The meal eventually got into Victoria nose and due to the snorting and coughing session she missed a part of the further pleasantries' exchange between the vampire and his mysterious animalistic opponent. When she looked up at last, the 'Hellsing's answering service' said:
"So, you've called to warn us that she has come to England? Yeah, that woman was always pretty fond of tourism..."
The tube squeaked again. Victoria's ears pricked up, but the music from the stereo interfered, making the caller's words inaudible. She frowned, not seeing the remote anywhere around. The curiosity was strong enough, though, so she stood up and walked to the corner to turn the noisy thing off. Meanwhile Alucard kept chatting casually.
"Even so? Anderson is dispatched to the same mission? Haa, that means that you've fixed your cutlery freak already... And got him a new brain too! He's got a really nice pit crew…"
"Tell the damn crew to check the wiring in that so called brain of his..." - muttered Victoria gloomily from her corner. The idea of the crazy priest, lurking around again, didn't make her as anxious as her Master. He reacted as a kid, being told that Santa would visit him personally to give presents and a free ride in his sledge... Jeez. Some association... No smoking from now on!
"Well, I'll let my Master know about your call. Pretty scared by ickle little Elisabeth, aren't you, Maxwell? You've described her as a new version of Lucifer, upgraded with... - Alucard quickly glanced at his pouting apprentice, still standing on the opposite side of the spacy room, - ...a pair of nice breasts. Mwahaha!"
The answer was a clicking sound, followed with a queue of short beeps from the phone tube.
"Hah! Hanged up! Why, that Iscariots have no manners at all...Romans never change!" - Alucard looked both annoyed and amused, putting the handset down and turning to Seras. She avoided commenting "the proper way to answer phone calls" so far, being too upset with the news.
"He said father Anderson is alive again? - asked the girl with a vague hope that she had misunderstood something. - And who's that Elisabeth? Not the one we..."
"Yes and yes. - Master got up and put his hands into pockets, leaning to the desk and crossing his legs. - Old boy Anderson is less vulnerable than I expected. And Maxwell was generous enough... or rather alarmed enough to warn Hellsing about the mischievous countess we've visited tonight. Why hadn't he done that earlier... Yesterday, at least. Damn, it's really strange, usually their intelligence works much faster..."
"But... But why haven't you told him about... You've killed her, right?"
"Yeah, but why don't let Integra inform the Iscariots about that? A little bit later... It would cheer her up, believe me. - Alucard smirked. - Another occasion to foul Maxwell's mood is always cherished here in Hellsing."
"And what about father Anderson?!"
"So, what about him? If he comes over to play - fine with me. I can take care of our dear guest anytime... Heh-heh."
Victoria silently pursed her lips and turned away, staring blankly at the wall. The memories of the maniacal high-pitched laughter, the ultimate hatred in the green eyes, gleaming behind the glasses... the burning pain in her throat, when the blessed blade had run it through... made her shiver. She absent-mindlessly passed her hand along the ornament, carved on the polished oak of the wall panel. The touch of the smooth and cool surface was reassuring, returning her back into the safety of the present reality. At the same moment she gasped, looking as a faint white figure walked out of the wall and through her fingers.
She shakily lifted her hand and it passed through the torso of the figure without any resistance. It was a young man, looking like a Japanese; he smiled and nodded to her. That was really too much. Victoria's heart leaped forward and banged against her sternum, asking to be let out. Away! As far away from this as possible, to the place where it's safe! Her reflexes obeyed, launching the girl's body back, while she was still staring at the phantom. Her shoulder hit the forgotten stereo stand behind and Seras whimpered, desperately trying to stop and not to knock the fragile electronics down onto the stone floor. Suddenly the world around blinked. An instant of swirling darkness and her heels hit the floor a foot from the huge brown boots' toes. Victoria flailed her arms helplessly, trying to realize how she had happened to be there and what the hell was going on and fell forward, dragged by momentum. With a loud thud the old massive desk received the weight of a new desktop item and screeched a few inches along the floor. The forementioned item was a perplexed young vampire on top of her Master.
Seras slowly pulled her head from under Alucard's lower jaw, stunned with the recent events, and heard a double snicker. The first one emerged from beneath her - she even could feel the vibration of Master's chest, - the second sound came across the room from the spot she had left a second ago. She turned her head in panic and saw the half-transparent dude by the stereo. Phew! Lady Integra's property managed to stay on its stand safely at least… Meanwhile the man got glasses on his nose and started scribbling something in a note-pad, glancing at the deskscape and snickering.
"W-who's that?" - inquired the girl, being not able to take her eyes off the surreal sight. Alucard snorted.
"Hellsing's resident ghost, who else? Don't sweat, cop, he wouldn't bite you! - the older vampire laughed again. - You should see your face! Priceless!"
"A-and what is he d-doing?"
"Just hanging around usually, and making sketches from time to time. Don't ask me why. I tried to talk to him once, but all I got was a bow and something like "Hiranokotades" and "Eroshiku". Beats me what it could mean."
"Uh-huh..." - Seras was still dumbfounded, watching as the ghost made a peace sign with a hand, still holding a pencil, and dissolved in the air.
"By the way, do you know what you have just done?" - a question sounded seriously now and, looking back, Victoria met an intent stare of the red eyes a few inches from her face. She felt awkward a bit and the feeling greatly increased, as she noticed at last that her left hand was under Alucard's back and the right one - under his forearm. As for Master's hands, they rested peacefully on her waist and shoulders from the very moment of their fall and this fact didn't seem to bother him at all.
"Um... Freaked out? I'm sorry..." - mumbled the girl, blushing violently at the realization that her whole body was pressed against her Master's one. The dull warmth of it, too faint for a human but quite sensible for a fellow vampire, was messing with her thoughts. Despite this, she carefully rejected any ideas about moving away, hushing them and her pounding heart. Shyness surrendered in the battle with the growing heat of this accidental embrace.
"This one too. - Alucard smiled. - But, actually, I was talking about the way you got here. I would never believe it can happen so soon."
The large eyes of his apprentice looked confused, so he went on: "The breakthrough. You were able to teleport. Usually it takes much more time to be able to perform such things, and much more additional requirements."
"Like what?"
"Like more drinking blood. Preferably fresh one, not the canned substitute we get here."
The confusion, written in capital letters on the face of the young vampire, changed into the fear of understanding under Alucard's scanning look.
"Yes, the truth is that we usually gain power from the vital energy. It's quite natural, Integra understands that. She let me feed on that reporter girl, after all... But this way is not for you yet, huh, little tiptoeing coward? It was hard enough to make you drink even medical blood... - Suddenly Victoria felt Alucard's hand, moving from her shoulders to her neck, caressing it. Its weight made her head go closer to her Master's face. His smiling lips moved, making her feel his breath on her mouth. - Could it be, that a wee bit of smoking plus a little surprise is your anti-block therapy recipe? Some barriers of yours have crumpled tonight..."
"Yes, Master..." - were the last muttered words before their lips met.
This time was not like the one before. Their lips worked together for a few instances to lock into a deeper kiss. After a second of hesitation her tongue slided alongside his, curving, probing, occasionally feeling the neat arc of his teeth with the sharp spikes of fangs... Her hands slipped from under her Master's body to caress his forearms, relax... Start their eager exploring along his body, tracing the way from the torso to the pale skin of neck and face, descended again to dig into the layer of clothes, suddenly so annoying in their presence between her fingers and the warmth, being radiated by the body underneath. Her senior's hand moved to the back of the girl's head, lightly clenching a handful of golden wisps, as the other hand held her back, making their bodies lean against each other tighter... Victoria felt as the gloved fingers passed the curve of her hip, teasing the soft skin between the skirt and stockings' edge and her body responded, making the girl coo lightly in her kiss as her hip rocked against the nuzzling hand. Her body started to tilt sideways, she fidgeted and quickly wrapped her leg around her master's long thigh, pulling herself closer. She wouldn't have traded this occasion for all the treasures of the world; the red haze of desire, wonder, terror, joy, disbelief, longing for more was ultimately possessing. Alucard's hand trailed from the back of her head along the neck to the high collar of her uniform; easily undid it and the fabric of the shirt rustled, wrinkling and slipping down under a fondling hand all the way down the shoulder blade and forearm. The skin underneath shone softly, looking like mother of pearl in the moonlight. The shirt was en route to the middle of the back, Victoria's heart hammered so loudly, that it was almost deafening her. Maybe that was the reason... Neither of them ever noticed the footfalls until bright electric light fell from the ceiling like a guillotine and a familiar voice pronounced:
"Yes, the door is unlocked. Please, come over immediately...Not by phone, dear, I'll remedy your curiosity as soon as you... Lord almighty! What are you doing here, you two?!"
Victoria jerked back as if had just touched a live wire. Her only consolation was the fact that her Master swiftly sat up too, still holding the girl in his lap, and glared at Walter, standing by the door with a cell phone in his hand. Butler's eyes almost beat his trademark monocle in size.
"Sitting on the phone in case of emergency, as one of the two sleeping beauties in the ward had asked me to do. Just before turning on the other side to resume his snoring." - Alucard had the 'just-you-dare-to-comment' look, as he presented a fanged smile to the butler. The combination of the glare and the smile could have easily made Conan the Barbarian hide himself in a corner and cry for mommy, but the retired Angel of death was made of a much tougher material. His gaze keenly surveyed the scenery, narrowing at the phone cord, snaking from under the flap of Alucard's coat. Walter's brow furrowed.
"Yes, I recall something like that. But you never tended to follow my words so literally before... Oh well. How fabulously obedient of you, indeed."
The butler slightly bowed to Victoria, as if had just noticed her. "Good night, Miss Victoria. Or rather good morning. The down will be in an hour, I believe." - the old man politely looked into the window as the blushing girl put her uniform in order. If speed dressing had ever got into the Olympic games' official list, Seras would have become a doubtless world champion - in case vampires were allowed to compete, of course. As the girl slipped out of his hands in haste to button the shirt and push it back under the belt, Alucard returned to his previous stance - he leaned against the desk with his arms and legs crossed and silently watched the process of returning the policewoman's uniform to its official exterior. Still observing the dark sky in the window, Walter suddenly uttered a strange muffled grunt. The sound repeated and he lowered his head and braced himself with both hands, as his shoulders began to shake.
"Walter, what's happened? - Victoria ran up to the old man and saw that his face was red and he was biting his lips. - Are you feeling unwell again?"
"No. - the butler's voice was... choking? He looked down at his shoes' toes, as if not willing to meet Victoria's gaze. - I'm fine. Would you please excuse us now, Miss Victoria, I have to talk to your master... It's a personal matter."
The girl turned to her master with a hesitating look. He grudgingly shrugged, eyeing Walter with an air of utter suspicion, and nodded.
As soon as the door behind the policewoman clicked closed, Walter stopped to restrain himself and burst into unstoppable laughter. He stumbled to the nearest chair and collapsed there, wiping his tears and glancing at rather irritated Alucard between the squalls of joy.
"Stop that nonsense and tell me what is all that about at last! – less than a minute passed and nosferatu's patience manifested its limits already. He walked up to Walter and bent to see his face. - Is it a hysteria?"
"N-no... - the man in the chair managed to quit laughing for awhile . - It's a p-payback time! God must have rewarded me with it at last!"
"Your next reward will be the Pearly Gates' Customs interview. I mean it. Either another cardiac arrest or me - one of these will inevitably deliver you there, unless you stop this moronic cackling."
Little by little Walter converted his laughter into a broad smile and occasional fits of snickering. Alucard pulled a chair to Walter's, sat there and waited his old partner to calm down. When silence fell at last, his deep voice sounded dangerously soft:
"Mind to explain the payback part?"
"Naturally not. I dreamed about this moment for more than fifty years... Albeit it seemed an almost no percentage chance till recently. Do you remember all the dates of mine you ruined, hanging down from the ceiling or elsewhere and peeping, giving smart comments and advices later? Hah! As if I needed advices!"
"How petty. And to think I did that for your own good... - Alucard rolled his eyes in half-hearted indignance. - Believe me, Walter, there's no need to refresh my memories of the arrogant brat you were then. They are quite vivid... Alas."
"Praying for memory gaps? I'm honored. - the former Angel of death bowed and added a significant amount of poison into his smirk. - No, my friend, Alzheimer or amnesia - they are not for you. It's tough to be a vampire sometimes."
Alucard just snorted and raised his brow: "So, what has brought you here in the first place, Avenging Angel?"
"Curiosity. I wanted to hear your version of the recent events. Besides, I've decided to change shifts here and summoned my assistant from the Investigations Division, she should arrive soon." - the butler picked up the monocle, being dropped into his lap while he had laughed, and looked through it at a big clock by the wall.
"Ah, that redhead lady? You've chatted quite sweetly with her... So, Doc doesn't let you run at large for long yet, huh?"
"Yes, he wants to make a complete examination again... Says that the case has been very serious and I need to be medically monitored for more. I've hardly persuaded him to let me go and take care of things for a while - Dr. Trawelian is rather stubborn."
"As all of us here. Argue with him more and he can easily ban you from your activities due to the health state while Integra will surely support him. She worries about you, you know. - Alucard's gleefully winked to his old buddy, - Just imagine - no more prancing with strings or pulling them! You should start thinking about some new hobbies to kill the time - knitting, ceramics, chess or whatever retired humans are into. It really sucks to be an aging mortal sometimes."
"To each - his own, I believe." - the stares of red and green eyes crossed like lightsabers. This argument was more than fifty years long too. At last Alucard crooked his lips and shrugged.
"Your fatalistic attitude might give one pause."
"I keep my paws to myself... - Walter chuckled. - Which is more than you can say tonight."
"Still celebrating, huh? All right, enjoy. By the way, I believe I hear your helper's heels clattering in the corridor already... Hurry, tell me until she's here - is she your girlfriend?"
"Keep your long nose to yourself too... Oh, good morning! - Walter got up to greet a young woman, whose black-clad figure appeared in the doorframe. She looked a bit sleepy, but her face beamed with a bright smile, as she saw her boss. - How nice of you to come so quickly."
Alucard lazily rose too, observing the two humans from his height with a mischievous glint in his eyes. This expression was exactly the same as when the damned undead had used to pop out of the walls like an oversized gopher and toss profoundly unwelcomed remarks about young Walter's relationships. Almost always they had been delivered to the victim with all the tactful behavior of a paparazzi from Hell... Walter's brow twitched. He sharply turned to the vampire:
"You are free now. And you have some errands to run elsewhere, don't you?"
"Sure thing. - the grin, plastered on Alucard's face, clearly stated that he was about to return to the old drill. - One of them is escorting a certain workaholic butler back to the tenacious hands of medics. We're going to have some smut to duscuss on our way there..."
Now it was Walter's turn to cast cremating glares, but the vampire didn't seem to give a damn about it, keeping the grin on in its nastiest mode.
"You are an evil creature, after all." – sighed Walter and shrugged.
Victoria walked deeper and deeper into the spacious dungeons under the Hellsing mansion. They seemed much older than the main building above, grinding the ground with tentacles of gloomy passages, their monotony broken with countless turns and doors. The ancient grey masonry seemed surprisingly dry, considering the fact that the place was more than thirty yards below the surface... But dampness still existed somewhere, as the local electric wiring constantly suffered with shortcuts and blackouts. The last one hadn't been fixed yet. Victoria's footfalls rang against the stone floor, as echo of her steps dived into the black ink of air, flooding the underground maze. She had undertaken this walk to work out adrenaline and calm down a bit. The effect of smoking was wearing out but... It still seemed to affect her mind a great deal - the messed thoughts and emotions didn't wish to be shelved, darting in her mind like a wind-driven deck of cards. Suddenly she closed her eyes and leaned to a wall, pressing the burning forehead to the chilly stone. Her fist clenched and struck the wall above her head, as a helpless groan found its way into the surrounding darkness and silence: "Why do I always wind up staying alone?! Why does it hurt so much?!"
This was the ace of trumps from the top of the deck. The young vampire didn't open her eyes, just let her body follow the gravity to the floor. She sat there, tightly pulled her bent legs to the chest with both hands and tried to analyze the situation. She had been sent away so casually... Actually, without a word. Like a maid... Victoria put her chin on the knees, sighing and puffing away unruly bangs from her nose. Oh, yeah, she had definitely opened Pandora's box recently... And hope seemed to stay on the bottom of the bloody package.
Brooding about whose fault it is that uncertainty and unfairiness are so deeply vowen into the pattern of the world and how to get to the sorry ass of the culprit was dismissed with a peculiar tingling of Victoria's senses. She quickly opened her eyes and looked around in worry. Nothing except lifeless stone. But... She couldn't point her finger on which of her senses had bothered to alarm the others, still she was sure like hell that something or someone very careful about keeping the stealth mode on was moving out there. Closing... sniffing at her... watching.
In a second the girl was on her feet, her back to the wall, her hand desperately clasping the belt for a weapon. Haa, and who had sworn to herself to carry a gun around everywhere and everytime just about a dozen hours ago? Brainless idiot is the answer, along with the reflection in a mirror... Arrgh. Seras made a sharp intake of breath and started to move backwards carefully, scanning the stone-clad passages for any danger. Was it a prank of a tight-rope state of nerves or she had just spotted some motion by the next crossing? Victoria didn't dare to go and check it out. Her room was maybe a few hundred yards behind, and if she managed to get there... Well, the Harconnen gun in the umbrella stand there meant a bit higher level of security for its owner. Step by step... Mere two hundred yards were like a marathon distance. When the heavy door creaked behind Victoria's back, the girl leaned against it for a moment to wipe beads of sweat on the forehead as her other hand was reaching for the monstrous result of Walter's engineering ingeniusness.
With the loaded Harconnen in her hands and a few extra shells, stuck under the waist belt just in case, Victoria exhaled deeply and muttered "Armed and dangerous!" with a nervous giggle. All the candles she had been able to find in her cupboard were burning on the table and on the floor of the room, providing an additional portion of lighting to the dark corridor through the doorframe. Together with the vampiric night vision it should be helpful... The barrel of the sniper cannon protruded into the corridor and started lurking for any signs of hostility. Advancing along the corridor, the girl meticulously looked into every corner. Only dust there. Hm. At last she stopped on the crossing she had withdrawn from a few minutes ago and made a full circle, glaring around. The place looked most innocent, plain bare stone without any traces and no odd feelings or whatever. What's the hell?! Was that just a reasonless panic attack? Uh-oh. The question of the day: could a vampire become a nervous wreck? Faint vertical line of worry appeared between Victoria's eyebrows, as she looked around for the last time and marched back to the orange rectangle of light, marking the entrance to her quarters.
Having stepped into the room, Victoria squinted in the candlelight, so bright after the velvet mildness of black and grey shades in the dungeons outside. She quickly turned her back to the candles to let her eyes adapt to the illumination, slammed the door and decisively shot the bolt.
"Good idea."
Seras leaped a foot in the air, spinning around to look at the source of the remark. Her master stood by the wall with folded arms and looked at her, flame dancing in the red ancient eyes on the pale face of the eternally thirty years old. Victoria suddenly found herself scrambling for firm footing in more ways than one.
"Master..." - she didn't know what to say further and just tightened her grip on the Harconnen, raising it and setting the weapon into its nest.
"If you were going to practice shooting here you should think better, though. The ceiling of the dungeon might collapse after a few well placed shots."
"N-no, I've just... – any explanation of her recent behavior felt painfully stupid. - I walked in the corridors when it seemed to me... Well... I had a strong feeling that somebody was there. Or something. A moving object. I'm not sure, but... This is the only weapon I have here and I wouldn't have used high-explosive or cumulative ammo!"
Alucard raised his brow and tilted his head for a few seconds, as if listening to something inaudible. Then a pleased smile spread on his face: "A strong feeling, huh? Good for you, but that creature is not an enemy for us. Vice versa, I'd say..."
She waited it to be continued, but her Master didn't seem to be interested in the topic any more. She didn't push it, suddenly feeling deadly tired of all the secrets and mysteries, piling around since the moment she had gone to Chaders mission. It had been a bad trip indeed... Suddenly it hit her: that had been precisely what it had been. No acid involved, but somehow it was a really, really bad trip. All the nightmares and... in some sense she hadn't even survived it, after all.
The girl raised her gaze on Alucard's face and met his eyes, keenly surveying her. The pause grew tense and a minute later Victoria couldn't stand it any more:
"So, err... Have you talked to Walter? Is it something serious?"
"Serious? Hah! That Walter... Him being a mortal is a waste. The human would have made a great vampire, considering his character. - The No Life King sighed and unfolded his arms, walking up to the girl. - Listen, Seras… Victoria. I'm going to tell you one thing - for your... and my sanity sake, as our minds are linked, whether we want that or not."
Towering above Victoria, Alucard stopped and lifted his arms, pulling a sigilled glove off his right palm. The now bare cool fingers lay on the side of the girl's neck as the thumb passed her lower lip.
"You are not a toy for me. Remember that."
Two shadows on the candlelit stone wall simultaneously moved towards each other to become one. Somewhere high above the first subtle rays of the new dawn touched the gables of Hellsing.
Author's note: hello, it's me again! First thing first: about the request to change Alucard into Arucard in this story... Well, you see, I find this question arguable, because both Hirano Kota's manga and the anime Hellsing are hinting at the fact that Alucard is really Dracula, caught and tamed by Integra's ancestor. So, it's quite logical (oh, I love this word!) to presume that he inverted the name of his new pet as a symbol of the inversion of Alucard's functions and goals. And as for Japanese lacking the "L" sound - I'm aware of that, but Alucard is by all means a European, therefore his name must have roots in some European language (and all of them have this sound in their alphabets). You don't insist on calling Integral Hellsing Integuraru Herushingu just because in Japanese it sounds this way, right? So why should Dracula become Dracura all of a sudden? Cop Captor Dracura, heh-heh... Never mind. I may be dreadfully wrong, of course, but logics works this way for me... If there's another reason to call Alucard Arucard except the fact that most Japanese have troubles with pronunciation of "L", please, let me know.
Anyway, here's another chapter of The Chronicles. It's a little bit longer than my usual portions of writing exercises, but it has been raining like hell all this weekend and I've had nothing to do but to speculate which piece of furniture would do for a raft better in case we have a flood - my choice would be the kitchen table, btw - and to write this fic.
P.S. I love and respect Hirano Kota for his sense of humor and artistic style, presented in his manga 'Hellsing'. Hope, he wouldn't sue me for expressing this love by making him Hellsing-Hall resident ghost... But as the percentage of him being ever aware of my existence is pure and elegant zero, I'm kinda relieved about the odds of any lawsuit.
P.P.S. Is it just me or Walter K. Dornez really looks like an anime version of Sean Connery?