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// Prologue/ Chapter one: The Awakening 
// Story: Drew Mathers: Canterlot High Chronicles 
// by Lethally Insane 
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Prologue

I was walking home. It was a rainy night in my small little town on the east coast. However, it was not rainy enough to stop my nightly walks. I wrapped myself deeper in the jacket I had brought. I have to get home fast, I thought. I don’t think I want to be out here much longer. I felt apprehensive, like something in the air wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t place my finger on what. I walked on at a slightly quicker pace. I stopped; it wouldn’t do any good to run from them. I let my hand fall into my pocket. I found the switch blade, I let my thumb rest on the release. If there were people following, I wouldn't go down without a fight.

“I hope you know what you are doing.” A deep male voice said from the shadows.
“Who’s there?” I asked, resisting the urge to piss myself.
“The better question is: ‘How many of us are there?’” A husky female voice said. Whoever its owner was, she was behind me.
“Shut it, you!” A second feminine voice reprimanded. It was a heavy English accent, not something you would find a resident here with.
“Hey, kid,” The male voice asked. “ You still there?”
“Yes.” I gulped.
“I’m going to say this only once.” He started. “ You are most likely about to die. A monster is hiding behind you, me nor my associate can get a clear line of sight. What happens in the next few minutes will be decided by one question.”
“That being?” I asked. This was bound to happen. It wasn’t like I could escape death. Nonno told me this was how it would end for most of the people like us.
“Are you a virgin?” The english voice asked.

Wait, what. Even Nonno wouldn’t have expected that. What can you even say to a question like that? While a lot of kids that grew up the way my family did had lost it in High School, I was a Senior, I still hadn’t. Maybe it was fate that I never had. Maybe, it was because I knew you could lose special people like that in an instant. I allowed myself to breathe. Hopefully my answer was the right one.

“Yes.” I said.
“Good.” The male voice picked up again. “ Now that we have that established, I’m going to ask you another question. If it was your only source of nourishment, could you kill another person, and drink them?”

It clicked, they were vampires. Ever since the London attacks 35 years ago, vampires had received lots of attention. Even here, in America, we knew about the Nazis who had carried out their attacks. I thought back to the question. Could I eat another person? I could kill, Nonno had made sure of that before I started in the family business. It only added one more step; it might even make disposing the body easier.

“Yes.” I said, there was no use lying to them. If they had wanted to kill me, they would have done it by now.
“Even better.” He said. “ I’m  going to shoot now. You’ll be in immense pain, but it won’t last long. While I deal with this threat, my associate will tend to you.”
“Do it.” I said, closing my eyes. I guessed, now, it was up to luck.

I heard a large clap and felt a searing pain in my gut. I fell backwards, I felt the wetness of blood on my clothes. I concentrated on breathing. The pain was so intense. I remembered what Nonno told me as a kid. He said being shot felt like a spike being plunged through you, then leaving a second later. I groaned. This was unbearable. A figure was over me now. I could see a faint glowing from one of her arms. I didn’t bother to figure out which; it hurt too much to think now.

“Don’t worry, kid,” she said, crouching down to me. “ It will fade soon. All I have to do is bite.”
I felt a new set of puncture wounds, this time in my neck. They were nothing compared to the bullet, but they hurt. I felt myself fading into a different kind of darkness besides the night.

-One day later-

I opened my eyes. Something was different. It was light, but I couldn’t see any kind of lamp. Was I hallucinating? I couldn’t have dreamt something like that. Suddenly, the ceiling lights flickered on. An elderly woman strutted into the room. I looked at her. She had graying blonde hair. She looked almost like a man with the way she dressed. Then I realised, the reason she had caught me as a woman was the way she smelled. I could smell the fact that she was a woman. What had happened to me?

“I’m sure that you have many questions.” she spoke. “ I’m not the best one to answer many of these. However, I can tell you two things. My name is Integra Hellsing. You are a vampire, and you work for me now.
“Three.” I muttered. “ You told me three things, Miss Integra. So you're already  a step ahead of yourself.”
“I see.” she said. “ I suppose I should ask you your name now.”
“My name is Drew Mathers.” I said.
“Very well, Drew.” she said. “ I will let you talk to my servants who made you this way.”
“Okay.” I said. I guess we were in the same business now. I would have to exist with them.

I waited five minutes or so. Integra had turned out the lights when she had left. I pulled the bed sheets off of me. I was in a pair of button down pajamas. I played with my senses more. I could see more than ever before. I looked at everything in the room from the bed. I could even see the page number of an open book on the table across the room. This was amazing. No, it was better than that. Wait a minute, what were the costs of these new powers, I wondered. I was a vampire, the fact really sunk in now. My life would never be the same again. I would have to sleep in the day, drink blood and who knew what else. I was grappling with these thoughts when they walked in.

“Hello,” the woman with the English accent said. “ my name is Seras Victoria. Nice to meet you.”
“Greetings.” The man said. “ You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Hi.” I said. “ You were the people that made me this way?”
“Yes, indeed.” The man said. “ My name is Alucard. This is Seras; really, it was her handy-work.”
“I see.” I turned to Seras. “ How long has it been since I, uh, turned?”
“About 36 hours.” she said, pulling out a bottle of some sorts. “ You must be pretty hungry, right?”
“I think you’re right.” I agreed, what ever was in that bottle smelled delicious.
“Here,” she said, uncorking the bottle and getting three glasses. My nose was going crazy now. I had to have what was in that bottle. “Drink.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” I said. I really was hungry.
“A toast,” Alucard proposed. “ to centuries of further servitude.”

We clinked glasses. I quickly downed the liquid, it tasted like Nonna’s spaghetti. I savored the taste, never wanting it to end.

“Would you look at that?” Alucard laughed. “ Not yet a week as a vampire, and he’s already drinking it.”
“Wow, it took me weeks to finally accept it.” Seras nodded in agreement.

It occurred to me what I had just ingested. I had just downed a wineglass of blood. It was most likely human, too. I felt my stomach churn; blood shouldn’t taste that way. Why had it tasted that way? Blood tasted like iron, not like Nonna’s cooking. I resisted the need to vomit.

“It doesn’t make sense.” I said, my eyes tearing. “ Blood can’t taste that... good.”
“You’re a vampire, kid.” Alucard said. “ Blood is the only thing that tastes good anymore.”
“Oh, God.” I muttered. “ what have I become?!?!”
“Relax.” Seras patted me on the back. “ It was from the local blood bank.”
“That’s a relief.” I sighed.
“Pleasantries aside.” Alucard cut in. “ The moment Seras made you a vampire, you became a servant of Integra Hellsing. You are now a soldier. Do you have a prefered weapon? Price isn’t an issue.”
“I like knives,” I said, “ so if price doesn’t matter, I can use a trench knife.”
“Very well,” Alucard said, “ come with us. Integra will need to know.”

We walked out of the room. Seras told me that I was taken to London after I had become a vampire. This was the Hellsing mansion, the Headquarters of the Hellsing organization. I was also told by Alucard that I would be serving the Hellsing Organization until I died, or the Hellsing blood line ended. We found Miss Integra in her study.

“The Kid has agreed to join.” Alucard said to her. “ Get that kid a trench knife; the kid loves trench knives.”
“Very well, Drew.” she said. “ Welcome to the Hellsing organization.”

-30 years later-

We stood at the foot of the bed. Our heads were bowed. A 97 year old Integra Hellsing looked up at us. Alucard, Seras, and I had served faithfully to her for years. Now that time was at an end. She looked up at us from what would be her death bed.

“As my last command.” she rasped. “ You are to sleep, until reawoken. By intention or act of God.”
“Yes, Sir Integra.” we responded.
“Goodbye, Mss Hellsing.” I said. “ It has been an honor serving under you.
“Good night, Drew.” she said at last. “ I’ll see you in Hell.”

I turned to leave. Our coffins were waiting for us in the next room. They were filled with the soil of our home towns. Mine was from Newark, New Jersey. I hopped into the coffin, and I placed my knife in a corrosion proofed bag. It would be waiting for me when I woke up. I felt the lid begin to close above me. I closed my eyes and felt sleep take over.

Chapter 1: The awakening

I walked into the Trottingham hospital. I was in a state of disbelief. My sponsor was dying. Apache Stormwings was my rehab mentor. He counseled me on reforming after the Fall Formal debacle. He had been one of the few people not to judge me after that. He was an old man. The school had assigned him to me because he too was reformed. I rushed into the room. He was hooked up to a painfully large amount of machines.

“Mr. Stormwings?” I asked him. “ How do you feel?”
“Like I could take on the world.” He said. “ How ya doin, Sunset?”
“Good, Mr. Stormwings.” I said. At the edge of death, he still had the mobster mentality.
“Listen, Sunset.” He rasped. “ I know I don’t got that much time left. I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.” I said, his last wish was the least I could do for him.
“I’m gonna tell you something that no one but my family's blood has heard for millennia.” He continued. “ I’ve left you something, Sunset. It isn’t in my will, my attorney doesn’t even know I have it. In the basement of my estate is a large box. It’s about time to leave what's in it out. In my bag there is a letter that has all the instructions for it.”
“Okay,” I said, “ I’ll bring some friends and we’ll get it out. It’s been nice getting to know you, Mr. Stormwing.”
“You too, Sunset.” He said.

I left the hospital room with bleary eyes. He was a good man at heart. I had heard him only talk about being a mobster once. Even then, what he said was vague, something about his family being part of one mob family or another for centuries. I wondered about what was in the box. What could possibly be in it? It must have been old if it was in his family for 1000 years. I got in my car, not much I could do now except go and open it. I needed to figure out who to take. My car could fit three people plus myself.

Fluttershy wouldn’t be good, tramping around in a soon-to-be deadman’s house wasn’t her cup of tea. Rarity would scoff at the idea of a dingy basement. That left Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. I turned on to the highway. Pinkie lived back in Ponyville with her sister Maud Pie. Now Maud wasn’t the friendliest person, but she let Pinkie have the liberties of an adult. Much like me, considering that I lived in boarding houses for Canterlot High. Luckily for me, Rainbow and Applejack were also at Pinkie’s house. They were all in her room practicing their various instruments.

“Hey Girls.” I said. “ I need to ask a favor of you. Can you help me get a box out of my mentor’s house? He left it to me.”
“Sure, Sunset.” Applejack said in her accent. “ What is it?”
“I don't know.” I said. “ He just said it was very old.”
“Count me in.” Rainbow said. “ It sounds like an adventure.”
“Adventures are a party cannon of fun!” Pinkie said.
“Well, lets go then.” I said, beckoning to the door.

We hopped in my car and got back on the highway to Trottingham. All of our minds were swirling around what was in the box. There were several ludacris suggestions floating around the car. What if it was antique valuables? An ancient statue of an ancestor?

“What if it’s a horrible creature of darkness that his family has been guarding for generations?” Pinkie asked no one in particular.
“What makes you think its that?” Rainbow laughed.
“Just a hunch.” Pinkie replied.

Applejack looked at me from the passenger seat. What we were thinking didn’t need to be stated. Pinkie’s ‘hunches’ always seemed to turn out being right. What had Apache Stormwings and his family been hiding from the world for all this time? I pulled on to the series of backroads that would lead to the Stormwing estate. Apache had never told me how he came to posses the manor. Considering he was a former mobster, I doubted it was a story for kids. I pulled into the long driveway leading to the house. I parked in the back. There was a cellar door that would make loading the box into the trunk much easier.
“Well Girls, here it is.” I said. It was a sight to behold even from the back. The topiaries were a few trims behind, but other than that, the grounds were flawless. The manor as Apache called it was a large colonial style house. It stood solemnly in middle of the grounds surrounded by thick woods.
“Whoa,” Rainbow said getting out of my car. “ this guy must have been loaded.”
“This place is almost as big as mah farm.” Applejack mumbled.
“This would make for a great party space.” Pinkie said, walking around the yard.
“This way,” I gestured to the cellar door. “ Apache gave me the key to get the padlock off.”

Fifteen minutes later, we had the old padlock off. It must have had years worth of rust accumulated on it. Luckily, we had Applejack, who had years of farmwork tucked under her belt. I lifted the large doors, revealing a dark stairway down to the basement. We slowly made our way down the stairs. Luckily, at the bottom of them, there was a light switch. Flicking it on revealed a large basement filled with items. It finally occurred to me that I had no idea in the slightest what the box looked like. I guess I’ll know it when I see it, I thought. We split up, searching the basement for our mystery box. A half hour slowly slipped by. We had searched most of the basement save for a corner. While there were four of us, Pinkie refused to go near it. She was saying something about that corner have a bad vibe.

“What do you mean, a bad vibe?” I asked, exasperated.
“Whatever is in that corner has some bad mojo.” she said. “ Even my Pinkie sense goes out of whack near it.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “ I’ll do it myself.”
“Be careful,” she said, “ I don’t think that corner likes people much.”

This was insane, a corner couldn’t dislike people. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had already finished searching their corners. I trudged over to Pinkie’s. I was having second thoughts. It seemed like that part of the basement was meant to scare people, the lights had burned out here. I took out my keychain. Besides my car keys, they held a small flash light. I flicked it on. The small beam penetrated the darkness to some extent. Walking forward quickly revealed something was indeed off. After a few feet, the typical basement clutter stopped, as if afraid to encroach on some unknown boundary. There it was, appearing out of the darkness was a boxy object. I walked forward to inspect it more closely. It was a glass case, but more important was, inside, a large wood box. I lifted the lid off the case. Underneath was a coffin. I gulped; this was the ‘box’ that Apache had left me. There was a metal cross nailed across the face of the coffin. In the center was insignia, it read Hellsing.

I reached into my jacket pocket for the letter. I looked at the aging paper. Hopefully whatever information on what was inside the coffin lay inside. I started reading.

To whom it may concern,
If you are reading this, the protector of the coffins have deemed you worthy of what is inside. To reawaken it, it takes little more than a drop of blood. From then on, you are its owner. Please take care of them, they have served me and the Hellsing Organization for years….

I stopped reading. What was I supposed to reawaken? I called the others over to the coffin. We spent a few long, suspenseful moments reading the first paragraph together. I pulled out a pocket knife. I guess it was time to face what was inside. Applejack and Rainbowdash helped me pry open the coffin. Pinkie was standing a few feet away. She was getting antsy, making it apparent that she didn’t like the box. We opened the lid. Inside was something from out of a nightmare. A mummified corpse stared back at us. I looked at the pocket knife in my hands and gulped.

“This ain’t right.” Applejack spoke up. “ We need to put this soul to rest, not do some weird ritual that some nut job 1000 years ago wrote down.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “ it’s been fun and all. But I draw the line at things like this.”
“I don’t like him.” Pinkie said shuddering. “ He’s been cooped up 1000 years, and he’s angry.”
“A corpse can’t be angry, Pinkie.” I said.
“This one is.” Pinkie said. “ He says he was tricked. He wants to be free, more than anything in the world.”
“Ah’ve changed mah mind.” Applejack said again. “ If it will set his soul free, then we should do it.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow cut in. “ If he’s been stuck, uh, in between for 1000 years, then he deserves to rest.”
“I guess you guys are right.” I agreed, raising my hand over the coffin.

I flipped the knife open. It wouldn’t hurt too much. I pressed the tip into my palm, feeling the skin break slightly. A drop of blood formed around the knife, then made its way down my hand. It dropped onto the corpse. Pinkie shuddered behind me. I turned around, flicking the knife shut.

“There, now we can leave.” I said.
“Mmmm, extra virgin.” a new voice said. “ My favorite.”
“What!” I said, spinning around. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were rushing behind me now.
“I’ve been asleep 1000 years.” it laughed to itself. “ Man, I need something to sink my teeth into.”

What ever it was, was shifting around now. Suddenly, a head appeared above the rim of the coffin. It was a boy. He looked about our age. He might have had the palest skin I’ve ever seen besides Rarity. It was his eyes that were the strangest, they were red. Not brown, not amber, a deep blood red. It was hard to look at, what I had just awoken. He hopped out of the coffin and pulled out a plastic bag. He ripped it open and pulled out an evil looking knife. It was then he noticed us.

“You must be the one who woke me up.” He said to me, gesturing to my hand.
“What are you?” I asked.
“I am a vampire.” He said. “ You have awoken me. That makes you my new master.”