He averted his gaze and shadows engulfed more than half of his face in darkness.
"It would, but the problem remains that the only person she would even consider would be me."
Seras blinked again, and flicked the bag over Alucard with her wrist and had it spinning across the floor gracefully.
"Well, it's not like I don't understand why that is, my master."
He looked at her; it was true, he had known Integra for the longest time, but that really wouldn't have made much of a difference.
"Yes, but it is odd. Integra awoke me when she was but twelve years old, and I was also present with Walter, helping to raise her, as she grew older. She still is that little girl to me; I could never..." He trailed off to silence, knowing that Seras would understand how he would complete the unfinished sentence. She usually did.
Seras remembered time past, after Integra's operation.
Seeing them spending so much time together, she was confused as ever with herself at the time.
And what he was saying to her now...hardly sounded like what he seemed before. She looked over at him, lowering the hand that flicked the bag across the room.
"Master..."
Alucard looked up and attempted a smile.
"Seras, she is my master. She may be irritable at times, but in a strange way, I do care for her. I have to protect her as well as anybody else. Even from herself. Just like I protect you, or try to; I could not do to her what I do with you."
"I understand, master. You don't have to explain it any more." She looked down at her hand on the bed, and raised it to rest on his nearest arm. Alucard stiffened a little under her touch, but relaxed soon enough and felt relieved by it. He lifted his tilted head straight to look at her, the shadows falling away from his face as he came into the dim natural lighting held inside the room, peeking through the half-open coffin.
His eyes were full of sorrow and concern; he moved his hand onto her's.
"This is all just so weird...Seras."
She made a grim face in return and nodded; apparently like she thought exactly the same. But it was a good kind of weird, in his words.
With her heels digging into the bed, she slid herself closer to him, and slowly wrapped her arms around that one arm nearest to her and hugged it, lying her cheek above her arms and getting a strange look from him for about a second.
Sometimes, there were really times when words were not necessary.
His other, free arm went to hold her around her shoulders and he tilted his head back to rest against the wall; he closed his eyes, they were getting heavy on him and he could no longer resist the urge to close them anymore. Seras opened her eyes and looked up, and saw opportunity flashing.
She ducked underneath the arm she was hugging, her head peeking out again near his chest and looking at him like a little kid. She put her arms around his back and stomach, hooking them at his side and resting her head on his side. Her back rested nicely against the wall, and she closed her eyes as well, only dozing lightly.
Alucard felt the movement around him, and opened his eyes to see Seras in a new position, and that his arms had fallen to her waist. He grinned, and raked a hand through her hair and let it fall back down to her waist again.
Closing his eyes once more, the coffin lid started to move. Since he was the tallest, and sitting upright, the lid only closed about halfway; it was enough to shade them from the hazardous rays of the sunlight during the day hours.
They fell to sleep.
Strangely enough, he awoke startled, his mind keeping him distorted for a minute as he looked for Seras whereabouts. The slightly closed lid showed only a part of her; the hand of his on her head he used to stroke her like a cat was the only thing he needed to know that she was nowhere else than where she was the previous night.
His red eyes opened, looking down on her with a small grin spread across his pale face.
It was as if Seras refused to wake up; she stayed in restful, motionless sleep, looking like she really had no intentions of leaving where she was for now. Alucard saw her stir after an unwatched moment or two; he knew that her body willed her to wake with the nightfall. It was like she refused it.
He moved his arm and secured it around her shoulder, looking at her warmly.
"It is no use to try and sleep if you are already subconsciously awake, Seras." He paused, seeing that she did not feel like moving still.
"But that does not mean that you have to get up yet. You can stay." He massaged gently her shoulder. She buried her face in the side of his coat, giving in, as she knew she couldn't-for as much as she tried-sleep at night.
But taking the offer, she did not move.
The lid creaked and moved up, stopping when it could not move anymore; he held her closer. It was a beautiful night again.
Slowly, he became dully aware of the strange, searing pain in his lower legs. He could have sworn he saw the slightest rise of smoke, and he found that quite comical in one sense or another.
It wasn't much, but it was more than enough to give him an idea of what had happened to him; his head rested against the stone-cold wall.
"That would just so happen to me, too." He laughed in irony, one arm draped over Seras' waist, the other resting in his lap. Seras sniffed, smelling something absurd.
"What?" She peeked out one eye to look around. His hand in his lap shielded her view before she could see anything more. He looked down at her single opened eye, her other starting to open unwillingly.
"It is fine, Seras. I am smoldering a little, but otherwise all right."
Seras made a grimace and blinked, creating a noise within her throat and looking above his hand. She squeezed his middle tenderly and shifted herself to be a little more comfortable. Alucard felt the slight movement, and definitely the sharp tug at his abdomen. He stared down at her, questioningly.
"Now, what are you trying to do, Seras? Not like much would help." Seras blinked down, resting her temple against him again.
"I'm not trying to do anything, Master." She had no weird, evil hentai innuendo in her voice as she would have usually had hidden there; but she was silent until she spoke again.
"Can you walk?"
"I should be fine; I have tried not to walk yet, but I probably am able." He looked down. "I do not feel like getting up just yet, however."
Seras smirked, shaking her head and remembering Integra.
"That's what you said last night, master." There was amusement, definitely, in her voice as she spoke. Alucard cackled slightly.
"So I did, then. I am getting so old that I forget what I say." He said with sarcastic amusement. She rolled her eyes.
"Hmmm…Do you like the idea of being locked away again, master? Or do you just enjoy the look of livid rage on Integra's face?" She scrunched together her eyebrows. Her master looked at his servant slightly stunned; he did not think that she would ask him something such as that.
Not like it mattered.
"For twenty years I was stuck in that cold, dark place, waiting to be set free. It was not she who had captured me, but the previous Hellsing." He paused to recollect. "I would die being locked up again, not because it is so draining, but that I could not see you again." He continued, matter-of-factly.
"Only Hellsing blood can capture a monster, and only Hellsing blood can release it. But I do enjoy seeing her so flustered. It seems natural for her sometimes."
"Hmmmmm..." She nodded, taking it all in. "And don't look so surprised, master. I'm not as lost as I may seem to be..." She looked down and away. "Well, actually I just listened in to Integra when she came in."
"'When she came in'...Hmmm..." For some reason, something told him that something was up, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was.
"Yes, master." She finalized, resting her head again.
Alucard touched her face with the hand that shielded her view and turned her head so he could see her.
"There is much one could learn from the ranting of the Lady. But I doubt she would put me back in that cell." Seras eyed him skeptically, having the impression that Integra could do anything.
She took her left hand and unhooked it from his front and put her gloved hand on his own, leaving only a little less than half of the sigil showing.
Alucard read every line of her face with the utmost of experience.
"Cynic, are we?" He stared at the half-covered sigil on the back of his hand. "There is one thing that prevents her from actually chaining me up in that cell again: it is because she has taken an interest in me, and why, I shall never truly understand."
Seras had an idea of why, but she just made a noise again, half-closing her eyes and looking sideways at his hand, hers almost blending into his as they both bore white gloves.
In her mind, if she really thought about it, she could understand why Integra supposedly felt the way she did.
"I have known her for a long time, but the strange thing is that she only started to show her true colors recently. The pride of Hellsing stopped her from saying or doing such things before. By turning her into a vampire, part of her pride was gone; she is what she hunts
That's why she seems to different to me; why I do not take such a care in her attitude now, as much as I used to." He was quite surprised to hear himself say such things.
But nevertheless, they were true.
"When she decided to drink my blood, she changed so much. It hurts to know what she was compared to what she has become; to know that it is my doings. I spoiled my master, and you have changed as well, Seras. But going from both, I'd say that you came with better results."
Seras blinked now, her eyes changing to add some more 'life' to them; a small smile spread on her face, as she heard a rare words of praise for her progression from her master. Now she just had to keep it up, thought it was hard.
At last, he gave in and hugged her tightly with both of his arms, resting his head atop hers and musing quietly.
"I would like nothing more right now that to stay right here, but there is work to be done." He referred slightly to his semi-charred legs; the dull pain crept up again, but it left as soon as it came. She nodded, looking up at him.
"We didn't do anything last night, we have to do something constructive this evening, for sure, my master." Her hand on his slid down to rest on his arm. He released her and slid to the edge of the bed easily.
"This is going to hurt, I know it." He muttered to himself as he stared dumbly at his legs, contemplating on the best way to get up.
Seras, on the other hand, crawled off on her own way, standing up without a problem. She looked down at her master, who seemed as if he really did not want to even try to stand.
He put his hands on the side of the bed and proceeded to push himself off. It took him a little more than he would have liked, but he was standing at least.
He was a little wobbly at first, but because of his tremendous height, it was understandable. Looking to Seras, he gave her a weak smile and made his way to the door.
Red eyes looked back over to Seras; he knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth.
"Don't worry, Seras. I will be fine; I just have to stretch them out a little, that's all."
Surprisingly, she shook her head and waved one of her hands.
"No, master, I was thinking about if I didn't know you, I would have thought you had a serious hangover." She grinned with wit. He was incredibly amused that he looked drunk without being so.
"Well, let's be glad that you indeed DO know me. Its not easy being this tall, and then having your legs, your ultimate support structure, feels as if they are going to give out." They walked down the corridor, his feet allowing them to take themselves to Seras' quarters, which she seemed to rarely see nowadays.
His dark red gaze followed Seras' over her practically deserted room, save for the Halconnen next to the bed. She peeked into the doorway and saw it, brightening up and skittering over to get it.
She picked it up like it weighed nothing and shouldered it, after strapping the rounds box to her back like a backpack; she walked over to the doorway again with the oversized cannon on her right shoulder. Her master grinned in amusement.
"You still have that evil spark in your eye whenever you have that Halconnen." He stated, raising an eyebrow as he turned to leave with her. They followed an invisible path to exit the castle, and to the gates.
A big, evil grin spread across her face and she tapped the hard steel of the gun, following him.
"It seems you like that Halconnen more than me."
Seras snickered, and answered with even more sarcasm.
"Well, master, it is a close tie." She saw his face tilt to the side a little and his glasses flash dangerously and she sweatdropped.
"Oh! But it's no contest, master, you are winning by a long shot."
His eyes were hazily seen through the tint of the glasses.
"I should hope so, Seras. If I found out that you were spending some quality time with your Halconnen, I would worry about your sanity undoubtedly. And I would never be your master again just so save reputation." He joked around with her, presently standing just outside the cold-iron gates, hearing noises from the surroundings already.
Her eyes widened at the mere thought.
"MASTER! How strange do you think I am?!" She looked a little peeved, but otherwise nonplussed as he was kidding around like he usually did. She stood in place now, hearing the same noises her master did---
'I wouldn't know, Seras, I mean…you like ME, after all." He shook his head. "That's strange enough."
He zoned in on the sounds of the night, the half-moon shining down on them like a beacon. It lit the paths of the trees, and he recognized one sound to belong to a wolf, or that of its species.
It was an omen at the very least, if not a contact.
"Right, then." She said, smirking, and looked around at the trees.
His servant was starting to perceive things just as sharply as he.
"Ah, the Children of the Night are coming out to play. And not just the Super FREAKS, either." His eyes darted around and then back to Seras, taking her hand quickly and walking more.
"The wolf cries in the night; an omen, it tells of a visitor and is always mentioned along with vampires, as one of our forms is a wolf." He said darkly.
She looked up at her master grimly, listening, then looked around again...maybe a little more nervous than she should be.
Alucard lead her a bit further into the path; as he suspected there was a wolf lurking between the shadows of the trees.
It ran to them, weaving expertly around the trees, as if in dire need to find, or bearing a warning of some sort. The white wolf stopped a foot from them, snarling at them immediately and then backing away.
He stared at the wolf over the rims of his glasses, holding his glance firmly. He recognized the gesture as not benevolent, but indication that something was going wrong. Alucard glanced to his side; about two or three miles down was a village, lit with tiny lamps on the sidewalks.
At that instant, everything seemed to shut down, and the sky was black as tar. All the lights were lost, even the dim spotlight of the half-moon.
"Look lively, Seras."
"Master, what is happening?" She definitely sensed things not to be right, or what she was used to at least. This was definitely going to be a new experience for her; maybe it would count for training—on the other hand, she had no idea what to expect.
She took her hand from his and put both of them on her Halconnen on her shoulder, her fingers wrapping around the cool steel as she squinted her eyes.
He looked at her momentarily, and bent down to the wolf. They were obviously talking, in what sort of way she was unsure of, as the wolf started to growl and snap its jaw, pounding the earth with its paws. It turned heel and sprinted away, taking strides that would have seemed impossible.
Alucard rose back to his full height, his face hidden for the exception of his glinting orange glasses.
"A meeting of Super FREAK vampires; how amusing. Going to suck the city dry, eh?" He laughed and reared his two guns from the holsters inside his coat, obviously making no sense at all to Seras.
As he chased down the wolf, sudden movements around him gave him hints about his surrounding enemies: they were not ALL Super FREAKs, but Nosferatu...
"What?!" She blinked as her master whipped out his Jackal and Cassul and started to run off...and knowing that she had no idea what was going on, she had no choice but to follow him.
And she did, finding running with the Halconnen and the box very irritating. As she had stated in the past, however.
The chase led to a small grove, where the wolf skidded to a halt, and Alucard inches from its tail.
They were surrounded by Nosferatu.
Alucard grinned, staring at the presumable twelve that looked on, and surrounded him and the mysterious white wolf.
He screamed to Seras with his mind.
Seras! Do NOT come over here...
But as she was following the both of them, there was not much for her to do. So she stood there, rooted to the spot where she stopped and stared at her master, who were approximately seven or eight feet away.
Alucard face held pure amusement, as he pulled the trigger of his beloved Jackal.
The round exploded from the gun and the silver tip of the round exploded in the throat of the first victim of the Night.
AN: Finally, another chapter done (and before work tomorrow)! AnimeNEXT coming up October 3-5 ^__^ I'm going Saturday, the fourth! Anybody going, possibly? It's in Rye, New York...an easy distance for me.