Chapter Eight: D waits and Seras doesn't.
Seras could not stop crying. Her entire body was overcome with shame and fear. She couldn't remember how she'd gone from palling around with her friends to... exposing herself to them and arguably the most important person in her life. It had almost been as though a voice had been inside her head, telling her what to do but... that was mad. It was so completely insane that it was entirely unbelievable. She was never going to be able to look Pip or Harry in the eye again, let alone her Master.
God damn it, why her?
She heard a knock on her bedroom door but didn't answer it. She stayed in her coffin and hoped that whoever it was would think she was asleep or dead. As in, really dead so that whoever it was would have no choice but to leave her alone. She heard her door open and cursed her luck, her father and her treacherous body all at once. Walter lifted the lid of her coffin and gave her a small smile.
"I think we should have a little talk."
Seras' lips started to quiver and she managed to respond affirmatively before hugging him and staining his shirt with her bloody tears.
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Integra watched in horror as her front doors were incinerated.
"You Cu...!"
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"Seras, you should know that you are not at fault for your actions and Alucard does not hold you accountable."
"But he-he's so a-angry with, with me-hee…" Seras managed to choke around shuddering sobs, "He's never sounded so a-ashamed oh-of me."
"He was very angry to see you so upset but that's not the same as being ashamed of you. I can assure you that he acted only out of concern for your wellbeing."
"He t-old me to get out!"
"He wanted you out of harm's way," Walter patted her shoulder lightly, "He had words with D as soon as you were gone."
"What's Harry done?" Seras blushed hotly, "We were all drunk, oh God, I've never been drunk before and he hurt himself and I was… I was…"
"Neither you nor Harry are to blame but I must confess that this likely wouldn't have happened if you both had been less inebriated." He paused, "It would have helped if he had been more honest with us, truth be told."
The young vampire sniffed pitifully.
"Seras, there's something you should know."
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Integra ran for the steps to the second level, thanking God that all of the domestic staff had gone home for the evening.
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"I'm sure you've noticed that you're very loyal to young D."
"He's a nice man…"
"The day you met you did not intervene when he fought with Alucard."
Seras flinched and covered her face with her hands.
"You feel a sense of fidelity to both of them, it confuses your actions but again, it is not a fault." Walter sighed, "Alucard's blood runs through his veins and part of you recognises that."
"What does that have to do with me acting like such a stupid, stupid…"
Walter cut her off, "Do not say such things. D has been hiding something of himself and it was that part that hurt you this way."
"So, Harry..." Her voice broke on his name, "Hurt me?"
"No, I doubt he's thought of doing much past vexing his father since he arrived here. He has two entities in his body, one is D and the other lives in his left hand."
"What?" Seras looked up, alarmed and vaguely disgusted.
"We know next to nothing about it but it seems it is allowed a certain control over D when he is incapacitated and by proxy, control over you."
"But Master doesn't control me! Harry can't, he wouldn't allow it…"
"He stopped it when he stabbed his own hand."
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The stairs leading to Integra's office exploded just before she could reach them.
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Seras heard the sound of the blast just as she came to a rather large conclusion about the path she was taking through the world. Seras had been a law-enforcer for her entire adult life. True, she'd only been an adult for a few years and fighting the occult tended to lead towards breaking some important rules but that didn't change who she was at her core. The fact of it was that she couldn't allow for someone else to take that from her. She had to be in control to follow orders and to ignore them. She was not entertainment. She was not an object. She was not a doll.
She loved her Master and she liked her job and she was loyal to Sir Hellsing. She wasn't embarrassed about it and she could not allow herself to become a burden.
She kissed Walter on the cheek, grabbed her Halconnen from beside the doorway and ran for the fridge. She looked like a complete mess and she just didn't care.
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Integra looked behind herself and saw nothing but fire. When she looked ahead she saw the same thing.
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Seras eyed the medical blood with a growing sense of conviction. It wasn't the same as drinking blood from a human, she could sense that in her bones, but it would help. She needed all the strength she could get at that moment. She grabbed a packet and drank it as quickly as she possibly could. She grabbed another and set it between her teeth. She was ready to fight.
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Integra was beginning to feel her life flashing before her eyes but she wasn't sure it was just the smoke. The flames were beginning to close in and she couldn't get near to the basement or any of the windows. Alucard was also off sulking somewhere and likely hadn't heard any of commotion. She was suffering enough from smoke inhalation that she didn't think she'd even be able to call him at all, now.
So, this was her death then.
Fairly anticlimactic really.
A demon with a red face and giant fangs appeared in her peripheral vision. Maybe the burning would be painless if she was already hallucinating. The succubus, had to be a succubus with breasts that big, ran through the fire towards her. Her eyes were burning as much as the portraits of her ancestors were. The creature reached her side and threw Integra over her shoulder in a fireman's lift. Integra pondered the repercussions of firemen coming from hell as she was whisked outside.
Integra coughed for a few moments before the increased oxygen content restored her to fuller mental capacity. Seras was bowing reverently at her side, cheeks and lips streaked with blood. Integra coughed again.
"Seras."
"Yessir."
"I want you to kill that impertinent arsehole in the tank." Integra's face hardened further, "Make it hurt if you can."
"With pleasure, sir."
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Horatio had been having a wonderful time destroying Hellsing manor. The front half of the building was beginning to glow brighter than a particularly festive Christmas tree. He should have thought of this earlier. All the violence he was wreaking almost made his years of hiding worth it. Almost.
Horatio was not so busy congratulating himself that he didn't notice when his vehicle went from vertical to horizontal. He'd started pulling himself from his seat when he heard someone rip the hatch open and finish the job for him. In the next three seconds he found himself going from the comfy interior of his tank into the significantly less cozy branches of a tree, although for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. You need to understand that it really is very confusing when you don't understand why your arse is being handed to or even that you're getting a beating at all.
An ugly and (literally) smoking girl appeared in front of him but he didn't make the connection between her and his pain immediately. She frowned at him.
"I say, what on earth..." Horatio attempted polite conversation.
Seras reached down and rudely interrupted him by breaking his arm.
Horatio screamed like a little girl. It is not so bad to scream like a little girl when you are a little girl... or even when you are a little boy because they're not so different at that stage, really. It is particularly embarrassing when you are several centuries old. Seras didn't laugh at him though, she didn't feel like wasting her time in that manner.
She used his moment of shock to break his other arm.
"You're wrecking my home."
Horatio felt shock slicing through his pain and it was all he could do not to gape at the fearsome horror before him.
"Were you aware of that?"
"Fuck off you traitorous whore!" his expletive was significantly weakened by his obvious fear. The girl glared.
"Don't tell me what to do." She moved forward again.
Horatio forced his right leg up into her chest and she skidded back a few metres. He rolled over and started to scramble as best he could, feet slipping over the grass. He found himself looking at a pair of immaculate black shoes, though not made by a designer he was familiar with. He looked up and found himself face to face with an old acquaintance of his from the good old days, the same man directly responsible for the current bad old days.
"Hello Dracula."
"Hello Horse-face." Dracula smiled at him.
Horatio chose that moment to run away. He rolled into the bushes and fell into the first large shadow he found.
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Seras looked upon her Master with a mixture of annoyance, pride and fear. She'd been quite happy handling the situation herself but at the same time seeing him walk in and scare another vampire away from Hellsing, effortlessly no less, made her love him all the more. She didn't know if he was still angry though, so she kept her distance.
Alucard breeched the chasm between them in two steps and ruffled a hand through her hair.
"Good job Seras." He said, without a trace of sarcasm, "Guard Integra while I hunt down Lord Horatio, I'll be back soon."
Seras stood there for a long moment while he was gone. Then she walked over to where Integra was and watched everybody evacuate from their burning building.
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Alucard had rarely felt so proud. He wished that he could have taken Seras with him to share this kill but she needed rest now. He could take her out with him another day, when she hadn't had such an eventful evening. For now it was enough that she had chased a true vampire away from their home. She'd been slow to start but perhaps the old saying was true, still waters run deep.
Alucard walked through the shadows, following the scent of Horatio's pain and embarrassment. He eventually found himself inside a vaguely familiar building. It had clearly been a place of business at one time. Horatio had managed to heal himself, there wasn't any blood on the carpet, but the idiot was still leaving a trail of dirt and soot behind him. Alucard followed the trail down several sets of stairs and into a wide foyer. Horatio was standing in the middle of it, looking decidedly worse for wear. Alucard was halfway across the floor before he registered that something was very wrong.
Alucard could smell wet fur and something close to sulphur. He looked up to see a dimension-ripping beast leering at him sightlessly. Alucard looked back over to Horatio, who was now smiling.
"I'll bet you have never seen creatures such as these before," Horatio grinned manically and patted one that had just walked up to him, "Even you are no match for them."
Alucard cocked his head to the side.
"You really are a giant fuckwit, do you know that?"
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D had been lying in his cell feeling so horrid that he'd barely smelt the smoke coming from outside his door. He was aware that he was so far beneath Hellsing that it really didn't affect him even if the whole building collapsed. D attempted to open his cell door but could not. Perhaps if he were not so weakened, he could leave and be of use. If wishes were fishes... He couldn't help anyone with things as they were.
He rested himself of the cold floor and watched the iron door refuse to move.
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When Pip, a few spare Geese and Walter made their way toward the front gate they saw Integra watching her manor burn and Seras watching Integra. They changed their trajectory and Pip took a place beside Seras while Walter moved to stand beside Integra. They heard sirens in the distance. They waited.
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Alucard decided to give Horatio some advice before he returned to report the severity of their situation to his Master.
Horatio, he said, I helped design those things. They used to try and take chunks of flesh out of people that had hand-reared them from birth. If they figure out that you aren't the same kind of vampire as that that made them, they will kill you on sight.
He paused.
I kind of hope they do.
Alucard turned on his heel and disappeared, leaving only a ghostly voice trailing in his wake.
Horatio, you are in so much shit it's almost unbelievable.