~ Family Obligations (Inuyasha) Read full
Seras awoke to the sun setting in the west and a sore neck from having slept wrong. She groaned as she rubbed the back of her head and looked around the room with glazed eyes.
The young woman jumped when she saw the dark figure standing in the shadowed corner.
“Do you have to do that?” she scolded as she swung her legs over the bed and scowled at the suited gentleman.
“Did you find the woman?” Alucard asked, ignoring her question.
“I think so” Seras replied as she thought of the day’s episode. “She recognized the photo and wanted to know where I got it.” She slowly turned to her companion. “Who was in the photo, anyway?” she inquired.
“An old...acquaintance” the monster evasively answered. “But let’s leave that for another time” he suggested as he hinted at something more important.
“Not another assignment” the young woman groaned as she shook her head.
“No” he bluntly replied, rising her hopes the night would be less eventful than the day. “You will remain within this house until sun rise” he commanded as he turned to the door to leave, but he looked over his shoulder with a grin. “Then I will have another assignment for you.”
Seras frowned as the creature called Alucard opened a portal through the door and stepped into the void. The opening quickly closed behind him, leaving her alone with her thoughts and his orders.
Seras sighed as she looked around the relatively empty room. There was the bed, a dresser, and little else in the area to entertain herself with. The windows were still covered by the heavy blankets, but she noticed some light from outside managed to peak in from the right sides.
Rising to her feet, she stepped over to the mirror she had glimpsed after her first awakening in the room.
Seras’ reflection peered back at her with pale skin and bloodshot eyes. She lifted her lips and could nothing unusual about her teeth, but she felt strangely restless as she began to pace the room. Finally she hit upon exploring the building, as Alucard had told her to merely stay within the house.
He hadn’t said she had to stay in only her room.
Cautiously Seras opened her door and peeked out into the hall. All was quiet save for the sounds of crickets chirping loudly outside and the occasional group of college students who wandered by on their way to some party. The young woman stepped out into the passage and carefully strode along the hall looking at everything.
The objects were in much the same position as she had gleamed them earlier in the day, and somehow Seras felt both relieved and disappointed. She was looking for something to distract her mind, but she feared what she might find in this strange house of the vampire.
Feeling braver because of her boredom, however, Seras began testing doors to see if they would open. All the knobs turned at her insistence on her floor and she peeked into each with more dissatisfaction as they revealed rooms much like her own.
The house, because of the large quantity of bedrooms, must have been some sort of boardinghouse for the university, she surmised.
With her floor inspected Seras wandered down the stairs and turned right to peer into the long hallway which led deep into the building. Light streaming from the windows allowed some view, but she noted a number of the shades had been pulled down.
“Vampire...” she muttered to herself as she shook her head.
Slowly Seras looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. A small table, probably used as a piece of dining room furniture, stood against the wall opposite the stairs and nothing hung on the walls. The windows were covered by both heavy shades and light, soft curtains. She was surprised to see a mirror upon the front wall of the house, and she wondered if the legends of vampires and reflections held true.
Moving toward the hall, Seras tested a few doors which lay on either side of the hall. She found a closet in one, which stood underneath the steps, but when she tried the other on the opposite side she found the knob to be locked.
Curiously Seras got down on her knees and peered through the keyhole. Unfortunately she could see nothing but darkness within, but some vague shape did appear to her in the darkest corner. She tried focusing her eye but still the object could not be deciphered.
With a sigh of frustration Seras stood to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. She looked around for any way to open the door, or even for a key, but could find nothing.
Shrugging her shoulders in defeat the young woman moved on to the back of the house. Here she found a large kitchen with a smaller table than the previous one in the dining room. All the appliances appeared to be new but covered in a fine layer of dust, showing the building had been unoccupied for a short time, at best.
Slowly Seras sank into one of the kitchen chairs and glumly set her elbow on the table and leaned her head against her hand. She frowned at the boring white room and the boring dark house, and wondered what lay outside.
However, the fridge lying in the corner reminded her she had not eaten in nearly a day. She could feel no hunger nor protest from her stomach, but she ventured a large meal would help distract her.
Slowly she stood to her feet and ventured over to the fridge. Opening the door, Seras was unsurprised to find the shelves empty. Opening the many cupboards along the walls also proved fruitless as every pantry was devoid of food.
Sighing Seras turned to one of the small kitchen windows at the right side of the house as she heard a noise outside. Cautiously she brushed aside the curtain and peeked out into the night.
A majority of the houses were lit around her building, and especially the closer they were to the university. She could hear merrymaking amidst most of the homes and more than one student staggered past after having imbibed too much. The young woman laughed a little as a large group came strolling by shouting Christmas carols at the top of their lungs, though the season was still a while away.
The antics of her fellow students amused her for quite some time, but even they had their fill as the clocks in the town began to strike twelve. Some staggered home to prepare for their classes, others were unable to do even that as they lay at their friend’s home to await the hangover of the morning.
Seras, bored as the comedies ended, let the curtain drop and wandered her way back toward the front of the house. She had a foot on the first step when a sudden knock on the door caught her attention.
Slowly, unbelievably, Seras turned and looked at the portal in surprise. Her hearing was confirmed, however, when another knock sounded, exactly the same as the first. Cautiously, remembering the last time she had answered, the young woman moved to one of the windows beside the door and dared to peek out.
To her further surprise the man from before stood on the step. She cringed as he did not appear to notice her, nor anything else as he stared straight ahead without blinking. Carefully she let the curtain fall back into place and she moved toward the door.
Quietly Seras opened the portal and the man slowly stepped into the house, after which she closed the portal. Without turning toward her he silently pulled a slip of paper from his jacket pocket and held out the article for someone to take.
Seeing as there was no one else, Seras carefully took the piece from his inviting fingers. As the paper left his hand he suddenly turned around, opened the portal, and stepped back outside. The young woman slipped to the window in time to see him hurrying down the stairs and into his black car.
He drove away without so much as a glance back.
With her strange visitor there and gone, Seras looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. Slowly, so as not to tear the contents, she opened the folded note and read the contents.
Hellsing on the move. Maxwell and Doctor have ordered men to watch her for further contact from girl.
Seras cringed at the last line. Certainly the contact girl must be her, and they would follow the Hellsing woman to track her down. She slowly folded the paper and thought over the contents.
The Hellsing, Integra, was a part of this scheme, but she couldn’t figure out how important she was to Alucard’s revenge. The photo had been someone she knew, and maybe a relative because of the unusual resemblance. Now what of the commandeered man in black and his information from the fearful compound? The doctor she no doubt knew from sight as she remembered the person wearing the lab coat, but who was the Maxwell person?
Then Seras remembered the interview with the blond, long-haired man who had questioned her after her first affair with the vampire. If he was really Maxwell, what was his position in the compound?
Seras groaned as her head began to spin from the swirling thoughts which gave her no answers. She placed the note on the table beside the door and staggered up the stairs. The young woman held her head in one hand as she supported herself with the other against the wall of the second floor. The sickness grew worse, however, and soon developed into a strange pain in her stomach as Seras struggled to get to her room.
She could feel herself collapse before the event actually happened and she was able to catch herself against the ground. She clutched her stomach as she bit hard down on her lip against the wracking pain which was quickly turning into agony. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream as she tried to fight the panicked state her mind was entering.
Her vision was blurring as she suddenly viewed a dark portal open not far from where she lay. Seras was able to turn her head as tears streamed down her cheeks, and she saw Alucard quickly emerge from the darkness.
She couldn’t speak as he stooped down and picked her up in his arms. The young woman was carried the rest of the way to her room and he carefully placed her on the bed. He kneeled at her side and she watched him slice open one of his wrists with one of his long fingernails.
Seras’ eyes widened in horror and she recoiled against her pillows as he pushed the bleeding wrist against her lips. She struggled for a moment against the smell of age coming from the blood before he took hold of her nose and blocked her last air passage.
Desperate Seras opened her mouth and she quickly found herself swallowing a great deal of blood from the wound. The young woman choked on the cold, lifeless liquid as the agony continued to wreak havoc on her body. Once she had taken in some of his blood he pulled his wrist away from her lips.
Then, slowly, the pain began to fade.
Seras found herself exhausted as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Her arms relaxed and her breathing became regular as Alucard slowly stood to his feet. The young woman could sense him beside her for the longest time as she slipped into a strange comatose sleep.
A sleep almost as deep as death.