A/N: Sorry for the one-day delay, these long chapters take a while. And to answer questions: Lady Mokodane: I didn't try to make him older, maybe it's just the speech of the era. Boarder: yes, I'm glad to say I have read Dracula. Thanks to everyone!

Waking Dreams

Seras felt as if she were floating, her eyes seeing only darkness. She knew she was unconscious, and even remembered how she had become as such, but she could not wake herself. She felt as if a veil was covering her mind, willing her to remain motionless and docile. Fortunately, through her other senses she could feel and hear everything around her, more than enough of her facilities to decipher what was going on around her.

Seras realized she was being carried, but by whom and to where she could only guess. Strangely, the presence around her was comforting, bringing a relaxed wave of emotion into her mind and body. The person holding her slowed and suddenly stopped, while a heavy yet familiar smell assaulted her nose. Then a low growl echoed through her, almost animalistic in its anger.

Seras' body shuddered involuntarily, disturbing the creature around her. Whoever held her nuzzled her neck, as if to sooth her discomfort. Then she felt them moving again and she was gently placed on a soft surface. Following her placement, the mysterious person strode away. The sounds of tearing and ripping around where she lay suddenly reached her ears, confusing her thoughts. At length, the noises stopped and she could sense the creature draw toward her, leaning over her helpless form.

Then there came the sensation of cold breath on her neck, and a sudden puncture into her skin. Her body would have instinctively jerked away had she been able, but there was now some sort of heated weight upon her chest. The pressing became almost unbearable, and she began to struggle under the suffocating object, the need to survive instructing her actions. With her mind buzzing with strangled thoughts and her breathing stinted, she fell into true unconsciousness.

Seras suddenly heard someone call her name, someone familiar and yet not. She struggled to wake herself, knowing she would need to rise. The events of the night before flashed through her mind. Perhaps her guest was trying to release her from her swoon...

"Alucard" Seras murmured, her eyes fluttering open. What met her vision was not the sight she expected. The young woman looked around herself and was surprised to see several faces staring at her own, each holding a different emotion.

Integra and Walter stood to the side of the bed, with Mr. Morley at the foot. The young doctor was looking at her with a strange expression, magnified by the wide glasses on her face. Walter's face was more readable, holding a look of concern mingled with horror. Mr. Morley stepped toward her, his eyes and frown showing the pity and worry.

"Miss Victoria, how are you feeling?" he asked kindly, his voice slightly strained.

Seras gave him as wide a smile as she could manage, an action meant to be comforting. However, the reaction she received from other two occupants of the room was not what she had anticipated.

Integra drew in a breath, a hiss passing through her lips. Walter's eyes widened in an indiscernible emotion, quickly covering her view of Mr. Morley and settling the covers up to well past her chin. Seras shrank back from the sudden attention, her eyes wide with confusion. She had no idea a simple gesture as smiling would bring about such an effect on the two, and only wished they would retreat from her. But the next words spoken were able to startle those thoughts from her mind.

"What name did you speak?" Integra asked, her face coming to the forefront of the bedridden woman's vision. The young doctor's voice betrayed an eagerness Seras had never known the woman to use, and such an expression directed toward her caused unease within the young heiress' being.

Seras wracked her mind for what she had spoken since she awoke, and could only recall saying the name of her late night visitor. But a voice inside her head was telling her not to speak of her personal business, to distrust the woman before her.

"No one's" she said, forcing a small laugh to pass her lips. Attempting to sit up and relieve herself of the suffocating blanket, she was surprised to find no one stopping her rise. Allowing her eyes to adjust to the shadows in her room, the young heiress gasped in horror.

The sight before her eyes was startling, and had she been of the fainting type now would have been an opportune time to do so. The heavy wooden curtain rods had nearly been torn from the walls, the garlic cloves and crucifixes now lying in a heap on the floor. The strings around her bed were laying across the other end of the room, having apparently been flung there. Many of the boards along the walls had been slashed and ripped from their places, leaning askew next to one another.

Seras turned her horror filled eyes on the other occupants of the room, their own averting hers. She looked into each of their faces, searching for answers to why her room was now in complete destruction. The young woman could not comprehend how such a disaster could have befallen, and her company was not forthcoming on explanations.

"What happened?" she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

"An intruder apparently entered your room, Miss Victoria" Walter spoke, following a tense moment of silence. "We must be thankful you were not harmed."

"Was anything taken?" Seras asked, looking at the disordered remains of her sleeping chambers. She could see nothing missing, though the total chaos did little to help her searching eyes.

"We have yet to find an object missing. Apparently, the intruder wished only to destroy, rather than plunder" Mr. Morley answered. "Perhaps an inmate has escaped from the local sanitarium, and saw fit to cause mischief."

"Why was I not told of such a place earlier?" Seras asked, a slight tinge of anger in her voice. She had supposed the moors to be a dangerous place, but to have a sanitarium along its banks? The young woman would have never taken the late night strolls if she had been aware of such a blatant threat to her life.

"We did not wish to worry you" Mr. Morley said, having hesitated for a moment. He was obviously unsure of how to answer her question, possibly the overlook of information being a fault of his own.

Seras sighed, feeling exhaustion come over her small frame. She vaguely noticed more of her strength had ebbed away during the night, Shaking off a small portion of the drowsiness, she smiled at her visitors.

"I am sorry to be such a bother to you all" Seras said, giving each of them a grateful smile. "You needn't worry too much, I am feeling quite well." She didn't know why she lied to them, but believed she was becoming a nuisance to her kindly acquaintances. The young woman only hoped her ragged appearance would go unnoticed by the three, but her hopes were soon dashed.

"Walter, Mr. Morley, would you both leave for a moment?" Integra suddenly spoke, looking at the young heiress out of the corner of her eyes. "I will assist Miss Victoria with her toiletries and then I would like us to meet in the study."

The two men nodded obediently and bowed before the women, then took their leave of the bedroom. The moment the men left, Integra turned her attention back to the young woman lying on the bed.

"What name did you speak?" she asked once more, turning to Seras. Though her tone was controlled, the young heiress hesitated to answer. Integra sighed and continued, her voice low and her words slowly leaving her mouth as if she were speaking to a child. "I and my compatriots are merely trying to assist with your illness, but you are making the procedure very difficult."

"But why do you ask such strange questions?" Seras asked confusedly. She was slightly angered by the treatment, but kept her ire in check until she could appease her curiosity. "How does my sudden fatigue relate to a simple name?"

Integra stared hard at Seras for a long moment, then narrowed her eyes. "I believe the sudden sickness in the village, and your own, are being spread by one person. This...person, is quite ill and merely infecting others with what he carries."

"So you believe the carrier to be a man?" Seras guessed, watching as Integra flinched. Apparently the woman doctor had unintentionally let slip that bit of information.

"Yes, I do" Integra admitted, her eyes turning to the young heiress'. "And I need your cooperation to find the gentleman before he kills someone."

Seras opened her mouth to speak, with every intent on complying with the simple request, but her voice refused to come. She felt a tugging at her mind, the feelings akin to those of betrayal or protectiveness. The feelings confused her, and somewhere deep inside she was frightened by her insecure emotions. The young woman slowly closed her mouth, slowly lowering and shaking her head.

"I see" Integra said softly. Strangely, her tone did not hold anger as Seras had expected. Rather, she thought for a fleeting moment there was worry within their depths. "Do you wish for assistance in changing your nightgown?"

"I would much prefer a dress" Seras said with a forced smile. "I do have responsibilities to attend to for the estate." She managed to rise to a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the bed before she was suddenly stopped.

"As your doctor I must refrain you from moving" Integra said, holding her shoulders. "You are ill, regardless with how you wish to move about. A few days' rest may bring your health to a satisfactory level to stroll about, but not until then."

Seras sighed and nodded her head, then pointed to one of the drawers in the dresser. "I have more clothes in there." Integra released her grip and walked over to the furniture, pulling forth a suitable gown to be used. After the dressing had been done and the ill woman was once more laying under the heavy sheets, the doctor left the room to join the others downstairs.

Seras rested under the down comforters, feeling herself drift off to sleep. After what felt like only a few moments, she was awakened by the door to her room opening, followed by the vibrant form of the elderly retainer. She wondered if the meeting below had adjourned so quickly, when her eyes caught the light drifting through the heavily curtained windows. The sun was setting, casting the room in shades of dark and gray. With eyes widening in surprise, she noticed her bedroom had been fixed anew, though none of the strange medications had been replaced along the windows nor bed. How had she slept through such arrangements?

"I am to watch you this night, Miss Victoria" Walter said. He placed the hall's chair back inside the room against a far wall, while Seras watched curiously. Seeing the expression on the young woman as he lit several candles around the room, he chuckled. "Miss Integra fears your illness will worsen during the night, and wishes for someone to be here if a fit were to occur."

Seras smiled at his kind actions, though she would rather have told him to not bother with her. But resigned to her fate, she grabbed a book from beside her bed and opened to the page she had been reading the previous evening. Walter settled himself on the chair, watching her with affection. Occasionally his eyes would roam the room, hesitating for a moment whenever they settled on the windows.

Seras watched his odd behavior for the most part of an hour, her curiosity growing with each tick of the clock in the hall. She began to surmise his late hour care giving was more than for her own well-being, and that perhaps he had an ulterior motive for sitting up in her room. Then her memory suddenly recalled the intrusion of the evening, and her suspicions were abated; but only for a moment.

A sudden scratching against the window brought Seras' attention toward the heavy curtains. She peered out from her position on the bed, trying to discern what was the cause of such a noise. Then Walter was up in a quick movement, blocking her view of the glass panes. He pulled back the curtains and looked out the window, his face paled and his fists clenched against the glass.

"What is it?" Seras asked, trying to rise from her bed to gain a better view.

"Nothing, nothing at all" the kindly retainer replied, hurrying back to the bed. He gently pushed her back down into the bed, looking over his shoulder with worry etched in his face. Walter rested once more in his chair, though his eyes now remained steadfast on the windows.

Seras narrowed her eyes, her suspicions once more inflamed by his odd behavior. She looked between the windows and Walter in a failed attempt at piecing together what had just conspired. Shaking her head and again opening her book, she decided to dwell in the story rather than her own tale.

Seras had no idea when she had dozed off, only that she was suddenly awake and had no idea why. She looked over to Walter, whose chin was now leaning against his chest, and concluded he was not the source of her startled sleep.

Seras...

Seras' eyes widened at the call of her name. She slowly sat up, her head turning this way and that around the room. The only person visible was Walter, his head still slumped in sleep and a soft sound of snoring escaping his person. The young woman stifled a giggle before she suddenly remembered how she had awoken. Swinging her head toward the windows, her eyes caught sight of a figure beyond the curtains. Her breath became strangled in her lungs as fear tried to overtake her senses, telling her to flee away. She only grew more frightened, as her bedroom was located on the second floor and she could not recall a balcony out her window.

How, then, was this figure standing outside her window?

Looking toward the door as a means of escape, Seras suddenly caught sight of a reason to remain. She steeled herself and set her mouth in a grim line. She couldn't leave Walter here in his state and, judging by the sounds from his form, she doubted he would awaken by her force.

Sliding her legs over the bed, she stood on shaky legs and glared at the shadowed figure behind the curtains.

"What do you want here?" she asked angrily. Her eyes widened a bit as she heard a slow rumble come from the shade, a sound almost akin to laughter. "Leave this place! You have no business intruding upon others' homes and have no right to scare me!" Her strength nearly fled as she distinctly felt the displeasure radiating off the stranger. She took a step back but held her expression.

"I said leave! I do not wish you here!"

Suddenly the creature roared, flinging itself away from her sight down below the windows' bordering. Seras felt her legs collapse underneath her, as she saw movement from Walter out of the corner of her eye.

"Miss Victoria! What has happened!" he asked, his voice urgent and filled with worry. The retainer caught Seras before she fell against the hard floor, looking into her ashen face. Lifting her body with more strength than she supposed a man his age held, she was gratefully placed back upon the bed.

"Someone was outside the window"she whispered, turning her horror filled face to Walter. "What was it?" Her voice cracked at the last word before she fell into his arms, letting the strain of the confrontation wash out with her tears.

"Oh dear" she heard him mutter, as he placed a comforting arm around her, his eyes slowly turning toward the window.