++++++ Hellsing isn't mine, although I remain captivated by its utter insanity.

"Where the heck did the Knights Templar come from, and how do they fit into Hellsing?" I hear you ask, or I would if you were to leave any reviews. They're a Spanish legend, they strike me as fitting in well with the overall Hellsing model, and I really needed something that could conceivably slow Alucard down. The only canon things I could think of were the chipped vampire girls in league with the Valentines, and those wouldn't last two seconds in a no-holds-barred battle with Alucard.

Also, Integra being a vampire isn't canon, so I guess I'm taking my fangirl license and running with it. Go ahead, smack me. I'm tough. I can take it.

(sniffle)

++++++

Integra was beginning to understand the enormity of her new burden.

She swirled the pen point idly over the sheaf of notebook paper that lay in front of her. She hadn't thought she would lose Hellsing so crushingly. She had never dreamed that she might lose so much.

However, it was almost impossible for a vampire to get government funding to slay all vampires except for two other vampires. And she hadn't realized that once she was legally declared dead, her property would pass on to her next of kin.

That had shaken her, but not bothered her too deeply; nobody would care to take over her property as long as she were in it.

Then said property had burned to the ground.

Integra blinked fiercely. Her world, her responsibility, her shelter, and it was destroyed completely.

However, she still had Alucard. Integra had influence now, not control, and if he began to care less what she thought, she would lose what she had left. She listened without emotion when he planned, thanked him without more than token appreciation, and strove to remind him how many challenges he had left to meet. She sought challenges for him, to keep his mind with her.

It was like she were still alive.

She'd been practicing for immortality since they had met, she realized with a faint smile. She dreaded the day that Alucard might decide to limit himself again to the danger of the seals. Or perhaps he had gained herself and Seras so that he could watch them enter human control, and gain amusement by following the course of their unlives.

Integra missed Walter badly. She had never fully realized what a prop Walter had been to her while she battled the vampire's arguments and comments. She had never realized how much she must have meant to him, not until she sat by him in a darkened vehicle, listening to him breathe, the exhaustion of his heart and the racing of his thoughts, terrified that a heart attack would take him away from her.

She had hurt him very badly. Integra wondered if he were recovering.

*~*

I was surrounded by natural beauty. The mountains stretched out of the dry terrain, interrupting washes of stubborn, stunted trees. Heat still radiated from the rock face nearest me, although the sunset had faded. The mountains were old and broken; vast faces of rock towered towards the sky.

"So, then," I said carefully. "I'm assuming there's a reason for this?"

Only the wind answered me. I craned my neck to try to see above me. "Come on, Walter. We were walking high above the Spanish church, admiring the arid evening scenery and discussing weaponry. You were behind me a minute ago. Then I saw stars, and now I'm hanging over a cliff with wires around my ankles and wrists. Do you think I think you went off to go have a cup of tea?"

"Oh, no need for that. I have a thermos." I heard the sound of liquid pouring into a cup, barely audible over the sifting and murmuring of the wind. A spoon clinked. "I trust you understand your situation by now?"

"I am hanging very uncomfortably over the edge of a sharp drop, with the threat of being left to die where nobody will hear me. There is the option of tearing the wires through my flesh and freeing myself, but if I do that, I will fall and become non-regenerating pulp somewhere at the base of the cliff. Never expected it of you, didn't think you were going to sacrifice your duty for a pair of vampires, etcetera." The wind was swaying me alarmingly over what seemed an endless drop. "Just out of curiosity, are you going straight after Maxwell, or are you going to leave him for Alucard and cut down our soldiers?

"Actually, you're here because you kept not answering my questions," Walter informed me. "I have no intention of attacking Maxwell."

"Ah," I stared into the abyss below me, "what kind of questions would these be? And this is why you wanted to know if I've ever been rock-climbing, isn't it?"

"Yes, although I could drop rocks on you if you caught the cliff face."

My temper gave a warning twinge as it started to fray. "Now that I'm done admiring the elegant simplicity of your snare, would you please move on to the questions part so I can get out of it?"

"I still lack the means to tell whether or not you're answering truthfully- ah. Miss Victoria."

"Sorry I'm late. Is he there? Let me see." A pebble bounced off the back of my head. I growled. "Sorry! Er, I'm here to tell whether you're lying or not."

"So ask me something." My patience was getting seriously strained. I craned my neck. I could make out two blurry figures, or maybe oddly colored rocks. "And my glasses had better be up there."

"I have them." Walter's voice was calm and soothing. "Father Anderson, did you plan to execute Seras Victoria if we successfully killed Alucard?"

He'd been trying to ask me that in a number of different ways, but I'd always dodged it. It had seemed safe then. I was beginning to see how important the little vampire was to the old man. That was dangerous. "Yes."

"Did you plan to execute me?" That one hadn't been asked before.

"No."

"Thank God for small favors. Are you aware that Seras is a Protestant Knight, while I formerly held the title?"

"No," I answered, "but you're making a mistake if you think she remains one after death. It's even the same mistake you made before."

"Anderson, right now she's an ally. After Victoria is finished helping us, you will let her depart in peace, and plan to kill her later."

"Since I'm agreeing under duress, I fail to see how you get peace of mind from this."

"The only consequence to not agreeing with us is that we'll refuse to work with you. We'll let you up when I'm out of questions." Walter paused. "Seras, did you have anything you wanted to ask?"

"Well, if you aren't going to kill Walter, what did you have planned?"

"Nothing. He's human. I don't care what he does. And before you ask, no, Maxwell doesn't care about him either."

"Then my most serious concerns have been answered." Walter pulled me up. I glanced between him and the vampire; I needed them both for this. I unlooped coils of wire from my wrists. Walter carefully coiled his wires again.

"The church and its territory is almost ready," Seras informed us. "I can't stand to go in the building. And Master and Integra are coming, but they're still far off."

"Maxwell and the soldiers will remain inside during the attack. We will be outside with you." Walter shot me a look. "We'll all cooperate with each other, and refrain from murder attempts when we succeed."

"I'm not going to dangle anyone off cliffs, but I need an answer." I folded my arms. We might as well finish thrashing things out. "Seras, are you really going to fight against your master?"

"I am a Protestant Knight, loyal to what Hellsing was," Seras replied. "Our soldiers were content to disband to serve other members of the Round Table. But I'm still in this for Walter's sake." She glanced down at the church. "Killing Maxwell has never been one of Hellsing's priorities. Integra and Alucard aren't Hellsing anymore."

"Thank you," Walter said.

Seras smiled. "You're welcome."

"And since we're all going to be outside," I directed my next thoughts at Walter, "that leaves Seras and I against Alucard. You'll be left once again against Integra. Are you going to be able to kill her?"

"I can do it," Walter said simply. I crossed the knife-edged plateau to look at the church deep in the valley below. I didn't want to patronize him, but I knew how deep his loyalty to Integra had run.

On the other hand, if he were confident enough to string me up and dangle me over ledges because I wouldn't answer a few questions, he probably had recovered from his grief.

"If we're all finished, I'm going to go make sure the chimney is full of silver concertina wire." I started away. I felt a lingering reluctance to turn my back away, but I tried to ignore it. Right now, we needed each other.