Midian Evolution

“What’s wrong with Seras?” I heard Integra ask, her tone controlled but concerned.

I tried to open an eye and look at her, but couldn’t. Floating in my master’s arms felt exceptionally good, and didn’t give me much impetus to wake fully.

“Magical backlash affects a newer vampire strongly, as I cautioned you.” Master’s voice dripped disapproval. “She rolled in agony most of the day. Neither of us have slept and we both need fresh blood. She, especially needs it.”

“How much?” Integra asked shortly.

“More than you might safely donate.” Alucard shifted me to one arm. “I’m able to hunt, but she isn’t.”

Integra tapped her fingernails on her desk in a brief, agitated rhythm. “I could pull a string and get a convict scheduled for execution. Sir Islands would help with that, though he won’t ever personally watch you feed ever again.”

I felt my master smile.

“Poor, denial-laden little catamite,” he said. “Send us two condemned prisoners, then.”

“One might be all I can manage.”

“One will be enough for her to recover, but I’d prefer two.”

Integra, silent only a moment, spoke again. “Can she hear us?”

“Likely not. Seras is tired, and limp as rope.” He pulled one of my legs up and let it drop. To further demonstrate, he flipped me over his arm and held me draped out like a towel before returning me to a proper position. “I could tie cords to her and use her for a marionette.”

“Please, don’t,” Integra said. “Who tore up her clothing?”

“I did.”

“Alucard, you didn’t-.”

“Of course I didn’t.” Angry now, his tone cut. “Not that she doesn’t practically beg me for it on occasion. This is my fledgling, master; my responsibility, my blood-child and my singe-sotie. I won’t harm her.”

“Don’t take that tone with me.” Integra’s tone matched his instantly. “You may not believe me, but I care what happens to her, too. However, we can’t shield her. You won’t do her any favors by being an overprotective sugar daddy.”

“I haven’t-.”

“Oh, really? You wear her like a suit; I’ve seen it.”

“Our bond requires contact,” he answered stiffly. “Neither of us sees any reason to make it clinical.”

“She’s a child, Alucard, a child vampire. Like you, my dark Peter Pan, she’ll never grow up.” Integra’s voice came sharp and clipped. “You say you’re still under Hellsing orders? Then, I order you to give her your blood and free her.”

“I won’t until she’s ready,” he growled. “You seem determined to hurt her, master.”

“I resent that. I care for the girl.” I heard a lighter grind and snap, then smelled the pungent smoke of Integra’s cigar. “She’s an innocent. God only knows why you chose to make her into your kind.”

“I’ve told you repeatedly,” master said coldly. “She chose me. Will you never believe it?”

“Why on earth would she have chosen you, Alucard?”

Oh my God. I cringed inwardly at her question. Asking Alucard to justify his value seemed really unwise.

“I don’t know!” my master roared, almost bringing me out of my near-comatose state. “The fact remains that she did, and I don’t refuse suitable gifts, ever!”

“I knew you considered her a possession,” Integra muttered, audibly unfazed by his explosion.

Master made a sound low in his throat, a sound that raised the hair on my nape. “It takes a possessive master to know another, I suppose,” he said, voice dangerous. “I don’t expect you to understand the relationship I have with Seras, but I do demand you honor it. If you think I’ll force her into drinking my blood, you’re mistaken. Even if I did, she wouldn’t change. She has to do it willingly. She has to initiate it. I can’t even make the offer, now.”

So, that was it. He hadn’t offered again because he couldn’t. I had to ask. I wondered if that applied to other things, other needs as well. He’d always stressed the importance of free will. I had to use my observational skills a little better in the future.

“Why do you want her independent of me?” he asked. “Planning on putting her under the Hellsing seals? If you can’t control me, you control her, is that it?”

I heard Integra’s teeth grinding together. A sharp, snapping sound and she barked Walter’s name.

“Yes, Sir Integra?” Walter answered on intercom.

“I need you up here, Walter,” she said, voice tightly controlled.

It seemed like only seconds before I heard Walter’s distinctive heartbeat. The amazingly agile man could travel like light.

“Give Seras to Walter. You and I need to talk in-depth,” Integra ordered.

Alucard obligingly transferred me to Walter. “She’s not going to respond to you until she receives blood,” he instructed my friend.

For an elderly man, Walter had quite a lot of power. He held me easily. “I’ll take Miss Victoria to her room,” he said quietly.

We left to the slamming of a door and muffled shouting. Walter arranged me so my head rested on his shoulder. “It amazes me,” he said. “You’re a teenager, yet the full adults around you make more fuss.”

I wished I could answer him. I wished I had it in me to talk, period.

“Sir Integra doesn’t understand what’s happening with her vampires, and it frightens her,” Walter continued. I smelled the difference in the air between upper and lower levels, and knew he’d already carried me about half the distance to the cellars. “I would tell her, but I’m sure it wouldn’t make a difference. I’m about to marry a very difficult woman.” He chuckled. “Thank God for that.”

I didn’t understand why he felt thankful. Then again, I didn’t understand much these days.

Walter put me on my bed and tackled the removal of my boots. “I know you can hear me, Seras,” he said, very softly. “Perhaps Sir Integra and your master are too single minded of purpose to notice your eyes moving against your lids, but I’m not so inobservant. Do you want a blanket? Move your eyes to the left if you do.”

I signaled I did want a blanket. He covered me with what felt like my heavy quilt. I heard him take my phone and drop it into the charger. “I could give you enough of my blood to give you some ability to interact, but I doubt your master would like that. Too, I’m sure I taste terrible. Old blood, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. Walter chuckled. “I’ll go now. Let me light a candle for you.”

I heard him do just that, then a soft sound I couldn’t identify. The door opened and closed and I lay alone.

I found it weird, lying on this bed completely helpless yet awake. My powerful senses picked up a mouse scurrying back and forth near the west wall. I smelled the wax burning in the candle, even the flame had a scent. Walter’s soap lingered, too.

Time passed very slowly. I heard scuffling and shouting begin many floors above me, and the sound of my master’s impatient voice. The noises grew louder, approached my door. It burst open, and a man’s pleading voice assaulted my ears.

“What do you want with me?”

I smelled his fear. His heart seemed strong enough to leap from his chest.

“I don’t want anything with you,” Alucard growled. “You’re food for my fledgling. Work yourself into a froth for all I care; it’ll make you taste better to her.”

I heard the man hit the stone floor, then smelled blood. My teeth ached.

“This is illegal! This is inhumane! I have rights!” The man sobbed now. “You can’t just take me from my cell and murder me!”

“I can and I will.” Alucard’s voice came straight from the Pit. “You’re wrong, though. Inhumane is a contradictory adjective; you humans are the cruelest of all.”

I felt him pick me up. He set me in his lap, tilted my head back, and pushed his thumb against my gum, right above my right incisor. Gently, he applied circular pressure. “Not long now, Seras,” he said comfortingly. He exposed one fang, then the other, making an approving noise as he looked at them. “Very nice; better than most fledglings. I haven’t taken a good look before.”

He put me back on the bed. I felt hair dropping into my face that didn’t belong to him. It smelled of sterilizers and cigarette smoke. Skin touched my upper lip, gazing against my uncovered teeth.

I wouldn’t have believed I could bite down. I couldn’t open my eyes, even, yet some compulsion or instinct made my mouth move. I bit into the flesh hard, enjoying how it resisted and thrashed. The screaming and the fear made him taste exquisite, just like master promised.

I drank the sweet, coppery vitae, seeing the man’s life behind bars. His mind raced to cover his sins, but I saw the murders and rapes from his eyes. He couldn’t lie to me. That he would try made me saw my teeth, cutting him deeper.

He didn’t last nearly long enough. I sucked until he bled white, but I’d exhausted my source before extinguishing my hunger.

Master pulled him away from me. I wearily opened my eyes to see him open the door and toss the corpse into the hallway. He almost hit Walter, who only just came into sight. “You are not to clean up Integra’s carrion,” Alucard demanded hotly. “Ea datoria. Din cauza ei, singe-sotia mea este bolnav!”

Walter, holding a large tub of ice and medical blood bags, tilted his head at my progenitor. He lifted a single, eloquent eyebrow. “Should I expect more of this treatment once I take the Hellsing name?” he asked. “Shall I visit a tattoo parlor as well?”

In a completely uncharacteristically revealing movement, Alucard gripped his hair in his fist. He seemed to grapple with an actual apology. Walter and I stared at him, and I knew I had to reflect my friend’s shock. Nervously, I rubbed the tattoo at the small of my back. What Walter meant, I didn’t know. But, I’d ask.

“Your discretion,” Alucard said finally. He strode to my little table, sat down in my even smaller chair, and looked away. A little decorative vase on my bookshelf rattled and burst, raining bits of ceramic down upon us.

Walter came in, setting the blood down in front of my agitated master. From some unseen pocket, he drew out a very slender wine goblet. This he put just at Alucard’s elbow. He then produced a split of champagne, shoved it into the ice and stepped back. “Just so you know, Alucard,” he said smoothly, “I also speak Romanian.”

Alucard stared at Walter’s back until the door completely concealed him.