If you're here, that suggests you liked the first chapter. Yay. Enjoy some more Merlin-Natural.

Farewells and Introductions

Arthur looked up as the three figures emerged from the warehouse, Morgana with her machete held over her shoulder, her pace as relaxed as though on a leisurely walk rather than having just finished a bloody job. At the sight of the civilians behind her, Uther scowled, slamming the boot of his Impala heavily. Arthur slipped his dark sunglasses on as he stood from leaning against the door.

'Do you have a car?' Uther asked, looking past Morgana to the two stood behind her. At their continued silence, he gritted his teeth and spoke again, 'Do either of you two own a car? I'm guessing you got to the vampires' bar somehow.'

'Erm…yeah, it must still be at the bar.' Merlin shook his head, and Uther nodded briefly.

'Right, well we'll take you there. Then you can pick up your car and go.'

Uther and Arthur turned to climb into the car. Morgana stayed stood beside the couple, a look of slight confusion on her pale face. 'Wait, what?'

'Morgana, don't do this.' Uther snarled, as he looked back to see her fold her arms in an act of unspoken protest. 'We are hunters, these people are not. We will take them to their car, and leave, like we always do.'

'And leave them to get killed,' she exclaimed, her peridot eyes shining angrily. 'You think I don't know how this goes?'

'You're just going to leave us?' Gwen lifted her eyes from the ground at this, her voice quiet in scarred shock. 'You can't just leave us.'

'My whole life is gone.' Merlin frowned, his dark hair falling across his face, casting further shadows around his tired eyes. Tired and red, Arthur noticed. It was only noticeable now they were outside in the daylight. Had he been crying? Even as he spoke, his voice seemed to wobble, as though threatening to break down. How had Arthur not noticed that before? Why was he noticing it now? 'I killed my boyfriend in that warehouse. We were in the bar together, we were both taken, but they took him, dripped their blood into his mouth. When he woke, he wasn't the man I knew. He was the one who attacked Gwen. He was left to keep guard of us when you attacked. He was the one I killed to escape. You cannot now tell me I have to just go back to my life with that blood on my hands.'

'You killed a vamp. That's not blood on your hands. That's a victory,' Uther scoffed. 'You should be proud.'

'I loved him. I don't see how killing someone you love can ever be called a victory. Even if they had become a monster,' Merlin snapped. 'You can let yourself think like that, if it helps you. But I don't even want to think about how many you've killed in your quest for 'victory'. You clearly don't know love…'

'Merlin.' Gwen reached out, placing a hand on his bloodied blazer sleeve, snapping him from his fury.

'Just get in the car. We will take you to the bar, then you can go,' the older hunter said, turning away from the young man with a disdainful glance.

Uther pulled up outside the bar, and with a wave of his hand, he ordered the two civilians out of the Impala without as much as a backwards glance. Barely able to contain herself around his disgusting attitude, Morgana followed the two to Merlin's rundown car. She looked back quickly before pressing a piece of crumpled paper into Gwen's hand.

'Don't read it now. It's our motel address,' she ordered, placing her other hand over Gwen's fingers, clenching it into a fist to keep hold of the paper. 'Uther will never change, he's paranoid, scared of everyone. But that does not mean we can just leave you both. He likes to pretend that the job is as simple as killing a few vampires, maybe losing a hunter or two in the mission, maybe discovering some new information. He's wrong. The job is so much more than that. Once you're exposed to our World, you can never forget it, or turn back. Is that what you two really want?'

'I lost my boyfriend to those things,' Merlin said slowly. 'I couldn't turn back now, not even if I wanted to.'

Her sparkling eyes passed to Gwen, who was still looking down at her hand clutching the paper. She bit her lip gently and nodded. 'I have no-one here. Nothing to stay for. Nothing that can keep me safe from these things like you can.'

Morgana nodded, taking her hand from Gwen's and slipping it into her jean pocket. 'I'm aware we never introduced ourselves. Morgana Gorlois. The blond jerk is Arthur Pendragon, his father is Uther. Whether you follow the paper or not, remember those names. You may need them.'

'Thank you.' Gwen looked up, but by then she was already gone, a cloud of dust settling once again where the black Impala had been only moments before.

'What were you saying to them, Morgana?' Uther asked, tone bland, as his eyes remained fixed on the road before him.

'I gave them my number, we may have missed something. It's easy enough to turn around and return.'

'More like they'll be phoning us every time they hear their floorboards creak. Why do you have to do this every time? You see a sob story and swoon.' Arthur turned around to look at the dark haired woman sprawled on the backseat.

'You mean I actually complete the job? I don't just swoop in, kill a couple vamps, and leave without a backwards glance. No better than one of the monsters we hunt.' Morgana rolled her eyes, running a slender hand through her long, raven curls. 'Well, some us of hunt. Some of us lie on the floor and get eaten.'

'Bitch.'

'Jerk.'

'Don't be such children,' Uther snapped. 'Arthur did a valiant job today, Morgana, you could do with showing him some respect. Both of us.'

'Needing your ass saved is awfully valiant, I suppose.' She smirked, before remembering the two they had just left. The way Gwen shook, the tears that Merlin had fought off so bravely. 'I don't see why we couldn't have brought them with us.'

'You know why, Morgana, they couldn't be trusted. We had only just met them.'

'We've followed other hunters for less than that.'

'They weren't hunters. They never could be.'

'They both escaped a vamps' nest with no help from us. Merlin killed his own boyfriend, knowing he couldn't save him once he'd been turned. That is not the sign of someone who is incapable. They could really help us,' Morgana protested, sitting forward in her determined speech. 'We lost Lance today, who will it be next? Ely? Percy? Maybe even one of us. We're a dying breed, we need all the help we can get.'

'I won't deny it would be good to have other hunters to use as bait. Especially the girl.' Uther shrugged, his tone warming as he thought about the potential of the couple. 'You know how unwilling I am to continue using you as bait, Morgana. We've had far too many close calls recently.'

'Yeah, and we ever run into a ghost who prefers weedy, gay men, we can use Merlin for bait.' Arthur laughed lowly, amusing himself with his own thoughts.

'You're a dick, Arthur,' Morgana scowled, sitting back once again. After a few moments of silence, she smirked wickedly. 'Besides, we could just use you.'

The road ahead of them was clear, the sun beginning to sink into the hillside, casting long shadows across the landscape. None of them noticed the headlights of the car behind them on the flat stretch of road, following intently.