ReVengeful Heart
Chapter 11
Enjoy
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"Sister?" asked Duo incredulously. "Sunshine, you're a vampire what'd your mom do? Win the genetic lottery?"
Zechs smiled, but there still remained a dark, unhappy chill exuding from him. "No one knows the story of the Origins, no one except I, and my sister."
"The princess aint old enough to know the 'Origins,'" persisted Duo "Hell, I'm older than she is."
Zechs shook his head, looking side long at both Heero and Wufei. "I have not the time for this venture. It is best if you make your friend stop questioning me so I can decide whether it is exile or execution that I send you."
Serena's face paled, exile or execution? What was going on and why did they even come here in the first place if they weren't welcome? Also, the Origins? No one knew about the Origins, not even the founders of Silver Alliance had known how the Unnatural's had came into being. Did this vampire really claim to know about the Origins, and to be part of it?
Wufei stepped forward a little, rolling his eyes to Heero, who just turned a stoic face in the opposite direction. Lord Zechs crossed the room and sat at a carefully crafted desk, which was piled high with papers. He gave the papers a disparaging look and focused his seemingly deteriorating interest on the Chinese vampire.
"No one in this room is of high enough rank to know about the Origins," Wufei began, glaring at the room. "And we have not the time anyway. All you need to know is that Lord Zechs (Zechs bowed his head slightly) and his sister, Princess Relena of the Lycans, are the originals, they have been called many different names, but they have been in existence, since history itself."
Uranus glowered at the Chinese man, "How is this man," she gave the word a disdainful splutter "To help us if our enemy is his sister, apparently the strongest of the wolves? Did you mean to have us killed by bringing us here?"
"Of course not," said Heero, not giving anymore information he smirked at Uranus, turning her glare away from him. The room's temperature lowered even more.
"Really, Lord Yuy?" said Zechs looking up at him "What makes you think that I will support you. You are all traitors to the rulers of your races."
"Zechs," said Heero, monotone voiced and pleasantries lacking "You would have killed us the moment you entered that doorway. I know that Wufei must have told you what Relena is after, and I believe that you were simply trying to obtain additional information from us, in one way or another."
Zechs looked at him quite levelly. "You know that I can kill all in this room with nary a thought?" It was almost rhetorical.
Wufei stepped in front of Heero, the rest of the room remaining silent, though Serena urged to scream out in frustration. She wanted to know what was to become of her and her friends. Wufei waved his hand in an odd flat motion across his body, seemingly signaling something to Zechs.
"We know this," he said "At least the vampires of this room understand that you could make the blood and venom flee our bodies, and our trapped souls run themselves to hell. We know that you can kill us…Milliardo."
Zechs stood and sighed "I would never kill you, Wufei."
There was very little emotion in the exchange; however it was apparent that his words rang truth. Wufei's melodramatic declaration certainly had several of the humans on edge; however they weren't the only ones. Trowa felt the hair on the back of his neck stiffen, and he circled his arm fully around Quatre's waist.
"Milliardo?" Mina mouthed to Duo. Duo simple shrugged in response, his attention returning to the three vampires in the center of the room. The majority of the rest of the group was glancing at him, and the others, in confusion of the name as well.
"You are correct however," Zechs shrugged, he seemed a master of vampire stoicism. "So, Yuy, my sister wants to make a child capable of both the genetics of a vampire and the genetics of a lycan with your DNA?"
"It appears so," Heero replied, nodding his head in a slightly low bow "DNA which she managed to capture when we were forced to flee my property, it heightens our urgency."
"She always did form unhealthy obsessions," Zechs commented, but otherwise seemed to fall silent. He lolled his head around a little as if he had been worked hard, and was strained. Neptune studied him.
"Otto," Zechs called in little more than a speaking level voice. Immediate one of the large panels of oak opened from the wall and a silent vampire sentry stepped out. Serena's breath heaved up. So he intended to kill them? Well if he wanted to kill her friends and allies then he had best be prepared for a fight. She tensed in fearful anticipation.
"Otto," Zechs said again "Refreshments please."
The vampire nodded and stepped back within the wall, into the secret passage within, and then out of sight. Trowa and Duo both drew in a deep breath; however they could detect no scent of the vampire further than where he had stepped into the room. Their senses offered them no indication that there could be anyone beyond the walls of the room. It was interesting that there were secret passages to begin with, but spelled ones with barriers were even more interesting.
"Heero," Zechs began, dropping the hierarchical pretenses of Heero's name for the first time, and directing his statement to the room in general. "And Wufei are confident that I will assist with this venture. They are correct."
Serena let out a breath of relief that she hadn't wanted to chance when she saw the sentry step back within the wall. She couldn't help but feel nervous about her Silver Alliance teammates; she feared that at any moment they could leap into violent action against the Unnaturals that surrounded them. She didn't think that they were as vested into this as she was, or, she said to herself, maybe they were now that they had had to battle?
"However," Zechs continued "I have been aware of my sister's deteriorating mental condition for some time, she is no longer the leader of the bloodline that is so like and different from my own. It is for the good of the Unnatural species and for the humans that she be removed from power, especially after you revealed her plans to me, Wufei. Her research must be destroyed, and this issue monitored afterwards."
"Yo," said Duo, he shook his hand towards Zechs' line of sight, Zechs' intense stare burrowing itself into the other corner of the room. "How're we supposed to do this with eleven people? The princess can drop Tro', Mina, and I in seconds, she'd know where we are now if not for Wufei's vamp voodoo."
Zechs didn't look very offended at Duo's lack of respect or political nature that was prevalent in vampire dealings, he simply answered the question. "We will have my forces, obviously. Every vampire in this compound will aid us willingly, thus is their devotion to me. As well as the fact that I am the older sibling, I can help the lycanthropic disabilities."
Duo whistled and nodded. Zechs did become less statue like and turn himself back to face Heero and Wufei, still standing almost unmoving in their previous positions. "Wufei mentioned these humans, and why they travel with you, unharmed by you, however…what are their intentions?"
"Our intentions?" asked Neptune softly, she didn't sound insolent, simply sincere to the conversation "I would have thought they were obvious?"
Zechs gave a half nod, rolling his shoulders. "I have known of the Silver Alliance actions since the group's creation; however it has always been obvious that the Alliance's intentions are never what are initially declared."
The Silver Alliance members flinched; Pluto's recent less than noble actions were all too fresh on their mind. Uranus opened her mouth angrily, but Serena cut her off. "I can assure you, Lord Zechs," she said "That of the four (she said the number with some difficulty, almost forgetting that Mina could no longer be counted amongst them) of us, we will bear our intentions exactly as we declare them. I cannot speak for the entirety of Silver Alliance."
"You speak like a politician," Zechs said, dismissing her words almost "However what are these intentions. Do you seek to gain knowledge of the Unnatural world and then bring it down on our heads?"
"No," said Serena, almost petulantly. She wanted to roll her eyes, and from Heero's smirk he could tell she wanted to roll her eyes. "I am here; originally, to support my cousin and forge a new path for myself, away from Silver Alliance, the others have joined this group so that they may protect the peace between worlds."
"There is no peace between worlds," Wufei muttered. Heero shot him a glare, which Wufei responded to in kind, a smug look on his face. His mind spoke to Heero's; pointing out his defense of the young human's words.
"Just know," Zechs said "That any betrayal by you humans will lend you to my pantry only."
They didn't even nod, Serena swallowed and sat back, mentally exhausted. Being under the roof of a vampire after having monitored and on occasion killed their kind was not a light action that she under took. She didn't understand how Duo could sit there and look as if he were relaxed, it was against his very nature to be within the presence of a vampire.
"Ah," said Zechs, the air of an aristocrat firmly back into place "Our refreshments."
A different being altogether from the vampire sentry was the one to wheel a gold cart into the room, her knock on the oak door having been subtle and almost undetectable. She was human, though she bore no brands on her so she was not a slave.
"My lord," she curtsied, she may not have been dressed in the old fashioned maid's uniform, wearing a dull combination of modern business clothes, but she acted her part. She left the cart in the room, kneeling and bowing three times as she exited. A bit much, Wufei thought.
"Blood for the vampires," said Zechs almost joyously motioning to the cart "Legumes for the humans, as well as water for your delicate inner workings, and herbal toddy for the fur ridden ones."
"Herbal toddy?" inquired Trowa, quite frankly thrown of kilter. Duo mouthed "fur ridden?" to Mina, who giggled.
"All the perfect mixture of minerals and herbs that make your kind prosper," replied Zechs. He picked up a crystal decanter of blood and then made a motion to the door. "I've decided we'll leave at mid-night, I'll leave you to no doubt make suspicious theories about me while I gather my war chief and let you consume what you will."
Zechs did exactly as he said, disappearing from the room the next moment, the door snapping to a close behind him. The night seemed to deepen around them. Saturn picked up a carrot and rolled her eyes to Neptune, who ended up laughing aloud.
"We have an ally," said Serena awkwardly, she was watching Heero tip a glass upwards, her eyes following the liquid down his throat.
"As I knew we would," replied Wufei "Zechs is not a stupid man, he knows what his sister is deteriorating into."
Heero retook his seat next to Serena. Quatre spoke "I had surmised that he wouldn't be able to remain anonymous from the world any longer, imagine that we would be the reasoning that looses him from his compound?"
Trowa nodded, sniffing the toddy that Duo had gulped down, smacking his lips afterwards comically.
"What does this mean for us?" asked Neptune "He obviously doesn't trust us."
Heero shrugged, his tone showing that he really didn't care about the question. "He trusts you enough to put you in his battle plan, that's all that really matters."
"If only Pluto hadn't made the decisions she had," lamented Uranus, no one replied to her. However it was likely that if Pluto hadn't made the decisions that she did then Silver Alliance would have battled alongside the motley group as well, and been duty bound to destroy them along with the lycan princess. Serena found it unlikely that now that Pluto was without some of her key members that she herself wasn't really in any mortal harm any longer, from Silver Alliance at least.
At that moment the odd wall door opened again, however this time it was not a servant that stepped out, but a human nonetheless. He was a stout Japanese man; he had his hair pulled up atop his head, fashioned after the more traditional top-knot. His beard was brief; as were his words "I have been instructed to come to you."
The man bowed once, curtly "I am Lord Marquis' war general."
"Human?" Serena asked under her breath, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Heero nod once.
"All guests of my most honorable lord are to retire to their rooms, in preparation for a move at half night," the general's voice rumbled out of his chest like rocks.
"Move?" questioned Quatre "It's not prudent to begin the track for Relena tonight; we have nothing to go on. We'd be sitting ducks, especially the humans." (At this he sent an apologetic look towards the mortal members of their grouping.)
"We will be moving compounds," the general replied. "I bid you goodnight. May Lord Zechs live and prosper for all of eternity."
"May he," replied Wufei, Heero did the same as almost an afterthought.
"I see that he didn't tell us where this new compound is going to be," said Uranus.
"Calm down, blondie," said Duo "Zechs is a good guy, even if he gets caught up in his lordliness crap every now and again."
Neptune headed off the sure rebuttal with a calm hand on Uranus' wrist. She looked towards Mina "Are you used to the politics of the Unnatural world yet?"
Mina shifted eyes from Duo "No," she laughed, looking nervous as the only focus of the room was Neptune's spur of the moment question "Not at all."
Neptune nodded once to herself, smiling back at Mina, the epitome of calm under pressure. Saturn picked up a small conversation with Serena and all at once the quiet magic of the room broke out into small conversations and wondered aloud thoughts.
"What do you make of Lord Zechs," asked Trowa in his quiet manner to Quatre.
Quatre pursed his lips for the barest of a moment. "He's actually quite the ingenious person. He is very well slipped into the roll of a Vampire Lord; however I don't believe that's the only roll he plays. He seems very strategic."
"My thoughts exactly," murmured Trowa, he kissed the crook of Quatre's exposed elbow and then rose. "Shall we prepare, love?"
Quatre smirked. "Yes, I think we shall."
Duo whistled as Quatre and Trowa left the room, however he doubted any one else had been truly listening to their conversation like he had. He did agree with Quatre, Zechs was a vampire he'd only heard a smidgen about, but he was willing to bet all he owned on Quatre's hypothesis of the man. He turned to Mina, intent to draw her attention away from the gaggle of humans, talking quietly amongst themselves.
"You may not be tired, you newborn siren," Duo smiled to himself as he stood behind Mina and whispered in her ear "But maybe we should head up stairs and take a few minutes to sort some of this out by ourselves."
Mina smiled at her cousin and then turned from the group, Uranus flicking an annoyed smile her way, however it truly seemed to not have the spunk it usually would when facing an Unnatural specimen. "Promise to teach me some more Lycan tricks?"
Duo laughed softly, catching up her arm. "As many as I can in the posh Victorian room we've been given."
Serena disentangled herself from the other humans not long after her cousin left. Wufei has already ghosted from the room, and Heero was the only other left standing in it. He was very openly, very blatantly staring at her. His face was impassive, but even so the hair on her neck stood on end.
"Plotting ways to suck my blood?" she asked him, joining him where he was standing. Her hand clenched nervously, and she anxiously forced herself to emulate calm.
"Not at the moment," he replied, monotonously. He tilted his face to look down at her, his eyes lightening in the light. He looked much less intimidating.
"Hm," she said, staring right back at him.
"Hn," he replied. Could he actually be trying to act humorously? How interesting.
"The last vampire I locked eyes with like this enslaved and tortured me," she said quite plainly.
"Sworn you off all vampires?" he replied "And given in to your Silver Alliance prejudices?"
"No," she said "I've learned much about this Unnatural world, just in the time I've spent in it. Imagine what I could learn given years in it? My days at Silver Alliance are finished in more ways than one."
"Planning on joining the darkness?"
"Don't be absurd," she scoffed. Joining the darkness? What did he think she had meant? That she wanted to become an Unnatural? How could she?
"Follow me to my quarters?" Heero asked, his eyes becoming solid. Serena's mind reigned itself in and she stared at him.
Serena heard him say something else in a foreign language under his breath, Japanese she thought. Why could he want her to go to his room? She didn't have the answer but she found herself wanting to accept anyway, this man had showed her so many different emotions that she was interested in knowing what secrets he himself held. Also, one didn't simply get kissed and suddenly find themselves disinterested in a person.
"Sure," she said "But do anything to me and I'll turn you into a replica of my cat Luna."
Heero's rusty laughter paraded them from the room. Some of the other's followed them with chilled eyes, and some didn't even notice.
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"Wufei and I both believe that Relena actually won't be coming after our group any longer," said Heero, stepping across the threshold of his room.
Serena's eyes ducked around his room quickly as she swallowed his statement and watched him toss his outer coat onto a decorative chair. "Why did we bother to hide here then?" she asked.
"Because," said Heero, not bothering to turn around and face her "She would have chased us until she could kill us, or at least all of you. (He grinned) However now that our trail has disappeared thanks to Zechs I imagine that it's much too troublesome."
"I see," said Serena. Heero deftly unlatched a secret panel in the wall, revealing a refrigerated supply of what appeared to be blood. "Is this chat all you asked me here for?"
"Hn," replied Heero. He juggled a couple bags of the blood, as if weighing them. "You actually comprehend the things I say."
Serena eyed him. She was wishing for a plate of dango and warm pink bunny slippers in place of this conflict she'd been inserted into. Half complimented by a vampire? It was something that she hadn't thought would ever happen. "Does the fact that Relena has your DNA even bother you?"
Heero turned at her tone. It was snotty, and pushy. He raised a brow. "Of course, what does worry do for a situation though?"
Serena didn't reply. "So what am I doing here?"
"We've kissed," said Heero, his voice a low murmur. He crossed the room in an instant, immediately by her side. Her glassy blue eyes refocused in shock, looking at him, fear apparent in her eyes.
"We being the key word," she stammered out. "I think it was mostly your prerogative."
"Vampire's are very sensitive to their environments," he muttered to her, his voice lectured. "Thus, I knew you wanted it."
Serena felt her cheeks flame; it returned her back bone to her. "Listen here, buster," she said, just barely keeping her hand from reaching up to poke him in the chest. "No matter what my instincts want, I refuse to be used by a vampire ever again."
His lips twitched, almost turning up in a smirk. "You might need my protection in our future, battles and all that."
"If that's so," said Serena (she was attempting to make her voice dangerously low, Mina always told her that intimidation wasn't her thing) "Then why don't you go ahead and offer protection to every other human here?"
This time Heero's usually monotonous face did really smirk, blatant amusement spreading across his face. "Well," he said, his smirk got so wide that it turned into a teeth bearing grin, his fangs glinting as brightly as the coffin behind him. "Maybe I just want to bite you."
Serena's eyes went wide. While she had certainly had her fair share of vampire's attempting to chomp her down this was her first proposal on the matter. She took a wide step back, giving Heero his girth, before speaking. "Do you do this often?" she whispered "Take advantage of the humans around you?"
"It is vampire nature to take advantage of humans," retorted Heero "However…no. I don't normally meddle with your kind."
"That's likely," Serena rolled her eyes, albeit wearily. She had always been taught three things, vampires lied and manipulated, vampires used every resource at their disposal to accomplish their goals, and vampires always, incorrigibly, craved the blood of humankind.
"Find out," he taunted her. He matched her step, they were both only a few short feet from the door, which was Serena's only exit. "Find out what it's like to not be used like Darien Damascus used you, find out what it's like to give your passion to a vampire."
"Passion?" Serena stuttered, backing up even more and offering a sarcastic guffaw. "Blood lust is generally not equated to passion."
"Hn," he replied "Many equate is as such, actually. However….the phrasing is Duo's."
Serena didn't have the nonchalance to grin or respond to his quip.
"I'm serious," he said "Find out."
"Why?"
"I already said why," he matched her steps again.
"No," she said, she took a step back forward, attempting to intimidate herself into the situation. She felt like she had in high school, trying to be strong in front of the handsome boy. "Why do you want my blood?"
"I believe I've told you," he murmured, making her lean forward some "That you intrigue me, you interest me, and you are unique in your actions around someone of my kind."
"So what does that mean?" demanded Serena, shakily "You're obsessed with me?"
He smirked, his eyes took on a different shade, red leaked into the cobalt and a searing purple swam in his eyes "Maybe so."
"Yes," Serena said, suddenly not able to gulp an entire voice "Take it. Just take it!"
Heero swung them both back into the center of the room, his speed making them cross it in miniscule parts of a second. He kicked open the opulent coffin he had been given and laid the human in his grasp upon it. His teeth were sinking into her soft flesh the next moment, his body engulfing her sweet life force.
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"Wufei you're peering," Lord Zechs said silkily. His voice wove its way into the very being of the cold night air, almost becoming the wisp like air itself.
Both vampires were standing within an inner courtyard of the compound, watching vampires and humans ready traveling items around them. Wufei had been staring broodingly at every member of the compound present.
"Do you think it's prudent to be preparing to leave so openly?" asked Wufei "When we could be observed?"
"Did not you and I just decide that now that Relena had Heero Yuy's DNA she would not be attempting to follow us or observe us?"
"Still," protested Wufei "Is all this necessary? Shouldn't we be able to just arrange vehicles and leave? It's quarter to midnight already."
"I am changing entire compounds, Wufei," replied Zechs. His blue eyes caught the midnight, and for one shining moment they flashed a deep scarlet. "This will be more of a caravan travel than anything else."
Wufei made a discontent noise and continued to observe the many servants packing up Zechs' 'essentials.' His gaze reverted back to Zechs when a hand found its way to his forearm. His gaze was questioning.
"Wufei," Zechs murmured, low enough for only the two of them to hear "Do you remember when we traveled the English countryside all those years ago? That was truly a caravan travel, all the carriages bumping along after one another."
"Yes," Wufei whispered just as softly as Zechs "I remember perfectly. It was the first time I had been to England."
"It's called the United Kingdom now," Zechs laughed.
Wufei smirked with him "Yes I thought I caught that in the newspapers a decade or two ago."
"Imagine," said Zechs, his voice low again as activity continued to buzz around them "My thoughts as I caught sight of this exotic oriental man, from parts of the map that were barely common knowledge to the world."
"Imagine my impression," replied Wufei, his back relaxed, a little tension fading from his shoulders. "This starch English gentlemen, a vampire for centuries, but worshipped by humans for protecting the countryside, their medieval knight on horseback."
Zechs made a pleased noise, in would have been equated to a purr had he been a feline. They both turned though, their silence had lapped to a comfortable one however there were footsteps approaching them, and not the footsteps of the servants.
"Ah," said Zechs "Then everyone is ready to go? Early as well, this is a very nice surprise."
Every member of the rag tag group was making their way across the courtyard, at different paces and in different grouping, but together nonetheless. "Then we have only to wait for the household to finish packing," he clapped his hands together, and rolled his eyes "How predictable."
Wufei rolled his eyes at that. When the white haired vampire lord wanted to act the part of an aristocrat he certainly did. Well, they were set; maybe they wouldn't all die after all?
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Sorry for the lateness, this seems to happen lately. Once a month is my promise. Thanks for any reviews you may have, feed back is always appreciated.