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Chapter 24
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Meryl stared up at the sky. She could see every single rain droplet on its way down to the ground, every single little one as it fell from the clouds to the ground. Her cloak was soaked, her hair plastered limply to her face. Small rivulets were running down her cheeks, tickling her skin as they rolled off her chin and nose. This, she decided, was the heaviest rain of spring. After this one storm, everything would slowly calm down and London spring would fade to London summer. And London summer would be rainy and wet, sometimes cold. But it would never be like this, it would never rain this much.
Slowly, Meryl lowered her eyes from the sky and faced Legato. She was mildly surprised he hadn't attacked her yet. He looked as though he was expecting something, so it wasn't really a big surprise when she noticed the many shadows closing in around them on the street. He had merely been waiting.
The petite woman turned to look at the many daywalkers that had gathered. They were everywhere, on every side filling every nook and cranny available to them. She hated it when this happened, when they gathered like some sort of obsessive cult worshiping some pagan god.
She hated it, the way they stared. She hated the way they looked, the way they smelled of death and reeked of a misled retribution.
They had no other purpose other than to kill and multiply.
She hated them because they were a disease on earth. A complete waste of space.
She hated them because they couldn't live without humans—that they would die without humans, just like a die-hard virus hanging on to the very fibres of its existence.
She hated it all, that no matter how she tried she would never make a difference. It was useless, a complete wasted cause. And she hated everything about it now.
But maybe that was why she did it.
"What do you want?" she asked finally, turning to face Legato again, only to find him standing more or less a foot away from her.
Quickly, she jumped back and glared at him.
A slight smile touched the vampire's lips. "My Master wants to meet you."
Meryl frowned. "Why?" she asked simply. And it was the truth. Why??
"He's fascinated by you're dedication towards what you do. He has some questions, and you have answers."
Meryl stepped back another few feet from the golden-eyed daywalker. "Right…well you tell your master I have no intention of meeting him, and if I ever happen to see him strolling about my streets he'll be dead before he can blink. Literally," she told him with a steely vengeance.
Again, Legato smiled that little smile that couldn't even be called a smile. "We all think you are very amusing, human, with you're little toy weapons and words that are meant to hurt us."
Again, the petite woman frowned. "How would you like a stake in the heart, bloodsucker? Would it be funny then, hmm?" she asked angrily, feeling her temper rising as the temperature around her dropped.
"Indeed it would, human, because you know it's impossible. You're hardly capable of something so…difficult." Legato replied, and then turned his head slightly as though he was listening for something.
Curling her free hand into a fist, Meryl pulled a stake quickly from her belt and in one quick movement hurtled it at Legato. Then, she pulled out two more of her small silver loaded derringers and pulled off four rapid shots, just in case her stake missed.
But to her dismay, none seemed to hit the vampire. In fact, as he stood listening to a sound that wasn't there, her stake and four bullets had simply frozen in mid air and now hung there, useless.
Right…psychic vampire… she thought to herself with dismay.
Sighing, she walked up to the stake, and staring at it curiously, watched as the rain fell and dribbled off the wood. Then, reaching up, she closed her fingers around the sleek wood and tried to pull it from the air, which not only sounded ridiculous, but must have looked equally as queer, she imagined.
But it didn't budge.
Suddenly, Legato seemed to snap out of his trance and turned to look at her. Abruptly, the stake came loose, and Meryl flew backwards, landing on the wet cobblestones with her backside on the receiving end. Four silver bullets clattered harmlessly to the ground around her, and as she hurriedly stood back up, she snatched one of the small things off the ground.
"He is here." Legato announced abruptly, and Meryl pulled herself the rest of the way off the street.
Examining the silver bullet for a moment, she frowned at it and dropped it again. Then, her eyes went to the surrounding crowds of vampires, every on off them staring at her like she was some sort of juicy morsel of tenderloin steak. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was 'here' but the thing was that Meryl didn't see this high and mighty Master Knives anywhere.
But apparently, her body did, and as the rain pounded almost painfully on her head, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She was quite sure it wasn't the cold, either. Then, directly in front of her, the mass of tightly bunched bloodsuckers parted abruptly, and Meryl got her second glimpse of Knives Saverem since that fated day on the street where his carriage had bobbled along the streets.
And she knew it was Knives even before she actually saw his tall, cloaked form. Stiffly, she watched as he made his way through the parted way and into the circle. The rain almost seemed to avoid hitting pelting him, but she was sure that wasn't true. Knives may be powerful, but he wasn't 'magical.'
Meryl stared boldly at him as he approached, and glared as he stopped a good ways away from her.
"What's the matter, old chap? Don't want to get too close?" she couldn't help but taunt, feeling a bit too bold even for her own likings. She had never been the one to do rash things, but she was doing just that now.
He didn't respond. Instead, he reached up with black-gloved hands to pull back his hood. And the face that was presented to her was so astonishing Meryl felt as if she had been punched in the gut.
He was identical. They were identical. There was no doubt in Meryl's mind that Vash wasn't Knives's brother, now, and it made her slightly angry to know he had kept something so big from her.
"So, nice to finally meet you, Knives," she greeted him almost pleasantly, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the pounding rain.
He didn't even cast a glance her way, merely nodded to Legato, who in his turn faced her with a deadpan face.
"Lord Knives wants to know what you're name is," he transferred his master's message to her.
Meryl let loose a harsh burst of laughter. "You mean you pig-assed idiots have been running all around London trying to corner me and you don't even know my bloody name!?" she exclaimed with a humourless smile. Then, she turned to Knives. "Yeah, well guess what, you bloodsucking virus, I'm not going to tell you unless you can find the guts to bloody well ask me yourself instead of using you're pathetic little henchmen to do it for you!!"
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The rain was coming down hard now, pelting the three as they raced through the streets of London. Vash was leading them, his boots splashing through puddles as he let his senses guide him.
"Mr Vash! Where are you going!" Milly yelled through the downpour, struggling to catch her breath. Beside her, Wolfwood seemed in much worse condition, and was huffing and puffing as if they had been running a full hour instead of several minutes.
Casting a quick look back at her, Vash replied shortly. "I'm finding Meryl!" he announced loudly.
Milly glanced at Wolfwood with a worried expression. Why did she have a horrible feeling that Meryl was in very big trouble.
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Meryl watched as Legato cast a sharp glance as his master before turning to her. "Lord Knives says I may take it by force if you do not give it freely. And it will hurt, human," he said, a ghost of a smile flittering across his face.
The small woman set her jaw tightly. "Is that so?" she mused idly, hardly loud enough to be heard over the rain. Then, quite suddenly, she began to march towards Knives, a determined look on her face. No one made a move to stop her, which both unnerved and satisfied her. Upon reaching the vampire, she reached out to prod him hard in the chest. "You want to know—" she was cut off abruptly as one gloved hand shot up and snatched her wrist.
"Do not touch me, spider," Knives spoke in an even, cool voice, nothing like Vash's.
Meryl had expected that, and she could hear Legato behind her, reaching out to remove her from his master's presence. Her free hand clutched the stake she had picked up from the ground earlier, and before the daywalker could even lay a finger upon her, the stake was buried deep in his hand, and Meryl was still facing Knives.
Behind her, Legato's face remained impassive, even when he raised his impaled hand to his face to inspect the damage done.
Meryl watched as an amused smile slipped over Knives's face, and he released her hand abruptly. She tilted her head to one side in a pleasant smile and addressed Knives.
"Tell you're friend not to lay a hand on me, lest he wishes for another stake in him."
Knives raised a delicate eyebrow at her, and then all at once the humour was gone from his face. "You humans are so simple. You cannot even answer a simple question without vulgarities. It disgusts me," he spat, and nodded to Legato over her shoulder.
Behind her, the golden-eyed vampire raised his impaled hand to the hunter's back, and all at once Meryl felt herself immobile, only able to breath and blink. Face expressionless, she watched as Knives circled around her like a predator. She was getting used to strange occurrences.
"There is no wonder your race is so insignificant, why it's only purpose is to feed my own." Knives continued. "You said that I was a virus when you humans are the ones destroying the world around you, killing off everything that gets in your way even if it had posed no threat to you. A human's mind is a fickle thing, one indecisive and ever changing, one that sparks with betrayal and greed, lust and power. You say you want to rid the world of evil when you are that very evil that strikes everything else down!"
Meryl struggled against Legato's powers as they held her in place, but she only ended exhausting herself without even lifting a finger.
Knives turned to the golden-eyed vampire. "I want her mind accessible to me," he demanded finally.
The petite woman watched as Knives returned to his place before her, rain pounding down upon him ruthlessly. Slowly, he reached out a hand and placed it on Meryl's forehead. A slow, languid smile spread across his pale face and she felt a sharp prick in the back of her mind. The feeling grew somewhat, and the pounding of the rain seemed to dissolve as the pain grew in her head. She could feel the 'K' engraved into her skin burn as if the Devil himself was breathing down her neck.
Finally, Knives's smile grew to a satisfied one. "Meryl Mary Stryfe," he announced after a moment, and the pain in her head grew to the point where she had to close her eyes to ward it off. "Born in Manchester to one Meredith and David Stryfe, moved to London when you were eighteen because it provided a better…hunting ground. Ah…so you got into the sport of vampire hunting when you were a child—seven, no doubt by your father, who later died by a means of a vampire attack when you were sixteen. Truly sad." His smile grew as he delved deeper into the depths of her mind. "Your mother, what happened to her? Oh, could it be that vampires also killed her? When you were six, in your home, after dinner while your father was in Bristol for business reasons, one Meredith Angelina Stryfe was brutally killed by…three vampires right before your eyes. How very tragic." Knives removed his hand and stepped back.
Meryl opened her eyes to watch him, the pain in her head receding somewhat. Vash's twin took a deep breath and let it out in a steady stream. Then, without warning, he wound back his hand and dealt her a powerful slap across the face. Her face whipped to one side with the sheer force of it while her body remained immobile.
"See, that wasn't so hard, human!" Knives said loudly as a ripple of laughter ran through the surrounding vampires. "It's just you who wanted to make it so damned complicated!"
Meryl's cheek stung with the slap, but she couldn't find the tears to cry for her pain. Slowly, Knives took her face and turned it towards him again. Then, smiling cruelly, he placed his gloved hand on her forehead once more, and a piercing pain bolted through her head like electricity.
"When did you meet my brother, I wonder?" he asked absently. "Not more than three weeks ago on the street on the way to Nicholas D Wolfwood's—now doesn't that sound familiar. Tell me, Meryl, how much do you really know about your dear priest? Yes, he seems to gather all your information, doesn't he? But did you know that I was once very good friends with Nicholas…oh yes…he was a very smart man. Until he developed a conscience."
Meryl was starting to feel dizzy with all the pain, and she felt her eyes drooping slightly, but still Knives continued.
"Now…who's this Milly Thompson? A good friend who helps you to hunt vampires…how nice. And she carries a big gun under her coat. I'll have to remember that for later. And yourself, aren't you prepared…fifty silver loaded derringers under your cape along with four stakes—two remaining…and what's this…a serum?"
Abruptly, Meryl felt his hand being taken away from her forehead, and her eyes snapped open just in time to see Knives pluck the serum from her belt and inspect it with a curious eye. Then, shrugging casually, he tossed it over his shoulder and it shattered on impact with the ground.
"I much prefer the real thing to a cheap serum, spider," he said dangerously.
Quite abruptly, Meryl felt herself released from Legato's hold, and she stumbled back slightly as Knives took a step towards her. Her cheek stung with more vehemence now, but the rain running down her face cooled it's burning.
Knives took another step towards her. "Do you know why I want to kill you, spider?" he asked her lowly, just loud enough so she could hear.
Slowly, Meryl shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
"Actually, I don't want to kill you…I want to turn you." Knives stated sadistically. "Wouldn't that be surprising? I want to turn you because I despise you, and having you live the life of a vampire after all the years you have spent trying to get rid of them would be quite ironic, don't you think? Just to be rid of your threat would be a great relief. In fact, I think I'll make you the first of many. Then I'll go after the others…like Milly."
As soon as her best friend's name left his mouth, Meryl lunged at him with a snarl on her face and one of her remaining two stakes in her hand. "Don't you dare say her name!" she yelled wrathfully throwing her arm towards his heart with all her strength.
Knives didn't move as she reached him, and just as she closed one hand around the front of his cloak for grip as the other sped to his heart, his own hand, his grip tight, stopped it.
Furiously, Meryl took a better grip on his cloak and began forcing the stake towards his heart. "Stupid bastard!" she ground out, glaring up at him as he smiled coldly down at her.
"Secondly, I would much like to see the look on my fool brother's face when he sees you lying on the ground with your life seeping out of you in tune with the beat of your dying heart. And when it stops, I will take a certain pleasure from knowing I have taken someone so close to him and turning them over to myself to do my every bidding! He'll be completely devastated, and what's left of his soul will slowly deteriorate until he realizes his mistakes and comes back to me." Knives chuckled coldly, holding the stake in place as the small woman's arm began to shake with the strain.
"You leave Vash alone!" Meryl spat angrily, a snarl on her lips. "Did you ever care to think there was a reason he decided to leave you and that there's a reason he's helping me??"
Knives wouldn't listen, however, and continued with an insane glint in his ice blue eyes. "How do you think he'll react when he knows that I'm the one who bit you, spider? What will he do?"
She forced the stake to move forward again, but Knives held it fast with little effort. "I think he'll come and kill you, that's what I think!" she gave him a grin of her own, one strangely vengeful. The clouds overhead clashed with a loud crack of thunder, making the ground beneath their feet shake.
Knives's eyes glinted as a bolt of lightning lit up the sky above him. "But wait, I haven't quite finished yet," his eyes narrowed now, and the smile left his face. "You are a terribly meddlesome spider, one that has to be exterminated before you come looking for things that don't belong to you and never will."
Her stormy grey eyes glared up at him. "You mean the serum," she managed to grind out, forcing the stake no more than a centimetre further to his heart.
"Oh yes, I mean the serum, if that's what you call it." Knives responded, and tired of the game, batted the stake roughly away from his heart with impeccable ease. It was thrown from Meryl's stiffened grip and clattered uselessly to the ground behind her.
Meryl's eyes widened as Knives took a firm grip on her collar, preventing her from escape.
"Do you really think Vash will kill me if I bite you?" he asked again, blue eyes cold and hard.
Meryl sneered at him, fully aware of what was to come. The 'K' burning hotly on the back of her neck told her so. "Oh yes, I think he will hunt you down and won't stop until you're lying in a heap with a stake through your heart. And I wish I could see it!"
The vampire smiled thinly, opening his mouth to run his tongue along the tips of his teeth. Upon touch, his fangs grew, and he smirked at her. "Well then, I'm curious to find out the truth."
Truthfully, Meryl didn't know exactly what to expect. More often than not, she found herself in situations like this one, but every time she had somehow managed to escape with her life and dignity, not to mention her blood. Someone was always there to either be a good friend or knight in shining armour. She could tell that wouldn't happen this time, as by the time she felt his fangs pierce the first layer of skin on her neck, it was too late for heroics and all she could do was wait. Wait for her death.
She never knew death could hurt so much.
Her first instinct was to struggle and scream, but as Knives leaned over her, tightening his grip, she found it did nothing to help her, and no sound was uttered from her open mouth. Then, her second instinct was to try and hurt Knives as much as possible as he bit her, but she found her hands weren't cooperating with her coordination. Such the reason why she couldn't seem to grasp her last stake properly and it ended up on the ground with the rest of them as Knives pulled her roughly towards him and sunk his fangs deeper into her neck.
Then, Meryl felt the true pain. She could feel her blood seeping into her cloak and running down the side of her neck. Then all she could do was recite her father's words to herself. She would have prayed, but she knew no prayers. Her line of work didn't devote itself strongly in the belief of religion, only that evil did exist and silver crosses did nothing to ward it away.
It takes precisely twenty minutes of nonstop drinking to drain the whole body of its blood, give or take a few. Such is the reason vampires leave their victims alive to bleed themselves dead… she recalled her father saying once. Moreover, since she was sure it had only been about a half minute she had not immediate worries about drying up.
But the pain! It was horrible, like someone was methodically sinking two thick pins into the side of her neck, just between her collarbone and jaw and penetrating her skin deeper every time. Meryl closed her eyes and tried to block everything out, but suddenly found that everything was gone.
The pain was gone.
There was no more cold rain.
Knives's fangs were no longer sinking deeper into her flesh
Instead, she found herself lying rather haphazardly on the ground, and despite the presence and sound of the rain, it did not hit her. And she could hear someone speaking to her, and she could hear screaming and yelling. She could feel the chaos around her, but she didn't care. Someone was calling her name…
Slowly, Meryl opened her eyes, and noticed that someone tall was crouching over her, shielding her from the storm. Blinking slightly, she noticed the blonde hair, and twin pools of aqua green staring down at her and filling with tears.
She could feel fingers run along her cheek, and she blinked again to clear her vision, thinking that this person was indeed very familiar. Very familiar…
And she could hear him calling her name. She liked to think her name sounded very nice coming from his lips, and she recalled she hadn't heard him say it much. But she wanted to, that she knew.
I feel very sick and…tired she thought to herself, but tried to clear her head enough to see the man's face clearly.
She blinked again, and felt several warm drops of rain drop on her cheek. Almost irritably, she reached up a hand to wipe them away, but it was caught in another, and her eyes turned up to the man above her.
He was crying, she noticed. She decided she didn't like him crying, so she pulled her hand from his and reached up to him, trying to smile. It hurt, but she did it, and she managed to brush a stray tear from his cheek. But to her dismay, she left a trail of red where her hand brushed his face.
Her eyes drifted shut.
"I'm sorry, Vash," the sound of her own voice lulled her into darkness.
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--Cayenne Pepper Powder