Hellsing Fan Fiction ❯ Fare ❯ You Never Said That This Would Be Easy, So Go On Live . . . ( Chapter 25 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Artemis_Vampiress 
The end of this fic, info about the next!! REVIEW PLEEEASE!!
Anime/Manga: Hellsing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Horror / Action | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 06.27.2009 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 434 | Status: Completed
The end of this fic, info about the next!! REVIEW PLEEEASE!!
Anime/Manga: Hellsing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Horror / Action | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 06.27.2009 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 434 | Status: Completed
Author's Note: This is the last chapter!! ENJOY! Info about my next fic at the end of the chapter.
“She's gone,” Deyavi whispered.
Staring at the pile of ashes, she fell to her knees, numb with disbelief. Gavril knelt beside her.
Deyavi turned her head to look at him, tears in her eyes, and he placed his cheek against her shoulder.
“It's over,” he replied quietly.
Alucard stood staring at the altar for a long time.
Finally, Deyavi rose and turned to him.
“He didn't tell you everything you needed to know,” Deyavi said, “Did he?”
Alucard shook his head, not looking at her.
“You're stuck at halfway, my Prince. You've got her soul, but no body,” she said, taking a step up towards the altar, “The method that Amelia used to rebuild Mikhail's body died with her.”
“Yes,” he replied, their eyes meeting, “but you know a way, don't you?”
Deyavi nodded, smiling sadly.
* * * * * * *
Alucard had left them alone for a time.
“I'm ready, my heart,” Gavril whispered in response to her expression, “We have done what we were sent to do. I am at peace.”
Deyavi rested her head against his chest, safe in the cradle of his arms.
“It's my fault.”
They saw the transparent, shimmering form of Mikhail sitting atop the altar, looking down at them sadly.
“You could not have known,” Deyavi told him softly, “it was not your fault she lost the baby.”
“A child that should never have been conceived. If I had not remained at her side . . .”
Gavril happened to agree, but said nothing.
“No one could have predicted that the miscarriage would drive her to this,” Deyavi replied, shaking her head.
“It doesn't change anything. I knew it was not . . . that she was not my true mate. I stayed with her, and because I stayed, the isolation grew and took her to the edge of madness.”
“She didn't care that you were not her true mate, Mikhail. She wanted you. Do you really think she would have let you walk away? I have known her since childhood, Brother. I know her flaws as I know my own.”
Mikhail's ghostly form sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Because of this . . . so many lives. Yours. And the Prince's mate . . .” he reflected, “Our parents charged me with your care, and instead, I became the cause of all this death, including yours.”
Deyavi shrugged.
“We have the chance to remedy it now,” she said.
Mikhail's gaze held infinite sorrow as he looked at her.
“You have so much living left to do. You're so willing to give it all up . . . you're too good.”
“No, Brother. Our time was up the moment Amelia took her last breath,” Gavril replied, smiling, “It's our Prince who has so much left to do in this world.”
Mikhail grinned crookedly and ghosted down to where they sat, and pressed his lips to Deyavi's forehead.
“I'll be waiting.”
* * * * * * *
Alucard turned at the sound of his name and returned to the Chamber. Deyavi sat atop the altar, holding Gavril's hands in hers. He walked cautiously up the stairs.
“You aren't leaving us so soon, are you?”
The three vampires followed the sound of Malakai's voice to where he stood at the entrance.
Deyavi smiled crookedly, “It's that time. There's someone waiting to be set free, and it's rude to make her wait too long.”
Malakai nodded and stepped back to lean against a wall.
“You'll make a great welcoming committee,” Alucard grinned at him, and Malakai stuck his tongue out at the dark-haired vampire.
Deyavi shook her head, still smiling, “My Prince, let's begin.”
Alucard turned back to them and Deyavi took his hands.
“You'll have to forgive me for this,” she said wryly, and pressed her mouth to his.
Immediately Alucard felt Victoria's unresponsive presence within him being drawn out.
Deyavi released him and then Gavril, slicing his fingers, began to paint her skin with strange symbols.
When Gavril had finished this he opened the collar of his shirt and exposed his throat to Alucard.
“Blood of my blood,” he whispered to Deyavi, “I give of myself. I give freely that this No-Life King should be whole. Do I have your consent?”
“You have my consent and my blessing.”
Alucard pulled Gavril's neck to his mouth and bit deeply. He drank until Gavril pushed at his chest and them released him.
“Soul of my soul,” Deyavi said to Gavril,” I give of myself. I give freely that this No-Life King should be whole. Do I have your consent?”
“You have my consent and my blessing.”
Deyavi took Alucard's hand.
“You must reach in and take hold of my heart,” she told him, “And you must drink my lifeblood.”
He plunged his hand into her chest and pulled her living heart form her body. Alucard brought the gently throbbing organ to his mouth and sank his elegantly pointed fangs into the tissue. He tasted her blood, now pure. A pained expression flitted across her face and Gavril took her hand. After a moment, Alucard gently pushed the heart back into her body and the wound closed.
Deyavi was breathless with pain for a moment.
When she finally could speak, she told him, “Repeat after me.”
Alucard nodded.
“I present the sacrifice of this blood and this heart to return to me the other half of myself.”
“I present the sacrifice of this blood and this heart to return to me the other half of myself.”
The raw scar of Alucard's bite upon Gavril's neck began to burn and smoke. Deyavi's chest wound oozed blood profusely and her eyes became a charcoal black color.
“I mold the vessel of the heart and call on the vitality of this blood to bind the soul of my lifemate to this earth as I am bound.”
“I mold the vessel of the heart and call on the vitality of this blood to bind the soul of my lifemate to this earth as I am bound.”
A ripple passed through the air, distorting Deyavi and Gavril in Alucard's vision. For a moment, Deyavi appeared to them as someone all too familiar . . .
When the distortion passed, Deyavi gritted her teeth in obvious pain as a grinding noise came from within her body.
Gavril whispered to her soothing words in an unfamiliar language, and she smiled weakly at him.
“Let the pain of death be turned back, and back, and let this living flesh become the guiding light of the lost soul. Let the lifemate of the vessel become the anchor and the fuel for the fire.”
“Let the pain of death be turned back, and back, and let this living flesh become the guiding light of the lost soul. Let the lifemate of the vessel become the anchor and the fuel for the fire.”
This time, the change was real. Deyavi's body began to shift. Blonde hairs began to grow amongst the long black strands and the dark hairs began to fall from her scalp. Her bone structure itself began to change, and soon, Alucard was looking at the very image of Victoria, her teeth clenched tightly in pain. Alucard was reminded of how he had found her in the world of the dead, and felt pity. He turned to look at where Gavril had stood and saw . . . nothing.
“Where is he?” he growled, alarmed.
Deyavi shook her head, “We must finish this.”
“I call on my dark blood to draw out the soul of my lifemate, Seras Victoria,whom I created and for who's life I am responsible. I draw her out from her sleep and into the consciousness of this vessel, willingly given.”
“I call on my dark blood to draw out the soul of my lifemate, Seras Victoria,whom I created and for who's life I am responsible. I draw her out from her sleep and into the consciousness of this vessel, willingly given.”
Deyavi smiled at him.
“I have only a moment now, my Prince. If this works, soon you will have your love, and Gavril and I will be cast into the next life as we are meant to. As we should have long ago,” she told him.
Alucard nodded.
“You are very brave,” he replied.
The formerly dark-haired vampiress gave him one last smile and then her eyes closed, and her body became limp. Alucard caught her to prevent her head from striking the stone and lowered her gently upon the altar.
* * * * * * *
Malakai cradles Lansing's head in his lap and stroked her hair as she napped upon the floor of the Chamber. It was two hours later, and still there had been no change in the body of Seras Victoria which lay still atop the altar. Integra sat cross legged on the floor, hands folded beneath her chin.
Alucard had not moved from the top stair beside the altar.
“This is taking too long,” Malakai muttered, “Something's wrong.”
Integra nodded thoughtfully as her eyes stared at nothing.
“She would not have simply left it like this. Deyavi would have told Alucard if there was anything left to be done,” Integra replied offhandedly, “We must be patient.”
Their patience was tested as hours turned to days and the days turned to a week and a half. They had not left the Chamber except to feed.
Malakai stood outside, looking up at the sky.
The moon was full and red, lighting the world in a crimson haze. It made his heart pound and his body restless.
“Come inside.”
He turned and saw Lansing standing at the upper entrance to the Chamber. Following her inside, he took her hand.
She led him up the steps to the altar.
“It is time for this soul to be wakened as the body is,” she said, and pressed her mouth to his neck, blood spilling from her lips as she pulled away.
Malakai's blood spilled down his neck and stained his shirt. Lansing bent over Victoria's body and let the blood spill from her mouth onto Victoria's face. A drop slid into Victoria's mouth.
In an instant Alucard was there.
“I felt something.”
Malakai looked at Lansing, who smiled. He gestured at Alucard.
Alucard bit deeply into his own wrist and held it over Victoria, letting his blood drip in a steady stream into her mouth.
She began to cough.
Her eyes fluttered open.
* * * * * * *
Romania was beautiful.
Malakai and Alucard stood upon the battlements of the old castle looking out into the night.
They had missed their home.
Integra was developing in her powers rather quickly since their arrival, and Lansing was completely at peace there in Malakai's ancestral home.
Victoria's healing process was coming along rather slowly, but that was all right.
It was to be expected for a vampire with no memory.
It had taken time to convince her panicked mind that they were not a threat to her . . . it had taken even longer for Alucard to win her trust.
She was afraid of him, having no recollection of all their years together.
But things were progressing nicely. She was much the same person as before, having regained much of her personality in the time they had been in Romania. But in regards to Alucard, she was still not completely comfortable, and even months after they had brought her to the ancient castle, she still slept in a separate coffin.
Something Alucard intended to change.
He watched her from his high vantage point in silence, seeing her smile happily at Lansing, whom she trusted without reservation. It would be a lie to say he wasn't slightly envious of her and Malakai for the joy and comfort they gave her.
Something she needed, and he could not provide. Not yet.
But still she responded to the call of his mind as he phased down into the lower levels of the castle, to where his coffin waited.
* * * * * * * *
Victoria heard his call, and bit her lip.
Seras Victoria . . .
He frightened her, and she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the immense darkness in his heart, the sheer dominance of his vampire soul over what little humanity remained in him. Or maybe it was the way he looked at her as if he knew every dark, secret corner of her mind.
Either way, she was reluctant to answer his call. And yet she did so.
Phasing into the dim belly of the castle, where she knew he waited, Victoria realized that she had spent the first two weeks of her stay in this part of the castle, while her body recuperated and her mind healed from the trauma of resurrection.
The only thing she remembered before that was a feeling of warmth, safety. Of being utterly and entirely whole and complete for the first time. And then being torn away from the safety into a body that was barely alive . . .
And he had cared for her then, this dark-haired vampire who knew her though she did not recognize his face.
He was waiting. Sitting on the edge of the open coffin with a thoughtful, patient expression as his eyes stared off into nowhere. When he heard her, he looked up.
“Victoria,” he said, nodding.
“Alucard,” she replied uneasily.
He stood and crossed the space between them, bending so that he was on eye level with her.
“Why are you afraid of me?”
She nearly stopped breathing because of his closeness.
Why did she feel this way? She didn't know him, though Malakai and Lansing insisted she did . . . if she was really his mate, wouldn't she remember? Especially something so important . . .
“I don't know you,” she replied shakily.
“I can prove that you do, Seras Victoria.”
Without a pause he pressed his mouth to her neck where there were scars. Scars that he had supposedly put there so long ago.
He bit deeply into her neck and she shivered as his arms moved around her, holding her close against his body.
“And I know you better than anyone else,” he whispered as he began to lick long, lazy strokes up her neck to her jaw, smearing her blood across her skin.
Her heartbeat, normally slowed into near nonexistence, began to race.
“You are mine,” he said.
And he bit down again, and she saw his memories of them. Of seeing her for the first time as a human, his memories of them being human together, of every night and day spent together over the course of nearly forty years . . .
“Why can't I remember?” she asked no one, choking back a sob as he released her.
Alucard couldn't answer because he didn't know himself. Rather than try, he slid his arms around her waist again and pressed his mouth to hers, smearing her blood across her lips.
She kissed him fiercely, angry at the world and at him.
“I have never hurt you, Seras Victoria. I never will. But you belong to me, and I will not allow you to take what is mine,” he growled, his mouth grazing her ear.
“I don't want to spend the rest of my life by myself. You're all I've got,” she whispered back.
Just like she had at the beginning . . .
I just don't want to be alone . . .
“You are not alone, Police Girl. You were never alone from the beginning.”
He kissed her again, possessively.
And she remembered.
The words reminded her of the day in his room where she had confessed all her foolish thoughts and hopes to him and found him accepting.
The kiss reminded her of the first, when he had surprised her with his response to her terrified, confused mind.
Are you ready to be mine, Seras Victoria? Forever?
The coffin was not as high-tech as the one from the manor, but they spent the day in it anyway, rejoicing in recovered memory and renewed life.
Soon after, the rumors began to spread.
Rumors of a secret organization in Britain, which hunted dangerous and evil creatures of the darkness. An organization which had been destroyed.
And rumors of a small band of vampires, roaming Europe, continuing the work of this organization with a different purpose. Vampires who protected the interests of vampires by protecting humans from the FREAK vampires, ghouls, and other strange monsters. Vampires who left an unending trail of blood in their wake, but were never found by any anti-vampire group on any continent, no matter how outrageous their activity.
These tales never really died, and so became accepted as simple truth, and remained unspoken. The night belonged to vampires, and the world was just going to have to deal with it.
Author's Note: Yes, I'm ending it here! Thanks everyone for the support, patience, and compliments! Can I get a final round of reviews, please? Also.
My next story will be a prequel to Silence is Golden, which I have yet to choose a title for. Please add me to your author alerts so you won't miss out on it when I finally start posting.
This story will follow the lives and mischief of Alucard and Malakai in the years before Alucard was captured by Hellsing. I'm very excited to write this. There won't be any romance; there will be a bit about Trinity (read Silent Night if you haven't already), and a little about the brides, but there will be no Seras because obviously, she wasn't born yet during the time this will take place. Lansing was as yet unknown to Malakai so she will not be in it either.
So again, thanks everyone for the love and support, and please everyone give one last review, ok? And add me to Author Alerts so's ya don't miss out on the next fic.
Oh, and for everyone who was wondering, FARE is Italian for "to make".
“She's gone,” Deyavi whispered.
Staring at the pile of ashes, she fell to her knees, numb with disbelief. Gavril knelt beside her.
Deyavi turned her head to look at him, tears in her eyes, and he placed his cheek against her shoulder.
“It's over,” he replied quietly.
Alucard stood staring at the altar for a long time.
Finally, Deyavi rose and turned to him.
“He didn't tell you everything you needed to know,” Deyavi said, “Did he?”
Alucard shook his head, not looking at her.
“You're stuck at halfway, my Prince. You've got her soul, but no body,” she said, taking a step up towards the altar, “The method that Amelia used to rebuild Mikhail's body died with her.”
“Yes,” he replied, their eyes meeting, “but you know a way, don't you?”
Deyavi nodded, smiling sadly.
* * * * * * *
Alucard had left them alone for a time.
“I'm ready, my heart,” Gavril whispered in response to her expression, “We have done what we were sent to do. I am at peace.”
Deyavi rested her head against his chest, safe in the cradle of his arms.
“It's my fault.”
They saw the transparent, shimmering form of Mikhail sitting atop the altar, looking down at them sadly.
“You could not have known,” Deyavi told him softly, “it was not your fault she lost the baby.”
“A child that should never have been conceived. If I had not remained at her side . . .”
Gavril happened to agree, but said nothing.
“No one could have predicted that the miscarriage would drive her to this,” Deyavi replied, shaking her head.
“It doesn't change anything. I knew it was not . . . that she was not my true mate. I stayed with her, and because I stayed, the isolation grew and took her to the edge of madness.”
“She didn't care that you were not her true mate, Mikhail. She wanted you. Do you really think she would have let you walk away? I have known her since childhood, Brother. I know her flaws as I know my own.”
Mikhail's ghostly form sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Because of this . . . so many lives. Yours. And the Prince's mate . . .” he reflected, “Our parents charged me with your care, and instead, I became the cause of all this death, including yours.”
Deyavi shrugged.
“We have the chance to remedy it now,” she said.
Mikhail's gaze held infinite sorrow as he looked at her.
“You have so much living left to do. You're so willing to give it all up . . . you're too good.”
“No, Brother. Our time was up the moment Amelia took her last breath,” Gavril replied, smiling, “It's our Prince who has so much left to do in this world.”
Mikhail grinned crookedly and ghosted down to where they sat, and pressed his lips to Deyavi's forehead.
“I'll be waiting.”
* * * * * * *
Alucard turned at the sound of his name and returned to the Chamber. Deyavi sat atop the altar, holding Gavril's hands in hers. He walked cautiously up the stairs.
“You aren't leaving us so soon, are you?”
The three vampires followed the sound of Malakai's voice to where he stood at the entrance.
Deyavi smiled crookedly, “It's that time. There's someone waiting to be set free, and it's rude to make her wait too long.”
Malakai nodded and stepped back to lean against a wall.
“You'll make a great welcoming committee,” Alucard grinned at him, and Malakai stuck his tongue out at the dark-haired vampire.
Deyavi shook her head, still smiling, “My Prince, let's begin.”
Alucard turned back to them and Deyavi took his hands.
“You'll have to forgive me for this,” she said wryly, and pressed her mouth to his.
Immediately Alucard felt Victoria's unresponsive presence within him being drawn out.
Deyavi released him and then Gavril, slicing his fingers, began to paint her skin with strange symbols.
When Gavril had finished this he opened the collar of his shirt and exposed his throat to Alucard.
“Blood of my blood,” he whispered to Deyavi, “I give of myself. I give freely that this No-Life King should be whole. Do I have your consent?”
“You have my consent and my blessing.”
Alucard pulled Gavril's neck to his mouth and bit deeply. He drank until Gavril pushed at his chest and them released him.
“Soul of my soul,” Deyavi said to Gavril,” I give of myself. I give freely that this No-Life King should be whole. Do I have your consent?”
“You have my consent and my blessing.”
Deyavi took Alucard's hand.
“You must reach in and take hold of my heart,” she told him, “And you must drink my lifeblood.”
He plunged his hand into her chest and pulled her living heart form her body. Alucard brought the gently throbbing organ to his mouth and sank his elegantly pointed fangs into the tissue. He tasted her blood, now pure. A pained expression flitted across her face and Gavril took her hand. After a moment, Alucard gently pushed the heart back into her body and the wound closed.
Deyavi was breathless with pain for a moment.
When she finally could speak, she told him, “Repeat after me.”
Alucard nodded.
“I present the sacrifice of this blood and this heart to return to me the other half of myself.”
“I present the sacrifice of this blood and this heart to return to me the other half of myself.”
The raw scar of Alucard's bite upon Gavril's neck began to burn and smoke. Deyavi's chest wound oozed blood profusely and her eyes became a charcoal black color.
“I mold the vessel of the heart and call on the vitality of this blood to bind the soul of my lifemate to this earth as I am bound.”
“I mold the vessel of the heart and call on the vitality of this blood to bind the soul of my lifemate to this earth as I am bound.”
A ripple passed through the air, distorting Deyavi and Gavril in Alucard's vision. For a moment, Deyavi appeared to them as someone all too familiar . . .
When the distortion passed, Deyavi gritted her teeth in obvious pain as a grinding noise came from within her body.
Gavril whispered to her soothing words in an unfamiliar language, and she smiled weakly at him.
“Let the pain of death be turned back, and back, and let this living flesh become the guiding light of the lost soul. Let the lifemate of the vessel become the anchor and the fuel for the fire.”
“Let the pain of death be turned back, and back, and let this living flesh become the guiding light of the lost soul. Let the lifemate of the vessel become the anchor and the fuel for the fire.”
This time, the change was real. Deyavi's body began to shift. Blonde hairs began to grow amongst the long black strands and the dark hairs began to fall from her scalp. Her bone structure itself began to change, and soon, Alucard was looking at the very image of Victoria, her teeth clenched tightly in pain. Alucard was reminded of how he had found her in the world of the dead, and felt pity. He turned to look at where Gavril had stood and saw . . . nothing.
“Where is he?” he growled, alarmed.
Deyavi shook her head, “We must finish this.”
“I call on my dark blood to draw out the soul of my lifemate, Seras Victoria,whom I created and for who's life I am responsible. I draw her out from her sleep and into the consciousness of this vessel, willingly given.”
“I call on my dark blood to draw out the soul of my lifemate, Seras Victoria,whom I created and for who's life I am responsible. I draw her out from her sleep and into the consciousness of this vessel, willingly given.”
Deyavi smiled at him.
“I have only a moment now, my Prince. If this works, soon you will have your love, and Gavril and I will be cast into the next life as we are meant to. As we should have long ago,” she told him.
Alucard nodded.
“You are very brave,” he replied.
The formerly dark-haired vampiress gave him one last smile and then her eyes closed, and her body became limp. Alucard caught her to prevent her head from striking the stone and lowered her gently upon the altar.
* * * * * * *
Malakai cradles Lansing's head in his lap and stroked her hair as she napped upon the floor of the Chamber. It was two hours later, and still there had been no change in the body of Seras Victoria which lay still atop the altar. Integra sat cross legged on the floor, hands folded beneath her chin.
Alucard had not moved from the top stair beside the altar.
“This is taking too long,” Malakai muttered, “Something's wrong.”
Integra nodded thoughtfully as her eyes stared at nothing.
“She would not have simply left it like this. Deyavi would have told Alucard if there was anything left to be done,” Integra replied offhandedly, “We must be patient.”
Their patience was tested as hours turned to days and the days turned to a week and a half. They had not left the Chamber except to feed.
Malakai stood outside, looking up at the sky.
The moon was full and red, lighting the world in a crimson haze. It made his heart pound and his body restless.
“Come inside.”
He turned and saw Lansing standing at the upper entrance to the Chamber. Following her inside, he took her hand.
She led him up the steps to the altar.
“It is time for this soul to be wakened as the body is,” she said, and pressed her mouth to his neck, blood spilling from her lips as she pulled away.
Malakai's blood spilled down his neck and stained his shirt. Lansing bent over Victoria's body and let the blood spill from her mouth onto Victoria's face. A drop slid into Victoria's mouth.
In an instant Alucard was there.
“I felt something.”
Malakai looked at Lansing, who smiled. He gestured at Alucard.
Alucard bit deeply into his own wrist and held it over Victoria, letting his blood drip in a steady stream into her mouth.
She began to cough.
Her eyes fluttered open.
* * * * * * *
Romania was beautiful.
Malakai and Alucard stood upon the battlements of the old castle looking out into the night.
They had missed their home.
Integra was developing in her powers rather quickly since their arrival, and Lansing was completely at peace there in Malakai's ancestral home.
Victoria's healing process was coming along rather slowly, but that was all right.
It was to be expected for a vampire with no memory.
It had taken time to convince her panicked mind that they were not a threat to her . . . it had taken even longer for Alucard to win her trust.
She was afraid of him, having no recollection of all their years together.
But things were progressing nicely. She was much the same person as before, having regained much of her personality in the time they had been in Romania. But in regards to Alucard, she was still not completely comfortable, and even months after they had brought her to the ancient castle, she still slept in a separate coffin.
Something Alucard intended to change.
He watched her from his high vantage point in silence, seeing her smile happily at Lansing, whom she trusted without reservation. It would be a lie to say he wasn't slightly envious of her and Malakai for the joy and comfort they gave her.
Something she needed, and he could not provide. Not yet.
But still she responded to the call of his mind as he phased down into the lower levels of the castle, to where his coffin waited.
* * * * * * * *
Victoria heard his call, and bit her lip.
Seras Victoria . . .
He frightened her, and she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the immense darkness in his heart, the sheer dominance of his vampire soul over what little humanity remained in him. Or maybe it was the way he looked at her as if he knew every dark, secret corner of her mind.
Either way, she was reluctant to answer his call. And yet she did so.
Phasing into the dim belly of the castle, where she knew he waited, Victoria realized that she had spent the first two weeks of her stay in this part of the castle, while her body recuperated and her mind healed from the trauma of resurrection.
The only thing she remembered before that was a feeling of warmth, safety. Of being utterly and entirely whole and complete for the first time. And then being torn away from the safety into a body that was barely alive . . .
And he had cared for her then, this dark-haired vampire who knew her though she did not recognize his face.
He was waiting. Sitting on the edge of the open coffin with a thoughtful, patient expression as his eyes stared off into nowhere. When he heard her, he looked up.
“Victoria,” he said, nodding.
“Alucard,” she replied uneasily.
He stood and crossed the space between them, bending so that he was on eye level with her.
“Why are you afraid of me?”
She nearly stopped breathing because of his closeness.
Why did she feel this way? She didn't know him, though Malakai and Lansing insisted she did . . . if she was really his mate, wouldn't she remember? Especially something so important . . .
“I don't know you,” she replied shakily.
“I can prove that you do, Seras Victoria.”
Without a pause he pressed his mouth to her neck where there were scars. Scars that he had supposedly put there so long ago.
He bit deeply into her neck and she shivered as his arms moved around her, holding her close against his body.
“And I know you better than anyone else,” he whispered as he began to lick long, lazy strokes up her neck to her jaw, smearing her blood across her skin.
Her heartbeat, normally slowed into near nonexistence, began to race.
“You are mine,” he said.
And he bit down again, and she saw his memories of them. Of seeing her for the first time as a human, his memories of them being human together, of every night and day spent together over the course of nearly forty years . . .
“Why can't I remember?” she asked no one, choking back a sob as he released her.
Alucard couldn't answer because he didn't know himself. Rather than try, he slid his arms around her waist again and pressed his mouth to hers, smearing her blood across her lips.
She kissed him fiercely, angry at the world and at him.
“I have never hurt you, Seras Victoria. I never will. But you belong to me, and I will not allow you to take what is mine,” he growled, his mouth grazing her ear.
“I don't want to spend the rest of my life by myself. You're all I've got,” she whispered back.
Just like she had at the beginning . . .
I just don't want to be alone . . .
“You are not alone, Police Girl. You were never alone from the beginning.”
He kissed her again, possessively.
And she remembered.
The words reminded her of the day in his room where she had confessed all her foolish thoughts and hopes to him and found him accepting.
The kiss reminded her of the first, when he had surprised her with his response to her terrified, confused mind.
Are you ready to be mine, Seras Victoria? Forever?
The coffin was not as high-tech as the one from the manor, but they spent the day in it anyway, rejoicing in recovered memory and renewed life.
Soon after, the rumors began to spread.
Rumors of a secret organization in Britain, which hunted dangerous and evil creatures of the darkness. An organization which had been destroyed.
And rumors of a small band of vampires, roaming Europe, continuing the work of this organization with a different purpose. Vampires who protected the interests of vampires by protecting humans from the FREAK vampires, ghouls, and other strange monsters. Vampires who left an unending trail of blood in their wake, but were never found by any anti-vampire group on any continent, no matter how outrageous their activity.
These tales never really died, and so became accepted as simple truth, and remained unspoken. The night belonged to vampires, and the world was just going to have to deal with it.
Author's Note: Yes, I'm ending it here! Thanks everyone for the support, patience, and compliments! Can I get a final round of reviews, please? Also.
My next story will be a prequel to Silence is Golden, which I have yet to choose a title for. Please add me to your author alerts so you won't miss out on it when I finally start posting.
This story will follow the lives and mischief of Alucard and Malakai in the years before Alucard was captured by Hellsing. I'm very excited to write this. There won't be any romance; there will be a bit about Trinity (read Silent Night if you haven't already), and a little about the brides, but there will be no Seras because obviously, she wasn't born yet during the time this will take place. Lansing was as yet unknown to Malakai so she will not be in it either.
So again, thanks everyone for the love and support, and please everyone give one last review, ok? And add me to Author Alerts so's ya don't miss out on the next fic.
Oh, and for everyone who was wondering, FARE is Italian for "to make".