The young girl continued to stare at him even as the train continued to run and the sound of the wind passed by us. His black hair covered his pale complexion and he slept peacefully in his red coat and black suit on the opposite side of the seat. She clinched the briefcase that held all of her belongings and pulled it tightly toward her chest. She looked toward the ground and the duffle bag and second suitcase reminded of her uneasiness. She turned her head toward the window and watched the world pass by her; the trees, the houses, the snow that covered the ground-jail of that would be a thing of the past as soon as the train came to a stop.

The young maiden would often times contemplate on whether or not the choice she made was the right one. On one hand, she was finally free from the abuse and torture she suffered at the hands her tormentors, but on the other, she was leaving behind everything that defined her. Her friends, her childhood memories, and her very humanity, would all be left behind. However, when she looked at the boy, all the fear and sadness she once held would disappear. It was because of him that she was able to stand up for herself and take her life into her own hands; and despite how different he was, the girl felt connected to him.

"Alucard..." the very mention of his name made her shudder with mix feelings: fear, warmth, and something else couldn't describe.

The blonde-haired girl finally let her nervousness melt away as she sat back in her chair and allowed her eyes to rest by the window. As she drifted away into unconsciousness, her mind began to stretch back into her memories until she had found what she sought for: the day when she met the no-life stranger.

It all began one cold winter. As the snow continued to fall onto the surface, one person remained outside with vengeful intents lingering in her thoughts. Seras Victoria, she was named, continued to pick at the tree with her knife as more bitter tears continued to fall from her cheeks. Ever since the murder of her mother and father, the girl was transferred to the orphanage. She attempted to find some joy in this trapped prison, but no such luck was given to her. Wherever she went, she was constantly harassed by three girls who enjoyed the idea of seeing her suffer.

Heinkel, Zorin, and Yumie. Seras thought. The mere thought of her tormentors made her blood run with anger. Ever since arrival to the orphanage, she had already been targeted by the three bullies due to her religious belief; they would mock her, pick on her, and even go as far as to assault. Of course, she would never report it to neither Father Anderson nor Father Maxwell, out of fear of making it worse, and the fact that Maxwell cared nothing about her. The only one who showed some sympathy toward her was Yumiko, Yumie's sister, and that was simply out of pity; but even that did nothing to shield her from her tormentor's abuse.

"'Scream,'" Seras repeated the words of her tormentors. "'scream, protestant whore-WHORE!"

She continued to strike at the tree until the tip of her knife had broken. When she came to a stop, all she could do was cry. That was what she normally did whenever she was alone and afraid. She would simply cry and dream for a better time-a time in which she was in a nice, warm bed with a woman to call "mum" and a man to call a "papa"-before it all vanished in a flash of light. Tonight, however, proved to be different from the rest.

"Pathetic girl,"

Seras jumped up in a startled fright to see another boy, close to her age, standing in the snow watching her. His black hair was cut short and his eyes were as red as blood. He wore a black jumpsuit covered with striplings' and he wore no shoes; in short, the boy was a strange kid. Seras was immediately terrified of the child upon seeing him, but he showed no form of hostility.

"Crying as though someone killed your dog," he went on. "It's just too funny not to watch."

Suddenly, all the frustration and pain Seras once felt melted away and was replaced with pure anger.

"Where do you get the right to tell how I can or cannot feel, you bastard," she snapped.

Still, the boy continued to smile and showed no signs of being afraid. "Now, that's better. Seeing such a sad face too long is just plain boring."

Seras was now confused: one minute, this pompous was insulting her because she was sad, now he's congratulating her for being angry; was he simply messing with her, or was he serious. The girl was unable to make a proper comeback with what he just said, so she asked him a question: "Who are you?" she said.

Before the boy could respond, someone had already called out his name.

"Alucard," someone shouted from a distance. I turned to see an older gentleman waiting patiently in the snow. He wore a winter coat and black boots. He looked frail, maybe in his 70's, he wore a monocle on the left side of his face and his hair was wrapped in a ponytail. He was waving toward the boy, beckoning him to come. Was this man the boy's father? I thought.

As the boy began made his way toward the elder, he looked at the girl and said, "By the way, we can't be friends." and walked off.

She was truly confused after that. The girl was so unsure, that she didn't know what to say until the two were finally gone.

"What makes you think I would want to be friends with you..." she whispered. "Right, Alucard."

Despite all the torment she suffered during the day, she didn't feel the least bit upset because of the boy she met. No matter where she went, his face would remain plastered in her thoughts as she walked through the orphanage. At night, she would find him and talk to him, despite the clear statement her made the night before. As the time went by, the boy, known as Alucard, began to open up to Seras and the pair formed an unusual friendship. During that time, many murders have been happening lately; reports told of several killings, in which the victim were all men, whose necks' were slit open with what looked like wires; the girl and several others were warned by Father Anderson to keep watch and report anything suspicious. But the girl showed no interest in the murders. All she cared about was meeting with her new friend.

One day, after she snuck out of the orphanage, she met with the boy and noticed right away something was wrong: he saw the scar that was on her cheeks and the dried tear stains. She told the boy about how the three girls would beat her and how she got the scar. Infuriated, the boy told the girl to stand up and defend herself, and even though there was a chance it would make things worse, he encouraged her to fight back. Inspired by his words, she did just that. The next day, when her tormentors returned, she fought back: Heinkel ended up with a cut on her cheeks, and Zorin received a torn ear and damaged eye.

She couldn't hide it anymore: she was in love with him. She couldn't stop thinking of him and it was driving her to the point of insanity. When she had the chance, she confronted him and to him to an abandoned building. When they were alone, she acted on pure instinct. She lunged at him and attempted to kiss him, but he fought back and ended up shoving her toward the ground. Seras was shocked at Alucard's response. Did he not love me? Did he only see me as a friend? She thought sadly. Before she could say anything, she felt a sting on her hand and realized that she was bleeding. The young girl looked toward Alucard and saw hunger looming in those big red orbs of his. He lunged at Seras, took her hand, and began licking the blood off. When he stopped, he realized what he was doing and took off. That moment made the girl realize that he was not entirely human. The next time they met, he told her the truth: he was a vampire.

She should've been scared, or even terrified. The thought of her crush being a vampire would've made anyone runaway in terror. But Seras did not; she couldn't explain it, but she could tell that he was no threat to her. Despite the sudden revelation, she felt even closer to her vampire love more than ever. Unfortunately, it all nearly came to an end...

When she went to visit Alucard, she was greeted by an unexpected guess: Father Maxwell. Hiding in the shadows, Seras watched as the priest found his way into Alucard's room, which was nothing but a room with open space and a coffin. Maxwell lifted the top part and both, he and Seras, was surprised to see a boy sleeping inside. The girl watched on in shock as she witnessed the man pull out a knife and hold it under Alucard's throat, but before he could make the final blow, Seras was left with no choice but to intervene.

"Stop!"

Maxwell turned around to see the young girl standing before her with a knife in her hand. Before he could respond, she watched in total horror as the vampire latched himself on Maxwell's back and bit down on his throat. He struggled with all his might to remove the boy off of him, but all was in vain. As he crumpled to the ground, barely alive, he held out his hand toward Seras, who remained petrified with fear. He couldn't speak, but his actions said it all: save me! Even though she wanted to help him, she couldn't-she just couldn't. Instead, she backed away from the begging priest, closed the door, and waited for the carnage to end. When the noise died down, he reemerged from the door and hugged her, all the while, the girl continued to cry out of shame.

"Thank you," Alucard whispered soothingly. "Thank you."

After that day, he left. All the evidence was all gone. It was as though he was never there. Still, whenever she closed her eyes, she would remember his last words:"'Goodbye, Seras Victoria," he whispered. "I can't stay here any longer." He looked toward the lifeless corpse that was once Maxwell and made it perfectly clear. He would have to kill to survive. The girl tried desperately to say something-anything that would prevent him from leaving, but it was no use-he had to leave. As he said his goodbyes, the boy leaned into the girl and kissed her; Seas wanted the moment to last, but she knew it couldn't. Since that day, Seras was never the same: she felt more alone now than ever and filled with more grief. She would go outside to see if he was out there, waiting for her to come and talk, but to no avail. She tried to tell herself that he was gone and was never coming back, but that had little effect. As the days went by, her depression grew and it would appear that she would never recover, for the one person she had ever loved was gone forever.

And things only got worse...

One night, Seras decided to accompany Father Anderson, who was participating in a charity event, in hopes of erasing any memories that still reminded her of Alucard. After the event, Father Maxwell and other members went somewhere privately to talk and he asked Seras to wait outside. She did as instructed and waited patiently by the door, unknown to six prying eyes glaring at her with evil intentions. Before Seras could react, hands from all different angles grabbed her by the face, hair, and throat, and dragged her across the floor and out into the cold. When she regained her sight, she was surrounded by Heinkel, Zorin, and Yumie, accompanied by a captured Yumiko. I tried to get up, but was kicked back down by Zorin. She smiled darkly at the frightened girl as she pulled out a knife and held it toward her throat.

"An eye for an eye," she whispered. "A scar for a scar."

Grabbing her by the hair, Zorin began cutting parts of Seras' face until her skin was red with cuts and blood. She then went on to punching her in the stomach and kicking her in the face until it was swollen. Yumiko tried to stop Zorin, but her sister held her back. When it was all over, all four girls stared down at the half-dead girl, who was nearly on the verge of losing consciousness. Heinkel was about to remind Zorin that it was time to leave, but Zorin refused.

"I'm not done yet," she growled, still hovering over the beaten Seras. "Not until she's dead."

Before anyone could stop her, Zorin wrapped her arms around Seras' throat and continued putting pressure into her hands. As the last of her breath disappeared, Searas could do nothing except wait patiently for death to take her away. Finally, when she was on the verge of losing consciousness, all of her thoughts remained on him: Alucard.

Suddenly, all of the pressure on her throat disappeared and she landed on the snow-covered floor with a great thud. When she regained a bit of her strength, she opened her eyes and to her surprise he was standing over her, arms supporting her back and neck, and his red irises meeting with hers.

"Pathetic girl," Alucard mocked playfully. "Can't even take care of yourself."

Seras did nothing but smile at him. After so long nights of sadness, sorrow, and anguish, he had returned to her. He was there to support her when she was alone and there to support her when she was crippled. Looking around her, she realized that all her bullies were dead and their bodies torn into pieces, excluding Yumie, who seemed to have fainted. She looked back at those red orbs that were her lover and came to a decision. She wanted to be with him more than ever; she didn't care whether or not he was a monster, she stilled loved him and vice-versa. She wanted to feel her touch, see his face, and remain by his side for years to come. And Alucard felt the same way. As he stared into the girl's blue eyes, he could already sense her desire. A smile appeared on the no-life prince as he asked the question that he hoped she would answer "yes" to: "Do you want to come with me, Seras?"

That was all a month ago and a lot have changed. The newspaper reports the murder of four girls who were killed outside of a building. The lone survivor, Yumiko Takagi, reported that her sister and the other two kidnapped both, she and Seras, and attempted to kill her, when a "monster" with the features of a boy appeared and killed the two, including Seras, before she fainted. The funeral was held two weeks after the event with many people paying respect to the deceased, but little did they know that not all was as it seemed. Two days after the funeral, Alucard had appeared at the gravesite and dug up the coffin containing the comatose Seras. After reviving her, the pair hastily repaired any damage that would remain and stow away into the night. As the final part of her memories came to an end, darkness returned and Seras was thrust back into reality.

Despite it being a month ago, the young girl was still a bit uncertain of what she has become: her blonde hair was now orange-colored, and her eyes were as red as Alucard's. Part of her still felt bad about giving up everything she had for a new life with her prince, but that didn't matter to her. What's done was done and there was no way of going back. All Seras could do was move forward and begin a new life with the man of her dreams.

"Alucard," Seras whispered. Even from the opposite side, she couldn't help but giggle under her breath. It was because of him that she was able to leave her past behind and move on in her life. She would no longer feel solitude or hopelessness because she knew that he would always remain by her side, forever. "Thank you."

Silently making her way, Seras took a seat next to Alucard and cuddled next to him. The no-life prince sensed his princess and wrapped his arm around her neck. No words were needed to be expressed between the pair-they already knew how the other person felt without even speaking.

I love you, Alucard, Seras thought as she placed a small kiss on her mate's cheek. Alucard nodded with a smile on his face.

As do I, Seras Victoria. Alucard responded with a kiss of his own.