"What does it do Pip?"
She looked up at him with large blue eyes. Her dark red curls were beginning to come loose from her braid.
"It makes things go BOOM!"
She jumped as his voice echoed around the trees.
"Pip? When are we going to go home?"
Pip looked at his nine year old sister. The only family he had left.
He took her hand and pointed down the muddy path.
"This is our home now peu tireur(Little Gunner)."
She looked up at him once again, only this time, tears were gathering in her eyes.
"No, no, my little one, don't be sad!"
He pointed down the path once again.
"Now we'll always be home."
Present Day, Wild Geese HQ, London
"You did WHAT!"
My voice went up an octave higher on the last word causing my brother, the wuss, to cover his ears.
"How could you do something like this? Do you have any idea what could happen with an offer like this?"
Pip Bernadotte smirked and kicked his feet up on his desk.
"What does that have to do with anything? We are a very accepting people peu tireur."
"Don't start that bullshit again Pip. You can't just start accepting jobs just because there's a price tag involved!"
She turned away from him and crossed her arms.
"But if you want us all to die some gruesome death or disappear off the face of the Earth, I guess that's fine too!"
The smile had disappeared from my brother's face as he leaned forward.
"I respect your opinion Mathilda,"
I flinched at the sound of my real name.
"But, as a 13 year old girl you don't really have a say in where we go, or why. You're here to cook."
"You sexist fuck." I said as I sat back down
He smirked again. Couldn't go five seconds without that thing plastered to his face.
"That's why the men keep me around."
I sighed and pushed myself out of the chair I had plopped into.
"I won't question your decisions frère aîné (older Brother). Just your sanity."
I started to walk out of his tent, when a question came to mind.
"What is the name of this place?"
"Hellsing, it's some sort of organization."
I snorted. Hellsing.
How very appropriate.
Two days later, Hellsing Mansion, London
I really did not have a good feeling about this place.
As we carried our measly belongings up the paved driveway, I caught sight of armed guards on a covered terrace about 20 meters away from us.
"Would you look at this place Tilly! I haven't even seen pyramids this big!"
"You've never seen a pyramid Pip."
"What's your point?"
I sighed and blew a red curl out of my face. It had been a long walk in the rain and I was getting really irritated by the fact that my socks could now constitute as washcloths.
As we neared the door Jonathon, another of the Wild Geese, elbowed me on the shoulder as he whispered.
"They even have a butler. How do you like them apples?"
I looked at the door and saw a very snappily dressed older man with dark hair in a ponytail.
"Welcome to Hellsing. My name is Walter and I am the retainer of this estate. Please come this way. Sir Integra wishes to speak to all of you."
He finally closed his mouth long enough to actually look at us, his eyes widened when they landed on me.
"I am so sorry; we only prepared one of our barracks for you. We didn't know you had a lady-"
He was cut off by everyone's roaring laughter.
"Tilly? A lady? Oh that's rich."
"Watch out Walter my friend, she might blow-"
I elbowed Pip in the gut before he could finish.
"Don't worry 'bout me. As they said, I'm no lady."
The butler, Walter, gave me a cynical look before motioning us to follow him.
Walter basically let us in the front door to shove us out the back one where the barracks were located.
"Please make yourselves comfortable. Sir Integra wishes to speak with you as soon as possible."
I hefted my bag off my shoulders onto a cot and stretched. I was about to throw myself down on it when Walter came up behind me.
"Sir Integra Wishes to speak with you immediately."
I didn't even blink I simply followed Walter out of the tent.
Who did this Sir Integra think he was? And why in the name of Hell did he want to talk to me?
I soaked in the mansion as we walked down corridor after corridor. Somber paintings of unsmiling men lined the walls. When we came to a large oak door Walter stopped.
"They are expecting you."
They?
Keeping one eye on Walter I turned the knob and was greeted by two figures silhouetted against the dim afternoon gray.
One was standing; I assumed it was male by the broad shoulders and height. He was wearing some kind of huge hat. The other was seated.
"You wanted to speak with me?"
The seated figure raised its head.
"Yes, I did. Have a seat."
Sir indeed. It was a bloody woman who was the Lord of this place.
I stood standing, not moving a muscle.
"Have it your way."
What did she want? I just wanted to stretch out on my cot and take a nap. What was so bloody important?
"How old are you?"
"13."
"Hmmm."
There was a flare of light, and the stench of cigars hit my nose.
"And just what are you doing here?"
I was taken aback by her question.
"'Scuse me?"
She gave an irritated sigh and came out from behind her desk. I caught a glimpse of long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.
"What. Are. You. Doing here?"
I finally decided to just answer straight.
"I'm a one of the mercenaries that you hired."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"What do you contribute?"
I hesitated. I didn't want to give away my position this soon in the working relationship, but she was paying me.
"Bombs."
She turned to the figure, which had stayed silent this whole time, and spoke.
"Alucard?"
Quick as lightning he was in front of my face, silently smelling the air.
His voice made my spine shiver like someone was dragging their fingernails on stone. But it was deep.
"She smells of gunpowder Master. As well as sulfur, salt, iron-"
"That's enough."
The man, Alucard, stopped speaking and resumed his position behind Sir Integra.
"Do you have any idea what we do here at the Hellsing Organization?"
"Nope."
Her questions were beginning to irritate me. Her tone was demeaning; she spoke slowly, as if talking to a mental invalid.
"Alucard, show her."
The man was once again in my face, only now I could see his face.
He was deathly pale, his features carved and chiseled as if out of marble. His black hair fell around his broad shoulders, it never quite stood still.
His mouth began to quirk upward slowly. He looked like he was going to smile.
Instead he was showing me his fangs. I felt my eyes grow wide as his canines became longer and pointier.
"That's right. He is a vampire. One of the eternally damned, but also my servant."
I swallowed; it felt as if Alucard's presence was closing in on me, suffocating me from the inside.
"He is also the creatures we hunt. That is why we hired the Wild Geese. Now what is a child, like you, going to be able to do? In our battles we have countless men die and be reborn as bloodsucking ghouls. How is a 13 year old, a mere child-"
I'd had enough.
I shoved the vampire out of my way and went right up to Sir Stick-up-my-ass.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I HAVE DONE!"
I slammed my hands down on her desk, shaking her brass paperweights.
"YOU HAVEN'T THE SLIGHTEST INKLING OF WHAT I HAVE HAD TO DO JUST TO STAY ALIVE! I HAVE HAD TO SHOVE KNIVES THROUGH MEN WHO HAD NO FACES! I HAVE HAD TO TRAVEL AROUND WITH A BUNCH OF MEN WHO ARE PAID TO KILL!"
I could see her face through the smoke. There was nothing. How I so wanted to show her, to wipe that smirk right off her face.
"YOU THINK YOU HAVE HARD? TRY LIVING WITH 45 SOLDIERS CRAMMED IN CAVES NO BIGGER THAN THIS ROOM! IF YOU THINK THAT I'M SCARED OF DEATH OR BLOODSUCKING GHOULS YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!"
I stood there breathing hard, but I was nowhere near done.
I whirled around and pointed a gunpowder stained finger at the vampire.
"AND YOU!"
I poked his chest.
"YOU COME WITHIN TWO FEET OF ME WITH YOUR FANGS OUT I WILL BLOW SO MANY FUCKING HOLES THROUGH YOU, YOU'RE OWN MAMA WON'T RECOGNIZE YOU!"
I whirled back around to Sir Integra to see her lighting another cigar.
She sat down in her chair and smirked.
"You will get along just fine here."
I blinked.
What?
I took another deep breath and shoved a loose hair behind my ear.
"Well, I'm glad we understand each other, Sir Integra."
With that I walked out of the study.
"Well what did she want?"
Pip had been bugging about my private meeting with the head Hellsing for 10 minutes now.
"I told you she was just making sure I was going to be able to handle it here. Why do you want to know?"
Pip looked at his boots.
"Fine don't tell me."
He sighed and ruffled my hair.
"How long has it been since you've run a brush through this mess? Come here."
I gave in to his pestering and sat down between his legs as he took out my long red braid.
His hands were gentle as he ran a comb through my hair, getting out all the snags and bits of nature that had wedged themselves in it. I closed my eyes; this made me feel like a little kid again.
All too soon he was done, we switched places and I began unraveling his braid.
This was what we had done together when our parents had first died. We would comb each other's hair and rebraid it. Just so we knew that the other was there, and hadn't disappeared, like our mom and dad. It brought back feelings of comfort.
I lay down in my cot with my newly brushed hair.
"G'night Pip."
"Good night Tilly."
Even though I was tired as all get out, and the cot was surprisingly comfortable, an uneasy settled in my stomach like a stone.
I really didn't like it here.