Chapter 9

After Sir Integra had finished shouting at him, Alucard had slunk off back to his room in the Hellsing mansion. He sat down in his chair in the centre of the room to think…or sulk. Whichever you prefer. He would have to wait until Walter returned before he could see the elderly hunter about fixing his gun. He dare not tell the retainer that he had lost the first gun he had made for him, Alucard was sure he would be cut to ribbons by the angel of death's wires if he did.

So he stewed in his seat and waited. He took out the defeated Jackal and looked at it with despair as he saw the ruin it had become, truthfully he was not sure Walter would be able to repair the gun this time. He was missing the whole top half of the gun, this did not worry him as he had damaged that bit of the weapon when he had fought Incognito. But the whole rail system was warped this time, it wasn't a case of just replacing the sliding jacket now.

He placed the remains of the gun on the wooden table beside his chair. There was the dull 'Thunk' was metal met wood. He reached over and poured himself some of his blood wine. It was a mix of well-aged Romanian red whine and a little blood from his blood ration.

As he sipped the rich mixture, his thoughts wandered to his little police girl, he was often amazed at how much Seras had adapted to her life as a childe of the night. She was just beginning to bloom as her newly awakened power showed itself in interesting ways. He let his mind touch hers to see how she was doing..to feel that she was happy, though he did not know why. He tried to read her mind but only got snippets of a conversation…about someone called Goldie.

He dismissed the trivial matter as he just basked in the warmth of her mind. He knew his mind was something cold and cruel that could send the unwary mad if he let them glimpse the full extent of his dark thoughts. Seras on the other hand still held those mortal feelings. Loyalty, kinship and the most surprising to him..Love.

He had been taught by the old stories that monsters such as he could not love, did no longer know its meaning but are haunted by its loss. He had thought after Elizabeta, after Mina, that all he had been told was true. He was a monster and would never feel the love he wanted, the love that had no ties, that was unconditional. He knew then that love was a weakness he could not afford, with each loss it weakened him until finally with Mina. He was captured by Van Hellsing.

"Alucard?"

Alucard blinked to focus his gaze on the person standing before him that had just spoken. Seems he had been so lost in his thoughts and feelings that he had not even felt Walter and Sir Integra return.

"Ah, Angel of death. I assume Integra has calmed down some what?" he smirked in glee that he had gotten under his masters skin yet again.

"She has, but more importantly have you?"

"Oh I am as I always am…though you may be different in a moment" Alucard indicated the gun on the table with a slight movement of his gloved hand.

Walter reached down and picked up the gun, wincing as small parts of it fell off with a light metallic sound as it hit the table. He rotated the gun in his hand to take in the full extent of the damage. He looked at Alucard and for once in his Un-life the master vampire felt uncomfortable.

"What happened?" The question was almost a growl as Walter saw his work of art laid to ruin.

"I had a little run in with a dog…a Werewolf to be exact. He decided to use Jackal as a chew toy."

"A werewolf? But how can that be? You wiped them out years ago" he exclaimed

"Yes, that is a little puzzle isn't it? Trust me I was as shocked as you are"

"Well I hope Casull has not had the same treatment, as Jackal will need to be rebuilt from scratch." Walter sighed as he held the remains of the gun almost lovingly

"Ah…."

"Alucard…where is Casull?"

"I've….mislaid it."

"Alucard….where is it."

"The Freak took it with him after shooting me with it." Alucard's eye shined red as his rage rose to the fore once more at the thought of that freak holding Casull.

"Oh dear lord. Alucard, I sometimes think you have a death wish. Or one as close as you can get. When sir Integra finds out about this, she will use you for target practice." Walter sighed as he turned to leave the room and set about fixing Jackal.

"True..you won't tell her will you?" Walter nearly laughed at Alucard's tone, he almost sounded like a child that had been caught by his father with his hand in the cookie jar.

"She need not know about this just yet, but you had best get it back before someone else finds it and traces it here" Walter got to the door and turned back to ask Alucard if he required his blood ration for the night but stopped when he saw Alucard's pose.

Alucard was sat ramrod straight, his eyes wide and angry as they looked back and forth as if trying to see something. Walter knew he was not seeing the room before him but was somewhere else. Then all of a sudden he shot up with a loud snarl, making Walter jump at the suddenness of the movement. Before he could ask the elder vampire what was wrong, he rushed past him and ran through a portal without saying anything.

"Oh dear. What could possibly be wrong to send him into such a rage?"

88888

Alucard had been sat there envisioning what Sir Integra would do to him once she found out that he had lost Casull when something made itself aware in his mind. The entire time he had been talking with Walter, he had kept the edges of his mind in contact with Seras. She would not know he was there, he was jus basking in her warmth, like sitting in front of a warm fire. It was such a gradual touch tat he did not feel the absence of Seras until three seconds before her mind came back with a roar of sound and images.

One image made itself known with blinding force. Of a man above her, pleasing her. And something snapped within Alucard that he never knew existed. It made a rage rise within him he had thought buried in the earth of his homeland when he had destroyed the sultan. That someone would dare touch what was his, but this feeling, this rage was five times worse. He shot up from his throne like chair unable to stop the snarl of pure rage leaving his lips.

He called forth his portal to emerge in the living room of the flat. He strode to her room with purpose as he could sense her in that direction. As he entered her room the male scent assaulted his senses and nearly made him roar. It was all over her bed, his head whipped round as he could hear the shower running. He almost ripped the door off it's hinges in his need to enter the room. As he pushed the door open it banged against the tiled wall, causing some of them to crack and fall to the floor where the round door handled had made contact.

He saw her in the shower and rushed towards her, taking her by the throat and pinning her against the wall. In his rage not even the water dare touch him, it parted around him before flowing down to the drain. If he had not been so consumed with rage and had stopped when he entered to look at the state Seras was in. Any demon, angel or man would have seen that what had been happening to her…she had not been willing.

But no, all he saw, all he felt was his rage and an echo of the chip that had made her very willing. Alucard had yet to realise that this was false. That it had been the chip to make her want Serpentis.

"Well police girl, it seems you have taken your undercover mission very seriously. To even sleep with the enemy no less. What a good little police girl" Alucard sneered right into her face.

"Did he give you pleasure police girl?" he tightened his grip on her throat. She did not need to breath but he felt things give way under his grip. "DID HE?!"

"Can't get rid of the smell…the stain won't go away" she mumbled, the entire time he had been holding her, feet dangling above the floor. She had not raised her head.

"What?" Alucard asked, his tone unsure but still with the edge of death. As if he thought she was trying to make an excuse.

"Can't get rid of the smell…the stain won't go away." It was the same monotone as she said it before.

Alucard let her go and she fell bonelessly to the ground eyes sightless as she looked to the floor. No.. not at the floor Alucard realised…but at her hands. As if she could see something he couldn't. He watched her a moment as she began to rock back and forth, scrubbing her hands raw. She began scrubbing them so much they began to bleed which seemed to make her scrub even more to make the blood go.

Alucard kneeled down and grabbed her hands while trying to look into her eyes.

"Police girl" he called to her, all trace of anger gone from his voice. Only concern. She did not respond to him, just kept looking at her hands in his grasp..as if she couldn't understand why she could not move them.

"Seras" this time her eyes shot to his, as blood tears began to run from her eyes

"Alu..card?" it was in a broken whisper as she looked at him.

"Yes Seras. What happened?"

"Can't get rid of the smell, and the blood and his touch..and…and..and her scream" she was babbling as she tried to look around, then Alucard could see her withdrawing back into herself.

"Seras..look at me…look at me!" Her eyes locked on his once more. "How did it happen?"

He felt the tendons in her wrist move and he looked to see she had made a fist with one finger pointing to the other side of the shower stall. And there covered in blood and glinting in the light was a little black chip. Alucard snarled as he moved over to pick it up. From his hand he could smell Seras's blood covering the chip as it innocently sat in the palm of his gloved hand. He created a portal and dropped the chip into it. Knowing it would land on Sir Integra's desk.

"Sir Integra, my Master."

"Alucard. Stopping putting your bloody rubbish on my desk. Emphasis on the bloody" Sir Integra shouted in his mind as she started to rant in his mind

"Master.."He tried to interrupt.

"First you dump two empty blood packs onto my desk. Then you loose a target, now you put a bloody chip on my desk…..chip?" Alucard smirked as she suddenly realised what it was.

"It is one of the new Freak chips. Now if you excuse me I have to tend to Seras"

"Why? What is wrong with Seras?"

"I believe she has been harmed badly within her mind."

"Take good care of her Alucard. Do you hear me?"

"As you command my master" With that he cut his communication to Integra and focused all of his attention upon his Seras. She was rocking back and forth again. Mumbling the same thing over and over.

Alucard reached up and turned off the shower before gently picking up his wet, naked, police girl. She just stayed limp in his grasp, her hands resting on her legs mid thigh as he carried her bridal style into the bedroom. As soon as they entered she began to struggle as Serpentis's scent once again assaulted her nose. In her mind. He was back; he was the one carrying her.

"Shh, Easy Seras. Your master is here" he whispered in such a tender tone that those who knew him would never believe he had uttered it.

He lay down upon the bed with her still in his arms. Then he tucked her against his side with her head on his chest so his scent could comfort her. He enforced his will and made the bottom of his red coat longer so one side of it could wrap around her body. So Seras was held tightly to his left side, his coat still on his body but also wrapped around her on the left side of the open coat.

Seras's right hand was laid upon his chest as it fisted his white shirt. She quivered beside him as he looked at her against his side. She un-fisted her hand and looked at it again seeing her blood still staining it. She started to mumble that the stain was still there, becoming restless once more when Alucard took hold of her hand. She watched, wide eyed like a young child, as he brought the palm of her hand to his mouth and began to lick the blood from it.

She continued to watch as he cleaned each finger with care before he finally released her hand to show her the now perfectly clean appendage. She looked at him as though he had just given her the world.

"It's gone…." She snuggled close to him, almost as if she was saying 'thank you'

"What happened Seras?" He spoke calmly, quietly as not to spook her.

She buried her face against him and moaned a negative that she didn't want to say, couldn't bring herself to say. If she told him, it would become real. He sighed before he cupped her chin and raised her head to look into his eyes.

"If you cannot tell me, may I look?" Strange, he was asking permission? But he did not want to push her further over the edge than she already was.

She nodded before laying her head back upon his chest, he stroked her hair a moment before keeping his hand against her face so he could have a better contact to her mind. He didn't need to, but his touch would help to ground her. Once he entered her mind he began to stroke her hair again, once more to ground her. To let her know she was safe.

Her mind was like shattered glass, in fragments that made little sense. The chip had broken her mind like a sledgehammer. He looked down to see fragments of memories that made no sense on their own. He would have to wade through it all before he would find what he wanted. Flashes of a massacre, a child crying. It took a moment to realise it was a young Seras, crying over the bodies of her parents. A flash of a snake and an inverted cross. But it was such a quick flash…Alucard did not realise it was from Seras's past not her present.

A funeral for the fallen, a dark church draped in black silk as the coffins lay in state at the alter. Men dressed in uniform paying their respects to one of their fallen comrades. A child in a black dress standing before the coffins a white rose in each hand. Alucard watched as she walked forward, placing a rose on each of the coffins. Her final farewell to those that had bore her into this world.

He became aware of voices behind him as the young Seras just stood there and cried.

"Poor mite, will no one take her?"

"No, she has no one left. Even if she did, they wouldn't take her in case the gang try to finish what they started"

"Haven't they caught them yet?"

"Don't think they ever will Sally. I hear they are sending her to St Albions orphanage."

"No! Really? I have heard rumours about that place. Very strict. I don't think she will do well."

"Not our problem. Better if she is taken far away from here. If the gang comes back we could all be killed."

"Yes… that's true. The sooner she is gone the better"

Alucard snarled at such treatment of one so young. Pathetic mortals, so afraid for their own lives that they cared not what would happen to the young Seras. He hated such weakness. To think Seras had turned out this way was a credit to her parents and Alucard spared a moment to bow before the coffins in respect. True this was her memory but the symbolism was the same. He would make sure he would pay his respects to their true gravesite eventually.

It was required as a prince for him to show respect to those who had raised great warriors for his army. He would shower the parents of the most loyal with riches, and took care of them if their sons had died on the battlefield. Only the high ranking and the most loyal would be granted such favour. He knew when those of them had raised a son just for the wealth it would bring, not out of loyalty to their prince.

The view moved forward to a child being bullied in a playground, saying she was a coppers kid. And that she was a snitch because she was a coppers kid. She lashed out, defended herself but always got the blame. She was the troublemaker, all the adults said. She had to be disciplined and taught the way of god. When she was finally old enough to join the police force, she didn't even look back. The rest was a blur as she quickly rose through the ranks, then finally she was assigned to D-11.

She was the youngest in the group and the only female among men, but she bore it well. He smiled as Chedder came into view and them himself, he felt her fear but it was not as great as he would have expected. Her curiosity came to the fore and drove her actions forward, then the moment, and the choice. Would she die here? Her life snuffed out like a candle in a gale? No..she chose to go with him into the darkness. The candle stile existed even if the flame sputtered out.

Then he came to this night as he saw the what happened this night as the cracks began to mend and her memory became whole. He saw her laugh with the barman; saw her go to the VIP lounge. Felt her pain as the chip enter her skin. Then felt her horror as she ripped the young child to pieces. He growled as he saw what happened next, as she wanted to be close to Serpentis and he in return touching her.

He now felt her revolution and also most surprisingly, her devotion to him. Her feelings that no other but Alucard should touch her in such a way and it astounded him. The no-life king began to feel something alien to his nature, fear. He had not had such devotion to him since Elizabeta. To have such commitment to him….Alucard after all was a man….and all men fear commitment.

"oh..Master, forgive me..Please" Seras's timid voice spoke to him as she clutched tightly to his white shirt. For once Alucard did not feel hatetred at her fear…but a strong desire to protect her.

"Shh, Seras. There is nothing to forgive. Rest now, I will stay with you." He purred to her, stroking her face as he felt her slip into the day slumber.

TBC…..

KITG: sorry for the wait. Been doing over 40 hours a week at work and I haven't had much time to write.