Even in the Shadows
by SMYGO4EVA
"I have always understood that we share more in common than you'd care to admit," Lady Caterina Sforza said, adjusting her monocle as she stood from her seat. "I suppose that leaders like ourselves do hold onto - and hold away - more than meets the eye." She paused, glancing up at Sir Integra Hellsing. "From the rest of the world, that is."
"Indeed," Integra replied as she dug into her coat pockets for her cigarillo case and lighter. She turned to the other woman, her glasses flashing in the dim lamplight. "We've both had our share of difficult subordinates, and have had to carry both our families' inheritances, a lot faster than we had hoped."
Caterina nodded, stepping around Integra, keeping an eye on her. "Yes, you're quite right." They usually didn't meet at this time of night – they usually would always acquaint and reacquaint in the daytime on official business – but she made this an exception this time around.
"To be honest, I'm just as aware of it as you are," Integra smirked, a cigarillo at the corner of her mouth, putting her hands in her pockets. The Duchess of Milan reminded her a lot of herself, yes. But there was still tenderness beneath her thick skin. Integra hadn't felt such, well, vulnerabilities, in years. She had made sacrifices that indeed gouged her heart; they had also kept her from the edge of death. "You and I definitely have a lot in common. We have affirmed this fact ad infinitum. But do you know what sets us apart, Cardinal Caterina?"
"And what's that, Sir Integra?" Caterina asked, her voice suddenly soft. She found herself hesitant and curious of the answer.
A puff of smoke preceded her response. "There's the unmistakable fact that my organization is aligned with the Protestant faith. Yours is with the Vatican. So there's one difference."
Caterina stepped forward, almost acknowledging Integra's word. "That is true. Regardless of that, we have different names for the creatures of mystical persuasion under our employ. You call them vampires, while we call them Methuselah."
"Same difference."
"To a degree, yes."
"I suppose we both had to encounter with the forces that even the higher-ups wouldn't understand. We trudge past fear and move beyond apathy, beyond defeat." Caterina remarked, her eyes downcast for a moment, nearly in hesitance, before regarding the other woman again.
"I have to say, Lady Caterina…we'd make a good team," Integra replied as she held her cigarillo in her hand, tilting her head to meet the Duchess's gaze. "If I do say so myself."
Caterina was surprised, if not unsure, at that suggestion at first, but after their eyes met, she relaxed and smiled. It was a nice reprieve from the stoicism that someone of her status usually held. "I couldn't agree more," she said, as Integra smiled back at her.
Even in the shadows, there were more to these women that they had previously realized, in themselves and in each other.