Sacred Lineage

I made up this title to describe my favorite character of my writing partner, whose character was named \"Garlon the Butcher\". I remember spending an evening coming up with wildly improbable titles like \'the Reaper of Souls\' that would strike fear in the hearts of the nebulous bad guys. Anyway, I wouldn\'t have been the writer I am today without the help of my best friend Dan. Thanks, Dan, for all your help, your critiques, your patience, and most of all, the gift of your time.

*~~*

He watched her for a while. It was clear that there was something seriously wrong with his Master. Her face, usually appearing very young in sleep, continued to look exhausted and haggard even after he had put her deeply into a trancelike sleep that she would remain in until precisely 0600 hours GMT. He would have made her sleep until seven, but if she couldn\'t get dressed to her satisfaction he knew he would never hear the end of it.

He wondered briefly what he should do next. With his prenatural hearing, he could hear that Deirdre was in the office working on her mother\'s paperwork. He certainly had no right to go in and demand a report, but like her mother before her, Deirdre had grown up with hellhounds as playmates. Alucard had as much respect for the daughter as he did the mother, which, in short meant that she was used to being tormented on occasion by him. Over the next half hour, he convinced himself slowly that one, she would probably need to talk; and two, that she would prefer to talk to him rather than anyone else.

He faded into the room into the shadow over the couch. Deirdre sat looking out the window, the dark twin of her mother. It could have been Integral sitting there gazing out of the window at the moon but for the lack of the cigarillo and the dark hair. She felt him more quickly than Integral ever had, though. Perhaps it was that she was more open due to her concern for her mother, or perhaps she had been expecting him. It was difficult to know these things without plundering her mind, and unfortunately, she was better about catching him at that than her mother was as well.

\"So, Alucard. How is Mother?\"

Trust a Hellsing to get right to the point. You\'d think that they\'d have learned something from their Dutch ancestors, but no. No verbal fencing here.

\"She is resting well.\"

That wasn\'t exactly what Deirdre had wanted to know.

\"Walter said she was ill, and that a physician had seen her, but that there was no diagnosis made.\"

\"That is true,\" Alucard responded, his tone chiding her for disbelieving Walter.

\"How serious do you think it is?\" She had turned, and was looking directly into his eyes. Deep brown met red, and the intensity in her gaze could have frightened a lesser being. Alucard thought that Father Alexander Anderson had best watch his step with the Daughter of Hellsing. This one bore watching.

\"I do not know.\" His tone conveyed concern, though, and she nodded. It was difficult to believe that anything could happen to her Mother, but Deirdre knew how difficult running Hellsing was, at least to a point. Not only that, but she also knew that her Mother had been putting off going to a physician for a very long time. She could remember the day that Integral had finally told her that she was going to begin her formal training as a Knight of the Realm and the Head of Hellsing. What a day that had been! Her mother needed a vacation, though, and she still needed one now. Deirdre had taken over some of the day to day operations, but Integral was certainly still needed.

Deirdre tapped her lower lip, a habit that had come about while watching Integral think and smoke. Deirdre didnt\' like the taste of cigars or cigarettes, and she didn\'t intend to take up smoking. She was almost shocked to see Alucard pour her half a snifter of brandy.

\"What?\" She wasn\'t sure what to make of this.

\"Deirdre, I do not know what is to come, but this is something that I do know. I can no longer renew the seals from your Mother\'s blood, at least not right now. She is ill, and I cannot take from her.\"

The seals. Blood. The voluntary sacrifice that kept Alucard (and thus Seras) bound to Hellsing and unable to injure anyone that worked for them.

She looked at him significantly, but spoke mildly. \"Do you prefer the blood to be tainted with alcohol?\"

He smiled at her, proud of her temerity. \"Not particularly, but it can be difficult the first few times. Most are afraid...\" His voice trailed off implying more.

She could believe it. She was afraid. Integral had spoken to her of this, of course, but she had not really believed that her day would come for a long time. Walter had told her of his time doing this for Hellsing, and she knew deep inside that if she asked him again tonight he would do it.

She fought with the temptation. It was difficult to not call Walter, she did not want to submit. She did not want to submit to Alucard, not because he was her family\'s ancient enemy, but because she did not want to reveal the innermost part of herself to anyone. There were half a score of people that would do this thing for her, all she had to do is give the order.

She picked up the glass and sipped, watching Alucard over the rim.

\"Never mind me,\" he grinned at her, \"I\'m just evil incarnate.\"

She knew that already. Just evil incarnate. She smiled to herself. As if dealing with evil incarnate was such an everyday matter that it was of no consequence. \"Just.\"

The realization shocked her when it did hit. Dealing with Alucard on a daily basis was commonplace. Even if he was evil incarnate (and depending on the day, there was some debate on whether or not he was) in reality, he was \'just\' evil incarnate. Nowhere nearly as dangerous as the other evils that she dealt death to when she was out on a mission. There was no celestial battle of good and evil. There were only varying shades of light and dark, and the purposes to which they were put.

\"You\'re growing up, Deirdre.\"

Was that pride she heard in his voice? Surely not.

She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, and the proud daughter of Hellsing walked purposefully toward the Monster.

The reaper of souls gazed on her, he was glad in this moment that she was not his daughter by blood. What was going to happen to Deirdre Mab Hellsing would have been almost incestuous even by his own standards were she related to him by blood. There was no denying the erotic nature of the bite, no matter where it was given. Integral had never let him bite her, always choosing to cut herself, but this girl appeared to not know that she could do that. Even now she was lifting her chin a bit more, her eyes blazing in...an emotion that he couldn\'t quite fathom. It was more than fear, more than duty, more than...surely not. She did not...love him?

He moved behind her, unwilling to look into her eyes as he explained things. His hands descended upon her shoulders, and she startled, taking deep gasping breaths as her body pumped adreneline into her system. He released her instantly and handed her the glass of brandy again.

\"You aren\'t a sot, Deirdre. I know this already. Leave be, and let this not be so frightening for you. Please.\"

She gaped at him. She had never known him to use words like \'please\' and \'thank you.\'

\"I was born a prince, you know. They teach us manners. We just don\'t use them much.\"

She laughed despite herself and took another drink, sipping at the brandy slowly.

\"How much do you suggest?\" She asked.

\"You will know.\" He said. \"Let me tell you about it, though, perhaps it will help?\"

\"There\'s more to know than you bite me and drink my blood?\" She asked, somewhat incredulous.

\"Well, not in theory.\" He said, deciding that discretion was probably the better part of valour.

\"What about in reality?\" There was no denying that she possessed a very quick intelligence.

\"In reality,\" he began to explain, \"things are a bit different.\" He was possessed by the imp of the perverse, he was not going to tell her that he didn\'t have to bite her. \"At times, the bite is accompanied by very erotic sensations.\"

That should be interesting. Erotic. I wonder exactly what that means? I mean, I know the meaning in the dictionary, but...

She had intended to sip at the brandy again, but sucked down about half the glass in one go. This was followed by a coughing fit that could have rivaled Sir Integral\'s from earlier. She set the glass down.

\"I...think I\'ve had enough.\" Her movements were deliberate, showing that she was slightly impaired.

He moved behind her again, and placed his hands gently on her shoulders. \"We\'ll do it easy this time, okay?\"

Easy? She wondered what hard was. She was possessed instantly with the need to run, to hide, to get away from this....thing...that was going to...

She felt his lips cool on her neck and froze like a rabbit that has seen a fox. Humans were quite predictable in this moment, was Alucard\'s thought. He did not know why they did this, but they all seemed to do it. Except of course for the ones he had taken that were willing lovers, but Deirdre was hardly a lover.

Yet. His thought almost made him laugh. He had wanted Integral for all this time, and now Deirdre as well. Amazing that his heart no longer beat, he didn\'t breathe unless he wanted to, but his testosterone seemed to be in excellent working order. He breathed in her scent, trying to not let her fear affect him. Fear was almost aphrodisiac for him, but he couldn\'t afford to scare her this time. He could just put her into a trancelike state, but he wanted her to be very aware of what she was doing for Hellsing--at least this time.

He could feel her pulse beating in her throat, and gently slid his teeth into the large vein. To her credit she didn\'t jump, but she did moan. The word she moaned took his breath away.

\"Father.\"

Well, Deirdre, no kisses for you tonight. Even I am not that sick in the head. Perhaps another day, but you kept that little secret well hidden from me. I wonder how I missed that...

He had known that she wasn\'t precisely sure who her father was. She most likely suspected Walter, but apparantly she had parental feelings toward him as well. Not shocking, really, Integral had as well, and she had eventually outgrown them, as Deirdre would. Very soon, in fact, he could feel the rigidity of her body as she responded to his licking and sucking of her hot blood from her throat. She had never been touched, that was as sure as the sun rose in the East.

He felt almost guilty. This shouldn\'t have been her first experience with erotic feelings, but who else had there been? Who else could there have been?

He had taken enough for the seals and a bit extra for himself, just to draw out the time he had spent, but no more. He licked the holes until they healed.

She leaned into him, and he picked her up and carried her gently toward her room.

Walter found him in the hall.

\"Is Miss Deirdre all right?\"

\"I am not completely sure, Walter.\" Alucard\'s tone was quite neutral.

\"What happened?\" Alucard could tell that he was reaching for a memory, and was silent. \"Oh, the seals!\"

Alucard nodded. \"She had no idea...she has never...\"

Walter understood. The first time Alucard had taken his blood...the addiction had taken a long time to break.

\"I\'ll stay with her. You should probably go back to Sir Integral.\" Walter was sure that Alucard\'s presence would make Deirdre uncomfortable when she woke up.

\"Yes. I think that is the best idea.\" Alucard laid her gently on the bed and covered her tenderly with a blanket. He leaned down and kissed her chastely on the cheek. \"Rest well, Princess of Hellsing. We will need you soon enough.\"

Walter looked at Alucard very seriously. \"You\'re more right about that than you could have known.\"

Walter obviously knew more about Integral\'s health problem than he was letting on. Alucard left him to it for the moment, he planned to find out when Integral got back exactly what was going on.

\"Of course.\" Was all the vampire said. Half of winning is knowing when to pretend you know more than you should. The words of his own Father drifted back to him. He faded into the shadows, and lay down next to Integral again. She snuggled against him and murmered \"Alucard.\"

In that instant, he wondered if his entire life was just some huge cosmic joke. Were the gods laughing at him? He wrapped his arms around her and held her. The love of his life, and she was welcoming him now that she was too ill to censure her thoughts and words.

Damn Sir Integral Fairbrooks Wingates Hellsing anyway. Just....Damn her.