Isabael
The basement was pitch black and Cat closed her eyes and used her memories of the stairs to guide herself down, "6, 7, 8, 9…," she whispered under her breath.
"What are you mumbling?" Isabael's clear voice cut through the dark.
"I was just counting the stairs," Cat was glad for the dark because she had started to blush.
"Counting aye? Interesting. I'll switch on the light if you want to just wait."
"There's a light?" Cat continued counting determined to get to the bottom on her own.
"Yes, there's a lamp. Haven't you been down here before?" Isabael's feet met with the basement floor and she skipped over to where the old dusty lamp was standing a few feet away from Alucard's coffin.
"I have a few times, but I always brought a flashlight or Alucard made some sort of glowing orb," Cat stumbled slightly at the bottom of the stairs, but kept her balance.
Isabael flicked on the lamp and it lit a large area, but Cat still could not see to the back of the basement.
Isabael noticed her looking, "Nothing can light back that far. That's where the darkness lives," she smiled eerily and Cat could not tell if she was joking or serious.
"Well, come on over! Don't you want to see him?" Isabael peered into the coffin lovingly, "He looks so much nicer in his sleep. Just like the angel Lucifer."
Cat raised an eyebrow, but went over to the coffin to peer inside as well. Isabael was right. Alucard did not look dangerous at all while he was sleeping. His face was relaxed and there was no hint of ill will dancing around his smirk. He looked like a normal person if you ignored the coffin he was in, the giant boots he was wearing even while sleeping, and the two massive hand guns at his sides.
"You should wake him. He'll be happy to see you," Isabael nudged Cat closer to the coffin and handed her the blood pack.
"What! I'm not waking him up! You do it you're the one who's here on "business" remember," Cat spoke in a mocking tone.
"It's your business too now that you know all about it. Don't forget I'll kill you if I have to," Isabael sighed in slight frustration and reached into the coffin to prod Alucard with her index finger.
"You're going to wake him up by poking him?" Cat wondered where this girl had come from and what had made her so brazen.
"Just open the blood pack," Isabael rolled her eyes, "You know he's already awake right? I mean he can hear everything we're saying he's just choosing to not move. It's his little trick or at least he thinks it's a trick. He's probably used it on you before to see if you would make any confessions. People seem to think it's safe to talk to people while they're sleeping."
At this Alucard phased through the bottom of the coffin and the basement floor.
"Where did he go," Cat froze like someone does when they have lost track of a particularly menacing spider.
"He's behind you," Isabael said matter-of-factly.
Cat let out a squeal and dropped the blood pack she had been clutching. Alucard caught it easily and bit into the corner. He drank it slowly and watched as Cat crept away slowly and positioned herself behind Isabael.
He finished the blood bag and sighed deeply, "You weren't afraid of me before. What's changed?"
Isabael chuckled and walked over to him, "You tried to kill her remember. I think she will probably be afraid of you until you kill her again," she wrapped her thin arms around his waist and pressed her face into his middle. She breathed his scent in. She had always thought he smelled like rain and fresh earth.
Alucard smiled faintly and rested his hand on the top of her head, "You needn't be so brassy about it. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"
"No. Everything I learned came from a vampire king," she looked up at him admiringly and took his hand.
"I don't understand why I'm here. You two probably want to be alone," Cat felt as though she was scowling.
"You don't have to be if you don't want to," Isabael scowled back at her.
"Now now girls I'll have no fighting between you," Alucard grinned his familiar grin and Cat felt her face soften. She could not stay angry at him even though he had tried to kill her. There was just something inside of her that kept her devoted to him no matter what.
"You looked up the vampire souls in the library, right?" Isabael spoke.
Cat jumped slightly, "Uh, yeah. How did you know?"
"Well, what did you read about them?" Isabael waved her hand in a circle to signal Cat to go on.
"Um, that a vampire soul never dies? The vampire can be killed and it's body destroyed, but just as a human soul goes to heaven or hell the vampire soul roams the earth until it finds a new vessel that is suitable and has the potential to be turned into a vampire. The person that the vampire soul inhabits has only the vampire soul and not their own original human. If they choose to not become a vampire and live a respectable life the soul will become their own and it will go to heaven when they die. If you believe in heaven and things like that," Cat shrugged.
"She's forgotten most of what happened that night. Just make it easier and explain it to her," Alucard stepped towards Cat and she took a step away.
"This is so much of a hassle. Are you sure Vivianna is in there? This girl seems too oblivious," Isabael moved over to Alucard's coffin and perched on its edge.
"Wait, you mean Vivianna, your sister?" Cat narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Do you know many other Viviannas that Alucard consorts with?" Isabael rolled her eyes.
"What is your problem! You act like I should know all about this! Why would I know anything about any of this!" Cat was becoming frustrated. She felt like she was being ganged up on.
"Now now Isabael. Do try and be nice. As nice as you are to Walter and I perhaps?" he grinned wickedly.
"I'm only nice to men, you know that. Women I have no patients for. They are never direct about anything. Everything has to be a game," she tossed her hair playfully.
"Oh, but you love to play games. How can you deny it?" he turned his attentions toward Isabael now.
Cat felt like she had basically been forgotten about. She was just an accessory to whatever malicious plan they had in mind. Sure, they had suggested that she was Vivianna, but why would either of them care about that. Cat watched in disgust and some embarrassment as Alucard moved towards Isabael and ran his fingers across her cheek. She turned her back quickly when he turned Isabael's head to the side and proceeded to lick her neck.
"Well if you're done harassing me now I think I'll go," Cat spoke rather loudly.
"Do you understand what part you play in all of this?" Isabael ducked under Alucard's arm and slid off the coffin.
"Sure, I'm in possession of Vivianna's soul and I have no choice, but to become a vampire," Cat scowled as meanly as she could at Isabael.
"Well sure you have a choice. I'm only going to kill you if you ruin our plans. If you choose not to become a vampire that up to you. Though I can't promise that I'll be able to stop Alucard from forcing you once he's free," she shrugged like none of what was happening concerned her very much.
"Well, what a relief," Cat rolled her eyes and began to hobble back to the stairs.
"If you should meet Integra in the hall on your way back what will you tell her?" Isabael called after her.
"You went for a walk and I was tired so I decided to just go back to my room on my own," Cat slowly made her way up the staircase and prayed that she would not see anyone on her way back.
"Very good," Isabael said to quiet for Cat to hear, "I think that she might be useful. She is rather attached to you I can see. She might not trust me, but for some reason she seems to trust you. Even though you tried to kill her. Isn't that funny?" she turned around and smiled at Alucard who had crawled back into his coffin and was sitting with his back propped up against some pillows.
"Yes, very funny," he was looking off into the blackness of the basement.
Isabael walked over to the coffin and leaned on the side, "What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing that you need to worry about Mina my dear," he continued starring absently at the darkness.
Isabael raised her had to slap him, but he caught her arm quickly, "I told you never to call me that. Whether I am her reincarnation or not that does not make me her. I'm my own person," she scowled at him and felt the prickle of tears in the corners of her eyes.
"I know. I am sorry," he pulled her into the coffin despite her resistance and wrapped himself around her, "stay down here today and sleep. It will be safer."
"I'm perfectly safe up there with Walter around. Despite what Integra may think when it comes right down to it Walter will protect me. They all will in time," she closed her eyes and smiled.
"Yes, but stay down here and sleep today," he curled black smoke like tentacles around her torso and rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"If you wish, Vampire," she sighed deeply and took in the scent of rain and fresh dirt.
"I do Isabael, my love."
