Do not own! Not mine!
Al's POV:
"So…Jay was killed by the vampire that's after her friend Flora? And Flora's your heir to control Dracula and take over the Hellsing Organization?" I asked slowly, feeling Moriarty wag her tail comfortingly below my feet as Sir Integra nodded, cigar smoke drifting upward from the currently smoldering cancer-stick in her mouth. "Yes. Jay was shaping up to be the replacement for Walter, our current butler, as Flora's permanent human bodyguard and our technology expert. As you can see, this is no longer possible." she said coolly, and I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. "Sorry about this, but if you think I could replace her, I can't. While my hacking is equal or superior to hers, I can't even throw a good punch when I need to. I'm honestly a bit surprised I managed to get away from the perp and his two zom- ghouls." I hurriedly corrected myself at the apparent misnomer.
Integra smirked slightly, her glasses flickering once in the lamplight as she leaned back a little. "From what you have told me of your encounter, the vampire attempted to lure you into a complacent state by hypnotism, and you were jolted out of it by the shock and pain of being bitten by your dog before he could get you too deep into the trance. Had he completely put you under his control, you wouldn't have even felt it as the ghouls ripped you apart. Vampiric hypnotism is very much like certain drugs; sensations and thought becomes dulled to the point of stupor, and like ordinary hypnotism, the vampire is able to suggest things to control your mind and awareness." I frowned slightly. "But the ghouls looked normal until I stabbed him-"
She raised an eyebrow. "Could you smell something off? Hear something?" she asked pointedly, and I closed my mouth slowly. "Well…they did smell disgusting, even when I couldn't see the decay." I admitted, and she nodded in satisfaction. "Most likely he had cloaked them in some kind of illusion, or you were already partially under his control before you saw them. Most likely a mixture of both." she explained, and I made a sound of clarity as Moriarty licked my hand comfortingly, sensing my fear. In other words, I got lucky. If Mori hadn't bitten me, or if she had done it a hair later, I'd be dead. I thought with a hard swallow, then crossed my legs as I folded my arms. "So I'm going to have to be staying here for a while, aren't I?" She nodded silently as I blew out a noisy sigh. "Cripes. There goes my legit job and my house."
"We did bring your equipment here, if that's any help. Apparently the one who visited your house was gone within minutes of your own departure, but your house was almost untouched, other than your living room, which was in shambles." Sir Integra said in what I guessed was her comforting manner, and I shrugged listlessly. "I guess that's good to hear then." Her next words however, were not as much of a comfort. "You'll be put into a small self-defense course with the mercenaries, of course. I won't guarantee that you will even be allowed to return to your mundane life after this is all over, so I would appreciate it if you learned to at least prevent yourself from being killed." she said briskly, in a tone of voice that suggested there would be no arguments as I spluttered at her weakly. "But…but…I…"
"And your dog too."
"WHAT?!"
***Time Skip***
"So who's gonna train my dog-" My grumbling ceased abruptly as I opened my door, my eyes going huge and traveling up. "Oh…no." Alucard, as he was apparently now known as, raised an eyebrow at me. "No? Baskerville is a dog, albeit a demonic one, and your puppy seems to have caught his eye." My own eye twitched slightly as I tried to gather my nerves. Maybe Flora couldn't tell because she was all doe-eyed about him and he tuned it down accordingly, and maybe Integra was either used to it or ignored it, but Alucard carried about him an aura that was so inhuman, so powerful, it almost literally brought me to my knees. It was an aura that screamed of centuries of bloodshed, death, and cruelty, and whenever he turned his searing crimson eyes to me, I felt like a bug, violated and stripped down to my barest morals and ideas, nothing more than prey, something he might –or might not– ignore in favor of a more entertaining victim.
He scared the crap out of me.
The barest hint of a predatory smirk flirted around his fanged mouth, and I saw an amorphous mass of something behind him that made the hair on the back of my neck rise further, and Baskerville trotted out of it as it immediately faded away, smiling a larger and more jagged version of his master's smile as I felt Moriarty press against my side, as if reassuring me. I looked up to protest, only to find the master vampire gone, and the clock declaring I was already a few minutes late. My eyes widened in terror. "CRAP!"
Flora's POV:
"Due to the fact that not only were these renegade vampires bold enough to attack the Vatican in broad daylight, not to mention the fact they were able to tread on the extremely ancient blessed church grounds, I take it they want your heir very badly indeed, Sir Integra." Sir Islands said matter-of-factly, lowering the files he had been given as I felt Alucard's irritation simmering almost directly under my feet, the shadow-mass he frequently dissolved into lurking and twisting under my chair in looping coils like the dragon he sometimes reminded me of. 'Calm down.' Sir Integra and I thought in unison, and she smiled imperceptibly at me as I did the same, amused by our similar and instantaneous reactions.
I felt rather than heard Alucard growl, and I felt a slight restriction around my ankle as one of the tendrils curled around it possessively. 'Alucard, he really isn't going to just appear in the middle of the conference and snatch me. I hate to say this, but Sir Integra's right, you are overreacting just a little.' I pointed out uncomfortably, and he growled as the tendril tightened further around my ankle. 'I won't rest until I've killed him with my own two hands. And I certainly won't stop protecting you until I have.' He snapped, and I sighed through my nose as I forced my mind back on the topic of the meeting. Sir Penwood was next to speak, and I smiled encouragingly at the plump man as he fiddled with his papers. "The Vatican and Iscariot have sustained heavy losses, but miraculously, no other civilians were harmed except for the notable incident involving, erm, the young heir's friend." Sir Integra raised her head slightly from its resting place on her clasped hands. "So where did they get the ghouls?" Penwood blinked at her. "Eh?"
Sir Integra took her cigar out of her mouth and leaned back as she started explaining. "Reports from both the Vatican and my heir state that there were numerous ghouls prowling not only the city, but the countryside around it. Some would've come from the churches they attacked, but not nearly enough for such a magnitude of undead. This was a veritable army." she pointed out coolly, and Sir Irons seized the conversation once again as his eyes narrowed. "Which is why I want to know, Sir Integra, why exactly is your heir so important to these vampires?" I felt the curl of shadow around my ankle rub it lovingly before it vanished, and Alucard's velvety voice boomed out at the gathered Round Table members as I saw him appear out of the corner of my eye.
"I have claimed her as my mate, which would make her a valuable bargaining chip for any vampire who wishes to damage Hellsing. More importantly, a very powerful vampire with a grudge against not only me but the Hellsing Organization itself has surfaced as the leader and instigator of the rabble that attacked your precious Holy City." he sneered as he laid a hand on the back of my chair, and I saw more than a few of the gathered men gulp nervously. Sir Irons and Integra were the only ones unaffected. I saw another member, a grizzled war veteran named Sir Walsh, lean forward to glare at either me or Alucard. From this distance with this huge table, I couldn't be sure. "And how exactly have you "claimed" her, vampire? And how do these other vampires know about it?" he asked shrewdly as his eyes narrowed, and I blushed hard at the implications of his words, especially "claiming".
Alucard remained unaffected. "It's a psychic linking of souls that affects both individuals deeply. Think of it as a collision of two ships or objects at sea. As the two connect, ripples are formed. Any other ship within a certain radius of those two objects, depending on how big the objects are, will feel the ripples. The more powerful the vampire, the larger the ripples are and the farther out they will go. Humans cannot feel the ripples, but any supernatural creature almost certainly could, if they were paying attention and had the correct "tuning", if you will." he explained, and I saw Sir Walsh nod and lean back in satisfaction. "In other words, once this happened, we couldn't have suppressed it if we tried." Alucard nodded with a small smirk. "And no doubt the vampires that were not paying attention have already been informed by word of mouth."
Sir Penwood looked seriously alarmed. "Are you saying that there's an entire underground network of these, these monsters!" he spluttered, and Alucard's smirk grew as he laughed crazily for a moment. I could tell he enjoyed Sir Penwood's overreaction immensely. "No, Sir Penwood, I am not. Vampires are by nature solitary creatures, however hunting paths will and do cross more frequently than any of us like. It's during these sort of encounters that any kind of news or events are usually transferred." he said with a chuckle, and he faded away again as I instantly felt the shadow return, curling around my ankle in a way that seemed extremely determined not to let me go.
***Time Skip***
"Oh hey Al. You okay?" I asked as I exited the Round Table room, and he groggily looked up from his slumped position on the floor. "He's a demon. An evil, rifle-wielding demon with no respect for a poor, innocent little hacker trying not to get his head shot off." he moaned, and I squinted in confusion. "Who?" He slapped both hands over his face, sliding them down slowly. "He Who Wears The Lady's Braid. The Flirter of Blonde Vamps. The Ultimate Evil in mercenary form-" The penny dropped as I stifled a giggle. "You mean Captain Pip?" I asked, and he hissed and jerked away like he was a vampire and I had waved a cross at him. "Do not speak the name of the long-braided evil! Don't speak it, don't think it, and don't even believe it, or maybe he'll get you too!"
I rolled my eyes and offered a hand to help him up. "Is it really that bad?" I asked as we walked down the hall, and he shuddered. "He's a demon. A demon with a mercenary group and a French accent." I looked at him askance. "What'd he do to you?" I asked in surprise, and he assumed a miserable expression. "When I argued about whether or not I would need to use a gun he asked me what I'd do if I was faced with an angry vampire and I replied with "Shriek "I'm just a hacker I have nothing to do with these people please don't shoot me I can get government files for you and if you want something from these computers you'll never get it if you kill me so please don't kill me mister please!" and put my hands behind my head."
I massaged my temples. "He took exception to that?" His expression, already glum, plummeted. "He had me do sixty laps around the grounds and then made me fire a gun until I almost dislocated my shoulder." I patted his unbandaged shoulder in a comforting way. "Just look at it this way, at least you're not being trained to kill vampires. Then you get paired up with Walter." He swallowed hard. "And he's worse?" he whispered desperately, and I winced, remembering my own training. "Let's just say Superman isn't the only human who can literally outrun a speeding bullet. He's fast for a sixty-year-old man."