The Call

It was a clear late summer night in London and there was an atmosphere of uneasiness that was permeating throughout the entire city. Sitting at the very edge of it was the Hellsing manor with its imposing architecture. The manor lay silent as its resident vampires were out on an assignment near Regent's Park. Its owner, on the other hand, was in her study with her butler by her side, working meticulously on a report about last week's assignment.

The phone suddenly started to ring as Integra completed penning her signature on the report. Walter looked towards the phone and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"That's strange, someone's on the line. Do you think it could be-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Integra raised a finger to silence him and went to press the button for the speaker on the phone.

"Who is it, a friend or a foe?"

A chuckle emerged from the other side of the line.

"Is that how you greet someone on the phone? It's me, child."

Balalaika laughed again as Integra stood over the phone silently.

"What are you calling for, Miss Balalaika?"

"Skipping formalities and cutting straight to the chase, are we? Well then, let's just say that since the last time we were in contact with each other, there's been some unusual activity here in Roanapur that doesn't seem…"

Balalaika paused to smirk before resuming.

"Natural."

Integra let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Balalaika. My patience is already running thin and you're testing what's left of it. If you have something important to say, just say it now. Otherwise, this conversation is over."

Balalaika's smirk fell and she furrowed her brows in response to the bluntly stated threat.

"Where's your sense of humor? You really should lighten up more. You're still so young and yet you act as though you're older than me. Nothing good ever comes out from being so serious all the time. You'll just end up getting wrinkles by the time you're my age so please just relax and at least listen to what I have to say."

The corners of Integra's mouth stretched into an amused grin as she began to sit back down. She opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out a cigarillo, turning her head towards her butler.

"Walter, a light, if you please."

Walter approached Integra and held out the lighter to her.

"Thank you, Walter."

She flicked it open and lit the cigarillo, bringing it to her mouth. She then closed the lighter and gave it back to Walter.

"Of course, My Lady."

Bowing slightly, Walter stepped back as Integra took a drag on her cigarillo, slowly exhaling the smoke. She leaned forth, steepling her hands together and letting her head rest on top of them.

"Go on then, I'm listening."

"Shortly after your departure from Roanapur, there was word going around that people were starting to disappear again and turning up dead in the backstreets of the downtown district. While not unusual in itself given the area, the conditions in which the victims were found in was. They appeared to have been entirely drained of their blood from two deep puncture wounds at the nape of their neck. As you know, I have no reason to get involved into this but after seeing the similarities it bears to that incident, I cannot simply afford to just sit back and watch how this will unfold when my comrades' lives could be at stake again. So I figured that as you were kind enough to entrust us with a considerable amount of your specialized arsenal and that your hands were most likely tied with local affairs, I decided to take matters into my own hands in order to find the culprit and put an end to this madness once and for all."

"I presume you've tracked down and neutralised the vampire then?"

"That's where it gets interesting: when we finally caught up to this supposed vampire, we discovered that he was nothing more than the average copycat killer. He had hastily selected his victims and the locations to dispose of their bodies in an attempt to recreate some sort of occult ritual for his own sake. For someone who has struck a lot of fear into this city, he's actually pretty pathetic if you ask me. I must apologize if you were hoping that I was calling you to report that I had done a little of my own vampire hunting. Maybe it'll happen someday but perhaps for now this could serve as compensation for the time that was wasted."

Lowering the phone from her left ear, Balalaika looked to her men that were standing in formation at the very far right corner of her office and signaled them to step to the center. The two frontmost members then parted to reveal a sniveling young man who had been gagged and was being physically restrained by another. One of those from the front moved towards him and yanked out the strip of cloth from his mouth. He was then released and given a slight push forward in the direction of Balalaika, stumbling a little as he tried to steady himself. He folded his hands and went on his knees as Balalaika loomed over him.

"I swear that I won't do it anymore if you let me go. I've changed now. I understand that it was wrong of me to commit those acts. Just spare me please."

A foot was slammed down suddenly onto the man's back and he collapsed, yelping in pain as his face made contact with the floor. As he started to lift his head up, the men around him closed in and began to withdraw their guns from their coats, aiming them at his head. Realizing what was happening, the man managed to utter a whimper as the men discharged their weapons at him. After every last one of Balalaika's men had fired a shot, they placed their guns back in position and got down to work on cleaning up the carnage that was left behind in their wake while Balalaika turned her head back to the phone and brought it to her ear again.

"Is that all for now, Balalaika?"

"It is, but before I forget, I've been considering taking a little break away from here. This whole ordeal has left me exhausted beyond belief. Any recommendations of a good place to travel to?"

"I'm not the best to ask for travel advice, but if you're looking for somewhere far from Roanapur, I hear that England is wonderful at this time of the year."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"It can be arranged if there's any issue."

"That's very generous of you. I do really appreciate it. How does next week sound?"

"It will be done."

"Excellent. Call me when it's ready."

Beaming, Balalaika hung up and went over to the window to gaze at the rising sun, wondering how the upcoming week will play out in Roanapur with her gone for a week.

Integra clicked the speaker off on the phone as the line went dead. She reclined back on her chair and closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again to pick up the report she had finished writing and looked over it for any inconsistencies or errors that might have slipped through.

"Shall I begin the arrangements for our guest, Sir?"

"It can wait until morning, Walter. It's getting late and Alucard and the police girl have most likely wrapped up their mission by now. We'll leave in a few minutes to meet them over there in case the police have already been dispatched to investigate."

"Very well. Allow me to retrieve your coat then."

Walter stepped out while Integra skimmed through the report one last time and extinguished her cigarillo in the nearby ashtray. She got up and cast a glance over her shoulder at the bright full moon that was illuminating her entire study. Walter arrived with Integra's coat just as she began to get lost in thought over the coming week.

"Are you ready, Sir Integra?"

Integra snapped out of her train of thought as she heard Walter's voice and turned her head back to see him standing at the door with her coat hanging on one of his arms and with an inquisitive look on his face. With a nod, she walked out briskly into the hallway as Walter draped her coat onto her shoulders and locked the door to the study behind them.