Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be.

Author's notes: Now that the year end madness is over I can get back to this. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Chapter 13

Integra scanned the reports that had come in over the past week. Despite some suspicious activity here and there, there was still no concrete sign of their wayward vampire. She made notes to have the other incidents investigated and then sat with her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.

The incidents of people going missing were on the rise, but those were the hardest to track.

* How does one tell the difference between someone being eaten by a vampire or just walking out on their dead end job or rubbish life? * she mused.

She glanced at the night sky and gave a thought as to what her resident vampires were up to and then decided that she'd rather not know. She shook her at her thoughts and carried on plowing through the never-ending piles of paperwork

Meanwhile on the Hellsing grounds:

Seras walked alongside her master, her full strength allowing her to keep up without the annoying trotting pace that she usually had to effect. He was silent but she could feel him through their bond, and she knew that he was well pleased with her performance in the training facility.

They reached a small clearing and she cleared her throat, not sure how to ask what was on her mind.

"Yes police girl?" he sounded amused.

"When I drank from Mr Wiggins, I started to know things about him. Memories and such, why is that?"

"When drinking from a living being, we vampires absorb knowledge along with the blood. Its part of the same power that allows us to form mental bonds with others."

"So why don't we get knowledge from the blood packs?"

"Because the blood must be living, or just a moment after death. Anything longer than that and the knowledge dissipates along with the energy of life."

They kept walking and she fell into silence as she processed this information.

When they reached the top of a small hill, he stopped and turned to her and said:

"Ready to try something new?"

"Okay."

"Run."

For moment she stared at him, and then asked:

"What, just run?"

"Yes. Run, as fast and as far as you can."

"Okay..." she said dubiously, not understanding how this could be new, but willing to obey her master.

She set off at her fastest sprint and soon realised that the motion was effortless. She ran faster and faster and soon the landscape was nothing more than a blur around her. Coming to a stop, she looked behind her and with a shock, saw that she had run for miles in mere seconds. Even though it was dark, she could clearly see the hill that she had been standing on with her master, but she couldn't see him now.

A prickle on the back of her neck alerted her to his sudden appearance behind her and she dodged to one side as she detected him swinging a fist her way.

"Very good police girl!" he said, his voice coloured with eagerness. "Let's see how well you can defend yourself."

He launched at her with a series of punches and she managed to either doge or block all but the last one. His fist landed solidly in her midsection but it didn't leave her in a crumpled gasping pile on the floor like it usually did. This time the blow only staggered her slightly, and she recovered in time to start swinging with a few punches on her own. He dodged easily enough but even she could tell that her performance was faster than it had ever been. She began to enjoy herself as they sparred.

Back and forth they attacked and defended, delivering punches and kicks with inhuman speed and strength. Eventually Seras managed to land a good solid punch to her master's jaw, sending his hat sailing into the night sky. She held felt the skin of his lip split against the sharp fangs and for a moment, hesitated in the mistaken belief that she had hurt him.

Alucard licked at the small wound, tasted his own blood and grinned, turning into a truly terrifying sight of gleaming white fangs and lambent eyes. He was about to teach his little fledgling a most important lesson indeed.

Seras stepped back from him when she saw that she had actually injured her master and was about to lower her fists and apologise, when she took another look at his face. It a took a mere second to come to the sickening realisation that she was going to regret her hesitation, and then her self preservation took over and she ran away as fast as she could.

Which of course wasn't nearly fast enough.

As she sped over the dark grass, she dared a look behind her to see if he was gaining and so failed to see him come up alongside her. A long arm shot out and pushed her off balance, sending her stumbling to the ground. Lying in tangle of limbs, she looked up as Alucard loomed over her, his face in shadow and his glasses gleaming in the dim glow of the stars.

"He who hesitates is lost." he intoned darkly, reaching for her.

She scrambled to her feet and tried to assume a combat ready stance but he was just too fast. Brushing away her futile blows, he seized both her wrists in his large hands, twisted them up and outwards and stamped on her left ankle. It snapped with a dry crunch and she was screamed as waves of pain washed over her. He had injured her before during training, dislocating a shoulder and breaking a finger, but he had never hurt her this badly. In a grey haze, she was dimly aware that he had dropped her and was talking to her. Seras forced herself to ignore the fire from her ankle and listen to what he was saying.

"Never hesitate when you've struck a blow. That's when you press the advantage and keep hitting until the fight is over." he shouted at her.

"Y..yes Master." she half gasped, half sobbed.

He knelt down on one knee next to her and reached inside his coat. She flinched momentarily and then was embarrassed as he handed her a fresh blood pack.

"Drink and you'll see the wonders of your nature."

She took the proffered pack and downed the contents without tasting. As she drank she became aware that the pain in her ankle had diminished and that she was able to move the foot slightly. She finished her drink and then, not wanting to litter, slipped the empty bag into her pocket. She looked up to see her master holding out his hand.

"Come, stand up."

"I don't know..." she started to say but his impatient snarl had her hurriedly trying to gain her feet, using his outstretched hand as a support point.

It wasn't as hard as she thought it was going to be, and then she was standing with very little pain at all. Gingerly bending the foot, she could feel that the break had already knitted itself together. She looked up at Alucard with wonder on her face.

"Told you." he smirked.

"I never thought..." she trailed off as the full implications of what had just happened dawned on her.

Her bones had knitted in mere minutes, she could run faster than a car and she was stronger than any person she had ever known. She was truly no longer human, and she was beginning to like it.

For the first time since that fateful night in Cheddar village, she was grateful that she had decided to go with Alucard. She looked at her master with adoration in her eyes and could find no words to express herself – but she didn't need to.

He could feel the emotions welling up inside her, all the wonder, relief and gratitude. He opened himself a little to allow her to feel his pride and satisfaction with her progress. He captured her gaze and for a moment they stood there on a grassy hill, in the black of a moonless night, looking at each other. Seras felt like she was drowning in those crystalline red eyes and she knew that no matter how long she lived, she would never forget this night, the moment when she knew that she was what she was meant to be.

A faint grey smudge on the eastern horizon signaled the coming dawn and Alucard realised that they had been out a lot longer than he had intended. He broke his gaze and said to his awestruck fledgling:

"Dawn is on its way, we'd better be getting back."

"Oh." she said, startled. "Of course Master."

She was about to ask if there was enough time to run back when a pool of shadows bloomed in front of her. Alucard held out his hand to her and said:

"I thought we'd take a shortcut, but it'll be easier if I carry you."

"O...kay." she said slowly, not sure where this was coming from, but she stepped into his space and allowed him to pick her up. She looked up to see him grinning down at her.

"This is the part where you close your eyes."

She blushed as she remembered the last time he had said that to her, but this time she trustingly closed her eyes and felt him take a few steps in the direction of where she assumed the shadows were.

There was a brief moment of icy cold and strange sounds and then she was being lowered to the ground, and so she opened her eyes to see that they were standing outside of her door.

She was about to speak when Alucard turned to walk away, casting a low:

"Good night Seras." over his shoulder as he went.

"Good night Master." she said, watching him go.

Then she let herself into her room, and headed straight to the shower. It wasn't long before she was warmly tucked up in her sealed bed, and for the first time, it felt like home.

Alucard spent a while in his chair, thinking about the events of the past night. He was pleased that Integra's plan had succeeded where his had failed.

"Trust my master to make it right." he smirked as he readied himself for sleep.

He had thrown his coat over his chair when he realised that his hat was still lying in the grass out on the castle grounds. With a muttered grumble, he cast a pool of shadows and the hat tumbled from the ceiling to fall at his feet. He picked it up and hung it on one of the chairs posts and then climbed into his coffin. Closing the lid, he allowed himself to sink into the darkness and rest.

Integra paused for a moment at her desk, and then breathed a small sigh of contentment as she felt her servant return to the castle. Now she could go and seek her bed as well.