Alucard's Other Side

They were confused, tired, afraid, lost. The river slowly, snakishly uncoiled and wiggled beneath them as they stood on the bridge. The people of Toledo trembled together as one frightened beast surrounded by a pack of wild, hungry animals. Men and woman were at either end of the bridge. The predators wore brown cloaks and rosary crosses - their faces shielded by their hoods. Only one man wore a different colored cloak and silver cross around his neck, and he was the only one with a relatively human face as he grinned proudly at the sight before him. Young virgins and parents of these younger prey huddled together mumbling prayers and crying. Of course, they were speaking in Spanish and prayed to their Spanish lord for protection and wisdom. They knew nothing of their divine purpose!

The leader of the hungry pack had curly black hair that appeared to be gelled straight as it covered his scalp. His eyes glowed red and his teeth a sharp white. He stood next to a large bonfire that lit his end of the bridge brilliantly. The other bonfire lit the other end in equal brilliance. As he approached his frightened lambs, he began speaking chants to his brown-cloaked followers.

"Innocens manibus et mundo corde qui non exaltavit frustra animam suam et non iuravit dolose," the man said, gaining the attention of the Catholic Toledians. They were quiet for a moment but still wept in fear. Why would a holy man do this sort of cultism outside of the church? He continued, looking into the night sky, "Novam vitam accedente. Fratres fiamus, pars cognatione."

"Innocens manibus et mundo corde qui non exaltavit frustra animam suam et non iuravit dolose..." his followers soon chanted, causing mothers to cry out in protest. They dare use the good Lord's words to justify their actions! What mockery was this?

"Pars cognatione..." they sung.

"Pars cognatione..." they sung once more.

"Fratres fiamus!" the lead priest screamed.

The followers removed their cloaks to reveal roaring ghouls! Their mouths dripped with an aching hunger as they watched their prey scream in fear. It was now a battle of options: jump into the river or stay there and be eaten. Some villagers chose to jump only to be stopped by demonic canine creatures. The priest laughed at this and waved a finger at the villagers while clicking his tongue and shaking his head. If they all drowned, that would be boring and against his plans. All he had to do was gather enough virgin blood carriers to become stronger. That's what his leader said before dying in his arms. They had to position themselves on either end of the bridge as hellhounds, dogs that he transformed into ravenous beasts, chased, barked and growled at the virgin blood sources. He was proud as his plan to gain power began to unfold and then...

Sudden death came in a flash of red and gold light. The victims could see flashes of light touch the ghouls and hellhounds, and those lights killed all of the henchmen in one swift motion. Blood spewed from their headless necks! Next, came the hellhounds being torn in half and yelping pre-demise. Their organs were given no mercy. Before them stood a figure dressed in red armor with gold claws and wedged heels. The figure turned to reveal a woman. As the soldier stomped on spilled intestines and lungs, the bones' crunching could be heard! The people were grateful yet even more frightened from the bloodshed, and, when they all looked up, they saw the woman in scarlet armor removing her mask to display an angelic face with a reassuring smile. When the soldier turned, red eyes beamed at the lead priest and her golden eagle's claw gauntlet carved three gashes into his torso. It burned like hell, and he was suddenly standing face to face with hell's angel as it frowned upon him.

"My people," the soldier said in their native Spanish, raising her arms like a stiff scarecrow being held up from a post. All of the victims were held in place by the woman's words as if ice had suddenly covered their feet. She then said, "I must apologize for not coming to your rescue much sooner. Lives were lost today because of this wayward fool. Grant me your permission to lay waste to this mortal sinner."

"Kill him..." children said.

"Kill him," teenagers said.

"KILL HIM!" man, woman, and child said together.

No! He had to escape! With that, he fled from the scene for safety. The soldier in red bowed before the people and then nodded for them to run home.

Terrified. He couldn't describe it any other way. He was absolutely terrified, and his killer was completely in control of the situation. Desperate, red eyes looked toward the burning horizon, seeing people flee from flames. The flames from the bridge escaped to the edge of the forest. He could feel them flicker and rise. From those very flames that he used to light the way of his victims came the seraph of Satan. He remembered it all too clearly all too , here he was running away from the seraph of Satan trying to figure out a way to escape from his own death. Footsteps, heavy and calculative, were gliding across the field of grass and rocky terrain. The wind on his scalp helped cool him off as sweat poured from his skin. He could feel the cold fingers of death caressing his neck, making the hair on his nape stand erect and grow pale, as they tried to seduce him. The cold breath of Satan's warrior made his eyes bulge as tears were beginning to escape from his eyes. The wind seized blowing, his heart was on the brink of bursting, and his breath was beginning to stagger. He had been running for several miles and he could feel it in his knees and calves. They ached from the sprint, they were crying from the fear, and they tried their best to work something out for his survival.

Where had he gone wrong? He was sure being a vampire and leader of a new cult was God's way of giving him a new life, a new purpose. Had it all been a lie? Hissing sounded, alerting his ears. Satan's beast was closing in on him! The sounds of villagers arguing and hustling to return home mingled with the screams of the victims running through the forest to return to their families, the pounding of his heartbeat, the footsteps of the seraph, and a warm wind. Hell opened its doors, but, if he could get to the village, then so did salvation. His mouth was dry from the panting, and as he got closer to blood sources his mouth pried open and he growled. More blood and more prayers could save his life. Just a little further, dammit! Just a little further.

"Enough..." the siren of death said.

Out of nowhere, dozens of tree roots clipped him. His ankle twisted from the fall, causing him to scream out from shock, fear, and pain, and he began to mumble swears. When he looked up, there stood the seraph of Satan in all of its glory. It looked down upon him with red, cruel eyes gleaming from the moonbeams that cut through leaf openings in the trees. The soldier revealed two golden daggers and watched as the priest began to cry and shiver.

"Pray for your redemption, mortal fool," the seraph commanded.

"Oh, Lord and Holy Father, forgive me of all sins that I have committed and renew a cleaner mind, body, and spirit within me. I have followed my dear friend's wishes in hopes of pleasing you, O father. Why have I been forsaken? Is this some test? Have I been tricked?" the priest screamed.

"You joined a cult run by murderers, Catholic imposters, and thieves. You participated in events that go against the Divine Keeper's law, and you dare say it is His will? You are more than tricked, sir. You are a fool and a lawbreaker. In fact, you have disobeyed far too many laws and have chosen a cursed path. For this treason, your death is PUNISHMENT!"

He let out one last scream as the seraph crossed its arms with the two golden blades in its vice clutches and then rushed forward. With that, the priest's head trundled off his body and rolled onto the ground with one solid tear of blood left. The wind began to blow again, the misty air signaled a storm approaching, and the sounds of villagers being reunited with family filled the deathly gloom of Toledo, Spain. Perhaps in the morning's hours, a rainbow will color the sky and promise the people many peaceful days ahead. Sloth wasted no time removing the corpse's heart from its torso and carried the head in the other unoccupied hand. She felt more wind swirling about the premises and turned to see the trees being pushed aside in a circular motion. A beam of light warmed her back and she looked up to see the beating wings of a helicopter lowering a step ladder to her. From the door of the chopper, she was met with a familiar face.

"Master!" Adolph called above the noisy beating of chopper wings. He was beyond surprised when Sloth super-jumped in front of his face. Of course, leave it to her not wanting to physically climb up the ladder if she didn't have to. He yelped when their noses practically touched and then fell backwards. "Ack! M-m-master, we almost kissed! You should watch that! I may end up liking it one day."

"Kreuss," Sloth whispered, chuckling a bit. It was good to know that even though he was a vampire he was still human.

"Darling, you're all bloody," a woman spoke, alerting Sloth's attention. A towel was thrown at her and then the voice said, "Clean yourself up."

When Sloth turned to the direction of the voice, she came into eye contact with her senior operative, Envy. Envy was a research scientist, first and foremost, but you should never count her out of being one of the best fighters of the Red Scare III. She was a senior operative for a reason, and it was not because of her degrees in science. Envy was the epitome of a killer. She was a few inches taller than Sloth and a couple of pounds lighter. She is also a beautiful Italian woman with curly red hair and green eyes, and she is well-endowed. Envy likes to believe that she is Sloth's mother, but Sloth and everyone else knew better than that. Sloth spoke Spanish, not Italian, and her genetic makeup says it all as far as how closely related the two women were. It is also said that Envy was once the Czar's wife at some point, or that they are still together to this day but they are keeping it a secret.

Envy removed the head and heart of the lead vampire from Sloth's clawed gauntlets and walked to two containers to keep the prizes fresh for research. Sloth sat in the back of the chopper while Adolph followed her to moisten the towel and clean her. It was moments like these that pissed Sloth off because she felt like a child, but these sorts of moments are what brought them closer because Adolph could treat his mentor as a child.

"The czar called me before the purge," Sloth informed everyone, alerting their attention. The czar never called anyone about anything, so this was a strange thing to happen indeed. She continued, "A funeral for those in the Netherlands will be held in three to four days. I apologize for not being able to train you as planned, Kreuss. I have to attend."

"I should be sorry," Adolph said, looking down at Sloth's feet. He then whispered, "I mean...you lost someone you knew. You've taught me many things, master. There'll always be another time to train."

"Where's the next mission?" Sloth nodded in acknowledgement, glad that the young vampire understood her reasoning.

"Germany, my darling," Envy said, kneeling before Sloth as though she were some sort of queen. She placed Sloth's foot onto her thigh and then caressed her calf and thigh in gentle, soothing motions. Her face, however, showed the opposite: jealousy, hatred, malice. She then erased this face and sent a gentle smile to Adolph. She nodded to the vampire and said, "Your father's hometown, I hear. Right, Kreuss?"

"Yes, ma'am," Adolph answered, feeling something off with the woman. No one ever touched his master because no one dared.

"Who's the target?" Sloth asked, ignoring Envy and Adolph for a moment.

"Our target is the mayor of the city and a group of his guards," Envy answered, not allowing Sloth to ignore her for a second. The younger operative looked dead in her eyes, muscles tensing at her caresses. "We've received word that he's been slaughtering his house of government. Whenever certain districts go attend town meetings, his descendants and/or himself attack the civilians and build on their numbers. Right now, he has a cult of nearly 1,000 members who have been turned to vampires. Kill the mayor, you kill the cult. Also, you have received a new order. The czar called us about vampire hunting groups who have been attacked by not only vampires but ghouls as well. In fact, these attackers have cybernetic armor like your arm and leg."

"N - " Sloth shot up, seeing what Envy was about to do, but was too late to stop her. Envy gripped Sloth's cybernetic leg hard enough to send bolts of electricity through her body and crush the structure of the shin by fractions. The pain of the high voltage from the leg sent Sloth spiraling and writhing beneath Envy's touch. The older woman laughed at Sloth's pain when she screamed, "Ah!"

"Master!" Adolph called before twirling the wet towel in his hands and then stinging Envy's face with the wet, pointed fabric. Envy let out a surprised yelp and then chuckled at Adolph's childishness including her own.

"Envy, enough!" the pilot ordered. He was another senior operative but under Envy in rank. His codename was Pride. He then barked, "Stop playing with your little girl and listen up. We're sending out a warning to the entire country of Germany. We have begun to evacuate the city for the great purging. The czar released some video footage of outbreaks and attacks to the rest of the country. Churches who released their vampire hunters to pursue these demons were left defenseless, so when the hunters return they fall prey to their own chiefs."

"Locate the mayor, kill the cult, and collect better samples. Anything else?" Sloth questioned, recovering from the bouts of pain as if this treatment was a normal occurrence from her seniors.

"We need 30 samples for our research, darling," Envy then informed, grinning evilly as though her rage had been quelled. "We reached little success with our experiment, unfortunately. Make that a main priority."

"What type of samples do you need?" Adolph asked, letting Sloth moan out the rest of her pain as she took deep breaths. "Is ghoul blood just not working at all?"

"It's more the kind of blood that's not working rather than the source. When we first started our research, we took blood samples from our experiments to develop testing sites to conduct thorough analyses. The DNA from the blood made us draw conclusions that a transfusion was needed somehow. The experiment was highly anemic and in a state of...hibernation, of sorts. The samples we're gathering do produce results but they're fairly minute. Ghoul blood," Envy informed, frowning in her scientific explanations, and pointing at the vials of blood trapped in a cooling case, "we've noticed, only worked when the host vampire was at his or her peak power. This means we need pure blood from a strong vampire source, and that alone is fairly difficult in gathering. The heart of your fledgling's creator might have done something since it was strong enough to ease his bloodlust and keep him sedated throughout your training, but we would need to gather blood from Kreuss to track the host vampire. In a milder case, we could just gather some blood from Kreuss - "

"No," Sloth interrupted bluntly. They were not touching her apprentice whether he had strong blood or not! She then said, "If you need stronger sources of blood, I'll do what I can to get it. What about the hearts I've collected? Is the blood from that any good?"

"Actually, that produces much better results and helps us track host vampires directly. In fact, the vampire that turned those mafia on the islands into vampires was your target: that cult leader, or priest. We have no clear leads as to why or how they moved so far away from their master, but it is plausible that they gained some sort of independence or full proof means of travel. Vampires can't travel over water, but they can fly."

"The mafia vampires we hunted were stationed within proximity of the airport and were reported owning their own private jet," Adolph informed the group, cleaning the sweat and blood off his master's neck. "Nothing was said of the pilot."

"He was most likely turned. When we got there," Sloth started, trying to remember the exact events that happened those weeks ago, "a stack of ownership and licensing rights were on the desk. Before Kreuss killed them, the leader tried to shove the documents into a briefcase. I gathered the papers and saw a contract halfway signed by the pilot. The document was a protection and payment criterion."

"Would a pilot need protection from mafia if he knew they weren't humans?" Adolph asked.

"That makes everyone a liability then, just as the czar predicted. Amazing!" Pride, the pilot, complimented. "The czar gave us a new order, including you: If you encounter any other vampire hunters or potential turned on your mission, you have permission to kill on sight if they aren't human. We don't care if he's a good guy or not. He or she is a liability, and we don't want anymore bloodshed than there already is. If they're a vampire, they will feast on blood eventually. Our job is to exterminate any and all vampires."

"For now, we're mobilizing you to Hamburg, Germany along with your fledgling," Envy continued. "The purge begins in Moers."

"How much time do we have before then?" Sloth asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Three hours..."

 ________________________________________________

"Mister Alucard, your items for the day."

Alucard was seated at his throne, waiting for Baron to walk down the stairs. Baron was only carrying a briefcase and a small bucket of cleaning supplies in his hands. It wasn't until he noticed two straps going across his shoulders that he realized he was carrying something on his back. When the tall butler approached his table, Alucard simply watched the man busy himself. His cologne matched his personality fairly well: strong, calming, bittersweet. The butler hummed a tune as he worked, which piqued the vampire's interest as he listened, and then placed new wines and drinking glasses on Alucard's small table. The song was rather pleasant like a lullaby.

"Have you ever been to Spain, Baron?" the vampire asked, starting some sort of conversation between them.

"Hm? Oh," the butler replied, at first not paying attention to the man. He then answered, "Only twice. With my wife on our honeymoon and with my daughter to visit her grandfather. It is a beautiful country."

"That it is," the vampire responded.

"So then, what pressing matter concerned you so much that you felt the need to call me down here?" Baron asked, finished with setting up Alucard's bucket of food and fresh wine from Greece.

"There were some marvelous things in Toledo: architecture, dancing, cityscapes. I even saw one of the most beautiful sites to behold there. Your daughter was rather beautiful last night."

Baron's eyes snapped open and then, out of nowhere, he punched Alucard hard enough to make the vampire fly out of his chair. The vampire turned to him sharply and grinned maliciously. Now, the man got his attention! This was the side of Baron that Alucard loved seeing! Baron's eyes reverted back to their normal state rather than the narrowed, murderous state. He gasped at the bruise Alucard had gotten on his cheek and then got down on both of his knees to say, "My apologies, Master Alucard. My actions against you were not at all favorable. Granted, I lost my temper there. This is no excuse for striking you."

"I like when you lose your face," Alucard responded, not liking the apology because he had to apologize for crossing the line first but understanding that he only wants to stay on good terms with everyone. Undeterred, Alucard tried provoking him once more by saying, "Your daughter seems to be the root of your strength. Such life within you! Yes, this no-face butler side to you is completely dull. This is the vanGouge I like seeing: unpredictable, cruel, quick on his feet!"

"You're definitely Integra's servant: provocative, confusing, and crazy," Baron remarked, chuckling bitterly before rising to his feet. He held out his hand for Alucard to grab on to, but the vampire simply ignored it and stood tall. Baron placed his hand down and then remembered something important that Integra asked of him. He said, "While I'm on it, Sir Integra also requested that I ask something of you. The vampire hunter you have associated with on your mission in the Isles of Scilly, can you tell us something about her? Like what she was wearing, what sort of weaponry she had, her behavior, where she was located, anything in particular that might clarify her alliances."

"I can, but why?" Alucard questioned very shrewdly. Baron raised an eyebrow at the vampire, wondering what he was up to, and then something clicked in his mind. He was avoiding the question! The vampire noticed that Baron was trying to read into him, so Alucard decided to play with him further just to see if he'd try to punch him out again. He then asked, "Once you tell my master what I've said, she'll simply do one of two things: ask you to research any vampire hunting group that matches my description or personally research the group herself and ask me again on what I know. Either way, you'll just be down here again to ask me the same thing, and I'll answer the same way every time."

Baron smirked at Alucard and then said, "To avoid having to come down here again, you're going to ignore the question and not answer either one of us entirely?"

"Precisely," Alucard answered, sending a challenging glance at Baron.

Baron chuckled softly and then said, "I'll be damned... Okay, let's ask a different question then. Why are you protecting this woman in particular?" That alerted the vampire and made Baron chuckle a little more openly. He then reasoned, "I've only been working here at Hellsing for about two months, and I've only known you for about half of that time. Now, I don't know you personally as a friend or even so much as a comrade, but even I can see there's something you're not saying and I can't understand why unless I'm in your head. If you answer our questions the exact same every time, we will suspect that you're lying about something eventually. Now, it may very well be the case that you just don't know anything, but it is a little too strange for someone as observant on the battlefield as you to not notice anything different when you see this person."

Alucard scoffed at first, went deathly silent, and then guffawed at Baron's reasoning. He had at last been caught and not even as he predicted would be a few days later. This butler was sharp! Alucard clapped his hands as he laughed and then said, "Have it your way, lively one! It takes a liar to know one, doesn't it, Baron vanGouge?"

Baron smiled softly and then said, "I suppose it does, sir. So then what do you know?"

"She wore red armor with that Russian victory flag I asked you about before on her cloaks. Her weapons were largely gold material. One of the guns she fought me with had a Nazi cross on it. Until I see her use her true strength against us, I cannot say for sure whether she is a soldier from the defeated Millennium group or not," Alucard answered honestly this time.

"There, now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Baron asked, watching Alucard return to his throne. "That gives us a bit of a visual at least. I saw that name in the files when I was researching the recent attacks. You've confronted this group?"

"This was before you joined us, but there was a group of renegade vampires who formed an army to declare war on Christian followers. They hunted, they killed, and they terrorized innocent people for absolutely no purpose other than to taste the blood spilled on a battlefield. I lost a friend in that meaningless bloodshed. He was a butler to the Hellsing Organization much like you were."

"Dare I ask what killed him?"

"I did."

"Of course," Baron said, sighing as if that was an obvious answer. "Well, I won't prod you further on this Millennium group. The research will tell me what I need to know on the matter without indulging into the personals. Sir Integra only wished to know more about this hunter you've met. She has reason to believe she's behind some of these attacks, and that her appearance is merely a cover-up."

"I must correct her then," Alucard remarked, slouching in his chair to find some comfort for his back. "Something else is behind these attacks. It's got nothing to do with Sloth."

"You're protecting this woman agai - " Baron stopped, hearing that click go off in his mind again. This is probably the second time Alucard has defended Sloth in an attempt to avoid and ignore any and all questions concerning her. If they had asked about the group Sloth was a part of, Alucard would have probably immediately answered all questions thoroughly like he did with the Millennium group just now. When it came to this one hunter, he leaves his answers with a vague openness. Even if you wanted to ask him something else, you wouldn't know what to ask him since he's answered it already. That meant...! Baron smiled a little then said, "You like this girl, don't you?"

"This has nothing to do with master's investigation," Alucard argued, surprised at the question nonetheless.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho no, ya bastard," Baron started, pointing a finger at Alucard's nose. He then continued, "I let you slip by up until this point. Who would've thought a master vampire would develop a crush on a vampire hunter?"

"Now you're being ridiculous," Alucard defended but it seemed like he had been caught once again. He seemed to be losing his touch with lying. "Anyways, if we're dealing in facts, I'd say Sloth is a part of a much bigger, more interesting plan. You can take that to the bank is what you, young people, would say. I wouldn't know who's been leading these attacks, but I do know it's got something to do with the fallen Nazi group; otherwise, why carry weapons with the cursed emblem on it?"

"I'm gonna hang the fact that you like the enemy over your head until I'm at the grave," Baron said, teasingly.

"We can arrange that," Alucard threatened, pointing his Jackal at the butler.

"Hm, the Nazi group, you say?" Baron hummed in thought, pulling out several ideas to different conclusions. He wanted to keep getting Alucard's skin the way the vampire got under his, but there were plenty of opportunities in the future. Right now, they were trying to discuss some serious business. Baron continued, "This is probably a useless assumption, but if this vampire hunter you're seeing has been carrying the hammer and sickle around, it is possible that someone within the Millennium group formed a subgroup of sorts to precede them. The nostalgic Nazi cross and the hammer and sickle banner are linked towards World War II. Russia was Nazi Germany's enemy. Supposing this Millennium you faced years ago had a double agent lurking in that army of vampires - "

"We already killed him."

"Who?" Baron questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Old Walter, your predecessor. He was turned to a vampire then had the nerve to rise against me and endanger my master. He's been dealt with."

"I see. Well, that only leaves me with one solid conclusion."

"And that is?" Alucard questioned, interested in the man's logic.

"I was going to propose there was a double agent who leaked information to Russia about the army of vampires in an attempt to stop Millennium, but that would be impossible seeing as though Russia only just started forming a vampire execution unit and probably knew nothing of the existence of such beasts. No offense, sir."

"None taken."

"That means someone in the Millennium group left to train a new batch of vampires or hunters to undo the damage so to speak," Baron then said, gaining the vampire's attention. Now, that was a plausible conclusion. "Where the Millennium group failed, the new group will correct and be above that failure. How would the Millennium group even know about vampires or how to control them? They couldn't possibly just wake up and think of building some remote-control device that would brainwash your kind. Some form of research was conducted to have gained such knowledge. I believe there's something more scientific snaking its way through these attacks."

"Would collecting a vampire's heart be registered as scientific?" Alucard questioned, now delving into his own logic.

"Collecting hearts?" Baron questioned, eyes narrowing. Ha, he got something out of the vampire finally!

"When I first met Sloth, she had given her fledgling the heart of a vampire to maintain control of his bloodlust. Collecting sample data like blood or organs is a form of scientific research, is it not?" Alucard asked, getting Baron to nod. The men sat in silence as the butler thought about new conclusions and theories to his previous assumptions. Growing bored of the silence, Alucard proceeded to provoke Baron again since he brought up the fact that he had taken a liking to Sloth. He said, "Tell me, young man, about your daughter. What was she doing in Spain?"

"You're seriously trying to change the subject in the middle of an epidemic?" Baron asked, turning to the vampire.

"I find it unfortunate that I've never met the woman though we were in the same country. The fact that you hide information about yourself and your children interests me. Don't you have a wallet with photographs of some sort like other young folk?"

"Don't start with me on this topic now. You could at least wait until I've had my coffee."

"You can always become one of our race. Then, you wouldn't need coffee."

"I don't know how Sir Integra puts up with you," Baron remarks, letting out a sigh. He proceeded to leave the basement until Alucard stopped him.

"Baron vanGouge, what was your daughter doing in Spain? Where is her husband?"

Baron turned to face Alucard, closed his eyes, and then asked as calmly as he could, "Tell me something, vampire. Why are you interested in my daughter so much? This can't have anything to do with beauty because you've never met. What's your story?"

"I am curious," Alucard answered after a brief silence. He smiled mischievously then looked up into the ceiling, seeing an image of himself and Sloth fighting on a beautiful battleground as the sun sets. The sky turns into an orange blanket as the blood red sun lights the sky. He is in his final form while she is in her red armor. He then proceeded to say, "I have my firmer suspicions, but there is a sense of doubt lurking within me. You are a human just as your children should be, but Sloth has vampire power in her. I don't know if Sloth is really your daughter entirely or not. I like not being able to tell whether Sloth is your daughter or not because it makes me run comparisons. You and she are a lot alike. You both get suspicious of me when I behave a certain way or say certain things, you both are not as easy to predict as other humans are, and you both hide your true emotions unless provoked."

"So there is more to this Sloth character than red armor and a curvy body, vampire?" Baron questioned, opening his eyes to see Alucard looking up. "She's a decent fighter is what I'm hearing."

"The power she hides from us is far more than decent," Alucard replies, narrowing his eyes. He remembered when she released her power to find the mafia group attacking the civilians on the isles, but that was the only taste of power he could enjoy and savor. When they first fought, her fledgling provoked her to fight to her fullest capabilities; then, when they fought again, she only acted against him to protect the boy. He hissed, "She only ever crosses the line when that fledgling of hers is threatened."

"Like a mother?" Baron suggested, causing Alucard's eyes to snap open wider. In fact, Sloth behaved just like that! The butler continued, "The way she behaves is sort of like a mother."

"Indeed, she does," Alucard agrees, looking into Baron's eyes. He decides to toy with the butler's mind again by saying, "Baron. How old is your daughter? The one that speaks Spanish?"

"You're not getting with my daughter, Alucard. I swear to God if you don't put it out of your mind, I'll blast your balls off."

"Bear you no good will toward a damned creature without a proper suitor his own age?"

"Consider yourself ignored!"

"Come now, we both know you don't seriously feel like doing research. Humor me."

"I swear there's no arguing with you!" Baron shouted.

"So, this is what you do with our new butler? I don't remember you flirting with anyone this much, Alucard."

Both men turn to see Integra standing before them with an amused smile across her face. Alucard heard Integra coming down the stairs somewhere around the time Baron asked why he wanted to know more about his daughter. She stayed at the door for about twice as long. It was possible she heard enough to answer all of her questions, but Alucard hardly felt the need to pay attention.

"Master, you surprise me. It's not often I receive a visit from you."

"I would invite you to lunch or tea, but I can't imagine you honestly enjoying those sorts of leisure activities. My visit will be rather short-lived, however, so you will be able to flirt with your boyfriend here."

"That's what's up," Alucard remarked. "Is that a new term you, young people, use, darling?"

"Fuck off, ya daft bastard!" Baron insulted, stomping to the basement's stairs.

"Your boyfriend's got some language there, vampire," Integra joked, waiting until Baron slammed the door behind him to continue.

"I like him better this way. Far more exciting than that gentleman he's so good at showing off. Enough of this chatter. What brings you here, my master?"

"Fortunately, the Round Table had to reschedule our meeting, so we have extra time to prepare for the dreaded occasion. Unfortunately, you have a new mission in Germany. We've received a call from the EKD. There's been several attacks in the city. Over 300 are reported dead. This seems to be another group killing. We're getting the specifications in a few moments. Until then, I'll be needing your boyfriend to get some research for this new case."

Alucard nodded at this and then narrowed his eyes to say, "Now, what are you really here for, my master?"

"That vampire hunter that you saw on the islands, is there a reason why you're treating her differently than you did Alexander Anderson?"

"Ah, now that's a name I haven't heard in some time," Alucard sighed. "However, I must know what you mean by differently. She is still an enemy."

"Yes, but you talk about her as if she isn't. Why exchange a vow with her?"

"She is my strong, beautiful lover," Alucard answers, causing Integra to gasp in shock. "She has been for some time. I was with her thirty years ago. When I returned to you, my master, I left without saying a word. She grieved for me, not knowing where I had gone. When we met again, I hardly recognized her until she kissed me. I remembered those lips of hers. When we met again on the islands, we simply consummated our love. Her vow is one of marriage. I merely accepted it."

Integra merely stared at the man in silence, and then something broke within her. First, she trembled a bit from the shock; then, she trembled in anger and gritted her teeth in rage. She then shouted, "You conniving bastard! I was worried sick about you! I thought you were gone for good! I thought I lost you! Everyone I knew...everyone I cared about...and then you... My faith in you returning wavered! And here you are, telling me you were out spooning with some woman instead of coming home! I...I - "

"Integra...," Alucard called, gaining Integra's attention. When she looked up, Alucard swept her up in a genuinely kind embrace without attempting to crush her ribs or anything. He then released her, raised a hand to her face as if he was going to caress her, and then plucked her nose. When she yelped in pain, he returned to his seat while saying, "You're still that same little girl who woke me from slumber. You still haven't learned how to loosen up! You should learn to laugh at a joke every once in a while. Try taking notes from Baron when you're around him next time."

"You...you..." Integra said, grabbing her nose from the mild-mannered bit of abuse. She then went into a different rage that lifted the headquarters from the ground as she shouted, "You inconsiderate freak!"

"Well, I didn't think you would start crying," Alucard argued.