Kana: All in all, donate to AIDS research centers, because Alucard's bound to have it. He drinks the blood…he's a disease, obviously. WARNING: it ends quite abruptly.

Disclaimer: The day I own Hellsing is the day my friend likes Twilight. In other words, NEVER in a million years. (Why wouldn't anyone like Twilight? A little cliché is good for the soul…)

Quote of the Week: "Cram a BASTARD in it!" – Icon. Don't piss me off or I will cram one into you. (For more info, see my icon 3)

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Dead, Death, and Dying

Chapter Ten: A Thousand Times Over

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"Walter…have you ever tried to kill Alucard?" The answer was obvious.

"Against my consent, I have." Walter replied, tightening his wires. Instead of being made of the strong microfibers like they had been, he had chosen ones made of silver. Guaranteed to slice through any vampire – even Radu. "But remember, I failed."

Seras stared into space. "Are we going to fail now?"

The building was beautiful, she decided. It was gilded in some areas, displaying patterns of ivy and other unidentifiable regal designs that crawled around the windows and doors. The professional skylights had been made to let in sunlight – or in this case, moonlight – but had instead allowed in a hostile vampire, and they had been shattered. It was unnaturally silent inside the closed doors, but outside was alive with hysteria; people wondering what was happening, why the bats were active, if someone had died.

Integra and Alucard, of course, where somewhere in there, calm, cool, and collected. They avoided the press, avoided the police, and basically avoided normal human contact. Seras could still hear Integra's orders to her and Walter.

"Forget everything you have learned from Alucard about killings vampires. Do not aim for the heart or the head; incarcerate him, cut off his legs and arms to give you enough time to go for his head – sever it at the neck. Then burn him before he has a chance to regenerate. Your only chance to make sure he never returns is to scatter the ashes at a crossroad."

It seemed so hard, so complicated. Seras's hands shook and dampened, her body became jittery, and if she had a living heart, it would have sped up. She wanted her Master's voice in her head, reassuring her, condescendingly debasing her. She used to hate it, and now that it was gone, she missed it.

Girly, remember, I am here, Pip said.

Seras almost smiled, but her chest lightened. "I know." Walter didn't look at her. He knew who she was talking to.

I am not as good as your sire, but I can still tell you to keep going.

"Now really?" Seras's eyebrow rose. "That doesn't seem like you."

Well, Cherie, if you die, so do I. At least, permanently

Seras scowled and blocked him out. "Walter, if we kill Radu, will Alucard become…a vampire again?"

Walter shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I am not a specialist about vampires. You should ask him once we're finished."

Smiling at last, Seras nodded. "I will. We will make it out alive."

Amen to that, Girly.

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"Hmmn." Alucard suddenly chuckled, leaning back and staring at the sky.

"What's so funny?" Integra asked, looking at him sideways.

"I remember doing this exact same thing…when the Police Girl was still a fledgling."

"Doing what?"

"Sitting on a stoop and waiting for her to get in over her head," Alucard sighed, staring at the moon. "And I would come in when her thoughts became too hectic."

"And now you can't do that. You can't help her."

"I can't help anyone."

"You've been helping us for so long. Let us save you for once." Integra leaned over and put her lips on the side of his head. She felt his back tense.

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Girly, perhaps you can be persuaded into calling for help?

Seras bit down on her lip as Walter lit another cigarette, an obvious sign that he was deep in thought. "And why would we need help? It's just one vampire," she snapped.

One five hundred year old vampire, as strong as your Master, with his souls and his powers. Yeah, but only one. He's gonna crush you with his thumb like an ant. Pip's apparition floated nervously beside her, chewing the inside of his cheek as his thoughts were projected outside her head. Walter looked up briefly.

Then his eyes widened. Walter stared at the ground in shock – but a good shock. A shock that gave Seras a bit of hope.

"What is it?" Seras asked as Pip stared at Walter, wondering what he had done.

"Radu is not like Alucard…" Walter mumbled, thinking out loud. "He may have stolen his souls, but Alucard was different…he was stronger…" He grinned.

"He had been enhanced through experimentation…" Seras breathed, smiling as well.

"Radu is like every other vampire," Walter's wires were trembling in excitement and anticipation. His smirk widened considerably, showing a few teeth. "And I have an idea."

Sweet God, Pip was back inside the confines of her mind. That boy scares me. Seras laughed at him.

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Seras felt a sense of déjà vu as she used her shadowy 'wing' to blend into the darkness, watching Radu as he patiently waited, sitting on the throne that had held the Queen. His legs were crossed, and he surveyed the ballroom, checking for stragglers. He was obviously waiting for Hellsing to deploy their mercenaries to 'silence' him. Seras knew it would break the contract he had with Alucard, giving him free rein to destroy the organization.

Little did he know that she was watching him. Seras raised her shot gun and braced it against an upturned table.

Suddenly, Radu spoke. "I can smell you, Draculina. Your fear is quite apparent."

He was right, her hands shook violently. But Seras narrowed her eyes and pulled the trigger anyway. The bullet hit Radu right between the eyes, and sent him slumping into the chair, growling with fury.

Then Seras ran. She ran as fast as she could – which was pretty fast with her being a vampire and all – and soon vanished from the ballroom. Radu recovered quickly, and was on her tail in seconds. When he released his souls, they gave off a massive shockwave that blew out the windows of the building and set off all the alarms on the cars on the entire block. She ran through the building, never leaving, never returning to the ballroom, circling the rooms over and over.

And while she distracted Radu and his souls, Walter got busy with his plan. Using his wires, he created a literal 'net' in the ballroom. It was a few feet above the ground, and the wires drooped to the floor, draped over chairs and tables, wall decorations and columns. All ready to be stretched taunt when they were ready. He stood under a doorframe, his hands sweating as he waited.

And waited…anxiously, staring up into the night sky that peeked through the shattered panes of the skylight.

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"Alucard…what is it?" Integra watched as Alucard suddenly stiffened noticeably, his hair bristling.

"My souls…I – I can feel them still," he said in awe and slight joy. But then he paled dramatically, his green eyes bold against his skin. "Oh no…then that means…"

He shoved Integra out of the way just as a black, phantom javelin struck the area she had been sitting. The thrower soon followed, barreling into Alucard and pulling both of them into the road. They struggled for a few moments, with Alucard losing ground, until Integra got her bearings and picked up the javelin. It felt odd, sending an electrical-like current shooting in her arm and making her adrenaline peak.

The souls had gotten loose from the building. No less than a dozen of the shadowy Wallachian soldiers were crawling around, attacking the people that were in and around the police barrier.

She threw the spear, and it struck the offender in the neck, making it vanish in a spiraling maelstrom of smoke and shadows. Alucard crouched for a moment, regaining his equilibrium. He never noticed…

"Alucard!" Integra shrieked as another of Radu's familiars picked up a car, tossing it towards the former vampire. It landed with a thud a few yards from him, and began to roll from its own momentum. She had never known a soul to be so strong. He was staring at it in shock, as if he couldn't believe what was coming for him.

Or maybe he couldn't believe that one of his own souls did it.

"Alucard!"

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Seras wondered how she came to be like this. She had promised herself – she had promised her master – that she would never let herself be cornered, by criminal or vampire alike. And yet here she was, on the roof of a royal British building, at the edge of a shattered glass pane, being stalked by Vlad Dracula's traitorous brother.

Life was strange.

"Come on, Draculina I can practically smell your fear." Radu drawled, prowling slowly in the shadows. Intimidating her, scaring her, trying to make her step back and fall.

But Seras kept staring him right in the eye, her mouth set in a determined line as she tried to keep herself calm. Radu was right, her palms were damp, and she shook terribly. He paced around her carefully, and she turned herself to watch his every step.

"I want to know," she demanded, forcing her voice to be stronger. "I want to know how you are alive." Her master wanted to know.

Radu smirked. "You saw me die in his mind, did you not?" Seras nodded. "You want to know why I am not in my shallow grave?" She nodded once more. "Well, that is a simple question, and it deserves a simple answer…"

He shrugged casually, walking towards her. "It's quite ironic actually…our father turned me, just as he did to my brother and Mircea."

Seras's ears rang as Pip let out a string of blasphemous curses that could have put a sailor to shame. Her jaw sagged a bit as she tried to grasp the idea of…a family of vampires. It couldn't be true – she knew Alucard's father and elder brother to be dead, long dead, from even before Radu had committed his betrayal.

But didn't it make sense? Seras's brow furrowed. Alucard had survived a beheading by drinking the blood of his soldiers – but that was not the only thing that made someone a vampire. It made them an independent vampire (Seras could almost recall Alucard's gallant speech about it). Someone had to have sired him…

She had been so worked up in her thoughts that it took her a few milliseconds to realize that Radu was charging her, streamlining himself and running across the roof towards her, ready to push her into the shattered skylight. Seras braced herself with her dark wing just in time, keeping most of her balance as she was struck. Any normal human would have been tossed into the air by such a force, perhaps breaking their neck in the process – but not Seras. She had the same blood that Radu had flowing in her veins, and she was barely jostled by the attack.

But it still knocked her down…and into the window – which led down into the ballroom. Seras gritted her teeth and struck out as she fell, taking Radu with her.

Walter saw them and instantly pulled at the wires, using his entire body to make them taunt enough to slice through Radu, using the vampire's own momentum against him. But if Seras fell too.

"Alucard!" Both of them heard Integra's scream. One did not need sensitive hearing to know it was her. Seras's spine went numb as she flapped her wing, gaining altitude as Radu tried to propel himself back up. Her desperation to find out what happened to her master made her think rapidly.

Her boot struck him in the chest with as much force as she could muster, sending him plummeting down. Radu's eyes were still wide as he fell onto the wires, the silver burning through him like hot iron. He let out a shriek of agony as his skin seared.

Some of the pieces of him that fell to the ballroom floor were smaller than a human hand, while others were huge chunks of flesh. Radu's head dropped near Walter's shoes as he let his aching arms relax, rolling on the floor. A perfect trophy, soon to be burned.

"Seras," Walter said dispassionately, taking his box of matches out from his pocket. "Will you be so kind as to get the gasoline? I'm sure Her Majesty won't mind of we burned this place to the ground."

Seras did not hear him though; she was too busy clutching at her chest as a pain greater than anything she had ever experienced ripped through her. Inside her mind, Pip's voice grew in volume as hysteria overtook him.

Something had happened to Alucard.

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Integra had watched as the rolling car hit Alucard head-on, trundling over him as he tried to imitate a poor impression of the fetal position. She heard him cry out once – just once – in pain, and then he was silent. She did not know whether he was alive or dead, only that there was a lot of blood.

She felt numb – perhaps because Alucard's pain was so great that there was no more pain left for her. Integra's mind was screaming at her to get a grip on herself. She was the Iron Maiden, the great Integra Hellsing, who watched her father die and then killed her uncle a few days later. Who was the master of Dracula.

Who just lost her Dracula. That thought made the blessed numbness vanish, replacing it with a cold sensation that burrowed deep into her spine. He could not be dead…could he? The unfamiliar tightening began in her throat.

It began to snow as Integra crawled on her hands and knees to Alucard. She did not notice the souls dissolving harmlessly in limp clouds of dust, and she did not care as blood soaked her pants. All of her instincts were gone as she checked for a pulse. There was none. As this thought set in, she eased Alucard into her lap, cradling his torso. She must have sat there for an hour, because by the time she realized it was cold, Alucard's blood was no longer showing up underneath the snow. He was just beginning to go into rigor, with his fingers turning a sickly blue and becoming stiff. Walter and Seras were no where to be found.

"Aye, he always gets into trouble." A voice said behind her.

"I say we leave him to die this time." A second one grumbled.

"Don't be so heartless, I don't think it was his fault this time."

"It was his fault every other time." The voice paused. Integra could hear the faint crunches of boots on snow.

"Would you like me to do it again? I do enjoy it."

"After you. Look what happened to the one I turned."

A chuckle. "I think that had to do with Radu's personality."

At the mention of Radu's name, Integra turned her head around to look at the two voices. All she saw was two raven-haired men standing side-by-side, staring at her from a distance. When they walked closer, she did not care. When they gently pried her away from Alucard, she only cared a little.

And when one of them carefully pressed a bleeding wound to Alucard's mouth, she stared.

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Integra tapped on her desk absently, staring in front of her. On the polished mahogany was a pair of white gloves, with pentacles printed on the top. Walter had tried to get the blood out of Alucard's gloves, but they were still a little discolored. She rubbed the fabric between her thumb and forefinger.

Nostalgia affected so many people on a daily basis, why not her? Integra smiled silently as she remembered the vampire. He was dead now.

A familiar red-clad figure phased through her ceiling, hanging upside down while his fedora stayed firmly on his head. "Master, are my gloves ready yet? I am getting quite tired of these temporary bonds."

Undead, at least.

"Yes Alucard," Integra said, holding the gloves out to him. It had taken her weeks to replace the seals on them – she had read so many notes by her grandfather that she was sure she knew him better than Alucard did – and during that time, he had been forced to use a makeshift bond, which was glitchy at best. Scotland Yard was still wondering why there was a crater the size of a tourist bus in London, and Integra had had to make up some excuse for Alucard. She did not want to tell them it was because the vampire had tried to do a limited release, and it had backfired on him. "They're ready."

Alucard took the new gloves eagerly; pulling off the messier, off-white ones he had been wearing and jerking the old ones on one at a time. He was grinning like a child with a new toy, flexing his fingers into fists and back again. "I did not like those – the fingers were not long enough."

"Complain to Walter then." Integra lit a cigar, smiling as she did so. He was not the only one who liked having things normal again.

Suddenly, a very boyish scream echoed through the mansion, making Alucard smirk. "I suspect that Walter is not so fond of our new recruits."

"Indeed," Integra stood up and walked to the door, sticking her head out of it. "Mircea, please stop trying to eat the help!"

"I'm not! I'm just scaring the help!"

At least, as normal as things could be.

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Fin

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Kana: :D Yay! My second Hellsing fic is done! (Funny, my Hellsing stuff is always good, and never rambles on to a monster story of fifty chapters. And yet I can never finish a Yugioh fic without making it twenty one chapters and killing the plot.) And the end of this one suggests the plot I will have in my next one.

Review Responses: Ouch…you people kill me with your lack of love. Don't I deserve love? (goes into a corner to be emo)

Cannot fathom a PenName: (laughs) I bounce when I'm happy too – another bad habit 'nee-chan gave me. That and my timed 'breaks'. Oh well, I made her a Hellsing fan, made her love the Major, and will one day see her be Rip van Winkle/Girlycard (I dunno). You can go push Radu into a well now, though I don't think it'll be easy to find all of him. I hope your laptop is fixed. Whenever my laptop breaks (twice since I got it) I always go into a frustrated hysteria, even going to the point where I just laid on the floor and cried like a big baby/drama queen T-T

Lord Makura: Actually, Count Dracula does have a moustache. And a weird goatee thingy. And he's older. But Hirano got it right. Poor Integra, in AxI it must scratch her during snogging. (winces at memories of scratchy moustaches)

VampireEgyptian: (gives you the promised Walter) Of course Alucard got C's on himself! Cause that book is full of lies! He should take the class our school offers 'Our Bodies, Ourselves' (shiver). DAMN woman! You show love in odd ways! Though I think my friends and I would totally punch and break each other's fingers the way other's would paint toenails and do hair. Or maybe we'd just fling Coolwhip at each other and pretend to be a lesbian orgy. Yeah…that's about right. Pip was here! I don't know how to look people up on Deviant art (emo) Alu's identity is his fedora, don't you know that? His guns just compensate for his lack of brides.

New lord of darkness: I don't think Alucard's gonna turn Integra anytime soon (not in my fics, at least. I don't think I'd do it justice…or maybe I just can't think of a good plot to wrap around it. But I promise to do it one day). He's always the No-Life King, even when he's ALIVE.

End Responses.

Now be Nice and Review! Please!