With Integra's threat in mind, Seras knew that she had to make each move carefully from then on. No more traveling to the past with the very real possibility of the heiress coming into her home and taking the chair while she was was she going to listen to her own sense? Not likely.. Even so, it was for that same reason that she wished she didn't have to go in to cover her shifts with the force as well. For the first time since she became an officer of the law, Seras was reluctant to put on the uniform and head out to the station. Integra's threat was to be taken very seriously after all and she wanted to be home in case Vlad came back. Though considering how angry he was and how thirsty for vengeance, she knew it wasn't likely he'd return to her. The whole thing made the hate she held for the Hellsing line grow all the deeper and stronger within her heart. Likely by that point, he'd already made his arrangements to go to London.. He could have even already been on his way there by then and she couldn't follow after him.

She'd done all she could to warn him, to beg of him not to go down the path he'd been on before. All for nothing. She was going to lose him! Each time she looked at that chair now, she didn't feel victory as she had before. She only felt hatred for Integra and Abraham van Hellsing and sorrow as deep as when she'd lost her parents, sister, and niece. She was just as helpless to do anything about it now as she had been the two other times her most cherished people were killed. The proof of that was all around her and even within her. She still had the chair, she still had a copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker on her bookshelf and she still remembered going back and forth from the past. None of which would have happened if she had succeeded in changing the past, if she had succeeded in saving him.

So shortly after Integra left, Seras hadn't been in her right mind. She had gone back to Vlad's castle regardless of how angry he may still be. She knew she had to try again to keep him from essentially walking right into his own demise. She had been armed with stubbornness and desperation to get him to listen to reason, to see it from the broader picture. He hadn't been there in the library when she arrived and even searching for him in the castle had left her empty handed except for more fear, sorrow and hate to fill her heart for a time.

But then the six eyed dog that had chased her before, found her shortly after she had arrived, not nearly as aggressive as he had been. Four of his eyes were closed so only two were open to watch her as he trotted at her side until she reached one area where the dog refused to let her go. It was a plain looking door.. But she felt a coolness coming from the space beneath it and wondered if there were stairs just beyond. Stairs that eventually led to his resting place perhaps. A glimmer of hope flickered to life in her heart, wondering if the dog guarded it because Vlad slept just beyond it somewhere. Or would he guard it anyway whether Vlad was there or not? Either way.. If he was still there then..

"Please.. Don't go.." she pleaded in a quiet voice. Seras pressed one hand and her forehead to the cool wood of the door right after until the dog bumped her so she stepped away from it. He gave a soft growl as well, not to intimidate, but to express his displeasure. The gesture of course had her involuntarily step back, but when she looked at the dog now sitting in front of the door to guard it, she knew not to move toward it again.

"Okay.. I won't go any closer," she promised and noticed the black tail giving a single wag before laying still again. It was as if he was acknowledging what she said and was giving an answer. Suddenly she found herself unsure of her first assumption that the beast before her didn't understand anything she said. So she knelt down to be at eye level with him, watching him, watching her intently. "I don't know how this works. If you are a part of Vlad or just someone he commands. All of this is new to me. But do you understand what I'm saying?"

Watching him as she was, she saw a single, subtle nod of the big black head, a confirmation. Seras may still be unsure if he could understand because he was part of Vlad or not. But at least she knew he understood her at all. Then there was another question as she looked into the ruby red eyes that watched her far more intelligently than any other animal she'd ever seen.

"Can he hear and see me through you?" Another subtle little nod. So he was probably seeing and hearing her now. "Then.. Vlad, I'm begging you not to go.. I know you believe you can win this time with what I've told you and what you've seen from my mind.. But nothing has changed in the present. If you had been victorious, I really think things would be different in the future and I wouldn't have those memories anymore because they would be overwritten."

She wasn't all that surprised to get no response other than a growl from the dog along with baring his fangs at her. Another show of temper, possibly from Vlad himself and possibly from the dog. She couldn't be sure which.

"I don't want that to happen to you.. You get that right? I'm telling you all of this to keep it from happening to begin with. I know it hasn't been long that we've known one another but I-"

I can't lose you too..

Those words were left unsaid anywhere but through her soul and yet she knew he'd hear it, even as her eyes stung with tears as her voice trailed away. She couldn't keep going with what she was saying before. Somehow, she felt that if she spoke the words aloud then she would be manifesting that fate for him anyway. But how could she get him to see?

"Integra Hellsing came to my apartment a bit ago. She's the descendant of the man who staked you in the original timeline.. She really wants our chair, though the reason why is unclear. I obviously refused to give it to her." The police girl may have been wrong, but she could have sworn she heard laughter in her mind as well as from the dog that still sat watching her. The thought had an answering smile appear on her lips for a moment before it faded away along with her pride. "I.. Always cared for you Vlad.. I always had deeper feelings as you heard on the video.. Now it's even stronger since I've started getting to know you. I don't want to lose you.."

Vlad may have been amused, but the desperation in her heart grew more and more the longer the silence stretched. She was doing all she could, but it didn't feel like enough. Would she lose him anyway, despite all she'd told and shown him? There was still so much left, things of her own era that she wanted to share with him. It was probably nothing but a dumb fantasy she had conjured up in her own head. But she wanted so desperately to develop this bond and see where it went. Be friends if they weren't already and for that friendship to perhaps grow into love.. She wanted them to spend days and nights together staying in, or going out on the town or village either in her time or his own. Wanted to come back from work to see him waiting there for her ready for a night of movies or board games or something. All such simple things that would slip from her grasp if he didn't listen and went on with his vengeance.

"I know you probably don't love me yet.. But do you think you could come to love me?" Seras took the huff from the dog to be an answer in the negative. She had half expected that, but it still made her flinch to hear. "That's okay.. You don't have to love me just because I love you.."

There was another huff from the dog, one she didn't hear this time. Her own mind was her worst enemy right then. She kept seeing the same scene she saw in the Dracula movies she watched. She saw him staked, called a monster, and left to die alone. And though those had supposedly been fictional movies, she knew that, that was the fate that was quickly coming if he didn't change his mind.

That very real possibility stared her in the face now. It wasn't a "maybe" it was absolute. It was as real as the pain gripping her own heart. Pain that had tears running down her cheeks and cascading from her eyes. And whether she knew it or not, a single word continuously repeated, becoming more and more broken from her lips. "Please.." Until the tears stopped, her ducts having no more to give.

She didn't know how long she was there for, but it had to have been hours. A chill eventually settled over her and when she looked up, she could tell that night had fallen. The area she was in had grown dark and yet, there was no sign of Vlad. The dog remained though, still watching her. It broke her heart even more to know he heard her pleading, he saw her and didn't deem it important enough to answer. So with a shaky breath, she finally stood to make her way back to the library and to her own time.

She may not be able to save Vlad from himself, but she could keep Integra Hellsing from stealing their chair. Even though there wasn't much time they spent together, she'd cherish the time they had. Intervening against Abraham van Hellsing herself would only get her killed along with Vlad. And even if she managed to escape him, he'd likely think she was a vampire and make note of what she looked like. Which would then be noted for all in the family and then she'd have even bigger problems.

"Seras.."

The voice behind her stopped her in her tracks right when her hand touched the door handle that opened the library. If his voice hadn't, then certainly the arms that enfolded her would have. But could she dare hope? It seemed her heart was already way ahead of her in that regard. Though she thought that she'd cried all she could, the familiar sting in her eyes returned.

"Vlad.." she breathed, unsurprised to hear her voice break on his name. "Please.."

"Shh.."

When he turned her so that she faced him, the police girl didn't fight. She didn't try to cover the fact she cried for him either. It seemed, actually seeing her crying in person surprised him though. Seras saw his eyes widen at the sight, something she almost missed with her tears blurring her vision. But she saw it before his image went blurry when more tears filled her eyes. That didn't keep her from feeling his hand against her cheek very clearly though.

"Hush now, Seras.. An officer does not cry, do they?."

"This one does.." she replied, voice breaking with each word.

Then she felt his arms around her again, pulling her against him while she felt soft fur against her legs. Both Vlad and his Familiar were clearly trying to comfort her, but ironically it had the opposite effect. This was a little taste of what she wished for, but couldn't have. So she wept against his chest as he held her and she clung onto him.

Until..

"Seras, listen to my voice.." he began and she nodded against his chest, showing she was listening. "You were tired and fell asleep in your chair."

The police girl stiffened at that, knowing what he was doing. Hypnosis and compulsion, using his voice to set the suggestion in her mind. Immediately she tried to pull away, to stop him and shook her head to dislodge his hypnotic persuasion from her mind. His arms tightened around her despite her struggle. However, he seemed to be unbothered by it even with all the training in the academy and experience when on duty.

"When you wake, you will think this was all a dream.."

"No..don't..do this.." Even Seras could hear that her voice had become weak.

"It was a dream brought on from stress from the force.."

"St..op.. Ple-"

"Sleep.."

Instantly, Seras went limp in her sleep, her whole weight against him. If he were a human man, she may have made him stumble. But a human he was not, and thus he easily lifted her into his arms. He believed everything that she showed him in her mind and her desperate crying convinced him further. However.. Once he'd returned, he realized that Johnathon Harker seemed to have escaped the castle. He was going to pursue him, maybe he could do away with him before he could tell anyone what he saw. However there was a chance he wouldn't succeed and he wanted to make certain Seras was safe first. The things he saw in her mind of her own possible future of being pursued had troubled him, thus his actions now. This was for her own good.

AC: So, so, soooo sorry this took so long everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I intentionally left an opening for myself at the end of this chapter so I could pick it up more easily. I'm going to try to write the next one tomorrow to make up for the long wait. I now know exactly where I'm going with this story beginning, middle, and end whereas before I only had the beginning and ending and played the rest by ear. Anyway, this year has been crazy and I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting. I hope this chapter makes up for it. Please read and review, even make your predictions. ^^

Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the plot. Don't sue me~!