"This isn't just some party you decided to have on a whim is it," he said with his eyes still closed. It wasn't a question. He knew something was amiss, Integra thought. He would find out sooner or later. She figured she would tell him now. Besides, he has the right to know and the right to know before everyone else, even if it was just a couple hours before everyone else. It would give him time to react.
She bit her lower lip, how would he react? Surely it wouldn't be that much of a shock to him. It was bound to happen sometime.
"No, there is actually quite an important purpose for inviting everyone here." She sighed.
Alucard opened his eyes and thought about digging her mind for the answer. It would be quicker, but he honored her more than to do that.
"I'm retiring." He stopped dancing and she looked up at him. His golden red eyes bore into her. "I'm announcing it tonight. I have no successor and they shall decide who, if anyone, will continue Hellsing's work."
The party had continued around them, and no one paid them much mind.
"I'll need to speak with you later," she said.
She let go of his hands and walked away silently. When she turned around he was gone.
It was time, she thought.
-Much later that night-
As Integra climbed the stairs to her bedroom, the only thing on her mind was sleep. The last of the guests had finally left and the huge empty mansion seemed quieter than normal.
The night had gone fairly smooth and the retirement was not that much of a shock to anyone. There would be meetings to discuss the future of Hellsing, and Integra agreed to be part of these until a plan was decided. As she neared her door she thought she heard voices coming from the other side.
The room was dark, but the curtains were pulled back slightly. The moon illuminated two shadowy figures who turned to look at her silently.
"Seras! Alucard! You two scared me! Why are you here?"
"The talk." Alucard said solemnly.
"Ah…"
"I'll leave you two alone," Seras said, moving past Integra, "good night Sir, I'll talk to you in the morning." Integra nodded off toward her.
She turned to Alucard, "Can this not wait until morning?" She asked pleadingly, "I'm so very tired."
"I had hoped we could talk tonight. If not, then just for a little while?" Integra had never seemed him act this way before. He looked around the room, up at the ceiling, to the floor. It was almost as if he was… nervous? No, certainly not. He took off his black gloves and casually tossed them onto a close chair. He had no intention of leaving, it seemed. He didn't move and didn't say anything. He just waited quietly for her answer.
"Hrm. I suppose. I did say I would." His eyes finally met hers. He nodded.
They took a seat near the window. They said nothing to each other for a few minutes. Integra was the first to speak, "You knew this was coming, I'm in no way fit to run the Hellsing Organization any longer. It is for the best, for both me and her majesty."
"And what of me?" he asked.
Integra drew in a deep breath. She had given thought to this. Hellsing owned him, he was their servant. She had spent many nights trying to decide what to do with him. And eventually decided there would be only three choices. She could pass him along to next in line of the Hellsing organization, lock him back where her father had kept him, or…
set him free…
What should she do with him?
Many long nights were dedicated to this decision, and within these long nights she realized something. It was something that she spent even more time contemplating. She ignored it at first, thinking it was just a deep loneliness from too many nights alone. Then she tried to change it, and turn it into a feeling completely opposite. But, she soon came to accept it, slowly, and painfully. All walls and barriers were broken down when she accepted the fact. Somewhere, deep inside her heart, she felt a longing for this being in front of her. She loved this monster.
"Alucard… my bones are brittle, my eyes have gone bad, my skin is like paper, my mind is wavering and I am at death's door." Gingerly, she stood up and walked to her floor length mirror, with Alucard watching as she went. "How many days left until I leave you and Seras? I do not know. I don't know what will become of Hellsing. I can only hope for the best," she paused, "and as for you… you are Hellsing's property. You know this. You are also an intelligent being, who cannot be confined forever to exist for eternity in the hands of mortals." She stopped here, Alucard stood by her side now.
"My dear, you are as beautiful as ever."
She stared at her reflection. She looked used and worn, more so than when the night first started. Her back was bent, her face drawn, and her body frail. She looked up at Alucard. His face was fixated on the mirror in front of him, seeing nothing of himself, but instead staring at her form.
"When I think of the woman I used to be, of the peace keeper, the monster hunter I once was… Nothing could break me… nothing could touch me… I…" Her voice wavered and she could not continue. Her knees went weak and she started to fall. Alucard wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her to her feet. Her eyes had closed but she breathed calmly and quietly. He swept her into his arms and carried her to her ornate, wooden four poster bed.
She slept and dreamt of something she heard long ago.
The lamps now glitter down the street;
Faintly sound the falling feet;
And the blue even slowly falls
About the garden trees and walls.
Now in the falling of the gloom
The red fire paints the empty room:
And warmly on the roof it looks,
And flickers on the back of books.
Armies march by tower and spire
Of cities blazing, in the fire;
Till as I gaze with staring eyes,
The armies fall, the lustre dies.
Then once again the glow returns;
Again the phantom city burns;
And down the red-hot valley, lo!
The phantom armies marching go!
Blinking embers, tell me true
Where are those armies marching to,
And what the burning city is
That crumbles in your furnaces!
(Armies in the Fire by Robert Louis Stevenson )