He let the calm buoy him. Memories tried to intrude on his peace, but he pushed them back. There's no danger, I can just sleep. I just want to rest for a while.
There's only so long you can drift before the world starts to demand to be noticed. The world asserted this time through pain. His stomach cramped cruelly and he came awake with a grumbling thought about the parsonage's cook.
Bump
"Wha-?"
A box? What am I doing in a box? The
memories came back in a dizzying rush. He had bumped his head on the lid of a coffin. Ah bloody hell! Dear God, I
pray you can forgive me. His stomach knotted again. He clutched
his middle and groaned. The children, the vampire, Morgan, the
bite. Oh God, I am so sorry. I sacrificed myself for the sake of the children. I had no other choice.
"I wanted to talk to you about that, Judas Priest." Alucard's voice was muffled by the coffin lid. The top raised and Alex squinted against the light.
"I don't want to see ye right now, unholy beast." Alex tried to pull the lid closed again when he was struck by another wave of pain across his midsection.
"You don't have a choice, priest. You'll do what I tell you. I am your Master now." The lid was pulled from his grasp and a hand reached in and grabbed his shirt. He was unceremoniously pulled from the coffin and set on his feet in front of the other man.
Anderson tried to stand straight before his tormentor, but found it difficult with the pain in his stomach. Alucard looked him over. "Turning can be a bit uncomfortable at first," the vampire commented.
"What do ye want?" he glared at Alucard.
"'What do you want, Master?'" Alucard grinned when Anderson bared his fangs at him.
Alex wasn't going to give the damned vampire the pleasure of calling him Master. It wasn't going to happen. He was horrified when he felt a twist in his mind and his mouth opened against his will, "What do ye want, Master?"
"Much better, son." Alucard's voice bubbled with mirth. "I wanted to talk to you about your situation. There are a number of things about which you are ignorant. Are you aware of the current state of the Hellsing Organization?"
"No, I haven't paid attention to old enemies for many years. It's been enough for me to care for my parish."
"The Hellsing Organization is run by Sir Olivia Hellsing. She has been in charge for the past eight years since the death of her father, Sir Samuel. Hellsings so rarely live to an advanced age and her father was no exception. Sir Olivia is twenty-two years old and one of the better leaders the organization has had since the loss of her great-great-grandmother, Sir Integra."
"What does that matter to me? To us?" Alexander choked out the word against his will, "Master?"
"I am bound to the Hellsing family by the seals that Abraham van Helsing established centuries ago. As long as the bloodline continues and the head of the family does not release me, I am their servant. Since you are my servant, you too serve the Hellsing family and organization."
Anderson reeled at serving the organization he had opposed for so many years. Between the pain in his stomach and the shocking changes in his life, he was feeling very unbalanced. It was as though Alucard was pushing him back to the time when he was a Vatican assassin, when he dealt death with pleasure. He thought he had left that Alexander Anderson behind decades ago. He'd left the killing fever behind with his role as Iscariot's ace in the hole. They had younger aces now. He forced himself to gather his thoughts. I am an old man, not a young killer. I will use my most dangerous weapon, my mind, instead of charging in, blades drawn.
"Not so, Judas Priest." Alucard turned him to face a floor-length mirror on the wall behind him. He gaped at what it showed him. He hadn't seen that unlined face in more than eighty years. He'd gone gray fifty or fifty-five years ago. Now he looked like he was in the prime of his life. The red eyes staring back at him from the mirror were the only things unfamiliar. The shock left him defenseless against the next series of pains that ripped through him. They dropped him to his knees and he looked at the shining shoes that stopped near his nose.
"I'm going to leave you for a while. You need to finish your body's purging and it's not an experience I care to relive with you. Take the time to think about what I've told you already. I want to see if you can catch what you're missing without my leading you to it. The bathroom is through that door." He pointed. "Try not to make a mess in my room. I'll have Alfonse prepare yours."
The shoes faded away in front of him. When he felt that the vampire was gone, Alex rolled onto his side and wrapped himself around his agony. He tried to discipline his thoughts. If he could concentrate, he could ignore the pain that refused to abate. Alucard was dropping hints; there was something else he wanted Alex to understand. Knowing that this was all part of the vampire's long contemplated and carefully orchestrated revenge, whatever it was that he hadn't told Alex was going to be very ugly when he found it out.
He pulled himself up, staggered to the bathroom and leaned heavily on the sink. He washed his face and tried to calm himself.
Three hours later Alex had found out what Alucard had meant by "purging." He was feeling much better and had settled down in the room's only chair to think.
He didn't tell me something. He told me what he wanted me to know last night. Just enough. He gave me the rest today. How does it make a whole picture? He screamed in rage when the pieces fit together. He threw the large chair against the wall and began methodically destroying everything he could get his hands on. He was just about to turn his attentions to the coffin when Alucard stepped in.
"My coffin is off limits, child." Anderson tried to get past him to throw the coffin off of its pedestal, but Alucard dropped him to the ground without even touching him. He didn't know how the vampire had such control of him, but he couldn't move at all. He stopped struggling and found control of his limbs returned to him.
"I told you, my coffin is off limits. You'll clean up the rest of the mess when I let you up. You will not touch my coffin again unless I give you my express permission. Go ahead and try it now."
Anderson tried to push the coffin and found himself stopped just before he touched the wood. He tried again and was stopped dead. He tried grabbing some of the debris off the floor and throwing it at the coffin, but his usual perfect aim was inexplicably off and he kept missing his target.
"I hate you! I hate you and I will kill you!"
"I hate you and I will kill you, Master." Alucard's voice was honey-sweet.
"I hate you, Master. I hate you and I will see you dead, Master. I will see you rotting in the deepest pits of Hell. I will send you there and follow you to see your eternal damnation, since you have dragged me into damnation with you.
"But how did you do it? How did you bypass the seals to be able to kill me? You couldn't kill the children of my parish. You wouldn't have been able to make any of them into vampires. The seals wouldn't permit it. How did you manage to get past them to get to me? Master." The last word was spat out with venom.
"You chose it, Judas Priest. You gave yourself to me. You did it for me. The locks constrain me against violence against those who are not undead or enemies of the Hellsing Organization. They prevent my creating a Midian who does not choose it. They don't constrain me against lying."