Title: Death Bites
Author: Dark_One Shadowphyre
Feedback: darkone2813@mindspring.com
Fandom: Gundam Wing
Genre: Supernatural/Drama
Rating: R
Pairing: 2+1, 1+2, implied 3x4x3, eventual 2x1x2
Summary: Heero always suspected that there was more to Duo than his mask of smiles. But when a mission goes horribly wrong and the American's secrets are brought to light, the truth turns out to be stranger than Heero could have ever imagined.
Warnings: Mecha-Vampire!Duo, blood, weird scientific explanations.
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply. This is a non-profit work of fiction. Gundam Wing characters are owned by Bandai and Sunrise, and by Sotsu Agency. Dr. Tsukiko and Dr. Kagehiko belong to me.
Notes: The plot was first established by Moon Faery, a rogue bunny that attacked her... and left before she could write much of it. So she turned it over to me, and my mind took off with it. In addition to this story, you can read the essay it spawned on vampiric biomechanical engineering, which will be posted at the completion of "Death Bites". For now, sit back and enjoy the wonders I have painstakingly created.
Dedication: To Moon Faery, whose plot bunny this was originally. It's all for you, Tsuki-chan!
Distribution: FanFiction.Net profile; the Shadow Realm, the clan's homepage; The Kiss Of Death, Moon Faery's site; GW Addiction; the SDDI Mailing List; the Shadowphyre_Stories Mailing List. Anywhere else-- ask, and ye shall receive.
- Prologue -
There was no moon. Thin, whisping layers of clouds drifted across the sky, obscuring and revealing the far away glittering light of the stars. While the lack of natural light may have annoyed or unnerved the OZ soldiers guarding the base, the slender, black-clad figure lurking in the shadows outside the base barely noticed. He slipped from one group of concealing shadows to the next, finding his way as easily as if he were doing this in full daylight instead of some time past one in the morning. The guards themselves were tired, ready to be relieved, which made it pathetically easy to slip past them and into the base. It was just as easy to move through the dark halls, setting explosives in key points. Within thirty minutes, he was back at the gate, ready to make his exit.
The guard outside the base had changed while he had been inside. The new guards were alert, more alert than the figure would have liked. The older of the two had one hand on his gun, his eyes sweeping the shadows for movement. The younger was skittish, clutching at his gun nervously, his eyes darting everywhere far too fast to really see anything. He was obviously green, probably fresh out of training. And both of them were, much to the figure's amusement, looking for a threat from the wrong direction.
He took out the younger of the guards first, taking pity on him and breaking his neck. The gun fell from the kid's lax hands with a clatter as he slumped to the ground. The noise alerted the second guard to the intruder's presence and he whirled, bringing his own gun to bear on... a kid?! Too late, he was firing, but what was a kid doing dressed in black and sneaking around an OZ base in the middle of the night--?
The boy - or was it a girl? He couldn't tell with that long hair - dodged the bullet with inhuman speed and rushed him. Before the guard could react, he was tackled to the ground and pinned by his deceptively thin, unnaturally strong adversary, his gun wrenched out of his hands and tossed casually aside. The guard looked up at his attacker... and blanched. He could see now that his slightly built assailant was male, but those were not the eyes of a kid-- there was no way he could possibly be human!
His attacker grinned at him.
"Oh, dear, that wasn't very nice of you," he said in a cheery, conversational tone. "Now I'll have to kill you."
There was a faint click, almost too soft to hear, and when his attacker smiled again, the guard found his gaze drawn to the now-visible, long, sharp canine teeth. His eyes snapped up to meet those of the... soldier... creature... pinning him down. Slit-pupiled indigo eyes stared into his for a mere second, cold and merciless and hungry, before his attacker struck. He didn't even have time to scream as those sharp teeth ripped into his throat, his blood gushing out of the wound into the waiting mouth.
The boy with indigo eyes lazily drank his fill. He hadn't eaten yet, after all, and while he might prefer pizza to this it was still food and still filling and probably better for him than pizza anyway. Still, the guard had gotten a shot off at him; he knew it would only be a matter of time before someone inside the base wised up and came to investigate. With a sigh and a last lick at the torn neck, he stood and darted out of the base and into the surrounding forest, slipping easily among the trees.
About eight hundred feet from the base, the boy stopped and looked back. Judging that he was far enough away, he reached into his pocket and removed the detonator he had keyed to the explosives he'd set. Disengaging the safety mechanism, he lifted the detonator and - with a slightly maniacal grin - pressed the trigger. At once, the ground trembled and the moonless sky was set ablaze with orange flames as the base exploded. The boy smiled bitterly. There would be no survivors; he did his job well.
Sighing, the boy tucked the detonator back into his pocket and ran the rest of the way back to the old jeep he'd used to get there from the safehouse. As he slid into the driver's seat and gunned the motor, he glanced at his reflection in the rearview mirror and grimaced. He'd known when he'd bit the guard with intent to kill that it would be a messy business, as the nature of that tearing bite resulted in a veritable fountain of blood that initially spattered all over his front. Blood ran from his mouth over his chin and down his throat, staining the crisp white of his priests' collar scarlet. Definitely he would have to get back in time to sneak in and clean up.
Before he had to answer awkward questions.
Wiping absently at his skin with the sleeve of his shirt in an attempt to remove the worst of the blood, he shifted the jeep into gear. A thought sent his fangs retreating back to normal human dimensions and before long he was speeding down the deserted highway back to the safehouse. At least he was sharing the safehouse with one of the two people in their little group that would be the least concerned if he showed up covered in human blood. And even if that fact made him a little sad, well, it was all to the good. He didn't want anyone getting too close to him. Especially not--
He clamped down on that thought. He didn't want anyone getting close to him, lest he get them killed. And he especially didn't want them to get close enough to learn what he was. His relations with the other Gundam pilots weren't ideal, but they were a sight better than fear and hatred. After all, wasn't that hour humans were supposed to react to finding out that someone they knew...
...Was a vampire?