The Lost Princess

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Go, now. Please," he had begged her.

She remembered looking deeply into his eyes and saw the same expression she had witnessed so long ago. It was the same look he had given her the last time he saw her, right before she jumped from the tower.

She shook her head in response. She wouldn't desert him again.

"No."

"Ilona, please. Go with them. Put an end to this. Kill them."

He had held her cheek, looking deep into her eyes.

"Go, now."

She had glanced at Walter, the traitor, before following Integra and Seras inside the massive zeppelin. She turned back one last time, seeing him standing there, preparing for battle. Bats filled the sky. The dawn approached, finally, after what felt like the longest night in their lives.

Inside, the three women had fought together until The Captain had appeared. Seras had told the two of them to go on, to destroy The Major. So they had left here there, the hallway blazing, the dark figure not saying a word but pointing them in the right direction.

Ilona and Integra had entered the control room. The Major spun around in his chair and Integra fired immediately, only to find a wall of glass blocking their way. He had turned on the wall of television screens and her heart stooped as she saw him. The rivers of blood were absorbed into the one she loved.

"He'll cease to utterly exist when the curtain falls," he had told them.

'No,' she realised, 'something is wrong.'

She called out to him to with he mind but there was nothing, no response.

"What have you done to him?!" Her voice was loud to her ears, echoing off the walls.

"He absorbed officer Schrodinger, but as you can see this meal isn't agreeing with him. He is no longer capable of recognising himself. He is not alive, dead or undead. He is an imaginary number."

She saw his eyes closing. "Vlad, no! Don't close your eyes!" she called out to him again with her mind.

"It is time, my beloved, my Princess."

"Vlad, please. Don't leave me," she felt the tears on her cheeks.

"Farewell," he breathed, "Ilona."

She clenched her fists, a force building inside of her. And then she released, her voice rising, the dark cloud shooting out of her and smashing the glass wall with force.

She turned to the Major, her face streaked red with blood tears.

"You," she glared at him. "I will end you."

He laughed. "I see you've developed your vampiric powers. Very good. But there's something you didn't consider."

The Doctor appeared behind him suddenly. She felt the hairs rise on her neck.

"You remember The Doctor?"

The Doctor flipped the lenses of his glasses upwards, looking into her eyes. He raised his hand towards her. "Kill her."

Before Ilona could blink she had her arm around Integra's neck tightly, the gun at her temple. She had disarmed her with ease and without thought. Her sword and gun now lay discarded on the floor.

"No, I will not," she fought inside her mind.

"Ilona!" Integra shouted through grit teeth.

"Did you think we would let you leave so easily? That we wouldn't ensure you were on our side?" The Major cackled. "I had Schroedinger help you develop your powers only a little because I wanted you to escape, my dear, to return to your Prince so you could lead him here. That chip inside your heart was our little gift to you."

Her breath felt heavy. She was just like the ghouls they had created from her essence, chipped and under their control.

"How do you think your Prince would feel if he could see you kill his dear master? It's a shame that part of the plan didn't work out, but it is a small sacrifice. Now, kill her!" He commanded, clicking his fingers.

She felt her finger press on the trigger. With all her might she pushed back. She thought of him, her Vlad. She wouldn't let his death be in vain. And then she let go of Integra, pushing her away. The gun pointed to her own heart, the chip. She pulled the trigger. She felt the searing pain, the explosion. She heard the Major call out, Integra yelling at her.

All was silent. Black.

And then, she rose. She saw the fear in their eyes.

"It can't be!" The Doctor yelled.

She felt the power inside her, the strength.

"I am no ordinary vampire. Did you think that you could tame me with a mere chip?" She laughed and raised her gun, firing.

The bullet hit the Doctor in the heart. She watched as he went down without a word.

She heard Integra yelling. The Major fired shots in their direction. She turned and saw one hit Integra's eye.

"No!"

But Integra, still on her feet fired again, and hit The Major in the centre of his forehead. A perfect shot. Seras appeared, standing behind them.

A moment of silence passed as they took in what had happened. And then she sensed it.

"WALTER!" Integra cried. He was gone.

The explosions increased and the ground shook beneath their feet.

"I'm tired. Let us return home, to what's left of it," Integra sighed, "Take me home."

Outside the sun had risen, but it was hidden behind thick clouds of smoke. The city still burned. Tendrils of it curled around her hair, her face. She stopped suddenly, looking to where he once stood. Seras and Integra watched on quietly as she moved towards the place.

She felt him there, his presence lingering even though he was gone. It was the same feeling she experienced if she had awoken to find him gone, the scent of him still on the sheets. The pentagram glowed against the cracked grey concrete. She kneeled and using her strength extracted it from the ground.

She held the block of cement in her hands tightly as they returned to the smoking ruins of the Hellsing manor.

Wordlessly, she had departed from the two women, heading through the crumbling walls into the sub-basement. Being so deep underground, this part of the mansion had received the least amount of damage. His room looked almost the same as when she had left it the previous evening and in the realisation, she felt overcome with emotion and exhaustion.

She walked past his throne-like chair, and the small table he kept. The wine and the glasses had fallen to the floor during the attack and the sound of glass crunching under her boots was deafening in the silence.

Never letting go of the concrete piece, she undressed without care, throwing her garments on the floor carelessly. She saw the blood and soot on her hands, under her nails, felt it on her face.

She climbed into the coffin and laid down on her side, pulling the lid shut after her. In the darkness she clutched the concrete to her chest, feeling the coolness against her skin. Confined in the small space, his scent overwhelmed her, as she surrendered at last, into a deep sleep.