The mansion was silent.

Whatever the people inside had been doing had ceased. Everything was quiet. No wind, no random explosions, not even the sound of a mouse. Along with that, everything around Alucard had become inexplicably hostile. The mansion loomed threateningly. The shrubberies to each side of the walkway acted as if they were already wilting away. Even the full moon, of which he loved so much, was staring angrily into his non-existent soul.

Alucard took one last look at Meiling's crumpled body and considered stopping a moment to get a bite to drink. But he decided that with this sudden change in atmosphere, he'd rather focus on his mission.

The entrance of the SDM swung inwards with ease. There wasn't even a sound as they opened, as if someone had pressed the mute button. The only sound Alucard heard was his own boots hitting the floor.

Inside was a completely deserted ballroom. Alucard was standing on a scarlet red carpet that stretched around the outside of the huge room. In the middle, the floor was made of a brown, almost black wood. And it was some of the cleanest, shiniest wood he'd ever seen.

Towards the back of the room was a fancy staircase made of the same wood as the floor. It was curved inwards as it got higher, and was mostly covered by the red carpet, which continued to outline the upper floor. Bat-like wooden arches kept the second floor upright, and each had a three-pronged candle holder with red, un-lit candles.

A single, oversized, glass chandelier floated a way's above the middle of the floor. It looked like it would act as the primary light source for the room, but it wasn't lit or turned on. Instead, the only light in the room came from the moon and showed through red-tinted window's just above the stairway, of which took a similar shape to the ones in Integra's office. This bathed the room in blood colored light.

"Ahhh…" Alucard said nostalgically to himself. Dark wood. Red light. Bat decorations. He'd been through his phase before.

Alucard walked calmly to the center of the dance floor, feeling right at home. He gazed up at the moon, which took up the entirety of the window's, and smiled. "Tonight truly is a beautiful night."

"Indeed it is, intruder." Came a female voice from behind him.

He turned to see Sakuya standing in front of the door he'd just come in. To say the least, she did not look pleased.

"My name is Sakuya Izayoi. I am the head-maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. You are trespassing on private property. I suggest you leave, or I'll be forced to escort you out." She said, obviously expecting him not to turn back.

Alucard raised his eyebrow. He knew that name. But from where? "And what does the head-maid have in store for me? Surely you must be better than your gatekeeper."

Sakuya's eye's narrowed. "You will pay for whatever you did to Meiling. Cause no further trouble, and I'll make the punishment a light one."

Alucard's smile widened a bit. "You mean to say that you don't know what I did to her?"

It was Sakuya's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I have not checked on her yet. Usually she's just a bit bruised after being defeated. What did you do exactly?"

"Let me recall… It went something like THIS!" Alucard wiped out the Casull and fired at Sakuya's head. Instead of hitting it's target, however, the bullet hit in between both entrance doors and blew them off their hinges. Sakuya had simply vanished.

Alucard heard movement from behind him. He turned, only to get a knife through his sunglasses and into both eye's. He could feel other knives piercing him through everywhere on his body, including through his heart.

His hat flew from his head as he dropped to the ground. Alucard's mouth hung open in surprise and pain. The way these knives stung was familiar. They were blessed silver throwing knives that ate away at his flesh like fire on a corpse. It felt almost exactly like Alexander Anderson's bayonets.

"Is that it? In that case, you were a fool to come here. You couldn't possibly have done anything to bad to Meiling. I'll go check on her." Sakuya said walking past Alucard's unmoving form.

She was about to reach the door when Alucard started to move again. Sakuya turned to see him stand up and yank the dagger's in his eye's out. They clattered to the ground, and then started to sizzle with Alucard's blood.

"That sizzle…" Sakuya eyed Alucard suspiciously. "Your a Vampire."

Alucard stood there, breathing heavily. His smouldering wounds were slowly closing. Once they were healed, he straightened and regained his posture. "And you, ironically, are a Human."

Sakuya reached towards a small black strap on her leg that held several knives. She pulled three from their sheaths and placed them carefully in-between her knuckles.

A hint of recognition flashed in Alucard's eyes. He grabbed his coat and turned, using the momentum from the turn to fling it off of his body. As the coat left his arm and floated to the ground, it revealed that the Casull had been replaced with a longsword. Alucard now stood wearing a dark grey suit, his hair flowing despite the absence of wind. He pointed his sword at Sakuya.

They both stood there, stuck in a seemingly endless staring contest. Sakuya was tense, but her gaze was steady and unwavering. Alucard bore the expression of someone who had just found a long lost friend. After almost a minute long standoff, they both rushed forward at the same time.

Sakuya threw her first three knives forward. Then jumped into the air, grabbed another three, spun, and threw them as well.

The first of the knives were swatted to the side by Alucard's sword. He then put his arm up in front of his face to block the next three. They stuck themselves into him with so much force that the points of the knives stuck out the other side.

As Sakuya landed, Alucard lept forward and brought his sword up to swing downwards upon her head. She dodged to the right and the sword hit the wooden floor, shattering it. Sakuya then ducked under Alucard's sword as he swung again and swept her hand along his wrist. They were both sprayed with blood as Alucard's hand fell to the ground and shriveled up.

Alucard did not seem to be impaired by this, however, and he used his remaining hand to hoist his sword into a defensive position, blocking several knife strikes from Sakuya. He then struck down again. His opponent saw this coming and blocked his strike with two of her knives. They both pushed their weapons against each other, struggling to overpower the other, before they sprang back to opposite sides of the ballroom.

There was a second where they both read each other's faces and almost seemed to mentally agree, then they rushed each other again. Alucard and Sakuya jumped and met in mid air. They both swung their weapons before landing with their backs to each other. There was another pause, and then both Sakuya's knives and Alucard's sword shattered, their metal shards sprinkling the ground like star's in the night sky.

Sakuya took a deep breath. "So it really is you." She said without turning.

"It's been a long time, Vampire Hunter." Said Alucard. "I didn't recognize you at first, but the sting of your knives is familiar."

They both turned to face each other again, both letting their broken weapons fall to the ground.

"I had feared this day may come. When the mistresses bragging came back to bite her." Sakuya said with a hint of sadness.

"So you serve her? Definitely ironic, considering your past. Perhaps you would like to help me free you from her servitude?" Alucard suggested as he pulled out the knives in his arm.

Sakuya's face was suddenly filled with rage. "I will NOT abandon Remilia! How dare you think I would even consider such traitorism!" Knives seemed to sprout from her sleeves and into her hands. "Turn back now, or you will know Hell!"

"I already do. And as for turning back, I'm afraid I cannot do that." Alucard smiled. " So what now? You've lived over 300 years and yet you look 20, despite being Human. You have something new and powerful up your sleeve don't you? Perhaps it involves that first stunt you pulled when I shot at you." The Casull, along with Alucard's hand, grew from his stump arm. "Well? Come on. Second chances don't come around often. Show me what you are truly made of!"

Sakuya clenched her teeth. "I won't blindly charge to my death. Defeating you takes a special touch that I will need time to prepare." Her knives shot back into her sleeves as she turned her back to Alucard. "They call you the King of Vampires. What kings don't realize, is that they are sometimes foolish, and make mistakes. Mistakes that destroy their kingdom, and more often than not, end their lives. Your mistake, Dracula, was entering this building."

Sakuya suddenly disappeared. In her place was a wall of knives, all pointing at Alucard. Gunfire echoed through the ballroom as the Casull fired rapidly, shooting the knives that were now flying at him out of the air. When the gunfire ceased, the knives had outlined Alucard's shape on the ground. Not one of Sakuya's weapons had gotten through the stream of bullets the Casull had spewed.

A magazine fell and a new one was fed into the gun as Alucard re-loaded it. Shadow enveloped him as his coat, hat, and sunglasses reformed.

"I look forward to our next meeting. Do not disappoint me, Sakuya."