Author's notes: Unlike the other chapter, what happens in this chapter, hasn't happened in the manga. Just a little prediction by me. I'm grateful to Lyanna Kane for her edition.

Durga



Chapter Six

- The Emperor

A horde of bats crossed the skies of the destroyed city, batting their wings as they made their squeaking noises. The smell of blood was certainly invigorant for the creatures; and there was blood everywhere, just like there were corpses of former citizens.What a pleasant welcome for Alucard, indeed. He felt a lot stronger now that he was no longer close to running water.

Here I come, Major, he thought smugly. He laughed - the imbecile had actually thought a No Life King would sink so easily into the cold oblivion of the Atlantic waters. That submarine prison would never have held him back, and they didn't. Nothing could. And the seals…

The flying mammals paused abruptly in their path, just above the middle of the swastika that was burning on the floor. He could feel the seals weakening to the point where they almost vanished, and then a pain as if his very soul was being torn apart. If he had ever had one.

Integra… Master!

With a growl, Alucard made his way towards the source of the last lingering remains of his seal. He took a new form, shifting to his human façade, a figure cloaked in red and black at the side of the fallen Hellsing.

"Master," Alucard looked down, nostrils filled with the sweet aroma of her virgin blood, spilled now in a small pond that lay underneath her. Vampiric lust flared at that, but he contained himself and knelt down.

Integral was bleached, face twisted in a smirk of victory that contrasted with her otherwise condition. There were wounds caused be several bullets on her chest, on her abdomen and then on her legs. She had apparently crawled to position herself that way. One of the lenses of her glasses was shattered, its crystal stained by the crimson liquid. In her left hand, she held a shotgun with empty clips. "Master," Alucard said again, more insistent towards the unresponsive woman he held. There was no answer. Integral's heart didn't beat anymore; her breathing had stopped before his arrival. She was dead.

Alucard remained still for a while, like a dog that had lost his owner and didn't know how to act out his freedom. Mixed feelings crossed him. Joy. Confusion. And a bit of sorrow. But above all, rage. He was angry at her for being weak enough to die; at the damned Nazis who had destroyed his work of ten years; at himself for letting those lowlifes get the upper hand.

He leaned on her face, pulling his tongue out to lap the blood off her skin. Not even the flavor of first quality blood could ebb his need for revenge. He put Integral's body down, covering it with his coat. For a minute, he was tempted to devour her body, having no drop of her delicious hemoglobin elixir be put to waste. Yet, he didn't. She had won his respect over the years they had spent together. And that was a remarkable feat in its own right.

Alucard turned around, glancing at the Major who lay dead on the ground a few meters away from Integral. The vampire grinned sadistically, recognizing Integral's sword thrust in the mouth of the Nazi leader. It seemed the Master, no, the former Master had managed to strike her enemy down before her downfall.

The little girl had stabbed him in his chest, removing his heart out of the fat, and then she'd severed his head, sticking the saber through his screaming mouth. Excellent work; Integral had always possessed a finesse to kill in a manner so difficult to imitate. And that was now lost. Gone. All for this little brawl. Mockery of real wars. Alucard let go a tirade of insane laughter that shortly changed into a chainsaw snarl. It was so loud that it even covered the noises made by explosions. Velvet darkness swallowed the city. Long, spidery arms popped out from the Abyss, offering a frightening show: thousands of hands seeking out their preys, tearing apart anything that stood in their way. They didn't recognize friend or foe. In the midst of his payback, Alucard could almost hear Integral's words once more, full of passion as they had been in Brazil. "Search and Destroy!" she had ordered. So he complied. Grabbing the nazi soldiers--and whomever else foolish enough to not move away—, the hands cracked their spines before tossing them up in the air in order to impale them on the half melt, street lights, antennas and everything pointy enough as to suit one such job. He wasn't picky in his favorite hobby, as long as the stick went well, deep inside the anus and then came through the mouth. Anything would do.

Their screams were a symphony to his ears, and Alucard waved and clapped the two arms attached to his body as he exclaimed: "Listen to them, Integra, the fake children of the night. Such music they make!"

Chaos reigned over his mind - Integral couldn't reply after all, but he pretended she could. Alucard had never been very sane while she had been alive, and so his madness only increased with her demise. His furious attacks continued until there wasn't a Nazi left on either the surface or in the skies of English territory. What was left of London offered a macabre spectacle suited to horror films. Flames danced high around the impaled bodies as the waters ran, the scarlet tinted river of Thames. Panic for ones was beauty for others. Alucard couldn't think of a fairer landscape. But the sense of loss would not disappear yet, even with this carnage in her name. It wouldn't bring Integral back. The vampire gnashed his teeth, wondering why it should matter. He was free to use the powers the Hellsings had bestowed upon him to his whims.

"Master!"

Alucard looked up to the shout, lifting an eyebrow in an arrogant gesture of disbelief. Seras Victoria was flying towards him, her body and uniform soaked in blood, her face bearing traces of tears. She looked possessively feral as she fluttered only one wing and holding Walter with her free arm.

For once in his unlife, Alucard felt a certain pride for his charge. He was glad that his suspicious about her potential hadn't been out place and that the police girl would not act like a useless coward this time.

"Police Girl," Alucard addressed her with a devilish grin, looking at her for the first time with –albeit reluctant- admiration.

Seras landed to a prudent distance and released Walter, who supported himself on Seras. He had broken his left leg.

"Lord Alucard," Walter inclined his head in greetings. "That was your work." He gestured towards the Nazis. "Did Sir Integral lift the first level of the seal?"

Alucard shook his head, chuckling. "There're no more seals to lift, God of Death." He pulled away his gloves, relishing the feel of the wind against his bare hands for the first time in a century.

Walter paled, very aware what that meant. "Where is she?"

"On the burning remains of that blasted Zeppelin. Don't worry, her body won't be incinerated. My coat will prevent it."

"Sir Integral is…" Alucard heard Seras mutter in disbelief, wing falling limp beside her hip. "It cannot be."

"But it is," Alucard replied, striding closer until he was toe to toe with Seras. "Humans fade. They are weak, Police Girl. But you know that already, don't you?" His tone of mockery had an underlying one of bitterness. He had helped to raise Integral and had grown attached when he shouldn't have.

Seras' irises glowed red, so unlike the former baby blue color of innocence they had held. The mark of a true vampire. Of course, he knew of –whose- blood she was covered.

"Tell me, Police Girl. What did the blood of that worthless human tasted li-"

Alucard couldn't finish his question, for the bat wing struck him in the face. He was quite taken aback and didn't pull away from the hit. He sneered, licking the trail of blood coming out of his mouth.

"Shut up!" Seras yelled, bearing her fangs. "The fact that you are a monster doesn't mean I am one as well. I won't tolerate your speaking ill of the Captain…" she paused, adding in a softer tone, "Master."

Alucard laughed, grabbing his head to relocate his jaw as he advanced a few steps towards Seras. In return, the police girl eyed him warily, feeling already remorseful for her slap but still standing her own ground. "Well done, Seras Victoria," he congratulated her.

"Someone needed to do that, Master," Seras gave him the ghost of a smile. Her eyes were still grieving.

"I concur with Miss Victoria, Lord Alucard," Walter said with a sigh. "Integra would have agreed as well."

Alucard's smirk faltered. "Yes, she would have, wouldn't she have?"

Studying the situation for several moments, the Master vampire brought his wrist to his lips, ripping away the veins with his teeth and then offering it to Seras. "Drink, Seras. Take the final step and rise to the throne of a No Life King. I don't have anything else to teach you."

Seras wiggled her brows. "As if you have taught me much, Master," she pointed out in crude honesty. Alucard accepted the barb; he had let her grow on her own. That mercenary, Pip, had aided in her maturing more than he himself had done so.

"Then you shouldn't need me around."

Seras tilted her head, bending to drink the dark blood. Her mouth descended on his self-inflicted injury, sucking the aquavit from it. Slowly first, speeding the rhythm of the sip until she was saturated. She pulled back, closing her eyes to adapt into—what Alucard guessed it to be—her new stage of undead awareness.

"It's done," Alucard concluded, appraising the aura of darkness encircling Seras. "You'll guard the lands of the Master and the tomboy princess, Seras Victoria."

One of the reasons he hadn't completely squish the bloody island was Her Majesty. She wouldn't have appreciated that. A call of truce from a ruler to another. As long as she lived, England would be safe.

"Yes, Ma-Alucard," Seras tried to salute but recalled that she couldn't, as any movement could disturb Walter.

"Lord Alucard. May I ask what exactly it is that you are planning?" Walter's intelligent eyes fell on him. The old bat was sharp as ever, throbbing pain in his extremities or not. Alucard wouldn't retire and lived a quiet unlife in a mountain resort.

"Why Walter, accusing me of anything?" Alucard smirked. "I don't have plans to move against England, not yet. Unless my boredom forces me into taking any desperate measures, I don't think I will for a long time." He turned to look towards the East. "The Holy See is my next target." Fangs glittered, and with them the shark-like edges. "Then I will come back to my homeland." He made a long silence, and then renewed his speech. "Don't try to either stop me, follow me or capture me again. The consequences would be terrible."

Both, Walter and Seras, grimaced. "We understand, Lord Alucard. But take into consideration Iscariot did helped us. They brought you back…"

"Their aid wasn't enough, they came too late," Alucard shot back, hissing at the thought of the Catholics. Vatican would crumble at his feet. Soon. Very soon.

"I can't wish you good luck, Alucard," Seras whispered, sounding resigned at her former Master's antiques. "But I hope you fare well."

"Likewise, Seras Victoria." These were his parting words. Alucard vanished, little by little. Legs first, then torso and the upper part of his body, only for it to finish with his head. The last visible element was his mouth, showing off in the best Cheshire Cat's imitation.

Alucard materialized far from them, near the remaining Iscariot troops who had beheld the morbid demonstration of his powers with astonishment. He wanted to toy with the Catholic dogs first, to shatter their hearts. His attention focused on the nuns, the one dressed like a man and the oriental. Skilled fighters. Beautiful. Ruthless. Virgins.

Tendrils appeared from nowhere, snagging the sisters to him to his own success and the surprise of their partners. They tried to fight back, but Alucard easily disarmed them.

"Hellsing should teach her dog some manners!" Heinkel insulted. Alucard had seen this one before, acting as Maxwell's bodyguard during the briefing to have followed the trip of Rio.

"Filthy demon, go back to your Master! We'll see to it that the sow punishes you. Maybe years locked away will make you pious!" Yumi laughed, licking her lips. "With only holy water for you nourishment."

As Alucard crossed his arms, the tendril tightened around Yumi, almost choking her. "I believed you Catholics to have some respect for the dead."

Both of them froze in shock at such news.

"Oh, the pet is without a Master to hold the leash," the vampire added, enlarging his canines. "Now ladies… who's first?"

"We don't fear you, Nosferatu!"

"Looks like we have a volunteer, Madam Butterfly." Alucard grabbed Yumi's hair roughly and forced her to tilt her head. He struck with alacrity, sinking his fangs on the artery. His eyelashes dropped, warm blood traveling down his throat as he listened to the voice of a woman saying…

"Voievoade Alucard? Sir, we have arrived…"

-------

Alucard opened his eyes, stirring his muscles and back like a cat. He turned to the stewardess who was offering him a goblet of a suspiciously dark content.

"We're about to land in London, your Excellency," she said politely and then left. There was no other passenger in his flight. It was the royal airline Þara Româneascã that only him and his ilk could access. It wasn't like someone even bothered to use planes anymore as it was considered an antique way of transport. But he liked it and wanted to teach that upstart, Mahisa, a lesson on not rushing him. He hoped that fool would be a better opponent to toy with once he had his beloved Soma.

Drinking the wine spiked by the flight attendant's blood, Alucard meditated on his dream, this flashback of the past. The vampire wasn't a sentimentalist creature, and so it worried him. Moreover considering he would have to face Seras and Integral's line once down.

On the other hand, it was a habit of his, that of having nightmares of horrible moments of his past while inside an aircraft. Maybe, it wasn't a good idea to travel in the machine.

Seras Victoria, Alucard called out as the wheels of the plane made contact with the ground. She didn't answer. He guessed she either hadn't learnt telepathy or was deliberately ignoring him.

Alucard wouldn't bring serious harm to his fledgling, though he would maybe test her limits. The Asuras had promised not to kill her. But the mere idea of a remaining Hellsing made his blood boil, especially ashey had had the nerve to use his former Master's face. He would tear the skin off their bones until made them unrecognizable.

I should have known Her Majesty and Integra would have some back up plan. Alucard raised his cup, thinking of them. He wouldn't allow some clone or fabricated woman based of his former Master's eggs to force him back into servitude. He planned to smash the wretched line once and for all.

He didn't wait for the door to open, phasing down and reforming inside the airport installations. Odd, there weren't many people around. Even in his country, the place was more… lively.

A faint heartbeat caught his attention, a familiar scent that had haunted him for decades. It couldn't be, he gritted his teeth, They even feigned her smell.

Alucard spun, narrowing his eyes to the blonde haired woman who was standing between him and the exit. She dared to show the features of his dead Master right to his face. It grated him so much that he would have killed her upon first sight. He didn't because that would have been far too easy and merciful.

"Now that I have your attention, Voievoade…" Her voice was like Integral's, with same tones and variances. The same mildly annoyed and authoritarian ring. "Your actions are shameful, as are your alliances with the enemies of New Britannia when you promised not to attack this land."

"Instructed in history as well as acting, copycat?" Alucard grinned, starting to circle her like a hungry lion would a gazelle. "I made my oath to England. England doesn't exist anymore."

She smiled at him, with not a kind but a cold, calculating smile. "Regardless of your poorly attempts at logic, Voievoade, you are a foe now – and as such, you shall face Hellsing's ace of destruction."

Alucard laughed at her words. "First Integra... now myself? Whom have they have replaced me with? Seras?"

"Close… but not quite, Voievoade," the Hellsing replied as her smile deepened. Alucard spotted something out of place. A pair of fangs grew out of her mouth. Realization hit him like a slap to his face. The body warmth around the woman as well as her heartbeat were a well crafted illusion powerful enough to trick his senses.

"Integra…" Alucard acquiesced, disbelieving of what he had just found out. All these centuries she had been…unliving.

"We haven't seen each other for so long now, Alucard" Integral chuckled. "I go by Elspeth now."