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The Ball Part Two

Cat was dragged into the mass of people wide eyed and wondering. They parted for Alucard to pass, but much less than she would have expected. She supposed that people of their status were so used to being treated with as much respect as one would show the Queen that they forgot what Alucard really was and saw him only as another person who was rudely pushing through them.

She shoved this random thought from her mind and tried to focus on what had just happened. She had seen Alucard before, they had met on more than one occasion, she remembered his name being spoken when she was small, and she had a dream like memory of the park. All of this information would have to do for now. She would not have time to ask him more tonight.

As they neared the center of the ball room Cat could see the Queen sitting on a jeweled and very well guarded chair. There was a procession of people bowing and curtsying to her and she in turn nodded her head or gave them a small smile and wave. She did not quite look bored, but she did not look like she was having much fun either. Cat noticed her gaze flick to the stair case once in a while. She assumed the Queen was also excited for the guest of honor to make her entrance.

Once at the center of the ball room Alucard continued on dragging her through the crowd, "What are you doing? I want to be in the middle so I can see her well."

"You must meet the Queen first, she has been waiting," Alucard pulled her up beside him and put her hand in the crook of his arm.

"I thought Integra was going to introduce me!" Cat walked beside him politely and tried to look small.

"Integra is going to be busy taking care of her self tonight. You've been left in my charge," he took the spot at the end of the greeting line and ambled along without much care.

Cat took a deep breath and held it. She tried to take notice of how the other guests were greeting the Queen. All bows and curtsies with a polite smile and their heads bowed. She would just do this and nothing more. The line was moving more quickly than it had been before. Or perhaps that was only her imagination being sent out of whack by all of her nerves. Before she could think another thought she was standing in front of the raised platform the Queen's chair sat on.

"Your Majesty," Alucard dropped his arm away from Cat's hand and bowed, "It is a pleasure to see you again. May I introduce to you Miss Katherine Deschain, Special Forces soldier of Hellsing."

Cat gulped and made the smoothest curtsy she could manage while looking at her shoes. She thought about saying something, but chickened out and held her tongue.

"Nice to meet you Katherine. A very queenly name. Raise your head so I can get a good look at you."

Cat stood up straight and looked at the Queen.

"Ahh, yes, you look very much like your mother. I am glad to hear that you have the same knack that she did."

"Thank you, your Majesty," Cat managed to stammer out.

"Don't look so petrified child I am only a human just as you and everyone else. Not quite everyone else I suppose, but you know what I mean. I can not tell you how many young girls I meet that are so paranoid of being seen as slobs they do not speak a word! Such a pity that women have grown so shy and feeble after so many years of working through oppression. Thank goodness for women such as Integra and your mother, very strong and regale women, do try and be less of a mouse next time I see you," the Queen waved her hand and a man quickly brought her a drink.

"Yes your Majesty," Cat stood up straighter and laughed.

"Go on now and get a good spot for watching Integra come down. I dare say this may be the only time you get to see her like this. Except for the wedding of course," the Queen winked and took a sip of amber liquid.

Cat made another curtsy much less stiff then the last one and walked back towards the middle of the floor.

"Now that was not so bad was it?" Alucard walked beside her and chuckled.

"It was dreadful and I'm glad I never have to do it again. I would like to see her again though. She's much funnier than I imagined," she stopped in front of the stairs and scooted up close to the people in front. From discomfort of closeness they unconsciously scooted over little by little until she had a clear view of the stairs. She peeked down at a man's watch and saw it was just striking nine.

No sooner had she looked up a trumpet started to play. It, and a few others, blasted out the common tune you would hear when someone was making a grand entrance. They stopped abruptly and a more subtle piece began to play on the strings. Then Integra came into view at the top of the stairs. Cat heard a few people inhale sharply at the sight of her. The jewels on her blue dress looked like ice crystals and shimmered in the light of the chandeliers. She took each stairs carefully, not looking at anyone in particular and smiling a carefully planned smile that had been practiced to stay on her face the entire night. Once she was at the bottom she curtsied to the crowd and made a quick glance in Cat's direction. Cat wrinkled her nose and smiled.

Integra took the planned path towards the Queen and curtsied to her before turning around to face the crowd.

The Queen slowly stood up and cleared her throat, "Though many of you know her already, I present to you Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. If everyone will please clear the center of the Ball room, quickly quickly please, yes thank you. The first dance will go to Miss Hellsing and Sir Alexander Hunton." The Queen sat back down and waved her hand at the pianist so he would start playing.

Cat looked around to see where Sir Hunton would come from, but he seemed to appear out of no where. He looked older than Integra did, but not so old that he had wrinkles. Perhaps he was around forty and as with most men he had probably grown better looking with age. He politely bowed to her and she curtsied and offered her hand. After that they both swept onto the dance floor and began a well practiced waltz or maybe some other dance, Cat really was not sure.

She leaned up against the wall her and Alucard had been ushered over to and sighed. It would be nice for Integra to have someone to help her with all the work Hellsing made and someone to talk to when no one else understood what she was feeling. Though she probably would not bother talking much to him at first. Cat was eager to ask her what she thought of him and hoped that they would not be dancing all night. She frowned and supposed they would be or they would be talking or maybe just sitting in each others company. That was the whole point of the ball, to get to know her husband to be.

After a few minutes of them dancing alone on the floor other guests began to join them. Cat had not noticed before, but there were quite a few young people at the ball. She could see many young boys easily, but the girls were harder to make out. They blended in well with the older women, they wore the extravagant puffy dresses and their hair was up in intricate curls and fancy knots. They had more makeup on than Cat had worn in her entire life, combined, and they carried themselves around like they were royalty. She scoffed as she watched a girl who could be no older than her curtsy to an older man and take a glass of champagne from him.

Soon the dance floor was full of guests and everyone was chattering naturally and laughing boisterously. She glanced up at Alucard and saw he had busied himself with a shadow that he was balling up and stretching like it was a piece of taffy in his hands. She looked back down at her feet and sighed as loudly as she could, but he did not look down.

"If he doesn't ask me to dance in the next five minutes I'm just going to leave. I thought this was one of the main reasons he had to come, to be my date. It isn't as though vampires are going to attack tonight and there are plenty of guards if some crazy people attack. This is stupid I look like a freak standing here next to him I bet everyone thinks I'm weird. This is high school all over again what a great way to start the night. I know you can hear me, why don't you ask me to dance," Cat thought in her head.

"Why haven't you asked me to dance? This is the 21st century, must men still do everything?"

"It's still polite for men to ask them women, especially in the Queen's court. And you aren't a man anyway."

"Do you see that woman over there? She's by the table with punch, near the Queen's left side."

Cat glanced over to the punch table and saw a lady in a violently purple dress and a feathery peacock hat.

"Yes I see her. Is she starring over here?"

"Yes, she is thinking about asking me to dance. You should learn from her."

"Learn from HER? She looks terrible. I'm sorry but she looks like a hooker. I don't know who told her that dress would look nice, but they should be shot."

"She had that dress made. It is her own design. She tells everyone she has a conversation with about it. The Queen is the only one who told her it looked terrible."

"What else is she thinking? Her face looks…odd."

"You don't want to know what she's thinking. It isn't appropriate for little girls."

"I am not a little girl and I've seen far worse things than the interworking of a hookers mind."

"Well you can use your imagination then. She wishes you would go away. She thinks you are my clingy child with no mother to have taught you how to be independent from daddy. She isn't far off."

Cat looked up at him and glared, "She's completely far off! She isn't even in the same universe! You seem to like her so why don't you go and dance with her. She would probably like it that you're a vampire. You could eat her and she wouldn't even notice. She's probably full of blood disease."

"Would it make you happy if I danced with her? Ah, she is coming over, you better decide quickly."

"Of course it wouldn't! I don't want to stand here by myself."

"Would you care to dance?" he stuck out his hand for Cat to take.

Cat glanced over and saw that the purple nightmare had stopped dead in her tracks, "Yes I would." She took his hand and they walked through the people onto the dance floor. They made their way to the middle where Integra was still dancing and took a spot next to her. Cat looked at her and smiled and she smiled wearily back.

Cat had never been especially good at dancing so she followed Alucard's lead across the dance floor. They swayed carefully back and forth and twirled in loose loopy circles. She enjoyed the rhythmic flow of the classical music and soon found herself in a robotic trance. Back and forth, to and fro, a spin here and a twirl there, a dip to snap her out of her stupor.

She clutched his arm in surprise at being leaned back nearly to the ground, but then she remembered it would be impossible for him to drop her like a normal boy might. She relaxed again and could not help looking up into his face and smiling. She frowned when she saw he was not looking at her. On the contrary he was staring at someone else. She turned to see who he was so concentrated on and was not surprised to see it was Integra who was also rhythmically spinning and swaying with not much excitement.

"You could just ask to cut in and then I could dance with Sir Hunton if you want," before she had a chance to finish her sentence he had already begun to dance closer to the couple to be.

Once they were close enough Alucard cleared his throat to get Integra's attention, "May I cut in?" He addressed Integra rather than Sir Hunton which is what would have been proper, if you were human.

Integra looked at Sir Hunton and he nodded at her and smiled, "Of course Alucard."

Sir Hunton passed her over to Alucard and Cat was left to stand and watch. She glanced at Sir Hunton to see if he was going to ask her to dance, but he was staring intently at Alucard. Cat sighed loudly.

"Oh I am dreadfully sorry! Would you care to dance?" he bowed and held out his hand.

"Yes, thank you very much," Cat took his hand and smiled. They danced quietly for a moment while Sir Hunton continued to stare after Alucard and Integra who were swaying away from them.

After a deep sigh he looked back down at Cat, "So you are the girl that lives in the mansion with the monsters."

"Indeed I am, but it is just one monster unless you are insulting Integra," she narrowed her eyes at him in mock anger.

"Oh no I would never dream of it. This is the first time I have seen her, but I must confide in you that I do fancy her. You won't tell will you?" he winked at her.

"But isn't that the point? For you to fancy her I mean. I don't know much about arranged marriages, but the idea sounds ghastly. I mean to spend the rest of your life with someone you have only met once! What if they are terrible?" Cat found it easy to look Sir Hunton straight in the face while she spoke to him. He seemed very kind and close up he was very handsome.

"Do you find me terrible?" he made an over exaggerated frown.

"Oh no, not at all. I find you quite charming. But if one was to be set up with someone terrible I do think it would be unbearable. Tell me Sir Hunton, do you know what day you will be married?" Cat looked over at Alucard and Integra and saw that she was laughing at something he said.

"No the Queen will decide that and Integra has not yet informed her of her decision. She does have more than one suitor to choose from you know," he looked confident in himself.

"Had she informed you yet?" Cat looked at him coyly.

"As a matter of fact she has. She told me she saw no point in seeing any other suitors because it would only make her feel like she was picking cattle. She also told me I was the sexiest man here," he grinned and it stretched across his entire face showing bright white teeth that were aligned perfectly.

"She did not! She's never even admitted to fancying anyone I highly doubt she could even manage to speak the word sexy," Cat laughed out loud, "Let alone say you're the sexiest man here, I think that's a bit vain."

"Can I ask you a question? One that I do not wish anyone else to hear of," he looked down at her seriously.

"Yes I suppose," Cat looked up at him puzzled.

"What of the vampire?" he nodded his head towards Alucard and then turned so Cat's back was to him while she spoke. She assumed he thought this would keep Alucard from listening in, but she knew better.

"What do you mean what of him?" there were a thousand things that could mean and Cat hated it when people were not specific.

"Well…where exactly does he stand in the Hellsing Organization?" his dancing slowed down and little wrinkles formed in the corners of his eyes.

"I suppose you would call him the chief…weapon. That is really the only way I can think to explain him," Cat did not think this was what Sir Hunton was looking for, but if he wanted to treat her so delicately he could just struggle for an answer.

"Um…let me just go ahead and say it, I hope you will not be offended. Is he in love with her?" he cringed at the word love.

"In love with her!" Cat said it louder than she meant to, but no one turned around, "Oh dear, is that what has you worried? That your future wife has a vampire servant that might be in love with her? Or maybe even that she may fancy him back? I do suppose it is a tough thing to not fancy him, but that is only glamour and centuries of learning how to charm someone. NO, Alucard is no more in love with Integra than he is with a vegetable."

"Are you quite sure?" he looked slightly relieved, but still skeptical.

"Yes, I have never been more sure in my life. Love has nothing to do with it. Sure he has a connection to her that goes deeper than simply being enslaved by her blood line, but it is nothing to worry about," she smiled at him reassuringly.

"I suppose we shall see," he looked over at Alucard again.

Cat laughed, "What exactly does that mean? You sound as though you have something planned."

"Yes! An elaborate plot in which I will steal all of your secrets and then run away to Switzerland where no one can touch me. It has taken some time to organize," he laughed along with her and started to dance towards Alucard and Integra.

After some maneuvering around other guests on the dance floor they finally managed to catch Alucard. He had not looked at them once while they were making their way over, but Cat was sure he had been moving away from them.

"Might I cut back in Alucard?" Sir Hunton bowed nicely and smiled.

Alucard just grunted and passed Integra back to him.

Cat reached out for Alucard, but he took her shoulder and guided her into a boy who had been hovering at the edge of the dance floor. The boy jumped at the chance to dance and took Cat's hands and led her away. Cat watched Alucard go though a door that was hidden behind some curtains. She decided she would dance for a few minutes with the boy to be polite and then follow him.

When she looked back at the boy he was staring at her oddly. She smiled in hopes he would realize his rudeness, but he did not seem to notice. He had a dumb look on his face like he might start drooling any second.

"Will you excuse me? I must go find my friend," she walked away from him without looking back and went straight for the door. She checked around her to see if anyone was watching then ducked quickly behind the curtain. She thankfully found the door unlocked and proceeded through. On the other side there was a hallway that was only lit by a few candles and then a set of stairs on the side. She decided to take the stairs in favor of the light she could see at the top. They led to a door which she went through and found herself in another hall. She walked to the end of the hall surveying each door then picked the one that had no light coming out from under it. It was completely dark inside except for the French doors that were opened across the room. A sheer curtain was hung over the entrance and it fluttered in the wind. The moon lit up the rectangular opening and Cat could see Alucard's silhouette fluttering just like the curtains in the wind. She crept slowly towards the window and pushed the curtains aside.

"How did you know where to look?" Alucard leaned back away from the balcony and sat down on a wicker chair.

"Oh you know, a ladies intuition," she sat down in the chair next to him and looked up at the sky. It was clear of clouds and you could see almost every star. A gust of wind blew by and Cat shivered.

"Put on my jacket," Alucard picked up his jacket from the arm of the chair and tossed it at her.

"Thanks," she put it on and shivered again when the inside was just as cold as the wind.

They sat on the balcony in silence for a while before Cat became curious, "Is there something the matter? You seem off."

"What do you mean off?" he looked at her and scowled.

"I don't know you just seem different than normal," Cat looked at him and shrugged.

"You have only been around for five months how would you know what normal for me is," he looked back at the moon with a sour expression.

"Well then you're acting different from the way you've been acting for the past five months. Why don't you just tell me it's not like it will make a difference," she looked at him and pleaded in her mind.

"You humans are so nosy. You always want to know everything about someone else when it is none of your concern. And you are exactly right it will not make a difference so what is the point of me telling you anything?" he raised his voice slightly at the end and Cat stared at him with a mild humor.

"No need to snap it was just a question. Maybe it will make a difference. Or maybe it won't. Either way I still want to know and it is obvious something is wrong," she kept her voice cool and smooth, a trick she had learned from him.

"How do you feel about that scrum the Queen picked out?" he looked back over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"So that's what this is about! You're jealous! You know he asked me about you, he was worried you were in love with her. I told him you were no more in love with her than with a vegetable," Cat curled up into a ball and rested her chin on her knees.

"Yes I heard all of that. How were you so sure?" he looked at her intrigued.

She was startled by the question for a moment then smiled, "Because you have been a vampire for many centuries and any heart you had crumbled away long ago."

"Walter thinks you should go back to school, but I think you are smart enough already. I heard what else you said to him and it is true in a sense. You put more weight on it than I would have, but maybe that will keep our new master in line," he crossed his arms and lounged further back in the chair.

"What do you mean new master? He won't have control of you will he?" Cat became worried, but she could not fathom why. Sir Hunton was a perfect gentleman and there was no reason he would order Alucard about without good cause.

"He will have some degree of control. He will not be able to order me to destroy myself or to do harm to someone I don't think deserves it, but he will be able to order me to the basement or to stay in a certain place. Very menial and annoying things. You may think it will be interesting having someone new live in the house, but you will soon tire of it."

"It will be fine and we'll still have some time before he moves in. I doubt they'll be getting married tomorrow. I suppose this means you will be a slave for another generation. Does that make you sad?" Cat kept her eyes on the moon as she asked.

"Sadness is an emotion that goes along with a heart and I have no heart remember? Did you think that she would never have children and I would be free to go?" he looked at her skeptical.

"I guess a part of me did think it. I just don't fully understand why you can never leave," Cat sighed and looked at him adoringly.

"You may never understand or you may understand sooner than you think. One can never really tell the future," he looked back at her and saw Viviana's face.

"I guess one can't, though it would be very helpful. You can in a way can't you?" Cat shrugged off his jacket and gave it back to him.

"Only when it is concerning myself and deals with something alive or living dead. I know what they are thinking and I envision my own future which is usually not far off," he stood up and slid his coat back on. "Come now, Integra is looking for you."

Cat stood up and gave one last look to the moon, "This night feels very familiar. The breeze, the moon, a balcony, I do hope this doesn't turn out like the last party I was at."

"Not to worry my dear, I don't see it in the future," he guided her through the doorway and closed the doors behind him.