Dishes clinked together while water from the tap flushed away suds that expanded to form foamy mountains in the collecting water as white rubber gloves handled the dishes and glasses, putting most into the dishwasher while a select few were cleaned entirely by hand. A cascading mane of golden hair ran down a thin, yet powerful, shoulder and one of the rubber gloves twitched with the instinct to brush a few strands of hair aside, but with the contagious suds making this a messy option the trailing hair was shrugged back by the shoulder so that it could no longer bother the woman while she washed and rinsed a sink full of dishes. Her son sat behind her under the halo of a few lamps that hung from the ceiling, slouching on a stool with a pink pencil eraser against his lips, two round lenses scrutinizing his school work.
Integra Anderson's body preformed what was required to clean the dishes, but her mind wandered, as it often did when she participated in things that were considered domestic chores, falling into the stereotype of a wife for a brief moment. Her thoughts strayed to a specific topic that broadened. There was the boy who was almost a legal adult…but that was only in the eyes of the law. He was still young, a child, but at seventeen in the environment he lived in, his age was not something that could attest for innocence. Seventeen year olds, even fourteen year olds or younger children in gangs were capable of killing, of committing murders, armed robberies, sexual offences; the list was long. But for Vlad, Integra could not identify a criminal in his character. As he had warmed up to her family, she had seen him transform into a child, more specifically, a teenager. He was not like a ten or eleven year old, but he had qualities that were not always common in teens his age.
But that man, the man whose very body represented what harm he could inflict upon her children - Jake Savage, she could not accept him. Alex, her son…she glanced back at the blonde teen and then brought her attention down to the dish in her hands. Alexander was a strong, healthy, and hardy boy, but Jake's body - she could envision it overpowering her son's if the two ever met in a conflict. Then weapons and drugs, gang affiliation and violence; the thought of her children being involved in these things, terrified her as much as the thought heated her chest with the rage she would unleash on any who might taint or harm her family.
She had no fear at all, regarding her husband. She believed in his abilities as surely as she trusted her own. Integra could count on her mate to protect their brood, as well as himself.
"Alex." The rubber glove dripped water onto the counter when it reached out to place a serving platter on the drying rack. With the name, her son stopped what he was doing and looked up, giving her his obedient attention. "When did you meet Vladimir?"
Green eyes blinked, thinking back and adding up the days. "Two weeks or so ago."
That's not a very long time. It seems longer than that…and I can't even boast a whole two weeks. Integra sloshed the water collecting in the plugged sink when she lifted out a buried dish.
She wants to talk about Vlad. Anderson's thoughts were followed by grim shadows. They hadn't heard from Vlad in a few days now, but he should be fine…
"You met Vladimir because you heard him play the piano, right?"
Anderson, pushing past the embarrassing side of this memory, nodded. "Yeah. You know, because he's really good…I wanted to find out who it was."
"His playing would attract or catch your attention. …Vladimir is talented."
With a bit of pride for his friend, the teen smiled. "Yeah. But I really want you to see his art too. He's good at drawing, at least from what I've seen…and that's not really much. But he drew this amazing dragon. Hopefully you'll get to see it, since I saved it."
Integra cut in when confusion lifted one of her brows. "You saved a dragon, Alex? Really?" She chuckled, knowing well what he had meant. The teen added his own humor with sarcasm.
"Oh yeah. You bet I did, Mom. Got a sword and beat off the knight that was trying to slay it, and everything. -No. Aha. I'm joking, but the dragon- Vlad draws really good dragons…and trees…and everything."
"I think you already mentioned this before…you said he throws away his art? He doesn't turn it in?"
"Nope…but he should. The teacher was amazed too. You should have seen her face when she saw his paper. Vlad tore up the picture…but I kinda put it back together…and it still looks good. Now it just looks like…um…mysterious, like some lost ancient medieval drawing. It was some kind of horned monster guy and then other pictures showed him transforming into the dragon."
But he still tore it up? Even with a positive response? The woman frowned, scrubbing at a cup. Her curiosity darkened. "Alex, what kind of person do you think Vladimir is?"
Anderson, not expecting the question had to sit up and let his eyes wander the ceiling while he considered how he would respond. "I don't know." He replied lamely, hoping to buy a bit more time to think. He looked at the wall, his face calm, peaceful without raw emotion attached to any of his judgments. "He kinda likes to be alone sometimes. Doesn't like most people."
"Really?" Integra hummed to herself, musing what her son had said. She knew that Vlad had been reluctant to mingle with law enforcement officers, but that was understandable, expected. But she had not observed any real aversion towards people. Vlad seemed to open up and accept Seras and her own father, Van Hellsing, readily.
"Yeah, and at school he's kinda known to be dangerous."
"Dangerous?" He is possibly dangerous…but I didn't expect the boy to be recognized as a dangerous figure…Vladimir doesn't come across as being particularly dangerous…all the time that is. The woman sighed, reluctantly giving up on her childish interpretation of Vlad, a delusion she had momentarily humored herself by accepting. Yes. He is dangerous, withdrawn… He snarls…he has threatened me before…and he bit me. …It shouldn't be easy to forget these things. When Integra bit her lip, unseen by her son, Anderson spoke again.
"Did you ever notice that he had blood stains on the back of his shirt- I mean the collar…some of it came out when we kept washing it here, though."
Yes, I remember now. I did notice that. Integra grimaced, releasing her lip. I don't like remembering the bad things about the boy. He's not bad on the inside. I know he's not rotten like most of them… Disgust welled for her memories of despicable human beings she had encountered in the past. Murderers, sex offenders…burglars….forms that Vlad could easily fit into.
"Yumie and Heinkel have been trying to convince me to stay away from him."
And Yumie and Heinkel are both smart girls, Integra thought. She had known them for years. They had attended pre-school with her son. It makes sense that they would want him to stay out of Vlad's business…and maybe…he really should. But he won't. I know my son. I wouldn't be able to leave Vladimir alone either… Alexander is too much like me…sometimes, for his own good.
"Oh yeah and I've got plans with them later on. Is that okay?"
"Nothing after 7 p.m. You know my rules."
"I would be back for dinner. Yumie's got some community service activity she's doing wither her club and she wanted some extra help since a lot of people are out of town. I think it might be a bake sale or raffle thing…I don't know. I just know that they're selling something to try and raise some money."
It was quiet for a time, the sink becoming silent. The rubber gloves were hung on the drying rack and the now naked hands found themselves being cleaned by a towel, though they were practically dry. They had been completely dry while inside the gloves even though she had been dipping her hands in suds and water, but when she had removed the gloves her hands had become wet.
"Are you almost finished?"
"Huh?" Anderson snapped out of his daze, realizing that he had been staring at the wall, and his head turned to find that his mother was watching him. Finished with-? Oh, homework. Darn it. I still have more of this to do? The teen sighed, but had a smile on his face. "Almost."
"Okay. It's good that you're not waiting until the last minute. But don't stay up too late. You can always finish the rest tomorrow."
"Mn, yeah. I guess most people do that." Rubbing his hair and chuckling only because he was in a better mood, Anderson returned to his homework when his mother passed him, leaving the kitchen.
From the hall, her voice came back to him. "Oh, and your father should be coming back soon. He said it's snowing where he is, but it's not enough to keep the planes grounded."
"Oh, cool."
Then Anderson buried his nose in monotonous homework once more.
*~*~::..+..::~*~*
"Can you get me Jake?"
A silhouette against the brick wall, Vlad gazed at the woman that was staring at him with her large, ringed eyes. His face remained undecipherable. He was standing on a sidewalk, the street in front of him receiving the tires of a few passing cars, their rumbling engines drowned out by the closer voices of the group, mostly teens, all of which were male, sitting on the old steps of a vacated apartment complex, graffiti on the walls and rust on the metals bars that protected the windows. The woman's wild, frizzy hair looked like a large brown mane of curls flapping discreetly in the breeze. A black bandana attempted to tame the unruly hair, but only managed to tie and flatten some of it down. Vlad looked at her as if she was standing some distance across the street instead of a few feet in front of him.
The woman's eyes darted about and she sucked her lip nervously, stamping her foot like an impatient horse before she finally released her lip again with a snap of her tongue. "You're Hell Dog, right? Right? The- the Hell Dog, not just any dog. You- you're the dog from Hell, Hell Dog. You- You can get me- You can get me Jake. Big Jake. Yeah, Jake. Right? You can- you can get me Jake?"
Vlad continued to look off into the distance where the woman was standing, off across the street, miles away. A man sitting on two cinderblocks with a cigarette hanging lazily from his lips watched with drooping eyes that seemed to find most things dull. The cigarette bobbed as he moved his mouth, passing looks to the others that were standing. He thrust his chin to indicate the woman and Vlad and then continued to move the cigarette around in his mouth.
Vlad's face was like stone. His voice was low, softened but not entirely friendly. "There are a lot of guys named Jake. And you don't look like his type of girl…"
She burst out with a frenzied waving of her hands that switched from dancing around in random motions to twisting the cloth of her jacket and tank top, pulling both down without noticing, to reveal the bones visible on her chest. She was laughing airily, a forced laugh she might not have been able to hear herself. "It's Jake. Just one Jake, and that's him. You- you know- you know who I'm talking about. Big Jake. He- he- My sister knows him. She- she tol'- told me 'bout him an'- an' how he- how he's a good guy, gives people- gives 'em- helps them out." She beamed, one tooth missing. "Yeah. Th-that Jake… I know 'im."
Vlad slowly shook his head, wanting to step back, but he held his ground. The others were watching with kindling interest, mostly amusement. "No. I don't know why you're coming to me. I don't even know where Jake is right now."
"But-"
"I can't help you."
"But-" Her clothes creased as she twisted the fabric, creating more wrinkles, adding to the ones that had existed already. She smiled and gave the strange laugh again. No cars occupied the road, and the others that were watching were quiet. "But, you got to. I hear you- I hear that you're magic. Right? Got- got special- special powers. Hell Dog, an' all." Her arms suddenly crossed over her stomach and she hugged herself, turning from side to side. "What you want then? What you want for letting me talk to Jake? Hm? I- I can let you do something. That what you want?"
Vlad frowned, looking at her arms. "What?"
She continued to hug herself, twisting from side to side, like she couldn't stand still.
The woman gave a start and dropped her hands to her sides when her observers burst out laughing. Their derision widened her eyes, making her forehead crinkle, while her lips trembled with indignity when she looked into the grinning face of the droopy eyed man.
It was a doggish, sneering smile, shaded by the visor attached to the hat on his head. "Cunt. Who do you take him for? This is Hell Dog. Try selling yourself to some other punk. He don't want any of your drugged up ass. He doesn't deal with prostitutes. And, bitch, you're too damn ugly to fuck anyway."
Vlad, who they expected to be quiet, drowned out their hilarity with the same composed voice he had used before. The teen was repelled by the woman's offer. He wasn't going to accept it, but she had caught his attention with the things she had said about Jake. She probably had no idea what Jake was like, she had probably never met him, but for her to know his name meant that she had at least dealt with someone that knew Jake pretty well. If she had called him Black, then Vlad would have kept quiet and allowed the others to mock her, revenge for trying to use Jake in a lie. He didn't believe that the woman had a sister that knew Jake. If one sister was like this, it was likely that the other would be in the same situation…in this neighborhood. No clean sister would tell her to go to a gangster for help. In fact, there was probably no sister in the equation at all. But he didn't really care about too many details. He looked her in the eye, giving her the attention a human being deserved. Vlad never considered that she might not be thinking of the Jake that he knew now, or considered whether or not she had picked out the name at random. She didn't inspire any significant amount of doubt in his mind, yet.
"What do you want from Jake? He doesn't have any drugs and he doesn't give out money to pay for them either."
Taken aback, but relieved, the worn face brightened and stuttering, nervous speech returned. Her hands twisted her clothes, holding the cloth tightly. "M-m- I- I don't want drugs." She smiled, jerking lips fitting her fidgeting body. "I don- I don't do drugs. M-no I- I don't do drugs." She shook her head, still smiling, but Vlad's face had darkened, his eyebrows flattening with his stare.
"Don't mess wit` him, you dumb bitch!" A voice yelled out, alarming the woman so that she dropped her smile and hunched her shoulders protectively. She winced, peeking at Vlad's expression with wary eyes.
"I'm not stupid." Vlad stated without anger and watched as her head fell to moving from side to side, her eyes staring at the ground. She hugged herself again and was quiet for a while.
"I-I smoke some crack wit' -with my man, sometimes…" She murmured incoherencies and the other observers snorted.
"She really has a man? God damn." They laughed in the background for a bit, losing interest in laughing when her voice spoke up again, focusing on the silent, pale teen that watched her.
"I-I got to get some money for my b-baby." She choked now and broke out with a sob. "I got a baby. An'- an' she needs food. We don't- we don't got a damn thing in the pantry. The-the goddamn fridge keeps stayin' empty." Her tears continued to build and spill while her breath hitched with despair and shame. Her arms were not comforting her. They were crushing her, claw like fingers pinching any fat her thin body possessed, hating herself. Hating everything that would make her live while her baby might die from sickness or hunger.
Some of the others in the group of gangsters were able to laugh at her stupidity and the disgust they had for her. "Then don't do crack if you got a kid! How stupid is this woman?" Laughter rang and her head sank, trembling. "Worst type of woman. Can't feed her own kid? Gotta do some crack first, right? Momma's gotta have her crack 'fore baby's allowed to have its milk." "Don't you got some milk in them boob's, woman? I see they're about half a mouthful each. That's enough for a baby, isn't it?" They laughed again, two or three standing apart from them. Those were the teens that were silent, the ones that let their eyes remain fixed on their feet or fused to the sidewalk.
Vlad watched the woman, and he saw her tremble as she fell further into despair. He watched as her nails dug into her body, forcing out a sob that did not come without pain. She could have been forcing herself to cry, but the doubt, again, did not cross Vlad's mind.
He turned away from her and walked towards the group, which had tightened when their interest had been pooled together. They laughed louder when they saw him leave her, cigarettes wasting away as embers took advantage of a body's shaking laughter in order to consume more of the stick of tobacco. Vlad stopped in front of them.
"What do you guys have on you?"
"What?" The laughs died down, tied to the quickness of the individual's brain as he registered the change. Several eyes looked at the tall teen dumbly.
"How much money do you all have on you."
Sobs choked behind him and then a frenzied rambling of 'oh God, oh God thank you' began. Bewildered faces wore gawking expression while the eyes that had been directed towards the ground looked up with new respect for Vlad, new humbleness for themselves when they compared their own characters to his. Red eyes scanned theirs.
"I don't know if I have enough to buy this baby something other than cheap crap. I might have enough for some dog food if it's on sale... But we're not gonna feed a baby dog food, alright. That might've worked for me as a kid, but it won't work for a normal baby."
Stunned bodies adopted new humor, chuckling at the joke, shifting around, becoming more comfortable.
Vlad smirked a bit, without truly joining in on the humor. "Well, maybe we could feed it dog food, but what if the kid turns out lookin' like me? Then we'd have this lady coming to us in tears, crying and tearing her clothes because she's got such an ugly ass kid now, because of us. She doesn't need a kid turning out like me on top of all the other shit she has going on for her, right?"
They laughed now, waving or sucking on cigarettes. "Hell Dog, you ate dog food as a kid?"
"Na. I ate puppy chow back when I was small. Right now I eat dog food."
"For real?" Cackles and cheers were sent up into the air, praising the joke as well as the possibility.
"Alright, alright. All us guys together got to have enough to feed a baby. Else I'm gonna shit myself laughing at how pathetic we are if we don't." The droopy eyes twinkled with chuckles he could not expel fast enough, giddiness brimming now as he shuffled about with the others, trying to see how much their wallets or pockets had while comparing the wealth.
"You got a twenty? Why the hell do you have that twenty for? You don't have nothin' to buy. Give it to me. I'll give you a five and we'll put the money in the pile."
"Hell no. I'm gonna put in a five and you put in your own damn money. I'm not stupid. Why 're you pretending I'm stupid? Try that on that fool over there. He can't count the fingers on his hand."
"I sure as hell can! I've got ten of 'em, right here. Look!"
"Dumbass…you just dropped your money."
"Oh, shit. Hey, don't steal it! Give that back. That's mine! -nuh uh, I didn't drop two dollars. I dropped two fives. Don't try to pull one over me! You know I'm watchin' you. You all can't be trusted with counting out money. You're all too stupid."
"Stupid just called you stupid, what does that make you?"
"Oh, shut up and get out your damn money. And wait- Why does Stupid have so much money? All I've got is a few ones and some change."
Vlad reached into his back pocket while all of this was going on and he felt out the edges of two folded bills. He picked them both out after a pause, and added the two dollars onto the cinderblock that had now turned into a donation pool.
When they had finished, he gathered up the sum, flipping through the bills after he organized them into a manageable handful, leaving behind any change that had been thrown in for someone else to count. Now that it was quiet, the sobbing woman could be heard again.
"We've got thirty-eight dollars here." Pale lips pronounced. A hand entered a pocket, emptying it as a few of the others had chosen to do. Vlad accepted the money and counted it. "We have forty dollars."
"And over two bucks in change! So that's forty-two dollars and sixty-two cents!"
Laughs and chuckles came again. "Sixty-two cents? Why sixty-two? What kind of number is that? Sixty-two..."
Vlad pocketed the change and folded the bills in his hands, wrapping them in the secure grip of his fist. "So who wants to go with me to buy the food? All together the store guys might just call the cops."
"Ha! Yeah, who'd think we're buying baby food? They'll think we're robbing them… Oh, god! I want to see the guy we pay when we have a mountain of baby food or milk, whatever we're gonna buy. He'll think we're nuts!"
"Or drunk."
"Who here gets drunk at 2 o'clock in the afternoon?"
"I know this guy's Mom does."
"Hey, get off me. And no way in hell - she does not get drunk at two! Fuck, she's wasted by 7 a.m., right when I get up in the morning. Two is when she's hung over and sleeping her ass off."
"Me, my old man's never hung over…cuz he's always dead drunk! I ain't never seen the man sober, and never want to neither. I'm not going back to that bastard. I'm staying wit' my mom and her new man, with my sister and my cousin. They're alright."
"You've got a hot cousin, from what I remember."
"You stay the hell away from her! She's freaken nine!"
"Oh shit! Wait! Then I'm talkin' about your sister!"
"She's fuckin' pregnant, you ass-hole!"
"Oh…fuck…damn it. Then who's damn sister am I thinking of?"
"You dumbass."
The group laughed and joked, leading the way to the nearest store that would have food for a baby.
Vlad hung back, keeping an eye on the sniffling mother.
"What kind of food does the baby eat?"
"Mn? She's still got the formula milk, b-but she- she can eat the -the jars, the baby food." Sniff. "But-but she's only got gum. Nope. No- no teeth yet. Not many - jus' a few of 'em…an' they're small. Little itty teeth. But she - she still likes her milk. She cries for milk. But- but I don't got- I don't got-"
"You're going to have to pick it out. I don't know anything about babies."
"M-kay. I- I know what ma' baby likes. She like 'em sweet potatoes kind- and the fruit ones. I-I'll know it wh-when I see 'em all there - on those shelves…wit' the light on 'em. ….Oh, I haven't been in- in the store in- in a while. It- it's changed 'lot. Oh. It's- This 's a different…a different one. I thought- I thought it was the other one."
"Is the other one better?"
Vlad stopped on the tiles, the automatic door sliding shut behind him. The group of delinquents and shady characters were in front of him, trying to figure out where baby food was supposed to be. Some wanted to go to the frozen food section, while some wanted to go to the dairy section, and others wanted to go buy the baby some candy or booze. The store's employees and other customers were rooted in place, all heads turned to the group, noting the sniffling woman who hiccupped with tears occasionally, all eyes stopping on the tall, pale man who stood with her. Was she his hostage? Were those his lackeys? Were they all going to get robbed and shot now?
Jesus Christ, not me. The poor girl at the nearest check out line dreaded the approaching thin man, the glowing red eyes and dark clothes. He had something in his hand. Oh God, he's going to take me hostage too. A young hostage is what they always want. Oh please no!
Her puckered forehead and draining pallor told Vlad of the thoughts she was having when he stepped up to her counter, cutting off the old man who was standing with his wallet in his hands, in the middle of paying for his groceries. He hid his wallet in his jacket with a quick movement and stepped back.
Down the row of check out lines, the manager was watching with others who were just arriving on the scene, a phone held at the ready, already displaying the numbers '911' on the screen. He only had to push 'Call' and help would hopefully get there in time.
They all held their breath when Vlad opened his mouth to speak.
"Where do you keep the baby food?"
Rigid with a few tears in her eyes, the anxious girl blinked, slowly absorbing the tears again when she stared at Vlad's face and heard what he had asked. When she didn't speak, a white fist, the one she had feared, was shown to the girl. The fist opened and the rolled money began to unfurl, threatening to fall.
"We've got money to buy as much baby food and baby milk as we can. Do you have stuff you can feed a baby or not?"
"Oh, um….um I…" Looking around with frayed nerves, the girl held her hands at her chest and peered around quickly for someone who could take the red eyes away. With a spark of relief and only a little guilt, her finger pointed to a uniformed employer who stood watching from one of the aisles. "He can help you- s-Sir. Over there. Him."
Vlad didn't bother thanking the girl when he left, and he didn't spare a single glance for the old man or his wallet. Meanwhile, the quiet was destroyed by laughs and yells from the group that followed Vlad's lead.
"THAT WAS FREAKEN AWESOME!" They cheered and applauded Vlad when he went to the employee that would take them to the baby food. "Did you see their faces? They totally thought we were gonna take their cash!"
"I bet half of 'em are gonna be waddling home today with a load in their pants! That girl definitely shit herself!"
"Hell Dog, you're awesome. That was perfect. She thought you were gonna shoot her. When you showed her the money - did you all see that? Oh, god I'm gonna burst a kidney laughing about that."
"See the fat guy with the phone?"
"What a laugh!"
"Now where's the baby food? …Is this stuff any good? Looks like the same stuff my cat threw up this morning, just less hair."
"My dog threw up something that looked like half a dead rat."
"Oh, don't tell Black that. Doesn't he have pet rats or somthin'?"
Vlad waited for the woman to pick out the canister of baby formula she wanted, surprised to see that it was powder. He thought they sold a special milk, like Whole or Low Fat milk, only for babies. Two canisters were chosen and Vlad ordered one of the guys to carry it.
When they picked out the jars of baby food, unsteady hands dropped one of the glass jars. It shattered into a pile of mush and glass fragments at the miserable mother's feet. The group stared at the mess, some eyeing the woman with mixed feelings before Vlad reached over it for another jar of the same flavor. The mess was overlooked and the group migrated back towards the check out lines where their sadistic hearts brought them before the same stricken check-out girl they tormented with grins.
One jar had to be abandoned when the total, with sales tax added on, exceeded their budget. The plastic bags were given to the bushy haired woman and the group was outside before anyone noticed the broken jar of baby food or the various other things that had been pocketed on the way out. Down the sidewalk and several blocks away, the woman had evaporated from their presence, having thanked the group before hurrying off with her goods, a thankful smile on her worn face and light in her ringed eyes.
While the others enjoyed bringing up the reaction they had gotten in the store and ate what they had stolen, Vlad walked with them, wondering why he had been so unlucky today. He was supposed to buy milk with those two dollars. Jake had asked him too, because they were out.
Oh well. The baby needed the milk more than Jake did. It'd be troublesome if Jake got any bigger. He might need to build a bigger door for himself, and that would be expensive. So those two dollars had actually saved him a lot of trouble in the end.