Disclaimer: Why would I be on FF if I owned Hellsing? I'd be somewhere in Japan, enjoying the riches... Too bad I'm poor.

Chapter VIII

The mission was over and Seras released a huge sigh of relief and fatigue. Slinging her Harkonnen over her shoulder, Seras prepared to sink through the floor so that she could meet Pip and the rest of the squad outside. She closed her eyes, concentrating on slipping down, but a scream gurgled in her throat as she felt a hand clap over her mouth and an arm trap her where she stood. Her Harkonnen dropped and clanged down the stairs. From outside, Seras could hear Pip shouting to get some men back inside to look for her.

The next moments passed in a daze as Seras lost sense of her surroundings. She felt numb, colder than she ever had before. She could only hear her captor's movements as each step echoed inside the castle. Wait... castle?

This couldn't be...no way...it was. Seras was inside the home Alucard had grown up in. Which meant, her captor was Alucard's brother. Ciprian moved around the castle with familiarity, sinking through walls and floating up through floors, moving up until they reached agrand living area.

Time had stood still in that room. The shattered stain-glass windows were in shambles, its pieces lying where they had fallen centuries ago. Cushioned seats still overturned. Draperies creased in the same places. Blood still dark on the rugs.

A lone fireplace poker was immersed in a rather large pile of dust near a fallen sword. Seras could only imagine the worst. She let her sight stray and espied large portraits set in gold frame above the mantelpiece. They were paintings of the royal family pictured separately and together in one frame. First was the King, followed by the prince, the family portrait, a second prince, and finally the Queen. She immediately recognized the older prince to be Alucard, for even as a human, he had the smirk painted onto his face, while the rest of the family appeared solemn and conserved. Her thoughts went back to the two princes. For all their expectancy of the throne, they could never have imagined, in all their wildest musings, what their fate would be. They started out as royalty and now look what they were- sold to the Devil.

Abruptly, Ciprian released Seras and her rear end hit the soft rug. He then pushed her down so that she was lying beside him, hardly leaving any space between them. Seras tried inching away, but the former prince draped an arm around her. Many moments later, he spoke in the same silky voice she had always associated with Alucard.

"You have something that I want."

Alucard never, in a million years, saw himself working side by side with Pip Bernadette. Yet here he was, explaining everything to him and asking him for help, even though it was so very painful to do so. All to save a certain girl he loved. Love really sucked.

"... So basically, I need you to help me fill these bullets with silver nitrate. Because Ciprian is part werewolf, the only way to kill him is to pump him full of silver."

"Don't your care zat he is your bruzzer?" The Frenchman was very curious as to why Alucard didn't even hesitate to say that he would kill his brother.

Alucard continued filling bullets and with lifting his head or pausing he said simply, "No."

Pip resumed his work and wondered aloud, "Who thought of using silver nitrate as a weapon?"

"No one thought of it. It was an accident. Lycans and vampires have a long history together. Vampires never went anywhere without carrying a blade, some which were made of pure silver. In a brawl, some vampire gashed a lycan. The incision became infected and less than an hour later, the lycan was found dead with silver oozing at his wound."

"I get ze part about ze silver, but what does nitrate have to do wiz it?"

"Back when I was young, yes I was young once, silver nitrate was used as a medicine, but it was later considered poison. Vampires of covenants tested liquid silver, trying to find a way to immediately kill the targets. So obviously, nitrogen and oxygen mixed with the silver, turning it into a nitrate. Since the silver nitrate was deadly to humans, it was thought that the effects should be near the same because lycans are closer to humans than vampires. Silver does not affect vampires, no matter what you may have read."

"There's ze last of the bullet cartridges. Do want me to put a team togetzer?"

"Yes, but a reasonable size. The less people to mess up, the better."

"Well then, let'z go."

Seras struggled to push away the weight on top of her. Ciprian had gone a few minutes into his speech and when Seras thought he had told her the important things, she had immediately kicked him in the gut. She attempted to sink through the floor, but found that Ciprian pulled her right out when she was halfway through.

The bastard! He had been purring to her a minute ago about depleting her of her powers and now he was on top of her! Who would have thought someone so lean would be so heavy? Seras thought she would pass out and she finally did under Ciprian's spellbinding.

His face cracked into a grin. A grin Alucard would have been proud of. "Dear girl, you look so lovely when you are asleep."

All he had to do now was sit back until the show started.

Thanks to Alucard's teleportation, a van full of the most practiced soldiers employed at Hellsing were in Romania in no time. Appearing a good distance away from the now decrepit castle, Alucard whispered the silent order to mobilize.

As the team continued to creep closer and take posts, Alucard went on inside, via teleportation, to search out Seras's presence. Finding it, he jumped through ceiling after ceiling until he reached the room he had feared to tread in the last five centuries.

A figure was standing, staring into the fire. Black, unruly hair, tall and lean frame, heavy aura. Unmistakably Ciprian.

Slowly Alucard's brother about-faced. Grinning yet again, he drawled, "Hello, Adrian. I've been expecting you."

Well this was the long-awaited chapter 8. too bad it's a disappointment...

anyway, please give me your opinion and I'll be glad to satisfy my readers...