The long closed jazz club on Downing was experiencing a revival of sorts. In lieu of the hipster Friday night crowd of its glory days the club was host to small army of investigators. It was a mess. With the police insisting that the break-in down the street and their subsequent loss of men made the jazz club their jurisdiction, and the D-11 sticking their noses in the mix because of the neatly hung corpses; the MI-5 investigators had more than their fair share of annoyances.
Seras hadn't expected the hoopla when she'd arrived early in the evening, but she grew grateful for the throng of investigators, all arguing over this piece of evidence and that taped off area; as the chaos made her invisible for the most part. She walked through the bottom level of the club, sticking her head into the bathrooms, sniffing around the bar area, and finally inspecting the candles, which had all been snuffed out long before her arrival. There was nothing out of the ordinary as far as Seras could tell, though she had to smirk at the thought of five dead bodies hanging in a closet being usual. I've worked for Hellsing too long already.
The stairwell to the vampires loft had been sanctioned off by MI-5, though no one seemed to heed this particular injunction, rather every one had been stomping upstairs and shouting at the MI-5 investigators that insisted they return to the lower level immediately. Seras knew that the investigators would have a problem with her being there; it wasn't as though they were her mates, but she wanted to get a look at the loft once more. I know I recognized him, she thought, staring up at the ceiling with grim determination, and I have to find out who he was.
"Seras?" Ben looked as surprised to see her as she was to see him,
"What are you doing here?" they asked each other in unison.
Seras smiled, and thought once again she might manage to blush even without the proper blood supply to accomplish such a feat, "I guess you've caught me red handed."
He looked a little unsettled despite her light tone, "I was given orders to come and keep an eye on things in the off chance that there were any ghouls lurking around still."
Seras' eyes flashed, "Do I make a habit of missing them?"
"N-no," he looked embarrassed, "I'm just following orders."
Seras softened a bit, "I know, never mind."
"You'd better get back to the mansion in case-''
"I will," Seras cut him off, "But only after I've seen the loft once more. I know that I've seen that vampire somewhere before, and I want to see if there are any clues in the loft to explain where I know him from."
He nodded, "Then let's go up to the loft."
"The investigators are sending everyone back down," Seras explained running a gloved hand through her hair.
He pulled his hand gun out and grinned, "They won't send me down."
Seras started to tell him that threatening the investigators seemed like a bad idea, but he was running up the stairs before she had a chance. She took of after him, and reached the loft just in time to hear him warning the investigators to get back downstairs,
"We have word that there is a second FREAK on this level of the club!"
Seras choked back a laugh as the investigators high-tailed it out down the stairs, "That's going to get us into trouble."
Ben shrugged, "I doubt it. Anyway we have a few minutes to investigate."
She tried not to feel a little tingle of excitement when he said 'we', but the feeling of camaraderie was so pleasant to Seras that she couldn't help but grin. The two began to look around the sparse loft, each carefully going over every detail they encountered. Aside, from a few composition books, and small trunk that Seras had to assume the FREAK had been using as a bed, there was little that gave them any clue to his identity,
"This is a really nice piano," Ben commented and Seras turned to give the instrument a cursory glance,
"I guess," she shrugged,
Ben sat on the bench and tested a few keys, concentrating on the notes that lingered briefly in the air, "It's been tuned recently."
"How do you know?" Seras asked, inspecting the piano a little closer,
"I used to take lessons."
"Hmmm," Seras ran her fingers along the rich mahogany surface of the piano, and knocked once or twice on the legs. A simple braided rug beneath the instrument was turned up slightly in one place, "What's that?"
The two knelt side by side and looked at a small triangle of red stain on the floor,
"Let's move this," Ben suggested. The two lifted the back of the piano off the ground and rolled it on the wheels attached to the front legs until most of the rug was uncovered, and then Seras rolled the rug back. The room was silent for a moment until the investigators returned with their guns drawn,
"What the hell is going on here?" one asked, "What are you doing moving furniture around-?''
He stopped talking when he saw the symbol drawn in thick red paint onto the hardwood floor, "What is that?"
Ben and Seras exchanged a glance and then stood,
"Surely you remember the incident with the Valentine brothers, investigator," Seras answered.
His eyes widened, "Th-that's…" he trailed off, torn between being angry that Seras and Ben had uncovered this important clue, and horrified by what it meant.
"I suggest you call Sir Hellsing straight away," Ben told him.
Sir Integra Hellsing was feeling… apathetic. It wasn't her usual emotion when dealing with disturbing news about vampire FREAKs, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the symbol found in the latest FREAK's loft had somehow been expected. The eye, the mark of the Valentines brothers, was an enigma she'd been chasing after for months, and yet, it had become less important with the havoc wrought upon Hellsing by the Iscariot. A little of the familiar righteousness burned in her blue eyes as she thought about Father Maxwell's repeated attempts to bring down her organization.
"Walter,"
The retainer turned set down the teapot he'd been using to refill her cup and gave her a slight bow, "Yes, sir Integra?"
"Did the investigators on Downing take any pictures?"
"Of course, Sir Integra," Walter smiled, "They were meticulous as usual."
"Good," She took a sip of tea and considered her next move. She couldn't see any reason to send troops out at this juncture, but to sit and wait for further information felt the same as laziness,
"Where is Officer Victoria?"
"She has spent the entire evening in the library Sir Integra."
She couldn't help but let a little of her surprise bleed into her tone, "The library?"
"She says she is researching."
Now that was odd, "Perhaps she would be helpful in the investigation? She was a police officer before she came to Hellsing, and her intuition has proved useful before."
Another slight bow, "Of course, Sir Integra, I believe Miss Victoria has already helped in the investigation somewhat. I will ask her to assist the investigators if she can."
Integra considered for a moment, and then shook her head, "No, they will resent her and send her back as soon as possible. Send her on an information retrieval assignment with one of the other senior officers, I want to know the FREAK's identity, it may help lead us to his master."
Walter nodded, "Yes, Sir Integra."
As Walter left the office Integra stood and went to her window. It was unlike her to be preoccupied with phantoms, but the mysterious circumstances surrounding the mission from the night before still had her unsettled. Once again she went over Alucard's claim of having seen Paladin Anderson. Of course it wouldn't really surprise her if the priest were to return… She shook her head and forced herself to think about something else. She would not humor Alucard's imagination. Do vampires even have an imagination? She considered the various methods she'd seen Alucard use to hunt and kill his targets and decided that they must.
A knock at the office door broke her reverie, for which she was grateful,
"Sir Integra?"
Damn, Integra recognized Seras' timid voice right away, "Come in."
The vampire entered uncertainly, having spent as little time as possible in Integra's office, "Sir, I just wondered if it would be alright for me to take Lt. Harper along with me? He helped me find the symbol in the FREAK's loft, and he was on Downing Street the night of the mission."
"I told Walter that you could take a senior officer along, obviously the lieutenant will be just fine."
Seras looked embarrassed but just nodded in response. She left the office hastily, and, as the door shut; Alucard strolled in from one of the side walls,
"I want to go with the Police Girl."
Eavesdropping? How quaint. Integra smirked, "You aren't qualified to help with an investigation Alucard. Officer Victoria and Officer Harper will be fine on their own."
He was silent long enough to make a point that she didn't understand, "I suppose they will."
Integra noticed his smile was more menacing than usual, "Bee in your bonnet, Alucard?"
He wouldn't answer that. He looked wistfully at the window, at the full moon outside. Integra wondered, not for the first time, what his attraction to the moon was. She supposed he preferred a full moon because the nights were brighter with them, but then Alucard had never seemed to mind the dark. She pushed some paperwork aside, and glanced at the little desk clock in front of her,
"Did you need anything else?" He was annoying her just for the sake of annoying her and she wasn't in the mood for it. He didn't respond, but glided through the ceiling with another smug grin. Integra watched him go, wondering what his little performance meant, and deciding it couldn't be anything she would like. Officer Harper, the name was familiar, but she couldn't put a face with it. I'm not going to worry about it, Seras can take care of herself and the lieutenant shouldn't have anything to worry about from her. She didn't know what Alucard was up to but she was certain it was his usual tricks and nothing for her to concern herself with. Now, she thought firmly, Back to the important matters at hand.