A.N: Hey all. This chapter was most intense to write. I hope you enjoy it, because I put a lot into it. A warning – due to circumstances within this story, the characters are not going to be acting exactly like they do in the anime or manga. Please try to understand that this is fanfiction, and I'm extrapolating how the characters might behave in circumstances we never see them in in the canon.

Thank you to all reviewers! Several of you left responses that I need to address.

White Silence: Anderson doesn't need to get drunk every day. He needs alcohol intake every day. The theory is that his metabolism moves so fast it burn some things out of him. The idea is actually from X-men; all the regenerators there (Wolverine, Sabertooth) tend to drink a lot and heavily even though they can't get drunk. My thought was that it had something to do with the nature of the rapid healing. Anderson was drinking a lot because he had not been having the alcohol he needed for awhile. It was catch-up.

KarlaPomfeather: (rereads chapter 4) Damn! I – er – meant that the soldiers donate on a rotating schedule so that some is collected every month. Not that every soldier gives every month, a person can only donate every two or three months. That's what I meant. Really. Honest. (bangs head on keyboard)

BlackFireDragonK: 'Update or die'? I'm already undead! Mwahahahah! No seriously, don't leave me messages like that. It's not cool. I have two or three other major writing projects in addition to this fanfic – and one of those is something I hope to publish. That's on top of 40 hours of work per week. I'll update, but I don't like threats. Begging is fine though, lol. And in answer to your question, I doubt Alucard and Anderson will ever be buddies. But tolerance? Well...we'll just have to see.

Thess: (shrugs) I don't know where you are, but the manga here is only up to number 3. (drools at the idea of more). So yeah, this is heavily anime based. As for Iscariot (bonks Thess on head with mallet) Seras SAID that it was weird, that's why they're going to investigate, because it DOESN'T make sense that Iscariot would just abandon him. I hope your fic comes out well; I always love to see new Hellsing stuff!

Chapter Five

Things settled into a routine the night after the drinking bout. Much to Alucard's disappointment, Anderson awoke without a hangover. Seemed that his regeneration abilities were slowed down enough to allow him to get drunk, but still high enough to prevent the hangover.

Alucard was going to Italy to investigate the reasons why Iscariot might have so easily abandoned its operative, and what might be behind the strangely calm behavior Anderson was displaying. Seras had wondered if imprisonment had driven Sir Integra mad. Sending Alucard on a spy mission – anywhere near the Vatican?

He'd laughed at her, and at the panicked expression on the Judas Priest's face.

"My Master's threats on what might happen should your pope suddenly pass away while I am in the country were fairly explicit, Judas Priest. And close your mouth police-girl – when the Angel of Death gets out of the hospital, you can ask him about the last war he and I fought in and the missions we had."

Seras closed her mouth with a snap, but both continued to stare at him somewhat owlishly. He'd informed her that she would be in charge of the anti-FREAK operations while he was gone. Another shock. But a responsibility she was willing to accept.

Things became routine quickly after Alucard left. Seras went out every night and performed the duties of the Hellsing organization. Then she returned and made food for Anderson, and both would drink their respective 'beverages'. There were no more drinking games, though.

Anderson continued to remain eerily changed. He did not go off into insane ramblings against vampires and Protestants and heathens. He spent much of the time that Victoria was away in meditation and prayer.

That did not mean he lost his edge though. With no one else to really talk to, the priest and the young vampire turned to one another for relief from the pressing boredom of solitude. They argued about Catholicism and the Church of England. They shouted at one another over issues of true vampires, birth control, and whether blades or guns were better weapons. They screamed at each other over confession, the possibility of a goddess as opposed to a god, and Alucard, the latter pushing the priest's accent almost to the point of complete and utter incomprehensibility. One of the best arguments they had was whether Anderson's holy magic could hurt vampires because it came from God and God hated vampires – or if it was a type of magic developed by humans to combat vampires and simply labeled as God's will. That argument lasted all day long, and neither could conclusively claim victory when it was done.

Neither could ever remember having so much fun. Well, fun that didn't involve bloodshed.

Seras, because she was getting her nightly ration of blood, was getting progressively stronger. Her Harkonnen became even easier for her to lift and carry, and wounds she received healed rapidly on their own. She felt surer of herself, less vulnerable. Other things began to happen too – some vampiric abilities that had been dormant due to her starved state began to awaken. This was most dramatically demonstrated one night when she absent-mindedly walked through her bedroom door instead of opening it, shocking the hell out of both herself and Anderson.

Anderson was another story though.

Despite regaining control over his upper body, he continued to deteriorate. He was slowly weakening, finding it harder to move or stay awake. Despite Seras' continued feeding of him, he began to lose weight, and had a difficult time getting or staying warm. Something was very wrong, and they both knew it.

"This doesn't make sense!" exploded Seras one night three weeks after Alucard's departure. Anderson looked up from his listless pushing his food around his plate. His appetite had recently fallen off severely.

"What doesn't?" Seras growled and paced about the room unhappily.

"You!" she snapped, kicking aside one of the silver blades from the other paladin still lying about her room. "You should be getting better, not worse. There's no reason for it that I can see!" He put his plate aside and shrugged, green eyes tracking her restless movements.

"It could be that Incognito's curse," he suggested sourly. "I cannae feel his filthy magic aboot me any more, though." His face hardened slightly. "Or perhaps its my penance."

Seras stopped.

"What?"

"My penance, lass." His eyes were haunted. "Fer my actions against innocents – all in the name of God."

"Stop that." She dropped into her chair and glared at him. "That's stupid. God doesn't work like that, and you know it."

"In the book of –"

"Don't quote Bible texts at me!" she protested irritably, while he smirked a little. Seras hated trying to argue against the scriptures.

"My sins are mortal ones," he said quietly. "An worse since I did them all in God's name. I deserve whatever penance He may lay on me." Since Seras had watched firsthand some of his mortal sins, she could only wince.

"This would be easier if you were still a raving lunatic you know. It's hard to hate you when you're like this." She dropped her head on the table. That did make him laugh.

"Like it's an easy timer fer me, police girl. Owing my life ta a dirty vampire." There was a note of something near teasing in his tone. Seras stuck her tongue out at him. Given her vampiric nature, that was an impressive sight.

"Creep."

"Wench."

"Zealot."

"Heathen."

"Ass-"

"If I could interrupt," said a deep, amused voice. Anderson and Seras whipped their heads around to see Alucard phasing in through the wall. He wore a black suit, his hair an unbound brown curtain behind him, his eyes laughing and red. In his gloved hand was a thick manila folder.

"Master!" The police girl stood up sharply. "When did you get back?"

"In time to hear your mature exchange of names," he replied sardonically. His eyes narrowed as he took in his fledgling. "You have been drinking." It was not a question.

"Every night," she replied quietly, meeting his eyes firmly. He grinned both at her response and her boldness, fangs gleaming in the overhead light.

: We will talk later, Seras Victoria, : he said to her mentally, noting her surprised look at his use of her name. His gaze turned on the priest watching from the cot.

"You look like shit, Vatican dog," he informed the man casually. Anderson snorted.

"It's probably the attempts a' food the police girl makes me eat," he replied just as casually. Both man and monster smirked at the angry sputters from said woman, looking eerily similar for a brief moment. It would have completely horrified them both if they'd realized it.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Seras after a moment, desperate to reclaim some dignity. Alucard's brows dipped a little, and he held out the folder wordlessly. She took it, frowning. "This is –"

"The file on Iscariot's regenerators." He stressed the plural, making the priest's eyes widen in disbelief. "And on your pet here. Feel free to go over it – I've already shown it to my Master." He gave them both an inscrutable look. "Speak with me later," he told Seras flatly, and walked out through the door. As his back was to them, neither vampire girl nor priest saw the thoughtful, amused look on his face.

Seras and Anderson looked at each other, then shrugged. She dragged her chair over to his cot so they could both go over the documents within.

"I should nae be doin this," the priest muttered. "These documents were stolen –"

"They're about you," pointed out Seras. "That makes them fair game." He hesitated, then nodded once, and they opened the folder.

Hours later, Anderson was pale, and Seras felt sick. The open folder lay on the table, the documents scattered about. They'd gone through them all, several of them repeatedly. Neither one could believe the information within.

It had been standard at first, on the scientific and magical work that had gone into making a human into a regenerator. But things got ugly very fast. There was a list of subjects – not one willing – who had been taken and used by Section Thirteen as experiments. That they were non-Catholics seemed to be all the justification needed.

Then came something worse – a letter from the leader of Iscariot before Enrico Maxwell to the researchers. Anderson had to translate – it was in Italian. It was very simple. The process to create a regenerator was complete. But the man in charge wasn't satisfied. So powerful a weapon must be completely under Iscariot's control. He'd ordered the researchers to find a way to make the regenerators unwaveringly, unquestioningly loyal to him and the Church.

And they'd responded. More experiments had followed, resulting in a chemical cocktail that heightened the subject/victim's aggression levels and pushed them into a state bordering on psychosis. It created both unswerving hatred for vampires and heathens and anyone who associated with them; it also made them fanatically loyal to the Church and Iscariot. Of course, it made the subject fairly unstable, but this man had considered that a non-issue. These were weapons, and as long as he was the one to be able to aim them, he didn't care how explosively they went off.

But they needed a way to make sure their weapon could not be used by anyone else. A way to be certain that if their weapon fell into the wrong hands, it would be rendered useless. They achieved that splendidly, incorporating an addictive nature into the drugs they used to control the mentality of the regenerator. If the regenerator went without it for more than two weeks, the body would begin to suffer, ultimately leading to death from withdrawal.

"It cannae – it cannae be true," Anderson had whispered hoarsely. Then they'd turned a page and found his own file. And Anderson's world fell apart.

He was the very first regenerator fully created by Iscariot. He had been a soldier found nearly dead after apparently trying to kill himself, raving about monsters and vampires. He'd had a run-in with Alucard and Walter on one of their missions in the war, and it had exacerbated his already developing 'shellshock'.

So they took him, and they made him a regenerator, complete with the chemical control system. They carefully manipulated his recovery so he would be even more fully into their control, unobtrusively turning his feet towards the Church. He was named a Paladin of Section Thirteen. Trained and sent out to hunt down the undead.

Never actually ordained a priest. That was a lie carefully cultivated in his mind. He was a weapon, not worthy of that actual title, but by making him think so he was even more ensnared by them.

And always Iscariot had been in careful control. At first his food and drink were always spiked with the chemicals needed to keep him unbalanced and controlled. Failing that they would simply take him in and give him injections, under the guise of upkeep for his regeneration abilities.

Then Maxwell had come into power. He'd taken a look at the system and declared it too risky and complicated. Under his instruction, the scientists had created an implant that kept feeding the drugs to Anderson. With it, he need not have his food or drink monitored – they could simply refill it on a monthly basis under those same upkeep masquerades. He'd also expanded the program. The Church was wavering in the passing years. Organizations like Hellsing were competition and a threat. Especially once Alucard was released from his cell by Integra. They became targets as well.

The withdrawal symptoms read like a blow-by-blow description of Anderson in the past few weeks. Returning lucidity and the ability to reason and doubt. Followed by gradual deterioration as the full effects of the withdrawal took hold. And there, in black and white, the reason why the Iscariots had declared him dead to them. The process was irreversible once begun. When they'd sent out the other paladin – of whom there were three, not one as Anderson had been told – the wounded priest had already passed the time frame where he could be restored. He was dying now.

Seras felt a surge of rage bordering on bloodlust. Despite her anger at Anderson himself, she'd at least held some mote of respect for Section Thirteen, as another organization seeking to protect the innocent from the undead. But this – this – was an atrocity, a betrayal of the highest order. And they called the vampires monster?

A sound from beside her made her look at Anderson. He was shaking.

"I'm – a bloody – fool," he managed to say, giving a laugh that bordered on the hysterical. "All this time – all this time-" his accent was thickening rapidly. "An here Ai though ye midians were th'abominations when they – Ai –"

He was weeping, Seras realized. His life had just been as shattered as hers the moment Alucard's bullet had exploded through her chest. And at least she'd had a choice. Without thinking about it, she placed her arms around the stricken man. He flinched violently for a moment, then allowed her to hold him. Seras fought to keep her rage in check.

How dare they? How dare they do this? How dare they claim moral superiority while they destroyed lives, not to protect so much as to keep themselves in power? She bared her fangs, pupils narrowing.

How dare they hurt that which was hers?

The thought and the surge of possessiveness that accompanied it shocked Seras back into control. Her face colored and she swallowed hard. Where had that thought come from? She loosened her grip on the priest – no, he wasn't even a priest, not really! – and he moved away, removing his glasses to wipe his eyes.

"Forgive me," he murmured. "I –"

"There's nothing to forgive," she assured him, forcing herself to smile. "If I'd gotten this kind of news – I wouldn't be handling it nearly so well." He chuckled, the sound a bit strained to both of them.

"I need ye – to do me a favor," Anderson said finally. He had to know. He had to know for certain. The vampire looked at him nervously. "Th'implant. If it's there, it's in my thigh. I want ye to – take it out."

"What? But I –" He seized her hand, and she fell silent, staring at him. She was blushing a little – he wondered vaguely why.

"I cannae feel them still. It won't hurt me – but I have tae know." Seras swallowed hard, blinking at his desperate face.

"L-lay down," she instructed finally. With a sigh of thanks, he did so. She pulled back the blankets covering him. He was still in only his boxers – a fact she'd never really been aware of till now. This was so embarrassing! Then she looked back at his face and his haunted eyes, and lost the ability to say no. She moved around the room, gathering up things to do this with, and felt a sudden pang of guilt.

"This is my fault," she said quietly. He looked at her sharply as she pulled out the needle and thread to stitch him up with. "If I hadn't brought you here – away from where they could get to you –"

"No," he said forcefully, with some of his old spirit. He glared at her. "Don't ye go blamin yerself fer this, lass. If ye hadnae brought me here, I'd hae died from the wounds Incognito gave me. Or did ye forget that? Ye – delayed the inevitable, is all ye did." His eyes darkened. "Ye gave me a chance ta be myself again – ta be – free."

Neither of them said anything else as Seras knelt beside the cot. She looked carefully at the diagram in the folder, making sure she would cut in the right spot. And she was grateful he still could not feel his legs, because she didn't think pain would have stopped him even if he could.

She cut, and cut deep. Blood immediately began to flow, but she was fed now and not so starved as to do anything but enjoy the smell. Carefully she reached into the wound, while he watched with a haunted look on his face.

There was nothing. There was nothing – wait, there! Her fingers touched metal and plastic. Swallowing, she pulled it out of his flesh, and quickly pressed a bandage against the bleeding wound. In her hand was a mechanical device, exactly as diagrammed in the folder.

Anderson took it from her wordlessly. He examined it for a long moment, and then with a wordless scream of rage threw it against the far wall with soft crack. He gripped the sides of the cot and forcibly calmed himself.

"An now I know," he hissed between his teeth. "Thank ye."

"Don't thank me for this," she shook her head. "And hold still so I can stitch you up."

"Why bother?" His eyes were dulled. "Ye read it same as me, police girl. I'll be dead in less than a week anyways."

Whack!

Anderson's eyes went wide as she slapped him. The young vampire glared at him, clenching her bloody hands.

"Don't you dare start that. I don't care if it says you'll die in five minutes, I'll still take care of you. There has to be a way out of this – and I'll find it."

He stared up at her, glaring down at him with her eyes snapping and her chest heaving.

She was beautiful.

He blinked in confusion. It had been years since he'd felt that way about a woman, and the idea of looking at her as anything but a dirty demon had never even crossed his mind. Vaguely he wondered what the hell was happening to him, and how much of it was the drugs and withdrawal and how much was the real him – the real Alexander Anderson – coming back.

Seras knelt down again by the cot, trying to hide her shaking hands. She didn't know what was happening to her. It was like some new part of her had been awakened and was laying claim to Anderson. She – had to talk to her Master. Soon.

The blood still flowed from his leg. Seras winced at how quickly the bandage turned red. She had cut far deeper than she'd known.

That same new part of her reacted to the wound strangely. She found herself leaning closer, lips parted.

"Police girl?" Anderson asked sharply. Was she going to bite him, he wondered incredulously. Her eyes turned to meet his, and there was something in them that made his stomach tighten.

"Hold still, Alex," she said in a strange voice. He blinked at the very personal name. "I'm going to take care of this for you."

The old Anderson would never have considered it, not even for a heartbeat. He'd have been doing his best to strangle, beat, and otherwise kill the vampire girl before she'd gotten so close.

But now...

Anderson was amazed to realize that somehow, he trusted her. He nodded in acquiescence, wondering at himself and her, as she leaned closer to the wound. Her long tongue snaked out, and she began to lick the cut.

He hadn't felt his legs in weeks, but he felt THAT alright. He gave a wordless gasp at the sensations it sent running through him.

Seras hadn't known what exactly what she was going to do until she did it. Something completely instinctive had taken over, and she was just along for the ride. Then, for the first time, her mouth was filled with hot, living, human blood. Her whole being reacted. She could smell his physical response, hear his heart start jack hammering. She herself was nearly overcome with the taste of it, touching nerves throughout her body. It was – so – good...

Beneath her ministrations, the wound began to close. Seras fought with herself, forcing herself to only lick, not to bite down. She could not fight off the slight whimper as the cut finally healed and the blood stopped.

She pulled away slowly, reluctantly, feeling flushed. Anderson was panting, staring at her with almost glazed eyes.

"Did nae – know – ye could do that," he managed.

"N-neither did I," she whispered. The way he was looking at her! The way her body was reacting to that look! "I – I have to go – I'll talk to you later!" She almost fell in her rush to get away, either from him or herself she wasn't so certain. She ran right through the door and collapsed to her knees in the stone corridor outside.

: Master! : She almost wailed. : What's happening to me? : She staggered to her feet and down the corridor, falling right through the door to Alucard's room and literally into the elder vampire, who'd just been rising from his chair. : What's happening to me? : Not caring what happened, she fisted her hands in his clothing and wept in confusion and fear.

Down the hall, Anderson was still shaking on the cot.

For a moment, he'd almost begged her to stop her licking – and to bite down.

A/N: Phew! Please read and review, I'd really like to know how you all felt about this chapter!