"Merits" ch.20 (full chapter posted here to LJ)
x-posted to/from ff.net :
Author: moor / beyondthemoor on LJ
Title: Merits
Part : Twenty
Genre: Romance/humour/vamp/Modern AU
Fandom: Avatar: TLA
Pairing: Zutara, Jetara
Length: 1300 words, approx.
Rating: M
Disclaimer : “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and all related rights belong to their original creators… I am not among their ranks.
AN: In response to hyperoo' s vampire/Zutara challenge, I present…
“Merits” - Part Twenty
Zuko rounded the corner to discover an unauthorized third party had entered their mist and their battle.
The petite warrior seemed perfectly capable of holding her own, however, he noted after a moment or so; she wielded a lethal wood-and-metal fan in each hand while she and Long Feng circled each other in front of a car whose engine still idled. A ragged-looking woman peeked out from the darkness-and Zuko realized Katara, while a little worse for wear, was safe inside the vehicle.
The fans raised smoothly and their sharp edges pointed faultlessly at Long Feng's neck.
Whoever this newcomer was, she at least had the right idea.
“My name is Suki. Suki the vampire slayer,” he heard the brunette state proudly.
Of course she’s a vampire slayer, he thought to himself, some of his initial optimism going flacid. He prayed she had selective taste.
There was no more time for thinking or speculation then as Long Feng’s face twisted savagely and he flew forward with his unsheathed blade, slicing expertly at every vulnerability he found in Suki’s defensive stance.
But the weaknesses were an act. Suki dropped her wounded bird routine as soon as the vampire was within her range; she swung gracefully, powerfully around with her fans, slicing deeply into his chest and forearm, disarming him with a tight flurry of efficient moves. Her storm of strikes in the cold snowy air was as breathtaking as it was effective.
With a sucking hiss, Long Feng dropped one of his weapons and glared suspiciously at her. The cuts on his person sizzled audibly and a faint trail of steam rose from each seeping wound. He’d underestimated her, greatly.
“Dipped in holy water,” explained the female warrior lightly of the fan’s affect on his seared flesh. Face tightening, the ancient monster looked vicious, and quite murderous at the treachery and she who’d inflicted it. Suki shrugged and smiled sweetly. “Oops, did I forget to mention that?” She snapped the fans shut to flick off the crisped undead flesh, and then turned slightly to face him again. Her midnight-blue eyes were as calm as a clear night sky, and just as unforgiving. “If you want more, come and get it.”
Each eyed the other a moment; Long Feng paused before smirking again and raising his good arm.
Still approaching, Zuko knew immediately what the other vampire had planned, and raced to prevent it.
“Get out of the way!” he yelled and crunched through the snow in his rush to the match; his call distracted the fighting pair.
Suki glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but Long Feng whirled to see who’d interrupted. Just as he turned, Zuko crashed into him and they both went down, Long Feng’s knife flying through the air to land, softly clattering, in the snowy street.
“Get in the car!” holding down Long Feng’s sharp, poison-tipped fingers from his wrists, Zuko met Suki’s gaze before looking back meaningfully at the vehicle where Katara still waited-or had been waiting. Now she stood outside it, probably to see if there was anything she could do to help.
Damn her and her good intentions. He wanted to tell her off, but had his hands full of snarling, powerful vampire warlord at the moment.
“Get off me!” fangs bared, Long Feng’s eyes now glowed blood-red with hate as he regarded the man who’d tackled him to the muddy ground.
“No.” He dug his hands deeper in the sleeves of the warlord’s coat, and his knuckles went white with the tension in them. “You will listen to me, or I will kill you where you lie, Long Feng.”
“Impudent fool, do you think you know who I--,” started Long Feng, as he grabbed Zuko’s wrists and started to wrestle him off. Zuko felt the monster try to throw him aside as if he were an unflattering garment.
Offended, and murderously angry at the attack on Katara, his own prey, Zuko stiffened and shifted; and felt his own power bleed from him to seize the aristocratic vampire he held at bay. Like an invisible, mental vice-grip, he started cutting off Long Feng’s life-channels within his undead body; soon, he controlled him.
“I am your Lord, Long Feng. You will bow down to me.” Zuko spoke the slow, measured words deeply, softly, and very, very calmly so the girls wouldn’t hear them. “Betray me and you will pay.”
Long Feng sneered, but held still.
“You’re no one’s lord, ‘your highness’,” the man’s eyes calmed from red to cat-yellow, however, a clear indication he was at least aware of the power the full-blooded vampire above him yielded.
“Since you’re still someone’s dog,” Zuko said in the same soft voice, “Why don’t you lie down for a while?”
With that, Zuko released the man-and knocked him unconscious with a whip of a thought.
Zuko dropped the miserable excuse for an aristocrat and stood a moment later. Long Feng lay immobile, and unresponsive, in the slush at his feet. He faced the women who waited by the car.
“Thank you,” said Suki, eyeing him warily. She still held her fans lowered at her sides, but had shut them.
Zuko was fairly sure she couldn’t decapitate him with them closed, so he took her conservative stance as a gesture of peace. Nodding back at her, he turned to the source of the skirmish. His office-mate. His prey… His.
Katara stared at each of them in turn, wondering what was going on.
“Zuko,” she said finally, to break the awkward, growing silence. “Thank you… I think you warned me. In time.”
Suki’s head snapped around to look harder at the vampire standing alone and off to the side in the darkness.
“’Zuko’?” asked the bartender curiously, her legs shifting slightly as she turned herself sideways to him.
She knows…
“Yes.” He met her eyes, and felt her stare at the area where his scar would be. Her breathing remained even-he had to give her that. She knew her stuff. Or at least had been around long enough to learn some lore.
Still keeping her sights on him, Suki tilted her head slightly, towards the escapee. “Your name’s Katara, right?” she asked. Katara made an affirmative sound. “Get in the car.”
Everyone had been saying that to her tonight; with a skeptical look, she gestured to her apartment building. “Actually, I live right over…”
Her… friend now? took a step towards her, his arms outstretched-until Suki fell into a defensive stance in the blink of an eye, fans raised and pointed at his throat. Katara’s voice trapped in her own throat in surprise. Why was Suki was poised to attack Zuko?
“Not another step,” the slayer instructed.
Against his pride, Zuko obeyed.
Putting up both his hands in a gesture of peace, he felt his shoulders slump tiredly. “It’s ok.”
He looked at Katara again, his gold eyes glowing faintly in the night like the occasional flicker of a firefly. “I think you should stay away from your place for a little while.”
“Agreed,” snapped the warrior.
“But all my things are--.”
“They can be retrieved by someone else,” interrupted Suki again, her alert focus never leaving Zuko.
“But-.”
“Katara, please,” insisted Zuko, and for the first time ever she recognized weakness… or was it vulnerability?... in his voice. Perhaps it was just the real ‘Zuko’ beneath the veneer of snarky-stalker Zuko-from-work. But his sincere tone, just like his frantic call to her cellphone earlier that night, reached inside her and touched her spirit. “Listen to…,” he paused for a moment before recalling her name, “Suki.”
“… Can I come back Sunday night?” asked the Water Tribe girl, knowing she had work and clothes to prepare for first thing Monday morning.
“We’ll see,” started Suki, but this time Zuko interrupted.
“We’ll check together on Sunday. Ok?” he conceded, eager to get her off the street and concealed behind a closed door somewhere, anywhere-at least away from Long Feng before he regained consciousness. The vampire warlord was still out cold, but Zuko knew it was only a matter of time before he woke up again. He also recognized Katara was stubborn, and some concessions would need to be made to keep her cooperative.
Suki glared at him for giving in so easily, but he ignored her.
“We’re going,” stated Suki, and she opened her car door. For the first time since learning Zuko’s identity, she tore her eyes away from him and looked at Katara. “We’ll go to a safe place and we’ll make arrangements, ok?”
Katara considered her options, and decided that there’d been enough weirdness for one Bomber night. “Ok. But we’re coming back--.”
“Sunday,” promised Zuko.
“Yeah,” Katara stifled a yawn, leaning against the car door frame. “Ok. See you… Sunday,” she said, and glanced at him strangely.
He held her eyes, wondering what she wanted.
Suki slammed her car door shut, breaking the connection between the two. “We’ll call you,” she informed the vampire sullenly.
He nodded and watched them drive off before his hands reached into his pockets. From the bottom, he gently wrapped the soft scarf he kept around his fingers…
TBC…
AN: Thank you for reading! You guys really keep me going with this story! (I can’t believe you guys are still reading - I’m doing my best to bump up my update schedule on this fic to try and make it up to you.)
AN: And now, for something I rarely do: Some Pimping, but only the good stuff! I'm guessing you are already familiar with the 'greats' of the fandom (who basically created 'Zutara' canon). If you are looking for good (mature) fic outside some of the Big Names, I highly recommend the following:
-“College Daze” and “Dragons & Lotuses” by renagrrl (fantastic modern AUs!)
-“Cellmates” by solitary guard (mature Avatar-verse; I’d almost say a darkfic...)
-“The Vampire Prince of Fire” by Lady Mondragon (AU vampire Zutara-exceptional!)
-Everything by hyperoo. “Maturity” and “Mindbenders” (a vamp Zutara!) are fantastic mature fic, and “Spoils of War” is another Zutara with super storytelling. (... "Sheets" is a personal fav...)
-“Hidden Strength Soap Opera story collection” by LoveroftheFlame. (modern AU, various pairings) Just... Wow. Check out the LJ that's listed -- that is where the main story is housed. But LOTF's profile holds a great sampler and you'll get to dabble a bit in really neat, unique interpretations of the characters and how they'd act in a modern AU. It is based on a long-running RPG. I had a lot of fun reading it.
AN: Also, here’s a list of some of the thank-you fics that I have completed for you guys-I hope you’ve liked them!
-(review number) (reviewer) (request) (completed & title)
-25: Castle Anthrax (dedicate a chapter of "Merits", or write a prequel dealing with the main chars, earlier in their lives.) (DONE; need to post later...)
-50: Avatarairis (DONE -Ch.11 of “Merits”! Modern high-school AU.) "In your own company"
-75: taffy0823 (DONE -Posted separately; what I thought may have happened during the “Ember Island Players” episode of ATLA. Written/posted prior to the episode being shown.) "L'Illusion Comique"
-100: Avatargirl92 (??) Did you get back to me about what you wanted? I’m sorry, I can’t find your request! (I feel terrible about this!)
-125: Habit (DONE -Posted as Ch.11 of “Silk & Twisted” Zutara lemon.) "Tilt your head a little"
-150: SgtHydra (COMING SOON-wants VampireHunter Suki on an earlier mission; plotted, partially written) Will be posted as the next part of “Merits”.
-200 : this is up to who writes the 200th review!
AN: Thank you guys again for sticking with this fic - and if you have suggestions, please don’t be shy; I always appreciate plot-bunnies. (They’re great to prompt me!) And some of you guys have really fantastic ideas, stuff I'd never have thought of. If you want to theorize in comments, I'm not gonna discourage you... :-)
/this chap first posted 29 July 2008.
/BTW, yes, I saw the finale! Talk about an animation field day-wasn’t the cinematography amazing?
Author: moor / beyondthemoor on LJ
Title: Merits
Part : Twenty
Genre: Romance/humour/vamp/Modern AU
Fandom: Avatar: TLA
Pairing: Zutara, Jetara
Length: 1300 words, approx.
Rating: M
Disclaimer : “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and all related rights belong to their original creators… I am not among their ranks.
AN: In response to hyperoo' s vampire/Zutara challenge, I present…
“Merits” - Part Twenty
Zuko rounded the corner to discover an unauthorized third party had entered their mist and their battle.
The petite warrior seemed perfectly capable of holding her own, however, he noted after a moment or so; she wielded a lethal wood-and-metal fan in each hand while she and Long Feng circled each other in front of a car whose engine still idled. A ragged-looking woman peeked out from the darkness-and Zuko realized Katara, while a little worse for wear, was safe inside the vehicle.
The fans raised smoothly and their sharp edges pointed faultlessly at Long Feng's neck.
Whoever this newcomer was, she at least had the right idea.
“My name is Suki. Suki the vampire slayer,” he heard the brunette state proudly.
Of course she’s a vampire slayer, he thought to himself, some of his initial optimism going flacid. He prayed she had selective taste.
There was no more time for thinking or speculation then as Long Feng’s face twisted savagely and he flew forward with his unsheathed blade, slicing expertly at every vulnerability he found in Suki’s defensive stance.
But the weaknesses were an act. Suki dropped her wounded bird routine as soon as the vampire was within her range; she swung gracefully, powerfully around with her fans, slicing deeply into his chest and forearm, disarming him with a tight flurry of efficient moves. Her storm of strikes in the cold snowy air was as breathtaking as it was effective.
With a sucking hiss, Long Feng dropped one of his weapons and glared suspiciously at her. The cuts on his person sizzled audibly and a faint trail of steam rose from each seeping wound. He’d underestimated her, greatly.
“Dipped in holy water,” explained the female warrior lightly of the fan’s affect on his seared flesh. Face tightening, the ancient monster looked vicious, and quite murderous at the treachery and she who’d inflicted it. Suki shrugged and smiled sweetly. “Oops, did I forget to mention that?” She snapped the fans shut to flick off the crisped undead flesh, and then turned slightly to face him again. Her midnight-blue eyes were as calm as a clear night sky, and just as unforgiving. “If you want more, come and get it.”
Each eyed the other a moment; Long Feng paused before smirking again and raising his good arm.
Still approaching, Zuko knew immediately what the other vampire had planned, and raced to prevent it.
“Get out of the way!” he yelled and crunched through the snow in his rush to the match; his call distracted the fighting pair.
Suki glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but Long Feng whirled to see who’d interrupted. Just as he turned, Zuko crashed into him and they both went down, Long Feng’s knife flying through the air to land, softly clattering, in the snowy street.
“Get in the car!” holding down Long Feng’s sharp, poison-tipped fingers from his wrists, Zuko met Suki’s gaze before looking back meaningfully at the vehicle where Katara still waited-or had been waiting. Now she stood outside it, probably to see if there was anything she could do to help.
Damn her and her good intentions. He wanted to tell her off, but had his hands full of snarling, powerful vampire warlord at the moment.
“Get off me!” fangs bared, Long Feng’s eyes now glowed blood-red with hate as he regarded the man who’d tackled him to the muddy ground.
“No.” He dug his hands deeper in the sleeves of the warlord’s coat, and his knuckles went white with the tension in them. “You will listen to me, or I will kill you where you lie, Long Feng.”
“Impudent fool, do you think you know who I--,” started Long Feng, as he grabbed Zuko’s wrists and started to wrestle him off. Zuko felt the monster try to throw him aside as if he were an unflattering garment.
Offended, and murderously angry at the attack on Katara, his own prey, Zuko stiffened and shifted; and felt his own power bleed from him to seize the aristocratic vampire he held at bay. Like an invisible, mental vice-grip, he started cutting off Long Feng’s life-channels within his undead body; soon, he controlled him.
“I am your Lord, Long Feng. You will bow down to me.” Zuko spoke the slow, measured words deeply, softly, and very, very calmly so the girls wouldn’t hear them. “Betray me and you will pay.”
Long Feng sneered, but held still.
“You’re no one’s lord, ‘your highness’,” the man’s eyes calmed from red to cat-yellow, however, a clear indication he was at least aware of the power the full-blooded vampire above him yielded.
“Since you’re still someone’s dog,” Zuko said in the same soft voice, “Why don’t you lie down for a while?”
With that, Zuko released the man-and knocked him unconscious with a whip of a thought.
Zuko dropped the miserable excuse for an aristocrat and stood a moment later. Long Feng lay immobile, and unresponsive, in the slush at his feet. He faced the women who waited by the car.
“Thank you,” said Suki, eyeing him warily. She still held her fans lowered at her sides, but had shut them.
Zuko was fairly sure she couldn’t decapitate him with them closed, so he took her conservative stance as a gesture of peace. Nodding back at her, he turned to the source of the skirmish. His office-mate. His prey… His.
Katara stared at each of them in turn, wondering what was going on.
“Zuko,” she said finally, to break the awkward, growing silence. “Thank you… I think you warned me. In time.”
Suki’s head snapped around to look harder at the vampire standing alone and off to the side in the darkness.
“’Zuko’?” asked the bartender curiously, her legs shifting slightly as she turned herself sideways to him.
She knows…
“Yes.” He met her eyes, and felt her stare at the area where his scar would be. Her breathing remained even-he had to give her that. She knew her stuff. Or at least had been around long enough to learn some lore.
Still keeping her sights on him, Suki tilted her head slightly, towards the escapee. “Your name’s Katara, right?” she asked. Katara made an affirmative sound. “Get in the car.”
Everyone had been saying that to her tonight; with a skeptical look, she gestured to her apartment building. “Actually, I live right over…”
Her… friend now? took a step towards her, his arms outstretched-until Suki fell into a defensive stance in the blink of an eye, fans raised and pointed at his throat. Katara’s voice trapped in her own throat in surprise. Why was Suki was poised to attack Zuko?
“Not another step,” the slayer instructed.
Against his pride, Zuko obeyed.
Putting up both his hands in a gesture of peace, he felt his shoulders slump tiredly. “It’s ok.”
He looked at Katara again, his gold eyes glowing faintly in the night like the occasional flicker of a firefly. “I think you should stay away from your place for a little while.”
“Agreed,” snapped the warrior.
“But all my things are--.”
“They can be retrieved by someone else,” interrupted Suki again, her alert focus never leaving Zuko.
“But-.”
“Katara, please,” insisted Zuko, and for the first time ever she recognized weakness… or was it vulnerability?... in his voice. Perhaps it was just the real ‘Zuko’ beneath the veneer of snarky-stalker Zuko-from-work. But his sincere tone, just like his frantic call to her cellphone earlier that night, reached inside her and touched her spirit. “Listen to…,” he paused for a moment before recalling her name, “Suki.”
“… Can I come back Sunday night?” asked the Water Tribe girl, knowing she had work and clothes to prepare for first thing Monday morning.
“We’ll see,” started Suki, but this time Zuko interrupted.
“We’ll check together on Sunday. Ok?” he conceded, eager to get her off the street and concealed behind a closed door somewhere, anywhere-at least away from Long Feng before he regained consciousness. The vampire warlord was still out cold, but Zuko knew it was only a matter of time before he woke up again. He also recognized Katara was stubborn, and some concessions would need to be made to keep her cooperative.
Suki glared at him for giving in so easily, but he ignored her.
“We’re going,” stated Suki, and she opened her car door. For the first time since learning Zuko’s identity, she tore her eyes away from him and looked at Katara. “We’ll go to a safe place and we’ll make arrangements, ok?”
Katara considered her options, and decided that there’d been enough weirdness for one Bomber night. “Ok. But we’re coming back--.”
“Sunday,” promised Zuko.
“Yeah,” Katara stifled a yawn, leaning against the car door frame. “Ok. See you… Sunday,” she said, and glanced at him strangely.
He held her eyes, wondering what she wanted.
Suki slammed her car door shut, breaking the connection between the two. “We’ll call you,” she informed the vampire sullenly.
He nodded and watched them drive off before his hands reached into his pockets. From the bottom, he gently wrapped the soft scarf he kept around his fingers…
TBC…
AN: Thank you for reading! You guys really keep me going with this story! (I can’t believe you guys are still reading - I’m doing my best to bump up my update schedule on this fic to try and make it up to you.)
AN: And now, for something I rarely do: Some Pimping, but only the good stuff! I'm guessing you are already familiar with the 'greats' of the fandom (who basically created 'Zutara' canon). If you are looking for good (mature) fic outside some of the Big Names, I highly recommend the following:
-“College Daze” and “Dragons & Lotuses” by renagrrl (fantastic modern AUs!)
-“Cellmates” by solitary guard (mature Avatar-verse; I’d almost say a darkfic...)
-“The Vampire Prince of Fire” by Lady Mondragon (AU vampire Zutara-exceptional!)
-Everything by hyperoo. “Maturity” and “Mindbenders” (a vamp Zutara!) are fantastic mature fic, and “Spoils of War” is another Zutara with super storytelling. (... "Sheets" is a personal fav...)
-“Hidden Strength Soap Opera story collection” by LoveroftheFlame. (modern AU, various pairings) Just... Wow. Check out the LJ that's listed -- that is where the main story is housed. But LOTF's profile holds a great sampler and you'll get to dabble a bit in really neat, unique interpretations of the characters and how they'd act in a modern AU. It is based on a long-running RPG. I had a lot of fun reading it.
AN: Also, here’s a list of some of the thank-you fics that I have completed for you guys-I hope you’ve liked them!
-(review number) (reviewer) (request) (completed & title)
-25: Castle Anthrax (dedicate a chapter of "Merits", or write a prequel dealing with the main chars, earlier in their lives.) (DONE; need to post later...)
-50: Avatarairis (DONE -Ch.11 of “Merits”! Modern high-school AU.) "In your own company"
-75: taffy0823 (DONE -Posted separately; what I thought may have happened during the “Ember Island Players” episode of ATLA. Written/posted prior to the episode being shown.) "L'Illusion Comique"
-100: Avatargirl92 (??) Did you get back to me about what you wanted? I’m sorry, I can’t find your request! (I feel terrible about this!)
-125: Habit (DONE -Posted as Ch.11 of “Silk & Twisted” Zutara lemon.) "Tilt your head a little"
-150: SgtHydra (COMING SOON-wants VampireHunter Suki on an earlier mission; plotted, partially written) Will be posted as the next part of “Merits”.
-200 : this is up to who writes the 200th review!
AN: Thank you guys again for sticking with this fic - and if you have suggestions, please don’t be shy; I always appreciate plot-bunnies. (They’re great to prompt me!) And some of you guys have really fantastic ideas, stuff I'd never have thought of. If you want to theorize in comments, I'm not gonna discourage you... :-)
/this chap first posted 29 July 2008.
/BTW, yes, I saw the finale! Talk about an animation field day-wasn’t the cinematography amazing?