Disclaimer: Sal's mine, friends an' shit also. Hellsing and it's characters are not mine, obviously. Chapter five

Dot. She wondered how Dot was doing. And Janet. And Tony, Tony in particular.

They were both accused of having an old-guy fetish. Tony more than Sal, considering Zechs wasn't as old as Walter, who was nearing 69, or Alucard, who was, well…ancient. She really felt for Tony. She would've loved this. Walter looking after her, Alucard… Yes, Alucard. She had not seen him since rescued her from those horrible creatures who wanted to have her for dinner. She had to admit that that grin of his was kind of, attractive. No, bad thought. The group had made this promise to each other, not to lust after a lust object that another member of the group was lusting after. Sal, Dot, Tony and Janet each had taken this vow, and had lived by it. Whenever the lust object of another had looked so much as remotely attractive, you would count to ten and force this thought out of your system. This was their policy. Sal would obey it. She was pretty sure that the others would.

A short knock on the door disrupted her musings.

'Enter.'

Walter entered with her lunch. It smelled delicious as ever. He sure knew how to cook.

'I'll put it on the table. You all right, Sal?' The old man enquired.

Sal sighed.

'Sure, I'm fine. Just wondering about my friends. Will I ever see them again, Walter?'

'I don't know. Perhaps. One must never give up hope.'

Sal grinned. 'Sounds like you had to tell yourself that quite a lot of times, Shinigami. Seems that I'm not the only one here who is slightly depressed.'

The Butler returned her grin. 'True, very true. I'm just not happy with the way things have been going lately. The trouble between Sir Integra and Iscariot is increasing. There have been rumours of father Anderson being back in town. We've had trouble keeping Alucard at bay, he's been dying for a good fight and rather disturbed that he can't have one, yet.'

Sal had heard stories before about Iscariot, and about father Anderson and his twisted cleansing-methods. Cleansing? Hmm, sounds very familiar, Sal thought to herself. She was trying to think hard about where she had heard it, but couldn't reach it for some reason. It gave her a slight head ache. Walter saw she was in pain, and decided to quietly exit the room.

'Walter, stay awhile, I have something to ask you.' Sal said, through the throbbing of her head. The butler took his usual seat by the now extinguished fire. If Sal had questions, he wouldn't be out of there before Christmas. Figuratively speaking, of course. Sal took the opposite seat.

'Did Hellsing's radar system pick up anything on the night that Alucard rescued me?'

The butler thought about this for a while.

'I can't remember, Sal. In all honesty, I don't think so. I'll check with the chief intelligence officer. I'm sure he can tell me.' Walter answered. Sal seemed relieved to hear this.

'Thank you. I think I'll go to bed early today. Don't bother with dinner too much, all right? Just something simple and light will do. I'd like to sleep without dreams for one night, if possible.' Sal said, and sighed.

Walter smiled at her, nodded and stood up from his seat.

'Thank you.'

'No problem, Sal. I'll bring your dinner early, if that's alright with you, of course?'

'That sound good. See you later, Shinigami.'

Walter exited the room. He was worried about Sal. He had heard Alucard making comments that were… rather indescent. Though that didn't bother him half as much, as that Walter had the strange feeling that Alucard would actually do it. Alucard, once you got to know him, was formed partly out of hot air. He had a lot of talk, and some serious strength to back it up, if necessary. He also had arrogance in abundance. He would use this girl to get to Integra, to make her jealous, to make her feel her unimportance to him. Alucard could do that. Today felt like one of those days when keeping an eye on the girl would be a good idea. Yes, a very good idea indeed. He walked back to the kitchens to think a bit. And he had to look after dinner.

Sal was exhausted. She looked at the clock. Half past eight. It was hardly evening, but she was so tired, she couldn't keep her eyes open. She got into her silk, red pyjama's (courtesy of Hellsing Manor), brushed her teeth and dived into bed. It didn't take long for sleep to wash over her like and all-consuming wave.

Wha.. what happened. Where was she? Everything around her was strange and green. Like she was floating in green fluid. She was floating in green fluid. But how could this be? She was in her bed! In a comfortable room! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! Sal screamed, but no one seemed to hear her. Then she felt herself being pulled away from the green, and everything turned a recognisable black and she was back in her bed.

Sal awoke with a start, and looked around. Everything was dark. She turned on the light, and looked at the clock. It was half past eleven. Hmm, she had only been out for three hours. So many hours to go. What if she dreamed again? What would happen then? Sal hated to admit it, but she was scared. She turned off the light, but she didn't really want to go back to sleep. No, it was definitely saver to stay awake.

Or was it?