The Vampire Heero
Part Thirteen
By Lady AngelFiren
I stepped back in shock, but the woman didn't seem at all shocked to see me, or Heero. From the look on Heero's face, he had not known anything about her before he climbed into her bathroom window, so he was surprised too, although he hid it a lot better than I did. The smell of blood filled my nostrils and I closed my eyes to block out the strange woman, but it wasn't working so well. I could still smell her all too clearly to ignore how hungry I was. I didn't really care why she knew who I was, I just had to eat.
Fortunately Heero's strong arms wrapped around my body and held me in place. I swallowed a few times and opened my eyes. The little woman had set the wedding picture down and was gesturing for Heero and I to sit.
"I've been expecting you."
I glared at her as did Heero. He didn't seem to like people knowing about who he was very much. I didn't blame him. She hadn't said his name, but there was implied meaning between her words, she meant both of us had been expected, not just myself.
"Don't get flustered I've been waiting a long time to meet you both. Nobody else knows about you, I can assure you of that. I know you're hungry so I'd best quit jabbering and let you eat me already. I just wanted to say thank you before you did."
I wrestled out of Heero's grip and stood up angrily. "Who the hell are you? What do you mean you've been waiting for us? I've never seen you before, there's no way you could know who we are!"
"But there is Duo."
"Maybe you should explain it to me then, because you don't make any sense lady."
Heero stood up and walked briskly over to the woman, glaring angrily. He picked her up with one strong hand and looked into her eyes. She smiled, her dull blue eyes gleaming with excitement. That look stayed on her face as Heero bit her and drank a bit. I watched him bite his own tongue and lick the wounds in her neck shut with his blood. He beckoned me to his side and pressed her into my arms.
Of course there was nothing I could do to stop myself from sinking my teeth into her and letting her blood wash into my mouth, but after I felt her body slide out of my arms and drop onto the floor I knew I was going to Hell if I ever died. At that very moment, however, I was content to sit down on the worn old rocker and bask in the feeling that surged through me, my foot occasionally bumping the woman's body on the floor as I rocked slowly back and forth. Everything felt good. Alive. I felt heat go through my body and I thought that I was actually back to being alive and human for a little while, but eventually that feeling faded and I blinked a few times, noticing that Heero was sitting on the sofa watching me with no expression on his face.
"How long"
"Its only been about ten minutes Duo."
"I never felt like that before"
"You'll get used to it. Are you still hungry?"
I thought for a second. Yes, I was still hungry, but the worst part of it had faded, so I shook my head. Heero got up and licked his lips, looking around the room.
"Move. I'm going to sit her back in her chair and heal the bite marks. It'll look like she died of natural causes. I want to look aroundshe knew who we were when she saw usshe was waiting for us. I have never had that happen before. Maybe we can find something"
"I get it, go look for clues, you could have just said that."
I walked out of the room and through the house. It was easy to tell where everything was, I could see that the carpet was worn in a few places, so I just followed the trail down the hall and into what was presumably the woman's bedroom. It smelled like her in here, and there was a bed, and a couple dressers, a mirror and a desk with a lamp. I didn't touch anything so that I wouldn't leave fingerprints. Nothing seemed to be visibly unorthodox about this room, so I left it as it was and went to the next room in the hall. I covered my hand with my sleeve and opened up the door.
Definitely not your normal spare bedroom, or office, or anything else. The whole thing was painted with a mural that covered the floor and ceiling and walls. The floor had a definite circle painted on it, and at the center of the circle was a round table full of candles and incense, some water, salt, colourful stones, all kinds of weird stuff. There were some books under the table, hidden by the plain black velvet cloth that covered the table.
I noticed a door in one wall, it was part of the mural but it opened when I turned the handle. The inside was covered in shelves. There were bundles of herbs hanging from the ceiling, and little jars of things on most of the shelves. There was an actual black, three-legged iron cauldron on the floor in the corner. I found a selection of mirrors and more colourful stones, and all kinds of really strange little things in the closet. There also happened to be a book. A black hardcover book bound in leather and looking very used. Taking it in my hands I flipped to the first page. There was a book blessing. From there I flipped through the pages, not really finding anything that had to do with vampires or gundam pilots. It seemed that this woman had been a practicing witch, I was reading her Book of Shadows. There were all sorts of rituals and prayers and recipes, information about the properties and uses of various herbs, stones, crystals, spices, etc
I didn't know how long I had been looking through the book when I felt Heero's hand touch my shoulder. I looked into his face in confusion. "Are we leaving?"
"Hai, There wasa shrine, about the two of us in one of the rooms. Not as elaborate as this room, but there were drawings, photosall kinds of information I don't understand how this woman could know all of this about us. I don't like it, we should relocate. She knew the date I changed youpredicted you would kill her. I found a table and these" Heero held up a tattered box. I took it. Inside was a deck of cards with pictures on them. Cups, swords, wands they were Tarot cards. I pocketed them and tucked the thick leather-bound book under my arm, following Heero our of the woman's house though the bathroom window.
We walked back to the school. I forgot to be mad at him, for the moment I was interested in whatever gave one old lady the power to predict her own death. It was probably a good distraction for me, although Heero was too buy skulking to care.
I sat on my bed and pawed through the book, reading everything she had written. She had been keeping this book ever since she was a teenager, some of what was written had been scribbled out and declared untrue as she learned more about herself and what she believed in. The book contained her story as well as her own experiences with cards, spells, charms. It was all in the book, and I was totally fascinated by it.
Around four am, as the sky began to get pink, I yawned big and closed the book, saving my page with a piece of printer paper. I retrieved the cards from my pocket and took them out so I could look at them. Each card was worn and a little faded, but they had that attraction that old things often do, and I decided I would learn how to use them. I hoped there was something about it in her bookmaybe I would have to go back to the house and see her shrine, although I figured that it was probably destroyed since Heero had been the one to find it. There's no way he would ever let information like that go.
"Duoyou should get some sleep."
I yawned and pouted. "I'm not sleepy."
"We both have no choice but to sleep today, as we didn't sleep last night, and we were inside most of the night. I've done this before, just close the curtains and go under your blankets and you will be fine."
Yawning again, I could feel myself getting drowsy. I went into the bathroom and began to brush my teeth out of habit, but the toothpaste tasted absolutely horrible. I spit it out all over the place and started coughing. Heero came in looking sort of concerned.
"This stuff tastes horrible!"
"Yes."
"What am I supposed to brush my teeth with?"
"Nothing. Like the rest of you, your teeth will remain forever as they are now. If you lose one, it'll grow back during your sleep. Same with your hair. You can cut it every night if you want, dye it, do anything you want to it, and it will grow back to the exact length it is now. If you injure yourself, you won't scar. You will not age. You're going to be sixteen forever. Physically, at least."
I looked at my deathly pale reflection in the mirror. I was going to be like this forever it really didn't sink in until then that I was immortal now. Heero spoke of it like a curse, and I could see how he would want to eventually die, but for me, it seemed like a whole window of new possibilities. I could not die. I could not drown, I couldn't bleed to death or be hung or shot. Unless I managed to completely lose my head, I was home free. A smile curled over my lips. Yes, people would have to die, and I had already known before I was a vampire that killing people had consequences, but things were different now. Its not like I was going to purposely hurt people for no reasonevery time I took a life now it would be to feed myself. But did I have the right to exist? Were vampires natural? There was a lot I needed to think about. Fortunately I was able to concentrate on the immortality aspect of things as I looked into the mirror. That was the first really good thing about being this way, after I had gotten used to the heightened senses and abilities. But I still had to kill people. Maybe it would be best if I stayed alone.but then Heero would have gone to all his trouble for nothing.and leaving would make me a compassionless monster. Plusits not like being with Heero was all bad. I think that me being the one with less knowledge gave him a chance to be confident and tell me things he knew to be true. It made him feel like he was worth somethingso that was another good reason to stay with him. And he was dead sexy. Definitely worth my time. But thinking of him like that was selfishwasn't it? Because I knew he wanted me.so I would have to be careful to keep things that way, and make sure that I deserved to have him.
Winking at myself in the mirror, I left the bathroom and closed the curtains to the approaching sun, crawling into the warm darkness of my bed and curling up in a little ball as I felt myself falling asleep. When the sun finally decided to come up I was snoring away, locked happily in the dorm with Heero to protect me in case anything decided to happen.
~~~~~~~~~~
I woke to Heero gently gripping my shoulder. Before my eyes were even open I knew I needed to eat something. If possible, I was even hungrier tonight then I had been last night. It was about six-thirty, there would still be plenty of people out and about. Heero told me that it was wiser to wait until later to go hunting, so that there was less chance of a witness.
I pleaded with him and whined and told him how hungry I was, and generally acted like a pain in the ass until he agreed to take me to find someone to eat, but he said that he would wait until later for himself because it was easier to find someone that wouldn't be missed when it was late.
Unfortunately, Heero wouldn't let me leave straight away, he insisted I don a disguise. I told him I was a stealth master and he glared at me and said, "Fine Stealth Master, you can wait until after midnight for your meal then."
So you can understand how I was talked into the disguise. No way was I waiting six hours to even start looking for something to eat. Heero told me to sit on the bed and wait, and that he would make the disguise. When he came back from the bathroom with a pair of scissors I started to get nervous.
"Heerowhat's with the scissors?" I asked nervously, trying to keep a smile on my face as he approached.
"For your hair," he said calmly, then started to lean closer so he could reach my braid.
Maybe I overreacted a bit, but I totally flipped. I grabbed the scissors out of his hand and backed away from him, feeling completely betrayed. "You bastard! How could you try to cut my hair!? Are you stupid? Do you know how long it took to get my hair this long? To keep it all healthy? You're insane if you think I'm letting you chop it off, I'll wait the six hours for food, Jesus, how can you think of these things?" I threw my hands up in the air and ranted a bit longer, eventually flinging the scissors into the wall where they stuck.
"Duo. Shut up" Heero interrupted me a few minutes later as he was wrestling the scissors from the wall. "You're overreacting, your hair will grow back. Quickly, by this time tomorrow it will be back to its permanent length. If you change your hair a little then you will not look like yourself, and it will make it difficult for people to recognize you, or tell which sex you are. That is useful when you are planning on killing someone. You should also wear tinted or reflective glasses, because you haven't learned how to make your eyes appear normal and human yet, they are always silver. Please let me cut your hair."
"You're sure it'll grow back?"
"Positive."
"WellI guess if you're sure but only cut a little, just so I can see that it'll grow back. Ok?"
I went over to Heero so he could cut my hair. I was scared, I had to admit it. I unraveled my braid, but he took it out of my hands and raised the scissors to it. I couldn't see, but I could feel the way my hair pulled, I was terrified that he was going to cut it all off. I sank to the floor and curled up in a ball, trying to calm myself down and stop myself from crying. Boys didn't cry, and vampires sure as hell shouldn't, at least when it came to me they shouldn't. I didn't shame Heero for having cried to me, but if I were to show so much as one crimson tear in front of Heero, I knew I would never feel the same around him again.
Thinking this way managed to calm me down, and I didn't actually cry, although I had shrunk into a little ball of shivers on the floor, which technically made me a chickenshit. I didn't care. Heero was combing his fingers through my hair, which was now about six inches shorter than it had been. It went only to my middle back now. It was hard to look at myself with shorter hair when I was told to go arrange it in the mirror, but I managed. Now we could eat. Food was sounding especially good at the moment.
Heero led me out of out dorm window, straight through a patch of forest to a densely populated city. The one that the school was situated just outside of, the city that Heero and I had originally intended to stay in. The school had just been convenient. We came out of the trees and crossed a highway. Heero had me follow him along until we were in what was most likely the 'bad part of town,' the place where all the crack heads and junkies and such lived. Beautiful. The smell if urine filled my nostrils, it was disgusting to walk through here, but there was supposed to be food somewhere, so I faithfully followed Heero along the back alleys and crumbling sidewalks.
Like the night before, he was looking for the right person, so it took awhile. I was intensely hungry, I thought I might jump the first person we met if I didn't get something soon. I wasn't really thinking too clearly now, because the hunger was so great.
Finally, after what felt like the six hours I wasn't supposed to have endured, Heero turned off of an alley into a dark doorway. He gently pried the door off of its hinges and had me follow him downwards. The stairs we traveled were the steep rickety type, but they weren't a problem now that my balance was so good. The stairwell led to a room with peeling wallpaper on top of crumbling gyprock. The walls were dotted with holes, and water had leaked from the ceiling so that one corner of the room was soggy and moldy. A bare bulb dangled from the ceiling, and a single man was bundled up in a moth-eaten sleeping bag, clutching a knife tightly in one hand. There were rats in here, but they didn't bother me. Its not like they could hurt me, I had nothing to be afraid of. Heero looked down at the man and nodded to me.
"Not like last night, this is a different kind of kill. He's a murderer. The kind of person who enjoys causing hurt to other people. He does not deserve his life. Can you feel how bad he is?"
I looked at the filthy man who had not heard out whispers. I could sort of feel that he wasn't all therebut I had no idea if that classified someone as a murderer. Heero must know more about him than the fact that he was messed up. I would have to practice this.
I bent over the sleeping figure. As my shadow was cast over his closed eyes
he struck out with his knife, plunging it into my chest without hesitating even
slightly. I heard myself hitting the ground as my head smashed into the concrete
floor, and then everything went black, stabbing, searing, terrible pain throbbing
from my chest as my blood seeped from my body.
