Chapter 7. Assassin's Bible; An Assassin Must Always Blend into the Environment Around Himself. And Whenever Such an Action is Not Possible, it is Best to Have Someone Around Who is More Obvious Than Yourself.
It was late morning when they reached Germany, stopping off at a harbour in a small city on the north coast. As the ferry putted into the mooring a veritable host of dock workers began to attach planks and walkways to the ship. The Hellsing crew, as Pip had started calling them, walked down one, with two noticeable people missing. The dock workers went along others, shifting the supplies from the boat to the dock.
Mireille Bouquet sighed as she looked up at the cloud filled sky, she hadn't been to Germany often, cases from here being few, but the last time she had come she was sure it had been pleasant weather. This time however the sky was heavily overcast, the blackened clouds suggesting that there might be rain later too. It fit her mood perfectly. Neither she nor Kirika had mentioned anything about last night, from Kirika though it was to be expected, Mireille could tell that she was embarrassed and a little ashamed.
Mireille herself didn't mind, in fact she had been strangely happy. She had always intended to tell Kirika that she enjoyed them sleeping together, but somehow the thought of saying that sounded so….. dirty, as if she was suggesting they have sex or something. Blushing heavily at that thought, (not least because it excited her), Mireille decided to drop the line of thinking before Kirika sensed it. Or that blasted vampire picked it up out of her head, she was sure he could read minds. Speaking of which… Where were they?
"I wonder where the vampires are." She murmured to herself, not wanting to ask, yet hoping someone would answer her. Kirika gave her a little nudge with her elbow and nodded towards where the sun would be, hidden behind the clouds. Oh yeah, whoops! Mireille mentally scolded herself, so like, how would they get off the boat? Ahead of them a large green combat vehicle was just pulling up, it's heavy metal armoured flanks bare from any insignia.
" 'EY!" Pip shouted to some dock workers in his heavily accented French. "Bring our luggage over 'ere." He indicated the truck which was now opening it's back doors, showing a long inside reminiscent of an APC. Mireille looked at Kirika who shrugged in return. How did this organisation remain secret? If they kept these hulking monstrosities around. Kirika gave her a hard shove to the side with her elbow and Mireille turned around to see what she wanted.
Kirika nodded to the boat and Mireille looked back, her mouth dropping open slightly. Coming towards them were some extremely nervous dockworkers. Five to be precise, two carrying each bare coffin, and the fifth carrying the white cloth which had covered them. Oh god. The men were sweating profusely, and Mireille doubted it had much to do with the weight, considerable as that must be. On second thoughts, the fact that the two coffins were most obviously not empty probably frightened them too.
They passed Mireille at a frightened rush and shoved the coffins into the back of the vehicle as quickly as they could. Some more followed with crates of weapons. As they went past Pip he stopped them and dug around in his pockets.
"Thank you for ze aid. Here, I'm sure zis should cover your time. Here's a little extra since our stage props weren't damaged." He attempted weakly pulling out some money. Mireille thought the attempt was a little pathetic, but she wasn't sure that she could have thought of better on such a tight spot. However, she had to concede, perhaps the fifties being pushed into the greedy men's hands would keep them silent, or at least so drunk no one would believe them… for a while anyway.
"Ladies first." Pip bowed to them smiling slightly. Mireille gave him a tight lipped frown and a dirty look but obeyed his suggestion. Climbing into the back of the truck and moving down towards the end before sitting on the hard metal bench. The coffins and crates were propped against this end too, and for a moment Mireille wondered if it was wise to be so near them. Pip must have noticed as he climbed in, sitting opposite both her and Kirika.
"Don't worry. In the day, zey sleep the sleep of ze dead. No heart beat, no breath, nothing." Mireille didn't answer, wondering why the captain was sitting with them. She hoped he wasn't thinking of trying to flirt with her, she'd hate to have to bring him down to his senses here. Beside her Kirika must have had the same thought because she seemed to tense slightly, the ripple of her body passing through Mireille. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the small girl's face go rigid and her eyes turn steely.
Is she jealous! Mireille thought to herself in an amazed tone of mind. How adorable! At that moment the blonde felt the overwhelming desire to spoil the little girl. She often did that back in France, especially when the girl did something cute, though the spoiling usually consisted of taking Kirika out clothes shopping. Something which the introverted girl positively loathed. Particularly the fact that Mireille made her try on every piece at least once. She would never complain, she'd just sigh and say-
"Mireille?" Mireille smiled, yes that was what she'd say, but with a tone of suffering in her voice, a mix between whining and begging for freedom.
"Uhh? miss?" Pip echoed and her face fell momentarily.
"Huh-wha?" She stuttered, realising that they had been trying to talk to her whilst she was in la-la land. Kirika had relaxed, perhaps finding a more suitable reason for the captain being there.
"I said, I've come to explain some things to you." The man repeated with a patient, and yet strained voice. Mireille stopped herself from blushing and simply nodded ignoring the tone. "As I understand before zis neither of you knew anyzing about vampires right?" Mireille nodded, the agreement for both her and Kirika.
"Right well. Ya See, Vampires are a lot like zey are in the stories," Pip began nervously, obviously realising that he wasn't in much of a state to be educating them anyway. There was a loud clang as the doors were shut and a few seconds later the vehicle started to lurch forwards. "Zey drink blood, Zey don't like the sun. err.. zey have fangs and all zat." He trailed off miserably and for the first time Mireille felt a bit of pity for the captain.
"What were those things that attacked us at the docks?" She asked giving him a specific part to explain, he leapt upon it immediately.
"Yes. Well when a vampire drinks the blood of a person that person becomes a ghoul. Zey are pretty much zombies, easy to kill, slow but tenacious and annoying. Zey are dead so zey don't fear death. However if a true vampire drinks the blood of a virgin of ze opposite sex zat person becomes a vampire. Ze ones we killed earlier and ze ones we've been killing lately however aren't real vampires. Zey are man-made creatures made through some chips. We refer to them as FREAKS, and the chip as the FREAK chip. Zey cannot reproduce through biting, so anyone they bite becomes a ghoul. Also if we kill zem ze ghouls stay active, with real vampires ze ghouls would all die. Zat's pretty much it. Blessed silver, or silver dipped in holy water kills zem, as does heavily blessed any'zings, iron, wood, paper, if it's blessed a lot it can hurt zem."
"We, ze Hellsing organisation were created by ze protestant church of England to be ze shield of ze country. To hunt down zese creatures and consign them to ze deepest pits of hell. Any questions?" There didn't seem to be any, there wasn't really anything else they needed to know.
"No, Zat's about it." She answered, Shit, now he's started me on it. She inwardly cursed. Pip gave her a somewhat dirty look and left them to talk with his own men. Whoops. Not the best way to get them started.
"What does he want us to do, do you think?" Mireille asked of Kirika. She didn't really expect an answer, and wasn't disappointed when she got none. But she wanted Kirika to think on it, and knew that she would. Before this jobs had all seemed fairly straight forwards. You had a target, you got the info on them from somewhere, then you stalked them out and killed them. You didn't have to worry about vampires who refused to lay down and die, or a religion practically full of monsters who could only be killed by blessed weapons. Where had those easy days gone?
"And what are our accommodations?" She asked again, again Kirika remained silent, but did give a shrug. Helpful.
"And we don't even have any luggage, not even a change of clothes." She almost moaned, she knew she'd been in these clothes too long for her tastes already. And the thought of having to stay in them longer… Eeyukk. She desperately hoped that she would be able to purchase some new clothes before these ones became unbearable. The very thought of running around with filthy close on was almost enough to make her shiver.
"Say something." She begged quietly of her partner, her nerves finally fraying. "Kirika you don't speak to me anymore, I hardly know what you're feeling anymore." She trailed off, suddenly running out of words. Kirika's face seemed slightly shocked, and frightened as well. But it was all true, Mireille had always known the girl was quiet, but lately it had started to become oppressive.
"Mireille.." She began, her voice cracking with emotion, too many emotions for Mireille to guess at, though sudden fear was dominant. "I don't.- I never know.. what to say.. I-," She stopped in a frustrated silence and Mireille was suddenly ashamed at herself, there were tears in Kirika's brown eyes, not falling. Jut welling there, and making her eyes sparkle.
"I'm sorry Kirika." Mireille whispered, she was glad the men were having a loud conversation, allowing her and Kirika's to go unnoticed. "I'm sorry, I'm just stressed. It's not your fault." She affectionately ruffled Kirika's hair and gave her a smile to show her she meant it. The girl's face beamed up at Mireille's own, Kirika's puffy eyes now crinkled in happiness.
"I want to talk more Mireille. But I don't know how." Mireille was pleased with this, at least it showed that Kirika wasn't purposely trying to be anti-social.
"Just say what you want. Nobodies going to think you stupid or anything. Especially not me. Just say what's on your mind." Kirika nodded but averted her eyes and looked away and down slightly, hiding her eyes under her fringe of hair. She never blushed, but Mireille could read the cute signs of embarrassment. So it's me on her mind is it? She thought somewhat happily, Then again she's the one on my mind most of the time.
"What are you thinking?" Mireille asked evilly, wanting to make the girl blush for once. Kirika instead simply didn't look at her but answered smoothly enough.
"Who our targets are." Mireille seriously doubted that, but it would ruin her game to let Kirika know she actually knew where the girl's train of thought was. Much better to tease Kirika whilst she innocently stumbled around. She was so cute like that.
"That's a good idea, anything else? Why so jumpy all of a sudden?" She asked as innocently as she could manage, which obviously wasn't so innocent, because Kirika gave her a suspicious glare. One which Mireille returned with a look of mild curiosity.
"I'm just not used to working with other people." She replied shifting her eyes quickly to indicate who she meant. Mireille nodded, though in truth it made her feel more comfortable to have allies in this endeavour. "Mireille.." Kirika began, her eyes inspecting her feet. "You know I.. You know that I… Really appreciate your having me around and.. what I'm trying to say is.. thank you." Mireille froze for a moment, feeling her muscles go rigid before relaxing again. Tentatively she draped an arm around Kirika's shoulders, hugging the slight girl to her tightly for a second when she felt no resistance. Kirika happily complied, melting into her without any protest.
"I know. I like your being with me too." Was all she could answer with, desperately wishing she was brave enough to say more, and yet knowing that she couldn't manage it. Defenitely not with all these people around. "You're getting better at talking, and I am sorry I lashed out earlier." Mireille added trying to rein the conversation away from their complex relationship. Kirika nodded but didn't say anything, reverting almost instantly to her near silent state.
Right this is a fairly short chapter, and it was more put in place because I realised that I had explained almost nothing about Hellsing. Not much happens. And I am very sorry for all the "Z's" In this chapter. Writing Pip's French accent got really hard, and it makes reading it irritating. Does anybody think I should keep going, or should I simply rein his speech back to more English spelling and let your imagination do the rest? I Don't actually mind which.