Midian Evolution

“No actual danger, my undead arse!” I cursed, spinning in place and trying to look everywhere at once. “This place is filling with humans, and humans dressed as zombies! How are we going to tell a freak or a ghoul from Alton staff and park patrons?”

“That isn’t as much a concern as making certain no one escapes due to our indecision.” Alucard slid his sword free. “At least real ghouls have hollow eyes.”

“We can’t make a mistake!”

“Don’t panic.” Alucard grinned. “You still have your instinct. I’m the one chopping blind.” He grabbed the top of a hedge with one hand, hauled himself up and peered over. “We’re in luck. They’re sending the fake prey in first. Now, we have to make sure they don’t become real prey.” Dropping down, he began to laugh. “At least this is a challenge! Something different!”

“Master, you’re quite bloodless sometimes,” I muttered.

“I bore easily. Let’s see if you’re any different five hundred years down the road,” he answered, and the coldness in his tone made me wince.

“I’m sor-.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” My master’s voice seemed as cold and remote as outer space. “Fight with me and mean it. I won’t tolerate ankle-biting followed by cowering.” My master scanned the maze from above once more, effectively telling me to bugger off.

I set my feelings aside for the moment. This situation begged strict attention. No matter what I felt about him, no matter my instinct to please my master, we had a job to do. I meant to do my duty and do it well. He would not keep me from that.

“The park people must have some way of marking the ones caught,” I said. “We need to get whatever that is, and use it to mark normal people.”

“That won’t work if the skirmish draws out,” he said, shaking his head. “We could label a human as clean, then have a real freak or ghoul change that right behind us.”

“Then it’s not tag-and-release, it’s a tag and remove thing,” I said. “Should we split up?”

“No. The state of affair is too unusual. You identify the freaks and ghouls, and I’ll eliminate them. The humans will think it part of the game and just scream in delight.”

“What if we’re not fast enough?” I could hear the rush of people, the excited chatter and pounding heartbeats. They’d be on us very soon.

“If we aren’t fast enough, humans die.” He said it so matter-of-factly, so monotone that I felt my heart sink. A bare instant later, I rallied.

“None of them will tonight,” I vowed, brandishing my overgrown meat cleaver. “I won’t let it happen.”

“That’s the way I like to hear you, police girl.” Alucard stood beside me. Mental communication from now on; it’s faster, clearer, and private. Point out the hunters as you see them, and let me relieve my bloodless boredom.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel a bit sorry for making him mad. What I’d said was true. He could be the most heartless creature on the planet when it suited him. Maybe it was time I learned that lesson from him.

People burst around us in a wave of delighted screaming. They hurt my ears, bewildered my eyes. Still, I spotted a freak in seconds, creeping around the side of the group and preparing to pounce. Him, master, I sent. The one wearing blue and brown. To your right.

Alucard stepped forward, pushing people out of his way. In a single, too-fast-to-see stroke, the freak’s head rolled. He went up in a flash of cinders, dead so quickly he didn’t have time to scream.

Another freak appeared just behind my master, but he sensed him and turned, separating head from shoulders in a blink.

Do we know how many freaks? I asked.

More than five, less than ten, at estimate. If we act swiftly, we won’t have to deal with ghouls at all. The freaks have to bite and drink to turn a human into ghoul, but they need time for that.

I resolved to not let it happen. I still cared for humans. No matter my training or my vampiric inclination, I had a basic connection that abhorred the waste of human life. That would not change to matter what happened to me.

I would not let it change.

Is this the only entrance? I asked.

Yes, it appears so. Keep on your guard here and let it all fall into place, singe-sotie.

For some reason, his words of unknown meaning gave me strength. I braced myself, reading the meaning of every lifeform with rapid and brilliant comprehension.


We fell into a solid hour or more of a game, a game of identify-and-kill. My master took my word entirely, seeking each target I pointed at and completing their elimination with effortless ease. I set him upon the enemy without remorse, without hesitation, thrilled with how he took out his quarry.

My master.

He slaughtered like the expert butcher, his kills clean and swift as The Reaper Himself. His eyes flashed crimson upon taking an Unlife, incandescent with bloody, beautiful glee and easily visible behind his glasses. He was so awe inspiring in his dealing of death that I had to force focus. I could easily lose myself in his seductive, lovely exhibition of control and ease.

Time seemed to slow. The voice on the loudspeaker urged people on, unaware of how we kept death from touching them.

Just when I thought I’d get no chance to use my own sword, something dropped on me from above. Snarling, I whirled on the body, preparing to take a killing chop, but I looked into human eyes. The man grinned at me. Dressed like a zombie, he easily passed for a real ghoul.

“Gotcha,” he said.

“Get the fuck away from me,” I said. “I’m not running the maze.”

Police girl?

I saw master preparing to take a freak’s head off. Yes, he’s freak, I quickly informed. Sorry, master. I got distracted by an idiot.

“You two aren’t park personnel,” the idiot said, standing. “You don’t even look like patrons. What’s going on here?”

“Get away,” I repeated firmly. I had to get rid of him before he saw what we were doing…

Too late. Alucard, grinning from ear to ear, chopped both arms off a freak before beheading it. Do you sense any more? he asked.

I tried to feel the area, but the babbling idiot beside me and the screaming all around us made my senses so confused. “What the hell? This isn’t part of the show!” he said. He put his hand on me and pulled hard to get my attention.

Right before my eyes, Alucard gave a mighty shudder. His back arched like a bow, and I heard a sibilant hiss escaping his lips. Thinking he’d been hurt, I tore free of the park moron and rushed toward him. I hadn’t seen anything touch him, but I could feel his distress as well as see it.

My master whipped around. He tore his glasses off, looking behind me with such red, burning hate that my heart turned to water. A stream of words poured from him, harsh, guttural, and incomprehensible. My irritating insect flew backward, hitting the hedge-wrapped stone. The impact knocked him out.

In the sudden silence I realized I could feel no more freaks in the vicinity. We’d succeeded in killing them all before they could make ghouls, but we hadn’t captured a single one for information.

Alucard stalked by me, reached down and hefted the fake zombie up by his collar like he weighed nothing. More of those foreign words left his snarling lips. He didn’t seem to care the man couldn’t even hear him; he just poured on the verbal abuse while giving him vicious shakes.

Master! What’s wrong?

Ai apartin la mine!

I can’t understand you! I tugged on his sleeve. Master, you’ll kill him!

Nu imi pasa! He dropped the man, breathing hard.

I’d never seen him this angry, mad enough to breathe like a human. He put a hand over his face and went completely still. Suddenly, he straightened, dropped his hand and sheathed his cutlass.

I’m fine, Seras. Let’s go. He whirled and strode away, forcing me to run to catch up.

By the time we reached the van, he seemed almost normal. Still, his eyes just smoldered. He sat across from me while I called Integra on the company phone, his gaze like fresh lava.

“All targets silenced,” I reported, unable to tear my eyes from his. “We’re coming home.”

“Very good. Report directly upon arrival.” Integra hung up without another word.

I gave the phone to the driver.

Instinct now told me the best thing I could do was touch my master. I always obeyed my gut feelings, but this one made me nervous. He smelled feral.

What had made him so mad? I could understand him jumping on the soldier at Hellsing Manor, but surely he understood the difference between a too-forward letch and a man just trying to restrain me. The park employee hadn’t been making any advances, just trying to do his job and get answers from me.

I got up, staggering a bit from the van suddenly moving. Very carefully, I passed the four soldiers sitting against the sliding door. I didn’t know what would happen if I accidently fell onto one of them. In his current mood, master could gut them bare handed.

I sat beside him, my hip and leg against his. Master, are you alright?

Am I ever? he asked back. What exactly is alright? What standard am I applying here? His mental words seemed soft and rough at the same time. If you mean to ask how bloodless I feel, the answer is ‘not at all’. I can’t remember ever feeling so full of blood.

For master, those words were particularly revealing.

I felt a pain in my chest. I’d really offended him by calling him bloodless, hurt his feelings. He couldn’t be bloodless if I had accomplished that.

I slid my arm behind his back, feeling him tense. He relaxed just as swiftly, however. I gripped his shirt, using it for an anchor to keep my arm against him. I’m sorry, master. I know you have feelings, and I offended you.

He sighed. Don’t you see what’s happening, Seras? he asked. Think back. When, exactly, did you become easy in your mind about touching me?

Your touch has never made me uneasy, I answered immediately. Not even in the beginning, master, when you first drank from me. Thinking upon that night gave me mixed emotions. I’d already straddled the line between life and death, and physically hadn’t felt much. Still, instead of being afraid as he leaned in for the bite, I’d felt relieved. I thought you were mesmerizing me or something.

Do you think that now? He looked straight ahead, unmoving.

…no…

Very well, my little fledgling. Think on this, then. Have you ever seen me voluntarily and casually touch anyone else?

No, but I know you’ve touched Integra.

At her bidding. Alucard closed his eyes. Hellsing blood is my automatic deferral. I am weak to the will of a Hellsing. I could overcome it if I desired. He put his arm behind me, miming the way I held him. Enough of this for now. Let me sort my feelings and my priorities, and dwell in silence for a time. Stay close to me.

I could be content letting him have his privacy.

Putting my head on his arm, I relaxed and let the rocking of the van lull me.

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Pix, thank you for your thoughts. I have no issue with a ratio of like, one review for every ten reads, or something similar. Anything less and I don't know how I'm doing, or how true/false to the genre. This is my first Hellsing fic, too, so I'm insecure over my progress.
I'm glad you like this version of Alucard even though I didn't make him utterly mad. The manga is more ambivalent with his character, as far as I interpret it. That's the joy of fanfiction. When I get tired of seeing my own portrayal of him, I can read someone else's for stimulation, lol.
I will continue. And, thank you very much for your feedback.