Author: moor / beyondthemoor on LJ
Title: Merits
Part : Nineteen
Genre: Romance/humour/vamp/Modern AU
Fandom: Avatar: TLA
Pairing: Zutara, Jetara
Length: 600 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 hyperroo' s vampire/Zutara challenge, I present…

“Merits” – Part Nineteen

The air in Katara’s lungs burned like a wild fire as she pumped her legs and ran madly down the deserted streets to her apartment. The puffs of air crystallized immediately at each frantic exhale, but still she heard the man behind her gaining ground quickly, quicker than any normal person should have. She didn’t have time to speculate on his inhuman ability, however, as she prioritized her survival over being ‘right’ at that particular moment.

As she came around a corner--nearly losing her footing on some black ice, though she righted herself with her natural athletic balance--she caught sight of her apartment’s parking lot, and then the edifice itself.

Home! She wanted to cheer, but knew she wasn’t safe yet.

She made it almost to the walkway before she heard a car peel around the corner behind her, tires screeching, and with a throaty growl skid to a slideways stop just in front of her, barring her from crossing the last driveway before her own. Katara felt her heart drop into her shoes; gritting her teeth in determination, she prepared to leap over the trunk while still on her dead run.

The driver had a different idea, however.

“Get in!” called a distinctly female voice from the driver’s seat. The voice was familiar, but Katara couldn’t place it. The passenger door swung open to reveal a dark-clothed woman—but the overhead light was extinguished, and everything was hidden in shadows.

Typical.

Breathing hard, Katara held her bag and cellphone tightly in her hands and hazarded a glance behind her.

The man with the long mustache and the snake-like eyes had slowed and now closed in on her, a smirk of arrogant presumed-success clear in the features of his sickly-pale face.

Katara felt her stomach lurch and without another thought scrambled into the car and slammed the door.

This angered the man.

As the driver put the car back in gear and pulled a particularly severe traffic violation in the driveway, the man’s jacket shrugged open and he spread his arms wide to reveal a glinting, shining inner lining – knives.

“Hold on,” grit the desperado behind the wheel; she had one hand on the steering wheel, and the other hovered between the gear shift and the emergency brake. She glanced at Katara from the corner of her eye. “I meant that – get your seatbelt on or grab the holy-shit handles, but we’re about to move—SHIT,” she hissed, and felt a distinct thud strike the car.

Long Feng had thrown a knife at one of the tires. It hadn’t punctured it, but it was very close. He smiled again and slowly drew another blade, held it up for their examination, and waited.

“Stay here.”

Before she could protest—or thank her, or do anything, really—Katara watched the woman slip smoothly from the car and face the dangerous stalker head on. She closed the door behind her, but Katara could hear the exchange that followed even through the car’s insulation.

“Finally come out to play?” asked the man, staring condescendingly down at the small-framed woman before him. It was a bit muffled, but Katara forced herself to calm her breathing so she could get her wind back and keep alert to the state of her rescuer—at least, person-she-assumed-was-rescuing-her. She had no idea who she was. Come to think of it, Zuko had disappeared, too.

Outside, the cool words went back and forth in the crisp night air.

“You call this fair play?” the dark-clad brunette shot back, arms close to her sides. Katara saw her start to reach slowly behind her back, and realized the woman kept several … sticks? tucked into her belt. It was too dark to see them clearly, but they looked like sticks. Or folded up papers. Katara squinted, but it was too dark to see them clearly. She thought for a second they’d been fans, but that was ludicrous.

What the heck is going on?...

“You’re right, we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet. What would you like me to engrave on your headstone?” he asked solicitously, and smiled like a demon. “That is, if you’re lucky enough to die before I consume you.”

“Take care to spell it right,” said the woman sweetly, yet with deadly intent as she shifted her weight slightly. But her words were what jolted Katara’s memory. “Take care…”

“The bartender,” she whispered to herself from the car’s interior; outside the woman went on.

“My name is Suki. Suki the vampire slayer.”

TBC.

AN: Habit, I hope you enjoyed your thank-you Zutara lemon fic in “Silk & Twisted” (it is number 11, “Tilt your head a little”) ! Everyone, thank you for reading! (I love you more the more you comment -- yes, blatant bribery.) XD Hope you're all looking forward to the 'final countdown' for the ATLA finale!

/First posted July 5th 2008.

/mm.