Disclaimer: Hellsing and all other associated copyrights owned by Kouta Hirano, Genon, et al. Should any one of these parties wish it, I will remove this story at once.

The mission looked simple. That should have warned Pip right there.

Five minutes into it things went smoothly. Then one of the targets tore through a wall and killed half of beta team. The principle vampire vanished, and so did the snipers. Things just got bad after that.

Pip had been separated from the rest of the command squad and was trying to find the command squad, the snipers, anyone to form a rally point. Every time he'd gotten close to the sounds of fighting, the noise died and moved off. He tried calling out, but lifeless village swallowed it every time, it was as if they were fighting the town and not vampires.

He continued to toy with the silver cross he bought, hoping he wouldn't have to use it. He turned a corner and saw the remnants of the battle he was chasing. Broken bodies and piles of ash were all that were left.

"Damn", he swore and smashed his fist into the wall.

His radio cracked back to life. Frantically Pip snatched it and brought it to his ear. The signal was faint, but still there.

"Bloo…hel…is…ryone?"

"Copy. Where are you?"

"Nort…end…lls…Ser… act… unny", a loud bang, an inhuman shriek, then, "Retre … she's…cking lost it!", and then with a crunch, nothing.

'Lost it' meant a lot of things to different people. To Pip it meant only one thing: overrun.

"Damn it", and he shot off to the north side of the town. Seras couldn't do this, she wasn't a soldier. Even with her abilities, she'd never have a chance.

Through mist-covered streets and darkened alleyways he ran, the cold of the night burning his skin. The shadows were playing tricks with his eyes. Every shift and quiver in the darkness housed dozens of demons ready jump from the gloom and attack.

His breathing was hard, both from the exertion and the fear.

Street after street flew by, Pip straining to hear any noise. A crunch, there in that ruined house! He sprinted over kicking the broken door down and leveled his rifle. He registered the vampire across the room before it violently flew in five different directions. In that haze of blood and bone he picked out the reason for his rescue attempt: Seras.

She no longer looked human. Her eyes were burning crimson, her face distorted by blood lust, her teeth sharpened to spikes.

She turned to him, the look of hunger on her face unmistakable.

Pip reversed his momentum and tried to sprint out the doorway, but it was too late. Seras was already there. He never felt her fist crash into his face, but he did feel her knee slam into his chest when he hit the floor. Through the concussion induced fog Pip heard his shirt collar rip and saw Seras's head start to descend . Only dimly remembering that vampires didn't like sliver, he took his sliver cross, still in his hand, and weakly put it on her temple.

With a cry Seras shot away and place both her hands on the wound. Pip tried to get up still trying to process what happened in the last ten seconds.

"I'm sorry", Seras whimpered and ran into the night, and Pip was left with his thoughts.

It looked so simple.