Disclaimer: Hellsing is owned by Koura Hirano, Yasunori Urata, GONZO, Pioneer LDC, and Geneon Entertainment. Any and all C+C is appreciated. You can contact me at sommer@3rdm.net

Foreword: These events take place at the end of episode 13. Spoilers apply.

Betrayal.

That was the word. That was the deed. That was the intent, however reluctantly her "superiors" claimed to be doing it. Integra Helsing, at what was to have been her greatest triumph after binding Alucard to her, instead found a lifetime's work destroyed in less than twenty-four hours. A hard-earned knighthood denied, her family's organization in shambles, most of her personnel turned and destroyed, Fargason dead, Walter crippled, and her freedom stripped from her in a bloody ten-by-ten cell as though she were the traitor to the crown. What was most painful of all was that the bloody government knew the truth that she was innocent of everything, and they had been set up by one of their own. They could have leaked such information to the press and kept her name in the clear, but no. Admitting one of their own had gone rogue while sitting right under their noses and nearly engineering the destruction of both God and Country was beneath them. Her Majesty could never make such an error; therefore it was up to Integra Helsing to bear the mark of traitor while cleaning up the mess they had left in her lap.

What did she have now? Confined in a dungeon with only her "pet" vampire to keep her company, and hearing his amused voice commenting on her situation, made her realize that perhaps he kept his "Master" on a short leash as well.

"So, do you accept?" The voice came from a corner of the ceiling, shrouded in a murky pool of midnight that was darker than any shadow should be. Nightmares were hidden there, things at the edge of the perception that mortals were never meant to know.

Integra Helsing sighed inwardly. The offer. It was the same one he had made on numerous occasions, including the first day he had rescued her from her ruthless uncle and his murderous intentions. Alucard was never pushy about it. He never presented it casually. It was only when Integra was at her lowest ebb, when she felt as though she was alone in a cold and unfeeling world, when everything she tried failed, and nothing and no one seemed to give a damn, when her life seemed… pointless. Futile. It was during those times he would appear, unbidden, as though he could look into her very soul and knew it was ripe for the plucking. He would make the same proposal in beckoning tones that seemed to whisper in her ear that all he offered was the salvation from those pains and to be introduced to something far greater than she could ever conceive.

And every time she would turn him down. A lifetime of indoctrination at her father's hands made Integra despise the undead and all things supernatural. They were abominations to be wiped clean from God's Earth. She would rather die than have such filth coursing through her veins. She nearly killed herself when such had happened not more than a few months ago at her "sister's" hands, the vampiric whore. Better suicide and eternal damnation than to be tainted by the touch of the undead.

But that was before Integra's world had become her own personal hell. Abandoned. Friendless. Alone. Now that she was left with nothing, she could take a good look at herself without anything coloring her vision. Looking back, she had always been so. No family: all dead championing a crusade that would fall the way all such crusades did. No friends: a trusted servant and an enigmatic undead were her only constant companions. No lovers: there was no man that could handle a life such as hers. No country: they threw her to the wolves and expected her to clean up their mess at the same time.

It was only now, buried a hundred meters underground with the slow dripping of water from rusted pipes the only thing tainting the total silence, that she could hear those voices deep within her mind whisper the truths she had always known.

You only feel like a failure because you've failed.

You only feel hopeless because there is no hope.

You only feel alone because you are alone.

And when you die, whether it be now or in fifty years, no one will care.

"Sorry, that's the way it is," Alucard whispered from the shadows he was ensconced within.

She turned her gaze upward, staring at the yellowed sunglasses that only hid his eyes when he allowed them to. Right now he permitted her to look into those enigmatic orbs. There was amusement there now; there always was when he made the offer. It was as though there was a joke going on and he was the only one that knew the punchline.

Integra decided she wanted to know what the joke was.

"I accept."

Alucard smiled, and with that smile, she knew the truth without the need of fang or blood to enlighten her. This was why he had stayed by her side all these years. Why he had allowed himself to be bound to the Helsing bloodline. Why he had spent a godforsaken decade chained shrouded in an eternity of darkness under Helsing Manor. Time meant nothing to Alucard. How could time matter to Forever? He would have waited for an eternity to see this day, when he would have a Helsing willingly bound to him.

There was no fear in Integra at this realization. Before she had said the words, she accepted what would happen to her, no matter how painful it would be.

Alucard rose from the depths of the shadow like a man would emerge from a pool, one that defied the laws of nature. It was disturbing to see someone not just flow from darkness, but managing it while upside down. Once the vampire's body was free of the murk, he stepped forward, spinning in mid-air as casually as one would walk, and landed in front of his Integra. Alucard towered over the blonde, yet failed to dominate her, even now. She had accepted his offer in a moment of power, not of weakness. This was something she wanted, not merely accepted. She was Integra Helsing. They could strip her of every worldly possession, rape her body and soul, torture her flesh in ways unimaginable, but they could never take her pride. Not even Alucard at his most powerful could accomplish that.

Course decided, Integra pulled her hair aside and bared the side of her neck. There was no sense in wasting time, and she detested the hole the government had thrown her in. She wanted out as soon as possible

Rather than opening his mouth and plunging his fangs into the soft flesh of her neck, Alucard seemed amused by the gesture. "Now, now, Sweet Integra, there's no need to rush," he clucked.

Not "Master" but "Integra", now. For some mysterious reason, the manner that he spoke the name soothed her soul like a balm to burned flesh. Never had he addressed her in such a tone, each word hinting a seduction that made her want to give herself to him body and soul. She had no idea he possessed such power. Still, she would not be turned from her path, no matter the allure he suddenly seemed to possess, one that would have rendered a lesser woman a slave to his commands. "Why not? You've been after this since before you met me."

"Impatience is a sin of the flesh. You'll learn that soon enough," Alucard assured her. "Before we go any further down a path from which we cannot turn back, there is something I must ask of you."

More games, even now. "I've already accepted your offer. Why do you ask that which you can take?"

Alucard pouted, a rare sight to behold. He ran his hand through the hair she had pulled back. She released the strands as, with surprising gentleness, the vampire replaced them over her offered neck. "Dear, Sweet Integra, surely you know by now I would not force you to do anything. I desire you to yield freely, even now. Taking what I desire would be… unacceptable."

Another shock. Integra could never recall Alucard admit to limitations. "What is it you want?"

There was no immediate answer. Instead his hand rose to his face and he removed his glasses, placing them within the folds of his cloak that hid an infinity of darkness. He then removed hers and gently placed them on the bed behind her. "Something I have never tried in all these centuries of my existence. Something I have seen others all around me do, but have never done myself. Something I have a fascination with. Something I desire."

Integra was astounded to discover an emotion she thought foreign to the vampire. "You're envious of someone."

Alucard's voice held amusement. "Envy comes from that which one desires and is denied, and even I have limits, Sweet Integra."

And he needed her for it. Their joining would be one of equals, or at least as equal as anything could come to Alucard. "What is it you want?"

He drew a finger up to her chin, leaving only one elongated nail touching her flesh. Slowly he traced his way from the chin downward over the throat. Integra felt a chill course through her body at the caress. It was not the cold she associated with undeath, but something warm and alive.

As his finger met the top of her buttoned collar, the material parted, flowing out of the way like water rather than ripping. Strands of silk separated as his finger continued its downward trail, leaving bared flesh in its wake. It continued until he stopped at the top of the 'V' her legs formed. He then placed his hands upon her shoulders, and with only the gentlest of nudges, pushed.

Integra did not merely move backward, she floated until she sank into the mattress of her bed as lightly as a feather.

Alucard followed, moving on top of her. His breath was warm as it caressed her face.

And then there was ecstasy.

Celes Victoria was not a happy girl. Since the shutdown of Hellsing and her eviction from the mausoleum that had passed for her bedchamber nearly ten months ago, her situation had deteriorated from somewhat passable to outright sewage sludge. She had become painfully aware of the very noticeable discrimination against her minority and had been unable to find a job, and unemployed undead had a hard time of making ends meet.

Celes had been forced to get by using her former life's police skills to track down and steal money from robbers, pimps, and drug pushers. She had amassed a tidy sum, but most of it was needed to bribe certain individuals on the night shift at the local blood bank into donating a portion of their supply to someone in desperate need. She wasn't really stealing it either. She gave back to the blood bank. Well, not personally, but she had finally learned how to influence minds just by staring at people and planting certain suggestions in their brains. With her beginner's skill level, she could only influence the very impressionable, but it was amazing how the mind turned to gelatin after a few shots of hard liquor. After a night of revelry, many patrons of the local bar scene were overcome the next day with the sudden need to do their part to help their fellow man and vampire as well, by heading to the nearest blood bank and contributing a pint or two.

With her feeding taken care of, Celes had considerably worse luck with her housing. She found herself living out of a seedy dive near the infamous Whitechapel district. It was a one-room hovel in a hotel where the residents were deaf when it came to hearing things, blind when it came to seeing them, and mute when they were asked questions, even if it was as inconspicuous as "'what time is it?". Of course, the anonymity cost her as she paid five times the actual value of the dive's "presidential suite". The dingy room's contents consisted of an antique mattress that probably dated back to the Victorian era, a dresser that had served as home to more insects and rodents than it ever had clothing, and a light that Edison himself had most likely installed. It was unquestionably a historical site, one that should have been preserved in gasoline and burned to ground.

Celes probably had it better than most of the faceless denizens that resided in this foreign land on British soil. The rats didn't like her and stayed away, and she could order the insects to find someone else to cohabitate with. Perhaps she could do some exterminating on the side to earn a few extra pounds.

The vampiress was pondering these things as she lay flat on her back, staring at the shadows cast upon the window from the street lights, when the voice came from inside the room.

"Police Girl, I have a task for you."

Celes sat straight up as her senses were flooded with the awareness of the man who, regardless of his name, would be forever known as "Master". She turned to see him standing in the middle of the room, as though he was a piece of furniture that had been there since day one.

Anger overwhelmed her relief at seeing him The bastard had tricked her. Never before had he blocked her ability to sense his presence when he was close at hand. She had known he still existed; a tiny voice in the back of her mind was forever linked in that way, ensuring her obedience to her creator's desires, but it wasn't like a mental Geiger counter that clicked louder the nearer he drew, else she would have sought him out long before she had fallen so far. Usually she could feel him approach when he was within fifty meters, farther if he was using his powers. But this time he had shut out that portion of her mind until he was right upon her in order to surprise her. Surprises from her Master inevitably led to "very troubling" experiences.

Celes shot straight up from bed. Literally straight up as she reacted with her full undead powers, levitating rather than rising normally as she usually did. Just because she was a vampire didn't mean she had to act like a reject from some Hammer Film.

The surprising arrival worsened Celes' already sour mood. "Master! Where have you been? What have you been up to? I've been mucking about without a bloody thing to do, scavenging for blood while you've been doing Lord only knows what!"

Alucard raised a single finger to his lips. Celes felt herself obeying as much from compulsion as from desire to hear him out. He almost never used compulsion on her, allowing her to make mistakes and then rubbing them in later. She detested feeling like a marionette being pulled by the puppeteer's strings.

Once Celes calmed down, she noticed two unusual things besides the seven-foot vampire with a tacky sense of clothing standing in her room. One was that her master had one arm tucked inside the folds of his blood-red trench coat, holding a bundle of some kind, judging by the size of the lump that lay hidden underneath. The other thing that caught her eye was that someone was lurking just out of sight at the open door. Anyone with normal vision would have missed the handful of stray platinum blonde locks of hair that stuck out from just beyond the doorframe. It was a shade of blonde Celes had become very familiar with during her months of employment with Hellsing.

Despite Alucard's close proximity overwhelming her senses, Celes could usually feel the presence of a living person that close; a vampire was constantly aware of their food sources, even if they didn't indulge in downing people like a hunter would deer, but from Integra's direction, there was nothing. It was like she wasn't there. Or…

Impossible! Not Integra Helsing. She'd sooner commit suicide, and had nearly done so, than allow that to happen to her. It had to be something else.

Celes was about to ask what was going on when Alucard finally explained, "I will be going away for a while, Police Girl. My…" he turned to look at the doorframe, "… primary purpose here has been fulfilled, and there are many other things I must do. Important matter that will take me far beyond the boundaries of this little island."

"Going… away?" Celes was stunned at the heartrending anguish that his upcoming departure inflicted. On some subconscious level, she knew he was telling her good-bye, rather than asking her to come along. True, Alucard was a boorish, conceited, obscenely powerful member of the undead, but he was charming, in some indescribable way. And ultimately her master had always looked out for her, keeping her alive when she ended up over her head in trouble. Now he was leaving. It felt like she was being abandoned by a parent. It was an experience she had suffered before. She would survive. Or at least continue to exist in her current state. It would just take time, and it wasn't like she had failed to get by without him for the last ten months.

Alucard seemed satisfied at her acceptance. "Indeed. However, I am charging you with a task. The most important I have given to anyone." The vampire's voice was laden with uncharacteristic seriousness, riveting Celes' attention. "I did not choose you randomly, Police Girl. From the moment I saw you, I knew you had potential. Great potential. That was why I turned you, rather than allowing you to die like all those around you. Whether or not you would live up to that potential was up to you; even I cannot force greatness upon another. But you did not disappoint, Police Girl. You survived the fires you had been plunged into and gone beyond what I originally envisioned you might become. I know you will be able to accomplish the task I am bestowing upon you."

Now Celes’ emotions did a complete turnaround. She knew this was her real Master, nothing could fake the connection between them. But at the same time, his behavior made him almost as alien as when Incognito had been fused with that demon. Alucard never asked for anything. That he would showed the seriousness of the situation. "Whatever it is, Master, I shall succeed."

"That's the spirit," Alucard said, familiar mirth returning to his voice, the kind that said the joke is on the rest of the world. Alucard removed the bundle from within the confines of his trench coat and presented it before Celes, and said, "Here you go."

Celes looked at the offering placed before her. "I am not going to feast on some baby, Master!"

For a moment, Alucard was taken aback. Then recovered and laughed deeply in amusement. "Don't be silly, Police Girl. You're not going to kill him. You're going to raise him."

"…" was all Celes could manage.

Alucard seemed aware he was going to have to prod the girl. "This is your one chance at motherhood. It's not like you're going to have any of your own."

That shook Celes out of her stupor. She managed to actually point at the bundle. "Who said I even wanted to be a bloody mother?!"

"Bah. Police Girl, you overreact." Alucard shook his head sadly. "Besides, if you find it not to your liking, you don't really have anything to worry about. After eighteen years, he'll be grown up and wander off on his own."

"That's eighteen years!"

"A blink of the eye for one who lives forever," Alucard pointed out.

"If raising the little bugger is over so quickly, why aren't you doing it then?" Celes snapped.

Alucard took a step back and held his free arm out to his side, essentially showing Celes what he had to offer. "I don't believe parenthood would suit me or the child."

That was a fairly inarguable point. "But why me?" Celes all but pleaded.

"Because the child is unique. I do not believe he would fare as well under the care of the living as much as he would with you watching out for him. Besides, it is important someone teach him how to use his abilities as he grows, and only one of our kind can do that."

Celes stomped her foot like a petulant child, "What's that supposed to…" she trailed off as she truly looked at the baby for the first time. While to the normal eye he appeared as nothing more than a cherubic little bundle of joy whose only unusual features were alabaster skin and jet dark hair, to Celes' vampire senses there was something far different about him. He was a vampire, but alive as well. An inconceivable paradox that was giggling before her eyes.

"How… what is he?" Celes asked.

Alucard looked down on him in pride. "The term is a Dunpeal; a child of both the day and the night. One of the few that can move freely in both worlds while truly belonging to neither. He will have the abilities of both races, and none of the limitations. He will be both very blessed and very cursed."

"But vampires can't have offspring! Not living ones!" Celes exclaimed, then looked at the bundle in his arms. "Can they?"

Alucard shook his head. "Only those whose existence has always been that of the undead can accomplish such, and even then, only with a willing mortal."

"Willing mortal? You mean?" Celes looked toward the doorframe, and felt a stab of jealousy and envy. She then reconsidered what it was she was feeling jealous over and quickly quashed the emotion. There were some lines she would just as soon not cross over with Alucard, Master or not.

Alucard waited until Celes calmed once more. "As I said, Police Girl, this is your only true chance at motherhood. I recommend you make the most of it." He offered her the baby.

Celes held out her arms, started to pull them back when Alucard moved the baby forward, then extended them fully. Once the child was there, she nestled him against her chest. He immediately rested her head against her bosom. The fit was perfect. All her resistance seemed to melt away with the baby in her arms. He was simply adorable. A pity his father was such a pain-in-the-ass wanker. She would be certain to teach the child all about that.

Alucard seemed satisfied by her reactions. "You will not have to worry about finances or where to raise him. All of that has been taken care of. You and Walter are now executors of the Hellsing Estate and all of its holdings. When the child comes of age, all will belong to him, so do take care of his inheritance."

"His inheritance, but what about…?" Celes' eyes drifted toward the doorframe.

Alucard smiled again, and for just a moment, Celes thought there was more warmth than mirth in it. "My Lady Integra will be traveling with me, and no longer has need of such… material things."

Alucard looked up at the ceiling, though it was more like he was staring through it. "Time grows short. There is much to do. Much to take care of." He placed his sunglasses back on his face, and stared at Celes through amber lenses. "I do not believe we will meet again, Police Girl. The nature of my work will take us far away from here and we will be gone for a very long time." He bowed and all but glided toward the door.

Celes looked down at the bundle in her arms, and found herself overcome with the urge to babble meaninglessly at it. Just as she was about to, she turned away and shouted, "Wait!"

Alucard turned, staring at her curiously. "Having second thoughts?"

"No, Master," Celes said. "It's just you haven't told me the baby's name."

"Ah, yes, I had forgotten." Alucard said. "His life will be complicated enough, so I gave him a simple name.

"He is known as 'D'."

Author's notes: Well, it's a fun idea, and gave me an excuse to write something Hellsing-oriented that was still short… and to touch on a little Vampire Hunter D-type stuff by making a tenuous connection between the two series. Dracula was D's father, after all. Although I still personally feel Alucard wouldn't do something so obvious, and is actually Count Yorga in disguise. ^_^

Thanks for reading.

DB Sommer

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Last revision: May 21, 2007