I do not own Gundam Wing
Chapter Nine"That's right, Winner. Get angry and rush me. I'm waiting to overpower you, to take control of your body by feeding on your blood. So come, and get it over with," Chang said, snarling more and showing off his fangs.
Quatre kept his own vampire instincts in check. His wings were still folded within his back, not out like Jina's. His teeth were still pulled into his gums, making him look as human as possible. For some reason, Chang wanted him to get angry and fight him. But Quatre knew that getting angry meant getting stupid. Too much was at risk for him to act without thinking things through.
"Perhaps you need some more encouragement," Wufei smiled. Quatre heard Cathy scream out. He spun around to see the vampire holding her slice into her arm with a knife. Cathy's eyes were wide as she watched her own blood spill from the wound in her forearm. She looked back at Quatre, the pleading returning to her light blue eyes.
"Leave her alone," Quatre repeated, becoming desperate.
"Then give me your blood. All of this will be over when you just cooperate with what the carvings hold," Chang told him.
"The carvings say that Quatre will rule the world, not you," Jina snarled, too angry with everything to clearly speak. She took a step forward, her sword held at ready. Her eyes were ablaze with a deep crimson color, close to the color they had been when she was fighting her bloodlust. Quatre put a hand to his chest, feeling the pain of her madness.
The vampires holding their friends captive started to back away from the circle, retreating into the dark corridor behind Chang. Chang, too, began to back away from the look on Jina's face. She roared and charged.
Heero followed her lead. The moment she began to slay the circle of vampires, he was at her back and using his own sword to cut down the beasts around them. Quatre, too, joined in the fight, but he refused to mortally wound any of the vampires, only using his sword to defend himself and knock them away. Away to where Jina could get a hold of them and rip them apart.
He had never seen Jina in such a rage. She used her hands as much as her sword to tear the vampires limb from limb, spilling so much blood that the floor was covered in the thick sticky substance. Quatre kept slipping in it, fighting to stay upright when so many vampires swirled around them. But more and more kept falling to the puddles of blood on the ground, their bodies disappearing as Jina destroyed them two and three at a time. Her roars of anger and pain echoed in the large center room of the castle, making the screams of the vampires seem tiny in comparison.
Quatre turned a circle. The vampires were gone. No more bodies remained on the floors, no more creatures emerged from the shadows to attack them. Jina's chest heaved as she breathed deeply, trying to settle down after such an unleashing of power. Her wings stretched involuntarily with each shuddering breath she took. A myriad of cuts and wounds littered Jina's body and wings, dripping blood. Heero was there instantly, his hand to the side of her face and looking into her eyes as he tried to help calm her down. He had been injured as well, but he had not been as reckless as Jina. Cradling his left arm, Heero favored the large gash on his shoulder and upper arm.
Quatre was remarkably uninjured. "Are you well enough to continue, Jina?"
"Yes, Master."
"Do not call me that, please. After seeing that lintel, I never want to hear those words again," Quatre said softly, hanging his head. Jina blinked, her eyes returning to a more normal color. Heero reached up to wipe the blood that was dripping into her eyes. Whether all the blood on her body was her own or spilled from the vampires around her, no one could tell.
"I can continue," Jina said softly.
"As can I," Heero offered.
Quatre nodded. He didn't want his friends to get involved in this fight, but he knew Jina too well to think she'd wait for him here while he went off to fight Chang. And if Heero was anything like Jina, he too would fight to the death rather than wait around for the fate of Cathy and the others to be determined by someone else.
Leading the way into the dark corridor, Quatre shivered at the sudden freezing temperature of this part of the cross-castle. No light illuminated the sides of the walls, and he was somewhat glad that he couldn't see the horrible carvings that must litter this hallway. Only by his vampire instincts could he tell he was still moving forward, and the right direction, through the hall.
A light began to appear before them, showing a type of throne room. Jina stumbled forward, putting herself between Quatre and whatever could be in that room. Heero remained the rear guard.
Chang was there, standing on top of the throne of human skulls. To his left, a staff of human bones with an open hand at the apex rested against the wall. Quatre found it suddenly hard to breathe as he saw the throne and staff from the carving on the lintel in front of him. Chang's snarl was fearsome as he waited for his next meal to come closer.
"I'm impressed that you three could fight off so many of my vampires," Chang said when they entered the ring of dull red light around the dais. "But it looks like you all have taken some blows of your own."
Jina simply growled.
"Don't worry yourself, Daywalker. Your friends are all very much alive," Chang told her, waving his hand to his right. They were all there: Trowa, Roddy, Duo, Hilde, and Catherine, chained to the stone walls with heavy black iron.
Jina relaxed only slightly, and Quatre breathed a great sigh of relief.
"Where are their captors?" Heero asked, not trusting Wufei for a minute.
"Unfortunately, I sent them out to destroy you three after they'd chained their little captives to my wall here. If they have not come back, then I assume you killed them as well. But your small victories do not matter. I am the one you must contend with now." Chang stepped down off the dais and walked across the floor, stopping only a few feet from Jina, who was still in the lead of the group.
"Jina, don't! You're hurt," Duo cried from the wall. Even he could see the frightening way that she swayed as she stood, fighting against her loss of blood to keep consciousness. In this condition, she'd be no match for Wufei.
She looked aside to where Duo was hanging, very much frightened and beat but thankfully still alive on the wall. Jina gave a little sorrowful smile, apologizing. She raised her sword.
"You are not the one I want," Chang hissed.
"Fight," Jina instructed, lunging at Wufei.
He deflected her first offensive, sending her sprawling off to the right. But Jina's rage was returning, and the pain from her numerous wounds was dissipating as she focused herself solely on the Chinese vampire in front of her. Before her body had finished sliding across the marble floor, she turned and stood up. Her wings stretched menacingly behind her, making her seem three times as ferocious and large. She snarled around her long incisors, gleaming a sickly red color in the odd light of the throne room. Doubts about Jina's ability to fight were quelled instantly.
Chang shivered slightly at seeing Jina's complete rage directed only at him. He'd heard of her abilities and heard of the insane way she'd destroyed many vampires in the past. He held his sword at ready, preparing as best he could for her next attack.
With a heavy flap of her wings, Jina rose steadily from the ground. All necks craned upward to see where she was going, but she disappeared in the darkness above the throne.
"Where are you, little one?" Chang yelled out, masking his fear with the sheer loudness of his voice. "You cannot hide up above me forever."
"I'm sure she doesn't intend to," Heero said from behind him. Chang spun around quickly, facing Heero now.
"You cannot fight these battles of the vampires, Yuy."
"Watch me." Heero held his sword ready, keeping Wufei in front of him as he waited for Jina to descend. It was his responsibility to keep Quatre safe while she fought Wufei.
Jina dropped down from the heights of the room with a screech of wind. Chang turned, barely in time to deflect her sword and save his life, but not without injury. His side bled profusely, and a hand instantly went to cover the area that Jina had cut with her blade. She landed and faced him, battling with swords. The clanging of metal and their grunts filled the room. But Jina was not at top form. Her adrenaline was wearing thin, and she was becoming weaker and weaker under Chang's relentless fighting. He had her backed up to the edge of the dais, poised for a final blow.
"No!" Heero yelled, leaving his protective stance in front of Quatre to tackle Chang. Wufei struggled against him, both of them fighting for an advantage as they wrestled on the floor.
Suddenly, Heero let out a scream and was hurled against the far wall, landing between where Trowa and Hilde were chained. He didn't move again.
"Bastard," Jina growled, struggling to get to her knees.
"You are in no condition to fight," Chang told her between heavy breaths. "You will only get yourself killed if you continue."
"Not likely," Quatre spoke up. His normally blue eyes had changed to a shade of red-violet, and his wings extended from his body, blocking anything else out of Chang's view. "You came to fight me. So fight me."
"With pleasure," Chang said, charging with his sword in hand.
Quatre took flight, circling above Wufei to prevent from being attacked. His own curved sword was held in front of him as he dove down, aiming for Chang. By luck alone, Chang was able to fend off the thrust of Quatre's sword. Wufei went flying across the floor in a very undignified manner.
"Nice," he taunted, challenging Quatre to come down again. Quatre dove from an even higher height, gaining more speed and momentum as he fell from the ceiling of the throne room and back down to the red glow where Chang waited. Chang's sword was in hand, his feet spread far apart to brace himself from the blow he was about to receive. Quatre's attack was too swift for anyone to note which vampire had screamed out in pain.
But Quatre's flight wavered as he struggled to stay in the air. He dropped slowly, his wings curling about him to protect himself as he fell from ten feet in the air. Quatre struggled to get back to his feet and untangle himself from the mess of his own wings. When he finally stood, the bloodsoaked cut on his left thigh was revealed.
Jina roared with the sight of blood shed from her master. Her entire life was devoted to keeping him safe, and keeping him from ever killing another living being. Right now, she was failing at both.
Hurling herself at where Chang remained standing on the marble floor, Jina bared her teeth and prepared to die saving her master. Chang was caught off guard, for once. They both went skidding across the smooth floor, a large blood trail in their wake.
Quatre was shaking as he tried to regain control of his own emotions. Chang had been there, and he had almost killed him. And now Jina was in grave danger of dying. He knew the prophecy. The last Pureblood will strike down his foes and rise as the ruler of all Vampires, proceeding to take control of all human beings and turning them to demons of darkness. He knew that killing Chang would start that chain of events.
But Jina didn't fit anywhere in that prophecy. Never had a Daywalker ever been mentioned in ancient scrolls, nor a vampire who fed solely on the blood of other vampires. And Quatre knew that he had to save her.
"Jina, stop!" he yelled, rushing over to where Chang and Jina tumbled on the ground. When the struggling ceased, Jina's mouth was closed over Chang's throat as she leaned over him. Chang was on his back on the floor, eyes closed and awaiting the final bite.
Jina just stared up at Quatre, her eyes clear and her body shaking from fatigue and the effort of staying conscious. She awaited Quatre's order.
"Just leave him be. He has been beaten," Quatre said softly, his wings folding into his back and his teeth pulling back up into his gums. "Let us get our friends and leave this place." He closed his eyes for a moment before leaving Jina and walking to where Cathy hung chained to the wall. With a stroke of his sword, he cut the iron bindings at her wrists, and she fell into his arms.
"Oh, Quatre, I was so worried," she sobbed, holding him close to her and feeling his own tears through the material of her shirt as he cried into her shoulder.
Jina was at Heero's side within moments. The Japanese man was still breathing and moaned a little as Jina's hands went over his body, checking for injuries.
"The guy is tough," Duo said from off to her left. "He'll be fine in a few days, I promise." Duo gave a sun-like smile and wiggled in his chains. "Care to help us out here?"
Jina got up from the floor and used Heero's nearby sword to break the chains holding Duo, Hilde, Trowa and Roddy from the wall. They all staggered to their feet, tired from their long night and exhausted at having been held captive against the wall while they watched their friends fight against Chang.
"I think he'll be fine," Roddy said, checking over Heero herself. "He's just a little stunned from hitting the wall. We should take him by a hospital soon just to make sure there aren't any severe head injuries." Trowa and Duo offered to help carry Heero.
Jina thanked them all and went over to where her master was still holding Catherine.
"Mas…Quatre?" she asked, correcting herself. "Are you ready to leave?"
With a loud sniff, Quatre tore himself away from Cathy's embrace and hugged Jina, surprising her into stepping backwards a few feet. Jina relaxed and held her blonde friend and master in the most comforting embrace she could manage with all of her injuries. Her wings curled protectively around them both as Quatre vented his worry in tears.
"Oh my God, Quatre! Look out!" Cathy screamed from behind him.
Jina was moving before Cathy said "my" and took the sword from Quatre's side. She spun around, abandoning her hold on Quatre and attacking Chang as he attempted to sneak up and kill them both. Quatre's sword was thrust deep into Wufei's stomach. With a twist of her wrist, she turned the blade and sliced through his waist, cutting him in half.
Chang's body disappeared immediately, with a shimmer of air and a slight shudder. The red light of the throne room dissipated, covering the throne in darkness.
Together, the group of Night Hunters and their vampire friends made their way out of the black corridor and back to the center of the castle. Quatre stopped, holding on to Cathy's hand as he turned and looked at the lintel above the passageway they'd just exited.
"Jina," he said tentatively, urging her to leave Heero's side for a moment. She walked next to him, staring up at the carvings above the lintel. "Do you see anything there?" he asked.
"Yes."
"What is it?"
Jina looked aside at him, confusion on her face. "Do you not see anything?"
"No," Quatre admitted. "It is blank."
She smiled a little smile. "I see only Heero and myself, and we're happy."
"Why can I not see it?" Quatre asked.
"Only vampires can see the carvings on this doorway."