Disclaimer: Most characters in this fiction belong to the great master Kouta Hirano. Except Duke, Mary & Ann, which are of my invention. There's no economical profit out of this story, the only thing I win is your faves, followings and comments which I thank deeply and make me continue with further chapters ^_^
(Re) Building an Empire
First Week –Day One-
"Did you call me Sir Integra?" Seras peeked in the office passing her upper torso and face through the wall.
"No, actually it's been a little quiet in here for a while." Integra was arranging some papers on her desk, she was planning to call it a day and hit the bed.
"Ah, hum...I guess I've misheard..." the Draculina's shoulders fell down. She went out through the wall again; then came back "but if there's something I could help you tonight, I have a lot of free time anyway."
"I don't think so, I'm about to finish this." Integra tangled her fingers over the desk to make a point.
Her subordinate nodded saddened and disappeared through the wall. Seconds passed by. "Officer Victoria."
Seras popped through the wall, eager smile on her lips.
"Yes Sir?"
"Congratulations for achieving new powers." The head of Hellsing grabbed some files and stood up heading the door, the vampire girl got her body inside through the wall for the fourth time.
"Thank you sir!" She stood up straight holding the files. "I was worried that you'd not notice..."
"How could I?" Integra patted the draculina on the shoulder and both walked out to the hallway. The house was still packed with injured people and lost children, though that night everything was awful quiet.
They arrived to the kitchen. Integra scanned the fridge for a nightly snack. Even if one week ago Walter had made her a sandwich, it seemed like ages since the last time she had eaten one; so some pickles, tomato, lettuce, thousand islands dressing, cheese, cucumbers, mayonnaise, fish sticks, ketchup, onion, turnip and Parma ham ended on the table along with an individual package of instant Earl Grey. Integra lasted several minutes looking for the kettle among all the wooden shelves. She didn't want to wake up Ann or Mary, for she needed to talk with Seras first.
"How have you been doing with the remaining ghouls?"
"Well..." Seras scratched the back of her head "not bad, but also not as fast as I would like. Something tells me they are hiding their presence in some way."
"I see..." She found the kettle and filled it to put in on the fire. Next thing, making a sandwich was something she wasn't proficient at. Wondering if she could add dressing to the bread, she glanced at her subordinate, who was chuckling under her breath while shaking the head anytime she was about to pick the wrong ingredient. Seras had that grin proving her superiority, in this case in sandwich making and not-sharing-her-knowledge, that Alucard showed every time Integra had him as witness when practicing fencing. It was something she had never accustomed to, specially coming from her servant, and the Draculina shouldn't be the exception to the rule.
"Seras..." she started speaking rudely, but suddenly, the image of her most ancient vampire trying to prepare a simple sandwich and failing miserably crossed her mind. Her reprimand vanished in a flash of imaginary victory on her lips. "Tell Duke to accompany you tonight. Get rid of as many ghouls as you can."
Seras nodded, satisfied with the decision.
"Sir, before we go, can I tell you something?"
"What is it?"
"That's not ham... it's bacon." She pointed the reddish mean Integra was putting between two breads, completely raw.
Awaken. This night he was awaken not feeling completely comfortable with it. Granted he was no longer chained to the wall, which was plus, but for some reason he laid on the coffin not wanting to stand up. His life had changed so much in a matter of days. That's right, he was homesick! And the idea was unpleasant. He was immortal, he should care less where he was living, and yet he had that sad feeling similar to the one he experienced back when he was a recently born creature of the night, in Romania, far from his home country. Jack, his house in Pennsylvania, his dogs. No, no, no! He was going to help these lovely ladies while rebuilding London, he had promised. Instead of thinking about his life in America, he decided to plan his tonight agenda.
There was this cargo coming from Germany, he had to supervise that everything was shared between the occupants correctly. Also, he needed to make a few calls to the Rotarians, as much as he liked to spend his own money there wasn't much left from his personal savings, and the lady that had lost half face really needed that surgery. And today Sir Hellsing was welcoming more volunteers to enroll as soldiers, that'd probably required his assistance. Maybe checking the stock market was in order too, it had been weeks since he had read his assets.
He wouldn't like to get back to America to discover the CEO had overlooked important opportunities, especially if considered how broken the England market was. Plan made, he still didn't feel replenished enough for stepping out, maybe he should take things calmer and rest some minutes more there. He smelled the cold air from the crypt wondering what flavor he should add to his meal tonight. He started to stroll again in the realm of Morpheus.
Someone knocked on his coffin lid's window.
"Duke? Are you sleeping?" in the darkness only two shiny red eyes above him were visible.
"I was." He muttered. "What is it, Seras?"
"Sir Integra wants you to come with me to the hunt tonight."
Great, he mentally balled up his plans to throw them away.
The hunting place was in Lambeth, close to the main point where the city had been attacked. The district was still a mess of debris and a bundle of destruction. He hated this gray place reeking with dried blood, gunpowder and human waste, and hated the company; while he was nice with civilians but military made him shiver, he simply wasn't comfortable around them.
He had never hold a gun before and now they had handed him a huge one, Seras had told him it was a prototype of the ones Alucard used to own. It didn't matter if it had been made for a vampire's use, he had NEVER shot to anyone and he was not intending to start tonight. He crossed his arms to sit on what remained of a wall of concrete. The others were making preparations for searching a 'ghouls nest' that had been confirmed some days ago.
As far as he had understood, London had been attacked by a sort of vampire Nazis, who had spread their venom to the citizens. There was also the possibility of finding some Nazi survivors of the battle from a week ago. This was a dangerous business, no wonder Alucard was so happy working with these people, and he could see the same eagerness to blood carnage in Seras. She seemed like a fish in water, giving orders and making groups. Giving advices in the last opportunity.
"Aim to the heart or the head. Keep them the farthest you can from their mouths." He heard her saying.
Like he'd have the aim for that.
"Duke, we're here more backup than anything else. In case we find a vampire they don't have an opportunity." She explained the troops.
"Do you mean we have to kill them?"
"Yeah, I didn't though you'd have a problem." She was so cute while rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.
"I don't. It wouldn't be my first time killing one of our kin." After all he had had to establish his own territory in Bloomfield.
Not wanting to waste more time, he stood up faking he was ready for the hunt. He took his position on the back part of the group; Seras was leading in the front. He knew the soldiers didn't fully believe the vampires were helping, he could feel the fear coming from their heartbeat, which only raised his discomfort. She in the other side, Seras seemed comfortable working with two veteran soldiers, Jules and Morris if he'd recall their names.
Most of the hunt was only searching, walking and searching and searching and walking. At least the moonlight gave some reassurance to the troops that jumped and flinched with every rat popping from the debris. The area had been evacuated, the only reminder of men working in there were the cranes and backhoes, left from the restoration project due to the appearance of the ghoul neighbors. He heard some gunshot in the front part of the line, some yellow light illuminated a human shaped monster. He could recognize he ghoul, disgusting unnatural mistake. The creature fell with a thump, its head a battered mix of rancid blood and tissues. At least they had gotten rid of the menace and they could get back home.
Or so he thought.
They continued walking for the span of one hour before finding another random ghoul. It was strange; Sir Integra had told them that the area was infested by those creatures. Maybe she had misheard the information and they were making a fuss for only two or three of them. Then he felt a heartbeat. It was faint, but struggling to live. Soon he noticed another one, next to the first. Those were different to the ones of the soldiers. Because they were coming from the opposite direction the troops were going.
Duke stopped on his tracks. The heartbeats were calling him, like they were pleading him to find them. Yes, they were calling, like alluring him to drink from their dying pace. He drooled.
"Hey, all of you! Come back!" he waved his arm trying the soldiers to notice him. Everybody turned to him, expectant. "I need to talk with Seras."
The message was passed through the line of almost twenty soldiers. The captain Seras arrived in a matter of seconds, holding her huge harkonnen with ease.
"Did something happen?"
"Can you feel those heartbeats too?" he motioned their rhythms with both index fingers.
Seras closed her eyes to concentrate. The soldiers understood how important it was to shut up and they remained silent. It took her minutes, probably separating the troop's breaths from what she was supposed to hear. Indeed she was younger, but she should be capable of such simple action. She opened her eyes wide.
"They are somewhere buried in the rubble!" She looked at Duke and closed the eyes again. Inclining her head from one side to the other and then walking eyes closed to the heartbeat's source. "By there!" she pointed a dark place not so far from them.
Seras ran towards the pile of debris, not knowing from where to start.
"We have to lift this." She pulled a wooden pillar, the movement made a domino effect that made some part of the pile to scatter.
"We better call the rescue team." Morris suggested.
"Already on it." Jules had on his hand the communicator.
"I can do it." Duke started rolling the eyes annoyed. Suddenly he melted. The area surrounded in thick mist, the soldiers started to panic. One of the newest yelled that they had been betrayed, that Duke was about to kill them all.
Seriously, she had taken her time reading profiles and making interviews, she had thought the men she had picked were loyal. It was a shame they hadn't had enough training considering the haste, so she couldn't check their guts before sending them to combat. She tried to calm them down, they were afraid of nothing. Duke was not dangerous, Duke was an ally.
Duke laughed grimly inside her mind.
"I wouldn't mind giving them a piece of scream."
"No. You don't." Seras answered disgruntled; sometimes he carried the same air that her Master had.
"Oh, look what the cat found!" suddenly the mist vanished, or better said it had been sucked by the pile of debris she was standing on. "There are two little girls in here. What a cuties, none more than ten years."
She didn't know what to say.
He continued.
"I wouldn't mind give them a bite. They are probably virgins."
"Duke, don't. Don't scare them away."
"They are trapped and in the verge of death. I would make them the favor-"
"NO!" confused soldiers looked at her captain with half puzzled, half distrustful expression. They might have thought she was driving nuts. She returned to her conversation in the mental plane "We'll take them out. Tell me where you are."
"I'm afraid I can't do so if you insist staying in your human shape. Unless you change to mist or something small you won't be able to reach us." Actually he was worried for her lack of abilities as a recently born vampire.
At first she took his taunt as a challenge, Duke had been an ache while pushing her to unlock her new powers. His pushing had let her achieve passing through walls. She thought in using that for the situation but then how was she going to pass the girls through them? Truth is she was afraid of some of the powers. She knew how to regenerate her human form, but if she tried another shape who knows if she could come back to the way she had been so far. She pondered it, letting the girls die on Duke's fangs. Master would approve it. Integra won't. She couldn't bear her disappointed face.
Her body trembled at the idea of changing form. She concentrated in being mist. She focused. She was mist. Mist. Thick, cold, wet air. Eyes opened she stared back at the soldiers who had lost his positions to look puzzled at her. One of her hands still had five fingers, the only thing she had managed was to lose the shape of her ripped left arm. She heard Duke's laugher from the back of her head. Her face burnt red.
Maybe turning into mist was very advanced. If she needed a small form, she could try a bat. Eyes closed again, the idea of a bat flooded her head. She focused in being a bat. Feeling the strong wind blowing on her wings. A bat. Yes, a black small bat. She could hear the most humble sounds making a black and white image of her surroundings in her mind. She could feel the weakening on her legs as they'd turned less and less imposing. When she opened the eyes again she panicked. Used to see perfectly in the darkness the place had turned so poorly illuminated that her surroundings were reduced to some blurry dark shapes; and huge shapes to recall for! Suddenly she heard a Julius approaching, she chirped! And the entire world turned on like a TV screen. Soon she realized she was on the floor, the soldiers were looking at her, some with horror, some with curiosity. Jules and Morris seemed proud of her.
The next task was flying. It wasn't anyway similar to do it in her human form. But after some crashes against walls and sloppy landings, she was up and above.
More at ease with her new shape, she found a crack where her tiny body could pass through. She flew inside the tore apart building, dodging debris and furniture, covering herself with dust. In minutes she found Duke's trace, and in less than expected Seras was inside a broken room. Duke was leaning half seated on a wooden desk. It was supporting a wall that was caked with another wall. Under it, two tiny and starving bodies holding tight each other. She could feel it, they were barely breathing. The air was stale, it reeked with rotten meat. Then she noticed, right beside her, an adult body lying in a poor state. A huge shelf had fallen on that man. It wasn't for the dust Seras could bet the place was a lovely office.
"Congratulations" Duke clapped joyful, and then he turned to the girls. "Now let's get us out of here."
It took some moments of concentration to get back to her original self. But once she could stand up on her two legs Duke cracked laughing. She had forgotten how to reshape her arm, again.
"As you already notice there's no way we could pass with the girls by here." He pointed to the crack Seras had just come out from. They could pass unanimated objects through walls, however living people was completely impossible. Then he lifted the kids for handing them both to Seras. "I've been checking the place, we may move some fallen walls by the other side but it will compromise the building structure."
Seras looked down to the girls on her arms. Both were blonde and white skinned, aside from the filth on their faces they were quite loveable. Not exactly English was the Draculina's guess, perhaps Swedish. The older one was about eight and the smaller seemed to have the toddler stage not long time ago. Considering them skinny was an overstatement, it might have just passed a week after London's disgrace, but these kids had already lost the will to live. Their hearts were almost beating, and their breaths were so soft that not even she could felt any disturbance in the air. No wonder Duke had proposed to kill them, but that idea was out of question.
"Can you come here?" Duke was standing on a fallen concrete wall and jumped to a pillar that had broken the next's room wall. He was some feet from reaching the ceiling. Seras followed him up still holding her charge. "We might go up by here until reaching out the building. It doesn't matter the height. Once outside, we jump."
"It looks unsteady; the building might collapse if we move something." Seras had notice how the pillar was holding some other caked walls in the upper levels.
"Hush, don't be a party pooper!" he motioned a thumbs down with the hand "this place won't fall faster than us. I need you to carry the girls while I push the walls."
Actually that wasn't a bad idea.
They took positions. Duke in the front, standing on the pillar. Seras behind him, holding tight the girls.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"Three, two, one... let's do it!" Duke pushed the wall, the cracking ominous sound alerted them this plan was suicidal, but he continued his task. In seconds the surface fell aside from the pillar and a more powerful trembling flooded the place. "Run!"
Both propelled their legs to the temporal opening. Halfway another wall crumbling over them, a Duke's massive push threw it away. Soon a third one, and a second, and the ceiling of the next floor did the same. They pelted from a falling structure to another, eyes frantic looking from a newly created opening. The lessening opportunities made them use their flying abilities; however the increased speed didn't give time for their brains to understand if they were actually going the right path. Vision blurred for the dust and dither, Seras glimpsed an undisturbed door.
"Let's go by there!" She screamed, Duke pushing a last concrete piece aside before breaking the wooden entrance with his whole body.
They rolled by the floor seconds before the whole place outside crumbled into pieces. Both panting with joy, they didn't have much time to celebrate. A very well known feeling made them flinch. At the same time both looked inside the room, apparently some offices, occupied by the ghouls they had been looking for. And by the coward Nazi vampires that had quartered in here full of ammo.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay. I've been working in a project of my own and kind of neglected the fics. This arc is long so it will be divided in two. I've been wondering if someone would like to beta test this, even if I double check the spell some words slip by from my native spanish.