Chapter Seven: Saturday
My body lurched forward of its own volition, my stomach berating me angrily about how dumb I was to accept Alucard's invitation. I glanced over at him, calm as ever, hand on my arm to keep me steady. Of course he'd be fine for interdimentional travel, but I was starting to seriously have doubts about how safe it was for my all too human body. Finally, I righted myself and blinked to see the same young blond woman from the club. She smiled happily at me, hands linked together behind her back.
"Hiya! You must be Oliver!" she greeted excitedly. "I'm Seras Victoria," she added, offering a gloved hand.
I quietly shook it, caught off guard by her blue eyes. Was she one of them or not? "N-Nice to meet you," I finally responded, clearing my throat.
"Seras is a draculina," Alucard informed me, seeing the confusion clear on my face. "My only sired."
"Ah, okay... Uhm... hi," I mumbled again, offering a small smile.
"By the way, love your hair," she added quickly as Alucard started walking towards a large mahogany dresser. "Is it natural?"
I paused a moment before laughing. "Uh, yeah, actually... My mom had the same hair," I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck. "Uhm, well, I was wondering if or uh when we could-"
"You need to eat," Alucard interrupted, silently closing the last drawer. "When was the last time you ate?"
I glanced over at Seras, who cocked her head to the side, probably wondering the same thing. I shifted uncomfortably. It was true, I was hungry, but the thought of Jake weighed heavily on my mind and I needed to see him. Suddenly, and overwhelming rush of nausea and anxiety struck my hard and I found myself sitting on a nearby chair, though I could have sworn the chair was further away before.
"O-Oliver?" Seras called out worriedly, moving closer to rub my back.
I was bent forward, holding my stomach. The sensation of suffocation passed and I slowly sat up, carefully opening my eyes to see Alucard knelt down in front of me, watching me with a surprisingly soft expression. It caught me off gaurd ad I hesitated before he suddenly stood and offered a gloved hand.
"You're eating."
"A-Alu-"
"Don't fight me on this," he ordered. "You're no use to anyone, least of all Jake, passing out or dead."
It wasn't too long later that I was sitting at a long table. Alucard was at the head, I was on his right and Seras was on his left. The silence was heavy and thick and all I could think about was the fact that somewhere in this massive building was my best friend, possibly in a lot of pain and suffering. I stared silently down at my soup, but then had to turned my head, the smell upsetting my stomach more.
"Oliver? You look a little flush," Seras pointed out softly.
I glanced over at her, eyes flickering down to her own bowl with a small residual ring of blood near the top. Alucard was leaning back in his chair, fingers linked on his stomach. His head was facing away, but his eyes were fixated on me.
"I'm uh... I'm okay, but I'm just... I'm nauseous," I mumbled softly, shaking my head. "I can't eat while Jake is somewhere around here... possibly in pain, probably scared out of his mind... I can't sit here while he's.."
"I get it," Seras responded, reaching across the table and placing her hand on mine. "If we bring you to see him, will you please eat something after?"
Taking a deep breath and a moment, I slowly nodded. "Yeah..."
"This place is a maze, how do you find your way so easily?" I asked, glancing over at the blond walking next to me.
Alucard was in front of us, long legs striding easily through the halls as if gravity had no affect on him at all. Any soldier we passed made room, or even stopped to let us pass by. Even the paintings themselves seemed to bow to his very presence and I wondered what he'd done to make the very essence of this house bend to his will.
"You'll get used to it eventually. I still get lost sometimes," Seras whispered, offering a playful smile.
I returned the gesture with a strained mimic and simply focused my gaze on Alucard's back, unsure of where else to look, plus it was almost comforting to look at. The walk was long and also too much to bear; I thought I'd go crazy from the waiting, but then Alucard suddenly stopped and I almost bumped into him.
"We're here," he stated, glancing back at me, a small grin overtaking his lips.
"O-Okay... what uhm... is he..."
"He's alive, aware and very agitated," he answered, looking back at the iron cast door with strange engravings laced throughout. The vague memory of my research came pouring back and so did the talks of silver's affects on werewolves.
"Is he uh... is he all werewolf or-"
"Yes. Although she was half, the same principle applies for turning someone. She did not drain his blood, therefore he wasn't turned into a ghoul or into a vampire," Alucard said, turning to face me more. "Are you ready?"
My gaze dropped down to my hands, which I just realized here shaking. I balled them, gripping them into tight fists, trying to stop the shaking, the tremors. Gloved hands found their way to mine and and I looked up to see Seras' big blue eyes staring gently into my own.
"He's your friend, yeah? You love him, yeah? Then you'll be strong for him. You /are/ strong enough for him," she said softly. "You got this."
When she removed herself, I looked down at my hands once again and they were finally still, so I met Alucard's gaze and I nodded, so he opened the large door with no resistance. The sound of scraping rang clear up the stairs, from the darkness. Deep, gutteral growls echoed in the no doubt vast area and the clinking of chains chilled my bones and I hesitated. It sounded like a large dog was down there, in the darkness, but then I remembered there really was a large dog down there in the darkness. My best friend was now one of the things that go bump in the night and it froze my body to the very core. Was I strong enough? Was I really strong enough to see him like this? Broken and battered? A deep breath in. A deep breath out. I started down the steep stairs, hand lightly trailing on the wall.
"J-Jake?" I called out, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
A presence behind me told me Alucard had followed down the stairs.
"He's in a cage," he told me slowly, face awfully close to my own.
Lights suddenly turned on, though for only half of the large room. Something slunk back into the darkness of an expansive cage, wrapped in silver chains. I glanced back at Alucard, who gestured casually towards the cage, only moving towards the cage when I did.
"Jake...?" I called out, somewhat more sure. "Jake, it's me, Ollie. Your friend?"
I stood a few inches from the cage, unsure about how close I could get. Suddenly, a foot came out of the shadows. It was tanned and had chipped black nail polish on the nails, which looked more like talons right then. He was still wearing his jeans from work, splattered and doused with blood. A chiseled belly came into the light, movements unsure and confused.
"Jake..."
The man in the cage stopped completely before he could fully come out of the darkness.
"Jake, please come out? I just want to see if you're okay," I said softly.
Finally, the body continued. Familiar black hair came into view draped over his shoulders and my heart broke to see the large, biting gouge wound that had already scarred over on his neck, extending to his left shoulder and chest. His eyes were different too, rough, tired and red. He looked at me strangely, eyes wide. He moved a few more steps towards me and I returned the gesture, placing a hand on the bars in the hopes he would come to me. Without warning, arms wrapped around my waist and yanked me backwards just as Jake lunched at the bars, long arms reaching through, claws just barely scraping my skin. Alucard and I tumbled backwards, landing on the much taller man hard, though he didn't seem to care.
"He won't be himself every again," Alucard murmured in my ear. "You will have to accept that soon or you'll never be okay."
