Walter led the way with Integra and Alucard close behind as they passed through the throng of passengers and family members gathered around the airport doors. Walter led them quickly over to a ticket counter which was surprisingly not busy; a bearded man shuffled away from the smiling employee behind the counter as Walter and his followers approached. Walter talked with the airport employee, fishing all the while in his carry-on bag at his hip.
"Great. May I see your passports?" Walter pulled his gloved hand out from his bag and laid the flat little booklet on the counter. Integra did the same. Alucard just stood there, waiting for his opportunity. The grinning, bubbly brunette reviewed the two passports before her joyfully and returned them to the top of the counter. Walter and Integra took turns setting their larger bags on the scale. Before she checked the bags, though, the woman looked up to Alucard.
She raised her mascara-laden eyes up to Alucard's glasses and asked, "Your passport, Sir?" Alucard took a step forward and leaned against the counter.
The vampire stared into the brown orbs before him and suddenly the woman's eyes seemed to glaze over and her head tilted lazily to the side a bit. She succumbed easily to his deep gaze and smooth, baritone voice. "I showed you my passport. All is well," he said softly. The employee keyed a few words on her keyboard and then checked the bags one after the other. After this task, she returned her blank stare to the vampire's own glowing orbs. He smiled, "Our tickets, please."
The rosy-cheeked employee never broke eye contact with him as she plucked a few boarding passes from a drawer next to her and stuffed them gently into three separate paper folders for their carrying convenience. These she extended over the counter, fanned out in her fingers.
"Thank you very much," replied Alucard, taking a ticket with a twinkling smile. "Have a wonderful day."
The woman still had that disgustingly fake smile plastered on her heavily made-up face. In a sweet, high, bubbly tone of voice, she said, "Enjoy your flight!"
Walter hurried away from the ticket counter like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Integra, on the other hand, had never seen Alucard use his hypnotic powers that way. She wondered if he had ever done that to her and she just couldn't remember.
A gloved hand fell on her shoulder, gently, and a cool pair of lips hovered by her ear.
Low, so Walter wouldn't hear, he said, "And just what would I need to hypnotize you for? Surely I am more seductive than that."
Integra pulled away and spat lowly, "Don't flatter yourself!"
Suddenly, Walter stopped and checked his ticket. "We're gate 40. That's this way. We're making good time."
At the gate, the three still had about twenty minutes to spare before loading began; Integra left her carry-on and her coat sitting with Walter and told him she was going to go purchase a magazine to read on the plane. Alucard stepped up behind her and announced that he would "accompany" her. Integra rolled her eyes and just started off toward the little store. Alucard followed her, amused as always.
Once in the crowded shop, Integra headed over to the magazine rack and scanned the covers. She skipped completely the ones displaying the toned muscles and ripped abs, the flimsy paper kind with an absurd picture of alien babies on the cover, and all the tabloids; she didn't know anything about the celebrities and, frankly, didn't care. None of them owned their own vampire-hunting organization or lived with a monster, so she really didn't care about all their little preppy problems. She had enough for the whole world. She turned to see where Alucard was and found him right behind her. She jumped slightly, but he didn't seem to notice; he was peering over her shoulder at a magazine.
"Here, Master, buy this one," he offered. She looked at what he handed her and thought it did look quite appealing. It pictured the best and worst dressed celebrities, something she thought might be amusing, and it also had several interesting stories in it about different issues in society today—issues that she herself had pondered over.
"It does look rather interesting." She checked the clock on the wall and found that boarding would begin in approximately eight minutes. "There's not much time before we board. I'll just get this. Did you want anything to read, Alucard?"
"I think I'll just look at that one with you," he replied, hiding something that Integra knew was probably devious.
Integra paid for the magazine and walked with Alucard back to the gate. As soon as they arrived, the handicapped passengers began to load; it would not be long now. Integra took out her ticket and looked at her seat number. It appeared as if she had the middle seat in a row of three. No doubt Alucard and Walter had the seats on either side of her. At this point in time, Integra didn't consider that good or bad, but she would quickly discover that sitting that close to Alucard was always a rotten matter.
Alucard had taken a seat next to Walter and was quietly observing the other passengers. Integra sat down across from him and did the same.
A middle-aged woman with big hair, dark lashes, and glossy, full lips walked by, wheeling her designer carry-on bag behind her as she strutted through the gate. Alucard chuckled and Integra glanced at him. He caught her eye and smirked.
"That woman's a stripper," he spoke snidely in her mind.
"So? What's funny about that?" Integra countered.
Alucard chuckled in her mind and added, "She's not really a woman." Integra's eyes did widen at this and she looked over her shoulder at the person in question. When she turned back to face Alucard, a grin slowly spread across her face in amusement. "And that man over there?" Alucard nodded at a row of pay phones harboring a young man dressed smartly in a dark business suit and polished shoes. "He's talking to his girlfriend who apparently just spent the night with that same transvestite stripper." Integra just couldn't hold it in this time; she laughed out loud with Alucard as Walter looked on, worried.
The airport employee at the gate counter bent over the microphone and announced that passengers seated in the first twenty rows could board now. Still snickering, Integra and Alucard stood and preceded Walter to the ramp.