Seras' eyes opened slowly. She must've misheard him. "What was that?" He shifted against her, pulling her chest even closer into him.

"Drink my blood, Seras. Become a true Nosferatu. Free to walk the night alone, be free from your bond to me. Become a Master instead of a servant." He inhaled deeply, smelling her blood and perfumes. "Become equal to me, Seras."

Unsure of what to say, Seras contemplated her feelings for a moment. Sure, freedom sounded nice, but she didn't much mind being bonded to him. She knew she wanted a much different relationship than servant and master, but still, the prospect of true independence frightened her. The way Alucard had spoke to her sounded like a beg more than an order to Seras. Her master patiently awaited her answer. Her Master was actually patient, awaiting her answer. Finally, she cut through the silence. "No." His body tensed against hers. His nails dug into her back, where his hands lay. She could feel them as sharply as if he wasn't even wearing gloves. His hands still radiated heat against her uniform.

"No?" The words came out as a genuine question. "What do you mean, no?" She pushed away from him slightly, enough to face him. His eyes glowed through the darkness. Mine probably do too, Seras thought.

"I don't want to be free from you. I don't want to walk the night alone, Master. I'm… not ready for that." Alucard clucked his tongue. There was a sharp inhale as Seras felt the hands on her back shift and move to grasp her chin. Her Master leaned in close to her lips.

"You're not ready? Ready for what, exactly… Police Girl?" She could feel his bottom lip softly rubbing against hers as he drawled to her.

His thumb caressed her cheek. Her throat ached as she felt compelled to admit her thoughts to him. "Without you, I was so alone and confused. I was frightened for so long, frightened of myself, and frightened of the world. For so long, I didn't know what to do. I had nobody to teach me, or to help me. Now that you're back, I don't have to feel that way again. I don't want to be alone again, and," tears began to pour down her cheeks, "if I drink your blood, you'll just abandon me again." She looked away, pain pounding in her chest. "I love you. I don't want to be apart from you again. I couldn't stand to live if you left me like that." Her words had poured out before she could stop them or even think about them. Only after silence filled the room did she truly comprehend what she had said. She felt him tense and move away from her ever so slightly. He slowly sat up in the bed.

"No," He shook his head slowly.

"No?" Seras saw him more clearly now, as he sat at the foot of her bed, trembling. His gloves glowed as brightly as his eyes, in the dark.

"No. You can't love me. You don't love me," he said almost angrily. Seras thought she could see red tears on his cheeks, but suddenly, the image was gone. "Nobody can. Nobody has, and nobody ever will." Seras could feel his shadows filling the room again and he stood up. "Especially you."

Seras stared into the distance, blinking new tears away as Alucard stood over where she was sitting. He knelt down and wiped the tears from her cheeks silently. She watched him as he phased through the door and his shadows disappeared. Seras laid back down slowly and sighed, worried for what the next night might bring.

As Alucard strolled out of his fledgling's bedroom and stood in the hallway, he felt wetness on his cheeks and angrily wiped tears away. He refused to let anybody see him in such a pathetic position. He leaned against the stone wall of the hallway and sighed. How could she say something like that? What then, first she says she doesn't fear me, then she gives a confession of love? After all I've done… He bit his lip hard and a metallic rush filled his mouth. He swallowed the blood and turned away from her door. Even though he still hadn't been shown to his chambers, he phased in and out of every room he came across until he found one with his coffin in it.

So Integra kept it? he thought. I would have thought she'd use it as firewood. Or perhaps Seras made her keep it. It seemed as though no matter what he thought about, the little waif always seemed to slip into his mind. He studied the crimson stains on his glove. Seras' tears... His shadows absorbed the sweetness from his fingertips. He sat on the lid of his ebony coffin and clenched his fist. After a few moments of both mental and outward silence, he decided to go to sleep.

As he rested within his roomy coffin, he felt feeling his energy slowly being renewed by the spirit of birthplace soil. His eyes closed, and he tried to force his mind to calm, but it wouldn't. He was stuck in an argument with his inner-most desires, his true feelings.

"What was tonight?"

"A mess."

"I bit her."

"She disrespected me."

"I let her feel pleasure. It wasn't a punishment."

"I didn't like hearing her scream. Her voice can be so jarring. It's unbearable."

"Ah, so I made her moan instead?"

"It was nothing."

"I enjoyed it."

"Of course I did. Her blood is the sweetest I've tasted in centuries."

"I liked giving her pleasure."

"That wasn't my intention… But so what if I did? What man wouldn't want to give her anything he could?"

"I want her. And yet, I push her away. I want her to be by my side for the rest of time, and yet I question why she wishes to stay by mine?" He sighed and rolled onto his side.

"I think I'm done with this introspection bullshit now."

"She loves me. She said it, and I can feel it. Why can't I just let her love me?"

"She does not love me. She is confused. It doesn't matter. I want her, and I will take her- love or not. She is mine."

"Then why don't I just let her love me? What am I so afraid of?"

"I am not afraid!"

"Liar."

Alucard fell into deep sleep after battling himself on his feelings.


"My Master." Alucard phased into the dimly lit office to see his silver-haired Master standing by an open window, blowing her cigar smoke into the night breeze. "You wanted to see me?" He smirked at her as she turned around, anger making her eye glow. "Oh. Have I done something, my Master?"

"Sit."

"That's not very polite, Integra." Her eye twitched.

"Please." He obliged and sat in on of the two chairs. She turned around to face him fully, starlight bouncing off her long hair. "It's about Seras."

His smirk faltered a moment. "Isn't everything?"

"Mm." She took short drag on her cigar before crushing what remained of it on the windowpane. "You will be separated from her until further notice. That is all."

Alucard's eyes narrowed in anger. "I apologize, I believe I misheard you."

"No, I don't think you did, Alucard." He stood and walked over to his Master.

"You will not separate us," he was astonished his master would even think up the idea.

"I've already decided. Besides, it was Seras who all but requested it. I simply agree that it's for the best at this point."

"At what point, Integra?" His voice was becoming a loud growl. His shadows sparked out from underneath his feet.

"Not that it matters much to you, but Seras is somewhat traumatized from... your time together last night."

"And just what the hell does that mean?" he scoffed.

Integra sighed and moved to sit in her desk chair. "It means that she came to me earlier tonight and relayed the whole bloody thing to me. She's humiliated."

Alucard felt something drop in his chest and his body ached. He pretended not to know what Integra was referring to. "I needed to punish her. It isn't my fault she's such an insolent fledgling."

"I believe I told you to maintain your distance from her."

Alucard nodded his head. "And I have. I merely attempted to put her in her place last night. There was nothing unprofessional about it." Integra chuckled cruelly.

"Is that right? Well, that's quite different from what Seras had to say about it." Alucard finally met her steely eyes, a look of defiance within his own.

"Seras does tend to misinterpret things, after all." A staring match seemed to have broken out between the two, and after several long minutes of staring, Integra continued, anger on the tip of her tongue.

"Alucard, until further notice, you and Seras shall be separated. If you do happen to cross paths, I expect nothing to come of it. Am I understood?" He quickly replied.

"And for how long shall this little time-out last, Master?" The woman shrugged and he inhaled sharply.

"Until I decide otherwise." She seemed to contemplate something before speaking again. "Has your mental link to her fully strengthened yet? I haven't felt you prodding through my thoughts so far." The vampire merely shook his head. "Well then I don't have to worry about you trying to contact her, now do I? Now," she pulled a file from under an empty tea cup on her desk. "This is your mission for the night."