Midian Evolution

“Why is Seras a cat?” The pretty blond woman asked. She reached toward her pocket, then aborted the motion, looking angry. I knew her. Integra. The Alpha lioness. From my position on the floor, she looked fairly tall.

“She took the form to see if she could do it, and she hasn’t surfaced yet,” Master answered, taking a sip of wine.

“Get her out of it,” Integra demanded. “We have a dinner to attend.”

“I can’t make her abandon the form. She could be in it for weeks.” Master picked up a newspaper and opened it. “It isn’t healthy to rush a Midian’s inner exploration, so don’t order me to forcibly shove Seras from her cat spirit. Not only will I disobey you, I’ll take my hound form and you’ll have two animals to explain to our steward.” He pretended to yawn, affecting such a quietly rebellious air that it seemed poetry. “I had to tell him I’m a magician, and that changing my assistant into a cat was part of my brilliant act. He’d believe that, but he wouldn’t believe I could also change myself, probably.”

Integra gritted her teeth. “You have gall, servant,” she claimed. “Must be because we’re halfway into Romania. Does it thrill you to be in your native land? Would you also like me to stop the train so you can get out and greet your subjects?”

“Did Walter pack a lot of Snus for you, Master?” Alucard asked mildly. “You’re doing very well for traveling on a non-smoking train.”

Integra whipped around and opened the adjoining door. I could see Walter messing around with his luggage just beyond her. “Dinner is in Bucharest, and we stay at the Athenee Palace Hilton overnight. Sort Seras out before then or I’ll punish you.” She stepped through and slammed the door behind her.

“Yes, Master,” Alucard said mockingly to silent air.

Anderson turned the corner and took a demonstrative look at me. “Ah hate ta agree with yer Protestant owner,” he said. “But, she’s right. Yon lass will cause a panic if she steps out th’ door like this.”

“I can take Seras from place to place without alarming anyone,” Master responded coolly. “No one will even notice her. It doesn’t take much to influence the minds of ants.” He didn’t even look up from his paper.

Well, how interesting. He’d argue with Integra, but he laid the facts on the table for Anderson.

“Yeh really trade on tha’ ability,” Anderson observed. “Yer control over me never weakens. In fact, it gets stronger.” He folded his arms. “So, maybe I should be worried I’ll be th’ one endin’ up like yer pitiful wives, eh?”

“I’ve really not much of an inclination to bed men,” Master said, still not looking up. “I’ve made a few notable exceptions. I can see how I’d enjoy fucking you, but you really aren’t what I’m looking for in a mate. I have that already.”

“Yeh really are quite disgustin’,” Anderson muttered.

“Like Mehmed’s son taught me, a hole is a hole,” Alucard responded, finally looking at the ex-priest. “Tell yourself differently if you like; I really don’t care what sort of bigotry you nurture. I have my own prejudice to feed.”

Anderson narrowed his eyes. “Right,” he drawled, and he retreated.

Alucard looked at me. “You keep that form all you like, Seras,” he said softly. “You understand my command even if the words are nonsensical, yes?”

I tapped my tail on him for my answer, thinking he was sweet to defend my right to keep being a cat. He’d never allow that sugary definition of himself at all, which made my smug amusement go a step farther.

He sighed. It always surprised me when he did that. Sighing was for breathing, and Master didn’t breathe except for when he spoke. “I didn’t expect to miss all your chatter,” he admitted. “Mouth or mind, you run a constant litany; it’s strange not to hear you.”

Strange for him, but I appreciated being alone in my head for a change. I stretched a little and made a show of getting comfortable again. God, it was a luxurious thing to have more cartilage than bone. I could make a puddle of myself if I wanted, and I wanted.

“The first time I took hound form, I stayed in it for several nights,” Alucard informed conversationally. “Dogs lead enviable, simple lives. They find pleasure in the smallest of things. I imagine it’s no different to be a cat.”

I barely refrained from rumbling my agreement. Yes, this felt glorious. I had so many degrees of separation from everything that worried me, and my body no longer seemed to be about my sex. No giant boobs in my way.

“Anderson’s right about something, marginally,” Alucard confessed lowly. “You don’t fight me like you used to. A little over a week ago, a disagreement with me could end up resolved by claw and fang.” He rubbed his thumb over my forehead, looking deeply into my eyes.

What did he expect? Only a fool kept throwing energy away on impossible odds. He might like it when I fought him, but was that because he always won? If he lost, how would he like it then?

I head-butted his chin, dragging my whiskers and fur over his skin to mark him. He belonged to me.

His chuckle seemed a bit tinged with sadness. Leaning back, he stretched his long body out on the couch bed and patted the small space beside him. “We sleep,” he commanded.

I felt the subtle vibration of his command and knew he directed me by force of will. He didn’t think I understood his words, so he used his mental influence. Complying, I got as comfortable as I could and put my back against his front.

“You’re just as warm in this form as you are in your original,” Alucard murmured. “You’re a strange little draculina, Seras.”

Well, whatever. I knew that, he knew that, the fucking wall paneling knew it. Yawning, I settled for sleep. Resting sounded really good.

I relaxed fully, feeling secure with Master behind me, but I didn’t fall asleep. I hovered in that zone between, aware of Alucard’s heart. Mine had stopped, but his hadn’t. I listened to it, assured by the steady, unhesitating rhythm.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

Anderson was wrong. I hadn’t cried out my humanity or lost my free will. I’d just had my heart broken. How could it beat while broken?

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

I’d survived that before, though…

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

Losing my parents had shattered my heart. It had taken me years to pick up the pieces.

I rolled so I could get closer to Master’s heart. It skipped in rhythm before shuddering on. The beat became stronger.

Did Alexander think love had any sort of fairness, that Master was obligated to somehow earn me? Old fashioned, that. But, the paladin relied upon tradition.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

And I’d relied on fairy tales, and look where it got me.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

I spread my hand on Master’s chest, seeing it truly was my hand and not a paw. I willed his heart to regulate, wanting it to beat easily. It responded ably, returning to the cadence I enjoyed.

That fucking Dracula book started all of this mess. Once Master understood I had no idea of his true self, he’d sunk into some sort of identity crisis. Everything, everything became a test after that, for us both. Even Anderson used that thing to pass judgment on Alucard.

I still liked the Count, damn it. The Count fought for what he wanted, right or wrong. He seized his future in a death grip and didn’t let go. He wanted more, more, always more.

And so did I.

If I wanted my master, I had to reach out and seize him. I had to be strong and sly and unable to take ‘no’ for an answer.

I also needed to expand and grow up. Anderson was right about that, at least. Master couldn’t teach me how to grow up. He could instruct upon adult tastes, but not on the adult mind. But, better for him to be Peter Pan than a Lost Boy, like the paladin. I could handle being Tiger Lily.

Very, very carefully, I erected my mental walls to their utmost limit. I didn’t do it rudely, didn’t shove Master from the periphery of my head, just gently reclaimed the space that used to be entirely my own. I further softened the action by putting a hand up to Master’s face and stroking the smooth skin of his jaw.

“Alucard,” I murmured.

“Seras,” he answered quietly. “What’s wrong?” His voice, though low and calm, carried a hint of concern. He put a hand on my knee and began drawing it upward slowly, pushing past my re-formed clothing to caress my thigh.

“Nothing, for once.” I felt the firm flesh of his neck, gripping him there briefly. “Do you like the name the Hellsing family gave you?” He made me so curious, and I’d thought to ask him this before now.

He exhaled a small laugh. “Monsters and roses,” he said cryptically. His hand crept ever higher. “I was never proud of my original name, singe-sotie; my father was a traitor, and our names were the same.”

“Vlad,” I said, finding it experimental and more poignant than ever before. “It’s a strong name. I like it.” He seemed like a ‘Vlad’, actually. A hard-hitting, abrupt name for a person of equal temperament.

“If you like it, use it,” he advised smoothly. “I’ll answer to whatever you want to call me, sotie.”

I closed my eyes and gave in to a shiver of absolute awareness. He could be so hard, so cold, so inhuman. Yet, he gave me such freedom. Anderson missed that about him, about us. He wasn’t a neutral observer. He didn’t see my blood-creator as anything but vile.

I wrapped my arm around his free shoulder and held him tight. “Vlad,” I breathed into his ear, feeling just the faintest ripple of a shiver go through him. He was so solid, so strong and dangerous, and I could absorb that through him. He’d let me. He’d let me because he must.

I was vulnerable to him, but he no less to me. I hadn’t understood that until now. Still, better late than never. I’d use what I knew and go forward. He couldn’t look into my head now, not without my permission. I’d make him approach me man to a woman instead of master to servant.

“Sotie,” he answered, winding his arm around my waist. “Sotie, you stir with strength.”

“Do I?” I rumbled my satisfied amusement, rolling atop him and staring down into his gorgeous, unholy ginger eyes. “My master,” I breathed, letting that title have its full impact.

His eyes threatened to swallow me whole.

“Master…” I bent my head and nipped sharp teeth at his jaw line, barely even drawing blood. Lashing out my tongue, I lapped up that split-instant taste of him.

“Sotie…” He twitched and laid quite still, seeming eager to let me have my way. His whole body went limp, obedient to my desire. Head going back, he arched his neck to me. “Seras…”

How could any observer see him as someone to take advantage of me? He exposed himself completely, and only at the barest idea that I might want him to.

“Master,” I breathed, leaning over his face and breathing in his hot, rosemary, bloody musk. “Master, Vlad.” I pinned his wrists to the paltry mattress, reveling in my strength. He allowed this, yes, but it didn’t stop me from feeling dominant.

“Seras…” He shifted under me, closing his brilliant eyes. “Sotie…”

I bent to inhale his scent, filling my dead lungs with his essence. He was Unlife, darkness, power, strength, selfishness and charity, and all wrapped into the promise of sex. He knew what he was, and he ached for me to have that same knowledge.

He wanted someone to understand him, but he didn’t want coddled. He didn’t want pity.

I opened my mouth, bared my fangs, and sank them into him.

Sotie…

Oh, god, his taste…

Master... I pulled upon his vein hard, drawing him in and wanting to wallow in the iniquity that made him. He was the ultimate nutrition, the end-all be-all of what I craved. He was beauty, life, death, and completely mine. Alucard was mine.

He ran his hands down my back while I fed, slow and savoring me just like I did him. I shivered at the feel of his fingertips dipping into the channel of my spine. He followed it all the way to the cleft of my arse. Gently, he eased my skirt downward very slightly.

I knew he wanted to go farther, but we had no privacy, and he wouldn’t share me with anyone, not even to letting other eyes rest upon me.

I sent him pleasure, more pleasure, just flooded him with it. He jerked underneath me, groaning. Oh, Sotie, he repeated, sighing in my head. Heady with drinking him, touching him, I ground down upon his hardness.

You say my name, I coaxed, teasing him with my slow rhythm until he made a grab for my hips. Say it with me… I pulled my teeth from him and rocked backward. “Seras,” I prompted in a whisper, looking down into his liquid crimson eyes.

“Seras,” he answered, low voice just a rumble.

Pleased, I leaned over him again and let my lips hover centimeters from his. “Seras,” I said again. He used my name sometimes, but he called me ‘wife’ too much. His definition of wife didn’t agree with mine, either, and I desired utter distinction from his other wives. No, I demanded it.

Alucard smiled, slow and secretive. He knew what I was up to. Like the predator he was, he rolled to put me under him. “Seras,” he said yet again, his breath and voice caressing my ear. “Seras, my sotie.”

I chuckled at his cleverness. He added ‘wife’ on there. “I’m not satisfied,” I warned, refusing to be distracted by the feel of his tongue tapping my earlobe.

“And, I enjoy that about you,” he said earnestly, taking a little nip at my flesh. “You’re hard to please sometimes.” Pushing, he put the hottest parts of us against each other, showing me his excitement.

“Must be difficult,” I taunted lightly, grabbing a fist full of his slick hair and jerking. “Caught between master and servant.” Slowly, I forced his head back until I could get at his lips. “My No-Life King.”

We never really kissed. I knew nothing of how to do it, but made up for it with enthusiasm, capturing his mouth and keeping it. His entire body shivered in time with mine as our tongues slid over one another’s. I knew he could taste his own blood in my mouth.

You’re determined to get something out of me that no one ever has, he said, deepening the kiss and taking over.

I laughed into his mouth before biting his tongue and making him groan. Too late.

I felt dizzy with power, like I’d fly apart. I felt every bit of this hard mattress, of him, even of the air molecules in this cramped cabin. Darkness gathered around me, and I drew it in, feeding from it. Accepting, willing to embrace what it meant to be a No-Life Queen, I let the night inside me. And, it was good.

Alucard leaned back, his eyes fixing upon mine. I lay quite still under his scrutiny, too secure in my dark renovation to worry about what he thought. He’d given me his blood, and through it came so much knowledge. I overflowed with the arcane and the profane.

Too late, indeed, he agreed.

I heard that element of wonder and just smiled before tugging him back down. We weren’t free to enjoy each other in the way I wanted to, but we would have privacy tonight in Bucharest. I intended to take full advantage.

Wrapping my arms around him, I pressed my face to his neck. He shuddered before making the embrace mutual. We fell asleep, lulled by the rocking of the train and the security of being together.

This couch bed wasn’t a coffin, but I doubted either of us cared.