A/N: Another chapter up, and even I'm beginning to wonder where this is going o.0. Thanks everyone for waiting this long!
Discussion
Seras scowled at her word, the old title having fallen from her lips without bidding. The figure suddenly chuckled, bringing the young woman from her thoughts and back to the matter at hand. Giving a scowl to the person before her, she was startled to see
The figure before Seras was her former master but...not. He was wearing what she could only describe to herself as a strait jacket, the same outfit he'd materialized during the Tower incident. His long hair hung loosely about his form, trailing down his back to behind his knees. His face appeared to be clean cut, but she was unsure with the limited light and shadows shifting around his figure.
The tapping of hard boots echoing along the floor brought her attention to the monster's movements, a gasp ripping from her mouth as revelations swept through her. She had realized with a sudden start the noise was identical to what she had heard in the corridor several days past, and to the eerie sounds within her dreams. This person was who had been inhabiting her nightmare, the one who had been plaguing her sleep and therefore her sanity.
"Who are you?" Seras questioned, watching fearfully as he approached. With widening eyes she recognized the movements of a predator, causing shivers to travel down her spine and a sense of panic to rise in her mind. "What are you doing in my dreams?"
"Oh, but that would be telling" the figure taunted, shaking his head in amusement. "And I haven't had my fun with you yet."
Seras noted her options while keeping a wary eye on the monster before her. She surely had some power within this nightmare to combat the figure; these were her dreams after all. Perhaps she could awaken herself and be free of this wonderland of twisted figures and shadowed walls, release herself from the darkness swaying about her.
"You believe you have power here?" the figure spoke, a slow grin appearing on his face. "What a deliciously simple thought, would you care to try?"
Seras, urged on by the monster's mocking words and the urge to attempt to create any source of control, closed her eyes and concentrated on awakening herself. Her brows crashed together as nothing would come, the panic once more overwhelming her senses. She still felt the wall at her back, the oppressing shadows around her, and the burning gaze of the figure before her. Her eyes shot open as a low chuckle was heard, her body quivering in the rising realization of complete vulnerability; she was trapped within her own mind with the vision of a vampire's greatest insanity.
"Are you giving up already?" he asked, his voice tinged with a mocking growl. "You'll try again, won't you? Just one more time won't hurt, perhaps your screams will shake the walls."
Seras choked back a startled cry as she began to slide along the wall, a desperate attempt to escape the words and form of the monster before her. The sensation of being a caged animal surfaced, the need to run, to escape this beast prevalent in her instinctually driven thoughts. The Alucard double smirked, following her shaking form with quick and sure steps. A soft scream escaped Seras' lips as he caught her, slamming his hands upon both sides of her head and effectively trapping his prey in the trap. He gazed at her for a moment, his wide grin matching with the flicker of insanity deep within his eyes.
"You are a monster, Seras. Why not enjoy yourself? Revel in your damnation?"
"It's wrong!" she argued, her voice nearly a scream. She desperately wanted to awaken, but something kept her within this twisted nightmare.
"Your precious humanity again?" he mocked, frowning in disgust. "Even you must admit your human emotions are disgusting compared to the sensations of being a vampire." He leaned his head down, brushing his nose against her bangs. "You dislike your humanity, don't you?" he whispered in her ear. "The feeling of vulnerability appalls your nature."
Seras looked to the sides of her for any hope of escape and her eyes widened in surprise at a noticed difference in the appearance of this person. The figure wore no gloves upon his pale hands, therefore the runes binding this beast were nonexistent. Staring closely she saw his long, thin fingers ended in taloned nails, suited perfectly for a predator of his kind.
Suddenly Seras felt a sharp pain in her back and she turned her head to stare open-mouthed at the walls to her sides. Pointed spikes were rising from the black shadows of the wall she was now leaning upon, the points digging into her back as the figure's body forced her own against the rising torture.
"Do you like this, sweet little Seras?" he whispered in her ear as he pressed his body closer to hers. "Pain mixed with pleasure; such an enticing mixture, don't you agree?"
Seras screamed as she felt dozens of stakes penetrate her skin, ripping through her body as she writhed beneath the figure's gaze.
Seras was brutally awoken from her sleep by a violent shaking, shooting up into a sitting position and panting as her eyes looked around her wildly. Walter stood over her, his hands still on her shoulders and his eyes wide with worry. For a moment she could not understand where she was, her mind and thoughts still trapped within the delusional nightmare. With frantic movements she began patting her body down, feeling for the gaping holes she knew the spikes must have left. Finding nothing to prove the existence of the dream's reality, she cradled her head in her hands, her eyes wide and unblinking as she recounted the disturbing nightmare. Am I going insane? she thought with terror, a strangled sob escaping her lips as her body started to tremble. She curled into herself, trying to hide her face from Walter as she attempted to gain control of her ravaged emotions. The pain had felt so real, as if she had truly been torn into while the form of Alucard smirked over her mutilated body.
"Are you all right, Miss Victoria?" Walter asked kindly, noticing the shaken condition of the vampire. He could see no obvious signs of trauma and well knew vampires did not suffer from maladies, but he was unable to find any source for her discomfort.
"Y-yes, I'm all right" Seras slowly responded, lifting her head slightly and giving the kind retainer a small smile. "But why are you here?" she asked, sitting up and managing to keep her face averted from the eyes of the butler.
"I have brought you your dinner" he said, gesturing toward the bucket placed on the table. "And also a message from Sir Integra. She wishes to speak with you after you have finished with your meal."
Seras nodded her understanding and slowly stood on shaky legs, one of the posts to her bed helping to support her weight. After finally situating her into the lone chair of the table, Walter bid her a good evening and with one final worried glance left her to her thoughts. For a long moment the young woman merely stared at the blood bag ringed with ice, trying her best not to recall every horrific detail of the consuming dream. With a mental and physical shake of her well-being and head, she quickly took the nourishment in hand and drank the blood in one long gulp. Her hunger satiated for the time being, she stood and proceeded to the office of her commander. After receiving the order to enter after her customary knock, she tentatively entered the room.
"You called, sir?" Seras asked, ever nervous before the cool Hellsing leader. When motioned to a chair before the large desk she sat down quickly, her hands balling into tight fists at the thought of this new conversation.
"You must understand why I bound you. I could not allow harm to come to my men and I did not wish to seal nor destroy you" Integra explained carefully, She had noticed a slight difference in Seras' attitude since she had entered the room, a feeling of unease in her commander she had not seen before. "Alucard suggested I bind you to my blood in order to control your more...volatile nature."
"He...he did?" the young vampire asked, surprised her master would put forth any suggestions on how to avoid what could have been a much harsher sentence. She assumed he would have merely been silent on the subject of her and allowed Sir Integra to decide the punishment herself.
"Yes" Sir Integra replied to her stuttering question. "Also, Walter has told me you have been having nightmares of sorts. He spoke of finding you in the hall, merely staring into the distance."
Seras tried to repress the shudder which came with the remembrance of the corridor episode, her nerves still frayed from the recent nightmare. The voice within her told her not to speak of the recurring dreams to anyone, to tell a lie and keep the truth hidden from all.
"It was nothing, sir" Seras slowly replied, attempting to speak the truth without informing the commander of her troubles. "Just some bad dreams" she spoke, a forced laugh coming from her mouth.
Integra merely stared hard at the young woman before her for a few long moments, obviously not fully believing the words spoken to her. But apparently without more than an instinctual feeling of unease for her subordinate's behavior, she filed the information into her mind and nodded her head toward Seras.
"You may go now" the Hellsing leader said, returning her attention to the ever present mounds of paperwork on her desk.
"Yes sir" Seras said, standing and saluting her superior. Before exiting the room, however, she turned and decided to ask one question. "Sir Integra, do you happen to know where Alucard is?"
"Yes, he is in the basement. Why do you ask Officer Victoria?" Integra questioned, her face lifting from the work as an eyebrow shot up in some surprise.
"Nothing, it's nothing" Seras replied, nervously scratching the back of her head as she gave one final salute and left the Hellsing to her chores. With sure steps she walked down the majestic staircase and deeper into the sub-levels of the manor, a grim look upon her face.
During the portion of the conversation concerning her former master's unusual interest in her welfare, Seras had decided to see why he had given a suggestion to Sir Integra. As the Hellsing had spoken, she found the red-clad vampire nestled deep below the mansion, seated in his usual chair and sipping what she knew to be blood from an elegant wine glass. Strangely, both his hat and coat were missing, an appearance she had rarely seen him take.
Stopping several yards from the unmoving figure, Seras cleared her throat at the uncertainty of whether he would acknowledge her presence or not. He could just as well ignore her while she asked question after question, never giving a word back and leaving her with a pointless venture and a waist of time. To her surprise, he seemed almost interested in her coming, his eyes watching hers with the expectance of a rapt professor.
"You came to ask me something, Seras?" he suddenly questioned, moving for the first time she had seen him. He idly swirled the contents of the glass he held in one hand as he spoke, though his gaze never left her form. "I believe neither of us wishes to waste the other's time, so speak and then leave."
Seras silently bristled at his prompt behavior but held her tongue, knowing well information would come from a pacified source more willingly than an angered one.
"I wish to know why you gave Sir Integra the option of binding me" she simply stated, proud to hear her tone was solid and her words were clear. "She had told me of your suggestion and I wish to know why you found the runes to be better than anything else."
Alucard merely sat in his regal chair in silence, his customary and annoyingly unresponsive grin plastered to his face as Seras awaited an answer. Finally seeing he did not wish to answer the particular question, she opted for another.
"Do vampires experience dreams more...vividly, than humans?" she asked curiously, her words nearly faltering at the images the discussion brought. Again her questioning was met with silence and she finally grew tired of his lack of response. "Why won't you tell me?" she demanded, marching up to her sire and poking him in the chest. "Is it because I'm such a failure? Do I disgust you so much you won't waste air with me?"
Seras quickly removed her finger and took a step back as Alucard began chuckling, the noise more sinister in its sound than was usual. Her body involuntarily shuddered with the reverberations off the solid stone walls, her widened eyes filled with fear watching as his mirth seemed to consume him. Realizing she would receive no information from him and grasping onto any excuse to leave his presence, she remembered the needed target practice and swiftly turned away from the startling sight.
The sound of Alucard's deep laughter followed her down the long corridor as she proceeded to the firing range, moving through her body as one ominous tingle of things to come.