Chapter 9 – IGNORANCE IS BLISS

"Come on," said (or rather thought) Alucard impatiently. "We haven't got all night for this, Miss Hellsing."

Integra looked warily at the distance between her windowsill and the ground. "I'm not so sure about this," she replied hesitantly. "Five storeys is a little high to jump. Care to let me know why I shouldn't use the front door like every other normal person?"

The vampire sighed. A first if she had ever seen one.

"Because the route from your room to the ground floor is guarded and because this happens to almost be the fastest way down? Hurry up. I said I'd catch you so quit stalling and just jump. Unless," teased Alucard wickedly, "you have developed a fear of heights."

Integra frowned as she stared at the figure of Alucard standing on the ground below. The irony of the situation was not lost on her.

"Just one week ago you were but the head of your typical, or not so typical, vampire hunting organisation. To think," she told herself, "your work of hunting blood suckers would one day, involve you perched precariously on a window-sill, preparing to jump into the arms of one. One of these days, Integra, this will become a funny after-dinner tale."

"Alright. I'll do it ... but you'd better make sure you catch me."

"That's what I've always been planning on."

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"For the third time, where are we going?" asked Integra as she struggled to pull her hand free from Alucard's grasp. "Why are we going in this direction when the helicopters are down the other way?"

To her great annoyance, Alucard made no reply but merely walked faster, forcing her to keep up at the risk of being dragged along by him.

"And I'm not a little girl who needs her hand held!"

"Oh yes you are," he answered, while flashing a toothy grin. "And who ever mentioned anything about taking those helicopters?"

"What other modes of transport do you propose then? How else are we going to get back to Romania? I can't see myself checking you along with my bags into the airport for one."

"How about we both change into a little swarm of bats and fly off together?"

"Alcuard," she hissed. "Either be serious or I will have to reconsider our alliance."

"Let's just say there's something that I need to retrieve before we proceed," said Alucard, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "Most convenient it's right here on this camp."

Integra protested. "You're not planning to steal something from the Commander, are you? He's Walter's friend for crying out loud!"

"It's not stealing if it didn't belong to him in the first place."

"Something that belongs to you?" she prompted curiously. "What is it?"

"Curiously enough it's something that belongs to you instead," replied Alucard as he led them towards two buildings, one of which Integra immediately recognised to be an armoury.

"What are you up to Alucard? Why would the Commander have something that should belong to me?"

"Would it interest you to know it was Amelia's favorite necklace?"

"What?" exclaimed Integra, her surprise getting the better of her. "What's my mother's ..."

"Shh," chided Alucard. "I don't know but I sensed that it was somewhere on this camp as I was scouting out the place last night."

'Sensed,' thought Integra confused. 'What did he mean by "sensed"? And why in the world would he have a special affinity with my mother's belongings?'

She was about to ask Alucard what he had meant when she noticed the apprehensive look on his face as he glanced around the corner of the buildings.

"What's wrong Alucard?" she asked warily.

"There's something about this place. I can't place my finger on it but there's something highly suspicious about this camp and Commander Josef. Both of them smack of treachery."

Integra frowned. Despite the fact they had differing views on most issues, in particular their respective views on life (or in Alucard's case, perhaps his lack of) and the human populace, she had learnt to trust his instinct for detecting trouble.

"Quickly, down here," he said gesturing as they approached a narrow gap between the two buildings. The passageway was dark and narrow but looked as if as it could fit a few persons if they went in Indian file.

"There's a bit more space in there about midway where you will find a ladder leading down to an underground tunnel. Hurry and be quiet. As you have noticed, the office is on our right and the armoury is on our left. The guards will be returning to the armoury from their usual smoking break in approximately two minutes."

"What? An underground tunnel?" Integra found herself remarking nervously as she eyed the dark corridor suspiciously. "Have you been inside before?"

"No," replied Alucard.

"How then do you know that the necklace is down there?" she asked, agitated.

"I can't say. I just know. When you've had something for at least five hundred years, it's quite safe to say you develop an affinity with it."

"It was yours?" Integra asked. "When then did you say it was my mother's?"

"It was mine until I gave the jewel to Amelia. It was my gift to her on your birth."

Integra bit her lip. "I see. So you have no idea what's down there other than the fact you feel the presence of the necklace from there?"

"No, not a clue. Just that there should be an underground tunnel at the bottom of the ladder."

Alarm bells went off in Integra's head. 'Never charge into a place when you do not know what is inside' was a mantra that had been drilled into her head countless times by Walter.

"Can't you just teleport yourself into this tunnel and out? It's not like you to do something as mundane as to take the stairs."

Alucard chuckled. "I would if I could. Unfortunately, there appears to be a seal on the whole compound. Its caster intended it to deprive me the use of most of my powers, in particular that of teleportation. I can conduct myself well enough though. However, but for the guard's miscalculations in renewing the spell around your room, I would have not been able to approach your window so easily. Walter is more talented at this spell-casting business than either of us had expected."

A grim smile crossed his lips. "Nevertheless, this is one game he can't win."

Integra stared into Alucard's face, aware that her throat was becoming more painfully dry than usual at the news he had just given her. "This isn't a game Alucard," she croaked. "How could Walter have taken such a risk? Spellcasting is awfully dangerous business. If wrongly executed, it could have killed him!"

"Oh don't you worry about him," replied Alucard. "Walter came to no harm. The old boy has surpassed your family in this area but then again, your grandfather thought it heresy and Abraham was just slightly above pathetic with his incantations."

Smarting at the last remark, Integra was about to retort to the insult when they heard the unmistakeable sound of rifles being cocked behind them.

"Halt," commanded a deep voice gruffly. "Drop your weapons and turn around slowly now."

Integra frowned. Of the European languages she knew, her Czech was most rusty but the words were clear to her.

"Turn around slowly and keep your hands where we can see them," said a second voice.

"Apologies but it would appear my timing is a little off," said Alucard.

"Oh no, it's just dandy," replied Integra dryly as they turned around to face their captors. "It's just exactly what we needed now: guards. Any more surprises scheduled in this hare-brained scheme of yours, dear sir?"

"Be quiet the both of you. Johan, check them for arms."

Integra stared at the two soldiers in front of her. Mentally, she calculated their chances of escape. However, she concluded quickly that as both men were armed and as Alucard was, for most intents and purposes incapacitated, any attempt to outrun their captors would be foolhardy.

"Hey, the woman's one of them foreign guest," said Johan (he was the soldier that had first spoken) as he recognised Integra. "My god Menza, we nearly shot her."

"So it is," said the second soldier whose name was Menza. He turned to Integra and spoke to her in halting English. "Lady Hellsing, what are you doing out here? You know you should be in your room. I will escort you back. Your companion must be held in custody until the Commander decides his fate."

"I will come with you soldier, just let Alucard go."

"I am afraid I have no authority to decide his punishment for unauthorised entry. Johan will take him to the Commander's office. Come now this way Lady Hellsing, or I will be forced to make you."

"What I'm telling you is for your own good," snapped Integra, annoyed. "Just let him go. You have no idea what you are dealing with."

"But ..."

Whatever it was Menza intended to say, it never came as a blood-curling howl broke out behind them.

"My god," cried Menza. He had turned as white as a ghost and a look of utmost terror was etched onto his face.

Integra turned her head immediately only to be greeted by the sight of Alucard latching his fangs into Johan's throat. The poor man's eyes were wild in terror but fortunately, or not so for him, his struggle was brief.

Despite having watched Alucard kill on countless occasions, Integra felt her gut tighten as she saw Johan's body hit the ground.

"Monster," screamed Menza as he raised his rifle in an attempt to shoot. Alucard merely grinned, his eyes gleaming with malicious humour. Luckily for Menza, Integra was quick to act, rendering the soldier unconscious with a quick chop from her hand.

"What the hell was that about," Integra hissed, pushing Alucard away from the soldier. Bending down to examine the unconscious body, she sighed in relief as she caught his pulse: Menza was out cold but still breathing. For a moment, Integra had been afraid that she had dealt him too hard a blow, having forgotten her own (new) strength.

"Are you trying to get us implicated for attacking friendly forces or is this part of your brilliant plan to deal with this Verdorben fellow?"

"It was unavoidable Integra," replied Alucard lazily while smirking wickedly. "They could not have chosen a worse time to return to their posts."

"That's Sir Integra to you," Integra answered angrily. "I will not have you going around attacking people, do you hear me?"

Alucard clicked his tongue. "Tut, tut. You have quite forgotten that I am no longer on your family's payroll."

"That's not the issue," she chided angrily.

"Deaths are sometimes inevitable in order to win the greater war," he interrupted. "Or have you forgotten the things you have learned as a child? In any case, I doubt this is the best time for us to continue this discussion. Shall we go down the rabbit's hole, milady? Alice awaits."

Integra stared at Alucard coldly.

Alucard smiled. "Or would you rather have a drink first," he asked, gesturing at Johan's body while licking the last traces of blood from his lips.

"No."

Integra shuddered as she fought the almost overwhelming urge to taste the coppery liquid. "Since you have probably alerted the whole army to our presence, we best move as quickly as we can now to that underground tunnel. I hardly relish the prospect of an end in which I am riddled with bullet holes."

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Integra bit her lip nervously as they made their way down the slippery rungs of the ladder. She could never recall much of her childhood memories. However, now that Alucard mentioned it, she did have vague recollections of a large ruby and lovely pale gold chain that hung around her mother's neck.

Had that been a gift from Alucard? But how could that be if Alucard had been locked away even before her birth?

"Alucard," she asked, glancing at the vampire below her. "I have a question for you."

"Hmm, what is it?"

"How long had you been locked away in the dungeons before I found you?"

"Why do you ask?" asked Alucard. Integra could not see his face but she could tell from his tone of voice that he was vaguely amused by her questions.

"I had assumed from your appearance and the fact I had no recollection of your existence in the Hellsing organisation, that you had been sealed away for about twenty years or so. However, it now would seem that you had been around during my birth."

"I was sealed away after your fourth birthday so I would have been in the dungeons for just over a decade. You did not see me as a child because I had been ordered by Arthur to keep out of your sight."

"So," she paused. "You would have been sealed shortly after my mother's death?"

"That's correct," Alucard replied. "Arthur was not too happy about one little act on my part he considered gross insubordination. He had always considered me an ill omen, a nuisance that came with his inheritance."

Integra's heart sank as she remembered the first dream she had of her father's and Walter's conversation. However, her questions on Arthur's doubts about being her father would have to be kept for later.

"But why then did you look like you had been dried up for at least two decades when I chanced upon you in the dungeons?"

"It was an easy thing altering my appearance. You should have seen the look on your face when you threw open that door. You were desperately seeking your knight in shining armour but found nothing other than a dried body."

Stepping off the bottom rung of the ladder and glancing at her surroundings, Integra wondered what was more incredulous – the last answer Alucard had given her or the fact that such a large stone tunnel existed under the camp.

"Alucard you bastard!" she yelled angrily, all caution thrown to the wind as she let her voice resound down the large stone tunnel. "Do you know how despondent I felt when I ran into the chamber only to find a dried up body? I thought my uncle would surely succeed in killing me."

"There was no point in making it too easy for you was it? You Hellsings always did like a bit of a challenge."

Integra snarled angrily as she landed a fist on Alucard's face. "That's for the laugh then! With interest!"

Alucard made no response but merely smiled as he watched her stalk off down the tunnel. "Still the same temper old girl," he muttered to himself, rubbing his jaw gingerly. "Still the same old temper."

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"We must be at least thirty feet below ground," Integra remarked as she stared into the silent darkness ahead.

An unexpected crunch nearly had her jumping out of her skin. Looking at her feet, she was vaguely disgusted to see that the floor in this part of the tunnel was littered with the skulls of small animals.

"Come on now," said Alucard as he took her hand. "Let's get Amelia's necklace."

Integra grimaced as she felt his icy cold hand take hers. "Why does the Commander have my mother's necklace?"

Alucard ignored her last question. "Careful," he pointed out as they approached a flight of stairs, "keep your eyes on the floor if you don't want to slip, it's a long way down."

Carefully, they edged their way down the long narrow flight of stairs and down the rest of the tunnel. The air became uncomfortably mustier as they descended. The path became increasingly difficult to manoeuvre: the road, previously straight, soon resulted a myriad of turns and corners. It did not help that the stone floor was also becoming dangerously slippery due to moss. After about thirty minutes and what must have been a hundred turns, they were greeted by a thick iron door carved into a solid wall.

Quickly fishing her pistol from her pocket, Integra fired two shots at the rusting lock on the door. The lock broke immediately.

"Quite the impatient little girl, aren't we?" teased Alucard.

"Hush," replied Integra. Pushing aside the heavy door, she walked inside.

It was a room, a very dusty room. It however looked as if it was once well lived in. Books covered with cobwebs were piled on the floor in neat stacks. In the middle of the room, stood an ornate wooden desk and a richly upholstered chair. As these were the only two items that was not covered with the thick layer of dust that had settled around everything else, Integra concluded that someone must have been in the room recently.

"Alucard," said Integra as she caught sight of him retrieving a pouch that had been hanging from the back of the door. "Oh, what's that in the pouch?"

"We've got it," said Alucard with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Well," asked Integra curiously, "let me see it."

Closing the distance between them, he told her, "First, close your eyes. No peeking now."

"Alucard, this is no time for silly tricks," Integra replied, annoyed. Nevertheless she closed her eyes, resisting the temptation to open them even as she felt Alucard put his hands around her neck.

"You can open them now," he said, his voice sounding strangely satisfied.

Integra could not help but gasp as she examined the familiar delicate chain around her neck.

"Yes," said Alucard, his smile deepening. "The ruby was mine until I gave it to Amelia. The chain was a gift from Walter. Both are yours again. Keep it carefully, the stone will bring you good luck."

"Alucard, why is my mother's necklace here with the Commander?"

"That I do not know. As I told you, I only sensed the stone after I had arrived at this camp."

"So it was yours previously?" she asked, half distracted as she fingered the dazzling red stone.

"And it was so precious to me," he muttered softly.

"What was that you said?" she asked. "I didn't catch it."

"Nothing. We should go now."

Just as she was about to open the door, a sharp pain pierced her head, it was as if her whole head was on fire. Her chest, on the other hand, was seized by a cold shudder as if as it had been splashed with cold water. She clutched her head in panic as she heard something, no someone screaming in her head ...

"No, leave Integra alone. Please not my child."

"Get lost woman. She must die. You both must."

"No ..."

The second voice began laughing and then Integra heard no more.

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"Integra?"

At the sound, Integra's eyes snapped open. As her eyes slowly focused, she realised that she was in a helicopter. Alucard was on her right at the controls.

"What happened," she mouthed weakly, rubbing her temples.

"You passed out in there," Alucard replied.

"How did we get onto this?"

"After you fainted, I carried you out of the room back to where there was a fork earlier in the tunnel, just before the stairs. A few helicopters were parked in a concealed hangar at the end of that road and I took the liberty of borrowing one."

"I heard voices in there," she muttered hoarsely. "I think I heard my mother. We were being attacked. There was a second voice, it was a woman's, no a man's. I can't tell exactly."

Alucard stared at her face. "It was no human you heard, it was Verdorben."

For the first time in her life, Integra felt grateful for Alucard's ability to read minds. "Verdorben? Who is he?"

"He was the first of the vampires. He was a man once but it was a very long time ago even as I was once a prince of Wallachia," said Alucard in a strange voice.

"Did he kill my mother?"

"I was too late to stop him from hurting Amelia twenty years ago. Twice I've killed him and twice I am denied of the pleasure of his destruction. This will not happen again."

"Is he the one who ..." asked Integra nervously.

"Yes, he who sired me is he whom you must kill to lift your curse."