Convincing Sir Olivia to accept Anderson would be interesting. She had the Hellsing steel as strongly as any of them ever had. She reminded him almost too much of Integra. She was not going to be pleased with him for bringing another vampire into the organization.
He wouldn't have to lie to her - much. Anderson had chosen his fate. He had a choice. Alucard had just ensured that the choices seemed to be unavoidable. If he withheld some of the details from Olivia and restricted Anderson's ability to speak with her, it would not harm her or Hellsing – just his little Judas Priest.
He could feel Anderson's fury from down the hall where he had taken Seras' old bedroom. Alucard found it only fitting. He was particularly amused to know that Anderson's lanky frame was going to have difficulty fitting in the coffin made for a much shorter Seras.
ooo
"You have who downstairs? Alucard, tell me this is one of your misguided attempts at a joke. Alexander Anderson would have to be over a hundred years old."
"Actually, Master, he's over one hundred thirty years old."
"You can't tell me you have a newly turned Iscariot vampire in my cellars." Olivia was furious. The vampire was always pushing her. She had been dealing with his little jests for her entire life and there were days when she thought that her many-times-great-grandfather had had the right idea in sticking the blighter in the cellar and forgetting about him.
"Paladin Anderson chose to become a vampire. It had to have been his choice. How else could I have turned him? You know that the seals would prohibit my turning an unwilling human." His grin was absolutely infuriating.
"I want to meet this new vampire. I want to meet the man who is almost as much a part of my family history as you are. And I want to hear from him why it is that a Catholic priest is now a vampire allegedly in the service of the Hellsing Organization. There's something here you aren't telling me, Alucard and I will know the whole truth."
ooo
Alex understood the cruel joke Alucard had played on him. The room lacked any sign of previous habitation except the coffin; the coffin that would be too small for him; the coffin that would have been the perfect size for Seras Victoria.
He thought back to the last time he had seen the woman whose room was now his. He had done what he had always thought of as his duty, but when it came to killing Hellsing's "Police Girl," he wasn't sure he'd done God's work. Seras Victoria had made him doubt his firmly held belief that vampires did not have souls. She knew compassion. She had never murdered a human. She never lost that innocence that had marked her from their first encounter in Badrick. It had been a turning point for him when he killed her. It had felt, for the first time in his career hunting monsters, like murder.
Could it be that this was his penance for murder? A real atonement, not just Alucard's attempt at revenge? Seeing it as such might be his only means of keeping a hold on sanity. He would survive to destroy Alucard and he would do it as a remembrance of the girl who had been strong enough to maintain her humanity despite what her Master – their Master – had done to her.
ooo
Alex was sitting on the coffin, trying to determine just how he was going to be able to fold his long legs inside the small box when Alfonse knocked. He came in at Alex's response. "Sir Olivia has requested your presence in her office. I have come to escort you."
They walked in silence up to the first floor. On their way up to the second floor, Alex spoke, "Alfonse, would ye be the person I'd talk to about getting a…erm…bed, that fits me a wee bit better? I'm much taller than Seras was."
The younger man stopped and turned to stare coldly at Alex. "It is my understanding, sir, that you are the person responsible for the loss of Miss Victoria to the Hellsing Organization."
"And I will be paying for that for more years than ye even want to consider, youngster. I knew Seras Victoria and it is my goal for now to be as decent a monster as she was. It's all I have."
Alfonse's eyes softened. "Perhaps you are not the mindless murderer that our records have made you out to be. We will talk more after you meet Sir Olivia. She has the final say as to your dispensation."
They continued to the second floor. Alfonse knocked on a closed door and opened it at a murmured response from inside. He stood aside for Alex to go in before him.
The room was light and airy. He realized that the drapes had been drawn for his comfort. It would take some time to become accustomed to fearing the sun. Another thing I have lost through my ignorant choice.
"Over here, Father Anderson." He turned and faced the woman who had spoken to him. She was fairly tall for a woman; slender; he could see the Hellsing family resemblance, but she didn't look much like the Hellsings he'd encountered over the years. She was very fair-skinned, with jaw-length curly black hair. The feature that most distinguished her Hellsing lineage was the striking ice blue color of her eyes. She was dressed comfortably in trousers and a button-down blouse. It was not so much masculine as practical.
He bowed. "I would prefer not to be called that, Sir Hellsing. I don't think that I can be both a vampire and a priest."
"What shall I call you then?" She stepped forward and looked him over thoroughly. He felt quite exposed under her frank appraisal.
"I think that 'Judas Priest' suits him quite well," Alucard materialized from the shadows in the back of the room.
Anderson ignored the other vampire. "Alex, Alexander, Anderson, Andersong, even 'That damned Catholic,' but please, not Father Anderson, priest and especially not 'Judas Priest.'" He tried not to hear Alucard's mocking laugh.
"Right. Anderson it is. Tell me, how is it that Section XIII's former trump card has come to Hellsing as a vampire?"
Alex could feel Alucard doing something to him. He's trying to keep me from telling her the whole truth. "Sir Hellsing, I'm here to replace someone I took from your family."
"And this is your choice, Anderson?"
"All humans have a choice, Sir Hellsing. I made mine." There, ye damned vampire. I told her the truth and didn't let you pull my strings. If these small rebellions are all I have, I'll take them for now. I'll wait. I will kill you someday and then we'll be even.
Alucard's laughter echoed through the office as he faded from sight.