A/N: One last installment before I leave for Thailand... It'll be a little while before I update again, around three weeks I imagine, so I thought I would quickly produce something for this collection, to hopefully tide you all over. Don't worry, I slid a little treat in there for you lot and I now know where this lemon is going to come from ;)

Anyway, please enjoy this latest installment:

The Damned.

She could hear him approaching – heavy boots falling hard on the wood of the stairs – and wondered dimly what his reaction would be to finding her this way. The bodies of the deceased littered the floor around her, dull grey drifts of dust piled against the walls, gathered in little powdery mounds in the centre of the room. A soft nightly breeze blew through the glassless window to disturb the dead and it carried the tendrils of her cigarette smoke out the door and into the corridor, swirling around the man advancing steadily towards her.

The great concrete monstrosity they stood in was now empty, but less than an hour before it had been home to a vampire coven. They had swept through, Master and Fledgling, like the wind, clearing the place out among the screams of the damned. Bullet holes riddled the walls and glass glittered faintly amongst the mess on the floor.

The unmistakeable silhouette of her master rounded the doorway, his hat gone and his glasses too. His hair was ruffled and his jacket was flecked with dust, but the eyes that met hers suggested nothing of the battle he had just engaged himself in. They looked just as fresh as if he had only then woken up. Angry. Predatory. Fixed on her. She averted her gaze to the window and the darkness beyond it, removing the cigarette from her lips but neglecting to release her smoke.

For a long time neither of them smoke and the silence seemed to lengthen the space between them, stretching until they were far apart. He didn't lift his gaze from her and she stared sullenly out of the window.

"Again."

"It's for Pip." She whispered and the smoke flew out into the room. The breeze caught it again and carried it to her master, but it slipped straight past him and out of the door. He wasn't breathing. He was ready for a fight. Ready for something.

"I miss him." Seras explained. Her actions tonight had been brutal and she required comfort, she needed to be accepted despite her smoking. She took another slow drag off her cigarette and held it in again. Waiting.

"Why? Can't you hear him?" The low timbre was almost comforting, said slowly, barely audible despite the quiet in the room. But it still held a sting to it that said he still disapproved.

"No." She confessed. A prickling feeling engaged behind her eyes and she slammed them shut, determined that she would not cry. She wasn't one to cry anymore.

"Hmmph," Was all the reply she was to get and the sharp crunch of her master's boots on the glass on the floor as he approached her.

Alucard mulled the thought over in his head as he watched his fledgling. She was leant against the windowsill, arms folded under her breasts, a cigarette dangling from her right hand, the rest of the box dangling from her left. Even from downstairs he could hear something wasn't right tonight, she was even more estranged than usual, even more violent. She dispatched her prey mercilessly, running from room to room as though drunk, chasing the terrified vampire brethren into corners before laughing merrily, the sounds of her cannon ringing through the building. This was something worth reporting to his master… If he couldn't take care of it himself.

A thin trail of red began to brim in her eyes, below her lashes and as the first tear fell on her right cheek he caught it with his thumb. "Look at me." He commanded, voice harsh.

She did, opening bloodshot eyes and turning them upon him, dark and deep and miserable. He felt a tickle in his mind and opened it up to the thought she pushed his way. 'How many people will I lose?'.

'More than you will ever remember having known.'

'Will it ever stop?'

'Eventually.'

'When?'

"When you stop caring, Seras." He said. The name Police Girl didn't fit her tonight and neither did Little Bird. She was neither of those tonight, she was someone he hadn't seen before and didn't know, but he was fairly sure – given that her reaction was one of quiet sadness and not panic – that she had seen this being before, this… Monster…

"Pip would never have lived forever." He said, brushing a tear from her other cheek as well. "He was impure and would never have made a worthy Vampire."

"If he had taken the blood…" Smoke rushed up into his nose and he turned his face away from the evil smelling stuff, but kept an eye fixed on her. They were barely a foot apart now and he took another step forward.

"He would never have stooped so low." The Frenchman had some measure of pride, he would give him that much at least.

She turned her eyes away and looked forlornly at her cigarette. It was almost to the filter. Gently, Alucard took it from her fingers and dropped it to join the dead on the floor. The sound it made when it hit the dust was inaudible, but it sounded like thunder to Seras, like the breaking of a bridge, the snap of something becoming irreparably ruined.

"When you have lived a hundred years; lost a hundred companions; walked a hundred lives of man… You will learn to forget about those you've left behind." He said. He was being so gentle with her tonight. She had expected, from the look in his eyes, that he would want to fight her over this. She had expected a beating, not gentle swipes of his gloved fingers across her cheeks, removing the treacherous tears she had not given permission to fall.

"I don't want to be alone for the rest of my death…" She mumbled, the last few words turning to sobs in her throat and she screwed her eyes shut again, offended by her own weakness.

"Look at me." He commanded her again, holding her face softly in both hands, tilting her head up so she would have no choice but to look him in the eyes. Reluctantly, she did as she was bidden. "I will never fade from your sight-" She took a tiny breath, "-So long as you do not fade from mine."

"Master…" The sob came as she closed her eyes again and the tears began to flow unchecked down her cheeks. He had thrown her a lifeline, offered her a certain degree of peace of mind; something she never dared even hope that he would do. She would never be alone as long as they stayed true to each other. He would last her a hundred lifetimes and more if she would just… Forget…

She bared her teeth as the ferocity of her grief for Pip shook her body. How could she forget? Pip was the true saviour of the Battle of London, they'd have gotten nowhere without him. She would have gotten nowhere without him. To forget him would be to forget everything he had done for her, everything he had made her feel…

"Forget him, my Little Bird…" Alucard's deep voice sounded by her ear and the pressure of his arms landed on her back, her shoulders, pressing her into him. She crushed her face against his chest and the packet of cigarettes fell from her hand as she dug her fingers into his back, twisting them in the material of his coat.

"What if you leave me again?" She sobbed against his chest, the blood of her tears staining his front in blotches of red.

She felt him slide his fingers into her hair, tangling in the fine blonde strands and pulling them painfully, tugging her head away from his chest. Her neck bent at a painful angle as he smothered her lips with his. Their fangs clashed with the force of the kiss and Seras' mouth parted around a gasp of pain as her master's fingers fisted in her hair. One of his fangs caught on her lip and split it, spilling thick coppery blood to bloom against both their lips.

'I cannot be killed' He whispered along their mental bond, 'I will never leave you again'.

Her tears now flowed in a different direction over her cheeks and her fingers tightened to painful degrees on his back, but for the moment the cigarettes on the floor lay forgotten among the desiccated remains of the damned. Consenting to an eternity with Alucard was what she was doing now, again. But this time, unlike that night in Cheddar, she knew what she was signing up for. This would not be pretty, it would not be pleasant. There would not be many occasions when he would go out of his way to make things easier for her and moments like these – kisses she had imagined with princes or knights in her childhood naivety – would be gruelling and uncomfortable. But he would always be there. He couldn't be killed. He would never disappear and leave her to be damned for eternity. Unlike…

All she had needed was coaxing and she had returned to the girl he had left behind 30 years ago. No more smoke in the air – although he could still taste it on her lips – no more French men in her head. Only him, the way it ought to be. There would be no need to report this to Sir Integra, it was much too personal, much too vampire to expose to his master. Privacy could be a blessing sometimes and although he would have to fess up if faced with a direct order, he would protect his Little Bird until then.

A/N: That's all folks, I hope you enjoyed that and I hope Alucard didn't seem OOC - I've been having trouble keeping the big boy pinned down lately.

You know the drill by now, please review and tell me what you thought, improvements, suggestions, blah blah blah...

Ok, g'night!

-Lapin