Chapter 17
A/N: One thing. Try to guess where I got Near´s little question from. You get a cookie if you guess correctly.
On with the story...
"W-wheres Mello?..."
"What does it matter to you? Did you not leave him? Did you not try to throw him off your trail incase he came looking for you?"
Matts eyes began to water, but he kept the tears at bay. He wasnt about to let this vampire see him cry. He had his pride. "Yeah, I did all that. Are you two a happy couple now?" There was a bitter edge to his voice that he didnt bother trying to hide.
The grin on Nears face widened. "I dont believe that is any of your buisness."
"If youre not here to rub it in my face, then why are you here?"
"Hm, thats simple," The silver haired vampires grin faded, his features melting into a serious expression. "Im here to cover up some tracks."
Matt raised an eyebrow. "I...dont understand..."
"To put it bluntly, Im here to kill you."
The redhead watched the vampires expression for the longest time. Searching for some kind of misunderstanding. Some kind of joke. How could Mello allow this to happen? Had he sent his new boyfriend to kill him? Is that how vampires worked?
"K-kill me?..."
"Correct."
There was no emotion in Nears tone, nor his expression. There was no joke. No misunderstanding.
In his panic, Matt made a run for the door. He should have known that there was no way to outrun a vampire.
Like his first encounter with Mello, Matt was thrown into the bedroom door, face-first, no less, with a loud thump. Lucky for him, he had moved his injured hand out of the way, or else it would have been crushed under both his and the vampires weight.
"Matt, was it?"
The redhead groaned out a "Yes" and Near made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat.
"Mello never was very creative with names, but anyway, I have a question for you. If you answer it correctly, Ill consider just handing you over to Mello." He raised one knee, and pressed it against Matts back, hard. "Hes been dying to get his hands on you, you know?"
The redhead struggled to get out of the tight hold Near had on him. But it was doing him no good. The more he struggled, the more pressure Near added to his back.
"H-he...wouldnt ...Aah!"
"Now, now, have you been asked to speak?" The young vampire now had Matts injured hand, and arm behind his back at a very uncomfortable angle. His knee still in place against the teens back. Near could very easily snap the boy in half if he wanted to. "So, shall we hear the question?"
The cold lips that had been pressed against his ear disappeared, as did the pain in his arm, and back. But he could still feel the vampires cold body pressed against him, holding him still.
"Youre as tall as me, arent you?" Matt didnt just hear the low growl of annoyance, he also felt the rumble in Nears chest as he growled. He had to admit, that did scare him quite a bit. "We cant have that."
Matt gasped as strong fingers tangled themselves in his hair. The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, only to land on his rear, slumped against the side of Ls bed. His vision blurred as a sharp pain ran down his back. He felt cold air rush by as Near came to stand over him.
"Do you know what runs, Matt? Because, Im thinking, if you did, you wouldnt have tried to run from me." The silver haired vampire caught Matts chin before the redhead had a chance to shake his head. His razor sharp nails dug into the soft flesh of Matts chin.
"Think. Its a very simple question." He forced Matt´s head back so that even though the silver haired vampire was standing over him, their eye contact never broke.
"E-everything...animals, people...insec-"
"Stop right there." Near let go of Matts chin, and in a second he was standing infront of the door. "Wait for it...Three, two...one."
"Matt!"
Near chuckled, amused. Before L could even touch the door handle, Near turned the lock, locking himself and his human prey inside.
It still surprised Matt how quickly L had adjusted to his new name, but now wasn´t the time for silly musings. "L, get the hell out of here!" He shouted.
The silver haired vampire was once again standing over him, a serious expression carved into his otherwise smooth feaures. "Well dont tell him that. Ill still be hungry when Im done with you."
"You said...If I got the question right, youd let me go!"
"This is true. But, you didnt get it right."
The frantic sounds of L´s shouting and banging on the door, drowned out into the background as Near continued to speak."Ill give you partial credit since you were half right." The redhead blinked, and Near was crouching down infront of him, their noses almost touching.
"You said that animals, and people run. Correct?"
Matt nodded weakly.
"Open the door!" He heard L shout. He was ignored.
"Well," Near continued, as if L hadn´t spoken, or...shouted, for that matter. "People, eat animals, right?" He didnt wait for the teen to reply. "Vampires in a sense, eat people. They drink their blood. Their life source." Near reached up, innocently rubbing his thumb against Matt´s cheek. Innocently that is until he scraped his thumb nail acorss the skin in a swift movement. The surface of the skin broke and droplets of blood began to form. "So, the correct answer, was food. Food runs, Matt. It runs when it knowns its trapped."
Not exactly the most comforting thing in the world; being reffered to as food.
"You´re really going to kill me..." The cut on his cheek hadn´t bothered him much. He had hardly flinched.
"I´ll make it painless."
"Is it...is it what Mello wants? Did he tell you to kill me?"
"Yes." He lied. And Matt believed him.
Matt bit his bottom lip thoughtfully. There were a few tears running down his cheeks, despite his efforts to hold them back. If Mello wanted him dead...then what was the point of fighting? "Will you let L go?..."
Near shrugged. "I wont make any promises." ´Especially not to a filthy human´...He added in his head. He was surprised to see the redhead getting to his feet. Near moved back to give him some room.
"Kill me then..." He said as he sat himself down at the edge of L´s bed. Matt reached up and pulled down the neckline of the white long-sleeved shirt L had let him borrow.
Near hesitated. Was the boy really giving up that easily? "Why do you care so about what Mello thinks?"
"I love him..." Was Matts simple response.
Love. That was the reason Mello had left him. A long time ago... "There is nothing here for me. Sex...I can get that anywhere." He had said. Near grit his teeth as the thought triggered an unwanted memory of his past.
Mello pulled on his black leather jacket, a blank look on his face. The kind of look he usually got when he was deep in thought.
"Mello?" The silver haired vampire sat up on the large bed. The white sheets that had been wrapped around him, slid down his bare chest, to pool in his lap. "Where are you going?"
"Away."
Nears eyes went wide. The blonds tone had sounded so distant. As if he weren´t all there. "I dont follow..."
"There is nothing for me here. Sex...I can get that anywhere."
"What more do you want?" The younger vampires tone rose in volume.
Mellos expression seemed to soften as he stared into Nears grey eyes. "Love."
That was just something Near couldnt understand. Love was such a useless emotion. No good came from it. "Love is a luxury we cant afford to maintain for eternity..." he replied in a broken whisper.
"Perhaps you´re right." Mello crossed the room, to stand infront of the large stained glass window in their small England home. He opened it, and moved up to stand on the window sill. "Bye, Near..." He took one last look at his now former lover, and jumped out of the window, disappearing into the night.
A low hiss sounded in the young Vampires throat. "Love..." With that, he decided that toying with his life sized doll was costing him precious time. Without hesitating, Near bared his fangs, and latched them onto the redheads neck. He reveled in the agonized cry that left Matt´s lips.
Why the hell did it hurt so much? Whenever Mello bit him, it felt...great, but now. Now it was just pain. Pure blinding, white hot pain. "S-stop!" He cried. But it only made the young vampire bite down harder.
"Matt! Open the door! Whats going on?!" L shouted from outside the bedroom door.
Matt couldn´t believe that he was really going to die. Already he could feel his heart slowing to a stop. "L...j-just go..." He croaked.
Was this why Mello was so fond of this human? His blood was so...delicious. How did Mello manage to only get a little at a time? Near pulled away to examine his handy work. Blood dripped from his fangs and dribbled down his chin, staining his once spotless white clothes.
"You s-said..." Matt coughed weakly, sending blood spilling from his mouth, and rolling down his cheeks and chin. He was going to drown in his own blood at this rate. The front of his borrowed shirt was as red as his hair. "You said you would make it painless..."
The silver haired vampire licked his bloody lips. The only bad thing that would come of this humans death, would be not being able to taste his blood again. "I lied..." he pushed the teen onto his back and quickly climbed ontop of him. He lowered his lips to the hollow of Matt´s throat.
Blood had collected there, and so, served as easy accessible drinking area.
Near dipped his tongue into the small puddle of blood, lapping it up, savoring the warm, sweet taste.
"Just...kill me..." Matt whispered. "Please..." He couldnt stand it anymore.
The young vampire was feeling merciful. "As you wish..." Near opened his mouth wide, sharp fangs aimed for the jugular vein in the redheads neck.
A fierce snarl from outside made him freeze though.
Near didnt have timeto fully register what was going on before he was knocked backwards off Matt and through the door. The force of impact shattered the door completley and tore up many of the floorbaords out in the hallway.
"Came to watch?" The silver haired vampire said as he looked up into sky blue eyes. His voice was calm despite the situation.
L, though more than a little shocked and scared shitless, took this as his chance to finally get into the room. "Matt." He jumped up onto the bed in his usual crouching position. "Shit...Matt, are you ok?"
The dark haired teens hands, shook uncharacteristically as he reached out to touch his hand to the redheads cheek. It was ice cold. It took all his criminology training not to panic. "You´re so cold..."
"I feel cold..." Matt replied. Voice hoarse and weak.
"What...are they?"
"They?...Theres more of them?" Matt blinked his hazy green eyes.
L nodded as he brushed back some of the teens red hair. "The white haired one, and a tall blond. Hes wearing all black..."
"Mello!" He half shouted.
"What are they. Matt?" L asked again.
Why lie? "V-vampires..."
"Vampires." L repeated. His suspicions had been confirmed.
--
"You could have killed him!" Mello hissed at the vampire pinned beneath him.
"You though I was joking earlier?"
The blonds fangs were bared, daring Near to piss him off some more.
"Well, I didnt kill him. You can stop making faces at me." Near said calmly. "One would think youd be happy. With him dead, you´re out of danger."
"Id rather be the one dead..." He growled. He was beyond pissed, so growls and snarls were his means of comunication for the time being.
"You would throw away years of work...years of planning...all for some pathetic excuse for a human?" It was Nears turn to hiss.
Mello took hold of the younger vampire´s neck, not squeezing enough to do much damage, but just enough to let him know that he was grating his last nerve. "Don´t forget...you use to be human too."
"Use to."
The blond added more pressure to Near´s neck. "When will you see your mistake? It´s us!...It´s our species that you should hate...We are the blood thirsty murderers! Not them!...Not all of them!"
"Mistake? Mistake, Mello?" He said. Near ignored Mellos little speech all together.
"Yes, mistake, you little cunt. "
"I don´t believe I know what you´re talking about..." But he knew. He knew damn well and it was clear as the grimace on his face.
"Mr. and Mrs. River, Cause of death, unknown. Only surviving child, Nate Ri-"
"Shut up!"
"Now do you know what I´m talking about?!" Mello shouted.
Near shook his head, despite Mello´s tight hold on his neck. "Don´t bring my parents into this!" The silver haired vampire bared his fangs. His calm nonchalant facade had melted away at the mention of his parents.
Mello´s smirk was almost sadistic. "Why? Is the wound starting to hurt? Is it too deep for time to heal? Or does it just hurt to know you were too childish back then, and only killed them as revenge for something they did to protect you?!"
"Shut. Up." Near snarled. Mello was really bringing him out of his cage. The truth was, the young vampire had quite a temper. A temper he kept hidden for special occassions. No one had been able to piss him off as much as Mello was, until tonight.
"No, I´m not fuckin´done yet." Mello removed his hand from Near´s throat, instead reached around to grip the younger vampire´s snow white hair in one hand. "I don´t get why you hate the human race so much. You use to be human! You were Nate River, and you still are despite what you think! You´ll...end up like Light."
Near´s face went back to being smooth and expressionless. As Mello paused to see if any of what he had just said sunk in, Near took his chance to wrap his legs tightly around the blond´s waist, using his strength to switch their positions. Mello now lay beneath him, growling and struggling to get out from under the smaller vampire. Near wasn´t as weak as he looked.
"Don´t compare me to him." Near´s fist came into contact with Mello´s cheek, and as it did, he was once again thrown through the air. Mello never took a hit sitting down. Well...in Matt´s case it was different.
He and Mello crashed through the hallway floor, landing in the downstairs living room in a tangle of limbs amd a mess of wood flooring and ceiling.
Mello was the first to recover, having administered the tackle, and had the silver haired vampire pinned to the nearest wall by the throat. "Hit me again!" The blond shouted. His next words were growled out in a low menacing tone. "I dare you..."
"Are you going to kill me?" He was calm, despite the serious tone in Mello´s voice.
"I´m getting there."
"You won´t. Who are you trying to fool? You need my help."
"I´ll do without." Mello tightened his hold on Near´s throat, causing the other to struggle. Mello would easily snap his neck in half if he squeezed any more.
"Mello."
The blond turned his glare in the direction of the voice. His expression softened at seeing who it was. His fangs retreated back into his gums a little, so they weren´t bared threateningly. "Matt."
L stood at the bottom of the stairs, with Matt clinging to his back. The dark haired teen had a blank expression on his face, still trying to process everything.
"I told you I hadn´t killed him."
"Shut the fuck up!" Mello turned bak to Near. His gripped tightened even more. As much as it would pain him to do it, he would kill Near for what he did to Matt.
"Don´t...kill him. Mello...you´ll regret it." He heard Matt say. It was just barely a whisper, but he had heard it.
The blond growled. It was low, threatening, and bone chilling. Both L and Matt shuddered.
"You´re lucky..." He loosened his grip, and let Near drop to the floor with a rather loud thud. Mello lifted the blood red rosary he wore around his neck, up so that Near could see the silver crucifix. "Pull another stunt like this, and I swear to god, I will write you a one way ticket to hell."
Near wasn´t paying attention to Mello. His wide grey eyes were fixed on the red haired human. The human that, as much as he hated to admit it, had saved his ass. Because Mello had been dead serious about killing him a few seconds ago.
"Give him to me." Mello was infront of L in the time it took both he and Matt to blink. He held both arms out, patiently.
L took a step back, more than a little reluctant to hand over his former boyfriend and bestfriend to some blood thirsty vampire. Expecially after Matt had almost been killed by one.
"Give. Him. To. Me." The blond hissed. "You don´t want to test my patience tonight. I´ve never killed a human before...but I won´t hesitate if its necessary..."
Unfased, L replied calmly. "How do I know you won´t have him for dinner later?"
Mello lowered his arms. He was so not in the mood for this. All he wanted was to hold Matt tenderly for a few hours before he put his little ´Make sure the asshole doesn´t leave again´plan into affect. "Near," he sighed. "Nows the time to redeem yourself."
"L...just..." Matts voice trailed off as he lost conciousness. This pissed Mello off even more.
L took another step back at seeing the look on Mello´s face. "I´ll take him to a hospital. You can leave..."
The blond vampire shook his head. "I´m not leaving without him." He snapped his fingers in a movement of muscles to quick for L´s human eyes to catch. "Now, Near."
In a panic, L turned to look at the white haired vampire, but was shocked to see the spot he had been previously inhabitting, empty. Empty, save for a human shaped crater in the wall, where Mello had slammed the vampires body.
"Whe-" He was cut off as a white blur came at him from the side. L hadn´t even heard him coming.
Mello caught the unconcious redhead before he hit the ground. "You better hope you recover slowly. Because you´re in for it when you wake up." he growled at the unconcious boy in his arms. "Lets go home..."
The blond turned to Near, who had a struggling L pinned to the blood covered floor. "Knock him out, only. Understand?"
Near nodded slowly before turning to L. "Orders, are orders..." He bared his fangs, just to scare him, and bit into L´s neck.
--
Mello ignored the scream of pain from the dark haired teen as he walked out the front door. "Drive my bike back." He said quietly. Near would hear it. He held Matt to himself, protectively, and brushed strands of his red hair away from his face. "Don´t worry...I´ll make sure this doesn´t happen again." He placed a soft kiss to the teen´s pale lips, and shuddered at how cold they felt.
The sun was slowly starting to rise in the distance. He needed to get back before daylight, or risk being seen. With a tortured sigh, he took off at full speed up the side of a nearby building and out of sight.
--
Near licked his lips, cleaning them of any blood. He longed to kill this human, but he couldn´t. Not becuase Mello had ordered him not to, no, how would he know if he killed him or not, right? No...he couldn´t kill him, because of the human. Matt. Who had saved him from a very painful death, even after he tried to kill him. He looked down at L who was panting for breath.
A small almost invisible smile spread across his pale lips as he placed his hand over the human teen´s eyes. Their skin was almost the same color. "Sleep..."
When he removed his hand, L´s eyes were closed as he slept peacefully. Near stood and headed for the front door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at the sleeping human.
"Maybe, just maybe...I was wrong about your kind."
A/N: Why does this chapter suck so much? Jesus...I can´t believe you people even like this story. Ah, but anyway, here it is. A decent sized chapter if I do say so myself. So, you thought Near was going to die, right? WRONG. I wish I could kill him off already, but I need him still. Sorry, soon though, soon.
REVIEW. Or I´ll have vampy Mello hunt you down. Wait...thats not a threat. Fine i´ll send Light. HA! so REVIEW!
Matt