Sleeping was a human characteristic. They didn't do it simply because they desired to, but because they had no choice in the matter. It was necessary for them to function correctly, and in that, Vlad despised it. It left one weak and vulnerable to enemies, and to close one's eyes was a certain way to be damaged. She didn't sleep if she could help it, and only allowed herself fifteen minutes every few days to partake in such teduim, as it made her rage boil. These humans that she was trapped with seemed to do little else on the other hand. In fact, it was all the assassin seemed to do if he wasn't concealing his lust (or what Vlad considered lust) for the whore or desperately trying to hide that he was in fact, worthless. She couldn't understand why he tried to hide things; she was the Time Prophet, and nothing could be hidden from her.
She slunk around the edge of the entrance to Kai's room, and looked at him. He was on his side, engaging in the human activity of sleeping, utterly defenseless, and unknowing of her prescence. It disgusted her, as the dead should have no weaknesses and be empty, like she was. He had taken her knife from her when he had promised to return it to her. He had not, and she fully intended to get it back, and once she did, she was certain that Kai's time would come to an end before the prophecy had the opportunity to be fufilled again. She was positive that she would make sure of that; she had no reason to fear the insects, so the prophecy meant nothing to her.
The action was going to be the simplest mission that she had ever carried out, since the whore and the fool were as sound asleep as the assassin was. The assassin was truly worthless now, considering that trying to act human didn't disguise anything. He was still a mockery of life, and she sorely wished that it would finally eat away at him until it destroyed him, so she could kill him in his broken state; or better still, watch him take his own life. Grief and guilt were pitiful emotions that humans should have purged long ago, but they were also quite destructive, and Vlad knew that she only had to push them in the right direction to get the results she wanted. She felt that he wasn't really worthy to be killed at her hand, for allowing the captain fool to destroy her and rob her of what she had once been. Yes, watching him kill himself would be quite amusing, and she was eager to find out when and in what way.
Without a sound, she made her way around the bed, and quickly grabbed the knife, slipping it out of his belt before he could react. The disturbance had awakend him, and he immediately went to grab her wrist, but Vlad pulled the knife up, twirled it in a downward position, and avoided his brace by leaning to the right. She made a downward stab for him, but Kai shifted his weight on the bed, and caught her wrist.
He pulled her down onto the bed, and clamped one hand onto her mouth, as to not awaken the fool or the whore. He shifted himself so his body was pressing hers against the bed, and then proceeded to grab her knife and fling it safely onto the floor a good distance away from the bed. He pinned her flailing fist onto the bed as well with his free hand, and whispered sharply, "Why did you attack me when I was not expecting you?"
She decided that he deserved an answer for getting as far has he had; in the past he wouldn't have been able to even follow her movements. She stopped struggling so she could answer. "I am a destroyer of assassins," Vlad said flatly. "I will destroy you,"
"Regardless of what you were designed for, Vlad, attacking me while I was off-guard would not have provided you with the challenge you seek," said Kai.
"A challenge is not what I desire for the moment," said Vlad. "I desire your destruction!"
"If you are still displeased that I had disarmed you, you are welcome to have your weapon now, as there is nothing here for you to destroy," said Kai. "However, I urge you to never attack me in my sleep again...or I will kill you, Vlad,"
Vlad's nose crinkled as she glared defiantly up at him. "You threaten me with death so often, assassin," said Vlad, sneering at him. "And I find your threats to be idle,"
How pathetic, she thought. He was so immersed in interrogating her, he didn't see his mistake. She then thrust a knee into his abdomen, throwing him off her, and onto the floor, sprawled on his back. She rolled off the bed as well, and retrieved her knife. She stood up, and smirked at him. He was still on the floor, with a hand to the spot where she had struck him, and was short of breath, with his mouth full of blood. His expression was one of surprise; he hadn't been prepared for her to be his match in strength, and it was apparent to her that something had weakened him before she'd even struck him. It delighted her to no end. He fired his brace again, only for her to block it with her knife. Kai took a mental note; Vlad could no longer swat his brace away like she used to, but she still could apparantly follow it in order to block it.
She climbed up over the bed in three fluid steps, her skirt making her seem as if she was gliding. He stood again, ducking a horizontal slash from the knife, but Vlad had been expecting it. Her free hand made contact with the area she'd slammed with her knee earlier. Kai stumbled backward, grabbing one of the fleshy columns growing near his bed for support, as his other hand clutched the wound. Vlad licked her blade clean of the blood. He didn't know when it had happened, but she had cut him; just a shallow cut on the side of his neck. He reached up and touched the wound quickly, feeling the blood seep over his fingers, but then returned his attention to her.
"You have become fragille, assassin," she said, with a blank look on her face. "You will not kill me... and threats do not affect me. I will destroy you,"
Kai painfully straightened, still clutching the area just under his ribs. He let go of the column, and primed his brace. "Come on then," he said, trying to mask the pain in his voice.
He seemed to be sincere in his words, but Vlad thought better of it. If simple blows such as the ones she had just given him had injured him so, there was no pleasure in fighting him this way. He was obviously pushing himself to stand, as he was out of breath, and visibly in copius amounts of pain. He was not acting like an assassin, and it dissapointed her. He would in time, but not now. She could wait, she supposed. "I will not continue this now," said Vlad, lowering her weapon. "Heal yourself, and be alert later,"
She calmly walked up to one of the growths in the floor, put her boot up on it, and tucked the knife into the boot. Kai didn't move from where he was. If Vlad was going to attack him in his sleep, it was entirely possible that this was a ploy to kill him as well.
"Is this not what you want, Vlad?" he asked. "To challenge me? Here I am. What is stopping you?"
Vlad turned to leave, and stopped at the opening of the room. "I do wish to kill you, that is true," said Vlad. "...However, there is no pleasure in killing you in this worthless state. Squeak at me no more, little mouse,"
As the clicking of Vlad's boots faded, Kai felt the oddest bit of emotion that he could barely recognize. He admitted in his mind that she had a lot of nerve speaking to him the way she had, considering it was her who had attacked him, and in his bedroom no less. Had he attacked her and she had beaten him, he would have thought nothing of her words. However, the dead did not seek vengeance unless motivated to do so, which usually meant that the dead had been ordered to seek vengeance. He also had to take into consideration that there was a possibility that Vlad was clinically insane. Part of him was beginning to wonder if they should actually have her mind examined (by force, no doubt. She'd never go along with something like that), should they find a suitable medical facility. Of course, he wasn't looking forward to when he, Xev, and Stan would have to lure her out and catch her; the mention of the disaster spoke for itself.
He found himself considering what would happen if he were to go out into that passageway and show Vlad what a real killer was really like, but that would not be just. In fact, he didn't understand why he was having violent thoughts such as the one he'd just had. He'd been having them a lot lately, but he figured that it was simply because he still carried every bit of mental programming given to him by His Shadow, and with a human brain it was clashing with all of his human tendencies.
Killing was something that he simply didn't care to do anymore, even though he could hardly go a day without at least one murder, and things like Vlad's prescence made violent images appear in his head. Besides, Vlad was with them for a reason. She was the Time Prophet, and he couldn't deny that they would need her soon, since she was the only one with access to the prophecy. To kill her would be to make a mistake, and it was probably a mistake Prince would be looking for.
The pain from her attack on his torso burned and throbbed all at the same time, and he knew that she had nailed him in an area where the mysterious bruising was particularly tender. He sat down on the bed, facing the entrance just in case she decided to take him up on his offer after all, and unzipped the front of his shirt. He lifted up the thin black undershirt gingerly, as it caused him pain to really move at all, and saw that there was in fact a large bruise growing larger from Vlad's knee, right underneath his sternum. She had hit him hard enough the second time, to not only further damage the original wound, but a rib or two on his left side were in bad shape as well.
Before he could even think to try the protein regenerator, a thundering explosion rang throughout the Lexx, as the ship gave a great lurch, sending Kai tumbling off the bed, onto the floor, and against the wall.