#so it's not impossible there's a bit of alucard in him

[echoesofdusk]

don't tell pokemon fans about this

[alucarddear]

what if alucard’s wife dreams that he cheated? like she wakes up in the middle of the night almost crying and then occurs to her “oh, I was dreaming” but she’s still a little bit mad and get away from his embrace which wakes him up and he’s like “babe what’s wrong?” “you cheated” and he’s like “what? I didn’t!”. a little bit fluffy in the end with him assuring her that this will never happen because he loves her too much 🥹

+more requests that are along the same vein. Here’s to some of you seeking a comfort drabble with our beloved meow meow. 🤍🦇

Immutable Truth

Alucard’s wife dreams that he cheated on her. [She/her]

It is immutable truth. Just as the sun is bright and the nights are dark, I love you.

Alucard wakes to the sound of his wife sniffling next to him.

He wipes the sleep from his eyes and immediately attempts to take her in his arms, but she wouldn't budge. “What’s wrong? Another nightmare?”

He expects some half-slurred sad story—the usual culprit that breaks her sleep—but meets instead a fierce glare.

Her eyes are burning. "I dreamt that you cheated on me!"

His wife's remark almost had him laughing, if not for the distress on her face.

“What? Love, I never would,” he states calmly. “Hush now. It’s a bad dream and nothing more, I assure you.”

"Adrian, I-I..."

And there it is, the sight he dreads the most. Quivering lips, reddened eyes, tears that wouldn't seem to stop. Her sobbing pierces straight through his heart and fills him with the overwhelming need for anything to have it stop, anything to make her feel better.

"Hush now, darling. It was nothing but a bad dream. Come here," he says, arms open to receive her. She glares at him yet again.

“Should I be offended, my love? I would never look another way; surely you know this to be true.” But his words don’t get him anywhere. She wouldn't accept his embrace.

Sigh. "Alright, I won't touch you. But would you tell me, please, darling? So that I may soothe your worries." I hate to see you cry.

"I dreamt that y-you chose someone else over m-me; t-that you l-left me—hic—just like that..."

Oh.

He listens patiently, giving his wife time to let it all out and calm herself.

“You are constantly at the receiving end of confessions after confessions. Letters, presents, barely veiled affection right in front of my eyes, even though we're married!"

It is true, Alucard has to admit. Ever since the establishment of Belmont Village, he had been somewhat popular. There are some that have been, for lack of a better word, persistent despite his martial status.

He nearly cringed. He had an inkling that those incidents bothered her but chose to downplay them in lieu of causing a rift. The idea of ever leaving her had always been ludicrous at best, but he realises now that he should have been doing a much better job of reassuring her. He should have been firmer in rejecting others' advances.

Alucard takes her hands in his, and this time she lets him. “I understand," he says. "I have gotten used to the attention as of late that I…" He shakes his head. "No, there is no excuse. I apologise. I would do better.”

He caresses her cheeks, tenderly wiping away new tears that are threatening to form before they could have the chance to break his heart in pieces.

“I want you to know that their words hold very little weight to me,” he whispers lovingly, staring straight into her eyes as if imploring her to see through him, to view the vastness of his love.

Then, he presses soft kisses just below her eye. “Hush now, sweetheart, please, my lovely wife… It pains me to see you this way.”

If she only knew just how little it takes for her to break his heart in two. Even before she gave herself to him, he’d wanted nobody else. Hearing her crying over something he considers utterly impossible… he should have been doing a much better job of proving himself to her. If anything, he’s disappointed in himself.

It’s only you whose love and affection cause a stomping in my heart, a magnitude of which I have never felt before, he wants to express but couldn’t find the right words to. It's only you whose very voice is enough to lift my spirit. How could I ever hope to replace this feeling? To love another? To abandon you would be akin to losing everything. Everything.

"I have everything I could ever want. I have you."

It is immutable truth. Just as the sun is bright and the nights are dark, I love you. I love you and I am yours.

“There’s only you, darling. I love only you.“

Alucard goes on to reason with her. “Have I ever given you cause to worry? When was the last time?”

When was the last time? He looks at her as if to challenge her. The very notion of him looking another way was almost laughable if his beloved wife wasn’t in agony over it.

“Don’t you make light of my commitment to you,” he tells his wife solemnly. How long has he to live? A thousand years, if not more, yet all of it he wishes to spend with her. It’s almost frightening, truly, the depth of his affection and adoration for this woman. His want—his need—for her runs so deeply it’s enough for him to believe it can transcend lifetimes.

The thought of being somewhere, anywhere, without her is frightening in and of itself. How was he to even ponder it?

“There is not a life in which I would ever abandon you,” he says plain and simple. The surest thing in the world.

“There is only you, my darling wife,” he says pointedly. “In any life, in any place, I would choose you.” In a heartbeat. Always. It’s only fitting, he thinks. For there was nothing before she came into his life.

“I’m sorry…” his wife mumbles, avoiding his eyes, looking adorably like a petulant child ashamed of her blunder. It makes him smile. Silly girl.

“It’s alright, please; you had a valid concern. And I don’t wish for you to misunderstand. I am not angry.” He opens his arms to receive her, to shield her. “Come here to me.”

This time, she tilts her face toward his like a sunflower to the sun, a pleased smile now etching itself onto her mouth. Alucard places a kiss upon it and captures her in his arms. Yours. All yours.

[writefandoms]

Love Thy Body (Comm)

Adrian Tepes x Female!Reader (smut)

Summary: Adrian Tepes is in dire need of some good ol’ fashion loving.

Word Count: 1.9k

The dhampir of Wallachia was a man known by the name Alucard. 

The opposite of the evil Dracula, he’s seen as the people's savior. The one who will destroy the mad vampire and seal him to rest in his coffin for all eternity. 

But the old stories were just that: stories. Nothing but old wise tales passed around village to village. 

The real Alucard wasn’t the opposition to anyone. He was simply a man. A man who had lost those dear to him in the span of one long nightmare. One that could only end once he drove a stake into his own fathers heart. 

When you looked at this strong hero, you didn’t see a man. No- you saw a crying child longing for his mother and father. 

Adrian wore his scars with great sadness.

From the slice across his chest- given to him from his own father. To the burns around his wrists- given to him by those he entrusted with his body and soul. 

There was no savior, only a wounded child. 

Adrian Tepes was a beautiful man. No one could deny it. 

Even when he spoke with pure arrogance and sass, his golden eyes and sharp jawline were bound to make even the strongest of wills shatter at his looks. 

Upon your first meeting, you were very close to clocking him in his perfect nose. His sharp tongue and know-it-all attitude, made it impossible to not seethe with rage. 

But as you spoke with the man, you began to see past the beauty of his face. Looking into the eyes of a broken creature, longing for someone to hold him- but to scared to open himself to others. Fear of betrayal outweighed his need for compassion. 

The first time you kissed was quite a surprise for both of you. Tension was high after a fierce battle with a few night creatures. One moment your locking eyes, the next your pressed against him in a heated embrace. 

You both swore it was from the heat of battle, even when you can't help thinking about how soft his lips were. 

One broken promise later, you find each other stripped down and in each other’s embrace. No- not quite actually. 

You’re stripped naked, Adrian is only missing his cloak. 

As unfair as you think it is, the orgasms that Adrian delivers are enough to keep your complaints to yourself. 

You thought nothing of his tendency to remain mostly clothed during your heated exchanges. Usually your mind is to busy being blown to care. But tonight would be different. 

“Strip.”

Adrian simply freezes, suddenly unsure where to put his hands on your exposed body. 

“I beg your pardon?” Ever the linguistic, but still playing dumb. 

“Ya’ speak English or not? I said strip.” Your legs shut, blocking his hands or wandering eyes from your privates. 

“I’ve never had to-“

“Aye, I’m naked as the day I was born, yet you’re still in your fancy boots. It’s not fair!” Arms folded like your scolding him, you pick up a pillow to block your chest from his view. “No more fucking until I get to see your bits!”

It’s his turn to scowl now, sitting back on his knees, on the mattress. 

“Language.”

“Stop changing the subject, strip or no more fun time!”

“Fun time?” His lips twitch slightly, a smirk forming on his face. 

Not liking his blatant disregard for his request, you tug a spare sheet around your shoulders to cover your bare body. 

“Fine.” Dragging yourself to your feet, you turn from him, “Good night.”

It doesn’t take him long to call you back, not even two seconds in fact. 

“Don’t leave.” His tone is new, almost fragile. Like if you raised your voice he’d shatter. “Please.”

Clasping your sheet dress, you turn towards him, but wait for him to continue. He doesn’t speak, only reaches a hand out, a proverbial olive branch. 

Who are you to deny this beauty of a man. 

Adrian cups your hand so gently, tugging you towards him. He’s sitting at the foot of the bed, spreading his legs to fit you between them. His eyes level with your chest. 

He’s peering up at you with a look that you can’t quite pinpoint. Definitely lust, but with a twinge of something else. 

Pulling your hand downward, he leads you to his button up. Your fingers follow his to the first button, his hands slip away, but the invitation remains. 

Uncertainty weighs your fingers down, slowly unbuttoning the first one. Only when he nods do you pick up the pace, eager to see more of him. Even the small sliver of visible pale flesh has you excited. 

But that excitement is quickly dashed once you catch sight of the large scar branding his near perfect skin. He must regard your sadness as disgust because he pulls back. 

The look on his face of pure disdain- but you know it’s not directed towards you. 

“Satisfied?” Is all he spits at you, eyes glaring at the wall behind you. 

Lifting a hand, your fingers dance along the scar tissue. Only able to journey so far before his hand grips your wrist and halts your motion. 

“Don’t-“ His grasp weakens, shoulders slumping, “-don’t pity me.”

Allowing your hand to pull free, you begin your conquest once again. This time planting both hands firmly against his chest, before leaning down planting a chaste kiss against his lips.

It’s soft. Softer than either of you’ve ever been with one another. 

Adrian takes a moment but returns the sweet gesture. Lips working against yours, like two puzzle pieces. 

You don’t give him a chance to think before pushing your body weight onto him, successfully landing him on his back. 

Despite being caught off guard, he’s still quick enough to land on his elbows. 

“Bloody vampire speed.” You grumble, but refuse to let him stump this small victory. 

Latching your lips on his jaw, you revel in the gasp that leaves him. Adventure further down the column of his throat, leaving small bites and kisses in your wake. 

The subtle pleasures must be enough for him to lower his guard once again, slowly laying flat on his back. His hands fist the sheets beneath him, claws unconsciously ripping the fabric. 

Noticing this loss of control you take the opportunity to lighten the mood. “Tsk. That’s silk, Mr. Tepes.”

Moving back to lock eyes with him, you’re relieved to see him roll his eyes. 

“I can always buy new ones.”

“Oh? Trying to impress me with your riches?” Hands spread on his chest, you push yourself into an upright position, straddling his waist. 

Adrian’s hands move from the sheets, securing themselves onto your hips. 

“Are you only straddling me because of my possible riches?” The grip on your hip gives him leverage to grind against your bare crotch, drawing a low moan from you. 

“Trust me, it’s not just your money that keeps me here.” You trail a hand down his chest, raking your nails a little harsher as you reach the sharp v-line, leading to the tent in his pants. 

“Y-your- ahhh…vile creature.” His moans only add to the heat between your legs, making you unconsciously rub against his bulge. 

“An’ you’re too sexy for your own good.” Your eyes admire the sight of him beneath you. 

Pale skin, ripped muscles, beautiful face, all for you. 

“Quiet.” Is all he can muster in a weak defense, but the pink tint on his cheeks is a dead give away. 

“Not until I make up for all the times you hid this work of art from me.”

Hands run down his bare chest, fingers trying to memorize every crack and crevice. His breathing hitches when you trace his scar, skin more sensitive than the rest. 

Leaning down you catch a pink nipple between your lips, giving a half hearted suck. His reaction is a mixture of surprise and pleasure, back arching a fraction and fingers twitching. 

“Heathen…” he manages to groan with faux anger, not convincing due to the pink still tinting his cheeks. 

“Whore.” You grin back up at him, rolling his nipple between your teeth now. 

“Hng-” It’s adorable really- watching him struggle to keep his cool demeanor up. 

Your mouth remains latched to his nipple, hand wandering down his arm, pausing at his wrist. Even with your soft grip around it has tension rushing through his muscles. Pulling his wrist a bit, you feel slight resistance before he allows you to drag his hand towards your face. Still hovering over his chest, you place a soft kiss on the dark scar that resembles a bracelet. 

“You’re beautiful,” you sit up to straddle him once again, while hoisting his other wrist to your lips. “So beautiful it’s nearly scary.”

He’s breathless as he lays back and watches you plant kiss after kiss along his scars. 

The grinding of your hips against his catches him by surprise. 

“Oh!” The half vampire gasps, mouth opening revealing two razor sharp fangs. 

His hands are led down your neck, past your chest, landing on your hips. Hot friction burns between your arousal and his, successfully leaving a wet spot on his pants. 

“Please let me show you how badly I need you…” your voice loses any confidence, taking on a breathy, whiny tone. 

Your eyes lock, his half lidded golden orbs staring at you with a near predatory gaze. One hand drops from your hip and slides between your legs.

“Ah! Adrian-” Your cries only make his fingers move more, direct contact making your thighs clench. 

Moving up a bit, unconsciously giving his long, attentive, fingers better access. His fingers are slightly sticky with your arousal, taking said juices and rubbing it around your hole. 

“This- mmm… I wanna be in c-control!” As angry as you try to sound, you can’t help the noises leaving you, screwing your eyes shut to focus on the pleasure. 

“You want me to stop?” He questions, his fingertip pushes into your eager cunt, giving only a hint of relief before pulling out. “Fine.”

The whimper that leaves you has him growing hard- well, harder. 

“Please…more.”

There’s no time to try and deny your body's needs, not when he allows his finger to push into you, all the way in. Thrusting the finger slowly, the sounds of wetness get louder. He pulls them out completely, only for two to push back in. 

“Y-yes- need more…” Your hips move on their own, fucking yourself on his fingers. 

He doesn’t press another in though, instead keeps his eyes locked on the place where you wrap tightly around his fingers. Even the slightest crook of his finger inside of you has you toppling over, bare chests rubbing each other. At this awkward angle you can’t really fuck yourself onto him, leaving you at the mercy of his slow and shallow fingerfucking. 

That need for release grows as his long fingers strike sparks against your inner walls. The sounds coming from your lower half would be embarrassing if you weren’t going mad with unholy needs. 

“I can’t come like this, p-please…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you can’t walk. Okay, my love?”

My love. A title too romantic for your intimate relationship, words failing you.

Your lack of response is substituted by your tightness clenching around his digits, making his chest rumble with an evil chuckle. 

“Good girl.”

[loadinghellsing]

How do you think Alucard and Anderson would confess their feelings to each other?

How do you think Anderson deals with coming to terms with his feelings towards Alucard?

When it comes to Alucard and Anderson's dynamic, majority of their feelings are understood without ever being spoken or directly acknowledged. So for them to confess, truly confess, I don't see it coming naturally to either of them. Alucard needs a shove, and Anderson needs a bit of coaxing.

(WARNING: LONG POST - goes into depth beneath cut)

---

While Alucard shamelessly flirts with and praises Anderson at every opportunity. His admiration, awe, amusement, and thrill all evident. Because Anderson is a willing, capable opponent who shares beliefs parallel to Vlad's own. He's eager, passionate, and raw with his humanity. And he's capable of taking a hit and outliving those who are doomed by time alone. Alucard can endlessly adore him in specific and concept.

However, for Alucard to admit he loves Anderson. That he cares for him, both mentally and physically. Is an entirely different matter. To confess that he'd prioritize Anderson's needs over his own, is the type of commitment that distinguishes love (platonic or romantic), from obsession. It's an intimate and vulnerable feeling. So even if he acts on these emotions, the only way I see Alucard confessing to the hold Anderson has on his heart is when the honesty of that care is challenged.

It's confessed as a pained, furious scream. Not directed at Anderson, but at himself. Reflective of what it implies about his humanity, both past and present. It's confessing not only how important Anderson is to him, and the entirety of what that means. But it'd be a visceral moment where every word would burn his throat. Because it confesses how what remains of his humanity longs for Anderson, yet it's humanity he gave up. So it hardly matters, not when it all ends the same.

---

Contrast of Alucard, is Anderson. He's a naturally caring person, and to a degree, he's honest about his feelings. Including those for Alucard. In the heat of combat, they're easily set aside. But provided a moment of calm, of comfort and safety; he wouldn't deny that truth. Confessed feelings with all the fondness, protectiveness, honesty, pity, and love he has. Perhaps tired and defeated by the weight of those words, but they'd be genuine in their entirety.

However, extracting a compliment-based confession from Anderson would be a near impossible feat. It's not a matter of him 'denying his feelings'. But the challenge of acknowledging those feelings in relation to Alucard being a vampiric monstrosity. And admitting that he finds such a creature beautiful,  a cosmic event functioning as a living force. A stunning, yet damning storm. It's a thought infinitely harder for Anderson to admit.

Any praise would be admitting his sins to the greatest sinner he knows. Perhaps over time, he'd make a quip or two. But it would remain a rare indulgence. He'd never be fully comfortable with it, but it's not entirely denied. Because it's a form of damnation he'd indulge in with Alucard. Since the idea of being condemned together isn't entirely unappealing.

---

In the end, it's Anderson struggling with damnation, and Alucard struggling with salvation. It's hard to tell who's leading who. If ones falling or the others rising. Majority of their relationship is deciding it doesn't truly matter. They lie somewhere in the between, where it is neither night nor day.

[comicaurora]

any tips on how to write a non protagonist-y protagonist? (as in, a protagonist that is not at all the leader of the team, generally isn't the most Morally Righteous, and has more lancer characteristics than protag characteristics)

I could probably give helpful thoughts if the question was more specific, but this is hella broad. The protagonist is just the character who's the central focus of the story, there's nothing inherently heroic about the role. Following an unheroic lead can be compelling for all sorts of reasons, but they're all very specific to the character and story.

Just for a quick look into the scope of this question, a few examples: Hamlet is compelling because he's a Hot Mess in a world of slightly more lukewarm messes; Chicago is compelling because every protagonist is so spectacularly awful you're rooting for their success just so you can watch them crash and burn; Death Note is compelling for similar reasons, with the added bonus of watching two terrible people pitted against each other - but while stories with protagonists that are terrible people can be fun in a "watching a trainwreck" sort of way, there are also stories with unheroic protagonists that the audience hopes become more heroic, which is the entire pull of Logan, Mandalorian season 1, the early stages of The Last Of Us, and basically everything in the "serious grumpy dad" genre where we spend some time waiting for the damaged loner to figure out he's adopted a baby.

Tons of stories have main characters that aren't the leaders of whatever team they're on, and that can be fun because it gives them a leader to follow or rebel against - Hellsing Ultimate is all about the chain of command on both the protagonist and antagonist side, and the nominal main character Alucard is a morally incomprehensible eldritch abomination who's the scariest thing in the entire show. He's fun to watch because he's a literal living nightmare and every time a bad guy looks like they've got him on the ropes he just goes "neat" and farts out a hellhound or a knife tornado or something and rips them to shreds. Then there are about a million cop shows with a protagonist who's a Loose Cannon who Don't Play By The Rules, almost always defined by their rebellion against the exasperated leader who has a duty to actually follow and enforce the law. Copaganda aside, there's a lot of ways to write a character operating under a protagonist-y but potentially unhelpful authority.

Hell, if you squint, a ton of heroic characters are ultimately motivated by entirely selfish drives - which, if unpacked, end up looking very questionable in the morals department, despite the protagonist being a broadly likable person. Last Airbender has this in spades, with Aang's entire arc taking him from the starting motivation of "my responsibility as Avatar will stop me from having a life and I don't want that so I'll run away" to "my responsibility as Avatar is at odds with my Air Nomad philosophy against taking life and I don't want that so I'll find a way to stop Firelord Ozai without killing him". His initial motivation was obviously a lot less heroic, but through the entire story Aang holds onto his personal wants and desires, which is on paper a selfish and unheroic thing for the Chosen One to do - but in the context of Avatar, a war story about a group of children saving the world, it is the ultimate victory of the story that Aang and his friends don't have to sacrifice their personal happiness to win. The fact that Aang can still be a little bit selfish means that the war didn't take everything from him, and if he'd done the "heroic" thing of selflessly sacrificing his own spiritual needs to end the war as fast as possible, from a narrative standpoint it would've been a pyrrhic victory at best, because the Fire Nation would've succeeded in destroying him.

These are all wildly distinct stories, and trying to draw a few easy tips and tricks from them would be borderline impossible, since they're all doing "unheroic protagonist" in totally different ways.

[corvidcrybaby]

Say, after reading your last commentary on Integra, now I need your POV on something I've been wondering.

What do you think will happen to Hellsing once Integra dies? To Alucard and Seras? Integra has expressed no interest in having children, and since she wants to avoid becoming a vampire, we know she won't be alive forever. Does she have a plan for that?

Hi! Omg so sorry to take so long to get to answering this, life has been insane on my end.

To answer your question, I'd wager there's a plan in place. Whether it pans out according to Integra's expectations or not is what remains to be seen. Integra mentions that the Organization will be passed over to the general military once she passes, and the Crown will thus assume direct control of the agency and its vampires. I'm willing to bet good money that the sigils that bind Alucard and Seras could potentially be transferred. If they are, then they'll keep up their job as the UK's resident vampire pest control until something extreme happens to break that bond of servitude. The nature of these sigils is unfortunately never explored fully, nor how they work, which leaves us with naught but speculation. However, this is my educated guess at how they probably work.

On the other hand, let's entertain the more interesting prospect of if those sigils are less malleable than we think, and it becomes impossible to bend Alucard and Seras to the will of someone else. From there? If the British military effectively has to try to keep these two under control through... What, good will? Threat of force? Both ideas are ultimately laughable. If that is the case, then I think Alucard is going to assess the inheritor's character and convictions. If he finds Integra's replacement to be unworthy, and there are no magic spells forcing him to play nice, then I think he probably peaces out to take a nice long nap. I think he probably goes into hibernation after Integra's passing - which, mind you, I think he'll be destitute following. It would be hard to read from him, but he holds Integra in high esteem, and went out of his way to return to her after Schroödinger-gate. That shows a high degree of loyalty, and I think Alucard would be laying low for a minute. After he wakes up, however, is when I suspect he might piss off into the unknown, wandering around the world - perhaps in search of interesting people to meddle with the lives of, secretly hoping he'll find the next Anderson, the next Integra, et cetera. I suspect he'll probably go right back to eating people, though. I'd put money on him perhaps being a bit more Punisher-esque on the humans he kills for food than before, since he has hinted at the idea of humans rubbing off on him in the series before. So less the kind of guy who devours the most innocent and defenseless people imaginable, and more likely he interferes with mortal affairs that he can justify to himself are morally bankrupt so he has a steady supply of enemies to destroy and humans to feed on. I don't see him turning all of England into a necrotizing wasteland with him at the head. I think that would beneath his interest by now. I think harassing and stalking people he deems unique or entertaining would occupy much of his time post-hibernation.

Seras, however, is interesting. I suspect Seras would stick around at Hellsing of her own volition, and would continue aiding Britain in its cause to protect people and slay undead monsters. That's what she became the person she is while doing, and I think with or without Alucard, she'll keep on generally being a goody two-shoes. But I think even she would grow weary of it eventually. With Integra gone, I think it becomes less and less like the home Seras "grew up" in - and if the new commanders are inept, then I think eventually Seras would reach a breaking point where she too, might go rogue. She might tag along with Alucard for a while, and I'd wager they keep regular contact and check in with one another on a semi-frequent basis (which, for vampires, might mean catching up once a decade or some shit). Seras is her own independent person, especially after accepting her vampirism and drinking blood to become autonomous as Alucard always urged her to be. But just as that's true, I feel their relationship was always one of Seras, despite everything, wanting to remain by Alucard's side. Their relationship would no doubt shift, and I suspect they might grow more reserved with one another, but I think they might find a new kind of emotional intimacy with one another - not romantic (I like Aluseras from time to time but this is my baseline read), to be clear, but I think Seras has the vampire equivalent of her late-twenties-development after Teggy passes. And from there? Anybody's game, but I think she keeps on bumping off rogue vampires - although I think with time, it might become more territorial than altruistic in how she carries herself. Less general heroics talk and more like, a vigilante warden type of dealio. She might come to see Britain as HER TERRITORY which would spell doom for any foreign vampires thinking they can feed on "her" humans. I think time as a vampire makes everybody go a little dark, but this is still pretty tame. It's Seras, after all. She'll flay you to ribbons but only if you really, REALLY press her.

Thanks so much for the ask!!!

[see-arcane]

Hi I just wanted to say I loved your Hellsing Jonathan rambling and if you ever want to ramble again I will slurp it up like soup. Thick, delicious blood soup. Your brain is amazing!

--comments that come either from a friendly Anon, a hungry ghoul zombie, or both

Regardless of which it is, thank you! Some questionable soup for you:

-Jonathan and Integra are mistaken for relatives more than once. Dark skin, platinum hair, piercing eyes, big on vampire hunting. Is he a secret cousin or something?? (For extra weirdness, since Hirano never bothered to give him and Mina real designs in the manga, it'd be trippy if Hellsing'verse Abraham van Helsing had a strong resemblance to Original Jonathan Harker. Just for the ?!?!?! meta of it all.)

-Because of the whole technical time travel angle, Jonathan gets called 'Doctor Who' a number of times before the Hellsing soldiers warm up to him. The latter happens quick--as per Jonathan's general friend-magnet vibes--but is especially helped when everyone, Seras in particular (who is delighted to be considered a Normal Human(ish) Expert on Modern Happenings), introduce him to all the contemporary things he's clueless on, being from the 1890s.

When the Valentine brothers attack, Jonathan takes it almost as hard as the original crew when the soldiers are ghoulified...though perhaps in much smaller numbers, what with Jonathan the Surprise Cryptid as backup. Even so. Tears are shed.

-Speaking of the Surprise Cryptid factor. No one knows what to make of him. Not a vampire, not a werewolf. Yet he's crawling the walls, deadlifting impossible weights, seeing in the dark, and carving through the undead with what should be an ordinary kukri knife. They examine the blade and Jonathan assures him it hasn't been blessed in any way. Alucard hands him, of all things, a trowel. And politely invites Jonathan to stab him with it.

Jonathan hesitates. Alucard slips into Count Dracula pitch and starts making Comments and Remarks about Mina.

Jonathan cracks Alucard upside the head. The mark is hidden under his hair...but it stays there. A real scar. From a garden tool. Whatever Jonathan is, he's playing the divine battery source with any weapon put in his hands. Interesting.*

*Alucard is about to vibrate out of existence with or without Schrodinger's poison.

-Pip is Pip. Heroic final moments or not, he is...a very particular case of Classically Manful/Boorish at times, and several steps shy of Quincey Morris-brand gallantry. Jonathan is still Jonathan. It takes a While+ for either of them to not grate against each other. Especially with regards to how less-than-gentlemanly Pip initially is to Seras.

Some of that is soothed a bit when, being the newcomer and still some form of professional in a grisly business, he's spared the worst of Jonathan's ire following the bloody business in Brazil. He likely has his own flashback to boyhood, his first tears over senseless aggression, his shocked horror at his father's violent suggestion of retaliation--but even that was only against an enemy. Nothing like the horror show at the hotel.

He and Seras (who has admittedly already started packing this latest trauma away for later) are most likely the only ones Jonathan can stand to listen to under that roof. Probably the only reasons he doesn't try to up and leave right then.

[alvcrd]

she is a bit bored so she goes to annoy alucard , coming up from behind him and not saying a word - only pulling at the back of his hat gently before walking infront of him.

Unprompted || Always Welcoming!!

Vestiges of rumbling growl echo from his hollow chest, followed by the baring of impossibly long fangs. It’s no secret he doesn’t like to be touched- and he’s not about to start pretending today.

“ How ANNOYING. Childish behavior is unbecoming of you. ”

[fstbmp-a]

@sourentropy​ sent: alt!!!

“Oh?” 

Pinpricks of red slide up from the book he was reading at the intruder to his room, uncaring for the longest time as he assessed the other. Unimpressed, that was surely what appeared in those indifferent red moons gazing at you. Book slams shut, echoing in the empty room as the vampire stood.

“You’ve certainly had to cause plenty of trouble to get here, haven’t you? What a shame that you entered this room, out of any you could have chosen.”

There was no warning. There was no grand gesture. No ‘have at you’. No, the shadows merely snarled. Twisted, lashed; where once had been nothing tangible there was a great yawning maw, hungry, and already tearing into the food that had so graciously entered the room. How ichor splashed and poured, all whilst this... thing approached. 

This impossibility in the shape of a man. Even as you fire wildly at him, wrenching free bone, blood, and thicker stuff he does not relent. No, it was like watching darkness and fire itself gaze back with so many eyes. So many wicked, grinning maws as more and more of the facade was forced off. Yet still it came closer. Those snarling beasts hounding and chomping at the bit as you backpedal with what limbs you have left.

The sudden sound of gunfire not your own as knee explodes, the black barrel smoking in the vampire’s hand as Alucard oh-so-slowly lowered before you. Crouched gently in front of your quaking form, as body reformed just as immaculate as before it had been twisted into such impossible horror.

“I’d quite enjoy to play with my food longer, but my Master is calling for me. No doubt because of you. Thank you for the entertainment, though, it can get so dull between when she lets me loose.”

Still warm, the gun was, as it was pressed so carefully against your forehead.

Then you join the darkness smiling so sweetly at you. The cacophony of wails and torment of countless others before you. You know now how futile the idea of slaying the beast was, for there were far too many to slay before you had the barest glimmering hope of succeeding.

Alucard from Hellsing!

[demigoddessqueens]

Headcanons of how would Alucard, Issac, Hector, Dracula, and Trevor react to their shy s/o who normally gives quick pecks on the lips, gently hold their faces while they kiss them until they're out of breath?

Yes! I loved this kiss request from before!

Alucard

He’s still getting used to such forward affection and it’s the element of surprise with every kiss. Whenever it’s the long-winded kisses, he tenses up at first, then slowly melts into it. Into you. Arms wrapping around you and you hear the slightest bit of a moan in his voice.

Trevor

What’s this? What are you do—mph!! Grabs quickly onto you and pulls closer than you suspected. It’s a bit rough, hot, passionate, hands all over each other. He is not shy about how you make him feel snd you both pull apart for air, you’re both gasping.

Isaac

He notices you approaching and it’s near impossible to sneak a kiss. Rather, you make conversation with him for a while before making your move (or Isaac wanted to kiss you just as much and you’re both making a move). He hold you close, cupping your head tenderly.

Hector

Bit caught off guard, but when you kiss him oh he’s wide-eyed for a few seconds before relaxing contentedly. Hugs you into the kiss, with a little bit of a sigh. You also feel a bit of a sway when his hands grip onto your waist.

Dracula

Nothing gets by this vampire Lord of Shadows so if you’re kissing him, be prepared to be scooped up, held tight within that luxurious cape. It’s not even a “kiss”, it’s an affair all on its own, all consuming and overwhelming of the senses and soul that will most likely go into the hours of the night

[crepe-of-wrath]

Very Silly Wish-fulfillment (feat. Alucard), part ???? in an infinite series

Finally, it seemed like the dreadful, unwelcome days of a summer that, like its many predecessors, had quite overstayed its welcome had passed. This morning, the air had not been so leaden and the vague scent of stagnation that had seemed to suffuse all the world around you for so long had finally dissipated.

In fact, it had started to rain. Not a sporadic, sputtering-then-gushing summer storm, but a steady, quiet, cool rain that made a pleasant rhythm against the roof and windows. The type of rain that drove everything else to ground so that you could have serenity.

You had just settled onto your sofa when the room was filled with most mellifluous sound in all the world.

"May I join you?" Alucard's voice was the pleasantest rumble.

"At this hour? What a fortunate surprise." You moved over and he sat next to you. You could tell he was surprised and, given the way he flinched ever so slightly when you stopped him, a bit wounded when you blocked him from wrapping a long, lithe arm around you.

"Can you--your coat?" Your were a bit startled by how small your voice sounded--but that seemed to soothe him. He took one arm out and, as he brought the crimson cloth around you, snaked his arm around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

You found your familiar place, cradled against his shoulder, as you idly played with his necktie and the rain continued to fall from the grey and moody sky. The wind whistled gently against the glass panes of the tall windows and you could see the trees idly sway. Alucard let his hair morph a bit until you could bury your face in it, and he deployed a tendril to caress your shoulder while his hand kept you almost impossibly close.

You were enveloped in Alucard's body and you were safe and summer had given way. Your mind was clear, quiet. You wanted for nothing in this moment.

The tendril on your shoulder moved up to stroke your cheek: a sure sign he wanted something of you. You lifted your head up and looked into his eyes expectantly.

"If the rain stops tonight"--his voice! his voice! his voice! did he know what it did to you?--"won't you accompany me on a picnic?"

"It might be cold!" you exclaimed.

He leaned over until his lips were close to yours. "Then I will have to keep you very, very close, won't I?" You wrapped your hands more forcefully in his necktie, which made him groan in approval, and placed the most delicate kiss on his lips.

In a flash, he had you straddling his lap, and the way he gripped your shoulders suggested that he had no intention of being delicate in his reciprocation.

And, all the while, it continued to rain.

[edgygayguy]

Ok since you're apparently tall asf (and consider me envious I WISH I could reach my highest kitchen cabinets without a stepping stool) how tall is the ideal trump card? Is 7ft enough height difference or does the werewolf need to be on stilts? 🤣

Also while I'm here, got any favorite HCs for Hans and Pip you'd want to share?

Thank you for the ask!

No need for the envy, I may be able to reach far but scoliosis, chronic backpain and shoulder bones that pop as loud as a faraway gunshot is the price I pay xD

7ft is definitely enough, but 7.22ft (pardon my European ass using Google to convert this 😭) would be like, perfection. I'm a smol bean in the body of a enlarged Fran Lebowitz, I want a giant fucking boyfriend that will have to look down at me when talking. With time I've accepted it will never happen, but still werewolf boyfriends are usually tall af and Hans is no exception, always can dream right?

As for Hans and Pip headcannons, I don't have many and the ones I do have aren't very interesting 😭

Hans is very theatrical, as we know, and I always imagined him not really knowing anything about commanding, fighting, and military stuff in general past firing his guns (and kicking huge explosives without them detonating ig). So if Hans and Pip ended up in a fight Hans would just run around doing backflips and shit while Pip would try to yell at him what to do so he doesn't get hurt. I think it would be great in an AU where he joins the wild geese a bit before the events of Hellsing. I Imagine Hans just rushing head first into a fight, having something blow up in his face and Pip going through all stages of grief before he sees that Hans just turned into mist before the explosion. This one is pretty subversive because you'd imagine Hans being the more serious Captain and Pip being not that good at it (tbf idk what he wanted to accomplish by waisting all ammo and explosive they had when the Hellsing mansion was stormed, my dude if you know the vampires are hiding behind hills just stop spamming till they're out smh)

Not really a headcannon but the fact that they both have the status of captain - cute af, great dynamic, maybe if you disregard the previous point they fight who's the better one.

This headcannon is something that kinda goes for every supernatural Hellsing OC I ever made and Anderson. If both Captains were at the Hellsing manor and Alucard was being a "vampiric asshole" Hans would just decapitate him as some fucked up version of "shut up and go away >: (". Idk why I just find it so fucking funny.

Hans and Pip swap uniforms often. Not much of an explanation for this one, just think it would be cute as hell.

Idk why I feel like Hans would be very shy when he's with Pip around other people, at least for some time he would be the stoic cinder block merging with the background like he is in the anime, but after a bit he would soften up. No smiles in public untill the first month, it's not his fault that he's no whore 😔

Pip is obviously the more social one, so whenever they go anywhere he does all the talking, but doesn't pretend that Hans is just not there, he's just more like "yeah that's me and my mute boyfriend" but he'd definitely jokingly tease him with shit like "c'mon at least smile" or "What? You don't even know sing language now? Mal, mal mal..."

Pip is a rainbow pride flag kinda guy and Hans is a mlm pride flag kinda guy (if you know you know)

"Loup garou" is Pip's pet name for Hans, I swear it's cute but even though I've been learning french for two years I can't provide any examples 😭😭😭

This one is stupid and silly as fuck but, at least to me, the wolf-wolf form, ya know, the giant fucking dog form of Hans from the begging of his fight with Seras? Yeah that one. It's impossible that in it he isn't similar size to Baskerville. I imagine Pip riding him in that form like a horse. Just zooming. Like Alice and Bayard in the live action movie.

If you put Pip and Hans in the same room as Integra and Seras and hit record you would get the best "mlm and wlw roast each other" quotes (who am I kidding, only wlw roasting mlm)

Hans likes to turn into mist to sneak up on Pip, no matter how much and how often this happens he just thinks it's smoke from his cigarette

I can't think of anything else of value rn so this is all I got for now 😭. The next part is nsfw, so heads up.

Because Hans is a werewolf this is kinda inevitable, but in my mind Pip doesn't like the idea of sleeping with Hans in his werewolf form at all. Maybe he warms up to it later tho.

To compensate for that the most Pip does for him is pup play

They're both switches

And best for last

Pip will sometimes just leg cling to Hans like a sloth and that is it. He probably did it as a joke once and now made it a habit for some reason. I know it's not nsfw but this one is so random and idiotic I think it's best to hide it at the bottom KWKWKSSKWK

Now that that's over, thank you for the ask @nuclearforest, you're a treasure and a gift to this fandom

[therealvinelle]

I’m almost afraid to ask, but what are your thoughts on Hellsing? Any heretical takes? Why do you prefer the first anime over the OVA?

It's one of those things that are so obvious to me I wouldn't even know how to explain it. The Hellsing anime is just better, plain and simple, the animation, the script, the plot, the OST, the voice acting, the characters, all of it.

I don't like a single thing in the Hellsing OVA, it's rare that I am purely negative towards a thing but that OVA had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

Here, for art, script, and voice acting comparison: the Valentine fight scene in the anime, and in the OVA.

It's been years since I watched either of these, and I actively repressed memories of the OVA, so doing a more detailed comparison is tough. However, Seras Victoria's transformation is an example I think says it all.

The situation in both is this: Seras Victoria is a policewoman who gets captured by a vampire that uses her as a body shield. To kill the vampire, Alucard must shoot his bullet through her.

In the OVA, he asks her if she's a virgin. Then he shoots, and explains as she lays gurgling on the ground that he had no choice but hey, you could become a vampire if you wish. Clip

In the anime, he explains this to her, and then asks if she wishes to live on as a vampire. She says yes, and he fires his gun. Clip

To me there's just no comparing the two scenes (in more ways than script! Look at the art! It's so good in the anime! Then look at the generic horribleness in the OVA!). One affords her agency in that final moment, lets her calmly say "Yes." and the other... doesn't.

The anime goes on to focus on Seras Victoria's character development and how she adjusts to her new life, as well as her oddly sweet mentor/student relationship with Alucard. She's a person in the anime. The OVA makes her a part time tentacle monster with a terrible love interest, because the value they place in her is how badass she is. Her moment of glory.

Oh, and I can't stress enough my distaste for how the OVA treated everything like a boss fight. And added sexual abuse to Alucard's backstory for no goddamn reason besides edginess. And characters making speeches that would go on for over five fucking minutes, speeches that in most cases could have been reduced to a single line. "I love war", there, done. And oh, some of those speeches were entirely dedicated to how badass Alucard was, I couldn't find any examples on youtube but they never failed to cheapen him.

You have the Roman Catholic Church, which in the anime is a rival organization with the same priorities, and in the OVA becomes bad guys who side with the nazi robots because hullo, evil.

The final boss fight of both anime and OVA is in the anime poignant, nothing beats the moment Alucard looks like he's lost and he uses his last bit of energy to tell Seras to save herself, but she carries his head with her anyway. OVA final fight was just... bosses being thrown at Alucard and then dying in increasingly bizarre ways. Old butler Walter went dark side and deaged into a sexy bad boy! And dies in some way I can't recall but I'm pretty sure it involved Alucard genderbending and putting on a nurse costume! Anderson gave up his humanity to win but turned into a tree instead! The nazis were swallowed up by a sea of blood and gore, I think! And instead of being derpy hilarity, I'm bored to tears!

Look, I'm just going to keep going. I absolutely loathed the Hellsing OVA, the worst thing about it is that it completely drowned the Hellsing anime. The fandom is impossible to track down because all the content is OVA, and season 2 is never happening because people want the OVA and that's the worst thing in the world because season 1 ended on a cliffhanger.

Final thing I'll say before ending the post: notice the absence of Integra in this post. In the anime, she's a fantastic character, a woman made of steel that I can believe could tame Alucard. She's indomitable, a truly extraordinary woman. Enter the OVA, and she's so generic and forgettable badass that I can't remember a single one of her scenes.

Just, the Hellsing anime, chef's kiss, it was beautiful.

Hellsing OVA, boo hiss.

@thecarnivorousmuffinmeta, got anything to add?

[kkeidawrites]

Can you please write something for pregnant Greta? Like, it comes to a shock to both Greta and Alucard but they’re both so excited and happy about it or Alucard knows before she does and his dramatic ass plans a whole 9 yard evening dinner and tells her? Idc what it is but we need more Daducard content!!!

Her scent was different these past few days. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it could be.

Greta had been going to the latrine more often than usual and Alucard decided to try something to confirm his suspicions.

Her mood had also changed a lot during the past couple of weeks and Greta claims it’s just the stress from the building of the wall around the ever growing village of Belmont. There was also a time where Greta fell out in a faint while working on blueprints for the proper rope that needed to be used when building the wall.

The people of Belmont voiced their concerns to the dhampir and Alucard needed some advice on what it could be.

“Alucard, how often have you and Greta been…you know,” Sypha’s unfinished question makes the dhampir tilt his head in confusion. He had made a stop at, she and Trevor’s home to talk about Greta’s current conditions.

“What?” Alucard asked.

“She’s asking how long have you been fucking the headwoman unprotected?” Trevor’s vulgarity never ceased to amaze both Sypha and Alucard as his quip is earned with a slap to the back of his head.

“What does that have to do with-”

“Alucard, have you ever thought that maybe Greta is…pregnant?” Sypha asks and Alucard thought for a moment. He and Greta had been very much, been ‘together’ ever since they had married a year ago but, he would had never thought that he would have been able to procreate, albeit with his vampire and human background, it seemed impossible.

“She has been going to the latrine more often than usual, but I didn’t think it would pertain to that.” He tells Sypha.

“But you did say her scent has changed, right? The signs are all there. The fainting, the multiple trips to the latrine, she has been snacking a lot lately and it’s all going to her hips.” Alucard blushed at that. Greta’s hips have widened a bit and he has very much appreciated the change in them.

He often finds himself placing his hands on her hips and most instances squeezing her ass at the extra plumpness there.

“You should tell her Alucard.” Sypha suggested and Alucard sucked in a breath and then felt his cheeks flush a bit.

“And if she’s pregnant…? How do you think-do you think she would be-”

“Of course she would be thrilled Alucard,” Sypha grasps one of his hands in her small ones.

“You two have been together, going on two years now, not only are you both amazing godparents to our son, you both care enough to put others before you and are willing to do everything in your power to keep the people happy. That also means that you both should be happy as well.” Sypha tells him.

“But-”

“Oh for Christ sakes, just set up a dinner for you two tonight and just tell her. What’s the worst that can happen?” Trevor says with a shrug and Alucard bites his lower lip.

That evening, Alucard guides a giggling Greta to their shared bedroom and opens the door for her to step in first. She smiles at the gentlemanly gesture and Alucard watches her go inside their room his eyes finding her ass, bounce more often than before.

Her gasp of surprise made the dhampir look up to see Greta place a hand over her mouth in surprise at the small dinner setup in front of the fireplace. The small dining table held two plates and glasses with a nice dinner garnished on top.

Alucard closed the door and makes his way to her side, pulling out her chair and letting her sit in it. She thanks him as she is scoot in close to the table and Alucard takes his own seat across from her.

He serves them both a plate of grilled fish with potatoes, garlic and spices and then a glass of some sweet juice that Greta loved so much. The two quietly eat in silence.

Alucard’s heart seemed to be beating awfully loud as he kept sneaking glances at his love and Greta secretly smiles at this. The two years she’s gotten to know him, she noticed things that she would keep to herself. Even a particular spot under his chin that she loved to rub that makes him…she wouldn’t spill all that.

Alucard took another bite of his meal then set his fork down and cleared his throat to get her attention. Greta takes another sip of her drink and looks at Alucard’s slowly turning red face.

“Nervous?” She asked with a grin.

“Um, a bit.” He says rubbing his sweaty hands together.

“I wanted to tell you s-something. It’s a bit um…life changing.” He tells her. Greta’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Really?” She questions.

“Yes! Um, I think you will like it, love it actually,” he says and moves from his seat to take a knee by her hip. Greta turns her body to him.

Alucard grabs her right hand and kissed her knuckles, staying there a bit longer for her to feel all of his love for her.

“I love you. You know that right?” He asked and Greta smiles with a nod.

“As much as I love you.” He smiles.

“Greta, I…”

“I believe that you may be with…that you…”

He clears his throat again nervously. Greta felt she didn’t need to play with him anymore and put her left hand under her chin.

“So, when are you going to tell me that I am pregnant?” His eyes widened and then he laughs as she laughs as well.

“I’m guessing you already knew?” He asked.

“I just found out this afternoon, I was going to tell you later this evening, after we had dinner and among other…things.” She hinted with her eyes pointing to the bed.

“How did you find out?” He asked, actually curious.

“Adrian, I’ve been around pregnant women ever since I was young, I know the symptoms and I kind of figured I was with child when I kept blowing my chucks in the latrine far more times during the day and my snacking went straight to my hips and ass. I went to the healer and they had me do the latch test, and low and behold I am indeed pregnant.” She tells him.

Alucard’s lips break into a smirk and he suddenly scoops her up into his arms as the woman giggles.

“I can just pretend we didn’t break the ice on the news and we can still do other ‘things’.” Alucard teases as he walks them to their bed with a playful glint in his eye.

“What news?” Greta plays along and Alucard kisses her as she laughs again.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$&$$$$$$$$$$&$$$$

I am soooooo sorry for the late response to your request I hope you like it!

Part 2!

[johaerys-writes]

Where Blood Roses Bloom

Fandom: Castlevania

Pairings: Alucard/Trevor Belmont/Sypha, Hector/Lenore

Summary:

After Trevor gets grievously injured by a night creature, he and Sypha return to Dracula’s castle to seek Alucard’s help. The man they find there, however, is but a shadow of the friend they left behind.

Meanwhile, in far Styria, Hector does his best to survive in the vampires’ court, a lamb amidst wolves. Little do the wolves know, the lamb has fangs of its own.

Chapter 10: Higher Than Heartache is up, where Alucard leaves the ghosts of his past behind, with the help of his friends. Oh, and smut ;)

Part of the chapter here, the rest on Ao3! Or read from the beginning

“You don’t have to do this with me,” Adrian says. “You don’t have to be here for this.”

The wind whips at Sypha’s hair, bringing strawberry blond locks before her eyes as she turns to look at him. Her smile, when it widens her lips, is soft.

“Don’t be silly. Of course we do.” She turns to Belmont, who is already advancing towards the staked bodies. The thought of going near them has Adrian’s stomach turning in knots, but he makes himself follow, albeit reluctantly.

“She’s right,” Belmont says, grabbing the wooden base of the stake and pulling. “Some friends we would be, if we left you alone with… with that.”

“I did that,” Adrian says quietly. “It’s only fair that I take care of it myself.”

“Nice try, Alucard, but no,” Belmont says, casually waving his words away. “Besides, there has to be someone strong enough to lift those things, right? Wouldn’t want you to pull a muscle or something.” He makes a face as he pulls again, the stake budging only a hair.

Adrian rolls his eyes and huffs, and the faint loathing and apprehension that had coiled in his gut a moment before, when he was looking at the bodies, dissipates as he makes his way to Belmont’s side. He grabs the stake with one hand and easily plucks it out of the ground. “I am stronger than you, you know.”

Belmont grins, his face flushed. He brushes the back of his sleeve over his brow and winks at him as he says, “Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

Sypha chuckles, and it’s such an odd thing for them to laugh and joke and smile, while doing something like this. Thinking about it, though, it’s not that odd at all, when it comes to those two. Belmont and Sypha have always defied the odds, have always done the impossible. Perhaps it’s one of the reasons, Adrian thinks, that he’s so drawn to them.  

Before long, the stakes with the bodies are on the ground, side by side. Adrian takes a step back, letting them rest for a moment while he catches his breath. Belmont is beside him, and Sypha’s standing on his other side, the three of them together gazing at the withered corpses. Adrian can still discern the traces of resemblance, but they’re twisted beyond recognition.

Even so, he can bring their faces to mind, as if he only saw them the day before. It still stings to look too long, to think of it too long.

It is Sypha that takes the first step forward. She lifts her hands, and the bodies burst into flames, the pikes with them. Adrian takes a sharp breath as he watches the black smoke drifting up in thick plumes towards the sky. They watch in silence as the flames consume them.

When all but ash remains, Adrian stares at the miserable, blackened pile on the ground, the sorry remnants of the people that betrayed him, that hurt him. Perhaps, in a different life, where their paths had not crossed his, they would have still been out there somewhere, hunting vampires and monsters, living their life as best they could. In this life though, they met their end in a place such as this, for a reason such as this —which was no reason at all, really— and there’s nothing Adrian can do to change it.

The thought is a dark one, depressing, boring down on him like a mountain. If only they’d believed him, if only they'd stopped to listen…

He shakes his head, refusing to let the thought linger. His skin feels hot with shame and the still hot embers of an anger he thought he had gotten rid of. The more he looks at them, the clearer he remembers the icy rage that had taken hold of him, that had led him to sharpening the stakes and mounting their lifeless bodies on them. He thinks that, in some way, his father still lives on in him, that part of him that’s eager to burn and kill and take revenge and consume. But it never brought him peace. The same way it never brought his father peace.

With a quiet sigh, Adrian reaches in his coat pocket for the rose he had stored there, the one he plucked that morning. The intensity of its crimson colour is stark against the drabness that surrounds it, and Adrian gazes at it for a moment too long. Then, he leans down, and places it upon the ashes on the ground.

He doesn’t know if he can find it in his heart to forgive, perhaps not yet. But he knows it’s what his mother would have wanted.

Belmont’s hand is warm when it falls on his shoulder, and so are Sypha’s fingers when they thread through his own. They stand there for a short while, watching the shadows of the late afternoon sun stretch along the ground.

~

The fire in the hearth of Belmont’s and Sypha’s room crackles merrily, flames licking up the blackened logs. A glass of brandy is in Adrian’s hand, golden, strong and aromatic. As he takes a sip, staring at the flames, Adrian idly wonders how fire is more or less the same wherever you find it, whatever it happens to be burning —plain logs or bodies on stakes— but it somehow feels so different.

Sypha is sprawled on the couch behind him, chatting with Belmont who’s by the liquor cabinet, pouring himself another drink. They all returned to the castle after the deed was done, and Belmont insisted on drinking on the whole thing being over— because of course he would.

“It just seems like a fine opportunity to celebrate,” he says, tipping the mouth of the bottle over his glass. Apparently, it’s one of the finer bottles of brandy he found when snooping around the place, and Adrian can’t disagree. It’s quite good, gliding down his throat like sweet, liquid fire. “You know?”

“Celebrate what, exactly?” Adrian says dryly, still staring at the flames. “We just watched the sad remains of two people that died horrible deaths being swallowed by the fire. A nice fire, all things considered,” he nods at Sypha, “masterfully summoned, but still. Not something worthy of a celebration, if you ask me.”

Belmont laughs and shakes his head. “It’s not the fire that we’re celebrating, you maudlin bastard.” He saunters to the couch, dropping next to Sypha and placing his arm over her shoulders. “It’s the closure. You finally got some closure on the whole thing, did you not? That, and your front door doesn’t scream: Keep out, danger of death anymore.”

“Perhaps it should,” Adrian muses dejectedly. He returns to the couch, sitting on Sypha’s other side.

Sypha slithers just a bit closer to him, her large, crystal blue eyes trained on him. “How are you feeling?”

Adrian lets out a sigh, glancing down at his glass. “I’ve been better,” he says earnestly. “But at the same time... it’s not quite as bad as I thought.”

Part of him knows it’s because Sypha and Belmont are there with him, holding his hand through it, but it’s more than that. It surely is. He had once thought that he wouldn’t have been able to even stomach the sight of Sumi and Taka again, and while that’s partly true, there’s another sliver of… something else rearing its head inside him. It’s almost like regret, almost like the guilt and shame he’s been carrying with him all this while, but it’s different even than that.

“Sometimes,” he says, “I think… I think I understand why they did it. Why they betrayed me, why they attacked, why they were so mistrustful of me. The life they had led left them with no other choice. They only told me a little of what they went through in Cho’s court  —just what was absolutely necessary, I presume— but even from that I could tell that their past was filled with hurt and injustice. I don’t think that anyone’s ever shown them kindness before, or respect.” He takes in a slow breath. “It makes sense, in a way, to bite the hand that feeds, if every other hand extended has held a blade, ready to wound. It’s only logical that they would… hate me. For what I am.”

Belmont clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “There’s always a choice,” he says sharply, with an odd sort of finality. “No matter what your life has been like before. Either one of them could have stood up to the other, told them to knock it off, made them see that you were only trying to help their miserable hides. They could have left this place better and stronger for it, and made the world a better place too. But guess what?” He fixes Adrian with a look that brooks no argument. “They chose not to do that. They chose to be sorry pieces of dung that lash out at every perceived wrong, that punish those that don’t deserve it. They chose, Alucard. Never forget that.”

Adrian returns Belmont’s gaze, and his pulse quickens at the surety and steadiness of his voice, the fury in his eyes.

He swallows thickly.

“I… I’m not sure it’s quite as black and white as that,” he says.

Sypha reaches out to him, placing her hand on his forearm. “They might have had a choice,” she says softly, “yet they left you with none. You couldn’t have helped them any more than you did. You did everything you could. You know that, yes?”

Her touch is so warm and comforting, that it eases his unease, his discomfort. Adrian takes heart from it, and manages a quiet, “I know,” before he falls silent again.

“So, no looking back. Alright?”

He sighs. "Alright."

"Promise?"

“Promise.” He has to smile a little at that. It’s so much like Sypha to give orders, even for something like this. Adrian has little control over what his mind and heart decide to do most days, but it's nice to dream, isn't it?

“Alright!” Belmont exclaims, filling all of their glasses yet again. “A toast then.” He raises his glass to Adrian, cheeks already a bit rosy. “To new beginnings.”

Adrian shakes his head with a laugh and tiredly follows suit. “To new beginnings.” He takes a sip of brandy, letting it warm him from the inside out, as he teases, “Does that mean you’ll start using soap, Belmont?”

“Shut up, Alucard,” the other man rolls his eyes, laughing in his glass.

Adrian turns to look at Sypha, and his smile is met by her grin. She sets her glass on the table and slithers closer to him still, and then her slender arms are around Adrian’s neck, her sweet and heady scent filling him to the brim.

“To new beginnings,” she whispers in his ear.

Adrian sets his glass aside too and hugs her tightly, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you for being here,” he whispers. “Thank you for everything.”

“Thank you for letting us be here,” she says, then leans back to gaze at him. “I can only imagine how hard it was for you.”

Adrian smiles, and prepares to tell her that they didn’t really leave him much choice in the matter, when she leans forward to kiss his forehead. Her lips are soft against his skin, and they send a shiver down his spine. It’s all too reminiscent of that night several days ago in his room, after he had returned to the castle, and he can’t help the beat of anticipation in his blood. She kisses his brow, each one of his eyes, his cheek, the angle of his jaw, cradling his face in her hands. It’s so tender and soft that Adrian almost whimpers with need when her lips skim the side of his neck, leaving him wanting more, infinitely more. He wants this closeness; he needs it.

When her mouth brushes his own, Adrian can’t hold back the sigh that leaves him. His lips part readily under hers, pulling her in before he can stop himself. Her tongue is warm and soft as it flicks over his own, and it tastes of the sweet spice of the brandy.

Adrian bites back a moan when Sypha’s teeth close over his bottom lip, sucking. He shifts closer to her, touch-starved nerves catching fire, his hand finding its way to her lower back. There is heat coiling inside him now, just with Sypha’s lips on him and her arms around his neck, the feel of her body against his.

He draws back abruptly, gulping down a breath as he does. “Sypha,” he croaks.

She blinks back, and her cheeks are flushed, her eyes glistening. Adrian can’t tell if it’s from the drink or their kiss or both, but he suddenly finds it impossible to look away. “Yes?” she asks softly.

Adrian swallows. He darts a glance at Belmont, who is gazing at them both with a sort of hunger in his gaze, his glass forgotten in his hand.

“Are you—” Adrian starts, uncertain what to say. His thoughts are hazy, and his tongue feels too thick in his mouth to form words. He takes a slow breath, and tries again. “Are you alright with this?” he asks him.

Belmont looks at him, a little confused, a small smile playing at the edges of his lips as he says, “Me? Yeah, I’m alright.” He nods at Sypha. “She, on the other hand, is more than alright.”

“Stop it, Trevor,” Sypha laughs, swatting playfully at his shoulder. Her face is bright pink now, but she doesn’t seem at all embarrassed as she leans into Adrian again and reaches out to run her fingers through his hair. “Oh, you’re pretty,” she sighs.

“I— thank you.” Adrian runs his tongue over his lips, trying to get his raging pulse under control. Sypha’s teasing comments over the past few days start to make sense as Adrian plays them again in his head. Adrian has been attracted to her from the start, almost ever since he met her, and the thought that she might be attracted to him sends a sharp thrill through him. Her fingertips, when they caress his scalp, make him shiver, and her breath that skims his skin as she leans in to nuzzle his nose sets the hair at the back of his neck on end. If he were standing, his knees would have surely given way by now.

But Belmont… He is watching them, and there is no jealousy in his gaze, and Adrian isn’t sure what that means. They are a couple, after all, aren’t they? Adrian doesn’t know of many couples that would welcome a third person in their midst so easily, like this.

Come to think of it, he doesn’t know any other couples at all.

He draws back just a little, pulling away from Sypha’s kiss, before his thoughts slip away from him completely.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he tells them, finally finding the courage to speak about what has been troubling him for days. “I wanted to talk to- to both of you.”

Sypha blinks, then raises her brows in question. “About?”

“About this. About you. About… us.” He takes in a breath, mustering his strength. “I like that you’re here. That we’re all together again. There’s nothing I wanted more than to… to be with you again. And now…” His heartbeat soars as the words tangle on his tongue. There is no way to give voice to what he wants the most, his most well-hidden desire. He glances at Sypha, with her clear-sky eyes and her soft lips and even softer hands, and at Belmont, with his dark bangs falling over his eyes, his sharp jaw, his broad chest. The fire that has kindled in Adrian’s core rages, images and sensations flooding his brain until he can barely think, just at the mere sight of them there.

Mad. He is mad, he is out of his mind, he is...

In love.

Damn it.

Adrian takes a breath, his hand gathering into a fist at the realisation.

At that moment, he knows with perfect clarity, and he admits it to himself for the first time: he wants them. He wants them both.

But it is wrong. It is selfish. It is asking too much. They’re his friends and they care about him, certainly, they agreed to stay with him, but this… asking for something like this would be unthinkable. He wouldn’t blame them if they thought him crazy, if they believed he’s lost his mind.

He’s not sure he hasn’t, himself.

“You are both so… important to me,” he says quietly, afraid to meet their gazes. “And I want… I want—”

“Yes.”

Adrian stops, blinks at Sypha. “I beg pardon?”

She returns his gaze calmly, tilting her chin up. “Whatever you were going to ask of us, the answer is: yes.”

“But— but you don’t even know—”

Her lips are on his own before he can say another word. He finds himself melting against her, helplessly, a soft moan escaping him as she deepens the kiss, threading her fingers through his hair to pull him closer. A quick moment later, and she has somehow found herself on his lap, straddling him.

When they part for air, Adrian stares at her, at the curtain of strawberry blond locks that’s falling around her face. “You didn’t even know what I was going to ask,” he tells her, voice hoarse.

She grins. “Trust me, Alucard, I know.” She nods towards Belmont. “Even Trevor knows, and he’s even worse at these things than you are.”

“Hey, that’s not true and you know it.” Belmont laughs, though his face is steadily turning bright red as Adrian’s befuddled gaze falls on him. He gives his head a small shake, then rubs the back of his neck. “I mean, I had an inkling. And… well… I might have given it some thought myself.”

“He has a crush on you,” Sypha tells Adrian conspiratorially.

“I do not! ”

“Yes, he does. Don’t let his antics fool you.”

Belmont groans and rolls his eyes, draining the last of his brandy. “Teenagers have crushes. I am not a teenager.”

“Hm, you’re right,” Sypha says. “Perhaps there’s another word for it. Let’s see…” She leans forward, pressing her forehead to Adrian’s. There’s a mischievous grin widening her lips, her thumb brushing over his bottom lip. “How about ‘lust’? It sounds much more mature, doesn’t it? You’re in lust.” She hums and bites her lip, her eyes alight. “You want him.”

Adrian lets out a shaky breath. His tongue darts out instinctively to lick his lips, and brushes over her finger, momentarily tasting the sweet saltiness of her skin.

“That…” Belmont’s voice trembles only slightly as he speaks, “that sounds about right.”

Adrian can’t help but turn to look at him, startled by his admission. Belmont shrugs and rolls his eyes with a helpless smile. “Don’t let it go to your head, alright?”

“Finally!” Sypha throws her head back and laughs. “Finally he admits it! I never thought I’d see the day.”

“That was meant for you too,” Belmont reprimands, but the bite has thoroughly gone out of his words. His face is red like a pomegranate now.

“You… you want me?” Adrian asks incredulously, his pulse thumping in his throat. Surely, he must have misheard. This can’t be happening.

“We both do.” Sypha reaches down to take his hand, her fingers threading through his. “Do you?” she asks softly.

Adrian gapes at them both, suddenly lost for words. Ever since they met, and even though they’ve both offered him their friendship and affection, he always felt like the third wheel. As if it was just the two of them, and Adrian was always on the outside, looking in. After they’d left the castle, leaving him behind in search of adventure, there were moments Adrian had thought his heart had been broken so thoroughly, that it would never mend again. And now they’re both here, offering him something like this, and… he doesn’t quite know what to say.

There are a million things he wants to tell them, but they all die on his tongue. They want him? Both of them? It seems so hard to believe, that Adrian wonders if he’s dreaming.

Both Belmont and Sypha are watching him now, holding their breaths, and Adrian isn’t sure what to tell them.

He opens his mouth.

“I—” I want you, I missed you, I never stopped, I can’t bear the thought of being without you , I— “I’m—”

Adrian closes his mouth again and swallows, taking in a deep breath.

“Yes,” he whispers, heart beating in his throat. “I do.”

Sypha beams at him, her countenance lighting up. She stands up, still holding his hand. She tugs at it, pulling him to her, and he stands up too.

“I never thought I’d see this day either,” she whispers teasingly, pulling him in for a kiss.

Adrian lets out a quiet, startled laugh, wrapping his arms around her. She’s shorter than he is and he’s looming over her, but she cups his neck and draws him closer to her.

“If I’d known you were such a good kisser, I would have done this sooner,” she says, a soft murmur against his lips. She reaches up to undo the laces of his shirt, and Adrian shivers when he feels the brush of her fingers on his skin.

“You’ve been wanting to do this for— for a while then?” He follows her as she steps backwards towards the bed, tries not to stumble over his own toes. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her how inexperienced he is at this, how little he knows how to act and carry himself with confidence. But something tells him he does not need to.

Sypha grins, pulling his shirt over his head, and proceeds to brush her palms down his chest. Her palms are even softer than he remembers, and he barely even thinks about the scars as she touches them. “You really had no idea, did you?” A soft sigh escapes her as she deepens the kiss, arching into his touch when his own palm skims the line of her spine, the curve of her waist. She feels so small and delicate in his arms.

“Not sure if you’ve noticed, Sypha, but he is kind of slow on the uptake,” Belmont remarks from his spot on the couch, nursing his glass of brandy. His cheeks are still flushed, and he looks vaguely embarrassed, like he doesn’t quite know what to do.

Adrian smirks. “You’re one to talk.”

Belmont scoffs and takes a large sip of his brandy, without offering a rebuttal, and if that isn’t evidence that the man is thoroughly out of his depth then Adrian doesn’t know what is. Sypha glances over at him with a smile.

“Come, Trevor.”

Belmont looks up at them, then at Sypha’s outstretched hand. His throat bobs as he swallows, and he hesitates for a moment before he tosses the rest of his drink up and stands. “I am not slow on the uptake,” he mutters darkly, frowning at them both.

“You may not be,” Adrian tells him, amused, “but your reply was definitely a few seconds too late. That’s so unlike you. Usually, it’s your tongue that moves first before your poor mind can ever catch up.” He tilts his head to the side, and is surprised by the affection that swells in his chest at the sight of him, red-faced and embarrassed and for once incapable of coming up with a scathing comment for practically everything that’s taking place around him.

“Aren’t you going to join us?” Adrian quirks a brow, “Will I have to challenge you to a duel?”

Belmont licks his lips and grumbles something under his breath before he straightens and walks over to them, reluctant yet still somehow eager.

He stands tall before him, his pale blue eyes searching Adrian’s. Adrian would never have expected someone who is so confident on the battlefield to be so timid in a situation like this. He always expected Belmont to be the energetic, brutish sort, the one to grab his mate by the hair and drag them to his lair like a caveman, but he is surprisingly guarded and reserved. It’s almost… adorable.

Or it would have been, had Adrian not been a mess of nerves and emotion himself right then.

Still, there’s something drawing him to Belmont, something that he fight any longer. He takes a tiny step forward, coming to stand before him. “What’s wrong, Belmont?” he asks softly. “Are you afraid of me?”

Belmont scoffs. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Am I? I could swear that you’re avoiding meeting my eyes. Why would that be?” He steps closer to him still. “Are you suddenly afraid of vampires now?”

Belmont’s eyes flick to his and stay there, penetrating. “You’re no vampire.”

“Oh?”

“You’re only a half-vampire,” he says, voice dropping low, “and I wouldn’t be afraid of you even if you were.”

“Odd.” Adrian tilts his head to the side, his pulse buzzing with the thrill of the challenge in Belmont’s gaze. There. That’s more like it. “Then why does it look like your tail’s between your legs?”

Belmont puffs up just a little, his bashfulness gone as he leans forward, their noses almost touching. “There’s something else between my legs. Care to find out?”

Adrian licks his lips, meeting his piercing gaze. “Please,” he says, thanking God that his voice is level. “Don’t be so crass. This isn’t a whorehouse.”

“You have a big mouth, Alucard. Pity you don’t know how to use it.”

“There’s plenty of things I know how to do with my mouth. Shutting you up is one of them.”

“Is that the best you can do with it? Because I could swear—”

“Oh, my goodness,” Sypha throws her arms up in exasperation. “Just kiss already!”

Adrian takes a breath, preparing to retort, but Belmont is faster. A strong arm winds around his middle, pulling him closer, and Adrian simply melts against him, like so much clay in his hands. Belmont’s lips are slightly chapped, tasting strongly of brandy, and the scruff of his chin tickles Adrian’s skin. Adrian reaches up as if in a dream, his hand finding its way to the back of his neck, fingers threading through his hair. His skin is so warm , it’s like he’s on fire. And his hand on the small of Adrian’s back, pulling— his chest, hard and taut underneath him, the fabric of his shirt pressing against his bare skin—

Just when he thinks his knees will buckle, he feels Sypha’s hand brushing down his back, her lips skimming the side of his neck. He glances down at her as his and Belmont’s lips part and sees her smiling, rising up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. In his haze, he feels Belmont moving closer, holding him tighter, pressing his mouth to the side of his head, nuzzling his ear.

Adrian closes his eyes, disintegrating into that kiss, those tender touches. He can’t help but think of all those nights he spent alone in this castle, thinking about them, both of them, pretending that he didn’t wish they were still there. He thinks of the drawings he made of them to keep the memory of their faces crisp in his mind, the dolls he kept in the kitchen, those lifeless toys that bore their shape; the only things to keep him company. He remembers the crushing emptiness of all those endless, identical days, and his heart thumps painfully with such intense longing, a craving that’s impossible for him to bear.

They’re both so close to him now, touching him, holding him, and it all suddenly feels too much, far too much. But he doesn’t want this to end. He doesn’t want this moment to end.

“I missed you,” he breathes into his and Sypha’s kiss. He leans back just a little to look at her, and he realises his eyes are stinging. “I missed you both so much. I—” He glances at Belmont, who’s gazing at him with so much warmth and tenderness now that it makes him ache, and the tears he has been trying so hard to hold back escape the confines of his eyes, gliding down his cheeks. “I missed you.”

“We missed you, too,” he says softly. “I missed you.” He reaches up to brush the tears from Adrian’s cheek. “Was there ever any doubt about it?”

Adrian smiles at him through his tears, shivering when Sypha’s arms wrap around his middle.

“We’re here now,” she whispers. “We’re here.”

Adrian sighs as he leans into them both, letting them guide him to bed.

Read the rest on Ao3!

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 68-69 (nice)

This is the “Castlevania” arc.   It’s only two parts, but I want to slow down and take my time with this one.

Okay, so in the last chapter, Alucard was fighting Alexander Anderson, who used one of the nails from the True Cross to pierce his own heart, which transformed Anderson into some sort of miraculous creature made of thorny tendrils.   Then he struck a heavy blow on Alucard’s head, and just sort of kept on going down his neck and chest.  

And as far as we call tell, this is the most danger Alucard’s been in since the story began.  Anderson lopped off his head in their first encounter, and even that didn’t stop him.   Now, in this “holy monster” form, Anderson can grow back body parts just as easily as Alucard, and he seems to be able to hurt Alucard a lot more than ever before.  The irony is that Alucard might have been honored to lose to Anderson, but only when he was a human foe.  Now that Anderson has used the Nail of Helena to become something inhuman, Alucard feels that it diminishes their fight.   

Regardless, Alucard is in serious danger, or so it seems.   Even his horde of familiars are bursting into flames all around him, which I assume is a side-effect of Anderson’s attack.   As this happens, Alucard appears to lose consciousness, and flashes back to his childhood. 

This whole flashback seemed like a nonsequitur to me when I watched the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, but I think it makes a bit more sense this time around.  As a boy in the 1440′s, Vlad Tepes was something of a religious fantatic, much like Father Anderson in 1999.   He pledged to never ask God for anything, which I don’t think is theologically sound, but let’s run with it.  The point here seems to be that Vlad felt it was more pious to endure hardship while keeping his faith in God.

For example, in this scene, we see Vlad being dragged away to be raped, and he grabs the cross he wears around his neck for solace.   He doesn’t beg God for mercy or deliverance, but simply clings to his faith to see him through.   

I’m assuming the man in shadow is Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire.  In 1442, Murad summoned Vlad’s father to Gallipoli, and he went there with Vlad and his brother Ruda.  The Sultane then imprisoned all three of them, and eventually released Vlad’s father, but kep the boys as hostages to ensure the fahter’s loyalty.   There was a period when Vlad’s father sided against the Ottomans, and he presumed his sons had been killed, but in fact they survived and eventually returned to Wallachia.   So maybe Kouta Hirano is taking some creative license here, and suggesting that Murad II took out his anger on Vlad in other ways. 

Eventually, Vlad became the Voivoide of Wallachia, and in this flashback we find that he considers fighting to be a form of prayer.   Not for mercy, because Vlad refuses to ask for that.   Instead, he seems to believe that if you just keep fighting hard enough, God will descend from the heavens.   None of this made sense to me the first time around, but once you start interpreting this in the context of Vlad as a religious extremist, it starts to add up.   Anderson’s fellows in the Iscariot Organization were literally blowing themselves up to help Anderson defeat Alucard, and they were happy to do it, because they saw it as a holy mission.    Anderson himself was eager to use the Nail to make himself into a monster, because he craved to be a single-minded instrument of God’s will.   A righteous bludgeon to smite the wicked.    Vlad Tepes’ “bloodlust” seems to have been inspired by a similar zealotry, at least as Hirano sees it.

But in the end, did God descend to respond to Vlad’s “prayers”?   The image of the modern Alucard is all the answer we need.    Of course that didn’t happen.  

I’m just cribbing from the Vlad the Impaler page on Wikipedia, but from what I gather about Vlad’s final years, he was fighting for the office of Voivoide of Wallachia against Basarab Laiotă , who had support from the Ottoman Empire.   Vlad fought and lost, probably dying in battle in December 1476/Janury 1477.   The story goes that his corpse was cut into pieces, and his head sent to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.

So Kouta Hirano depicts Vlad’s final moments with him being captured and executed.  This is certainly plausible, and it gives Vlad a chance to reflect on his failure before he meets his fate.    He fought and killed so many people, daring to resist the Ottomans even as he ruled a state that was basically controlled by the Ottomans, and I guess he must have known how impossible that would be, which is why he counted on God to deliver him, so long as he fought hard enough.

But in that final moment, just as the axe comes down on his neck, he still has his cross... but instead of taking solace in that, he reaches out instead for the puddle of blood in front of him.    The axe comes down and shatters the cross, just as Vlad Tepes forsakes his humanity.  

So maybe all of this is a way of Alucard accepting defeat.   Defeated and humbled, no longer a servant of God or a leader of men, no longer even a man, he renounced his faith and became the vampire Dracula, and eventually Alucard.    But now Anderson seems to have the upper hand, so maybe, after 523 years, Vlad Tepes is back where he started, facing an inevitable death.  

And you know, maybe Anderson’s monster form represents the divine intervention he was waiting for back in the 15th Century.   After all these centuries of battle, you might say that God finally did descend from heaven to respond to Alucard.   So maybe this is a fitting swan song for the guy.  He wanted to die at the hands of a human adversary, but maybe this works too, right?  

But then he hears someone calling out to him, and...

Hey, it’s Seras!

So yeah, we’re back to the real world, and Anderson’s well on his way to chopping Alucard in half and burning him with holy fire or something...

And Alucard’s still out of it...

And then Seras jumps in to save his ass!   Cool!

The only problem is that this was killing Alucard, and Seras is less powerful than Alucard, so she’s probably not going to be able to do a lot of good here.    For that matter, this might just get both of them killed.  

And this is why I think this moment is cool.   When Team Four Star did their Abridged parody of Hellsing, they sort of skipped this whole “Seras jumps in” part of the fight.   Instead, they did a whole thing where Alucard has a near-death experience and talks to God.   Then he rejects God’s offer of forgiveness and goes on to defeat Anderson by himself.   I don’t care much for that, because Seras is my favorite character, and I find the whole routine of “Well maybe I don’t need your forgiveness, God!” kind of stale and limp.    Can something be stale and limp at the same time?  

Like, I think I get that a lot of atheists are sore at the whole “organized religion” thing, but it seems kind of silly to write a whole bit where the premise is that God is real, but only so we can all tell him to get lost.  Like, I’m a Christian, so I can’t really relate, but if I thought God didn’t exist, I wouldn’t spend all day writing angry text messages to God to remind him of how fake he is.  

But mostly, I just really like Seras, and this is a cool Seras scene, and I think that deserves attention, so here we are.

The Alucard-Seras relationship is complex by design.    With Integra and Alucard, there’s not much to it.   She literally addresses him as “slave” at one point, and he repeatedly talks about himself like a weapon that she has to point at her target.   There’s something kind of like that with Al and Seras.   In one of their first missions together, he sends her to take out a bunch of ghouls just so he won’t be bothered, and it’s almost like he’s weilding her as a weapon.  But he also never leans on that too hard.  For one thing, there’s not a whole lot of thngs Seras can do for him that he can’t do more easily himself.   

It feels a lot more like a Master/Apprentice relationship, which may not strictly be a vampire thing, because he’s teaching her how to hunt vampires and how to be a vampire at the same time.  I think Seras has the same sort of devotion to her master as he does for Integra, but that’s mostly overshadowed by a more down-to-earth respect and admiration.   She sees him like a superior officer and a mentor, but she also knows that he has this strange charm over her that she can’t explain or resist.  

One of the things I can’t stand about he Gonzoverse Hellsing Anime is how after a while they just started having Seras say “Master...!” over and over.    I get it, there’s some power in the way she says it.   It means a lot of things to her.   I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that “Castlevania part 2″ inspired some of that, but I don’t know what chapter of the manga was published when the anime wrapped up.   But it annoyed me that they just used “Master...!” over and over again as a shorthand for Seras’s feelings.   You have to do something with it.  Demonstrate it, like we’re seeing here with Seras trying to remove a blessed bayonet from Alucard’s torso.    She has to help him, even if it means risking her own neck, because he means so much to her, and she wouldn’t be here without him.   And yeah, she’s his vampire servant, so this seems like something a loyal servant should be doing.   Stickin’ together is what good waffles do.

Let me pause here to note that this marks the destruction of whatever remained of Dandyman and Rip van Winkle, the only “name” characters featured in Alucard’s menagerie of absorbed souls.    Whatever Anderson is doing to Alucard, it’s destroying them, irrevocably.  

So it occurred to me one day, what if Seras has to save Alucard, not out of slavish devotion or plucky heroism, or even righteous loyalty?   Way back in Chapter 1, Integra explained vampires to the local authorities, and said that when you kill a vampire, you also destroy all the ghouls and servant vampires that were created by that first vampire.   In other words, if Alucard were to be destroyed, Seras ought to die with him.    So maybe her efforts here could be nothing more than self-preservation.    I’m not wild about that idea.   Maybe, after drinking Pip’s blood, Seras “graduated” from that lowly status, and she no longer depends upon Alucard in this way.  

But I think the point remains either way.   They’re in this together.   Alucard called the two of them a family, and it wasn’t just creepy vampire talk.   There’s a bond between them, and it matters to both of them.   And that’s why Seras’ intervention here is what brings Alucard back from the brink.   By rushing in to help him, Seras has placed herself in danger, and now they have to rescue each other.

I like this part where he puts his hand on hers as they pull out the bayonet together.    It’s like the moment when Seras reached out to Alucard in Cheddar and he took her hand then.   Well, that was only in the OVA, but still.  

Alucard tells Anderson that he might have welcomed a death like this, maybe back when he was about to get beheaded in 1476, but now, he refuses to be defeated.    523 years ago, he was at his lowest ebb.   He had nothing.   Today, he has Seras.  

And... yeah, he has Integra too.   I don’t want to dismiss the importance of that relationship.   But Integra could find a way to get by without him if she needed to.   He has a responsibility to Seras, though, and Seras’s loyalty trumps whatever death-fantasies he might have on his mind.

Then Al turns into this form, which I guess is the same outfit he was wearing back in 1989, when Integra found him in the basement.  Not sure if that’s supposed to mean anything, though.  

Oh, and I guess there’s still a few familiars that didn’t burn up from before?   This is the last time we see them though, so maybe this final attack finishes them off.

As Alucard strikes the final blow on Anderson, Integra flashes back to her father, who taught her about the vampires’ inner psyche.    Arthur Hellsing suggested that vampires don’t have a whole lot to show for their immortality.   They crave conflict, not for its own sake, but becuse they long for death.   Not just any ol’ death, but a kind of death that they could take some solace in.   We’ve already seen this in Alucard, as he seems to relish the idea of being killed by a human like Anderson, or van Helsing.    If all he wanted was death, he could have let that Ottoman headsman finish the job 523 years ago.   Instead, he lost everything, and he’s spent centuries with nothing to take comfort in.   And that probably explains why Alucard is so happy with his service to Integra.   At least she gives him a purpose, a duty, a cause to fight for.  

And finally, Alucard rips out Anderson’s heart, with the Holy Nail still in it. 

And he crushes it, which I guess it enough to neutralize the Nail’s effect?   Well, cool enough then.

But Al takes no pleasure in this victory.   He sees in Anderson a reflection of himself, back when he was a human.   The fanaticism, the failure, the rejection of humanity to become a monster, and then failure again.   

And then Anderson, or whats’ left of him, consoles Alucard before he dies.