A/N: New chapter time!
There was a knock at the door. Which, at this particular flat, was a very unusual thing indeed, mostly as, well, putting it simply: they didn't get visitors. After a moment or two of blank stares amongst them, Vlad moved over to open the door.
"Your Grandness."
He then promptly slammed it closed in the face of their visitor.
"Vlad!" Robin snapped, moving to open the door, "okay, see here's where you got it wrong. We do not slam the door in people's face. Sorry about that," he said to the – admittedly rather large – man standing at the front door. He frowned. "Pale skin, pointy teeth... Ah." He turned back to Vlad, "I know see why you slammed the door in his face." There was a brief pause. "Shall I just do that now?"
"I'd really prefer you didn't," the man at the door said.
"Sorry, erm," Robin paused, "actually, what's your name?" he asked, realising he didn't actually know the name of the vampire at the door.
"Dan," Dan said, smiling earnestly. "I'm His Grandness' bodyguard," he explained. "He's managed to avoid me so far..."
"Because I don't need a bodyguard," Vlad called over from his comfortable lounging on the couch, flicking through the television with a perfected pose of boredom, that – Robin noted – would haven't have been out of place in some glossy spread of some elite celebrity magazine, showing the latest heartthrob of the masses. Typical really.
"The Council assigned me to you," Dan said, ignoring Robin for a minute to look directly at Vlad. "My Lord, I have heard about Melech and Strigoi, and I have seen them. They are watching this apartment, you are not safe!" Vlad stood up quickly, glancing over at the table where Barry and Jack were sitting, suddenly looking up, quieter than Robin could ever remember them being. Vlad spoke lowly and quickly, hissing in Romanian, mostly things that sounded to be very unpleasant in nature altogether. Judging by the looks on their faces, Barry and Jack were just as in the dark as Robin was, which is probably why Vlad chose to speak in Romanian rather than English. Dan blinked. "... I don't think your father would approve of your language, Your Grandness," he added, remembering that this was the Grand High Vampire he was addressing. Vlad just gave a look in return.
"Who're Melech and Strigoi?" Barry asked, after an unspoken discussion between him and Jack. Vlad looked over at his little brothers, then over at Robin.
"Vlad," Robin sighed, "you're going to have to explain it to them sooner or later," he said. Vlad looked down, and Dan looked over, confused. "Vlad?" Robin questioned. Vlad shook his head once more, before moving to pick up his phone.
"I need to make a phone call."
xXx
Tommo Watson could never quite work out where he had changed from juvenile delinquent to hard working solider. What he was like at 14, it was a completely different person to who he was now at 21, and he couldn't for the life of him work out what happened. Well, maybe he had an idea about it. Seven years ago, when Vlad Count ran away from home and Robin Branagh descended into a depression. He didn't like Branagh; he couldn't even stand the kid, but someone had to stand up for him that time, or else people would have been facing worse than a few months in a Young Offenders Unit.
That was probably the moment that set him on this path, leading him to where he was today. A Captain in the Hellsing Special Forces, fighting behind the scenes to protect the citizens of Great Britain and her colonies from the supernatural threat that may prove itself present.
Well, it paid exceptionally well.
"Watson, I want those reports in yesterday," his boss, Dame Selene Hellsing, snapped at him. "I have no idea if what this vampire told me is true, and I would quite like to know if you found out anything on your patrol which gives me a direction to go in." Tommo often wondered how long it would be before Selene ended up suffering from a premature heart attack, simply due to stress. "Well?"
"Last night, I found the two described vampires staking out an apartment complex," Tommo said, standing at attention. "They moved off before morning, with no attack, as whoever they were waiting for didn't appear," he finished. "We then left," he added somewhat redundantly. Selene sighed, her head slipping forward and banging on the desk. There was the sound of a groan coming from her, but she didn't move her head. Tommo stepped forward. "Ma'am, Selene," he said, changing his mind on how to address her. It got her attention, at any rate. "These two, this wasn't the first night I saw them, and I've seen who they're after as well."
Selene's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you trying to tell me Watson?"
"I know him, or," he paused, "I knew him. We used to go to school together." Selene sat up, a look of interest on her face. "Count, Saddo Count we used to call him. He was, well, odd," Tommo summed up with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Always hung around with the Weirdo Branagh, that was till he ran away from home 'bout seven years ago." He paused again, thinking it over. "He'd only been in the school just over a year then, came from Transylvania. Heard his sister and her boyfriend moved back out there not long after Count ran away." Selene frowned slightly at this.
"That's, very interesting," she said slowly, opening her drawer and pulling out the file she had on the case. "Dismissed Captain," she said, waving her hand vaguely in Tommo's direction as she read through the notes she had in the file. It was very clear to her that she was missing something; she just couldn't place what it actually was. The phone rang out, and she sighed before answering it. "Hellsing." Her eyes widened. "I'm listening."
xXx
"That's it done," Vlad said softly, hanging up the phone and moving back into the main room of his apartment. Robin and Dan were sitting at the table, drinking coffee and coffee-blood respectively, and Barry and Jack were asleep on the couch. He sat down at the table, sinking into his seat and staring down at the wood with a despondent expression on his face.
"You only discuss this as a possibility, Vlad," Robin said, not looking up from his coffee. "Not to mention, you'd be uprooting them again, and we just got them settled," he added, his voice low so as not to wake the sleeping hybrid children.
"Robin, Dan just told us they're watching the apartment," he said, equally as lowly. "This is meant to be safe, for them and for you. I can't risk them coming in here, I just... I can't, okay." There was a long silence.
"I'll assist in any way I can, Sire," Dan said. "Even if it is just carting boxes," he added quickly, knowing Vlad's distaste of being assigned a bodyguard. "But... when will you tell your brothers?" he questioned, looking between Vlad and Robin – who were exchanging glances of their own.
"Let them sleep Dan," Vlad said eventually, "I'll tell them in the morning."