A/N: Hey, so...sorry about the loooooooong update time. Between being sick, having a huge load of homework, and a fairly painful death in the family, I haven't much been in the mood to write... As such, I hope that this chapter is at least ACCEPTABLE to those out there who have followed my story thus far. Enjoy
She was in the closet again. Peeping out through the slated blinds that made up the double doors of the storage space in her parent's bedroom. The fight had come here, after her mother had locked her in the closet and begged her to remain quiet…to remain silent and safe. Her mother was screaming…screaming and then…silence. Laughter, high and wrong, echoing in her head. Her father, calling out something unintelligible as he fought back. The sound of something shattering. Pain, tangible despite the distant knowledge that she was engaged in a dream, exploding in her head as their attackers shrieked with laughter. Almost vaguely she knew she was being watched, watched beyond the sense of the dream…as though there were someone standing alongside her in the dream itself. But though this registered briefly in her mind, it was set aside as the events progressed and the nightmarish setting dissolved into chaos.
'PAPPA! JUST RUN! JUST RUN! PLEASE GOD NO NOT AGAIN PAPPA RUN-' Her cries were soundless, the words dying before they even left her mouth. Her hands moved frantically around her feet, above her head, searching for something, anything, that could be classified as a weapon. This time it would be different; this time she would save her Pappa and they would leave this place and-
And it was no longer Eric Jones hanging on that cross. She could smell…smoke? Yes, she could smell smoke and a sound…something familiar whose origin she couldn't quite name… And then the pain, oh the pain, as her skin sizzled against the rough wooden cross. Her wide eyes rolled in her skull, mouth open and contorted as her soundless voice released silent screams; she forced herself to look down, only to discover with growing horror that she could not find the floor. Darkness stretched down from her lower legs seemingly forever, reaching out into an oblivion which had swallowed her legs. Her skin was melting, dripping from her bones and landing with audible, painfully loud 'plops' on the invisible floor. Pain exploded in her gut and she forced her eyes down, blood streaming in rivulets from her tear ducts, to look down at the source of this new and excruciating pain.
A fresh wave of horror and fear tore through her as she watched the pale skin of her stomach stretch…and stretch and stretch, as though something were pushing against the lining of her belly. An entirely new pain rippled through frame as her skin split and opened; blood poured from the gaping wound as her organs fell, lumped together, to land with a grotesque squelching splat on what Seras could only assume was the floor. Her hands jerked involuntarily at the shock and pain, face almost translucent with the loss of blood. What little strength she had possessed, up until that moment, was nearly gone, draining with the consistent loss of blood and trauma.
With what little strength she had left, head as heavy as a fifty pound weight, Seras lifted her gaze, mouth slack and hoarse despite the lack of noise which had escaped it.
Eyes…
~ooo~
With a sharp jerking motion, a scream on the very edge of her throat, Seras awoke. Instinctively she slammed herself upwards, only to meet the roof of her coffin with a velocity fast enough to leave her dazed. She dropped back to the coffin's plush, silky interior, fingers groping for the button which would-
She froze, fingers arched into claws as her eyes strained for something familiar in the darkness. Her memories were foggy, fear being the primary emotion occupying her mind, with panic quickly bringing up the rear. This was not her coffin; it was, in fact, far from her own coffin. It was nearly impossible to resist the urge to claw at the top-she could not move past the fear that had accompanied her from her dream and if she did not find a way to leave this coffin, she wasn't quite sure what would happen. Seras' chest began to rise and fall rapidly, increasing the prior feeling of dizzy nausea. Her body began to spasm, eyes rolling in her head as she slowly grew accustomed to the darkness. Despite the knowledge, lodged somewhere in the back of her subconscious, that she was on the plane to Austin and she was, in fact, as safe as she could be, Seras could not stop the panic which threatened to engulf her mind.
"If you don't stop that, you're going to black out… Highly unusual for a vampire, but still a possibility." Seras shrieked once more, throwing herself against the side of the coffin that she was closest to, causing the wood to crack beneath the pressure, curling herself against it as well as she could to minimize her body size.
"Master?" She squeaked, pressed nearly flat against the side of coffin. "Master, what are you DOING here? We don't share COFFINS!" Rather than an answer, Seras' panicked questions were answered with a warm chuckle and gloved hands around her arms, pulling her from the wall; she was only just beginning to realize that there was more room in the coffin than previously imagined. Doing a quick, loose guess on the size of the coffin, her panic and fear addled brain just barely functioning, Seras determined that this coffin was approximately twice the size of her coffin/bed hybrid at home; improbable, but she found, for some reason, that she was unable to recall the exact events which led to her being here in the first place. And though she would never have asked for such arrangements, she could see her Master choosing something similar in order to torment her, as he had been wont to do in the past week or so… Likely it had also been her Master's choice to install the plush, satiny interior… Something about that thought caused a rush of heat and fury to overwhelm her previous fear. Still squirming, mind racing to understand exactly what was happening (as she could not move past the point that Sir Integra would have been forced to okay the decision before hand), she pushed against him as he pulled her closer, ignoring her attempts to escape.
Seras opened her mouth, heated protestations and an endless stream of questions threatening to spill from her mouth, just as a gloved hand came to rest on her forehead. Quite suddenly she was overwhelmed by a feeling which could only be described as complete and utter ease. Her body grew slack, gaze blurry as her eye lids drooped uncontrollably. She felt as though she were in a hot bath, one which reached to warm not only her skin but her mind and her heart, the waters holding her steady and releasing her fear as gentle ripples ebbed against her body. She did not protest, now, as her Master pulled her closer, tossing a leg absently over her torso as he tucked his arm beneath her head for a headrest. She had lost even the will to be embarrassed by the situation, though she was able to file away her anger for another day.
"Much worse than previously thought…" Her Master's musing tone broke lightly through the fog, causing her eyebrows to knit together in confusion.
"Ma…ster… Wha..?" Though her eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness, she could not see as her Master shook his head. Rather, she felt the urge to sneeze as a lock of hair swept across her cheeks and nose, tickling the sensitive skin there. Almost giddily she was forced to push away the urge to turn and run her fingers through his hair… She could almost feel the silky tendrils between her fingers, sliding smoothly over her skin of its' own free will… Though she was fairly sure she'd entered some sort of dream-like state, she could not help but feel grateful to be free from the nightmarish landscape she'd been so entrapped within.
Curiously, she was aware that he smelled strongly of cinnamon.
"Sleep, Police Girl. We have several hours yet before we reach the States." And with that, she fell into a sleep far deeper than that which had so haunted her, the smell of cinnamon and the weight of her Master guiding her into a darkness which was blessedly free of memories and nightmares.
~ooo~
A rough landing drew Seras from her sleep sluggishly, eyes flickering open for perhaps a moment before she was drawn back down into sleep, tucking her head beneath her arms as though to ward of the coming noise. The sleep she'd had was… deep… right. The kind of sleep vampires were supposed to have, filled not with dreams or terror but darkness, and offering a restful feeling that could not be found in the simple act of drinking blood. Her limbs had even acquired that sleepy feeling; clenching her fist was a simple task but one her body did not wish to perform as she lay in the pleasant warmth of the coffin. Judging by the now gentle and almost subtle swaying movements she could sense, the plane was just about to finish taxiing, and soon they would be unloaded from the cargo bay and-
As though this thought triggered her memories to return, she jolted violently, remembering that it had not been her own arm she'd fallen asleep on. She shifted herself around and discovered, all at once, that she was alone. Blinking through the darkness, she hesitantly stretched her arm out, towards the side of the coffin, and was even more surprised when her fingertips touched the side of the coffin before her arm had even been fully extended. Seras frowned, tilted her head ever so slightly. She had been so sure that…her Master…
As the implications of what she was so sure had occurred flickered through her mind, Seras found herself nibbling lightly at her lower lip, gaze dancing this way and that as her mind whirred, returning to the moments during which her Master had…held her…had helped to ease the fear which had so encompassed her… Tears threatened the Police Girl's eyes as she finally broke through the skin on her lower lip. The bastard had been toying with her mind, making her believe that they were…together. The embarrassment she felt, now, at having allowed his….his proximity to affect her so was nearly overwhelming. Had she the blood left to cry…
With her head in her hands she allowed herself to sink into a sort of nonexistence, lost somewhere in-between conscious thought and sleep. As she drifted, her mind wandered, settling on a pleasant mixture of soft colors and static, the scent of cinnamon occasionally tingeing her thoughts with flashes of red and gold.
~ooo~
Seras was pulled from the light dozing she'd pushed herself into by voices and the sound of something brushing against her lid. The fairly consistent movement, once she had been unloaded (and yes, she had rolled her eyes with the thought) and then loaded onto their transportation, as they made their way to the hotel had lulled her back into a fairly steady doze. Slowly she brushed away the curtain of sleep which had settled at some point during the journey from the airport to their pre-paid hotel room. Every step of this excursion had been thought of before hand and planned well in advance; Integra had only brought Seras in to tell her of the assignment well after everything was situated. To a certain extent, this had left Seras with a nasty taste in her throat. To have been ignored throughout the entire planning process made her feel as though she were excess baggage. A simple number to factor into an equation which had nothing and everything to do with her.
Since this moment of clarity, Seras had fallen into a rather sour mood. It had followed her through the rest of the time spent preparing herself for the mission. It had clung, like a stubborn child, to her as she as lowered herself into her coffin and prepared herself to be boarded. It had whispered consistently in her ear as she had felt the pressure against her ears when the plane had taken off. Worthless. And then the nightmares had begun again; her fault, she supposed, for allowing herself to fall asleep. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden onslaught of light as the lid of her coffin was removed.
"There we are! We've finally arrived at the hotel…sure was interesting persuading these hotel folk to allow us the use of their ballroom; we couldn't fit these damn things in the elevator, and we didn't even think to try those narrow staircases. Though Alucard never seems to have any trouble with the ladies." Seras blinked through the blinding light, squinting as her eyes slowly adjusted to the shift in lighting. Stifling a yawn and disregarding the veiled comment slipped in with a chuckle, she pushed herself up, rubbing at her eyes whilst simultaneously running a hand through her short locks in an attempt to control her now unruly mane. It took only a moment for her eyes to adjust. With almost apathetic eyes she glanced around their surroundings. Her eyes lit on her Master, suited and free of his coffin with the appearance befitting a gentlemen of high caliber.
It was enough to send her reeling, blushing and furious as she stood and shook the sleep from her limbs; thankfully, her embarrassment went unnoticed…due to the fact that she had not the blood to produce a proper blush. Glancing around, she found the statement made when her coffin was opened to be fairly accurate. A high ceiling of bright gold, meant to appear held up by tall, elegant gold and sapphire pillars with spiral shapes, tapered to a point, suggesting that this room was off the main body of the hotel. Seras highly doubted that there was anything above it.
Her coffin, along with the one her Master had been "shipped" in, were on the floor a few feet apart. Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced only momentarily at her Master before settling her attention on the three soldiers, each in plain clothes attire, that Integra had sent to follow along as back-up. They were, to put it lightly, the best of the best of the best; more than enough solid reinforcements between herself and her Master. If it came to the moment where they were a necessity, she was simply not doing her job correctly. Seras glanced down at her own attire; a black pencil skirt and button down blouse of light blue accompanied by low heels that she had worn for the moments after their flight. It was, according to her internal senses, a little past noon. Their first meeting with the chief of police would not be until eight… Which meant that the best choice to spend the time, considering that the men each looked worn and ragged, would be to allow them to rest until then. She, in the meantime, would clean herself up and explore the city; she wished to see the crime scenes with her own eyes before the meeting and, with so much time to spare, it only made sense to do as much.
"Alright, boys! Let's get these coffins out of the way so we can adjourn to our rooms, eh?" She smiled brightly, hands on her hips as they groaned. Alucard, who had until this point been content to stand aside, snorted and strode towards the double doors, his boots making a light 'click' sound against the polished marble floors. With little more than a swish of hair, he was gone, disappearing through the floor as he made his own way to God only knew where. Seras retorted with her own snort, an eye roll on the heels of the un-ladylike noise. Before she allowed herself to get irritated she busied herself with determining where the coffins would be kept, where her room was (809 on the 8th floor) and where the men were staying (815 and 16, a conjoined room two doors down on the opposite side of the hallway). After accepting her room keycard, Sears gave them their orders, which they received with relative happiness, before she dismissed them and took care of the coffins.
All of this was accomplished within 15 minutes and, by 12:30, Seras was making her way up to the room. Already she was forced to admit that she was…impressed. She'd expected to be shacked in some sleazy motel whose manager gave her a look to end all desirous looks, and where the beds could no more be safely slept in than one could bathe in the shower without slippers of some kind. It appeared, however, that Sir Integra had spared no expense when choosing their hotel; 5 stars did not seem to be enough to describe the place they'd ended up in. What was the name? She searched her memory without success and was forced to refer to her keycard; etched in the most graceful script she'd ever seen were the words The Donovan Plaza. Almost absently she traced the delicate words with a single finger as the elevator took her to her floor. Her hands were empty besides the key and the lack of any sort of weapon left her feeling somewhat antsy as the boxed contraption made its' way slowly towards the 8th floor. Her luggage, which she hadn't seen since long before boarding the flight, had been taken to the room she would be staying in.
As the elevator eased slowly to a stop, Seras stepped gratefully from it to the light colored industrial carpeting, large diamonds centered in squares making up he design on the floor. She breathed a slight sigh of relief and, following the directional arrow on the wall, began her silent trek towards the room she would be staying in.
As she walked she allowed her mind to plan; the boys would be asleep for quite some time, and the meeting was not until later… she would shower, clean herself up, change into something a little more comfortable, and then head towards the sights of the murders. She knew, already, that protocol would demand that she and her entourage (that being Alucard and the three soldiers) would be brought by the locations on a more official standing; they would be expected to take notes and photograph every inch of the sites, despite the fact that each of these things would have already been done… Taking a little bit of time to examine the sites before hand would make her, personally, feel more comfortable with what she was dealing with.
More importantly, she felt that it was just something she needed to do.
Abruptly she found herself standing before her room; glancing down at her key card to confirm the room number, she slid the card in and opened the door simultaneously as the little light flickered to green. Sliding in through the open door, she gently shut it behind her, engaging both the deadbolt and the chain lock as her eyes scouted the room and her senses told her that she was, at the moment alone. Taking in a slow, deep breath (something she still did on occasion despite the lack of necessity for it), Seras leaned against the door for a moment, relaxing somewhat as she gazed around the rather spacious room. Even from where she was she could tell that , overall, it was a nicer room than even her own at the Hellsing manor. She strode forward, arms loosely wrapped around her midsection, nibbling thoughtfully on her lower lip. Though she attempted to exude the same calm feeling she was so carefully portraying, Seras could hardly stop herself from leaping about in girlish delight; the room was several steps above any living quarters that she had ever resided in.
The entryway, if that was the proper term, stretched only a couple of steps before opening up to a large, airy room. In the center of the room was a dining room table with enough sitting room to allow four people to sit comfortably. In the center of the table was a vase and a bowl; the vase was filled with fresh flowers that she had smelled long before she'd found them. The bowl was filled (laughably) with fresh fruit; a small card welcomed them to the hotel and wished them a pleasant stay. She snickered slightly but touched nothing but the flower petals as she strode past the table. Just past the table was an L-shaped couch, a dark red that complemented the lighter colored plush carpeting. Seras slipped off her shoes and let out a content sight as her feet sank into the carpet; silently she continued forward, careful to avoid the small coffee table which was situated in front of the couch. A glance to her right confirmed that there was, in fact, a large flat screen television hanging on the wall across from the couch. There was also a room just to the right which seemed to lead into a bathroom. Despite the dim lighting, she could make out a roomy shower and (were they serious?) a large bathtub and elegant sink and mirror combination.
Looking to the left, just behind the back of the couch, she saw a closed door she assumed was the bedroom. She could only imagine how the room might look; the living room area ended with huge, thick curtains of the same red coloring as the couch; she assumed she'd be offered a beautiful view of Austin once night fell and the city flickered to life. Seras had stayed in many motels and hotels in her life… and this place topped them all, and she hadn't even seen the bedroom.
"A girl could get used to this…" She muttered in amusement as she made her way to the bedroom. Her luggage was found just outside the bedroom doors, both of which she picked up before opening the door and depositing everything just inside. Her jaw dropped as she took in the immense bed, closet and bureau. She wasn't quite sure what sort of a hotel this was, but she was fairly sure she was in heaven.
"Don't get too comfortable, Police Girl." Seras somehow managed to swallow her shriek as she whirled on her Master's shadowy form at the door. "We're to examine the perimeter of the city before we meet with the Chief of Police." Seras couldn't help but twitch as he spoke; his words contradicted the plan she'd already formulated. The last thing she wanted was to spend ANY time with the man who had so invaded her thoughts.
"Listen, Master, I already have plans, and for your information-" She paused as she glanced over at the door where she saw her Master's coat hanging off a hook on the back of the door. Her eyes flickered to the bed, where an innocuous black suitcase was leaning against the bed's frame. Seras paled, an extraordinary feat for the already bloodless vampress, as her knees began to shake.
"M-M-Master… where… where are you staying?" She squeaked. She was not comforted by her Master's chuckle. Nor by the slow, liquid steps he began to take towards her, slamming the door behind him as he came towards her. As though they were incorporated into a dance, their steps matched each other; she stepped away as he moved forward, cat-like, eyes glowing in the dark.
"Isn't it obvious Police Girl?" He purred as he continued his slow approach, forcing Seras to retreat until the back of her legs hit the baseboard of the bed.
"I'm staying…right…here." He said, punctuating his words with slow, measured steps. "Or did I…forget to mention that we are sharing the same room?"
Quick A/N: You all must understand that I have never, in my life as a writer or fanfic writer, attempted to do a...well, a lemon. I will probably attempt one later in my story, here, but not quite yet. I hope there wasn't anything particularly annoying, and that it was at least worth reading. Ya'll are great; keep up the reviews, eh?