There are no excuses for why this took to so long to get out except that I had the worst time trying to figure out how to write it. There were so many warring POV's going on between multiple characters that I just NEEDED to get in here and the whole time I was like "Uuuuugh, does this flow right, is this too confusing?" Finally, I was reaching nearly 3,000 word count and realized that I couldn't keep playing with this. So, good news is, I finally have this chapter out! The bad news is, it might be some time before the next two (Yes, there will probably be two more chapters now!) will probably take some time to get out. Also, if it's not obvious, I suck at writing fight scenes. Which sucks because all the stories I want to write have characters who tend to fight. Oh well.

Anyways, R&R and I hope you enjoy!

Alucard: At least, my total awesomeness is finally revealed!

Seras: I must say, Master, you do seem to be enjoying this.

Pip: . . .

Me: What's wrong Pip?

Pip: I come off as a total pansy is this, Cheri! Why couldn't you write me more manly so that I can win all the pretty girls?

Me: Sorry, Pip, I love you as a character but that's just how it turned out. I'll try to make you a little more masculine in my next story, okay?

Pip: Eh, I suppose that will have to do.

Shadows of Moonlight

Chapter 13

There were many things that brought true joy to one Walter C. Dornez. A fresh pot of tea, mince pie, serving as Retainer for the Hellsing family, seeing Sir Integra and Seras grow into the strong, independent young ladies that they were; and, of course, a good bloody battle. Yes, a good fight did well to get Walter's blood flowing. He practically danced between the hordes of ghouls infesting the manor, simultaneously cutting them into bite sized chunks with his razor sharp wires. A small pinging sound announced that the sensor to Miss Victoria's 'room' had been tripped. Good, he had hoped she would discover a way out of there. As loyal as he was to Sir Integra, he couldn't help but find her decision to lock Seras up rather distasteful.

He understood, in a way, Sir Integra's thinking. The No-Life King was after Seras, so keep her out of sight. But there was no way that someone as—dare he say—hard-headed and good hearted as Seras would ever stay out of the fight. Not when she viewed herself as the cause of it all. Not all that incorrect but not the whole truth either. With a final flick of his wrist, Walter decapitated the last few ghouls in the hall, wiping invisible lint off his still pristine vest as they fell to the carpeted floor with a squelch. With a sigh, he straightened his spine and stood at attention like a good English gentleman and looked around at the mess. It would take forever to clean this all up and dispose of the bodies. He just hoped the others were fairing as well as he had.

Pip cursed as he dove behind an overturned table, narrowly dodging his enemy's shots. A maniacal laugh sounded behind him sending a shiver down his spine. The bastard was missing on purpose, just to make Pip run. He cursed. What the hell was he going to do? Every hit he managed to land on the freak was quickly regenerated. The bastard didn't even bother dodging really, even though he was using specialized explosive rounds, the bullets made from blessed silver—curtesy of Integra. It was like the bastard couldn't be hurt. Cursing enthusiastically in his mother tongue, he bolted from his temporary hiding place and not a moment too soon. The thick wood of the table splintered into pieces, riddled with huge head sized holes as Alucard shot at it. Running as fast as he could, Pip spun around quickly and fired return shots, managing to hit the vampire in the shoulder, chest and face—ruining his good looks.

Alucard merely spat out bloody saliva before laughing, the shadows already regenerating his body. Shit, what the hell was he supposed to do? The blessed silver rounds weren't working, and if he wasn't careful, he'd be out of ammo and dead before he could make a dent on the fucker. He kept running, dodging bullets as fast as he could. Once more that spine-tingling laugh sounded through the hall, sending fear into the mercenary's heart.

"What's the matter, Frenchman? Didn't you say you would protect Seras from me? Such big talk for a piece of shit that can't even protect his self!" Pip hissed at the freaks taunts, but before he could retort a bullet hissed by him, nicking his shoulder. Fuck, that stung! "Come face me, Frenchman!"

Fuck that. Pip dodged around a corner, leaning heavily against a wall as he checked his wound. It was shallow, mostly just scraped skin but it stung like a bitch. Reloading his trusted revolver, he leaned around the corner and let off a few shots. Once more, they hit their mark, managing to take out a huge chunk of the vampires arm. At this point, Pip was just trying to survive. What had he been thinking, facing Alucard one-on-one? He knew what he'd been thinking. He'd been thinking of a sweet girl with large blue eyes and the purest heart he'd ever seen, ending up the undead bride of this creature. Gritting his teeth, he pulled a flash grenade out of his vest. He put the clip between his teeth and tugged, tossing the grenade around the corner.

A flash signaled its detonation. He pulled on some eye shields and whipped around the corner. He readied the high caliber rifle he'd had strapped to his back and fired. He heard more than saw the bullets make contact. He was about to load fresh bullets when a white gloved hand appeared through the smoke and overly saturated light, grasping his face. Pip could admit it; he'd screamed bloody murder as those pianist fingers squeezed his face hard, slamming him against a wall with enough force to almost knock him unconscious. Almost. But now, the freak wanted him awake and aware of everything that happened from here on, if the sadistic look twisting his otherwise handsome face was anything to go by.

"Times up, French dog. It was fun, but I have a bride to find and a bitch-whore to kill." Pip clawed at the hand holding him captive so easily, his one good eye wide in a terror he'd never felt before. The tone the creature was using was almost pleasant, as if commenting on the weather. "It's a shame I cannot actually kill you—my bride is fond of you for some unfathomable reason. And I do wish to stay on her good side. Once she is a true Draculina, she will be a force to be reckoned with. Though whatever fight she would bring would always be welcomed. Of course," Alucard's grin turned downright feral at this point, his shark-like teeth glinting in the dim light of the hall, "it wouldn't do for you to get in my way either." Alucard's maw spread into a sickening grin, the shadows at his command floating around erratically in the mad-man's glee.

The last thing Pip was aware of was his own screaming.

Seras had managed to avoid any more detection from the ghouls overrunning the halls as she made her way to the armory. And what few she'd come across were immediately dispatched by the hell hound at her side. The shaggy beast seemed keen on sticking close and keeping her safe. She knew it was some sort of familiar to the vampire king bent on retrieving her. The fact that he found her important enough to go through the trouble made her feel oddly warm inside. How she felt warm thinking about an undead king with a penchant of slaughtering innocents only God knew. But it didn't change that she needed to stop all this madness before it got seriously out of hand.

"Here it is!" She called out to the hound, practically slamming the armory doors open. She headed in purposefully, already knowing what she'd need. The hound followed after her quietly, long red tongue lolling out of its maw in animal amusement as Seras began collecting all the things she'd need. Her favorite rifles, all the extra magazine's she could carry, a semi-automatic—she strapped the extra weapons to her body, holding one of the semi-automatic rifle's at the ready for fighting. She'd placed a bullet-proof vest on over her actual clothing, praying that it would have to be enough. The hound was scratching its ear with a hind leg, already bored with waiting. She grinned down at the odd creature, pumping the gun once. "Let's go kill some ghouls."

It was chaos. Everything was pure chaos in her ancestral home and Integra had no one to blame but herself. She sat behind her desk, hands shaking as she listened to the sounds of battle that managed to filter through the floors and walls. Her eyes were slits behind her round lenses, untold fury marring her usually stoic visage. How dare they? How dare these undead freaks attack her home, kill her men, desecrate the very values beholden by the Hellsing family for generations! How dare they! She practically threw herself to her feet, stalking to the windows. She spied what was left of the ghoul hoard stumbling without purpose across the grounds, a few eating the flesh of the few guards who hadn't been lucky enough to get away. Her empire, the empire built by her ancestor Abraham Van Hellsing centuries ago, was crumbling away before her eyes and she could do nothing to stop it. Unless she could trap the monster who was leading the charge; then they may still have a chance to salvage a victory.

Quickly, she hurried to the bookshelf and began checking and tossing aside tome after tome, looking for one she'd promised her father never to use. That she promised never to use unless she had no other choice. Well, she didn't have a choice now. Her home was on the bent of destruction, the soul of the closest thing to a sister she ever had was in jeopardy and at this point she was willing to make a deal with the God and the Devil himself to see an end to this madness. It was then that her hand came in contact with the tome she searched for. It was large, dark, the leather casing scarred with age. She rushed with it to her desk, slamming the ancient tome on the hardwood and flipped it open. In this book were ancient occult spells not used since the time of Van Hellsing. They were dark and deadly and many risked the life of the caster as well as the one being casted on. She studied each page for maybe a minute before flipping them, searching for the spell that she needed. God help her, but she knew no other way of saving them but to bind the No-Life King to the Hellsing family bloodline. So long as a member of the Hellsing family lived, the monster would not be able to escape confinement and do harm to anyone else.

"Come on, come one you bloody bastard, where is the damn spell?! Here!" She'd no sooner turned to the page she was looking for when the doors behind her burst inwards by a massive force. She spun around, meeting the bloody gaze of a true monster. Razor sharp teeth spread in a macabre impersonation of a Cheshire cat smile.

"Hello Integra. I believe you have something of mine."

"Bloody hell, it's going to take forever to clean all this up." Seras mumbled harshly to herself as she blew the head off of yet another ghoul. She'd run across a herd of them on her way to Integra's office and had managed to dispatch all of them all with relative ease with the help of Baskerville. Why she decided to name the hellhound Baskerville while in a life or death situation, she wasn't sure. But she assumed it was to keep ahold of at least some form of sanity despite the whole madness of the situation. Think about it for a moment. A horde of undead, partially mutilated corpses attacking the Hellsing manor; the home of a family renowned for their ability to kill things that normal people thought to be nothing more than myth? Yeah, that was insane right there. But then, she already knew for a fact that the creature who ruled these monsters was anything but sane. And yet she was willing to risk her life and soul to find him. Well, more like find him before he did something that they would both regret; like killing Integra. Grunting, she looked down at the panting beast at her feet as it licked its bloody chops almost lazily. "Come on, Baskerville, we need to end this before any more lives are lost."

The hound huffed noisily, as if upset that she was planning to ruin his fun. Yes, she had a feeling this animal was definitely a familiar of the No-Life King. They had similar personalities at least. She rushed down the hall and towards the stairs but slid to a stop at a most familiar figure in the distance. "Walter!"

"Miss Seras, I'm glad to see that you are in one piece still. I can't say the same for some of our soldiers, poor fellows." There was an air of melancholy at the thought despite the overall nonchalance of his speech and Seras found herself running to the man and engulfing him in a hug.

"Oh God, Walter, it's all gone wrong! Integra wouldn't listen and now Alucard is here and everyone is either fighting or dying or being eaten and I have to get to her before it's too late—"

"Now, now, Miss Seras, please do calm down. You are a proper English lady after all and should act as such even in a crisis." He lighted patted her gently on the head, his words managing to calm her a bit. She pulled back, a sad smile on her face before her expression turned determined.

"Walter, I want you to find any survivors left and get them off the grounds. Get the injured medical attention and clear out any more ghouls on the premises. If you find Pip I don't care what you have to do but get him out of here. I don't care if you have to knock him out as long as you get him out alive."

"Understood; and what will you be doing, Miss Seras?" His façade said he already knew.

"I'm going to end this, one way or another." She pulled back, readying one of her still loaded rifles. "Please, get everyone to safety. I won't have anyone else die because of our foolish pride."

"I understand. Be careful and keep that hound with you. I have the strange feeling he's supposed to protect you." Seras gave him a wane smile, already turning away.

"Strange, I have a feeling his is as well."

She felt his eyes on her as she ran. She shot whatever freak got in her way, not pausing for a moment. She had to get to the office. She knew she would find them both there. She had to end this. Even if it meant her life, she would end this.

XxXxXxXxXxX

And there you have it, my lovelies, chapter thirteen of SoM! Things have REALLY started to heat up, and the situation has become even more intense than before! Will Seras make it in time to save Integra? Will Alucard succeed in killing the last member of the Hellsing line? What will that spell Integra found mean for the futures of our fated heroine and villain? Will she have a chance to cast it, or will she be stopped before she can? And what became of Pip after his unfortunate run in with the dreaded No-Life King? Tune in for the next installment of SHADOWS OF MOONLIGHT!

Integra: I swear, Jaden, if you make me die I will not forgive you!

Me: I can't say whether you do or not here, or it'll give away the next chapter!

Seras: You know she loves your character too much to cause you undue harm, Integra, so relax.

Pip: Did I die?

Walter: Dear me, this will definitely be quite the mess to clean up. *Gets to cleaning while wearing a frilly apron*

Integra: Really, Walter?

Alucard: When do I finally get my smut with the police girl?!

Seras, Integra, Me: ALUCARD!

Alucard: What? You promised me smut! *Takes out Jackel and Cassul*

Me: Uummmmm, until next time! *Runs away*