finally an update after so long
Morning Rituals
Cat awoke at 5:30am the next morning and jumped out of bed to get dressed. She was excited to go shopping and wanted to get started cooking the soldier's breakfast as soon as she could. She slid off the end of the bed and reached her hand into her duffel bag. She let out a great sigh when she remembered the events of the previous night.
Feeling slightly dirty Cat quickly put on her clothes she had been wearing yesterday and ran a comb through her hair. She looked through her duffel bag once again and discovered all her intimates had been destroyed as well.
"Well that is just brilliant," she threw the bag on the floor and stormed out of the room.
Once she was in the kitchen Cat looked over the breakfast criteria and set to work making something both delicious and healthy. She slipped in some of the powdered vitamins Walter had shown her and added some extra spices to mask the taste. Walter had told her the vitamin powder was undetectable but after she had added the recommended dose she took a taste and was disgusted at the bitter under taste. She had been cooking for about forty five minutes when she heard the kitchen door bang open. She turned around to find a young looking soldier standing there with two push carts in front of him.
"It's only 6:30 aren't you supposed to come get this at 7:00?" Cat was almost done cooking so it did not matter that he was early but she thought it odd that they had sent him when Walter assured her they never arrived a minute before 7:00.
"Well I…I mean they…" the soldier looked down at his feet and shuffled them a bit. Cat decided he had not been working here long and was probably being taken advantage of.
"They sent you to see what I was like huh?" Cat smiled at him reassuringly.
"Yeah, that's about right," he seemed to breath a little easier and took a few steps around the carts.
"Well I'm pretty average. I'm not into any of this weird stuff that Hellsing women deals with and I am especially not very fond of her little hellion pet," Cat gave a massive pile of scrambled eggs a few shoves with a spatula.
"Yeah, I don't think anyone actually likes him. Most of us are afraid he'll go rouge one day and slaughter us all. Sir Hellsing says that will never happen but we have our doubts. I think the Sergeant is the only one who isn't afraid of him. He says they treat each other with respect because they're playing the same game," the soldier stopped talking when he noticed Cat starring at him. She had not had a real conversation with someone in a long time and she was eating it up.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to stare. I just haven't talked to anyone normal since I've been here. Are you going to be picking the breakfast up every morning?" she began dishing the eggs into the huge serving dishes the soldier had brought.
"I sure am, lunch and dinner too. What's your name? The other guys just keep referring to you as kitty," he looked a bit embarrassed to tell Cat about a joke concerning her.
Cat laughed as she took the bacon out of the oven, "Well that's basically it. My name is Katherine but I go by Cat. I should probably get used to being called kitty, that's how I was always teased at school anyway."
"Oh I see, well maybe I can get them to lay off a bit. If your cooking's any good they'll worship you," he picked up the dishes she had filled and started loading them onto the carts.
Cat scooped up the last of the potato hash and carried the tray to the cart. "So I guess I'll see you when you bring the dishes back um...?"
"Oh sorry, I'm Lucian," he stuck out his hand a shook hers briefly.
"Alright Lucian I'll see you later. Enjoy your breakfast," Cat smiled at him and turned around to clean the pots and pans.
"Yeah...bye!" he tripped over the kitchen mat as he was walking out the door but cat pretended she didn't notice. Maybe being here would not be as bad as she had imagined. At least there was one nice person. Other than Walter of course.
After Cat finished washing the dishes she sat down to read her book. She figured it would be about an hour before the soldiers all finished breakfast and brought all the dishes back. She was glad there were two very large dish washers so she did not have to do everything by hand. She had gotten through about fifteen pages when she heard the kitchen doors swing opened. She looked up to see Lucian, and then she looked at the clock.
"Wow it's only been forty five minutes. You guys must have been hungry," she closed the book and got up to help him with the trays.
"Oh we're always hungry, but that was the most amazing breakfast we've had since we've been here. A lot of the guys wanted me to tell you it was as good as their moms," he blushed a little as he told her.
"Aw, that's the nicest thing I've heard. My Aunt never appreciated my cooking," Cat froze after she said it.
"What's the matter?" Lucian set down a pile of dishes and looked at her concerned.
"It's nothing, I just haven't thought about my Aunt since I've been here. She was killed by ghouls."
"That's awful, I'm really sorry. Is that why you decided to come stay here?" he tipped a pile of dishes in the sink and the clatter broke Cats trance.
"Of course not! They made me come here I didn't really have a choice," Cat opened the dish washer and started loading the bowls and plates.
"Do you want any help? I could stay awhile our training doesn't start until nine," Lucian took a step forward hopefully.
"No its ok it won't take me long and I have to go shopping a little later. Alucard destroyed all of my clothes," she spoke dreamily as she put the dishes in the washer one after the other.
"Oh…well ok I guess I'll see you tonight. Here they wanted me to give you this," he handed her a folded piece of paper.
"What is it?" Cat was always suspicious of things.
"Just open it," Lucian smiled to encourage her. He hoped she had a better sense of humor than Walter.
Cat unfolded the piece of paper and look at it. She laughed loudly then read the paper aloud, "We love you!! Wow with three exclamation points. I never knew I cooked so well."
"They wanted me to give you something else too. I told them it was stupid but they said if I didn't they would put me in the artillery closet," Lucian again shuffled his feet and stared at them.
"Well go ahead and tell me what it is, it can't be that bad," Cat did not like it when people acted nervous around her. It made her nervous even if there was no reason to be.
Lucian looked up at her a sighed. He shut his eyes and then to Cats great surprise leaned forward and gave her a hard kiss on the cheek. She stood for a moment and then smiled. Lucian turned around and quickly gathered the carts to leave. Cats smile continued to grow bigger and bigger.
"Please don't turn around and look at me please please!" she thought to herself.
Lucian having just kissed her felt it was necessary to turn around to make sure she did not appear angry. As soon as he did Cat burst out laughing. Lucian jumped at the sound of it then hurried out the door leaving one of the carts behind. Cat doubled over and laughed even harder at the expression on his face as he left. She felt terrible for laughing at him like that and hoped he did not take it personal, but she just could not help herself. To be kissed so abruptly by someone for cooking breakfast was absurd to her. Even more so that he was told by the soldiers to do it. She laughed even harder at the thought of poor Lucian telling the other men how she had reacted. A stitch grew in her side and she gasped breath trying to calm her self down. Boys were so odd sometimes.
After a few more minutes of stifled laughter Cat finished putting the dishes in the washer and she looked up at the clock. It was only 8:30 and she was not going shopping until noon. She thought she could wake Alucard now and go early, but she knew he would be very angry and she did not think being mean would help the situation. Perhaps if she only treated him like another person and not like a monster he would be easier to be around. She smiled as she thought how this idea would never work. He was far o self indulged to be treat normal. He liked being treated differently even when it meant he was being bothered or punished. He would choose that over being treated like everyone else. Cat could not blame him though. She was beginning to grow lonely and would not even mind the teasing girls and boys at her high school. Even though they were being cruel it was still the attention she craved. She wondered if this was how Alucard felt after being alive for so long. It must get lonely eventually and maybe even sad to watch everyone you know grow old and die. She supposed he would be numb to it by now anyway but there must still be a shred of human emotion left in him somewhere right?
Cat wrote a quick note for Walter telling him everything went very well and then picked her book up and left the kitchen. She decided she would go back to her room and read for a while and maybe fall asleep for an hour or two. She felt very unconstructive but supposed after living here for a while longer she would be able to find more creative things to do with her time. Being lazy for now was okay with her.
Once she made it back to her room she laid down to read and fell asleep by 9:30. At 11:30 she was rudely awoken by incredibly angry yelling. At first she was alarmed but then remembered that Sit Integra did most of her communicating in that deafening yell. She yawned, stretched, and then rolled out of the bed. She stood in front of her bedroom door for a while trying to decide whether or not she wanted to see what was going on. After another yawn and some eye rubbing she walked out into the hall and followed the sound of Integra's voice.
When she reached her office door she chose to stand beside it rather than go in. It was not as though she could not hear the entire conversation anyway. The Hellsing Mansion was so easy to eaves drop in, everyone was always yelling.
From what she could tell by standing by the door hinges Integra was yelling at one of the soldiers, perhaps even the Sergeant Lucian had spoke of. The conversation was very boring and consisted of the city Worcester, something about freaks, and someone named Anderson. Cat heard something about cleaning up and keeping things quiet or something of the sort. She was not very interested in the woes of being the leader of this organization and did not care to listen much further. She did however hear Integra complain about the man not being able to keep better tabs on Alucard. His response was that it was not his job to keep tabs on the creature and if that was what Integra wanted she should go on the missions herself. To this she yelled for him to get out of her site and she then called for Walter.
Cat was sitting against the wall next to the door when the mane came out. He looked rather annoyed and took a brief glance towards her. She smiled at him, but he only turned and walked away toward what was probably the soldier's barracks. After a few more moments Walter came walking around the corner carrying a tea tray. Cat stood up to greet him.
"Good morning Walter. How are you doing?" Cat gave him her best smile.
"Oh I'm doing as well as can be expected. Sir Integra is in a very bad mood, did you forget to bring her morning tea?" Walter stopped in front of the door.
"Morning tea? I though she only had it in the evening," Cat felt bad she had already messed something up.
"Oh no she takes it morning noon and night. We go through quite a lot of tea here. It's alright though I'm sure she won't hold it against you for too long," Walter winked at Cat and nodded for her to open the door.
When they entered the room Integra was standing at the window with one arm hooked in front of her while she rested her elbow on it and held her head in her hand. Cat thought that her stress was caused by one of two reasons. Either the job was really as hard as she acted like it was or she was just a whiner. Cat favored the third option of it being in between the other two.
"Finally. I thought perhaps you two had decided that tea was no longer suited to you," Integra picked up the tea pot and poured some herself. She drank deeply from the cup then poured some more.
"Quite sorry Sir Integra but Miss Cat was not aware you took your tea in the morning," Walter tidied some papers on Integra's desk and removed the tea tray.
"Well now you know don't you Katherine?" Integra looked at her sternly.
Cat was appalled at being treated like a child who had forgotten a question on the night's homework, "I suppose I do." She looked back at Integra just as stern. "Sir Integra, did Alucard had a rough night last night? I couldn't help but over hear your conversation with that man."
"I'm sure you couldn't," Integra raised her eyebrows. She sat down at her desk and took another sip of tea. Cat thought she was not going to answer her but she finally did.
"I would hardly say it was a rough night. He brought it all upon himself. The man you heard me speak of, Anderson, is a Catholic Priest in Ireland. We do have treaties to keep us all on our own side but sometimes temptation wins the battle. Alucard can not control himself and neither can Anderson when they are around each other. Each one is hell bent on killing the other. Anderson is a regenerator so killing him is not as easy as killing any human. Alucard takes great pleasure in fighting with him. Last night he became careless enough to allow Anderson enough time to cut off his head." Integra smiled slightly at the look on Katherine's face. It was a very subtle look, but one of worry none the less.
"Do not be alarmed it is a very minimal problem. Alucard can regenerate himself just as easily as Anderson, if not more. The problem is that he refuses to listen and causes scenes like this. Having a fight in the middle of Worcester! It's ridiculous. Anderson should have known better as well to come into our territory and mess in other peoples business. You may wake Alucard at noon. I suggest you bring him a couple extra blood packs. As you know he is very powerful but even the strongest of us get tired sometimes," Integra nodded at Cat for her to go.
"Thank you for telling me about it. Maybe it will give us something to talk about on our shopping trip," Cat smiled at them both and left the room.
"You would think she would be slightly more daunted about waking a vampire in the middle of the afternoon," Integra refilled her tea cup and took a sip.
"The way I see it Sir is that she has nothing to be afraid of. She has never known fear beyond the teasing of children her age. She is a strong person like her mother, she does not create irrational fears of the unknown before she has experienced them," Walter reached for the tea pot to take t with him.
"It's alright Walter you may leave it. Someone should teach her that in this house fear of the unknown is the one thing that may save your life."