Disclaimer: I don't like disclaimers. You know I don't own anything.
AN: All timeline discrepancies have been fixed and the direct quoting has been pared a bit. Also, it's not a myth! Feedback really does make me update faster!
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Once again, Seras found herself staring at the lid of her coffin. She did that a lot lately. Absently she scratched at the lacquer in front of her, debating whether or not to get up. Yesterday had been a particularly trying day. She and the other members of Hellsing had attended a funeral for 125 of their fallen comrades; it had rained, as if the sky was sympathizing with them. Seras closed her eyes; it had been like that first night all over again. But this time, something different happened.
As a fledgling vampire, Seras was not entirely aware of all the things that came with the package, such as blood lust. When she had been surrounded by the dead Hellsing soldiers raised as ghouls, she had trembled with anguish; thoughts of her friends in D-11 flashed before her eyes. She didn't think she could bring herself to fight them. But then something had taken over her when she felt their fetid breath against her. She had snapped.
All she really remembered was a feeling of intense hatred coming over her. Her blood sang in her veins and she had never felt so strong and alive. She ripped them all in to shreds with great glee. It scared her so bad, what was she becoming? She had wanted to hurt them so badly, to destroy them and watch them fall at her feet. When she came out of it, she was weak and trembling with the need to vomit foremost on her mind. She sat there, splattered with former friends' blood covering her.
Perhaps "friend" was too strong a word. But after she had risked her life to save the soldiers in that explosion, they had started to come around. The man she had shielded with her body, she couldn't remember if he too had been torn apart by her.
Walter having gone to attend to Sir Integra, Seras was left unharmed but shaken. Sitting still in the same place, her uniform frayed and bloody; that was how her Master found her.
He looked quite pleased with the results of his own battle, if perhaps vaguely a little disappointed at it lasting such a short time. He was only slightly surprised at finding Seras sitting on the steps, in a dazed state.
"Ah Police Girl, I see you and Walter cleaned up the rest of this trash," he said with a slight smirk. He wished he could have watched her fight.
Seras glanced up at him, his presence steadying her a bit. Her Master always seemed to have a calming effect on her.
"Yes Master. Walter is seeing to Sir Integra right now," she said in a rather soft and slightly strained voice.
He gazed at her thoughtfully, noticing the fire of blood lust still sparkling in her lovely red eyes. Ah so little Police girl was finally starting to enjoy being a vampire. His mind briefly caressed hers, tasting some of the sensations of her first taste of a vampire's true abilities. He was quite proud of her, even if the after effects were not exactly desirable.
"Well done, Police Girl," Alucard said a bit awkwardly. He couldn't help the feeling of needing to praise her. Perhaps to soothe the feelings of unease that radiated off of her.
Seras smiled weakly, her Master's pleasure sinking into her and making her warm all over. It was so rare to hear anything but a taunt for her non-vampireness from him. She felt a little better from it. Alucard reached a hand out to again help her off the cold stone steps. Seras wasn't sure if vampires could blush, but if they could she certainly must be now.
He helped her up, her legs quivered a little as she stood, making her sway a little. She wasn't one hundred percent it was all from the weakness she was feeling. His strong hands steadied her as he looked her up and down.
"Police Girl, you are half starved. Have you been neglecting drinking your blood again?" the elder vampire asked with a slight frown.
Ah, now that sounded like Master. Seras tried to put an innocent look on her face, it had been a few days since she had last broke down and drank some blood. She understood her body needed it, but she tried to avoid it for as long as she could. But after what had happened, she felt slightly sickened at how much she craved it after her little incident.
"N-no Master... That is, I'm just not hungry lately," she tried, but the slight burbling of her stomach gave her away.
Alucard gave an exasperated sigh, and picked her up bridal style, eliciting a small yelp from the blonde.
"M-Master!" Seras was startled as he calmly carried her back to her room. She secretly flushed with pleasure at the rare contact with her sire. But all too quickly, he set her on her feet in front of the door to her room.
"Go in, drink your blood, and get some rest. I have no use for a vampire who wastes all her energy then starves to death," he said with a lightly scolding tone.
She opened the door and walked into her dark cool room. "Yes master..." She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She turned around, wanting to see if her Master would come in, but he was already gone. She frowned slightly as she shut the door.
Seras picked up the blood pack and carefully opened it, not wanting to rip it open like an animal as she had before. She poured it into the bowl and just looked at it. As hungry as she was, she just couldn't see herself eating human blood after what she had just witnessed...and done.
She disposed of the medical blood despite her stomach's protests, and crawled into her coffin to hopefully partake of some deep dreamless sleep. But again, she was haunted with visions of her Master. He was such a cocky bastard, she thought angrily. How could he praise her and scold her in one breath. Didn't he realize what she was going through?
But as hard as she tried, she couldn't be mad at him for long. The feel of his strong arms wrapped around her, and lean chest pressed against her side was all too fresh in her mind.
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The funeral the day before had been a very trying affair. Seras was never much good when faced with death, and it seemed it was all around her constantly now. But she knew she had to be here today. She had never gotten to go to the funeral of her dead comrades from D-11. As technically, she had been listed as dead along with everyone else.
Briefly, she wondered if anyone had grieved for her. She had no family to speak of, never having really known her mother as more than a photograph, and her father had died several years before. As for friends, most anyone she would have called one had perished that day.
Walter had stayed by her side throughout, a constant reminder that she had a least one friend. Seras couldn't bring herself to approach any of the other mourners, still feeling guilty about before. Walter assured her that they did the best they could, and they should be grateful things weren't worse. But as calming as his presence was, she couldn't help but wish that her Master was at her side as well.
When she returned from the funeral, she had thrown herself in her coffin and not come out since. So here she found herself, not being able to sleep and bored out of her mind. Reluctantly, she crawled out of her bed, and movements sluggish she got dressed. Casual today in jeans and a pullover. She knew what she needed to do. Something, anything to remind her of her humanity.
Even though she had been told more or less to not contact anyone from her former life, no one had ever said she couldn't go home. Well, not expressly in those words. But just to be safe, she wouldn't tell anyone where she was going. Pulling a bobble hat over her messy hair, she tip toed out of her room.
She made it as far as the courtyard before she was stopped by Captain Fargason.
"Ah, there you are, Victoria. I was just about to send some one to fetch you," said the middle-aged soldier.
Seras saluted awkwardly, wondering what she had done now. "Yes sir, do you need something?" She just hoped she wasn't busted.
"I need you to go on a mission for me. Dressed as you are is perfect. Consider it undercover."
She gulped, wondering what he could need her to do this early in the day. She normally wouldn't even be up.
"It's a simple search and destroy. I need you to go to this address," he said, handing her a piece of paper and a picture, "and find this man. He's the landlord of the building. It's been confirmed he is a vampire. He shouldn't be any trouble for you."
Seras looked a little unsure, but took the papers and the pistol he offered her.
"Yes sir! I'll return after the target has been silenced!" she said more confidently that she felt. Oh well, looks like she wouldn't be going home today.
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Seras ran down the stairs, she had seen something jumping out the window of the apartment. She cursed silently, it was the third floor. Not quite to the point where she wasn't sure she wouldn't break her legs following, she jumped onto the fire escape instead. Her boots clanged of the metal grid of second floor landing, she wasn't going to lose him. She put her foot on the top rung of the ladder leading down to the street, hands on each side, and slid the rest of the way down. She said something rather unlady like as she hit the payment, having received a tiny slash on her hand from a piece of jagged, rusty metal.
She sucked on the cut as she ran after him, pistol in the other hand as she wondered if vampires still needed tetanus shots. Her feet pounded on the pavement as caught up with him in a narrow alley. She put a bullet in the ghoul turning it to ash. She scared the crap out of a bum sitting against the wall of an apartment building. She wasn't sure if he had pissed his pants, but he sure shrieked and ran like he did.
"The target has been silenced," she said into her headset. She nodded silently as she was told to meet up with the rest of the attack team at the park; the host vampire was on the move. "Yes sir!" As she went on her way, a large drop of rain hit her in the eye. 'Lovely,' she thought.
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Seras crouched down, aiming carefully. The host vampire was fleeing in a car, but this was one situation the police force had trained her for. Deftly she shot out one of the tires, making the car careen wildly and smash into a lamppost. The vampire slumped forward in the seat as she approached. But suddenly, he got up and dove through the smashed windshield. Damn the undead and their tenacity.
"Stop right there!" she yelled as she continued to make chase, breaking out of the alley and into a busy street. Great, couldn't quite shoot him here. Picking up a burst of speed she ran after him, determined to catch him before he... Made it to the subway. He had hopped like a frog. Seras growled, touching her headset.
"This is Agent Victoria. The host has fled into the subway, attacked the passengers and escaped. He got on a train to Queensgate and that the train redirects at Nottinghill, which would make it difficult to contain if he makes it there." If they didn't get him now, God knows where he could end up.
Seras sighed as she was told they were ordering an emergency stop on the train, and to meet up with the attack team at the train station at Nottinghill. She growled and turned back around, brushing past a few angry people who wisely said nothing to the crazy red-eyed girl with the pistol.
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Seras made it to the station just as the attack team did. Apparently, they had already taken care of the quarantine, because other than them the station was empty. Seras steeled herself as they made there way quickly down the dark subway track to intercept the already stopped train.
There was no sound from the subway car; something wasn't right. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she wondered if it was just unease, or if these were her vampiric instincts kicking in. She slid open the doors and was boosted up by one of the soldiers. She crouched down, taking a defensive pose as her eyes darted around.
"Oh my God, it can't be." There he was, lying on the cold metal floor of the car, dead; surrounded by at least a dozen equally dead ghouls. She shivered as she realized they were all impaled with blessed silver blades, and the walls were covered in holy writs. Her throat seemed to close as she gasped, her eyes going dark for a moment as memories flashed through her head. Her fingers clutched at her scar as it seemed to dully throb with pain. Her eyes franticly looked about praying that... The soldier next to her slowly shone his flashlight in the pit dark compartment. Standing in the next door over was her worst nightmare. She screamed, breaking out in a cold sweat. He whipped around as the four men flanking him shouted and emptied their semi-automatic machine guns into him.
"In the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Ghost. Amen," said a deep resounding voice that struck terror in her undead heart.
Four blessed blades flew from his hands, burying themselves deeply in the foreheads of the soldiers. She backed up as he turned and threw another strait at her.
The dim overhead lights of the subway car gleamed off his cold green eyes, and the polished silver of his blades and cross. Seras panicked, backing up she squeezed her eyes shut, trapped as she readied herself to feel the terrible pain she remembered so well; But the pain never came. There was the loud sound of metal being broken, and the firing of a shot. She opened her eyes as part of the broken blade buried itself in the stock of her rifle. Then Alucard materialized beside her, her Master! He had protected her again by shooting the blade! Her heart soared as she looked to him with adoration, thinking that at least he hadn't got hurt for her this time.
"How about a duel to the death, Judas priest?" he spat at him.
"I got tired of waiting for ye vampire!" he shouted with a laugh as he launched several blades at him. But Alucard was ready this time, and neatly sidestepped them. They plunked heavily into a pole in front of him.
"What?!" the fanatic priest shouted, surprised at his speed.
"A dog like you can't kill me," Alucard said evenly, raising his guns and shooting the blades in Anderson's hands, then firing about 5 shots directly into the startled Catholic's chest. He stumbled back into the compartment behind him, disappearing in the darkness.
Seras leaned galvanized against the metal wall of the train car. All she could do was watch. She hated herself at times like this for being so afraid, but she had more faith in her Master than anything. He would protect her.
Alucard stuck his head through the door, looking gleefully around for his prey. That was the last thing she saw as he too disappeared into the car. Seras tried to catch her breath as she heard a shot being fired, and then nothing for a moment.
"Got ya!" she heard that terrible priest cry out as her heart froze. The horrible sound of metal on metal and a terrible crashing assaulted her delicate vampiric ears as she gapped at the bright blue sparks she could see from even back here.
After a moment of hearing nothing but maniacal laughter, she unsteadily made her way towards the front. Discarding her now useless rifle, she pulled out the pistol Fargason had given her.
"Master?" she said softly, stepping forward. There was a distinct crunching sound; she looked down to see what she had stepped on. Her Master's glasses. "Master!" Something flashed through her, and her face changed. She looked quite angry now as she ran forward. No one touched her Master! Her anger however quickly faded to fear again as she was faced with a smirking Anderson.
"This!? Is this thing the ace of Hellsing? Not even in my league," he said smugly as he lifted up Alucard's severed head for her inspection. Seras screamed as he tossed it at her, and she instinctively caught it. There was a sickening plunk as he threw a blade into the head, pushing her back a little with another surprised shriek. Tears in her eyes, she aimed her pistol at him and quickly emptied the magazine into him as he slowly raised the bayonet to strike her. With a cry, she threw herself to the side, bursting out the window as the sword sliced off the tips of her hair.
With a wince she got up off the hard ground, still clutching her Master's head and she ran down the tunnel. When she didn't hear any signs of pursuit, she slowed down a bit, catching her breath. She gently brushed the worst of the glass off that was stuck in her side.
"What am I supposed to do?" she asked herself, making her way back towards the station. "I mean, why am I holding my Master's head?! What am I supposed to do with it?!"
The sound of footfalls touched her delicate ears, and she spun around, bracing herself against the concrete wall.
"Dust to dust. Amen," he said in a deep even voice as he slowly advanced on her. Out of instinct she shakily aimed her empty gun at him, knowing that she was going to die here. But then something miraculous happened. Dozens of black bats swarmed the crazy priest, and she briefly wondered if she could make a break for it. Something warm began to tickle her arms, and she looked down, shrieking as she dropped her Master's melting head. She leaned heavily against the wall, this much surprise was not good for a person.
Slowly the bats started to form together, until once again her Master stood before her. Between her and death. Tears pricked at her eyes "M...Master!" she cried.
"M...Monster!" Anderson said in turn, fear flashing over his face as he backed up a step.
"People say that to me all the time," he said with his trademark smirk. The rest of the battle went fairly quickly with Anderson losing a few limbs, and then disappearing in a swirl of blessed pages with a promise of revenge.
The pages of his holy writs floated through the air like snow as Seras looked a little dumbstruck at what had just happened. Alucard, of course, simply stood there smirking.
"Excuse me Master. Are you alright?" she asked shyly. She would never understand how he could go through what he did and still come out unscathed.
"A dog like that could never kill me. Only a human can truly ever hope to kill a monster," he said with a laugh. "Come along, Police Girl." He turned to her and held out his hand. Seras couldn't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu as she took it. But this was rather different. She shrieked as he dematerialized with her and reappeared in front of the Hellsing. She didn't think she could ever get used to that feeling. But maybe if she ever learned to do it herself...
Her eyes darted up to his as she realized his arms were still around her. His eyes seemed to spark when they made contact; for a brief instant she just stared into his like a deer caught in the headlights before pulling away. She looked at the ground as they walked in silence into the manor. She could still feel his eyes burning into her skin. She shivered a little as put her hand on his arm and led her back to her room.
Once again, Alucard found himself depositing the police girl at the door to her room. But this time he knew better than to trust leaving her to her own devices. Poor girl, she was nearly traumatized from her brush with the Judas priest. He opened the door and gallantly motioned for her to go in, his eyes following her moves.
She tried to hide her shaky legs by quickly sitting down, but Alucard didn't miss it. He could sense something was wrong with her by the way she had clung to him unconsciously. He nonchalantly sat down next to her, putting his feet up on the tabletop and watching her intently.
Seras started to squirm under his scrutiny. She just wished he would leave her alone so she could strip and clean the pieces of glass out of her side.
"M-Master, will you please stop looking at me like that!?" she said finally.
"Like what, Police Girl?" he asked with a smirk on his pale lips.
'Like what!? Like you want to eat me!' she thought with a blush.
"Actually, I was just trying to decide whether or not I'm going to punish you." There was a hint of amusement in his voice. But there usually was when she was concerned.
Seras glanced up wide-eyed, drawing her jacket around her a bit tighter as she wondered what she had done now. There was hardly a time she saw her Master that he didn't think up some reason to punish her.
"F-for what Master?" she asked with a squeak.
"For disobeying me, of course," he said, staring at her intently again. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you haven't been drinking your blood? And before you try and deny it if you had been drinking it, that wound at your side would have already healed."
Seras gasped under her breath. Why had she thought he hadn't noticed? If she could smell the blood on herself, she was sure that he could too.
"I just haven't felt like drinking lately," she lied. She had wanted to drink quite badly recently. She fairly ached with the need for it. But she hadn't wanted to after what had happened before. What if she lost control again? The vampire watched nervously as he got up and went over to her shelves. He pulled off the shiny regulation first aid kit and walked back over to her.
Alucard crouched in front of her, setting the box down. He briefly considered forcing her to let the wound heal naturally, but he decided that some good old fashioned antiseptic would do the trick.
"Take your jacket off, Police Girl," he said evenly, opening the box.
Seras quickly obeyed, wondering what he was going to do. She winced as she pulled off the pink jacket, leaving her in her thin T-shirt. She could see that the blood had already started to well through it. She again wondered why she thought she could hide it. Seras gulped as he pulled out a pair of stainless steel tweezers. He leaned to the side as lifted her shirt up.
His eyes took in the multiple gashes and punctures of various sizes peppering her pale skin. Her skin was already crusting with dried blood. He sighed and brushed his hand over her side. "This may be a little...uncomfortable," he said darkly. Seras gulped and tried not to move. He slid the tweezers into one of the cuts, fishing around for a moment before catching on a fair sized bit of glass. A pained hiss escaped her as he pulled it out, causing the closing wound to reopen again. Things proceeded in this way until there was a small pile of bloody shards sitting on the table next to him.
Seras had broken out in a cold sweat by the time he was done. When her eyes finally focused she realized her fingers were tightly dug into her Master's shoulders to steady herself. She forced herself to look down at him; he was staring at her side with such fierce intensity. Removing all the bits of glass had made the little cuts all bleed profusely again. It dripped down her pale skin like some kind of macabre painting.
Alucard stopped for a moment, transfixed by the site of her blood. He hadn't realized how hungry he was when he started, but all that regeneration was quite tiring. His original intention had been to patch her up and tell her to drink her blood. But now quite different ideas were bouncing around his head.
The blonde vampire tried not to move as she looked at him. He looked so different with his glasses off. He swayed forward a little, and she could feel his breath against her. She wondered if maybe he was going to...
"Master!" she gasped as his warm tongue flicked out, slowly collecting the rivulets of blood and swallowing them with great pleasure. She flushed when she felt one of his hands slide over her thigh to steady him, and unconsciously squeeze it. Her breath came in short bursts as she watched him almost reverently run his tongue over each cut. A wave of heat rolled through her middle at the almost erotic sight. She wondered if he knew what kind of effect he was having on her.
Alucard finished lapping the blood off of her. He made a small noise of pleasure in the back of his throat as he watched her wounds slowly close up. He didn't even realize the way he was intimately touching her, so lost was he in the taste of her. Her blood was just as sweet as he remembered it being the first time he tasted it. He sat back a bit, feeling euphoric as he looked up at her. Taking in her flushed face and glazed eyes, he was suddenly quite aware the effect his impromptu feeding had had on her. He had always suspected she was attracted to him... But the way she was looking at him right now made him want to teach her things a Master vampire usually shouldn't.
Suddenly, he felt almost ashamed of losing control like that. As old as he was, he should be able to handle himself better. He wasn't some randy teenager after all! He snorted under his breath and pulled her shirt back down, then stood back up.
"Drink your blood and rest." He didn't look at her, but his tone was quite serious this time. She knew this was an order and not a request. He turned about and vanished through the wall.
It took Seras a few moments before what had just happened finally hit her. Her Master had just licked her clean! And this time she had been the one staring at him like a big, bloody steak. What he must think of her! She shivered as she still felt the wonderful sensations burning in her body that her Master's touch had awakened in her. Her eyes flicked over to the blood pack on the table. Seras quickly grabbed it and sunk her fangs into it. She drank deeply with a small scowl on her face. She was going to satisfy at least one hunger tonight!
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Well that took longer to write then I thought it would. Actually I had a good bit of chapter 3 written as well, but somehow I managed to loose the document when my computer messed up. Look for ch3 sometime this week for sure. Oh and, once again, reviews really put me in the mood to write if you catch my hint!