Väl Apple here! Enjoy the new extra-long chapter!
A big thank you to my Beta. Check out her AO3 "LittleDesertFlower" for her works.
BEFORE READING NOTES
· I'll go with the idea that Alucard can remove his gloves at will because the Cromwell pentagrams are actually on his hands and the gloves are just for show or to cover the scars.
· Count Orlok is the vampire from the movie Nosferatu.
· There is a small reference to Twilight in this chapter, but the book didn't come out until 2005, which is a few years after the events of Hellsing Ultimate. So we are going to imagine it was published a bit earlier for context.
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Two kings, two valets, a table and some refreshments for the illusion of politeness.
Why had she accepted the invitation again? Ah, yes. Because the girl she had adopted for the time being had punched the annoying bishop and, since she was wearing the uniform, the responsibility fell on the organisation and hence on her.
Despite the calm exterior she portrayed in front of said 'holy' man, Integra was beyond furious. Not only was she asked to apologise to the entitled nuisance, which irritated her to no end, she was asked (more like demanded) to part with some information about Alucard and 'the dangerous new recruit'. Had the Iron Maiden known that there would be no consequences for telling the truth, she would have told everything to the smug-looking man. But be as it may, the odd way Maxwell asked about the girl and the slight flinch from the hulking figure beside him when she was named made her pause. They seemed too interested.
"As I have told you previously, I'm only asking for a simple apology from her." Maxwell leaned back with a flippant wave of his gloved hand. "If you could provide us with her whereabouts, we would be on our merry way."
The smirk on his face told Integra otherwise. Why they would have any interest on the girl eluded the knight and it was irritating.
"Understandable, but I'm afraid that she is not available and won't be available for the foreseeable future." She hid her smile behind the cup of tea; two could play this game. "She, along with others, is on a mission as of now. And you cannot possibly expect me to take responsibility for this... act when you were the one to provoke her in the first place. An act of self-defence, as I believe."
There, that should shut him up and make them leave.
"Ah, yes. The mission in South America, I'm aware. Too dangerous for someone that young, don't you agree?" Integra faltered, how did they know? "And shouldn't they be back by now? Maybe they've run into trouble. We are willing to help you in this endeavour, right, Anderson?"
Maxwell turned towards the tall priest, who just scowled and nodded curtly.
Integra shared a glance with her silent butler; this was going to be a long conversation.
And long it was. Some excruciating hours later, Integra grudgedly relented and accepted the offer of help. Maxwell and Anderson took their leave, and the knight went back to her office, lost in thought. As much as she despised the bishop, he was right, and the vampires were taking too long to finish the mission. They both decided that sending the priest was the best option. She just hoped that no chaos ensued, but who was she trying to fool, there would be chaos. Chaos and a lot of messes she would have to clean after.
Smoke filled the room as Integra lighted a much-needed cigarette. She pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and anger. There was no rest for her, her life always filled up with problems. The newest? A problem called Inés. The girl was a trouble magnet and Integra was rethinking her decision about letting her stay. First the Nazis and now Iscariot. She would have to keep a sharper eye on her, but, for now, she had a phone call to make. It seemed her servant had deliberately omitted some things on their last one.
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Anderson was quickly regretting his decision. At the time, he'd thought telling his superior about his findings regarding the enemy was the correct thing to do, but seeing the greedy glint in Maxwell's eyes after he'd learned about the girl made him question himself.
He sighed inwardly and got in the back of the car with the bishop.
The younger man was distracted, which gave Anderson the opportunity to get lost in thought and recall that night.
The night he'd seen the girl falling from the sky, he was sure she was going to die upon impact, and he had run towards her small figure in hopes of catching her. However, the priest hadn't moved three steps when the most surprising thing had happened. The falling body halted in mid-air and started descending slowly, as if carried by someone or something. She was deposited gently on the ground and by some miracle she was still alive, unharmed and sleeping. Anderson hadn't had time to ponder about this, however, when the vampire he had been sent to dispose of appeared, followed by the Hellsing pet.
He frowned at the car's window; there was something odd in all of this and he couldn't figure out what it was.
Was she some kind of creature? Did she have powers they didn't know about? The girl was clearly too young to be part of any organization; the blonde police officer was an exception, seeing as she was turned into a creature of the night. He gritted his teeth in anger. While he was fighting to eradicate the monsters, those Hellsings were creating even more.
The young one (Inés, he had learned her name was) had apparently appeared out of nowhere and was quickly accepted into the organization. Why? She looked like she was barely of age and the fact that no one had come looking for her meant she was some kind of orphan, and that didn't sit well with the Paladin. He loved all the kids at his orphanage, and he couldn't help but see the girl as one of them: too young and fragile to be alone. No child should be exposed to such horrors and, most definitely, they should not be exposed to the creature Alucard. He didn't like the way that beast followed her around. It could only mean two things: the girl was somewhat important and needed protection or there was something more sinister at play. Anderson shuddered at that last thought. He really hoped the kid wasn't involved in any way with the Vampire.
Be that as it may, he couldn't do anything at the moment. So he would go to South America, locate her and find out what was important about her. He would get some answers and hope that, whatever they were, they didn't put her at any sort of risk. He just prayed that she wouldn't pose a threat, or he would have to intervene. He didn't want to kill a child.
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Inés came about slowly, the beginnings of a headache throbbing behind her eyelids. The first thing she noticed was the rustic ceiling and the soft murmurs of what she recognized as Seras' and Pip's voices. She had fainted yet AGAIN. Tired and frustrated, Inés made an attempt to get up from the bed she had been laying on, only to be stopped by a big clawed hand, groaning as she remembered why exactly she had passed out.
"You should really trim those nails, Orlok," she grunted out, still half asleep.
Inés rubbed a hand down her face to chase off the remaining tiredness and to try and maintain an ounce of patience. The Jerk was sitting cross-legged next to her, way too close for comfort. Alucard just raised an eyebrow in clear amusement, hand still on her.
By now, Seras and Pip realised the teen had woken up and approached her with worried faces, to which she responded with a smile, reassuring them she was okay. The mercenary smiled back and was about to ruffle the teen's hair when a low growl stopped him.
All the hairs on his body stood on end and a chill ran down his spine. He just needed a single second where his eyes crossed with the scowling vampire's for a moment; teeth bared and growling much like a dog.
Pip stared, Seras stared, Inés stared.
The Frenchman got the idea and backed away, the snarl receding on the Count's face. After a moment, Pip extended his arm again, filled with morbid curiosity and amusement only to receive the same treatment. He was about to do it again when Seras gripped his arm and practically dragged him away from the room with a whisper along the lines of '—not to play with fire, you idiot'.
Awkward.
Once they were out of sight, Alucard turned to Inés with a small smirk.
"You do faint a lot, my little human, should I be more watchful over you from now on? Should I keep some smelling salts on me?" The sentence, although a bit odd and old-fashioned, was something you'd hear from a caring friend or partner, but from him it sounded as if the vampire was mocking the girl.
His face, however, showed the tiniest bit of concern.
"Wha—? No?" Why did that come out as a question? "I don't faint that much, okay? It's been some hectic days and I was affected by shock and blood loss."
She looked down from embarrassment, her cheeks turning a light shade of red. Inés took notice of his hands (which still held her) as an afterthought; they were uncovered and scarred with the famous pentagram.
"Don't expect me to faint and fall over nearby furniture at every moment, this isn't a 19th century novel." This isn't Dracula, she thought.
To be fair, the women on that book were frail and prone to fainting spells, and considering the text was supposed to be biographic to some extent, maybe she could understand where he was coming from. She looked up at him and the face he gave her told her he wasn't a bit convinced by her speech.
Inés sighed. Fucking old man.
Alucard opened his mouth as if to say something else when the ringtone of a phone interrupted the moment. Inés' eyes fixed on the screen of the little device and found the caller to be Integra. Well, this was going to be one hell of an explanation from the Vampire's part. She almost felt pity for him—almost.
Said vampire looked between the phone and the girl for a moment before getting up from the bed and throwing an apologetic glance her way. Inés huffed, annoyed by his new behaviour and waved her hand, shooing him. To her surprise, Alucard grabbed it and kissed her knuckles; a chill going down her spine at the cold sensation of his lips and the gesture itself. The vampire just smirked and left the room, leaving a blushing teen behind.
Meanwhile, outside the room, a certain fledging and mercenary were having a conversation about what the hell had just happened.
"I can't believe master is showing interest in anyone! This is so exciting!" Seras whispered to her French companion, bouncing on her heels.
"Exciting? I think it's kind of creepy, the dude is creepy! Did you see how he GROWLED at me? Ma chère, you are forgetting monsieur Alucard is a thousand-year- old vampire and our petite Inés is but a young woman," Pip said lazily like he didn't really care about it.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
"He's not that old!" Seras answered, taking the smoke out of his mouth and putting it out. "And he genuinely seems to like her, I'm happy for him. Besides, who cares if they are a vampire and a human..." She clapped her hands together and Pip could swear her eyes were sparkling with an evil glint. "It's like a romance novel! The rich noble falling in love with the poor peasant while trying to navigate a world who is against them!" Seras emphasised the last sentence with a fist pump on the air. "So romantic!"
Pip rolled his eyes in amusement. Women and their books, he thought, taking out another cigarette but not lighting it this time. An idea popped into his mind and he grinned, getting close to the fledgling.
"So... A vampire and a human, uh?"
He circled her waist with one arm and leaned close to her face. The spluttering and blushing was worth the effort, the slap not so much. Still, Pip continued grinning like an idiot while a tomato-red Seras glared at him.
They were interrupted by Miguel entering the small cabin and Alucard exiting the bedroom.
Their eyes met for a second, but they quickly dismissed one another as Alucard got out the front door, phone ringing in his hand. Miguel greeted both of them and asked about Inés' wellbeing. Moments later, Jolene knocked on the door, getting in and making a beeline for the bedroom after throwing a quick smile their way.
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Alucard glared at the door for a moment longer than necessary after he had gotten out of the cabin. Why was that boy there?
Shaking his head, the vampire finally answered the call. What proceeded was fifteen minutes of his master chewing his ear off for messing up the mission and another fifteen additional minutes after he explained the situation. He half listened, half took in his surroundings.
With a bored expression, Alucard began to take note of the village they were staying at. It was small and looked like it was made for the only purpose of recreational entertainment. Why these humans would want to recreate the past, he did not know; in his opinion, the present was much better that anything he had lived so far. He had to admit, though, that they had done a good job with the clothes and environment. They were lacking a bit of dirt, but never mind that.
Alucard focused back on the conversation at the same time the ginger woman from the bus passed by him and into the house.
He narrowed his eyes at her. Why had no one found her out yet? The humans were decidedly dense...and stupid.
Speaking of humans, he turned to face the bedroom window and nearly broke the device in his hand at what he saw. That foolish boy was in the room with his human, touching her hand and being too affectionate. It didn't help that the ginger creature was there as well. He growled.
"Are you listening to me?! Alucard, this a messy situation! Not only you messed up the mission and ended God knows where with a bunch of buffoons with no way out, but Iscariot has graciously sent help in the form of Alexander Bloody Anderson!" Integra screamed from the other line.
Alucard quickly took the phone away from his ear at the volume of her voice. His master really needed to learn how to relax, and his mind was preoccupied with other things at the moment to fully comprehend what she was yelling.
"I'm listening, My Master," he answered in a mocking tone, trying to hold back the need to burst into the room and tear the boy away from Her.
"Good! Then stay alert and try to blend in as much as you can. The last thing we need is for the Vatican to stick their noses further with another complaint. And, Alucard, this is an order: do as you are told and play along with this farce until we can send help or you find a way back, understood?"
The tone of the line rang right after the scars on his hands glowed red with the sign of a direct order. The vampire didn't pay attention to that, though. As soon as the call ended, he was marching towards the cabin.
He kicked open the front door, hitting the unsuspecting mercenary on the face and startling his fledgling. Alucard didn't care, as his glowing red eyes fixed on the bedroom entrance, which he reached in a couple of quick strides. Inside, he found the boy, the creature and the human girl in which he was interested enough to admit he may have feelings for. Maybe, he wasn't sure yet.
"I'm glad to see you're well," Alucard said, striding casually towards the bed. "I appreciate the concern, but I can take it from here, boy."
Irritation was clear in his voice and by this point he had to calmly remind himself he was not to hurt civilians by orders of his master. Why were his hands still on her?
The ginger woman grabbed the teen's shoulder and looked directly at the vampire. Miguel tensed as if ready to intervene at any moment.
"We were just checking on her, she looked a bit pale. We were just leaving," Jolene squished Inés' shoulder one more time before releasing her, not before giving her a small smile.
"Yes, you were." Three words had never sounded more threatening. Alucard sneered at the woman, looming over her.
"Hey! Don't talk to her like that, buddy!" Miguel half-screamed, getting between the two girls and the vampire.
He didn't like the entitled attitude of the taller man. He acted as he somehow owned the brunette and it didn't sit well with him. The horrible way he treated Jolene also irked him. Miguel glared at him, challenging him to do anything, but the vampire just narrowed his eyes and... growled?
"Alucard! That's enough! They are leaving and you and I need to talk, so please calm down and step away," Inés tried to placate him, but it didn't work as well as she thought it would.
A hurt look crossed Alucard's face before being replaced by one of anger. He advanced towards her and made an attempt to grab her arm but was stopped by the boy.
"Hey! She told you to fuck off!" Miguel made the mistake to shove him.
In a second, Alucard had the boy by the neck and against a wall. It was so quick that neither of the girls had time to react. The look on the vampire's face was wild and if Miguel wasn't so preoccupied with trying to breathe, he would have noticed the shining red eyes and the slit-like pupils.
"Oh my God, stop it! What's wrong with you! They were trying to help me, and you come here, make a spectacle, and hurt them, like you are a jealous boyfriend or something!" Inés screeched and huffed out an incredulous laugh. "Alucard, we are not courting or whatever! You don't like me, and I never expected to go out with you at all!" She knew the moment those words left her mouth that they were a mistake. She covered her face in an attempt to take back what was said. "I-I didn't... What I meant was...er...joder."
The reaction was instantaneous. Alucard dropped the guy with an odd expression marring his face. Had he just been rejected?
"You—You are going to pay for that," Miguel said between coughs from the floor. "You might be bigger, but I'm the authority here. Jolene, call the guys."
She nodded and took out her phone with a last glance at Inés.
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The Spanish girl made her way up the wooden stairs and plopped down on the elevated platform.
"You know, it really is your fault for getting cocky and violent with the boss," Inés said, trying not to laugh at his predicament. They did take all this reenactment quite seriously. "Aw, come on! It's funny...for me at least." The teen couldn't hold it any longer and a giggle turned into a full laugh. When she stopped and finally was able to breathe again, she sighed and looked at the empty street and then at the full moon. "At least they decided to put you in there for the night so it's only for a few hours, and there isn't even people out here at this hour of the day."
To all effects and purposes, the girl might as well have been talking to herself, for the currently chained vampire didn't make any signs of having listened to her at all. His fists were clenched, the skin turning white at the knuckles, his shoulders tense and his head held high...or as high as the wood allowed him. His eyes were fixed on the empty space before him as if trying to burn holes into an imaginary brat, eyebrows set in a frown and lips tight.
All and all, Alucard made the perfect image for angry, tired and done with everything. For a brief moment, Inés wished for her phone again just so she could take a picture of that face; it was meme worthy.
After the initial hilarity of the situation, she kind of felt sorry for him: trapped in a strange place with a bunch of humans and pretending to be one. Remembering why she was there on the first place, Inés looked both ways of the street before taking a blood bag out of her purse.
"Here," she extended the hand holding the package but quickly lowered it awkwardly. There was no way he was eating it with his hands bound.
"Emm... just... let me..."
The teen struggled with the little straw, sitting on the floor next to the foot of the stocks and lifting it carefully.
Tired red eyes moved slowly towards her and blinked once, twice, but finally the vampire resigned himself and took the plastic tube into his mouth, eyes still on the girl, who now had her own straw drink. A moment passed where the both of them just stared into the horizon, in silent companionship, with only the occasional slurping noise to fill the night.
"I'm sorry about this, about what happened before and about the things I said." Inés sighed and looked at him with a grimace. "I guess we were both angry." She tried a little smile and reached with her free hand to touch his face and rub off some blood that had spilled from the straw. She frowned. "After you left, Seras spoke with me and tried explaining things to me. I really didn't know you were really interested in me at all, so... sorry if I have offended you somehow." She swallowed a lump in her throat and continued. "All of this is so new to me. Coming here was a shock, meeting you was a shock and then the courting thing... I guess it just clicked to me that all of this is real, and I got a bit carried away." Inés looked up at him with a serious expression. "But if we are going to do this, I want to get to know you better and you have to know me better and no more embarrassing moments, please and, yeah... That it's all. I'm giving you a chance now." She grinned while blushing a deep scarlet. "Not that I didn't find you attractive before," the teen whispered to herself, but by the smirk slowly creeping into his face she knew he had heard her. Damn those superpowers of his. "Miguel said that you don't have to stay all night there too, I explained to him that we...we were... dating," she told him, half-embarrassed, half-awed, which made him chuckle as he reached for the lock so he could get out of the familiar device.
Having finished her juice, the Spanish girl looked at him and her eyes lingered on his wild, noted hair. It was curlier as well as longer, since he had opted to play the role in his Vlad form. Why, she didn't know and hadn't asked. But it was all over his face despite the fact that he had it tied at the base of his neck. It might have gotten loose during the struggle.
She stood up and threw both empty containers back in her purse so she could throw them away later. Her eyes strayed back to the black mass that was Alucard's hair and before she knew what she was doing, her hand moved on its own and buried itself in the curls. At first the vampire tensed up and she was sure he'd push her away with a mean comment on how she was being ridiculous, but to her surprise, he closed his eyes after a moment and leaned in.
She smiled. And then screamed.
His eyes snapped open and frantically searched for the woman's but he found them closed and said girl on the floor, trying to hold back more screams while clutching for dear life at the cloth over her chest. Tears were running freely down her face, grazing a newly formed rash that would probably leave a bruise later. She had fallen down the steps to the platform and there were sure to be bruises on other parts as well. Her breathing was labored and frantic and moans of pain escaped clenched teeth. With a loud 'clank' the iron locked was broken and he was free and kneeling next to her. He sat her up, lifting her by her shoulders and tried to talk to her but the pain was so intense she didn't seem to hear any of it.
"Human." He shook her. "Girl." He grabbed her face. "Inés!" She stopped.
Her head fell forwards and her whole body shagged and lost all tension. She was still awake, but barely.
Alucard frowned, not knowing yet the cause of the sudden attack, but soon noticed it when the faint smell of blood reached his nose. There, on the spot where she had been clawing at, was a dark stain.
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The wooden door flew open in contact with his boot and it would have crashed against the wall, had it not crashed against an unsuspecting Frenchman. Not paying any attention to the fallen Mercenary, Alucard marched directly into the kitchen placing the still unconscious girl on a chair.
Pip got up cursing while scratching the back of his head. He flinched when his fingers graced the tender spot, courtesy of the door. He was about to yell at his uncaring partner when he heard the racket coming from the kitchen. He frowned and, as he closed the door (noting the new head-shaped indent in it), he pondered what that was about. Of all the things possible, an anxious vampire running around the room and opening cabinets in a frenzy was not on his mind when he finally went to investigate. Pip leaned on the kitchen door frame with a confused expression until he took notice of the limp form of Inés and the red spot on her dress.
"Mon Dieu! What happened to her?" Quickly taking off the short scarf around his neck, he gently dabbed on the wound to clean it as much as he could while stealing glances at the visibly agitated Midian.
"Not one useful thing in this godforsaken place—!"
Closing the last cabinet with enough force to tear it from its hinges, Alucard turned to face the Frenchman. Shoulders tense and breathing heavily, he ran a hand through his noted hair and grimaced.
"There is not one single healing kit in this house!" he said between clenched teeth. With a heavy sigh, he continued. "She fell down some stone stairs and... And I obviously don't know where THAT came from"
His anger was clearly visible in his face now as he pointed a finger at the unconscious girl's chest.
"All the medical supplies are stored at the healer's house, they take all this reenactment crap really serious— Wait! Where the hell are you going now?!"
The wooden door was again torn open and Pip was left behind with Inés, who was slowly waking up, and a mess in the kitchen. "Merde..."
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Alucard reached the only place that looked as if it could contain any sort of medical essentials and quickly passed through the wall, dismissing the sound of a lock clicking into place from the other side.
The room was relatively small with several pieces of furniture containing the supplies, and no windows. He ran a hand through his messy curls with an exasperated sigh.
What did you even need to heal a wound?
He searched several cabinets and drawers, finding some bandages and alcohol. It would have to suffice for the time being, but was it enough? The vampire's frustration grew as he kept searching the small space. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had to help heal someone the mortal way. His thoughts revolved around the odd wound on Inés' chest and the fact that there was no explanation for how it had come to be there.
It wasn't as if it was magi—
His hands suddenly halted, still gripping the last closed closet. If he remembered correctly, the girl had the curse mark over one of her breasts. Was it possible the curse was the reason for the heavy bleeding? He would have to ask her after she recovered.
Maybe he opened the closet with more force than necessary because of his wandering mind, maybe it was meant to happen that way. Either way, he did not expect a rotten corpse to fall on top of him from it, now wide open. Wide open, as well as the door to the cabin, from where Miguel and Pip appeared, with shocked expressions and mouths hanging open in horror.
The Spanish man recognized the young woman's corpse as one of the actresses that had worked with them in the past, although from the state of decomposition, he barely knew it was her. He looked at it long enough to make sure it was her before turning around and vomiting on the floor beside a bush.
The cops were called (by Miguel, who wasn't entirely convinced Alucard wasn't to blame, seeing as the door was locked when they arrived), and after a couple of hours, they came to the conclusion that she had been dead for quite some time and the dry and dark environment of the wooden cabin had accelerated the process of mummification. Natural causes, they said, as they couldn't identify any sign of murder or suicide.
None of them saw the two punctures on the neck but the two men now standing at a safe distance from the place.
They shared a look that conveyed that Alucard had an idea about who the culprit might be. The vampire paused at this thought as if he had just had an epiphany.
"Who is Inés with?"
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Translations
Ma Chère ------------ My dear
Monsieur ------------ Mister
Joder ----------------- Fuck
Mon Dieu ----------- My God
Merde --------------- Shit
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That's all for now my lovely readers! Thoughts? Was it good? I'm trying to create something new apart from the canon and I'd like your opinion. :D
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