8. "It's the dead thing."

"Why on Earth do we have to stay here of all places?!" Alucard asked, a clear frustration in his voice that suggested he has been arguing with Anderson for some time already. The priest's fastened his gaze on him, his eyebrows raised a little with scepticism. "Do you have any idea where that Marcos is then?" Alucard returned the glare. "No, I don't, but what good will it do to sit here cooped up like a pair of chickens?" He knew he struck the nerve when Anderson's eye twitched.

"We have our orders, vampire. And you'll obey them, you hear me?"

"And what if I don't? You'll bore me to death with your sermons?" Alucard's eyes were sparkling with rage and humour both. He didn't particularly mind staying in the hotel some more. Truth be told, he actually liked the idea far better than going on random chase across Highlands. He was, after all, quite lazy and the hotel was comfortable enough. His protests were more of one of his just-because-I-want-to-annoy-the-crap-out-of-you things.

"Spare me your insults. You heard the same speech as me. The protestant bitch herself ordered you to stay here, so you'll stay here like a good dog." Anderson wasn't too happy about staying though and he did try to argue with his superiors about it, but he was told to shut up and obey, so the only thing he could do was to at least vent on the vampire and take pleasure at forcing him to obey as well.

They have called their offices the next day after the storm has quieted down. To both their immense surprise, their bosses thought it would be imperative to cooperate more closely. Upon learning about the priest's and vampire's current location, it was decided the Protestant Knights will temporarily buy the old hotel and Alucard and Anderson are to take a residence there while some of the local agents will investigate and question the villages in Highlands. It did make sense because as the two of them made such a ruckus the last time they hunted the vampires, they were likely to be recognized. Also, neither of them inspired any amount of trust so even the humans wouldn't speak with them about any strange occurring in their neighbourhood, since the strangest occurrence might just as well be the two of them appearing suddenly.

Alucard folded his arms on his chest and just turned his back on Anderson. "Fine. But you'll be my midnight snack every day till we can leave this place." He grinned inwardly. There was no need to look at the priest's face to know his expression. "You don't want me to go on a rampage if you let me starve, right?" The priest snorted and started toward the door. "You can go without feeding for weeks. I asked." With that he left the room, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Alucard headed back to his room as well. He plopped himself on the bed, stretching out and closing his eyes. His mind wondered back to Marcos and if he was truly one of the Pristinus vampires. Could he be one of the Thirteen? No, that was impossible. They were all dead, he counted them. Was it possible that he survived? Or was he someone else? An outsider perhaps? The questions rolled around in his head, a never-ending torrent of thoughts.

It was several hours later when Alucard finally got up and went downstairs. He smelled tea and knew he'd find Anderson in the kitchen. Sure enough, the priest was sitting at a table, sipping a tea and reading that day's newspaper. Behind him, the French door was opened to the fields, the chill creeping in. The sun was setting already.

"Preston called. There's been a werewolf attack few miles from here. They want us investigate."

Alucard made a face. He knew Preston well. He was one of the locals they were supposed to work with and one that Alucard personally hated on a very basic level. Nonetheless, he swallowed the distaste the name brought and asked. "When was that?"

"About three weeks ago."

"They're gone by now. It'll be a waste of our time."

"I agree. But Preston was rather insistent. It seems that there were vampires as well. It could be a group." Anderson folded the papers and turned eyes at the vampire who just sat down and reached for his cup of tea. "That's mine." He frowned and made a move for the cup but Alucard was quicker, taking a sip of the tea already.

"Three weeks ago, huh? The reports say vampires are getting in league with werewolves only recently. I don't think it's related." Alucard kept sipping the tea, enjoying the look of annoyance on Anderson's face.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"No maybes here, priest. Werewolves and vampires don't go along very well. They pretty much hate each other to the point vampires are more likely to voluntarily burn in the sun than to be near the wolves. And the werewolves get feral the moment they get a whiff of the vampires."

"I heard that before, but why is that really? I mean, aren't you both predators?" Anderson looked at the vampire with mild curiosity. He didn't exactly cared for the explanation since he considered both groups to be abhorrent abominations that need to be swept from the face of the earth.

"It's the dead thing."

"What?"

"The dead thing." Alucard repeated with a wink. "Werewolves are hunters, sure enough, but as any animal, they are kind of spooked by the death, or more precisely by the stench of death. It's not that the vampires smell like corpses, well, actually, they sometimes do, but it's the… Hmmm, call it an essence of death. And the werewolves can smell that miles away. They usually avoid coming near a vampire but when they cross paths, the werewolf is most likely to pick up a fight."

"So vampires avoid them to avoid confrontation? That seems kinda uncharacteristic…" Anderson looked at Alucard dubiously.

"Of course not! Vampires have also very keen smell and to them, werewolves smell… Hmmm, how to correctly describe… You know how dogs smell when they are old, dirty and get wet? Magnify that thousand times. That alone is pretty revolting, but it's mixed with certain power. Werewolves are living humans that transform into wolves. They have power that equals vampires to certain degree but they still retain their humanity for most part. They can have children. Children that bear the same curse, sure, but the option is there. There are even whole families where both parents are werewolves. They aren't as special as one would think either."

"Yes, I heard about that. But that still doesn't… Oh… They are envious, aren't they? The vampires I mean. You envy the werewolves."

Alucard smiled sourly and nodded. "Yes, we do indeed. And of course, there's the main reason. Werewolf bites."

"Huh? Of course they bite. I mean, their bite is what turns ordinary human into a werewolf. If he survives the bite and the transition, that is." Anderson raked his mind for the information he learned about the werewolves.

"Yes. Ordinary humans. For the vampires, it does something else though. It's like a poison to them. The power in werewolf blood is a life force all of its own. It's able to turn a human into a beast and then back again. It's one of the most powerful, well, magic there is."

"Magic?" The priest spat out the word with obvious distaste. "There's no such thing as magic."

"Some say there is no such thing as a vampire or a werewolf. Or eighty years old priest that look half his age and is very nearly invincible." Alucard winked at him and sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter what you call it. The truth remains that it's a sort of power, a taint, whatever you wanna call it, that resides in the werewolf's blood and saliva. When it gets into contact with a vampire's blood, it sorts of collide and this collision makes the blood cells to collapse. Or die to speak more plainly. It's not instant either. Also, it depends on how strong the vampire is, how many times he's been bitten and when was the last time he fed on a human."

"What's that to do with anything?"

"When a vampire feeds on a human, his own blood gets sort of diluted. So when the werewolf bites a vampire that has fed very vigorously and very recently, the vampire's body is able to fight the poison more effectively than a vampire that hasn't fed in a long while. No need to say that fledglings don't usually survive these encounters no matter how recently they fed or how much. But enough of the lecture. My point was that vampires and werewolves don't work together unless they are sort of forced to."

"How do you force werewolf into such cooperation?"

"That's a good question. They are usually immune to a mind control, but they do tend to act as a pack. If it was me, I'd go for the Alpha in the group. Get him under your control and he'll be able to influence all the others. They will obey without question."

Anderson pondered the words. "How immune are you to werewolf's bite?"

"Why? Are you thinking up a way to dispose of me?" Alucard laughed and winked at him. "Wolves don't bother me. They could tear me apart with their teeth and I would still survive without so much as a headache."

The priest gave him a long hard look. He was piecing together all the information the vampire gave him over the last few days. "One last question. How immune is one of those Pristinus vampires?"

Alucard chuckled and nodded. "What a cheeky question, priest. Well, how should I know? Now, if the interrogation is over…" He put down the empty cup and stood up. "Thanks for the tea." He ducked as Anderson threw the cup at him and cackled madly. "See ya!"

Anderson watched him leave with a frown. He knew the vampire wasn't telling him something important and he'd be damned if he accepted his how-should-I-know answer. But it was clear that he wasn't going to talk about it anytime soon. He looked out of the opened window to the fields. The sun has set meanwhile and mist was creeping in from the forest. Something stirred in the distance. Are there really werewolves out there? He mused to himself and decided he'd have to get Alucard to cooperate whether he liked it or not. He stood up and walked out of the room, the shattered cup crunching under his foot as he stepped on it.

Alucard wasn't in his room. Truth was he went back there but the moment his eyes landed on his coat he just grabbed it and left through the balcony, jumping over the railing and landing smoothly on the grass below. He knew Anderson will be mad at him for leaving like that and the thought send shivers of excitement throughout his body. Nothing made him quite so happy as to torment others, whatever form the tormenting took. He couldn't quite describe what it was that drew him towards the forest. The mention of the werewolves always made his hair stand up on the back of his neck. Not because he would be in any danger. Far from it, really. But they reminded him too much of days that passed long ago. Of things that belonged to the past and shouldn't be brought up.

Alucard shrugged, shaking off the memories again. Deep down he knew he should talk to Anderson if they were to face Marcos. He knew he should tell him everything he knew, but in doing so, he'd have to open the Pandora Box that was his mind. He stopped and looked back at the hotel through the trees. He saw Anderson leaving the room. The French door stayed opened.

For a moment, Alucard thought about leaving. If he left right now, right this moment, he could be half way on the way to America. If he was lucky, Integra would never find out how to call him back… For a moment, he wished he could just continue walking and forget everything else. He fought the compulsion and hated himself for doing so. Why couldn't he just leave? Was it part of the spell that kept him tied to the Hellsings? He abandoned the thoughts and just kept walking through the forest.

The sky darkened quickly outside and Anderson lit a lamp, reading through the familiar passages of the Old Testament. He stopped reading as a sudden thought struck him and he reached for his phone.

"Anderson here. I need a clearance to the Archive." He waited on the phone for few minutes, then just hung it up silently and got up. "Hey, vampire! We need to talk." He strode to Alucard's room and opened the door without knocking. He knew right away the vampire was gone. The room was dark and balcony door stood wide opened. Anderson fought the sudden urge to run after him, catch up with him and smash his head against a tree trunk, hard, repeatedly.

Alucard felt a chill creep up his spine and he grinned. For some reason, he was sure Anderson found out he was gone. He kept strolling though. The air was getting thicker, the smell was almost tangible. He was sure now, the werewolves were close. His senses were overwhelmed for a moment. He always did everything he could to avoid them.

"What are you?" A voice came from behind him together with half a dozen snarls.

Yes, Alucard always tried, but somehow, he always ended up running into them like this.

"So, you think you just come in here, stumbling about like a child on a playground, huh?" The voice behind him was rough and made him think of a large burly man with hairy arms and back. He turned and blinked in surprise, then started laughing uncontrollably.

"Hey! HEY!" The man in front of him could be five feet three at most, slightly round around his middle and with sandy blond hair that were neatly groomed. He wore tweed jacket and brown pants. He looked like a math teacher in his late forties. The only thing missing were little round-rimmed glasses and chalk dust on his forearms. Behind him though were six large wolves, all with bared fangs and growling ferociously.

Alucard managed to calm down enough to say: "Seriously, they do come in all shapes and sizes, huh?" before breaking into another fit of laughter.

"Get him!" The little man barked an order and the wolves moved in unison, their bodies all but blurring with speed.


Hiye! It's been a while, Iknow and I am sorry, things has been crazy at work and you know, stuff. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'll try to update sooner next time.