Twisted Thorns

Chapter Twelve

Stretching, Lizzie awoke to the birds outside her window chirping, the sun bright and high in the sky. Her window was open, and the chill from the winter morning was seeping into her room and penetrating her skin. She reached out for Alucard, but found he was not there. He had probably gone back to his own chambers shortly after she had fell asleep. Turning, she saw the tulip she had came to associate with Alucard. Yawning, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stretching again as she stood to get changed. She put on a pair of black jeans, a grey oversized jumper, and a pair of burgundy Doc Martens. 

At breakfast, she was surprised to see Integra sitting at the end of the table.
"Miss Bell, how are you?" she said, smiling slightly. She wore her normal suit outfit, and sat with her fingers steepled beneath her chin.
"I... I'm well, sir. How are you?"
"I'm fine, please, take a seat next to me." she waved her hand to the seat beside her. Lizzie sat, not wanting her... boss? Master? to be angry with her.
"So... while I've not exactly been present, I have heard Alucard and yourself have become much closer."
"Yes."
"You feel for him, yes?" She narrowed her eyes at the other woman, wondering what she was getting at.
"Yes... but I don't understand why-"
"It matters because Alucard is more than just my 'trump card', or my servant. I am the last remaining member of the Helsing family. If I were to marry, I would have been made to take a back seat while my husband took over the organisation, which I would never allow." she looked at Lizzie's face for a reaction, and seemed to deem the nod she provided as a good enough answer to it.
"Alucard loves you. More than he loves life himself. The love he feels for you, is what keeps him human. His search for you is unending.. And the love you feel, there is no changing it. The love you share with him is ingrained into your DNA, just like the colour of your eyes or the pigment of your skin. You were meant to love Alucard as much as you were meant to be born. Marissa loves Alucard, but not in the way you understand. She's evil, twisted. She thinks that killing you over and over will make him realise his love for her, and will come back to her." Lizzie shivered at the thought.
"You need to be careful, Lizzie. You aren't safe on your own. I don't know whether or not Alucard will be able to take losing you again."
"I'll be careful, I swear." Lizzie nodded. Integra said: "Be good to him Lizzie, he's far more human than you think." With that, she departed the room. Lizzie ate her  porridge, mulling over what had happened.

After breakfast, Lizzie decided to explore the mansion grounds. It was a beautiful winters day, and Lizzie needed to leave the stuffy house, having not been outside for a few days. Throwing a black and burgundy scarf around her neck, she wrapped it and held it against her. It was bright out, but freezing. Breathing in the air, so far from traffic and pollution of the main city, was purer than any she had inhaled in years and she allowed herself to think deeply. Looking back at the manor house, quiet and sleepy with few inhabitants actually awake, she smiled slowly. In recent weeks, her heart had grown softer, and she no longer thought of the Hellsing manor as a prison, but home. Her pokey one bedroom flat in the northwest of London had never felt like home to her, with her loud neighbours and sirens constantly blaring through her windows, the hot water that never wanted to work, or the horrific tap in the kitchen that oozed reddish brown sludge sometimes. She remembered it like it was a bad dream, as if she hadn't lived there since she was 17.  She had taken a fast track course which took half the time it had for anyone else, leaving her a qualified nurse by the time she was twenty. She had thrown herself into her studies after the crash that killed both her parents, ensuring she became everything they had wanted her to become. 
"You were meant to love Alucard as much as you were meant to be born." Integra's words echoed through her mind. Lizzie recalled her teenaged years, thinking carefully. Alucard's face had been melted into the background of many memories, like her birthday parties, staff nights out, university lectures. He had been present her whole life, she had just never noticed him until she really put some thought into it. 
She thought about the man himself. Alucard. Alucard who had been a thorn in her side, who had kept her in the mansion and scared the Hell out of her. The man who showed her how to shoot a gun. The man who saved her life several times, who protected her and had loved her for centuries, fighting a psychotic vampire who was obsessed with killing her in different ways, each more twisted than the last. The man she... The man she loved. As she thought this, she felt the impact to the back of her head, knocking her to the ground. Everything went black as she felt herself being dragged away by the shoulders and being bundled into a car and driven away from the Hellsing manor. 

After the lack of response from the previous chapter, I decided to reign the sexual activities in, unless comments and messages tell me to do different. Any feedback is good feedback, I would very much appreciate any messages I get in response to my writing, criticism is welcomed. Thank you in advance and I won't be too long to update. Sorry about the short chapter.