Disclaimer: Hellsing isn't mine, yo. but pura and the ideas are. so help me god if i find you using them i will hunt you down and gut you like a fish

My first fanfiction, thanks to my beta, CannotFathomaPenname. You should check out her stuff, it's great. Reviews are helpful, so you should do that. Thanks for reading! Don't be mean in your reviews, I fear rejection like the plague. Of the bubonic sort. Yes.

My name is Pura. I have no last name, or if I did I don't remember it. The same with a family. Oh sure I have friends, but I can't recall anything from about six years ago, I was ten. I've been on my own, and I've kept that fact pretty well hidden. If I didn't, I'd be living in an orphanage instead of a small apartment on the outskirts of London. It's not in the best neighborhood; not many questions are asked about who you are as long as the rent is paid on time, so that's a plus. I moved here about a year ago from a town in America that wasn't even on a map. You'd be surprised how easy it is to get a passport when some one claims to be your legal guardian.

But back to the apartment because it's fairly important; as I said it's not a great neighborhood. No, you can't even call it that; it sucks, really it does. And I don't have a car; which means walking to and from work every day. Of course, the "day" isn't the bad part. Now, I'm only like 5'1". I'm short, okay? And I'm a girl. A short, 16 year old girl, alone, at night in a bad neighborhood, on a dead-end street in which someone has stoned the streetlight out. Put it together.

I knew all of this, but for some reason I often forget any sort of pepper spray or the like, remembering this just as I turn on my street. This was one of those nights. Looking down the darkened street, I felt an unusual shiver of fear run down my spine. I stood there, looking out to the far end where my home lie, and tried to convince myself that I was shaking from the cold. That I was being irrational. Inhaling deeply, I began walking down the sidewalk, trying to ignore the speed at which my heart was racing, and concentrate on increasing the speed at which my feet were moving.

As my steps quickened through the darkness, I began to see the shadows contort to frightening shapes, and started to walk even faster. My heart crashed wildly in my chest as I saw that I was approaching an alleyway. In an attempt to calm myself, I though how cliché it was for someone to wait for me in an alleyway. I stopped thinking this when a hand was clamped around my mouth and a knife was pressing against my throat.

If I were lucky, these men would have taken my pay and left. But they didn't want money.

There were two of them, and they were quite large. Though, who ever heard of a short rapist? When the second man reached toward me, the first one moved the blade away from my neck. I bent my foot right into his crotch. Ducking away from the second guy, I darted out of the ally and back up the street, away from my house.

At once I noticed that something was disrupting the light falling from the streetlamp to the pavement. No, not something, someone. And he was coming towards me.

This realization startled me so badly in my already terrified state that I nearly turned back. I might have done just that if I could have stopped in time. When I first saw him coming down the sidewalk, it didn't register how very tall he was until my face slammed into his chest. Gasping in fear of those behind me, I looked up at him with terror-widened eyes.

"Please!" I begged "Sir if you have a cell phone or anything please call the police or something! Anything!"

Looking down at me from behind his orange-tinted glasses he seemed like he was debating whether to help me for a terrifying moment.

I whipped around to check the progress of my pursuers, and found to my horror that they were only about ten feet from me.

Pausing at the intimidating presence of the unnerving man towering over me, they exchanged glances as though wondering whether to continue their assault. Looking back in a panic, I watched as he pulled his arm out of his coat, and with it, an enormous silver gun.

Evidently no one in the other party had thought to bring a gun, and they were gone before I even knew what in God's name was going on.

I was still shaking with adrenaline when he spoke in a low, velvety voice.

"Are you alright?"

I raised my eyes to look at him, and it was then I really noticed what he was wearing. A black suit, covered with a long, blood-red coat that seemed to move on its own. An expertly knotted looped tie the same shade as his coat was pulled aroundhis neck. From under his wide-brimmed red hat I could see his long, soft-looking black hair.

"Um….ye-yeah…I think so." I said shakily.

I realized that at some point I had sunk to the ground on my knees and hastened to get up. He put out his hand to help me up, and I took it. He still seemed as tall as he had been. I wondered why he was so calm. He just saved my life and he acted as if he ran across this everyday.

Apparently amused by my nervousness, he chuckled quietly. For some reason, the sound reassured me, despite the ominous quality of it. I smiled shyly back at him.

"Why don't I walk you back to your home?" He asked

"Alright" I replied. A slight worry at the back of my mind said that I probably shouldn't show random, gun-toting men where I live. But I ignored that voice in favor of the one telling me I'd probably come off as a bitch if I told this man who just rescued me from rapist that I didn't want him following me back.

As we walked back up the sinister lane, (well, walked isn't all that accurate. More like 'he walked and I nearly had to run to keep up.') I wondered where he was going. I know he didn't live here, I've never seen him before and no one's moved out lately. A soft murmur interrupted my thoughts: "What's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry… my name's Pura. What's yours?"

"Alucard"

"Alucard…" I echoed and rolled around in my head.

Despite his daunting presence, I found myself feeling at ease around him. Nervous, but not as scared as I thought I should be. In fact, I found I liked being near him. But the small voice in the back of me head told me the bonding with frightening people you just met is not a very good way to go about life.

So I wasn't surprised when I was wishing the street was longer as we reached my building. I stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the main door.

"Thank you so much Alucard…."

"You're welcome."

"Um…" I started nervously "I hate to ask after everything but…"

"Hm?"

"Can I see your eyes?"

He slipped off his glasses, and I gasped. His eyes were such an amazing, glittering shade of red. My heart sped up, and I had to lean back against the door to keep from falling right off the top of the steps. He found my reaction amusing and laughter rumbled deep in his chest.

"Goodbye then." He said, still grinning. He turned and began walking back.

"Bye" I replied. I don't know if he heard me, I was still a little breathless and my response was almost a whisper.

As I climbed up the steps to my third-floor apartment, I kept the image of him in my mind, so I wouldn't forget him.

I was still daydreaming as I opened my door, so out of it I didn't realize my door wasn't locked like I left it. And not a second passed from the time I opened my door, when my mouth was covered and I was dragged struggling into darkness for the second time tonight.

A/N: Cliffhangers, yay!