i was at a wedding event for three days and sadly had no time to write
but i did catch the bouquet! you're invited to my wedding if you review ;-)

The Secret Halls of Hellsing

Katherine was tiring of walking around the halls. She had given up opening the doors because she knew she would find nothing, something scary to run from or something just weird. She came to a set of stairs that led to the left so she took them rather than following the hall straight. She wondered if things on the lower levels would be worse than the things up here. The darker places became the scarier and slimier the creatures you found in there were. Daunting as this thought was Cat continued down the stairs without bothering to return upstairs to get a flash light first. Once she reached the bottom she was relieved to find that the hall was lit with torches. They burned low but let off enough light so she could see where she was going. She touched one to see if it would wiggle in its hold and gladly found it did. She gave it a tug and it came out of the metal rings with ease. Now equipped with a fair source of light she felt more confident about her trek through the unknown.

She wove her way around the basement opening random doors and usually finding nothing. Much of the hallways down below did not even have doors. They were simply stone walls that stretched on and on until one came to a fork and wisely chose the way to go. Cat stopped halfway down a hall that did contain doors and sat down. It was disappointing to be in a place with so much space and so many rooms and not find anything spectacular. For you see, one must understand that simply being a mansion is not reason enough to contain worldly oddities in each and every room. If one wishes to be entertained by this type of place they must simply stop expecting great things and begin creating great things themselves.

Cat stood up and started running up and down the hall. She opened each door and put on a wonderfully surprised face for whatever the room might contain. When it did not contain anything she kept her cheery gasp intact and went on to the next door. After many halls full of empty rooms she finally noticed something odd. In all of the halls the doors were evenly spaced and if one was to enter they would be able to tell that the rooms were exactly side by side. However, Katherine noticed two doors that were considerably farther apart than all the others. In fact you could fit a door for another room between them. Cat opened both the doors to see if the rooms were just larger than the rest, but found they were the same size.

She comically scratched her chin, "Hm, a secret room. I wonder what Hellsing hides in this one. Treasure perhaps. Or maybe something more sinister!" She gave the wall a little kick but found it to be quite solid. For a more accurate reading she lifted her leg in the air and slammed the bottom of her shoe flat on the wall. The force of the blow caused her to stumble backwards but the wall let out a hollow clunk that echoed down the hall and back up it again. Katherine smiled to herself glad she had finally discovered something neither menacing nor weird.

"So it is a secret room," she said, "one of these days I will have to find out what they hide in there and more importantly how they get in."

After roaming the halls a bit longer Cat became hungry. She wondered what time it was and decided it must be at least one o'clock since she could hear her stomach growl even after her large breakfast. She turned around and retraced her steps only making a wrong turn once. Despite knowing where she was going it took her an entire hour to get back to the original hall she had come down. She had traveled a very long way and despite having gone down only one set of stairs she was very far underground. The floors slopped ever so slightly and she had not noticed she was traveling in a spiral.

When she reached her original secret hallway she stopped dead. The door that had rattled on its hinges stood still now and stared her down. Cat slowly began walking past it without taking her eyes off of its rusty little knob. Once she was a few feet away she sprinted back to the secret wall and gave it a brisk push. It slid aside for her and she stepped through and went down the sunny kitchen hall without another look back.

Alucard stood in the door way watching Cat as she walked down the hall and turned into the kitchen. What a strange person she was, to be scared of something yet continue on to something darker and unknown. It would have been interesting to see what she would have done if the thing behind the door got out before she had a chance to run away. He laughed as he imagined what her face might have looked like. Of course she would not have been able to tell how she felt during the whole experience. She would only have her face frozen for eternity in a horrific scream much like the dead man chained to the wall in the other room she dared to explore. It would be entertaining to have her around for awhile and watch how she reacts to the various surprises Hellsing had to offer. Perhaps if she continued to be inquisitive and brave she could have the job her parents once held. Though they were humans and disgusting in Alucards eyes he held the same respect for them as he did for Walter, be it only a small amount. They had not been sniveling pigs like most of the humans in England that Hellsing was obligated to protect. While most humans would be deathly afraid of him he could only sense a small amount of fear in Mr. and Mrs. Deschain when he became incredibly angry or showed his true self and as soon as it came they gained control of it and it would disappear. He sensed in them the same bravery his master held within herself and because of this had agreed to work with them on larger missions.

The stone wall slid back into place and Alucard stepped though it and walked down the hall. He looked through the window of the kitchen door to see Cat animatedly talking to Walter. No doubt she was telling him of her experiences in the secret halls of Hellsing.

Cat glanced up at the kitchen door but saw no one at the window.

"Is there something wrong Miss Cat?" Walter asked her as he stirred a bowl of pudding.

"I could have sworn I saw someone standing at the window. I guess it was only my imagination," she continued on with her story to Walter.

Outside the kitchen door Alucard walked down the hallway with the upper part of his body invisible.

"Indeed she will make an interesting addition to the Hellsing household," he laughed as he made his way to Integra's office.