The transformation was complete, and Alucard watched on as the last shudders and twitches left his ex-fledglings shoulders. Afterward, there was no movement.
He slowly walked up to her prone form, grinning like the madman that he was. She would grow now, to be a proper vampire, not a weak parody of an immortal human. His grin broadened as he took in the tattered uniform she still wore and the blood on her exposed skin, still trailed with the dark lines of her blackened veins. Perfect.
Still staring at her, he removed his coat and laid it gently over her, leaning down to bundle her small form in his arms. He straightened again, her head lolling against his arms, and grinned down at her closed eyes. This was going to be fun.
With the promise of an amusing next couple of weeks, or maybe even years, if the girl became good enough, he marched out the door.
The sun rose bright and beautiful in the March sky for Sister Mary-Anne. The garden out the back of the convent looked glorious leading on from the patio of the kitchen, an excellent place to serve the visitor from the Vatican breakfast. It would be a meal he would never forget and surely be a factor in which to consider in his recommendation that the convent be turned into an orphanage.
The Sisters had all been quite excited when Mother Elizabeth had told them all about her decision to modify the convent to accommodate children, and they had all been pitching in their equal efforts to show the visiting Father that they were well equipped and capable of looking after themselves with little difficulty, and that they would be exceptional for the task of looking after and educating children in the ways of God Almighty.
And apart from the fact that they were more than capable, the large building in which they lived and prayed was large enough to house a small army (as it had already proved in World War Two).
Yes, thought Sister Mary-Anne as she threw open the doors to welcome in the warmth and radiance of the morning sky, they would do well in raising the kids and teaching them Gods Divine Will.
Stepping outside, she wandered around the lush grounds, bending over occasionally to smell the sweet flowers they had planted in the spring of last year. The grass was greener than it had ever been, and the birds that hung around in the trees were singing and bathing in the early warmth. There were a few bees hanging around the lavender bushes, and butterflies already at work on the roses and magnolias. Mary-Anne breathed in a deep breath and exhaled with a broad grin.
Time for breakfast, I think, she thought happily, making her way over to the vegetable garden to pick some fresh tomatoes. But as she stepped through the gate, something in the far corner caught her eye. She turned her head in the direction of the misplaced colour and saw a blue and cream lump sitting, slumped over, in the shadows cast by the guttering of the tool house beside the garden.
Picking up a dirty shovel standing upright in the earth beside her, she approached the strange person cautiously, the spade slung over her shoulder, ready to come flying down on their head if they did anything to alarm her. She stopped three feet away from the person, staring down at the bowed head, covered in a shock of blonde hair all sticking together with something dark.
"What is your business here, child?" she asked gently. The figure did not stir, but rather seemed to ignore her. She took a step closer and repeated her question, "Why are you here?" Still the person ignored her. Getting decidedly agitated now, she stepped closer and bent to shake the persons shoulder, however as she touched the ripped clothes of the person, they toppled over onto their side. Jumping back, she looked down at the dirty face staring back up at her.
The young woman was barely older than a teen, her pretty face hidden beneath a layer of reddish filth. Her eyes were half-lidded and rolled back into her head, her mouth partly open. Gasping, Mary-Anne bent down to check if she was okay. She bent her ear close to the girl's mouth to listen for breathing. There was nothing. The checked her pulse on her wrist and found no beating of blood against her fingertips. She checked the pulse in her neck and was greeted by the same absence of life. Moving quickly, she sped from the vegetable garden and back to the convent, dropping the shovel outside the building with a thud.
"Mother Elizabeth! Mother Elizabeth!" she cried as she ran through the kitchen and up the stairs beyond. The other sisters came rushing out of their rooms when they heard her calling, and at the end of the corridor leading from the landing, both the Mother and the Vatican visitor came out of the study. "Mother Elizabeth! Come quick! There is a girl in the gardens! She's ill! I could not find a pulse on her!" she ran forward and grabbed the Mothers hand and pulled her down the stairs. The sisters followed the pair quickly, followed by the Father. As they neared the garden, Mary-Anne let go of the Mothers hand and rushed forward to kneel beside the girl.
The Mother followed her to the figures side and leant over the girl, brushing away the matted hair covering some of her face. She lifted her hand to her face, which came away sticky and dirty, and sniffed at the strange substance. "Blood," she said quietly. Then she looked up and said to two of the other nuns, "Could you please fetch the stretcher and a blanket? We need to get her inside the house quickly." The sisters nodded and went back to the house. "Father?" The tall man stepped forward through the group of curious Sisters, took one glance at the young girl, narrowed his eyes and looked back at the Mother, "I would ask of you to go and fetch some warm water and a cloth, and take them up to the guests quarters. You two," she looked at two more Sisters, "Please show the Father to the guest quarters and prepare a bed with good, thick blankets and several pillows. Prepare the bed as fast as possible for the young woman and have a supply of bandages and some antiseptic ready for treating her wounds." The Sisters nodded and lead the Father back to the house, talking quietly.
Meanwhile, the two sisters that had been sent for the stretcher came back into the garden and rushed forward with the apparatus carried in between the two. They set it down gently beside the girl, and the combined efforts of Mother Elizabeth, Sister Mary-Anne and four other nuns got the strange young woman safely onto the stretcher, and covered her with the blanket that had been lying on top. Taking one handle each, the Mother and three sisters lifted the stretcher from the ground and they began walking slowly towards the convent, the rest of the group trailing behind them worriedly.
Mary-Anne looked down at the girl in the bed in confusion. She had been sent up to clean and bandage her wounds, and to wait until she woke up. The only problem she could find as she stood above the girls naked torso, bandages in one hand and a bowl of hot water in the other, was: what wounds? The girl's body was completely clean of any cuts or abrasions, leading the nun to wonder with uncertainty where all the blood had come from. And still no one had been able to find her pulse, though they knew she was alive because she had stirred uneasily in the stretcher as they had been carrying her inside the convent. The Vatican Father was the one who came up with an explanation for her missing pulses.
"Maybe hers is just hard tae find. Ah've had some cases lack tha' wi' children at mae oon orphanage," he said quietly.
Mary-Anne nodded solemnly and stopped trying to find the young woman's pulse. She rolled down the sheets, took one look at the Father and decided that he should probably leave the room. "Father, would you mind…?" she left the question hanging and cast a meaningful look at the door.
"Nae at a'," he said and walked over to the door, closing it softly.
"Um, no Father, I meant, could you please leave the room while I tend to the girls wounds?"
"Ah dinnae think tha' wid be ae smart idea, Sister," his eyes had once more locked onto the girls face.
And so now they both stood there, looking at the pale and naked torso of the young blonde splattered and smudged with dried blood, but without a scratch on her. The only irregularities on her skin were three scars on her throat, one long and thin running for three inches down the very centre, and two small circular ones on the side.
How's he going to explain this? The nun thought bitterly. No scratches, but so much blood? And she was practically comatose! Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head, the whites partially visible through the slightly open eyes, and she kept growling randomly in the back of her throat whenever the Father went to put his hands anywhere near her.
"Ah think ye shid clean her up an' be leavin', sister. She is nae a normal woman. Ae heretic, an' ae sinner. Clean her quickly, an' leave this room," the Father said quietly.
"Father?" she inquired, taken aback by his harsh words about the strange girl. "Do you know her Father?"
"Aye, I know her. Her, an' the blasphemous organization she works for." With these few words, he stepped back into the corner of the room, and motioned for her to start cleaning.
Working quickly and silently, she had the woman's skin clean and her clothes changed in a few minutes, always under the scrutiny of the Vatican Father. When she had finished dealing with the old ragged uniform-like clothes and had laid the girl back down on the clean sheets of the bed, she pulled the blanket up to her chin and turned to face the Father.
"Father, what did you mean by -" she was cut off be the man.
"Ye shid be leavin' now. The sun is almos' at the horizon, an' she'll be wakin' soon. Ye'll nae be safe from her." His glasses flashed as he stepped away from the corner into the afternoon sun cast in long rectangles along the floor and walls.
"Father?" What was the man talking about? Not be safe from who? The girl? But she was practically dead!
"Oot wi' ye now. Tell the Mither an' sisters tha' no-yin is allow'd near this room."
"Y-yes Father Anderson," she stuttered and gathered debris of her cleaning into her arms and quickly left the room.
As she began walking down the hallway, she heard the distinct sound of a lock being snapped shut behind her.
A/N: Ahhhhhh! I can't believe it's taken me so long to write this! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! Xx I was hoping to get it up before I left the week before last! But so much has been happening that I get sidetracked a lot! AND I'M NOT EVEN BACK AT SCHOOL YET! --dies-- I'm dreading what it's going to be like when I go back for term three! There's so much more to do at school!
Anyway, this chapter is officially dedicated to Katsumi-Chan, because Father Anderson is at long last in the story! I write such small chapters all the time that she had to wait really long for him to come in! Thank goodness she's so patient with me! And I hope I got some of the accents on his words right too! I know I got most of them because I used the manga's as a reference, but I couldn't find anything for the word "should"... --sweatdrop--
I think that's about all that I've got to say... Ooh! I might redo the last couple of lines in this chapter, 'cause I'm not really happy with it... Kinda. And that's a definate "might" there. Thenagainmaybenot. Xx
Review Replies:
Shadow-Sensei: Hahaha, --gives you a cookie-- ("Come to the dark side! We have cookies...") My friend has random guys kissing him all the time too... --' Poor boy. Anyway, official thanks for reviewing: --hugs--
Midori318, Lady Dark Angel, Demonic Silence, Sailor Water Dragon, Dawnie, The Sinner of Anger, Alucard's Bane, pepsilexxi, FukoKirisawa, moon-fan-101: Hehe, thanks all for your reviews! I'll try and get them out faster, I really will!
AttackingHentaiChibisLoveFluff: I wanted my mum to get me an iPod when she went to Bangkok last year for Christmas. She completely forgot about me though. --cries-- Haha, oh well. Sorry it takes me so long to update. I'll try harder!
Nighteyes De Dracul: --hugs-- Thank you!
DarkHuntressNoyze: Thankyou for your kind words! I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now! I hope this chapter is as good to you as the other ones were!
Magritha: Thankyou for your review! It's night to know that new people are starting to read my fic, even when it's so far on in the story! Well... not really... Xx Either way, reviews like yours make me more enthusiastic about writing!
Darkfighter: This chapter really didn't show anything that Seras is turning into, but wait till next chapter! I'm going to wake her up to Andersons friendly face! Argh! Poor girl! She goes through so much! Xx
Thanks all for staying with the story so far! I hope you're all enjoying it as much as I am!
luff
Jinn.