Sir Integra's first instinct was to provide.
She dug through the kitchenette drawers for the sharpest knife she could find. She had her choice between butter knives and steak knives, both looking pretty dull. "It's a sportsmen's cabin," she growled. "Nothing here for cleaning fish and game?" She set all the streak knives in a row and examined each one carefully for the finest blade.
Alucard watched her from the sofa. "You don't have to resort to that."
"If I do it now, you won't become ravenous," she reasoned. "If I wait, you'll need more to achieve the same level of satisfaction." She was trying to choose between two knifes. She grimaced at the idea of trying to pierce her skin with either. "If we get rescued tomorrow, great. You enjoyed a rare treat. If we're stuck here for a week, we'll both be thankful I gave a little at a time." Sighing, she picked one knife. "This one will have to do."
Alucard shrugged. "Or I could just bite you."
"I'd rather not have the oxytocin surge that the bite induces."
Alucard grinned. "Why not? You could relax in my arms and feel perfectly at ease. It will be like a massage. You don't have anything to be afraid of."
"I'm actually quite afraid of it. I'm more afraid of it than the bloodletting or the pain of the bite." She walked from the kitchenette and sat down next to him on the sofa and examined the knife. It was the sharpest one there was, but it was still dull. "That deceitful feeling of euphoria that overcomes human victims as they're slowly exanguinated, taking away their will to resist."
"But it also dulls the pain of the injury," Alucard reasoned.
"It's a sedative, that's all," Integra scoffed. "Forgive me Alucard, but when I peacefully surrender to that feeling, it will no doubt be Hellsing's final hour." She eyed him. "I also understand it's addictive."
"The near orgasmic bliss of a vampire's deep bite? Yes, it is. The pleasure is overwhelming, and it only gets stronger the longer we suck. But your bite would be very shallow and the surge would feel would be almost unnoticeable. At most, it would put you in a good mood." Alucard plucked up the dull knife from her hand and gave it a doubtful look. "Are you sure you don't want to know what it's like?"
Her hand unconsciously touched old scars on her throat. "I know what its like."
Alucard set the knife down. "You don't trust me to not take advantage of you?"
"Of course I trust you. I just hate that feeling. It unnerves me." She took back the knife and pressed the blade into her palm. She pressed hard.
Alucard waited.
She tried to saw it back and forth. Integra gritted her teeth as the metal ripped her upper epidermis, but it couldn't break the skin. After a few minutes, she gave up with a sigh.
Integra lifted her hand sheepishly and offered it to her vampire.
He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "Thank you, master."
"Please be gentle."
"I always am." He pressed his lips against her palm and opened his mouth, licking her scratched skin. He dragged his tongue down to the sensitive and fleshy pad of her palm and grazed his teeth against it, zeroing in on the spot that would provide the most cushion, then bit, quickly but firmly, and instantly released her hand.
Integra flinched.
He removed her hand from his mouth to examine his handiwork. Two little puncture wounds side by side, with thick red streams bleeding out. Exactly the kind of wounds he wanted to make. He rotated her wrist to briefly examine the back of her hand to make sure his jaw hadn't punctured the other side, and was pleased to see he was accurate in his pressure. Not even teeth marks. He brought her hand back up to his mouth and began to suck gently.
Integra watched Alucard's face relax and his eyes close. She could hear him start to make little throaty sounds, the sounds he always made when he feeding and was happy.
Like a babe suckling my milk, Integra thought.
Alucard's eyes quickly fluttered open and focused on her, then he relaxed again in warm, dark contented slits and closed his eyes. He moaned softly. Just once.
"God," Integra groaned, embarrassed. "You heard me think that, didn't you?"
He paused in his sucking, releasing her hand. His lips were coated in her red blood, his eyes still closed. "It doesn't bother me," he sighed. "I've fantasized about being your son before." With that, he returned to her wound, sucking blissfully.
Integra blinked.
As her hand started to become numb, Alucard released her form his mouth and began to make slow, long licks over the open wounds, closing them. Even after they were long healed, he continued to lap and lick, as if the rare treat had was savoring had little to do with the blood he had consumed.
--
Hours later, they were both sleeping.
Or, Alucard was sleeping and Integra pretended to sleep.
The world was so dark outside the window, Integra still couldn't tell if it was day or night. And now the heat from the fire had caused the windows to fill up with condensation. She had no idea if it was still snowing outside or not.
They hadn't discussed their potential sleeping arrangements. They had both been sitting on the sofa, and that's where Alucard was when he fell asleep.
Integra laid on her own side of the sofa, curled up, watching intently as her vampire slumber.
--
When Integra woke up, Alucard was gone again.
She looked up and saw that he had taken back his clothing from over the fireplace. Also, there was fresh lumber burning. He hadn't been gone long.
She padded around the great room on bare feet, wondering where her boots had disappeared to. She might have lost them in the ocean, she realized, heavy leather things they had been. She could easily imagine them filling up with water and slipping off. If it came down to it, it would make hiking down to the boat in the snow difficult. She considered asking Alucard to carry her.
I've fantasized about being your son before.
She sat back down.
She had thought about it, too. Not fantasized, she wouldn't have called it that.
But when she was in mixed company and strangers asked her to introduce them to her handsome companion, she had often claimed Alucard was her cousin or brother. It was a quick explanation that negated any sexual overtones. It also delighted Alucard because then he could pretend he was a Hellsing, too. It always made him smile, and he'd become unusually affectionate, as if to thank her for acknowledging him as an equal, rather than telling strangers he was a servant, body guard or chauffer.
At some point, Alucard had made some off color joke about her introducing him as her husband someday, and she'd dismissed it: "In a few more years," she scoffed, "I'll have to start introducing you as my son."
He had looked at her with a kind of eerie, merry look. "Why wait?" he has replied. "I could change my appearance and make myself look young enough to be your child. I could swing by your wrist."
"Settle down, vampire."
He'd smiled darkly and teased, "I could call you 'mommy.'"
"That's creepy, you dirty old man." But she had chuckled too.
And then the following day, she'd noticed something unusual about her servant. "Alucard? Did you make yourself more youthful looking?"
He had smiled. "I shaved off ten years. Do you like it?" His deep smile lines had vanished, and his white skin looked smoother and softer, his shoulders slightly more narrow.
"Too young," she had replied honestly. "It doesn't fit you."
"Give it a few days," he urged. "It might grow on you."
But he had to go on a mission that evening, and he returned looking like his normal self. The larger, older and more intimidating look worked to his benefit out in the field, and didn't experiment with his appearance again.
But now Integra couldn't stop thinking about it. She couldn't stop remembering his youthful face, the way his bright red eyes searched her for any indication of acceptance.
--
The vampire returned with bounty of fresh game.
"Lady Hellsing, your blood has fully rejuvenated me and I'm returning the favor. I will provide for you." He was very proud, his smile full of razor-sharp teeth. "Like the primeval Neanderthal providing for his mate. Let me prove my virility, the way humans do."
Integra smirked. He could murder scores of vampires in her name, but he was more thrilled to hunt for her meal, even if his quarry was no more threatening than a grouse. "Bravo," she praised.
Alucard skinned and cleaned the flesh effortlessly. Integra watched him with fascination. It had been centuries since he'd had to perform such a menial task for himself, and yet he carved up the meat with confidence, making uniform strips ideal for cooking over the fire. "I don't have anything to season it with, so it might not taste great."
Integra smiled and watched him skewer the strips on a spit and dangle them in the flames of the fireplace. "I'm sure it will be fine," she assured him.
Alucard said, "There's still no aircraft over head, but its stopped snowing. I went down to the boat and its still floating. I think we won't have any problem navigating it to the other shore."
"That's good," Integra said. "As much fun as this little camping trip has been, I miss my own bed. And plumbing."
"I miss my coffin."
"I miss tea and cigars."
"The coffin, really. That's it."
--
To be continued…