New chapter up. Thanks for all who review, to both this and my other fanfics. Thanks to my beta-reader Lain too, for reading this in advance and helping out, .

Chapter 13. Assassin's Bible; Night time is the time for Assassins. Daytime is the time for funerals. Preferably your Target's.

Mireille let out a deep breath as she stood and rounded the corner, keeping her eye on the patrolling sentry as she entered the door on the far right of the hall. Pushing it nearly closed, she slumped against a wall and took another breath. She hated this sneaking kind of thing. Her usual method of fighting her way through to the target with Kirika at her side had been thwarted by the number of Soldats this place was crawling with. It was like a hive.

This manor, conveniently placed on the outer edge of Münster was one of the hideouts of Carlos, and was currently in use by the head honcho himself, Mireille had to wonder at the convenience of that. Ambushed before they could leave the city, Breffort offers them a place surprisingly close to where Carlos is staying... The attack in the sewers... just to make them hate Carlos that bit more. This entire affair had Breffort's handwriting all over it. But that didn't matter now. Right now they just had to kill Carlos, get it over with, get the information, kill Millennium and get back to their cosy apartment in Paris. Where Mireille and Kirika could live in peace with each other for a while.

She peeked out and ran again, keeping her footfalls quiet, which was never easy in high heels. Still it was as quiet as it was going to be, and since no one challenged her, Mireille decided she was doing well enough. She wondered how Kirika was doing but dismissed the thought easily. Kirika would be fine, and fretting over her would just make Mireille make another mistake, like she had in the sewers. After all, she had sworn she would be professional. No time for emotions when they were on the job, such could wait until later.

"...Wake up... wake up!... Police Girl! UP!" Her world span and her stomach lurched. Causing her body to crash around inside the coffin that Seras had borrowed from the church's store room. Her head struck hard wood and she thanked her Vampiric strength that allowed her to take such a blow without being knocked out.

"Owww... Master!..." She moaned out loud, cursing him as she rolled out of her coffin and onto the hard stone floor. Predictably the cold bastard laughed his head off. Seras ignored him, instead attending to her clothes which were wrinkled beyond repair from sleeping in them. She would never have dreamed of sleeping in clothes splashed with blood before, but needs must when the demon drives. And her demon was hardly going to go out and buy her a new combat uniform.

"Oh Sears, what kind of vampire do you hope to become, if you can't even tell when it's night time?" The tall nosferatu laughed, his hands on his chest. Seras ignored him, as she always did when he was annoying. Which was in truth pretty much all the time. "Here." He commented throwing something to her. She caught it, looking down at what it was.

"Blood!" She exclaimed, for indeed it was. The thick red fluid was contained in a small plastic container with the details of it's origin on it. "Master you didn't... take this from.. someone.. did you?" She stuttered, worried that he might be angered by her nervous tone. Instead he laughed again.

"Of course I did Seras. Don't you know that all humans bleed plastic packets of blood, complete with type and volume labels." He laughed even harder as she started blushing at her foolish thinking.

"So where did you get it from...?" She asked, biting off the tab and sucking the sickly syrup from the packet. Trying her best not to enjoy it too much. Alucard too had started to feast on his.

"From a blood bank in a nearby city. I could have drunk fresh from the tap, but I didn't want to attract unwanted attention." Seras was instantly curious.

"From who?" She crumpled up the packet and shredded it, so that there would be no real evidence of their being here. Alucard did the same with his. This being a routine they were both used to.

"To a degree Millennium, though it would be helpful if they would show their faces. But mainly to avoid confrontation with Iscariot, the Judas priest could be a real nuisance to our mission. He has a tendency to draw attention to himself." Seras nodded in agreement, inside feeling sick. Every time someone mentioned him she had to fight the urge to finger the healed scar on her neck. It wasn't even there anymore, but she could still remember the feeling as it plunged through her neck. Shivering she looked around her.

"He's not here. In fact he's in Italy I believe. Or he was when we left England. But anyway, we have to get to Münster by tomorrow if we can." He began to stretch his back, making Seras wince when his bones cracked loudly. She hated that! From the look of it, her master would be carrying her again, she didn't hate that as much as she thought she should, though it was moderately embarrassing. As long as they were away from this dreary abandoned church, she didn't care. She felt like an intruder in this holy house. Like some foul demon who was transgressing even by her presence.

"Come my police girl," Her master crooned, holding his white gloved hand out to her, as if offering her sanctuary. She blushed but took it, hiding her eyes as he drew her close. "There may be trouble abroad tonight." He commented lightly, before the darkness around them thickened and swallowed them whole, leaving no trace that two walkers of the night had ever been there.

A large set of double doors awaited her ahead. She had no idea what lay behind them, having not been able to secure a plan of the mansion. So instead, she and Kirika were reduced to a hide and seek game. The two of them searching everywhere for their target. That was the other reason they couldn't just go in guns blazing. Because Carlos could just leave and they wouldn't know it until they had searched the entire place. Which would be enough time for him to get beyond their reach.

The door opened quietly, much to Mireille's relief. It seemed every time she opened a door she held her breath, just in case it made a sound. Even the smallest creak could ruin her.

Library, her mind stated as her eyes roamed the bookcases that were organised around the room. The walls were covered in cases, some were even standing alone, just single bookcases that stood in the middle of nowhere. However none of this occupied Mireille's attention, save for a brief glance to ascertain for any enemies. Instead her eyes were drawn to the tall thin man who stood in the centre of the room, seemingly reading from a book resting on a pedestal.

Dressed in black, a white shirt with the top three buttons undone and the hem hanging loose. He was defenitely a Soldat, the clothes spoke as such. However, he lacked the grace of those they had seen before, the smart competence. The man was young, his clothes were clean but wrinkled as if he cared not for them. A cigarette hung from the side of his mouth.

His hair was a dark brown and hung loose down his back, his face was tanned and his eyes seemed to be grey. He looked like a south American, which explained his foreign name. Indeed when he spoke his accent sounded Mexican.

"Noir. It is the same of an ancient fate, two maidens who govern death, the peace of the newly born their black hands protect." Mireille's eyes widened, not at the verse, which she had heard so many times before. But that he was reading it from the book, then that book... Langonel's manuscript?

"Only a copy I'm afraid, and quite insubstantial. A lot of it is missing." Mireille kept her gun at her side, not wanting to initiate any hostilities until she was sure he was alone. "So I guess you are Noir?" She nodded once, not taking her eyes off him as she strained her ears for any sound.

"Heh, quite beautiful. Very beautiful indeed. How would you like to join my cause?" The man asked in a leering voice as he winked at her in what he obviously thought was a seductive manner. There was no one else here, she was sure of that now.

Her arm raised, her Walther P99 pointing directly at his head, his smile only seemed to grow at her open defiance.

"Do you think you and your friend were the only ones raised to become Noir?" He continued blithely, seemingly ignoring the gun whose owner itched to decorate the walls with his brains. "Do you really? There were many more, you know. Maybe hundreds I don't know. I suspect many died, failing the trials set by the Soldats. But some survived I'm sure. In fact I know of one..." His eyes left her face quickly, looking at something behind her as he smiled.

Her Walther fired once in his direction, even as she threw herself to the left behind a bookcase. She saw Carlos sway to the side of the bullet, his speed showing that he was no longer human, out from behind his waste came two Star 30M's already blazing as he shot in her direction.

Swearing angrily, Mireille threw herself to her left again, coming to her feet and sprinting as fast as she could towards the safety of some more cases. A new sound arose, the loud angry scream of an assault rifle blasting the ground behind her. Kicking up sparks across the marble floor as she leapt behind her cover. A moment of quiet as the unseen assailant reloaded and then her book case was shaking under the hail of bullets. Bullet riddled volumes raining around her as the rifle continued to reduce her flimsy wooden cover to sawdust.

A series of single gunshots echoed loudly in the quiet as the rifleman reloaded, seeming to draw attention away from herself for a few moments. Mireille took the distraction that her partner had obviously given her to spring from cover and fire a few shots towards her enemy. Strafing across the messy floor to the cover of a marble pillar.

Her enemy was a woman, young, perhaps twenty-five. Dressed in baggy combat trousers and a tight fitting tank top, she was shorter than Mireille with dark brown hair reaching down to her shoulders. Her eyes were a light red. In her hand was clutched a XM8 assault rifle.

"Vampire then." Mireille muttered even as the woman dodged behind a bookcase herself to avoid the flying death. Her movements were sure and quick. Her obvious skill augmented by her new heritage. A loud siren began to wail angrily through the library, casting the scene red as the sound broke everyone's concentration. The sound causing all to wince in pain. Mireille erred and forgot to keep her target pinned, taking her chance the woman jumped out and sprayed bullets in her direction.

Mireille dived back behind her pillar and leaned heavily against it, reloading her Walther quickly and firing three blind shots over her shoulder and around the pillar. The rain of bullets didn't lessen and the dust that was being blasted loose was beginning to make Mireille choke.

Kirika dropped down from the balcony overlooking the library and landed in a crouch. Her Beretta already firing in Carlos' direction with angry precision. The tanned man dodged out of the way and fired back his two Star 30M's blazing. What he lacked in accuracy he made up for with sheer firepower. Kirika danced behind an overturned table and crouched down, reloading as his bullets smashed through her thin cover. Judging from the shots she heard, Kirika pointed her Beretta over her head and fired without looking.

A curse and the sounds of the barrage stopping showed her that her aim had been true. Quickly taking the opportunity offered she stepped from behind the table and blasted away at him, firing all over his general direction, just to make sure there would be no dodging.

Indeed for Carlos, back was the only direction. He ran backwards, holding his arm in front of his face to shield himself. Three silver bullets blasted into his left arm, they would have struck his head if he weren't holding his arm there. Roaring in agony he threw himself against the wall, which opened as he fell through to safety. Kirika charged forwards, firing wildly lest her quarry escape her. The wall slammed back into place, the ricocheting of her bullets telling her that it was reinforced steel.

Mireille won't be pleased, She thought to herself as she headed back towards the sounds of frantic battle in the library. Already she was fairly sure that the rest of the mansion would be awake and running towards them.

Mireille's opponent saw Kirika before she saw her. The rifle blaring and forcing Kirika behind cover too. However despite vampiric reflexes, two against one were bad odds in any encounter. There was no way for the woman to pin them both down. First Mireille's Walther fired, forcing the vampire behind her pillar, then Kirika's joined the cacophony, slamming near the woman's legs and forcing her to abandon the cover entirely.

"Kirika! We're leaving!" Mireille shouted out, having caught the sound of approaching feet, a second later and Kirika too heard them coming. The female vampire found some new cover, a stone statue, that was facing the both of them and stood her ground against Noir. It frustrated Kirika that after all this trouble they wouldn't even have a single body to show for it, but survival was more important than that.

Kirika met Mireille's blue eyes, the head jerked towards the windows. Indicating their way out. They were not that far from the ground, and the grass lawn should cushion their fall. Kirika nodded.

"Not likely!" A loud feminine voice cried out, as the brown haired vampire stepped from cover and opened fire on them. Spraying her bullets all around the both of their covers, pinning them down until the reinforcements could aid her. Kirika fired blind, Mireille was pinned down.

The blind shots were good, but the vampire assassin simply rolled to the side whilst still firing, refusing to go back behind cover and give them a break. Kirika reloaded her Beretta, preparing to throw herself out and take the consequences. Her odds would be bad, but at least it would give time for Mireille to escape. And besides there was more chance of them both surviving this than a run in with the entire Soldat forces here. Her muscles flexed.

A loud scream pierced the air. Kirika paused. An explosion of stone followed, the sounds of debris clinking along the marble floor made them both take the chance and run from cover. Mireille was first, her long legs carrying her quickly to the window, she span in midair so she could have a last glimpse of what was happening as she sailed through the window, shattering it open with her body.

Kirika was a second later, she too turned before she jumped, feeling her eyes widen at the sight she saw. The woman was injured and firing blindly around the room, trying to battle a blur of purest shadow as it sought to attack her. The black streak smashing through wood and stone to reach it's target. Kirika leapt through the window, not waiting to think about who their unseen ally was.

Sam let loose a stream of her vilest curses as she tried to take aim on the darkness that was flying through the library, almost too quickly for her to see. It smashed through a pillar as it flew towards her. Diving to the side she rolled along the floor as it exploded the bookcase which had just been serving as her cover, raining wood chips and pages around the room. She rolled to her feet, her XM8 held closely to her chest and ready to fire. Except that there was nothing there anymore.

She knew that it..., he.., was gone. Her vampiric senses told her that there was no longer any other presence in the room. Not her shadow enemy, or her damned targets!

"Fuck." She exclaimed angrily, then smiling bitterly when the rest of Carlos' men burst into the library, fanning out to seek targets, too late as always. Sam left angrily. Her shoulder was bleeding heavily, something had clawed her there. Two bloody parallel gashes having torn through her top and shoulder as if they were wet paper. Already she could feel the skin having trouble healing. It would heal in time, but not as quickly as she would from a normal wound. Fuck!

"Samantha." A voice called out, she turned to see Carlos standing there, his face angry and wet with sweat. She was about to insult him for running until she noticed his arm. There were three massive holes in it. He followed her gaze. "Blessed silver bullets. Sting like shit." He quipped and Sam smiled, it seemed that Noir had been more prepared than they had expected. "What happened?" He asked. Sam snarled.

"I had them pinned down Carlos. All I needed were the rest to get there, then before I know what the hell's happening this fucking vampire attacks me! A big fucking black blob of shadow that was fast as hell. But when it slashed my shoulder in I saw it's face. It was a man, dark red eyes and huge fangs." Carlos' face was confused.

"But, we are vampires and we can't turn to shadow!" Sam shrugged, the motion bringing pain to her shoulder, she winced.

"I think he was a true blood. A real nosferatu." Carlos's face was etched with anger as his good hand unconsciously squeezed one of his Star's

"Have that wound seen to Sam. We're leaving soon."

"Hey, where the hell have you two been. Alucard and Seras are back!" Pip cried out as he saw them heading towards the house. Kirika ignored him, more concerned with Mireille who was leaning heavily on her, wheezing loudly.

"Hey, I said- Merde, shit!" Kirika knew what he was referring to, Mireille's stomach was covered in blood and sparkling with shattered glass. Her partner had taken minimal damage from the window, but a large shard of glass had shattered on her stomach, digging some deep into her. Kirika knew it wouldn't be fatal or serious. But tonight would be a night of picking glass out of her partner. Hardly an enjoyable task.

"Shall I wake the others?" Pip asked in a concerned voice, Kirika waited for Mireille to answer but realised that the blonde was in too much pain.

"No. She will be fine." Kirika commented, her voice bland. Talking to Mireille was one thing, but talking to the captain was another. Especially when he reeked of cigarette smoke.

"I'll get you some tweezers and a dish of water." He commented before jogging away. Kirika nodded at his retreating back and dragged Mireille to their room, depositing her on the bed.

Thirty minutes of arduous doctoring followed. Pip had come and left, leaving Kirika to carefully pick shards of glass from Mireille's scratched and punctured skin. Depositing the numerous shards in the small dish of water, that had soon become red with blood. Throughout it all Mireille remained fairly silent, sweating and gripping the sheets, an occasional gasp passing her lips when Kirika was forced to probe deeply into the wound or when she had to remove a large shard.

Kirika bandaged her when she was finished, tying the knot tightly so that it would not come undone whilst they slept. Mireille was weak from the blood loss, falling onto the mattress as soon as Kirika was finished. Kirika lay next to her, carefully wrapping her arms around her injured partner, careful not to touch the wound.

"That hurt." Mireille whispered quietly, leaning her head back against Kirika, seeming to find some comfort in their contact.

"You never said a word, you were so brave." She hadn't intended to say that, but she was in fact so proud of how Mireille had withstood what must have been such pain. And she wanted Mireille to know it.

"You sound like my mother..." Mireille whispered, her voice leaden with fatigue, the lack of blood making her dizzy. Kirika smiled lightly and hugged her partner tightly to her.

"Shhhh, sleep Mireille. I'll look after you." She didn't think Mireille heard her, already having fallen asleep in her arms. Before she too joined her, Kirika almost thought she saw a deep shadow in the room move, and fade away.

Deep in the basement, Alucard awoke instantly. His senses alert, his mind screaming at him. He sent his power coursing through the house, letting his being wash over every nook and cranny. Nothing... Nothing at all...

And yet, he knew there had been. He had sensed something... something .. old... and familiar...

Oooooh, what could it be... I wonder... Anyway, chapter finished for this week. More next week I suppose, provided I, myself figure out who it is... (I seriously don't know, though I have a good idea.) REVIEW ME!