WHAT?
Chapter 4
Slipping out of the building the four teenage boys slowed to a leisurely trot, "What am I going to do?" Duo asked loping towards the streetlights that illuminated the dim interior of the alleyway. "Pretend you're a dog...There a lot of different species in this place so maybe they won't suspect anything Duo." Quatre said agreeably.
Snorting Duo picked Trowa to be a faithful pet to, walking sedately next to him, the few looks they received were ignored. Walking into the nearest hotel Quatre eyed Duo, questioning him if he had smelled his 'prey.'
Duo snuffled loudly a woman who happened to be near the enormous 'dog' jumped and edged away from him. The werewolf's shoulder blades reached easily up to Trowa's waist (and he's pretty tall) his head rose up several inches making him a formidable size to all on comers, which also explained the woman's growing uneasiness.
Taking Trowa's hand in his jaws, he didn't notice Trowa wince in pain, as he led him down the hallway. The clerk raised her hand to signal the group to stop, "Bathroom." Wufei said tersely.
The clerk watched the three boys disappear into the hallway, frowning she rolled her eyes, "Not MY fault if they can't read the directions." She muttered to herself glancing up at the bathroom sign that pointed down the opposite hallway.
Easing the collar of her shirt Usagi glanced anxiously around her, she didn't like to admit it but she had the conscious feeling of being stalked.
'Goddess, please don't let it be those crazy guys again.' She muttered to herself, 'what am I supposed to do this time? I have no protection...Gene's out at some place, Jim's with Melfina getting things from the ship, Aisha's out, Suzuka's out...perfect' looking around she grabbed a sheet around her body comfortingly.
Lapping the small droplets of blood from Trowa's hand in apology Duo removed his guiding mouth, "She's here." Rolling his eyes Wufei leaned against the wall, "Where is here?" Crisscrossing the hall in hopes to pick up the familiar scent Duo stopped at door 57, bending down he poked his nose to the crack at the bottom of the door. Duo grinned wagging his tail with malicious glee, "She's in here Wufei."
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Usagi gaped at the spot where the wet nose had poked through, "They're here." Searching for any weapon she opened the window, she was on the fifth floor, there was no escape.
Her heart was pounding so loudly it filled the silence, the door gave a sudden and violent shudder. "Go away." Usagi whispered clutching the sheets even tighter in her ice- cold hands, "Go AWAY!" She screamed her body was halfway out of the warmth of the bedcovers when Duo burst into the room the splintered door was crushed under his weight.
The light in the hallway outlined Wufei's figure as he made his way to Usagi's frozen form, the few seconds that it took him to reach Usagi were like hours to her. Her mind was devoid of thought, she could only watch. What could she do against these people? They were invincible!
When the cool press of Wufei's lips on her neck reached her senses her mind jump started, 'I have to do something! I can't just sit here!' But it was too late, too late to pick herself up and run, much less fight. Her chest kept jerking for air, which she for some reason wouldn't let out.
Finally the air inside her came whooshing out, sinking into the dark blanket of sleep she forgot who and where she was at the moment...just remembering that she was so tired, so very tired.
Waiting a few seconds to ensure her sleep Wufei's fangs retracted and he removed himself from her neck. Pausing just for a second, he remarked at the familiarity of her face. Wrapping the blanket around her securely he glanced back at the group waiting at the door before picking up the limp girl.
Quatre checked his watch, "Twenty minutes. That means we still have time to get back. Let's go!"
Going through the back exit Duo again led the way for the Demon Hunters, finally reentering the space station's docking area they relaxed ever so slightly.
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The Prussian eyed Hunter took a last look at the dock before pressing a few switches, "I hope that does it." He mumbled absently to himself as the ships engines hummed to life, he glanced up as Quatre stepped into the room and nodded his head acknowledging him.
"Check her." He hissed.
"Check her?" Quatre voiced in bewilderment.
Heero turned his back on him, "You heard me."
"But, I thought you wanted her to be killed." Quatre said quietly.
"I'm not making another mistake." Heero murmured.
Frowning Quatre turned towards the exit, turning again just to make sure he was really hearing his orders correctly, "Check her? Memory Check?" There was silence, sighing the Arabian exited the room, 'I wonder what Heero meant by him not making the mistake twice...'
Entering the room where they were keeping Usagi he spotted Trowa washing his hands. Quatre mumbled a 'hi' before glancing in Usagi's general direction.
"Something wrong?" Trowa asked quietly, wiping his hands on a towel.
"Heero wants me to CHECK her. Usually it would just be kill and leave...kill and leave."
"Heero's our leader. Are you,"
"No, of course I'm not questioning his orders. But, why is this girl so special?"
"Aren't you glad that you don't have to kill her?" Trowa asked stopping at the doorway.
"Well, yes but...I'm just tense I guess."
His eyebrows arched at the words "Tense?"
"I don't know. Right now, if he is planning on killing her later I wish that he would just get it over with."
Shrugging Trowa left, Quatre bit his lip nervously, 'Gods, how long has it been since I've done a Memory check anyway?'
Cracking his knuckles he stood over her, closing his eyes he splayed his fingers over her body and concentrated...
He had the gift of being a Mind Reader, his mind reading ability going from dreams, to memories and even day-to-day experiences. He could go into a persons mind and have a, 'look' around and see what was going on. What was being suppressed, and what was a lie by using his mind to sift through another's.
Now, inside Usagi's mind he looked around, after all, it'd been a few years since he'd been in someone's mind like this. Stretching his power out he felt himself touch a barrier inside Usagi's mind, following that flow of power he stopped at the small box in front of him.
It was depicted to him as a plain, smooth metal box with no hinges on it. There was nothing around to open it with. It just sat there, forgotten and unwanted.
'Hmmmm' Sighing in exasperation he bent down to pick the box up, his fingers traced over the box again and again. 'Damn it, there's no way to open this thing.' As he was about to set it back down a bead of light circled the midsection of the box's surfaces.
It opened in his hand, a glowing light poured out of the box blinding his eyes for the briefest second. "A real live memory." Quatre murmured in surprise, if he had wanted to extract a memory from Usagi he would usually have had to have gone through various mental blocks and tricks before actually seeing the real live memory. They were small orbs of light, clusters of them sometimes.
Now, standing there with the memory still in the box he hesitated. Should he really go through a suppressed memory of this girl? Hell, why not? He was here to make sure she wasn't Serena, wasn't he?
His fingers met the cool surface of the memory, a steady flow of pictures, like a movie, streamed through his mind...
He was the specter, watching what was going on while Usagi was the character.
The person he saw now was younger with long waves of sun bleached blonde hair, but she resembled the Usagi he was searching through right now...
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'Checking the car's clock she sighed, "What an idiot! He HAD to make me 30 minutes late! It's already 5:10 in the morning!!!" Her eyes caught the fleeting shadow of some animal crossing the road, she peered into the gloomy forest, turning her gaze back to the road again she shrieked in surprise as a teenage boy suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.
Bewilderment turned into anger as her car swerved around him, "What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING OUT ON THE ROAD LIKE THAT!" Her hand flew to the car door when her eyes picked out the telltale glint of silver, small silver bullets lined the boys belt.
Shaking her head to clear it she looked out her car door window and screamed shrilly as at the window staring in was the largest wolf she'd ever seen. Saliva dripped from his jaws, a manic look danced in those glowing red eyes. An ashy gray ruff added to the enormous size of the thing. It was at least a few inches above her waist.
Taking in deep breaths she began to edge towards the other end of the car, the thing kept staring at her, just outside the car, in the middle of the night.
She had forgotten about the boy outside, but a sudden fusillade of bullets reminded her that she wasn't alone, the bullets shattered part of her window shield and hit the animal as well.
Falling out the passenger side door Serena stared at the still standing beast. It had turned its attention to the teenage boy.
"Want a piece of me you damned animal!" he yelled Serena stared at him, 'he's crazy!'
Reaching for the silver bullets that lined his waist he almost got hit by the enormous wolf as it flung itself at him.
Firing another barrage of bullets the Hunter quickly loaded his gun with three silver bullets, leaving only two left in his belt. In those mere seconds the Wolf had launched himself at his stalker, Serena hardly noticed the difficulty she was having breathing while she watched the two fight.
Lifting his arm up he would have fired straight into the wolves mouth had it not been for the canines that had buried themselves in his arm. Yelping in surprised pain he wrestled the werewolf trying to free his arm as blood began to case his hand in a red glove.
The gun spun under the car, leaving the boy totally defenseless. Afraid to move Serena stared at the gun, it was just in her reach. Bending down she made a quick grab for the gun, her fingers curved around the handle standing up her eyes were immediately sucked into bloodshot, manic eyes.
Trembling she held on tightly to the gun, afraid to move, afraid to cause anything to set the thing off.
Staring into its eyes she winced as saliva and blood dripped from his mouth onto her shoes. Looking away she found her vision clouding from tears, this wasn't happening.
Her arm tensed, she had to shoot it before it attacked her, trembling and shivering from the predicament she was in, her body released adrenaline in a futile attempt at the idea of running from the beast.
Whipping around she began to run off the road, the hot air from the wolf's mouth could be felt on the back of her neck. A rock seemed to rise up out of the ground in her view as she tripped over it. Turning onto her back she raised the gun and fired.
Jumping to the side from reflexes the wolf turned his head to watch as the silver bullet buried itself into the car door. Turning he cocked his head, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth, Serena screamed in fear at the intensified crazy look in its pupils.
Pulling herself to her feet she fired again, twice in fact, each missing its intended target. Plodding towards her now that the threat was over, Serena searched for anything, anything to fight the thing off with.
All of a sudden gunfire broke out from behind the wolf, bullets buried themselves in its flank. Whipping around it was hit in the face and shoulders by the unceasing gunfire. Blood coated his fur swaying it began to run towards the tree line where the gunfire was coming from before collapsing into a bloody bundle.
Gaping in surprise she stared at her savior, leaning drunkenly against the tree he stared at her feebly, horribly weakened from both the wound and the fight. An overwhelming sense of fear rose in her chest.
Picking herself up she ran towards the only person in the clearing with a sound mind at the moment.
Looking over her shoulder her heart skipped a beat the creature was still alive. Blood was seeping out of his body as he lifted his head to stare at her, crying out when she heard the menacing snarl echo in the clearing she crossed the last few feet to stand next to the youth.
"What is that!" Serena whispered, her voice quivering, her eyes glued to the animal as it struggle to stand upright.
He remained silent, black spots were constantly dotting his vision, and even now it was hard to see the werewolf lying there right in front of him.
Serena noticed the hunters trembling fingers as they made the moved towards the last two silver bullets. "Are you alright?" Serena questioned worriedly, grabbing for his gun as it slipped from his fingers.
Serena's gaze flew to his injured arm, droplets of blood were staining the plants below. Staring into his icy eyes she reached out to take the tightly clenched bullets from out of his hand "Let me help."
Loading the gun, she handed it to him again, helping his fingers to wrap around the handle of it. "Please." Serena whispered, "Don't let it get me."
He turned his head then, to stare into her wide sapphire eyes before he turned to meet eyes with the wolf. Blinking in confusion Serena frowned as she too turned her gaze onto it, "His eyes, they changed color. Look!" Serena pointed, "They're purple now." He still didn't respond. Serena stared at the trembling gun hand before moving to help. She felt his shiver of surprise as her body moved behind his, her arms reached around his body to clasp tightly around the handle of the gun and his slender fingers.
"Be ready." He whispered coldly.
Out of the corner of Serena's eye she spotted a shadow running towards the wolf. Tensing she shuddered, 'there can't be two of these things.'
As the moonlight hit the creature she struggled to hold down her cry of dismay, it was another monstrous wolf. Its ears perked at the sight of the two, turning to its hunting partner it licked the many wounds leaking blood from his shoulders.
The sound of the bullet shocked Serena, another explosion of sound cracked through the air. The second wolf went down under the two gunshots, Serena felt incredibly faint at the moment.
"That was your last bullet, don't you have anymore?" She mumbled.
"Regular bullets won't do it...that was my last silver bullet...I have some ammo in my pocket." Blinking away the foggy veil that had fallen over his vision he tried to gain some support from his failing legs.
Reaching down she grabbed the handful of bullets and quickly stuffed them into his gun. She looked up and met eyes with the wolf, 'Regular bullets won't do it! That thing's a werewolf!!'
Serena would later remember asking herself how she didn't come to that conclusion earlier, but now all she could think about was how she was going to get out of this.
"Right...we're getting out of here." Serena murmured to herself when she saw that the violet-eyed werewolf was beginning to gain back use of his legs. She began to drag the boy's unwilling body across the forest ground to the car.
"Give me the gun." Heero said tersely.
"What! Are you kidding, if you drop that then who knows how I'll fend off that thing." Serena stated, continuing what she was doing.
"Give it to me." He yelled twisting around in her arms.
Handing him the gun she helped him limp to her car, she was at the car door when she turned around to see how far away they were from the werewolf. It was staring at her again its eyes glowing in the half-light of the moon.
Dragging his body the rest of the way in she grabbed the gun from his limp fingers and hurried into the drivers seat. Staring out the passenger's window she stepped on the pedal as she saw the beast rise to its feet at a run.
Looking back she could still see the werewolf running towards them, the mad glint intact as usual. Whimpering in fear she willed the car to go faster as the distance between the two was closing.
Taking a quick look at the road ahead she twisted in her seat and shot a round of bullets through the shattered back window. Successful in slowing it down momentarily she quickly turned back to the road, able to take a quick glance of at the clock, 5:58.
"Come on sun rise already!" Serena yelled in growing fear, the trees cleared to reveal a tinge of light blue, watching the rearview mirror she nearly swerved the car around to see who their attacker was now that the morning sun proved that he couldn't hold his werewolf form any longer.
The long shadows of the trees fell over his form, shading him from her view as the werewolf form disappeared and gave way to it's human form. Gripping the gun in her hand she knew she was doing this against her better judgment. Climbing out of the car she slowly edged towards the fallen figure.
"I have a gun!" Serena yelled watching the dark lump carefully.
Finally nearing the figure she gaped in surprise, 'it's a girl!'
Forgetting caution she kicked the body over. "It's a guy." She remarked dubiously, her hand quivered as she reached down and brushed a chestnut- brown bang away from his face.
Half closed eyes revealed the soft violet eyes underneath, caught in their depth Serena stopped her movements. 'It's a guy' a voice in the back of her mind murmured repeatedly. "Hi." She heard him murmur, giggling he turned on his side, Serena frowned before stuffing the gun in her belt and beginning to drag his body towards her car.
Fastening him into the front seat she shook her head in disbelief at the seemingly innocent teenage boy.
Flipping her cell phone open she proceeded to turn the car around and head towards her estate.
Taking a left turn she headed down the dirt road, "Gene? I need to ask you a favor." The iron gates swung closed behind her, driving up to the three- car garage she stopped outside of it.
"I was wondering if you could come down here...YES it's urgent. Since you're in some kind agency I thought this would interest you." She said tiredly.
"What KIND of stuff do you have?" Gene murmured, gaining a slight pleasure from hearing his girlfriend's voice.
"A werewolf and another guy who was hunting it down." Calming herself she waited for Gene's answer. Gene stopped the work of loading his gun with another set of silver bullets in a state of shock, "I'll be there as soon as I can." Picking up his coat he slammed the door shut behind him.
Turning the cell phone off she sucked in a breath before yelling for Edward, her housekeeper.
He came bursting through the door, "Hi Eddie I came home kinda late...I was wondering though, can you do me a favor and clean up the guy in there, and this guy too?" Nodding his head he stared first with a perplexed look, and then with some anxiety at the two boys.
"Just, get it done Edward, please. You can have the day off if you just get them in."
Edward, who was all for modesty shook his head, "Oh no ma'am, nothing of the sort of what I was thinking...uh, where would you like me to put them?" He asked tediously, peering into the car.
"The Guest bedroom would be nice."
What seemed like minutes later her housekeeper entered the room, blood staining his shirt and hands, "I managed to stitch up the man who'd gotten his arm torn. I don't know what else to do besides give him painkillers though."
Serena began to rise from her chair, "That's fine. How's the other guy doing?"
"The one with the braid?" Edward questioned, Serena nodded her head, "He's upstairs in the blue room."
"Thank you Ed, I'm gonna go and talk to him for awhile."
Serena locked the door shut and set her borrowed gun down on the table. The strangest thing about the violet-eyed beauty in front of her, was his lack of wounds. He had none, no scars, no bullet wounds, not even a scratch. Just clean, smooth skin, sighing Serena picked up the comb and let her hands slip through his hair.
He stared at her reflection in the mirror, "Where the hell am I?"
"None of your business." Serena retorted primly, giving a rough tug to his hair, she had refused to take the silver cuffs off him. His hands, and feet were cuffed securely.
Finishing the last section of his hair she stared at his braid, "This suits you."
"How'd you guess?" He grinned.
Rolling her eyes she set the comb down, "Tell me,"
"What? About my werewolf habits?" Duo asked mockingly, cocking up an eyebrow.
"Well," Serena stared him straight in the eye, "Yeah."
"That's kind of hard, it's sketchy. I mean I don't remember much."
"Then,"
"I found out I was one of those things when I woke up drenched in blood." Giving a small malicious grin he shrugged his shoulders, "Just another rich brat out of the way is how I thought of it."
Duo had a sudden vision of the girl before him, Serena stiffened at his random smile and slightly greedy eyes. Her gaze hardened, "You're very lucky I didn't run over you just for the fun of it." Standing up she slammed the bedroom door shut, Duo winked to his reflection, "THAT is ONE hell of a girl. I bet Wufei would love her...to death that is."
Half way down the steps she heard the doorbell ring, rushing down she heard Edwards's familiar nasal voice.
"Gene?"
Gene looked up and whistled, Serena ignored it, "Did you get here so soon because you were already on your way or what?"
"Uh,"
Sighing in exasperation Serena pointed up the stairway, "They're up there. Since business is the only reason you would EVER come to see me."
"Aw come on, you know you don't mean it."
"Why wouldn't I?" Turning she stormed through the kitchen doorway, Gene sighed, "What's wrong with her today?"
"Those two boys I would be guessing."
Nodding his head Gene climbed the stairs alone, only to rush downstairs a few minutes later.
"You said the guest rooms right?" Gene asked worry pressuring him.
"Well, ah yes." Edward said quickly rising from his meal, "Why?"
"Is Serena still in the kitchen?"
"Yes."
Grabbing for the holster at his belt he swung the kitchen door noiselessly open, Serena looked up from flipping through a magazine.
"Something wrong?"
"One of your guys escaped. Do you have a gun?" He asked scanning the kitchen quickly.
"Yea. Don't worry I already have the bullets too." Serena chimed, setting the magazine down. Gene nodded his head and gave a small grin, "Just be careful."
"Aren't I always?"
As the door swung shut behind Gene a slender figure stepped out from the shadows and nudged the gun into her back. "Come on. Lets go."
Gene stopped his second check on the third floor rooms when he heard the distinct screech of car wheels staring at the open window he swore vividly. Edward sighed when he heard the string of swear words.
~Six hours later
"How did you break free?" Serena managed to croak hoarsely as she gripped the sides of the seat.
Duo glanced at her, "I broke the arms and legs of the chair." "I thought that you were human during the day."
"Us werewolves have just a little more then average strength. Why do you ask so many questions? There's NO way your going to escape when you're with me."
She remained silent, they had been driving for hours on end. Just as the sun began to set over the horizon she could see the distant smudge and clues of a city far ahead. Duo stopped the car and stepped out, Serena's eyes widened, "What's he planning to do?" Stepping out of the car also Serena looked around for the cocky werewolf and was caught by surprise from the arms that grabbed her around the waist. Wrestling her to the ground he straddled her. Serena glared at him, "What the hell do you think your doing?"
Grinning Duo leaned down until he was practically lying on top of the girl, narrowing her eyes Serena's hands clenched into fists, "Get off."
"What makes you think you can get me off first of all?"
A sudden white beam of light threw Duo's body off of her, standing up she shook with fury. Duo had a crooked grin on his face as he picked himself up, "Well, well, well. I knew there had to be something special about you if you were dating a hunter."
"Gene?" Serena asked suddenly perplexed.
"If that's his name, yes."
Stepping towards her it was something near amusement for him to see the steely look in her eye, replacing the usual fear he would have seen.
Serena was once again caught by surprise at his speed, holding her wrists to her side he held her down against the car.
"I'll be the only one who knows your darkest secret after this." "What do,"
Gasping in surprise as Duo bit her neck, pain momentarily bleared her vision before he pulled away wiping blood from his mouth.
"What did you do?" Serena asked sharply feeling her neck, almost immediately she clutched her head in pain. The usually unnoticed sounds of the forest were pounding into her ears, Duo's unique scent and thousands of other subtle smells were suddenly becoming more then obvious to her.
Tilting his head Duo stared at Serena, light was outlining her figure in the dark. Glancing up at the moonless sky he sighed, "Well...no hunting partner until next moon." Serena crumpled to the ground unconscious.'
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Quatre looked up as the memory finished, he was about to search further into Usagi's mind and finish reading the memory when he heard someone call his name.
Duo shook his Arabian friends shoulder again, Quatre looked up wearily, "Yes?"
"I just thought you'd like to know that dinner is ready."
"...thanks."
Duo stared at the shaken boy in front of him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Quatre answered tersely, "I think...I know this is Serena."
Duo stared at the girl, "Really..." Duo asked in surprise.
"Why don't you check her neck Duo." Quatre hissed.
Starting in surprise Duo stared at Quatre, "Then she really is her..." Quatre neglected to hear the pained tone in his voice.
"Yes, I read her memory and it's all your fault that, that things inside her."
"No..."
"Then whose fault is it? Huh?" Quatre pressed angrily, "I can't believe you'd do something like that! I thought you were NORMAL! Were you hiding this the entire time!"
"It..." Sighing heavily Duo shook his head, "It's not what you think."
"Come here." Quatre motioned with his hand hesitantly Duo stepped forwards. Quickly grabbing Duo's braid and pulling backwards Quatre placed his hand on Duo's now exposed forehead.
Duo's body froze as Quatre forced himself into his mind.
Quatre's power flooded through the accused mind, searching for any mental barriers as a clue to his question, 'Did Duo set the demon into Serena?'
'Stop. Please Quatre.' Quatre ignored the plead and surged towards the only real resistance that he had found in Duo's mind.
Quatre stared at the small, thin, orange oval, which provided a barrier towards Quatre. He could make out the shadow of a form curled in a fetal position inside. Reaching his hand out he watched as the fiery wall flared into light from his touch.
"QUATRE!"
Quatre's eyes snapped open, he pulled his hand away, "What?" he asked heatedly. Heero was staring at Quatre in surprise.
"What were you doing? I said to search Usagi. Not Duo."
"Duo's the big missing puzzle piece to that."
"What do you mean?" Heero's eyes narrowed slightly, the smallest glint of gold reflected from his eyes.
"He's holding something from us Heero."
"You idiot." Duo murmured rubbing the back of his head, "That was the holding spell."
"What's that?" Quatre burst angrily.
"Serena led me to the center of your organization a long time ago. I had heard that they had something to help you retain your mind when you were changed into a werewolf. Most importantly, allow you to change when you wish. That's what you saw. I don't like to bring it up because, because it hurt Serena..." Duo ended in a whisper.
Heero's eyes opened in surprise and flew towards Usagi's form, "Then, she's Serena..."
"Probably." Quatre spat curtly, "Until I get the entire story I'm not going to put a definite yes to that." His eyes bore into Duo's, cringing slightly at the idea of having his mind searched again Duo shook his head, "Honest Quatre I didn't do anything...Too bad anyway."
Heero looked at the floor, Quatre stared at the two of them, "You bit Heero. You turned him into one of your kind. You purposefully bit Usagi too!"
"Heero." Duo quivered placing a hand on his shoulder Heero remained silent.
"Quatre...you are dismissed for the moment."
Flushed with anger Quatre swiftly left the two, Dou shook Heero, "Should I let him search me?? Will it make things any better?" He asked timidly.
Heero shook his head, "No. I will go and let him search me."
"But...Heero you have a lot more things then, then I do I would think." Duo said cautiously.
Heero stared at Duo before his eyes fell on Usagi, "Put her on sedatives. I don't want her waking just yet. And tell Trowa to turn the ship around."
"Okay..." Duo's violet eyes probed gingerly into Heero's hoping to see something hopeful there, but found nothing.
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Gene's face radiated anger, "I thought that she would be safe."
"Do you know where the others are Aisha?"
Shaking her head she looked around at the broken door and rumpled bed sheets, Gene was sitting near the window staring tiredly at the scene.
"Where are we supposed to start searching? They might've hijacked a ship...So they could be in any system."
"Do you think the Outlaw Star's safe Gene?"
"Of course it is. Gilliam would report any break in's...I better go and see if Swanzo was able to get those five jailed or not."
"Gene..." Melfina started.
"I said I'd protect her. And now look what's happened. And she was attacked just yesterday." He hissed.
Jim frowned in his worry, "Yeah, but who would have thought that they would have broken free." "Look, lets just get going." Gene snapped, running a hand through his hair he stared out the window.
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The five Outlaw Star members looked around at the empty station, "So you said that this ship left then?"
"Yup. What are you getting at?"
"Was it late?"
The man checked his clipboard, "About thirty minutes late. Nothing too particular. Sir, I don't see how this would help you find this person your looking for."
"LOOK, did I ask you to butt in? No, I didn't. Lets go gang." Gene cut in curtly.
Melfina sighed, 'when will this end?'
"Gene, where are you planning on heading?"
"Well, we have a profile of the ship that I can give to Gilliam. And I would think that the bastards would know not to go to the space course plotted for them. Knowing that the people who caught them were part of the Space Forces."
"Gene," Suzuka murmured quietly, "Do you think we'll make it there in time?"
"Of course." His voice was thick with barely kept emotions.
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The infamous Prussian eyed hunter stared at the figure half hidden in sheets, he didn't dare touch her. After all, he really didn't know her...
His gaze shifted towards the door as the rather loud sound of footsteps reached his ears.
"Heero? Oh, hey. I've been looking' all over for you. How's it going?" Duo murmured.
"I put her on sedatives again." He gave a nod in Usagi's direction.
Duo's eyebrows raised up of their own accord, "Are you afraid of her or something? She's just a, she's just Serena."
"You don't know that for sure."
"Look, Quatre's the best of his kind. There's no way he could have made a mistake. Besides...I've only bitten one person to turn them into a werewolf. And that was Serena. I never told anyone...besides you, and he knew."
That seemed to have settled the matter in Duo's eyes, but not in Heero's.
"She won't forgive me after what I've done." Heero murmured.
Sighing heavily Duo ran a hand through his hair, "You are WAY too pessimistic. You're supposed to be the guy that says, "No matter what we'll make it through this."
"You watch too many anime's." Heero spat out between his teeth.
"Hey, YOU KNOW what I'm talking about so who says who's watching too many Anime's???"
"Shut up Duo." Heero snapped in irritation.
"Just trying to help you on your social skills. Hell, you only have the rest of your damn life to fix them." Duo retorted sourly squeezing water from a towel and mopping his face with it.
"Besides, whatever you did couldn't have been bad, seriously. Tell me." Duo muttered.
The two turned quickly as a muffled whimper broke their conversation, tugging on his hair tie Duo made his way to the blonde.
"Almost like sleeping beauty huh?" Duo grinned, Heero scowled, "This isn't a joking matter idiot."
"Don't be so mean." Running his hand through his long chestnut hair Duo leaned closer to Usagi's face.
Immediately Heero pulled Duo up into a standing position, "Don't-touch- her."
"Jeesh, sorry Hero-chan."
Giving a vehement look at the pet name Duo had given him, Heero let go of his shirt, "The demon we're looking for is right in front of you, I wouldn't touch her if I were you." The serious look in Heero's eyes told Duo to follow the subtle order, nodding his head he watched as his commander left the room.
Looking backwards to the slumbering figure he shrugged, "He just wants you all to himself. Greedy." He murmured before heading out the door.
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Okay peeps, I'm really sorry, I'm turning this into a Gundam Wing fic aren't I??? Don't worry though, I'll get a better chapter out sometime this or next week. Sorry and hope to get reviews from you! IT MAKES ME FEEL happy when I get lots of reviews. Anyhow-Toodles ~QT-chan
Chapter 4
Slipping out of the building the four teenage boys slowed to a leisurely trot, "What am I going to do?" Duo asked loping towards the streetlights that illuminated the dim interior of the alleyway. "Pretend you're a dog...There a lot of different species in this place so maybe they won't suspect anything Duo." Quatre said agreeably.
Snorting Duo picked Trowa to be a faithful pet to, walking sedately next to him, the few looks they received were ignored. Walking into the nearest hotel Quatre eyed Duo, questioning him if he had smelled his 'prey.'
Duo snuffled loudly a woman who happened to be near the enormous 'dog' jumped and edged away from him. The werewolf's shoulder blades reached easily up to Trowa's waist (and he's pretty tall) his head rose up several inches making him a formidable size to all on comers, which also explained the woman's growing uneasiness.
Taking Trowa's hand in his jaws, he didn't notice Trowa wince in pain, as he led him down the hallway. The clerk raised her hand to signal the group to stop, "Bathroom." Wufei said tersely.
The clerk watched the three boys disappear into the hallway, frowning she rolled her eyes, "Not MY fault if they can't read the directions." She muttered to herself glancing up at the bathroom sign that pointed down the opposite hallway.
Easing the collar of her shirt Usagi glanced anxiously around her, she didn't like to admit it but she had the conscious feeling of being stalked.
'Goddess, please don't let it be those crazy guys again.' She muttered to herself, 'what am I supposed to do this time? I have no protection...Gene's out at some place, Jim's with Melfina getting things from the ship, Aisha's out, Suzuka's out...perfect' looking around she grabbed a sheet around her body comfortingly.
Lapping the small droplets of blood from Trowa's hand in apology Duo removed his guiding mouth, "She's here." Rolling his eyes Wufei leaned against the wall, "Where is here?" Crisscrossing the hall in hopes to pick up the familiar scent Duo stopped at door 57, bending down he poked his nose to the crack at the bottom of the door. Duo grinned wagging his tail with malicious glee, "She's in here Wufei."
**********************
Usagi gaped at the spot where the wet nose had poked through, "They're here." Searching for any weapon she opened the window, she was on the fifth floor, there was no escape.
Her heart was pounding so loudly it filled the silence, the door gave a sudden and violent shudder. "Go away." Usagi whispered clutching the sheets even tighter in her ice- cold hands, "Go AWAY!" She screamed her body was halfway out of the warmth of the bedcovers when Duo burst into the room the splintered door was crushed under his weight.
The light in the hallway outlined Wufei's figure as he made his way to Usagi's frozen form, the few seconds that it took him to reach Usagi were like hours to her. Her mind was devoid of thought, she could only watch. What could she do against these people? They were invincible!
When the cool press of Wufei's lips on her neck reached her senses her mind jump started, 'I have to do something! I can't just sit here!' But it was too late, too late to pick herself up and run, much less fight. Her chest kept jerking for air, which she for some reason wouldn't let out.
Finally the air inside her came whooshing out, sinking into the dark blanket of sleep she forgot who and where she was at the moment...just remembering that she was so tired, so very tired.
Waiting a few seconds to ensure her sleep Wufei's fangs retracted and he removed himself from her neck. Pausing just for a second, he remarked at the familiarity of her face. Wrapping the blanket around her securely he glanced back at the group waiting at the door before picking up the limp girl.
Quatre checked his watch, "Twenty minutes. That means we still have time to get back. Let's go!"
Going through the back exit Duo again led the way for the Demon Hunters, finally reentering the space station's docking area they relaxed ever so slightly.
*************************************
The Prussian eyed Hunter took a last look at the dock before pressing a few switches, "I hope that does it." He mumbled absently to himself as the ships engines hummed to life, he glanced up as Quatre stepped into the room and nodded his head acknowledging him.
"Check her." He hissed.
"Check her?" Quatre voiced in bewilderment.
Heero turned his back on him, "You heard me."
"But, I thought you wanted her to be killed." Quatre said quietly.
"I'm not making another mistake." Heero murmured.
Frowning Quatre turned towards the exit, turning again just to make sure he was really hearing his orders correctly, "Check her? Memory Check?" There was silence, sighing the Arabian exited the room, 'I wonder what Heero meant by him not making the mistake twice...'
Entering the room where they were keeping Usagi he spotted Trowa washing his hands. Quatre mumbled a 'hi' before glancing in Usagi's general direction.
"Something wrong?" Trowa asked quietly, wiping his hands on a towel.
"Heero wants me to CHECK her. Usually it would just be kill and leave...kill and leave."
"Heero's our leader. Are you,"
"No, of course I'm not questioning his orders. But, why is this girl so special?"
"Aren't you glad that you don't have to kill her?" Trowa asked stopping at the doorway.
"Well, yes but...I'm just tense I guess."
His eyebrows arched at the words "Tense?"
"I don't know. Right now, if he is planning on killing her later I wish that he would just get it over with."
Shrugging Trowa left, Quatre bit his lip nervously, 'Gods, how long has it been since I've done a Memory check anyway?'
Cracking his knuckles he stood over her, closing his eyes he splayed his fingers over her body and concentrated...
He had the gift of being a Mind Reader, his mind reading ability going from dreams, to memories and even day-to-day experiences. He could go into a persons mind and have a, 'look' around and see what was going on. What was being suppressed, and what was a lie by using his mind to sift through another's.
Now, inside Usagi's mind he looked around, after all, it'd been a few years since he'd been in someone's mind like this. Stretching his power out he felt himself touch a barrier inside Usagi's mind, following that flow of power he stopped at the small box in front of him.
It was depicted to him as a plain, smooth metal box with no hinges on it. There was nothing around to open it with. It just sat there, forgotten and unwanted.
'Hmmmm' Sighing in exasperation he bent down to pick the box up, his fingers traced over the box again and again. 'Damn it, there's no way to open this thing.' As he was about to set it back down a bead of light circled the midsection of the box's surfaces.
It opened in his hand, a glowing light poured out of the box blinding his eyes for the briefest second. "A real live memory." Quatre murmured in surprise, if he had wanted to extract a memory from Usagi he would usually have had to have gone through various mental blocks and tricks before actually seeing the real live memory. They were small orbs of light, clusters of them sometimes.
Now, standing there with the memory still in the box he hesitated. Should he really go through a suppressed memory of this girl? Hell, why not? He was here to make sure she wasn't Serena, wasn't he?
His fingers met the cool surface of the memory, a steady flow of pictures, like a movie, streamed through his mind...
He was the specter, watching what was going on while Usagi was the character.
The person he saw now was younger with long waves of sun bleached blonde hair, but she resembled the Usagi he was searching through right now...
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'Checking the car's clock she sighed, "What an idiot! He HAD to make me 30 minutes late! It's already 5:10 in the morning!!!" Her eyes caught the fleeting shadow of some animal crossing the road, she peered into the gloomy forest, turning her gaze back to the road again she shrieked in surprise as a teenage boy suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.
Bewilderment turned into anger as her car swerved around him, "What the HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING OUT ON THE ROAD LIKE THAT!" Her hand flew to the car door when her eyes picked out the telltale glint of silver, small silver bullets lined the boys belt.
Shaking her head to clear it she looked out her car door window and screamed shrilly as at the window staring in was the largest wolf she'd ever seen. Saliva dripped from his jaws, a manic look danced in those glowing red eyes. An ashy gray ruff added to the enormous size of the thing. It was at least a few inches above her waist.
Taking in deep breaths she began to edge towards the other end of the car, the thing kept staring at her, just outside the car, in the middle of the night.
She had forgotten about the boy outside, but a sudden fusillade of bullets reminded her that she wasn't alone, the bullets shattered part of her window shield and hit the animal as well.
Falling out the passenger side door Serena stared at the still standing beast. It had turned its attention to the teenage boy.
"Want a piece of me you damned animal!" he yelled Serena stared at him, 'he's crazy!'
Reaching for the silver bullets that lined his waist he almost got hit by the enormous wolf as it flung itself at him.
Firing another barrage of bullets the Hunter quickly loaded his gun with three silver bullets, leaving only two left in his belt. In those mere seconds the Wolf had launched himself at his stalker, Serena hardly noticed the difficulty she was having breathing while she watched the two fight.
Lifting his arm up he would have fired straight into the wolves mouth had it not been for the canines that had buried themselves in his arm. Yelping in surprised pain he wrestled the werewolf trying to free his arm as blood began to case his hand in a red glove.
The gun spun under the car, leaving the boy totally defenseless. Afraid to move Serena stared at the gun, it was just in her reach. Bending down she made a quick grab for the gun, her fingers curved around the handle standing up her eyes were immediately sucked into bloodshot, manic eyes.
Trembling she held on tightly to the gun, afraid to move, afraid to cause anything to set the thing off.
Staring into its eyes she winced as saliva and blood dripped from his mouth onto her shoes. Looking away she found her vision clouding from tears, this wasn't happening.
Her arm tensed, she had to shoot it before it attacked her, trembling and shivering from the predicament she was in, her body released adrenaline in a futile attempt at the idea of running from the beast.
Whipping around she began to run off the road, the hot air from the wolf's mouth could be felt on the back of her neck. A rock seemed to rise up out of the ground in her view as she tripped over it. Turning onto her back she raised the gun and fired.
Jumping to the side from reflexes the wolf turned his head to watch as the silver bullet buried itself into the car door. Turning he cocked his head, his tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth, Serena screamed in fear at the intensified crazy look in its pupils.
Pulling herself to her feet she fired again, twice in fact, each missing its intended target. Plodding towards her now that the threat was over, Serena searched for anything, anything to fight the thing off with.
All of a sudden gunfire broke out from behind the wolf, bullets buried themselves in its flank. Whipping around it was hit in the face and shoulders by the unceasing gunfire. Blood coated his fur swaying it began to run towards the tree line where the gunfire was coming from before collapsing into a bloody bundle.
Gaping in surprise she stared at her savior, leaning drunkenly against the tree he stared at her feebly, horribly weakened from both the wound and the fight. An overwhelming sense of fear rose in her chest.
Picking herself up she ran towards the only person in the clearing with a sound mind at the moment.
Looking over her shoulder her heart skipped a beat the creature was still alive. Blood was seeping out of his body as he lifted his head to stare at her, crying out when she heard the menacing snarl echo in the clearing she crossed the last few feet to stand next to the youth.
"What is that!" Serena whispered, her voice quivering, her eyes glued to the animal as it struggle to stand upright.
He remained silent, black spots were constantly dotting his vision, and even now it was hard to see the werewolf lying there right in front of him.
Serena noticed the hunters trembling fingers as they made the moved towards the last two silver bullets. "Are you alright?" Serena questioned worriedly, grabbing for his gun as it slipped from his fingers.
Serena's gaze flew to his injured arm, droplets of blood were staining the plants below. Staring into his icy eyes she reached out to take the tightly clenched bullets from out of his hand "Let me help."
Loading the gun, she handed it to him again, helping his fingers to wrap around the handle of it. "Please." Serena whispered, "Don't let it get me."
He turned his head then, to stare into her wide sapphire eyes before he turned to meet eyes with the wolf. Blinking in confusion Serena frowned as she too turned her gaze onto it, "His eyes, they changed color. Look!" Serena pointed, "They're purple now." He still didn't respond. Serena stared at the trembling gun hand before moving to help. She felt his shiver of surprise as her body moved behind his, her arms reached around his body to clasp tightly around the handle of the gun and his slender fingers.
"Be ready." He whispered coldly.
Out of the corner of Serena's eye she spotted a shadow running towards the wolf. Tensing she shuddered, 'there can't be two of these things.'
As the moonlight hit the creature she struggled to hold down her cry of dismay, it was another monstrous wolf. Its ears perked at the sight of the two, turning to its hunting partner it licked the many wounds leaking blood from his shoulders.
The sound of the bullet shocked Serena, another explosion of sound cracked through the air. The second wolf went down under the two gunshots, Serena felt incredibly faint at the moment.
"That was your last bullet, don't you have anymore?" She mumbled.
"Regular bullets won't do it...that was my last silver bullet...I have some ammo in my pocket." Blinking away the foggy veil that had fallen over his vision he tried to gain some support from his failing legs.
Reaching down she grabbed the handful of bullets and quickly stuffed them into his gun. She looked up and met eyes with the wolf, 'Regular bullets won't do it! That thing's a werewolf!!'
Serena would later remember asking herself how she didn't come to that conclusion earlier, but now all she could think about was how she was going to get out of this.
"Right...we're getting out of here." Serena murmured to herself when she saw that the violet-eyed werewolf was beginning to gain back use of his legs. She began to drag the boy's unwilling body across the forest ground to the car.
"Give me the gun." Heero said tersely.
"What! Are you kidding, if you drop that then who knows how I'll fend off that thing." Serena stated, continuing what she was doing.
"Give it to me." He yelled twisting around in her arms.
Handing him the gun she helped him limp to her car, she was at the car door when she turned around to see how far away they were from the werewolf. It was staring at her again its eyes glowing in the half-light of the moon.
Dragging his body the rest of the way in she grabbed the gun from his limp fingers and hurried into the drivers seat. Staring out the passenger's window she stepped on the pedal as she saw the beast rise to its feet at a run.
Looking back she could still see the werewolf running towards them, the mad glint intact as usual. Whimpering in fear she willed the car to go faster as the distance between the two was closing.
Taking a quick look at the road ahead she twisted in her seat and shot a round of bullets through the shattered back window. Successful in slowing it down momentarily she quickly turned back to the road, able to take a quick glance of at the clock, 5:58.
"Come on sun rise already!" Serena yelled in growing fear, the trees cleared to reveal a tinge of light blue, watching the rearview mirror she nearly swerved the car around to see who their attacker was now that the morning sun proved that he couldn't hold his werewolf form any longer.
The long shadows of the trees fell over his form, shading him from her view as the werewolf form disappeared and gave way to it's human form. Gripping the gun in her hand she knew she was doing this against her better judgment. Climbing out of the car she slowly edged towards the fallen figure.
"I have a gun!" Serena yelled watching the dark lump carefully.
Finally nearing the figure she gaped in surprise, 'it's a girl!'
Forgetting caution she kicked the body over. "It's a guy." She remarked dubiously, her hand quivered as she reached down and brushed a chestnut- brown bang away from his face.
Half closed eyes revealed the soft violet eyes underneath, caught in their depth Serena stopped her movements. 'It's a guy' a voice in the back of her mind murmured repeatedly. "Hi." She heard him murmur, giggling he turned on his side, Serena frowned before stuffing the gun in her belt and beginning to drag his body towards her car.
Fastening him into the front seat she shook her head in disbelief at the seemingly innocent teenage boy.
Flipping her cell phone open she proceeded to turn the car around and head towards her estate.
Taking a left turn she headed down the dirt road, "Gene? I need to ask you a favor." The iron gates swung closed behind her, driving up to the three- car garage she stopped outside of it.
"I was wondering if you could come down here...YES it's urgent. Since you're in some kind agency I thought this would interest you." She said tiredly.
"What KIND of stuff do you have?" Gene murmured, gaining a slight pleasure from hearing his girlfriend's voice.
"A werewolf and another guy who was hunting it down." Calming herself she waited for Gene's answer. Gene stopped the work of loading his gun with another set of silver bullets in a state of shock, "I'll be there as soon as I can." Picking up his coat he slammed the door shut behind him.
Turning the cell phone off she sucked in a breath before yelling for Edward, her housekeeper.
He came bursting through the door, "Hi Eddie I came home kinda late...I was wondering though, can you do me a favor and clean up the guy in there, and this guy too?" Nodding his head he stared first with a perplexed look, and then with some anxiety at the two boys.
"Just, get it done Edward, please. You can have the day off if you just get them in."
Edward, who was all for modesty shook his head, "Oh no ma'am, nothing of the sort of what I was thinking...uh, where would you like me to put them?" He asked tediously, peering into the car.
"The Guest bedroom would be nice."
What seemed like minutes later her housekeeper entered the room, blood staining his shirt and hands, "I managed to stitch up the man who'd gotten his arm torn. I don't know what else to do besides give him painkillers though."
Serena began to rise from her chair, "That's fine. How's the other guy doing?"
"The one with the braid?" Edward questioned, Serena nodded her head, "He's upstairs in the blue room."
"Thank you Ed, I'm gonna go and talk to him for awhile."
Serena locked the door shut and set her borrowed gun down on the table. The strangest thing about the violet-eyed beauty in front of her, was his lack of wounds. He had none, no scars, no bullet wounds, not even a scratch. Just clean, smooth skin, sighing Serena picked up the comb and let her hands slip through his hair.
He stared at her reflection in the mirror, "Where the hell am I?"
"None of your business." Serena retorted primly, giving a rough tug to his hair, she had refused to take the silver cuffs off him. His hands, and feet were cuffed securely.
Finishing the last section of his hair she stared at his braid, "This suits you."
"How'd you guess?" He grinned.
Rolling her eyes she set the comb down, "Tell me,"
"What? About my werewolf habits?" Duo asked mockingly, cocking up an eyebrow.
"Well," Serena stared him straight in the eye, "Yeah."
"That's kind of hard, it's sketchy. I mean I don't remember much."
"Then,"
"I found out I was one of those things when I woke up drenched in blood." Giving a small malicious grin he shrugged his shoulders, "Just another rich brat out of the way is how I thought of it."
Duo had a sudden vision of the girl before him, Serena stiffened at his random smile and slightly greedy eyes. Her gaze hardened, "You're very lucky I didn't run over you just for the fun of it." Standing up she slammed the bedroom door shut, Duo winked to his reflection, "THAT is ONE hell of a girl. I bet Wufei would love her...to death that is."
Half way down the steps she heard the doorbell ring, rushing down she heard Edwards's familiar nasal voice.
"Gene?"
Gene looked up and whistled, Serena ignored it, "Did you get here so soon because you were already on your way or what?"
"Uh,"
Sighing in exasperation Serena pointed up the stairway, "They're up there. Since business is the only reason you would EVER come to see me."
"Aw come on, you know you don't mean it."
"Why wouldn't I?" Turning she stormed through the kitchen doorway, Gene sighed, "What's wrong with her today?"
"Those two boys I would be guessing."
Nodding his head Gene climbed the stairs alone, only to rush downstairs a few minutes later.
"You said the guest rooms right?" Gene asked worry pressuring him.
"Well, ah yes." Edward said quickly rising from his meal, "Why?"
"Is Serena still in the kitchen?"
"Yes."
Grabbing for the holster at his belt he swung the kitchen door noiselessly open, Serena looked up from flipping through a magazine.
"Something wrong?"
"One of your guys escaped. Do you have a gun?" He asked scanning the kitchen quickly.
"Yea. Don't worry I already have the bullets too." Serena chimed, setting the magazine down. Gene nodded his head and gave a small grin, "Just be careful."
"Aren't I always?"
As the door swung shut behind Gene a slender figure stepped out from the shadows and nudged the gun into her back. "Come on. Lets go."
Gene stopped his second check on the third floor rooms when he heard the distinct screech of car wheels staring at the open window he swore vividly. Edward sighed when he heard the string of swear words.
~Six hours later
"How did you break free?" Serena managed to croak hoarsely as she gripped the sides of the seat.
Duo glanced at her, "I broke the arms and legs of the chair." "I thought that you were human during the day."
"Us werewolves have just a little more then average strength. Why do you ask so many questions? There's NO way your going to escape when you're with me."
She remained silent, they had been driving for hours on end. Just as the sun began to set over the horizon she could see the distant smudge and clues of a city far ahead. Duo stopped the car and stepped out, Serena's eyes widened, "What's he planning to do?" Stepping out of the car also Serena looked around for the cocky werewolf and was caught by surprise from the arms that grabbed her around the waist. Wrestling her to the ground he straddled her. Serena glared at him, "What the hell do you think your doing?"
Grinning Duo leaned down until he was practically lying on top of the girl, narrowing her eyes Serena's hands clenched into fists, "Get off."
"What makes you think you can get me off first of all?"
A sudden white beam of light threw Duo's body off of her, standing up she shook with fury. Duo had a crooked grin on his face as he picked himself up, "Well, well, well. I knew there had to be something special about you if you were dating a hunter."
"Gene?" Serena asked suddenly perplexed.
"If that's his name, yes."
Stepping towards her it was something near amusement for him to see the steely look in her eye, replacing the usual fear he would have seen.
Serena was once again caught by surprise at his speed, holding her wrists to her side he held her down against the car.
"I'll be the only one who knows your darkest secret after this." "What do,"
Gasping in surprise as Duo bit her neck, pain momentarily bleared her vision before he pulled away wiping blood from his mouth.
"What did you do?" Serena asked sharply feeling her neck, almost immediately she clutched her head in pain. The usually unnoticed sounds of the forest were pounding into her ears, Duo's unique scent and thousands of other subtle smells were suddenly becoming more then obvious to her.
Tilting his head Duo stared at Serena, light was outlining her figure in the dark. Glancing up at the moonless sky he sighed, "Well...no hunting partner until next moon." Serena crumpled to the ground unconscious.'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Quatre looked up as the memory finished, he was about to search further into Usagi's mind and finish reading the memory when he heard someone call his name.
Duo shook his Arabian friends shoulder again, Quatre looked up wearily, "Yes?"
"I just thought you'd like to know that dinner is ready."
"...thanks."
Duo stared at the shaken boy in front of him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Quatre answered tersely, "I think...I know this is Serena."
Duo stared at the girl, "Really..." Duo asked in surprise.
"Why don't you check her neck Duo." Quatre hissed.
Starting in surprise Duo stared at Quatre, "Then she really is her..." Quatre neglected to hear the pained tone in his voice.
"Yes, I read her memory and it's all your fault that, that things inside her."
"No..."
"Then whose fault is it? Huh?" Quatre pressed angrily, "I can't believe you'd do something like that! I thought you were NORMAL! Were you hiding this the entire time!"
"It..." Sighing heavily Duo shook his head, "It's not what you think."
"Come here." Quatre motioned with his hand hesitantly Duo stepped forwards. Quickly grabbing Duo's braid and pulling backwards Quatre placed his hand on Duo's now exposed forehead.
Duo's body froze as Quatre forced himself into his mind.
Quatre's power flooded through the accused mind, searching for any mental barriers as a clue to his question, 'Did Duo set the demon into Serena?'
'Stop. Please Quatre.' Quatre ignored the plead and surged towards the only real resistance that he had found in Duo's mind.
Quatre stared at the small, thin, orange oval, which provided a barrier towards Quatre. He could make out the shadow of a form curled in a fetal position inside. Reaching his hand out he watched as the fiery wall flared into light from his touch.
"QUATRE!"
Quatre's eyes snapped open, he pulled his hand away, "What?" he asked heatedly. Heero was staring at Quatre in surprise.
"What were you doing? I said to search Usagi. Not Duo."
"Duo's the big missing puzzle piece to that."
"What do you mean?" Heero's eyes narrowed slightly, the smallest glint of gold reflected from his eyes.
"He's holding something from us Heero."
"You idiot." Duo murmured rubbing the back of his head, "That was the holding spell."
"What's that?" Quatre burst angrily.
"Serena led me to the center of your organization a long time ago. I had heard that they had something to help you retain your mind when you were changed into a werewolf. Most importantly, allow you to change when you wish. That's what you saw. I don't like to bring it up because, because it hurt Serena..." Duo ended in a whisper.
Heero's eyes opened in surprise and flew towards Usagi's form, "Then, she's Serena..."
"Probably." Quatre spat curtly, "Until I get the entire story I'm not going to put a definite yes to that." His eyes bore into Duo's, cringing slightly at the idea of having his mind searched again Duo shook his head, "Honest Quatre I didn't do anything...Too bad anyway."
Heero looked at the floor, Quatre stared at the two of them, "You bit Heero. You turned him into one of your kind. You purposefully bit Usagi too!"
"Heero." Duo quivered placing a hand on his shoulder Heero remained silent.
"Quatre...you are dismissed for the moment."
Flushed with anger Quatre swiftly left the two, Dou shook Heero, "Should I let him search me?? Will it make things any better?" He asked timidly.
Heero shook his head, "No. I will go and let him search me."
"But...Heero you have a lot more things then, then I do I would think." Duo said cautiously.
Heero stared at Duo before his eyes fell on Usagi, "Put her on sedatives. I don't want her waking just yet. And tell Trowa to turn the ship around."
"Okay..." Duo's violet eyes probed gingerly into Heero's hoping to see something hopeful there, but found nothing.
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Gene's face radiated anger, "I thought that she would be safe."
"Do you know where the others are Aisha?"
Shaking her head she looked around at the broken door and rumpled bed sheets, Gene was sitting near the window staring tiredly at the scene.
"Where are we supposed to start searching? They might've hijacked a ship...So they could be in any system."
"Do you think the Outlaw Star's safe Gene?"
"Of course it is. Gilliam would report any break in's...I better go and see if Swanzo was able to get those five jailed or not."
"Gene..." Melfina started.
"I said I'd protect her. And now look what's happened. And she was attacked just yesterday." He hissed.
Jim frowned in his worry, "Yeah, but who would have thought that they would have broken free." "Look, lets just get going." Gene snapped, running a hand through his hair he stared out the window.
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The five Outlaw Star members looked around at the empty station, "So you said that this ship left then?"
"Yup. What are you getting at?"
"Was it late?"
The man checked his clipboard, "About thirty minutes late. Nothing too particular. Sir, I don't see how this would help you find this person your looking for."
"LOOK, did I ask you to butt in? No, I didn't. Lets go gang." Gene cut in curtly.
Melfina sighed, 'when will this end?'
"Gene, where are you planning on heading?"
"Well, we have a profile of the ship that I can give to Gilliam. And I would think that the bastards would know not to go to the space course plotted for them. Knowing that the people who caught them were part of the Space Forces."
"Gene," Suzuka murmured quietly, "Do you think we'll make it there in time?"
"Of course." His voice was thick with barely kept emotions.
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The infamous Prussian eyed hunter stared at the figure half hidden in sheets, he didn't dare touch her. After all, he really didn't know her...
His gaze shifted towards the door as the rather loud sound of footsteps reached his ears.
"Heero? Oh, hey. I've been looking' all over for you. How's it going?" Duo murmured.
"I put her on sedatives again." He gave a nod in Usagi's direction.
Duo's eyebrows raised up of their own accord, "Are you afraid of her or something? She's just a, she's just Serena."
"You don't know that for sure."
"Look, Quatre's the best of his kind. There's no way he could have made a mistake. Besides...I've only bitten one person to turn them into a werewolf. And that was Serena. I never told anyone...besides you, and he knew."
That seemed to have settled the matter in Duo's eyes, but not in Heero's.
"She won't forgive me after what I've done." Heero murmured.
Sighing heavily Duo ran a hand through his hair, "You are WAY too pessimistic. You're supposed to be the guy that says, "No matter what we'll make it through this."
"You watch too many anime's." Heero spat out between his teeth.
"Hey, YOU KNOW what I'm talking about so who says who's watching too many Anime's???"
"Shut up Duo." Heero snapped in irritation.
"Just trying to help you on your social skills. Hell, you only have the rest of your damn life to fix them." Duo retorted sourly squeezing water from a towel and mopping his face with it.
"Besides, whatever you did couldn't have been bad, seriously. Tell me." Duo muttered.
The two turned quickly as a muffled whimper broke their conversation, tugging on his hair tie Duo made his way to the blonde.
"Almost like sleeping beauty huh?" Duo grinned, Heero scowled, "This isn't a joking matter idiot."
"Don't be so mean." Running his hand through his long chestnut hair Duo leaned closer to Usagi's face.
Immediately Heero pulled Duo up into a standing position, "Don't-touch- her."
"Jeesh, sorry Hero-chan."
Giving a vehement look at the pet name Duo had given him, Heero let go of his shirt, "The demon we're looking for is right in front of you, I wouldn't touch her if I were you." The serious look in Heero's eyes told Duo to follow the subtle order, nodding his head he watched as his commander left the room.
Looking backwards to the slumbering figure he shrugged, "He just wants you all to himself. Greedy." He murmured before heading out the door.
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Okay peeps, I'm really sorry, I'm turning this into a Gundam Wing fic aren't I??? Don't worry though, I'll get a better chapter out sometime this or next week. Sorry and hope to get reviews from you! IT MAKES ME FEEL happy when I get lots of reviews. Anyhow-Toodles ~QT-chan