Chapter Three

Just Who Are You?

"I don't know why I'm what I am. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know if I even belong in this world. I...I just don't know..."

Even time passed. Orange began to fade into blue as moonlight inched over the horizon. Night was upon us. But the length of time I sat in that room felt like an eternity. Time had began crawling on it's knees, almost slowing to a complete stop. Even if you never experiance it, waiting for death can bring time to a grinding halt.

My pulse was racing every second of that night. I can't exactly remember how long I waited, everything was happening too slow for me to remember anything.

"I can't believe G.U.N. would stoop so low..." my rage towards G.U.N. at the time was silent, but immense. Everything they had told me up to now made no more sense to me. They say we protect the people. "They" say we are the guardians of this contenint. "They" are the one's that rained bullets down upon her, then left her to die.

Well I wasn't about to let them get away with it...

"I hope she pulls through..."

I didn't care how many people she killed, that didn't justify being killed herself. Good thing I found her in time, huh?

To this day I count myself lucky I took G.U.N.'s courses on tending wounds, otherwise Dusk would be dead. I know some of you will say I'm crazy, but I can't sleep knowing I could've been the weight-shift on the balance of life and death. If she'd been out there much longer, that pompus Commander would've gotten his wish.

So I waited. After dressing her wounds, I brought her back to the condo, and put her in the guest bedroom. Shadow was still asleep, but at the time I feared what he would have to say about it. Shadow wasn't on the same level as I was. He was one to put the law before personal attatchment to the perpetrator. Luckily, he hadn't shown any intrest in the room all day, so Dusk was kept a secret. But it wasn't the worst of my troubles. First I had to see if she was actually still alive.

Dusk's breathing was faint, barely noticable. Tension mounted with each passing minute. Praying seemed to work for her. I thought, why not try it, "I don't even know who you are girl. But I'm not going to let you die. Please...please stay with me..."

Whatever it was, God, luck, or pure coincidence, I had a lot to be thankful for once I saw Dusk stir in her sleep. I gasped happily, "Come on, come on..." I whispered to myself. Her body began to move even more, she even made a few strained grunts, like she was having a nightmare.

With one last strain of moans, I saw her eyes slowly begin to creak open, no longer devoid of color. I silently thanked whatever was responsible for giving this poor girl a second chance at life.

"Unghh..." she moaned, blinking her eyes several times to adjust to the light. She began to try and push herself up, her arms quivering from lack of energy. I moved over to the side of her bed and nudged ber back down.

"Easy girl. You lost a lotta' blood. You shouldn't be moving." I told her. As soon as I said these words, her eyes shot open, she looked ready to panic. But, she quickly calmed down, no longer suprised.

"Figures. It must be pretty easy to catch a criminal when they're pumped full of lead. Where's that pompus leader of yours? Why am I still alive?" she asked. It was obvious to me that she believed she was taken in by G.U.N. I couldn't help but smile.

"You've obviously got me pegged wrong." I said, getting up and moving to the edge of the room, "You're not in jail. I just found you in the forest, dead from the neck-up. Lucky for you, I know how to treat wounds."

In truth, I had expected a thank you, but what I got was, "Hmm. Well...some mistake you made." she said, flipping over in her bed. What a rude little girl she was!

"Uh...I don't wanna sound rude...but, uh...I didn't have to help you." I said, trying to hide the anger in my voice.

"Well, you probably shouldn't have. It would probably be in your best intrest to keep away from me. Why did you help me? I can already tell you that you're not going to get any thank you's outta me. Just so you know."

I scoffed with my hands on my hips, "Well now, I don't have to let you stay here! Maybe I should just kick you out right now!"

What Dusk did next suprised me. She got off the bed and asked, "Fine. Where are my clothes? I'll leave right now!" I had removed her vest to bandage the bullet wounds. At first, I was too suprised to say anything else. Dusk began wearily scanning the room for her clothes. I shook my head to regain my senses.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. I, uh, th--" I couldn't think of what to ask after that. Dusk stood there, looking at me like I was an idiot, "Uh, are you...trying to leave?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she retorted, continuing the search for her clothes, "I got shot, but now I'm all better. Tell me where my vest is and I can get outta your hair. I don't wanna waste any more of your time." her voice began to pracicaly drip sarcasm. Apparently she believed this was one of those "I don't like you, and you don't like me" moments. I intended to prove her otherwise.

I moved over to her, "Look, I didn't really mean you should leave. But, you were shot a few times, I brought you back here, kept you from dying. I just thought you'd be greatful."

"Well, we learn something new every day, don't we? I'm no angel. And while I guess I appreciate what you did, you're gonna be in some pretty big trouble if you're caught with me." she said.

"It's about the murders, isn't it?" I remarked. Dusk froze without even turning to me.

"How did you know that?" she asked, suprisingly oblivious to the fact that she'd just asked me why she wasn't in jail. I giggled a bit.

"You did just ask me where my Commander was. You don't hide your agenda very well, what else would you be wanted for? Anything I should know about?" I said, smirking devilishly. Dusk ears twitched to this question.

She turned, the expression on her face saying she had come to a realization, "You're with the police, aren't you?" I nodded. Her eyes looked away from me, "So why am I here, and not in prison? You'd get some major creds by turning me in. But I'd assume you knew that?"

I nodded again, "Under regular circumstances, I would've, but I do have a few questions that I wouldn't get answers to with you locked away in solitary."

"Hmm, you're pretty trusting, keeping a serial killer in your house. That's pretty dangerous you know." Dusk said, folding her arms with a smirk as cocky as mine.

"You're too over-confident to even consider murdering us. I can read people." We both "Hmm"ed to my statement, "My first question is, why are you still here? If I were you, I'd be panicing. I just said I wanted answers, I never said I'd let you go free."

Dusk shut her eyes, as if to mock me, "I can read people too. You patched me up when you could've let the infirmary do that. You've got some reason for bringing me back here."

"Well...I..." I hesitated in my next answer. The truth would most likely get her laughing, but I couldn't think of any convincing lies, "C'mon, you're just a kid. I couldn't let you die." my voice was soft in tone, almost sad in a way bringing up the fact that she almost died. Dusk paused, expressionless, until her cheeks faded to red, "Go ahead..." I put simply. Dusk let out a raccous laughing fit.

"That's rich." she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I'm serious!" I was getting fed up with this girl's attitude, "Kids shouldn't die at such a young age! If I hadn't brought you back here, you'd be decomposing right now! What are you? Ten?"

"Twelve, idiot." she insulted. I gasped, "Listen, I appreciate you helping me, " she held her hand out,", but I gotta go, so just give me my vest and I'll leave." With a sigh, I turned to the dresser behind me, and rummaged around the contents of the top drawer. I picked up her grey vest and gave it to her, "Here."

"Thanks." she muttered as she put it back on. Waving her hand to replace a goodbye, she trudged on over to the door.

Before she left, I said, "Just answer one last question..." She sighed an annoyed sigh and turned, "...I know this isn't the real you." Her eyes opened to that one, "I saw you...at the lake. You attacked that little rabbit. And when her mother came along, I saw you apologize. You looked like you were ready to cry..." I paused and looked up at her with serious eyes, "So tell me...who are you...really?"

Dusk immedietly lost that glaze of attitude, and looked shamefully at the ground, "You...you saw that, huh?" she shut the door and sat back down, "Not exactly my proudest moment, so I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret anymore..."

"Please...tell me she's not dead..." my voice began to quiver. Dusk's ears lowered.

"I...I don't know. She might be, she might not. I can't really say." she said. At this point, a swell of anger welled up in me. I stood, folded my arms, and looked down at her with the sternest face I could make to prove how serious I was.

"Then tell me this." Dusk looked up, "What exactly did you do?"

-----------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere in the city, the scribbling of a pen could be heard in one of the many offices of G.U.N. building. Illuminated under a small desk lamp, page after page of notes were sprawled across the desk, with a hand still writing on one of them, "This is odd. You think someone would've found that girl's body by now."

The Commander's thoughts on the previous night's situation were mixed, to say the least. Multiple consequences of the shooting buzzed around in his head, paranoia being at the end of each one. The Commander believed he was above the law, and could get away with it, but he'd need away to cover it up. The first step being finding Dusk's body.

Three knocks came upon his door. "Come in." he said. A young soldier stepped in, several reports in his hand. His knees seemed to be shaking, as did his voice.

"S-s-sir? We searched the forest all night...b-but...the girl...she's gone." he stammered, obviously afraid of the Commander's hot-tempered reaction.

"What?!" his head whipped to the soldier as he slammed his fist on his desk, "That's impossible! There was no way she could've survived! Are you sure?!"

"Y-yes! We searched every inch of that forest in a ten-mile-radius. We followed the blood trail, and even followed the hounds! But we turned up nothing! I'm so sorry sir, please don't kill me!" he explained rather quickly, fear of death dripping from his voice.

The Commander's eyes instantly sparked, "Dammit!" The soldier began to whimper, again, in fear of being mauled by the Commander's fists. The Commander stood and faced the soldier, "Issue this command to the troops! She's got to be somewhere, her body couldn't have disappeared. She must still be alive. Search this entire city, and don't come back until you do!"

"Y-yes sir!" the soldier saluted, and darted out of the room. The Commander slammed his fist down again.

"I won't be denied this. You're too big a catch, girl."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"Tell me, what did you do to her?" I asked once more. Dusk hesitated in her answer.

"I...I...I won't tell you! You wouldn't believe me!" she shouted. In my line of work, you see a lot of sick stuff, and I doubt anything she could've said would suprise me.

I put my foot down, "Listen, I'm not going to be as soft as I was a few minutes ago! Tell me what you did, you're not leaving until you do!" Dusk was apparently a very secritive person. When she said she wouldn't tell me, she ment it. I noticed her eyes peer over to the window. In a split second action, Dusk turned, and bolted across the room with incredible speed, "Hey!"

Realizing that she had no time to open the window with me in the room, Dusk pulled a bold stunt, and dived, shoulder-first through the glass, and out onto the fire escape. She quickly brushed off the reamnants of the glass off her shoulders, and continued running. I quickly gave chase, careful to step over what remained of the window. Looking over the edge, I noticed that Dusk was already halfway down the fire escape, "Damn! This girl is fast!" Then I remembered, I was a bat, and could fly.

I hopped off the front and caught wind with my wings, floating down to Dusk's level. When she saw me, still moving, she said, "Oh, you can fly. Whoopdee-friggin'-doo!" Showing outstanding levels of agility, Dusk slid down to level after level on the fire escape. I would need perfect timing if I was gonna grab her, otherwise I would end up smashing my face on the steps.

Five floors left. If I tried to grab Dusk as she was going down a level, I would miss. Four levels left. I had to grab her just as she was emerging from the bottom of the level above her. Three levels left, "Now!" I pushed my wings back as hard as I could, and charged at her, arms out. Before she could even blink, she was pinned. Keeping her from struggling proved difficult. She flailed and squirmed, but I kept my hold.

"Ahh! Lemme go!" she screamed.

"No! Did you really think I would let you go that easy? As nice as I was to patch you up, I haven't forgotten about the murders!" I wrapped my arms around her waist, and flew us up back to my floor. I was sure to maintain a firm grip, or else she would fall to serious injury.

I carefully lead us back into the room, and threw her to the floor, "Now, I believe I asked you a question! You're not leaving this building until I know the answer! And I've got more than one! My first question being--" I burned into her eyes.

"--Dusk Alucard, just who are you?!"

end chapter three