Demon Heart
Duo
carefully picked the unconscious boy up and ran from the alley, dodging a
passing horse and rider. The horse
reared, throwing the rider off and then trotted away a few feet. It stopped and looked back at Duo.
Come
on, I'll get you home faster.
Duo
blinked as the horse walked over and nudged him, then stepped back and
snorted. Duo shifted Heero then looked
at the man, who was slowly getting to his feet.
Hurry
up and get on! He'll take me and you
will have to walk.
With
another glance at the man, Duo nodded, and the horse kneeled down. Duo quickly got on and grabbed the reins
with the hand around the boy's shoulder, pulling slightly to turn the horse.
Good! Trieze's place, right? I remember how to get there.
Are you trying to talk to me?
You hear me, don't you?
"Obviously." Duo said out loud as he kicked the
horse lightly and they headed home.
"HEY! Bring back my horse!!" the man shouted,
chasing them a short ways.
Not on your life bud! You kick too hard, and tighten my girth so that I can barely
breath! the horse thought, kicking himself into turbo.
"HOLY SHIT!" Duo yelled as the horse rounded a sharp
corner and headed up the grassy hill to his home.
"TRIEZE!! I need your help!" shouted Duo as he ran
into the house, boy in his arms and a worried look on his face.
The boy
was extremely pale in the light, his dark hair windswept and falling in his
eyes slightly. He heard the door to
Trieze's library open, and then heard heavy footsteps on the floor as his
guardian ran out into the parlor.
"Duo,
what happened? Who's that?"
"I don't know who he is, but he saved my life, and then passed out!" the
braided boy said, turning to walk up the stairs.
"Get him in your room, I'll be right there. Did you carry him here?"
"Yes, but I rode back."
"Rode?"
"I borrowed a horse."
Duo
didn't give Trieze a chance to answer, he ran up the stairs before he could say
anything. Walking to the end of the
hall, he ran into his room, and laid the boy on his large bed.
The room
itself was huge, immaculately furnished with dark wood furniture, and an
oriental looking area rug before the fire place, which was across from the
canopy bed. The large wardrobe sat to
the left of the door, while the wash stand and desk were against the wall to
the right of the door. There were doors
that lead out onto a balcony that looked out towards the town, and had a
terrific view of the sunset.
The bed
was made in black satin sheets, a matching quilt laid down and large pillows
decked out in red satin covers. The
canopy itself was a sheer black material, and was supposed to be tied loosely
around the bed posts by a dark red cord. Duo pushed the canopy before he walked over to the fireplace and threw
another log on. He lit a few candles on
the mantle, and then one on the wash table. He turned to look at the door when he heard Trieze walk in.
"Tell me
exactly what happened." he said as he sat down next to the boy.
"Relena was bugging me to paint her, so I took off,
and ducked into an alley. These three
drunks came after me, were almost on top of me, when he showed up and killed
them."
"Killed them!?"
"He broke one's neck, decapitated another, and impaled the last on a rusty
spike of scrap. He looked back at me
once, then fell to the ground."
Looking down at the boy, Trieze
could see the vein in his neck pulsing, yet his skin was pale, and his
breathing shallow and labored. He took
the boy's hand and looked at it. His
fingernails were clean and short. Taking a deep breath, he nearly fell off the bed.
He
reeks of the dead! he thought, mind racing as he looked him over, noticing
a faint tattoo like marking on the side of his neck. Oh Gods…
Carefully
reaching to the boy's face, he pulled back a lip, and saw what he had not been
expecting when he first saw him. A set
of elongated canines sat in the boys mouth, perfectly white, and ready to sink
into someone. He immediately reached up
to his neck and clasped at the pentacle there.
"God and
Goddess help me." he whispered as he saw the vein in the boy's neck pulse
again.
"Trieze, what's wrong?" Duo asked, watching the
older man take a step back and head towards the door, paler than when he walked
in.
"Duo, he's a vampire."
"A what?!"
"You heard me. Get him out of this house."
"But he saved my life!"
"That does not mean he can stay here. You know that-"
"Witches and Vamps don't get along too well, I know."
"And if Zechs found out that I was housing a Vampire, I would be put on trial
before the coven, and I cannot say to them that I did it to save his life. One less vampire in the world, the better it
would be, and you know that they would strip me of my standing as Lord of the
East if they knew I let him live because you wanted him to."
"Trieze! He saved my life, and for that
he deserves to be rewarded doesn't he?"
"And the only reward for a vampire is blood! I will not have him here Duo, and that is
final!!"
Trieze
walked out, and Duo slammed the door in anger. He crossed his arms with a 'Hmph' and looked at the vampire on his
bed. He understood why Trieze was
upset, but he owed the boy something, didn't he? He turned to the door and opened it, walking down the hall to the
library, where he found Trieze engrossing himself in his work. He walked over to the front of the large oak
desk and put his hands down, supporting his weight on them.
"Why'd he
pass out?! If he's a vampire, he should
have been fine, right?"
"He hasn't fed in a few days."
"Fed, as in eaten anybody?"
"Basically."
"Then let's shove some raw meat down his throat and-"
"It doesn't work that way Duo. He's got
eat on his own. My guess is that he was
searching for something, or someone, that's why he didn't feed off of those
drunks."
"Either that or he wanted to stay sober. Drinking the blood of a drunk man would in turn make him drunk too,
because the alcohol is in their blood." a voice said as Dorothy appeared,
smiling evilly as she saw Duo stand protectively in front of Trieze's desk.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to attack you, am I Trieze?"
"What do you want Dorothy?"
"Just my boy."
"Then take him, he's all yours."
Duo glared at him, and as the girl
turned to walk to the door, he darted in front of her. She stopped, then proceeded forward, pushing
Duo out of the way. He ran after her as
she turned to mist and headed up the stairs.
"You've
failed… and I have no use for failures." she said, materializing in the doorway
to Duo's bedroom.
The boy's
body arched upward as her eyes started to glow, and as Duo pushed past her, he
could see the slight glow under the boy's shirt. Some how, he knew what was happening.
"Stop
it!" he shouted, standing between the female vampire and the boy. "You can't take
him!"
"And who are you to stop me? I could-"
"I said you're not taking him!!"
The cross
around Duo's neck started to glow red as he took the knife he'd picked up from
the wash table on his way past her and slid the blade across his palm. Thick crimson blood dripped from the wound
and Dorothy's eyes flashed as she hissed at him, the smell of fresh blood
igniting her hunger.
"You're
stupid boy, cutting yourself. What did
you think it would do, keep me from feeding off you? Your blood is just as good spilled or strait from the bite I
would make , and it'll satisfy my hunger well!"
She
lunged for him, but he dropped to the floor just as she was about to grab
him. Landing on the bed, she looked
down, expecting to see the boy's chest under her feet, but he was gone. Looking at where Duo had rolled to, she saw
that her vampire boy was crouched protectively in front of him, eyes ablaze,
fangs bared as he growled at her.
"How DARE
you interfere!" she hissed, hair blowing back as she stepped onto the floor,
slowly walking towards the boy.
He
growled and glanced back at Duo, who had started to get up. Reaching back, he took Duo's wrist, and
pulled the cut hand up to look at it. Dorothy stopped. The boy turned
his feet slightly and then brought his head down, tongue darting over the cut
quickly, lapping at the blood that still dripped. Smiling, Dorothy walked forward, and the boy growled even louder,
eyes narrowing and glowing brighter as he licked again, the cut healing
immediately.
"Are you
so weak that you can't stomach the blood?" Dorothy asked as she grabbed his
chin and smiled down at him.
He pushed
Duo out of the way as she let a blast go, and dodged it just in time. It hit the wall, and bounced off, heading
for Duo, who knew he couldn't dodge it in time. The boy moved fast and covered Duo's body with his own, and as
the blast hit him, screamed, fangs fully bared to Duo's sight.
"You
can't win Heero." Dorothy laughed as she threw another blast at him.
"You'll die, watching me claim him as my own!"
"No…"
The boy,
Heero as Dorothy had called him, attempted to get up, but as yet another one of
her blasts coursed through him, fell, holding himself on just his hands and
knees, head hung in pain.
"You
can't fight her and expect to win." Duo whispered, feeling Heero's knee pressed
against his inner thigh, "you don't have the strength."
Heero looked at him, eyes a dull
glowing blue, and gritted his teeth as he was hit again, the energy stronger
this time. Duo winced and placed a hand
at the back of his neck, drawing the vampire boy's head down to his neck. He could feel the power that was slowly
killing him and knew it wouldn't be long before Dorothy had won.
"Please…"
he whispered, turning his head slightly.
"No."
"Please, just do it! If you lay claim, she can't touch me!"
"You're blood is too pure, I wouldn't be able to
stop myself."
As Dorothy hit him again, Heero
screamed, and Duo used it to his advantage. Before he could clamp his mouth shut again, Duo pressed Heero's lips to
his neck, and in a split second, felt his fangs slide into his veins. He gasped as he felt the intense feeling
wash over him, touching him inside and out. Dorothy gasped, and stepped back as she watched Heero feed, Duo's body
reacting in a way she'd never seen before.
He
withered beneath the vampire boy, pressing his body against the one above him,
eyes shut tight and breathing heavy. He
looked as if he were being pleasured, instead of being drained.
Heero
drank greedily, but as Duo's squirming made things difficult, slowed a bit,
pressing his hips downward, grinding against the braided boy. One hand busied itself with balancing
himself, while the other untied the black leather thong from Duo's braid. He pressed Duo to the floor, and carefully
broke the lock he had, lips finding his victims in seconds. For the first time, Dorothy saw what she had
been dreading…
The death
kanji appeared on Duo's forehead in a swirl of red and glowed softly as he
wrapped his arms around Heero's neck, holding the vampire to him. He gasped as Heero's fangs slid back into
his neck, and his eyes went wide as an incredible feeling washed over him.
"DORTHY!"
The
female vampire whirled around as Trieze ran into the room, and backed up as she
saw the pentacle around his neck glowing.
"What the
hell did you do!?"
"You knew! You knew that he was
Shinigami, didn't you?!"
"What?"
"Oh Master, forgive me!"
She
disappeared, and Trieze took a look at what she had seen. His eyes widened as he saw the kanji, and
then saw the vampire boy's eyes. He
knew Duo was his master, and was using it to his advantage. With all the strength and magic he could
call upon, he fired a blast at the boy, but Duo saw it first.
"No!" he
shouted, flipping both himself and Heero over, an incredible pain washing over
him as two giant bat like wings erupted from his back, dripping with blood as
the blast hit him.
It spread
out, diffusing as it hit the blood on Duo's wings, and he looked back at Trieze
with glowing red eyes. He could feel
the wound Heero had made by his bite heal instantly and saw Trieze call upon
more magic. He growled and flapped his
wings, the blood flying off in sparks of red light, picking Heero up at the
same time.
"Trieze…"
he growled, feeling Heero go unconscious, "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"You were never supposed to be claimed."
"He was searching for me, wasn't he?"
Duo's voice was softer now, looking
down at Heero, his lips still wet with Duo's blood. Trieze's eyes fell on a familiar scar and he turned away. Duo took a step towards him, but when his
guardian raised a hand, he stopped.
"Take him
back to where he came from Duo, or I'll have to kill him."
"What?"
"Even though you are now Death, you know the order. He took my life before I found you, and it is my duty to take his
for it."
"I don't understand Trieze. How did he-"
"Forgive me Dragon, but Duo means so much to me, and it would be unjust to kill
Death's chosen mate."
The wind
picked up throughout the room and when Duo looked, he could see the form of a
boy appear behind his guardian. He had
ebony black hair, just above his shoulders, pulled back in a tight pony tail,
and eyes so dark they looked black. He
was dressed in a pair of tan trousers, exactly like those that Heero was
wearing, and a black shirt that was left open, exposing a tan chest, with scars
across it from an obvious fight. Around
his neck was a pentacle identical to the one Trieze wore: a double circle, with crescent moons at each
point of the star, which had a moonstone set in the center.
He
reached out slowly and put a hand on Trieze's shoulder.
"I
understand Trieze."
The older
man turned around, and stared at the boy. He raised a hand to the boys cheek and smiled sadly.
"He
turned you, didn't he my Dragon?"
"Yes, but for a different reason."
"I don't understand."
"Heero fed off me, and had no intention of turning
me, but once he found out that Zechs wanted me for himself, and was the only
one who would be able to heal me after he finished feeding, he decided it best
to make me his kin. Unfortunately,
Dorothy knew that he was going to teach me how to suppress my hunger for human
blood so I could stay here, with you, and she ordered me to her side, and I was
unable to come to you. But now…"
"Dragon?"
"Heero's dying. His time is growing
shorter, and only Death can save him. Please, allow me to help your ward Trieze, and I promise, I'll return to
you."
Looking at Duo and the vampire boy
in his arms, Trieze nodded, and pulled the black haired boy into his arms. He held the boy tightly and then backed
away, looking him in the eye.
"He's in
your hands Wufei."
"He will not be harmed, I promise you."
Wufei
turned to Duo and then looked at Heero. He was slowly regaining consciousness, but it wouldn't be enough. Death needed to claim him and with Dorothy's
mark on him, it would be hard to do.
"Come
with me." he said, disappearing in a swirl of mist.
"Uh, how?"
"Follow my mind frame. If you're going
to help him, you're going to need to learn how to be Shinigami real fast."
"I AM Shinigami!"
"Then act like him."
Duo
disappeared, his mist swirled with red glitter as he took his first step into
God-hood.