Bring The Police Girl With You

Ketti:... *crickets chirp* ... What? This way you get to see all the stuff I write but never post. Except now y'all will have, like, 30 stories to demand updates for instead of the eight or so I had before doing this. *sneakily edges away to more new word docs*
Oh! Just so y'all don't 'rage quit' on me, the 'reason' in the summary becomes more obvious in chapter two. Just a heads up.

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Seras stirred sleepily, and unhappily, in her coffin, feeling confined and uncomfortable, she shifted onto her side, and nearly headbutted the wood. Groaning, she cracked the lid open to check the time on the clock she'd set on the floor for just such a purpose; it was just past eight, so it must be night by now. She frowned after a moment, wondering why no one bothered to wake her sooner as she pushed the lid all the way and sat up properly to note that the usual bucket of iced blood was missing. Odd. Walter never missed a night, though she refused to drink, the offer was always there.

Crawling awkwardly out of the coffin – she hated that thing, and missed her bed terribly, the past two weeks of sleeping on dirt had left her feeling very crabby from lack of proper sleep – she stumbled over to her dresser to change for the day. Night, rather, she corrected herself mentally. You're a vampire now, Seras, you sleep in the day and wake up at night.

Still no one had appeared to collect her for whatever duties she had, usually training with her third eye at the shooting range, and she peeked her head out into the dimly lit and depressing sub basement hallways.

So she wandered around aimlessly, passing the underground wing of labs that she thought also led to her Master's rooms on the lowest level, before shambling up the steps to find something to do in the manor proper. Perhaps she could track Walter down and see if he needed any help with lifting the couches up so he could sweep under them? Helping with the chores reminded her of her time in the orphanage, but not in a bad way.

Turning the corner, she bumped into one of the soldiers with an oomph and fell back onto her rear, blinking dazedly to clear the stars from her vision. Well, that was embarrassing! Flushing a bright crimson, the blue eyed blonde scrambled to her feet and laughed nervously at the equally downed man, offering him her gloved hand to help him up. "Sorry about that, gotta watch where I'm going."

The man, one she didn't yet know by name, chuckled wryly and accepted her offer, not looking surprised in the least when she pulled him up easily, "Yeah, I guess I should, too."

"Hey," Seras called before he turned away, "do you know where Walter is?"

The soldier thought for a minute, then shrugged, "No clue, Lady Victoria, you should ask Sir Integra."

Seras' blush brightened at the title, "I'm not a lady…" but the man either didn't hear her or pretended not to as he continued on his way, and the embarrassed Draculina hurried on to do just that. Sir Integra could be a little testy at times, but Seras had learned to look past the bluster over the past month or so, so long as she was quiet and waited until the Heiress finished whatever she was working on at the moment, she didn't mind talking with her newest acquired vampire.

Seras encountered a few more of the soldiers in the halls who met her with cool gazes, not welcoming, but not hostile either, and though some of the maids shied away from her, she didn't feel particularly bad about it. Finally arriving at the doors to the imposing woman's office, she knocked lightly and waited politely for permission to come in.

"Enter."

Slipping silently into the room, she was only slightly surprised to find Walter already there, whom she graced with a smile – accidentally showing her teeth, she wasn't used to them yet – who returned it politely before resuming whatever conversation she had interrupted.

"Three days seems a bit excessive, Sir Integra, are you sure?"

"It will be fine, Walter. Besides, that hellspawn has been champing at the bit for the past two weeks, he can at least be productive with all that pent up energy." Integra took a deep drag of her ever present cigar and blew out a smoke ring.

"As you say, Sir Integra." Walter conceded, bowing lightly to her before turning to Seras, who watched them curiously. "Did you need something, Miss Victoria?"

"Is Master on a mission?" That wasn't the question she meant to ask, but their conversation must have been about her Sire.

"Yes, were you looking for him?" Walter looked interested now, to which Seras shook her head, "No, I was actually looking for you, Walter. "

"For me?" He blinked.

"Yeah," Seras smiled again, "I guess if Master's away on a mission there's not much for me to do, do you need help with anything?" Hope glimmered in her guileless blue eyes.

Before the butler could answer, Sir Integra cut in, "Agent Victoria, you will not be idle in your Master's absence. I expect you to practice in the shooting range and improve your aim."

Seras straightened up, and saluted the older blonde with a nod, before slumping slightly, "Well, Sir, that's all well and good, but that still leaves half the night with nothing to do."

Sir Integra scoffed at the Draculina, before jerking her head to the side, "Then read a book, Agent Victoria. We have a library in the west wing."

Seras' eyes lit up with anticipation and she bounced on her heels, hands clasped together in front of her, "There is?! Oh, that's amazing!"

Sir Integra and Walter chuckled lightly at the diminutive fledgling's exuberance, and shared a knowing look before the Hellsing Head pointed to the door, "Practice your aim, first, Agent Victoria, then you may ask Walter to show you to the library."

Seras beamed at them, lamplight glinting off her small but sharp teeth, "Thank you, Sir!" The girl veritably bounced out of the study, skipping down the halls with a happy tune on her lips.

Five minutes to midnight found Seras Victoria cleaning her training rifle, as shooting practice was barred past the witching hour as a courtesy to those who had to be up in the morning. Not to say the soldiers of Hellsing did not carry their weapons, they just didn't fire them wantonly until the dawn.

A few of the men gave her smiles, another few nodded at her in both acknowledgement and farewell, and still others ignored her. She smiled back at the friendly ones, and waved before skipping up the lawn, hoping to find Walter quickly so he could show her the promised library. She paused mid step when the wind changed, tilting her head back and inhaling deeply as her Master taught her to filter the scents for information; something in the breeze made her teeth ache, and she frowned, nibbling on the inside of her lower lip before shrugging it off and continuing at a slightly faster pace to get inside.

Walter greeted her in the kitchen, and gave her a mildly concerned look which she shrugged off with a smile, "So, that library?" He gave her a kind smile and nodded, leading the way, "of course, Miss Victoria. I believe you'll quite enjoy the fantasy section at the back, Sir Integra was quite the enthusiast in her early teens."

Seras giggled at the idea of the stern blonde liking fairy tales, and hurried her pace just that little bit more to get there sooner.

When the Butler opened the unassuming door, Seras gasped in amazement and delight at the size of the room and how many shelves were crammed to bursting with books of all sizes and genres. Walter's polite little smile widened as he observed the ecstatic blonde, leading her to the promised section of the library where the recreational reading books resided. Seras cooed happily as she trailed her fingers along the colorful spines, choosing a book at random, only to laugh at the cover image; it was about vampires!

Giggling like a school girl, Seras made herself comfortable in the bean bag chair next to the lamp, and surfaced from her book only long enough to wave goodbye to the busy butler as he excused himself to finish his chores before the dawn.

So it was quite startling when Walter grabbed her shoulder and shook her lightly, "Miss Seras!"

Blinking guiltily up at him, she stuck her finger between the pages and half closed the book, "Yes, Walter?"

"it's nearly sunrise! Why aren't you in bed?" He gave her a stern, almost fatherly, glare and she graced him with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry Walter, I forgot the time."

He clucked his tongue disapprovingly and pulled her up to her feet, leading her off by the elbow through the many hallways of Hellsing Manor. "It's dangerous for you to get sunlight exposure just yet, Miss Victoria, your new body is still adapting to the change, - this, I believe, is where the myth of vampires bursting into flame came from, and perhaps the weaker bloodlines do so even out of their fledgling years – and Alucard would be most displeased if he came back to find you bed ridden for the next month or more from sun sickness."

Seras bowed her head, looking thoroughly chastised, "I'm sorry, Walter, I'll be more careful, I promise."

He patted her hand kindly as he opened her door, "See that you do, Miss Victoria, it would be for the best."

She nodded meekly and graced him with a sweet smile before gently closing the door and groaning as her tiredness caught up with her. Finding a stray piece of paper, she used it as a bookmark and set it on her bedside table, her weariness overpowering her disgruntlement at sleeping in a coffin, she was asleep before her head even hit the pillow.