A/N: Written after watching Viva La Bam in MTV.
ALPHA
7.
During a search for any useful hint regarding Alucard's imprisonment, Integra had made quite some discoveries. Today one of them was a huge black coffin in quite an outlandish shape, not just a plain rectangle box. It had some writings on it as well.
"What's this, Walter?" she turned to the old butler who accompanied her and was currently being very interested in some weapons also found in the same room. Walter immediately came to her side and smiled as he recognized the object of Integra's curiosity.
"That would be Alucard's coffin."
"If I want to kill him I just have to destroy it, right?" Integra said, redirecting her memory towards the morning earlier that day.
She had suffered from a nightmare consisting vampires and other undead. They wanted to end the vampire hunter organization and tried to turn her into one of them. Just as one of them sank his teeth into her neck, she snapped out of sleep. Then she saw an unknown enormous black shape in her room. Her heart had really stopped beating for a second or two, uncertain whether it was dream or reality. She snatched her glasses and put them on.
It's just a big dog.
After recovering from the astonishment, she thought it was quite harmless. It was only prancing around playfully as if it were a cute little puppy, she reasoned. Obviously this was Alucard's idea of a joke. She set her feet on the floor and didn't pay any attention to the dog anymore.
At this point of time the brute suddenly growled at her. Its teeth gleamed in the morning sun.
Integra stood stock-still. She remembered things she'd read about meeting a dangerous dog. Don't look into the dog's eyes. Don't make any sudden movement that might surprise the dog. Don't run.
It didn't help.
The beast continued to growl threateningly, the hairs on its hackles rising. She knew what mutilation a big dog could do to a human being. Her heart was pounding so fast in her chest that it hurt. The creature could turn her into mincemeat in no time.
Her mind flew to the gun in her drawer. Very slowly, as not to provoke the almost wolf-like animal, she stretched out her arm towards it.
The brute suddenly pounced on her and hurled her to the bed. She was so startled she couldn't even scream for help. The dog was much stronger than its appearance. The only thing left was fighting the hellhound with her bare hands. Whatever prolonged the sharp teeth cutting into her flesh was fine.
That didn't happen, though.
The muzzle transformed into a familiar grin of Alucard's. Instead of the dog, there was now just the old Alucard, his face only millimeters above hers, his hands holding her wrists firmly against the bed. Mockingly he emphasized her lesson, "When you're in trouble, you should call me, master."
"Get off me this instant!" Integra glared at him, but he only laughed. She would have liked nothing better than to do something violent to him. But he had disappeared quickly, leaving her with nothing to kick except thin air.
Now Alucard's maniacal laughter still rang in her ear. She looked at the coffin of that unpleasant servant with the hope she might just get the weapon she needed. In Bram Stoker's Dracula it's written that vampires could be disturbed if their coffin were harmed.
"I don't think it would be that simple, miss Hellsing," Walter answered truthfully.
Integra's disappointment was obvious.
She didn't want to give up, though. Maybe she could lure him inside it and then nail it down, ship it to Timbuktu, bury it down a garlic plantation, or, or... She was thoughtful for a while before turning to Walter, her blue eyes solemn as she spoke, "I was thinking of getting rid of him."
Walter stared at her in wonder, trying to fathom her. While he had no doubts how, ahem, pissing off Alucard could be, Walter couldn't be more convinced that the vampire was vital for the Hellsing institute, especially in these times.
The commander of the Hellsing troops, Williams, had openly expressed his lack of confidence in Integra. He didn't have anything personal against Integra. He didn't even know her personally, except for very brief and fleeting meetings.
"But I do know that fighting vampires is not a child's play, Walter," he said, running his hand through his hair. He appeared quite desperate, and spoke of the possibility of earning his bread in another organization.
Williams was a loyal man with sane judgment, and it would be a sorry loss if he quit. If he could help it, he would rather stay as well. But he couldn't promise he would obey the orders of a 13-year-old girl just because she happened to wear the surname Hellsing. A slight mistake could end up in many casualties, not excluding himself and his subordinates.
Walter decided to let Integra take this thing into her own hands, arranging a meeting between them that was to happen today. But the butler was getting a bit worried, especially with what she said regarding Alucard. He started to wonder what would happen if Integra dismissed people just because they didn't care to humor her.
She had been an only child and there was this father-daughter thing that left Integra lacking of the most important experience of life; there had been rarely an occasion when she got no for an answer. She had been a wise child most of the time, knowing what was good for her and what not; that Walter must admit. Still, obviously this lack of experience was the main reason Integra was ready to do without the most powerful weapon of Hellsing's. She had always had servants who obeyed her without asking, and if they made a mistake, they could always be fired and replaced by someone else. But Alucard's contract time was something nearing forever, and he most certainly could not be replaced by just anyone.
"You think that's a bad idea, don't you, Walter?" Integra said calmly, sitting on the coffin like a young Cleopatra on her throne.
Walter cleared his throat. "As a matter of fact, Miss Integra... yes, I do."
"I figured. Setting loose a rascal vampire like him does not in any aspect conform to Hellsing institute's objective."
Walter smiled in relief. "I agree." Perhaps it wasn't such a disadvantage, after all, that she was used to having people run and carry out her command at a finger's snap. She knew she was the boss; she couldn't afford to make mistakes.
"But," the girl said sharply, "you'll help me tame him."
- - -
tbc