Moments

Another chapter finished. Five chapters within I think it is coming along well. This chapter was rough to do and hard to finish but I hope you all enjoy it. Let me know what you think of course, I love reviews and even if it is something so simple as 'love the story' or 'doing great' please do drop it off! I only know if this story should continue through your support. Thank you!
Nova

Moments
Chapter Five: The Terrible Truth
When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war.

The final droplet of tea slides down my throat reviving my will with the sweet ambrosia it gifts me. I rise with practiced motions feeling my skirts fall into place around me. My languid morning ritual is complete and I feel certainty take root in my soul. He arises quickly his eyes full to the brim with questions. I can tell he is anxious, perhaps even nervous. We have never had civil conversation, then again he had never before raised a sword to my servant's neck on my behalf. This fact created a small pang within my heart that I could not understand. A pain that pushed at my heart with knowledge that was beyond myself. I refused to let my emotions give way from what ever had caused them as my Alucard mask pushed over my face replacing any sensation with it's cool steel embrace. Still something must have creased through for but a singular moment as Ragna's was staring at me quite intently. I lowered my head allowing my eyes to hide any form of expression from him behind veil of my hair. I did not enjoy the way he looked at me so intently concerned that it almost could pass for true compassion. Compassion from him was one thing I was not willing to except. I had saved him, damned him, and harmed him all within one blood soaked touch. I would not make the same mistake again.

“Well, shall we?” I begin to walk towards the towering steps outside the red garden but as I pass his fingers come to rest on my shoulder. Even through the glove it's warm... almost searing like a hot poker against my flesh. He's looking away from me, eyes staring out at the garden.
“Stop it.” His voice is biting, and oddly disappointed.
“What ever do you mean?” My voice holds a mocking question within it's lilt so soft it might be silk against his own gruff tones. Those words bring a change over him...a tensing within his brow as he looks at me with a force behind his eyes that makes them flicker wildly in the moonlight. Those strange orbs one red and another green shimmering ever so dangerously.
“Stop hiding shit from me.” His voice is a dagger cutting through silence and shield alike, but I am not fazed.
I know what he is alluding to, but I do not jump at his bait. “Everything I am going to explain to you hardly matters. I am doing this only to sate your curiosity.”
His hand tightens on my shoulder locking me in place as I try to move forward once more. “You know that's not what I mean...”
My eyes move steadfast to the front as I find anger quickly boiling beneath the surface that itch of indignation rising me higher on this wave of emotion. “I have no reason nor care to explain myself to you. Now let me go before you bring harm upon yourself.” He loosens his grip though not of his own will. It is my two fingers placed against his ribcage that force him to release. “I do wish you would consider settling things without such petty violence.” Long pale digits grab upon edges of my skirt as I move forward his footsteps a trailing echo behind me. The large jack-o-lantern gardens are aglow with candle light. These gardens all a simple whim from my younger years, loving gifts from my father. This place was so much different when it was his whim that shaped it...but I had much better fashion sense. We pass them as my wrist flicks to move the gate out of our ways towards the castle proper. These gardens held much more than the roses of the outer gardens. No they were filled with flowers and herbs from every providence.

Flowers, blossoming and beautiful...it was the one thing I had wished to surround myself with. Their sweet smells and petals curling around me in a spring breeze...grass...my eyes close for a moment pushing away memories of times long past. My hands raise my skirts slightly higher as I effortless move up the stairs only stopping as I see him pause at the foot of them. “Well come along, no harm will come to you here.”
“I shouldn't be doing this...” This piques my interest as I turn fully balancing with ease on the slight stair.
“Oh? And what is so wrong with my company?” I let a contrived hurt look move across my features, but I expect he can see through it.
“I have something to do. I can't waste my damn time here.”
“The cauldron will wait.” I turn from him but I can feel his shocked expression as he clears his throat. Slowly he follows after me his own steps dull against the stone as we raise to the large and decorative mahogany door.
“H-how did you know..” I raise a hand and he silences once more, a playful smile on my lips.
“My secrets will be revealed in good time. Do not rush such knowledge for without the history you shall only find yourself lost in confusion.” The answer must not have been the one he wanted, or cryptic enough to irritate for I can see him easily rising to anger. I do not bother, he will understand soon enough. “Come, I do not wish to tarry to deal with your anger. You should learn to control it.”
“Tch.”
Another movement of my hand and the doors open easily without a touch revealing the beautifully lit hall. Golden candelabras sitting upon marble topped tables line the hall with light as a large chandelier of finest crystal hangs above the main entry hall. The decadence of my home obviously overwhelming as he stares around him with an impressed stare. A plush red carpet of velvet like material lines from the entry way outward. A mere formality it is there to pick up dust from the gardens but it is elegant. Large paintings sit upon walls and all share a similar trait. The large castle though the area around it much changed. There are a few paintings that do not show the Alucard homestead. One such painting of a beautiful lake and a woman laughing as she holds her hat in the sunlight inside of a badly balanced boat is hung in a beautiful golden frame on the wall that connects to the top of the double stair. The deep wood floors are glistening to perfection as we move within the doors shutting with a stifled creek behind us. I say nothing as I walk within, Valkenhyn is there within moments his jaw set as he lets his aged eyes dig into me.

“I am going to show our guest around. Please prepare something suitable for lunch.” His jaw twitches for a moment but he does not let his eyes move to Ragna. I can feel Ragna tensing as well but for the moment I am the equalizer and I stop any attempt at argument.

“Very good Madame.” Is all he says and he moves to disappear, but I quickly add.
“We'll have it on the balcony.” I can watch his teeth grate as I stand awaiting his agreement. He can't spy upon me on the balcony and he knows it. My uncaring smile is all that greets him and he simply bows to me before disappearing. Again that extra layer of conversation is present and I can tell Ragna is near his limit, but I do not care to indulge him further.

“This castle is older than any of the relics you have seen. It was built in 1510 AD by the first Alucard.” We were moving hallways quickly now as Ragna walks in a haze only a step behind me. I could see his shadow cast on the deep green and wood walls. The ivy pattern forever spiraling until it met the golden squares each decorated with gentle edging molded into one another glittering against the lights. We enter into a marble topped archway before our feet come in contact with a plush red and gold carpet hiding away the harder wood floor. Large stained glass windows surround us bathing the room in a kaleidescope of colors which are batted away to nothingness by the candles leaving the large paintings upon the walls. Some ancient in styling which move to more classical portraits and even photos from long lost cameras. I stand before the first a gentle smile upon my face as I take in the man who began it almost a century ago.

“This is Nicholai Alucard, the beginning of our line. An old legend speaks of his father calling him Dracula, son of the Dragon. Yet his father's true name was Vlad...a cruel and heartless man I have been told. Different from Nicholai and thus a burden to him. Throughout Nicholai's life his father attempted to destroy his burden, but he never succeeded.“ He was a stunning man, tall and well balanced. His suit of such fine clothes, a dark leather with gold edgings remarkably simple on his form. His blond hair falling over pale skin, but it was his eyes that would be come how he was known. Red, bright red, like fresh spilled ink glowed against pale lashes that one would almost think it was a blemish on the canvas, but the color, the pupil, all of it so carefully placed. The deep ruby edges to the bright blood of the lighted center of the eye. The trade mark of the Alucard. “He was a dhamphir, a bastard child in the world of vampires back then. The son of a vampire and a human mother. We were created as the ultimate species and hated for it. Dhamphir are as strong as any vampire may claim to be but hold none of their weaknesses.”
“What weaknesses are those?” My head tilted slightly eyes looking towards him as a small smile remained on my face. I was surprised he was interested, but perhaps he was merely looking to discover some way of besting myself. If that was true, he would not find it.
“A vampire must avoid many things, holy water and blessed artifacts can burn his skin. Sunlight will ravage him and eventually turn him to dust and no vampire can dare to touch water. Finally, and what most find the most horrific, is vampires must feed. Commonly a single vampire must drain the entirety of life from a human once every moon cycle. This frenzy to feed was also spared to the Dhamphir.” He gave a grunt of disapproval in his throat. “For these sacrifices they gain immortality, to many it was a worthy price.”

Ragna stared at the image for a long moment as I moved forward like a ghost without a single sound to the next series of images. The smell of old canvas curling into my nose as I gazed upon yet another of my ancestors. I knew them all by heart, as every Alucard did. Paintings of one person as he went from boy to man stacked high on the walls around his formal Alucard portrait. “Edward Alucard. Son of Nicholai and his wife Elysa.” My fingers pointed to a simple and somber image of a teenage boy his blond hair held back in a velvet tie as a brown haired woman holds his shoulder. The woman is beautiful but beautiful in the way a woman filled with sorrow can be. Her brunette hair falls long and curls from her shoulders to the lower reaches of her arms and her green eyes stare out, those jade eyes..empty and lost...

“Nicholai died at the hand of a Hellsing only a month before Edward was born. This trend would continue for hundreds of years. As soon as a new Alucard was born the old would fall at the hand of the Hellsing clan. Our eyes making us easier to find than our full blood cousins.” A sigh fell through my lips as I moved on from Edward to Nicholas, Theodore, Vincent, Richard, James, Edward II...finally I stop before one of the last ones. A photo of a man standing in front of a long forgotten landmark his bright eyes and smile dazzling even in the photo. His red eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses he stood holding his wife close. “This is where it ends, Leonard...Leo Alucard. My father.” I never did get to smile with such joyous abandon I think bitterly as I stare at him as his arms are thrown over a woman who looks just as carefree. The woman laughing holding her hat in the front room. My mother...her echoes of memory follow me everywhere, but I cling to them. Just as I cling to the gardens and music boxes, dresses and parties that were the gifts of my father. We lived lavishly with everything the world could want, but even then I was not joyous, I was not happy. “Leo turned the last Hellsing and it was a golden time for the Alucard family...and all the families of vampires. We were finally accepted within the vampire clans and no longer looked down upon. We were equal at long last but it was a very short victory..It was only a few years before the black beast fell upon the land.

It burned in the back of my mind, the first time I ever saw the great white nothingness that swallowed me within it, keeping me safe from the beast. When I knew that I had paid the price for my lineage. Perhaps it had been fate to be so afflicted, yet I was getting ahead of myself. A string of sadness echoing like the last note of a violin takes hold and I can feel the edges of my lips move down slightly. Back in that time I was too young to realize what was happening, what the hisses meant...the anger. The talks that went late into the night while mother cried, holding me ever so close. Everyone was frightened, scared into stone that shivered at the slightest footstep...It was the first time I would know the prelude of war, and it was not a tune I ever learned to enjoy. The world became poisoned, and the vampires changed. A slow sigh lifted into the room from the depths of my heart... what ever might be left it. “The vampires changed then...the true bloods wanted to fight with the beast, to turn humans into cattle for themselves and let the seithr empower them. In making them stronger they did not notice how it had begun to take root in their minds. People were slaughtered in the streets, children butchered and their blood drank. They had gone mad with power and seithr...and the seithr could not kill them. Only feed their lusts. My father's halfblood heritage saved him and he wanted to save any humans that he could. All Alucard's marry human wives and loved humans dearly. We took vows to never feed unless it was necessary and many humans came to our homes to seek protection from others. We were outcasts again.”

The beast reared and roared...it rang for miles. “That is how this place became what it was. The heroes...their knowledge was not new to us. Strange magic and abilities had long been part of the vampires, but they housed it in ways we could not. With their added strength this home became a haven, a safe zone if you will. It was ripped from the very fabric of time and placed next to and yet away from everything. There is very little seithr here less than even in the highest reaches of your cities, and it is well protected. Even getting here involves very particular circumstances if one of the members of the household does not bring you here.”

My eyes turned from the photo of my father and the paintings around him to stare out at stained glass. Each one over twelve feet high depicted one of the heroes, the history I was meant to keep now, kept safely with my history. Jubei, Nine, Hakumen...even my father resided on these panes. “The war was coming to an end, the final assault was to be taken and my father went to help. All of his powers raised to help the five who were not our own as one of them leading the humans while none of them knew the truth of his nature. He didn't know the price he was going have to pay for his deception.” Or worst yet for creating this haven away from the world I think to myself, letting that silent statement hang in the air before I continue.

I let my own mind stretch from my memories, it was neither a happy time or one I wanted to remember. “I was ten when the black beast was slain, and I was twelve when the white knight, the one true hero, was turned on by his people...I was fourteen when my father was murdered...for being a vampire.”With that I took one final step towards the last set of paintings and photos. Some from when I was young with my mother, but even then I was as stoic as I was now. Since the moment of my birth I had felt the weight of what was coming, I was born for a purpose, I knew it even then. He stared at the each image of my fledgling youth with an aura of disbelief. This strange blonde child who was often seen with a flower in her hand. I always brought my mother flowers, it was what lead my father to have the gardens created here. The lake, the laughter... His fingers moved forward touching the blank square in the center where previously the Alucard portrait had sat, it was dusty and bleached but nothing resided on that wall his gloved fingers pressing against the soft gold wallpaper beneath.

“Why didn't you age?” His voice pulls me like fishing line from my reverie and I simply shake my head the long throws of hair trapped in each black bit of cloth waggling like waves only mimicking the moon.
“I wasn't a vampire at birth...Dhamphirs are very strange, only the male is born a vampire .The females are perfectly human, perfectly normal. My mother was elated of course to have a child who was free of the curse of immortality and my father hoped for a son so I could remain free of it. We both knew that little miracle would never come to pass, before my father was captured he turned me. He wanted to stall it, to try and wait until I was fully grown; however; time was not a commodity we could barter with...even for a vampire time can run out. So he gave his parting gift to me, I am the last of the Alucard line. Should I die the Alucard's perish with me.”
“Why didn't your father just hide here? You said yourself its impossible to get here. Why not just run?”

I laughed softly but I could hear the edges of sorrow within it. Shaking my head as my eyes left the paintings, the stained glass, all of these memories held in the heavy air to look into his eyes. Our eyes met for a long moment and I could see some flicker of understanding underlying them. “Even this far from the moment I lost my father...I do not understand why he let them kill him. He tried to explain it to me then, but I cannot fathom his purpose. Perhaps it was his way of atoning for turning the last Hellsing...perhaps it was because my mother had died and he wished to join her...I do not know. All he said was that it must happen, it was written in the fabric of time and reality long before he was created and cemented with my birth. He had to die to the hands of those he tried to save...to die trying to save a comrade.”

The white knight...my father failed as he knew he must leaving me the mantle of Alucard and the bite of a vampire hidden within my long sleeves.

“You never explained the Princess part.”
“Ah yes,” He pulled me from those dark thoughts, I had been forgetful hadn't I? “forgive me. It started with Nicholai, his father Vlad Tepes was crown prince of Wallachia, a place now so seithr infested no one dare visit. Wallachia was ruled by Vlad, and his first son would rule for him, making Nicholai a prince of royal Wallachian blood; in the 1700s this blood would be renounced as Wallachia became a part of a country known as Romania. We would not become royal until my father. Through various means throughout the centuries we had gotten a Dutchy in England and for a time left the Alucard castle. During this time my father met the crown princess of the english family,” My hand raised pointing to my mother, “they wed, and had me. I was a princess from the moment I was born. Though, this does not matter to the world outside it is a touching tribute to my mother to call myself as her child, with title.”

“I don't understand, why don't you-” He never was able to finish, Valkenhyn entered, using the door instead of the rift as his eyes looked upon is both. “Your meal is prepared madame. I suggest you retire to the balcony to continue your conversation.”

“Yes, thank you Valkenhyn. I am sure your spectacular cooking shall benefit both my palette and mood.” I give him a gracious smile my anger from earlier forgotten as I turn my gaze to Ragna. His eyes are strangely hollow and I feel his brain is probably rioting against this wealth of trivial information. My fingers reach out gently touching his glove to bring him out of this knowledge. “Come, we shall speak more as we enjoy a meal.” His eyes look down at me for a long moment and he simply shakes his head before following me. We leave as we came, in silence. Climbing the stairs to the higher reaches I point out a few things as we pass. My own chambers, the upper solarium, the music room. We come to another set of stairs and climb into a naturally lit chamber. The stone walls classical as we climb up it's spiral interior passing the open windows, slits once used for battle. Arrowmen would have pressed themselves to the walls before firing their weapons out these small indented windows, used when the castle still needed protecting. In the time of the Ottoman wars and even later the great wars with other countries that would kill thousands it would be guns that peered out these windows. The moonlight sent her fettered fingers into each small outcropping hitting us with her pale touch as we climb past each of these small openings reaching towards the top outcropping.

I can smell the food from here, a petit-cassoulet with goose, steamed long beans in white wine sauce, and perhaps a glass of Merlot with which to truly enhance this dish. If there was one thing Valkenhyn did with perfection each day it was his spectacular cooking. One might not be able to believe he was once a fearsome bounty hunter, a vampire killer. Now he had taken the form of servant with loyalty unbending. We climb the last of the stairs to come to the archway where the table is laid out. A candle on the center to add slight lighting though unnecessary as the moon lit everything in a pale glow. A soft wind flickering the bits of fire causing the glasses of wine to sparkle. Two chairs of luxurious nature await us as we move into the space and we sit almost in unison. I am sure we are both grateful for this soft silence though for entirely different reasons. I cannot discern what is passing through his mind, to see what is flashing behind those eyes. His expression is as somber as my own and once more I question my resolve. Yet I know he would learn of all this should the loop of time cease. My secrets would become revealed when he met the face of his true enemy, when Terumi's cowardice would cease.

As my skirts settled against the chair Valkenhyn appeared once more, serving us in silence as I looked outwards towards the garden off the balcony edge. The top of this tower had once been a look out, but now it was a point of pleasure for myself. A place where I could see all of my gardens, The gardens of red, white, pink, and violet. The large green houses with their flickering lights, the edge of the castle itself fading from view leaving only the beautiful flowers.Valkenhyn finishes serving us, but neither of us touch the meal. He leaves as silently as he came and that silence falls over us for long stretches before either of us speak.

“Ragn-”
“Rach-”

We both spoke at the same moment and a laugh over comes us. For a moment the dark knowledge he has learned of my family, and of me fades. I slowly take my fork in my hand letting it cut into the surface of a tender piece of goose giving him the go ahead to speak.

“Are you the only female Alucard?”
I chew softly at the piece, the exquisite flavor of it moving from my tongue to my throat as I feel it's soft nuances fill my soul. “Yes as far as my history states. Another is not mentioned and is never featured in any portraits. It is rather strange, but perhaps there is a purpose to my being the first. In the modern world there is no place for vampires...I am merely an ancient and forgotten piece of history.”
His eyes look nervously at the dish, but it does seem harmless enough even if it is nothing he is familiar with. The smell of the beans mixed with the tender chunks of goose are too much to overcome and eventually he allows himself a bite. He chews first with trepidation but soon he is chewing with interest and going for yet another bite. I can't help but enjoy a small chuckle at his change in heart towards my meal and he is quickly taking bites of not only the cassoulet but even the french cut green beans.
“So are all vampires able to...ya know, do what you do?” He speaks with his mouth half full and he was obviously quite hungry as he barely stops to breathe as he continues to fill himself to the brim with food. In fact going for another helping as I take my smaller bites enjoying each individual flavor. Still I enjoy his fervor taking it as obvious approval.
“If you mean the ability to control lightening and wind, no. That is an ability given to me alone. As a child I was gifted with several special traits that became only stronger once my father gave his last gift to me. “
He swallowed a large chunk audibly and paused in his shoveling of food to look at me much more seriously. I reached my fingers to take a gentle sip of my red wine as he continued to regard me. “How did you know about the Cauldron?”

I was sure with the wealth of information and with the beautiful meal before him he would not have remembered. Yet it was probably this knack for a rigid memory that had kept him alive this long...this time. “I have seen you enter the Cauldron.” His eyes narrow as he sets his fork aside the wine still untouched.
“How?”
I frown deeply as I take a bite of a green bean letting it slide down my throat. These moments as I chew I am not paying attention to the flavor. No I am trying to find the answer that will not give too much away, a way to explain. “I told you earlier this place was outside of time. For that I am able to view, experience, and take part in may plausible endings, different timelines.”

His brow furrows as he stares at me and I can feel something rising within him. Understanding, anger, confusion. He is a complex beast, and I enjoy in some way watching him trying to grasp this knowledge.

“How many times have you...watched... me die?”
“Thousands.” I do not like to think of it, of how many times this loop has continued, of the endings I have had to watch. My eyes look away from him pushing back an unknown emotion. Each time he meets his end, whether it is falling into the cauldron with her sword punctured into him, by the hero's hand..by his brother's, or by that disgusting pseudo-liquid creature. I have seen them all, over and over.
“And you don't do a damn thing to stop it?!” His voice is shattering and I can hear my wine glass shudder against his force as his hands coming down upon the table. I cannot look at him, I cannot tell him what I am, what this place is. Why I cannot interfere, to give him that knowledge even for a moment. It is too risky.
“I cannot stop it. It's not-”
“It's not your place right? Such a load of shit and you know it Rachel. You know all this and you know how to fucking stop it!”
His words cut into me and my eyes close blocking back a wetness I cannot dare shed. I will not allow myself to cry, not in his presence. A deep shuddering breath pulls me back within my own restraints. “I cannot. Only you can stop it Ragna. It is your torch to bear, and if not is...” A soft breath falls from my lips as I catch myself, “If not I shall wait until a time where you can.”
“Then tell me how!”
“I cannot.”
“Damnit!” The table falls to the side, the food crashing against the ground. Plates shattering, wine spilling as he picks me up from my seat. His fingers are curled into the base of my neck as he holds me up. His sword is out and I can see it twinkling in the light.

“If you feel killing me shall sate your anger I suggest you do it. It will change nothing.” I don't fight back I just stare at him. His eyes meet mine and the anger stops, I did not realize I was crying until he sets me down and his fingers come in contact, the edge of his gloves coming away with small dots of wetness on them.
“It's hard...isn't it?”
“U-unbearable.” He wraps his arms around me, kneeling as I sink to the floor. My face against his jacket and I can smell him, his scent stronger than I have experienced since my teeth first touched him in that deadly kiss. His arms hold me close, and for the first time since the death of my father I cry. I do not wail like lesser women have, but silent shudders and sobs rack me as I pull myself into him and let the mask of Alucard shatter at my feet. “I am so sorry...Ragna.”