Thursday, January 03, 2013

LETTERSFROM HELLSING LVII

It all happened so quickly, I didn't even have time to be terrified, much less scream.

I would have been dashed against the wall had Walter not moved, faster than I would have thought humanly possible, to insert himself between me and the mortared stone.  I slammed into him hard.  His only outward reaction was a small wumph of air as we hit the wall and he bore the brunt of the impact.

Seras' wailing cry cut across the room. Walter quickly righted me and strode over to where she stood sobbing and clawing at her neck.

"Ahhh! Walter it hurts, it hurts, make it stop!  No! Don't touch it!"  She screeched as Walter reached towards her.  "Ohhh it hurts so much!"

"Miss Victoria.  You need to hold still"  Said Walter calmly.

She screeched and began clawing at her neck again.

"Miss Victoria!"  Said Walter in a loud commanding voice.  "You will cease this caterwauling immediately and stand to.  Is that understood?"

Seras ceased screaming and snapped to attention. 

"Right."  Said Walter briskly.  "Now remove your hand so I can see."

With a small whimper she dropped her hand to her side revealing her injury.

Walter frowned and I gasped.

Her skin was raw and bleeding from her scratches and in the centre was a red, angry hole with black edges.  There was a whiff of smoke and burnt flesh in the air.  Her right hand was twitching and I noticed her palm was red and coming out in blisters.

"My God!"  I said reaching for her.  "She's burned!"

"Fetch the pitcher please Ms. Doyle."  Said Walter nodding towards the food tray as he removed the water bottle from my night stand and upended the contents over the wound.  She flinched a bit as the water hit her but otherwise remained still.

"What could have possibly caused this?"  I asked, handing him the pitcher and napkin from the tray and wiping absently at the tears streaming down my face.

"It's odd."  He said pouring a bit of the water on her hand then dipping the napkin into the pitcher.  "It almost appears to be a silver or even a holy water burn but neither of these items are present that I can see.  Try holding this Miss Victoria."  He said handing her some ice wrapped in the wet napkin.  "Are you under any geas of which I am unaware?"

She frowned.  "Just the blood thing."   She whispered morosely.

He eyed her shoulder  again critically.  "This will probably be wanting some grave dirt."

"Seras will be OK won't she?"  I asked still swiping at my stupid tears.

"Most likely."  He said.

"At least no killer bees this time."  Said Seras, wincing a bit as Walter sluiced her wounds with the rest of the ice water from the pitcher.

"Well that's a relief then." I said sniffling and trying out a watery smile.  "Bee bites are the worst."  I reached out to comfort her but was brought up short as Walters hand clamped onto my left wrist.

"Perhaps,"  He said.  "you should tell me about these bees."

Bewildered, I stumbled through an abbreviated version of the 'Killer bee incident'.    While I was speaking,Walter placed the empty pitcher on the night stand and flexed his free hand.

"Tell me Ms. Doyle,"  He asked quietly once I'd finished.  "did you happen to be crying at the time?"

"Um, yes?"  I said.

He looked at Seras' angry wound then back down at his hand thoughtfully.  He flexed it once more and looked back at me.  "I think,"  He said.  "we should proceed immediately to the lab."

"But Seras is going to be OK?"  I asked as he tugged me towards the door.

"Don't,"  He said firmly, when I reached up to brush at my tears.  "touch your face...Please."  He added almost as an afterthought.

"But, I, um."  I said cleverly as he steered me down the hall.

We arrived at the lab just as Andrew was packing up to go  home.  Walter strode across the room and over to the examination table with me in tow.  Seras followed looking almost as confused as I felt.

"Saline eye wash kit and two sterile pipettes please Mr. Young."  Said Walter without preamble.  "Ms. Doyle, on the table."  He ordered, unshackling my wrist.

"Me?"  I asked, becoming more and more confused but still hopping up onto the table.

"Don't touch your face."  He admonished, a bit more gently this time.

"Very good Mr. Young."  He said as Andrew brought over the requested items.  "Now please assist Miss Victoria in flushing out her wound."  He took the pipettes and turned back towards me.  "Please hold still Ms. Doyle."  He said, raising one to my face.

Andrew gave a low whistle as he looked over Seras' burn."Holy water?"  He asked, opening the package and shaking the bag.

Seras shook her head and craned her neck  and stared intently over at Walter as he carefully dabbed a  pipette under my left eye.  "What are you doing Walter?"  She asked.

"Playing a hunch Miss Victoria."  He said.  Placing the first pipette on the instrument tray and picking up the second to repeat the process under my right eye.

"Well that's ruddy informative."  Grumbled Seras holding the eye cup against her shoulder  as Andrew squeezed out the contents of the bag. 

"One does one's best Miss Victoria."  He said coolly.  "And seeing as how you seem well enough for sarcasm I think you are sufficiently stabilized to go to your room and apply some fresh grave dirt to your wounds."

"But, what are you do-"

"Now, Miss Victoria."

"I'm not a child you know."  she said petulantly.

"Then stop behaving like one and follow the protocols."

She looked as if she wanted to say something snarky then slumped a bit.

"Be sure to pack plenty of it on Miss Victoria."  He said a bit more gently.  "And I want you to rest for at least forty seven minutes, I will be checking."

She gave a curt nod and, clutching the towel Andrew handed her against her damp chest, turned to go.  She stopped by the table and gave me a searching look.  I felt the brushing of her mind against mine, soft as a butterfly's wing.  Normally we don't indulge in our silent communications when others are around as it seems as rude as whispering but she wasn't sending words just emotions.  I felt her pain and confusion over what had happened and I felt here sorrow and fear.  Fear of losing control and hurting me fear of losing my friendship.

I raised my arm to take her hand but was brought up short by a warning look from Walter so I instead reached out with my mind trying to send comfort ant reassurance.  I crooked the index finger of my partially raised hand and bent my wrist down to make 1/2 of the ASL sign for friendship.   She smiled wistfully and mirrored my gesture upside-down to make the other 1/2 of the sign. Then, before Walter could chastise her again, she was out the door.

I narrowed my eyes at Walter as he placed the second pipette down on the tray.  "Any particular reason you just gave Seras the bum's rush out of here?"  I asked.

"Oh, most definitely."  He said unmoved by my glare.  "Mr Young I am going to need several blank slides and the freshest of Miss Victoria's samples you have available." 

"So, are you going to tell me or kick me out too?"  I asked switching to pouting.

He thought about it a moment and said.  "No, you should stay Ms. Doyle, we may need you but"  He said as he began arranging several blank slides on the tray.  "I must warn you, if my suspicions are correct, you may feel somewhat conflicted emotionally."

Both Andrew and I watched in open curiosity as  Walter quickly marked and measured out small daubs of Seras' blood onto eight of the slides.  He then picked up the first pipette and and added a drop of the contents to two of the slides.  He repeated the process with the second pipette on two of the other prepared slides then carried the tray over to the microscopes.

A horrible chill crept over me.  "You think it was me."  I gasped.  "You think I did this to Seras."

"I'm not quite certain but I suspect so."  He said as he placed the first slide under the microscope.

"No."  I whispered to myself.  "I would never."  I touched a hand to my face.  I had stopped crying but my cheeks were still flushed and damp.  That's why he wouldn't let me touch Seras earlier.  I had wiped my face and he thinks that my tears...  My thoughts drifted back to the night Alucard had pulled out my hair and woven that web. 

He compared a few more slides then looked up at me for a moment his eyes dark with some unreadable emotion then back down at the slides.  I started to open my mouth to speak but before I could say anything he had stepped back from the microscope and pulled out his cell phone.

"Ma'am, you may wish to come down to the lab.  There is something here I think you should see. Yes ma'am, right away."  He paused a moment then added.  "You may wish to summon Alucard.  Very good ma'am."  He snapped the phone off and turned to Andrew who had moved over to sneak a peek into the microscope.

"Christ!"  Swore Andrew in amazement.  "It's tearing through those cells like nothing I've ever seen!"

"Mr. Young, please page Dr. Levin immediately."

"They're actually exploding!  What?  Oh, yes sir.  Right away."  Said Andrew reluctantly tearing himself away from the eye piece.

I frowned down at my hands thinking.  I remembered  my tears that night, how they had looked like gleaming little jewels, sliding along the strands of the web.  What had Alucard said about them?  I bit my lip and thought harder.  I glanced up at Walter who was preparing several more slides.  My eyes slid over to the microscope and I shuddered a bit and looked away back to Walter who was now looking at me.

"Beauty from pain."  I whispered.

Walters hands stilled over the slides.  "Ms. Doyle?"

"He took my tears that night and said, 'You see Angel. How I can create beauty from your pain'."  I said sadly.  "I Thought he meant the way my they looked in the web he had woven from my hair.  But he didn't did he?  He meant that."  I indicated the microscope with an angry gesture.  "How is that beauty?  How is what I did to Seras beauty?"

 He paused as if parsing his words carefully.  "I believe..."

He was interrupted by a commotion at the door.  Sir Integra bustled in Alucard following breezily, a mildly amused look on his face.

"Report."  She barked, cutting to the chase.

Alucard leaned against the wall and crossed his arms smugly.

"I believe we've had a significant breakthrough."  Said Walter who then began a brief recap of Seras' injury and its probable source as he set up a fresh pair of slides.  "As you can see,"  He said, as she bowed over the eyepiece.  "The assault on the cell structure seems to emulate both the acidic effects of holy water as well as the incendiary qualities of silver."

"Ah, yes, lovely."  She said  sounding pleased.  "Those cells not dissolved literally boiling until they explode. Excellent."  She looked up at me with a speculative gleam in her eye.  "This could be quite useful."

I wrapped my arms around my waist and glared at her.  Of course she would find this 'lovely'.  I thought disgustedly.  Sick twists the lot of them.

"Your little experiment may prove some profit after all."  She said to Alucard with a hint of approval, either oblivious to or uncaring about my angry silence.  Probably the latter.  Oddly though, while he still looked smug, Alucard did not seem entirely pleased.

"If we can learn to synthesize this, the weapons potential could be enormous."

Alucard's eyes narrowed slightly but he remained silent.

"Doyle,"  Said Sir Integra  sounding almost cheerful.  "do you suppose your could provide some further samples?  I would like Dr. Levin to be able to begin his research as soon as he arrives."

I continued to glower at her in stony silence.

She dismissed me with an impatient waive and turned back to Alucard.  "How does one trigger the reaction?"

"I suppose, I could beat her,"  He said drolly.  "But she's gained quite a tolerance."

"Oh bother it!  you know what I mean.  Dammit Alucard, I need more samples.  This is no time for games!"

 "Oh right!"  I spat.  "And now you expect him not to play games?  That's all he ever does.  He's not ready for his grand reveal yet, can't you tell?"  I turned my glare on him.  "Some pawn not properly in position?  Deck not quite stacked yet?"

"Ah Angel, you are a fast learner."  He smirked.

I made a disgusted noise.

Alucard's lip twitched in amusement.

Sir Integra slammed her hand down on the examination table causing the instrument tray to rattle. "Spare me the theatrics Doyle,"  She said curtly.  "This,"   She said gesturing towards the microscope.  "is important."

I looked over to the microscope than back at her.   "That',"  I said calmly, coldly meeting her eye. "is Seras' blood.  That is what is burning and dissolving before your eyes.  That is what I did to her. " That, I thought to myself sadly, is what I'm turning into.  "Seras is hurt. Don't you even care?"

She looked mildly nonplussed.  "Walter would have informed me if her injuries were serious or debilitating.  Certainly,"  She said, her mouth twitching with slight humour.  "not life threatening."

 My jaw dropped and I emitted a high pitched growling-squeak  reminiscent, I am sure, of a rabid guinea pig. "Grr-wheek-rr!" 

"I don't think she appreciates your particular brand of humour, master."  Said Alucard sardonically.

"Few do."  She said wryly.  She glanced at my stony expression and sighed.  "Look Doyle, if this injury had been sustained on a human, it may very well have been life threatening or at the very least require hospitalization.  But you must understand that vampires can sustain a great deal of damage and still function and they heal at a remarkable rate.  She has most likely completely recovered by now"

"That didn't stop her from feeling the pain."  I said.

"Oh do stop being so maudlin." She sniped.  "Unless, of course, you think it might help you in providing more samples?"  She asked hopefully.

I glanced at her suspiciously, unsure if she was joking or not.  Knowing her, it could go either way.  I sighed with resignation.  She was who she was.  It wasn't as if she had ever even pretended to be a nice person.  Driven yes, kind no.  It just wasn't in her job description.

Besides, she wasn't the one with whom I really should be angry.  I darted a poisonous glance at the guilty party in question.

Him and his games!  I thought grimly and squeezed the iPod still clutched in my hand.   'He is what he is' wasn't going to cut it in his case.  Not this time.  He had pushed it to far and I had something they wanted.  Very much so if the gleam in Sir Integra's eye was anything to go by.

I couldn't challenge Alucard head on and ever hope to win but there was one person in the room who could and now I had a bargaining chip.  Sir Integra might never be my friend but she might very well suit as a protector.

I stroked the iPod thoughtfully for a moment, choosing my words.  If I was able to finesse it so that she thought it was her idea, I could gain a buffer from Alucard and still keep my bargaining chip.  Hmmm, what would Sgt. Marks do? I started to open my mouth then stopped.  No, much as I admired Sgt. Marks I had neither the deviousness nor the emotional armour to play hard ball with this group. I sighed again.  For better or worse, I was who I was so cards on the table and hope for the best. I squared my shoulders and began.

"Look, I honestly don't know how to feel about this new development." I said gesturing towards my cheek.   "But that's not really the issue here, it's happening whether I like it or not." 

Sir Integra lifted an eyebrow, indicating I should continue.  Alucard feigned indifference but I could feel his mind brush over mine, tasting my emotions.

"The issue is twice now, I have been placed in the position of injuring Seras, three times actually if Walter had not stepped in.  Scratch that, if Walter had not stepped in I would have been dashed up against the wall and it's doubtful I would have been conscious much less in any shape to cause her any further harm."

"Your point being?"  Drawled Alucard in a bored voice.

Sir Integra crossed her arms and frowned thoughtfully.

The point being, even if you hadn't anticipated the first incident,"  "which I doubt." I thought at him.  "There was no reason for allowing the second beyond sheer perversity."  I turned to Sir Integra.  "Surely indulging in his games is not worth needlessly placing Seras in harms way.  Even if you do not care on a personal level, I don't think you can afford to risk any of your senior officers not being at 100% should there be an emergency without good cause.  The time lost in potential research alone because of this delay should be enough to give you pause.  Not to mention the fact that had I hit the wall and broken my neck, all this,"  I said gesturing about the lab.  "would be rather moot."

Sir Integra's emotionless face turned towards Alucard.  "Well?"

"She wasn't ready yet." He shrugged.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, the time was not right, she still needed to be conditioned, seasoned if you will, Her powers needed time to simmer, to intensify and blend."

"She's not a roast you know."

"No, but like a roast, she's no good if you you remove her from the fire too soon.  I would not serve my master such an unfinished thing at her table.  I would give you a feast, not scraps for the dogs."

She scowled.

"Humans!"  He said disgustedly.  "You constantly complain about my ignoring feelings and now, when I have finally found a way to take them into account, use them for the greater good, you complain about that.  There is simply no pleasing you!"

 "This grows tiresome Alucard."  She said dismissively.  "I am inclined to end this right now."

He looked at her intently. "I promised my master redemption."  He said quietly.  "If her God would not grant it then I would."

"You dare!"  Hissed Walter.

"Always."  countered Alucard smirking.

"Ma'am he is..."

"I know exactly what he is."  Said Sir Integra raising her hand to still Walter's protest.  "You tread a fine line."  She said to Alucard.  "Take care not to cross it."

"I seek to serve my master."  Said Alucard unperturbed.  "If she will not forgive herself the burden of souls she carries, I will create that forgiveness for her."

"By bringing me another weapon to kill vampires?"  She laughed.  "I fail to see how burning holes in vampires will redeem me where explosive bullets will not.  It's good and I'll use it but it is hardly unique."

"Besides,"  I interrupted with exasperation.  "I thought I was supposed to be a defensive weapon.  How is this defensive?  Am I to sob them to death?"

"That,"  Said Alucard.  "Is almost the answer."

"What, sobbing?"

"No dolt!"  He said glaring at me.  "How is this a defensive weapon?"  He turned to Integra.  "How can it redeem what the vampire has stolen?"

"I'm asking you!"  Said Sir Integra thunderously.  "For once will you simply answer a direct question!"

"That,"  He said calmly.  "would be cheating."

"Alucard."  She said warningly.

"Come now,"  Said Alucard.  "The clues are all before you.  I have,"  He said gesturing to me.  "given you the key.  Simply unlock her."

Sir Integra made ready to yell.

"I think,"  Came Walter's calm voice, cutting across the tension.  "I know part of the answer at least."