Shadows Taller Than Our Souls
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hellsing (just remember that as you read each chapter…), I also do not own the lyrics posted throughout the chapters. I will say where I got the lyrics from after each chapter…
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Shadows Taller Than Our Soul
Ch 1
Could a body close the mind out? Stitch a seam across the eye? If you can be good, you'll live forever, if you're bad, you'll die when you die.
"It is apparent that what we are dealing with here cannot be taken lightly. We must find help from every possible place that we can."
"Yes Sir Integra, but we have already accepted the help of the Iscariot Organization, and we have the Wild Geese on our side. What else can we possibly do?" the butler asked as he lit his master's cigar.
"I wonder…I know of a girl who has been fascinated with vampires and werewolves all of her life. I'm sure she will be against working with us at first, but after some convincing, perhaps she will be more willing to be of assistance." Her eyes drifted over the greenery outside of her window. "My goal is to have her work with you on new weapons and techniques for battle."
"Techniques, Sir?" Walter asked.
"Yes Walter, techniques." Integra said.
"Is she a vampire then?"
"No. She's a dancer. She has the grace and balance necessary for survival in battle. She's also a bit headstrong and touchy about things. Hopefully she will work well with you, but I think if she gets in one of her moods you can handle her just fine."
"Sir Integra?"
"Yes, Walter?"
"Could you clarify who she is?"
"Of course I can clarify for you. Do you recall ten years ago, when my father passed away and my Uncle Richard tried to kill me?"
"Yes Sir Integra, but I don't see how this has anything to do with a dancer girl with a bad attitude…Unless your uncle happened to enjoy dancing as well as killing rampages." A small smirk came across the young woman's face.
"Funny you should say that really…She is related to my uncle. She is his daughter, Vivian Hellsing." The butler's face went pale, and he hoped that his employer did not notice. Integra continued to look out the window and made no acknowledgement for his silence. "I intend to go to her house and talk to her tomorrow morning. I would send Alucard and Seras, but I don't think she would be too kind to them upon their first meeting, especially in her home. What do you think Walter?"
"If you believe it to be a good idea, then you should go with it. I remember her quite well, as well as I can since I was there for her birth and up until Richard's rampage. Her mother went into labor here at Hellsing, and I helped with the delivery. It wasn't too long after you were born as I recall."
"You are correct. We grew up close to each other until the day that her father tried to kill me, and then I killed him. She and her mother moved far away because they were so ashamed of what happened."
"Yes, yes, I recall the day they moved quite well. Mrs. Hellsing seemed quite upset."
"Yes, and a few years later, she died."
"Y-yes, I remember." There was shakiness in his voice that went unnoticed.
"I haven't talked to Vivian since she left. Hopefully she will be kind."
A chill passed into the room and the figure of a man appeared through the wall. Once he was fully in the room, he looked between the butler and his master.
"Is there anything you need me to do, my master?"
"Alucard, tomorrow I am going to try and recruit my cousin to join Hellsing. You and the police girl might want to steer clear of her until she gets settled in, if she joins us."
"Whatever you ask of me, I shall do for you," he replied and bowed.
)(
23 years previous…
Some people call it a one night stand, but we can call it paradise
There was a knock on her door. She didn't move. She hadn't moved from her bed in over twenty-four hours. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she didn't want to face the world in her current state. Someone knocked again. She hoped that if she ignored the knocking it would go away. Instead, the door cracked open, letting in a stream of light.
"Mrs. Hellsing, are you alright?" a familiar voice asked.
"I don't know, Walter," she replied. Her voice was weak and shaky. She heard the door close and felt someone sit down on the bed next to her.
"Evelyn, what has he done to you?" Walter asked quietly, moving a strand of hair off of her face. "If Richard is being this way to you, then you must leave him."
"It isn't that easy, Walter," Evelyn replied. "It never is. My mother arranged this marriage so I'd be financially sound. My mother was disowned because she was pregnant with me before marriage. If my father's family hadn't taken her in we would have been poor, so she wanted to stop anything bad from happening to me before it happened. Also, my father's side of the family is closely tied to the Hellsings and they wanted a connection between the two families." Evelyn looked up at Walter. "If I leave, it would be an insult to the Hellsings from the Harkers, and I can't start a war right now."
"Evelyn, ignore your family's pride for your safety if nothing else!" Walter told her. He helped her sit up in the bed. "Why is he doing this to you?" he asked her. "He's going to kill you at this rate."
"I believe it's for multiple reasons," she explained. "He becomes enraged at his brother and other people who work here and hides it from them. Then he unleashes it tenfold on me at night. He's also furious that I have not given birth to a child. I'm almost scared to. Who knows what a child of his would have to endure." Evelyn rested her head on the butler's chest. "I don't know what I should do. I haven't heard him since our evening the other night."
"That's because he is on duty in France for a week. He won't be back till next Thursday."
A smile came over her face. Walter looked down at the woman resting on top of him. He knew she didn't deserve what Richard was doing to her. He wanted to do anything and everything to protect her.
"Thank you, Walter, for always being here for me," Evelyn told him.
"I will always be here for you." Walter hugged her. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been married?"
"It will be eleven years this December. The first five years were nice, but the last five years have been hell."
"It's hard to believe we have known each other for over ten years," Walter replied.
"Yes, I know. That's another reason why I can't leave Hellsing; I'd miss you too much."
"Evelyn! Don't say that. I'd rather you move out and be happy and let me come and visit you than have you stuck here with Richard." He kissed her on the forehead and she moved closer to him. Their eyes met. It seemed there was a new tension between them. Walter closed his eyes and kissed her on the lips on impulse. He pulled away a second later, shocked by his own actions.
"Mrs. Hellsing, I'm terribly sorry," Walter told her.
"It's alright," Evelyn comforted him and in return kissed him back.
"But Evelyn, you're married, not to mention that I'm quite a bit older than you."
"Walter, after all the harm that he has done to me, do you think that I care about him?" Evelyn asked and kissed him again. This time Walter pulled her in closer and began kissing her back. The evening continued, and in the earliest hours of the morning, Walter went back to his room so as not to cause suspicion. He did not regret the evening, but he hoped no repercussions would arise in the future. Evelyn was both proud and ashamed of what she did and she swore to speak of it to no one else.
)(
After Sir Integra left the mansion, Walter went to Vivian's old room and began to clean it up. The room had been used as a guest room in the past, but it had mostly been forgotten. He began to dust and rearrange some of the furniture, hoping to take his mind off of the memories of before. He wondered if it was time to finally come forward about his actions with Mrs. Evelyn Hellsing on that evening so long ago.
Changes fill my time…that's alright with me. In the midst I think of you and how it used to be
She walked up the steps to the huge house and rang the doorbell. Integra was impressed at the grandeur of the house. She was also enjoying her freedom from her bodyguards for once. The door cracked open and her cousin's butler welcomed her in.
"You are Sir Integra of Hellsing, correct?"
Integra nodded her head quietly.
"The mistress of the house is in the dance studio."
"She has a dance studio?"
"Yes, down this hall and on the right."
Integra nodded once again and made her way down the hall. She opened the last door on the right and walked into the studio. A skinny girl with long black hair tied back was doing an extravagant, fast dance with plenty of leaps, flips and kicks. Integra shut the door behind her, and as soon as she heard the click of the door, the girl stopped dancing and she turned off the music.
"Integra, it's a pleasure to see you."
"It's an even greater pleasure and a blessing to see you." The cousins embraced each other in a hug for a moment of silent remembrance of their past together. As soon as they let each other go, Vivian began to talk.
"I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch like I said I would…Mother was very distraught and ashamed that her husband did what he did. I find it almost impossible to call him father at all after that horrid event. But my mother… she refused to let me contact anyone at Hellsing for fear of embarrassment. I wanted to honor her, but I should have sent word to you as soon as she died."
"I'm sure you were grieving too much to worry about the business of Hellsing."
"Yes, I mourned her death for a long time." An awkward silence filled the room.
"So, Vivian, I am quite impressed with your house. How could you afford such a wonderful place? Does anyone live here with you?" Vivian blushed slightly.
"No, I live here alone with my butler to keep me company," she smiled. "Your father wasn't as cruel to my father as my father thought he was. He left a huge inheritance in money to him, plus the money that was left to him from our grandfather. So Mother and I had a good amount to live off of from his death, as grim as that sounds, plus my mother inherited a large sum from her grandmother, and that sum was passed on to me as well. I work here and there, and that helps put money in the bank as well. But I am hoping to get a job with a more stable schedule. I'd rather have a full–time job at a place with less money than more money working occasionally."
"Funny you should say that," Integra said.
"Huh?"
"I wanted to talk to you today because I wanted to offer you a job at Hellsing."
"You want me to work at Hellsing? I don't know if I could go back there. Too many people would remember what my father did."
"There are only two people there that would, and they hold nothing against you. Almost all of my men were killed a few days ago by vampires and ghouls from the Millennium group. I have just hired new mercenaries to help us fight, and I was hoping you would work at Hellsing with Walter on developing new weapons and possibly train one of our combatants in grace and balance." Integra looked at her cousin with desperation in her eyes.
"Integra…I-I can't, I couldn't…Walter would remember, he couldn't work with a girl who has traitorous blood running through her. Anyways, I don't know if I'd be able to come up with such weapons, I don't have the experience of creating…"
"I've already talked to Walter about this and he said he wanted to work with you. All he remembers is the girl that used to play with me in the afternoons in the grounds; that he would serve tea to when we would come in for a break. It seems such a long time since we were able to run around and be careless like children, and we both had to grow up so quickly that we lost valuable time. Please, Vivian, do this for me and for our past. If you don't feel you're capable of making weapons, you have the creativity to imagine them, and Walter has the technology, materials, and ability to create them. If you must, think of it as a favor in return for what your father did for me." Vivian's eyes were tearing up. She looked right at Integra.
"I will work for you at Hellsing. I will earn back the honor that my father lost our side of the family. When do I start?"
"Immediately. I didn't realize you were living so comfortably when I thought about hiring you, but it might be easier if you just lived in the Hellsing mansion. What do you wish to do about your house?"
"I can sell it. I'll bring what I can to Hellsing, and the rest can be sold as well."
"Great. I shall await your arrival tomorrow then?"
"Yes of course," Vivian replied, and hugged her cousin once again.
)(
Four years previous…
A drink, for the horror that I'm in. For the good guys and the bad guys, for the monsters that I've been
The café on the outskirts of Paris was a shady place. People died there frequently, and nobody cared. The police never checked out the place except when they were trying to locate any notorious criminals. However, it was any bounty hunter or assassin's paradise. It was the location to find a job, and sometimes end a job.
He took a swig of his drink. Even with the café being entirely full and the haze of cigarette smoke filling the entire room, the café was unusually quiet. Nobody was having a huge fight over any little thing and there were no dead bodies being carried out. It felt weird being there without his crew. His name was Pip Bernadotte, the leader of the Wild Geese, and he was there to find them a new job.
He scanned the room for any shady characters; he only found an oddity. A young girl was there alone. She had on a black trench coat and a hat that covered her eyes from being seen by anyone. The old forgotten juke box that no one ever touched began to play a song. Pip turned around and saw that no one was standing by it. While his head was turned, he heard a gunshot. He turned back around to see a guy slumped against a wall, dead. The girl was gone.
Pip put a wad of cash on the table and walked out. He saw the girl walking slow enough to not look suspicious, but fast enough to get the hell away from the scene. He followed her all the way to the hotel she was staying in. As she unlocked the door, he approached her. She tried to slam the door, but he put his boot in between it and the door frame.
"What the hell do you want? I saw you following me the whole way here," she said from under her hat.
"It was you, wasn't it? You did it." The girl looked up and down the hallway frantically. "Nobody followed me. Can I just talk?"
"Sure," she eyed him for a second and allowed him inside. She shut the door and locked it, and then she leaned against the door and looked at him.
"You know it's generally not a good idea to let strangers into your room," he told her with a smile.
"Well, I've got nothing to lose, Pip Bernadotte. I know who you are, so I'll treat you a little above stranger." Pip was stunned.
"Y-you know who I am?"
"I have to know my competition. If I want to be hired, I have to know what the employer is looking for. If they want a quiet hit, they're not going to hire a group of wild geese," she smiled at him.
"How do you know all this? How old are you?" Pip was impressed with the young girl.
"I'm eighteen; I can take care of myself."
"Right; and your parents are cool with you hiring yourself out to kill people?" Her eyebrows rose.
"My parents are dead. I don't think either is going to try and stop me…"
"Do you have a name?"
"Vivian Harker. Now, if you don't mind, I have to leave here shortly- the plane back to England won't wait for me." She opened the door and gestured for him to leave. He started to walk past her, but he stopped and lifted up her hat to get a good look at her face. She looked just like a kid that had to grow up too fast.
"Well, Ms. Vivian Harker, I hope I get to run into you again someday, and not against each other either."
"Likewise," she said, shut the door, and smiled.
)(
Present day...
It wasn't the kind of job he was expecting, working for Hellsing and killing monsters, but Pip Bernadotte and his crew was getting well paid and all of their debts were being taken care of. He walked through the mansion and happened upon a room with portraits of all the different members of the Hellsing family. One in particular caught his attention.
"It appears Ms. Harker is in fact a Ms. Hellsing…Interesting…After four years, it certainly would be nice to see how she turned out." He turned and left to rejoin his crew, still thinking back to their first meeting in Paris.
Songs:
"Rama Lama (Bang Bang)" by Roison Murphy
"Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran
"Ten Years Gone" by Led Zeppelin
"Sleep" by My Chemical Romance