DISCLAIMER: I don not own Hellsing or its characters and I am making no money off of this story.

Prologue

Seras Victoria walked quickly through the dark passage leading to the dungeon area of the Hellsing manor, the quarters where she and her master, the No-Life King, resided. She had just been dismissed from Sir Hellsing's office, where she had given a debriefing of her latest recon mission. To her chagrin, it seemed that recon missions were all that were available these days, and even then there was really nothing interesting on the underground radar. It wasn't as if she wanted to be in the thick of battle, wading through mires of gore and ghoul remains, she wasn't her master after all. However she was absolutely bored. When she wasn't on these missions, which were few and far between, she was here, in the manor, doing nothing.

She wasn't the only one affected by the stagnant air, though. Seras snickered as she recalled Sir Integra's look of frustration at receiving no news of malicious vampiric activities. As she entered her room and shut the door behind her, the fledgling wondered if Integra would resort to throttling her master in lieu of an enemy. She giggled at the silly idea.

"Imagining my demise, Police Girl?"

Letting out a small yelp, Seras whirled around to face the speaker. A rather intimidating looking vampire sat at her small table, resting his feet upon it and leaning back in his chair. Her master, the great Nosferatu, Alucard. He was without his usual glasses and hat but wore his trademark fiendish smile.

"N- no nothing like that, master! I was only…," Seras blinked a few times and Alucard raised his eyebrow at her pause. "Um… Master… please don't break my chair." Alucard rolled his eyes and leaned the chair even further back, pointedly ignoring his fledgling's warning. Seras let out a small sigh, she hadn't believed he would listen to the request anyway, "Was there something you needed, my master?"

Alucard's smirk shrunk a bit and he was silent for a moment. Finally he spoke and Seras was surprised to hear strong distaste coloring his words. "Sir Integra is sending me on a mission to the Vatican to seek out information. Apparently things are 'too damn quiet around here!'" he muttered doing a perfect imitation of Integra's commanding voice. "So, I'll be gone for a few weeks."

Seras frowned, this place was already boring enough and without her master around it would be beyond dead in the manor. Seeing the look on her face, the ancient vampire's smirk returned. "Awww, don't look so down, Police Girl. I know you'll miss me, but I'll be back."

Seras flushed at her master's suddenly lecherous grin and ground out, "I'll be just fine, thank you." Alucard laughed aloud at her reaction, "Of course you will, because you'll be continuing your training in my absence."

Seras immediately paled. They had been working on the mastery of her third eye as of late. The training had been hard enough with her Master guiding her, but now she was expected to progress alone!?

Ignoring her look of dismay, the elder vampire continued, "While I'm away, I expect you to get much further in your abilities and when I return we shall test them. You should pass easily if you are studious. However, if I should return to find you have neglected your practice, there shall be a punishment." At this his smile practically split his face in two and his eyes glinted in a way that made Seras tremble. Alucard rose from the chair and walked to stand in front of the former policewoman. Seras was forced to lean back against the door in order to look up at him. He smiled and leaned down to whisper in her ear, his cool breath gliding across her neck

"Do I make myself clear, Police Girl?"

"Y-Yes… m-my master!"

With that, Alucard disappeared into shadows and Seras was left on her own. Letting out a heavy breath, the girl slumped weakly against her door. "Wonderful," she thought, "Now after I've died on the inside from boredom, my master can come home and finish the job."

With a dejected groan she dragged herself over to her bed and crawled in, pressing the button top lower the top half of the four poster coffin.

The next night, Seras stood alone on the training field. She had woken up that evening and realized that she had no idea what her Master's test would be like. So to be safe she had chosen a target that was well over 900 meters away. So far, her range had only been pushed to 700, so she thought she'd challenge herself with this one. She closed her eyes and cast out her mind like a net, seeing with her vampiric senses. She sensed the troops in the barracks behind her, heard their heartbeats and soft slumbering breathing. She felt Integra's power, passed down from her great ancestry, the power of Hellsing. And she felt the night all around her.

The calm that pervaded her mind now was somewhat of a surprise. She had never felt so completely focused before, but somehow tonight was different. It was almost as hiver her senses were magnified, but how? Was this her master's doing? Had he given her a boost in energy somehow? However, she sensed this was not the case, she would have been able to feel any extra energy that was her Master's. Curious, she flexed the mental net and found to her shock, that she easily sensed her target. Carefully, she raised her Harkonnen and aimed, allowing her senses to guide her. A perfect hit. She opened her eyes and ran to the target. It was as she had seen. "What..?" she gazed at her Harkonnen and then at the target.

Suddenly she was filled with absolute joy. Jumping up she cried out in delight, "I'm not going to die!" She laughed and gazed up at the moon, which seemed particularly bright all of a sudden.

Suddenly she said in a very low voice, "Tonight is a beautiful night…" She began to giggle uncontrollably at her impression of her Master. When she had finally calmed down, she noticed that dawn was approaching and began walking back to her quarters.

"I hope that this wasn't some fluke…," she murmured to herself. "I hope that I can perform this well when Master returns." However she felt strangely confident. For whatever reason, her powers had gained a powerful boost and she could still feel that she could conjure it again if she chose.

That night, Seras slept more soundly than she had in days, comforted by the knowledge that she now had a chance at passing Alucard's test. She did not realize that the reason for her heightened powers would put her in a position where her Master's test would be the least of her worries.