A/N: Wow. It's been a while. I was having some fun over there with the medieval story I've been working on, but I can't forget this baby. It's time to post this, whether I like it or not. I'm actually quite nervous, but hopefully I'll find my footing again with this one.

Scene changes aplenty in this chapter. You've been warned.

And, as always, chapter is subject to change. God, help me if I do.

Disclaimer: I do NOT, in any way, own Hellsing or the characters in it. It is owned by Kohta Hirano, Dark Horse Manga, and any other business or people who assisted in creating these fascinating characters!

.•*´¨`*•.

Unprepared

"So," Seras giggled, "This is your secret spot," she scanned the tops of the buildings and let her eyes trail along the Thames.

Alucard lay back onto the rooftop and stretched his legs out, "Ahh…yess," he grinned and inhaled deeply, "Many a time did I come here for solace and comfort."

His fledgling watched him nestle comfortably into the tiles of the roof with some amusement and decided to lie down next to him, shoulder-to-shoulder. It had been a long time since she had seen him this relaxed -not that he was ever on edge. That was more of Integra's job. But in this scene he looked especially at ease. With nothing to do for the first time at night, no orders to be completed, the two of them just enjoyed their time.

She could see the London Eye, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and even St. Paul's Cathedral if she squinted her eyes. Alucard thanked the quiet image as there were no humans around; there was the occasional ruckus from a few bumbling idiots that stumbled out of a pub, but their laughter and noises of retching could easily be tuned out by their ears.

He pointed to the abbey, "There is where I would have been crowned your king," he moved his finger to the Houses, "I would have burned that to the ground and erected a castle in its stead-"

"What? Why?"

Alucard looked at her, amused, "Police Girl, it represents everything that an overlord ruler would hate. I demanded total reign. I never deferred to my subject's wishes, or the nobles, or officers, and I certainly would not for elected officials. I was the Law, Word, and Truth. Erecting a castle where it lay ashen would prove my point, don't you think?"

She groaned, "Well…Guy Fawkes would have approved the dismemberment of it, but you would not have gone far before being stopped."

"Please," he stated in disgust, "Petty guards were no match for me," he continued cheerfully, "I would garrison this like a fort, put patrol guards on every street corner, and be entertained by weekly beheadings. My streets would be running with blood frequently to remind the people of what they would have forgotten."

Seras dared to ask, already noticing his eyes lighting up wildly to his dreams, "What would they have forgotten?"

"That their lives are a privilege to live, not a right; that they have their freedom in exchange for their silent, obedient cooperation; that they have no choice but to obey the law and conform, or perish by the headman's ax," his voice grated out in a low, monarchical ring.

"And what of justice, temperance, and mercy? They are more than just words in the dictionary. They define a true king from a tyrant. A true ruler never seeks war, he is simply prepared for it," Seras countered.

"My, you do have my strong blood in you," he regarded her proudly, "But I never said I was not a tyrant, my little one. You'll find one day that alone a person is smart, cunning, calculating, and brave. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you would know better than most from your Police Academy training. If you can succeed in subjugating a large enough crowd, everyone else falls in line and you have only the exceptional pests to worry about in comparison."

She gave him a contemptible glance, but he failed to notice, his face transfixed on the imagined vision. Seras let out an exasperated sigh and relaxed her body back into the tiles. She only had a fraction of his blood in her, that is, until he decided to turn Seras fully into his Draculina. His blood was strong, so strong she sometimes did feel the urge to fight battles in downtown London day in and day out. There were even days where she had to force herself to stop hunting, else it seemed the chase would consume her, or her mind…or both. She could only imagine the intensity that Alucard experienced. She had a much lower concentration compared to him.

"Now you understand why I would occasionally slip out undetected," he read her mind, "Escape is so very tempting. So help me if it weren't for the seals, I'd be able to," Alucard lamented.

"You don't mean that," Seras stated sharply, though she said it more to convince herself than to disagree with him.

"Don't I?" he asked, "I am the NoLife King, little one. I am your creator. The creator. The King of Vampires. The most dominant of them all. And yet I was saddled and bridled by and for the Hellsing Organization. Every vampire would long to roam free again -even you," he gestured out to the open horizon, as if it were beckoning him, "My body will forever wish to be free of this hateful indenture."

"Master!" she reacted as if what he said was sacrilegious, "Please, stop thinking that way."

He closed his aged eyes, suddenly aware of the weight his old form had on the less-than-comfortable rooftop, "Police Girl…my body is old, my spirit all but worn away to nothing, cast into the pit of damnation. Integra knows this. I know this. I am tired, and someday in the near future I will need to leave. I will need to return to my homeland and be buried there once more. We all know that you are to take over operations here at Hellsing."

Seras reached for his arm, as they both lay there, and gripped it with all of her strength, "Not. Yet."

He looked into her round blue eyes and sensed fear and doubt crowd her mind. She had absolutely no confidence that she could run the place, despite thirty years of material that would severely disagree. Now that he was back, Seras was doubting herself once more. Doubting, yes. Fully submissive, mewling slave? No. She was decidedly different now, and Alucard guessed if he pushed hard enough she would be ready. For everything.

"I love this moment," Seras whispered, trying to forget his earlier comments, "This is just perfect. The lighting of dawn almost approaching, the quiet, and only a small breeze to accompany one's thoughts…it's quite surreal."

"To allay your fears," he side-tracked, playing with a small tress of her hair absentmindedly, "We all know you are capable -well, all but you, apparently."

She hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally smiling at him, "That may be so, but that doesn't mean I want you to leave so soon," he felt her grip tighten on his arm even more.

Alucard's head turned to magnify his content stare onto her, "Am I to understand you wish for me to overstay my welcome?"

Seras grunted disapprovingly at that statement. He had overstayed his welcome five lifetimes over, at the very least. "If by 'overstay' you mean remain where you are needed, then yes. We all still need you. Sir Integra needs you. Hellsing needs you. London needs you. Hell, the world needs you now," she nudged his shoulder as they lay together, "But, most importantly, I need you."

He followed up with tisk noises, clearly disappointed, "Police Girl, what have I taught you about human feelings? You resist my teachings in that regard over everything else, even blood-drinking. What possesses you so?"

She whispered softly then, knowing that the truth had to finally reach the surface, "You," she cleared her throat, appalled at herself, "I mean you and your damn blood."

Alucard blinked a couple of times before his facial features animated, "Well, my charm and bravado is known all throughout the heartland, but, if I were a guessing man, I'd say you just started to sound like a true bride of Dracula." He looked upon her in a new light as he propped his head up with an arm.

She had maturely beautifully, his ambitious and power-crazed blood becoming more potent with each passing year. He could smell it on her, and what a glorious scent she radiated. Like wine, her blood would only become ripened with age and maturity. Furthermore, she was speaking to him almost as if he were an equal, and she was certainly acting as such. Even still, it wasn't possible for her to mature into his final bride, was it?

Was it… time?

Seras wriggled on the tiles for a moment as she watched him scrutinize her, feeling a sudden urge to justify her reasoning, though she hardly had to, "I…You are my master. We have a deeper connection than the seals on your hands which condemn you to an undead life of servitude. With that connection come…feelings. Strong feelings. They grow stronger as a vampire fledgling matures, master. You know this."

"Strong enough for master and servant to eventually become bonded by night, by freedom, by their own will, of their own accord, of their own volition. Their souls bound to writhe in eternal agony in the fiery pits of Hell, forever intertwined," Alucard's eyes darkened with each passing sentence. He looked at Seras with a challenging smile, his whole body rising in animation as he sat up and fully faced her.

Seras noticed instantly his change in demeanor and sat up herself, "I…I want this," her voice raised as the end, almost like it was a question, "I want to be with you forever, master, so that when Integra dies you and I will still have each other."

He leaned in closer and inhaled slowly, "We would be together, not as master and servant, but as King and Queen."

"Of what?" she asked as innocently as possible.

His grin was the only answer. "Are you sure you want this?" It had been roughly one hundred and fifty years since he had last attempted to fully convert a fledgling, but to truly know if Seras was ready he had to agree and gauge her reaction. If she wasn't ready, she would pull out, and he sensed her hesitation.

"I think-" her gaze flew to the horizon, "I think on the eve of battle, a battle we both sense is coming, the mind becomes clear. I want this more than anything. I wish to be with you for the rest of time," Seras told him the truth. And it was true. Throughout her whole vampiric existence she had desired to finally be regarded as his equal and remain at his side for the rest of his undying life. Were she not his fledgling, she would not perpetually be battling her erupting emotions for him. She had pushed them aside thus far, with only a minor breach in bringing her feelings to his attention the night he had returned, and had decided to face the situation instead of repress it.

Alucard felt his fangs lengthen as his form towered over hers. His body screamed at him to take her for his, finally. His cravings flared inside as her words were tinder to his desires' flame. Alucard inched closer to her until his face was not an inch from hers, "Say it. Again."

Simmering eyes watched as she stammered for a moment, unsure of what specifically was about to happen. Her instincts told her to jump out of the way, because the longer she stayed immobile the sooner he seemed ready to pounce. A part of her wanted this, but the other part scolded at her for awakening the beast. Seras knew she wanted her master -maturity could account for that. However, she did not have his ambitions, she did not have his desires to rule over anything with lethal force, and she did not want to be his Queen. She just wanted him. If that meant she had to take him on, then so be it, but she would have to be as strong as him.

"I want to be your bride, master."

A deep, feral growl exited Alucard's lips as he took hold of her shoulders suddenly, "And who am I?"

Seras saw her own reflection in the pupils of his hollow eyes, but all she saw was a madman who had lost everything hundreds of years ago. A madman who had killed thousands. A madman who had killed his own people, who had killed his own brides, who had forsaken everything and tossed away his own life as a bonus. Insanity was bred in his mind, so potent that it poisoned others with its touch, poisoned minds like Integra's. The knight brought much welcomed bloodshed, but it was Alucard's mind that marred hers into thinking that the ends truly justified the means. It was his mind that convinced her to use him unsparingly, mercilessly, heartlessly, ruthlessly, and relentlessly.

After all, he was nothing but a tool to be used. He was nothing and everything, for Integra needed him every day of her existence as well. Were it not for Alucard's existence, the Hellsing Organization would have perished long ago. He meant nothing and everything. To everyone. And he especially meant everything to Seras.

It didn't matter to her that he was beyond redemption, that his soul was bound to Hell, that he was the closest thing on this earth to Satan incarnate. None of those things mattered the instant he took Seras's blood and formed a bond to her. To Seras, only Alucard's existence mattered. As long as he was, she was whole. Madman or not. Sane or insane. And perhaps his blood within her was talking, but she would have him either way.

Seras closed her eyes, "You are my master, Count Dracula."

She barely formed the sentence when she felt his body press against hers, easing himself on the tiles as he gently righted her underneath him.

Seras watched him gaze intently down at her, one hand holding her head up gently and the other resting on her hip. She numbly placed her hands on his forearms, weary of what was to happen next. Waiting for his move was torturous. He lay there on top of her, not in an uncomfortable way but proving his dominance over her. His predacious grin to her submissive gasp only further proved his status even more. He explored her body freely, starting with contact to her mouth as it dove upon hers. Although taken by surprise, Seras did not appear to mind in the least. In response, her hands furled his shirt in their clutching, iron grip as she held on, battered at the same time by both his deep kisses and the whirlwind of emotions trying to take ground inside her.

"M-master?" she murmured against his lips.

"Don't speak, Seras," he distracted her question away using her name.

She wished to rip her mouth from his, to come up for air, to break away, but the commonality between all of those wishes was that she did not need to, and, the further the heated moment unfolded, the less she wanted to. Alucard pulled back and began planting smoldering kisses along the nape of her neck and down to her collarbone. Seras intertwined her fingers into his black locks, watching her master kiss her as if he wanted to consume her. She was receptive to his delicious touches and strokes, but a sudden urge to disobey her master's response -oddly common these days- caused a hiss from her. She had had enough orders directed at her in such a pejorative fashion.

"Wait. Stop. N-no. Don't tell me what to do," she gripped his arms and tried to pry them off.

"Shush, little one," Alucard snarled and tightened his grip until she raked him across the face with taloned nails. He was struck by her behavior and paused for a moment, giving her time to shove him off and sit up with inhuman speed.

"I've had enough!" she wiped off his intoxicating taste and gained some semblance of space, "You! You are belittling, derisive, derogatory, adverse, disagreeable, abusive, insolent, and damn offensive! You just swat me away like I am a child. I won't stand for it any longer! I have done what you could not! I have saved the Hellsing Organization from imminent collapse, I have saved Integra more times than you have a care to know, I have assured safety and peace for the Royal family, and I have done ALL of this ALONE," she shouted, unsure why she brought this up...probably to prove herself to her master in some way.

Alucard chuckled in derision, "What you have just described I have done for the Hellsing family for generations."

"Yet you know nothing of what it is to be someone's fledgling! You have no conception of what it is to be beneath someone. Yes, you are a servant to Sir Integra, but you were a grown vampire by the time you had met her -had been for hundreds of years. You hang on Sir Integra's every word out of your...your manly cravings," Seras choked on a sentimental lump in her throat and scooted away from him further, "You lust unconditionally, you tossed your heart and soul to the Devil, and your one passion is ambition to a fault. What you truly crave is pain. It's the only thing left that you feel. You enjoy the pain Sir Integra gives you, sadomasochist, but the other, more normal ones of upbringing, of which I am a part, rather appreciate being treated like an equal," she glared at him with clenched fists and bared teeth. When he began to grin, she felt like tearing his face to shreds.

"You must earn your equality, Police Girl. Clearly you have forgotten the process," he shook his head, "Equality is a privilege, not a right, and especially not when you want to ascend to your master's level."

Seras swallowed back the last of the lump, calming herself, and nodded, "...I understand. But I want you to know this: if there is anything that you have taught me, it is that in your absence I was able to survive without you. I am choosing to be with you because I want to be with you, not because you ordered me. I am here of my own volition, and I can leave just the same."

He smirked at her, beckoning the girl with his finger in a hook-like motion, "Indeed, yet here you sit."

She looked straight to her master and reflected his expression back, "Ha! And here you sit, as well. You want me to stay with you. I can see it. I can sense it."

Alucard's expression turned muddled for a moment, but his eyes darkened, "I will want you when you have proved yourself worthy of my company as an equal, fledgling. Until then, you shall remain beneath me."

Seras tensed her muscles for a moment at the insult, but then she relaxed, warming up to the challenge, "Alright, my master," she grinned back at him, "Bring it."

He snapped tantalizingly, crouching in a poised position ready to tackle her, when the elder paused in mid-act.

She hesitated as well, releasing her glare and focusing on the sky above. A wave of blazing energy struck Alucard's mind suddenly as he jerked up onto his knees. Seras, a second later, gasped and followed suit, desperately trying to concentrate and locate the source.

"Did you feel– OH MY GOD!" she shielded her eyes as a flash of blinding white light burned her retinas along with a crack that near destroyed her ear drums.

The explosion lasted a few seconds and the light flickered out like a candle in the wind. Alucard hadn't covered his eyes, and when he turned around to find Seras, he blinked to find eye-cells peeling off. They instantly shed away like a snake, and he was healthy once more, but the respite was short-lived. Both of their keen sixth senses combined noticed nature and the environment around them shudder for a moment of soundless din that erupted and shook the environment in a gripping escalation that both felt resonate in their bodies. The light forewarned of what was to come.

He instinctively reached for his fledgling, "Police Girl."

"Yes?"

Seras wiped her eyes as she saw birds from every tree branch all around panic in an uproar of squawking as they made a mass exodus out of London and migrated to the east. It was accompanied by the shrieks and wails of dogs, cats, and horses who could not accompany them.

"I think we had better get back to the mansion. Now," he phased into thin air.

.•*´¨`*•.

Albert tossed and turned in his bed until the dream caused him to shoot up in his covers. He gasped for air and clutched his chest as he shivered. The dreams were getting increasingly worse. He sat there for a while just concentrating on breathing and felt his pulse slow down back to normal levels. Checking his handy pocket watch, he noted the time and pulled out his journal to make another entry of the episode.

But in the process of placing his journal back into its drawer after writing, a small object fell out and to the floor. He paused to look at it, only to have memories flood his mind. It was small and circular with a glass plate in the middle, and a chain attached to it -a monocle. The only thing left of his grand uncle's that he was allowed to have. He remembered the day Integra gave it to him, as she had found it after the Great Battle of London.

He thumbed it for a moment and smiled. Even though he knew of the great treachery his relative had done, the new butler never stopped loving his grand uncle. Albert remembered the visits that he would get on Christmas from the old man, the presents, and the never-ending cards and money he received for each birthday. He was almost a surrogate father to Albert, and he never forgot how every little bit helped his education.

The old man may have betrayed his country and Hellsing and the Protestant Church and the Crown, but that did not take away all of the good that he had done over his life.

Albert sighed, disgusted with his cliche thought process, and tossed the object back into the drawer on his nightstand. He yawned and stretched his limbs out. It was 4:00AM, and time to rise for the day. The sun had yet to appear, but this was normal for the young man as he slipped out of his pajamas and fumbled around in his closet for a pair of slacks. Throwing the pair on his bed, he opened the curtains and the shutters to his small window. The glass was freezing as he pressed two fingers gently on it.

"Today is just as another d– WHAT THE HELL?" he shouted as a blinding white explosion on the horizon blurred his vision for a few seconds and a deafening crack resounded throughout the land moments later.

It was massive, and though it almost felt like his eyes were boiling in their sockets, he could not find himself looking away from the sight. Even the glass on his fingers felt like it warmed slightly as the explosion subsided and a gigantic plume cloud grew in its wake. Albert's heart immediately raced again as he ripped his coat off of the hanger and ran to Integra's room, only to find out that the explosion had blinded him completely.

"INTEGRA! I-INTEGRA!" Albert tripped on the stairs as he crawled up. His vision slowly returned, but he could only begin to see along his peripheral and gray outlines. Reaching out to the railing, he hoisted himself up and stepped cautiously until he reached the top.

From there, he made a mad dash to her door and knocked loudly. Hearing no response, he bashed the door in with his own adrenaline-pumped body weight. He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Integra sitting up in her bed rubbing her eyes with a pistol fixed on his chest.

"My Lady!" he exclaimed, "Did you see the explosion?"

"Yes, Albert, through the draperies. What the hell was that?" she glanced at her window, "It lighted up my room brighter than the light God could bring on the Second Coming."

"I believe it was a nuclear explosion. Where, I do not know," he rubbed his eyes, "It has temporarily blinded me, Sir. We should get you underground in the event of an attack."

"Blinded you?" she asked with great concern.

"Temporarily," he reminded, "I think I was in the periphery of a nuclear explosion. I may also have slight radiation poisoning as well. I shall know in less than a half hour. Retching," he explained when she gave him a confused look, "But nevertheless, Sir, we must get you underground. Whoever this is might be targeting London."

The phone suddenly rang on Integra's desk in her room. She hastily pulled the covers off of her and walked to the phone. Whenever she was not at her desk from the hours of ten and later, the emergency hotline number was redirected to her room.

"Yes? This is Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing speaking," she began, "…Yes…Mhmm, we saw it too…I think…it might be a nuclear explosion, Majesty…Now?...Right away," she clicked the phone and set it down, "His Royal Majesty, the King, wants to see me right away."

"NOW?" Albert despaired, "But they could strike again. Hell, Sir, for all we know this could be World War Three!"

"Albert," she warned, "We have no time. He needs us down there, and now. Are you fit to drive?"

Albert laughed spitefully, "Does it look like I am fit to drive?" he bumped into a lamp shade.

She nodded, "Right…Alucard? Seras?"

A moment later and the elder appeared, "You called, my master?"

"I need you to drive me to Buckingham Palace. Now," she ordered, "Where is Seras?"

"Right here," the young fledgling appeared, though slightly out of breath, "I'm here!"

Integra turned to her, "You stay here with Albert. Guard everything, and put a protective shadow all throughout the manor, understood?"

"Completely," Seras nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate.

"I will meet you all downstairs, now let me change," she herded the three out in clapping noises with her hands that was a little more than insulting.

Albert rushed back to his room without having to crawl this time and left Seras and Alucard to meander to the first floor. They both phased through the walls because it was more effective and waited by the door. Both were silent, lost to their own thoughts. Alucard kept one eye on the clock and tapped his foot restlessly. Seras nervously ran a hand through her hair and chuckled.

"A-an attack on London again? To whom do we owe the honor this time?" she asked rhetorically, Alucard's life-blood inside her welling up and itching to take hold.

"It's anybody's guess now. First the Nazis, then technically fifty years later the Nazis again…" he began to grin.

"No, it's not them. It can't be," she shook her head, "We've been monitoring their growth rate, and we all but annihilated them. The Equilibrium?"

Integra appeared and began walking down the staircase. Alucard straightened up and opened his hand for her in a courteous way.

"My master, you dress quickly," he responded to her tight attire.

It was composed of a black formal dress that included wedges and a jacket. A loose necklace of a silver cross adorned her slim neck and swayed gently from side to side. She took his hand and was guided to the parking garage. Seras waved goodbye and decided to walk off and find Albert.

.•*´¨`*•.

The car's battery was slow to warm up as Alucard pressed the button to light the ignition. He grunted in disapproval that he had to try again. The second time, she started, and he released the parking brake and floored it. The tires screeched with new rubber and the machine lurched forward. Integra gasped softly and grabbed a hold of the side of the car as they hurled passed the Hellsing Manor gates.

"Alucard, while I once was able to take your harsh driving, I am an older woman now," she chided and reminded herself to breathe.

He grinned, "My apologies, my master. I always know you like to be in control and on top...of things."

"Thank the Lord I was able to stash some cigars in my pockets," Integra rolled her eyes and already began to light one before her nerves exploded.

She could hear sirens blaring in the distance, no doubt from panicked calls and minor injuries like Albert's. Thankfully, with a vampire at the wheel, Alucard could sense and see meters before the car and could navigate through the growing chaos. There was a surprisingly large amount of cars driving around London now, and Integra couldn't help but begin to grow weary of what was going on. In the midst of anarchy, she always faced it with calm reason. But now that her country could be under attack again, Integra wasn't sure exactly how many more wars she could take. One had nearly taken her life, and how many more would come?

The car slammed to a halt and Integra's body flung forward in her seat. She instantly grunted and her shoulder cracked as the seatbelt felt like it ripped through her skin.

"ALUCARD!" she shouted.

A wave of emergency vehicles rushed passed them, only scrapping the front bumper of the car. Alucard then very calmly turned the wheel to follow the sirens up the Mall and to the gates of Buckingham Palace. He rolled the window down and presented identification at the gate. The guard looked at him suspiciously.

"We are here on important business. I am Sir Integra Hellsing," Integra rolled down her window. The guard eyed her just as suspiciously and then back at the growing mob of people running down the Mall.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But I haven't gotten word about any Hellsing missus getting into the palace," he shook his head.

Integra reached out of the car and grabbed his collar, "Now you listen to me, son. I was the arrow in the bull's-eye in The Great War of London. I was at the forefront of the battle thirty years ago. I manned the battlefield by myself, with no reinforcements. I have been a servant to His Majesty since I inherited the Hellsing Organization when I was thirteen after murdering my uncle for trying to assassinate me, the legal heir," she paused and watched his face light up in recognition, "Yes, you may now have heard of me. Five minutes ago, I received a call from King William regarding the explosion. He said he wanted me in the palace as soon as possible. Now, are you going to move out of my way, lad, or am I going to have to explain to the King after I break through the gates that an incompetent guard wasted precious minutes of his time?"

The guard shrunk in his Kevlar and gulped down, "No ma'am. I mean my Lady. I mean Sir! Right this way," he opened his hand and the gates responded.

Integra sat carefully back down in her seat and scoffed, "The nerve."

She glanced at the driver's seat and noticed that Alucard was already chuckling, "Why don't you scorn me like that? Seeing how you treat the guard, I would much prefer my punishments in that fashion."

"I would sooner stab my eye with a fork than touch you, vile creature. Now shut it, bloody fool, or I'll tie you up and gag you!" she threatened mercilessly.

"Really?" he asked in deep fascination, as if his favorite fantasy was now within reaching distance.

"May the Good Lord help preserve my sanity, for it is wavering," Integra let her head slump down in her hands in exasperation.

Alucard parked the car and instantly helped her out of the door.

"Not one paw on me, servant," she batted his hand and made her way up the side stairs to the door.

Servants on either side opened them for her and she walked straight through. Alucard trailed behind.

.•*´¨`*•.

"No, no, I said I want a full report detailing what you see is happening in two minutes…Yes! Yes, you're correct, I said TWO!" the King set the phone down and waved Integra into the room, "Well I don't care if it should take an hour, that's what you're here for…Keep me updated every thirty seconds. Yes, yes, send me what you have so far…Ok…Alright, thank you," he hung up the phone and gestured for her to sit.

"Your Majesty," she curtsied.

"Please, no formalities. William will do," he smiled politely and sat down, "I'm thankful you could arrive on such short notice, but I really do not know who I can trust."

She nodded.

"Ever since your reports on the Equilibrium, and how there was a traitor in the midst of your organization, I started to get flashbacks of what my grandmother had to deal with thirty years ago, and how many traitors were among her staff, representatives, ambassadors, officers. Even some maids," he consciously looked around the room to ensure all of the doors were locked.

"The presence of traitors will perpetuate throughout the whole of time. Now, focusing on the present, what would you have me do, William?" Integra asked.

"I can always count on you to swing me back," he glanced down at his desk, "Well, I'm receiving reports of strange seismic activity from around the Biscay Abyssal Plain. Now, because of this massive explosion, it literally has caused the subducting plate to push upward at a jagged angle. A team of geologists called GS-MLA has seismometers and buoys out recording data in the ocean. They called me three minutes ago with this."

He shoved a packet of paper her way. Integra perused the paper and noticed the high levels of radiation in the water, and a massive hump of water that passed through several buoys just minutes later.

"With these calculations, whatever it was that exploded, it exploded in the ocean and a massive tsunami wave is headed in our direction. The displaced water can attest to that," the King concluded and pressed his hands to his temples. The phone rang unceremoniously once more and he answered.

Integra sat for a moment in silence, then quietly summoned, "Alucard."

The vampire phased through the room and bowed to his superiors, "Yes, my masters?"

King William jerked forward in his seat, though he continued his heated conversation on the other line, back suddenly rigid-straight in shock.

"Go to the shores and see if you notice anything unusual," Integra ordered softly.

"Shall I look for anything specific?" he asked, openly pleased at the King's uneasy response.

"A receding shoreline would be helpful," she answered calmly.

"Right away," he phased into thin air, his grin the last thing to disappear.

King William hung up the phone and continued to look at the air that once occupied Alucard in it. He cleared his throat to focus his attention once more.

"Alucard should get your report faster than waiting for your geologists to report back to you," Integra stated bluntly, "We cannot afford to use anyone in any branch of the government as a crutch."

King William nodded his recognition, but his eyes were unfocused on a point in the distance, "That...that was the President of The United States. They have reports of witnesses seeing the blast. He was checking to see if we were hit from the alleged nuke," his eyes found hers, "But that...is not possible. If a nation from across the Atlantic saw the blast, it can't have been a nuke."

Her eyes clouded for a moment, before reaching for her pocket, "It must be something much larger, then. I know someone who might know," she began to punch out Albert's line on her cell.

A woman shoved open the door with more papers and made her way across the room with haste. She had graying hair around her ears, but most of the crop was still a chocolate brown. An air of confidence circled her, and her keen green and blue eyes met Integra's instantly.

The Hellsing director stood up to curtsy, "My Queen."

"Please," she waved a hand, banishing pleasantries with her warm smile, "Kate will do," she moved to the King, "Will, here are more reports coming in about a tsunami warning. We have dispatched every emergency unit possible with megaphones in the streets shouting at people to grab their belongings and head to high ground."

He looked hopefully into her eyes as he took the report, "Will it work? Do you think it will work? London is not a city that ever had to worry about tsunamis; its infrastructure wasn't built for such a flood of this magnitude. I…there's nothing I can do…"

The Queen rubbed his shoulders encouragingly, "You've done all you can do, Will. I hate to press the matter," she sidetracked, noticing a guard motioning for the both of them, "But I think we are being evacuated to a different, safer location. A helicopter is waiting for us, love. We must leave."

.•*´¨`*•.

Alucard scuffed his boots against the chalk of the ground. The sun just beginning to peek from morning clouds, it started to illuminate the cliffs of Dover in an angelic bright white. Yet it was easy to overlook the beautiful spectacle and notice that, though the morning was unfolding, life was not present to receive it. No birds chirped, no gofers or moles began their underground workings, no rabbits scurried about. There wasn't even a wind to sway the branches of trees, or shrubs in this case.

Previously, as he flew across south England in particles, he watched every police dispatch and constabulary force round up the people of different corners and warn them of what was to come. How little they knew of the situation -only that it was a tsunami of great magnitude. But what had caused it? An earthquake, perhaps, but the explosion and consequent blast raised too many eyebrows to be a simple coincidence. Better to rephrase the question: Who had caused it? The Equilibrium rang in his ears like a battle hymn, but something was amiss; something did not feel quite right.

The elder kicked a clod of chalk down the cliff and watched it break off into smaller and smaller pieces. It was remarkable how one natural -or otherwise- disaster could crumble an entire nation, could bring it to its knees, could drown it in a suffocating flood it was not built to withstand. Society survived on the continuation of certain functions: the transportation system, access to electricity, gas, water pipes, et cetera. Each of them dependent on thousands of inner workings to run efficiently, if one so much as glitched it would incapacitate the infected area until rectified, and in some cases cause a near collapse of society.

What frailty.

What weakness.

If any cosmic idea were to make Alucard feel pity for humans and their perpetual state of delicacy, it was this.

Alucard left his musings to the back-burner and shifted his attention to the receding shoreline below.

Concentrating, he expanded his sight far across the shimmering water, deep into the distance, further than any human eye could possibly hope to see. He then squinted, adding extra length to his vision. A smile inched its way up his lips, noting a lumbering wall of water headed their way with alarming speed.

.•*´¨`*•.

Oh boy. My brain is creaking, its hinges and bolts quite rusty from this story. Where's the WD-40? Strangely enough, this document has been sitting idle since August, but now that I'm taking a mini break from my medieval story, it's time to pick this one up a bit!

I know, I'm horrible at transitioning from a lovey-dovey scene to the present, but who isn't? It's so awk.

Seras, wow, talk about the embodiment of emotion to Alucard's indifference. He CRAVES, woman! And he was craving YOU! Why you pull away?!