Chapter 5- Who's A Monster?

Seras Victoria learns a painful lesson that her Master is a Monster. And no one has the power to stop that, not God, the Devil, or You.

Ketti: Sooo... I've got a SURPRISE! In a few days, anyways. You'll either like it, or hate it, or both at the same time. I was going to post this as a stand lone, but then I decided I'd add it to one of my oneshot collections, and did it now before I orgot that's what I said I would do.

That's literally all I have to say right now. You'll know more when the surprise happens.

Why do I put up with this? Seras moaned in her head, limping down the basement hallway with a barely healed broken ankle. She'd made some smart comment, she'd already forgotten what, and her Master had thrown her off the roof for it. One of the soldiers saw her land, and was kind enough to offer her a hand up, which she accepted gratefully. This was pathetic! When she was still human, a bloody police officer for the love of..! She'd spent her weekends helping out victims of domestic abuse, and here she was, putting up with the same damn thing.

But it's not. Not really, the vampire part of her argued. There's a big difference between a human fisting his wife after a few too many beers and a Master vampire disciplining a fledgling.

Seras grunted, and leaned against her closed door, taking in the quiet solace of her room with every deep unnecessary breath. She doubted most vampires were quite as… eager to torment their progeny the way her Sire was; he delighted in tormenting her, and took any excuse to throw her down the steps, or mash her against a wall, or break her bloody arm just by grabbing her.

You never know, they might be worse,

Seras stared blankly at a wall, then proceeded to laugh. Her inner self was crazy.

A small part of her wished she could run to Sir Integra and hide behind the woman's proverbial skirts, get her to forbid Alucard from torturing his Childe. But she knew, even in her few short months of being a blood sucker (not that she drank it, anyways) that playing that card would make him lose all respect for her.

Not that she hadn't run to her Master's Master when he got a little over zealous, but the little blonde knew her limits.

Groaning and rubbing her gloved hands over her face and hair, she shuffled over to her four-poster-coffin and threw herself onto the comfortable mattress. She'd think about it more later, what she needed right now was sleep.

"Sleeping on the job, Police Girl?" Came a snide, all-too-familiar voice from the direction of her table. Glancing over wearily, she tried to hide her grimace. Damn, I could have sworn he wasn't there a second ago.

"…No?" Seras offered meekly, raising her head from her pillow to offer the intimidating figure a sheepish grin, which he returned with his own shark smile, "Good, because we have a mission." His boots were on her table, and her eye twitched a little to see the dirt on his soles. The urge to leap up and smack his feet down was so strong that she actually pushed herself up into a seated position and scooted to the edge of her bed when he tipped his head down to peer at her over his amber lenses, just daring her to try. She balked before gritting her teeth and hopping to her feet anyways, marching over to her table with a defiant glare, and – taking a deep breath – smacking his booted feet, trying to shove them off her table. They didn't move, an infuriatingly superior smile gracing his smug face as he watched her, and she grit her teeth as she pushed harder, even going so far as to press both hands against his ankle.

"Is that the best you've got, Police Girl?" He taunted, yawning theatrically as she swore under her breath and shoved with all her might. Still nothing. Fuming angrily, she was about to say something she'd more than likely regret when her inner vampire piped up with a helpful hint. She paused, considering it, then smirked, unaware of how much she resembled her Sire at that moment with such an evil expression crossing her angelic features, eyes gleaming red and fangs on full display. Rather than attempt to battle an immovable object, she simply grabbed her table and in one swift motion swung it out from under him and placed it back on the ground neatly, watching in satisfaction as his legs, no longer propped up by her table, dropped to the floor. The look he gave her was indescribable, so many emotions mixed into one that she faltered a little, taking half a step back in uncertainty. Then, he laughed, and her stiff shoulders relaxed.

"Well done, Police Girl," he purred, the praise singing in her veins like adrenalin, "But we have a mission to get to."

"Yes, Master."

Seras stumbled unsteadily through Hellsing manor's front door, her uniform a mess of blood, the Harkonnen left behind in the transport truck, her right eye was a mess of scratches and blood and she dreaded the thought of losing vision in it permanently. Alucard sauntered in a moment later, looking smugly satisfied at the result of their mission; Seras had taken down the three fledglings herself while he toyed with their creator, the fool had been going on too blatant a killing spree and had to be silenced. Seras' ankle, still weak from the break earlier that night, decided that being home was a perfect time to give up the ghost and she fell with a muffled cry, landing in an ungainly heap at his feet.

Alucard's boot nudged her ribs and she gasped in pain, a bone shard sawing at her nerves. He stopped and bent over her, examining the pitiable sight of the battered blonde. "Drink the blood."

She looked away from him and he clucked his tongue in disapproval, straightening up as Walter appeared on the stairs. Walter gasped and hurried faster down the carpeted steps, "Miss Victoria! Are you quite alright?"

"She's fine, Walter." Alucard cut in, stopping the butler dead in his tracks as he was about to inspect the girl for obvious wounds. Seras' breath hissed through her clenched teeth as she pushed herself up on her hands to give Walter a shaky but reassuring smile as he looked down at her. The butler flicked his gaze between the two vampires, and made a move to reach for the girl when Alucard cut him off more sharply this time, "I said she was fine, Walter." The message was clear; stay out of this.

Reluctantly the elderly man bowed his head in acquiescence and stepped back, hands at his sides. "Very good. Alucard, Sir Integra is expecting your report. Miss Victoria, you are dismissed from duty for the remainder of the night." There was a kindness in his eyes, encouraging her to not give up hope as she put on a new smile for him, shifting to her knees to slowly force herself to stand. Blood oozed down her cheek and she shivered, feeling utterly filthy and wanting nothing more than to take a nice hot shower.

With a glance to her Sire, who nodded his head, she turned and limped her way unsteadily down the hallway towards the basement steps. She tripped on the first one, and tumbled like a ragdoll down the flight of concrete slabs to land in a moaning heap at the bottom, sobbing from the pain in her ribs. She lay there, for how long she wasn't sure, until she heard footsteps approaching and, with the will of iron that kept her from giving up during the Cheddar Incident, rolled to the side against the wall where her (un)natural instincts kicked in and pulled the shadows around her trembling form. The scientist didn't even look up from her clipboard as she passed, trudging up the stairs with the grace of a sleepwalker.

Breathing heavily until her inner vampire scolded her for it, she forced herself to stop irritating her nearly shattered ribs by holding her breath. The pain subsided and she leaned heavily against the brickwork as she made her way slowly to her room where she proceeded to shed the shredded remnants of her uniform in favor of the shower she'd motivated herself with.

Sinking down into the bath she leaned against the cool tiles and just sat there, letting her vampiric body work on fixing itself, her skin tingled and itched terribly. There was a tickle in her throat from her mind refusing to accept that she didn't need to breathe, and she gave in with a shuddering sigh. Pulling on the faucet to start the water, she turned it to the middle to start with, her chilled skin absorbing the warmth from the luke warm temperature greedily. She tipped her face up and hissed in discomfort as the gentle spray of water made contact with the deep scratch marks marring her eyelid and cheek, vowing to be extra careful when washing her hair to not get any suds in those cuts. It took her three times longer than usual to get clean, and she lay against the wall, panting lightly as she focused on not passing out from the pain. She felt horrible, but her ribs had mostly healed.

Stumbling out of the shower, she grabbed the large fluffy towel and wrapped it around herself before tripping her way over to her bed and clambering up onto the comfortable mattress to collapse for the night. Her stomach growled and her fangs throbbed, but she ignored the ache as she turned her back to the table with its ice bucket and medical blood.

"I'm not a monster." She swore to herself before hitting the button on her remote, and closing her eyes as the four poster coffin lowered itself into the floor. She was asleep within seconds, unaware of the red eyes that narrowed upon her in the shadows before vanishing.

Seras woke slowly, thoughts sluggish and tinged with pain at the edges, and she realized that there was a weight on her stomach and hips that felt uncomfortable, crushing her. Eyelids fluttering, her face scrunched as she forced them open, only to gasp in mixed shock and fright as she realized what, or rather who that weight was. Alucard loomed above her, a frown curling his lips down at the corners, his long legs caging hers in as he straddled her, his usual red coat and hat missing. "Police Girl," he rumbled, sounding displeased, and she choked on a whimper as she fought to keep the panic at bay from the boxed in feeling crowding her thoughts. "Master…"

"Drink the blood." He ordered, a medical pack landing on her chest. She scowled and turned her head away, only for him to snarl and grab her by the chin, gloved fingers pinching into her jaw so painfully she thought he'd end up tearing her face in half. She hissed through her teeth and he pried her mouth open cruelly, tearing the bag open with his own impressive fangs and pouring the liquid down her throat. She choked, trying to spit it back out, but he slammed her jaw shut so hard her head and teeth throbbed in pain. While she lay there, dazed, he tipped her head back and she swallowed automatically. Heat spread through her limbs, making her realize just how cold she had been until then, and while her eyes closed to take in the comforting feeling, she felt his fingers prying her mouth open a second time, only she didn't fight so hard, feeling drugged and compliant for some reason. Once the bag was drained he released his deathgrip on her face and instead traced the line of her jaw with one finger before leaning back on his heels to observe her.

She blinked at him lazily, and through the swimmy feeling in her head, managed to think how unfair he was to her. Then her lids fluttered closed and she drifted back to sleep in what felt like a pool of liquid sunshine.

She tripped, over what she wasn't entirely sure, but she certainly went flying. Quite literally as she was launched into space over the steps she had been about to run down in an effort to get to the ground floor faster. Is this fast enough for you? She thought to herself scornfully as she flailed like an idiot and only by sheer luck, or vampire instinct more likely, managed to land in a handstand. Unfortunately for her, she did it wrong, because her wrist cracked under her weight ans she crumpled into a heap, whimpering and clutching her injured limb to her chest. "Ow, ow, ow, ow…"

The Draculina lay at the foot of the stairs, cringing as she tried to flex her fingers, and gasped in mixed pain and alarm as two familiar boots appeared in her peripheral. She heard a masculine sigh and watched with trepidation as the white glove entered her vision and aimed for her injured hand, and she jerked back, only for him to growl and grab her shoulder, shaking her slightly to remind her who was boss. His other hand reached out and grabbed hers and pulled, and she fought back a scream, the escaping sound a muffled keen of pain as he set the bone for her in his usual brutal fashion. "Come along, Police Girl, we have a mission."

"Y-yes Master…" Biting her lip to distract herself from the lingering pain, she yipped as he pulled her to her feet and propelled her towards the door, stumbling slightly before jogging ahead and leaping into the van with the other soldiers of Hellsing. It was the usual routine; search and destroy.

She wondered how there were so many vampires crawling out of the woodwork to provide them with missions to complete, especially since not all of them were the chipped FREAK monsters that Alucard refused to acknowledge as nosferatu. Then she shrugged, for all she knew, this much activity was commonplace around the world. But something told her it wasn't, and she still wondered about it in those spare moments between training and missions.

It was horrible.

Seras stared gape mouthed at the little blonde girl with puncture marks on her neck and glowing orange eyes. The soldiers of Hellsing had cordoned off the perimeter so that no civilians or otherwise could intrude. Alucard was busy with the other master vampire, making the two story house rattle on its foundation. The toddler smiled at her, two front teeth missing, fangs glinting in the orange glow of the street lights outside the bedroom window. "Have you come to play with me?"

The Harkonnen slumped to the floor, barring the door, as Seras Victorua knelt before the tiny vampire, a smile trembling on her lips. "Of course I am. Who could refuse such a sweet little angel?"

The little girl beamed and trotted forward, arms outstretched in the universal sign of 'pick me up', and Seras felt her heart break as she stood with the child perched on her hip. "Daddy's always so busy," the girl complained, nuzzling Seras's shoulder affectionately, "I hardly ever get to play anymore."

"Is that right?" Seras hummed, rocking the girl, keeping a protective arm around the tiny creature's back so she wouldn't fall, "well, I love to play. Do you have a favorite game?" The house shook again and dust fluttered down from the ceiling like snow. The girl sneezed before nodding vigorously and pointing to her little tea tale where a board game was laid out half finished. "Daddy and I were playing, will you finish the game with me?"

"Of cour-"

"No."

Seras swung around, clasping the child protectively to her chest as she stared at her Master's head poking through the door. He did not look happy. Backing up instinctively, she graced him with a nervous smile as her gaze flitted about for emergency exits. "Master," she chirped, "do you want to play too?"
He gave her a deadpan look over his glasses and stepped fully into the room, looming over the pair of them. The little girl squeaked as Seras squeezed tighter still and sniffed the air with a tremble to her lower lip. "Daddy?"

"He's dead." Alucard answered with a cruel honesty, "as you should be."

"Dead?" The girl answered, sounding confused and frightened at the same time.

"Master! You're scaring her!" Seras scolded, backing further away, almost to the window, "she's just a child."

"You should know better than to think that will excuse her from execution. There are rules in the vampire world, fledgling, and turning a child is not allowed."

Seras bared her teeth in defiance and lunged for the window, only to shriek in pain as a heavy fist landed in the middle of her spine, temporarily paralyzing her and making her legs go limp beneath her. Seras landed in a heap on top of the girl who began to cry. A large hand grasped her arm and tugged, jerking her off to one side to reveal the bundle she was trying tp protect. Snarling and snapping her teeth, she grunted as her arm snapped, and tried uselessly to keep herself as a barrier between her cruel master and the innocent little girl.

Alucard growled and threw her across the room, and she landed in a heap of limbs against the wall, watching with wide crimson eyes as he loomed over the whimpering child, gun drawn. "Master, NO!"

BOOM!

It was over before she even had time to blink, the tiny vampire dissolving into ash instantly and Seras sobbed, "you monster…"

Alucard ignored her as she holstered his gun and turned to leave without another word. Their mission was done, and it was the clean up crew's job to finish up here.