A/N: Another update in a three-day long writing spree.
Success At Last
Everyone was silent as the car traveled along the dusty and deserted main road of the town, each looking to the side for some signs of life. However, their hopes proved to be pointless as nothing stirred around them, bringing their memories back to the shop and its pile of customers. After a half ile or so into the town, Vash directed Wolfwood to turn left, bringing them onto a little used road little wider than an ally. The insurance girls watched with curiosity as the blond further pointed the way, leading them through more winding streets and dead buildings.
Finally Vash commanded Wolfwood to stop before an inconspicuous, small house surrounded by a mud-dried wall. No sign of life showed around the area, but the group was wary as they all piled out of the car, looking about them with suspicion and expecting anything to happen. Meryl clasped the bundle tightly in her arms as her eyes shifted to the few shadows about them, the sleeping child within the blankets undisturbed by their troubles.
Much to their relief nothing came out of the shadows or deserted houses, leading Vash to calmly walk into the enclosure and up the few steps to the door of the home. He lifted his arm and, with some little hesitation and a deep breath, knocked loudly upon the portal. For a moment nothing happened, everyone shifting nervously and looking to the blond for answers.
Then to everyone's surprise, and Vash's relief, the door slowly crept open, the rusted hinges adding to the eerie effect. Seeing no one on the other side, the gunman led the walk cautiously into the darkened home, the others following closely behind.
As they looked around the home's entrance all gasped in amazement. The walls, table and floor were covered in thousands of papers, a rare commodity with the lack of wood on the planet. Also abound were test tubes and beakers in abundant groups, some filled but most bearing the contents of earlier experimentation. The house reeked of strange smells and a faint haze drifted about them as the group turned to their left and walked cautiously into a large room which appeared to be the kitchen. Dirty dishes lay scattered about, flies buzzing around with pesky annoyance as the companions looked around in open disgust.
"Don't look so surprised, Vash" a voice suddenly called from behind them, causing the group to jump into defensive positions as Meryl shot to the far side of the room.
However, to everyone's curiosity but Vash's there stood merely a man in or past his middle age, with balding blond hair and a piercing gaze of dark eyes as he looked over the people. With a small smile he stepped into the kitchen and waved off the suspicious stares with his hand, nodding his head as the group dropped their defensive positions.
Vash hesitantly smiled as he stood straight, walking up to the stranger and standing before him.
"I need help" he plainly spoke, his voice heavy with an emotion his companions could not quite distinguish.
"So I see" the gentleman commented, looking at the group now gathering behind Vash.
"This is Conrad, Doc, for short" Vash introduced, his hand gesturing to the elderly gentleman seated at the table. "We've known each other for a long time. He's gotten me out of a few scrapes before."
"Quite a long time" the man agreed, laughing slightly. "But it appears you haven't learned from your mistakes" Doc added, his eyes turning toward the bundle in Meryl's arms. "But this appears to be extreme even for you."
"How long have you known each other?" Meryl questioned curiously, learning from experience one was not to be judged by looks alone. Her eyes narrowed as the stranger looked over her child with interest, hugging the bundle closer to herself.
"That's not really important right now, is it?" Conrad commented while looking away from Meryl and seating himself at one of the rickety chairs surrounding the covered table. "Something great must have happened for you to have come here."
"It's Knives" Vash replied, seating himself opposite the doctor. "He's finally moving."
"So it's come to this, has it?" Doc answered with a great degree of calm, shaking his head in dismay. "Tell me everything that's happened."
The rest of the group situated themselves about the room as Vash told their story, beginning from the meeting of the Insurance Girls to their entering of the dead town. After the blond finished his tale Conrad sat quietly for a few minutes, his eyes closed and his lips firmly together as he apparently thought over the information given. Finally he opened his dark eyes and looked directly into Vash's own, his face grave and serious.
"You couldn't find any others in this town?" he asked, heaving a sigh of weariness. "So no one else survived..."
"How did you manage to survive while the others didn't?" Wolfwood suddenly asked out of curiosity, leaning against the kitchen doorway. His eyes were looking suspiciously upon the older gentleman, seeing nothing extraordinary to have helped him manage such a feat.
"I'm not entirely defenseless" Doc answered with a small hint of a smile, followed quickly by a tired sigh. Meryl noticed Vash look away with a saddened look upon his face, closing his eyes as if reliving a bad memory. "But I don't think you should stay here long to chat" he continued softly, looking out the window toward the setting sun.
"Why?" Wolfwood asked, lighting a cigarette and raising a brow in question. "Think we can't handle ourselves?"
"It's not that" Conrad argued, turning his attention back to the group. "The people you saw in the store and through the windows, were their bodies in any way mutilated?" he asked, looking carefully at the companions.
"No" Meryl replied with a shudder, shaking her head in both answer and to try to dispel with memories. "They looked like they had just been drained and placed there."
"Then we have a problem" Doc commented with some degree of emergency, standing and beginning to pace the room. "Those people, if what I believe is true, will become mere tools for the vampires, or vampire, who killed them. What we have to worry about is whether they or their masters have enough awareness of where we are to come and cause us grief."
"Wait, what the hell do you mean?" Wolfwood asked, snuffing out his cigarette with the toe of his shoe and turning his full attention to the doctor. "Why are we going to have to worry about those poor souls?"
"Because if what you say is true and they have been drained, then they may return as ghouls" Doc explained slowly, his voice filled with growing strain. "Those people will have no will of their own and will be at the mercy of their masters, whom they must obey to destruction."
"What!" Vash shouted, standing and pounding a fist on the table top. His teeth gritted as he shut his eyes, shaking his head furiously back and forth.
"Hey, Doc" Wolfwood spoke up, striding up beside the distraught Vash. "If that's true why haven't we seen it happen before? I've been with Spiky for a long time and haven't heard this part."
"It's because he hasn't used it yet" Vash answered quietly, opening his eyes slowly and beginning to breath more calmly. "Knives showed me his powers after he'd been turned" he explained as he seated himself once more in his chair. "But apparently he showed so much contempt for the humans he refused to create more after his first experiment" the gunman spoke, disgust in his voice at the final word. "So can you help us defeat Knives?" the gunman asked once more, turning his attention once more to the doctor.
"I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises" Conrad replied, shaking his head in little encouragement. "I've been trying to figure out the riddle of the vampire for some time and have yet to succeed."
At his last words the final rays of the sun drifted behind the horizon, encompassing the already darkened kitchen into near blackness. The flash of a candle by the doctor created some light, especially as he applied the small torch to an oil lamp positioned in the center of the table.
"It looks like you'll be staying here for the night, whether the people are ghouls or not" Conrad spoke with some amusement, standing to his feet and picking up the lantern. 'If you'll all care to follow me, I have quite a few empty rooms which you could use."
The group nodded their heads and allowed themselves to be led to their respective bedrooms, Conrad assigning them two rooms for the couples and child. The doctor raised a brow when Meryl and Vash wished to be together, but he said nothing as he showed them to a spacious room. Much to Meryl's dismay after they'd retrieved their trunks from the car, the child awoke and began crying out for sustenance. The milk she offered him was quickly refused, leading the two parents to quickly comprehend what the baby's need was.
Conrad, obviously having heard the crying, entered their room with a small vile in his hand.
"I thought you could use some help" he spoke, offering the glass to Vash with a small smile toward both mother and child. "This will quiet him for a while" he explained, leaving the room before Vash or Meryl could ask him any questions.
Vash and Meryl looked at the vile, filled with some rose-colored liquid, with some apprehension. Finally the gunman sighed and uncorked the glass, giving Meryl an encouraging smile.
"He wouldn't hurt him" Vash explained softly, emptying the contents of the vile into a small bottle. Taking the child from his mother, he slowly allowing the baby to nurse from the bottle.
To both their joy the child eagerly drank the liquid, happily gurgling with glee after the bottle had been drained. After Meryl had burped the baby and changed its diapers she laid him to rest, smiling as he quickly slipped into a deep nap. Vash, meanwhile, had gone to return the vile, leaving the mother to care for their child while he thanked the doctor.
However, after the blond had not returned for a long time Meryl grew worried. She tucked the baby further in and closed the door behind her, telling Millie to alert her if she heard anything from the room. Walking down the steps she noticed a figure through the open front door seated on the small porch, the unmistakable red suit coat told her it was Vash.
"Hey, Vash" Meryl said as she walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a loving gesture. However, when she received no reply she released her gentle hold and stood up straight behind him. "Is something wrong?" she asked, worry in her voice.
When silence was once again her only reply did Meryl finally lose her temper, smacking Vash upside the head.
"Ouch!" Vash whined, flinching at her hard hit. "What'd you do that for?" he asked, putting a frown upon his face.
"That's better" she said with a small smile, watching as the blond rubbed his head. "It looks like they won't be coming after us after all" Meryl commented with a small smile, her face dropping, however, when she noticed Vash's contemplative expression. She seated herself beside him, nestling herself against his warm arm as she looked to the stars high overhead. "Nice night, isn't it?" she asked, hoping to turn the conversation to something less morbid. "Couldn't sleep, either?" the small insurance girl added with a laugh as she looked to the gunman, hoping to amuse the blond with their predicament.
Unfortunately, her attempt at a joke failed miserably as Vash turned sharply away from her. She sighed deeply and returned to staring up at the stars, realizing she had touched a sore spot in the blond's emotions.
"How did you two meet, anyway?" Meryl questioned, her curiosity finally getting the better of her. "I mean, if you want to tell me..." she trailed off, not sure whether the question was one Vash was willing to reveal to her. To her joy, however, he began speaking.
"He's been studying vampires for a very long time" Vash began to explain almost absently, his eyes downcast. "He found me soon after Knives had changed me, alone and barely able to control my thirst. Doc showed me kindness, even after he realized what I was" he spoke, smiling a little at the memories.
"What happened?" Meryl asked softly, placing a comforting hand upon his slumped shoulder. She knew from Vash's hesitation to come to the doctor's house and the sad expression on Conrad's face that something had occurred between the two.
"Doc tried to help me control the thirst and taught me about the powers I had" he explained slowly, giving a small smile of regret. "I thought I could control it on my own. I tried not to get him involved because I knew Knives was looking for me." Then Vash stood with a short, hollow laugh, pacing the porch in growing agitation. "In the end, I was the one who brought him into this mess" he added, almost to himself as another sharp bark of laughter broke from his mouth.
"You bit him" Meryl spoke softly, her eyes opening wide in the realization. "You turned him into a half-vampire."
Vash could do nothing more than nod, tears welling up in his aqua eyes as he stopped his pacing. A stifled sob escaped his lips as he collapsed to his knees, slamming his hands upon the wooden floor.
"Why do I do this to people?" he cried out, gritting his teeth as the tears slid down his pale cheeks. "Everyone who tries to help me, everyone I care about, I bring them only trouble."
"That's not true, Vash" Meryl firmly replied, kneeling before the weeping gunman. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her forehead against his as her own tears were shed. "You don't cause them grief. You brought us all together, Millie and Wolfwood, you and me. Isn't that good?"
Vash didn't reply nor did he open his eyes, but with relief Meryl noticed his crying lessen. The little bit of response encouraged her and she continued with her speech, her voice growing more confident with each word.
"Even with what you did to him, he is still your friend, right?" she asked, smiling a little when he once more nodded. "He doesn't blame you for what you did, so why should you blame yourself? If anyone is to blame for your troubles, then Knives has most of that burden" she spoke firmly, kissing Vash lightly on the lips. "But even if you regret what's happened and do blame someone, remember what you've gained. Wolfwood, Doc, Millie...and me" she finished, smiling as the blond looked up into her eyes with some light of hope in his own.
"Meryl, thank you" Vash said, giving a small smile of his own as he turned and hugged her.
Before they could talk further, however, the couple was startled as Conrad came rushing onto the porch, his footsteps loud as he was smiling with excitement. Stopping behind them with excitement dancing across his face, he beckoned them into the house. Turning to each other with confused expressions, both shrugged and stood quickly. Following the doctor they ended up in the kitchen, their curiosity growing as they saw Wolfwood and Millie seated at the table with the child in the big girl's arms.
"What's the deal, Doc?" Wolfwood asked grumpily, his hair slightly disheveled as he gave the doctor an annoyed look.
"I have finally found a formula that works" Doc announced proudly, smiling widely at the group. He lifted up a hand in which a vile was held, the black contents swirling innocently within their glass prison.
"A formula for what?" Vash questioned, striding up beside Conrad and taking a closer look at the vile.
"This mixture will allow for one vampire to revert to their previous form, namely a human" he explained, some of his excitement losing strength. "The problem we have is inserting the serum into Knives' blood stream, but I'm afraid you'll have to manage that by yourselves" he added, placing the stopped vile into Vash's open palm.
"Is it safe?" Vash quietly asked as he looked at the glass within his hand, his face downcast but his words firm.
"I don't know" Conrad honestly replied, shaking his head in emphasis. "I haven't been able to test the serum yet, and I currently don't have any subjects to use." No one asked who or how he had obtained such specimens, knowing by the look on the doctor's face the projects had left scars on his conscience. "However, I believe the change will not be full" he added with some hesitation, Vash's once interested smile fading from his face. "Knives may not revert to a pure human form, but he will be weaker."
"If he'll still be part vampire, then have you found anything to sustain Knives' hunger?" Meryl asked with hope, clasping her arms around one of Vash's.
"Yes, quite a few years ago" Conrad hesitantly replied, averting his eyes from the companions.
"How do you know it works?" Wolfwood questioned, raising a brow as his dark eyes looked steadily into Doc's face.
"I've tested it, several times" the doctor replied quietly, shaking his head and looking back to the group with a small, sad smile. No one interrogated him further, each realizing he had tested the serum on himself since his discovery to control his own hunger. Then did Vash and Meryl also realize what the contents of the vile given to the baby had held. Both silently thanked the doctor for his kindness.
Vash, with the vile in hand and his friends group about him waiting for someone to speak, smiled and with firmness nodded his head to the doctor. He turned to his companions with an unwavering eye and looked into their resolute and understanding faces, each realizing what was soon to come.
"Let's go find Knives."