DISCLAIMER – I do not own Gundam Wing.
Chapter Four
The vampire Quatre's castle could hardly be called a castle. It was more like a large house. But in the world of the vampires, any dwelling was automatically called a castle. The old house had two stories: a living area and kitchen on the first floor, and four bedrooms on the second floor. The slayers remained in the hardwood entryway, too unsure to just walk into a vampire's abode, no matter how pleasant he'd been on the walk here.
Quatre picked up on their uneasiness right away. When Jina had arrived in the alley, it seemed as if these humans didn't even trust her. How were they going to trust him when they'd just met him?
"Please," he said, using that word yet again. "Please, come in a make yourselves comfortable. Jina will not be able to join us for some time. She's still fighting herself. Daylight will help her though. She only needs time."
This perked the longhaired slayer's attention. "Time for what? What exactly was going on with Jinakel and why did she try to eat you twice and what was Chang talking about lust or something and why couldn't she talk and why did you leave her back there, and…where the hell is Heero?" The braided slayer had to stop in his endless slough of questions in order to take a breath. "I thought he was right behind us." In alarm, all of the slayers looked around, seeing if their serious friend was lurking in a shadow somewhere.
"He didn't come," Quatre said, confused as to how they missed their friend's disappearance. "Heero? Was that his name? He stayed behind when we left to come here." He smiled a friendly smile, trying to get them to ease. The tall girl with reddish brown hair smiled back. Quatre glanced away before he blushed too noticeably.
"Why would Heero stay behind and what is he doing…" the braided slayer's next stream of questions was cut short when the petite girl with black hair clamped her hand over his mouth.
"You'll have to excuse Duo. He tends to talk a lot," she said with a smile. "And I'm Hilde, by the way. This is Trowa, his sister Catherine, and Roddy. We all work together." Quatre nodded and smiled at each person Hilde indicated, careful not to look Catherine in the eyes. She seemed to make his knees weak for some reason.
"It is nice to meet you all," Quatre said with a graceful bow. "I am Quatre Raberba Winner. And this is my home. You are all more than welcome to stay for as long as you like." He smiled at Hilde. "And I don't mind if Duo talks a lot. I'd enjoy the company. Jina's not exactly the greatest conversationalist, she has to be in the right mood to be personable…and speaking of Jina. I suppose you all have some questions you'd like answered. Come, we'll talk in the den." Quatre led them out of the foyer and into the comfortable den. Jina liked the big couches and cushy recliner. Quatre preferred the wing-backed chair near the fireplace. He noted his guest's glances around the room. They must have noticed by now that the house has no windows, despite the closed shutters on the outside of the house. Those were only for decoration, and to make the house seem more ordinary to those who passed by.
Duo, surprise, was the first to ask a question. "What is wrong with Jinakel?"
"Please, call her Jina. She does not prefer the entire name of Jinakel. And she is fighting against her own vampire urges right now. I assume that she hasn't eaten in six days, since the morning she neglected to come home. And so the made-vampires undergo what they refer to as "Bloodlust," which heightens her cravings for blood. It can be so powerful as to drive a vampire to eat its own blood. That creates a whole other problem though. In Jina's case, she is very strong. She can resist the lust and become normal soon. That is why she almost ate me twice. I am a vampire, of course, and that is the blood she craves. Next question." Quatre smiled, happy to be telling someone of all he knew. He was a talkative fellow, but with Jina as his only company, he'd not had the opportunity to talk like this in a few hundred years.
"She ate. Why does she still suffer?" Quatre looked at the other couch, seeing the man who spoke sitting between the lovely Catherine and the dark girl named…Roddy? Yes, it was Roddy. And his name was Trowa.
Quatre's brow knitted as he thought. "Hmm…In a crude description, she needs to eat regularly and often. After being starved for a week and then gorging herself on eight tonight, she's only made her lust more severe. By allowing herself to indulge so completely, she's made it worse because the more she has – the more she wants. She'll come out of it soon and settle back into a normal feeding cycle. Next question?"
"What's your story?" Roddy asked. "How do you two know each other and why does she call you Master?"
"Because I am." Quatre looked down at the floor when he said that. The cheer left his face and voice. He didn't like remembering his past. "For three hundred years, Jina and I have lived alone in this world. She was made two hundred years before that, by my mother in preparation for my birth. After slayers killed my family, she saved me and has protected me ever since." He glanced up and gave a weak smile. "But this is an unhappy and touchy subject for Jina and I. And it is getting late. Please, come upstairs to bed."
Duo got right up and followed Quatre up the stairs. The rest of the slayers trudged up the stairs as well, but with a little more reserve. The curving stairway led to a hallway with three doors on one side and one door at the end.
"My room is at the end of the hall," Quatre said. "Are three rooms ample for your needs?"
"What about Jina?" Hilde asked.
"She normally uses the room closest to mine, but she would insist on one of you using her bed if she were here. And I insist as well," Quatre answered, looking at Cathy again. He couldn't understand why he had to keep looking at her all the time, why she attracted his attention so completely that he forgot what he had wanted to say. She smiled his direction.
"I'll take Jina's room, if you insist Quatre," Cathy offered.
Quatre didn't know why he was so elated to hear that Catherine would be sleeping in the room nearest his. He was just so confused around her. So instead of speaking something unintelligible, he simply smiled and bowed to his guests, watching them disappear into their rooms.
*******
She knew he was still there. Did he think that she wouldn't notice him following her around? Perhaps he thought that she needed his help, or something equally ridiculous. Why was he following her? She was having enough problems controlling her urge to eat blood, and here he was twenty feet away and looking at her with those gorgeous midnight eyes. Made her urge for something completely different than food.
She hoisted her jacket further onto her shoulder. Of course, with her winged rampage a few hours ago, she'd had to take off the jacket to avoid ripping it. Now she walked through the dirty streets of St. Petersburg with the long black coat thrown casually over her shoulder. Looking up at the sky, she regretted that morning had yet to come. Vampires could still be out searching for them, risking this close proximity with the dawn to please their Chinese master.
Snarls in the alleyway caught her attention. She left the main road and traveled into the darkness between two close buildings. She had been right. They were still looking for her.
"Daywalker," one hissed. "Your blood will please our master."
"We have you outnumbered, traitor. Your human slayers aren't here to defend you," another one said, stepping closer to her.
"Your sympathy for those lower on the food chain will be your undoing," yet another vamp said from behind her. Great, now she was surrounded. And where did Heero go?
"You are lower on the food chain," she growled, unable to keep quiet during their taunting. "I eat fools like you." Jinakel tensed, dropping her coat to the ground as she faced her opponents. Turning in a slow circle, she assessed her situation.
Five vamps, all pretty haggard and low on the Chang totem pole by the looks of their disheveled clothes and dirty faces. They probably didn't live in Chang's castle, but instead lived in the streets. Perhaps they'd been cast out of the castle for some offence, or perhaps they were just silly humans who'd been turned to demons and left to rot for Chang's amusement. They were skinny and more pale than normal, with dark hollows under their eyes. Yes, bringing her to Chang's gate would give them a large reward, a reward that they were desperate to obtain.
"We aren't the fools, daywalker. You're the one alone in the streets. And we're the ones who will give you your penance." As the dark-blonde one spoke, a human girl was brought from the shadows, fear etched on her face as the captor vamp's hand closed around her throat. "If you want to save the vermin, then come with us."
"To your master's castle?" she asked, disdain more than evident in her voice. "Give me the girl."
"Only if you eat her."
She growled. This stupid little battle was gnawing at her nerves and increasing her rage. She knew that she was an angry person, and these idiotic fools did little to soothe her hatred of vampires. "Step closer and say that," she challenged.
The idiot did it, coming close and hissing in her ear, "Eat her."
He didn't say much after that, except release a bloodcurdling scream from his mouth as she bit harshly into his neck. Blood spilled everywhere, running down her chin and onto the ground. Not bothering to finish her ravaging of his blood, she turned on the others who were shocked into silence. No one acknowledged the sickening thump of his body dropping to the ground.
"Let her go," Jinakel ordered. She felt a presence behind her. Confused as to who it could be, she turned to see Heero watching her with fear and alarm in his eyes. Blood. He must be appalled by the blood. By seeing her eat. She knew she was disgusting, and it hurt her more to see his revulsion written on his face.
"Let her go," Heero echoed, stepping beside Jinakel with his sword in front of him.
The remaining vampires looked none to pleased with Heero's sudden appearance. With a quick swipe of the captor's hands, the girl's neck was broken and her body abandoned. The vamps disappeared.
"Damn, you Heero," Jinakel said, on her knees beside the dead girl in the alleyway.
"What?! Those bastards could have killed you!"
"They killed her, Heero. They killed her because you came," she said, leaning down to touch her forehead against the girl's. "I might have been able to save her."
"You couldn't have saved her. She was just a pawn," he reasoned, coming closer to her and laying a hand on her hunched shoulders.
"I might have been able to save her."
"I'm sorry," Heero apologized. "If I had known that you would rather have faced them alone, then I would not have revealed myself."
With a wipe of her hand, Jinakel brushed the tears from her eyes as she stood up suddenly. She stalked away from the dead girl, and from the confusing Heero. Why did he even follow her? Without breaking stride, she reached down and picked up her overcoat, shrugging it onto her shoulders as she left the alley.
She didn't remember the sun coming out. She didn't remember when the birds had started to sing. And she didn't remember when the dreary cold St. Petersburg night turned into a bright and hopeful day, but it existed nonetheless. Jinakel found herself in an open park, a few blocks from where she lived with her master, Quatre. She came here often during the day when he was asleep, climbing to the top of the big tree near the playground. It was the only place where she felt alone in this entire city.
Branches weren't known to be comfortable, but she didn't care. She never did. The tree was sanctuary for her. A place where she was never judged by humans, never hunted by slayers or vampires. It was a place where she could sit in the crook of a branch with her back against the massive trunk and contemplate anything and everything, or nothing at all.
At the moment, she contemplated Heero. The man was confusing, to say the least. Of course like any human, he was disgusted by her and afraid of her. Who wouldn't be? She had become the most powerful of the night creatures. Drinking the blood of her fellow vampires had given her the combined strength of ten vampires, had given her the Pureblood ability to sprout wings and fly, and had given her the heretofore unheard of gift of daywalking. Heero had to be afraid of her and repulsed by her. She had seen it in his eyes when she'd eaten the last vamp.
A tear fell from her cheek, watering the mighty tree she sat in. She had tried so hard to keep from feeding in front of the slayers. During the battle earlier that night, she'd risked much to eat in flight. And eating on the wing was more difficult than anything she'd ever experienced, threatening to make her plummet to the earth and resulting in her death. Even a vampire would fall victim to such a plea for the soul. But she'd done it. To save her "friends" from being terrified from her, disgusted with her.
To no avail. Heero, the one she'd cared about more than any of them, saw her anyway. Wait a minute, care for Heero? Yes, she had to admit, the man jumped the gun in about every situation, but she couldn't help but admire him. Something drew her to him. Something she couldn't explain. Of course, Duo was wonderful as well. But she had different feelings toward the braided slayer, the same kind of feelings she had toward her master. Her emotions toward Heero, however, were completely nauseating.
Speak of the devil, she saw him. Not the real devil, but Heero. He was there, on the empty playground, sitting on top of a set of monkey bars and looking up into her tree. Looking up at her. Those deep blue eyes. Something about them just made her want to kiss him, made her want to give him so much pleasure that he had to close those eyes. Wait. What was she thinking? Pleasuring that stone-cold killer? No way. Who was she kidding? Jinakel is the killer, not Heero. And she couldn't deny that she cared for him. But he deserved someone better, someone better than a vampire.