The Vampire Heero
Part Five
By Lady AngelFiren

/Vampire?/ My blood froze, and I couldn't make myself breathe. In my paralysis, a million and one thoughts went through my head to contradict what he'd said. I mean, this could _not_ be happening! I didn't believe that he was telling me the truth, but I couldn't imagine him lying to me either, so what could I believe? Confusion rushed through me, and Heero carefully watched the expression on my face become blanker and blanker as I sank into my own thoughts about what was happening here. I drew all of what I knew about any vampire I'd ever heard of into my mind. All the tales of evil and immortality and the superstitions about crosses and garlic. Heero couldn't be a vampire! I mean, he went out in the daytime, and ate people food, and he wasnice. He couldn't be!

I warred with myself and almost forgot him when I felt a strong push in the back of my mind, like that little voice was curious to find out what was happening, and wanted me to hurry up and get myself straightened out so he could watch the show. I quickly told it to shut up, that this was not its problem, but it persisted. I became wrapped up in my little argument with the voice until Heero took my hand once more in his cool stone grip. This lodged a whole new war in me.

/He _has_ to be telling the truth, I mean he feels like marble! And his eyes, and the tears/

"Um, Duo? Are you ok?" he asked quietly, and hesitated before continuing. "Youdon't believe me, do you." It was more of a statement than a question, and his whole demeanor was somehow very depressed. Like he had sighed heavily, although not a sound escaped him. His nasal tone was laced thickly with a separated sort of resonance, as if he felt very apart from me. I wished more than anything that I could know just what was going through his head right then.

"Wellno, not really. But it doesn't mean I hate you Heero. I don't understand what's wrong, but I won't desert you." It was true, I didn't believe him, it just wasn't possible. My thoughts were more in the area of Dr. J; this was probably something of his mad genius, creating a human machine or something. I didn't know, but vampire was not up there on my list of things to believe.

"I'm serious. I'm a vampire. I've been this way for one hundred and seventy-two years. Duo, I'm crying blood, how could you not believe me?" He looked at me with a desperate need for me to understand his situation and his pain. His grip on my hand tightened, and I winced at the sear that went through me. I don't think he realized how hard he was holding my hand, but when I flinched slightly he quickly dropped it into my lap, a horrified look coming over his generally unexpressive face.

He did have a point, he was crying blood, butstill. I didn't believe in preternatural creatures like vampires did I? I continued to stare at him, but my gaze had softened, becoming a little more like it should have been, but far from the laughing violet it usually was. He kept talking in that lost nasal plea.

"Duo, please believe me, how can I prove it to you? Here, look." I obeyed his command and watched closely as he lifted an arm to his mouth and gashed a long trial into the soft flesh with one of his eye teeth. He held it up to me, and the scent of his blood barely had time to reach me as the wound closed itself up. It was way beyond just being eerie. It looked like the skin was alive and thinking on its own as it moved together and sealed itself quickly shut. The blood that had leaked out dried up quickly and floated away from him on the gentle evening breeze, gone like dust in the wind. His arm was smooth and flawless once more, only seconds after he'd torn it open. I looked up at him, and saw that his teeth were quite normal, except for the eye teeth. They were only a very tiny bit longer than an average person's, but appeared thin and razor sharp. They looked nothing like the teeth on vampires in the old movies I liked to watch.

I glanced down at his arm again, then back up at him, seeing his strangely reflective eyes flash with what looked like hope. I was still very reluctant to believe him, but I couldn't ignore the facts. I inched closer on the windowsill, taking one of his hands into both of mine, a reverse of how he'd clasped my own hand a few minutes before. The tiny bit of warmth that lingered in his skin was still present, and he was lukewarm now, not really cold, but not hot either.

"Heero, you're a vampire? Why? And what is making you so upset? I looked sideways into his eyes, and he sighed in relief, leaning into me a little so that the back of his head was resting on my chest/stomach. I put my arms over his shoulders and rested my hands on his taut stomach. It was strange position, and normally this sort of contact with Heero would practically make me come, but now it just feltcomforting. I raised a hand and stroked his hair.

"Would you mind explaining some things? I guess I don't know much about" I trailed.

"Vampires?" he finished for me. There was almost a smile in his voice. Almost, but it was blocked out by the sadness he didn't seem capable of hiding. Maybe he'd hidden it for so long, and now that it was out he couldn't get it back in. Maybe, I wasn't sure.

"Yeahvampires." The word sounded strange and foreign on my tongue. If I were alone I would have said it to myself a few times to get familiar with it, but I think that would have sounded just a little strange to Heero, who had slipped into a monologue about those particular beings. I slapped myself mentally for not listening to him from the start and perked up my ears. The little voice in my head chuckled at that, so I slapped it too.

"-vampire, it wasn't my choice though. I hate myself every day for it. I was born on the colonies in AC09, and lived in space my whole life until _this_ happened (he sort of gestured to himself, but stayed draped in my lap. It was an extremely tired, careless little act, but spoke volumes about how much he hated himself, like he wished he could just wave the whole thing away and become human. I still thought of him as human) when I was sixteen. I haven't changed or grown at all since then, and everyone I've ever been close to is long dead. The only thing I do well is kill innocent people or lie to them, and that disgusts me. Maybe that's why I chose to fight in the war. Maybe I was trying to gain redemption by doing the only thing I can. I don't know, I'm just sick of the world, I've wanted to die for the longest time. But then today something different happened. When I saw what Karl was doing to you, I was filled with anger and rage, but I wasn't thinking about myself at all, I wanted you to be ok. Its been a long time since I let anybody get to me like that, I should have talked to you about it sooner. I'm sorry. I've noticed the bruises on you arms and a few other places, but you didn't say anything, and I didn't want to get you upset. If you've taught me anything about yourself, its that you're as stubborn as they come, and you won't let people help you, so I didn't. That was really stupid of me, I should've known better. Its too easy to be detached from things sometimes. Duo, I'm so sorry."

Heero was quiet then, giving me some time to process everything that he'd said. It was the single longest period I'd ever heard him talk for, and I didn't really know how to respond. I wasn't sure if he was looking for pity or just letting me know a little about himself so that I'd believe him, but either way it was depressing as hell. I was really stuck for words, and after a too-long silence I felt his stone form shift uncomfortably and his silvery eyes watched me, almost with a tinge of fear. The soft, background chirping of crickets rose to a deafening chorus and I felt the seconds stretch elastically into eons. Heero just watched me as the tension built, and my ever-active, ever-brilliant body moved before I had a chance to decide what I was doing.

I felt myself bend low over him and brush my lips to his in the gentlest of touches. He turned in my lap so that I could reach him better, and met my lips with his own. They were yielding and accepting, becoming a cool, malleable presence that grazed me. I felt his tongue sliding along the line of my lips, so I parted them and he slid gently inside my mouth. Our lips crushed together and I was forced to ignore the throbbing bruise in my own from Karl's earlier ministrations. I also forced myself not to think of that particular person as Heero eagerly stroked my mouth with his tongue. I raised a hand to his cool cheek and felt the softness of his skin beneath my callused fingertips.

I t was one of the strangest things I had ever experienced; kissing a cool mouth and feeling all the more heated for it. But the act was not erotic or hot, it was almost comforting. I shifted, and gently pushed my way into his mouth. He tasted different from any other person I'd ever kissed, I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was sweeter, and moredrawing? I ran my tongue over his and began to explore his teeth, feeling how deadly sharp the eye teeth were. He tensed at my touching them, and his movements became a little more controlled, a little more rigid, like he was afraid he'd cut me or hurt me. I sensed his discomfort and withdrew, breaking our sealed lips and looking into his eyes. A line of saliva stretched between us for a moment before it thinned into nothing and separated in the middle. I took the hand that was on his cheek and wiped at my mouth, never breaking the intense visual lock I had with him. The silver gleamed a little from within his eyes before he blinked it away and they returned to being purely reflective.

Needless to say, it was even more impossible to speak now than it had been before I'd let stupid teenage hormones get the best of me. I couldn't break out of his gaze. Not that it held any power that kept me from turning away, I just didn't want to. I was afraid that the look of innocence on his face, mixed with a faint glow of happiness would disappear forever if I didn't save it away in my head and tell myself repeatedly that I'd seen it on him. I struggled past the sweet taste of his saliva in my mouth to find words.

"Uhh," I stammered dumbly. That damned voice started to laugh at me, its non-existent chuckles raining through my head in a most belittling way. "Umm, I'm sorry Heero, I didn't meanI don't know where that came from." I tried a disarming smile, but he didn't change. The intense gaze continued to bore through me, with no particular emotion in it. It certainly wasn't threatening, more like a deer in headlights. Surprised, aware, but not really scared.

It was my turn to shift uncomfortably as he watched my every movement. I couldn't help noticing how animal his whole demeanor had become. I finally reached the point where I couldn't take it anymore. "What!?" I demanded of him. He sat up and turned to me on the windowsill, gentle moonlight painting his face into a mixture of shadow and light, broken by strong silver eyes and a rouge tinge to his lips. He licked them and swallowed, searching me in silence. His bangs fell into his face, cutting a zigzag frame of black-looking locks around his eyes and emphasizing the gentle curves of his face, the fine point of his chin, the pallor of his skin.

Yeah, he was searching my face, my eyes for something, I was sure of it now. What was he looking for? I began to feel the tiniest tinge of fear as he _crept_ forward, looking less and less human, more and morevampire?