"Integra is coming back today." Alucard said.

"Thank fucking goodness. "She muttered.

They where currently walking up the stairs from the basement level. It was four in the afternoon and Alucard was a little grumpy. About thirty minutes ago, Maria received a call from Integra saying she wanted to speak to Alucard.

"But he is asleep…" Maria began.

"Then get him up!" Integra barked.

Maria winced but switched the phone from the hand held to the cell phone by transferring the numbers. After the lengthy trip to the basement, she stopped at the doors that lead to his room. When she received no answer when she knocked, she let her self in. the room was bear and the only things she could see where a table with some wine glasses a large chair and a black coffin.

"Alucard?" she asked tentatively.

She almost shrieked when the coffin lid swung open. Being about three feet from it didn't help her nerves any either. He sat up and ran his fingers through his hair before glaring at her.

"WHAT?" he demanded.

"Umm, Sir Integra is on the phone and would like to talk to you."

She moved to give him the phone but faltered in her step. The look he was giving her sent chills down her spine. He held out his hand and took the phone from her. The conversation was short but Alucard didn't look too mad or anything so Maria figured it must be alright. Once he had his hat and glasses back on, he walked past her silently to the door. When she didn't follow him he turned and said in a sarcastic tome,

"Are you coming? Or do you have other ideas…"

"I'm coming!" she said quickly.

It had been a long week and they still did not have any leads on Clef. He had not returned to the cemetery, so Alucard assumed that he had some other resting place established. She sighed silently as they stood under the overhang of the roof, waiting for the car bearing Integra to come to a stop. An elderly man got out and pulled a wheel chair from the trunk. He helped Integra into it and pushed her up the make shift ramp to the door. Alucard took over from there.

"It's good to be back. I was getting tired of the smell of that damn hospital." Integra said.

"I am glad you are back. He was getting on my nerves." Maria said thumbing in Alucards direction.

He rolled his eyes and proceeded to pick Integra up to carry her up the stairs to the office. Once there, Integra took over her place behind the desk and Maria was more than happy to be sitting on the guest side.

"You did well Maria." Integra said pulling out a cigar.

"Thank you."

"Any leads on Clef?"

"No." Maria's voice was small.

"The bastard has been harder than I thought to track. But we will find him." Alucard said.

"See that you do."

Finally, Maria had some time to relax. After putting on some running shoes and lighter cloths, she was ready to run a few laps around the manor. As she weaved in and out of the trees on the property, she felt some of the stress slip away. Her mind became calm and serine for the first time in a long while. She was resting under a tree when she heard leaves crunching under a heavy boot.

"You aren't very quiet." She commented, not looking up.

"I didn't want to startle you." Alucard said.

"Yeah right. Since when do you care about not giving me a heart attack?"

"Why I'm hurt! I would never wish to do that."

"What ever."

"Why are you always in such a bad mood?"

"Why are you insane?"

They stared at each other for a minute before she turned away. He plopped down beside her and looked to the stars. She followed his gaze and asked the first question that popped into her mind.

"Do you think there is life out there?"

"That's an odd question." He said.

"I wonder sometimes. Was it a strange entity that caused the planets to align in the exact moment of my birth? "

"It's a possibility. "He murmured. "All the planets where aligned?"

"That's what my mother told me. She also said that a strange light emitted from me when I was born. But then again, she also said it was probably a trick of the light at least that is what the nurse said."

"Humans don't like to thing that the paranormal exists so they often try to come up with a more an excuse or normal explanation for something they don't understand." He said.

"So do you think it is possible?" she looked at him through her hair.

"I doubt it. While we are on the topic of philosophy, glass half full or empty?" he asked with a grin.

"Gee nice segwaay." She muttered sarcastically. "It depends on how it started. If it was filled to the top a was emptied, then it is half empty but if it was filled to the half way mark, then it is half full."

"That's an interesting take on life."

She shrugged and continued to gaze at him through her hair. He pretended not to notice. Her face heated up and she looked fully away from him. She knew he could hear her heart pounding. Shacking her head, she stood up and brushed her self off. Knock it off. He doesn't feel the same way. She thought. He chuckled mentally at her thoughts and stood to follow her back to the house. If you only knew. He thought.

Shortly after they got back, Integra called them into her office. A report had come in of another orphanage being attacked. It was not to far from the one Maria had stayed at and it looked like Clef was there with another group rallied around him. After assuring Integra that it would be alright, she allowed Alucard to Wisk her to the place. She cursed mentally at not having used the gun since their last training session. Alucard shrugged when she voiced this.

"Use other means then." He said.

The battle was fierce. While the children where bloody messes on the floor, the staff where ghouls. It seemed that this place had been very well staffed as Maria had already counted thirty that she had taken down. As soon as one room was cleared, they would head up a flight of stairs and be attacked again. While he was mused, Maria was not and did everything her power not to cry when she saw the mangled corpses of twin boys hanging on the wall.

"I'll kill him for this." She growled.

Her power rocketed up a notch and she let out a burst of energy to ignite the ten energy signals she had focused on. The exploded and the power shook the walls. Alucard glanced at her and saw something that astonished him. Her entire body was wrapped in a blue light and her eyes…they where silver. A fae! That would explain a lot. He thought.

"Marvelous!" a voiced called.

Maria vacillated a little when clef emerged from the darkness. But at his taunting look and the fact that he was licking his lips at her, angered her even more. She felt a rush of power enclose her and she pushed with everything she had in her and threw it at him. It hit him with such a force that it threw him through a wall. She bounded after him snarling. Now it was his turn to look afraid. Alucard stood back to watch the girl beat the living crap out of Clef. She pounded him with a fist covered in energy and he spit up blood. Her nails dug into his skin and ripped chunks out of his arms and stomach. With a banshee of a shriek she went for the fatal blow. But he got out of the way just in time. The floor snapped under the weight of the blow and they fell through it. As the ceiling crashed down on her head, all she could think was damn, I didn't get him.