Seras supposed it was world-weariness that finally caused Alucard to act outside of his usual parameters. Integra and Walter had been deceased for little over two hundred years. Anderson had been defeated in a seemingly endless battle a hundred years ago, and it had just been the two of them for so long. No decent fights to sate him, the creators of the FREAK chips dealt with long before they could grow into a genuine threat, there was just the two of them picking ticks off cities and towns.

Their lives slowed into an easy retirement. With little to excite either of them, the years were spent wandering the world and slumbering.

Alucard ceased being Master decades ago. Somewhere along the way he became too familiar to be an authority figure.

His mind a constant presence in her own, he could make it feel near physical. A liquid that would occasionally sluice down her neck and drip between her ribs, then flow through the sinew in her muscles. She had accepted him wholly so long ago that his casual ownership over her body didn't phase her.

She had the same ownership over him. When reminiscing about Integra, or Walter, or just the old days, she would reach out to him through her third eye. He'd let her explore the haunted fortress that was his body, apathetic to it, while he'd close his mind to her. She felt tendons that didn't connect to bones, organs adrift in his chest. She started as a guest within him, then his body became like a second house.

On slow nights when she felt young again, like she was somehow being rebellious similar to when he first turned her, she'd slide as easily through his consciousness and body as he would through hers. He'd chuckle and they'd explore each other meticulously, each trying to one-up each other by recreating old wounds or constructing abnormalities in their forms. In separate rooms or even separate buildings they'd move throughout each other for no reason other than boredom, and because what else was there for them to do?

It was that familiarity with his body, knowing it like a house she grew up in, that made her indifferent to the first time his crooked arm snaked around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

"This is where you're supposed to close your eyes," he said, perhaps feeling whimsical, then kissed the corner of her mouth.

Him exploring her body through his mind was standard, exploring it hands on was slightly unusual. Even with him inside of her, his bare chest against her own, she felt nonchalant about the situation. The two-hundred and something year old virgin was a virgin no more, and she couldn't care less what it meant for her. They'd already learned each other's bodies inside and out, sex was merely a physical application to what they'd already been doing.

But even still, it was out of character for him. His mind was walled off as normal so she could only rely on presumptions; she supposed it was because he missed Integra, perhaps he wanted to assert their bond, maybe it was just a way to occupy eternity.

It never felt passionate and she had no desire to experience it through that lens. She'd watch couples hold hands in the streets or throw themselves in each others embrace and scoff. Thinking of doing that with Alucard was ludicrous. Sex between their minds and bodies was a way to pass the time. Humanity was several lifetimes behind her and kept getting further away, as was longing for romance. Instead of tender interactions, she'd spend days in bed with him, naked while his spindly hands enclosed her sides and back, chatting about all manner of topics. They could've been talking like this while investigating a town or while maintaining weapons, instead it was while their bodies were united.

Very rarely, during an ebb in conversation, she'd absently lower her head into the crook of his neck. When he'd resume talking or laughing she'd feel his chest vibrate. He'd stroked the back of her head and call her 'my Seras'. It was love, it occurred to her one day, but not romantic. Like loving your arms, she felt unable to exist without him. Conceivably, he felt the same.

Eventually, physical sex ceased just being penetration between two human bodies.

"Ready to release your human restraints?" he teased, as if she was freshly turned and a metaphorical foal on wobbly legs.

The restriction seals had been abolished centuries ago as Integra's last sneer to the departments that betrayed her. Now they were free to release how they pleased. Their skin would peel away. Shadows would unfurl from within and stretch out. He'd pierce the mass she was and draw her to him. Two corporeal forms melding. She ceased to be Seras and became Alucard. The unneeded marrow in his bones, the pores in his skin, she made the tendons connect. She wasn't necessary for him to exist, but made him fuller when she was there.

Then she'd fall away and become Seras again. She'd flex her toes and remember she was her own entity. Sometimes she'd ask if they could do that again.

It was so selfish of them. She'd become so selfish as she'd gotten older. Their forms would spill out of rooms and across whatever building they were in. Once they'd caused a city-wide emergency when they'd consumed a whole three-story hotel while doing this. Alucard, the eternal bastard, had been aware and had let it happen. Too lost in the sensation of blending their wavering anatomies, she didn't realise what had happened until heavily geared police had burst through the door and ordered them to evacuate while they lay naked together on a bed. A few days later on the news she'd seen that black shadows had spread throughout the corridors and covered the entirety of the building for days. For the first time she felt embarrassed because technically they'd been caught in the act on camera. Humans just didn't realise what they were looking at.

He continued to do things which were unusual for him. One day, upon separating, part of him snapped away and remained within her body. It was a small and insignificant part of him that he could regenerate for his own body, within hers however, it would grow into something else.

She could've destroyed it easily. He told her he didn't mind if she did and she believed him. She spent a few days thinking on it, and without serious consideration decided to let it stay and grow within her.

She must be becoming like him. Restrained to the confines of Earth and the blandness of the human surroundings, she let it develop to escape the monotony of her existence.

It spent years within her, growing so gradually and with such carefully fed precision there was no mistaking they cared about it. They dictated it's growth and shaped how it fit within her. She gave it access to her body to take the bits it needed to cultivate. It ceased only being a part of Alucard that was growing within her and became something of hers as well.

"Well now, this should be fun," was the closest Alucard got to admitting he was looking forward to it's arrival into the world.

Just like it's father, it had to make it's entrance theatrical and bloody.

Birthing the mass was quick and painful. It ripped away parts of her during the process and absorbed them into itself while shrinking into a solid shape, then immediately latched onto her to feed. Compared to what had immediately preceded that she may as well have been bitten by a mosquito.

"You've never fathered a child before," she said as the babe finished nursing. She couldn't move, she couldn't feel. She was stuck somewhere between an amalgamation of human, shadow and blood.

"No," he stated while picking up the newborn with his bare hands. She recognised he was assessing a threat. "Did you think I had?"

"I presumed," she said, then fell into a deep, deep sleep.

She wanted to wake up so she could be there for her child. It was like there were hundreds of heavy blankets on her halting any and all attempts at movement. She felt Alucard feed her while she was unable to do it herself. He was providing the needles and threads she needed to sow herself back together.

When the blankets finally slid off her, she woke lying on her side, clear-headed and concerned. The first thing she saw was her child staring at her, standing next to the bed and uncertainly male or female. Their hair was a deep black and eyes a vibrant red. Alucard's long legs were stretching behind them.

"Your mother at last awakes," the father announced and gave a slight push. "Go on now, don't be scared."

"I'm the one they're scared of?" she asked while opening her arms and letting her tentative child fall into her embrace. "What's your name, my lovely?"

She hugged her child as a human mother would. Holding them against her was the most perfect thing she'd ever felt. It was far better then melding with Alucard. Their little body was warm and soft. So human considering what had brought it into the world.

He had the decency to give them a splendid name, but she couldn't help but also call them Kitten. Small, warm and soft. Eventually her father began calling them that too.

She'd missed the first years of her child's life and it showed painfully. They were uncertain around her and hesitant to receive her affection and teachings. They looked to Alucard for confirmation on statements and was as detached from human society as him. They didn't open their third eye to her and only communicated using human language.

Endless love was what got her through to Kitten and soon they became as joyful as her. Alucard said more than once they had her pink skin and eternal exuberance. They came to her for attention and praise, then teachings on how to navigate human society and cultures. Their father taught them the powers of vampires and how to respect humans. They both gave lessons in how to fight.

Alucard settled. He rerouted any boredom into guiding their child. Occasionally she'd catch him grinning at them so she'd have to bump his hip with her own. Through their minds she'd tell him they're doing a good job at raising a monster.

Truly a mix of two of them, they grew to love and protect human society while always holding them at arms-length. So happy and arrogant. Looked human, yet could change forms at will. Both male and female, sometimes shifting between sexes whenever they felt like it. Unhurriedly, they matured until they conclusively became an adult.

They existed together, apart, in pairs, drifting through the world while always feeling each other's presence. Her and Alucard continued operating as partners in a silent conflicts, showing their child the difference between them and the riff-raff of standard vampires.

Eventually it became much the same as it was before Kitten was in the world. The two of them were in retirement and battled to their fancy. Their child, having never met Integra or experienced Incognito, took each challenge with confident air.

"You two don't love each other, do you?" Kitten asked her one day.

"Hm, not in a romantic husband and wife kind of way," she agreed. "We do love each other, just more so as close friends."

"Then why have me?"

That tripped her up. She didn't feel it appropriate to tell them it was to alleviate boredom or simply 'because they could'. She realised she had no idea why they had a child together. All she had was guesses on his motives and her own.

"Well, because we still love each other," was all she could conclude. "Because we're going to be together for a long time."