Chapter 6
Seras
Seras was guarding Hellsing Manor in her shadow form, easily traveling throughout the mansion, making sure nothing undead or unwanted set foot inside. Tonight had been much easier for her because Sir Integra let her rest fully, Seras felt like a whole new woman. This was the tenth time she passed the gymnasium in her shadow form, and the sixth that she realized that Sir Integra was there as well. Sir Integra was dressed in her exercise clothes, black t-shirt and grey sweat-pants and white sneakers. The first time Seras passed the gymnasium and saw Sir Integra she had been stretching. The second time Sir Integra was jump-roping, the third time Seras found her doing pushups, fourth time was sit-ups, and on the fifth time Seras passed the gymnasium she saw Sir Integra running in place. This time Sir Integra was working on her punching bag, the kind that you filled with sand and water and was shaped like the upper torso of a man.
This has been going on long enough! Seras thought to herself, this was the eighth night that Seras saw Sir Integra up before dawn and exercising. It was unnerving because Sir Integra usually exercised in the afternoon after Dinner; Sir Integra said that it made the men in Hellsing want to force them to improve to see a woman in better shape than them. Seras was never certain about that train of logic, but she couldn't see the logic in Sir Integra exercising again before the sun was up, when she should be resting for the long work day ahead. Seras came out of the shadows in time to see Sir Integra deliver an awesome body blow combination to the punching bag that ended with an uppercut that made it collapse. Sir Integra walked over to a bench and started drinking from a water bottle.
"You're at it again," Seras said. Sir Integra didn't look at her as she took another drink from her water bottle. "You're pushing yourself too hard; if you don't rest you're going to wear yourself out." Sir Integra finally looked at her and Seras saw that dark bags were forming under her eyes. "I know. But I can't sleep. Every time I try I have the most God awful dreams, and tonight's was the worst yet," Sir Integra said, leaning back against the wall. Seras sat on the bench next to her; she was the only person the great Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing allowed to see in such a tired and vulnerable state, Seras was the only one she would talk to. "You know that I will never tell a soul what you tell me," Seras reminded her. Sir Integra snorted then sighed, "For the last week I've had dreams of a man, a handsome blond man with glowing green eyes. I've dreamed of his hands touching me, everywhere. And the whole time he's touching me I feel completely defenseless, as if he could do whatever he wanted to me."
That explains a lot, Seras was certain that if Sir Integra had a single thing that she feared, it was losing her control, to be under the power of another person. "Tonight was the worst, he didn't stop with groping me, he tore my clothes off and… threw me against a wall, and raped me," Sir Integra's tone was not the proud tone of a leader; it was the fearful voice of a victim. Seras did the only thing she could think of and hugged her. "He isn't real," Seras whispered, and to her surprise, Sir Integra hugged her back, holding her as if she was a talisman to keep the bad dreams away. Seras then felt her grip relax and realized that she was asleep. With no effort at all Seras picked her master up and took her to her bedroom, and tucked her in bed before resuming her rounds.
Danny
Danny woke up to the sound of Jazz screaming. "JAZZ!" Danny yelled as he went Ghost and flew into her room. The halfa flew in and immediately ducked as a lamp nearly smashed into his face. "GET AWAY!" Jazz screamed at him and threw one of her shoes at him. "Jazz stop! It's me! Danny!" Danny yelled. "Danny?" Jazz whispered, just as their Dad barreled through the door with an ecto-gun in hand and their Mom behind him armed with her own gun. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?" Jack yelled. Jazz stopped and looked at them then hung her head and started sobbing. Maddie and Jack put their guns down and hugged her; Danny left the room and closed the door just as Seras came out of the shadows, "What happened?"
"A bad dream I think," Danny said. Seras closed her eyes for a minute and whispered, "Just like Master's dream." "What?" Danny asked her. Seras looked at him for a minute then pointed her real arm at him, "Swear to me that you won't reveal what I am about to tell you." "What is with you people and secrets?" Danny angrily said, and Seras growled, "Swear it." "Okay, okay, I swear," Danny said. "Two minutes ago I put Sir Integra into bed; she had a nightmare as well and could not sleep. This has been going on for over a week tonight, she'd have a nightmare and then wake up and go to the gymnasium, then go back to sleep after exhausting herself. I finally asked her what she dreams about. She told me that she's been having a dream of a handsome blonde man with glowing green eyes groping her, making her feel completely powerless."
"Like Jazz last night," Danny said. Seras nodded and continued, "Tonight Sir Integra dreamed the blonde man raped her, I just read your sister's mind, and she's had the exact same dream." WHAT!? "What can we do? There's no way that's a coincidence," Danny asked the vampire, no one would attack his sister in her dreams if he could help it. "I don't know. My psychic abilities are limited, it took a lot of effort for me to read Jasmine's mind, and I think I only managed it because it's so fresh in her mind to begin with," Seras told him, rubbing her chin in thought. "It's not a ghost; I would have sensed it; could it be a vampire messing with Jazz's and Sir Integra's heads?" Danny asked, turning Human.
Seras walked down the hall and Danny went after her, "Hey! You can at least answer the question," Danny said when he caught up. "I don't know, it's possible; I killed a vampire, Zorin Blitz, with the ability to cast illusions, she made me and the Wild Geese think that she was a giant, and then she penetrated into our memories and brought up our most painful memories before she killed her victims," Seras told him as she made a right and started walking down a dark staircase. "The Wild Geese?" Danny questioned as he went Ghost again and followed her, forming a ball of ectoplasm in his hand to light his way. "Sir Integra told me that you saw a video of one of my 'freakouts'. That happened when Hellsing Manor was attacked by an army of ghouls led by a pair of vampire brothers, Luke and Jan Valentine. Our security was compromised by someone we trusted deeply, and the Valentines massacred our forces."
Danny realized he was in a dungeon as they continued in, finally coming upon a room that they entered. "After we defeated the Valentines and their army, we needed to replace our losses fast, so Sir Integra hired a mercenary group called the Wild Geese," Seras continued as they went into the room. "Most of them were killed by Zorin Blitz and a troop of vampires under her; the few survivors are now among our senior staff." Seras sat at a desk nearby with a laptop on it and turned it on. Danny looked around the room, so this is a vampire's room? It was a lot less…scary than he imagined. A bookshelf full of romance novels and a few comic books, the desk, two freakishly huge looking…cannons in one corner, some posters of movies, a blue dresser on the wall next to the computer desk, and a coffin on the opposite wall.
Seras typed at her laptop faster than anyone Danny ever saw. He just registered that she was looking up criminals before the screen changed to disappearances. Seras stopped after fifteen minutes and sighed. "I can't find anything matching the description of the man in Jasmine and Sir Integra's dreams. And I looked up all the way to 1811, nothing. This is not good," Seras said. "You don't have a vampire database?" Danny asked. "No, because when we find one, we kill it. Why bother making a database?" Seras said with a sigh. "This means one of two things, if the man is a vampire. Either his disappearance was unreported, or he could be several centuries old, which is the worst case scenario."
"Why?" Danny asked.
"Vampires get more powerful with age, and harder to kill. Master Alucard was nearly invincible, and he was over 400 years old. I saw him being impaled with dozens of blessed silver bayonets and have his head lopped off, only for him to reform as good as new," Seras told Danny, who swallowed at the image in his head. "I can survive a lot, but not that," Seras told him as she got up and started moving again. "Hold on, I got an idea," Danny told her as they walked, why didn't I think of this sooner? "What's your idea?" Seras asked him as they continued walking. "I can go intangible and overshadow people, and go into their dreams when they're asleep," Danny told her, "I once did it to fight a dream powered ghost named Nocturne."
Seras was silent as they continued walking, all the way to another door. Danny saw it was a library as they went in. Seras was a blur as she ran throughout the library, then finally came back holding a massive book in her hand, "I found it." Danny and Seras walked to a table, Seras kindly turned on a light and Danny saw that the book was titled, Supernatural Abilities of Midian's by Gerald Hellsing. Seras checked the table of contents and turned to the page she wanted. Seras read out loud, "The creature known as the vampire has been shown to grow more powerful with age, and exhibit new abilities with age. All vampires are able to telepathically communicate with their fledglings, and Dracula has been known to telepathically communicate with Professor Abraham van Helsing after being bound to his bloodline. If a vampire survives four score years after transformation, he shall begin to exhibit other psychic abilities and any pre-existing abilities will be much stronger. He shall be able to telepathically communicate with any who he wishes, move objects with his mental powers, and even cast illusions into one's mind to drive their victim mad."
Seras closed the book and quickly put it back, leaving the library after turning off the light. Danny followed her, hearing her mumble, "Seventy-four more years!? No wonder Master was always so grumpy; he had to wait forever to get all his powers." "So, what does this mean for us?" Danny asked her. Seras stopped walking and sighed, "Best case scenario is that this is just a coincidence, there is no vampire, all is right with the world, and I'll get a puppy for Christmas." "And the worst case scenario?" Danny asked, already regretting it. "This vampire has been around for as long as Master Alucard, or even longer, in which case we're buggered," Seras told him. "It might not be that bad, maybe he just turned 80," Danny said. "Maybe," Seras said, not too certain herself of that.