Seventy-Two
/
She was 72 years old. She was too thin, too brittle, but she kept her head high and watched Hellsing's progression. It was slowly being handed over to Penwood, and he took over with grace and dignity. Seras answered to him, and the vampire hunting continued. Integra found that she was hardly needed any longer, if only for a few questions Penwood needed answers to. She spent her days reading, lounging, longing for escape.
"We should take a walk." Alucard offered to her. She always accepted. She rarely went anywhere alone. If she wanted to go into town, Alucard accompanied her. If she wanted to go for a walk, he was by her side.
"I can take care of myself, bloody idiot." She would say, but she wouldn't mean it. Not in a harsh way. She enjoyed his company. She found it was what she needed.
Sometimes Seras would join them, and the three would enjoy the day, rain or shine. It was a slow paced life. A life Integra had grown to enjoy. "I only regret not having this years ago." She would say quite often. She repeated herself a lot, forgetting sometimes what she had stated only minutes before. The vampires noticed, but said nothing.
Walking was sometimes troubling for her. She would find herself out of breath. They walked slower. "I can't believe I have gotten so old." She would laugh dejectedly, causing her to cough violently, "Damn." She would curse, "Damn it all."
Seras, unable to contain herself, finally begged Integra to see a doctor. "Please Master Integra, please do this for me." Integra had never liked doctors, and outright refused for years. Alucard was the one to convince her that perhaps it was not such a bad idea.
"Why do you do this to me, Alucard?" She closed her eyes wearily, "Why do you pester me, so?"
The doctor visited shortly after. There was something wrong with her heart. Arteries were being blocked, some probably were. Her blood pressure was too high. She would need some pills or some surgery, too many things that she didn't care to hear. "I don't care." She said with finality, "I am not taking these pills."
"Master…" Alucard pleaded, begged his master to take the medication. Life was too short. Far too short, he realized. Here she was, making it shorter. "Master, while you won't live forever…I want every moment I can possibly have with you. Please." He had never begged. He had never let himself look so weak.
She knew this, but in her defiance, refused to see it. She refused the medicine. She refused the help.
She was so precious to him. He couldn't let it end this way. He took her prescription anyway, acquired the necessary pills, and went straight to her cook.
"Oh, God, Alucard." The kitchen staff was not used to seeing him, and he gave them quite a fright. "What a pleasant surprise." The look on the cook's face showed it was anything but pleasant.
"Put these in her food." Alucard shoved the bottles into the stunned cook's hands, "Do this. Do this or—or—" His fangs were in full view, his expression was tortured. He looked quite frightening, and the cook agreed very fast to do whatever he wanted. "Don't you dare tell her." Alucard rasped, "Come to me when there are none left." He flew through the air vents, leaving the kitchen staff very silent, and very scared.
The cook looked at the pills. "Will those work crushed into food?" One inquired.
"Doubt it, honestly." The cook replied, "Damn, I don't even know if I can mask the flavor."
"Try." Another stated, "Just try."
When Integra's meal was delivered, Alucard stood behind her anxiously, hoping the kitchen staff did as they were told. "This tastes a little strange." Integra commented, "A little bitter."
"Perhaps the cook is having an off day." The vampire offered.
"I may have to fire him." She finished her meal quietly, and went off to watch the news.
"You did it, right?" The vampire asked the cook in the privacy of the kitchens
"Yes, yes, did she eat it?"
"Yes."
"I cannot taste it for myself, you know."
"I don't care." The vampire dissipated, returned to his master, leaving the cook again to wonder what was going on.
/
Alucard wouldn't let her die. Not yet. He clung to every last shred of her he had. Yes, death would happen. But no, it had to stay away. Just a little more time was all he wanted. Just a little more time.
She seemed fine on the outside. But now he understood. He heard her heart strain. He heard it work hard to keep her alive. He dared not ask for the tiniest drop of her sweet blood. He could not. Every time he wished to have some he fought himself. He didn't want to forget the taste, the smell. He didn't want to forget her. But he had to let it go. He would have no more of her blood.
He had grown selfish. He only wanted her. He wanted to keep her here and poke fun at her eyepatch and watch her fence, and accompany her on walks forever. He wanted to taste the nectar her veins had to offer. He wanted her. God, he wanted her.
But she had grown up. Grown old. Grown wise. She was everything. He was nothing.
She did not care about her wrinkles anymore. She did not care that every fiber of her being creaked and groaned with age. She accepted it. "It was bound to happen sometime." She said, "It is nothing."
He could not stop when a bloody tear rolled down his face, and she looked at him, worried, smiling, "Alucard why do you cry?"
"Master." He whispered, "You're beautiful." She reached for his hand, squeezing it with what little strength she had, "You're so beautiful."
The no life king would have given anything to have the will to turn her.
/
Her eyesight was only growing worse. "I fear I won't be able to see at this rate." She joked. Seras laughed nervously,
"Oh, Master Integra." The girl smiled. Alucard said nothing.
"How is Sir Penwood treating you?" Integra inquired. Seras was practically a part of the new organization. She was well known there, respected, but she could not call it home. She still resided in Hellsing manor, still clung to what little she had left there.
"Well." The girl replied, "He is funny, you know. A sweet family, though." She grinned, "I'm glad you chose them to continue the business, honestly."
"There was no one better." Integra stated, "No one I would have trusted more."
The cook continued administering the crushed pills and emptied capsules. Alucard kept bringing more. "Is this really helping, Alucard?" The man always feared the end of his job was near if Sir Integra ever found him out.
"I don't know." Was the vampire's answer, "I don't care."
He did care. He cared so much. Too much. So the cook continued, out of fear. Integra was his employer. She meant little to him. But that vampire. She was the world to him. He would be damned if he stood in the way of it.
"You never smile anymore, Alucard." Integra sighed after a long day of bill-paying, "I remember when you used to do nothing but!"
"I'm sorry, Master." He offered a weak grin, which she shook her head at.
"Is there really so little to smile about?" She asked, "Is it so hard to smile around me now?" Every time he looked at her, he saw the shadow of death clung about her, and it struck the fear of God in him. How could he smile when death was so close? How could he joke? "Don't be this way Alucard. I have so little time left."
"Don't be ridiculous, Master." He smiled, then, the most cheshire cat-like grin he could muster, "Only the good die young." She chuckled at this, showing no signs of anger.
"I should live forever then, shouldn't I?"
He laughed at that. It was all he could do to keep from crying.
