Long Lost Love, Reunited Love

Chapter 4

Flight and First Tour

High over the European Continent an airplane was carrying its passengers to their flight destinations. Among the passengers sat the entire Tsukino family. Three of the family members were sound asleep, while the fourth was still awake and staring out the passenger window at the mid-afternoon sky too emotionally drained to stay awake, but her mind wouldn't allow her to sleep.

"Minna-chan." She murmured as another tear slid down her cheek. Saturday had proven to be an overwhelming day for her. Between the police, reporters, and the numerous calls from jerks from her school who enjoyed asking gross questions about what she had seen that night, Usagi had not been permitted a moments rest so she could think. Yet now here she was sitting in the first class section with her parents staring out the window dwelling over recent events.

"What could have happened too them?" she wondered "Who would take away their bodies, and why?"

She sighed and went back to staring out the window. "The mountains look nice, and I can see some of the ruins." A pilot announced on the speaker that they were now flying over the Carpathian Mountains, and if the passengers strained they could see the castle of Castle Dracula. Usagi stared at the castle and memories of her past life flooded her mind. The images of her lord, and love holding her, loving her, and then of him yelling at her and accusing her of infidelity. Usagi winced 'Best leave those thoughts alone.' She decided 'it's in the past.' She closed her shade and settled back into her seat, and took out the travel schedule and read about the places that she and her family would be seeing, and wept when she got to the part of the two princes who were murdered by their uncle.

'Oh. That's horrible, those two boys.' She thought to herself 'They were murdered just because their uncle wanted to rule in their place.' She continued reading about the Bloody Tower, and all the other ghosts that haunted its grounds. Five hours later the captain announced that they were approaching London, and that passengers should move their seats back into their upright positions. Usagi turned to her left and nudged her little brother awake, and then called out to her parents to wake them up as well. Thirty minutes later they were in the airport picking up their luggage and Luna and Artemis's cat carriers, climbing on to the tram that would take them to their hotel. When they arrived at the hotel Grand Britanie Usagi, and her family waited in line to check in. Twenty minutes later they were in their rooms and everyone was sound asleep due to exhaustion except for Usagi who was going over the tour itinerary while stroking Luna's fur. While she was reading about the ghost sightings at the University the phone rang and she picked it up before it disturbed her little brother.

"Moshi Moshi." She whispered while propping herself against the beds headboard.

"Miss Tsukino?" a woman's voice inquired.

"Hai." She responded in a whisper while glancing over at Shingo to see if he was still asleep.

"This is Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing." The authoritative voice said "My manor is one of the tour sites that you and your family will be visiting on your tour."

Usagi blinked and glanced down at the brochure in her hand, and sure enough one of the tour sites was indeed the Hellsing Manor was among the tours listed. "Hai Miss. Hellsing. How can I help you?" she whispered quietly and politely.

Back in Hellsing headquarters Sir Integra smiled to herself apparently the family was still asleep and the young lady did not want to disturb them if she could help it. "I was wondering if you could tell me your tour schedule." At the sound of a muffled 'huh?' she continued. "The company promoting the tour has neglected to send me a copy of your itinerary for the tour." She explained and smiled when she heard the exasperated sigh over the receiver.

Usagi pinched the bridge of her nose before responding. "Hai Integra-san, that doesn't surprise me in the least. The organization responsible for this tour has been doing a rather poor job of being organized when it comes to this tour." She replied in a rather annoyed tone while picking up the tour schedule again, and settled back against the headboard. She heard Sir Integra's amused chuckle and smiled to herself. "All right do you have a pen and paper in front of you?"

Integra signaled Walter to bring her a pen and paper over to the desk which was cluttered with files and other business papers. "Yes, please continue." She answered pen poised and ready.

"All right the first stop on the itinerary is the Bloody Tower this evening. The next destination seems to be in an abandoned village named Cheddar."

Integra's eyes widened at that bit of news. "Cheddar village is the second stop on the tour?!" She said aloud causing Walter to stare at her in shock. They both knew that village's history all to well.

"Hai, apparently this tour also goes to places where there were grisly bloodbaths. I guess they are hoping that we will see the spirits of the victims of these senseless murders, but I doubt that we will." Usagi replied while trying to figure out why Sir Integra was upset.

Integra frowned at this bit of troubling news 'What could Gregor be planning.' She thought hearing Usagi's voice on the phone asking: "Integra-san, are you still there?" She shook her head and replied: "Yes Miss. Tsukino It is just that Cheddar village is more of a ghost town now, and no one visits that far out. What are the other tour sites?"

Usagi frowned at what Sir Integra had said and continued with the tour schedule. "The third destination is the White Tower, the fourth is the Royal University, the fifth is the National Maritime Museum, followed by Stone Henge in Wiltshire, and the final destination will be your family's manor."

Integra finished writing down the locations on the notepad and thanked Usagi for the copy of the schedule. "If it changes could you please let me know as soon as you find out?"

"Hai Integra-san, demo what is your phone number?" was the reply. Five minutes later Sir Integra turned to her manservant and said: "Walter. I want you too assign some guards at the hotel, and then inform Mr. Bernadotte that he and his men are to replace the staff at the Bloody Tower tonight. Miss Tsukino will be there with her family."

"Yes ma'am and what about Alucard? I doubt that he will just sit back and let the Wild Geese handle things by themselves. Especially with Miss. Tsukino there." Walter inquired causing Sir Integra to groan and pinch the bridge of her nose in reluctance.

"Inform him of the mission, and tell him that he can keep an eye on her, but he cannot approach her. Not yet."

Walter bowed and left the room leaving Integra to lean against her desk with her hands in her head and mutter: "God save me from tours, and sentimental vampires."

Later that night the Tsukino's were awakened by the continuous knocking on their room doors. Kenji who was rather grumpy about being woken up stormed over to the door, and yelled "What!!!" at the young man who was wearing a tour cap.

"Excuse me sir, but I have come too collect your family for the tour of the Bloody Tower." The tour guide squeaked.

Kenji glared at him and said: "Do you have any idea what time it is?!" he demanded. To which the guide nodded his head and replied "Yes sir. It is nine o' clock pm."

Kenji blinked and then turned his attention to the digital clock near the bed that he and his wife had been sleeping in. Sure enough it read nine o'clock pm. He sighed and turned to the tour guide and said: Sorry we had a rather long flight. Just give us twenty minutes too get ready and then we will be right down."

The tour guide nodded his head and left while everyone minus Usagi who just needed to splash some cold water on her face, and grab her warmest coat, was dashing here and there to get ready. While she was waiting Usagi walked over to the window where she could see the tour bus driver climbing in followed by the tour guide. She watched as the bus started to shake for about five minutes. Then she saw the tour guide walk out of the tour bus, and casually walk back into the hotel. Usagi narrowed her eyes at this and closed the curtain all the while thinking 'What was that all about?' She wondered to herself as she returned her attention to her parents who were still searching for the coats, while Shingo was leaning against the closet watching them with a bemused expression on his face.

Usagi walked over to the door and placed her hand on the door knob and said: "Kaasan, Tousan, I think that I will go down to the lobby and wait for you there". Her parents nodded their head in agreement to what their daughter's decision. Shingo took her hand as she was opening the door and asked if he could join her. Usagi smiled and nodded her head and the two of them walked down the hall towards the elevator that would take them down to the lobby. When they arrived downstairs they saw the Gregor posing as the tour guide waiting for them, as they were approaching him them he noticed that their parents were not with them. Upon seeing his confused expression Usagi shrugged her shoulders and said: "They are having difficulty finding their coats." She stated matter of factly.

Gregor nodded his head in understanding and then pointed them over to the group of tourists who for the most part looked gray and sickly. Usagi studied them carefully and took hold of her brother's hand getting his attention. "Shingo-kun don't ask me questions, demo listen closely." She whispered quietly when she noticed that she had his full attention she continued. "I want you to stay close to me on the tour and don't wander off with the other tourists. I have a bad feeling about them."

Shingo was about to protest but one look at his sister's serious face made him change his mind. He nodded his head and stood close to her as they were waiting Shingo started to look around at the other tourists and realized why his sister was so adamant that he not leave her side. The people looked ghastly pale, their eyes were sunken in, and their mouths were openly gaping. Shingo shuddered these people reminded him about the victims of all those attacks back in Japan when the youma drained the life energy out of people, and if the same thing was happening here then there was no way in Hell he was going to leave his sisters side throughout this whole tour. Shingo grabbed hold of Usagi's hand and gave it squeeze telling her that he agreed and felt her squeeze his assuringly in response letting him know that she would protect from any harm if it would come to that Shingo gave a sigh of relief and waited patiently with his sister. About five minutes later the front desk received a phone call from the Tsukino children's mother informing everyone within earshot that she and her husband would not be able to attend the tour because her baka husband removing their coats out of the suitcases in order to make room for his camera equipment. Usagi and Shingo both shook their heads in exasperation while Gregor chuckled quietly to himself and led the entire group outside to the tour bus.

When they approached the tour bus its doors swung open wide revealing a rather cheerful one-eyed bus driver with long blonde hair smoking a cigarette. "Hello everyone." The driver said pleasantly "My name is Pip Bernadette, I will be your driver this evening."

Usagi blinked at this. The driver she saw climbing into the bus earlier was an elderly man of fifty, while she was trying to figure this out she saw the tour guide stiffen when he saw the bus driver and then openly glare at him and asked with barely concealed malice in his voice: "What is going on here? Where is Bill?!"

Pip grinned and remarked cheerfully: "He wasn't feeling well, so I told him that I would take over and he went home."

Usagi and Shingo shot each other an amused glance. The supervisors were probably ready to pull their hair out at this point, if they haven't already. Stifling his chuckle Shingo asked: "Anno…Can we get on the bus now."

Gregor growled deep in his throat and nodded his head and Usagi and Shingo took the seat behind the driver. The other tourists turned ghouls shambled in to the bus after them. He took the seat across from them. When everyone were settled in their seats Pip pulled the bus door lever shut and said cheerfully: "All right then. We're off." He started the bus and started driving down the foggy road. As they were riding Usagi noticed two things that caused her eyes to once again narrow. The First Thing was that there was a ring of dust or ash surrounding the bus driver's seat, and the second thing was that out of the corner of her eye she saw the tour guides eyes glowed a dark and malevolent red.

When the bus finally arrived at its destination Usagi and Shingo along with the ghoulish tourists exited the bus and stood in front of the gates of the Bloody Tower. Gregor followed after them to the entrance and then took his place ahead of them.

"All right! Is everyone ready?" He asked and seeing Shingo's head bob up and down he led them to the admission booth and stared at the cashier and said something to her, and after a few seconds he motioned everyone forward. Once they were inside Gregor continuing his impersonation as a tour guide told them the stories of the ghosts that wandered the tower and its grounds and how they had met their end in life. He then lead them upstairs and started telling them about the two princes who were murdered in their beds so their uncle could become King. "The two princes were sleeping here when as assassin crept into their room and murdered them. Their spirits have been known to be seen on the grounds where they played before their uncle had locked them in this room.

Usagi and Shingo who were paying close attention didn't notice two ghouls creeping up behind them, nor did they notice the two arms clad in red reach out of the shadows and grab them, and then pull them into the shadows behind them. Then they followed Gregor to the White Tower where the torture chamber was once located and went on to tell them of the poltergeist that scared the keeper and his wife one night.

"One night during dinner the keeper at the time and his wife were eating dinner when they both saw a vial filled with blue liquid came floating towards them and suddenly vanished!" He told them seriously but you could see the amusement in his expression before he turned around and continued with the tour.

Usagi and Shingo looked at each other for different reasons. Usagi look asked if he was enjoying himself, and Shingo's returned her look with a grin and nodded causing Usagi to give him a pleased smile. Inwardly glad that her little brother was enjoying himself so much. They followed after Gregor not noticing three more ghoulish tourists being grabbed by two arms and a multi-eyed dog catching the third ghoul in its jaws and devouring it.

Several hours later Usagi and Shingo were outside in front of the tour bus along with the bus driver, while Gregor went inside under the pretense of searching for the rest of his ghoulish servants.

"Well ma'am and sir. It's too cold to be standing outside, so why don't the two of you go ahead and climb into the bus. I'll take the blame for breaking protocol." Pip told them with a grin and tilting his hat downward. Usagi nodded her head in agreement to his suggestion and she and Shingo boarded the bus that was heated. Twenty minutes later Gregor came storming out of the building cursing under his breath. He stopped about a foot away from the bus and yelled to Pip saying: "You may as well take them back to their Hotel. The other tourists walked out the wrong gate, and then left on the wrong bus!"

Upon hearing this Shingo buried his face in his sister's shoulder in an attempt to muffle his laughter. Usagi who managed to keep a straight face was trying not to burst out laughing. Pip shook his head at the rogue vampire's quick thinking and climbed into the bus as well and started the engine while Gregor stormed over to the row of telephones across the street. As they were driving away Usagi glanced back and saw Gregor staring after the bus and then seemingly disappearing in the shadows. She then turned her attention to the driver who was speaking in to a radio. 'He is probably informing his superiors about the little mix-up.' She thought to herself in amusement. She wasn't too far off on that assessment.

When they had finally walked into their hotel room both Usagi and Shingo burst out laughing. "Kami-sama…those people who arranged this tour must be bald by now!" Shingo said between bouts of laughter.

Usagi who was clutching her sides grinned and nodded her head in agreement. "I know what you mean otouto." She said between giggles. After they were finished laughing they noticed a note for them by their mother that told them that she and their father had left to get new coats, and when they got back they wanted to hear all about their tour of the Bloody Tower.

Meanwhile back at Hellsing Headquarters both Alucard and Pip were standing in front of Sir Integra.

"Report." She said and Pip started his report of terminating the bus driver turned ghoul, and Alucard gave his report of terminating the tourists turned ghouls the night before. Integra nodded her head and dismissed them both.

Alucard merged with the shadows and drank the bottle of blood that Walter had left for him, while gazing at Usagi's picture again. "Soon my love, soon."

Well here is the next chapter. Happy Halloween.