The Catholic Princess

Section Eight: Comfort From An Unlikely Source

Sunday, November 24, 2012- Hellsing Manor, London, England

~Alucard~

When I awoke, I felt a new heartbeat among the normal ones I had come to know. Was it a new soldier, or a guest? I pulled on a clean dress shirt, and pulled out a red vest, leaving my suit jacket where it belonged when not in use. Once I was proper for company, I phased to the floor I felt the heartbeat, and heard shrill choirs of giggles from Master's office. I walked over to the door, and knocked three distinct times. This was my way of letting Master know it was me on the other side. 

Walter opened the door from inside, a very obvious smile on his aged face. I can't recall a time when I had seen him so joyous. 

" Oh, good evening, Alucard. I hope we weren't a bother. Skye was helping us organize out files and telling us stories from her youth." 

" Not at all, Master. I was merely curios as to who the new entity in the Manor was. Now that I have satisfied my curiosity, I shall take my leave."

" If you want to help, you can. The more hands the better." 

Skye had asked me to stay. Why? Every time she's had eyes of seething hatred, but now, her orchid eyes are full of understanding and almost childish innocence, no, not innocence, naiveness. 

" I think I shall. I have nothing better to do." 

I took in the scene before me, and it was rather comical. Master was on the floor with Skye, one stack of folders were neat and organized, and one stack was still a mess. I took a seat next to Master, and she handed me a folder, and explained how to sort it and label it with the numerous colored permanent markers in the middle. I was surprised to see how casual Master was acting. Her usually very prim attire was relaxed, her jacket was missing, the cravat she wears was missing, and her sleeves were rolled up and crinkled, her hair pulled up into a messy bun, a cigarillo dangling off her lips. As I watched silently how Skye and Master talked, it was as if they'd been friends for years, laughing and cracking jokes. Skye had the most beautiful laugh, and it was surprising to hear how childish it was given her age.

 Her lax appearance was still somehow strikingly wonderful, a blue t-shirt, a grey sweater and a white winter hat holding her hair out of her face. How was it that she was this damnably pretty, and have been raised by the one man I'd never expect? 

" So, Alucard, since you've been strangely silent, what's going on in your mind, or dare I even ask such a loaded question?" 

I gave a soft chuckle. " To you, no, that was no loaded question. I'm still marveled by the fact Anderson raised you is all. You don't have a single mean bone in you from what I've seen, and you are shockingly kind and gentle. How a Scottish brute like him raised such a delicate flower like you is truly a mystery."

" You've only seen one part of him. My father is actually very sweet, to a point that it makes the Sisters at the orphanage look sour. The only time they really even give him any kind of flack is when he forgets where he is and drops a curse word, earning a sharp crack to the hand by a Sister with a ruler. I tease him relentlessly about it, having never been stupid enough to do such things around the Sisters or Mother Margret."

" I can imagine he gets it a lot then?" 

" Oh, about four times a week, if he's home. He hates it, muttering even more of the obscenities under his breath as he walks to his office. He has a good heart, even if it gets misplaced when he works." 

" Have you ever seen him work?" 

" Nope. He says the field is no place for a lady like me. I only once caught him coming home from a job messed up, and it not only made me mad he almost ruined the carpets I had just cleaned that morning, but scared beyond belief. I have zero stomach for violent and ugly things. I can barely stand the sight of blood most days." 

" Makes sense that you do desk work for Iscariot then. I have to agree with him on one aspect, you don't belong in the field. The nastiness of such work would mentally scar you." 

" Oh, I know, hence why I work from the orphanage where I was raised. I mostly work with the kids, filling out paperwork and checking adoption forms and doing background checks is all Dad. Doing desk work for Iscariot isn't as fun as it seems. It's mostly money management, and honestly, if this is what Maxwell calls hard work, then the man needs to spend a day with the 13-15 year old's. Those kids will have you running ragged by the end of the day."

I had a small chuckle at her barb, and as we worked and talked, I noticed she was slowly, carefully opening up to not just me, but everyone involved. 

" Alucard, I was wondering something about you." 

" A dangerous notion, to be sure. What is on your mind?"

" How did you really become who you are? Many speculate, but no one knows for sure." 

The question took me off guard. No one outright has asked me the question, and with the phrasing she did. She said who, not what, as if it was an important distinction between the two. I took a unnecessary breath, and made sure my tone wasn't harsh as I spoke. 

" No one has ever asked me, not at least how you just did. Many ask what, not who, and I can't help but commend you for your bravery, even if it is harmlessly foolhardy. I was once a prince of a war ravaged country, and on the day I had been captured, they had sentenced me to die at sunset. I made a vow, a pledge on my very soul to God, that if he should allow me to die, that if he allowed the Ottoman's to kill me, that I will come back from the grave to remind him of the grave injustice he casted upon me, to be the ever-living taunt to his name."

I took a ragged breath, trying to keep myself from getting emotional, and continued. 

"I was the last to be beheaded, my soldiers and the Turkish prisoners went before me. I remember looking at the sunset, and saw the reddest sunset I could say to have seen. I made my pledge known, that should I come back, it was because God had abandoned me. I tasted the blood of the men and enemies that had died before me, as to remind me of what life truly was for me. When I awoke in a coffin inside the family mausoleum, I knew then the truth of the matter." 

I saw the sympathy and pain on Skye's face, as was mirrored on Master's. I hadn't talked about it to anyone ever. I saw Skye move, and next thing I knew, to everyone's surprise, she had knelt down and hugged me, and the scent of jasmine, lemongrass, and lavender hit me hard. 

" I am so sorry that you've lived like this, all because God had for once made a mistake. God was wrong for condemning you, a once fellow child of His name to this fate. You deserved far better, and I am sorry you will never know what that would've been like. Monsters are made, and it seems like God made you His, even if it was the worst choice He had ever made." 

I returned the embrace, fighting to hold back the bloody tears that would scare her and to control my strength as to not hurt her, absorbing the scent, a scent I'll always remember as one of kindness and sunshine. 

" Thank you, Skye. I didn't realize I needed to hear that." 

She pulled back, sitting on her knees, and gave me a massive smile, as if she were the sun blessing me with it's rays, her hands pushing my hair out of my face, the tender gesture was befit that of a mother comforting a scared child, and used her kerchief to dry my eyes. She went back to her spot, and the rest of the time she was here, I felt as if the last few days of misery washed away, and once she left, it left a hole in my chest. I noticed Master giving me a look as she lit a cigarillo, and handing me an unlit one as well. 

" That young woman is far too pure for this world." 

" She is a little ray of hope to lost souls. Alexander did a wonderful job raising her, the angel she is can only be measured by the saintliness of her father." I light the smoke, and take a deep drag. 

" That he did. How do you think he'll handle the knowledge that she voluntarily gave you comfort?"

" Oh, he is going to blow a gasket. I can already hear the screaming of rage."

We both shared a laugh, and went back to working on the files, going until it was time for Master to sleep.