"Master…" she started but abruptly stopped when Alucard's prominent outline became visible as he took a step forward and through the thin curtain.
"You didn't answer my question Police Girl," he said darkly, his face bent forward slightly as if in thought. "What do you think you are doing?"
Seras felt herself shrink before his glowering gaze.
Glancing nervously at her hand with the drip still embedded safely in the skin and then back up at him.
"I was just…uhm…going to take it out..." she finally replied, very nervously.
"Why?" he asked, his voice expecting an immediate answer.
Silence.
As each second slowly passed, Seras felt herself begin to feel more and more nervous and terrified in front of the ancient vampire.
"Because…because…I'm better now." She replied weakly, head bent forward, no longer looking at his face.
Submission.
But the sudden thunderous roar that erupted from Alucard caused Seras to instantly look back at him and she watched in terror as he rose to his full height and towered over her trembling form on the bed.
"You idiot!" he bellowed at her. "Better? After you allowed two pathetic FREAKS overpower you, a true blood Nofestaru?! A fledgling of MY blood?!"
Seras blinked at him, shocked because she had never seen him so…furious at her.
Glancing back down at the thin gown that covered her body, she began to nervously fiddle the hem of it as she mumbled, "But Master…I hadn't been that badly injured…"
Knowing she was lying through her fanged teeth, Seras was still unprepared for Alucard's answer.
His reply was to fasten a hand tightly around her neck, yank her off the table and bring her up to his eye level with one quick, swift precise movement.
The sudden and violent action caused the constricting drip in Seras' arm to be ripped out and cause her to wince in pain and have blood begin to flow freely from the wound.
She daren't look down at it because Seras found herself physically unable to look away from the look on Alucard's face. The look in his eyes bore into hers so strongly that it made Seras stop any ideas of struggling or trying to protest against him.
It looked like she was looking into the eyes of hell itself…
Maybe she was.
"Never lie to me Police Girl." He said, his voice grating so strongly with anger and power that Seras felt herself begin to tremble under the death-like grip around her neck.
She knew that if breathing was a necessity she would have been unable to do it, but the pain was beginning to mount, already indicating the bruises that would be there.
"Yes master," she apologized.
Alucard sneered at her, "Did you really think that you would be able to hide the extent of your injuries from everyone? From ME? Your Master?! I can read every thought, feeling whim and desire in you before you even think and feel it. To think you can hide anything from me is both pathetic and low."
Immediately Seras tried to defend herself but she could only manage a few words, "I didn't…try to hide it from you because…you weren't here …"
His grip tightened even further and being able to form words became impossible.
Bringing her closer so they were practically nose to nose, Seras suddenly realized that she was only wearing a surgical gown in front of her master…and that the weak ties at the back of the gown had come undone from Alucard shaking her.
The instant she realized this, she immediately regretted it when Alucard's expression changed into one of evil delight.
"Are you embarrassed Police Girl? Worried that if I turned you around I would be able to see your white, creamy ass when it was I whom found you unconscious and dying on the floor in your shower? So it will be nothing I haven't seen before."
His eyes glowed bright as he spoke and Seras squeaked in anger, shame and embarrassment. Immediately beginning to struggle against his grip around her throat, Alucard just began to laugh at her shame but one word suddenly rang out loudly in her mind and caused her to abruptly halt in her useless struggle against him.
Dying???
Hearing the word resonate in her mind, Alucard stopped laughing and looked at his suddenly compliant fledgling.
Giving her a quick shake again caused Seras to look at him with wide eyes and tears quickly rising in them, he growled at her.
"I forbid you to cry! You knew exactly how bad your injuries were and yet you told no one! You did not even have the strength to heal yourself!"
Seras shook her head and opened her mouth and formed silent words of her innocence, but Alucard shook her again, hard.
"I could feel your pain and injuries as if they were my own as far off as Russia! You called out to me, you coward, and yet you still deny about not knowing how bad your injuries were! Did you really think that…"
Alucard stopped abruptly when Seras suddenly stopped struggling and fell limp as if she had passed out. Immediately searching her mind for foul play, he was surprised to find that it was blackness. It was then he realized just how tight he had been holding her around the neck, so tightly that he had caused the restriction of blood flow to her brain.
Immediately loosening his grip Alucard felt a strange sense of, dare he say it, guilt, as he carefully brought his free arm under her knees and slid the one that had been holding her neck down and around her shoulders.
Reaching out with a shadow, he effortlessly retrieved a medical blanket and carefully wrapped it entirely around her. Having her lean against his chest, Alucard felt like he was re-living the night when he had turned her into a vampire. But as he looked down at her neck, he saw the black bruises already half formed.
Fresh anger and disgust ran through him as he formed a portal and walked through it.
Why hadn't she said something about how much he had been hurting her? Her body had only just healed and she had allowed it to be damaged so easily once again!
Alucard instantly reappeared in Seras' room a few seconds later and looked at how barren and empty it was. He had never understood why she didn't decorate it like most people do when they move into a new place…but she had moved in with nothing because she had had no chance to get anything.
Looking down at the unconscious Draculina in his arms, Alucard saw the blood dribbling freely from her hand. Growling deep in his throat at her incompetence at just how weak she had allowed herself to sink by refusing to drink her blood.
So she could keep her humanity…
Why was it so important to her? Why didn't she just realize it was easier if she gave it up and embraced what she truly was?
The smell and sight of her blood still flowing from her hand and down her arm seemed to hypnotise him. His eyes focused intently on it as the crimson liquid silently called to him.
Sitting himself down on a nearby chair, Alucard had Seras resting comfortably against him before he reached down with a gloved hand and carefully brought the injured hand to his mouth.
The instant her blood touched his tongue, Alucard could barely suppress the groan that rose up from his body. Her blood had such a potent effect on him, but Alucard couldn't understand why. He didn't spend anymore than a second pondering on the subject when he carefully, and rather tenderly, licked away all of her precious blood that had escaped her due to his impatience and anger.
This was his apology to her.
After cleaning the tiny hole on the back of her hand, he pulled his mouth away and watched the skin close before his very eyes.
Good, so her body was able to heal itself after all, all it needed was a little push.
It seemed that he was doing all the pushing though…
Gingerly placing her arm back to her blanket-covered chest, Alucard took the opportunity to just study his fledgling.
Her skin was so pale and translucent that he could easily see the individual veins and arteries. Her eyes had sunken so deeply into the sockets that the lids were barely strained while covering them. The strawberry blonde hair that usually had a life of its own and defied gravity was now hanging limply and dully and looking completely lifeless.
She had lost weight. Even with her lying against him, Alucard could feel every individual rib poking through the blanket and through his clothes.
If she continued like this, she was going to die...all because of holding onto her precious humanity.
Alucard growled at the stupidity and weakness of his fledgling, but the thought of not having Seras around made him feel that bizarre pang deep down inside him again.
It wasn't the same feeling he had felt when watching his master fight for her life on the operating table. Nor was it the same feeling when she had turned down his offer for immortality. But still…it was something.
There was still a feeling for his young fledgling and he was not ready to have her leave his side just yet.
He felt a strong possessiveness for his fledgling. She was his. His alone. Her master, whom she obeyed, followed and bowed to his every whim.
A strange smile crept over his face.
She was solely dependant on him in every aspect of her life and would not survive without him.
So this is what it feels like for my master…Now I see why she won't give it up to me.
But being the master vampire over a fledgling vampire was a much more powerful bond that his own master would never understand. Death would come for her in its own time. He will have to watch her age and fall to the one fate it seemed he would never be able to achieve by himself. Walter was getting closer to that fate, even though he seemed to be defying it in every way the Angel of Death knew how.
Alucard knew that all of those he respected and cared for at Hellsing were going to die eventually, they were mortals and there was nothing he could do to change that. But a part of him knew that Seras would be there, making that same journey with him, so he won't have to walk the hard path alone.
It will be just us Police Girl…
This was the second time he had gotten so attached to a few humans, and it was rubbing off on him more than he liked to show. He could not stop the sadness he felt when he dwelled of the thought of Integra finally dying and leaving him to go to a place where he would not be able to follow. Like a good servant obeying their master.
Yes he had been disappointed when Integra had turned down his offer, it had always been his role to be the tempter in her life, but he had felt the jealousy resound through Seras when she had overheard their private conversation on the balcony. The only reason that had stopped him from punishing her later when they were alone was the shame and guilt he had felt Seras feel for feeling jealous of Integra when she had quickly retreated back to her bedroom.
That was when he had known that she was realizing and acknowledged her place in the world and in his long undead life.
So why was she still starving herself instead of being a proper fledgling and trying to please him to be a good vampire?
Alucard's deep red eyes glowed brighter as he focused more intently on the pale face that was now resting comfortably against his chest.
How she had managed to survive her last mission was nothing short of amazing, bewildering both Sir Integra and Walter but a part of Alucard had been expecting it. There was a strength in Seras that was much more stronger than her weak girlish exterior showed. This was yet another example that showed him that he had done the right thing by turning her into a vampire and the potential of what there was to come when she finally did decide to drink.
But she was only alive now because he had heard her desperate pleas for help.
Luckily he had been awake for a few hours in St. Petersburg when he had heard her calls, otherwise he would have been unable to hear and help her.
"You really are nothing without me Seras Victoria…what will I do with you…"
Suddenly he heard Sir Integra calling for him through their own master-servant bond. Carefully picking up the Draculina and he carried her over to the closed coffin bed.
Pushing the button to make the top of it raise upwards, Alucard waited for it to be fully risen before lying Seras on the mattress. He looked at how pale she still was and thought better of just leaving her there, so he begrudgingly placed the blankets over her and tucked her in.
God, if Walter or Integra had seen how he was being so…domestic…he'd never hear the end of it.
Taking a step back and rising to his full height, Alucard suddenly found himself sighing.
He knew that when his fledgling awoke, her training would have to begin.
There was no excuse for allowing her to not be trained anymore; he already had read Integra's thoughts on that.
"All the more reason to make you become a true vampire." He said quietly.
Suddenly his master's calling came again, but much, much more stronger than last time and Alucard could already feel her annoyance, impatience and anger.
This will be fun.
With an evil grin, he disappeared in a cloud of shadows and ventured off to report to an, almost assured, pissed off Sir Integra Hellsing.
But one tendril of the shadow lingered in the room for a few seconds to gently caress Seras' still face and then push the button to make the lid of her coffin to begin to lower and finally close.
Sleep well…my Police Girl.
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A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and shown interest in this story :) I didn't know where this was going when I wrote the first chapter or if it would work, but things are rolling and I have ideas. :) Next chapter (or two) will be focusing on Integra and Alucard. They are such fun to write! :D I just hope everyone is in character. Any tips or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated! :D Thank you!
Trinnerti: Thank you very much :D I am aiming to just try and update whenever I can. I'm still writing it but I have written the next few chapters so I will be releasing those weekly :)
meow114: Really? Wow! :D Thank you very much! :D I hope you like what I have done next :)
maninmoon: I definitely am going to continue this story and lol. :) I have a very big heart that is still undecided as to what is going to happen even at the end. :) But I LOVE AxS pairing though. :)
MythStar Black Dragon: Thank you very much! :D I hope you like what I have done next :) I really do enjoy writing this story very much :D
Andy: I am definitely going to continue writing this story thank you and I am going to keep this story quite close to my chest and complete by myself :) If I wasn't going to continue it I would write it off to be just a one-shot :) but thank you for the offer. Glad you like both of my stories :)
asdfsdf: I think you would enjoy a great story called "Monster" by attikin :) It is a brilliant story that address that very issue :) Except Integra isn't a vampire :)
Diamondokami: I'm glad my gramma was ok mostly and I try my best to make sure there are no spelling mistakes in a chapter before I upload it. :) (Nothing annoys me more when people do not take the extra few minutes of editing to avoid this). I hope you will continue to read to see where this does go :) thanks for the review! :D
lucidity-and sarcasm: Thank you very much :) It actually took me a little while to write the first chapter that I liked it enough to be able to continue (if I don't have a good first chapter I very rarely continue the story). I hope you will continue to read the story and see where I take it :)