

"Alucard..." She snarled, "Where in God's name was he today?" She stood up at her desk and looked around the room, almost expecting him to just appear from some wall and start making random remarks that make him sound so suave and all-knowing, any moment now. Yet, he didn't come, and he didn't make any remarks from hiding either, and it just frustrated Integral all the more. However, she did hear a knock on her office door, and the leader of that small battallion stuck his head in shortly after, seeking an audience with the Hellsing heir. She allowed him in and sat down again, making sure that her bandages were well hidden before he got within good sight of her.

"...How long are we expecting to have to wait to get to set up?" He asked, trying to sound at least partially nice about it.

"You shouldn't be wandering the halls, Mr. Bernadotte." She replied cooly.

"You've been keeping us at attention for about three hours now."

"And you'll wait another three hours if that's what it takes, until Walter is back in this house."

"Can't you admit us yourself?"

Integral had nothing else to say. The Captain was right, and she didn't want to admit it. She was so busy thinking about everything else that she was accustomed to that she had, quite honestly, entirely forgot there was paperwork to do so as to bring in this new army officially. Normally, Walter did all that, so she didn't need to, and so, it slipped her mind.

"I'll brief your men about what's going on, first." She said evenly, hoping that didn't make it too obvious that she'd forgotten her own policy. She stood up again and walked towards the door, Pip following behind, neither saying anything. When she arrived at the room the men were all waiting in, they watched her intently like jackals at a lion's kill. She paused in the middle of the room, at the front obviously, and addressed them all clearly, "I am Sir Integral Farbrook Wingates Hellsing, leader and heir of the Hellsing Organization. For three generations, my family has devoted its time and effort into protecting the Queen, the country and our faith from a very specific and numerous enemy."

She paused a moment to let that settle with the group. Pip sat down in a chair before her, backwards, so he could lean on the back of the seat.

"Vampires." She finally stated. The group mumurred to itself, some joking about it and entirely not taking it too seriously. She stared at them and continued, "Homo Lamia...the undead pervertion of humanity that spreads like a disease and infects with two very different outcomes. One...the victim becomes a ghoul, like the ones you saw at the Thames House today." More murmurring and teasing amongst the band's members, "The other, the victim him or herself becomes a vampire as well...a childe, serving the master vampire that sired them. They are weaker than full vampires only because they are still transforming...but it completes when the childe drinks the blood of their master."

She could tell some of them didn't really take anything she said as being fact. This is partially one of the reasons she didn't want to begin any of this without Seras back...regardless of how she forgot that she could admit the mercenaries herself, she needed Seras present to use as proof that vampires exist. They obviously didn't consider the ghouls at MI5 HQ to be evidence enough of the undead.

"Once bitten," She continued anyway, "The victim has only minutes before the effects take place. There is no cure, no vaccine, no turning back, and most often, the only way to end that person's suffering is by putting a special bullet into the brain or heart. Silver is the key. Nothing else will do the damage. That clown you shot? He'll be back. Please be sure to replace your current stock with Hellsing's silver-nitrate bullets when you get a moment."

She saw a hand raise, and a voice speak before she had a second to call on him. How rude.

"How can we take this seriously? There's no such thing as vampires."

"Incorrect. You have simply been blinded to the truth. That's one of Hellsing's missions; to keep the public from being aware that they are prey."

More whispering and talking. Integral knew there would be no easy way to proove her point unless Seras was there to show off her clearly superior strength. There was a moment of awkwardness as Integral thought about how they could prove vampirism without making it obvious that she didn't have an immediate answer other than to wait, but her proof soon came in the form of a pair of arms that came through the wall behind her. The room instantly went silent at the sight, and Integral looked back over her shoulder to see none other than Alucard emerge from the wall. He didn't say anything, but he stood behind his Master with a devilishly amused smirk on his face, baring his fangs quite evidently.

All eyes were rather wide in the room at that moment, and a moment of slience passed them over...then one man screamed, "HOLY SHIT" and the entire room burst into yelling and disbelief.

Integral was halfway entertained and halfway annoyed, so she didn't say anything, and instead left the room to let the group calm down on their own time. Alucard followed her a moment later, but was still wordless. He was somewhat surprised she hadn't yet asked him why he wasn't at the Thames House earlier. She heard the front door of the manor open and close and her pace sped up as she hurried to see that it was indeed Seras coming through the door with Walter in a wheelchair before her.

"Walter.." She said quietly, standing in a hallway opening to the front door's right, across the main lobby. Seras saw her first, but Walter picked up quickly after, smiling kindly as always.

"My Lady," He tried standing, but Seras insisted he stay seated. Integral approached. He looked up at her, obviously still really sore from the crash, but none worse for ware, other than the cut on his forehead, "I apologize.."

"No need, Walter." She was silently grateful for the scarf at that moment, as it hid the smile she had on her own lips that her steward and friend was home safe. "The mercenaries you spoke to before last week have arrived. Their Captain told me you enlisted them into our service."

"Ah, yes, well..."

She had an expression on her face that spelt out 'why didn't you tell me sooner.'

"I wanted them to arrive before I brought any attention as to their hiring, in case they didn't arrive at all."

"I see." She replied. "Victoria, take Walter to Dr. Trevelian and have him make sure we have everything we need for his care."

"Yessir." The vampiress replied, wheeling the butler off to the rear of the estate, leaving Integral in the lobby to carry out her business in regards to getting the Organization back on its feet. "She doesn't want anyone to see the bandages."

"She's always been so proud." Walter replied, "But I fear she may get herself fatally injured if she isn't more careful."

"I know what you mean.." Seras nodded, though as she looked up from where she was presently staring at the back of Walter's head, she saw a familiar face walking towards them.

With lots of cuts, bumps, bruises, and some fairly blood-stained hair, but otherwise bearing only a hurt pride, strode Gabriel. He glanced at Seras and Walter in passing but said nothing and carried on past them.

`

Seras wasn't sure what to make of it, and neither was Walter, so neither said anything about him, and checked in with the doctor. Unbwknowest to Seras, Walter was consumed with a feeling of uneasyness as Gabriel passed them by.

~~~

The mercenaries had officially gotten started situating themselves in the Hellsing manor, and were almost finished removing the occupational habits of the last tennants who were boarding there. It was a silent cleaning, but the Geese had enough respect for their predecessors to not make wise-cracks in their regard when they were dead. They had a few drinks in their honor later that night, but then wasted no time getting themselves moved in. Pip's quarters were on the west side of the building, on the third floor. He chose to have his room to himself, though the rest of his men complained that they had to bunk with others since, while the rooms were large, that meant there weren't many of them.

Seras, likewise, busied herself with arranging her room to her own likeness. Since the attacks, she'd gained at least a little respect from her employers, and upon inquiry, Integral agreed to let the vampiress remove the coffin and replace it with the bed she'd still had in her apartment. Among other things, Seras officially moved out of that place, having Pip pose as a relative of hers so that no one in charge of the complex suspected something was amiss. After all, Seras was dead by all accounts, and wouldn't be able to just walk into the leasing office and say she was moving out. With all her things relocated to the Hellsing manor, she set to organizing her things and threw away most of the stuff she didn't need, which included her old kitchenware and appliances. She was more than thrilled to have her furniture and bed back though, and took a well-wanted nap once everything was done.

By the night of the third day since Gabriel sprung Integral from the manor, the Hellsing chief was finally getting back to business as it was previously intended. She tried not to think about any of the previous week's events, though it was obvious there was quite a bit of smoothing over to be done in the public's regard. She already had other Knights helping in reestablish Hellsing' secrecy by arranging the 'terrorist' events as being a set-up, as it was, but instead...blaming it on a group of fanatical Catholics. Integral figured that would burn Enrico's ass as a sort of revenge for the crap he'd pulled weeks before in the Art Museum.

She still hadn't spoken a word to Alucard about why he didn't help her at the Thames House, though by this point she was just content in knowing she can't entirely depend on him and would therefore focus her energy into properly training the new recruits. The other thing on her mind at this point was her new protector, Gabriel. He hadn't spoken a word to anyone since returning the day before, though he had scared Seras to near death when she walked in on him changing out of his burgundy shirt and coat to wash them clean of the blood he'd gushed. Seemed as if Seras wasn't used to seeing men strip, even if it was completely innocent...and he still had pants on.

He must have passed out somewhere shortly after passing her and Walter in the hall before...

"London's been quiet since the attacks at the Tower of London." Integral said, Walter listening as he stood behind her. He was persistant in being allowed to work, after getting a long night's sleep at home refreshed him. Integral was hesitant, but agreed to let him get back to his duties, "Reports from MI5 have piled up and apparently they never did recover that white demon's body."

"Would you like me to review the records?" Walter asked.

Integral shook her head, "No, that won't be necessary. I have another task for you."

"Yes, my Lady?"

"The group that killed Sir Holmwood was peculiar. Captain Bernadotte might have mentioned that our assailants were dressed in Nazi attire."

"I did hear something of the sort.."

"I want you to look up anything and everything having to do with vampire and Nazi connections." Integral, much like anyone who'd had any interest in the field, was well aware that the fascists had dabbled in alchemy and occult research, "I want to know if any of their experiments yeilded worthwhile results. Anything and everything, Walter."

"Of course, I'll get right on it."

Chapter 03 - End.