Eternal Sin
Chapter 4 – Alucard's Castle
Hellsing Manor - August 4, 8:52 p.m.
Integra still had a headache but was too stubborn to take some medication for it. Even the light supper she had earlier did not help her constitution as she hoped it might. Instead, she sat behind her enormous oak desk with reports scattered across the surface of possible cases involving ghouls hunted by some self-proclaimed holy warriors of some underground church organization. There were records of communications between individuals but nothing that shed light on anything that required Hellsing's attention. Right now, there was nothing new about the severed finger delivered to the Round Table this morning, only that it, indeed, belonged to a human male.
The phone sat at the edge of the desk, blinking with pending messages she missed while dining. There was an endless series of electronic dings, chirps and buzzing sounds indicating that someone beyond the walls of her manor required her attention.
Integra sighed.
Running an organization that hunts monsters was exhausting, yet, it was something born into her very soul. She had her own group of trained military personnel, men and women coming from elite sanctions like the SAS or the MI5 working for her, people at the top of their game. These specially trained Hellsing Special Forces were ready for anything, but more often than not used on smaller cases or as backup. In all reality, the most dangerous cases could usually only be dealt with by Seras or Alucard, seeing as it was futile to send humans to fight the worst monsters.
Her father, Arthur Hellsing, left her with this organization at the age of twelve—she was only a girl, but she took on the responsibility without complaint. She took on the responsibility by murder, killing her uncle Richard who was ruthlessly going to murder her for the lead role of the family business. What choice did she have? It was kill or be killed. She played her part well, or so she believed, she managed the organization like a drill sergeant.
Now she had to ask herself, what did she have to show for it after all these years… forming an uncertain attachment to one of the deadliest of all monsters still roaming the earth? Alucard—Dracula... oh, yes, how clever of her ancestors to change his name into an anagram. His list of other names is ample. Integra could not even begin to list them all.
She groaned deeply and sat back, rubbing her temples with two fingers on each side of her head. Yes, he was a monster, a vile bloodsucking monster in every sinister sense of the word. However, with her he was anything but that vile creature and, truthfully, a part of her did not care that he was. It was almost poetic justice on her part—her life spent around freaks. It was only proper that she should end up attached to one. Given the numerous times she has ordered the ruthless deaths of many beings, be it human or monster, she often wondered if she had not become a monster herself. Perhaps that is a human's plight when dedicating ones' life to hunting and slaying the creatures of darkness… a person needed to become one.
Integra scoffed, Alucard used to take great delight in taunting her about it, wondering if she enjoyed giving such orders that resulted in someone's brutal death. It used to burn her up inside and she lashed out venomously at him when he did this but… maybe he had a point. Fighting a war against monsters reneged all pointing of fingers.
Rules were meant to be broken, she thought with a dark smile.
Her computer gave another obnoxious chirp and Integra decided she had had enough for the day. Whatever they wanted, they could very well take it and shove it. It would be there later. She worked hard dammit and she deserved the rest of the evening to herself.
Not that she would ever tell anyone such a thing.
The world does not need to know everything there is about Integra Hellsing and keeping them guessing… was how she preferred it. It was a wise rule for any swordsman and she would always be at the ready, if she could help it.
As she got up from her desk, she briefly wondered if Alucard was still asleep—that lazy good-for-nothing vampire has been sleeping the last two days into oblivion since he returned, except for today's meeting (of which he had the nerve to whine about). Maybe after all that inner soul-destroying he was finally getting some peaceful rest.
Integra could only speculate, perhaps she'd ask him about that later.
Before she left the room, she noted the summer sun setting outside the window. It's vibrant pinks were strewn across the sky, highlighting the smattering of clouds spread out like gnarly twisted tree branches. It was beautiful and somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her father's voice.
"Do you know what they say about skies like this, Integral, my child?" He had said. "A red sky at night is a sailor's delight."
Integra wore a tired smile. "I wonder if you're right, Father. Is this sky a promise of good tidings to come? Will tomorrow bring a few less headaches? I somehow doubt it."
Indeed, she missed her father and at times like these wondered what he would say to her given her current situation. Would he be proud? Would he be disappointed? Would he understand?
She turned away from the window feeling a little defeated and headed for the door. Leaving the office behind, she padded down the dim hallways to her bedroom and closed the door behind her softly. She picked up her cigars and lighter from the night side table and from the cupboard underneath, a bottle of bourbon and a glass. Along with that, she also picked up a book she was currently reading and headed for her en suite bathroom.
Time to unwind a little bit, she thought to herself. Perhaps three decades ago she would have berated herself for leaving her desk while there was still work to do. However, she learned something detrimental in all these long years… she learned that no matter what she did there would always be work. It did not stop nor did it dwindle in demand. She simply learned that enough was enough and that if she didn't stop to breathe… she would quite literally go mad.
She didn't regret spending most of her life dedicated to her job, but she did start to wonder about all the things she's been missing out on. Life was incredibly short and that notion hit her hard by the time she reached her forties. She knew that life was not something to take for granted.
Therefore, with her book and booze in hand, she proceeded to her bathroom and nudged the light switch on with her back of her wrist, trying not to make too much noise with the bottle and glass that she carried in one hand. Stupid, she knew, carrying a glass into the bathroom where if it should fall on the hard ceramic floor, would shatter into a million shards of diamond-like pieces.
She did it anyways. Because she could.
Setting her stash down on the countertop next to the sink, she went over to the antique claw-footed bathtub and turned on the faucets. Once the temperature was to her liking, she plugged it and added some lavender bubble bath, heavy on the bubbles. Then she looked around suspiciously before she began to disrobe. The coast was clear.
No lurking vampires… or, so she thought.
Behind her back, in the long gilded picture-framed mirror above the sink, the glass turned black and a bunch of red eyes varying in size opened.
Oblivious, Integra removed her business suit, jacket, pants and shirt, hanging up each article of clothing from the hooks on the back of the bathroom door. She reached behind her to unclasp her bra, letting it fall to the floor and scooting it away with her foot. Lastly, she slipped out of her white lace panties and kicked them off in the same direction as the bra.
She had waited all day for this.
When she turned back towards the counter looking for the bourbon, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. Integra scrutinized her long lanky body and wondered if it really looked like that of an old woman. Her skin was still rich and soft, her femininity was a bush of blonde curls and she never really had much of a bosom to speak of, so they hadn't changed that much.
Still, she was in her fifties and she wasn't stupid, she was middle-aged. Her glasses and eye patch were horrendous. She didn't feel glamorous or sexy or even something to be desired. Alucard was an idiot.
She grabbed a hair tie off the counter from a small dish filled with multiple hair ties and put her long hair up into a loose knot. Next, she unscrewed the bottle and poured two fingers worth of amber-coloured bourbon into the crystal tumbler and brought it with her, along with her book, and set them on the edge of the small bench next to the tub.
The eyes returned to the mirror.
Integra settled into her bath and sighed as she leaned back, shutting off the water faucets with a foot. The water and bubbles enveloped her like a warm blanket and she closed her eyes briefly, savouring the sensation.
No commotions. No angry politicians. No gunfire or explosions. No monsters.
Enjoying a rare moment of internal peace, she reached over for her glass and took a sip, letting the alcohol burn down her chest and into her belly where it spread out like fingers on a hand. Then she retrieved her book and opened it to where she had dog-eared the page. It was a steamy account of a woman and her forbidden lover and it was just what she needed. Integra was eager to find out what becomes of their sinful relationship.
The room was utterly silent and she soaked for a long while before Alucard phased through the mirrored wall and countertop, coming to stand right in the middle of the bathroom. He was in his usual red gear, minus the hat and glasses.
She was so into her book that Integra did not notice him at all.
"May I join you?"
This time the beastly vampire managed to spook her quite well. Integra gasped and dropped her cigar into the water where it fizzed out. She nearly dropped her book, too.
"Jesus Christ, Alucard!" She cursed, fishing for the nasty wet cigar at the bottom of her bathtub. She threw it out viciously.
"Well, that's not something you hear every day," he mused with a deep chuckle, "Putting my name in the same sentence as our lord and saviour."
Integra snapped, her mood of relaxation popping like a balloon, "What gives you the right to invade my privacy? Get the hell out!"
"I have no right to be here," he said agreeably, "But I cannot help it. A beautiful maiden has caught my attention just as she caught it so many years ago and she has yet to let go." Alucard wandered to the other side of her bathtub and knelt next to it. He removed a glove and swirled a finger inside of her glass of bourbon and then he stuck it into his mouth to taste it. "Mmm, nice choice," he murmured and settled crimson eyes on her.
"What do you want, Alucard?" She asked with irritation.
"I already told you what I want. I asked if I could join you."
Integra sniffed. "Get out."
The vampire smirked. "Why do you lie to me, Integra, when I know that is not what you want? It's not like we haven't done this before. As long as this water is not blessed then bathing is still very enjoyable."
"Not with you it won't be." Integra replied, her tone icy.
"You're still mad at me. Time has reset the past." Alucard decided. "Or you are embarrassed about letting me see you undressed now because you believe yourself to be old and unattractive."
"Do NOT invade my thoughts, Alucard." She warned. "I order you not to do so. It is one wish that I greatly desire and you will respect me by not to doing it. It isn't right."
"You know I can only hear your thoughts because I have tasted your blood, same with Seras. But if you insist, Master," he relented. "I will not read your thoughts from this point on… unless you order me otherwise."
"Thank you. Now leave."
Without another word, Alucard stood up complacently and headed for the door. Just as his body ghosted through the wood, he heard his master saying something and his grin grew so wide it nearly split his pale face in two.
"What was that, I believe I did not hear you?" It was too good not to play with her.
Integra wore a scowl. "I said… I changed my mind. Do not make me say it again."
"I would never dream of it." The cunning vampire returned to the room, standing next to her bathtub once again. He gazed down at her all submerged underneath mounds of pearly suds. With eyes smoldering, he dutifully began to remove his clothing, starting with his red duster.
Integra felt as if she was twenty-two again and she turned her face the other way without thinking. She was blushing and it irked her, immensely. Her lack of sexual experience showed greatly in her reactions. It was not as if she hadn't done this with him before, or many other tantalising things in the past for that matter, but it has been a long time since she did. Besides, that was the past… things were different now.
"Why are you taking off your clothes when you could just skip all of that?"
True, he could just will his clothing away if he wanted to but he was enjoying her response too much. "Removing one's clothing is all part of the show… you gave me one and now, it is my turn." He told her, chuckling at how she dared not look at him. "Only… it's no fun if you're looking the other way."
Integra reminded herself that she was no longer twenty-two and that—to hell with it… she wanted to look. She was a grown woman and the head of the Hellsing Organization for crying out loud, she could look if she damn well pleased. He was being so smug and she would not give him that satisfaction.
Steeling her nerve, Integra turned her head tenaciously towards him, her face expressionless as if she'd seen hundreds of men undressing before. Still, the crests of her cheeks were still scorching. She ignored it and let her gaze travel over the shedding vampire…
…and lost all wits about her.
Alucard revelled in her naivety while his fingers unravelled his cravat. The red ribbon gave a gentle swish as he pulled it away from his collar. He had already removed the coat, the black suit jacket and now he wasted no time with the rest of his clothing.
Integra enjoyed the show more than she was willing to admit. It was maddening how this creature could look so perfectly male after all the times he's been torn apart by bullets and blown to bloody bits. Yet, before her, that flawless toned body, long and lean, got into her bathtub at the other end without a care in the world. Even though they were both in the same bathtub, there was plenty of room and she was nicely hidden beneath the bubbles. So was he.
Integra felt herself relax a bit.
Moving her legs to one side, knees up a bit and poking out of the bubbles, she let the vampire stretch his legs out on the other side. She felt his feet at her hip. "You say I gave you a show… so, you were spying on me even then?"
Alucard made that crazed face of his. "Do you really have to ask?" he replied with much mirth. "I was just waking up and I heard the plumbing running inside this old house and figured out what you were up to. I wouldn't miss this for all the blood in world."
Integra guffawed. "I have forgotten what it can be like to have you around."
"You have forgotten how much fun we used to have when the kiddies are fast asleep," he reminded mischievously and placed his arms on the sides of the tub like a king on his throne. "I hope you don't mind too much that I have interrupted your –you– time."
"Well, now that you're here I wanted to ask you a few things anyways." Integra appeared all business.
Alucard let out a heavy sigh, swatting aside a tuft of bubbles with his large hand. "Are we really going to discuss serious matters now?"
"Yes—now. And it's not entirely serious. I was curious about your knowledge of the Evil Eye and why you reacted as you did today at the meeting." Integra explained as she watched him toy with some bubbles with his finger.
He looked at her from under heavy-lidded eyes, his hair shaggy around his face. "In my human life the Evil Eye was connected to the dark arts and to The Devil himself, it was a symbol for people that served the netherworld. My ancestors were no strangers to the dark arts, to necromancy; it is where I learned many things handed down to me through our bloodline. Anyways, it became a symbol of warning later on; a messenger might deliver such an image of the Eye to declare war on their enemies." He explained casually. "By the time it was just me in my pitiful castle centuries later the power of the Evil Eye became nothing more than a superstition, although a highly regarded one. Romanians refer to it as deochi and believe it still has power to inflict misfortune on the person receiving it."
Alucard grunted and continued. "When you opened that box all I could think about was what if someone was aiming to hurt you? What if someone was declaring war?"
By the time he was finished, Integra had lit a fresh cigar. She blew away the smoke and said, "I opened it but it was given to the whole council, not just to me. What bothers me more is that it happened on the day I announced your return, as if someone knew about it already. Still, Sir Iron's said, it is not the first time the Military Headquarters have received such strange things. It was not addressed to Hellsing personally."
"He might be right about that but it is the first time someone has sent The Eye," Alucard reminded her. "I don't think someone sent it without at least understanding its implication."
Integra's head began to pound again and she let her head fall back while staring up at the ceiling. "Then we will just have to remain vigilant and hopefully we will find out who that finger belonged to. We might get some leads and something to go on. We're even checking the package it was sent in for DNA or anything else that could lead us in the right direction."
"For now we wait and I hate waiting especially if someone has it in their mind to hurt you. If someone tries to harm you they'll have to go through me first." The vampire said dangerously.
How she missed that feeling of having his gallant protection but his long absence thrust a wedge of fear into her. She did not want to become so complacent or dependant on him again. "I'm not that easy to push over," Integra reminded him.
"No, you are not." He said and thought to himself. But you are still a human and still made of fragile bone and tissue.
Integra picked up her bourbon and took a sip before saying daringly, "So, what would you like to ask me?"
"Oh?" One long dark brow perked up instantly. "What do you mean, exactly… is this some kind of trap?" He sounded so hesitant and guarded all of the sudden.
Integra laughed. "Like I'm baiting you or something..." She smiled impishly and taunted, "…maybe I am. I'm offering you a chance to ask whatever you want of me. Don't you want to know anything?"
"The options are endless!" He hissed excitedly. "This I assure you."
"Then be swift, vampire. I might change my mind."
The abrupt challenge presented to him sent a wild thrill of arousal through his entire body. What was his master trying to tell him? Alucard was not ready for her rapid change of attitude and yet he never felt more delighted by the torture. His mind went over many options but for him only one thing was perfectly obvious. There was only one thing he had to ask.
"Are you trying to tell me you are willing to become my No Life Queen?"
Integra choked on her drink. "That is what you want to know?"
"Of course," he answered.
The hopeful gaze he gave her made Integra actually cringe. "Alucard, that isn't what I meant. Grr! Why do you have to go and make it all awkward? Do I have to spell it out for you?"
Alucard couldn't remember the last time he felt so baffled. Women were no less confusing now than they were 500 years ago, he decided. "Your rambling mystifies me," he told her frankly.
The Hellsing woman picked up a blob of bubbles and literally threw it at him. "Get out," she ordered.
What had he done? He smirked disobediently with scattered bubbles decorating his hair. "No."
His gaze landed on the book she was reading earlier and he picked it up. His eyes widened incredulously. "Lady Chatterley's Lover," he said reading the title aloud and then he gave a lewd chortle. "I've read this naughty little number at least three times but you—" He looked up at her sharply, his lips curled into a devious sharp-toothed grin. "I see. I believe I finally understand what you're trying to tell me."
Integra glared at him and reached out to grab the book but he held it straight up in the air, far from her reach. "Give it back!" She cried but realised her reaching was giving Alucard an eyeful of her soapy breasts.
He laughed uproariously at her struggles and watched her return to the cover of the water. "Why do you hide from me when you would rather I unearth you, expose your very soul before me? Isn't that what you want me to ask?"
"Again you taunt me, servant." She said stiffly and finished the rest of her bourbon with one gulp, and then she crushed her cigar out in the ashtray.
"I'm not," he insisted and set the book down before he got out of the bathtub, foamy suds racing down his legs and from his backside. The vampire found Integra's fluffy white towel resting on another hook and holding it open to her he urged, "Get out."
Integra stood her ground. "You do not give me orders."
"Fine, if that's the way it has to be."
Alucard simply reached into the water and scooped her out of it as if he were picking up a wet kitten. Water splashed to the floor and he placed her on her feet, wrapping the towel around her bare body, then he picked her up again in both arms.
"What are you doing? Put me down!"
He did not answer her. Instead, the nosferatu opened the bathroom door and carried her to the bed where he laid her down on top of the light blue comforter gently. Then he climbed over top of her like a predator approaching his prey, locks of wild black hair framing his sharp features, teeth bared. His mistress looked up at him with something akin to fire in her one blue eye, whether it be hatred or passion, he didn't care.
"I order you not to turn me, Alucard!" Integra held the towel still wrapped around her tightly, looking up at him shocked.
The vampire king all but rolled his eyes. "That's not what I'm doing," he rumbled at her. "I won't turn you unless you ask for it from you own free will, so in the meantime stop yelling or everyone in the house will know what we're up to. Seras might come busting in here and see you all naked and terrified."
He laughed deeply.
"What the hell are you doing then?" she demanded, the proximity of his own naked body alarmingly close to hers.
"Now it is you that insists that I spell it out." He removed her glasses and set them on the side table. "You want me to give you pleasure. I get it, you have not been with anyone in all these years and you remain pure in body but that does not mean you still cannot experience pleasure. I will not take your chastity for obvious reasons but I can still make you come undone. You must be starved for it and there hasn't been anyone to give you what you desire. Has there?" he asked her.
Integra had set the bait all right and she had caught her big fish. She could not play stupid now. "No, I haven't. There has been no one," she said without falter. And then out of nowhere, a burst of repressed anger enveloped her and she found herself hollering at him. "You hurt me when you didn't return! I didn't think you were ever coming back. You left me all alone! It hurt! You have no idea how much that hurt. You… you asshole!"
"HA! That's it, get angry. Forget about your stiff English pride, Integra—give it to me." He growled. "Call me every name in the book. Rip me a new one. Let it out..."
"I hate that you make me feel this way, as if I'm just another one of your victims. It's a disgrace. I'm a Hellsing. You are the monster. And we shouldn't even be having this discussion." Integra clamoured, now on the verge of frustrated tears. "I don't know why you came back here when you could have gone anywhere with your new power. Nothing is holding you back. Why?"
Still on his fours hovering above her, Alucard scoffed. "Believe what you will but there is only one woman I dare claim is strong enough to call my Queen. That is you, my master. You are my equal, don't you see? It is as if I have waited hundreds of years to meet you. Indeed, I have done terrible things, but if I have learned nothing from those times then what a pitiful creature I am today. I came back because this is my home. Seras is my home, too. You, on the other hand… you are my castle."
Integra was stunned. "How can you say something like that? Y-you're only a monster… that's what everyone says," she murmured and yet her hands still found their way into his hair. She could not stop it. The wheels were already spinning out of control. "Kiss me—do it now," she commanded him.
Alucard fulfilled the order and kissed his master hard enough to make her whimper. His sharp teeth, though not elongated, pierced her bottom lip with his enthusiasm making her moan out in pain but he groaned euphorically. He urged her to part her lips and let him enter her mouth with his tongue, kissing her wetly all while enjoying the sweet taste of her blood. She fisted his hair hard and he ground himself against her towel, her heat nearly burning through it. His undead body, it was drawn to her living warmth as a moth was to a flame.
When he pulled back, he licked her wounded lip, fighting the rampant temptation to bite down on it harder. His eyes burned a brighter shade of red now and he gazed into her shimmering blue eye that watched him intently. "You're so perfectly edible right now," he said with an evil twitter.
"Then you may have a taste but… no biting. Got it?" She told him cleverly. "Mmm… make me feel glorious again."
"You needn't even ask, my beautiful darling master… Integra..." He whispered her name, his voice deep and velvet. "I would do this bidding as much as you please. Just to hear you moan and scream and come undone all over my fingers is almost as sinful as it would be to drink your virgin blood," he assured her.
Integra let go of her towel and said to him wickedly, "I like what you've done to your hair."
A/N: I have this head cannon that these two fooled around plenty before Alucard was gone for 30 years XD! I hope you enjoyed the warm and fuzzies Hellsing style! I assure you this story will not be all warm and fuzz so Alucard and Integra need to take advantage of all this down time before shit hits the fan. This chapter was a lot of fun to write and helped to build some character... they deserved this time together after thirty f'ing years dammit. I imagine Integra's attitude would change a little regarding her maturity since she's gotten older. Chapter 5: Old Bats. New Tricks. Alucard gets his own cellphone/laptop and learns a few thing from Seras and the Hellsing Intelligence Division.
Thanks for reading! And an extra thanks to reviewers!
mireee3D2Y: Haha! Thanks hun! Aluteg... aww, I hadn't heard that ship name before! Eeee! I love them too!
Eiserne: Many thanks for the comments! Teehee there is some hope for Alucard after all *winks* He can be a real gentleman when he wants to be.
Sarah Rose 29: Omg! I know I would ask for the Alucard voice myself if I got the opportunity. In fact, I dutifully check the lists of guest at conventions I attend in hopes that he will appear one day. He's been to one of them but that was before I got into the Hellsing fandom. Le sigh... *headdesk* Crispin's voice is what I love about Alucard the most... it's just perfectly hot lol! I must say a BIG THANK YOU for that wonderful comment. I totally fist-pumped after I read your comment. Much love!
AmericanWildDog: Hi Hi! Firstly, thanks hun for leaving a thoughtful comment! Yeah, I kind of thought it would be fun to have them walking down the hall like some kind of badasses about to show those stuffy Convention guys that the band is back together XD! I think that's a great analogy with Animal Farm! I totally get it HA! Well, after this chapter Seras does convince Alucard it's time to brush up on some modern technology lol! Fun. Fun! Once again thanks for reading!