Chapter 3

I barely seen Alucard in the days that followed. I spent my days wandering around the castle, giving myself the tour of a lifetime. I tried not to go too far from my room, however; I had a terrible sense of direction and would likely get lost in the labyrinth of the castle. I made sure to find the kitchen, only picking at food. Alucard was letting me stay here, and I didn't think eating all his food would be a suitable way to repay him. I honestly didn't know how I would repay him. He was like a ghost to me now, only seeing him just as he disappeared from view around a corner or through a door which he always shut firmly.

I decided to venture outside again on the third day and was met with the corpses of Taka and Sumi once again. I gagged at the smell. I couldn't let this continue. I couldn't go outside knowing they were like this. I wouldn't.

So I did something stupid.

I went inside, finding two tablecloths covered in dust in one of the many rooms. Shaking them out I brought them back outside. I went to Sumi first, and pushed the lids over her half empty sockets with one hand, my other clasped over my mouth and nose to try and filer the smell. I wrapped the cloth around her, tucking it around her face and body until only her feet were exposed. Then came the hard part; trying to figure out how to get her of the pike. I tried to push her to move the stick so it would unearth itself. Epic fail. The only result I got was the unsettling and guilty feeling of pushing a dead woman's body. While I tried to ponder a way to accomplish this, I wrapped the second cloth around Taka's body; at least this way if I couldn't manage to get them of the pikes at least they would both could have some degree of dignity.

I deducted that I would need to find something sharp to cut through the wood so I ventured back inside, trying to find some sort of axe. Do vampires even own axes? They can cut anything with their hands. Alucard used knives to cut his food. Knives! I'm sure one of the kitchen knives would be able to cut through. I walked to the kitchen, and looked around, trying to find the one that looked the most suitable. I ended up picking the one that I'd seen people in TV shows use to chop a hunk of meat, the blade so sharp that when I lightly pressed my finger on it, the skin of it split instantly. I stuck the finger into my mouth, cursing.

I made my way back, blade in hand, feeling more confident about the accomplishment of the task at hand. I stopped dead, the feeling rushing out of me when I walked out the castle doors.

Alucard stood in between the now cloaked corpses, staring up at me, fangs glinting in the sunlight. His basket lay at his feet, the fish and vegetables it had contained now strewn in the grass. His eyes were lit in silent anger, the light roiling in them and his pales hands were balled at his sides, his stance aggressive. I nearly dropped the knife.

He's going to kill me.

I was about to turn on my heel and run back inside but he was before me before the message had reached my limbs. He towered over me, only seeming to become vaster as time passed or maybe it was I that was growing smaller under his gaze.

"What are you doing?" he growled out, his face so near mine that a lock of his golden hair glanced of my cheek. The contact sent a shiver down my spine. It would take nothing for him to kill me. I was small, so human that I hated it. And hatred was all I needed.

I felt the scowl form on my face, my lips pulling back to show my teeth. The fear still nestled deep within me, wracking my nerves, but I stood straighter, my face moving closer to his in defiance, as if daring him to kill me. If I was going to stay here, I would not be living in fear…not all the time anyway. What I was doing was right. Taka and Sumi may have hurt him…hurt him so deep that he now was baring his fangs at me, a defenceless woman. But leaving them like this…it wasn't right. For them or for Alucard. And for me who would have to look at that sight every time I walked out these doors.

"Laying them to rest," I said, my voice showcasing a calmness I didn't feel.

"That is none of your concern," Alucard replied too calmly, the aggression in his frame spiking.

"I refuse to look at this every time I walk out the castle doors," I said gesturing to the bodies behind him. I would not yield. I couldn't.

"Then don't look."

"You know I can't. Isn't that why you did this to them?"

He looked at me as if I had struck him. His fury quickly snapped back into place with a snarl through his teeth.

I knew it was a low blow but I wasn't wrong. He had put them there to keep people out. No one with a heart could not look at them and see the warning. But they were not a warning to me. They were people who had messed up. The least they deserved was a little dignity in death.

"You can either kill me or get out of my way," I said, even if I regretted the words as soon as they passed my lips. I didn't want to die and from the look of Alucard's face he was certainly tempted. He regarded me for what seemed like an eternity his face menacing but his eyes showed the conflict in him. I held my breath.

Surprisingly, he drew back, glared at me for a moment and in a heartbeat he, the basket and it's fallen contents were gone, a blur that moved into the depths of the castle. I let out a long breath, putting a hand to my chest to try and calm the fluttering of my heart. He had let me live.

I presumed this was his way of saying "Do what you want," so I wasted no time getting to work. The knife, which I forgot I was holding wasn't built for chopping wood but with some dedicated hacking and slicing the pikes eventually broke. Just when I thought the hardest part of this job was over me another presented itself. This being actually getting Sumi and Taka's bodies of the spear of wood. It eventually ended up with me awkwardly tugging the pike while I kept a foot down in a very unseemly place to pin their bodies down. I had to remind myself that this defilement was for good cause. It only made me feel a smidgen less guilty. It took time and patience but I finally pulled them free, moving them to lie side by side by the side of the steps, out of direct view in case Alucard came back and had a change of heart. Now I just needed to find somewhere to bury them. It would have to be somewhere Alucard wouldn't go but my knowledge of his movement was non-existent so relented that I would have to move outside what I felt was a comfortable distance from the castle. And would have to be a fairly open area. Not to mention moving both of them to a location with that criteria was going to be difficult for little old me.

I sighed. It wasn't like I could walk up to Alucard and just say "Hey dude, where is a good place to bury the bodies of those two who broke your belief in goodness? Also could you help me move them there?"

Yeah, that would go down swell. I could practically feel him ripping my throat out now.

I went inside, looking for something I could use as a makeshift sled to move them. Then a bulb sparked in my brain and I went sprinting towards my room. I kept a watchful eye out for Alucard. I really wanted to avoid an awkward run in, especially when he was probably smashing something somewhere in anger. I knew that that was unlikely the case, mostly because I would have probably heard said smashing, but I didn't know if Alucard had "cooled down." I didn't even know if he knew how to cool down now.

I made it to the room with no sign and tugging the sheet from my bed ran back outside again. I tied the sheet corners together at both ends and placed Taka and Sumi in the centre. I grabbed one of the tied ends and gave an experimental pull. Happy that it was working for the most part I set off with my sheet sleigh in tow. It was difficult and it only seemed to become more so the more I walked. I walked along the treeline, taking a few short breaks before continuing on. The area was quiet, the wind in the leaves the only sound that reached my ears apart from my own ragged breath. The sun was beginning to set and I didn't want to be too far away from the castle when night fell.

I picked a spot underneath the shelter of a tree, sitting just a sight apart from the forest. If I had more daylight hours I might have continued on further, away from Alucard and what he had done. I felt a frown crease my brows.

I found a stone that was large and flat enough to do the job and set to work. I used the rock to dig and scrape a grave underneath the shade of the tree's branches. Sweat dripped from my forehead, my nose, stinging my eyes and sticking the material of my shirt to my skin. My back ached but I knew if I stopped, I would not be able to start again. So I kept going. I kept thinking about how Alucard had tried to scare me and the downright fury kept me going.

It was dark when I finally had to stop. As gently as I could, I lay the bodies in their grave. Side by side. As I began pushing the earth back into the grave, browning the white sheets they were wrapped in, I let myself cry. I didn't even know who I was crying for. Was it for me, for being in this position? Was it for Sumi and Taka, who made a mistake because of how cruel the world was to them and paid for it with their lives? Or was I crying for Alucard, who had had his trust broken and had to make a decision that I knew pained him but was for his own survival? Or was I crying for us all, and how the world had been unfair to us throwing us into situations we didn't deserve. It was why I didn't believe in God.

As the thoughts ran through my mind, I didn't notice I had filled the grave until I there was no earth left to give. I stood up and looked over my handiwork. It was crude at best, but it was a grave. It was better than they would have gotten back at the castle. I don't think I would ever forget their faces; mouths open with the tips of bloody spikes jutting out. Eye staring up at nothing.

I gave a little bow, not really knowing why.

"I'll come back tomorrow," I whispered to the grave, as if they were there and they could hear me. I gathered up the sheet from the grass and with one last glance at the shadowy mound, made my way back to the castle. Which wasn't hard since even from this distance a way it was a looming silhouette against the night sky.

As I walked up the steps to the front doors, I finally noticed the figure cast in shadow leaning at the left side of the frame. Alucard was leaning back with his eyes closed and arms crossed, the silver of his sword pommel glinting at his side. I stopped and waited for him to move. Maybe he had reconsidered his decision not to kill me. But without looking he said,

"Go take a bath. You look and smell like shit."

My mouth dropped open and embarrassment flooded my system.

"Great. Now I match your personality," I spat, and walked up the remaining steps and past him. It didn't occur to me until after I had bathed and gotten into my bed that Alucard had been waiting for me to come back.