AN/ I do not intend to make any money off of this story nor do any of the Hellsing characters belong to me. I have to admit that the most fun part of this entire chapter was finding Russian cursewords. They are EXTREMELY creative and incredibly funny.
"It was very generous of Pip to offer to escort us to Paris." Sarah remarked to her husband, the Deacon Alexander Anderson.
He smiled and nodded his agreement. "My many missions for the Vatican have led me all over the world, but I have never been able to spend much time in France before now." He chuckled. "The smell of those rancid cheeses must keep even the most unholy monsters at bay."
She giggled, but scolded him gently. "Now, be nice. Just because you hate Blue Cheese doesn't mean you have to go ragging on the entire country!" As part of their honeymoon, Pip had agreed to escort them around Paris and give them a tour. It was his wedding gift to them, along with the plane tickets and the hotel reservations. He had paid for everything. Sarah had been speechless when he'd handed the little envelope containing the two tickets for a round trip to Paris. They would be gone for a full two weeks, which was as long as they dared to be absent. One never knew when a supernatural asshole demon-thingy would rear its ugly head and ruin a good moment.
She grimaced, remembering her wedding fiasco. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing. I'm just still a bit peeved over the conclusion of the wedding. Poor Walter, too. He had to help us clean up all the bodies and he'd only just gotten to a stable state. I'm sure he wasn't feel well yet at that point." She clucked her tongue. "Still, at least he's back to normal. Well, sort of." She blinked and looked around, confused. For some reason, she felt like she was being watched. Her instincts, which she'd learned over the past year and half to listen to, were going haywire. She felt a prickling at the back of her neck and she glanced around at the other passengers. One man quickly turned his head away.
"Sarah?" Alexander followed her gaze to the man, who was sitting a coulple of rows behind and to the right of them.
She frowned and lowered her voice to a whisper. "I think that guy was staring at me."
"Well, it's rude, but it happens all the time." He said casually.
She sighed frustratedly. "No, this feels different. I don't know how to explain it, but I think I've seen him before somewhere. He's giving me this really weird feeling and making me really anxious."
"You're just now noticing this." He said skeptically. "Are you sure you're just not suffering from jet lag already?"
She bit her lip and turned her eyes away from the creepy guy to face her husband. Immediately, she felt the prickles on her neck again. "Tell me if he's looking."
He nodded. "Yes, he is. Perhaps he's just thinking you look exceptionally beautiful." He smiled in a disarmingly charming fashion. "I myself am having quite the difficulty in restraining myself from a public display of affection."
"I think the word you were looking for is a 'kiss' or perhaps a 'hug'." She replied sarcastically. "In any case, you will have to wait until we are off the plane. Also, I don't think that's what creepy dude is thinking." She whipped her head around so quickly that it hurt her neck and caught the weird man in the act of once again averting his eyes. She still had the niggling thought at the back of her mind that she recognized him from somewhere, but where had she seen him before? She went silent for a while, pondering and stewing over it.
"Maybe he just looks like someone you knew." Alexander suggested.
And suddenly it hit her and she knew who the man was! "Dimitri!" She grinnned. "Oh my gosh, that's Dimitri Beltrov!" She paused and turned around to look at him again. "What is he doing on a plane to Paris?" She asked herself quietly. She hadn't seen Dimitri since her time in Dusseldorf. He had worked in the clinic with her and she had helped him with his English. He was a young Russian man who had moved to Germany for work and they'd been great friends. Though, with everything that had happened to her, they'd lost touch. It was something that she regretted now.
"Well, that's why he's staring then." He reasoned. "He probably thought he recognized you, too, but was hesitant in the approach because he was unsure if you were actually who he thought you were."
She got up out of her seat excitedly and walked down the aisle to where Dimitri sat. "Dimitri?" She said with a huge smile. "Is that you?"
"Sarah, I thought it was you, but I couldn't be sure." His thick accent made his English hard to discern, but it was certainly better than it had been the last time they'd spoken to each other. He'd only been able to manage fragments and had had a lot of trouble with grammar, but that was understandable considering that English is one of the hardest languages to learn, if not the hardest one of all. "This is such welcome reuion. How are you, my friend?"
"I'm wonderful, actually. I'm on my honeymoon!" She announced proudly. "I was just wondering what brought you to Paris?"
"Business." He said with a trace of annoyance. "Look at me, Malenkii drook." He gestured to the very expensive suit he was wearing. "I am going to give lecture in Paris. I worked hard in years after you left me and did better in English. Promotion after promotion and here I am on my way to give this spiel on a more efficient and painless injection. I have invented injection myself for animals in great pain to give them peace."
She nodded. "Well, that's definitely a great acchievement. I know that it takes a little while for the current lethal injections to work and cutting down the time could reduce the amount of unnecessary suffering."
"Speaking of suffering," He looked at her sadly. "You left without note or call or anything. It was as if you went vanish into air like spirit."
She ran a hand through her short hair, making the already mussed curls stand up at odd angles. "Well, that's a long story..."
"I have much time." He patted the empty seat beside him. "Sit and share, Malenkii. I will listen." She did as he bade her and she began to tell him what had happened to her. Although, she obviously had to leave out some things and make up a few lies to fill in the gaps. She felt sorry for having to lie to Dimitri, but it was necessary. He reacted with shock when she told him she'd been kidnapped. He muttered a few choice words in Russian. "Golubushka, if only I had been with you..."
"No, you were gone because of your grandfather's funeral. You had no control over that, so don't get mad over it." Typically, Sarah did not like to think about the night she was kidnapped. Once she'd gotten her memories back, that was the only one she wished could have stayed forgotten. It had been a rather dismal day. A stray dog had been rescued from the side of the street after it was hit by a truck, but ultimately she'd had to put the poor thing down. Then later on, a cat was brought it with a damaged eye where it had been in a fight and she'd had to prep it for surgery. Besides that, she had to give three dogs with severe cases of mange their daily dose of medication before she locked up the kennel and headed out for the night. Her office had been warm, but outside it was cold and miserable with the occasional puddle of melted slushy water. She could still feel the chill of the wind biting through her thick coat. She passed an alley and a man lept out at her. He overpowered her and tied her up with her own shoelaces. She was still struggling, though and she tried to scream, so he pressed a cloth over her mouth and she blacked out.
The next thing she knew she was lying on a cold metal table, strapped down with only a thin white sheet covering her. The room was bare except for a trolly filled with medical instruments. Her head was fixed to the table by a metal device and an IV was stuck in her arm. Her head was throbbing from the effects of the cholorform. It was like the hangover she'd had the night of her twenty-first birthday, only much worse because her pain combined with her panic at waking up naked in an unfamiliar place had her hyperventelating. The bed was on rollers, she discovered, so if she jerked around it would move a little. She had it part way across the room, then after the third try it rolled into the area right beside the heavy metal door. Then, she heard talking and the door swung open with a bang and hit her square in the head. She'd figured out later that this injury had actually done her a good turn, not only had it affected the chip, but it had also set in motion the events which had led her to her new friends and, ultimately, to the love of her life. Thank God for heavy ass doors and people who slam them.
After hearing a thirty minute sanitized version of her kidnapping and her life afterward, Dimitri laid his hand on hers. "I am happy you have found your way out of darkness. You have always been very strong, I am proud to call you friend. Now," He smiled broadly, showing his slightly crooked teeth, "I must meet groom!"
"Ahem," Alexander coughed discreetly. They both looked up, surprised to find him standing there. He must have gotten up while they weren't paying attention. "Pleased to meet you, sir. I am Deacon Alexander Anderson, but you may call me Alexander if you wish."
"Dimitri Beltrov," They shook hands warmly. "You must take care of Golubushka, Alexander. She is handful to manage, but you look like man to do it." He eyed Alexander up and down, before nodding. "Yes, very good. You are balanced pair. I can see you are calm where I know her to be excitable and you are big where she is small. Marriage is balance, very important, Da. Each must equal out other and cancel out weakness and find strength. I wish you long and happy years together."
Sarah felt color flood her cheeks. "Thanks," She said, utterly without a response to his odd statement. She hurriedly changed the subject. "Dimitri, where are you staying in Paris? I'd like to visit you sometime if that's alright."
"But of course, Golubushka. I am being there three days and staying in The Grand Hotel De Turin-"
"You've got to be kidding me!" She exclaimed, floored by his answer. "That's where we're staying!" She couldn't believe that something like this could happen. "What floor?"
"The second," He replied in awe himself. "Room 200."
"No way, this is ridiculous..." She told him. "We're in room 201."
They laughed aloud at this strange circumstance. "I expect visit daily." He joked. "We have much to catch up on."
"I can't wait, it's really been too long." She beamed at him. They spent the next few hours talking about old times and their past exploits. Alexander had seated himself in the empty seat across the aisle from them and listened politely to their chatter. Apparently, Sarah had had many adventures that she'd not told him about. One of those adventures included the Autobahn, a very unhapy duck, a jar of peanut butter, and a very nice biker gang. "And, do you remember what the duck did?" She snickered from behind her hand.
"How could I forget it? I had to scrub peanut butter out of hair for long time!" He chuckled along with her. "We smelled very badly that day."
"That was your fault. You were the one who didn't adjust the lid of that take-out food properly. At least the bikers were sporting about being splattered with seafood and sweet and sour sauce."
"Cop was not pleased." He reminded her.
"We made him laugh, though." She retorted. "He couldn't keep a straight face after the towtruck came. I think that it was the duck with its head stuck in the jar that finally did it."
"Duck should not have been rooting around in garbage." Dimitri rolled his eyes. "Who leaves half-full jar near a pond? Zalupa!"
"Watch the language." She jested, tapping his forearm. "That's what got us in trouble with the Weird Hat Lady." And such was the conversation that amused Alexander over the next few hours. The nine hour flight was thusly colored by the past exploits of the newly reunited friends as they made up for lost time. He made several notes to get the full stories out of her later to appreciate the true entertainment value.
The trio hailed a cab together that evening after their arrival. There was no reason to split up after all when their destination was the same. Pip, who had gone home a week earlier, had called to let them know he'd be outside of the hotel in the morning to give them their personal tour. Sarah's eyes were dancing with a delighted light when she ended the call. "He promised to bring us to all the tourist traps and I can't wait to see the Musee de Louvre and we're going to have lunch in the restaurant where Nicholas Flamel used to live! It's the oldest house in Paris! I'm so excited." She was literally bouncing in her seat with glee. Alexander couldn't find much excitement in that particular aspect of the tour, but he was eager to see the beautiful and famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Two weeks seemed barely enough time to fully enjoy the splendors of the city, but they would try their hardest to experience as much as they could.
That night when he settled down to sleep in their hotel room, he would think how nice it was to have a break from all of the chaos and simply enjoy a bit of quiet sight-seeing. Well, unbenownst to him or Sarah, there was much more than fine dining and sight-seeing in store for them in Paris, France. A darker, more sinister force was mounting behind the scenes and just waiting for the chance to make itself known.