Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ ANNIVERSARY ❯ ANNIVERSARY ( One-Shot )

AN: This is my first every Hellsing fanfiction, a little nod to the AxI pairing, which I just can't enough of. And the big, bad old disclaimer applies - I don't own Hellsing or these characters, as much as I love them. Also, this fic does contain lemon, so kiddies, this isn't for you.

Thanks so much for reading!

ANNIVERSARY

By Stella

"I told you before, the choice is yours."

His wicked grin taunted her; pristine, white fangs dripped red from the gash he'd torn just under his palm.

"Will you drink now, my Master?" Alucard held up the injured wrist and she watched blood fall in heavy droplets that never seemed to hit the ground. Integra couldn't move. A fog closed in around her and all she could see was the blood - the symbol of what he was offering, and the reality. She kept her jaw fixed in a set expression and tried to find some point beyond him, but he was there, too.

The wound lingered mere inches from her face, and her glasses fell away. He began to circle her like a like a panther slinking and taunting its prey. "Will you continue to live in human frailty? Your body is fragile, even if your will is strong. There will come a day when you will grow weak. When you will die."

"I cannot die until my work is done. Until I've finished the mission of the Hellsing family. I will not die." She crossed her arms over her chest and let him continue prowling. The more rigid her stance became, the more it seemed to amuse him. His fiery eyes burned in the stillness

"But by dying, you can live forever… What is the alternative? Will you climb into bed with some sniveling fool and create the next Sir Hellsing?"

Her mind turned the words over, twisting and untwisting them, knowing that he was enjoying this. She glared at the vampire. "And if I do, you will serve them, also. Do you never tire of this game of yours?"

The fangs seemed to lengthen as his mouth receded into a wide smirk. He drew closer until the icy chill of his breath tickled her neck.

"Your words are not true to your thoughts. What is your desire, my Master? You don't really have to tell me. I already know."

She felt the warmth touch her lips now, one drop, then another, until the red flooded over her chin and trickled onto the white of her shirt. Her chest felt heavy, as though all the air was wrenched from her lungs until she had to open her mouth to breathe… To drink. His low voice urged her to go on.

"Yesssss, my Master."

Slowly, her lips parted…

Integra flicked her eyes open, snapping herself out of the dream. His airy laughter floated through the office, darting from one corner to the other like a strange, preternatural echo.

"Stop it, Alucard."

A dull, grey glow from the moonless London night pushed through the vast windows behind her desk, providing little illumination while she squinted at the shadows. Smoke wisped up from a discarded cigar smoldering in the ashtray, and she fumbled over the surface of her desk, groping for the glasses that seemed to have disappeared when she nodded off into her paperwork. She found the cracked frames, half-filled with shattered glass.

"Damn it." The sharp edge of a broken lens sliced into her palm and she shot up from her chair. "I should not have fallen asleep. It is not acceptable to let myself-"

Soft, haunting chuckles continued to swirl about the room. They grew steadily louder until he finally melted through the wall.

"You should take more care, Miss Hellsing. It's not at all like you to be…" Gleaming eyes locked on the blood soaking into her shirtsleeve. "…so reckless."

Integra wrapped a handkerchief around the wound and scowled as the vampire's silhouette stretched over her. "Is there something further you wish to discuss this evening, Alucard? Since it appears I am not even able to sleep without your interference."

He disappeared, and in an instant, materialized by her side. His lip curled upwards and he leered at her over his dark lenses. "Is there really anything left to discuss?"

"If you have business with me, I prefer to at least be awake."

"It was a rare opportunity. You don't dream very often."

Integra picked up the remnants of the cigar on her desk. "That is because I don't sleep very often."

"And I do so love these little chats of ours."

She ignored his last statement and turned to stare out into the mottled, blurry landscape that spread out around the Hellsing grounds. Integra blinked at the distortions, wondering if she still had the extra set of spectacles in her desk drawer. It immediately slid open and closed. His white-gloved hand held them out and offered the glinting lenses to her.

"Thank you, Alucard." Her reflection glimmered in the glass while she adjusted the frames on her face. They stood together for untold minutes in comfortable silence while the hazy night covered everything in shadows. She scanned the newly focused view. Street lights burned steadily; the sky was dark, but peaceful. Not a soul walked the streets. No movement. No sirens. No hurried footsteps, troops, or ringing phones. The first noise reached them when, across the distance, Big Ben chimed the hour. Midnight.

Alucard's voice drowned out the methodical sounds. "Do you know what tonight is?"

"Uncommonly quiet." She nodded at the last toll. "Though perhaps I shouldn't speak too soon."

He snorted. "That may be true. But not what I was getting at."

Integra raised an eyebrow and slanted a gaze towards her lone companion.

"Yes, I'm well aware of the date, if that's what you mean" she said, and moved to extinguish the charred nub in an ashtray. "But it's not your nature to wallow in sentimentality. Nor is it mine."

He walked away to pace the length of the office, and stopped at the portrait of her father. "That's simply because there are very few things worth remembering. But tonight… was the night ten years ago when you freed me. When I… first tasted your-"

"What are you asking for?"

Alucard floated over to meet her, and sank to one knee.

"I have no right to ask for anything from my Master. Nothing has changed, at least in that regard, from that very first time I saw you."

She lit a new cigar, wincing slightly when her injured hand clicked the lighter. Blood bubbled up from the wound once again; his eyes flashed hungrily at the sight.

"You saved my life that night, and many nights since. It may not always seem so, but I have never forgotten."

Integra softened her stern expression and raised her hand. The vampire opened his mouth to catch the hot, precious liquid.

"Consider it an anniversary gift."

The dark rain fell onto his waiting tongue and over his lips. His mouth moved closer, threatening to join her skin. Her arm strained towards him, as if he were willing the bleeding limb to float down to meet him. With the exception of their brief contact on that very first night, in the ten years since, Integra had never allowed Alucard to touch her. It was too dangerous. Even if he was only her servant, he was still a vampire, and a powerful one at that. She couldn't risk falling under his spell.

"Why do you worry? I can only do my Master's will. Though you know as well as I that true will can be buried deep inside the heart and mind. Most humans rarely know their own thoughts. I find it quite annoying."

The flow of blood ceased and he turned away, floating to his feet and lapping at the remainder of his prize. "And what would you like in return?"

Integra picked up her jacket and strode in the direction of the tall oak doors.

"You've read my thoughts and dreams over the years, Alucard. You tell me." She disappeared into the hall and walked the familiar path to her quarters. His voice followed and wormed its way into her ear.

"I will do as you command, my Lord Hellsing."

* * * * *

Integra fought the urge to close her eyes. The more she dwelled on his words from the dream, the more she resisted plunging into the void of sleep once again. It certainly was not the first time he'd asked her to drink his blood. And at the times when her thoughts drifted to the idea, she felt like a traitor to the very name she bore. The noble Hellsing blood had been preserved through the centuries, shed for only one purpose. Even her father… His time as the head of the organization seemed so long ago. There were not artificial vampires in those days.

If the enemy has evolved, did not the ones who fight them have to evolve as well? There was one she knew would fight by her side for all eternity. One she could trust. The only one she truly--

Integra shook her head. These ideas had crossed her mind more than once. And her servant knew it. When she was awake, she could veil her mind from Alucard if she felt the need. When she slept, he was free to delve into its darkest recesses. What did he do with the things he found? Passing thoughts that she little remembered; memories she herself could not call to the surface; thoughts she would never say out loud…

"I have nothing to hide," she called out to the darkness. Unconsciousness answered and embraced her into its silent folds. As she teetered on the brink of sleep, a simple phrase chased her into the chasm.

"There is nothing you can hide."

Night still clung to the bedroom when Integra opened her eyes again. How ever long she had slept, she could not say, but it had been a deep, thankfully dreamless, sleep. Perhaps that had been his gift. Peaceful rest. She sank back into the mound of pillows and closed her eyes once more.

The clock chimed again, ringing in another hour.

"I must give you my gift before the sun rises."

She sat up; her eyes searched for him in the shadows.

"A few quiet hours were gift enough. I would ask for nothing else."

His image flared before her like a streak of lightening, then dissipated as quickly as it came.

"Drinking your blood is the greatest pleasure I have ever known. There is no equivalent; nothing I can give you will ever match it, as long as you are human. However, you told me to find what you desired. But, Master. You don't need to ask. I am already yours."

"Alucard?" Integra threw back the covers and began to stand, but an unseen force gently thrust her back onto the mattress.

"Shhhhhhh…"

Buttons launched themselves from her nightshirt, bouncing off of the bed and skittering across the tile one after the other. Their echoes faded and she caught her breath amid the sounds of tearing fabric.

"Alu... card?"

As if in reply, a chill raced across her newly exposed skin. The gust brought with it a chorus of bodiless whispers that ruminated inside her head. It was a strange language, though one not completely unknown to her. The thick murmur of an old tongue; she had read it in the dusty texts molding in the family library. But it was the same voice speaking, one that had spoken to her as a child. In her dreams it had guided her beyond the nightmares of a lonely little girl. Now it washed over her body, caressing every inch with its feathery trace. Integra knew the voice. It was his.

"What are you doing, Alucard?"

The air around her hissed, and invisible hands grazed the line of her jaw, tracing patterns across her bared skin, over and under the thin material that remained in place. Thousands of phantom fingertips gently stroked her tawny skin. A soft moan escaped her lips; her eyes slid shut when the intensity of the sensation heightened. It roved over her breasts and raced up the length of her legs. It seared her inner thigh and culminated as a burst of heat in the center of her body. The Lord and Master of the Hellsing Organization stifled a cry and sat up, breathless. She reached out into the haunted air and finally found the solidity she craved.

He caught her under the arms and crushed her to him. Even without her glasses, Integra could see him perfectly in the dim light. Alucard. Contact… He was… holding her. She didn't feel possessed, or detached or anything like the old myths had described, but aware of every sensation, even the faint pulse that raced in the body next to hers.

He looked just like a man, though what else might she have expected? His skin was softer to the touch, warmer than she would have imagined it, though something about its texture seemed less pliant and harder than any other's. Long fingers moved up and down her sides and over her arms until she sat apart from him, studying his unclothed form. Dark, ruffled hair obscured his eyes; Integra let her fingers travel up to explore the rest of him. The sharp cheekbones, the broad, bare chest and lanky limbs. He moved in and settled on top of her, easing into the cushions of her bed.

"You forget, sometimes as well as I do. Even if I am loathe to admit it. I was a man once," he whispered, touching her neck lightly with his lips. If she wanted to utter any word of protest, none could escape. Integra's mouth opened but her voice wouldn't sound. Her mind had already lost the words she wanted to speak.

He teased and nipped at her parted lips then ran his lithe, vampire tongue across them. Integra threaded her fingers into his coal black hair as he traveled downward, clearing away the remnants of the nightshirt and moving from one breast to the other. The tips of his fangs brushed the sensitive skin of a taut nipple and she shivered beneath him. She pushed him away from her chest, urging him to move on. Alucard's tongue danced circles over her bare flesh, pausing at the curve of her hip while his hands guided her legs around his shoulders.

Integra's mind swam in the sea sensations when he tasted her, testing her first with his long, slender fingers, and then his mouth. She clutched fistfuls of the crisp, white sheets, biting into the fabric to stay her screams.

The vampire reared back, wearing the self-satisfied smirk she'd grown accustomed to. He made his way back up to her neck and toyed with the strands of her long blond hair before tugging violently, licking his fangs and examining her bare throat. Her wide eyes met his.

"A man once…"

Alucard relaxed his grip, and guided her hand along his abdomen. She found his hardened length and he gnashed his teeth as she ran a finger over the tip. More gently than she had expected, he settled himself inside her, taking so long that her impatient hips rose to meet him.

His mouth moved against hers in time with their bodies, slow and soft at first, then relentless and frenzied. His hands seemed to touch her everywhere at once; the whispers returned, but grew steadily louder, begging her to cry out in chorus with them.

Her wounded hand fell against his cheek, leaving a streak of red over his skin. His tongue darted out and caught the blood that erupted from the cut. His pace became more frantic with every draught of her blood until her world seemed to explode in a burst of white, hot light. She screamed into his ear, feeling the same wicked grin spread out under her bleeding hand.

Integra gasped and pushed the hair away from her face. The gash on her hand dripped blood against her lips and Alucard bent down, covering her mouth with his.

Time passed. The clock rang out again and again and Integra closed her eyes, floating back into the same dreamless sleep.

She awoke when he shifted beside her. A slight golden hue was fading into the ashen grey outside.

"Alucard, the dawn…"

The vampire held her body close to his, an unspoken question echoed once again in her mind and he smiled. "It's your choice. I can only do my Master's will." Alucard bit into his wrist, holding it up in front of her reddened mouth.

"I can't help it if it happens to be the same as mine."