Marked
~ A Hellsing fanfiction
by Kit ~
Integra Hellsing shivered.
She was cold, hungry and tied up. Integra struggled against her bonds
but with little luck. The gag on her
mouth was also much too tight for her to shrug off.
As her eyes adjusted slowly to her dark prison, she looked about
desperately for cracks or weakness in the coffin. Unfortunately, it was to no avail. She was trapped in Alucard's coffin with no
hope of escape until someone chanced upon her.
"How ironic it is that when I asked Walter to order the
coffins, I told him to get an extra sturdy one for Alucard," she cried
inwardly in frustration.
Voices and footsteps alerted her to the fact someone had entered
the room.
"Lord Alucard. I have not heard from Sir Integra for the last
two days. It is unlike her to simply
disappear without leaving instructions as to her whereabouts."
"I told you, I was on my way to her chambers to discuss
certain matters two nights ago when I saw her leaving with two of the Queen's
men in a great hurry. I offered to
accompany her but she refused on the basis that her meeting was top
secret. Her express instructions were
that she should not be disturbed until she returned. She has taken Pip with her and is in no
danger."
"Certain matters?" the older man quizzed.
"Personal matters, Walter."
Integra was furious. The
nerve of the vampire! How dare he kidnap
her from her own bed two nights ago and make up this ridiculous tale as to her
whereabouts? Somehow, she had to let
Walter know where she was.
Kicking desperately against the coffin, Integra tried to make as
much noise as she could to alert her faithful butler as to her
predicament. Unfortunately, Alucard
appeared to have anticipated this and the thick lining of cloth padded around
the coffin prevented her from making as much noise as she had hoped to.
"Lord Alucard ... is there something or someone in your
coffin?"
"Yes Walter,” replied Alucard grinning mischievously. “Seras is in there. I do not have to report our after office
activities to you, do I?"
"No. Not at all,"
Walter replied uncomfortably. "Look
Alucard, Seras is your charge but do not go too far. She is a member of the Hellsing organization
afterall."
"As you have mentioned, the training of my subordinate is out
of your jurisdiction, Walter. Now if you
will excuse me, I do believe that you have other matters to attend to?"
Integra panicked as faltering footsteps indicated that Walter was
leaving the dungeon. If only the butler
had insisted on examining the contents of the coffin.
The few minutes that passed thereafter seemed an eternity to
her. Lifting the heavy cover of the
coffin, Alucard peered in amusedly at an extremely enraged but helpless Integra.
"Now, now, Lord Hellsing, I must ask you to be more gentle on
my sleeping quarters."
Integra glared at Alucard in a mixture of loathing and anger.
"There, there, my pet.
No one knows where you are.
Walter is unlikely to call the Queen within the next few nights and will
so remain unaware that Seras and Pip are out on a wild goose chase for an
alleged freak chip factory in
"Curse you Alucard," screamed Integra silently in her
mind.
"Words, words master," mocked the vampire. "By the time Walter realizes that 'your'
meeting with the Queen's men never took place, it will be too late for him to
do anything about it."
"What diabolical plans do you have for me? Kidnapping a woman from her bed in the dead
of the night? Reverting to your nasty
habits nosferatu?"
Alucard said nothing but merely smiled as he stroked her creased
brow.
"If you are a man, let us settle this by guns. I would rather be killed than humiliated by the
likes of you."
"But I am not a man.
And killing you is hardly my intention dear pet. But hush now, the moon is rising. It is a beautiful night is it not?"
Without warning, she felt his fingers press behind her neck. Against her will, her muscles relaxed, she
was losing consciousness rapidly.
Laughing cruelly, Alucard lifted her limp body. The smirk on his face was the last thing she
saw before she blacked out.
Chapter 2 A NIGHTMARE
Walter looked in surprise at the forbidding
castle before him. The plants around the
castle were dried and shrivelled. The air was bitterly cold but Walter was sure that
the temperature was not the reason for his unease; it was the overbearing
stench of death and decay in the air that unsettled him.
He watched cautiously as the heavy doors in
front of him slowly creaked opened. A
hooded figure behind the doors gestured for him to enter. Grimly, the butler made a final check on his
trusty garrotes.
"I don't know who you are or what you
want with us. However, if you do not
return Lord Hellsing unharmed, I will personally see to it that you regret it
with every inch of your life - or lack of," swore Walter under his breath.
The castle's dim walkways seemed endless. Walter struggled to keep up with the hooded
figure as it floated ahead of him with ease.
"I am not as young as I used to be," lamented the butler
mentally, trying to catch his breath.
Finally, the figure stopped before a heavy iron door. Walter had seen
many horrific sights in his time as an active agent for the Hellsing family but
this did not alleviate the horror that threatened to overwhelm him as the
figure took hold of the doorknob. For
where a human hand should have been, there was a rotting claw like appendage
covered with scales.
"The one you seek is inside," hissed
the hooded figure, throwing aside the heavy door. As swiftly as it had arrived, the figure
disappeared, melting into the shadows.
Trembling in spite of himself, Walter stepped
through the doorway. The ringing clang
of the door as it shut behind him did little to comfort him. "I have to find her and kill whoever is
responsible for this," muttered the butler under his breath.
"Finally, our guest is here. Let the merrymaking commence," a male
voice cried out in the darkness, moments before the room exploded with light.
Squinting his eyes to adjust to the sudden
brightness, Walter looked around the huge hall in amazement. He had not expected to find such a
well-preserved room in this derelict castle.
The room he was in was huge, its height and length each at least 300
feet or more. Proud and colorful banners
hung from towering columns. A soft blue light streamed in through the top of
imposing stained glass windows that adorned both sides of the hall. Stories of battles appeared to be the
predominant theme of their intricate designs.
Turning his eyes away from the ceiling, Walter surveyed the thousands of
candles that lit the great hall.
Extending from where he stood to the other end of the hall was a long
oaken table, around which hundreds of men and women were congregated. The people appeared to be in jovial spirits
as they participated in what Walter supposed was a feast of some sort.
Walter could not help but stare. All the people were dressed in the most
magnificent and rich clothes. Many were
adorned with ornate jewelry; some of them even had crowns. Laid out on the table were golden dishes on
which mountains of the most delicious looking food was placed. The people were noble and beautiful in
appearance as they chatted happily among themselves; no one seemed to notice
Walter or pay him any attention as he walked towards the table.
Without warning, a hush fell over the room as
the figures stood deathly still as if they were wax figurines instead of the
living people they had been. Even the
air in the room, which had been warm and comfortable a moment before, had
become cold and stagnant. For a moment,
Walter stood perfectly still, not knowing what to expect from this strange turn
of events.
And then he heard it. Cutting through the deafening silence was a
giggle, a woman's giggle to be precise.
It sounded as if as someone at the other end of the great hall had
escaped the strange spell other than himself.
Cautiously, Walter made his way towards the far end of the hall. As he walked past the frozen figures, he
noticed that the faces of the men and women at the feast were beginning to look
less refined than the earlier people.
Although dressed in finer clothes, hooked noses and feral eyes replaced
the noble handsome features of the earlier revellers. When he had gone a little further, he found
hunched beings that looked even less human than the ones before. While the people positioned nearer the other
end of the hall (the end from which Walter had entered the room) looked carefree
and happy, the faces that he now met looked cruel and haughty: this was about
the middle of the room. A little further
on, the faces of the revellers looked even less human and more cruel and
dreadful. Their clothes were even more
magnificent than those he had seen in the middle of the room and their jewels
more beautiful. Yet, they were hunched
with almost demonic features; some of them even had dried scaly skin more akin
to a snake's. Walter shuddered as he
caught sight of an old wizened man with his scaly claw clasped firmly around a
jeweled goblet as he toasted (or was in the middle of toasting) a hag with
three eyes. Although he had prided
himself for his nerves of steel, Walter was painfully aware that an
overwhelming sense of fear and panic was threatening to consume him.
"What is this place?" wondered
Walter in morbid curiosity as he walked along until he came to a huge and
richly upholstered chair at the very end of the table. As the chair was turned, Walter could not see
who it was who was sitting in the chair.
He was, however, sure that the earlier male and female voices had come
from this end of the hall.
"Welcome Walter Kum Dorne, my old
friend," the male voice spoke again, this time from behind the rich
upholstered chair. Walter supposed that
it belonged to the host of this macabre feast.
"Who are you? Do I know you? Turn around so I can see your face,"
said Walter, holding up his garrotes as bravely as he could.
Slowly, a man arose. As he turned to face the butler, Walter recognized
the man to be Alucard.
"Lord Alucard, you scared me ... what are
you doing here?"
"Shh, old man, not so loud, you will
scare my love," said
Alucard, putting a finger on his lips before returning his attention to the
bundle in his arms. It appeared to be a
person wrapped in nothing but a huge white cloth that covered his (or possibly
her) whole body and face. Alucard smiled
mysteriously as he kissed his fretting charge gently.
At Alucard's "ministrations", the
figure giggled - a woman's giggle.
Walter froze as he realized the familiarity of the woman's voice. Slowly and deliberately, Alucard placed the
woman on her feet. Removing her hood, he
ran his fingers through her long icy blonde locks. Walter could only watch in horror as the woman
he had once known to be Lord Hellsing, lifted her head and snarled at him,
revealing a pair of fearsome fangs.
"Hush now my pet, I know you must eat
..." laughed Alucard as he coaxed her comfortingly. "Now, now, Walter, where are your
manners? Your lady is hungry, we must
get her something to eat."
As he looked Walter in the eye, Alucard
smirked, "Cat got your tongue, Kum Dorne?"
"We should never have trusted you. I myself should have killed you a long time
ago."
"And she would have died that night her
uncle found her in the basement," Alucard retorted amusedly, "but
this is the way the wheels of fate turn and instead, I have myself a pretty
pet." Alucard smiled possessively
as he placed an arm around Integra's waist, pulling her into an embrace.
Integra purred in contentment at Alucard's
touch but watched intently as two hooded men entered, bringing in a young
woman. The young woman appeared no older
than Integra's twenty-three and was trembling like a child as she was roughly
escorted in. Walter shuddered to think
what lay underneath those hoods.
"Ah, thank you my faithful servants. My pet, your dinner has arrived. Does it not please you?" laughed
Alucard, combing his fingers through her hair once more. Integra said nothing but licked her lips excitedly
as the woman began sobbing.
"Lord Hellsing, nooo ..." screamed
Walter as he watched Integra shrug off both the cloth draped around her body
and Alucard to approach the terrified woman.
Even as an undead, it was no denying that she was a graceful woman. As disgusted as he was by the sight, Walter
could not tear his eyes away from his mistress as she masterfully latched her
fangs into her petrified prey's throat.
The few minutes seemed an eternity to him as
he helplessly watched her drink, transfixed in horror. The woman struggled briefly before slumping
lifelessly at Integra's feet. To his
horror, Integra merely giggled, apparently drunk with bloodlust as she knelt
down to continue her drink.
"Monster, what have you done to
her?" yelled Walter, horrified at the spectacle he had just witnessed.
"Nothing much, I have merely given her a
new life." Alucard smirked as he
walked over to Integra. Coaxing Integra
from the almost bloodless body, he lifted her once again proudly in his
arms. Although initially reluctant to
leave her kill, she on her part said nothing but merely placed her arms around
his neck as she engaged him in a lustful kiss.
"What in the world have you done, you
fiend? How dare you taint one as noble
as her? Lord Hellsing, stop this
madness!”
To Walter’s shock, Integra paid him no
heed. Even as she continued kissing the
vampire, she began slowly undoing the buttons on his shirt. “Integra love,” the butler cried, stricken in
disbelief at the sight, “I beseech you, come to your senses!"
Alucard looked up, his eyes betraying his
amusement. Breaking the embrace of their
lips, a sly smile crossed his own.
"Taint her? I have merely cleansed her of her filthy humanity. A human with such power and beauty is a rare
find. Would you rather see her waste
away as a mortal? Look ‘god of death’,
isn't she more beautiful than ever? I
will make her powerful, second to none other than myself. We will drink until we are filled and until
everyone lies dead at her feet."
"You are nothing more than a filthy
demon."
"And yet she begged me for it. Imagine, your proud Hellsing going down on
her knees, begging me to take her."
"Liar."
"Shall we show him how it was after your
rebirth my lovely? Shall we?"
mocked Alucard.
Placing a giggly Integra on the table, Alucard
laughed cruelly at the shocked expression on Walter's face as he proceeded to
remove the remaining buttons on his shirt.
"What are you ...?"
"I am merely showing you how she wanted
me, how she begged me. You have no idea
what a lustful whore you have been serving for years Walter."
"Shut up.
Do not speak of Lord Hellsing in this manner demon."
"I see your temper has not been
diminished over the years ‘god of death’.
But you are too late. Or perhaps
you had wished for her to behave like this with you old man, while she was
still human? Hear how my pretty
moans."
"Stop it. Stop it or I'll ..."
"You'll what?"
Walter clenched his eyes in both defeat and disgust,
trying to drown out the images of what had just unfolded before him, ignoring
the sounds of their wanton love making, no ... this could not be real, had he
really failed to protect her?
Was this just a bad dream or a hellish
nightmare come true?
----------
Walter awoke abruptly, drenched in fear. Wiping his sweaty brow, the butler all but
ran to the telephone, almost tearing off the receiver in his anxiety.
"Hello?
This is Walter Kum Dorne. Yes
that's right, I'm calling from the Hellsing organization. I know it's 3 in the morning but this
concerns a matter of grave importance. I
need to speak to her Majesty's office on urgent business, now."
Walter clenched his teeth in anxiety. “Please let her be there,” he muttered under
his breath.
"Yes ... yes, about that meeting three
days ago ... what, she never turned up?
I ... I understand." Walter replaced the receiver, ashen
faced. "I'm going to kill him, the
bloody Judas."
----------
Somewhere, in a train compartment, Integra
slumbered uneasily, too weak to fight back or to chance an escape. The vampire in whose lap she slept smiled
possessively while he stroked her head gently.
"I think the old man finally suspects," he said as he chuckled
to himself, "but it is much too late now.
Sleep tight, my master, sweet dreams."
Chapter 3 DECIDING LOYALTIES
Walter sat worriedly in his chair.
This was a scandal that could potentially cripple the Hellsing family's
credibility - Lord Hellsing, stolen from her own manor. The present Lord Hellsing and the Hellsing
family had their share of political enemies, people who were more than ready
and willing to see to their downfall as soon as handed the opportunity. If not handled correctly, this embarrassment
could present his mistress's enemies ammunition to attack her credibility as
heir of the Hellsing family and head of the Protestant Knights of England.
And yet here he was, with no clue or inkling as to her
whereabouts. All he knew was that
Alucard had told him a deliberate lie with regard to Integra's meeting with the
Queen. The wildcard had turned against
its master and he had no idea where the vampire had taken her. He would need help from the other knights,
people he did not trust.
The telephone rang, distracting the faithful butler from his inner
turmoil. Walter picked up the phone
hesitatingly.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Walter is that you? May I speak to Lord
Hellsing? The freak factory we were sent
to investigate in
"Pip is that you?"
"Yes. Walter, what's wrong?"
"Plenty. I need you to
come back to
----------
"Well, what did he say?" Seras asked her companion
curiously. "Is the information
given by master correct?"
Pip answered edgily, "The mission is off. We need to get back to
"What?"
"It's a blood AB situation."
The color on Seras's face drained at the mention of the term. Pip muttered nervously, "I'm afraid so;
something's happened to Lord Hellsing."
----------
Walter eyed Pip nervously.
"Are you sure about this?
Can she be trusted?"
"Walter, you never had problems with her loyalties
before," replied Pip. "Don't tell me you suspect that she will betray
Lord Hellsing?"
"Yes but that was when we were fighting the freaks. We're fighting Alucard now, her master. Whose side do you think she'll be on?"
questioned the butler aridly.
"I trust Seras to do the correct thing."
"The concept of the 'correct thing to do' is a subjective one
Pip."
"What chance do we have without her?" pointed out
Pip. "Alucard has left no clues as
to where he has gone to with Lord Hellsing, if he has indeed taken her as you
say. Walter as you have pointed out, we
cannot allow anyone outside this room to know that she is missing. I know you are upset but calm yourself. I may not have been with the Hellsing family
that long but it's unlike you to act so irrationally."
"Pip, Integra is missing.
Stolen from right under my nose!
How do you expect me to remain calm?"
A small knock on the door was heard as Seras peeked shyly into the
library. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean
to eavesdrop but since you're talking about me, do you mind if I join in
instead of just hearing it in the basement?"
Pip whistled in amazement.
"That's one hell of a hearing system you've got there Vicky."
"Vicky?" asked Walter, one eyebrow raised.
"I do believe
"No, come in Lady Seras.
I doubt making you go back to the basement is going to make a difference
to anything."
Seras flushed a little. The
cold tone in Walter's voice was discomforting.
"But master would never ..."
"Lady Seras, I do not wish to cast any aspersions on your
judgment of character but do not romanticize Alucard - he is not, by any
stretch of the word, a good man," spat Walter bitterly. "I understand that he is, as far as
vampires are concerned, your father but do you know what he was like before the
Hellsings subdued him?"
Seras shook her head. There
were so many things she did not know about
Alucard. Yet, she did not think
that Alucard would mean Integra any harm.
Even when she had her childish crush on him, she was, all too aware of
the affection her master harbored secretly for Lord Hellsing despite his
delight in needling her.
"It may interest you to know that Alucard was,"
continued Walter, this time a little less accusingly (and a little more like
the polite and gentle Walter she was used to), "once known as Prince Vlad
the Impaler."
"Dracula," echoed Pip stunned.
"Yes, the legends, though now somewhat exaggerated, carry the
hint of truth in them. Alucard is the
infamous Dracula, whose merciless tyranny is well documented. He attempted to take over
Seras nodded mutely.
"Do you? Do you
seriously know what your dear master was like?"
"Walter, you're being too harsh on Vicky here," defended
Pip.
Walter paused, guiltily aware of her uneasiness. "I'm sorry my lady but you must
understand my concerns as to your divided loyalties in this matter."
"I understand Walter.
No offence taken. However, your
premonition of him taking her by force was just a dream was it not? There is no evidence that ..."
Walter's face was grim.
"I do not wish to doubt Alucard without adequate proof too Lady
Seras, but as you must no doubt concede, the recent events have affected his
credibility. Lady Seras. I understand
from Pip that Alucard was the one who had tipped you two off on the freak
factory in
Seras paused. "Walter,
do not jump into conclusions but something has indeed been bothering me before
I left for the mission."
"Could it have something to do with Lord Hellsing's
disappearance?" asked Pip.
"Kidnap," Walter corrected Pip.
"We still don't know at this point whether it is
kidnap," Pip retorted.
"And what do you call taking a woman from her bed in the
middle of the night?"
"Seduction?" offered Pip trying to inject some humour
into the tense situation.
"Shut up!" yelled both Seras and Walter.
"Look, I'm sorry Walter," Seras continued, "but Pip
is correct. It was only a
nightmare. You don't know if it was a
kidnap or whether they left together willingly."
"But why would Alucard lie to me? He told me that Pip had accompanied Lord
Hellsing to meet the Queen and it turns out that the Queen never got to see
Lord Hellsing. Neither was Pip with her
as he has evidently, been hunting down a red herring in
"That's true," added Pip. "Alucard was the one who had tipped us
off on the freak chip factory."
Seras glared momentarily at Pip.
"You're not helping matters."
"Lady Seras, you were saying, ..." prompted Walter.
"Oh yes. Well, as you
know I have not really been eating well since my ... uhm ... changing," stammered
Seras haltingly. Seras' vampirism was
always an awkward topic for her.
"The night before we left for
"And?" asked Walter curiously.
"She made a comment about my stubbornness and how foolish I
could be, traits which she attributed to master. She then cut her finger with a knife she was
carrying before holding out it out to me.
I didn't want to take it at first but the hunger was too great and the
smell of her blood in such close proximity was driving me crazy. Without realizing what I was doing, I had
licked the warm liquid off her fingers."
"Yes. The blood of a
Hellsing will revive a vampire close even to death but what is so odd about
that? Lord Hellsing may appear cold but
she is not unfeeling and it was an open secret that you were starving yourself
to death by refusing to touch your blood rations."
"I understand and I am grateful to my lady. The only thing that comes across as strange
to me was what she said after that."
"Which was?"
"She mentioned that it was the second glove she had slit in 2
days."
"That seems to imply that she must have done something like
that the day before. What does this
mean?" asked Pip.
"She also said something else. Something about her bloodline thinning, I
think. Her exact words were 'I didn't
think I would have to feed you again so quickly; oh well, the Hellsing blood
must really be thinning in me.' I
thought it odd although I didn't make much of it then."
"I am afraid it makes perfect sense to me. Lord Hellsing must
have fed a vampire the day before," pointed out Walter, "A vampire
she had obviously mistaken for you."
"And this means?" asked Pip uneasily.
"Alucard is bound to the Hellsings for as long as their line
exists. He can only be freed on the
extinction of van Helsing's bloodline or ..."
Seras gulped uneasily.
"Or?" prompted Pip.
"Or if a Hellsing offers blood of his or her own free will to
him, without condition."
"And if it wasn't Seras that earlier night but ..."
echoed Pip nervously.
"He would be free."
"But why would master do that?" Seras felt a sick thump in her stomach. As
much as she hated to admit it, Walter's deductions made perfect sense.
"Don't you see?
Without Lord Hellsing's control, he would be free to do as he
pleases. Free to destroy the family that
has held him captive for a century. Free
once more to wreak havoc and bloodshed as it is his nature to do so."
"But even if he craved to be free, he wouldn't harm her. He has saved Lord Hellsing's life on more
than one occasion when he could have killed her or left her to die," Pip
pointed out quickly. "Unless he was
afraid that there had been more Hellsings other than our lady."
"No. She is the last
of her line at the moment and he knows that.
Alucard's motives in this matter are a mystery to me. There are times when I genuinely thought he
cared for her, or as much as he could for anyone other than himself."
Seras said nothing. Her
thoughts were on an incident two months back: Integra had been down with a
serious case of pneumonia following completion of a mission that had the whole
Hellsing organization camping in the rain for a week. The doctor had insisted that Integra be kept
in bed and away from her work for at least a month. When he could not be swayed, pointing out the
seriousness of her condition, Lord Hellsing had tried to make light of the
matter by declaring jokingly that the doctor and death were the only things
that could keep her away from her work.
When Seras had expressed concerned for Integra (whom she had come
to respect and like) on hearing the doctor's comments, Alucard had dismissed
her as being "weak and human".
He had mocked her mercilessly then for "being bogged down by petty
human emotions and the like". He,
however, obviously did not realize that Seras was all too aware of the fact
that he spent all his nights that month keeping vigil by Integra's bed after
Walter had retired for the night.
There was no mistake; Integra was someone special to Alucard.
Walter turned grimly to Seras, his commanding tone breaking her
reflections. "Lady Seras. I will
not force you. You have sworn allegiance
to the Hellsings yet I will not bind you to that promise if you are unwilling
to keep it. However, you must declare
your loyalties now - if it is Alucard who has kidnapped Lord Hellsing, whose
side will you be on?"
Seras paused for a moment before replying calmly, "I did not
forget my promise to protect the Hellsings,
"Yes, even to the undead, the rules of natural justice must
apply," nodded Pip. "I'm glad we all are able to resolve that our
little issues ... but what do we have to work on other than the fact, she's
gone and he's gone?" continued the mercenary curiously.
"Well for one, I can't feel master's presence. I don't think he's in
Chapter 4 WELCOME HOME
Alucard held the sleeping Integra carefully in his arms as the car
navigated the treacherous mountain roads.
"My Lord, your wife doesn't look very good," commented the
driver, concerned, "shall we take a little break by the road side? There's a place we can stop up ahead if my
Lady requires a break."
"I think we will be fine.
Drive on please. The castle is
just up ahead and when we get there, I will get a doctor to attend to
her."
"Very well Lord Vlad, the poor dear, she looks sickly."
----------
Integra looked cautiously around the large ornate room she had
just entered. The room was well
decorated and offered a great view of the valleys below the castle. In its older and more glorious days, it might
have even been the throne room of the castle.
The scenery was breathtaking if one was in the mood to enjoy it but
Integra had other things on her mind.
The events during the last four days had been a blur to her. She only remembered being taken from her bed
in the dead of one night only to wake up tied and gagged in Alucard's coffin
the next. Following a brief exchange of
angry words (stares more like it) with Alucard, she had been taken onto a
train, half unconscious and against her will.
Exhausted for reasons she could not decipher, she had slept through most
the whole journey here. Although she had
awoken once briefly in a train and to her mortification, in Alucard's lap, she
had been too weak to attempt an escape then.
The events of the day before she had arrived in this strange
castle were a total mystery to her. Even
her memories of her arrival in the castle were hazy. She remembered a kindly old man who addressed
her as Lady Vlad. The next thing she
knew, she had awakened in a bathtub filled with milk while two strangely mute
women attended to her.
When confronted, Alucard had laughingly told her that they were in
"his home" and that she should make herself comfortable, seeing that
they were unlikely to return to
She walked quickly, determined to put as much distance between her
and the two women charged with attendance on her. "What is that blasted vampire up
to? Don't tell me he brought me all the
way here for a holiday?" wondered Integra both angrily and curiously. Already smarting from having been rudely
uprooted from her own manor, she was absolutely livid when Alucard had insisted
her assigned handmaids strip her of her suit.
"
"I'm not a bloody doll he can dress up and play around with.
Tradition my foot! Who is he trying to
kid? And other than the fact kidnapping
and tyranny run in his family, there's nothing traditional or normal about
him," Integra spat angrily as she stomped around the room, furious. "When I get out of here, I am personally
going to stake Alucard for this. No, I
think I'll gain more gratification from tearing him limb by limb until he is
finally unable to regenerate," fumed Integra.
Seething with anger, she was about to contemplate taking it out on
the pair of handmaidens when she caught hold of herself. "No Integra, now this not the time to
contemplate revenge or to lose your temper," she chided herself. "Revenge will come later but not
now. The villagers are most probably
innocent, having no choice but to amuse their tyrannical overlord. Calm yourself; you need to think yourself out
of this. Think. You need to find a way to leave this castle
or at least get a message to Walter to where you are."
Propping herself comfortably on a window still while she scouted
out the terrain around the castle, she tried to figure out how Alucard had
broken the seal which bound him to her family but to no avail. She then mentally calculated her options and
possible success of escape. The odds
were not stacked in her favor. For one,
she was stuck in a foreign land with no clues as to where she was exactly save
for the fact she knew she was somewhere in
"What happened during those four days?" Integra
wondered. "I don't know what
Alucard did to me but I was so weak to take much notice of where we had
been. Fortunately, I appeared to have
regained my strength and so ..."
At her own words, Integra froze.
Instinctively, she reached to touch her neck, heartbeats racing, fearful
of a telltale vampire bite. Unable to
detect the presence of a wound, she sighed with relief.
Staring at her the dress she was wearing, Integra tried to calm
herself down. Strangely, as hateful as
it was, the dress was on closer examination, of excellent workmanship, its
fabric beautifully exquisite. Integra
noticed with mild amusement that its color matched the very color of her own
eyes and that the cut was a perfect fit as if made with her measurements in
mind. Had the circumstances been
different, Integra would have been secretly pleased. One reason why she had given up wearing
dresses was the fact she could never find one to fit. As Integra had once joked with Walter, she
would never find a dress until and unless they made women's clothes for men.
Tailoring was out of the question as she did not have time for the
long hours required for the numerous fittings.
No, she had been too busy working to enjoy the little pleasures in life
but it was unavoidable. The
responsibility of knowing the number of lives that would be lost if she should
ever neglect the Hellsing organization to satisfy her own frivolity kept her
from even having a semblance of a normal life most women her age took for
granted.
"Thinking of something milady?"
"Yes, of how nice it would be to put your head through a meat
grinder and then to feed it to the dogs."
"Delightful as always Lord Hellsing," laughed Alucard as
he entered the throne room. "I am
pleased to see you are making yourself at home.
"Lovely, pity I am not quite in the mood to enjoy it, not
knowing the purpose for which I have been so rudely taken from my own
home."
"Tsk tsk, you wound me."
"I hardly think you could have feelings, let alone a sense of
decency. The gardens of
"Pity. The valleys are
so beautiful at the time of this year.
If you promise not to escape, I could even bring you on a tour of the
place."
"Stop the niceties Alucard.
What do you want with me?" spat Integra bitterly. "I really doubt you would go through all
the trouble to smuggle me here just to discuss the weather."
"Perhaps. Or maybe I
was homesick and required to be allowed to return to my own abode?"
"Oh delightful place you have here, I will consider a
retirement home here, if I live long enough to retire that is," commented
Integra icily, "Now if you may be so kind as to inform Walter to pick me
up, I am way overdue for my interview with the Queen."
"I am afraid that is out of the question Integra. You see, this is a very old castle and I am a
very old man. You must excuse me if I
lack knowledge of the high-tech gadgets you are so used to," said Alucard
as he walked up to the window in which Integra had comfortably wedged herself.
Integra said nothing but stared impassively out of the window.
Grabbing her gently by the shoulders, Alucard swung her around to
face him. "The road by the river is
broken. The only exit is by the mountain
trail, through my village and a two-mile drive to the town. Before you get any ideas Integra, let me
remind you I do not intend to let you out of my sight at anytime. Have a heart pet and spare an old man the
worry of his guest's whereabouts."
She returned his gaze steely.
With an air of mock innocence, she replied, "What ever are you
talking about? I do not plan to escape
quietly. Considering my reception here, I will accept no less than a grand
send-off back to
Alucard smirked. "I'm
glad we are agreed on that then. By the
way, dinner will be served soon. Perhaps
you would like to freshen up before meeting me in the dinning hall? Your maids will show you the way,"
Alucard said as he turned to leave.
"I'll be there for dinner.
What ever you've got planned, I can match you pound for pound," retorted
Integra silently in her mind as she returned her gaze to the scenery
outside. "Just remember I want
extra garlic with all my food."
"As my lady wishes," answered Alucard with a grin before
vanishing out of sight.
Chapter 5 THE PORTRAIT
Integra paced her room as she fingered the wooden stake in her
hand restlessly. She had been greatly
relieved when her assigned ladies had finally retired for the night, allowing
her to continue work on her makeshift stake.
It was but half an hour to sunrise. If she wanted to speak to Alucard on her
terms, it was now or never. She was
pretty confident that he had been in his coffin for his customary nap for the
last hour and would remain so for at least another three.
Integra gave a wry grin as she realised the irony of the
situation. With the exception of Walter,
she was probably the only person so well acquainted with Alucard's sleeping
habits. Unlike the popular lore
circulated among the masses, not all vampires needed to sleep as soon as the
sun was up. The more powerful vampires
like Alucard could easily stroll down
Refocusing her attention to the task at hand, she surveyed her
handiwork with a glint of pride at her resourcefulness. "I need to work on my carpentering
skills but I believe this will suffice for now."
Grabbing firmly what once was the leg of a kitchen stool (in her
opinion, it was most convenient that the cook had discovered that one of the
kitchen hands had broken a stool after lunch and that a small fruit knife had
been left unnoticed in the furor), she had almost but slammed the door
furiously behind her before she caught herself in time.
"Stay calm, Integra, we're going to make him send you
home," she scowled as she involuntarily recalled the events that had
occurred during dinner, in particular, Alucard's smug look after dessert.
Dinner for Integra was generally a quiet and hurried affair in her
study, a brief respite before work really begun for the Hellsing
organization. Dinner this evening was
however, definitely anything but quiet. In Integra's opinion, the whole affair tonight
had been a circus. She had intended to
stay no longer than necessary. To her
surprise and mortification however, Alucard had invited the whole village for
what she had prayed would be a quiet dinner under the guise that he as ruler,
simply had to greet his subjects after his long absence from the castle.
"The nerve of that vampire," she spat angrily. "What is the meaning of calling the
whole village and asunder and on top of that, not correcting them when they had
addressed me as Lady Vlad during dessert?
What does he take me for? A
prize? A trophy? A spoil of war to show off as he pleases?"
Integra decided that she and Alucard were /long/ overdue for a
little chat, preferably one that involved her new stake. She wanted to go home to
"Spare the villagers the complexities of our exact
relationship," - the memory of the message the vampire had mentally
conveyed to her on sensing her fury while winking, much to her chagrin, did not
help her temper.
"Relationship my foot!
When I get my hands on that idiot, he'll be sorry that my great
grandfather had not reduced him to dust in the first place," she said,
smiling grimly at the pleasure the act would give her.
Somewhere in the same castle, a vampire chuckled, pleased with the
effect of his little dinner prank, "Oh Integra, Integra, you never cease
to amuse me dear child. Your false
bravado will get you nowhere and you realize it too, don't you?"
----------
Half an hour later, Integra found herself hopelessly lost. She stared, confused by her
surroundings. The castle with its long
hallways seemed an endless maze.
"Which fool in the world would have built this bizarre
monstrosity?" she wondered, frustrated.
"Oh I forgot," she fumed as she continued her search for
Alucard's chambers, "it was probably commissioned by one of Alucard's
ancestors after all." Dismissing a
nagging suspicion that Alucard was presently laughing at her predicament,
Integra reminded herself of her all-important task of finding his coffin before
he woke up or her handmaidens found her.
"Damn, I distinctly recall the bastard's chambers being but
two floors below mine in the tower."
----------
Two hours later, Integra would have been quite happy with sight of
anyone who could show her back to her room.
Oddly enough, the castle that had been teeming with life yesterday now
seemed devoid of any human inhabitants.
"Disgraceful," she muttered to herself as she spotted an
ornate iron door she had not seen earlier, her attitude half joking, half
serious. "One would have thought
that a tyrant of his make would have had his servants working to the bone by
sunrise already," she grumbled as she leaned gingerly against the cold metallic
door.
Pushing aside the heavy door and stepping through the doorway,
Integra was intrigued to find a huge hall.
The room she was in was huge, its height and length each at least 300
feet or more. Mesmerized by the proud
and colorful banners hung from towering columns in spite of her initial
apprehension, she admired the imposing stained glass windows that adorned both
sides of the hall. Stories of battles
appeared to be the predominant theme of their intricate designs, their majesty
accentuated by the soft blue light streaming in through the top of stained
glass windows. Extending from where she
stood to the other end of the hall was a long oaken table, which could have
easily accommodated hundreds of men and women.
"It must be a banquet table so this must be some ceremonial
hall of sorts. Look at this place ...
and I thought the viewing hall yesterday morning was huge."
As her eyes glanced across the hallway to the other end of the
table, Integra caught sight of what appeared to be an artist's easel. "How strange," she thought, her
attention strangely ensnared by the easel.
A simple article, so innocuous, yet so out of place.
Walking over quickly and peering respectfully, for reasons she
could not fathom, over the easel, she was surprised by her find. From what she could make out, it appeared to
be an unfinished portrait of a woman.
The slight discoloration of most of the painted areas as well as the
yellowed portions of the exposed canvas (still unpainted) suggested that the
painting must have been a very old albeit extremely well preserved work. The odd presence of fresh paint in some parts
suggested recent attempts had been made to complete the portrait. Integra examined the painting carefully,
strangely intrigued by the unfinished image of a woman with long white hair,
draped in a long cream cloth. Her
features were indiscernible, the jaggered patterns on the painted areas
betraying the artist's hesitation as he worked on the portrait.
"It is almost as if the artist was trying to paint someone he
wanted to remember and at the same time unable to remember what she looked
like," Integra thought wistfully, studying the painting intently.
"Yet this is most odd," she commented as she ran a
finger carefully against the jaw line of the image.
Although mindful of the work's age, she was unable to resist the
impulse to touch the picture. "The
constant style of the paint strokes discounts any possibility that various
people had been working on this picture.
And yet if I'm correct, the uneven discoloration of the paint suggests
that this same someone had been working on this portrait over a very long
period of time. How is that
possible? No man could have lived this
long, not unless it was ..."
Integra gazed about the hallway, thoughtful. "But who is he trying to
remember?" Sitting on an adjourning
richly upholstered chair, she stared pensively at the portrait, minutes before
a strange sleepiness overwhelmed her.
---------
Integra stirred uncomfortably.
She struggled to open her eyes but the sharp pain that ensured quickly
convinced her otherwise. She was lying
flat on her back, her body racked with pain.
Just breathing and lying down would have to do for now.
"Love? Can you hear me?" A familiar hand gently cupped
her left cheek.
A voice? From its tenor and
manner of address it could only be Walter, only he sounded as if he were 20
years younger. Integra tried to make a sound in response. No good, she could not draw enough strength
even to move her lips.
She heard the sound of another entering the room.
"Arthur, I'm sorry about Amelia but we were fortunately able
to save Integra, or ... at least Alucard was."
"Arthur? Amelia?"
thought Integra, extremely confused: was Walter referring to her father and
mother? But they were both dead, weren't
they?
"Amelia is gone, leaving me my only child. Damn the Duke of Ellington," said the
second voice bitterly. "If not for
my family's honor, I would sooner murder him myself, related to the Crown or
not."
Integra would have cried out in surprise if she could as she
recognised the second voice to be that of Arthur Hellsing's. "How can this be?" she wondered,
"Father alive? Mother dead? Her death caused by the Duke of
Ellington?"
A thousand thoughts sped through Integra's head. She had known so little of the mother she had
lost, only that she was called Amelia and had been the cousin of the previous
Duke of Ellington with whom her family was now estranged.
As far as Integra could recall, her father had spoken neither of
her mother nor of the Duke. There were
no photos of her save for one Integra knew her father had locked in his study's
drawers. Certain sadness filled his eyes
whenever Lady Hellsing's name was mentioned and the pain in his expression
taught Integra from an early age not to ask any questions about her mother.
Integra's only memory of her mother was a beautiful woman with
dark honeyed skin like hers and long pale hair, singing a lovely lullaby in a
foreign tongue. Despite this, the
realisation her mother's death had been caused by her cousin rather than in a
car accident (when Integra was four as she was told), came as a new and
shocking revelation.
Integra swore to herself that if she got out of this whole
incident alive, she would have a word with Walter about her mother.
"Where is Alucard?" Arthur Hellsing bellowed suddenly,
interrupting her thoughts. "Where
is he?"
"He has gone to deal with the monsters that had attacked
Amelia and Integra. We received news
that they were hiding out in the outskirts of
"How dare he act without my orders? Must he defy me in every way?"
"Arthur ... old friend, you are not ... you know, are
you?" asked Walter hesitantly, uncertain as to how to react to the present
Lord Hellsing's sudden show of displeasure.
Walter's words were followed by an uneasy silence. After what seemed like a long time, Integra
finally heard her father's voice again, strained as if about to breakdown,
"You must be laughing at me old friend, for even now I am still jealous of
him. Amelia was mine in body but his in
soul."
It was then, the first and only time, she heard her father cry.
"My wife ... the jewel of my life, in love with him ..."
sobbed Arthur bitterly.
"Arthur ... I can't say I understand your situation but God
forbid that I laugh at you. You know
Amelia had a special place in her heart for you." Walter's voice was soft,
grave with concern for his friend.
"She treated me as a friend.
Amelia was grateful to me Walter, but gratitude is hardly compensation
for her affection," Arthur continued. "She married me to repay the
favor, not because she loved me. I did
harbour hopes that she would grow to love me but she had place only for him in
her heart. I ... I ... the child, is she ..."
"Integra is your daughter Arthur," Walter chided. "Do not forget that."
"I know, forgive me old friend. I will love her with every ounce of my heart
dear friend but at times I can't help but wonder ..."
"Arthur, Integra Fairbrook Wingates is your own flesh and
blood!"
"Yes," he sobbed, "but I shall never forget that
she was named by him, named by him."
Integra strained to hear more but the voices began fading
rapidly. In desperation, Integra focused
all her strength at an imaginary point in front of her head and forced her eyes
open immediately.
As she glanced around her surroundings, she realised with great
disappointment that she appeared to be back in the banquet hall in Alucard's
castle. Still reeling from the intensity
of what she had just heard, she shook her head as she desperately tried to make
sense of Walter's and her father's conversation. Had it been a nightmare or suppressed
childhood memories?
She closed her eyes again.
It was too real to have been a mere nightmare: had her mother and
Alucard been lovers? Was she Integra her
father's daughter? He had doubted it for
a moment hadn't he?
Just then, she felt a tug.
Opening her eyes warily, Integra was surprised to find a small child
pulling at her dress. With horrid
fascination, Integra was painfully aware of the person to whom the child bore
great resemblance; the eye color was wrong but ...
"Lady, why are you sleeping here? Won't you catch a cold?"
"I'll be fine. Who are
you," asked Integra trembling in spite of herself.
"I'm Vlad Tepes," came the dreadful answer. "Who are you madam?"
---------
"Walter, is there any real chance of us finding clues in
Alucard's coffin?"
"Quiet Pip. I have a
hunch that all this is linked to what the Queen was going to announce to her
Lordship. Something tells me that
Alucard was anxious that Integra never found out exactly what her Majesty had
wanted to speak to her about."
Pip shrugged his shoulders as he resumed the unpleasant task of
combing through Alucard's sleeping quarters: how was anyone to find something
when they did not even know what they were looking for?
Seras looked up excitedly, clutching a crumpled piece of paper,
"Walter, I found this over here, it bears the Queen's insignia. Is this what we are ..."
"Good work Seras, give that to me."
As Walter read the note, Pip could not help noticing the sudden
tenseness on the butler's face. "So
Walter," he asked curiously, careful not to lean against Alucard's
abandoned coffin, "what did her Majesty want with her Lordship?"
Walter looked up darkly, "Lord Hellsing was supposed to
receive announcement of her betrothal to the newly knighted Duke of
Ellington." His voice was strained,
"The engagement party is set for in a month’s time."
"I guess this means we just need to explain to this Duke guy
and her Majesty that Lord Hellsing is presently outstationed?"
"Very funny Pip.
According to her Majesty's orders, the failure to turn up would mean the
disbanding of the Hellsing organisation."
"Oh ... that is not so good then," replied Pip, before
wilting under the stare his remark earned him.
"It's not even so easy," muttered Walter, gesturing Pip
and Seras to follow him out of the dungeon. "It is not so easy ..."