Disclaimer: I think I may discontinue use of disclaimers except on chapter one. Probably next fanfic, I will. Everyone should know I don't own Hellsing by now. Heh.

Ch. 10: The Real Culprit

Jezebel curled up on the massive bed in her room, eyes hot and dry, her tears cried out. She stared at the wall feeling empty and hollow. She felt like she'd had another nightmare, but there was no waking up this time. She couldn't run downstairs to curl up in Alucard's lap or on his coffin. The door to her room was locked.

Rolling over, she stared at the ceiling. Sir Integra had interrogated her, but she knew her answers weren't what the woman had wanted to hear. She had no words for what had happened. The best she could do to describe it was that there was another Jezebel inside her that had taken over. She certainly hadn't wanted to attack Sir Integra, but her body had been ignoring her brain's commands.

Worst of all, Alucard had looked at her with such censure. It made her want to die. No. It made her want to kill whatever had made her put that look on his face.

Clenching her teeth, she rolled over to her hands and knees. She crawled across the bed to slide to the floor. Crossing the room, she leaned on a window sill so she could look out over the grounds. An insidious voice in the back of her mind whispered that she should see if the window would open. She could get out if it did, find Sir Integra…apologize.

Shaking her head, she backed away from the window, hands over her ears as though she could block the voice if she couldn't hear anything. She had no intention of escaping. Sir Integra had told her to stay in her room. More importantly, Alucard had said the same thing. The voice would have to possess her body again to make her budge from this room.

To her horror, she felt a sense of jovial agreement in the back of her mind and her hands moved to test the window latches of their own accord. She took a breath to scream…and nothing came out. Helpless to prevent it, she watched her hands open the latches and push the panes open. A stiff wind whipped into the room as she leaned out to look at the ground…two stories below.

A litany of "No, no, no, please no!" started up in her head but the only answer she got was a maniacal cackle. Completely independent of her desires, her body climbed up on the window sill and crouched there, staring at the ground below. With a small hop, she jumped from the window sill and the force of her terror as she fell allowed one long, high pitched scream to escape her throat.

V^^^V

Alucard's head whipped up like a hound on a scent. Integra and Dr. Bernstein looked over at him as he rose to his feet and dashed from the room. Standing, Integra raced after him, but he quickly outdistanced her. What had set him off?

By the time she figured out he had gone outside, she was beginning to feel winded. Heading for the front door, she stopped dead as he returned, a shivering Jezebel clutched in his arms.

"What happened? She was supposed to be in her room."

"She jumped from the window. She has an injured ankle."

A thousand questions ran through Integra's mind, but they could wait. She turned to Dr. Bernstein who clutched his side and wheezed from the dash through the huge house.

"Get Dr. Pelham. We'll be in the front parlor."

Alucard headed for the room in question, pushing the doors open with the power of his mind. He strode toward the couch and laid the girl out on the sofa. She stared up at the ceiling, eyes wide and blind with shock. Her left ankle was red and swollen, parts of it beginning to turn purple. Alucard knelt next to the sofa, his brow furrowed.

Integra sat on the sofa next to the girl's head and reached out to smooth the hair away from the child's sweating forehead.

"What was she thinking?"

"I am beginning to wonder if it is her doing these things." Integra narrowed her eyes at her vampire servant, but he didn't even glance at her. His eyes studied Jezebel's shocked face as they waited for the doctor. "Returning from Italy, and even in Panarea, everything she did spoke of an intense desire to survive. This…this is reckless. Even a child would know that jumping from a second story window could result in serious injury. I can only see her doing that if another, greater danger threatened."

"Go check her room. See if you can find anything odd."

Alucard's teeth clenched as the strength of the Hellsing seal bore down on his will, pushing him to obey. Rarely did he experience this conflict, but for once, he didn't want to follow Integra's orders.

"My master, I would not leave you alone with her, if you would permit me to stay."

"I don't see what she can do, injured as she is. Go and check her room. You'll know better than anyone if anything is wrong."

Unable to refuse, Alucard rose and left the room. Integra stared down at the girl, wishing she had a cigar. Something about this situation tugged at the edge of her memory. Had she seen this somewhere before? It matched some of the medical texts she had studied on psychiatry. But Dr. Berstein had said he didn't believe Jezebel suffered from any of the major mental disorders. They could match one symptom from one disorder and one from another, but definitive diagnosis required matching two to four symptoms, depending on the disorder.

Jezebel blinked, but her eyes continued to stare into space, as though she didn't see anything around her…as though she wasn't in there anymore.

"Jezebel?"

No response. Integra hadn't exactly expected one, but she had to rule out certain variables. She reached out to touch the girl again and suddenly, Jezebel's eyes focused on her face. A dark grin that looked like it belonged more on Alucard's face twisted her lips.

"If you would speak with me, then call me by the proper name."

Integra shot to her feet and backed away from the girl on the couch. That was not Jezebel's voice. That eerie smile widened and a chill skittered down Integra's spine. She had faced vampires, ghouls, werewolves and insane Nazis. None of them made her shiver like that mad grin on the face of a little girl.

Drs. Bernstein and Pelham chose that moment to come through the door. Integra held an arm out to keep them from going any further. Jezebel sat up on the couch, that insane grin stretched across her face. She stood, setting her weight on her injured foot as though it weren't turning black and blue as they watched.

"What is…"

Integra held a hand up to stop Dr. Bernstein from speaking. His mouth closed with a snap as Jezebel's eyes latched onto him and her head tilted to the side at a painful angle.

"Who are you?" Integra asked.

Dr. Bernstein looked at the head of the Hellsing organization like she'd lost her mind…never a good thing coming from a psychiatrist. Dr. Pelham didn't even blink. He'd been employed by the Hellsing family much longer than the psychiatrist.

"An intelligent question…and so quickly. Apparently, you're as smart as they said you were." Dr. Berstein's eyes grew wide at the low, rough voice that rumbled up out of the girl's chest. "I am Araqiel."

"Funny that the Vatican didn't notice a demon possession in their midst," said Integra, narrowing her eye at the girl.

"Oh, they noticed. They're the ones that put me here."

Integra couldn't quite suppress the shocked look that crossed her features. She had known that Iscariot walked a fine line between piety and blasphemy, but to traffic with demons…

"Why?"

Jezebel laughed but it wasn't a little girl's laugh. Integra shivered as the hairs rose on the back of her neck and down her spine.

"For him." Jezebel/Araqiel pointed at the ceiling as the hem of Alucard's red duster phased through the plaster. The vampire dropped into the room just beside the possessed girl. He planted a gloved hand on her chest and pushed her into a sitting position on the couch. With one knee on the sofa and the other hand bracing himself against the back of the couch as he loomed over her, he held the girl in place. Jezebel/Araqiel grinned up at him. Integra moved back toward the couch and caught the look on Alucard's face. A grin equally wild and manic stretched across his features.

"You have me, Lord of Earth. Now, what?"

That eerie laugh echoed through the room again.

"Now, nothing. You cannot kill this host unless your master orders it. Well, Integra? Will you have your pet vampire destroy your heir?"

Integra grit her teeth. Fury at what the Vatican had done raced through her. Of course she would only order Alucard to kill another Hellsing if all other options had already been exhausted. Someone in Italy knew her entirely too well.

"Why have you revealed yourself, now?"

"Oh, I do like her. So forceful and commanding. Is that what makes her so attractive to you, Alucard? Does your master whip you in the basement until you beg for more?"

Integra blushed bright red and hoped Jezebel wasn't aware of what the demon was using her body to say…or at least didn't understand what it meant. Alucard's low chuckle rumbled up out of his chest.

"I do what my master bids me. Whatever my master bids me."

He was not helping.

"Just answer the question, demon, before I call for an exorcist."

The demon laughed.

"A protestant exorcism? Your priest would have to believe I exist before anything he did could be effective.

If the thing hadn't been hiding in the body of her ten year old heir, Integra would have ordered Alucard to destroy it a hundred times over already.

"I want him," the demon said, gazing into Alucard's eyes with a lustful look that no ten year old should ever wear on their face. "I was promised him, years and years ago. I've waited so long, jumping from one sniveling host to the next, lying in wait, always waiting. But I can't take him with this host. Not now. Not so long as you live!" At this, the girl's crazed eyes shifted to Integra. The woman's one blue eye narrowed.

"Why would you want Alucard?"

"The sin, woman, the sin! You're supposed to be smart! So much sin on one soul. I could feast for an eon!"

"And how is my life stopping you?"

"Oh, you disappoint me with these inane questions! Hellsing is the only thing to have ever truly defeated Alucard. Millennium removed him…for a time, but it's not the same thing. Not the same thing at all! Only the Hellsing seal can bring him low enough for me to consume him, and so long as you live, this host cannot order him to submit to me."

Integra felt the blood drain from her face as the Vatican's plan became clear to her. By rescuing the girl, they had brought the viper itself into their midst. So that still didn't explain why the demon had revealed itself to them, now. It could have lain in wait until she died naturally and mastership of Alucard fell to Jezebel. There had to be another piece to the puzzle.

"You must know we will have you exorcised, now that we know you're there."

"Will you? Will you really? You must know that, as tightly wrapped around the girl's psyche as I am, removing me would destroy her mind. A blathering idiot does not make a good heir, Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. But, if you give me Alucard, I will let her go, mind whole and intact. I am tired of waiting."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then your precious heir will slowly go insane, and you will have no one to blame but your…" Jezebel/Araqiel winced, a pained look crossing the girl's features. Integra frowned, looking over at the two doctors. They just mirrored her own, confused look.

Jezebel screamed, the rough, guttural voice gone. Her eyes flew wide as she paused to take a breath and screamed again. Her body convulsed and she vomited pure bile, managing to avoid hitting Alucard this time. The vampire collapsed onto the couch next to the child and helped her lean over so the foul stream spewing from her mouth hit the floor where it would be a little easier to clean.

Before long, nothing but dry heaves wracked her body. The human stomach didn't actually hold that much bile.

"I think the demon has retreated," Alucard said as the girl's heaves petered off into hiccupping sobs. She turned to clutch at him, burying her face in his chest.

"Fetch Matheson, Dr. Bernstein," Integra said, grabbing a box of tissues and bringing them to the vampire. "Dr. Pelham, if you would see to her foot?"

The doctors jerked as though snapping out of a daze. The Hellsing physician leaped into action first, joining Alucard on the couch to examine the girl's ankle and check for any other harm she might have taken that he could do something about.

Dr. Bernstein slipped out the door to look for the butler, relieved he didn't have to go anywhere near the girl and wondering if he should look for a new position…maybe one in a prison ward. It couldn't be any stranger than this.

End Note:

Web Slinger Spidey: I hope you're enjoying the direction it's taking. I had a lot of fun with this story.

xVentressx: I don't know about that. Alucard does show affection for his people…but in very Alucard sorts of ways. And Integra likes the kid. It's just that Integra isn't a very demonstrative person and she only recently met her…and then she tried to kill her. Heh. Seras is just confused by the kid.