Elazar was very energetic, much to Sir Integra's dismay. He got into absolutely everything and asked loads of questions all the time. Whenever Alucard was around, he would immediately transform into his wolf body and softly growl at him if the No-Life King so much as made a move in Sarah's direction. Of course, this didn't faze the ancient vampire. Quite the opposite, really. He admired the spunk the kid displayed and even offered to train him himself. Elazar, though, didn't seem to have any such quelms about Seras. She often played with him for a few minutes before he and Sarah went to bed.

The mattress in Sarah's room had become redundent as the pup would insist on climbing into bed with her at night. She allowed it for a while, but decided that he was too old to display that sort of behavior. She knew now that he wasn't likely to run away, so she prepared his own bedroom across the hall. All in all, the little wolf-boy was a marvelous addition to the household. And even though he'd only been with them for a few short weeks he'd managed to thoroughly wrap all three Hellsing females around his pinky finger.

Yet, Sarah was feeling lonesome despite her deep affection for her adopted son. She longed to have Alexander there with her. She would sit in a trance when she had her time alone and look at the rosary he'd given her. She held it close to her heart as one of her most treasured possessions in life. There were times when she pretended to be wrapped up in his arms. For weeks, she waited and waited. Nearly a month had gone by with no word on his return. Sadly, she believed he'd forgotten about her. After all, what did a few meetings with a girl half his age mean to a person like him?

That is, until the day her phone rang. She opened it, unsuspecting. "Hello, my dear."

In one moment, her breath was stolen away. "H-hi, Alex."

"I've missed you ever so much. I'm on my way over to London now. I wish I could have spoken to you over the time I've been gone, but discreetness is part of my employment. Would you be interested in meeting me tomorrow morning? I want to see you as soon as humanly possible. I have something for you."

Her heart nearly stopped. She had forgotten about Christmas! She checked the date quickly. It was the 20th already? "Yes, what time?"

"As early as you can make it."

"8 am, then. Same place as before?"

"Yes. Sarah, if you wouldn't mind I'd like you to leave Elazar behind. I have a surprise for him, too, but it isn't wrapped yet and I wouldn't want to spoil it for him." He said gently.

"Right."

"Also, I'd like to ask you if you would like to spend Christmas with me. That would be such a blessing. Elazar, too, of course."

"Yes, yes! I'd love to!" She blurted out, much to her chagrin. Way to be obvious, Sarah.

"Wonderful, I'm looking forward to it. I'm afraid I have to bid you goodbye now, my plane is about to board." She heard noises in the background, people talking and static crackling.

"Goodbye, Alex."

"Oh, before I go, 0ne last thing-"

"Yes?"

"Think of me tonight." Well, that was easy, she couldn't get him out of her mind since she'd met him. "Because I will most certainly be thinking of you. Goodbye, Sarah." The phone clicked off and she was filled with a sort of burning feeling that started in her stomach and rose up to take residence in her heart, which was beating madly.

She sat there, phone in hand. "Man, he's good!" She couldn't be that smooth if she tried. She sighed. "God help me, I think I'm going insane..."

"Going? I'd say you are already gone." She let out a yelp of surprise, which made her tormentor laugh. Alucard had taken up, rather obnoxiously, a seat on her bed. "Who was that on the phone?" He asked with faux innocence. "Was it your precious Alexander?"

Her cheeks burned and she grumbled. "None of your business, that's who."

"Oh, so it was." He smiled, a devilish gleam in his eyes. "Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...you are such a treat." He took the liberty of reclining on her bed, crossing his legs and bobbed his booted foot in the air. "I must say though, your Alexander is quite a lucky man." She looked at him, disconcerted by this uncharacteristic behavior. "Oh, don't look so put off. I can be courteous when I so desire."

"Can you actually stand to be around me for longer than five minutes without insulting me? Huh, your willpower must be reaching its limit."

"You know as well as I do that I merely jest with you." He responded, a little snappishly. He sighed and a smile returned to his face. "Actually, I didn't come here for games. I came to seek advice."

"Advice? You?" She scoffed. "What does the Great and Mighty Alucard need advice from me for?"

He awkwardly sat up. "You spend a lot of time with Seras, do you not?" He asked bluntly. "What does she like?"

Sarah shook her head in bewilderment, holding her hands out in front of her. "Hey, hold on. Stop right there." She took a deep breath. "Okay, so allow me to ask exactly what the actual fuck is going on around here?"

"Well, you see, when a male vampire and a female vampire really like each other-"

She put her hand over his mouth. "Stop talking or I will rip your lips off. I really would prefer not knowing what goes on in your sex life." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I can't believe this..."

"Start believing."

She put her head in her hands, she spoke into them and her words were muffled slightly. "Baby's Breath, Aquamarine, Steven Speilburg, Robert Patterson, swimming, Sting, Neil Patrick Harris, periodot, the smell of apple pie, and fuzzy stuffed animals."

"Pardon?"

"Those are her favorite kinds of flowers, her favorite color, her favorite film director, her favorite author, her favorite activity, her favorite singer, her favorite actor, her favorite gemstone, her favorite smell, and her favorite items to cuddle with. I hope that gives you something to work with." She said dully. "Beyond that, use your own creativity." She turned so that she could see him better. "Please tell me you're serious about this? About her?"

He looked her in the eye. "I do not pursue that which means nothing to me."

She frowned, but nodded. "I'll hold you to that. But," She held up a finger. "If you hurt her, I don't care where you run or what I have to do, I will find you and I will kill you until you're dead. I will literally shove my boot so far up your ass that you'll choke on it. And then I'll grind you up and feed you to wild parrots. When they shit you out, I'll turn that into fertilizer for my vegetable garden."

He grinned before sinking right through her bed. "THIS IS WHY I LIKE YOU! AHAAHAHAHAHA!"

"Crazy bastard." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Seras, I am so sorry. A sadistic vampire like that must literally have a satanic libido." She chuckled to herself. It was only then that she realized that she had forgotten to go Christmas shopping. "Oh, damn." She grabbed warm clothing and ran out the door in a hurry.

~H_E_L_L_S_I_N_G~

Sarah surveyed the bags that she had packed. She wondered if she'd forgotten anything. Seras watched her anxiously from her bed. "Don't you think it's a bit too soon to be spending the night with this guy?"

"It's alright," Sarah assured her. "He's not that type of man and even if that was what he wanted, I highly doubt he'd want Elazar there."

This allowed Seras to relax a little. "I was just worried that he's too good to be true."

Sarah didn't want to confess that she'd had her own doubts. Where would she get if she didn't trust anyone? "He's a bit secretive." She admitted reluctantly. "I've told him a lot about me." Seras pinned her with a pointed look. "Not about Hellsing! I told him I'm in the military."

"Nice save." Seras replied dryly. "So what do you know about him?"

"Well, he likes to read, he enjoys travelling," She ticked them off on her fingers. "He has good taste in just about everything, and he's got very strong morals. Plus, he loves kids and he's really kind. He's the most gentle man I've ever met."

Seras pretended to be grossed out over her friend's lovey-dovey expression. "Bloody Hell, you've got it bad!"

Sarah laughed. "I know, but I can't help it. It's really strange how these things can really overwhelm a person; love, infatuation, and lust. It's never happened to me before."

"Somehow I doubt that. Everyone's had a crush or two."

Sarah shrugged. "Well, I guess I kind of liked a couple of guys when I was younger, but I have never felt something this strong for anyone else." She bit her lip. "Seras, I'm worried about what he's keeping from me."

"Sarah, you have a right to be worried about the things he's holding back." Seras advised sagely. "Right now, it's a bit early for it to be a big concern, but you have to trust that he'll come to you about it when he's ready."

"You can always make me feel better."

"So what did you get him?" She asked, pointing to the package on the floor beside the bed.

"The latest ediction of the NJB bound in leather and embossed in gold." She answered proudly. It had taken up two months of savings, but the sacrifice was more than worth it.

Seras looked at her with surprise. "Wow, you think he'll like it?"

"He'll love it. Which reminds me," She dug through her nightstand drawer and pulled out a little black elongated box. "This is for you. Sorry that I didn't have time to wrap this one." Seras's eyes grew big as she opened it. "I saw you staring at it through the window of that jewelry store and I knew it was meant for you."

"Thank you, it's beautiful." Seras breathed. "Help me put it on?"

Sarah slipped the delicate thing around her neck and fastened the clasp. "I'll be leaving for Alexander's in a few minutes. Could you give Alucard and Integra their gifts? I have to go find Elazar."She handed her the two presents and left the room, calling for him.

Seras wondered what in the world Sarah could have picked out for Alucard. It was obvious which was whose. Alucard's was wrapped in blood-red paper while Sir Integra's navy blue done up with a light blue bow. She decided to deliver Alucard's first just to get it over with.

She phased down to the basement and stood outside his dungeon door. After she plucked up the courage, she was unnerved by the eerie creak the door made when she opened it. "Alucard?" He was sitting motionlessly on his chair in the middle of the nearly bare room while he watched the news. "This is from Sarah." She approached and handed him the gift.

He looked it over shrewdly before tearing the paper neatly open. He reached inside and pulled out a tightly rolled sheet of canvas. He shook it out and a pleased smile crossed his face. Seras snuck a curious peek at the painting. She recognized Sarah's signiture on the bottom, meaning that she'd painted it herself. It depicted Alucard in his customary red trenchcoat and fedora. His hair was long and straight, nearly brushing his shoulders. The moon behind him was tinted with red. His lips were drawn in a mockingly playful sneer to show his fangs. Beside him stood Seras herself, waving and smiling while he held on tightly to her shoulder. "How touching." He said. "I'll have it framed."

Seras was in shock that he hadn't shredded it. "Huh?"

"Did you expect me to hang it on the refridgerator?" He re-rolled it and carefully replaced it in the box beside his chair.

Seras went to leave. "I'll just go give Sir Integra her gift, then..." She was stopped by his hand on her arm. "Sir?"

"I have my own gift to give you, in the spirit of the season." He pulled out a Santa hat and put on her head.

"Um, that's nice, thank you." She was feeling oddly cornered. "I'll go now-"

"Not so fast, my Master can wait." He grinned. "All of this gift-giving has made me rather festively horny." He stepped closer. "Happy Christmas to me~"

While Alucard was getting his jingle rocks off, Sarah had arrived with Elazar in tow at Alexander's apartment. He greeted them both warmly. "Would you like a cup of hot chocolate?" He generously offered.

"That would be great, thanks." She helped Elazar out of his coat. "I'll be right back, I'm going to get our suitcases."

The evening was wonderful for all three of them. They played a few games with Elazar, then had a dinner that Alexander had made. Elazar sat by the tree reading a small chapter book. Alexander and Sarah exchanged gifts. She was right about her choice for him. He was ecstatic when he saw the Bible and thanked her profusely. His gift to her came in two parts; the first was a handcarved teak jewelry box, the second part was what was nestled inside. Sarah smiled appreciatively when she saw the little nest of Kinder eggs. Kinder chocolate was something she'd not had the pleasure of partaking in since she'd left Germany.

Soon, it was time for Elazar to go to bed and once he was tucked in, Alexander led Sarah back to their seats in front of the tree."Sarah, you have come to mean so much to me in such a short time." He cupped her face in his hands. "Do you feel the same?"

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. "Yes, I do." Her answer came out breathy.

He leaned forward. "Then may I-" Her kiss cut hiim off and he made a small noise of surprise. His eyes closed and his hand went up to brace the back of her head while the other went to the small of her back.

His ever-present stubble rubbed her cheek, but it wasn't unpleasant. The kiss was chaste,but there was more meaning and passion behind it than one would expect. He was a man of control and will who inspired in her the greatest fire she'd ever known. She pulled back, her eyes dilated. They said nothing for a while and simply stood there holding each other close.

~H_E_L_L_S_I_N_G~

The next morning, the pair were awoken by Elazar, who was extremely excited to see what Santa had broughtfor him. To his utter delight, he recieved a stocking full of Aero bar, oranges, and a hollow chocolate Santa. Under the tree he discovered a puzzle book, a matchbox car, and a container of silly putty.

Sarah made breakfast for the three of them. Alexander watched her while he sipped a cup of black coffee. "Elazar, food's ready." She called. He'd been deeply involved in figuring out one of the many puzzles in his book.

"This looks delicious. "Alexander complimented when she gave him his plate. "So what are we doing today?"

"I want to go play in the snow!" Elazar said enthusiastically. "Please?" After breakfast, they drove to the park where Elazar eagerly dove into the glittering white piles. He managed to lure them into making snow angels with him. Then, he started a snowball fight that Sarah won. Finally, they helped him build a fort which he christened Camp Elazar.

As it neared the end of the day, it was regretfully time to say goodbye. Everyone felt like the hours had flown by in a blur. Sarah wanted to stay, but she would be needed to clean up after Sir Integra's traditional holiday party tonight. Elazar was sad to leave as well, but for an entirely different reason. He would be starting school soon and he wanted to put it off for by staying with his new friend. Sarah almost had to force him into the care. She and Alexander said their goodbyes and she returned home to Hellsing Manor...to find it in complete and utter chaos.

Over the years, the manor had been subject to much abuse; invading armies of ghouls, rogue vampires, cultists, political debates, termites, Alucard's temper, etc. In any case, these were nothing compared to what Sarah came home to.

According to Alucard, whom she met as she walked in the front door, the party had started earlier that evening. Sir Integra had held hopes that starting earlier had meant it would end earlier as well. However, this was not what happened. She had no idea of how badly downhill everything had gone because she'd sequestered herself away in her office after the required meet and greet. Suffice to say, everything was quite thoroughly fucked up.

The Wild Geese and their leader, who now considered themselves to be permanent additions to the Hellsing Organization, had definitely had a rather substantial part in the whole thing. It seems Pip rather unwisely challanged Alucard to a drink-off. Convinced he would impress his mignotte, he started off strongly, but ended up making a general fool of himself and passing out under the table. Determined not to let their leader be outdone, the other members of the Wild Geese challanged Alucard and, one by one, became drunk as lords. Of course, there were lords already there who were even drunker.

Lord Penwood, for example, had gotten up on the table to do the Hokey Pokey, butwhen he tried to 'shake it all about', he fell face-first into the egg-nog , someone pulled him out before he could drown. During this commotion, someone thought it would be funny to use the ice sculptures to play 'king of the mountain'. One can imagine how that turned out. Ice pieces were now scattered all over the floor, which made it all the more trecherous to the unwary drunkard. Now, one would think that this would be enough for anyone, but no! No, these people, these drunk ASANINE idiots with lots of money, had taken it upon themselves to start a food fight. Alucard could not tell her what had happened after the first spoonful of holiday pudding was thrown because he'd left to avoid getting splattered with foodstuffs.

Sarah could feel her blood pressure rising as she stomped past her laughing colleague with murder in her eyes. She burst into the ballroom, only to step directly in a puddle of sick. A vein throbbed violently in her forehead. "Are you alright?" Elazar asked out of concern.

"I'm...just...peachy." She growled behind gritted teeth. She felt like she might pop a blood vessal at any moment. "Or, at least, I will be once I murderize someone." Her eye twitched as she took in the sight of food flying everywhere, some of it even getting stuck to the ceiling. How the hell was she supposed to reach that?! For gooness sakes, she felt unsteady on a freaking stepstool and she'd need a ladder to reach that! "Go find Sir Integra for me, please." Elazar didn't need to be told twice. He sure was glad he wasn't those blokes, he thought as he ran to Sir Integra's office.

Sarah picked her way through the obnoxious party-goers over to the podium. She tapped at the mic. "Attention, all you shit-faced lords, ladies, and otherwise!" The room went silent. "If you'd rather leave with your faces intact, then I suggest you pull your pissed selves together and get the fuck outta here. I got shit to do!" There was a mad rush for the doors. Everyone except for the Hellsing staff quickly exited the building. Sarah glared at them all and handed the few concious Geese mops and brooms. "Clean up this mess." She snarled.

She tookit upon herself to gather each and every bit of litter, junk, and other detritus that she could find and loaded it into the furnace. To soothe herself, she watched it all burn. When she was calmer, she returned to help clean up the less palatable messes. This included those who had passed out. Hours later, after making sure that the ballroom now shone with impeccable cleanliness and that every drunk had made it home safely, she was nearly too tired to stand. Covered in party gunk and badly in need of a shower, she forced herself to march right up to Sir Integra. "Now, I know that it's my job, but there was absolutely no reason for what went on in there." She said bravely. "If you'd stuck around, then they would've been too scared to act up. You're lucky they didn't burn this place down!" As soon as she finished her rant, she realized the implications of it, but she wasn't about to apologize. Especially after all of the vomit!

Instead of yelling at her however, Sir Integra spoke firmly. "As head of this household, I will do whatever I see fit." She lit a cigar. "However, I do admit that the party did get out of hand and you are right that I could have controlled it. Thank you for taking care of it, Ms. Seiger. I hope you had a happy Christmas, goodnight."

"Well," Sarah stared after her boss. "That went differently that I expected." She noticed one of the drunk Geese had passed out upright leaning on a mop. "Damn Geese." She kicked the mop out from under him. " Go to bed." She ordered shortly.

The next day nearly every single person in the Manor felt the effects of a terrible hangover. Seras and Sarah, Elazar's help, tended to them accordingly. Sarah asked where Seras had been during the party, to which Seras did not respond. Every time she was asked, her cheeks would go beet-red and she'd flee in the opposite direction. Sarah began to suspect that Alucard and Seras were doing something together, but decided it was best she keep her nose out of it.

~H_E_L_L_S_I_N_G~

During the weeks following Christmas, Sarah and the others began to notice that Sir Integra had been sending her men out increasingly often. Over a span of two and a half weeks alone she'd given them over twenty missions. Sarah, Seras, nor even Alucard were called out, so they presumed it wasn't anything serious. In fact, when Sir Integra called the three of them to be debriefed on the situation they all expected something relatively minor to be the cause of the problem.

Sir Integra held herself ramrod straight as she addressed them. "I have called you three here to personally inform you of a potential threat to the entire human race." Seras and Sarah glanced at each other in shock. "The threat is being posed by an underground cult known as The Black Crow Society." She turned on the monitor behind her. It displayed a symbol, the sillouhette of a crow mid-flight on a red background outlined by a circle. "I understand that in the past such manical groups have posed little to no threat, yet you must know that these people are nothing to be trifled with." On the monitor, the symbol was replaced an image of a gruesome looking book. "This is the only known picture of the 'true' Necronomicon. Bound in human skin, written in blood, it contains hundreds of thousands of spells designed solely to bring misery and destruction to mankind. It was supposed to be merely a myth. Despite the thousands of copies we have confiscated over the years from various 'Satanic' groups, we have never found anything other than fakes." She allowed a moment for this to sink in, then continued on. "However, I assure you that this one is all too real. I instructed several of my best men to go deep undercover as newly inducted members into this cult. Each one was equipped with a video camera and after sifting through several hours of footage, I came across this." She pressed play on the video.

At first, only chanting was heard along with some heavy breathing. Soon, the point of view was adjusted and they could tell by various dark shapes that the setting was a forested area at night. A circle of worshipers draped in black robes prayed and chanted with their hands folded with the tips of their fingers pointed downward. They stood in a circle around a number of cryptic symbols. The crowd parted as a shrill scream cut the air. A person in red robes trimmed with gold dragged a young boy into the circle and held him down. He held up a knife, the blade flashed and reflected the candlelight, then he brought it down to quickly slit the boys throat. The dying child clutched at his wound and gurgled in a groteque manner before finally slumping to the ground. His blood slowly pooled around him, mixing into the symbols drawn in the dirt.

The chanting's volume escalated until every participant was nearly screaming, but still nothing happened. Then, the blood began to creep along the ground and back to the body of the boy. The blood returned, every single drop, and the cut must have sealed itself because there was no sign of it when the boy slowly stood up. He appeared normal with the exception of completely black eyes. There was no iris, pupil nor sclera to speak of. It was all black. The video ended abruptly at this point and Sir Integra continued. "All around Europe there have been sightings of these black-eyed children. They ask to be let into homes or vehicles, but thankfully we know of no incidents where their intended victims have succumbed to this request." She narrowed her eyes. "I have no certain evidence of what these things may be, but they are definitely no longer children and there should be no hesitation."

Sarah, who was especially horrified by this, spoke up. "I volunteer to do research for you, Sir Integra."

"Excuse me?"

"Clearly you do not have enough information to make a definitive strike against them. There are too many questions. What are they? How, if we can, can we kill them? How can we stop more of them from being created? I believe that I can get these answers for you, Sir. Please, at least let me try." Her hands fisted at her sides. "I want to do this because of those children and because of the pain that their parents must be feeling."

"It's not wise to become emotionally involved in a case." Sir Integra remarked sternly. "However, I'm going to give you a chance to prove yourself." She sighed and adjusted her glasses. "I think it's time you had a bit of room to stretch your new abilities. Yes, research I can allow, but I am ordering you to follow through with the rest of the mission as well. Seras Victoria will assist you, as will the Wild Geese as they've been straining at the bit as of late. Good luck and report to me your findings at the end of this month! Dismissed!" Sarah and Seras saluted before leaving.

Alucard, however, stuck around. "Master, are you trying to kill her? You know as well as I that she's not fit for something like this."

"Be that as it may, servant, she must do this. Better men than her have died on their first missions, but I have a feeling that she's going to be very hard to kill." Sir Integra lit up a cuban. "Alucard, did you know that Walter spoke to me today?"

"What did the Shinigami have to say?"

"He apologized. His body has settled out, it seems that he's going to be stuck with a younger body." She blew a ring of smoke. "A..much..younger body. He's practically a baby." She eyed him. "I'm putting you on babysitting duty."

"Do I get to spank him?" He asked hopefully.

"No!"

That night, Sarah couldn't sleep. She forced herself to scour the immense collection of Occult information stored in the Hellsing library. After that yeilded no definable results, she turned to the internet. Surprisingly, there was recent talk of experiences with the black-eyed kids posted all over forums and scary story sites. The next few days were hell as she only stopped hunting for meals and to wake Elazar for school.

A week after Sarah had secreted herself in her room, Seras ventured to knock on her door. She was worried for her. She had lifted her hand to knock when the door flew open and she saw Sarah there standing in the doorway dressed only in pajama pants and a tanktop holding a thin stack of papers in her hand. Sarah appeared haggard, but there was a certain satisfied air surrounding her. She hurried her friend inside. "These are the exact locations where several hundred encounters happened." She explained. "It took a lot of digging and little bit of hacking, thank God I took that class, anyway I need you to look at this!" She pointed to a pin-up map of Europe that was covered in several hundred red dots. In one place there was a large cluster where dots nearly overlapped each other. "There, in Ireland, I suspect that is where the rituals are happening." She circled it in red sharpie. "We need to go there!"

"Um...Sarah...are you ok?"

"Fine, I'm just fine." Sarah muttered as she searched through the mess of papers on her desk. The mess was a bad sign, Sarah was at all times very neat and careful with everything, but she was flustered now. "I know what these things are, Seras!" She smiled triumphantly. "I know what they are and I know how to kill them!"

"Oh, really?" Seras was intreagued, but fearful for her friend's sanity.

"Yes, they're something called a Lamia- a type of vampire. They're demons that feed specifically on children's blood, but are a relatively minor class of demons. They can only possess the freshly dead body of a child. They've often gotten confused with true vampires and it's easy to see why. Unlike a real vampire though, these demons can't keep the body they've possessed from eventually decaying, so they need to switch bodies quite often." She read her through her notes. "Also, they've got several weaknesses that have been mistakenly attributed to real vampires. For instance, they can't cross moving bodies of water and they can be severely burned or warded off by garlic and sage."

"How do we kill them, though?"

"Well, there's two different methods. One, the possessing demon can be exorcised from the dead body. The demon cannot exist in our world for long without a host, so it is almost immediately destroyed. Two, you have to re-create the exact wound that killed the original owner of the body. Thankfully, I think that the Black Crows have a uniform method of killing; cutting the jugular. So that should be pretty helpful, I think." Seras was about to speak again, but Sarah held up her hand. "One more thing, these demons are extremely cocky. In other words, they see humans as nothing more than beasts for the slaughter. Knowing this, I do not think that the Black Crows are the ones controlling as much as they are the ones being controlled. These demons would see no problem using humans as tools. I think that they may be out to conqure the human race and make us slaves, maybe bring about Armageddon, shit like that."

"Oh, I see..." Seras pondered this theory. "Have you gone to Sir Integra yet?"

"No, but I was about to before you showed up." She sighed tiredly and slumped down in her computer seat. "Damn, this is almost too much."

"I still can't believe you found all of this out in just a week." Seras sat down beside her. "That's incredible."

Sarah smiled weakly. "The internet is just as scary as it is fascinating and informative."