Kudos to Mr. War for giving me the idea for the second drabble here. Also, Walter is well aware of Alucard's gender before Hellsing: the Dawn, since when Alucard emerges from his coffin in Girlycard form, he makes a comment on Alucard being dazed from sleep and changing to this (Girlycard) form instead of his "normal" one. So yeah, he knew beforehand. Also, Arthur Hellsing did have some pretty funky hair when he was younger. Don't believe me? Google "Arthur Hellsing" and see what I'm talking about.
Prompt: Caffeine.
Walter yawned and shivered, his eyes duller than normal.
This job was taking forever.
He lifted the ceramic mug to his lips, feeling the heat radiate through the baked pottery and into his near-frozen hands, his fingerless wire gloves doing nothing to warm his numb fingers.
He took a sip, savoring the heat that traveled from his mouth all the way down to his stomach, belying the icy sleet raining down around the Angel of Death and other people in the trench.
"Humans are so fascinating. You are surrounded by the corpses of your fallen enemies and comrades, the weather is cold enough to freeze your flesh from your bones, you have failed two times to kill your chosen prey, yet a cup of warm coffee makes you ignore it all."
Walter sighed through his nose and looked to the left, where the young female beside him, still impossibly clean and free of mud, smirked at him innocently.
"What now, Alucard?"
She smirked wider.
"My my, you are testier than normal. I was afraid it sedated you."
Walter ignored the jibe. He knew it was only because Alucard was just as bored, not to mention restless, as himself.
He tapped his forefinger against the dark ceramic gently.
"Alucard, do you even know what's in this coffee?"
"Judging by most human's reactions, some kind of aphrodisiac combined with a sedative and an internal warming mechanism, sometimes with a slight side effect of insomnia."
Walter stared at her for a moment.
"You make it sound like some kind of strange lab concoction."
"It isn't?"
Walter raised his eyes to the sleeting heavens and sighed through his nose once more.
"No Alucard, it isn't. It's a perfectly normal beverage."
He took another contented sip as Alucard perfect teeth suddenly widened in another, decidedly less innocent smirk.
"Aren't the British supposed to more tea-loving?"
Walter's eye twitched at that, but he really couldn't argue with Alucard, especially when the vampire was in one of her moods.
"Alucard."
"Hmm?"
"Do me a favor and shut up about my coffee before I dump the entire mug of it on you."
There was a moment of silence as Walter continued sipping at his coffee, half-hoping the small spat had entertained the vampire enough so that she would leave him alone.
Alucard however, broke it almost instantly after he thought that.
"So, what kind of miracle drug is in this miraculous coffee of yours?"
Walter stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and lifted it to his lips once more.
"Caffeine. Keeps the soldiers awake."
"Hmm. Awake so they can fight and kill."
Walter was about to answer that, but suddenly Alucard took the coffee from him and finished it off in one swallow.
She grinned as he snatched it back, scowling.
"I like caffeine."
That vampire was going to be the death of him someday, he thought gloomily as he looked at the faint dregs still left inside the empty mug.
Prompt: Reality leaves a horrible taste sometimes.
Walter calmly sipped his tea, his feet kicked up on the kitchenette's counter.
He was enjoying one of his rare moments of peace as the war started heating up, and enjoying one of the rare cups of coffee that he had made for himself instead of Arthur.
"So this is the "Angel of Death", Walter C. Dornez?"
Walter abruptly swallowed his mouthful of tea, his fingers tensing on the cup.
Vampiric aura and arrogant tone.
Vampire in mansion.
Wait…what about Alucard?
He knew that Arthur kept a relatively strong vampire of his own around, he'd seen her a few times, and he knew that she was fiercely territorial and violent.
So where was she now?
He turned in the chair, seeing a tall man with blazing red eyes and a long red duster standing behind him.
His eyes narrowed, masking his uncertainty with hostility.
"May I help you?"
The man grinned.
"That remains to be seen."
Walter eyed him suspiciously, but then Arthur's below sounded down the stairs and he had to get to his feet.
He made his way into the Hellsing director's study, and the man spun in his chair as his ever-present cowlicks framed his face like a pair of blonde horns.
"Ah, Walter!"
He nodded uncomfortably, winding some of his wires through his fingers delicately in his nervous concern.
It was justified.
Walter's eyes slid over to where the tall vampire calmly walked through the walls and stood beside him, watching Arthur through slitted red eyes, an amused and predatory grin playing around his pale lips.
They moved back to his employer.
"You know this vampire, Sir Hellsing?"
He forced the words to come out politely, and Arthur raised an eyebrow and chuckled at the forced culture from his young retainer.
"Yes, you could say that. By the by, he's going to be your partner in the field. We're sending you to the front."
Walter's eyes flashed, and he tried to hold back his excitement as he fished in his pocket for a spare cigarette, snapping the zippo and lighting it off quickly, buying himself time to think.
He always answered with his usual bad language when he rushed, and Sir Hellsing had expressed more than once that he was tired of it.
"If you say so, sir. We do we leave? And what about Alucard?"
Arthur laughed a few times, and to his surprise, the vampire joined in.
He drew in a breath angrily, then let it out slowly, maliciously letting the smoke waft towards the vampire's sensitive nose.
Arthur stopped laughing and smiled at the butler-in-training.
"You don't recognize him?"
Walter glanced towards the vampire again, then shrugged soundlessly, taking in a long draw of the cigarette.
"No."
"That's Alucard. In his true form."
Walter's eyes widened, and he choked on the smoke coming up from his lungs, his eyes watering, bending over slightly as racking coughs shuddered through his frame.
He felt a broad hand pound on his back twice, and suddenly he could breathe again as he straightened up, staring at the vampire that had helped him.
"Alucard?!"
She –no, he– grinned, inclining his head slightly.
"I look forward to working with you, Angel of Death."
Prompt: Your rumpled sheets.
"I have a question Alucard."
The vampire raised an eyebrow at him from her spot on her seemingly over-large coffin.
"Yes?"
Walter toyed idly with the cigarette butt between his fingers, at long last lifting it up and taking a long drag and blowing the smoke out.
"Why are you usually in female form nowadays? And why are you so young?"
Alucard crossed her legs and leaned back on the coffin, looking up at the off-white ceiling of their hotel room.
"I suppose it's because of the situation."
Walter mimicked her, lying flat on his mattress, but lay on his stomach, still with the glowing stick dangling from his fingers.
"The situation?" he asked, taking in another contented drag.
Alucard raised an eyebrow at him.
"And how would it look in battle if you charged in, a teenager boy, with my adult, normal form following you?"
Walter took a second to conjure up the appropriate mental image; Alucard, towering over the smaller male, sharp fangs bared in a vicious grin, his red duster billowing out in the stiff wind, gun outstretched, crimson eyes glowing with bloodlust.
His face reddened slightly in realization and embarrassment.
"I'd look like a bloody toddler next to you."
Alucard smirked slightly.
"Exactly. When I'm so much smaller, the balance of visual power and intimidation is much more equal."
Walter had to concede to that and took another puff at his cigarette.
"Be that as it may, what I still don't understand is why you have to be a female."
Alucard shrugged soundlessly.
"Shape and form hold no meaning for me. I find it a good artistic counterpart to yourself in battle."
Walter snorted and rolled over on the bed, looking up at the intricate webbing of cracks in the cheap hotel room's ceiling.
"You're losing it in your old age, Alucard." he said derisively, putting the cigarette between his lips and sucking in.
"Sure I am. Old age decaying the mind and body is something that plagues you humans, not vampires like me."
He glanced backwards at the vampire laying on the coffin, smirking a little as he wiggled the glowing nicotine stick between his teeth, flashing him a mocking smirk as he did.
"You're just jealous I can grow old and die while still letting out my inner demon on the battlefield."
Alucard's red eyes flashed at him in irritation as the vampire bared her teeth slightly and a semi-playful yet at the same time warning grin.
"No need to rub it in Angel of Death."
Walter smirked and tilted his head back, relieving the pressure on his spine from craning his neck in such a way as he pulled the cigarette out, hiding a smug smirk at riling the vampire up, however slightly.
"Whatever you say Alucard, whatever you say."