Chapter 2: Psychology + power of suggestion = weapon

Losing her self-control, the damage her body had sustained finally registered itself to her brain. Wounded, drugged and confused, Seras curled into a ball, a useless attempt to protect herself, and shook violently. The destruction of the gate had triggered the alarm and sirens were resonating loudly in her eardrums, adding more confusion to the scene. Soldiers rushed past her, checking the situation before tending to the wounded.

One crouched beside her and shook her arm roughly trying to see if she was asleep or dead. She recoiled from his touch and viciously hissed at him not to touch her.

"We need medical assistance at the front gates immediately!" he yelled into his radio.

He tucked it back in his belt and started removing the rubble nearby. Others joined him as members of the medical team made their way to her. A man reached for the pole but before he could even touch it, she lashed out at him.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped.

"Someone hold her down, we have to take it out!"

She felt hands restraining her.

"Say hello to your mother for me, scum." A scream of anguish followed.

Her eyes widened when, suddenly, she was back to the forest. He was there, on top of her. His hands were everywhere, brushing and caressing her curves. She could feel his breath on her face. She didn't want this. It had to stop right now. She won't let him have his way with her!

She tried to shove him off with all her might but he was too strong and his assaults were getting bolder by the second. She was suffocating… she's going to die! Had she been turned into a vampire only to die a few months later? Was that it? What had been the use then? She didn't want to die. Not now! She still had a lot to be taught from her Master. She panicked and struggled even harder.

Somewhere in the deep of the forest, a voice echoed, "Miss Victoria is uncontrollable and we can't hold her down! She seems to be in a very bad shape and can't be treated properly! Requesting the assistance of Sir Alucard!"

At the mention of her Master's name, the only word she had registered, she was overwhelmed by a sentiment of hope. He was coming to save her! Because of her sudden distraction, her aggressor managed to push her back a bit more to the ground fiercely and the stick slicked a little upwards. The gaping holes on her back were burning with a new vigor. That decided it. She was going to prove her Master she wasn't as powerless as he often liked to remind her.

She slowly but firmly overpowered the man and threw him off. She climbed onto her unsteady feet as fast as she could and ran, the pole still jutting out of her shoulder. In her head, she still felt hands on her and urged her legs to go faster, hoping to put more distance between her and those unwanted touches.

And that's when she saw him.

He stood there in all his glory. Arms spread wide open to welcome her in a warm embrace with his usual red attire. She had done it! She ran to him, almost crying in relief, but she abruptly stopped, only a foot away from him. She watched in horror as he transformed into the person she hated the most at the moment. Blake was now gazing at her with a sardonic smile and he mouthed 'What's wrong, princess?'

Just then, she was slapped in the face and the impact caused her to come back to reality. She saw her Master on top of her, his knees on each of her sides supporting his own weight so she wouldn't suffer unnecessarily. Before she could even utter a word, he forced the upper part of her body down so the pole could slide to its end. She attempted to push him away while she yelped her dissatisfaction but he only grasped both of her arms with one of his powerful hands.

"I'm holding her. Take it out," Alucard said calmly to a man.

With a sickening noise, it was finally pulled free and a compress had been applied to lessen the alarmingly low amount of blood from pouring out. She tried to pronounce some words but they only came out in short terrified gasps.

"Shh, don't talk, police girl. Calm down and listen to me. I said, calm down!" he squeezed her arms to get his point across, "I don't want to hear what happened, we can deal with this later. What's important right now is for you to stay calm and save your strength. We'll treat your wounds with the utmost care but you must behave, understand?"

Seras hesitantly nodded once and she was escorted to the medical facility.

XXXXXXXX

Have you ever wondered why you couldn't sleep some nights? A dark ceiling and a creative mind the only things to keep you busy?

That's what Seras was doing with the exception being she already knew why she couldn't sleep. She had been given some sedative with painkillers but she was wide-awake and the pain had only been slightly reduced. She did not complain though. Merely nodding at the doctors whenever they asked if she was okay. The injured soldier just wanted to be left alone in her suffering. She didn't need an audience so what was the use of mentioning that blasted pill she was forced to swallow?

They had given her a massive transfusion and forced her to drink at least four packs of blood, she almost threw up. It took a little less than an hour to bandage all of her wounds and to find a way to lie her down without disturbing any injury. She ended up on her right side, facing the wall with the window. She hated that window…

Two hours after her 'abduction', she still expected that son of a bitch to pop out of nowhere and scare her witless. She dreaded the moment she would encounter him once again. He'll track her down again, won't he? But then again… he didn't need to track her, he caught her once and could do it again with no problem. He also knew who she was, where she slept, who her Master was…

One question stuck in her head. Why her?

She was the one who got shot in the lung to kill a vampire, who got turned into one, who never understood until someone explained it her, who never grasped the truth until the last moment, who was used as a test subject, etc, etc… Why is it that this always happens to the one girl that can't seem to protect herself?

Her shoulder started aching. She wished she could shift her weight onto the other one but an ugly red patch prevented her from doing so. She tried to distract herself but it proved useless as the ache increased. Sighing in defeat, she painstakingly lifted herself to a sitting position. She knew she wasn't supposed to, but who cares?

As she watched her feet, she wondered if she had the strength to walk. With nothing better to do, she slid down the bed and took a tentative step as she wobbled a little. She immediately sat back down when black dots plagued her view and the stitches in her back stretched painfully. Well, maybe she wasn't up to it yet…

A gentle wind breezed through the room and she sharply looked up. Someone was here, she could feel purposeful eyes on her. She grasped the nearest object which happened to be a decorative lamp. She looked at it scornfully but it was better than nothing. Tightly gripping her weapon, she scanned the tiny area until her eyes caught sight of the open window. Oh… that's where the breeze came from. But that window… it's…

She was getting a little paranoid with all the things going on she assumed, shaking her head in surrender. Even though the wind did come from the window, she still wouldn't let go of the lamp and remained alert for any suspicious sound. She wanted to make sure he wasn't there. Yep, she really was paranoid. It wasn't surprising though.

Seras remained rooted to her spot, fear gripping at her heart whenever she saw a moving shadow. After what felt like half an hour but actually two minutes, she tentatively called out, "Hello? Is… is someone there?"

The door cracked open and the artificial light flooded inside, blinding her.

"Miss Victoria, you should be resting right now. What is it?"

"Uhh, who is this?" She squinted her eyes.

"My name is Andrew and I was assigned to stand guard outside your temporary room. Is there something you need? Are you in pain?" the soldier asked her in a totally detached and bored tone.

No, of course not. Having a pole protruding from side to side is my idea of fun, she wanted to say but it obviously wasn't the case. She shook her head instead, the feeling of being observed remaining.

He seemed to peer at her, "What's up with the lamp?"

Embarrassed, she quickly replaced it on the nightstand and mumbled a quick nothing. He shrugged.

"If you need anything I'm just behind this door," he closed it.

One thing was sure, she didn't like the guy one bit. Now that she thought about it… She didn't feel like trusting people anymore. How in the world was she going to get back to work if she couldn't trust those working with her?

And Andrew, was it? Why did she have a guard? Surely not to protect her! He was weaker than she even in her current state. Maybe it was to keep an eye on her… After all, she has been acting weird all night.

'Well, from their point of view!' she thought angrily.

Another breeze came in. She couldn't take it anymore so she extended her good arm to close it and by the same occasion, the stores too. This was much better. She didn't feel so observed anymore. What to do now? Well, she might as well stay in bed feigning sleep. No use trying to get up, she was too tired to do anything else, yet sleep evaded her. How was she going to lie down? Her shoulder was still sore and the right one was on vacation… With only one option left, she gently lied onto her back and bit her tongue to prevent the hiss from coming out. She didn't need pity from a soldier who barely knew her.

Little did she know about the lurking shadow in the corner…

XXXXXXXX

Integra was sitting in her leather chair and was in the process of lighting a brand new cigar while another creature was lazily standing in front of her desk, clearly undisturbed by the silence if the smirk was any indication.

Without any warning, Integra banged her fist onto a poor stack of paper and fumed, "I thought I had been clear when I said I didn't want any trouble with Agent Victoria, Alucard. How do you explain the report I received from the previous mission? She came back drenched in blood and claimed that 'she wasn't feeling well enough' to write it herself! And just now, she was savagely attacked by something we still know nothing of!"

Alucard remained unresponsive.

"I also heard she went totally berserk when our medical team tried to rescue her," she continued, "I will not stand much more of this. We cannot afford to lose time on such petty matters so I expect you to put a stop to whatever is bothering your pupil, understood?"

He lowered his head to look over his glasses and the smirk fell off his face.

"It's the first time it's ever happened and, as you said, we still don't know what the police girl went through. Her reaction may be reasonable considering the situation she was in. I don't think I'll be able to immediately solve the problem. She didn't even recognize me when I tried to contain her and those wounds she came back with weren't meant to kill her," he said seriously.

Biting harder onto the cigar, she asked, "What were they for then? Maybe she was simply avoiding the mortal blows."

"They were meant to weaken her or torture her. Probably both. But for what reason…"

"I don't care! I accepted her only because of you and thought you'd be able to make her into a fully responsible and independent vampire unit like you, but I am greatly disappointed to see she's only brought back trouble with her instead of successful reports. I can't tolerate anymore of this. I want you to put a stop to this so train her non-stop when we'll know what happened. She should be fine after sleeping the whole day. You should do the same."

"Master Integra, I don't think…" he started but she shot him a dirty look.

The tension in the air was heavy as they glared at each other in disagreement. An urgent rapping on the old carved door disturbed them.

Integra sighed, "What is it?"

Walter immediately appeared into the office. He was out of breath as if he had just run the marathon.

"It… it's Miss Victoria. Please come quick."

He grabbed Alucard's sleeve and dragged him outside while Integra gave the vampire a meaningful look. She extinguished her cigar in the ashtray and followed them to the medical aisle.

XXXXXXXX

"Dammit, get Andrew out of there!"

"We can't! Something's blocking the door!"

"Then break it down, you fool!"

When they got there, it was the scene they came upon. Half a dozen of soldiers were pushing against the door and screaming from the other side could be heard. The problem was… those weren't Seras' screams. Alucard could have broken the door down but not without destroying everything inside. So he pushed the men out of his way and phased through.

His eyes first settled onto the upside down bed in front of the entrance. Next, was the keeling human yelling his pain out. His hands were clasped around his stomach and blood dripped endlessly between his fingers. He scanned for Seras but only found broken glass lying on the floor. The red-coated vampire shoved the bed sideways with ease and opened the door to signal them it was safe. While the man called Andrew was being tended to, he turned to Walter.

"She's gone," he told him quietly.

"Gone? It isn't possible!"

Integra heard this and approached them, "What do you mean gone? Am I to assume she attacked her guard and ran away?"

He smirked, "Well, if that were to be the case I'd be proud considering…"

"This is no time to joke," she cut in.

"Fine, fine. I'll locate her," he paused, "She's still in the building, on the third floor I believe. I'll go get her, there's nothing to worry about so just wait here."

He levitated to the ceiling and disappeared through it.

XXXXXXXX

Was he still after her? She hadn't expected him to attack again so soon. The adrenaline had dulled the pain to nothing so she had managed to escape but it was slowly fading as she hid in the corner of a closet. The burning pain was back with a vengeance, protesting at the strain she had forced upon her unfortunate carcass and the smell of blood was heavy around her thanks to her ripped stitches.

Seras was getting sick and tired of all this running away. She just wanted to curl into a ball and sleep all her worries away, but thanks to some insane bastard she was deprived of such a gift. At least her headache had disappeared a long time ago, a scraped forehead the only mark left.

A laugh resonated through the hallway or in her head, she couldn't make the difference. The frightened agent crawled further into her hiding place and kept her arms around herself. Her eyes widened when footsteps landed loudly on the floor. The closer they got, the more freaked out she was. She looked at the light filtering under the door and saw two dark shadows immobilize themselves. Apprehensive, she noticed the door handle turning itself.

In a moment of desperation, she grabbed it and held it tightly to prevent anymore movement. She heard a sigh and the next thing she knew the whole door was ripped out along with her. She followed the large hand to the well-toned arm that was connected to a broad shoulder and then the pale face appeared.

Indeed, Blake was standing before her with a hungry look. Now that she could see him more clearly under the lights instead of the pale moonlight he seemed crueler than before. In fact, he was probably pissed off because she had managed to flee the first time and she intended to do it again. Not wanting to stay in his presence any longer and not caring for another beating, Seras wrenched the door from him, threw it forth, and used the distraction to find help. As she turned the corner, she was pushed into a wall and Blake was instantly next to her. Disoriented, she slid down the wall, leaving red trails, and he kicked her in the ribs until she was sprawled out to the floor.

"That's no way to welcome your future Master, princess. I thought you felt lonely without me so I decided to pay you a little visit and see how you were doing. From what I can see, you're not doing great… Look, you're bleeding," he squeezed her wounded shoulder, "I knew I should have tended to you myself, those are pretty nasty gashes you got there! Whoever did this to you, I wonder?" She wasn't sure but his voice was harsher than she remembered.

Whoa! Wait a minute! Future Master…? What's he talking about?

He put one of his muddy boots on the middle of her chest and slowly added more and more of his weight. She could only clasp his ankles and whine.

In a lower voice he continued, "Agree to serve me and I will stop."

Is he suggesting she leave Alucard for him? What a preposterous idea! She has to drink blood from her current master to be freed and she already refused once. Surely he won't be proposing it again in the near future. Is it even possible to have two masters at the same time? Once again that day she thought, why her?

"I'd… rather die than… serve you, bastard!" she got out.

Rather than putting on more weight he was now using his own strength. She thought her insides had already exploded and were roaming free in her system. It didn't bother him the least, in fact he was enjoying this greatly. She could tell.

"If I push any harder, your ribs are going to break. Are you sure this is your answer?"

Her nails dug deeper into the leather fabric, hoping to release some of the pressure but he hadn't relented so she gritted her teeth and remained silent. He smiled at her. Now what was he planning?

"You don't want to serve me, but you already did…" he whispered.

She caught his gaze and stilled. His red eyes seemed to swirl as she lost herself into them. The colors mashed together to create one big rainbow which slowly started to fade to black. A flash of white was next to appear and she was entranced by its sudden change to a red background. Her mind went numb while images flashed in front of her.

A soldier. Andrew?

Herself. A cruel grin upon her face.

A fight. Broken glass.

Bloody hands. A man clutching his stomach.

She licked each one of her fingers while savoring the taste and left the room.

"You're lying, I'd never do this! Those are just illusions! Get out of my head! GET OUT!" she screamed, clutching her temples.

He cackled madly, "No, you did this. You only wished to erase it from your memory and blame it on me. I can see right through you. In the end, you are nothing but a conniving bitch that manipulates her way with lies and deceptions. Stop denying it, this is the real you, a manipulative woman who'd do anything to have her way. Accept yourself as you truly are and follow me. Together, we will accomplish great things. No more thirst, no more holding back, limitless power. What more can you ask for? I can give you everything you crave for and in return, serve me."

The way he spoke suggested many things, but in her hazy mind nothing seemed more appealing than abandoning her soul to those promises. His excitement was contagious because she found herself swept away in it. How would it feel to obey her hunger? To have power on her side? To rule over inexistent rules?

Just as she was about to answer, he made a mistake.

"Think about that soldier you almost killed. You'd be able to eliminate every single one of them on a whim without remorse and feed to your heart's desire…"

Kill humans...? She wildly shook her head, and his spell was removed.

"It wasn't me! You did this to him!" she repeated heatedly.

Blake swore under his breath. His eyes went sideways for a moment and he swore again.

He sneered, "You're lucky, someone is coming. I will come back for you, but right now I have other important matters to attend to. Until next time, princess!" His expression went from crazy to maniacal, and with a final kick, he jumped out of the nearest window.

Seras crawled to the wall and slumped against it without a care for her newly opened injuries. Finally he had left. This time he hadn't been too physical on her but rather psychological. She preferred the first than the latter. Physical abuse she can endure, mind torture she could not. Because of this, a feeling in the pit of her stomach she never had settled there.

Doubt.

What he made her see wasn't true, right? Of course it wasn't! He attacked her and the guard heard the commotion so he entered and received a devastating blow from Blake. She must admit she hadn't cared about him as she ran away but who wouldn't have done the same?

Still, those pictures were marked into her skull and they seemed so real, she couldn't just banish them. She didn't know what to believe anymore, her version or his. Truth mingled with false to create an on-coming headache and her emotions were all over the place. She wanted to cry but refrained from doing so.

She wasn't as heartless as he made her to be. A conniving bitch? She couldn't bring herself to hurt an innocent animal even if it was in a life or death situation so why would he think she'd actually be able to plan her way through lies and cheap trickery? She's not that clever! She's just… she's just… an inoffensive kitten.

As she rested her throbbing head, Alucard phased through the carpet at the end of the hallway and walked to her side.

"Hey, police girl," she stared blankly at him, "what are you doing?"

In a tired voice she answered, "Waiting for help. Your help."

"Whatever for?"

"To protect me."

"From what?" he inquired again.

"From everything, from harm, from him…" she whispered.

He picked her up delicately and headed to her bedroom. A long silence ensued until, "We found your guard bleeding to death. Was that you?"

She couldn't answer for her throat constricted and she choked on her words. She held him tighter and tried not to cry.

Suddenly, she blurted out, "It wasn't me, I swear! I'd never do this to a human. It wasn't me! You have to believe me!"

She kept repeating it over and over until her sobs were the only thing we could hear. All the pent up emotions and stress were released along with her tears. But she wasn't crying on Alucard's shoulder because she didn't know the truth behind Andrew's aggression, not because of Blake's incessant torture and absolutely not because of her past memories resurfacing again.

She was crying because she almost said yes to Blake's proposition… To live a life the way the very vampires she chased were living. A life of self-satisfaction, violence and darkness.