"Arthur." Beautiful blonde hair that cascaded down the back of the woman caught the morning light, shining as brightly as her warm smile as she looked down at the sickly boy who was bundled in a comforter. He grinned and lifted his hands so that she would lean down and hug him.
"Mother." He giggled faintly when she gave him a gentle squeeze. She withdrew gradually, brushing loose reddish-blonde strands from her son's face, letting her see his green eyes more clearly so that they reflected and made her own appear a deeper emerald.
Then he looked at the windows into his world and the boy lifted his white arms again, beaming just as happily, though with the additional element of surprise. "Father! Father!" The cries were feeble but weighted with adoration.
A chuckle came and the window moved closer to the child and then lowered as bed springs creaked. The window moved to the face of the boy and then closed, making the world go black, allowing sound and the warmth of the touch of the boy's cheek to exist.
"Yes my son. I'm home today. Your mother and I will be with you the whole of today. Do you know why?"
The window opened and saw the close face of the boy almost take on a blush, fighting against his unhealthy pallor. "It's my birthday." He giggled again.
Darkness.
There existed the very same darkness now, but the vampire knew he was only looking at the inside of the coffin. He did not know the people in the dreams he had. They were complete strangers except for the window itself, which was absurd as it was the window…it was only himself in the dream. He lay frowning when a familiar tap came to his coffin and he clearly heard the sound of a heartbeat.
"Vampire."
Alucard froze, recognizing the voice. He blinked, seeing the dream each time he closed his eyes…the same one he had been dreaming, along with a few others of the same nature, since he first woke on the stone, but now he could remember it as if it were reality, a present that had only just burned out of existence and fallen as the ash of the Past. He opened the lid of the coffin, possibly a little quickly as Hellsing's eyes were wide when the vampire looked at him.
"Where is your son?"
Abraham gasped and backed away as if he had been shoved instead of questioned by the vampire.
"What?" he breathed, his face pale.
"What about the woman? You have a wife and a child. The sickly boy in a blue comforter and the blonde woman."
"How do you know this?" Alucard watched the anger in the man's face and hands grabbed his collar tightly, putting pressure on his throat. The vampire ignored this as it failed to affect him.
"So they exist?" Abraham's eyes narrowed, the blue sparking like the passing of a bolt of lightning and he threw Alucard down into the casket.
"You were never meant to know of them, Slave. How did you find this out?" Abraham growled. "Tell me now!"
"Do you think of me as a threat against your family?" the vampire smirked unenthusiastically. "I'm just curious, they are in my dreams…a boy and his parents in a sun bleached, undetailed room…it's his birthday…"
Abraham's jaw tightened and he closed his eyes, turning his face away from Alucard. It was his dearest memory…his son had died only days later. Then his wife had lost her will to live and had been reduced to a shell of herself. She was in a mental hospital. A beautiful empty doll that stared at the morning light and cried, showing her only emotion…as she was otherwise unresponsive. Abraham's teeth tore into the side of his mouth without drawing blood. "My son is dead and my wife is gone, Slave. Do not let me here you speak of them again."
"Why?"
Abraham flinched, his glare forming as he whipped around. Alucard was standing now with an expression of mild interest. "Because I am your Master and I demand it! I order you not to…!" Alucard broke in.
"Why do I have your memories? Where are mine?" there was irritation in the tone, but the facts were what disturbed Abraham. Alucard was remembering things that had never existed for him.
"Why the hell should I know?" Abraham almost hit Alucard, but knew his anger was misplaced, and so, he held himself back.
"Why are you here?"
Abraham's features remained in his glare as he drew out a thick vial of blood and handed it to Alucard. "You can't attack anyone. I'll provide you with blood, Slave."
"Is this your blood?" Abraham fancied that the voice was quieter than usual, but he shrugged it off and nodded as the vampire took the vial. The man looked away as the blood was consumed. When he turned back to Alucard, the vampire was watching him with interest.
No…Abraham blinked at the face. He wasn't looking at him…his eyes were seeing something else…
Hot and cold. Cheeks burning…they were the tears…the cold was everything else…helping the numbness remain. The window was blurred by a watery veil, and it was cleared and would become obscured once more in turns. White lilies. The flowers and the scent were everywhere. Death. There had been a death.
There was a miniature, yet magnificent, ivory coffin with golden rails that held a draped veil over the closed lid. The white was like the piano keys. It existed in the song. The memory lived within it, coexistent with the images of the laughing boy, an infant, the beautiful woman. The song sifted through the white world. It faded.
"I know that song…" Alucard's eyes focused and he saw Abraham before him in the cell. "I remember that you played it once…but you ordered me to leave. You remember the boy's funeral when you play it…and other mem…"
The crack of the abrupt collision of Abraham's fist against Alucard's jaw echoed and the vampire watched Abraham's face color with outrage.
"STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"
"Why did you hit me?" The vampire let a small smile escape.
Abraham snarled at Alucard. "Because a monster should not dirty such a thing with its presence!"
"I'm not…" Alucard stopped, giving up on the unreasonable man and he stepped back until he was able to lower himself to sit on his coffin. "If you are going to be this way, leave."
"You can't order me, Slave." Hellsing stiffened, his knuckles sounding in the stone enclosed room.
"You don't even want to be here, foolish human…my Master."
Abraham scowled and, against his stubborn intent, he left the cell. Alucard looked into the darkness, a stolid statue of white granite. This was only one of his dreams…others were still pressing on his mind…
Alucard was strapped onto the stone table and his mind ran over his last conversation with the man who now tightened the leather straps cruelly. He had been left alone in the cell for a week, which he hadn't minded except for his uncomfortable, constant, nagging, hunger. The man was talking to him now as his eyes went about the room, looking at the different, unfamiliar containers and a group of pails. Then his head was manipulated into the last strap that completely immobilized him. The voice became words as the vampire looked up at the blue eyes.
"Are you listening?"
"No."
Abraham scoffed at the response and backtracked in what he had been saying.
"The Queen has agreed that meeting you in your current state is a waste of time, but you can still serve some purpose to earn your keep, so to say. You are not a prime specimen for learning from, though you are still a vampire…you might as well be used for all your worth." There was bitterness in the man's voice as he spoke. "Such a use was acceptable to the Queen and she has allowed me to inform my men of your existence, vampire. These experiments will be run by them, as they are the specialists of your kind, and this will be supervised by myself."
"Did I hurt you, human? Master?" The eyes were keen and observed the spasm of the man's muscles on his face as emotion fought for dominance. "You are distancing me from them."
"Shut up." Abraham snapped, turning from the vampire to the men in the corner, outside of Alucard's view. It was true and the dark shadow of guilt still weighed on Abraham's shoulders. Alucard had come so close to the image of his son, when he had previously lost his memories, then he had come close, almost a companion later. Now, however, the vampire was an unwanted leech, stealing the feelings that Abraham had for these memories and the memories of his family. He was cutting Alucard down from the image of a being to one of a test subject…or at least he would attempt to…to an extent determined by his morals.
The men had been outraged at first mention of the existence of a vampire under their noses, but they came to an understanding as they learned of the Queen's request and the use the creature would be put to. Jonathon had contributed no comment except showing grim satisfaction that mirrored some of John's feelings. John was only slightly opposed to the experiments and had not done more to convince Abraham to change his mind than to mention this.
"I am not a cruel man, vampire." Hellsing's voice moved to Alucard, though he did not come into view. "This is not meant to be torture, they are just unpleasant in nature to yourself." A rag suddenly blotted out the vampire's sight, covering his entire face. A second later the vampire flinched when a bucket of icy water was poured over the rough cloth. He immediately stopped breathing. "We want to know how it is vampires drown, if they really do not breathe."
"We don't need to breathe." The vampire tired to say and then frowned as he heard the unintelligible words in his own ears. Another cold pail of water was poured.
Abraham watched as another was emptied before he stopped them, clearly seeing no response. "So it is being under the water itself that harms them. They don't drown." He walked to the stone and watched as the cloth was pulled away and crimson eyes glared under black hair that was plastered to the vampire's cold and clammy face.
"I could have told you that." He growled.
"And how could we trust a vampire?" a stranger's voice responded, making the vampire bare his fangs in a show of impatience.
"Master."
Abraham remained out of the vampire's line of sight, keeping quiet. A sharp scent made Alucard's eyes widen in disbelief and then narrow as the annoying smell came closer. "Garlic?"
Hands were heard placing the bulbs around him. He frowned sharply and sighed, unamused. "Garlic's influence is a myth." His nose wrinkled in distaste. "It smells as bad for a vampire as it does for a human."
Minutes passed and the men came to the same conclusion that the smell did nothing. They took it away and returned with the powdered form, sprinkling it an Alucard who hissed at the figures he could see in the room, the two men with the garlic. "This is disgusting and annoying."
Alucard stopped commenting on the experiments as they continued, involving the garlic, though he almost bit off a finger when it was placed in his mouth and he spat the peeled clove out at a face when Abraham said that they were to go to the next test.
"Maybe we should try decapitation, Sir." offered the unfortunate man, cleaning his face as he glowered at the chuckling vampire.
Abraham ignored him and wild rose branches were produced. The only affect they had was dispersing some of the garlic smell and the vampire actually asked to keep them, with a brazen grin on his face. Flowerless, for it was not May, common hawthorn branches came next, but held no influence. Then a rosary was laid on the vampire's chest.
Alucard was quiet, without a smile or any emotion apparent. Time passed and Abraham suggested that they put the rosary directly on his skin, so some of the straps were undone and his vest and ribbon tie were removed, followed by his shirt. Some gasped as the ghastly blue discoloration that formed the outline of the rosary on the vampire's chest, surrounded by blue, snaking veins that were fading quickly. They put the rosary on the vampire's chest and the blue returned and then slowly turned a turquoise grey and then final black that began to crumble. A moment of this snapped Hellsing into reality and he snatched the Holy artifact away as the layer of skin was reduced to a charcoal ash.
"Why didn't you say anything?" he demanded breathlessly, glaring at Alucard, but the vampire was unable to look in his direction and remained just as impassive as he had been before. The men were quiet as Hellsing announced that this was the last test for that night. The session had lasted barely an hour.
Alucard was left on the stone as the room emptied, only Abraham remained scowling at the vampire. "You did that on purpose." He stood so that the red eyes could look up at him. "You injured yourself so we would stop."
"No. I just wanted to see the result myself. It hurt and I'm generally immune to most pain and have not experienced a rosary's effect intensely as I have been inclined to avoid them...or that is so for my memory and instinct." Abraham looked at the black tattoo on the vampire's uncovered chest and he produced a vial and set it on a box. He had walked to the side of the room and now remained there as he spoke, his voice a monotone.
"You may drink this and return to your cell if you faze through the straps." He watched as the vampire did this with ease and went to the human as he remained standing next to the vial. Abraham was at the door when the cap was removed and he was gone when the blood passed the vampire's lips.
"Mother! Mother!" Arthur giggled, a little boy barely past two or three. He gave a proud expression at the praise he received for saying the word so well. "Father!" The window chuckled and the boy was lost from the view as the sensation of taking the child into one's arms was felt. Then Arthur's happy face was seen, moving in the air as the window rotated as if turning in a circle.
The vampire put the vial down and went to the opposite wall, walking through it.
Back in his room, Abraham went over the results. "He really is one abandoned by God." He whispered, reading the description of the effect the rosary had on Alucard, touching the said object that rested in his pocket. Then he looked at the nonexistent reactions in the other tests. "Though, the Earth seems to accept him… I would like to test the running water…" he continued to mumble to himself as he readied for bed.