Saturday was a blur, between completing a new assignment and the weekly clean-up of the apartment, Amaya hardly had time to devote to thinking about Alucard, but as she finally dropped on her bed in the evening, she contemplated on doing something she hadn't done in years, not since Marcos.
The next day, she woke up, and after brushing her teeth, stood in front of her open closet. She wanted to choose what to wear each night to meet Alucard, but didn't want to look as if she'd done just that. After a grueling hour, Amaya's head throbbed, but, her mission was accomplished. She'd felt completely silly every time she'd picked out a blouse, or a pair of jeans, or simple sandals, but she'd liked it anyway.
He, on the other hand, was trying his hardest not to wear the red suit, the one he really liked. He was awfully fond of the ruffled tie. But no matter, he wouldn't wear it. He didn't want her to think she was strange or anything. Then he laughed.
Strange? Hell, the carnival tent was strange. What's a ruffled tie in comparison to fairies?
Either way, he'd leave the ruffled tie and the red suit for later. That was, if she accepted.
"What are you looking at?" Alucard frowned and quickly turned, relived to see that it was only Seras. Quickly closing his closet door, he turned again to her and said, "Nothing, Police Girl, why? Something catch your attention?" But instead of annoying her like it usually did, she smiled and closed the door to his room behind her and walked right up to him.
"I think you were choosing clothes to meet her in." She said as she poked Alucard's nose.
"Preposterous, I don't know what you're talking about. And don't touch my nose again." He said as he sat in his writing chair.
Seras laughed and plopped down on his bed. "Master, I don't think I've ever seen you look in your closet so intently. Frankly, I don't think I've ever seen you look in your closet at all. You always seem to have the same thing on."
"Well, so what if I would really have been looking for clothes to meet her in?" He said as he looked at her with his chin raised as far as it would go. Seras giggled and got up off the bed. Opening the closet door, she tsk-tsked and shook her head.
"Then I would tell you you're in serious need of a new wardrobe. All you have are black suits and dark ties. I don't know her, but I know I'd start to get bored if I saw my guy in the same clothes every day."
Alucard frowned again and began pacing back and forth with his hands crossed behind his back. "I have clothes in my castle, an entire room filled with them, but there's nothing suitable for a casual meeting with a mort—, with her." He looked toward Seras, but the only reaction he'd seen from his slipup was a raised eyebrow and nothing more. She clearly understood though. He hadn't even corrected her when she'd said, "my guy", now she was certain of what this woman meant to his master. Seras looked at her watch and smiled.
"Do you have a bank account under a legal name open?" She asked, grinning.
"Yes, I do, but what does that have to do with anything?" He said staring at her.
"Come on, we're going to the mall." She said as she grabbed his hand and shoved him through a vortex of her own.
oooo
For her, Monday had big, green, flashing neon letters on it that said "ANTICIPATION!" clearly. As she walked down the street and headed to the park, she felt her stomach doing flips and her entire body vibrating. She clutched her bag a little tighter, but knew she wouldn't be drawing much tonight. Not if he was already there anyway. She wouldn't be able to keep her hand steady.
Amaya quickened her pace, but refused to let herself do quick little hops and sprints to get there faster. It simply would not do to let Alucard see her running like a child to the ice cream shop. So she smiled down to her shoes and maintained the steady pace.
Alucard followed her from roof top to roof top, fascinated with her behavior. And her heart, he could hear it beating like a drum. He grinned from ear to ear and did his own little hop over the next roof.
Well, no doubt that she wants to see you now, old boy.
She got to the park, and if he hadn't looked up from her at the last second, he would have plummeted over the edge of the last building quite easily and probably made a lot of noise as he struck the trashcans below.
As he waited for a few minutes, he took his mind back to the Hellsing mansion and heard Integra calling out for him and letting loose a string of curses that made him laugh quietly. The woman would probably be pounding on his coffin at day brake and threatening him with death. No matter, in 4 days, her threats would be worthless. Alucard closed off his mind from her calling and quietly leapt off the ledge of the building, landing silently below.
He caught the reflection of the shirt that Seras had picked for him and sighed. He hoped Amaya would like it. He'd also bought black slacks. But he'd refused to buy jeans, exclaiming to Seras that he wasn't a cowboy. She'd looked at him strangely, but shrugged and moved on to get something else.
He crept up silently behind her and tapped her shoulder. She gasped and slammed the sketchbook shut. She turned her head swiftly and glared before smiling and telling him to sit. Amaya hoped he hadn't seen that she'd started to add some background to the drawing of Alucard she'd started on the week before.
"I hope I did not frighten you." He said and flashed her a very toothy smile. Again, her eyes briefly shifted to his elongated canines, but quickly snapped back to his eyes.
"No, of course not. Had I held a blade in my hand instead of a pencil, I'm sure I'd have cut at least one finger off!" Said Amaya as she laid the sketchbook on the side opposite to where Alucard sat. Having him see the drawing would make for awkward conversation.
"Then aren't you glad it was a pencil?" He teased.
She mock-glared again but then turned her head a little to the side and stated, "You're not wearing a suit today."
"You're right, I'm not." He held his breath and waited for her to start her taunts about his attire. Instead, she rummaged around her bag and held food of some kind wrapped in paper. Then he sniffed and smelled chocolate. Amaya began to un-wrap the bar, but still did not speak, then, when as she finally took a bite of it, she said, "The look suits you."
"You like it?" He said, releasing the breath he'd forgotten he held.
She nodded as she broke off a piece of the chocolate bar and held it out to him. "Would you like some?"
"Uh, no, no thank you. I don't usually eat at this hour of the night." Yeah, great excuse there, she'll really believe that one.
But she just nodded and put the chocolate away. "I know what you mean, I never do either, but I was so tempted to have some when I passed by the candy section in the market today. Once in a while won't hurt." She said and winked.
He quickly changed the subject, his excuse having worked better than he would have though possible.
"So, have you ever read anything by Lewis Carol?" He asked, turning to her.
"As a matter of fact..."
And thus, they launched into conversation for the night.
oooo
Monday it had been books, Tuesday had been all about places they'd visited and wanted to visit, Wednesday turned into a full blown conversation about extra terrestrials, but Thursday, Thursday proved to be very different.
oooo
"You know, about a year ago I saw—" And then a raindrop on the nose silenced him.
Amaya blinked and giggled, looking at the blank face in front of her. Then he wiped his nose and looked at his hand.
"I do believe that was a raindrop." He said as he wiped it on his sleeve.
Amaya flinched when one fell on her eyebrow. "Yeah, more than one now. Let me pack up my things, I don't want anything getting wet."
Alucard helped, but by the time she'd closed the bag's zipper, the rain poured down on them had them running down the street to find shelter. He was frustrated. If she only knew about him they wouldn't even be getting wet at this moment, but he ignored it and turned to her as they ran. He left it up to luck that tonight he hadn't had time to change his clothes before coming to see her. He was still wearing his trench coat.
"Here, give me your bag. My coat is water proof. Nothing will get ruined." She quickly handed it over and it disappeared in the darkness of his coat. She didn't even notice that there was no bulge from the bag's shape against his side. He grabbed her hand and they ran faster and faster to her house.
"There, there's the building!" She exclaimed as they stopped in front of it. Amaya punched in the combination and began to pull him through the door when suddenly; she almost bounced back in the rain. He hadn't moved an inch from the mat outside.
"Well come on! Get out of the rain, you're soaking!"
"Are you sure? Do you want me to come in?" Oh God, she did not know what she was allowing him. If only he could have explained. He didn't think that he'd ever go inside of her home before they'd spoken on Friday. Damn the weather!
She looked exasperated and screamed "Yes!" at him before pulling his arm again and dragging him inside. A puddle formed around both as they stood inside in the warm hallway. She shook her head at him and asked, "Did you loose your mind back there Alucard? Why would I leave you in the rain?"
He didn't know what to answer, something that was happening more and more around her, and simply said, "I just wanted to make sure." He probably sounded like quite the idiot then, but nothing could be done about that. She chuckled and motioned to the elevator. "Come on; let's go up to my apartment. I'm sure you want to at least take off that trench coat. I'm freezing, and I don't doubt that you are too."
Amaya pushed the elevator button, and the door opened to let them inside. The fluorescent light left no detail unseen, and he saw the blue t-shirt clinging to her, saw the goose bumps on her arms, saw her lips full because she'd been pressing them together because of the cold, the black hair, loose and wet on her back, and finally, saw her big blue eyes looking at the current floor they passed by. She was beautiful.
The silence engulfed the small space, and he had to break it. "Do you have a nice view from your apartment?" Funny how you already know that she gets a fantastic view.
"Um, yeah, it's nice. I get to see the stars on occasion. And I like living above everything. I'd love the top floor, but the seventh is fine too."
She smiled and looked at him. His face was so pale. She quickly attributed it to the lightning and the fact that it was really cold inside the elevator. Just then, the familiar DING! of the elevator registered in her mind, and they stepped on to her floor.
"Here we go, 715." She said as she pulled the key ring from her pocket. Amaya opened the door to her home and immediately began to take her boots off on the mat inside. Alucard stepped through and felt somewhat lightheaded. He felt just a little unreal, like this was some sort of dream that he was privileged enough to be let in on.
"Give me your coat; I'll hang it up to dry." Alucard was brought back from his trance-like state by the sound of her voice. He unbuttoned the two buttons that he'd bothered to close and handed her the coat along with her bag. The coat went on the drying hook, and Amaya then looked inside her bag.
"Everything's completely dry!" She marveled.
Alucard shrugged and said, "It's a good coat."
"Let me go to my bedroom, I have some clothes that might fit you." He was mortified at the concept.
"No, that's alright, I don't need clothes, I'm perfectly fine. I'll leave in a minute or two."
Amaya stopped and turned, then looked at him from head to toe and then looked to the window.
"Listen you; I'm not going to let you catch your death out there. It is still pouring and you are going to say here until the rain quits, and while you're here I will not let you drip everywhere and get sick in here. I'm looking forward to dinner very much tomorrow and you will in no way enjoy it less because I let you catch a cold."
And with her little speech, she turned away from him and disappeared into her bedroom.
Well now, that was interesting.
There really was no point to argue, considering she was looking out for his health, not that it mattered, but he would agree to wear the clothes she brought for him. He heard her opening and closing drawers, so he busied himself with untying his shoes, much like she had done.
She came back as he was inclining his shoes against the wall next to hers.
"See, I knew you'd come around." Her hair was wet, but pulled away from her face by a messy ponytail, and now she wore a form fitting, black, long-sleeved lycra top and loose draw string pants. In her arms, she held out a folded towel with what looked like a shirt and pants on top. He looked closely at her shirt; he'd never seen one like it.
Suddenly she said, "Don't make fun of what I'm wearing; I've had this shirt from when I used to do crew. I keep it around because it's warm."
"Oh I wasn't going to, I was going to say that it looks nice on you." He said as he took the clothes from her. Wow, I really have been away too long. Not even being able to recognize a rowing shirt!
"Oh", she said sheepishly, and pointed to a door on her left. "There's the bathroom, you can change in there."
Amaya made her way over to the kitchen. She began to make hot chocolate. A few minutes later, Alucard stepped out of the bathroom holding his wet clothes wrapped in the towel she'd given him.
"Let me take those from you." She said as she grabbed the clothes and disappeared in yet another room.
"I thought you said you lived alone. Where did you get these clothes?" He asked when she came back.
"I knew you'd ask me that eventually. They're from a friend who moved away. He'd already rented out his apartment, and I offered the spare room for him to sleep in so he wouldn't have to spend money on a hotel for a night. The next day, he overslept, and was in such a hurry to catch his flight that he completely forgot about his sleeping clothes. You got lucky that he's about your size."
"Oh." He felt embarrassed. She hadn't even said "yes" and he was already demanding answers. If she minded, she didn't say anything.
She stepped back in the kitchen and poured two cups of hot chocolate for her and Alucard.
"This time, you're not saying no. Here, it's very good, drink it."
He laughed and was glad he'd given her a liquid instead of something solid. He hadn't wanted to say no to her again.
She came around and leaned on the wall, facing him. "The night of the carnival, you told me that it was my music that reminded you of it. I think that for the past week we've done enough talking. Would you like to watch the film that the music was made for while the rain dies down?"
Alucard did not have to think about it twice. "Yes, of course."
She smiled. "Now, I don't know French, so I've always watched this movie with subtitles. Do you know French?"
"The film is in French? Oh, well no matter, I know the language." He sipped the hot chocolate. It really was divine.
"Oh, well, no matter, I know the language." She repeated, mocking his accent, and grinning. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Where are we watching your film?"
"Why, right here of course. See? Television right in front of you." She said as she tapped the flat panel TV on the side with one long nail.
"Yes, right, of course, I guess I must have been spacing off or something." She motioned to the couch, and he sat down. Amaya inserted the DVD in the player, pushed play, and sat down on the couch close to Alucard. She brought her blanket over them both, and he shifted closer to her.
"It's called, 'Amelie'. I hope you like it." She said as the opening credits began.
oooo
About a quarter of the movie in, Alucard looked down at Amaya and saw that she'd fallen very much asleep. With his arm already around her, he pulled her closer to his chest and continued to watch the film. When he saw her at dinner tomorrow, he'd have to tell her that he enjoyed it.
The film finished, and he was very content with it. It was something completely different from anything he'd ever seen in a theater. Then again, the last time he'd been at the cinema was a very, very long time ago. It was no doubt that the style had changed.
He carefully slid his arm from around Amaya and laid her down completely on the couch. Then, he looked around the house until he found the dryer where she'd left his clothes in. He changed in front of it; not bothering to worry if she might wake up, the woman was sleeping like the dead. Lacing up his boots once more, he quietly unzipped her sketchbook, opened it to a blank page, and with one of her drawing pens, wrote a quick note to her.
Amaya,
Thank you for a most precious night once more. The rain only added to it. Your hot chocolate was delightful. I will see you tonight at dinner. I do not know where your keys are, so I will come back again with my dog and have him keep guard during the night while you sleep. In the morning, just give him something really bloody to eat. Walk him out with you; he'll know the way back.
Yours always,
Alucard.
He left the note on the coffee table in front of her, and then left quietly. After closing the door, he leaned against it and from his side, in the shadows, a black, red-eyed dog walked forth. He pet it once, and stepped through his vortex once again.