The Cradle

Written by: Atikkin

Hellsing recruits help the injured men. Many, unable to handle the third degree burns, pass out within their arms as they carry them upon a gurney. Plenty give their last breath as they allow the burns to overcome them.

The sight shocks the Hellsing leader as she steps out of the helicopter. Frowning, she scans the entire area for the red clad hunter. She finally spots him emerging from the forest. Crossing her arms, she awaits to hear his report.

"Target has been silenced," says Alucard.

Integra lowers her eyelids.

"There were two targets Alucard."

"So there were," he says in a dull tone. "The moment I destroyed the mother bear, her cub followed; two birds hit with one stone."

The platinum blond frowns, and then nods her head. Bowing, Alucard saunters away.

"We double checked the remains," Hawkins says, placing the autopsy report on Integra's desk. "Parker is dead."

McDowell lights up a cigar. He offers one to Integra, but she shakes her head.

"I need a break with those," she mutters.

He shrugs.

"With these circumstances, our government would have to make several changes with the Research and Development crap," the youngster says. "Well, now that Parker is gone anyways…"

"I don't know," Hawkins says.

"What do you mean?" Integra asks, sitting at her desk.

"I mean it is never going to come to end. No matter where we go, there are going to be organization who will find something outer-worldly and then use genetic engineering to screw things up. This is the best example."

"True," Integra mutters. "But perhaps through this example, these so-called organizations will think otherwise."

In the lowest chambers of the Hellsing estate, the elder vampire sits in his throne. Not bothering to pick up the wine glass beside him, he listens carefully to the sound of the pulse emanating before him. Unfortunately, the angry stare and loud screaming refuses to cease.

He grins.

A small mewl breaks his chain of thought as he turns slightly towards his side. In a small cradle, a child shifts under a bloodstained cloth. Lowering his eyelids, he stands from his seat and saunters towards the infant. Kneeling down, he bites his thumb. With the utmost care, he presses the wound against the child's lips. A look of satisfaction appears on his visage as the little one begins to feed.

"I didn't think you were good with children," a voice says from behind him.

Alucard smirks.

"I didn't think you would appear."

Seras frowns while crossing her arms over her chest. She sees him stand a moment later and look upon her with a smirk on his visage.

"NO," she cries, turning her body into a ball to shield the little one.

Gunfire breaks the silence of the night. But she receives no bullet wound. Opening her eyes, she glances at the tree beside and sees a large gap in it.

With a quick spin, the elder vampire grasps her by the neck. Choking, she releases the baby and lets her remain in the snow as she struggles with all her might. Not a scream emanates from her until her maker bites her.

Hands clutches into his shoulder, she feels her life drawing away into his. Groaning, she feels light-headed; the feeling pushing her into a deep sleep.

Drinking on and on, the elder vampire's shadows devour both her and him. It becomes a great mass until it dissipates into the form of the No-Life King. Standing up from his place, he could finally hear her voice ringing in his mind to release her.

He turns his gaze to the small issue beside his feet and stares at it. The little one cries at the top of her lungs. She seeks for her mother, yet cannot find her. Lowering his eyelids, he finally makes up his mind. Lifting her into his arms, he presses the infant against him.

"Who would have thought that you two can cause this much trouble," he mutters before an orb of shadow claims her.

"Well, don't you look angry," he says.

"Is this permanent?" she hisses.

"Do you want it to be?"

"Damn it, Alucard!"

"Shh," he says, nodding his back to the child-vampire, while grinning. "She sleeps."

"Integra will find out," she says, grinding her fangs together. "You're going to kill my daughter again!"

"On the contrary, Seras," he says, stepping towards her. She glares harder as he closes the distance between them. "If Integra was to discover Averas, she would have a great deal of time and trouble attempting to do such."

The lady vampire stares at him with a blank face, uncertain what he is talking about. A grin spreads across his face as he lowers his lips to her ear.

"Like me, she has no ending. Hunters may beat her, stab her, slice her, shoot her, or even torment her, but they will have nothing but their deaths." He chuckles, wicked. "She is a child of mine, indeed."

Stepping back from him, she snarls.

"If you had known about that, you sick bastard, then why did you try and shoot her before?"

A wolfish grin spreads across his face as he yanks the vampiress towards him, crushing their bodies together. He leans close to her with an angry scowl on her face.

"I had to see if she was truly worth dying for," he explains. He laughs in the back of his mind as those crimson eyes sharpen. "Not that you have proven to me that she is, I will not harm her as I have done before."

"I don't understand…"

"You will…in time that is. For now, merely accept what I have given you."

"How do you expect me to do that? I cannot comfort her, feed her, or speak to her without my soul tearing apart from within you," she cries. "Why didn't you kill me? Why did you make me a part of you? Explain!"

Alucard shakes his head while sighing.

"So many questions, and none that I would like to answer," he says.

With all her fury, the vampiress lashes out at him. However, Alucard catches her hand in an iron grip, and backs her against the wall. Placing both hands on each side of her, he has her trapped.

Both vampires, one amused and one angry, stare at each other for the longest time. It is only then that the elder vampire pulls the collar of his shirt and tears it open. The vampiress's eyes expand when droplets of his blood smear through the white fabric.

Tangling his fingers on the back of her head, he pulls her towards the flesh wound.

"Drink," he says, softly.

Her eyes expand. Pushing her body harder against the wall, she wishes to phrase through. But her master keeps her in place.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Must you keep asking me questions?"

Biting her tongue, she contemplates her situation. Seeing no way out of it, her arms encircle around his mid-section as presses her lips against the large cut under his collarbone. After tasting the blood on her lips, her fangs slam hard against his skin. Alucard growls with glee, pushing her further into her bite.

Bastard...

Did you just realize that?

Crimson floods upon them both.

The End

Author note: Thank you for reading.