Alucard stood in the shadows of his masters' office, waiting for the blond to finish her paperwork and begin taking details of the mission report. Normally the elder vampire had a lot of patience and welcomed chances such as these, to allow his mind to relax and become ordered, but tonight something was different. His assignment had all gone as planned, but on his way back to the mansion his familiars voice had called into in his head and spoke of the news he had been dreading.
'The first suitor has made himself known' the beast had said, a calm unwavering tone in its voice. Alucard had been so filled with anger that he punched a sizable dent into one of the armoured vans the soldiers pilled in and out of. This reaction had not gone unnoticed and a second vehicle had to be brought down so the men could go back in a safe means of transport, rather than a crumpled explosion hazard. Upon arriving back the vampire had been ordered to his masters office immediately, no doubt to receive punishment for his actions. He had fazed angrily through the floors and neglected to retain his shadows, which coiled and whipped around him like angry tentacles from an ancient fabled monster. The worst part of this situation was that he wasn't quite sure why he felt so annoyed about this revelation in Seras' life, it wasn't as if it was unexpected it was bound to happen sooner or later, but he had never expected that it would affect him so much.
"Having a bad day are we Alucard?" Teased his master, finally finished with her paper work. He gave no reply other than an irritated grunt and a deathly cold stare, he really wasn't in the mood to deal with Integra's' mockery. "Hmmm," She murmured, "Well I would ask what happened but you wouldn't tell me anyways, and I would ask you to pay for the damages you caused, but I don't pay you anything. So I guess I'll have to give you a warning and suspend you from missions until I see that you are in the right sate of mind to return. You have the rest of the night to yourself but try not to disturb Miss Pennaguille's lessons, they are of great importance and your interference would no doubt hinder her progress severely. Alucard nodded and gave a short bow before turning to leave, intent on finding his fledgling, but was stopped just before the door, as his master addressed him once again.
"Alucard?" She said, her voice icy cold and her face coated in shadow "If you ever damage one of my vehicles over a hissy-fit again, I will not think twice about dragging your vampiric arse outside, filling you with as many silver bullets as I can find and leaving the sun to claim your body as dust. Do you understand?" There was a brief pause before he replied with,
"Yes, my master" before he fazed through the wall, leaving Integra to ponder the vampires unusual behaviour. Opening a draw, the iron maiden pulled out a large wooden box and produced from that one of her more expemsive cigars. Lighting the end, she dragged in the smoke, savouring the taste, before exhaling, allowing a small wispy cloud to arise in front of her. It was quite possible that the vampire was experiencing jealousy over Seras, but Integra hadn't noticed the young lady speaking with anyone in such a manner that would cause Alucard to become so wound up. Maybe one of the soldiers had made a rather tasteless remark about the vampiress on the mission? She shook her head at the thought, if that were the case then she would be dealing with a corpse and its caved in skull rather than a ruined military van. Sighing the heiress tapped the ash from het cigar into a crystal ashtray; and turned her chair so it faced the large window behind her. Now was not the time to become bothered over her servant's insane behaviour, for all she knew he could have just been miffed about something that happened a century ago. Whatever it was, Integra decide to amuse herself with other thoughts, most presently with the soldiers who were currently marching in formation at the front of the mansion, she smiled as a new group of young men filled out of the barracks and replaced the those already outside. She would never admit it to anyone else in the household, but watching the men in uniform was one of the most entertaining things she had found to do.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Seras slouched unceremoniously on the sofa whilst Bethany ran through the names and proper way of introducing herself to each guest. After Seras had returned to the mansion, from the garden, she had hidden the gift in her own wardrobe, under piles shoes and unwashed clothes, afraid that someone may find it; she had even locked the blasted hound out of the room so it couldn't tell Alucard where she had hidden it, despite not finding the item particularly endearing or personal, she still wanted to keep it for herself. She wasn't about to let her master spoil a nice memory with his cruelness.
After that meeting, however, her evening had been rather uneventful, the human residents of the house had all gone to eat their 'lunch' at around midnight and after that Bethany's lessons had continued in a rather boring and ceremonial fashion. Seras wasn't entirely sure why she was needed to be present for these lessons, she knew nothing about how to properly introduce herself, and as a vampire she wasn't expected to know or interact with any of the guests but merely defend them, her role here was entirely useless.
"Anyone would think they just want to keep an eye on me…" she muttered under her breath, with a sigh.
Her elbow shifted as the hound nudged her slightly with its nose. Looking down at the creature she couldn't help but smile. The beast had climbed up next to her, and had taken up most of the space available, leaving only a small amount of room for Seras, not that she needed any more, her slight frame allowed her to sit with relative comfort next to the beast. Despite loving animals of all kinds, Seras couldn't bring herself to find Osiris 'cute', he was far too large and malicious looking for that, but he did have an aura of charm about him that made him seem easy to trust, to her anyways, Bethany still seemed to have some reservations about the creature.
'Perhaps,' a voice in her head wondered 'you find him comforting as he reminds you of Alucard?' She frowned at the thought, it was a strong possibility, there was no denying that, she had always found her masters presence calming and soothing, and despite herself she found herself thinking back to the event earlier that evening, where he had held her closely as she cried from her nightmare, scared and weak, his embrace had made her feel less alone, and so much stronger too. Her smile grew wider she raised her arm and allowed Osiris to move his head onto her lap as she scratched just his ears, his jet black fur shining prettily in the artificial light. It was a shame such a creature was held in the clutches of the night, seeing him in the glorious sunlight would have been quite the sight to behold.
Shrugging off the thoughts Seras looked up to the pair in the centre of the room, who had suddenly dropped their conversation and instead were looking over at a shadowy figure that was leant against the wall on the far side of the room. The wide brimmed hat and long red coat were instantly recognisable to Seras; however, the spiralling shadows that surrounded the figure were unusual for such a relaxed position.
"Master?" She mumbled, her tone was mainly confused, but part of her was relieved at the prospect of something new happening to break up the monotonous evening. Neither of the humans had been able to hear her words, but Alucard didn't need her to speak any louder to get his attention. He looked up slowly, the tilt of his head pushing up the brim of his hat so his blazing crimson eyes were visible, a casual smile pulling on his lips.
"Good evening" He drawled, his deep voice filling the space easily, he didn't move but his glowing red gaze was locked onto Seras'.
'Oh God, he knows, doesn't he?" The voices in Seras' mind all began talking at once, fighting over the reason for the evil intent that shone in the elder vampires eyes. "About that vampire who offered himself?" one asked, Seras could feel her discomfort growing "Do you think he'll kill us?" another asked "I don't know! Why would he care? Why do you care if he cares? Is he pissed? He looks pissed'" There were millions of thoughts and voices swimming through Seras' mind, bickering amongst themselves, but her face remained impassive a matching smile to her masters was playing on her own lips.
"Is there something we can help you with Alucard?" It was Walter who spoke first, his tone polite and his face as calm as ever. It was not as if he were unused to the vampires antics, he just looked both, slightly perturbed and confused by them.
"I merely wish to speak to my fledgling, if that's allowed..?" Alucard's words were shaped in the form of a question, but his harsh tone clearly stated other wise. Walter, however, seemed not to notice the vampire's temperament, or just didn't care, as he shook his head firmly and replied with
"No, unfortunately not Alucard, Miss Victoria is indisposed at the moment and must be present for all Miss Pennaguille's lessons. If you have a problem with this arrangement, please consult sir Integra" Alucard immediately stepped closer to the retainer and drew himself to his full height, the shadows around him snapping like whips in anger and malicious intent. The two males eyes lock together in the elevating tension, Walters head tilted slightly as though he were studying every move of the Master vampire and all his behaviours, as if he was going to analyse them at a later time.
Seras, who was the last person in the room who wanted conflict, suddenly stood from her perch on the sofa and ran between her master and the butler, her vampiric powers and nerves making her movements fast and jagged.
"There's no need to fight, I'm more than happy to speak with you, maser, just calm down first. Please." Her sudden appearance had broken the death stare competition and her tone was cautious but slow, like she were facing off against a raging hound, which to be honest wasn't too far from the truth. Alucard, who's eyes were now locked onto that of his fledglings, paused for a long moment before he withdrew his tendrils of darkness and stepped backwards and towards the exit of the room.
"Come, Police girl, don't dawdle" Seras sighed, relived not to have witnessed the decapitation of someone she considered a friend, and followed her master out of the room. She threw an apologetic look over her shoulder at the two humans before withdrawing from the large ballroom, along with Osiris who lazily sauntered behind her, unconcerned with the events that had just passed, leaving the vast space encased in silence.
"Why did you challenge him like that?!" Bethany questioned the retainer under her breath, aware of how acute the occults' hearing could be, in spite of this her words were sharp and cut the air like knives "he could have killed you, and you and I both know that Seras does next to nothing for my education in such trivial matters as these. Her leaving would have had no affect, no affect what so ever, and yet you deliberately made it seem as though she wasn't merely here on formality. Have you lost your god-damn mind?!"
Walter smiled kindly down at the young girl, a serene expression that was entirely unsuited to the situation
"As much as your concern comforts me, Miss Pennaguille, I am perfectly capable of protecting myself, as is necessary in my line of work. However, as for your question to my motives of purposefully frustrating Alucard, I was merely testing a theory of mine, and I do find the results of this experiment to be fairly conclusive." Walter nodded to himself slightly before turning to the young heiress and beginning the lessons again, ignoring her further questions and protests, carrying on as though there had never been a single vampire or hell hound in the room at all.