Chapter 17:
It was black as night in the little cabin house, which Alucard slept in. Wilhemina was upstairs, sleeping as well.
Alucard's eyes shot open, as if commanded to, but his eyes did not recognize anything around him. It was dark, too dark to see, and yet he heard the faintest whisper. He sat up to glance around better. To the side, he caught a glimpse of sudden movement and could recognize the whisper. It was a call out for a "master", and he knew who it was. Seras. He thought and ran to her, but she disappeared before he even reached her. What…an illusion…Alucard turned around 360 degrees and upon about doing it again saw Seras standing in front of him. This startled him, but then he noticed a faint glow around her, as if by a fire. Seras only smiled at him, not saying a word. Alucard looked at her in wonder. This is no illusion, but a dream. He realized when Seras would not speak to him, which she normally would have said something by now. From the darkness behind Seras, Alucard was starting to make out a face. One that was very pale, with wavey hair, and dark red eyes. The face now held form of a person, whose armor was black, and moved closer until he stood next to Seras. Hmm…who is …His thought was interrupted when he saw that the clothes Seras wore held blood on them and he realized something. Red eyes, teeth…a vampire…
The vision disappeared as Alucard awoke again, this time still laying stretched out on the couch. "A vampire hunter…" Alucard said out loud, startled at first by his own voice as he had not heard it for a while. He shook his head a little as he sat up, wondering what that vision meant. He tried to call to Seras telepathically, but it was no use. Either she was blocking him out somehow or was asleep, but knowing Seras fairly well, he thought it was the latter of the two.
"Are you going to sleep all night?" The voice of Wilhemina trailed down from the third step, which Alucard could not see, but did not need to.
Alucard lifted himself up and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkened room. He walked to the base of the stairs and stared at her from under his wide brimmed red hat. Wilhemina wore the same outfit as yesterday; he guessed that she did not need to change clothes either.
"Me, sleeping…nah, I was resting peacefully." Alucard replied.
"Well, then, your resting could wake the dead." Wilhemina said prudently, looking down at Alucard.
"Being both undead I would have only woken you up, hmm." He said, obviously amused at the thought of her being woken up when she was all the way upstairs.
"I came down here to shut you up." Wilhemina said coolly, "but as we are both up now, you can go on your merry way." She walked back up stairs, gesturing Alucard to follow her.
Wilhemina went to her little blood storage refrigerator and got herself a bag of blood, and one for Alucard as well. Something was bothering her; he could tell that much, but what it was he could not say. With the blood bags, they sat on the couch. Alucard sat in his relaxed position with his arms spread out. Wilhemina just sat plainly, sucking on the bitten end of her blood bag.
Alucard bit of an end of his blood bag, and drank, wondering. "This is not like you, or what I know is like you." He said levelly, not really caring, but knowing it was right to at least ask.
Wilhemina was brought back from her slight trance and took another sip. "I still can not place where I have seen you before…" She said with a monotone voice, "and now you will leave, I will never figure it out."
Alucard took a sip of his blood and started at her, his hat hiding part of his face in shadows. "I don't know where I am going, but you at least know how to get out of this forest…" He said, thinking that she would get the hint, being as old and smart as she was.
"True, I do know the way out; at least, living in this forest has told me such." Then, it hit her. She knew what he meant. "You want me to help you, yes?"
Alucard sat in amusement and nodded his head. "Yea, knowing me, I'll get attacked again. Not like that's a bad thing..hehe..I just have to get going and try and find Seras scent."
"The way you talk about this girl, Seras... You really must like her." Wilhemina said matter of fact like, seeing that Alucard looked up when she said that, she continued, "It is obvious, do you think that is not so?"
Alucard looked at her, his red eyes still level as if nothing was said. He spoke in that deep luring voice of his and said, "Seras is my servant. I made her as she would have died."
Wilhemina looked a little surprised, she had thought it was more than that, but something told her that what he said was true to a point. "You speak as if you have no feelings for her."
Alucard cackled and said sarcastically, "Feelings…mwh ha ha. I am a No Life King. Feelings would get in the way of combat and I couldn't allow that."
Wilhemina drank the last of her blood bag. "Hm. I see how it is then." She said skeptically, watching him finish his last drops of blood.
The blackness of the cottage hung now, as the silence continued, like an unspoken truce. Alucard stretched his arms and stood up wobbly, towering over Wilhemina. She nodded and got up too, leaving the emptied blood bags on the table.
With a slight airy toss of her head, Wilhemina spoke, "If I am to lead you out, I implore one thing. Do not change into your dog form. It may be faster, but if I am attacked, you will not survive the encounter."
The shadows moved on Alucard's face, just covering his eyes up to his wide brimmed hat. Alucard's red eyes seemed darker through his glasses, which had an orange tinge to them. "Ah, now you have taken the fun out of things." He said with a half grin.
"It is still possible to fly, but not yet. We have to get out of the forest first; it is a dangerous one at that."
Alucard nodded in acknowledgement and they walked out of the cottage. The moon was only a half moon, which meant that it would not be a very exciting night. Alucard frowned a little at this and wondered about the cold chill to the wind. "Ah…the night shall be a swift one, or a boring one." He stated bluntly, staring at the moon.
"I doubt to see how it would be so boring; with so many trees and plants for medical purposes, it is a scientists dream. For someone like you who only seems to get pleasure out of drink and fight, I can understand why you would feel such a way." She said levelly.
"A vampire scientist." Alucard mused as he turned to look at her, and added sarcastically, "To think I would see the day when science and vampirism combine…not like I can see day, that would hurt…hehe." With that, he looked foreword and walked wherever his feet were to take him.
"Wait, what do you mean by science and vampirism? It is not like I am combining the two. I am just a scientist who was turned into a vampire. I learned the science aspect from my husband, when he was alive, and almost everyone knows how I became a vampire." Wilhemina spoke a bit disheartened to think of her husband, knowing that he tried to prevent this from happening to her. She tugged on his arm a little show that the exit path was to the right instead of left.
Alucard cocked his head a little and, then remembering that she had been in this isolate place, explained about the freak vampires as they walked. After a good hour of debate about them, she finished it when she said, "Science and vampires indeed."
They walked for the rest of the night mostly in silence. With each new step, Wilhemina could swear that she had known him some time ago, from somewhere, but still did not know. Alucard, who was usually oblivious to such things, knew her story well. He could not remember how he knew it, living so many years; anything could get messed up in his mind.
They stopped for the night in a cove with over arching trees. Wilhemina looked up at the sky and was glancing at the descent of the stars as dawn was approaching. "Another night of travel and we should have reached the edge of the forest." Turning to look at Alucard, as he stood behind her, and continuing, "The other edge of the forest is ocean." Alucard pondered this as he did not remember crossing water, but he was in a state of mind while running where anything could happen, and he was well able to take to the skies for awhile.
Alucard walked to the little grove and sat down, his long legs stretched out on the ground. "Hm. She must have really gone far…mwh ha ha…I wonder if she has had a fight yet, it would do her some good to train." He said, rather sarcastically, as Wilhemina knew that when he referred to "she" that he meant Seras.
"Do you always think so highly of your servants…or is this one just special?" Wilhemina questioned as she took a seat next to him in the little dug out grove.
"She is just my first and only servant." Alucard said straight, looking at her sideways and jokingly added, "Not like I see that you have any."
To this, she turned her nose up and looked away. "Whoever said that I wanted one? I am perfectly fine by myself, thank you very much."
Alucard stretched his arms and folded them in his lap, looking down. "Hm. You can't say that you are not enjoying my little bit of company or are you truly so cold hearted?" He mocked with a little cackle in his throat. This reminded him of angering his master, Integra, which always amused him.
Wilhemina turned on her side, away from Alucard, and said nothing. Alucard just smiled a little, knowing that this silence always meant something. He stared up at the sky for a moment and closed his own eyes again, remembering the soft couch he had this morning.
Heheh…sorry this one took so long, but you can see the size of it... O_O…and the momentary time where I could not get to the computer -_-…well, I've got it now, so here ya go^^