~Bite of Blindness~ Minyadagniriel

Ch 8: Thirst

-I appreciate all of my reviewers for their support and thanks for sticking with me.

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Cele was alone in the basement. She'd fulfilled her mission but something just didn't sit right with her. She killed Thomas like he was a steer headed for slaughter and she actually enjoyed doing it during that very moment. The blood smeared her face and arms in tiny patterns in some places. She killed a man…no…he was a vampire and she just did the world a favor. Alucard was proud of her; so was Integra…isn't that all that should matter? She told herself that she wouldn't back down ever again, not for anything.

She glanced up her arm and allowed the beginnings of her tattoo to reform; it spread along her skin, underneath the blood, which gave it a completely different look. Robyn's tattoo she affectionately referred to it. When the picture fully appeared, she tightened Alucard's coat around her; however, something inside was poking her in the ribcage. She reached inside the inner pocket and removed a pouch of medical blood. It was warmed from her body heat. She hadn't had a meal since the daylight hours and that wine she drank a while ago did not help her. She still felt a little tipsy from the evening, damn her human half. To kill a human and drink his blood to become a full vampire…could she do it?

The bag tore open easily, some of its contents spilled onto her hand. She licked at the red liquid and poured some of it in her mouth. It had a strong iron flavor. She looked at the bag, type O. That was a new flavor for her, it was bitter. For some reason, it was getting harder and harder for her to resist biting a human. She'll have to ask Alucard about it sometime.

The blood was gone and she dropped the packet on the floor. Her insides loved her for the meal but it didn't seem like enough to satiate her.

She pulled herself up from the floor and made her way to the bathroom, intending to take a bath and wash herself clean of the dried blood. The walk upstairs was quiet, the humans of the mansion turned in for the night.

She locked herself inside and removed the red coat. She turned on the faucet and let the bath fill.

It was so refreshing to the touch. Steam rose from the water and she added oils, lavender and rosemary scented. Before she hopped in the bath she wanted to get as much blood off her body as she could and she used the shower stall nearby. It came off easily, draining down her legs and turning the water to a pinkish hue. She rinsed off everything and stepped out of the stall. The bath was ready; it smelled wonderful.

She slipped into the tub letting the water soak her. It rose to just under her breasts and she leaned back against the edge, her arms draped over the sides and she tilted her head back. Why was it that she had this terrible craving all of a sudden? The blood packet seemed to do its job but only temporarily. Her lower belly began to hurt and she brought her knees up, it helped a little to scrunch her body.

"What is going on?" she said aloud and she slid down into the tub, getting her face and hair wet. She stayed underwater for a minute, it's not like she'd drown anyways. She ran her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes. The knots and snarls easily separated.

She sat up once again, squeezing excess water from her hair and began cleaning her face. The caked on makeup was itchy and gross feeling. She must have been a mess when she returned from the mission.

After scrubbing every inch of herself she refilled the tub and added more oil beads. Now she was just going to relax and enjoy the warmth.

Ten minutes passed by and she almost fell asleep in the tub until she was gently nudged. What the hell, the door was locked, couldn't she be left alone? "What is it master?" she asked without opening her eyes, knowing he was the only other person who could faze through walls.

He didn't say anything but instead leaned down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"You're certainly affectionate tonight," she said, still keeping her eyes closed.

"I am nothing of the sort."

"Then why the kiss?"

"I was hoping for some sort of reaction, but sadly I am disappointed."

"A reaction? What, do you want me to slap you?" she laughed.

"Not in particular, but that would have been interesting." He touched her shoulder, "Sit forward for a minute."

She did as she was asked and sat foreword, but she wasn't expecting her master to slide in behind her! He was naked behind her; she could feel 'everything'. Then he proceeded to pulling her back against his chest.

Cele was too tired to argue so she let it go and just relaxed in his embrace. "Master I have a question for you."

He rested his chin on her head, "What is it?"

"I drank a blood packet before coming in here, but I don't feel satisfied at all and my stomach has been hurting. Does that ever happen to you?"

"No, but you've also been skipping meals. You probably have a deficiency, increase the amount you're consuming and see if that helps."

"I'll try it, strange though…this happened last month too, only for a couple days." She began rubbing her belly, "It aches a lot." She grabbed one of his hands and pressed it to the sore spot, "Here."

"Hmm, well I'm not sure what it is. It probably has to do with your human half. You need to kill and drink from a human." Alucard said and he began rubbing the sore spot for her.

"That's what I'm having trouble accepting. I can kill other vampires no problem but I'm feeling uncertain about humans." She turned onto her side and looked up at him. His dark black locks fell over his shoulder. His scarlet eyes were…intense and focused; they sent shivers up her spine.

"It's not like we're going to send you off and kill an innocent. I've killed thousands of humans because they threatened me. There'll be missions where we will have to do this."

Cele nodded, "I suppose." She rested her head against his chest; his skin was so cold. She scooped up a handful of water and poured it on him. "You are always so cold to touch."

"Your body heat is warming me, half breed," he teased.

They lay in the tub like this for almost an hour. Cele had fallen asleep and Alucard was well on his way to. She was breathing gently, not a typical vampire trait but he had to admit it was rather sweet how she held onto her human functions.

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The water is really cold, super cold…

Alucard was the first to awaken. He stretched his back slightly and briefly glanced down at Cele whom was clinging to his waist. A lot of the water had drained already, though the plug was down. It was strange though; it has a bright pink hue to it. He adjusted his legs, accidentally stirring her awake and she yawned. She twisted onto her back and stretched herself out against him.

His eye caught a glimpse of her inner thighs, they were stained with blood and he tapped on her shoulder.

"Hm?" she moaned half-heartedly.

"Your legs."

"What about them?" She looked down at them and was shocked to see the redness, "Oh fuck!" She sat up and turned the faucet on again while unplugging the tub to get rid of the small amount of old water. She flushed the blood off her legs.

"Well that explains why you're so weak," he said. "You're losing more blood than your taking in and half human means you still function like one down there." He poked her in the belly. "Looks like you and I need to be more careful when we're screwing around," he chuckled, "At least until you make the transition."

She sighed. It looks like she needed to make a kill and soon. Otherwise she would probably become so weak that she could not move.

Two days later…

Cele was struggling around the mansion. No matter how many packets of blood she downed, it wouldn't quench her blood thirst. She must have eaten twelve packets that evening, nothing would help. She snapped at every human that passed by if they spoke to her. Her bleeding ceased that morning, but her body stopped absorbing blood altogether and she grew weak willed.

She wobbled through the corridors, her mind fuzzy…she needed to get some air, it was stuffy inside. She wore only a pair of black pajama bottoms and a long tee shirt. It was far too hot to wear anything else.

The cool night breeze didn't solve her problem; in fact it made things worse. She could smell thousands of scents floating through the air…all of them human. She crashed to the ground, completely overwhelmed. She clawed at her face and writhed on the ground, trying to escape the brutal torture she put herself through. It was unbearable and she dragged herself to her feet again. In a blood rage she took off into the night…

Back at the mansion, Walter discovered Cele's disappearance and reported it to Integra immediately. She sent Alucard out to find the girl and told him to keep things quiet.

"Find her, shoot her, knock her out if you must, just get her back here so we can tie her up. This girl is a handful…" she'd instructed him.

"She keeps things interesting master. I'll find her and drag her back by the teeth if I have to." He smiled and kept vigil from the top of an abandoned house. He was sending out messages via telepathy, hoping that his pupil would respond.

Cele could hear her master calling her but she was so driven to push forward. Her stomach hurt so badly that she almost attacked a woman who was waiting at a nearby bus stop. She jabbed herself in the chest with her fingers, halting the attack and moving on. She should have begged Alucard to shackle her to the basement. There was a large drugstore just across the way from that bus stop and she wandered through open traffic, nearly getting hit trying to reach it. She was going to hide herself and try to respond to Alucard's messages.

The back of the store was a dark alleyway. Cele threw herself against the brick wall, trying to calm herself. She closed her eyes and began speaking telepathically. "Master…master…"

"Where the hell are you?" he responded.

'I'm sorry…it's so painful…'

"Tell me where you are."

Cele peeked around the building, looking for a street sign, "I'm near the corner of North Karsky…between a drug store and shopping center."

"Stay put, you move and I'll blow your head off."

She couldn't argue with that and she stayed propped up against the wall. Her senses were going crazy and she wanted to rip someone apart. 'Don't move' she told herself or she would suffer Alucard's wrath and he wouldn't be lenient with her. He never showed her mercy, nor did she deserve it. To help with the lust, she bit down on her arm, sucking up her own blood. It didn't help but it would do until he arrived. Her brow was sweating and her blood flow increased, "Please hurry master! I'm afraid I may hurt someone…"

He rushed in her direction; he knew the layout of the city like the back of his hand. He leapt from building to building until he found the intersection that she specified. She was seated behind the drugstore, tearing away at her arm. Alucard leapt down to the alleyway, landing in front of his pupil and he knelt down.

Cele could feel the anger radiating from him and her suspicion was correct because he backhanded her across the face. Then he grabbed her by the hair and yanked it, forcing her to look him in the eyes. Her nose almost touched his.

"Why didn't you come to me when you started this lusting? You realize that if you attacked just any human, it would be insane amounts of trouble for Hellsing operations."

She didn't have a response for him but she never let her eyes shy away.

Alucard respected her taking this so well, but his attention suddenly turned when he heard a scream. Cele also tried to look in the direction of the shouting; she managed a slight side-glance. Across the street at that very same bus stop she passed, a lowlife scumbag was mugging that blond woman she nearly attacked. He was pointing a gun at her and threatened to kill her. The blond woman screamed loudly and stumbled to the ground. The thug then shot at her because she wouldn't shut up and he struck her in the head. There was no way that poor woman survived. He then grabbed the woman's bag and took off.

"Oh my god…" Cele muttered.

Alucard grinned and let go of Cele's hair. He ripped Casull out of his coat, "Get up and follow me," he commanded. He ran after the criminal, Cele quickly caught up with him.

"What are we doing? We should be calling for an ambulance, that woman needs medical help!"

"That woman is dead," he replied.

The two of them kept running; looking for the thug and eventually found him several blocks away. Alucard leapt ahead of the man and stopped him in his tracks, "Picking on women are we now?" he said.

Cele watched as her master verbally abused the thug and she thought, "Yeah you're one to talk master…you abuse me all the time."

The criminal pointed his revolver at Alucard and fired several rounds until his gun clicked empty. In a panic he tried to escape but the no life king was faster and he fell over in pain, two bullets penetrated his legs. Alucard then turned to Cele, "Come here."

The struggling man lay on the ground, injured and still trying to shoot the two vampires with his empty gun.

Cele approached her master and he grasped the back of her neck in one hand, pushing her towards the thug, "Finish him off."

"What!" she shouted.

"Finish him now." He shoved her forward, "Do it now! I made this one easy for you, now do your part." He lifted Casull towards her in a threatening manner.

"But master…I…" she stammered.

"Do it…" He pointed his gun at her, "I will not hesitate to kill you."

Afraid of her master, Cele knelt down next to the man. He took a swing at her, but she caught his armed hand and twisted the wrist until it broke. He shouted obscenities at her and fell backwards to the ground. She could feel the lust getting stronger within…

"Now Cele!"

She looked at the man; he was a murderer, so why shouldn't she kill him? Her heart went back to the scene on the cruise ship, when she heard her friend gasping for life. When she looked at the thug, she almost pitied him and suddenly lost her nerve. She looked back at her master and shouted, "Don't make me do this, I can NOT!!!!"

It was the wrong thing to say…Alucard was overcome with anger and his eyes suddenly darkened. He closed in on her and cocked Casull, shoving the weapon to her skull. His voice was monstrous and deep, "I'm giving you one last chance Cele…do it now or your remains will never be found."

This was the scary side of him that she never wanted to see and her head slumped forward. The man suffering next to her was nearing his end anyways…he would have probably gotten a life sentence or the death penalty for his crime anyways. Cele took in a deep breath and leaned forward.

On his last leg, the man tried to push her away but she shoved his arm to the ground and grabbed him by the jaw with her free hand. She then bare her fangs and in one quick motion she bit down on his throat, tearing through muscle and veins. His blood flooded her mouth and she swallowed several mouthfuls.

Alucard lowered Casull and began laughing maniacally. He watched as black flames began appearing out from under Cele and enveloped her and the victim. Several arms burst from her body, grabbing everything in sight. She absorbed the thug's body parts…slowly.

Cele felt a flood of relief come over her. Her stomach was satisfied and in her mind all of her fears disappeared. The loneliness she felt melted away and her vampiric abilities were strengthening. She gulped heavily, trying to get every last drop from him. There was an odd sense of accomplishment in her, like she was proud to have killed this man…there was no guilt.

The black flames spiraled sky high. Alucard could not see Cele nor the victim and he waited patiently for her to finish. Eventually the flames began to die down and he caught a glimpse of her now permanent red eyes, peering through the blackened screen of her familiars. She stood, facing her master, a large grin plastered across her face…one that was reminiscent of his own.

"How do you feel now?" he asked proudly.

"Never felt better, master…" she answered, a light trickling of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth to catch the offending liquid.

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Integra and Walter stayed up all night waiting for the two vampires to return. They were both seated in the study, discussing future plans for Hellsing when the door burst open. Alucard marched inside, followed by Cele whom appeared to be smiling.

Integra remained in her recliner, "Good work Alucard." She looked at Cele, "Are you well now?"

The vampires smiled ad her eyes started glowing once again, "I am feeling very much alive, master Integra." She bowed.

The no life king chuckled at his pupil's inside joke.

"I'm glad to hear it," Integra replied. "You both may go to your chamber and I will be turning in for the night." She got up and left the study, followed by Walter.

To be continued…

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