Beginning's End
By: Lazeralk
Standard disclaimers apply.
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." – Semisonic
To everyone who reviewed, thanks, I love you. Here's the next part.
Part 2
Sears was dreaming, she had to be because Kai was there, laughing with her. She reached out and ran a hand through his soft hair, still a perfect platinum blonde. He smiled at her, the same dazzling smile that he'd given her so long ago in that tiny art gallery in the mall.
He opened his mouth and only a whisper of a sound crossed his lips, and Seras frowned.
"Wake up police-girl."
"Hmm?" she said rolling over and blinked up at her master. Arucard was dressed as casually as she'd ever seen him. Black jeans, a red t-shirt and his glasses. His coat was hung by the door next to his hat.
"Get dressed police-girl, I still have lots to teach you." Arucard turned away and strode into their small kitchen, fishing two of the last blood packs out of the tiny refrigerator. He returned to watch Seras sit up and rub her eyes, yawning like a kitten. Her corn silk blonde hair stuck out at odd angles and the blankets tangled around her legs. He smiled at the picture she made.
"Here." He tossed her one of the packets and was silently proud when she caught it on reflex.
She greedily sunk her teeth into it and drained it in record time. Arucard was impressed, apparently she didn't like fresh blood all that much. Oh well, she'd get use to it eventually.
"What are we doing tonight master?" asked Seras as she climbed out of bed and began to dig through the small suitcase she'd brought from the Hellsing manor. The knight who'd taken over had extended a very warm welcome to remain with Hellsing and continue to 'serve the crown and further the glory of God.' Arucard had laughed in the man's face, packed his bags and left the next morning with Seras in tow.
The memory brought a smile to the master vampire's face as he shrugged into his coat. He turned to see his child pulling her own coat over one of her trademark secretary cut skirts and a royal blue shirt.
"Tonight we go to meet one of my old allies." He said, raking his eyes down her form. She looked very nice. Why he was noticing this now, he had no idea. Of course he'd seen how beautiful she was ages ago, but it hadn't really mattered then, not with Integra and the human whelp running around. Now though, now it had possibilities.
"Master?"
"Right then." He said, snapping out of his daze.
"Lets get going."
Seras gave her master a funny look; it wasn't all that often she saw him so unfocused. Sir Integra's death must have taken more out of him than she thought. She walked behind her master, his bright red coat unmistakable in the crowd, and thought about how she could help him. He was everything to her now, without him, where would she be? She had no family left alive and she hardly knew anything about being a proper vampire. How would she support herself?
Master has been so good to me. She thought.
"In here police-girl." Said Arucard, steering her in the direction of a ritzy upper class neighborhood.
They walked for a long time, the smooth pavement silent under their feet. Seras glanced around the empty street nervously, taking in the quality of the silence. They were being watched, she just knew it. Her fingers itched for the gun under her arm, her eyes searched frantically for a target.
-Easy police-girl. – Came the whisper of her master's voice in her mind.
-Who are they? What do they want? – She asked rapidly.
-They're spies. They won't attack. They know who I am, and the price for such foolishness. – He reassured her.
No sooner than the thoughts had left his mind, black shapes erupted from the very air itself. They attacked from all sides, flashing fang and claw. Without thinking, Seras pulled the gun from its holster and squeezed off round after round after round. Blood rushed from the bodies that hit the pavement, washing over the tops of her shoes like rocks in a river.
"Very nice police-girl." Said her master who hadn't moved an inch.
"Thanks for the help." She said sarcastically, re-holstering her gun.
"Not at all." He replied, grinning at her.
"Master?" asked Seras, eyeing the bleeding corpses with interest.
"What?" he answered absently, scanning the surrounding area for God knew what.
"Why didn't the bodies turn to dust?"
"They're werewolves." Answered Arucard, pulling his own gun from the depths of his coat and firing a single shot into the still night. A screech of pain answered it and the nosfaratu smiled.
"Werewolves. Are they very dangerous?"
"Not really. They don't live nearly as long as we do, but they have very long life spans compared to humans because they're regenerating themselves almost constantly, so the tissue doesn't decay as fast." He said, tucking the gun away.
"Oh." Said Seras.
"Come along now police-girl, that was just a test."
"A test?"
"Yes, now the real fun begins." He assured her, his teeth gleaming in the streetlight as he gave her his insane smile, his eyes lighting up with childlike glee.
Seras groaned.
It seemed like hours had passed before they reached the oldest house in the neighborhood, a huge Victorian mansion. Arucard walked up the steps to the veranda and to the front door.
To Seras' surprise, he actually knocked.
The door swung open, the hinges creaking loudly. There was only empty air to greet them. If this fazed Arucard, it didn't show. He just walked right in, his child following nervously behind.
"Arucard! Arucard, is that you?" came a very heavily accented voice. Seras listened closely but couldn't quite place it.
Just then a petite blonde came rushing down the stairs in a flurry of brushed silk and chiffon. Her long hair was pulled up into an elegant style, managing to bare her neck and cascade over her shoulders at once.
"Arucard!" she barked, and Seras was surprised to decide that the accent was Russian.
"Galina." Answered her master and the child vampire looked back and forth between them, utterly dumbfounded.
-Master, who is she? –
-An old friend of mine. The saucy Russian rebel Galina. –
Saucy. Russian. Rebel. Oh dear. Thought Seras.
"It's about time you got out of that Hellsing place. Why didn't you come to see me sooner? Look at you! Why haven't you been eating?" Demanded the vampiress, dragging the pair of them off to a set of mahogany double doors.
"And who's the girl?" asked Galina, her voice condescending.
"I'm Seras Victoria ma'am." Seras stepped forward, a hard look on her features.
Arucard started laughing.
"Are you now? So you're the one's been looking after my Arucard?"
"Y-you're Arucard?!" exclaimed Seras, surprise chasing its way across her kittenish face. Arucard fell to the floor clutching his sides and trying desperately to get enough oxygen into his lungs.
"And you! Get off the floor! It's been hell since you left." Scolded the Russian, glaring fiercely at the No Life King.
Galina turned sharply on her heel and pushed the doors open, the room was circular and lined with beds. Above each bed was a large metal ring attached to the wall. Humans, boys and girls, young and old, were chained to the beds. The chains were fitted around their ankles and a long length let them move about the room quite freely.
The all lined up quickly when their mistress entered. Galina waved her small, manicured hand at them in a lazy manner.
"Pick one. Eat. You're too skinny." She ordered.
"Ah, the good life." Said Arucard wrapping his arm around the waist of a blonde girl. He captured her eyes and then sunk his fangs into her neck. Since it was considered rude to kill a gift meal from your host, he only took his fill and then let the girl go. He looked at her face and smiled, tilting his head in amusement. It seemed he had a thing for blondes.
Seras carefully walked along the row of people and chose a sturdy brunette man that had to lean down for her to feed. She caught his eyes just like her master taught her and tried to make the encounter as painless as possible. She only drank a little, not wanting to actually hurt him. When she was finished, she retreated back to her master's side giving her latest victim an apologetic smile. To her surprise, he smiled back.
Arucard watched the exchange with growing agitation. He'd lock the girl in her coffin for the rest of eternity before he let her go gallivanting off with yet another human! Why couldn't she just settle down with a nice vampire and show some sense like the rest of her kind? Was that really so hard? You'd think she'd learn after the first whelp, but no, she has to be just as stubborn as Integra.
Oh God.
"Arucard! Are you even listening to me?" barked Galina.
"Not really." He answered, watching his child fidget under his intense gaze.
"Master. You should listen to her, it was pretty important stuff." Said Seras meekly.
Like Integra? No, she was nothing like Integra. Not this humble, little girl. Surely not.
Arucard turned away from her, still a bit shaken, and tried to focus on what his old friend was telling him. His wandering thoughts snapped back to attention as a single name slipped from between the vampiress' lips.
"Thought that would get you." She said smugly.
"What the hell does Loki think he's doing?"
"He's disgracing the name of vampire, the bastard. He's bringing humans into the Circles. He's turning our millennia old hierarchy in to the goddamned mafia." Ranted Galina, throwing her silks into the air as she turned.
"He knows the law. Humans are forbidden to entering the Circles." Snarled Arucard, of all the upstart little pipsqueaks, Loki was the one he hated the most. The only reason he was still moving around a hundred years ago was because his maker was a good friend of his. It seemed Hera had made a mistake with him.
"Law!" scoffed Galina, whirling around to face them as they followed her through the twisting halls of her home.
"The fool thinks he's the King of the Night. Things have changed since you left Arucard. A lot of things. Loki taking over was just the beginning."
"What do you mean?" asked Arucard.
"Well for one thing, he seized all the accounts he could get his grubby little hands on, and most of your old halfway houses. He's allied with the werewolves, made them full Blood Kin of the Second Circle. He took your castle in Romania." She said, her voice softening with worry.
"He took my castle?"
Seras backed up a step at the tone of her master's voice. She'd never heard him sound so angry before, not even when Integra had been kidnapped all those years ago.
"Relax police-girl." He whispered to her, his voice back to its usual blank insanity. She nodded dumbly at him, still not convinced of his sincerity.
"Let's settle in for the night police-girl. We'll get our stuff from the flat tomorrow and some new weapons. Then we go hunting." Said Arucard, his voice taking on the particular edge it got when he was about to bathe in blood. Seras whimpered a little but hung her head in defeat and silently followed her master and Galina up the stairs.
"Here we go again." She muttered.
"It's not so bad." Said Galina, speaking softly to her, her accent sounding more motherly than threatening now. The woman was so fiery, so full of passion and life that it almost sounded odd. The elder vampiress wrapped a pale arm around her shoulders and guided her to a plush room with a queen size bed and no windows.
"It'll get better for you once Arucard reclaims his throne. You'll have a room in the castle, and anything you could ever want. Arucard is our true king, and we'll have our allies back. Just stick with him. He needs you by his side."
Seras just looked at her, startled by the woman's intensity and the sheer conviction of her words. She nodded and wandered into her room, collapsing onto her bed once Galina had closed the door behind her.
She kicked off her shoes and curled up under the down comforter. She lay there in the dark, still able to make out the shapes in the room even in the tar black night.
"Master needs me huh?" she whispered to herself.
"I guess that's not so bad."
End part 2