This is a continuation of a story, "Life line made of red ribbon" by death-in-the-orchard. She's been one of my two or three favorite writers since I began reading, then writing, Hellsing. "Life line" is one of my favorite stories and I reread it, then this ending showed up in my mind and refused to shut up. With her permission, I made my own "ending" to the story. Please go read hers before reading mine; and if you spot any discrepancies, let me know! I tried to keep the characters and writing style close to the original. -maroongrad
Training the troops had been a waste of his time and theirs. His, because he'd really rather be anywhere else than surrounded by a lot of racketing, odiferous, bumbling humans. Theirs, because his presence unnerved them enough that their aim went from barely-acceptable to amusingly terrible. Seras was a much better trainer, able to show them the abilities of the vampires they'd encounter without sending them into pants-wetting terror. It had been a single bullet, and the tree was nearly dead, half-rotten, and needed to be taken down anyways. The fact that it was bigger around than two grown men could encompass and nearly a rival for the manor in size was irrelevant. Their response had been far out of proportion.
Seras had shooed him away anyways, to the relief of everyone involved. He could legitimately leave without failing to meet Integra's requirement.
Her requirements. His gaze dulled as he went to his chambers and the little black mouse that waited for him.
It had been sleeping, curled up in the nesting box, stomach full, nose tucked, and tail flipped over its face. He almost hesitated to wake it…but…training hadn't taken much mental effort and he'd been turning over the situation in the back of his mind for those few hours. The conclusion was unwelcome but inescapable. No, he wouldn't wake it, not until closer to morning, when he could put his plan into action.
Anderson had slept himself when the camera had shown nothing but bits of shredded paper and the foggy darkness of a black room on a night-vision camera. The demon had left the mouse in his room, but back in the cage rather than in the coffin. Watching it dig about and choose bits of food was neither worth watching nor recording. He'd set his alarm for an hour prior to dawn, England time, hoping to get a glimpse into that coffin and the mystery of the undead horror that dwelled therein.
He'd missed the mouse being picked up but had arrived in time to see, from a mouse's point of view, the vampire settle into its chair. A rush of white, gloves and the shirt, and then the solemn face of the vampire mere inches from the little mouse. A finger lifted to pet the mouse's head, filling the screen with the white cloth…and then withdrew, leaving the solemn, ancient, and tired face of the demon.
"You can't stay." Eyes narrowed, Anderson started recording. What was this about? "She gave you to me, but reclaimed you. She nearly killed you in her room, then ordered me to give her to you to kill." Another gentle finger blocked the screen. "I disobeyed her…but…it's difficult. Had she been more persistent, had Walter not been there, you might have been dead already." The finger returned, and more than a minute went by as it stroked the little creature. "In the kitchen…that she would consider ordering me to eat you…even as a poorly-made joke…No. No. It COULD happen. She's angry that you are here, angry that she's trapped into keeping you, angry that I did not give you to her to destroy already."
The vampire lifted the mouse to its cheek, and Anderson stared in shock as it…cuddled?...the warm and vibrant creature against that cold, dead skin. The camera vibrated as the mouse shivered and shook. Not from the temperature, for it had been shivering already. Terrified, then, of Integra?
"I respect her, I enjoy her company…but…she is a Hellsing. I have had far too much experience with her family to trust her. I worry enough already that she'll be ordered to destroy Seras, and force me to do so myself. Walter is old, and I have had more than enough of a solitary existence. Seras will provide company when his mortality comes to an end. And she is an excellent choice, still so human, unthreatening to Integra, likeable. Were she not, were she independent, solitary, proud…she'd be ash. Even now, she is good company." A red lip lifted to show a sharp tooth as the demon smirked. "And entertaining."
The smile faded. "You have been…amusing. I have enjoyed your presence, even caring for your needs, pest. Seras adores you, Walter has a soft spot for you, I let you sleep in my COFFIN…and…Integra loathes you. To be forced to eat you…now that she's thought of it…or forced to kill you…." The vampire's voice faded to silence as the finger returned to its gentle caresses, and Alexander stared at the screen, pole-axed. Monsters should not have a soft spot, have any sort of humanity left. Killing was a gleeful occupation, one suited for a monster, not an onerous chore. And that it considered itself to be under the control of Integra so that it didn't even consider that it would be able to confuse such a direct order…he'd had no idea that her control was truly that strong.
Alucard didn't doubt it at all.
"The morning shift of staff will be arriving soon. One of them is certain to have a child that will spoil you terribly. You will be safely away from Master, cared for and in a warm home instead of this dungeon." A squeak of protest and sudden red as the mouse leaped from the vampire's hand, burrowing into the coat that had been haphazardly draped over the armrest. The white glove removed it from the darkness again, and the incredibly old, stoic expression returned to the center of the screen. A moment later, thin bars separated the monster from the mouse. It had been returned to the cage it had already escaped once.
"You'll need to stay in here. No biting them, no escaping, no destroying their property. Keep yourself well-behaved and you'll have a good home. Food, comfort, affection…more suited to you than my own home." A protesting, final squeak. "I'd keep you if I could. But the risk is too great." The vampire's voice had changed with that last sentence, losing depth and timbre and fading to that of a…child? And yes…Anderson choked on his sip of coffee as the screen filled with the face of a little girl, long dark looping curls of hair and the edges of a lacy, pretty dress barely visible on the edges of his screen. Only those eyes, with the weight of the years huddled behind them, revealed the monster.
The room swung about wildly as the vampire lifted the cage and turned to the wall.
- - -
"Ma'am?" The soft, hesitant voice pulled the maid's attention from the bannister she was polishing. The shy little girl in the shadow of the stairs kept her attention. Not wanting to spook the child, the maid put down her cloths and crouched to talk with the diminutive girl.
"Yes?" Gentle and encouraging, and a bit of curiousity, for why was the child here? Staff did not bring their children to work, this was no daycare. Perhaps a soldier's child? She hadn't heard of such, but she had so little interaction with those men that they could be hiding seven wives and a dozen children in their barracks without her knowing.
"Um, do you…have…a child?" Hesitant, the poor little one really was shy.
"No, I'm not a mum. Are you lonely?" Looking for a playmate, perhaps? The wrong question to ask, for the girl went entirely still for a moment, and the look in the eyes was far too ancient, entirely wrong for such a child to possess. But before the maid could decide if she'd really seen that or not, the girl was continuing.
"Its…I have a pet and I can't keep it. I was hoping to find someone with a child, one who would take good care of it." And the child held out an antique delicate wire cage, with a MOUSE! Mouse! In it! In front of her! And before she could respond, the little girl had continued. "He's very sweet, and gentle, and cute, and…he needs a GOOD home. Where he's safe."
By the time the child had finished speaking, the little mouse was sitting up to look at her, and…it WAS cute. Not the little beady-eyed monster she'd first thought it to be, like every other one of the disgusting creatures…but…cute. Fluffy and black, more like a little kitten than a rodent. Roly-poly, and that silly red bow…it really was cute, even though it was a mouse. And not threatening, really, not disgusting. She had expected one of those quick, slick, vile wild mice and instead this little puffball was busy cleaning its face.
No, she'd still never want it in her house. But perhaps another maid or butler had a child that would? In fact, Esther was just a few rooms down the hall and had a little five year old girl herself. And…she was nearly done with the bannister and could take the little on right to Esther.
"Wait a moment for me to finish my duties, and then I'll see if I can help you find a good home for your mouse."
Esther's little girl was far too young for a mouse, Esther insisted on it. But she recommended Brian. Brian had both a daughter and a son that had taken care of a gerbil for four years, and had been pestering him for a new pet when theirs had passed on of old age. He was positively delighted to take the little fluffball, and when he left to his lunch, he had the new pet wrapped carefully in his coat, cage and all, against the chill breeze outside.
The little girl had paused him briefly to reach into the cage and unwrap the little red ribbon from the mouse. "To remember him." the little girl said simply, before vanishing into the dark of the house well away from the front door and the happy anticipatory bustle of people heading for lunch and one home to his delighted children.
Anderson had watched with rapt attention as the monster manipulated the people around it. Obscene, that it would take the appearance of such a delicate and sweet child around that core of Hell-bound demon. But…interesting. No malice, no threat, nothing at all to the humans, just a human child in behavior.
And then it went back inside and the camera showed the wall suddenly shrinking. No, the vampire had returned to his normal size and was walking down the hallways. The camera swung about dizzily, no longer held steady out of respect for the little beast it had been attached to. Swirling blackness, light, swirling blackness, and then the monster was back in its own dimly-lit lair. The ribbon spun about, finally showing the entire room, and Alexander was taken aback at its barrenness. Enormous, yes…but…barren. Coffin, chair, table. Not a bookcase nor a book, not a rug on the floor, certainly no television or radio, no electric lights, only an outdated, though elegant, candelabrum.
A lair, absolutely a lair, and so far removed from the childish comfort of the other vampire's residence. Nothing human there. The camera swung back to show the expressionless mask of the vampire, seated in its chair, staring at the ribbon. Long moments passed, the cup of tea at Anderson's elbow cooling from hot to tepid as he watched the tableau. Finally, the beast rose, the camera once again swinging about as the room was crossed. An expanse of red, then grey stone, then red again as the camera twisted on the ribbon near a wall. A grating, grinding noise, then…a box? An old cigar box, held together with bits of scrap wire around the outside. Ready to fall apart, ancient, was the impression Anderson had and then…blackness. Not pure blackness, but a few items, ones he had but a brief moment to recognize. A child's jack? A locket on a tarnished chain? Nothing, then, but blackness, and then the rough sound of the box sliding on a gritty surface, then a soft thump and the grinding noise of the stone.
The vampire had a little hiding-place in its quarters? Did the Hellsings have any idea? He thought not.
Alucard stared at the featureless block. So much like all the other stones in the wall, he'd noticed it a century ago, see the little crack across the top and the side. It had taken weeks of effort, slightly tilting and rocking it, to get it out of its home. Most of the stones in the wall were compressed by the weight, held stolidly in place. Shoddy workmanship or settling walls, he didn't know, but this stone hadn't been. Worked loose, then the soil behind carefully scooped out, and he had a place to put the few treasures and mementos he possessed. Only a few items of real value…a locket with Mina's and Jonathan's pictures that she was certain she'd lost somewhere. She had…and he had found it. Lucy's ring, rolled behind her coffin when she was turned to dust, waiting there for a decade-plus until he'd had the chance to see it and take it. The "outing" had been meant as a threat and reminder; Master had no idea that it had resulted in this discovery. Gold didn't decay; anything else would have degraded over the years in the muck and decaying leaves. And so he had his only reminder of Lucy. A toy, from a child that had brightened his evening with pure delight at the discovery of a grownup willing to play with him during a dull, boring, and lonely visit. A handful of similar random items, stored in a cigar box given to him to "dispose of" by Arthur, but with no additional directions.
And now that block hid behind it one other treasure; something warm, and vibrant, and alive, that had trusted him and that he'd had, briefly, the care of. It was no wolf, not even a fierce ferret…but it had known who he was and been happy in his presence from the beginning. Wanted to be with him, chosen to be with him, and with its sheer quivering warm vitality, had awoken that spark in him which had too regularly been snuffed out.
Not this time. He missed its presence but did not need to mourn it. He only hoped that he wouldn't be punished too severely for removing the mouse that Integra and Walter had planned to keep. Keep as long as it was useful and he was obedient…if that long. Settling into his chair, he spent the rest of the day in restless dreams of "what if?", regularly punctuated by the smile of his silly fledgling or the soft fluffy of the mouse.
"It's gone."
"GONE?" Relief warred with irritation in her voice. Relief that the mouse she loathed was gone, irritation that the vampire had done something with the mouse when she'd finally been convinced to keep it. Wait… Gone? "Gone WHERE, Walter? Not gone loose in the house, I'd hope!" And she really, really did not want to find that little disgusting monster in her bedroom again.
"Just…gone. He said it is off the estate, he doesn't know where, and no longer a concern of ours. He didn't kill it; he's fond of it. I did verify that, as far as he knows, it is alive…but it's gone." Walter moved to uncover the warm roast swimming in its bed of potatoes, a lightly-spiced mixed of vegetables piled beside it. The meal was appetizing, or would have been if there hadn't been a mouse in an unknown location.
"What DID that monster say?" Integra eyed the meal with the suspicion and disgust currently directed at the undead resident in her home and the missing rodent.
"The monster," said a disembodied voice, followed by a hand, face, and body materializing through the wall. Great, just what she needed to finish spoiling her supper. "said that the mouse was removed from the estate, gone permanently, and no longer an issue for you." The black head, eyes hidden behind the gleaming glasses and face still as a corpse's, nodded gracefully to her and then began to withdraw through the wall.
"Wait." It stopped, half in and half out of the wall, nothing changing but still conveying the impression that it did so to humor her and her womanly vapors. Eyes narrowed, she glared at him. "Why is it gone, vampire? You knew we planned to keep it."
A touch of surprise in the voice that answered her, faint but there. "It amused me at first, but it is a mouse. I am a vampire. The entertainment factor only extends so far in a mouse. And you won't let me have a human." A leer at her snort of disdain. "You didn't want it here, it upset you. I didn't want to listen to Seras complain that I had killed it. So I gave it a chance. It has left the estate, it won't be back, and I don't know where it is." A smirk. "I could find out, if you are so anxious to have it back. Seras would be delighted."
"No, no, it can stay gone." A shiver, then a sip of the near-scalding hot tea. "And so can you. I'd like to eat my meal in peace, without your scintillating conversation." A pointy grin in response, then the vampire finished his travel through the wall and away from her.
Walter collected his tray and left her to eat, wondering himself. Alucard had seemed far too fond of the little mouse to have disposed of it so casually. But, he was a monster. And Walter gave it no more thought, unlike the priest who thought of the mouse, the monster, its offspring, and the situation far too often. The camera showed nothing but blackness and silence as the battery ran down; it was rated for three days and after that, there was no more information on Hellsing forthcoming. Only blackness, and silence, and unwelcome insight into the existence of his foe.