Note to Disclaimers: I do not own Gundam Wing so please don't sue me. Please (I hope you will) enjoy the fanfic! ~Calima~
Word Coding:
'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Everything else
Flashbacks
Nighttime Glimpses (Chapter two)
'Where is everyone?' Hilde's mind shouted inside her. She was about to yell when she heard the front door slam. "Who's there?"
"Hilde, is that you? I'm back from my shift," Dorothy said from the hallway. "Hello, Hilde? Where are you?"
"I'm in the living room. Please come here, now! Duo needs help!" Hilde shouted.
"Duo? Who the hell is Duo?" Dorothy asked frantically as she ran to Hilde's aid. She took one look at Duo and paled. "He looks like he's dead! Hilde, is this a joke?"
"Do you really think I'd joke about something as important as a person's life?" Hilde asked in annoyance. "Just help me get him a doctor!"
Dorothy nodded. They quickly placed him on the bed. Dorothy raced to the phone and dialed the doctor. Hilde watched as Duo slept peacefully on the bed. His pale skin looked a shade worse than it had earlier. His eyes were closed calmly, but pain was etched on his features; she knew. Hilde caressed his cheek lovingly, her eyes taking on a far away look from something. 'Why am I so…attracted to him? It's like there is a force pulling me to him. It's…uncanny.' She continued to gently caress his skin, attempting to raise his deathly chilled temperature. He twitched, his body convulsing before he sat straight up. His eyes flew open, each indigo sphere dilated in a rather strange way. What irked Hilde more was the way he spoke when he began to, his lips moving, eyes staring dead ahead.
"I'm so hungry…I need food." He said in a haunting voice. Hilde touched him gently. He turned in her direction. She stared at him dumbfounded by his intensely haunting stare. Before she could comprehend what was occurring, he had grabbed her, forcefully, and shoved her head sideways, exposing the tender skin of her neck. She cried out in surprise; he snapped. He looked around the room in a daze like fashion. "Hilde…what's happening? Why am I out here?"
Hilde, recovering from the mild shock of his sudden outburst, adjusted her dress and smiled weakly. "You must have fainted, Duo. You were talking about being hungry…can I make you anything?"
"I've called the doctor! Is he going to be ok?" Dorothy stopped short when she entered the room. "Hello sir. Who might you be?"
"I am Duo Maxwell." He said politely. "And you must be the lovely sheriff of this town, yes?"
"No need to flirt Duo. She does have a significant other." A voice hissed from the shadows.
Duo looked mildly surprised to hear the voice. He smiled slightly, a sarcastic, witty smile in the direction of the kitchen. "Good evening Heero. Why have you graced our presence?"
"Mind you, I would never grace YOUR presence. I am here for one reason and one reason only. I protect Miss Relena, as I'm sure you've heard." Heero grunted in response, his cobalt blue eyes flashing with vicious maliciousness. He stepped from the shadows and scowled at Duo who merely grinned in return. "We must speak. Come now, to my quarters."
Hilde and Dorothy watched in amusement and confusion as they disappeared through the darkened hallway. Hilde looked at Dorothy. "Did we miss something?"
Dorothy chuckled. "Yes, I'm quite sure of it."
"Hm…that's weird. Relena never mentioned anything about Sir Heero knowing Duo. Well, not that I remember anyway." Hilde said in puzzlement.
"Neither did she mention anything to me, but it does not concern me." Dorothy replied nonchalantly. "Besides, Heero and Duo appear, from first glance, to have a history, as I see it."
"I suppose you're right…but what kind of History?" Hilde questioned. "It doesn't seem like the so-called normal kind. There is something strange about Sir Duo, which I have taken in by his recent actions, Dorothy."
"What could be so strange to you?" Dorothy asked while she removed her chief jacket, which had been resting heavily upon her shoulders. She raised an amused eyebrow at Hilde. "He seems like a perfectly normal human being to me."
"Yes, he is…but there's just something…" Hilde trailed as she looked to the spot where he had disappeared through the double oak doors with Heero. 'And how does he know Heero?'
She dismissed herself quickly, rushing to her room so that Dorothy would not question her thoughts any longer. Once safely inside with the door locked behind her, she sank to her bed, her head in her hands. 'Why can't I stop thinking about him?' She felt a heat flash travel down through her body as a mental picture of Duo burned in her mind. She shivered. 'How could I have seen him before?' She heard a soft rapping at her door but hard enough to wake her from her trance. 'Who could it be?' Slowly, she rose to the door and opened it slightly, her eyes meeting sly indigo spheres. "Sir Duo! Can I help you?"
"May I come in, Lady Hilde?" He asked.
She nodded and allowed him inside. After they had seated themselves on the bed, she gazed at him. "Yes Sir Duo, what can I do for you?"
"I thought we had dropped the formalities." He said quietly. When his eyes lifted to meet hers, they held a look of pure hunger, something like a thirst for some unknown edible. Hilde gasped. And before she knew it, he had her pinned to the bed, his face mere inches away from hers. Hilde let out a strangled squeak as he began to snicker loudly at her. "You thought you could hide away forever, did you not?"
"Who?" Hilde managed. "Whom are you talking about?"
"Don't act daft!" He said harshly before his eyes softened.
"I do not know whom you speak of, Sir Duo!" Hilde said as she struggled against him, wriggling to free herself from his seemingly iron grip. He pressed her arms harder and she bit her lips in pain. The pressure he applied to her already frail frame was beginning to cut off her blood circulation. With one final writhing action, Hilde managed to throw him to the side, his body crushing her favorite blue vase and knocking over her desk table. Hilde released an anguished cry as she dropped to the floor on her knees, frantically grabbing for the broken shards of glass. "Anaria's urn!"
As if by instinct, Duo's head snapped and he stood over her crouched form, dismissing the fact that he'd broken her precious item. "Did you say Anaria?"
Despite her their mishap, Hilde nodded. "Yes, my mother's ashes were in this urn until I let them go…" Hilde placed the broken shards in her water basin atop the lamp desk. "She wanted to fly with the wind…soar above all the wrong she'd done…or so she'd said in this letter." Hilde hugged herself with her arms. "Even now I know little of her past, especially her relationships and these so-called wrongs she committed. I never…knew her."
"I did," Duo's voice cut through her thoughts like a razor sharp knife. Hilde spun around. "She was…my partner…and an eternal creature of the night. We were friends…a long time ago…but she died before we could ever…get farther than our last crusade."
"But how…she died 100 years ago…" Hilde trailed off as she stared at the man in front of her. Everything seemed so strange to her about him and suddenly, she felt as if it was all beginning to make sense. "I can't see why I never saw it before! You were her partner, and you betrayed her, like she stated in the letters!"
Duo flinched at the term Hilde used. "Yes," he replied blandly as he gazed out her small window, eyes dull and disinterested in the scenery before him. "I admit that I did fail her, but I did not betray her. But like I mentioned before, she was killed during a crusade." He turned to her suddenly, startling Hilde from her position of arranging the shards into a neat pile. "My problem is that you look just like her. I knew it was too good to be true…I knew it wasn't her." He looked away again. "But something inside me hoped you were her, hoped she had made it anyway. I figured that at least if she had made it, I would have been able to apologize."
Hilde stood in the middle of her slightly dusty, undecorated room as Duo's eyes bored into her. "I see…but, then…why are you here?"
"I was sent," Duo answered, "by the council of elders, the oldest vampires known to man or to any half-lings (A/N: I don't really know how you spell that either), to watch over you-to protect you."
"I don't…understand," Hilde responded as she twisted her starched apron between her lithe fingertips. "What do I have to do with anything?"
Duo shifted his weight as he began walking towards her, eyes flashing a blood red as he neared her with every step. "You are the daughter of Anaria, and the last heir to the throne of our vampire clan. Anaria was the queen, the ruler of our sacred lands and empires. When she died, she had already given birth to a child. Although this was before the crusade, she never did say who the father-your father-was." He dug in his coat pocket for a picture. "This," he pointed to a child in a woman's arms, "is you, Hilde. This was right before she died. Upon my return to the castle, I found out about your existence-I was shocked. But from that day, I vowed to avenge her death by guarding that which was her most precious possession on this mortal earth-you, Hilde."
With all the intake of information, Hilde felt her knees buckle until she fell back onto her fluffy mattress. Her eyes watered as she twiddled the piece of shattered glass in her hands, cutting them, but not paying attention as the blood flowed over her fingers. Duo looked away and covered his nose, hoping to shield the scent of fresh blood from his insatiable, uncontrollable hunger. He knew it was no use, but he knew he also had to control his hunger, if even for a moment. He was here to protect Hilde, not devour her like he did to humans, leaving them within an inch of their lives. Meanwhile, Hilde was staring placidly out the window, midnight blue eyes laden with heavy tears as she stifled her sobs and sniffles within herself. She did chance a quick wipe of her eyes, almost forgetting the fact that Duo was still present in the room. She glanced at his vague silhouetted reflection in the glass window before she turned to look at him. Her hands trembled as she gently grasped his hand, her rich, sweet blood smearing over his pale skin. When he did not acknowledge her right away, Hilde stopped to watch how her blood trickled down his smooth skin, creating trails of vermilion down his ivory digits. Without warning he yanked his hand away. Hilde threw him a questioning glance as he made his way towards the door.
"Is something the matter Duo?" Hilde stood up slowly as he opened the door.
"No, I…excuse me for a moment," he answered before dashing off.
Hilde watched him go, sapphire eyes dazed and confused as she plopped back onto the bed. She had been lying on the bed mere minutes when the door opened again, quietly, then closed. Hilde did not move at all even though she felt Duo's presence, for he had sat on the bed, which in turn caused the mattress to sink in further. "She wrote it in her journal before she died, quite a bit about how faithful of a friend you were to her, how she trusted you with her life...and how you two were in love." Hilde talked impassively as Duo nodded to her. He reached over and ran a finger down her cheek, his nails scratching her skin ever so slightly.
"You two look exactly the same," Duo replied nonchalantly as he continued to caress her face.
Hilde was aghast as he suddenly cupped her entire face in his gentle hands. "And that is why you…but I…am not her, Duo!"
He let her go, his hands trailing down her cheeks as he pulled away and resumed his position next to the window. "I know…I apologize Hilde."
Hilde blushed brightly as he stared at her in the dim lighting of her small bedroom. Her body felt strangely itchy, as though something was crawling on and in her skin. It was then that she noticed Duo's plain gaze, which had been directed towards her wardrobe dresser, had become intensely observant as she sat in his line of vision. She could only turn away and blush even more brightly as he stood up and leaned over her bed and sat on it, yanking the sheets to cover her. Her insecurity swelled enormously as she heard him walk away, then return in her direction, stopping inches in front of her, his jet-black shoes shining in the moonlight invading her room through the window. But when he sat down next to her again, Hilde felt her body prickle and she leaned away, trying to evade him. He glanced at her briefly, resisting the urge to take her then and there. She looked so much like Anaria under the moonlight's pale beams that protruded through the window's clear surface-he shook his head. He was not allowed. She paused. "Are you…tucking me in?"
"It is…my duty." Duo's voice was forced as he began to exit the room. "Good night Hilde."
She felt herself sigh as he departed. She mentally scolded herself for thinking such thoughts. But at that exact moment, her mind was invaded with unanswered questions of her mother's past as well as Duo's. She found herself wandering up into the kitchen where she found Relena, Catherine, Dorothy, Quatre and Heero sitting at the table with teacups in hand. She stopped, stupefied for a minute, and observed them until one of them noticed her. Relena was the first to notice her standing in the doorway, dumbfounded. "Hilde, please do come in. Heero and Dorothy were just discussing security measures, the new layouts and things similar."
Hilde nodded before entering. "Hello Quatre, Catherine."
Heero rolled his eyes before continuing to speak with Dorothy. Catherine leaned over to Hilde who had taken a seat between she and Quatre. "Are you feeling ok Hilde?"
"I don't know anymore, Cathy, I don't know." Hilde bit her lips as she drifted off into her thoughts.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
The next evening was uneventful as Hilde strode through the emptying town. It was late for anyone to be out but Hilde didn't care. She continued to lollygag through the deserted streets in search of nothing particular. She was seeking refuge for her muddled thoughts, thoughts which had not gone away since Duo Maxwell's arrival a week previous to now. She released a heartfelt sigh as she stopped underneath the porch of the butcher shop. She could see Carl, the manager, cutting meat and stacking it in wrappings. 'He must be readying the meat for tomorrow,' Hilde assumed. She briefly noticed someone walking towards the delicatessen shop a block away, but paid no major attention as she resumed her steady paced walking down the road towards the house. Her mind was elsewhere, which was the reason the baritone voice beside her startled her in such a manner.
"Good evening."
Hilde clutched her shirt. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't hear you come up Duo!"
"You shouldn't be walking around town alone, especially this late. I have warned you before that it is unsafe," Duo said.
She shrugged her shoulders as if she cared for nothing around her. "I'm not so afraid as you might think. I don't feel so tense now. It is a beautiful night-I couldn't resist."
"You should. And you should worry about your surroundings more often Hilde." Duo's eyes flashed dangerously at her, daring her to speak back. When she did not answer, he gently took her arm and began leading them home. "Come on, it is very late and Lena said she was going to have dinner ready for us."
Upon entering the doorway, they were engulfed by the sweet aroma of coffee and dinner. Hilde took her usual seat next to Catherine and Dorothy while Duo sat next to Relena and Sally. According to Relena, Lucrezia, her brother's fiancée, was out of town on another business trip to make amends with her corporation. Hilde never did find out what the corporation was. She busied herself in eating her greens as Duo chatted endlessly with Relena about something or the other, most likely pertaining to their childhood friendship. Once dinner was finished, Hilde excused herself to her room for her thoughts were nagging her once again. She flopped on her bed, mind wandering to Relena and Duo. She recalled their earlier conversation upon Duo's original arrival into the boarding house. She hadn't thought about it until Duo mentioned that he was a vampire.
Relena walked into the kitchen and dropped her paperwork. Her eyes widened and she stood stunned before letting out a happy shout. She ran to him and threw her arms around him a tight hug. "DUO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"
"Nice to see you too, Lena." Duo smiled. "So, who is this…Heero guy?"
"I barely see you and you ask me who my bodyguard is?" Relena giggled merrily. "Oh Duo, you haven't changed at all. Please, Hilde, let us all go to the room and talk over some tea."
"All right." Hilde looked shocked at Relena's outburst. When they had sat down and Hilde had served the tea, she turned to Relena in wonderment. "Relena, how did you and Duo become friends?"
"When I was in first grade, a bully had tried to make me eat sand, and Duo came to my rescue. It is really weird I know, but we have been friends ever since." Relena smiled.
"Oh, wow!" Hilde grinned. "That's amazing!"
"Hilde, when did you meet Duo?" Relena asked.
"I was taking one of my usual walks, and we just ran into each other." Hilde said honestly. "We talked and then I ran into him again at the butcher shop. Carl asked if he could stay here since Sir Duo is new in town and I obliged. It never occurred to me that he knew you or anyone else for that matter."
"Haha…Duo and I go back a long ways, but that doesn't matter. I'm just glad to see you." She said to Duo. "I've missed you so much, my friend."
'That must mean she is a vampire as well,' she thought. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. 'If she didn't tell me she was a vampire or something like that, does that mean that everyone else in this house is lying?' Tears sprang to her eyes as she allowed her head to sink into her pillow, arms hugging it ever so slightly as she sobbed into the starched surface. "I can't understand why my mother left me no hint of what and who I am."
"She did it for your safety, hoping you would lead a normal life," a voice said.
Hilde allowed more tears to fall. "Duo, does it look like I live a normal life? I've just realized all the people in the boarding house are not humans, not to mention myself. I realized why I am so comfortable with them. I can't take this though. I've been living a lie then, haven't I?"
Duo shushed her with a finger, bringing her into a comforting embrace as he explained to her the reasons of her mother's decisions. "Look Hilde, there is more to this than I can let you know right now, and I don't want to scare you. But your mother had very good intentions in her keeping you from the truth. Everything would have worked out if it hadn't been for the recent uproar occurring within the vampire clan. To be truthful, there had always been a feud between the various clans to prove who was the elite and which was the most sacred and ancient. The problem is, it had always been your mother's clan, our clan, who came out at the top. This went on for centuries and well, you know, that eventually angers other people, unsettles them. So…in order to protect you from the other raging clans, she declared you a human-they had no worries about you. That is when she died, during our battle crusade with the other clans. Our clan fell into hiding and I ran away in cowardice. But I intend avenge us, to make up for my failure. That is why I am here for you."
Hilde sniffled as she took in what he had just said. "I see…but I still don't understand why you need to protect me if no one else knows about me."
"That's just the thing Hilde. Someone DOES know about you and your true form, but we have not figured out who this person is who told the leader of our enemies." Duo's eyes looked tired as he began to get up, leaving her on the bed where she had managed to cover herself with her sheets somewhere during the conversation. Bowed politely before he exited, bidding her goodnight as he closed the door. "Good night Hilde."
As Hilde lay there, thinking about who could have known about her, she felt herself questioning even more now, the possibility of becoming a full vampire. 'Could I do it?' She had seen the look in Duo's eyes when he talked about the vampire clan-tired. He looked burdened by such a fate, to be a vampire. But Hilde felt as if something was calling her to a destiny bigger than being just a girl in a small town. In fact, she had always felt in such a way and now it all made sense. Making her decision, she jumped up and rushed out of her room. The lower half of the boarding house was completely empty, signaling the Relena and the others had taken to bed or other activities. She tiptoed towards Duo's room and knocked quietly. She heard shuffling around and then a small curse word before silence ensued. She was about to walk away when he spoke.
"Heero, it's late. Can't we talk about the plans tomorrow morning?" Duo asked grumpily through the door.
"Duo, it's me, Hilde," she said in a muffled voice.
The door swung open and Duo pulled her in, roughly. "No Hilde, absolutely not! It is out of the fucking question!" His eyes flashed murderously as she gazed at him with innocent eyes. "How can you even think I would agree to do such a thing to you? Listen, as long as you're not a full vampire, then the clan will not know your exact whereabouts. They will not come as long as you're mainly human."
"But Duo, I don't want to be this way anymore!" Hilde exclaimed stubbornly as she pushed him off of her. "I am not as innocent as you think! If I was meant to be a vampire, the heiress to the clan, then why deny me that right?" Her eyes were glaring at him, trying desperately to burn a hole through his face; but Hilde's eyes suddenly fell to the floor. "Look, I just…feel differently than you do. I don't want to be this way anymore, so helpless. And it doesn't matter what you say, I feel helpless anyway. I hate who I am right now." With the last bit of confidence she could muster since she'd gone into his room, Hilde leaned her neck to the side, exposing the pale flesh of her neck. "You are the only one who can fix this problem for me Duo, I've figured." She raised the knife she'd stashed in her pocket and pressed it to her skin before dragging its razor sharp edge down her throat in a thin line as to not cut her major artery. "Free me Duo. Allow me to know who I really am."
Duo recoiled to the bed, his eyes wide with fear. "No…you cannot ask this of me Hilde. Stop it! Get out of my sight!"
"Would it matter? You would still smell the blood if I left." Hilde's voice was impassive and emotionless as she inched closer to him, her blood trailing down her neck at a slowly agonizing pace. She rubbed her hand over her wounded neck and shoved her fingers at him, threatening him as she stopped in front of his shaking form. "How can you refuse? I know you are hungry Duo. Just do it already!"
"No," he repeated, his voice growing meeker by the minute as he tried in vain to refuse her offer, resisting the urge to take her once again. "How can you do this to me Hilde? I am you're protector, not your murderer!"
Hilde didn't care as she grabbed his arm and yanked him towards her. "JUST DO IT!"
He refused yet again. "NO, I WILL NOT! I WILL NOT CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR HARM!"
Her frustration took hold of her and she pushed away from him. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow morning Sir Duo." With one last withering stare his way, Hilde slammed the door in his face and stalked towards her room, leaving Duo to wonder what made her mood swing so quickly.
^TBC…^
(Well…I know this took like 5 million years to come out but I really was having the hardest time creating a plot for it; but here I am again! Well, now that I have the plot, I should have another chapter out soon, for real this time! Anyway, please R&R and be kind and refined. No really rude comments, but constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks!)
~Calima~
