Chapter Thirteen:
The Last

A/N: You read correctly. The last.

Enjoy.

-snowglobesareawesome

She was restrained. That was the first pervading thought. The question of why she was restrained was the next.

Bleary eyes opened to behold a dim-lit room. She blinked several times before two figures came into focus. They spoke lowly to each other, intimately. One voice was Integra's. The other was, undoubtedly, the deep, silken rumble belonging to Alucard. Seras listened, without moving or making a sound.

"I cannot trust her around the men any longer, Alucard."

"I cannot be apart from her. You know this."

Integra sighed. "I suppose I will have to do away with the both of you."

At this, Seras' heart jumped and a whine escaped. She strained against the thick metal links that bound her to the examination table of the morgue and the iron cuffs cut into her arms. They creaked and stretched, ready to snap. In an instant, her irate howl was silenced by Alucard's gloved hand and her wrist was grabbed and pinned to the tabletop. His large crimson orbs loomed over her, swirling with malice and something else…

Pride.

"Relax into your shackles, Seras." I won't be calling you "Police Girl" anymore, considering that it is no longer what you are. "Fighting will only earn you pain. Let my master and I speak."

They left the room then, leaving Seras to the cold, steel-adorned morgue. Her thoughts churned around in her head and she growled in frustration. The sound was feral and surprised her. Alucard's amused chuckle echoed in her thoughts and she caught a bit of Integra's voice through the link of their minds.

"I'll have a place set up for the both of you. Make her strong, Alucard, and she will we be bound to Hellsing with the same magic as you."

"She will be bound to me," asserted Alucard in response and then he shut down the link, as if he realized that she could hear them. Seras groaned in frustration, jerking at her shackles. She pondered the meaning of their conversation and ground her teeth together anxiously. It took an agonizingly long time for Alucard and Integra to return. The woman paced over to where Seras was prostrate and peered down at her with her cunning, noble blue eyes.

"Miss Victoria," she articulated carefully, "I am entrusting you to Alucard. You will listen to him, learn from him, and return to Hellsing when he thinks you are ready." She kneeled closer and Seras felt the sudden and inexplicable urge to snarl and snap her jaws at the woman. "Defy these orders, and you will be removed."

Removed. The word was heavy.

Seras hid the defiant look in her eyes swiftly and turned her head away from Integra's steel gaze. The woman muttered a few words of warning to Alucard before leaving the morgue. The heavy metal door slammed behind her and Seras was left alone with Alucard. The atmosphere shifted and Seras felt a sudden calm creep through her bones.

"Seras," hissed Alucard, sounding more like a snake than a powerful vampire. She turned her eyes to find him startlingly close. His haunting red eyes danced a few feet from hers. They gleamed with a dark power that Seras had only begun to comprehend. She was unable to find words, unable to tear her eyes away as he drew even closer.

His gloved thumb traced the curve of her jaw and a tremor ran through her. She watched him, slightly confused but mostly curious. The look in his eye was something unfamiliar to his character. He was usually so bored yet smooth in manner, but the way his lips tilted and his brows arched…it was almost…impish. Playful.

"I like this sudden character change, Miss Victoria," he chuckled, imitating Sir Integra's stern tone when he said her name. "Your indiscretions have expelled us from our home." His hand trailed down her neck and Seras took in a sharp breath. "And we will be spending the next…several months…" his hand sank down between the valley of her breasts, making Seras clench her eyes shut. "…alone, together, in a mansion far from Hellsing and other humans that you might harm."

His gloved palm pressed flat against her abdomen and Seras felt nauseous. "The human you attacked…his arm is broken. Splintered, really. He's in critical condition." Alucard's tone indicated that the idea excited him. Seras shuddered.

He stooped low, the curtain of his hair closing around them. He smelled like smoke and Seras felt like she was suffocating.

"It will be awfully boring," he sighed, "sitting around in that dusty old mansion all day and night. You will have to find a way to entertain me, Seras." The way he said her name almost sounded dirty. She grimaced, wanting to escape the intensity of his closeness. He lifted the chain attached to her left wrist and let it clank back to the tabletop.

He stood upright and paced toward the door. "And Seras, you look tantalizing - sprawled out on the mortician's table in your night things." His wicked smiled made Seras blush furiously as he stalked from the room.

For the first time, she noticed that she was wearing a short blue cotton nightgown.

Left alone to her thoughts, Seras couldn't help but stress over the prospect of spending the next few months with Alucard, trapped in the same space with him. She imagined he would find new ways to drive her insane.

And she feared the dark seed, still nested firmly at the forefront of her mind. She feared what she would become. Feared what she would lose. Feared the Thirst.

Author's Note:

This has changed so much from what I imagined, but I like it. I'm considering a sequel, with Alucard and Seras "enjoying" their time alone. *evil smirk*

However, it would be posted as a different story, since the plot would be so different.

I think I'll call it…

Fear.

Happy writing.

-snowglobesareawesome