Quick Author's Note:
Good day (or night or morning) to you, reader! This has been my pet project for a while to prove to myself that I could create a well paced novel-length manuscript. As such, this was originally not meant for others. And yet, why write a pretend novel to test my skill if no one was to read it? Thus, Tied was born. Please keep in mind that I have tweaked some minor details and am aware that I have. Some events or descriptions may not accurately align with the manga or anime.
Also, I have this as mature for some pretty good reasons. There's violence, language, and sexual relations. You, good reader, have been warned.
Please enjoy your read. Today has to be set at a rather fast pace. As such, you could prepare a basket of goodies to take along with you on your trip. Would the traditional peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich cut into triangles do the trick, or should you add peeled apples, leaving the skin to mimic that of rabbit ears? Either way, please do be aware to keep hydrated. Slip in a thermos of citrus tea, if you can. See you on the flip side.
Part Nine: Sever/Divide
Lorelei slashed down, instantly spilling a coil of stinking guts and stomach contents from her opponent. The cream and coral pelted lycanthrope yelped with undisguised agony, but still lived. Lorelei tsked and with her other hand, flipped a pistol into her right hand while still keeping the sword embedded in the wolf's stomach to keep him still. His slit, golden eyes widened with comprehension and he began to back away on padded feet. Lorelei did not give him the time he needed for escape and placed a silver bullet right into the creature's skull point blank. Bits of soft hot flesh splattered onto Lorelei's cheek as the lycanthrope twitched, caught in its death throws until he ultimately succumbed to its fate. The beast fell to his knees and crumpled to the floor, dead. Lorelei flicked her sword free from the droplets of blood and gore still clinging to its tip. She flipped her gun behind her shoulder, and without looking, shot the female lycanthrope who took the opportunity to barrel over through the mouth. The creature fell just short of a few centimeters at Lorelei's feet, her jaw blown to pieces of skull and muscle.
"Ahahaha! Good one lass!" Anderson spun around, flinging his blades deep into a lycanthrope with wickedly over sized claws even for his kind, as if claws held any factor in this melee. The priest's blades were not made of silver, and so he chose to slice each creature into bloody chunks to the point where they were no longer able to keep the will to live as meat pushed through a grinder. When Anderson's devastation lagged due to lack of blades, he merely whipped out his bible and flung odd but devastating enchantments at the beasts the like of which Lorelei had never witnessed before. There were body parts and organs flung in a circle all around the priest, who seemed far too proud of the destruction he created. In the back of Lorelei's head, she wondered if she should take up religion just for the ability to fling deadly paper spells at her foes.
Walter was the one who first opened the grass covered opening to the lycanthrope's lair. There was a ladder that descended deep into the belly of the enemy's base. When they followed the cold metal rungs down, Walter placed an intricate webbing of wires to enclose the opening. According to Anderson, most of the lycanthropes were running around outside in their true forms like dogs off their leashes in a dog park. When they came back to rest at their lair, they would come home to a nasty surprise comprising of their imposing deaths. The plan was to then thin the creatures out as much as they could, keeping in mind that some might have stayed behind and would surely dislike their house guests. There would be no reason for the creatures to retreat, being cocky beasts and seeing only four opponents. The Hellsing group plus Anderson should be able to cull them all. Lorelei and Anderson were the relief if there was to be the case of any inside stragglers. The unlikely duo had just killed ten and were working on the eleventh.
"Have we accidentally killed Oliver?" Lorelei wiped her gleaming forehead with the sleeve of her coat. She didn't know how the 'thropes coped with the blazing lights installed at the base of their hallways. Was the only relief to unbearable lighting system those cubby holes along the hall they called places to sleep? More like caves.
"Nah. As I told ye, this Oliver lass is a looker. Great big bottom and curves to make any sinner piss his pants."
"That's right," Lorelei narrowed her eyes. Men. "How do you think Walter and Arthur are fairing?" As if in answer, she heard the thunder of a machine gun and the agonized cries of lycanthropes being cut to ribbons. The lycanthrope hoard outside must have just returned from their moonlit ritual. Lorelei wasn't worried about those two, and if they were truly in trouble, they devised a call for help just in case of an emergency. It was either that or run and call for Plan B. The time for an unleashed Alucard wasn't at hand just yet. Just then, a petite lycanthrope with russet fur howled a feral cry, charging at the priest. Lorelei had to admit that a furious lycanthrope's throat was definitely engineered to tweak instinctual primal fear from prey. Too bad she wasn't prey.
"I'll devour your livers and throw your corpses in the latrine!"
"Now, that's quite a specific request!" Anderson whooped. He easily lifted his leg up and connected with the lycanthrope's face. She was not expecting this type of rebuttal, and flew backwards into the wall, creating a imprint of her body's contact. Lorelei did not have time to watch the battle to its conclusion for there were two more beasts lumbering over to finish her off.
Lorelei took a leaf from Anderson's book and grasped around for her throwing knives. She selected exactly five from the belts criss crossing her torso and flung the blades with all of her might at the short and tall targets. One missed its mark, but the other four connected with a thunk into the loping lycanthrope's jugulars. Blood spurt onto the pads of their paws as they tried to comprehend what just happened to them. Thank goodness lycanthropes seemed to have similar anatomy to a human. Again, Lorelei leveled her pistol and fired once. Twice. Another two down. Anderson kicked his own newly dead female 'thrope. He beheaded her and began playing with her eyelids with the time of his boot. Open and closed. Open and closed.
"Eh, didn't eat enough. Just lookin' at em' makes my stomach growl." He rubbed his stomach, and toss if make its point as he played with the lycanthrope, his hungry organ let a ripping growl slice through the air.
"Anderson, gross! How does fighting make you hungry?" Lorelei feigned gagging and bent to pluck out the blades from her victims, wiping them clean on her already coated pants and resheathing them.
"You'll just have to believe me, lass. If there were a stack of steaming mashed potatoes aided with a frothy glass of O'Hara's Stout, I'd eat with me one hand and slay with the other!" He chuckled, and then violently kicked the head away from its body like a football.
"Anderson, I can't stand you," Lorelei huffed. She was peeved not only from the question if Walter and Arthur were fairing well, but also because Anderson's hunger had become infectious. Mashed potatoes actually did sound good. While she was contemplating the foods she and Walter would share together once they completed this mission, she felt an eerie prickle of fear walk down her skin. She shuddered, twisting around to see if someone was approaching. No one was there. Just an empty hallway that lacked the blazing white lights in abundance where she stood and led to absolute darkness. Probably to a common room or where the technology was stored. Yes, thinking about the common room was what raised the red flag. No one else had come to defeat them in five minutes whereas they were attacked almost immediately when they initially broke through the first pathway.
"Hey, Anderson. Something's wrong. I know most of the lycanthropes were outside, but we haven't even defeated twenty. Should we investigate or go help them up front?" Lorelei scratched her face, feeling itchy from the agitation that they may actually be stuck in a trap.
"Well, you see, your fiancé wanted us to use caution. That's where we have our, eh, differences." Anderson withdrew more sharpened blades and rolled his shoulders. "I'm going in. You can either come with me, or stay here. You're a tough lass. I'm not worried about ye tail." The priest secured his glasses upon the bridge of his nose, and the lenses flashed light blue. Caught in the rush of enthusiasm Anderson gave off in palpable tidal waves, she gripped her own pistol tighter.
"Alright. Count me in, Anderson. I trust Walter and Arthur to clean up their mess. I need to find and secure Oliver for the Hellsing Organization. Can't do too much here just standing around." She smirked, feeling the heat of the hunt drill through the marrow of her bones. It was almost like the days before Sir Arthur Hellsing ever invited her over for..his proposition. When all she cared for was the increasing of her skills and the growing marks of the kills she made. She licked her lips, ready to go.
"Aha! Well then! Let's not dawdle like a couple of some damn twats! Lass, follow me." Anderson belted down the hallway, giving no regard in attempts at surprising his enemy. He wanted to come out barreling, scaring the living daylights from the ones he would soon slay. This man was way too much like Alucard.
Lorelei tailed the over zealous priest, taking the sharp turns and sudden stops he made in stride. More rooms containing beds and everyday items passed by until a change in equipment confirmed her suspicions. Now there was an abundance of technology. Charts, lumbering machines, and scientific items such as vials, microscopes, and slides occupied most of the tables and furniture. A large screen covered the entirety of a wall with arrows and marks scribbled in red up on the pixels indicating a large discovery that was now long turned off. Something was eerie about descending from a well lived in area to the stoic gears of science that gave way so abruptly. What in the world were the lycanthropes attempting to achieve? Yes, they were trying to revive their species whilst ending the threat humans supplied, but this leader was up to something more. Something that had nothing to do with helping thee lycanthropes at all. The whole place stank of it. Oliver was more of a threat than what Anderson and even Arthur thought she was.
"Anderson. Hey, Anderson! Where did you get to?" Lorelei had been too intent upon inspecting where she was plunging herself into that Anderson must have taken a turn she did not see. She shook her head from side to side at the three way junction she was stuck inside. Each direction was dark with no sign of a retreating priest's back. She bit her lip and strained her ears. There was nothing. Not even the slap of feet against the cold tiles. Irritated, Lorelei took a wild guess. The right was the Holy way of God, correct? Anderson was so crazy about that God of his that he would have definitely gone right. Yes. Determined, Lorelei turned. She took no more than five steps into her choice when a pair of hands shot out from a shadowed room to her left. Lorelei yelped and fell backwards. She cursed, finding out that the hallway had been coated with something adhesive. She normally would never lose balance from an enemy's administrations otherwise.
"Yes, there you are. Just like in the vision," a deep, highly seductive feminine voice mused. Lorelei rolled over in mid air from those offensive arms and jumped to her feet. She whipped out a blade in her free hand, searching the perimeter of the tiny room mainly used for what she assumed to be sample prep. There was a pair of feet that led to Anderson prone form laying on the floor. Lorelei growled. The priest was still alive, but something was done to him. Poison? Injured? Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was an expression of peace upon the man's face that she had never witnessed before. That was odd in itself.
"Where are you? What have you done to Anderson?" Lorelei growled. She could still not find the one who caused this melee of chaos. Her red hair had fallen into her face and she angrily brushed the strands off.
"Do not worry. Your Anderson is fine. He shall be asleep for the rest of this adventure, I fear. One of my people shall take him far away, for I later need him. I need him to live for my revenge."
"Those are some big words for someone who is hiding. Come to the light so that I may see your face and plunge a blade in."
"My, my. Is that supposed to be endearing?" Despite the clear ridicule in the woman's tone, she truly did step into the dim light. She appeared as if she really was a shadow herself. With the aid of the light, Lorelei immediately knew who this was from the scrawling descriptions Anderson provided. She was face to face with the elusive Alpha, Oliver.
"It worked, didn't it? Now that I have you where I want you, Oliver, I believe it is time to take you to Sir Arthur Hellsing for questioning." Lorelei readied a special blade coated with a sleeping elixir she kept specifically for purposes such as these.
Oliver was smaller than Lorelei. She wore no makeup, but in any case, she did not require any. The condescending quirk to her naked lips deepened the luminescent hue of aquamarine eyes piercing through the gloom. Her skin was as dark as a weeping willow's bark, and her nose was delicately long and pointed at its end to indicate an Indian heritage. Her hair was sandy blonde and reached down to her hips in an unbound frenzy. Although she did not have a large chest, her small frame accentuated her womanly curves. Oliver wore a black turtle neck sweater paired with a gray and black plaid skirt laying level to her kneecaps. She didn't wear shoes. The whole ensemble worked perfectly with her. This woman was truly a beauty, not to mention the low melodic wave of her voice chilled Lorelei's bones. Oliver had to be either around Lorelei's own age or a little younger. How did she find herself in such a seat of position. And Alpha, above the lycanthropes?
"I would love to meet your Arthur, but not yet. Not until I have followed this through. I am the secret agent of the Major's, aren't I? He loves his plots thick and convoluted." Lorelei had no time to ponder what in the world this mad woman was talking about. A small hiss behind her was all Lorelei's received as a warning, but it was too late when she turned. Something had hit her square in the chest, acting immediately to remove the control of her motor skills. A needle from a blow dart she assumed. Who else was there? Lorelei gasped, struggling against the chemical changes in her own body. "I have need of you, dear. You are the key to starting and then ending this war."
Lorelei collapsed to her knees, shaking in violate vibrations up and down her spine. She held back the tears of frustration threatening to explode from her face. This was the trap. Never did Lorelei imagine that she was the target of Oliver's web of chaos. Then again, she was prime hostage material being Arthur's fiancée. It didn't much matter now, did it? In fear, she pushed her body to respond to her commands. No such luck. Lorelei was only able to keep her tongue inside of her mouth when her skull smashed against the floor after her body completely gave out. At least there would be no tongue biting. After a mere few more seconds, she blacked out completely.
The vampire hunter woke up in a copse of trees. She was tied to those trees, to be more specific. She wriggled around, trying to obtain a better idea of what she was dealing with. Five yards away lay the town of Athlone. It was still night, but the type of night that belied the impending morning. The stars were halfway across the sky, and the night's distinct aroma was turning sweet upon her nose. Dew. How much time had passed? Lorelei spotted a figure standing next to her at her tree. It was Oliver.
"Oh, you're up already?" The woman batted her eyelashes. Maybe she thought that move would work on her like everyone else, but not Lorelei.
"Damn straight I am." Lorelei glanced down at her person. Of course, she was stripped of all of her weapons. "If you don't let me go, Oliver, you'll be inviting someone to your party who will definitely crash it."
"Dear, if you are speaking about Alucard, then he is the guest of honor." The woman smirked at Lorelei's bewildered expression. The vampire hunter though that she was doing pretty well with her poker face and was angered that this woman broke apart those hours of practice with Walter. "I hope with all of my heart that Arthur releases that beast."
"Why are you doing this?"
"You're about to die soon. And since you'll be the only person on this planet who I shall tell, then I suppose I cannot fully give up this opportunity. Fine." Oliver sidled over to where Lorelei was bound. The woman placed two surprisingly warm fingers on Lorelei's brow. "You see, I have a special power. I have the ability to see the past and the future. Although, the future is never a fixed pattern, with the help of the past, I am usually able to decipher the correct future's choice from many. Usually being the key term, mind you." The woman chuckled. "Here, I'll let you see what I mean. Took a look, will you, dear?"
Lorelei's sight was taken from her. Wiped clean up and away. She panicked, faced with the dull and empty void of blindness until color began to fold in upon the edges. The colors of peach, brown, and gray swirled, becoming tangible at last. Figures arose along with structures. Lorelei could see again, but she instinctively understood that what she was seeing was a part of what Oliver was showing her. A vision of the past, she assumed.
There was Oliver, or at least the younger version of the woman. Oliver was most likely eighteen to twenty years of age in this vision. There was the faintest hue of youth and innocence beaming from her every pore. She was smiling, showing off all of her pearly white teeth. And she was staring adoringly up at the man her complete opposite. He was a good head taller, had extremely large shoulders, long auburn hair tied at his nape, and the square jaw of an American football player. He was a rugged handsome, but nothing like the type of man Lorelei would have gone for; tall, thin, and well muscled. This man also exchanged a lover's stare with crystal green eyes blazing out from snowflake white skin at Oliver. It was obvious that these two were a romantic couple.
Oliver held her hands above her rounded belly while the man cupped her cheek with his large, clawed palm. It was fascinating that he didn't crush her like a dog would with a flower. He was amazingly gentle as they clasped hands and walked away from Lorelei's allotted sight. The vision stuttered, and then continued to follow the couple. As they walked, Oliver's stomach grew and grew. Each step was a progression in her pregnancy until she appeared in a bed with her man at her side. Oliver held two bundles in her arms. Twins. From inside the wriggling clothe were two pairs of ice blue eyes and the creamy skin of chocolate milk. The children were beautiful. Dazzling.
The large man nuzzled his other half as they cooed at their sweet children. Again, the scene melted into another, creating a framed story taking Lorelei forcibly to the next stage of this family's life. The children grew from babies to toddlers, taking their first steps. The proud parents watched their offspring toddle over and giggle at the family pet, which was surprisingly a cat. In this half reality, the soft hues of pinks and blues permeated the vision's background. In a sense, these colors were a safe, protective haven around the family. That was until cracks began to form around the outside of the family's bubble like those of an stricken egg's. Another crack and then another permeated the shell, red and bleeding. The man, a look of stricken panic, stained his face. It was then that Oliver deemed to narrate her life. The woman's voice pounded at the back of Lorelei's skull, jarring what had been until then, a silent experience.
"I met Donell when I was a child and he ten years my senior. He finally saw me as a woman when I was seventeen and he twenty-seven. I birthed our children when I was eighteen-years-old." The cracking scene seemed at odds with what Oliver was explaining. The horror plain on the parent's faces not syncing with the sweet voice blooming from Oliver's mind. "He was the Alpha of the greatest of lycanthrope packs, his father only passing a few years before we had our own children. Despite his young age, Donell commanded respect from his pack like no other Alpha ever did in their history. Not even his father. I was the daughter of a merchant who dealt with the lycanthropes directly. I never liked the odd creatures, but that didn't matter with Donell. Hell, he hated humans, but there I was. Having his children." The ground underneath Lorelei trembled. She flung out her arms for balance, but fell, tumbling closer to the scene of chaos unfolding before her.
"I didn't care if he killed humans. If he killed his own kind. If he was a creature from the lower rings of Hell. He was mine and I was his. Did it truly matter what others made of it? Aha! Apparently so. They came when I was twenty. Get that. We were allotted only three years of bliss. Such a damned short time, right?" The shadows of two men appeared from the corner of the egg's sphere, shattering the casings completely. The sharp pieces impaled themselves around Donell and his children, leaving Oliver in shock. She ran to hide. The two shadowed figures were too familiar to ignore. Lorelei felt sick to her stomach, recognizing Walter and Alucard as they commenced in slaughtering not only Donell, but others who had came into the memory from no where. They were all disposed of. Sliced and ripped apart. Shot through. Destroyed. Lorelei could not find where the children went, but assumed that they did not make it through the bloodshed whether from the direct doings of Walter and Alucard or not. The figures retreated, leaving Oliver to come out from behind a blurry structure to face her mate's death.
"I went mad. Donell was dead. The twins, gone forever. My life had been wiped away so easily." Oliver's chuckle helped ring true her claims of insanity. The scene followed as Oliver picked herself up and walked a vast forest, then a road and thereafter, bustling cities. Trying to find a place to stay. Trying to cope with her life ending. "I traveled for so long. My hatred building. Dissecting the ones who took my family from me. My resolution blooming with each step. It wasn't long until I found the person who shared the same interests as myself. To end Alucard, and in a sense, end the Hellsings forever. I never got his name. I don't care to have it. I knew him only as the Major."
The vision's Oliver found herself in a room filled with scientific devices much like the ones Lorelei saw in the lycanthrope's nest. There was a flash of lenses behind the machinery. Lorelei's mouth went dry as she spotted another man in the shadows. She could not fully make out what he looked like save for the glowing of his spectacles and how short he came to Oliver's height. The man moved from his hiding space, only letting his white gloved hand show through the murk.
"You see the future, do you not, fraulein?" His voice was high pitched and irritating. Like the squealing of swine. Lorelei ground her teeth. So this man was the true enemy? She would have to make sure and commit this to memory because she was going to get out of here. Oliver was foolish to reveal all of her cards. Lorelei desperately hoped that she was right. That she would have the time and the freedom to tell Walter and Arthur.
"Yes. I do. Or, I thought I could. When my family perished despite my predictions of a healthy future, I lost faith in myself." Oliver's voice came from the apparition. It was weak and broken, rasping like creaky gears. She was bundled in a frayed coat, although her beauty had not diminished in her weak health.
"My fraulein, I truly regret that you were unaware of that most vial threat, Alucard. And as such lost your precious family. He is a wild card, as one would say. If you do not calculate him in your plans, even if they are future plans, he is always able to dash your hopes against a wall like the brains of a babe." The high pitched voice laughed and continued. "What Millennium plans to do is rid the world of Alucard. To die the best of deaths in the purge of the master vampire and those who ally with him. And yes, in the midst of our rampage, there shall be the bloodiest of wars to greet mankind itself. I must confess that I want to make certain a few of my own darling plans absolute fruition before we take more definite steps in his eradication. That is where you come into play, fraulein."
"M-me?" Oliver's ice blue eyes widened and she took a step back, gulping. She repositioned her makeshift coat, shivering in the cold. Her blue eyes were bulbous.
"Yes, yes. I want you to look into the future. Tell me what you can. Explain to me if what I hope to build can be managed so that I may confidently move forwards. I do have a cat that can spy, his skills mean nothing if I am not certain of an outcome." The white gloved hand moved up and down in a frenzy.
"I…but you said that Alucard—"
"Fraulein, were you not listening?" He asked jovially. "If you are unaware of the vampire, then everything becomes caputz! Now you know of him. Now you can plan around him. My spy, Zorin, has similar abilities and has confirmed this theory, more or less. Please, will you not tell us of the future?"
"I will…do anything to dispose of Alucard and those he loves. The butler. His master. Europe. The world." The woman growled after only a small reluctance.
"Good! Well then, shall I settle you with a warm blanket and glass of coacoa, miss…oh, please do excuse me. What was your name again?" The woman stepped towards the glowing pair of glasses, illuminated in the darkness. Her expression was grimly set. A deadly beauty, powerful and ready to shed blood.
"My name is Integra Oliver Donell."
…
Lorelei fell from the vision, smashing right back into the present with a painful pop. She sucked in crushing breathes of fresh, night air. Alright. So she had to remember that Oliver, no, Integra was not the main enemy. She was still just another flunky for a man named the Major. This all smelled of something familiar. Something that had started long ago from childhood. She couldn't quite catch the threads of facts flung at her, clumsy at tying them together. Not while she was still in danger of the woman Integra.
"If…"Lorelei coughed and glared at the woman who lazily leaned against the tree with a triumphant smirk. "If you are so crushed about your family's death, why in the Hell would you kill off the lycanthropes in London? Why are you raising such a farce?"
"Because, Miss Richford, I needed a situation large enough to gain the attentions of the Hellsing Organization. Do you think the Queen would send her dogs for just any run of the mill vampire and his ghouls?" The beautiful woman threw back her head and laughed. "I care not for the lycanthropes. When Donell and my children died, they did nothing to take revenge upon those who took them from me. Nothing at all. They were like puppies with tails between their legs. Useless creatures! I knew that I could use such spineless gits to my advantage. Hmn, I am prepared to kill them all to end the life of one man. To realize the Major's plans, even if I do not live long enough to see it through with my own eyes."
"What the Hell do you mean?" Lorelei snapped. This Integra was insane. Plain and simple as that. She was willing to kill off her husband's people and anyone else to get what she wanted. Not to mention the humans that she killed to get their attention and more to come if Arthur still hadn't found the antidote to whatever those river corpses exposed to many drinking sources. There was no remorse in those ice blue eyes. Sharp and deadly.
For the first time, Lorelei thought of Walter, Arthur, and Alucard. She even gave a shred of worry for Anderson. What was happening right now? Were they still fighting? Had Arthur given the signal for Alucard to come out from hiding? She wanted so badly to tell Arthur not to do it. Just do not do it. It was what this mad woman wanted for what ends, Lorelei could not figure out. And Walter. Oh God. What did this woman want from her butler? The butler who decimated Integra's life. Lorelei cursed herself for getting caught. If only she had thought more on the possibility she was the one Integra was after. If only. But for now, she settled on finding a way out of here and telling Walter of this new information. Even if was upon her dying breath.
"We are nearly to the tipping point. I can smell blood coming closer. Soon, the battle will come here, and then Alucard shall release his deadliest form." Integra scooped her luscious hair from her shoulders and straightened her her black turtleneck top. "I do so wish to be here when the symphony concludes with its crescendo, but I am not to be a key player until a while yet. Do you want to know what will happen? What I have seen? Dear, I think you should just so you can feel the pain I have before you perish."
"No! Get away from me. Don't you touch me with those hands!" Lorelei screeched and bucked around in her bindings, but Integra gave her no heed. Again, the woman bent down to rest her fingers upon her brow. The nails were painted a creamy peach, and a black ring clung to its middle digit. Lorelei was once again cast into a vision, but this time, it wasn't a clouded memory from the past. This was the future. And it was the future from the point of view of…Walter.
…The Uncertain Future...
Walter was surprised when, as if called by an insistent owner, the thrall of lycanthropes throwing themselves into the battle, heeled and pulled back. There was no benefit in retreating. If they had pushed harder, then they might have broken through and killed the butler and his master. Walter wiped his brow, watching the forms distancing themselves out of the hideout and into the beck and call of the forest. Arthur, who had sustained an angry wound on his chest caused by a lycanthrope's persistent swipes, growled in frustration. They climbed out of the holding, following the beasts up until the starting point of the forest.
"Shall we pursue them, sir?" Walter asked. He was also marked with bites and scratches. The pain was a distant pulse, however. He was more concerned about losing the opportunity to destroy the lycanthropes once and for all. He also wanted to be certain of Lorelei's safety. It was awfully quiet behind them, deep inside of the lycanthrope lair. Arthur took the time to throw away his machine gun, it's rounds completely used up. There was a good thirty or fifty more lycanthropes that had escaped into the forest. The likelihood of them scouting and taking them out was low. Their only choice to kill all targets was to call Alucard, which was exactly what Arthur had been wanting to avoid. The beasts's retreat was unexpected.
"Dammit. Those damn creatures. I hope that Anderson and Lorelei found Oliver because when I radio Alucard, we would want to be far away from here." Arthur fumbled into his torn pockets. He located a cigar, lit it, and pulled deeply at the item. He blew out a plume of ivory smoke, and then focused on finding his radio. It wasn't too hard finding the item. The radio was already beeping with an incoming message. Alarmed, Arthur pressed the button and let the person on the other line speak.
"Arthur?Arthur! Dammit you protestant asshole, answer me you sunnova…aye!? There you are!" Definitely Anderson.
"Anderson? What the Hell is the matter?" Arthur barked into the radio. His face was pale, as if he already knew something was completely off. Walter sidled next to his master, feeding off of the fear pulsating in waves from Arthur's shaking muscles. Indeed, something was completely wrong. Lorelei. She was in danger. He knew it. Walter bit his thumb, waiting for Anderson's reply.
"We killed the 'thropes on the inside until none came at us. We decided to move on in until someone poked me with a needle n' I went out cold. The heathenous asswipes. I'll show 'em." Anderson cursed in a fluent string of unintelligible words until the line went quiet. The priest began again, unaware of the two men glaring daggers at the radio. "When I woke, I was back n' my room at the hotel a bloomin' three hours away. How in the Hell? Grah! It dunnea matter. What ye need to know is that there was a note left next to me bed sayin' the lycanthropes will soon attack the town of Athlone. No one will be sparred. All shall die. Arthur, I say you better send your damned plan B whatever that may be!"
"And what of Lorelei!" Walter pulled the radio away from Arthur's fingers and growled into the radio. He bared his teeth at the invisible priest on the other line. The butler's heart was thumping far too fast. Tonight was going wrong too fast. Was this the trap?
"I know nothin' of the lass, but knowing how wild she was to kill all the 'thropes, she'd want you to dispose of 'em all at any means possible!"
Walter fumed and was about to tell Anderson that he didn't know Lorelei as well as he thought he did when Arthur retrieved the radio. Walter held onto his wires, needing to feel in control when it was the last shade of emotion he felt then and there.
"Thank you, Anderson. We have it from here. You may return to the orphanage you govern in Italy. The Pope will understand. I'll make sure of it."
"No, no, no! I'll see this to the end, damn ya!"
"It shall already be finished by the time you even get into a car. Again, thank you. Live well, Anderson." Arthur changed the radio to another station.
"Sir, are you going to call Alucard with the possibility that Lorelei may be in danger? Are you truly going to let him release into that form?" Walter almost cried. He smeared the blood away from his face, outraged as Arthur ignored his servant's pleas.
"Alucard?" Arthur's stoic face remained cold. He held the device up to his lips. Trying to make certain that each word would be perfectly heard.
"Ah, hello, Master. Have you finally come to your senses?" Came the overly pleased baritone from the other side.
"Alucard. You must destroy the lycanthrope threat. No matter what. I need you to search and destroy." Arthur puffed at his cigar, the mirror image of a desperate man, falling back into a drug induced high.
"Aaah, now that is the master I serve! Yes, yes indeed! I shall do as you say. Search and DESTROY! Consider your wishes fulfilled!" The reply was joyous at the opportunity to finally be freed to avenge the deaths at London, and not only that, be himself once more in the heat of battle. The ground trembled, and from a few yards away, Walter saw a terrible vision. Without the butler being told of these plans, Arthur had set Alucard next to the battle for just this purpose. The butler reeled on his master.
"Sir, what of Lorelei? How could you?"
"There are thousands of lives at stake. Thousands!" Tears creased Arthur's eyes, and he threw the cigar to the ground, stomping on it to make the flames flicker and die. "I can't weigh one life over that many more, even if she is my fiancée. She's tough. She's young. I know that she can take care of herself. Even more, I know that you can locate her and take her away while Alucard does his work." Arthur weakly smiled. Growing older as they spoke. The weight of lives crumbling his composure.
"You know that as a Hellsing butler, I shall complete any task given to me with the utmost care. I shall find Lorelei and keep her safe during Alucard's rampage." Arthur brightened, relieved, until Walter added, "You better hope for your life that she remains alive by the end of this mess." Walter threw off the rags of his dress coat and ran into the forest, leaving Arthur to gape at his retreating form.
Walter flung his wires into the trees, tightening them like ropes and swinging over from side to side. If Anderson had been taken out of the lycanthrope complex and if the lycanthropes held no interest in returning to their home, then he bet that Lorelei was outside either fighting the creatures or held captive. It was a long shot. She still could be inside of the complex. But something was tugging at him. Pushing him in this direction. Was it the deepening sense of dread, the dark cloud that Alucard was exuding driving him in this direction?
Walter had only ever seen the form Alucard wore as Dracula only once. It was a truly horrifying trick. In his youth he had one day wanted to defeat him, head to head, and to come out on top. With that form, Walter had also had the fleeting desire to squash Alucard so that no mortal men could ever be afflicted with the need to overcome the beast again. To kill others, to drop morals, to betray brethren in the name of crowning themselves as the ones who defeated the immortal Dracula. Walter had given into complacently instead of acting on that dream, opting to follow his master's (his savior's) orders instead of taking the chance when given to him twenty years ago. When the Major had reached out his hand and asked for the butler to join his faction against humanity.
Walter shook his head. Why dredge up the murky past? What use was that old, tarnished dream when compared to the bright future he could share with the woman he so dearly loved? He always heard that the pride of aging into an old man was the dream of most Englishmen. Walter could live with losing his body to death without a fight if he could spend his twilight years side by side with Lorelei. He could do that and he would. He just had to find her. To schlepp off this overwhelming sense of terror mounting in altitude by the second. The feathers of dead souls pouring from Alucard's awakening began to creep around Walter no matter how fast he ran and swung.
"Damnit," Walter cursed under his breath. He could feel the slices and other injuries on his body now. They were throbbing with the pain of his movements. Each step and each breath was like a saw serrating his skin. Lorelei was out there. He had to stay strong until he could take her away. Keep her safe. His monocle fell, and he heard the crunch of glass as he accidentally trod over the item. It didn't matter. Those were replaceable. The glass crunched more as the creatures bleeding from Alucard followed behind. Dead souls come back to haunt the living. An unnatural mess of things.
The pale pinks of the morning sky were just about to banish the night. Soon, oranges and yellows would graze the morning hues until the sun poked out and into the day. The town of Athlone innocently sat along the river, unaware of the threat looming from behind the frantic butler. He heaved, knowing that the soldiers and horses and hounds behind him were no longer just behind, but at his sides. Already, the howls of the lycanthropes were to be heard as they yelped their last. In front of him was a circle of trees. The monstrous creatures were fighting with Alucard, now fully adorned in his full Dracula gear. Dark armor and clothed in an unfamiliar face. Black and grim, he calmly dispatched the beasts with his sword. The hound of Baskerville was at his side, ripping out the lycanthropes' throats in the mere pleasure of the sweet feast of blood. The ghoulish forms of ghosts and soldiers convened in the middle, taking over the bodies of the frenzied beasts.
Walter was too late, but there! He saw Lorelei strung up on a tree. He headed towards her.
"No, Walter! Stay back! Don't look, for God's sake. Leave!" She screamed. Walter could only see her head. The long strawberry locks of hair. Her delicate, turquoise eyes. The slight smattering of freckles across her nose. And the bonds tying her to the tree behind her. She shook her head, a heated red blaze on her face telling him that she was truly distressed. "Please. I've got this handled. No. No. No. Don't come here!"
"Like Hell I won't, Lorelei!" He growled between his teeth. He pushed past the screaming mass of lycanthropes and their attackers. He barely dodged a spear and a hand ripe with claws in his attempt to get to his Mistress. Walter used his wires to rip through a foolish lycanthrope who thought he could easily take down the haunted butler. The wolf chose wrong, and was reduced to minced meat. The huddle of bodies slowly dissipated, moving away from the clearing. Walter could finally see why Lorelei did not want him to come any close. "No," he gasped. His heart faltered. Sweat coated his back as his whole body became numb. "No, Poppet. Lorelei." He choked, stumbling over to her.
"Why don't you…ever listen to me…" Lorelei sagged against the spear impaling her straight through the chest. It was shoved between her rib cage, right under her heart. There was no saving her. This tree would be her deathbed.
"I'm not the best listener, Poppet. You know that," Walter groaned. He cupped her face with his shaking hands. She smiled dimly, blood trickling from her teeth in rivulets.
"Walter. I have to tell you something. Quickly. Before," she coughed and more blood coated her mouth. Walter hushed her.
"You are a virgin, yes? We've only ever…" He touched his forehead to hers. They were both so cold for completely different reasons. "But you are, aren't you?" She could only faintly nod. Walter risked turning around, picking out Alucard from the disappearing thrall. "ALUCARD! FIX YOUR MESS AND SAVE HER! TURN HER, YOU BLOODY FOOL! SHE CAN BE TURNED INTO A VAMPIRE!"
Alucard was affixed in a wave of blood lust. He could not hear his friend's desperate request, only the fading of his enemy's lives as he crushed them one by one. It was as Arthur feared. The master vampire was lost to them until every last lycanthrope had been decimated, even if he destroyed innocents along his bloody path. Walter cried out twice more. Pleading with the vampire to turn his beloved. To save her life. Walter, so usually steeped in a foreboding and seductive calm, was reduced to tears as he fell to his knees, throwing his wires at the vampire to gain his attention. Alucard was now too far away in many ways other than location. He was going to leave Lorelei for dead.
"Walter, get up. Look at me," Lorelei rasped. Blood was soaking through her bindings, and Walter blindly cut the skillfully tightened ropes until they snapped away. Lorelei was free to hold him with shaking fingers. He touched her, holding her body up, knowing that the spear should not be removed. Walter bit his lip, becoming cold.
"Please. Do not die. I love you," he whimpered. He kissed away Lorelei's tears. Kissed her cheeks and her nose. Claimed her mouth. She pulled slightly away and strained to tell him something. The rush in his ears, the blood swirling in his body, betrayed him. He couldn't hear her as she told him something about a Major and a woman. That he shouldn't do something that will change the course of something else. History? The future? He couldn't be as cruel as to force her to repeat her words. She was almost gone and he couldn't bare to be that callous.
"I'm sorry I realized how much I loved you far too late. Please forgive me." Lorelei nuzzled Walter's neck and he couldn't contain his sob. "Thank you for being my one and only Angel of Death, Walter C. Dornez."
There were no more words.
Walter did not have to pull back to know that Lorelei was dead.
He stood there. The dead body of the woman he cherished in his grasp. The warmth of her body fading and cooling to that of a stone. Walter brushed her hair, combing his dulled fingers into the mass of wavy locks. Her eyes had closed, and she seemed at peace. Where did she go? Was he able to leave with her? This earth had nothing else good in it for him to continue his own existence. He took out his handkerchief and dabbed away the blood from her face and gently pulled out the spear. She fell with her dead weight right into his arms. He flung the offending spear to the grassy ground, barely giving the tree with its bloody scar on its trunk the time of day. He held the body of Lorelei Richford as he did when she had drunk far too much wine and he took her to his room. This time, she did not bury her face into his neck. She did not giggle and tell him that she liked him. He would not be straining not to touch her, to feel her against his skin, to take her into his bed. She was dead. Lorelei had left him once more. This time, there was no coming back.
The butler trudged slowly back to his master. They were to meet at a secluded area meant for the expulsion of Plan B. It was three miles away. Walter's mind was blank as he walked those few hours. He examined Lorelei's face. How she swayed in his arms. How the blood from his wounds mixed with hers. He grimaced, trying to recall her last frantic words towards him. Major. Future. It didn't make sense, although he was still glad that he didn't force her to repeat anything. He was able to hear those words of love even though they felt more like words of death.
With each step, Walter's composure solidified. He began the aching process of bricking everything inside. His face was void. Complacent. Empty. Walter needed to make sure that no one would notice that deep, deep within was a plot. That there was a brew that was about to come to a simmer. It was so simple, that he wanted to laugh like the maniac he was starting to become. As soon as he could, Walter would find the Major. Once he did, the butler would sign away his soul, his very life to the man.
Walter would betray the Hellsing family and the vampire Alucard as they betrayed him.
He would wipe their filthy existence from the soil of the earth and save others from feeling the pain he felt right then and there. Once and for all. For her.
