Olivia had received reports that both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Casa Buonarroti in Florence had been robbed of the Gentileschi paintings that they had on display. At least the museums had not been burned. She had successfully negotiated with the owners of the two paintings remaining in England to put them in protective custody at the Hellsing estate. Both families were "coincidentally" now on holiday out of the country at her suggestion.
The Hellsing guard were on high alert and Alucard and Anderson were ordered to ensure that one vampire was always on guard duty at the estate during night hours. Unsurprisingly, Alucard left Anderson to take the majority of the watch time. Two weeks had passed during which more paintings were reported stolen abroad, but organized vampire activity on English soil had come to a standstill.
Alex took his assignment as an excuse to wander the Hellsing grounds. It was a decent enough way to spend the nights. He was expecting to see more representatives of Iscariot soon and wanted to lure them out away from the vulnerable human troops. He, better than any, knew that they couldn't just let the fact of his vampirism slide. They would feel duty-bound to put him out of his misery. He just couldn't allow that yet.
Alex didn't like admitting to himself that he was acclimating to his new life. He hated admitting just how much being able to hunt and kill made him feel like the old Alexander Anderson. The man he'd been was very different from the peaceful cleric he'd become with age. Now that the killer was back, he had to acknowledge that he was more a killer than a spiritual leader.
Even Alucard was humoring his return to his former bloodthirsty self. Their sparring matches had become a regular morning activity, which left both of them bleeding but happy. It took a lot of strain off of Alex to be able to attack Alucard on a daily basis. Memories of cutting off that grinning head had borne him through more than one of Alucard's jokes at his expense. Granted, he'd lost his own share of limbs, but he regenerated even more quickly and efficiently as a vampire than he had as Section XIII's foremost regenerator. He couldn't help but wonder if or when Bishop Traversera would dispatch one of the new generation of regenerators to deal with his heretic priest.
•••
"Sir Olivia?" Alfonse broke Olivia's concentration on the reports scrolling across her screens. She looked at him with irritation, but bit back the urge to snap at him. Alfonse never interrupted without a good reason.
"What's so important, Alfonse?" He was holding a portable vidphone. It didn't look like Hellsing issue.
"This was delivered to the guard at the front gate about fifteen minutes ago. What is noteworthy is that he does not remember receiving it, although," he leaned over and tapped a command into her computer, "surveillance cameras recorded the messenger." Her screens displayed a nondescript young man placing the vidphone in the hands of a blank-faced Hellsing guard. The young man walked away; a few minutes later the guard shook himself and looked quizzically at the device in his hands.
Olivia blanked the playback and looked to her retainer. "Have you checked this yet?"
"Yes, Sir Olivia. There is no explosives residue nor any sign of tampering. I'd feel more sanguine if you'd permit one of the vampires to activate it outside, though."
"Where are my vampires? I explicitly ordered that one of them was to be on watch here at all times."
"I believe that Mr. Anderson was out patrolling the grounds when the vidphone was delivered. It seems too conveniently timed to be coincidental. I believe we must assume that the estate is being watched as we speak. I have called both Mr. Anderson and Alucard back to the main house."
Olivia motioned to Alfonse to hand her the phone and looked it over. "Alucard!"
Her servant stepped out of the shadows. "I am here, Master."
"Wait over there, out of video range." Olivia turned on the phone and examined its interface. There was one number programmed into its memory. She read it off to Alfonse and sent him out of the room to trace it while she called the number.
It was answered immediately and Olivia was looking at a person wearing a lioness-head mask. She recognized the description that Alucard had given her from Vittorini's memories – this was the head of the cult, the vampire who believed herself to be a goddess.
"You are Sir Olivia Vanderpoort Hellsing, head of the Hellsing Organization and Master of the vampire Alucard, who is Master of the vampire, Alexander Anderson." The voice was low, rich, unaccented and female.
Olivia refused to be disturbed by a person who couldn't even show her own face. "You know who I am, I know who I am. What I know of you is that you labor under the illusion that you are the incarnation of an Egyptian goddess and that you send your minions to murder humans in order to steal paintings and Egyptian artifacts. I know that you are the delusional leader of a group of murdering undead thieves."
"Miss Hellsing," Olivia's eyes narrowed at the slight to her station, "I did not arrange this discussion in order to exchange barbs. You have something I will have and I have something you will want." The masked woman gestured and the camera's view was shifted to a bound and gagged figure that had been out of camera range. Olivia stifled a shout when she recognized the figure as her mother.
"Do I have your full attention? Your mother has not been harmed. If you do as I require, your mother will be released, unharmed. You have my word on that. If you do not do as I require, your mother will be released, as a ghoul. Again, you have my word on that."
•••
Alucard had never seen his Master in such a fury. It was beautiful to observe. She had listened calmly to the kidnapper's demands, asked pertinent questions and agreed to turn over the two paintings the next evening at a point that would be revealed just prior to the exchange. The moment the connection was severed, she released a stream of profanities she could only have picked up from the Hellsing soldiers.
Alfonse had been unable to achieve a proper trace on the number from the vidphone. It had been shunted through a number of blind relays that had been destroyed as soon as the call terminated. It was a masterful piece of hacking, which did nothing to calm the Master of Hellsing.
The butler had called Beatrice Vanderpoort's estate. She had retired for the evening and nobody had had any reason to check on her. Her room was searched and she was absent, but there was no sign of forced entry or any struggle. There was no way of knowing when she had been taken, but she had been last seen approximately six hours earlier that night.
Alucard was hoping that the kidnappers were lying and that the next time he saw Lady Beatrice Hellsing, he would have the pleasure of putting a bullet in her head to destroy her ghoul form. It would be a fitting end to a woman he had hated for so many years. If they succeeded in making her a ghoul, he resolved to kill their leader in a quick and painless fashion as thanks.
Alex was furious with himself. Sir Olivia hadn't dressed him down, but he was mad enough to do the job of several angry Hellsings. If he hadn't decided to go wandering off on the estate, he might have been able to catch the vampire who had made the delivery. They might have had a lead on the location of Olivia's mother. He had failed himself and Hellsing.
He stopped and went through that thought again. He understood his anger at failing himself, but when had he become so loyal to an organization he had once violently opposed? Thinking back, he'd have to say it was around the time that he was excommunicated and searching for a cause to keep him from sinking into despair. It was better to put the loyalty he'd spent a long lifetime perfecting on the Hellsing Organization, which at least fulfilled his need to serve the greater good, than to be adrift without a cause for the first time in well over a century.
Alex watched Sir Olivia as she conducted herself through her daily business. She had ordered both him and Alucard to attend her through the day. Alucard lounged in a chair, looking closer to neutral than Alex had ever seen before. The Hellsing leader was obviously concerned for her mother, but her focus was keen. She made calls, gave orders, searched through databases and never flagged in her duties. Alex watched from his place in the most shadowed corner this bright room had to offer. This was a leader he could respect.