A.N: Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I realise that this chapter is a bit... blah. I got writers block. Forgive me?

Meanwhile, at the Hellsing Estate…

Alucard was still highly agitated, and bored – never a good combination even under the best of circumstances. He acknowledged that his usual harassment of Integral was more because she never bored him with her pride and arrogance which was, at times, on par with his own. Seras did not understand the allure that Integral – coldhearted yet exceedingly fragile, human, female – held for her Master, a vampire who, should he choose to indulge in carnal desires, could easily have any woman in existence. Seras did not understand that no one else was such a dynamic mix of pure light and potential darkness as his Master, and he took extreme pleasure in baiting her whenever he could.

Seras also did not understand that their little games of cat-and-mouse served to keep his Master on her toes, her senses sharp and her instincts keen, so that she could not easily be taken advantage of in other aspects of her life.

However this evening could not truthfully be called his usual bout of taunting. Something about the situation had set him off. He was a creature of instincts,and it was those same instincts that had kept him alive – as well as those under his care – for as long as he could remember. It was the unnatural addition of the seals that made himignore those instincts in leu of succumbing to the whims of whichever Master he served this lifetime, but by god even the seals could not contain his full fury if something ever happened to Integra.

Well at least,he mused,something that Idon't WANT to happen to her.

He still could not figure which he would relish more… her surrender to his offers of carnal pleasures and therefore the assurance of her eventual death, or her succumbing to his offers of Immortality, and rising like a Phoenix from the ashes into the Unlife. Either one would result in one hell of an experience. He had resigned himself long ago – happily, to be sure – that whichever was to be the eventuality, he would never have the pleasure of hearing her call HIM Master. She was Servant to no one, save her Queen and her Country… but... even those precepts had been severely shaken over the course of the past few months.

If she were not so, if her will were not so indominable, if she were not so strong in her beliefs and convictions, then he could not care as deeply for her as he did.

But these were dangerous thoughts, thoughts that led down paths that he could not afford to tread. At least not if he wanted to remain out in the world and not chained in that cold bare basement cell once more. If she had even an inkling of what his true instincts were towards her then he had no doubt that 'back in his cell' would be the least interesting method of torture and confinement… she could be damned creative where making his life miserable was concerned.

So. To take his overactive mind from the damnedable Integra and her all-too-eager hired date, he had spent the pasthour mundanely cleaned his guns - twice - and the previous two hours engaged in a bit of target practice with the estate patrol. Unfortunately for him they were getting too used to his idea of target practice, and were getting quicker on their feet, as well as had taken to wearing heavier ballistic armor. He was really trying to be 'good' this time and follow her orders...though he would almost be willing to risk her irein order towatch her put that young Lordling in his place. He almost felt sorry for the boy when he thought of the surprise that awaited him and his advances. Alucard knew she was only packing a .22 but she was a dead shot... and male anatomy was very delicate.

Integral had not felt herself since the first round of dancing, and was rather perturbed that the feeling only persisted in worsening over the past several hours. She was a bit dizzy and too relaxed; her usual rapier wit was almost sluggish and her thinking a bit too hazy for her liking. She had no problems with polite conversation however verbal sparring was out of the question. She attributed her pseudo-inebriated state to the three glasses of champagne which Nathaniel had coaxed into her against her better judgment – she knew what alcohol did to her and the last thing that she needed was to get drunk at the first party the Queen had seen fit to invite her to since her release from the Tower. She could not afford for any of these overstuffed popinjay's to see her as less than totally in control of herself, or, like a pack of wild dogs with a wounded member, they would tear her apart.

Therefore she had eyed the fourth flute and the golden, bubbly substance therein with something akin to contempt. Instead she had given in to Nathaniel's insistence for another round of dancing.

They were in the middle of a waltz when the vertigo struck her. She tightened her grip on Nathaniel as her feet suddenly forgot which direction was down. Without missing a beat he locked his arms to keep her from tripping over the intricate steps of the dance, and discreetly inquired if she needed to step outside. She shook her head no and called her senses strictly to order, but nearly lost her footing again as another disconcerting wave if dizziness hit her. He compensated by pretending to draw her closer to him for an intimate moment on the dance floor while secretly using the stance to keep her from falling. She nodded to him wordlessly then and he led her to the back veranda that overlooked the gardens.

"Better?" he asked quietly as he helped her to the railing, concern written on his handsome face. Integral tightly gripped the wrought iron with strangely numb gloved fingers and took a deep pull of the chill night air. Her body felt as if it were containing a small inferno and her muscles could not decide whether they were rubber or jell-o. She nodded quickly to his inquiry even though it was not entirely true, and the world swam before. Her and her back and shoulder muscles threatened to follow her fingers in their rebellious decision to go numb. Something was wrong, but her groggy mind could not quite figure out what that might be. Nathaniel waved off a concerned Page who had followed them out to the balcony, drawing close to Integra in order to shield her condition from prying eyes. His lips near her ear spoke softly, yet persuadingly insistent. "Perhaps a short stroll through the gardens? It's cooler and quieter there."

His smooth suggestion seemed not entirely unappealing to Integral's fuzzy mind. He had been the perfect companion all evening, assuring that his banter was a mixture of good natured teasing and light charm and therefore she saw no danger in a stroll with him. She did not quite recall having agreed to the suggestion when she felt his white-gloved hand taking her elbow gently and guiding them down the outside steps from the balcony to the garden. She leaned on him heavily, trying to maintain her footing as well as her dignity as they began to snake through one of the many garden paths.

The Page allowed a soft smirk to flit across his lips - the Ice Princess had gotten herself drunk and was now headed into the gardens with the Queen's rogue of a cousin... oh what gossip THAT would be.

Alucard raised his chin from his chest where it had been resting as he tried to convince himself to doze, and allowed a small frown to pass his features.

Something was wrong.

Through the empathetic bond fostered in over a decade of servitude to Integral, the monster felt a stab of panic. By now he was used to feeling the emotions that his Master's carefully schooled countenance refused to show, however when that panic was followed quickly by a blanket of nothingness, no emotion at all, Alucard became interested.

It was almost as if Integral's emotions had ceased to exist.

He grunted and rose with a flourish, calling his guns to him from their resting place on the table. He tried to home in on Integral's unique thought pattern, to see if he could interpret what was going on in her locale, but he could not sense her at all.

Her imperative for him to stay away from her this evening suddenly warred violently with his instincts. He knew that, even though she often refused to show them, she did in fact FEEL the full gambit of regular human emotions, and at times they were even deliciously heightened. Even in her sleep her thoughts called involuntarily out to him. For her to turn them off completely was impossible no matter how much she would wish otherwise.

However. If he was incorrect about the situation… then this would be it for him. She would accept no excuse or apology, and would in fact fill him so full of silver that his body could be used to press coins and would not care if it were in the middle of the Gala or not. He knew what lines he could and could not safely cross, and earlier this evening he had almost crossed them all. He had no doubt that she would carry out her earlier threat, and more. She would put him back in that detestable little room just as she had found him and draw the dark magical symbols to keep him there with her own blood if she had to.

He paced dangerously back and forth in his room, his indecision mounting. If she needs me, she will call for me, he rationalized to himself. His instincts had been wrong in the past, after all.

Not often, Vlad, came that annoyingly mocking little voice in the back of his head, the voice of reason that sometimes decided to rear its ugly logic at the most inopportune moments. And she will call for you only as a last resort, and only if she CAN.

He growled, and transported himself to the location of the Queens Ball. Her young Lordling would shortly have Hell to pay.

you guessed it... to be continued...