4. The Test
"So who am I, Mr. Alucard?" I couldn't wait to hear this. This man, if he could be called that, knew my mother, my great grandmother, and my history. I had always been alone and I was hungry for a family. "And why am I the only one that can see those things?"
He just looked at me with those freaky sparkling red eyes. I was getting angry with him for constantly dodging my questions. I grit my teeth as he stared down at me. "I asked you a question now answer it. You said you had to obey me!"
"You do look so much like her you know," said Alucard finally speaking to me. He looked me over critically. "You have a long way to go, but the resemblance is there."
I wasn't much to look at I know. I was five foot two and I weighed a miserable 117 lbs. I was skinny and dirty, how was he comparing me to this regal woman he had been describing. My eyes were liquid blue and my hair was a dirty yellow that I claimed was blonde; I kept really short so people couldn't pull it. Hey if you were constantly fighting, would you have waist length hair? My arms and legs were covered in jagged scars from the thousands of close scrapes that I'd had over the years. I'd fallen. I'd been beaten up and I had been in countless fights. The other kids at the convent weren't exactly kind to me either. They had actually been cruel to me. When they figured out that it was me that the monsters were drawn to, they exacted their own justice on me and usually came in a more violent fashion than that stupid nickname they had given me…Jessie Jinx.
"Like who?" I asked, eyeing him too.
He was seven feet tall and now he had full shiny black hair; which was a big switch from the undead monster I had seen in the basement. His hair was longer than mine and seemed to reach down to his shoulders. It was hard to believe that he was the same person; but his voice was unmistakable. His eyes were blood red and seemed alive. If you looked him in the eye too long, you could end up being hypnotized. His teeth were relatively normal except for his elongated vicious canines which were way too long and pointy for a human. His clothes…man his clothes were right out of ancient days. He wore a starched white dress shirt, a black top coat and black pants with knee high shiny black boots. He also wore white gloves with words imprinted in red on them with some strange star and cross symbol.
'Jesus Christ is in heaven' The gloves read and to top all that off, he wore a dark red overcoat that went clear down to his ankles and a very wide brimmed red hat. It may have been the height of style in the old days, but he just looked ridiculous to me. However, it was his "aura" of death that kept me from laughing at him. It was his 'I'm gonna eat you and enjoy doing it' stare that kept me from interrupting him.
"Your ancestor, Integra Fairbrooke Wingates Hellsing," he said taking off his vaguely flying saucer-esq hat and tossing it into nothingness.
"That's a long name," I muttered quietly. "Integra Fairbrooke Wingates Hellsing"
"You have a long bloodline."
"So who was she?"
"She was...a very strong woman. She hated surprises, useless people, and people who abused their power. She was beautiful. She had a very strong mind and an even stronger body. She took on a pack of vampires all by herself once. She led her men with nobility and pride. She earned their respect and their full loyalty. They would die for her…and often die."
I listened as he talked about my ancestor. He admired her greatly. I could tell by his voice. His voice had softened slightly; it still had that "murderous" edge to it, but it had lightened. I had not been paying attention until I felt his cold stare on me.
"And I will make you just as strong as her."
"Excuse me, what?" I asked, my senses popping back into place as I was taken aback by this statement.
"You have her blood in you. You can restore her family's name. You can chase these demons from the world. You are a Hellsing."
"No way. Not me. I was told just to find you and wake you up. No one ever said anything about me fighting them." I protested.
"And yet you made it here...alive." he chuckled, in that dark manner of his.
Him chuckling or even laughing, in that cold dark manner, always made me shiver in fear.
"That wasn't me. That was him." I said, pointing to Brain. My finger stabbed in his direction almost accusingly. "He got me here."
"Yeah, but that Holy Blessing of yours killed that werewolf in his tracks." Brian reminded me. "We'd have both been dead, if it weren't for you."
"Holy Blessing." wondered Alucard, as he cocked his head at me. I could almost feel him grinning at me.
"Whose side are you on?" I asked Brain, a little angry with him for "turning" on me. "I know what you're thinking and the answer is no." I said, returning my attention to Alucard. "Killing those things is your job, not mine." I hissed.
"Really?" he smirked at me. "I'd like to see you make me little master. Not even Integra controlled me without my willingness. The only thing I'm bound to do is not kill you and to keep you from being killed. Everything beyond that is by my own choosing."
That really disturbed me. What was he thinking? How dare he say he wasn't going to help me? Then I found out exactly what he was thinking. He summoned one, a dark one. It was bigger than me, about the size of Brian, but a whole godamned lot more muscular. It was all dark shadows and fierce red eyes. It moved like a snake seeming to slither instead of walk. It growled at me and I was instantly petrified by its six gleaming red eyes.
"God!" screamed Brian, as he scrambled to his feet. "What the hell is that?"
The creature glanced at Brian, but seemed to dismiss him with a hurtful snub turning away. That thing didn't want him. It only had eyes for me. It growled at me and I got up to run.
"Cut it out!" I shouted. "I thought you said that you couldn't hurt me."
"I said that I can't hurt you," he laughed, as the monster sped towards me. "That thing on the other hand can eat you if it's wants."
"You bastard!"
"You say the nicest things." he chuckled, as he watched it chase me with great amusement.
I ran and that damned basilisk like beast chased me. It moved across the ground at an alarming fast rate gaining on me. Brian tried to help me, raising his gun to train it on the monster; but I could see that Alucard was preventing him. Alucard trained a hulking behemoth of a pistol at him. It was gleaming silver and I couldn't imagine how he held the giant thing in one hand like it was toy.
"Hold on, human. Let us see what our little master can do."
The threat of that pistol unleashing on him kept Brian still. He knew that there was no way he was fast enough to pull the trigger before Alucard could.
"She'll die!" Brian grimaced, as he watched me run from a monster. "Let me help her, she is in danger. She is going to be eaten!!"
"Will she? I suppose she will if she wants to be. Makes no difference to me, if she wants to be eaten. I say let her."
"What?!" exclaimed Brian, with complete disbelief covering his face.
"Humans that want to live fight back, those that don't roll over and die." told Alucard, seriously, as he watched his little master's progress.
Brian could only watch as that thing chased me all over the room. I screamed as the beast knocked me down.
"DAMN!!" he yelled, as the beast hovered over me.
That thing's razor sharp right claw swept over my head, just barely missing tearing my head off.
"Oh this thing is playing with me," I snarled, as it rough scales tightened around me. Then I remembered the werewolves and yelled at one.
'Hey You! Sic Em'!"
Without moving, it growled at the Basilisk like beast, shocking my enemy with enough fear for me wiggle free and escape. I ran up to the werewolf and looked up at him with pleading and fearful eyes.
"Help?" I asked it, really unsure that it would.
My doubt was well earned because all the werewolf did was look at me, then back at the Dark One. He narrowed his yellow menacing eyes and growled at it, fangs and all. The Dark One stopped and glared at the werewolf. Its fangs snapped at it, but the werewolf stood unafraid. I wished I was that brave and then I heard…
"No. She must do this on her own," told Alucard.
The werewolf looked over at Alucard and then down at me; and without another thought it pushed me away from him. The dark monster gave me a venomous fang-filled grin and then went back to work hunting me. I looked back at the werewolf in disbelief, but only for a second; because then I heard the Dark One grin at me. I was all his and no one was gonna save me.
My heart was racing like an indie car. Adrenaline pumped though my veins as I kept running in fear of my life and that .... that ...that red...devil was laughing at me. Suddenly, a female voice inside my head told me to stand my ground; it was faint, but it was clear. It was like a slap in the face, the overwhelming aura of disappointment.
"Stop running and stand your ground. He's testing you. He will not waste his time on someone who isn't worth it. STAND AND FIGHT!"
The voice gave me strength and I growled in anger. Something about the authority in that voice seeped into me. If I survived this, I was gonna kill that bastard with my own hands. I ducked a swipe of its whipping tail. When I was back on my feet, I spied a spider web covered sword upon the wall. I raced for and reached for it, and then tore it from the wall. I ignored the vision of a hellishly enormous spider that must have weaved it and unsheathed it. I then turned and faced the monster head on. I glared at it, not having a thought in my head of what to do next.
It stopped and growled at me. I wondered why, and then I realized it. This sword was made of silver. I smiled a wry little victorious smile and said the Holy Blessing over the sword. Now, I had its attention and it shrank back hissing at the blessed silver sword. It just stood there growling at me; it wasn't going to risk attacking an armed opponent. We circled each other, but it made no move to attack me now that we were on equal footing. I was starting to feel braver and I launched my first clumsy attack. I jumped forward with the sword intending on jabbing it into the nearest body part on the beast. The weight of this blade felt natural in my hand; it felt like it belonged there. However, no matter how right it felt, I still didn't know how to use it. My attack fell on empty air and I was roughly slapped by its tail again; this time the quick whip gave me a nasty laceration across my shoulder.
"TSK TSK TSK," Alucard muttered, feigning sadness. He took his hat and crossed it over his chest. "I hardly knew ye little master."
"Kill it." urged the female voice. "It is our duty to kill them. Seek and Destroy."
Now I was blazing. I charged at it swinging my blade in a crude arch trying to take its hideous almost feline head off. It dodged me and then reached back and tried to rip my head off with its clawed hands. I dropped to my knees and held the sword up to block his blow. He snarled in pain and withdrew his claws as they made contact. The sizzling of his flesh reached my ears and I inwardly leapt for joy that had hurt it. I could see its anger as it glared at me with those terrible red eyes.
"Liked me better when I was weak and helpless, didn't you?" I mocked it.
I stood and squared off against it again. It sized me up and prepared for another charge. So did I. We ran at each other, each intending to kill the other. He grabbed for me, I blocked him with my left arm, grabbed his right wrist. I went back to my childhood fights. Now that I wasn't too afraid to fight I was going to end this thing. I pulled him towards me and sliced off his head with my sword. His body fell to dust at my feet and I heard clapping.
"Well done, little master. You even gave me chills."
"Enough!" I yelled at him, as I thrust the sword in his direction. "Start talking. You call me master, well act like it before I turn this thing on you!"
"Come and sit, little master and I will tell you all," he said, as he still applauded me.
I growled at him for good measure, but he just raised an eyebrow at me and laughed. Damn jackass was laughing at me again; but I did as he asked.
"As I said before, you are Jessica Wingates Hellsing and the new master of this house, as well as the Hellsing Organization. Our mission is to kill all undead or the Dark Ones as you call them now."
"Let me get this straight," I said, glowering at him the sword in my lap. "You expect ME to kill those vampires, werewolves, and the shadow things?"
"With exception of your new staff…yes." he chuckled.
"And then what are you going to do?" I asked, still thinking that this was damned unfair.
"The only thing I am going to do is teach you to do your job." he said, sitting down on a chair that he made appear out of thin air.
I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. I was tired of his curt and unfulfilling answers.
"Well, I guess you won't need me anymore." reasoned Brian, standing up to leave.
"What?! You just gonna leave me here alone with him?!"
"Some boyfriend you are." laughed Alucard.
"Shut up!" I yelled.
"Ha, ha, ha, at ease, little master. Your human can stay. As a direct descendant, I think he should take his ancestor's place."
"As what?" Brian asked, having no idea of his family history either.
"As captain of her army," said Alucard seriously. "Bernadotte, you are going to going to rally the troops."
"What troops?" scoffed Brian. "Those werewolves won't follow my orders."
"Not them. The men will come. When people find out that here is a safe place, you won't be able to keep them away. But…if you allow them to stay, they will work…as soldiers and as staff and if they disobey they'll serve as food. Werewolves don't work for free and neither do I." smiled Alucard, his grin reaching his eyes in a very bad way. The smile smacked of insanity and it gave me the creeps.
"You're nuts." I said.
"Always have been, always will be. Trust me, you won't be sane for long either if you stick around."