Chapter Five: Hellsing
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After what seemed like an endless walk, Alucard broke the silence. "We're here," he announced with a chuckle, his previous frightening mood swing seemingly forgotten.
Gwen glanced up and, in spite of herself, her mouth fell open. Looming before them in the slowly lightening night was a huge, castle-like mansion. Gwen had never seen anything half that big before. Well, probably because there weren't any mansions in Warbridge except for Markus's house... And that was about a quarter the size of this place, she thought faintly. Her muscles sang with tension; she didn't care what lay in that silent and imposing fortress, she just couldn't wait to get the hell out of Alucard's arms.
He kept walking, and they passed through a large cast-iron gate that had been left open. Seconds later, they were through the doors, and Gwen gaped at the gigantic entrance hall they found themselves in. It was extremely spacious, and a large, grand, sweeping staircase ascended to the second floor, which was visible from the entrance as a balcony-like platform that ran widely along the back wall. Many dark hallways branched off from the sides of the entrance hall, leading God knows where. Far to the left, set into the back wall, another, much less grand staircase led down into impenetrable darkness.
Alucard, of course, now walked towards that staircase.
"I think I can walk, you know," Gwen muttered tersely.
Alucard just chuckled and began to descend the stairs.
She would have protested a good deal more than that, but she was still shaken by what had happened outside. This isn't just Alec or Kreig I'm dealing with, she thought tensely. If anything, I'm in more danger here than I was in Warbridge. And this guy has some serious mood swing issues. A bipolar vampires is a dangerous thing...
She could barely see now- It was oppressively dark in the cold stone stairwell. Where is he taking me...? She wondered. It's too dark to see anything... She started going over what she would do if he tripped in the dark and fell down the stairs with her, however unlikely that was.
A deep chuckle sounded from above her, echoing eerily in the darkness. "It's never too dark for a vampire," he informed her dryly. "You only have to open your eyes."
Brief silence. Gwen mulled over what Alucard had said and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, everything was perfectly visible, as if illuminated by moonlight, although the colors were just slightly off. She blinked in surprise. "What the..."
Another chuckle. "What lovely red eyes you have, my dear," Alucard said sarcastically in an amused tone.
Gwen resisted the urge to bite him, remembering what had happened the last time she'd tried that approach. So now my eyes are red... Just wonderful... I feel like a freakin' demon...
"You are a demon, of sorts."
Gwen gritted her teeth. "Get the hell out of my head," she snapped.
Alucard smiled condescendingly. "That's like talking to yourself at the top of your lungs and telling me not to listen," he replied smoothly.
Gwen fell silent, resolving to ignore the creepy mind-reading vampire from now on. She didn't get to put that strategy to use for very long, though; seconds later, Alucard stepped down onto the cold stone floor of a long, dank stone hallway. It reminded Gwen strongly of a dungeon, and now that she looked, she noticed a chain or two hanging limply from the ceiling or walls. She shuddered. Alucard didn't seem bothered by it- He just strolled down the hallway at a leisurely pace and stopped in front of a wooden door set into the dark gray wall. Gwen glanced down the hallway and noted that there were several more doors along it, and, at the very end of the hallway, yet another set of stairs led down into darkness that was impenetrable from this distance even with the aid of her new-found night-vision. Alucard opened the door and stepped inside, shutting it neatly behind him.
The inside of the medium-sized square room was just a bit less oppressive than the dungeon-like hallway it was located in. Inside was a clean white bed, a small night-table atop which sat a lamp that shed a warm yellow light, and a good-sized mahogany desk complete with a rolling chair. A small, used-looking rust-colored couch was pushed against one wall. Sitting on the rolling chair, her hands folded in her lap, was the person Gwen had seen before. The one who called Alucard her servant. Integra Hellsing. Beside her stood an attentive-looking butler with slick black hair pulled back into a short ponytail. He had a monocle over one eye. He appeared to be in at least his forties. He held a lighter in one hand, which he then flicked to life and held in front of a cigar that Integra had in her mouth.
Integra rose. She still didn't look too happy, but at least she wasn't throwing a fit like she had back in the forest. "So," she said crisply. "You are to be the newest member of my organization... I suppose you'll have to do." Gwen noted that she used the word my instead of our. So this lady is the leader of the Hellsing Organization...?
Gwen was still forcing herself not to rip her arms free of her blanket-cocoon and punch Alucard square in the jaw. She did not like being carried. As if responding to this thought, Alucard strolled into the room and set her on the bed, backing up again with a devious-looking smile on his face. His eyes were in shadow as he silently crossed the room to sit on the couch, crossing his legs expectantly. Gwen noticed that the butler had a small matching smile on his face as well. Was she missing some inside joke or something here?
"As you may or may not have realized, you are not human anymore," Integra said coolly, puffing on her cigar. The heavy, eye-watering scent of the smoke curling from the cigar made Gwen wrinkle her nose in disgust. The butler hovered faithfully near the doorway. "And now that you are a vampire," Integra went on, "you will have to grow accustomed to the world you have been dragged into, for it is a good deal different than the one you are used to.
"We of the Hellsing Organization have been fighting off the undead scourges of this world for centuries. Vampires, in particular. No matter their age or standing or level of danger, we slaughter these foul creatures relentlessly. In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen."
Gwen's eyes narrowed slightly. That last phrase sounded like some weird cult prayer or something. She said nothing.
"However, humans make poor vampire hunters. The most effective weapon to use against a vampire is another, significantly more powerful vampire. That is why Alucard is in use here... And why, in the long run, you shall be used here."
"So let me get this straight," Gwen interrupted in a flat voice. "You people kill vampires and plan to use me as a living weapon."
Integra smiled at her coldly. "Precicely."
Gwen's green eyes narrowed. Used. She despised that term. "Well, excuse, me, but I've had enough of slavery, thank you very much," she said bluntly, wriggling out of her blanket wrapping and swinging her feet to the side of the bed. Her already-red t-shirt was drenched with blood that was slowly drying.
Integra's smile did not fade, but her blue eyes were cold. "You," she said matter-of-factly, "don't have a choice in the matter. You are a vampire now. You're either with us, or you're our prey." She smiled coldly. "If you truly don't wish to cooperate, we could always kill you now." Her icy blue eyes slid over to where Alucard sat.
He shifted slightly and then shrugged his broad shoulders. "Awaiting your orders, my master," he said smoothly and in a rather neutral tone.
Gwen stared first at Integra, then at Alucard, and then Integra again. Her green eyes narrowed in a defiant, if slightly sullen, glare. "I'd take you out before I went," she threatened grimly, unable to keep the sulkiness out of her voice. She knew she was cornered, but that wouldn't stop her from giving these people a hard time.
Integra startled her by giving a short, cold laugh. "Please," she said dryly. "You'd get no more than two feet before you fell to the ground with a silver bullet through your heart."
Gwen pursed her lips and said nothing. Great... I'm stuck here. I'm a slave again. After a short silence, she folded her arms across her chest and eyed the tall blonde lady flatly. "Fine," she snapped tersely. "You win. I'll stay."
Integra smiled coolly. "Good. Perhaps you do have some measure of intelligence, after all." A flame of cold hate flickered to life in Gwen's heart. She would love nothing more than to wring this lady's neck. "Now, then," Integra went on calmly. "Have you any questions about what you have become, or about the Hellsing Organization?"
"Yeah, I've got one for you," Gwen said warily. "Vampires are real. Okay, gotcha- But do everyday ordinary people know that they're real?"
"Of course not." Integra waved a white-gloved hand dismissively. "If the population knew that powerful undead creatures walked among them, how do you think they would react?" She didn't wait for an answer. "There would be mass hysteria. For all we know, they might even get the military involved, and that would be far too messy. No one is adequately equipped to deal with vampires but for us..." She paused for a fraction of a second before adding in a slightly quieter tone "well, us and one other..." She didn't give Gwen a chance to ask about that, but smiled at her patronizingly. "Is that all?"
Not even close, lady. "How many vampires are out there?"
"More than you might think. Certainly over a million now, and that is in England alone."
Gwen blinked, shocked. What...? How the heck do all those vampires walk around unnoticed? "You would think that the news channels would be all over the story of a vampire attack," she mused aloud. It's like Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster, only more widespread.
"We usually manage to silence the vampires in question before they cause too much of a commotion. If not, there are other organizations whose job it is to prevent information from reaching the newsrooms, or, if it's too late for that, to get them to dismiss it as human offenders and people with overreactive imaginations or head traumas."
Gwen paused, thinking. She'd had a million and one questions earlier, but she couldn't recall any more of them at the moment. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she was no longer human.
"Is that all?" Integra inquired dryly for the second time that day.
Gwen was silent. After a minute she replied slowly "I guess, for now..."
Integra rose from her seat. "Good. Alucard will answer any other questions you might have." She waved a hand dismissively towards the powerful vampire sitting on the couch across the room, and he dipped his head submissively. Gwen felt nausea rise in her throat; seeing someone so powerful enslaved, and seeing him obeying his master so willingly, without question... It made her sick to her stomach. Integra went on without pausing. "You start your training tomorrow night, vampire girl. And you'd best not dissappoint me." She turned and strode briskly from the room.
The butler straightened and looked at Gwen. His face was lined and weary, but his gray eyes were bright with alertness. "You'll have to excuse Sir Integra," he said almost apologetically in a notable british accent. "She weeds out the less capable recruits before they even begin their training. I think you'll grow used to it here soon enough." He smiled wryly and turned to pace out the door after Integra before Gwen could so much as open her mouth to reply. Well, at least the butler isn't a jerk. So far, anyway... She was grateful for those few encouraging words in such a dismal and frightening situation, but she did not trust anyone easily.
One thing that the butler had said puzzled her, though. "Sir Integra?" She murmured in confusion. Was Integra a girl or a guy?
Alucard stood, a slight smirk on his face, his eyes in shadow. "My master has earned the title of Sir because she is the single person running this organization... And also because she smokes cigars," he added dryly as he walked to the door.
Gwen blinked. "Oh." She paused and opened her mouth to ask how the hell someone like Alucard wound up as anyone's slave, but he had already vanished through the doorway. His voice echoed in her room.
"Sleep would be a wise decision, slave girl. Your training begins tomorrow night, and you are going to need all the energy you can get."
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