Of Blood and Boxes Ch. 24

Of A Completely Different Afterglow

Joe Casto

Walter took a huge puff on one of his Cuban cigars that he had kept in a box in his room. It had lain on his dresser for at least six months without being touched because for six months there'd been nothing to celebrate. He took it out of his mouth and looked happily at it.

He felt a slight trickle of blood rolling slowly down his cheek. He licked it off without thinking and smiled as he surveyed his massacre.

The floor of the Hellsing mansion's entryway was a giant puddle of red that rippled occasionally as another drop of blood fell from one of the many corpses hanging from the ceiling. The rest were strewn about like limbs of a box of Barbies after a particularly destructive brother gets a-hold of them. All of Hellsing's soldiers were in the barracks a mile away at the time, and apparently they hadn't heard the gunshots.

He'd had the intruders all to himself, to slaughter like a horse in a glue factory. What whores...what cataclysmic sluts to invade a military complex with only thirty...

"Thirty..." The word slithered off his tongue like a salamander. His eyes narrowed at the insult, but he laughed on the inside…after all, they'd only had one retired soldier to deal with.

They'd got him good once; Just once, and that had been when their captain stabbed him in the leg. That didn't keep him from destroying them all. He was still the best mortal in England by a long shot, and that was a happy thought. As a matter of fact, if he were in a Peter Pan movie, that thought would be happy enough to propel him into the sky.

"Wankers…." He whispered around his cigar. He had a reason to live; to live and fight again. He sat and breathed the bloodlust out of his lungs. He didn't want to decapitate Sir Integra did he? He casually flicked his hand and the dozen odd bodies he'd strung up with his carbon filament fell to the floor like unusually large potatoes.

Their Iscariot agent said, when asked 'nicely' that they'd received the attack order straight from the top; as in from god, according to this deranged, bleeding fellow. 'Apparently Iscariot doesn't want us around anymore… again.' He thought. 'Oh well…that's nothing new.' But it bothered him all the same. Why now; why here…

He stepped lightly off of the banister upon which he'd been squatting, and he began up the stairs to The Ladies' room. 'forget it old man' he told himself and he was confronted with his master's door. Should he bother her this late? It was better to do it now than to have her awaken to a bleedin' loch of blood in her entryway.

He knocked oh so softly.

"Come in darling." Integra Said.

"It's me, madam." Water said as a slow, alien smile crawled up his face. "darling?' That's a new one…'

"I know darling."

He opened the door and basked briefly in the sight before him. His Niece lay upon Integra, her head upon her bosom, and they were thankfully covered in sheets.

"What just happened out there, Walter? The screams nearly startled me."

"A light massacre madam. Nothing to worry about."

She shifted her weight and the sheets covered less.

"I heard the gunshots and was about to intervene or call help…" She smiled in a manner that Walter found most seductive and continued. "But then I heard the screaming and decided to let you play.

Walter puffed his cigar and watched the smoke twirl.

"Thank you madam."
"Darling?"

"Yes Madam?"

"You should call me Integra from now on. We have known each other for several decades, have we not?"

"We have indeed Integra."

"Thank you."

Walter smiled and Integra saw his profile's cheeks shift in the light of the chandelier that hung in the entryway.

"What was it you wanted dear?"

"Nothing really…. only to give you an update on the status of the Iscariot's ongoing but tragically futile attempt on our lives. Apparently they have received orders to destroy us from someone high up in their ranks."

"Aah…well I received a letter today indicating that they have been expelled from her majesty's service and now work only under the Vatican."

"That would make sense."

"What would?"

"Well, The young man who I interrogated said that their orders had come directly from god."

"So apparently we've done something to anger the pope. How else could he claim that they'd come from god?"

"perhaps not the pope, but certainly the Iscariot leader."

"Then I shall write our majesty and ask her council."

"So be it, Integra."

There was a long pause signifying that the conversation was over, and Walter didn't leave. He was replaying the last two minutes over in his head again and again. He was surprised at the quantity of pleasure that he derived from the sight of Integra's body and continued to gaze upon her with both curious and slightly lustful eyes.

"Shall you stay the night with us, or should I be less forward…" Integra asked. It was frank, and she wasn't bluffing. Her gaze was even and cool, if not just a bit surprised at herself.

"Although I find the prospect simply mouthwatering at the moment, I think that I shall decline for the moment, and take a 'rain check' when I am in a more predictable mental state. Thank you Integra."

"My pleasure darling." Integra smiled. He loved it when she called him that, didn't he?

"Then…goodnight..Integra."

"To you as well Walter."

He left the room and softly closed the door behind him. He stepped out of the doorway and stopped, staring into nothing. 'Well, Now you're randy. What to do now, old man?' He smiled slightly and continued down the hall to his room, unlocking the door like clockwork. He stripped himself of everything on his body except for his black dress pants and his hair tie.

He sat on his large four-poster where he had many a night thought of Integra in ways both pure and lustful. In a brief moment of reminiscence he thought back to when he had first inherited her into his trust, and the long conversation with her father upon his deathbed.

"You musn't speak sir. You need to save your strength to fight this disease."

"Scilence Walter. Listen and hear me well because you've got a great time ahead of you…." He let out a huge coughing fit full of blood. His tuberculosis had been slowly worsening and he lay upright in the drawing room in his velour robe. Even in his final moments he'd refused the use of anesthetics and had taken every ounce of the agony like a man. He dabbed delicately at a small spot of blood on the left side of his mouth. "I haven't much time upon this earth, and I need you to look after her when I'm gone. You're a strapping fellow and were it not for all of this burocratic bullshit, I'd allow you to marry her. She'll undoubtedly grow up gorgeous like her mother, don't you think?"

"Indeed sir."
"Of course you do. That's one thing I always liked about you Walter, You're agreeable when it's needed. Now here…." He withdrew ring of keys from his robe and handed them to Walter. "These are the keys to my private study. There lies the entire history of the Hellsing family and there lies also some secrets only for private eyes. Things that Integra was never supposed to see this early. Only give her those keys after she inherits The Hellsing agency. Understood?"

"Sir, I…"

"You will do this one little vitally important thing for me, won't you, Walter?"

"I…Indeed I shall, sir."

"Now, my power hungry brother will be here in roughly one week. I want you to make plans to go and visit family. He's a power hungry bastard and if anyone will make for a good first test for Integra, it'll be him."

"Master, with all due respect…"

"I know he'll try to kill her. She knows the location of every weapon in the house, including the ah…special…orders." His smeared face contorted into a twisted version of a smile and blood glistened off of his impeccable white teeth. "Hopefully she'll go there first. I have the feeling that she'll need him more than once throughout her upbringing…and you."

He reached out and placed his hand on Walter's cheek. "Thank you, old friend. I fear I haven't much time, so please take my thanks and summon my daughter."

Walter ignored another coughing fit and had an aide summon Integra.

She entered and Walter did an about face, walking towards the door. He heard Integra sit delicately in the bedside chair, and Her father spoke to Walter for the last time. "Thank you."

He shut the door behind him.

His reflection warped slightly in the ancient mirror on his dresser. He felt the hardwood floor under his bare feet and he stood in front of the mirror, watching the light play over his features in the mirror. His scarred body looked as though it'd been through the mill once or twice, which it had, but he'd managed to keep his face almost completely clear of scarring. His long dexterous fingers found his hair tie and gave it a tug, undoing the knot easily, and his hair cascaded down his back in small trickling rivulets. His father had called his fingers 'piano fingers' before he'd died, and he now agreed with his father. This was probably the reason he used such a delicate weapon as he did. A weapon that was still feared.

When he watched Alucard his eyes had always been lustful. There was something he had, something he was that Water wanted. He seemed to never be under any strain, a puzzling piece of information that was because Walter was in excellent condition for a man of any age, let alone his, and he was only half as fast as Alucard. He was fast. He was strong. He also wasn't nearly as fast or strong as Alucard. He closed his eyes for a while and opened them again. Still sane.

'I must look into this vampire business.' He thought. Walter: Nosferatu. A no-life-king…

He smiled again and his eyes opened wide, their white showing clear in the dim lighting.

"Bloody vampires."

Well, that was fun. Walter is just oodles of fun to write for…I don't know what I'll do for my next chapter, but I'll think about it. As always, please RnR. I finally got office, so the format won't annoy everyone. (Think it annoyed you? Imagine me trying to proofread it! Damn the heathen Mac writing program!) but uh…have a great time waiting for this next chapter….has anyone else heard about this alleged Hellsing OVA that's supposed to be in production? News would be good folks. Also again, If I wrote a Harry Potter fic, would you all read it? Maybe a slight lemon with more raunchiness and Americanization than the books… I dunno. It might be fun. RnR folks. Ciao.