Isobel

Chapter 2: Operation Hellsing Mansion



Isobel heard someone screaming her name and she looked up from her marbles that she was playing with on the road. Suddenly she saw the car coming towards her and she froze, putting her hands up to her face. “Isobel!” She heard her mother scream as she ran towards her, she felt her mother pick her up and throw her across the road. Then she saw from where she was lying the car hit her mother, who was crushed.



“Mama!” She could hear herself calling as she ran towards her mother.



“Mama are you asleep? Wake up!”



She put her arms around her mother and shook her, begging her to wake up, then she saw the blood. It was everywhere, blending in with her mother’s hair perfectly as it ran out of her mouth and her nose; it was all over her dress. She could hear herself screaming as her father picked her up and slapped her.



“Look what you’ve done! You killed her!” He shouted and threw her on the ground.



She ran crying into the house, down some dark stairways and into a dark room where she meet the man. The strange man was tall, his hair was long and silver and his eyes were shining red in the dark. He picked her up and hugged her and she went to sleep in his arms, her fingers curling in his silver hair as he sang to her;



“Close your eyes now go to sleep, and pray to God your soul to keep

Shut out the light of day my girl and let your fingers slowly twirl



Slowly let your heartbeat fade as you lay down your pretty head

Close your eyes now go to sleep and pray to

God your soul to keep



Do not wake ‘till the dusk of day and let my red eyes guide your way.”





Isobel woke up suddenly from the recurring nightmare she had suffered from since she was five, when her mother had died. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with her arm and threw the covers off her overheated body. She cast her eyes around her room because she felt something was there, hiding in the shadows. She sat up and got out of bed, putting on her robe and walked over to her mirror. Her pale reflection stared back at her and she ran her fingers through her red hair, which uncannily had the same deep colour as blood. Her eyes were dark blue but looked black in the darkness and her lips were set in a firm thin line. Her stomach moaned suddenly reminding her that she had not eaten for two days, she had been busy learning how to run the intelligence agency and meeting her employees. She knew many thought she was incapable of running the agency either because she was too young or because of her sex.



“I’ll show them I can do anything that my father could, and do a better job, I am Sir Isobel Erzsebet Penwood!” She shouted to her empty room, and as was expected, only silence answered her challenge.





She walked down the empty hallway that lead to the kitchen and opened the door. She saw the huge room was empty when she flicked on the lights and walked over to one of the fridges. A small noise made her turn around and face the kitchen again.



She cast her eyes around the kitchen looking for signs of an intruder, but saw no one.



After a few minutes she relaxed and went back to looking for food in the fridge, settling for the left over roast beef and potatoes which she put in the microwave. Then, just as she took her food out of the microwave she felt his presence. He was sitting in a chair with his boots up on the table looking at her with the usual sneer on his face.



“Well aren’t we up a little late Miss Penwood, and scavenging for food no less!” He chuckled and put his head to the side while he regarded her. She took her plate and sat down at the table, ignoring him completely as she started eating.



“You know, you have grown up to be a rather striking young woman Isobel, you look just like your mother”, he said quietly.



Isobel looked up and meet his eyes, was that compassion she saw or hate? Did he even have the capacity to love anything, or feel mercy? Wasn’t he just a human-eating dog who would rather kill her than look at her?



“Your thoughts are entertaining Isobel, do you really think of me in this way?” His amused voice broke through her thoughts.



“Stop reading my mind you mangy dog!” She screamed at his smug looking face and threw her plate at him.



He was on top of her in an instant pushing her body onto the cold stone floor with his considerable weight.



“I’ll teach you to run your mouth and insult me ‘master’, you may have power over me for the moment but that will soon change.” He hissed into her ear and pressed her harder onto the floor, bruising her back.



“And when it does change, don’t think I will show you an ounce of mercy, my threat from the day your father died remains!”



He started running his hands over her chest and then her thighs; she squirmed and spit in his face.



“Let me go you piece of shit, don’t you dare touch me!” She screamed.



He chuckled and continued, grabbing one of her breasts and squeezing it hard, making her bite her lip so hard it started bleeding. He started sucking the blood off her lip and then kissing her hard, bruising her mouth with the intensity. She tried not to move and fight him because she knew it would encourage him, but her instincts took over and she started pushing against him.



“Keep struggling master, it isn’t entirely un-pleasurable!” He smirked.





“Get off me, THAT’S AN ORDER!” she screamed into his face. He scowled and barred his teeth, but got off her and left, slamming the door behind him.



She tried to catch her breath and stop her heart from beating so fast as she got up. Her back was screaming in agony and she couldn’t move her lips properly because it hurt so much. “I have no control over him; he’s going to kill me one of these days!” She thought desperately as she walked quickly towards the sanctuary of her bedroom.





The next morning she donned black suit pants, a white shirt, red tie, a black vest and knee high black combat boots and went to her office. She called over the intercom for Agent Tailor to report to her immediately. She was going to be a good leader even if she had minimal control over her servant werewolf.



There was a knock on the door and she called for the person to enter.



“You asked to see me Sir Penwood?” Agent Tailor said and walked over to her desk.



“Yes, I wanted to ask you what is being done about the Freaks lately, how many agents do we have out in the field trying to find their whereabouts?” She asked as she opened letters.



“Well, how do I say this…. Your father didn’t send us on any assignments of that kind, he mostly waited for the Hellsing agency to hear from their contacts, and then he sent us in to investigate.” He said and looked down as if he were ashamed.



She banged her fist on the table “Well, that’s about to change, we are the intelligence agency so it is our job to find the damned freaks and then inform the Hellsing agency of their whereabouts so they can take action against them. I’m pretty sure Sir Integral has more on her plate than any normal person can manage, so she doesn’t need the added stress of doing our job for us as well!”



She practically shouted, she was furious that her father had been so careless and lazy and she was determined to bring honour to this place again.



“You are dismissed Agent Tailor, I am going to meet with Sir Hellsing this evening and discuss this issue. Be prepared for things to change around here a lot.”



“I’ll be looking forward to it, finally I can do what I was trained for. I will find those freaks for you Sir, and I will do a good job of it too!” Agent Tailor said with a smile and left, leaving her alone in the office again.



She took up her phone and called her secretary Olivia over the intercom;



“Yes mam?” she heard a female voice answer her.



“Hello Olivia, please call the Hellsing agency for me and ask if I can have a meeting with Sir Integral this evening and …oh .. wait, never mind Olivia.”

She had just noticed a letter with the Hellsing crest on it on her desk and proceeded to open it.









“Dear Isobel,

I was wondering if you would care to meet with me this evening at 20 00 hours. I wish to discuss certain matters with you and I’m sure you have a thousand questions that need answering and a few things cleared up.



I look forward to this evening,



Best regards,



Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing”





She had to laugh, Sir Integral knew her too well for someone who only meet her a few times when she was younger and once recently.



“Olivia?” She called over the intercom again.



“Yes mam?”



“Call the Hellsing agency and say I will be there as expected at 20 00 hours”



“Ok, mam, anything else?”



“Yes, have some breakfast sent up to my room please, the usual but I want black coffee from now on. That will be all, thank you.”



She put down the phone and proceeded to open sympathetic letters from people she didn’t even know, sending their respects to her dead father. Then suddenly she came across a letter from Romania; “It must be from my mother’s family.” She thought opening it quickly and starting to read, struggling with the Romanian at first because she had not used it for such along time. When she finished, she slumped back in her chair and stared blankly ahead of her. It had been from her mother’s family steward, saying that her grandmother had just died and that she now owned the family manor and land. He had also asked her to come to her grandmother’s funeral two days from that day.



“Shit, what am I going to do?! I can’t just leave now, I need to run this stupid agency!” She hissed in frustration as she got up and began pacing back and forth. She loved her grandmother and the house where she had spent most of her summers with her mother. It was in the beautiful Romanian countryside and town of Craiova in the Walachia province. She decided to tell Sir Integra and see if something couldn’t be done so she could attend her grandmother’s funeral.



“Mademoiselle? Your breakfast is here.” She heard Sophie’s voice through the door.



“Come in Sophie.”



















A few hours later she was looking up at the colossal Hellsing Mansion, at least two times bigger than her own mansion. Walter, Sir integral’s steward, meet her at the door with a smile. She had heard a lot about him and what he had done as a knight before he retired, he was amazing.



“Sir Penwood” he greeted her and bowed. She didn’t know if she should curtsy and decided not too, considering how silly it would look wearing pants.



“Sir Walter, it is an honour and pleasure to finally meet you.” She said shaking his hand.



“Thank you, Sir Integral is expecting you, shall we?” He said gesturing to the open door.



She walked in and the first thing that met her eyes was a huge black dog sitting at the bottom of the stairs, staring intently at her with all of its six eyes. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and she took a step backward and as it started walking towards her.



“Don’t worry, Alucard wont hurt you!” Walter said with a chuckle and proceeded to introduce the dog to her.



“You said his name was Alucard?” she asked as she stroked the dogs long black fur.

“Isn’t Sir Integral’s vampire called that as well?”



Walter just smiled and looked at the dog. “Strange people”, she thought, and then suddenly she realized she was stroking not fur but hair and looked back towards the dog. She was facing a six foot tall vampire in a red coat and hat, and she was stroking his hair. She let out a gasp of surprise and almost fell over. He just smiled at her in an unnervingly maniacal way and bowed, taking her hand in his and kissing it. She just stared at him and didn’t move, it felt like a current was passing through her from where he held her hand. She started feeling drowsy, and had a hard time keeping her eyes in focus, his face swam in front of her.



“Isobel……you are beautiful, it has been a long time since I laid eyes on a fellow country woman and a noble at that. I know your face, from long ago, centuries past that have fled from my memory.” She heard him whisper in her head.



“Do you know who you are Isobel Erzsebet Bathory?” His voice was fading and she woke up from the strange trance to find he was gone and she was looking into the concerned face of Walter.



“Are you alright Sir Penwood?” He asked.



“I’...I’m fine, sorry I just spaced out for a few minutes.” She mumbled and followed him up the stairs towards Sir Integral’s office.



















Sir Integrals study was a huge, almost empty room, making the otherwise imposing woman look smaller and more frail. She sat down in the chair facing her desk and waited for her to finish what she was doing.



“Help yourself to some of my cigars, I will be finished in a little while” Integral said, not looking up from her papers.



Isobel took out a cigar and snipped the end with her knife. She lit it and breathed in the delicious tasting smoke, she had not had a cigar since her father caught her smoking his and hit her. She suddenly realized Integral was regarding her, a small smile playing on her lips.



“You like cigars Isobel?” She asked in her calm and commanding voice.



“Yes, I haven’t had one for a long time, and never one as good as this” Isobel answered and smiled, something she had not done for a while.



“Good, you passed my first test.” Integral thought to herself and smiled.



“Now, we need to get down to business”, Integral said putting her papers down and getting up. “I think it’s more relaxing and not so formal if we talk while we walk. I need to check on my soldiers in the training area anyway, it will give you chance to see the organization from the inside.”



Isobel followed Integral out of her office, glancing at the portrait of Integrals father on the wall.



“If it’s not rude to ask, how did your father die?” Isobel asked as they walked. Integral glanced at her, never slowing her pace and then looked away again.



“He was very sick for a long time and he died when his body could not handle it anymore.”



Isobel knew she should just drop the subject, but she was curious because Integral was so much like her. “How old were you Sir Integral, when this happened?”

She asked.



“ I was given the Hellsing agency when I was fourteen years old, three years younger than you.” She answered stiffly and opened the front door, stepping out into the night.



The training complex was behind the Hellsing mansion and looked like a labyrinth. The soldiers were running around in groups shooting at the targets with their huge automatics, following the shouted commands of what looked like a woman. Integral saw her staring at the woman and called her over in a commanding voice.



“Sergeant Seras Victoria!”





The woman looked up and ran towards them carrying a huge cannon like gun over her shoulder. She had short strawberry blond hair and red eyes, and was wearing a little, and not very concealing blue uniform with the Hellsing crest on it.



“Yes, Sir Integral?” she said, catching her breath.



“Seras, this is Sir Isobel, the late Sir Penwoods daughter.” Integra said and gestured towards her.



“Hi, nice to meet you!” The woman said with a cheerful smile full of fangs, and held out her hand, which Isobel took and shook.



“You too Sergeant”, she answered politely; it was obvious this woman was a vampire.



“How are the troops doing?” Integral asked Seras and they talked for some time while Isobel looked at the soldiers still running in formations and shooting the targets . Then suddenly she saw him standing in one of the labyrinth rooms in front of a target. She also saw the soldiers lining up and getting ready to shoot at him. She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was a dry squeak when she saw the soldiers open fire on the vampire. He was lying in pieces on the floor of the room in a bloody heap, and then suddenly a shadow seemed to cover him. A second later he was standing there again, his body fully repaired and started walking out of the labyrinth as if nothing had happened.



“Don’t worry, Alucard is perfectly fine, normal bullets don’t harm him at all and even silver bullets will only slow him for a while.” Integral said smiling at Isobel’s shocked expression.



“I need to go now Sir Integral, is that all?” Seras asked as she put her huge gun over her shoulder.



“Yes, you are excused Seras.” Integral said and Seras ran back towards the soldiers. Then Integral turned to Isobel and started to speak.



“Well, I called you here to advise you on the running of your agency. I remember well how many mistakes I made even with the guidance of Walter who has been with this agency much longer than me. Be prepared to make mistakes, but do not let them rule you and make you vulnerable. People will die and it will be your fault, but it’s just something that you have to deal with and move on. Another thing that I was wondering is if you have been successful in controlling Vicious?”



Isobel looked down, not wanting to meet Integrals intense gaze. “I… He attacked me yesterday, and I could only get him off when I gave him the order to do it. I do not have that much control over him and I fear he will be successful in killing me very soon.” She spoke barely higher than a whisper.



“He hurt you didn’t he, when he attacked you?” Integral asked.



“Yes, he almost broke my back and…” Isobel was cut off.





“I don’t mean that kind of hurt, it was obvious you two had some kind of connection that day when you bound him to you. It is normally not that easy, in fact it took two days for Alucard to be properly bound to me and in that time he almost took my life as well. I was hurt of course, because I trusted him after he helped me when my uncle was trying to kill me, a long time ago.”



Isobel was surprised at Integrals obvious confession of a weakness, but understood how she knew what Isobel felt like.









“Yes, I was hurt both times he attacked me that day, because I trusted him. After I…I supposedly killed my mother he comforted me and protected me from my father. I just don’t know what to do now, he’s putting me and many innocent peoples lives in danger.”



Integral looked thoughtful for a few minutes and then replied. “You must show him he cannot get away with such behaviour. When Alucard gets out of hand, and he’s much more dangerous than Vicious, I shoot him in the head or lock him in his old dungeon for a few days. What’s important is that you are never caught unawares and that you never show your weakness or pain. Nobody said your life was going to be easy but you need to decide whether it will rule you or you will rule it.”



Integral regarded her with her cold eyes and proceeded to light a cigar, breathing in the smoke and looking relieved when the nicotine hit her.



“ I understand, and I will also proceed to run my organisation properly now. I still cannot believe that my father left what was clearly his job to you, adding to your already heavy workload.” Isobel said and stood up straight, facing Integral.



Integral smiled, “I’m glad you will and I don’t doubt you will be a good leader once you’ve learned the drills. I will have all of the investigation files sent to your office. It would do you good to look at some old case files so that you can familiarise yourself with what you have to do, and about the Freaks and vampires in general.”



Isobel nodded and they started walking towards the darkness of the mansion again, leaving the noisy and brightly lit training ground.



When they reached the front hallway, Integral turned to her. “I hope I have answered most of your questions today, remember that you can always call on me if you need any help. Remember what I said about Vicious, and get yourself a good gun with plenty of silver bullets. You never know when a Freak or ghoul attack will come, or in your case, a werewolf attack.” Integral said smiling and started walking toward the stairs. Then Isobel remembered something important.



“Sir Integral, sorry I was wondering if….” She was brought short by a voice from her radio speaking loudly.



“Come in Sir Penwood!”



“Sir Penwood speaking, come in?”



“Sir, It’s Agent Tailor here, we have just got a confirmation on Freak activity in Romania. They seem to have a base in the Walachia region and they have killed a number of people in Bucharest and Ploiesti. I need a confirmation of permission to investigate further with Agent Smith who is based in Bucharest there at the moment.”



“Permission granted, but I will be going with you, make sure the jet is fully functional for tomorrow morning, we leave at 03 00 hours, understood?”



“Yes sir, will the Hellsing agency be joining us?”



Isobel looked towards Sir Integral who was standing beside her again. She nodded to confirm.



“Agent Tailor come in, The Hellsing agency will be accompanying us, make sure all arrangements for the field agents of both organisations are in order with Walter. The rest of the Hellsing agency will be accompanying us in helicopters, Sir Integral and her field agents will be with us in the jet. Confirm that my order was received?”



“Order received, I will make sure all the preparations are done for 02 00 hours tomorrow. Out. ”



Isobel put down the radio and took a deep breath; Integral smiled at her.



“Good job, you work well under pressure and that is a trait you are going to need in this business. You should go home now and make sure the preparations are going well. I will meet you there with Walter, Alucard and Seras at 02 00 hours.”



Integral turned and walked away, leaving Isobel alone in the big hall. She heard a noise and turned around startled, only to see Walter behind her carrying an umbrella in the crock of his arm.



“I just came to see you off, it’s raining quite hard outside. Don’t worry about the arrangements, agent Tailor has already contacted me and I will make sure our side is taken care of. If you will follow me I will escort you to your car.” He said opening the umbrella and started walking towards the big door. He held the umbrella up over her head all the way to her awaiting Jaguar and didn’t leave until she was safely inside the car.



“Thank you Walter.” She said through the window as the car pulled away, driving into the awaiting night.









{~*~}



Thanks to everybody that is reading my fan fic. I know it’s been a bit boring up until now, but it wouldn’t be as good if I just skipped to the action. I promise you won’t be disappointed though, the next chapters are going to be action packed, sex filled and a bit gory.



Please review after you’ve read, I would really like to know what you think and any constructive criticism you might have!



Peace out,



{~*~Blood Rayne~* ~}