chapter 4

Chapter 4: The First Hunt

–Valerie–

Two months later…

"This is Valerie," I whispered, tapping my earpiece as I crept towards the dilapidated building on the outskirts of London. "I'm moving into the old apartment building now…"

"This is Captain Rodriguez," a voice crackled back over the mic. "Lower floors are cleared of civilians. You're free to proceed, Lady Valerie. Be careful, the windows are all boarded up on the top floors. We can't give you any visuals."

Lady Valerie…

That's what the Hellsing troops had started calling me, ever since I joined their training. At first, it was a joke—something they used to tease me with because, well, I was pretty terrible at the start. Even though they knew I was a dhampir, half-vampire and all, they figured I was just some silly girl playing at being a soldier.

To be fair, they were right–at first. 

I had no idea what I was doing. I could barely throw a punch, and the only thing I had going for me was some patchy magic that wasn't even all that reliable. But I had motivation. Twenty years of horrible memories will do that to you. 

I never wanted to be weak again. The training was tough and grueling, but I chose to take whatever Hellsing threw at me and used it to make myself stronger. Strong enough so I would never be caged again.

And then, things started to change for me. 

Change for the better…

The blood Alucard "donated" to me pushed me way beyond what I was before. Sure, I was pretty pissed that he made me drink his blood without my consent, but I couldn't argue with the results. Before, even when I'd fed on blood, I was barely faster or stronger than the average human.

After the transformation? I could put Olympic athletes to shame without even trying. I was built different now—even by vampire standards.

Weeks passed, and I started handling the training with ease. Guns? I mastered everything they handed me, shooting with supernatural precision. Close-quarters combat? I could take on over a dozen of Hellsing's finest soldiers at once and walk away without even breaking a sweat. Normally, that would bruise an ordinary soldier's ego, but I had a feeling the guys at Hellsing didn't mind getting tossed around by a pretty girl like me.

Magic? I learned a lot more of that too, I spent an hour every third day learning new spells under Rowena's guidance.

…

A month into living at Hellsing Manor with my new "family," I finally realized I could trust them. That's when I decided to come clean about the thing I'd been hiding. 

My magic cups.

"These are what you wanted to show us, Valerie?" Integra eyed the three cups sitting on the table. "They look very expensive. You didn't steal these, did you?"

I pouted. "No, I didn't steal them. You can't steal them—they're soul-bound to me."

"Soul-bound?" Alucard's interest piqued as he leaned closer, inspecting the cups. "Something about these feels familiar." He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"They're the Holy Grails," I said.

All three adults in the room choked on their drinks.

"The Holy Grails?" Walter repeated, eyes wide.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Valerie," Integra said, her voice sharp. "Everyone knows there's only one Holy Grail, and it's been missing for centuries."

Unlike the others, Alucard believed me immediately. His eyes gleamed, and then he threw his head back in his signature maniacal laugh. "Hahaha! How do you like that, God?! Your precious chalices ended up in the hands of a monster after all this time!"

Integra shot Alucard a look of disbelief. "You can't be serious. Three Holy Grails? And these are them?"

Alucard grinned wickedly. "I wasn't aware there were three, either. But I can feel the divine power radiating from them. There's no mistaking what they are."

Integra turned back to me. She looked very conflicted. "...Explain what you meant when you said they're soul-bound to you. And what exactly can they do?"

…

With the introduction of my cups to the equation, my value to the Hellsing organization skyrocketed even further. 

The Resurrection Grail was reserved specifically for me, but I was more than happy to use the Blessed Grail and Healing Grail to help out Hellsing's soldiers. The Blessed Grail gave the organization an endless supply of the purest holy water, allowing them to bless all their weapons and bullets, making them far deadlier against vampires.

The Healing Grail, though? We discovered its power through a lot of trial and error. It could heal almost any physical injury—even missing limbs or organs. It could cure diseases, too, including the worst kinds of cancer. The only catch was that this Grail filled itself with my blood. Not a huge deal, though, since Integra had me on a steady supply of blood bags to make up for it. The Grail could generate about ten liters of healing blood for every single blood bag I needed to drink. It was actually way more efficient than I expected.

I had a sneaking suspicion I had Alucard to thank for that.

Or as he liked me to call him—Father. Yep, I'd been adopted by the most notorious vampire in history. Why? I hadn't quite figured that out yet, other than the fact that I was probably the only one of his descendants who wasn't a complete piece of shit.

I'll admit, I was nervous about having a father again, especially after what King Tepes put me through. But Alucard? He was actually a pretty fun guy once you got to know him. He lived in the basement of Hellsing Manor, and his room? It had a massive TV and pretty much every gaming console ever made. Honestly, hearing Dracula himself cursing out little kids in Call of Duty might just be the highlight of my existence. 

I had to cut off my reminiscing when the sharp scent of dried human blood hit my nose. I'd reached the top floor of the apartment building. The electricity hadn't worked in years, and all the windows were boarded up. It was pitch black inside, but that wasn't a problem for a dhampir like me with built-in night vision.

Carefully, I stepped around piles of rotting corpses as I stalked down the filthy, dark hallway. The stench of rotted meat was not something I particularly enjoyed. I could hear my targets talking inside the apartment at the end of the hall. The door was wide open—like they didn't care if someone walked right in. They probably encouraged it, hoping any stray human would just be an easy meal.

"This girl's blood tastes pretty good! Either of you want a bite?" a man's voice asked between disgusting slurping sounds.

"No, I've eaten my fill," a woman answered. Her voice was sickly sweet. "I love being able to live in a city again. There's walking blood bags everywhere, ripe for the taking!"

"Yeah, it's nice and all, but I'm still nervous about why we're all here..." a third voice chimed in. A nasally-sounding man. 

"Don't be such a pussy, Henry," the woman snapped at him. "We're lucky we were invited to join the Dark Lord! Other vampires would kill to be in our place."

"S–Sorry, Veronica…" Henry mumbled.

"All we have to do is wait a few months until he's ready to properly reveal himself, and then London will be ours for the taking! The Lestrange woman promised us we can feed on as many Muggles as we want!" the first guy said, his voice oozing with excitement. I heard a heavy thud a moment later—he'd dropped the body of the woman he was feeding on. "Mmm, she should tide me over for a few hours," he added, finishing with a disgusting burp.

"Only a few hours, Mario?" Veronica teased playfully. "You're simply voracious."

"I can't help what I am," he chuckled.

I was closing in on their apartment door when a rotted plank under my foot let out an obnoxious squeak. Immediately, the enhanced senses of the vampires picked up on it.

"What was that!?" Henry blurted out nervously to the others. "WHO'S OUT THERE?" he shouted from inside.

Captain Rodriguez's voice came through my earpiece, urging me to stay cautious. But I was already stepping through the doorway into the pitch-black apartment. The stench of decay hit me full force, and like the hallway, the room was filled with discarded, rotting bodies. These vampires lived worse than rabid dogs.

"Hi there!" I said, raising a hand and waving at them all with a friendly smile. A smile that was hiding my true nervousness. This was my first official mission after all.

Exterminating the three vampires who were the cause of over three dozen missing persons in the last week alone. Although, now it sounded like I had stumbled upon something even larger when they mentioned something about a Dark Lord and some Lestrange woman…

"Try and get some information out of them!" Integra exclaimed in my ear piece. She was sitting in the command truck a few blocks away with the Captain and multiple other Hellsing soldiers.

The three vampires turned to face me, they were all filthy and unkempt. Their tattered clothes were stained with blood, and it looked like they hadn't bathed in months. It was pathetic. Even the Tepes vampires, as vile as they were, tried to act like proper nobles of the night. These creatures? They were no better than vermin.

"Red eyes? I see you're one of us then. What the hells do you want?" the woman–Veronica–asked me defensively with narrowed slitted eyes.

"Are you a messenger from the Dark Lord?" Henry blurted out.

"…Yes," I lied and decided to see where this went. "I am a messenger from the Dark Lord. My name is Valerie…"

Marco scoffed at me, crossing his arms with a sneer. "We don't care what your name is, you prissy bitch! Just look at you—so perfect, not a hair out of place. Afraid to get dirty like a real vampire?"

"No need to be so bloody rude," I growled, feeling my patience slip as I took a deep breath.

Marco bared his bloody fangs with a hiss, his muscles tensing like he was ready to pounce. I slowly reached behind my back, fingers brushing the grip of the .50 caliber revolver hidden from view. The bullets inside had been bathed in Holy Water from the Blessed Grail—perfect for taking out vampires.

Before he could move, Veronica stepped in, throwing an arm in front of him. "Our apologies, Miss Valerie. Marco gets a little jumpy when he hasn't had his fill…" she tried to defuse the tension.

I glanced down at the body lying at Marco's feet—a girl, no older than 13 or 14. She was pale and lifeless, drained dry. My stomach twisted. "He just drained her and he's still thirsty?"

Marco relaxed, a smirk spreading across his face. "Not that kind of FILL. I still gotta have some fun now that she's cooled off…" His eyes gleamed as he looked at the corpse while licking his lips.

Nope.

Not dealing with this sicko!

BANG!

Marco's head exploded in a shower of gore! His body swayed back and forth for a second before crumpling to the floor. The revolver smoked in my hand, and before the others could react, I had it aimed at Veronica.

Her eyes went wide with shock. "What the F—"

BANG!

A massive hole tore through her chest. The bullet, infused with holy water, ripped straight through her heart and blew past the wall behind her. She dropped to her knees, eyes full of disbelief, before collapsing. Vampires like these? Bottom feeders. They had no fancy regeneration powers, and no second chances after taking lethal damage. 

Not like Alucard…

And not like me either, now that I had become his blood-daughter…

Only one target left…

I swung the pistol toward Henry, who was trembling so much that collapsed backwards on his ass. A dark stain spread between his legs. "P–Please don't kill me…" he stammered. "P–Please, I don't w–want to die!"

His sniveling didn't move me, not after what I knew they'd done to all the innocent people they'd hunted like animals. 

Still, he might have information I needed…

"Tell me everything you know about the Dark Lord," I demanded, keeping my gun steady. "Who is he, and why's he recruiting losers like you!"

"I–It's not j–just us he's recruiting," Henry blurted out, his voice cracking between words. "It's everyone! All the outcasts, the unwanted—everyone's flocking to him! They say he's gonna overthrow the Ministry of Magic... take over Britain next! The Dark Lord is an unstoppable wizard! They say he's immortal and even defeated Death itself!"

Henry kept spilling details, but he didn't know as much as Integra would've liked. I could practically hear her frustration through my earpiece as he rambled on about some "civil war" brewing in the British Wizarding World. According to him, some old wizard named Albus Dumbledore had just died, and he was apparently the only thing holding back the Dark Lord and his circle of followers. Now, Dark Wizards, rogue vampires, bloodthirsty werewolves, and who knows what else were flocking to Britain for the war that was about to erupt.

"Damn it!" Integra cursed sharply in my ear. "That explains the spike in missing persons. We need to put a stop to this now before it gets any worse. Kill the vampire and report back, Valerie."

I nodded, clicking my earpiece. "You got it…"

Henry, trembling and pale, tried to sound hopeful. "I–I told you everything you w–wanted to know… You'll let me go now, right?"

BANG!

The third shot echoed across the building as I put another round straight through his chest.

"No." I holstered the hot gun, grimacing as I surveyed the scene. I wished I could return all the bodies to their families, but the sheer number made that impossible. If a bunch of corpses suddenly sprang up all at once—especially ones drained of blood—it would lead to too many questions. A cover-up was necessary, and that was part of my assignment here.

I glanced down at the bracelet on my left wrist, a new addition to my wardrobe. The band was solid gold—silver burned my skin—but that was the least interesting part. What really mattered were the red gemstones inlaid on the band. It was a clever idea from Walter actually. The gemstones were crystallized drops of my blood. This bracelet allowed me to cast magic without having to bite myself or sacrifice a hand to hold a wand. 

With one last look at the horrific scene, I raised my hand, channeling my magic through the blood gemstones. "Incendio!" A flamethrower sprang out of my left hand. I started setting everything on fire.

Everything erupted in fire and smoke as I stepped out of the building, the heat licking at my skin. The fire department had been ordered to show up only after the place burned to the ground. I couldn't help but feel a twisted satisfaction at the chaos.

"Well done, my daughter. You didn't hesitate at all when you disposed of those vermin." Alucard's wide grin revealed too many teeth for comfort.

I crossed my arms, huffing in annoyance. "They were disgusting and completely feral, barely a step above animals."

"They were monsters," Alucard replied calmly. "...And so are we. Never forget that fact."

"Yeah, but I'll never be a monster like that." My reply was firmer than I actually felt. In the past two months, I had fed on live humans–at Alucard's insistence. Draining the life force of a person basically gave me "an extra life" in case I took damage beyond what my already insane regeneration was capable of healing. The humans I fed on were all convicted death row inmates though. I never wanted to stoop so low as to kill innocent people…again.

I learned that the three homeless men I had fed on hadn't survived after all. Hellsing picked up their bodies from the alley the next day. The combination of blood loss and the drugs in their systems had been too much for all of them. They all perished shortly after I left the scene. When Integra informed me of what I'd done, I admitted that I felt like shit.

I would have to live with that for the rest of my possibly immortal life.

"So, what do you think about this so-called Dark Lord?" I asked Alucard, trying to steer the conversation away from my guilt as we strolled down the street toward the rest of the soldiers. The nearby area was completely cordoned off for this operation.

Alucard chuckled darkly. "It sounds like he's building an army of all kinds of nasty monsters. I think you and I are both going to have a lot of fun in the next couple of months, hunting them all down. I hope they don't die too easily." 

My new father was definitely a sadist. He thrived on the thrill of the hunt and loved it when his prey fought back. As much as I wanted to roll my eyes at his grim enthusiasm, a part of me couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement as well… 

I didn't admit it out loud, but killing those three vampires so easily made me feel good. It made me feel powerful…

When we got back, Alucard and I hopped into the same van as Integra and Walter. The engine roared to life, and we sped back toward Hellsing Manor. I had a feeling we were all going to be very busy for a while, sifting through everything Henry had told us and plotting our next moves.

"We've been avoiding it long enough, you're going to have to go undercover into Diagon Alley, Valerie," Integra said with a heavy sigh. Even though she'd been in the room multiple times while Rowena's ghostly reflection taught me magic, Integra still wasn't comfortable with magic as a concept. Especially when she learned about all the fucked up spells witches and wizards were easily capable of casting on "muggles" like her. Mind control? Memory manipulation? Spells like those rightfully terrified Integra. Because of her dislike for magic, Integra hadn't allowed me to wander into the magical side of Britain at all up to this point. "We need to find out what's going on in the magical world and you and Alucard are the only members of Hellsing that even have magic…"

What was left unsaid was that no one besides the two of us would be able to even find the alley with the anti-muggle wards that were supposedly erected around the area. She couldn't have any of her soldiers trained in espionage handle this.

"Don't worry, mam. I'll handle it," I reassured her with a soft smile.

Integra faintly smiled back at me. "Well, you did do an excellent job today," she admitted. "You followed orders and flawlessly executed those three vampires. I'm sure everything will be fine…" Integra said, reassuring herself more than me.

"Hehehe! You just had to go and jynx it, my master." Alucard chuckled and I cringed. 

XXX