"In your office?" Seward seemed to have a difficult time grasping this, partly due to being rousted out of bed in the middle of the night and racing to Van Helsing's, partly due to his ongoing conviction that Alucard was dangerous.
Abraham, on the other hand, was nursing yet another cup of strong black coffee, sitting in his office and watching the sun rise on the yard outside. It was quite pretty; the rain had only recently ended and everything sparkled and glistened. However, he couldn't enjoy the view, he was caught explaining to the Harkers and Seward just what had gone on.
"Yes, in my office. Near as I can tell, he came directly here from his room." Abraham shifted, making himself more comfortable in his chair. "I'd expected him to have killed at least one of the maids and taken off for the hills." A small smile, a quirk of the lips at the irony of the situation. "It's almost a repeat of the priest situation. The damn vampire seems entirely content with his captivity, at least for now."
Mina's gaze settled on him. "You haven't done any research with him yet, have you?" At his shake of the head, she nodded her own. "He's sheltered from the sun, fed every day, guarded during the day by someone more effective than his Romani were, you coddle him with the coffin and trips outside...No wonder he's content." She turned back to the window herself, watching the occasional glistening drops trickle down the window. "If he weren't so mad, I'd be suspicious. As it is, I think he recognizes a good deal when he sees it. You'd better have him under firm control though before you start any work with him."
"My own thoughts, precisely." Abraham sipped his coffee, then continued. "I still want to know what concentrations and applications of silver work best, what blessings and sources of metal affect vampires the most severely. We know they are senstive to garlic, and I'd like to try an entire range of foods and substances on him to see what other weapons nature provides for us. Stakes of wood work, but which is better? Oak? Ash? Yew? Cedar?" He sighed a bit. "So much he can tell us, but if I had started to work with him, and he'd managed to get out...he'd have probably slaughtered the household in vengeance. I can only say I'm glad he still considers this a pleasant and 'acceptable' confinement."
Talk continued onwards about the vampire, with Arthur arriving a few hours later and needing his own reassurance.
Containing the vampire effectively was a source of concern to them all, though after two "escapes" Abraham was realizing that he might not need to worry so much about this, not yet. But if he intended to work with the monster as he'd planned, he'd better get new restraints on it, and soon.
And so it was with relief and pleasure that telegrams that afternoon announced the arrival, within the next few days, of another hunter, his assistant, and a pair of priests educated firmly in how to fight and contain such creatures. Others had expressed a willingness to assist but would be traveling greater distances. Still, Abraham had the first captive vampire and they were all anxious to see it themselves; he'd have the best help possible in his own home as he crafted new restraints.
x x x x x
The sun had set, and all but John had returned to their homes. Seward had spent the day reading up on notes about how the vampire had behaved, its recovery, and the damage it still exhibited. Before he left, he wanted to ask the vampire questions of his own, with an eye to helping his own two patients. Based on the vampire's recovery, he'd already reduced their stimulation, keeping the rooms simple, colors bland, and isolated and quiet. With the reduction in stimulus, one of the men had actually tracked the entry of one of his assistants carrying the tray of food, whereas before he'd been entirely catatonic. The second man still carried on a range of conversations with imaginary people and beasts, and John was debating what else could help the patient at this time. Having access to Alucard's personal account of his recovery could be useful.
They'd planned to wait until Alucard woke, exited his coffin, and calmed down from the panic it was certain to cause, feed him his two initial bottles, then begin questioning him.
That was the plan. It didn't go as expected.
x x x x x x x
Awake...a little hungry. Time...yes, long past sunset. Not tired now, no. Rested. Relaxed. Pleasant. Important. Something important. What?
Half-asleep still, the vampire rolled on his side for a moment, then sat up, arm resting on the side of the coffin, bleary red eyes blinking as he tried to remember what it was that was important right now. He'd been so tired so long, it was so pleasant to be-
COFFIN!
With a twist and startled yelp, he rolled over the edge of it, landing on the door, pushing away from it...then calming. Coffin, out of coffin now. Not trapped in coffin, not trapped at all. Why in coffin? Master, yes, Master had put him there. Wouldn't take him out, wouldn't enter room...but had placed him in coffin to sleep. Master, yes. Master...not angry, not, last night. Not happy, no. Not angry, no punishment. Still not angry?
Blinking himself awake the rest of the way, Alucard sat up, scooting slightly to lean his back on his coffin, looking up at the windows. Was there blood? Yes, five bottles. Master was certainly not angry, then.
"I'll leave you to eat for a bit, Alucard, then we'll have some questions for you to answer." Master! The slight smile formed and died as quickly as it appeared. We? Careful listening showed two heartbeats, and then the bearers of those two heartbeats left, the door closing at the top of the stairs. Who else had it been? Why? A bit nonplussed at this change in routine, Alucard sniffed the bottles carefully. No, they were fine, just blood. But he could smell several people that had been in his hallway. The children from last night... Master...Mina. Ah, Mina! That...man...she'd chosen. Oh...Arthur...Seward! Without realizing it, a white hand ghosted over the long-healed wound on his arm.
What had they been there for? Were they gone? Mina he didn't mind...he could even bear her husband's presence, insulting thought it was. The man had escaped his brides and stolen Mina, but he'd done so fairly and it was her choice, so Alucard couldn't bear him much of a grudge. But the other two...a shudder, then he pulled down the first bottle.
x x x x x x
John paced back and forth in the hallway, waiting, while Abraham relaxed with his pipe. "Settle down. He was late waking after a week of poor sleep, entirely understandable, and I warned you that might be the case. It's going to be a bit before he's wide awake and has eaten enough to focus on us. Pacing won't make it go any faster." His calm, steady voice settled John a bit, though the younger man was still clearly anxious.
"Abraham, are you certain he'll answer me? He hates me, he has to by now." They'd both agreed on this point, for after the incident where the vampire was driven off, its fright at their arrival at the priest's home, and the subsequent neglect due to no one telling Abraham just how weakened the beast was, it was likely to have a grudge against the man. Then again, it should have the greatest grudge against Abraham himself, and it obeyed him without question.
"We've gone over this. If he'll listen to and cooperate with me, after all he's been through, there should be no problem with you. If he refuses to answer you, I'll step in and see if I can't convince him to. Now, he should be done with at least one bottle by now, let's go down and find out, shall we?"
x x x x x x
Abraham shut the basement door, leaning on it with a heavy sigh. John stood beside him, looking rather sheepish.
No, having John there had not been a good idea, not at all. And he should have gone over the questions John would be asking, too. Starting off by asking the vampire how he felt now compared to how he felt when he was first released from his coffin was a bad idea...and Alucard hadn't realized it was John there until the man spoke. He really, really did not need to be reminded of his time trapped in the coffin, it was possibly the most ham-handed, ill-advised remark John could have made.
The vampire had dropped the bottle he'd been drinking from and crouched behind his coffin, SNARLING at John. Abraham hadn't heard the beast make that much of a sound of hate and threat, ever, and had been ready to shout at the vampire himself until he realized that it had covered itself with the blanket.
The damn thing was trying to both hide from and frighten away John, simultaneously.
It was incredibly bizarre and ridiculous...and very, very Alucard.
"Well, John, I supposed you'd better just leave me a list of your questions, and I'll ask him when he's settled back down."
