AN:An alternate reality fiction is what this is folks, set in the time our beloved Alucard was known as Dracula. I loathe Mina and Integra with a purplr passion. Unfotunately Mina will be in it and if Integra is then there will be plenty of Integra bashing. Anyway this is an Alucard and Seras fanfiction. I write only them so if you're an AlucardxIntegra fan please look elsewhere also Seras has an elder sister in this. If Alucard seems out of character keep in mind he hasn't been captured..yet if he does at all I haven't decided yet. I have made my preference clear and expect not to recieve any flame mail due to my tastes if you do anyway then I will just ignore you so please save all of us the aggravation. As far as my fellow AxS fans read, enjoy, and please review.

Rating:M for language and possible sexual scenes later.

Disclaimer: I don't own em' obviously. If I did Alucard and Seras would've been together from episode one and Integra would've been rotting in a grave or better not existed at all. I do own Letti however.

English Winters

Chapter 1

London, England cold, dreary, gloomy winter.

Seras Victoria moved a lock of gold hair behind her ear and suppressed the urge to yawn in boredom. She sat like a perfect lady, but was in fact restless and filled to the brim with misery. Her scarlet dress was much too tight thanks to the damned corset she wore, she cursed the person who made it daily for every creating the monstrosity.

Much too tight, can't breathe.

She felt dizzy and light headed and the stuffy air that was saturated with perfumes, colognes, sweat and God only knew what else in the Queen's ballroom wasn't helping in the least. She sent a digusted look at her father who was chatting it up with an older gentleman who if she was remembering right was named Walter. Walter didn't seem to mind her father's drunken babbling as he would accasionally nod with a kind and tolerent smile. Looking to her right, she spotted her mother easily enough at the refreshment table, no doubt looking for some kind of turkey. Rolling her eyes she looked to the dance floor where a hundered or more dancing ladies with their partners gracefully waltzed about the saw her elder sister Letti there beaming a happy smile that lit up the room as she danced with her partner. With a sigh, Seras looked longingly to the balcony doors that would mean her freedom and there she saw them. Wilimina Murray, fiance to Johnathon Harker standing locked in a tight embrace with a man who was most definitely NOT her intended.

No the man was far too handsome to be Johnathon Harker, far too intimidating to be Johnathon Harker. His black as a raven's wing hair obscured most of his face, but she could just barely make out a long, straight nose and a sharp chin. From those features alone she could tell that he was European. His long, black cape almost resembled bat wings as the wind blew it around him.

Then the most surprising and unusual thing happened; a strong sense of jealousy went surging through her like she'd never felt before. The childhood feeling of jealousy if Letti recieved more attention or a prettier dress from their parents was nothing compared to what she was feeling at that moment. She was practically seeing red and seething as she watching little harlothold him so closely. She knew of course it was completely irrational and unfounded, but that didn't help in the least. She tried to reason with herself reminding herself that she didn't know the man Mina was holding so affectionately from Adam then a sly grin lifted her lips as she wondered if the gentleman knew that Mina was already spoken for. He probably didn't.

Then I simply cannot let him go on believing that she is single.

With her mind made up she stood from her seat and took sure, but unhurried steps to the balcony, partially to savor the moment and partially because she didn't want to get the attention of the Queen's many guests and embaress the poor man further. As she approached she could hear the vixen's words to the unsuspecting victim.

"How long muct we wait my king before we return to your home? I simply cannot withstand the thought of being without you for even a moment."

The gentleman didn't answer, perhaps he had heard something in Mina's voice that made him suddenly begin to suspect her of trickery. Even to Seras' inexperienced ears the words had come off as rehearsed and forced. Seras' stomach turned when he just held her more tighly, then finally making it to where they stood she spoke with the sly and falsely warm smile on her lips.

"Excuse me Miss Murray, but is it not a bit scandulous to be holding a man who is not your fiance in such a manner?"

Seras did her best to hide her self-satisfactory smile behind her scarlet and black fan when Mina jumped away from the gentleman as if she was electrified, but her blue eyes danced with the laughter she suppressed.

"J...Johnathon is not here," Mina stuttered.

"That makes it better doesn't it?" Seras rhetorically asked in a fake sweet tone.

"Fiance?" the gentleman finally spoke in a deep, seductive, quiet, and heavily accented voice.

Yes he is definitely European and if I have my accents right Romanian.

With wide, scared, and guilty brown, almost black eyes Mina backed away then quickly darted to the dance floor to disappear in the crowd with her black hair falling out of her bun and swinging wildly behind her. Seras' smile refused to be hidden any longer and with her personal mission done she was about to head back to her seat when his voice stopped her.

"I suppose I should thank you Miss...?"

Her smile was truly warm and friendly as she turned to face him and she couldn't control her barely audible gasp as she got her first good look at him. No wonder Mina had been hanging all over him, the word handsome did him no justice, but was the only one she could think of. Ruby, red eyes stared down into her sapphire blue, very likely trying to determine to himself if she was just another trickster like Mina. She was a little miffed about being compared to that whore, but decided that she couldn't and wouldn't blame him for wondering. His black hair framed a pale gorgeous face and fell in slight waves down to the middle of his back where it was tied with a leather band and blew in the wind looking like a part of the night itself. He had to be a least six feet tall if not even taller. His lips held a slightly warm but careful smile no doubt a return of her own smile to him. In short he looked every bit the king that Mina had called him. A king of the night.

"Miss?"

"Oh I beg your pardon. It was a bit stuffy in there and I suppose the fresh night air worked a bit too well," she replied with a blush at being caught staring.

"It has a way of doing that," he replied with laughter in his voice.

"Seras," she said.

"Sorry?"

He cocked his eyebrow in question.

My name, its Seras. Seras Victoria."

He took her gloved hand in one of his own larger ones and gently kissed her knuckles. That small contact sent another new sensation through her. Electricity moved like lightning through her veins, surging through her and making her yearn for something that she didn't know.

"A pleasure Miss Victoria. I am Vladimir Dracul. King of Romania."

I knew it.

"The pleasure is truly all mine your majesty, but I'm afraid I really must be getting back inside before my father sends a mob after me."

"A mob?"

"Yes, the sad thing is thats no jest, he really would. When it comes to Letti and I he really does not think rationally, especially when he has been drinking."

"And he has been drinking I take it?"

"Yes, he is more drunk than a skunk as they say."

King Dracul chuckled and she may have imagined it she could swear that he was reluctant to let go of her hand just as she was reluctant to leave his prescence. She stood there in front of him a moment longer, then gently tugging her hand until he let go she curtsied.

"A good evening to you Sir Dracul."

"And to you Miss Victoria."