Yo yo yo what up everyone? It's almost Christmas, yay! I really shouldn't be updating though, because I haven't had ANY time for this fic. It's been crazy times and I still haven't finished christmas shopping, but thank you RIP Lynn, Natalie, animeninja1418, Bilbo Baggins is my Hobbit, Rab Shadow, hiyomi, Dontgotaclue88, Nitrogen920 and AvaleeDarling for reviewing! Enjoy this chapter ~~
Ruby in Need
"Idiot! What the hell were you thinking?!"
The young vampire had frowned furiously in response and stood his ground against the ugly vampire before him, "She said she wanted us to bring Ruby Ashcroft to her!"
Compared to Garth, Thade was a very ugly, traditional vampire with a mindset that dated back in the eighteen hundreds. He had let Garth the 'Handsome One' take care of all the errands, finding them food and shelter, dealing with humans whenever necessary. Garth looked charming but he was, unfortunately, a bit on the dim-witted side and appeared to prefer a life of servitude. Thade was more than happy with this arrangement; he had been away from civilisation for so long and found that he had no desire to integrate into today's society, unwilling and uninterested to keep up with the standards of human life and modern values.
"That doesn't mean you go marching up to her house and force your way in!" Thade growled, before he slammed his clenched fist over Garth's head once again, making the young vampire wince. "You were lucky she wasn't in! Even if you managed to get inside, what then? Do you think you are any match for her? She's not an ordinary vampire, you know. She's the mate andbride of Alucard! She might be a newly created vampire but she's a hell lot stronger than you! If she opens her mouth and squawks, what do you think will happen then?! You think you can take on the No-Life King?"
Pondering for a while, Garth slowly shook his head.
"Yeah, I thought so too." growled his companion, "So next time, remember to use that goddamned brain of yours! This is whatOracle has to offer? These are the kind of vampires Caelum had working for him?! No wonder that moron is dead!"
"Hey!" Garth snapped, "Don't talk about Mr Caelum like that!"
"I'll say whatever I want to say about that failure!" Thade roared, jabbing furiously at his chest with his index finger, before he raised his knuckles in an attempt to strike Garth in the side of the head; however, the younger vampire dodged this time and Thade ended up hitting the wall beside him, making bricks fly out. "Caelum was the oldest, strongest vampire I knew...Even he was no match for Alucard. If Caelum couldn't defeat the No-Life King, what are we supposed to do? What hope do we have?"
"Well...we have her now, don't we?" Garth muttered meekly.
Oh yes. Her. The First Bride. However, Thade merely let out a snort of derision under his breath. "So what? Dracula was her master. She reveres him yet she is repulsed by him at the same time. She was rebellious, but not to the point that she wanted him destroyed."
Two months had indeed passed since the destruction of Oracle and the death of Caelum, but as Thade had pointed out, Caelum had been no match for Alucard. All in all, Caelum had perhaps been a thorn in the side and nothing revolutionary to have been able to set himself apart from the other vampires Alucard had faced before. He had still clung onto his ability to transform into an ancient form. So what? In the end, Caelum was nothing but rumours and a name to be passed around in campfire stories for years to come.
I need to think of something else. That 'Ruby Ashcroft' is an insult to all vampire-kind. I refuse to acknowledge that whore as the Queen. With that thought in mind, Thade's fist curled as he contemplated his predicament, his raggedy, foul nails digging into the flesh of his palm. What now? What to do?
"Um, Mr Thade, what is she anyway?" Garth asked, and Thade glanced up.
"What do you mean? She is the First Bride of Dracula."
"No, I don't mean it that way. I mean...right now, what is she?"
The question still didn't make much sense but Thade scratched at the bottom of his scruffy chin and grunted, "She is neither dead nor alive. She's just here. That's all you need to know."
Clearly confused by the cryptic response, Garth decided to pursue the subject matter. "Why do you want to defeat Alucard so badly anyway?" He muttered next, as the wound on his head began to heal. He wiped off his blood using the sleeve of his shirt, clearly uninterested in blood spilled that was his own. "As long as we live quietly and without attracting the attention of Hellsing, isn't that enough?"
"You idiot!" Again, Garth's well-meant words only served to further incur the wrath of the ugly vampire. "Alucard is not fit to be our King! Neither is that whore of his fit to be our Queen! We need one on our side and not the humans."
"I see, as long as Alucard is alive, then we cannot live in peace, or at least, we will never be able to control the humans." Garth replied, "...What about you, Mr Thade? Why don't you try and take over?"
"Naw, no, Garthy," Thade replied, as he moved his hand to rub at the bottom of his nose, "I'm no' like that. I work in the shadows. I like to stay behind the scenes, doing this, doing that. I prefer it that way, don't you?" He replied. Following that interesting revelation, Garth nodded. Fumbling in his pockets for a cigarette, Thade grabbed a lighter and lit the end, taking a deep drag. Then he muttered, "By the way, she'll be hungry tonight."
"What! But what about that—"
"She finished him off."
"Already?" Garth exclaimed in shock, before he let out a scoff of disbelief, "Alright, fine...fine...I'll speak to Devilla."
...
"That is so stupid...a nightclub...yeah, out of all the places, it just has to be a nightclub...with prostitutes and-and... Why am I not surprised? Nope, not surprised at all...Hmph."
Ruby arrived at her apartment from the meeting at Hellsing, mumbling and grumbling to herself only to see a note sticking out of her letterslot which she pulled out and quickly let her eyes skim over the messy handwriting. "Miss Rubby, I've called Animal Services. They will be stopping by tomorrow to issue a warning." She read aloud. The note was signed by her neighbour Mr Munroe. Ever since Alucard, as a dog, had almost mauled the man one unforgettable moment in Ruby's life, he'd been less than friendly to Ruby, believing that she had sic'ed her big black dog on him.
She rolled her eyes when she'd seen the way he'd spelt her name.
Rubby.
But no, that was not only it...Animal services would be coming tomorrow, too...just to issue a warning. Couldn't they just send a letter or something?
"Gee, thanks a lot neighbour." She grunted as she scrunched up the note and tucked it into her pocket; she took out her keys, the keyrings jangling loudly against one another and she unlocked her door only for Grey the dog to come bounding towards her and before she knew it, he was trying to jump and down as she walked in, taking off her shoes. She turned to close the door; he was pouncing on her back and she tried to get him to calm down. Grey would usually do this whenever she came home, but it appeared the dog missed her more this particular night as he continued his somewhat frantic attempts to pounce on her and she laughed as the dog rose on its hind legs to stand up and put its frontal paws on her shoulder, licking affectionately at her chin and cheeks.
She put her hands on each side of his snout, staring into his single eye. "Yes, yes, I missed you too. Did you miss me? Were you a good dog when I was gone? You didn't poop or pee on my sofa again, did you? You're not going to make me buy another new sofa, are you?" She cooed, and the dog let out an excited bark, tail wagging feverishly. "Hah, I'm kidding. Kidding." She chortled, before she added, "Sit."
It took a while, but Grey finally returned to the ground and lowered himself onto his haunches, staring up at her with his head cocked to the side. She'd been trying to train Grey since she'd adopted him but the dog didn't seem to exactly like being told what to do. Don't get me wrong here, Ruby thought, Grey was a good dog, but...he just didn't really take much of a shine when it came to being commanded. When she tried to enlist the help of an experienced dog trainer, he ended up chasing the dog trainer and growling incessantly that the dog trainer flatly refused to take her business after several unsuccessful consecutive lessons.
"Good dog." She gushed with a grin, as she squatted down in front of him. "Okay, now give me your paw."
Once again, it took a while until Grey raised his right paw off the ground and Ruby took it, shaking it. The dog looked terribly confused as she let go. Her grin widened, before she threw a glance around her house, noticing everything seemed in order and clean, and she rubbed behind his ears affectionately, "Good dog. Good doggie. You're a good doggie, aren't you? You're such a good doggie...you're my good doggie-woggie-oggie."
As Grey began licking at her palm affectionately, she thought about Alucard and the time he'd turned himself into a dog. Surely he'd also assumed other forms then, too. As he said once, the form he often chose to take had no meaning; she was often haunted by the thought of seeing him taking the form of a woman every now and then. The best thing about Grey was that she didn't have to worry about Grey being able to turn human or anything and understanding every word she was saying. No, most definitely not. Grey was 100% dog. The other best thing was that she didn't have to worry about Grey being unfaithful or going into bars and looking at other women, either. With that in mind, she cheerfully made her way into the kitchen, humming jovially under her breath. She took one glance at his bowl to see that he'd finished his meat and she opened the fridge, grabbing another slab of meat which had Grey sniffing curiously as he trotted to her side.
"Hm, you're not hungry again, are you?" She said. The dog merely stared at her, then did a dog-sneeze and padded away from the kitchen. "I'll take that as a 'no'."
Ruby shrugged inwardly and returned the meat to the shelf. It had been a long day. She left the kitchen and saw Grey in the lounge, staring outside the window at the full moon for a brief moment. He did another dog-sneeze, shook himself then plodded towards her room. Ruby made her way to the coffee table, checked her phone where the little red light was flicking on and off, indicating she'd received a message.
Ruby moved to the sofa and plopped down, pressing on the machine which emitted a loud 'beep', and then: "Hi Ruby, it's Gwen here. Just to let you know I'm at the hospital and working YOUR graveyard shift. But hey, you know what? It's fine, 'cos you're swapping with me and taking Friday instead so I can go partying with Narsha; we're going to hit that new bar in town!" cheered Gwen's voice, "By the way, don't forget, we're all going out for dinner tomorrow if I can drag myself out of bed, okay? And this time you better bring Alucard with you! I want to hear all the juicy little details of you and-"
The message ended abruptly as Ruby had pressed the button to delete the message; it was not that she didn't want to hear the rest of Gwen's message but the girl had always been rather nosy with regards to Ruby's...love life. She'd been very interested in Alucard, that was for certain. Perhaps too interested. She certainly wasn't going to bring Alucard with her for tomorrow's lunch date, either. With a yawn, Ruby grabbed the TV remote control and switched it on whilst lowering the volume once the screen buzzed into life. There was nothing really interesting to watch at this hour, except from online night casinos, poker and roulette gambling shows, and repeats of old shows with a woman in the corner translating using sign language. She flung the remote control to the side and sprawled over the sofa, listening to the clock tick loudly on the wall. To her surprise, her bedroom door squeaked open and Grey came trotting out, stopped by her side as she lay on the couch, and looked at her.
"What is it?" She asked, and the dog bit at her sleeve and began to drag her off the sofa. "Alright, I'm coming...I'm coming..."
...
Meanwhile. Integra's Office.
"She's changed, Alucard."
It was only Integra and Alucard left in the office. The meeting had been adjourned a few hours ago and dawn was approaching; Ruby would've arrived at home by now. Walter had left to retire for the rest of the night, Seward retreated to his quarters in the infirmary to sleep, Police Girl waddled out of the meeting room and sauntered to her room and Luther had simply vanished from the premises without anyone even noticing.
"From the day she discovered her true identity, the day she discovered that her true parents were dead, a part of her has died too." Integra said, her gaze was fixated on the vampire standing before her and she took a long drag from the cigar, blowing acrid smoke into the atmosphere. "You may have sired her but unlike Seras, her heart is very fragile and she still regards herself as a civilian and has refused to assist Hellsing where it matters the most. Our line of specialty, after all, does not suit Ruby Ashcroft's persona. She is not a soldier. She has never been, and she never will."
"My brides were never soldiers, my master. Ruby shall be what she chooses to be."
"Yes, I am aware, my servant," Integra muttered, remembering the last time they'd had this conversation was right after the fall of Oracle, "...but there is a darkness that has settled deep within her which she has yet to realize. You may continue to teach her, but bear in mind she is not a fledgling. She is a Bride. And it has been one hundred years since my ancestor came across a draculina titled as such. Even for you, Alucard, old habits die hard."
"I will take full responsibility for my bride, my master," crooned the vampire, grinning wickedly as the wide brim of his hat covered his eyes. Often she wondered what Alucard may be thinking of these days but she hadn't really doubted him before. "You need not worry."
Finally, Integra cracked a smile, the cigar still wedged between her lips. "Teach her well, Alucard. Miss Ashcroft has potential. Ensure you steer her onto the right path should she ever get lost."
...
"…That's Ruby? That's the real Ruby? But…why is she…dead?"
"What did you do? What did you do to your daughter and the Van der Linde's? Did you kill them? Did Caelum kill them? Tell me the truth, NOW!"
"…He killed your real parents and then he took you! He took you…He knew who you were; he knew you were Alucard's mate. Caelum gave you to us. You were so cute. It was as if our little darling Ruby had returned to us. I needed you…"
"Wake up! I'm NOT Ruby. I'm not your Ruby…It…it's not fair to your daughter. Your real daughter."
Ruby awoke, eyes snapping open; the clashing voices overlapping each other in her mind had stilled. A chill had also run down her spine for she had felt a rather foreboding presence in her room. Amidst the darkness were tall shadowy figures standing respectively on her left and right of her bed. Another lone dark shadow stood at the foot of her bed. Immediately, she yelped and scrambled up, duvet flying. The figures vanished as soon as she rubbed at her eyes and she blinked inquisitively. They were gone, just like that. Ruby glanced shakily around her room, spotting Grey fast asleep in his basket. He hadn't woken up, since he hadn't sensed anything amiss. Had she been seeing things?
"Alucard?" She squeaked out, as she gathered the covers and clutched them tightly to herself.
Seconds later, a familiar vampire drifted into her room from the far wall where her closet was, and she was relieved to see him. "Alucard!" She rolled out of the bed and promptly dashed over, stopping shortly in front of him. Although she was dressed in her onesie pyjamas (Gwen's birthday present to her who had cited that onesies were the latest fashion rage) that would usually make her cringe if anyone caught her in it, she had completely forgotten that she was dressed in the darned thing, "I'm so glad you're here. Um...you're not busy right now, are you? You've not been to the club yet, have you?"
"No." The vampire replied in a hushed murmur, his scarlet eyes glowed softly as they settled on her form. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and scratched at the back of her head, glancing off to the side despondently. "You were crying." He pointed out.
She immediately wiped away the blood tears that were streaming down her face and glanced down, embarrassed. "It's nothing."
"You were having nightmares again," Alucard remarked, "About your parents."
He really knew how to hit that spot and she was flushing, "...I...I...er..." She croaked out, but she realised that she didn't have any excuses or anything to add to his statement, either.
"You never had nightmares when we shared a bed together."
Now he had her cringing. "Yeah, because you're so powerful and so almighty that you even keep my nightmares at bay, Alucard." came her deadpan reply, "The reason I called you is because I saw...Hold on, let me show you..." She muttered, before she grabbed his sleeve and led him to the side of her bed, "Okay, right here—I saw this shadowy figure standing around my bed, right there, where you are. And there was another one here—" She left him where he was, sauntered to the opposite side of the bed and gestured as appropriate, "Then one was over there at the foot of my bed, and...and well, they're gone now, but I got scared."
Alucard raised an eyebrow, then closed his eyes and chuckled deeply, much to her embarrassment when she realised how lame she had sounded. "I do not sense anything. There is nothing here except from yourself and I, my bride...and that wretched pet of yours." Alucard replied, gesturing to Grey, who could be heard whining slightly in his basket.
"He's just a dog."
He chuckled even louder, "That damned creature..." He murmured, his voice was as velveteen as ever, dripping with a bitter sweetness to it, "You disobeyed me and have allowed it to live under the same roof as you."
Placing her hands on her hips, she gave him a sour look as she stood opposite him across the bed. "I'm not going to have this conversation with you again; Grey is, and has been, a very good dog." She protested, but then she shook her head as she did not wish to rouse an argument with the vampire she would be sharing an eternity with. "Look, are you staying here or what?"
There was a silence following her words.
Alucard was watching her keenly now and Ruby shot him a worried look. "...What? What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
His lips widened into a smirk. "You wish for me to stay, my bride?"
Her face reddened slightly and she embarrassedly turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. "W-Well, only if you're allowed. If Sir Integra allowed you to, I mean, with all the murders and stuff going on, I—eep!" Ruby was cut off when Alucard had suddenly appeared by her side, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her up against him; her eyes widened slightly when her body went lean against his and she came face to face with the vampire, who was now grinning extensively. "Alucard, let go."
"Why are you resisting, my bride? You asked for my company, therefore my company you shall get."
She flushed brilliantly, her lip wobbling slightly when he began to brush some loose strands of hair from her face, "Oh...Er..." She croaked out. It was bizarre that Alucard still had this kind of effect on her even though they'd been through quite a lot together; everything he did still managed to make her blush.
"My master has been very generous," He purred, before he scooped her off the ground and into his arms bridal style, carrying her over to her bed. Ruby clung on as he bundled her up in his arms; Alucard had carried her countless of times but every time he'd done so it was another thing that had her blushing, "She has permitted me to stay with you-"
"One night a week, I know."
"I do believe I have not been by your side for six days."
So Alucard has been keeping track too. Ruby's blush worsened as he seated himself on the edge of the bed with her propped up in his arms. "Yeah, six days. Six days without you, Alucard," She said, before she shifted in his lap, adjusting herself so she was sitting to face him, "It was kinda weird not seeing you around..."
"Is that true?" His deep voice breathed out as he gave her an affectionate squeeze, bringing her closer to him that their noses were almost touching.
"Yeah," She replied, her gaze moved around his handsome face, eyes straying from his eyes to his lips where her gaze lingered. He was doing the exact same thing to her, "...So, about this case... you're really going to go to that dodgy club?" Even her voice had lowered to a gradual whisper to match his, "When? Tomorrow night?"
He leaned forwards, their lips now millimetres apart, "Yes."
She glanced down then, pouting slightly. "I wish I could come with you." She mumbled, "Can I-"
"No."
"Aw."
His reply had been instantaneous, "It will be dangerous."
She turned away, pouting. "Hey, Alucard?"
"Yes, Ruby?"
She thought about the club, all the prostitutes he would see and the seedy patrons of the club and pondered to herself, then said, "Will you ever get bored and tired of me? Will you...will you ever want someone else? Another Bride?"
Again, Alucard chuckled lightly and she could feel his chest rumbling from their close proximity; he took her face in his hand and made her look at him, "I do not require another Bride," Their faces were so close she could almost feel his lips moving against hers, and when he finally pressed his lips against hers firmly only to quickly pull away with a smirk, he murmured silkily, "Not when I have my mate."
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if I don't update, I want to wish everyone Merry Christmas, Seasons greetings and happy early 2014! :)