Victoria quickly rushed back to her room and shut the door quickly behind her, she leant against the closed door briefly before sliding down to the floor into a heap, "this house is fucking haunted I swear to god" she huffed. She tried to regain her breath and even heartbeat, she sat on the floor and leant against the door, looking out the large window she saw white flakes graze the glass and fall onto the trees outside. Victoria pulled her legs to her chest and rest her head on her knees, she zoned out and was left alone with her thoughts.
XxX
Alucard returned back to his underground room and reclined in his throne, folding one leg over the other and leaning back. Swirling a glass of blood-wine he watched the small whirlpool form, mesmerised by the flowing crimson liquid he became deep in thought. He had become interested in this women ever since his master had mentioned her, and it was to his advantage when the woman commanded him to follow her around to see if she was who she said she was. The vampire had been present at her neighbors party, in disguise of course, he remembered seeing the anger and strength in her eyes, and how she took down the lecherous human with a single hit, no mercy, no remorse, just strength. He thought her much like Seras, appearing weak and shy, but when angered become a powerful force to be reckoned with, he could see her potential to mentor the fledgling. Something bothered him though, both her psychical and psychological resemblance to a person in his past was unsettling. He took a sip from the glass, turned his attention to the earlier events, although he admired her human strength, much like he did Integra's, he wouldn't let her get him back and have the advantage, Alucard decided to merge her test and his amusement into one war. The vampire was eager to begin his new game of cat and mouse.
XxX
Seras sat on her bed, she was going to miss it's warm comfort greatly when her coffin arrived. She looked down at the wrapped wounds on her leg, they were taking a very long time to heal and still occasionally bled. When the fledgling asked her master about it, he simply chastised her for getting in the way and not being strong enough to heal, it was only later Walter had told her it was because she wasn't drinking blood that she wasn't healing. She remembered the disappointed look on her master's and sir Integra's face when she failed her mission, and how Alucard had to clean up her mess. She pulled her knees to her chest and sighed, "why did I choose this" she murmured to herself. Seras rolled onto her side and faced the wall, feeling like a failure, disappointment and sadness manifested within herself. One day she hoped to become a true vampire like her master, and him finally see her as an equal.
XxX
The Hellsing leader changed into her nightclothes and climbed into her king sized bed, the thick covers wrapping around her frame. Walter hadn't restocked the fire, and the flames that danced around the logs were slowly retreating into the ash and coals. Integra shivered and shuffled further down into the covers, she stared at the window next to the bed, seeing the estate covered in a white blanket of snow. She wasn't used to going to bed this early as she was always up doing paperwork, however the tiredness she experienced earlier quickly left her once she climbed into bed. The knight contemplated returning to her desk to work, but found her body was too tired to move while her mind was wide awake. She sighed and rolled over, it was going to be a long night.
XxX
Victorias back ached and she stood from her balled up position, she stretched her back and arms. While recovering from her scare, she'd had time to think about what happened, the woman concluded that it was somehow Alucards fault, probably revenge for her earlier actions. 'It had to be him who else could it be?' she reasoned within herself. Walking to the messy bed she flopped onto its soft covers, and lay there for several minutes before propping herself up on the pillows. From her half laying position on her bed she saw her illuminated phone laying on the floor, groaning she tried to grab the out of reach device but fell off the bed in her attempt. Crawling across the wooden floor she finally reached the phone, she was so tired even standing up and walking back to the bed exhausted her. Victoria lay on her back and held the phone infront of her face, "oh shit" she whispered to herself. 9 missed calls and 15 texts, it seems Alex was desperate to reach her. Not knowing if she would be awake at this hour, the artist tried her luck and called.
After only four rings, the blue haired woman picked up "'ello, Vicky!? I've been tryna reach ya' fer ages!? Why didn't ya pick up!" She yelled over the pounding music in the background.
"What?" Victoria struggled to hear what she was saying "you need to turn the music off!" She yelled into the phone.
"Huh?" Alex still couldn't hear, "hold on a sec', I'll go outside" she yelled back. There was some louder background noise of people talking and Victoria could hear Alex excusing herself. The music began to fade until it was only a low boom in the background, "this betta'?" She asked.
"Much" Victoria laughed. "Whats with all the stalking? Why are you trying reach me so bad, you know I'm on a commission" she sighed, Alex always forgot where she was and freaked out when she wasn't home.
"Well I 'ave allot ta' say, so make ya'self comfy" she began excitedly, Victoria could imagine Alex pacing around in excitement which she occasionally did.
"Step one done, continue" she breathed,
"Well, fir'sta all, I got tha' job, actually at tha' club now, I'm gonna start off waitressing but tha' owna' said once I've been 'ere for awhile, I can be a bartend'a" Alex blurted out.
"Ah congrats, knew ya could do it" she congratulated, "hopefully this one will stick" Victoria said solemnly.
"I 'ope it does, I like it 'ere everyone's really nice...and I get paid heaps! And I get ta' let friends in for free, ya know what that means aye" she said suggestively.
Victoria played along, "what does it mean?"
"We can finally go out togetha', because ya can afford it!" she squealed excitedly. Alex was always unintentionally blunt, Victoria knew she didn't mean it but that didn't mean it hadn't gotten her in trouble before. "How about when ya get back?" She asked.
"Yeah sure I'd love to" Victoria replied,
Alex chuckled, "oh 'nd Scott's lookin' for ya, also somethin' fucked up his face" she snorted.
"Ah that something would be me" she laughed,
Alex paused, "I expect details lata', but good on ya, was only a matta' of time before he got hit" she giggled. "Oh I 'ave ta' go, breaks almost ova', I'll call ya tomorrow ya?" She asked
"Yeah sure, oh wait before you go.." Victoria lowered her voice to a whisper, "how do you get someone back without getting caught or in trouble?" she whispered, looking around making sure no one was in her room.
"Hm that's tough, but tha' best way is ta' make it look like n' accident, ya can't get in trouble that way" She mused
Victoria thought about it, of course, can't get mad at an accident she concluded. "Thanks heaps Alex, I'll talk to you tomorrow, have fun" she said absently, her mind elsewhere.
"No problem, bye" she shouted over the club music,
"Bye" Victoria replied. The phone line died and the room was again silent.
Victoria looked at the time on her phone, 10:00, it was very late and her dinner still hadn't arrived, although she didn't mind it's not like she was hungry anyway. Sighing she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball to preserve heat, the woman had time to think and was logically doubtful that it was Alucard, but she had a nagging feeling it was him. All through her life Victoria had trusted this feeling, and she wasn't about to doubt it, something about the proud look on his face pissed her off, she concluded it had to be his fault. Feeling less guilty about her hostile feelings, she began to devise her revenge plan.
XxX
Walter strided up the corridor away from his confrontation with Alucard, he knew that the vampire was upto no good, but also knew there was nothing serious he could do after Integra's orders. That reminded him to bring the knight her dinner, walking down the many corridors and hallways he finally reached her office, finding that she wasn't there he proceeded to look for her in her bedroom. On her bedroom door was a piece of paper, written in neat cursive it read 'no dinner Walter, do not disturb' thinking the orders very odd, he knocked lightly on the wooden door before pushing it open, in the dim light from the hallway lights he saw her figure laying in bed, figuring there was nothing else he could do, he left the knight in peace. Feeling fatigued himself, the butler began walking towards his own room to recline for the night, as he was walking he had a nagging feeling he was forgetting something important. He stopped walking and rubbed his temples slowly, trying to remember Integra's instructions, he paused his movement and his eyes widened, he forgot the guests dinner. Rushing as quietly as he could down the hall he ran to the kitchen and began heating Victorias dinner, "I can't believe I forgot" he said out loud in complete disbelief. 15 minutes later he rushed down the hall towards Victoria's room and rapped vigorously on the door, several minutes later the tired looking artist opened the door.
Victoria yawned and rubbed her eyes, although she hadn't been asleep the artist was close to it. "Yes Walter?" She asked somewhat impatiently,
Walter hadn't missed the bite in her tone and felt genuinely bad about his screw up, "I'm very sorry for the late dinner miss, there was a mix up in the kitchen" he easily lied.
Her glazed over eyes focused on the cart piled with different dishes and drinks. "Bring it in" she yawned again, while opening the door wide. After choosing desirable dishes she dismissed Walter after his barrage of apologies and promises for it to not happen again. After the butler left she sat in the corner chair and began picking at the bread and pasta she chose, as good as they tasted it turned out she still wasn't hungry. Giving up after eating only a few mouthfulls of each dish she retired to bed for good, determined to fall asleep this time.
XxX
Alucard was awake for the whole night as Seras' lessons wouldn't start for two more hours, he decided to spy on his target, he arrived just after she ended a phone call with a person called Alex. He watched her fuss around the room for awhile before she retired to her bed, after only a short while she had fallen into a light sleep-like state. The vampire watched her from the shadows, and considered waking her up, in his own style of course. He crept closer, but was forced to retreat when the room resounded with knocks, the woman stirred from her almost-sleep, and dragged her feet to the door. After watching her interaction with Walter, he watched her pick and pull at the meal and eat very little, he felt frustration at seeing this woman who had potential to mentor Seras, falling into the same habit as his fledgling. Victoria had chosen not to feed her body therefore becoming weak and losing energy, much like Seras avoiding blood. His disappointment and frustration came to a boiling point and he forced himself to leave, "how disappointing" he murmured.