Seras groaned and slowly stood, feeling rubble slide off as she straightened, gingerly touching a large bruise on the side of her head as she looked around. The room was pitch-black, though it took her a moment to realize it, as she could still see clearly.

"What just…"

She had been thrown into a wall by an explosion, stunning her. She reflexive brushed herself off as her focus returned. A simple enough mission. A cult under investigation for stockpiling illegal weapons was discovered to be some kind of vampire-worshippers, most likely run by chipped freaks. Sir Integra didn't care about the details of their twisted little religion, only ordering the teams involved in the assault to keep an eye out for anything that give them information on the origin of the artificial vampires.

Unfortunately, like the incident at Badrick, where Seras had gotten skewered by Father Anderson, the cult was based on the border between the agreed-upon treaty zones, and the Vatican was apparently feeling belligerent. Five minutes into the mission, forward scouts reported seeing two people, dressed as a priest and a nun, cleaving and shooting their way into the building from the opposite side. Seras had taken point, clearing the way through the ghouls and cultists, heading deep underground into a large hall, just as the two from Iscariot burst in as well. They were all promptly attacked by a small swarm of ghouls led by some very mouthy freaks. Heavy weapons were pulled, and that was the last thing Seras could remember clearly. Looking around, Seras could see she was still in the same room, though half the room had collapsed, filled with rubble.

"Trapped. Great."

Further thoughts were interrupted by a groan. Turning, Seras could make out a pair of bodies against the far wall, dressed as a priest and a nun. Carefully making her way to them, she found they were both alive. The priest, which turned out to be a woman, had a nasty-looking head wound and her breathing was shallow. The other was moving around, only half-conscious. Flipping her over, Seras saw the surprisingly gentle face of a young girl. Checking her pulse, Seras' hand brushed against something under her habit, which turned out to be a case for glasses. Without thinking, Seras pulled them out and slipped them onto the girl's face, chuckling when she realized she girl wouldn't be able to see anything anyways.

"Unnngggg…"

"Um…are you alright?"

"W-Who?"

"Seras Victoria, Hellsing. Are you hurt?"

"N-no…what about Heinkel?"

"Your friend? Not good, but still alive. Here."

Helping her up, she guided her to the other woman, and watched her sit, blind and nervous, cradling the priest's head as Seras tended to her wounds.

"What about you?"

"I'm alright, please, how is she?"

"For now, she's alright, but we should get her to a doctor as soon as possible."

She saw her reach up and touch a cross around her neck, hearing the whispered prayer echo in the quiet room.

"Erm…what's your name?"

"Y-Yumiko. Ah…what happened?"

"One of the freaks pulled out a RPG or something…started firing randomly…part of the ceiling collapsed. We're stuck. Don't worry, though, the men are probably already trying to dig us out."

Reaching for her radio, Seras found it was a lost cause, dropping it onto the floor and hearing a gasp of surprise.

"W-What was that?"

"Just me, I'm-oh, you can't see, can you?"

Seras reached over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her jump at the touch before she grabbed it tightly.

"Scared of the dark?"

Seras tried to make it sound like a joke, but stopped at the look of wide-eyed look of fear on the girl's face, who seemed to be holding on for dear life.

"Y-yes, actually…"

"But…you two just blasted your way in here! How can this scare you?"

"Well, before, I wasn't…I mean…it's complicated."

"Err…ok. I'm…going to take a look around. Don't move."

Pulling her hand out of the nun's grip, Seras stood and began to pace the edge of the room. One half of the hall, were she had entered, was completely collapsed, timbers, stone and dirt forming a solid barrier. She opened the side door the other two had entered through, only to jump back or be buried by a flood of dirt pouring out. A quick test made the entire structure groan, and Seras released the timber she had grabbed. Again hearing a quiet prayer from Yumiko, Seras turned to where the three freaks had appeared, a familiar smell wafting from the room. Inside, blood was splattered across almost every surface she could see, beds with chains and manacles attached to the frames, boxes of weapons, piles of cash strewn across the floor, and words written on the walls, in blood, of course. Seras threw herself from the room, slamming the doors shut and pressing her hands over her mouth and nose, stumbling away from the door.

"Seras?"

"I'm…It's alright. I just found…you don't want to know."

"Was there a way out?"

Cursing inwardly, Seras realized she would have to look again, too shocked by the sights and scent of blood to look for one.

"Just…wait a moment."

Steeling herself, Seras marched back inside and quickly searched for a door, a window, anything. Finding nothing, only an air vent too small to crawl through, she hurried out of the room and closed the door behind her, hopefully for the final time.

"No, nothing."

Yumiko slumped, and Seras returned to her side. Sitting down, she watched Yumiko stretch an arm out blindly, and she shifted, reaching for the arm. Yumiko, however, turned too quickly at the sound and ended up grabbing a handful of breast.

"Ahhhh! Sorry, I'm so sorry!"

After the initial shock, Seras couldn't help but laugh out loud at the embarrassed girl, who managed a small chuckle of her own after a moment. They both froze, however, when they realized a third laugh had started up.

"Who's-"

"What have you gotten yourself into now, police girl?"

"Master!"

"M-?"

"Can you get us out of here?"

"Of course!"

Seras waited several moments for something to happen, but Alucard didn't appear.

"Umm…anytime…"

Nothing happened, other than another disembodied chuckle rolling through the room.

"But you shouldn't need my help for something like this…"

"It's not like I can just walk through the walls!"

"Well then, I suppose now would be as good a time as any to learn how, hmmm?"

Alucard's voice faded to nothing, and Seras jumped to her feet.

"Dammit, Ma-Alucard!"

"Alucard? The vampire?"

"Yeah…he's-"

"Your…master? You're a-"

Yumiko scrambled backwards, hitting the wall and pressing herself against it, fear plain on her face.

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm…yes. A vampire. But I'm not like…I don't…just relax, all right? I swear, I won't hurt you, or your friend."

The girl straightened slightly, blind but still looking around, trying to focus on Seras' voice. Walking forward slowly, Seras carefully touched the girl's arm. Shrieking at the touch, she turned away and promptly tripped a piece of rubble, falling to the floor. As she flailed blindly, Seras reached down, gripping her tightly and pulling her to her feet. Seemingly frozen in fear, Seras pulled the unresisting girl back to her friend, setting her down and placing one of the nun's hands on the other's bandaged forehead.

"Please…don't be scared. I can't stand it when people look at me like that."

Seras sat down next to the girl, suddenly feeling very tired. She leaned her head on the most comfortable thing available, which happened to be Yumiko's shoulder.

"I'm always getting those looks…when a new officer finds out what I am…when I'm giving orders…even when I'm just walking down the hallway…everyone is staring at me…scared like I'm going to turn around and rip their throats out, or I see them giving me this disgusted look out of the corner of my eye…"

"They…don't understand you…what it's like…to live like that…"

"Don't know? They don't care about me, or how I feel about having this thing inside me! It's like I'm just baggage…just a glorified container for a monster…"

"A monster that's always trying to get out…and you know you can't hold it in forever…and you wake up when it's over, and you're covered in blood …and you wondered what it did…"

Seras slowly raised her head to see Yumiko looking at her, one hand reaching out. Seras took the hand into her own and pressed it to her cheek.

"No one ever touches me if they can help it…not even a handshake…how…could you understand?"

"The one…the girl that cut and killed her way in here…was Yumie. I'm a multiple personality. She hates, she kills, she enjoys it so much, and when I'm back in control…my superiors are always so happy with her…'performance'…and then they see the monster is gone and they're stuck with me again…and they look at me like they wish I would just disappear and only Yumie would be left…they don't care about how I feel when something takes over my body and uses it to do such horrible things…they only care about the power that comes from having a monster at their command…"

Nothing was spoken for a long time afterwards, the only sound a faint sob form the two girls, pressed against each other in the dark, their arms wrapped tightly around each other.


"My master must be laughing himself sick by now…if I was the vampire…the monster that he wanted me to be, I could of gotten us all out in a moment."

"I always have to hold Yumie back, just a tiny bit…or I feel she'll go berserk and attack anyone in sight…it slows her down a little…nearly got me killed once or twice…might've avoided this whole mess..."

"At least you don't have to sleep in a bloody coffin!"

"You really sleep in a coffin?"

"Well, I didn't use to…had a nice, comfy bed, I walked down to my room one morning…and there's a bloody coffin sitting there! Walter said Sir Integra was all 'well, I suppose a vampire has to sleep in a coffin, right?"

Yumiko's laugh rang though the room, holding on to Seras' arm for support. Seras just looked down at her in disbelief and gave her a poke.

"It's not funny!"

"It is! It really is!"

"No, it's not! You know how many times I hit my head on the sodding lid before I remembered to open it before sitting up?"

Yumiko doubled over, burying her face in Seras' shoulder to muffle the sound. Seras couldn't help but begin laughing as well, putting her arms back around the other girl.

"So warm…I'd almost forgotten…god…it's been how long?"

Yumiko smiled in the dark and pulled her close. Seras practically purred, feeling the warm body against hers. Seras happily nuzzled into the other girl, trying to absorb as much warmth as possible.

"Just after I…died…it felt like I could never get warm enough, no matter what I tried…thank you…"

Yumiko began running her fingers through Seras' hair, feeling her relax and settle into the embrace. After a moment, Seras pulled back just enough to turn her head to look straight at the young girl's face, who looked out into the darkness, puzzled at the change. Seras could feel her breath, her heartbeat, the warmth in her eyes…Seras leaned forward, her mouth slightly open, but not aiming for the girl's neck. A sudden sound interrupted her, and she pulled away, surprised at what she had been about to do.

"Do you hear…"

Sure enough, rubble could be heard shifting, and booted feet stomped on stone floors at the edge of her hearing.

"It's about bloody time!"


A few uncomfortable minutes later, a slightly blushing Seras walked towards a waiting helicopter with Yumiko and the wounded priest on a stretcher. Sir Integra was standing off to one side, smirking to herself as she saw the wounded Iscariot being carried by her men.

"Yumiko?"

"Yes, Seras?"

"Err…if you're ever…you know, around England, again…we could…do something…together…umm…"

Yumiko giggled, and Seras felt her face flush at the sight.

"Of course, I'd love to…umm…you know, sometime."

Seras groaned and rolled her eyes. Yumiko laughed and waved goodbye as she stepped into the helicopter behind Heinkel, and Seras waved back as the helicopter lifted into the sky.

"Officer Victoria!"

"Sir!"

Sir Integra was about to chew her out for being so careless as to get herself trapped, and force backup to be called in to help dig her out, but stopped as she saw the look on Seras' face. She was practically glowing, a warm smile plastered on her face even as she stood at attention.

"…I want a full report on my desk by the time I get back!"

"Yes sir!"

With that, the vampire under her command began to skip her way to the waiting vehicles, and the cigar fell from Sir Integra's mouth as she took in the bizarre sight.

"Hey guys!"

The other men backed away slightly, as they normally did when Seras took her seat, then stared in stunned silence as the vampire proceeded to strap herself in, lean back, and began to hum a merry little tune to herself, wearing the biggest grin they had ever seen. And for the rest of the ride home, and for several days afterwards, no one dared to risk ruining her cheerful mood.