Chapter 31
"What exactly are you saying Jonah?" two figures stood watch in the darkness beside a window on the second floor of the building the charity even was taking place in. the taller of the two wore a dark grey coat and a hood that matched the one the younger boy always seemed to wear. And although her face was merely partially obscured by its shadow, the rest was hidden away by layers of bandages with shredded edges covering the lower half of her face as well as the bridge of her nose. Dark green eyes stared him down from behind a pair of round glasses.
"I am not sure. You ordered me to keep an eye out for anything potentially suspicious. I did. But there was something so strange about that encounter…that boy. I just," he pauses looking down trying to find his words. "The boy just vanished when I looked again. And my sister referred to the cat as a draculina asking what it meant. He had called her such and…."
With his gaze cast down Jonah didn't see it. But the second the word draculina was mentioned and passed his lips Heinkel's body tensed and her left eye twitched.
"What did you say?" she suddenly grabs him by the collar of his hoodie forcing his head back up. "That word. Say that word again!"
"Draculina?" the teen repeats in a more cautious tone not quite picking up on the meaning that one word had for Heinkel.
"That fucking vampire whore!" she shouts releasing him. Her eyes sparkle with rage one second before she starts laughing, the sound of her voice dark and malevolent. "So that's where you went." She whispers to herself turning from the boy to look outside the window. The gears in her mind already turning as to what to do next.
"Jonah!"
"Yes mam?" he quickly replies straightening his clothing.
"This cat, where did she find it?"
"In the park south-east of here. It's about an hour's distance on foot."
"Find me a map of this damned city. I want to know exactly where everything is and where she's hiding. Each and every possible dark whole my rat has used."
"Josie found her in broad daylight. In the middle of the day and she seemed perfectly fine."
"She would. She's that vampire's pet after all. Don't expect such an ancient bloodline to be weak Jonah. After all, she didn't die after you poisoned her unlike the rest." She sketches a smirk. "Oh no, this one won't die so easily. Your sister, where is she?" her head then turns back to face him.
"She's under my care. I moved her form the orphanage and we're now staying in an apartment I have…"
"She's useless to me then." She cuts him of again with a dismissal wave of her hand. "Victoria isn't stupid enough to go to visit that child again any time soon. So what I want to know is which part of the park it was."
"Somewhere by the lake. I don't know for sure."
"I see." Heinkel turns around starting to pace alongside the window, crossing her arms over her chest. "And this boy. What did he look like?"
"About 12 or 13 with dark raven hair about shoulder long."
"And his eyes? Were they red?"
"They were blue." He adds seeing as her eyebrows furrow in displeasure though she remained silent on the subject and continued pacing, a silent sign for him to go on. "He wore all black and Josie told me the cat was very small, unnaturally so, with blue eye as well. The boy said strange things when addressing her as draculina."
"Like what?" the small rise in her tone briefly made the young man flinch as though she were scolding him for not mentioning it sooner.
"She couldn't remember. She could recall it happening, but nothing specific per say."
"That's not what I want to hear Jonah."
"Yes I know, but she's only ten. She doesn't understand. She told me the cat wouldn't come to her no matter what, but moved towards the boy when calledCneajna."
"Cnejna?" that word made no sense whatsoever and it told neither of them anything for the time being.
"Cneajna." Jonah pronounces it correctly. "I looked it up. Apparently, that was the name of a princess back in the 15th century. She was Vlad Dracula's mother. Princess Cneajna of Moldavia."
"Was it now?" Heinkel suddenly smiles and her lips form a devious smirk beneath her bandages. Her shoulders begin to move as she chuckles most delighted. "How very interesting."
"There is more." He tells her catching her attention once more. "I already look over a map before coming here. I thought you might ask sooner or later. There are only residential buildings around the park including three parishes. And one of them is rumored to have belonged to Abraham Van Hellsing. But I didn't want to say anything until I had all the information."
"Van Hellsing?"
"Yes. And I also heard rumors amongst my brothers about this other father, father Julian from the congregation, that he's been seeing angels of late."
"What do I care about that old fart sees? He's useless."
"The angel apparently had black wings, dark hair and blue eyes. And he saw him in the same church." Jonah pauses prolonging the inevitable by a few seconds more. "You had me rip the wings of a similar angel days ago."
"Walter!" she hisses as the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place. "Do you know where this church is?"
"I do."
"And the priest left in charge of the church?"
"I can find out."
With those words the look in Heinkel's green eyes as she turns back to the window and looks outside at all the people still coming to the charity event, the freshly fallen snow stained in their footsteps.
"Do so. This event is for children after all. And perhaps, the boy and his cat will join us. After all," she peeks at him form the corner of her right eye. "You were the one to poison her. So if there is at least one person they'll definitely come for, it will be you."
"What will you have me do?"
"Nothing, for now." She gazes back out the window. "We will wait and see if the boy and his draculina come to us."
"And if they don't?"
"They will." She lowers the tone of her voice once more, a tone that basked in nothing short of confidence as she crossed her arms over her chest one more. "I have no doubt they'll come. Sooner or later. Vengeance is a fickle thing."
"And when they do? What then? Do you wish the church investigated?"
"No need. Going directly after would be pointless and much too suspicious. They aren't the only enemy we have to consider."
"You mean McCoy." Jonah comes to stand by her side turning his attention of the world beyond the plate of glass.
"He's not all that seems. Our alliance is temporary and I would like to keep it so as would I all our secrets. If we got on a rampage on one of our own, he will find it too suspicious to overlook. I do not want him knowing Hellsing's secrets, whichever they may be, before us."
"I understand."
"Make sure that you do. That man keeps seeking you out more and more."
"My loyalty is to you."
"It better."
Just then, she spots something peculiar approaching the building: a young man leading two children, one of which a boy fitting Jonah's description all too well. And beside him, well it wasn't a cat, but a little girl with yellow hair holding his hand.
"Are they…" the young man asks leaning in to have a better look. A lot of people had gathered, children as well, yet it seemed that Heinkel had taken a particular interest in these to. Her shoulders suddenly tensed and her hands gripped at her arms fisting her own clothes. He couldn't quite make out her face, but something aching to a growl passed her lips.
"Not a cat, but a filthy little mouse." She whispers suddenly smirking. Oh, she could tell. She could who that was from a mile away. And whether she was truly right or not, the chance was far too good to pass. "Go and mingle Jonah. And find out what you can, discreetly. Find me my vampire."
"Understood." The latter nods turning around leaving her alone.
"Excellent."
As for Heinkel, she continued to watch from the window still smirking that gratified smirk. Hopefully, her mouse would prove herself a challenge. And if not, she now knew where and what to search for.
"A church belonging to Abraham Van Hellsing, was it?" she whispers pondering the meaning and implication that piece of information held. Perhaps a search was in order. Discreetly of course and made by someone neither the Victoria or Walter knew of. That piece of property might just offer her a break in this relentless game of 'cat and mouse'.
And should that prove useful, why not other properties as well. Especially the one the whole world knew to have belonged to the vampire himself once upon a time.
.
.
"I don't like it here." Seras whispers while pressing the left side of her face against the back of Vlad's soft sweater over his lower back. "Too many thoughts. My head hurts."
"We can leave." The raven haired boy softly tells her while still searching the room for any signs of either Heinkel or the young teen from earlier. Two hours at least had passed without any sort of unusual interactions to say the least.
"I can hear them, everyone. But not them. She's not here."
"You sensed her when we came in."
"I can't any more." Seras moves her head back from the warmth of his black sweater and takes another look around. "But I don't know when I lost her. I'm sorry."
"No matter." He says bringing his left hand up to ruffle her hair with a smile. "We did what we came here to do. Come." Taking her by the hand he beings to lead her away back towards the stairs and the lower floor.
"I don't understand."
"Not all battles are won in blood little one." His grip on her small hand tightens as he leads her away from the crowd. "We appeared, that's all that matters for now."
"Then why did Walter make such a big deal out coming here?"
"Because he had to." The prince stops. "The boy will talk soon enough. It's only a matter of time. We aren't looking for a leas draculina, we're just bait."
"How do you know that? He was terrified of me."
"I've seen that look on many faces in the past. I know it very well. He will talk, when the time comes."
"We're going home then?"
"In a manner of speaking little one. There is something else I want you to see first."
"What?"
"You'll see."
"Oh honey look. She's so adorable." A woman suddenly speaks up dragging her husband by the hand in their direction. All the money gathered by the end of the night was to go to different orphanages spread out all over the city as well as help introduce some of the children to prospective parents. The woman in her late 30is with honey brown hair tied in a low ponytail and hazel brown eyes quickly came up to the two children utterly mesmerized by the golden haired little girl Seras was posing as. "She's like a little doll. Look at her."
"Yes dear, but I wish you wouldn't drag me around like that every time." The man, a bit older than his wife, had short, dark raven hair with streaks of grey along his temples, a moustache and a pair of rectangular shaped glasses over his brown eyes. He gave of an exasperated sigh at being once again dragged across the room by his rather energetic young wife who suddenly found her duty to inspect all of the children gathered.
"She's so sweet. What's your name little one?" her voice is filled with excitement and wonder as her eyes expectantly look over Seras's face with the utmost adoration. Seras, on the other hand, stays perfectly still and silent holding her master's hand tighter as he slowly brings her closer to his body. "Are you here with anyone?" her right hand reaches out to her wanting to brush some of those lovely loose strands of hair from her bangs out of her face in a comforting gesture, but is stopped by a firm hand grabbing her wrist.
"I don't remember allowing you to touch her." The prince's tone of voice is low and would have been dangerous and close to threatening in any other circumstances, but he kept his cool despite make his point known. He doesn't hurt the woman and quickly releases her wrist, but takes a step forward putting himself between her and his draculina. "Don't touch her."
"I'm sorry. I got a little carried away." The woman smiles brushing some of her hair behind her ear. "Are you her brother? I've seen you two together for a bit now."
"What's it to you?"
"Dear this isn't the best way to go about this. You can't just rush them with such questions."
"Nonsense." The woman smiles waving her hand in front of her face as though it were nothing. "We're merely talking. They're so sweet. As I was saying I…"
"I need to go." Seras pulls at his hand making her voice sound as small as possible thus easily playing the woman in front of them who's immediately fascinated by her innocent and utterly adorable mannerism. The downcast eyes, the biting of her bottom lip so utterly adorably, the shy look on her face while bringing her other hand up to her mouth with her fingers practically swallowed up by the cream colored sleeve that seemed just a tad to big for her. "Yes, yes of course how silly of me to keep you." She smiles again to which the prince actually raises an eyebrow in response. She was down right creepy to say the least. "I'll be here when you get back. So sweet."
"Now darling…." The man placed his hands on her upper arms trying to talk some sense into his wife even as the prince moves quick to pull Seras along and out of their reach. The sound of their exchange following the children with each step they took as the woman kept going on how lovely Seras was and soon they could adopt her.
"You wanted people to like me." Seras teased with smile hidden behind her left sleeve as it covered her mouth. "To be sweet enough."
"Don't say it like that." he sighs rolling his eyes. "It was disturbing enough the first time." Turning around a corner they continued on along the hallway towards the foyer to pick up their clothes when Seras suddenly stops over half way in.
"What's wro…" Vlad turns around while asking onto to stop once he notices the figure stepping forward to block the path they had just come from. Both the posture and the hood covering his head were familiar things as he stood there without moving.
"Victoria…" the unmistakable sound of Heinkel's distorted voice as she called her name succeeded in sending a chill down Seras's spine making her grip his hand a tad harder. Heinkel stepped forward coming around from behind them on the other end of the hall where the exit would have been. "Long time no see..." the sound of her voice coming from behind both heavy bandages covering her face as well as scars due to the scar tissue left in the wake of her wounds rang loud before she abruptly paused as if on purpose. "Vampire." Deeply amused chuckling followed as she stepped forward and into the light that brought forth her features. "You've kept me waiting too long. Yet here you stand. Can't say I wasn't hoping for it." Each step she took brought her closer, her boots heavy as she paced and the edge of her long grey coat swirling around her ankles. "Too much of a pest to just drop dead and wither away." She finally comes to a stop no less than half a foot away.
"You would know." Seras hisses looking from under her bangs with narrowed eyes while subtly tightening her grip on her master's hand.
"I'll find you, eventually." Heinkel replies narrowing her green eyes. "I may not be able to touch you now, but I'll eventually find you."
"You can try." The prince replies this time with an all too familiar smirk on his lips.
"Oh I will." She chuckles.
"Get out of the way." Vlad demands narrowing his eyes taking an aggressive stance in front priest.
"When I desire your filthy advice vampire, I'll ask for it."
"Here's your chance Judas priest." he chuckles. "If not, the fuck out of my way."
"The only reason you're not being dismembered is because I can't have a charity based of bloodshed."
"Such a shame."
"Don't test my vampire. Or I might just shoot you with some poison like did your precious draculina." Heinkel's tone turns threatening, eyes narrowing as she takes pleasure in the change on Seras's face she could not hide in time. "Better still, why not just do it again?" she gestures with her hand and a second figure joins them coming to stand beside her. "After all, he did such a fantastic job of it last time."
Seras's grip on his hand turns bruising as a sense of utter dread suddenly and involuntarily floods his mind coming from her. She was afraid.
"Seems you're not the only one who can leave a mark on that precious child."
"We can't all be so competent, can we?" Vlad sneers in reply. "Too bad you lack the balls to do it yourself. At least Anderson was as good as his word."
"Just you wait and see Alucard. You'll regret those words one day."
"You're breaking my heart."
"I'll be crushing it." The two exchange a heated rage filled look for what seemed like forever before Heinkel eventually turns away with a sly grin plastered over her bandage covered face. "Jonah, let's go. The air has gotten to stale around here."
"Coming." The teen replies casting one final look of his own over the two vampires from under the grey hoodie he wore.
The prince stands firm watching the two of them walk further and further away until they move around the corner disappearing completely.
"We're leaving now draculina. Make a portal."
"Yes master." Seras replies meekly and silently hiding her face in the small of his back.
.
.
"Where are we?" Seras questions as both her and her master step out of the black portal and touch ground on an abandoned field, the soil frozen over and heavily covered by subsequent layers of snow no man had cleared. The ruins of a large building lay in before them watching over the abandon field. "Home…away from home." The prince whispers, his breath visible in the cold winter air, as he begins to walk forward towards the runes of the once grand and majestic house. A fragment of the ceiling remained while the rest was gone much like the majority of the walls; these were just segments missing stone and adequate shape. The remnants of windows still remained as well, broken glass still embedded in their frames. All the broken pieces, stone, wood…what once had been a home lie buried somewhere beneath the layers of frozen dirt and snow.
"I'm sorry." She whispers grabbing hold of his wrist with her small right hand stopping him after a few more steps. The mere sight of that boy had paralyzed her, his presence alone as if having the utmost power over her. "I couldn't…"
"He had it with him, didn't he?" Vlad interrupts her looking over his left shoulder to her downcast face. "The blood."
"Yes." A small and meek 'yes' that could somehow end up justifying her fear. It didn't. She shouldn't have been afraid.
"Your fear of him will harm you more than him Seras. Don't be afraid."
"I don't want that blood inside me again." She shyly looks up to meet his gaze, blue eyes large and wide and innocent peering from under her golden bangs. He had to admit she was exquisite doll.
"When there is nothing left to destroy draculina," he pulls his hand free of her grip and cups her face instead. "Nothing else can harm you. Don't be afraid." His eyes are kind and his thumb lazily traces circles over her left cheekbone in a caring manner.
Seras nods offering him a most brilliant smile while pressing her cheek into his warm and welcoming palm, her left hand coming up to rest over his wrist and keep his hand a moment longer if possible. "Come, I'll show you my home. Carfax…" he softly adds at the end before taking her by the hand and leading her on. Their footprints leave deep marks on the freshly fallen snow as they cross the field heading towards the old building.
"It's…a house…" Seras says in return scanning the broken walls, the pieces left behind, as they got closer and closer. "A church?"
"Neither." he softly replies changing direction as to head around the building instead of through what had one been the front door. "Once long ago it was founded as a church, but the owner died leaving it to his family. They lost it, sold, given, taken, the years were not kind. Then one day it was bought by an elderly man who came out of the shadows and he took the foundation and walls and redrafted them making it a house. It took all his money and the last of his years and sanity to make it...perfect…Then, when it was done he walked into the sunlight from the very roof of his home and never came back. The house was left to a boy with one eye red and one eye green that could never grow old, but no one knew he even existed. The house was sold and bought a few times over considering everyone who tried to own it mysteriously died. And the boy, always silent and cold never speaking unless it was to the shadows, stood and watched as people came and went but never stayed too afraid of the darkness surrounding it. So year after year the child stayed alone and year after year he would grow in strength and loose his mind. You've met him before." He pauses. "When Heinkel pierced your heart." He tightens his grip on her hand prompting her to remember. "Precious little vampire." The words causing Seras to briefly stop and remember.
Flashback
"Hello precious little vampire." Laughter filled the halls as a hand suddenly grabs hold of her throat and crushes her back against the neared wall denting it. "Traitorous blood."
Seras's body went limp without warning as her eyes locked onto those of the male vampire standing leaning into her face; his hood still up with strands of his hair dripping down his forehead. Her crimson pupils could not help but widen in fear as the ghost like feel of his breath touched her skin and lips and her irises reflected the madness overflowing from his.
Flashback end
"Our paths crossed and met when I sent Renfield to find others like us in the city. I felt the boy from the second I stepped foot in London. He was interesting, I wanted him found. Madness such as his was gained through his unnatural blood. Marcel was not made vampire little one, he was born vampire."
Flashback
The vampire's laughter, more like a deep chuckle, filled the hallway once more as he stepped back still grinning and still looking her over. "Very…strange…."
"Interesting….yes I can see now…" his voice takes on an unnaturally low whisper before his sentences finally come to an end and his head suddenly jerks upward pushing the rim of the hood back just a little revealing a bit more of the bridge of his nose and pale skin.
Flashback end
"What could he see?" she whispers remembering. Passing room after room they stopped outside once more where a whole section of the house was missing. The remnants of the floor where all that remained and they too were deeply hidden.
"I did not ask."
Just then the snow beneath their feet turned black with one tendril after another snaking their way across it. The white blanket parted revealing the broken stone foundation. One by one the stones were removed revealing a hidden passageway underneath and a stairway leading down into the darkness below.
"But you are free to do so when the time comes."
The stairs were chipped, some just as broken as the floor and the rest of the structure. And they seemed never ending.
"You found him?"
"No."
Flashback
A large metal door screeched upon opening casting light into the otherwise dark room. Steel metal bars greeted the grey haired man once he steeped into the room and behind them a young boy with short pitch black hair and dual colored eyes, the right one emerald green and the left red as blood. His flesh was red and burned alongside the right side of his face: around his eye and the temple, the upper half of his cheekbone and ear and the entire right side of his throat. The burns were just an hour or so old and yet they still hadn't healed. A fact in itself quite interesting since the blood in his veins held traces of vampiric abilities. So why not heal?
"You will speak one way or another." He leans in closer to the bars knowing the boy could not move due to the heavy chains holding his arms and legs bound to the wall at the back of the cell. "And if not, I can make those burns of you're a lot more painful. You don't seem to heal normally, so take that into consideration the next time you disobey."
The dual colored eyes narrow growling in response while violently yanking on the changes that bound him.
"Get used to this prison boy. You'll be staying here for a long time."
Flashback end
"It was Swewart actually, the elder. And he kept his fascinating toy locked away and starved trying to fix what was never broken. And such tampering leaves deep marks as my own scares do upon my back. The boy's blood had interesting side effects on his patients and in time the child grew to love the madness he could bring. And the fool of a man never saw it coming, never knew he was being manipulated."
Reaching the end of the stairs the door at the top opens on its own with a partial creek as the old hinges finally get used after such a long time. The ruins were nothing but abandoned walls at first, the remnants of rooms coming after.
"The child found me."
Flashback
The screams had peaked his curiosity, but it was the scent of blood that ultimately leads him towards a dark and abandoned alley. The first few droplets of crimson weren't that easy to spot, but the closer he got the thicker and heavier the scent became. The first thing he came across was a severed hand broken from the elbow down, the rest of the body quickly following half a meter away: more broken pieces to litter the dark alley. And at the very end the tall raven haired man came across a young man feeding of a woman, her neck already broken preventing her from fleeing though the life had yet to fully leave her eyes.
"Boy." Dark crimson eyes fall upon twin colored irises as the young man, in his early teens, removes his fangs from his prey and turns around to look at the stranger who had called him out.
His first instinct was to growl at the stranger and defend himself and his prey, but as soon as he gets a better look at the intimidating figure standing before all manner of zeal leave him, fear and caution taking its place. This wasn't a normal man standing before him, he could feel his power and he could see the darkness move around him even if no trace it was visible.
"Is this the boy you wanted master? The Halfling?" another voice spoke up as a second man came from around the corner to stand by the side of tall, raven haired man.
"Apparently so."
As the former steps forward to get a better look the young man immediately cowers back growling once more. He would not be locked in a filthy prison again.
"Bring him along Renfield." The prince orders with a smirk on his face noticing the defiant look in the young teen's eyes. It was a good look; he would do nicely with some guidance.
"Yes master."
Flashback end
"Not that he came quietly mind you. He broke Renfield first and tired to fight me, but he wasn't strong enough. It took him days to listen and a lot of blood to satisfy his hunger until he was calm enough to actually hear what I was saying. Eventually, I gave him to Lucy's to care for. She had an immediate calming effect on him if you will. For what I know he stayed with her a while before moving on. After that we lost touch for a long time. He more or less wandered ominously through the world on his own for years killing and turning. But I never truly asked nor did I care to know."
"Why did you want come here?"
"Because I need someone to look after you for a while."
Seras stops completely hearing him say that. "What?" he couldn't be seriously considering….
"I need him to watch over your sleep. He owes me a lot more than one simple favor."
"No." her tone is firm and its only then that he notices she's no longer by his side and turns to the left to see her three steps behind him.
"Seras."
"Why should he watch over me?" there a certain urgency to her words that quickly made it clear she had understood he was planning something she wasn't going to like.
"Because I want to sleep." His gaze drops to the snow covered ground, fists clenching. "And if I go to sleep you won't leave my side."
"Why should I?"
"I want you to do something for me." His smile is soft and kind as he reaches out to her with his left hand silently beckoning her to join him once more. "I will explain everything inside."
"I won't like it, will I?"
"No." Somehow, his honest answer frightened her more than the lie he could have used.
.
.
To be continued….