Ch.8
Disclaimer: Aint ya tired of readin this yet? Don't own the X-Men.
Quote:My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 now and we don't know where the hell she is. --Ellen DeGeneres
Images fluttered through Shadow's mind:
A Man with long dark hair and steely gray eyes hammers at a silver blade, cooling it in vampire blood in the stead of water.
The same gray eyed man battles hords of vampires, dressed in chain mail and armor. Sahal throws the man and, taking the sword, rams it through the other's ribcage.
Two sisters, with gray eyes, teaching their children battle techniques as the Mexican father of the boy and Cherokee father of the girl watch on.
Both women are dead, blood still warm as the children stare on in shock. The boy calls to the blade, lashing out at Sahal and driving him away. The girl shoves the sword away when it's offered to her.
The boy and his father leave to travel south, while the girl and her father join hundreds of other Native Americans forced to move from their homelands.
Bri had called out many times in her sleep in an odd assortment of languages. She was in constant company with Logan and/or Estaban siting with her. Zekk too had visited but seemed uncomfortable if his leader was in the room also. Nearly everyone on the X-Men team stopped in at least once, as well as a few of the Venatoris. Beast popped in steadily as her doctor. He had dressed her numerous wounds and sent pain killers through her I.V.. She'd spent the last two days and nights in a fitful, exhausted sleep.
Both Logan and Estaban looked up as the white haired Zek entered the room, McDonalds bags and drinks in hand. "That cajun man up there was insisting that you have some of his 'food', but I decided to spare you," he explained with his normal humor. He stopped half way through the room and frowned at Shadow, who's wrists had been restrained to the bed, "She's going to kill you for that," he decided while handing the bags to the other men.
Estaban sighed and rubbed his forehead, "She tried to tear off her bandages while she was dreaming, the one around her neck in particular," he took a drink of his pop, nodding his appreciation.
"How else is she, besides that?" Zekk bent over and studied her drained features.
"Not much difference," Logan grunted.
From behind Zekk came Elisabeth, sister to the no-longer-existing Antonio, "It's a rare occasion that your cousin comes to help us fight, Estaban. I seem to remember her faring better last time."
A strain of disdain came through the woman's words which the Venatoris leader picked up on. He replied with mock concern, "And what about you?" His voice flattened, "I hear that you're brother died again. And by your own hand this time? You did him a favor."
She scowled at him and motioned to the woman in the bed, "He wouldn't have had to be that way if she hadn't--"
"IF she hadn't done what ws necessary to save herself AND you." He stood up angrily, "Antonio was what he was. A vampire. A monster. And there was nothing that any could do."
A knife appeared in Elisabeth's hand and she snarled through gritted teeth, "He was NOT a MONSTER!"
Before Logan could even stand to intervene, Zekk had grabbed her from behind and flung her into the metallic wall. "How Dare you draw a weapon on your leader? After all he's done for YOU?" he moved toward the woman who's eyes had gone wide with surprise and then fear.
"Zekk," Estaban interrupted rather calmly, "Do not hurt her. But do remover her from this room. She's not to enter again."
The white haired man turned back to his leader, anger still crossing his face, "She broke the code, she drew a weapon against you."
"Then see that she is penalized," was the short answer.
He was obeyed quickly. Elisabeth was roughly hauled to her feet and shoved out the door and down the hall. The Mexican man sat down with a sigh when the door closed again.
"I take it they aint the best 'a friends?"
"No. Elisabeth blames Shadow for Antonio's first death. She was too late to save both him and Beth." He looked in his bag of food,"What I wouldnt give for some plain flat bread fried on a rock," he muttered.
Wolverine swallowed a large bite of his BigMac and asked another question, "Didn't think Zekk was the violent type. What was all that talk about 'the code'?"
"There are different clans, or groups of Venatoris. I believe there are nine in the U.S. today. I am the leader of the North East division. My first territory was in the South West reagion, but the vampires were more heavily congested on the East Coast, so I was...transferred. When that land was split again because of increased population, Zekk arrived from Wales. He was the body guard of the leader over there but failed his duties--the vermine murdered his charge, his brother. He followed the vamipre across Europe, Asia and then into the Americas. He was chasing the thing for half a century before Shadow and he crossed paths on a hunt. She brought him to my clan after he had recieved his revenge. So I made him my body guard. He won't fail his duties again, so he takes the job very seriously."
"What about the code?" the X-Man had noted that there was no mention of the subject.
"Zekk is very old, older than most Venatoris. He was around when the code was first made for the forming of the clans. It was much like a monarchy. Most of the rules are upheld today, but some of them have been...deleted, for lack of a better word. As a Venator yourself, Zekk will go over all of it." He put away half his burger and ate a few fries, holding one up to study, "These don't even taste like potatoes anymore. What is this country coming to...?"
Logan wasn't sidetracked. He had been trying to for the past day to get an explination for everything that had happened. "Where does she fit into all of this?" he indicated Bri.
The Mexican looked at the sleeping woman. She was dreaming, her eyes darting behind the lids. He stared at her for a moment longer, but his eyes were seeing something else from the past. "Our grandfather made The Sword centuries ago. Our mothers were sisters." his accent thickened slightly.
"Yea...the crazy lady didn't seem ta like the fact that she didn't embrace the family heritage like you."
"Sahal killed her mother, and mine, when we were children. I accepted the blade, but that was what Sahal was after, why he'd killed them. So she refused it. Later, I moved south with my father and she moved to...where ever...on what is now referred to as "The Trail of Tears" That was back in the...1830's, I believe. I was almost certain that she was dead all those years. She was like her namesake, Shadow, never really coming up on the radar. Honestly, I hadn't given her much thought in decades until we met eachother again in the early 1900's. She knew what she was and that she had the right to the blade. Since we are the only one's who can wield it in battle, we're held in rather high esteem. Most Venatoris have to request permission in order to venture onto another clan's territory. She doesn't, being the rightful heiress to The Sword, as her mother was the older sister. I believe that she'd be in constant trouble with the other clans if she didnt have that little, 'ace up the sleeve'. She never was one for asking." He shook his head slightly and continued. "Ever since she walked calmly into my clans headquarters--the first time that I'd seen her since 1830-something--She's made it clear that she didnt want the blade, but was ready enough to kill the vampires. That was the time she brought Zekk to me. Only a few days later she came upon Elisabeth." He looked up, "Does that answer enough for now?"
"Almost," Logan held out his cross with the red stone, "What's with the rock changin' color?"
"It represents your soul. Mine is turquoise, the color of my father's people. My soul is, for the most part, at peace. Shadow's...she's still troubled about many things. Yours is red. You have alot of anger, whether you are aware of it or not, whether you show it or not. Your soul is resltess and that makes it angry."
The mutant scowled at the other man's words and muttered, "Yea, why aint I surprised."
The two sat in silence for many more minutes. Bri murmered something in her sleep. Her face turned toward Logan and he could see her brow furrowed and her eyes moving rather quickly behind their lids. Another mumble could be heard, louder this time. "She's dreamin' again. Lets hope she doesn't start slammin against the restraints again or Hank'll have ta up the drug dosage."
Her breathing quickened and she called out while tossing as much as her present circumstance would allow. Estaban reached out and smoothed back her hair with concern. She bolted at the touch but was stopped abruptly by the padded restraints, her eyes sprung open wide. Both men shot out of their chairs at her sign of awakening. She didn't recognize them, however, and slammed against the objects impeding her from rising. The Hispanic leaned over in an attempt to comfort her, but before he could react, she managed to aquire his knife that was at his belt and quickly slashed one of the restraints with the keen blade edge. One foot swung around and knocked Estaban into the wall with little, but enough, force. In an instant she had the blade against Wolverine's throat with a growing trickle of blood. He held his hands up and away from him. Shadow spat something at him in Russian that he couldn't understand.
"What? Darlin' it's just me. Come on, remeber. Yer safe with the X-Men..."
The anger drained from her eyes and was replaced with a frown of confusion. She still held the knife to his throat with her free hand as she asked in a hoarse whisper, "Logan?"
"Yea, darlin'. Lemme just take that from ya, huh" his hand moved slowly to take the knife and when she didn't seem to object he moved it away from his flesh and extracted it gently from her hand.
The confused look remained on her face, "What...? How...?" she started twice and then her eyes widened with memories. "Estaban," the urgent whisper came forth. She swirled to face the man who had remained against the wall studying her. Bri's turn was cut short as her other arm was still held immobile. Pain shot through the limb from her nearly ruined wrist--the one she had torn from the cross--and she let out a hiss, eyes screwed shut against the sudden pain and dizzyness. Logan handed back Estaban's knife over the woman's head then removed the restraint.
The cousins' eyes met and held for a moment, neither knowing what to say. "So..." Shadow started, "I'm not dead." It wasn't exactly put in a question form.
The man visibly relaxed, "Did you want to be" a small smile twitched at his lips. It was the first sign of humor that Wolverine had seen since the rescue mission.
Her own familiar smirk tugged at her mouth too, "Meh," she said with a shrug. The movement of her back caused a sharp intake of breath, "Fxxk that hurts." The pain killers had started to wear off and her lashed back was alerting her to it's condition. This led her to noticing that she was nearly wrapped up like a mummy. Gauze was layered around her lower back and stomach, holding padding over open wounds. Her upper back was patched up and she could fel a pull of stitches in a few deep whip gashes. Her wrists were bandaged thickly over the holes, although a red coloration against the white indicated that they were still bleeding. Her rolled ankle was wrapped tightly and a thick bandage was covering the brutal bite marks on her neck. "So how bad am I?" she asked, scooching back stiffly so that she could see both men.
"You're recommended staying in bed possibly 3 more days, then you're to 'take it easy' as the Doctor put it," Estaban's 'smile' turned to something close to distrust as he studied the girls face.
Logan understood the look exactly. He'd only been with Shadow once when she was hurt. She had handled it much like him, with a 'just walk it off' attitude.
She leaned back against the raised bed slowly and seemed to think it over. "One day of bed rest. Two days of 'taking it easy', then I'm leaving."
The Hispanic's jaw set, "You need more than one day of resting. you are aware that you nearly died?"
"Painfully aware," she replied, "but I've been in worse. It's not too bad."
His hand shot out and encircled her wrist. She made a painfilled noise in the back of her throat but it didn't make it through her clenched teeth and compressed lips. His accent came thickly once again, "You cannot tell me this doesn't hurt," he gave the wrist a squeeze, turning the woman's previous grunt into a growl-like note as she glared at him. "We are not negotiating here. You are ordered to stay here and recover. I won't hesitate to have these restraints replaced and put to use along with guards."
Her eyes were as cold as stone as her voice came out dangerously low, "Fxxk you." she spat, "I don't take orders, Estaban." She pronounced his name with a sharp hispanic accent.
The hairs on the back of Logan's neck rose with the room's tension as it grew darker.
"You've accepted the blade and along with it your role as a Venator. This is my territory and you are to follow my orders."
"Or," her face remained hard but she said much too calmly, "I could kill you and then you wont be such a problem, now, will you?"
Now the X-Man knew that they weren't just having a dissagreement over doctor's orders. They were grandstanding, to an extent, over dominance. The problem was that he'd never known Shadow to make idle threats.
Zekk chose this precise moment to enter the room. Only Wolverine looked at him, the other two were locked in a stare, not the friendly type, obviously. He took in the scene quickly and frowned slightly at the man's tightening grip on the girl's wrist. "Estaban." the word suggested dissapproval with a slight tone of authority.
Their eyes seperated at the noise and the man's hold dropped almost guiltily from her. The frown stayed around Zekk's eyes but he smiled at Shadow on the bed, "It's nice to see you awake, child."
She leaned back once more, avoiding looking at anyone else and replied with remaining coldness, "It's nice to be awake. Apparently while I was out it was decided that my reward for saving my cousin's life would be me becoming his servant."
The smile wilted, "Now you know that's not true. You almost died, we're just worried is all."
"Yea, well I'm tired so all of you can just leave me alone, huh?" the annoyance of her situation hadn't left her voice as she painfully slid down into the bed.
"Some one has to stay with you," Estban's own voice was emotionless.
"Sure as hell aint gonna be you," she snapped back.
"I'll stay," Wolverine spoke up for the first time since he'd negotiated the knife from Bri's hand.
"Fine," she growled groggily and then more acidly than was needed, "Goodbye Estaban." Her cousin paused a moment and then left the room with a stiff back. The Welshman turned to follow but she called him back. "Zekk...How many are left?"
He turned back with a smile, "None. We got them all. All of Sahal's anyway. Congrats. You've finally gotten your revenge,child." he left with that remark.
Shadow immediately snapped out of her 'near sleep' and addressed Wolverine, "Elisabeth was here?"
"Yep," he settled himself back into his chair, "Doesn't much like ya, does she? Drew a knife on yer cousin, by the way."
"Did Zekk hear of it yet?"
"He was here...didn't like it."
"He was here then..."she seemed to mull this over then replied indifferently, "I wont miss her."
"Estaban told him to to kill her."
"Meh," she did a movement that could have been a shrug.
Beast came through the door, "Ah," he said with his normal cheer, "And how do you feel?"
"Like shxt," she answered plainly.
"Good, you look the part," McCoy laughed at his own joke.
"Finally," she chimed,"a doctor that tells the truth! I've been waiting nearly 200 years and can now die in piece."
"No dying on my shift," he smiled, showing his pointly teeth, and then added more seiously, "Jean would kill me."
She turned back to Logan, "I like him," she motioned toward hank with a stiff wave of her hand.
"Now," Beast turned responsible once more, "I need to check you up and change the bandages, Logan, you'll have to leave and um..." he pointed to the McDonalds bags, "Don't let Ororo see those in here or she'll be preaching to ME about healthy eating."
Shadow slung her backpack over her shoulder, recieving only a slight dull pain from her healing back. She'd spent a week and a half at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters recuperating from her vampire ordeal.
"Ya got a place ta go darlin'?" Wolverine came down the stairs behind her.
"Don't call me that," she responded automatically, then, "I'm gonna stop by the Venator lair and try to figgure out a few things." They reached the door and she opened it, adding quietly, "uh...thanks for...you know...patching me up and all."
"You saved an X-Man, that is worth more than can be given," the red headed Jean replied as she joined them infront of the doorway.
Shadow scanned the lawn, hand still on the doornob. Jean had wanted to share her ordeal with the other woman and vice versa, but Bri dropped the subject many times. Most of the X-Men slowly appeared around their guest. She really hated goodbyes and had tried to avoid it, apparently failing.
"Come back an' visit, hehn?" Gambit offered.
"Yes," Xavier added, "You are always welcome here."
The woman looked uncomfortable and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Yea...sure..." her normal sarcasm came back, "uh...you guys aren't gonna hug me or anything are you?" She recieved a few chuckles. "But I will come back," she started down the steps and finished saying over her shoulder, "for the food, of course."
FIN
hey, YAY. we're all done. Special thanks to Harry2, cuz with out his reviews i wouldnt have bothered posting past the 1st chapter, and to Wolf cuz she's Wolf :P. I've got an idea for a sequal, just a little thought. dunno if i'll go thru with it or not shrugs. and be on the look out for any other fics of mine (i'm currently writing 2 at the same time...bloody muses...plus the little idea for this one's sequal. anyway, im done babbling.