A/N: Cor! Lots of people interested in these things! Excellent! I shall have plenty of motivation to get on with a few more of these then! Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

The Pianist.

The click of his door opening sounded above the soft notes of piano he played and the quiet pad of feet across his room told him that his fledgling was approaching. It was rare for her to visit his rooms, much less enter, but he dared not lift his fingers from the keys and dispel the peace that currently held sway over his chambers. As he played, he had no particular tune in mind, indeed the song he was currently weaving was an amalgamation of a number of his favourites and followed along no recognisable line.

The padding stopped some meters behind him and after some time of waiting he decided, curious, to prompt her, "Do you need something?"

She remained silent but he could feel her eyes on the back of his head and heard her resume her advance. Bare feet. Why wasn't she dressed yet? Did she just wake up?

"You're making a lot of noise." She said quietly, voice raspy from sleep.

He gave her a black laugh and lifted his fingers from the keys. "Music is a gift, Police Girl, sleep is a luxury."

Looking back over his shoulder revealed an unimpressed Seras Victoria with Harkonnen tucked under her arm. He raised his eyebrow, was she going to tear him a new one simply for disturbing her beauty sleep. She had clearly gotten used to being top dog in his absence and woe-betide anyone who disturbed her slumber.

"Do you plan to kill me, Police Girl?" He asked, slipping a hint of aggression into his voice. It was important he retained his position as the dominant one in this relationship, after all.

"No, but I thought I could make a little music of my own if you intend to keep that up." She said dryly and he afforded her another laugh before sliding over on his chair and patting the now vacant space. "No thank you, I don't play."

"Really, Police Girl?" He grinned toothily as she turned around and began the trek back to his chamber door, her point made. "And here I thought you missed me. Wouldn't you like to spend some more time with your master?"

She paused, a feeling of longing wafting across to him and he knew he had her. Of course she wanted to spend more time with him. He had seen it in the looks she sent his way on their moonlit missions and in the training centre. Longing. Always longing.

Wordlessly, she put Harkonnen on the floor and about-faced, avoiding his eyes as she walked to the seat and placed her bottom in the space provided. She was embarrassed. Good. Her recent behaviour had led him to believe that there was nothing of his sweet Victoria left. It was a relief to find that he was, at least, partially wrong.

He returned his hands to the keys and began to play. The song he found himself playing was a lullaby, slow and gentle. It was an ancient song of Romanian origin and he remembered that he had liked it when he was alive. It flowed from his fingertips with little effort, memories of quiet evenings, secret midnight escapades and his mother's music box bleeding together like water colours in his mind. Beside him, Seras sat very still as he played, eyes slightly glazed and sleepier looking than before. The pair remained in companionable silence until the piece had ended and his fingers stilled upon the keys.

"What is it called?" She asked him, sleepy voice touched with wonderment.

"Little Bird."

To his amusement, she stiffened at the name and wrinkled her nose, but ground out a quiet "It's beautiful", however begrudging.

"I'm pleased that you like it." He smiled down at the top of her head. "Would you like to know how to play it?"

"No thank you." She said, standing up and turning her back on him, going for the door. "I don't play."

She picked up Harkonnen and left, the door shutting with a soft click behind her and he listened to her footsteps getting gradually quieter along the hallway.

Running his fingers along the keys absent-mindedly, he cast his mind back to a time when his own blood still flowed through his veins and he still believed in the power and mercy of God. Everything he recalled was precisely detailed, the smell in the air, the sound of the piano, the creak of the floorboards under his feet as he peered around the doorway, curious and childlike. His father's fingers coaxed the song from the piano, drawing it out in waves of melody, so powerful it made his head swim and yet seeming so distant that he could hardly perceive it.

He opened his eyes to his ceiling in the Hellsing basement. His fledgling had worn the same, contended expression that he could recall himself wearing all those years ago. She was becoming more and more like him as time went on, becoming interested in weaponry, blood and the after-death, but also the finer things like literature, music and the human composition. The little bird was growing fast and soon there would be not one Bird of Hermes, but two.

A/N: I have for you here, a small sample of the next chapter (currently in the works). Please enjoy;

As the vampire in question backed hastily into a corner, Seras caught against his chest with a knife to her throat, Alucard wondered what the outcome of this situation would be. It was clear that the vampire was an idiot – not to have even noticed that Seras was a vampire herself – and it was clear that he would be dead in a very short amount of time. What wasn't clear however was which one of them it was who would off him. Seras looked, for her part, absolutely terrified and to the vampire who had her clutched to him as a shield that was probably exactly how he saw her. But to Alucard it was blindingly obvious that it was not terror in her eyes but excitement of the darkest kind.

Her pupils were fixed on her master, dilated and glistening in the dim light of the street lamps and she had ceased to breathe. He could practically see her teeth elongating behind the cover of her lips and it was only because he was so terrified of the master vampire before him, that her captor didn't notice them as well.

So... Too dark? Not dark enough? This one will be the first to carry warnings over graphic material. You have been warned - if you don't like graphic material then it is suggested you tune out for this one...

Anyway, please tell me what you thought of this latest installment, if you have any criticisms or requests you want just write it in the review and I will do my best to adhere :D

-Lapin