No Want, No Hunger, No Shame

A/N: Oi! I had no idea you guys would like my story so much! I'll try to get two chapters out each week, then, but it's not for sure.

Thank you!

dialogue – thoughts

"dialogue" – speaking

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Chapter 2:

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In the dimness of his small room, a single man sat on his inn bed wrapping a round of white cloth firmly about his middle. A first aid kit was opened on the bed beside him with the contents spilt along the bloodstained covers.

A deep stab wound showed in his skin. He had gotten it earlier that very night.

He wrapped the bandage around the wound, but as soon as the cloth settled, red flowed through without effort. Sighing, he once again fastened the cloth another time around him in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Grimacing in pain, he thought bitterly; this was just another addition to his massive collection of scars…

He folded the ends firmly and took out a fastening pin to keep them together. Making sure it was a firm hold and would not fall apart; he placed the first aid kit on the nightstand beside the bed.

He let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and carefully lay back onto the small, hard bed before falling into a deep sleep as soon as his head had settled on the firm pillow.

This man—actually a vampire—was known as Vash Saverem. Twin to the leader of all the vampires, he was the very equal to his brother in many ways.

However, vampires did not bleed freely, and certainly not by the hand of a mortal. He found he had never been able to block the pain and blood whenever he was wounded. His brother had declared that only his love for humans made him weak.

Not being able to channel the fear and hate from mortals, he could not become as powerful as his brother, Knives. He could not become as powerful as any vampire he encountered. But he had no wish to become so mighty, and preferred the company of the humans.

His love could not be stopped. He remembered loving since he was a small child, born a halfling by the blood of his mortal mother; Rem. Never had his father—now dead—been able to stop his love for all living things.

He was most unlike a vampire, more like a mortal. He would have been an outcast if it were not for his father's name in his blood, his brother's fierce opposition to the human rule.

Like all vampires, even half bloods, he had to drink blood. In order to survive, he had to take the life of a human, which disgusted him. But he had no other way of living, and was doomed to stay a vampire until someone would kill him and end his eternal suffering.

Cutting back on the blood he had to have made him weak. His brother had scorned him, so Vash had left, not wishing to come back.

Ever.

Instead, the half-vampire dedicated his wanderings to the prevention of the slaying of humans. Many times he had been seen stopping other vampires from taking a life, and saved many a human. He had proved he did not have to be as powerful as his twin to stop a vampire.

But even with his disgust of human blood, he had to drink. He had to feed in order to survive.

Last night was just one of the times he was not able to control himself and had gotten what he had deserved. But the pains taken by him were all rewarded by the goodness that he had brought into the world.

It was all worth it in the end.

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It was dark, very dark.

…How had she gotten here? She couldn't remember. One minute she was…

…where had she been? All she knew was that she was here now. Here…

It was dark and she was running, her cloak flapping wildly, loudly behind her. Running from what?

To where?

There was no moon, but still she could make out where she was going.

There were trees in the darkness; she knew they were there. It was just so dark. Silence engulfed her, but her heavy breathing warded it off, the pounding of her heard a deafening thump in her chest.

The noise warned the blackness not to come any closer…

Was there something behind her?

Yes, she could sense it its presence, its feet moving quickly, lightly on the forest floor. A forest. Trees whizzed quickly past her moving form, or were the trees the ones really moving?

No, she was the one running. Running from what? To nowhere? In a place where there was no moon?

The trees and bushes cleared, thinned into a field.

It was so dark. How could she see in this darkness, though?

This blackness all around her?

The field was neat, the grass was trimmed, short and tough. She looked back into the inky darkness. She could see it jump into the field. Cloaked in black, it was perhaps darker than the night.

What was it?

She didn't know, but she did know she had to get away…

She looked forward.

Too late.

The ground before her let away, leaving nothing but air, nothingness. She screamed as she fell, down into darkness.

She shut her eyes tight…

Meryl sat up straight in her bed, breathing heavily, her mouth open and eyes wide. Her scream seemed to echo throughout the room, bouncing back just to mock her. She brought a trembling hand up to her forehead and wiped away some cold sweat that seemed to drench her trembling body.

She looked around the room and recognized it as one of Wolfwood's spares. Sighing in relief, Meryl remembered that Nick has insisted Meryl and Milly stay the night and wait for the light of day.

She had agreed without protest. It was still dangerous in day, but not as ominous as the night. A cold, wet and rainy night nonetheless.

Slowly, Meryl folded her covers back and slipped out of the bed. She wore one of Nick's mothers' old nightshirts, which reached past her knees. Quickly she pulled on a pair of slippers by the foot of the bed to block the cold radiating from the wooden floor. Rubbing sleep out of her eyes with her free hand she opened the door of the spare room and shuffled out on her way to find tea.

The smell of breakfast wafted out of Nicholas's kitchen and into the hallway. Meryl covered her mouth as she yawned and slowly turned the corner into the kitchen. Milly was running around the room with a pot and several cups at once. She was only wearing her nightclothes too, a huge shirt and large, loose pants. What looked like a tray of biscuits was sitting on the stove, steaming.

Or was that smoke?

Shaking her head, Meryl approached her partner and snatched a cup of tea that was already poured, waiting patiently on the counter. She poured some cream in and stirred in a teaspoon of sugar. Then, blowing on it, she shuffled her way towards the wooden table and began to sip the drink.

As if just noticing Meryl's presence, Milly turned and smiled at her friend, "You're up!" she exclaimed happily, "Now you can help me with these biscuits."

Meryl let her head fall onto the table before sighing, "Milly, you didn't have to make breakfast. I was planning to leave as soon as I got up."

"Aren't you going to say good bye to Mr. Priest?" Milly asked.

Wincing, Meryl replied, "No, I'd rather not. I don't think Nick will wake up until noon."

No matter how hard Meryl tried to convince Milly otherwise, she was set on the idea that Wolfwood and herself were cousins. It was probable, if you didn't take into account the rather large height difference, but Meryl denied relation to the smoking priest for various other reasons she never spoke of.

Shrugging slightly, Milly took her steaming/smoking biscuits from their tray and set them on plates before serving one to Meryl. At almost the same moment, Wolfwood, looking as fresh as ever—if you call him "fresh"—strode into the room fully dressed with a cigarette set firmly between his lips.

"Mornin' big girl, cousin." He announced almost as cheerfully at Milly, and nodded curtly to Meryl.

Meryl frowned. Either Wolfwood still believed they were cousins, or he was just trying to annoy her. She chose the latter and figured he had obviously overheard her conversation with Milly.

Milly replied with another happy greeting as Meryl glared at the priest. He sat down at the table with a biscuit and a cup of tea.

Meryl eyed her food warily and observed Wolfwood, who seemed to be indifferent to the smoking of the biscuit and was eating rather noisily. Eyebrows furrowed, she took another sip of her tea before taking a small bite of the breakfast and swallowing it quickly.

The taste resembled something close to chalk. Maybe burnt chalk would be better, if even possible.

She set it down and frowned. Milly's idea of baking was scorching something until it was either burnt or highly toxic. So, instead of finishing the biscuit, she settled for sipping her tea and watching Milly and Wolfwood inhale the breakfast set before them.

As if noting Meryl's discomfort, Milly turned a questioning eye on her, "Sempai, I made a light breakfast because I had a feeling you wouldn't be very hungry this morning."

Meryl smiled slightly, "I'm fine, Milly. Just not awake enough to eat."

The excuse worked on her partner, but Wolfwood grinned toothily at her before excusing himself to get more food. Meryl stood up abruptly, not bothering to finish her tea. She felt as though she had to do something, she just wasn't sure what it was.

"Are you leaving so soon?" Milly asked.

Meryl nodded, "I have something to do…" her eyes drifted to the smoking priest, who stared back at her with an unreadable expression.

Sighing, she left the kitchen and headed back down the hallway to the spare room. Quickly pulling the nightshirt over her head and kicking the slippers off, she pulled on her clothes from last night and peered outside through the window.

It was still grey out, and drizzling slightly.

Frowning again, she quickly made the spare bed and left the room. No sounds came from the kitchen any longer, and that made Meryl wonder if she had ruined the happy morning mood. Shaking her head, she made her way to the door and pulled her boots on. Taking her cloak from the hook, she noticed a slightly ripped edge.

That had been where she had snagged it on the wall. Staring at it for a moment, she was about to swing it over her shoulders when an abrupt voice began to speak in front of her.

It was Wolfwood.

"I'll come with you, short stuff. No point in anyone getting' hurt if it could have been prevented." She noticed he already had his coat on, with the crosses of the church woven on the cuffs.

"Do what you want, Nicholas." She sighed and pulled her cloak over her shoulders, "But shouldn't you stay with Milly?"

He shook his head, "She agrees, Meryl. Anyways, she wants to help me find more information on the serum, since it seems you already have something to do."

Meryl wondered if that was supposed to be an accusation or just a statement, but she didn't decide which, for the next moment Nick flung the door open and she had to follow him outside.

The two wound their way through the narrow cobblestone streets, bumping into only few people, since they were a ways of the main road. Meryl walked with unease as they approached the street she had stabbed the vampire in. She stopped without knowing and stood there staring at the street, now lit with the light rain pattering happily on the stones. It looked anything but ominous.

"Come on, Meryl, I wanted to get a sample of the blood from the vampire to do a test, if it isn't all gone with the rain."

She blinked and started forward again, "I was just wondering why you decided to come along." She searched the street for any sign of blood, "It's a good idea."

Wolfwood grunted, and pulled what looked like a glass tube from his jacket and knelt down carefully by a small pool of blood.

Meryl—despite her profession—still cringed at the sight of blood. She could clearly see a handprint on the stones, printed in blood. She knelt slowly beside Wolfwood and reached her hand out before her, palm up.

"I'd have thought that the rain had washed it away by now." Several drops of rain fell onto her hand, followed quickly by several more.

Wolfwood nodded, "It rained hard last night after you showed up, but vampire's blood is strange stuff." He carefully scooped some of the blood into the tube and lifted it up to eye level, "Do you think that's enough?"

Meryl eyed it. It looked full enough and she nodded.

Wolfwood plugged the top with a cork before handing it to Meryl, "You do the test, you're more experienced at it than I am."

Meryl didn't take it, "I have other things to do. Get Milly to help you, she knows what she is doing."

Shrugging, Wolfwood placed it back inside his coat before standing up. Meryl followed suit. They stood there for a moment before the priest spoke up.

"I'll leave you here, you're experienced enough to handle a vampire in daylight." He turned to go as Meryl nodded in agreement, "I'll have the results to you by tomorrow evening. Maybe I'll stop by for a few minutes." He waved lazily before walking off.

Meryl waved back, even when she knew he couldn't see it. Slowly, almost hesitantly, she looked down the long stretch of narrow street. Then, shrugging to herself and scorning her cowardice, she continued silently down her path.

With nothing else to occupy her mind, she thought of the dream she had had. It was still fresh in her mind.

Many of the times she had had a nightmare, or particularly strange dream, it seemed to lead ultimately to horrific events occurring afterward. Maybe it was a bad omen or something strange like that.

Shaking her head at her paranoia, Meryl exited off the street and resumed thinking midst large crowds of people out for early shopping. She had found her way to a main road. Careful not to bump into anyone, never knowing what kind of people they were, she weaved through the mass.

Suddenly small pricking sensation on the back of her neck alerted her slightly, and she raised a hand to the spot, expecting a stray raindrop trickling down her neckline.

Instead, nothing was found, and she stopped in the crowd for a moment to rub her neck before taking her hand away.

Immediately, Meryl noticed the redness on her hand. Bringing her fingers up to inspect them, she noted it was blood. Maybe it had been a bug, and she had killed it. Wrinkling her nose slightly, she wiped the blood off on her dark cloak, a look of disgust on her face.

She continued through the crowd some ways before the small prickling sensation started up again, but it more like a light tickle.

Meryl stopped abruptly, almost tripping several people and was rewarded with a few nasty remarks. She ignored the rude words and waited for the tingling sensation to fade.

It did not.

Raising her hand once again to the back of her neck, she felt wetness. Slowly, carefully, she took her hand away from her neck and looked at it.

It was smeared with blood.

Her heart sped up slightly as she wiped it off again, and a strange sensation overwhelmed her. It felt as though a thousand small needles were pricking her, but it didn't hurt.

Meryl closed her eyes and continued walking, trying to ignore the feeling. She pulled her cloak up around her neck and walked blindly through the crowd, her heart beating loudly like a drum. And when the feeling did not fade, she opened her eyes again, and they locked on a tall, dark figure moving just up ahead of her.

Blinking in confusion, she noticed he looked strangely familiar. There was red fabric showing out the bottom and the boots the figure wore were black. They were the same ones that the vampire had worn last night.

Meryl watched unblinkingly as he moved off. Her feet started to walk unbidden, following the vampire through the street. She immediately struggled for control and ended up stopping abruptly.

Continuing to stare at the vampire's back, she quickly began to follow him again. The light rain pelting her sped up slightly as she sped through the crowd, turning to a heavy drizzle.

Meryl ignored the rain and the thought that she should probably head inside if the rain was going to start up again. No, she couldn't pass this off. This was too strange of an opportunity to give up.

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A/N: See my pathetic attempt at a cliffhanger!

I love all feedback, you know((hint hint, wink wink))

--Cayenne Pepper Powder