A/N: Ah, a long chapter with many happenings. Hope everyone enjoys.

A Changing

Meryl slowly stirred from her comfortable slumber, nuzzling her head into the soft pillow as she tried to fight off the wave of wakefulness overcoming her. Finally succumbing to consciousness, she opened her eyes lazily and looked at the windows covered by the heavy curtains. Her brows furrowed down in confusion as she noticed a large lump beside her, a soft snoring sound emitting from beneath the blankets. Reaching out with a hand she cautiously pulled back the covers and gasped as blond hair was revealed, her eyes widening as she suddenly remembered everything.

Meryl's face lit up with embarrassment as she pulled her hand back, the blush creeping across her cheeks as she slowly inched away from the male body. Quickly she threw a blanket over her nude body, frantically searching the room for her clothes as she tried her best to stay covered by the bed sheets. She needed to get out of here fast, before reality really set in.

Unfortunately for Vash, the sheet Meryl decided to use had been the one keeping him from rolling off the bed. With his support now taken from him he fell with a hard thud to the floor, a very rude awakening for the gunman as he groaned softly into the floor.

Meryl turned her head toward the strange noise, and saw that Vash had disappeared. Slowly, however, a few strands of the gravity defying hair style emerged above the bed, followed by a pair of aqua eyes. Seeing her staring at him the orbs suddenly turned mischievous as he slowly disappeared from view again, leaving the insurance girl with an ominous feeling. Now with only the golden spikes remaining in view, they started to creep slowly down the bed, a strange imitation of a shark stalking his prey.

And the desired effect of fear would have plagued Meryl, had she not known the sea creature was actually a harmless idiot fish. Reaching the foot of the bed, the spikes suddenly dipped below her sight as a lump grew under the covers. Meryl attempted to move out of the hunter's reach but was too slow, being caught by the foot and dragged under. A mischievous voice flitted from underneath the blankets.

"Why are you wearing this?" a voice questioned, which was followed by a giggle and the blanket flying out from the covers.

Millie and Wolfwood were sitting at the kitchen table when the couple came down late in the afternoon, Meryl dressed for a late day of work while Vash made several gallant attempts to help her with her skirt. After shooing his hand away for the fifth time she finally smacked him upside the head and grabbed herself a bite to eat. The two insurance girls left soon afterward, the big girl having to do the shopping for the household, and leaving their male companions to tend to themselves.

"So" Wolfwood finally spoke, seeing the relaxed expression on his friend's face. "Did you two have a fun night together?" The goofy grin on the blond's face was enough answer for the priest, slapping him on the back with a laugh. "About time you two got to it. Millie was worried she was going to have to shove you both in the shower to get anything done."

"Hey" Vash whined, rubbing the bruise now forming on his back. "I was getting to it...sometime."

Wolfwood snorted his disbelief and idly wondered when the girls would return, seeing the sun starting its downward journey to the horizon. Thus the remainder of the day found the bored males lounging around the house, Vash laying down on the couch while the priest sat in the single chair. Neither knew what to do while waiting for their insurance girls, their minds mostly occupied with hopes of interesting evenings for the both of them. Finally, after a few hours of sitting and several mental reels of erotic scenes later, Wolfwood stood to his feet.

"I gotta get some air" he said, stretching his stiff limbs and walking to the back door. The view of the setting sun from the porch was the perfect, and would give him a good view of the street leading to the house. He would be able to see his insurance girl arrive home.

Vash had been lying on the couch after Wolfwood's interruption of his fantasies for only a few minutes when he was suddenly distracted by his name being called.

"Vash" Wolfwood called from outside, the tone of his voice catching the blond's attention immediately. "I think you need to see this."

Vash walked out the back door and noticed Wolfwood standing a few yarz from the house, his back turned from the gunman and his face staring toward the ground. The blond slowly walked over to his friend, his brows creased downward and his mouth set in a firm line. When he came within sight of what Wolfwood had been looking at he stopped with a jerk, his eyes widening as a sudden chill ran up his spine. The two were looking at a long plot of disturbed dirt with grim faces, the priest kicking the dust with the tip of his boot. The sudden shifting of the sand revealed tattered clothes and a hint of decomposing flesh.

"Vash, I think we just found the missing insurance guy" Wolfwood whispered, covering the remains once more.

"Mr. Vash! Nicholas!" a voice suddenly yelled, turning the males' attentions to a figure running down the road. Millie was sprinting toward them, waving in her hand what appeared to be a newspaper and a terrified look on her face.

She reached them within a few seconds, breathing heavily and handing the paper over to Wolfwood with a sense of urgency neither male liked. The priest quickly parsed over the front cover, the setting sun at his back casting enough light to see the headline. His eyes widened as his mouth drew into a thin line, looking to the blond with a tense expression.

"What? What is it!" Vash asked frantically, taking the paper himself and looking at the news which had made the front cover.

The gunman's heart nearly stopped as he read the discovery of a young woman in the early morning, her body drained of blood and two punctures wounds on her neck. The paper dropped from his quivering hands as a single name passed through his mind, reaching his lips with barely concealed horror.

"Meryl..."

Vash suddenly broke into a sprint, racing toward the insurance building without hearing the yells of his friends behind him. He shouldn't have let her go alone, he should have gone by his instincts and told her to stay home today. He couldn't remember her taking her derringers, she wouldn't be able to defend herself well without the small pistols.

The regretful thoughts were still running through his mind as Vash came within view of the insurance building. He dodged between the few people on the street, making his way up the short flight of steps and into the open doorway. Then did he stop in his tracks, his wide aqua eyes looking over the strewn papers and overturned desk and chair. A small dark stain in the center of the floor caught his attention, as did the familiar scent of Meryl's blood, and his eyes bled red as a cry of rage threatened to break from his mouth.

Vash withheld his cry as he collapsed to his knees with the sun sinking behind him, silent tears running down his face as he looked at the empty office.

Meryl slowly came to consciousness, her head throbbing and her mind fuzzy. She idly wondered when she had fallen asleep in her chair when a sudden restrictive feeling came over her. She opened her eyes in confusion and gasped at the sight around her. Her memories came flooding back as she stared at a man sitting upon a table close beside her, watching her silently with a feral grin on his face. The man before her had come into the office, innocently asking for a piece of property, waiting until she had turned to the files to attack her. She had struggled against him only to be cuffed upside the head, which she still felt the dried blood upon the wound, and could remember nothing else.

Then did Meryl notice in what sort of room they were in and her eyes widened in surprise. The enclosure was small, no more than a few yarz square by her reckoning. The walls were made of metal and there were few pieces of furniture, one being the table upon which her kidnapper sat and a chair directly before her. Another was the elegant chair she found herself in, ropes tied tightly around her body and holding her upright against the high back.

Suddenly a door to her left opened and Meryl looked toward the entering figure in shock, her eyes widening as the first hint of fear crept into her mind. The male was wearing an entirely black ensemble, a dark sleeveless shirt snug around his muscled torso while a pair of black jeans hugged his lean waist to his feet. His shoes, though they appeared to be normal boots, made no noise on the hard floor as he walked into the room with an intimidating air. But what had truly caught her attention was the similarity to Vash, though there were some noticeable differences. Instead of the golden blonde hair, his was almost white and was much shorter. The curves of his face were sharper than the gunman's while the lines of his mouth held a hint of cruelty. The man's eyes were a cold blue and the smirk on his face was filled with dark humor, as if he would laugh at her death.

Meryl shivered as they slowly turned toward her, unblinkingly watching her as he stopped within eels of her chair.

"Knives" she whispered, trying not to let her voice shake. His smirk grew wider as his eyes widened slightly, his face giving a look of twisted enjoyment at her realization of who he was. Here was the monster who had been plaguing Vash's life for many decades, killing others for survival and heeding little of morals by what she had grasped of the gunman's story. What his plans for her would be, she could only guess.

"Hey, when do I get payed?" the man before her suddenly asked, though his voice was hesitant. He was obviously terrified of the blond's presence but greed made him unwilling to leave without his money. Meryl almost sighed in relief as the blond turned his attention to her kidnapper.

"Ah, yes" Knives spoke, his voice eerily calm as he looked the man over. "I believe we agreed I would give you your payment after the girl was caught." He slowly moved over to the kidnapper, a wicked grin on his face. "But I said nothing of money."

Meryl clenched her mouth shut to stop the scream building in her throat as Knives suddenly clamped his hands upon the shoulders of the kidnapper, his fangs growing as he turned to the insurance girl with a sadistic smile. Seeing he had her full attention he swivelled his head back to the man in his grasp and promptly sank his teeth into his neck, the kidnapper yelling once before he suddenly grew quiet. The small insurance girl watched in horror as a trail of blood flowed from the man's neck beneath Knives' mouth, creating a dark puddle beneath the two as her eyes refused to turn from the grotesque sight. Finally the blond pulled away from the stranger while Meryl focused her horrified orbs on the man's chest, rising and falling slowly until his breathing completely stopped.

With a dark chuckle Knives let the man fall lifelessly to the ground with a dull thud, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and turning his attention back to the small woman. She watched as he wiped the blood from his mouth, shivering as his teeth slowly pushed back into his mouth and he stepped away from the dead man at his feet.

"Do you see?" Knives asked her, dropping the handkerchief onto the table. He stood before her, towering over her quivering frame as she looked defiantly at his stance. "You are nothing more than food for my kind" he mocked, his maniacal smile widening. "Worthless insects." A soft chuckle rising to his lips as his eyes lit up with his words. "Nothing more than spiders."

Meryl didn't answer his remark, grinding her teeth together to keep from shouting at him and possibly getting herself killed. After a long moment of silence Knives began pacing around her seat, his cold eyes always watching her.

"What does Vash see in your kind, can you tell me this spider?" he questioned her. "Filthy creatures you are when he could be something better. I was foolish, believing he only needed my blood to become one of us" he spoke, now muttering almost incoherently to himself. "But apparently he must also be killed, and by the same vampire who's blood runs through his veins."

Meryl listened to his half coherent rambling, understanding enough to know she needed to warn Vash. But before she could even shift her body to examine the strength of the ropes Knives' eyes were on her form, and she didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"Now what should I do with you?" he asked, though obviously didn't expect an answer. "Should I make you into a vampire?" Knives bared his fangs in a mocking smile but he merely shook his head at the suggestion. "No, not yet at least. Maybe something closer to him."

Knives stopped in front of her, a humorless smile upon his face. Meryl struggled against the ropes that bound her, trying frantically to escape the monster before her; any distance from him would have been received with eagerness. He leaned his face over hers, his hands placed on the arms of her chair as his fangs lengthened within a breadth's width of her face. However, his smile suddenly slid off his face as he sniffed the air around her, a low growl coming from his throat. Knives inched his face closer to her body, traveling farther down until stopping at her abdomen.

What in the world is he doing! Meryl thought frantically. She squirmed in her chair, his close proximity violating her space and his sudden change of attitude causing her fear to rise.

"I smell Vash on you, spider" Knives growled softly, moving his face away from her. Dark humor lay in his eyes as he looked into her own, understanding dawning on his face as a slow chuckle emerged from his lips. "You're with his child. Family then."

Meryl's eyes widened at his words, the instinct to clutch her stomach blocked by the ropes which held her. Then she caught herself, for a moment merely staring incredulously at the insane man before her and believing him to be mocking her love for Vash. However, the smile reappeared on Knives' face and Meryl flinched in fear, losing her train of thought from his sudden amusement.

"And what do you spiders say about family?" he asked, standing straight. He ran a hardened fingernail down his palm, cutting the tender flesh. A single line of crimson ran down his pale flesh, dripping slowly to the floor. "Blood is thicker than water?"

Before Meryl could blink Knives had shoved his bleeding hand over her face while his other settled behind her head, cutting off her breathing and forcing her against his palm. For several minutes she held her breath until she had no choice but to open her mouth, gasping for the much needed air. When she did the blood came pouring into her mouth, sliding down her throat as she still struggled in the iron grip holding her. She choked on the cool, metallic liquid, her mind screaming its rage even as her mouth latched on for more.

Then Knives suddenly pulled away, leaving Meryl coughing as she still tasted his blood in her mouth. Her eyes widened as her skin began to tingle, causing her to shift in her seat as the feeling increased to an uncomfortable level. Her breathing grew shallow as she turned her horrified eyes toward Knives, his own watching her with interest as he held his no longer bleeding hand to himself. A stabbing sensation violently ripped through her body and she let out a sharp gasp, tears coming to her eyes while her body began to squirm in her seat. She arched her back away from the chair, her eyes wide with a increased shot of pain as a strangled cry was ripped from her throat. The bindings dug into her flesh as she strained against them, her vision blinded by red as she felt Knives' blood move through her body like fire. She could feel something inside her shift as her muscle spasms increased, her limbs twitching as her eyes stared sightlessly at the ceiling above her.

As quickly as the attack had come the feelings left, leaving Meryl winded and trembling in her chair. Her eyes shut as her body was nearly collapsing with exhaustion, the sudden light tapping of boots upon the floor telling of the blond's approach toward her. A single coherent thought managed to work its way through her confused mind; why could she now hear him?

"This could be interesting" she heard Knives say as she felt him place his hand on her stomach. She felt a light push from something inside her, reacting to the touch of another and straining against her stomach walls. "Tell my brother he has a healthy boy" he whispered in her ear, and Meryl thought she could sense a hint of pride in his voice. "Now, sleep" he spoke, and her body obeyed.

Vash sat on their couch in shock, the clock in the kitchen showing the time to be approaching midnight. He had tried for several hours to find Meryl by using his tracking skills but a sudden sandstorm had covered the trail, a trick he imagined Legato had a hand in. Using Wolfwood's sense of smell had proven pointless because of the crowded town, too many scents mingling with one another to catch on to a single trail. Now he had nothing to do but wait, wait until they probably found her body, drained of blood and reeking of Knives. Unbidden tears rose to his eyes at the thought of his little insurance girl killed by his own brother, making him wonder if he could truly kill his own flesh and blood for revenge.

"I doubt there will be any need for such violence, little brother."

Vash's head shot up at the voice in his head, his face hardening as he stood from the couch. He could sense his brother's aura not far from the house, Knives apparently wanting the blond to find him. Grabbing his discarded coat and gun from the doorway he headed out, knowing he would have to deal with his brother without the aid of his friends.

Vash followed the presence through the winding streets and among the dingy buildings, his steps careful but hurried as he thought of the possibility of a trap. Reaching about the center of town the trail suddenly disappeared, leaving him lost in the many buildings surrounding him as he turned his head in every direction. Then did he spot a form moving on the ground a few yarz from him, apparently waking from unconsciousness with some effort. A familiar groan shook him from his watching and he quickly hurried over to the figure, falling to his knees as he reached a trembling hand out to brush a finger along the person's cheek.

Meryl.

With a swift movement Vash brought her into his arms, her breathing and lack of wounds causing a few tears of joy to slide down his cheek. Then did the small insurance girl open her eyes and look at him, at first flinching from his face but relaxing quickly afterward. He didn't know why she jerked from him but the smile on her face washed away all of those thoughts, hugging her close to him as he managed to stop the tears. However, he could not stop the guilt which was now rising in his chest, knowing she was all right but still allowing her capture to happen.

"I'm sorry" Vash whispered, a quiver in his voice.

"For what?" Meryl replied, trying to sit up in his arms and falling limply back down. She groaned as her muscles screamed in protest at her small movement, a sharp pain in her stomach more pronounced than the others.

"For not being able to protect you" Vash whispered gently. "Now hold still."

Vash began checking her for any bite marks, and thought he couldn't find any wounds beside the head trauma there was blood around her mouth. His sigh of relief caught in his throat, as he noticed her teeth. They were larger and sharper than he remembered. Looking closer at her form, he saw that her skin was now a pale creme, and when she turned her eyes he could see the pupils were more slitted than humanely possible.

"Vash" Meryl whispered, then suddenly groaned and clutched her stomach.

Drawing Vash's attention to that area, his eyes grew wide as he watched the flesh ripple beneath her hand and clothes, almost as if it were alive. Seeing his shocked face, Meryl grabbed one of the arms holding her, forcing him to look at her.

"The baby" she gasped, as she felt a surge of nausea pass through her body.

Vash's eyes slitted in anger, realizing the implications of what Knives might have done to her. He snarled quietly as he held her against him tighter, his eyes a deep red as he looked down into her worried face.

"Whose baby?" he whispered, gently shaking her as her eyes tried to close.

"Yours" she whispered with a smile, before her eyes rolled back and her head fell limply on his shoulder.