Disclaimer: Hellsing was created by Kouta Hirano; if it had been made by Masami Kurumada, Integra would be an every other day's damsel in distress. The only character created by me is Duke Milford.
(Re) Building an Empire
Seven Months -Week one-
"I don't know if you are ready, but I'm not." Duke bit unconsciously his medical blood bag, letting the contents spill slowly by the corner of his lips, not minding for once if his food was cold or warm or if it had an artificial flavor in it or not. When they had met him, he was really clean and good mannered, but from some months to now he had changed. He was restless and even if he was consuming even a higher amount of food than her, he looked diminished and ill.
"I understand, you've been free for more time than me, you've lived like a real creature of the night centuries before I was born as one." Seras and him were sharing a meal without Integra; their boss was working in the circle where they were supposed to stand during the sealing ceremony. Like prisoners condemned to a death sentence, they tried to enjoy their last meal, a good quantity of freshly collected blood, given willingly by the soldiers and friends. But the flavors, other time rich of emotions, were tasteless in the contemplation that soon they would experience, and in free will on top of it! The same fate their Master had.
It has been seven months since she had consumed a life for the first time, Duke had said that it could be the wise moment to seal Seras, this number represented something… something sacred. And even if the methods were mostly related to informatics, both they were highly magical creatures, ruled by the world of the occult. Duke was proud of the result of his intense research along these months, however there was a glint of discomfort about his decision of letting Integra to seal him.
A week ago they had finally met in person Jack Clemens, and even though the old vampire was resolute to show affection towards the old manager of Market Off, the other had seemed cold towards Duke. At that moment Seras had felt pity for her supposed brother, but now she was sure everything was a businessman's facade.
Hours later after the presentation, and an uncomfortable dinner with the old man. A pang of loneliness hit Seras, who headed Duke's basement room for at least having someone to talk with. Finding it empty, she seeked comfort with Integra like she was getting accustomed to do; but what she found was an image that filled her with a sort of envy. Jack Clements and Duke were curled each other on the couch before the fireplace in the now fully restored office of Sin Integra. Then Draculina noticed something that made her shiver. The vampire was porcelain white, and passive like a dead body. The only trace of color was on his lips, mysteriously red. Clements wasn't looking better, maybe as pale as his partner, the only hint that he was still alive was the paced moving of his chest through breathing.
"He gave up Duke." Seras almost jumped when she noticed Integra was contemplating the scene from the armchair across the room.
"Wha-what?"
"He's a powerful vampire, we decided to perform the sealing in two stages." To Seras, hearing this was like a slap on the face. At seconds of complaining why they haven't involved her, how come she hadn't noticed? Integra continued with the eyes glued at the resting couple. "We placed a spell on your room's door, even if you could have noticed it, you were trapped until we were done."
"Th-that's terrible Sir, I thought you trusted me enough to tell me a little of what happens with us!"
"Shhh…" Integra motioned with her index on her lips. "You are not supposed to know how the sealing ceremony is." Seras was feeling lonelier as ever, she had understood the reasons but some inner instinct was telling her she deserved to get involved; when she was finally feeling part something, they had excluded her! "I'm sorry, Seras." Like if she had read her thoughts, Integra smiled apologetically. Then she motioned the girl to seat beside her, just like Duke was with Mister Clemens.
Seras didn't know if she should move, she felt hurt. Need won over pride, and she made herself fit in the tiny space between her friend and the armrest. Integra rummaged in her pocket and had some struggle to open her cigar case.
"Did… he... suffered?" Seras winced at the vampire in front of them, knowing that the new Master could change the name of the creature at will. Feeling the warmth of her boss and friend, she felt daring enough to ask not only because she cared about her brother, but for her own interest.
"...Duke…" Integra whispered, hand trembling to take the cylindrical object up to her hand, reassuring her subordinate that the ancient vampire didn't change his name like Van Helsing did to Dracula. "...I think... I lost a lot of blood."
Out of the blue, Integra fainted over Seras.
A week has passed since then, and now the Draculina was worried that the Sir had to perform that tiresome rite a second occasion. This time, the ceremony would fully seal Duke and her altogether, and Jack Clemens had departed and no other donor would assist her.
"What does it mean the two stages of your sealing?" Seras simply was curious, she knew they were supposed to hide that information from her.
"Jack had sealed me a long time ago, I helped him to straighten my powers." Duke's eyes shone with a manic glint. "Right now I'm a free vampire, nothing hinders me from running rampant in England. For this sealing ceremony, Integra is putting her life in stake; if she doesn't manage to seal me, I will most likely kill her."
"I would rather kill you first." Seras mumbled, not a touch of guilt in her words. To her surprise, the old vampire guffawed.
"That's exactly the reason for we are being sealed together."
Integra entered of the dining room. She was wearing a completely white attire, a tunic and a hood. She called them both, the vampires walked gingerly behind her, the chuckle from that sort of madness that was already assaulting Duke was the single noise in that room, the same where Alucard had been sealed once.
The room where they walked in was strongly illuminated with candles, and the Draculina was sure the temperature was high as the Sir had plenty of sweat pearls on her tanned skin. The rest of the walls were heavily equipped with the biggest computers the Draculina had seen. From the door frame she could see the intricate circular pattern that the Sir had created on the floor, each trace created with ashes. Frail dust that the most feeble air currents could dissolve. Like when Duke had gone mad that night with the german girls, Seras could feel some sacred power that tarnished her strength for the sole reason of posing a foot on the ground. She gulped a couple of times before gathering the courage to enter completely, nevertheless when she was about to step accidentally on the ashes, an electrical shock running from talon to head alerted her to freeze. Duke was chuckling again.
"It's not what you think, Seras." Integra seated on a little bench on the center of the circle, a laptop on her lap. "It's ten pounds of pulverized sacred host, so I recommend you to do not touch it."
The old vampire, aware of what was happening since he had worked on it all along with Integra, placed himself on the farthest corner of the basement room. Seras copied his actions by walking towards the other free corner. Until then she realized she was standing over a large Game Boy like monochromatic screen; another diagram on it, a pixellated version of a pentagram like the one Masted had on the dorse of his hand, the only difference were that the letters around it were in English.
"What does it mean 'playing god who speaks japanese'?"
"It's your mantra," Duke shrugged "I thought something cute for you would fit once in a while."
"What do you mean once in a while? And it's not cute at all, it's.. weird!" Seras was about to leap out of her circle to check if Duke had a ridiculous message just like hers, she was betting the old vampire had picked a cool mantra only for him. Integra's voice made her stand still.
"Seras, don't let him fool you," she didn't even glanced at the girl, too concentrated in writing something on the keyboard "that pentagram is made of liquid crystal, it changes shape at will."
The Draculina turned back at the pentagram, Integra was right. Now it said 'To the blue roses that wither in the white room'." She wondered if it was through the computer how it was changed, but seeing her boss was too focused to answer another question, she crossed her arms ready to wait the moment the sealing ceremony would start.
She blinked twice in surprise. Crossing her arms had turned ridiculously simple, like her lost arm had decided to return to her original shape without need of her concentrating on it. Something in the room turned more uncomfortable, Seras felt like she was drowning in cold water. Looking back at Integra, the Sir was typing as fast as she could while murmuring something that the enhanced senses of the Draculina couldn't catch. Then a growl that made her stomach tremble made her look at Duke, the old vampire was losing his shape. Even Seras, that had seen several times the most gruesome transformation of her Master, had to admit that the elder vampire was made of something more wicked of what she had thought. Suddenly the monster beside her was growing to devour the entire room. Its black abysm was reaching the edges of her circle, and panic made her search for her boss in the room.
There was nothing, only the silent typing of the woman's fingers on the keyboard. Seras started to remember that scene when she was still human, the horrors of her life in the orphanage, the scene that was carved on her soul of her mother's corpse being profaned; her own life going backwards. Someone was experimenting with her; werewolves! The beast were holding her still while the humans in bed with them cut through. Her skin being peeled tissue by tissue; eviscerated; the eye cut by half like a golf ball. She screamed her lungs out, but no sound was coming out of her. Oh right, she had no longer voice box!
"Mignonette…" a little voice in the back of her head called, who was it? "Mignonette!" She knew that someone. "Seras! Seras Victoria!"
"Pip!" She screamed her mind out while her soul was swallowed into a muddy pitch.
"It's not you who needs help… listen carefully!"
Seras was immersed in dismay, even so she decided to listen the advice. She no longer had eyes, but could still hear, they haven't injured her ears yet. Yes, the howlings of the wolves, the discriminatory jokes in their animalistic voices, they enjoyed to dismember a vampire, they felt on the top of the feeding chain doing that. Pip told her to listen more deeply. A murmur. A never-ending murmur in a sweet female voice. It was a praying. Someone was praying for her damned soul's salvation. Seras opened the eyes, she was back into reality to the basement's room corner, a whirlwind of black smoke was around her. In the center of the hurricane, she could pinpoint Integra among, the circle around her was clean. A spot of virtue in the middle of all the sins of mankind. Out of the smoke, a hand grabbed Integra. A choke and the praying was stopped for good.
Seras forgot she had to stand still on the corner. She rushed towards her boss. Entering the circle was rendering her to almost cinders, but she wasn't ready to stop until she could save the woman. The black hands were strangling the tanned neck that her Master had dreamed of, she couldn't allow it. When her arms touched the black anthropomorphic shade which once were Duke's, she felt like being pierced with big needles in each pore of her skin. She struggled the burning sensation, the unbearable pain was nothing compared to lose Integra. She managed to separate the hands and, overlapped to kill Integra, the black hands turned towards Seras. She couldn't believe she was losing air, she never had need of it. Her boss praying resumed, and internally the Draculina was praying herself for this hell to get to an end. Up until then she noticed the pentagrams on the floor, they were no longer on the corners, they had moved across the room to place under their feet. And they shone with holy glory, illuminating the entire room through the smoke that was turning slowly in a dark misty.
"AMEN!" Seras heard Integra to yell and a single last key being pushed with all the Sir's might. After that everything turned white...
Author's Note: Thank you for the followings and comments. Fulfilling gogo199432's wish the story goes forward. I hope it's not very obscure, the rating changed just for going safe. But anyway... it's Hellsing so it should be M to begin with xD
Next chapter continues with the result of the sealing ceremony.