SECRETS LOST ON RED DAYS

It was a rather curious thing, the body, and its functions. A heartbeat was such a soft pattering thing that seemed so weak and delicate but somehow is strong enough to keep the body alive and maintain its strong blood flow. It had always piqued Anna's interest but she noticed that it was a dark kind of curiosity, a strong desire of greed that had never left her system even after all these years. It was the fact that she was a vampire that those kinds of interests dwindled within her a bit and gave her a sense of relief. Every once in awhile though...she would still have these dark intentions surging inside her mind, never long-lasting but not totally gone either. It made her uneasy sometimes. Today was one of those occasions though with the sudden death of a young man.

The ashy color of death was attached to him like a stain. He was only twenty years old and had died 72 hours ago, however, his bodily functions ceased only 12 hours ago. Very curious, Anna was. Darkly curious.

The young man was laid out on an autopsy table with blue-aproned men standing around him. Anna was inside the room too and stood at the back of the table. She hovered over his face as her blonde hair slid off her shoulders, gently touching the side of his pale features. She blinked a couple of times as her eyes glimmered and glowed, shining with curiosity and concern. She looked to the window and saw Integra standing outside next to the headmaster of the school that the young man came from. Integra pulled her cigarette from her lips and nodded her head, silently giving her permission to continue.

Anna took her long white fingers and gently stroked them across the young man's marble-white face, moving his head to the side to expose the back of his neck. The ends of her hair began to sway before multiple golden strands hovered in the air, rocking back and forth before moving in close to the neck. It was a quick and precise movement but they managed to cut open the neck only a little and fish around inside to search for something. Anna slowly narrowed her eyes when the strands began to vibrate, a sign it would do when it latched ahold of something. She quickly pulled whatever it was out from the man's body and looked at it.

It was a chip of some sort. Very small with multiple wires coming out of the ends, but what really made Anna tilt her head with puzzlement was what was engraved on the front of it. It was quite small and seemed to be initials of some kind.

"B.V? Who's that?" Anna frowned and pulled the chip close to her eyes to see if she could spot anything else. Aside from that though, there was nothing else to discover. "This is not looking good," she said and looked back to Integra who was staring intensely at her. "It appears we've found the culprit for the recent increase of vampires. We got fakes running among us."

The darkness whispered alluring words and shadows climbed along the walls in Anna's room. She sat still at her desk and just silently stared down at the mysterious chip that was recently discovered. Chills ran up her back though when she felt the presence of a huge and ominous figure creeping on her. Large hands that were dressed in white gloves reached out to her neck and gently slid them up to the side of her face, pulling her head back to force her gaze upwards to stare into the red eyes that looked so longingly at her.

Anna breathed in deeply and smiled. "Hello, my love," she whispered with her voice made from a heavenly melody, the alluring words that could make any person shutter with excitement and desire, but for him, being able to just hear her voice was enough for him to be satisfied.

Alucard chuckled so very deeply that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. "Hello, my dear Anna." He leaned his face down and tapped his forehead against hers, his long black hair tickling her skin and brushing past her eyes. "Did you find something interesting?" he asked and looked back up, stepping to the side to gaze down at the chip. It was sat in a small container on her desk.

"Indeed," Anna answered and held his hand tightly, taking it up to her lips and kissing the back of it. She saw the seal on the back of his glove flash a little and she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Usually, it would be vampires creating other vampires, like how you did with me. Now things are different. We have humans creating vampires now." She released his hand and leaned far across her desk, staring strongly at the initials embedded into the chip. "This age right now is quite strange."

"There are always cheap imitations in any time period," he reminded her, narrowing his eyes with old memories rapidly flying by them. "Truly though, if you were born in a different time period...then you could've probably discovered this yourself, regarding your level of knowledge."

"It's a good thing I was born in a dark age then. I would never make such a monstrosity and curse people like that. It's not a way to live, that's for sure."

Alucard was quiet with Anna's last remark, watching her solemn face turning to marble-white stone. She carried something deep and regretful in her eyes that was mixed in with quite a few other emotions. It was always strange to him that she could look that way, so very human, despite being a vampire, but he supposed that's why he found her so incredibly interesting. A woman who was never meant to be a vampire and was never accepted as a human. Her place in this world was something that she created herself and built around her, like a protective shell or suit of armor.

"Tell me, Anna, what would you prefer? These fakes or the genuine," he asked.

Anna blinked a couple of times and kept her stern composure. "Neither. It's not a life I wouldn't have chosen for myself and my acceptance of vampires is very small. The only ones I'm willing to take is you and Seras. That is it." Anna chuckled lightly. "Yet, you already knew that." she looked up at him, softly smiling.

He closed his eyes and shrugged. "I know you better than anyone and I understand your feelings for your own kind. But what surprises me is that you accept the police girl."

"But of course." She looked confused that he would say such a thing. "What kind of person would I be if I turned away from someone who needed help. I wouldn't be myself If I did." Anna's pale eyebrows turned up and a looked dawned to her face. "Speaking of which, you've been keeping an eye on her, haven't you? Is she still flushing the blood down the drain?"

"You knew about that?"

"Her thoughts can get rather loud when she's distressed," Anna answered. "But I'm not worried. I know for a fact that she'll drink eventually. The pull is too strong and can't be delayed forever. Remember when I tried to do that when I first turned." She peeked up and saw something odd flicker across his old eyes.

"Those were...rather dark times." Not only were his eyes strange but so was his voice. He sounded distant like he wasn't even speaking to her, but to himself. "If I recall, you managed to last six months."

Anna reached her hand up to his arm but stopped when she saw herself shaking suddenly. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly pulled away to hide her trembling. She continued to do so until she brought up a different subject that didn't seem so heavy. "Have you noticed the initials on the chip?" she asked quickly in a single breath.

Alucard must've noticed her jitteriness and softened his gaze, placing a strong hand on her shoulder to give her a small sign of comfort. "B.V..." he scoffed. "It could be anyone, but that person must be quite arrogant and prideful to place his name on his own device," he speculated. He took his hand and glided it over the chip. The device began to float in the air and quiver and vibrate. He toyed with it for only a minute before his eyes widen and he dropped it back onto the tray.

"Alucard?" Anna noticed the change. "What is it?"

"There seemed to be something strange within it."

"Like what?"

"I'm actually not sure." Alucard laughed a bit and stared down at the name embedded on the front. "Arrogant indeed."

Anna's eyes slowly grew but any kind of words that were beginning to form stopped just at the tip of her tongue. There was a soft knocking sound coming from her door that caught her attention.

"Miss Anna," Walter called out before opening it up and stepping inside. He wasn't surprised to see Alucard there. "Ah, you're here too. Good. There seemed to have been an...unfortunate development with the young foreign exchange student that the chip came from."

She blinked. "What do you mean by developments?"

Integra was fuming while walking beside Walter and Anna, heading over towards the Hellsing troops that were getting ready to move out. An hour had passed since they got a distress call from the hospital, urgently reporting that the young foreign student had come back and is currently going on a massacre, slaughtering everyone inside with weapons that he had found. The rumors said that he was still a vampire, which was strange despite the chip being removed by Anna herself. It had never occurred to her that something like that could happen. It was now proven that no one could return to being a human once they made the commitment.

Integra big down on her lips and sharpened her blue eyes into a harsh stare. "Anna. I want you to go with the troops," she ordered sternly.

Anna nodded and stepped back into the shadows of the shady tree line, melting into the darkness and disappearing from sight.

"Send Alucard, too," Integra added, which perplexed Walter

"But the target is a single vampire. Surely only adding Anna will suffice," he said.

Integra grits her teeth and barked her orders out once more. "I won't say it twice. Walter," she said.

Walter didn't think anything of it. He nodded his head and walked off.

The Hellsing troops stormed the hospital and moved out carefully through the long and empty halls, the sound of gunfire bouncing off the walls and vibrating loudly in their ears.

Seras moved with the troops when she heard Anna's voice coming from inside her own shadow. "He's near. I can feel it," she said in an echoey.

"How can you?"

"His desire and rage are seeping through the walls," Anna's snow-white fingers rose up from Seras's shadow like it was made of murky black water. Her tall figure stood from the depths of the darkness and stood beside her, eyes fixated ahead, "not to mention the smell of blood is getting more pungent the deeper we go," she answered.

The sound of gunfire was prominent with gunsmoke slowly filling the air with the constant hailstorm of bullets flying. Just then though, the young man's voice roared out in this desperate and rage-filled cry. "MICK!" His voice was so broken and lost that it actually grieved Anna to hear.

Seras flinched. "What's wrong with him?'

"He's lost," Anna said wistfully, completely calm as the young man slowly emerged from the shadows, dressed in only a hospital bedsheet.

His eyes matched Anna's to the exact shade of brilliant blood-red but were still quite different from her in many ways. While Anna held kindness and sorrow, he had rage and loss. It swirled and mixed together, turning him into this unstable beast that was desperate to find the one he loves most in this world. Unknown to him that his love had already vanished.

"Anna." Captain Gareth turned to her, eyes strained and ears ringing from the rogue vampire's sharp and hopeless voice. "Is he approaching?" He still couldn't see it because he was far away.

She shook her head. "Ah, he is." She waved her hand to hold Seras's aim. "Don't. I'll put him down, and with this, we can put this whole thing behind us," she said softly and began to slowly approach the man.

He continued to cry out the name with the voice of a broken record, not knowing anything more to say. "Mick, Mick...!"

It was funny. He was young, young like her from long ago, and for some strange reason, she could see either Alucard and herself within this young man. His rage, his sorrow, his loss. He had become this way all because he lost the person he loved. If any case, it did make her wonder if Alucard would act the same if something happened to her. Would he grieve just as much as this young man was? Would he cry? Would he rage? She was curious but it was a sickening kind of feeling that prevented Anna from thinking that far ahead.

She didn't want to know.

She didn't want to cause him pain.

"MISS ANNA!" It was a sudden cry of peril and a heavy drop that made Anna freeze where she stood. It was Seras's voice that she heard, desperate, and overall petrified.

Anna slowly turned around to the scene that was behind her and saw what she thought, momentarily, was a cruel illusion that came deep from her own nightmares. Oh, but it was real. So very...very real. Seras was in a kneeling position with a silver bayonet sticking out from her throat, gore dripping from the tip of the blade, and Captain Gareth's body had turned pale and laid against the ground, a pool of blood forming around him.

Wickedness in his truest form stood in front of Anna now. His back was to the window and the bright red shade of the sky outside cast a large shadow over his body that almost obscured his features from her sight. This stranger towered over Anna like a Goliath, dressed in a long white coat with a silver cross dangling back and forth from his neck. On his face were these thick-framed glasses, reflecting these clear and genuine green eyes. There was no hesitation, only justice that he believed to be right.

This was a creature, a...human. He was purposely standing in front of her with every intention of striking Anna down. The bayonets in his hand were proof of that promise.

"Repent for your sinful life...you wicked vampire!" His voice was loud and new, making his emerging stature seem bigger than it actually was. He seemed every big as Alucard was. "Even if you serve humanity, you are still a corrupted non-human."

Anna got over her initial shock at the Vatican man standing before her and hardened her eyes. Grace and poise turned up into her soft features as she spoke to the man. "You seem to be a little bit out of your league here, human. This is not your home, nor is it your job." Her eyes trailed down to Seras. She was understandably quite panicked with a knife in her throat and a killer at her back. Anna wished to help her and take the bayonet out, but at the same time, she didn't trust herself to make a bold move with this man standing before her.

The stranger turned his head up to Anna's voice and gazed at her burning red eyes that were undoubtedly calm. He felt a sense of disgust turning in his stomach the longer he looked at her pleasant face. Her beautiful features reminded him of a succubus. "Poor Enrico Stivaletti's soul is gone but his corpse will regain peace through this holy sword, as will you...soon enough," he said as if he was going to do her a favor. "No matter the corners of the world, it is my duty to put those who strayed from God to rest."

Anna's pale pink lips turned up into a charming smile. "How nice of you. I appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to refuse such a temptation. It was God who abandoned me first so he doesn't have a saying in the matter of what happens anymore. That luxury is only given to my beloved since he seems to be the only one who values me. "

He snickered at her sweet words, dripping like honey since her voice was made of sugar. "My dear wicked creature, you have quite the silver tongue."

Anna tilted her head to the side and laughed brightly. "I shall take that as a compliment, my dear holy man. Or...Father Alexander Anderson." Her eyes intensified and the smile dissolved from her face, turning severely serious. "I do not shame you for killing my kind, but there are certain individuals who are off-limits. Such as the girl behind you and the human man you had just laid waste too."

A darkness grew at Anna's feet as her shadow size increased and morphed. Enrico Stivaletti crept up behind the unsuspecting woman and growled through his teeth before abruptly rushing at her, his arms raised and ready to strike. It was then that the blackness burst up from the ground and Alucard's hand ripped right through the young man's chest, returning him to ash as he should've been in the first place.

Anna wasn't even remotely surprised that he was in her shadow the whole time. She knew since the beginning that he was there since he let her know beforehand. The whole time he had been laying back and waiting with growing anticipation and excitement until something like this happened. It was exactly what Integra had predicted.

A sinister grin captured his lips and made them turn upwards. "Anna's right. You shouldn't be here, you accursed priest." There was a hint of laughter in his darkened voice.

Anderson followed up with an eager grin. "I heard there were two monsters inside the Hellsing family. I was wondering where the other one was."

"Iscariot Organization..." Alucard's eyes fell upon Anna and saw her clenching her hands tightly. She was nervous about Seras and for the situation. "...I see."

"We have destroyed monsters like you long before the Hellsing family ever existed." Anderson reached into his coat and suddenly threw a storm of golden bible pages out, pinning them to the walls with his bayonets.

Alucard and Anna hardly looked effected but there was an obvious strain on Seras's face. The air was vibrating and felt heavy, weighing down on the non-humans as their bodies struggled against the barrier Anderson had put up. It was somewhat painful and even prevented them from using any kind of vampiric ability, also stopping them from leaving the room.

"You defiled this place?" Alucard tightened his jaw.

"Defiled? I purified it so the dirty monsters couldn't use their cheap tricks," Anderson gave a cackling laugh. "Our mission is to exterminate fools who go against God. We will crush everything, down to their last pieces of flesh! Amen!" He slowly pulled his holy blades together. His eyes pierced through the two vampires before him.

Alucard used one hand to grab Anna by her shoulder and gently move her out of the way while using his other one to pull out the gun that was tucked in his coat. "You don't know your place! You're only human!"

The air felt like it was shuddering as the red sky outside made the room feel ominously dark. It was almost as if they had stepped into another dimension with the way things were playing out. Anna winched when her ears began to vibrate with how much pressure the holy pages were putting on her. She was worried about Seras mostly because of the holy bayonet sticking out of her neck. She could imagine the pain and how it must've felt like her throat was on fire, unable to move because of the properties the weapon possessed. It was specifically made for vampires. The worst kind of danger.

Alucard moved in front of Anna to block her from sight just as Anderson charged at them, fast and sharp. He pulled his blades out and tried to cut at the unholy creature in front of him, only for the vampire to move out of the way with grace and calm reflects like he was playing with a child. It almost looked like they were dancing until they both briskly turned around. Anderson had his blade in Alucard's stomach. He was fast but not remarkable enough to avoid a bullet that landed itself right in his forehead. The force of the impact blew him back and he laid still on the ground, steam coming out of the hole in his head.

The moment the eeriness was gone, Anna jogged over to Seras and quickly kneeled down beside her. She gagged a bit on the smell of blood but bit down on her pale lips to hold everything inside. "Hold still. I'll get it out of you," she said urgently.

Seras struggled to breathe and she couldn't even talk without blood gushing up from her mouth. "M-Mistress..." She was a bit surprised to see that Anna was almost as panicked as she was, trembling as her long white fingers curled around the blade and yanked it out fast. "Ugh!" Seras cringed from the pain and recoiled into herself.

She couldn't help but feel tears beginning to well up in her eyes when she suddenly felt Anna's silk dress meet the side of her face. Seras was stunned into silence and swore she had felt warmth coming from the lady's body, but figured she must've been imagining it. Still, Anna's arms were long and wrapped around her like a comforting blanket. It was almost a motherly hug, an embrace someone would receive from a loved one. Even though it was cold, Seras couldn't help but become absorbed by the feeling of silky comfort.

Anna pulled her face down over Seras's head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered while apologizing for whatever reason. Probably because she had let her disciple get hurt despite being there herself. Anna was blaming herself, as sure as scolding sunlight.

Alucard looked over and clicked his tongue. "Anna, quit coddling her so much." He walked over to them and yanked the holy blade out of his body.

Anna lifted her head and cranked her neck to look up at him. "Are you alright?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

"Weird little toy of his actually hurt," he grimaced. "That sort of weapon can be a real problem, even for us." Alucard reached his hand down for Anna to grab.

She smiled softly and lifted her hand up, barely touching his glove when she noticed an ominous shadow towering behind her love. It appeared soundless and tall. Anna's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to scream out a warning, but not fast enough. She was stunned with great terror when she heard the sound of blades piercing through flesh, the smell of blood overwhelming her senses, and splattering on her face.

Alucard's body was pierced, pin-cushioned with multiple blades sticking out of him. Through his hazy vision, he saw Anderson standing behind him with his bayonets raised, steam coming out from the hole in his forehead...that was slowly closing up.

Anna swiftly got to her feet and pulled Seras up with her. "You cannot be...a regenerator?" she shuddered in her own skin, not knowing who was shaking more, her or Seras.

"I take an eye for an eye. God's divine power was given to us to fight inhuman demons like yourselves," Anderson proclaimed.

"You're less than inhuman. A pitiful defect, a failed science project." Alucard growled and raised his gun up. "Sending you back to your maker would be an act of mercy. It's impressive but I'm sure if I put enough bullets in your skull then you'll stay down for good. So let's cut to the chase. Start begging."

"Empty threats of a coward vampire who hides behind the weapons of man."

Seras was clinging to Anna tightly as the lady moved around until she was standing in front of her protectively. She was expecting any minute now for the narrow hallway to be that of a battlefield, and for her master and mistress to be lost to the holy man, but what calmed the rage was a voice as smooth as water, putting out the fires as quickly as they came up.

"That's enough, Paladin Alexander Anderson." It was Sir Integra's low and strong voice that stopped the impending carnage before it could even happen, making Anderson stumble a bit when he had taken a large step forwards.

Anderson turned around and saw Integra standing at the entrance, dressed in a long coat with a sword fixed to her side. "You do not have the authority to stop a true servant of God."

"I said that's enough." She had steel for eyes and could match the hardness in Anderson's voice. "Now that Enrico Stivaletti had been silenced, you're mission in our country has come to an end. Your business has been consequences."

"Well, that's funny. I thought my business was killing vampires."

"You already exceeded your authority and you will suffer the consciences of your actions today." She held up a piece of paper and flung it towards the man. "These are your new orders. They're ordering you to return to the Vatican."

Anderson narrowed his eyes even more and looked over the paper to see its authenticity. Sure enough, it had the seal of approval and everything. It was real. He had no choice now but to leave.

The holy man smirked and said nothing for a second, simply walking past Integra and towards the exit. "I look forwards to when we'll meet again, Sir Integra Wingates Hellsing," he spoke her name with deep anger, it made Anna shiver one last time before he truly did leave their sight.

Anna felt faint and finally released Seras when she knew it was safe. "Well..." She walked over to the wall and grasped ahold of the holy page that was left behind. They stung her hand but she was able to rip it from the wall. With that, it was a bit more releasing and easier to breathe. "That could've been worse."

"Could've been worse?" Integra glared at Anna and the vampire immediately frowned and looked away. "Things getting worse means your death, Anna, and the Hellsing Organization doesn't have a place for useless vampires." Her eyes were so intense that it was even beginning to make Anna tremble with shame. "Now do us all a favor and get these blasted papers off the wall." She turned around and left the room, leaving behind a storm of dread that hung heavily over Anna's head.

Even though she was no longer human, the night seemed to have dragged out for an eternity. It wasn't what she idealized it to be and it left Anna feeling somewhat sluggish as she dragged herself back to her room. It was cold and dark but somewhat relaxing and secluded.

She wanted to be alone right now, alone with herself and only her thoughts. Sometimes when there are too many voices in the room, her thoughts would begin to get muddled together. She doesn't like a lot of voices going off at once. Shouting, screaming, chanting. It left a bitter feeling in her soul that shouldn't even be feeling anything in the first place.

Anna's hazy red eyes glanced over to her desk and noticed a couple of things left out. It was one of her letters she had written the night before, and the strange chip they found in Enrico Stivaletti's body. She quickly swiped the letter off the desk to make sure the seal hadn't been broken. Luckily it hasn't, so she quickly placed it inside her chest that was underneath, laying it on top of a mountain full of other white envelopes that all had the same red wax seal of a rose on it. It was her own personal seal that no one else possessed.

"What number was that again?" she muttered while closing the chest and shoving it back underneath. "Ah...79 letters, was it?"

The chip was still laying right where she left with the same initials inscribed on it. It was quite a peculiar device and very advanced for this day an age. So whoever the person was, had to be a genius. A person of gifted with knowledge beyond human comprehension.

Anna picked the chip up off the table and stared at it, eyes beginning to radiate a shinning and intimidating scarlet. They continued to burn like hellfire at the name engraved on it. "B.V..."