"Excessive love of others"
(Of Lust, Dante in the Divine Comedy).

Chapter One
- Luxuria

Above him, separated by the thick cement layers, he heard footsteps, voices, assorted noises as the personnel of the Mansion organised the search for him, for Seras. He did not bother to move, feeling comfortable staying on the floor, leaned on the furthest wall from her ashes. Inwardly, he licked his lips, listening the wild beating of the human hearts, the image of their blood pounded by the vigorous organs came to his mind.

Do you feel the hunger already, Judas Priest? Maybe that will force you to move from this state.

Anderson flinched, attempting to ignore the mocking tone of the devil inside his mind. He grunted and shielded his ears with his hands, trying to block the sounds without avail. The Paladin thought of blood as well, coming out from her throat as his bayonet severed her neck. It was as red as her eyes, the witnesses of his shame.

She had paid blood for blood as was fair. She had taken from him without his permission, cutting deep into his skin. He shuddered, remembering the pleasure of her fangs, piercing his treacherous flesh; he had been so weak to give in to the brief carnal bliss.

You say that to yourself, priest, but why so eager to convince yourself what you committed was fair?

Anderson had no answer, he just curled further against the wall, struggling against the starting spasm. Alexander Anderson would not surrender his body so easily. "I would not go without a fight!" he exclaimed, shivering as the armour faded into his tattered priestly clothes.

Get up.

"Go to hell and leave me with my misery!" Anderson growled as response at Dracula's demanding tone.

Don't you hear it, Judas Priest? Footsteps. Integral is coming. We have to clean the mess you made unless, of course, you want her to see you like this as well.

This time, he did not protest and followed the vampire's orders, vanishing the evidence and themselves into the shadows.

-----

Integral Hellsing had organised a search party after realising Alucard, Seras and Anderson were missing that morning. Dracula sometimes vanished to stroll in the forest or randomly feed without her permission, so she was not concerned about him. Anderson mostly told her if he left the Manor grounds, but there was the possibility he felt an urge to leave for whatever reason. Much like the Count, he was not stable. But Seras would never depart without warning.

She descended to the basement, seeking any indication that Seras had come down the night before. Several maids had claimed the Police Girl wandered there despite having her quarters relocated to the late Pip Bernadette's chambers after the war. Seras had been excited to not sleep underground anymore, but Integral assumed she could have grown nostalgic or that Alucard summoned her for a reason.

Dracula had suspiciously started to teach Seras more about vampirism now that he was released from service, perhaps he trained her in something she was not prepared for and she was injured in the endless maze of the subterranean tunnels. The screams that awoke her last night lingered close to her memory. But no else heard them, she told herself, recalling the interrogations to her personnel. If her increasing paranoia could make her hear and see things that were not real, that was really bad news, but somehow she wished that was the case, and prayed that Seras Victoria was safe.

"Walker in Alucard's quarters," Integral ordered to one of the men that followed her, "Fisher, Seras' old room. I am going further towards the closed area," she finished and set her way to the dungeons, the research laboratory, the torture chamber and found nothing. The last stop was one she had not entered in over a decade – Alucard's cell. The place of their fateful meeting. Integral paused, reaching for her shoulder, the spot where her uncle had shot her started to ache suddenly. No matter how much time passed, some wounds were not physical and did not heal properly.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob. Her mind was nearly transported to the past for the briefest of instant – behind her she swore she heard Richard screaming at his men to give her chase. Half smiling for her nostalgia, she pulled the small flashlight out of her coat and turned it on. The cell was deprived of light, natural and artificial alike, thus she needed that to illuminate her path. Integral surveyed the space, nothing seemed to have changed since the last time she saw it. There were cracks on the wall, falling paint and the decomposing smell of death that never had fazed her. Even the stains of her dried blood were left on the ground, the few droplets Alucard had not the chance to drink.

Integral stared at the spot where Alucard used to be held with a growing and oppressive sensation of being watched, swearing that phantom fingertips caressed her cheek, lulling her senses to relaxing. "Count?" she spoke aloud but there was no answer but her own echo on the empty room.

With all the commotion, she had forgotten it was the twenty-fourth of December and missed the Christmas Mass on Westminster.

-----

You want her, don't you?

The sly voice rang deep inside his psyche, each time he did that, it was more difficult to fight him off.

You want her, priest. I see your thoughts as clear as mine. You want to touch her, to hold her, to…

"No!" Anderson yelled, squeezing his eyes shut against the sight of Integral so close to him in the darkness. He respected her and followed her unto death. That is all.

Is it? Then why are your fingers caressing her face? Do you want to be discovered? The devil chuckled loudly. Anderson froze, forcing his hands to stay near his body.

"It is you who want her, that is why I feel this. You are tainting my mind with your desires!" Anderson exclaimed, blessing his newfound dark powers that shielded his voice from her ears.

Dracula laughed so hard, his own throat could not help but let got a laugh as well. Anderson punched his jaw, breaking it; he had to stop laughing, to stop listening to his voice in his mouth.

You called out her name when my fledgling was biting you, Anderson. Is your memory so fragmented that you don't recall what happened last night? Allow me to refresh it.

Anderson knelt as images assaulted his mind. He saw himself in deep pleasure; his expression was twisted between resolution to fight the bliss and giving in. There was blood and shadows everywhere and on the edge of the ecstasy, he uttered Integral's name. He could not continue to watch this, he shut his brain from his, trying to beat his skull on the floor, seeking release. This was worse than hell, to be trapped with Alucard struggling to dominate his body.

Oh yes, Judas Priest, just go to hell and leave me your magnificent body.

Anderson growled, he was tricking him, tormenting his mind and soul to expel him and win. He would not allow the beast to triumph. "Sir Hellsing…" he trailed off, staring the floor, tempted to reach for her again as she was busy inspecting their cell. But he could not show himself like this, not to her.

Why not? You want her. I want her. Let's put aside our difference and achieve what we both crave.

"Your tongue won't deceive me," Anderson answered, fighting the new assault of images the vampire was displaying. Not of the past but from a possible future. He saw Integral bare and straddling his waist, her hands running over his face, his chest, nipping his jaw as she brought him deeper inside her. Her mouth was on his neck, suckling the pulse point and biting hard, piercing the flesh as Seras had done. He moaned inwardly at the image and the phantom sensations that overwhelmed his system, but he knew the vampire was trying to tempt him and despised him for that. "Nor will your false promises!"

Judas can't you see? Alucard pointed out, his tone was condescending. You are hiding your sins from me. Covering them won't help you to prosper, isn't that what Proverbs say?

Anderson straightened his position, tearing his eyes from Integral and staring to the wall instead. "You are neither my Lord nor my confessor, but a demon to use the Holy Scripture against me!"

You have no need of either one, Anderson. You are damned now.

"I had been damned before I met you, Alucard, and I needed both then," Anderson spat, almost cackling. The vampire gave himself too much credit; he had a place in hell since he joined Iscariot.

Then you have only completed the sinful cycle of damnation, don't you agree? Anderson was quiet. You have been punished for your sins, Judas Priest. Was that lust you felt? A lust that drove you away from the Church for thinking of a woman?

"I-"

A sin you could live on now yet you refuse.

"Because we both are sinful creatures, it doesn't mean she is deserving of this fate," Anderson argued, putting his thoughts in order. "I won't damn someone who is innocent before their final judgment."

But you did…last night.

"Shut up! Shut up!" Anderson growled, tempted to shove a bayonet through his brain if he wasn't certain it would be no use, just weaken him against Dracula. He did not do anything wrong! Killing a vampire was what he did.

What if Integral proves herself as sinful as we are? Alucard asked, his tone was smooth, the former priest hated when he attempted to be reasonable, for he had no choice but listen. Starting with lust. Shall we?

Anderson felt his body standing by itself. He tried to stop himself and was not able to. The vampire was in control now and approaching her. Integral had turned her back and was kneeling to examine the ground.

Stop! Anderson cried out in frustration with his mind since he could not move his vocal cords any longer. He stared in horror as his hands and size changed, shrinking and his right hand touched her shoulder.

"Sir Hellsing," he heard himself speaking in a voice that did not belong to either him or Alucard. Integral gave a slight startled recoil and rose.

"I didn't hear you, Williams. I must have been too concentrated," Integral confessed, sweeping the dust off her trousers. "Any progress?"

"No, Sir," he shook his head. Anderson was enraged. Had Alucard intended to tempt her with the appearance of a normal mortal man. "Today is Christmas Eve," he reminded her. "You should go to the Mass, Sir. We can continue the search."

Christmas, Anderson realised with all the shock from yesterday, it that escaped his mind completely.

Integral stared at him seriously, "I have three missing men. There's nothing more important for me than knowing their location, Williams. Continue the quest and don't interrupt me further unless you have news about them."

"Sorry Sir. Will do," he saluted and strode out the cell, his lips curled up into a twisted smile. "So you see now Judas Priest?" he stated, his tone became lower, more sinister. Shadows covered their body, taking it away from the mortal world.

What? That she's worried about our welfare? Anderson retorted as he struggled to regain further control of his body. She did nothing wrong.

"Didn't she? You forgot the date, yet allow yourself those enticing thoughts regarding Integral. And she had forsaken the celebration of your saviour's birth to seek three damned creatures… Isn't lust considered excessive love of others at the expense of the worship of your God?"