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Cherry Blossom: Well here we are, second chapter and I still have no clue what I'm doing.
Matteo: Well that's no surprise.
Cherry Blossom: Quiet you. : P
Matteo: Did anybody notice those lyrics you put at the beginning of every chapter?
Cherry Blossom: Yeah. SP goodness. I use the song for inspiration. Plus it perfectly mirrors what's going on in the chapter.
Matteo: You just want to display how big a rabid fan you are.
Cherry Blossom: ….just read the damn fic.
Matteo: Have fun!
- Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. So there.
Notes: This fic is getting quite complicated so I don't blame you if you get kind of confused. I'm just making up most of this stuff as I go along. Don't worry. I'll figure it out sooner or later =^__^= In the meantime…I've kind of taken over Dorothy's character. I mean, the way she talks is really, really sarcastic so it might seem a little OOC to you. Or it might not. I've always thought that Dorothy was extremely sarcastic the way she fawned all over Relena and her ideals. Either that or she really believed all that junk she was spewing O.o Special thanks to green-chan for her help and comments. And if you're thinking what I'm thinking then yes Hilde is going to be what you think she is but don't tell anybody 'cause they might not be thinking about what you think you're thinking yet. Okay, I've just confused myself. @_@
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I believe in never,
I believe in all the way
but belief is not to notice,
belief is just some faith
and faith can't help you to escape
- Thru the Eyes of Ruby
Smashing Pumpkins
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Shadow Embraced – Chapter 2
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It's Murphy's Law, I think, that says "whatever can go wrong will go wrong". Personally I think it's just God trying to get back at me because I won't just be normal like everyone else. He's probably up there on his cloud or throne or whatever just laughing his ass off at the misfortunes of the poor little vampyre girl who wouldn't die. At least, that's my theory.
That's why I wasn't the least bit surprised when Duo Maxwell interrupted probably the best feeding experience of my life. A little put out maybe, but not surprised. A little irritated, but not surprised. A little pissed, but not surprised.
Duo Maxwell never liked me. Which was fine because I was never overly fond of him. However his mate (girlfriend, lover, mistress, whatever they're calling them these days) was a good friend of mine. She had a taste for Goth dressing (some of my better vamp outfits were copies off of her) and I could always count on Hilde for a fun time. Maybe she wasn't as close a friend to me as Midii, heaven knows I never told her about my little "immortality gig", but we were close. Which is why I didn't just kill Duo Maxwell were he stood.
Well…and the fact that Quatre would never forgive me if I had. Plus bloodstains are really hard to get out of Persian carpets.
And I had that whole guilt issue, of course.
Sucks to be me. Literally.
Dorothy Catalonia February 5, A.C. 196- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vampyre. Dorothy was a vampyre.
'I should have known,' Duo thought furiously at himself. 'I should have seen it. God knows all the signs were there. The way she never ate in front of other people, the way she flinched whenever confronted with bright sunshine, the way her skin was always so pale, so unnaturally devoid of blood, those cold icy eyes, her heartless bitchy nature.'
Actually, Duo had to admit that she was getting better at socializing with other people. She had even befriended his girlfriend, Hilde, and that was no easy task. His Hilde was usually such a good judge of character…
'Well she was way off this time, wasn't she? How the hell am I supposed to deal with this?'~flashback~
Duo could remember the first time he ever saw a vampyre. It was when he was just a child, still living on the streets of L2, still scraping for food in the garbage. At the time there was a large concern about a certain plague that stripped victims of their strength and appetite until they eventually died. It was strange how the virus only took the poor and homeless. There were rumors that the rich had developed a vaccine but would not share it with the public because they wanted to "get rid of the deadweight on the colony". There were also rumors that it was something else. Something more…sinister. Duo could remember the way Solo had looked before he died; skin pale and sweaty, eyes bright and staring. His body was so cold, like there wasn't any blood within him to heat the skin, and there were those marks...
Two puncture marks in the hollow of his neck. Duo had stolen what was supposed to be an antidote from some big fancy hospital. It was later discovered that the solution was only a mixture of water and sugar. There was no cure. The hospital was only offering placebo to help calm the panicked citizens.
Later on, Duo had taken over Solo's duties as gang leader and was currently scouting what looked like a good place to hide out when he came upon a man, lying in the shadows. When Duo had stepped closer he saw that the man looked young, yet his hair was completely white and it spilled down over his shoulders. His skin was a light olive colour and his features were delicate. His clothing was new and fine, despite being covered in dirt and, by the strange coppery smell in the air, blood.
"Sir?"
Duo crouched down next to the man and shook his shoulder, hard. The man did not move. Sighing, Duo began to check through the man's pockets for his wallet. No sense in letting a good opportunity like this go to waste.
"You!"
The man's hand suddenly shot up, grabbing hold of Duo's arm in a tight, bone-crushing grip.
"Ahhh! Leggo! I wasn't doing nothin'!"
Duo tried to pull away, punching the man with his other arm with all his strength. He didn't even seem to notice it. Duo looked up into the man's face and what he saw there frightened him more than anything he ever saw in his life did. The man's eyes were blank, dead. This man was dead. It didn't matter that he was moving or talking. This man was dead.
"What the fuck are you?" Duo asked, his voice trembling.
The thing seemed to consider this question for a moment before grinning in a horrifying, bloody smile. "I am the night. I am the dark. I am your fear. I am Nosferatu. And I am hungry."
He started to bring the boy's hand slowly up towards his open, grinning mouth. Gasping, Duo flung out his legs in a hard kick to the creature's stomach. He didn't even flinch. Duo opened his mouth to scream but before he could, something warm wrapped around his mind and Duo was still. He watched the monster bring his wrist up to his lips with a detached calm, feeling like one drugged. A voice whispered in his ears, soothing words of tranquillity, pacifying the child completely. The monster placed his cool, wet mouth on Duo's wrists, searching for the point where the pulse was the strongest…
Twang. Thunk.
An arrow suddenly shot out of the darkness and planted itself squarely in the monster's left shoulder. He screamed in pain and released both Duo's wrist and mind in its attempt to locate the new threat.
"So you're the one causing all this trouble. I thought you would have learned by now. But I guess I was wrong."
"Maxwell," the monster hissed, drawing back a bit.
A man stepped out of the shadows. He was older than the creature; his black hair streaked with gray, back slightly stooped. But his eyes were hard and resolute and he held a crossbow, fitted with another arrow, steadily in his hands.
"Step away from the boy," the man said, his voice calm.
"Go to Hell," the creature sneered back.
A brief smile crossed the other man's face before he replied, "Sorry, I'd rather not. But why don't you go in my place?"
"Why you—"
The creature's rant was interrupted by the sudden sprouting of a large wooden arrow in his chest. For a few moments nothing happened. Then the creature let out a horrible scream and his entire body seemed to age rapidly in a matter of seconds until it was nothing more than a dried husk. Duo could only stare in shock at the obviously centuries old corpse that lay before him.
"Are you hurt, my child?"
Duo looked up to see the old man hovering anxiously above him, a concerned look on his face. "No, I'm fine. What the hell was that?"
The man seemed to hesitate, his eyes flickering nervously from Duo's face to the shell of the corpse beside him. Then he seemed to come to a decision.
"Do you have a place to stay for the night?"
Duo shook his head. The man smiled and said, "Well then, you can come stay with me at the Maxwell Church."
"Are you a priest or something?" Duo asked, curious.
The man chuckled. "Or something. But you may call me Father Maxwell. Come along. It's getting quite dark."
Duo held back. "I can't. I've got other people to take care of."
Father Maxwell looked surprised. "You mean family?"
"Yeah," Duo replied. "Something like that."
"Well you can bring them along, too. The church welcomes all homeless you know."
"Really? I can bring them?" Duo jumped up clasped his hand in his excitement. Father Maxwell laughed at his enthusiasm.
"Yes, of course. But we have to hurry before it gets any later."
"Yosh! Let's go then!" Duo took the Father's hand and nearly dragged him through the streets, leading him back to where he had left the others. If they were lucky there would be warm beds and maybe food at this church. And Duo really, really wanted to know what that creature was.
~end of flashback~
Duo reacted instantly, pulling his gun from the folds of his shirt and aiming it just beyond Quatre's left shoulder, at Dorothy's head. He stepped out of the shadows of the room and clicked the safety off of the gun, saying a quick prayer to the heavens. If Dorothy really was what he thought she was, then there was no way in hell that Duo would be able to stop her. But he still had to try, for Quatre's sake. He couldn't just stand by and watch while she drained his best friend.
"Freeze, demon!"
Dorothy's head shot up and she glared at the intruder furiously, a hiss of displeasure escaping her lips. A small trickle of blood flowed down her chin and the contrast of it against her pale skin was startling. Quatre hadn't moved during this exchange, he was still leaning back on Dorothy, a dreamy expression on his face. Duo could only surmise that she still had control of his mind.
"Release him, demon. Now."
Dorothy licked the sticky trail of blood off her chin and gave Duo a cold smile. "I don't think that would be wise. Mr. Winner is a bit queasy right now and he would probably fall if he didn't have my support."
"That's because you drank his fucking blood you bitch!" Duo spat, still keeping his gun trained on Dorothy. "Now let him go, before I get angry."
"Tsk, such language," Dorothy chided. "I don't think you know what you're up against Maxwell. That gun isn't going to do you or Mr. Winner any good here. Why don't you put it away and we can talk sensibly?"
Duo didn't waver. "Don't try to distract me, bitch. This may not kill you, but it'll still hurt a hell of a lot. You'll be out of commission long enough for me to put a stake through your chest. Now for the last friggin' time move away from Quatre."
Dorothy stared at him for a few minutes before deciding that he was serious and slowly stepped away from Quatre. The young blond Arabian's knees buckled a bit but he managed to catch hold of his desk and keep from sinking to the ground.
"D-Duo…"
"Don't worry Quatre. Everything's going to be okay," Duo assured as he took a step closer to Dorothy.
Dorothy's lips twisted into a scowl. "You'd better leave right now, Maxwell. You don't know what you're dealing with."
Duo laughed. It was a harsh, dark sound that gave Dorothy the chills. "Oh I know exactly what I'm dealing with…vampyre."
~flashback~
"Vampyre. What you saw was a vampyre."
Duo almost choked on the slice of bread that Father Maxwell had given him to munch on, seeing as supper wasn't quite ready yet and the poor kid looked like he was starving…which he was. "You must be joking! Vampyres aren't real. They're just some fairytales used to frighten children."
"Alright," Father Maxwell said. "Then what was it if not a vampyre?"
Duo's brow creased and he thought hard about it for a couple of minutes. "Some weirdo on drugs?"
"What do you think?"
Duo sighed. "Okay, maybe it wasn't human. But c'mon, a vampyre? That's just crazy."
"Not only was that a vampyre," Father Maxwell continued, "It just so happened to be Kumi Shikaze, one of Gabriel's favorite pets."
Duo paused in his chewing. "Gabriel?"
Father Maxwell's face seemed to grow pensive and he fiddled absently with the cross at his neck. "Gabriel is one of the most powerful vampyres. He is a direct descendant of Lilith, the queen of the vampyres…" Father Maxwell registered Duo's blank look and sighed. "It would take much to long to explain all the bloodlines and legends to you. Let's just say that Kumi is by no means the worst of his kind. I have suspected supernatural activity was here on this colony but I couldn't be sure until now. No doubt Gabriel was trying to establish control of this colony now that he's grown tired of earth. This plague is evidence enough of that."
Duo was confused. "What do you mean? Why would feeding off the poor and homeless help this Gabriel guy take over the colony?"
"Gabriel isn't stupid. He knows that the members of OZ and the Romefellor foundation are poised to take over and he plans to use this to his greatest advantage. He's going to change the soldiers until he has an army, an army of vampyres."
Duo's eyes grew wide in horror. "W-what can we do?"
"Well," Father Maxwell said, "Now that Kumi's dead, there'll be a period of grace where they have to regroup. I suspect that by the number of plague victims, nearly half of OZ's army has been changed. I'm going to do the best I can to eradicate the new vampyres. But…" he looked over at Duo with a small smile. "I'm getting kind of old and it isn't so easy to get around anymore. Care to assist me?"
Duo smiled back. "And get a chance to kick some immortal ass? You bet!"
~end of flashback~
Quatre, still slightly dizzy from the feeding experience, stood on shaky legs and made his way over to Duo. "Look I'm fine, Duo. I'm okay. You don't need to protect me from Dorothy because she's not evil!"
Duo laughed again, a hint of a sneer crossing his face. "You've got to be kidding me, Q-man. She drinks the blood of humans. If that's not evil, then I don't know what is."
"I may drink but I don't kill. Not anymore," Dorothy stated.
"A reformed vampyre," Duo snorted. "How cute. I don't think so Dorothy."
"Both of you stop it!" Quatre cried. "This is stupid. You guys aren't enemies!"
"That just shows how much you know," Duo tightened his grip on the trigger.
"Go ahead," hissed Dorothy. "Shoot me. Let's see if you've got the guts, Maxwell."
"No!" Quatre leapt in front of Dorothy, blocking Duo's target. "Please just listen to me!"
"Dammit Quatre," Duo cursed. "Get out of my way."
"I won't! I won't let you shoot her! How can I prove to you that Dorothy wouldn't hurt me?"
Quatre stood still for a few seconds, a tortured look upon his face. Then he seemed to come to a decision. He turned to face Dorothy. "Here," he tilted his head back, displaying the delicate white throat. "Feed. Take it. Take all of it."
Dorothy looked horrified. "What?"
"No!" Duo shrieked in rage. "Quatre you fool! You don't know what you're doing!"
"This is the only way to prove it to you. Go on Dorothy. Take it all. End this now."
Dorothy shook her head, stepping back. "I can't. I can't…"
"Yes you can." Quatre took another step towards her, rubbing the skin just above the two previous puncture marks, making the blood ooze out over the half healed wounds. The coppery smell of Quatre's blood filled the room and Dorothy's fangs resurfaced at the stimulation. Her throat ached. She wanted it, wanted to drain him. And here he was just asking her to…
"Go on. What are you waiting for? Drink."
Dorothy couldn't help it. She cradled Quatre's head gently in her hands and brought her lips down to the vein.
"Quatre…" Duo's voice was hoarse and tense, his finger tightening on the trigger but not daring to pull lest he hit Quatre by accident.
Dorothy could sense the quickening of Quatre's pulse, smell the blood just waiting for her kiss beneath the surface. She parted her lips…and abruptly pushed Quatre away.
"No! I can't do this! Don't ask me to do this!"
Duo's jaw dropped open in shock as he saw tears mist in Dorothy's eyes and trail down her checks in wet silver trails.
"You…you're crying," He said in amazement. "But demons can't cry."
"You see?" Quatre breathed. "She's not evil. And she hasn't killed since the day we fought on Libra. I can attest to that. Please Duo, trust me."
Duo closed his eyes and lowered his gun, slowly. "I'm going to trust you this time Q-man." He turned to glare at Dorothy. "But this doesn't mean that we're going to be friends now, vampyre."
Dorothy sniffed and tossed her hair, the gesture ruined by the fact that she still had tears staining her cheeks. "I can't say that I want to get all chummy with you, anyway Maxwell."
Quatre shot her a look that said, "Be nice". Then he turned to face the braided pilot. "Thanks Duo. It means a lot to me. But what was so important that you had to burst into my office at 10 o'clock? You're usually not out of bed until noon."
Duo blushed and said, "Yeah, well I just wanted you to be the first to know…that I'm gonna propose to Hilde tonight."
Quatre gasped and then smiled. "Duo that's great! Did you pick out a ring?"
Duo displayed the box proudly. "Check 'er out. Only cost me three months salary. I've been living off coffee beans and mac and cheese for like forever. But it'll be worth it just to see her face when I present her with this."
Dorothy leaned over to get a better view of the ring that Duo was holding out. It was elegant and simple with a large star cut rare black sapphire surrounded by a cluster of glittering diamonds. It practically screamed "Hilde". 'Not bad,' Dorothy grudgingly admitted to herself.
"You may be a baka," Dorothy commented. "But you sure have good taste in jewelry."
Duo shot Dorothy a glare and kept on talking to Quatre. "You're invited to the wedding of course, Q. That's is…if she says yes."
"Of course she's going to say yes," Quatre assured. "Oh Duo this is so exciting! I'm so happy for you!"
"What about me?" Dorothy batted her eyes ridiculously. "Aren't I invited to the wedding. I am one of Hilde's best friends, after all."
"You stay the hell away from Hilde," Duo growled. "As of now I'm terminating your friendship."
"Now that's not fair," Dorothy said. "I think you should let Hilde decide."
Quatre saw Duo's shoulder's stiffen and sighed. "Dorothy you're not helping. Maybe you should wait for me outside."
Dorothy clenched her teeth; a little hurt that Quatre was taking Duo's side, but she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said, "Fine. You don't want me here? Then I'll go." Dorothy swept past Duo out into the hall, not once looking back over her shoulder. Quatre watched her go, pain reflecting in his aqua coloured eyes. Duo observed Quatre's expression and said, "I do not want to know what you guys have got going on, okay?"
"Don't worry Duo," Quatre sighed. "I don't think we have anything going on. Not today at least. Now…tell me about how you plan to propose…"
Dorothy walked quickly through the streets, trying to quell her anger. Sure, Duo was Quatre's best friend, but why'd he have to go and brush her off like that? And she had completely humiliated herself by crying in front of Maxwell.
'This day could not possibly get any worse.'
"Danica. Long time, no see."
Dorothy looked up into a pair of icy blue eyes and shivered.
'I guess I spoke too soon.'"Hello Loki."
To Be Continued…
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Matteo: Yet another cliffhanger.
Cherry Blossom: Shut up. I'm tired. Need sleep. Dream of vampyres.
Matteo: I can't believe you looked up the occult on the net for research.
Cherry Blossom: Yeah. My mom peeked over my shoulder and asked if I was renouncing my religion. -_-
Matteo: What'd you say?
Cherry Blossom: I said, "yes mom I'm going to become a witch. Don't try and stop me or I'll turn you into a toad."
Matteo: ….and how'd she take it?
Cherry Blossom: I'm grounded for a month.
Matteo: ::starts to laugh::
Cherry Blossom: Shut up.
Matteo: ::stops laughing::
Cherry Blossom: Review! Or I'll turn you into a toad.
Matteo: ::snicker::
Cherry Blossom: Watch yourself muse-boy. I still have my lucky glaive.
Matteo: Yeah I'm so scared midget woman.
Cherry Blossom: That's it…::pulls glaive from hyperspace:: You're gonna die!
Matteo: Eep! ::runs away::
Cherry Blossom: ::prepares to run after him…pauses:: Hey Lara? I read the second part to Bad and it was smeggerific but FF.net won't let me review for some inane reason __. Just so you know I WANT A SEQUAL WITH LEATHER AND BONDAGE AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF. You know what I mean ^_~ Jaa! ::runs off to catch up to Matteo::