Angel-wing2: Thanks for reviewing; I'll do my best to make the rest of the story at least as interesting as the beginning

DevilNinja: Thanks for your praise. I can imagine Alucard laughing at a lot of things that go under the label of „vampire" in our world. As for „Twilight", I would actually expect him to simply ignore Edward and go for Bella instead. By the way, you can relax: This story is definitely going to be completed, as long as I feel that there's people out there, who enjoy reading it.

Do I have to disclaim every chapter separately?

I do not own Hellsing and/or the related characters, I do not make money by this.

Now, on with the story:

***Chapter 2***

Integra stood in the Hellsing mansion's emergency ward, looking down on Alucard and trying to will him to open his eyes.

It was simply not possible that he should not react to her presence beside his bed. Or to Seras Victoria standing on his other side, cradling his hand in hers. The No-Life King was not fond of physical contact, as long as it did not serve the purpose of feeding or fighting. Today, however, the infringement went even deeper than the draculina kneading his limp fingers: Someone had taken off his red fedora, his coat, his boots, his sunglasses, the Casull and ammo supply, tucked the rest of him in - and probably survived.

That, or Walter had been extremely quick in dispatching the corpse.

Integra leaned in close to Alucard's ear: »Don't you play games with me!«, she warned softly. »You know, I won't tolerate any attempt to manipulate - «

»Beg your pardon, Sir Integra, but he's not pretending«, Walter said.

»How can you be so sure? What happened, anyway?«

»Seras Victoria spotted Alucard in the street, three blocks from tonight's battle site«, Walter said, repeating the report, the officer of the rescue team had given him, while the men rushed Alucard to this room.

»Congratulations«, Integra nodded towards the draculina. »Your senses are improving fast!«

»Actually, it was not that difficult«, Seras said, her eyes cast down. »I just saw his red cloak a little earlier than the others.«

»Anyway, they picked him up in the car«, Walter went on. »One visible injury on his right hand. He didn't report, where he'd been or why he was racing down the street like Baskerville turned loose on him.«

»Stubborn and secretive as always!« Integra snorted, glaring down at the white bandage that was wrapped around the vampire's hand, as if she'd noticed only now.

»Er, no – it seems, he was struggling to catch his breath. He passed out shortly afterwards.«

Integra looked up: »What?«

Walter gestured for Seras to take over, and she reluctantly picked up the thread of the narrative: »You see, Lady Integra, I had this strange feeling all along. There was something just not right with my master. I couldn't tell, what it was. I mean, I should have known at once, but I was so crowded with humans, their blood and smell, and anyway - «

»Seras! What happened?«

»When Aluc- my master passed out, the boys asked me to check on him. I guess, they were afraid of some reflex, that he might strike out at them or something. I was in the backseat and I leaned over to the front, and when I was so close to his throat, that was, when I noticed.« Seras looked up and her eyes were gleaming red, an infallible sign of her distress: »Sir Integra, my master - somehow, he's come alive again. His heart is beating. He's got a pulse. His body is generating heat.«

»Impossible, Seras! You are not making any sense!«

»He is breathing even now, Sir Integra«, Seras insisted desperately. »Breathing, while he's unconscious! He – our kind never do that. I mean, we like - sleep in coffins all day, don't we?«

»Seras! You must be mistaken!«

»I utterly regret, but I must object, Sir Integra«, said Walter, his eyes on a list of medical sheets. »Seras Victoria's er... intuitive observation is correct. All tests prove her right.«

Doubtfully, Integra looked at the pale face on the pillow: »He's alive? By human standards?«

Walter stood next to her: »Not very much so, right now, but with some dedication and, I daresay, getting the hang of it.«

Integra lit a cigar, taking her time: She'd known, something bad had happened, ever since she had woken from a nightmare, in which Alucard had called her by a name, only he could possibly know. The fact, that he used it now to reach her, indicated, that he was not in one of his usual "release control art restriction until, oh, I don't know, till I get bored or something"-situations, but in trouble.

Real trouble.

Couldn't he just have given her a hint, how deep this shit was, before plunging in head first?

»What are we going to do now, Sir Integra?« asked Seras.

Integra inhaled deeply on her cigar: »Well, in any case, we're definitely not going to put him in a coffin, Seras, are we?«

Morning passed, and Alucard kept drifting in and out of consciousness.

Stuck in the grey mists between waking and sleeping, he repeatedly cursed Anderson and the priest's blades. Thus, the Hellsing team learned that he'd had another run-in with the paladin. Integra grimly smoked her cigar and Walter took down notes: This probably accounted for the deep cut in his patient's hand.

Next, they learned, that he'd fed on a woman, who called herself „Ann", and that it had been a... quite peculiar experience.

Walter anxiously watched the dark clouds gather on Sir Integra's brow and he tried to speak up for the vampire: »He is delirious, Sir Integra. I am sure, if he were awake, his story would, er, sound less explicit...«

Integra just shook her head: Her main concern right now was not about the revelation of some more or less juicy details, but what her vampire could unintentionally give away, if, in his confused state, he called out for her like he had done before...

Well, speaking about making a plunge...

»Walter, Seras, please leave us alone«, Integra ordered.

»But - «

»Walter!«

»As you wish, Sir!« Walter shooed Seras to go in front of him.

Integra watched, until the door was closed behind them. Of course, they would stay right in the corridor, just in case they were needed.

That was good enough.

Integra took off her jacket, loosened her tie and undid the top buttons of her shirt. As she slipped onto the bed and climbed over the unconscious vampire, she smiled grimly: She had only sat on Alucard like this two or three times before. She had been a child then, and the gesture was meant to convey her dominance over him. She'd try to intimidate him with words and, of course, fail completey. She'd wave a gun in Alucard's face, which he would easily deflect towards the wall or the ceiling. She'd be enraged at him, at his casual manner and lack of effort. She'd drop the gun and try to throttle him. Shake him. Hop and bob on his ribs, just to make him uncomfortable.

He would only laugh.

It was on one of these occasions, that a secret game was developed.

She had been learning Spanish and used it on him. He'd fallen apart: »Say that again!«, he had begged, his eyes tinted red with tears of laughter. »It sounded almost like my name.« She'd blown off his head, repeating the word, and when he'd come back to life, he had named her in return.

It turned out a code, a very private way of communicating, and it was only between the two of them.

Integra willed herself to push aside the thought of the phantom, called Ann.

Okay, so this woman knew, how to flaunt her maiden blood's charm?

Big deal with a hungry vampire.

But could she do this?

»Hear me«, Integra pleaded softly, her lips brushing the pitch-black hair of the creature between her thighs. »Alocando!«

She touched his hair, she repeated her call, carefully blending concern with the master's prerogative to demand obedience, and somehow, her intensity seemed to reach him: Alucard's eyes fluttered, his lips parted. Integra smiled, as she heard him whisper the name, he'd given her in return to being accused of driving her insane: »Missy Got-a-Gun?«

He was not laughing at her Spanish now, and neither did she blow off his head, as she'd done then. He was struggling to come fully around and she remained, where she was: kneeling over him, with her tie loosened and her shirt hanging partly open. The effort was not wasted: There was a man hidden within the monster, and that man obviously liked the view from down there, once it had caught his attention.

»This sure beats Walter looming over my open coffin...« Alucard's eyes had cleared quickly. Now, they started to glint. The problem was, they were glinting brown. A reddish brown, if one wanted to be nit-picking, but a perfectly ordinary color with humans, nevertheless. »Master? What's the occasion?«

Seeing him awake and obviously going to stay that way, Integra climbed off, straightened her tie and rebuttoned her shirt: »You've regained consciousness before. You just wouldn't hang on to it. So I decided to give you something interesting to look at, while you were catching up. How's your blood pressure now?«

His mischievous grin faded: »My what?«

By way of demonstrating the inexplicable, Integra took his left hand and placed his fingers on his jugular vein. His eyes opened wide: »What is that?«

»Your heart. It's beating.«

Alucard looked like she was talking some strange dialect from a forgotten part of the world.

Integra tried again: »Alucard! Whatever happened to you, you're no longer nosferatu. Look here!«

She reached out and pulled off the adhesive thermometer, Walter had put on his patient's brow.

Alucard stared at the display, then at Integra.

As she had not properly looked at the device, before showing it to him, she twisted her wrist by 180 degrees and read.

»Oh – oh dear«, she said, not very diplomatically. »I really assumed, we'd have the physiological reactions under control by now. Well, I hope Walter will know, what to do.«

Alucard looked at her, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't get his mouth to work.

»Alucard? Are you hanging on?« Integra fished a cloth out of a bowl with water and shoved it at him. »Holding your breath may not be a good idea... here, splash your face. It will help.«

Alucard grabbed the entire bowl and tipped it over his head: »Aagh! Cold!«

»Gotta work on that respiratory reflex«, Integra muttered. »Walter? It's alright! You may come in!«

Walter entered and froze, his hand on the door knob: »Oh dear!«

Seras pushed past the butler and stopped dead: »Oh, master! Oh, Go - for goodness' sake!«

Alucard was busy wiping away the soaked black hair that was plastered to his head, face and eyes. Hearing Seras' anxious scream, he held the strands up with both hands like he was lifting a veil, and stared back at the draculina, daring her to verbally add the final straw to this haystack of insanity.

»Walter, could you please get us some towels?« Integra asked. »And aspirin?«

»Certainly, Sir Integra. Seras, would you please help me gather up those ice-cubes, before someone slips and breaks his delicate mortal neck?« Walter asked diplomatically.

»What happened to his eyes? Oh no. I believe, I'm going to freak out!«, Seras announced weakly, but she obediently started to chase after the slippery objects: »Did you really dump ice-water on my master, Sir Integra?«

»No, I didn't, Seras, please, get a grip on yourself! Walter – Alucard has developed a fever. Do you think it might be something serious?«

»Who could say for sure? A fivehundred-year-old body, come back to life, might - «

»It is sort of entertaining to listen to the three of you, especially you, police girl. But you can talk to me directly. I'm not dead!«, Alucard said.

Three pairs of eyes turned his direction.

»That is the problem!«, Integra and Walter said in unison.

»My poor master!« Seras put the bowl containing the ice-cubes on his bedside table and proceeded to sit on his bed. She regarded him affecionately and maybe, just maybe a tiny bit possessively. She inched closer, her eyes glazing over like a kitten smelling cream: »Mmmh! You're so warm, master...«

Alucard grabbed a handful of ice-cubes and, keeping a straight face, shoved them into her shirt.

Seras was off his bed in a flash, screaming, hopping and trying to rip off her shirt, without – well, without ripping off her shirt in front of everybody.

Catching a mocking glance from her vampire, Integra knew, he was completely back in his senses. He teased her with his smile, hoping to make her blush at the thought, that Seras' underware was not the first bra he'd got to see within ten minutes's time.

Very composed, Integra produced and lit another cigar.

One day, those little games were going to kill her, she just knew it.

»Stop that!«, she said, addressing everyone in the room. »Let's hear the full story, Alucard. And then, we'll decide, how to proceed.«

*** End of Chaper 2 ***

A/N: Okay, folks, that's it for today. It's going to be a long day for our favorite characters, though. I should know, I'm looking back at it from, well, about late evening and especially Integra is entreating me, whether she could please have a door to lock behind her, and a nice, big cushion to pull over her head? You don't understand? Just keep reading...

By the way, "alocar a alguien" really is Spanish, meaning "to drive someone crazy". Some things just fit the bill.