Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Fare ❯ A Dirty Slag and a Makeover ( Chapter 20 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews on CH 18, it was nice to see I'm not totally forgotten. I'm moving it along slowly but surely. It will probably be longer than Silent Night, but hopefully I'll be able to keep updating regularly, writer's block permitting or life permitting. This chapter doesn't have a lot of movement, but I felt that this needed to happen. It's not fair to leave them all dirty and grungy-like. I'm going to try and make the next chapter all action-y and whatnot.








In all honesty, she had not expected to see them again, and she wasn't particularly pleased that she had. After they'd managed to escape her the first time – cheated her! - she had thought they were gone for good. It wasn't really fair. Why did they get to come back?

And at the same time, she was somewhat pleased. If they had managed to cheat Death, and return to the world of the living, it meant that she had been on the right track when she'd captured them.

But now they were with him, and he would know. They would tell him everything.

It wasn't FAIR!

Her temper flared up and she lashed out, kicking at one of the newly forming Siphons dangling from the ceiling. The pitiful thing made a low moaning sound and blood spattered the floor.

Almost instantly she felt a twinge of regret.

She did try to control her temper, truly. It was what had cost her everything.

It was why he had left her.

But as soon as it had come, the guilt was gone. She perched atop a metal table next to another of the Siphons and crossed her legs, resting her chin on her palm.

Thinking on it, really, Deyavi and Gavril weren't such a threat. Even they could not know the extent of her powers, or the full ins and outs of her plan.

She would pretend they didn't exist.

With them out of the picture, it was a simple matter of killing Seras Victoria.

* * * * * * *

With the humans out of harm's way, Victoria turned her attention to the smoking shell of Hellsing Manor.

Why no one had thought to call the fire department, she wasn't sure, but with the number of monsters that had been roaming the ground, she figured it was a good thing.

She stepped lightly, and picked her way through the manor by memory. The hallway to the library, the hollow remains of Integra's office (she flinched, thinking of all the important papers that must have been destroyed), and finally, the kitchen.

Victoria walked into the pantry and down the stone stairway leading into Hellsing's basement, normally hidden by the shelves and so often overlooked by the human servants.

The other stairway had been blocked off by fallen debris, and she didn't have time to clear it. That section of the basement had been torn up on Jonathan's orders and rebuilt in a more modern style, and as such, had been made vulnerable to the flames.

This section was still made of stone, and had survived.

The air felt thick and the smell of smoke hung heavy in the air, and she could hear the weakened structure of the manor protesting as beams and walls compromised by the fire collapsed.

It was several minutes before the passageway she walked led into the main hallway, and she grimaced when she saw the extent of the damage on the other side of the debris blocking the main stairway.

She turned and pushed the door to Alucard's room, and when it didn't open at first, she kicked the door down. The loud crash of the metal door striking the stone made her ears ring.

“You know, we have one thing in common.”

Victoria's gun was in her hand and pointed into the smoky darkness of the room within a second.

Sitting atop the lid of the coffin-bed was a female vampire. Sitting on the bed that Victoria and Alucard shared.

The woman was sitting on her bed.

A flare of annoyance and outrage curled in Victoria's abdomen and she bared her fangs.

“I can't say I'm particularly pleased to see a strange woman lounging about on my bed. And I am most certainly not pleased to be compared to such a woman.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?”

“Far as I'm concerned, only a shameless slag would invade another woman's privacy that way. Sitting on my bed as if you belong there,” Victoria said venomously.

The strange woman cocked her head as if puzzled, then smiled.

“But, I do belong here.”

Victoria snarled and fired her weapon, and the female dodged them with a careless ease, smiling patiently.

That smile didn't fade an inch when she switched directions and lunged at Victoria.

Victoria barely evaded the first attack. The strange vampiress had long, slender fingers ending in long, curved, razor-edged talons that glistened. Victoria's dive carried her directly into the path of those talons as they arced towards her, and she found that they slid easily into her body, underneath her ribs and upward, toward her heart.

Within moments, they would pierce her heart and her body would crumble into ash.

A shot rang out and the vampiress shrieked, darting backwards, away from Victoria. Her talons, coated with Victoria's blod, dug into the stones of the walls as she clung to them, hissing like a cat.

Integra stood calmly in the doorway, the Cassull steady and deliberate in her hands. Her aim followed the vampiress and she fired again, and again, chasing the intruder from the room with each shot until she had fled completely.

Victoria sank onto the lid of the coffin-bed, sighing in relief. They were silent for a moment as she examined the gaping wound in her side.

“That was incredibly careless of you.” Integral said finally.

Victoria nodded and began stripping off the ruined clothing, and turned to the wardrobe to find more practical clothing.

“I know it was,” Victoria muttered, “I wasn't expecting that. Didn't see her damn claws til it was too late.”

She wiped the blood off her body with the remains of her uniform shirt and pulled on a pair of loose jeans, and slid a belt through the loops.

“That's surprising, given that they're painted,” Integral noted.

“I know. I wasn't really focused on her manicure, Sir, I was rathermore concerned with the fact that she was here,” Victoria replied.

To the belt she attached the holsters for her handguns (rather large for a girl her size, as some ignorant humans occasionally pointed out, as if that mattered) and her walky-talky, which she remembered only because it was her only means for communicating with the human soldiers from their hiding place.

“She was looking for Alucard's sleeping place.”

“Well, she found it. She found our sleeping place,” Victoria growled irritably.

She donned a black undershirt, and then a black buttondown with the Hellsing coat of arms sewn onto the right sleeve. She fastened all but the top two buttons and tugged and straightened in til she was satisfied.

“Yes. I suppose that all things considered, you weren't too pleased to find her here. But you do need to control your emotional responses better, really. It could have gotten you killed this time,” Integral said sternly.

Victoria tugged on a pair of black gloves, wiggling her fingers into the thin, tight coverings, and then she pulled on her combat boots, lacing them tightly.

Then she let out a sigh and smiled.

“Well I suppose it was just lucky for me that you arrived on time. Now, let's see about getting you some clothes. That suit is ruined, and it's not too dignified to walk around in ruined clothing. It isn't really very practical, either,” Victoria said, and Integra began to disrobe.

Victoria wasn't all too surprised to see Integral as she was, with her youth restored and all bloodied and disheveled. She had sensed something a half hour ago that reminded her of the feeling of tugging off a bandaid and exposing the covered skin to air. Or maybe it was more like unwrapping oneself after some silly game played with children who had found a half roll of duct tape and decided to make mummy prisoners of each other. That sensitive, moist, cool feeling across the skin when released from the sticky bonds. But it wasn't . . . . it wasn't really a physical sensation.

But it was then that she knew. Alucard had been freed. And there were only two ways that could have happened.

The fresh, soft spark of life that appeared then told her which.

Integral had chosen unlife. That was the only really shocking part.

As she shifted through the wardrobe looking for suitable clothing, Victoria pondered the choice Integral had made.

She had rather thought that Integral would prefer death to unlife, when considering her past actions.

Victoria tossed a towel at Integra so that she could wipe some of the grime from her body and face. Her glasses were also terribly dirty, but her eyesight had been so enhanced by the change that she no longer needed them.

Finally coming upon a pair of dark grey pants, Victoria studied them intently.

The color was definitely different from Integra's usual green and blue, but they were appropriate, and they would fit her well enough. She handed the pants to Integra and turned back, debating whether the white buttondown or the grey would be better.

“We don' really have time for this, Seras Victoria,” Integral said as she rubbed the towel wet from the sink over her hair, removing the blood and grime, “Just give me the white one. Alucard won't be pleased we've kept him waiting.”

“He can shove it,” Victoria muttered absently, handing the white undershirt and buttondown to Integra, “What's he going to do to me anyway?”

Integra said nothing as she shrugged into the white buttondown and fastened it all the way up with deft movements, pleased to find the Hellsing coat of arms on the sleeve.

“I don't imagine he'll do much but mock and tease and complain,” Integra replied, tucking her cross pin into her pocket.

“Well, his complaining never hurt anyone. He's a rotten brat anyway; it won't kill him to wait, and the threat's all but gone for the moment so it's not as if we're missing anything,” Victoria told her, handing her the Cassull by the barrel and gesturing for Integra to follow.

The backpack by the door was filled with ammunition rescued from the basement, and Victoria was ever grateful that all Hellsing's successive retainers had followed Walter's lead in storing it in the stone room down the hall form Alucard's. Victoria slid the strap over her shoulder and unholstered one of her handguns.

The thing wasn't as powerful as the Jackal but packed a bit more power than the Cassull, and Victoria was grateful for that as well.

“We have one thing in common at least,” Integra muttered, hearing Victoria's silent gratitude in her mind.

You know, we have one thing in common.

Victoria bared her teeth in a silent snarl.

“What's that supposed to mean?” she growled to no one.

“What?”

“No, Sir, I'm sorry. It was that vampire. She said something very similar to me before you arrived. That we have something in common,” Victoria told her.

“Well, perhaps we shall have the chance to ask her ourselves later. For now, we'd best get not push our luck. I'm sure that as strong as this place is, it won't hold out against the dead weight above for much longer,” Integra replied.

They were wise words, and taking hold of each other's wrists, Victoria phased them out of the manor into the cool night air. A few meters off, Malakai spotted them and raised a hand in greeting.

As they approached, Malakai said, “Well don't you both look lovely.”

“Shove it, Malakai,” Victoria smiled.

Malakai grinned back and turned to Integra.

“It's nice to see you're . . . undead, my dear knight,” he said.

Integral smiled wryly, “Indeed.”

“Though I do think you could have done something else with your hair.”

“You can give me fashion advice later, Vampire, but right now I'd rather we look for Alucard,” Integra replied, raising an eyebrow.

Malakai grinned saucily and pointed upward, and they saw the flock of bats circling overhead.

“What's he doing?” Victoria frowned.

“Searching for the Cheshire Cat, I suppose,” Malakai replied.

“Cheshire Cat?”

“The mastermind behind all this nonsense.”

“The vampire who you found in your rooms,” Integral injected smoothly.

Victoria felt her skin raise in gooseflesh. The intruder was the creator of all those horrid monsters lurking around? The one who started all this?

Watching the swarm of bats circle and dive to an area obscured from her sight, she suddenly felt that she had gotten of lucky in her brush with this Cheshire Cat.

* * * * * * *

“I've had the great pleasure of meeting your soulmate,” a voice purred from behind him.

Alucard turned.

He grinned at the sight of the Cheshire Cat, her body stretched luxuriously along the length of a branch just overhead.

“I'm sure she was thrilled to meet you as well.”

He could smell the familiar scent of his rooms clinging to the Cheshire Cat's skin. She had been down there, and Victoria had likely caught her there. And Alucard could imagine what Victoria's reaction had been.

“We've come to an excellent understanding. I feel we'll be great friends, given time,” the Cheshire Cat smiled, sitting up and crossing her legs.

The childish glamour gone, the Cheshire Cat no longer looked like a slender girl dressed in thigh-high striped stockings and a tiny skirt and corset, no longer like an Amy Brown creation minus the wings. Her true self was a tall, dark-haired vampiress with classical vampire-novel beauty. Her eyes were the only thing that truly remained the same. The red-and-black-bullseye irises were unmistakably the eyes of the same vampiress who had attacked Integra.

She was certainly beautiful, a dark siren who seduced vampires and humans alike into an evil and soul-less existence as one of her pet monsters. And she was trying to seduce him now. Though he doubted that she intended to turn him into one of her little toy soul-eaters.

“Oh, I imagine you'll become quite fond of each other.”

He slid the barrel of the Jackal down the side of her neck, over the curve of her shoulder. She smiled and closed her eyes, tilting her head back.

Alucard really didn't see how she could have been surprised when he pressed the Jackal to her breast and fired a round directly into her heart.

Her body was blown backwards by the force of the shot and the gaping hole in her body. She seemed just the tiniest bit upset, and he thought it might be because he'd ruined her silky dress.

She couldn't possibly be upset that he'd shot her. Any damned fool would have expected that.

“In fact, I'm sure she'll come to enjoy your company just as much as I do,” Alucard said in that obscene, excited growl of his, firing again, not caring that he missed.

The Cheshire Cat shrieked at him and phased, disappearing in a swirl of shadow and nothing.

Alucard threw back his head and laughed.