The only sounds in the spacious and tidily bare office, was the rough scribbling of pen on paper. Integral labored over a considerable pile of paperwork, her eyes were red-tinged with lack of sleep, and the smoke from her cigar was not making things any easier. But that did not stop her from reaching for another and lighting it in a flash to replace the fifth stump that night.

Just then, a flicker in the corner of her eye raised her from the near catatonic state she was in that exhaustion had so generously laden upon her. A black hole appeared on the far wall, but its edges flickered and shimmered extensively, even as it radiated larger and larger.

Its creator lurched into the room as the hole halted to a size about two-thirds too small for Alucard. Its edges shivered even more violently, and it looked like it would threaten to cut off Alucard's left leg and part of his hat if he did not enter quickly enough. The hole closed with a silent snap as the vampire entered completely, but leaned almost immediately back against the wall with a show of effort from opening the portal.

Integral, appreciative for once for the distraction her undead servant provided, tidied her paperwork into a neat pile and pushed it graciously to the side of her desk.

She held her cigar between her fingers, "Feeling better?"

Alucard was sucking deeply and silently on a blood packet, that would have been his thirtieth within the last hour. Of course, many at first had to be strewn across the floor for his puddle of a body to reach, but even that took only six blood packets in total before he regained a substantial form.

He pushed himself slowly away from the wall, showing effort even in doing that despite himself. His looked heavily-laden, not walking proudly and leisurely as he would usually, but with a certain sag in his shoulders, and a strain in his neck as though it took much strength just to lift his head.

He shambled towards his master's desk, his pace slower from necessity then the stroll he enjoyed, all the while uncharacteristically silent.

Integral watched him with a studied gaze, noting all of this. His evident lack of power, his near entropy. It was disturbing, as she reminded herself that a single attack from their unknown enemy had done this to her best operative.

Quite a blow.

And it was disquieting.

Alucard finally reached the desk. His gaze was not focused on his master, though where else exactly was hard to see behind the sunglasses. He drained the blood packet finally of all its contents, and gave an audible sigh as he crushed the empty packet in his fist.

"Never, better," he quipped as he titled his wrist to throw the packet, but a quick glance from his master halted him, and he neatly twisted his hand to insert it instead to an inner pocket in his coat.

Integral looked on in professional silence as her servant retrieved yet another full blood packet from within his coat, and proceeded to feast on it.

"You have single-handedly consumed an entire two week's shipment within an hour," she said blandly. Her fevered and overworked mind raced uncoordinatedly with her discontent and mental reminders to call for a new shipment by dawn.

"Thus showing, how I've been in my feeding habits, for the past ten years. I hardly ever, ever binge, and this is...absolutely necessary as you must know," Alucard replied.

The pauses in his speech were showing his remaining journey to recovery, but Integral could detect at least, his returning sarcasm.

"The venom must be quite something. This is the first time you feel need to defend yourself. You must be experiencing the vampiric equivalent of delirium,"

Actually, I think 'hangover' is a far, far, far more appropriate term," replied Alucard, already halfway through his thirty-first blood packet.

There was silence for a while. Alucard was pressing down on the desk, possibly for balance but Integral was wise not to mention it. She let Alucard drain his blood packet first, and Alucard silently accepted his master's generosity by draining it within two minutes.

He pushed himself up and stood firmly on his own feet as he concealed the packet into his coat once more.

"If you feel well enough, proceed with the detailed report I wanted of this night's assignment," Integral said calmly. Alucard was probably in the worst state she had ever seen him. It did not just extend to the physical, but it was evident Alucard was shaken mentally. He was being too quiet.

Yet again, that feeling of unease troubled her though she pushed it firmly away this time.

"That's why I came, master," Alucard replied heavily.

Integral saw him barehanded, "Do you need anymore?" she asked.

Alucard replied with a wave of his hand, "Blood can only do so much. I'll just rest later. Besides, the police girl will need something to tide over at least a week. Though if she does not make any motion to feed in the next three days, I won't be so kind," he almost seemed to laugh, but he found even to begin to was tiring, and he let it pass.

"Begin your questions, Master. You know enough of what happened, what...'details' do you desire?" Alucard asked.

Integral breathed deeply, organizing her thoughts precisely, as hard. There were so many questions, and the best was always to start at the beginning. Naturally. What was she thinking?

"Damn!" she cursed, rubbing her throbbing forehead.

"Heh," Alucard let off a small laugh and a smirk at his master's expense, as Integral re-organized her thoughts.

"How are the burnings conducted? Do you have much of an idea as to its, procedure? Or tool perhaps?" she begin quickly, lest she lose her train of thought again.

Alucard shook his head, "As I had told you, the church was in flames when I was conscious to it. Though as for...a tool, I believe, oh," Alucard's usual grin was beginning to manifest once more, "Actually, the question is whether you believe, Master,"

For a while, Integral was oblivious as to what Alucard meant. But slowly, her rest-deprived mind remembered, and caught on to his remark.

She made a deep, deep sigh.

"Dragons," she said statically, "Again. Fine then, just fine Alucard. Just get on with it,"

"Dragons or not?"

"Yes, just go on with it,"

Alucard smiled and began anew, "The perpetrator was carrying a blade made of dragon's bone and a dragon's claw, and even some tendons interlacing between the pieces. Which, of course, I suspect is also, a dragon's,"

He leered past his sunglasses to spot Integral's reaction, if any.

Integral knew this, and her eyes shot up in one quick movement to stare back at him with equal intensity, her face still calmly resting on her propped up hands.

Alucard grinned and pushed up his glasses to break off the line of sight, submitting this time.

The man claimed to...be an agent for the dragon. Which I am...suspicious about. I've never heard of a dragon hiring someone to wreck havoc, when one of its natural...imperatives is do so itself,"

"You sound like quite an authority on dragons," commented Integral absentmindedly.

Alucard smiled this time, a small smile.

"I know this dragon, I've met him before. He can be quite troublesome,"

Integral looked up with a raised eyebrow, incredulous to the vampire's claim.

"Really?"

Alucard nodded, his smile still evident, "I speak only the truth to you, master,"

Integral looked at the vampire skeptically. Just how far was she going to let her servant go with this joke? Then again, he was right, he I could /I only speak the truth to her. But that would mean...

Integral groaned again as she thought too hard.

'Fine,' she thought to herself, 'I'll believe in dragons tonight. But only because it beats having this bloody headache,'

Integral made a truce with herself, and her headache subsided once she abandoned that subject of thought.

"Very well, keep going," she told Alucard.

The vampire nodded, "What's...more, that man, the agent. He isn't very normal,"

"I would expect so. Look at what he did to you," Integral said pointedly.

"No, no," murmured Alucard, "I mean...as in...he isn't very 'usual', so to speak," Alucard paused briefly as the door to the office swung open with a creak.

Both master and monster averted their gaze to the door as Walter stepped in, carrying several files and ledgers, as well as some photographs. The pile was threatening to slip free from their coverings, and plummet on the steward, but he managed to swerve around till he reached Integral's desk.

With a small thump, he set the pile on the wooden surface, and sighed a brief sigh of relief.

"These are the news articles from the various tabloids that were present at the church. They are yet unpublished, but unfortunately we have no power over canceling their publication totally," Walter explained as Integral briefly flipped through the files, "Though we are allowed necessary 'amendments', of course."

Alucard took the opportunity to reach in and grab another blood packet.

Honestly, another missing would not make much difference anyway.

"They are mostly eye witness accounts. The details are more or less the same, though some I feel some are rather dubious," Walter continued as he leafed through the photographs till he reached the ones he wanted.

"However, they all said the same thing," he lifted up the photographs for Integral to see.

"A brown hound ran from the site of the church. At an amazing speed it seemed, since these two photographs," he lifted up another one in his other hand and held them side-by-side.

"Were shot barely two seconds away from each other. They were both made by a photographer who lived in the block opposite the church,"

Integral studied these pictures with great interest. They were grainy at best, but were clear enough to give a credible impression of a hound, or what was trying to pass off itself as a hound. The first was shot quickly while the creature was standing still, evidently still near the church; while the second depicted a dark brownish blur of the hound in flight. The latter was only able to show a clear picture of the face, while the rest were blurred from the creature's speed.

"Alucard, is this the perpetrator?" Integral took the clearest picture and handed it to the vampire.

Alucard sipped the last drop from the packet and took the picture between his fingers, bringing it up swiftly to his face to inspect it.

"This hound, or whatever it is. This is the church-burner?" she asked again, doubt weighed heavily in her tone.

"One of his forms, apparently," said Alucard as he handed the picture back, "I told you he wasn't 'usual'," he smiled.

Walter collected the other photo and slipped the two together, "You obviously must have fought him in a human, or humanoid, form. Could you describe him in the greatest detail?"

He turned to Integral, "I'll try to research this creature as much as possible, but I will need as much information as I possibly can get,"

Alucard thought in silence for a moment, recounting the man's features as best as he could. They were rather unusual, the features were...fine, he supposed, for the lack of a better word. Truly, if he were to give an honest comparison, the man had finer features than the denizens of this city or for this part of the world as Alucard could safely assume from experience. It was not hard for Alucard to recognize that the man was of a totally different race and country.

The only question is how and why he came to be Britain.

"He had long brown hair and was just a bit shorter than me. His eyes were narrowed and slanted. He had a fine and shallow face, not like the usual denizens of this city,"

Alucard shrugged.

"He looked a world apart. He wasn't European for one,"

"Or," the vampire added, "His human form at least wasn't meant to look like a European,"

Walter pondered the description while Integral pressed for more information from the vampire. Alucard continued, thinking back to his conversation with the man, "When he was talking to me, he sometimes lapsed into, what I suppose, is his native tongue. But it's hard for me to emulate," he looked to Integral with a quirked eyebrow, "though I suppose I could try,"

"Slanted eyes and a face with fine features..." murmured Walter.

The steward quickly interjected, "His speech, was it something like this,"

Walter spoke a toneless but overall perfect line of simple Chinese words in steady succession.

Alucard listened and nodded slightly, "The words are different, but they sound similar enough. The tone, the pronunciation and sound, it's like his speech,"

Integral looked to Walter, "Chinese?"

"Indeed, but simply because he speaks and looks Chinese isn't very helpful. We can't possibly pinpoint his origin simply because of his race! Especially not if he's Chinese, the possibilities of where he came from is near endless, even if we narrow it down to just the Asiatic countries,"

Integral nodded, and questioned Alucard once more, "What of his powers? I'm assuming he must have used them on you,"

Alucard grinned a little and nodded, "He's as much a human as I am, and he isn't a vampire either. But, besides healing himself, he never manifested any other power besides. I was hurt from a dragon bone sword," he chuckled as he said the last words.

Integral let it pass.

"A regenerator?" asked Integral cautiously.

"Heh, the same question I asked him. No, no, he is something more," Alucard raised his hand, palm outwards. With a slight shiver, the photo in Walter's hand slid out and floated into Alucard's instead. He held them up like Walter did before, to show them.

"He greeted me with much disdain. He possesses no fear, no apparent interest in what he does or what is it he was sent to do. He sees no need to conceal himself, and he possesses an as-of-yet unknown number of abilities, which I'm certain are close to rivaling mine if he wishes not to even use them against me,"

"And, he regards me as his junior," there was a slight laughter in his voice as Alucard stated the facts, the important ones, to his master and her butler.

"In his own words, his god is not our god," Alucard ended.

He was waiting, for the same conclusion to occur to the two humans as it had occurred to him while he recovered in his room, drinking packet after packet to gradually relieve the pain in his body and to heal it. It should be most disturbing news to Integral, but to Alucard, this was the start of a brand new game.

The vampires of old Europe were gone, and those of the new country were terribly flawed.

A refreshing, new adversary of untested proportions.

Alucard drew his tongue over his teeth as he contemplated this new sport. And he found himself anxiously waiting for the next round to start.

'It will be fun,' he thought to himself, rolling the thoughts of battle through his mind with playful indulgence.

He smiled wider and whispered quietly to himself, "Great fun,"

Walter was first to break the tense silence that had fallen, "At least we now can, quite safely, conclude he must be from out of the country, and probably out of the entire of Europe as well,"

Alucard replied with a silent grin. Walter adjusted his monocle as he studied the remaining photo, the one of the creature in full view, for the umpteenth time, before finally sliding it into his vest pocket.

"If some other religious zealot is running about London, it's one too many," Integral spat angrily, as she realized that the situation had just gotten bigger.

"We must never forget that the entire world does not...exist in the same way as Britain and in fact, the rest of Europe. The Asiatic region in particular, has its own beings to contend with, and they do so...differently, as far as I know. The creatures there are also far more varied than those of Europe, if all of the different cultures' abundant folklore is to be taken seriously," Walter addressed passively.

"However, that part of the world has never fallen under our jurisdiction, and even your father had little knowledge of the matters there. As far as the organization was concerned, it was only Rome perhaps, that posed a true foreign problem,"

Walter added steadily, "They did not wish to think much of the Asia continent. Of course, officially, their cultures and religions were of the heretics," he cleared his throat, seemingly apologetically.

"But not even Iscariot, in all their audacity, has ever dared to trespass into their affairs,"

Integra grit her teeth, not in frustration, at least not yet, but in anxiety. This was a situation none in her family had ever faced, and now she was to deal with a foreign affairs problem at all times.

The one time her migraine was an earthquake.

'Oh GRANDIOSE!' she subconsciously shouted in her head.

Alucard seem to notice, and guffawed quietly at the outburst.

"So, how are we suppose to capture this...foreign agent? If he is supernatural and working for someone,"

Alucard's beginning retort of a dragon being the one in control was suddenly, and forcibly, rebuked by his master's gaze before he had chance to utter a single word. He shrugged, and she turned away, satisfied, and continued.

"Then he will pay for these desecrations," she growled, with more than a hint of menace in her tone.

"That," began Walter with a note in his voice that signaled he was aware of a problem, a tone which Integral was quick was to pick up.

"Yes?"

Walter cleared his throat and looked meaningfully at Alucard, "Forgive me for pointing this out, but Lord Alucard was disposed off quickly and almost fully by this 'agent' last night, and still bears the after-effects of being struck by the 'toxin' the agent used,"

Alucard made a sound that was indistinct but seemed like a small huff of discontent, but he quickly composed himself and merely made a gesture of acceptance of the fact with a quick nod.

Walter continued with more ease, "If they were to fight again, there is unfortunately low possibi-" he caught himself and hastily remedied his sentence, "I'm sorry, I mean there is no guarantee of a certain victory this time round, as well,"

Integral pondered this for a moment while Alucard, with a silently growing displeasure from his wounded pride, began to make a few shotgun suggestions.

"If I can avoid his bloody blade, there would be little problem," he snapped, "I wounded him; he heals and recovers far slower than I. If I was to shoot him relentlessly, perhaps with a few other well-chosen attacks, he would be easy enough for me to dispose of,"

"That's assuming that shape-shifting and swordplay are all that comprise his abilities, Alucard. We do not know the extent of those abilities. What if they were beyond yours?" Integral rejoined, eyeing Alucard gravely as she noticed his loss of control.

"They will not be, you're ancestors made certain of that," Alucard replied lowly and dangerously, "The laboratory, Integral, don't forget the other door you passed ten years ago. I am beyond the devil's and man's makings,"

"On this continent," Walter stepped in coolly.

"This is someone from out of this country, out of our jurisdiction, and almost out of our hands. There is more trouble then the news of an unidentified creature or church burnings. We are on the verge of civil unrest with the Islamic and the Jewish coming under fire, and not to mention several zealous terrorists being 'inspired' by these burnings," Walter spoke gravely, his voice heavy as he tried in his best capabilities to relay the enormity that the Monster was simply impartial to, and the Master was deviating from.

"If we were to throw in the fact that an Asian mastermind was behind this; or worse, a dragon, as Alucard has been insisting; can you imagine the chaos that would cause? Officially, this fact might not be even mentioned since it is tied in the supernatural, but then again," Walter sighed, "Who is going to be the scapegoat?"

There was silence for a while, with Alucard pondering on the suggestion he was not able to handle the foreign agent; and Integral finding herself being rash.

'Probably from the migraine,' she thought to herself, but she knew she had forgotten the, excuse the expression, 'real-world' problems at hand.

'Honestly, the supernatural ones are trouble enough,' she grumbled to herself.

"Walter, while I understand your anxiety," she began.

The steward looked up, his face was once more calm and placate, but there was a hint of distress in his eyes, and Integral found herself trying to reassure him this time, as she spoke steadily, "First things first, we must eliminate or capture this agent, before his does even more damage,

Walter nodded in acceptance and understanding.

Suddenly, Alucard spoke up, "There's something both of you don't seem to understand,"

The vampire's voice was heavy with a tone of contempt, exemplified by his obvious surly mood. It incensed Integral, and made Walter uneasy.

"This 'man' is not an 'agent' or the sorts," Alucard continued, his eyes seem to flash dangerously, "He is like me before your family captured me,"

Alucard stood up without a support and peered into his master's eyes. The red tint in them seem to be glint a little as he spoke, "He is a wild creature, a being who walks unbidden on the earth. I told you he was as much a human as me. Even in that short time that I faced him, I could tell something about him was new, yet familiar,"

Alucard's voice was rising, and Integral found herself transfixed, and her eyes seemed to become sore and sorer as she stared into the crimson eyes of her servant, the eyes which were alive even in un-death. She could actually see the rise and fall of a long-dead heartbeat in them, a fire without light but of a far more solid and sinister form as it coiled in them, like a writhing serpent.

"He is an immortal, a true immortal. It was age that I smelled on him and saw in him. It was an age that I have not seen in anyone or anything in such a long time. And I'm even willing to admit," Alucard was laughing now, "That I am younger than him,

He added a toneless afterthought, "Perhaps,"

Alucard was leaning forward; his right palm was resting on the edge of the desk before Integral. She was pushing back against the influence the vampire exerting on her, as much as she could. Thought now, was hard for her and the pressure was nearly stifling upon her, but her mouth moved into an order, even as Walter was preparing to intervene as he slipped his fingers into his pocket, into the rings that wielded deadly steel wires.

Just in case, the steward thought to himself. But it was not a good situation. Integral was in ill-shape to exert her dominion on the vampire, and Walter knew that failure to do so, would present a most dangerous prospect to the vampire.

Walter was almost a friend to Alucard, but he did not want to see the vampire free. Not yet.

"Alucard," she began, her throat was tight as she continued, "Move, back, now, Alucard,"

The vampire was ignoring the order, but his voice became quieter, "Gonard, the dragon, he has enslaved him somehow. The dog has no interest in Britain; he burns the churches under orders to do so,"

The redness and excitement in Alucard's eyes were dampening, but Integral was still held in a constricted trance, though she was breaking from it bit by bit,"

"Now, Alucard," she breathed. There was fire now, in her eyes instead, borne of rage and fury at this lack of respect from her servant, and at her own lack of power and authority to control him from doing so.

Alucard was no longer looking into Integral's eyes, but he tilted his head upwards, not exactly at the ceiling, but perhaps to the sky beyond, "He is a tool of a dragon now, not of humans, but it is still the same,"

"Now, Alucard!" Integral growled loudly, her knuckles were digging into the wood surface with the effort, "Now!"

At that moment, the feel of constriction was lifted, and Integral lurched forward as her physical pushing against the vampire's influence became un-resisted. Walter immediately stepped forward and gave Integral a bit of support as she breathed heavily from the exertion.

She looked with a face of plain fury to confront the vampire, but Alucard had turned away abruptly and she faced only his back.

"I'll look into the 'Chinese agent' for you, Master," he said carelessly as he made a good retreat through the door.

"You don't need to give me the orders. I'll take care of the last church, no worries," he added, with a smirk as he turned and walked into the corridor, making the door close behind him so that he could cut off his master's extensive reprimand.

"Come back here!" Integral nearly screamed, but Walter did his best to calm her.

"Please, Sir! You must have your rest! It's been a long night," he tried to say soothingly, though he was still partially troubled himself.

"I think, it's best to let Alucard take care of this himself this time," he finished.

Integral was still in the fierce throes of fresh anger, but she found that it was quickly abating.

Indeed, she was just damned tired with the whole thing, the failure of the mission, the noisy tabloids and news crews, her servant being an absolute ass, the extra order of blood she had to get...

Right then and there, Integral was reeling from exhaustion and her steward quickly supported her to her chair to rest.

Walter walked away from the desk and stood in front of it, and bowed respectfully.

"I shall bring you a cup of tea if you desire, Sir. I'm assuming you are retiring for tonight," he spoke civilly.

Integral knew that it was not a question. She had the memory of when she was younger, and that Walter always said these words to tell her to go to bed on time. She felt that it was best to follow his subliminal advice this time as well.

"Yes, yes, just bring the tea to my room," she responded, as she stood up, preparing to finally leave her desk for the first time in four hours.

Walter smiled, "I would be researching more on this...'agent' as well, Sir. Hopefully, I'll have some more information by tomorrow afternoon,"

He bowed one more time before leaving the room.

Integral tidied a few of the papers on her desktop, not really caring since her sheer workaholic tendency was already pushed beyond limit and endurance.

A photo slipped out from one the files in her hands. It was of the paladin regenerator of Iscariot, Alexander Anderson.

"If some other religious zealot is running about London, it's one too many,"

She scowled.

Indeed, there was 'one too many' already.

She tossed the files away, and walked wearily out of the room, happy to just leave her troubles behind on a table top for tonight.

------------------------------------------

Note:The alternative one-shot fanfic "Pain or The Powertrip" is NOT a continuation of Midian (since this fanfic is a long way from ending just yet) BUT it does feature the same original character, Tian. Tian is the being I created to match up with Alucard as being a more powerful and much older being than him, and basically used his character template for the fanfic though it wasn't for much but the use of Tian's powers. You can see another wilder and more furious side of Tian's personality in that fanfic.

Maybe, if enough people ask, I'll write about Tian, but I really don't know where to put it then. Probably on my own website.

P.P.S. I apologize if this is the last chapter you'll read in a long time. I have Prelims and Exams to handle, and this must take backseat for now.