Summary: Alucard returns after 6 years, he and Hans clash.

Rating: T for violence.

Picture link: lsayaku. deviantart art/ Captain-vs-Alucard-War-Hounds-106914757

Disclaimer: Hellsing belongs to Kouta Hirano, artwork belongs to Lsayaku, The Captain belongs to Seras and vice versa.

This is set in my main timeline, though a good few years after any other chapter.

AN: What's this? A new chapter less than a month after last one? I'm as shocked as you. Alas, I fear it will not happen next time, because chapter 37 looks like a long one.

Never the less, enjoy and thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed.

Seras had never understood the fuss over a full moon, to her all it did was make the night a little brighter. It wasn't until she fell in love with a werewolf and saw the effect it had on him that she started to wonder what she was missing.

And when they had children, she knew there was definitely special about those nights.

Due to their mother's vampiric nature, the hybrids had a sporadic sleeping pattern, like they didn't know when they were supposed to be asleep. But when the moon was full they acted like they would stay awake all night, until they almost randomly ran out of energy and drifted off.

It was exhausting but luckily their father had ten times more energy than both of them combined. At the moment he was sitting in the middle of his daughter's room as she literally ran circles around him.

Seras watched from a rocking chair in the corner, trying to figure out what the four-year-old was doing until the baby in her arms squirmed, demanding attention. The baby tightened his tiny hands around his bottle and drank so quickly Seras was worried he might choke.

"Slow down," she cooed softly, lowering the bottle slightly.

Lukas Victoria-Gunsche, ten months old and growing rapidly. He and his big sister had inherited their father's white hair and the bright blue eyes of a werewolf pup, but they both had Seras' fair skin.

Abby finally struck, jumping onto her father's back, latching onto his t-shirt and biting his neck with the teeth she was born with.

"And you're sure this is normal?" Seras asked, seeing her children act violently was very disturbing.

Hans nodded, unaffected by the bites since she wasn't trying to hurt him, "she just vants to hunt."

He reached back and pinched her ear lightly, causing the pup to release him, with ease he pulled her over his shoulder and into his arms, ruffling the giggling girl's hair.

Lukas finished his bottle and babbled happily while his sister suddenly started yawning.

"Tired, Pup?" Hans asked as he cuddled her close.

She nodded, looking to her mother hopefully.

"Switch?" Seras offered.

The German effortlessly picked up Abby with one arm, holding her protectively as he took Lukas with the other arm and passed the girl to Seras.

"Do you want a story?"

Abby nodded again, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck.

"Which one?" Seras asked, walking to the book shelf.

Hans wasn't offended; he knew Seras was better at telling bedtime stories than he was, she attempted to make different voices and read dramatically while he spoke the same way he always did.

Lukas squirmed to get more comfortable, looking tiny in his giant father's arms. Hans cradled the little one to his chest, murmuring softly in German. He already had Abby speaking it a few words and was determine to teach the boy too.

It was good to hear his native language again, he missed it.

Seras returned to her chair with Abby and her favorite book, Where the Wild Things Are. The girl snuggled in her mother's lap and was asleep before the short story was finished, burnt out like a light bulb.

Lukas was calming down too, eyes drooping every few minutes.

The Englishwoman glanced at the clock on the wall; it was almost three in the morning, she was starting to feel a bit tired herself.

Moving carefully, she picked up Abby and gently put her to bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin.

Both parents kissed the girl goodnight and retired to their own room with the drowsy Lukas.

"There just going to get worse, aren't they?" Seras asked, sitting on the bed as Hans paced around the room, bouncing his son gently to try and lull him to sleep.

"Much," not too long after puberty they would start transforming into their wolf forms. At least he thought so, they were hybrids after all.

Lukas made a tiny squeaking sound, unhappy about being ignored.

"Calm down," Hans grinned, running his finger's over the boy's soft head.

"Try singing to him," Seras suggested, watching them with a small, loving smile.

The werewolf pursed his lips and a soft, low howl floated out.

"No," Seras tried not to laugh, "I meant-"

She stopped talking suddenly, her body tensed as if she was waiting for something. Hans didn't ask what was going on, just waited with her.

Three floors above them a gun fired from Sir Integra's room, Seras jumped into action, grabbing a pistol as she rushed towards the door.

"Watch them," she ordered.

Without protest, he took Lukas into Abby's room and sat on the end of her bed, ears searching for anything strange as he waited anxiously.

Less than a minute later the girl woke up, climbing into her father's lap as soon as she noticed him and held on tightly. The baby in his arms squirmed, tiny brow clenched nervously. They felt the presence before Hans did, probably because they shared blood with it.

Alucard had returned.

The children calmed down a moment later, more curious than frightened now, but he didn't want to leave them alone or take them upstairs.

"What is that?" Abby asked, tugging on his shirt.

Hans had to think for a moment, how to explain this to a child?

"Did your mother or Aunt Integra tell you about Alucard?"

"He used to live here," she answered. "Mummy said he'd come back one day."

Good, that made things much easier, "she vas right, he came back."

"Is he scary?" He felt scary.

"He can be," Hans didn't want to lie, but the truth would only terrify her. "Can you be brave vhile I go upstairs?"

Abby tried not to look nervous, but he saw through it.

"Zhere's no reason for you to be afraid, he von't hurt you."

"Mummy's not scared of him," she said, mostly to herself.

"No, she's not."

The hybrid took a deep breath and nodded determinedly, Hans gently placed Lukas in her arms, kissing the top of her head.

"I von't be long," he promised.

The vampire's eyes were on him before he even walked through the door and Hans felt an old rage that he was sure he had buried start to resurface.

He looked the same, as immortals tended to do, though very, very tired.

Alucard stared at him for a moment, then his eyebrows rose in realization and he looked to Seras.

"That explains the smell," he said.

As the fledgling tried to figure out if she'd just been insulted, Hans moved to her side.

"Velcome back," he greeted politely, being pleasant for his mate's sake.

"Thank you," Alucard replied, staring at him before shaking his head with a grin.

"Vas zhat you shooting?" Hans asked Integra.

"It was," she frowned at Alucard, who was looking around curiously.

"There's something different about this house," he noted.

"Most of it had to be rebuilt," Integra explained, graciously leaving out that it was because of the Millennium attack.

"No, it's something else," he could feel them in the dungeons, "young blood."

Seras blushed and smiled bashfully while every muscle in Hans' body tensed.

"That's… probably my children."

Alucard just stood there, not even blinking for a solid minute until he abruptly burst out laughing.

Not the mad, excited cackling they had all heard at the meeting after the Major had declared war; this was genuine, amused laughter.

Seras looked to Integra, who just shrugged, while Hans watched with an annoyed scowl.

Alucard held his sides tightly as he started to calm down, he had no idea what to expect from the girl when he had turned her, but even in his wildest dreams he could not have predicted this. It made the fight to crawl out of wherever he had been completely worth it.

The women, more familiar with his behavior, patiently waited for him to finish while Hans glared.

Finally he settled down, still holding his sides and grinning.

"Congratulations," he said to the pair.

"Thank you?" Seras replied hesitantly. "You can meet them if you'd like."

She was quite proud of her babies and hoped her master would approve. And they had a right to know each other; they were family in a strange way.

Amused, red eyes flicked towards Hans, clearing aware of his discomfort at the suggestion.

"Why not?"

"They're in the-"

Alucard phased through the floor before she could finish, Hans followed instantly.

The remaining vampire looked confusedly at Integra before following them, leaving the older woman alone and with the beginnings of a familiar headache.

"We kept your room the same way you left it," Seras explained as she caught up to them in the hallway. "Apart from dusting, no one touched anything."

Alucard made a pleased noise; he had missed his coffin dreadfully.

"Let me go in first," Hans said as they approached Abby's room.

Seras didn't ask why and let him pass.

Abby was where he left her, sitting on her bed with Lukas in her arms, keeping him entertained with a stuffed frog.

"Hey, Pup," he said, sitting next to her.

"Hi, Papa," she replied casually.

"Feeling better?"

"A little," he could hear her heart beating quicker than normal, but otherwise she was hiding it well.

"What's wrong?" Seras asked, walking in.

"They're afraid of me," Alucard said.

Both children started at the new voice in their heads.

"Why are-" Seras stopped herself from asking that ridiculous question and sat on the other side of her daughter. "You know, some people are scared of your papa."

Abby looked up at Hans, wondering why anyone would be frightened of him, he was so sweet and gentle.

"How come?"

"They think… he's mean." That was a very simple way to put it.

The child's nose scrunched up in confusion, "he's not mean."

Hans patted her head appreciatively and she smiled up at him.

"My point is," Seras continued, "there's no reason to be scared of him, but people think that because they don't know him. And there's no reason to be scared of Ma- Alucard."

"Alright," Abby said skeptically.

The ancient vampire entered the room, lingering in the doorway to allow the older hybrid a good look at him while he did the same. Finally he approached them, kneeling in front of the child. Hans watched closely, looking like he was ready to rip the vampire's head off if he so much as showed his teeth.

Abby stared nervously at the newcomer, conflicting emotions swirling in her young mind.

The vampire side recognized him as her forefather, but the werewolf side recognized him as a very powerful, very dangerous vampire. She was too young to separate or make sense of the contradicting feelings and just wanted to hide behind her dad until she figured the stranger out.

Lukas was going through the same thing, however he was much younger and his first reaction to something he didn't like was to cry. His mother picked him up gently, rubbing his back and cuddling him close.

"What's your name, child?" Alucard asked, making sure to keep his voice soft.

"Abigail," she replied in a hushed tone.

"A lovely name," he complimented, "you may call me Alucard."

"Alucard," she repeated to make sure she was saying it right.

He wasn't so bad, Abby decided, she liked his voice.

"It's nice to meet you," she said, remembering her manners and holding out her hand for him to shake.

The vampire held it kindly and pressed a gentlemanly kiss to her knuckles. Abby giggled and took her hand back.

Hans glanced at Seras, who was smiling contently but the werewolf still didn't relax.

"And this one?" Alucard asked, deciding not to touch the still whimpering boy.

"Lukas," Seras said.

Alucard barely suppressed a smirk as he looked at Hans, "family name."

"How'd you know?" Seras asked.

He shrugged as he stood up, ignoring the werewolf silently fuming at him.

"Police Girl," Seras grimaced at the return of the nickname, "walk with me."

She looked to Hans, not wanting to abandon him while the children were awake and Lukas still upset, he replied by simply taking the baby and nodding reassuringly.

Alucard led her to the garden, enjoying the fresh air and scent of nature.

"How long has it been?" He asked.

"Almost six years,"

Hmm, it felt a lot longer than that to him.

She wanted to ask him where he had been and learn the details of how he had fought his way back home, but she didn't think he would ever tell her, or anyone.

"You've done well," he praised with a gentle, out of character smile.

"Thank you," the pride in his voice warmed her heart.

His fledgling had become a worthy successor, he had feared that his absence would hinder her, but it had done the opposite.

"I presume you drink from the werewolf."

She nodded, "is that good or bad?"

"Good," werewolf blood had many advantages over human; it satisfied the hunger for almost twice as long, gave more strength to the feeder and, at least in his experience, tasted better.

She was surprised to hear him say that, expecting him to berate her for it.

"I'm curious, how did your dog go from Millennium captain to Hellsing butler?"

"Umm…" Seras tried to draw out the word as long as possible.

Alucard smirked when he saw her freeze up and turn the same colour as his coat, "what did you do, Police Girl?"

"Hans had some kind of mind control chip in him; I accidently tore it out while we were fighting." She decided that was all her sire needed to know.

"Is that why he had red eyes?" Seras nodded.

That had bothered him for a time; grown werewolves only had yellow eyes, hybrid's varied between the red and yellow but he knew the Captain was a purebred.

"How has Master been?" He asked.

"Honestly? She struggled a little at first, what happened with Walter really hurt her," as much as the older woman had tried to hide it.

Alucard frowned, "and after that?"

"Once she made peace with it, she was more like her old self."

"She didn't miss me?" He tried to sound nonchalant.

"We knew you'd come back."

Not quite the answer he had wanted to hear.

The children were asleep in their parent's bed when she returned; Abby was curled into her father's side while Lukas snored happily on his chest. Hans himself was still wide awake with a protective arm around each of them.

"How vas your valk?" He asked quietly.

"Good," she sat down on the edge of the mattress, brushing some off Abby's hair of her soft cheeks. "Looks like all that excitement wore them out."

Hans smiled; it was small, but the first sincere one in an hour, "poor pups."

"I'll put this one to bed," she started sliding her hands under Abby.

"Leave them," Hans said sharply.

"… Alright," the vampire agreed, crawling to the other side of the bed where she had more space.

It wasn't just his commanding tone that confused her; on full moon nights (after the children were asleep) he was insatiable and would ravage her until dawn. But for some reason now he seemed to be avoiding it.

Confused and a little tired, she snuggled against her mate and rubbed Lukas' chubby belly, making him smile in his sleep.

They'd made such beautiful babies together.

Somewhere upstairs, probably speaking to Sir Integra, they felt Alucard's presence and Hans immediately tensed up.

"What's wrong?" She asked, eyes widening a second later, "oh."

In all the excitement she had forgotten about the history between the two immortals and the hatred Hans had for her maker.

"Are you going to be alright?" And what the hell were they going to do if he wasn't?

"Zhat's depend on him."

"He's really not that bad," she assured, though it didn't come out as confidently as she hoped.

Hans gave her a wonderful are you serious look.

"He shot you," the werewolf reminded her.

It took her a minute to think of a reply, "once you get to know him, he's not that bad."

If the conversation wasn't so serious he might have smiled or even laughed, instead he just held his children a little tighter.

"I know you loved Schrodinger and Rip, but it was a war-"

"Zhe Major is to blame for zheir deaths," he clenched his fist to try and calm himself, "but your Master did not have to enjoy killing zhem so much."

Seras had no defense for that.

His body started to shake as he suppressed a growl, a soft sound from Lukas stopped it dead but his chest heaved as tried to cool down.

"You und Sir Integra forget vhat he is so easily."

"And what is he?"

"A monster."

"That's not a word you should throw around," she warned, not ever wanting to hear her babies call themselves one.

"It's vhat he is."

Red eyes narrowed, "then what does that make me?"

His face softened for a moment, "you're nothing like him; you kill only vhen you need to. But you've seen vhat he's like in battle, zhe smile vhen he tears somevun apart."

It was very hard to defend that, but Alucard was her sire, if she didn't then who would?

"He gets a little carried away sometimes-"

"He. Shot. You," Hans reiterated slowly, "vhile you vere human."

"You and I would never have met if it weren't for him," she pointed out. "I would have stayed human and probably been killed when London was bombed."

The visible flinch in his eyes made her feel guilty, but it was true.

He sighed and stayed quiet, not wanting to argue anymore. Loyalty was something he knew well, it was a trait his kind valued above all others; to your family, to your alpha. He might not understand why Seras was so loyal to the No-Life King, but the fact that she was spoke volumes about the man.

He didn't apologize and she didn't expect him to, neither of them were really wrong.

Alucard's presence shifted through the house again and Hans unconsciously held his children tighter.

Less than an hour before sunrise, when Seras was fast asleep, Hans carefully eased himself away from his family and snuck out of the room to find the freshly returned vampire. There was nothing he wouldn't do for his mate, even befriend Alucard, but there were a few things he needed to know first and he saw no point in waiting to get answers.

He had never entered the vampire's room before; it was almost exactly what he expected, dark, cold and eerie.

The intruder woke Alucard instantly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked grumpily from inside his bed.

"Ve need to talk."

"And it can't wait?"

"No."

With a weary sigh the vampire emerged from his sorely missed coffin, slowly walking across the room to his throne.

"So speak," he said, crossing his legs.

"Are you going to hurt my children?" Hans asked bluntly.

Alucard was actually stunned for the first time in a long time. It was hard not to be offended by the assumption, though to be fair he could see how the younger man came to it.

"I take no pleasure in killing children," he continued, knowing his word wouldn't be enough.

"You killed Schrodinger," Hans reminded him, a barely suppressed growl in his voice.

A decade ago he would have mocked the werewolf, goaded him into a fight, but he was tired.

"Not intentionally, the boy threw himself into a pool of souls I was absorbing." It was more like an ocean, but there was no reason to brag. "I imagine that was the Major's plans, or one of them."

It was. "You didn't kill him yourself?"

"No."

Hans believed him, but it didn't magically erase the anger, that would take time. And there was something else…

"You killed Rip," that he knew for sure.

"Who?"

It was a sincere, brief lapse in memory, he remembered the purple-haired Nazi less than a second later, but it was enough to enrage the werewolf.

Hans roared furiously at him, body shaking with fury and yellow eyes gleaming.

Alucard knew he should back down, maybe apologize, but where was the fun in that? Besides fifty years was a long time and the wolfman could have gotten weaker in that time; this was his fledgling's mate, father of her children and the one who protected the house while Alucard was gone, he wanted to know how capable the dog was of protecting them.

Baskerville was desperate for a good fight; it emerged with a savage roar and dripping fangs that snapped less than an inch away from Hans' unflinching face.

"Do you know the old myth about hell hounds?" Alucard said.

Normally, Hans would have just left, but he was still feeling the effects of the full moon and would not submit to this inferior creature.

The old myth: that hell hounds are the condemned souls of werewolves.

Mist tore through Hans' skin; to make the fight even, he adjusted his size to match the hell hound.

"Not here," he told Alucard. The noise would wake Abby and Lukas; the thick walls could only hide so much.

The hound launched at him the second his paws touched grass, Hans could feel its hot, foul breath on his ear as he smoothly dodged its jaws and sunk his own teeth into its side, taking a good chunk of skin.

Baskerville roared in pain and snapped wildly, trying to circle back but by then Hans had moved to its other side and lunged at the exposed neck.

It was hardly a fight, Baskerville was feral and angry while Hans calculating and calm.

The poor beast whimpered and went stiff as Hans' fangs sunk into the back of its neck, grazing against the spine.

He could kill it so easily; he wouldn't even need half of his strength to snap through the bones, but what was the point? The hound was what he had been in a few years earlier, a pawn.

His jaw went slack and Baskerville crawled away, not daring to attack again, the traces of werewolf that remained knew better.

Alucard reabsorbed it, watching the as the German shifted back to human.

"I can't do zhis," he said quietly, running his fingers through his disheveled hair.

"Do what?"

"Fight vith you every day, keep a constant eye on my pups, vundering if zhe next minute is zhe vun you kill zhem."

It would drive him mad; make him impossible to be around. Seras would grow sick of him and his children would hate him for being too overprotective.

"I'm exhausted, und I'm sick of violence," perhaps it was the light but he looked a good decade older than usual. "So I'm going to trust you."

As best he could, at least.

"I will never hurt them," Alucard promised, but couldn't resist adding, "your bastard pups are safe from me."

The werewolf growled lightly at him for the slur.

"That's what they are; you haven't made an honest woman out of the Police Girl," despite his earlier control, he found himself unable to resist teasing. "What would your grandmother say?"

Hans snarled, baring his razor white teeth.

Alucard grinned, "you would have been better off acting confused."

"Ve both know who I am," the wolfman said, "vhy vaste time?"

Even though they both had plenty of it to spare.

"Is she still alive?" A stupid question, but he wanted to be sure.

"Of course," Alucard was confused, "you haven't spoken to her?"

Hans shook his head.

Huh, today was full of surprises.

"Afraid she might kill the hybrids too?"

Hans glared at him.

"It's a fair concern; she slaughtered her share."

He continued to glare, not dignifying the statement with a response.

"Or are you too ashamed to tell dear, old Jocelyn what you did?"

Alucard was impressed by the lack of reaction from the other man; his face could have been carved from stone.

He thought the werewolf would be more entertaining. Pity.

Hans climbed back into bed with a painful, churning feeling in his stomach, settling into his old position like he had never left. If he fell asleep now he would get four hours rest, but knew that wasn't going to happen.

Trusting Alucard was a risk, he was essentially gambling with his children's lives; despite his past, he had never felt lower than he did at that moment.

Hybrids were scorned by both vampires and werewolves; a few centuries ago they were even killed on sight. Hellsing had led the slaughter with Alucard as the executioner, while Hans' grandparents only killed hybrids in their territory (their territory, at the time, being Germany and most of Scandinavia).

Hans didn't know the exact reason for this or why the hunting had stopped quite suddenly 150 years earlier (at least on the supernatural side), but he did know that there were still a lot of immortals who despised 'half-breeds'. His children were in danger before they even born.

One day they would be strong enough to defend themselves, but he knew even then that he would worry; it was his burden as a father.

To his relief Integra had accepted them and, though she tried to hide it, loved them and if anyone could come close to controlling Alucard, it was her. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary.

He wasn't putting his trust in Alucard; he was putting his trust in Seras and Integra's opinion of the man and it terrified him.

"Papa?" Abby's groggy voice asked.

"Good morning," he smiled, "are you alright?"

She nodded, rubbing one of her blue eyes, "your heart."

He blinked, "vhat about it?"

"It's noisy."

The stress was causing his heart to beat erratically and loudly, but he was still surprised she could hear at her age. While werewolves were born with senses slightly better than a human, it wasn't until age ten old that they started to develop beyond that.

The lingering full moon was probably helping, but it was still impressive. He smiled proudly; they had made some strong pups.

"Sorry, love," he touched her nose with his fingertip and took a few deep breaths to calm his pounding heart. "Better?"

She nodded and laid her head on his arm, quickly drifting off again.

Hans checked on Lukas, unaffected by the noise and snoring happily, in his sleep the boy's crinkled face resembled Seras' when she was annoyed.

'Please, don't take them from us,' Hans pleaded to any deity that might listen.

There was an urgent knock at her door before a dark haired man in suit rushed in, "my Lady?"

"I've been over zhis vith," she replied, yellow eyes flicking up from her paperwork. "Vhen zhere's no one around; you're all free to call me by my name."

"Jocelyn," he corrected.

"Lawrence, come in," she greeted cheerfully, despite his distressed face. "Vhat's wrong?"

"Alucard's returned."

The smile vanished, for a moment she just stared.

"As far as we know he reappeared last night at the Hellsing manor-"

"Does he still have zhe seal?" She asked, drumming her fingers against her palm of the same hand.

"The-the what?"

"A pentagram symbol on his gloves," or maybe they were on his hands, she wasn't sure now that she thought of it.

"Well… no one's actually seen him," Lawrence admitted.

She looked mildly annoyed at most, but he still backed away in fear.

"Calm down," Jocelyn combed her fingers through her long, white hair, more out of frustration than the need to get it away from her face.

"I'll go to zhe Hellsing estate," she decided.

"Forgive me," Lawrence said in advance, "but is that-"

"It's best I see him in person," she interrupted, "besides, I've never met Arthur's daughter; it could be fun."

Dun, dun, DUN… Hans grandma is coming to visit. But the next request is for a Roman/Gladiator story, so we'll have to wait to see what happens.

It bugged me how easily Seras forgave Alucard for shooting her, and I'm pretty sure Integra never found out because she would have killed him.