A.N. - Liek, OMG! I can't believe that it's been so long since I've updated! Now I feel bad. : ( I'm all like, "wow! I started this 3 years ago! DAMN! I shouldn't take so long to update lol!" Okay, so anyway, I hope that this is enough to break the hiatus. It isn't the longest chapter ever, but I know that you all will be ecstatic that I actually updated so…here ya go! Heh, I'm up really late tonight doing this too! I'm so excited that I finally got this up!
I would also like to give a BIG thank you to everyone who's stuck by me this far! I wouldn't be anywhere without you guys! Now that I've got my mojo back, let's see if I still have what it takes to write a good fanfic! MUCH LOVE TO ALL OF YOU!
"Caspian." Vejita hissed as he rose up from the ground and glared at the man in the doorway.
"So we meet again, old friend. I can see you've been doing well. Still haven't found that treasure yet, have you?"
On deck, Vejita could hear his men battling the rival pirates. A night invasion was always Caspian's style. It was sure to be bloody and horrifying; he took no prisoners and never gave mercy.
"What is the meaning of this invasion! Aren't you supposed to be on the end of a noose in London?"
"Well, I was. But, it would seem fate desired otherwise."
Bulma stood up from the ground and scurried behind Vejita. For some reason, this creep chilled her to the bone. His very presence made her believe she'd fair better in the storm than aboard a ship with him.
"Vejita…who is he?" she whispered.
"Oh, I've been quite rude. Allow me to introduce myself, madam. I am Sir Caspian deCaste. Better known as The Devil amongst superstitious seafarers."
"The Devil?" Bulma asked questioningly, clinging closer to Vejita all the while. Whoever he was, he did not sound like a friend of Vejita.
Vejita knew that he was in trouble. Caspian had him outnumbered and there was no way around it. Caspian always used force to achieve his means, and it was obvious here what he wanted from Vejita. Chances were he was going to get it, but Vejita wasn't giving up without a fight.
"You can stop the polite act, Caspian. We both know what you're here for." Vejita took a few steps backward toward his wall and pulled his sword from it, immediately unsheathing it and holding it at arm's length.
"Now, now Vejita. No need to get hasty. You've got it all wrong. I'm actually here to retrieve a certain heiress you kidnapped a while ago." Caspian turned his crimson gaze toward Bulma. "You're father hired me to bring you back. He's quite desperate to see you again, my dear."
"My father would never fraternize with the likes of you, you heathen!" Bulma spat from behind her shield.
"Is that any way to talk to your rescuer?" Caspian took fearless steps toward Vejita's outstretched sword. Vejita pulled it back into a fighting position, but was not going to make a move until he figured out what exactly Caspian was going to do.
"It's not like you to play the hero, Caspian. I know that you figured it out."
"I don't have any idea what you're going on about, Vejita. Honestly, what's gotten into you? Perhaps all of this Holy Grail hunting you've been doing that has finally thrown you off of the deep end."
"I'll show you the deep end." Vejita reared his sword backward, ready to strike, but in the split second it took for him to raise his sword, a blur of black flew from the shadows and pinned him to the floor, his sword flying from his grasp.
"Very good, Cerberus."
Bulma gasped as she finally caught sight of the gigantic cat that was pinning him to the ground. His razor-sharp fangs only hung inches from his face and his piercing yellow eyes penetrated Vejita's skull. Vejita wrapped his hands around the forelegs of the cat and attempted to pull them off of him, but the enraged cat only lifted a paw and swiped it across Vejita's face, tearing four scars into his flesh.
"Vejita!" Bulma tried to run to him, but Caspian stepped in her path.
"Time to go, Your highness."
"No! I'll never go with you! Leave me alone!" Bulma dodged to the side and ran her abdomen into Vejita's desk. It knocked the breath out of her, but when she looked down, she remembered that Vejita kept a pistol in the drawer. Quickly reaching inside, she groped for the firearm.
"Heh. It would be easier to surrender yourself, woman. A game of cat and mouse would not end well for you."
Her fingertips found the cold metal, and she snatched it from the drawer, holding it in front of her.
"Not when the mouse has a gun!"
"You really expect me to believe that you know how to shoot that thing?"
Bulma pulled the hammer of the gun back and put her finger on the trigger.
"Never underestimate the knowledge of a woman."
Caspian's mouth turned into an amused smirk.
"Go ahead then, shoot me. I'll just tell Cerberus to feed on your pirate."
Bulma's eyes darted to Vejita, who still laid trapped beneath the weight of the fiendish panther. His eyes reflected no fear at all, but Bulma knew that Caspian had them both trapped. From the sound of it, none of Vejita's men were able to come to their aid either.
"Shoot him, Bulma! Do it! Forget about me! You have to kill him! Ahhh!" Cerberus had sunk his mouth into Vejita's shoulder, making him loose his grip on the cat's right foreleg. It listened morbidly to his painful screams as it sunk its teeth even deeper into him.
"Heh. Fool. You never were a match for me. Did you really think that I wouldn't figure the riddle out? It was only a matter of time before I caught up with you. Yes, I do plan on giving her back to her parents, but only after I harness the power of the orbs."
"No! You….ahhhh!"
"Leave him alone!" Bulma shouted, unable to listen to his cries of anguish any longer. "Just stop it! Call him off!"
"Then set the gun down and come with me."
Tears filled Bulma's eyes as she chewed on her bottom lip. She couldn't just go with him. Refined, though he seemed, she did not like the look in his eyes when he looked at her, nor the way he was so calm about everything that was happening. It was like carnage was an everyday occurrence for him.
Slowly she lowered her gun.
"Bulma! Don't!" Cerberus had let up off of his shoulder, but licking the blood off of his lips told that he was not finished tasting the young pirate. Blood gushed from his shoulder, and waves of lightheadedness hit Vejita, but he would be damned before he saw her give in to his enemy.
"She will, otherwise the next body part Cerberus bites into will be your throat."
The gun fell from Bulma's hand and she raised her arms.
"Please, let him go! Don't hurt him anymore! I'll go, but leave Vejita be!" Tears fell from her eyes as she begged for his life. Vejita watched in shock as she did so. No one had ever cared this much for him before. No one had ever offered up their freedom for his life. It was amazing…stupid, but amazing. Why would she do this for him?
Caspian walked up behind her and put his hand on her neck.
"I knew you'd come around."
His foot kicked the gun far underneath the bed at the corner of the room. His hands then went around her wrists, locking them together with one hand. He walked the broken woman toward the door, but not before picking up Vejita's sword.
"Now, you'll be a good little pirate and stay put, won't you? No following…" He rammed the sword into Vejita's bite wound, making him howl in agony.
"That's what I thought. Cerberus, come."
Vejita bit back another scream as he watched Caspian lead Bulma away.
"Dammit…" he muttered, slowly rising after they left and pulled the sword from his wound. He hissed at the sting. He clenched his hand around the wound, trying to stop the blood, and stood up. Stumbling to the door, Vejita attempted to follow after them.
"Bu…Bulma!" he cried out, not knowing why he called her name. Once he reached the deck, his eyes widened. There were no words to describe the carnage that was there.
"Captain!" Vejita heard the deep voice, but it was garbled and unintelligible. He was thankful that at least one man lived. Vejita fell to one knee, gazing off into the distance, trying to find the departing ship, but they had become mired in a thick fog.
"Where…where are they?" he muttered, straining to see.
"Captain!"
"Who is alive?"
"Not many, sir. There were only a handful that were able to hold their own against the marauders."
"Where is…Nappa?"
"This is he, sir."
"Nappa. Throw the dead overboard, and any man who is strong enough to walk, tell him to be on his feet. We are going after Caspian as soon as we can…"
"'Tis a fool's errand, captain! There aren't enough men to run the ship! Besides that, how would we fight Caspian? We're nothin' 'gainst him now!"
"Do it! Your captain orders you to!" Vejita's vision started to fade and the sound of Nappa's voice became garbled. It sounded as if he was speaking to him underwater.
"Sir, we need to get you fixed up first. Sir? Sir?"
A sudden darkness fell over Vejita, and he welcomed it.
The sea was eerily calm now. The wind was barely felt and the waves hardly splashed onto the ship. It was a dead calm, a foreboding calm. It was anything but calm.
The man in front of her, Caspian, watched as she choked back tears and feigned the strength she once proudly boar.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Stubbornness was a good way to hide your emotions. She turned away from him and gave him the cold shoulder.
"I'm sure Vejita's spoken about it once or twice before. Surely you are not that sheltered."
Her only response was silence.
"Come now, let's be mature. We don't want any feelings to get hurt now, do we?"
Still she was quiet.
Caspian approached her from behind and put his gloved hands upon her shoulders.
"I know that these past few months with Vejita have been rough, but it will all be over soon. If you can just…."
Bulma's open palm met firmly with the middle of Caspian's cheek.
"Don't you dare speak to me about Vejita, you bastard! I want nothing to do with you and the sooner I get home, the better! I don't care about you or your stupid little fairytale jewels. You can forget having my help finding them!"
"Now, now. What would your mother think if she saw you acting like this?" Caspian was using a voice that made shivers run up and down Bulma's spine.
She was scared beyond all reason. She hoped that this was a nightmare that she would soon wake up from.
"Just because we've been at sea for nearly a year gives us no right to excuse our manners."
"What would you know about good manners? You're a pirate!"
"Pirate, I may be, but I am certainly not uncouth. I try to retain the refined and mysterious side of piracy. Just to keep it alive, you know."
"Yeah, I can tell you're that and then some."
Caspian's room was quite elegant, more so than it should have been. It made her wonder, if he lived this lavishly, why was he a pirate?
"My dear lady, please do not mistake my gentleness as a sign of unconditional patience. Time is of the essence."
"Then why don't you just go and find it then! I'm certainly not stopping you! I have no idea what the bloody hell you're all talking about! I've never heard of a Sapphirine Orb in my life! Maybe you all should just stick to burying your treasure and getting drunk!"
Caspian swiftly grabbed her by both of her wrists and pinned her to his bed. He knocked the breath out of Bulma, and she was left gasping for air.
"You! Get off me!" she struggled, but then Caspian hooked both of her wrists into one hand, and grabbed her face with the other hand.
"Do not make the mistake of thinking that I will not kill you, woman. I would do so in a moment's notice and without hesitation. You are not so valuable to my mission that I would not hurt you. In fact, it would benefit me. I could bring your dead body to England and tell them that Vejita murdered you. I would then catch him, bring him to England, and seen him hung. Now, is that what you want?"
The look in his eye was feral and unforgiving. He was not lying. It was better to co-operate with the murder than be responsible for innocent deaths he would cause.
"I…I do remember the poem. Vejita wouldn't stop looking at it." Tears bled from her eyes, but she bit back the feeling of vulnerability and helplessness.
"See? That wasn't so hard."
Caspian got off of her and dusted off his clothing, as if it had just come in contact with some horrible filth.
"Yes, the poem. De Barlow's poem."
De Barlow? Why did that name sound familiar?
Caspian looked toward Bulma, his eyes piercing her. It was then that she noticed his eyes were two different colors. One was a deep shade of purple and the other was the crimson color of blood. It was as if his very eyes knew that they resided in a supernatural thing.
An grin graced the Devil's features, but the grin was laced with evil and betrayal.
"Beelzebub…" Buruma whispered. "Please, God, no…"
Dun dun dun! Moment of truth! Whaddya think! Let me know if I've still got what it takes to get this baby going again! Thank you all for helping my dream come true!
gRiFfYn
