A/N: I own nothing concerning Hellsing, all credit to the writer.

The man known as Alucard lay in the stifled quiet of his domicile, the soft velvet more comforting than any bedding or security lights. All he needed was this wooden box, and he would enjoy an eternity in it, if only he could. Alas, the one pivotal factor that tore the two apart every setting of the sun, was the ravenous, increasingly urgent hunger, twisting his insides like old rope.

'If only I was rid of this,' he thought, stroking the plush fabric fondly, 'That is my only human weakness, the only thing that ties me to them.'

This thought soured his conscience, making the Prince of Darkness restless. He clothed himself using the hordes of his shadows, and swung the lid open into the darkness he loved so dearly. His personal chambers lay out in the uppermost spire, rows of windows allowing for a marvelous view of the valley the castle was built in. With the event of the previous night far away from his thoughts, the old vampire reminisced to when all the trees were just brush and saplings. He'd lain waste to the pitiful village of farmers and women and children on many a glorious night. He could hear the bawling of the children, the low cursing of the men, as if it were yesterday. But, times had changed, it wasn't so simple anymore. If you would kill a few hundred people in these times, Scotland Yard would be on his tail faster than he would be able to burn, or devour bodies.

He needed to stop thinking about all the fun times. All he required was his next meal, and he would feel right as rain. The man walked quite gracefully over the only piece of furniture in the room, a heavy cherry desk. Stacked in a large pile were English newspapers, the ones at the bottom beginning to yellow from age. On the other side was a bottle of wine, Alucard immediately tensed, gathering his shadows out of reflex.

"Come, come now, Alucard," a crisp voice carried from his coffin, "You won't even put up some defense for an old friend? Even after I brought you some wine."

The vampire seemed to relax at the voice, swiveling to see the creature.

If there was an exact opposite to Alucard in looks, this was the woman, standing next to his bed. Dressed in a man's worksuit, platinum hair wove it's way to her shoulders. The skin visible on her face glowed a light brown to contrast the deep unsurpassable amount of blue in her eyes. Though her clothes were meant for a man, everything seemed to fall perfectly on her waist, not a stitch out of place.

The European man gave a smirk, turning back to open the bottle, pouring himself a glass.

"What are you wearing? I was certain you weren't a man," the No Life King stifled a cackle with the back of his hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the woman was, in a flash, tugging on the collar to his shirt.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped," and the vampiric nature got the better of him. With one movement, he was pressing her body on top of the desk. His hands worked with the skill and precision of a surgeon, securing her hands in his strong grip. Around the sweet flesh about her collarbone, his lips worked to the pulse, dragging long breaths onto her neck. The woman didn't waver, almost seeming to revel in the man's one weakness.

"Why did you come here?" Alucard breathed into her ear.

". . . To see if you were still alive, after these long two hundred years, No Life King," the woman said.

Smiling into her neck, the man nipped at her pulse, each throb sending the slightly serrated canines further into her flesh.

"Integral," he whispered.

The familiar tang of blood coated his mouth, hungrily devouring the pulse. A few moment went by, synchronizing to each other in perfect unity. But after those minutes, the woman appeared bored, and pried the still bloodlusting man off of her with almost inhuman strength from the thin appearance of her arms.

Alucard saw that he was done, and after lapping the wound clean, collapsed into her lap, his head resting on her thigh.

"That's Miss Hellsing to you, mutt," the woman known as Integral laughed, slowly petting the dark locks absentmindedly.

"How is eternity treating you, Hellsing?"

"Apparently I fared much better than you."

"I'm surviving. . .I have no need for mortal pleasantries as money, or business."

"And with that solitude, comes your downfall," Integral murmured.

"I fail to see my demise."

"I'm done being your Master, Alucard, I can't tell you what to do," the woman touched the fading scar on her neck, "But, you need something more than the coffin and this castle. Be a monster, play some games. The human world is a lot more vast than it was one hundred years ago, and sooner or later, they will forget about you."

"This hardly sounds like the morally upright, extremely opinionated woman I saw last time she was human," Alucard chortled, sending vibrations into Integral's legs.

"All this coddling, you're more like a frightened puppy than a great and mighty leader, spelling his name out in blood across continents. This is pitiable."

"If you are so opposed to my ways, stay here, be my Queen of the Night," Alucard said, sitting up and downing the glass of wine. The dark woman seemed to debate this, pacing the floor with her index finger tapping her chin methodically. A cigar was lit, as the two looked at each other in silence, sizing the other up like lions in cages.

"Sorry, I'm not ready to be caught by the likes of you. Goodnight, No Life King," and with that the woman's body slowly began to dissolve into nothing but air. In a matter of moments, nothing was left but a cloud of cigar smoke to waft like a ghost, bearing nothing but bad memories.

A small frown crept onto the vampire's face, pouring more wine he stared out the windows into the waning moon amid the sleek clouds that encased the late night sky.

'Perhaps it is time I dial up some old business,' he thought, turning to his desk. It still lay neat and orderly, not a drop of blood or wine on the smooth cherry surface. He seated himself into the plush leather, settling into a rhythm of paperwork, thoughts of games dancing in his head. Different instances wove pictures into his subconscious, he had to contain himself from chuckling out loud.

"Hm. . .how about some cleaning personnel? Maids? Cooks? Perhaps a butler or two, sounds like fun."

-{One Month Later}-

Dearest Diary,

There is hope for me yet! Surely God has favored me, and I'm elated to find that a few of us from the great town of London have been accepted to a job. I've already sent word to Aunt and dear Cousin Amelia out in New York that I'll be moving, and gave them my new mailing address.

Though I haven't the foggiest who our new benefactor will be, I only know we're now on a train headed into the brave unknown of Romania. The sights here are spectacular, as well as the people, who are sturdy and as friendly as a shady oak. I shan't make this a long entry, for fear of waking one of the other passengers, though there may not be many.

Until next we meet,

Victoria Seras

Seras slowly put out the lamp sitting on the ledge to her window. In a huff darkness slowly slipped over the girl, a blanket lay over her figure. The slim contours of her body stretched out onto the bench. Though it was late, only around ten people still remained on the train, even the stewards had retreated to the front of the train for the night. Outside the now frosted panes of glass, the slowly rolling hills of the Romanian countryside passed for hours, civilization appearing further and further away.

The girl known as Seras resisted the urge to curl into a ball. Something about the eerie quiet of the night gave her chills up her arms. Out in the dark, anything could hide, waiting for those that could easily be taken in by the stronger and more foreboding shadows. In the dark, anything could happen, and out in the dark, people could lose themselves. For many years, she had been terrified of this ever-present monster that'd taken up many sleepless nights. Seras was far from a coward, but every man, or woman, had their weakness, whether great or small.

The only instance when she'd truly been afraid in the daytime, was a melancholic day in the quaint seaside of England. Seras was a spry age of eight, the memory was crisp and clear as glass. Her hair was going past her waist, and tied into braids that shimmered a strawberry blonde in the noonday sun. Her birthday had been two weeks before, and she stayed with her grandparents for the rest of the month while her parents were gone to a trip to Scotland to get the remainder of their things. Both Seras's parents, and her grandparents had agreed that moving down to live with the grandparents would be a wise thing.

The whole day was spent flitting about the fields down by the beach, wildflowers cascading over onto the satin sands like gems. Those moments could've lasted for an eternity, and Seras would've been more than happy to life it over and over. Unfortunately, her parents never returned at the end of the week. Her parents had been found at the bottom of a ravine, rocks piled atop their bodies, and their car a burned wreckage a mile up the cliff.

That night they'd finally found out about their whereabouts, the carefully trimmed locks were shorn, replaced with a spiky bob. Always slightly uneven and that is how they remained, as a painful reminder of those times when she'd truly been alone in the dark. Days of mourning whirled into months of mourning, a weight on her chest constricting every hope of herself being happy again. Her grandparents were long gone, and the only family she now knew were distant cousins living worlds away from where she was now. To say they were family would be an overstatement.

'No, I mustn't think of such things,' she thought, 'I'm safe here, day will come in due time.'

These thoughts pushed her further into the world of sleep, and the secure haze carried her to a dreamless slumber.

Alucard sorted through the rather large and increasingly obvious stack of paperwork from various shipping companies and manufacturers. An amount of work this size would take at least five hours more, and those were hours he couldn't afford. One of his many plans would commence in around three of those hours. The sun would be rising, and his coffin began to beckon from the opposite side of the room. All the preparations were complete, furnishings set out luxurious enough for a king, food prepared, and every inch swept clean. The only thing he needed to do, was stay awake. Sure, on occasion, he'd stayed up through whole days, but that was when he was much younger, and humans were still frightened to walk outside of their homes after six o'clock.

'Enough of this, I should be focusing on the game, it's so close I can feel it,' he thought, slouching in his office chair. He ran a hand through his now choppy hair. He missed his long, black hair. It'd been a symbol of his power, and how much was under his control. But, to appear with the times, he'd had to cut them, and they now hung over his eyes haphazardly. In the blink of an eye, it could grow back. But it was all about the image until one of these contestants was a winner. He could hear the train pulling into the station in the town, and he summoned clouds to cover the once bright and cheery sun. The blasted ball of flame made his eyes itch, and his skin crawl with pinpricks. With everything in it's place, he needed to prepare to greet his guests. Oh, he was so very close, it was only a matter of time.

"Walter!" Alucard called from his room. Hurried steps followed, and a prim and proper Englishman with a monocle entered through the heavy oak door.

"Yes, Mister Alucard?" Walter said, a slightly irked expression on his face.

"What were you doing?" Alucard asked absentmindedly while reading a particularly lengthy letter on his pile.

"Well, Sir, I had been sorting all the china, then I was planning on shining the coats of armor after this. I was almost done."

"Forget that, Walter. . .do it later. I need you to go and acquire our new contestants from the station down in town. Hurry now and you won't be too late," the vampire waved him off like a hound.

"Excuse me, Alucard, but even though Master Integral Hellsing sent me to assist you until your business is complete, I still haven't forgiven you for the incident fifty years ago," Walter said with a huff.

"Just be grateful I didn't bite off an arm or a leg, or more. You are certainly lucky to have found that way to immortality without becoming a monster like us. Anyway, I don't care about matters in the past, you are here to fulfill your orders, and you might as well get the most out of them. I may be able to show a few pointers on how to stay alive."

"Oh. . .I wouldn't worry about that," he said, waving his hands, and in a slicing motion, shredding Alucard's letter in two, "I have survived this long without your help, I'll be able to keep out of harm's way."

Walter left, and a few minutes later, a large horse-drawn carriage pulled swiftly out of the premises, leaving Alucard alone with the pieces of paper laying limply in his hands. Normally, this would've sparked a flare of anger, and he would've killed the man in a flash, immortal or not. However, Integral favored him for his loyalty and combat prowess. So he had to let this slide. Besides, there was no way any sort of sour notes could ruin this day, or even these weeks.

Opening a small drawer in the desk, he pulled out several manila envelopes. A slight smirk danced on the corners of his lips, looking at the black-and-white photos. One was a withering man with half-moon spectacles, a young dark-haired girl in her teens, a middle-aged woman with wrinkles assaulting her forehead and others still remained under the pile. They all looked the same, no matter what the age or ethnicity, they all seemed to gaze with a hollow, hopeless stare. But, surely it was not his plan to bring forth the most unhappy humans in the world, but to give them more grief and heartache.

Seras stood huddled in the mass of people that'd gotten off the train, her coat shielding most of the winds and cold. The sun was nothing but a glimmer in betwixt the clouds that'd overtaken the sky. It was late morning, and their stomachs were full with the bounty of food served on the train. But everyone's jolly mood was beginning to wear off, waiting for their coach to pick them up. None of the houses here looked grand enough to need maids or handymen, except perhaps the chapel, but the way the priest glared out from behind the stained glass windows at them from across the town-square, anyone would've chosen walking through the bitter winds than going into the hollow church.

The whole square was cobbled with stones, some cracking and some missing. There were no venders out to sell their wares, and even the occasional pedestrian seemed happy to meet you, but the urgency to get back to their house seemed to be far more important. To say it was bustling, it was anything but.

The lot of them stood, their belongings in hatboxes or small trunks, nothing more than two things to carry, and only had small satchels. Most of the people Seras stood next to stared into space, idling their brains and didn't speak to one another. Transitioning from the bustling London streets to these desolate, dead walkways made Seras feel like the worst form of outsider. A sigh of relief blossomed from the bottom of her chest as a friendly face sat atop a dark carriage that'd pulled up to their hodgepodge group of people. He seemed very sleek and upright as he greeted them all as they in turn filed into the spacious coach. He seemed to shoot glances to each of them, his mouth frowning ever-so-slightly. Seras didn't bother on the subject much longer, she would now have a home, and a job that earned her enough to live on for a long while. From what the description in the ads had said, it was everything it had promised to be.

Author: Sorry to everyone, I was off by a few days! I've been dealing with the past two weeks of exams, I'm hoping to get a new chapter out within the month! Thank you to everyone who favorites or reviews this, anything helps.

Seras: Next time, you should actually follow through with your promises!

Alucard: Oh, hush! She's just trying to have a bit of fun. *Evil grin*

Author: Please STOP! Your face WILL freeze if you keep doing that!