HELLSING WITCH HUNTER 1616

DIANAPRINCE31

Ch.27 Assassins and Torture

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing.

Red Palace- Royal Chambers

Outside birds sang sweetly to welcome the new morn, completely oblivious of the carnage that had happened the night before. The sun shone on the land and smiled bright rays in all directions. In the royal chambers Albrecht awoke and listened to the spring harmony for a bit before turning on a lamp. He couldn't help but reflect on the previous night's events. For one he had never seen Integra look so gorgeous. Sure he had seen her in a dress before, but the one she wore the night before was extravagant for her. But his mind didn't stay there long, but turned to darker thoughts. Who were the assassins and who sent them? He would find out this morning, he had told the Hunters to come to the palace early, so that they can extract the information from the lone surviving assassin. Albrecht looked over at Wendy who was sleeping peacefully, it had taken some time for her to fall asleep and when she did, she clung to him all night. Now the monarch slid slowly out the bed not wanting to disturb the women's rest, she really needed it.

Hellsing Estate- Dining Room

As Sam shoveled eggs and toast into her mouth she smiled at the newspaper that lay out on the table in front of her. The attack on the gala made the new of course, but that was not what she was interested in. It was the tawdry article in the gossip section that showed an image of the King and Integra dancing. The article questioned the King's fidelity to the Queen and tried to 'theorize' what motives the Hunter had for 'seducing the King'. When Seras came into the dining room and saw Sam reading the paper, she sighed, "Don't you get tired of reading that rot?"

"Sort of, but it is kinda fun. I just wish that Hot Lips spent more time seducing me instead of the King."

'You know she's doing no such thing."

"Seras, you heard the Queen, we barely know anything about Integra and…."

"Well how the hell are you going to know anything if all you care about is getting in bed with her?"

"Someone's a bit touchy about the subject."

"Miss Seras is right" Walter entered the dining room with a tea tray. "Sir Integra is not some kind of strumpet who throws herself at His Majesty and such rumors cross the line into treason. He placed the tray on the able and began to fill the cups with hot tea. "If you feel the need to spew such slander about Sir Integra. I would ask that you pack your bags and leave this instant."

"Fine, fine, but it's not like these rumors are going to go away anytime."

"Sir Integra has ways of dealing with the wagging tongues of these moronic journalists."

Seras and Sam looked at each other and at Walter as he left the dining, the way the butler had said the statement made them wonder what he meant. But that was forgotten when Seras said, "Oooh there's a picture of me!"

"Who's the cutie you're dancing with?"

But Seras didn't have time to answer as Integra entered and asked, "Why must you two be slow?"

"Do you have the hots for the King?" asked Sam.

"No, Sam. I don't the 'hots' for the His Majesty."

Sam held up the newspaper, "You're smiling in the picture."

Walter who had re-entered the room said, "I've already warned you, Sam…." Integra held up a hand, "It is alright Walter, I will deal with this."

"As you wish, Sir."

Integra sat down at the table and picked up one of the cups of tea, "Sam, I love the King the way any loyal subject to the crown ought and do not harbor any sexual feelings towards His Majesty. He already has a wife, a silly tart in my opinion, but still a wife." Integra took a sip before continuing, "Unlike you, I do not wish to breed with everyone and everything I lay eyes on."

"Breed? That makes me sound like an animal."

"You are an animal. As for my smiling during the dance with His Majesty, it is much better that the look of strained concentration you two had on your faces. I had no idea you couldn't dance."

"Ok, ok time for us to go" the assassin said, clearly not wanting to dwell on the subjectany longer.

"What? I thought you wanted to sit here and talk about my 'relationship' with His Majesty."

"I'm fine, as long as I know there's a chance for me to get into your bed, Integra.

"There will never be a chance."

"Never say never."

Integra rolled her eyes as she arose from the table and she chuckled softly at remembering Sam's poor showing on the dance floor, those two were going to need some serious dance lessons in dance.

The Hunters along with the King were taken to a small man-made inlet where the only way on and off the island was by boat. Once on land, they went down, down, down into the blinding darkness. A large wooden and metal door was unlocked and opened which revealed a long row of small cells. Each were identical, they were secured by sturdy steel bars, and the floor was damp with straw and refuse. The dank stench hung in the air like week old laundry and permeated everything making Integra glad that she wore something she didn't mind burning after. The only light that could be seen were from the electro-lanterns that hung from the ceiling and in the darkness seemed to fade. The moans and cries from the prisoners as they either pleaded their innocence or gave in to insanity could be heard. Some of them pulled on their chains, while others threw themselves against the bars or walls. As the group passed, the prisoners that could be seen in the vague light were gaunt and skinny, their bones could be seen under dirty leathery skin. Their eyes wide and haunted, pleading for death; release from the living hell they were trapped in. When one of the prisoners reached out his hand through the bars, a guard stomped on it. The sickening crunch of brittle bone could be heard, while the man's howling resounded throughout the cell block. Seras winced at the sound and sights of the prison, and the smell made her ever thankful for the masks that were provided by the guards. They soon came to the cell where the would-be assassin resided. Guards had been posted at his cell specifically to prevent any attempts at suicide or escape.

Albrecht turned to the Hunters, "Use any method to extract the information from him" the king commanded, "I want to know who he works for and where he comes from."

"Of course, Your Majesty" smirked Integra and the King left the Hunters and guards alone with the assassin.

"So now what?" asked Seras peering into the cell of the assassin.

"You're about to get a thorough lesson in interrogation, so I suggest you take notes, Seras" said Integra as she motioned for a guard to open the cell door. Seras wasn't sure she would like this 'lesson'. The assassin looked up at the Hunters and chuckled, "I will tell you harlots nothing." However Integra just smirked, "Good you speak the King's english, this will make this easier."

"Use whatever technique you can think of, I will give you nothing, nothing at all!"

The Huntress cocked her head and smirked, "I will get whatever information I need from you, but you seem to believe that I will torture you for it" Integra held out a gloved hand and one of the guards placed a pair of pliers in it. "I'm torturing you because you made the mistake of trying to kill the king." Two large guards held the assassins arms in grips that would shame a python. The man screeched as each finger and toe nail was ripped from their beds, some were yanked out and others were slowly pulled. The guards wore hard expressions on their faces, this was nothing new. Sam's face also showed no expression, but Seras said, "Sir, please stop!" But Integra ignored her as another guard bought in a basin of salt and the assailant's fingers and feet were dunked into it. Large beads of sweat rolled off his forehead as he pleaded for mercy. "Begging already? But this is only the beginning. I have so much more for you" the Huntress said in a bland tone. The guards then began to saw off the man's toes one by one and toss them casually to the side. Seras stood outside the cell; eyes squeezed shut and her fingers plugged in her ears, any harder and they would have met in the middle of the skull. The shrieks that came from the man was not human and the occupants in the other cells groaned at the sound of the tormented screams. Seras didn't know what sickened her more the techniques being used or the fact it was Integra using the techniques. The blond Huntress dared to peek in and saw Integra holding a small drill and the guards now had forced the man's mouth open and were pulling out tooth after tooth, however they left in the molars. Integra drove the drill into each molar until the bit struck nerves, which had the man screaming, but the Huntress did not stop until she was ready. Sweaty and bloody, the man was chained back to the wall, where he whimpered. He was trained to assassinate and then get away quickly. If he should be caught then he was to break the cyanide capsule and kill himself, so that the enemy couldn't get any information from him. The would-be assassin prayed for the torture to end and surprisingly it was answered.

"Well how are you ever going to live down the fact that this 'harlot' did a number on you and not in a good way?" Integra smirked. "Today is your lucky day, I have prior engagements so I can't have you skinned alive as I had planned, but I am going to need that information now." The man was about to reply, but the heiress took off her black eye patch and he found himself staring into one sapphire eye and one reptilian one. "Th…themon" he sputtered.

"Shh, this will be over soon, now let's see what's in your memories." As the Huntress' eyes glowed an eerie bright magenta, the man could feel his memories being rifled through, feeling him feeling violated. After a couple of minutes it was over and after a fit of spasms ripped through his body, the man was left catatonic, which even freaked out the usually stoic guards. Integra sighed disgustedly as she replaced her eyepatch. A glimpse inside the assailant's mind had proven to be fruitless, the man did not know who had hired him. The person who had given him the task was merely a go between and to tie up loose ends, the unknown client had the assassins kill the messenger and dump his body in a specific place to show that they received the message. The assassins been hired from Arabia's assassins guild known as the Black Scorpions. "Leave the body there, I will send someone to fetch it soon" said Integra as she walked out of the cell.

While the grooms tended to their horses, Philip greeted them at the door and asked, "Did you find out who hired the assassins?" As she headed upstairs, Integra said, "No, the bloody fool had no clue who hired him." Philip sighed, since there was little information on the assassination attempt on the king, Integra would most likely be surly for the rest of day. Several hours later, with cigarillo in hand and lounging relaxed in the sitting room, Integra was reading a letter from the King. Evidently he had decided that the Royal Guard would be investigating the incident with a task force from the LMPD. He said that the Hunters should not worry about it and was even thinking of sending delegates to Arabia to talk with officials there. Integra doubted that they would find anything, whoever it was went through extreme measures to ensure that they weren't found out-for now. Sam entered the room and sat in one of the chairs, in her hand she held a sandwich. When was this woman not eating? "I think you scared Seras with your interrogation techniques lesson. Poor girl couldn't even finish lunch" said Sam mildly. Integra said nothing, she had no intention of explaining herself to spineless people. After a couple of long drags on her cigarillo, Integra said, "I didn't peg you for the messenger boy type."

"I'm just concerned for a friend, that's it."

"And I'm concerned that you two are still not taking this seriously."

Sam was about to make a retort, but decided against it. Let the bitch think what she wanted. The two women sat quietly in the brightly lit room, one munching on a sandwich and the other puffing away on her cigar. Then Sam said "I think the Whitehalls are behind the assassination attempt on the king, who else could it be?" Integra just raised an eyebrow and Sam continued, "They killed our families, but didn't get the swords and we know that Marionne Whitehall wasn't interested in them like her husband. That old broad is only interested in power, that's why she sent her son try and date you." Both Huntresses chuckled at the infamous and disastrous date. When news got out about the failed courtship in an attempt to secure the Hellsing fortune, the Whitehalls became more of laughingstock. "I would not be surprised if the old bat is planning something right now" said Sam.
"I agree" came the soft voice of Seras, to which the two looked in her direction, neither one expecting her to leave her room for the rest of the day.

"His Majesty is sending someone to look into the Whitehalls" said Integra as she tossed the letter on the table. "So we no longer have to investigate it, because as His Majesty puts it we already have 'too much on our plates'".

"What about the police?" asked Seras since she worked with them perhaps she thought she could get some kind of inside information. But Integra shook her head, "The king will choose his own investigation team from among them." Sam sighed and stood up, "Well that's that I suppose. I'm going to the kitchen, I think the chefs may need my help" and she left the room. Integra lit up another cigarillo and Seras stared nervously at her fellow Hunter. What she had seen that morning was nothing like the person she knew.

Or thought you knew said Bahamut. The Queen was right, we know nothing about this woman and yet she know a lot about you, how unnerving Master." Seras was certainly not looking to start an argument, but she didn't know if she could work with who tortured another person because they could. Sure the man had attacked the king and tried to kill him, but Seras thought that what Integra did was far from necessary and the fact that she could have retrieved the information in a different manner made it worse for Seras to tolerate. Just then Seras realized that Integra was looking at her, "Is there something you would like to say, Seras?"

Seras was frozen under the blue eyed glare and it had her opening and closing her mouth but no words came out. "Well is there?" the question was asked with a hidden under tone of icy menace. Bahamut materialized and stood protectively over his master, something that Seras was glad for, because at the moment she was scared shitless of Integra. "The….the man that tried to kill the king…you didn't have to do what you…you know…." Integra said nothing, so Seras took it as a sign to continue, "It was not…right…you should have just read his mind and be done with it. No one deserves that! I thought you were above that, but I guess I don't know you at all." Still Integra said nothing and Seras was disappointed. She was hoping that the heiress would to defend her stance on the torture of the would-be assassin, convince her that what she had done was right or for the protection of the country. Heck anything was better than the cold silence and the bored expression. Seras sighed, Integra's silence said one thing: that she didn't really care what Seras thought or what anyone may have thought. No one's opinion really mattered at the moment. The petite huntress sighed again and left the room, there was nothing else she could say. Integra merely swung her legs on to the couch and puffed away on another cigarillo, when Alucard appeared. "My beautiful master, you enjoyed the torturing."

"I really can't deny that."

"You and I have a lot in common and if you allow me to, I will make you my queen. We could…"

"No Alucard and do stop begging. I absolutely refuse to become a demon or your side kick."

"You would be my queen, nothing as silly as a sidekick. You are so much more."

"No amount of flattery is going to change my mind."

"So what is going to happen to the poor sod?"

"He will be sent back to his deplorable third world country and strung up as a warning that trying to bring any harm to His Majesty is a big mistake."

Chapter End

Author's Note: So sorry again for making my readers wait. Ugghh life gets in the way sometimes. Ok so there will be tons more drama, near death experiences, action and even a creation story. I have already written several chapters, it's just the typing part that gets me. But it will get done. Also still planning the second part of When in Roanapur. I am also going to write and upload some more of my humorous fic such as Alucard Discovers, Hellsings go Camping, The Misadventures of Doggycard, Diary of a Hellsing, etc., so you will have a lot to look forward to. So I hope you enjoyed. See ya in the next chapter!