Abraham's eyes revealed the icy blue gradually, and the man looked at the ceiling for several prolonged seconds without care. His eyes found the blur of movement as the doctor came to him, gently explaining the accident. Hellsing noticed that his neck was stiff from the constrictive brace and his hand glanced over it. He had strained his neck severely, but nothing was broken or permanently damaged. His head was bandaged and almost comically crowned with a bag of ice which he took off with distaste. The doctor finished and smiled at his old acquaintance while he went to the side of the room for a cup of water and some pain relieving medication he planned to have Hellsing take after he left. The quiet that began to fill this time was accompanied by a voice.

"Good evening, Master."

Blue eyes flashed, darting to the vampire as Hellsing's neck was held by the obstruction of the brace. A red eye peered over the crossed arms the vampire's chin rested in. Alucard watched the man's fury build and then manipulate a hand that ripped the creature's face from the mattress, holding him by his hair as the being did not resist.

"Who said you could come out of your cell, Slave?"

The doctor fumbled with the bottle, almost dropping it. Abraham had been kept unconscious with sedatives, prolonging his insensible state and allowing dusk to fall. This time had passed relatively isolated, yet peaceful.

"You were under a pane of glass. I took it off of you."

The doctor stood, mesmerized, forgetting what his current task was as Hellsing appeared to be unable to notice the vampire's patient expression. The man showed no signs of physical weakness, which should have overjoyed the doctor, but Hellsing's actions, words, tone, and insensitivity filled his heart with dread. Abraham shook the vampire but the red eyes did not blink, never flinching so as to never leave the irate man's features. "You come out of the cell only when I tell you to, hateful creature." He tossed the vampire away from himself and frowned when he realized Alucard was sitting in a chair. The scene seemed familiar but Hellsing waved away the nostalgia. "Go to the cell, Slave."

Alucard put his unbandaged hand on the bed, showing no signs of following the order. "You are injured, Master."

"Now!"

The command released the pain of the seal and the vampire gasped, his forehead diving into the blankets while his hands twisted the cloth until it creaked in protest. The doctor dropped the glass of water when he heard the muffled cries from the suffering creature who soon slumped from the edge of the bed, forcing himself to let go of the bedding before he fell from the chair and hit the floor. An unobstructed scream filled the room, inciting sound from outside the door as a few hunters came into the room, pistols drawn and ready for use. They started when they found the source of the haunting sound, and were paralyzed, unable to remove their eyes from the creature, unable to feel shame as they were so, inhumanly, engrossed in the pain the vampire was experiencing. Their very essences hungered for it and several thoughtless steps brought the men inches closer to Alucard. Word of the vampire's confession had spread, ruining the little amount of compassion that existed for the vampire wuthin the estate. Meanwhile, doctor was the one who took Abraham's shoulder and begged him to end whatever he was doing to the creature, knowing to some extent what an officious demand might incite in the unbalanced man.

The screams ended and Alucard coughed raggedly, Abraham's order to leave obscured by the sound.

"N…no." the vampire managed with difficulty. His body returned to the floor, assaulted by the seal once more.

"Please, Hellsing." The doctor looked anxiously from the creature to its Master. "He's worried about you. He wants to help…"

"I know these games of his, doctor." Abraham snapped back at the man, making him jolt. "My slave is a monster, you are only used to reading the intentions of a human."

The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but Abraham's eyes flared dangerously, stealing away the man's voice. Hellsing turned his glare to his slave and a cruel smile began at the corners of his lips, sending cold lances of fear into the hearts of the men. They shivered and left the room to give their leader privacy, and in order to avoid having to witness such a ruthless expression on the man they had once cherished and admired. The doctor was paralyzed with confusion, fear, and helplessness as blood began to stream from the agonized vampire's eye, smearing on the floor as the seal contorted his body with the electric pulses of maddening pain that seared through his nerves.

"He usually passes out at this level." Abraham muttered without displeasure in his voice. The doctor recoiled, horrified by the man's change. He was nearly demonic…

"Master!"

The doctor's wide eyes went from Abraham to the creature who had gasped out the title in a breathless shriek. Abraham was utterly taken aback by his slave's ability to speak at all.

"S..top!"

"Just do what I said and it will end." Hard blue eyes captured the form of Alucard as he lay on his back, gasping for a breath he didn't need.

"St..op.…" the voice was a dying rasp that faded with the being's consciousness. "Ma..s..t…"

The body went limp and silence descended on the room, weighting the two mortal hearts that leapt in their owner's chests for a moment of tainted thrill or shock.

"Hellsing." The doctor whispered timidly, frightened by the gleam in the man's eyes and the ill humor in his smile. "What was that?"

"It is how I control my pet." Abraham's grin twisted further and the doctor soundlessly retreated. "Pure, undiluted pain is injected into his nerves. The agony must be unimaginable."

"He wasn't doing anything…!"

Abraham silenced the rising will with a sharp look that cooled gradually. "Precisely. I ordered him to leave and he did nothing except defy me." Abraham glanced at the creature, propping himself up once more to do so, and then eased himself back into a more comfortable position. "The wellbeing of my men depends on his obedience."

The reason was comforting, but the enjoyment the man had clearly experienced nullified the words. "His pain…" the doctor murmured as he bent to pick up the larger shards of glass that had scuffed the wood. "…it pleases you to see him hurting?"

Abraham scoffed at the obvious answer. "Of course! That is the use I desire to draw from my slave." A laugh shook the doctor's faith in humanity and Abraham continued. "I want that damned creature to suffer, Lawrence. If you knew what he's done to me." His chuckle carried the momentum of his words. The doctor blinked at his name, straightening to set the collected shards to the side on a counter. He brushed his hands off gingerly, to avoid forcing any remaining slivers into his hands. Much of the ruined glass remained on the floor, but another better suited for the task would have to finish it. He was present now, so he sought to begin the mission for the one it would befall.

"He gave your wife nightmares and broke her spirit…and then the woman killed herself."

Abraham's neck fought the brace, managing to displace it slightly, and he stared at the doctor numbly, not attempting to hide his gape. A minute ticked by, adding weight to the hour that would force it to fall away and give rise to the next. A clock chimed in the halls of the mansion and Abraham spoke lowly. "What did you say, Lawrence?"

"He was the reason your wife committed suicide, and then… he also gave you the very same dream, didn't he?" Lenses reflected nothing as the man watched the other who occupied the bed. Lawrence W. Stuart observed Abraham's narrow glare alter in size to form wide surprise and then dull vacancy. "So it's true?"

"How do you know this?" the sharp tongue jostled the doctor's determination, but failed to displace it. "How? No one knows!"

"Alucard told me."

Death is not silence as it holds a final shuddering gasp or wail from loved ones, or even the laugh of the devil. The silence that followed was of emptiness that was consuming both men, swallowing them to enter a dimension outside time and immediate reality. Seconds were hours to them, drawing on their strength. Lawrence stood resolute in the face of his old friend as a demon soon possessed the man to scowl at the doctor.

"My Slave, what lies has he been trying to weave from his monstrosities? And how have you come to involve yourself with him?" Abraham's malicious tone that sparked through the whispers, would have continued if the doctor had not spoken.

"Your vampire told the whole tale of a war between a man and a monster, as the monster broke and distorted the man into something revolting and tainted. He didn't speak in detail or to anyone in particular as three men, not including myself, were also present." Abraham's expression was of open outrage that held no fire behind it, and he was silent while he listened. "You would try to hurt him and he would hurt you in return. You attacked one another's minds and proved one to be stronger than the other, while one was proven with nothing more to lose as the other had more and even basic freedom the other did not possess."

"I may not be alive…" the voice ripped into the dimension and drew the men into the present time. They gasped as they stared down at the vampire's open eye while it lay on the floor as if positioned for burial. A hand folded over an unbeating heart shifted. "…but I exist, and as long as you have an existence you will have something to lose." A moment was drawn out to the seams of its definition before Alucard sat up and looked at the doctor whose name had, once again, faded from the room. "That will be all, Doctor."

The doctor dithered before walking towards the door. His eyes found the glass he had cleared from the floor, and he cringed as he realized that whoever came to clean it would have two messes now instead of one. He had meddled where he shouldn't have, and the doctor's chin touched his chest before he lifted it and opened the door. The latch clicked as it shut.

Alucard remained on the floor, his aching limbs restraining him. A red eye flicked to Abraham when the quiet was noticed. "Careless ponders I spoke aloud, Master." The blue refused to warm from their frozen glower. "The doctor and the others are still ignorant. He was only attempting to read into what I had said." He sighed and fought his pain to grasp the arm of the abandoned chair to hoist himself to his feet so he could sit in it. Alucard exhaled once he had achieved the maneuver, and his attention went back to his Master. "You should rest…"

"Why did you speak to them about it?"

The bitterness in the question was noted by a twitch in the vampire's features, as the two stared at one another. "I spoke to no one but myself…with intent."

"What did you say?"

The red gaze persisted for a while before it collapsed and hit the floor. Alucard counted the wooden planks as he considered his response. His arm unconsciously positioned itself on the side of the chair while the other remained in his lap. "I have wronged you…in calling you a monster, Master. You are fully human and act the way you do because of your nature."

"That is not all you said." The unfeeling voice stated, and Alucard frowned at the floor.

"I told a breath of our conflict, and stated that it is not you who is the monster, but it is, and has always been, me and myself only. All of what has happened has been my own doing, and all that you have committed in response, is of my own guilt. Your state, as well as mine, can be blamed on no one…but me. And…I had not once felt desire for any results that have been drawn from our battles." Alucard looked at Abraham's unreadable features, deadened by them as his gaze did not fall. "That is what I said…in different, more general terms, Master."

Heat and life returned to Hellsing and he gave a malicious sneer and scoffed. "Of course that has always been the case, Slave. You are the monster, the one in the wrong, as you will forever be." Abraham saw the glare that his vampire's features formed at his words, and a smile crept into his own. "A monster, a demon, my Slave…you are nothing." He chuckled when he recalled the words he had carved into Alucard's arm and his eyes sought the dark straps that covered the wounds. "Say it, Slave." His eyes shown and his chuckle rose with the pitch of his tone. "Say it!"

"I exist and for the time that I continue to, I will always possess something which may be lost or broken." Abraham's face contorted into disdain, and he recoiled from Alucard's calm expression and the gaze that pierced into the soul his blue eyes revealed. "And so it is the same for you, Master. With your life and future before you, you have everything to lose…"

"What do you have?" spat the man and his fists curled into the blankets by his sides. He barked the question again. "What do you have, Slave? I will ultimately take it from you!"

"If you kill me, then I shall have my Hell." Abraham quieted with a jerk and watched Alucard with glowing eyes. "Only God can take away my existence, Master. Only God, who has given us everything, may take it away."

"No." Abraham protested without passion, the two minds held a bridge between them with their gazes. "Man has the power to take things away, as does a monster." The last word he threw with hatred at the vampire, but Alucard brushed it aside. "You took my wife…and any form of happiness I had."

"But I did not take everything…or your future… your hope to reclaim something of what has been…"

"She's dead!" Hellsing snarled, snatching the additional pillow that was holding him up. He threw it at the creature and Alucard let it collide with his face, and there he caught it, hiding his expression from the man for the time it took Abraham to level his gasping rage. But time progressed and this did not happen, so Alucard dropped the pillow to his lap. "She's dead and nothing will, or can, bring her back!" Hellsing cursed after the outburst.

"That is true, Master." The vampire replied quietly and handled the pillow, running bandages over the cover to hear the cloth speak. "Your wife is dead, but is she gone? As most have come into practice of saying? Death is not the end. She is still here…just outside our sight. She is in Heaven or the next, otherworldly domain that exists for her kind."

"Silence, Slave." The command hung in the air, held up by the man's aura of resentment and loathing. "You are not my equal, and do not speak as if you are. Know your place!" Hellsing hissed while Alucard did not go against the command. The mattress creaked as the vampire put his weight on it, and he leaned over the bed slowly, until he was clear of the chair and his knees were next to the bed frame, on the floor. A head of black hair rested on Abraham's shoulder as the vampire's hands touched the sheets by the man. Abraham was muted by shock and stared at his Slave.

"I am in my place."

Alucard remained like this, feeling warmth radiate from the living man as well as the chilling vulnerability of his position, giving himself to Abraham's whims and mercy. His hands twitched and clutched the sheets when he felt the shift of pressure on the bed as Abraham brought up his arm. A large hand tore into Alucard's hair, but did not pull him away immediately.

"You…are a demon." Hellsing breathed with enmity while blue eyes blazed. His grip twisted, ripping strands of hair from their roots. "A monster! I don't care for your words, the poison you spew! Leave me!" Abraham tried to detach Alucard, but the vampire stayed as he was, ignoring the pull and the order. The attempts became more vicious, but the vampire was undaunted. Long strands of midnight came into Abraham's hand and Alucard was still on his shoulder. The man touched the seal and then plunged into it with a roar. "LEAVE!"

A shriek of pain came from the creature's throat and Alucard's forehead pressed into his Master, while his hands tightened on the cloth he could no longer feel. Then the warmth he felt began to disappear with the fog of the seal's affect. He could sense, see, and think of nothing as agony took a hold of his mind, but he fought to stay on the man's shoulder, though he no longer knew where that was. Cries escaped him outside his knowledge.

Abraham watched the torture continue while Alucard began to lose his strength. The face left Abraham's shoulder and went into the mattress when the vampire started to slide farther from him as its knees gave in. Alucard's fingers weakly dug into the sheets to remain, but they failed to catch in the folds of cloth. He reached the edge of the mattress and stopped, remaining there simply from how his body was situated. Abraham was emotionless when he let go of the seal, feeling the vampire's mind begin to slip away and then steadily carry on. Alucard's eye opened and he shivered as the pain receded. Disoriented, he watched the sheets and then struggled to look up at his Master, but couldn't. His hands pressed into the bed, trying to return him to his position, but after a few inches he could advance no further. As Alucard's mind dimmed and consciousness left him, he pushed his hand forward and touched Abraham's sleeve. Pale fingers caught the fabric and tightened until the hand suddenly relaxed. Alucard's grip remained weakly and Abraham stared at the silent figure. A whisper of a chill drifted into his flesh from the close contact, but Hellsing did not move the vampire away. Blue eyes traveled to Alucard's face, but all they found was the eye patch, obscured by black hair that stood as a broken curtain. The other half of Alucard's face was in the mattress.

Abraham stirred his fingers to loosen the strands that were caught in them, and black sifted onto the bed beside the man. He watched the collection along with his slave while his hand moved to the forgotten pain that began in his neck. He eased the building throb by looking up at the ceiling. Minutes ticked by and Hellsing closed his eyes with an inaudible sigh.