Do not own! Not mine!
Alucard's POV:
Flora fell asleep in my lap, crying up until the very end, and I gently slipped my arms under her back and knees, lifting her as I stood and carried her to the car, sliding in and putting her in my lap once more as I stroked her hair soothingly, staring off into the distance. My poor, poor human… Her agony and sorrow had been constantly battering at me the whole time she had cried, and anger burned in my heart for whoever had dared grieve her so. She slept quietly enough, only twitching and murmuring on occasion as bad dreams crept in, soothed quickly enough by a swift kiss to her forehead and a squeeze of my arms around her. I continued to stroke her hair absently as Walter drove us to a doctor's office, my irritation simmering for the fact I couldn't phase across such a large body of water as the English Channel and therefore have my precious mate in the care of doctors who understood the needs of the Hellsings.
As we arrived, I gently shook her awake, carrying her still as Integra talked the doctor into setting up, placing her carefully on the metal table and backing away as the woman came to inspect her. "What happened?" she finally asked, gently waving a light across my human's eyes, and Integra answered. "There was a murder. Her friend was killed and the murderer attacked her, but the police came and sorted it all out. We've been assigned to take care of her wounds. Alucard here is a friend of hers." she said briskly, and I hid a smirk, pleased with the alias. The doctor turned back to my human, gently clipping her hair back and inspecting the slash across her face. "That explains it. She's in heavy shock, almost catatonic. It's not dangerous now, but very close. The blood loss isn't helping either." she muttered, and I spared a concerned glance for my human, staring vacantly into space with her eyes huge. 'You will be fine little one.' I soothed, and her eyes shifted just barely to me, the sorrow and grief in them rising a lump in my own throat as well.
And it was just a few days before her birthday…my poor sweet human. She didn't deserve this kind of life. She deserved to be safe in her home, far away from all this intrigue and murder and heartbreak. As the doctor slowly stitched up her face, I sat down beside her and gently brushed a hand over her hair, petting her slowly as she leaned into me, her eyes watering again as tears started to fall. "Shhh…" The doctor gave us a sympathetic look as she finished, and I wrapped an arm around my sweet little human as the woman moved away, pulling her snug against me. 'It's okay…I'm here…shhh…' I mentally crooned, rocking her slowly as she began to sniffle once more. Integra sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, and I brought Flora into my lap, letting her cry quietly into my shoulder as I watched my master attentively. "The Vatican is going to need you there." she said softly, and I tightened my grip on my fragile little human, not wanting to go off to save the blasted Iscariots while she needed me so desperately. Integra read my answer in my angry eyes, sighing again.
"Alucard…" she growled, and I blinked, feeling a little squirm against my chest. "A-Alucard?" I looked down, seeing my poor little human lift her head and press her lips together, her beautiful blue eyes red and swollen. "Please…go help them. J-Jay was o-only able to s-save me because t-they helped h-her." she stammered, and I curled my lips back, annoyed at the unfairness of her begging expression combined with the irrefutable order of my master. "I'm not leaving you here alone." I said firmly, and she leaned away just a little as my arms tightened, bringing her back down. "I-I'll be f-fine." she whimpered, and I shook my head stubbornly, holding her down as she began to squirm fretfully. "She'll be safest with me. If I'm going, I'm taking her." I said firmly, and Integra stiffened, opening her mouth to angrily protest. "Okay." I looked down again as Integra's jaw dropped, the meek little agreement startling her as Flora lifted her head from my chest, trembling a little. I smiled at her, slowly stroking her hair once. 'That's my brave little girl.'
She gave me a watery smile, snuggling her head against my chin, and Integra sighed. "I do not like this…Flora; don't you think you might be safer here with us?" She shook her head once. "I k-know Alucard'll look out for me." she mewled, and I beamed smugly at my older master as I gave her head a gentle pat. "I will watch over her master, you can count on that." Integra gave me a sharp glance. "That's my point. How do I know you won't be so busy watching over her that you completely forget about helping the Vatican? You can't do both at once." she barked, and I pouted, still carefully holding Flora against me. "I h-have a plan Sir. He can use the Level 0 Release." she said meekly, and my master's eyes widened as my grip tightened in shock, then I smirked a little. 'Aren't you just the cleverest little thing…' I cooed, rubbing a finger under her chin, tilting her face up with it as she beamed at me proudly, finding a soft little patch of skin and tickling it as she squirmed and giggled. 'Quit it! Alucard stop I'm t-ticklish!' she mentally cried, and I chuckled, my finger following her as she tried to squirm away and continuing to rub that adorable little patch of skin as she squirmed and giggled.
"Alucard quit playing with my heir. Flora, stop letting him. You're not three years old, you can tell him no. Do you honestly expect the familiars not to hurt you?" Integra snapped, and I growled at the very thought. "They are part of me. They would no more hurt her than they would myself. And I can alter their output so Flora can use them to the…advantage of the Iscariots." I grumbled, irritated with having to help the self-important evangelists. Flora snuggled against my collarbone with a mutter, reminding me that she wanted them to live and therefore, I was simply unable to avoid it. "You're lucky I find you so adorable, otherwise I would seriously resist that order." I told her scoldingly, nuzzling the top of her head as she giggled against my throat and pushed upward happily. "Ahem." I gave Integra a healthy glare, laying a gentle hand atop Flora's head and pushing it down. "There's a whole other room if you don't wish to see us cuddle master." I told her tartly, and a helpless, unwilling smile briefly tugged at her lips. "Get going before I vomit, Alucard. Too much affection from the both of you is going to fog up my glasses." she said firmly, and I smirked at her before I was gone, my precious little human tucked safely against me.
Flora's POV:
Alucard swirled again out of nothing, and I squeaked, looking down at myself to see his duster draped about me. "I want you to have a little "just in case", as it were. It's my shadows little one, I wear them too. It'll protect you more than a simple bit of clothing." he said fondly, and I smiled up at him as I pulled it a little closer around me, the thick red cloth –although I now realized it technically wasn't really cloth– warming me nicely in the cold Italian pre-morning air. "It's still too big." I said with a sheepish grin, and he grinned wickedly. "Hush now sweet. It's going to take a while to slay all these vampires, especially if I can't just level the city on the way." he said scoldingly, and I gave him a healthy glare, walking with him in a scuttle as I pulled his duster more securely around me. "No Alucard. Anderson and Heinkel and all the others helped us out and we need to help them too. We promised." I said firmly, my chin wobbling a little at the memory of how Jay had "persuaded" Anderson to help, her arguments with Heinkel, and her determination in getting me out.
I squeaked as his arm wrapped around me and pulled me snug, tucked against his body as he gently squeezed my waist. "It's okay. She would be proud to see you fighting on." he said soothingly, and I smiled at him wateringly, sniffling once and rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. "I-I know. She'd probably be screeching at us to g-get on with it." I stuttered, and he squeezed my waist again, rocking me a little. "Shhh…it'll be okay. I'll take care of whoever did it, you understand? I'll make them suffer." he crooned, and I blinked, shock hitting me again as I realized I hadn't told him it was his brother, opening my mouth to do so, but he stiffened and I was wrenched into nothing with him, tumbling back into being on a rooftop as his arm scooped me up around the waist, holding me close as he leaned over a gutter. I squeaked in shock, and he chuckled behind me, obviously intensely amused by the sight.
Anderson was screeching prayers and something I guessed to be either Latin or Italian swear words (possibly both) at a mass of vampires, cut and bleeding heavily with several of his long bayonets clenched in hand as he fought in the thick of them. "The master must've abandoned them to their own devices once he failed to obtain you." Alucard murmured, stroking slowly at my hair as he mused on that, and I squirmed around so I could look face to face. "Alucard, he needs help." I scolded, and he smirked, lightly pecking my lips with his own. "Well I would hate to disappoint my mate's expectations." he chuckled, and I squeaked as he leaped down from the roof, fluidly drawing the Casull as he went and starting to fire when we hit the ground, the vampires' heads exploding in gore and blood as the vampire holding me chuckled.
Anderson wearily lowered his bayonets as the bullets stopped, the vampires dissolving around us as he turned, stumbling a little, his face ashen with exhaustion. "Hey Anderson!" I called, freeing my hand from Alucard's embrace and waving as he squeezed me grumpily, annoyed. Anderson growled at us, but it was merely a token effort. "So ye finally decided to show up, vampire." he groused, and Alucard chuckled, walking forward and leading me with him as I snuggled into his shadow, quite happy with my position. Anderson's weary green eyes momentarily flicked to me, then narrowed. "Where's the heretical one?" My lip trembled at the reminder, and I scrubbed my hand rapidly across my eyes as Alucard wrapped an arm around my shoulders, glaring at the priest. "The vampire master killed her just before I arrived, aiming for my mate. Do not mention it again. She hasn't had time to grieve properly." he growled, and I saw Anderson blink several times, as if startled by this consideration from the unholy beast.
"Tch…ye've still come a bit too late, vampire." he grumbled, folding his arms as he sighed heavily. "We're barely holdin' out as it is, most o' the civilians will start comin' out and this satanic swarm'll have a new bunch of playtoys." he continued grumpily, and Alucard smirked, dangling his gun between his fingers as he affectionately ruffled my hair. "Au contraire Judas Priest. My little human and I can eliminate these threats easily enough, once you get your scrabbling little leaders out of my way." he said fondly, ruffling my hair as I squirmed and fought him off, brushing it back into place. Anderson simply stared dumbly at us all through our little squabble, and once I was safely and securely tucked under Alucard's arm, his arm holding me down so I couldn't squirm away as I pouted and wriggled just a little, trying to at least get some breathing space as his arm loosened just a little, but not much. Enough to keep me pinned down.
Anderson finally sighed, folding his arms as the bible pages scattered around us fluttered back to him. "What are ye plannin'?" Alucard chuckled, squeezing me affectionately as I beamed and snuggled back. "It's very simple Judas Priest. Get all of your precious masters out of the area and let us handle the rest. It's time to show these scum exactly whose mate they were messing with." Alucard purred, and his form grew hazy at the edges, glowing red eyes popping up all over him as I blinked, curious, and Anderson paled, stepping back instinctively. "Alright! Just…just stop that!" he shouted angrily, and Alucard smirked, the waving shadows gathering back into him and the eyes closing as I nuzzled into his shoulder, pouting. He patted my head a few times in reflex, and I smiled happily. "Right. Fine. Whatever. I'm not gonna even try talking to you bloody heathens anymore…" Anderson growled, waving us off and letting the bible pages wrap around him, vanishing in a warm yellow glow. Alucard chuckled smugly, kissing the top of my head squarely before leading me to higher ground.
Alucard's POV:
Flora blinked up at me as I placed her on the edge of a roof, sucking in a deep breath as I smelled the fighting paladins and the rotting undead. "Orders master. Give me orders." I said softly, stroking the top of her head, and she inhaled deeply, then relaxed against me. "Release Control Art Restriction: Zero. Search and Destroy; leave all paladins alive and destroy every last undead in this city. Do not harm any living humans unless they are in direct collaboration with the vampires. Go." she said softly, and I shuddered, feeling ripples of power trickle up through my feet and blossom out from my corporeal form, the inky black shadows filled with pulsing red lights flowing towards my beloved mate and wrapping around her gently, protecting her from harm, just in case. She did not thrash or struggle like Integra or anyone else would, only shivered a little from the chilly touch, actually pressing into the cocoon of shadows trustingly as I imagined it rocking her gently, smiling a little.
Now…to punish these insects that had so dared to presume to claim her as their own. She was mine. My eyes flashed a dangerous red as blood flowed out in a wide circle around my boots. MINE! "I am the Bird of Hermes…here standith the Bird of Hermes!" I snarled, familiars oozing up out of the blood they were born from as the ever widening pool of blood slipped down the roof's edge, spreading its unholy stain across this most holy of cities. A feral grin split my lips, but I was still furious, angered, feeling the thoughts and orders of those pathetic scum who had dared to attempt harming my master, my mate, unleashing wave after wave of familiars as they moaned and groaned, clawing, dragging, and crawling towards the startled and panicked vampires and the insensible ghouls. They all deserved to die, to burn. "Eating my own wings, to keep myself tame!" I roared, and the familiars wailed and groaned as one, slowly pulling down and devouring the degenerate fools who had dared even attempt to harm my beloved human as my shadows squeezed gently, assuring me that my most precious possession was indeed alive and well.
I watched with curled lips as the horde poured through the Vatican's streets, ferreting out every last undead and squashing them like the bugs they were as rage pulsed and surged within me, my fists shaking as I clenched them, trying to fight the urge to actively go out and rip each and every vampire and ghoul apart with my bare hands, feeling power whip and eddy around me as I fumed, my eyes glowing a dangerous, angry crimson as hot anger burned through every inch of me. A faltering, soft touch at my mind made me pause, looking over my shoulder in concern as the hesitant touch prodded softly, like a meek child tugging on a sleeve. She was…uneasy. Not frightened, no, not that, but uneasy. It was dark in the shadows, and she was only a little blind human. She knew it wouldn't harm her, but the dark was scary. The shadows swiftly peeled away as she was taken into my arms, the anger being soothed away within instants of her touch, her little warm body snug against my chest as she closed her eyes, tired, so tired, from all that had happened these past few hours. I squeezed her gently, reassuring her that I was there and it was perfectly safe to sleep, perfectly alright to close her eyes. I softly kissed the crown of her hair, feeling her breathing ease out and so relaxed by her soft little body sleeping in my arms I only shot a nasty glare over the side of the roof as a vampire squealed in pain, dying in agony as the harsh sound scraped at her poor little ears, her face scrunching a little before I soothed her."Shhh…"