Bite Me
Chapter 2: Fangs Revealed
AC 201. 17. June
0145 hours [1:45 am]
Earth - Sanc Kingdom
"Good evening. Tonight we bring you breaking news as vampire activists celebrate the official passing of the L5 Civil Rights Act. With this new legislation, L5-C carriers, or 'vampires,' will now live under equal civil law as citizens of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. By law, segregation and discrimination of vampires living legally within the ESUN will be considered a criminal offense. Backers of the bill include Vice Foreign Minister and know pacifist, Relena Peacecraft and Winner Corp CEO, Quatre Raberba Winner. At this time no one can be sure whether this will effect their positions within the Earth Sphere. In other news..."
Twenty-one year old Duo Maxwell twiddled with the end of his braid and tapped his black booted foot against the marble floor anxiously, his muscles in constant need of motion. Reaching up he scratched the back of his head and turned to look up at the dark eyed man leaning against the wall next to him. In sharp comparison to his own devil-may-care style, the other Preventer's shoulder-length hair was slicked back into a tight tail at the nape of his neck, his uniform pressed and wrinkle free, no sign of sleep deprivation lining his keen features.
Duo chewed at the corner of his lip. "Can you believe this?"
Chang Wufei did not remove his vision from the wall monitor, watching an overly syndicated clip of an over-analyzed speech given by a Winner Corp representative, uninterested in Duo's comment.
"Hmm," was his only reply.
Duo's eyes rolled, nearly getting stuck at the impossible angle. "You're real talkative tonight."
"As always, Maxwell." Wufei's vision still didn't leave the screen, but there was a strange glint in his eyes that a stranger might have perceived as amusement.
Wufei was the only Preventer on Relena's staff that volunteered for every and all night shifts. In fact, for whatever reason, they were the only hours he ever worked. He'd muttered once about an insomnia driven reversed sleep cycle, which Duo could understand but did not wholly believe.
Somewhere in the time after an ESUN leadership conference on L4-X0249, Chang Wufei had been contracted to join Relena's security team. Duo knew of the causation behind this, but during that time he'd been in and out of so many debriefings and laid his head on countless psychiatric couches that he often found his mind blanking when he thought about it too much. What little memories he had were painful enough to be kept in a locked box in the recesses of his mind only to surface when least opportune. Therein lied his comprehension of Wufei's supposed insomnia.
Since his sudden transfer, Hilde, Duo, and several other operatives took turns rotating the second guard position for the midnight hours. Over the years Duo had learned to dread his shifts with the less than entertaining Wufei. It made him think too much about the time they'd spent together, often in silence, within a dark and claustrophobic cell during the war.
"Vampires," Duo muttered under his breath, shaking his head incredulously.
Wufei tilted his head towards his braided compatriot, interest apparently peaked. "You don't believe in equal rights for L5-C carriers?"
Duo shifted uncomfortably. "No, that's not it. I just...it's weird. I always think of vampires as legends and scary stories. You know, Dracula and all that crap. Now they're coming out- 'integrating themselves into society.'" He raised his fingers to form air quotes. "Every convenience store and bar in the Earth Sphere sells that Synthetic Blood stuff. It's just a lot to take in. Up until a few months ago I didn't even know vampires existed. In all honesty it's sort of creepy."
Wufei gave Duo a pointed look. "I've heard that Syn isn't so bad," he said in a monotone voice referring to the new Synthetic Blood vampires supposedly drank instead of human blood. The way Wufei stated this made Duo's lips twitch nervously because the Chinese man's humor was so dry and nonexistent one was never sure if he was kidding or serious.
"Don't mess around, 'Fei." Duo swallowed. "You can't tell me it's not a little messed up to think that there's a drink out there that artificializes human blood."
"I don't think 'artificialize' is a word."
Duo glared. "Whatever," he muttered, rubbing a palm over his mouth. "And since when are you so interested in vampires, huh?"
Wufei gave a quiet shrug and returned his attention back to the late night news program.
The conversation clearly over, Duo's gaze wandered to one of the security room's elegant windows bordered with stained glass. The night was calm and he could nearly count the moon's individual rays hitting the mansion's garden walkway. He studied a group of cherry blossom trees sadly, remembering the day he and Heero had planted them for Relena's birthday right before his Preventer partner had-
He shook his head, clearing his mind of memories he was annoyed at himself for bringing up. That little locked box sure had a way of taunting its contents in regards to the- disappearance.
And that's what Duo insisted on, referring to it as a 'disappearance,' no matter how many times Preventer had come up empty. Heero couldn't be killed during the war, even after self-destructing his damned Gundam, so why would that be any different now? Three years and counting, he would never succumb to the idea that his ex-partner wasn't alive and kicking somewhere within the ESUN.
But the retched remembrance was interrupted as his vision picked up a movement from outside. There was a rustling in the cherry blossom trees he had been admiring moments before. His eyes squinted suspiciously. It wasn't a movement caused by a natural force, it was too perfect with no breaks, like something swift knifing between the tree's branches with a direct purpose.
Duo felt a strange tingle run through his bones and couldn't help but jump when Wufei yelled over his shoulder. "Maxwell! Schbeiker's here to cover the rest of the shift."
The braided man took a steadying breath and turned to be met by Hilde's warm smile, but as soon as she saw his pale face her expression turned to one of worry. She was always worrying about him. "Duo, are you alright?"
Duo blinked and finally focused back into reality. "What?"
"You look like you just saw a ghost," Hilde replied with a light chuckle. "You okay?"
No, he was not okay. When was the last time he was really? He often found solace in the numbness of alcohol and snubbed offers for activities outside of work with Hilde or Quatre when he was able to visit Sanc. The night-terrors were back, but still he hadn't slept well in years, so it's not like that made much of a difference anyways. No, he was definitely not okay.
"Oh. I'm fine, Hild. Just tired, I guess," he told her with a reassuring grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
She nodded and patted his chest affectionately. "Get some sleep then. We'll hold down the fort."
Her eyes twinkled with concern, but Duo didn't really want to wait around and chat about his anxious appearance anymore. So with a casual salute he walked the length of the small room and exited into the Peacecraft Mansion's main corridor.
He walked briskly down the hallway, boots clipping along the black and white hexagonal tiles, echoing throughout the silent building. He wiped at an imaginary feeling at the nape of his neck and chastised himself for overreacting. It's all this vampire bullshit, it's getting to my head, he thought angrily.
He swiped the security card hanging from a retractable lanyard clipped to his belt and ripped open one of the mansion's gold-gilded front doors. A blast of warm night air hit him in the face, the fresh breeze calming his senses immediately. That was a wonderful thing about working on Earth, if nothing else, the colonies didn't have anything on a June evening in Sanc.
Duo shook his head and grinned to himself as he headed towards a quad of Preventer dorms situated just off the Peacecraft main grounds. I'm overreacting. I just need some sleep like Hilde said.
He made his way past the skeleton of a bronze fountain in the likeness of a large wolf-like creature, its chest spanning at least three feet in diameter. Its front legs stood firmly atop recycled pieces of miscellaneous armor from a Leo mobile suit. Duo stared up into the animal's angular face, the sculpture offering up a modernized version of the beast, it's tarnished green eyes staring into the space just over his head ominously.
The water was always turned off when he ventured past it after any graveyard shift, though he could still imagine the aqua liquid bubbling from beneath its claws in a noisy stream down the oddly artistic remnants of a deadly war near forgotten.
The lack of flowing water had something to do with conservation and Sanc becoming a more 'green' nation, according to the ever idealistic Relena Darlian-Peacecraft.
Heading down the flagstone driveway towards the mansion's impossibly secure and matching tarnished bronze gate, Duo had almost forgotten his earlier concerns.
His fingers reached into the pocket of his Preventer jacket, playing at the thin chain he found, fumbling until he reached the pendant he was searching for. He gripped the small cross usually found around his neck, but hesitated, almost as if he could suddenly feel the set of knowing eyes upon his back.
"Duo Maxwell."
His ears pricked at the low voice and he stopped in his tracks. Duo shuttered, his hand going straight to his gun only to realize that he'd left it in the security room of the mansion. Out of boredom he'd cleaned it and then carelessly forgotten to put it back in his holster. It was not a usual thing, in fact he only ever found himself without a firearm when in the shower because really, where was he going to keep it in there? Mentally he blamed Wufei, for without his lack of social inclination, Duo would have never been so stupidly bored.
Within seconds his adrenaline kicked in and he'd pulled a knife from his ankle sheath and spun, his eyes wide, his body ready for attack. "Who-" he paused, his breath momentarily lost. Now he truly must have lost his mind, there was no doubt about it, night-terrors be damned, nothing would ever trump this moment.
"H-Heero?"
Heero Yuy stood several feet from Duo's now stunned form. His skin was so ashen the moon's rays seemed to radiate off of him, creating a white aura around his features. Dark eyes sparkled ominously as he gazed at Duo, an affectionate sadness apparent in their hollow depths. He held dark rings under each orb, his muscles still prominent, but appearing as nothing more than sinewy meant clinging to bone beneath his skin. He appeared, for all intents and purposes, to be a dead man walking.
"Duo," he whispered in response.
Duo's words caught in his throat as he stared open mouthed at the man before him. "What the hell- you're supposed to be- to be- dead."
Heero frowned. "I can explain, but first you must promise me something."
Duo swallowed before answering, his voice barely audible, the gravity of the situation weighing at his tongue. "What?"
Heero's face tightened. "That you won't be afraid- of me."
"Why would I be afraid of you?" Duo's brows furrowed as his lips twitched for a brief moment. His eyes traveled over the man's ghostly form as if searching for the answer there.
Heero took a step forward, his every muscle movement visible beneath translucent appearing skin. He opened his mouth a fraction of an inch revealing a set of perfect white teeth.
"Because of this." With a soft snap a set of fangs sank down where his canines were seconds before.
He'd expected it somehow, seen images of it on the news how many times over, but still Duo's impulses took over and his body moved swiftly.
"No!" he yelled as his knife hand sailed a steady arc towards the apparition's neck.
But in fact the being was more real than he could have ever imagine. In one fluid motion the tables had turned. Without a drop of hesitance Heero brought his fingers up faster than humanly possible and grabbed the knife's blade, the steel bending in his grip.
Before Duo could even think about what had happened he felt his whole body being wrenched around and heaved backwards. His right wrist was pulled tight against his back and an ice cold arm snaked around his neck.
"I need you to be calm and rational," Heero whispered in his ear.
Duo's breathing elevated and his eyes were wide with shock. "When have you ever known me to be rational?" he gasped out.
There was no response and after several palpable beats of his own racing heart he prompted. "Heero?"
"I need to tell you something. But, I need you to stay calm. Okay?" Heero finally answered, calm and direct.
There was a moment when he wasn't sure what to do, but there seemed no other plausible thing to do other than nod in understanding. So his head bobbed twice and Heero loosened his grip though Duo could tell no matter how hard he fought he would still never win against this new force.
He knew exactly what Heero needed to tell him, it was frighteningly obvious, but he let his captor continue uninterrupted.
Heero's lips, and then his fangs, grazed against Duo's ear sending a shiver through both of their bodies. He paused as if rethinking, but then the words flowed outward.
"You're right. I am dead."
