Standard disclaimers apply.
*****************************
She swept the tears of pain away from her face with the back of her hand. Holy Water burned worse then any fire. It stung worse then thunder. It saturated her skin, sizzling loudly as it made the enflamed skin spit out impurity.
"....Relax," Vincent suggested softly. One long fingered hands were gently holding her to the grassy forest floor while he poured the foul white liquid into the gashes on her chest.
Rikku tried to glare at him through a haze of pain. "You try and relax!" she snapped hotly. "It burns!" She closed her eyes and let a shaky breath out as he started scrubbing at the wound. "It burns," she repeated softly. She felt two trails of warmth blazing down her cheeks. Tears of pain.
"...shall I stop for a while?" Vincent asked.
She shook her head quickly. "No, please continue. Don't.... drag it out."
Vincent stared at her silently for a long moment. "Very well," he said. "I shall." He picked up a second bottle of Holy Water and unscrewed the cork. He didn't mention any pain involved in the treatment. She already knew how much it hurt judging by the various scars healing on her body.
They had an angry red tinge to them. It was a little known side effect of holy water treatment. Vincent clearly recalled the long scar on his back that had been treated with Holy Water. It wasn't really an experience that you would want to repeat. He had been very careful around vampire-type monsters after that....
It had happened while he was still with the Turks. On his first mission, he had gotten separated from the others. A tall beautiful woman had approached him seductively. He really hadn't known any better then to follow her. He had nearly died and in the end, he wished that he had. He really wished that he had when the wound was purified by Holy Water.
He remembered screaming and twisting in agony. The girl he was helping was lying completely still under his firm grip. She wasn't displaying any sign of being hurt by the cleansing process.
But her face was flushed and her lips were held in a tight grimace. She was in pain. And all that he could do to help was to make it hurt faster and more. He sighed and held the bottle directly over the wound, emptying all of its contents onto her wounds. Then he started scrubbing.
She passed out.
When she woke, her shirt was firmly in place. Judging by the stiffness of her movement, she was also wrapped tightly with stiff cloth. "....Vincent?" she asked. She had been out for a long time. Maybe too long. She was still in an unsafe area.
Overhead, the moon shone it's bright light down in a silvery white curtain. It sparkled on the small river and played across her skin. "Vincent!" she called out in more demanding tones. There was always a chance that he had left.
".....I'm here," came the soft response.
Rikku started and almost smiled. "Didn't see you," she said gruffly. "This area isn't safe. I'll escort you to the nearest town and you can travel from there."
"There's no need for that," Vincent said smoothly. "I'm planning on -"
"Being escorted to the nearest town," Rikku repeated with a frown. "It's the least I can do in return for your help earlier. Not to mention my attack on you....."
Vincent inclined his head slightly in her direction. "....Thank-you for the offer. Shall we go?"
Rikku felt surprise ripple through her. "You're giving in?" she asked incredulously. "But I thought that ...... nevermind. Let's go." She shook her head at herself. How long had it been since she had been caught off guard?
She glanced at the Little Guardian, debating what type of equipment she should take with her. For the upcoming trek through the darkness, it would be best to be thoroughly prepared. She banged the hatch open, pulling out a interesting set of claws. Unlike her Vampire Claws - one of which she always wore - these were her regular claws.
They had the same palm pressure trigger, but the blade that emerged from them was a lot different. It's sharpened claws were made out of different materials. One of them was iron, which was the only way to kill a true witch. The middle one was the same as her Vampire Claws - vitae, the wood of life - the only wood that didn't splinter when she staked the vampires. The last claw was the prettiest, being made out of pure silver for the soul purpose of executing vampires.
Whenever she didn't know what she might encounter, she wore it.
"What kind of clips do you have for your gun?" she asked. "Silver? Iron? Wood? Regular?" She didn't look at him as she spoke, but her hands were slipping through a collection of gun clips.
".......they are .... regular," Vincent said, blowing air out of his mouth in slight frustration. "But as I said, I really don't need an escort. I'm accepting only to placate you."
"I know," Rikku said with a grimace. She handed him a handful of carefully organized clips. "Take these. The ones with the green tabs are vitae, the blue tabs are silver, and the pink tabs are iron. I'll instruct you in which ones to add should we be attacked."
Vincent didn't answer. He had a feeling that she wouldn't listen anyway. He shook his head and followed after her.
****************************
A rustling in the bushes, stilled the slender form walking in front of him again. Vincent remained motionless, allowing her to 'scout' the danger level. He already knew that it was nothing more then a squirrel, but it was pointless to tell her that. She didn't listen to people. She listened to her instincts, which, he reflected were probably screaming, "BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY!"
She body relaxed minuscule. "A squirrel," she whispered for his benefit.
He left out that he had already devised that. "Are we being too cautious?" he asked softly. "Being a Vampire Slayer cannot be easy on you....."
"Interesting point. But how did you know I was a Vampire Slayer?" Rikku asked suspiciously. She turned her head, locking her sky darkened orbs onto his eyes. "How did you devise -"
Vincent felt a surge of irritation. She was obviously suspecting him of some sort of wrong doing at the moment. "You cut your finger and pushed it into my mouth, probing my incisors. Checking for fangs, I would think. That coupled with your wooden claws...."
She turned away, accepting his explanation as the truth. She didn't tell him to start moving. She just started through the forest trail again, making mince meat out of any fiend that attacked.
For the rest of the journey, she didn't say anything. But when they arrived on the outskirts of the sizable town, she stopped and turned toward him. "It's almost morning."
Vincent walked past her. He was thinking that she was getting lost in her job. She was becoming like he had been when he was with he Turks. Dutiful and dangerous, a deadly combination. But worse was the absence of life involved. She was living, she was existing. There had to be some way to explain that to her.
"Rikku!" he heard someone exclaim. A young lady with coppery curls raced up to her. "I was just on my way to Hydra to see you. I have some news on ....... a famous vampire."
Vincent watched her face pale slightly and a fine trembling began to start in her body. She was scared. ".......Miss Rikku..." he began softly.
"Is it Shyster?" Rikku asked.
The copper haired girl nodded her head. "Yes, it is. I have the information right here. He's been located past Mt. Gagazet, in the ruins of Zanarkand."
"Kill count?" Her voice held no emotion. She could have been asking anything and the dead tone in her voice wouldn't have wavered - much. Vincent found it disturbing. Very disturbing.
"Three teenage girls who were hiking to Zanarkand. A fourth - boy - got away with the description." The coppery haired girl paused. "But what about the vamp. in -"
"He's dead, Mori."
Mori smiled slightly. "Wow! Already, you were just given the call yesterday. Didn't you evaluate the situation?"
Rikku almost shrugged. "If I had, more people would have died." And I might have backed out in fear, she added to herself. Staying honest with herself was one of her goals in life.... that is, if she still had a life.
She pivoted gracefully towards Vincent and inclined her head slightly to him. "Thank-you for your earlier assistance. "Now I must depart." She moved quickly, flowing into the predawn darkness. A shadow moving detached from everything around her.
Vincent paused and then slipped after her, leaving Mori standing alone. Rikku was moving rapidly now, melting through the shadows in an invisible flow. He could barely keep up with her.
He arrived in the small clearing just as she stopped. She was sweating slightly, and trembling furiously.
***********************
Death was all that remained. Shyster, her first vampire, represented death to her. She couldn't win against him. She could feel that in her soul. She had known from the moment that her swirled green eyes had fallen on him. He would kill her.
***********memories*************
He walked towards her with a smile on his supernatural handsome face. "They send a child," his smooth voice slipped across her skin like silk. He laughed, the sound saturating every pore in her body until she felt like she would burst. "They send you to death," he promised.
Then he vanished. She panicked and cast Mighty Guard, still unaware how to deal with vampires.... or at least that was the impression she wanted to convey. She knew what would work and what wouldn't work. She had studied for many hours, practiced for too long to make such a simple mistake.
She had an actual stake in her hand, held along her leg in what she hoped was an unnoticeable fashion. "They sent me to deal death," she corrected the vampire's last phrase out loud. "Your death."
"You promise me death?" she heard his mocking reply. "Then give it to me." He trailed his fingers up her spine, causing her to whirl in alarm. He wasn't behind her anymore. "And yet, you hesitated...... perhaps it is wisest if I make things more.... sporting."
"More sporting?" Rikku inquired, adrenaline was pumping through her body, making her anxious to engage the enemy. She turned slow circles, eyes taking in everything.
"You're armed. Perhaps I should be as well?" Shyster murmured in her ear. "But then death doesn't hold back hoping its victims are ready. So I won't either." He bit her neck, teeth pricking against her skin like needles.
To Rikku it was the best thing that could have happened. She still didn't know how much Holy Water burned - all she knew was that the wounds could be cleaned. And the vampire had just given up his greatest advantage - invisibility. She couldn't hit what she couldn't see. But now she knew where he was.
She readjusted her grip on the wooden stake and thrust it around and up, twisting her body as she did so. His teeth cut twin ribbons of pain as they were drawn across the side of her throat, but she ignored that pain and shoved the stake upwards towards his heart.
It penetrated, but not all the way. Then it splintered in her hands, exploding outward with unknown power and he struck her hard against the side of her face. She flew across the room and stuck the wall with enough force to leave a dent. Then she fell.
It wasn't anywhere as graceful as sliding down the wall. She crumpled, flopping into a daze heap of Al Bhed on the floor. She tried to get up, but he was on her right away, smashing her head into the floorboards as his fingers tightened around her neck. "Unexpected, but pleasant. I've never been injured by a hunter before."
Rikku tried to breath around the crushing grasp on her throat. He whipped her head into the floor again, dazing her further. She felt something warm trickling along her scalp and it felt enflamed.
He drove his knee into her stomach forcefully expelling what air remained in her body. "I think you deserve an award," he whispered softly against her mouth. "Eternal life ...... a damned life such as I have ...... should be fun, don't you think?"
He bit her again, releasing his hold on her neck and simply drinking her blood.
Rikku fought against the red haze surrounding her vision. Her fingers searched out in both directions, finding various objects on the floor and finally, a splinter the size of her hand. She clenched it tightly, planning on driving it through his heart if at all possible.
Then he reared back, mouth smeared with her blood. "Now I'm going to give you my blood and make you like me." He had drawn a nail across his throat, causing blood to swell. Then he leaned foreword and she struck.
She shoved the splinter through his right eye and then -
Dawn came. Shyster left. And the part of her that was still scared of him went to sleep, leaving her hard against pain. And steeled against fate. She was going to die. It was only a matter of when it happened.
********************************
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan
*****************************
She swept the tears of pain away from her face with the back of her hand. Holy Water burned worse then any fire. It stung worse then thunder. It saturated her skin, sizzling loudly as it made the enflamed skin spit out impurity.
"....Relax," Vincent suggested softly. One long fingered hands were gently holding her to the grassy forest floor while he poured the foul white liquid into the gashes on her chest.
Rikku tried to glare at him through a haze of pain. "You try and relax!" she snapped hotly. "It burns!" She closed her eyes and let a shaky breath out as he started scrubbing at the wound. "It burns," she repeated softly. She felt two trails of warmth blazing down her cheeks. Tears of pain.
"...shall I stop for a while?" Vincent asked.
She shook her head quickly. "No, please continue. Don't.... drag it out."
Vincent stared at her silently for a long moment. "Very well," he said. "I shall." He picked up a second bottle of Holy Water and unscrewed the cork. He didn't mention any pain involved in the treatment. She already knew how much it hurt judging by the various scars healing on her body.
They had an angry red tinge to them. It was a little known side effect of holy water treatment. Vincent clearly recalled the long scar on his back that had been treated with Holy Water. It wasn't really an experience that you would want to repeat. He had been very careful around vampire-type monsters after that....
It had happened while he was still with the Turks. On his first mission, he had gotten separated from the others. A tall beautiful woman had approached him seductively. He really hadn't known any better then to follow her. He had nearly died and in the end, he wished that he had. He really wished that he had when the wound was purified by Holy Water.
He remembered screaming and twisting in agony. The girl he was helping was lying completely still under his firm grip. She wasn't displaying any sign of being hurt by the cleansing process.
But her face was flushed and her lips were held in a tight grimace. She was in pain. And all that he could do to help was to make it hurt faster and more. He sighed and held the bottle directly over the wound, emptying all of its contents onto her wounds. Then he started scrubbing.
She passed out.
When she woke, her shirt was firmly in place. Judging by the stiffness of her movement, she was also wrapped tightly with stiff cloth. "....Vincent?" she asked. She had been out for a long time. Maybe too long. She was still in an unsafe area.
Overhead, the moon shone it's bright light down in a silvery white curtain. It sparkled on the small river and played across her skin. "Vincent!" she called out in more demanding tones. There was always a chance that he had left.
".....I'm here," came the soft response.
Rikku started and almost smiled. "Didn't see you," she said gruffly. "This area isn't safe. I'll escort you to the nearest town and you can travel from there."
"There's no need for that," Vincent said smoothly. "I'm planning on -"
"Being escorted to the nearest town," Rikku repeated with a frown. "It's the least I can do in return for your help earlier. Not to mention my attack on you....."
Vincent inclined his head slightly in her direction. "....Thank-you for the offer. Shall we go?"
Rikku felt surprise ripple through her. "You're giving in?" she asked incredulously. "But I thought that ...... nevermind. Let's go." She shook her head at herself. How long had it been since she had been caught off guard?
She glanced at the Little Guardian, debating what type of equipment she should take with her. For the upcoming trek through the darkness, it would be best to be thoroughly prepared. She banged the hatch open, pulling out a interesting set of claws. Unlike her Vampire Claws - one of which she always wore - these were her regular claws.
They had the same palm pressure trigger, but the blade that emerged from them was a lot different. It's sharpened claws were made out of different materials. One of them was iron, which was the only way to kill a true witch. The middle one was the same as her Vampire Claws - vitae, the wood of life - the only wood that didn't splinter when she staked the vampires. The last claw was the prettiest, being made out of pure silver for the soul purpose of executing vampires.
Whenever she didn't know what she might encounter, she wore it.
"What kind of clips do you have for your gun?" she asked. "Silver? Iron? Wood? Regular?" She didn't look at him as she spoke, but her hands were slipping through a collection of gun clips.
".......they are .... regular," Vincent said, blowing air out of his mouth in slight frustration. "But as I said, I really don't need an escort. I'm accepting only to placate you."
"I know," Rikku said with a grimace. She handed him a handful of carefully organized clips. "Take these. The ones with the green tabs are vitae, the blue tabs are silver, and the pink tabs are iron. I'll instruct you in which ones to add should we be attacked."
Vincent didn't answer. He had a feeling that she wouldn't listen anyway. He shook his head and followed after her.
****************************
A rustling in the bushes, stilled the slender form walking in front of him again. Vincent remained motionless, allowing her to 'scout' the danger level. He already knew that it was nothing more then a squirrel, but it was pointless to tell her that. She didn't listen to people. She listened to her instincts, which, he reflected were probably screaming, "BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY!"
She body relaxed minuscule. "A squirrel," she whispered for his benefit.
He left out that he had already devised that. "Are we being too cautious?" he asked softly. "Being a Vampire Slayer cannot be easy on you....."
"Interesting point. But how did you know I was a Vampire Slayer?" Rikku asked suspiciously. She turned her head, locking her sky darkened orbs onto his eyes. "How did you devise -"
Vincent felt a surge of irritation. She was obviously suspecting him of some sort of wrong doing at the moment. "You cut your finger and pushed it into my mouth, probing my incisors. Checking for fangs, I would think. That coupled with your wooden claws...."
She turned away, accepting his explanation as the truth. She didn't tell him to start moving. She just started through the forest trail again, making mince meat out of any fiend that attacked.
For the rest of the journey, she didn't say anything. But when they arrived on the outskirts of the sizable town, she stopped and turned toward him. "It's almost morning."
Vincent walked past her. He was thinking that she was getting lost in her job. She was becoming like he had been when he was with he Turks. Dutiful and dangerous, a deadly combination. But worse was the absence of life involved. She was living, she was existing. There had to be some way to explain that to her.
"Rikku!" he heard someone exclaim. A young lady with coppery curls raced up to her. "I was just on my way to Hydra to see you. I have some news on ....... a famous vampire."
Vincent watched her face pale slightly and a fine trembling began to start in her body. She was scared. ".......Miss Rikku..." he began softly.
"Is it Shyster?" Rikku asked.
The copper haired girl nodded her head. "Yes, it is. I have the information right here. He's been located past Mt. Gagazet, in the ruins of Zanarkand."
"Kill count?" Her voice held no emotion. She could have been asking anything and the dead tone in her voice wouldn't have wavered - much. Vincent found it disturbing. Very disturbing.
"Three teenage girls who were hiking to Zanarkand. A fourth - boy - got away with the description." The coppery haired girl paused. "But what about the vamp. in -"
"He's dead, Mori."
Mori smiled slightly. "Wow! Already, you were just given the call yesterday. Didn't you evaluate the situation?"
Rikku almost shrugged. "If I had, more people would have died." And I might have backed out in fear, she added to herself. Staying honest with herself was one of her goals in life.... that is, if she still had a life.
She pivoted gracefully towards Vincent and inclined her head slightly to him. "Thank-you for your earlier assistance. "Now I must depart." She moved quickly, flowing into the predawn darkness. A shadow moving detached from everything around her.
Vincent paused and then slipped after her, leaving Mori standing alone. Rikku was moving rapidly now, melting through the shadows in an invisible flow. He could barely keep up with her.
He arrived in the small clearing just as she stopped. She was sweating slightly, and trembling furiously.
***********************
Death was all that remained. Shyster, her first vampire, represented death to her. She couldn't win against him. She could feel that in her soul. She had known from the moment that her swirled green eyes had fallen on him. He would kill her.
***********memories*************
He walked towards her with a smile on his supernatural handsome face. "They send a child," his smooth voice slipped across her skin like silk. He laughed, the sound saturating every pore in her body until she felt like she would burst. "They send you to death," he promised.
Then he vanished. She panicked and cast Mighty Guard, still unaware how to deal with vampires.... or at least that was the impression she wanted to convey. She knew what would work and what wouldn't work. She had studied for many hours, practiced for too long to make such a simple mistake.
She had an actual stake in her hand, held along her leg in what she hoped was an unnoticeable fashion. "They sent me to deal death," she corrected the vampire's last phrase out loud. "Your death."
"You promise me death?" she heard his mocking reply. "Then give it to me." He trailed his fingers up her spine, causing her to whirl in alarm. He wasn't behind her anymore. "And yet, you hesitated...... perhaps it is wisest if I make things more.... sporting."
"More sporting?" Rikku inquired, adrenaline was pumping through her body, making her anxious to engage the enemy. She turned slow circles, eyes taking in everything.
"You're armed. Perhaps I should be as well?" Shyster murmured in her ear. "But then death doesn't hold back hoping its victims are ready. So I won't either." He bit her neck, teeth pricking against her skin like needles.
To Rikku it was the best thing that could have happened. She still didn't know how much Holy Water burned - all she knew was that the wounds could be cleaned. And the vampire had just given up his greatest advantage - invisibility. She couldn't hit what she couldn't see. But now she knew where he was.
She readjusted her grip on the wooden stake and thrust it around and up, twisting her body as she did so. His teeth cut twin ribbons of pain as they were drawn across the side of her throat, but she ignored that pain and shoved the stake upwards towards his heart.
It penetrated, but not all the way. Then it splintered in her hands, exploding outward with unknown power and he struck her hard against the side of her face. She flew across the room and stuck the wall with enough force to leave a dent. Then she fell.
It wasn't anywhere as graceful as sliding down the wall. She crumpled, flopping into a daze heap of Al Bhed on the floor. She tried to get up, but he was on her right away, smashing her head into the floorboards as his fingers tightened around her neck. "Unexpected, but pleasant. I've never been injured by a hunter before."
Rikku tried to breath around the crushing grasp on her throat. He whipped her head into the floor again, dazing her further. She felt something warm trickling along her scalp and it felt enflamed.
He drove his knee into her stomach forcefully expelling what air remained in her body. "I think you deserve an award," he whispered softly against her mouth. "Eternal life ...... a damned life such as I have ...... should be fun, don't you think?"
He bit her again, releasing his hold on her neck and simply drinking her blood.
Rikku fought against the red haze surrounding her vision. Her fingers searched out in both directions, finding various objects on the floor and finally, a splinter the size of her hand. She clenched it tightly, planning on driving it through his heart if at all possible.
Then he reared back, mouth smeared with her blood. "Now I'm going to give you my blood and make you like me." He had drawn a nail across his throat, causing blood to swell. Then he leaned foreword and she struck.
She shoved the splinter through his right eye and then -
Dawn came. Shyster left. And the part of her that was still scared of him went to sleep, leaving her hard against pain. And steeled against fate. She was going to die. It was only a matter of when it happened.
********************************
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan