Demon Heart
"SHIT!!"
"Come back here you little THIEF! You owe me for that bread!"
"Sorry lady, but I don't have any money, or I would
have paid for it!"
"You little-"
The woman chasing the long haired
boy was stopped by a strong arm, and she met a pair of cool cornflower blue
eyes.
"Mi
Lord!"
"You should know my ward by now Sylvia."
"He should know better than to steal my bread!"
"You know I'll pay for it. Here, that should just about compensate for the loss."
"You're too good to that boy mi Lord."
"He's all I have left."
The man,
Lord Trieze Khurshrenada, kissed the woman's hand then turned to where his ward
had stopped. With a glare, the boy
tossed half of the bread to his lord and then took off. Trieze smiled slightly and took a bite.
"Be back
by dark!" he called after the boy.
"Yeah, yeah, what ever!"
"You have lessons!"
"I KNOW!!"
He
rounded the corner, coming to a halt when he spotted the blonde that had been
following him for some time. He turned
around, ran the other way, but he couldn't avoid the inevitable.
"DUUUUOOOOOO!!"
a shrill voice rang out.
"Oh Gods…"
The
blonde came running over and attached herself to his arm, smiling brightly at
him. She wore her hair half back, the
sides in braids that were tied together by a pale blue ribbon, and an off white
dress with blue corset that raised and formed her breasts so that she looked
rather well endowed, and she had no shoes on.
Duo
thought she totally contrasted his all black wardrobe. He had a pair of form fitting black britches
on, a tight black shirt that laced from his navel to his 'nipple line' and also
at the wrist to his mid forearm. His
black boots laced up to mid calf, and had metal built into the toe and
heels. He wore a gold cross around his
neck on a thin black cord and had a tight gold chain as a choker, the kanji for
death hanging from it.
"Duo,
would you paint me, like you painted Hilde?"
"Ah… no!"
"Please?"
"No."
"But you painted her! Why won't you-"
"Trieze wanted me to paint her, as a gift for helping me organize the Gallery."
"But won't you just paint me, for me? I would love to be captured on canvas!"
"Then get someone else to do it Relena, I'm not
going to paint you."
"PLEASE!?!"
"Why would I paint you!? I don't even like you! I
can't even STAND YOU! Just leave me
alone!!"
Duo flung
her off and ran down the cobblestone street, ducking into a dark alley, unaware
of what was there.
-in
the Under World (2 weeks prior to the present)-
Ichi
paced, waiting impatiently for the head Vampire to arrive. He knew if anyone could find and bring the
boy to him, it was a vampire.
"Shinigami
used them to find Solo, so I'll use them to find Duo… and they can bring him to
me, then have their reward."
"And that would be the boy's blood." a voice said as the doors opened and a
tall girl, with blonde hair down to her knees, walked in, eyes glowing a soft
blue.
"Catalonia."
"Call me Dorothy, we're all equals here."
"Yes, we are."
Dorothy stood straight as she eyed
the shadow. With a slight smile, she
spoke again.
"You wish
for us to find the boy, and bring him to you?"
"Yes."
"For what purpose?"
"He is our lord and Master, it is only right that he take his-"
"What if he's happy where he is?"
"He has no choice but to come here! It
means certain death if he disobeys the word of Shinigami."
"And what would that be Ichi? He is
Shinigami, you said so yourself."
"But our previous Master bonded with him, to be
faithful to the name of Shinigami he must come take his place here."
"Very well, I'll help you, but I want a goblet of
the boy's blood in return."
"What?!"
"You heard me. To a vampire, the only
reward for working for Death is his blood. Unfortunately, we're not working for Death, we're working for you, and
you have no blood. The boy will pay for
you."
"As you wish Dorothy, but he must be brought to me in tact!"
"Of course."
"And they can't 'sample' him before hand."
"They'll answer to me if they do."
"Good."
The two
shook hands and Dorothy left, a smile on her face.
-back in
the alley-
"Well
well, if it isn't the pretty little painter." a voice laughed as three large,
extremely drunk, men stepped out of the shadows.
"And he looks a tad bit too delicious today, don'
he?" another said as he started towards Duo.
"And we'll just have to take him, won't we?"
Duo tried
to take a step back, but fell over a beat up old crate, falling on his butt as
the men hovered over him. He scooted
back as one made a grab for him, and kicked for another, but missed. The men laughed and Duo tried again to get
back away from them.
"No use
tryin' pretty boy, you're ours!"
"Don't you guys know a 3 on 1 fight is unfair?" a cold voice said, making the
men (and Duo) turn to look in the direction it came from.
"Who the hell are you?" one of the men demanded as
the owner of the voice, a boy not much older than Duo, walked through the thick
mist that had come in.
The boy
didn't answer, but just kept walking straight towards them, eyes and face
set. When he stopped, the man asked him
again who he was.
"Don't
ask questions if you won't be able to hear the answer." the boy replied, his voice
dripping with anger, and one of the men took a step back.
"Holy Jesus! He's-"
Before
the man could finish his sentence, the boy charged at them. He dodged a punch and a knife, jumping up
and flipping so that his feet hit the wall just above Duo's head. He pushed off immediately, rushing between
two of the men, one of which fell to the ground, neck broken, the other not
touched.
He kicked
of the other wall, from a slightly higher position, and 'flew' between the
remaining two men. One fell, his head
rolling a few feet away, and the other with a small scratch on his cheek. The boy landed between Duo and the man, his
eyes glowing slightly as he looked at the man.
"DEMON!!"
the man screamed, lashing out with a knife.
"No," the boy said, raising his hand, "I'm not."
The man
was blown backwards, and impaled on a rusty piece of scrap metal. The boy looked back once at Duo before his
eyes rolled back and he collapsed. Duo
moved back, knees almost to his chest and eyes wide as he looked at the three
dead drunks, and then the boy. He
hadn't noticed that he was wearing a pair of tight black trousers that laced up
the side, and an long sleeved white shirt, with ties at his wrists and at the
chest. He also wore a black leather
vest and shoes.
"He… He
saved my life!" Duo gasped, still in shock, and not quite comprehending the
fact that this boy was indeed not human.