Ch. 4
"Are you certain this is wise, madam? The riots in London have grown worse since the announcement that reconstruction for the Brixton and Lewisham districts are on hold for the foreseeable future."
Integra eyed the man that ran her household, Robert Matheson, Walter's replacement. It just wasn't the same. The man was competent enough, but he lacked a true understanding of the supernatural and Hellsing's role in policing it. It also didn't help that, after Walter's betrayal, she found it hard to trust anyone the way she had once trusted him.
"One does not refuse a summons to a gathering of the council of twelve. If the king says we must meet, then I will be there. Don't worry. I'll bring Alucard with me for back up." It would be a good time for him to hunt. Matheson straightened his back and gave a disdainful sniff with his nose in the air. Integra knew the man didn't like Alucard. She suspected he feared the vampire but refused to admit that was the reason he treated him with such disdain. Far be it from her to force the man to face his fears, so long as it didn't interfere with the running of her household.
"Very well. I will have the car brought around."
"Thank you, Matheson."
With a bow, the butler left and Integra rose to head for the basement. She didn't even bother to ask the man to fetch Alucard for her, although it was in his job description. Alucard also knew the man didn't like him and he took perverse pleasure in nettling the butler.
Striding through the door in the basement dungeon, Integra looked around the dimly lit room. Seras had reported to her the condition Alucard had allowed it to get in after his brush with true death. Although the room still smelled faintly of death, it wasn't overpowering and the empty blood packets had been picked up.
Crossing over to the black coffin, she rapped on the lid. Since the sun was still up, Alucard would still be sleeping, but the round table waited for no one.
After a few seconds with no response, she knocked again, louder this time. A moment later, the lid rattled and a white-gloved hand appeared under the edge.
"Bring yourself to the front hallway, Alucard. I require you to accompany me to London."
"Yes, my master."
V^^^V
Alucard perched on the edge of the roof of the new municipal building overlooking the Thames. With the sun settled below the horizon, his blood-colored duster didn't stand out so stark against the dark sky. He'd been watching the street, waiting for an opportune moment to slip away and hunt when the first protestors started arriving.
Since the razing of London, protests had become a weekly occurrence and practically a national past time. Even after thirty years, the restoration of London wasn't complete. With half its population destroyed, entire districts remained burned out and empty. They had become hotbeds of lawlessness and unrest…prime hunting grounds for the vampire.
The people of the great city wanted it repaired, but there was only so much money and manpower to go around…and no point in restoring an area where no one would live because there simply weren't enough people left. Now, they had an entire generation that had never known the London that was. Not that Alucard cared. He had seen entire peoples rise and fall, seen countries change hands back and forth, and watched his own homeland fade from being part of the center of civilization into a second rate circus act, thanks to a certain horror writer who would remain nameless.
Now, he watched the people milling in the street, some holding signs and chanting. More stood off to the side, watching the spectacle. Someone must have let on that there was an important meeting occurring.
Thus far, the protest had remained peaceful, but he could feel the tension in the air. He dared not leave to hunt, now.
The round table meeting let out at a quarter to nine. As soon as he heard the doors open, Alucard phased down into the bulk of the building. Although the other members of the twelve all knew about him and what he was, several of them still jumped when he glided through the wall to take his place at Integra's back.
"Must you bring your pet vampire, Integra? What if he decides to…eat someone?"
Integra leveled a look at Sir Arthur McMurray, chancellor of national security. The man didn't have nearly enough spine for the position he held. That could account for the continued riots and lawlessness that some parts of London still suffered under.
"I assure you, councilor, he only eats those who are deserving of it."
Not sure whether she was kidding or not, the man quickly made way for her as she headed out the door, the vampire at her back like a red, menacing shadow.
Alucard didn't mention the protest outside. The members of the twelve would have been notified as soon as it started. He followed Integra through the hallways to the front entrance. She called for Matheson to bring the car around as they walked.
Outside, a line of police stood on the steps of the municipal building, holding the protestors back.
Alucard scanned the crowd as soon as they stepped through the door, assessing threats and watching anyone that showed too much interest in Integra. As soon as she appeared, shouts and jeers went up from the crowd. Never mind that she had no control over the issues they were protesting about. All they saw was a person that had a position in the government they felt had wronged them.
The police saw her and started clearing a way to the street where the Hellsing Bentley was nosing its way through the thick crowd. A chunk of rubble came flying through the air. Alucard snatched it moments before it would hit Integra and turned to glare at the perpetrator. He searched the crowd, but there were too many to identify the individual culprit.
The shouts and jeers grew louder, interspersed with the blasts of police whistles and insults to everything from Integra's ancestry to her sexual orientation. Another object came flying at her and Alucard moved to block it.
"You mongrels!" he roared and the noise of the crowd dropped a decibel. "Have you no self respect? A city recovers on the backs of its citizens, not its government alone! You have had thirty years to rebuild and what has come of it?"
The crowd roared back in angry protest. Integra touched the vampire's shoulder as he moved to reach for the Casull tucked away in his duster.
"Don't. You'll just make it worse."
Alucard turned to her with a sneer. She scowled at him and shook her head. Gritting his teeth, the vampire moved his hand away from the holster inside his coat and took a step back. A gunshot rang out.
Integra crumpled, clutching at her right side. The rich scent of her virgin blood engulfed the vampire. Like a fine wine, it only got better with age, but the smell meant she had been harmed. His master…bleeding…and not for his benefit.
With no restrictions to inhibit his newly won power, it burst from his body in a mass of black tendrils. With his master injured, the thought of taking the time to taunt and toy with his adversaries never crossed his mind. His power plunged into the crowd, spiking bodies and lifting them up, impaled on stakes of pure, dark power.
High pitched screams broke out as the protestors panicked and tried to flee, but Alucard's power met them wherever they turned. His dark, manic laugh rang out over their heads as rivers of blood flowed up the steps of the municipal building to be absorbed by the soles of his boots.
Integra's shout of "Alucard! No!" got lost in the pandemonium. Although the vampire's sensitive hearing should have been able to pick it up, the command fell on deaf ears. The insane rage that danced in his red eyes knew no master.
"Integra! Do something!" The other members of the twelve stood at the building's doorway, watching the carnage with horrified eyes. Three of them vomited their dinner all over the concrete steps. A couple more looked like they wanted to follow that example. The rest retreated inside lest the vampire turn his murderous intent on them.
"Alucard! Stop!" Integra reached out to grasp his duster, but it was gone, replaced by the black leather of the outfit she had first seen him in. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed for one of the straps and pulled herself into a sitting position. The gunshot wound in her side sent fiery tendrils of agony through her. Ignoring the pain, she got her feet under her and hauled herself up, using the straps of his outfit as handholds.
Fully upright, Integra buried her fists in the straps over the vampire's chest and yanked.
"ALUCARD!"
Finally, those wide, insane eyes shifted to her. He wore a grin that was more than half snarl.
"Stop! For the love of God, stop, Alucard!"
The vampire blinked at her, sense returning to his eyes, if not true sanity. He looked around as the impaled bodies began to dissolve into the black tendrils of his power where it engulfed the street. Most of the police had escaped unscathed, but as his power pulled back, only a few scattered signs remained of the protest turned riot. There had to have been over a hundred people in the street when that gunshot rang out. The Bentley sat in the middle of the empty road, a shell shocked Matheson at the wheel.
"You're injured, master."
"It's not mortal. What were you thinking?"
Alucard stared out over the empty street, contemplating the lives he had just consumed.
"They threatened you, my master. They harmed you."
Integra pressed a hand to her bleeding side and winced. She needed to get to the Hellsing physician, but she had to do something about her vampire, first.
"Go, Alucard. Go to your coffin and do not emerge until I come for you."
Alucard pressed an arm across his chest and bowed at the waist.
"As you command, my master."