Monsters and Angels

At last an update. I'm sorry about the wait. I have started taking my puter to school so that I can sneak chapters out. Because I love you all :)


Chapter Seventeen

Sunset was the herald of a new day for Integra. She was unsure as to how things would progress from here. Granted, Alucard had said that things were to appear 'business as usual' however, having been dominated by the creature less than twenty four hours ago…. Well she wasn't sure.

Alucard rose first and leveled his gleaming eyes on her. "Come, the night has not yet fallen and there is much to do. " Integra said nothing, her mind whirling with many questions. She went to her room and changed into her usual suit and headed for her office. At least here, SHE was master.

She was pushing through the many files on her desk when one caught her attention. Covington. She flipped through it. A rash of vampire attacks near the old town center. One possibly, two undead. Half a dozen ghouls. Not a large scale operation. She could dispatch Alucard and Seras on this tonight.

It would give her some time. Time to unravel the twisted mess that was fast becoming her unlife. "Alucard!" she called out and as he always did he appeared before her. His mocking grin in place. "You need not call to me with your voice," he told her, "Use your mind and speak to me. Try it."

Integra focused her thoughts. "Alucard, there is a mission in Covington. It should only require one of you, but I would like you take Seras with you." Her voice rang out in his head. He nodded and smiled, "Very good Integra. We can speak this way even across great distances." She nodded to indicate that she had heard him. With a gloved hand she slid the file towards him. She didn’t want to meet his gaze. Not after all that had occurred in the previous hours of darkness.

He flipped through it quickly. "This will present no challenge, I imagine I shall return well before dawn." He spoke aloud. She made a sound of agreement. "Wipe out everything that is not human." She told him. His head bowed to her command and he faded into the darkness.

It was but a handful of minutes later that she felt the two vampires depart. She rose and headed for the inner sanctum of the Hellsingh Organization. The one place that Alucard was not permitted, the holy wards sealing him from it. The center of studying. The hidden library.

Here lie the oldest texts on his, er, their kind in existence. Some written in long forgotten languages. Integra did not concern herself with that. She wa a timeless creature now and the world would no longer hold secrets from her. Vampires were not permitted here, yet the wards allowed her passage. They vibrated momentarily in warning, but her Hellsing blood silenced them.

She flipped on the lamp and scanned the tall shelves for the book she sought. A large heavy tome, covered with dust, it's crimson leather dulled with passing ages. Ah! There it was. She plucked it gently from it's resting place and set it on the desk.

Sinking into the worn leather chair, she cracked the cover and scanned the contents. Vampires, demons with human faces. The most seductive of hell's spawn. Rarely misshapen, able to lure prey with power. Yes, she knew all that. Vampire history, vampire lore, vampire traditions, ahhh… vampire creation and matings. This was what she needed.

The more she read the more she understood. In the world she now existed in, the sire was the ultimate power. His spawn must acknowledge that fact completely else both are put in danger from their fellows. A master vampire could use countless methods to bend or break his young to his will. It was his way of keeping them safe until it was deemed time to part company.

It was a safety measure. There was apparently a great deal she didn't know as of yet. That would be remedied shortly. She continued to read. A vampire was very possesive over the one they considered a mate, even a potential mate. Vampires like wolves it seemed, mated for life, or in this case the full extent of unlife. They were free to be sexual with anyone or anything they pleased until the Claiming had occurred. Then they were permitted that same sexual freedom, only with the approval of said mate.

Odd. She shrugged and continued to read. While rare it had happened in the past that a dominant vampire chose another dominant vampire as a mate. When this occurred a fierce battle of wills erupted. Often the stronger of the two would force complete submission onto the other.

She grimaced. He was far stronger than her. She kept reading and there in the old quill scratched words she found her salvation. The answer to her many questions. She shut the book and leaned back. It was so simple. She should have considered it herself, but she hadn't…. because it was simple.

She sat in quiet contemplation for a long while. Her sharp mind carefully weighing the pros and cons of action and inaction. This would a calculated risk, but one that she had little choice but to take. Her way of life or unlife as it were depended on it. Of all the vampires she had encountered, Alucard was without a doubt the most dominant. His years of service to her must have been difficult indeed.

Now, he had her at his mercies and that was not a place she planned on remaining. She might be dead but she was still a Hellsing and she would remedy this situation., and soon. She doubted that she could dominate him…for any length of time that is, but she at least could elevate herself to equal status.

That was her goal at any rate. She supposed that she could tell him what she wanted. It wasn't like he had really ever denied her anything she had asked for. Would he though? She had to get his attention on the animal level. Make him recognize her power for what it was.

She opened the book again and found that nearly every power she now held dormant was explained in detail. As was the manner in which vampires used them. She stared at a candle across the room, narrowing her eyes in concentration. She envisioned the flame and lo, there is was dancing on the forgotten wick.

She could not use many of those powers in this area. She'd have to leave the room. Armed with much needed information she passed through the wards and let them close firmly behind her. She paused in the hall, imagined herself in the kitchen where Walter would be found..

She smirked when an instant later she was there beside him, having given the poor man a good start. He put a hand to his chest and glared at her, "I see that you are learning his bad habits already" he said flatly. She patted his shoulder, "I didn't mean to startle you Walter, I was just testing" she assured him.

Walter's gray eyes sharpened on her. "You will not accept him as your master" he said plainly. Integra had not thought he was THAT astute. "No, I will not be ruled" she told him. He nodded, "You'll play hell getting your way" he warned. Integra smiled, a most wicked looking smile considering the gleam of fangs that curved there. "I will be his equal or one of us will die, eternally" she promised. Walter had worried this might happen. He needed to talk to Alucard, and soon.

Alucard sped through Covington, Seras a shadow to his right. They'd found and taken care of several ghouls, their master should be close by. Rather than focus his energies on what he considered small threat vampires, he wanted to find the one who had changed Montgomery. Integra would not be safe until that mystery was laid to rest.

"Master I feel him" Seras said, breaking his thoughts. He nodded. She was getting better. The vampire was just ahead, near the old church yard. "A church?" he asked with a hint of amusement, "Does this bring back fond memories for you Seras?". She grunted her response to his teasing and sped to the rear of the church yard. The vampire would not flee this time.

Alucard prowled the churchyard in a predatory pattern. He could feel the vampire just on the fringes of his senses. It waited, it feared and that was delicious to him. It was not powerful, even compared to Seras. Sad little thing.

How long has it been since you lost your humanity?" he asked into the darkness, "A month perhaps. You are weak to me, your ghouls are not here to save you." From behind and to his left the darkness shifted and he grinned evilly as he waited.

"Who the hell are you?" came the voice, hoarse but female. Alucard turned to look upon her. She had been a mere girl, barely out of her teens. He let his power wash over her, watched as she flinched from it. "I am the cloak of your destruction little one" he said quietly.

Seras poked her head out of the shadows. 'She's just a girl!' She stamped down the thought as it rose. The last time it was 'just a girl', entire families had been senselessly slaughtered for the perverse sexual gratification and lust of power.

"Who made you?" Alucard asked. Who indeed would make a tiny monster and leave it alone so quickly. She didn't deign to answer him, whether from fear or defiance he wasn't sure as both rolled off her in equal doses. Alucard smiled and moved forward, the fledgling unable to move, rooted in place. "No matter child. I shall end your life of darkness and then your master's".

The girl snarled at him, leapt at his throat, but he caught her easily, allowing her dangle from his fingers like a toy. "My master….. You … will not… have him" the girl rasped out. Alucard chuckled and to Seras' shock he flung her away from him. She landed in a heap at the other's feet.

"Seras, dispatch her. Her master draws close" Alucard ordered. Seras took the blessed pistol from her belt, as he vanished into the night. Crimson eyes met pale yellow. "In the name of God, all souls of the living dead shall be banished to eternal damnation" she whispered, she leveled the pistol at the frightened girl and pulled the trigger. "Amen".

The shot rang out through the night, like a tiny thunder at his back as he floated over the yard. The presence of a slightly older vampire drawing him. While, still no match for Alucard, he might have taken Seras down. That was not acceptable. Alucard would not allow lesser being to fight a stronger power until HE knew that they were ready. He touched down just as the shadows began to boil. "Come out, I have no time to waste on you" Alucard stated and the figure appeared before him.

Seras looked up from the ground as Alucard appeared beside her once more. "You found him Master?" she asked. It was a foolish question of course, for Alcuard looked far too pleased to have NOT killed something. A throwback from her human days she supposed.

"We have silenced the targets Seras, it is time to return" he told her. She nodded and let herself melt away into the fog he preferred to travel as. This was a new skill for her and she was not comfortable with using it. She had the lingering worry that when she became solid again, she might put herself back together incorrectly.

Minutes later they touched down on the snowy lawns of the estate. As they headed for the door, Walter stepped from an alcove. "Alucard, may I speak with you?" he asked politely, his tone brooked no argument. Alucard nodded, then turned to Seras, "Report to Sir Hellsing on the operation".

He waited until Seras had vanished to do his bidding before turning cold eyes on the butler. "Wo angel of death, what is on your mind?" he asked. Walter grunted, "You cannot be her master Alucard. The dynamics of you both will prevent that" he said without preamble.

Alucard smiled widely, "I had no idea that it was any of your business" he pointed out. A lesser man might have grimaced over the inflections in the vampire's tone, but Walter Donnelys was not a lesser man. "It will drive her mad Alucard, " he insisted, "You must come to an agreement of some sort, this power play will not do".

He had a point Alucard supposed, but Integra was coming along quite nicely. The very thought of what he planned for her tonight made him grow hard. "Walter you would be wise to leave my matters to me. I shall not harm her and that is all you should concern yourself with".

That being said, the vampire spun and leapt to the high windows and let himself become vapor before sliding through the cracks of the window frame. Integra sat at her desk, her eyes fixed on the bright computer screen. She didn't even look up at him, "Seras said the hunt went well" she said as a greeting.

Alucard nodded, moving to stand behind her chair. "Have you found anything else on Montgomery?" he asked. She shook her head, her pale hair catching the dim light. "Alucard we should talk" she said then. He moved to drop into the chair opposite hers.

"Do tell Sir Hellsing" he teased. She clenched her gloved fists. "You are a dominant creature," she said at last and he nodded his agreement. "I am also dominant." She pointed out. He smiled sweetly, "Not to me" he assured her.

Integra bit her lip to refrain from swearing. "I will not be your submissive partner" she said clearly. He lowered his chin to peer at her dangerously through his lashes. "You," he said in a soft warning growl, "Will be what I say you are. You will be my mate and you WILL be claimed.". Integra inwardly smiled, how well she knew her precious monster. She nodded quietly, steepling her fingers before her.

Alucard had not expected her easy acceptance and became suspicious. "What are you up to woman?" he asked. He noticed the devilish gleam in the other's eyes. He like it…a lot. Integra rose from her seat and made certain the office door was locked.

Then she moved back to his side. Alucard looked up at her, as she sat on the edge of the desk. "I propose a bargain" she said. His eyes lit up, what could the woman possibly venture? This would prove to be most interesting.

Integra eyed him carefully. He seemed content enough to sit there and listen. Perhaps this would not be so difficult after all. She needed to tread carefully, and choose her words wisely. Alucard was a wily creature but once she gained his word, she knew that he would keep it.

He sat silently, waiting for her to speak. She would do so with caution and care and her intelligence was vastly pleasing to him. Integra leaned forward, "I know that you desire me Alucard and you wish to claim me" she began, her hand moving up to unhook one button of her jacket.

"I do not wish to be viewed as your sub," she said. He lifted his chin and smiled, "You are not my equal Integra" he reminded her. She nodded her agreement, "No, my powers are nothing compared to yours, I understand that, I was speaking of something else entirely."

He waited for her to continue. "In terms of you and I, I want the ground to be even. Both dominant, both able to be". Her words filtered through his mind. This WAS interesting. He stood and moved closer to her, "This…arrangement requires a great deal of compromise, you understand" he said at last.

Integra nodded, "Yes I am aware of that. Things have changed between us" she said. Alucard was most intrigued by this, he wanted to hear. "How so?" he pressed. She looked at the floor and then back at him, "We are the same now" she uttered quietly.

Understanding came to him. "Tell me Integra, do you desire me?" he asked. He would ask the blunt questions, the one she wanted to avoid. He would know it all, tonight. "Answer me". She nodded, "I have for a long time but it was wrong" she told him.

He was most pleased, "Since when?" he pressed. Integra met his gaze fully, "Since the first kiss". He thought about her words. "I will always be dominant Integra, but I will allow you to stand beside me, I shall allow you the freedom of your own dominance and power. But you will not betray that trust, you must understand that and accept my power and my role to you."

Alucard reached out to her, stroking his gloved fingers across her cheek. "You have fought so long Integra, let it be now". She stood as he did, and she let him gather her against his chest, lips fusing in hungry kisses. So it would begin, the road impossibly twisted before them. The dangers mounting and in that tempest Alucard swore to keep her safe and possess her.