Stop it

Quite some time later….


It was a bright sunny late afternoon and Island was still reluctant to leave this pub. He had the feeling to have stopped at every pub on his way from London to here and he knew that there was no other pub left on the rest of the way – the next stop would be Hellsing mansion. His driver was used to wait before pubs on evenings spend with happy drinking, but this was getting ridiculous and it was still daylight.

In fact, Islands had a very unpleasant task in front of him and had not drunken much on his stops, let alone happily! Just the thought of reaching the mansion and fulfilling his task made him feel ill. He had always been the weaker one in the friendship, he knew that quite clearly. And since Arthur had become the official head of the Hellsing organisation eight years ago including the task of ordering that dreadful vampire, he had been even more glorious to him. He had been given the title Sir meanwhile, highly regarded by her majesty and ‘Hellsing’ was successfully operating.

So how could he come along now and interrogate this powerful man, his old friend, about the strangely increased frequency of accidental deaths near his home? There were an astonishing number of people that were run over by trains, for example. Yet the members of the round table wanted to know without making it an official questioning, hence they would never nail down Arthur Hellsing in a round table meeting, they were quite aware of this.

Additionally there seemed to be a special woman missing, a Mrs Carlobe, who was to be sentenced for treachery and then vanished from the face of the earth. Strangely enough it seemed she was French and the lover of someone high and mighty and they wanted her back, no matter the costs. The problem arose when looking for her quite hard - there emerged a strange paper pretending the women had been brought to Hellsing mansion, where her known story so far seemed to end. The possibility and probability was clear, but if she indeed had been killed by Arthur’s monster half of the government was in a hell of trouble…

Another very minor but nevertheless touchy task was loaded on the weak shoulders of poor Islands: There was the question of an heir for Hellsing, or rather preferably a marriage first, to be discussed. The round table would have not interfered in this private matter officially, too. But all of them were worried about a certain monster going on the loose if Arthur would die without a proper heir, and he did not even show interest in getting married at all.

Last but not least his friend had missed the last three round table meetings…

It was a brilliant idea to conceal the interrogation with a friendly visit. Satisfying for everyone except Islands…who had managed to stare into his drink for half an hour now. He was quite sure, that Arthur would throw him out, roaring and steaming, before he would have even mentioned half of the strange deaths…

He sighed and took the last sip of his beer. When he left the pub he nearly bumped into Walter passing by, carrying two large bags with purchases.

“Hey, great to see you, Lord Island. Are you coming for a visit? You could give me a lift!”

“Walter! Nice to meet you. Dear me, you have grown so much! I’m on my way to Arthur, sure you can come with us! Is your car broken down?” He even managed a smile.

“Nah, I just wanted to go for a walk, but these bags are quite heavy now…”

There was no turning back now. They had a friendly conversation in the car and Island was quite glad about the distraction.

When they reached the mansion Walter opened the door and let them in. He put his bags down and led Islands the way, but the living room was abandoned and Walter grinned, leading the old friend of his master up to the private chamber as he often had done so in the past. “I guess he is still in bed, it was a nice party yesterday…” With this he knocked and opened the door, of which Arthur had mistakenly thought it was locked.



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“Master, there is someone approaching…” The vampire growled low, being quite diverted by her current activities. Still she couldn’t totally ignore the fact that they would be disturbed soon.

“Don’t worry!!!! Uhommmahh!! Don’t stop now!!!! Don’t STOP!!!”

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Seeing a friend in an intimate situation is usually embarrassing. Even more so if there is something to be seen that is… a bit out of the normal way.

When the door opened and Island saw his friend in the fading afternoon light, not peacefully asleep but being ridden by a naked girl, up to the balls into her, his first amused thought was, that it had been an amazingly long party indeed. The next moment he realized the strangely small frame of the girls body and her seemingly obvious young age. His shock was for real.

“Arthur!”

But it even grew much worse as the girl now raised and turned her head to the door slowly. He saw her red eyes blaze viciously. Her mouth was smeared with blood, some of it dripping from her chin, the colour contrasting harshly with the white skin glimmering in the last ray of the sun.

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Arthurs face was serious and did not match his informal dress consisting only of his bath robe. He poured three large Whiskies and handed one of them to each of the men.

There was a long, uncomfortable silence.

Islands sat in one of the armchairs, his head in one hand, while Walter stood by the fire place, staring into the flames. All three silently drowned their drinks.

Arthur sighed. “Ok, lets start to sort this out. Walter, go to your room, please. I am not angry with you, but there is nothing to discuss between the two of us now. I will come and see you later.”

The young men put his drink down with a loud clang, turned to him now and his eyes were aflame. “Oh yes, there is, Lord Hellsing! Teach me about the meaning of ambiguousness in moral, will you?” His gloved hands were tensing and Arthur realized to his utter astonishment that provoking him now could be a serious matter.

So Arthur’s voice was unexpectedly soft but still firm, when he answered. “I told you to let him be. He’s mine in every sense of the word. The rest is none of your business, Walter. And I will not discuss this with you now. I was already aware that you did not follow my orders. So you are in no position to talk to me like that. Please leave us alone now.”

The young man glared at him silently, tensing one of his hands as if preparing to attack.

Arthur stared back at him intensely. When he felt the slight current of air and realized the movement it was already too late. He had not seen the boys action come. Lightening fast Walter had thrown his wires.

They cut the top half of Arthur’s glass away with ease, just millimetres from Arthur’s fingers. It simply slid sideways and fell to the floor, bursting into fragments on the oak floor with an unpleasant sound. Arthur hadn’t flinched even a millimetre, but still had his gaze fixed on his young killer. He got the message very clearly: He could have been dead by now. But it had only been a threat, not an attack.

Then, surprisingly, Walter left the room without further discussion.

Where was Alucard if he needed him? The smooth voice answered him immediately in his mind, cuckling. ’At your service, my master, but he did not intend to kill you and he is too good at it to do it accidentally. And regarding your fingers, I am not ordered to watch over your bodily entirety...’ Arthur memorized to put it on the top of his ‘To Do’ list, ‘Ah, hell, you are no use. Leave us alone then.’

The master of the whole mess went to the table with his beverages, got himself another glass and filled his whisky into it, taking the bottle with him. So talking to a really pissed Walter later would also not be an easy task, alright. But first things first.

To be honest, he felt dizzy and confused himself. And very much like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar…

He took the whisky and turned over to his friend again.

Islands did not want to dive deeper into this sink of sin by even trying to understand how the young butler might be involved in this. Nor did he mind what that glass nonsense was supposed to mean. He just stared at nothing in particular and nipped the rest of his Whisky trying not to get mad.

Arthur poured him another Whisky, too. Then he sat in the chair next to his friend.

“What did you come here for in the first place? Just paying a visit?”

Islands did not look at him. He stared into his glass and then began to speak lowly. “There were too many unexpected or accidental deaths in this area. Much too many. We were suspecting your vampire to be the cause. I could not believe it. But indeed some other members of the round table have mused for some time. They think it not right to send prisoners here. They say, that we have no death sentence in our country indeed and should stay true to that. That no matter what these people might have done, they do not deserve to die this way. That no one does. They were already discussing to order you to destroy him. The war is over now, there is no real need to keep him any longer. It’s troublesome to feed him. And he is considered dangerous.” His voice trailed off.

Arthur laughed humorously. “They can try. See if I listen.”

“Arthur!” Island voice was loud all of a sudden. “What have you done? What has he done to you? Is that sex worth to be corrupted? Is that creature indeed controlling Hellsing now? Will you further abandon your knighthood and your duties? You haven’t been at the recent meetings, did you even realize that? And I mean – just look at you!! You were always the one I thought could never be corrupted. A model of strength! I had a hell of a time just thinking about coming here to discuss these matters with you! And now look at you!!! ‘Mine in every sense of the word?’ Oh, my…! Where should this lead? You have the task of controlling the permanent thread of evil beings that are beyond most peoples beliefs, to shelter the innocent! How can you possibly do that, if you… you just did…well…with a monster… a creature every other human being in their right mind flees!!! Tell me, how can you save the innocent and control evilness, while you are actually fucking your vampire, bloody hell!!! And… and more,…much worse,….you do FEED him… I remember clearly what your father told us about that when we were kids! That the destruction of the victim would certainly follow once the vampire is feeding from him or her…. Bloody hell, you should know better than I do, but you FEED him!!!!!“

Islands came to a stop, shaken deeply from speaking out aloud the horrible truth. He took a deep breath now and another sip from his drink. Then he went on diverted, “You are still bleeding, by the way...”

Arthur raised his hand to his throat surprised and felt the blood, warm and wet. He took hold of the hanky his friend handed him and pressed it to the small wound.

“It started quite harmless. I cut myself to give her a few drops and then the next time…” His voice trailed off. Arthur realized now, while he remembered – it had never been harmless… even from the beginning. Even from the first time he touched that alluring girl form his vampire had very slowly taken control, or rather he himself had taken his own controlling grip away – a little bit more each day. It had just felt so good.

Arthur was thinking hard…

He had not been aware, that he had missed round table meetings. How many did he miss? He had no idea. The last days, no, maybe even weeks or indeed months had been filled with little work and sleep and much, much pleasure.

Alucard had never drunken much…just tiny amounts, never more than he had offered and Arthur had still felt in control. He had never realized a bodily weakness, as it would be typical for a normal feeding as a warning result of the lost blood. During all this time the vampire had never tried to kill him or even drink from him seriously… clever, indeed.

He knew quite well about the many deaths taking place around here, he had given in to most of his vampires hunger needs quite willingly…he just had not noticed that there were so many in apparently so short time. Obvious to anyone but him, it seemed.

He had never thought about the righteousness of that. Wasn’t it, what he always had had to do? Maybe not so frequently…he realized his mistake just now. He could not say how many in the last week or the last month. How many at all? He had lost track of time and events. For how long had that been going on? He just had turned away from reality…

He felt like awaking from a very bad dream, wishing to scream and then feel relieved, that nothing bad had happened in the real world. But it had…his vampire had seduced and corrupted him…

Ohhh shit. He felt so stupid. So feeble. Quite incapable. So human…

Definitely corrupted! And used! Shame set in with realisation. He drank his glass to the bottom – strangely that seem to clear his head.

Another thing he realized now: He would loose everything, if Islands would tell what he had seen. For he would not sink even deeper by lying, if confronted openly with the facts.

He turned to Islands again, sobered down to the core. “It is ok now, mate. I’ve come to my senses. Honestly! It will be ok, I promise!”

Island shook his head. “That’s not good enough, Arthur, not after what I have seen.”

Arthur got angry and took that as a good sign of recovering from his sweet nightmare. He poured both men another Whisky.

“What proof do you want? What can I possibly do? I will not have him destroyed. I will not loose Hellsings ultimate weapon and the achievements of my ancestors! I’ll master him again and I know I can do it! That said - what can you possibly want as a prove? …I’ll do anything!”

There followed a short break in which both men eyed each other closely. “I could have him alter your memory, would that be sufficient?”

Islands looked at him with a strange expression. Arthur grinned humorously. “Just a joke, mate. I would not do this to you!” In the back of his mind a silky voice said, “Would be a brilliant solution of the problem, master.”

“Shut up!”

“I did not say anything, Arthur!”

The head of Hellsing house heard the familiar laughter ring through his head. Nevertheless he straitened himself. “Listen, Islands, I know I can handle this, ok? I have come to my senses! Believe me. Believe in me! What is it I have to do to make you believe in me again?”

The answer came exceptionally dry. “Marry!”

Arthur, who had just taken a sip of his glass, spilt his whiskey in a fine shower. “What?!?!”

Surprisingly there were indeed some leader qualities buried deep in Lord Island, and they made a short but impressive appearance now. “First of all you will never again miss a round table meeting. Secondly you will promise me to stop messing around with this dangerous creature immediately. I need no prove for that, I will believe in your word if you promise me. But I guess I will recognize if you fail me anyway, have you looked in the mirror lately? You look like shit, Arthur. Your sexual interest is none of my business indeed, and I never dreamt to interfere, but as a friend, I will not watch you ruining yourself right under my nose. If I get the slightest impression that you shag that thing again, I’ll personally tell the queen about it – in all detail! - and care for her royal order to have it destroyed.

And the third thing you will do is marry within a year and try to produce an heir pronto, better two or three. None of us is eager to solve out the problem that lives in your dungeon, if you will die one day. I suppose Richard could take over, but oh my, ...he’s so young now and who knows if he could or would take over then!

Come to think of it, I guess it would be best if you just skip the next meeting to recover, before all the world gets an idea of your latest hobby. But I am dead serious, mate. And now tell me what you did with that Miss Carlobe…”

‘I could simply kill him, master.’ Arthur laid his head in his hands and groaned.

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