Drip. Drip. Drip. Integra watched, mesmerized, as the bright red blood made its way down the length of the body, pooling at her feet. There was blood everywhere. On her clothes. On her hands. On her face. Slowly drying blood, slightly darker than the rest, was matted solidly into her hair. Integra used the back of her left hand to wipe one of the long, red smears off her cheek but this only caused another fresh stain to appear.
They were dead. They were all dead at last.
Integra looked up at the impaled figures of the two men…vampires, that had mattered most in her short life. Though they were both killed in the same manner with a wooden stake through the heart, Walter's face was full of pain and anguish while Alucard's was calm, serene, even triumphant. Integra now, wished more than ever, that the legends were true about how vampires' bodies turned to dust seconds after dispatching them. At least then, she wouldn't have been forced to contemplate the grisly sight in front of her. Of what happened here. Of what she had been forced to do.
Looking at the dead vampires, the leader of the Hellsing organization realized that she was finally free of all the blood oaths and ties that had bound her servant to her. Why then did that thought make her feel as empty and as lifeless inside as the men that had served her? Integra thought she should be feeling anger, sadness, grief, any one of a hundred emotions now. However, much more disturbing was the realization that she couldn't feel anything at this moment. The absence of emotions scared her more than having one. Involuntarily, her body began to shudder but she willed it almost immediately to stop. Leaders didn't feel fear. Or confusion.
Integra stepped up to one man, then the other. She planted a soft, feather-light kiss on Walter's forehead. Something flaky came away with the kiss. Integra didn't want to dwell too long on what exactly that substance was. Already their bodies were beginning to disintegrate. Alucard was next. His body had substantially less blood on it than Walter's. Integra attributed the reason for this to the fact that Alucard hadn't been able to fight much after the binding spell was in place. The grimoire that had helped Sir Hellsing eventually control and defeat the nearly invincible vampire lay bloody and shredded, a few feet away from the grisly scene.
So, it was easier for Integra to place a long, lingering lover like kiss upon the lips, much colder than what she had been used to. Afterward, Integra stared into Alucard's sightless eyes. She reached up and gently shut both eyelids. Integra tasted her own salty tears that had an underlying coppery flavor after mixing with the blood staining her face. Integra stood for a moment, remember Alucard's laugh. Alucard's voice. Alucard's hands on her body. Did both men possess souls? And where were their souls now? And after what she had just done, did she even have a right in asking those questions?
Integra took one last look at the vampires and turned to walk out of the dark, cavernous warehouse on the outskirts of London. As she reached the large, wooden doors, she rolled them back, continuing her slow, steady steps out to greet the emerging dawn.