Chapter 1. Assassin's Bible; Information Makes For an Easy Case. Lack of Information,... Obviously Doesn't.
It was a cold night in London, which was to be expected really, it being November and all. But still it was rather chilly tonight. The weather was crisp and cold throughout the days heralding the coming of snow. At the Hellsing manor near the centre of London it was even colder, the large cavernous rooms and large stone walls serving to keep the cool air inside the building, much to the hate of it's inhabitants. The days were proceeding like any other days, falling into a steady routine that all occupants knew well.
"ALUCARRRRDDDDDDD!" A feminine voice screamed angrily, the sounds echoing down the corridors. Down in the basement a tall red garbed figure looked up at the ceiling with faint bemusement on his face. He thought back over his previous hours, he hadn't done anything yet.
"The woman must be psychic, I only decided to go annoy her five seconds ago." Smiling to himself at his joke he rose and donned his large red hat and orange tinted glasses. He smiled and vanished into the shadows.
Upstairs in Sir Integra's main office, the woman herself fumed in her large green chair behind her immense desk. Furiously puffing on a cigar that was already half gone. The ceiling swirled with tendrils of the smoke, giving the room a strange odour. The crackling of the fire in the corner of the room seemed to punctuate the uncomfortable silence.
Seras Victoria sat nervously in front of the desk, on a wooden chair. She was staring at her fingers and fidgeting in an attempt to keep her attention from the angry woman before her. This was defenitely not her day. She raised her head slightly catching a quick glimpse of Sir Integra, the blue icy eyes met her own instantly, and they were furious. Whipping her head down again Seras tried to make herself as small as possible under the stern woman's gaze. Christ she felt like a schoolgirl in front of the headmaster, and with their parent having been called.
She felt him before she saw him, his presence washing over the room silently as he stepped out of the shadows across the room from her. He had his trademark grin plastered on his features, as well as the glasses and hat that never seemed to leave him. He surveyed the room, Sir Integra's angry face and his eyes wandered over to his nervous fledgling. His smile seemed to grow.
"Alucard!" Integra snapped angrily.
"Master." Alucard replied formally, yet his eyes wandered to Seras for a moment. She felt an amused voice whisper into her mind.
What have you been doing police girl?
Master, I didn't mean- She tried to reply mentally but the sound of a palm slapping onto the desk made her squeak in surprise, breaking her concentration.
"Seras! You will remain silent, verbally and mentally! I don't want to hear a word from you!" Integra's voice was snapped and angry, Seras shrank further into the chair. "Alucard, as I was aware you claimed you were teaching officer Seras Victoria in the vampire's arts. How to avoid problems and improving her abilities."
"That's true master." Alucard replied, his face showing that he didn't know what Integra was getting at.
"Then how do you explain her recent actions!" Integra screamed at him. Alucard smiled maniacally, amused at Sir Integra's anger. Oh God, thought Seras, I'm doomed! Seeing the grin yet ignoring it Integra ploughed on angrily. "One of our soldiers is in intensive care, sporting…" She picked up a loose document from her table and read, "Two broken arms, one dislocated knee, a fractured skull, all bones in one hand broken, and two fingers in the other. A fractured collarbone and three broken ribs. Oh and not to mention one crushed testacle."
Seras blushed furiously at the last one and even Alucard seemed to wince behind his shades. "Well!" Integra fairly shrieked.
"Well Police Girl." Her master began looking at her with a strange light in his eyes, "I must say I'm impressed." Seras winced, she'd just known he was going to say that.
"IMPRESSED!" Integra screamed at him, Seras shivered madly at the woman's wrath, and she'd just known that would be the response. "One of our soldiers may die thanks to your bloody toy, and you're pleased!"
"Yes, it's about time she showed her vampiric side. A shame she didn't drain him." Seras looked ill, in truth she felt ill too.
"Officer Seras Victoria, return to your room and remain there until called for." This came calmly from Sir Integra, Seras ran, knocking the chair over in her haste to escape. Alucard watched her back in an amused manner as she skidded out of the door.
"Alucard…." Integra began, but Alucard lifted his hand.
"Master I know what you will say. In truth I am pleased with her, and yet I shall punish her for disobeying the organisation's orders. But I brushed her mind when I entered. I think the cameras should confirm it, but Seras believes she was sexually assaulted." Integra's mouth dropped open slightly.
"But why didn't she say so? If she had even suggested…" Alucard frowned and shrugged.
"You know how she is. She sees it as a sign of weakness. She thinks she should have stayed in control, even then. And so she should, but surely the blame lands with him?" Integra pushed her cigar into her ashtray and massaged her aching temples. It had been a hard day for her, Alucard could tell. He had warned he not to push herself so hard, but she rarely listened to him.
"I'll send Walter for the footage, teach her control Alucard. Has she been drinking the blood?" Alucard stopped his turning away and frowned.
"She drinks sporadically, starving herself for as long as she can before giving in and drinking. She still sees it as evil. I will ensure she drinks more master." He walked away into the shadows, hearing Integra pick up the telephone to call Walter as he vanished.
A Desperately miserable Seras was sat at her small table in her dungeon like room, waiting pensively for her punishment. She knew it would not be long in coming, but it was hardly her fault! That bastard had grabbed her ass, she had warned him angrily. Twice! Then he had kissed her neck whilst she had been teaching him a combat hold. After that she had started teaching him how to thoroughly cause pain to a human, though he evidently hadn't enjoyed that lesson so much. She was furious at the idea of being punished because of some egotistical bastard. But… she didn't want anyone to know…
"Did you think we wouldn't have cared?" A low voice asked her ominously, Seras squeaked and span around to see her master leaning against the wall behind her. His glasses had been discarded and his blood red eyes stared into her own. "You had every right to retaliate to his treatment. If you had but said something to my master…" Seras looked at her feet. Sometimes, well most times, it really sucked that master could read her thoughts.
"What is my punishment master?" She asked quietly avoiding his disappointed stare. He sighed and walked around to the other side of the table, sitting down and resting his legs on the table top.
"To be decided by me. You will be punished for losing control. Integra believes that assaulted or not you should not have harmed him to such an extent." Seras' wide eyes met those of her master.
"She knows?" Seras practically whined. Alucard nodded his face bland. Seras groaned to herself, it wasn't so much Sir Integra knowing that made her stomach twist, but her master finding out. It both embarrassed and shamed her that she had been treated such, and she hadn't wanted Alucard to know. She felt a brush on her mind, like a cool caress and her face went white at the realisation of what was happening.
"So that's why." Was all Alucard said. Seras couldn't bring herself to look at him. After a moment he continued, "Your punishment is to drink two rations of blood each day for two weeks." Seras made to object, she only drank one every week or so at the moment, but his smouldering glare stopped the words in her throat. "In the event that you refuse to drink I will personally force it down your throat either physically or mentally." Seras nodded silently, she knew what he meant. As her master he could control her with his mind, and thus force her to drink as if of her own will.
A red blood pack flopped onto the table in front of her, moisture dripping down the sides of the plastic container. Seras felt her hearing dim and her nostrils flare. She could smell it, the thick sweet cloying scent of the blood her body craved so badly. She reached out and picked the packet up, holding it before her face she struggled within herself.
"Drink Police girl. Drink the blood." She felt a tear leak out of the corner of her eye as her sharp fangs pierced the plastic. And the bloodlust consumed her.
"Mireille?" Kirika whispered quietly. There was no answer from the blonde, she was asleep then. Kirika sighed mournfully and looked out of the small window of the plane they were on. The clouds were whistling by below them as they flew over the English channel. The plane was an expensive first class flight, and as such they had large padded seats and anything they asked for. Still it made Kirika nervous.
She hated flying on planes. It wasn't the height or the fear of crashing the frightened her. It was the lack of anything she could do about it. If the plane crashed all she could really do was sit there and hope they survived. She would have no control over her life, and no way to protect Mireille. She would be helpless, and that was a feeling she loathed deeply.
Maybe it was the lack of information that was really making her nervous. The job had progressively seemed more and more dangerous. The people who had hired them had sent them what little information they could, and it wasn't much, and yet still it was far more than even Mireille, with all her contacts could garner. Kirika opened the small briefcase they had with them and brought out a folder, reading the label she opened it and spread the documents across the small plastic desk in front of her.
There was a photo, as there always was, of the target. The woman they were to eliminate looked strong and firm, she was tall with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Not unlike Mireille's own, yet they were hidden behind a pair of glasses. She wore a man's suit, a royal green that seemed to suit her well, despite being intended for a man. Most of the pictures they had of her, depicted her with a cigar in her mouth or hand. Her expression was always calm, yet stern, and her mouth almost always set in a frown. Kirika read the long passage below the picture.
Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, age 26, sex female, height 5 foot 12. The statistics went on and Kirika merely gave them a cursory glance. The woman was a bit of an enigma, there was a lot about her childhood, and information about her was easy to come by. But not about what she now did. This woman had been knighted at 14 years of age, and had become head of her organisation. But they could find no information about what said organisation did.
Their employer's information suggested that they were some secret military service. They employed large amounts of trained soldiers and had a barracks as well as extensive training grounds. That was another problem. The goons Mireille and herself were used to dealing with rarely had much experience. But an army would severely hinder them, They wouldn't be able to kill everyone in their way as they usually did. No, they would not be able to carry enough ammunition for that. They would have to get in, finish the job, and get out again. Causing as little stir as possible. Not as simple as it sounded. Which was a shame because it sounded damned hard!
They lived in a manor in the centre of London, it was cordoned off and any gunshots would not raise alarm, which was helpful. Kirika looked at a map of the manor. The main building had three floors, the first floor, a second floor and a basement. The first and second floors were detailed on the map, but they had no information about the basement. Making Kirika feel even more nervous.
She picked up a new sheet of paper. This one was by far the most worrying for her and Mireille. It detailed Sir Integra's personal bodyguard. The black and white picture was all they had, it was of a giant of a man in a long dark trench coat and wearing a large hat and a pair of dark glasses. The man was wielding two huge guns and blowing away a group of people. It was also the only indication of what the organisation did. The people were impossible to distinguish, the blood and gore covering them as they were blown into pieces obscuring them from the camera. But they could tell there was a lot of them, and they looked armed.
What was perhaps even more frightening was the look on the man's face as he so blatantly risked death against bad odds. Most of his face was covered by shadows and his glasses, but his mouth was twisted into an insane smile. Kirika memorised every detail about the man, committing his image to her memory. If he tried to harm Mireille, she would deal with him. Kirika read the details underneath the image. Name; Alucard, age; Unknown, height; unknown, weight; unknown, origin; unknown, race; unknown. Even his guns were unknown, seeming to be some custom made pistols, Kirika knew she had never seen such weapons before. Judging by the size of them they would be foolishly unwieldy.
Ding-ding. This is your pilot speaking, we are currently commencing our decent into Heathrow airport, the current temperature is -4˚ and the time is approximately 9:45 in the evening. Thank you for flying with us and we hope to see you again in the near future.
Kirika felt Mireille stir beside her and she looked across at her partner. Mireille had evidently expected such foul weather as she was dressed in thick blue trousers and a heavy jacket over a shirt. She blinked herself awake after a moment and gave Kirika a radiant smile. Kirika smiled back and Mireille seemed surprised at the expression. Dropping it, Kirika nodded towards the documents she had put back in the folder.
"What's our plan?" She asked quietly. Mireille seemed disappointed at something but recovered swiftly enough.
"I have no idea, I've booked us into a flat near the manor, we'll scout it out then make a plan later." Kirika nodded, personally thankful that they wouldn't be sleeping in a hotel. She hated running to their schedule, having to be up at a certain time for breakfast, and having to hide things from the cleaners. It made her much calmer if she simply shared a flat with Mireille. Perhaps Mireille knew this too, perhaps that was the real reason why she had rented a flat for them. If so, was it because she cared for Kirika? Or was it for some other reason. As always the answers eluded her.
It was perhaps 10:30pm as Mireille and Kirika sat in the back of the taxi driving them to their temporary home. Kirika was sitting much like normal, with a blank expression on her face as se stared at the flashing neon signs of London at night. Another person might have thought she was checking out the new sights. But Mireille knew her too well. Kirika was pensive, her eyes, normally so devoid of emotion seemed troubled to Mireille. Indeed Kirika had grown more quiet, more distracted over the last few weeks.
At first, after she had recovered from the gun wound she had taken at the manor, Kirika had been practically full of cheer. Well hardly as much as others were, but for Kirika's normal persona it had been cheerful. She had smiled more often, held entire conversations and even laughed out loud. She had taken up her artist hobby again, and her skills as a painter had progressed. Then perhaps only two weeks ago, she had started staring out of windows again. The tension between them had soon mounted, and as far as Mireille knew Kirika hadn't touched her sketchbook this week. It was worrying to the blonde.
Mireille didn't want Kirika to be so melancholy. She enjoyed the small Asian girl's smiles and laughs. The was she would look away with that cute expression when Mireille teased her. She wished they could live an ordinary life, away from all the hassles of this dark life. But it wasn't to be. They were noir, two parts of a whole that would never rest. All Mireille could do for Kirika was to be there when she needed help. Mireille promised she would always be there for Kirika.