Monsters and Angels

Rome glittered in all of it’s splendor under the setting sun. Walter sighed, sipping his cup of tea as he looked out over the city. The house they had taken up resident in was far enough outside of the city that he could breathe slightly easier. The ancient walls much like a citadel. A former home and haunt of Alucard..naturally.

The steadfast butler, glanced at his watch. They’d be waking any moment, Alucard was no doubt already stirring in the catacombs beneath. Slowly, the lights of the city began to wink to life. Like disembodied souls in the dying light. He’d never cared for Rome. Too many ties to the church. Walter was not a particularly religious man, but if he had been, he would have preferred something more private.

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Integra moaned, coming aware of sensation and the cool wetness of a mouth upon her breast. Her hands tangled in the dark skeins of her master’s hair, drawing the delicious sting of his fangs ever closer. The plumpness of the white flesh exaggerated in it’s near crushed position.

Alucard rumbled softly against her, allowing his energies to flow over her, through her. Her heat was amplified and he could only deduce that it had to do with his power as her maker. Not that he cared. He was more than pleased to share his energies with her.

The softness of her flesh called to him, lured him in a siren’s song of ancient seduction and the master vampire let himself fall headlong into it, reveling in the embrace of his long chosen female. His dark head moved upwards to nuzzle against the white column of her throat.

Integra released a soft keening cry as he lathed her throat with tender laps of his tongue, nipping ever so slightly at the sensitive flesh. She called to him, in his mind and in the chamber they shared. Her words binding him to her as she spoke her desires to him.

Alucard’s oddly hued eyes smoldered with barely contained hunger and heat and he snarled as he sheathed himself within her depths. The pulse of his groin increasing with his want to move. And move he did, with her, taking her to the starry heights of his passions.

In her climax, Integra let her fangs slid into the muscle at his shoulder, hearing him grunt his pleasure at her animalistic loving. His essence, his strength flowed into her, flooding every corner of her being, dampening the burning ache of her heat. At last leaving her head clear of the tortuous cobwebs of need.

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She stood at the balcony looking out into the night, the air lifting the pale locks of her hair. Alucard watched her from just above, his eyes taking in more than the sight of her. “They are out there” she said at last, “The ones that would see my house fall”. Her voice was hard, unyielding.

Alucard lifted his gaze to the lights of the city, “So they are, but Hellsing shall never fall” he promised her. Of all the things he could offer her, this mattered most. It was all she had ever had. Her men and her monster. He’d not let her lose either.

Integra turned her gaze to his profile. A lovely profile it was, filled with the dark aristocracy of the ages. Hearing him speak so reminded her of distant times when she had been a lost child afraid of the dark and he had come to wrap the dark protectively around her.

“My dark champion” she murmured, and he cocked his head at her. “It has been a very long time since you called me that” he said then. She sighed, a small smile playing across her lovely features, “It has” she agreed, her eyes falling back to the city. “I wonder, what my life would have been like had my uncle been given control of the Hellsing house…. And you had never been unsealed”.

Alucard snorted, “Boring” he barked, “If he had allowed you to live. You are far too strong for the ordinary male to handle. His jealousies would have festered and in time, he’d have seen you dead”. His inhuman logic mapping out all facets clearly, as her own could do now.

Integra sighed, “I suppose that is true” she admitted. Her thoughts turned once more to the threat against her beloved organization. “Seras will return soon?” she asked. Alucard grunted, “She is moving swiftly through the city, gathering what information she can without drawing attention to herself”.

Integra’s lips thinned, “We are playing in section thirteen’s back yard Alucard, have a care” she snapped. He grinned widely, “Oh but I am, and so shall she. After tonight we will know for certain which member’s homes are guarded by wards and then we can begin paying them nighttime visits”.

Integra growled softly but Alucard spoke again, “You wish to defeat them yes? To do so the hunters must be hunted by the ones they hunt”. His tone was one of vast amusement. Integra grunted, “Must you sound as if you find this enjoyable?” she asked, “This is a sacred duty Alucard. A duty to Hellsing, God, Queen and country”.

He barked with harsh laughter, coming to stand before her, “Sacred perhaps, but I don’t give a rat’s ass about your queen and she doesn’t care for you any more than a vicious dog at the end of a tether. As for God, the affairs of Hellsing are no longer his concern, but mine”.

Integra smirked at his tone and turned to move inside, “I’ll check Walter’s reports” she said dismissing Alucard for the moment. She paused to look over her shoulder at his still form, “If you keep behaving like that Alucard, I won’t get any work done”.

His brow rose and his lips spread into a broad grin, “Integra Hellsing” he purred, “I do believe that you flirted with me just now. It truly becomes you, that loss of winter”. She arched a brow and snapped the balcony door shut smartly behind her, his laughter following her down the corridor.

Several hours later found her locked to her computer, carefully reading through Walter’s detailed reports. As they’d planned, Walter had informed the Vatican of her arrival in country, the pretense of her mission was the capture of a most elusive freak. So clever that she felt that the two sides needed a truce in order to apprehend the creature.

It was up to Seras and Alucard to plant the seeds of evidence in the holy city. To make it appear that there was indeed a master vampire lose in the town. Which there was, but they would be unable to tie it back to Alucard in any form. They also had to have proof that Integra continued her missions as usual.

If they knew for certain that she was a vampire, her life and those of her companions was forfeit. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse but a needed one. They had rumors of her change only. They had no way of knowing for certain that the attack on her was successful. She’d be damned if they found out.

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Seras touched down in the aging courtyard and glanced around feeling Alucard move in the shadows. “I have the list” she said and he stepped into her line of vision, “Excellent Seras”. She nodded, “The city is beautiful” she mused as they walked inside.

Alucard nodded, “Yes, Rome has always been lovely. Too many damn catholics for my taste though”. She arched a brow at him, “Weren’t you catholic in life?” she asked. Alucard pondered it for a moment, “No, orthodox perhaps, I can hardly recall”. He chuckled as though it was highly entertaining to forget so much of one’s life.

In the remaining hours before dawn, they formed a plan of action. Alucard and Seras would begin visits to seven of the section thirteen homes the following evening. In dreams they would seek the missing bits of the puzzle.

Walter expected invitations for meetings and the like to begin arriving that day. Alucard agreed. Integra would have to face them without her precious monster, or so they would be led to believe.

“We must all be on our guard” Walter intoned as the golden rays of light fingered the tops of the distant hills. “We are playing on God’s field now”.