For Puck 3/4 for X-Mas.

I feel so dirty.

Primus Inter Pares- The First Among Equals

Latin...again.

Primus Inter Pares- The First Among Equals

"Do you want to know what I did to them?" Alucard leered madly at an amazingly unruffled Integra.

Walter was missing.

Captain Bernadotte, most of the Wild Geese, Hell, most of London was dead, or partially so.

Her city, her ranks, and her home- they were all in shambles.

She was trapped between undead Nazis and megalomaniac Catholics, with few remaining allies. In fact, the ones was she certain of were Seras Victoria and, well Seras Victoria.

It was no surprise that she was in no mood to banter playfully with Alucard.

They had made a strategic withdrawal to an abandoned ghetto. That is to say, the vampires had whisked her out of immediate danger against her will. This was her city. She would stand with it, in glory and in flames, but a more rational part of her mind agreed that this was a pragmatic decision. Seras was on guard duty, and after the Eagle incident, Alucard seemed awfully reluctant to leave her alone.

"Well?" Alucard prodded gleefully.

"No," she decided flatly. "I don't. I frankly don't care, so long as you eliminated them. I want this scum out of my city."

Alucard's merriment did not diminish. "This inferno probably doesn't have enough live people left to be considered a city."

Integra's saber was out in an instant. She glared coldly him. "You go too far, Nosferatu."

The fragrance of blood, sweat, and cigar smoke assaulted Alucard's senses. He moved closer as he covered them with shadows. No prying eyes would see the intimate interactions of the master and her monster.

"Perhaps," he agreed, before running his long tongue across her cheek, savoring the residue of her blood. It was faint, intoxicating, and gone all too quickly. Much like her, it was maddening. He cleaned her face, like a large cat would its cubs.

"Alucard…" Her tone was dangerous, impatient, and thrilling. Alucard felt the tip of her saber against his midsection.

"I'm home from sea and merely wish to see to the welfare of my Mistress."

Integra, quite aggravated, pressed the cold blessed steel against his equally cold abdomen. "I would prefer not to get more blood on my coat," she growled.

"Oooh?" Alucard cooed. "You would like to reverse roles?" He grinned, licking his lips provocatively. "Would you…" He closed his eyes in feigned ecstasy, "stick it in me?"

The bad innuendo was more than enough to impel Integra to drive the blade through his stomach.

Alucard sniggered as his insides gurgled. "Oh yes, Master! Harder! Deeper! I want it all the way inside me!" He stepped closer, laughing maniacally, drawing more into him. Integra glared at him silently. "It's perfect! Too perfect, Master! I adore the implications!" A field of scarlet eyes shook with him in warped mirth.

Integra drove it in to the hilt, not really caring that he was bleeding on her, that he liked it, that she was losing control of the situation. She had seen him like this before. She had played this game before, and now that he was so absorbed in it, there would be no work done till they finished. He would have to get this troublesome fit out of his system. He sucked the metal deep into his body, moaning obscenely.

"You fail to entertain me, Alucard," she said coldly, a tense edge too prevalent in her voice. "I suppose this is to be expected. One must take into consideration how long it has been since you have managed to have intercourse."

"They sent me a gift; the Major knows my weakness for magnificent women. I was disappointed, but do you want to know what I did to her?" Alucard's tendrils stroked Integra's face, more wrapped around her waist and hips, holding her in a mock embrace. "To Millennium's liebling? To their pretty little darling? Yes, I know she was a sacrificial lamb, and what a little lamb she was…"

Integra raised a brow, blood dripping down her fingers. Yes, she definitely realized those implications. Millennium had given Alucard a female for perverse reasons, and it was more than likely that they wanted one back. They would want something in exchange for their…liebling. The Catholics and the Nazis would show her no mercy. They would make no "deals." Integra found herself in nasty predicament; she was, as someone had charmingly phrased, between the Devil and the deep blue sea. Oh yes, she could see where this was leading to; she could feel Alucard's hand in this.

"She shot me," he continued, giving her a predatory smile. "She made me bleed…" He reached down and brought Integra's blood-covered fingers up to his lips. He licked himself from her fingers. He then reached down and dipped his fingers in the blood that dripped down the handle of her blade. Knowingly, he drew a finger across Integra's pale cheeks, smearing the blood like war paint.

"For a maidenly rouge," he murmured, distracted.

"Finish Alucard. Do not waste my precious time."

"She vainly wounded me," he hissed. "And she tried to trap me. She might have been strong against mere mortals," he said meaningfully. "But she quailed before me!"

"Get to the point," Integra growled, mentally checking the seals.

"I took her," Alucard's eyes gleamed triumphantly, his voice almost dreamy. "I took her beloved weapon, and I put it through her. How she writhed, Master. How she danced… I took her body; it was beautiful. I took her blood; it was bittersweet. She died in a state of terror, agony, and indescribable pleasure." Alucard's tendril's tightened their grip on the young woman before him. He pressed her tense body against his, relishing her disgust. "She wore suits and glasses…she was young and cold… Do you know whom I thought of?"

Integra clenched her jaw, glaring fiercely at him. That unholy bastard took too much pleasure in this. Despite the fact that this master-baiting was literally a form of self-pleasure, it was almost a welcome distraction from the status quo. Despite this disturbing development, Integra felt rather calm. A surge of grim pleasure rushed through her. This was one battle she would not lose.

"Who?" She replied mockingly. "Who is the star-crossed creature that has caught your fickle fancy?"

"I think you know," Alucard said hungrily, fingering her collar. "Yes…" The unmarred skin beneath tempted him so. "You showed me yours, I showed you mine…would you like to go farther?"

"What did I show?" Integra asked, reaching back down to twist the handle of the saber that pressed rigidly against her chest as Alucard toyed with her top button. His entire body shivered and he gazed at her with undisguised desire.

"Blood, of course." Alucard closed his eyes, his entire being throbbing delightfully. "I love the feel of your steel, Iron Maiden. Your grace, your strength, your ferocity...that blade is merely an extension of your self."

"You enjoy being subjugated," Integra stated harshly, a little breathless. "You are fascinated and aroused by power, in any form. You like being my servant."

Alucard's eyes flew open and a sinister shadow crossed his face. "I appreciate beauty, power, and Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection."

"Like the good Major," Integra taunted, a smirk on her lips. "Your similarities are uncanny."

"I am far above that pig," Alucard snapped, offended. "That corpulent cadaver who fancies himself a warmonger…but enough about me, Integra. Tell me…how does it feel to wage your first open war? The flames, the screams, the blood on the streets…Isn't it glorious!"

"How does it feel?" Integra said sneered. "How does it feel to be losing my city to heathens and Vatican dogs? You tell me, Vlad. How did it feel?"

Alucard snarled, all humor lost. He groped vainly for words to impact her, but found her shields back up, that impenetrable smirk on her lovely face. She reached into her breast pocket and retrieved a cigar. Knowing he was beat, Alucard released her, cursing silently. He faded into the shadows of the shabby room, just missing the entrance of Seras.

"Sir Integra, there has been no especially unusual activity in our vicinity, outside." The young vampire blinked as she saw Sir Integra staring thoughtfully at her bloody fallen saber. No explanations were offered.

"I see," the noblewoman replied. "There hasn't been any in here, either."