Alucard
Chapter 14
A?N: Nothing to say, except enjoy, and be aware of the POV change :P:P
"Well, I'm going to talk to Peter." Seras sighed, running her fingers through her spiky hair.
"When I become remotely concerned about what you wish to do, I will ask you, Draculina." I smirked as I left the car, feeling Seras' agitation radiating off her. I had once thought it best to secede mine and Seras' master-servant relationship as soon as possible; but I was quite happy that I had now allowed her to stay with me, I'd been alone for a little too long. Doubtless, at some point I will get annoyed with her presence and the responsibility and either kill her myself or force-feed her my blood, but I saw that day as a dot on a horizon—I just enjoyed scorning her too much, and her reactions were always comical.
Integra stood before the window, arms folded, her shadow stretching to the door beside the desk. "I take it all is well, servant?" Her icy tones cut through the silence as I crept up behind her.
"Everything went perfectly well. A few events ensued, of which I'm sure you will be very interested in hearing about." Integra glanced my way and then returned her gaze to the tree tops and the heads of closed flowers beneath the window.
"Go on,"
"One of the vampire fiends was working for Maximus." Integra did not seem surprised, nor should she be, even with the population of home-grown vampires doubling and tripling every one of them seemed to have a connection to one another somehow. "Not only that, but he was working for Maximus and aiding him in capturing women—both pregnant and virginal."
"Pregnant? They've never kidnapped any pregnant women-"
"If you were to look at the files of the girls saved from the cellar in Berkshire I'm sure at least two of them were pregnant. Not only that, but it begs the question why they would want pregnant women of all things? A virgin's blood is far more satisfying,"
"Apparently. So Maximus is leading this operation?"
"Yes, the bastard has certainly become tenacious."
"He's getting cocky though, surely he doesn't need so many women to do whatever it is he wants to do."
"It's not just that, Master, he kidnaps them from the continent as well." Integra bristled, I knew what her reaction would entail: What?! The bastard isn't even on our soil anymore? WE let him slip through our fingers and now he's off gallivanting all over Europe kidnapping women and— Maxwell is going to have a bloody field day! That pig...I won't have it!
"Are you certain?"
"Not exactly. I only have his word for it," Integra frowned.
"What about your usual interrogation technique?"
"The creature was mentally dumb. He spoke like a gentleman but held himself and thought like an imbecile, there were no emotions, thoughts, memories...just the memory of talking to us and that revealed nothing." Integra turned from the window and sat down in her chair, balled fists digging into the arm rests.
"That information, though there is little, has pointed us in the right direction, it will only be a matter of days or weeks until we find him and annihilate him and his followers." What those women must be going through...at the hands of vampires, surely most would be dead by now...
"And secondly," I paused. I could not keep this information from my master, but Molly had confided in me- well, slipped up and asked that I keep it to myself. "during Molly's little...scuffles, she revealed how very inhuman she is." Integra looked at me quizzically, "she lost her temper, mutilated the freaks, impaled one and drained him of his blood, as a vampire would."
"She didn't fight it after all." Integra's face turned stony, her eyes showed disappointment: she had believed, as the doctors had, that Molly had fought off the vampire disease—such a shame that it would be labelled as thus—and that her blood could be used in the development of anti-venoms for the vampire bite. "Maybe so, but the fangs appeared from nowhere, they receded back into her gums as she sat in the car. Her heartbeat was normal, if slightly more active, this evening, she has not died and yet her body is able to keep her in a state of limbo between humanity and vampirism." I grinned, "Quite intriguing, wouldn't you agree?"
"Very. How? Her blood type is human save the slight changes in leukocytes and mitochondria. She's O negative, a blood type that is incredibly useful, but if she is cast between both life and death perhaps using her blood to make a cure to a vampire's bite would be unwise,"
"She confided in me that she has fed off other freaks before, in the height of battle as she fought bleeding she drained those that tried to drain her,"
"So she's always been like this? How interesting, how useful...would she allow Izzy or Peter to do an MRI scan or take X-rays of her?" I scoffed in an answer.
"She would never consent to that, her body is a secret,"
"Judging by the manner in which she works I would suggest that it is a secret even to herself."
Captain Pip Bernadette
A few days later
Nibbling my thumbnail was an 'abit I 'ad abandoned when I was a boy, I'd be nibbling and gnawing at eet as I walked up to zee girl I was most infatuated with before asking zem to join me for dinner. Being nervous about zis was quite stupid as I was one of zee more popular boys of my year and most girls sat to zee left and right of me to observe my profile more closely. "Why were you so nervous?" I 'ear you ask, zee truth was I did not know why. Since I had kissed Molly—something that, after she left, felt like a sin, like I had defiled Zee Virgin Mary herself—I had permanently been nervous of getting in 'er way and vexing 'er further. She had not spoken a word to me save to ask zat I move (Nicely, politeness being a forte and habit of 'er's) or zat we needed to get to work after another little attack from our freakish demons. And 'er lack of conversation was becoming quite scary.
Though she was not zee type of girl to talk a lot, she would usually say something to me, and I wish she would say something, anything. But eet seemed our friendship 'ad come to a stand-still, I was on no-man's land, bleeding to death, zee attacker who 'ad cut out my 'eart walking away leaving me to bleed; my ship 'ad been hijacked and I 'ad been set out to sea on a dingy in shark-infested waters; I was an hors d'oeuvre and I was being eaten alive by zee rejection and silence.
I walked past zee den and paused, zee door was ajar and blue, green and yellow light flashed across zee floor and zee wood of zee door. No-one I knew went into zis room much, zee living room beside zee kitchen was a frequent haunt of my friends, and zere was zee drawing room down zee hall and a little boudoir for times when you just wanted to sit in quiet and not be disturbed. But, because of zee abundance of communal rooms, zee Den was forgotten and zis sudden usage of it caught my interest. The television was on a low volume, but as I came closer to zee door zee volume was turned up until I could hear zee News report.
"In the years of this company's development, we have accomplished many great things: discovered cures for viruses and illnesses and proceeded in becoming the world's leading researchers in genetic modification and the miracle that is stem-cell technology. And, recently we stumbled upon a strand of DNA within the blood group O negative, we found it abnormal and life-threatening. An example of how threatening this strand of DNA is, is the case of the infant Juliette Fewings and her mother Celia Fewings, where Miss Fewings died during childbirth—she died of exhaustion after almost seventy hours of labour—and the child, Juliette, was unfortunately inflicted with this abnormality. Miss Fewings was O negative and we also believe the father to have been of the O blood type and the result was the illness of Juliette. She was born blind, deaf, dumb, and missing parts of her body, in this case she was without a liver, a kidney, her upper intestines and spleen. We, as the leading genetic scientists this side of the globe-" I pushed open zee door quietly and stepped inside to see Molly perched on zee edge of 'er armchair glaring at zee television. A man stood in front of the Molmally GMAA building—a leading genetic research lab—his hair was platinum blond and he looked very handsome, he was around forty and wore expensive suits.
I watched as Molly shrank as he carried on, the camera now zooming in on his face and his eyes seemed to glare through the television. "We're called in to look at the child, we took a blood sample from her and the remains of her mother before the child finally passed away also. We have discovered that a mutation has occurred in this blood group and, though O negative is quite a rare blood type, we urge that everyone of this blood group go to a doctor and get tested for this mutation. Women seem to be affected by it more so than men, the strain is passed on to children when the genes of both O blood types mix, though, this research is not conclusive. During the pregnancy, symptoms can appear to show that the child will be disabled with idiosyncrasy type S3 and idiosyncrasy type OD, the mother will feel permanently hungry, they will suffer from tachycardia and respiratory difficulties. Women who usually snore and seem to stop altogether at night could also be passing idiosyncrasy to the unborn child. They will be hostile, temperamental, paranoid, will get headaches and migraines, pain sensors in the brain will slowly close down until three weeks before the birth, in which they will become irreversibly heightened. A touch could sting and a graze could feel like a fractured bone—thus they will seem to be affected by hypochondria. Visible signs will include pallor, roving eyes, dilation and contraction of pupils even when not in the dark or light, over-grown nails, a discolouration of skin on cheeks or skin exposed to light. If they do not die in childbirth, we are quite certain that they will suffer from a vitamin deficiency, acute possessiveness of the child, and alterations in the volume of their voice when it is not needed. Slowly they will fall in psychosis, then memory loss and finally drown from the inside after a need to drink water.
"We ask of you now ladies:" The blond man looked deep into zee camera, "Come to us, the doctors will help you."
"Molly?" I asked uncertainly, her body had become rigid, her eyes wide and her jaw set. Perhaps it was just zee light zat made 'er look so tense, but I swear she was shaking. "Molly?" I asked again, perching on zee armrest and touching 'er shoulder; I was correct, she had been shaking.
"Something isn't right, Captain, I don't feel well..." She whispered hoarsely, eyes never leaving the screen as a new report flitted across the screen about foot and mouth outbreaks throughout Yorkshire.
"Perhaps you should see a doctor—" Immediately I knew I 'ad said zee wrong thing, she jerked from me, turned and hissed, her teeth seemed like points as she snarled as a wild beast would after being stung or hit with a tranquilliser dart. "I will not! I shall not!" She slammed her hand down on zee remote between us and, zee only source of light being doused out, we were pulled into darkness. She was still, and I could just make out zee silhouette of 'er profile from zee light cast by a light outside zee window.
It seemed strange zat a news report would affect 'er so, but I kept zese questions to myself and went along with her need for silence, just 'appy to be able to sit next to 'er without 'er walking off. "How have you been, Captain?" Molly asked stiffly.
"Fine." A little confused about your aversion to me but nonezeeless... I thought to myself.
"I realise I haven't been all together kind to you recently, Captain." She whispered in a hushed tones. Non, I thought sarcastically, you have been very kind! "And I need not apologise," I frowned at zis, "for your need to get involved in some kind of a relationship inside the workplace—no matter how non-standard—is quite absurd." She turned to me and I could no longer make out whether 'er jaw was set, could no longer admire the straight—though very pointed and slightly too long—nose.
"I do not 'ave 'a need' for a relationship, Miss Molly." I answered exasperatedly, "It was a one-time thing, it will never 'appen again, I can assure you." Zere was a silence, Zere, I thought, zat shall shut 'er up and now perhaps we could be friends again and I can just amuse myself with watching 'er.
Through the darkness zere was a chuckle and for a sickening moment I thought it might 'ave been zat vampire, Alucard, come to annoy me, only it was Molly, though I 'ad never 'eard zat kind of a chuckle before. Usually it would sound quite sad, but now...it sounded almost 'appy, though slightly scary, I'll admit. "Do you have an infatuation with me, Captain? If so, your afflictions are sorely misplaced." Zee sudden French surprised me slightly, but her accent soothed me.
"Perhaps I do, Miss Molly, but, as I have already said, I shall try to keep them to myself,"
"Good. You do understand that I have no interest in men whatsoever?"
"None at all? Do you perhaps prefer women?" Zere was a silence and for a split second I 'ad images of Molly and Seras kissing in a dark hallway, zen my blissful daydreaming was cut short by a loud and raucous laugh, "Me? A lesbian?" Silence again. "Though, Seras does look very hot in her uniform, that skirt leaves nothing to the imagination...Mmmm, perhaps...I do find the female body so much more attractive to the male, but then again who doesn't?"
"Pardon?" I asked, hurt by 'er comment about zee male physique, "Men are perfectly attractive!"
"If you think they're attractive, why don't you date one?" At my silent fuming she chuckled.
"What do you know about this Molmally?" Molly asked after a silence in which she turned on zee lights, launching me into sudden light, my eyes not quite used to the brilliance I almost fell of zee chair.
"A bit. Zey work as an advisory board for any scientific laboratories about genetic experiments, zey approve and disapprove zem. Zey started off manufacturing medicine and now branch out into private research labs, medicine manufacturing units, and, in 1989, started genetic research by pairing with a European lab. Since zen zey have grown and now even own various mental health units across the country. MI5, Hellsing, zee met—all of zem rely on branches of Molmally for information on blood tests, forensics and zee like. Recently zey have appointed a new chairman and head of Zee Bureau of Information—he was zee man on zee news report, his name escapes me though."
"You know quite a lot about them." Molly remarked as she sat back down and turned to face me.
"Everyone know about zem, zey are incredibly important to Hellsing and all other Police or Law Enforcement units, mostly every company in zee UK buys something or are paired with zem somehow."
"They must be quite wealthy then."
"Mmm, last survey counted zat zee gross profit a year was twenty-six billion pounds, but apparently up to twenty million pounds was donated to charities across the globe last year when zee new guy came to power, zat was his way of getting zee company in zee papers- giving practically all his earnings zat year to charities," I sat back and thought for a moment, "He sounds like a really nice guy."
"He does." Molly agreed, "But he had untrustworthy eyes. You can tell a lot about a person about their eyes," Molly stood up again and walked over to a bookshelf, quietly perusing zee contents.
"You can? Zen what do my eyes say about me?"
"Eye, Captain, eye," Molly corrected, smiling a crocked smile to herself as she returned to zee space before me and looked into my eye. "Hazel eyes, you have trustworthy eyes. When you are angry or annoyed your eye commands respect, you smile with your eyes only when you are very happy but I can see from these," She ran her finger along zee slight lines at zee corner of my eye, "that you smile a lot. Your eyes are warm, you take pleasure in affection and love, though this need to share love is eclipsed by memories of battle, pain and loss so you try, vainly, to keep a distance and prefer one-night stands." She looked at my eye patch curiously, "May I ask how much of your eye is left if any?"
"Nothing." I sighed, "I am but a Cyclops," Molly shook her head.
"May I?" I thought about it for a moment and zen nodded. Cautiously, she removed my eye-patch and her nose wrinkled with a smile. She ran 'er finger over my cheekbone and under my eye gently. "Barnibus lost his eye once; naturally, it grew back..."
"I was not born with such a skill, zis is all I am left with." Molly replaced my eye-patch.
"Scars on a man are attractive, Captain, no woman would let such a silly thing like a white line or missing eye get in the way of a relationship." Her smile faded and she sighed looking to the floor.
"Are you worried zat men are not zee same, Blue?" She looked up, puzzled and zen angry.
"I think my thoughts on marriage and the like are well known by now. Men are scum, and they remain scum until they prove themselves otherwise."
"You need to trust more people, Molly, without trust you will not be happy." Molly frowned again, fore'ead creased with frustration, she sat down in the chair and looked up at me.
"Do you trust people?"
"Most people, I think, until they prove zemselves untrustworthy." Molly and I fell silent and she seemed to be thinking about something.
"Maybe I should trust you all then?"
"We wouldn't hurt you, Molly, this is like a family. Not one of my men would 'arm you, Alucard wouldn't unless you turned insane and tried to kill us all, Seras would never 'urt a fly...Non, you are safe with us. Why would we 'arm family?"
"Family?" She asked, sill confused, but 'er eyes glistened with hope.
"Zar is what we are, I guess, and you 'ave joined us, so you must fit in somewhere. Molly, I would gladly step in front of s bullet for you." I clapped 'er on zee back and smiled down to her and I saw her face light up with happiness, zee creamy-blue of her eyes shining light a blue moon.
"I wouldn't want you to, though." Now it was my turn to be confused.
"Why not? It is a noble gesture."
"A noble gesture that is badly placed. You must promise me you will never step in front of a bullet for me, or an onslaught, or anything. I don't want a friend's death on my conscious."
"A friend?" My heart skipped a beat; Molly had called me a friend. I knew she preferred to keep detached and aloof, to call me a friend was an honour. "Rest assured, Molly, I will not sacrifice myself for you, you're too annoying." I grinned at her, her answer being zat sad half-smile. "So, will you trust us?"
"Bien sur, I shall, or at least try. It is my nature to be untrusting, it will take time, but, with your help, my friend, I think I shall rid myself of this lonesome burden." Zat is what I wanted to hear! "I should begin by becoming friends with the doctors, right?"
"Zat would be zee best place to begin, yes," Molly, stood up and stood in front of me again.
"Thank you, again, my friend." Her eyes were still shining and she jumped forwards. My heart skipped a beat as I thought she wanted to kill me, but instead, zee little deadly creature wrapped her arms around my middle and buried her face in my chest. "Thanks,"
"Zat's...alright." I cautiously rested my hand on her head and let out a sigh of relief. "So, we are speaking again?"
"No, of course not." Molly answered sarcastically. "Pip?"
"Mmm?" I answered, eyes closed, smiling to myself as my heart swelled from the close proximity earned from good advice.
"I think you might need to go to the guard's quarters," I frowned and pulled away, her eyes were big and mournful.
"Why?"
"Someone's dead."
A/N: That was one of the shortest chapters I have ever written, I'm in my own little world so that's probably why, sorry. The next update will be much better, I swear! Though, this chapter is by far one of the most important so far, though the shortest.