A/N: Goddamn I finally decided to make a good story about my OC Lydia. I also came back to pretty up the language and add more content to this chapter. I got an idea for this story after watching Dracula Untold and coming up with various reader inserts with a child vampire. I also received inspiration from the movie The Little Vampire, which was my favorite as a child. I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Hellsing (c) Kouta Hirano

Lydia Palmer (c) Myheartstillbleedsforyou/KoroMarimo

…

Seras had been undergoing various changes since the incident in Cheddar, none of which were particularly pleasant. The most disturbing of the changes was the awfully acute hearing that she had developed seemingly overnight. She could hear conversations between the Hellsing guards from anywhere across the grounds, the flutter of a moth's wings on the rooftops sounded like a helicopter landing directly in her ear canal, even the erratic beating of human hearts from afar hurt, every beat was a punch to her ear drum. It drove Seras mad beyond question when she picked up on any little noise in the house, manors had the uncanny ability of settling that was prevalent in all homes. Only these noises were more amplified; the hardy walls had a distinct voice with the tendency to make any noise echo throughout the bones of the building and into the basement. The usual settling noises had the tendency to give Seras nightmares, but nothing was as frightening as hearing the slurping noises outside her room every night.

They began the night she refused to drink the blood pack given to her to revive herself, Master Alucard had insisted that in order to become a proper vampire Seras had to consume the blood of other humans of her own free will. Doing so would completely erase all human traits which prevented her from activating her true vampiric nature. Then eventually, with proper grooming and the passage of time, the police girl would be able to achieve the status of her new master. Yet these devilish promises did nothing to convince the police girl to accept her new fate. Seras rejected the blood pack and left it out in the hallway for Walter to collect, much too scared to enter in the ranks of the undead. She could not understand how such promises of power could be beneficial, for humanity held a significance which connected her to her old life. She was not yet ready to give it up. When she heard footfall nearing her room she assumed the elderly butler was coming to scold her for not eating, and mentally she prepared herself to defend her desire for what was left of her humanity. It was then she noticed the rhythm of the steps. They were lacking the slight limping of the second step that Walter possessed and were also very quick, as though whoever it was had to nearly break out into a run to keep up with a more adult like pace. When the steps had stopped outside the door, it was then that Seras heard the dreaded slurping.

The noise was comparable to a restaurant patron who may have been eating a particularly watery soup, loud and unnerving to the listener with almost humorous undertones. Yet somehow it was more frightening considering the circumstances. For the sound was laced with undertones of a soft growl, as though a wolf may have learned to slurp his prey. The darkness did nothing to alleviate the fear, only added to it, and Seras felt very vulnerable. Then after a while, the noise made the police woman inexplicably angry when she realized she was not the only creature of the night in the manor. She thought it was Alucard who was making the noises to frighten her and she opened the door to speak to him, thinking foolishly in her mind that she could reprimand the mightiest of vampires. She poked her head out and opened her mouth, the first words she spoke was the name of her master in an overly whining tone, as though she were a child trying to have her way. Yet when she opened the door, there wasn't anyone there, and her blood pack was gone. A very queer chill made its way down her spine and caused her to slam the door shut, hand on her large chest trying to calm the beating of her heart.

This continued for many nights, and every single time the source of the mysterious sounds managed to thwart the police woman and vanish into the night. At first, Seras tried to seek answers from Walter and Sir Integra who probably had a reasonable explanation. After all, they were the head honchos of the estate so to speak, and perhaps they would be able to help Seras see reason and logic behind her childish fears. However, Sir Integra was always busy and had the tendency to shoo out Seras when she grew irritated of the constant questioning. Her overall attitude concerning the noise was that of nonchalance. Whatever the source, it was nothing worthy of the organization head's attention. Walter wasn't much help either, he often ignored the young vampire or told her to mind her own business. She was just a soldier, he had said. She didn't need to know everything that went on in the house. That was solely the business of Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing and she had no obligation to reveal every secret the house contained. Unless Integra herself had given the order to have the noises eliminated they were to be left alone to their own devices. The Hellsing organization did not have time to deal with every single noise that went bump in the night, even if it was within their own walls.

Eventually, when Seras had exhausted all possibility of obtaining answers from the head of house she sought out answers from the next best source: a one Master Alucard, the very weapon that dealt with the bumps in the night and the creatures who made them. Though as of late he seemed to always be out of reach and aloof. Alucard always conveniently disappeared when he turned a corner when approached, or plain just ignored Seras whenever she called out to him and asked questions regarding the noises. After nearly a week Seras suspected something was amiss. He must have the answers. Why would he go to such great lengths to ignore her inquiries otherwise?

She finally had him cornered alone in his room one night. It had been a particularly rough assignment, and Alucard was presumably resting behind closed doors as per usual. He hadn't given explicit orders for visitors to avoid his domain, and Seras took this as an open ended invitation. However when she approached the door and prepared to knock, she was shocked to hear that the vampire lord was chuckling to himself and seemingly carrying on a conversation with thin air.

"No, she's no more a human than I am." He said, Seras could hear him shift about in his chair, "She may still smell like one but I promise you she's a vampire, despite her lowly status. Fear not, one day she will drink. And when that day comes perhaps I can begin to lessen my burden and pass the time here with you."

Seras was perplexed at first, who was Alucard talking to? Had he finally gone mad? Her investigation yielded more questions than answers, and she found herself listening to the door, waiting for some kind of a response. She soon found out that Alucard may have some shred of sanity left after all. An eerie sort of whisper hissed its reply to his words, sending that same familiar chill down her spine and making her quiver down to her shoes. The voice was rather low and too soft to make out the language exactly, it was as though the wind was responding with a gentle caress of a breeze. It was the voice of fall, rustling dead leaves and weaving the sounds into a hissing language that seemed to invite the chill of a summer long dead. Yet the noise was most definitely not the dead sounding voice of the wind. The voice was perhaps a little too human to be so detached from reality. Seras pressed her ear to the door, eager to try and decipher the words the windy hiss spoke. She made out certain words like "blood" and "neglect" though they seemed to have a sort of choppy pronunciation. She had never heard an accent like that before, and wondered vaguely what this creature was.

"Interesting… I didn't know that police girl was so adamant about preserving it." Alucard replied when the hissing was finished, "Well, if she continues to do so then you have my permission to eat her share. Just make sure Walter doesn't catch you. Wouldn't want you to lose an arm again would we?"

The voice hissed again, though this time it could have been laughing because of the way it mimicked a halting, throaty bark. Somewhere in that laughing a question had been posed, for Alucard's reply bared notes of acquiescence.

"Of course you can. We can't have you sneaking around like a criminal at all hours of the night. You might get careless and bite someone again, and then we'll really have a problem with Sir Integra. Take a bit to sustain yourself. It should hold you until you go to sleep for the day."

There was a shifting of clothing, and then the same slurping noises that always sounded outside of Seras' room started up, still accompanied by the same animalistic growling. At last! The blasted noise had revealed itself after all. It had taken weeks for the proof to be found in the pudding, but here it was. Seras couldn't take it anymore. She had the creature in plain sight to show that she was not crazy, yet there was still that stubborn doubt in her mind wondering if perhaps there was a bit of mania lurking within her mind. Utilizing all her strength, Seras threw open the large door which lead into Alucard's chambers.

"Master? Who are you talking to?" she demanded. Yet when she opened the door fully, the creature was nowhere to be found. There was only Alucard sitting in his big chair and no one else save for a darkish haze that covered the room, blotting the dim candlelight and making it seem as though the room was being viewed through murky water. Nothing particularly unusual was in sight, no shadow dodged behind Alucard, no sinister face leered from the darkness. There wasn't even any sign of a place where the creature had been supposedly feeding on the blood of the No Life King.

"Good evening." The Vampire Lord said pleasantly, "Is there something you need?"

"Master, I heard you talking to someone!" Seras accused, pointing a gloved finger in his direction, "You all have been avoiding my questions, even calling me crazy saying I'm imagining things. I've been feeling like a fool this whole time I've been living here. But I have proof now that I'm not crazy! I heard the noise in your room, and you were talking to it! Someone or something else is here!"

"Really? Who would be making noises besides myself, the walls?" Alucard sneered, though his eyes gleamed with amusement. He seemed to be holding back some crucial bit of conversation.

"I know there's someone in here!" she insisted, "I heard whispering! And that god awful slurping… It's horrible! What is it? What are you hiding?"

"Are you sure it's not just your imagination?" he said with a grin, "A lack of blood can sometimes cause mania in vampires you know. Walter has mentioned it more than once in passing that you've refused to drink blood-"

"Master I know you're lying!" Seras cried.

Alucard laughed, a loud halting sort of sound that made his joy seemed forced. Admittedly he knew when he was beaten and knew when he couldn't keep a straight face for a joke. Pride had not consumed his soul as it did in his youth, and he was willing to concede to the inevitable. He nonchalantly inclined his head towards the back of his chair, looking behind with a wicked smile that showed his eye teeth.

"The Police Girl's gone and ruined the game." He said, doing absolutely nothing to contain that shit eating grin, "Come on out now love. You might as well be formally introduced."

For a moment or two Seras wondered what it was she was supposed to look for. There was a moment of silence, a quiet anticipation that failed to yield any results. It was almost disappointing in a way, a very uneventful reveal of the monster that had been tormenting Seras for so long. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, two very large bright red eyes blinked curiously at Seras from behind Alucard's chair. It was a Cheshire cat like effect after that, the haze that covered the room congealed behind the vampire lord and solidified slowly into the form of a very tiny, yet very pale young girl.

"What on earth…" Seras murmured, her eyes widening in shock.

The little creature didn't move out from behind the No Life King, but continued to stare at Seras without blinking. It was very unsettling and unsuspecting. The whole event seemed to fall short of the expectations Seras had for this grand unveiling of the creature who spoke like the fall wind. Why, it looked as though perhaps this girl was more of a late night snack than a hideous, snarling beast.

"This is Lydia." Alucard said, his voice becoming soft and bearing an odd sort of fondness, "My first fledgling. Lydie, this is Seras. What do you say?"

"Er… Hello. How do you do?" Seras whispered, and offered her hand.

The child disappeared behind the chair when Seras leaned in on the pretense of shaking the child's hand (for she was still going to be polite despite the shock), but then reappeared sometime after to stare again. Now that she was able to get a good look, this "Lydia" looked as though she hadn't had a proper meal in ages. Her face was shrunken and pale underneath a mass of wry black curls which were tangled and strewn about her face, and her hand which clung to the back of Alucard's chair lingered there like an enormous spider with a flat palm and long, spindly fingers that fidgeted nervously every so often. She wore a thick turtleneck sweater that looked to be two sizes too big for her little body, and her thin legs were little more than frail sticks with knobby knees poking through the holes in her worn denim jeans. Her black canvas trainers were spotted here and there with dried blood, and the child kept digging them into the grimy floor as though she was trying to bore a hole in the stone.

"Ah… Hello?" Seras said carefully again.

Lydia said nothing. She kept her owlish gaze fixated the police girl, still as a statue and never once giving any indication that she possessed any sort of life. It was only now that she was fully materialized that Seras noticed the God awful stench permeating from Lydia, like a rotting piece of bloody meat left out in the open for too long. Not wanting to be rude but still feeling as though she would do nothing than be sick in a basin, Seras began backing away very slowly away from the little girl.

"Mind your manners." Alucard chided, touching a gloved hand to the child's own, "What do we say?"

"… Hello…" Lydia replied after a rather uncomfortably long silence. She didn't reach for Seras' extended hand and the police woman breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was Lydia covered in soil from head to toe, her fingernails were black with grime and the foulest smelling of all. There was a moment of awkward silence, both fledglings stared into each other's eyes as though sizing each other up. Evidently the taller of the two obtained some sort of confidence in the silent contest determining the pecking order, for the blonde woman puffed up her chest like a proud bird and found her voice after a moment.

"Are you the one that's been sneaking 'round my door and making noises then?" Seras demanded, forgetting her disgust and stepping forward now that she had at last found the perpetrator who made such frightening sounds in the dark.

Lydia averted the police woman's hawk-like gaze and began chewing on the turtleneck collar of her jumper, revealing rather filthy crooked fangs growing over her original eye teeth. Her eyes were fixated upon her shoes as they dug deeper into the grimy floor, and spittle had started dripping from her mouth. She looked the very picture of guilt.

"That would be the case. Seeing as how her silence is proof enough of her guilt." Alucard said, grinning at the child and shifting around to look at her, "Seems you've been sloppy with your sneaking around, little nosferatu. What do you say to the police girl?"

Silence, then after a while Lydia began that disgusting slurping noise as she sucked up the spittle which accumulated in the thick wool of her collar. For a while no one moved. The tension in the room brought on by Lydia's silence and the question posed was palpable, broken only by the noise which echoed through the monotone. The suckling noises were driving Seras mad again, it was such an obnoxious sound. It even seemed to be getting on Alucard's nerves, for he nudged the little girl sharply with his elbow after a time to get her to stop. Seras marveled at his bravery. She wouldn't have dared to touch the dirty child with her nice clean uniform, especially with that stench that burned through her nostrils. Yet she was interested in how the reprimand worked, Lydia ceased her actions immediately and looked directly into Seras' eyes.

"You're wasting food, give it to me." Said Lydia.

Seras had to snap herself out of the shock of hearing a strong voice from such a shrunken little thing.

"Pardon?" she asked, twisting the hem of her uniform and trying not to regurgitate.

There was no response. Just the sound of cloth being ripped as the child began to chomp on her sweater collar again.

"Lydia's been taking your food and eating it for you." Alucard laughed, "That's the noise you've been hearing late at night. She's quite the sloppy eater."

"That's an understatement." Seras said before she could stop herself. Though it didn't bother her master as much as she thought it would. Quite the contrary, he was looking as though he couldn't hold enough of his laughter back no matter how much force he exerted to keep a straight face. His cheeks were trying to contain his laughter and puffed up with every failed attempt he made. One might have thought he was choking on his own words.

"You don't mind then if she takes your food?" he managed at last, "I don't believe she will stop stealing from you anytime soon."

"That doesn't matter." Seras replied, looking from Lydia to Alucard, "She can have what she wants, I just don't want her eating around my room! I can't stand that noise, it's too creepy… It sounds like some sort of monster trying to eat me in my sleep. I want her to take the food and go."

"Think you can do that Lydie?" Alucard asked.

"… Yes." Came Lydia's solemn reply. She studied Seras so intently that the woman could hardly stand to stare back.

"Very well then, Lydie has her extra food and the police girl will have peace at night. I'm glad there wasn't trouble. Now if there isn't anything else you need…"

Alucard indicated rather rudely to the door while Lydia began crawling up onto his lap. Again Seras marveled at his patience and bravery. Never in a million years would she let someone so filthy crawl all over her, especially when she knew the odor must be overpowering with the child directly under his nose and nuzzling around his collar. Alucard undid his cravat and unbuttoned his pristine white shirt, offering the child the pale skin of his neck which she took greedily in her mouth with a sickening crunch, teeth scraping against bone. Lydia then began to drink her fill of the master's blood, slurping and gulping and making even worse sounds now that she was no longer suckling plastic. It was disgusting. Even more disturbing was the fact that Alucard seemed immensely apathetic to the whole situation, the bite was treated as though it was nothing, and in fact the vampire lord encouraged the child to eat as though she was a nursing baby. His fingers ran through Lydia's tangled hair, and he continued talking to her as though Seras was no longer there. The entire display was enough to make anyone's stomach turn. Seras couldn't stand to stay, yet she couldn't help looking back at the little monster as she exited, for one could hardly call the creature a child anymore after this display.

She was startled to find Lydia's blood red eyes were fixated directly on her retreating form, regarding her cautiously and scrunching up her nose in a snarl as Seras watched her feed.

What had the police girl gotten herself into this time?