A/N-

Disclaimer - You guys know I don't own anything. :)

Hey all! Long time no see, right? Well, I know it's been awhile. I guess life happens and you lose track of all the things that made life fun in the first place. *sigh* anyway, here is a tasty nugget for your enjoyment. I'm hoping to be a little more active, so keep an eye out!

Here's what you need to know about the story:

-It's young Integra X Alucard (my favorite, and if it's your favorite you should check out my community, Taint - .net/community/Taint/59859/

. It's all youngIxA...that being said, if you have any recs let me know. It could be fatter.)

...that's about it actually. Definitely didn't need a list. Oh well.

0.0.0

"It is not a life that I would have chosen for myself, necessarily, but it is my life."

Integra looked hard at the lawyer that sat across from her. He was a thin and sickly looking man. His skin had a sort of yellow pallor that is found only on those with a sour sort of lifestyle. Integra idly wondered if he had the good sense to see the wisdom in her words.

"Ah, I see," said the lawyer, his eyes shifty and uncomfortable. Integra did not judge him for his discomfort. Many regarded her as such these days. If anything it was more unnerving if people did not act so. She simply ignored all the idiots and focused her interest on other tasks, ones that did not revolve around social graces.

"Is there anything else that requires my attention?" she asked dumbly. Honestly, there was a pile of things that needed doing, none of which were about to complete themselves.

"Yes, ma'am," muttered the lawyer under his breath. He shuffled his feet as if trying to figure out how they worked.

She waited for him to tell her, but he was not forth coming.

"Are you going to explicate?"

His eyes darted toward hers briefly, before settling back to the carpet. She seized him up wearily.

"Oh, do spit it out," she said glumly.

"It's your...pet," the lawyer said as if he were telling her of some great funeral.

Integra sat up a bit straighter.

"What of my servant?" she asked callously, showing her dislike of the term "pet."

The lawyers eyes darted to the darkest corners of the room. Clearly he had heard the rumors.

The lawyer inhaled deep and raspy.

"There is the matter of his modest estate and yours being merged," he got out, sort of as if he was choking.

"Excuse me?"

The lawyer shuffled his papers and pulled out a piece of paper that had Hellsing letterhead at the top.

Integra snatched it and began reading. Her eyes darted back and forth, taking in the words and their meaning. As she read her eyes became more and more slanted.

"I see," she said. "Is there any financial obligations I should know about?"

The lawyer shrugged, and lay a pen on her desk as if encouraging her to sign so he could leave.

She sneered delicately at the common plastic ink pen with the name of the law firm strewn across the side and delicately picked up her favorite quill and without further ado, slashed her name across the bottom of the old page.

The lawyer quickly took the original, leaving her a carbon copy.

"Thank you for brining this to my attention," she stated firmly. "I will finish making all the necessary arrangements."

He stood there, waiting for what...she didn't know. Then it dawned on her.

"You are dismissed," she said, waving her hand. He was afraid to leave without her permission. How spineless.

Integra sighed and pushed her father's will and all the surrounding documents to the back of the desk. She had homework to do.

She brought out her books and began to study. It had been four months since the death of Arthur Hellsing, and with his death she learned more about his life then a daughter ever ought to know about her parent.

There was much debt, not that it would bankrupt them, but it was hitting hard. There was a whole industry fueled by Arthur Hellsing and his vices. In truth, if her father had not been such a frugal business man, then they might have. Fortunately for her, he had been wise enough to invest in the very things he enjoyed.

Integra Hellsing was now the proud owner of several breweries, vineyards and nightclubs. Things she was not even old enough to enter, she was expected to run. Nevertheless, she was counting her lucky stars that Walter was the able mentor, because of him she would see a return on the investment.

She tried to focus on whatever claptrap was facing her in the open textbook on her desk. It was a necessary hoop. She mostly did her schoolwork during the day and ran Hellsing at night. She had given up on sleep weeks ago. She knew she had to finish her education quickly or her organization would be taken from her.

Some of it was just so boring though.

It didn't matter, soon he would be awake. Then there was very little chance of getting anything useful done.

Her thoughts drifted back to the last order of business. Alucard's estate, the lawyer had said. What an interesting piece of documentation. What to with it? Why had her father not merged it, or her grandfather? Perhaps it made him seem too human to them. She tried not to fathom the great complexities of her ancestors decisions.

She could ask him about it later when he would inevitably come to bother her, or...

"Walter!" she called, knowing the old butler couldn't be too far. He would be along presently, she was sure.

She pulled the piece of paper back toward her. She read it again.

Two churches, an old castle and a great deal of land. There was no real monetary value. Just things. His things though. She noted again that it had the Hellsing logo at the top. Had her grandfather claimed these things as his own and used old friends to push through the ownership? Probably. But why not just put it in the Hellsing name from the beginning then?

"You called?" Walter said from the door. Integra looked up. Walter smiled at her, a grandfather's smile.

"Yes," she said beckoning him in and waving the offending document at him. "What is this all about?"

Walter walked over and took the paper from her calmly. He read it with the same streaming flow that he did everything in.

"Ah," he said, clearing his throat. "I do recall that there were...foggy circumstances surrounding this information."

Integra put her elbow on the desk so she could rest her head on it. She looked at Walter and raised her perfectly arched eyebrow, telling him without words to continue.

"I believe it was Arthur's intention to keep this information from Alucard," Walter explained. "By putting it in the monster's name he assured that it was still accessible without being accessible to him."

Integra looked toward the dying light in the sky.

"I'm not sure I understand," she stated plainly.

Walter set the paper back on her desk.

"It's quite simple really," he told her, adjusting his monocle. "Alucard draws power from the place. Arthur was afraid of the monster's disloyalty, but was more afraid to let it get into the wrong hands. You see, it could easily be used as leverage to gain favor over Alucard. By putting it in the vampire's name, it was by rights, still Hellsing's, the only difference is that it could not be looked up in the family archives."

Integra took this in.

"Then my father was keeping it as a sort of secret weapon?"

Walter sighed.

"I don't know the details," he admitted. "However, I believe that it was understood that if Alucard ever returned to the castle he would draw so much power he would become much more difficult to keep enslaved. He controls the home in a manner in the same way a human might control a pet. It is his to command."

Integra rolled her eyes. "If it is such a threat, why not destroy it?"

Walter's eyes darted to the dimming glow outside. They both knew he would be up soon.

"Well, that is simple, Miss Integra," Walter said with a grim smile. "When you have a tool that powerful, you don't simply destroy it-you save it and hope you never require it's use."

Integra nodded.

"You know, it's a funny thing that it would come up like this, amongst your father's will," Walter stated dully. "It makes me wonder if someone wasn't trying to sabotage you."

Integra laughed.

"Everyone is trying to sabotage me, Walter."

"Not I," said Walter with a smile

"Nor I," said a smooth creepy baritone from the darkest corner of the room. Integra noted that it was the same place that the lawyer had been staring. Perhaps his discomfort was not from her at all.

"Ah, I had wondered when you would be joining us," Integra said with a faint smile. "Have you come to steal back your castle and overthrow me?"

Alucard threw his head back and let out a maniacal laugh. Walter rolled his eyes.

"He has always had a flare for the dramatic," he told her fondly. Not long after the vampire's return, Walter had confided in her the adventures of a much younger man and his undead friend.

"I have no desire to leave you, Master," he said as he finished his mirth. "Although, it is quite comforting to know my previous home is unravaged by the hands of man."

Both Walter and Integra knew this to be an admission, that Alucard was telling him that he had been there the whole time. Integra figured he had, like herself, would frequently forgo sleep in oder to stalk his work. She did not underestimate the undead servant as her father and grandfather. She doubted that they had ever really hidden anything from him, including this.

"Actually," Integra smugly. "According to this it is not untouched, but surrounded by a small village that used the facility as a manufacturing units for weapons, ever since World War II."

"I believe I may have to thank the Angel of Death for that worthy endeavor?"

Walter let a wide grin take over his face.

"Arthur wanted to make it a shoe factory," he stated, looking it at his old friend.

Alucard grimaced.

"Well," Integra said, looking to her unfinished homework. "Glad this is all sorted out, but I have work to do."

"As do I," Walter stated, looking pointedly between Integra and Alucard and making for the door. "Tea and all that."

With that, Integra was left with her servant. They stared at each other a moment.

"Don't you have something to do?" she asked.

"Not really."

"Why not go visit your old home?" she suggested, watching carefully for a response. He perked.

"You would allow such a thing?"

"Could I stop it?" she responded. She was privately of the belief that the undead vampire was a lot less "bound" than anyone really knew. If he had wanted to kill her and break free he could easily do it without the help of an old dusty pile of stone and mortar.

"You could," he responded dutifully.

She smiled. "I believe I could, if you let me."

He said nothing, just stood in the corner and grinned like a crazy maniac killer. She was not put off at all.

"I am different from my father and my grandfather," she said as she watched his antics. "They were foolish with you."

"Were they?" he asked, suddenly behind her.

"Very much so," she responded, feeling his cold breath on her ear.

"And what makes you think that, Master?"

She picked up the pen the lawyer had left on her desk and turned it in her fingers.

"Oh, servant," she said knowingly. "They underestimated you, and I never will."

He laughed.

She smiled bitterly.

"I am no fool. I know your life is as much mine as my own and vice versa," she said softly. "We are both prisoners, I'm just the Master."

He pulled her hair from her neck and she tilted her head, letting him see her bare neck, knowing what it was doing to him.

"You know," she whispered, low enough so she knew would have to pay attention. "There can be no servant without a Master, and you have never been anything but...it would destroy you to be free, you need me as much as I need you."

"I need only blood to drink, Master," he said thickly. "I require little else."

"Ah, but you need something else too, Alucard, You love power and strength," she said as she reached back and pulled him forward so his ear was at her lips. "You cling to my life because of who I am, the granddaughter of a man who beat the invincible. You are the original devil, conquered and chained. Proof that the weak human heart is still stronger than the darkest night."

"Those are such poetic word, Master," Alucard said snaking an arm around her middle. "You're such an aphrodisiac."

Integra leaned into him, letting him feel how relaxed she was. How his words and actions were having no effect on her.

"You cannot leave that kind of power," she continued. "You are like any animal, Alucard, you fear what you don't understand, and you certainly don't understand me."

She felt as his other hand reached down her thigh and rested on the gun she had strapped there.

"Go on," he muttered to her. "Tell me all about it."

She chuckled.

"Because who else would have you? Who else would give you the taste of humanity you crave...the taste you gave up to be the all powerful creature who was so easily defeated by mere faith?"

"No one," he admitted, inhaling the scent of her hair.

"I am your favorite anomaly, your most difficult puzzle," she whispered, noting that he was aroused. Did he expect her to be intimidated? Virgin or not, she was not blushing.

"You are playing with fire," he told her, licking the side of her face.

"You are playing with ice," she replied. "If you burn me, I melt and you'll be put out. But that's the whole point of this conversation, isn't it?"

He chuckled and she felt his whole body tremble.

"You're right," he said. "I don't understand you, Integra. How can a young girl be a warrior unafraid of the dark of the human soul? I know now I made the wrong choice many years ago...but I was not like you. What I am is a pale imitation of what I wanted to be..."

She smiled.

"Just like you," he hissed, grabbing her chair and pulling it back, tilting her so she could look up at him. "I wanted to be just like you, just like you are now."

"I know," she whispered back, knowing that the only thing keeping her from crashing to the floor was him hold up her chair on its two remaining legs. "That's why I am the Master."

He bent down and kissed her forehead. He lingered maybe a moment longer than was appropriate.

"I'll let you have your musty old castle," she told him as he bent back up. "I'll not harbor such petty secrets, because I have no fear of you Alucard."

There was nothing for a moment. Then, as quick as a flame something snapped in him and he pounced on her like she was his prey.

"Use me," he hissed, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her up to face him. "I'll be your lover, your knight in shining armor and your monster all in one. All I ask is that you use me."

She smiled at him as if he were a child as her feet dangled in the air, a good foot from the floor.

"I require no lover or knight or monster, just a loyal servant," she told him, putting one hand on his cheek. "In return you'll get just a taste of what my kind of power, the sheer determination of the human heart."

He growled and set her down.

She stood in front of him. He fell to his knees.

"This is my fate," he told her. "I chose this. I choose this now."

With that statement he hung his head in a deep bow.

Integra picked up a silver envelope from her desk. It was sharp enough. She cut her finger, deeper than necessary.

"Look up," she told him. He did. She offered it to him. "Let this be a taste, servant, of your Master's good nature and will."

He drank, not greedily. As if he were savoring...as if he wanted to remember. She let him, enjoying the pulses of pleasure that pushed through her while he drank. It was his way of giving thanks, she supposed.

"That's enough," she told him firmly, knowing he had a fair amount. "Now go to your old domain, vampire. Go there and remember your bloody adventures. Remember why you fought and how you lost."

She pulled him back to his feet.

"Then," she said, looking at him almost tenderly, "when you are ready, come back to my side. The winning side."

He looked at her strangely then, as if he were looking at something he had never seen before. It was a look that did not often grace the old creature's features.

"Will we have many more bloody adventures?" he asked, the real meaning behind his question hidden.

"We will have many," she confirmed, and where it was his greatest wish it was her inevitable fate.

He drew her close then. She could tell that her blood had strengthened him. He could kill her now, if he wanted. But then, he had always been able to. It was his choices that had brought them there, he would serve her well and in return she would give him whatever humanity she could muster as long as she could find it in herself.

"When I come back," he said, looking down at his young master. "We will have never had this conversation, am I wrong?"

"I don't believe I will recall it," she said absently wishing they were different people. Ones that weren't doomed. She would lose eventually, death would claim her...but not for many years. He had already lost himself long ago. She refused to love a shadow, but where she would keep her heart to herself her respect was hers to give freely.

She knew he would like to have both. She also knew that upon gaining them they would lose all their value. Integra knew that what Alucard loved about her most, even so new to him as she was, was her fighting spirit, her refusal to give up, her unmovable faith. The things he had given up.

The only things she could give to him.

So it would be, until there was no breath in her body or blood in his. They would be more intimate than lovers or siblings. They would see the world together as no one else would be able.

Let him have his broken throne, she thought to herself. I will give him a kingdom in Heaven.

Any soul can be saved. That is what she believed that her ancestors had not. She would save them both and he knew that she was the only one who could. Her father and grandfather would have him cast into Lakes of Fire, she would not.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. He would pay for the blood he spilled in more blood, until he was redeemed. Theirs was a mission from God.

He just didn't know it yet.

A/N - Did that hit the spot? Hopefully.

Hey, if you're a fan of me, and a fan of Inuyasha, you should check out my other profile -

.net/~azulia

Anybody out there want to be my friend? I just moved to a new city and am pretty lonely...probably why I'm writing fanfiction again!

Other than that I am pretty boring. Please review kids, you know I love it. :)