"Who is Death?" Trowa asked after silence reigned for a few moments, his dark green eyes surveying me cautiously in the dimness of the outside of Guilty Pleasures. Clearly he wasn't completely happy with the idea of trusting any of the contacts of a pair of vampire hunters but, really, he wasn't in any position to argue. We were doing him a favour after all and risking our own necks in the process—and I happen to value my neck!
"Oh, I can't tell you that," I said mysteriously, feeling smug that for once I was the one with the information. "I can show you Death… but I can't give you any names."
Sounds stupid but that's how it goes. If I disclosed any other details to Trowa or anyone else for that matter, I'd most likely land myself in some deep shit. You don't discuss Death in detail unless you've been given permission to do so, no matter who you are. Don't get me wrong, I'm not scared of the consequences or anything, I just have some respect for the guy and his methods of getting things done. He's powerful in this world.
Wufei was staring at me, looking just a tad nervous. "Is this absolutely necessary?"
"Why, Wufei, if I didn't know you better I'd say you were scared about popping by to say hello. You're not, are you?"
The Chinese male growled in response. "Of course not! Don't be ridiculous. I am merely saying that it's going to be complicated to sort out. You know that! We don't want to owe him anything. All we need to do is go in and get Quatre from the Circus, then get out again. Death doesn't come into the equation!"
"What, you'd rather go say hey to the Master of the City without any firepower?" I asked, incredulous that he was being this stubborn. It was stupid. Death would make our task so much easier to get through, whether it caused problems for us afterwards or not.
Wufei drew himself up, looking irritated, and huffed at me. "He is just a vampire!"
Just a vampire? Who the hell was he trying to kid? You have to take these guys seriously; underestimating them is a dangerous mistake. We'd made that nearly fatal error last year and I'd been in the hospital for a rather long stay. If we just skipped off to visit Treize without even thinking about what we were doing, then at least one of us would end up dead.
"Either you're very brave, or very stupid. Look—Trowa and I are going to see Death before we head to the Circus. You can stop being so chicken shit and come with us, or you can go ahead on your own! Which would you prefer, Wu?"
My partner pursed his lips together with an expression of displeasure, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's your funeral."
I turned to Trowa as a sleek black limousine drew up beside us, squinting at the male illuminated by the pale light from a streetlamp above us. He motioned me over, patting the top of the vehicle. "As I said, my driver will take us wherever you wish to go. But I must insist that we hurry… You've wasted enough time already with your bickering.
"Fine," Wufei snapped at the vampire, scowling as he got into the car and moved as far away from both of us as possible.
"Nice wheels." I said appraisingly, sliding in after the Chinese man and checking out the interior. It was all made out in sleek black leather; soft to the touch and very comfortable to sit on. I settled back into the seat, stretching my legs out in the spacious gap and did up my seatbelt as the vampire got in and shut the door behind him.
"My superiors are generous."
"I see."
After muttering something to the driver, Trowa turned his attention back to us. "I need directions."
"You know Holland Park?"
The vampire paused for a moment, thinking, then nodded at me.
"Get your man to drive us there and then we can walk the rest of the way."
The only reply was a curt nod—nervous vamps are so cranky—and then he passed on those instructions to the driver in a whisper. Trowa then settled back against the leather seat, eyes looking dark and sullen as he stared out the window. Typical. Wufei was sulking because we weren't doing what he wanted to do and now the vampire had turned sulky because, assumedly, we weren't doing exactly what he wanted either. Idiots. I could tell it was going to be a long, boring drive with them both acting like this so I closed my eyes and stuck my hands behind my head, intending on blocking out everything around me until the others had stopped being immature or had something important to discuss, whichever came first.
---
"Duo, we're here."
Wufei's voice and a sharp poke to my shoulder forced me to open my eyes, watching as the two other occupants of the limousine clambered out of the vehicle into the darkness. I followed slowly, shivering at the sudden change in temperature as I descended into cold night air. We were at Holland Park now and the tall trees all around obscured the moon from casting its light upon us. Shadows dominated the expanse of grass and plants so I was glad we didn't actually have to go into the park. These places are bad enough during the day, let alone at night when it's this dark.
"Where now?" Trowa asked, sticking his hands in his pockets and staring at me.
"Just follow me."
---
"This is it?" Trowa asked as we stopped outside a tall, dark building.
"Well we wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't!" Wufei snapped irritably, obviously still unhappy with what we were about to do—or, rather, who we were about to see. I suspected that if his arms hadn't been folded sulkily across his chest, he would have been wringing his hands nervously. Strange how a prospective visit with Death tends to scare people.
I nodded, gazing up at the building. "Yep, we're here."
I headed forwards, pushing open the large set of doors and moving towards the ancient looking lift. Stepping inside, I waited for the others to join me before jabbing the button for floor 9. The lift lurched slightly, its hinges creaking loudly, and then began to move upwards with a low hum. I stayed standing by the doors, hands clasped in front of me, until it shuddered to a stop and the doors slid open. Moving out, I walked quickly down a corridor, passing countless doors until I finally came to a stop in front of one with the number '42' engraved into it.
I sent a look back, smiling at the way Wufei was lingering behind Trowa, like he was hiding. "This is it."
After rapping loudly on the door three times, I waited in silence until it creaked slowly open. Spooky. Entering the room en masse, the first thing that drew my attention was what seemed like cat's eyes gleaming in the dim light. They reminded me somewhat of Trowa's own moss green eyes as the vampire shut the door behind him with a click. The small circle of light coming from the flickering bulb hanging from the ceiling shone upon a curtain of golden hair as Death moved out of the shadows, his white teeth gleaming in a rather predatory smile.
"Executioner," Death said simply, tilting his head at us. "What brings the mouse to the cat's lair?"
I thought my response over in my head for a moment—well, there's a first time for everything I suppose—and then flashed a grin at the other man. "Well, the mouse can't go to the party without a piece, so maybe the cat can fix him up with some toys?"
Trowa looked vaguely mystified at the way we were talking but he wisely kept it to himself, instead staring cautiously at Death.
"Three blind mice…" he said, cat-like eyes flicking from each of us and finally settling on an uneasy Trowa. "Mice with fangs."
"So can you help?" I asked finally, glancing sideways at the motionless vampire beside me. "We're going after the big one this time."
Death cocked his head at that revelation, looking thoughtful. "Now Executioner, why would you be going after the Master? Blind mice you are indeed." His pupils had contracted so that they were only tiny pinpoints of darkness in the middle of all that green, a gleaming emerald shade that seemed to almost glow in the light from the bulb above. "Are you looking for some beasties or a few toys?"
Something moved in the darkness behind Death, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, but I quelled my unease and turned my attention back to the man before me. "I don't work with shifters," I said with a frown.
"But you work with vampires… Here I was thinking that wereanimals were the lesser evil in your eyes," Death replied, focusing on Trowa once again. The vampire was remarkably stiff, tension showing through right from the hairs on his head to the tips of his toes.
I grimaced. There was no way I could explain why I was running around with a vampire to go after the Master, nor why I would draw a line between the species. It was true, I guess… vampires were the big nasties in this world. But at least they knew they were. Wereanimals masqueraded as normal people to the best of their ability. That was wrong. What scared me the most was that it didn't even feel weird hanging around with a vampire now, it just felt like normal business.
"Well, you know how it is. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"