Wolves

by Light1

A lesson in ferocity goes astray.

Wolves

Disclaimer: Hellsing belongs people who are not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Alucard . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Authoress note: An education in ferocity goes astray.

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Seras was understanding why her master liked the rooftop. It was quiet up here; the wind was clean and refreshingly cold. The thousands of tiny lights that were London flickered and winked in the distance. Seras smiled in response. The whiteness of the snow covering the landscape made it glow. It was so peaceful up on the roof; she felt like she would never want to leave. Initially, she'd come looking for her master, but when she'd seen he was not here, she had stayed, anyway. She was hiding; she knew that, but she didn't care. She was getting exasperated with the human men in the mansion, so much so she'd taken to avoiding them. It was ironic that she had spent so long trying to hold on to her humanity and now here she was, avoiding them. But it was their fault she was avoiding them. They treated her like a child. It would frustrate anyone, especially someone who had the physical strength to tear them limb from limb. Her anger at this was also ironic. She had always hated the men treating her the way they did her master, with fear. But now she was so sick and tired of being treated with kid gloves. All the men thought she was adorable. They treated her like she was something to be petted and kept out of the line of fire.

Seras knew she could hold her own. She also knew that she had proven that by now. But they still treated her like she would fall down and weep at the slightest thing. She wondered briefly if it was because she was a woman, but it couldn't be that. Integra was a woman, and the men did not baby Integra or slap her on the ass when she was stuck in the wall. Not that Integra would get stuck in a wall. Seras sighed, feeling the cold air rush out of her lungs. All she wanted was a little respect. She didn't want to be feared, but then maybe a little fear wouldn't be so bad. Just enough to put the men in their place. Just one little scare.

"This." Alucard's voice behind her made her jump. "Is my spot. Thief,"

"The roof is big, master." Seras turned and smiled at him. "I'm sure we can both fit up here." Seras had expected her master would appear at some point. He seemed to be almost empathic to her, knowing when she needed someone to talk to, knowing when she was in trouble or when to leave her alone. She glanced at him, noting how calm he seemed to be this evening. Maybe the rooftops peace was contagious.

"I did not think you wished to be feared, police girl." Alucard spoke quietly as he perched on the thin rail running around the edge of the rooftop.

"Reading other people's thoughts could be considered an invasion of privacy, master." She reached out to poke him. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him.

"Not when it's you."

"So I have no privacy now?" Seras played along.

"Not from me. No, you do not." The elder vampire released his child and turned to look out at London. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, humor gone from his voice. "Why do you wish to be feared police, girl?"

"I don't wish to be feared master," Seras came over and perched on the railing less successfully than her master. She wobbled for a while before changing her mind and sitting on the flatness of the rooftop. "At least not the way you think. But yesterday I got trapped. I leapt without thinking. I'm getting used to walking through solid walls and, well…" she trailed off.

"You got stuck." Alucard guessed, looking behind him at Seras, who nodded.

"Yes, master, I got stuck. Unfortunately, I had actually physically leapt at the wall and I was two feet from the floor. It was so embarrassing and the men kept reaching up to smack my bum."

"Not the most dignified situation, but there is more,"

"If you can read my thoughts, why am I telling you this?" Seras frowned up at her master

"I did not read your thoughts this time, police girl. I can just read you. Being embarrassed would not influence your opinion of vampirism." Seras sighed at his words. It was strange how not so long ago being vampiric would have made her cringe, and now she was insulted when a fledgling freak had called her 'un-vampiric' in a less polite way. It was humiliating to be called 'little more than a ghoul,' by a bloody freak. She was becoming ashamed that the freaks she fought against thought so little of her. She got no respect out of anything, human, vampire or freak. Freaks respected Alucard, and many of the older freaks or true vampires went to their knees in front of him. But when it was her, they laughed. Alucard gave his blood to her. Shouldn't that mean something to them? Obviously not.

"I'm tired of being laughed at, at being powerless. I always need help. I always need you to protect me. Just for once I'd like to do something for myself," Seras explained.

"I told you to drink my blood and you will have your independence," Alucard tilted his head, showing the slim line of his throat to her. She laughed.

"Master, I don't want you to stop being my master. I admit it is nice knowing someone's there, even if my someone is a half-crazed loon."

"Charming, but I think I understand your desire. You need the tools to defend yourself with." With that said, Alucard stood on the railing that was almost as thin as a wire. Reaching out, he offered his hand to his child. She accepted, and he pulled her with him as he toppled from the rooftop. The ground rushed up at Seras and she tightened her grip on her master. She knew he wouldn't let them hit the ground, but still, it was hard not to tense up. Remarkably, the amount of trust she had for him now. When she first came here, she wouldn't have touched him with a ten-foot pole, but now she was letting him scoop her up and launch her into thin air or through a wall at the drop of a hat. They reached the ground and slid through it, toppling straight down, through the men's kitchen–secretly Seras felt pleased with the startled yelps- and into the basement. Alucard set her down outside her bedroom door. She entered, and he followed.

"What did you mean, tools? If you hand me a trowel I shall not be impressed."

"Trowel?" Alucard blinked at her. "No police girl, I was referring to teaching you something else." He grinned, "I think you should have accumulated enough power by now to stand to learn another little trick."

"Really?" Seras smiled, perfect! Perfect? It shocked her just how much she had changed a few months ago, and she would have abhorred learning to manipulate the power growing inside of her.

"Pick something," Alucard couldn't stop the grin spreading as he sat down, legs up, on the table. He missed the timid little creature he had brought to the mansion, but this eager, stronger and more durable Seras was far more attractive and fun. A willing pupil.

"Hair!" Seras squeaked. Alucard blinked big red eyes at her and she frowned. "Your hair, you move it about and stuff. It looks good. I want to do that." She was getting excited. She giggled when her master preened at the compliment. Then a unique expression crossed his face. It was something she'd only seen once before, embarrassment.

"Pick something else, police girl," He ordered she glared "even I do not understand completely what my hair thinks it's doing." Seras tilted her head, Alucard squirmed. "I believe it may be something to do with a reaction to power. A subconscious reaction."

"Ha!" She pointed. "Your hair's possessed."

"My hair is not possessed! Now, what else would you like to learn?"

"Can you do magic?"

"Card tricks?" Alucard wondered and opened a portal, pulling a small rabbit out of one. He grinned stupidly for a moment before dropping the rabbit. It exploded into black smoke, an illusion, nothing more.

"No, obviously you can't." Seras ignored her master's indigent protest. He could do magic, according to him. "If only I was bigger with lots of teeth, that'd show 'em."

"Ah." Alucard's grin became predatory. "You wish to change your form." At Seras' confused look, Alucard closed his eyes. Feeling his entire body with his mind, he reached out and with a simple thought, he separated himself. Coming apart in a cloud of bats which scattered all over the room.

"Not bats, master." Seras laughed, digging one of the tiny creatures from her hair. The tiny creatures pulled together and reformed her master. "I think you might be right being a reaction to power,"

"Excuse me?" Alucard frowned

"Your hair's longer now, but it grows out when you sleep?" she'd woken tangled in it all quite a few times. A few nights ago, she'd had him make it grow before sleep so she could tie it back. He'd grumbled, but it had amused her.

"That's because when vampires sleep, we revert to how we were when first changed," Alucard explained, sitting back down. Seras frowned. Alucard sighed. "If I were to cut all you hair off, you would be bald." Seras nodded. "When you go to sleep today and wake up tomorrow night, you find that your hair has grown back to its original length. It will get no longer, however."

"You mean I'll never have long hair." Seras frowned. It had never occurred to her before, but now she thought about it, it was a little disappointing to realize she would never change.

"We'll get you some hair extensions." Alucard rolled his eyes. Then, after a few moments of silence in which Seras just blinked at him, Alucard erupted into bugs.

"EWWWW! MASTER!" Seras howled. The elder vampire pulled himself together quickly, at least his fledgling start stepping on him.

"Not bugs then," he purred as Seras climbed down from the chair she had leapt onto. "How can you be frightened of bug's police girl? You never know, they may bury you alive one day and have them crawling across your still living skin."

"Master, stop, please." Seras shivered. "No one would bury me alive."

"Vampire's go into the earth all the time, police girl." Alucard laughed. "When the weight of living forever becomes too much, we stop feeding and enter a sleep. Hibernation, if you will. When we wake, our bodies are undernourished and we cannot move." He grinned at her expression. "We are awake and trapped in our own skin, either until someone revives us or we eat the bugs and rats."

"I thought you couldn't move?" Seras frowned, not liking this conversation.

"Simple movements are possible, jerks and twitches. But we cannot dig ourselves out." Seras winced and felt ill. "Do not worry, so police girl," Alucard laughed. "If you go into the earth while I live, then I will be there to dig you out,"

"You'd know I was awake?" Seras asked.

"Of course," Alucard's grin softened slightly, and he coughed awkwardly, "back to the task at hand, police girl." Once again, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his own body, shrinking it, reshaping it. After a moment, eight red eyes blinked at Seras from under black fur.

"Aww," Seras ruffled his ears, and he jerked back, giving a quiet growl. "Shame you're not bigger, though. If you were bigger, you'd be scarier." Shifting back, Alucard blinked at her.

"You really want to frighten the men, don't you?" he asked

"I don't want to become a hated creature of the night master." She rolled her eyes. "But I'm sick of people not taking me just because I don't look big and terrifying. Plus, if I'm going to learn how to shift form, I might as well do it as something interesting." Alucard feigned grief, "not that the other forms weren't wonderful."

"Very well." Alucard sighed loudly and seemed uncomfortable. Seras watched him fidget for a moment. "I have one more, but it's not as good as it sounds." The ancient vampire remembered back a long, long time ago before they enslaved him. A time before, the 'experimentations' had given him his hellhound form. Back to when he still hunted Lady Mina, back when he was a wolf. Instantly his body remembered the long-disused form and rippled, reforming itself.

"Aww!" Seras squealed when where her master had sat stood a huge black wolf. "Master." His ears were long and pointed upwards. His eyes glowed brightly in the long black fur and would have been invisible if they had not glowed. Without thinking, she went to her knees and dug her fingers deep into the long black fur around his neck, immersing her nose into it. "You're all fuzz!" the fur in her hands rippled, and she found her nose pressed against her master's throat.

"I'd take that form more often if it got me this kind of attention." The master vampire purred and Seras drew back embarrassed "and for the record I am NOT all fuzz!" Alucard snapped "there are teeth, claws and a lot of endurance in here," he grinned "now as for your lesson."

Three hours later, a loud moan escaped Seras Victoria's room just as Walter walked past. Walter stopped dead outside the vampire's doorway and swallowed loudly. Had he just heard that? He leaned into the doorway and placed his ear to the metal. He could hear a lot of heavy breathing. A mattress was creaking, he was sure of it.

"Master, it's so hard!" that was Miss Victoria's voice. She sounded in pain. Walter felt himself blush. A low, loud growl, which was undeniably masculine, sounded in response. Miss Victoria had said 'master', so that was Alucard! Without thinking, Walter panicked and banged on the door.

"Yes?" Seras opened the door instantly and Walter jerked backwards. She was fully clothed. He blinked and looked into the room. A large black wolf was sprawled over Miss Victoria's bed. He felt a sudden coolness spread over his mind and jerked back again. He hated it when Alucard invaded his personal space that much. Even if they were friends, there had to be boundaries.

"I'm surprised you aren't outside playing in the snow, vampire." Walter spoke firmly. "Out marking trees and lampposts." The butler grinned at the wolf, which had been lying on the bed, its muzzle resting on its paws with its eyes closed. It lazily looked at him, and Walter frowned. This wasn't Alucard's hellhound form, the old butler had never seen this form before. He'd assumed the myth that vampires could become wolves was just that, a myth, but seeing is believing. The huge black monster of a wolf leapt down from the bed, claws clicking on the stone floor. Walter smiled wider when Alucard stopped in front of him, sat down, and growled. It was amazing how he could still look dignified and vaguely peeved when he was like this.

"Aren't you beautiful?" Walter could hardly help reaching out to pet long ears. It was a rather impressive form. Walter grinned. "Would you like to go for walkies? I'm sure you'd get lots of pretty girls throwing you a stick." No sooner had the words left his mouth than he was on his back with huge paws on his shoulder, pinning him to the ground.

"I am not going for walkies." Alucard shifted back and snapped.

"Alright Alucard." Walter nodded as best he could when lying flat on his back. "Would it bother you terribly to get off me?" the tall vampire got slowly to his feet and offered a gloved hand to his friend. Walter opened his mouth to speak again when he was interrupted.

"I can feel it!" Seras squeaked. "It's happ… oh god, this is..." the quiet scream turned into several startled yips. As Seras Victoria disappeared inside of her clothes, Walter blinked, confused.

"Well, well." Alucard hummed to himself, walking over and digging through Seras' uniform. "I didn't think you'd manage it so quickly." He lifted a tiny blond ball of blonde fluff with bright red eyes.

"Why didn't her clothes change with her?" Walter asked, reaching down to pick up the uniform. He slowly started folding it.

"It takes practice to get things right, Walter." Alucard sounded sharp. "I'm quite impressed she managed it at all." He gave the blond ball of fuzz in his hands a brief nuzzle: "Well-done police girl."

"It was just a question, Alucard." Walter couldn't help smile. "No need to get defensive." The butler smiled. Alucard opened his mouth to reply when a familiar pressure was felt on his mind. Integra wanted him. Alucard sighed. What could she want now? Absently putting the tiny wolf cub into his pocket, he turned and slid downwards through a portal, leaving Walter in a confused silence.

"It took you long enough!" Integra snapped as he appeared into her office. "I don't like to be kept waiting for Alucard."

"Forgive me." The vampire said as Seras fidgeted in his pocket. He reached in and placed her on the floor. "What was it you wanted, my master?" he asked Integra, turning to look at her as if nothing at all was unusual.

"The Vatican have… section… Alucard, why on earth do you have a puppy?" Integra sighed and rubbed her temples. Her already mild headache was getting worse. Why did she do this to herself? She should know by now that conversation with her vampire never went smoothly. Why did she allow them to get her so worked up?

"Cub." Alucard corrected, looking down as Seras went exploring the area of carpet around her master's feet.

"Excuse me!" Integra snapped.

"A puppy is a dog, a cub is a wolf, Seras is a wolf, not a dog."

"Seras?" Integra opened her drawer and reached for the paracetamol as the cub/Seras pounced on her master's shoe.

"Yes." Alucard walked over and sat down on a chair in front of Integra's desk. "I was teaching her how to shift when you summoned me and this is the result."

"Well, you finally taught her something useful. I suppose that's a good thing," Integra grumbled, "but why is she a cub?" Integra watched as a startled yipping drew both their attentions. Alucard reached down and put Seras on the desk. The tiny wolf wandered across the desk, accidentally stepping on Integra's ink and leaving paw prints across the woodwork. Integra grunted, and the cub looked up, then blinked and amazingly seemed to be apologetic. Integra was shocked by just how much of Seras she could see in the blonde wolf cub. Integra sighed. She shouldn't really be amazed she'd spent most of her young and adult life dealing with Alucard's furred form wandering about. She watched as the tiny cub bounded across the desk into her master's lap. Seras sat still for a moment before trying to eat one of his buttons.

"Vampire powers rarely make sense." Alucard started. "Seras' power was not born when she was. Usually, it takes a great deal of blood or a cataclysmic event where said vampire's life is at risk for this power to be born." He shrugged. "Some poor fools go through eternity without waking their power at all."

"Seras' power only woke up now?" Integra asked.

"No, if that had been the case, she wouldn't have enough power to shift form, and even if she did, her wolf would have been blind, toothless, and furless." He grinned and pushed the cub back from his button. "I'd like to keep that," he muttered, knocking the tiny bundle onto its back and tormenting it.

"Alucard!" Integra snapped, getting his attention back from his child/cub that was now contently chewing his fingers.

"Seras power woke about a month ago." Alucard nodded. "You have Mr. Anderson to thank for it." Integra sighed. It was a big mistake to let Alucard watch the matrix. But then again, if he only tormented the Vatican's paladin with it, then maybe it was worthwhile.

"So you didn't teach her sooner?" Alucard nodded to Integra's question, "I wish you would explain these things, vampire, then maybe I wouldn't get so frustrated with you." Integra briefly wondered how long it took paracetamol to work. Her headache was not going away. "When will she be back to normal?"

"Shifting takes a lot of energy." Alucard looked again at the cub, which had now torn a sizable hole in his gloves, and was chewing his pale fingers mercilessly with tiny sharp teeth. "She must eat and rest before she can change back. Seras do I look like food to you!" he pulled his now bleeding hand back.

"Why is she acting like this?" Integra winced as her head pounded.

"The first time you change you often lose yourself to the form," the elder vampire watched his hand heal and flicked Seras' nose as punishment. "It takes a lot of mental strengths to push down the 'wolf'."

"Very well, you can go now," Integra muttered, considering more anadin.

"What was it you wanted?" Alucard frowned, pocketing Seras again.

"Just some nonsense with the Vatican. It can wait." Integra sighed. She jerked when an icy hand rested across her forehead. Her headache faded and stopped. "Nice to know you have some uses," she nodded as Alucard sighed in his usual I'm-so-under-appreciated way and disappeared through the floor.

Walter flinched as he felt the air run cold with vampire magic. Alucard slid in through the ceiling. The inky black shadow he used to enter the room swelled and faded as the vampire's booted feet touched down on the stone floor. Seras was unceremoniously dropped to the floor. Walter tutted, but Seras didn't seem to mind. Instead, she focused her attention on her master's coat.

"My coat is not a chew toy." Alucard said, as Seras chewed the ends of it.

"Why don't you take her outside?" Walter asked

"I'd lose her in the snow." Alucard mumbled as Seras turned her attention to Walter. She sniffed at his shoe for a moment before losing interest and bounding back to her master and proceeding to chew his coat. "Mine!" he snapped, pulling the red leather out of her reach. "Actually, I think losing you might be a good idea!" Alucard scooped the tiny Seras up and stalked towards the gardens.

The gardens were, as before, covered in snow. February in England was always cold, but this year it had brought more snow than usual. Without thinking, the elder vampire lifted the cub out of his pocket and dropped her into the snow. He sniggered when she disappeared in the thick whiteness. A terrified high-pitched yelp made him raise his eyebrows as Seras leapt onto his shoe away from the cold. Alucard sighed.

"It's snow Seras. There's nothing wrong with it. Snow is a good thing," Alucard leaned down and lifted her off of his shoe and placed her once again on the snow. It took a few minutes for Seras to remember snow, but after she had realized that the cold wetness wasn't about to kill her, she acted like many young creatures and rolled in it.

"I doubt that this will achieve your goal of seeming more ferocious." Alucard knew the cub either wouldn't listen to him or wouldn't understand. He remembered when he'd first shifted form, he'd forgotten everything. He'd forgotten that he'd ever been anything else, he'd forgotten his name, his family, his life, everything. It had taken a week of very tempting words from an ancient friend to get him to revert. He wondered briefly if he would end up having to talk Seras back to her more human form. He sat and watched her for twenty minutes, it was tempting to shift form himself and join her, he'd always loved the snow. But he knew that if he did he would lose her, no doubt she'd wonder off, and he'd be too engrossed in the snow or something else that would no doubt get his attention to notice. He was grateful when she padded over, too tired to continue, and curled up with her head on his shoe. Lifting her again, he wandered back inside.

The kitchen was warm and crisp. Walter was once again cooking something that, to the vampire, smelt very peculiar. Humans may enjoy the smell of cooking, but Alucard disliked it. He could smell everything in the oven, every previous ingredient, every previous catastrophe. Setting the soaked cub down on the table, he lifted one of the hand towels Walter kept by the sink and dropped it onto Seras, who yipped. Paying no attention to Walter, who was staring with a rather amused expression, he searched the kitchen for a bowl and lifted a blood pack out of the fridge.

"Heat this up." He tossed the bag to Walter. "Last time I did it, the microwave blew up."

"The kitchen is not your friend, Alucard." The vampire sat heavily down on a chair by the table and roughly rubbed the cub with the towel.

"What are you staring at, Walter?" Alucard asked eventually when the butler handed him the now warm blood pack.

"Forgive me Alucard." Walter sat next to him, watching as the vampire tipped the blood into the bowl and pushed it towards Seras. "You seem to dote on your puppy." Alucard shrugged and leaned his arms on the table and put his head in his arms. Watching as Seras devoured the blood with enthusiasm.

"At least she's eating now." Alucard yawned. "Probably doesn't recognize it." Closing his eyes, the vampire briefly wondered why he was so tired today. Wet on his nose made him open his eyes. Seras having finished, the blood had moved onto his face and was trying to eat his nose. He was grateful when Walter lifted her and carried her out of the room. It was amusing with Seras like this and now that they had awakened the wolf form it would grow and soon, maybe in less than a year, it would be almost as big as his. He wondered for a moment where Walter had gone with her. It was strange just how protective he was of his fledglings. He hadn't raised many, but those he had raised he'd always taken care of. Seras was the first he had taken since he'd been imprisoned here in Hellsing and briefly he wondered that when the last Hellsing died, would she go into the world alone or would she stay with him? Would she stay in England, or would she follow him when he left? He wasn't sure where he would go yet, maybe back home, maybe somewhere else. He fancied Asia at the moment, but he was fickle and no doubt would change his mind by next week. The kitchen door opened and a rather flustered Walter came in. He put Seras on the table and she bolted back to her master and tried and climb under his chin.

"I tried to tire her out," Walter explained. "I put her on a treadmill." He smiled and laughed quietly, "she was fine for a moment, but she panicked suddenly."

"Come on, you." Alucard pocketed Seras again and standing up, stretching, listening with satisfaction as his spine cracked loudly. Walter smiled, watching them leave.

Walter wandered down into the basement near dusk the following day. Assuming that when Seras woke this morning she'd be hungry, he'd brought a few bloods packs down. No doubt Alucard would suddenly start expecting him to do this every morning. He huffed at the idea of being breakfast in bed for vampires. It was a shame he couldn't write home about what really happened at Hellsing. If he could, he'd always have something interesting to say.

'Yesterday, Miss Victoria learned to change her form. She was adorable, a compact bundle of blond fur which Alucard carried around in his pocket.'

He smiled, wondering how his relatives would react. No doubt they would have him committed. He pushed open the door, knowing that knocking wouldn't make a difference. When vampires were asleep, they were dead, literally. He entered and set the blood on the table. Turning, he grinned. Seras had changed back during the night and now lay quietly, contentedly dressed in one of his master's shirts. Alucard was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell are you doing, Walter?" Alucard's voice from behind him made Walter jump

"I brought you breakfast," Walter sighed, feeling his heart pound. Alucard grinned, still half asleep by the looks of it

"I could get used to this," he mumbled, literally collapsing back onto the bed. Seras made a quiet sound and curled closer.

"I knew you'd say that."

End

Thank you for reading, please review, I'd love to hear what you think of the fic.

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My first Novel, Grey Wings has now been released!

GREY WINGS

Jason is stranded in a dark city, and is in desperate need of help when he has no idea how he will get home.

So, when he collides with Aurelius, an Angel only in the mildest sense of the word – who has committed a crime worthy of great punishment, but has been handed a rare chance at redemption – Jason can see a way home.

However, their journey will be hampered by Fallen Angels, Earth Spirits, and Griffons – and none can say if everyone will make it home.