A/N: Ooh, it's all getting tense... and my other story is really fighting for precedence, screaming 'Write me! Write me!' and I can't hold it off for long. It already seems to have picked itself a title as well, and a couple of scenes are firmly rooted in my twisted little mind. Won't be long until that breaks free, let me tell you... and for all of you who are interested, it's going to be a sequel sister-fic to 'Silver Bullet'. :D But enough about that for now... there will (hopefully) only be about three more chapter after this, max. That's if it all goes according to plan. Yeah... so anyway...
Rayne: They did indeed get what they deserved. Quite fun to write, those bits. Ah yes, this chapter is nothing but Amelia and Mina.
Silent Bob 546: *laughs at your enthusiasm* Glad you enjoyed that. Yes, had to use Hyde in there somewhere, and who better for him to deal with than sadistic Gregory himself?
angelic katty: Um... luck? Fluke? Without even knowing? That's in regards to the sub plot comment. Hehe. Thanks. I was especially satisfied to get rid of Gregory... I did enjoy writing his evilness, but it was so fulfilling to write him meeting his end.
Capt. Cow: Well, here you are. Hopefully you'll get some more sugar in you soon, no? It really did make you all hyper and excitable, and that was pretty entertaining to read when I opened my mail. Made me smile. Thanks for that! Hope this update was quick enough for you.
LotRseer3350: Ah yes, the quick pace of the last chapter... it just seemed to come naturally in those short speedy bursts. Hope it didn't ruin the pace too much, if at all. Here's hoping it didn't *crosses fingers*
Sethoz: Ah yes... Juliana and Amelia are kind of the worst two aren't they? Luckily Skinner is on the Juliana front... if she can't see him, she can't hurt him. Hopefully. Tom in agony... on his own? In my story? Never! :D
drowchild: You naughty person you, sneaking on at school. Hopefully you didn't make too much noise when you saw I left Tom in a bad way in a locked room on his own in pain... maybe I shouldn't have reminded you of that, hmm? Might not have been the best idea. *hands EMuse a cyber-cookie for her dictation*
RogueSparrow: Amelia... something nasty? I'm sure I can figure something out. She was very, very mean to poor Sawyer, wasn't she? *stabs Amelia voodoo doll* Oh wait, what am I doing? I have the actual character in my power, Muahahaha! Hope your exams didn't go too horribly. I'm sure you're fine :D
Niani: Yes indeedy, evil torturing guy is dead. Dead as a doornail. Never to... ok, you get the point. Yes, Hyde did good, even if he had to get a stabbing to provoke the 'right thing', which in this case was murder and destruction. *waves Go Edward flag*
Panzergal: Ah, so long as there is inspiration in me, I will never stop! You are powerless to stop me! Bwahaha! Okay... calming down, taking back control from evil alter ego... um... Bob. Yes, Bob, that's it. *cough* Gah... craziness. Too much sugar perhaps. Oh, and don't worry, I wrote these shout outs after I wrote the chapter, so the sugar or pepperoni pizza or whatever did not affect the plot. Yes... thank god for the Cavalry syndrome, eh? Without it, Jekyll and Skinner would be sipping tea or scotch on the Nautilus, and Mina and Tom would probably be dead...
Aryah: Aha, thank you kindly for your interest! I appreciate it greatly. And with your blessings, here is Chapter 18! [enter dramatic music here]
Amelia faltered only once as she made her way through the corridors of the labyrinthine building, and she shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. Something had felt awfully strange for a moment. She had always been able to... almost sense her daughter... but for a moment...
She had no time to dwell. She ducked into a room, and waited for the vampire to follow her. Amelia knew Mina Harker was right behind her, even if not in visual range; the woman would be able to smell her. With a grimace, Amelia closed the door, taking no care to be quiet.
This was what she had been waiting for, although if everything had gone according to plan, she would have used Harker to destroy Sawyer, thus tying up a loose end. But no... something had been in that room with the two of them, and had destroyed everything. She had lost control. And she didn't like it when that happened to her.
Of course, Amelia had no way of knowing that on the other side of the building, Tom Sawyer had just put a bullet into her precious daughter... she would never see her again.
Mina vaulted off the last wall where Amelia's scent was strongest, and sped down the corridor adjacent, growling all the way. She hated it when her vampire side took over normally, but with everything that had happened, she wasn't going to let her morals stop her from putting an end to all of this. It was time she finished it.
Inside, she felt awful for the whole reason behind the situation, knowing it was her fault that this had happened, her hunger and her inability to stem it. She had killed someone dear to this woman, Amelia, and now she was paying for it.
But Mina did not appreciate, in any shape, way or form that Amelia had decided to attack her through her friend... her companion. Tom Sawyer and the rest of the League were the closest thing she had to a family, no matter what differences they had and the arguments that arose. She still cared for them in her own unique way. Nothing was going to take that away from her... ever.
Amelia heard the pounding on the door, and turned at once. She needed a weapon... she needed to be able to wound the beast and therefore enter her mind again. Breathing quickly now, the uncertainty rising within her, she closed her eyes tight, cursing herself for her weaknesses. How could she have let this all fall apart around her?
Her eyes snapped open at the sound of another bang, and she let them search the room quickly. This was where Gregory sometimes liked to come to 'think'... not that she could ever think of that brute of a man having anything even similar to a coherent, reasonable thought. That would have been a miracle. He was too much like her late husband, and that man had been incapable of anything like a thought or a musing. He had been a hollow shell, a demon through and through... much like Mina Harker, only with victims close to him.
But he was dead now, and soon Mina Harker would be too, she realised as she picked up a discarded blade. She knew not what kind of sword it was, only that it was rather small for her liking... that on top of the fact that she had never used such a weapon before in her life did not give her much confidence.
Of course, her hatred was drive enough for her. She would see this through. She would destroy the monster that had slaughtered her family.
With a shattering noise, the door caved inwards, shards of wood flying in every direction in splinters. Mina Harker came through with it, having enough foresight to vault into the room high over Amelia's head and come down on the other side of her before the sword could find its target. The blade missed by a considerable amount, and the woman on the hilt end yelled in frustration, cursing her skirts for their hindrance.
Mina sympathised with her on that behalf. She wished she had her trousers on instead, giving her freedom to move, instead of these meddlesome skirts and petticoats. With a growl, she reached down swiftly and ripped off a good six inches from the length, enough for her to at least move her feet. The heels certainly weren't helping either.
Her released hair had curled. She had never quite understood its reasoning, but all she could surmise was that it was caused by some sort of vampiric gene in her body. She recalled the battle with Dorian Gray... how when she had been using her abilities her auburn tresses had curled up around her face, but after her injury, they had mysteriously straightened.
Quickly realising this was not the time to dwell on such trivial matters, she leapt backwards in a flying roll to save herself from decapitation. Amelia snarled in fury, and came rushing at her again, wielding the blade somewhat clumsily.
Mina arched an eyebrow from her place on a cabinet, crouched like the predator she knew in her heart she was, and leapt forward, over the woman again. She wanted to tire her out enough to disarm her.
The one thing that Mina was having difficulty with was the matter of whether or not the death of Amelia would be justified... if dealt by her hands.
Amelia turned her head at the sound of Harker's boots hitting the floor, and scowled at the beast for her agility and teasing behaviour.
"Stop playing with me, monster, and fight me!"
Harker turned her eyes on Amelia then, and the latter was surprised to see the startling clarity of the blue pupils... not red. Why were they not red? She cared very little; she soon realised, and lunged with the sword again. This time though, Harker sidestepped at the last minute, and the blade lodged in the wall.
Giving a tug on the hilt, Amelia realised it was stuck, and cursed her haste. "Very well," she panted. "What will you have me do now? Surely you will kill me as you killed my lover and son?"
"Whatever I did in the past to wrong you, I am truly sorry," came Harker's reply, and there was a sickening sincerity in her words that only caused Amelia's anger to rise unbelievably.
"You lie!" Amelia shouted. "You are nothing but a beast, and beasts care not for their victims or the wrongs they have committed! Do not treat me as a fool."
Harker was standing, poised, about seven or eight feet from Amelia on the other side of the room. She showed no signs of weariness, but then again, why should she? She was a vampire, a creature of the night, a source of sheer power and endurance.
This angered Amelia Kendrick further, and she stood, a quaking wreck before the other woman. "I will see you suffer for what you did to me!"
Mina heard Amelia's words, and pitied the woman. She had never realised just how much it could have affected someone. Before, she had seemed so resolute, so determined. Now she was coming apart before Mina's very eyes, and it was a frightening spectacle. All traces of control and sanity seemed lost in the chaos that had overtaken Amelia's mind, and she meant to destroy Mina... the vampire woman knew this.
Though it would have been justice, she could not let it happen. She had worked long and hard to redeem herself, and in the League, she had found her purpose. She had a way of undoing all the terrible things -even though she could not bring back the dead- that haunted her past. Still, the faces of her victims long lost in the mists of time controlled her dreams and nightmares sometimes, calling her to take her own life and end it all. She had never so much as taken a step to heeding their pleas. It was wrong... she shouldn't simply take the easiest escape route out of justification. She needed to make this woman see reason, to make her understand that she knew she had wronged her, and was deeply sorry for it.
But she doubted Amelia would hear her words, take them to heart. She was too far gone to even care about anything other than seeing Mina Harker die... really die, not the kind of cursed death Dracula had put her through, the death she was still shrouded in today.
It was her burden, and she would see it through to the end she saw fit.
This most certainly was not it.
Amelia stood, her rage coursing through her veins in a bubbling mass of chaos, and she trembled with the force of it as it threatened to tear her apart. Why was the vampire not attacking her? Why! She wanted vengeance, she wanted to see the monster suffer for what she had done, and she just stood there placidly as if waiting for forgiveness! It was disgusting.
"Amelia," Harker began, jolting the woman out of her raging reverie, "you must believe me when I tell you I am truly sorry for what I did to you. I know I can never make it up to you; replace what you have lost, but I can offer you my condolences, and tell you that I am no longer the thing I once was... the thing that took your family from you."
"How dare you try and justify yourself to me?" Amelia screamed, her hands balling into delicate fists so tightly, she felt her nails pressing sharply into her skin. "I will not listen to your lies, and your attempts to break me!"
"I am not attempting to break you," Harker said in retaliation, and it was with a slight harshness to her tone. "No... that would be very much like what you did to Agent Sawyer... I am not that person. I will not strike through another in an attempt to gain revenge!"
Amelia scowled. "You cannot accuse me of injustice. I did what I saw fit to claim what was mine. You should die for what you have done in the past."
"Yes, perhaps I should," Harker agreed simply, and then her tone hardened again, her eyes cold as she said, "but he should not. He had nothing to do with any of this, and you used him against me. It was shallow, it was wrong, and it was brutal... you try and justify your actions to me, make me feel like a monster. Yes, sometimes I am, but more often than not, I am Wilhelmina Harker... a simple chemist. I do not enjoy what I have done, it haunts me, but sometimes there is no other way! You must understand this." She paused, seething now. "But what you did to my companion... my friend," she growled, "was very wrong... and I will not abide it."
Amelia laughed, though it was far from the time for mirth. Harker glared at her outburst. "You call me cruel, you call me sadistic! It was the only way!"
"No it was not," Harker countered, and took a step forward, unarmed but still very dangerous, Amelia knew. She could not let her guard drop for a second. "You could have simply struck out at me. You should never have brought innocent others into this."
"Innocent?" Amelia cocked her head in curiousity. "He is innocent? He associates himself with a vampire... and a spirit... how can he be innocent? He is no better than the rest of you... and he was a perfect tool for my purposes."
Mina was too angry to correct Amelia on the use of her term 'spirit'. Her description of Tom was going too far... Mina could take the verbal attacks aimed at herself, she was used to them, but Agent Sawyer did not deserve them. He was a good, honest young man who worked hard to do the right thing.
"How dare you?" Mina hissed. She felt it before she knew what was going on... her eyes began to bleed from blue to vivid red. "You have no right to use anyone, least of all people you do not understand. I will not stand by whilst you torture and abuse innocent," she emphasised the word angrily, "men or women. I will not stand by and watch while you try to destroy my friends. I will not let you destroy my family!"
Before she could stop herself, she launched, and this time ploughed right into Amelia. Her movements had been too swift for the older woman, and the two went down in a tangle, growling and screeching at one another, both aggrieved, both raging with fury, and both intent on revenge.
Talk was lost to them now, and they clawed and lashed at one another to try and hurt or kill. It had overtaken them, and there seemed nothing to break the two women apart.
Amelia lashed out with her hands, trying to force Mina off of her, but the other woman was far too strong, and she had soon picked her off the floor and thrown her with a bestial growl. The older woman struck the wall, and gave a gasp. Mina was soon before her again, pinning her, right in her face and breathing heavily with irritation and anger.
"And what would you have done after my destruction?" Mina asked of her. "What would you have done then?"
Amelia was hurt. She could feel the burning in her back from a newly formed bruise, and her aging body protested greatly to the pressure Harker was applying. She stared the beast in the eyes... red eyes now, like she remembered.
"Why do you care?"
"I care because I should care, and because I can, despite what you think," Harker retorted. She was furious. That much was evident in her face and in her voice.
Amelia thought for a long time. Why was she justifying herself to this creature? This was the same creature that had caused all of this rage and heartache, and now she wanted answers? What right did she have to demand them from Amelia?
"I suppose I would have gone back to my life, knowing that I had done the right thing... made you suffer for your horrific crimes."
"You will not be my judge, despite what I may have done to you, though it was not my choice to kill those people that you called your family. If it were up to me, and if I had the power to do so, I would make it all the way it should have been... I would go back and make it as if that never happened... to anyone. Not just your family. It never should have happened, but I am paying for my crimes... like you must pay for yours."
Amelia could not stop the angry tears from spilling out of her eyes as she stared Harker in the face, disbelieving as to her words. "Very well," she hissed angrily, giving up on trying to break free of the vice grip the vampire had on her. "Then end it... end it the only way you know how. If I must pay for my crimes, then do what your heart cries for you to do!"
Mina took in a sudden deep breath at what Amelia offered her, and she saw the older woman tilt her head to expose her neck fully now. Mina's heart beat rapidly against her chest in feverish hunger for it, but her brain screamed for her to stop.
Mina looked Amelia in the eye seriously and sympathetically then, but did not loosen her grip. This could be a ploy to throw her off guard. "You cannot mean this," Mina whispered harshly to her, the sudden quiet disarming to both. They both shuddered, though for very different reasons.
"It is my choice. You say I should pay for my crimes, and you for yours... what better way than this? I will suffer, and you will take my life knowing that you have ended what I have done... and you have finished your job of destroying my family."
The words burned into Mina viciously, and she closed her eyes for a moment. "I will not do this... unless you wish it."
"I do not care," Amelia growled. "Just do it."
Mina felt her breath quicken. What had happened to the woman's spirit? Did she know it useless to fight? Had she realised her mistakes? Whatever the reason... the urge was too strong now. Mina opened her mouth wide. The fangs pushed through her gums and she drew closer to Amelia's offered, exposed neck.
Amelia closed her eyes. Something in her heart told her it was over... this was the end. There was a great swell of terror in the pit of her stomach that told her that her daughter was lost... though she could not place its credibility.
Her fight was useless... something akin to failure had taken its grip on her, and would not let go.
She felt the icy grip of dread take her, and did not resist it, her rage and woe lost suddenly without explanation.
It was over.
Mina closed her eyes so as to try and conceal -even to herself- what it was that she was doing. Amelia had asked for it... who was she to argue this?
Mina bit down on the woman's neck, gently at first, but then when she felt the first twitch of struggle, she latched on tightly and forcefully, drinking deeply and hungrily, feeling the very life drain out of the woman that had caused the League so much anguish.
She felt the struggles stop almost as suddenly as they had started, and one of Amelia's arms fell limp. But still, Mina did not stop.
Even when she heard a familiar voice cry for her to do so, she could not.
The vampire had taken over once again.