A/N: A little break for you with this one, not very dark at all, not very OOC. Well... Maybe a little, but very little compared to normal. Apologies about the long wait, but I was on holiday and therefore not working *wink wink*, so nothing was to be posted for a good long while. But now I'm back so the updates will resume some regularity. Lime incoming, but not this chapter.

Please enjoy this latest installment.

The Living.

Blood, dripping down, no, pouring down her legs… Outlining every indent, every muscle, running in rivulets along her back, over her skin, around the soft white of feminine curves… He couldn't take his eyes from her as she stood at the top of the stairs, dark eyes passing over the room at large, never stopping on one person for very long. Never stopping on him. He shook his head as her ruby encrusted shoes – when did Sir Integra start paying a wage? – hit the top step and she began her descent into the ballroom. That dress was going to catch a lot of attention, mostly his (he hoped) because she was the only one who had opted for wearing red. Blood red no less. She was really getting into this whole vampyrress thing, wasn't she, he thought with a low chuckle. He himself had gone for a black ensemble, coat and tails, waistcoat, white dress shirt, black cravat. He fitted in wonderfully. She did not.

Seras felt odd, walking down those stairs dressed as she was, but put up her best show of confidence and descended the stairs as gracefully as she could. Luckily she had an extra 30 years of experience over the last time she had to wear high-heels in public and Sir Integra had insisted Seras practice walking on heels for exactly these sorts of occasions; the annual, round-table dinner party. This year it was Hellsing's turn to host and Seras was allowed to attend – post dinner for obvious reasons. So was Alucard, but she doubted it would really be his thing, besides, she couldn't see him anywhere. What she had seen though was Sir Integra standing among a group of guests and looking as though she could use a distraction – for the group of guests that was. And that was where Seras came in.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and the crowd in front of her parted like the proverbial red sea, clearing her path to her Mistress. She crossed the floor as quickly as she dared – lest she run the risk of stepping on her own dress and falling arse over teakettle in front of a crowd of avid on-lookers – and finally came upon Sir Integra's elbow. She took hold of it gently to indicate her arrival.

"Ah, Seras," Sir Integra breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to her pet monster, and took a sharp inhale at the sight of her dress. "That's a very… nice… dress."

Seras looked down, inspecting herself. She didn't think it was that bad. Sure it was a little skin tight and it didn't really leave much for the imagination, but it covered her breasts well enough and went all the way down to the floor. The split wasn't even to her hip so she didn't know what Sir Integra was hinting at. If it was the colour, at least it wasn't scarlet; she would have really looked amiss then. The colour was merely for attracting the attention of her master, to show him she wasn't a 'little bird' anymore, she was a fully grown and matured 'bird' and ought to be treated with the sort of respect one gave to fully grown 'birds', such as herself. She had even taken the time to curl her hair and pin it to her head in swirls and ruby pins, pulling her fringe out of her face but letting two curling tendrils remain to frame her face. Her make-up was probably the least daring thing about the whole get-up, dark red lipstick and some black around her eyes. She personally thought she looked rather fetching, but apparently no one else shared her opinion.

"I thought it would allow you some space to breathe, Sir." Seras replied evenly, then inclined her head in the direction of the group of people who had previously been swamping Sir Integra, but who now seemed more intent on staring at her.

Sir Integra raised an eyebrow and gave her a tiny nod, before returning to her conversation, although it took a few seconds for the person she was trying to talk to to begin paying her any attention.

Alucard swallowed thickly. The dress was backless. What was she trying to do? Attract the attention of the entire room? Certainly most of the males in the vicinity seemed to be paying her a lot more attention than the women they came with and even Sir Integra was having a hard time occupying her guests' attention, what with Seras standing right next to her.

He reached for her in his thoughts, probing at the walls she'd put up against his intrusions and found a tiny hole. But she felt his attentions and slammed the hole shut again before he could get a hold on it. He grimaced. He was beginning to feel antsy, what with the number of people who were now staring at her, some of them without even attempting to hide the fact… She was his fledgling and not just some common harpy to be drooled over like a roasted joint.

One young man actually got up the courage to go and ask her for a dance. She looked as though she was going to accept, but an incredulous and slightly disgusted look from Sir Integra put paid to that. She refused the young man and he trudged dejectedly back to his deeply unhappy girlfriend. Alucard clamped down on the growl he felt welling in his throat, he was not some dog, panting after his bitch and snapping at any other males who approached her. He was the No Life King for pity's sake!

That dress really did look criminally good on her though, and with her hair like that he could see her whole face. And those red lips… She looked like how he imagined she would after a feed, with the blood of her victim still staining her lips, deathly white skin offsetting the red… He wondered what she looked like after feeding actually; he'd never seen it himself, only assuming through the growth of her powers that she'd drunk blood on a regular enough basis to allow herself to develop. He made a mental note to attempt feeding her in the near future, maybe even tonight if she was hungry later…

Chuckling at the notion of taking his fledgling out for dinner, he crossed the room, weaving gracefully between the dancing people to appear at Seras' shoulder. The people in front of them threw him worried looks.

Seras frowned, a few moments ago they were enraptured by her – which was quite a good feeling actually, much better than the reactions she got from icicle-dick whenever she thought she looked quite cute – but now they looked frightened of her. Why?

Suddenly a looming presence appeared at her back and the reasons behind their fright made itself known. A cold pair of lips landed softly on her cheek and Seras immediately began to scowl. She couldn't help it, it was a stock reaction. "Sir Integra," She interrupted the older woman's rather one-sided conversation, "The barbarian has arrived."

"Ah, Alucard," Sir Integra greeted him, glad of what promised to be a more entertaining conversation than the one she'd just left. "Good of you to join us."

"I've been watching." He drawled, making his opinion of this little party very well known. After all, the parties he threw when he was alive far outstripped this one in both style and company. They were already at least 20 minutes into the last section and still no one had died. It was boring.

"Yes, well" Sir Integra gave Seras a small push – which was actually as hard as Sir Integra could push the stronger female – in the direction of her Master and the vampyrress took one small step back. "Take Seras away and do something with her please."

Seras looked immediately horrified – as if he would do anything to her – but Alucard merely cracked a small smile and nodded. "As you wish, my Master."

"Wait!" Seras took a few hurried steps forwards as Sir Integra began to move off. "Why are you dumping me with him?"

"Because you're too much of a distraction," Sir Integra said, waving the two monsters away, "None of these old men can keep their eyes inside their heads with you around."

And then she was gone and Seras was all alone with the man behind her, who was pulling the dirtiest grin she had ever felt him pull.

"Please don't leer." She said frostily over her shoulder. "It's unbecoming of you."

"Please don't scowl, the wind will change and you'll be stuck that way."

"I'm scowling because you have a dirty and foul mind."

"Master's orders, Police Girl."

"She said do 'something', she didn't say what it was you had to do though."

"Precisely." She felt his gloved hand land in the small of her back and he began to turn them both around until they were facing the dance floor. The dance at the minute was a slow-waltz and the floor was largely empty. "I feel like dancing."

"I don't know how to dance." She lied quickly. She had been forced to take dancing lessons too. Sir Integra could be quite odd sometimes and with both Alucard and Walter gone, along with most of the old crowd, Seras and Sir Integra had grown quite close, and Sir Integra even stranger. One of the many outcomes of her strangeness was the dancing lessons.

"I'll teach you." He said, giving no room for complaints or excuses, pushing her out onto the floor and taking one of her hands.

If Seras could have blushed under all the colouring she was wearing, when he grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled them closer together, she would have done. It was all well and good dancing with the dance teacher, but she was old enough by now to be his mother and, well, this was her master! The circumstances were extremely different! It was just plain embarrassing to be held in an intimate fashion by a man she had kissed, been kissed by, held still while he gave her the world's most permanent hickey and who's coffin she had cried beside! She had never thought during those dancing lessons that she would be using them with her master. It just hadn't crossed her mind.

"You look," He grumbled when she assumed the rest of the position on her own, "As though you've done this before."

"I might have done." She said and took the initiative to pull them into motion, although he was determined after that to take the lead.

"Then you lied." He scowled and spat her words back at her. "It's unbecoming of you."

Sir Integra chanced a glance over her shoulder to see how her pets were doing and saw Seras laughing at something Alucard had said. He on the other hand was glowering something terrible. The people around them seemed a little distracted, as though they were caught in the presence of two particularly mesmerising people, even though they were trying their best not to look bothered. At least the two vampires seemed to be getting along.

"Lying is not a joke, Police Girl." He growled at her. He did not enjoy being laughed at.

"And a vampire giving lectures on ethics isn't?" She laughed again, but under her breath this time. "Short of murder, I thought lying was going to be right up there with the best of them."

"Best of what?"

"Ten commandments most begging to be broken."

"Are you a religious girl, Police Girl?" He asked and she had to think for a moment. It was strange, they had now spent a good 4 weeks in each other's company on top of the months upon months they had had before the Battle of London and the subsequent separation, and still knew relatively nothing about each other.

"Not really." She mumbled, rightly guessing that he was, or at least had been. Everybody was religious way back when…

"But you know of the ten commandments."

"Just because I know they're there, doesn't mean I have to believe in them. It's the same with vampires."

He raised a quizzical brow, bidding her continue. She did, although she thought the reasoning she presented herself with would most likely not satisfy the curiosity of her master. "Just because I can see them, doesn't mean I have to believe in them."

"Vampires exist because of God, Police Girl."

"You can't know that for sure."

"Then follow my thoughts."

She swallowed thickly at the thought. She wasn't sure what she might find and wasn't sure she would know what to do with the knowledge that she might gain. Who knew what darkness welled in the many deep echelons of her master's mind?

"I'd rather not…" She mumbled and received a dark chuckle in reply.

"The first vampire became what he was because God had forsaken him." He explained, softly enough that the other dancers couldn't hear, but firmly enough to have Seras enthralled. She had always had a love of stories and this particular one seemed very personal indeed. "He was a very religious child and when he was taken captive-"

"Captive?"

"By the Turkish Emperor – He prayed for God to save him from his fate."

"But he got no answer."

"Exactly. He got no answers to anything he asked for. He grew up realising that a simple allegiance to God would get him nowhere."

"So he abandoned his religion?"

"No, he still believes in God, but he knows now that God rewards hard work and that God's favour must be earnt. So he killed his enemies, destroyed his friends, wasted his people and ruined his country, all to gain God's favour."

"Why did he ruin his country? Was it sick?" Just like a child… So naïve still…

A grim chuckle and a smile that would have curled her toes – and not in a good way - if he wasn't still pulling her in graceful circles around the dance floor was what that question apparently deserved. "The world was sick then, Police Girl. He ruined his country because he was trying to win back the land he had lost as a child, to the Turkish Emperor."

"Did he manage it?"

"You seem very interested in this, Police Girl."

Sir Integra felt her eye twitch. Again. Damn those vampires, being so smooth and graceful, attracting the attention of nearly everyone in the room. They were dancing so quickly, but faultlessly, and were getting faster and faster the longer she watched them. Alucard was talking – a lot more than usual – and Seras would say something occasionally, but seemed lost in whatever it was he was saying, as though she wasn't really paying attention to anything but him; not the dance, or the music, or anyone else in the room. How sweet.

Sir Integra rolled her eyes with a noise of disgust and made to carry on with her conversation but then; Did she just fucking blush?! Could vampire's even do that? Could Alucard even elicit that kind of response?

No, she definitely blushed and she was biting her lip, averting her eyes and Alucard – the damned smarmy bastard – was grinning like an evil Cheshire cat. That was enough.

Alucard grinned widely, showing off all of his teeth, blunt and disguised, but evil enough to make the room at large shiver. He had been delving into his master's thoughts – something he knew he shouldn't be doing, but which he only ought not to be doing if he was going to get himself caught, which he never was – and had discovered that she was angry at them – or more specifically Seras – for attracting a lot of attention.

She was also cross at Seras for seeming to be attracted to him. It was almost enough to make him laugh. The very idea of Seras feeling attracted to something much darker than herself was preposterous. She might be jaded and a little surface-scratched, but inside she was still the same young woman who wanted something better out of her life and her partners. It was why the damned Frenchman had been so appealing, while it lasted.

He stilled their dancing when Sir Integra began virtually elbowing her way through the crowd towards them. In his arms, Seras seemed confused, almost out of breath with the situation.

"So what happened to him?" She prompted, apparently not having noticed the female behemoth approaching at her 6 o'clock. "Did he win back his land?"

Alucard smiled, but didn't reply. This was promising to be excellent entertainment and he didn't want either of them to miss it because of his overly inquisitive fledgling. Besides, he could tell her another time, when she was old enough and wise enough to understand why he looked at God the way he did.

Eventually, Sir Integra reached them and the determined clacking of her heels on the marble floor attracted Seras' attention. She turned in his arms and both of them assumed expressions that were the picture of innocence.

"Are the pair of you insane?" Sir Integra snapped, not allowing them any time to question her approach. "Are you trying to ruin this evening with your acrobatics?"

Seras opened her mouth to complain, but Sir Integra cut her off, holding up a hand for silence. She recovered herself and then said, in a very level and business-like tone, "You're causing a distraction. Leave."

"Leave?!" Seras seemed horrified. Alucard was only too glad to comply. "But this is the first time-!"

"And the last." Sir Integra snapped and pointed a hand in the direction of the stairs. "Now go, and don't bother picking up any refreshments on the way out." This order seemed to be directed especially in Alucard's direction.

"Yes, my Master." He accepted her orders eagerly, sweeping a bow and sending a harsh mental-command in Seras' direction. She also begrudgingly took a bow and muttered her acceptance, before allowing him to steer her through the medium of a hand on the small of her back in the direction of the stairs.

They ascended side by side, taking their time and causing – if at all possible – even more of a distraction with their exit than they did with their entrances. The mysterious beauty of the ballroom was leaving with the tall, dark, charismatic man with the smouldering eyes… What was their relationship? Was this a one night thing? Was it for far longer than just tonight? What would they do now that they were leaving? But most of all the thoughts that Alucard intercepted seemed to run along the lines of 'Who are they?'.

"What are you smiling at?" Seras grumbled, a bit miffed about having to leave the party early.

"The living. They want to know who we are." He replied, dryly.

"And whether we're sleeping together." She grumbled, clearly distressed by the idea. He didn't think it was such a bad thing, to be assumed to have a lover in the wings, particularly one with the capacity to steal the breath from your lungs…

"Perhaps we should." He whispered to her, his wide, toothy grin growing ever wider as she gawped at the side of his face. The shock – and the fear – was rolling off her in waves and it washed over him like a sweet nectar he had longed for for hundreds of years…

"M-master…" She growled, a beautiful pink blush dusting her cheeks and as they disappeared from the prying eyes of the guests in the ball room, she abandoned him, slipping out of his arm and seeping immediately into the floor. She had run away to the dungeons before he had even the chance to laugh. Her last thought before she left was a calculation of exactly how hard she could brain him before he lost his temper and attacked her. Apparently it wasn't very far…

A/N: Please leave a review about the chapter, critique, praise, suggestions, requests (phrases would be great, rather than just objects) will also be accepted. The only request I've got at the minute is for Lemon and Lime to appear in the next few chapters. Now I think you'll agree that's not much to work with - they all seem to follow along the same general lines - so others would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thank you for enjoying this latest installment!

-Lapin