DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.

Chapter Three

Jinakel's eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed.  Breathing heavily, she glanced around at the room.  She knew it had been a nightmare.  But it was so real.  Her dreams always did seem so real like that.  Shaking her head, Jinakel tried to rattle that bad dream out of her mind.  She moaned at her resulting headache.  She always felt shitty like this when she was hungry.

"Are you feeling better?"

Her eyes found the figure leaning in the doorway.  Tall, strange hair, green eyes.  Gigantic broadsword at his side.  "Trowa?" she asked, not sure if that was his name.

"Yes?  Are you feeling any better?" he replied.  So Trowa was his name.  Good.  At least she got something right.  Better answer his question.

"I'm hungry."  Well, that was the truth.  Sure, the word hungry from a vampire meant they craved the blood of a living being, but she was willing to let that fact go unnoticed.  Speaking of hungry, she'd only be able to eat if she could hunt.  And hunting season started every night when the vamps came out to play.  "What time is it?"

"Late." 

Must be a man of little words, she decided.  Rubbing her head some, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got unsteadily to her feet.  How long has it been since she'd had a decent meal?  Six nights and six days?  She couldn't remember anymore.  The craving to satisfy her own demanding hunger made her head swim, and she lost her concentration easily.  All of her senses were heightened, she knew.  The Bloodlust did that. 

"Where are the others?" she managed to say.  Even forming a complete sentence was difficult.  As much as she didn't want to, she found herself wondering what Trowa's blood would taste like.  No, that was wrong.  Don't eat humans, don't eat humans, don't eat humans. 

"Out."

Oh, this was a joy. 

"Let's go then," Jinakel said, walking toward him.  Don't eat the blood of humans, she reminded herself as she got closer to him.

"You don't look so good," he said, stunning her by speaking. 

He shifted uncomfortably as she stared at him.  It took her a while to process the words she'd just heard.  Looking good?  She didn't?  What was he talking about?  Oh, she didn't look good.  Got it. 

"I already said I wanted blood," she hissed at him, getting irritated by the everlasting nagging urge to eat.  He stepped back, obviously on guard.  What did she just say?  Oh, something about blood.  Oops.  "Sorry," Jinakel mumbled.  "Irritable when I haven't had food in days."

The man lightened up a little, though he still seemed incredibly wary of her.  "Understandable," he said.  Trowa led her out of the basement and into the cold night air. 

*******

The blonde vamp in front of them cowered into the dark recesses of the alleyway.  Heero almost laughed at how scared the little guy looked.  Must be faking, he reasoned, becoming more wary as he approached, his short sword held in front of him.  The vamp looked about their age and seemed very small and meek.  But appearances could be deceiving.  This one had approached him, saying something about Gin or whatever. 

Duo was backing him up, keeping the vamp cornered.  Even the little meek ones could lash out like something ferocious when they felt trapped.  Hilde and Roddy were further back in the alley with Cathy.  The girls didn't do much hunting, but mostly helped in keeping the group of boys from looking too suspicious to the police.  And vamps.  He could hear Roddy say something.  Trowa answered.  He must have just arrived.  Trowa would help apprehend the little shaking vamp hiding behind the dumpster. 

Growling in his ear made him stop short, halting his slow approach to the vampire in front of him.  Now he had a vampire behind him.  Just peachy.  He straightened slowly, bringing the sword down.  Further behind him, he could hear Duo telling the others to remain calm.  Even with the crazy bitch snarling in his ear, Duo believed that she wouldn't hurt him.  Bullshit.

"Don't touch him," she warned, her breath warm against the back of his neck.  St. Petersburg nights were chilly this time of year, and he could see the remnants of the fog his breath made as he tried to breathe easy.  And breathing easy was a hard thing to do when a vamp was a foot away, behind you. 

Heero nodded.  He didn't quite trust his voice enough to answer out loud.  Even the great Heero Yuy was a little unnerved and scared, yes scared, with this feral demon behind him. 

"Come out," Jinakel called to the figure hiding in the dark.  Slowly, the vamp emerged, looking encouraged by her.  He smiled, completely blowing Heero's mind.  The blonde demon looked, well, looked normal.  Like any other person his age.  Golden locks accentuated his fair features and bright blue-green eyes.  Innocent looking eyes.  Strange.  Only his elongated canines labeled him as a vampire.  In all other ways, he seemed human.

"Jina?" he asked, stepping a little further out of the darkness.  Heero didn't even have time to react before the blonde vamp ran past him and into the she-vampire's arms.  Jina?  Oh, right.  Her name was Jinakel.  Jina was obviously a nickname.  Oddly enough, Jinakel was hugging the frail-looking blonde vampire. 

With a screeching roar, the blonde was thrown across the alley.  Heero and his fellow slayers flinched and took a step back, surprised at the loud sound.  Confused, Heero looked around.  Duo and Trowa were in front of the girls, swords drawn and ready to defend at any moment.  The blonde vamp was hurt-looking and sniffing softly as he remained against the wall.  Jinakel was on her knees in the dirty alley, holding her head in her hands as she snarled.  Now he was really confused.

The blonde's head popped up, searching for something off to his right, deeper in the dark and twisting alleyway.  Jinakel's head too, was raised in that direction.  Her lips curled back into a menacing growl.  Looking more like a beast than a humanoid form, she eased forward, ignoring Heero's body in her way.  Then he saw them.  More vamps. 

"In too deep, traitor?" one hissed, trying to tease Jinakel.  Heero doubted that the girl was that easily swayed and taken advantage of.  Those vamps would have to try a lot harder to manipulate her with words.  Wait a minute.  He was on her side?  Since when?

"You can't even speak, can you?" another one said.  Can't speak?  What the hell were these idiots talking about?  Heero'd heard her speak before.  Why couldn't she now?  More stepped out of the shadows, revealing many more of Chang's underlings.  About fifteen to be exact.  Great.  They were grossly outnumbered, even with a she-vamp on their side.

Something brushed his back.  Heero spun around quickly, ready to strike any foe.  Instead of an enemy, Heero came face to "face" with a wing.  Jinakel's wings spread ominously from her back, making her seem more powerful and terrible than she did on a normal basis.  Duo had warned him about the whole sprouting wings thing, but it was still hard to believe.  She was standing side-by-side with him, still snarling at the vamps ahead.  Heero glanced around her at the blonde, well, as well as he could glance with big gigantic wings in his way.  The other vamp was gone.  Worry about that another time, Yuy, he told himself.  Your enemy is in front of you.

Without warning, Jinakel rushed the group.  They scattered like ants, pushing each other to get out of her way.  One dived to the ground, covering his head with his hands like a scared child.  Another one wasn't so lucky to escape her grasp, and the vamp was carried high into the air, shrieking the entire way until the distance between him and the earth caused his voice to dissipate in the wind.  Looking up, Heero saw a body drop as Jinakel remained hovering in the air.  The vamp's body vanished before he came in contact with any buildings or the ground.  They did that, he knew.  Vampire bodies disappeared when they died.  She'd killed it.

Within seconds, tiny droplets of blood splattered around them in the alley, proof of Jinakel's recent hunt.  Heero frowned at the small red stains on his arms and hands.  But he soon diverted his attention to the group of vamps.  They snarled at the blood of their comrade and ran forward, meaning to kill Heero and his Night Hunters. 

Heero's blade flashed in the night as he brought it to bear against the blade of Chang's underling.  They rushed him, overpowering him quickly.  But Trowa and Duo were not far away, thinning the force of enemies around Heero.  Even Roddy and Hilde participated in fighting a few of the vamps on the fringe of the main battle.  He felled one vamp, not caring that the body didn't disappear right away.  It would soon.  Turning his attention to another, he thrust his blade through its stomach.  To his right, he saw approaching teeth of another vamp. 

He felt the push of air before he caught sight of her.  Jinakel plummeted to the ground, landing hard on the approaching enemy who threatened Heero's well-being.  Wrapping her hand around its neck, she took off into the air.  The tell-tale blood splattering proved she'd just killed another vamp. 

And another.  And another.  Heero lost count of the times small blood splattered on them from above.  Jinakel was certainly earning her keep, and earning Heero's respect.

Catherine screamed, pulling her blade out as quickly as she could.  The others were busy, Heero knew.  Trowa would no doubt attempt to protect her, but at the moment he was more than occupied while fighting off two separate vamps, two more lying at his feet as they slowly bled to death.  Duo, too, had his hands full as he and Hilde fought back to back, keeping a small ring of vamps at bay.  Roddy, of course, could hold her own and was currently decapitating an angry-looking long-haired vamp.  Catherine needed help.  And Heero was too far away to get to her in time, he feared.

Again, Jinakel dropped down from the sky, landing near Catherine and her attacker.  This time, though, the vamp had been ready and held his sword out to her as she swooped down upon him.  He swung his blade at her, missing terribly as she moved swiftly to the side.  With lightning speed, she grasped his hand and forced the blade through his own stomach.  The vamp coughed up blood before Jinakel took to flight again, using the sword as a skewer to hold the dying vamp.  Correction, dead vamp, Heero thought as more blood rained down on them from above. 

So much blood was bound to draw attention.  As the last of the original group of attacking vamps fell to the ground and vanished, more vamps appeared from the dark recesses of the alleyway.  More vamps than Heero could count.  Jinakel landed in front of him, retracting her wings into her back so that they disappeared completely.  She stood silent and still, awaiting whatever threat was going to appear. 

Heero hadn't expected to see Wufei.  But there he was, grinning and showing off those damned incisors.  He growled.  Or was that Jinakel?  It didn't matter who made the sound.  Heero just knew that he was pissed.

"I see you've killed my search party," Wufei said, directing his attention only to Jinakel.

She only snarled in return.

"Still in too deep?" Wufei asked.  "Can't quite control your urges enough to speak, can you?  Your resistance to the Bloodlust is commendable, but even you, Daywalker, will succumb to the primal temptations pulling at you.  Ever wonder how delicious those human friends of yours are?"  Chang took a few steps forward, seeing that Jinakel was not opening her mouth to retort.  "That one with the long hair, who you escaped with.  He seems very sweet.  Or perhaps you like someone with a little more kick to them.  Someone more like Heero here…"

She snarled louder, obviously upset at the implication that she'd eat Heero or Duo. 

"You've won this round, Daywalker.  I'll not pursue you or your Pureblood tonight.  Dawn draws near.  Not all of us have the pleasure of strolling through the sunlight like you."  Chang gave a stiff bow and stepped back, vanishing again into the darkness of the alley. 

Catherine, Roddy, Hilde, Duo, and the blonde vampire, who appeared again out of nowhere, were already out of the alley and in the street by the time Heero, Trowa, and Jinakel made their way into the glow of the streetlights.  Though Wufei had promised not to come after them again tonight, staying in the light made them all feel a little safer than the darkness of the alleyway. 

For the first time, Heero could see the bloodstains on Jinakel's body and clothes.  Though she wore black, the red tint of much blood could be seen in the yellow glow of the streetlight.  And her chin and neck ran with blood.  Others' blood.  She had fed well tonight.  The little blonde stepped forward, hesitatingly sticking out his tongue and lightly licking the blood from Jinakel's jaw line.  The sight was strangely erotic, seeing one vamp lick blood from the body of another.  But the sensuality of the moment broke quickly as Jinakel smoothly lowered her head, baring her teeth as if to bite the blonde's neck.  Her hand was planted firmly on his chest, and with a quick shove, she sent him flailing backwards into Catherine. 

"Stay away," she snarled at him.  Her eyes became clearer as she spoke, as if she were waking up from a dream. 

The blonde, after apologizing to Cathy and getting back on his feet, timidly stepped forward.  "Jina, are you normal now?"

She blinked.  "Forgive me, Master," Jinakel breathed, dropping to her knees and touching her head to the ground in front of him.  She trembled slightly.  Now Heero was even more confused about their relationship.  Before they'd seemed like friends, then Jinakel wanted to eat him, and now she was calling him "master"?  Who was this blonde guy?

"I'm Quatre," the blonde said, offering a smile to the stunned slayers that surround him.  Heero saw him put a hand on Jinakel's bent back, giving her some comfort.  "I am pleased to meet any friends of my dear Jina's.  I've been worried sick; she's been missing for days.  Please, allow me to offer you some hospitality.  It's the least I can do for all of your assistance."  The vampire, now known as Quatre, spoke with dignity and a royal air.  But trust him?  Heero wasn't too sure about that. 

He looked around to his comrades.  Trowa looked doubtful.  As did Roddy, but she didn't have quite the scowl on her face that Trowa had.  Duo, of course, trusted the vampire completely.  That was no surprise to Heero.  Since his breakout with Jinakel, Duo'd been more than willing to make friends with the enemy.  Hilde was simply watching Heero, trusting him completely to make the right decision.  Catherine looked…like she liked this vamp.  She definitely wanted to go with him to his home. 

"Please," Quatre repeated.  "Please, make a decision soon.  Unlike my friend here, I cannot survive in the daylight.  We must leave soon if we are to make it to my home.  I…" he looked suddenly timid again.  "I will not hurt any of you," Quatre said in a small voice. 

"I say we go," Duo said out loud.  Fine, if they wanted to go, they'd go. 

"Fine," Heero answered for the group. 

Quatre got down on his knees in front of Jinakel.  "Jina?  Are you better?"

She shook her head.  "No."

"I will have to go without you."  Quatre cast a worried glance up into the night sky.  "I cannot wait for you to regain yourself.  Hurry home," he said, giving her a kiss on the forehead.  With a pleasant smile on his face, Quatre addressed the group of slayers.  "This way," he said, leading the way through the dirty streets of St. Petersburg toward his castle.