All the Pretty Things: Strangled at Birth

Chapter Seven: Closure

Disclaimer: I do not own any tardemark characters or other things. This is a non-profit venture based off the story Lovely Creatures by Sweettwilightvamps13. I suggest you check out that story because without that there would be no Pretty Things. Also, this chapter was partly inspired by a quote from Harry Potter. Sirius Black talked about how the measure of a man was gained from how he treated his inferiors, not his equals. I hope that I got a measure of Alucard that is more than just a rosy image and a few charming lines. Enjoy :D

1853, Castle Dracula

Count Dracula stood in the dark throne room of his castle with nothing for company but the cobwebs and his own submissive brother Radu.

Everything about the place spoke of a marriage of splendour and decay in the same turn. The stone of the ancient fortress was crumbling and the mortar was being washed away by the hard Transylvanian elements. The tapestries had long since rotted away and the Count had done nothing to stop it or to attempt to maintain or repair the place. Even the chair that the Count sat on was a mouldy mess.

Gold inlay had long since rubbed away and jewels long lost their shine fell off when the wooden frame became consumed by mould, fungi and other masters of decay. At present it was a miracle that the chair could support any weight at all.

A malodorous funk saturated the entire castle where bats and wolves living inside had defecated wherever they pleased. Dracula liked his pets to kill on command; he never spent any time housebreaking them.

At present, the infamous Count tapped a finger on the armrest of his throne; deep in thought was the old tyrant. He was truly a crude, frightening figure. His high cheeked, hawk like face was covered by a shaggy black beard that looked like the fur of a bear; equally shaggy and knotted black hair hunt down to his shoulders.

On the old vampire's hands were gloves of thick black leather which inside his hands were like cold claws of iron. Every inch of him looked like a dirty, miserable and dangerous bandit. Dirt and grime stained every hair and square inch of clothing that he wore.

Around the floor of the throne room the Count had his trophies. Heaps of gold coins lay covered in the dust of ages. Some of the antique, valuable coins were randomly scratched and bitten as if their owner sought to destroy a few of them out of caprice. Human skeletons wearing the rotting remains of Iscariot priest robes hung from the walls on rusted and decayed spears.

Up on one of the walls was a Greek Icon of Jesus Christ the saviour; several bullet holes marred the face of Christ and the Count had even gone so far as to paint an erect penis on the messiah.

Count Dracula spoke. His voice was rough and aged; he wasn't used to speaking. If he wanted something, he simply murdered everyone and took what he wanted.

Slowly and methodically, Dracula rose up from his throne and made his way across the room. He ignored his brother, who cowered before his much more formidable brother. As he walked, Dracula stepped on a golden crown of ancient design and bent it horribly out of shape; he paid no heed.

The Count reached a jagged and ill repaired window; it looked like the whole wall might come down. In the courtyard, under the moon's gaze were a gathering of vampires. The newly created vampires danced and laughed around a fire as they prepared to feed the flames with other vampires.

The bound and tied vampires had their mouths unblocked; their screams were magnificent as they were tossed into the bonfire. High above it all, the smell of burning vampire flesh was like perfume to Dracula's nose. He smiled brightly; his white teeth standing starkly against his rough appearance and mouldy clothes. "Radu, look at them. I took all they had, starved and isolated them in my dungeon. I took it all away until there was nothing left but my voice and the darkness."

His chest shook as he began to laugh contemptuously at the vampires in the court below. "And then give them my taint and a few bowls of virgin's blood and they are ready to give me their lives."

He turned to his brother. "If I knew that having followers would be this much fun, I would have done it long ago."

His happy expression changed to one of distaste. "I'm done with petty theft and torture. I am meant for bigger things than killing fanatical priests and raping bitch vampires who are taken in by your glamour."

At this, Radu began to examine the sleeve of his coat; guilty over the crimes he'd helped his brother commit.

Indeed, Dracula was not like other vampires. He treated his own kind with the same kind of antipathy he treated humans with. He hunted and killed his own kind, but not out of revenge or other logical motives.

Dracula was not a logical man; intelligent and methodical but not logical. He couldn't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Frankly, he killed his own kind because it was fun. Those burning vampires on the pyre down there were specimens he'd either created or captured in the last month. Now he was giving them to his little cult to torture and play with.

That was one thing he wanted to impress upon his unimportant, tiny followers. There was no such thing as honour. Life had no value and unlife had even less. All that mattered were pleasure and power; and Count Dracula was the man with the most power who could bring either pleasure . . . or pain.

The Count once more grinned as he reached for his belt and pulled out a well-oiled percussion cap revolver. The revolving gun was the one thing in the whole castle that was well maintained and working properly.

Cocking the gun, Dracula took aim and shot one of his followers down in the courtyard with the same ease as a hunter shooting a partridge. The silver bullets that he carried were instantly fatal and the vampire went down with a shot to the heart.

Immediately, the revelry in the court stopped and all the fledgling vampires looked up at their lord and master, the Count.

"Sing louder next time! Let your Boyar know that you appreciate all the gifts that he strains to give you!"

At this, the fledglings got onto their knees and began to venerate their lord. These specimens had been chosen for both beauty and servility.

The Count waved his gun like a sceptre. "Now, if you are done disappointing me you will run to the nearest village and bring me twenty virgins by sunrise or else you shall all feel my sting!"

The fledglings ran like their lives depended on it, which they did.

The Count smiled. Power was something that he was greatly enjoying so far. As he held the smoking gun in his hand, his body started to melt into shadow.

Radu stepped back, fearing his brother's bite.

"Radu, I need you to go the court of the vampire queen. Get to know the movers and shakers. Make friends with the "beautiful" people and report to me in secret."

By now, Dracula had turned into a mass of shadow, teeth and red eyes. In the moon's glare, the shiny gun caught the reflection of a million forming and unforming eyes.

Dracula's voice had distorted into a demonic rumble. "Those little fools I turned will slow down the Iscariot death squad long enough for us to escape. Those Christian fools will expect a grand show, but instead they shall get a disappearing act."

In the mere blink of an eye, the shadows, eyes and teeth had all vanished; but in the unlit corners of the room a few squirming things and glistening mouths not of this earth could be seen. "It's about time that the vampire court had a new face," Count Dracula's voice had changed, it sounded like a layer of grime had been lifted off of his vocal cords.

"Say goodbye to Count Dracula . . . and hello to Alucard!" he said with the biggest, friendliest, most lady killing grin that had ever been seen.

Dracula, now Alucard stood before his brother with hands wide spread. Everything about him had changed. His mouldy garments and stained armour were gone; in their place he wore a clean, fresh smelling red duster and charcoal riding suit. Gentlemanly white gloves covered his hands and the beard was gone.

Most changed was his voice. It was world's different from the dog's growl of Dracula. Alucard had a musical baritone voice like a jolly old song and it spoke of volumes of education and breeding.

Chuckling, Alucard spun the revolver around his finger and tucked it into his coat. Playtime was over; it was time for Alucard to get to work. He had a reputation to change.

The first thought that came into her mind was that Alucard was still out there. He was an old vampire and as a human he'd been steeped in the art of black magic; his control of the witch's crystal ball was proof of that. Though Baba Yaga's grapefruit was probably destroyed right now . . . or not, there was no way to be certain with powerful magic relics like that.

If Alucard came now, he'd be able to kill her just by winking. Hell, with as weak as she was now, a human could kill her.

The Jackal was gone, she was too weak to fight a human, Alucard might still be alive and sunrise was just minutes away and in her current condition she'd burn like a match. In short, she was a woman on the edge of everything and barely clinging to life.

She began to shamble forward like a ghoul. If she could reach an intact sewer then she could hide from the sun in the earth's warm embrace.

Suddenly, a figure loomed from the dust and smoke. Seras screamed and fell back because she thought it was Alucard.

It wasn't Alucard, only his younger brother Radu.

With good light, there was no way that anyone would mistake the two. Radu resembled Alucard but he look—washed up, was the term for it. He had the expression and mannerisms of a man whose every ambition has been crushed, whose every dream has been killed. It wasn't accurate to say that he lived in the shadow of his brother; what he did could hardly be called living.

Seras gazed upon Radu's downturned mouth, like a sad fish and immediately felt a profound sense of connection to this poor thing. Since he'd become a vampire, he'd done nothing except try and work to earn his brother's forgiveness for Vlad the Impaler's long dead Queen, Elizabeta. Naturally, Alucard only took advantage of his brother.

Permanently crippled by the tortures of the last vampire monarch, Radu was a weak shade of a vampire who needed his brother's protection. Frequently, Alucard's many gangs of thugs would corner and torture and rape Radu.

Then Alucard, far from protecting his brother or showing any form of concern, would more often than not participate in the rapes and beatings.

Radu looked at Seras with dull pink eyes that were perpetually watery, as if he were always on the verge of breaking into tears.

"Brother," came Radu's voice. It was a smooth and lovely voice. It was easy to see why they called him the handsome. If he ever did smile, it would charm every woman in a hundred miles and even make some of the men flustered; not that he'd smiled in the last fifty years.

Seras spun around and sure as sin, there was Alucard. Unlike Radu, he was a bestial creature. An evil, frightening monster who would eat those who opposed him.

Alucard's makeup was smudged and dirty. His hair was scorched and he was pissed as hell. "What have you done?" Alucard's voice was a dangerous growl. His anger was so great he couldn't even speak his brother's name.

Seras watched them with morbid fascination. She honestly had no idea what Alucard was going to do. He was nothing if not unpredictable, although sooner or later he always became violent.

Alucard and Radu stared at each other. Even smudged and burned, Alucard still looked far more powerful and impressive than Radu would ever be.

Seras noticed something else about Alucard; he was carrying a gun. A massive two foot long pistol and silver plated, not less. Written on the side were the words ".454 Casull Auto." She was willing to bet any money that the ammo carried in that gun would be fatal to vampires. Even less doubtful was Alucard's willingness to use the gun. The only variable was how long he'd be willing to listen to explanations before killing everyone.

Alucard held out his arms in a gesture of outrage; like an angry parent scolding an errant teenager. "Who's taken care of you, Radu? Who's provided for you in fat and lean times?" He honestly sounded hurt by his brother's betrayal.

"You're my brother, Radu!" he raised his voice, emotion and hurt seeping into the words of the vampire king. "I protected you and this is how you repay me?"

He shook his gun and bared his teeth. Even Seras half believed that he was being honest and sincere with his brother. "I'M YOUR BEST FUCKING PAL!"

"You're not my friend," said Radu.

Alucard stopped in his tracks, like an animatronic puppet stopped in the middle of a performance and left there to gather dust until maintenance could be made.

Radu repeated himself. "You are not my best fucking friend." He said it with a strength of conviction and honesty that was missing from his earlier mannerisms and speech. It was as if the admission that his brother was not working in his best interest gave him strength. The truth was setting him free.

Suddenly and without warning, a look of incredulity crossed over Alucard's face. Now this time he was really being honest. In all his wildest dreams he'd never thought that Radu would actually see through the ruse and see him for what he really was.

Alucard started to laugh, a low, amused chuckle. Every bit of outrage and brotherly affection was gone from him. He started to laugh like a comedian whose audience finally understood the joke he was telling.

He let his shoulders drop and he threw back his head to stretch out his neck. "Yeah?" he asked. "Oh yeah?" he asked once more.

His leaned forward and using his jaws he pulled back the slide on his gun, running his sensitive tongue down the silver plating on the Casull. "Okay superstar, let's assume for a moment that you're not friends with me."

He turned and lazily pointed his weapon at Seras. "As for you, police girl, you'll be staying right here; I'll need you in just a moment."

Alucard turned to Radu.

Smoke was rising from the crater and the air was already thick with both smoke and the sirens of emergency vehicles as the authorities struggled to cope with massive loss of life and property damage. One fortunate side effect was that all the smoke and ash blocked the sun and mixed with a natural rain to form a dense fog. ]

Already it looked to Seras that outside her little bubble with Alucard and Radu there was nothing. She'd already lived with him and his madness for two years. Just being near him made Seras wasn't to vomit. She'd rather die than go back to being his secretary, not when freedom was so close.

If she could just break off and run away, if only . . .

Alas, the girl stood frozen to the spot; unable to look away from the family feud between five hundred year old immortals.

Alucard grinned. He reached up to his face and pulled off the burnt remains of the handlebar moustache from his face. He twirled the fake moustache between his fingers. "If I'm not your friend then who is? Honestly, who cares about Radu "the Handsome" and it's an honest question."

Radu kept quiet, choosing to opt out of the mind games which his brother was so fond of. Alucard had the ability to turn night into day with his debating and manipulation skills.

"Nothing?" Alucard threw out. "Nothing at all." He laughed at his brother with a decided meanness. "Apparently handsomeness and intelligence don't go hand in hand. Which is why you've always needed me."

He laughed maliciously at his brother and spun his gun around his finger. Thousands of his subjects were dead but he couldn't care in the least. Nobody is irreplaceable, least of all Radu.

"So why did you do it?" he demanded in an acidic tone. "Huh? You want to take the throne? You wanted to get rid of me!" His emotions were rising once more. This time it was pure rage that he was expressing.

"You wanted my title? WAS THAT IT! ANSWER ME!" As Alucard screamed, foam and spit flew from his mouth. In his kingdom there were no challengers to his rule, no matter how weak. Radu would die for crossing him. He was an autocrat; his word was the word of god.

He screamed more at his brother, louder; he didn't care who was watching or who heard. The force of his yelling caused Radu to step back, but not to shrink. He was terrified of his brother. He'd been terrified of him for years but now was not the time to give in.

For all his finery and numerous titles, Alucard was little more than a bully; taking out his rage on those weaker than him and cheating or killing those who were stronger.

"WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO DO IF I WAS GONE? TELL ME!"

Incoherent with rage, Alucard pointed his gun at Radu. "You wanted to make an enemy of me! I'm the Sacred Ancestor!"

Unexpectedly he took his gun and put it to the side of his own head. He thumbed off the safety of the heavy calibre gun. Alucard's face was a frightening horror mask as he held the gun to his own head. "You couldn't kill me even if you wanted to, you weak coward!"

He ran his finger down the trigger. Only a few feet away, Seras eyes widened as she witnessed the perverse spectacle.

"You wanted to get rid of me?" Alucard taunted.

"You want to get rid of your loving brother?" his eyes rolled in their sockets and his tongue smeared the black lipstick on his full lips.

"Click!" Alucard crowed. "Bang!" he shouted and he pulled the gun back and forth, to and from his head. "Boom!"

BOOM!

The gun went right off at the same moment Alucard pressed it to his temple. His corpse fell to the ground with a thud.

Seras jumped and screamed with fright. She didn't think he'd actually do it but he really shot himself.

Radu for want of a better word just looked miserable. His brother's antics were sucking up his hope, his spirit and his will to go on. He wanted this to be over but he knew that Vlad could never turn down a chance to give a victim one last twist of the knife.

Alucard lay in a heap on the dirty ground of the alley. It was fitting that a piece of shit like him lay lifeless among the burning ashes of Sophia, Bulgaria. Smoke rose up from the barrel of the Casull.

Seras looked at Alucard. Her luck wasn't good enough for him to really die, but she could hope.

"HA-HA!" Alucard cried out as he sprang up from the ground; his eyeball gruesomely hanging out from its eye socket and dangling down his cheek. Red blood now stained the already dirty and smeared white grease paint. A smoking bullet hole in his head rapidly showed off torn and bleeding brains which slowly oozed down his head and down his neck in a sticky waterfall of gore. "STILL HERE RADU!"

Gruesomely he grabbed his dangling eyeball and rudely shoved it back into the socket. Instead of staying in the destroyed orbit, Alucard's eye half fell out and began to look off in the opposite direction of his unharmed eye. Black blood oozed out of the corner of his eye like corrupt tears.

Alucard began screaming more at his brother, hoping to cut him with words and possibly get him to kill himself. "I gave you everything you wanted and you stab me in the back! Is that how you repay kindness?" As he shouted down his brother, he frantically tried to shove his damaged eye back into the right place but it repeatedly resisted his efforts, even falling out back onto his check again.

At last the No-Life king just ripped out his damaged eye socket, leaving behind a bloody whole which was slow to heal from the blessed shot.

"Look here Radu", he taunted. "Don't look away," he said with perverse playfulness.

Radu winced and started to turn his gaze as he saw his brother shove a white gloved finger into his gouged eye socket. There was a squelching noise that made Radu want to wretch.

Alucard giggled with schoolboy's gross delight. "Hear that?" he asked as he felt around the inside of his eye socket. "I think I can feel my own brain? Want to touch, brother?"

"Just leave him alone!" Seras cried out. Despite her state, if she was going to die she'd at least do it opposing Alucard.

Alucard turned and jammed a finger at Seras until the bloody fingertip almost touched her.

"Shut your fucking mouth, you cunt!" he snarled at Seras. "Or else I'll rape you to death right here!"

Alucard turned back to his brother and bit out a sarcastic comment. "So you weren't man enough to kill me yourself; I guess a coward can't change his stripes."

Alucard tapped his heels together and rubbed his temple with his gun. "But you know Radu; I fully understand how you were torn up with guilt over causing the death of Elizabeta."

The mention of Alucard's dead wife caused Radu to wince. Whenever Radu became too independent for his brother's taste, he's get the Elizabeta speech again.

Over half a millennium ago, Radu had fought for the Turks against his brother. As a ruse, he's fired a messenger arrow into Vlad's castle containing a message saying that Vlad the Impaler had fallen in battle. Elizabeta had been so crippled by grief at the news of her husband's death that she threw herself out a window. The grief was so great that it drove his brother mad, or so he'd been told time and time again by his brother.

"You caused the death of Elizabeta and when she died . . . I really didn't feel that bad."

"What?" said Radu? The banality of Alucard's statement hit him like a punch in the gut. For centuries he'd laboured under the impression that his brother was torn apart by grief over the death of his loved one and that was why he turned away from God in the first place.

"You see Radu," said Alucard, "I'm not the horrible person you think I am; I've been lying to you from day one."

Radu was hearing the words; he just couldn't process what his brother was trying to say.

"Honestly, I loved Elizabeta with all my heart but she was a colossal bitch." Alucard sounded so sincere and honest about what he was saying; he could turn it on and off like a faucet. In the past he'd learned how to cry on demand, knowing that his brother wouldn't leave him if he pushed the right buttons.

Seras watched as Radu began to shake his head in disbelief. It was pitiful. It was pathetic. Radu's entire world had been predicated around a lie and now it was all tumbling down. The only reason his brother was telling the truth now was because it would twist the knife better than any lie.

"What was it about Elizabeta, Radu?" Alucard asked in that biting, scathing tone. "Did you love her? Did you want to fuck her? Was that it? You wanted to fuck my wife!"

Radu was welling up; he looked like he was going to burst into tears. He was shocked out of his little bubble of sadness when his brother screamed at him.

"DID YOU THINK THAT THE DEATH OF SOME FUCKING BITCH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO MAKE ME SHED EVEN ONE TEAR? WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I AM?"

Alucard's voice became inhuman; the growl of a beast without any form of integrity or honour. "I am the Sacred Ancestor; everything that I say is the truth and nothing but the truth." He waved his gun at Seras. "If I say this whore dies; then she dies! If I say the sky is purple then it is so!"

Alucard put down his gun and his voice became a murderous growl. "But the worst thing you've done to me Radu, is you've forgotten your place." He pointed an accusatory finger at his younger brother who now was just looking traumatized. "And that really troubles me."

The vampire king suddenly grinned, forgetting his anger. To Seras shock, he threw his big silver handgun at her, which she caught deftly.

Alucard wore a most wicked grin now. "Seras, kill him."

Her eyes grew wide. "What?"

Alucard laughed and rubbed his hands together. "Oh yes, just listen to my offer, Police Girl."

"Seras," came a weak, pale voice from Radu. "Run, run for your life."

"Kill him now," said Alucard, "and I will make you my prime minister." His voice now was jolly and friendly. Except for his missing eyeball and smeared makeup, Alucard sounded and acted as friendly as any host of a children's television show. This was the voice he used when he needed to get something he wanted; he was the world's greatest actor.

"Seras, he's a liar and a killer; he'll ruin your life." Seras turned back to Radu, whose whispering voice could barely be heard over the sound of Alucard's rumbling basso.

"Think of it Seras," Alucard said as if she were his favourite daughter and not someone that he'd beaten, raped and tortured daily just for his own insane fun. "You would have position, privilege and rights! Gold, blood, sex, it could all be yours and you would answer only to me!" He was really using his best car salesman impression now.

Alucard could have killed Radu at any time; it was simply that watching Seras do it would give him a perverse pornographic pleasure.

Seras's head was spinning. He'd tried to eat her soul earlier tonight and now, "You want to pay me to kill you brother?" the words sounded even more insane that she was saying them out loud.

Alucard looked at her just as his eye began to regenerate. "Seras, if it wasn't for Radu then I would still be with my beloved Elizabeta. Radu is a traitor and a liar and he poisoned the one bright light of my life." He was suddenly as sad as Radu looked. It would be easy to think that he really loved Elizabeta just by looking at his sad face. The smeared clown's makeup only now served to make him seem more pathetic and even a little bit sympathetic.

Seras couldn't get a word out. The gun in her hand felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Overhead the sun had risen but was still blocked by the ash and smoke. In the grey twilight it really felt like Seras was trapped in limbo; home of unbaptized babies and pathetic vampires like her who never did anything to stand out in the crowd of the undead. As far as vampires went, Seras was a rather pathetic creature indeed.

She stared down Radu and felt the gun's weight in her hand. Alucard still wore that mask of sadness, but his burning red eyes instilled a core of fear in her of what he'd do if she refused him. She still feared and hated him but mostly feared him. What else does a person feel for someone that has had total control over their life for nearly two years? For two years Alucard had told her what to think and how to dress and if she behaved then the best she could hope for was a reduced punishment. It was like being in the worst marriage in the world.

The words came out before Seras could stop them; really all she wanted to do was delay the decision. "I-I'm not a murderer!" she wanted to sound defiant but really she just sounded pathetic. Only Alucard could reduce her to the shattered little girl she'd been after her parent's death.

Again Alucard's honeyed voice reached Seras's ears; he'd never been this charming when he'd mercilessly ground her under his boot every day. "Seras, I want you to do what is right," he sounded like he did too. But then his voice became tinged with avarice. "All I have to do is snap my fingers and all you have to do is pull the trigger; do it now and ascend to my side."

"Seras," Radu pleaded, "This could be your last chance to escape."

Alucard was confident that she'd kill his brother; it would make him very hard in the pants to see his brother killed by such a pathetic vampire. Oh well, as much as he liked strong women he hated women who acted and thought for themselves. Hopefully with Seras wouldn't suffer from that problem. Then s

She said a word that Alucard wasn't used to hearing.

"NO!" she shouted.

Immediately, Alucard dropped the warm and lovey dovey act. "What do you mean? I am the No-Life King; you can't say no to me!"

Shrieking, Seras threw down the casull, causing the gun to break. Alucard could only look on in shock.

"No," Seras said. "After all you've taken from me and all that you've done; I'll die before I spend another minute with you!"

Alucard growled and pointed at his brother, who stood transfixed. "He deserves whatever happens to him. You need me and so did he before he marked himself for death."

Seras's shouting sounded like an angry kitten but her intention was clear; she'd thrown off the shackles and was going before Alucard regained his composure and devised some unspeakable torture for her. "Do it yourself!" she reminded the two brothers of nothing else than a petulant child.

Then Seras was gone; no warning, no final word and no goodbye.

Alucard watched her run away for one brief second before looking at his brother. "Well," the word was much like a block of ice; cold and flavourless. His lips pulled back to show off an enraged grin. It was the face of an animal. "I'm going to rape and kill you, you fuck!" he jeered at his brother and charged forward with grabbing hands extended. "And then I'm going to eat you."

Drool was running down Alucard's chin by now; he was looking forward to eating his weaker brother. However as he reached his brother, Radu simply vanished.

The older brother stumbled and looked around for his younger sibling.

Glamor! It had just been glamor; Radu was a master of it and he'd pulled the wool over his dear brother's eyes.

Alucard spun around as he heard his brother's voice coming from everywhere.

"Brother, I know you can hear me; for once just shut up and listen."

Alucard snarled but he managed to turn down his anger enough to bite out a response. "You don't tell me to shut up; you`re just a worm, only—

"Brother, I`m leaving you forever. Don`t try to find me, I`ll always be one step ahead. Find some other pawn to do your dirty work. I wash my hands of you."

Then he was gone and Alucard was left standing alone.

With nothing and nobody to scare or boss around, Alucard clenched his hands into fists and just raged. He was furious; beyond furious even. The muscles in his neck bulged and his sneer or anger was so tight on his face it looked like his cheeks were going to split and rip. The crimson orbs that were his eyes shone light flashlights and bulged so much they were in danger of falling out.

He no longer even looked remotely human. He was in that moment when nobody else was watching him, a freak; a broken and damaged freak who shouldn't even have been alive. This is what serial killers look like when they're on death row and their tremendous intelligence and charm have finally failed.

For Alucard this was like a repeat of his death as a human. Despite his best laid plans, everything and everyone had failed him. He'd scorned and spat in the faces of his Christian allies. The Hungarians wanted him dead as badly as the Turks and he hated Matthias Corvinas just as much as old Mehmet. He had no allies, no friends and no lovers. There were only slaves and flunkies and now most of those were dead.

Suddenly Alucard smiled. All hope was not lost. Right now his armies fighting the rebellions abroad hadn't had a chance to hear of this incident. He could still rush out to another continent and take the helm of one of his remaining armies.

The possibilities were limitless. Like Hitler, Alucard didn't care if his empire lived or died as long as it brought him glory. Vampires could be replaced much more easily than humans.

So using the smoke and ash as cover, Alucard vanished to continue fighting his war. Because unlike Darth Revan, Alucard believed in victory at any cost; no amount of loss of life, money and equipment was unacceptable.

It was time to raise the stakes.

Seras ran as fast as she could, drawing on energy reserves she didn't know she had. It felt like no matter how far she ran, the nightmare never ended. Alucard was still alive and it was her greatest terror that she would see him whenever she looked over her shoulder. So this was why women in abusive relationships feared escaping. Not that Seras was in a true relationship with Alucard; it was more like parasitism what they had and Alucard was the parasite. He'd shown as much consideration for her as a leech for its prey.

She ran until she could run no more. Seras panted out of habit rather than need for air. Even through the thick smoke, the sun was hurting her eyes.

The girl took a shock when the slab of broken concrete she was standing on moved. She fell over and saw something muscly and studly rise up from the earth like a Greek god being born.

"Captain!" Seras cried out as soon as she saw the mop of handsome blonde hair and bright piercing eyes. Once more she drew on those hidden reserves to leap forward and hug the Captain's wide body; her face pressed against his sculpted washboard abs.

Immediately, she felt warmth as the Captain's giant arms grabbed around her gently. She'd never felt so secure in anybody's grip before. She felt like here not even Alucard could touch her.

"Get off of him you bitch!" a shrill Bulgarian voice yelled.

Seras groaned. Too bad that her of all people had to ruin the moment.

Tedora the underage was still alive. Seras was a little upset that her least favourite person had survived. The Captain had probably saved her, given that she was rising up from the hole in the shattered pavement that the Captain climbed up out of.

Seras growled slightly and narrowed her eyes at Tedora. She was looking good for a vampire who had survived a small nuclear explosion. Her top was completely torn off; her tiny A cup boobs bounced in the sooty light. Of course she'd been a professional brothel keeper and semi-professional slut for so long that a little toplessness didn't bother her.

Tedora began to scold both Seras and the Captain. Even though he was a male prostitute, Tedora was still bitchy about other women touching him. However Seras was even bitchier than Tedora.

"Fuck off!" she yelled at the teenaged Bulgarian vampire. She was in no mood for bullshit spoiling this heartfelt and touching moment.

Results were instant. Tedora went on the defensive, raising her hands and professing that Seras should calm the fuck down and such. Still, Tedora couldn't do anything about the ball of jealousy burning in her stomach. The Captain had always been professional and courteous with the women he'd been paid to pleasure. This was the first time that she'd ever seen him give someone a . . . a-a hug.

She was especially mad at the Captain now because he hadn't paid for those hugs. The Captain was the best prosti-dude on the market anywhere. If he went around forming emotional attachments to women willy nillly then he might just give up the business and go back to what he did before, which involved working for Nazi scum and some cockamamie scheme in South America.

Suddenly, Seras and the captain pulled apart and kissed each other deeply. This made Tedora cringe even though she'd done sexual acts a thousand times filthier and more depraved than a real kiss; largely because the Captain wasn't kissing for money!

Still, part of the reason that Tedora felt so much rage towards Seras was the special spot she had with the Captain. Captain didn't treat the other ladies as good as Seras; not to say that he slacked off. In her heart of hearts, in a part of herself that she'd long buried; Tedora was jealous of Seras. She wished that in the early years of her becoming a vampire there had been someone to love her.

For Seras, this was the best kiss ever. It wasn't just a kiss; it was a curl you toes and butterflies in your stomach type of kiss. His lips were warm and he tasted musky and manly. Maybe he was only a prosti-dude but no man made her feel like he did. Not to mention the fact that he beat the living hell out of Anderson's faux holy ass. That went a long ways in cementing his place in her heart.

Suddenly, the Captain pulled away from the kiss. Seras never wanted the kiss to end; it was like she was cut off from air. Two years as Alucard's slave had skewed Seras perception and need for men. She'd never needed men before, she wasn't one of those women who fell apart becase a man left her; but all she could think about in her mind was that the Captain wouldn't leave her, please.

Seras watched with fear as the Captain took Tedora's hands in his own and communicated silently with the teenaged vampire brothel keeper.

The worm of fear churned faster in Seras gut as she observed Tedora's eyes widen with fear and shock. "What do you mean, you're leaving!"

Seras's eyes widened with shock. No, there was no way that the Captain could be leaving; not at a time like this. Feelings of denial, anger, fear and loneliness swept through her faster than she could handle. The feeling was so intense that immolation by the sun would be a pleasure compared to this hell.

She was so caught in the tar pit of her own emotions that she barely noticed the Captain walk back up to her and take her small hands in his big ones.

As she looked up at him, she felt tears blur her vision for the first time. Tiny streams of blood ran down her cheeks as she looked at the Captain. Her voice was the tiniest, softest mouse squeak ever heard. "Are you really leaving?"

Staring hard into the Captain's eyes, Seras saw pain, desperation and loneliess; yes, she also saw affirmation in his eyes. He was really leaving her and it hurt more than any of Alucard's insane and fucked up tortures.

Reaching into his back pocket, the Captain pulled out a small slip of paper of some sort. Before Seras could reach the paper he handed it to her and stepped back. Sadness was in the deep blue eyes of the Captain; it would not be the first nor the last time he'd experience sadness such as this.

Seras looked down at the paper the Captain gave her. It was a telephone number; it almost made her want to burst out in mad laugher. He was leaving, but he was leaving her a telly number as if he were any other regular joe leaving his girlfriend for a long business trip. Seras couldn't help but stifle the giggles she felt; knowing that bursting out into laughter would only made those nearby conclude that she really had gone mad.

Perhaps she had gone mad if she'd fallen in love with a man who'd never spoken a single word ever to her and was paid to have sex with women.

Then . . . Seras shut down all her emotion. She turned it all off like a faucet. To the Captain she presented nothing more than a stiff upper lip; mark of the British. Her eyes dried and she brushed away the blood tears from her cheeks.

Straightening out her slutty outfit from tonight's fucked up performance, Seras looked presentable and if not alright then at least normal. It really did feel good to just be allowed a minute to tidy up her hair and top.

At least, she breathed out. She held out her hand and took the Captain in a formal handshake. Now was not the time to cry; she'd cry at a later time but not now. "Goodbye Captain; thank you for all you've done."

Somehow sensing that any intimate goodbyes would unravel Seras totally, the Captain snapped he a sharp salute; the best he'd done in decades. Then with a mighty leap, the Captain was gone just as the ash clouds began to dissipate.

Turning to Tedora the Underage, Seras gave her a handshake; although Tedora just looked at Seras like she'd really lost it. "Goodbye Tedora; It was a pleasure working with you."

"Uh, right, bye." Then Tedora was gone; she teleported her topless self out of there.

Seras had no such powers so early in her life as a vampire, so she just ran to the nearest bit of Bulgarian dirt and burrowed into it like a mole.

Protected from the sun and from other people by the rich earth that had been buried by concrete for so long, she was at last safe to express her emotinos.

Entombed in the soil of eastern Europe, Seras began to sob and cry herself to sleep. Though she was sad that the Captain was gone, she was mostly crying with relief. Being away from Alucard finally—it was like being cured. She cried because at long last she was free.

Well that's the end of that :D I hope you guys enjoyed this. And while I said I would end this, I'm not going to. I'm going to keep going with this for as long as I can because it's just too much fun ;)

But if you want an amazing, uncompromising look at Alucard, look up Captain Lycan's crossover Hellsing X or his equally great Hellsing X: Evolution. I highly reccomend it folks ;D

ta

Master of the Boot