What am I thinking, you might say, to start another story when I have yet to complete any of my others? Well frankly, I'm not thinking. Plot bunnies come and go, and this one just happened to bite me on the bum and drag me off down the bunny hole. I have toyed with writing a Hellsing fic for a while anyways, so I went ahead and did so. I tried as best I could to make it original, a tad different, and I hope I succeeded. Though, you'll have to forgive me if I go completely off tangent, I suppose. I am actually quite proud of this particular chapter, and hopefully the following chapters will continue along that path.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing, nor do I pretend to. I am not making any sort of profit or advantage to writing this, for I only do so for fun.

Many thanks to: Major props and thanks to LilRinnieB for allowing me to use her idea for the shadows. My story wouldn't be the same without her approval.

Sweet Death
Lady Draculea
Chapter 1: Shadows
It was odd, but not wholly unpleasant. Though, she was sure that any normal person would say otherwise. People would say that it was abnormal, frightening, and evil. It didn't seem like that to her. They sang in soft voices, offering protection and safety. It wasn't always like this and she felt that she shouldn't be drawn so like she was. She shouldn't want to be wrapped in their muted caress or smothered in its dark warmth, but she did and it didn't bother her like she thought it would.

The shadows, they lurked in every corner and stretched languidly beside objects and people. Much like her master, Seras thought with a small smile. She had only recently started hearing the quiet murmurings of the shadows. At first it had confused her, thinking that she was losing her mind, hearing voices in the back of her head… well, voices that wasn't her master's.

Whereas once she would have panicked, believing that she was losing her humanity faster than she wanted, but instead she just listened, curious to hear what they had to say. The shadows spoke of their realm, one that she recognized as the place her master passed through when traveling from one place to another. They told her how she could find protection there when needed, that they would guide her to any destination she wanted. They told her how she only needed to call for them and they would aide her.

Now, as she lay in her coffin, her fingers tracing the smooth material lining of the box, she watched them as they played in her room. She had forgone the use of lights to watch them tumble together and roll amongst each other. The dark had always been something to be frightened of, once upon a time. When she was human it was because of the dangers that lurked outside of her small protection of light and clarity, but now, as a vampire, the dark represented something else. Mortal dangers didn't concern her so much anymore. From a human point of view, she was part of the dark now. She wasn't afraid any longer, well, that wasn't true. Her master frightened her sometimes.

Sighing, Seras rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. It was mid October. The leaves were changing colours, the air was becoming crisper and the days were growing shorter. There also had been a considerable lack of Freak activity, leaving her and the rest of the Hellsing troupes with nothing to do other than practice their shooting.

At first the respite had been welcomed as Seras had been looking forward to a couple of days of self-indulgence. It had been so long since she was able to leave the Hellsing property and just do simple, human things. The only clothing that she owned was her Hellsing uniforms and she was beginning to think that they would attached themselves to her skin if she continued to wear them for so much longer. Buying new clothing also allowed her to spend the small fortune of money that she was accumulating while working for Sir Integral. Though, it still confused her why she was getting paid in the first place. It wasn't as if she could leave anyways. If she didn't help in the destruction of Freaks or other vampires and their ghouls then she would be destroyed as well. It was only her participation that kept her alive. Seras wanted to think that her master would refuse to destroy her, he had made her his fledging after all, but she never knew for sure.

She never knew what to think about him. When he wasn't mocking her, he was watching her. It was unnerving and more often than not made her want to melt into the floor. At first she thought he did it just to judge her, to decide if she was worthy enough to be a vampire. She had thought that once she started to drink the blood packets that he would stop and resume doing… whatever he usually did when not on a mission from Sir Integral, but she was wrong. If anything it had encouraged him to watch her more.

She then believed that he would soon grow bored of watching her if she ignored his presence. It had taken some practice, but if she emerged herself deep enough in a task she could shake the feeling on his eyes on her. But in end, his general presence in the back of mind drove her to distraction. She could remember clearly the amused smile that had adorned his face when she had slammed her harkonnen that she had been cleaning onto the floor and turned to face him, a growl emerging from her throat that had even surprised her. Her master had laughed silently at her reaction before melting away into the shadows.

That was a week ago. She hadn't seen him since. While the bond between them, the bond of master and fledging was strong, he was too far away for her to reach him mentally, that or he was purposely blocking her. She felt oddly empty without his familiar presence in the back of her mind. She had grown so used to him being nearby, hovering on the edge of her consciousness. Now that she could no longer feel him, it was making her nervous. She had already snapped at Walter the previous evening. Of course she had apologized, but that didn't excuse the fact that her master's absence was affecting her in ways she didn't want to acknowledge. She realised that she relied on him more than she had thought. While more often than not he looked at her only with disdain, he still protected her and taught her, in his own way, how to survive.

The nights dragged on slowly, each minute passed in anticipation for when her master would return, but still he did not. Seras didn't want to admit she was worried, her master was more or less invincible, but there was that little seed of doubt in the back of her mind. It was during one of her worry sessions that she first heard the shadows. While her master was away it was them that comforted her.

She didn't spend very much time with the soldiers. The grand majority of them spent more time fearing her then they did respecting her. When they weren't watching her fretfully, ready to turn their guns on her if she looked at them sideways, they were leering at her. It was incredibly frustrating and insulting at the same time. Normally her master was lurking somewhere nearby when she was in the shooting range, though he thought she didn't know he was there. It was one of the few endearing things she found about him. Now that he wasn't around to intimidate the men from approaching her and forcing to do something that she would regret, they were quite willing to ignore any of her master's earlier threats, assuming that if he didn't know about it, then what was the harm? Well, they learned soon enough that she was no pushover.

Having chosen the farthest stall, Seras levelled her pistol and aimed for the cardboard ghoul. Shooting was a pastime that helped keep her from thinking too hard and thinking was exactly the opposite of what she wanted to do at the moment.

After finishing off her first round, Seras reached for the full clip she had placed on the floor beside her, only looking down when her fingers met the floor. Frowning, Seras searched for the clip, thinking that she had accidentally kicked it away from her when shooting, but found nothing by a pair of regulation boots a few feet away. Following the boots up to a pair of clothed legs and torso, the grinning face of Thornton completed her search. Movement from his hands drew her eyes to the clip in his hand, her missing clip. Knowing that this wasn't going to end well, Seras held out her hand and asked politely, "may I have that please?"

Thornton's grin widened, "this?" he said as he dangled the clip out in front of him, "Why don't you come and get it?"

Anger bubbled in her chest at the soldier's impertinence, and with a humourless smile of her own, she quickly snagged the clip from his hand before he had time to blink. "Thank you," she said amused at the soldier's shock, before turning around and reloading, only to pause when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Faintly, Seras registered that silence had fallen, the men choosing to watch the confrontation between vampire and vampire-hunter in lieu on practicing their aim. Turning slightly, Seras glared at the man behind her from the corner of her eye. She was not amused. "Don't touch me."

Thornton sneered, his grin gone and in place a look of disgust. "Your master isn't here to save you, girly; there is only one of you and a dozen of us."

"Don't get us involved, Fred." A man called out from farther in the room.

Another agreed, "Piss off, Thornton, it's not worth it."

Thornton snorted, anger tainting his face, "So you're siding with her, the vampire bitch? It was her kind that killed your families, slaughtered innocent child-"

"Shut up!" Seras snapped, her admittedly small amount of patience gone. Sure she had been insulted before, but never to her face. It stung how the very men that she worked with despised her so, even that she knew that it shouldn't. She was apart of the team, she worked with these men, she protected them and they just saw her as a monster!

Thornton shoved her back, laughing as she stumbled. "Or you'll what, kill me? Go ahead and try! Give the boss any reason to have you destroyed! It would be worth it."

Thornton's words cut deep and forced her to acknowledge the fact that Sir Integral could order her destruction at anytime. Without her master around there was no one but herself to protect her. All it would take was a single silver bullet to the heart and she'd be dust. Clenching her fist around the metal of the pistol's handle, Seras took small comfort when she felt the metal give under her strength and crunch slightly in her palm. She never used to like being reminded of her strength, but now it reminded her that she could take care of herself. She didn't need her master to watch over her like an errant puppy.

Pulling her lips back into a snarl, Seras bared her teeth. She watched, delighted, when Thornton paled slightly and took a step back. Wasn't so brave now, was he? She wasn't some weak human that he could intimidate. With her free hand, Seras grabbed into the soldier's collar and pulled him closer. With a thinly veiled hiss, she said, "Why kill you when there are so many more interesting ways to make you scream?"

"You wouldn't!"

Dark laughter bubbled through her; the fear rolling off of Thornton was like a drug. The blood in his veins, shielded only by a thin membrane of skin, sang to her, but she resisted. Scaring the man was one thing, killing him was another. Sir Integral wasn't going to be happy as it was by her little display, but it was worth it. Shaking her head, Seras dropped the man away from her and watched impassively as he scuttled away from her.

Not long after, she had been summoned to Sir Integral's office and quite thoroughly chewed out. She was now confined to her room in the basement until needed. If she had thought she was bored before, she was doubly so now. She didn't have anything to amuse herself with, though if she was desperate she could always use the shadows to visit the library and snag a few of the books she had been eying for a while now.

Seras couldn't wait to tell her master that she could now travel like he did. He never really mentioned to her how he traveled through his shadow-y portals when she had asked, all he said was that she would know when the time was right. She hadn't understood what he meant then, but she did now. It was a pity, though, that her master had been away when the shadow's voices had become known to her.

Now that she really though about it, it wasn't long after she started continuously drinking her blood did she start hearing the shadows. Had she been inhibiting the development of her powers by refusing to drink blood?

"Good job, police girl, I was wondering when you would figure it out."

"Master!" Seras sat up, her eyes searching her room frantically for the red-clad vampire. "Where are you?"

"Patience," he said through her mind, "I will speak to you in time, but for now you are to come to my master's study."

Pursing her lips, Seras wondered if Sir Integral had told him about what happened in the shooting range. Was he angry at what she did?

Her master's laughter echoed through her mind, catching her off guard and causing her to start. She had forgotten that he was still listening to her. "Don't worry, police girl. It was about time you gave them a little… fright."

Seras blushed, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Her master's voice was still thick with amusement as he said, "Again, we will discuss this later. For now, we have a mission. My master is quickly losing her patience." A contemplative pause, "Though, I had thought I had destroyed what was left of her patience years ago. Hmmm… I must be losing my touch."

Groaning, Seras slid from her coffin, absently smiling when the shadows rolled gently around her ankles. "Master…"

"Quickly, police girl." And only her thoughts decorated her head.

Smoothing the wrinkles from her uniform, Seras walked into the wall of shadows that formed for her. The trip through the realm was short as the shadows tugged her in the direction she wanted to go. With a parting caress, they nudged her through the doorway and she stumbled into the Sir Integral's office. She really had to work on her landings.

"I would appreciate you arriving at a quicker pace next time, agent Victoria." Sir Integral's voice rang from across the room, a cigar held to the blond woman's lips. "If you no longer heed a summons immediately, then I may longer have a use you for."

Seras swallowed nervously as she moved closer to her master and stood at attention. "I'm sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

The Hellsing leader's cold grey eyes pierced the blond vampire in front of her, calculating and stern. "See that it doesn't. Now," she said as she crushed the remainder of her cigar into the crystal ashtray on her desk, "Alucard already knows this and I'll have him explain the situation to you in detail on the way, but I will summarize the situation.

"Normally this sort of situation would be left those who specialize in the job, but the agents sent seem to have the unfortunate habit of dying during the investigation. So, why not send someone who just happens to be dead in the first place?"

Seras couldn't help but scowl at that. Did she really have to put it that way? She may no longer be alive in the technical sense of the word, but it wasn't as if she was buried six feet under and decomposing.

"Calm down, police girl."

"Sorry, master."

Sir Integral continued, "You'll be traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland more specifically, Greyfriar's Kirk Cemetery, also known as the Covenanter's Prison."

Her eyes widening, Seras could stop the gasp of surprise that fell from her lips. "Oh my…"

Sharp grey eyes were suddenly on her, "you know of it?"

Nodding, Seras answered, "A little."

"Good, then I won't need to impart the prison's history upon you."

Chewing on her bottom lip, Seras hesitated a moment before asking, "Sir? What are we supposed to do there?"

"The grand majority of the evil resonance stems from George MacKenzie's tomb. I expect that you and Alucard find a way to placate the spirit, or if that fails, exterminate it and anything else that tries to stop you. I want this to be as discreetly as possible. No one is to see you or be aware of your presence, is that understood?"

Bowing, Seras' master spoke around a grin, eternally amused for reasons Seras didn't know, "of course, my master."

Saluting, Seras followed his example. "Yes, sir."

"Good," Sir Integral nodded. "I only accepted this request because of the lack of Freak activity. If anything comes up I will be summoning you without a moment's notice. If so, you are to abandon the prison and return back to the manor. Now, go."

Bowing once more, Seras watched as her master melted through the floor. "Gather what you need, we will be away from the manor for a couple of nights."

Opening her own portal, Seras reappeared in her room. After changing into less obtrusive clothing, she quickly stuffed a change of clothes in an overnight bag as well as random essentials like a hairbrush. She didn't know how her master kept his hair tangle free, but Seras wasn't so lucky. Done, she spun on her heel and ran straight into her master's chest. "Ompf!"

Taking hold of his fledgling's shoulders as she threatened to topple over, Alucard smiled at her less-than-graceful-moment before wrapping an arm around her waist. "Ready?"

Swallowing thickly, Seras nodded before interjecting, "Wait! What are we going to about blood?"

"Don't worry," he said as he raised his other arm, a cooler dangling in his grip, "Walter saw to it."

Relieved, Seras relaxed, glad for the moment that she wouldn't be forced to feed on anyone. She wasn't quite ready to take that step and hopefully she wouldn't have to for a while yet.

"We can always do that as well, police girl." Alucard purred in her mind, "There is nothing like the feeling of warm blood sliding down your throat."

Unbidden, Seras shivered. Her master's words ignited a hunger that she didn't want to acknowledge deep inside her. "But Sir Integral-"

"What my master doesn't know won't hurt her," he whispered in her ear, delighting in the shivers that snaked down his fledgling's body. "I can show you the true meaning of being a creature of the night, Seras."

Seras whimpered as her master's grip around her waist tightened, pulling her flush against his lean body. "Master…"

Alucard chucked at Seras' reaction. "Another time, my dear," he said before pulling them both through a portal and away to Edinburgh, Scotland.