Midian Evolution

“Freaks and humans together?” Sir Integra asked.

“Yes. The humans were putting chips in one another. I brought one back.” Alucard placed a bloody transmitter on her desk. “All targets have been silenced. I meant to keep one for questioning, but it’s been ages since I fed properly.”

Integra scowled. “See that you remember yourself in the future, servant. We’ve lost valuable information because of your hunger.”

Master was protecting me. I’d killed his informants and he lied about it to Integra. But, no, he wasn’t lying at all. He just let her draw the wrong conclusion.

“I will guard against the mistake,” he replied.

Integra looked at me next. “Doctor Kayne wants to see you, Seras,” she said, her tone utterly neutral.

I grimaced. I really, really hated being poked and prodded. “Yes, Sir Integra,” I murmured.

“I’ll go with you.” Alucard turned and walked for the door, forcing me to hurry and follow.

Master, why did you-?

Your discipline is my duty, not Integra’s, he answered. You’ve done nothing wrong.

I killed everybody you could have pumped for information.

You drank their blood and stored their knowledge. It went into a very difficult compartment of your mind, and you can’t access it. I, however, easily did. You’ve already told me everything I wanted to know from those humans. Alucard put his hand on my shoulder. I intimated to Integra I knew nothing, but this is not the case. I merely want to wait to give her this information. She will marry Walter next week come hell or high water. If I set her on a new crusade right now, she’d cancel her wedding.

Oh, my master could really be determined. Clever, too.

Will I ever be able to gain knowledge from a person’s blood? To access it, I mean.

Oh yes. Patience.

We walked into the medical ward, where we were immediately ushered into an examination room. The nurse gave me a gown and left very quickly. I glared at the horrible thing, glad I didn’t really get cold anymore. “I hate these,” I muttered. “I’m not putting it on.”

“Quite right you aren’t.” Alucard snatched the gown and tossed it into a corner. “There’s no need for him to see you naked.”

Rather surprised by the tension in his tone, I sat on the table and looked at him. “That would bother you, master?”

“Yes.” He folded his arms and looked away from me.

I checked my mental shields before allowing myself to wonder why the idea disturbed him. Maybe he didn’t like Doctor Kayne in the first place?

Moments later, the doctor himself entered. He glanced at the gown, at my master, then quickly turned to me. “How do you feel?”

“Same as I did,” I answered, watching him prepare to take a blood sample.

“That’s good, I suppose,” he answered. He took his sample. “Reflexes?”

“Quick enough,” Alucard answered for me. “Quicker than I expected, in any case.” Pride suffused his tone.

Warmed, I tried not to pay any attention to Kayne hooking me up to a monitor. I heard a growl from Alucard when the doctor put his hand under my shirt to attach a lead. Paling, Kayne shot Alucard a quick, nervous glance. “I have to do this,” he said.

“No, you don’t. Your machines tell nothing of what goes on inside the police girl.” Alucard took his glasses off to pin him with his red stare. “You’re finished with her.”

I hopped off the table, relieved he’d come to my rescue. We walked out swiftly. “He is not to touch you anymore,” he said. “If Integra orders you to comply, tell me.”

“Yes, master,” I said.

“You will tell me if anyone submits you to their touch.” His tone reeked of menace, but not toward me.

“It won’t be a problem, master, but I promise to tell you if someone tries.”

“Why wouldn’t it be a problem?” he asked gruffly.

“No one’s ever really wanted to touch me, with the exception of that vampiric priest in Cheddar Village,” I said, laughing. “Not even before I died and became a vampire. Sometimes Walter pats my shoulder. Is that okay?”

“Walter is no issue,” he assured.

“What about Sir Integra?”

“She, also, is no issue.” Alucard led me toward the stairs to his level of the building, slowing a bit. “Women touch each other. Sir Integra is not invasive in such a way, though.” He held out his arm, unfurled his hand, and my book appeared in it. He handed it over. “You will read in my presence, Seras.”

“All right, master.” I followed him into his chambers. He shut the door and put his glasses on a table. A wave of his hand lit a score of candles in the room.

I settled in a rather uncomfortable chair and opened Dracula. “Have you read this book, master?”

“Once. I knew the author.” Alucard grinned. “I’ve known quite a few writers. They’re such inquisitive people.”

I read for quite awhile. Around chapter eight, I put it down and caught Alucard’s eye. “How handy a plot device is it that Lucy was a sleep-walker?”

“She was, though,” he said. “Don’t you believe Mr. Stoker?”

I shrugged. “I guess. It’s just so convenient. The Count came in on the ship and found easy prey instantly.”

Alucard had a pencil in his hand and seemed to be drawing me. “Life is like that, sometimes. One can be fortunate.”

“I’ve never been that lucky,” I answered. “Are you sketching me?”

“Yes. You’re a lovely picture, sitting there, reading that book.” He continued to draw, but he smiled as he worked. “What do you think of Renfield?”

“He’s getting instructions mentally from the Count, his master, but I don’t think he’s been bitten. He’s sort of sinister, what with trying to feed creatures to each other.”

“Yes, he’s charming.”

“Creepy.” I stuck my nose back in the book. “Unlike the Count, he has no class.”

“You think a man who feeds a baby to his vampiric concubines is classy?” He snickered.

“Well, no,” I admitted. “I had secret hopes it wasn’t a baby in the bag.”

“I suppose it could have been a pig,” he said. “They sound remarkably like a child at times.” He placidly shaded in a section of my hair with his pinkie.

“Have you ever had any children, master?” I asked.

“I had two sons with my second wife, and one with my first,” he answered, not looking up. “And no, none of my family yet lives. They all died a very long time ago.”

“I’m sorry.” I did feel badly about that, too. Losing family is hard.

“Don’t be. You can’t imagine they would claim me.”

Now truly sad, I put the book down. I didn’t feel like reading more tonight. “Tell me a story of some kind, master, please,” I begged him. “I can’t focus on this dry book.”

“Why don’t you tell me a story, Seras?” he countered. “Tell me a story about your family.”

“I can’t.” I closed my eyes. “I can’t remember anything except their deaths.”

“Who killed them?”

“No one knows.” I got up and began pacing. “May we talk about something else? How about a happy story from Integra’s childhood?”

Alucard put his pencil down. He stretched out on his coffin lid, put his head in his hands and assumed a distant look. “Happy story about Integra,” he murmured. “There aren’t very many.”

“I knew it.” I slumped down beside him. “Does anyone have a happy childhood?”

“I’m sure there are a few. Perhaps we should seek Walter for our story entertainment, but later. The sun is coming up.”

Yes, I felt the prickle of it even down here.

“Stay with me,” he ordered, getting up and opening his casket.

“Yes, master.” I wondered if he just liked having another body beside him.

He got in. I climbed to join him, careful not to step on him in any way. The moment I lay at his side, he rolled to face me. Our candles extinguished and he closed the lid.

“I’ve grown accustomed to the silence of a coffin,” I whispered.

He smiled. “Sleep, police girl.”

I did.

****************************************************************************


“Elisabeta,” I heard him murmur. “Too late. Too late for you, for me, for any of us.”

“Master?” I asked, reaching out to touch him. I felt we had hours before the sun went down, so he probably dreamed. My fingers touched wetness. A second later I smelled diluted blood. Shaking, I touched my tongue to my hand and tasted his coppery tears. His pain made the heady liquor of his blood seem less than inviting.

“Master,” I repeated, wiping his face. “You’re dreaming.”

He groaned, low and deep. Confined to this coffin, the noise seemed to travel through my bones. I waited, listening to him speak in that pretty Romanian language. He threw an arm around me and held tight, nearly popping my spine.

I used my night vision to view him. Bloody tears still ran down his handsome face. He’d extended his fangs and they tore at his mouth. His hair had grown and seemed to nearly fill the coffin. Even as I watched, it wrapped around my lower body.

Impulse seized me. I bit into my wrist and held the bleeding flesh to his lips. “Drink, master,” I urged, not knowing if he heard me. I’d drained four men yesterday and could spare the blood. He’d had nothing. Perhaps the stress of hunger gave strength to his nightmares.

He latched onto me and fed. Because I’d done the biting, I didn’t feel nearly the same amount of sexual euphoria as the last time, but it still felt very good. Drowsy and compliant to his feeding, I rested my head on his arm and let him take what he wanted.

He finished in a few minutes, settling back into full sleep. Peacefulness descended upon his uncommonly fine features. His death grip around me loosened slightly.

We slept once more.