Chapter 10 – Heartache and Responsibilities
Juliann
It took Seras, Walter, and I no time to reach the air vent over the conference room. When Seras kicked the roof tile down for us to get out, it hit someone on top of their head before Seras followed it down and landed on what sounded like the same poor man.
I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Seras still sitting on him while she got her bearings.
Thankfully, it wasn't too high of a ceiling, and Walter and I were able to jump down to the conference table, then to the floor.
"Walter, Juliann, Seras!" Integra said, relieved to see us.
"Sorry for the delay Sir. It's quite difficult to navigate the air duct system. I'm surprised you were able to get around them so well. "Walter said, clearing his throat, "Currently Alucard is in the sublevels, and now that Seras and I are here, your orders will be followed to the letter. I can promise you that not one single freak will be left standing. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I should give this younger generation a proper lesson in violence."
With that Walter and Seras walked out of the conference room.
"Are you sure that you are alright, Juliann?" Integra asked me, eyeing the blood all over me.
"I'm sure. The blood isn't mine, but that of a ghoul I killed earlier." I said, walking over to her and sitting down on the floor, facing the door Walter and Seras had walked out of.
…
Alucard
Seeing as the real leader of the ghoul army was taking his sweet time in reaching his destination, I tapped my mind into that of my fledgling to see what was going on up on the third floor.
The three of them had made it to conference room on their own quite nicely. At the moment, Police Girl and Walter where setting up their ambush for the idiot who called himself Jan Valentine, who paraded around like he led the ghouls.
Boring and ridiculous….
Our enemies could have sent me something more fun to play with. It had been ages since I last fought Anderson.
Brushing my subconscious against that of Integra's, I found that she and Juliann where in the conference room. Through my master's aura, I could feel that she sensed that the other counsel members didn't think too much of Juliann.
For some strange reason, this didn't bode well for me. If anything, it made me want to paint the whole Hellsing manor in blood…
What the hell? I'm a monster, and monsters don't feel! I snarled at myself.
It was, after all, the feelings I had towards Mina that led me to be a housebroken pet vampire to the Hellsing blood line. Something I will not allow to happen again…
Shaking my head, I switched over to Juliann. There was something about this slip of a human that affected me, and I was hell bent on finding out what it was.
Why are you digging around in my brain again, Alucard? Juliann asked, catching on to my intrusion quickly. I couldn't help the darkly amused chuckle that escaped me.
If you didn't want me looking around in your brain, then why do you continuously become more and more interesting? I asked in return.
Well then, if you find me so interesting yet it freaks you out so much, then why did you give Mina your blood which passed down to me? She countered.
If Harker would have been a proper husband, then I never would have met Mina, my blood would have never entered her body, and I would not have been so stupid as to think a monster could have feelings. I said, trying to anger her to make her back down. She was getting too close to home with her counter attacks.
Then what do you call the instincts that led you to do what you did for both her and Seras. Your fledgling I might add.
This time, I was the one caught off guard by her words.
So, how did you sense me? I asked, changing from the annoying subject of my past. What was done was done, no need to revisit…
She sent me a mental shrug.
The moment I felt the one I was waiting for step through my shadows at the entrance to the sublevels, I disconnected from Juliann. As interesting of a human as she was, I didn't want any distractions to dampen my fun.
…
Juliann
The moment I felt Alucard leave my mind, I heard a loud gunfire and screams of pain coming from the other side of the door to the conference room. A few moment's later, a freak busted through the doors to the conference room, his gazed locked on me.
"There ya are…" He said before noticing the other people in the room. Looking over my shoulder, I spotted the gun in Integra's and the other knight's hands.
"Oh fuck me." The intruder said before everyone in the room started firing at him. It was so sudden and loud that I found myself covering my ears to protect them from every loud bang from each gun.
When the firing was all over, I looked up to watch him fall, but it was the sight beyond him that caught our attention next. The hall beyond was filled with more ghouls. Ghouls I recognized.
"Some of those are the dead guys I passed earlier." I said in horror as my heart rate increased.
"My men… They've all been turned into ghouls." Integra whispered in shock from beside me.
Just mere hours ago, every single ghoul in that hallway had been human.
"Damn. Fucking plan was s'posed to be fucking fool proof…" The bastard responsible for all of this whispered as he tried to creep over to where his fallen gun was laying.
I don't know what about this freak that pissed me off to such a degree. Weather it was just him being one of the ones after me, or that he was just in front of me in that moment, it made no difference to me. All I wanted in that moment was to see him torn limb from limb for the suffering he had caused.
Waiting until he was close to his goal, I jumped up at the last second to snatch his gun out of his reaching fingertips to throw it across the room.
Once that thing was out of the way, I kicked him over onto his back before stomping his balls into the floor to make him stay put for a while. However, instead of the satisfying scream of male agony, I heard an inhuman roar that sounded like it came from Seras.
Looking up I seen Walter looking back towards the new ghoul army, and Seras ripping and slashing her way through all of the ghouls as blood sprayed everything around her.
Her eyes were like Alucard's, but brighter with blood lust. The glowing eyes from my dream didn't suit Seras…
Before I knew it, I was racing towards Seras, Integra's voice distant behind me, trying to call me back. I knew that running towards a blood crazed vampire was crazy, but I had to stop Seras some how. She would hate herself later if she drank blood and became a true vampire like this, and I couldn't bear the thought of seeing her like that.
"Seras!" I yelled throwing my arms around her from behind once I reached her side.
"It's enough! It's okay now…" I said in a soothing voice. Thankfully that was all it took to snap her out of it and turn her red eyes blue again. As she was gasping for breath, I hugged Seras.
I made sure we stayed that way until I saw the looming shadow of Grandpa Harker disappear. He had that gun again. The very same one he used to get me away from that blond man back home. It was what gave him and his intentions away. I would bet that if I hadn't made Seras snap out of it, then he would have killed her on the spot.
Then I started to feel strange. Letting go of Seras I looked around, I could smell something bittersweet; following the scent as best as I could, I found myself looking at the blood on the floor and the walls.
That's impossible! I'm a human, so why do I find the smell of blood bittersweet when I shouldn't be able to smell it at all? I asked myself, shaking my head.
…
Alucard
"YOU MONSTER!"
I could only laugh at the cowardly freak before me. There he was, boasting about how he had my equal sum of power and more! His reflexes were amazing for a freak; however, he was just a sniveling worm in the very end. How dare the vermin say he was up to my standards?
For once I was as envious of the Police Girl as I was pissed about her not drinking her blood. She got to have a little fun in her blood rage born out of starvation.
Absorbing the blood all over the floor and walls, I tuned back into Juliann's mind. It seems that she wasn't feeling too well at the moment, which I found odd. My blood in her veins would prevent her from becoming sick. It wasn't until her thought that the blood around her smelled bittersweet passed through her brain that I caught on as to what might be ailing her.
It was impossible, yet it was in front of me…
It would also explain why my memories and instincts had been such a bother since she got here.
The transition was starting in her, like it did in Mina. Meaning that I would have to keep a close eye on both her and Harker…
…
Jonathan
Seeing my granddaughter cling to the dark offspring of that monster made my blood boil, if she hadn't jumped in the way like the bothersome child she was, then that would have been one less monster to worry about later. Not to mention that she had even spotted me.
The only way she could have spotted me was to have eyes that could see beyond human capabilities. The poison in her blood was starting to affect her, just like it did with Mina…
Turning back to look over my shoulder, I seen Julian looking at the blood covering the walls with a very strange look on her face, seeing that was like being stabbed in my old heart.
Raising my gun, I aimed for Juliann. If what that dark skinned bastard had said was true, that his masters wanted Juliann for her curse, then killing her would deprave them of that as well as stop the curse with in her.
My line was about to end, but at least I could die in peace…
As I was about to pull the trigger, I felt my gun being ripped out of my hand. Looking up I seen the vampire I hated most of all, throwing the gun at the wall with such force that it broke into two pieces.
"So, you would needlessly kill your own flesh and blood who has committed nothing against you Harker. Wait a moment, I almost forgot… You killed your wife, so it would make sense that you would try to murder your great granddaughter as well." He snarled down at me.
Looking from him to my broken gun, I spotted Juliann looking at me with shock and betrayal deep in her eyes. Tears formed in her eyes, which she hid underneath her bangs.
"Juliann…" Integra called as she walked up to her and looked over at me and the monster beside me before looking at my gun.
"Alucard, what is the meaning of this?" She asked sternly.
"Alucard stopped him from killing me…" Juliann said, looking back up at me with emotionless eyes.
Integra didn't even glance back at Juliann as her frost bitten gaze beheld me before looking back up at her pet monster.
"Mr. Harker, I will see you in the conference room seeing as I don't know if my study is still intact; and Alucard, head back to your room in the sublevels. I shall summon you later for new orders." Integra said, dismissing us both….
With a huff I complied.
…
Integra
Once the two opposing sides separated, I let out a heavy sigh as I put away my gun. Dealing with the other of the two scums who had dared attack with my people was rather a problem, but at least we got one clue.
Millennium…
"Get this place cleaned up, and Walter. Please, put them out of their misery." I gently ordered to Walter, who stood beside me.
"You will belay that order Walter."
Looking up, I saw Sir Isaac walking towards me, gun in his hand.
"Sir Isaac…" I said, looking at him in confusion.
"This crisis should have been prevented Sir Integra Hellsing. Seeing as it did happen, then the responsibility falls to their leader to end their suffering." Isaac said, offering me the gun.
Something I could only stare at…
"Sir Isaac, with all due respect, but that is going too far-"Walter began, raising his voice.
"That's enough Walter!" I shouted, quieting him instantly.
Taking the gun, I turned to the closest ghoul and knelt down beside it. Putting the gun to the poor man's head, I fired.
It took me a few hours to walk through my home, killing off any ghouls that bore the Hellsing coat of arms. The ones that didn't have it where killed either by Seras, or surprisingly enough, by Juliann who used a bow that had been transported from her home along with other bits of her belongings that could be salvaged.
Sitting at my desk in my study, that had ironically survived; I kept an eye on Juliann as I summoned Alucard. Thankfully, the girl understood and was willing to go through with what I was about to establish.
"You summoned me, Master?" Alucard said, boredom and aggravation clear on his face.
"I did, Servant. Now that we have an idea who our enemies are, and what they may be after, I will be having Juliann moved down to the Sublevels to the room closest to yours. Those that attacked us are after her for some reason, so I'm placing her under both your protection and that of Seras'. As well as the fact that Mr. Harker has decided to rashly act on emotions from the past.
That being said, as of this moment, Juliann is still human…" I said, looking at the both of them.
"You may wait outside." I said to Juliann, dismissing her.
When she was out of the room, I looked over at Alucard, who kept his eyes on Juliann until she was out of sight.
"Is it affecting her humanity?" I asked him. "And don't lie to me. If you know what's happening to the girl then say so."
This question brought the evil smirk that had been absent when he first came in.
"I do know what's happening to Juliann, and it's something I will discuss with her when the time is right." He said, before phasing through the door without being dismissed.
"Damn monster." I spat at the door he went through. Though I suppose I wasn't specific with my orders in the first place, and his response was enough to clue me in on the answer to my original question.
Juliann Harker probably wasn't going to be human much longer…
And to be honest-
… My heart ached for the girl.
…...
I don't understand what's going on with me. First I start smelling things humans don't normally smell, and then Grandpa Harker tries to kill me. Also what's with Alucard's odd stare in my direction whenever I walk by him? It's like he wants to know every move I make! Then what's this about going to South America and me being bait? Where is my life going next, if not the afterlife? Well, until next time…
Next Chapter: Chapter 11 – Mercenary in Rio de Genera