NOTE: This is the last chapter. The story is not finished, but I cannot keep going anymore. You can pretty much guess what happens from here on. I am officially retired from fanfiction as of this chapter. It's been a great ride. Thanks for everything :-)

In the mean time, I am going forward full throttle pursuing a career as a novelist. Please stop by my livejournal and support me on my quest to obtain 100 rejection notices.

Again, thank you for reading.

CH 22

1999

1999 saw to an important milestone in Hellsing. In this year, exactly ten years after the death of Arthur Hellsing, a new face arrived within the mansion’s walls. Walter witnesses, with mild surprised and a good amount of curiosity as many others did, the arrival of a new face.

Walter regarded her with a careful eye that first night Alucard walked through the door carrying the girl, covered in blood and wrapped in a sheet. Her face was caked with stained with dried crimson and her hair caked with dirt. Her gaze was confused and dazed, and her head lulled about on her thin neck as Alucard walked, as if having trouble focusing her energy, even only to lift her head. Try as he might, he couldn’t understand why Alucard had brought her back. It had taken him a second to notice her red eyes.

Alucard had dumped the girl unceremoniously in the east hall. She could barely stand, regarding her surroundings like a startled bird. Walter studied her up and down, turning a quizzical glance to her master.

“I feel I must ask about this,” he said to Alucard, “but I’m at a loss as to where to start.”

“You can start by cleaning her up,” Alucard replied. “Integra will throw a fit if she tracks any more mud on the floor.”

“You think that is what she will pitch a fit over?”

Alucard only sneered and did not reply as he vanished into the walls. Walter led the dazed girl by the hand to a washroom and drew her a bath. The sight of the warm water seemed to bring her to her senses. She looked at Walter and murmured shyly, “thank you.”

As he left the girl to her bath, Walter headed upstairs. He knew where Alucard was headed and damned if he wasn’t going to watch this play out. In the back of his mind he assessed briefly the fact that eavesdropping had somehow worked its way into his daily routine. It didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. Perhaps all those years as a spy had hardened him against guilt.

When he arrived at Integra’s office, the red moon had drifted behind a sliver of dark cloud, and she was smoking. The cavernous room was saturated with the scent of tobacco and tea. Standing just behind the door, he could make out the actions of the two inside by their shadows. Integra took the cigar out of her mouth but did not turn from the window.

“I don’t recall sending for you,” she said.

Alucard was surely allowing himself a smirk behind her back. “You didn’t have to.”

She blew a smoke ring into the air and faced him, piercing blue eyes leveled darkly at his face. “Where did you leave that police girl?”

“Walter is tending to her for the moment.”

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Shadows crept over her face. “For old times sake I will wait until you finish before I throttle you for that blatant act of irresponsibility and defiance. And remove your glasses when you are in my presence.”

“With all due respect, master.” Alucard was picking his words carefully. Walter could tell. She only picked at his appearance when she was annoyed or angry. At the moment, she was both. “I hardly consider it an act of defiance.”

“I never gave you orders to turn other humans.”

“Which is why I cannot defy them.”

A chortle. “You think you are clever, vampire. Perhaps you are clever enough to explain your reasons for turning that… child.” She practically bit down on that last words.

“She is no more than five years your junior, Integra.”

“But she is inexperienced.” He could tell she was agitated at his comment regarding her age. She hated to be reminded that she was young. “Answer my question. Why did you do it?”

He chuckled. “Why indeed?”

“Don’t play with me, Alucard.”

The vampire shook his head. “I don’t know. A whimsy perhaps. But do not worry, I take full responsibility for the police girl.”

“I should expect so.” Sitting down behind her desk, she drew another breath from the cigar. “Keep in mind that should she prove to be more trouble than she’s worth, you alone will put the bullet in her head.”

He nodded. “Yes, master.”

“And whatever you expect to do with her… keep it down and out of sight.”

Walter could almost taste the bitterness in her voice. She was wounded. Wounded in a way no bullet or blade could accomplish. “What is it that you expect me to do with her?” he heard the vampire ask.

“I’m sure I don’t know, nor wish to know. Just keep it away from rest of the household, and do not it let it distract you from your duty.”

“You think that is what I turned the police girl for?” A short laugh. “You think so little of me, Integra.”

“Am I to assume that you brought that young woman into this house and had given no thought to letting her share your coffin? And here I thought the brides you took were for carnal pleasures. Do you deny it?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.” He leaned against the large mahogany desk. She said nothing. “Here I thought you were above such things. Are you worried that she would take my attention away from you? I assure you that will not be the case.”

“Get out.” He didn’t move. She put out her cigar in the ashtray on her desk. “Get out of my office. I’ve had enough of your foolishness for one night. I don’t intend to sit here and listen to you make jokes. If you wish to keep that policewoman around, see to it that she is properly trained for duty. I won’t have her slowing our people down.”

He straightened. “I will leave if that is what you wish for, master, but not before you allow me to wish you good night properly.”

She scoffed. “You don’t get to make decisions.”

Rounding the side of the desk, he came before her, and knelt in front of her chair. She looked down at him. “I can wait all night, master.”

Walter half expected her to object, perhaps order him out of the room with a swift kick to the head. She was in prime position for it, after all, and it wouldn’t be the first time. He wondered if the vampire had finally pushed her too far this time with the policewoman. But after a moment, she slipped the glove off of her left hand.

Alucard took her hand and kissed each fingertip gently. She watched without a hint of emotion on her face. Then he kissed her palm, then her wrist. When she didn’t pull away, he dared to draw a bit closer.

She pressed her palms to his shoulders, stopping his lips an inch from her cheek. “No,” she said. “Don’t do this.”

He sighed, smiling a disappointed smile. “You really are angry with me.”

“Get out,” she said again.

“Does the offer for a throttling still stand?”

She laughed bitterly and looked away from him. “It’s all a joke to you, isn’t it? This whole thing, your life, mine, hers. It’s all fun and games, nothing’s serious. But I suppose when one has lived as long as you, nothing’s important anymore.”

He stood, shaking his head. “It isn’t often that I point out your mistakes, master, but this time I must. You assume far too much. You assumed that I take nothing to heart because my heart does not beat, you assume that even though I kneel before you every night, you are not important to me, and you assume that I took the policewoman for a bride.”

“Did you not?”

He bowed, and put his hat back on. “It is as I have told to you many times before, master. Should you wish to accept it, the position of my bride is reserved for you and only you.”

When Walter knocked on the washroom again, the police girl had finished cleaning her herself and was dressed in the baggy pajamas he had found for her. For a brief moment, the butler wondered how Integra would react if he gave the girl some of her clothes.

“Come,” he told the girl, “I will show you where you can stay for the night. The mistress of the house will see to you tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said timidly. “Um…”

“Walter is fine.” He gave her his most disarming smile. “What is your name, dear?”

“Seras,” she said. “Seras Victoria.”

oOo

She was a beautiful girl. Nineteen years old, a bob of strawberry blond hair a top of an open, honest smile. Her eyes were wide and clear like pools of water. Her voice was gentle and melodious. It carried through the house’s stuffy halls like a refreshing breeze. It also didn’t hurt, of course, that she was curvy as sin.

Having her take up residence within the mansion stirred many questions and gossip. The soldiers wondered if she was as powerful as Alucard, and whether she took the role of a ward or a lover to him. The servants were weary of her, but less than the elder vampire due to her seemingly harmless appearance. She was both timid and tough, bright and adorably dim, and charming to no end, though she seem unable to realize this fact.

She had family and no friends. No one searched for her when she went missing. Having being an orphan himself, Walter felt saddened for her. In some ways, he felt, they had much in common.

The way she regarded Alucard, for example. It didn’t escape his eyes that the girl was infatuated with the elder vampire, the one who offered her a second chance to live and walk the earth. She padded after Alucard like a puppy, bright eyes brimming with awe. Truth be told, Walter had no idea whether Alucard would actually betray Integra. If nothing else, her wrath would surely be worth than hell to contend with.

Still, it was true that Seras’ presence drove a wedge between the them. More than once Walter witnessed Alucard offer his affection before turning in for the way, only to be met with a cold shoulder, and Integra appeared more irritable than usual, especially around the police girl.

He wondered if Seras noticed this. He wondered if she longed for a chance to be with her master. He wondered if she felt the same way he did back then, longing for someone whose chosen companion she cannot compete with.

oOo

Blood on the walls. Torn pictures. Upended furniture. Blood on the floor. Broken vases. Discarded weapons. Blood on the ceiling.

The Valentine brothers had been nothing if not thorough. The casualties had been devastating. It had been over a week and they still haven’t gotten the stains off, and probably won’t be able to for months. The walls will have to be re-painted. Seeing so many good soldiers die panged Walter, but he was also a bit impressed by Luke and Jan. Those morons actually managed to do some damage. He was surprised they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot tripping on the doorstep.

They definitely weren’t the best Millenium had to offer. He could tell from the get-go. They were loud, arrogant, and unskilled. The only thing they could do was shoot and kill, mostly from pointblank range. The elder brother packed some real heat according to Alucard, but the younger one was nothing but an over-pierced punk. Walter strolled through the mansion’s ravaged halls, surveying the damage as the clean-up crew finished their work.

The Major was making his move. Something big was about to happen and he could feel it in his bones. For the millionth time in his life he questioned whether he had chosen the right side. How the tides turn with time. At the moment, he felt, looking around, the tables were about even.

He still knew what he wanted, though. That one last chance to prove himself in Alucard’s eyes.

Integra had wanted to stay in the mansion, despite the fact that it was not in livable condition. In addition to the rest of the house laying in ruins, her bedroom had been ransacked. It seemed Jan Valentine took some pleasure in riffling through her undergarments before launching his final attack. Walter had seen the disgust in her eyes when she turned away from the bedroom without a word. She had gone to her office not long ago, and he had not heard a peep for nearly half an hour. After some debate, he decided to go check and make sure she wasn’t taken things too hard. She was, after all, still young.

She was, however, not in her office. After some searching he found her on the top floor standing on the west balcony, leaning against the railings and gazing out into the city. In her hand was a half-empty bottle. Hearing his footsteps, she turned unsteadily. He bowed.

“Are you doing alright, m’lady?”

She looked at him unevenly. “It was my fault,” she said with a bitter chuckle and looked at the bottle. It was vintage wine, one of the several Arthur had received as a gift many years ago from some sniveling toad trying to win his favor. It was easily worth five to seven thousand pounds, and Integra was guzzling it like it was cheap beer. Walter supposed there weren’t going to be better occasions for it.

She looked broken. For the first time since her father’s death, Integra looked broken. Though her eyes were still sharp and her expression hard and impenetrable, she looked like a shell of her usual self, teetering on the point of shattering to pieces. He couldn’t blame her. She had seen too much. The fact that she held out long enough to oversee the clean-up and speak to the irate Convention members was nothing short of a miracle.

“Integra…”

“I made a mistake,” she said, her blond mane untamed atop her head. “So many people died because of my incompetence. How will I make it up to them, Walter?”

It took him a moment to realize that she was actually addressing the question at him. She was drunk. She didn’t drink much as a habit and the half bottle of wine she’d already consumed was probably already pushing her over the edge.

“I don’t know.”

Walter started. The words hadn’t come out of his mouth. He turned to see Alucard appearing from the shadows. With one gloved hand the vampire covered the mouth of the bottle, which was once again making its way toward Integra’s lips. She regarded him with vague surprised.

“I don’t know,” Alucard said again, “but this isn’t helping. I don’t think your father would approve of your drinking like this just because one thing went wrong.”

She glared at him, as best she could in her inebriated state. “One thing?” she said darkly. “You call this one thing? Are you calling all of those lives lost in this house one thing?”

She made a move forward as if to hit him, but stumbled instead. Alucard caught her and held her up. “What I know is this,” he said, “one, your father would be sorely disappointed that his daughter handles spirits so poorly, and two, he would never let small things slow him down. And to him, they’re all small things.”

Integra shook her head woefully. “I can’t do that,” she whispered. “They’re not small things. This isn’t a small thing. It’s driving me crazy that you don’t care about them.”

He lifted her chin with one hand. “You’re right,” he said, “I don’t care about them.”

Walter had taken the opportunity to back out of the room. He heard the crisp sound of glass shattering as Integra dropped the bottle as the two’s lips met. He slid out into the hall and nearly ran into a bob of blond hair.

“Oh!” Seras gasped. Her face was flushed and she looked upset and agitated. As he looked down at her, she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Excuse me,” she said nervously, and ran past him down the hall before he could respond.

Walter watched her go and sighed. He could feel her pain, he thought. She must have seen also, how her master brushed aside all others for the same of one woman. The poor girl must feel slighted, worthless, in the eyes of the one she desired.

I understand, he thought. I understand.

oOo

Seras felt so embarrassed. She had been spying where she shouldn’t and got caught, by nice, old, gentlemanly Walter no less. She was blushing furiously as she descended the stairs to the dungeons.

She had always suspected there was something between her master and his master. They were, after all, such a compatible couple. Both so powerful and strong in the face of danger, so calm, knowledgeable, and collected. Not until tonight, however, were her suspicions confirmed.

Like Walter, she had thought she ought to comfort Miss Integra. She felt bad. Miss Integra had seen her in the midst of losing control, slaughtering what were once her own comrades. She wanted to apologize and make amends of some sort, especially since Miss Integra seemed to already dislike her for intruding in the house. She hadn’t expected to see her master beating her to the task.

From the hall, she had watched with stunned curiosity as her master comforted Miss Integra in a soothing tone he never used with any other. And then they had kissed. Seras had only see that sort of kissing in movies, so tender and romantic.

And then, without warning, her mind suddenly drifted to the past few days. They had been in the process of interviewing mercenaries as a temporary replacement for the troops. There had been a group called the Wild Geese. They were coarse, unruly men with loud, friendly voices and leering eyes. And their leader…

She had blushed at the thought of him, though she didn’t want to admit it. He was young, with a wild eye and an eye patch. His hair was red as the setting sun. When she first entered the room, he had fixated his gaze on her, looking her up and down. And although she knew he was checking her out like she was a piece of meat, she couldn’t help but fidget a little. She would never, ever, admit it out loud, but he was, well, so very cute.

And a tiny part of her mind wondered if he would kiss her like her master was kissing Miss Integra.

Then, of course, she didn’t even notice Walter coming down the hall, and had been caught with her face flushed and her head in the gutters. Self-conscious and humiliated, she had run off.

Stupid, she scolded herself, stupid, stupid, stupid, while helplessly conjuring up more images of the dashing mercenary.