The Vampire Heero
Part Eight
By Lady AngelFiren

"Aren't you hungry too? Isn't there anything you can eat?" I asked Heero seriously as he tried to usher me out the door into the hall. Right, like I was gonna believe him if he said 'no' anyway

"No, Duo, I'm fine. I ate last night, remember? I can wait until tonight to eat again, but I'm going to the caf with you just in case Karl's there."

I really hated the authority in his voice, like _really_ hated it, but mostly I was thinking how bad it'd suck to only have one meal a day. I never did know when to shut up. I felt how cold his hands were around my body and I just could not accept that he didn't mind being that way. It was soweird! He was freezing!

"Heero, there is no way you're gonna be able to watch out for me all the time! Just because you're all strong and immortal doesn't mean I can't take care of myself! I've made it this far, haven't I? And besides, you cannot go out of yer way for me on missions, so don't do it here! I won't have it, 'specially when you don't even take care of yourself!"

He glared at me, moving back into Soldier Mode and letting go of me to cross his arms characteristically over his chest. "You're stuck with me, let's go."

*growl!*

"What the hell was that?" I wasn't sure where it'd come from, but the low rumble that I heard was definitely real. I spun around to look him in the eyes and saw that they still sparkled blue, but they were focussed on the floor, despite his authoritative tone and stance.

"Nothing." He took my hand and gently pulled me towards the door and him, still looking at the floor. He wasn't forcing me, I could easily get out of his grip if I wanted to, but the way he kept hiding himself, his strength, it made me doubt what he was at all, regardless of the proof I'd accumulated. I wanted to see the _real_ proof.

*GROWL!*

"What the fuck!? Is that your stomach? You said you weren't hungry! So now you're finding reasons to _lie_ to me!? I really can't believe this!"

I was upset that he'd brushed off his own needs and lied about being hungry. I was more upset that he'd 'informed' me of his new status as bodyguard, especially when he _knew_ I could take care of myself! I was sick of looking like a wuss, I really didn't need his help. And the way he acted like he had to hide his strength and his nature, it was really getting to me. I want to see who he is, not who he can pretend to be! Couldn't he understand that?

"-worry about it Duo, I'm fine. I eat almost every day, and I'm always hungry anyway. It really doesn't matter, I can't die, remember?"

"Don't you ever want a snack though?"

"Hnyou want me to 'snack' on my classmates? Duo, I can't just-" He began to move to the door once more and I stopped him with a curt tug on his wrist. He turned in surprise and looked into my eyes with a confused, ticked off glare. My brilliance never ceases to amaze me.

"Can you drink from someone without killing them?" I was genuinely curious, but I also had an idea. A terribly predictable, stupid fucking idea.

"Duo, lets go." He was ignoring my question, most likely because he'd seen through my ingenious plan, and was really not liking it so much as I wished he would.

"No. Why don't you snack on me? If you can do it without killing me then go ahead!"

I offered him my bare wrist. He shut his eyes tight and swallowed very deliberately, pushing my extended arm back towards me. He became very tense, and I could see the way any part of his body that had previously been lax was now held consciously taught, so that he became entirely muscle and stone.

"Don't be stupid, lets go."

I just refused to quit. I was really set on this whole thing, so I asked him again if he could drink without killing me, and he nodded solemnly. I wonder why he didn't just lie about it? Either way, I probably would've done what I wanted, but it was strange that he didn't do anything more to convince me it was pointless? Maybe Soldier Boy _does_ have some weaknesses. I pulled my knife from my boot and quickly slashed a clean line into my wrist, wincing at the pain as it blossomed in my arm and staring in morbid fascination as a fat droplet of blood welled up from my wrist and then slid thickly down my skin. It was like a signal, because the cut suddenly began to bleed profusely, the blood all but splashing outward, and very quickly there was a river of red staining everything in sight. I shoved my bleeding arm in his face.

Heero lurched back immediately as if burned, his throat working audibly. Smacking his lips together and swallowing gulps of fresh air, he continued to stagger backwards on shaky feet. Eyes squeezed tightly shut, he pressed himself into the wall and covered his face with his hands, mumbling into them in a barely audible tone. I could make out something about control and how I was his friend, but it was quickly lost. He ran one hand through his hair while the other snaked down to his stomach and clenched at the tight muscle there. His eyes remained plastered shut, but his mouth was now open, and I could see frothy red saliva pooling around his tongue as he struggled to keep it from leaking onto his chin. A small trail of the stuff escaped him, and it slipped from the left corner of his lips and ran over his perfect skin before he wiped it away with his hand.

I felt a twang of light-headedness, but steeled my resolve and made my way over to him. Even I could smell the metallic scent of my blood as it leaked down my arm and dribbled onto the floor from my elbow. I gently coaxed him to open his eyes, and they were a thick silver, reflecting the red of my blood as he stared at it momentarily then somehow managed the strength to pull away. He looked right at me, and I saw a frightening war in those glimmering, luminescent eyes; it was a cross between a frightened deer that is surrounded by wolves, and the head wolf, snarling viciously through wild, ravenous hunger.

"Heero, please, drink a little," I said, somehow remaining unafraid. I was clinging to the belief that he would not really hurt me, although I was starting to feel the barest tinge of fear. That look, the savage appetite, it was definitely scary.

His voice came out frantic, high pitched between animal growls and heavily rasped breaths. "Duo! Go away! I can't control myself, I'll kill you! Go away now!" The blood tears had started up again, and they streaked across his skin in tiny red rivers. If I hadn't been doing anything else, I could have spent an hour just watching the queer way his tears fell then dried up and turned into nothing, but I was a little occupied at the moment. He looked like a rabid animal, ready to attack. He was exactly that.

"Don't deny yourself happiness Heero, I'm not leaving." I planted my feet firmly on the floor. He was presently hunched over, breathing hard, both hands clenching his stomach now, and the tears fell. At my words, he looked up at me, standing to his side, and his face wrenched as he struggled to speak.

"I'msorry," he rasped, then lunged at me, hitting me in the chest and knocking me to the floor. He was sitting on my chest, twisting my bleeding arm painfully as he bent to lick up the blood that had gushed down to my elbow. A little pink tongue stuck out and neatly lapped away, tickling my skin as it stroked upwards, to my wrist. The cold shock I had received when his still-icy hands gripped me tight, faded to a dull pulse of slight, far away discomfort as I watched him avidly. It was interesting, and I'm not kidding! He was literally drinking up my blood! I couldn't get over this, and before he even reached the actual wound, I was grinning like an idiot and sitting as still as possible so he could drink comfortably. His weight was nothing on my chest, in fact I think he must have weighed less than eighty pounds, but I couldn't move past his iron strength.

I felt a rough jerk on my arm, and snapped back to what he was doing in time to see his lips close gently over the tear I'd made in my skin. I felt pain, unmasked, as he sank those innocent-looking little fangs into my wrist and sealed his lips around the enlarged wound. He sucked. Hard.

I was swept up with fear as I felt the strength in his pull. It was anything but natural, in fact, it was almost mechanical. He just sucked, and I could feel my insides searing with pain as my blood went to the now numbing cut on my arm and poured into his mouth. I couldn't make myself scream aloud, but I inhaled sharply, and from there began to hyperventilate. It hurt so much! Like somebody was tracing the whole inside of my body with razors, and I felt tears spring to my eyes and trickle dejectedly down my cheeks. I was locked into one solid moment of pain, and there was no escaping it. My head began to feel heavy as I inhaled more deeply from the fear and agony.

Just as I thought I would pass out from the pain of having my life sucked out of me, a wave of heat sped down my arm and rippled lightly over every part of my body, tickling my veins from the inside out as it went. I moaned in a thickly heated manner and felt my body stop its resistance. I was suddenly swimming through an ocean made of pleasure and happiness. I think I giggled when Heero twisted my arm once more, and I let my vision go completely out of focus. I was seeing pretty colours race under my eyelids as my body shuddered from the intensely erotic pleasure it experienced. The pain was forgotten only moments after it had been so terrible, simply because this heat was more powerful. I couldn't lift my arms anymore, I had lost so much blood that I couldn't really do much of anything but listen to my breaths rasp in and out as the thrum of my heartbeat got slower and slower in my ears. I could feel my eyelids drooping, but I wasn't sure if they were already shut or not. My lips were caught between being slack, if slightly smiling, and silently gaping open as I laughed without voice. A white light flashed brightly, and I was weightless as the most intense feelings yet passed through me and I slipped into unconsciousness.

My last thought was that I had never thought it possible to smile so broadly, despite the silly grin on my lips.