Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Amoare ab Hostis ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Author's note: My apologies to anyone who speaks Italian. I used a free translation site. Most likely, my Italian says something along the lines of, "And I raped a kitten with a cucumber." *shrug*

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When they stepped from the helicopter in Viterbo, Italy, Alucard's sensitive nostrils flared unpleasantly. They were too close to Rome, in his opinion, and with it the Vatican City. The air reeked of pious faith. It was enough to make the demon in him cringe.

Walter seemed to be enjoying himself, though. Alucard smiled at the look of open curiosity on the boy's face. Never having seen the festively lit cobblestone alleys, with their small, open air shops and cafes, and cramped apartment balconies, the young human stood in mute wonder.

Taking a few steps towards the boy, Alucard put a hand to his back to signal his presense behind him. A small, pretty face tipped up to gaze at him, and smiled. It was amazing how much the guarded and introverted youth had opened up to him during the helicopter ride from Lodz. And he'd even been asleep for most of it.

Glancing toward the graying horizon, Alucard gave Walter's shoulder a squeeze.

"We have a day to rest here while Sgt. Graham and his men pick up a few supplies to take back to England. However, I have to take shelter for a few hours." He gestured with his chin towards the west, and the rising sun. "You'll be fine for the day on your own, won't you?"

Walter rolled his exotic gray eyes. "I'm sure the streets aren't so different here than back home. I'll manage."

Alucard chuckled. "Good. Do some sight-seeing. I'll join you at dusk and we'll go visit a chapel not far from here, near Rome."

"You don't have to," the boy told him, frowning. "I know what Rome means. It means the Vatican. Hellsing and the Vatican don't exactly get along, do they?"

Astute kid, the vampire thought with a short nod of admiration.

"The churches here aren't so different from back home. I'll manage." The vampire smirked at him, using his own words against him. He knew the boy couldn't argue with him now.

Walter snorted and shook his head. "Fine. It's your funeral."

And with that, Alucard watched the slender figure walk off down the cobblestone street, stopping to chat merrily with the early-rising marketers. Somehow he instinctively knew that Walter would be a shrewd negotiator, and would haggle many a shop-owner into a hard deal that day.

But for now, he had to go underground and sleep. Sgt. Graham stood off to the side, and when Alucard glanced his way he nodded his head to the left, indicating for the vampire to follow him. He did and was shown into a wine cellar not far away.

"I'll send the kid down around sunset." The Sergeant told him with a knowing smile.

"No," Alucard's voice stopped him before he reached the top of the ladder. "I think I should like to see him in his element."

Nodding, Sgt. Graham climbed the last few steps and lowered the cellar door with a muted thud. Smiling with contentment, Alucard closed his eyes and instantly slipped off into a slumber so deep, only the dead could claim it.

***

The darkness called to him. Just as the last rays of sunset were filtering weakly behind clouds of amber, his eyes opened and the earth whispered in his mind.

'Awaken,' it hissed. 'Time to hunt. Time to kill.'

The same old impulses, long denied through a life of servitude. It left a bitter taste in Alucard's mouth. To deny his instincts was a daily, neverending torture, with only momentary periods of respite. When he was allowed to let his inner demon free and feed on the enemies of his Master.

Sighing with regret, the vampire pushed open the lid of the coffin Sgt. Graham had unearthed for him on short notice earlier that day. It wasn't his, but then again neither had the one he'd arrived in Poland on the helicopter been. No, his coffin was safe and sound, waiting for him back home at Hellsing headquarters. He both longed for it, and despised it, for it meant both home and captivity.

Rising from his "tomb", Alucard deftly climbed the rickety latter leading up into the streets of Italy. Stepping out into the crimson dusk, he lifted his head and scented the air.

There. Down that street and three blocks, and then take a right two blocks. That was where he could find him. He set off, following the essence that was Walter. The boy's scent was unique. Then again, every being's scent was unique. As individual and incriminating as a fingerprint.

However, Walter's scent was truly rare. It carried the grit and filth of the streets he had braved as a child, layered over with the fresh, clean scent of second chances. And underneath it all was the sweet, baby soft aroma of youth. It was an intoxicating combination, and one the vampire was finding harder and harder to resist. He wondered why he did...resist. It would be easy enough to seduce the boy. He was one little nudge away from submitting to him as it was. Nevertheless, Alucard felt a grudging respect for the young man, and would wait for him to come to him on his own terms, when he was ready.

Turning the last corner, Alucard spotted a thin, lanky figure leaning causally in a chair outside of an open air bisto. Even at this distance he could hear the low conversation between the boy and the shopkeeper, and it brought a smile to his face. Walter was trying to talk his way out of paying for a cappucino. Apparently, it hadn't been suited to his British tastes.

Stopping in front of the store owner trying to negotiate in broken English, Alucard interrupted him. "Sta sprecando il suo tempo."

"You're wasting your time."

The shop owner turned to face him. His face bore the same expression as did every human when they first caught sight of him. A quick flash show of surprise, suspicion, uncertainty, mild recognition and slight fear. They knew, deep in their heart of hearts, that he was not one of them, but they dared not say it aloud. That would be admitting to themselves all that they tried their utmost to deny, and so instead they overcompensated, treating him like their long lost cousin's brother's nephew.

"Ah! Signore! Forse lei potrebbe convincere il suo l'amico a pagare?"

"Maybe you could convince your friend to pay?"

Alucard chuckled. "No," he answered, "é un tipo testardo"

"He is stubborn."

The old man sighed and threw up his hands,"Ho tentato."

"I tried."

Alucard laughed and patted the bistro owner on the back. "Sì," he agreed, watching the man walk off shaking his head and muttering about tourists under his breath.

Lowering his gaze to the youth slouching haphazardly in the chair in front of him, Alucard took in the smiling gray eyes and the curiosity dancing there. Walter gave him a once that was at once arousing and hope-inspiring. Apparently, he'd just passed some sort of test in the youth's eyes. Alucard had the sneaking suspicion that he'd never figure out all of the traps this boy would lay in wait for him.

"What was that all about?" The boy smirked, as if he didn't know.

"Nevermind that. Are you going to drink your cappucino, or let it get cold?" The vampire answered, indicating the delicate white and blue china cup sitting neglected on the table.

Walter scoffed indignantly. "Those dregs? Hell no! I've had grain alcohol that tasted better."

Alucard shook his head, amused despite himself. "Well then let's go. We haven't got much time. We leave at midnight."

Nodding, Walter kicked his feet off of the legs of the table and stood, slinking around the taller man's body like a cat weaving between it's owner's feet. Alucard followed him as he started off down the street, stopped, and turned to face him.

"Well?" He asked smugly. "Lead on, brave vampire. Let's see this house of God you're so intent on showing me."

"The arrogance of youth," Alucard mused. "One day, you will not be so young. You'll have to respect me, then."

Walter rolled his eyes, kicking at a stone caught in the cobblestones as he walked. "I don't think so," he paused, his expression unreadable. "I think I'll die young."

Taken aback by the casualty of the remark, Alucard turned to look at the boy.

"Why do you say that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm only fourteen and fighting vampires. What does that say for my chances of survival?"

"More than you'd think." Alucard answered him, watching him closely for any reaction.

However, Walter merely shrugged again, watching his feet as he followed the vampire. When the silence between them grew awkward and stressful, Alucard cleared his throat, bringing those gorgeous gray eyes up to meet his.

"I admire you," the older man admitted. "Everything I've learned about you so far is quite astonishing."

The corners of the Walter's mouth twisted up into a bitter smile. "You haven't learned much."

"Maybe not," Alucard agreed. "But what I have learned, I've liked. And I don't like a good many people."

Walter snorted a laugh and looked up at the man beside him. Alucard caught the wariness in the gaze. He knew he was playing hell with the boy's instincts. Growing up on the street would have taught him to be cautious, not to trust any person, and to like even fewer. But the vampire knew that he effected Walter, and that sooner or later the boy's self-preservation would give way to his desires. All he had to do was wait.

"But..." Walter hesitated, biting his lip in a way that made Alucard want to do the same...and then draw it into his mouth for a taste. "You like me?"

Slowing his stride, Alucard stopped in the middle of the street, bringing the boy following him to a halt as well. Leaning down he ran a hand through the unruly mess of inky hair at the nape of Walter's neck and tipped his face back to look up into his.

"Yes," he answered firmly. "I like you very much, Walter."

The boy smiled and took a step closer to the vampire, so close that Alucard could feel the heat radiating off of him like a teasing siren's call. The older man gasped, if not in surprise then in reaction, as the boy's lips brushed his ear.

"I like you, too." He whispered. "Give me time."

Walter pulled away and once again brushed by Alucard as he continued to walk down the street. Looking after him, Alucard couldn't fight the surge of lustful admiration for the boy. He would give him time. As an immortal, he had nothing but time.

And so he set off after the slender figure backlit by the flickering, romantic light of the lamps of Italty, on a journey to show him the house of a God who despised creatures like him.

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