A sad thing has just occurred. A boy I knew named Trevor died. I am dedicating this chapter to him.

Thank you for reviewing.


Bright

Elizabeth flinched back from the blinding light that flooded her vision as she tried to open her eyes. For several minutes, she continued to squint into the light so she could make out where she was. Finally able to stand it, she glanced around.

Elizabeth started to panic. The white sterile room was too familiar. She looked at the door, expecting the Commander to burst in. As several minutes passed when no one did, Elizabeth took this as a sign that no one would. She used this opportunity to observe the person who sat in the chair next to her bed.

She was very familiar. Her short blonde hair and blue uniform with a miniskirt. Elizabeth couldn't exactly remember her name. The woman appeared to be sleeping. Her head lay back on the chair, her gloved hands resting on the arms of it. Elizabeth reached out to tap the woman on the hand, waking her up. The woman's eyes opened and she blinked at Elizabeth. Her red eyes were also too familiar.

"Oh, you're awake? Thank god, I thought you would never would for as long as you were out." The woman sighed in relief. A sinking feeling hit Elizabeth so fast she felt dizzy. Although she was afraid of the answer, she wanted to know.

"How long have I been asleep?" Elizabeth whispered this so low that she was surprised when the woman heard her.

"About a week. I don't the atmosphere has ever been so tense." The woman sighed again and laid back in her chair. Elizabeth fidgeted a minute.

"Excuse me. I'm really sorry but…but I don't quite…remember your name." Elizabeth looked away in embarrassment.

"Oh, no, it's alright. You just met me anyway. I wouldn't expect you to remember after…well, it's Seras Victoria. Ring any bells?" Elizabeth nodded. She recalled the woman, Seras Victoria, standing in her doorway. Wasn't she supposed to go somewhere? Elizabeth shook off the thought.

"Nice to meet you again, Ms. Seras Victoria." Elizabeth said. Seras smiled at her. Elizabeth returned it. Seras stood up and stretched, holding her arms above her head, interlacing her fingers, and cracking her knuckles. She settled back down in the chair. She closed her eyes and leaned back. Suddenly, her eyes opened and she jumped up.

"I forgot! Sir Integra told me to inform her when you were awake!" Seras almost ran out the door, but Elizabeth stopped her.

"May I come?" Seras hesitated.

"Are you sure you can even get up?" Elizabeth nodded. Seras was reluctant, but agreed. Elizabeth slowly stood out of the bed. When she was confident she could walk, she took some steps. They came easy to her. Not a minute, Seras and Elizabeth were walking the halls to Sir Integra's office. They barely talked. The only question that had come up was an asking about the weather from Elizabeth. The vague 'I don't know' from Seras was puzzling, but she didn't push it any farther. Seras looked gloomy and she was afraid that the older woman might cry if she did. Again, Elizabeth wondered why.

They stopped in front of the large door that Elizabeth apparently hadn't seen in a week. She reached for the knob, but flinched back as a vision flashed through her mind.

V

Elizabeth skidded in front of Integra's door. Instead of busting the door open, she carefully opened the door a crack, peeking inside.

A man with slicked back red hair gold eyes stood to the side of the office, holding two swords and grinning triumphantly.

"I've involved Hellsing. I've gotten into your office. Do you really think you're going to survive this?

V

Elizabeth cradled her head in her hands. Seras put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Elizabeth snapped. She saw the hurt look on Seras's face and added in a softer tone, "Thank you." Seras nodded and gave an uneasy smile. Elizabeth sighed and tried once again to open the door. This time, nothing stopped her from turning the knob and opening the door.

H

Before Elizabeth had even woken up, Sir Integra was handling her own problems. The vampire, James Thomas, had invaded Hellsing and caused another significantly low drop in her soldiers. The funerals were in two weeks, but she doubted the stacks of paperwork would be signed and finished by that time. She sighed and rubbed her temples in annoyance as she felt a presence in the room.

"You're too stressed, Master."

"You know very well why." She looked to her right to see Alucard leaning casually against the wall, arms crossed, his hat dipping onto his glasses.

"Tell me anyway." Integra rolled her eyes and set the pen she had been holding down onto her desk. Once again, she reached into her drawer and pulled out the carton of cigars. A match and a flick of the wrist lit it up. She was soon leaning back in her chair, hands resting on her lap, puffing contentedly on the cigar.

"This is the second time since the Valentine incident since we have invaded and I've lost another two squads of soldiers. I have funerals to attend in two weeks time. Not to mention the paperwork." She blew a smoke ring and hid the carton of cigars back in the drawer.

"Walter will find them, Master." Alucard stated off topic.

"Not if I can help it." She mumbled. The vampire laughed.

Suddenly, Sir Integra was looking into two red eyes. Alucard was leaning over her desk and looking directly into her blue eyes. Integra didn't flinch.

"And the girl?" The vampire could tell he had hit the target. His master was glaring at him like she might shoot him.

"That girl is none of your concern." Integra stated as she picked up her pen and leaned over the paperwork.

"You're right. She's not. But apparently she's yours." Integra slammed her hands down on her desk, standing up and glaring at Alucard.

"Do not question me, servant!" She yelled. Despite the humongous difference in height that made Integra raise her head to glare, she did so right into the vampire's bright, red eyes. He smirked, but retreated a couple of steps, grabbed his hat, placed it on his chest, and bowed low.

"My apologies, Master."

Integra's head shifted sharply to the side to look at the door as the handle turned, and Elizabeth and Seras took a step into her office. As she noticed Elizabeth, her glare focused on Seras.

"Seras, why-"

"I'm sorry Sir Integra, she insisted on coming and I didn't see any harm in it!" Elizabeth wasn't offended by this statement. It was, after all, true. Integra sighed, took one last puff of her cigar, then extinguished it in a small crystal ash-tray laying to the right of her.

"Hello Elizabeth. How are you feeling?" The young girl was surprised. Sir Integra never addressed her in a friendly tone. To be honest, she was never addressed at all, besides scolding.

"Fine. Thank you."

"How's your wound?" Elizabeth blinked. She realized that she hadn't even looked at it. She lifted her shirt and looked at her stomach. She brushed her fingers over the unmarked skin, marveling at how fast it had healed. A breath of silent amazement escaped her.

"I see." Integra nodded as Elizabeth lowered her shirt, straightening it and blushing.

A loud chuckled brought Elizabeth's attention to the tall man standing behind Sir Integra. His usual red fedora looked like it had been placed carefully atop his head. His all-knowing, but equally intimidating smirk was almost as distracting as the orange-tinted glasses he wore. This time, though, Elizabeth knew what was hidden behind he orange.

Elizabeth reverted her gaze back to Sir Integra as the older woman cleared her throat.

"I would like to…thank you for saving my life. You have aided Queen and Country a great deal. I have chose to give you two requests." The woman said this slowly uncomfortably. Obviously she was not used to giving favors. The first thing Elizabeth thought of was clothes.

"Could Seras and I go shopping? I'm running out of clothes." Integra sighed. Elizabeth tensed up.

"Does it have to be Seras?" The young girl looked behind her at the blonde woman standing near the door. Though trying to hide it, Seras seemed to be delighted to go. Elizabeth turned around to meet Integra's gaze.

"Yes. It must." The atmosphere was taut as Sir Integra paused.

"Granted. Your second request?" Elizabeth heard the small cheer from Seras in the background and she smiled. The smile quickly turned into a look of seriousness as she met Integra's hard, blue eyes.

"I want to know what the Hellsing Organization it, who you people are, and how this affects me." Integra's eyes narrowed, and Elizabeth expected a refusal. Instead, she began to dig into her drawer, finding a cigar box, pulling one out and lighting it up.

"How much do you know already?"

" I know you're an Organization. I know you have soldiers. I am a FREAK, whatever that means. And last of all, but definitely not least important, a frickin' vampire broke into your office and tried to kill you. I want answers." A loud laugh reminded Elizabeth that the tall man was still standing behind Sir Integra.

"Quite the forceful one, isn't she Master? She reminds me of you." Elizabeth had the weird sensation that, even though he was wearing glasses, his eyes were on her.

"Silence." The man smirked, but obeyed, leaning against the wall. Elizabeth wondered why he had called Sir Integra master, but she decided she could wait. It would probably be explained to her. Integra leaned forward in her chair, interlacing her fingers and resting her chin on them.

"The Hellsing Organization has a very special job. We terminate midians, ghouls, and-"

"Midians? Ghouls?" Sir Integra looked like she was trying to retain her patience.

"We hunt Midians…"Elizabeth controlled the urge to roll her eyes. If she couldn't understand it once, it probably meant she couldn't understand it again.

"Nosferatu..." Elizabeth blinked. 'I can't even speak my own damn English language. How am I supposed to know what that means?' she thought.

"Vampires." Sir Integra took Elizabeth's sucked in breath as one of understanding.

"Vampires?" Integra rolled her eyes.

"Is it really that hard to believe?" She snapped. Elizabeth recalled getting chased by that monster, who had led her here. She remembered the red-headed vampire that had almost caused her death. She briefly touched her stomach.

"No…"She whispered.

"We hunt them down. Terminate them."

"You were saying something about ghouls/" Integra nodded.

"Ghouls are the result of a non-virgin human that is bitten by a same-sex vampire. They are zombie-like creatures with practically no intelligence. Their intent is only one thing. To feed." Shivers crawled up Elizabeth's spine. She hid it, though. Integra continued on.

"We also dispose of FREAKS. Like you, they are artificially created vampires, started by implanting chips into a human body. Unlike you, though, they have more weaknesses than a regular vampire. They cannot regenerate. They have limited strength and abilities. You're something we've never seen before." The young girl chewed her lip thoughtfully. After a second of mulling this information over, she spoke.

"What kind of means do you use to destroy these…things?" Seras shifted uncomfortably. Behind Integra, the man's grin widened.

"We have two means. One would be sending our soldiers to extinguish them."

"And the other?" Sir Integra paused.

"The other would be sending in our vampires." Elizabeth was shocked.

"You have vampires under your control? And you use them to kill other vampires?" Integra sighed.

"Alucard. Seras." Before Elizabeth could blink, the man in red and Seras stood before her. Seras looked uncertain, but the man was grinning wildly.

"These would be our weapons. Alucard, our greatest asset, and Seras, his fledgling." The pieces of the puzzle clicked into place so fast for Elizabeth it made her dizzy. She suddenly felt very guilty. It was obvious that Seras was uncomfortable with being a vampire, and Elizabeth had just unwittingly called her a thing. She vowed to make it up to Seras.

This also explained an exceeding amount about this man in red. Alucard. How he could go into her dreams and how he controlled the shadows. She thought knowing this would answer all her questions. Unfortunately, they also left more.

"Have you found out why these FREAK chips are being made?" Integra shook her head.

"We are currently investigating. Right now, you are our only lead." She was a piece of evidence. Perfect. Integra regarded her silently for a moment before sighing and extinguishing her cigar.

"Those are your two requests. If you're done, you may leave." Another undistinguished order. Elizabeth stood up to leave. A plan entered her mind.

"I want to help." Sir Integra looked up at her in shock.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to help terminate vampires." Integra's eyes narrowed so much, it looked like she was squinting.

"You don't make decisions. I do believe I only gave you two requests." Elizabeth nodded slowly, turning and walking towards the door.

"Elizabeth." She stopped, facing Sir Integra.

"I'll see what I can do." Elizabeth smiled and almost skipped out the door. She literally ran into Walter.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth grinned sheepishly, scratching her head.

"It's quite alright. I trust you're feeling better? How's your injury?"

"Perfect Walter. Not a scratch on me."

"Good." They started down the hallway.

"Are we going to the library?"

"Not today, Miss Elizabeth. I was ordered to take you right to your room. I can see why. You need rest." Elizabeth huffed and crossed her arms, but she smiled secretly.

They stopped at her room. As she was about to go inside, a thought struck her. That's where she and Seras were supposed to go!

"Hey Walter! Are we going to see Dr. Ross tomorrow?" Walter hesitated. He sighed and knelt on the ground, coming face-to-face with Elizabeth.

"I know this may be hard for you to understand…"

"What?" Elizabeth asked with an uneasy smile.

"Dr. Ross…died a week before. He was attacked by the vampire." Waster did not mention how Dr. Ross had become a ghoul, causing many deaths. He also didn't mention that it was he himself that had put Dr. Ross to death.

Elizabeth's eyes widened with shock. She looked into Walter's grey eyes, hoping he was lying to her, playing some kind of trick. The only thing they held was sympathy. Elizabeth's knees buckled and she fell forward, her vision blurry with dizziness and tears. Walter caught her, patting her on the back soothingly. Her heavy tears soaked his shirt.

Eventually, she calmed down. He helped her up and walked her into her room. She laid herself down on the bed, curling herself up into a small ball and shivering. Walter, finding nothing else he could do for her, left. Elizabeth soon drifted off into a fitful sleep.

Sad, no? I felt in that kind of mood. I know this is a long ass chapter. I was gonna cut it off somewhere in there, but my sister said that I should go on, so it was done.

READ AND REVIEW ON ANY PAIRINGS THAT ARE TO BE REQUESTED!!