As I'm posting this twenty-chapter work in weekly
five chapter chunks, the disclaimer and all the legal stuff is
with the first post.

As I mention in all the chapters sent there are problems
with my ISP and my computer so one or two may not be
able to arrive. And since I'll be going back to the hospital
I'll be gone a week. So, please wait. I promise I won't die
of SARS before I finish posting everything.

C&C is welcome.

Chapter 3

Dawn

    I hate this job.
    "Sergeant Victoria, I believe you've already read the recent
circular I sent out to all the departments of our organization, haven't
you?"
    Not that a blood-drinking dead girl can have a very big field of
employment.
    "Let's take a look at it, shall we?"
    I mean, well, my only other work experience is working in the
police force and not a very good experience at that. Well, I try and I
try... but they don't exactly give out promotions for trying.
    "Reduced coffee intake...hmmm...sparing use of ammunition..."
    Besides, I don't think they're taking any of my sort. I mean, a
vampire cop? Sounds like some queer little series on the telly for late
night BBC geeks.
    "Regular blood pressure checks and blood tests..."
    I'd be up in arms trying to keep my little 'habit' secret,
partnered with some curious little bleeder from Liverpool or
Birmingham. Probably try to find a cure for my little 'condition' with
a cute medical examiner down the morgue. Using my powers, if I had any,
to fight the good fight, for Queen and Country-
    "Ah... yes, here it is. 'All operations will have the standing
order of keeping itself to a low profile, i.e. limited use of high-
explosives and heavy ordinance-"
    The calm-as-a-cat-strung-tight-over-a-roasting-pit voice of her
superior and her line of thought stopped in mid-sentence as they both
noticed Ceres was humming 'Hail Brittania' under her breath, an
affectation from her time as a member of the living. Alucard's
amusement for the moment was flooding her link with him and she could
feel his smile on her lips. The younger vampire would have glared at
him if it weren't for the fact that she was already in enough hot
water.
    Ceres noted the almost imperceptible tightening of Dame Integra's
eyes and knew what was coming. She thanked her vampiric senses for the
second's warning and, using a little trick she learned in police
academy, tuned everything out as Integra slammed her hand down on the
heavy oak table with a resounding smack and the last Helsing opened the
dam gates.

    "-I bloody said 'low profile' and I bloody well meant 'low
profile'!! And what did you do?! Fire off a high explosive anti-tank
round in the middle of city!! How is _that_ low profile!? Two words.
Two simple words. Low. Profile. Two words used in conjunction to bring
about a particular meaning. Low profile. Are we even speaking
language?! I believe it's called English. English, isn't it?! You know
English, don't you?! They still teach that in all the public schools, I
believe. So what, in heaven's name, made you go and decide that using
what is technically an anti-tank weapon in city limits and letting a
building blown up by incendiary charges were within purview of my
express orders!?!?!"
    Five minutes of watching Dame Integra not breathe as she delivered
her machine-gun artillery barrage, once a sight that had made her gape
in awe while flinching in terror, was something she was starting to get
used to.
    Ceres almost smirked. Alucard was a terribly bad influence after
all.
    Integra's laser stare jerked her back into reality.
    "I am waiting for an answer, Sergeant."
    "Reflex, sir," Ceres responded in the military manner, using the
masculine address. Well, there's another thing to put on my job
application sheet: period of employment in a covert paramilitary
organization.
    "Reflex?" Integra had composed herself back into her stiffly
relaxed pose in her high-backed seat. An arched eyebrow above steepled
hands. "Ah, yes. The reach-for-the-big-gun reflex that seems to plague
the vampiric members of our organization."
    The sardonic tone of her voice accompanied the shift of her
attention. "And what were you doing while all this was occuring,
Alucard."
    Out of the corner of her eye, Ceres felt and saw her Master uncoil
from his amused stupor like a snake. His relaxed stance and wide grin
radiated that strange aura of menacing power mixed with bon homme good
humor. His response was couched in his customary drawling tease.
    "Observing, master. Letting my fledgeling deal with the problem."
    "And?"
    "She handled it well."
    "Handled herself well, did she?" Ceres, hearing the slight edge
that always managed to creep into Integra's voice whenever she had a
talk with her vampiric charge, had the idle thought about discussing
with Walter about switching Dame Helsing to decaf. The thought was
suddenly grabbed and disappeared out of her mind.
    Alucard snickered and winked at her. Integra's razor voice sliced
the air once again.
    "How about this report of another vampire on the scene?"
    Alucard's smile became as sharp as a sword.
    "Not just a vampire, master. A No-Life King and a true elder. He
saw Rome burn."
    Ceres shivered. The shadowy vampire that she had encountered was
that old? She remembered the burning eyes and the cold touch of gun-
metal on her forehead. But most of all, she remembered the laugh, the
mad cackling that had heralded the elder's flight from the building. It
was terrifying and majestic at the same time, a sight that matched any
of her Master's feats. To have at least survived an encounter with that
being, even though it seemed the creature was helping her...
     Integra had narrowed her eyes and was in deep thought. Looking up
she asked Alucard her question point-blank.
    "Then why did you not fight? I would think that if the vampire you
encountered was that powerful, I'd assume that you'd be the first to
jump into the fight."
    Alucard had that look again. Ceres had seen that look every time
her master was about to play a trump card. Usually the sort of trump
card that hurt a lot. His red eyes seemed to burn like the fires of
hell behind his orange-tinted glasses when he answered
     "Cromwell's Pact was invoked. The elder did not wish a fight with
one of the vampires of the Night Guard."
    At the mention of 'Cromwell's Pact', Ceres watched Integra's face
harden. Silence reigned in the room for several minutes. Ceres could
hear the gritting of teeth as the last Helsing leaned back into her
chair, the smooth sliding of cloth against leather bringing a strange
counterpoint to the sound of clashing molars and canines.
    "Victoria. You can leave now. Me and Alcucard have to discuss
something."
    Ceres could only blink as her senses returned to normal. Focusing
her attention on a particular person always had that effect of
enhancing her senses concerning that individual. Rather distracting in
a way.
    "Victoria." Dame Helsing's voice was a sharp stab.
    "Yes, sir."
    She saluted and executed a sharp about-face. Her heavy steps made
no sound as she walked out of the room, a peculiar contradiction that
reminded her of her vampiric condition. As the door closed behind her,
she was awfully tempted to listen in on the two, her curiosity piqued.
She leaned in-
    Wait for me at your secret place at dawn.
    The thought jarred her, no matter how smooth its entrance. Master
had wanted to meet with her at her secret place at dawn? When did he
tell her that?
    Now, be a good girl and have a little drink.
    Ceres blinked. She suddenly had an awful thirst, even though she
had consumed her blood allowance that night already. Hmmm... must be
because I'm a growing girl. Growing dead girl. Do vampires grow? Her
stomach churned and her fangs itched, a peculiarly ridiculous sensation
she always felt when she was thirsty. Maybe she could cadge a drink off
Walter, maybe a few pints or so of the red stuff.
    With that thought, Ceres Victoria walked down to the kitchen,
looking for a drink, foretting anything about listening in to the
conversation in the office.

    As the red streaks in the sky appeared, phenomenon unseen to the
mortal eye, she put on her sunglasses.
    They were a pair of Ray-bans that were obviously meant for a man,
the blockish design she had once noted as unflattering on her face.
Ceres just sighed. Not as if I wear them to look good.
    She didn't even get hurt by sunlight, her skin not even curling up
and burning like in all those movies. Walter had told her that his
initial warning about sunlight was because of the transition period
between her living and unliving states. She would have been a bonfire
if she had gone out in her first few months, but now her body was
totally dead and the butler had mentioned to her she could stand the
light of day again.
    That was the day she found this place.
    A forgotten tower in the east wing, when Ceres had first entered it
layers of dust where in residence, it afforded her a perfect vantage
point for the sun's rise. She opened a window and waited for sun to
come.
    And almost had her eyes burned out.
    Walter had calmly explained to her as he poured blood into her
burning optics that her eyes were still too fragile for a head-on
encounter with sunlight and rebuking her lightly that she should have
told her she wanted a look at the sun. He would have bought her a pair
of sunglasses if she had only told her, he said in his gravelly voice.
A thing which he did, that very day.
     Ceres had this sneaking suspicion that she hadn't told her on
purpose, but she couldn't think ill of anyone and let it go. Alucard
had only laughed when he heard of her experience.
    "Walter is a rough taskmaster in his own way, policegirl," the
elder vampire said in between chuckles. "Be careful about him and watch
him. You'll learn all you'll ever need to survive."
    Ceres took her master's advice and soon she saw all the little
things that Walter did to inconvenience her. Things that she could
easily remedy and do herself. Which she did. The cadaverous butler only
smiled at her actions, winked at her and said a sentence that she would
treasure for the rest of her unlife.
    "Alucard chose well, it seems."
    Ceres smiled at the memory, while touching her sunglasses.
    "Memories, Ceres, are important for humans. For us, they are not."
    Her Master's voice echoed in the room, seemingly coming from
everywhere at once. She turned around and watched him ooze out of the
floor with the shadows. He seemed to be hiding something in his coat.
It seemed to be wriggling a bit, her Master's iron strength not enough
it seemed to completely subdue whatever it was under the folds of red
pseudo-cloth that made up the elder vampire's trenchcoat..
    She ignored it as she gazed up at her Master's eyes. They were the
same lambent red as always, the twinkle of amusement that was always
present giving them an eerie air.
    Ceres just stared at Alucard, almost as if on the verge of saying
something, then shook her head. She returned her gaze to the slender
crimson fingers of approaching daylight.
    Master always told her things that she wasn't supposed to do, but
never actually enforced any of them, sometimes actually praising her
for doing something she was not supposed to do. It was as if he was
rewarding her for breaking the rules that he set out for her.
    "Already learning, I see."
    Ceres blinked at the elder vampire's statement as her Master
stepped forward to stand beside her, pulling his hand out from
underneath his coat.
    "I'm pleased. Here. Have a bunny."
    "Er..."
    Her Master was currently holding what was a perfectly healthy
specimen of species Lepus. Shiny brown-gray fur covered a sleek, svelte
body. Beady black eyes looked back at her as one long ear flopped
rakishly across its snouted face.
    To put it mildly, Ceres was surprised.
    "Take it, Ceres. It's a ... gift." There was a strange lilt he gave
to the word 'gift' that made his fledgeling nervous.
     Wide-eyed, Ceres slowly raised her hands and took the rabbit from
her Master's hands. The black glass eyes gaze at her face as the snout
twitched convulsively. It was so cute!
    The Master was giving her something! He was pleased! He was being
nice to her!
    "Master...I-I don't know what to say! This- this is just-"
    Her act of thanks was interrupted by her Master baring a fanged
smile. His feeding smile.
    "Well, he's not exactly a gift, actually. More like a snack, don't
you think?"
    Ceres blinked. This was getting weird.
    "Master, I've already drank twice my blood allowance for the night.
I can't-"
    There was dark humor in Alucard's red eyes as he interrupted her
once again.
      "But you're feeling thirsty again aren't you?" The voice was
smooth as silk and the question seemed to hang in the air for a few
moments, caressing her ear before finally being wafted away by an
unfelt wind.
    "I don't-" Her fangs started to itch. Stupid teeth.
    "You're thirsty aren't you? How about a little drink, then?"
    "I-" Her stomach churned and she could feel the thirst rising.
Ceres could hear the thumping heartbeat of the rabbit as she held it in
her hands. She really was thirsty and it isn't as if it was
human...Besides, Alucard brought it for her personally...
    Ceres bared her fangs and leaned down, ready for a bite when her
Master once again interrupted her.
    "By the way, his name's George."
    Pausing in mid-bite, Ceres blinked again. She mildly noted that she
doing that a bit too frequently for the past few months. Closing her
mouth, she gave her elder a suspicious look.
    "George?" An unspoken question hinged after that statement. Rather,
several unspoken questions.
    "Yes, George. Ginny loves him very much and will probably cry her
eyes out when she finds him missing."
    "Ginny?" This was just getting better and better.
    "Yes. Ginny." Her Master's smile was only getting wider and wider.
    "Who's Ginny, Master?"
    "Hmmm... Ginny Weasel? Whistler? Weasley? I forget. I wasn't
exactly paying attention to names when I was looking for little George
here."
    "But you remembered _his_ name?"
    "There was a name tag. Threw it away afterwards. Aren't you
thirsty?"
    Her throat burned at the mention about her thirst. Why does he keep
on reminding me?
    "I can't just kill George!"
    "Why?" He honestly doesn't know!
    "Somebody owns him! Somebody loves him!"
    "You mean its perfectly all right to kill someone as long as no one
loves them?"
    "I- Why did you have to tell me all this! You could have just let
me drink!"
    "But, this is a lesson, my dear."
    "What lesson?"
    "People have names. People love them. This rabbit essentially is no
different than any mortal human being. An animal who eats and fucks and
has living blood in his veins. So, what's stopping you?"
    What's stopping you, Ceres? You're suppossed to be a bloodthirsty
monster. Just dig in and suck little George dry.
    Come on.
    You can do it.
    Just a bit of a sip and Georgie won't even feel a thing. I mean,
you didn't feel a thing when the Master sucked you dry. You enjoyed it.
You keep on dreaming about it during those cold, lonely nights in your
coffin.
     Yes, little Ginny will cry, but after a few weeks Georgie-boy here
will be forgotten for the next little cute thing. That's the way the
world works. We get born. We live. We die and are forgotten.
    But _we_ don't die, little Ceres, my sweet little bride. We're
better than this shit-makers and worm-fodder. You're better than
George. You deserve this. It's your right.
    So, go ahead.
    Take a little drink.
    "Get out of my head!" Ceres screamed at her Master's face,
forgetting herself. Seconds afterward, she cringed, waiting for her
Master to get angry.
    "Hmmm?" Alucard's face only showed amusement.
    "I- I won't do it." Her throat was burning and she felt her tongue
go dry and her itching fangs were driving her crazy.
    "Really?"
    "Really." She was gritting her teeth and was carefully trying not
to clench her fist so as not to squeeze George like a toothpaste tube.
She closed her eyes to avoid looking at the fleshy bag of blood in her
hands, its heart beating a rythmic into her arms.
    "Well, if that's what you want."
    Ceres' fangs stopped itching. Her thirst was gone. She opened her
eyes and stared at George, who was blinking his glassy eyes at her,
unaware of how close he had been to his doom.
    "So, it seems you've decided to pick up a pet, Ceres."
    Ceres sighed and she only kept herself silent as she composed
herself while her Master continued.
    "This is totally disappointing, you know. Well, not totally. But,
disappointing nonetheless. If you were so worried about killing the
little thing, why don't you just turn him after you killed him? I would
think Ginny would be quite pleased that her pet would outlive her by
several centuries."
    Yes. A vampire rabbit. Just imagine all the fun of that! The wacky
hi-jinks, the hunt for a three-foot long blood-drinking mammal through
the green hills and meados of the English countryside and, of course,
the large body count.
    Just what England needs: another reason for Integra to shout at me.
    "Master, I'm really tired and the sun's about to rise. I'll think
about what to do with George later."
    Alucard nodded with a smile and turned to the rising sun. Still
just below the horizon, to vampiric eyes it was as if a thousand
rainbows had been unleashed in the still-dark sky.
    "By the way, we're still not finished for tonight. I still have one
little gift."
    Ceres suppressed a groan.
    "Now, now, little Ceres. It concerns you little streak of
curiosity. I felt you interest earlier in what I mentioned to our
beloved Lady. You can ask me one question about it."
    "Why?" Her Master was acting weird again. Well, weirder than usual.
Usually, I have to face every abomination, hellish entity and
catastrophic situation blind. The sudden volunteering of information
was suspicious, to say the least.
    "My sense of the perverse."
    "Oh." Well, that was another vague explanation.
    "Your question, my dear?"
    Ceres furrowed her brows. What to ask? About the 'Cromwell's Pact'
thing? Or maybe about the elder? There were a dozen things she could
ask about.
    No, not those. She knew what to ask about.
    "Master, what is the Night Guard?"
    Alucard smiled wide. "You are very sharp, Ceres."
    "Just answer the qeustion, Master."
    "Very well. The Night Guard is the name of an organization. The
full name is 'Her Elite and Loyal Legion of Supernatural and Immortal
Night Guards'."
    Ceres blinked. She had a talent for word puzzles when she was
younger and it had remained with her for the rest of her life.
    "But that's-"
    "Yes. H. E. L. L. S. I. N. G. Beautiful name, don't you think?"
    "But, I thought that it was named after Lady Helsing's family?"
    "There's only one 'L' in Helsing, Ceres. If you wish to learn more,
better ask the historian."
    "Who?"
    "Walter, of course. He is probably the most knowledgeable person to
ask about Hellsing's dark past, other than me. Ask him when you two
spar the next time, won't you? Tell him I sent you looking for answers
and I call in my favor. Now, hush, the sun's rising."
    Ceres turned to the east and saw the faint glimmerings of the solar
explosion that had burned her eyes out the first time she gazed on it
full on. She heard the clasping of glass frames and turned to see her
Master without his sunglasses.
    "Master! You'll-"
    "Hush! I am too old to have my eyes burned out." Alucard smiled at
her. "One day, my dear, you will be able to do this, too."
    He was smiling as the sun rose and Ceres just ignored him and
turned her attention to the cosmic fireworks display that was about to
start.
    She didn't know why, probably her Master knew, but to a vampire's
eyes sunrise is one of the most beautiful things in all of creation,
matched only by sunset.
    When she was little, her Dad had rented a video of a Disney movie.
It was called 'Fantasia'. It was just like that. Some strange musical
symphony that could only be heard by the eyes. Panoplies of colors, the
hues of the rainbow dancing to a tune that seemed to beat in time with
her heart. It had burned her eyes out the first time with its searing
magnificence and even now, her eyes hurt behind the dark sunglasses.
Her reverie was interrupted by her Master.
    "You know, I may not like the bastard. But He sure makes a
beautiful sunrise."
    Ceres could only nod. And as it rose, Ceres could only use simple
words to convey the magnificence of it all.
    The sun was bright and beautiful.

*************************************************

            DANCES SET TO THE MUSIC OF TIME
                       An Epic History of Humanity
                          From The Age of Silver
                           To The Age of Crystal
                                 And Beyond

         http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

                 Other fanfiction by the same author:
          http://rakhal.com/florestica/elsa-bibat/index.html

                  Kindly archived by Larry F and
                   The Lost Library of Florestica:
                    http://rakhal.com/florestica/
*************************************************



             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'