Wow, I have not written fan fiction in a LOOONG time. Well, I do every day, but I never put it down on paper or type it up. I guess my mind wanders so much it can't keep the fingers together. I draw more than I write anyway. xD
This is set…oh, I wanna say after Rio and before he devours Rip Van Winkle. Perhaps a side mission after the meeting with the queen.
Anyway, do hope you like and enjoy! Review, and tell me what you think.
Asphodel
Her lunar majesty hung high and proud at her fullest display on this one autumn night. Even her nimbus cousins could not deter her beauty as a creature of the night walked through the streets of London. Clad in the color of blood and coal, the male figure let his mind wander as he headed back from another job. The Police Girl was not needed this night, and Alucard had finished off the impostor vampire quickly without much trouble. This led to boredom quickly with the vampire as he continued the trek back to the Hellsing mansion. Alucard rather appreciated the time alone, for he had not wanted the Police Girl's thoughts interfering with his own. Such proximity led to him hearing her thoughts constantly.
Even though he did have the need to breathe, the nosferatu sighed lightly as he continued his aimless walk, buying time before heading back. Through his orange glowing sunglasses he watched as the lights of businesses and homes dimmed into the nothingness as the human heartbeats slowed and went into their times of slumber. Yet there was one business that their lights remained on, even if very dim, almost by candlelight. Blood colored eyes peered through the sunglasses to see as to why such a business would be open at such a late night. Not even the pubs were open at this hour as the majority of the drunks had already stumbled their way back to their flats. No sign hung on the door of the establishment, as was usually required for such a place, yet he felt a strange energy coming from the business and the door of the hole in the wall. His curiosity truly piqued, his feet carried him to the door, a gloved hand reaching for the door handle when it was opened for him. The door opened further, revealing a woman who is blossoming in her teens. "Ah! Count. We have been waiting for you." she said to him with a small smile on her face, stepping aside and letting him through before closing the door. As soon as she was there, she was gone, a spectre among the crowd of people as the business seemed to be flourishing on this night.
Alucard could not help but raise his eyebrow slightly as he stepped inside and took in the sight. The business was very lavish, yet had a slightly archaic feel as in the back of the room there were cushions set much like in the days of old, where sheiks and sultans sat upon them. A pang of a bad memory ran through him as he turned to his right, where the chairs and seats felt more modern. Cast iron formed into shapes held up cushions in rich crimson fabric flanked glass topped tables. Bodies and figures occupied the tables and none of their signatures signified anything close to being human.
Taking a glance to his left, he saw a fully stocked bar, where the counter was shaped much like a crescent moon. A lone woman was taking orders and filling drinks with good haste and better ideas at proportions of alcohol content. Or at least it was a female as she turned her back to him, revealing huge, pine colored horns that curled around large, elven ears. Alucard had never encountered a demon before, and this was the first he had seen one. Scared was not the word for her, he was…..intrigued, yes.
Almost every seat was occupied at the expansive bar counter. Almost, as there was one seat that remained vacant. One of the bartender's ears twitched as she turned back around to the patrons, spotting the vampire in the shadows by the entrance. "Ah! About time your vampiric ass showed up here for once!" the woman spoke, her voice not tampered by the timbre of those that lived in London. Alucard could not help but wince slightly as she cursed, for it was unladylike to curse, no matter what the circumstance. But he shook off the discomfort as she spoke again, waving her hand to him to sit at the bar, "Come come! Sit. Besides, you need some respite. Dealing with your boss and your fledgling could drive almost ANYONE to drink. Hell, I know I would." Oh, he drank, he mused to himself, though the way she thought of the drink and how HE thought of the drink were two separate things altogether. He gave his usual smirk as he took his seat at the bar, conveniently where when she turned right back around after making a drink, she would be facing him directly. "How amusing that you know what I feel and go through." he spoke at last, taking off his hat and setting it in his lap, where it melded back into the shadows.
"Well, everyone here feels each other in one way or another. I just happen to have a bit more of a..direct line with the waking world. And before you say anything, I already know what you drink and what I drink are different. Not that I don't mind a drink of blood every once in a while."
Alucard narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses as she said the last sentence, "So you indulge as well? Funny, you don't seem like the type to feast on innocents." The demoness scoffed loudly at the veiled accusation, setting down the shaker with a bit more force than required on the ebony wood counter. "Listen, man. Just because I feast does NOT mean I feast on the innocent. I'm forbidden to. I feast on those who did wrong and my boss banishes them to their respective circles."
'Respective circles?' My, how her indignant attitude to his statement was amusing. Yet, he could not help but be curious. The last time he had heard of the 'Circles' was the Divine Comedy. Perhaps the worlds were true after all. "So I take it that Minos is your superior?" He said softly, recalling his time of reading the book by Alighieri, even if the memories were vague.
"Yep. I just make his job a little easier by finding the ruffians and taking them to the boss directly without all the hoopla. Limbo gets crowded relatively quickly. It's about as bad as an After-Christmas Sale in America." she quipped. "Normally, in HERE, it's horrid. You'd be surprised as to how many damn souls ask me questions as to why they're here. And I know you have that question right now lurking in that vampire head of yours." she lifted the shaker once again, emptying its contents into a glass and sliding it down the bar to his right to a soul in a fedora with green hair and yellow eyes. Alucard's focus kept on the sight for a moment until the bartender's voice snapped him out of it.
"You're in Asphodel."
Sanguine colored eyes peered over the sunglasses, searching for a clarification as to what she said. "You. Are. In. Asphodel. The name of this bar is Asphodel. Which just so happens to be in Limbo." She smiled at him, bringing ingredients to the front and pouring them into the shaker. "Gotta love those who are lost! They usually don't catch on as fast as you. Then again, you never set foot in Limbo until now." she said, using both hands to shake the cocktail mixer with vigor. Alucard could not help but watch and listen as she worked, smelling the scent of blood and alcohol in the shaker. And the drink smelled warm. Normally in a shaker, the contents had ice, but somehow not this time around.
"Well, duh. This drink is for you!" she said to him, reading his mind as if he spoke the words. Now he had an inkling as to what the Police Girl felt when he invaded her thoughts. But with the bartender it didn't bother him so much. But why? "You seem so interested in what I do and who I am." he spoke once again, giving an idle look at his hands and seeing that the customary symbols of his servitude to the Hellsing family were missing from his gloves. "Well, of course. It's rare that vampires escape the clutches of Minos. Normally they are caught right away and sent to their respective circles. But hell, you dodged a bullet by drinking blood at the last goddamn second. I give you props for that! Hell, Minos actually gets LAUGHS out of seeing you wander in the human world!" The vampire narrowed his eyes again at the demoness; the judge of hell laughing at his wandering life in the human world? If he could, he would kill both the subordinate and the superior right where they stood. "And I take it you get laughs out of it too." Alucard said calmly, but the timbre of his voice gave a deadly inclusion of 'Provoke me again. I dare you.'
"No. I actually don't. Unlike my boss, I …actually sympathize with you. Hell I was LIKE you for a few decades. Wandering and wondering if I was going to get some rest at last. But after a while I realized maybe this was my way of atoning for the things I did."
NOW Alucard was curious. What horrid things had she done to cause her to wind up here, tending drinks to the dead? "And, pray tell, what did YOU do to deserve your position?" he asked with amusement. The demoness set down her shaker, revealing eyes of green irises and deep violet where a white sclera would be. "Oh….Just rape and slaughter. And horrid destruction whenever I conquered other worlds of the other side. Apparently I'm not well liked up in Elysium. Not that I mind, that place is too damn happy for my tastes."
"So…you were a conqueror of the other circles?"
"A few of the regions of the circles, sided with Xerxes in the olden days when I was alive, never touched Mount Purgatory. Hate that place so damn much; Everyone is so tied to their positions. You think those in Sloth are lazy? Hell, everyone on that mountain is lazy except their terraces bind them to their locations." as she rambled, she had finally finished his drink, pouring it gently into a tumbler, and garnishing it with the curled rind of a blood orange and nudging it to him.
The vampire eyed the drink warily, not having alcohol did that to him, and it would be his first time as well. Taking hold of the drink he took a small sip, reveling in how the taste of the blood drowned out the taste of the alcohol, as well as a taste of a strange fruit lingered on his tongue. He didn't feel the worse for wear after that. "Hmm." he grunted, slightly impressed.
"Aqua Vitae. Gotta love it." the demoness smiled, setting down the fixings to rest her arms on the counter. "Anyway, gotta relay a message from the boss." she said, using her fingers to form quotation marks, and with a mocking tone to her boss' voice. "Keep up the good work, but do beware of what you get yourself into. Otherwise you'll be in Limbo for a hell of a lot longer then just twenty minutes. Oh, and cats are evil. VERY evil." the bartender rolled her eyes at the last sentence. "Wonder what the hell he means by that, but …eh. All I can say is this: you're more likely destined for Limbo or the First sphere, I can tell you that right now."
"The first sphere?"
"A broken promise. You were a crusader for God, were you not?" Alucard was struck quiet again by her truth. "You admire the moon every night. It's because you belong there. You long to be in her arms."
"Anyway, you better get going. The sun will be rising in a few hours, and you need your beauty sleep." she smirked at him as she took his barely touched glass. The vampire smiled back at the bartender demoness, rising to put his hat back on and perch his sunglasses up further on his nose. "Farewell, demon. Maybe one day I will see you again."
"Perhaps. And, by the way…." she called out to him as he almost stepped out the door. "The name is Thalo."
Alucard could not help but chuckle at her name. "Indeed, Thalo. You name fits you, having lived a very rich and 'colorful' life." Bowing his head, he finally set back out into the night air in the human world, turning back to see if Asphodel remained.
Only to see that the building was dark and empty, with a large sign saying "Condemned" on the front nailed into its stucco walls.
Welp, I hope you enjoyed that!
A few notes as requested by maroongrad [Eeeee I'm glad you like it!]
1. The first sphere in the Divine Comedy is the Moon. Those who are in Paradiso are those who have broken their promises to God. Seeing as to how Vlad was a crusader for god before he became a vampire, it fits.
2. Asphodel is in tandem with Limbo because Limbo was based off of the Asphodel Meadows in Greek Mythology where it's for those who turned their back on the divine.
3. Thalo is just one of my characters whose name means of a very rich color. It's also spelled 'Pthalo.' And seeing as to how she did what she did, I figured it would be fitting.
See ya! And thanks for reading!