Sacred Lineage

(Note: Marcus Tourville is Dan’s OC. If I don’t play him properly, there may be some changes to this chapter. Stay tuned for further updates…same bat time, same bat channel)

The man that opened the office door and stepped inside wasn’t anything like she expected. For a moment, she wondered why, because the file that she was leafing through had a picture of him on the front page. For some reason, she hadn’t expected a relatively slight man who was built like a dancer. Probably too many pictures at the Cinema that included large, blocky Navy Seals and Marines. This man was approximately five feet eight inches tall, with large greenish brown eyes. He no longer had the short hair in the picture, but had a flattop with a long ponytail in the back. There was an indefinable aura from him that was both calming and invigorating at the same time.

She walked around the table, holding out her right hand. “Deirdre Hellsing, pleased to meet you.”

She really did sound pleased. She said her name “DARE-druh”, it was the Irish pronunciation. Interesting, really. Who was the Irishman in her bloodline, he wondered.

“S—“ He almost said Sergeant. “Marcus Tourville, at your service.” He hoped that it was very clear that he really was at her service. So many people didn’t take that seriously.

“Please, have a seat,” said Deirdre, as she walked around behind the desk where she had been seated. “Walter has gone with Mother this morning, so I’m running the shop, I’m afraid.”

“Thank you again for coming,” she continued. “I haven’t had much time to look through your dossier, so could you please give me a brief overview of your experience, expectations, and needs with our organization?

“Well, Sir,” interestingly enough, he retained the habit of calling anyone in authority over him ‘sir’, which Deirdre thought was a basically reasonable idea. Besides, there had been a ‘Sir Hellsing’ running the organization since the beginning, including her mother, and she had absolutely no plans to change that. “I served six years in the United States Marine Corps as a Sharpshooter.”

Sniper, her brain supplied, that’s what the military calls sharpshooters.

“After that,” he continued, “I worked in construction while trying to attend college, but after the original incident that caused me to be recruited by the Unit, I haven’t attended more classes. I would like to continue at some time in the future, though.”

She nodded, everyone she knew wanted to go back to college, including her mother, and sometimes including Alucard. She had a pretty good idea what Alucard’s ulterior motives for attending ‘night school’ were, though.

“I am the oldest surviving member of the Unit. I also have the distinction of having never lost a man under my command.” He sounded diffident when he said it, but she knew how difficult it was to fight vampires and not lose anyone. She also remembered the first man she lost, and how it had affected her, how it still affected her. She was protected because of who she was, but it didn’t make her feel any better that the men spent their blood to save hers.

“Basically, what I expect is to be given control of a small squad. I do my best hunting in small groups, and putting me with a larger group will not be in the best interest of the organization, as it will not utilize my skills properly.” He looked at her almost warily, did he expect her to just assign someone where she wanted to that had come all this way to help out? Obviously, he’d been in the military, he was used to other people making stupid decisions regarding his life. She sighed.

“Also, I’d like to request a room in the basement, if that is possible.”

So, Walter had been right. He shouldn’t be kept in the barracks anyway, but leaving him downstairs with the vampires might not be the best of ideas either. Of course, the second he accepted the job he had come under the protection of the seal, but that didn’t mean opening himself up to frequent vampire humor of uncertain quality should be so convenient for the vampire. Ah, well. If the vampire wanted to subject him to that humor, putting him in Belfast wouldn’t have been a problem for the vampire.

“I find all of your requests reasonable, Mister Tourville.” She wondered if things worked in the Colonies like they did in the Motherland. ‘Mister’ was a Navy term used to designate an officer of lower rank…but not much lower. “Here is what I believe will be the best utilization of your skills. I would like to assign you to the Information Retrieval Unit, which is in essence what you have been doing for the ‘Unit’ that you came from. Your duties would include gathering intelligence, and using your special skills when necessary to silence small target groups. Large armies of ghouls are better targeted by the paramilitary company that stays in the barracks.”

“Here are the dossiers of some men that you can choose from. I hope that five will be an adequate number for your squadron. If you need additional staff, please choose a few extra. I have worked with all of these officers personally, and know them to be reliable, and more than adequate in their skills. There are twenty-five files here for you to go through, just let me know who you would like to have assigned to your squadron.”

“Although I note that you never held rank greater than ‘sergeant’ in the military, I am also under the impression that a United States Marine Sergeant is the equivalent of a demi-god. I am sure that you will not disgrace the rank of Captain that I am conferring on you.”

She smiled slightly as he drew breath, and said: “Captain Tourville, you will find that you get used to the rank very soon. In addition, I do not want any questions on whether you or Captain Bernadette is in charge of your squadron. When there is a question, it causes people to get killed. Therefore, your rank will ensure that there is no question.”

He had an almost evil smile on his face. For some reason, it reminded her of Alucard, even though physically they looked almost nothing alike.

”I suppose I’ll get used to it in time, Sir.” He said, accepting the rank.

At least for now, her mind supplied helpfully.

“And there is a room in the basement I think that will suffice for you. You will be in the basement with the vampires, though, is that all right?”

“I’m sure it will be,” he responded. “I don’t see any problem with that.”

You haven’t been waked up by a horny vampire yet, though. But hell, you’re a Marine, perhaps they expect things like that? Who knows.

“I’ll be happy to give you a small tour, and show you the way, if you like?”

He gathered up his files, and she showed him around. Walter would give him a more complete tour later, but she showed him the highlights of the place. The kitchens, the entrances, the exits, and the best ways through the house. She took him down to the basement, showed him Alucard and Seras’ rooms, and then showed him his own rooms. Since the vampires were staying down here, and Integral occasionally wondered if Alucard was going to make another, there had been some renovation of the basement. No longer empty brick storage rooms, the rooms now had hardwood floors, and were suites, with a reception, or living area, a bedroom, and a full bathroom. It was furnished with comfortable classic leather furniture in the living room, as well as a small refrigerator that Walter kept stocked with fresh sandwiches and various soft drinks. The bedroom had a comfortable queen sized bed and a computer desk and chair.

“If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to call,” she said, pointing out the telephone. “Just dial 9, and you’ll be connected to the housekeeping center. Do you need some help getting your things down here? Walter said that Seras said you had quite a lot of stuff. There’s a hand dolly at the end of the hall, and I could help you, or I could call someone.”

She stopped before she repeated that Walter was gone with her mother. She wasn’t sure if Integral wanted the new Captain to know where she’d been all day.

“Mother will want to see you when she returns, probably tonight or tomorrow sometime, other than that, let me know when you have chosen your squad members, and I’ll take you over and assign them. If you don’t like the furniture, let Walter know, and he’ll take you through the storerooms to find something you like better. I think we have everything from Louis XVI to modern art.”

He nodded, setting the files down on the table, and sinking into the forest green sofa. “I don’t think there’ll be anything now, Sir.”

“Very well,” she said, formally. “I’ll see you later.”

“Thank you, Sir.” He said.

She closed the door behind her as she left.

She was surprised, as she mounted the stairs on her way back up to the second floor, to realize that she had liked him. Men had been interesting to her briefly off and on, but after what small amount she had seen in his dossier, she thought she might like to get to know him better. He had been studying military history in college, and Walter was always saying that those who did not know history were doomed to repeat it. It would be interesting to discuss things with him that she didn’t know who else to talk to about. The Greeks, and the Romans, and the Celts, for instance, Alucard’s view had necessarily been rather narrow. Although he had studied as befitted a prince for a while, the invasion of the Turks had ended his education. Not only that, but as a ruler, he had rather a narrow view.

Of course, he’d had plenty of time to study since then, but to be honest; Deirdre was the tiniest bit intimidated by discussing things like this with him. He had the tendency to sound irritated or bored when he didn’t want to discuss something, and she’d thought of him as something close to a father for a while. She didn’t want to bore or irritate the vampire, although she was capable of hiding her feelings, she still didn’t like them injured.

After he’d settled in, she’d have plenty of time to talk to him. After all, she was technically in charge of information retrieval. It seemed like, though, after speaking to him and reading his dossier, that it might be a technicality for a change, rather than the reality it was now. Integral seemed to need her help more and more, and she had the uncomfortable feeling that she was going to be doing more than directing information retrieval in the very near future.

~~**~~**~~

Several miles across the city, Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing’s thoughts were taking rather the same turn as her daughter’s. The day so far had worn her almost completely out, she was dozing in the room that she had been left in to wait for the Doctor to come and speak to her. There had been test after test, and much being wheeled around the hospital by Walter from one place to the next. There were two cotton balls taped one to each arm, one was from an IV for a test that included IV dye, and the other from getting blood drawn. In addition to that, she was starting to really feel the fact that she hadn’t smoked a cigar since 0845 hours that morning, and it was now close to 1500 hours.

Finally, the door opened, admitting Dr. Stebbings.

“Well, Sir Integral, I don’t know any easy way to say this, so I’ll be blunt. You have advanced lung cancer, it has metastasized to most of your major organs.” Somehow the physician was blunt, but compassionate at the same time. She sounded gentle, Integral wondered how she did it.

“I am afraid you don’t have many choices. You could opt for surgery, which could remove the largest of the tumors, then chemotherapy and radiation, which would shrink and hopefully annihilate the rest of the disease, but the chances of this actually curing you are very small, and the chance that you would die during the surgery is quite high.”

“You could opt for chemotherapy and radiation, which although has a substantially lower risk of immediate death than surgery, also has close to no chance of curing you.”

“Or, you could choose to do nothing except for palliative care.”

Integral couldn’t believe she was hearing this. She looked at Walter, almost afraid to open her mouth for fear of losing control in front of these people. Hellsings never lost control, except anger, and then never in front of outsiders.

“You don’t have to decide today,” continued the physician. “You may call my office when you have decided, and I will set up your treatment, or hospice, as you prefer.”

“Yes, thank you,” said Integral. “I appreciate your time.”

The physician left, and Walter pushed Integral’s wheeled chair to the entrance of the hospital, where a valet brought the car. Walter spoke after they had started back to the Hellsing residence.

“Well, Sir Integral, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, Walter, but please don’t say anything about this until tomorrow. Tonight is Deirdre’s night, and I am not going to ruin it. I’ll think about it and let everyone know in the morning.”

“Yes, Sir Integral.” He responded.

She thought about it on the way home. She decided she would have a talk with Alucard overnight, he would be able to help her with her plan, Seras was still too kindhearted, too ready to believe in the ultimate goodness of people. Alucard was the only one that could see this particular plan through.

Not only that, but he’d been waiting to hear this from her for many years. It would be a relief, really to ask. It wasn’t going to be the way that he’d wanted it, not after Deirdre, but it would be a fitting end to her long (and she hoped illustrious) career as the General of the Hellsing Organization.

Walter looked at her worriedly in the rearview mirror, but didn’t speak. It was just as well, Integral preferred to be alone with her thoughts right now. When she returned home, there’d be dressing, and the ceremony, and the Queen, and everything else that was involved in a knighting. Deirdre wouldn’t notice her mother’s preoccupation because of the stiff formal behavior involved in this kind of ceremony. Alucard would know something was wrong, just as Walter did, but Integral hoped that she could hide her emotions from her daughter until tomorrow.

“Everything will be all right, Walter.” She said, meeting his concerned gaze in the rearview mirror.

“Of course it will, Sir Integral,” he responded. “It always is.”