The Hellsing Heir: Chapter 7: Peaches n' Cream

[melrose_stormhaven]

Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing. Don't sue, dang it!

Chapter VII: Peaches 'n' Cream

"We need to talk," Integral Wingates Hellsing said to her daughter. Her voice was calm, but inside, she was furious. She had many unanswered questions–and Christina was the only one who could answer them.

She found her daughter sitting on her bed, toying with her breakfast–peaches and cream, Integra noted absently. Christina looked up and regarded her mother with a cool gaze of her own. Blue eyes clashed with red, and for a moment, the air seemed to cackle with the tension surrounding the two Hellsings.

"It's about what happened in the forest near my school, isn't it?" Christina pushed aside her plate with a slight clatter. "And about what's happening now."

"Yes."

Christina took a deep breath. She had been expecting this. "Why don't we sit down? It's a long story."

Integra took a seat beside her daughter. "Well?"

"We had a group assignment in Biology to study nocturnal life. So my members–Anna Katrina, Jean-Luc, Rachel Marie and Harker–and I decided to go to the nearby woods in the evening to do that. We had a bodyguard with us. I had a gun with me, which I was allowed to carry since I was member of the school's marksmanship team. We entered the forest and did the assignment. We were going back to the school. And then–" she paused and closed her eyes, remembering that night.

"And then what?"

Christina opened her eyes. Integra was surprised to see the fury in her daughter's eyes. "And then, that was when everything went wrong."

*******

A few weeks ago, The Academy's forest grounds

"What the hell was that?" Michael Jonathan Harker exclaimed, lifting his flashlight towards the direction of the sound. A loud howl accompanied his exclamation, then was followed by the loud rustling of vegetation.

Christina stopped, listening. She heard it too. "Probably a wolf, or the wind," she replied. She glanced at her companions. Rachel Marie Kent and her stepbrother, Jean-Luc Gautier both had nervous looks on their faces. Meanwhile, Anna Katrina Rothschild was looking around, a worried expression on her face.

"Hey, where's our bodyguard?" Anna asked, glancing behind her. "He should be behind us."

"I don't–" Christina barely got the words out of her mouth when something huge and dark suddenly rushed between them, throwing all of them to the ground. Christina was first to get up, and found herself staring at a ghoul. It gazed at her with its blank eyes. She froze on the spot. What in the name of sweet Jesus was it doing here?

She had seen one before, of course. The first time she saw one was when she was eleven or twelve. Her mother had allowed her to watch a mission. She had been woken up in the middle of the night and was taken via helicopter to the mission's site where she met her mother and, much to her surprise, Alucard. She hadn't seen Alucard since she was five. It was also the night she found out that Alucard was a vampire enslaved by her family.

It had been a bloody event, and it took a lot of her will power not to cringe at the killings of the ghouls and FREAKS. She knew her mother did this as part of her job of protecting Great Britain, but this was the first time she ever saw it happen up close and personal. It was not the sort of thing any normal teenager should see.

Now, she eyed the ghoul warily. With a ghoul near, a FREAK or a real vampire couldn’t be far away. She glanced at her companions. Jean-Luc, Rachel, and Kat lay in a heap behind the ghoul. Beside her, Harker was slowly getting up. His eyes focused on the ghoul. "Don't move, Harker," she hissed sharply.

However, it was too late. Behind the ghoul, Rachel saw it and immediately screamed–a high-pitched, eardrum-splitting scream that startled both the ghoul and her companions. With a guttural scream, the ghoul lurched forward, heading towards her three companions. The three cried out, and bolted away, running.

Christina swore. Pulling out her gun, she aimed at the ghoul, but out of nowhere, another one appeared and slammed into her. She nearly fell to the ground if Harker hadn't caught her. "Let's go, Hellsing! Run!" He grabbed her arm and started running away, dragging her along.

They ran into the trees. They stopped for a moment, catching their breaths. Christina immediately yanked her hand away from Harker's grasp. "We should find the others," she said to Harker as she straightened up. She glanced around warily, gun held tightly in her hand. She wasn't about to leave her best friend behind.

"No. We should go back to the school and tell the Headmaster about this. He'll decide what to do."

"It might be too late." She gave Harker a cool look. "Go back if you want. I'm going to look for the others. I will not leave them alone here." Without another word, she turned her back to him and began to walk away.

Harker stared at her for a moment. It took him about a minute of indecision before he shouted, "Wait up, Hellsing! I'm coming with you!"

*******

"I think we're lost," Anna said loudly. All she could see were trees and more trees. She turned to Rachel and Jean-Luc. "Do you know the way back?"

Jean-Luc shook his head. Anna noticed he was trembling. "We shouldn't have gone here. I told you something bad would happen, but you didn't listen. Now, look what happened! A monster is after us!"

"Shut up, Jean-Luc," Anna snapped, trying to push down her own fears. Before they left for the forest, Jean-Luc had warned them about it.

"We shouldn't really go to the forest," the black-haired boy had said nervously. "I feel a lot of negative energy coming out of the place."

Anna had rolled her eyes at that. The boy had fancied himself as a mystic and thus was prone to make such 'doomsday' announcements.

Christina merely smiled at the boy. "Jean, I think that negative energy you're feeling is only Harker. Move away from him and you'll feel better."

"Very funny, Hellsing," Michael had said cuttingly.

"I thought so, too," Christina had replied with a vicious grin.

Anna frowned. She wondered why Christina disliked Harker so much. Christina was always civil with everyone. Maybe it has something to do with their families' business, Anna thought. Then she shook her head. No, that wasn't it. She knew Christina was too smart to let something as silly as that be the source of her dislike. It was something else, something deeper.

But that didn't matter now. What was that…thing? Some kind of monster? Moreover, where were Chris, Michael, and their bodyguard? She was worried about her best friend. Anna looked around. It was already deep into the night. Surely, someone would be looking for them. They wouldn't leave them alone here, right?

"What's that?" Jean-Luc suddenly exclaimed, pointing his flashlight to the left. To Anna's surprise, she saw a red glow coming from that direction.

"Why don't we go there? Maybe that's a search party looking for us!" Anna grabbed Jean-Luc's hand and dragged him and his stepsister towards the light.

"I don't like this," Jean-Luc whimpered as they approached the light. As they got closer, Anna could feel the air grow hot, and she could hear a harsh, almost guttural voice coming from it. Anna almost turned back, but she heard a sudden rustling behind her. Gathering her strength, she burst into where the red light was.

"Hello? We–" Anna's breath caught in her throat when she saw the scene before her. They were in a clearing fully bathed by an eerie red light that seemed to form some kind of pattern. In the middle of the clearing, a figure stood. On his feet was a man with a hunting rifle. To her horror, she recognized the man as their bodyguard. The man's eyes were wide with horror, and blood trickled from his lips. The whole place reeked of something rusting and decaying–of blood.

Then the figure turned to them. It was a man.

Anna found herself staring at a pair of red eyes darker than Christina's. Unlike Christina's, however, these eyes were full of evil, and of malice.

The man smiled at them, a malevolent smile. He took a step towards them, then another.

For a moment, Anna was completely hypnotized. Like a mouse mesmerized by a snake, she stared at the man, unmoving. Then she took a step forward as well.

"No!" Jean-Luc shouted behind her. "Don't look into his eyes! He's trying to hypnotize you!"

Snapping out of her trance, Anna took a step back. "Run!" she commanded. Dear God, what was happening? What did we stumble into? she thought as they ran. They didn't care which direction they went, as long as they were moving away from that man. They didn't mind that the branches were scratching and scraping their skin, Anna felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was frightened. First that monster and now…

Suddenly, she bumped into something solid. She let out a terrified scream as two hands grabbed her by the shoulders. She struggled wildly against the hold, kicking and clawing.

"Bloody Christ! Calm down, Anna!" Michael's familiar voice made her stop. She looked up and saw Michael looking at her oddly. Behind him, Chris was also calming down the stepsiblings. Anna broke away from Michael's grasp and flung herself at Christina. "God, Chris! I'm so glad you're safe! I'm so frightened!" She babbled out what happened, the story coming out in sobs and incoherent cries.

Christina drew her best friend closer to her, shielding her from possible harm. She glanced sharply at Michael. "Let's get out of here." Michael nodded and took charge of the twins.

"It's way past your bedtime, children. Whatever are you doing in a place like this?"

The voice was musical, honeyed, but Christina felt a chill run up her spine. She recognized that presence. She'd been around one even before her birth. Vampire.

Not a FREAK, she was certain. FREAKS didn't have that aura that true vampires like Alucard seem to have–an aura of power, of knowledge, of intelligence. This one had that aura, very different from Alucard, of course. She turned and gazed at the vampire.

Even in the darkness, she could make out his features. He was beautifully handsome, with blonde hair and cold red eyes. He stared at her for a moment, still smiling. She raised her gun. The vampire laughed a chilling, melodious laugh meant to mock her. Then he advanced at them, muttering something under his breath.

"Run, Hellsing! RUN!" Jean-Luc screamed from behind her. She could hear Harker calling to her to get away. Ignoring them, she aimed her gun, and fired.

It was a head shot. The vampire was thrown back for a moment, surprised. Christina fired repeatedly, all of them headshots. Eat blessed silver bullets, monster! she thought with satisfaction as the vampire crumpled to the ground, head blown into pieces.

"LET'S GO!" Christina commanded, not ready to take the chance that the vampire may still be alive. Dragging her best friend, Christina and her companions ran.

*******

"…When we got back to the school, we told the Headmaster but I don't think he believed us. He did tell us to keep our mouths shut, though. Stories such as that were bad for The Academy's reputation."

Integral found herself angry with that. The Academy didn't say anything about the incident. Nothing was reported to them. All because of their bloody reputation! Concealing such vital information was a foolish thing to do. Withholding of information could kill, as it did now. "Why didn't you tell me of this before?"

"There wasn't any opportunity," Christina replied calmly. "Whenever I try to tell you, something turns up."

Integral took a deep breath. That was certainly true. "Did Anna describe to you what exactly she saw?"

Her daughter shook her head. "That's all she told me. I'm guessing it's some kind of a ritual. I didn't see it. It was only the three of them–her, Rachel and Jean-Luc."

"Most likely," Integra agreed, standing up. She'd have Walter and her men look into that. "By the way, I met J.J. Harker. He told me something quite interesting."

"Oh?"

"He said you and his son are classmates, and that you are close friends."

Christina gave an unladylike snort. "If he's my friend, then I'm the Pope."

Integra was amused by the retort. She allowed herself a slight smile. Now that business was over, she could move to other things. She gave her daughter a critical glance. She wasn't all that surprised to find that Christina has completely recovered from her wound. She had always been a 'fast healer'. "How do you feel?"

Christina shrugged. "I'll be all right," she replied. However, she wasn't. She was thinking about what the vampire had said to her. One of us. Besides, she was bothered by something else. On the night she first met that vampire, she smelled blood. The scent made her want to retch, but at the same time, it brought a sudden, hot taste in her mouth–like she was craving for it. She lifted her head.

"Mother?"

"Yes, Christina?" Integra took out a cigar, ready to light it.

She took a deep breath. "I know I asked this before but…who is my father? Is it…Alucard?"

~T.B.C.~

Author's rant: Sorry about the excessive use of the words 'run', let's go' and such. Please read and review! ^^

About FREAKS and aura: Yeah, uh…the aura thing. It's not really an aura, you know, more like a presence. Since FREAKS are artificial vampires, I'm assuming in this fic that they don't have the same 'presence' true vampires have. They're artificial after all.

Next chapter: Will Integra finally tell her daughter her secret? Alucard and Integra get into deep discussions about what's happening and about Christina.

Ahhh...more to come...

[Eden]

That was a long wait, . . . Whew! So now that we know what happened to them in the forrest while they were at school, I feel a little satisfied. I'm also glad that Christina isn't totally oblivious to the fact that Alucard is her father

Great fic, I can't wait to see more! (I know that I could just go to FF.net and read it there, but sometimes its nice to have to wait for something. )

~Eden