Order 1: The Man in Red

The village of Soleanna. It’s a simple country town located in the middle of nowhere. No one goes there. Not many live there. The town had a simple layout, with the square the main attraction underneath a beautiful church. Stores and houses ran around in a circle pattern, giving the town the shape of a sun when viewed from above, befitting its name. It was a quiet place. Good for meditating, reading, and taking a relaxing vacation. There was no crime, no outbursts, no problems at all. Just a simple utopia. A true place of peace. Small debates were rare, and every citizen was pleasant to one another. They were brought together by the Church, something so holy and incorruptible they believed in.

Or so many people thought. Within the church held a dark secret. An unholy secret. This secret came in the form of an odd vicar. He said he came from out of town, from London, far far away. He came bearing the gift of the Church, saying how he could help them to salvation. The townsfolk embraced him with open arms. Little did they know they were being dragged into a con. A deadly trap set by a deadly foe.

The vicar was strange, almost alien. He hated sunlight, and consistently wore a hood, even to mass. And at night, he could be seen stalking about the town, as if planning something that required his complete memorization of the entire place. Then…it happened. The first slaying took place on December 25. Christmas Day. An 18-year-old lad was out on a walk. He never returned home. His body disappeared. Some citizens said they saw the vicar washing what looked like bloodstained clothes in the church. Others denied, calling it rubbish.

Then the second and third killings happened. Five men died, two in the second slaying, three in the third. The vicar was seen carrying one of the bodies into the chapel. He said he found it outside the village, and was going to give it a proper burial. The police did not believe him, and sent three of their men to arrest the vicar. As they entered on a moonlit night, they caught glimpse of the vicar in his true form: the form of a hell-spawned vampire. The town was evacuated, and SWAT surrounded the area, preparing for the worst. A two week battle went between the vicar and the police, none gaining any ground. Two days later, a Rolls-Royce pulled up to the command tent. A woman and man exited. The woman was tall, wore a full suit, and had her long blonde hair hanging around her head. The man looked slightly old and wore his hair slicked back and with a ponytail. His distinguishing feature was his sly grin and his monocle on his eye. He stepped ahead of the woman and opened the tent flap. The woman entered to face three men, one obviously the chief of the SWAT team. Her man entered, and removed her coat. “Evening gentlemen,” the man said. “May I introduce Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing.”

“Thank you,” Sir Integra replied. “This is my butler, Walter C. Dornez.”

“I am Chief Louis,” the chief of the SWAT team said. “Thank you for coming. You see, we’ve been having some…problems.”

“These are more than problems Chief,” Integra snapped. “I’m amazed you’ve been able to keep these monsters at bay long enough for us to get over here.”

“Monsters?”

“Oh dear. You don’t know do you.”

“What are they?”

“That town, Soleanna, should be renamed,” Walter interjected. “It would be best called Ghouleanna.”

“Thank you Walter. To explain it in full, your precious town is now infested with ghouls.”

One of Louis’s men laughed. “Ha! This isn’t a fairy tale! Ghouls don’t exist!”

“Oh but they do.” Integra pointed at the fool who insulted her. “And these ghouls are more deadly than you think. They are created when a vampire bites a human that has been…deflowered, if you catch my drift. They are little more than zombies under the vampire’s control.”

“Excuse me, perhaps I didn’t hear you correctly,” the chief cut in. “Did you say, vampires?”

“Exactly Louis. But in this case, there’s only one vampire. He just has an army of ghouls. And the more soldiers you throw his way, the more you lose, the faster this will end.”

“What do we do!?”

“Simple. My organization shall take over from here. The Hellsing Organization is dedicated to protecting the British Empire and the Protestant Church from all satanic and demonic threats. Namely this little ‘problem’ you have here.”

“But what can you do?”

“Allow me to give you a practical demonstration.” Integra motioned to Walter, who took out a chessboard, and set up the black king surrounded by pawns. He took out the remaining pieces and placed them on the table next to the board. Integra took out a silver case from her jacket, and opened it, revealing a several cigars. She lit one, and placed it in her mouth. “The king is the main vampire. The pawns are the ghouls,” she explained. “In chess, you must checkmate the king to win. As with vampires, killing the head vampire kills the ghouls.”

“So who does the metaphorical ‘checkmate’?”

“We do. In fact, two of our agents are currently en route to Soleanna. They are best and brightest at eliminating these freaks.”

“What kind of agent can defeat a vampire?!”

“Why, their own kin.”

The chief and his assistants stared in disbelief at Integra. She took the white king and queen and knocked away the pawns. “The poor freak is going down Chief Louis. We’ve got the king and queen on our side.”

Alucard smiled as he walked down the barren path to Soleanna. He looked up at the moon, and his smile grew even wider. He adjusted his glasses and stared deeply into the white cratered surface. “What a beautiful night,” he murmured devilishly. “I could use a nice bite to drink.”

“I heard that Master,” Seras Victoria said through their blood-link. Alucard frowned. “Police Girl, do your job of making sure I have enough ghouls to beat the shit out of. What’s going on in Ghouleanna?”

Several miles away, Seras Victoria was lying down, her eye pressed to the scope of her rifle, the Harkonnen. She smiled, watching the carnage below. SWAT agent after SWAT agent fell to the ghouls, their limbs torn apart, their heads smashed, the ground covered in blood. The agents only returned once more, the ghoul army growing and growing and growing. “Master, we’ve got a problem,” Seras said shakily.

“Police Girl, I don’t have problems. I solve them,” Alucard answered. “What is it?”

“There’s about thirty of those ghouls down there.”

“Care to thin their numbers?”

“I could, but I don’t have any anti-infantry explosives on me.”

“Dammit Police Girl!” Alucard smacked his head, and continued walking, pulling the brim of his hat down. Note to self: give the girl a little lesson in bringing supplies to all confrontations, Alucard thought. “Well, I can handle 30,” he said aloud. “With Jackal and Casull, I could take a whole army.”

“You might not need to Master.”

“Why not my dear Seras?”

“Other than the fact that you said my name for once, I’ll say this.”

“What.”

“There’s a man down there.”

“There’s plenty. I can share your vision.”

“No I mean someone living. The ghouls are after him!”

A survivor?!

Seras could not believe her eyes. A tall man wearing a red coat was on the outskirts of the square. His hair was a brilliant silver, and on his back was a large sword. His back faced the incoming ghouls. Three leaped toward him. Seras averted her eyes, hating the blood. Dying by a ghoul was not a way she wanted to go, and neither did she want to see it happen again. A second passed, and she looked back in the scope at the ghouls. The three that attacked the man were lying on the ground, slashed in half. The man had sliced them with his sword, a huge blade maybe five or six feet in length. More ghouls surrounded him, and he slashed through all of them, his blade whirling, stabbing, and slicing. He launched one into the air, brought it down with a plant, and skidded to another into multitude of stabs. He spun around, flinging his sword in all directions. Ghouls fell, their bodies ripped apart by the blade. Fifteen remained, only to be eviscerated by magnificent swordplay. One last one was left, and ran at the man. He sidestepped the enemy, and slashed it clean in half. Seras averted her eyes as it happened, and looked. The central courtyard was nothing more than a pool of blood and severed ghouls. The man in red was gone. She looked around, and saw bloody footprints going along the side of the church. “Master?”

“Yes Police Girl?” Alucard replied. “I’m guessing you want to know what I think of that badass’s sword moves?”

Seras was stunned. Apparently Alucard had seen everything. “Well, he just made my job a lot easier. Move to another spot. He’s definitely in the chapel. Get into a good point where you can snipe. We might have a rogue.”

“And you like rogues Master.”

Alucard grinned. He grasped the handle of his 39cm Jackal pistol inside his jacket. “I love killing rogues my dear. Now move out.” Alucard move through the main street of Soleanna, and entered the square. It reeked of blood. Alucard bent down, and ran his finger through the blood. He licked it off his glove, and spit it out. “Disgusting. Another poor fool.” He frowned, and moved towards the Church. Alucard saw the path of blood nearby, going around the side. “Looks like the swordmaster forgot to clean his boots. No matter. I’ll be cleaning his clock in a moment!” Alucard opened the heavy wooden doors. The chapel was magnificent, with a huge stained-glass window above the altar. It was circular, and depicted the sun. Alucard walked between the pews towards the crucifix. His eyes caught something out of place. A man sat at the first pew. His hair was silver, and he wore what looked like a red coat. He appeared to be praying. Alucard walked up to the man, drawing out his .454 Casull pistol as he strode. He aimed the gun at the man’s head. “So, any last requests, swordmaster?” he said, his grin widening to his ears.

“Just one,” the man in red replied. “To remember that I’m not just a swordsman.” The man whipped out a white gun and pulled the trigger. Alucard’s head was embedded with a bullet. Alucard staggered back. The man in red leapt to his feet, drawing an immense sword from a nearby pew. The sword was double-edged, and featured a skull design above the handle. The man in red stabbed it into Alucard, who fell to the ground bleeding. The man slunk away to the confessional booth. He flung open the door and dragged out the vampire-priest, who was bleeding from a wound to the stomach. “You bastard!” the vampire screeched. “My ghouls will annihilate you!”

“How convenient. I already annihilated them,” the man answered.

“What? Impossible!”

The man leveled his white gun at the vampire. “Any last words?”

“What are you? You’re not human!”

“Bingo.” The man fired, blowing the vampire’s head apart. He walked into the confessional, murmuring, “Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” a voice said. The man in red ducked in time for the confessional to be slashed in half by his massive sword. He rose from his seat, and saw Alucard, perfectly healthy, standing a few feet away. Alucard’s hat and glasses had disappeared, freeing wild black hair and revealing demonic eyes. Alucard smiled. “Thanks for doing my job for me.”

“You’re welcome.” The man in red walked over to his sword, which was embedded in the wall. He pulled it out, and sheathed it on his back. It managed to stay, as if his back was magic. The man walked over to Alucard, drawing a black pistol identical to his white one. He spun both guns around on his fingers, grinning. Alucard took out Jackal from his coat, mirrored the man’s moves. “Then I guess you won’t mind me killing you first!” he said.

“Come on. I love this. This is what I live for! I’m absolutely crazy about it!”

“Meet Casull and Jackal.”

“Meet Ebony and Ivory.”

“Bring it!” Alucard started firing, draining both gun’s ammunition in less than a minute. When the smoke cleared, the man in red was gone. But he had leaped on top of the crucifix, avoiding the shots entirely. He smiled, firing off a barrage of shots. Alucard leaped away, dodging swiftly while ramming new cartridges into Casull and Jackal. He fired off several more shots, only to miss his target. The man in red put away his guns and whipped out his sword. He blocked the bullets, sending the explosives towards Alucard. The vampire rolled out of the way, the bullets destroying several pews. The man in red leapt down, spun his sword, and stabbed from a distance. He covered the distance between him and Alucard in a second. Alucard felt the sword stab through him, the blood flowing. But it didn’t end there. The man in red withdrew the blade, and started stabbing at breakneck speed. “Ha ha ha ha ha!” the man yelled with each stab. He drew the blade back for one final attack. “BREAKDOWN!” He stabbed in even harder, sending Alucard flying into a wall. The blood flowed from his chest, only to be healed up quickly. The vampire grinned as the man in red lanced forward, sword in one hand, Ebony in the other. Alucard leapt into the air, flipped, and fired off a barrage of bullets. He landed between the rows of pews, two empty clips falling out of his gun. He reloaded both, and looked around. The man was gone. Alucard heard a gun click behind his head. The vampire grinned. “I haven’t had this fun since Father Anderson came to town,” he said joyfully.

“I’d suggest giving up, vamp,” the man in red said. “Do you think you can win against me?”

“Police Girl.”

“What?”

“I have the shot!” Seras Victoria answered. She had hidden away in the rafters above. She pulled the trigger on the Harkonnen, sending a depleted uranium shell towards the main part of the church where the red man stood. The explosion engulfed Alucard, who was left standing. The man in red was stabbed in the chest, impaled to the crucifix. When the shell hit, he had leaped over Alucard, giving the vampire the chance to steal and skewer him with his own blade. Alucard turned, putting away his guns. “Getting better,” the man said. Alucard spun in time to see the man detach himself from the crucifix and land on the ground. “I would go as far to say I underestimated you.” He pulled his sword from his chest, and slung it over his back. “That’s the fifth time I’ve been stabbed with my own blade. At least the first time was good for me.”

“You’re alive?! You can’t be human!”
“Bingo! You win the prize!” The man blasted Alucard in the head with his white gun, Ivory. Alucard leapt to his feet quickly, only to find the man had disappeared again. “You have to be a vampire,” the man’s voice said. “But why would you work with humans?” Alucard recognized where the voice came from, and whipped out Jackal, firing backwards. He turned to find no one there. The man laughed again. “Can’t have you blowing my head off now can I?”

“Who the hell are you?” Alucard yelled. He looked up, seeing the man at the stained glass window.

“You will come to learn when the time is right. But now, business beckons.”

“Tell me your name!”

The man turned around, and tilted his head towards Alucard. “Tell your masters,” he said solemnly, “That Dante’s on the prowl.” Alucard fired at Dante, who leapt away. The bullet from Jackal shattered the window. Dante appeared from outside it, waving. “Adios Dracula!” he yelled, and disappeared. Seras came running in from a side entrance. “Master! I found the head vampire! He’s dead!” she cried.

“I know. Time to go home, Police Girl.”

“What happened, Master?”

“It would seem that we have competition.”