Sorry for the irregular updates, im trying to get a chapter posted every Monday but school is my first priority, meaning I don't always get time to work on a chapter.
this is my first fic, ever, so if there's anything I need to change/improve/get rid of please let me know. Anything positive or negative you feel like sharing please review or PM me, I know this story is far from perfect and thats why id appreciate people telling me if im messing up somewhere.
((also major apology if Alucard is too OOC))
thanks for viewing/reading, enjoy the chapter!
Victoria thrashed and struggled throughout the night trying to get comfortable, as much as she tried the woman couldn't stay asleep for long. At one point she awoke during the night heaving and huffing awaking from a nightmare, flipping over she turned her phone on to see if she had the chance to return to sleep, 5:30 showed on the screen, 'guess not' she thought. Victoria couldn't help the frustration inside of her, her body ached for rest and her eyes burned with tiredness, but her mind resisted sleep. She silently cursed Walter, 'this is his fault' she thought bitterly, 'if he hadn't woken me up I would have slept'. She spent the rest of the night slipping in and out of half hour naps, and to her misfortune Integra demanded an early start.
When the pre-set alarm echoed throughout the room, Victoria's eyes snapped open and she instantly felt irritable. Huffing and cursing under her breath, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat on the edge. Rubbing the sleep out of her still tired eyes, the woman tried to compose and convince herself that tonight would be better. When she removed her cold hands from her face, her eyes focused on a piece of paper sitting on the table across the room. Grunting she dragged her feet across the room and snatched the paper off the surface. "Breakfast will be delivered at 9, Integra will meet you at 10" she read aloud, throwing the paper down she ran across the room to her phone, 8:30 it read. "Shit" she moaned, Victoria had little time to shower and get rid of her irritable mood. Peeling off her clothes on the way to her personal bathroom, the woman slammed the door behind her. She leant towards the shower and twisted the handle on, water shot out of the metal shower-head, and she climbed in, soon after she felt her irritability wash away along with the water.
When she finally emerged from the warmth of the steamy bathroom into the cold bedroom she shivered, the towel covering her body did nothing to warm it and she quickly rushed to the wardrobe. While struggling to pull on her clothes she heard Walter come into the room, she huffed, 'did he even knock?!' She thought impatiently.
"Hello?" He called into the empty room, "Miss Stein?", the butler was inspecting the room looking for her, and Victoria heard him open the bathroom door.
She didn't want the old man unknowingly upon the wardrobe door and see her changing, Victoria didn't want to traumatise the butler. While hopping on one leg trying to pull on her stockings she called from the small room, "yes Walter, I'm getting changed, what is it?".
Walter was silent for several seconds, "ah I apologise." he didn't sound sincere, "I have your breakfast here, I'll leave it on the table" he called.
Victoria became impatient and wished for him to leave, it always unnerved her when people were in the room while she was changing. "Yes, yes, thank-you Walter" she quickly replied. The woman continued changing while she heard the butler move and place dishes on the table, she sighed in relief when she heard the door close.
Emerging from the small room, she saw the new set of dishes replacing the previous dinner ones. Examining the dishes she didn't see anything that particularly stood out, but a growl from her stomach convicted her to eat. Warm pieces of toast with a variety of spreads tempted her, aswell as a variety of teas to be mixed with the provided hot water. The artist made a mug of green tea and took two pieces of plain toast, she sat down in one of the two chairs provided, looking for her sketchbook which she found it under the table, "how the hell did that get there" she asked no-one in particular, picking it up off the ground it was opened to a page containing a painting she did illustrating a recurring nightmare she had. Concluding Walter must have knocked it off the table she shook it off, and pulled her drawing equipment off the floor and onto her lap, sketching as she ate.
XxXEarlierXxX
Alucards frustration with Victoria was inevitably taken out on his fledgling. Seras wasn't off to a good start, and when he found out that earlier she had refused her blood portion, he was much more harsh than usual. The young vampire had been trying to access her advanced senses, but the anxiety and stress had only made her situation worse, she was sacrificing herself at this point and this annoyed Alucard immensely. He could see she was getting in her own way, and although she was genuinely trying to improve, until Seras got past this stress she was putting on herself, she would never reach her full potential.
"Try again police girl" Alucard commanded,
Seras huffed and straightened herself, trying to focus and use her 'third eye', to see, sense, feel and hear everything around her. She closed her sky blue eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, trying to imagine another eye above her own two as she was instructed to do. The vampire saw the frustration and concentration on her face, "now your trying too hard" he commented.
Seras opened her eyes and sighed impatiently "first you said try harder, then you said I try too hard. No wonder I can't get it" she muttered.
Alucard was trying to be patient, however his tolerence was wearing thin. He was fond of saying that many of her problems could be solved if she just drank blood and behaved like a 'proper' vampire. This including the wound on her leg, during their encounter with Anderson, Seras had panicked and would have been killed if Integra hadn't shown up, it was at this time Alucard realised that she couldn't learn alone, she would have to be taught.
Two hours later and dawn was approaching, Seras had made progress, but not as much as she should in a lesson. Alucard was trying to be patient, he could sympathise with the young vampire and vaguely understood what she was going through, but it frustrated him none of the less. After ending the lesson the two departed and went to their separate rooms. Seras both physically and mentally exhausted collapsed onto her bed, Alucard mentioned that once she had her coffin she would get stronger, 'but at what cost' she thought dully, thinking of how much she would miss an actual bed.
As the sun slowly climbed over the horizon, Seras had began to lull into a dreamless sleep. Alucard himself was rather exhausted and longed to retreat to his coffin to rest, however he unexpectedly found himself inquisitive of Victoria's state, curious to see if she had still kept his fledglings habit. Making his way to her room he wondered if her habits of not looking after herself extended to sleeping, with the bags he'd noticed under her eyes the vampire picked her as an insomniac. Once he finally reached the closed door he easily phased through, Alucard was easily able to see her figure in the darkened room. Deciding to examine the scene more closely, the vampire silently strode forward until he stood at the foot of the bed. He removed his glasses and peered down at the sleeping woman, her legs entangled in the sheets and dark hair sprawled everywhere. He chucked at her chosen sleeping position as it resembled something like a cocoon. However Alucards curiosity didn't stop there, he begun to examine her belongs, 'perhaps I can find a weakness' he mused trying to justify what he was planning to do. Walking over to the table he saw an ensemble of items, a large tray of barely touched food covered the most of the table, however next to it was a black book covered in different illustrations and paint smears. The vampire picked up the book and began to flick through it, a majority of the pages contained sketches of people and animals while a few pages where however covered in scribbled black writing. Alucard flicked to the most recent pages and one in particular caught his eye, a coloured sketch of a woman sitting in a dark abyss, crimson eyes of every shape and size covering the walls and focusing on her bare form. The woman while having her back turned, had her head turned sideways to the viewer, he noticed the softly drawn bloody tears cascading down her face and found it's resemblance to Victoria. He stood transfixed looking at the painting, particularly the face, and it briefly brought a sense of guilt to the vampire as he now knew he was the cause for her distress and the reason for her under-eye circles. He didn't realise how long he was standing looking at the piece until he heard sheets shuffling behind him, Victoria was beginning to stir. He held the book and glanced at her form, she was shuffling and writhing around, 'a nightmare' he concluded, Alucard suspected his nightmare was the reason, looking down at the drawing a final time before decideding to stay out of her dreams for now. Placing the book down the vampire phased out of the room and into his own, he then returned to his beloved coffin where he longed for the rest it would provide.
XxXPresent timeXxX
Victoria finished her toast and wiped her crumb covered hands on her stockings before sculling the rest of the now cold tea. Glancing at her phone she saw the time, five minutes until she had to meet Integra, "ah shit" she moaned, jumping up quickly the artist grabbed her basic materials and raced out the room slamming the door behind her. While rushing down the corridors she strained her memory to try and recall where the drawing room was located. Victoria's sleeping pattern had gone out the window and she often found herself tired and drained of energy, not to mention she now found herself struggling to function cognitively, especially memory wise. After opening various doors and going down the wrong corridors, she finally found the recognisable wooden door and quietly pushed it open hoping Integra was more late than her. Creeping quietly into the room and shutting the door behind her, she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice address her.
"Your late" Integra dead panned. She was sitting in her position already, and looked impatient.
"Erm" Victoria hesitated, "I got lost, sorry" she said softly, embarrassed.
"Don't let it happen again" Integra said sternly, seeing Victoria nod in understanding and gratitude she continued "now, I have a meeting at two, so I'd like to be done by then"
Victoria strode over towards the canvas humming thoughtfully, she inspected the paint and found much of it still wet. "Hmm, it's going to be close but I think I can do it" she replied. "I'm going to need a picture of you sitting this way though" she called,
"Already done, I will bring it in later" she replied.
"All good then" she whispered, still inspecting the canvas. The artist had done many layers already, and although they had dried successfully, the few layers she'd done with the oil paint mixed with linseed oil had barely dried at all. Victoria was growing concerned that the painting and layers wouldn't dry in time. As nice as it was here, she needed to return home and attend to her growing pile of bills, she also had an important university lecture on Wednesday she had to attend. The time frame for this painting was something that constantly stressed her, and she was pretty sure Integra wanted her gone ASAP. Tying back her long dark hair and rolling up her jumpers sleeves, she began work on the painting once again.
Linseed oil: a type of oil you mix with oil paint to thicken/smoothen the paint. When mixed with oil paint it makes the paint easier to apply but thicker and longer to dry. Layers done with linseed oil are typically the final layers as the colours are the boldest and the paint takes the longest to dry.
((I get the vibe that I might be focusing on Victora's story and life too much, so im going to try and lean away from that and maybe go into everyone else's lives abit more. let me know what you think. ))