Garnet

I will be going away for a week, but expect three more chapters after that, when I can. I have a lot of schoolwork to do, but I'll try. I need to satiate my creative needs somehow.

All characters of Hellsing © Kouta Hirano2. Keeping a Secret.

Integra and Alucard

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After living for ten years with a vampire who not only has enhanced hearing, but can also be at any place at any time undetected, I have found that secrets are hard to keep. Alucard and I are relatively open with one another in the peculiar Median/human-master/servant relationship that we have together.

I've raised my Master since she was a little girl, shaping and developing her into the strong, powerful leader I knew she'd turn out to be. I've always been around to see that Integra stays on the straight and narrow and am surprised at how strong a resemblance she bears to her father (although I must say she is a great deal more persevering and disciplined than he ever was). And, although I cannot read her mind, I find at times that it's not terribly difficult to read her thoughts. I'm sure that it's the same way with her, after all of these years.

But, there are some things about my servant that he doesn't know I know. They're my little secrets.

But, there are some things about Master that she doesn't know I know. They're my little secrets.

For example, I know that every Halloween, Alucard flies out to Cheddar just to scare the trick-or-treaters.

For instance, I know that when Master was eleven, she kicked her uncle Richard in the crotch because he had tried to give her the talk about the "birds" and the "bees."

He's not aware that I know about his little schemes, but at times I've overheard him and Walter talking late at night when I am presumed asleep.

She doesn't think I know about this, since it was before my awakening. However, Walter can prove to be quite the entertainer when we're sitting around into the hours of dawn and the butler's had a spot too much brandy.

Alucard doesn't know that I know about the one and only time he decided to try my Wintermans(1) out of curiosity when I wasn't around. The first drag got him coughing and sneezing so badly that he had to go dunk his head in water to recover. I assume that he didn't tell me because he was afraid I'd laugh at him. Truthfully, I probably would have.

Integra would shoot me with my own Jackal if she ever found out that I know about her licorice stash on the second floor. Even Walter doesn't know about that, and believe me; he knows this house pretty darn well. I'm not even going to tell you where she hides it, only that Master can be rather…creative when the need arises.

And then there are other things, other secrets that I know about Alucard that sometimes I wish I didn't.

Other things I've discovered about my Master surprise me.

He doesn't know that I've seen him cry.

I know that sometimes Integra doesn't sleep at night, forced awake by a troubled mind.

I do not know what he would do if he learned that after his first encounter with the Judas Priest in Badrick, I saw him take a blood packet from the freezer and stamp on it so hard that it resembled nothing more than bits of shredded plastic when he was done.

She's not aware that on rainy nights I phase into her room and watch her sleep when she is able to and listen to her mumble and mutter. She talks a lot in her sleep—I do not believe she is aware of this fact. My Master always says the same things over and over again, always talks about the same people, but I do not mind staying to listen. She says she is afraid of losing everyone.

Alucard may or may not wonder why there are plenty of type B's in the blood cooler, even when we are running low on stock. It is because I always make sure that there is a constant abundance of that kind—I know that it is his favorite.

…Whenever I hear her troubled sleepings, I drift down and whisper in her ear, "I'll always be there," in hopes to ease my Master's slumber.

Come to think of it…there is very little about my servant that I don't know.

Come to think of it…there is hardly anything about my Master that I don't know.

End.

(1) Wintermans: the brand of cigars Integra smokes.