Authors note: Matsuko, and as my way of thanking you for the idea, this chapter is for you! Stick with me guys, it's gonna be a long ride.

Seras slashed her way through the crowd of ghouls that threatened to engulf her. Alucard could not be seen through the thick crowd, but the sound of the Jackal being fired let her know he was nearby. As she fought madly to reach the room where the head vampire was said to be, the ghouls suddenly ceased their wild movements. Standing atop a platform of crates was the . . . wait a moment. . . . Standing atop the platform were four vampires. Four. And not a one of them even remotely resembled the vampire from the photo. They all seemed overconfident. But the strange thing was, they were all extremely young. The vampire from the photo was at least a couple hundred years old! Seras knew something was wrong. One of the vampires, a male of maybe seventeen years stared down at Seras.

"Look who we've caught. Little Miss Bitch, the one working for Hellsing! And her master too," the vampire announced.

It was as though he expected them to be afraid. Seras felt her master's mad grin widening as he heard that thought. It seemed that he had a fair idea of what was really going on here. Suddenly, unexpectedly, he stood before the four vampires, towering over them.

"You're just a worthless pawn. Did you really believe you'd escape this place alive after this? Wasting so many lives! You're a disgrace!" Alucard spat in disgusted mockery of the fake vampire before him.

"Wh-wh-he-hey man! Chill, I was just, I mean, we were-," the boy stammered in sudden fear.

Whimpering, the boy shrank away from the terrifying figure before him. Looming over them, was a true vampire, dark, and tall, and impossibly powerful. Alucard killed them, one, two, three, four shots. The ghouls, however, failed to disappear. But they were useless, mindless, motionless targets waiting to be destroyed. Alucard held out his hand for Seras. She took it and was pulled up to the platform, held around the waist with one arm as Alucard held the Jackal with the other.

"Want to play, Seras?" he asked her, a maniacal grin displaying elegantly pointed fangs.

"Sure,"Seras smiled in return.

He stood behind her, and helped her hold the Jackal, his hands over hers. They shot down every last ghoul (at this point there were only thirty or so left). He kissed her before releasing her.

"I'm gonna go see about the prisoners," she told him.

He nodded and jumped down from the platform, waiting. She ran up the metal staircase to the room the prisoners were supposed to be held in. As she opened the door, she was shocked to see that all of the prisoners were alive and well.

"I wasn't about to let the filth kill all of them off, you know," a male voice said from beside the open door in the darkness of the room.

"You're . . . the vampire from the photo . . . the one who was supposed to be responsible for all of this," Seras noted mildly.

Since becoming a member of the Hellsing organization, she had learned not to assume things. Which explained why she felt no terror now, and little surprise. He grinned.

"Yes, but you know how often people are mistaken. No, I am not the one who did all that. I don't believe in wasting lives," the vampire replied, gesturing toward the outside of the small office, "Usually."

One of the humans stood from where he'd lain in a forced asleep prior to this moment.

"Is it safe to go home now?" the man asked.

"Yes," Seras replied.

The man smiled cheerfully as the others stood and they left the room.

When they were alone, Seras asked, "Then why were you here?"

"Someone had to keep an eye on that lot. Otherwise, there' d have been no survivors. And anyway, I'm not about to let freaks like those destroy everything that true vampires have struggled for. Secrecy. Solitude. Everything that your Hellsing organization needs to operate effectively. If we lost that, we as well as Hellsing would be exposed," the vampire replied.

"And you didn't feed off any one of the humans?"

"No. It is not necessary for a true vampire to feed every single night, but in any case, I had already taken my blood before coming here."

Chills ran up Seras' spine as she realized what exactly it meant for a free vampire to take their blood. But she recovered from the minor shock quickly, knowing that now was not the time for dwelling on it and in any case, she could not judge him. Seras took a moment before speaking to look him over. He had short, spiked, white-silver hair, vivid red eyes, and pale skin. He was tall, and obviously well built. He wore a a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans. His right ear was pierced seven times, and his voice was rich with an unfamiliar accent. She admitted he was in no way bad looking. Seras liked him immediately, though she was unsure why.

"Are we going to stay here all night, or shall we go downstairs and get out of here?" Seras asked.

"Let's go."

Alucard looked up to see Seras being followed by the very vampire that they were supposed to destroy.

"Master . . . I assume you know the hostages escaped unharmed. This is the man responsible for their survival," Seras informed him.

"Vlad . . . it has truly been a long time," the vampire grinned.

"Ah, yes, I should have known. You never could keep yourself out of trouble, Malakai. Well, seeing as our mission has been completed, we should be going. My master will want to meet you," Alucard said, "And it's Alucard, now."

Seras stared at Alucard, mouth slightly agape. They knew each other? This was too much to be believed.

"Come, Seras, we need to be going," her master's voice said into her head, filled with undisguised amusement.

Seras phased to the Hellsing house, outside of Sir Integra's office. Alucard and the vampire Malakai were waiting for her.

"Are you all right?" Malakai asked her with concern.

"Y-yes," Seras lied.

The three of them strode into Sir Integra's office, standing in front of her desk. Integra stared at Malakai questioningly.

"Master, this is a dear friend of mine," Alucard told her off-handedly, "We have not seen each other since I was bound to your family. His name is Malakai."

"I see...Since you brought him here, I assume that he was not the one responsible for the ghouls?" Sir Integral said coolly.

"Correct. Actually, he saved the lives of all of the prisoners by keeping them in the office and protecting them from the real culprits," Seras replied.

"That explains much. Well, Malakai, you have our thanks," Integra told him.

"No thanks are needed or wanted. I did what was necessary to protect the species. If you die, so do we. At any rate, I found it intensely amusing to watch Alucard and Seras killing off those freaks. It was . . . interesting. Trust me when I say this; the world's true undead are also fighting to rid the world of these freak-chipped vampires . . . we do not appreciate their existence any more than you do. They disgrace us," Malakai replied.

"I see. At any rate, it is now day and the sun is shining, so if you'd like, I could ask Walter to prepare a room for you."

"Yes, thank you."

Walter stepped into the room right then and said, "It is to my understanding that he will require a room?"

"That is correct, Walter," Sir Integral replied.

"Right this way then."

Malakai followed him out of the room. Alucard and Seras were left to give their report.

"Explain this situation to me," Integral ordered when Malakai was out of earshot.

"The real culprits were four freak-chipped vampires that apparently deceived our spies and led us to believe that Malakai was responsible. Malakai, in truth, was only present to protect the prisoners and keep the ghouls from spilling outside. He was there to ensure that no one found out about this, to keep it a secret. Upon finding the vampires responsible, Master Alucard disposed of them and then he and I eliminated the remaining ghouls. Afterward, I went up to the office to free the prisoners, and there he was, waiting. He gave me his reasons for being present and I judged them to be truthful. The prisoners escaped unharmed and we came back here. We decided you should deal with this yourself," Seras explained automatically.

Sir Integral thought a moment, absorbing and analyzing all of this before saying, "Very well, but he shall have to remain here for the time being. We need more information about the activities of the other true vampires who are involved in this," Sir Integral said, "Alucard, can you convince him to stay?"

"Of course."

"And also Seras, I would like you to accompany him. He is free to wander about as he chooses, and to continue his usual activities, within reason. You are to be his companion...Understood?" Integra said.

"Yes, Sir."

As Seras strode down the hall, she thought over the events of this night. As she laid down beside her master, she had come to the same conclusion as before. It was just another night in the Hellsing organization. But perhaps it wouldn't be so . . . boring.