Chapter 13: Appropriate Apologies

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Content warnings: Graphic violence, references to cancer and cancer treatment.

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The universe clearly felt like fucking with him, because Knox came to the blood bank again and held Vandal up for at least a quarter of an hour. When he finally left Vandal's head felt like it was about to explode. He glance at the clock. Only one in the morning. He groaned. Well, he knew Anna was at the clinic tonight. She had texted him a couple hours ago. Vandal locked the door to the blood bank behind him. It wouldn't do any harm if he just went upstairs to see Anna for a minute. Just to clear his head.

He heard Anna moving inside her office, but no other voices, so he knocked twice and went in immediately. Anna turned towards him with an abruptness he didn't expect from her and he stopped in the doorway, looking at her in surprise.

"What is it?" she snapped sharply. "Don't tell me something else happened?"

Vandal stared at her. She was upset? He couldn't quite tell whether she was angry or sad. He rather hoped for angry. Anna in a bad mood that he didn't cause was something rare, her endless good humour was unnerving and he liked seeing her fly off the handle. He relished the days that her colleagues got on her nerves. On those days it was so much easier to get her to indulge in her disdain for humanity. Vandal liked her cruelty better than her mercy, no matter how cruel her mercy sometimes sounded.

"Nothing happened to me, princess," he said, forgetting to close the door behind him. "Something happen to you?"

She gave him a strained look, eyes shimmering with something that she could barely control. Yeah, that was definitely anger. Good.

"One of my subjects died," she answered bluntly.

Vandal hadn't expected that. "What?" he said, frowning. "How?"

"I tried treating a patient with cancerous growths in his muscle tissue," she said angrily. "Advanced stages, they had tried everything, but it kept coming back." For a short moment she looked a little calmer. "You know what real desperation smells like?"

He nodded silently. He knew it all too well.

"Well, everyone around him was dripping with it," Anna said. Her lips twitched into a sour smile. "He was going to die and they all knew it. But they were giving the chemo one last try. What better time for a miraculous recovery?" She hissed. "I gave him a shot of vitae and two hours later he was dead."

Vandal swore under his breath. "Do they know it was you?" he asked.

"What?" Anna said irritably. "No, of course not, they think I just took some blood to test something about the antibodies in his system." She waved her hands about in frustration. "That's not the point! My vitae didn't work, Vandal. It didn't attack the cancer like it attacked infections and viruses. It made the cancer growth's worse. It spread through his body like crazy after I injected him. The vitae hastened the goddamn process!"

Vandal's mouth twitched. So she had thought she was saving someone and had killed them instead? Accidentally? Even now Anna didn't look surprised or hurt. She was bloody furious.

"The same thing happened to the fucking mice," she spat, pacing around the room. "Some of them anyway…"

Black fire was sparking from her eyes and Vandal couldn't resist the temptation of pushing her further. "Then why did you try the same on a human?"

Anna did not appreciate that. "I thought their bodies were just not strong enough to handle it," she hissed. "Mice aren't a perfect parallel." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath but that did nothing to calm her down. "When you give them too big a dose their stupid hearts give out," she glared. "I thought a fully grown male could take a dose high enough to actually be helpful. Well, I was right about that, his heart was perfectly fine, right up until the sarcomas clogged his fucking chambers."

Vandal couldn't help himself. He laughed.

"You think that's funny?" Anna spat.

"Yeah, I do," he snorted. "What a bloody poetic way to go." It was hilarious. The vitae was like a life force, boosting the regeneration of cells and it had helped the cancer instead of the healthy tissue. That was just… "It's perfect," he snorted. "Well done, princess."

Anna stood frozen to her spot for a moment, staring at him in furious disbelief. When she spoke her voice shook with hatred. "Get out," she hissed.

Vandal's face fell. "Don't be like that, princess," he said, annoyed. "I was just-"

"Get. Out."

She looked as if she might throw something at him if he didn't, so he took a step back, but Vandal had no intention of actually leaving. She was being ridiculous.

"So a dying man died a day early," he said. "No one c-"

"Get the fuck out of my face!" Anna screamed and she took a step towards him with such aggression in her movement that Vandal backed out of the still open door.

"Anna-" he began.

"Fuck off," Anna spat and she slammed the door in his face.

Vandal stared at the closed door for a moment and then abruptly turned away and started walking. Silently he paced through the corridors of the hospital. His mind was strangely blank. There were no thoughts, only emotions. Before he had even reached the blood bank, he turned around and marched back. He wasn't going to be sent away. What the fuck had he been thinking? The woman was throwing a damn temper tantrum and only because some meaningless 9-to-5 tool that was going to die anyway snuffed it a little early. What the hell was her problem? He was not going to tolerate this. If she wanted to yell at him, let her, but he was not going to wait patiently at a distance until she was done having her hissy fit.

When he arrived back at her office, however, it was dark and the door was locked. Vandal snarled. For fuck's sake. He had hardly been gone two minutes. Had she gone home to sulk? Well, he was not going to run after her. He stood in the empty corridor, unable to do anything but scowl.

This was absurd. He actually felt hurt. It physically hurt. Not like when Therese was angry with him, he didn't feel like he was losing his mind, but it still hurt. What the hell had he let this woman do to him? He thought of the look in her eyes as she had screamed at him and his own eyes darkened. Stupid, overemotional girl. What did he care if she didn't want to see him? Something cold stirred inside him and froze his thoughts for a frantic moment. Something unfamiliar that was very much like fear…

Vandal stood perfectly still for a moment and then he swore, turned around, marched down to his office and turned on the computer.

.

As soon as Anna was home she picked up the nearest object she could find and threw it against a wall. It was an ornamental bowl and it shattered into sharp little pieces that rained down with merry tinkling sounds. She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best to muffle the scream of frustration that was fighting its way out of her throat. Failure. Failure. Failure. Her hand closed around something heavy and she threw it against another wall. The lamp crashed to the floor loudly and Anna screamed at it.

He had laughed. He had laughed at her failure. How dare he? That, that- Anna prevented herself from throwing something else and muffled her next cry by pressing her hands to her mouth. What did she care? She didn't need Vandal's approval, only his compliance, nothing more. Why did she even tell him about her experiments? He was a goddamn experiment. Nothing. More.

Her eyes stung and she felt tears rolling past her cheeks. Anna screamed again. She shoved her hands into her pockets and her left hand closed around something cold. What was this? Those weren't her keys. Vandal's fucking keys. She should go to his house and trash his place instead of her own. While she was at it, why didn't she burn down the damn building? Involuntarily her hand closed around them. She squeezed until the metal dug painfully into her flesh. Why the fuck did he even giver her these. Why did she take them? Why didn't she just leave when she still had the chance? Anna forced her hand open and let go of the keys. No. Anna Deering didn't need anything. Noting, never, from no one. Her hand stung and she tasted blood when she bit through her lip. Tears of fury were streaming down her face.

Breathe, she thought, breathe. Count back from ten and freeze the fire that's ready to burn the world to ashes. Count your way back to control. She closed her eyes and counted.

Ten flawless nails.

Nine shining needles.

Eight dying mice.

Seven clueless co-workers.

Six different hospitals.

Five different cities.

Four drained parasites.

Three tortured ghouls.

Two broken people.

One dead patient.

One dead father

One dead friend.

One worthless, filthy, treacherous, disappointment of a man.

…One weak, foolish, ridiculous, stupid littlegirl.

Anna strangled her screams in the first throw pillow she could grab until her throat was hoarse and she was utterly exhausted.

.

Vandal ran up the stairs of Anna's apartment building. When he arrived at her door he hesitated a moment and then he leaned on the doorbell. There was no answer. Angrily he pressed it even longer. Nothing.

"Princess!" he barked, banging on the door.

There was still no answer. The door next to hers opened, however, and an old man looked out.

"Oh good, it's you," he said. "Did Miss Dearing get some bad news? There was a lot of screaming and crying earlier. Is she alright?"

"She won't be if she doesn't let me in soon," Vandal growled.

"Won't let you help her, hm?" the man said sympathetically. "Women can be like that."

Vandal closed his eyes for a moment. He felt the knife he had packed burning on his belt. He could just kill this moron. Home invasions happened every day… No, no. He shouldn't. It wasn't worth it.

"She'll be fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I'll see to it."

"Well, good luck," the neighbour said with a friendly half-smile and he went back inside.

Vandal took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell again. No answer. Vandal snapped. "Anna, open the fucking door!" he yelled. He was this close to pulling it off its hinges.

Abruptly the door swung open and Vandal stepped back. Anna stared at him with eyes that tried very hard to be cold, but that were still glowing with anger and red from crying. She had actually cried.

"Have you come to apologize?" she demanded.

"If you like," he said snidely. "I'm a pretty good liar." She clearly wanted to slam the door in his face, but Vandal jammed it with his foot and grabbed her arm hard enough to hurt her. "We're going for a walk," he told her.

"Like hell I am," Anna snapped.

"Look," Vandal growled. "You know I'm not going to beg for your damn forgiveness, so would you just put on a bloody coat and come with me or I'll make you."

"Get off me," Anna hissed.

Vandal let her go, but didn't move away from the door. Anna didn't move either, she just stared at him.

"This better be good," she snapped and she turned around to get her coat.

The scowl stayed on Vandal's face, but he felt a stab of triumph. So he had pissed her off, that had hardly been his fault. He'd still make it up to her and if she gave him the chance it would be good, but she needed to know that she couldn't walk out on him like that.

Anna returned with her coat and shoes on and a stoic expression on her face. She followed him down the stairs in stubborn silence. Vandal didn't offer her his arm, she'd probably try to rip it off if he did. He wondered if she would agree to get in his car.

"Where're going to the beach," he informed her. "Would you like to walk or take my car?"

"We'll take mine," she replied coldly.

"Fine," he agreed. If driving made her feel in control, he could deal with that. He had never been in a car with Anna without being the driver himself, though, it was strange. She still refused to look at him, keeping her eyes exclusively on the road, but she followed his directions passively.

"Don't go into the car park," Vandal said when they were nearly there. "Park somewhere by the pier, there's no cameras there."

Anna gave him a sideways glance, but didn't ask any questions and did as he said. Both the pier and the beach were dark and deserted. The noises of the city seemed insignificant compared to the rushing of the wind and the water, no matter how subdued they were in the still night. Anna stared at the sea for a moment and Vandal let her, he had felt Anna's anger sink away further during the car ride. She was nowhere near as tense as she had been before, but he suspected that one word out of place would throw her back immediately.

"Where are we going?" she asked after a while.

"Up there," he said, pointing to a rusty staircase leading up the cliff.

Another sideways glance. "Alright," she said coolly.

Vandal led the way, trudging through the sand and Anna followed. When he stepped on the staircase Vandal held his hand out to Anna and she took it, seemingly without thinking about it. Vandal took care to show no sign of triumph, but guided her up the steps with careful attention. It was rather difficult to hide his excitement, though, he really hoped Anna would go for this.

Having arrived on the top of the cliff, Anna stared at the sea again. Vandal made a noise to get her attention and she walked with him along the edge of the cliff. He made sure he walked on the outside. There was a strange, heavy silence.

"You could push me off, you know," Vandal broke it eventually. "I probably wouldn't survive. Doesn't that make you feel better?"

"No," Anna replied coldly.

"Not even a little bit?" he coaxed. "Just the thought that we're walking here…and that you could kill me any moment and I know it… Isn't that at least a little bit satisfying?"

She gave him an icy stare. "It's crude," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "So you don't appreciate the beauty of violence," he said. "I'm sure there's something in that bag of yours you could kill me with cleanly and quietly. Nobody would know. What did you say you'd use? Ketamine?"

"If I wanted to you hurt you I would have," Anna said sharply.

"What do you want then?" Vandal asked and he followed it with a rough laugh. "Are you going to make me ask that for the rest of my life?" It slipped out before he realized it, but it made Anna stop dead in her tracks and stare straight ahead of her silently.

"You laughed at me," she said after a very long silence.

"I laughed at your dead patient," Vandal corrected her.

"Same thing!" Anna snapped.

Vandal was getting fed up with her not looking at him. If she would just hurry up and admit that she felt trodden on her pretty little toes for no reason they could get to the fun part. "So you want me to pretend I care about some old fool dying just because you were the one standing at his bedside? Is that it? You want sympathy? Fuck that. Sympathy is for pain and regret, you're just pissed off."

"Yes," Anna said, turning towards him abruptly. "I am." Her voice was level, but every syllable dripped with menace. "It is very…vexing, to have people dying when I've just decided they should live."

Vandal almost did an involuntary step back. Christ, she was as terrifying as she was beautiful right now. "So he's a disrespectful fuck," he replied, looking straight into her eyes. "How dare that lowlife die without your permission."

Anna exhaled slowly. "How dare he," she repeated.

"But it wasn't just you," Vandal said smoothly. "There was a whole team of morons messing around with your patient."

She raised her head a little and Vandal smiled. He was winning her over.

"You need room to work," he coaxed. "A chance to conduct your experiments as you see fit. Without all this interference."

"That would certainly help," she admitted, letting out a sigh that clearly took some of the tension out of her shoulders.

"Well," Vandal grinned. "That's why we're here."

Anna looked around and fixed her eyes on the run-down house with the chain-link fence around it. "Where exactly is here?" she asked.

"This," Vandal said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the house. "Is the classy place of residence of one Brian Glazer, local dealer in drugs and other nasty things." He grinned. "Mr. Glazer had something of a career boost after his boss and a couple of his colleagues got killed off by something with sharp teeth and a peculiar appetite."

"I see," Anna said, her mouth twitching scornfully. "And what use is Mr. Brian Glazer to us?"

Vandal grinned. The Anna from a few months ago would have said 'me', not 'us', he was sure of that.

"Mr. Glazer has lung cancer," he told her. "Very persistent too, keeps coming back. He's had several operations already. The doctors are running out of options…"

"Hm…" Anna hummed, looking at the house with a slanted head.

"Interested?" Vandal asked, grinning invitingly.

"Maybe…" she said, the ghost of a smile creeping onto her face.

"Good," he said, unable to wait any longer. "Let's go."

He didn't wait for Anna to reply, but pulled her through a gap in the fence and towards the house. There was no one around, no dogs or security measures either. Through the window they could just see the shape of someone sleeping on a couch.

"There he is," Vandal whispered. "Far away in dreamland. Let's go wake him up, shall we? You go in through the front door, I'll take the back."

"You're insane," Anna hissed softly. "But sure, why not?"

Vandal chuckled and pressed a kiss on her cheek. "You know how to pick a lock, princess?" he asked.

"No," she said, struggling to keep her voice down.

He grinned and pulled her to the front door, kneeling in front of the lock and opening it easily. Drug dealers of all people should know to invest in some deadbolts. He grinned. That's what you got for being cocky.

"Give me a minute, alright?" he said, standing up again. "And don't get shot," he winked.

Anna grimaced at him and he swallowed his laughter as he quickly but silently walked around the house looking for the back door. That door wasn't even locked. He slipped in without a sound and found his way to the room they had seen through the window. Just as he appeared in the doorway he saw Anna coming in from the other side. He grinned at her and nodded towards the couch, where Brian Glazer was sleeping under a mess of blankets. Next to the couch stood an oxygen tank and a mask hung over one of the arm rests. Anna glanced at him and then back at Vandal, giving him a questioning look. He grinned, took out his knife and made an inviting movement with his hand. Anna hesitated, but suddenly she stepped forward with a new sort of elegance to her movements. She was playing now.

"Hello Brian," she said in a singsong voice. "Sorry for coming in uninvited…"

Brian Glazer woke up with a start and sat up, staring wildly. "Who the fuck are you?" he rasped.

Anna took a few slow steps towards him. "That's no way to greet a lady…" she pouted.

The aggressive look on Brian's face changed into a lopsided grin. "Shit man," he chuckled, repressing a cough. "Did Johnny send you as a farewell present?"

Vandal's footsteps made no sound on the dirty floor and Brian's full attention was fixed on Anna. She giggled by way of a reply and Brian shook his head.

"Dude has messed up timing, but ya gotta appreciate the gesture," he said hoarsely. "You look expensive, sweetheart."

"You have no idea how expensive," Vandal chuckled.

As soon as the cold steel touched his throat Brian froze into place. When his brain caught up with his instincts and he realized what was going on he cursed.

"Watch your mouth," Vandal hissed in his ear. "There's a lady present."

Brian didn't move, but his tense face suddenly relaxed into a contemptuous sneer. "You've come to kill me?" he scoffed. "Go ahead, do me a favour why don't you."

"Hm," Vandal chuckled. "Don't worry I will. But before that, she's going to save your life."

Before Brian could answer, Vandal stuck a needle into his neck with his free hand and pushed down on the plunger. Anna watched with bright eyes how Brian thrashed once or twice before going limp.

"So you do know how to sedate people," she remarked.

"I prefer a stun gun," Vandal said casually, standing upright again. "Works just as fast and doesn't contaminate the blood. But since this is your night I thought we'd do it your way."

A genuine smile sparked in Anna's eyes and she walked towards their victim, looking him over with a clinical eye. For someone of his age and profession he was in very bad shape, Vandal could see that as clearly as she could. Easy pickings. Even if he had fought, he would have overpowered him easily. Anna would probably have stood a chance on her own.

"He looks like shit," Anna remarked. "Smells like it too."

Vandal stood back and watched her with an appreciative smile on his face.

"Have you read his file?" Anna asked.

"Yes," he said. "Pretty straight forward really, everything is going downhill and straight to hell." He dug a couple of folded pieces of printed paper out of his back pocket and handed them to Anna.

She glanced over them, her eyes darting quickly, scanning for details. "The problem is that there is no such thing as 'cancer'," Anna mused. "The different types really don't behave the same at all. I gave the vitae to other patients before and they didn't die. That's why I was so shocked, and there's no way to…" Her voice trailed off and she stared at the page in her hand.

Vandal waited patiently. He was enjoying this immensely. Here they were, standing over an unconscious man and Anna was theorizing away as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"He's not this ill from the cancer," she breathed, glancing at Brian's hollow face. "It's the…chemo…" Her expression changed and something brilliant flared up in her eyes. "Maybe…" she began slowly. "Maybe I could use the vitae for the recovery instead of the cure. We have cures for cancer. Imperfect ones, unreliable ones, but workable nonetheless. Operations, radiation, medication. But they are often so aggressive we cannot use them to the fullest, they'd kill the subject if we did. They destroy their immune system, eat away at healthy and cancerous cells alike. But what if we gave them a shot of vitae after the treatment? That way they could recover from things that might otherwise have killed them." Her eyes were shining as bright as Vandal had ever seen them now and she looked at him with a delighted expression.

"Sounds like an excellent theory to try out on Mr. Glazer here," he grinned.

Anna frowned slightly and tucked the pages of medical details into her pocket. "Yes," she hesitated. "But I don't quite see how." She looked around at the barren room. "We can't keep him here," she said.

"So we'll take him with us," Vandal shrugged.

"Take him where?" Anna said. "The clinic? One of our apartments? That's a really bad idea. And where am I going to get the necessary drugs without raising suspicion?" She shook her head. "If he had agreed to let me treat him, he might have kept his appointments at the clinic and I could have figured out how much vitae would be enough to support his body, but not so much that it would help the cancer growth at a rate the chemo couldn't fight it."

"So what you're saying is that you need willing patients," Vandal said, slightly disappointed.

"I'm afraid so," Anna muttered, biting her lip. "As much as I'd like to work on my own, this is really something I cannot do alone. Still, no matter." She gave him an excited smile. "I'll test it on patients in the hospital. I'll convince and Roberts that I've got a new way of boosting their immune system or something."

"Risky," Vandal observed.

"Sure," Anna said indifferently. "You'd have to get the timing and the dosage just right, but cancer patients are all too common. So are failed operations and dead patients."

Vandal smirked. Those careless expressions, the casual disrespect for human life, it was beautiful. "So let me get this straight," he said, gesturing at Brian with his knife. "He is useless to you."

"Sadly, yes," Anna said regretfully.

He grinned at her. "So you don't want him?" he asked.

"No," Anna shook her head. "If we stash him away somewhere there is no way to give him the necessary scans and such to monitor his recovery. At any rate, I would need an oncologist's help. No, there's just too many difficulties."

"Well," Vandal sighed. "Then you've just made me a liar, princess."

"How come?" she asked, surprised.

"Because I told him I'd only kill him after you had saved his life," Vandal replied and he plunged the knife straight into Brian's chest.

The squelching of blood and tissue mingled with the groan of forcefully deflating lungs and Anna's eyes widened in shock. As the sick man died under his hands Vandal turned his head to look at her. The corners of her mouth twitched and suddenly she burst out laughing. Delightedly, Vandal laughed with her. Nothing quite compared to the high of killing and Anna's laughter was the perfect soundtrack. It was as if fireworks went off in his brain. It was so long since he had killed someone. Actually, actively killed someone. As fun as it was to watch someone's life drain away drip by drip, it just didn't compare to feeling someone's life expire under your hands in a single instant of sudden violence.

"What did you do that for?" Anna asked, still giggling uncontrollably.

"Cause I felt like it," Vandal grinned. "Come here." He grabbed Anna with his clean hand and kissed her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back enthusiastically. Her taste and smell mingled with the heavy scent of blood surrounding them and Vandal took Anna's face in his hands to deepen the kiss. When he let go one of her cheeks was smeared with red. Her grey eyes were wide and full of wild delight and Vandal wished she would stay like this forever.

Far too soon she looked away and glanced through the room, reason taking over from passion.

"I guess the police won't look too closely at a criminal's death," she hummed. "But the fact that he's been sedated before he was killed might look suspicious."

"Don't worry about it, princess," Vandal sighed, still sorry that the moment of perfection had passed so quickly. "The police won't give a shit about this lowlife."

"Never underestimate your opponent," Anna warned him, pressing a teasing kiss on his lips. She glanced at the knife. "Is it significant? Do you want it back?"

"Of course I want it back," Vandal said. It was just an ordinary knife, but it was his.

"Take it back then," Anna said, but she warned: "Don't get blood all over yourself."

"But that's half the fun, princess," Vandal chuckled. He was careful though and used one of the blankets to prevent the blood from getting on his clothes.

"That's not a bad idea," Anna said, thoughtfully. "Here, let me." She daintily took the two top corners of the blanket and pulled it all the way across the dead man's face. "Sleep tight, Brian," she said, repressing another giggle. "This way the police might think it's a mercy killing," she told Vandal.

He chuckled. "Pretty violent mercy killing," he said.

Anna gave an indifferent shrug. "Who knows, maybe Mr. Glazer asked his friend Johnny to stab him in the chest, destroying the lungs that betrayed him." She spoke with a mockingly dramatic voice and Vandal snickered.

"Got any other forensic countermeasures to employ, princess?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact I do," she said playfully. "There's got to be a kitchen around here, right?"

She looked into two of the rooms and found the kitchen in the second. Vandal followed her and found her opening drawers with a handkerchief wrapped around her hand.

"Ah," she said sliding open a drawer of random utensils. "Long live disorganized people." She beckoned Vandal over and nodded at that drawer. "Which of those are closest to the size of your knife?"

Vandal looked. Among other things there was a badly cared for set of knives in the drawer. The biggest but one was quite similar to the knife he had used. "That one," he said.

Anna picked it up and put it in her purse. "There," she said. "Much better if this was an impulsive act instead of a premeditated one."

"You're far too clever for your own good, you know that," Vandal grinned. "Was that it?"

"I think so," Anna smiled.

"Let's go then," he said and he led her out through the front door. Anna remembered to wipe the lock and doorknob and made him do the same at the back door. He obeyed, but more to humour her than because he thought it really mattered.

They went back down the stairs to the beach and Vandal kneeled down at the edge of the water to wash his hands and rinse off his knife. Sadly it was too dark to see the red flow into the cold water. Anna stood next to him, looking out at the sea.

"Give me your handkerchief, princess?" Vandal asked, reaching up.

She put it into his hand silently. He dried his hands and carefully wiped the steel blade dry. Then he dipped a corner of the cloth into the water and stood back up, chucking Anna under the chin.

"Hold still," he grinned and he wiped the smudge of blood off her cheek. "Pity," he said. "It looked so good on you."

Anna leaned her cheek against his hand and looked up at him. "Come home with me?" she said quietly.

That was definitely the first time Vandal had heard her say those words. He didn't reply, he just nodded.

They drove home in Anna's car, tossing the knife from Glazer's kitchen in a dumpster along the way. Anna was driving, but her behaviour was completely opposite to what it had been before. This time she chatted incessantly and although she still hardly took her eyes off the road, at least half her attention was fixed on Vandal. He listened to her excited plans with a grin on his face, leaning back in his chair and still enjoying the buzz of a fresh kill.

"I'll have to see what the vitae does when taken orally," Anna mused. "It is far easier to slip a dose into someone's food than to secretly inject them."

"Can you dilute it in water?" he asked.

"I've never tried," Anna said. "But diluting it in saline solution caused no problems whatsoever, so water probably works too."

By the time they arrived back at her apartment Anna seemed to have talked herself tired, but she was in an undeniably good mood. She seemed to have completely forgotten about her little failure, her head was full of new possibilities. She disappeared to the bathroom while Vandal took off his clothes and got into bed.

Vandal stretched out on the mattress with a grin on his face. He felt good. Was it just good? Or something else… Triumphant? Content? Anna emerged from the bathroom in her nightgown and crawled into bed with him. He stretched out his arm and she came to lie against him, resting her head against his shoulder. Vandal stared at the ceiling and let those strange, warm feelings wash over him without questioning them further. This was right. It didn't matter that he never wanted this before or that it was preposterous to even think it could last. He would make it last.

"Vandal?" Anna said softly.

"Hm?" he hummed.

"Thank you," she sighed. "For tonight."

He grinned. "Any time, princess," he said with a chuckle. "If all it takes to make you laugh again is ripping someone open, keeping you happy will never be a chore."

Anna laughed softly and Vandal looked at her. She glanced up at him and he smiled. She looked so soft and gentle now, but still real. The darkness in her was there, but it was nestled around her like a purring kitten. His purring kitten.

"I mean that, Anna," he said suddenly, gazing into her eyes. "We- We're good together."

She looked at him for a quiet moment. "Yes," she said. "Yes, we are."

With a tired, happy smile she closed her eyes and Vandal did the same. In his mind the sensations of the night blurred together into one magnificent tapestry of warm blood, cold steel, screaming anger and roaring laughter. They were so good together.

.

As soon as they woke up, which was not very early in the day, Anna said she had to go out to buy flowers.

"What for?" Vandal asked. He snorted. "You want to send some to the dear departed Mr. Glazer?"

"Very funny," she grimaced, but Vandal could see the amusement in her eyes. "No, for my neighbour."

"What?" he frowned. "Why?"

"Because I made a godawful racket last night," Anna said. "We both did. The apartment to the left of me is empty, but I must have woken up Mr. Ruiz to the right."

"Yeah," Vandal said. "He came out to give me some advice on women."

Anna laughed. "Well, there you go," she said, putting on her shoes.

"And he needs flowers, why?" Vandal insisted.

"Because I'm a good neighbour," Anna said, buttoning her coat. She flashed him a bright smile. "Always be nice to people you can't get away from."

Vandal pulled a face.

"Oh, don't be like that," she laughed. "You don't have to go."

"Good," he said.

Anna rolled her eyes and skipped out the door, calling over her shoulder that she'd be back soon. Vandal shook his head. His eye fell on a broken lamp that stood in a corner. It was the only evidence he had seen of Anna's outburst here. He chuckled. Next time he'd make sure he was there to see it.

After a while he heard Anna's familiar step in the corridor and he heard her walk through to the next apartment. There was a distant ringing of a doorbell and Vandal walked to the hallway to listen. Leaning against her front door, he could easily follow Anna's conversation with her neighbour.

"Miss Deering, how nice of you!" he heard Mr. Ruiz' voice. "You didn't need to do that."

"I wanted to apologize for last night, I had some bad news from back home and I overreacted," Anna replied.

'Bad news.' Wasn't that exactly what the old fool had said yesterday? How did Anna always manage to guess people's expectations like that?

"I thought you might have," came the kind answer. "Don't worry about it."

"Ah, but I feel really bad!" Anna protested.

"No need, really." There was a short silence. "I am glad you decided to let your friend in, he looked really worried you know."

"Yes, I'm glad too. It was nice of Vandal to come and check up on me."

"Good man," Mr. Ruiz chuckled.

"Yes," Anna answered brightly. "Isn't he?"

Vandal smirked at the amusement in her voice.

"Well, I hope you get some good news soon," Mr. Ruiz said.

"Thank you," Anna said warmly. "I don't deserve a neighbour like you, Mr. Ruiz!"

There was some friendly laughter and Anna came back inside, twinkling her eyes at Vandal. He laughed and shook his head in fascination.

"How do you do that?" he asked. "Just turn on that…mundanity?"

"I don't know," Anna said. "I do it every day. It's necessary. People know what they want to see and that's what I give them. It's the quickest way to get them to give you what you want." She shrugged. "It's a game."

"A game your father taught you to play?" he hummed.

She shrugged again.

"It's a game I'd lose at, in any case," Vandal said. He had never passed for normal.

"Nonsense," Anna said warmly. "You're a brilliant liar, it's just a different kind of lying. Besides…" She put a hand to his cheek. "Therese no longer lives in the back of your mind. Maybe it's time to give the game another try."

...

A/N: When two psychopaths have to make up after a fight it's bound to be bloody. In case you are wondering, no, Anna has never done anything like this before. She doesn't have the body count on her that Vandal has, she just has an utter disrespect for any life she doesn't deem worthy of existing.

I think there is a shocking lack of angry love songs, the closest I could find for the sentiment of this chapter is Hinder's "Get Stoned", which would at least partly have fit Vandal's approach to this if Anna had still been at her office when he returned: watch?v=-Qf0tKWb7xs&ab_channel=brookeelovee17