What Should Have Been

Ketti: Sooo... I'm not dead. I think y'all can appreciate that. Right? ...Right? If you kill me, JuJu won't be ab le to force me to write more chapters to stories I'll never publish. I mean, what?

"We'll be travelling on foot from here." Her Master spoke as they disembarked the train into the lingering rays of the setting sun. Seras squinted and shifted a bit, tucking herself more into the tall man's shadow. It didn't hurt, exactly, but it made her feel uncomfortably hot and tingly along her skin. Like the bad sunburns she had as a child.

"Where are we going, Master?" She asked, following in his footsteps. He was ignoring her.

Frowning and glaring at his back she muttered under her breath and followed him grudgingly, doing her best to ignore the odd looks they got from passersby. She had to admit they looked odd; a six foot something man wearing a flamboyant red trench coat and a charcoal suit with knee high black riding boots and an elaborately done cravat with a matching fedora and yellow tinted goggle sided glasses with a five foot something female dwarfed by his shadow in a blue and black pseudo corset top, elbow length lace up gloves, a ruffled blue skirt that teased the tops of her knees and black ankle boots. Who wouldn't stare? They looked like they escaped from the Victorian Era, and Seras was embarrassed with all the men staring at her like a piece of meat. "What country is this?" She tried again as she kept just behind him to let his much more intimidating figure part the crowds like the red sea and leave her free to concentrate on her attempts to get him to answer at least one of her damned questions.

"One that still follows the old ways." He half turned his head to smirk at her knowingly, a mocking light in his eyes behind those amber lenses.

Apparently he was going to be difficult. The ass.

They walked for a while through a quaint city, and Seras couldn't let her futile grudge about his refusal to divulge their location prevent her from enjoying the sights. The smells wafting through the shop lined streets made her wish she could still eat real food, and her steps slowed as she caught a glimpse of fluttering fabric out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head curiously and admired the pretty dresses, her expression lighting up with childish glee as she spotted the rows of necklaces, one in particular stood out; a blue satin ribbon with a delicately carved and detailed silver dragon pendant stitched to the front. The onyx chips for its eyes drew her unknowingly closer – she'd always loved dragons, and had a whole collection of them as a child before her parents… Banishing that thought swiftly she realized that she was no longer on the path between the stalls, instead she was only a few feet away from the rows of neck-and-shoulder mannequins displaying their wares in the lingering rays of the sun's bloody death upon the horizon. A hand clamped over her bare shoulder and she jumped, bristling a bit at the low tones of her Sire's laughter at her expense. "See something you like, Police Girl?"

Unable to help herself, her gaze drifted back to the dragon tethered to the blue ribbon, as though trapped eternally in the skies and she heard him hum in interest as he followed her line of sight. The shop keeper approached them then and Seras was lost in the sea of words she didn't understand, but the happy look on the woman's face as she turned towards the line of jewelry was all the information she needed. Her Master was buying it for her. A pleased flush lit her cheeks as the pleasantly plump female returned with the necklace resting on black velvet in an open box. Alucard spoke with her again and the female nodded, popping open the simple clasp at the back and motioning Seras forward to help her put it on. The satin slithered over her flesh and she shivered at the coolness, the ribbon choker fit perfectly with the pendant resting in the hollow of her throat.

"Fit for a Draculina." She heard him murmur and when she turned to look he had a strange expression on his face that unnerved her slightly. The shop keeper bobbed her head at the pair as she turned away and Seras blinked, wondering when she'd been paid.

"Come, Police Girl, the night has only just begun."

Lifting a hand to her neck to stroke the pendant absently, she nodded and followed, behind him and slightly to his right. "Yes, Sir."

Seras leaned against a tree, feeling faintly ill from the overwhelming scents of the forest and the hunger roaring silently in her ears. "I feel sick." She moaned, clenching her eyes shut and curling her fingers in the fabric of her skirt. They'd walked to the edge of the town and entered the woods, and from then 'til now they'd been running through the trees in a blur of vampiric speed. She'd enjoyed it at first, making a game of 'dodge the trunk', but it quickly grew monotonous and the thrill of being in such old forest land unaltered by modern creations dwindled into boredom.

Her Master sighed impatiently as she heard his heavy boots crunch through the dead leaves around her. "We'll be there, shortly, Police Girl."

"Where?" She asked petulantly, crossing her arms mulishly across her chest and glaring at the grass beneath his feet. Yes she was ecstatic over the gift, but that didn't cancel out all her frustration with him and his high handed ways.

"You'll see when we get there, fledgling."

"I'm hungry…" She mumbled, looking away from him entirely.

"You wouldn't be if you drank the blood." He said coldly.

"I know." She mumbled, tipping her head down so that her bangs shrouded her face. He was reminding her of the man he'd grabbed from a dark alleyway and thrown at her feet a few days ago between trains, after their brief stay at the vampire castle, telling her the man was a convict. She'd stared into those terrified eyes and felt sick, surely he couldn't have done something so bad to warrant death at her teeth? Despite the growing tightness it her stomach demanding she take the offering and drink her fill, she just couldn't. And being of Alucard's bloodline unfortunately meant that her bite would transform him into a ghoul regardless of how much blood he had left. Her Master had looked disgusted with her weakness and refused to allow her to obtain his blood through other means. "If you cannot stand by your convictions, Police Girl, then you won't drink." He'd growled, letting the man free to live another day.

"I didn't want to kill him." She'd protested, feeling sick at heart from disappointing her Sire again.

"You're a vampire, it's what we do. Survival of the fittest, Police Girl, where the strong trample upon the weak because they can. You'll have to learn to accept that feeding yourself means taking the lives of others, this is one thing that cannot change."

"But the medical bl-" "Was arranged by Hellsing. Where we are going the old laws still rule, and the closest you'll come to what the humans provided is bloodwine. So long as you remain my fledgling you will follow my rules, Police Girl."

"Well maybe I don't want to be your fledgling anymore." She'd muttered to herself but he'd heard her of course and she'd flinched when she saw his hand raise. His black laughter sent chills down her spine. "Perhaps not, my little Draculina. But I will not unleash you upon the world as you are, you would not survive a day. Remember that it was your choice, Police Girl." His last words were taunting her, and she dearly wanted her gun to blast him in the face like she'd seen Sir Integra do when he'd antagonized her, or even to try that trick with his own guns, but she knew she'd never be fast enough to pull it off.

So lost in her memories of that night was she that the feeling of his fingers under her chin made her jump, and her back scraped against the rough bark of the tree. He tilted her head up to face him and she saw so many different emotions in those crimson orbs she was close to drowning in them. "Will it get easier?" She whispered, knowing he knew she meant the life of eternity unless killed, drinking blood, amd walking in shadows.

"You're the one making it hard, Police Girl." He answered calmly, releasing her and turning to walk at a sedate human pace towards where she felt the moon's light even through the trees.

The blonde sighed, feeling far older than her nineteen years as she pushed off the tree to follow her Master when she saw a flicker of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned just in time to raise her right arm instinctively, an enormous slathering black wolf with glowing red eyes lunged for her throat and bit savagely into the tender flesh of her forearm. She screamed, and the impact of the heavy body shoved her to the ground beneath those massive paws. Rolling desperately, the relentless pressure of those powerful jaws took the creature with her as she tried to maneuver herself away from those deadly claws swinging for her unprotected belly. She kicked and heard something snap, and a second swing of her bloodied leg pushed against the wolf's ribs at enough of an angle that the teeth were ripped back through her skin in a shower of blood. The wolf hit the tree she'd been resting against with a yelp and Seras scrambled to her feet with her mangled arm held protectively to her chest. Surely the thing was dead, right? Panting and dripping blood, she swayed on her feet dizzily as she glanced over her shoulder for her Master. That was her mistake; the instant she looked away the wolf lunged again and pinned her to the dirt with its bloody fangs poised over her throat.

The familiar click of a pistol was like music to her ears, and the resounding boom of the oversized and overpowered weapon being fired told her all would be well. Blood splattered on her face as the bullet pierced the wolf's right foreleg, another one following to take out the hind sending it off balance and away from the fledgling. Seras looked up to see an upside down version of Alucard with a sick grin on his face as he levered the Cassul at the crippled beast's head. She saw his finger beginning to squeeze for the final shot when a white blur launched itself from the trees and slammed into the red coated male, throwing him to the dirt, and sending the blessed silver bullet wild; embedded in a tree rather than the red eyed wolf's brain.

"Master!" Seras exclaimed, staggering back to her feet in the blood soaked mud, eyes widening in shock as her dazed brain finally understood what the creature attacking her creator was. "My God…" She breathed, staring at the white dire wolf situated on Alucard's chest with his arm captured in those sabre toothed jaws.

Alucard laughed, and rather than drawing the Jackal as she expected – she'd been surprised when Walter had given it to him for seemingly no other reason than since she got a new toy, so to speak, her Sire did as well – he did the same trick Seras had used on the black wolf by rolling and taking his attacker with him, slamming it into the ground and ripping his arm free in a splatter of blood.

"I could use a warm up fight. Come on, hit me with your best shot!" He taunted, opening his arms wide for the giant wolf's next attack.

Seras noticed then as the great beast got back to its feet that it was taller than her Master, she guestimated something like eight feet.

The dire wolf apparently understood Alucard as it took half a step back and then lowered its head to bare bloody over-long teeth at him. It's legs tensed and she watched in horror as it leapt in the air with those enormous front claws raised to strike and mouth open.

Perhaps her Master's greatest - weakness seemed the wrong word, fallacy, Achilles heel even? Whatever the case, he tended to just stand still and let his enemies rip him to pieces, literally, only to regenerate at the last second when they think they've won to demoralize them and take them out with a single shot. She'd seen it over and over, and the first time, in Cheddar, she was thoroughly disturbed by it. For the first time, however, she saw him actually move away from an incoming attack to punch the wolf in the jaw, even as the massive claws on its boulder sized feet sliced up his chest in a spray of blood. The instant the giant canine landed on its feet, faster than she thought possible it was back in the air, aiming for Alucard's back.

Despite all the assurances of his invulnerability, the massive scope of his regenerative abilities, she still feared for his safety. "Master!" She shouted, stumbling a half step towards the skirmish. The world spun sickeningly and her legs crumpled out from under her as the blood loss combined with her nonexstant eating habits led to her body shutting down on her. The ground flew up to meet her and her last thought whispered pitifully in the yawning emptiness swallowing her consciousness whole; don't leave me.

She felt as though she were floating, and the world swayed rhythmically from side to side. Warmth suffused her right side and she felt very secure in this pleasant hazy world. After a moment her ears allowed sound to trickle through to her half conscious brain in the form of muffled voices. This… was very familiar.

"…logize, Drake, Cera has boundary issues. She was abandoned in my woods to die of exposure, and I've been looking after her since."

"The fact remains that she attacked my fledgling. You must teach her to recognize power, Darkconda, and know when to back down." The answering words rumbled like thunder in her ears and she scrunched up her face in distaste. Shaking her head mildly, she cracked an eye open to stare at the underside of her Sire's jaw. Oh, he was carrying her again. But who… Craning her head back against the support of Alucard's bicep, she caught sight of a tanned male with mussed black hair and a trim beard carrying an unconscious brunette female with what looked suspiciously like bullet holes in her right arm and leg. The breeze changed and brought the scents of the pair to the dazed fledgling, and she blinked in rapid succession as she realized she recognized them as the wolves that had attacked them… And now the male – Darkconda – was chatting it up with her Sire as though they were friends.

"I wouldn't go that far, Police Girl, but we are not enemies." Alucard murmured in answer to her thoughts and she turned her gaze back to his face curiously. She still felt incredibly tired, and her arm still throbbed painfully. When she glanced down at herself she grimaced; she was covered in dried blood and the pretty outfit that complimented her Master's was ruined. Her eyes widened as a thought struck her and she hurriedly lifted her uninjured arm to carefully run her fingers along the ribbon necklace, thankfully finding it intact and free of any crunchy spots denoting spatters of dry gore. Relief and fatigue tugged at her senses and she yawned, head bobbing in time with her Sire's footsteps. He chuckled and shifted his grip to settle her more deeply into the cradle of his arms, "Go back to sleep, fledgling, I'll wake you when we get there."

She nodded sleepily, too drowsy to argue, and half turned to rest her cheek against his chest once more, noting distantly that there wasn't a single drop of blood on him, though she saw him get torn up earlier. Must… be… a neat… trick…

"Seras, wake up. We're home."

She stirred and squinched her eyes shut tighter, voicing a half moan of protest. "Come now, Police Girl, wake up. Wake u-"

Something cool and round touched her lips, and the smell of blood mixed with the tang of something vaguely alcoholic filtered into her nose. Instinctively she parted her lips and allowed the viscous liquid to be poured into her mouth, swallowing when she felt as though it might overflow. Clarity began to return to her thoughts upon the third swallow and she cracked her eyes open to see a wine glass held by a masculine hand, still half full of a deep red liquid.

"It's not as potent as blood fresh from the vein, but it will do for now, Police Girl." The familiar rumble of her Master's voice caressed her ears as he tipped another mouthful down her throat. When the cup was empty she felt better, albeit a bit fuzzy around the edges from the alcohol. A flush crept up her cheeks when she realized she was situated upon his lap, and wondered what it was about her being unconscious that made him want to treat her like a lapdog. He grinned at her in a show of fang and the flush brightened, and she turned her gaze away from him to take in her surroundings; it looked like a grand foyer in an old but well maintained castle, the massive stone blocks fitted neatly together, showing very little wear from the sands of time. A long gold edged maroon carpet split the room in half, leading up to the dais she and her Master occupied, matched by a grand looking banner bearing an unfamiliar coat of arms. She noticed that the only windows were high up in the wall, no direct sunlight could touch the inhabitants of this hall. "Where are we?"

"Home, Police Girl. My home that is. Welcome to Castle Draculae. We'll be staying here for a time." He murmured in her ear and she shifted uncomfortably at the continued close contact. An evil gleam lit his copper gaze and his lips twisted in a cruel mockery of a smile as the arm behind her back abruptly vanished and she overbalanced with a shriek, tumbling top over tea kettle down the short series of steps to sprawl gracelessly across the carpeted stone floor. "Owww…"

His mocking laughter echoed through the cavernous hall and she glared up at him sullenly before rolling to her feet – with only the slightest of stumbles – to start stalking away from him, muttering obscenities under her breath.

"Where are you going, Police Girl?" He called after her, sounding terribly amused.

"Away from you, Sir." She answered, adding a thick edge of sarcasm to the last word.

She could hear the smirk in his voice at his parting shot; "Take a right and go down the steps." He'd just answered her unasked question of how the hell to get out of the castle. Ugh! Grudgingly following his directions she made her way to a lesser used exit – no where near as grand as the main door, but that suited her just fine – and quietly admired the mountain scenery surrounding the grand looking castle. With a sigh, she wandered over to the edge of the flattened plain and looked down, jerking back in surprise when she saw the yawning gap of a drop below to a grassy field. Shivering in distaste – she was never very fond of heights – she backed up and bumped into something. Something that wasn't the castle wall, and didn't feel like her Master.

Jerking around in surprise she stared up into the grinning face of a caramel skinned man with a mustache wearing a brown business suit. His grin widened and she caught the gleam of light off his fangs as he reached for his hat and performed a half bow, revealing his close cropped black hair, "Beunas noches, senorita, my name is Tubalcain Alhambra, and I have some business with your Master. Be a good girl and fetch him for me, would you?"

Seras felt the small hairs on the back of her neck prickle in alarm as the breeze shifted and she caught the man's scent. It was… somehow foul, tainted, it reminded her of… Eyes widening in realization, she leaped back as he settled the fedora back atop his head and pulled a card from his sleeve. Staring at him warily, his expression twisted into something cruel and his wrist flicked in her direction; the card shooting at her and as she jumped instinctively it sliced into the side of her ankle. Crying out in surprise, Seras stumbled and nearly fell, fingers and toes digging into the grass to keep herself upright. Lunging for the door she'd exited from, another card whizzed by her face and cut her cheek, telling her quite clearly that he was simply playing with her. "Master!" She yelped as she scrambled through the door, another card embedded in the stone opposite her. Leaning on the paltry barrier, she felt the world begin to spin sickeningly again as the wine muddled her senses and blood trickled down her cheek and foot.

Quite suddenly he was there, a strange look on his face as he loomed over her like a great black shadow. She blinked and reached for him, unable to fully focus on his face as he pulled her securely to his chest and patted her head gently. After a moment of this he settled her back against the wood and phased through the door with a ripple of his powers. Turning her head to press her ear to the barrier, she listened.

"It's not polite to touch others possessions." The welcome baritone of Alucard's voice carried easily through the air.

"Ah, but I thought perhaps it would spur our meeting, Senor Alucard. I've been waiting so very long for your return, I thought you would have been here days ago." The thick Spanish accent made some of the words hard to make out, but Seras persevered, intent on not being left out of the loop.

"I see." Her Sire's voice dripped coldness, and she shivered though it was not directed at her.

"No, I don't think you do, Senor Alucard. You see, I've been given the task of taking you in. Well, at least a sample of you anyways." She heard amusement oozing through his words and a strange whistling woosh before multiple cards sliced through the door where her Master had been standing. Seras squeaked and peeked cautiously through the impromptu window slits to see her Master sneering at the suited man,

Alucard rushed towards Alhambra, and Seras was surprised to see him matching her Sire's pace, keeping just out of reach of his fearsome strength. Just as Alhambra drew a new pair of cards from his sleeve her Master pulled the Cassul from his jacket and fired at him. Blood blossomed for an instant before he vanished in a swirl of purple cards.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Senor Alucard, as I told your pretty little fledgling, my name is Tubalcain Alhambra, though some people have taken to calling me the Dandy Man. And now I'm afraid I have to say goodbye, for you have activated my trap card." He laughed as an explosion went off beneath her Master's feet, sending the startled vampire to the ground where two rings of cards encircled him and exploded.

"Master!" Seras shrieked, pushing the door partway open to stumble out towards the injured man.

"Stay where you are, Seras!" Alucard snarled at her as he got to his hands and knees, blood positively pouring from his chest. The blonde flinched and reeled backwards as she saw movement coming towards her. She landed gracelessly on her bum with a razor edged card protruding from the wall where her head had been moments prior.

"You heard your master, senorita, stay out of it like a good little girl." The Dandy Man taunted, and she glared at his back, curling her lip back from her blood teeth in a show of anger. If she didn't feel like she was about to throw up any second, she'd show that…

Still bleeding, her Master got to his feet and grinned so viciously that Seras inched back towards the tentative safety of the castle. She recognized that look. As if on cue with her thoughts, shadows massed around her Master's feet and spread outward, gaining mass and thickening into three demonic hounds with too many red eyes. She shuddered and looked away, scrabbling backwards to shut herself back behind the door and watch from the peep hole slits rather than out in the open.

The Dandy Man looked vaguely surprised, but he kept his cool and flung the cards at the demonic beasts, the pieces of magic waxed paper exploding on contact. Bloody mist filled the air like thick soup and Seras saw looming shadows in the red fog aiming for the intruder. He did as well for he lashed out blindly, meeting nothing but air. She heard panting and snarling and watched the shadows dance through the unnatural cloud before she heard a blood curdling scream and a series of sickening crunches she recognized as breaking bone. Wincing in partial sympathy, she squinted as the wind finally shifted and blew the mist away to reveal her Master dressed in a skin tight black body suit with buckles lining his arms, legs, and chest holding the Dandy Man by the face. "Dandy Man?" He purred, and the other whimpered, "You lost. And now I'm going to read your mind, by drinking all of your blood." He mocked, opening his mouth wide to reveal every tooth sharp and ready to puncture helpless flesh. Sickeningly, the thought of 'om nom nom' raced through her head as she watched him tear into the one armed man's throat in a spray of blood. Moments later, blue flames erupted from the vampire's body and engulfed her Sire. "Master!" She called again, horrified by the sight.

He began to laugh and clap his hands together as the flames dissipated and the ash floated away across the mountains. "So I see I was right. It won't be long now, Major."

"Master..?" She questioned, wondering who he was talking to.

"It's nothing, Police Girl, I will tell you when you are stronger. Come, we should hunt." He commanded, glancing down at himself with an odd, almost nostalgic look on his face before the leather outfit rippled and stretched, seeming to absorb the spilt blood upon the grass to resume its state as her Master's favored red trench coat and charcoal suit.

Hunger for blood, hot and fresh that would fill the ache in her undead soul tugged at her, and she looked away. She didn't want to kill anybody, but it was becoming increasingly clear that it was kill or be killed in tis new world her Master had dragged her into now that they were 'free' of Hellsing's clutches. A longing pang for the men she'd grown friendly with, the very men that had become ghouls on her last night at the compound, stabbed her still heart. How could she ever take revenge for them if she died in the mountains or went mad?

Seras Victoria did not want to die. She had proven that in Cheddar, and now she had to take responsibility for that choice.

"Yes, Master."