Chapter Seven
May 1, 1945, 4:15 PM
Aboard the Anna Marina
Rip Van Winkle walked down the corridor of the Anna Marina's third class section happy to finally be out of the sun. In fact it seemed that aversion to the sun was the worst side effect from her transformation, and while there wasn't any physical damage it did cause her to feel as though her skin was on fire all the time. When Dok found out about her new sensations he gave her a physical examination and concluded that the feeling had to be psychological for he could find no damage to her skin. It was then decided that for her comfort they would travel by night the rest of the way. Unfortunately that wasn't always possible and so to help her along the Captain stole an umbrella from a little girl. (He's a ruthless man.)
Rip Van Winkle stopped in front of her room and sighed with relief. "I could uze a nap." she thought opening the door. She slipped into the dark room and closed the door behind her, she squinted in the dark but was unable to see anything.
"Ridicules," she mumbled "I cant see in the thze dark yet thze sun iz burning me up." she slid her hand around the walls looking for the light switch. "Vere iz it?" she thought frustrated.
Suddenly the lights in the room clicked on and a voice filled her head. "Better?" it asked. Rip Van Winkle blinked and turned around.
"Who thze hell are you?" she asked the stranger sitting on her bed, he was dressed in a charcoal suit and red over coat. The man gave her a sideways glance and grinned.
"I am Alucard," he said standing up. "Ruler of the Carpathians, Vlad the Impaler," His grin widened, "but to you I'm the Angel of Death" Rip Van Winkle swallowed nervously and took a step back from Alucard.
"Hey now," she said slowly, "Let'z not get carried avay." she slowly took hold of the door knob and began to turn it. In a blink of an eye, Alucard was standing next to her holding a gun to her chest.
"That wouldn't be a very good Idea." he said his fangs gleaming.
Rip Van Winkle's eye widened in horror. "You're-you're a-a-" she stuttered.
"Yes, I'm a vampire." Alucard confirmed he then placed the pistol under her chin.
"No! Please!" Rip Van Winkle pleaded, her knees weakened and she became dizzy. "Please...please don't kill me." she fell onto her knees and began to cry. "Please, I'm innocent, it vas thze Mazhor! Thze Doktor! Thzey changed me against my vill." her tears dripped onto the floor.
"You're far from innocent ," Alucard told her. "and don't worry they will meet you in Hell soon enough." he added with a chuckle.
"Vait don't!" Rip Van Winkle pleaded desperately. "I have information!" Alucard ignored her and cocked the pistol. "For God's sake stop!" Alucard slipped his finger onto the trigger. "THE MAZHOR IzN'T HERE!" Rip Van Winkle screamed, Alucard's eye flashed in anger and surprise and he removed the pistol from her skull. Rip Van Winkle collapsed to the floor sobbing.
"What did you say" Alucard asked slowly.
"He izn't here...he's not on thzis ship" she informed him between sobs.
Alucard stared down at her. "Where is he then?" he asked annoyed.
Rip Van Winkle sniffed and lifted her head giving him a venomous stare. "You have tzo promise not tzo kill me." she said slowly standing up. "You have tzo promise tzo let me go free aftzer I tell you." she removed her glasses and wiped her eyes. Alucard looked at her as if debating whether or not to agree but soon he smiled and replaced the gun to his inner coat pocket.
"Agreed." he said.
"Wunderbar," Rip Van Winkle muttered replacing her glasses to the ridge of her nose. She then looked up at Alucard. "Thze Mazhor is on thze other ship with Dok. I'm here withz thze Captain." She informed Alucard.
"What other ship?" he asked.
"Thze Brillo Marinaio." she answered. "In fact you can see it right thzere." she pointed to the port hole behind Alucard. Alucard turned and saw a ship sailing parallel to the Anna Marina, the name was clearly painted on the side, Alucard grunted and faced Rip Van Winkle.
"So he's there?" Rip Van Winkle nodded. "You aren't lying are you?" Rip Van Winkle quickly shook her head Alucard smiled. "I see. Thank you for your help," then in a blink of an eye he was standing next to her with his left arm wrapped around her waist and his gun placed against her chest.
"Well, now I guess the only thing left for you to do...is die." He laughed and slipped his finger into the trigger. Suddenly the door opened and the Captain walked in.
"Was zum Teufel!" he exclaimed when he saw Alucard. A second later all hell broke loose.
-xxxx-
First Mate Vincenzo Regari was making his usual rounds with the passengers of the second class section of the ship when he heard gun fire ring out below deck, excusing himself he ran off to see what was happening. As he approached the stairs leading down to the third class section he could see passengers scrambling to get away from whatever violence was happening down there.
"What's going on?" he asked to the passengers.
"Two crazy guys are trying to kill each other!" an older man answered. Vincenzo frowned, pulled out his revolver, and continued his way down the steps.
Rounding the last flight Vincenzo saw two men in a deadly struggle, with a tall man in a red overcoat trying to strangle a slightly shorter man in gray trench coat.
"Hey!" Vincenzo called out. "Stop or I'll have to shoot!" the men ignored him and continued to beat each other, seeing that his warning made no effect on the men Vincenzo took aim and fired two shots at the man in red. The bullets tore into his flesh and blood erupted from the wounds but the man didn't even flinch.
"What the hell?" Vincenzo thought confused, he gulped and approached the men. "Hey stop! I'll shoot you again!" he took aim once more but before he could pull the trigger the man in red flung the man in gray into Vincenzo sending the two of them crashing through a door and a room.
-xxxx-
When he regained consciousness a few moments later Vincenzo noticed that the fight seemed to be over and he could hear someone trying to open the large metal door that separated each section of the ship from the other in case one of them became damaged and took water. Sitting up he blinked and tried to clear his head. He after he felt ready he stood but immediately had to grab on to a piece of furniture as he lost his balance.
"Mamma mia." he muttered sitting down on the bed. A few moments later he stood once again and saw that he wasn't falling over. "That's better." he thought.
Slowly he stepped out of the room and followed the hallow sound of someone hitting the metal hatch, when he reached it he saw the man in gray and a pale woman with long black hair and glasses in a dark blue suit.
"Excuse me." he called out, the two of them turned and stared at him. The man asked the woman something in German to which her reply was a shrug. "Ah you're German." Vincenzo exclaimed in accented German. He then repeated his earlier statement.
-xxxx-
"What do you mean we can't open the door?" the woman exclaimed after Vincenzo explained door's mechanism, Vincenzo pointed to the large lock on the doors edge.
"See how it's bent?" the woman nodded. "Well that obviously indicates that the lock was forced closed without proper authorization. You see the only way to lock this door with that lock is with a special key. Which is held only by the captain and uh...myself." The man in gray grunted but didn't say anything.
"Cant you unlock it then?" the woman asked, Vincenzo shook his head.
"No unfortunately this lock is busted, the only way to open this door is to remove it from its hinges." he chuckled and pulled out a box of smokes. "So unless you have super strength we're stuck." he added pulling out a cigarette. Suddenly the woman's eyes lit up, "Well, Actually..."
Harbor Master's Office
Serenita, Italy 4:13 PM
"I cant order the entire ship to turn around because of one man." the Harbor Master, a plump balding man in his late fifties, insisted. He was dressed in a black suit that was one size too small and on his face he carried a large well trimmed mustache that he felt added a sense of importance to him.
Sir Arthur Hellsing sighed in frustration. "Sir, I implore you to reconsider. This is a very delicate situation that needs to have a quick resolution." He placed his finger tips together and continued. "By complying with our request you are rewarding yourself as well as our interests." he smiled, "What do you say?"
The Harbor Master stared at Sir. Arthur then shook his head. "As I said before, it's impossible." The smile vanished from Sir. Arhtur's face and he clenched his teeth using every smidgen of will power to keep himself from strangling the frustrating annoying little man. Mr. Kane stared at Sir. Arthur for a few seconds then leaned forward towards the Harbor Master.
"Look Vinny." he said, "Come on be a sport." he grinned "Plus you owe me for Morocco."
"Michael," the Harbor Master growled crossing his arms, "I told you to never mention Morocco again."
Sir. Arthur glanced at Mr. Kane questioningly, "Morocco?" he asked. Mr Kane waved the question away, "Oh come on Vinny, it wasn't that bad."
"Enough! If you say one more thing about Morocco I'll kill you right here in this office."
"Now Now," Sir Arthur cut in to keep the situation from evolving into a full out brawl. "There is no reason to mention Morocco or any other country." he glanced at Mr. Kane then at the Harbor Master.
The Harbor Master took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, once calm he looked over the two gentlemen before him. "Sirs I'm a very busy man. So unless you have other business to discuss with me, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Sir Arthur spoke up once more. "If you're not willing to called the ship on your own, I'll gladly pay you." he rubbed his thumb and index finger together. "Just name your price."
The Harbor Master gave him a cold stare. "Sir. are you trying to bride a respectable official of the Italian Government?" he asked.
Oh no!" Mr. Kane exclaimed. "We wouldn't dare...that's why we're trying to bribe you." he burst out laughing. The Harbor Master was not amused.
He turned to Sir Arthur. "Sir. please leave and take the cyclops with you." he pleaded.
Sir Arthur sighed and stood up. "Thank you for your time." he said to the Harbor Master, he then gestured for Kane to stand who complied reluctantly.
"Don't forget about Morocco." Kane added with a grin.
"Just go." the Harbor Master pleaded. "Sure thing." Kane opened the door and stepped out into the hall followed by Sir. Arthur who began to close the door behind him.
Suddenly the two way radio on the Harbor Master's desk came to life. "Mayday! Mayday! This is the Anna Marina requesting immediate assistance from all available ships!" Sir Arthur froze and re-entered the room. "Our ship has been attacked from within and is now in the control of persons unknown! I repeat we have been hijacked by unknown assailants!" The Harbor Master went pale as the message was repeated in Italian.
Sir. Arthur sat back down into the armchair in front of the Harbor Master's desk. "As you can see our request was not without reason." he said.
The Harbor Master didn't reply. "...At this moment persons unknown have taken over the bridge and killed most of the crew..."
"Hey Arthur," Mr. Kane called out, Sir Arthur turned and saw Kane standing next to the window with a pair of binoculars.
"What is it?" Sir. Arthur asked, Kane pointed out the window.
"Come and take a look."
Sir. Arthur Hellsing stood up and slowly walked over to where Kane was standing and took the binoculars from his hand. Adjusting the focus Sir. Arthur scanned the bay. "What am I looking for?" he asked.
"Look at the Anna Marina out in right. See it?"
Sir. Arthur scanned the bay for a few seconds. "I can't find- Ah there it is." He could see the Anna Marina and the Brillo Marinaio sailing side by side. "Alright I have them."
"Good now look closely at the Anna Marina, do you see it?"
Sir Arthur frowned. "What's he talking about?" he thought but then he saw it: the Anna Marina was making a sharp turn to the left and was sailing straight for the Brillo Marinaio.
Suddenly another voice popped onto the Harbor Master's radio. "Questo รจ il Brillo Marinaio consigliare il Anna Marina per correggere il suo corso!" Sir Arthur lowered the binoculars.
"What's going on?" the Harbor Master asked in a panic.
"I don't know." Sir Arthur replied.
"You don't know?" the Harbor Master went pale.
"I'm sorry but I have to go." Sir. Arthur put down the binoculars and took off out of the room and down the stairs.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!" the Harbor Master screamed.
Kane grabbed his hat. "Vinny I suggest you get the coast guard on the line or something because we're gonna have a huge mess out there in a couple of minutes." with that Mr. Kane ran out of the room to catch up with his friend "Arthur wait up!"
-xxxx-
Kane burst out of the Harbor Master's office building into the crowded Harbor and saw Sir. Arthur running from one wharf to the other talking to the various boat owners who were still there. "Arthur! Arthur wait!"
Mr. Kane pushed through the crowds toward Sir. Arthur. "Arthur what's going on?" he asked his friend when he finally got to him.
"I highly suspect that Alucard took over that ship."
"Alucard?"
"Who else."
"But why?"
"I don't know and frankly I don't care. Either way I'm going stop him."
Mr. Kane swallowed nervously. "What about the coast guard?" he pointed to the ships that were sailing out to the Anna Marina.
"They don't stand a chance against Alucard." Sir Arthur scoffed.
"And you do?"
"I stand a better chance, yes. Now come on we don't have time to waste." he climbed into the small rickety motor boat and paid the fisherman sitting next to the motor.
"You coming?" he asked. Kane who swallowed and reluctantly climbed in.
"Andare!" Sir Arthur ordered, the fisherman brought the motor to life and the small motor boat took off towards the Anna Marina with great speed.