Chapter 52 - Royalty and Blood
Continued

"I'd rather not have to fight a woman, Mrs Harker," Zenith sighed, casting away the part of the cane which acted as a sheath.
"Don't let that stop you," she answered coldly. Her voice was quiet and sounded almost reptilian. "But I will give you a chance." Mina took out her two knives from their places behind her back. They had been concealed by her long coat.
"How very thoughtful, Madame," Zenith replied casually.

Zenith raised his sword, preparing to battle to what he expected would be to the death. Mina snarled and dived towards him. With what was evidently an expert hand, Zenith was able to deflect the first few slashes that Mina sent towards him. Left, right, left - it came to him easily. The blade he carried was relatively thin and it would have been possible to use the blade in one hand, had Mina not been quite so strong.

Mina tried to slash at his face, but Zenith was barely able to lean back enough to avoid the swipe. He used his sword to slash down her arm, buying him a second or two to back up for a hasty break. Blood dripped for only a second or two before the wound sealed itself. Zenith could see the injury crumbling away like dirt. Mina was unfazed.
"You should have chosen something iron," she jibed.

"Can I trouble you to ask for you to try to avoid my face in the future? I don't have a lot going for me but I quite like my head the way it is. I don't fancy having any scars, thank you."
"You don't need to worry about scars," Mina hissed. Zenith realised his head wasn't the target, it was what was a few inches below it.

A faint smile trickled onto his lips. He could feel the adrenaline in his veins, he seemed to notice every little thing that happened. This was the feeling Zenith lived for! This was why he was not afraid, he was much too busy being excited. He could see Mina's breath turning to steam in the air, he could feel the ground beneath his feet and his mind felt as though it had been released from a cage.

"How can you bear to stand there when you know what Robur has done?" Mina growled, silently circling Zenith.
Zenith kept turning on the spot, holding his sword. He spun the blade around in his hand. "The same way you can stand there defending Nemo after all he has done. But, I assure you, Madame, I am not here just for Robur."

Another wave of slashes came his way. Zenith stayed steady, defecting the horizontal slashes with his sword. He managed to keep up with the rapid pace of Mina's fighting. He was beginning to tire but for now, he could last. It was not the pace of the fight which was causing Zenith difficulty. Mina was holding nothing back- that much was obvious.

Zenith saw his opportunity when a swing came at him close to his head. He used his sheer strength to hit the knife as near to the handle as he could. He ended up catching and badly cutting Mina's hand. It happened so quickly that Mina dropped the knife. Zenith drove her backwards quickly, making sure she couldn't pick the weapon back up. They were beginning to get further and further away from Lupin and Skinner, who were rolling about the floor like dogs.

But a slightly longer glance in Lupin's direction told the albino that his teammate was holding up well. Zenith snapped back to attention but it was too late. Mina's hand healed faster than he expected and, using her remaining knife, slashed at him. Zenith brought his sword up but the blade slid off and hit him hard in the shoulder. At least it wasn't his sword arm, but it would slow him down.

Mina waited as Zenith held himself in pain, which enabled him to spare a glance to his arm. His shoulder throbbed and the coldness of the air made the wound sting all the more. The albino struggled not to curse out loud at the pain. He could feel the warmth of his blood dripping down his arm. It had already trickled down to his elbow. A new wave of adrenaline was able to block out most of the pain for the time being at least.

"Then why are you here if not for Robur?" she demanded, standing up straight and filling Zenith with frightful awe.
Zenith knew that the longer Mina drew out the fight, the more he would bleed and the weaker he would grow. He needed to speed this up.
"Why are you here?!" the vampire hissed, impatient for an answer.
Zenith tensed his jaw angrily. As if she didn't know why the Mysterious Men were after them!

"I'm here to get some form of justice for the boy. The child your League shot and tried to kill. That is why I am here!" Zenith stood up straight, trying to ignore the burning pain in his arm. Speaking of Armand gave him a new source of motivation to keep going. He was ready to fight again.
"We did nothing of the sort!" Mina snarled, her voice sounding more leathery and sinister than before. She sounded genuinely enraged at the accusation.

Zenith tried to go in for an attack, knowing he was running out of time. He sprang forward with a light-footed step, succeeding in hitting her shoulder hard before she could fully deflect the strike. It made no difference to the vampire, however. She simply healed. None of his attacks would help him. There were two ways to kill a vampire, decapitation and a stake to the heart. His sword simply would not manage the first way, nor did he fancy the sight of it. That left the second way. He had to change his tactics. He needed to get in close, that was his only chance. He just had to get close- but how?

Zenith had an idea. A foolish, dangerous, and utterly suicidal idea- but it was an idea all the same. Mina was sure to fall for it, the urge for blood would overpower her and then he would be able to attack- whether he survived or not was another thing altogether. But being killed by a vampire was a tolerable death for him at least, something to brag about in the next life perhaps.

With a growl of annoyance, Mina jumped over the top of him, aiming to ram the blade into his back. Zenith managed to have the sense to drop down onto one knee, he felt the blade whip over his head, but he was unscathed. His shoulder was deeply beginning to pain him now. Even with his tremendous skill in sword fighting, his attacks amounted up to nothing. Had she been a normal person, he would have technically won the fight by now.

He had to take the risk. First of all, he had to get her preferably unarmed. She had to be willing to bite him. That way she would be close enough to him.

Zenith spun around, still on his knee to avoid a second swing. The knife came flying down towards him. He had to place his hand flat on the blade to deflect the knife. He was stuck on one knee, which did not give him an advantage. Never had Zenith faced an opponent with such a lithe and water-like fighting style before.

He pushed the sword towards her and then swung the weapon, which made Mina get away a little. Taking the opportunity, he jumped to his feet, jabbing at Mina's arm as he did, hoping she would let go of her remaining knife. Mina wasn't willing to make the same mistake again and she was much too fast for him this time. She stepped to the side and slashed at the albino's forearm as he lunged forward.

Crying out at the pain which ricocheted all the way up to his good shoulder, Zenith ended up almost dropping his sword. Mina used his moment of weakness to her advantage. She threw her knife aside and dived towards him. She reached for the sword, succeeding in snatching it out of his now bloodied, slippery hand. Knowing he was unarmed, Zenith grabbed at the stake in his pocket. The force that Mina was able to employ in forcing him down to the ground was impossible to tackle. He hit the ground hard, which further pained his shoulder. The wooden weapon fell out of his hands, ever so slightly out of reach.

As Mina threw the sword away, as if in disgust, Zenith kept his cool, trying desperately to reach for the stake. His fingertips were touching it, but he could not grab at it. He gritted his teeth, reaching, trying to use his hips to lift Mina up slightly so he could reach it. She wouldn't budge. His arms pained him terribly. He managed to move his body ever so slightly. One finger became two, two became three. He had it!

Mina roughly turned his head, pinning it to expose the pounding artery in his neck. Knowing time was running out, Zenith brought his hand up, driving the weapon towards her heart as hard as he could. Mina saw the attack and leaned back sharply. She grabbed his arm and wrestled him for the weapon.

With his arms feeling so weak, Mina was able to turn it against him, using the force to try to drag it down towards his chest. Zenith struggled to keep the stake away from him. He forced every nerve and sinew to fight her. All his eyes could focus on was the point of the weapon which was inches away from his body. To be killed by the one thing that was meant to save him? Oh, fate was cruel!

Zenith heard Lupin shouting his name, but he paid it no attention, he was focusing so hard on surviving that he had almost forgotten to breathe. He strained every muscle in his body, but he was losing his grip on the weapon. His hands were too wet with blood to keep a firm grip on the wood and his arms were in agony. He could feel the stake getting closer and closer. He was going to have to give up. This fight wasn't for him to win.

Everything happened so quickly he could not fully acknowledge it. He felt the weapon being ripped away from him. The weight pinning him down disappeared. Zenith dropped his arms down onto the floor, exhausted. For a moment he lay there in shock, not sure if he was dead or not. Another wave of pain sent him into a sickly dizzy spell. He wanted to curl up and sleep.

"Zenith, up! Hurry now, you can rest later. On your feet!" Lupin exclaimed, dragging the albino up from the floor. His arms felt like lead, and his head felt full of cotton wool. He wasn't able to help Lupin that much in standing up; Lupin did most of the work for him. He knew he had to get up, but he desperately needed a few moments to rest.

Mina, by instinct, had pinned Skinner down, thinking him an enemy. Lupin looked ready to jump in to help.
"Mina, stop! It's me! It's been a trick. It's all been a trick. We're fighting the wrong people. You can't kill Zenith. Nemo's in trouble," Skinner explained hastily. Zenith looked at the invisible man and realised he had dived at Mina, thus saving his life. The invisible man was either mad or incredibly brave.

Lupin was ready to take action, should Mina be unable to fight herself, but she seemed to be gradually calming.
"It's me," Skinner repeated, forcing himself to stay calm.
It took a while for Mina to regain her composure- her control, but finally, that blood-red glow faded from her eyes. She stood up, leaving Skinner to scramble on his feet.

"I'm sorry, Rodney," Mina said quietly.
"It's fine, Mina. We're all fine. It's not Zenith you need to fight - it's Fantôtmas."
"We don't have the time to explain everything yet," Lupin interrupted, seeing Mina had regained control of her inner demon. "All you need to know if Fantômas is going to try to kill Nemo and Robur. We must stop him. Where is he?"

A roar gained their attention. "I think you need to worry more about your friend at the moment," Mina said, knowing fine well that Hyde was on a rampage behind the lighthouse. There was a very small woodland area, placed there to help keep the cliff dry and the ground sturdy no doubt. Nyctalope and Hyde were fighting there.
"Nyctalope won't stand a chance!" Zenith exclaimed.

Mina looked for her knives and put them back in the sheaths. "I'll have to talk Hyde into stopping but it will not be easy. You three ought to stay near to me. I don't know how he will react."
"Safety in numbers," Lupin muttered.
"I thought Hyde was on your side?" Zenith said, his voice strained.
"Well, he is, but we've never had to tell him 'no' before and I have a feeling he was rather looking forward to this fight," Skinner remarked.

"Can you hold on well enough?" Lupin asked, noting the condition of Zenith's arms.
"Those are deep cuts," Mina added quietly.
"I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?" he answered, retrieving his own sword and its sheath.
"You get killed?" Skinner suggested.

Zenith smirked to mask his pain and answered in genuine honestly "Exactly, that's barely something to worry about. Now come on!"