Monsters
Sometimes, Anderson forgot that Alucard was a monster to everyone but Seras and him. And on nights like tonight, he was forcibly reminded.
There had been a series of mysterious thefts, small children had wandered off at night only to be found miles away, confused and weak. Things had been broken, often dangerously, like a weakened ladder, or stolen, like gun locks. It was not simple pranks that fairy folk would sometimes engage in, but malicious, cruel, and fatal. They had visited the scenes of two deaths, and Alucard's sharp nose had detected the traces of something or someone that was definitely not human.
So now they were tracking whatever-it-was, across a misty field, the damp foggy weather slowly eating into them. Alucard claimed it was excellent for holding scents and was tutoring Seras in the finer points of tracking. The voices became louder, and Anderson peered to see the vampires circling, beginning to move back towards where he stood across the field from them. Unsure of what they were doing, he moved to climb onto a small cairn of tumbled rocks, hoping that the elevation would help him view the vampires more clearly.
Lifted above the fog, he could see their dark forms, with Alucard's white face and Sera's bright hair flashing among the shreds of mist. Yes, they were moving back towards him. Frowning, Anderson loosened a blade, peering into the meadow that stretched between him and the vampires.
The noise was the last thing needed to spook the monster out. Small and wrinkled and wet, yet tiny and delicate and amazingly fast, it shot from the rocks under his feet, leaving waves in the meadow grass as it streaked away. It was very fast, but the vampires were faster.
Alucard scooped it out of the grass, proclaimed that it was a "Sprite, sort of a gremlin," and then the creatures angered shrieks became screams of pain and terror and pure agony. Alucard took his time tearing it apart slowly, as Anderson watched in shocked horror. It was like watching a small child tearing the wings off a fly, just because it could.
"ALUCARD!" The vampire looked up from the sobbing bloody rag of a creature held in its claws, confused, and then saw the horror-stricken face of Anderson. It blinked a moment, then looked down at its claws and then back at its Master. Revelation; the gremlin was ripped apart immediately, its sobs ending abruptly as its spine parted. Anderson closed his eyes, breathing heavily, coming to terms with his pet as the crunching, slurping sounds of a vampire feeding sidled into his ears. When opened, his eyes saw Seras, now in wolf form, having a taste of it, one limp grey arm dangling from her jaws. Alucard's bloody maw was curved in a happy smile.
They walked slowly back to the car, past the handful of soldiers stationed to watch for civilians. Anderson tried to put what he needed into words...
"Alucard...back there...you played with it, tortured it."
The vampire looked puzzled again. "Master, it was a cruel creature, one that takes delight in the pain and deaths of innocents. It did not deserve a quick death, and I did not want to give it one."
Anderson nodded. "The problem is that you...enjoyed it. Far too much."
Alucard frowned now. "And do you not?" A pause, and then, "I remember you hunting Seras, long ago."
Anderson nodded, but stopped to look at Alucard. "And it is one of the sins I ask forgiveness for each night. I did much that I now realize was cruel, wrong, evil. There is no sin in killing an evil creature, and no sin in punishing it. The sin...is in enjoying it." With a heavy sigh, he turned, continuing on to the car, waiting for the vampires to join him before tapping the dividing glass and signalling the driver to return home. Safe behind that glass divider, the driver was saved from hearing any bloody discussions that could occur during their infrequent hunts.
The vampire clearly didn't understand what upset Anderson so, but he was careful to kill his prey quickly in the future, at least when in sight or hearing of his master. And he seemed so calm, so peaceful, and Seras seemed so sweet.
And then there were the times when Anderson could not sleep, for his dreams were haunted by the visions of a tiny, child-like creature, hanging torn and bloody from Alucard's maw, and that limp, delicate gray hand dangling from the wolf's jaws.