moonshadows

“Alucard, could you come in here, please?” The man speaks into thin air which thickens, darkens, becomes a pool of shadow through which the vampire steps. “Thank you. Alucard, this is my son R~~~~~, who I will one day pass the bonds to. Son, this is Alucard, the greatest ally and weapon our family could have. Treat him with the respect you’d give the king’s own son, and you need never fear him.”

“But Father,” the boy questions, “if our blood binds him and makes him obedient, then we need not fear him in any case,”

The man gives the boy a sharp look. “Have you learned nothing? Alucard serves our family because of a favor one of our ancestors once did him. The bonds of our blood hold him only so long as he finds us-“ the man pauses, considering, “-worthy.”

The vampire, silent as the dead, stands behind the man as though guarding – or threatening – his back and smiles at the boy, teeth gleaming in the shadows that surround him.

“Do not think,” the man admonishes, “that I control him, that through the bonds of blood I can coerce him. Alucard obeys me because he respects me. He allows his power to be held in check as it pleases him, and fights for us because it amuses him. For me to pass the bonds on to you, you must be strong. For you to maintain them, you must remain strong. You are a Hellsing, boy! So long as our blood remains strong, this house shall never fall. He will test you-“ the vampire’s grin widens, and the boy swallows. “-but you must not let yourself be shaken, for the day you truly fear him is the day he will kill you.”

“Yesss…” The vampire’s voice is velvet and cobwebs, and it is the first time the boy had heard it. “And on that day, I shall drink my fill…”

The look in his eyes frightens the boy.