Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing. (You know, after writing it so many times, it looks stupid to do it now… for the 100th time!)

ÉCHEC ET MAT!

By: Greece

"Check."

Integra sighed, rubbing her forehead. She was loosing alright. Her lone good eye fixed on the yellow and black chessboard, she frowned. Her rooks were off the game, so were the bishops. 2/3 of her pawns were slaughtered by Alucard's fearsome knights and queen. He had moved his queen really early and that had made Integra believe that it would be an easy battle. Great mistake… like a slithering snake, the black queen had slopped around the chessboard and united forces with the knights and few pawns. The result was tremendous for her white army. It was insane! He hadn't moved even his own rooks and bishops and he was winning like there was no enemy before him.

Obviously, she was mislead by and had underestimated her vampire servant. Look at him! He was sitting relaxed, his back resting on the armchair, legs crossed, and fingers entwined. His face had the eternal smirk, which was creating quite charming wrinkles on his face. She couldn't see his expression, though, for he was wearing his infamous orange sunglasses.

Looking at them, Integra couldn't help but wonder: where had they come from? When he had appeared in her bedroom 10 months ago, she was certain he hadn't had them. Nor his hat. Nor his silver gun, the Casull. Yet, she had seen them on him when he had appeared before M'Quve and his followers, Heinkel and Marcus. The hat and glasses were obvious at the first sight. The gun appeared only seconds later, since the disfigured Heinkel launched on his with her own guns out at the breath he appeared. Alucard, being Alucard, laughed out loud and aimed the barrel of the Casull at her. No backing, even if the opponent is a woman. Seras had, once again, saved the situation by bringing all the students of the fencing class Integra had created in the meeting room.

The news that Alucard had returned had spread like fire from that day and on. It was then, when M'Quve's true intentions were exposed. He wanted to destroy the Protestant Knights, no matter if he wouldn't be the one to do it in the end, but someone else, centuries later. The Vatican never changes, she knew it. They attack at full force, never backing… Wait… that's what Alucard had done, as well. Not only with the new regenerator, but also with this chess game. Was it because of this driving force that he had almost beaten her? Chess was about strategy, though, not brutal strength. Her attention back from her musings to the chessboard, she winced at the situation she was in. And she hated loosing.

"You know, Master, if only you could concentrate to the game instead of me, you wouldn't be in such a situation," he purred, his grin going from wrinkle- creating, to able to split his face in two.

"Thus, the conclusion: whenever I pay attention to you, servant, I end up in a bad situation," she bit back. She smirked as she saw his grin disappear. "And in an even worse mood as well. You're not reading my mind to cheat, are you?" She raised an eyebrow.

"No. We agreed on this before the game, didn't we? No tricks. And still, you treat me like I shouldn't have returned…" that smirk again.

Integra boiled. Damn! He was using this hurting and heavily implied sentence each time she was bossing him around. "Don't you EVER say this again!" She yelled a both hurt and pained expression on her face. It wasn't funny. Alucard may was using this as a tease, but it didn't felt as anything funny to her. If Alucard vanished again…

Her steam dropped immediately when she saw him taking off his sunglasses and looking straight to her lone blue eye. His expression was somewhere both apologetic and hurt. Maybe it was just her imagination, but the wrinkles on his face seemed deeper.

"I'm sorry. Really."

He was dead serious and no pun intended.

Fuming her last steam, Integra relaxed herself. For some moments, there was an uncomfortable silence, full of tension. The one who decided to let it go first was Integra. "I'm too old for this…" she murmured and paid attention to the chessboard again. It had been his idea to play this in the first place. She was resting on her armchair for the late evening, something she found herself in the need of doing as the years were passing by. Very simply, her body hadn't had the stamina it used to have. She could understand that. But, accepting it… that was another story altogether. And then, Alucard appeared out of nowhere, literally speaking.

This new ability of his was pushing her over the edge. At least, when he was appearing and disappearing, there were some elements that were indicating his presence or absence: the temperature of the room would change, unholy sounds could be heard… not to mention that since it was Alucard and not Seras, there had been tricks for impression, like creating a bloodstain on the wall before phasing through. But now… no indication, no warning. He had appeared just like that next to her, making her jump. Amused, he had suggested her to relax a bit with something that would pre-occupy her mind from any thoughts considering the dying organization. And that had brought them to now.

Deciding that this wouldn't bring them anywhere, she focused on the game again. "Whatever," she said firmly without looking him. "Don't joke around this issue again. And yes, that IS an order!" Without thinking, she moved her white knight and "killed" a black pawn of his.

"Ah, nice move. And do not worry, Master. It's not like I can disappear again. Hmm…" he rubbed his chin, thinking for a while before he extended his hand to move a piece. However, he stopped once he heard teeth gritting. He looked up and if looks could kill, he would had perished on the spot from Integra's intense glare. He grinned. Success!

"Okay, Alucard, why is that?" Damndamndamn! He was pulling her strings like a puppeteer! "Why can't you disappear now?"

"Well…" he took the air of teaching and abandoned the piece on the chessboard. He returned to his cozy position and started to speak with an unnaturally deep voice. "Tell me, Master, do you remember the first time you saw the mad Major?"

"Of course, servant," she answered firmly, stressing the last word. "It was in the palace, through that screen." She couldn't understand where he was going, but she decided to show patience. A little.

"And do you remember the messenger that had brought that screen? No… do you remember what I did to him?"

Integra's features started to relax, as she realized that he was going there sooner than she thought. "You shot him… his head was smashed," she whispered, some things already clicking to place.

Alucard smiled. He knew she would catch up fast. Lucidity was one of her main features. "Correct. His brains were splattered all over the floor and his body twitched," he grinned pleasantly at the remembrance of the kill. "And yet…" he let her continue.

"He returned without a scratch," she realized. "Wait… does this mean that he was… immortal?"

"There is no immortality in this world, my master. People called me immortal, but there was a way to kill me. Bring out all the souls within me, let mine be the only one left, and then even a pair of scissors would do."

Integra frowned again. "I told you…"

"I heard you the first time, master, trust me. But, if I am to explain this, I'll have to say it. Yes, if I have only my soul within me, I'm vulnerable. I die if I'm killed."

Integra's face turned panicked. Upon seeing this, Alucard extended his hand and took a lock of her long, platinum, slowing turning silver hair and brought it close to his face. "You're still such a child, Integra," he smelled her hair smiling blissfully. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

"…"

He let her hair go gently, letting one hair at a time drop off his hand. "I scared you. I'm sorry."

"Quit apologizing and tell me, dammit!" Her anger was mixed with worry.

Alucard didn't hesitate. She was ready to get a heart-attack. "You shot me that night, didn't you, master? How do you think I survived?"

Integra left a small gasp, realizing this. "You can still regenerate. But, wait… you speak with riddles. You just said that if you're killed, you die! Are you toying with me?"

"I would never do that, master. Well… not to this extend, at least," he added chuckling, remembering all the times he had toyed with her, like that night when he was in Rio.

"Go on and that's the last time I'll tell you to!" She gritted her teeth.

"Alright. Vampires need souls as a fuel for regeneration from severe wounds, like a decapitation."

At this point, Integra decided that it wasn't a good time to correct him for referring to decapitation as a 'wound'. Severe, or not severe. However, she still had questions. "How about staying young?"

"That has nothing to do with the souls. Police Girl hadn't drunk blood for three years before she got the soul of that mercenary and she hadn't aged a day. Our bodies are dead, stuck in a condition which we can decide. Besides, for someone like me, shape-shifting is a child's game… even without souls. I'm in this form even if I had a different when I died as a human, correct?" He explained at her raised eyebrow.

"I see."

"As I said, the souls are essential to vampires for regeneration. However, right now, I cannot obtain any souls, for that brat's essence of life is still within me. Having foreign memories, hopes and dreams would only make me disappear again. And having no souls, results in only me being mortal."

Integra crossed her arms, waiting. "I suppose you're not done."

"Why, of course not! You see, this happens only to the vampire nature. And my nature, my beloved master, has gone beyond the vampire level," he grinned while he savored these words. "I told you just when I returned. I am everywhere and nowhere, just like that brat was. And he could survive from a bullet in the head from the Jackal, even though he had no other soul but his in his body."

Integra's eyes widened. She started to see where her servant was going, but he wanted him to tell her everything before she jumped into conclusions.

"So, how could he have survived? He could, because his endurance is based upon something different than the souls. Instead of using other people's souls, he was using his own conscious ability. And now that is integrated to me. I can have any form I want, and as long as I have my own soul, I can exist everywhere and nowhere. Practically, anywhere. In any condition. The running water is not an issue anymore for me, because I can jump in and out the obscure world. I can survive any wound as long as I know I am me in this body and not someone more. My master, how do you think someone who can exist even to nowhere can be killed, die and disappear?"

"Are you… immortal, then? Even more than before, when you were filled with souls?" Her voice was a whisper. A whisper that was crushed at his laughter and made her jump.

"My dear master, there is no immortality in this world! Oh, my apologies… I scared you…"

"Your apology sounds like a fake one with your laughing voice," she stated flatly.

"I apologize again," he nodded his head, forcing his laughter to halt with great effort. Cracking the icy surface and taking peeks of what was inside Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing was still a center of wild amusement.

"Conclude."

"I can die as long as someone takes away that ability and restrains me from having souls. However, I'm still very infrangible, as you probably have realized from my battles after I had my army out."

For a while, Integra was staring at him in deep thought. Alucard thought she was processing the information and he waited with a pleasant smile. He expected to see relief washing upon her, the assurance that he was there for good this time comforting her, but instead, she sat straight on the armchair and her expression got strict.

"It's your turn," she said in a very neutral, business-like tone.

Alucard blinked. He didn't know what to think of her reaction. Was she trying to hide her feelings again, putting veils? Was she expecting this? What?

Deciding that it would be obvious in a while, Alucard did as he was asked. He turned to the long-forgotten chessboard, but he was unable to focus. Integra looked ready to kill somebody. He simply moved one black pawn forward.

And then Integra took one of her knights and nailed in on a square that was not supposed to be able to go to. Hard. And then she raised it and nailed it again. Harder. And then again even harder, always on the same square. And again, and again, again, again, again… Soon enough her image resembled a little child's that as hammering down a single helpless chess pawn on the board. Said board was ready to crack.

Finally, after about thirty seconds of constant banging, Integra left the knight on the square that normally wouldn't go to, gasping for breath, and looking still furious. She raised her head and saw Alucard looking back at her with his eyebrows lost somewhere in his hair. One could even say he looked comical.

"WHAT?" She barked at him.

"…"

"All this… all this… it's like… it's like it's a gift! One goddamn gift by that monster!" Integra was in hysteria. She couldn't digest it. She just couldn't. "Here you are, not only more enduring than before, but also free from that need of souls! It-it's--"

"Frustrating," Alucard willingly helped.

"Yes, dammit! And why the hell are you grinning like this?"

"Anger makes you beautiful, my master." If possible, his grin became even wider.

Integra opened her mouth to protest, to curse, to damn, to order, to wail… Nothing came out and she closed it again.

"It also makes your wrinkles even deeper, you know," he added suddenly, without even thinking.

"YOUR TURN."

Grinning from ear to ear at her dark expression, Alucard, without looking at the chessboard, he took a piece and placed it on it, his red eyes gleaming in her lone icy blue.

"Échec et Mat."

Dead silence. For three seconds.

Seras felt a bit uncomfortable in her suit. It was somehow a replica of both her vermillion uniform and the suits her master and Sir Integra were wearing. Still, one couldn't work in the manor as a bursar wearing her battle attire. True, the main differences were the white shirt and the matching jacket with the series of cuff-links on the sleeves that reminded her master's suit. The short red skirt, and the high thigh stockings were still there, with her combat shoes replaced by plain and comfortable ballerinas, but that tie… it was red as well and resembled mostly Walter's, rather than the old-fashioned the other two had. That was suffocating her. She knew that she had to follow a dressing code in the manor, but still…

This costume was necessary for that time of the evening; Sir Integra had her late tea and she was to serve it. It was a habit that had started completely unintentionally, some night during the thirty long years the two women had spent together. Integra had been tired, she had not and they had both been in the kitchen. Seras willed to make Integra some tea and… the rest was history. In the end, Integra had insisted Seras to bring her tea in the long nights she was spending in her office, giving her also that suit.

'So be it…' the young Draculina sighed, pushing the trailer with the knight's tea. Seriously, who needed all this stuff to have just a cup of tea? From the necessary cup, plate and spoon, there were also butter biscuits, cake, even a small vase of flowers! The habits of the high-class people of England were still a wonder to her and probably they would always be.

Reaching the large wooden door of Integra's study, she raised her hand to knock in order to get permission to enter, when…

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Four gunshots on the row.

Her hand still frozen on it, the door opened violently and a large red tornado came out, bleeding from four different places –two on his head only- and laughing wildly. Her master.

"Oh, Police Girl! Excellent!" He roared with joy as he literally swept her off her feet and sprinted down the hallway with her in a bridal hold, the trailer shoved aside. Miraculously, the tea didn't fall.

Seras circled her arms around his neck so she wouldn't fall and started wailing, "Master?? Wha—?"

BANG! BANG!

Two more gunshots made her squeal in fright as two bullets seized her blond head. A roaring Integra exited the room as well and chased after them, firing at them, screaming something that sounded like "Bloody bloodsuckers from Hell!" or something similar.

She was in awe and wonder. Why on earth was the knight firing at her as well?

"Master, what did you do again?!" she whimpered.

Alucard howled, "Échec et Mat!!!"

THE END

Conclusion: Integra expresses her care through bullets.

Notes: The third guy with M'Quve and Heinkel had no name in the last chapter. Marcus is a name I gave him, because… well, I had to!

In the last chapter, it looked to me like Integra was teaching a fencing class, with all the young men around in suits watching.

"Échec et Mat" means "Check Mate" in French. It sounded more… classy, I guess.

Reviews please!

Greece out!