Hellsing Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction ❯ Fire in the Blood ❯ Balance of Power ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“The first time I met the Major was in 1941,” Bishop Gandolfini said. “Of course, he was just a First Lieutenant then.”
 
Enrico sat at the hotel suite table and twisted the cheap pen around in his hand. This was beginning to bore him.
 
“He didn't look like much of a soldier. Short, pudgy to the point of being obese. Nothing at all what I imagined the frightening SS Officer to look like.
 
“His smile… the little tick where only part of his face moved, to the massive grin that threatened to split his face, it was terrifying.”
 
Enrico nodded. “Of course, your grace. And so, those of you in the European office of the Vatican at this time aided him and his agency.”
 
The Bishop nodded emphatically, “Exactly! I was threatened, no! Coerced into helping him! That man, a decree from his Führer in his hand, made us work with him. You don't know, Father Maxwell, you weren't there! You don't know what it was like! That detestable little man, with his grin that seemed like it would split his face.”
 
Enrico nodded sympathetically.
 
“This is what he said… to `savor the joy of war limitlessly… for the next war, and the next, and the next.' That man… he spoke as if he war a commander of Satan's Legions himself! You don't know Maxwell!”
 
Enrico smirked and twirled the pen around in his hand. “No. You're right. I can't know what it was like. I still think I would have refused the offer of eternal life.”
 
Bishop Gandolfini's eyes widened in surprise. He glanced behind him at the nun in the Priest's garb. She smiled, pulled out a gun from a shoulder holster, and started to load it.
 
“After all, that's what the Major offered you, wasn't it? Eternal life? A chance of being a vampire? That's why you helped him and his compatriots escape. That's why you helped the Millennium Project move the treasures, the Jewish artwork, the gold, and the jewelry, all of it! All of which was, of course, merely capital for their true goal.”
 
“You know? You know that?” Bishop Gandolfini stuttered.
 
“Of course. It's what we're here for. We know their true goal. Artificial vampire production. An army of artificial vampires. The FREAK chip technology. The Letz Batallion.”
 
Yumie and Father Renaldo emerged from the darkness. They each grabbed an arm and forced Bishop Gandolfini down on the table. Heinkel pulled a silencer from her jacket and started to screw it onto her gun.
 
“Internal affairs inquiry?” Enrico shouted. “No! A court of impeachment? No! This is an Inquisition!”
 
“Maxwell! Please! The… the afterlife!”
 
Maxwell leaned forward and turned his head sideways to look at Bishop Gandolfini. “The afterlife? You should have thought of that before you helped the Major! But perhaps something can be done to save you.”
 
“Yes! Yes! Anything! What do you want?”
 
“Don't grovel, Bishop. Not to me. You should only grovel to God. But if you want to help us, tell us where they are! Where in South America are they hiding? Brazil? Argentina? Chile? Colombia? Where?”
 
Bishop Gandolfini whispered something in Enrico's ear. Enrico smiled, stood up, and faced the window, looking out over the Thames.
 
“Is that what you wanted? I have saved myself, right?”
 
“Saved yourself?” Enrico asked. He shrugged. “I wouldn't know. That is between you and the Father.”
 
Whoomph
 
Enrico stared out over the city. There are actually Catholics living here? There's no accounting for taste.
 
“Father Renaldo? Would you be so kind as to dispose of the Bishop?”
 
Father Renaldo nodded and placed his hands on the dead Bishop's shoulders. Pages flew out of his robes and surrounded him and the body. The fluttered everywhere, filling the sight of Enrico and his subordinates. As the pages disappeared and their vision cleared, the body and Father Renaldo were gone. Enrico turned and looked at Heinkel and Yumie. “Clean up the blood. I don't want the hotel asking questions.”
 
He sighed and stalked off to his room. That was the easy part of the day. The hard part, holding his temper in the meeting, would be the difficult part.
 
***
 
Chapter 3- Balance of Power
 
***
 
Adrian began sorting the files the Denesti's had faxed to him. When Alucard entered through the ceiling, he barely even reacted.
 
“Ah, the DeNasty's. Or is it Denesti now?. You could always count on them to continue hating me.”
 
Adrain picked up a file marked “The Coven” and flipped through it. “Considering what you did to Grant and his ancestors, you can hardly blame them, can you?
 
Alucard smiled. “It had to be done. You were barely old enough to talk then, as I recall.”
 
“Yes. Back when you were pretending to be human. Before mother died. Before Orlox came.”
 
Silence was Alucard's only answer.
 
Adrian sighed. “I'm sorry. That was uncalled for.”
 
“What was? Why should I care? It's ancient history for all but the Denesti's.”
 
Adrian gathered up his folders and started to walk out of the room. He stopped at the door. “Whatever happened to Orlox, father?”
 
“After you killed him?”
 
“Yes.”
 
“I never really bothered to find out. It didn't strike me as important at the time.”
 
Adrian held up a file marked `Graf Orlox'. “Perhaps it should have.”
 
***
 
As the zeppelin touched down into the hanger, the Major adjusted his tie slightly and flicked away a microscopic piece of dust off of his jacket.
 
“I dare say the Old Opera House Men will be angry with us,” Doc said from the left.
 
The Major smiled. “Let them be angry. Can they stop us now? No, can anyone stop us now?”
 
“You have a point there.”
 
The Major turned behind him. “Schrodinger?”
 
The were-beast suddenly appeared beside him. “Yeah, Major?”
 
“Stand at my right, please.”
 
Schrodinger looked towards the empty space on the Major's right. “But the Captain always stands there.”
 
The Major patted Schrodinger on the head. “Yes, but the Captain is away on business, as are all the other Werewolves. You get to stand at my side today.”
 
A massive smile split Schrodinger's face, and he started humming as he took his place beside the Major. At least, until Doc hit him in the back of the head.
 
The ramp slowly lowered to ground and the trio walked down into the harsh, artificial light of the hanger. The Major raised his hand up to his shoulder. A thousand arms raised in salute, and a thousand voices called out as one.
 
“SIEG HEIL!”
 
***
 
It was a cold night. A very cold night. The type of night that chills the blood and marrow of anything that dares venture out, be it man, beast, or monster.
 
And the monsters were out in force tonight. They were coming together, abandoning their hunts, their sanctuaries, their solitude. For there are things in the dark even monsters fear.
 
“I don't understand why we have to meet in this library,” a voice said from the shadows.
 
“So that you could see, so that you could understand,” another voice responded.
 
“Understand what?” Another voice interjected.
 
“Understand what we're facing. Helena is gone. He wrecked London, destroyed the tower, cut the top off the bridge entirely. And from what my intelligence has lead me to believe, he isn't even their strongest soldier.”
 
The door to the burnt rooftop library opened and a new shadow stepped in.
 
“Close the door behind you!”
 
The new shadow shrugged and gently closed the door.
 
“I've got worse news,” the shadow said, “the Stone has been stolen from the Vatican.”
 
There was silence for a moment, then a voice from the back, which had been silent the whole time, finally spoke.
 
“Castlevania…”
 
***
 
The old Colonel glared at the Major as he walked down towards the old men. “Arrogant bastard,” he muttered, “who does he think he is?”
 
“Do you know what the troops are starting to call him now?” one of the old man beside him said.
 
The Colonel nodded. “Acting Führer.”
 
The Major stood at attention in front of them, clicked his heels, and threw up his hand in salute. “Sieg heil! Hitler's Secret Project #666 returning from carrying out his orders!”
 
The Colonel walked forwards towards the Major, leaning heavily on his cane for support. “What orders? We didn't give you any orders. We never give you any orders. You run around doing what you please. You destroyed our Hong Kong factory, you killed the chip manufacturer. You're bringing us out of hiding. You destroyed half of London! Do you think that the world won't start following the trail to us?”
 
The Major smiled. “I am merely following the orders of the late Führer, nothing more.”
 
The Colonel stopped in front of the major, his face flushed. He stared down at the Major's face. “What orders?”
 
The Major chuckled and looked up at the man. “I am sorry, but I cannot divulge the secrets of the Führer, not even to a superior officer.”
 
“Don't be so arrogant!” the Colonel screamed at the Major, “You waltz around, acting like your some official agent of the Führer, as if you were carrying on his legacy! You're nothing! Just a simple SS Major who believes he speaks for the dead!”
 
“If that's the case, Colonel,” the Major said, smirking, “why don't you kiss my official ass?”
 
The assembled soldiers began laughing.
 
The Colonel blinked angrily, then suddenly hit the Major in the face with his cane. The Major went flying to the ground and lay there, motionless. The Colonel walked up to him and began to beat him with the cane.
 
“Not so tough without your hulking bodyguard, eh Major? Not so hard to take down without your precious Werewolves? Where are your True Undead now, eh?”
 
The soldiers ceased laughing and stared at the scene in shock.
 
The Colonel continued to swing his cane at the Major's unmoving body, his voice cracking as he became angrier. “Why? Why didn't you give us the serum when you could? We could have stayed young! You had enough! Why won't you turn us into vampires? Why, why, why, WHY? You wouldn't let us keep our youth then, and you won't give it to us now!”
 
The Colonel raised his cane to strike the Major one more time when a hand darted out from the blackness and grabbed it. It yanked the cane out of his hand and pushed the Colonel to the ground.
 
The Colonel stared up and stammered. “O-o-orlox? When did you get back?”
 
“Just now,” Orlox said, snapping the cane in half, “And you will address me as `Count Orlox'. Filth such as you should not be allowed to toss around my name so casually.”
 
The Colonel pointed a finger at him accusingly. “You're bound to us! You're under our control, you do what we tell you to do!”
 
“Oh, I'm bound to you, am I? What did your lot ever do?” He stepped forward and kicked the Colonel in the side. He began to lecture the Colonel, punctuating ever sentence with a kick. “It was the Major who found me and my brethren, locked away by Van Helsing in that wretched crypt of a castle. It was the Doctor who unearthed the secrets of our race. It was the Major who created the Letz Batallion. It was the Major who led us away from dying Germany to this place of safety. It was the Major who had us bound to him. And,” he said, picking the Colonel up by his lapels and slamming him against the wall, “it is the Major to whom I owe my allegiance.”
 
As the Major slowly stood up, the soldiers brought out their guns. Schrodinger opened his mouth and grinned, showing rows of pointy teeth. The Doctor smiled quietly. Orlox lifted the Colonel off the ground and turned him to face the Major.
 
“What… what are you going to do? What are you going to do with an army of a thousand vampires?”
 
The Major stood up and pushed his hair back with his hand. “Do?” he asked. “We are going to savor the joy of war limitlessly. From the next war to the next.”
 
***
 
“You can't actually be suggesting that we work with them!” a shadow demanded.
 
“We may not have a choice!” the shadow by the library door responded. “This growing far out of our control!”
 
“Would you be truly willing to work with the Witchfinders? With SOLOMON?” the older shadow in the back asked.
 
The shadow near the door shrugged. “Would you be willing to work with Helsing? Iscariot even? Perhaps the Belmonts?”
 
“Even if you are right and the situation is growing out of control, what help could they possibly be?” The voice sounded like a little girl valiantly trying to get her way. “What exists that we could not handle? They are being run by humans, are they not? Any vampire, witch, or were-beast that allows itself to be commanded by humans cannot be any real trouble.”
 
There was silence for a while. “Perhaps then, sister, you would care to take of Helsing's vampires?” The older shadow asked. “Or perhaps, while we are discussing the weakness of humans, you would care to go toe-to-toe with that troublesome Paladin of Iscariot's?”
 
The shadow did not respond to the question put forth by the older shadow, but remained in petulant silence.
 
“That's not all,” the shadow by the door said. He pulled some rocks out of his pocket. They glowed with an eerie yellow light. “They've already started.”
 
The door burst open, throwing the shadow by it forward onto the ground. He slid over the floor, stood up and turned around. “What the hell? Who are you?”
 
A tall, blonde man dressed in a long overcoat stood in the doorway, bathed in the light of the waning moon. He didn't answer the question posed to him, but merely surveyed the multitude of shadows in the burnt library.
 
“Are you with us?” the old shadow asked. “Are you vampire? Witch? Werewolf?
 
The tall man didn't respond, but instead began to root around in the pockets of his overcoat.
 
“If you are not a friend, then leave, now!” the shadow by the door said.
 
The tall man ignored him.
 
The shadow by the door squinted his eyes and grunted. The air between him and the tall man vibrated, and the doorway exploded outwards, but the tall man seemed unperturbed. His hair wasn't even blown back by the blast. A green pedant around his neck began to glow and the liquid within the pendent bubbled.
 
The shadow took an uncertain step back. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?”
 
The tall man continued to ignore them and pulled a metal sphere out of his pocket. He shook it a few times, removed a pin, and tossed it into the center of the room.
 
Light streamed from the sphere, blinding, hot light. When the vision of the shadow by the door cleared, half of his colleagues were dead. His vampiric friends were huddled in the corner, rolling around on the floor, or struggling to stand.
 
Then a shadow enveloped his world and all he saw thereafter was darkness and flame.
 
***
 
Enrico sighed as they took the blindfold off. “What, don't you trust me?”
 
“No, but if it's any consolation, they don't trust me either,” Integra Helsing voice floated from in front of him. As Enrico's the blindfold was pulled away from his face, he saw that the guards were pulling a blindfold off of Integra's face as well.
 
“Consider yourself lucky, Catholic. This is possibly the most secure place in England. It's so secret that most of the Round Table is completely unaware of its location.”
 
“Including yourself, I see.”
 
Integra smiled coldly. “Including myself.”
 
“Of course, if you really wanted to know, you could always ask your Satanic pet.”
 
“I'm afraid that I am also unaware of the location,” Alucard said, appearing behind Enrico. He leaned over Enrico's shoulder. “My Master has forbidden me from looking inside the minds of those who lead me here.”
 
Enrico's eye started to twitch. “How very… noble.”
 
Down the table, Karasuma sighed and leaned back into her chair. “Look at them. They're supposed to be in charge, but they're squabbling like children.”
 
“What's up with those two?” Michael asked, “I never really caught why they hate each other so much.”
 
“I keep forgetting that you never really applied for this job, Michael.” Dojima said.
 
“What?”
 
“Listen,” Karasuma said, leaning forward. She laced her fingers together in front of her mouth. “I'm sure you're aware of this, but Solomon is a branch of the Catholic Church. While the clergy tend to let Solomon do what they want and allow us a great deal of secularity, we do, in the end, report to the Church. The young, long-haired priest over there arguing with Sir Integra Helsing is-”
 
“I know who it is,” Michael said, “Father Enrico Maxwell, head of Iscariot. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I dug up on him last night.”
 
“Most of it is probably true,” Dojima said, “And for all our sakes, I would advise deleting it from your hard drive and forgetting everything you ever knew about him. It's safer.”
 
“A bit beside the point though. Enrico is something of a religious fanatic. He harbors an extreme dislike for Protestants. And there is definitely no love lost between him and the Helsing Organization. Of all the Protestant demon-hunting organizations, it's the one he despises the most.”
 
“… Ah. Of course.” Michael said.
 
“What? I'm still not sure I get it,” Sakaki said.
 
“Haven't you read Dracula?” Michael asked him.
 
“No, but I've seen the movie.”
 
Michael shrugged. “Not quite good enough.”
 
Adrian, from the end of the table, cleared his throat. “If I may begin?”
 
“Certainly,” The Queen said from the head of the table.
 
Adrian bowed. “Thank you. Lights please.”
 
The lights in the room dimmed and a projector in the roof flickered on, displaying a timeline on the screen.
 
“Father Maxwell and I decided it would be best to do this in chronological order. So we start from the beginning.” Adrian shuffled his notes and took a deep breath. “About nine hundred and five years ago, during the Crusades, when the Catholic Church sent wave after wave of soldier to battle with the Gods of the East. There were many companies of knights in those days, but all agreed that the greatest company was that led by Leon Belmont and Matthias Cronqvist. One day, Matthias returns home from battle to find that, in his absence, his wife Elisabetha had fallen ill and died.”
 
Seras thought she heard a sound behind her, but when she twisted in her chair to see what it was, all she saw was Alucard leaning against the wall, expressionless.
 
“Angry at the God who let his wife die while he was out doing His work, Matthias decided he would cheat God's plan. He made a deal with a powerful vampire, Walter Bernhardt, so that Bernhardt would kidnap his friend Leon's fiancée. He was confident the Leon's superior combat abilities would allow him to take down the vampire. His confidence was well placed, but for Leon to defeat the vampire he had to kill his fiancée, who had been turned into a vampire. It was the only way to create the weapon that would harm the vampire. When Leon defeated Bernhardt, Matthias swooped in and took the vampire's soul into him using the Crimson Stone.”
 
“Excuse me,” a voice said from the table, “But what is this Crimson Stone?”
 
Adrian pushed a few buttons on a remote and a photograph of a necklace with a blood red stone on it appeared on the screen. “The Crimson Stone is a stone created with alchemy. It is of particular interest to vampires. If a vampire uses it, he may absorb the soul of another vampire into him. Vampires can do this normally by drinking all the blood of another vampire, but this method is easier, quicker, and allows the user to obtain much more of the vampire's power. If a human were to use it, say Matthias Cronqvist, he would gain the vampire's power, but would also become a vampire himself.”
 
“Where did Matthias come by the knowledge to make this stone?” Sir Islands asked.
 
“The Cronqvists are the masters of the alchemic arts. If there is anyone alive today who knows how to use alchemy, chances are that they're a descendent of a Cronqvist. But I digress. Matthias used the stone to take Bernhardt's soul and became a vampire. He then offered Leon the possibility of becoming a vampire with him, both of them defying God's plan for taking those that they loved. Leon refused, saying that he and his family would hunt Matthias for the rest of time. Matthias left and the vampire's castle crumbled to the ground. It turned out that the castle was, in fact, a creature itself created by Walter Bernhardt. A literal creature of chaos that was part of his power and had now been absorbed into the Crimson Stone.”
 
Adrian hit another button on the remote and a painting of a pale man with long white hair was displayed on the screen. “During his time in Bernhardt's castle, now known as Castlevania, Leon met and defeated this man, Joachim Armster. Joachim was a Witch Walter Bernhardt turned into a vampire to serve him. However, Joachim rebelled, believing that since he had the powers of both a vampire and a witch, he could easily defeat Walter. Unfortunately, his vampirization greatly diminished his Craft, and he was far too young a vampire to defeat Bernhardt. He was supposedly dead, but death, as all of us know, is fickle at best.”
 
There was a yawn, followed by the sound of someone getting hit in the shoulder. Vaguely, all those attending could hear: “I don't care how late it is! You're a mercenary! You should be used to bizarre hours!”
 
Adrian raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. “Moving on. After this, Cronqvist goes into hiding, emerging about three hundred and fifty years later as the self-proclaimed `King of Vampires'. He is then killed by one of Leon's descendents. History, unfortunately, does not know the name of the one who did it. What is known is that Death, Matthias' right hand man, took the Crimson Stone and left the castle as it crumbled. Matthias had left instructions in the event of such an event.”
 
Adrian hit the remote again and a painting of a man with an enormous black moustache appeared. “What happened was that Matthias' soul was reincarnated into a new vessel. Vlad Tepes Dracula. You have, perhaps, heard of his infamous insanity? Well, it wasn't all the fault of his days as a Turkish prisoner, though it's certain that those days helped bring out the worst in him. The darkness was born into his soul from an early age. Some say it poured into his brother, Radu.”
 
Alucard smirked.
 
“Vlad never really got over the death of his first wife. He felt some need in him, something he new was missing. He started researching alchemy, various cults, etcetera. Eventually, news reached Death that this man was researching the Crimson Stone. Death appeared to Vlad, certain that he had found his master's reincarnation. And he was right. When Vlad touched the stone, memories came rushing back to him. He took the stone and became a creature of the night once again. However, his personality was altered. He was still Vlad Dracula, but some of Matthias' more nobler aspects leaked out. A sort of composite personality was born, which we will call Dracula for simplicity's sake. He retreated to Casltevania, content to merely exist in defiance of God, as Matthias had intended.”
 
Adrian paused for a moment and stared at the table in front him. He clenched his teeth, then looked up again.
 
“Then, about five years later, he met a woman. Lisa, was her name. And the part of Dracula that was Matthias Cronqvist was amazed by how much she looked like Elisabetha. Seven years down the road and a child is born. A dhampir, a half-vampire. Me. Lisa had begun to push past the darkness that Vlad had bottled up inside him so early on in life. He had, perhaps, found God again. But then he had everything taken from him again. One night, while he was out fighting the Turks in a distant land, the townspeople assaulted the castle. They took my mother, thinking she was a Witch, and killed her.”
 
“Was she a Witch?” the Witchfinder General asked.
 
Adrian shook his head. “No. Merely a very good doctor. I can still hear her speaking her last words.”
 
“And what, Adrian, where those last words?” Alucard asked.
 
Adrain stared straight at Alucard. “`Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot.'”
 
Adrian shuffled a few papers to mask the uncomfortable silence, then continued. “About two years after my mother's death, a vampire named Orlox appeared. Have any of you seen the film Nosferatu?” He hit another button on the remote and a black-and-white still appeared, depicting a truly hideous vampire. “The character of Count Orlock was based on him, though Orlox was far more hideous. We don't know where he came from, nor his original name, but we do know this. He was once beautiful, but he made a deal with the devil. He had already lost his soul, so now he traded away his beauty. For power. He came to Dracula with a plan. He had heard of my father's loss, and said he too had lost greatly to humans. They would make the world burn, he said. They would make the world of men burn in the flames of chaos. My father went into hiding again, and emerged with a new name. Vlad was gone. Matthias was gone. Only Dracula remained. However, one of Leon Belmont's descendents, Sonia, and myself opposed and defeated him. I locked myself away in a sleep so I could no longer harm any humans, per my mother's wishes. Sonia taught her descendents how to fight, knowing that my father would return, again and again and again.”
 
Adrain slid his papers into an envelope. “I won't bore you with the details, but suffice to say that my father and Leon's descendents clashed repeatedly over the centuries. In the 1700's, I killed Orlox. At least, I thought I did. And then, as we all know, in the late 1800's, my father went toe-to-toe with a man who would finally break the cycle. Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Van Helsing and company defeated Dracula, but he was resurrected seventeen years later. The Belmont at the time, Quincy Morris; a man named Eric Lecarde; and Professor Van Helsing himself succeeded in bringing him down once again. This time, however, they did not kill my father. They bound him. I remember the ceremony quite clearly. They ripped the Crimson Stone from him, draining him of most of his power, and they bound him to Van Helsing's blood. Van Helsing gave the Crimson Stone to the Vatican for safe keeping and then, for reasons only known to himself, moved to England and converted to it's church. The man once known as the Prince of Darkness now stands in this room, leaning against the wall behind his Master.”
 
“Is there really a point to this, Mr. Tepes?”
 
“Yes,” Adrian said. He shuffled all of his papers into manila envelopes. “I believe I will let Father Maxwell explain that.” He picked up his envelopes and sat down.
 
Enrico stood up and walked down the table. He turned around and smiled mirthlessly. The sooner I finish this, the sooner I can get out of here.
 
“Back in the 1940's, there was a mad Major. This SS Major had an idea. `Why don't we,' he said, `make an army of immortals? An army of the undead?' This idea, mad as it was, was taken up and put into motion, Codenamed: Millennium. They found their originals, demons chained by Van Helsing in a Romanian castle. They freed the demons, and had their geniuses probe, and prod, and delve into the Satanic creatures. And they discovered Satan's trick to make the dead walk. But before they could do more than mass produce ghoul soldiers, the entire project was destroyed, by agents of Helsing. The Angel of Death's first mission abroad, eh?”
 
Walter raised an eyebrow.
 
“However, this mad Major and his entourage did not die during the chaos the Angel of Death and Alucard put on the base. Rather, they escaped, taking with them countless treasures, precious metals, and Jewish artwork, to the safe lands of South America.”
 
“How do you know all this?” Integra demanded.
 
Enrico smiled. “Because the Vatican helped. Considerably!”
 
Enrico picked up the remote Adrian had been using and hit a button. A picture of a FREAK chip appeared on the screen.
 
“We have discovered the true origin of the FREAK chips. The original apparent origin of England was just a ruse to throw us off track. Though, in retrospect, it was obvious. They left us a clue, they wanted us to know who it was.” Enrico hit another button and the picture on the screen slowly focused in on the inner workings of the chip. The odd design grew larger and larger until it filled up the whole screen. Enrico tossed the remote down on the table and stood back to view the symbol on the screen.
 
A swastika.
 
There was silence in the dark room for a moment. “Maxwell,” Integral said, “are you actually suggesting-”
 
“I am indeed, Sir Helsing. Our pasts, it seems, are quickly catching up to us. And more of our past catches up to us everyday.” He picked up and the remote and hit a different button. A memo appeared on the screen. “This was given to us by Mr. Tepes. It's a transcript of an intercepted conversation. Mr. Tepes refuses to divulge his sources, but he assures me that it is of the highest integrity, Class A1. I have highlighted the pertinent text. Specifically, the reference to “Castlevania” and a speaker being addressed as “Count Orlox”. Adrian played the tape back and assures me that the speaker is, in fact, the Count.”
 
“Why would the Nazis want Castlevania?” Sir Penwood asked.
 
“The castle has been host to many tragedies. The death of my wife, the death of Leon Belmont's love, Walter Bernhardt's death, as well as countless other examples.” Alucard said, “The building itself was a creature of chaos to begin with, but after soaking up so much negative emotions, it has truly become an entity itself. Near the end, even I had some difficulty keeping it under control. Reality itself warps the castle, changing it to a perverted version of an insane man's vision. There are many reasons why the Major would want such a thing.”
 
“Yes, but he cannot have it,” Father Maxwell said.
 
“Because it's locked up in the Vatican, and vampires cannot go anywhere near it?”
 
“No, because it was stolen three nights ago.” He flipped a switch on the remote and a series of still shots from security cameras came onto the screen, showing a group of people running through a series of hallways. “We are prepared to repulse any attack by humans at this area. Vampires cannot come within two hundred feet of city limits without being reduced to cinders, and in recent history were-beasts and Witches have been unable to organize themselves enough to actually mount anything remotely threatening. Hence our shock.”
 
He hit the button again and it switched to a video of Alexander Anderson fighting a floating figure. “It was a group of Witches, led by a vampire. We're still trying to figure out how he could survive there. The vampire, who was the only one who gave us any information at all, identified himself as `Joachim Armster', and the group as the Coven.”
 
All the Witch hunters in the room looked up suddenly. “The Coven?”
 
“What is this Coven?” Sir Islands asked.
 
“The Coven is a problem that we've been dealing with lately,” the Witchfinder General responded. “Groups of organized Witches fighting back against are hunters, making terrorist type strikes, etcetera. It's been hell trying to cover it up from the media. Judging from the reactions of the Solomon hunters, I can only assume that they've had problems as well.”
 
“Only in the last two or three months,” Karasuma said. “But our jobs have definitely become much more difficult as a result of their actions.”
 
“I'm not sure though, that Millennium's main goal is the Crimson Stone, though,” Adrian said, standing up. He walked up beside Maxwell and held out his hand. Maxwell looked at him with a little distaste and handed him the remote.
 
“Right now, my information leads me to believe that their main goal is in South America. Two people they only refer to as “The Firestarter” and “The Hunter”. I finally managed to get a pictures of these people and dispatched an agent to track them down.”
 
Suddenly, Adrian's pocket started beeping.
 
“Excuse me,” Adrian said. He picked up his phone and walked into the corner. “Hello?”
 
***
 
“Get us the fuck out of here,” Julius said into the pay phone.
 
“Us?” Adrian asked. “You found them?”
 
“Oh yeah,” Julius said, looking behind him at Amon and Robin standing at lookout. “I found them. Right around the same time the large force of vampires found them.”
 
“What's the problem then? Vampires should pose no threat to you.”
 
“Oh no,” Julius said, looking around again. “The vampires aren't really a problem. Neither are the large groups of humans they keep sending after us either. Turns out there's a really good reason they're called `Firestarter' and `Hunter'. I'd say the major problem is the Witches.”
 
“Witches?”
 
“Yeah. Witches. I'm not to well trained to fight those, and the Hunter isn't exactly equipped to handle them.”
 
“I thought the Firestarer was supposed to be a Witch?”
 
“Oh, she is,” Julius said, leaning against the phone booth. “But pretty much everyone we've run into so far has had these weird pendants. Some sort of green liquid in it. The Hunter and the Firestarter keep calling it Orbo. Blocks their powers.”
 
“Alright, where are you?”
 
“Somewhere outside of Buenos Aires.”
 
Adrian sighed. “Alright, get into the city and I'll see if I can convince them to send someone to pick you guys up as soon as possible. Until then, stay low and be careful.”
 
“J!” Amon shouted.
 
Julius looked behind him. “Tch, gotta run Adrian. I'll call you when we get to Buenos Aires.”
 
Click.
 
***
 
Adrian slipped the cell phone back into his pocket and hit the button on the remote. A picture of a pale man with long dark hair appeared on the screen, along with a picture of a young woman with reddish-blonde hair.
 
“Amon and Robin?!” the members of the STN-J shouted, standing to their feet.
 
Adrian raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You know them?”
 
“Robin Sena?” Maxwell said. “The designer Witch?” He rounded on Dojima. “Your report said that she and Amon were killed when the Factory was destroyed! Do you know what kind of power she wields? She's too powerful to be left alive!”
 
“You only say that because she's not under your control!” Integra shouted.
 
“You would understand better if you knew what it was capable of!”
 
“She!” Karasuma shouted. “It's a girl, not a thing!”
 
The room erupted into shouts of anger, each side accusing the other. The Queen and Adrian tried to call for order, but their voices were drowned out by the sea of anger. Alucard stared over at his son.
 
Now do you see why this was pointless? They will never agree on anything. Humans are too caught up in their petty differences to actually achieve anything.
 
Adrian stared back at his father. Do you still hate all of them so?
 
Not all of them. Some of them, just some of them manage to transcend their humanity.
 
There was a quiet cough as someone in the back cleared his throat. It went ignored. The person cleared his throat again, louder this time. Eventually, he got fed up and screamed, “HEY! SHUT UP!”
 
All the voices stopped and looked towards the back corner of the room. A young boy in a Hitler Youth uniform stood there, fiddling with a rectangular screen. “If you will all just give me a second,” he said in a German accent, “Herr Major will make things much clearer.”
 
Schrödinger looked up to find that everyone had some sort of weapon trained on him. “Wow. Zorin said you were paranoid, but I had no idea.”
 
Yumiko stood up and began to remove her glasses. Heinkel took a hand off her Desert Eagle and rested on Yumiko's shoulder. “No. We don't need her for this one. Yumie can stay asleep.”
 
Yumiko nodded and sat down, her face a picture of relief.
 
“How did you find this place?” Integra demanded. “How did you get in here?”
 
“Your Round Table Judas led me here,” Schrödinger answered, fiddling with the dials on the screen. “As to my entrance… well, I am everywhere, and I am nowhere. It was really quite simple.”
 
“The Round Table Judas was found and killed.” Walter said.
 
“Oh was he now?” Schrödinger said as he hit the screen a few times and it flickered into life. He smiled and placed in on the table, propping it up with a book. Static ran across the screen for a moment, then resolved into a picture of the Major, standing in front of a swastika flag.
 
“Ahhh, thank you Warrant Officer. Hello, my friends. Hello Helsing, hello Iscariot, hello Witchfinders, hello Solomon, and hello my dear Adrian. I do hope you will forgive our little interruption to your party, but we did have to get your attention somehow.”
 
“What is your purpose?” Integra asked. “Why this lunacy?”
 
“Our purpose? Fräulein Helsing, what a foolish question.”
 
In the background, screams could be heard. The camera rotated over to reveal a number of old Nazi's bound and gagged.
 
“Our purpose? Our goal? We would take any that was offered to us, as long was we were allowed our means. We will pursue any objective as long we can fight for it, as long as we can war for it.” He snapped his fingers.
 
“Don't leave the job half finished.” A voice from behind the camera said. “Even letting them become ghouls would be… bothersome.”
 
The camera panned away from the sight of the old Nazis to the Major. Screams of agony could be heard in the background. “But I think an old friend wishes to convey his greetings.”
 
The camera swung around to a figure standing in the shadows, it's face covered in darkness. It waved. “Greetings Master, Adrian. It's been a long time.”
 
Adrian stared at the screen impassively. Orlox laughed. “What, still angry at me? Didn't killing me work out all of that hatred?”
 
In the corner, Alucard began to chuckle. “Is this how far you have fallen Orlox? I always knew you were pathetic, but I never imagined you'd be as pathetic as to serve them! At least my human masters don't try to impress the world with cheap imitations! Have you no dignity at all?”
 
Orlox shrugged. “Times change. We must also change, if we are to survive.”
 
“Enough of this!” Integral shouted. “Why are you trying to bring back Castlevania? What goal are you warring for?”
 
The camera moved back to the Major, who smiled. “My dear Fräulein Helsing, that would be telling.”
 
Suddenly, the wall behind the projector screen exploded inwards. Everyone ducked down for cover as air rippled forward into the room. Something began smashing to the table and chairs, leaving them in splinters. One of these projectiles hit Schrödinger, slamming him into the wall. He slumped down, apparently dead. The screen he had brought with him shattered into plastic splinters as another invisible projectile hit it. Alucard and Seras pushed Integra, Pip, and Walter behind them, acting as shields. Father Renaldo reached into his robes and pulled out a book. Pages flew from the book and surrounded the Iscariot delegation, protecting them from harm. Sakaki stood up and held his hands out in front of him. Projectiles deflected away from him and the STN-J into the walls beside them. The Queen was pushed behind the throne by her security force. A projectile caught one of the Witchfinder Captains in the throat and he flew into the wall, dead. A final projectile slammed into one of the knights' chest, throwing him into the table and leaving a gaping hole where his heart should have been. Then, the wind died down and the projectiles stopped coming.
 
Dojima looked up at Sakaki. “Since when can you do that?” she demanded.
 
Sakaki gulped, sweat pouring down his face. “Since about a minute ago.”
 
“Your craft must have awakened,” Karasuma said. “It was bound to eventually.”
 
“Good timing,” Michael said, patting Sakaki on the leg.
 
Everyone picked themselves up and stared out at the gaping hole where the wall used to be. Those who did not know where they were, were surprised to find themselves on the roof of a high-rise building, far above the London streets. In the hole where the wall was, a long-haired young woman they recognized from the security stills Enrico and shown them floated.
 
“Stay away from her,” she drawled. “Stay away from our Messiah. Your day is coming to an end. Quit wasting your time trying to stop us and spend what time you humans have left with your families.”
 
“Did you have to have such a dramatic entrance?” Integral demanded. “The boy-” she turned to indicate Schrödinger's corpse, and was surprised to find that the body had disappeared. “Had much better manners.”
 
“What are y'all complaining about?” the young-woman asked. She glanced at the body of the knight. “I just killed your Judas.”
 
Alucard began laughing again. He doubled over, clutching at his stomach, unable to control himself from the laughter. “I thought I recognized the smell of your blood.” He straightened up and turned to Walter. “Walter, we've been remiss. Perhaps we should get our guest something to eat. Some flies, maybe? A spider or two? I know,” he said, turning back to the girl. “Why not get Miss Reinfield a nice, juicy rat.”
 
Cynthia's eyes narrowed as she glared at Alucard. “Monster.”
 
Alucard smirked. “My, but you hold a grudge for a long time.”
 
Cynthia's face clouded with rage, but she managed to contain herself for one last message before she flew off. “Stay away from Robin Sena. She's ours.”
 
She flew off into the distance, the sound of Alucard's laughing ringing in her ears.
 
***
 
The tall silent figure looked around the library, now assured that all its inhabitants were dead. He nodded solemnly, stuck his hands in his pockets, and left the library to the elevator.
 
***
 
Out in Salsbury Plain, a famous formation of stones rest. They are one of England's tourist attractions, now roped off from the public to stop further degradation.
 
Druids used to come from miles around in the sixties, to pray and party and dance around the stones.
 
Their appeal to many was the lack of knowledge of why their ancestors took the trouble to put up these large stones. Many archeologists believe that they were an ancient calendar.
 
Which is precisely what their ancestors wanted them to think. Far better to hide its true purpose.
 
In the night, in places of Stonehenge that nobody watched, the rocks glowed yellow, a bright yellow that was fading into a blood red.