10. Blood and Silver

"I know what you are, Barker."

Sweeney could smell a blooming threat even before the man started his rant. At his careless expression, Ralph frowned and continued:

"You could have never survived Australia on your own. I have been hunting your kind over the last twenty yea-

"Barbers? You have been hunting barbers, Harker?" Sweeney chuckled darkly. "I must say you indulge in the most peculiar hobbies. And the name's Todd, by the way."

The other man just stared at him, not amused at all.

"You cannot fool me, vampire." He suddenly tossed a silver coin, which Sweeney casually caught in his gloved hand, raising his eyebrows. Ralph huffed:

"If any harm comes to- no let me set you straight about this. If you lay as much as a finger on my sister, I will personally see that you meet the sun. Do you understand?"

Sweeney threw him a death glare and muttered:

"You are mad."

It was Ralph's turn to chuckle.

"Am I? We shall see, we shall see..."

Back in the shop, Meryl had grabbed a hold of Nellie's sleeve and started whispering like mad.

"Silver, Nellie! Silver burns them, you should try this instead of cutting, it's safer this way. And if he or anyone else tries something funny, just use silver! Or fire! And avoid looking them in the eye, that way they can't glamour you..."

Nellie nodded, sensing that her sister was trying to give her what information she could in so little time. She looked at the dark figures outside.

"What do you think they're talking about out there?"

"Ralph's overreacting. As usual." Her sister sighed. "He wants to make sure you're safe."

The baker shook her head. "Mr. T's not gonna like this..."

Meryl raised an eyebrow. "Mr. T? Is that what you're calling him?"

But before Nellie could even open her mouth, the doorbell tinkled and the two men entered the shop once more. Meryl pulled her quickly into a hug.

"It was wonderful to see you again, sister. I will pay you another visit soon." She winked at her as she let her go.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Ralph.

"I'm afraid so, brother. I've got a show to do." She quickly kissed Ralph on his cheek and headed towards the door. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Todd." And with one more wicked smile, she was gone.

The three people left stared at each other for a moment.

"So..." started Ralph. "Could I use that couch of yours for the night, Nell?"

"M'afraid the boy is using that one..."

"The armchair will do, then!" Nellie's brother lifted his luggage off the floor and left the room.

The baker looked for a split second at the barber, who was watching her, but then remembered her sister's warning. He suddenly turned on his heels, motioned for her to follow him, and exited the pie shop through the door leading to the courtyard. As soon as she was outside, she noticed that he hadn't ascended the stairs, but simply seemed to wait for her there. As uneasy as she was feeling, she had to find out what he wanted.

"I hope my brother didn't upset you, Mr. T."

She noticed the barber was looking strangely at her and she avoided his gaze once more.

"By no means, Mrs. Lovett. Everything's fine."

She could hear him approach her step by step, but she didn't seem to be able to move. Instead, she fixed her eyes on one point little above the barber's left shoulder.

"I wanted to ask you if you haven't seen one of my razors laying around. I seem to have misplaced it."

He was standing now quite close to her, and she had an eerie feeling, suddenly thinking of all the things her sister had told her and starting to think that maybe, just maybe they were true. That Mr. Todd was truly a creature of the night. And why did he keep asking about that razor? It's not like he ever allowed her to even touch them.

"No, Mr. Todd. If I see any of your razors outside of their box, I'll let you know."

"Very well. I bid you goodnight, Mrs. Lovett."

The baker allowed herself to look for a split second in his eyes. The barber had a bemused smile on his face, as if he knew why she wasn't looking at him, like he knew what had happened, like everything was true!

"Eleanor, what are you doing outside?"

At the sound of her brother's voice, she turned her head to tell him that she was coming inside, but when she turned again, the barber was gone. She stood there, rooted to the spot. Her skin was goosebumps. When did it get so cold? The door opened.

"Nellie?"

Her brother looked at her curiously. Nellie quickly recomposed herself.

"I was looking in case the boy might return." she said shrugging her shoulders.

Her brother's eyebrows raised in wonder.

"You've been out for several minutes, Eleanor."

"Have I? It must've seem so to you, I only just got out." The baker entered the shop once more, feeling even more distressed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"No, thank you, I just want to get some sleep." he yawned.

The doorbell tinkled once more and suddenly the room was invaded by a huge black dog with pointy ears. As soon as he saw Ralph he stopped in his tracks, sniffing warily. He started approaching the man warily.

"Oh, it's alright, darling. He's a good man, he is." Nellie said as she petted the dog on its head. The beast seemed to calm down and sniffed Ralph's extended hand, before starting wagging his tail. A moment later, the two of them were playing roughly, like the best friends in the world.

Nellie turned to Toby, who was still standing in the threshold, with a confused expression on his face.

"Ti's me brother, Toby. He's going to stay here for the night."

Ralph pushed the dog off him a second time after an unsuccessful attempt, and extended his arm towards Toby.

"I've heard quite a lot about you, lad."

Toby shook his hand, frowning.

"I haven't, sir. The name's Toby."

"I'm Ralph." The older man said, nodding. Nellie could sense that the boy was quite wary towards her brother.

"I can't believe how late it is!" she exclaimed. "I think it's time for all of us to go to bed." The baker took a step towards her room.

"A word, Eleanor?"

Her brother's voice stopped her in her tracks. She took a deep breath, plastered a smile on her face and turned.

"Of course, brother."

As Toby made himself comfortable on the couch, Ralph followed Nellie to her room and closed the door. The baker walked to the make-up table, facing the mirror.

"Eleanor, are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright. Why are you asking?" she realized she sounded a bit nervous.

"Because of all that has happened. Because you're hiding things from me." Ralph took two steps towards her.

"Me? I'm not hiding anything, Ralph-

"Then you are omitting certain aspects." His eyes flickered to her muffler for a moment. She stood silent. Ralph sighed and got closer to her.

"Eleanor, I haven't seen you in one year. You can understand my concern?"

The baker just nodded. Her brother frowned worriedly.

"Then what aren't you telling me? Eleanor?"

"What is there to tell?!" she burst. "Business went bad, but since Mr. Todd moved in, things are better than ever. Our businesses complete each other, he's got quite a reputation and his clients can linger for a pie any time..." The baker took a step back from him, and bumped lightly into the drawer.

"You know it's not that. You seem different. There's something else that's nagging you and you won't tell me."

"There's nothing to tell, brother. If you don't mind I want to go to sleep." She cut him sharply, crossing her arms. She didn't like the way the conversation was headed and wanted to escape without disclosing anything.

Her brother sighed and shook his head.

"Eleanor, Eleanor, why must you make me do this?" He took another step towards her.

"Do what?" She was getting uneasy. "Ralph? Do what?!" His eyes shot only for a second to her muffler before he grabbed her shoulder and tugged at it. She quickly slapped his hand away.

"Ralph! What's the matter with you!" Nellie could feel her heart beating desperately, if her brother would find out...

He stopped suddenly, but one of his hands remained on her shoulder.

"Take it off." he said simply, but his tone was sharp.

"What? This?" she gestured towards the muffler. "Why?"

"I have to check something. If you won't do it I will."

"Dammit, Ralph! What's wrong with you? I don't want to take it off unless you tell me why." Nellie tried to stay firm, but alas, it was for naught. In one swift movement, he pulled the muffler from her throat. She jumped, but he kept her in place and forced her head sideways. She knew what he was looking for, she was angry and scared and...

Ralph let out a sigh of relief. He let her go and she looked at him incredulously.

"I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me."

Nellie just kept staring at him, still not believing what had just happened. Her brother looked at her.

"I'm sorry. It's just that so many bad things happen and...I'm getting paranoid."

She just nodded.

"I'm going to go now." He forced a smile on his face. "Good night. And sorry again."

A moment later he was gone. Nellie turned to the mirror that was behind her and stared at the mirror. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Or rather, what she wasn't seeing. The two pricks on her throat were gone.

It was two days later the unexpected happened, at closing time. Ralph had left to stay an inn, Toby was outside cleaning the place up, and the dog was somewhere roaming the streets, as it seemed to be very independent and left the house as it pleased. Nellie was in the process of cleaning a counter, when the door to the shop opened. A tall, dark-haired man, dressed in a long coat and with a dusty hat with large brim had entered. As he walked towards her, he took out a note of ten pounds.

"Is anything here worth this that I could buy?"

The baker's heart froze in her chest, while certain memories, buried deep within her mind, crawled out and started running before her eyes.

"I-I'm afraid we're c-closing, Sir. You'll have to come another day." her voice was trembling, but she had to stand her ground, she had to...

"Are you sure?" a nasty smirk sneaked onto his face.

The baker cleared her throat before speaking again.

"Yes, I am. You need to leave."

In a strange way, his smile became even wider, but he tucked the money back into his pocket.

"That was a bad joke, wasn't it? Still, you need to come with me."

And then Nellie knew she was treading on dangerous waters. She straightened her back, trying to show him that she wasn't afraid.

"Tell him that I'm not interested anymore."

He chuckled.

"I'm afraid the orders include escorting you to him, regardless of your personal opinion."

Nellie she stood with arms akimbo, her blood boiling.

"You tell him he can shove his opinions up his arse! And get out of my house!"

With just two steps he was next to the baker and grabbed her arm in a tight grip.

"Can't do this, or it'll be my neck on the line. You're coming with me, missy!"

As Nellie was fruitlessly trying get away from the man by hitting him and shouting foul things, Toby slammed the courtyard door to the wall.

"You leave her alone!" he shouted and hurled himself towards the man. The stranger, however, did not seemed interested to linger unnecessarily at the Meat Pie Emporium. One sucker punch to his forehead was all it took to knock Toby out. This led to a string of actions. Nellie's cussing turned to screams, which took part of her energy. Therefore, she suddenly stopped resisting physically, and when the man pulled her arm once again she was slammed with her back against the main door. The next moment, someone patted the man on his shoulder.

"I would suggest you to release her immediately. This is the one and only warning."

Nellie let out a sigh of relief hearing Sweeney's voice. The man however, was not impressed.

"Damn! Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated?!"

In one swift movement, he produced a dagger, turned around and slashed Sweeney's throat, much to Nellie's horror.