Seras poked her head out of the kitchen a few minutes later, thoroughly pissed at herself. I can't believe behaved like such a mouse! I'm a VAMPIRE now, not a frightened rabbit of a fledgling like I was... Her dark glower was visible to each of the few men she happened to pass in the hallways, and all of them suddenly decided that they had more pressing matters to attend to elsewhere, as they practically leaped down different hallways. Seras was only a little surprised at her contempt feeling as she watched them skirt her as if she were a pissed human female on her period.
She had been right to assume that the sun had yet to go down. Through the spotless windows on the wall, Seras could see the sky painted in shades of red and orange as the sun was halfway set. She walked around the red squares of sunlight on the floor of the hall, not fully knowing where she was going, but holding her head high in a cocky manner that gave the impression that she did. After her pitiful display in front of her ex-master, Seras was determined to appear as confident and bitchy as a vampiress should be, and not show an ounce of the shame and boredom she really felt.
As she turned into another hallway, surreptitiously looking for something to do for it was still early, a soft murmur of a tune floated from a door at the end of the hall. Curious as to where the music came from and how she could hear it so clearly from the distance, Seras followed the sound to the last door in the corridor. She realized before she reached the door that someone was humming. Quietly pushing the door inward, Seras looked in to see Johnson on a ladder dusting a large portrait of what appeared to be a battlefield. Seras recognized the song to be "pomp and Circumstance."
Closing the door behind her, Seras silently drifted to the foot of the ladder. "Johnson," she called.
Johnson jerked in surprise, the ladder wobbling dangerously before Seras settled it with a hand. Gripping the ladder and the duster with a white-knuckled grip, he glanced down and blanched. "Miss Victoria. What... How can I be of assistance?" His voice quavered and Seras suddenly had to fight the urge to giggle as he climbed down reluctantly towards her.
Once his feet were shifting on the ground before her, Seras quickly looked him over. He wasn't a bad looking human. He was young, maybe in his early twenties, with thick brown hair and hazel eyes that refused to meet hers for more than ten seconds at at time. He was slender, but muscled and just a little taller than her. He looked tired, unaccustomed to working both night and day, sleeping at intervals where he got only an hour or two of rest.
"Take the night off," Seras commanded, her tone demanding obedience.
Johnson blinked in surprise. "But ma'am, I have to make Sir Integra's tea, and the grand hall needs mopped-"
"I said take the night off," Seras replied cooly. Her face never changed but Johnson took a step back, straightening his vest. "You will write a list of what needs to be done tonight, and by six tomorrow morning, it will be done."
"B-but, Sir Integra-" he stammered.
"I will handle Sir Integra," Seras cooed. Her eyes suddenly glowed red and she used her newest ability on poor Johnson: Compulsion. Pip had seen Alucard perform this on a hotel clerk in Brazil, and told her about it. It had seemed like a good tool to have, so she had always wanted to try it."You will go write a list of tasks, and then you will go to sleep until six a.m. tomorrow."
Johnson's eyes matched her eyes' shade perfectly and he muttered something incoherently.
"Good. Now go." He stepped to a big wooden desk and pulled open one of the drawers. He removed a pad of paper and pen and scrawled down a list of errands. He handed her the list and blissfully exited the room.
Seras sighed. Compulsion had turned out to be difficult to do and left the Compulsee oblivious to the trick. It had been unusually easy to perform this evening. The last time I tried that, my brain almost exploded! How could it get so easy? I didn't even practice it! She frowned and shook herself turning her attention back to the list.
The chores were easy enough. Smirking at the ladder, Seras floated up to finish the dusting. Due to her vampiric speed, the entire house was done less than ten minutes and she went to the next item on the list, which was mopping the grand hall.
On her way down, the shrill cry of the telephone sounded loudly in Seras' ears. Wincing, Seras turned to the nearest door and into the dark room. Without bothering to turn on the lights, Seras realized that this was the conference room Sir Integra and the Knights had met in during the Valentine brothers' raid. Strangely, this didn't seem to bother Seras as much as it would have before.
Picking up the receiver, Seras' ears were met with the loud voice of her human master yelling at someone in her office, and she jerked the phone away, sure that her ears were bleeding.
"Yes I'm aware of the situation, dammit, now calm down! Johnson! Find Officer Victoria and send her to my office immediately! She won't pick up the damn phone in her room! When I get my hands on that bloody-"
"Officer Seras Victoria reporting-" Integra cut her off.
"Seras! Why the hell aren't you in your room?! It doesn't matter. Change out of your uniform into civilian clothes and report to my office in two minutes." And then the line went dead.
"Yes, Sir," Seras sighed. She phased to her rooms and rummaged in her wardrobe of civilian clothes. She pulled out a pair of jeans as she phased out of her uniform and looked for a shirt to wear. She phased into the jeans and into a t-shirt before remembering that it was winter. She chose a dark grey sweater instead.
Seras then phased outside Integra's office door and knocked politely. From beyond the door she heard a frantic female voice and Integra's smooth alto. "Enter!" Integra barked.
Seras entered the capacious room with the over-confident stride a powerful vampiress should have. Integra noticed and raised an eyebrow at Seras who blushed slightly and saluted her. Then she glanced at her companions.
A man and a woman (husband and wife by the rings on their fingers) sat in the cushioned chairs facing the wood desk. The man kept reaching over to touch his wife as if assuring himself she was still there. The woman held a tissue to her face, her grey eyes red and swollen with tears. Integra, beautiful even as an elderly woman, sat behind her desk, signature cigar curling smoke up to the ceiling, her icy blue eye glaring daggers.
"May I introduce one of my best officers, Seras Victoria. She is a vampire-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the man jumped up with a yell and leaped between Seras and his wife. The woman let out a muffled choking noise and fainted. "Sir Integra! Stand behind me!" He shouted his bright green eyes wide in horror and his fists trembling as he faced Seras. "Stay back, you damned hell-spawn!"
Seras raised an amused eyebrow at the man and then at Sir Integra.
"If you'd let me finish?" Integra snapped. "Seras Victoria is a vampire trained to kill vampires." Integra snorted and inhaled a cloud of sweet cigar smoke. "She will be sufficient for your... request." Her eyes blazed at that.
The man slowly lowered his fists, but his eyes were still filled with fear. A quick glimpse at his mind told her that he felt like throwing up and was glad he hadn't eaten. He lowered himself back into his chair and began to fan his wife as Integra called for someone to bring in a glass of water.
"So, how may I be of service, Sir?" Seras asked eyeing the pair now that the woman was coming to.
Integra tossed a file at the vampire and started to explain. "Seras, meet Mr. Donald Hark and," her blue eyes shifted to the inert woman in the hard chair. "Mrs. Regina Hark. Four days ago, their daughter, Bonnie, went missing under suspicious circumstances."
"Suspicious?" Seras asked opening the file and peering at a picture of a seven year old girl with honey blond hair and grey eyes.
"Bloody hand-prints on the wall, mattress ripped to shreds," Mr. Hark answered, his voice cracking and he paused in fanning his waking wife to cover his mouth with his hand.
"Mr. Hark, how can you be so sure the abductor hadn't put a knife to the mattress, and staged the blood for ransom or something? You should go to the police for this crime, Hellsing does not specialize in kidnappings," Seras asked cooly.
"Officer Victoria, you are out of line!" Integra barked harshly. "The last time I checked, I was the leader of Hellsing, not you. Therefor, I decide what the Hellsing Organization specializes in, understood?" She was almost hissing when she finished.
"Alright, alright!" Seras held her hands up defensively. "No need to piss ice cubes." Integra was not amused and Seras had to dodge a bullet or two for that. "So what are the suspicious circumstances?"
Integra leaned back in her seat and drew another deep intake of fumes. "Security cameras set up along the entire mansion property shows no one entering the house and no one leaving it around the time Bonnie was abducted. Also, coagulated blood was found dripped all over the crime scene. As you know, blood does not coagulate until after the body dies, yet there were large footprints near and on the blood. That would be ghouls' blood. Our labs tested and proved it." She paused her to let Seras examine the file more.
Under the general information on the girl was a list of possible suspects, but Integra stated that she was certain that none were guilty. "You said she was missing for four days. Why would you take so long in coming here?" She asked the shivering .
"We went to the police before you," she said to Integra, completely ignoring Seras. "They, uh, investigated like crazy when they found out who we were but, they gave up when all the suspects had adequate alibis. So we came to you..." she fell off into sobs and Seras raised an eyebrow.
Sir Integra stood with a gracefulness that belied her age and called for Mr. Johnson to show their guest out. When they were out in the hall, she turned to face her youngest vampire and snuffed her cigar. "So," she sighed. What do you think?"
"Hellsing was recommended? Who, except the queen and employees of Hellsing itself knows about us? And I never thought you would allow being hired like a landscaping crew for anything!"
Integra threw herself back into her chair, still managing to make that look graceful somehow, and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "It was the queen herself who recommended us." She paused to let Seras murmur in surprise. "The Harks are the queen's cousins on her father's side, so naturally, she would want to help find their daughter's kidnapper. And, indeed, I do not like being hired for a couple of rich pricks. I never said that."
Seras nodded. "So what is my mission, Sir?"
"For now, I want you to scope out the mansion, find clues the police missed, and use your vampiric senses to maybe find the direction the piece of shit went." She gestured to the file in Seras's hands for the address of the place.
Seras checked the file in silence not really sure if she should ask her next question. Finally she clears her throat and states casually, "You know, Sir, the vampiric aura may have dissipated completely, or almost, by now... why not send Alucard for this mission? He is, after all, much older and way more experienced at this sort of thing."
Integra stared at her for a long time, saying nothing, and cold enough to freeze the english Channel from where she sat. "I assigned you to this mission, and it's my business why. Now go." Integra thoroughly dismissed her.
Seras saluted, masking her confusion until she was out the door. She phased to the front gates of Hellsing and checked the address in the file again before dropping it through a black portal onto her coffin. Double checking that he eyes were blue, Seras finally turned herself into mist and floated towards London, easily hidden in the surrounding fog.