Chapter 28:
Meanwhile, the moon rises just over the sea shore. Alucard awakes to find himself well and Wilhemina still dozing. Hmm…and I thought she was supposed to be the early riser. He mused to himself as he glanced at the half moon at an angle above him.
Alucard got up from the ditch, the canopy of tress made it seem darker to him. He walked to the base of the shore, which was only a few feet from where Wilhemina was laying, and where he had just got up from. His red eyes roamed over the sea, as if scanning for something, but not sure of what it was. His face was gaunt looking because of the pale moon light.
Alucard felt around in his mind, searching for his connection to Seras. It should still be intact; it was just a matter of finding it. After a moment more, Alucard found what he was searching for in the back of his mind, and tried to contact Seras. He saw an image of her in his mind, which soon changed to one of a man in black with a long slender black hat. Alucard could not be sure of what he saw, but he thought he could also make out a horse's head, but also black as midnight.
Why can I see her now, and not before? Alucard wondered as he gazed out at the calm ocean. She must be close. Hmmm…you do not want to be found, my fueki. Alucard half grinned as he looked a head still.
What Alucard did not notice was that Wilhemina had woken and was staring at him, trying to figure out what he was staring at. She got up quietly and walked out to where she thought he would notice her, but he did not turn or even recognize her actions. Wilhemina, being fairly head strong as she was, walked right beside Alucard; he still did not recognize her movement.
What does he think he is proving? Wilhemina wondered as she looked at him, but then she came up with an idea to make him move. She raised her right hand up and was going to bring it down across his face, but he moved his hand to catch her arm. Alucard's eyes slithered sideways to look at her from behind his glasses. He still had on his amused half grin.
"Finally awake?" Alucard asked, as if it was not the most obvious thing in the world.
"What do you think? Am I not walking and talking beside you?" Wilhemina asked with a hint of rage and sarcasm under her vampire calmness.
Alucard only laughed lightly and shifted his eyes back to the sea. This began to annoy Wilhemina.
"All right. Just what is the matter? You are not acting yourself." Wilhemina commented inquisitively.
"Hmm…" Alucard thought and looked back to her, his eyes turning a darkening red. "Seras is near by…hehe…There is no raft, and few trees flat enough to bind together. How do you expect us to cross without flying?" He asked, sarcastically in that some what high pitched voice.
"Well, we will just have to make some flat trees then. Do not give me that look of craziness; I know exactly how this can be managed. However, it will not be easy…" Wilhemina's eyes glinted as her sentence trailed into nothingness.
Alucard remained silent, wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Oh, I see. You would rather just fly and risk getting caught. That is not very wise, especially for someone who is as old as you are." Wilhemina nagged, knowing that this was starting to bother him.
Alucard turned to her, and walked closer to her as if he was going to do something out of the ordinary, but grinned widely instead. "He he he…you think you can bait me into working extra hard to make a raft when we both know how it would be quicker…Fine, I will do as you ask, but not because I think it is the better thing to do. " Alucard said, baring his fangs a little as it did disturb him.
"Oh, then what are you making the raft for?"
"So that I can steer into a better direction of where Seras is without having you complain about wind changes under your wing." Alucard said as if he had thought this though when he was only making the raft to stop her complaining.
As Alucard went to one of the trees, a particular spruce that was particularly rough on the outside, and began to cut into it with his bare hands, he got a flash of something from the past. An old memory which featured himself in aristocratic clothes of the nineteenth century and a women similarly dressed, but with an olive green dress and her hair up like Wilhemina's. Wilhemina knew Alucard was acting strangely, and walked over to him.
"Hey, are you really okay?" Wilhemina asked, and put a hand on Alucard's shoulder as he was hunched over, using the tree as his support.
Alucard waved her off and tried to lift himself back up, but the image was persistent in his mind, and blocked out his sense of balance. He stumbled back a little, and would have fallen completely, due to his height, if Wilhemina had not been standing there.
"You know, you should rest if you can't even stand." Wilhemina said as she helped him to stand up once more.
Alucard looked pale and gaunter then he had a moment ago. By the some what surprised expression on his face, Wilhemina knew that he saw something. What he saw, though, she did not know.
"Alucard.." Wilhemina began in a voice little more than a whisper, "What did you see?"
Alucard rested with his back up against the tree as he had received a little more control of his body again. "I saw you, or I think it was you. A memory long since past…it was when I was known by another name. I do not remember it well, only a legend." Alucard said, and looked down solemnly. His voice seemed not his usual, but something distant, something lost.
Wilhemina walked over and sat to his right, with her back against the tree as well. "I was right about you then…if you do not remember, it was a long time ago, and age is never ending to beings such as us." Alucard looked up to her for a moment, and the face from his memory seemed to over lap her own, as if a specter to haunt him. It disappeared soon after and his eyes turned back to a healthier red color, one that focused wherever his eyes wandered. "Come on then, we still have work to do." Wilhemina finally said after waiting for Alucard to look more himself again.
Not much else was said the rest of the night as the both of them worked to chop off branches and large pieces of trunk, skinning them down from all the bark that invested the woodlands. They stopped one around three for a shared blood bag, and then back to work it was. The work was monotonous and boring; a choir more than anything, but both vampires knew it had to be done if they were to cross the ocean.
By the time the raft was complete and dubbed sea worthy by Wilhemina, who did not know that much about sea travel to begin with aside from the fact that you needed something sturdy which could also float, it was nearly sunrise.
"So, should we start tonight then?" Wilhemina asked hopefully.
Alucard grinned evilly, "If you want to get burned to a crisp so be it, but I would not sail until tomorrow."
"Hump, and I thought that you wanted to find Seras. You know as well as I do that your coat could cover the both of us if you let it expand." Wilhemina said impatiently.
"Pathetic. My coat can expand, but it would not be able to block out that much sun for us. We would still burn when the sun reaches it's zenith. All we can do tonight is tie down the raft and be sure it doesn't drift away, I do not want to repeat this procedure."
"Waste another night like this, oh yea, that would be fun." Wilhemina commented sarcastically, rolling her eyes in displeasure at the thought.
Deciding it better to stay on the land for the day, they returned to their little ditch under the canopy and waited morning to rise once more over these seas.
"What kind of tide do you think tomorrow will bring?" Wilhemina asked as she settled down again in her comfortable spot.
"A high one, good for sea travel." Alucard said sternly and rolled himself in his coat.
"How do you know that? I know you have been on ships, but still…" Wilhemina asked curiously, as if taking up the roll of Seras in Alucard's eyes.
"It was a half moon. By tomorrow it should be closer to waning, meaning a lower pull, and higher tide. Anyone who has been on a ship should know that at least." Alucard said stubbornly and rolled over, away from Wilhemina, as if to say he was going to sleep.
Wilhemina stared at him for a moment and then was still and began to sleep as well.
The sun rose, and the moon fell. The day seemed to pass like moments in time, the kind that flicker and are gone. Both slept peacefully throughout the day, even though the birds were singing, and it was bright. Sooner than not, the moon began to rise once more over the ocean, and that meant time to wake up once more.
Alucard woke first again and went straight for the draft to see if it was still in one piece. Not more than a minuet later, Wilhemina was inspecting it herself and again gave it her approval.
Alucard sat on a nearby stump and took out one of his last blood bags. "Hmm…We are going to run out of these soon." He commented, slurping down some of it.
"Well, let's just hope we get to land soon enough by the ocean, and can find more quickly as well. Alright, come on, time to go and get off this island." Wilhemina said anxiously as she went to sit on the raft.
Alucard followed after another gulp of his blood and went to the draft. He untied it and quickly hoped on bored before it could move. Alucard and Wilhemina battled with some branches to get out to sea a bit more, but that was hardly needed as the turf was strong enough to bring out their little raft. They were off once more on the sea, this time, and to where, they did not know. Though, Alucard kept his thoughts of his memory and connection to Seras quiet, Wilhemina had her own secrets, staring off into the ocean, and awaiting whatever she saw a head.