My apologies for not updating recently, I've been replaying Devil May Cry 4, god, I love that game :) It's just so stupidly awesome and Dante is hot XD And let me tell you before I begin this chapter, THIS IS NOT AN ALUCARDXINTEGRA FIC! There will be eventual AlucardXOC, but I mean it when I say eventual. And it won't be pretty...

Hellsing does not belong to me, but all of the wonderful people who made it. I can't borrow Alucard for even an hour, even though I would love to and have a list of *wink wink* fun things to do. Lilith does belong to me though, so... Like... Copyright... And shit.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN MY MIGNONETTES!

"Good evening, Count," I sighed, creaking open one eyelid to gaze up at the crimson-eyed vampire. I had been soaking in the large bathtub for about half an hour so far, with foamy bubbles floating lightly across the surface, only my head peaking out from the mass that was slowly depleting. Cool silence had invaded the air and I had immediately known that I was not alone, the familiar feeling of creeping shadows and being watched alerted me to who had graced me with his presence. Of course, Alucard was grinning widely as he materialised next to the bath, peering down at me with narrowed eyes, a mischievous expression on his face. From the moment you saw that expression, you could tell that he was up to something, some trick flying around in that ancient head of his, but I could play dirty as well; you'd have thought he'd realised that all those years ago.

"Good evening, Dominion," He replied, using my title as I had used his, I was almost surprised that he had remembered. Almost. We didn't just try to kill each other in that basement all the time, in fact, we plotted and schemed as well, but disagreed a lot - I disagreed with simply impaling Van Helsing on a stick, and Alucard disagreed with carrying him to the clouds then dropping him (The vampire had insisted that it was too messy, and what? Running a pike up through their ass an out of their mouth wasn't?) To be perfectly honest though, however much I acted totally comfortable with having him in the bathroom while I was bathing, I wasn't. All I really wanted was to know what he wanted then to get him the hell out of here so I could dress then get some food. Sir Integra had insisted that I got rid of the horrendous scent that was following me before I came anywhere near the dining area, because I would make any of the troops ill, and since I wanted to stay here for a while - at least until I learned the workings of this new world, then bought my own place - I had to follow house rules. Once upon a time I was a ruthless, savage creature, now look at me, cooped up in this house until my feathers grew out enough to fly. On the subject of feathers... I thought to myself, gazing at the bare flaps of skin, ignoring the vampire in the meantime, who was studying what little of me he could see. The bath was meant to have done some good for my wings, but instead, the last few greying feathers had simply disintegrated the minute they touched the hot water, leaving the bare black skin now. I wouldn't be flying for months at that rate, there was someone I needed to see - an old friend who would have been much older with how long I was in that cell. He used to give me a special oil for the water that kept my wings strong and feathery - since a fallen angel is technically a demon... Well, demons have bat-like wings, I didn't want bat wings. Get the picture?

Anyway... I glanced back up at Alucard expectantly, my entire face dead-panned to show how little I cared for him being there, at least I had the bubbles for modesty and I internally thanked any deity that was listening at the time. A row of shining fangs was revealed to me and I tried to keep my face from appearing impressed, but I had never seen anything with teeth like that other than sharks - even my own four, dainty fangs were no match for his mouthful of razor blades. I idly wondered if he ever cut his tongue on them, then shook my head in amusement.

He spoke with that grin on his face and I watched with a little wonderment as those teeth were covered and uncovered with the movement of his lips. "Our master" He hissed, exaggerating the 'our,' "Has sent me to get you, she says that you have had long enough in here and that I was to drag you out if you disobeyed," I growled a little at that, my subharmonics trilling anger, completed with a dangerous look in my eyes that clearly told him to get out, but, alas, smart-arse fang-face didn't take the hint.

"Get out, Alucard, I will not follow orders from some girl who thinks she can command everything all because she has you," I sunk back into the water, allowing my entire head to sink under the surface... Only to be viciously pulled out a moment later by a gloved hair wrapped through my hair. Being jerked roughly from the tub, I was tossed easily across the floor, spreading my wings to balance my landing - only to be reminded with a painful thump, that they were no longer capable of such manoeuvres. The floor was slippery as I darted to my feet, finger and toe nails curled and pointed, hands clawed and my fangs bared, hissing at the swallowing darkness as it flowed through the room around Alucard. Had I pissed him off?

"Yes, you have," He snarled, letting me feel the weight of his gaze that had probably made a few people piss themselves, I was left unaffected matching it with my own hellish stare. "You do not speak of Sir Integra that way, she does not believe that whatsoever, she believes that since she has done you a favour by setting you free, that you would listen to her whilst you recover." He took a breath to continue his speech, even though I knew he didn't need to breathe, "She has no expectations that you will stay afterwards, but be warned," He strode closer to me, and before I could escape, he had a hand knotted in my hair and yanked my head back, baring the expanse of my throat. No matter how much we had been allies once, I knew that I had crossed a line with the vampire by putting down his master, and should probably not do it again. He continued and I gulped to the feel of his nose brushing my ear and fangs grazing my delicate, exposed throat, "If you try anything at all while you are here, Lilith, I will personally display you on a pole next to my throne. Do. You. Understand?" Each word was punctuated with a sharp pull to my hair as I snarled in agreement. When released, I scurried across the wet floor to fetch my towel, then leaving into the room to find my clothing that I had laid out earlier on the bed, glaring back into the bathroom the entire time. We had managed to recover any of my belongings that had been brought with me to captivity, as they were kept in a small cupboard in the same room, but it was only a meagre pile, with a specially designed corset, black with fine metal chains hanging down from the top, like a Hula skirt all along the upper area, clinging over my breasts. My long skirt had been totally shredded, so I had been loaned a pair of jeans that were darker in colour, with faded knees and I idly wondered who they belonged to, then decided I didn't care. Clothes were clothes. Underwear wise, the younger vampire, Seras, had given me some thin triangle of strappy material, then insisted that we go shopping at some point in the near future to restock my wardrobe in my room, which was yet to have anything put in it.

In ten minutes, I was ready and strolling out of the door, probably the best unless i wished for another painful encounter with Alucard. Four hundred years taught me that I had a very large pain thresh-hold, seventy years alone in the basement seemed to have totally scrubbed that thresh-hold and any training that I may have had too. Damn, if Van Helsing wasn't already dead, I would have killed him. In fact, why couldn't I just re-animate him, then kill him? Answer: Because I wasn't a death angel. I simply didn't have the power to do such a thing, even though I would have loved to. Striding into the kitchen, the room fell into silence and I knew that every set of eyes in the room were on me, I guess it was because I cleaned up nicely and no longer looked the haggard corpse that they had first seen, rotting away in her shackles. My hair had returned from white to have a very slight ebony shine, but was far from the wonderful colour it had once been, so dark black that it had a hint of blue in the sunlight. I knew that my eyes were no longer cloudy and listless, but had a little sparkle of light in them, and the best part - I was no longer covered in blood and dirt, my pale, creamy complexion still slightly grey, but nevertheless, I looked a lot better than I did an hour ago. Seras rushed to my side, grabbing my thin arm and with a happy glint in her eyes, led me to a separate table from the other forty or so mercenaries. At this table was only her and the man from the dungeons, the one with the long plait around his neck. I thought I had heard his name mentioned, but for the life of me, I could not remember it.

He stuck his hand out to me, and with a charmingly French accent, introduced himself, "Pip Bernadotte, at your service," His single green eye was smiling as his mouth was and I tried subtly to see through the holes in the black eyepatch, but failed. It was simply too dark under the patch for me to see, but in a quick gesture when Seras looked away, he flicked the patch up, showing a huge scar crossing the lid, which was sewn shut. He offered his hand again a moment later, I simply staring at it and waited for him to become uncomfortable and drop it, but he merely frowned at me, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it, before pulling Seras tightly to him. She grinned up at him, placed a kiss on his cheek, then snuggled into his neck, a red blush gracing her pretty face. These two were definitely in love, so far gone that they probably couldn't even think about anything else in the general proximity of one another. Looking about the room, I locked eyes with an easily distinguishable pair of crimson eyes, pulling my face into a grimace, then pretending to gag as the two talked, eyes meeting in all their flowery cuteness Pip leaned forward to kiss her, but Seras pushed him away, mumbling in embarrassment. I was saved when Alucard came over, missing his usual grin, then cleared his throat loudly, lips twitching in amusement as Seras all but threw Pip away from her, staring wide-eyed up at her master, who simply gestured to me.

"My master wishes to speak to you, angel," Alucard said vaguely, his kind elsewhere. When I hummed questioningly at him, he shook his head. Seras was rubbing at her ears and pulling a face at the sounds I made, communicating with Alucard without using words. Pip seeded confused for a moment before Seras finally asked.

"What is that sound? Is that you?" I simply smirked at her and left to find Integra, leaving Alucard to explain about my second set of vocal chords. I always laughed when people tried to explain something so simple, yet they didn't themselves understand.

Finding the woman at the back of the room, in deep discussion with the butler, Walter - as he'd introduced himself on the way to my room, I approached cautiously, circling them like prey, testing my sensitive hearing. From around ten metres away, I could hear them over the buzz of the rest of the crowd, at half that, I could hear the whispered words, muffled by gloved hands in front of their mouths. Striding towards her, my bare wings flexed out to the side, I gave Walter a quick smile that was returned by the good-natured old man, then stood to attention for whatever Integra ordered of me - I already had my answer for her. I was prepared to test her worthiness to control a beast such as I. Sure she had Alucard, but he was bound to her family. Not I! This brat would prove herself.

Integra nodded at me then opened her mouth to tell me her plans, I was prepared to listen to her, but one order, and I would be ranting. I could only hope that Alucard would not intervene, because he would probably kill me should he hear what I had to say, if his master believed she owned me as well as him, well I would leave. Integra's commanding voice filled my ears, "Lilith, it is good to see that you cleaned up, I don't think even the soldiers could have handled the smell, had you come straight here after your release," Walter seemed stunned at the dry humour that passed through her lips, which never even twitched with the beginnings of a smile, that already earned her points in my books. "As soon as you are fit, you may have your freedom, but may I insist that you stay and go out on missions with Seras and Alucard, we could use another with us to help fight the Freaks..." That was it, the trigger I need.

"I am not some... Some slave, Integra, to be used for your company whenever you like. Had you asked politely, maybe with a please, I would have considered staying and helping you with your mission, but I feel no obligation to you as Alucard does, and the fact that you treat him like a slave, rather than the deadly vampire that he is, makes me all the less inclined to want to stay. You are nothing but a girl on a King's throne, the crown is too big and you are not yet ready to wear it. Look at you in your male suit, smoking away at your cigars, trying to be a man in this world, to be even with the rest of them. You never will be, Integra, never will be good enough for your position, ruthless enough to run the organisation. You would be nothing without the creatures in your employ... and I refuse to become one more," The air was suddenly cut off to my lungs as I was thrust against a wall by a hand around my neck, the long fingers jabbing expertly into the pressure points to cause me extreme pain and discomfort. Alucard's ruby eyes were narrowed at me, a deadly fierce expression on his face as those fingers squeezed in on my throat, tearing another coughing choke from my throat while my pathetic wings beat furiously to free me from the choke-hold. In my mind, I whispered to him, telling him of my plans, and the arm loosened, allowing me air.

"Let her go, Alucard," Integra's demanding voice rang out, and I found myself crumpling to the ground, spluttering as plentiful sweet oxygen filled my lungs and I could breathe once more. Inhaling deeply, I tilted my head back to look up, finding myself on my hands and knees at the one woman I swore I'd never bow to's, feet. Integra stood over me, some stray ashes from the cigar falling to my cheek, fizzling as they cooled. Her platinum hair cascaded down over her shoulders as she looked down at me, not looking down on me, but at me, as if she wanted to spare me the embarrassment of kneeling at the feet of a mortal. She offered a hand to me, and with a suspicious expression, I took it, clambering rather ungracefully to my unsteady feet. I thought that was the extent of my punishment, until Integra plucked the cigar from her mouth and crushed it in one gloved hand, the tobacco inside crumbling. Her mouth was set in a line, concealing both fury and amusement as my outburst and I knew it was only a matter of time before I had my verbal lashing; however, that was what I was waiting for. Could she prove to me that she was worth following? Could she prove she was not just some girl, syphoning off of her family's name?

"I know what you are doing, demon. Years of playing around Alucards testing has thought me one thing - You only respect those who deserve it. You think that you will earn my respect like that? Do you think I will sit around and let you bad-mouth me in front of my subordinates? For one, the creatures in my employ are trusted soldiers who freely go on their mission, not forced by me. I consider them an extended family and have mourned the loss of every. Single. One. Of my troops, who did not make it home. So don't you dare come here and claim that I use them as slaves, they know what they signed up for. As for Alucard. He is not just a creature, he is both a friend and an ally to many people here, including me. He has saved my life before and I have no doubt that I would do the same for him, if he ever needed my help. He is far more than a mere slave as you so aptly put it. I may be a young woman, but there has been woman older than me on the throne in years past that have failed in their ruling and made a miserable mess of their kingdoms, now you look at London, how many vampire attacks have went without consequence? NONE, that's how many. And don't you dare accuse me of being useless! Alucard may be the weapon, but I am the shooter who commands him, aims him in the right direction and fires when needed," Her face was a calm mask, but her words were filled with promises that I would know suffering if she willed it. My blood was boiling in my veins and I wore a manic grin as I looked up at the taller woman, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"As I'm sure Alucard has said before, Sir Integra, you are indeed a woman worth following and should you feel the need, I will accept any form of punishment you may wish to give me." I bowed low before her, dropping to one knee and bowing my head in respect. I had to tempt faith further though as I jested, "But I will only take orders from Alucard, he is much more powerful than I and it would be more acceptable to be ordered by him. Have to keep up appearances, you understand?" I laughed and noticed the tiniest lift of Integra's lip, whilst Walter smiled, and Alucard grinned like a mad man. When no punishment came, I rose to my feet, still with an amused tilt of my lips. "Now unless you need any more, Sir, I would like to take my leave. Seventy years of starvation makes an angel damn hungry,"

"That will be all, servant," Integra joked back, effectively dismissing me and I turned to set off towards the mountainous buffet across a large table at the other side of the room, feeling a little better having made an ally of Integra.

You were brave to insult Integra like that, It took me a minute to realise that I was hearing Alucard's voice in my head, and I quickly replied with a 'harrumph' before filling a plate with anything that looked edible, and removed myself to a lone table, away from everyone else to gorge myself on things that I had loved during my freedom, and things that were new to me, tentatively nibbling at foods that at first did not smell or even look edible - only for me to discover that they were, in fact, delicious. All the time in the back of my mind, I heard Alucard's crazed laughter. I tried to memorise the names and faces of anyone I could, locking them away in my memory. If I was staying here for any length of time, I should at least learn the names of my new allies and, gasp, friends? Relaxing into the seat, with a full stomach at last, I felt more comfortable than I had in years, but as all good things... It wouldn't last.

I was a bit worried about the argument with Integra, since I really like her and couldn't really bring myself to insult her :D Anyway, more action in the next chapter hopefully. What do you all think? I love to hear your opinion and it makes me get the next chapter written and published a bit quicker :)