There she stood, by the open window, with her long blonde hair flowing in the wind coming in. She just stood there, motionless, staring out into the nothingness beyond the window, the clear of night.

She was waiting for the night to come to and end, so Alucard could return to her side in the castle. Even though she would never admit it, she somewhat enjoyed his company. It made her feel more comfortable, more secure, and she had never noticed it this much until Alucard finally left her side for this night.

Oh well, she still had Walter to protect her if need be. But it still wasn't the same. Alucard had something in him that Walter didn't. There were many things that made them different, but she was still uncertain what it was, even after all these years.

The door opened at the other side of the room, and Walter walked in with a bottle of wine in his hands, looking concerned for his master.

"Hello madam Integra. I have your wine. Where do you want it?"

"Just put it on the desk." Integra pointed to her desk just behind her.

"Yes ma'am." Walter walked over to the desk, and gently placed the bottle on the desk. He looked at her for a moment.

"You look troubled. Could it be that Alucard's absence is bothering you? Do you miss him?" Walter had not seen his master like this for quite some time.

"...No. He is only gone for one night. Why would I care that he's gone?" Integra said this because she didn't want to show any signs of weakness, even if they were only emotional.

"I see. Very well then. Is there anything else I can get you?" Walter knew him master was lying, but he didn't want to point it out, because she looked like she had enough on her mind as it is.

"No, I'm fine Walter. Thanks anyway. Now may I be left alone?"

"Of course. Just call if you need anything." And with that, Walter bowed and left the room.

Integra stood by the window for a moment longer, and then walked over to the desk, popped open the bottle, and poured herself a glass. She drank it slowly, savoring the taste. Halfway through the bottle, she sensed a movement through the shadows in the corner of the room, and she instantly knew what it was.

"You're back early, Alucard." She felt happier that he was back somehow, but as usual, did not express this emotion physically.

Alucard popped his head out of the darkness, upside down. "I was getting bored. Did you miss me?" Alucard had the usual smile on his face.

"No. Did you enjoy your night off?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. How did the policewoman's assignment go?" He knew everything that happened, but he asked Integra this to see how much she knew.

"Don't play that act with me, Alucard. I know everything that happened, including Alexander Anderson's involvement. You weren't supposed to get yourself in any trouble."

Alucard slowly flew his whole body out of the darkness, turned himself around, and landed standing on the floor. "I couldn't help it. He had the policewoman trapped."

"You still didn't have to go to him. If you hadn't shown up, he probably would have just let her go and waited for another day."

"Well, he might have killed her, too. Besides, he saved her from the gang of vampires, so putting him in his place yet again was the least I could do to repay him." Alucard grinned to himself at the humor of his statement.

"This is not a humorous matter, Alucard. This pointless rivalry has made you more and more careless every time you fight him. This is why I had second thoughts about letting you loose for one night." Integra was steadily raising her voice.

"I was careful. It was an unpopulated street. There were no witnesses. Even he knew that." Alucard broke his grin to make it look less like he was taunting his masters' authority.

"That's not what the problem is."

Alucard had a look of mockery on his face. He knew what she was getting at. "Please, don't insult me. He will never be able to match up to me. No human will."

"It's that attitude that will be your downfall."

"This 'attitude' has gotten me as far as I am today. I have faced many followers of god, and none of them have come even close to defeating me. This one is no different."

"Whatever you say, Alucard. I can already see that you aren't going to take caution no matter what I say to you." Integra had given up on trying to get through to him.

Alucard shrugged. "No, probably not." That look of mockery had returned to his face.

"Then you are dismissed. I have nothing more to tell you." Integra's voice started to sound firm again.

Alucard stood there for a moment, and then faded away into the shadows, teleporting himself to his chambers in the basement of the castle.

And so Integra just stood there again, alone, slowly drinking her wine.

The last two hours on the subway car had been torture inside of Ceras Victoria, feeling ashamed of her mistake, and concerned about her punishment should Integra know about this. She opened the front door to the mansion, and poked her head through, trying to see if anyone was there. No one in sight. She slowly moved her whole body through the door, hoping that no one would enter the main hallway that she was going into. When she finally got through the door, she quietly made her way to the entrance to her chambers, where she could take a hopefully long rest inside of her coffin.

Ceras had kept walking, and when she was halfway down the hall, she was confronted by Walter.

"Is something the matter, Ms. Victoria?" Walter was concerned about her.

"No...it's nothing important." Ceras hung her head slightly, and Walter could see it. "I'm fine..."

"There is no need to be worried about what happened earlier," Walter said. "We all mess up sometimes. There's no need to make such a big deal out of it."

"You...you mean you know about it?" Ceras was really worried about what Integra was going to do now. "Does that mean Integra knows about too?" She already knew the answer, but she had that small sense of hope in her.

"...Yes, I'm afraid she does. But don't worry. Integra has already decided not to punish you in any way for this incident, since no one got hurt, except the gang, of course. Alucard is the one who is likely to be punished, because of his little incident with Alexander Anderson. You, my dear, have nothing at all to really worry about."

Ceras was relieved somewhat to hear of this, but still had a little feeling of shame in her for managing to mess it up in the first place.

"Thank you, Walter. You have been a great help." She meant it. She can now sleep a little easier, just because of a few words from this butler.

"You are very welcome, Ceras. Now, if you don't mind, I have other matters to attend to at the moment, so I will leave you now, and wish you a good night." And with that, Walter walked off to complete his other errands for the day.

Ceras worked her way down the rest of the hall, taking longer than usual to make it to her room. She didn't know how to feel at this point. She was happy that she wasn't going to get punished, but still a little sad still at the fact that after all the missions that she's been on, she was brought to her knees by a four member gang of vampires. She eventually made it to her room, and without doing anything else at all, she walked over to her coffin, crept inside, and went to sleep rather quickly.

Walter walked down to Alucard's chambers, and knocked on the door to his private room. There was no response, but a few seconds later, Alucard just appeared next to him.

"Hello Walter. What do you want?" It was one of those rare times that Alucard didn't have a smile on his face.

"I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted, Alucard." Walter was wondering if Integra decided to punish Alucard in some way or not.

"No, I'm fine for now." Alucard thought for a split-second. "There's another reason that you came down here to see me, isn't there?"

Walter seemed to ignore him, even though he was right. "How was your free night out? Did you enjoy yourself?"

"...Yes, but I still think there's something else you're here to see me about. I know you better than that, Walter."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I wanted to talk to you about Ceras."

"The policewoman? What is there to talk about? Everyone makes mistakes. Except me, of course." Alucard was laughing to himself on the inside. "But even I made mistakes in my early years. So what's the big deal?"

"The poor girl was fear-stricken, and I don't think it was all worrying about what Integra was going to do to her for her near-failure. There is something on her mind, and I think we should pull her from receiving assignments until she gets this figured out. I personally think someone should talk to her, but I guess it's your call, Alucard, since you are her master.

"I think she just needs some alone-time for herself. I will talk to my master about giving it to her. Is this all you wanted to discuss?"

"...Yes, pretty much."

"Then, if you'll excuse me old friend, I also wish to be left alone for the meantime. If I need anything, I will get it myself." And with that, Alucard faded away back to his private chambers.