Hellsing - Blood Heritage

Okay people, here we go with the serious stuff! Once you start reading, I think you'll understand what's happening, so I'll leave you to it.

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It was a rather pleasant July afternoon, and several things of importance were happening simultaneously within the Hellsing mansion. Sir Integra had called a Round Table meeting to discuss her findings on the recent vampire attacks, as well as submitting Syn's reports on upgrades for the soldiers weapons. Needless to say, the other knights were not the least bit happy with either of them.

"Sir Hellsing, this is absolutely preposterous! Your men have been using standard issue arms for decades without any trouble. Custom arms for your monsters are one thing, but it is completely unnecessary for common soldiers."

"Even with this increase in freak attacks, there should be no need for new weaponry. Your monsters take care of the most dangerous aspects of vampire attacks, do they not?"

Integra held up her hands for silence. "My vampires do indeed take care of the freaks, as well as most of the ghouls on missions." she stated plainly. "But these recent attacks have presented a new set of problems for which my men are currently unprepared." She held up a small computer chip for their scrutiny. "We've been finding these chips planted in the bodies of the vampires. Our research suggests that these chips monitor the vampire's aggression, intent, and behavior. This chain of events is no natural occurrence. There is a shadow organization pulling the strings."

The reaction around the table was instantaneous and explosive. The other knights all lurched forward in their seats, gaping in disbelief.

"What the hell?!"

Integra sat back in her chair and lit her cigar. She inhaled deeply, glancing at the men as she blew the smoke between her lips. "That's not all."

Sir Irons clasped his hands on the table. "Pray tell, Sir Integral, what else is there?"

"The ghouls from these attacks do not conform to the traditional rules." She explained. "Historically, ghouls are the result of vampiric attacks on deflowered humans. But in this stream of incidents, not one new vampire was created. Even young boys and girls who were obviously virgins all became ghouls. The ghouls themselves should cease to exist once their master vampire has been destroyed. But in this last incident in Badrick, Vatican special agent Father Anderson claimed to have destroyed the vampire before our arrival...and the place was literally swarming with ghouls when we arrived." She lowered her tone to accentuate every word she spoke. "We are dealing with vampire experts here gentlemen. And they are displaying remarkable skill..."

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Downstairs, Syn woke up to the chilly air of the sub-levels. Cursing at the lack of heat, she burrowed under the blankets and curled into a fetal position. 'Stupid vampire needs to get a heater.' she grumbled internally.

She had woken earlier to find a tray of food laid out in the room that contained Alucard's throne. Either the vampire had foreseen her plan of action and had arrangements made for her breakfast, or Walter had noticed her absence in the kitchens and taken it upon himself to bring her something to eat. Whichever it was, Syn was thankful for it. Alucard had kept her awake into the early morning with a whole host of 'activities' that left her ravenous. After eating the meal and discovering that she couldn't get the blasted door open, Syn crawled back into the only warm place she knew of. Thank god Alucard wasn't a cover hog, or she might have killed him in his sleep.

A strangled noise from behind her caught her attention. Syn sat up and glanced at her bedmate. Alucard had cocooned himself in the pile of blankets, and was clutching at his hair as if he were in pain. She had never seen him in such a state before. Worried, she touched his arm.

"Alucard?"

He jerked away, as if her fingers burned him. He let go of his hair to push her away, and she saw the horrible look of anguish on his face. His eyes were clenched shut, but tears of blood poured from them, staining the pillows and the sheets red.

"Everything.... everything gone...." he whimpered in a broken voice.

'He's dreaming...' she realized. Her heart crawled into her throat at the sight of him looking so broken. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him as hard as she could. "Alucard! Wake up!"

"...not again!" he cried out, suddenly sounding angry. "Not by you!!"

Syn couldn't take it anymore. She crawled on top of his feet and shouted at him. "ALUCARD!!!!"

He shot up and grabbed her neck with a wild snarl. His eyes flashed with hatred as he bared his fangs at her. Syn coughed at the tightness of his grip.

"Alucard.... no... no choking..." she sputtered. "It's...it's me."

He blinked, as if just realizing who she was, then slowly released his grip on her throat. "Syn?"

She nodded. "Yeah... It's me." She took a moment to catch her breath before letting her eyes wander over him in concern. "Are you alright?"

Still looking out of sorts, he touched the wetness at his eyes and looked down at the blood on his fingers. "Dreaming..." he let out a snort of derision. "A monster like me...dreaming."

He sounded furious with himself. Like he couldn't stand the thought of losing control - even while sleeping. Syn reached out and brushed his hair out of his face, reminding him of her presence. His eyes flicked up at her. "Why are you here?"

"I'm locked in, remember?" she reminded him, crossing her arms over her chest. "If Walter hadn't brought food down, I would be very upset right now."

Alucard studied her carefully. She had no idea what was going through his mind, but he looked surprised and a tiny bit relieved that she had changed the subject to something more mundane. His lips curved into a ghost of a smirk. "I'll have to thank him later."

Syn pulled some of the sheets free and scrubbed at his face. "At least get the blood off of you first." she chided. "You look a right mess. Anyone who saw you right now would drop dead of fright."

Alucard endured her not-so-gentle handling of him with amusement. "You don't seem to be frightened..." he pointed out.

"Yes, well, like I've told you a thousand times - you dont scare me." she replied with a sniff. "But next time you decide to do this, please refrain from attacking me when I try to wake you up. Or at least go for something other than my neck. I've already told you how I feel about being strangled..." she trailed off at the look on his face. "What?"

He tilted his head to the side and gave her a weird looking grin. "You're gorgeous when you're angry."

Syn stared at him. "Fine. Be an ass about it. I was TRYING to be nice. And I'm NOT angry, I was just saying..."

Alucard ignored her rant, choosing instead to jerk her down and use her as a pillow. She tried to push him off, but quickly gave up when she saw he wasn't going anywhere. It was actually quite funny, once she thought about it. Mr. big bad lord of darkness... liked to cuddle. 'I am totally using this as blackmail...' she thought absently.

Despite the oddness of the situation, it 'was' comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that she would have drifted back to sleep had Seras not ruined it.

"WALTER!!!! WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS MY BED?!?!"

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"Um... Seras? You do realize that vampires are 'supposed' to sleep in coffins, right?"

Syn was absolutely certain the girl would have glared at her if her master hadn't been in the room. "I liked my bed." she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

Walter sighed. "Miss Victoria, if you refuse to drink blood, you must sleep in a coffin filled with soil from your birthplace in order to keep your strength." He cast her a concerned look. "Is it really so evil to drink donated blood?"

"I..." she began haltingly. "People donated that blood to save other people's lives... not to feed me. It... it wouldn't be right."

"What an idiot." Alucard said with a snort. "This was 'your' choice police girl. I could have let you die as a human. But you chose the path of the draculina. No matter how much you fight, you must accept the consequences for your decisions."

Seras hung her head shamefully. "Bu..but master..." she paused, something catching her attention. Her eyes darted around the room, then went wide in shock. She let out an ear piercing shriek - jumping behind her master to hide herself. Alucard struggled with her to release himself from her iron grip.

"What the hell is wrong with you police girl?!" he demanded.

"Ah!!!" a familiar voice screeched. "Cute girl's screaming hurts Lasher's ears!! Make it stop Mistress!"

Syn jumped, then narrowed her eyes at the mirror above Seras' dresser. Lasher had his hands clamped over his ears, and making an awful face, like his brains were about to start melting or something.

"Lasher?!" she exclaimed. "What have I told you about going into people's mirrors?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but Seras screamed and hid herself in Alucard's coat at the first movement he made. "Oh my god!!! What IS it?"

"Mistress!!!" Lasher cried out in agony.

Syn had endured enough. "ALRIGHT, EVERYONE SHUT UP!!!" She whipped around to point a finger at Seras. "Stop screaming before I stuff a sock in your mouth. And you..." she turned back to the mirror. "What the hell are you doing out of your gun? AGAIN?"

Lasher removed his hands from his ears and wailed apologetically. "Lasher is so sorry Mistress!!! I knows you gets mad when I leave your gun, but there's something bad upstairs!!! Lasher was minding his own business and being good, when these two mean guys showed up with a whole bunch of ugly things with guns, and they started shooting everything up, and the good guys with guns were all like: "Oh my god, what's going on?" and the bad guys were like: "We're gonna kill you and eat you for breakfast!" and the ugly things shot up all the good guys and started chomping on them, and..."

Syn held up her hands to quiet him down. "Lasher, I can't understand you when you ramble!" she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Now, there are bad guys upstairs?"

Lasher bobbed his head, looking very upset about the whole thing. "And bunches of ugly things thats chomping on the good guys!!!"

Syn frowned. "Chomping? You mean...EATING?"

He nodded again. "Lasher is very glad he's a spirit and not a person, cause he would have lots of icky stuff all over him."

"Those sound like ghouls..." she said, more to herself than anything. "So the two bad guys are vampires?"

"They has sharp pointy teeth like the scary man!" he exclaimed, pointing at Alucard.

"Miss Newsom, would you mind explaining what's going on?" Walter demanded, looking extremely confused.

Syn whirled around. "Two vampires have invaded the grounds with a group of ghouls, and they're eating the soldiers. Now PLEASE be quiet and let me think."

Walter looked shocked that she had actually given him an order, but thankfully didn't say anything else. She turned back to Lasher, full of intent. "Okay - Lasher, this is very important. I need you to go back upstairs and see what they're doing. Anything you can tell me would help. I need to know where they are, what kind of guns they have, what they're trying to do...the works."

Lasher straightened and gave her a salute. "Lasher will go on a mission for Mistress and will not let her down!"

"Good boy. Be as fast as you can and come right back."

Lasher disappeared in a flurry of color, leaving Syn to deal with the others in the room. The moment the spirit was gone, Seras' mouth fell open in shock. "Wha...wha... what just happened?"

Syn took a deep breath. She figured one of them would find out about Lasher eventually, but not like this. "Um... did I ever tell you that my family's custom guns have spirits of their own?" When she didn't receive an answer, she took it as a no. "Well, Lasher is the spirit of 'my' gun. And he gets.... very excited about things."

Alucard quirked a brow. "Do our guns have these...'spirits'?"

"Probably." she replied. "But you wont know for sure until they reveal themselves to you. They usually only speak to their owners. Now." she said, addressing Walter. "If the house is under attack, someone needs to notify Sir Integra. She would be in the middle of a meeting with the knights right now, right?"

Walter nodded, then shot a glance at the phone sitting on what had previously been Seras' bedside table. "It appears she is already aware of the situation..."

The emergency code was lit up, and several of the red buttons were lit up in a silent alarm. Walter pressed one of them. "Sir Integra?"

The knight's voice rang out clearly, but worriedly from her end of the line. "Walter! what's your position?"

"Miss Victoria's room in the sub-levels. Alucard and Miss Newsom are here as well." He glanced at Syn. "I am aware of the situation. I expect the regular military will take some time to notice this mess and deploy. Four, perhaps five hours at best."

"What do you advise?"

The butler was calm, but thoughtful as he considered the options. "We are currently waiting on more... 'intelligence' as to what is going on upstairs. From what we currently know, I suggest that we break up into two teams. Alucard will begin here and move upstairs while Miss Victoria and I come to your defense. In the meantime, I recommend that you fortify the door to the conference room. Seras and I will be there shortly."

He was about to hang up when Integra's voice stopped him. "Walter... these...THINGS are eating my people." she said in a dangerous tone. "Do not let them leave the grounds alive!"

Walter's eyes lit up with an expression that Syn had only ever seen Alucard wear. His lips spread into a dangerous smirk. "By your orders, Sir Integra."

He was in the process of hanging up the line when Lasher reappeared in the mirror.

"Mistress Syn! Mistress Syn!"

Syn turned away from the butler's odd look to address the spirit that had just returned. "What did you see Lasher?"

The boy looked like he had just been through the lowest circle of hell and back. "It's AWFUL Mistress! The ugly things are everywhere! All the good guys is gone, and they has taken over the whole house! And the dark bad man is saying all sorts of nasty things about the boss lady!"

Syn's eyes narrowed in anger. "Are they headed for the conference room?"

Lasher nodded quickly. "The dark bad man is, with bunches of the ugly things. They's gots lots of big guns and shields! The other bad man is coming down this way by himself. I think he is wanting to pick a fight with the scary man!" He pouted thoughtfully. "I don't think they knows about the butler and the cute girl though. They's just talking about getting the boss lady and the scary man. And all those weird old people upstairs."

Seras peered at Syn in blatant curiosity. She had been trying to keep up, but looked completely lost. "Do you actually understand what that thing is saying??"

Lasher put his hands on his hips and shot Seras an offended look. "The cute girl must be very stupid if she doesn't understand what Lasher is saying! He is speaking plain English. And Lasher is not a THING. He is his Mistress' spirit, and he takes care of her!"

"ENOUGH! This is not the time for fighting!" Syn pointed at Lasher. "You did a very good job." she praised. "Now I need you to come back to me and stay with your gun, understand?"

The boy's eyes went wide, like he was anticipating a wonderful present. "Has Mistress made silver bullets for Lasher, so he can whip vampire butts?!?!"

Syn allowed herself a conspiratorial smile. "Yes I have. And I need you on your best behavior, so try to calm down and stay focused."

Lasher jumped up and down happily inside the mirror. "Mistress is finally going to let the Lasher kill things!!!! I am so happy!!! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!!!!"

Syn waited for the hyperactive spirit to return to the gun before loading it up. "So," she began, going back to the situation at hand. "How were you guys planning on getting to the conference room?"

Walter shot a pointed look at her gun before clearing his throat to answer. "As the path is littered with ghouls, I think the ventilation shafts are our best option."

Syn frowned, not liking the idea. Ghouls were naturally stupid - but they were still predators. Without the scent of soldiers upstairs to distract them, it would be all to easy for them to hone in on targets moving around in the ceiling.

Alucard noticed her thoughtful expression and smirked. "You don't like this plan, do you Syn? I can see the gears turning in your mind..." he practically purred at her.

She shot him a dirty look. "If they were intelligent enough to break through the defenses, I think they would have a plan in place for a rescue party coming in through the air shafts. They might not be able to pick up Seras, but they could track down Walter in a heartbeat..."

"Then what do you suggest, Miss Newsom?" Walter asked, sounding a bit irritated at having his plan shot down. "Surely you don't mean for us to waltz through the hallways as if nothing is wrong?"

"Certainly not!" she exclaimed. "That would be suicide!" she chewed on her bottom lip, deep in thought. "The ventilation shafts are the quickest way to get to the conference room, but you're going to need something to distract them. A diversion to keep their attention away from you long enough for you to get to Sir Integra."

Alucard's eyes lit up, catching on to the plan before the other two. "What an absolutely 'stimulating' idea." he growled.

Seras blinked in confusion at her Master's display. "What are you on about?" she glanced at Syn. "What distraction?"

Walter dropped his arms, staring at her in a mixture of shock and disbelief. "You cannot be serious, Miss Newsom! You cannot face an entire army of ghouls on your own! Why the thought of it is..."

Syn crossed her arms over her chest. "Walter, Nahual have been used to lure vampires to their deaths for centuries. They'll be attracted to me - which will give you and Seras time to get to the conference room. I have a whole mess of silver bullets to hold them off, and my blood is poisonous, so if they get close enough to bite me, they'll die." she jerked a thumb at Alucard. "If I can survive HIM, I think I can manage a few of these little shit stains."

Seras' mouth fell open, finally understanding what they were talking about. "But...but a whole ARMY of them? You're HUMAN. You can't possibly..."

"I think you're underestimating the power of humans police girl." Alucard chided. "Especially humans with considerable force of will. Isn't that right, Angel of Death?"

Walter blinked, then slowly broke into a knowing grin. "Ah, it as been a long time since I've gone by that name." he mused. "Quite right Master Alucard! Bring your lovely new weapon with you Miss Victoria. I think it's time you and I gave these monsters a proper education in violence."

As they shimmied into the ventilation shafts, Syn heard the butler call out: "God speed, Miss Newsom! And happy hunting to you!"

Syn stared after them a moment before pulling herself together for the task ahead. As she moved to step out into the hallway, Alucard's arms wrapped around her from behind.

"Happy hunting indeed, little goddess." he whispered excitedly into her hair. "I shall be most interested in seeing what you are capable of on the fields of battle." He brushed away her hair and nipped at her neck. "I shall be watching you."

He left with an insane sounding laugh, heading off to god knows where to settle his part of the fight. Steeling her nerves, Syn squared her shoulders and ran upstairs to play the role of 'bait'.

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Ooohhhhh...... wonder what's going to happen here!!!! The plot bunnies have begun their attack!!!

Poor Lasher gets so flustered when something interesting happens. If he keeps on the way he's going, he's going to have a heart attack or something. ~thinks to self~ Oh, wait.... he's not human, so it doesn't work that way... Nevermind.

This is my weird way of explaining how Walter and the others knew about what was going on from all the way in the basement. Of course, we all know why Walter knew, but I always found it a little weird that the others didn't ask 'how' he knew.


Oh craps..... maybe I shouldn't have said that.... >.> Too late now!!

Review review review!!! ~whistles innocently~ No, I don't sound like a broken record at all.... :)