Approaching guiding light,
Our shallow years in fright,
Dreams are made winding through my head…
"It wouldn't hurt to visit me, you know." She almost spat back, as she slowly sat on the cold stone floor. "Where is everyone?"
"I am not their keeper." Alucard returned, before he materialized from the shadows to stand in front of her. "Nor are you, so you shouldn't care."
Ceres looked up to him with a mixed expression, before she looked back to the damp ground. She stayed silent, and Alucard merely looked down to her.
"That is for you, to help you from your boredom these weeks." His hand elegantly gestured to the stairs, where at the bottom sat a Pathephone. The wood was cleaned, yet old, and the brass speaker was well shined. "It is from 1906, I hope you enjoy it."
Ceres only blinked, as she walked over to the Pathephone with a wondered expression. She had seen pictures of some, but had never actually been able to touch one. There was already a record on it, and she looked to him before putting the needle on it. As quiet as she had been, she began winding the box… Hearing the clicks whir, and whir, and whir. She couldn't stop… It was so strange, yet enjoyable. Just the slow, winding motion, and the methodical clicks.
"I think that's enough." Alucard held a smirk, as he watched from a few feet off.
She nodded, before letting the handle go. The record began to play, a soft cello instrumental.
Her eyes felt… So heavy. "Master…"
"Ssh, Ceres. Just listen."
So she did. She listened to the soft, low, haunting cello as it played its sad tune. It took away the sound of the dripping through the elegant halls, and for that she was thankful. She soon became unaware of even Alucard.
There was something so strange about that music; something so strange about the pathephone. Strange the way that it encompassed her in its sad tune – strange the way that it filled her mind with its winding… Click, click, click… Drip, drip, drip…
"Mas..." She began to speak, before she slowly sat down next to the record, still playing. She rested her chin in her hands, and closed her eyes. It was making her eyelids so heavy…
And she faintly felt his arms around her before she fell asleep.
---
The music haunted her dreams; her thoughts; her soul. The warmth of Alucard's human body encompassed hers, and she felt at a haunted ease. What had happened?
Her eyes eased open, and it was dark. Consuming darkness… Not the vague, dim darkness of her room. There was no dripping, no feeling of dampness – not even of the humidity. She felt not only warm, but also dry; and without the dirty feeling that being wet and cold meant. She opened her mouth to say something, yet nothing came out.
"I hope you enjoyed your gift." Alucard's low, seductive voice whispered behind her ear, and it was then she realized she was resting against him.
"Where am I?"
"Do you care?"
"No…"
"Good."
"Why…?"
"Why what, Police Girl?"
"What was that…"
"Do you care?"
"Yes…"
"Good."
She sighed. She held her arms to herself, and felt Alucard's arms cover her own. Her mind felt hazy, and the sound of the music played in the deep recesses of her mind. His warmth could not cover the questions in her mind. "I do care."
"It is to be expected. However, are you bored?"
"No."
"Good." He paused. "Outside the rains are falling… They have been for twenty-one days."
Ceres concentrated, and through the soft music in her mind she could hear the rains hitting the Hellsing mansion.
"They will continue for forty days… However, this will not be according to the history. This is not to wipe us of the face of the earth… Merely to punish us."
"How do you know this…"
"Do you care?"
"Yes."
"Good. But that, only Integra knows, and I will not disclose."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Why do you ask so many questions, Police Girl?"
"Because…"
"Shh… Just listen, Ceres."
She closed her eyes to the darkness again, and began to hear the music again. There was no winding; only the music, in the silence of wherever Alucard had taken her. The effects were the same, although she fought them… She fought the heaviness of her eyelids, and the calling of her body to sleep.
She failed, and she fell into the land of dreams, with Alucard holding her.
