Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Author's Note(s): Triple update! Le gasp! Lmfao! Huh... I can't believe I'm up to 20 freakin' chapters already. That's pretty awesome. :3
If you read this and think this chapter is weird, you're probably right, buuuuuut will sure be in for a surprise since it only gets weirder as we go. Oh what fun! X3
Remember to review!
"Hellsing: The Dusk"
"An Icy Embrace"
The door Alucard had previously glared at opened, and out walked both Henry and Elizabeth. The young woman looked to be in surprisingly better spirits than the vampire had seen her in earlier, to which he couldn't help finding a tad annoying and suspicious; but mostly his annoyance was directed at Henry who seemed to be in a smiling mood as well.
Upon seeing Integra and Alucard looking at them however, Henry immediately went back to being his usual frightened and nervous self. Seeing the change in the boys demeanor, Liz was about to ask what was wrong. But before she could even open her mouth, Henry hurried off.
She watched as he hastened over to where her aunt stood and so she followed and gave a curtsey. "Good morning, Sir Integra." Liz greeted pleasantly; having yet to notice Alucard yet. A fact that irked him a touch more.
"Morning, Elizabeth." Integra eyed the girls good mood and then Henry before returning her gaze. "Do inform me as to what you were doing with Henry." The tone directed at Liz was casual but held a touch of warning to it. Alucard was quite curious as to what the answer would be as he sat on his coffin.
"I'm sorry, Sir Integra. I didn't mean any harm by it. All I did was ask Henry if I could take a snack for the trip. No idea how long we'd be gone and all." Integra regarded her niece who was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.
She quirked a blonde eyebrow. "And exactly how many snacks did you pack?" At that Liz sweatdropped and rubbed the back of her head, while Henry suddenly looked more nervous than usual and began to fidget with his pocket watch.
"Um… well… maybe just a small dozen or so." Liz said in what she hoped was a reasonable and apologetic tone. Integra's good eye twitched and she heaved a sigh. "You do realize such preparations have already been taken care of, don't you?" At the look on Liz's face she could tell that the girl hadn't. Liz after all was used to tending to herself for the most part.
Integra facepalmed and wondered why she had such trying servants. "Just… give Henry what you have." The blonde told the younger Hellsing. Although, she was curious as to where she had snacks packed, seeing as the girls pockets didn't look full.
"Yes Ma'am…" Liz frowned in disappointment but obeyed. She began withdrawing handfuls of chocolate bars from her pockets. Integra's eyes widened and she sweatdropped at seeing that. "H-how are you doing that?" The question came out in a blurt of bewildered awe.
"My symbiote does it. I have a sort of sub-space storage. I can fit lots of stuff in it." Liz told her aunt with a smile; feeling a little proud that her aunt seemed amazed by something she could do. The girl thought she might've been appalled. But even Alucard found it interesting.
Soon poor Henry was doing his best to hold all of the chocolate bars in his arms and balance them as he began his tricky trip back to the kitchen. Integra sweatdropped and exhaled as she shook her head when she heard the young man trip and fall down with a pitiful yelp.
Alucard smirked and resisted the urge to snicker when he heard Henry fall down and the clatter of the candy bars from the hall beyond the door, but a small sneer twisted his features when he saw that Elizabeth was gazing with concern at the door; as if she wanted to go and help the bumbling butler out.
Liz felt the feeling of eyes upon her that was steadily becoming familiar. She turned and saw the expression the vampire directed at her, and her eyebrow rose as she regarded him; wondering what she'd done to earn such an odd look.
The No Life King gave a gruff little "humph" and turned his head away from her. Elizabeth blinked and wondered what that was all about. Integra found it curious as well, but wasn't in any mood to deal with a moody blood sucker and decided to get them back on the task of their mission.
"Well then, Elizabeth. If you so feel the need to stash things in your peculiar pockets, then why don't you make yourself useful and use your talent to transport Alucard's coffin." Integra told her in a tone that held no room for argument. But Liz was quite taken aback; her silver-blue eyes flitting from the gigantic coffin and back to her Master with uncertainty.
"W-wait… do what now? I… don't know if I can store something that… big in my suit…" The brunette had never done anything like that before and wasn't sure if she should. Did her aunt really expect her to do something like that?
Integra's expression became stern. "If you can't stash that blasted box then I'll have to have the bloody thing transported on a smuggling ship. And every time I do that, we risk the safety of Hellsing's most valuable weapon." Liz bowed her head slightly in apology as she peered up at her aunt pleadingly. "I… I didn't mean any disrespect, Sir Hellsing. It's just that…"
Integra held up her hand and the symbiotic host quieted. "I have every confidence that you can. Now do as I say and stow Alucard's coffin away inside of your suit." Liz would've opened her mouth to politely protest again but thought better of it when she saw how the blonde looked in no mood for it.
"Y-yes, Master." The brunette said with a deeper bow of her head; doing her best to avoid eye contact with the vampire as he stood off of his coffin when she approached it. For some reason she just knew he was smirking about her ordeal.
And indeed he was finding the situation both intriguing and fun. However, he chose to stay silent and watch what was about to happen. Liz eyed the large black box with a small little pout of a frown that made his smirk widen.
Integra decided to leave now that she knew her niece was going to follow her orders, and saw that her presence was no longer needed. She bid them a quick farewell before departing to her office to tend to the mountain of paperwork that was usually waiting for her. And for about a minute or so neither servant moved.
Then, her usual outfit of baggy military styled attire shifted and changed into more appropriate clothing she was told by Integra before that would be worn on the mission. She stood in a simple yet elegant blue dress that fell passed her knees, had long sleeves and a delicate white snowflake pattern trim around the sleeve cuffs and neck. The young woman also had matching Mary Jane shoes that had little silver buckles.
She wore black stockings and a blackish navy blue pea coat with matching buttons. The Bird of Hermes blinked. He hadn't been expecting that to happen; much less how lovely she looked in her Victorian styled garb!
The vampire found he couldn't stop looking her over, until she shifted, or rather her clothing shifted. From the confines of her jacket came several thin tendrils of perpetually changing black and blue, that stretched out towards his coffin like hungry, living vines towards the sunlight.
When the tendrils brushed over the box, Alucard felt a chill run throughout his body as if it were made of icy electricity. Liz was busy concentrating on what she had to do to have noticed the surprised look on his face as he stared at her.
Her symbiotic strands wrapped around the container as if they were liquid serpents; crisscrossing this way and that as they began to pull it towards her torso. The front of her dress took on the same appearance of the strands and swirled like a portal as the bottom part of the coffin began pressing against it.
He watched with morbid fascination as she closed her eyes; her expression full of focus as his coffin began disappearing inside of her body! Crimson slits widened and he took an unconscious step toward her to watch better. Feeling a strange compulsion to get closer to her as he felt more frosty tingles ghosting over him.
When the coffin was a little over halfway gone, he heard her make a strange sort of strained sound, like the kind one would hear from the person they were strangling. His eyes trailed their way up from where his bed met her stomach to see that young Elizabeth looked to be in some sort of pain.
The Count wasn't sure why, but he was caught between taking delight in her agony and feeling an almost foreign pain in spite of it himself. It seemed the human turned monster did have some reason for being apprehensive about such a task.
Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as she tried to put her mind toward accomplishing the order given rather than how ill it was causing her to feel. The brunettes mouth was shut and she was biting her lower lip to keep quiet, but was doing it so hard that her canine on the right side had broken the skin; leaving a thin line of dark, liquid life to trickle down as she tried to remember to breath. And as he watched it, he couldn't help thinking it smelled sweeter than he remembered…
It took her several minutes, but once done and the coffin had vanished into the shadowy vortex of her suit, the lass ended up collapsing down onto her hands and knees. Before he realized what he was doing, the vampire found himself kneeling before her with all the finesse of a raven upon a fresh corpse.
For a moment he couldn't hear her breathing and she did not move. But all at once, her body seemed to come back alive as he heard her gasp a sharp intake of breath; like a drowning victim whose lungs had been purged of water.
Her eyes opened at the same time she arched up to a half sitting position; seeming momentarily confused as to where she was or maybe even who she was as those sparkling blues gazed up at him in bewilderment.
Alucard merely stared back; wondering what curious thing might happen next and why she seemed out of it. But then, in the next moment, she blinked and seemed to ground herself back in reality, and notice that they were a lot closer than was necessary. As usual, she found it made her uneasy.
"Why are… you on the floor?" Liz asked; trying to steady her breathing and regain some composure. She tried to move away from him to get up or at least sit back, but found that any movement caused her to wish she hadn't. Which meant she was stuck being so freaking close until he moved. And she doubted he would.
The whole ordeal of having to force her symbiote to take in and store a much larger item than it was used to had caused her much unpleasantness. It had been quite a while since she had exerted the symbiote and her body like that for her to have temporarily blacked out.
It was why she had awoken all disorientated. But the people at the Cage who used to push her beyond her limitations had never cared, and it made her wonder if her aunt did. Was that why she hadn't bothered to hear Liz's reasons? Hmm… certainly food for thought… But one thing was for sure, the red clad lurker didn't seem bothered by what had just happened.
He was grinning cockily at seeing that she couldn't retreat; that the poor lass was all but paralyzed by pain. "I could ask you the same thing." The vampire teased; making her squirm and flinch at the act when he leaned his towering form down a little more.
It occurred to the poor girl just how alone they were right then. Any servants helping with preparations were elsewhere or had left as they had finished, and Integra and Henry had long since been absent. It was just her… and the vampire Alucard.
Just her luck it would seem…
To Be Continued...
DUN DUN DUUUUN! Lmfao! Poor Liz! Wonder what he's gonna do to her. O.O;;
Alucard really loves playing that dangerous game of cat and mouse! But I guess if you can't actually DIE (or at least stay dead) then why not? XD
And no, Integra didn't have any knowledge of what would happen to Liz if she tried to overexert herself/her symbiote like that. I think that oddly, Integra believes her niece is a lot stronger than Elizabeth believes her own self to be. Plus Liz being a Hellsing and all Integra just assumes she can handle it. LoL! Ah well, it's better than being thought of as useless.
Well, until next time... Tootles! X3
Remember to review! You know you wanna! :D