Order 2: Hellsing
"Well," I said. I was not laughing. "I'll say right now that I do not appreciate you rummaging around in my head like a bag lady in a dumpster." Sure, Alucard is entertaining and all, but not when I was the subject of his attentions. Huh. Poking around in someone else's head is just plain rude.
He looked at me blankly for a few seconds. Then, his patent smirk was plastering his face yet again. "My master didn't exactly tell me not to."
"I am not your master," I retorted.
I could feel my face scrunching into a scowl. I need to get away from him so I can change my mood for the better.
I moved to a nearby window to get my bearings in the large mansion as much as to distract myself from his almost tangible presence.
"This is the third floor?" I asked the empty air around me. "Do you think that you could be serious for long enough to tell me where the nearest stairwell is?"
"I could," he replied, "but that would defeat the purpose of amusing me."
"You know, you can kiss my-" I started, turning. But what I saw stopped my half formed sentence.
Alucard, his glasses and hat gone, stood there smiling at me, arms crossed over his chest. The stupid bastard was leering at me! Scoping me out like one of those clichéd intoxicated guys from a bar who was trying to get in my pants.
Wait a minute, I thought to myself. I'm not usually like this. Am I doing this because he's just that damn good at messing with people, or because I unconsciously think I should be acting this way?
I smiled, eyes closed with my face toward the floor, at my out of character behavior.
"I really shouldn't have gotten an attitude with you. I don't even know you."
He laughed.
"It isn't as if I haven't been yelled at before," Alucard responded. He shrugged, as if it made no difference to him.
"Your supposed apathy astounds me, Alucard," I retorted, shaking my head.
"And I like it when you yell at me," I heard him say.
I looked up quickly. Why the hell does he keep doing that? Doesn't he know that its getting tired?
"Hmm..." I smiled to myself. I glanced out the window again. This was a quaint joke, indeed.
"What was it I used to say to my friends about you, Alucard?" I asked no one in particular. "Oh, yes. 'Your antics amuse me.' Yes, that is what I answer my friends whenever they ask me why I like "Hellsing" so much. That, and the blood, gore, and violence." I paused, laughing humorlessly. "One can never have enough violence in a movie."
"Sir Integra didn't always approve of my 'antics' as you call them," he told me. His face was devoid of the trademark smirk. This time his grin was genuine. Instead of plastering itself across his face, it grew into a full-fanged smile that traveled to and lit up his eyes. "I had no idea I was viewed as entertainment." He paused. "And you like violence?" His grin turned feral.
I just raised my eyebrow at him. "I'm the same chick that eats while watching open heart surgery and third degree burn victims on The Learning Channel. Some burn victims look like rotisserie-cooked Barbie dolls; melted plastic. Especially when they scrape off the skin." I grinned, imitating him.
"I just thought of something," I said, changing the subject. "Could you unbutton your suit jacket? I wanna see something." I wonder if he'll actually go with me on this.
I seemed to have caught him off guard because he lost all semblance of superiority at that moment. The smirk was replaced by a look of utter disbelief. Then an expression of mischievousness accompanied by an unidentifiable emotion covered his features.
He complied, drawing back his overcoat and unbuttoning his suit jacket slowly, as if he knew I was impatient.
I am impatient, aren't I? I thought to myself. I would never admit it to anyone, but Alucard is ... sexy. There's something about a dangerous man that interests me.
Alucard's grin grew wider. :I had no idea that anyone thought of me that way,: he said in my mind, as if he were caressing the thought.
I shivered at the unaccustomed contact. I don't know whether to be repulsed or turned on.
"You have no idea, do you?" he said aloud.
"What was it we discussed about perusing others' thoughts?" I asked him, annoyed and a little embarrassed. He had to read my thoughts right then? Jesus.
I peered at him critically. He finally finished unbuttoning his jacket showing his neatly pressed white-collar shirt and cravat-style red tie. I didn't expect to see more than was there. I guess I was expecting something more.
"Happy now?" he asked me. "I don't think that my Master would have made such a... forward request of me." He had that smirk on his face again.
"You know something, Alucard?" I asked him mischievously. I narrowed my eyes and motioned him to come closer. He smiled and leaned down a little.
"Closer," I said.
He bent down so that he had his ear near my mouth, so close that I could've nipped it if I were so inclined.
"That's a damn sexy cummerbund," I whispered, barely able to hold my laughter in check.
He looked totally confused for a moment. "I am not wearing-" Alucard started, but was interrupted by another voice.
"Sir Integra, there has been a report of a vampire in the area," Walter said. "I think that it needs your attention immediately."
"Sure, Walter. Lead on."
Walter gave me a slightly confused look. "This way, Sir."
I followed the elderly butler down the hall leaving Alucard to stew over the fact that I got the better of him. Hopefully, Walter can lead me to my "office" so I can possibly tell him in private. Assuming that Alucard isn't there. Or following me.
I had taken no more than five paces before I heard it again. :You will be most interesting to watch,: Alucard said in my mind, laughing. :You play amusing games.:
On hearing him in my mind yet again, I abruptly turned to retort to find that he had disappeared.
I turned back to Walter, who had stopped to wait, and smiled. "Pfff. We should get going to the office." I was eager to get to Integra's office and let him in on it. I don't want to lie to Walter. He might decide to kick my ass or something.
I walked behind Walter, still debating how to tell him. How could I do this and not have this turn into a disaster?
"Sir, are you all right?"
"What?" I asked, startled. There I go, not paying attention again. Now I'm doing it in this body, too.
"I said, are you all right, Sir?" Walter asked me again, worry creasing his brow.
"Yeah, I'm all right," I replied, nervous. "I just need to get to the office so you can inform me of the situation." I also need you to hurry the hell up so I can tell you what you need to know, I thought in irritation. "Can we get going?"
His eyes narrowed at me for a moment, obviously suspecting something. Probably from the way that 'Integra' is acting. After a moment he resumed walking.
We walked in silence until he showed me to 'my' office. It was much nicer than anything I'd imagined. I stopped in the doorway, astonished. The amount of money put into the wood and styling of the room must have been exorbitant, including the black and white checkered marble flooring. A huge polished oak desk at the far end of the office had a large straight-backed chair and two smaller seats for guests. Otherwise, the room was bare of furniture, except for the painting of Sir Hellsing's father over the mantle of the fireplace. Integra's office is bigger than my parents' bedroom! And their room takes up roughly a third of the second floor of the house!
I shook my head a bit to get myself under control. I stepped into the room at Walter's inquiring look. I suppose I am acting weird to him, I thought to myself. Integra doesn't usually gape, especially at her office, a room that she has been working out of for the past decade. A laptop computer sat off to one side of the desk with two trays of papers waiting to be looked at and sent to the appropriate place upon approaching the almost too large desk. There were also a few stray pens, a notepad, and a letter opener.
I sat in the high-backed chair behind the desk with my legs dangling over the left arm. "This isn't a very comfortable chair, Walter," I said.
Walter gave me an incredulous look. "The vampire in question seems to be the owner of a disreputable 'rave.' Most of the customers are underage school children, ranging from fourteen to nineteen years of age. All are consuming vast quantities of illegal drugs and alcohol." He paused for a moment. "This would normally be reserved for the police, but I think that this video clip makes this a Hellsing matter."
At this, he pulled a CD out of his pocket and handed it to me. I sat upright in my chair and took the proffered disc. Inserting it into the CD-ROM drive, I brought up the player on the laptop. The grayish skin and vacant eyes of ghouls stuck out in the throbbing and gyrating masses of high teenagers as it was played back to me.
"Have there been any missing children reports since this sighting?" I asked, trying to at least pass as Integra until I get this whole situation sorted out.
Walter shook his head. "Not as yet, which would lead me to believe that the ghouls in question were recently created. It would lead me to believe, also, that this vampire hasn't been a member of the undead for very long."
"It could be that they are creating ghouls from feeding, " I said to no one in particular.
"I have the files you will need on your desk."
I nodded. "I'll look through them and see what I can figure out," I said opening the manila folder.
"Are you feeling all right, Sir Integra? I was hesitant to wake you up so soon after your collapse. Would you like some tea?" Walter asked me worriedly.
"That would be nice, Walter," I replied, rubbing the bridge of my nose absently.
Bowing slightly, Walter turned to leave.
Changing my mind before he got more than a few steps, "Walter, can you stay for a moment?" I was dreading this. How would he react?
"Yes, Sir?"
I sat up in the straight-backed chair, nervously picking at the suit I was wearing. "Well, I'm not sure how to tell you, mostly because I'm not sure of it myself." I looked up at Walter over the rim of my glasses. Walter was standing, waiting for me to continue.
Taking a deep breath, I continued. "When I woke up, I was not in my own bed, I was in Sir Integra's." Please, God, let him understand.
There was an almost tangible stillness to the room.
"I am sorry, Sir Integra, I don't think I understood you."
God, this is hard. "I am not Integra. This is not my body," I told him, hoping he would understand, praying that he wouldn't think that the workload had driven 'me' over the edge.
I was met with nothing but silence. I take it that this is a good sign. "I am in a world that only exists in a Japanese man's mind. At least, it didn't exist until I was unceremoniously sucked into it through my dreams." I continued, going faster in the hopes that he wouldn't interrupt me. "I am just a girl from America. I don't have the same skills as your employer and I definitely don't have the experience she does. I don't have blonde hair, blue eyes and a habit of smoking expensive, imported cigars. I'm not a rich noble who has her own personal army at her beck and call for the disposal of FREAKs. I don't have a butler who has been killing the undead for most of his life with monofilaments. And I don't have my own personal pet vampire, no matter how cool many people that I know would think that would be." Blurting everything I knew, I hoped it would lessen the blow that I instinctively knew was coming. I didn't look at him. I couldn't look at him. There, I said it. I got the whole thing out. I was up front. Now I just have to see how he would react to it.
I heard shoes scuffing the floor. I looked up and saw that Walter had moved out of the shadows enough that I could see the look on his face. It was unreadable. He had his hands clasped behind his back, and was peering at me.
I tensed. What was he going to do? Walter may be old, but he was by no means frail or slow. But his expression was no longer unreadable. He looked down at the floor, his mouth curving into a half smile. "Well, miss, what should I call you?"
That was not the response I was expecting. I sat bolt upright in my chair. My mouth was opening and closing with nothing coming out of its confines but air. I have the distinct feeling that I look like a beached fish. "I- I-" I finally managed to get out.
"Judging by the expression on your face, it could just be that you really are not Sir Integra," Walter said. He was smiling now.
I realized with a start that I didn't answer his question. "My name is Aislinn Elisabeth."
"'Devoted vision to God,'" Walter said absently. "I am terribly sorry that you were thrown into this situation with no knowledge of what is at stake, but I am not sure if it is such a good idea for you to remain in thick of things."
"I might not be Integra, but I think that I should try to at least play the part," I responded. "I don't think that it would be a good idea for the organization to show any weakness. If the nameless people behind the FREAKs get wind of this, there's no telling what may happen. Not to mention real vampires and the Iscariot Organization." My nose crinkled at the mention of Iscariot. "Maxwell is such a pretentious ass."
"That may be, but I do not see how you are going to make any decisions on the proper conduct of the Knights." Walter seemed a little unbelieving.
"What? All I have to do is look imposing and act like I know what I'm doing. You can help me with all the important stuff. If I have to meet with the Round Table, I'll just need to be let in on all the gritty details." I gave him my most wide-eyed 'I can be helpful' look. That look probably won't work in Integra's body, but it's worth a shot.
It must have worked, because Walter almost immediately deflated. "Very well. Should I still get you some tea?" Walter asked, changing the subject. "You might need it, since Sir Integra was not sleeping or eating well of late."
"Yeah. I could use something to drink. How do you think that Ceres would react?" I asked.
"She might not act as badly as some would like to believe." And with that, Walter left the room.
Sighing, I leaned back in the chair. I have the sinking feeling that I'm gonna be here for a while…