BANG!
Ghouls. Men. Guns. Blood. The wretched stench of fear and decay, mixing together in an orgy of uncontrolled violence.
BANG!
The pounding of her feet as she ran, killing man and ghoul alike, the bloodlust taking over.
BANG!
The sound of guns and screaming, surrounding her. The smell of fresh bloodshed intoxicating her senses. She could feel herself laughing.
BANG!
Her footsteps came to a sudden stop. Turning around, all she could see was the path she had plowed through the ranks of her undead soldiers.
BANG!
Not a single one moved, but her blood sang for more and her body forced itself onwards, hungry and unsatisfied.
BANG!
Her eyes were forced away from the puddles of her former comrades blood, and somewhere deep inside her, someone was screaming for her to stop.
KCHICK!
She licked her lips as she ran. She could taste the blood on them, bitter and cold. Now she wanted something fresh and warm… Something sweet and without the salty taste of flesh sticking between her teeth.
KCHICK!
She rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop. Her master, Alucard, stood there, waiting for her. He grinned maniacally as he looked her up and down, taking in the blood spattered uniform she wore and the massive cannon over her shoulder.
KCHICK!
At the sight of him, everything inside her stopped. The world ceased revolving and her body ceased moving.
KCHICK!
She let her Halconnen dropped to the ground with the dull ring of metal on stone. Her bloodlust faltered and dissipated like mist on a winter's morn, and she was left to stand in front of his cold red eyes, horror contorting her face as she came to her senses.
KCHICK!
"Miss Victoria?"
Seras lowered her gun and stared at the target in front of her. Five holes in the head and one in the heart.
A body fell in front of her, a clean hole through the chest, where the heart in her hand used to be.
"Miss Victoria?" the voice said a little more insistently.
Something grabbed her neck, cold clammy breath pushing against the sensitive skin there. She turned around sharply, bringing her hand up in a swift cutting motion. The head fell to the floor with a thud, soon followed by the body.
She slowly turned her head to face the kind old retainer standing in the doorway. "Yes, Walter?"
"Are you quite alright, Miss Victoria?"
She sighed. "Quite, thank you. Was there something you wanted?"
"Sir Integra wishes to speak with you about your recent mission."
Seras reverted her gaze back down to the ground. That had not been a good mission. Her body had been deprived of the blood it so sorely needed. She had gone mad with bloodlust at the faintest hint of the red liquid.
She nodded silently and made for the door, carelessly throwing the gun she had been using on a steel table as she went.
No doubt she was going to be beaten over the head with the deaths of her comrades. It was inevitable, she guessed. She was their commander, their leader, and she had led them to their deaths, even causing some, or most, of them as she submitted her body to the utter control of her true vampiric nature. Of course, she had fought it off for as long as she could. But even then, that wasn't long enough.
She quickly made her way to the large doors of Integra's office. She stood outside of them, straightening her uniform and trying to buy herself some time. She checked the length of her skirt and pulled it down as far as it would go, made sure her collar was flat and neat against her shoulders and made sure her buttons were all done up. As much as she hated to admit it, she was furiously intimidated by her commanding officer. It wasn't simply because she was Seras' boss, but because every time Seas met the eyes of the older woman, she could always pinpoint the disapproving look hidden in their depths.
Finally finding nothing wrong with her appearance, she knocked on the door, three solid taps of her knuckles on the hard oak surface.
"Come in," came the stern reply from inside and Seras inwardly cringed at the note of steel in the words.
She slowly opened the door and stepped into the large room, nervously bowing to the figure in the high backed chair behind the large desk, before letting the door slowly swing back into it original state, the soft click of the latch catching sealing her inside the room with the obvious barrage of barked and impatient reproaching.
She walked over to stand in front of the desk, grateful that her legs didn't wobble or give way, a sure sign to indicate to the stern woman just how anxious Seras was. She began to fidget, however, when Integra continued to gaze at her coldly from over the top of the glasses.
After a few more moments of watching the young vampire pull at the hem of her skirt nervously, Integra decided to speak, "Three battle units, forty-five Hellsing soldiers and two-hundred and nine artificial vampires and/ or ghouls." She glanced down at the report in front of her. Seeing that everything was correct, she continued, "All deaths accounted for and caused by Senior Officer Seras Victoria, Commander of unit three-zero-five. Officer Victoria and her unit were first seen on the location of the attack and first to engage the target in combat. It was reported, however, that only Officer Victoria survived the warfare. On later investigation, her soldiers were found, fallen, some of which deaths were related to non-ghoul activity, -"
There was blood on her hands as she reached over her shoulder for her cannon-"- Some soldiers were found with their hearts missing, others with broken necks, fractured skulls, missing limbs and/ or throats, and various other wounds. None such injuries are related to the behavioral pattern of a ghoul. The Master Vampire of all the ghouls was dealt with by Alucard -"
His eyes glinted with malicious laughter as she stared at him, taunting her for losing control-
"- And the two vampires were encountered together once the reinforcements arrived. When questioned, Alucard admitted to not having anything to do with the soldiers' deaths. Officer Victoria, though, remained silent about how her troops were killed." Integra slammed her hand down angrily on the desktop, making Seras start at the sudden sharp sound. "What happened?!" she hissed at the girl in front of her, almost chopping her cigar in half as she furiously bit down into it.
Seras looked at the floor, ashamed of what she had done. "I lost control," she mumbled to the tiles beneath her feet.
"Officer Victoria! Look at me when you are answering a question!" the young Hellsing barked impatiently, pushing up her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose.
Seras raised her head, willing the tears pushing at the backs of her eyes away. "I lost control, Sir." She said, a little harder than she meant to.
Integra glared at her coldly for a while, thinking over what punishment would be suitable to fit the actions of her most recent servant. Several options presented themselves to her. She could: lock Seras in her room for an extended period of time; command her to drink her blood, while in the company of someone who could actually force her to drink; put her on an inactive status for a while; or command that she take nightly lessons with Alucard on how to control herself when in battle. She sighed. It was ten in the morning and already she had a migraine. "What am I supposed to do with you, Victoria?" she asked the vampire dejectedly.
Seras, expecting to hear some cold and scathing remark and damnable punishment, stared wide-eyed at her second master before stuttering out an answer. "I- I don't know, Sir."
Integra closed her eyes for a moment before snapping them open and standing. She snuffed out her cigar in the ashtray beside her and leaned over her desk towards Alucards 'pet project'. "Officer Victoria, your punishment for your inappropriate behavior is, as of yet, undecided. However- " she added as she saw the young soldier relax a bit. "I will be speaking with your master about this. We will find a punishment fit for the insubordinate nature of your behavior. Dismissed, Agent Victoria."
Seras stood there, shaken to the core by Integra's words. Her master? She was going to speak with her master about her punishment?
Oh Gods, what could be worse? She thought helplessly as she saluted to Hellsing's heir and made for the door.
Just as she reached it though, Integra called for her again. She turned around again to look at the young woman, now seated back in her chair behind her desk. "Yes Sir?" she asked, slightly apprehensive.
"You will drink the blood given to you each night. That's an order, Victoria." She tacked on the order part to make clear to Seras her intentions.
"Yes Sir!" Seras saluted before finally taking her leave.
--
Integra watched the young girl go with hard eyes. Once the door had closed, she lit up another cigar. "Alucard!" she barked at the room and immediately his head popped out of the wall, soon followed by the rest of his body.
"Yes, Master?" he asked silkily.
Not one to deface herself in front of monsters, she kept down the growl that had formed low in her throat at the smug expression on his face. "You were listening, no doubt?"
"Of course," he purred again.
Her scowl deepened at how seemingly pleased he was by his Dark Child's misbehavior. "Something needs to be done about this," she said, her tone carefully unreadable.
His trademark smirk grew bigger, "About what?"
She glared at him icily, but otherwise showed no outward recognition of his last statement. "We need to find an adequate punishment for her crimes." She added a subtle but undeniable emphasis on the last word.
Slowly, Alucards lips turned up into a twisted grin. "What do you recommend?"
"There are a number of options open as suitable punishments, however, seeing as you asked what I recommend, I would say a months confinement and - I would put that grin away if I were you –" yet his facetious grin grew wider "- You will teach her how to control herself."
At that his grin fell away, to be replaced by a completely straight face, almost painful in its seriousness. "No," he said firmly "She has to learn to do that by herself."
Integra scowled at him. "Fine," she said grudgingly. "But we'll need to release her for missions. We can't have our best soldier locked away in our basement while our fairly depleted army is running around without back-up units."
"No," he said again, serious expression still in place.
"Alucard!" she barked impatiently "Whether you like it or not, we need her in the field! She is my soldier- "
"And my fledgling." He replied smoothly.
"But you opted to have her work for me. She is my soldier and as her commanding officer I say she's going onto the field for missions!" she snapped, dropping the last of her cigar into the ashtray. A stead silence ensued, Alucard turning away to go study the portrait of her father on the far wall of her office once again, and Integra sitting behind her desk, carefully watching her servant.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hellsing. If I did, Alucard would be prancing around in the anime naked a whole lot. (thankful now, aren't you?) ... (Or not.)
A/N: Woah! This is the third attempt at a Hellsing fic. I'm so glad it worked out this time! I'm hoping this will turn into a long running fic with more than ten or so chapters. It's genre might change a bit in later chapters and I'm not so sure about the rating. I'll leave it at about PG-13 for future content.
In later chapters, you can look forward to:Seras going mad (in more ways than one), a hunt, a kill and maybe even a bit of angst. (Okaaaay! A lot of angst then! Pfft!)
I would officially like to take this opportunity to thank my Beta and sister! She's helping me with the plot (because God knows my last stories didn't have one!) and some other stuff. Having her in my room is a pleasant distraction for when I get really tired from looking at the computer screen. And she lets me listen to good music too!!!!!!!
Snake Bites,
Jinn.
xxXXxx