(Vampire Hell)
Chapter 7: Hai...
(Chapter 7: Yes...)
It was late in the afternoon now, and the sun was falling down heavily upon the boys' backs. They walked slowly down the bustling streets, neither of them daring to look upon the face of the other. Duo knew that it was strange of the boy. How could his powers have developed so quickly? It had taken him nearly a year to harness the power of illusion, yet Quatre had done it in less than a day. How could it be?
Quatre wound his hands tightly around one another. He could still see the red smears on them, though he had been sure to wash off every trace of blood. It was strange. He could still smell the man's blood on his clothes. The stench was becoming overwhelming. His entire self smelled of death, and he felt his nose wrinkle intermittently as he walked.
They finally reached their destination, Duo's own private hideaway. Everything was as it had been before. They pulled open the heavy metal door that creaked with the movement, walking slowly down the thin corridor of chain link fence and spray paint, turned the corner, and came to the open hall.
Duo immediately sensed something strange in his home. It was as if he had received a shock to his system, and he stopped a mere five feet into the room. Everything looked the same. There were people everywhere, the majority of them doped up out of their minds. Duo knew everyone here. He could see their faces clearly. These were his friends, his followers. They were his gang. Yet, he felt strange. He felt as if there were someone here whom he did not recognize. Someone here whom he did not know.
"No," Duo thought to himself, scanning the crowd quickly, his eyes darting back and forth of their own accord. "I recognize this feeling. I just can't remember..."
"Duo?" Quatre questioned quietly over the blaring music system, placing a supportive hand upon the boy's muscled shoulder. "Is something wrong?"
Duo flashed his familiar grin, trying to act casual and ignore the eerie feeling shooting through his body, straight to the tips of his toes. "Everything's fine, Quat," answered Duo reassuringly, still smiling as if all was well. He continued his pace, swerving through the crowd with ease. Everyone seemed to step aside for him. They knew who they were dealing with in the scheme of things.
They passed the gigantic stereo system, and Quatre stared a moment. He'd never really looked at it before. It was a mammoth electronic device, with speakers nearly five feet tall screaming out the heavy bass and almost shrill voice of the song. Surely it was an expensive piece of equipment, probably thousands of dollars. He silently wondered where Duo had gotten the money to pay for it. Also, if he had that much money, what was he doing living in a run down place like this? Perhaps he'd simply stolen it.
Something was still not right for Duo. He had the unshakable feeling that there was someone in here watching him. Yet, everywhere he looked, people had their faces turned from his. Not one person was looking at him. No one. That, in itself, was strange.
He tried his best to shake the feeling as he finally came to his door. Quatre stepped up next to him, eager to finally see the place that Duo called home.
Duo grasped the handle, and began to pull. It opened barely an inch before he released it, and it slammed itself shut. He whipped his body around suddenly, causing Quatre to back away a few steps out of surprise. The boy clenched his fists and stepped forward a bit, jerking his head back and forth, still searching. Quatre watched his braid as it was flung from the left to the right.
"Who in the hell is that!?" Duo screamed over the crowd. A few of the people close to him stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him, but not many people. The music was far too loud for him to be heard over. He couldn't take it anymore. He growled out a scream and the music that had been blasting throughout the hall suddenly died, leaving the entire place in silence.
Everyone turned to stare at Duo.
"There's someone here," Duo said mysteriously to the crowd in general. He began walking back through the crowd, weaving in and out between people, knocking them out of the way to see past them.
All eyes were still upon him. No one dared to speak up.
"I know you're in here..." he growled, still searching. "When I find you..."
"You'll what?" he heard a familiar voice say quietly from a distance.
He knew the voice. He knew the feeling, but to whom did it belong? He turned around, his eyes wide. Quatre ran over to him, again grasping onto the back of his jacket for protection. "What's wrong, Duo?" he asked silently, communicating with his mind.
Duo chose to ignore the question, and began stalking in the direction from which the voice had come. "Dammit, where are you!?"
"Right here," the voice said again, this time from another area, directly behind him.
Duo screamed in frustration, clenching his fists even tighter. He ran towards the voice now, shoving everyone roughly out of the way. "I've had enough of these games!" he screamed, piercing the silence with his frustration.
"Then turn around," the voice whispered in his ear.
Duo whipped his head around, and suddenly found himself staring into a pair of intense silvery-blue eyes. He took a step back out of shock, bringing his hand to his chest. "Heero..." he breathed out, nothing more than a sigh of words.
The chiseled features of the boy suddenly broke, and his face contorted into a familiar grin of pure delight.
"Heero!" Duo wailed excitedly and ran to the boy, forgetting that everyone was staring at him. He threw his arms around his shoulders, dragging him into a rough, tight embrace.
The boy slowly lowered his hand to the long brown braid trailing down the slim back, and took it in his hands. It was as soft as it had been so many hundred years ago. So familiar and so comfortable. Even Duo's smell was the same. Something mingling between musk and desire.
Duo suddenly released his arms, pulling himself out of the boy's reach. "Heero!" he shouted at the boy, his face immediately flushing with rage. He dare not even bother to hesitate. He slammed his fist directly into the vampire's face, smashing his lip against his teeth and causing blood to trickle down his chin. The blood quickly turned from a bright red to a thick black, then stopped. Duo watched in increasing fascination as the wound healed itself in a matter of seconds.
Quatre dare not say a word at the sight before him. He had absolutely no idea what was going on, and he was not exactly sure if he wanted to. All he knew was that someone was here, getting Duo's attention. He did not like that one bit, and he found himself unable to move. He simply watched as the newcomer moved in closer to Duo, taking his trembling hand in his own, and placing it against his chest comfortingly.
"I'm sorry, Duo..." he whispered lovingly, a hint of remorse leaking from his voice.
"Why are you here?!" Duo interrupted, nearly shouting. He ripped his hand away from the iron grip holding it, trying his best not to punch the man's face once again.
"I've come to talk to you," the strange boy answered plainly, forgetting his momentary regret for unknown actions that had caused the other distress.
Duo snarled at the boy, shoving his shoulder and sending him back nearly five feet. He nearly stumbled on some of the people still crowding around him. "Bullshit!" the boy roared, shoving him again, this time causing him to fall onto his back on the hard concrete floor. "I told you I never wanted to see you again!" he screamed again.
Heero let his gaze travel up the length of the thin boy's body, taking in the purely exotic physique. He let a smile graze his lips yet again as he said, "You haven't changed one bit," and got to his feet.
Duo felt himself relax slightly, yet silently wondered how this boy had found him after so many hundred years and so many hundred miles of distance between them. He had almost completely forgotten about this man. Forgotten the tousled, rough hair, the dark blue eyes that had now turned into silver, the long legs, the thin lips, the proud jaw line, the muscled back and chest. He silently regretted ever forgetting...
"Is there someplace private we can go?" asked Heero, shaking the boy's thoughts away.
Duo nodded silently, gesturing toward the door to his room. Heero followed close behind, placing a tender hand around his waist and pulling him closer to his side as they walked.
Quatre stared after them a moment, suddenly feeling a wave of jealousy wake inside him. He turned around and ran from the hall, and from Duo, as the loud music resumed its playing through the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How long had she been alive? She silently contemplated this thought as the storm threatening to break overhead warned her to seek shelter. She had been born in... let's see... could she even remember? She had never bothered to keep track of her life. It was as if every year, every hundred years, seemed to run into one another.
She was merely a girl of 16 when she had been turned into a vampire. She didn't even remember her parents anymore, nor did she remember her brother, whom had been so much older than she. Let's see, if the year is now 2001... she was sure she'd been born at least three hundred years ago. She grasped for the memories buried deep inside her mind. Somehow, somewhere in her head, she had to know the year in which she was born. Seventeen... Seventeen eighty-six? No, that was not right.
The storm clouds above her rumbled with the passing of the far-away thunder. She looked up to see rain drops beginning to fall directly upon her face. She hated the rain, always had. Lightning had always been one of the few things she'd been afraid of, and chose to avoid whenever possible. That, and Duo Maxwell.
That vampire had a truly threatening persona. The creepy thing was, he was always smiling. She never knew what he was smiling about. He appeared to know everything about you, it was a knowing grin. A self-absorbed type of overly-proud smirk that leered down upon you. The mere thought of it had now become enough to send shivers down her spine.
Relena continued walking down the now nearly deserted sidewalk, not bothering to give a second look to the people passing by. She barely noticed when a small boy running toward her jarred her shoulder and ceased her thoughts momentarily. "Sorry," the boy called over his shoulder apologetically, slowing to a walk.
Relena raised her head. There was something in that voice. Like a whisper, only she had heard it so clearly. She turned around and stared at the back of the boy's head as his quick pace slowly changed to a stroll. Then, the boy stopped and turned around.
She was staring at him. She knew it. There was something so familiar in his eyes. The boy was staring at her, as well, as if afraid. He knew he recognized her. He walked closer, trying to get a better look in the rain that was now pouring down upon the two.
"Do I know you?" the boy whispered, stepping ever closer, squinting his eyes at the girl who stared plainly back at him.
The girl lifted one eyebrow in question. "I don't think so."
The boy looked disappointed a moment, then placed a hand on his hip defiantly. "Yes I do! I recognize you somehow."
"I don't think so," said the girl again, this time tilting her head down to the ground and ignoring her intuition to go for the gun still tucked away in her backpack. Something inside her was screaming at her that this boy was a vampire, but it had to be wrong. The boy was so innocent, so frail. He didn't look as if he could even hurt a fly.
"Your name wouldn't be Relena, would it?" the boy asked whimsically. He knew he was probably wrong, but it was worth a try.
The girl suddenly jerked her head up and glared at the boy. No one knew her name. She'd made it a point not to tell anyone whom she did not trust. And trust, to her, was not something she handed out freely.
"It is, isn't it?" the boy asked, a slow, proud smile beginning to form on his lips. "I knew I noticed a strange aura coming from you! You're..." The smile suddenly dropped from his face and he took a step back. "Oh shit!" he screamed aloud, and a few of the people still scurrying the streets stopped momentarily to see what the exclamation was about. "You're! You're the one who's been..."
Relena quickly pulled the backpack from behind her and pulled her gun out of the side pocket, licking her lips and sighting down the length of the barrel, directly towards the boy's forehead. A woman screamed and jumped inside the nearest building, dragging her small boy along with her. Everyone else quickly cleared from the streets, a few of them screaming as well. "You're the new one!" she whispered angrily, cocking the trigger on the back of the gun. "Prepare to die!" She screamed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nice place," Heero stated flatly, scanning the small hovel with his eyes.
Duo sighed behind him and closed the door. He stared at the man in front of him. The legs, the back... they were so powerful. He wondered how much stronger this boy had become over the hundred of years they'd been seperated. Perhaps if he... Duo concentrated on the boy, delving into his mind. He read the thoughts as if Heero were speaking to him. He was nervous, wondering what to do next. "Should I wait for him to speak? Should I talk to him about the girl, and that new child he's created?"
Duo smiled to himself and sat down on the bed, motioning for the boy to do the same.
The boy sat down, clearing his throat. "Duo, I..." he began, his mouth unmoving.
Duo stopped the thoughts coming into his head, ignoring them as if Heero hadn't said a word with his mind. He gave the boy a quizical look, as if he were waiting on something.
"He's still got me closed out of his mind," Heero thought to himself. Duo smirked again. "Duo, I came here, because I gravely needed to speak to you." How long had it been since he'd really spoken to someone? To another vampire? He knew this would be a difficult task after so many years.
"You want to talk about Relena?"
"Relena?"
"The vampire who's been killing all of the others."
"Oh. Yes, I suppose. She is... a problem for us." Heero felt his eyes travel from Duo's. He watched as the boy's chest, which was so erotically exposed from the unbuttoned shirt, moved with the rhythm of the boy's breaths. The defined muscles of his stomach could barely be seen before the shirt got in the way. The cross still clung to his chest, attached to the small silver chain.
Heero put his hand to his own chest, reaching down his shirt and pulling out his own cross.
"You kept yours as well, I see," said Duo, more of a question than a statement.
Heero smiled at the boy brightly and said, "Yes, of course I did. I could never let it go. It contains a part of you."
The boy shook his head and shrugged his shoulder nonchalantly. "Just my blood."
Heero stared at the small red stone in the center of the cross. The red jewel of this boy's life that glowed so brilliantly before his eyes. "That's not it," he stated nostalgically. "The small jewel may hold your blood, but the cross itself is a part of you. A part that you willingly gave to me." He looked up, staring directly into the other boy's eyes of amethyst silver. "It glows when I take a life."
"So does mine."
"It never used to do that..."
"... when we were together."
"Do you always..."
"...wear mine? Yes."
"I do, as well."
Silence descended for a moment. Duo stared at the boy's lowered eyes. They looked so lovingly upon the silver cross. The corner of his mouth twitched into an evil smile, and he slid towards the boy, taking the cross in his own hand and looking upon it intently. He saw the boy back away slightly at the closeness of his body. It had to have been a long time since this boy had been near someone like this. Someone that he actually cared about, that is.
"It's not as pretty as mine," Duo stated flatly, noticing that the silver was becoming tarnished. He looked up into the boy's eyes. Mere inches from the cold skin, he could feel the icy breath blowing quickly across his lips. He could hear the boy's dull heartbeat slowly begin to quicken its pace. "Heero..." he whispered, tilting his head seductively to the left and lowering his eyelids slightly.
"Yes?" the boy could barely force out of his clenched throat.
"Would you play with me for a while?"
"Yes."
~~~~~~~~~~
The boy stared a moment at the gun pointed at his face, and the girl holding it. Her mouth had twisted into a scowl of determination, yet her eyes looked so sad. "Why are you sad?" he whispered.
The girl lowered the gun a fraction, then returned it to its place. "I'm doing what's right. I'm not sad!"
The boy tilted his head slightly, his lips turning into a pout. "I don't wanna die."
The girl stared.
"I don't even wanna be a vampire anymore."
She lowered the gun.
"Duo betrayed me."
She stood a moment. "All masters do that to their children."
"They do?"
"From what I've seen, yes."
The boy took a step forward, meeting the girl's gaze with his own. He could feel the barrel of the gun that she still held in front of her push into his stomach. "Why do you kill us?" he asked innocently.
The girl's lips parted slightly and she stared at the boy. Why did she kill all of the vampires? Because they were evil. They needed to be stopped.
"That's not it," the boy cooed, shaking his head. "It's something else."
The girl knitted her brow. Vampires killed humans.
"Why do you care about them? You're not one of them."
Because they were living creatures. They didn't deserve to die.
"Everyone dies. Why do you have to kill the ones who kill?"
Because they did deserve to die.
"Why?"
Because they were evil.
"By killing them, does that not make you evil, as well?"
"It does," the girl finally stated, tiring of this boy reading her thoughts.
"Then why do you do it?"
"I don't know."
"Revenge?"
The girl bit her bottom lip. Revenge?
"Revenge against someone who's hurt you?"
"Yes."