Disclaimer: I do not own Alucard, or any of the other Hellsing characters. Sal is mine, my own. My precioussss!

Rude awakenings part one

Chapter one

Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the light. She felt strange. Like some sort of wave had washed over her. Not to mention she felt cold. Chilled to the bone. Then she looked around.

'AAAAAARGH!'

That which had once been her room, now seemed to be no more than a deserted, concrete parking lot. She looked down. She was still in her bed. Which was even more strange, considering there were usually no beds in parking lots. She checked under the bed for wheels, just to make sure. The cold wind howled through the opening next to which her bed stood, and she crawled under the blankets. For now, trying to stay warm was enough.

And then she heard moaning. A high pitched moaning, almost painful to human ears. And, against all wisdom, she peeked from under the covers to see what, or whom, it was that seemed to be in such agony. Bad idea. A group of people were moving her way. They seemed to be mesmerized by something beyond her vision. She got up to get a better look at them. Then suddenly, something seemed to strike them. They looked right at her, let out a series of monstrous screams and started running towards her with a surprising amount of speed. She let out a scream of her own, and fled in the opposite direction. Through a door, down the stairs, through another door and onto the streets. Then she realised the light had been coming from the halo's on the sealing. The streets were dark, except for the occasional street light. A pale moon shone it's light over the empty streets. The entire city felt empty. Night rang. Behind her, she heard the crowd gaining on her, and she sprinted as far away from them as she could.

She ran down an alley, and was trapped. As she turned round, she saw the group of people moving towards her. As they got closer, Sal smelled the death surrounding them. And what seemed like people, had turned into something terrible that looked like people.

Rotten flesh holding rotten entrails. Some lacking body parts, that had probably been ripped of by another member of their group. They seemed now more like piranhas than men and women. Even small children. This city was infected.

Panicking, she tried to claw her way up the steep wall. Impossible stopped to exist in her mind. All that was there now was survival. She mustn't die! She can't die!

The crowd stopped. Something had got their attention, and it wasn't the helpless victim braking her nails on solid concrete. It came from behind them. The soft humming. Almost like a song. The crowd turned as one man to face this new intruder. This new snack for them to feast on. But it was far from that. They smelled it. This was no normal man.

They were gone. It had happened so fast, she had hardly noticed it. She fell down, feeling more tired now that the adrenaline in her body began to fade. She looked up, looking for her pursuers. All she saw was that tall figure standing there. Whoever it was, the expression of almost sadistic amusement that lay on it's face was unmistakable. She backed away, until her back came in contact with solid concrete. The moonlight shone more brightly on this creature, it seemed. It moved closer to her, and she could now determine that it was in fact a he, and not an it. Clad in a long, red coat, a wide brimmed hat standing proudly on his head.

'It's a nice night, wouldn't you agree, miss?'

The figure was now standing right in front of her, holding out his hand. She took it, and he helped her up.

Chapter two

An empty city, except for two people. A closer inspection reveals these to be a young woman dressed in evening apparel, and a very tall man dressed in old-fashioned garments, a red coat and hat. Not to mention that constant grin. And, to be quite honest with you, dear reader, Sal's not feeling very comfortable. He had saved her, that much was obvious, but she was a bit in the dark about why he had done that. He could've just left her there.

'I do not think that I could've, actually.' The stranger answered, like he was reading her thoughts.

Maybe he was reading her thoughts…

'What were those things back there?' Sal asked, being ever inquisitive.

'My name is Alucard. Might I inquire what yours is?' The stranger asked. Sal felt her cheeks burning. The man had saved her from, from… whatever it was, and she hadn't even gone through the trouble of asking his name.

' Sally, Sally May Gizmo, but please don't call me that!' Sal said, rather hurriedly. 'I've always hated Sally May, and Gizmo does not exactly make it better. Just call me Sal, like everyone else does.'

'Alright, miss Sal, if you insist.' Alucard answered, still with that infernal grin on his face.

'You can leave out the miss, mister Alucard, sir. Sounds a bit too much like missile.'

'The way you were at it with that wall back there, you could've had me fooled.' There it was still, that grin.

'Haha, very funny. Now that we're properly introduced, would you please tell me what those things were that tried to, ehm… eat me back there?' Sal asked.

'Those were ghouls. They hunt the living, and have been created by the undead.'

'You mean Vampires? They don't exist, they're just made up by some guy named Stoker, with too much free time on his hands and a serious mental problem.' Sal laughed.

Alucard laughed too, but at something completely different, it seemed. And finally it dawned on her.

'Say, Alucard… if I turn your name around, it spells…'

'Dracula, exactly. How very clever of you.'

Alucard turned round to face her, and grabbed her arms. Sal's eyes grew wide with shock.

'No, Alucard, please don't bite me! DON'T! PLEASE!' Sal screamed, trying very hard to loosen the iron grip the Vampire had on her arms. Not succeeding, of course. Alucard loosened his grip somewhat, took off the pair of odd sunglasses that had sheltered his eyes from sight and looked Sal right in the eye. It gave her the shivers.

'Do not worry, young woman, I shall not bite you. I am not hungry or tired. You, however, seem to be in need of rest after your little trial of endurance. Now rest your tired limbs.'

As he looked into her eyes, Sal felt them growing heavier. Unable to keep them open. Hardly able to stand up.

She fell over into Alucards arms, and he carried her the rest of the way.