Disclaimer: I do not own Hellsing or any of the characters.
Notes: Enjoy! If anyone is interested, I run a discord server for writers/roleplayers focused on Hellsing/Dracula. Let me know if you'd like an invite!
Her left eyelid twitched slightly as she slept. He could only wonder what she was dreaming. The vampire stood at the side of her bed, his red eyes glowing slightly in the darkness of Integra's room. While he could easily look into her mind and seek her dreams, he did not wish to influence them, not tonight. Tonight was special. Alucard watched her sleep, a soft expression upon his face as he turned, moving silently away to her window where he pulled the curtains back. The moonlight fell over her sleeping form like a spotlight, finding only her within the dark room.
This night looked the same as the one five years ago, when Integra fled for her life from her uncle. She had fled into the lower levels seeking a white knight only to find a chained demon. Alucard turned from the window, his eyes still half lidded from gazing at the moon and remembering. She was awake now, sitting up and watching him with narrowed eyes. She still did not trust him, and having woken after worrying dreams to have him standing over her with a grin many times, she had taken to sleeping with a pistol loaded with silver tipped bullets. Not enough to do any real damage, but enough to hurt quite a bit.
"I told you to stay out of my dreams," she growled, her young, oh so female voice never faltering in its commanding tone. She was blaming him for something, he could see it in her eyes.
A slight smirk spread over his face as he bowed his head to her respectfully. "I have not entered your dreams this night, Master. Tell me, what am I being accused of?"
She did not answer, only glared such a look as to freeze hellfire. Chuckling, he approached the side of her bed once more, hands limp at his sides as he gazed down to her. He had neglected to wear his hat, only the orange sunglasses of which his red eyes peered through at her.
"I want to play a game," he purred, tilting his head to the side.
"What are you doing in my room? I have told you countless times you are to stay out."
The vampire's grin never faltered. His little master, so brave to stand up to him these five short years without ever really knowing why he bowed to her. Now she was eighteen, and a woman. No longer would he play little games with her. She would be his now. Alucard slipped forward, letting his body ease onto the bedside, his hands now resting folded in his lap as he crossed his legs. The orange tinted glasses slid down his nose, allowing him to peer over their rims. It was something he knew she hated.
Integra felt something strange in the vampire, her hand already slipping under the pillow to seek the comforting cool metal of her pistol.
"You will leave my room and you will do so now, vampire. You will not step foot in here again without my permission. Is that understood?" Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned forward, leering at her.
"Crystal," his deep voice purred, though he showed no immediate signs of leaving her room as ordered. "Looking for this, perhaps?" He lifted a hand, her pistol glittering in the moonlight as it dangled between his fingers.
Integra narrowed her eyes, her hand pulling away from the pillow to her snatch her glasses from the bedside table. "What are you playing at, monster?" she growled, glaring daggers at him.
Alucard chuckled, crushing the gun with a simple flex of his hand and tossing the mangled mess to the side. "Thus far I have obeyed you out of respect for your family. You have no real control over me. This," he lifted a hand to peel down the front of his shirt, showing an edge of the large brand over his chest, "Will not protect you as the others would have you believe."
The vampire leaned forward, reaching out to brush at her chin with his finger. "You have not made it recognize you as the master. I could snap your neck," he growled when she suddenly struck, her fist cracking against his jaw.
"I will grind you to dust, vampire! How dare you come to me with these fantasies and games of yours."
Alucard snarled, lunging forward. He pinned her to the bed, cutting off her tirade and snapped his teeth an inch from her nose. "I don't think you fully understand the situation, little Miss Hellsing. You have no control over me. What keeps me here? Haven't you ever wondered? Or have you been arrogant enough to just accept my submission these past five years?"
Her teeth were bared back at him, yet she didn't struggle. Animals frenzied when their prey fought back, and Alucard was no different. She had seen him tear other vampires apart for trying to fight. "You cannot hurt me. You are not allowed to, Abraham's seal will not let you." Her voice was matter of fact.
"No, you are wrong. It will not let me hurt my master. Richard was of the family line, and I believe I hurt him well enough. You are not my master yet. The seal is hibernating, and you have failed to awaken it." Integra felt keenly aware of how dangerously sharp his teeth were as they clicked together so close to her face. Yet she did not let fear control her. She kept her heartbeat slow, her breathing regular, but her eyes smoldered with fury.
"If this is all true," she began, her voice never faltering, "Then why have you stayed here? You could just walk away."
"Why would I? Your little organization would follow me. You set my blood on fire," he leered, lowering his head to brush his nose against her throat. "Your family earned my respect. But now it's time for you to take the reins. Or you could just lay still and give up. Things will be so much easier."
Integra closed her eyes, her upper lip curled in disgust. "I will make you pay dearly for this," she growled at his laughter.
Parting his jaws, Alucard scraped the tip of a fang over the pulse along her slender neck. Her blood sang to him, and the seal on his chest suddenly flared to life, pulsing once then falling dormant once more. Alucard snatched himself back from her, the burning pain slowly fading. Her will was strong.
Integra panted, taking advantage of the vampire's sudden strange actions to roll away from him. She kept an extra gun in her desk in the office.
"Do you know what runs, Integra?" Alucard called, his laughter mocking her and feeding her fury. "Prey runs!"
The bastard would suffer! Her bare feet were almost silent as she raced across the second floor toward her office. How dare he address her without respect, and to call her prey. But something about what he spoke of was true. She could remember no reason for him to obey her, she had only accepted his submission, assuming he was tamed by her father. Why had she never questioned it before? The symbol on his chest, as if carved by a white hot silver knife. Why did she never question any of this?
The door to her office was locked, and she slammed her fist uselessly against it. The keys were in her room. The demon was probably gloating over her short sight. Would he really kill her? He had never shown her any hostility before, other than the stupid games he played to irritate her. But this was more than a game, he had never openly defied her, and certainly never had his fangs so close to her throat.
She turned, pressing her back against the door. She could wake some of the staff, but there was no guarantee that he would hurt others who got in the way. Alucard stood across from her, leaning against the opposite wall.
"Does having a gun give you a sense of power?"
Integra snapped straight, her hands curling into fists as she glared at him. "What?"
The vampire leaned forward, his glasses balanced on the edge of his nose. "Twice this night you have sought those weapons to bring me under control. Abraham never needed them. Are you so weak that you must hide behind twisted metal and bullets?"
"Why are you doing this?" she snarled, taking a step forward, her eyes flashing.
Alucard flinched, his eyes narrowing as he felt the seal flare to life again, as it had that night five years ago.
"Because I refuse to obey a weak little girl. I do not bow to children."
She was before him in two steps, her hand taking hold of the front of his shirt. She jerked downward, and he allowed her to pull his head to her level. The slap echoed through the empty hallway.
"I know where Abraham stored his toys, monster. Do not tempt me to use them."
Alucard feigned boredom, a heavy sigh releasing from his lungs. "Again you hide behind weapons and Abraham's threats. Fight me with something that is your own. Fight me with your will," he purred.
The vampire leered, a low growl echoing in his throat as he struck. She dodged, using her hold on him to shove his head away allowing his teeth to catch nothing but a scrap of her clothing. Integra rushed down the hallway, mind grasping at possible solutions.
Laughing, Alucard made chase. He leaped as she rounded a corner and his form landed hands and feet against the wall, crouching as if he sat upon a horizontal surface, then rebounded after her. Integra cursed herself, despising the sudden feeling of helplessness that had overcome her. She was the leader of Hellsing, dammit! She'd be damned before she allowed her own monster to play these games and attack her. Alucard had obviously not learned to never bite the hand that fed him, or maybe he had but never followed that rule. She was sure Abraham had brought the vampire under control, but what of her father?
Integra ducked into a room, closing the door behind her and leaning against it as she panted heavily. It was futile. Alucard was a master vampire, a perfectly evolved hunter. He could find her even if she was calm with only the sound of her heart to guide him.
She closed her eyes, forcing her heart and breathing to slow and her mind to think clearly. Alucard mocked her threats and use of weapons. What could she fight him with? She could easily reach a gun loaded with silver but the chances of getting a clear shot and not missing were slim. She needed to find another way. Earlier he said to fight him with her will, but what exactly did that mean.
Grinding her teeth, Integra opened her eyes to find Alucard standing several feet across from her and watching with a twisted grin across his face. She found herself suddenly disgusted with the creature, sickened by everything he was and represented. Even more was a realization that she relied on this thing to fight her battles for her.
Alucard was on her then, hands no longer gloved, and fingers tipped with curving black talons as they curled around her upper arms. "Fight me or give up, girl," he purred, voice a deep gravel tone. "Set me free."
Integra bared her own human teeth at him, hands curled into fists. "You will release me and you will do so now," she hissed.
The vampire chuckled, tilting his head and burying his nose into her hair, against her throat. "Such spirit, and yet the seal does not recognize you as master. Why is that I wonder." His lips parted, teeth lengthening as he listened to her blood pumping, so close to his reach. She would be his now and forever. Abraham would roll in his grave that the vampire he had worked so hard to control escaped through the incapable fingers of a child.
Integra's eyes widened, realization suddenly dawning on her. Alucard was ruled by blood and will. He mocked her will but not her blood. The vampire had only tasted of her blood once, bowing to her shortly after that moment when her will dominated his.
She shoved him back with a smirk, eyes narrowed. "I have a game of my own I want to play, demon," she snapped. "It's called punish the dog."
"Oh?" he purred, crouching slightly, a leer spreading over his face. Twin rows of deadly sharp teeth glinted back at her through the dim light.
"You never served my family out of respect. The only reason you were ever here is because you were bound here," she stated, blue eyes narrowing as his smile widened. "But now your leash is frayed because the seal is dormant, just as you say, like a plant that hasn't been watered. You are taking your chance to kill me and free yourself. The only thing is you want to play, like a sick mangy fox."
Her fists clenched, nails digging into her palms. It wouldn't be enough, it would only bruise but not cut the skin well enough to feed him. "The seal needs to be fed blood, isn't that right? Your master's blood."
Alucard barked a laugh one arm striking forward to wrap around her throat and lift her body into the air. "Now the game isn't fun anymore, but I thank you for the entertainment." Alucard was never one for keeping his enemies around past their entertainment value. That was when they became dangerous. He should have killed Abraham countless times before the man captured him, but he underestimated the human. He would not do so again. He would eliminate every Hellsing between him and freedom.
She grit her teeth, not fighting his grip to breathe. Instead, she reached up with one hand, finding his clawed fingers and pressing her palm against one until she felt blood trickle forth. A quick sweep downward created a significant gash in her hand.
The vampire's eyes widened as he caught the scent, pupils dilating. Integra's grimace curled upward into a grin as he pulled her close, unable to fight his own instincts. Once in reach she pressed her hand against his chest, letting her blood soak into his shirt then into the seal.
Alucard's hand snapped open as the seal flared to life. Integra felt it as well, landing on her knees, taking several deep breaths. The fraying leash that she had not quite noticed in her mind was back in full.
The vampire glared, eyes shifting in shades of red, orange, and yellow, burning in his fury. Integra did not even allow herself to fully recover before tightening the mental leash and commanding the seal to punish her insubordinate vampire.
His scream echoed through the household. Integra stood over his writhing form, looking down with cold, merciless eyes. "Bastard," she hissed, burying a kick in his side though realizing it would do little to hurt him.
"Is this why my father locked you away?" She didn't allow him to answer, keeping pressure on the seal, filling his body with the consequence of her wrath. "Clever , to make me believe that I wasn't strong enough to control you, but you were wrong." Her fingers itched for a weapon, something to make him crawl and beg.
Breathing slowly, she allowed herself to calm, though her eyes never lost the quality of cold steel. She released the seal, allowing the vampire a moment of respite. He rolled to his knees, panting though he didn't need to breathe, and looked up at her, a defiant smirk painting itself over his lips.
"If not for Abraham's work, you could have never defeated me."
Blood dripped from her hand as her fist tightened, yet she ignored the pain. "If not for Abraham's work, you'd be a pile of ash on the four winds," she struck back. "Because he would never have allowed you to live unharnessed." Turning her back on him, she tore a strip from her night gown, wrapping her hand in the cloth. "You aren't a threat anymore, vampire. You are a shell of an existence, nothing more than a toy and a tool that I use at my pleasure. Go to your cell, the same I found you in, and wait there. Do not call me, nor leave until further order. We have a few things to discuss."