21
Valkyrie opened her door with a soft smile. She wished she could have seen the look on his kitty's face when he got in, but she trusted Seraph about as far as she could throw him and didn't trust the Oracle at all, so she had elected to get some needed "sleep", as guilt had made her last attempts rather disturbing.
There was another knock on her door.
"Go away and come back tomorrow!" she yelled. "We can't do that, sister." Came two voices from right next to her. She shrieked and whirled, backing away from the Twins. "What the hell do you want!?"
"You live so close... you never pay us any visits."
"There's a reason for that," she grumbled, feeling her back press against a wall as she glared up at her brothers defiantly. They knocked a vase off a shelf. "Such a nice place you have here."
"I try. Now what do you want?"
"We want to throw you a late housewarming party."
"Stop bullshitting me. I'm not that naïve little girl you two knew."
"You saved the Vampire."
How had they…? She crossed her arms over her chest. "Marcus is my friend. Of course I did."
"The Merovingian is upset about this. You are to be punished."
"I don't work for him anymore," she snapped, but her eyes were widening in definite fear.
"But you worked against him."
"I was helping out a friend. But you two wouldn't know a damn thing about that, would you?"
Her bookcase was thrown down onto the floor. Two was suddenly holding a gas can. Her eyes widened as she inferred their intentions. "NO!" she screamed, lunging for her beloved books. One backhanded her. Two started to pour the gas over the bookshelf. She ignored One's hit and tried again, this time trying to get the gas away from Two.
Two pulled back on the can. One flicked out his razor and slashed Val across the back of her knee. She went down, but phased and healed. "Don't! Please!" Two smiled sadistically and pulled out a match. A voice behind him, however, interrupted the ghost, as well as the click of a gun being cocked. "Don't." Marcus.
She turned, disbelieving. "Marc…."
The Twin smirked. "What are you going to do, Vampire? Kill us?" He went incorporeal. Marcus's hand smashed into the back of the Twin's head. It made contact.
Valkyrie's eyes widened. "How…"
The twin lurched across the house and through the wall. The other's eyes went wide…in fear. Something the program hadn't know before. "Get. Before I lose my temper." Marcus growled. The Twin phased and flew away as fast as he could.
Valkyrie stayed where she was, disbelieving. "You alright?" Marcus asked, holstering his gun. "Yeah," she answered shakily. "Sekhmet was captured." Marcus replied. "I came to get her back."
"How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Hurt Two."
Marcus shrugged and looked at his hands. "Must be a side effect of the fusion." Valkyrie picked up one of her ruined books sadly. "I can't stay here anymore…."
"The Oracle could give you a place to stay."
"Marcus… you know how I feel about her."
"Do you have a choice?" He replied.
"… what happened to them, Marcus? What changed?" The incident was hitting her hard. "They know how much I love books… and I'm their sister!"
"The Merovingian happened."
"But… even when we were with the Merovingian, they never did anything like… like that!"
"That's what changed. You aren't with the Merovingian anymore."
"I…"
Marcus shook his head. "I'm sorry Val."
She lowered her head sadly. "Is that… why he let me go?"
Marcus was silent.
"I… I need some time, Marcus."
"I understand. I'll be back after I've saved Sekhmet."
She nodded. She wouldn't tell him that she probably wouldn't be there. Marcus hugged the ghost, and then set out towards the Merovingian's cathedral--hopefully, for the last time. Val sorted through the books, and sighed in relief. Her favourite one was untouched. She took it, her guitar the Twins had missed, surprisingly enough, and a picture of her and her brothers a long time ago, then left her home. She needed to think.
***
Sekhmet stirred and woke slowly. "Wha…?" Her eyes took in her surroundings. She was on a bed with red sheets.... in the Château. "Oh… shit…." She sat up, bringing her hand to her aching head. She'd been drugged, apparently, and brought here in her sleep. "Zo, you finally awaken."
She gulped and looked towards the Merovingian. He was sitting in a chair nearby, not looking too happy. She cringed away from him. "You will be 'appy to know that your little boyfriend is on 'is way 'ere right now."
She gave him a mistrustful look. "I 'ave a welcoming committee assembled for 'im right now," he added bitterly. Something wasn't right. She backed further away from the Frenchman, her eyes never leaving him.
"He won."
"Wh-what?"
"Your pretentious vampire lover. He won the battle for 'imself."
She smiled slowly. "So that's what she meant…"
"Don't celebrate just yet. 'e still 'as to rescue you," the Frenchman replied.
"I believe in him."
"Then your belief is ill founded," the Merovingian spat as he rose from his chair and walked towards the door.
"I doubt it."
The Merovingian shot her a dark look and opened the door, slamming it behind him. Sekhmet crawled off the bed, staring at it in distaste. Why the hell had she even been on it? Then, the twins phased through the door, looking unhappy. Her eyes widened as she froze.
Oh, Source… I'm alone… with them….. She whimpered as she backed away from them. They walked towards her, both getting their razors out. "No… please…." They grinned. "Don't you want to play with us?"
The frightened cat shook her head as she realised she'd walked into a corner. They advanced, evil smiles filling their face. There was a sudden change in her stance, a sudden confidence as her suddenly green eyes met theirs.
"Bastet."
"Hello, boys," she said, smiling a little.
"Will you be willing to play with us?"
"That would depend."
"On?"
"Sekhmet. It's amusing that you scare her so much -- you two frighten her more than anything else."
"We know."
"However, it is very irritating to have to deal with her whimpering about the pair of you. It'd be nice if you could lay off her a bit."
"What's the fun in that?"
"I didn't say stop scaring her… just lay off the absolute terror thing. Besides," she had approached One and was looking up at him seductively, "there are other fun things to do around here, you know…."
He grinned. "Alright, we will lesson our efforts."
"Thanks, I appreciate it…. She may not, but that doesn't matter."
The twins then phased out, and drifted out of the room, casting one last look at Bastet. She pouted. "They didn't stay to play…."
***
Marcus stood outside the front door of the Château. He looked at the door for a second, touched it, and simply walked through it... and was met by a large number of thugs with guns on the other side.
As one, they opened fire. The bullets passed through him and struck the door behind him. They stopped firing as they ran out of bullets. From second floor, Rafe watched. "A ghost…?" he mused softly, wincing as he felt his black eye. Those twins were damn brutal…
Marcus pulled out his pistol then and aimed at the enforcers. "Are you done?" They dropped their guns and came at him. He disappeared. Rafe's eyebrows rose. "A handy trick… I'm going to need to do some serious planning if I am to fight him as well…," another wince. "Damn those Twins… fighting him would've been hard enough on its own."
Marcus was suddenly behind the group of thugs. "Looking for me?" They whirled, startled; one who could apparently take odd things in stride ran at him again. Marcus met this attacker with a boot to the head. He was thrown down and across the hallway, slamming into a statue and laying still.
Marcus then looked to the rest of the crew.
They attacked him at once, under the faulty logic of 'if we all go at once, he can't hurt us!' Marcus met them headlong, sliding into a lead one's legs and then slamming a roundhouse into his head as the vampire rose. The fight was brutal and decidedly one-sided. Rafael winced. "I think I should go get healed up before I face him," he mused as the last man went down. "I'll need all my strength for this."
Marcus threw the last goon against the wall, placing his still drawn pistol against his head. "Where?"
"Wh-where what!?"
He pulled the gun away and shot into the wall. "You know."
"The cat is upstairs somewhere…"
"Thanks." The Vampire then shoved the thug through the wall and walked up the stairs. A young-looking man with dark blue wings paused as he saw the vampire heading his way. "Well… shit."