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sorry for the short chapter, I've had a busy week,
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The creeping stiffness in Victoria's joints was slowly becoming unbearable, and her feet had began to burn from the hours of standing. Looking out from behind the canvas the antique clock adjacent to her read 6:45. She had been painting for much longer than she anticipated and it showed in both the aching in her joints and the soreness in her eyes. Glancing at Integra she saw how tired and uncomfortable she was aswell, throughout the many hours she hadn't moved an inch and spoke very little if at all. Placing the brushes in the glass of solvent beside her she rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes, and flexed her fingers and wrists trying to ease the discomfort. Victoria began tidying the massive mess she had made, looking up from cleaning brushes she addressed Integra,
"I think that's enough for today yeah?" the artist asked, wiping her paint covered hands over her jeans.
"How much longer will I need to sit for tomorrow?" Integra asked irritably, slowly standing up she felt the aching in her stiff muscles and longed to lie down.
Victoria glanced at the canvas, she had most of Integra's figure painted but still needed time, "another hour or two maybe", looking over she expected to see Integra's relived face but was instead met with an unnerving stare, "don't worry it's not much longer, I swear" she reassured nervously.
Integra grunted and strided toward the door, she ripped open the door and as she was partway through the frame she turned to address Victoria, "when your done here return to your room, Walter will bring you your dinner". Her tone was still understandably irritable, at least Victoria had something to do, Integra must have insanely bored.
"Oh, alright" she couldn't hide the surprise in her tone, she hadn't expected she would be dining alone, especially in her room. Victoria had expected a long dining table with everyone seated as far away from each other as possible while awkward conversation was made, that's what she had seen all rich people do in the movies anyway. "I'll see you tomorrow then?" She asked.
"Yes, goodnight" the knight replied before disappearing from the doorway and shutting the door loudly behind her. The room was then completely silent and growing darker by the minute as the fire was beginning to die, Victoria quietly returned to cleaning her area.
while she was in the middle of cleaning a particularly large brush, the artist had a feeling she was being watched. Glancing around the room she struggled to see everything in the darkened corners of the room, the shadows flicked around the room almost as if they had a mind of their own. Suddenly the window burst open and a burst of cold winter air rushed into the room extinguishing the dying fire. Victoria squeaked when the room was suddenly engulfed in darkness, she quickly put down what she was cleaning and ran over to the window and with much force pushed it shut. The next step was to restore light to the pitch black room, walking over to were she assumed the wall was she ran her hands over the surface before it connected with an old chunky light switch, she flicked it on but the room remained dark. The artist huffed and continued to feel the wall for a working switch, it wasn't long before her outstretched hand blindly waving around in the darkness connected with something. Victoria continued to feel the surface underneath her hand, she decided it was material based, "tapestry" she thought. However she hadn't recalled seeing anything made of material on the wall, and being as curious as she was, she continued to feel horizontally along the surface and soon come into contact with a different material altogether. While the other one was heavy and almost felt like, this one was light and cotton feeling. She pressed harder against the cotton and her hand was met with a hard surface, "huh, what the hell?" She mumbled. Moving her hand around more she could feel buttons, it was a shirt, and it clicked in her head, she had been feeling a person for the last five minutes. Shrieking she jumped backwards and retreated to the opposite end of the room as far away from whatever she felt, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness slightly but she struggled to see the outline of the person she felt. Feeling braver Victoria inched her way closer to the adjacent wall, the lights had been turned on in the corridor outside and a strip of light shone through under the door. illuminating the small area around the door and the light switch, she saw there was nothing, no person, no tapestry, nothing. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, at this point she'd had enough. The artist grabbed her jacket and quickly rushed out of the room slamming the door behind her, she rushed down the hall too scared to look back.
Earlier
Alucard was livid, this weak human woman had insulted him, and the worst part was that she could get away with it, there was nothing he could do while Integra was present. He looked down at Victoria's smug expression, she was proud of what she did, and that annoyed him further, no one had ever insulted him and walked away alive, he wanted to rip the smirk right off her face. Deciding that tearing her apart were she stood wasn't worth the punishment he would receive, he tore his angry gaze from the artists and strided out of the room. As Alucard left the room he heard Integra comment on his defeat, pissing him off further, his mouth broke into a snarl and he let out a low growl. walking back to his room he boiled with rage and hatred, Victoria was his next target an he vowed to break her.
Alucard discreetly watched Victoria paint, he silently moved around the room careful to stay in the shadows, and as the fire began to die he was able to advance closer to where the two women were positioned. The vampire knew that Integra was aware of his presence but she was cornered, if she began screaming at someone who wasn't there to leave, Victoria would think her less than sane. At this point Victoria knew nothing about Hellsings true intentions and the secret underworld of vampires and ghouls, Integra intended it to stay this way, she didn't need liabilities and their identity shown. However after hours of watching Integra grind her teeth together and Victoria lay stroke after stroke of paint on the canvas, he grew progressively more agitated. Alucard had to stay hidden until the knight left the room and thus left Victoria exposed. His plan to make her pay would begin today and end only when she left the property on Monday, he decided to torture her slowly over a long period rather than at once, as long as there was no physical harm Integra couldn't punish him. Centuries of unlife had left Alucard bored and in search of entertainment, Integra had over the years become desensitized to his wicked tricks, but this new girl brought new opportunities. He had already tested his boundaries earlier by appearing in her wardrobe mirror, however her reaction was less than desirable, but after the earlier incident he decided Victoria was deserving of the more severe plot he had planned. the vampire knew he little choice but to wait it out.
After a few more hours, both women started showing signs of fatigue and after an hour more, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Alucards target now stood alone in the room, and he finally had an opportunity to get even. Victoria was distracted with washing the brushes in a foul smelling liquid, and he was able to move into position while she was distracted. Manipulating his shadowy tendrils, the vampire was able to lift the latch on the window and the wind did the rest. The room was now engulfed in darkness and he watched Victoria fumble around in the darkness looking for a source of light, meanwhile Alucard summoned his familiar and waited for Victoria to be in a suitable position. He had once tested her reaction to his wall of eyes in a dream and her reaction was satisfactory and in real life he expected her reaction would increase tenfold, he couldn't wait to see her scream. Alucard had carefully been watching Victoria fumble around in the darkness, and thought it funny how ignorant she was, he had to wait for the perfect opportunity. However it wasn't long before Victoria found the light switch, knowing she couldn't see him in this state Alucard revered back to his 'human' appearance, he waited for the lights too come on and for the inevitable abuse he would receive from the artist for scaring her. However none of that happened and if Alucard had been human, he would have let out a sigh of relief, the light switch didn't work and he thanked the faulty wiring throughout the house. He could see her coming closer and closer, there was nothing he could do or summon while she was this close, hoping Victoria would avoid him completely so he could try again, Alucard stood completely still and watched her pat the wall repeatedly. He was briefly distracted when he heard Walter walking up the hall towards his direction, he cursed mentally and hoped he wouldn't come into the room. While he was focused on the door he didn't notice the tugging on his clothes, looking down he saw Victoria pressing on chest, he felt his anger for her diminish slightly when he saw the confusion on her face.
"Huh, what the hell?" She mumbled
He had to resist laughing, for some reason this was completely hilarious to the vampire. She was supposed to be scared but instead she was completely confused and had no idea what he was. Alucard waited for it to click in her mind of what it was she was feeling, and it wasn't long before the woman understood, she shrieked and shot backwards away from him. He was close to bursting out laughing, although the whole situation didn't go as planned, he was satisfied with the result and she proved to be an interesting source of entertainment. Deciding not much more would happen, he passed through the wall behind him and entered the now lit corridor, he turned around and met face to face with Walter.
"What did you do?" He asked accusingly,
"Nothing anyone can prove" the vampire replied
"remember what Sir Integra said" the butler reminded
the vampire smirked, "how could I forget".
Present
As Alucard continued his journey down the hallway back to his room, he saw Victoria rush past him,
"in a hurry?" he called to her as she continued to race down the hall.
The woman whipped her head around to see who addressed her, Alucard noted the disappointment on her face. "erm, no not really" she said quietly, she was still shaken.
"You look like you've seen a ghost" he commented smugly amusement in his voice,
Victoria narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "i'm onto you red" she mumbled, the artist then turned back around and continued walking away and out of sight.
The vampire laughed quietly, "your move".