Disclaimer: Hellsing and all his characters belong to Kouta Hirano and Geneon. The characters who don't belong to them are mine, but I'm not getting economic profit out of this story.

(Re) Building an Empire

Four years

Seras couldn't believe time was advancing this fast. Even so, the night when the seal activated, bonding her and Duke to an eternity to serve Hellsing, seemed as it had happened a month or so ago. Thanks to her clumsiness destroying a very architectonic patrimony of mankind building, she was dismissed of the charge of Captain, though the former members of the Wild Geese still called her that way. And she was quite happy for her Master's decision, it was too much trouble giving a vampire the leading role to the troop provided by The Crown, especially since those men were trained to kill anything with fangs.

So her no-life was turning quite simple; go to missions, get rid of rogue vampires. But even those were few and she was starting to understand why her Master used to spend his days teasing Integra. Instead of ticking her off, the Draculina had developed a lot of hobbies. She wanted to develop her artistic side, even if so far she could only produce horrible notes in a flute, and wake up everyone in the mansion when practicing her drums. She learnt to knit also. And after breaking like thirty needles in the process, there was a week when she didn't stop until all furniture in the house had a decent covering; and every soldier had proper winter attire.

She had learnt through a terrible headache that her ultra sensitive nose couldn't stand the oil painting, so she was trying to excel in watercolor. Her canvas always based in nightly landscape, she had developed a fondness to warm colors. Sometimes she even painted after the missions, just to have the opportunity to use as much red paint as she wanted.

"That's ill." Duke pointed out when Seras was putting way too much detail on a corpse by her feet. Much to his dismay, since the sealing was properly set, he was cooperating in the missions along with Seras. By cooperating meant sitting on a mossy stone and wait for the hunt to be over; unless the target was stupid enough to run pass his arm's reach. This calm attitude had given his the nickname of Praying Mantis, among the soldiers.

"No it's not. It's art."

"And you still draw like a three years old girl."

"You don't draw better than me!" She knew that was his own way slack, but every time she found it irritating.

"But I don't need to, dumb."

"Well, at least I am giving something handmade to Mister Clemens his next birthday."

"You don't dare to give him an infantile depiction of a corpse!" Duke almost shrieked by the outrage. His boyfriend had become distant since the death of his old friend Rails, and Duke had tried each year to fix the relationship with expensive presents until the day Jack mentioned that a handmade one could have do the job.

And proud that she had hit the spot, Seras started writing with the brush a clear 'to Mr. Clemens' in the corner. The older vampire brawled with fangs and claws to pull the picture from her hands. While for them it was a healthy, nonthreatening brotherly fight, for a third person point of view they were getting injuries that should send anyone to the hospital. That was what happened to the private that was already pointing his rifle at the two, wondering in which moment the monsters would charge against their human company and what had led them to start a fight. Commander Aiden arrived just in time to lower calmly the rifle. In martial terms, they shouldn't have a rank, they weren't formed in the army, even so no one questioned the formation of the mercenaries, Morris was now the Sergeant, and Julius was quite good as a mortar man.

"Captain Seras, Duke, the jeep is charged and ready. We are going home." He yelled at both like a mother would call their children when dinner is ready, the monster's reaction wasn't different. Duke profited the diversion to snatch away the painting from Seras' shadowy arm, before she could protest he was already tearing it away.

"Why don't you better improve your abilities as a vampire, I doubt you can transform into something more than a flock of bats." Duke shrugged, big pointy smile showing off his superiority. It seemed he wanted to continue all the way home, but Seras realized this time he had a point. So she sent him a deathly glare to settle the discussion. They let go each other with a huff, broken limbs recovering with abnormal speed, and walked toward their superior.

Integra also bought her a bicycle. She found endearing to stroll the countryside on it, she knew she could fly for god sake! But never having the opportunity to ride one as human gave it a magical aspect. More else, for a slightly moment she could feel she was still human. Among her idle nights, when she wasn't repairing the bike for overpowering the metallic structure's resistance, the thing she enjoyed the most was strolling through London. She must have made the waterlink way from Cutty Sark to Cator Park a thousand times and never gotten fed up of it. She loved seeing how the city had changed that much in the course of three years. Not that all the houses would have been restored, but most of them were as if the '99 has never happened. She thought in the development of mankind and how she would live to see what people was capable of doing by sheer commitment.

She stopped by a house that had seen her dark frame already many times in the past. The bicycle had to wait outside, really far for someone to spot her visits; and the gate was easily jumped over before the guards could even consider the presence of an intruder. Walking up to the balcony was piece of cake for her undead abilities, and fortunately, by the time she stepped on the marbled floor the person she wanted to see waited for her arrival.

"Good morning, Miss Victoria" The vintage round clock marked six with a whimsical bell tune. Sir Hugh Irons had ordered to install a chimney on his studio, it faked up flames but the heat was real. A cup of whiskey on his hand helped also to soothe the coldness of dawn. His green couch preferred over the now dust covered desk chair. "Mind if you join me with a drink? I've gotten a fine wine that the French man might appreciate."

The old man rose with the sturdiness of a young person to fetch a bottle deliberately left on the side table, and two cups.

"Mon Dieu, so many attentions. Thank you Sir." Pip talked, his voice echoing from the shadows while Irons struggled with the cork. Seras agreed to hold the glass, his boyfriend not being able to do it himself. She didn't like alcohol that much, and honestly, only her Master was a real connoisseur when it came to brands, origins and maturity of the wine. The sour was hard to swallow when your tongue is used to the coppery flavor of blood.

"Now my girl, do we continue where we were left." The magnetic chess board came up from down the center table, the black king two moves from check. Chess had become other of her pastime addictions, and seeing how Integra never had the patience to teach anyone, the task was more than pleasant for the old man. Since last year he had resigned as Member of the Table of the Knights, due to age weighting in his decisions, he had chose to stay by his successor side only as advice provider. Which seemed rare, as the fifties youngster didn't find necessary the wisdom of Irons' age.

"Check mate. Something troubles you, isn't it?"

"I've been thinking. This peace can't be real." The pieces were rearranged for a new match.

"Why so?" Black pawn moved two places forward.

"I don't know. It's just… since the day Master changed me it's been a rollercoaster of battles. From when Millennium attacked the mansion, our trip to Brazil, and suddenly the London Attack, I feel like I don't deserve this peace. And Duke reminds it to me, he keeps telling my powers could grow, and I don't find a point in getting stronger. It's simply not needed unless he feels something terrible is going to happen and he only wants to warn me in his odd way." White pawn advanced too.

"Don't misunderstand the old vampire; he's simply worried you may get caught off guard. You know, our enemies might be plotting somewhere while the only thing we do to prepare us is playing chess." A black horse stepped in. "But you'd already figured that much so, are you going to tell me what troubles you?"

Gloved fingers caressed the rook enough for leaving it alone to march forward the bishop. Seras bit her lip, ashamed to talk, another sip of wine would give her the courage.

"I feel like in the bottom of a merry go round, I don't know how to go up."

"Perhaps you do know."

"W-well, I have the impression I do but… I also feel that if it happens, things will never go the same."

"That's the point of doing things to happen, lady. Check mate." Seras stared at the board flabbergasted; Sir Irons hadn't won her so fast in months. A rattle took her out of abstraction, an uniformed girl waited at the doorframe with a tea tray on her hands.

"I'm coming in." So she did. Stepping in proud before the Draculina as if the vampire had never existed, excepting for the mean look Seras got from Mary when a second cup of tea was served and offered to her. Hate never having anything to do with manners. As if it was needed to explain she continued. "Ann wants to know if you'll take breakfast downstairs."

"But of course, wouldn't dare missing it this time."

Three years since the last time she had heard her voice. Seras remembered the maid yelling at her, blaming her loss. Maybe the only trace of confident friendship they could once share was forgotten on the boxes of caramel chocolates the vampire kept buying as a memento. Then she wondered if Master Alucard had had to deal with losing friends very often, and that was the reason he usually had acted as an arrogant noble or a blood thristy beast, so that no one would dare to approach him, and hurt him.

Sir Irons was arranging the pieces for a second time that night.

"I have to go. Till the next time?" She stood up, Pip pleading for at least letting him finish the bottle but that was out of question. Seras flew through the window, landing just for picking up her bicycle. No time for riding back home before sunrise. She didn't wait much for hearing the old man's response in her head.

Internal struggle was harder to deal when there were more voices to listen than yours only. Pip was as concerned as Duke, aware in some other level of what unsettled her. Elica and Isole knew too, the fourth resident was screaming at them to let him out of this mental cage. Seras had confectioned it out of the seal which Integra had relied on her the key. This vampire was powerful, a sip of Raymond's blood had given her the ability to reactivate her powers, and truth was, she had swallowed a mouthful that was yet to assimilate. Were her familiars ready to deal with a menace inside her head? Because she wasn't.

Author's Note: Hello there! I wasn't in hiatus, it was just I didn't have the inspiration to continue it and dyscovering the comic section of my local libary didn't help.

Thanks for the recent followers that encouraged to continue. The story was going awful slow so a time skip was in order, I hope you like it ;D