Standard Disclaimer: Not mine, making no money, have nothing, please don’t sue me… etc…etc…

Here I am again in my thin night rail staring at the person in the mirror. I have grown to hate sitting before this mirror in the early hours of the day. The morning sun shows every fine line in my face, every bit of gray in my dark hair. I rifle through the assortment of cosmetics on the vanity before me. "Vanity," I think ruefully. That's certainly an apt term for this small table and its accompanying stool. It's my own foolish vanity that has me sitting here, skillfully applying the make-up that helps me to conceal some of my age.

I pause again to study my reflection. My eyes are still as brilliant as ever, but little can be done to disguise the lines at their corners. I smile at myself, noticing how the laugh lines still show even after the smile has faded from my lips. I run my brush through a few strands of my hair only to cringe in horror at the gray streaks starting to appear in the dark tresses. "That's it… Today I go buy hair color," I think rather viciously. After all, I'm now closer to fifty than even I care to think about. I guess on a positive note, my figure has changed little over the years. That's something, I guess.

Glancing at the assortment of goods strewn on the surface, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by the sight of my children's pictures. My family stares back at me, their smiling faces captured in playful moments. Nick and Nickie as small children, posing gleefully for the camera, as teens, with those wonderful brooding expressions, and finally smiling and flashing victory signs at the camera the night before they left. They are my children as surely as I had given birth to them. I saw their first steps, heard their first words, patched up their scrapes and small cuts. I wonder where they are? It's been months since I've received a letter from Nickie. I heard there was a typhoon a while ago out there on the frontier. I hope that they are ok.

The man I consider my husband, Vash the Stampede, smiles at me, frozen in time. It doesn't matter that the picture is over five years old. Vash looks the same now as he did when I first met him over twenty-five years ago. We never had our relationship "officially" recognized by any legal system or by God. Perhaps He understands. Maybe Mr. Wolfwood and Milly can put in a good word for us. They've been gone for so long now.

"We'll deal with this age thing one day at a time…" My own voice reaches out over the years to haunt me. I told him that the night he returned with Knives. I smile at the memory. That was the night he made love to me in an alleyway. Our lives seem so tame now by comparison.

I study my reflection again and sigh. Vash had his doubts about us in the beginning. He knew the physical differences would eventually catch up with us. Vash must be about two hundred by now, but he doesn't look a day over thirty. I wonder how he feels about being seen with an "older" woman.

Feeling overwhelmed by the intensity, I try to hold back the tears in my eyes. I close my eyes and press my thumbs at their corners in an attempt to stem the flow. This will not accomplish anything.

"Meryl, what’s wrong?"

I hastily wipe my eyes and paste a smile on my lips as my eyes meet his in the mirror. "Nothing… it's nothing." I shake my head at him. I can’t worry Vash about something so trivial. I smile up at him as he stands there with a white towel wrapped around his hips, traces of moisture gleaming on his skin. He's so perfect even with the odd variety of scars and metal reinforcements covering his body.

"It's not nothing, so don’t try to fool me with that story." His hands reach out to my shoulders, clasping them lightly. "You seem to be fascinated by sitting in front of this mirror lately. What has you so bothered?"

"Oh Vash," I sigh heavily, rubbing my cheek against one of his hands. "Really, it's nothing. Don’t worry so much about me." I smile brightly at him. "Haven't you figured out by now that we women have our strange little moods?"

"You spend more time in here putting this stuff on your face than you ever did in the past and I've watched you sit here for an hour at a time doing nothing but staring at your reflection." His hands tightened on my shoulders. "You're starting to see the differences between us, aren't you?"

It was more of a statement than a question on his part. I couldn't lie to him, not about this. My shoulders slump in anguish, "It's true. I worry about looking my age while you stay the same and about how you will feel being seen with someone who appears so much older than you." I sighed heavily again, "Most of all, I worry about how long you will stay with me, especially when I am old and frail." The tears creep from my eyes again.

"Meryl," Vash mummers gently while kneeling beside me. "It never mattered to me. I said I'd stay with you for as long as either of us lived." His hands reached out to caress my face, to wipe the tears away. "I will be with you until the end."

"But why? One day in the future, I will look old enough to be your mother and then your grandmother. How will you feel about being seen with me then?" I hear the hysterical note in my voice and cringe. It's not his fault. He warned me years ago that this would happen one day.

"Meryl, I tried to tell you when I came back all those years ago that this day would come. I even argued with myself for a while, trying to believe that it would be for the best if I just took Knives and disappeared into the desert, but the one thing that kept me here was the fact that you loved me… No matter what I was, what I'd done, what disaster followed in my wake, you were always there, one step behind me."

I laughed briefly at that. "You idiot… that was my job."

"Not in the end it wasn't. Not after Wolfwood died, not when I came back with Knives, not even when Milly died and left us with the twins. You had every right to tell me at any of those times to get lost. You still trusted me and loved me. That's more that anyone had given me in a very long time."

"I'm sorry," I whispered brokenly. "I never meant to burden you with my doubts."

"That's what loving someone is all about. Sharing your deepest thoughts and wishes with them, talking to them and letting them know how you feel."

"Since when did you get so smart?"

"Hey, I have almost two hundred years worth of experience on my side." His aqua eyes crinkled in that mischievous smile that I loved so about him as his head dipped to place a small kiss on my cheek. "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Take me to bed?"

"What? At this time of day?" he demanded in mock horror. "Miss Stryfe, you have no shame? I never realized you were this type of woman."

"I wasn't until I met you."

Vash grinned as he regarded me with darkened eyes. "Who needs a bed?" he asked as he reached out with one hand and sent my cosmetics scattering across the floor. Drawing me to my feet, he brushed his lips against mine before kneeling in front of me, slowly tugging the panties from my body. His lips traced the shape of my legs as his strong hands caressed the muscles there before he gently pushes me back to sit on top of the vanity.

Smiling wickedly, Vash leaned forward to tongue my erect nipples. A warm familiar melting feeling slowly ran through my body as his tongue swirled around the stiff peaks. I leaned back against the mirror in pleasure as he lowered his head to my nether lips. His hands pushed my thighs further apart as his tongue darted over my clit, wringing a low cry from my lips.

I thrust my pelvis at his mouth as he licked his way from my sensitive clit to delve briefly at the entrance of my wet channel. The stray thought crosses my mind that Vash has always been a generous lover, wanting to be sure I enjoyed our encounters. The thought vanishes as quickly as it surfaced. Vash had that tiny nubbin of flesh between his teeth, gently holding it in place as his tongue darted over it, driving me to orgasm.

My body tightened as waves of pleasure rolled through me even as he pulled me to my feet. I understand his wants. I turn and my back to him, briefly rubbing by ass over his hardness. His hands snatch away the towel he is wearing before they reach up to fondle my breasts. I lean forward slightly over the vanity. Our eyes meet and lock in the mirror as he pushes his length fully into me.

My body easily accepts his hard shaft. I push myself back on his hard length, wanting to feel every inch of him. Vash draws back partially and grins at me in the mirror. I make a pouting face back at him and am rewarded by his returning thrust. His large hands grip my hips as he begins to piston in and out of my channel, his face taking on a look of pure enjoyment.

I am not surprised to find my body responding to him a second time. I gasp sharply as his skillful fingers pluck at my clit causing my body to explode with pleasure a second time in the space of a few short minutes. I grind my ass against him as he grinds against me in return, emptying his seed deep inside me.

We stay sandwiched together for a few moments to catch our breaths. Some of the dark shadows of doubt have been cleared away for the time being, but I know that my feelings of foreboding will only grow as time passes. I must be satisfied with his reassurances for now. Vash has never failed me in the past and I know he won’t in the future.

Vash leans away from me and playfully pops my ass with his hand. I shriek and jerk upright, rubbing my abused person. "What the hell was that for?"

"A wake-up call you lazy wench. We're going after Nick and Nickie."

I stare in stunned disbelief as he pulled his old travel bag and that crimson coat from the darkest part of the closet. "We're what?"

"I said, 'We're going after Nick and Nickie.' Honestly, I would have thought you'd be glad I was telling you I was leaving instead of taking off like I used to do." He grinned wickedly prancing around naked in to room, "I figured it would be easier if I just told you and we left together. I sort of have gotten used to having you constantly around. Plus, you do have your uses."

"Why you moronic pervert. If you think I am going with you just to screw you and to cook for you then you've got another thing coming."

"Well are you going or aren't you?"

"Idiot… of course I'm going." I turn to snatch my own travel bags from the closet as Vash laughs behind me.

"I knew that you’d love to go on another adventure after all this time."

*****************

The burgundy haired woman stood on a high bluff at the edge of the frontier territory. A pair of dark shades covered her platinum eyes. A silver trench coat seethed around her legs as the winds whistled around her body. Her mind wandered over the miles searching for a response.

"You've decided to leave the comforts of the large city again. Is it because of The Master? Can you feel him?" She smiled grimly as the familiar voice echoed inside her skull.

The woman paused in her reply, stretching her senses to their limits. "His brother is leaving the safety and security of December for the first time in over twenty years to hunt for those two who have vowed to kill him in revenge for the deaths of their parents."

A note of skepticism laced the reply, "The son of Nicholas D. Wolfwood is indeed to be reckoned with just as his father once was. But of the two, I would rather think that the daughter is much more dangerous than either of them realize; however, I do not know if they will be powerful enough to cause any harm to the Master."

The woman nodded, turned another direction, and let her mind reach out. She drew back after a few seconds and smiled. "Revenge is a powerful motive. It drives our own cub forward in his search, even though he is torn between wanting to kill your Master and wanting to claim the priest's daughter as his own. I have raised Lazarus well. He will not fail to carry out his task. There are many destinies about to collide in the near future."

The voice questioned in the suddenly still heat, "And what of your destiny, of your life? Will you throw both away to kill the Master?"

She paused a final time. "I go to join the hunt. Will you be waiting?"

"Alone in this black nothingness?" The voice laughed mockingly. "As I have for these many years…"

*****************

To Be Continued…

*****************

Anyone guess who the shadowy characters are in the closing lines yet?

Love and Peace,

Blackhat (^_~)