Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Fare ❯ Weary ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
“Excuse me?”

“I'm not going to repeat myself, if that's what you want,” Malakai said, folding his arms across his chest.

Alucard turned to Abigail, the look on his face making her nervous.

“Describe these . . . monsters,” he commanded her.

“Describe them . . . ?” Abigail said faintly.

For some reason, he was starting to frighten her. Somehow, the look in his eyes was more terrifying than being cornered by the very creatures he wanted her to tell him about.

Alucard's expression and his tone softened, becoming soothing and hypnotic, “Tell me about the monsters that are hunting you.”

The fear evaporated in an instant. Suddenly, Abigail felt that she would do anything he asked of her . . .

“Some of them are . . . were . . . human, once. Most were vampires. I don't fully understand how they were made . . . some, you can tell, were willing experiments, some were not. They were horribly mutilated somehow, because of that, they choose to move unseen by the world. You cannot see them at all except for brief flickers now and again, like shadows at the edge of your vision. If you close your eyes, you can see them better. They possess such hatred, for themselves and for the world. They hate the world because they know that they can no longer be part of it. They have power that I don't understand. They can move through shadow as vampires do . . . but on foot they travel more quickly than any vampire ever could. They can sense where their target is. You can't hide from them. I've tried-”

“How long have they been after you?” Malakai asked abruptly.

“I am not sure when I first began to notice that they were following me. But they only began actively hunting me about a year or two ago.”

“Hmm. Anyway, continue,” Malakai said.

He looked suddenly distracted.

“All right . . . aaah . . . they usually do not kill their target. Normally, their targets disappear very suddenly, without warning. They go out and never come home, or sometimes, these things have the nerve to take them right off the street. I don't know where they go. When they do kill . . . I don't know how they do it. Like I said, they have power I don't understand. I wish I could tell you more,” Abigail said, truly regretting that she knew nothing else.

Alucard nodded slowly.

Victoria was pale. Paler than usual, anyway. She seemed shocked, and deeply disturbed by something. Alucard studied her, veiled concern in his eyes.

“Do you know why they're after you?” Malakai asked, trying to distract Abigail from what was apparently a private moment.

“No. I wish I did.”

“And you said they've been hunting you for . . . two years now, maybe more?”

“Yes.”

“How have you avoided them for this long, then?” Malakai inquired, truly curious.

Abigail was suddenly weary.

“I don't stop. I rarely sleep. I feed quickly, oftentimes going without for months. I run. I've been all over the world in the last two years. I tried hiding from them. It doesn't work, like I told you. I really thought I was going to die, tonight,” she said quietly.

She remembered then that she had never even thanked him properly for saving her hide.

“Don't,” he said, holding up a hand, “I don't want your thanks. The information you've given me is thanks enough. Victoria was almost killed the other day because of what they did to the supply of blood that's sent here.”

“She was almost . . . killed? How?”

“They did something to the blood, like I said. It's like food poisoning. Luckily, she didn't drink much of it. It was a slow process. For several weeks now, she's been drinking tainted blood, and at first we thought her body was just rejecting it because it was cold, or something. So we made her drink more. We didn't consume any of it ourselves, we weren't affected. It wreaked havoc on her insides. Eventually, she threw it all up. Her body couldn't even process it, use it, so it was still all in her system. Something that they did to it made her crave it, so that she'd continue to drink it,” Malakai told her.

Abigail looked thoughtful. Malakai took that time to study her a little more closely. Looking at her face, she wasn't what most would call beautiful. But there was strength, a determination to survive, and intelligence about her. He found that attractive. Aside from that, it wasn't that she was bad looking. She had mouse-colored hair and a faint, pale smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. The only thing about her to distinguish her from a human was her eyes. She had extraordinary eyes. Red irises, of course, ringed in black with flecks of dark grey. She was an average height of 165 centimeters (5'5”). She did have a pretty nice shape.

“It's not polite to stare,” Abigail said dryly.

“I know,” Malakai said grimly, “but I just couldn't help it. You're so pretty.”

Alucard rolled his eyes at Victoria, who smiled. Typical Malakai. He couldn't help himself, it seemed.

“Gee,” Abigail replied, “thanks.”

“Oh, you're welcome,” Malakai winked.

“Glad to see they're getting along,” Victoria muttered.

Gone from my sight . . .