Despite the flurry of activity at Herod's initial attack, the next months were quiet. In that time, Camilla had taken to joining Integra Hellsing for afternoon tea, two more manifestations that had surprised Hellsing.
Camilla had only smiled as she sipped the tea. "We are not creatures of the night, the shadows are preferred. My own lineage makes me less susceptible to day light hours. After all you know, you still believe the tales of old? Perhaps, if you realize that I can appreciate a fine cup of tea, you will be slightly more forgiving my trespasses."
Over the days, weeks and months that passed, Hellsing begrudgingly admitted that her view of vampires had been very linear. She also realized that Camilla was a very eloquent conversationalist.
The attacks against the FREAKS continued, but with the triad of vampires, Camilla, Arucard and Sera, now fighting for the Hellsing organization, the squad's casualties dropped while the FREAKS diminished as quickly as they were created.
Arucard observed that growing affection between his distant master and his sister. He and the other members of the Council moved through the nights trying to find out what Herod was doing. It had not taken long for them to discover it was only in the last century that he had begun contacting the other houses trying to gain allies. None of them were interested in such a war, especially against the House of Alexander.
Arucard watched the other members as well, he remained convinced that there could very well be a traitor in their midst. Lives as long as theirs meant that instead of letting small grievances go, their kind could fester and polish a grudge, waiting for the moment to strike. Everyone makes unpopular decisions at one time or another Camilla was no different.
It had been over a year since Camilla had reappeared. Seras had enjoyed having her around and had even met some of the other members of the Council. She felt like a child amongst so many of power, and most of them barely deigned to recognize her existence. It was as if her Master had cloned himself, so distant and enigmatic were they. Except Camilla, who always took the time to visit with her after her afternoon talks with Hellsing.
Seras had noticed, as had many in the household, that the daily chats with Camilla had mellowed Integra somewhat. No one would dare make that observation to her face, except her Master, who enjoyed mentioning it from time to time. Seras, like others, had initially been surprised to see the two women sitting out on the balcony, or in the garden when the weather turned, having their tea. It was surprising to see the normally aloof and reserved Hellsing talking with such fervor and laughing.
The rare Hellsing smile was becoming less rare. If she didn't know better, it would seem as though Lord Hellsing had a bit of a crush on Camilla.
Seras walked along the edge of the Hellsing estate. She stopped and paused for a moment. The air was still. The commanders were meeting again. Despite the growing trust towards Camilla, She suspected Hellsing was not going to let the opportune moment with so many vampires gathered in one place pass her by.
She left the estate and began walking along the winding road that led to the gates of the estate. Seras thought about her most recent conversation with Camilla, and her even stranger one with Lord Hellsing. Something was happening between the two women and Seras felt like each one was sending coded messages through her.
She wasn't sure why Lord Hellsing had bought up the events that occurred when Herod attacked Camilla again. She was interested in finding out what was happening on that front but suspected she would never know.
She paused. Something was out there. How far had she walked? It was so hard since she had become a vampire how quickly she could cover ground when just walking. She was miles away from the manor now.
She sniffed the air. Something was definitely out there. She reached down and felt for her revolver. She began walking again and heard the slightest rustle in the underbrush along the road. She was being followed; there was no doubt about it now.
Seras kept walking until she felt the air behind her move. She turned and pulled her revolver. She rolled out of the way and found herself facing the slathering jaws of a FREAK. She fired off two shots and watched as the FREAK's head exploded. She could tell from the movement around her, there was more than just that one. She leapt to her feet and tried to get a count.
Then she saw it, another one of those hellhounds from the warehouse fight. FREAKS and the hellhounds together? This was a new twist and couldn't possibly be a good one. She twisted from the attacking FREAKS and fired rapid fire then flipped over the mass of them to land on the other side.
Seras had rarely taken on this many FREAKS single handedly. She had the clip in her gun and one more. She could fight them hand to hand.
The fighting was not as elegant as it was when it was her master or even Camilla fighting but it managed to get the job done. Not without some blows that were going to hurt later.
Seras had emptied both clips and was fighting them as they came towards her. When the hellhounds started to attack, she dodged them as best she could. She couldn't kill them with her hands and she did not know any of the controls.
Just when she was wondering if maybe this was not the best plan of attack and determining an escape route she felt the air shift around her again and her master was there beside her.
"It would appear as though I cannot leave you unattended." Arucard said as he began to quickly dispatch the FREAKS swarming towards them.
In the usual frenzy and grace that was her master, the FREAKS and the hellhounds were taken care of.
When the night was quiet it again, she turned to face her master.
"I could have taken care of them…Eventually." She said as she slipped her gun back into her holster.
"I am aware of that. Come, we are going back to the mansion." Arucard said as he covered her with his cloak.
Seras could never quite get used to the sensation of moving from one location to the next without her feet touching the ground.
*-*
Arucard looked at Camilla.
"You know it is not unheard of, this thing I ask."
"She is your progeny, you have no need for me to do this." Camilla protested.
"I want her to be of the house of Alexander, I have no use for the lineage or the house, but there may come a day when it will serve her to have the true blood of Alexander flowing in her veins. She is coming into danger in this coming war. I want her to have the blood."
"You are the true blood of Alexander. He sired you himself." Camilla said, turning to look at Seras who was sitting quietly on her bed.
Arucard did not reply he merely glared across at Camilla. Camilla sighed, she knew what he was asking for and it was not uncalled for.
"Very well." She turned to Seras.
"Do you know what your master has asked of me? He has asked that I pass on my blood to you. You do not have to do this, as with all things, you have a choice." Camilla spoke to Seras softly, gently cupping her hand beneath Sera's chin.
Seras looked up into Camilla's dark eyes and smiled.
"I know. And yes." She replied earnestly.
"You know…That my blood will bring the hunger closer to the surface?" Camilla said, a shadow passing over her gaze.
Seras looked down, and then back up into Camilla's gaze.
"I know that."
Camilla looked over at Arucard, her eyes shadowed and for the first time in a long time, he could not read what was in them.
Camilla knelt beside Seras and murmured something softly in a tongue that Seras did not recognize. Camilla drew her lips back and pierced her fangs into Seras's neck.
Despite herself, Seras shuddered. There was an almost orgasmic intensity to the feeling coursing through her body. This went on for minutes, before Camilla pulled back. Her eyes were now the same blazing red as Arucard's, her lips stained with blood.
She nodded to Arucard and then bent over Seras again. Arucard placed himself near Seras mouth and nodded to her as well. Camilla bit down on the wound she had already opened. Seras shuddered again.
"Feed from me." Arucard murmured in her mind.
Seras drew her own lips back and then bit down on Arucard's neck. Arucard turned his face towards Camilla's exposed neck and bit down as well. Their bodies pressed together as each fed off the other.
The same sensation coursed through all three, that electric chill along their spines, the almost too intense rush as the blood moved from each of them until there was almost no distinction.
"Drink then, the blood of Alexander, with this, you are always home." Camilla whispered in their minds.
Integra watched on the monitor the entire transaction. She watched Camilla bend her head over Seras neck and had she not known, would have thought the action nothing more than a gentle kiss. She watched as the three of them knelt in a circle around each other and the incredibly intimate closeness they shared, each one bent over the other's necks. Her cold blue eyes became even colder. Integra would never have admitted this to anyone, but she was jealous. Jealous that they should be able to touch their lips to her skin, jealous of Seras for Camilla's lips to her skin, jealous of the expression on all their faces. It seemed like a very long time to Integra before Camilla appeared to collapse.
Arucard and Seras both stopped drinking.
"Why didn't you stop us?" Arucard chastised Camilla.
"There was nothing to stop, you cannot drain me, you know that. It has, like do many things, been a very long time since I have shared my blood." Camilla replied.
She smiled at Seras. "You will feel slightly feverish for about a day and a night. Once you are past that, I will explain to you the history of the house of Alexander."
Seras could only nod. She had felt the power of her master when he had turned her, but this, this sensation coursing through her almost bordered on painful. She moved to lay down on her bed.
Camilla rose and nodded to Arucard.
"Now, brother of mine, we are done. For now." Camilla said before she began to disappear.
Arucard only nodded as he too began to disappear.
Integra watched as Seras hit the lever built into the side of her bed and the coffin lid began to close.
When the room was still again, Hellsing turned away from the monitors. She moved towards her own room. Pausing to slide one of the slim cigars she enjoyed out of the its' case. She lit it and puffed away slowly. She exhaled in the quiet of her room. It reflected very little about her but served its' function very well.
Alone, in the stillness, she finally spoke the words aloud and they hung in the air.
"I dare you."
She waited a moment and then shook her head, as if to try and dismiss the childish folly of speaking out loud into emptiness.
"Finally…" Camilla's teasing tone filled the room and startled Hellsing.
"How do you know what it is I am daring?" Hellsing said, her own tone light. The past year had, if nothing, allowed her to step up to the teasing banter of Camilla.
"I can guess, Lord Hellsing, since I once told you I would dare more than…Are you sure?" Camilla's teasing turned serious, as she fixed her dark gaze intently on Integra.
"What were you doing? With Seras?" Hellsing turned questioning the woman who stood before her. She fixed Camilla in a hard gaze, even though, inside, as always, she was rather glad to see the dark haired woman again.
"Business and family matters that are far too tedious to distract me from your dare. What is it that you dare me to do?" Camilla answered as she moved closer to Hellsing.
Integra didn't reply, she merely raised one eyebrow and gave the smallest of smiles. There was no indication other than Camilla's mildly flushed features that she had just fed.
Camilla nodded and moved again, this time to stand right in front of Integra.
"Dare I do this?" She murmured as she bent her head in towards Integra's lips. Their lips touched tentatively. Camilla kissing Hellsing with the lightest of pressure. She pulled back and looked into Hellsing's eyes.
"Dare I do this?" She said as she moved her hand up to run her fingers through the long blonde hair gently.
"Or even this?" She whispered as she leaned forward again and flicked her tongue along Hellsing's earlobe.
"What is it that I would dare to do?" Camilla murmured, drawing back and gazing into Integra's pale blue eyes, no longer as cold as they were before.
Hellsing drew a sharp intake of breath. Her heart was pounding from the small attentions that Camilla had just lavished on her.
"You are presumptuous, to say the least." She managed to reply, keeping her voice level.
"You forget that I can sense more than what your words say. And I can tell you, your words they lie." Camilla replied, leaning in again for another kiss.
Hellsing marveled again, how gentle the kiss was, and how incredibly human it felt. There was a warmth and almost sweetness in the kiss. Their bodies drew closer together and she could feel Camilla's arms gently encircling her.
If her body was succumbing to the finesse of Camilla's attention, a part of her mind rebelled. Camilla was not a human being. Those lips had just taken blood. She was one of those creatures. Her mind however was losing the battle compared to the reality of Camilla doing very human things to her.
She was surprised by the softness of Camilla's lips and even more surprised by the tenderness of her attention. She felt herself kissing her back, demanding more attention from those skilled lips. Any attempts at reason were now rapidly slipping away.
Moments passed and Integra pulled back. She found it difficult to catch her breath.
Camilla also pulled away gently. Integra noticed that the red around the rim of her dark eyes was slightly pronounced again.
"Integra…As much as I would love nothing more than to continue the exploration of the beautiful landscape that is you, we cannot."
Integra felt as if a shock of cold water had been thrown on her.
"Please…" Camilla whispered as she kissed Integra again.
"Do not…I cannot endanger you. This cannot go any further; Herod cannot know that I care for you. If we persist, then the feelings that tickle the edge of my senses will overwhelm me. The divine torture that I have spent every day this past year, I drown in the sensation of being near you."
Hellsing turned away. She struggled to compose herself. For two reasons, one, because all she wanted to do was quiet the reason of Camilla's protestations with more kisses. The second was Camilla's almost admission of feelings she had for her? Once again, the warring perceptions of Camilla as almost human and the creature that Hellsing knew she was struggled for control. Despite the realization that she too had feelings for Camilla, she still could not throw away an entire lifetime of beliefs about what Camilla really was.
"Then, we should not persist, obviously." She finally replied.
"Integra, I am sorry, you understand…" Camilla said, stepping back.
"I know. This is the part where you say, you are doing what you can, are you going promise it won't hurt if I go in with my eyes open. That you are only trying to save me." Hellsing said, her voice cool.
"Integra. Please. I did not expect this to happen... I am trying to do the right thing, for both of us." Camilla said, the sadness in her voice hanging in the room after her presence had faded.
Integra sat down on the edge of her bed and despite herself, felt a flash of desire as she imagined what the evening could have become, if Camilla had not stopped it.
"Ridiculous." She said out loud. She picked up her still smoldering cigarillo from the ashtray and moved back towards her office. She wasn't going to sleep anytime soon.
*-*
"You went to her, didn't you? After Seras, that was dangerous." Arucard said as Camilla appeared in the catacombs.
"Do not start with me little brother. It was not the intention I started out with."
"You lie then. You have been 'intrigued' by her since the first meeting. Why else cultivate her affection with your daily chats?" Arucard laughed.
"Flirtation yes…More than that. No. She is more complex; you know what she is like. Irrepressible, moving through life as if her sheer force of will and presence will bend everything to her view. And yet, she bears the burden of her position without complaint." Camilla replied, distractedly.
"Perhaps you identify with her position rather than the woman." Arucard replied.
"You make it sound like that is what I am." Camilla laughed.
"Isn't it?"
"Ahh yes. In this incredibly complex game we play of power, intrigue and immortality it is only those who master its rules and machinations survive. Isn't that right? Yet we sacrifice our humanity, some of us do so willingly, some of us, with bitterness. How are we supposed to deal with this creature that resides within us; This dark side that bursts from us like a force of nature and with such violence that we can only stand by and witness the aftermath? Is it any wonder that so many of us become such cursed creatures, emotional outcasts who forget the difference between right and wrong?"
Arucard did not reply he merely raised an eyebrow.
"Oh never mind. All these are likely constructs, I know. Don't you know it is inherent to the breed to brood?" Camilla snapped her reply.
"I forget how passionate you become. Yet, of us all, who has survived the longest with their compassion intact? None of the other elders care a whit about the rest of the population that reside on this earth. I cannot say I have much interest in their feeble lives. Of course, it was rumored once upon a time that you did not care for the politics of the kin either, and yet, here you are, ruling the house of Alexander." Arucard answered calmly.
"We control our actions because our survival depends on it. One day, my brother, I shall answer any question you wish to ask of me." Camilla sighed.
"I have never cared for your past. I will never ask of anything from that time." Arucard replied, shifting away from Camilla as he detected the presence of the others arrive.
Camilla settled back against the large stone slab. It had been dangerous to see Hellsing after the sharing of blood with Seras, even more dangerous to indulge the temptation of a kiss. She had not lied when she spoke to Hellsing, it had been more lifetimes than she could count since she had felt this kind of actual connection to another being, least of all a human. The days and evenings she had spent with Hellsing had truly been bittersweet. She nodded as the council began to form. However, she had not the time to worry about such things now. All the latest intelligence indicated that Herod was planning his strike and planning it soon.
Arucard watched Camilla from across the chamber. Her features were guarded as she greeted each of the attending elders and members of the council. He had that sense of uneasiness that he had felt when she first returned. There were so many powers at play and even he was not sure what would be left standing at the end of it.
*-*
Herod stood on the edge of the field. It was almost time, when he would destroy the Halfling bitch that ran the house of Alexander. He would destroy that house once and for all as he ground her beneath his heels.
"All is ready, I presume? We have heard from those who are loyal to us?" He asked of the sniveling underling beneath him.
"Yes milord. Everything in its' place; there are those that are waiting outside the manor of the vampire hunters. The informants have sent another report of the latest council meeting held by her."
"Perfect. Let us wait then. They are gathering." Herod said, spreading from his human form into his creature form to fill the night sky.
*-*
Integra looked around the table at her elite commanders. She was absolutely commanding in her full battle regalia. She was dressed in her grey and crimson Royal Order of the Protestant Knights uniform, with a 9mm gun on her left hip and the sword forged from the melted silver of St Paul's cathedral crucifix from the 16th century with the Hellsing crest embedded in the hilt on her right.
"There are, in times of change, when strange allies are made to defeat an evil greater threat. There will be those in the coming nights that there are vampires that we do not hunt. There is a vampire, Herod, who has arisen from the grave; he brings the greatest threat, as he appears to be mobilizing the FREAKS. We believe, he is teaching them about controls.
"Subsequently, this has put him at odds among other vampires. So, in this instance, we allow them to exact their justice, and we assist in taking down as many of them and the FREAKS that we can. We have been trying to track his movements for the last year, and even with our new allies, it has been difficult to track him."
"Milord. What is the cause for this allegiance? This has never before been required." A young commander asked.
Hellsing fixed the young commander in that famous Hellsing gaze. She did not answer for a moment. He finally cleared his throat and averted his eyes from her icy glare.
"Apparently, it has been required in the past, it is recorded in the annals of Hellsing history. The question, commander, is at what price should we consider victory? When we are defeated because we are splintered and our enemy is not? Or should we negotiate a truce? Should we consider that the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" She finally spoke.
"You are correct milord. My apologies." The young commander answered quickly.
"Your briefs have been updated. There are 3 likely locations where we expect the battle to engage. It is also expected that there will be an attack against the manor. I expect to leave a single battalion here, but realize that it is only for the appearance that we are here. If they breach the second perimeter, then the orders are to go underground into the tunnels below. The rest of you, we will go to the midpoint and wait to be told where the battle finally is." Hellsing explained as she nodded to the folders that lay before each of the commanders.
"And gentlemen, it is likely that this battle will not end this evening, or the next. This is the first time that we are taking on a vampire this old. Even with our temporary allies, I cannot make any guarantees of victory. May God and the Queen be with you. Amen"
"Amen." They replied in unison as they opened the folders and began examining the maps and intelligence contained within.
The Hellsing troops moved through the underground tunnels. The exception of the battalion left behind to act as if they were preparing the transports.
Walter followed behind the elite group that was tailing Lord Hellsing. He smiled at her purposeful stride. She was an imposing figure; leading the troops through the dim, damp tunnels, heading towards the actual transports that awaited them.
In the number of battles that he had seen with the Hellsing organization, he knew that this was going to be one of those battles for the history books.