"Dialogue"- speaking
Dialogue - thoughts
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Chapter 19
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Upon entering her living room, Meryl could honestly say that she wasn't surprised to see Wolfwood and Milly chatting quietly with Vash by the blazing fire. Briefly, she wondered what there whispered conference was about before she stepped over the threshold, interrupting their conversation.
Instantly, all eyes were on her as the conversation stopped.
Meryl only felt the slightest bit embarrassed about her outburst back at Milly's, and what little left there was she quickly squashed. She had made herself a promise after all.
Raising an eyebrow, the petite woman regarded the three with a questioning look and crossed her arms over her chest. "Care to tell me what all the whispering is about. In my house, in my living room, by my fire, no less?"
The three just stared at her with varied levels of disbelief. Less than an hour before hadn't this been the same Meryl who had crushed a poor teacup to mere crumbles before storming out of Milly's house in a rage, not caring if all of hell was going to end up snapping at her heals once she exited that door? Wasn't this the same Meryl who had been acting so stoic the past day you had to take a really good look at her, just to make sure she wasn't a ghost, or even worse, a walking, breathing zombie? Wasn't this the same Meryl—
"Hello? Are you all deaf or am I merely not speaking loud enough?" tapping her foot impatiently on the hardwood floor, Meryl surveyed the guilty party with narrowed eyes. "Care to fill me in on your secret, whispered conversation is all about?"
Milly was the first one to snap out of the general astonishment. Blinking slightly as if to clear her head, she opened her mouth to speak, but Wolfwood beat her to it.
"We thought you were asleep upstairs, so we didn't want to disturb you." He stated casually, still a bit sore about having to clean up Meryl's mess.
Nodding slightly, the small woman went to sit down in the last available chair. "That clears up the whispering part, priest. But that doesn't explain what you were talking about in the first place." She fixed her eyes upon Wolfwood and the two began a glared match.
Vash broke it up before it went to far, though. Clearing his throat almost nervously, he said, "We were just…talking about your…the K on the back of your neck. Nothing to get mad over, really!" he held up his hands in a gesture of peace as Meryl's stare fell upon him.
The small woman snorted. "So nice of you to include me." she stated humourlessly
"Now Sempai…" Milly's calm voice stated slowly.
"What?" Meryl replied snappishly, still somewhat peeved that she hadn't been included whatsoever in their little 'talk' about that bloody K on the back of her neck.
"Don't get angry at Mr. Vash or Nicholas. They didn't do anything to you."
"Like hell they didn't…"
"What was that, Sempai?"
"Nothing."
"You're letting your temper get the best of you, Sempai."
"I am not."
"Yes, Sempai. Calm down and we'll tell you all about it."
"Do that." Meryl all but snorted, a piqued look upon her face.
The two men exchanged a look of bewilderment as Milly and her self proclaimed "sempai" finished their small argument. Meryl seemed to have a slightly better hold on her anger than she had had the week before…or even her whole life.
"Now, Nicholas, why don't you start?" Milly began pleasantly. "You were just telling us about the Purebrood castle where Lord Knives lives."
Pursing her lips, Meryl cast an irritated glance at the half-blood on the sofa. "I thought you were talking about the K."
"We were." Milly stated happily.
Rolling her eyes, the small woman leaned back in her chair, a sceptic's look upon her face. "Then why are we suddenly on the topic of that psycho Knives and his bloody vampire castle??"
Wolfwood pulled a cigarette out from seemingly nowhere, and moments later a lighter appeared too. He lit of the cigarette, taking in a deep breath of the toxic smoke before shooting Meryl and irritated look.
"Because we were discussin' how to get rid of it, that's why, shorty!" he snapped, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Naturally, the only why to stop you from—decomposing, lets say—is to either get Knives to retrieve the mark's power or kick the bugger of the throne, or even better yet, kill the bloodsucker."
No one noticed Vash wince slightly at the priest's words.
"Nicholas, that's no way for a priest to be talking." Milly scolded sternly.
Wolfwood merely humphed good naturedly and stated with a small smile, "Yeah, well I'm a special kind of priest, honey."
Tapping her fingers in irritation against the hard wood of the chair's armrest, Meryl spoke stiffly. "I'd appreciate if you wouldn't speak of my condition like I'm rotting from the inside out, priest!"
"What, do you think one day you're just going to fall over dead, just like that?!" he asked loudly, puffing on his cigarette. "I think there's more to it that that, shorty! I think my idea is much more closer to the truth, anyhow. Once you start growing purple fungus, you'll know you're time is up!"
A vein in the side of Meryl's head began to throb painfully, and she flexed her fingers angrily before curling them—catlike—around the ends of the armrests.
"I don't know what you're so sore about, priest, but I'm sick of it. So you'd better spit it out before I really get mad, and then you better watch when you turn you're back!" she growled warningly to the tall man.
Wolfwood merely grinned. "Shorty, I'll tell you why I'm so mad! It's because I'm already sick of you moping around like it's the end of the world! So what, you've got a few extra vampires running around trying to suck you're blood, but you're used to that! You should be by now, anyway!" with one swift movement, he crushed the half-finished cigarette in the ashtray on the table beside his chair. "You've worked the better part of you're life helping people get rid of the bastards—no offence, needle noggin—and now all you can do is sit around moping, just because you've figured out you're gonna die! Yeah, well guess what? If all you're gonna do is sit around feeling sorry for yourself and not even make an effort to do something about it—like us, we're down here trying to figure out ways to help you and you were upstairs doing god knows what—you probably deserve what you get! You haven't proved yourself useful at all for a while, so maybe you are better off gone!!" His voice had raised to a shout, and when he was done, total silence enveloped the room.
Milly and Vash were staring nervously from one to the other, while the priest and vampire hunter remained glaring at each other like something fierce.
Slowly, however, Meryl's tight grip relaxed on the chair, and the armrests Milly had been briefly afraid her sempai was going to crush beneath her fingertips were released from the death hold.
Taking in a deep breath, Meryl closed her eyes, either sensibly contemplating the man's harsh words or getting ready to lunge with bloodlust clear in her eyes.
Vash waited tensely, his eyes now firmly locked on the petite woman as if he expected her to explode at any second.
Milly remained biting her lower lip, her hands clasped nervously before her as her eyes shifted from Wolfwood to Meryl.
And then, "You're right."
And the whole room gave an audible sigh.
A crooked grin spread across the priest's face, and he leaned back in his seat, clearly pleased with his success and near death experience. "See, short stuff? Wasn't so bad, was it?"
Meryl, however, wasn't that forgiving. "Be quiet Nick, and start talking about this brilliant idea of yours."
"I knew you'd see it my way."
And Vash and Milly were left to exchange puzzled glances, the happenings going on before them too unpredictable and strange for their likings. Though, of course, they had long since decided they were a strange group.
"So, the way I figure it, the only way to help you out, short stuff, is to do is go directly to the source." Wolfwood started abruptly, his voice holding a light note.
Vash shifted almost nervously in his chair. "The source?" he repeated slowly, his pallor seeming to increase tenfold.
Casting him an odd look, the priest nodded. "You should know, needle noggin. The source is either Knives himself or the castle where he lives. I'm leaning toward the castle at this point, after all, I haven't seen any head figures hanging around any vampires lately, so my guess is that the bugger's hidin' away in his castle."
A slight frown flickered over Milly's face. "Wasn't that what we were originally supposed to do…before we met Mr. Vash, of course. We were going to find the castle and get the serum."
"If it exists." Meryl shot in, looking slightly dubious.
"You never doubted it before, short stuff, why start now?" Nick sent her a peeved look. "Besides, that was what we were going to do, we were going to locate Purebrood, avoid all possible contact with the vamps and steal the serum before getting the hell outta there. You seemed pretty set on the idea."
The petite woman merely huffed. "That was a long time ago. Things can change from then and now, and it did."
Worrying her lower lip, Milly set her partner a cautious glance. "What are you saying, Sempai? Don't you think we should go to the castle?"
Meryl only averted her eyes and refused to answer the question. No one knew what she did. No one could know what she had seen. No one knew that she had seen him. They didn't have a clue as to what her dreams brought her, whose eyes constantly haunted her and whose voice whispered in every corner. No one knew she had seen him, seen Knives. Maybe, perhaps, except for Vash…
"Don't doubt it, short girl. It exists." The half-blood's voice broke through her thoughts, his voice low and serious. That was something she was becoming used to, the solemn graveness of everyone around her.
Her violet eyes snapped around quickly to meet his own. The aqua depths shone with something she didn't recognise, something she had only seen on certain bloodthirsty individuals. She gave him a piercing look, ignoring Milly and Wolfwood as they turned to stare at the half-blooded vampire. They had all but forgotten he was there. It was easy to do; he wasn't as loud as he had been when they first discovered him.
"What do you mean?" Meryl asked quietly, her vision attempting to break through the surface of his skin to see what he was really thinking. What was really going on in his mind?
"The serum, I said it exists." He repeated slowly, and suddenly, all the shadow that she had seen moments before was gone and in its place was a smiling man—a rather pale one—with eyes every bit human as they could get. "I mean, I've heard of it. I've been to the castle, you see, and they have it heavily guarded. And with all the rumours going around, one can only assume one thing."
Wolfwood jumped in, a lopsided grin on his face. "That it really is true and my faithful sources haven't cheated me out of all my money after all! It has to exist, and Knives, the bugger—has it guarded so well that no one can get near the doors!"
Meryl settled back down into her seat as the conversation took off in a whole different direction, Nicholas looking ecstatic about something that she wasn't paying attention to. Her mind was busy putting her through a guilt trip.
No one—at least no one human—knew what she knew.
We don't have to go to Purebrood to find the Lord of the castle. Meryl thought bitterly, He's managed to find us instead…
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The next two days were merely a blur to Vash. As far as he knew—and he knew quite a bit—the two women and the priest hadn't devised any sort of plan, which only seemed to dishearten Meryl once more. She had taken to being more bitter than usual, snapping at him at every chance she got. Of course, she wasn't much better with Milly or Wolfwood, either.
The truth was, though, was that Vash was becoming edgy.
Nothing was happening. What had happened to that determination he had seen in Meryl and Wolfwood those two days ago?
What had happened to their motivation?
To him, it seemed to have vanished along with the ideas of actually doing something about the short girl's condition. Well, Vash couldn't really say that, after all, the past two days they had all gathered in Meryl's living room to discuss a plan of action.
Too bad everyone's minds seemed to be blank…
Not only that, though, Vash was nervous about the fact that none of his daywalking friends had come to visit, or the nightcrawlers, for that matter.
That wasn't a bad thing, of course. It was actually a good sign. Well…it was a good sign to some, but not to Vash.
It made him anxious, the fact that nothing was happening.
Literally. He hadn't caught the slightest tinge of the presence of a vampire in the close proximity of the short girl's residence. And what's more, he hadn't seen anything. The only creatures lurking were alley cats.
What could they possibly be doing that was suddenly more important than trying to kill or otherwise maim his self-appointed charge—well, sort of charge? What could they possibly be planning? What were they going to do next?
Vash didn't know the answers to any of these questions, hence his current edginess. The daily meetings were going nowhere. He was tempted to suggest something of his own, but that would involve telling the whole truth: the truth about who he really was.
The half-blood wasn't prepared for that yet. He was just beginning to gain their trust again, and wouldn't throw it away now.
At the present time, Vash was sitting Meryl's living room, on "his" couch, which he had taken to taking long naps on. He only used the spare room at night, when he was too exhausted to stay on guard upon his couch.
It was dark in the room. It was chilly, a cool air that came at night when the hearth wasn't blazing merrily.
Vash was sitting ridged on the sofa, his eyes staring at some darkened shadow, not really seeing but registering in his mind that it was the far wall. He was gazing into space, although he wasn't thinking, oddly enough. In fact, his mind seemed completely void of any thoughts. There was only foreboding, a dark shadow closing in around his heart.
It hurt, but only vaguely.
And luckily, Vash had had enough experience with the feeling to know what exactly it was. He supposed there wasn't a fixed name, not many full fledged vampires felt it so it wasn't well known. The half bloods suffered the most.
He called it The Hunger. It was a sort of primal need that all his kind had. A sort of requirement, the equivalent of food to humans. While humans needed such things and food and drink to survive, vampires needed only one thing. Blood.
Something Vash currently lacked in large quantities. He had been starving himself, he hadn't tasted blood in over a month. It was becoming too long…
Such was the reason for the feeling, the dimness in his eyes, and the pallor of his face. They were the telltale signs that something was slowly taking over his rational thought. It was the dark half of Vash, the part he referred to as the Vampire. His human half was currently trying to subdue Vampire, but it wasn't having much success so far.
There was the reason for the sudden shaking of his hands, the abrupt trail of cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. It trailed down in small beads, stinging his eyes as his vision remained riveted on that one spot on the wall. That one spot that held his entire being, all of his concentration. Currently, that was the only thing that kept him with his saner human half.
A sudden noise from the kitchen registered in Vash's mind, and the a lamp lit up, sending golden light pouring through the entranceway to the living room. Meryl, he presumed, but tried to think no more of it. There were more noises, the banging of cupboard doors, the clacking of mugs and cups.
The half-blood fought for his control.
He felt it slipping.
The golden light was too prominent, like an itch at the edge of his vision. Something to be scratched.
Vash snapped, his dull aqua eyes shifting slowly from the shadows to the light. The cold sweat was all over his body now, a shudder running down his spine. He couldn't take it anymore. If only Meryl hadn't interrupted him, if only she had stayed upstairs in her bedroom, safe from him.
If only she had gone straight to sleep after he had bid her goodnight, after Milly and Wolfwood had left. If only she had been tired enough not to come back down…
There was a familiar whistling of a kettle, somewhere off in the depths of his mind as he fought for control.
If only, if only, if only! If only she hadn't decided she wanted a damned cup of tea!
Vash's worries were replaced with something different. They were traded with anger, hunger, his Vampire swapped for the Human, and now the only part of him that held any remote amount of control was buried deep beneath the dominating half.
Slowly, Vash lifted himself from the sofa, his cold sweat breaking and drying on his cold skin, his shaking hands wrapping into tight fists. Slowly, he made his way toward the light, toward the kitchen and Meryl. Meryl. Poor, poor Meryl, who nothing of what was going to happen next, who knew nothing of what was coming her way.
He could practically feel the pulse radiating from her. He could sense the blood in her veins, he could smell it, almost taste it and somewhere in the lost recesses of his mind, he knew it was wrong. Terribly wrong, but there was nothing to stop it.
And then, a simple, "Vash? What are you still doing up? Look, I know you're worried about vampires and stuff, but I just don't see anything happening in the next six hours, so try and at least get some sleep. You see a little pale as of late, maybe you should try and get some more rest." Meryl was standing in the doorway, her shadow causing a break in the golden light.
Vash stopped, his eyes lifting from the floor to meet hers. She stood there, a questioning look on her face, wondering why he was up, wondering just what exactly he was doing.
Shorty, you don't know the half of it the half-blood thought, not sure if it was his dying human side or his bloodthirsty vampire side thinking. And then he figured he really didn't care…because he was so hungry and the short woman just happened to have the nicest pulse he had ever sensed.
And still, Vash was screaming for himself to stop, but even as he didn't answer and advanced on Meryl, he knew it wouldn't happen. He wasn't able to control himself, not with so much fresh blood pounding through live veins just meters away…
"Are you okay? Vash?" the small woman asked uncertainly, foolish enough to step forward.
No, no, don't come any closer! Stay away! Vash's mind screamed, but no words came forth from his mouth. He wasn't able to warn her.
Meryl found out soon enough, though, about the time broomhead did a totally un-broomhead-like thing, something she had never seen him do and was quite sure he was ashamed to even mention.
He bared his fangs.
She had the unpleasant experience to actually see the things extend to three times their normal size and grow five times as pointy. That was the exact moment she understood what was happening.
My eyes had never deceived me…broomhead really was more pale than what's healthy Meryl thought to herself and narrowed her eyes, backing up slightly into the light of the kitchen.
Vash followed, his beautiful aqua eyes dull in the act of being a bloodthirsty monster. A snarl was on his lips, a low his was coming from his mouth.
Meryl was suddenly his with deja-vu from the time she had first met Vash back on the London streets some three weeks ago. How he had first tried to kill her, then tried to warn her, and how she had stabbed him. Had she ever apologized for that?
No, but the small woman pushed all her stray thoughts aside and concentrated on one thing and one thing only.
Vash, the vampire before her, currently looking menacing enough to count as a serious threat to her health.
She then came to a difficult decision and agreed on one thing.
Broomhead or no broomhead, he was a vampire and she was forced to treat this like any other situation involving bloodsuckers.
Eyes narrowing angrily, Meryl attempted to stare down the half-blood.
This was kill or be killed. Unfortunately, though, she had nothing to kill with, which put her at a serious disadvantage in their little game.
Pursing her lips, Meryl stated calmly, "You could have just told us you were weakening. Milly could have easily whipped up some sort of temporary antidote! But now look at what's happened, broomhead!"
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--Cayenne Pepper Powder