Note: Sorry for the update delay. I was on vacation and computer-less. Just remember, feedback is a girl's best friend.
Part five
Salem Town at night was pretty much like Salem Town during the day – dead and depressing.
Vash pulled his coat a little tighter as he walked through the shadows of the quiet town. Though the day could get unbearably hot, the temperature in the desert significantly dropped at night. But for some reason, the chill here made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention. There was an unnaturalness about this place, a irrational feeling that told him there was something dark and deadly here.
He was always hesitant to put a label on anything but the only word he could come up with was…evil.
There was evil here.
He was fairly certain it wasn't him. The man with no name, the one who was in July with him twenty-three years ago. The man's identity continued to elude his spotty memory, slipping through his grasp every time he reached for it. He had given up trying so hard for it some time ago, certain he would eventually find the other man again and regain his lost past.
Well, maybe his mind didn't remember that night very well, but his gut told him this was familiar territory. Not the man with no name, no, but something equal in severity. He just didn't know what.
He slouched closer to one of the buildings, trying to squeeze his tall, lanky frame into deeper shadows. A pair of locals stumbled by, hung over each other and laughing too loudly to be sober. Whiskey bottles that were mostly empty were still clutched in their hands, the occasional streetlight glinting off the glass. One told a slurred, incomprehensible joke that Vash couldn't understand, but his companion cawed loudly and slapped the first man on the back. Neither gave any indication they saw the outlaw observing them.
Vash took an eight-count breath and let it out slowly before he stepped forward again. No point in pushing his luck and have someone recognize him. This town had enough problems without some bounty hunter trying to catch him and tearing up the place in the process.
A flash of silver caught his eye. Looking up, he spied a small piece of metal catching moonlight on a roof across the street. He nearly dismissed it as unimportant until it moved, making a line for the edge of the building.
Someone was up there.
Glancing cautiously down the road, he hurried across the street and eased back into the shadows between the buildings. Craning his neck around the corner, he was able to catch a glimpse of the metal making a leap to the next building. He looked warily at the wall immediately in front of him. There were packing crates beside it that were probably heavy enough to support his weight. From there, he should be able to get onto the roof.
Provided he didn't break his neck in the attempt.
As quietly as possible, he scrambled on top of the pile, wobbling slightly as the wood swayed beneath him. But the boards held and he got enough height to pull himself painfully on top of the building. He lay panting only a moment before getting to his feet and taking in his surroundings. It wasn't the tallest structure in town but it gave him a good bird's-eye view of the surrounding area. He squinted into the black, trying to find whatever he had seen before.
There. It was maybe a story below him, two buildings away. He could just make out a small figure in the dim lighting. He gauged the distance between himself and the next roof over. Not very close, but not far enough to be impossible. He took a steadying breath, then ran, leaping just before his steps would have taken him into thin air. He landed heavily, shock running through his legs on impact. The pain was passing though, and he readied himself for his next jump. When he got to his target, the pain was a little less than before, his legs steadier. Nice to see one could get used to leaping rooftops.
Unfortunately, when he looked up, his quarry was nowhere to be seen, the slip of silver vanished. He walked forward to other edge of the building and looked over. No sign of anyone. Confused and frowning, he was about to turn around when something jabbed him in the back.
"Why are you following me?" It came from behind him, a woman's voice, a light soprano.
"Who said I was following you?" Well, it was true. Up until that point, he hadn't even realized it was a woman he had been looking at.
The jab got harder, more insistent. Oddly enough, it didn't feel like a gun barrel. "I don't like being played with."
"I don't play games," he answered softly. "Who are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said snidely. "But since I have the weapon, I get to ask the questions. Who are you?"
"Just a concerned citizen, that's all." It didn't seem like she would be very rational about this, but he could always try to talk his way out.
"Concerned citizens don't wander around on rooftops at night. Not in this town." Okay, she had him there. "Now, answer my question before this gets ugly."
Definitely wasn't going to be rational. Plan B, then.
He dropped to the ground fluidly, halting just before he hit. His left leg shot out and back, hitting her legs and sweeping them out from under her. As she fell onto her back, he rolled to the side, hand hovering just above his six-shooter as he came up. He didn't want to use it, but at this point it was probably better to have a weapon in his hand just in case.
By the time he turned back to face her, she was already on her feet. Her hand whipped out and she hurled something at him. He didn't even think about it as it happened, body reacting completely on instinct. He snatched the object out of mid-air, stopping it just before it hit his heart. He blinked down in surprise at what now lay in his hand.
A thick stick sharpened to a fine point.
"That speed's inhuman."
He looked back at his opponent and felt his jaw go slack. It wasn't a woman. It was a girl, no more than sixteen or seventeen. She was short, maybe as short as Meryl, with dirty blonde hair cut in a bob and large brown eyes. She wore a man's shirt and pants held up with suspenders, a pair of worn brown boots beneath them. The piece of metal he had noticed earlier came from a silver cross that hung down to the center of her chest. Another wooden stake was already in her hand, body in a fighting stance.
He blinked. "You're a girl."
Her eyes narrowed. She was pretty but there were lines already hardening her face. "And you're a man. We have the facts of life down. Hooray for us."
"No, you're a…" He held his hand flat, not high off the ground. "…girl."
"You're holding my shortness against me?" She looked a little insulted, then shook her head, the glower returning. "No, okay, we are not having a conversation. We're having a fight."
She attacked him with a quick roundhouse kick, moving almost too fast to track. He was able to dodge but she came at him again with a hook that clipped his eye and nearly left him sprawled on the ground. Whoever she was, she was strong, impossibly so. He just wove and ducked, trying to avoid getting hit by the girl, still unsure whether he really wanted to hit back. It wasn't really part of his code of conduct to hit little girls. Even if said little girls were trying to kill him.
"Can we talk this out?" he asked stiffly while jumping back from another jab. "Uh, please?"
"Why?" she huffed, coming close to breaking his nose in a one-two combination. "The monsters suddenly think we're a social club now?"
His hand was suddenly out and wrapped around her fist, halting her forward momentum dead. He felt the jar up his arm at the power of the attempted blow and the pull to free the hand was equally as strong, but he held himself steady.
"Why are you calling me a monster?" he asked softly.
She stopped struggling and stared at him, meeting his eyes directly. She searched his face, her thoughts hidden as she looked through him for something he could only guess at. She appeared ready to say something when they were interrupted.
"Hey! What're you doing up there?"
They both turned to catch sight of a man staring up from the street. He was already calling an alarm as they watched. Vash's grip slackened slightly and the girl tore from his grasp, backflipping out of reach. She met his eyes briefly as she straightened.
She smirked. "Guess we'll have to do this again some other time."
She turned and raced for the edge, leaping off and landing easily on a neighboring rooftop, barely stopping before she was running again. A moment later, she had vanished into the dark. Vash melted back into the shadows and found his way to the back streets, avoiding the main square and the growing search party.
"Do this again, sometime," he murmured to himself. "Yeah, right."
End part five