"This cannot be how it ends..." She whispered to the dark cavernous room in which she sat. Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing half heartedly poked at the steak dinner that had been brought to her. Finally she stood up and began pacing the room. "After all these years... how could it end like this?" She asked again, as she tried to slip her hands into her pockets, only to be painfully reminded of her position by the handcuffs which bound her even in the cell. True, it was an impressive cell, full of creature comforts, and a simulacrum of the decor that an aristocrat such as herself would be accustomed to, but there was no denying the damp stone of the walls, and room's infuriating lack of even a single window.
To say that Integra was angry would be false. "Angry" is too weak of a word. Even "furious" fell short. Integra was held captive in the grip of a cold smoldering rage so painful there was no word of it. Her chest ached from the agony of her betrayal. Unconsciously, her right hand rose up, and traced the line of the scar where she had slit her own throat to escape demonic possession less than a month before. She winced reflexively as the rough texture of her immaculate white gloves passed over the tender flesh. Her hand dropped then, to the gold cross fastened at the knot of her tie, and she considered screaming at the stony Queen's Guards who were surely standing at attention outside her cell. She had been betrayed... and condemned by a higher betrayal. The Queen had promised that "her Judas would be punished," and yet... She was the one rotting in a dank cell somewhere deep beneath what remained of the Tower of London.
The Urge to cry out her innocence to the guards, and beg for mercy was almost overwhelming, and surely a lesser being would have broken already, but she was Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, the commander of the Hellsing Organization, and a member of the Round Table, the secret council dedicated to protecting England and her majesty. Stifling her rage, she paused as she passed the enormous black iron door. In fact, she nearly spit at it, but such behavior was unbecoming of the Hellsing heir. Repressing the desire to sink to the level of the scum responsible for her fall from grace, Integra brushed an errant lock of her long platinum hair from her face, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Not her bed mind you, HER bed was in HER room in the great manor house of the Hellsing estate, this bed, though considerably more opulent than any prison cot, was none the less a prison cot.
From where she sat, she looked over the cell once again, though nothing had changed. Finally, the weariness of her situation sunk in, and she closed her ice blue eyes, allowing her world to sink into absolute darkness. Slowly, as her eye lids dropped, like the curtains at the close of the play that was her life, she felt another presence in the dark. Without sight, or sound, she sensed it. Something malevolent, ancient and ferocious. A malicious grinning Death. It was a presence she could hardly mistake. She knew it all to well.
"Alucard..." She whispered, opening her eyes once again. The ages old vampire flashed her his infamous sharp toothed smile, and picked up her untouched glass of wine as he approached her. He studied her for a second, blood red eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.
"It's your choice." He said simply as he crushed the glass in his hand. Dark blood, and deep red wine, indistinguishable from each other flowed from Alucard's outstretched fist, and stained his white glove. She allowed herself a slight grin as she looked up at her pet vampire. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Images flashed through her mind.
"Yes." She said softly.
"Yes, what?" Alucard asked, his insane grin widening with his glee at Integra's discomfort. He felt like he was holding a bowl of food just out of a dog's reach, and making the animal perform a trick before being fed.
"You know what I mean." Integra said with an irritated growl.
"This is not a matter to be taken lightly. It must be your own words. Your own free will. Your choice." The vampire replied, as his grin widened yet again. She knew he was enjoying making her squirm (even if it was merely a mental squirm).
"The answer is yes, I want you to drink my blood." She said in as commanding a voice as she could muster. She knew that her answer went against everything she had ever stood for, but somehow... somehow, a glimmer of doubt had seeded itself in her mind when the Hellsing Organization had first begun to unravel. Soon, it became a question which had plagued her mind, and Alucard knew it. The vampire had simply waited until the rest of the world had eroded her will. She burned shame, as she spoke those fateful words, and almost as if to mock her, the vampire merely continued to smile.
"As you wish... my master." Alucard said in hushed tones as he grabbed Integra, and lifted her up, and cradled her close. Her frailty, and the slightness of her frame were instantly apparent as his hands grasped her through the oversized forest green suit she wore. Tenderly, Alucard brushed his fangs across her neck. A shiver shot up Integra's spine. Her head swam, and the world became suddenly very surreal. "One last time. Are you sure?" He asked as the maniacal grin fell from his face.
"Yes... Make me like you..." She whispered. The vampire smirked slightly, and then gently pressed his fangs into her neck. Rich crimson blood welled up, and without the slightest hesitation, he sealed his lips around the wound. Her veins burned like molten silver, and her vision dimmed. All that existed in her world was the mixed ecstasy and agony in her neck which throbbed throughout her body, and the booming thump of her heart which echoed in her ears. An eternity passed, and as her life slowly poured out of her body, time ceased to exist. She felt him withdraw his fangs, and she tried to open her eyes, but the world was a haze of red. The drumming was beginning to slow, and Integra could not feel more content. The another sound invaded the sensory starved world of her mind.
"Drink." Commanded a deep booming voice. "Almost like the voice of God," she thought, "only darker..." Somewhere deep in the farthest reaches of her mind, she knew the voice was Alucard's and what her actions would entail, but she never questioned it. Through a supreme act of will, she raised her head, and felt the first drops of warm blood splash against her lips. She opened her mouth, and the salty metallic tasting liquid splashed against her tongue. The drips became a stream, and her vision began to clear, she saw Alucard leaning over her, his own wrist slashed, and pouring blood into her mouth. She greedily gulped the sweet elixir, and slowly, the room came alive in smells. The slightly sickening smell of the forgotten steak on the table, the scent of the vampire who held her. She could smell the sweat and anxiety of the guards outside the cell. Her vision pierced even the darkest shadows of the room. She could hear hearts beating, pumping more glorious blood throughout the tower. A slight twinge of pain pulsed in her jaw as her teeth moved, and adjusted to their new configuration. The fangs of a predator. As her senses began to return, and expand, her mind raced. She knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt, she had crossed over, and become... one of them.
Slowly, as her mind came back to her, she realized that the flow of blood had stopped, and Alucard had laid her back down on the bed. Still woozy, and reeling from the experience, she sat up, and truly looked for the first time through vampire eyes. Refusing to bow to any weakness, she threw her feet over the side of the bed, and stood up, for the slightest second, she feared she would fall, but caught herself on the bed frame. With the confident stride of the Hellsing heir, she strode over to the mirror, snapping her handcuffs as she walked, and looked upon herself for the first time, as a vampire. Her skin was even more pale than before, but most striking of all, her eyes were now a deep crimson red. Her gaze moved down to her tie and the collar of her shirt which hung loose exposing her scared neck, Alucard's twin puncture wounds. She snorted with disgust at the blood stained collar, as her hand reached out to turn on the faucet and rinse the garment clean. "But... what a waste it would be..." She found herself thinking. Before she even realized it, Integra found herself licking the blood from her own collar. Alucard sat at the table, his face fixed with an emotionless expression while he waited for Integra to finish preening. Finally just as she was buttoning her collar back up, Alucard stood.
"We're leaving." The vampire said simply. Integra turned in shock. This was not a request, or even a suggestion. It was a command.
"What?" She questioned meekly. Always Alucard had served her loyally, it was beyond her reasoning why Alucard would suddenly try to command her.
"I said we are leaving. Now." Alucard said sharply. Integra opened her mouth to berate him, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Yes." She finally uttered as Alucard kicked the massive wrought iron door down, stunning the royal guards. Finally, the guards reacted, and pointed their ceremonial spears at him. Alucard smiled wickedly, and drew his massive silver handcannon, the Casull from under his coat and leveled it on the first guard.
"Stop! Alucard!" Integra screamed in shock. Alucard had always been unpredictable, and held a great deal of contempt for most humans, but she had never seen him threaten an innocent bystander before. "Never question me..." Alucard growled as his finger tightened on the trigger. "After all, who are you to command me?" The vampire asked evilly as he grinned even wider.
Integra stood speechless for a moment. "Who am I?" She asked rhetorically in shock. "I am Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, of the Hellsi..." She began but Alucard cut her off.
"You are a vampire. A true vampire should know better than to question her master." Alucard stated.
"Master? But I am... I was... Master?" Integra asked. Her mind whirled. She was the master wasn't she? "I hunt vampires..." She thought to herself. Her mind clouded, she felt dizzy. "How could I hunt vampires, I am a vampire..." A dull pain ached in the back of her head. "Of course... and Master Alucard made me... how could I imagine I was the master?" She asked herself. Somewhere deep the most primal roots of her mind, she knew this didn't sound right, and yet it was all true. But hadn't she once been the master? Her mind ached. "Is the master controlling my mind?" She wondered. "No of course not... why would the master control my mind? He's the master, I always obey the master..."
"Humans are our prey Integra." Alucard said. The name sparked memory, a violent spasm of pain in her head, and her mind cleared.
"How did you...? why did you...?" She gasped as the mist parted and she remembered who she was and all the events which had come to pass. Alucard looked at Integra through his red-orange sunglasses. The guards quivered with fear. He knew they wouldn't dare move with his gun still aimed upon them.
"Revenge. Isn't it obvious?" The vampire chuckled.
"For..." Integra began, but again the master vampire finished her sentence.
"For my agonizing capture, and twenty year imprisonment. What did you think little girl?" As Alucard's words sunk in, Integra puzzled, her head swam with nameless pain. Her mind flashed over every conversation she had ever had with the monster.
"If all you wanted was revenge... When I first awoke you... Why didn't you just kill my uncle, and me both and have been done with it...?"
"Twenty years is far to long for simply death to compensate... Only the complete and total eradication of Hellsing in the most humiliating way possible could serve as penance."
"Then you... you arranged..." She stuttered.
"I arranged nothing. All I had to do was wait. Eternity forces one to learn patience. You unwittingly engineered your own destruction, but only I could make the fall complete." The vampire stopped his speech to cackle evilly. "Though Hellsing fell, and all it's soldiers lay dead, you my dearest Integra would have passed on in that tomb of a cell as a martyr for the crown... But now you are a traitor of the most despicable kind. Traitor to your Queen, your country, your race, and your own blood. And best of all, you are now slave to me... the vampire you sought to control as an obedient servant, a loyal lapdog. Now at last you must realize that sometimes, the dog bites back..."
The pain in Integra's head shrieked with a fever pitch her mind whirled, Alucard's words rang true... She had been fooled. She had been used. The pain continued to escalated, and then suddenly everything... slipped. The pain disappeared.
"Of course... master." She said. Her mind felt numb, and vaguely clouded, like there was something she was forgetting something perched just on the edge of her mind.
"What were you saying master?"
"I was explaining that humans are our prey."
"Of course, master."
"Come, Sirrah... we must feed..."
"No!" Integra screamed, reeling from the nightmare paths her thoughts had wandered. Alucard stood motionless with the wine from the shattered glass still dripping from his hand.
"No what?" The vampire asked. Integra clutched her throat, the vision had been all too real.
"I see your mind, vampire!" Integra hissed. "You'll not control me..."
"All I said was, it's your choice. And it still is."
"Alucard, we are leaving." She instructed.
"And how do you presume to do that, master?" Alucard asked, dropping the shattered remains of the wine glass and casually dropping into the vacant chair by the table. "Should I kick down the door and kill the guards?" He asked, grinning evilly, while malicious glee flashed in his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Or should I politely ask them if we can go for a walk?"
"If there is one thing that eternity has shown me, 'tis that the strong must prey upon the weak to survive." Integra considered his words... She saw herself an outlaw, forever exiled from her home. A traitor to the crown. As if to answer her thoughts the vampire spoke again.
"It needn't be that way. I see another path. A bloody road, but at the end is Queen Integra I... But it's your choice.
"Those are not the only options." She said flatly.
"I suppose you could rot in this cell... Or tunnel your way out... Perhaps I could cause some mayhem, and force the Queen to reinstate Hellsing... I frankly, have no preference. All the options are tantalizingly interesting in one way or another, whatever you do, it always seems to be most entertaining... So, as I said. It's your choice." Integra tugged at her bonds, then looked up at her vampire.
"There is only one choice..."
To say that Integra was angry would be false. "Angry" is too weak of a word. Even "furious" fell short. Integra was held captive in the grip of a cold smoldering rage so painful there was no word of it. Her chest ached from the agony of her betrayal. Unconsciously, her right hand rose up, and traced the line of the scar where she had slit her own throat to escape demonic possession less than a month before. She winced reflexively as the rough texture of her immaculate white gloves passed over the tender flesh. Her hand dropped then, to the gold cross fastened at the knot of her tie, and she considered screaming at the stony Queen's Guards who were surely standing at attention outside her cell. She had been betrayed... and condemned by a higher betrayal. The Queen had promised that "her Judas would be punished," and yet... She was the one rotting in a dank cell somewhere deep beneath what remained of the Tower of London.
The Urge to cry out her innocence to the guards, and beg for mercy was almost overwhelming, and surely a lesser being would have broken already, but she was Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, the commander of the Hellsing Organization, and a member of the Round Table, the secret council dedicated to protecting England and her majesty. Stifling her rage, she paused as she passed the enormous black iron door. In fact, she nearly spit at it, but such behavior was unbecoming of the Hellsing heir. Repressing the desire to sink to the level of the scum responsible for her fall from grace, Integra brushed an errant lock of her long platinum hair from her face, and sat down on the edge of the bed. Not her bed mind you, HER bed was in HER room in the great manor house of the Hellsing estate, this bed, though considerably more opulent than any prison cot, was none the less a prison cot.
From where she sat, she looked over the cell once again, though nothing had changed. Finally, the weariness of her situation sunk in, and she closed her ice blue eyes, allowing her world to sink into absolute darkness. Slowly, as her eye lids dropped, like the curtains at the close of the play that was her life, she felt another presence in the dark. Without sight, or sound, she sensed it. Something malevolent, ancient and ferocious. A malicious grinning Death. It was a presence she could hardly mistake. She knew it all to well.
"Alucard..." She whispered, opening her eyes once again. The ages old vampire flashed her his infamous sharp toothed smile, and picked up her untouched glass of wine as he approached her. He studied her for a second, blood red eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.
"It's your choice." He said simply as he crushed the glass in his hand. Dark blood, and deep red wine, indistinguishable from each other flowed from Alucard's outstretched fist, and stained his white glove. She allowed herself a slight grin as she looked up at her pet vampire. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Images flashed through her mind.
"Yes." She said softly.
"Yes, what?" Alucard asked, his insane grin widening with his glee at Integra's discomfort. He felt like he was holding a bowl of food just out of a dog's reach, and making the animal perform a trick before being fed.
"You know what I mean." Integra said with an irritated growl.
"This is not a matter to be taken lightly. It must be your own words. Your own free will. Your choice." The vampire replied, as his grin widened yet again. She knew he was enjoying making her squirm (even if it was merely a mental squirm).
"The answer is yes, I want you to drink my blood." She said in as commanding a voice as she could muster. She knew that her answer went against everything she had ever stood for, but somehow... somehow, a glimmer of doubt had seeded itself in her mind when the Hellsing Organization had first begun to unravel. Soon, it became a question which had plagued her mind, and Alucard knew it. The vampire had simply waited until the rest of the world had eroded her will. She burned shame, as she spoke those fateful words, and almost as if to mock her, the vampire merely continued to smile.
"As you wish... my master." Alucard said in hushed tones as he grabbed Integra, and lifted her up, and cradled her close. Her frailty, and the slightness of her frame were instantly apparent as his hands grasped her through the oversized forest green suit she wore. Tenderly, Alucard brushed his fangs across her neck. A shiver shot up Integra's spine. Her head swam, and the world became suddenly very surreal. "One last time. Are you sure?" He asked as the maniacal grin fell from his face.
"Yes... Make me like you..." She whispered. The vampire smirked slightly, and then gently pressed his fangs into her neck. Rich crimson blood welled up, and without the slightest hesitation, he sealed his lips around the wound. Her veins burned like molten silver, and her vision dimmed. All that existed in her world was the mixed ecstasy and agony in her neck which throbbed throughout her body, and the booming thump of her heart which echoed in her ears. An eternity passed, and as her life slowly poured out of her body, time ceased to exist. She felt him withdraw his fangs, and she tried to open her eyes, but the world was a haze of red. The drumming was beginning to slow, and Integra could not feel more content. The another sound invaded the sensory starved world of her mind.
"Drink." Commanded a deep booming voice. "Almost like the voice of God," she thought, "only darker..." Somewhere deep in the farthest reaches of her mind, she knew the voice was Alucard's and what her actions would entail, but she never questioned it. Through a supreme act of will, she raised her head, and felt the first drops of warm blood splash against her lips. She opened her mouth, and the salty metallic tasting liquid splashed against her tongue. The drips became a stream, and her vision began to clear, she saw Alucard leaning over her, his own wrist slashed, and pouring blood into her mouth. She greedily gulped the sweet elixir, and slowly, the room came alive in smells. The slightly sickening smell of the forgotten steak on the table, the scent of the vampire who held her. She could smell the sweat and anxiety of the guards outside the cell. Her vision pierced even the darkest shadows of the room. She could hear hearts beating, pumping more glorious blood throughout the tower. A slight twinge of pain pulsed in her jaw as her teeth moved, and adjusted to their new configuration. The fangs of a predator. As her senses began to return, and expand, her mind raced. She knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt, she had crossed over, and become... one of them.
Slowly, as her mind came back to her, she realized that the flow of blood had stopped, and Alucard had laid her back down on the bed. Still woozy, and reeling from the experience, she sat up, and truly looked for the first time through vampire eyes. Refusing to bow to any weakness, she threw her feet over the side of the bed, and stood up, for the slightest second, she feared she would fall, but caught herself on the bed frame. With the confident stride of the Hellsing heir, she strode over to the mirror, snapping her handcuffs as she walked, and looked upon herself for the first time, as a vampire. Her skin was even more pale than before, but most striking of all, her eyes were now a deep crimson red. Her gaze moved down to her tie and the collar of her shirt which hung loose exposing her scared neck, Alucard's twin puncture wounds. She snorted with disgust at the blood stained collar, as her hand reached out to turn on the faucet and rinse the garment clean. "But... what a waste it would be..." She found herself thinking. Before she even realized it, Integra found herself licking the blood from her own collar. Alucard sat at the table, his face fixed with an emotionless expression while he waited for Integra to finish preening. Finally just as she was buttoning her collar back up, Alucard stood.
"We're leaving." The vampire said simply. Integra turned in shock. This was not a request, or even a suggestion. It was a command.
"What?" She questioned meekly. Always Alucard had served her loyally, it was beyond her reasoning why Alucard would suddenly try to command her.
"I said we are leaving. Now." Alucard said sharply. Integra opened her mouth to berate him, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Yes." She finally uttered as Alucard kicked the massive wrought iron door down, stunning the royal guards. Finally, the guards reacted, and pointed their ceremonial spears at him. Alucard smiled wickedly, and drew his massive silver handcannon, the Casull from under his coat and leveled it on the first guard.
"Stop! Alucard!" Integra screamed in shock. Alucard had always been unpredictable, and held a great deal of contempt for most humans, but she had never seen him threaten an innocent bystander before. "Never question me..." Alucard growled as his finger tightened on the trigger. "After all, who are you to command me?" The vampire asked evilly as he grinned even wider.
Integra stood speechless for a moment. "Who am I?" She asked rhetorically in shock. "I am Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing, of the Hellsi..." She began but Alucard cut her off.
"You are a vampire. A true vampire should know better than to question her master." Alucard stated.
"Master? But I am... I was... Master?" Integra asked. Her mind whirled. She was the master wasn't she? "I hunt vampires..." She thought to herself. Her mind clouded, she felt dizzy. "How could I hunt vampires, I am a vampire..." A dull pain ached in the back of her head. "Of course... and Master Alucard made me... how could I imagine I was the master?" She asked herself. Somewhere deep the most primal roots of her mind, she knew this didn't sound right, and yet it was all true. But hadn't she once been the master? Her mind ached. "Is the master controlling my mind?" She wondered. "No of course not... why would the master control my mind? He's the master, I always obey the master..."
"Humans are our prey Integra." Alucard said. The name sparked memory, a violent spasm of pain in her head, and her mind cleared.
"How did you...? why did you...?" She gasped as the mist parted and she remembered who she was and all the events which had come to pass. Alucard looked at Integra through his red-orange sunglasses. The guards quivered with fear. He knew they wouldn't dare move with his gun still aimed upon them.
"Revenge. Isn't it obvious?" The vampire chuckled.
"For..." Integra began, but again the master vampire finished her sentence.
"For my agonizing capture, and twenty year imprisonment. What did you think little girl?" As Alucard's words sunk in, Integra puzzled, her head swam with nameless pain. Her mind flashed over every conversation she had ever had with the monster.
"If all you wanted was revenge... When I first awoke you... Why didn't you just kill my uncle, and me both and have been done with it...?"
"Twenty years is far to long for simply death to compensate... Only the complete and total eradication of Hellsing in the most humiliating way possible could serve as penance."
"Then you... you arranged..." She stuttered.
"I arranged nothing. All I had to do was wait. Eternity forces one to learn patience. You unwittingly engineered your own destruction, but only I could make the fall complete." The vampire stopped his speech to cackle evilly. "Though Hellsing fell, and all it's soldiers lay dead, you my dearest Integra would have passed on in that tomb of a cell as a martyr for the crown... But now you are a traitor of the most despicable kind. Traitor to your Queen, your country, your race, and your own blood. And best of all, you are now slave to me... the vampire you sought to control as an obedient servant, a loyal lapdog. Now at last you must realize that sometimes, the dog bites back..."
The pain in Integra's head shrieked with a fever pitch her mind whirled, Alucard's words rang true... She had been fooled. She had been used. The pain continued to escalated, and then suddenly everything... slipped. The pain disappeared.
"Of course... master." She said. Her mind felt numb, and vaguely clouded, like there was something she was forgetting something perched just on the edge of her mind.
"What were you saying master?"
"I was explaining that humans are our prey."
"Of course, master."
"Come, Sirrah... we must feed..."
"No!" Integra screamed, reeling from the nightmare paths her thoughts had wandered. Alucard stood motionless with the wine from the shattered glass still dripping from his hand.
"No what?" The vampire asked. Integra clutched her throat, the vision had been all too real.
"I see your mind, vampire!" Integra hissed. "You'll not control me..."
"All I said was, it's your choice. And it still is."
"Alucard, we are leaving." She instructed.
"And how do you presume to do that, master?" Alucard asked, dropping the shattered remains of the wine glass and casually dropping into the vacant chair by the table. "Should I kick down the door and kill the guards?" He asked, grinning evilly, while malicious glee flashed in his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Or should I politely ask them if we can go for a walk?"
"If there is one thing that eternity has shown me, 'tis that the strong must prey upon the weak to survive." Integra considered his words... She saw herself an outlaw, forever exiled from her home. A traitor to the crown. As if to answer her thoughts the vampire spoke again.
"It needn't be that way. I see another path. A bloody road, but at the end is Queen Integra I... But it's your choice.
"Those are not the only options." She said flatly.
"I suppose you could rot in this cell... Or tunnel your way out... Perhaps I could cause some mayhem, and force the Queen to reinstate Hellsing... I frankly, have no preference. All the options are tantalizingly interesting in one way or another, whatever you do, it always seems to be most entertaining... So, as I said. It's your choice." Integra tugged at her bonds, then looked up at her vampire.
"There is only one choice..."