Blood Stained Ties

It was a long drive out of the country. Almost too long for her taste. It was poring rain outside, and even though it was nine at night, it had been this dark all day. It frustrated her to no end why she'd do this-- she didn't even know why she was doing it. Only that she knew...it was necessary.
Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing sighed loudly and took another deep, slightly-nervous suck of her cigar as she watched the sheets of rain outside through the car window. Her right leg twitched endlessly as she waited, with a frenzy of anxiety and fear fluttering in her stomach; but she kept her calm, loathing face still and silent, even as the car entered Vatican City.
She held the cigar between her teeth as she lifted her sleeve to check her watch. 9:35 p.m. This really was taking too long.
"Master..."
Integra's eyes popped open and she jumped, dropping the smoke from her lips to the carpet as a husky male voice spoke from inside her head. She growled angrily, grabbing back at it before it burned the whole back seat and sat back down calmly, preparing to listen to her uncivil pet's ravings.
"Master...What are you doing here?" Came another breeze-like question. "In this city? And with no one to escort you?"
"Hmmph." She crushed the butt in her fingers and put another Cuban delight to her teeth. "You should know better than to ask so many questions, Alucard."
He echoed a chuckle, "I'm only looking out for my master's best intentions..." A woozy hole came out from the seat next to her, and as she began to light the tip of the cigar, Alucard appeared beside her, wearing his black pants and white shirt, sipping on a blood bag. "This place isn't safe--" She glared at him. "As you're well aware. And sometimes, I can't even penetrate that little mind of yours. So what is it your doing here?"
Suddenly, they stopped moving, and the driver called back, "Vatican City Hospital, m'um."
Alucard froze up, his eyes staring at her in confusion as he knew her intentions. Integra smiled, blowing a steady stream of smoke from her nostrils, and glanced at him with those pale blue eyes. "Sometimes, it's best that you don't."
The car door opened, and the driver stood there with an umbrella, and Integra stepped out. Alucard cocked an eyebrow, then grinned. "So, she wants to play, does she?" Then, he disappeared from the back seat.

"I'll go from here." She said, leaving the driver at the door, and stepped inside the warm hospital to the information desk. The receptionist, a short and pudgy black woman, looked up from her book. Integra looked down, as if in shame, and whispered, "Enrico...Maxwell...?"
"You mean the priest?" She said nothing. "Fourth floor, trauma center, room 248."
"Thank you." She clasped her trenchcoat tightly over her chest, and strod towards the elevator.
The floor was deathly quiet, almost no one occupied the halls, not even doctors. It did ease her anxiety, because she hated hospitals. Hated dealing with the mentally insane, the infected, and in this case, the comatose.
As she reached the #200s', she approached cautiously, knowing that she'd recognize some faces. Thunder cracked outside as she strayed down the long, dark hallway, where she came to room 248. Outside, as she had expected, sat the blonde Scottish vampire hunter who her own organization came to despize. Alexander Anderson sat in a chair against the wall facing the closed hospital door, his arms crossed over his chest and staring forward sleepily. Sitting next to him was the young Japanese schizophrenic nun, Yumiko Takage, who Integra had only heard about on several news broadcastsas as a terrorist hunter. Her head was resting on Anderson's shoulder as she slept soundly.
And the last one, Heinkel Wolfe, a German female preist, sat right next to the door on the floor, her knees wrapped in her arms and up against her face. Integra could see the deep sorrow on this perticular woman's face, as silent tears fell from her eyes. She tried to hide them, since she wasn't the type to show much emotion, but it was useless.
"Is anyone with him?" Integra suddenly said, startling two of them.
Anderson glared at her, almost rising. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled softly.
"Sir...Hellsing?" Heinkel croaked out, a bit taken aback.
"I'm..." Integra began, trying to bring up the words. "I'm here...to pay my respects." She said the last part flatly.
"You?" Anderson hissed slightly louder. "No! What makes you think he-- "
"No." Heinkel suddenly said, and they both looked at her. She glanced positively at him. "It's okay." Anderson glared at her questioningly but she ignored him, and looked at Integra. "It's okay...no one's with him now. You can see him..."
Integra bowed her head, walking slowly towards the door. Anderson's eyes narrowed protectively, but let her go past. As she was about to open the door, Heinkel's hand smakced against it, and she looked down, catching the priest's eyes, which looked both menacing yet melancholic. She whispered, "Don't do anything you'll regret." Integra nodded, opened the door to the hospital room, then closed it.
When she was inside, she stood there in shock. There he was, Enrico Maxwell, lying in some filthy excuse for a bed. His face was covered in bruises, a bandage on his left cheek, his arm broken and in a sling, a respirator mask over his mouth and nose, and his right eye was completely covered by gauze that wrapped around his head.
She hated hospitals.
Integra found the courage to take a few more steps toward the bed, and lost her cool, putting her hands to her chest and whimpering so slightly she made no noise at all. She wandered to his bedside, looking down at him, and swallowed. "God..." Finally she sat down beside him, staring into his face. Curiously, she reached for the blankets that covered him and pulled them back half way, revealing bandages and gauze that covered his bare chest. She sighed, and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. This is what she'd come here for. To sit in some cold hospital room and stare into his unconcious face, to see how much damage was done to him, and if he was to...die...she'd be there.
Yes, she did hate him. He was probably one of the worst rivals ever to cross Hellsing's path. And if he was anyone else...she would have had him killed long ago. But she couldn't. She had many opportunities, especially that time in the museum. But she would never have allowed Alucard to actually shoot the silver-haired bastard. She just couldn't do that.
Integra stared down at Enrico, and lightly placed her fingers on his cheek, moving them upwards, stroking through his soft hair.
A woman...
Thunder cracked again.
A woman alone...offered a ride...
Integra closed her eyes, sniffing the rain scented air.
Parked on a vacant lot...she asks why...he doesn't answer...he grabs her...she screams...no one can hear her...
Looking into his face brought the memories back. Because she was there. In the back seat. A toddler, brought home from day care by him. Her father was away, asked him to take care of her for the time being. But she could still remember the look on his face, that stare of power and hate, and her face contorted in fear and disgust. She hid on the floor, clutching her teddy bear, as her uncle, Richard Hellsing, raped the young girl he found on the street.
She was pretty, Integra remembered, a curvy silver haired woman with bright green eyes and freckles. But the beauty was beaten away by that man's fists, as her purple dress was ripped from her body, her arms and legs fighting back, but in vain. She remembered jumping down on the floor, her hands covering her ears so she wouldn't hear the screaming, tears falling from her eyes...
It stopped after awhile, and the woman lay still, worn out and terrorized. Finally her uncle opened the passanger door and threw her out like trash, then sped away into the night.
A tear fell from Integra's eye as she came to the present, and she put her hand in Enrico's, looking away. "I'm sorry..." She whispered. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."