A/N: A little longer than the last chapter. To all my readers and reviewers, thanks and enjoy!

Caution is for the wise

Who know their limits.

Seras transformed as quickly as she could and followed her master. Strange she thought as she left the Hellsing grounds. Alucard had taken flight before Integra had told them where to go, but he seemed to know which way to go. However, how he knew where to go was a question she would ask later, for she was currently preoccupied with keeping Alucard within sight.

Drifting over a quiet village, Seras observed the mist before her drop slowly to the ground. The fog swirled and then Alucard stood there, staring up at her. Apparently, he'd found the vampire infested area and was waiting for her to alight from the sky.

Setting down beside him, she looked around the area curiously. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. There was the usual amount of cottages and stores, fields and streets. Strangely, though the hour was not late, there were no people milling about.

"We have some time before the humans arrive in their vehicles" Alucard noted. "I suggest we have ourselves a look around." So saying, he began to walk along the empty streets.

After strolling along several roads and glancing down others, Alucard grabbed hold of Seras' arm. Seras thought he had seen something, but his voice betrayed no such discovery.

"Police Girl, do you recall the man in the church, the one I had drained?" Seras nodded in the affirmative. "He had turned into a ghoul, a mindless slave for vampires. You may meet many here tonight. The only way to release them is to cut off their heads or remove their hearts. Remember, they are merely puppets, destroy them without mercy."

Seras stared at Alucard numbly, wondering why he was only now telling her this information. What if she had met one earlier, what would have happened then? Without a second thought, she probably would have approached the creature and been destroyed for her actions. Seras pulled out of her thoughts as he once again spoke.

"There's no advantage in keeping together. We'll be able to investigate more by separating."

"Master?" Seras asked, hoping she had heard him wrong.

His movements answered her question, as he abruptly walked in the opposite direction. Seras sighed heavily, then shook her head. She could handle such an easy task, she only needed to remember her police training.

Suddenly, Seras heard the soft tread of footsteps coming from the direction Alucard had left. She turned to the source of the noise, hoping the sound was merely Alucard returning. Unfortunately, the figure standing before her was not her master.

The person stumbling toward her looked like a girl, no older than twelve. The dress she wore had handmade flower patterns sewn onto the front, matching perfectly the bow tie in her hair. Her satin shoes scuffed along the dirt road as the girl slowly approached the vampire. The child's appearance better suited a cheerful birthday party, rather than the deathlike surroundings now encompassing the town.

The sight before Seras was normal enough, except for one gruesome detail. The little girl's face was dripping with gore, a long gash cutting across her face. Her eyes were empty and she moved with no semblance of thought, as if another controlled her actions. The child was a ghoul, and apparently the vampire had horribly mutilated its victim before draining her blood.

Seras began to back away, doubt filling her mind. The ghoul was a mere child, how could anyone torture such an innocent? How could she end the existence of such a being, someone who hadn't had a chance to live? She felt her back collide with a house, stopping her hurried retreat. The ghoul child's steps suddenly quickened, closing the remaining distance in a matter of seconds.

She's not human, she's just a puppet! Seras screamed in her mind. Pulling back one of her arms, she prepared herself for the ghoul. When the monster was within her arm reach, she plunged her hand into the girl's chest. A loud scream echoed through the town, the final agony of the ghoul. Seras noticed with some comfort the peace which settled into the little girl's eyes, as she slowly turned to dust.

"Took you long enough, Police Girl."

Turning toward the voice, she stared rigidly at her master.

"You knew the ghoul was there, didn't you?" Seras asked angrily, irritated that she'd been unknowingly drawn into the confrontation.

Alucard turned to leave, avoiding her questioning yet again. She grabbed his arm to stop him, regretting the action immediately. He turned slowly, his eyes piercing hers. She began to shake, the power and anger behind those orbs nearly freezing her with fear.

"You had to be shown not to give mercy to the enemy" he said in a low voice. "You still hold on to your humanity, a useless effort which will kill you."

She watched as he walked away, still too paralyzed to move.

"Besides" Alucard said in a lighter tone, "your training isn't done." He turned and gave her a wide grin.

The humor in his voice and the sight of his usual smile brought Seras out of her fear induced state. She cautiously walked over to him and peered into his face. He merely gazed at her for a moment, then began walking toward the center of the town.

"I think we'll wait for the humans, Police Girl. They may give us a show when the fun begins."

Walking into the town square and standing beside the disused public well, Seras once again wondered where all the people had gone. There was still no sign of a living or dead soul anywhere, other than the one ghoul she'd destroyed.

Standing there, among the deserted square of the once bustling village, Seras slowly began to feel the presence of someone watching them. She looked around the square at all the buildings, but could see no one.

She was about to ask Alucard about her feelings when she suddenly saw large trucks coming their way. They appeared to be armored military vehicles, though she could find no defining insignia anywhere to support her supposition. She saw someone step out of the lead vehicle. Recognizing the figure as Pip, Seras breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing to worry about from these humans; at least, she hoped not.

Alucard watched the assembling group of men prepare for combat with indifference. Even with the amount of training they had, he doubted their survival rate was very high.

Seras suddenly jumped, startled by the unexpected sound of laughter. Alucard merely turned his head in the direction of the voice, already aware of the vampire's presence. Standing among the rooftops, encompassed in shadows, stood a lone figure of a young woman.

"I've been expecting you, Alucard."

Hearing his name caught the elder vampire off guard. How did the whelp know who he was?

"My boss told me you'd be here. Said I'd get a reward if I managed to kill ya." Seras noticed the vampire's accent was American. Obviously they recruited whomever they could find to turn into Freaks.

"And who is your master, fake?" Alucard asked nonchalantly, regaining his usual composure of indifference.

"Why should I tell you? I'd get nothing for my trouble."

"If you value a quick death, then tell me. Otherwise I'll destroy you slowly."

"You, kill me? Don't make me laugh. You're so pathetic, I think I'll let my new friends do my errand for me." With a snap of his fingers, dozens of ghouls emerged from the shadows. Like the previous ghoul, these had also been mutilated almost beyond recognition. They had finally found the missing townspeople.

"Using slaves to do your dirty work. Pathetic."

Alucard had no time to say more, for the ghouls were upon the two vampires and humans. He had no difficulty in eliminating his enemies. He merely shot the ones out of his arm length and impaled the others with his hand. The Hellsing squadron kept their ghouls at bay with well-
placed shots to the main portion of the group. The rest were easily picked off by individual fire.

Seras used her former police training to ward off most of the attacking ghouls, but she could not stop the wave surrounding herself. Before she knew what hit her, she was knocked to the ground and piled upon.

Seras could feel herself losing control, giving in to her vampiric instincts. But she would not let herself succumb to the blood rage. If she lost control, everyone around her, including the Hellsing troops, would be killed. She had to concentrate on the skills she had acquired.

Her first thought was to change into bats and fly out from under the pile. However, if she transformed into the tiny creatures, they could be easily broken by the mindless slaves. Mist, on the other hand, would be untouchable and still give the advantage of flight.

Focusing on the air around her and not the arms attempting to pull her body apart, Seras began to transform. Unfortunately, at the rate she was going, the ghouls would succeed in tearing her limbs from her body before the process was complete. She had to find more strength, and quickly.

A thought struck her as she remembered her fight with the Freak. Alucard had said the blood in her veins had power. If she could tap into that power without losing control, then she'd be able to escape her fleshy prison.

Alucard, in the middle of decapitating a ghoul, suddenly sensed a large amount of power emanating from somewhere. Finishing off the last of the ghouls which had attacked him, he turned to look at his fledgling. The elder vampire smiled as he saw Seras' body practically glow with energy. He had certainly chosen the perfect candidate to be his first child.

With one massive burst of energy, the ghouls surrounding Seras were blown off. She had used too much power to transform and the extra was released from her body. As Alucard watched, the ghouls closest to her appeared to explode from the sheer force of the blast, while the others were simply slammed into the nearest buildings. Seras herself was now only a wispy fog, floating above the carnage she had caused.

The Hellsing troops soon annihilated the remaining ghouls, leaving only the Freak. During the battle, the woman had been forced from the rooftops by the gunfire, and was now kneeling next to the well. Walking up to the fake, Alucard noted with disgust the disbelief and terror in the fake's eyes. He pointed the barrel of his gun at the vampire's forehead.

"Will you tell us your master's name?"

"Never" she said, and spat in Alucard's direction.

A single silver bullet to the brain from his gun was Alucard's reply.

"Why did you do zat!" Pip yelled angrily. "We needed 'er!"

"She would not have given us any information. The woman had fear in her eyes, but it was not because of us. The Freak had failed and the punishment would be her death" Alucard stated calmly.

Seras, now changed back into her normal form, approached the group. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed Pip staring at her. He was giving her a strange look, and seemed to be scrutinizing her hair.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked, believing some blood had managed to spill into her hair. However, pulling a strand in front of her face, she was shocked to see the color had changed from her strawberry blonde to one of dark black. Catching sight of more hair, she observed only every other strand had changed, giving her hair the design of a tiger's fur. Turning to Alucard, she gave him a questioning glance.

"Master, what's happening to my hair?" Seras asked calmly, believing there must be a logical explanation for the sudden and drastic change in hair color.

"Interesting" Alucard said, walking up to her and grabbing a lock of the newly turned hair. He examined the color, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "Fledglings are known to take on some physical appearances of their masters, though the occurrence is rare."

"What?" She wasn't sure she liked what he was implying.

"Through my blood, you've inherited my hair color" he stated simply. "The rise in your abilities must have triggered your body's reaction with my blood."

"You mean this is permanent?"

"Yes."

Seras took one last look at the strand she held, and then flung the hair back. "Great" she muttered, not thrilled at all with the forced change in hair color.

Glancing once more to the pile of ash, Alucard thought over what the Freak had said. Someone knew they were here, and was challenging them to a game of strength. Interesting.