"You called for me, my Master?" asked the sultry baritone of the tall man with ink black hair and skin paled in death.

His red eyes watched her intently, the blonde-haired women across the desk. Her solemn, impassive face was a mask, perfected over hard years of commanding soldiers fighting monsters, despite her young age.

He was dressed in a black suit with a red trench coat, and he grinned at her, trying to unnerve her with the fangs that poked out between his lips even after all their years together.

She ignored his attempt to frighten her, and leaned forward and spread out several pieces of paper, police reports, and full color photos of bloodied bodies. Alucard leaned forward in interest, and he looked at her, asking permission with his gaze.

She gave the slightest nod, and he gently moved the pictures around with long, thin fingers enclosed in spotless white gloves. She pulled a cigar from a box on her desk and lit the end of it.

Alucard only barely wrinkled his over-sensitive nose at the foul smelling smoke that wisped up from the end.

"There have been strange reports coming from Los Angeles," Sir Integra Hellsing said around the cigar, voice quiet but hard. "For the past two weeks, there have been reports of murders. Unusual ones. Bodies have turned up in all corners of the city skinned, dismembered, and decapitated. The heads are usually missing, and none have been found."

She reached forward, and pointed to a particularly gruesome photo of a body crumpled on the ground; it was what was left of a man in a gray business suit. It was missing its head, and the dark, ragged mark down the middle of its back revealed the spine was missing also.

"Almost every body has had its skull and spine ripped out via brute force," she finished.

Alucard's eyebrow rose up slightly, and his lips thinned into a frown of contemplation. "This doesn't sound like the work of a young, or even an experienced vampire. It's not a werewolf, or a ghoul," Alucard said, his blood-red eyes glinting with intrigue. "This sounds like something new."

Sir Integra made it a point to look down at the papers on her desk. She looked away from the face of the vampire as a large and toothy grin grew in excitement over the vampire's face. She wanted to be able to sleep at least a little that night.

"Whatever it is, it is a dangerous unknown. I want you to care of it, Alucard," she commanded, removing her cigar and placing it in the pristine ashtray on her desk.

"You want me to go and hunt down this unknown threat in the City of Angels?" he asked.

Alucard always made sure to have Sir Integra's orders explicitly understood. Mostly it was because he wanted to do exactly what she intended, with no mistakes.

Partially, he liked to irritate her by making her explain her every intention and action.

Sir Integra scowled, but nodded. "Yes. I want you to go and kill it. Use extreme prejudice."

"Of course, Master." Alucard said, bowing slightly to her. When he straightened back up, he tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "However, why are you bothering yourself with the problems of the Americans? Can they not take care of themselves."

Sir Integra huffed in annoyance. "Normally, I would leave this to their proper authorities," she said simply, deigning to explain herself to Alucard, something she rarely did.

"Walter discovered there was a rash of similar killings in South America about ten years ago. Whatever it was, it was never caught, and it's moved to North America. I refuse to stand by and allow this monster to come to England and start attacking her citizens. Therefore, I want this taken care of quickly and quietly, understand?"

"Of course, Master. I will leave at once," Alucard said with a final bow. He took a step backwards and sank through the floor, disappearing like a ghost.

"Something 'new,' Walter," Sir Integra quoted a few minutes later when her trusted butler was standing beside her desk, back straight and hands clasped behind his back. "Whenever Alucard is excited, there's usually a large amount of unnecessary bloodshed." She pinched the bridge of her nose, as though to pinch off the oncoming headache that usually accompanied her vampiric servant.

Walter nodded in understanding, and cleared his throat quietly. "If you wish, I can assign someone to keep an eye on him. Captain Nathans**, perhaps?"

"Nathans is head of security," Sir Integra said, looking at Walter, a questioning eyebrow raised at the older butler.

"The Captain worked for the Royal Air Force before he worked for you. He'd probably appreciate the opportunity to spread his wings."

She inter-laced her fingers and thought about it for a few moments, then nodded. "Fine. Send word to Captain Nathans; he will be leaving with Alucard tonight. You will keep up with Security until they return."

Walter bowed in understanding, and just as he was about to leave, he paused. "I wouldn't worry too much, Mum," Walter said, a slight smile over his old and wrinkled face. "At least Alucard will be enjoying himself on another continent."

One would think that, after 400 years, a vampire could learn to perfect the art of patience, but Alucard never seemed to have truly mastered it. Yes, he could wait for something for a while, but he would get antsy and itching for a fight. He was used to going into a battle, using cunning and brute force to win the battle, but there had never been as much suspense building for this fight as for others.

Now, as the Hellsing jet neared the end of a 17 hour flight from the Hellsing headquarters in England to Los Angeles International Airport, Alucard found himself almost vibrating in his seat from anticipation.

Captain Nathans and another Hellsing soldier were the only other crew on the small plane. Nathans was apparently so pleased with the idea of flying (something he had given up after becoming a Hellsing soldier) that he actually cracked a smile at the No-Life King.

Walter had given him copies of all the police reports and photos just before he had boarded the private jet. During the long and sometimes boring flight, Alucard studied the reports diligently, trying to glean from the slim readings what could have caused such trauma to the bodies, and why.

The main "victims" of this strange killer were mostly members of conflicting gangs that were currently attempting to overrun the city with drugs and death. The Jamaican Voodoo Gang and the Columbians seemed to have attracted most of the attention of the mystery killer, although there were several police officers and random citizens thrown into the mix.

Alucard quickly dismissed the work as that of a vampire, or even a nest of vampires. No blood was drained from the bodies, but the skulls and spines were removed with brute strength. Some of the bodies were even skinned, and a large number were found hanging upside-down and tied to rafters of ceilings. This was intriguing, because it portrayed just how swift and strong the killer was; hauling a full-grown body a couple stories into the air without being seen definitely quirked Alucard's interests.

Another curiosity was the fact that the killer chose victims who were armed at the time of death.

"No sport in killing the defenseless," he said to himself, now very interested in what exactly was hunting in the city. It had been a very long time since he had hunted something that peaked his curiosity.

Now, Alucard was becoming less patient and was fidgeting more as they approached the city. He tapped his fingers and shifted his legs several times. He wanted to be in the new city, and he wanted to be hunting now.

Wait a moment, is the great Alucard actually getting restless for a fight? Hehe, this is certainly a new feeling…

Despite almost being midnight, it was still a sweltering 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The air was hot and sticky with the overpowering humidity, and steam rose from the streets and sewers. No one was out at the time; many were inside, enjoying the comfort of overworked air conditioners that dripped water down the sides of buildings, making them appear to be sweating.

To the numerous people who were living in the city, it was the Earthly version of Hell, what with the rampant crime and sky-rocketing temperatures.

To the Yautja, it was the perfect playground and temporary home.

He crouched on the edge of a roof of a skyscraper, surveying his sweltering kingdom. There blooms of heat that appeared and disappeared on his thermal vision of steam and heated blobs from warmed engines of moving vehicles.

There were some humans still traveling out and about, but he had no desire to hunt them. He already had more than enough trophies, the skulls and some spines of a dozen human warriors he'd vanquished in battle himself. Humans were supposed to be great prey for his kind, cunning and adaptable, but so far he was…underwhelmed.

The thrill of the hunt was waning. It was blasphemy, but he was becoming almost bored.

Soon, his ship would return and pick him up, but he was beginning to feel anxious that it wasn't coming soon enough to stem such terrible thoughts.

Perhaps it wasn't that he wasn't bored, but the fact that he was alone that was upsetting. After all, this was yet another test on the path to adulthood: to hunt on an alien planet alone. All his other clan members were spread across this world on their own safaris, leaving him to his own devices. It was both a freeing and constricting feeling. Now that the thrill of the hunt was winding down, he was actually left the time and energy to really appreciate the fact that, if anything happened, (not that it would, he was a Yautja!) he was on his own.

Hopefully, his cunning, courage, and confidence had earned him the praise of U'Thre, their hunting God.

As he glanced over the city, he suddenly felt a tingle of uneasiness clench his stomach. The Yautja Predator stood and carefully scanned the area, but there was nothing near him on the roof save for a few pigeons: what was he feeling?

There was a rumbling in the sky, and the Predator turned and instinctively ducked as a small private jet flew past, descending towards the airport a few miles away. His plasma cannon instantly started to track the low-flying vehicle, but he did not plan on actually resorting to a tactic so tasteless.

The feeling of unease became one of anticipation and eagerness. It grew from the pit of his stomach until he seemed to engulf his whole body. He purred to himself loudly.

There is a hunter on that human ship, he realized. A hunter coming for me!

It was an old power that seemed to radiate from the ship; a sense of being that challenged his sense of superiority. Something very old and very strong was just as excited to fight him and he suddenly was to fight it. With excitement making his very soul reinvigorated and energetic, he clicked a tusk in curiosity as he started towards the airport.

A/N: This is a newly revised edition of "The Devil and the Demon" so I hope you enjoy it!

**Caption Nathans is an original character and is the protagonist of "A True Soldier of Hellsing." He's a badass soldier, and you should give it a read!