Chapter 47

The Bernadotte Bastard, Reporting For Duty

Exactly two weeks, two hours and ten minutes after a fateful meeting in a dirty alleyway with Mercedes, Alucard was meeting her cousin on the dusty side road that led up to the cottage-style house they were taking refuge in. Pip Bernadotte was arriving some hours earlier than expected, trudging up the road, black boots kicking a rock ahead with every couple of steps taken. Hands were in the pockets of a matte black leather bomber jacket, a much different style to his standard wear. Instead of his usual closer fitting khaki pants, he was wearing a pair of black jeans, and the t-shirt beneath the jacket was slate grey. His long auburn hair was pulled back in its customary braid, but the tail was tucked into the back of the jacket, obscuring how long it was. Pulled down over his head wasn't his favorite Australian wilderness hat, but a black beret with a patch on the side; that patch being the only thing similar to his usual attire, as it bore a griffin curled in a circle.

As Alucard made his way out from the woods, where he had been enjoying the peace and quiet it offered, to the road, he noted Pip was armed with daggers hidden in his boots, four different guns within his jacket; and, from the smell of it, the oversized charcoal grey bag over his shoulders was largely weighted down with ammunition and explosives.

Pip had been warily scanning around himself as he approached, and it took barely two seconds for him to spot with his good eye the vampire's shadows when they came into possible line of sight, and his footsteps came to a stop as Alucard took human form.

"You're early," Alucard said bluntly. "Did you take any shortcuts to get here?"

"Non," Pip said solemnly. "Ze shipping crate from Italy to New York ended up being loaded onto an earlier leaving freighter; from ze sounds of what some dock workers were saying, they were redistributing some overflow from my expected boat onto a few ships. I could 'ave very well ended up 'ere later than planned thanks to that. I want to see for myself that mes petits cousins are safe, and then we will talk further."

Pip was already continuing his walk up the road, and a few long strides brought Alucard walking up alongside the mercenary. "Even if you don't trust me with their lives, do you really think Seras would allow something to happen to a pair of innocents and then hide it from you when you two last spoke?"

Pip said with an edge to his voice, pulling out a dented pack of Lucky Strike from an inner pocket of his jacket, "I've been without communication devices ze last week, spent eighteen hours being knocked around in ze back of a logging truck, two and half days stuck in a stinking crate with dried pork, two days jammed under a shelving space between hay bales and feed bags and sleeping with rats skittering over me, and ze time in between hopping ze backs of trains and shipping trucks to get between my major shipping points. I've 'ad une bath in a river while ditching my last travel disguise, and been surviving on protein bars and what running water I can find, with an occasional swipe of things left unattended. All so I wouldn't leave a paper trail or get caught on some camera.

The mercenary lit a cigarette and replaced the pack in his pocket. "Tell me, Alucard, when and 'ow was I able to get updates on ma petite cousine being in a coma after being severely injured by Iscariot, after getting mixed up with this country's vampires? When 'ave I been able to check on how 'er son is 'olding up from such turmoil? When 'ave I been able to receive even confirmation that you were still here, that all hell 'adn't already broken loose again and forced another relocation? That I wouldn't be arriving to ze scene of a slaughter with ze authorities swarming ze area? I'm sure you can understand if I am going to assess ze current state of health of mes petits cousins with my own remaining eye before issuing any gratitude. And if you don't understand, well, at ze moment I don't give a damn and I am still going to check on them."

After some seconds of tense silence, Alucard said stoically, "If it will set your mind at ease any, she came out of the coma Friday evening." Pip's shoulders sagged a fraction with relief, green eye glancing at the vampire for a moment before turning forward to watch where he was walking. "There was a brief complication just before she woke up, but she's alive and ultimately no worse for it, and stubbornly refusing to get as much bed rest as she should be. Despite that, her injuries are healing as well as can be expected and, besides some scars, it doesn't look like she's going to suffer lasting problems from this incident if she goes through some basic rehabilitation for the injury to her arm."

Pip gave a nod and said soberly, "Ma petite cousine was always resilient..." Another puff on his cigarette. "...I'm glad to hear that's not changed."

"From what she's indicated, she has you and your ice skating lesson to thank for that," Alucard said passively.

Pip's cigarette stopped midway to his lips, glancing over to the vampire in surprise. "She told you about that?!"

Alucard simply gave a nod, hellfire gaze staying ahead.

"What else 'as she told you?" Pip asked with confused suspicion.

"Besides a few other small anecdotes, not much else where you're concerned," Alucard said, glancing down at the human with a raised eyebrow. "In some ways, it would seem I know more about you than she does, as she was quite taken aback when informed you'd be joining us and why."

Pip gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head. A few puffs on his cigarette later, staring at the little house coming into view about half a kilometer up ahead as they rounded a bend in the road, he said with a hint of regret, "We all 'ave our secrets we keep to protect people we love. In some families, there's even more... Perhaps if ma petite cousine 'ad known what I really do for a living..."

"Given the threat level of Iscariot, unless you broke your contract with Sir Integra to tell her exactly what sort of mercenary you now are, I doubt it would have changed her choice to turn elsewhere for aid."

Pip snorted back a laugh and said with a great deal of ruefulness, "Maybe, or maybe not. Ma petite cousine may not have known I am a mercenary, but she knows I would kill for her." He tossed his cigarette butt to the side of the road angrily. "If she had known about some of my old mundane jobs that I 'ad to get creative with, maybe she'd 'ave picked up ze damn phone and called me so I could at least sneak them out of this shit hole country..." He gave an exhausted sigh, glancing over the familiar mountain range. "Vie de merde, but do I hate being back 'ere again... Ze things I do for ze women I love; one of them is bound to be ze death of me someday..."

"What do you mean by she knows you'd kill for her?" Alucard demanded, hellfire gaze now narrowed on the Captain of the Wild Geese.

Pip mentally cursed himself out as he pulled out his pack of cigarettes again, giving himself time to rein in the anger and self-recriminations that had been rampaging in his mind without relent for the last week because he was stuck with nothing but them for company. One of the last people he'd actually want to discuss anything of that nature with was his Seras's master; his thoughts were spilling all over the place with his fatigue and stress.

Once the new beloved bit of carcinogenic stress relief was lit, the mercenary captain said with a better show of stoicism, "As I said, Alucard, we all 'ave our secrets. And, even with ze family politics that I know needs to be explained, that incident doesn't matter for ze current situation. So if you know what's good for you, you will let that sleeping dog lay. What matters is I'm 'ere now, and I'm going to make sure that ze next person to try laying a hand on mes petits cousins, whichever faction it is, gets a grenade full of blessed silver shoved down their throats or exploding up their asses, or my revolvers unloading in their faces."

Alucard looked like he wanted to question the matter further, but instead he said, "As to those 'family politics'..."

"First I see for myself Mercedes and Xander are okay," Pip interrupted sharply. "Then I will tell you everything you need to know and we discuss ze long term plans to keep them safe somehow. Not before. It's not open for negotiation."

Before Alucard could state his thoughts on being given such terms, they both saw the door to the house opening and then a blur of motion as Seras came speeding towards them.

Pip barely had time to toss his cigarette aside and then Seras's arms were around his neck and she was planting a kiss on his lips. Pip's arms went around her with a chuckle smothered as he returned the kiss. When they pulled apart, he said in better humor than he had felt since she had left his side in England, "Tu are a sight for a weary eye, ma chere, and that enthusiastic of a welcome erases ze exhaustion of my travels."

A faint blush flared on Seras's pale cheeks and hellfire gaze avoided her master as she gave an embarrassed laugh. "Yes, well, with everything that's been happening, I'm just so happy you didn't have any trouble making it here, and you're earlier than expected."

"Oui," Pip said as they resumed walking to the house, taking her arm in his. "As I told Alucard, one of my points of transportation moved early, and I was able to make a few adjustments when I arrived stateside to keep moving along."

"Well, I'm glad you're finally here!" Seras said brightly. "And I think your cousins will be too. Things have been such a mess to try sorting out, and another familiar face can only do some good."

"I hope so," Pip said with a passing smile, reality creeping in to ruin the good mood his girlfriend always managed to bring him. "I 'ave not yet met my youngest cousin, so I don't know just 'ow 'appy to see me Xander will be, but hopefully it will ease Mercedes' mind some. I 'eard Alucard's overview, but 'ow would you say they're 'olding up?"

Seras gave a small shrug and said optimistically, "All in all? I'd say they're doing pretty darn good. Little Xander slept through the entirety of the conflict thanks to something Miss Mercedes slipped him, and then Master used the hound guarding him to use some remote telepathy to put him deeper asleep. So he thankfully didn't have to go through the trauma of witnessing the fight. He was initially a bit upset and disoriented after everything went down and he woke back up, but he's quickly adjusted to what little he's been told about what happened. He is absolutely adorable and a bundle of energy when he's awake, and seems to have taken quite the shine to Master. Miss Mercedes has been struggling a bit more with things since she's come to, given what happened to her and various details of the situation to come to terms with. She's been coping, though, and seems to be trying to shift into a mindset that will be conducive to tackling the problems. Her friend Val has had a few more, contentious, conflicts with Master Alucard, and some surprising spats with Walter." A nervous giggle escaped the Draculina. "Those two are a whole other matter, though. But overall she's been really helpful in keeping Xander mostly in his usual routine, and he's been happy to have his 'Auntie' Val around."

Pip managed another fleeting smile as he nodded to that, saying, "I'm relieved to hear you have such a positive report on that front."

Seras gave an enthusiastic nod and leaned up to give him a reassuring peck on the cheek. "There's certainly plenty of outside trouble to be dealing with, but at least things have been relatively quiet since we got here."

Not breaking their stride, almost to the little brown house now, Pip leaned down and gave a brief kiss to the top of her head. "If there's anything to be glad for in all this, it's that everyone on our side made it out alive, and that somehow mes petits cousins were at least under ze benevolent watch of ma belle chere. Thank you, Seras, for your part in keeping them safe."

"All in a day's work," Seras said with an attempt at nonchalance, but there was a blush returning. "Literally. I didn't even know until the day after everything in Philadelphia happened that they were your cousins. But I've been glad to get to know little Xander while his mom has been out and do my little parts for helping Master keep an eye on Miss Mercedes."

Pip gave a tired chuckle as he released her arm and followed her up the front porch stairs and into the house.

Seras pointed to the left hallway off the living room. "Little Xander's room is the first on the left, and Miss Mercedes is in the back master bedroom, the door that's facing straight down the hall. Val's sleeping in the room across from Xander. They're all asleep right now. There's a bathroom after Xander's room if you want to use it before or after checking on them. Linen closet is across from it, with the bath towels in there. Last door on the right is the basement stairs. Our coffins are being kept down there. Last door on the left leads out to the back porch."

"I'm fine for ze time being, but I will want a proper shower later," Pip said, leaning down to give Seras a brief kiss. "I'm going to check on mes cousins, and then I 'ave to keep my promise to inform Alucard of some pertinent family details. I'm hoping we can leave ze country without things coming to any sorts of fights with them, but we should be prepared for all possible troubles."

Seras gave an understanding nod. "Of course. After being on the road so long, I'm sure you're hungry. Do you want me to get something whipped up for you real quick so you can eat something while you and Master are talking?"

Pip gave a nod and another strained smile. "That, ma chere, would be most welcome. Merci beaucoup."

Seras nodded and darted off down the right hand hallway for the kitchen.

Pip ignored the looming figure of her master behind him and headed for the other hallway. The child's bedroom door was open and Pip came to a surprised halt because of the first thing in the room that he was able to clearly make out. There were a set of glowing blood-red eyes hovering over the shadow enshrouded bed; and as the demon met his gaze, he could see the vague outline of a massive snake undulate from where it was hovering over the bed. The mercenary's gaze went from the giant serpent to the vampire behind him. "Why do you have that THING in mon petit cousin's room?!"

A sharp smirk pulled at Alucard's lips and he said sardonically, "Keep your voice down, or you'll wake him with your outbursts. And that's not my familiar. It's the boy's. He has it eat nightmares he might be about to have."

"Quoi?!" Pip demanded furiously, struggling to keep his voice quiet, gaze going back and forth between the vampire and the demonic serpent. "Comment cela?! 'ow does he have a familiar?! Mon Dieu! Who am I filling with blessed silver for turning a child?!"

"The boy isn't a vampire. He's inherited some of his mother's talents with dark magic."

Pip stared at the vampire in stunned silence for several seconds, then turned his gaze warily back to the boy's bedroom. He sucked in a breath and then asked quietly, "You are saying Mercedes has been summoning demons?"

"Indeed," Alucard said. "For some years now."

Pip shook his head in shocked disbelief, though he couldn't deny what his own eyes were seeing. "And Xander, at five," he stressed the number, "five years old, is summoning demons as well?"

"Yes."

"Fou le camp..." Pip murmured in deep consternation. He heaved a sigh, and then asked, glancing up at the Vampire King, "Is that thing going to try to eat me when I approach and check on him?"

Alucard's hellfire gaze turned to the demonic serpent. "Shadowsnake, this is your little master's cousin, Pip. He's to be trusted. Don't give him any trouble."

An echoing hiss came from the familiar and its acceding nod could be seen by Pip because of the movement of those glowing eyes. Midnight blue scales caught brief glints of the hallway light as it shifted its form, slithering from its position above to be down on the far side of it's master.

Pip stared uneasily at it for a few more seconds, then asked of the vampire, "Shadowsnake?"

"The boy named him."

Pip sighed heavily and pulled a penlight from his jacket. Two clicks and it was on a lesser intensity light. As he stepped into the room and trained the light on the bed, he tried his best to keep his dread smothered and ignore the demonic being settling closer to the blanketed form. The light was moving up from the footboard to the headboard, not wanting to shine it directly in the child's face if he was facing towards the door and wake him up... only to discover that the child was sleeping backwards in the bed, and his face was the first thing brought into proper view.

A relieved sigh escaped Pip as he quickly shifted the flashlight to one side, seeing a rosy-cheeked, ebon haired child fast asleep. As the light shifted lower, a brief surprised chuckle escaped the mercenary because he saw something else. As he knelt down next to the bed and stared at his youngest cousin in the indirect light, he whispered ambivalently, "Mon Dieu, how is it ma petite cousine has such a grown child already? 'ere I am almost expecting to see a babe in arms because I still think of 'er as ze teenager I last saw, and you're already into adolescence. It almost seems impossible you could be 'ers, but I doubt there's many boys running around this country with a stuffed dragon that is only sold Romania, which is where I was when I got the news that ton mère had safely birthed you..."

Pip's gaze cautiously flicked to the demonic snake and back to the boy, and then gave the child's hair a tentative, gentle stroke, pushing some stray locks out of his face so he could get a full look at him. He was further relieved to feel a proper level of body heat coming from the child to confirm he hadn't been turned undead. He added as he scanned the boy's features, "And I'd recognize that little nose anywhere... That's a Dreux-Brézé nose through and through... "

Pip gave a conflicted shake of his head, sighing yet again. He leaned forward and placed a brief kiss to the boy's forehead, then whispered sincerely, "I'm thankful you're still alive, mon petit cousin, and I look forward to properly meeting you when you wake. With that jawline, I'm sure there's enough l'Estourbeillon in you that you are full of trouble at times, but that's not such a bad thing if you are 'aving the right sorts of trouble."

The mercenary captain again glanced, with a rueful smirk forming, at the present he had sent the child. He had been on a mission when the call came in and bought it from a tourist trap of a merchant because it was the only infant appropriate thing in the area that he could find. In his excitement at the news of his baby cousin having her own baby, a healthy baby boy, he had just wanted something to send off immediately in congratulations. It was almost obscenely ironic, when one thought on it, given recent events. The boy clearly cherished the toy, for it to be brought along to this hideaway; yet Pip couldn't help but wonder if he should have held off and picked something more traditional. Maybe some old world hoodoo had gone along with the toy and helped keep the boy safe when he hadn't been here to do so? Or had he somehow accidentally cursed them, drawn his little Mercedes and her baby boy into the world he had tried so hard to keep them away from? Just what the hell had been happening in their years apart?

Pip shook his head again with another sigh, gave the sleeping boy's head a final pat, and then stood up. He glanced to the familiar and said reluctantly, "Thank you, Monsieur Shadowsnake, for allowing me to check on mon petit cousin without trouble, and whatever it is that you do that guards his sleep."

The snake cocked its head at him, blinking slowly a few times, and then nodded once. It's head settled back down on the bed, directly next to the boy's. The demonic serpent almost looked like it was cradling the child in its coils.

Pip swallowed over what felt like a lump forming in his throat and then turned and left the room without another look at the boy. He might owe Mercedes some explanations, and by proxy Alucard; but he had a growing number of questions that likewise needed to be answered.

Without glancing at Alucard, Pip exited the room and swift steps brought him down the hall to where Seras said Mercedes' room was. That door was closed, and he gently eased it open, not sure what he'd find within. Thankfully, there were no glowing eyes peering out from the darkness. He could make out the outlines of the furniture from the diffused hallway light, and slipped inside the room.

Flashlight slowly turned up to the figure on the bed, and revealed a sleeping visage that was aged a little since last he saw it, but he'd recognize anywhere. A sad smile formed and swift yet silent steps brought him to the bedside. He sat down on the edge and distress flooded in, washing away the smile, as he was able to take note of finer details of his baby cousin's appearance. She was much paler than he remembered, with dark circles under her eyes... and then he saw the smallest tips of fangs indenting her lower lip. "Mon Dieu, Mercedes..." Pip murmured in shock. He turned his gaze to the doorway, to the vampire who had been shadowing his steps.

Before the accusation that was clearly coming could be launched, Alucard said stoically, "She's not a vampire. Part of that is her own doing, from the magic she has been channeling in such high quantities recently having an effect on her. The other part is because, as I mentioned outside, just before she woke from her coma, she had a complication arise. Her soul detached from her body, and her breathing and heartbeat stopped. I put a very small amount of my blood into her veins to keep her body animated until she could be brought back to life, so that she wouldn't suffer worse complications such as brain damage. The effects of my blood are receding and she's not in any danger of turning."

It took Pip several seconds to process that information; and even when he had, it hardly helped the pervasive disquiet he felt. His gaze went back to his cousin and he reached out to touch the side of her neck. Her flesh was warm, and he could feel a pulse beating. His shoulders slouched as he gave a sigh of relief. Fangs or not, she was actually properly alive. He heaved a heavier sigh and his hand moved up to stroke her cheek.

"Vie de merde... Ma petite cousine, look at ze trouble that finds you when I'm not around..." Pip shook his head in frustration, finding himself uncharacteristically without anything else to say. What could he say, even if she were awake? There had been thoughts to that all week, but at the sight of her like this, the sense of doomed tragedy invading his mind was crushing all those words into nothingness and all he could do was stare at her.

He needed to pull himself together and make this right somehow; that's what he needed to do. His baby cousin was alive, her baby was alive, and they were going to get them out of this damn country, away from those who might try to harm her worse. That was a solid plan. That's what mattered right now, and so that's what he'd concentrate on.

Pip leaned down, gave her a brief kiss on her cheek, and whispered, "I'm glad you were able to pick yourself up, ma petite cousine, but now I want you to leave ze dirty work to me. This is what us bastards are meant for. It took me a long time, too long, but I've finally made peace with it. I'm going to do my part to make sure every single one of ze fils des salopes who are responsible for you being injured pay for it; and I'm not going anywhere until I know you're safe from ze worst sorts of troubles once and for all." He gave her another kiss to her cheek and then took his leave of the room.

As the mercenary stepped into the hallway and eased the door closed behind him, he said quietly to the waiting Vampire King, "Let's step out back to talk. I'm 'aving ferocious cravings to chain smoke after being constrained not to most of ze trip, and I don't want to fill up ze 'ouse with clouds of smoke when there is a child inside."

Alucard gave a nod, and a gesture from the vampire opened the door that led out to the backyard. "Have a cigarette, and we'll start discussing matters once Seras has brought you something to eat."

Pip was already pulling his pack of cigarettes and, as he stepped back out into the night, he said in a sarcastic tone to the progenitor of vampires, careful in his enunciation of the English words to be certain they were clearly understood, "Oh how merciful The King of Death is, patient and just."

The shocked anger in Alucard's voice was unmistakable as he shadowed in front of the mercenary and then demanded upon reforming, "What did you just say?"

The mercenary, bastard born from generations of noble and royal bloodlines' bastards, lit his cigarette and said without missing a beat, "You 'eard me, Draculea. And if that small blast from ze past pissed you off so much, you are really not going to like ze rest of what I 'ave to say, but you will also be quick to understand why I was so insistent to come."