Chapter 10 – ANSWERS VIA THE LOOKING GLASS
Standing in the courtyard, Walter, Pip and Seras looked in surprise at the castle before them. At no time did they expect the castle to be inhabited. The derelict extent to which the building had been allowed to deteriorate however, was shocking. Pip grimaced as he caught sight of what suspiciously resembled a skeleton or two - they were hunched over a fountain in a far corner of the courtyard.
"Didn't the guards say that there were restoration works being carried out up here?" asked Pip nervously. "Some restoration work huh? All surrounding plants have dried and shrivelled up. This place is deader than a mortuary."
Walter shrugged, ignoring the pun, "That was also what they said the last time we tried coming up but apparently ..."
Pip shivered. The air was becoming bitterly cold. Instinctively, he dug into his pockets for his cigarettes. He frowned as his pockets turned up empty: the packet used to bribe the guards into letting them come up for a "quick look" must have had been his last. The guards they encountered today were not the same villagers who had refused them passage the last time they had tried to gain access to the castle. These guards did not appear to be locals and it was clear from their demeanour that they were deadly afraid of the castle they had been engaged to guard.
Something had happened to the castle since they were last in the village and it had frightened the villagers. People spoke in hushed tones amongst themselves. Attempts by Pip and Walter to speak to the villagers were futile. Grown men ran from Seras, avoiding her like the plague. Even the innkeeper, who had been rather friendly the last time, refused their attempts to book a room. He had protested that he had no more rooms but a quick peek at the register lying half-hidden under the counter confirmed otherwise.
"Walter, there's a strong tinge of death and decay in the air here," said Seras worriedly. "Something's not right. The deep hatred in this place, this is all too terrifying. This cannot be coming from Alucard although it feels a little like him. I've never felt such overwhelming hatred from him, not even when he was confronting Father Andersong or the vampires the Millennium group sent."
"I don't get you, Vicky."
"Can you feel his presence though?" asked Walter. "Is he in there?"
"I'm not too sure," the young vampire replied, her voice shaking. "As I said, it feels like Alucard. However, at the same time, there's something rather alien about it. I can't be sure it's him."
"Well, there's only one thing we can do to find out," said Pip as he approached the huge rusting iron doors that made up the castle's entrance. The heavy metal doors creaked in protest as he pushed them apart.
He beckoned at his companions even as he gingerly stepped over the dusty doorway. "Let us hope your plan works, Walter, or trust me, I will never, ever, forgive you."
"This castle's dim walkways are endless," complained Pip mildly. "We've been wandering in here for the past two hours. This place is a freaking maze and it's driving me crazy." Ignoring the fact he was eliciting no response from his companions, Pip continue grumbling. "Okay, it's just me I know but I do hope we find those three doors in the west wing soon, or I'm going to have to demand a break - before my legs break on me."
Despite himself, Walter smiled. "At least it's not just me."
Seras, who was walking beside the Hellsing steward, glanced curiously at Walter. "Pip, cut out the punning. Walter, I'm sorry but were you saying something?"
"Oh, nothing really," replied Walter as they approached a long winding staircase. "According to Josef's map, the three doors should be up there. Just a little bit more to go, Pip my man."
Pip groaned even as Seras began dragging him. "More stairs?"
Pip and Walter breathed with relief as they finally sighted the top of the staircase: Pip had begun cursing the architect of the castle just as they trudged past the two hundredth and twenty-second stair. They could see three doors, barely a feet away from them - just as it was marked on the map of the castle Josef kindly provided.
Pip sighed as he wiped his glistering brow. "Thank goodness for the map, without it I doubt we could have even gotten here in a day. Nevertheless, I don't want to do this again soon, or more accurately, ever. Alucard should consider installing lifts in here though, the stairs are killers."
Walter said nothing but examined each door intently.
After ten minutes, Seras coughed, embarrassed. She asked anxiously, "So which door is it?"
"According to what I can recall from my last visit here," said Walter, turning to face Pip and Seras, "these three doors lead to three seemingly identical chambers. Two of them are ordinary bedrooms. The third, however, contains a passageway to a hidden basement. Unfortunately, I do not recall which door it was that led to the third chamber. We'll check each of the rooms. Look behind the headboards of the beds for a device. When triggered, it will reveal the entrance to the passageway but be alert, triggering the device, regardless of whether it is the correct one, also sets off a trap."
"Right," replied Pip nodding. "So which door should we take first?"
Seras bit her lip nervously as she glanced from door to door. What would they find behind the doors? Would they be greeted by the sight of her master sitting idly in a chair, awaiting their arrival with boredom? She shuddered as she recalled Alucard's massacre of the soldiers in Brazil. The poor men never had a chance from the moment they opened the door to Alucard's room.
"'The bird of Hermes is my name. Eating my wings I became tame.'
Why is there a coffin here and what the hell is this gibberish?"
"Ho, just my coffin but it's nothing of concern to you, you're not going to live long enough to care."
"Lady Seras, you take the door on the left - the one beside the blue painting. Pip will take the one in the middle," said Walter, his words jolting her out of her recollections. Seras looked intently at the butler. His voice was steely and it made her nervous.
"I will take the rightmost door."
"But it's too dangerous. We have no idea what's behind these doors. Perhaps we should check them together - you know, they do say that there is safety in numbers."
"I'm afraid that we have no choice but to split up here to find the passageway, Pip. According to my calculations, Alucard has to be sealed tonight. The spell he has cast on Sir Integra takes effect over three stages. The second stage of the curse begins tonight if he is not vanquished in time. We cannot let that happen. We must end this tonight. I cannot bear to let her suffer the anguish and pain the second transformation will cause. Hurry, we are wasting precious minutes as we dawdle. There is barely two hours left to midnight."
Pip nodded grimly as he took the doorknob of the door in the middle. Walter turned to his two companions. "Good luck all; heads up you two. We must all stay in one piece and alive for at least another year. And don't forget to holler if you've gotten into the correct chambers."
Seras could not help but smile. Had Walter realized the irony of his statement? She was anything but alive. Was it mere coincidence that she had met Alucard this very same night one year ago? About to enter her designated room, she caught sight of the painting Walter had referred to.
'Strange,' she thought to herself. 'That painting is more green than blue.'
However, deciding that this was certainly not the best time to engage herself in a mental debate about colors, Seras quickly pushed open the door. Finding yet another flight of stairs which she supposed led to a room on a higher level, she could not help but wonder if Pip was cursing at the castle's architect again. Checking her guns to ensure they were loaded (with blessed silver bullets no less), Seras began her ascension.
'Why did master have to kidnap Sir Integra?' she found herself asking. Just then, a loud crunching sound had her nearly jumping out of her skin. Looking at the ground, Seras was horrified to see two human skeletons near her feet.
"What the hell?" she muttered silently. Respectfully she walked passed them, careful not to step on any more of the bones. The skeletons were devoid of flesh but the color of the bones suggested that the demise of the unfortunate souls had probably been recent.
"What's going on here? What happened to these people?"
As she approached the chamber's inner door, Seras felt an eerie feeling overcome her. Nervously, she gripped her guns tightly. She had always dreaded that this scenario would one day come to pass – that she would have to fight Alucard. She had always feared that she would eventually have to confront her master for their difference in believes. Her fear had intensified since the time in Brazil when she almost came to blows with Alucard over his treatment of the Brazilian police: He had mocked her cruelly then for her shock at the carnage in Brazil. She, on the other hand, had felt genuine outrage that he treated life with such disdain.
Seras shook her head. She would not shirk from the fight with Alucard but she doubted her master would be happy to see her. God help her and the rest survive his wrath.
"Schütze unsere Seelen," Seras uttered under her breath, remembering the old German prayers she had been taught as a child. She had stopped believing in God ever since he failed her prayers not to take her father that fateful night. Seras believed however, that nothing short of divine intervention would ensure that they came alive out of the confrontation with Alucard. "Bless us and keep us. Amen," she prayed before turning her attention to the bed in front of her.
As she bent to examine the headboard, she heard a muffled cry from the next room. 'Walter, Pip, they must be in trouble,' Seras thought, terrified.
Ignoring the little voice screaming in her head to keep calm, the young vampire dashed frantically down the stairs. Had they been discovered? How many attackers were there?
"Pip," she yelled, fearful for his safety as she heard a loud cry from the mercenary. Flinging open the middle door, she dashed up the stairs and into the chamber. She screamed as she saw the mercenary crouched upon the ground. One arm hung limply beside his body as he held up his shotgun with the other.
Seras nearly fainted as she noticed that the spot of faded carpet under him was welling into a bright crimson.
Pip cried out hoarsely as she tried to approach him. "No, don't come near. He's lost control! Run! Go tell Sir Integra what has happened!"
Seras' eyes were wild with terror. "No, I can't leave you," she cried.
"Don't come near! Run you stubborn woman! You're our only hope now!"
"You must be mad if you think I'm leaving you here to die. It is not going to happen again."
With a cry of desperation, Seras grabbed the nearest item of furniture and flung it at their attacker. To her shock, the heavy dresser burst into splinters before it hit him, sending shards in every direction. Seras threw herself in front of Pip and grimaced as a shard embedded itself into her shoulder. The dresser did not end the attack, it had not even slowed their assailant, albeit he was distracted sufficiently for her to scoop the injured mercenary into her arms. Ignoring the burning sensation in her shoulder, Seras ran as fast as she could down the stairs with Pip.
Had the owners of the earlier skeletons on the staircase met their end by a similar fate?
"Oh no," mouthed Pip weakly as he pointed behind her, "Leave me and save yourself!"
Seras turned immediately – to her horror, a huge ball of light was hurling towards them.
The door at the bottom of the stairs flew off its hinges with a huge bang even as Pip and Seras were flung out of the stairwell like rag dolls. Seconds before impact, Seras had adjusted the angle of their fall to minimize injury to Pip. A vampire had a far better chance of surviving such a descent. Nevertheless this knowledge was hardly enough to prepare her for the pain that wrecked through her body when she absorbed the impact of the blow. They landed roughly on the ground, tumbling for some distance even as Seras did her best to shield Pip's bleeding figure from further harm. As she crumpled against a wall, the young vampire felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Her panic increased as she felt her vision blur. Seras did not need to look at the trail of scarlet she had left behind her to know that she was now losing too much blood. Even as she fought the savage urge to surrender to her vampiric instincts, Seras knew that she would die once their attacker caught up. Despite the increasing numbness in her right shoulder, the young vampire raised her gun defensively, cradling the unconscious mercenary with her left arm.
"How touching but will you shoot, child? Do so, and he will die," mocked her assailant as he walked slowly towards them.
Seras froze, paralysed by her dilemma. "Master, help!"
On sighting the town of Tirgoviste on the helicopter's radar, Integra began assessing her next course of action. The battle plan she had been playing in her mind for the last two minutes sounded simple: fly to Alucard's castle, kill whatever or whoever Verdorben was, run like hell with Walter, Pip and Seras back to London and avoid Alucard for the rest of her already shortened lifespan.
"Yes," her mental voice said, impatient and chiding. "It's confirmed. You're turning into an idiot. Get a grip on yourself Integra, this is no walk in the park but this is not the time to freak out."
Beside her, Alucard laughed. "Integra, that's not true, your head isn't bad although it's awfully stubborn. Nevertheless, you're right about the part that you won't get rid of me so easily."
"Stop reading my mind," she rebuked.
"Stop worrying, little girl, we've done quite alright so far. We'll worry about our next course of action when we get to the castle but for now, you should just sit back and enjoy the helicopter ride. Stop stressing your pretty little head and," he added with a smirk, "mine."
"Very funny," replied Integra. "Don't you dare talk down to me, nosferatu!"
"Me talk down to you? Upon my death, I swear I do not dare incur your wrath, milady."
She glared. "Must everything be a joke to you?" she spat, irritated by Alucard playful demeanor. "There is seriously something wrong about this whole business. I can't believe you actually thought it was a joke how easily we cleared customs."
Alucard had dismissed the manner in which they had been allowed to pass the borders as a stroke of good luck. The incident however, bothered Integra. She had been dreadfully apprehensive as to how they would get into Romania – for one, she was not in possession of her diplomatic papers. For some strange reason however, the helicopter had been allowed to pass the borders without fuss. The border guards on sighting the helicopter merely wished them luck on Commander Josef's business. Integra could not help but wonder who Commander Josef was.
"Look, we got through. That is good enough for me. What is it that ails you?"
"I don't know but there is something fishy about the whole business. I almost feel like this helicopter was left where we could find it."
"And your basis for saying that would be ..." prompted Alucard.
"Woman's intuition?"
Alucard looked at her amusedly before replying briskly, "Oh yes, good things that has done to mankind."
Despite herself, Integra smiled.
Was she being silly? She knew better than to ignore her instincts - the identity of the Commander was yet another mystery she had to solve. It did not help however, that this merely added to the multitude of unanswered questions she already had: who was Verdorben? Why was he after her mother and her? Was Rip van Winkle actually her grandmother and was her mother really Adam Hellsing's illegitimate daughter? And why in the world was she an exact replica of Amelia?
Integra shook her head in frustration. She hated being in situations where she merely had questions and no answers to them. The lack of control over matters made her feel weak and helpless - feelings she detested. Turning to look at her companion, Integra sighed. Although she was loathed to admit it, she was fully dependent on Alucard to protect her, just as she had been in their meeting thirteen years ago.
"Except until all but a month ago, you had the Hellsing seal on your side," she told herself dryly. "Without the leash, there's nothing to keep the hell hound from devouring its master."
Alucard burst out chuckling.
"What's so funny," she asked irritably. The sight of the castle in the distance lifted her spirits somewhat. It was ironic how eager she now was to be back in Tirgoviste when she would have given her right eye to return to England two days ago.
"Despite your pretences, you're still that scared little girl. Integra, my silly Integra," said Alucard, "When will you learn that your self-doubt and your ridiculous mortality are all that keep you from being the woman you could be?"
"It's none of your business," Integra retorted. "You're one to talk about character; you still are every bit that awful vampire I found in the basement thirteen years ago."
"Foolish child," Alucard replied in between chortles.
Integra glared angrily at the vampire but to her annoyance, her disconcertment only made Alucard more amused.
"Alucard, can I ask you something."
"What would it be, child?"
"Stop calling me that already. I mean to speak of important things. Tell me, did you know my mother? Verdorben has shown me strange things concerning my family. Tell me, was my mother really a Hellsing?"
Alucard spoke slowly but did not look at her. "Amelia was, as Verdorben has shown, your grandfather's daughter."
"But my father would have been her ..." Integra stammered, horrified by the idea even as she felt a dull thump in her stomach.
"Only six persons knew of Amelia's parentage. Five never lived long enough to celebrate her fifth birthday. As you may have gathered, Amelia's mother died at her birth. Barely four years later, a horrific train accident took Lady Evelyn and Sir Henry. They were on their way to Scotland to attend a wedding when the train derailed. What a pity," Alucard said, "All that blood and no one to drink it."
Integra frowned as she tried to make sense of Alucard's words. His voice sounded strangely distant and she felt drowsy. It felt as if she was listening to some nondescript news on a lazy afternoon.
"... Sir Henry and Lady Evelyn had no children of their own, leaving Amelia the only heiress to their fortune. She was, at four, too young to be left without a guardian. Naturally, it fell on Sir Henry's brother, Sir William, to take up the position. The fool considered Amelia an ill omen and a nuisance. Due to marry the Duchess of Ellington, her thoughtless uncle arranged for her to be sent to an estate in France. There, she was raised by a governess."
"And what about my grandfather and my great-grandfather? Why didn't they stop my father from marrying my mother?"
"They too died in the same train accident. The four of them were traveling on the same train that day. Abraham and Adam, who were traveling to Edinburgh on the queen's orders, were ignorant that Henry and Evelyn were on the same train. The train was destroyed a little outside London. It was a sad state of affairs and the secret of Amelia's birth died that fateful day. I could do nothing for them as I had been ordered to stay in the mansion to guard your father and Minerva, until they returned. My orders had been that I was not to move an inch from the house and so obeyed my orders I did."
There was neither trace of sorrow nor gloating in his voice. Integra looked at the vampire curiously. It was unlike Alucard to be disinterested. His accounts of routine ghoul kills had been reported with more gusto.
"But you did," she said, when she could finally find her voice again. "You knew who she was."
"Yes, I could," he replied nonchalantly, "I could smell Abraham's blood in her veins."
"Not to mention the fact that you have a nasty habit of skulking around where you are not wanted?" Integra remarked.
Alucard smirked. "Oh yes, you can consider me the substitute for the resident ghost you English nobles are so fond of. It was, at one point, a joke that there was one in every noblemen's' manor and castle. Anyhow, Amelia was about twenty when she met Arthur. He was on one of his holidays in Paris. Despite being the playboy he was, Arthur was smitten with his supposed cousin and returned immediately to England to seek the Duke of Ellington's approval for the match."
Integra gritted her teeth as she felt the anger rise within her. "And you never said a thing! You just sat back and watched everything!"
"Why should I have interfered," answered Alucard idly. "Your family and I were not exactly on the best of terms. As far as Adam and Arthur were concerned, I was a dog and dogs have no opinions."
"Bastard," she rebuked, resisting the impulse to strangle him. "Did it please you so much to see such shame visited upon my family? How could you have ..."
He responded angrily. "I could do nothing! I suppose you think your glorious ancestors had thought of me as anything but a means to consolidate their power? For a century, I was nothing but a tool to ingrate your family to the crown. Arthur, in particular, treated me like dirt under his feet. I was no more to him than a slave and an experimental animal in his free hours."
Alucard growled. "Amelia was the only Hellsing remotely decent to me but considering her grandfather's deeds, I think it hardly damning that I ..."
He paused, his voice grew significantly softer but remained impassive. "And yet, perhaps if I had told her of the truth, I might have averted the tragedy for her. She loved your father but like you, she placed duty above her own happiness. She was determined to repay Arthur's kindness even if it kept her in a loveless marriage."
Integra stared confused at his outburst. Despite his cool demeanor, something told Integra that Alucard had deeply and sincerely regretted Amelia's death.
She forced herself to gaze out of the window. Integra's breathing was shallow and harsh as she fought to calm herself.
"She asked me to name you," Alucard said, breaking the tense silence between them.
"Really?" questioned Integra trying to sound surprised as she fought the torrent of emotions rising in her.
"You were named after a woman I met as a child; an English nurse I had while I lived in my father's house."
"An English nurse?" mouthed Integra weakly remembering her dream about the young Romanian prince: surely that was but a trick on Verdoben's part?
"I cannot remember all of my past yet. Abraham's seals took more than just my freedom," said Alucard.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand."
"Your family's spells were designed to reduce me to nothing but an obedient dog. Your great-grandfather in particular, seemed to delight in the fact how his spells took my memories. Some of them are slowly returning now that the seals have been broken. Five hundred years of information is however, not so easily consolidated."
"Alucard, I ..."
"Sometimes, I wonder if it would have been better if he had killed me when he captured me. He would be the famous demon hunter and I but one of his more glorious prey."
Integra bit her lip. Regardless of what Alucard had been like before her great grandfather subdued him, there was something horribly cruel about depriving him of his memories – even if he had been a monster. "I'm sorry," said Integra. "I didn't realise that we ..."
"Strange isn't it," he continued, "I can remember how much this lady meant to me and yet I remember nothing of her save that her name was too Integra."
Integra swallowed uneasily. "I guess we owe you an apology but not that I condone what you had done," she quickly qualified. "Unless my great-grandfather was deeply mistaken, you were a murderous monster intent on taking innocent lives."
Alucard smiled. "Deja vu," he said with a tone of amusement in his voice.
"What?"
"I can still remember that day when she said the very same words."
"She? Do you mean my mother?"
"Amelia, sweet Amelia ... Had I been required to choose between her and Arthur ... Had I been able to ..."
Integra looked at his face intently. "Who would you have chosen?"
"That's my answer to know and yours to guess," he said, a wide grin crossing his face. "Although I was bound to your family, it was sometimes my choice which Hellsing I would serve."
Just then, Integra noticed a strange humming sound – it appeared to be coming from the engine of the helicopter. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the dials on the controls swing wildly out of control.
"Alucard, what's going on?" she cried in surprise as the helicopter began an erratic descent.
"Hmm, Verdorben is definitely here. I suppose he's trying to bring the helicopter down," replied Alucard, chuckling as he crossed his arms calmly. "Be prepared for a rough landing my lady."
"Alucard, this is not the time for jokes. We're going to hit the crowd of people down there!" screamed Integra. Reaching out, she began struggling with the non-responsive controls.
As they crawled out of the wreckage, Alucard looked disdainfully at the burning heap of metal which had once been a helicopter.
"Last time I'm traveling with you."
"Perhaps I am not too good with the new versions of these things?" he said mischievously. "Or do they not make them like the old models? Walter used to be extremely nifty with these things."
"Well, we didn't hit those people at least," Integra replied. "No thanks to you of course."
"Looks like you got your old man's skill with the choppers."
Impatiently, Integra gestured Alucard to be quiet. "You're a menace. I have yet to get even with you for crashing the plane in the last mission."
"It was hardly my fault."
"Fine, I'll make a note to pack extra parachutes for you the next time you're near a flying machine but look there," she said pointing at the crowd that had gathered around the foot of the path to the castle. "What's going on there?"
Pushing her way to the front of the crowd, Integra was horrified to recognise the two bodies lying on the ground. Running towards them, she knelt beside Pip and tapped his cheeks gently. To her relief, the mercenary groaned softly in response. He opened his eyes but quickly shut them again.
"Don't worry about me. I'm alive but I'm not sure how Seras is. And Walter ... he ... is ..."
"Hush, save your strength," said Integra before turning to the surrounding crowd. "Get a doctor quick," she commanded. Her eyes wandered worriedly to the body of Seras half a metre away. The villagers did not move. They looked around uneasily: some at Alucard, some at their feet.
"Do as my lady says," growled Alucard. The villagers looked around nervously until four men ran off. Within minutes, they returned with a stretcher onto which they lifted Pip.
"Take good care of him," said Alucard, "If as much as one hair from his braid is missing, you have me to answer to."
The four men nodded intently.
Alucard then turned to the other villagers. "One of you, bring me some blood."
Assured that Pip's wounds would be attended too, Integra turned her attention to her other injured officer and began examining to the unconscious vampire carefully. Seras' body was badly torn up. Her limbs were twisted in the oddest directions. In the fading twilight, Seras resembled a broken marionette. Integra felt her stomach tighten as she surveyed the wounds where the flesh had been so badly mutilated she could see the bones.
"Who could have been so cruel? The wounds are all over except where it would have definitely destroyed her. It was almost as if her attacker was toying with her, trying to make her suffer as much pain as possible."
Alucard's face was contorted with rage as he lifted his protege.
"How dare he do this to my child. I swear he will pay tenfold for all that he has inflicted upon us."
"Alucard," said Integra. She looked around the crowd fearfully, gripped with terror as she realised that Walter was nowhere to be seen. "Walter, where is he?"
"We will go up for him," said Alucard walking to the nearest tree. Gently, he laid Seras onto the soft ground.
"Something has scared them," said Integra as she followed closely behind. "Can these people be trusted?"
"They will not and do not dare betray me. In any case, I do not doubt the loyalty of the village head and the doctor. Behold they come."
Integra looked up to see two villagers walking towards them. One of them held out a packet which Integra quickly recognised to be a packet of blood.
"I must ask you, on Seras' behalf, for some of yours now," said Alucard.
Integra said nothing but held out her hand. She averted her sight from the blood pack, shivering as she fought her lust for it.
"Thank you Integra."
Integra watched, both in horror and in intrigue as a strange glowing sigil appeared on Seras' forehead. Alucard had bitten both his wrist and her finger before smearing both their blood onto Seras' forehead. Chanting over the young vampire's body, he emptied the contents of the blood pack over her.
"Alucard," Integra mouthed breathlessly. "What did you just do?"
"Shh," said the vampire. To Integra's surprise, the strange red sigil, began covering the rest of Seras' body like a growing vine. As the sigil spread, the deep gnashes on Seras' body began healing. Recovery was slow but sure.
Alucard turned to the village head and the doctor. "Guard her and the other man well. Take care of things for me until I return."
The two men nodded.
"She will live to fight another night but come, we must leave now. I swear I will savour his destruction this time," said Alucard darkly as he took Integra's hand.
Special thanks to StarlightDancerweb.de for the pointers on German
