Okay so I couldn't resist at least putting out the ideas for this story. That's pretty much what this chapter is, an information chapter. Sorry but I had to get you all caught up to where my vampires came from. If you see a little full metal influence in here, well it's a kick ass show how could I not. Oh and I saw Constantine this weekend so I have to come up with some way to have some ofthat kind of action in here. Okay this chapter will probably be really boring but it's just the setup and it should get a little more interesting if you think I should continue it. It's up to you people. Not many warnings, a little swearing and some boys having fun with other boy's minds and bodies, but if you didn't see that coming your in the wrong section. Expect warnings to greatly increase after this chapter. Ok I think that's all my babbling for now.


The Cursed No More

Blood Red Sun

All night Duo had weird dreams, he couldn't remember what any of them were about, only that they were strange and that a pair of silvery blue eyes had haunted him wherever he went. He woke the next morning much earlier than he usually did, the sun hadn't even finished rising yet. He felt so tired, so drained of energy but he couldn't fall back asleep. He lay in his bed listening to the soft snores coming from the bunk above him. He was in a serene state of mind where he could contemplate the events of the night in calm retrospect. He still couldn't believe that the sleeping blonde above him was a blood-sucking creature of the night. Quatre had always had such a sunny disposition, how was it possible that he was the walking undead?

Was he a vampire too now? He didn't feel that much different, but there were little things that he noticed. Like how he could track the movements of the fly outside their window with almost no effort, and how he could smell Heero's cologne left over from last night on his pillow. Just a sharpening of senses and awareness, but it was enough to make him question if he was still considered human. Did he still have a soul? Did Heero have a soul? What was had happened? Or was he crazy enough to have been sucked up into some hysterical delusion? Maybe it was all a practical joke by Quatre to get him back for moving all the blonde's furniture into the bathroom during that crazy month when practical jokes ran rampant in the halls and no one was safe. Except Quatre, nobody seemed to want to cause any grief for sweet little Quatre, so naturally Duo felt he had to step up so the poor boy wouldn't feel left out. Wait, what the hell was he thinking about?

He heard the bunk above him squeak, and he stopped running these questions over and over in his head. Now that Quatre was awake he would finally get all the answers. He watched the pale legs of his roommate flip over the side of the bunk, there was a pause as Quatre prepared himself then he jumped the six feet down to the dorm floor. Duo had always thought this was hilarious because usually Quatre was very considerate of other people, but it seemed in the morning he would always forget that they had other people living underneath them.

"Mornin'." Duo said casually and Quatre nearly jumped back onto his bunk. He obviously thought Duo had been asleep this whole time, which was normally true until close to noon. But today he wanted answers, and the sooner the better.

"Good morning Duo." Quatre smiled at him, but it was wan and full of guilt. Duo didn't like this new Quatre. His roommate was now afraid that if he said anything Duo would get pissed. And he felt completely responsible for what had happened last night, which made him shy around his best friend even more. Duo hated it when people treated him like he was going to break if things got too rough. He was strong, even if he didn't look it, and what has happened can't be changed. Duo was at the point of accepting his fate, now he just wanted to know what that fate was.

It was too late though, Quatre had already grabbed all his shower items and raced out the door silently closing it behind him. Duo stared at the back of their institutionally white door for a few minutes before his grogginess passed enough that he felt like he could walk all the way to his dresser and get a change of clothes. After he had slept through the night in one of his work outfits, which were usually tight and uncomfortable after a few hours let alone an entire night, he felt the first thing he wanted to do that morning was change. He pulled out a pair of fresh boxers and some loose fitting jeans. It took him while to find a shirt, he finally settled on his dark blue "Engineers do it with precision" T-shirt and sat down at his desk to wait for Quatre. After a few minutes of pretending to study but really organizing his interrogation of Quatre inside his head, the phone in the study room rang and he got up to get it without really thinking about it. He picked it up and the deep calm voice that answered him was none other than Trowa Barton.

"Listen Duo, we thought meeting up for breakfast would be a good way to start off what is guaranteed to be a long day." Duo snorted on the other line. Of course it was going to be a long damn day, but food always sounded good. There was a long silent pause as Duo considered how awkward sitting down to eat with three vampires would be, well two and an active participant. But he had been eating every meal with Quatre and hadn't known the difference, so he supposed he could handle it this morning.

"Yeah alright, I'll tell Quatre." Trowa was very surprised at how calm Duo was and how well he seemed to be taking the events of last night. Of course the braided boy had yet to learn the significance of what had passed, and the burden he had inherited. "What time do you want to meet?"

"How about in an hour?" It was still pretty early so they had plenty of time to get to the mess hall and he felt he should give Duo a little time to prepare before he had to face Heero again.

"Fine, we'll see you then." And without another word Duo hung up, leaving Trowa wondering if this was such a good idea.

Duo wandered around the room for a bit, gathering up things for his shower. He decided that he too would go take a shower and would tell Quatre about breakfast when he found him in the stalls. He took his time walking down the hall to the bathroom still busy contemplating what he would say to Heero when he saw him again. Quatre was leaving the bathroom just as Duo walked up to the door, the hesitant smile he gave the braided boy just managed to piss off the already on edge young man even more. Today was not going to be a good day, Duo just knew it.

"Quatre, we're meeting up with the guys for breakfast in an hour." Duo said tersely as he passed Quatre through the doorway and entered the bathroom. He turned back to look at the retreating form of his supposed best friend and could not control himself. "Quatre, if you keep acting like every time I turn around I'm going to hit you, then one of these times I really am going to just to get you to knock it off."

Quatre flinched once, but that was it, then he smiled warmly at his friend. He knew Duo better than anyone else and he recognized the threat as his friend's way of saying that everything would be all right between them no matter what happened. Duo smiled back and entered the bathroom, thanking his lucky star that it was empty. He chose the stall furthest away and locked himself in as quickly as he could, then let out a deep breath willing all his anger and fear to leave him with it. There was a small changing stall in front of the actual shower that was separated by a dirty white plastic shower curtain. He stripped down quickly, eager to get under the hot relaxing spray of water. Surprisingly, once the water hit him, he felt wide-awake and full of energy despite how much earlier it was than his normal wake up. Duo decided to take as quick of a shower as possible since what he really wanted were answers to his thousands of questions more than a good cream rinse. He cranked the knob to damn near as hot as it would go and noticed how loud the water drops rang in his ears when they hit the tile floor, it was like standing next to a waterfall.

It was strange, but ever since Heero had bit him he had felt stronger and more in tune with all of his senses. But what was really weird was that he felt colder, like that aching cold that you felt in your bones but his skin was still warm. Duo thought about the bite while he quickly shampooed and rinsed his hair. He couldn't get it out of his mind. He knew he should have been scared or it should have hurt or something but it had felt good, really good. It was intense and liberating and the way Heero had caressed him while he did it, Duo shuttered. 'Damn it Duo the last thing you need to do is develop feelings for a vampire,' the longhaired boy chided himself and he finished up his shower without another thought about his strange night.

He got redressed and went back to the room where Quatre was waiting for him. He knew he had taken a little longer in there than he had planned but the water had been so relaxing that it took him awhile to drag his body out of the spray. He decided that he would just pull his wet hair into a ponytail instead of trying to separate and braid it. Quatre grabbed his keys and Duo followed him out the door, much happier now that the boy wasn't flinching every time Duo looked at him. They walked the short distance across the grassy campus to the dining hall waving to a few acquaintances from classes they passed by. Duo felt weird seeing people he had just spoken to the day before it felt like two different realities had just tried to mix. There was now this wall between him and his old life that seemed impenetrable. So much had happened in so short a time, his worries from back then seemed so simple, he would give anything to only have to worry about how many hours of studying he could squeeze in after his shift at the bar. What would he do about the bar tonight, maybe he could call in sick just this once.

They walked into the dinning hall the sound of dishes clanking, chairs scraping the floor, and people talking over each other were overwhelming to Duo's sensitive ears. He couldn't remember this place ever being that loud before or at least he had been able to tune it out in the past. Quatre spotted Trowa right away sitting at a table near the back next to one of the huge decorative windows that lined the walls of the dinning hall with a solemn Heero sitting next to him. It was funny, Duo and Quatre had met Trowa for meals a lot but Duo didn't ever remember seeing Heero with him. Quatre waved and he and Duo went to get their breakfast. Usually Duo ate almost everything they offered him, but today he really didn't feel very hungry. He decided to get at least half of his usual breakfast though, if for no other reason than to avoid Quatre's questions about why he wasn't eating. They went and sat down at the oval table Trowa had chosen. Quatre immediately sat next to Trowa, which left Duo two options and he of course chose the seat next to Quatre. He didn't feel comfortable sitting next to the man that had ruined his life, at least not before they got to know each other.

"Heero you certainly have a healthy appetite this morning." Quatre commented when he looked at the blue eyed boy's tray. Heero was quiet for a while and Duo noticed that they had almost the exact same things on their plates. It seemed everyone else was noticing to because their eyes kept darting back and forth between the trays as if they were comparing item by item. Heero frowned and grabbed a piece of fruit before pushing the rest of the tray away. He hated food, he didn't even need it to survive he just ate it occasionally for something to do or to keep up appearances. All it ever did was remind him of how dead he truly was on the inside. Sometimes he was able to pretend that he was normal when the sun was really hot and he could actually feel it but when he tried to do things like normal people, his reality always came crashing back. So he didn't understand why he hadn't been able to resist all these foods, it was almost like he had felt hunger for the first time in years. Was it Duo doing all this to him? Could it be some weird side effect of the bite?"

"So what do we do after this?" Trowa asked calmly, he had always been one to get straight to the point. No one answered right away, Duo hadn't really thought about what they were going to do all he wanted were some answers. He thought he was going to get those answers at breakfast, but now that he thought about it this was a little too public of a place for this weird of a discussion. Though now that he knew he wasn't going to get any information, breakfast seemed a lot less appetizing. He grabbed an orange and began peeling it with his fingernail. Quatre noticed the change in his friend's behavior and appetite but refrained from commenting. He did however finish his cinnamon bun as fast as he could and he noticed Trowa was eating his oatmeal quicker than usual.

"We should probably just go back to our room and discuss things. I don't think anyone is really that hungry." Quatre said and pushed the last of his sweet breakfast away. There was some nodding and a few grunts of agreement from the very subdued group. Quatre knew getting a conversation out of these people would be like pulling teeth until they could get somewhere private and Duo could ask all his questions. He was sure that even Heero had some too, but he doubted that they could answer all those. After all when it came to information about vampires, who better to ask than one of the originals.

They had only been in the dinning hall ten minutes and they were already getting up to leave. It probably would look odd if anybody were paying attention but these were stressed out, hung over, caffeine addicted twenty-year-old kids with a very narrow view of the world. They dropped their plates off and Duo felt horribly guilty that he was wasting all that food but he just didn't feel like eating. Well part of him did but there was this strange part of him that just felt disgusted by food, which frightened him a little because he never refused food. They went back to Quatre's room in silence, the blonde unlocked the door and they all went in. Quatre locked it behind him and they all found spots to sit with Duo and Heero choosing to sit as far away as possible from each other. Heero took the chair from Quatre's desk and Duo grabbed his own, leaving Trowa and Quatre to sit next to each other on Duo's bed. There was a long silence while everyone stared at the floor trying to think of something to say. It was Quatre who finally couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Well Duo there's really only one way to start this. What's your first question, we'll try our best to answer it. All of us." The blonde said sending Heero a poignant look at which the vampire snorted and looked the other way but after a few minutes he nodded his head just slightly. Then it was all eyes on Duo while the boy struggled to collect his thoughts.

"Okay well, I've been feeling really weird lately. Smells and sounds are stronger, I feel stronger, what does that mean?" Duo took a quick glance at Heero but the boy wouldn't look at him and it didn't seem he was going to be answering any questions either.

"I can explain that one." Trowa's calming voice suddenly spoke up. Duo turned to him happy that they weren't all going to be so reluctant with information as Heero.

"As you know I am not a vampire, I am to Quatre what you are now to Heero. What you experience is just a part of the bite, although it usually only lasts a few hours so you should have slept it off last night." Duo just looked even more confused, maybe Trowa wasn't the best at explaining things.

"Here let me." Quatre decided o take over the conversation, he had a feeling he was going to be doing most of the explaining anyway.

"When Heero bites you it's very, well, intimate. Part of him will sort of flow into you and part of you flows into him. Its beyond just blood Duo, there's a transfer between you two of your life forces, your essence. Sometimes you'll see things, sometimes you'll feel things, and almost always you will have a little bit of Heero's power leftover in you." Quatre finished his speech and realized why Trowa was having such a hard time it was very difficult to explain. They had just been going through it with each other for so long that they knew what could happen. Duo on the other hand just kept looking more and more confused.

"So I'm not turning into a vampire then?" Duo's voice was subdued, his anger dissipating now that they were talking things out and there was the possibility that he might eventually understand all this.

"No Duo, you and I are nag'nul." Trowa commented like it was weather.

"Come again?" Duo asked and Quatre smacked Trowa's arm.

"Vampires developed their own language so we could communicate and avoid prosecution. The word Trowa used means something like host but not nearly as derogatory." Quatre tried explaining, but was interrupted by a scoffing sound from Heero's corner of the room.

"I hate that word." Duo's sensitive ears picked up on the low growl in Heero's voice and he tried not to focus on his body's response to it.

"Most vampires do, it makes us sound like blood-thirsty parasites." Quatre said and there was another growl from Heero that Duo had to force himself to ignore.

"Well thanks for the history lesson Q but what does that mean?" Quatre's eyes flashed to Trowa, knowing that the boy could explain it a lot better than he could since he and Duo were on the same side of this world. Surprisingly it was Heero who answered the question, though not exactly satisfactorily.

"It means when I bite you, you won't turn." He said in and agitated voice but the look in his eyes was different. Duo couldn't place it but in that quick glance his way he saw something in Heero's eyes that made it so he couldn't be mad at the boy.

"Turn?" Duo asked even though the answer should have been obvious, but Heero's deep blue eyes had thrown Duo's thoughts off course.

"Into a vampire." Came Heero's frustrated response but Duo got a sense that Heero was angrier with himself than with the braided young man. It was weird but Duo was sure that what he was feeling was really going on in Heero's mind. Was he really able to sense Heero's thoughts and emotions? Heero's eyes flashed to him again as though he could feel Duo in his mind and Duo had to look away from those piercing orbs.

"You're sort of immune to the curse." Quatre explained, though it was just as confusing as Heero's explanation.

"Why? Why won't I turn into a vampire?" Duo asked trying to keep the information flowing and his mind off of the dark haired vampire. Especially since every time he thought about him the guy turned to look at him.

"Because you drank first." Trowa said as if this would clear up everything for Duo.

"Okay…Quatre help." The blonde chuckled despite the situation, he knew this would be a difficult conversation to get through but they were making progress and at least Duo wasn't radiating frustration anymore.

"You see Duo there are a lot of things that can happen when it comes to vampire bites. The vampire can drain you and it kills you, or he could just bite you and not drain you leaving you to die a slow and painful death as the curse deteriorates your insides." Quatre recited like it was something from a textbook.

"Oh is that all." Duo added sarcastically. This new reality he had been sucked into, literally, just kept getting stranger and stranger. Damn it he had to stop thinking about Heero sucking on his neck, and there they were again those deep blue eyes glanced his way.

"I guess it does sound a bit gruesome." Quatre added thoughtfully. 'Yeah,' Duo thought, 'if that was how I had to live for all eternity, well, I guess I could understand Heero's plight to take his own life.' And blue eyes were right back on him, but this time it wasn't a quick glance. Duo stared back into those hypnotizing depths, did he feel hope all of a sudden or something just as sweetly painful.

"So, uhm, yeah where was I? Oh, the vampire can bite you and not drain you then have you bite him creating a circle with curse in which your body is the final resting place so you then become a vampire." Quatre took a breath and even Duo felt like they should take a break or something but his question still hadn't been answered.

"What happened to you, Duo, was the opposite of that. You drank Heero's blood first then he yours, again creating the circle but this time since Heero took it back into himself it's sort of like he saved you. Okay it's hard to explain, but that's how it goes and now this is great because Heero can stop feeling guilty about biting people and stop trying to starve himself to death. Now he can bite you and nothing bad will happen." Quatre smiled and looked around the room, and to his surprise no one else seemed to be as happy about his discovery.

"Hold on, back that conversation up a bit." Duo stared at Quatre like he was from another planet. "I'm somebody's chew toy? I don't remember agreeing to that."

"I'm not going to bite you." Heero's cold stern voice rang out with such finality to it that even Quatre didn't speak…for a second.

"Heero you have to, this is perfect now you don't have to worry about your bite being fatal. Heero whether you like it or not you are bound to him now, and both of you will get cravings no matter how hard you try to fight it. Quatre was pleading with him, Heero knew there were very few in this world that could resist Quatre's pleading for long. Fortunately he was one of them.

"You're wrong Quatre, you get cravings when you enter that pact with someone you love. I don't even know him." Heero barked angrily, Duo wasn't sure why he as hurt by that but he felt like Heero had just tossed him aside like trash. Would Heero really rather die than be connected to him? Was that such a horrible prospect?

"Then why did he survive? Why did it work so well, huh? Is it so hard for you to accept your feelings? Quatre begged and Heero could feel his resolve crumbling but he was pissed off enough that it didn't matter.

"Quatre it's not the time for this, we should be answering Duo's questions" Trowa said, trying to calm his boyfriend down.

"No! I've been trying my best to get Heero to see the good in life and now he has the chance and he's going to let it pass him by because he's so damn stubborn." Quatre angrily tore himself form his boyfriend's grip, hundreds of years of worry and frustration for his best friend finally overwhelming him.

"Stop it Quatre, I will not become some leech!" Heero's usual monotone rose just slightly in his anger but Duo could feel the intense emotion emanating from the blue eyed vampire, there was even a slight silvery gleam to his eyes. Duo knew he was experiencing Heero's emotions when he felt pissed off at Quatre for no reason and angry with himself and the whole world. But it was definitely his own heart that reached out to the boy, because he knew what it was like to feel like a leech. He had been one his whole life and he hated it. Duo wasn't sure what this connection he felt to Heero was but he wanted to help the hurting vampire, he may even be ready to offer his blood even if Heero wasn't ready to accept it.

"No Duo, I won't let you do that." Heero told him firmly. Duo thought about it for a second, but he was sure that he hadn't said any of that out loud and the confused look on Quatre's face confirmed that Heero had been listening in on his thoughts. He knew it, the vampire had been reading his mind the whole time.

"Get out of my head!" Duo hadn't meant to yell but Heero's anger was transferring into him.

"I can't control it so I'll do you one better!" Duo could feel the rage bubbling up inside the dark haired vampire and now it felt directed towards him. That pissed Duo off, how dare Heero get angry with him when he was just about to agree to help the stupid vampire. Heero got up in a rush and stormed out of the dorm room. Duo sat in his chair fuming for a few seconds before he stood up angrily and marched after Heero out the door.

"I'm not done with you yet." Duo muttered under his breath as he left the room and Quatre just looked over to his boyfriend to see if Trowa found this as amusing as he did.

"I think there's something going on between them. They could be really good for each other." Trowa said enigmatically.

"And which part told you that? Was it Heero actually yelling which he never does, Duo's increasing frustration with our little vampire friend, or maybe it was when both of them stormed out of here angry as hell with each other?" Quatre yelled still enraged by Heero's stubbornness. Trowa was a little shocked when Quatre swore but he couldn't help himself from thinking it was cute.

"It was more the fact that I've never seen Heero show any emotion to any one, let alone someone he's known for a day." Quatre sat and thought about his boyfriend's insight. Trowa was right Duo was definitely getting under Heero's skin like nothing ever had. Maybe Duo would turn out to be what they've been waiting for. Maybe he was Heero's chance at happiness.

"You know what else," Quatre said as he thought about the conversation that had just past between his roommate and best friend, "Heero said he couldn't control which thoughts he received from Duo. Heero has always been in complete control of all his power."

"I bet it's scaring him a little." Trowa said with a slight uneasiness to his voice, as though fear and Heero Yuy should never be mentioned in the same sentence. From what Trowa new of Heero, he wasn't sure if the boy even knew what fear felt like and that probably only added to Heero's confusion about the Duo Maxwell situation.

"Why do you think they can read each other's thoughts so clearly when it took us weeks to finally get so we could understand what the other was saying?" Quatre was pouting, he didn't want to but sometimes he couldn't control it. He knew how much he and Trowa were in love so why would the connection between Heero and Duo be stronger when they barely knew each other.

"I don't think it's stronger Quatre, I just think that there is a connection between them and that Heero is a very strong vampire. Whether Heero wants to believe it or not, they had connected on some level before he bit Duo. And I think that since Heero has so much power and it got transferred to Duo during the bite that their abilities are stronger than ours are." Quatre nodded his head. Trowa was right, Heero was a much stronger vampire than he was but Quatre felt sorry for his friend. Becoming such a strong being had come at such a high price and the boy had never even agreed to it in the first place. Quatre and Trowa were the only people on earth that knew Heero's truth. But despite how long they had known Heero, they had only once seen him yell and it wasn't for anything nearly as trivial as the things he was getting worked up over today. Maybe Duo was something really special.

Duo ran down the halls of the dorm, down flights of stairs and out onto the campus grounds where he found Heero Yuy sitting at the far end of the lawn under a large oak tree. He walked up slowly not sure what Heero's reaction to being followed would be, but the boy seemed more subdued than he had been in the room. Duo sat down next to him and there was a long silence before the braided boy finally couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry." Duo said though he wasn't sure if an apology was what Heero needed or a smack upside the head. "I thought I could help."

"You can't, you have no idea what you're getting into." Heero said coldly, Duo could sense Heero was deep in thought or, well, it felt more like memories.

"It sounds like you speak from experience." Duo responded, Heero just shrugged his shoulders never once looking at the violet eyed boy.

"Do you want to know what you're getting into? Do you want to know what I really am?" There was such a darkness in Heero's voice Duo was actually frightened, but it seemed Heero was finally ready to give him some real answers. Heero was so angry that Quatre was right, he did feel a connection to this boy and he felt cravings for him. But that shouldn't be. This pact was not supposed to be entered into unless the people involved had a very strong connection otherwise a thousand things could go wrong. But nothing had gone wrong and now Heero wasn't sure if he would be able to resist Duo. And with the long haired boy almost willingly accepting his fate how would Heero be able to stop himself from becoming what he hated most. A blood sucking leech for all eternity.

"Tell me." Duo said trying to hide any shakiness in his voice.

"I'll show you." Heero said and his voice had taken on a seductive note that Duo found very difficult to ignore. He could feel Heero getting closer to him but his body couldn't move. His mind was overwhelmed with thoughts about how he could trust Heero, open up to Heero, that Heero would never hurt him. Images began rolling through his mind. Heero and he were lying on the dorm bed Heero looked unconscious in the classic vampire pose. When Duo got close the vampire's eyes opened to that silvery blue and Duo paused for a moment before he couldn't resist leaning down and kissing Heero's softly firm lips. It felt amazing when the boy responded, Duo felt himself being pulled on top of Heero by strong but gentle hands. The kiss became passionate as tongues clashed and caressed. Duo could feel Heero's hands roaming over his body eliciting pleasure wherever they touched. They ran up his torso, under his shirt, down his back and all over again. Briefly the thought crossed his mind that the hands were cold before it was replaced by thoughts of how he wanted to give himself to the vampire, anything Heero wanted he could have. Duo arched into Heero's body and moaned when he felt Heero's fingers brush along the skin just above his pants. Then he heard chuckling and could feel Heero leaning next to his throat. The illusion vanished and Duo was back in the park with Heero's mouth pressed to his neck and the vampire was laughing at him. At least Heero didn't seem so tense anymore, but what did he think was funny.

"When you moaned like fifteen people looked over here." Heero spoke into Duo's neck and Duo blushed a nice tomato red. Duo couldn't believe he had moaned out loud, what had Heero done to him?

"Why are you kissing my neck?" Duo asked and if Heero were able to blush he probably would have done so too. He hadn't meant to stay leaning into him like this for so long, but he had been having his own battle with himself that he had been losing horribly. The craving Quatre had been right about was so strong whenever Duo got close to him that he had a hard time resisting biting the boy for just a quick taste.

"I'm not, I was showing you what a vampire is really like. We can get into your head and kill you before you have a chance to defend yourself." Heero spoke in a dark whisper.

"We're creatures of shadow and death and you do not want to be apart of this eternal hell." Duo stared at Heero in confusion it was almost like Heero was warning him. Like he was giving Duo a chance to back out, or maybe this was Heero's way of asking for Duo's help. Duo knew he wouldn't turn his back on the vampire. For some reason he felt like he had known Heero all his life, it probably had something to do with that whole essence exchange during the bite that Quatre was talking about. Whatever it was, he wanted to help the vampire to see that life didn't have to be hell.

"Well you are a little grouchy, but I guess I can deal with that." Duo chuckled, being outside in the light was making him feel better and he felt safe with Heero next to him.

"For eternity?" Heero asked and there was that note of hope in his voice that Duo was sure even Heero was unaware of.

"What do you mean?" Duo asked but he knew the answer would not affect his decision.

"As long as you are bound to me, you are as immortal as I am." Heero spoke and it seemed like he wanted to say more but held himself back. Duo thought about what Heero meant by that.

"Does that mean that if you die, I die as well?" Heero was silent for a long time after Duo's question but finally he nodded his head.

"That is why these pacts are not entered into lightly. Usually the people are in love and want to spend eternity together. They are fully aware of the consequences of what they are doing, because if they're not or if their bond is not as strong as they thought…" Heero paused unsure of how to continue.

"What do you mean if their bond isn't strong?" Duo asked. He wanted to know what the look on Heero's face meant.

"If they don't really love each other or the love is unrequited, or even if one of them just has doubts about eternity together, then things can go horribly wrong during the bonding." Heero's eyes were far away and the look his face brought back memories for Duo. He knew what it felt like to hurt the way Heero was hurting even if he didn't know the reasons behind Heero's pain he could sense it coming from the boy.

"But we didn't have any sort of connection and I feel fine." He wanted to distract Heero from his past and maybe even help him break free from, it had been hard but Duo had been able to put his past behind him.

"I can't explain that one, I guess we just got lucky." Duo choked a little at Heero's choice of words and he could feel Heero trying not to laugh.

"Think you're funny, huh? We need to work on this whole 'being able to read each other's thoughts all the time' situation. And how come I can't read your mind, I can only feel what you're feeling." Duo looked over and couldn't stop himself from staring at the handsome vampire's profile. The boy was beautiful wearing just regular jeans and white button down dress shirt with the sun highlighting his chocolate hair and deep blue eyes. Heero made a quick glance toward Duo trying to make it inconspicuous, but Duo caught it.

"I saw that, you're not even trying to block my thoughts are you?" Heero smirked, he had been trying all morning and failing. But Duo was right that time he hadn't even tried. "And you never answered my question." Duo gracefully changed subjects.

"I think I have an answer for that one." Heero seemed much more relaxed, Duo wasn't sure what had happened but Heero was opening up to him and that made Duo feel pretty good.

"Have you ever taken a physics course?" Heero asked and though Duo didn't understand what the question had to do with anything he nodded his head and Heero continued.

"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, or however you want to put it. I have the power to read minds and project thoughts, but I also have the power to block them too. I can, in a sense, hide my thoughts. It's sort of like putting a wall around them, but emotions are in a world of their own. Each one has it's own opposition. Hatred and love, joy and sorrow, I'm pretty good at masking them but blocking them completely just can't be done." Duo was surprised by the length of Heero's response. Maybe Heero had finally accepted his fate with Duo just like Duo had accepted his.

"Well I hope you two aren't having too much fun without us." Quatre's cheerful voice rang across the lawn and he and Trowa came to sit with them under the tree. "Oh this is much better than being crammed inside that stuffy dorm room." He took a deep breath just out of reflex. Duo smiled at his best friend and roommate.

"Hey how come you guys have reflections, and can go out in the sun and stuff like that?" Quatre laughed and even Heero snorted in amusement.

"Don't believe everything you read Duo." Trowa said with the faintest of smiles on his face.

"Well I didn't until you told me vampire's were real." Duo retorted quickly.

"Fair enough." Quatre said still smiling. "Well there is a little truth in those things, you see there are different races of vampires. We sort of classify each other based on strength and types of power. There are seven races in all I think. Most descend from one of the original victims of Dilluvia and then there's the race that's made of those who descended from Dilluvia himself." Quatre said and he looked deep in thought, apparently realizing how dissatisfactory his explanation had been.

"Well you see, the original vampire was called Dilluvia, or well that's what the scientists named him anyway. And he only turned a handful of his victims into vampires before he disappeared. There were seven in all. And with each one he transferred his power into them like Heero did to you only more permanently, he was a very strong vampire after all, had all kinds of incredible powers. Anyway with each victim he learned to hold back some of his power, so as you go down the line the races get weaker." Quatre finished and Duo just stared at him, the vampire race was certainly a confusing one.

"What do you mean scientists?" Duo asked. "I thought you had called it a curse?"

"Believe me it's a curse." Came Heero's dry response.

"Curse is the best word we have to describe it, because really it was a curse that created the vampire. The scientists just created the perfect vessel for the curse." Trowa added. It was obvious they were all trying their best to help Duo understand.

"It really started as a science experiment gone horribly wrong." Quatre continued.

"You see back in arcane times they were five men…"

"Five idiots." Heero interrupted.

"Anyway, this was back during the time when science and sorcery were one and the same. These five were obsessed with finding the secret to immortality." Quatre continued.

"In case you were wondering, they found it." Was Heero's bitterly sarcastic response.

"Duo, have you heard of the philosopher's stone." Quatre asked, and Duo wondered what made Heero so bitter about all this but Quatre seemed fine.

"Yeah I watched Harry Potter." Duo smiled and Quatre just shook his head.

"Well I guess that counts. So you know it magnifies alchemic power and produces an elixir of immortality." Duo looked confused but he half nodded.

"And these five nut jobs got their wrinkly old hands on it." Heero sneered.

"They found out how to create the elixir, but they also discovered that stone only produced enough potion for one person." Quatre continued on, happy that they had found a topic he knew a lot about, though not nearly as much as Heero but the dark haired vampire wasn't much of a talker.

"What they needed was a way to spread immortality as the stone created it." Trowa helped keep Quatre on track knowing that his boyfriend tended to go into lengthy descriptions if knew what he was talking about.

"So they got the bright idea that if they alchemically combined this stone with the heart of a man then the blood it pumped would become instant immortality." Heero's still bitter voice added.

"Which means they would just need chips of the stone to put in their own hearts and they would all be immortal." Quatre explained.

"Of course their too big of cowards to try it out on their own, so they found a test subject." Came Trowa's deep voice.

"Abducted." Was Heero's retort.

"They captured a man off the streets and from then on he was referred to as Dilluvia. They used advanced alchemic techniques to combine a portion of the stone with Dilluvia's heart, creating a living organ that pumped immortality." Quatre continued.

"But there was a side effect." Heero added with so much hatred in his voice, it hurt Duo to hear it.

"The heart could no longer replenish itself since all the blood eventually got transformed into the elixir. So they used a curse they had found in their search for immortality that had never been tested before, it forced the victim to survive by drinking the blood of others. It didn't give immortality though, the person would eventually die of old age but when combined with the immortal heart experiment it was the perfect solution. So the first known vampire was born, Dilluvia." Quatre took a breath, even he got tired if spoke for too long and he had been doing a lot of explaining.

"And from him came all the different races." Duo added, trying to seem like he understood what Quatre was telling him.

"Exactly, and those who descend directly from him are known as Dilluvians. Heero was his first victim." Quatre said and Heero shot him a cold glare. Duo caught the look in Heero's eye and didn't like the fact that he was hiding things. He knew Heero could tell he didn't like it too, there was a hint of guilt when he looked away from Quatre and caught Duo's eye.

"Was I not supposed to say that?" Quatre asked innocently.

"No it's alright, I'll explain." Heero said in a rather subdued monotone. "I met Dilluvia when he came to seek training from my master, Kyoji-sensei. He was a good student and a great sparring partner. We became something akin to friends since we trained so much together, he had such an unbelievable strength and he never seemed to tire. He invited me to his private quarters late at night for a special training session and to explain why he was so strong. He said I could be that strong too. I was young and just wanted to be stronger so I could…Well anyway, it wasn't long before he had me under his control and the next thing I knew II woke up and he was telling me my fate while he forced me to drink blood from his palm." Heero paused to look at Duo, he was unsure of what the boy's reaction would be and when he saw understanding in those violet eyes he couldn't stop the flutter in his chest. There wasn't pity or disappointment, and what gave Heero's heart a jump was that the boy wasn't judging him. Not once through this whole ordeal had Duo judged him for anything he had done. There was something very …unique about this young man. Heero just wished he could pinpoint exactly what this feeling was he had about the boy.

"So you had no choice, your fate was just dealt to you." Duo's solemn words and distant voice struck home with Heero. They had been brought into this curse the same way. Duo hadn't had a choice either, and both of them had had no idea about what was happening to them. There was a difference though, Duo hadn't and wouldn't ever be forced to kill to survive. Heero saw Duo's eyes flutter over to him when he thought this but they darted away quickly. Perhaps there was more to Duo than Heero had thought. Maybe their lives weren't so different after all. Maybe Duo could…it didn't matter either way he still wasn't going to bite the boy there was just too much of a risk.

"So how come you guys are immortal if you don't have a stone?" Duo asked trying to redirect the conversation. He didn't want his past to come into this he just wasn't ready to talk about all the terrible and strange things that he had done without even knowing it.

"It was some kind of interaction between the alchemy and the curse, now it moves more like a disease. They succeeded in spreading immortality even better than they had predicted." Quatre said, glad they had gotten off the subject of Heero so he could answer Duo without fear of saying something Heero didn't want him to.

"So is there a way to stop it?" Duo asked without thinking about it. 'Of course not' he chided himself, 'if there were a way to stop it would Heero be trying to find a way to kill himself you idiot!' Duo noticed that everyone had been silent for a moment.

"We don't want to believe it, but no there isn't a way to cure it." Quatre said with more sorrow on his voice than Duo had heard coming from the happy blonde.

"No one knows for sure." Trowa added as though he was trying to console his lover, but it didn't seem that he even believed what he said. There was a pause then Heero's monotone broke the silence with a low whisper.

"There may be." Heero's voice sounded just as despondent as Trowa's, it was obvious he didn't really think it could be done either. It seemed that this information was new to everyone though, because when Duo looked around they were all staring at Heero in the same way he had been looking at all of them through this whole discussion. Confused, shocked and disbelieving.

"You never told us that." Quatre sounded a little hurt but much more surprised.

"There's a prophecy that was made the day Dilluvia disappeared from this world. It was first spoken in han'nuk, the vampire language, and the translation into English gets a little fuzzy." Heero said, but he was seemed hesitant in telling them all this.

"What does it say?" Quatre asked, so Heero reluctantly recited what Dilluvia had told him before he had disappeared.

"Chianu e' kengre lun jikora.

Rie'te Sutre 'ra yuscuru.

Nie awadne 'ra gaie e' tie.

Hinan di chanuk namai.

Le' gaie lun espri ani li'.

'Ra sero tui tae'ru nien.

Saina' li' gana indai.

Rin'nan denra nir ina hidor.

Gaie sutre amai wanae.

'Ye re'to tabin.

Nir suta rega amai lun jikora."

"What does it mean?" Duo asked, everyone else seemed to be contemplating the significance of what they had heard but Duo had no clue whatthe boy had justsaid. Heero's icy depths fixed on the longhaired boy.

"Bound by blood and time.

Great King of Shadows.

No spark of life within thee.

Condemned to loveless night.

Though life and spirit be one.

Of them thou have not.

Take head the purple rose.

For its light will only burn.

Life's great love lost

But found again

Will let flow love and time."

"Oh that clears everything up." Duo added sarcastically, but everyone else seemed grave and contemplative.

"Why didn't you tell us before Heero?" Quatre looked hurt, but Duo could see that the young blonde, for some reason, made allowances for Heero's secrets. Probably because the vampire was so old that Quatre just respected his judgment.

"It's impossible to decipher. I didn't want to give you false hope, but since we're laying everything out for Duo I figured now was as good a time as any to tell you."

"Well let's try to figure it out. The purple rose is obviously the stone." Quatre said with a brighter disposition than he had just a moment ago.

"Why's that?" Duo asked, none of what had been going today had really made sense to him, but this time he was totally lost.

"Because the stone has a maroon-purple tint to it and emits light when it's being used that has a purplish hue." Quatre said, again as though he had read it in a textbook or something. That was the difference between Quatre's explanations and Heero's. Quatre was obviously reciting things that he had heard, but Heero spoke from memory.

"Just stop Quatre, thousands have tried for over a thousand years. We aren't going to solve it in one afternoon." Quatre's head sagged and he seemed to take a great interest in the grass he was sitting on. Trowa looked over to his blonde love.

"So what do we do now? I think we've had enough of this, don't you?" Trowa asked but it didn't really sound like a question. "I'm taking Quatre back, you two can do what you want." Trowa seemed a little angry at Heero's harsh words, but Heero didn't respond he didn't even look at the couple as they walked away. Duo did watch them leave, he wasn't sure if he wanted to run and leave with them or stay here with Heero. Trowa seemed like he wanted to be alone with Quatre though, so Duo was stuck. He idly wondered how long they had been talking, it didn't seem like very long but the sun was high in the sky and burning hot. He looked at his watch and saw that it was close to three o' clock in the afternoon.

"Oh shit." Duo yelled. "My afternoon shift starts in ten minutes! I have to get to Howard's like now!" Duo jumped off the ground brushing dirt off his butt and straightening his shirt.

"Sorry I have to go now." Duo said quickly before racing off to grab his clothes for his night shift before he had to race to off to the bar. He ran wildly across the lawns to his dorm room hoping that Trowa had taken Quatre back to his room so he wouldn't be interrupting anything.

Heero watched him run the whole way, he wasn't sure but he thought he might feel disappointed that the boy was leaving. It felt strange to almost have emotions again. It had been so long that he couldn't even recognize them anymore. He was a soulless monster he shouldn't be allowed to feel anything but this boy was bringing back what a thousand of years of hell had killed off. Heero took a deep breath out of habit and closed his eyes relaxing against the trunk of the tree. He lay there for the rest of the afternoon just trying to feel the sun on his skin, he was shocked to find that he could feel a little warmth. Was it all because Duo's blood ran through his veins?

"Who are you Duo Maxwell, and what have you done to me?"


So that's the setup, kind of, well it's the basic info anyway naturally there are a few twists that I left out. So any questions? comments? Hmm, I usually get to talk about a song or song title I used in my other story. I don't think Blood Red Sun is the title of anything, I could be wrong though. Maybe I should have used Black Hole Sun, but that would ruin the blood theme.Damn I guess I'm actually being kind of original with my titles... weird.Okay, I guess I'm done blabbering on for this chapter. Ahh, that makes me sad. Hey I could tell you guys how in my family a bake sale is the omen of death. No? Alright I guess I'm done then. Hey you in the back, stop clapping for joythat's just mean.