"What do you want, Alucard? I'm busy."
Alucard sat down at the breakfast room table across from his Master of approximately a year and two days and casually watched her. He shrugged at her question and leaned back with a small smirk, crossing his arms and exhaling. "May I ask what you are so busily doing?"
She sighed and replied, "I have to write an essay given this inane prompt. Now, please, will you go away so that I can concentrate?" She gathered her few papers together and pulled them closer to herself.
"Pray tell, what is this prompt that has caused my sweet master to become, all of a sudden," he paused and smirked now. "Embarrassed?"
"Oh please! I'm not embarrassed! I just don't know what to write. Now, go away!"
"Master, you never answered my question," Alucard rebuked.
Integra sighed. "Fine. If it mean's you'll leave me to write the dumb thing. The prompt is: Describe a thing or being that scares you, cite your reasons for being scared of it, and give an example of a time that it scared you. There!"
Alucard uncrossed his arms and appeared disappointed. "That's it?"
"That's it."
Alucard nodded, stood up, and disappeared through the floor without so much as a good-bye. Such was the way of Alucard.
Integra huffed and rolled her eyes, setting the paper she had been writing on before her once more. She had the introductory paragraph written and she cited her reason for being scared of this certain thing, but she couldn't for the life of her come up with an example of a time it scared her.
Suddenly, a gloved hand whipped out from behind her and grabbed the paper off the table, lifting it up over Integra's head. "Hey! Alucard, give that back! NO! Don't read it, you idiot! Give it back!"
Alucard scanned the page and grinned. "This is what you are afraid of? You? A Hellsing?" He chuckled and peered down at the fuming 13 year old.
"It's a valid fear, Alucard," retorted Integra, defensively.
"Master." He scoffed. "Centipedes?"
"Don't mock me, vampire!" She grabbed the paper back; her cheeks flushed a rosy red now.
"Mock you? Of course not, Master. I wouldn't stoop so low." He chuckled. "So, my darling little Master, what is so hard about this essay?"
"Centipedes frighten me very much; I've seen many and can't stand them one bit. But…but I can't give a good example of a time they scared me. I can't just write that I looked down and saw one by my foot one day while watching my vampire servant shoot ghouls not ten feet away and I thought it was going to crawl on my foot."
"No, you couldn't say that," he grinned, thinking his young master so very endearing.
Integra looked up at the clock on the wall. "Oh well. I have tomorrow to finish. I'll probably just make it up." She yawned. "I want to go to bed right now, though."
"Sweet dreams, Master." He added as he faded away in a black, inky mass.
Upstairs, in her room, Integra Hellsing was dressed in a light pink night gown with her hair down as usual and her glasses placed by the side of her bed on her end table. Yawning, she climbed onto her plush queen-sized mattress and pulled the covers over her and up to her chin. She reached out with one hand and switched off the lamp to her right. With a few deep breaths, Integra relaxed and allowed her mind to slip away slowly into sleep.
From out of a corner of Integra's dark room, a shadow began to grow up the wall. The little Hellsing leader was deep in sleep now and she had no idea that she was being observed by the myriad of red eyes that sprouted from that sinister mass. The glowing orbs leered at the slender form on the bed, watching her breathe, her eyelids quivering as she experienced some dream. A fanged smile cracked through the swarm of eyes as the eerie blob slipped down the wall and to the floor at the end of Integra's bed. A low chuckle resounded through the room as the mass slithered its way up the bed posts and onto the lush comforter.
The blond little sprite slept on, rolling her head to the other side, enthralled in a pleasant dream. Alucard's dark shadow loomed before the little Hellsing and grinned before shrinking back down to flatten itself against the mattress. The form quickly, smoothly took another shape. This new wriggling mass slowly sank through the covers with yet another deep chuckle.
Integra was walking through a pleasingly shaded forest of purple trees and flowering bushes. Through the colorful foliage, she could make out tiny furry shapes skittering to and fro. A bird of some kind squawked above her. She looked up and saw a large, beautiful hawk looking down at her with golden eyes. She paused and stood in awe of the creature, watching it even as it flew away through the throng of tall, lavender, mauve, and violet pines.
Suddenly, something moved by her feet. Something small and sort of prickly. It moved across her bare feet quickly, and, as it left, another bristly sensation followed. Integra looked down at where she stood and her eyes widened. There, at her feet, were hundreds of crawling centipedes. The dream Integra screamed and kicked the offending creatures away. It was no use, however; as she kicked with one leg, the spiny pests crawled up her other leg. Soon, she had centipedes creeping on her shoulder and tangling in her hair. She screamed and thrashed in revulsion and stark terror. Then, just like that, she was in her bed. She was breathing heavily, the back of her neck hot and sweaty. Oh, thank God! It was just a dream! She sighed with relief and closed her eyes.
That was when she felt it. That bristly sensation all down the back of her legs, beneath her back, her arms. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers, her face paled to match the sheets, and her stomach twisted itself into a tight knot. Quickly, Integra threw back the covers and stared in terror and shock down at the writhing multitudes of black centipedes around and on her. She felt some even squirm beneath her back and legs. She opened her mouth to scream but found that she couldn't even do that. Panicking now, she began to twist and kick and throw her arms about, trying to spray the creeping insects off of her limbs. She wiggled to the edge of the bed where she leapt off and ran, frantically brushing the coarse beasts off of her clothes and skin. She backed into a wall and, feeling tiny legs on her stomach and chest, pulled her shirt away from her skin with one hand while slapping away centipedes with the other.
She was trembling in fear now as more of the swarming beasts climbed up her legs. Just like in her dream, she couldn't kick them away fast enough. Soon, tears of terror and frustration brimmed at her eyes as the crawling creatures moved up to cover her legs, her abdomen, her chest and arms. The tears finally escaped and Integra closed her eyes.
All of a sudden, the prickly sensation left her. Replacing it were two strong hands, one on either of her arms. They were holding her still; she hadn't been aware that she was actually swinging them around into the wall, the dresser, the mirror, anything that was within range. She heard a deep, dark chuckle and Integra opened her eyes.
There, staring at her with his glowing red gaze was Alucard. His face cracked into a wide, feral grin and he leaned into the shocked Integra. Slowly, he dragged his long tongue up her cheek, tracing a salty trail that her tears had made. It did not take long for her to realize what had happened and, as quickly as he had changed shape, Integra's vision blurred to red. She clenched her teeth and balled her fists. Alucard laughed and with that, Integra was off the wall and clawing at her vampire. She dragged her nails through him with a fury unimagined by Alucard. The old vampire found himself backing away at first, but it didn't take him long to see the humiliation in that response. So, he smirked and once again backed his little feisty Master against the wall.
"Alucard! You have gone way too far this time!" She shouted venomously.
"No, Master, I was simply trying to assist you in writing your essay. You did say all that you needed was a time that centipedes scared you." He leaned down into her face and licked the other cheek clean of tears. "And I do believe you were scared tonight, Master." He chuckled and began to pull back when a pain erupted up through his stomach and every nerve all the way to his brain and back down to his toes. He slowly cast his eyes downward and found, there between his legs at his groin, his master's lovely little knee.
"Bastard. Never EVER pull that kind of crap again! Understand?" she glowered.
Alucard nodded and retreated through the floor in a swirling, inky mass.