Standing still in the gentle wind, the man, a king, stood and watched the sunrise. Mist settled across the fields around him and his eyes couldn't help but appreciate the way it swirled in the autumn air. The scene was ideal and could bring peace to anyone, including this man who knew nothing of it. Rays of gold and orange slowly flooded the lands before him, cursed lands, lands stolen and forged with the blood of thousands. Yet here the man stood, selfishly taking in the vast beauty around him, allowing himself to not think about the lives he had taken, even if only for a moment.
Soft footfall caught his attention yet his eyes stayed locked on the scenery in front of him. Years as a warrior had honed his senses and he could deduce enemy from friend by sound alone. These steps in particular were the least of his worries, slow and gentle, they belonged to a woman. She hummed an old lullaby as she made her way toward the king, much more at peace then he could ever be. "My love," the sweet voice called to him. Turning to face the woman, the scene blurred as the man was confronted by the flowing dark hair and green eyes before him.
Rattling chains startled Alucard awake and he flinched slightly. Opening his eyes, he stared rather indifferently at the bloody tear drops that stained the front do his bindings. "What a useless dream," he whispered to himself. Since his imprisonment, he'd been plagued by many useless dreams just as he had been before Integra had reawakened him. He never thought he'd find himself in this situation again. Why had things turned out this way?
Following the mission to Edmund Green's mansion, Alucard returned to the Hellsing estate the next evening. The personnel he passed stared at him in shock and fear as he walked silently, carrying a naked, dead woman in his arms. Making his way straight to his room, he placed the woman in his coffin and then headed upstairs and then to the roof. The vampire king was dazed and felt a very human level of uncertainty as he stared up at the night sky. "Alucard!" Sir Integra's voice had lost all control as she called to him from the roof entrance. He didn't respond and she screamed his name again. Taking in one last look at the moon, the Hellsing agent turned and went to his master.
Confusion... Fear... Disbelief... These emotions all shown in the Hellsing leaders eyes as Alucard briefed her on everything that had happened at the Green mansion. Walter himself looked disappointed in Alucard as he recapped the mission. "Take me to her now," the blond demanded quietly. Silence filled the air as they ventured down to the basement where the vampire resided. Integra gasped as she looked at the body in the casket; the bruises, the scratches, the jagged wound at her neck, the amount of blood smeared between her thighs. A loud crack echoed through the stone room as Integra slapped Alucard hard.
Panting heavily, the Hellsing leader was on the verge of blind rage. "Ho-how could you!?" she shrieked and slapped the vampire again. "I trusted you! I staked the honor and integrity of the Hellsing name in you and yo-you do something like this!?" Alucard stared at her silently as tears of frustration leaked down her cheeks. "This woman was the only human in the mansion and you couldn't eve-" she was caught off mid sentence, as she tried to gain control over her emotions. "I," Alucard finally spoke. "I just wanted to save her." They stood in silence for a long time until Integra had finally calmed down enough to think and make a decision. Alucard was imprisoned a short time later.
How much time has passed since then? Days? Months? A year? Time meant nothing to a vampire and imprisonment was nothing new to this one in particular. Time passed at the rate of an eternity while he sat in the cold, black cell and reflected on the events that had lead to him being there in the first place. Anything was better than falling asleep and dreaming, Alucard had decided as he'd stay awake for as long as he could and allow his mind to ponder trivial things.
Raising his head slowly, he almost thought he was dreaming again as the door creaked loudly and opens. Peering up through long bangs, the red eyes gazed indifferently at the visitors in the doorway. Integra stood center, cigar lazily hanging from her mouth, armed guards stood at her sides. "Leave us," her voice was calm. The two men looked hesitantly at each other before nodding and heading off. The young blonde paused in the doorway for a moment before entering, closing the door behind her before making her way toward the vampire. "God," she spoke before inhaling and exhaling the cigars sweet smoke. "You look just the same as the day I found you." Crouching to his level, she extinguished the cigar on the floor before speaking again. "Only a bit more lively than last time. Although, you'd been down here much longer then."
Shifting slightly, Alucard stretched and sat up to meet her gaze. "H-" the first attempt to speak was hard on the vampire. "H-how long?" the question was raspy and quiet. "Forty-six days you've been down here like this." Integra responded plainly. "Has it felt longer?" she asked. "Time means nothing to a monster like me." the vampire king whispered back. There was no tension in their reunion, mostly awkward silence and Integra's soft, steady breathing. "Well you have a mission now," the blonde finally spoke. Alucard couldn't help but chuckle, a tiny smirk formed across his lips. "Oh? Are you sure you want me to do that?" he questioned almost sarcastically. "Seeing as how it's your mess, yes." Something in the woman's voice made Alucard feel an uncomfortable and the smirk quickly left his features.
Leaning forward, the Hellsing leader slowly began to remove the vampire's bonds. "The girl you brought back with you, you need to find her and kill her." For the first time since knowing him, Integra saw a look of utter shock on Alucard's face. "What?" horror and confusion filled his voice. The blonde woman took a deep breath before she spoke. "The young woman you found at the Green mansion, she turned Alucard." The world felt as though it had been completely turned upside down and the usually confident man felt lost and confused. "Somehow," Integra chose her words carefully "your 'method' of violation didn't affect her as one would expect. If anything, I was expecting to have a ghoul on my hands but when she woke up-" the woman lost her words as she looked into the empty red eyes before her. She'd never seen Alucard look so weak and human and she didn't like it one bit.
"We tried to restrain her but she ran off before we had a chance." Integra stood and made her way to the door, beckoning the vampire to follow. He rose slowly and followed her like a child. She continued to speak as they made their way upstairs. "We've sent countless agents out but there was no luck finding her in the beginning. Recently though, we started receiving reports of people being attacked, by a young woman, at night." She paused at the base of the stairs, "it's strange though. Not a single victim has been bitten and there haven't been any reports of new ghouls or vampires." Still getting no response, Integra turned to the vampire, her patience wearing thin. "Alucard! Have you even been listening to me?" She gave him a firm bump on the shoulder, "you have a job to do and orders to follow. You will not screw up this time, understand?" Looking into the blonde's eyes, his expression changed. The normal devious smirk came back and his voice didn't falter, "yes, I understand, my master." Integra wasn't fully convinced, there may have been a smile on his face but those crimson eyes still looked dead.
The call came in early evening, the call that the vampire king had been secretly dreading. He stood watching the moon from a balcony, "Alucard, it's time to go," Integra's voice called behind him. The Hellsing leader paced about, clearly uneasy about something. "What's wrong?" the vampire asked. "Your little mistake has complicated things," she snapped back. The crimson clad man waiting patiently to see if she'd explain what that meant. "We got a report of a family that was attacked by a woman fitting the girl's description. She took their baby, Alucard, an innocent child." Now he understood her tension and unease, he himself didn't ever give much thought to children but he didn't care much for those who harmed them, human or vampire. "Your orders are absolute," she spoke sternly, "bring the child back alive and the girl too if you can." The last part caught him off guard, "oh? I had thought that you wanted me to kill her? Isn't that the reason you released me?"
Integra was clearly annoyed as she stared at her subordinate, "yes, that was the plan but then things changed. That girl is the first vampire ever sired by you, correct?"
The statement hit Alucard hard. "Now that you mention it, yes, she is." Taking a seat, in a nearby chair, Integra looked tired and troubled for a moment. "You see now why she is a valuable subject? Bring her back alive unless you have no other options." She looked wearily into his eyes for a brief moment. "Go now, you're wasting time."
Having a vampiric child was new to Alucard but he adjusted to it quickly. Every attempt to connect with her psychically failed as she blocked him from her thoughts. Once he was able to catch on to a presence that he knew was hers, he followed it for hours until he finally tracked her down. The night air was thick and warm around him, this was nothing like the last time he'd hunted her down. The soft breathing of a sleeping child filled his sensitive ears, along with the girl's gentle humming. She sat near a pond, nature and night enfolded the space around her as she looked out over the water. "I knew you'd come," the voice made Alucard flinch. It was so empty, so monotone, almost inhuman.
The vampire king stopped a few yards away, he had to remember his orders and the child that he couldn't let die. Taking in the form before him, sadness filled his being. The young woman no longer held that beautiful glow from when he'd first met her and she'd seemed a goddess in the moonlight. Darkness and death clung to her being, though she was still strikingly beautiful, she was no longer a goddess but an angel of death. She held a swaddled form in her arms, rocking gently so as not to wake the child. "Yes, of course I'd come for you," there was little emotion in the Hellsing agent's voice. "Are you going to kill me... again?" she questioned. "No, I've simply come to take you home and to make sure that child is returned safely," he spoke calmly.
"I never hated anyone when I was alive," the girl's words caught Alucard off guard. "Not the siblings who bullied and envied me. Not the parents who sold me. Not even that perverted old man who bought me." her body became still suddenly. "You're the first and only person I've ever hated," there was a tone of malice in the unnaturally calm voice. "When I woke up, I was forced to face all the things that death brings. I'll never get to play and sing in the sun again, I can only cry here in the darkness. I'll never be a bride or know the loving touch of a man. I can only be haunted by the memories of you raping me." She stood up slowly and looked down into the bundle in her arms. "I'll never get to be a mother." Streams of blood ran down her cheeks. "All the normal, precious things that humans take for granted are out of reach once you die but being forced to live while dead is-" her words were lost as she sobbed.
Alucard took a step forward and the young woman's demeanor changed. "This is all your fault," she whispered, "you deserve this." Time seemed to stop as the girl's arms shot into the air and the bundle in her arms flew into the water. There was a choked sound of pain once Alucard realized what he had done. Sharp nails dug into his shoulders, as the warm spray of blood hit his face. The two vampires stood there for a moment, connected together by his arm through her chest. A familiar cry of pain filled the air as he pulled his arm free from her torso and eased her to the ground. Alucard held the dying body close to him as it twitched and shook. "What's your name?" the raspy soft voice asked. "My name is Alucard," sadness filled his voice. "What is yours?" A gentle smile crossed the girl's face as she looked at him with those pain-filled green eyes. "Melinda." A single bloody tear fell from the man's eye. There was so much he wanted to say, so much forgiveness he wanted to beg for but it was too late. Blood spray everywhere as the woman in his arms died and became nothing.
The vampire king stayed there for a long time; unable to move, able to speak, unable to think. Suddenly a soft cry caught his attention. There, in the bushes near by, was the baby he'd thought was at the bottom of the pond. The child was stirring from its sleep, innocently unaware of the tragedy that had just transpired. That signature smirk returned to Alucard's face, "I guess in the end you were still more human and merciful than I could ever be." Scooping the child into his arms, another lone tear rolled down his cheek as the vampire made his way back to Hellsing headquarters.
Integra was exhausted as she wandered slowly toward her bedroom. Alucard hadn't come home yet and dawn was only a short while away. The Hellsing leader had paced about the building all night, too worried and anxious to fall asleep. Now her fatigue was catching up to her and her anxiety was turning into sadness as she feared her vampire may not return her. She had ordered Walter to wake her and notify her the moment the vampire returned. Stepping into her room, she lazily removed her shoes and gloves. Removing her blazer and vest, she hung them neatly before sitting down on her bed. "You look like hell," Integra nearly jumped out of her skin as she was caught off guard. Turning around quickly, her heart raced as she looked into the darkened corner of her room and saw a set of red eyes gazing back at her.
"Damnit Alucard!" she exclaimed, tired and annoyed. She turned the light on and her mood changed immediately. The vampire was sitting on her ottoman, his face and clothing covered in blood, a baby silently snoozing in his arms. "My God, did you-" he raised a hand to beckon her silence. "You wanted me to save the child first and foremost didn't you?" The blonde's expression softened as she looked down at the unharmed baby. "Yes, that was the priority of your mission," she tried to hide the melancholy in her voice. Taking in a deep breath, to calm her nerves, she exhaled and spoke more softly. "What happened Alucard?" She sat quietly on the edge of her bed as he told her Melinda's story.
Following the incident, all traces of that girl with green eyes had been removed from Hellsing's records. All the staff had been given the strictest of gag-orders. Alucard himself had been ordered to forget his first child and he'd done very well until now. Ordered to forget his first attempt at mercy. So many years had passed since then and now he stood in a village called Cheddar, under a sky just like the one from that fateful night. Walking through the trees, the Hellsing agent couldn't help but remember that time and world around him felt very nostalgic. He paused to admire the sky above him. "How beautiful. Nights like this make me want to have a bite to drink." The moon reflected off his crimson coloured glasses as he spoke. "Yes, I couldn't imagine a more... perfect evening."
Thanks so much to everyone who has read this and to all future readers. This story was fun and interesting to write and I'm very pleased and honored with positive feedback and encouragement I received while writing. As always, positive and constructive criticisms are always welcome. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. See you all in future fics!