Happy Disclaimer:

The Hellsingverse, including Anderson, Walter, and varied bit characters, does not belong to me.

This is dedicated to Red Anne Bonney, because I bothered the daylights out of her.

+++++++

I walked the castle freely. It almost amused me, the fact that I was walking through my worst enemy's domain. Now if only I knew where to find him, my happiness would be complete.

I knew I wasn't going to find anyone, knew the house would only be full of ghosts and memories and taint. I knew that every member of the house had fled in the wake of Integra's rash decision. I'd heard of it-light snaking through the windows, red gleams shattering the air at midnight, laughter and eyes. I knew that nobody would have stayed after that.

That shows what I know.

He was crouched on a chair, his back bowed, his eyes closed, the picture of exhaustion. I remembered his name only by description.

"Walter?" I tried. I sensed a soul completely devoted to duty, or I would have killed him as another impure member of this corrupted house. I was there to purify.

His eyes opened, and he looked up at me dully. He didn't even seem to care that I was there. Most people do, for one reason or another. Then he looked down at the floor again. "You have no business here, Father Anderson. Integra's home remains in my care."

I crouched. "She's gone, man. She's abandoned her duty." What was I supposed to do with him? I didn't think, from what I'd heard of him, he'd be an easy man to toss over my shoulder and remove from the grounds.

"My little Integra. . ." His voice carried pain I'd heard once before and I never wanted to hear again.

"I know," I said simply. "She's not Sir Integra any more." I didn't dare touch him. "My duty is to cleanse this place before she decides to stay."

He looked up at me. "What was she thinking? She can't fight them like Alucard, even by his side. She's lost Hellsing. Last night she said she never would, and now she has. Her funding's gone. Her assets were already frozen and will be handed to her next of kin. What was she thinking?"

I stood again, frowning. I'd seen this coming all along. I knew it would happen like I knew sunrises and sunsets will happen. Harbor vampires, live with them, command them, and soon enough you join them. I killed her men like I would ghouls, sparing them from her eventual predation; I attacked anyone foolish enough to aid her pet; but I didn't do enough.

I hadn't attacked her, partly because I hoped her devotion to duty would carry her through, partly in hopes that she'd come to her senses, partly in sincere respect. All right, all right, and so I wouldn't free that hideous abomination of hers. But I should have killed her. Better one freed vampire than two let loose on the world.

I failed. I failed as much as she did.

"It's being around them," I said. "Never live around them. They corrupt your very soul." I reached down to help him up. "They can only be destroyed, even the most innocent-seeming ones."

He watched me, his eyes narrowed. "I fought alongside him for years."

"That's probably why you didn't kill him for Sir Integra," I hazarded. He lost eye contact with me. I didn't repeat my observation. He was close enough to breaking, and I know the meaning of mercy.

"What are you here for, priest?" It was like he'd never heard me earlier. "He took them both down through the floor and ripped it apart in his wake. There's tons of earth between us and them. We'll never reach them today."

"I knew we wouldn't get them so quickly. I'm here for the castle. This place has to burn," I answered. "If it doesn't, she'll make it her territory, command every part of it, and we won't even be able to reach her during the day."

He covered his face. I turned away. I didn't think he would attack me, even though I was here to destroy what had been his home for decades.

I still jerked back around when I heard the chair grating over the floor. He was only standing. "Is he still with her?" he asked sharply.

I shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't tell." I can sense vampires, but not these two. Not on their own turf when they know I'm coming. "I think so, or else I'd pick up something."

Walter moved. He went stiffly to a long cabinet and pulled out a plastic jug of kerosene. He handed one to me, reserved one for himself. While I waited, he called the fire department, gave them his name and the street address, and told them we were burning rubbish and there would be some smoke. I blinked at him. He shrugged back.

We went through the lower floor with kerosene. When we ran out, we took spare containers of gasoline from the garage. We broke up chairs and piled them, scattered open books, and ripped and scattered curtains to trap heat. We opened some doors and some windows to form vents to feed our eventual fire. We carried combustibles downstairs and stacked them in the basement.

I watched him carefully, trying to judge his thoughts without intruding.

"We need more gasoline to ignite the stairway," he said finally. "Perhaps you would be good enough to siphon some. I tire."

I took the containers, went down to the front door, and opened and shut it. I remained inside.

I heard the sound of the room going up-an awesome gush of flame. I charged back down the hall. He was easy to see among the gasoline-fed flames, swaying slightly in the black smoke that began to fill the room. I grabbed his arm and dragged him to the front door. We fell out as the flames raced over the accelerant-soaked carpet. We both leaned against the house for a moment, coughing and glaring at each other.

"It's about to get very hot right here," I said, for lack of anything better to say, and moved away from the house.

Walter followed me, mostly because I was still hanging onto his arm. "My place is with the Hellsings, living or dead. If I die now, I will not ever be with Int-" he stared straight ahead, gathered himself, and finished, "I will never join Alucard."

I coughed again, feeling like my lungs were about to part company with my chest. "You might. Suicides can become vampires."

He scoffed at me. "After being burned to ash? I was careful when I thought it through." He turned away. "But now what to do?"

"Kill Alucard," I said. It was the most obvious thing for me to think of.

He turned to me, and for the first time he didn't look pained and old. "I think that an admirable idea." He paused. "I am a weaponsmith devoted to killing vampires, but I cannot think of something powerful enough to finish him."

"I'm still not sure how to destroy him," I admitted. "Especially with the seals gone. But I've been reading through some manuscripts. There are some most interesting references. . ."

He turned away from the house with me, listening carefully. It was now burning strongly. The fire department could disregard Walter's warning now, and still not get here in time. That infernal pair was undoubtedly out of the reach of fire, but Integra's sanctuary was gone.

We would be back, the pair of us.

Talking of the nails of the Cross and the bit of Pegasus, we walked from the blazing haven.