In the days that followed the vampire attack, Katherine found herself mulling over the creature's words, replaying them over and over in her mind like a broken record.
"The only reason he's interested in you is because of your virgin blood. . ."
". . .Once I take that away, he'll have no more need for you."
She did not want to believe, but Kit was confused in herself, and for the first time in her life she was uncertain of what path to follow.
She knew that she wanted, needed and desired Alucard, as she had never felt before. At the same time she realized what he was, his heritage and dark renown. However, she could not bring herself to believe that he was a complete monster; she just had to think of the night they had spent together, of the gentle touch of his hands, and the way he always seemed to draw her in, encasing her in his arms so as to shield her from the rest of the world.
She felt her cheeks color just thinking of the abandon they had both displayed, knowing that it was his self control that had ended the night of pleasure before her virginity had been taken. He had not wished to go into detail about why he chose not to possess her completely, but before she could press him, his hands and tongue had her in ecstasy again, all thought fleeing from her mind. Even now she was uncertain of her feelings about this; was it a rejection, or some obscure kind of honor on his behalf?
Or was it perhaps something darker and more sinister than that? Perhaps he was biding his time, waiting for the opportune moment when he could feast off her blood – her virgin blood.
These questions plagued her night and day. She needed to speak to him, and demand the explanation she deserved. But now the fact that they could not overtly spend time together made the situation even harder for her to understand. He watched over her; she knew without a doubt that he was always in the shadows, somewhere even now, her own dark angel of protection.
It all seemed ridiculously ironic.
The captured vampire, the one who had come so close to turning her, was locked in the specialized research cells in the sub-basement, and she felt strangely attracted to the area, wanting to see what was being done about the creature. Part of her mind warned her of the danger; after all, it was her insatiable curiosity for the dark monsters that had put her in this position in the first place. Still, it was as if these creatures had some kind of spell over her. She could not resist their call.
On her way down the stairs she saw Sir Integra in the distance, headed in the same direction, and felt a sudden upsurge of anger and resentment towards the woman. The bruise on Katherine's cheek and the pain in her left side from when the vampire had dropped her onto the ground were the fruits of Sir Integra's decision to keep Alucard from her. If he had been there. . .
Katherine stopped dead, hearing her own thoughts echo within her head. Was she even listening to herself? If he had been there? When had she come to depend so much on a man, and an undead one for that matter? Frustrated with herself, Katherine hurried her steps along and caught up with the leader of the Hellsing organization just as she was entering the observation room.
Sir Integra ignored her completely and devoted her attention to the creature bound in the research room. It was held down on a table with pure blessed silver shackles, and a full squad of guards was posted around the room, keeping vigil. Katherine eyed the security, noting the amount of precaution that had been taken; and yet she still felt a shiver run through her body as the creature locked eyes with her and smiled a sickly smile, lips forming the words, "Ah my sweet you are still following me."
Katherine took an involuntary step backwards, unable to draw her eyes away from the creature. Sir Integra, noticing the reaction, frowned and reviewed the information given to her by Alucard and the surviving squad members from the attack. The vampire had targeted Katherine, and taken her away; it had not killed her and was stopped only just before it transformed her. She realized then how difficult it must have been for Alucard to stop him. He could have let her be changed and then claim her as apprentice as well.
She was duly impressed by his self-control; clearly he felt more than he was letting on.
Turning to the scientist team leader, she asked for an update on the situation, and he replied, "Sir, from the preliminary scans it is clear this vampire is of true nature; it is not a freak-chip created monster. It was apparently created some 60 years ago, and old police reports show in life he was a serial rapist and murderer who targeted young, dark haired girls specifically."
Integra looked at the creature and stated, "Well then we need to kill it, and find its creator as well."
The scientist was about to reply when Alucard appeared out of nowhere.
"He was created by one of the dark continent brood; I could taste the madness in him," Alucard explained.
Katherine jumped at the sound of his deep, sensual voice coming from right behind her, and then found herself blushing as he moved closely past her, his hand seeming to brush her arm by mistake. Integra glanced at Alucard and asked, "Do you know him?"
"No, he is a stranger, an unknown," Alucard replied, folding his arms across his chest, his gaze directed at the captured vampire, though he was acutely aware of Katherine standing mutely behind him.
Alucard sensed something was wrong before the sudden surge of power was felt in the room, directed from outside at the vampire in the next room. With a sudden burst of strength it ripped the manacles out of the walls and flung them at the nearest guards, crushing their skulls. Sir Integra sighed as though she had been expecting the worst before ordering Alucard to deal with it and walking calmly away. Alucard gave his famous fighting grin and disappeared into the next room, already drawing the jackal out of its sheath under his arm.
The vampire meanwhile was already decimating the squad of guards, turning them into ghouls on the spot. Instead of leaving with Sir Integra, Katherine armed herself and prepared to do battle, as the first ghouls broke through the glass partitions. As long as she was not overwhelmed she would be able to handle the ghouls until the rescue squad came in.
She was, however, unaware of Integra's order holding the rescue squad back, to see what developed if Katherine was put in danger again.
Katherine continued to fire at the ghouls slowly closing in on her, keeping track of how many rounds she used and becoming increasingly aware that she would run out of ammunition before all the ghouls were dead. She kept assuring herself that back up would be arriving soon, yet could not help but panic at their delay.
Meanwhile, Alucard had already dispatched the first set of ghouls without even pausing to blink, and was engaged in destroying the vampire. As they exchanged the first set of blows and shots, he became aware of the problem in the next room. She was fighting against a large number of ghouls and was in danger of being overwhelmed; he could also sense that the rescue squad was not on its way yet, and this both mystified and angered him. Hearing her cry out his name, he took a millisecond to look back at her, seeing her go under a tumble of ghouls, and then made the decision to merely disable his opponent for the present to help her.
Shooting both legs and both arms off the vampire temporarily disabled it, and in the blink of an eye he was in the other room, effortlessly disposing of the ghouls crowding her. He tenderly picked her up out of the mass of bodies and was about to set her down on her feet when a massive blow from behind sent him reeling forward.
"She is mine!" screeched the creature, suddenly sprouting not just four limbs, but eight. Smashing Alucard again, his left side was reduced to pulp and blood. He was vaguely aware of Katherine screaming in horror, but his thoughts were not on consoling her.
In that second he realized he was faced with only 2 choices: drop Katherine and risk fighting the creature at this level or voluntarily releasing control and risk hurting her in the process. He observed the creature gaining even more strength, absorbing the corpses of the ghouls around it. He realized this was a much more powerful vampire that he originally thought.
Torn between his wish to protect Katherine and his desire to indulge in what was turning out to be an interesting battle, Alucard made the fateful decision, and released the controls on him, going straight to the third level of power release. Setting Kit on her feet, he refused to look at her, knowing he may not be able to control himself, and loosed the Jackal on the creature, tearing it to bits, laughing and taunting it all the time. The other vampire seemed unperturbed by the bullets ripping through him, and Alucard realized with glee that he would be able to have a little more fun with this one.
"Come on! Give me your best shot!"
The other vampire snatched up a stay gun that had been dropped by one of the now dead soldiers and began firing at Alucard. The specialized bullets ripped through him, burning his skin and muscle to mush. Parts of Alucard splattered onto the ground as his body was slowly broken down.
Katherine watched with wide eyes, horrified by what she was witnessing. Alucard – the strongest vampire she had seen so far – was being ripped to shreds by the bullets she had helped create. Instinct told her that once Alucard had been completely destroyed, she would be the next one to die. She needed to move, to run away and find help, but her limbs were frozen in terror, and she held her breath as she watched him disappearing before her very eyes.
The firing stopped, and the other vampire started to laugh hysterically, dropping the firearm on the ground and staring in triumph at the puddle of blood and flesh on the ground – the remains of Alucard.
"The fool underestimated me." Slowly his eyes lifted to look at Katherine, who was still standing frozen to the spot.
"Kit, get away from there!" came a voice from the doorway. It was Walter, his expression marred by the fear he felt for Katherine's safety.
"Don't listen to him, my sweet. Come to me," the vampire hissed, and the moment his voice reached her ears, she felt all her emotions melt away, replaced by a blessed dull sensation. Her lids grew heavy, and her vision became more distorted. She was vaguely aware that her feet had taken a step forward, but it felt more like she was floating than walking. Before she could take another step, a new sound penetrated through the spell, the sound of a familiar voice laughing. It grew louder and more intense with each second, and she blinked in surprise when she noticed movement on the ground at her feet. Alucard's blood was moving, swirling together and forming a black mass. She watched as the mass grew taller, forming a shape that was not quite human. A big, black dog took form and faced the vampire, its mouth open in a threatening snarl that revealed a row of sharp white teeth. The vampire seemed just as surprised as she was by what they were seeing, but before either of them could react, the hound launched itself forward, jaws latching onto the vampire's neck. Katherine had time only to blink before she saw the vampire's neck snap in two and the head roll from the shoulders, landing with a thud on the ground. The headless corpse keeled over, only to be further mutilated by the vicious black dog.
The strong, salty smell of blood was thick in the room, making Katherine feel sick to her stomach. She was finally able to tear her eyes away from the bloodshed, but she stayed focused on the dog, who was once more changing shape, becoming Alucard once more. She longed to go to him, to feel him wrap his arms around her, and to hide away from the carnage that surrounded her.
"Alucard," she called, her hand reaching tentatively towards him. His head whipped around at the sound of her voice and she froze again when she saw the look on his face. His mouth was covered with blood which dripped down his chin and onto the front of his shirt. His eyes were frightening to look at, clouded with the red haze of combat and bloodlust. His lips curled back, revealing his blood-stained fangs and he started to move towards her, the thud of his boots echoing ominously. With each step he took towards her, she took one back. He suddenly launched himself at her with blinding speed, one gloved hand stretched out to grab hold of her throat.
"Alucard!" came a shout from the side, the voice of his human master. He managed to halt the strike in time, but when he looked down at his intended prey, into her terrified eyes and saw her staring up at him with one hand to her mouth and tears glistening in the corners of her eyes, he read the realization of his murderous intent in her face.
"A-A-Alucard?"
Frozen for a moment in that split second of time, he saw the monster he was in her eyes, in her acceptance of death.
And it broke him.
Without another word, she turned and fled from him, brushing past Walter and Integra, ignoring Walter's cry for her to stop.
An unearthly howl tore from Alucard's lips before he vanished into the darkness, leaving behind the death and destruction.
Leaving behind the pain he had caused in the woman he had grown to love.