"Target is confirmed. Releasing control art restriction system to level 3..."

In a cheap hotel, a man has taken a young woman back to his room. He asks if she wants another drink, but she drops her coat. He tells her that because of how beautiful she is, he just wants to drop down to his knees and caress her, but that'd be something a younger man would do. He turns the lights off and then starts to touch her, saying that her beauty lights up the night.

However, another man then appears in the room, saying that he will keep his power level unlocked until the target has been silenced. The old man asks who he is and why he's here, but is told that he's from the Hellsing organization. He then pulls out a gun and tells the human to move out of the way, unless he wants to become a miserable little ghoul. The old man runs as the man in red fires a single shot, which hits the woman in the head and kills her...but she then crumbles to dust! She was a vampire.

Suddenly the old man finds himself all alone. Outside, the man in red walks out, where several helicopters fly above him and Hellsing troops and standing by. He walks towards a car and tells the person inside it that he's completed his mission before walking away.

Sometime later, a police lieutenant explains to Hellsing's director, Integra Hellsing, about a priest. This priest was assigned to the village of Cheddar, and about a month after he arrived, the first reports of people disappearing began. Officers were sent in to arrest him, but all of them have been reported killed. Another man then explains that a unit of their elite troops from division 11 (D-11) were sent in, but as of yesterday have suffered 50% casualties. Reports suggest that the D-11 troops were killed by the police officers reported killed the day before.

Integra says that the officers are no longer human. They've had their blood drained to feed the vampire, and are what she calls "ghouls". She berates the lieutenant for doing what he's done, as he hasn't followed the correct protocols. But she tells him that her organization has already sent in assistance to Cheddar. They have sent one agent.

That agent is the man in red, Alucard. As he walks towards the village, he looks up at the moon and says what a perfect night it is., the kind of night that makes him want to have a bite to drink. As he continues on, the remaining D-11 forces have suffered more losses. Victoria Seras sees to the wounds of one of her teammates, Jack.

Jack's been bitten, so Seras tries to deal with the bite. She says that she wasn't ready for this, it's just too much for her. She is trying to be strong, as she doesn't want to be known as her nickname "kitten" for the rest of her life. Suddenly Jack gets up and lunges straight at her!

Seras backs off and pulls out her gun, but she can't shoot him and instead just hits him before running back towards the others. But as she gets to them, they've all suffered the same fate as Jack: they've turned into ghouls.

Seras shoots one of them in the chest, but the ghoul doesn't seem to be effected and even stops to see that he's not bleeding. The other ghouls then start moving towards Seras, so she runs into the forest. After stopping to get her breath, she hears some noise nearby and takes him, Another ghoul, this time one that isn't a D-11 member, has appeared. As she thinks about how her target isn't human any more...

...somebody kills it for her. Alucard has arrived, and after stabbing the ghoul with his hand, it crumbles into nothing. He tells the police girl that tonight is a beautiful night, doesn't she think? Especially if you're a bloodsucker. This causes Seras to react in a way anybody would: she shoots him.

Her shot hits Alucard's arm, but he doesn't seem to be that bothered about it, even laughing about it and then restoring the injured part of his arm. Seras says that he isn't human and then resumes running. As Alucard watches her, he asks why -would she have shot him if he was?

Seras eventually stops running when she realizes that she has no idea what she's doing, as she doesn't know where anywhere could be safe around here. She finds a church and heads inside it, where a priest welcomes her. The church has always offered sanctuary to those who are in distress. He takes pity on her, as she asks him if he's really a priest.

He refers to himself as merely being a guide to those of the weak of heart. Seras remembers her mission is about apprehending a priest, but he seems different to the others. He knows she is talking about the ghouls. He explains that when a vampire drinks the blood of a person, the corpse left behind will become a slave that the vampire can control. Of course, a vampire cannot change everyone they drink from into another vampire. He then decides to make Seras an example of this, and uses strange powers to put her into a trance. He grabs her and says it'd be such a waste to turn her into a ghoul. She manages to pull out her gun and point it at his head, but she can't seem to pull the trigger.

The priest says he knows she's feeling pain, but he'll give her pleasure that will last forever. Before he can do that, the door gets kicked in: Alucard has arrived, who tells the priest that he's already had enough of him. He says that he is a servant of the Hellsing organization, and deals with garbage like him. The priest laughs and thinks that Alucard has lost his mind to speak to him like that.

Alucard walks in and says the priest is less than garbage, and the clothes he's wearing are ridiculous, making him look like some sad carnival freak. Doesn't he have any shame, wearing the robes of a priest? The priest thinks Alucard can die now, and reveals hordes of ghouls, all of which are former D-11 members, and all of which are armed. As Alucard says the priest isn't even worthy of the lowest pits of Hell, the priest has his ghouls fire.

Their bullets tear through Alucard, who then falls down, dead. The priest laughs and says that it looks like somebody was all talk. But Alucard isn't dead -as he reforms himself right in front of the priest and Seras. He reveals that shooting him won't work, they'll need more than guns to stop him. The priest realizes that Alucard is what he is: a vampire!

He orders his ghouls to fire again, but they never get the chance to as Alucard shoots them all down first. The priest tells him to stop, and doesn't understand why he's doing this: they are both vampires.

Alucard tells him he acts more like a cockroach, and if he was left on his own, he's cover the world in filth. He cannot stand these "instant" vampires, vampires who don't even have the slightest bit of self-respect. They don't even know who they are. But as for himself, he has his own reasons for serving his human master, Integra. But that is a story trash doesn't get to hear. He then explains about his gun, and how the explosive rounds he uses come from a melted-down church cross. He can prepare himself for an eternity in hell, now.

The priest uses Seras as a shield and says Alucard will have to kill her to get to him. He doesn't think Alucard would dare, since he serves humans. As he starts to talk about working with Alucard, Alucard ignores him and uses some kind of telepathy to talk to the police girl.

He then says he'll shoot her in the lung. The bullet will pass through her and hit the trash vampire in the heart. He knows she doesn't want to die tonight, so does she want to come with him? He can't force her into this, it's her choice, so answer! Seras says just "yes" and then closes her eyes. About a second later, Alucard shoots and, as he stated, the bullet hits and goes through her -and then hits the vampire.

The vampire priest is destroyed. Alucard walks over to Seras and tells her to remember that the choice was always hers. As he lifts her up, he tells her this is the part where she's supposed to close her eyes.

Seras doesn't do this, as Alucard sucks her blood. Later on, the other Hellsing forces have arrived, which include Integra. She notices Alucard walking towards her, and he's carrying someone.

Alucard goes to Integra and tells her the mission has been completed, and the target has been silenced. Integra tells him that he took far too long for just one target. She then notices Seras and says that she'll have someone take care of her. But Alucard says no -he wants Integra to transfer the police girl into the Hellsing organization. Seras, who now has red eyes, nods in agreement to this.

Integra reminds Alucard that he doesn't get to make decisions. He tells her that the police girl made the choice for herself. Integra walks away, telling everyone that it's time for them to withdraw. As they leave, Alucard tells Seras that this was a perfect night...right?

NOTES

This episode adapts the manga's Vampire Hunter storyline, although it makes numerous changes to it. The main changes include the opening scene with Alucard where he kills the female vampire, this isn't present in the manga at all. The episode also has Seras encounter Alucard differently, where she shoots him before running off, this scene is not present in the manga either. The confrontation between Alucard and the priest happens outside in the manga, but for the anime, it happens inside a church. The priest is also seen using some type of mind control power in the anime, something he doesn't use in the manga. Finally, Integra's cold reception to Seras in the anime is completely different in the manga, where the scene is more on the jokey-side.