Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. Your feedback is appreciated and I'm glad to know people are enjoying the story thus far. This chapter is a bit on the short side and not too eventful, but I wanted to show Integra's take on the situation before continuing on with the story. The next chapter should be a bit more fun, but for now I hope you enjoy this one.


How had it come to this?

Integra Hellsing pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. Her mind was still cloudy from the drugs she'd been given during her surgery and she could feel a dull ache building in the socket where her left eye had been. Her blood-stained suit had been removed and she was draped only in a thin, white hospital gown. This was not where the leader of Hellsing had expected to end up.

In truth she wasn't even entirely sure how she'd ended up here. She and Seras had managed to defeat the Major, that twisted little toad of a man or machine or whatever the devil he was, but Integra had lost consciousness soon afterwards. She suspected a combination of blood loss and rapidly waning adrenaline were to blame. When she'd regained consciousness she'd found herself in the hospital, down one eye and two vampires.

She cursed under her breath, wishing for all the world she could light a cigar right now. Where had that bastard Alucard gone? How dare he disappear and leave her without her permission? Integra had been under the impression that her vampire was indestructible. In her insane, bloody and unpredictable life he'd been the one constant she'd been sure she'd always be able to rely on. How dare he leave her on her own after all this time?

If he ever came back she'd end his unlife.

As for Seras, Integra wasn't entirely sure where the girl had gone off too. She gathered that it had been Seras who'd brought her to the hospital in the first place. This deduction came both from the way the staff members had paled considerably when Integra had asked who'd brought her in and the fact that the hospital she currently found herself in was over 80 kilometers outside of London. However Seras had been gone by the time Integra had awakened and there had been no sign of the girl since.

Integra supposed it was to be expected. Seras belonged to Alucard, not to Hellsing, and she had only been obligated to Integra through her ties to her master. It was likely that Seras had taken off on her own now, which was a problem in and of itself. Seras had changed quite considerably over the course of the past few days. She had come into a power that Integra had only ever seen rivaled by Alucard himself. Without some type of bonds to keep her in check, the girl could become a very formidable problem indeed.

Integra supposed that wasn't really her concern anymore.

The Hellsing Organization lay in ruins. It seemed Integra was all that remained of the noble institution. The mansion that served as their headquarters had been utterly destroyed, all of the personnel killed and, even had that not been the case, she knew that there was very little Hellsing could accomplish with Alucard out of the picture. She had grown very reliant on the vampire's power in her tenure as head of the family. She didn't know how to fight without him.

Sir Penwood was dead as well, and the man had been a considerable asset despite his cowardly demeanor. And then of course there was Walter, whom Integra had relied on as a trusted friend and ally. He had practically raised her after the death of her father and had been her closest confidant and advisor. Yet he had betrayed her and then he had perished. Every support system she'd learned to lean on had been pulled out from under her. Integra considered herself a strong woman, but she was one person and without any sort of force behind her there was very little she would be able to accomplish.

Integra sighed. An entire life's worth of effort had gone up in a puff of smoke before her remaining eye. It seemed Hellsing would no longer head the fight against vampires in England. She wondered what the long-term repercussions of her organization's downfall would be. Would there be someone else to rise up and protect humanity from the vampire threats?

Integra removed her glasses and began cleaning the right lens, deep in thought. She truly had no idea where to go from here. She'd been bred to run Hellsing from almost the day she was born. She had no other purpose in this world.

As she switched her attentions to the other lens, Integra became aware of a panicked shouting coming from somewhere down the hallway. She replaced her glasses, inclining her head towards the doorway, but whatever was happening was too far out of her range of hearing. She supposed in a hospital there might be cause for such behavior, and so she sat in place for a moment, listening.

Soon the shouting died down. Many of the voices seemed to be getting farther away, yet the sound of approaching footsteps set Integra on her guard. The intruder appeared in the doorway a moment later and turned to face Integra. It was Seras Victoria.

Integra was surprised to see the girl, but years of practiced control over her facial expressions allowed her to hide that fact. Seras truly was a sight to see. In the heat of battle Integra had been more concerned with the girl as a means to an end and had not really paid her much mind. Yet now that Seras was here, standing before her in the quiet sterility of the hospital corridor, Integra could clearly see the magnitude of the changes the girl had undergone.

Seras had always been somewhat of an anomaly in Integra's opinion. Most vampires, especially those that had just been turned, gave themselves to their bloodlust almost immediately. Sure, many of them retained aspects of their personalities and there were glimpses of people they had been before, but they became killers above all else. Their primary concern was to sate their own thirst.

That had never been the case with Seras. From the beginning the girl had been appalled with the idea of drinking human blood and she didn't seem to revel in violence as she was expected to either. Sure, there were moments in the heat of battle when her bloodlust would emerge, but those were the exceptions and not the rule. Seras Victoria had been the most human vampire Integra Hellsing had come across in all her years as an expert in the field.

That didn't appear to be the case anymore.

The Seras Victoria before her now was not only a true vampire, but a rather formidable looking one at that. She still wore her Hellsing uniform, though a large percentage of it was covered in dried blood. She had somehow lost her left arm along the way and it had been replaced by a dark trail of shadows that flowed outwards from her shoulder. Her expression was calm and collected now, no trace of the nervous fidgeting the girl had formerly exhibited when in Integra's presence. It appeared a little bit of blood had gone a long way.

Seras stepped into the room and Integra eyed her curiously. She was quite unsure of the girl's intentions. Integra doubted Seras wished her harm, or she wouldn't have bothered with the effort of bringing her to the hospital in the first place, but she couldn't imagine what other business the vampire had here.

Integra was surprised yet again when Sera stopped in front of her hospital bed and went down on one knee.

"Sir Integra, I still wish to serve the Hellsing Organization. I am your servant. Please use me however you wish," she said. Her voice echoed eerily in the stillness of the hospital room but Integra hardly noticed.

Integra was taken aback by the vampire's request. This time her shock showed briefly on her face but Integra quickly recovered. A characteristic smirk crossed her lips. Perhaps Seras Victoria had not changed all that much after all.

If that was the case, then there was a chance Hellsing didn't have to die after all. She might not be Alucard, but Seras might just be enough force to put some power back behind the organization.

"Well then, Officer Victoria" Integra said, "It seems we have a lot of work to do."

Seras raised her head to face Integra, wearing a smile that revealed her fangs.

"Yes, my Master"