Hellsing: Amen
by Notan Rappa

Chapter 12: Resistance and Blood

Seras walked slowly down the corridor to Walter's room. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head imperceptibly, in the way only a vampire can. It was Jason.

'Damn!' thought Seras as she realized that he was heading towards her, and that she hadn't had anything to drink yet. 'I can't kill him! If I do...' Some instinctual piece deep down inside her shivered at the thought of the control art.
Jason walked up to Seras. "Good evening, Miss Victoria."
"Call me Seras." said Seras, surprised at how easily she was resisting her hunger.
"I'm glad that they found you innocent. I mean...I knew that you were innocent all along but..." It was as if the giant lead ball that was Seras hunger had shrunk back and then hurtled itself at the lining of her stomach. It was all she could do to stop herself from launching herself at Jason. "...are you...all right?"
"I'm...fine." She paused to regain some measure of control. "Will you...come with me?" Jason looked confused, but followed. Seras headed for Walter's room. 'I was headed there anyway.' They got into the room. Seras closed the door, then a thought popped into her mind. 'I wonder if Alucard could teach me to do that seal thing?' She heard a gasp, and she turned to see Jason bending over Walter.
"Is this bloke...dead?"
"No. He's in some kind of coma. Come here." She led him to a sofa on the opposite side of the room from the bed on which Walter lay. She sat him down, then sat down next to him. "Look...I know Alucard said I was innocent...but he was lying to protect me. I did kill those men...and the animals." At this moment Jason realized he was now a liability to her. He also realized how dark it was in this part of the room and, indeed, the room in general was fairly devoid of light.
"I was always avoiding drinking blood, yes," Seras continued, "but then I drank Alucard's blood, and ever since then, I have been thirsting for blood. I couldn't quite control my hunger then, but I'm getting better. I didn't mean to kill your friend, nor your commander, I would rather have killed more animals. But there is something about warm human blood that...sparkles...as it makes its way through my body." Seras was struggling to fight the hunger which was growing inside of her.
"I don't want you to think of me as a freak or a monster, but..." at this, Seras conjured a small ball of fire to hover above her slightly opened fist. The light from the dancing flame leaped and wavered in the dark. "...I am what I am." she continued. "I am a vampire, and I need blood. Never forget what I am, and for your safety, don't lower your guard. Always be ready to run." Seras couldn't take the hunger any longer. She fell off the sofa, the fire extinguished, she buckled over, fighting with every ounce of strength she had left. "Run...now!" She expected him to get up and run. Possibly to tell the other men. It didn't matter. 'He'll be on his toes and won't easily fall prey to my hunger.' What she didn't expect was for Jason to stand up and draw out his hunting knife. Another wave hit her and she scrunched her eyes to fight it. 'Idiot.' she thought. 'He knows what I am and he knows that won't do a damn thing!'
Then she smelled blood. Fresh warm blood. She looked up slowly, and saw a blood stained knife, and Jason with a deep long cut on his arm. 'What...is he doing?'
"I never forgot what you are. You may not remember it, but you were nice to me once. They were small things, a smile, a wave, a hello. Small things, yes. But at the time I was going through some...personal struggles. I was struggling for a reason to continue living. Everything seemed like it was dying, and no one was kind to anyone else anymore. Then I saw you. I saw how you were nice to everyone, and how even if things seemed helpless, you never gave up. Seeing that in you, gave me the will to live. Here..." he said, offering her his bleeding arm. "...but only enough for you to get to your room safely." Seras got up slowly, and drank his warm blood. It tingled in a way that was somewhat new to her; somewhat...different from the others. After she had had enough to resist the hunger, she broke away from him.
Something inside her wanted nothing else in the world but to keep drinking his blood, but she silenced that voice. 'I will be nobody's slave, especially not my own. I am my own master!' With that she got up and ran as fast as she could for her room. Jason slumped onto the sofa and stared at his wound. 'Why...did I do that?' Somehow it didn't matter why. He felt he had done the right thing. He ripped up his sleeve to make a crude bandage. Then, weak from blood loss, he fell asleep on the sofa. In his dreams he saw Seras running along a dark beach, which was being flooded over by a sea of blood.
End Chapter 12