Life as a vampire wasn't what you would normally expect. Instead of dramatic nights of seducing women and then draining their blood, Duo found himself wandering around the streets alone.

The crisp winter air bit into his pale skin as Duo jammed his hands into the pockets of his coat. Being only a half-vampire still Duo was able to still live almost exactly like a human except that he still needed blood to survive, and that he had become inexplicably pale.

He couldn't stand it that Heero was forcing him to get used to leaving the castle only at night. Even though he knew why Heero was doing it, Duo wasn't able to stop himself from constantly grumbling about it once Heero left.

Even now there was nobody out on the street and Duo found himself remembering the times when he lived out on the same street. Though that had been almost a year ago as this was around the time Heero had first taken Duo to become a half-vampire. Things had changed quite a bit around the town as many of the familiar faces Duo used to see all the time had disappeared.

Perhaps it had been after the incident of the Winner family, but a lot of people had been frightened off while the same news also brought more tourists to visit thinking it all a myth. So while it drove off most of the older residents, it brought several more to take their place.

After reminiscing for a while Duo found himself wandering back towards the castle where he knew the only company he could really get was Quatre and Sally. It's not like he didn't want their companionship, but right now he wanted to be with the one he truly loved.

"I should probably start heading back since Heero will be pissed when he finds out I've been out here." The half-vampire was swiftly making his way to his home, but he had this odd feeling that someone was following him. Yet there wasn't anyone who would ever dare to go out this late at night knowing the legends of the vampires.

Contrary to what Duo thought, as he continued walking he heard someone clumsily trying to stalk him. After hearing the person trip, Duo whipped around and gave a look that would kill to find he had targeted a kid.

The child was a young boy no older than ten who was dressed in tattered clothes, and apparently was an orphan. As he looked up at Duo with fearful eyes and it was obvious that the boy wasn't really sure who Duo was.

"Are you lost?" It was a dumb question because anyone with eyes could see that he wasn't, but Duo didn't know what else to say.

The kid got up and continued to give him a frightened stare, but to the half-vampire's surprise he actually answered. "No... The other kids dared me to follow you back to your cave..."

At first Duo was confused by what the child meant, but then he understood. Once again, the common mistake that a vampire actually turned into bats and slept in a cave. Yet he couldn't get angry with a child, because he remembered when the same thing happened to him constantly being dared to do crazy things.

"I don't live in a cave, but you can tell them you found the cave anyway. If you tell them you'll show them they'll probably be too scared." Duo smiled at the kid and then turned away knowing he really needed to get back.

But it seemed the kid wasn't ready to tell a lie to probably the closest friends he had. Duo hated it, but he couldn't have the kid follow him all the way back or else he'd get in trouble with Heero. It got to the point where they were near the outskirts of the town and still this orphan refused to stop following him.

Finally Duo had to stop once again and turn around to talk to him, "You can't follow me all the way to my 'cave', alright?"

"So you really are a vampire!" The boy's face lit up with this look of utter exhilaration as he was in the presence of the supernatural.

"Will you go home if I say I am a vampire?"

The boy didn't answer, but he eagerly shook his head.

"Okay then... I'm a vampire, now go home."

Once again the half-vampire began to leave and this time he didn't hear footsteps following him, but he also didn't hear any leaving. He turned around and saw the orphan just standing there as if he'd just witness the whole world die around him, so Duo had no choice but to ask.

"I thought you said you'd go home." Duo tried not to let the pity he was feeling for the boy show. He'd lived his whole life on the streets, and he knew it was a tough world for a boy his age.

"I lied... I wasn't dared to follow you anywhere... I just followed you around because I've watched you walking around for the past few nights alone, and I was hoping I could join you since I'm all alone too." The orphan seemed to be playing his sympathy card well, and Duo couldn't make himself immune to it.

"Then where did you get the idea I'm a vampire?" Duo worded the question carefully; because he didn't want to accidentally let it slip he was at least half vampire.

The boy was silent and his eyes instantly averted from Duo's dark eyes to the ground. He almost looked as if he'd wish the earth would swallow him whole before having to answer that question. "One night I saw you break into the butcher's shop, and I saw you drinking the blood that was drained from the meat..."

Now it was Duo's turn to be quiet as he couldn't believe he'd been as careless as to let a child watch him drinking blood. While he still refused to drink even a little bit of human blood, Duo needed blood to live and so he drank animals.

But then it hit him... If the boy had been able to sneak around and watch him break into stores when he'd been so careful... This orphan had intentionally allowed Duo to notice him tonight.

Before Duo could say anything to the child, he suddenly heard sniffing and looked over to see the boy crying. In reality he was just bawling his soul out, and it scared Duo that someone would wake up and see them. So without having any better options, the half-vampire ran over and scooped up the boy and then began to run away from the town. As soon as he was doing so, the boy stopped crying so loudly and Duo knew he'd been played with what was most likely the kid's trump card.

He put the orphan down and then the kid gave him a huge grin as if he'd accomplished something.

"That was a dirty trick," Duo tried to be stern with the child, but in his mind he was just thinking about how great the kid had manipulated him.

"But it worked, right?"

Duo sighed and sat down on a large boulder on the side of the path, "What will it take to make you leave me alone?"

"There's nothing you can do... I want to live with you mister."

He didn't want to outright say no because something was making him seriously think about it. Even knowing Heero would strangle him if he suddenly brought some orphan home; Duo didn't think he'd be able to leave the kid all alone out here.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but... come on. I've got to hurry up before Heero gets back." Duo grabbed the child's hand and began to pull him along when he remembered that he didn't know the kid's name. "What is your name, kid?"

"It's Thomas," He smiled at Duo brightly and left the half-vampire at a loss for words.

Heero was definitely going to kill him.

----

Arriving at the castle Duo could see that Heero still hadn't come back yet. Yet as he opened the door the first thing he got was Thomas shoving him out of the way and running into the entrance hall with wide eyes. The orphan obviously had never been in such an extravagant place before, but Duo wasn't quite ready for everyone in the castle to see him.

"Thomas, get over here! You must be exhausted, so let's go to my room and you can get a good night's rest." Duo grabbed the boy by the wrist and led him up the stairs. Immediately Duo went straight for his old room (which he rarely stayed in now), and as soon as the two of them were through the door he shut the door and locked it.

"This is really your room?! It's so big!"

Duo was digging through his wardrobe for something that might fit the kid at least a little bit to get him out of those rags. Finally after throwing quite a bit of clothes on the floor, Duo found a shirt that would at least be able to cover the boy up as make-shift pajamas.

First though, was making the boy take a bath before even having him put on new clothes. Thomas had been fascinated with Duo's large bed the whole time until Duo finally turned to face him.

"Listen Thomas, you need to take a bath and then you can go to bed. Okay?" Duo smiled at the orphan and the boy just smiled back at him. "I'll go draw your bath and give you some nice warm water."

Duo did as he had promised Thomas and as he went to get the boy, Duo came upon a scene where Thomas was sitting on the bed crying. Just a few minutes before he'd been fine, and yet now he as bawling again.

"What's wrong?" The half-vampire tried to sound calm as he walked over to the bed. He slipped his arm around the boy and like he'd always imagined a parent would do to comfort their child. "You were fine just a while ago, so what happened Tommy?"

"I just- don't want to- be-" Thomas was having a lot of trouble talking to where Duo could understand because of all the sniffling. "I don't want- to be kicked out- like always."

That, Duo did understand. It was a fear that any orphan shared when they were his age. There had been several times when Duo himself had been taken in by someone only to be kicked out after a couple of days. Obviously this kid had gone through it enough times as well for his lifetime.

"Listen Thomas, I promise you that I will not put you out on the streets again. You're welcome to live here for as long as you want, and may leave whenever you want to go." Duo looked down at the boy to see a hopeful smile, and then was surprised when he hugged Duo tightly while snuggling into him.

"Thanks so much!"

He then let go of Duo and jumped off the bed running towards the bathroom, but before he made it through the door Duo called after him.

"By the way, my name is Duo. And please don't drown in there!"

It was going to be hard to explain the whole situation to Heero without letting it show that he'd done something that he knew he shouldn't have. But what was he supposed to do? Leave the kid all on his own on the streets?

As many orphans as he'd seen killed or overworked to death... Duo couldn't allow a boy who had asked him for just a place to live. After all, there were so many spare rooms in this house and nobody was going to come stay here anytime soon.

Thomas took about fifteen minutes in his bath before slowly cracking the door to cautiously peek out at Duo.

"Could you help me dry off?"

"Sure," Duo smiled in a friendly manner and then went into the bathroom after Thomas had moved out of the way.

He grabbed a towel that was folded up waiting to be used, and then snatched another one off the same shelf. One towel was used to wrap around Thomas' head to keep his somewhat long hair from constantly dripping on the floor, while Duo proceeded to dry off the boy's body with the other.

"Duo...? Could I call you dad?" He had such an innocent look in his eyes as he asked, and Duo found himself unable to resist.

"If you want to, then go right ahead." Again he gave the boy a soft smile before buttoning up the nightshirt. "Now stop stalling and go to bed."

As the two of them walked out into the bedroom, Thomas crawled into bed and then stared at Duo as the half-vampire tried to leave. Duo stopped because he knew what the orphan wanted, so he went back to the bed and got in with the boy.

Duo remained there with Thomas for only a little while before he fell asleep, giving Duo the chance to leave unnoticed. As soon as he stepped out of the room he came face to face with Sally who was already giving him a scrutinizing glare. Her blonde hair was hanging freely which was unusual since she usually wore it in braids.

"I heard someone taking a bath, and yet you're not even a little bit wet." Sally tried to be serious, but it was obvious that her hair was getting on her nerves as she kept brushing it out of her face. "You'd best explain who else is in there Duo."

He tried not to look guilty, but it didn't seem to faze Sally at all. And maybe he could get an idea of how Heero would react by comparing it to Sally's reaction.

"Well... I was walking around town and I kind of..." Duo trailed off before murmuring the rest, "picked up an orphan."

Sally lost her stern look and instead let out an exasperated sigh. "Duo... could you have done anything more irresponsible? Did you even think about the consequences of doing this? For once I wish you'd think things through before doing something."

"Will you stop lecturing me?! What was I supposed to do, just leave him there? How could I live with myself if he ended up starving to death or something?!"

The half-vampire couldn't really explain why he felt a sudden rage about what Sally had said, but it had thoroughly pissed him off. Before she had a chance to get a word in edgewise Duo ended up stomping off to the room he and Heero shared.

He plopped down on the bed and just buried his head in his arms. In his fury he had began to cry, but Duo hadn't even noticed. Duo didn't care to remember his past as it was only made of horrible memories. Days when he was almost to the point of starvation because he couldn't make himself steal even if for survival.

All the other memories were of the other children constantly taunting him, and being forced into the shadows of the other people. Nobody wanted an orphan by their shop or else it brought bad business. Nobody wanted an orphan around their 'normal' children, because it would contaminate them.

Nobody wanted to see an orphan. Nobody cared to hear the orphan cried. The plain truth is... nobody cares about the helpless child all alone in the world.

As these thoughts were running through his mind, there was a person's hand suddenly running from the small of his back up to his neck. Duo whipped his head around to find Heero with an unusually soft smile.

The vampire sat beside Duo on the bed, and then kissed Duo tenderly on the lips. "Sally told me you weren't feeling well, are you alright now?"

Duo half nodded into the bed and felt could already feel himself forgetting about his rage. That was the great thing about being in love with Heero, so every time Heero's presence was even near Duo would calm. He could never be truly angry or upset with Heero there.

Heero had become a lot more passionate and open with his emotions, but as soon as there were other people around anyone else this gentle side shut off. Right now was one of those moments where the vampire master wasn't afraid of being vulnerable.

"I just need to sleep for a few hours, and just not think about tonight."

The young man rolled onto his back and allowed his arms to flop limply over his head. Heero was slipping off his shirt when Duo noticed the vampire hesitate for a second and a slight cringe.

"Are you hurt Heero?" Duo sat up, genuinely concerned, but Heero just shook his head. "If you're lying to me, I'll find out."

"I'm not lying, Duo. I was just thinking about something I forgot to do while I was out."

Heero had never actually told Duo where he goes at night all the time. Ever since Duo had been brought to the castle, Heero never went back to the town that Duo was born in. It had always made him wonder why, but he'd never bothered to directly ask the vampire.

But if Heero was going somewhere where he was getting hurt... Where was he going?

Though Duo never did get to voice his questions because Heero was on top of him before he had a chance.

----

That next morning Duo was snuggled against Heero completely in heaven, when he suddenly remembered.

Thomas!

Duo sat up suddenly startling Heero awake, but by the time the vampire figured out what was going on Duo had already shot out the door.

He ran down the corridor ignoring the fact that the light was giving him a pounding headache, and then burst into his room. As he looked around he found that Thomas was missing from the room, but Duo had no idea where the boy would have gone.

When he thought back to his arriving at the castle, the first time he'd actually had a chance to roam around he ended up in the kitchen.

"Of course he'd go wherever he smelled food... any hungry person would."

With that line of reasoning Duo nearly knocked over two or three of the servants cleaning as he barreled down the staircase. Already he heard the noise of breakfast being made by Hilde, the chef of the castle.

Once he was within a few feet of the door, Duo could hear voices and it made him panic. He tried to stop, but instead ended up tripping on his own feet and crashing straight into the door.

At first all he could think about was the intense pain that he was feeling, and then he managed to open his eyes and find Hilde and Thomas. The two of them looked absolutely surprised as neither of them moved to help him.

"Master Duo, what are you doing?" Hilde got up and rushed over to the fallen half-vampire.

"Thomas, you should've stayed in the room... if Heero sees you he'll be pissed off at me for sure." Duo accepted the chef's helping hand as he looked at the orphan's stunned expression. "Come on, we have to hide you before Heero gets up and sees you."

Everything just seemed to suddenly click in Hilde's mind, as Duo watched the light bulb click on. "You mean Master Heero doesn't know he's here?! Master Duo what were you thinking?!"

Duo didn't have time to reply as he heard a worried voice call his name, and once he realized it was Heero the half-vampire knew he had only a few seconds to hide the kid. Without really thinking it through, Duo shoved the kid behind a tall counter beside him and gave him a warning look that he'd better not move.

Heero pushed open the door and as soon as he saw Hilde whatever emotion that was on his face disappeared completely. The vampire was obviously suspicious of Duo now that he'd completely freaked out for no reason.

"Why did you go tearing through the castle? Usually you're not even capable of getting up for breakfast."

"Well today I woke up and I am just so hungry I can barely even stand it. So I needed something to eat and I ran down here to... get something?" Duo knew how lame the excuse was, in fact he couldn't even believe he'd come up with something that bad.

Yet Heero's dark eyes just slowly continued to examine both Hilde and Duo's guilty expressions. "Next time just tell me and we can send someone to bring breakfast up to you."

The half-vampire nodded apologetically and when Heero grabbed onto his arm, Duo just looked back at the chef with a pleading look.

'Please look after him for now.' Duo mouthed silently to Hilde as he was pulled out of the kitchen.

The chef gave him a small nod to let him know she understood what she needed to do, but before anyone could take another step Thomas asked a little too loudly.

"When can I come out?"

Heero stopped in his tracks and immediately let go of Duo, and pushed past Hilde to get his first glimpse of the orphan. Already the realization was dawning on the vampire's face, and then there was an indescribable look that Duo had never before witnessed.

"You brought a human to my castle without my permission? And you weren't even going to tell me... were you Duo?" The vampire had a look that just made Duo glad that looks couldn't kill.

Dumbly, Duo just chewed on his bottom lip unable to find the words to explain himself properly. There was a moment of silence that suffocated everyone with the tension as Hilde had managed to back out of her master's line of vision, and left Duo alone to face the vampire's wrath.

"I was going to tell you Heero... but I figured it wouldn't be a good time to drop this kind of news to you right now... You've admitted yourself that you're really unreasonable in the morning because you haven't gotten enough sleep."

"You're not going to twist my words Duo to fit your own needs right now. The fact is you brought some child here without even telling me, as far as I'm concerned my mood is not the issue here."

----

Finally the first chapter of the long awaited sequel to Vampire's Servant is written! I'm sorry for the long wait for this update, but I finally sat down and wrote it.

The reason it took so long was because for a while I had writer's block, and I just couldn't figure out what I wanted this sequel to be about. When all of a sudden... it hit me! I wanted to add another main character into the story along with wrapping up some loose ends, so I added Thomas. (sorry for the lame name.)

But in later chapters I will you guys a glimpse into the pasts of Heero, Duo, and a few other characters in order to understand them better. Anyways, enough spoilers, right?

I hope everyone enjoyed!

Please R & R!

Shari Maxwell