Freedom Chapter 14

By J.L. Pitard

Standard disclaimer: All characters belong to Kohta Hirano and his publishers. I have no stake in them...

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"I most strongly insist that you not go, Sir Integra." Walter was adjusting the curtains in her study to lessen the glare of the afternoon sun. There had been no incidents with the undead reported, no major groupings of disappearances, nothing. He worried that they would let down their guard. Integra had been getting more and more irritated with the protective behaviors that Walter, Alucard and even Seras had been displaying.

"I accepted this invitation months ago, Walter. Lord Irons would be greatly put out if I suddenly declined due to a vague threat."

"That is why I asked you to contact him last week and decline. Would you consider Alucard?" He sounded apologetic as he said it. That had sounded better in his head.

She gave him a withering look. "Most of the Knights will be there. They all know who and -more importantly- what he is," her words were all clipped, as if she were talking to a misbehaving child. "With wives there and all, do you think that will go over well?"

"Noted. What about Miss Victoria?"

"Her in a party of nobles?" She looked like she had smelled something disturbing. "Plus, some of them helped us cover up her death."

Walter nodded. He wasn't finished with this, but he needed a new approach. "The troops have been doing a fair bit of prep and training. I think we're in pretty good shape."

"How is it going this month?"

Walter pulled a zip drive from his waistcoat pocket. "The files for the retention and recruiting numbers. Couple to note, a few are gifts from other security services. There are some female recruits to consider as well."

She walked to her desk, fiddling with her computer. "I don't think I'll need a guard, Walter."

"No doubt, but what if you took one of the soldiers with you, as a date, perhaps?" He smiled inwardly. She hadn't seen that one coming.

"WHAT? You...you don't... Fraternizing?" Like a date, only worse, she thought. Not to mention the awkwardness of introducing him around to the others and their wives. The gossip produced would be out of this world. Even Seras would be a good choice in comparison, and that was saying something. She thought of the times she'd put down soldiers who had been made ghouls. A shudder went down her spine. Could you do that to someone you've dated? "It's too late to just bring another person anyway! It just isn't done."

Walter came over to her desk with a cup of tea for her. Setting it down he said, "Well, I'd favor sending Alucard and Seras out, in a covert capacity, of course..." As if that hadn't been his backup plan if she insisted on going.

"Yes. Yes, quite reasonable," she said gratefully.

"I have the progress on the mansion as well." He pointed at the computer. "We should be almost back to normal, but we had to use quite a few outside providers. I'm not happy about that, but," he shrugged and began to walk towards the door, "we can tackle hiring our own after we get the troop strength back up and this new threat has been eliminated."

As he left, he looked back to see Integra smiling distractedly.

A date? Dash the thought. Still...

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A swirling mist rose up in front of Seras. It was unreal, but she felt a chill and pulled her pajamas tighter around herself. Pajamas? That's odd, she thought, I wear my uniform most of the time. She looked down at the little girl PJs she wore. Okay, this is probably a dream. Her clothes were the only color in the area around her. She started walking in no particular direction when Pudgy jumped down from a tree.

Ha! Can you take me down without your precious human weapons?

She shook her head and suddenly desired some kind of weapon. A bulbous man with leather straps across his chest appeared floating near her.

"Brilliant, just brilliant." The spirit of her cannon appeared periodically to give her vague and useless warnings. "Just what I need, another old pervert." She flicked her finger at Harkonnen.and, chattering to himself, he floated away like a disgusting balloon.

She looked back at the tree, but Pudgy was gone. The dark haired female vamp Katerina was sitting on an old fashioned wooden swing. She patted the small space next to her.

Come here, girl.

Her legs moved her close, and then she was sitting next to Katerina before she realized it. She felt embarrased to be in her childhood nightclothes. As they began to swing together, Seras was in the same pretty red dress that she had worn the other week.

Tell your master that we will move tonight. He may rest assured. He will be free soon. You should both remain still and wait for word.

She enjoyed the sensation of swinging and Katerina placed her arm around Seras' waist.

In front of them, they watched a movie where Alucard struck her down outside the back entrance again. She felt the anger and confusion as if it had just happened. Katerina, however, seemed quite pleased.

The women were about the same size, face to face. Katerina smiled and Seras was filled with good feelings. She hadn't felt this happy since, since before she died. Maybe since before her mother had died. The mist began to lift.

Police Girl?

The woman's voice had changed and the whole world seemed to shift. A dull ache started to form in the front of her head.

Insane red eyes greeted her as Seras awoke.

"Get up, Police Girl. We have work tonight!"

"Master..." She struggled to clear the mist from her head. Groggy was too kind a word for how she felt. Hung over fit better. He practically lifted her out. She shook him off as she started to stand on her own.

"Must brush teeth," she mumbled and trotted off. Alucard followed her.

Seras didn't want to convey the message. It was just a silly dream, she thought as she brushed. He was watching her in that unblinking way as she finished spitting. She turned to him, determined not to tell him what she had learned.

"What are we doing, Master?" Before he could answer, she began talking again. It was her voice, but the words were from her dream:

"Master, they will move tonight. You may rest assured. You will be free soon. We should both remain still and wait for word."

He looked not at her now, but through her as he thought about the manner that Katerina had used to communicate with him.

Suddenly, her brain was not just aching; it hurt like it was splitting in two. Reflexively, she clutched her head as if she could hold it together. When she released her arms, the mist was surrounding her again. Alucard was still in front of her, but otherwise she couldn't tell if this was the dream or not. Seras pinched herself just to be sure.

"Yep," she said, "Awake. What the hell -"

Alucard shushed her with a hand gesture as he moved away and began to look around the area. She looked over at the tree and the swing, which was still going back and forth. He pulled out his Jackal and began blasting at the tree. It shriveled and died, taking her headache along with it.

Suddenly he was standing next to her, which was a very good thing from her perspective, as he caught her before she hit the stone floor. He carried her out to the chair at her table, putting the gun away in his coat once she was sitting on her own. She put her head between her knees and cried for a moment. This is all just too odd for me, she thought. Could I make that choice again?

Alucard walked up with a cool washcloth from her bathroom. She took it for her head and he leaned up against the wall opposite her.

She heard him humming faintly.

"Mozart? Flute?" She asked when she'd found her voice. He'd been trying to get her to like classical music. She imagined a resume for him would include, under hobbies: Reading, music and killing things, not neccessarily in that order.

He smiled.

Seras wanted to ask a million questions about what happened, but she knew that he either wouldn't tell her anything, or would bore her to tears with a long, confusing answer.
"What are we going to do tonight, Master?"

His smile broadened. "We're going to 'guard' Sir Hellsing at a Protestant Knights soiree."

"Oh."

"Without being seen, if possible." He tapped his large red hat down low over his eyes.

"I need to change." She started to rise and he moved towards her. "No, I'm alright, could you step out, please?"

He passed through the stone walls with a small flourish. She shook her head. She hadn't managed to go through walls yet. Her progress was frustratingly slow. Some of what he did, she learned, was with magic, but the rest was mind control. That's what he was working with her to do. Relaxing seemed to be the key. It was a disconcerting few days until she figured that out. Alucard seemed to think his attempts at seduction were useful, but she would get so flustered and confused that she had to yell at him to stop it.

So unhelpful in so many ways, she mused. Nobody had ever touched her like he did. A couple of boys in school and at the academy were interested in her, but she'd been very shy. Aside from a few fumbled passes and some kissing, there had been nothing. She wanted him to touch her, but she was very frightened by her reactions. Then there was that whole evil monster thing to think about.

And his attitude! Seras had never been much of a feminist, despite going into the male dominated police force, but his attitude of ownership was getting hard to swallow. Of course, he did own her, so that made it hard to protest. She sighed, changed her clothes and went to join him in the hallway.