Disclaimer: Hellsing belongs to Kouta Hirano.

Author's Notes: Set in a possible future after manga, obviously new issues (none yet) will contradict some predictions, so AU warning. This was inspired by the great amount of Seras' and Alucard's baby stories and 'Lost Souls' by Brite.

Special Thanks: Nayela, who edited this piece.

Kronos

The world hurt inside, something was tearing her apart little by little. She couldn't move any longer; any violent motion would damage the mockery of life Seras was carrying within herself. There she was, lying still on the bed of a nameless clinic whose personnel were kind enough to allow her in.

Her eyes were fixed on the closed door, where the medical staff had just exited—after she dismissed them. No one would aid her in this, they could not. Such was the irony of her life. Seras had always secretly wanted to conceive a baby, to raise one as her own. She would keep him or her safe from all evil. But she was also afraid; extremely frightened that she would not be strong enough. The mere idea of another child beholding the same horror she hadexperienced when her parents were murdered brought a chill over her spine.

However, as a vampire Seras would be able to. She was stronger now. Pip's death had made her mature to this new stage of vampirism. His lips on hers, his hot blood going down her throat, rekindling the fighting spirit. Her craving to avenge his sacrifice. Seras quietly lamented that Pip hadn't been her first man; he was certainly the one who had given up everything for her. But he was gone and she had promised to smile and move on with her existence.

However much her powers had increased, Seras believed it impossible that a vampire—an animated corpse to put it bluntly—would be able to give birth. Until one day, her Master had informed her otherwise.

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"There's a path to achieve it, Police Girl," Alucard told her, circling her like a wolf would stalk a tasty rabbit. "It's perilous, but there's a way to ignite a new life in a part of your system if you really want to have a child."

Seras followed his pacing with her gaze. Something was not right; Alucard had never been this solicitous before. Despite her age and looks, Seras was not an airhead and guessed that her Master was scheming something. The question was… what? Regardless of her wariness, his words brought some hope. Among all death, life could bloom, that would certainly be the feeling. "How is that possible?" Seras asked, fairly beaming.

"Simple chants, Hellsing laboratory aid and…" Alucard stopped, looming over her like a giant crimson bat, his smirk reminiscent of a white shark's. "Me."

"Y-you? But…"

"No buts…only by blood of my blood there's a small chance to create life and it's not very high," Alucard said firmly. His hands had descended to massage her forearms. She had recoiled; he was making her rather nervous. Why did Alucard want to have sex with her? To please her caprice? Her mind had been overwhelmed with the losses that lingered even after three years of Millennium's defeat. Three long years without Pip, Integral and Walter.

"I accept."

Thus Seras had sealed her fate: for better or worse, she would become the subject of experimentation. Her rational mind screamed that it was better to try adoption but it was soon silenced by her yearning to conceive. Which remained ever a source of uncertainty; was it hers or induced by him? That week, Alucard had led her to the ruins of the Hellsing Manor. The basement was still intact, and the laboratories were functional.

He has been anticipating this, Seras thought, scrutinising the surroundings.

"Lie down there," Alucard ordered, gesturing towards a metal bed. As Seras approached, the smell of old blood became stronger. The whole room reeked of a putrid scent; if she had been human, the Police Girl would have passed out. Biting her bottom lip, Seras settled herself on the steel platform. She wasn't quite finished making herself comfortable when handcuffs and chains snaked around her body. Seras gasped, shocked, and tried to free herself of them.

"Calm down, Police Girl," Alucard commanded in a murmur. His tone was drowsy, numbing her mind and senses as if he had taken control of her body. "It's a precaution, this is going to hurt."

"For a minute I thought it was a spooky fetish," Seras remarked, trying to lighten the mood with a joke but failing miserably. The churning in her gut wasn't exactly lessened by his speech.

"A bit of both," Alucard chuckled. "Brace yourself, Seras Victoria."

Then it came—a flash of pain so intense her mind swayed from any form of conscience. Needles pierced her skin like small daggers, every pore was on fire, her blood poured out only to be soon replaced by new. She had lost the flow of time; how many hours had passed was beyond her recognition. When Seras awoke, she found herself nude and with an equally bared Alucard on top of her.

"That's it, Seras, now I'll compensate you for such services," Alucard whispered into her ear, biting down on the lobe, cutting the flesh. That mere gesture sent her over the edge. Bloodlust overcame her. Trapped in her berserk mode, Seras broke the chains that bound her and tried to maul Alucard. In a quick motion, her Master captured her arms and pinned Seras beneath his weight. Without pretence of gentleness, Alucard positioned on her dry slit and thrust in. Seras didn't wince, even if the shattering of her hymen hurt—it paled in comparison to the pain she had experienced a few minutes ago.

Their intercourse had been an onslaught of violence proper for monsters and not human lovers. Seras hadn't expected less. With her writhing, she had managed to roll them over, assuming a dominant position when they both fell towards the floor. Alucard soon forced himself on top, speeding the pace to a rhythm she wouldn't have thought possible. But it was. Once more, the sense of time was lost for Victoria, more because of pleasure than pain. She cried out when they arrived at the climax, his last 'impaling' breaking her pelvis.

In that precise instant, while she was healing the bone, her eyes met his. Alucard's triumphal expression infused her with dread. He hadn't moaned with her; now with her mind clearer, Seras could listen to him. He was chanting something she didn't understand, maybe in Latin, perhaps in a forgotten tongue.

"Master?" Seras asked, almost a hiss, trying to push him off her. In a blink the floor lit up and the glow of the Hellsing sigil swallowed their entwined bodies. "Get off me!" she screamed, trembling with goosebumps all over her belly. She did not know what, but Seras could have sworn Alucard put something besides his shaft and fangs inside her.

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I shouldn't upset the baby… Seras caressed the protuberance of her belly. She vowed to not think of what happened between her and Alucard. She had tried to escape from his presence ever since. The young fledgling couldn't stand the way he looked at her abdomen as if she was nothing but a vessel. The child was stirring again, wandering inside her. Seras bit down a shriek. This can't be normal.

"Because it's not, Seras. What did you expect? We're vampires…"

Seras sought the source of the words, smiling weakly at her Master who was standing beside her bed. The abnormality, she knew about that. The medics had explained to her in shaken voices, still in disbelief that a dead body was able to give birth to another one. There were things science could not explain. "Alucard, you came."

"Of course, I hope you enjoyed your 'escape' adventure. Did you really think you left me behind?"

"No, I suppose I didn't but I was clinging to my delusion." Seras sounded weary even for her own ears. "It's a girl."

"I know."

"How could I bring this child into your world?" Seras mused aloud, squeezing her eyes shut as the pain intensified. "You'll turn her into a monster."

"She is already a monster," Alucard corrected her. "Like you, but you're unable to grasp the concept even now."

Seras lifted her lashes and shot Alucard a defiant look. She wasn't a confused young girl any longer; war had changed her and so had motherhood. She was debating with herself if it was wise to leave the baby with Alucard. That would mean dooming her child and maybe the world. "I can always abort."

"And be so weak as not to protect your baby?" Alucard taunted in a musical voice as would befit a serpent's charmer. "Didn't you wish for that, Seras? To take care of a child even if you die in the process?"

"I am dying now… I know what will happen. She's eating me inside… soon she will arrive at the heart!"

"There is a reason why Draculinas don't want to have children," Alucard said matter-of-factly. "We cannot give life as humans can, without a sacrifice."

"I didn't know… Why-" Seras paused, coughing blood out of her mouth. "Why didn't you warn me?" There was accusation in her tone; whatever Alucard craved for, he was willing to sacrifice her to obtain it.

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Alucard bent down and licked the blood off her cheek. "What are you going to do, Seras? Give life or bring death?"

Seras lacked the strength to maul him there where he stood, still playing his games. Now she had caught the reason why. Killing her own child would mean a step further towards the farce of a human being her Master was. A kin slayer: to kill or to be killed. She recalled Walter telling her about how Integral murdered her own traitorous uncle. He was forcing her to do the same. To destroy the 'betrayer' of her own body or die in the process. "You'll aid me."

"If that's what you want," Alucard offered, smirking darkly. "I will."

Seras fell silent. Could she? Would she dare to be like Kronos? Murdering her offspring for fear of being slain or replaced? Her mind was in turmoil still when the child struck her heart. Seras screamed, shredding the clothes she was wearing. Red was covering her sight, her own blood pouring out of her eyes. Slowly, the creature broke free from her thorax, sawing through skin, tissue and bones. Seras felt like she had been severed in two, and probably she was--had the small thing managed to break her spine already? She wasn't able to move, too weak to utter a word. Her life-force was drained away by the little girl who was crawling out of her chest, biting down on her nipples in a blind quest for blood.

"Isn't she pretty, Seras?" Alucard sounded distant, now it was her who was drifting far away. "Look at her, look at my rightful daughter. Aren't her eyes beautiful?" He picked the baby off her chest. The girl was growing at an unbelievable speed; in a few minutes she shifted from a new born to a two years old. "Her development will stop when it reaches the age of her soul… Ah, the excellent necromancy collection that old Abraham kept in the Asylum was quite handy to summon her. I knew you'd be useful one of these days, my dear Seras."

In her last effort, Seras spared a glance for her daughter, not his spawn. Her face twisted in horror of being greeted by piercing blue eyes filled with adult awareness. They were wrathful and sad, barely standing Alucard's touch. Realisation was like a slap in the face. How could she have been so dense? This was a test of survival to see who was fittest, more ruthless, more worthy by his twisted standards. A cruel competition that she had lost when she thought that victory was hers. And as Seras agonised, she called out the girl's name, followed by a hysterical laugh.

"Integra."