I'm back! Sorry for the month long wait, but I had to work a bunch of overtime and then there was Christmas and New Year to get out of the way, and I have other writing projects that I have been working on (which include two other Hellsing fics if you're interested). But thank you so much for the awesome reviews and the huge spike in views and followers! It always helps let me know that people are interested in my work and inspires me to keep going.

Fun and Games

Seras sighed to herself as she pressed her face against the bars of the school gate. Had yesterday just been a dream? She had awoken to find herself alone in her room with Alucard nowhere in sight. She had waited and waited and waited, but the girl seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Just when Seras had felt like she had finally got somewhere with the dark haired girl. Maybe she had finally lost her mind. It wouldn't surprise her.

The bright sun glared down at her, causing the little girl to squint her blue eyes as the light reflected off the passing cars on the main road. She watched them all zoom by, wondering about the lives the occupants lived. Were they happy? She wished that she could just hop into one of those cars and allow the driver to take her wherever they wanted. But of course that was a bad idea. The nuns and her teachers always warned her to never go off with strangers.

She pulled herself away from the gate as she rubbed the still throbbing bruises on her arms, her red jumper adorned with the school logo hiding them from view despite the heat of the sun. Her red uniformed dress hung to her knees, the hem slightly torn from the fight she had gotten into a few minutes before. Just above her shin length white socks, a graze coated her knee that still oozed a small amount of blood. But Seras did her best to ignore the sting. If she went to the nurse's office, the nurse would want to know what had happened, and the last thing Seras wanted to do was grass. Then she would get it ten times worse than she already did.

Instead, all Seras could do was try and ignore the pain. The other girls were now far away from her on the other side of the playground, finally leaving her alone. But no doubt they would continue where they left off back in class. P.E was next, meaning the teacher would be too distracted to notice. Not that they did anything if they did notice anyway. It was at that moment that Seras realised that she had forgotten her kit. Great. That would be another detention. But she had been so distracted by thoughts of Alucard and her disappearance that morning.

Thump.

The next thing Seras knew, she was on the ground, her grazed knee stinging even more as loose stones embedded themselves into her skin. Her head throbbed from the impact, and it took her a few seconds to come out of her daze before she finally looked up to see a boy from her class picking up the football that had landed next to her. The boy merely smirked at her, not apologising as he took off again to play with his friends who were laughing at the incident.

That's it. Seras needed to get out of there.

It had been a while since she had played truant since Sour Face had beaten her pretty badly the last time she had done it, but Seras couldn't see herself sticking it out in this hellhole for the rest of the day. Would anyone even notice if she was missing anyway? She highly doubted it.

Seras quickly looked around to see if anyone was paying attention before she grabbed hold of the top of the black gate and hopped over, her feet landing on the old cobbled stone on the other side. Then, without looking back, she took off as far away from the old Victorian style building as quickly as possible. Immediately, freedom coursed through her, and she kept on running. A smile tugged on the corners of her lips as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Her recently healed scar on her stomach protested slightly, but she didn't care.

Approaching a housing estate, Seras revelled in the quiet atmosphere. Most people were either at work or in school. There was no one to bug her or stop her. Laughing, she pointed her fingers into the shape of two guns, shooting them at the two imaginary bad guys in front of her.

"You're not getting away that easily!" Seras called out, picking up her pace again, running into an empty park and making gunshot sounds.

This was the most carefree Seras had ever felt in a long time. She giggled as she launched herself onto the climbing frame, her hands gripping the rusted metal of the monkey bars, using them to swing herself onto the nearest platform. She immediately ducked behind the wall, crouching into a defensive position as she pretended to re-load her gun. This was just like the game she and her dad liked to play whenever he had taken her to the park. Cops and robbers had always been her favourite game and her dad had taught her so many cool little tricks.

The bad guys approached, and Seras glared straight forward with a fierce determination. She darted out of her hiding place, explosions and gunfire surrounding her as she heroically faced her foes. The bad guys continued to shoot at her, and Seras threw herself down the slide to duck out of their way. She cartwheeled her way to the roundabout before pushing it as fast as she could, jumping on board. The world around her blurred, her blonde hair whipping around her face as she got caught up in the high speed chase. She clung on for dear life, panting slightly as the bad guys continued to gain on her.

"It's time to give up, Officer Victoria!" one of the yelled to her.

"Oh yeah? That's what you think!" Seras grabbed hold of a grenade she always kept with her for moments such as this. She pulled out the pin with her teeth and tossed it towards the bad guys. It blew up as soon as it bounced itself off the ground in front of them, blowing them both to smithereens.

Seras gasped and flung herself off the roundabout, rolling against the tarmac as she pretended to be caught in the aftermath of the explosion. She giggled to herself as she brought herself to a stop, staring up at the sky. It was an infinite blue, but the heat of the afternoon had now slowly begun to fade away as the sun moved more towards the horizon. School would probably be finishing any time now, and she wondered how long it would take for the nuns – Sour Face especially – to notice that she hadn't returned home. She should probably start heading back to avoid any more trouble, but Seras just couldn't bring herself to move.

She wanted to stay here forever. She could live right here in this park. She could hunt and forage for her own food and sleep in the tunnel. She could be the park's very own police officer. She would stand guard over all of the other children and make sure than no grown-ups could ever hurt them. No grown-ups could be allowed inside in general! Seras didn't venture anywhere near the small playground that they had at the back of the orphanage after what she had seen last time. She didn't want the priests touching her like that like they did to some of the other children. No way.

Growing slightly bored just lying there, Seras sat up as she thought of something else that she could play. It was getting dark, and the lights of the houses from the estate were starting to glow in the distance. The sky was turning a brilliant orange, and the little girl sighed to herself as her stomach rumbled. An apple tree caught her attention, so Seras pushed herself back up and began heading towards it. It wasn't exactly the warm meal she was craving, but it would do.

Coming to a stop just beside the tree, Seras glanced up thoughtfully, wondering just how on earth she was going to get up there. The branches were pretty high, much higher than what they had looked from afar. Her first attempt involved jumping, but the fruit was still just out of reach. Scowling, Seras moved closer towards the trunk of the tree, trying to plan her route up. There were a few bulges within the trunk itself, and it looked like she could use them as a boost up.

Biting her lip in concentration, the small blonde began her climb and smiled as her latest plan appeared to be working. Some flakes of bark were knocked off as she climbed, but everything else remained perfectly steady. She finally reached the first branch, wobbling slightly as she hoisted herself up onto it before regaining her balance again. Seras was fairly sure that this branch could support her weight. Stomach once again growling impatiently, she crawled her over towards the thinner branches that dangled the tantalizing fruit in the air just in front of her. Her mouth was watering in anticipation. This alone was probably going to be much better than the dry meat and potato dishes she was used to at the orphanage.

Reaching the end of the thicker branch, Seras reached forward, the tips of her fingers just barely brushing the green apple before it was suddenly swiped away from her by a pale blur. Seras gasped and fell forward in shock. Losing her balance, time seemed to go in slow motion as the grassy ground grew closer and closer to her face. Her stomach lurched into her throat as she fell, and Seras squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her whole body stiffening as she prepared for impact.

But nothing happened.

Slowly opening one eye, her vision was filled with nothing but a crisp, clean white jacket. Opening her other eye, Seras looked up to see red eyes staring down at her with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. That familiar grin spread across her pale features just like she had remembered from last night. Her long dark hair formed a curtain around them, blocking out the last few stubborn rays of light from the setting sun.

"Alucard?" Seras gasped out slowly in shock. Her eyes travelled from her face to realise that the other girl was holding her with only one arm, cradling her against her while her other hand smugly held the apple that she had been previously trying to reach for.

"Police girl," she responded casually before her eyes began inspecting the apple. "What were you doing?"

Seras finally shook her head to snap herself out of her dazed state and glared up at her new friend. She shook herself out of Alucard's grasp, landing clumsily on the grass, staining her clothes green, but she didn't care.

"Where did you go? I was beginning to think I had imagined the whole thing!" The cross Seras folded her arms across her chest before she stood up with a huff and tried to snatch the apple out of Alucard's hand.

"Even vampires need sleep, Police Girl," Alucard chuckled, holding the apple just out of her reach. "Plus I had to leave to inform my master of the issues that have arisen in my mission."

"Issues? Master?" Seras was barely paying attention as she continued to try and jump up to reach her snack.

Alucard sighed in annoyance. "The fact that the worthless trash managed to sneak out without my notice and that I am now unable to track him down since my master believes he will return very soon."

Seras froze at this news and gulped. She hated Father White. And she hated him even more now that she knew he was a dangerous baddie that Alucard was after. Fear engulfing her, Seras gave up playing Alucard's teasing games and instead sat back down on the grass in defeat. She tugged at the hem of her dress nervously, desiring now more than ever to never go back to the orphanage. It was now starting to sound like she would simply be safer living on the streets. But could Seras really pull it off and manage to dodge all of the social workers for the next few years of her life? Seras couldn't wait until she turned sixteen. Then she would be free. Free to lead her own life and get as far away from everyone who hurt her as possible.

However, Seras soon jolted in surprise when the apple was dropped into her lap, and she quickly snatched it up without question.

"You're no fun," Alucard sighed out as Seras took a huge bite. They weren't quite ripe yet, but they would do. It would hopefully satisfy both her hunger and her thirst. "What did you do? Get yourself locked in the cupboard again? I thought humans were supposed to eat regularly?"

Seras shook her head as she finished the apple right down to its core. She sighed as she began absent-mindedly twisting the stem until it snapped in her grasp. "No, but no doubt I will be when I get back. Who's this master? Is he your boss?" she added at the end, trying to change the subject.

"Ah-ah, Police Girl," taunted Alucard, "you can't just end on that note and try to change the subject."

Seras refused to look up, her eyes tracing the blades of grass in front of her before she muttered miserably, "Why do you care? You said you don't have friends."

"I see that we've reverted back to pathetic mode," Alucard noted with a growl.

"I'm not pathetic!"

"Then why should personal relationships matter to you?" the dark haired girl retorted, now looking beyond annoyed.

"Because I'm sick of being on my own! I hate it! I've always been alone! I want a friend too, just like everybody else!" Seras snapped, standing bolt upright again.

Alucard was silent for a few moments before the annoyed expression on her face relaxed slightly, though an intimidating scowl still remained on her face. However, the rest of her body remained casual with one hand lounging in a jacket pocket, the other hung loosely to her side while she rested most of her weight onto her right hip. Meanwhile, Seras glared daggers back at her. Her posture was completely straight with her hands balled up into fists at her side.

"You waste your time becoming upset about such things," Alucard finally replied. "I realised a long time ago that the only person I can rely on is myself. Friendships and relationships – especially those formed through a desire to no longer remain alone – lead to anguish and betrayal." At this comment, Alucard stared down at the strange marks on the back of her gloved hands. "You become weak and easily manipulated."

Seras frowned, loosening her tense muscles slightly. What was the point in even arguing about this? Seras had been longing to see Alucard again all day and now here she was, wasting their time together with stupid arguments. She wished that Alucard wasn't this way, but she supposed that she would have to live with it. Maybe in time, Alucard would come to trust her and become her friend. She would never betray Alucard and she would never want to hurt her. She would fight whoever tried to do so.

Alucard smirked at her.

"What?" Seras asked self-consciously.

Alucard shook her head. "Your foolishness never ceases to amuse me."

"Hey!" Seras snapped but was unable to think of a clever comeback.

The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow in amusement. "As I said: foolish."

Muttering to herself, Seras stormed her way back towards the playground, settling herself down onto one of the swings, gently rocking herself forwards and backwards. Stars were beginning to glimmer in the sky with only a few thin wisps of cloud to cover their splendour. An owl hooted in the distance, but Seras remained unintimidated by it all. A fact that did not go unnoticed by her companion.

"You know most little girls are afraid of the dark." She chuckled as she sat down on the swing next to her.

Seras sighed. "I'm not like most little girls. Anyway, you're one to talk!"

Alucard laughed loudly at that remark before grinning at her. "I'm the monster, remember? I'm the one who causes people like you to be afraid of the dark. They're wise to be afraid. You, however, are foolish."

Seras rolled her eyes, but otherwise didn't respond. She had met her fair share of monsters over the years; all of them had been human. Alucard, while indeed scary, had not laid a finger on her or harmed her in any way. But the nuns who were supposed to look after her did. Despite her young age, Seras was already beginning to learn that the world wasn't black and white. At her school, there was a girl in her class who had two dads. The nuns claimed that they were evil monsters, but when Seras had spoken to them once at the summer fair last year, they had been really nice to her and didn't seem like evil monsters at all. They had bought her a very tasty cupcake after they had watched her eye them for the past half an hour. She really wished that two dads would come along to foster her. Anything was better than living in that awful place.

"Why are you out here, anyway?" Alucard asked, bringing Seras out of her thoughts. "I waited for you near the orphanage, but you didn't show up. You're a pretty tough one to track down unless you're nearby. Then your loud brain gives you away."

Seras shrugged, slowing her swinging down slightly. "I just really didn't want to go back there. I got into a fight at school again so I ended up skiving the rest of the day."

"Is not going back wise considering that we have a mission to complete?"

Seras head snapped around to look at Alucard in shock. "You still want my help?"

Alucard smirked. "Of course, my little Police Girl. I need your inside knowledge after all."

The young blonde smiled, launching herself off the swing in excitement before cringing as her knee once again began to sting and bleed. Alucard got up as well, walking up to her with a confused expression on her face before her eyes took in the graze that covered Seras' knee.

"You're hurt." It was more of a statement than a question.

Seras laughed awkwardly. "It's nothing."

"Come here," Alucard commanded.

"Why, what are you gonna do?" Seras backed away nervously.

Alucard rolled her eyes. "Just come here. I won't bite you." She chuckled after that last part.

Eyes narrowing suspiciously, Seras stepped forward before Alucard bent down so that her face was in front of Seras' knee, inspecting the wound. Before Seras could react, Alucard had licked her finger and rubbed it across the graze, causing a sharp stab of pain to shoot up her leg, and Seras stumbled away in slight disgust.

"Ew! Why did you do that?!"

Alucard merely stood back up casually before inspecting the blood that now dripped down her pale finger. Her tongue reached out to lick the red liquid, and all Seras could do was watch in horror and confusion. Once her finger was clean, Alucard pulled a disgruntled expression.

"The blood of a child – not the most exquisite of tastes," Alucard mumbled, mainly to herself. "Like unripe fruit." She shuddered slightly in disgust.

"W-why did you…?"

Alucard sighed in annoyance again. "Look at your knee, Police Girl."

Seras frowned but did as she was told, glancing back down at her injured knee before her blue eyes widened in shock. As if by magic, her graze had stopped bleeding and now appeared to have already scabbed over. The wound looked days old rather than mere hours. Seras blinked, twisting her leg to different angles, unsure as to whether or not this was some sort of trick of the light. But the results remained the same. Her knee was looking much better than what it did a few minutes ago.

"H-how?" was all Seras could gasp out.

Alucard grinned again. "I told you, I'm magic."

Seras stared up at her, completely awe-struck. "Th-thank you."

"You're welcome." Alucard appeared to smile a genuine smile for once.

Seras continued flexing her knee, enjoying no longer having the deep stinging sensation that came with moving her leg. Her woollen socks no longer became painfully stuck to the more exposed flesh of the wound, and it made her wonder just what else Alucard could do. She had seen her walk through walls and heal her, but no doubt the older girl had some more tricks up her sleeve. Seras felt like a character from a storybook. Feelings of giddiness and adventure bubbled up inside her, making her feel slightly lightheaded, but in a good way. A way that made her feel like she was floating through the clouds above, enjoying the peaceful sensation of soaring through the sky.

"What else can you do?" Seras shrieked excitedly.

Alucard's expression turned smug. "Lots of things."

"Like what?"

"Like this." Alucard then completely vanished before her very eyes. Seras blinked and looked around frantically, terrified that maybe her imagination had finally had enough and had snuffed the dark haired girl out of existence.

That was until a voice came from behind her.

"Boo."

Seras shrieked and twisted around to come face-to-face with Alucard once again. Her racing heart calmed down, beating more rapidly in excitement rather than fear. She smiled and clapped her hands together, jumping up and down on the spot at the little show he had put on for her. She wished that she could do tricks like that! All of the revenge she could get on the people who hurt her and bullied her…

"What else can you do?" Seras demanded, her blue eyes sparkling.

Alucard rolled her eyes. "This isn't a circus, Police Girl."

"Pleeeeeeeaaaasssee!" Seras begged, clasping her hands together as she gave Alucard her best puppy-dog eyes. "I just want to see all of the cool stuff that you can do! Then I'll shut up about it, I promise!"

Alucard sighed. "Very well. The prize of you shutting up is too tempting to resist."

Seras giggled before watching as Alucard morphed into a swarm of bats, and she shrieked as they flew towards her, flying around her and occasionally catching her with their wings. Her shrieks turned to laughter as they tickled her, some of them settling down and dangling from her arms as she tried to protect herself from being tickled. The bats then swarmed away from her, congealing into one dark and solid form before it shrunk down, leaving a teenage girl in their place.

"That was amazing!" Seras clapped again.

Alucard smirked before she gave her a small bow, and Seras began to feel even more delighted that she was finally playing along. The blonde girl continued to watch in fascination as the other girl seemed to pull centipedes and other bugs seemingly from nowhere. She cringed back and laughed when one of them had crawled up onto her shoulder, its hundreds of legs prickling against the skin of her neck. She held out her hand for the creature to crawl onto it, and it did so as if it was perfectly trained to do so. However, it soon melted into black sludge in the palm of her hand before disappearing entirely.

Seras then gasped in awe as Alucard easily sliced a branch off one of the trees with her bare hands before holding it as if it weighed nothing more than a feather. Seras' eyes had certainly widened at that one. Alucard was so fast and strong! She looked like she could take anyone on and would always end up as the one on top. She seemed perfect in every way and practically invincible! Once again, Seras supposed she should have been scared, but she was enjoying the show far too much, and it appeared that Alucard was actually liking the attention and was having fun showing off.

A black shadow then launched itself from the dark haired girl's body before it came to a stop just a few centimetres from Seras' face. One, two, three, four red eyes appeared from the dark mass, each slit pupil looking directly at her. Jagged teeth poked out of the half open mouth, and a serpent-like tongue slipped out to give her a big slobbery lick across her face.

"Ew!" Seras laughed as she wiped her face with the sleeve of her jumper. The terrifying beast in front of her appeared to be no more than a cute toy for Seras to play with. She had always wanted a pet, but her parents' working hours had never really allowed her to have one. And of course the orphanage would never allow her to adopt an animal.

"He's so cute!" Seras cooed as she stroked and scratched behind the growling demonic dog's ears.

"Baskerville has been called many things over the centuries, and 'cute' is not one of them," Alucard growled out as she approached them. Despite her tone, there was clear amusement shining within her red eyes as she stood next to the humongous hound, watching as Seras nuzzled her face into his dark fur.

"Well I think he's cute," Seras reiterated, gasping and laughing as her cheek was nudged by a cold and wet nose.

"He could crush your skull between his jaws."

"But he'd look cute while doing it." Seras continued to giggle.

Alucard shook her head before Baskerville vanished, leaving Seras to pout as her hands now lowered from the empty air where her new cuddly toy had been just moments before. She wished that she could stay out here like this with Alucard forever. She never wanted to go back. Maybe Alucard could take her to wherever she lived? Maybe she could work for the same person that she did?

"Come along, Police Girl. We've wasted too much time already." Alucard's voice caught her attention before she could begin panicking.

"Where are we going?" Though Seras had a terrible feeling she knew where.

"Seras don't start being a coward again!" Alucard snapped, and Seras looked down at her shoes, crestfallen.

There were a few moments of silence before Alucard sighed, her voice becoming softer and gentler. "You said you wanted to be my partner on this case, so that requires going back undercover in that place. You want to complete the mission, don't you?"

Seras looked up again with a small smile. "Yes."

"Then quit dawdling," Alucard replied, turning to march on ahead.

Seras' smile widened as she ran to catch up with the taller girl, and without thinking, reached down to grab hold of Alucard's hand. Alucard stiffened slightly before rolling her eyes, though she never yanked her hand out of Seras' grasp. Instead, the two girls continued to walk hand-in-hand through the rest of the park and onto the quiet streets before disappearing into the night.

I've just realised that I'm probably using a lot of British slang and terminology for stuff, so if any of you get confused or need something translating, just let me know in a review/comment and I'll explain it to you. I'm British myself and I know that my American friends sometimes have a hard time understanding me lol. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter and feel free to share your opinions and thoughts with me. It helps me out. Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you all again soon.