Bad me! Not updating for way too long. Bad me. Anyway, my writer's block has been butchered mercilessly and I am finally sitting down right now to write this. I may have been too ambitious in this chapter, with quite a bit going on, perhaps too much. But that's the way it is. This is the penultimate chapter people! Only one more chapter after this!

Okay. Plan. Put loads of flowery description in this chapter. Reality? I don't know yet, I still haven't written it, but likely to be rather strange. Hey! Who knows?

Chapter 19 - A Heart Seduced by Darkness can Still feel the Light.

Mireille gasped as the sharp canines pierced the soft skin of her neck, a greedy tongue lapping at her spilt blood as the strange man partook of his unholy nectar. A moment later and he leant back, surveying her with a fangy grin, his lips smeared with blood. Inside, Mireille knew she should run, should be frightened, but her limbs were heavy and her mound foggy and distant. As if the two were not connected. No matter how much she demanded, her limbs would not obey.

The man leaned back into her, his hot breath on her throat as he opened his mouth wide.

CRACK!

Blood splattered onto her face, momentarily surprising her as the man's head rocketed back from some unseen impact. His arms holding her gave way as he fell back, letting her fall to the floor. Just before she collided her limbs and mind connected, allowing her to tuck into a small ball and roll back to her feet in a few seconds, her eyes searching wildly for answers.

Gilles de Rais was slumped against his large organ, his hand held against his face, even as blood dribbled between his fingers and down onto his expensive suit. Unconsciously Mireille traced the trajectory of the projectile back to a balcony, where a small shape stood, shadows clinging to it's form.

"Who's there! Who the hell are you?" Gilles roared in anger, wiping blood away from his healing face.

The figure stepped forwards, out of the shadows, revealing a small girl with unruly black hair, an Asian complexion. A Beretta M1934 held negligently in one hand.

Mireille felt her mind gasp as she looked upon the girl, she remembered her! She was sure of it. Like a fleeting memory, the memory fled before she could grasp it, leaving Mireille in darkness.

"Mireille." The figure spoke, simply a statement, as if she was confirming the blonde's presence. The voice was low and yet calm, dark brown eyes, slightly red stared at her, looking deep into her own blue eyes. She was human, Mireille knew that. A very dangerous human, even the way she stood spoke of grace. Like a wolf, waiting for the right moment.

And yet….. her breathing was haggard, as if she'd run a marathon, and her skin held an unusual pallid tint, as if the girl was ill.

"Mireille?" The voice asked again, a small bit of uncertainty now present. Mireille again searched her mind for an answer, and again found a shock of pain as her only reward. Something was blocking her from the truth, and Mireille had a good idea who it was.

"Who are you?" Mireille asked quietly aware of the hitch in the girl's breathing at those words, the brown eyes widened in confusion, fear and hurt, and began to glisten with unshed tears.

"Mireille…. It's me….. Kirika…" That name! The one she had remembered as soon as she had awoken! But who was Kirika?

"Enough! You dare to come here and threaten me and my lover-" Another gunshot rang out, ending his speech before it could get in full flow, forcing Gilles to yet again clutch his face in pain. "Bitch! This ends now!" He snarled.

Mireille tensed, ready for violence as the two squared off to each other. What might have happened was interrupted however, as a fierce series of explosions shook the floor beneath them. Mireille looked around wildly for a source and found the sound to be coming from a door. It sounded like someone had blown an entrance into the place or something.

"What the-" Gilles began in shock. But another gunshot echoed out, slamming into his chest, just below his neck. Gilles fell back, cursing furiously at the fiery pain as the silver burned away at his flesh.

"Bitch! You die now. Mireille!" Without meaning to Mireille snapped to attention, her muscles eager to obey, even as her mind questioned them.

"Kill her!" He commanded, his voice harsh. There was a moments hesitation, before fierce anger suffused her, roaring through her veins as her hands clenched and her eyes narrowed. The cause was irrelevant, all she knew was that she was angry and killing the girl would make it better. It all made sense! Kill the girl and she would have her memory back!

"Mireille?" The small voice questioned. Mireille ignored it. She could feel a cold weight against her thigh, cold hard metal strapped to her leg.

Skirts swirled as the gun was brought out in a flash of skirts, safety off and gun aimed and fired faster than any SWAT member could. Three bullets sprang towards the girl in less than a second. Mireille smiled.

The smile however soon turned sickly as the girl swayed away from them with laughable ease, as if they were slower than falling leaves. The girl leapt through a small doorway and into another room, never once trying to fire back.

"Chase her! Kill her!" Gilles cried out, even as she sprang forwards and through the doorway and after her small Asian enemy.

Just past the front door of the giant building was a great hall. Not unlike that of the Hellsing manor, with a wide open space which had numerous tunnels leading from it. And two sets of wide stairs at one end. Possibly the only difference from the Hellsing manor, was the tiny barricade of boxes and crates in one corner, which three people were using as walls to hold off an army of soulless Ghouls.

"Shit." Pip swore as he fell back momentarily to reload his M40 heavy machine gun, snapping a new belt of ammo into the slit and pulling back the crank. Ammo was one thing they didn't lack, the boxes were their own. Full of weapons and ammunition. It was being well spent.

Crouching on one knee to better allow him control of the recoil Pip opened fire with the machine gun, spraying bullets into the Ghouls as he moved the barrel slowly from left to right. Glowing contours of silver bullets cut through them, even as the roar made his ears clog and his teeth rattle.

"Where is Alucard?" Pip screamed to Seras as he began to reload again, already having spent his one hundred rounds.

"My master has gone in search of the vampire. When he falls so will these lifeless servants." The small blonde vampire answered, her face glowing from the muzzle flare of her M16 and Harkonnen cannon. She had changed, Pip thought to himself, become more accepting of her new life. More vampiric. But then, hadn't they all changed?

"Roll Call!" Pip cried out.

"Seras here!" A bored voice answered back instantly, she knew it was not meant for her.

"Luke here!" The other man cried out, as he kicked back an undead before filling the pallid face full of silver.

Pip let out a sigh of relief, he wasn't sure he could have taken it if all of his men had died because of him.

Fuck this. Pip swore to himself as he rummaged in a large bag nearby, his hand bumped against a few canisters. Drawing them out he inspected his newfound treasure.

"Ooooohhhhh Incendiary Grenades! Fun!"

"Mireille Stop! Why are you doing this!" Kirika cried out as she leapt behind a stone pillar, allowing herself a moment to force her heavy breath back under control. Bullets sprayed off the pillar and floor nearby, one whipping near her head and leaving a loud whistling in her ears.

"Stand and fight!" Mireille cried, her voice full of anger and hate, "Come out and die!"

"Please stop this Mireille!" Kirika answered back. Why was Mireille attacking her? Why was she so angry at her? What had Kirika done wrong? Why does she hate me so much? More bullets rained on her hiding place.

One thing was for sure. Mireille needed to get rid of that gun, and minimise the affects the firearm could have on her.

Another room caught her eye. Taking a deep breath and fighting down the bile in her throat Kirika bounded towards the doorway, leaping through as bullets raked where her feet had been mere milliseconds before. A room full of pillars was before her. Kirika's trained mind had a plan ready in a second.

Mireille rolled into the room only a few seconds after the small Asian, her eyes and her gun questing for her quarry. The room was dark and dank, shadows hugging tall pillars and creating long strips of purest shadow that crept along the floor in a patchwork fashion.

Holding her gun ready at her side Mireille stepped further into the room. An image came to her, a memory reawakening. She remembered a scene like this, but out in the daylight. She had bee hunting the girl then as well, and she had entered a broken temple just like this.

The girl had been behind her.

Diving to the side and spinning, Mireille's gun shot behind her and above the door, blasting two shots into the shadows before it clicked empty.

There was nothing there.

Mireille was not foolish. She knew she had made a mistake as soon as the Walther clicked empty, and the sound of quick feet padding towards her reinforced her observation.

Spinning she managed to see the shadowy form as it bounded into her. Strong arms encircling her legs in a tackle and bearing her to the floor, a small feminine body straddled her, trying to force her arms back.

Quickly, Mireille delivered a sharp blow to the girl's stomach, hoping to wind her enough to get her off. Perhaps it worked a little too well. Already wracked with obvious sickness the small girl coughed and hacked madly, bringing up blood and accidentally coughing it into Mireille's face.

And her eyes.

"Ahh –Fuck!" She cried out in shock, abandoning her attempts to fight the girl in favour of scrubbing at her eyes. The figure took the time to control her coughing and wrestle Mireille's right arm down to the stone floor, banging it against the hard surface painfully.

"Mireille, please don't fight me, I don't want to fight you, please don't." The girl repeated in a quiet and soft voice, her begging and pleading out of odds with the strong grip that was repeatedly bashing her fist against stone, cutting the skin and knuckles roughly. Despite holding on for dear life, the pain soon overwhelmed her mind's orders and the hand gave up and relinquished the Walther P99.

In a quick attempt to slow her down Mireille rocketed her feet upwards, kicking the girl in the back with her knees and knocking her forwards over Mireille's head. However the small Asian still managed to get hold of the Walther before Mireille could.

Mireille flew to her feet but froze as she saw the small girl holding her Walther, not aiming at her, but ready.

Damn it, I've lost, and now I'm dead. The girl's eyes were sad, and her shoulders slumped with both sadness and fatigue.

"Mireille... why?" She asked, her voice almost cracking. It was filled with so many different emotions. Too many for her to guess at. Mireille felt her eyes widen at the obvious pain the girl felt. Who was this girl? Why was she so sad at the thought of killing her? Wasn't she the enemy?

"Dammit! I don't know who you are!" Mireille screamed angrily at the girl, hating her for making her wait so. Was she going to shoot or not? The suspense was killing her.

"I'm Kirika..." The gil tried again, "Your partner, Noir, your friend..." Mireille shook her head in denial. The damned girl was trying to confuse her, messing with her mind. If she was a friend, then why did Mireille feel only hate when she looked into those brown orbs. If they were as close as the girl's acting suggested... then why did Mireille not recognise her? No. She was an enemy. Just a dirty creature who wanted to use her for her own ends, but no one used Mireille.

"I don't need my gun to kill you." Mireille whispered, before charging forwards and sweeping her legs against the girl's trying to trip her. The small Asian hopped out of the way lithely, landing like a cat. Mireille was less than a second behind her, her fist hurtling towards the small face.

Less calmly a strong hand deflected the blow, but the girl winced as it struck her shoulder a glancing hit, knocking her off balance.

Mireille could see the strange illness affecting her. Making her slow and sluggish where she was normally so fast. Wait?... Normally so fast? I've never even met her before.

"Mireille stop it!" The girl cried out in pleading, ducking below an elbow and quickly rolling away from a boot heel. Damn this girl was hard to hit. Still, she wasn't fighting back, and was getting weaker. Mireille knew that time was with her.

The girl took off again, rolling through a door and away from the blonde. Towards the front end of the building. Mireille sighed an exasperated sigh before continuing her hunt. What was with all the running?

"Pip! Down!" A female voice cried out urgently, making Pip hit the dirt a mere moment before a swathe of bullets streamed over his head, cutting down the large group of Ghouls he had been battling. It was close and serious now, with the Ghouls pressed against the crates and reaching and climbing over to try and get to the human flesh within. With so many Ghouls clambering around, reaching for ammo was now a very dangerous game.

It was as if the blasted vampire had turned a small village against them, there were so many Ghouls. For every ten they cut down it seemed another thirty would enter from a doorway at the ends of the room. Joining the back of the throng which were pressing against them.

"Captain!" Luke cried out in shock, causing Pip to look towards him with sudden fear. The man was fine, or looked whole enough. He was covered in blood, but it didn't look as though any was his own. The man pointed high above the fighting, towards the stairs. They led up to the second floor, where two figures seemed to be battling each other gracefully. With moves so quick and flowing that they seemed never to stop.

"Shit is that the assassins? Why the hell are they fighting each other?"

"Pip!" Seras screamed in anger, bringing his attention back to the Ghouls. "We're being overwhelmed!" She cried again, indicating a large group of Ghouls which had broken through the blockade and was lurching towards them. More streamed through the gap they had made.

"Shit!"

"I'm your partner!" Kirika cried uselessly as she ducked another fist and swivelled around Mireille's form, ending up facing the confused blonde's back. Why could Mireille not remember her? Did their love mean nothing? "Your friend! We live together!"

"Stop lying. I would remember that!" Again the blonde tried to sweep her legs out from under her. Not trusting her poisoned body to perform a back flip she simply hopped backwards out of the way. She smothered a loud hacking cough.

She knew she didn't have much time left.

"Yuumura Kirika! Your partner! We're Noir, we passed the trials together, you saved my life!" For a moment Mireille stopped, her face freezing in sudden shock as she seemed to remember something. Right before a wave of new hate seemed to engulf her, turning her eyes angry again.

"Stop messing with my thoughts!" She snarled. Kirika would have groaned if she wasn't feeling so miserable. Breathing heavy and limbs burning. As well as a broken heart and hurt feelings. How could Mireille just forget her? Mireille was trying to kill her! The blonde's blows were sure and swift, their lethal intent unmistakeable.

There was one course of action left for Kirika. One she had wanted to avoid at all costs, but she had no time left, even if she wouldn't get the chance to tell Mireille how she felt before she died.

Rushing forwards, body held low Kirika charged towards Mireille's shocked form. A few quick blows would put the Corsican under for a few hours, hopefully enough for Hellsing to kill the vampire and rescue Mireille. Even if Kirika would not be alive to see it, that would be an acceptable result.

Ducking under a clumsy arm Kirika span on her heel, prepared to deal a heavy elbow into Mireille's stomach.

Her legs died.

Muscles in her legs, normally taut and strong, gave way. Turning as soft as jelly as a fiery wave of pain rocketed through her being, originating from her lungs and reaching up to grasp her heart in fiery claws. So painful that she sobbed in pain.

Needless to say her attack fared badly. Overbalanced and rushing forward with momentum, what was supposed to be an efficient winding move ended up with Kirika barrelling into Mireille's legs and knocking her down. They sprawled down together, even as Kirika tried to fight the urge to both cry and be sick at the same time.

It seemed the deadly poison had finallycaught up with her.

Alucard was torn. Literally.

Half of his power was here with himself, battling the French vampire Gilled de Rais, fighting a vampire not quite as old as himself. But old enough to know a few tricks.

The other half of him was in the form of pure black power, destroying Ghouls in corridors to give Seras and Pip the time they needed.

And it still wasn't enough.

Alucard was not winning. Nor was he losing, at this level they were evenly matched, but he needed to end this NOW!

Even destroying Ghouls, he was not helping them enough to save Seras. He had heard his fledgling's shouts, they were being overwhelmed. If things continued this way. Alucard would fail on both fronts.

But which way to swing? Fight the vampire and risk Seras? Or rescue Seras, allow the vampire to escape and risk another attack later? Which would again leave them in the same situation.

"You English dog!" The vampire shouted, "I was a Knight of France, I fought a hundred year war against the English, I have killed more of your kind than you even knew existed!"

Alucard ignored the errant vampire and his mindless prattle. Alucard was not English for a start. He was Romanian. But that was irrelevant.

I need more power! Swearing angrily he searched within himself for the strength he needed to succeed, he found none. He was already at his limit. He knew he had more, behind a locked door within himself.

Furiously he pushed at the door, trying to force it open and claim the power he needed. But it was strong, it sealed his power away from him.

For an eternity. No one but a Hellsing can ever break your seals Alucard. No one.

"I will not fail." The elder vampire grunted as he fought now three battles. One against the Ghouls. One against Gilles de Rais.

And one against his seals.

Explosions riddled the Ghouls around them as Luke threw reckless grenade after reckless grenade into the mass of freaks. The explosions so close to them as to be threatening.

Neither Seras nor Pip reprimanded him. The end was coming, and taking out as many as possible was as good an idea as any.

Pip was bleeding. Seras could smell the blood on him, his own blood. Luke too was wounded, perhaps critically. They were all of them dying.

"MASTERRR!" She cried out in a final farewell to the man who had given her life. The man who was not a man. The man she knew she loved.

Kirika gagged and wretched on the cold stone floor as the poison took more of a toll on her, covering her brow with sweat and causing her to vomit her own blood. She had forced herself onto her knees, determined to die of Mireille's bullet instead of drowning in her own blood.

"Please, just do it." Kirika whimpered to the blonde. Who had disentangled herself from Kirika's weak body and climbed to her feet. Her Walther clutched in her hand.

It was aimed at Kirika's head.

"I love you Mireille. Please... I love you... Don't stay with him, he's lying to you. Live your own life... go with Hellsing, they'll explain it all to you. I lov-" Her speech was cut off by another round of fierce hacking coughs, wracking her small frame as she shivered in fear and cold. Why was it so cold?

"I'm sorry that I don't know you. That... I don't remember you. I'll give you a quick death." Mireille's voice was soft. No longer filled with intense hate, just a sad forgiveness.

Kirika collapsed to her side, determined to look at Mireille one last time. Bright blue orbs met her own eyes and she smiled. Mireille was so beautiful.

And Kirika loved her.

Kirika closed her eyes, shutting out that lovely visage for the last time. That determination, that loving gaze.

The Walther spoke.

And Kirika felt pain no more.

Alucard's eyes snapped open.

"Masterrrr!" SerasScreamed from below, her voice filled with anger, defiance and... love?

Something gave way within him. A subtle bit of electricity as something snapped. Something important.

The metaphorical door he was pushing on fell open, and he fell through it in his haste, falling into pure dark power.

Eyes flashed blood red.

Fangs grew longer.

And power exploded from within him.

That's it...

You're thinking of killing me now aren't you? I'm pretty sure that Mai is...

You should be honoured that I care about you all this much. This chapter took me two and a half hours to write. I timed it. Since im an idiot.

DON'T READ THIS NEXT BIT. UNLESS YOU ARE SO ANGRY THAT YOU ARE CONSIDERING NOT READING THE NEXT CHAPTER. OR IF YOU ARE SO SAD, I.E. MOURNFUL, THAT YOU FEEL LIKE SCREAMING. IT WILL RUIN THE NEXT CHAPTER A LITTLE. BUT I FELT IT WAS NECESSARY IN CASE PEOPLE GOT REALLY ANGRY AND DECIDED TO FLAME ME.

SPOILER ALERT!

Ummm... uhhh... What can I say. "NOT LAST CHAPTER!" Put two and two together and think, why would it not be the last, and if what happened is to stay, why is the story not labelled Tragedy? Wink wink, wink wink.