Acherontia Atropos Part 7

Quatre got me calmed down pretty quick, much to his credit. We

listened to the radio while I got cleaned up enough to pass muster

for dinner, which he wasn't going to let me get out of. The

warehouse was contained - it was a total loss, but no other

building had been damaged. Good, one thing off my mind.

My hand still hadn't stopped bleeding when it was chow time, so

Quatre stevedored me over to the school nurse, even coming up with

a believable story about how I'd injured myself. Some tissue glue

and bandages later, I was good as new and we were trooping our way

across the lobby, toward the cafeteria.

We passed by a lime green plastic public phone, and something

niggled at the back of my mind. Phone?oh yeah!

The little paper slip. I pulled it out of my pants pocket. It was

looking a little less than white now, more of a kind of dusty gray

from all the lint it had picked up in my pocket, and it was half

crumpled from me sitting and walking. I grabbed the arm of

Quatre's jacket and pulled him over to the phone.

"What are you doing?" Quatre looked at me owlishly, but he didn't

bother to resist.

I tossed the paper at him. "Someone slipped this under my door

shortly after I got back from this afternoon's fun and games."

Quatre caught the crinkled paper and did his best to smooth it out

until it looked fairly neat again. He turned it over and over

until the faint penciling, which had somehow miraculously survived

through several hours in my pants pocket, caught his eye. "Who's

the number for?"

"No idea. I figure I could give it a call, though. It might be

some angsty girl, but I doubt it - not enough pink, yanno?" I

started searching my pockets for some change to feed the phone. No

luck. Quatre, ever helpful, produced some and gave it to me.

"Thanks, man. What's the number?"

He read it off to me, pausing several times so he could decipher

the faint traces of pencil. When I had it all dialed, we waited.

It rang, which was a good sign, I supposed. And rang. And rang.

And rang. After about ten times, I got ready to just hang up so I

could save Quatre's change... not that he was hurting for the

money or anything. I just figured that I could borrow it off of

him again some other time.

On ring number eleven, there was a click, and a woman spoke. She

had a nice voice, fairly. A good phone voice. It was obvious that

she said that one phrase a lot, though - she sounded bored.

"Carmelita's. Tell me what dreams you'd like me to make true."

I'd been expecting a lot of things, but that certainly wasn't one

of them.

There was a lengthy pause. "Hello?" she said, with a little more

animation in her voice.

I managed to gather up my scattered brain, took a deep breath, and

launched myself into the conversation. "Er, hi. Sorry, miss, you

caught me off guard." There was silence on the other end of the

phone, which could mean that she'd hung up. Just in case she

hadn't, I bravely forged on. "Uh...My name is Duo. I was given

this number to call and no one told me why, so I'm hoping that you

know."

Pause pause pause.

"Miss? Are you still there?"

"Yes." The woman said, in a normal speaking voice. "I don't know

what you're talking about -- wait."

Weird sounds started coming out of the phone. I think she'd put

her hand over the mouthpiece, but I thought I could hear muffled

voices. Two women. After a moment, someone else came on the line.

"Hello?"

"Yes?"

"You said your name is Duo, right?"

"Yep."

"Good. Can you meet with me tomorrow?"

"What?"

"Tomorrow, five o'clock. The store is on Aoyama, between the

bookshop and Lucky-chan toy department store. Seven blocks south

of the train station. You can't miss it. I'll see you then." The

phone went dead. I couldn't help it. I did that stupid ass stare-

at-the-phone-in-shock thing.

"Duo, what was that about?"

I hung up the phone. "We're supposed to meet a woman tomorrow at

five." I looked at Quatre. "Want to be my backup?"

He looked a little surprised. I don't normally ask for backup, but

this was getting past the point of strange. "Sure."

"Wufei may be back. We should bring a third, so that would be

convenient."

"Trowa and Heero are still out," he said.

"I figured as much. Three should be enough, if we can get Wufei."

I reached over and pulled the white card out of Quatre's hands,

then crumpled it up the rest of the way and tossed it at a garbage

can. Swoosh. Go me.

centerb* * */b/center

The next morning, most of my guilt and uncertainty had receded to

a barely perceptible ache, joining the throbbing mass of Shit I

Have To Deal With Some Day in the back of my mind. It'd dreamed

about Yan and blood in the moonlight. That had done a lot for my

getting my rage levels back up.

I was right in the middle of brushing my teeth when they started

knocking, calling my name through the door. I was only half

dressed, and my hair wasn't even braided. I didn't wait around to

see if they would actually unlock the door and come in; I just

grabbed my shirt and my hairbrush, stuck the Browning .40 in the

back of my pants waistband, opened the window, and went right out

onto the ledge that lined the building with my toothbrush still

clamped between my lips. Being on the third floor was no problem

at all. I pulled the window shut behind me and ran along the ledge

like a cat until I got to the window that I was pretty sure

belonged to Wufei's room. It would be a perfect place to escape to,

since I didn't think he was back yet, and he had one of the few

singles on the floor. The other option was Quatre and Trowa's room,

but that was on the other side of the hall. I just didn't feel

like taking the detour.

The window locks were pathetically easy to open. I don't know why

the school even bothered with them. Then I was sweeping the

curtains aside and pulling the window shut behind me. Time elapsed,

thirty seconds. Damn I'm good.

"What do you want, Duo?"

"YAI!" I yelled...well, let's be honest. I yelped. I didn't like

being startled. "Just escaping the leeches, Wu." I tossed my shirt

and hairbrush onto the desk and headed toward the bathroom. Wufei

was laying on the single bed with one arm thrown over his eyes.

"Back a little early, aren't you? Not that I'm complaining." He

wasn't wearing a shirt, and I had to force myself to look away

when my gaze lingered on his muscles just a little too long for my

comfort.

"My enemies were weaker than I had thought. I finished them

quickly." Wufei said. He sounded very tired, and therefore, very

grouchy. Not that Wufei wasn't always grouchy. Mornings just make

it worse. "I just got back a few hours ago and was attempting to

catch a little rest. Duo, when precisely did all hell break

loose?" He made the question sound accusatory, like it was somehow

my fault that the school suddenly looked like it was hosting a cop

convention. I hated it when people automatically assumed that any

trouble was caused by me in some way. Never mind the fact that

this time, it was.

I finished brushing my teeth, then rinsed my toothbrush. Life

seems a bit brighter when you're feeling minty fresh, and when I

bounded back out of the bathroom to get my hairbrush, my cheer

wasn't as forced as it had been. It had also helped that I still

had some of the painkillers left, so my ribs weren't hurting me

too badly. "Well, you don't have to worry about class today, Wu-

man. It's been cancelled."

"Cancelled? What happened while I was gone?" Wufei sat up, loose

black hair trailing in front of his face. He'd lost his ponytail

holder somewhere, maybe on the mission. Who knew.

"Vampire attack." I said simply before I plopped down in Wufei's

chair and started brushing my hair out. The Browning dug into my

back and I pulled it out of my waistband and set it on the desk. A

gun in the waistband might look cool, but it was uncomfortable as

all hell, because no matter where you put it, it'll dig into you

when you sit.

Wufei eyed the gun as if he was expecting it to jump up and bite

him, and he was trying to decide what martial arts move to kill it

with. I guess he was a little surprised because he hadn't seen it

before. "Well, Duo, maybe you'd like to start at the beginning."

He was so cute when he was trying to control his temper. For once,

instead of poking at him, I just told him everything as

emotionlessly as possible. He was surprisingly calm about my

little solo hunt once I assured him that I'd been evidence

conscious - he just gave me the same riot act about going in

without backup that Quatre had read off twelve hours before. Of it

all, I Idid/I leave out the entire bit about the weird energy

that I had felt around the vampires, since I wasn't sure what it

was or even if I had been imagining it. When I got done, I was

still trying to get the knots out of my hair, and Wufei had

rearranged himself into a lotus position and was watching me

thoughtfully. "How did you make the vampire follow your orders?"

He asked. He was taking the entire thing a lot more calmly than

I'd been expecting, but then again, Wufei could be one cool

cucumber.

I grimaced internally. I don't know why I had thought I could keep

something from Wufei. He was the first one that had asked, though,

so I'd been hoping that he would just let it slide. "I don't

really know, Wu. I can't think of any way to explain it without

sounding all mystical and shit."

"Then go ahead and sound mystical." Wufei snorted. "I think I

should be able to get the gist of what you're saying."

I blew a long breath out and went back to attacking my hair. "When

Yan died, he released some kind of...energy, power, magic, I don't

know what to call it...into the air. It ran right to me like I was

a magnet and filled me up until I thought I was going to explode.

I somehow used it to actually take control of the vampire and make

it let me go. It escaped almost immediately, though."

Wufei didn't say anything. He seemed to be thinking pretty hard. I

shrugged and went on brushing. Wufei was a smart guy, smarter than

me. I figured that if there was any good explanation for what I'd

said, he'd come up with it. He didn't come out with an answer,

though. Instead, he just said, "Let me think about this." and lay

back down.

"Think all you want. If you figure it out, tell me." I'd finally

gotten all the knots out of my hair. Automatically, my fingers

started braiding it. "Oh yeah, Wu... you wanna help Quatre be my

backup when I meet the woman today?"

"You're still going?"

"I said I would. Besides... this could be something important." I

tied off the end of my braid with the elastic band that I'd

wrapped around the handle of the brush.

"It could also be a trap."

"All the more reason to go in armed for bear."

He sat up, brushing his hair away from his face. "I'll go with

you."

"You want one of the guns? Heero left the extra Browning. Guess he

didn't think he'd run into blood suckers on the mission."

"No thanks. I'll stick with my sword."

I shrugged. "I'll take it along anyway. It never hurts to have a

backup weapon." I grabbed my shirt and pulled it on. "Hey, Wu?"

"Yes?" He was starting to get the

tired/grouchy/annoyed/potentially homicidal Wufei note in his

voice.

"Can I hide out in here until it's time to go?"

Wufei blew a long sigh out. "Just try to shut up long enough to

let me take a nap."

***

"Duo, are you SURE that this is the right place?" Quatre asked.

Wufei just stayed quiet, but he had a wild look in his eye that I

wasn't sure I liked.

Not that I blamed him. Whatever kind of place Carmelita's was, it

definitely wasn't for family fun. The all leather window display

made that pretty obvious. It managed to look seedier than the porn

shop by the ex-warehouse, and that was quite the accomplishment. I

thought places like that were in violation of Tokyo building codes

or something. It was just begging to be deported to Times Square

in New York City.

I wiggled my shoulders underneath my black windbreaker, trying to

settle the straps of my shoulder rig a little more comfortably.

I'd managed to convince the guys to leave for town a little early

so we could stop and go accessory shopping for the new toys. It

was perhaps the strangest transformation that Tokyo had undergone

thanks to Oz putting a base in the middle of the city. There'd

been an influx of foreigners, and between them and the military

they somehow got the government to legalize guns, though getting

permits was still murder. Suddenly, there were gun shops, and the

occasional little old lady with a Derringer in her purse. It made

my life easier, but I still didn't like it one bit.

But I digress. Quatre's holster hadn't been the right size for the

Browning at all, and mine could have fit better. He had picked up

an inter-pants holster. After I saw that, I got one for myself,

too, for later. We'd actually bought the holsters, though the

original plan (at least in my mind) had been to steal them. I

decided on second thought that it wouldn't be a good idea when I

noticed that the owner of the shop was watching me closely... and

that he was cleaning a rifle. I'd also bought a black windbreaker

from the clothing store next to the gun shop - it had nice big

pockets for more ammo, since there is no such thing as too much

ammo. Besides, I needed something to hide the shoulder rig with.

Walking down a busy street with my guns showing just didn't seem

like a good idea. At least it was still cool enough to wear a

jacket. I had no idea what I was going to do once we hit late

spring. Melt, probably.

So that brought us back to the present. Carmelita's. The all

leather display. The blacked out side windows. The peeling paint

on the outer walls. The bright red neon announcing the name. What

a place. Oh boy.

"Yeah, I'm sure this is the right place." I said. "The lady

answered the phone with 'Carmelita's.' And this is the address

that I was given." I eyed the door with a great deal of

trepidation. I'm not going to say I'm innocent. Not by a long shot.

But considering that I hadn't even gotten all the way home, I

really didn't think I needed to know about the weirder varieties

quite yet. I took a deep breath. "Ready to go in?"

"I'm never going to be ready." I heard Wufei mutter.

Quatre wisely said nothing. He nervously tugged at his own jacket,

a white one that went with his light pink shirt and did a good job

of concealing the Beretta, which he'd tucked into the small of his

back. I'd asked Wufei if he was armed, and he'd said yes. God only

knew what he was armed with, though, considering he didn't have

his sword with him. It would have been a little too obvious. I was

afraid to ask again.

"Here we go." I said under my breath, and pulled the door to the

little shop of forbidden things open.

It was like walking into a cave. Well, kind of. Maybe not. It was

certainly cave-like in the fact that it was dim and fairly cool

inside. That was where the resemblance ended, though. Heavy metal

music pounded through the shop so loudly that if Quatre and Wufei

said something when

we first entered, there was no way I could have heard them. Base

thumped along the floor and buzzed through my bones. The air was

chokingly thick with some kind of musky incense that I think was

supposed to lend it a sensual, dangerous air. It was just cloying.

And there were other things under the heavy scent, faint whiffs of

blood and other bodily fluids that I really didn't care to think

about.

Wufei was doing his best not to look at anything. Quatre was

openly staring at a glass case that contained some whips, several

sets of handcuffs that glinted in the harsh light of the display,

and several...somethings. I wasn't even sure what the hell those

were. Quatre gave me a wide-eyed look, half-shouting to be heard

over the music. "Duo?" he pointed at something that could have

been underwear. Maybe. If you turned your head and squinted. "Is

it anatomically possible to put on something like that?"

I did my best not to stare. Yeah, that's me, Duo, the well-

traveled Gundam Pilot that's seen it all. Right. "Hell if I know!"

I yelled. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I spun around, my

hand automatically going for my gun. Me? Jumpy? Of course not.

The only way the woman in front of me could have worn less was if

she stripped completely. I kid not. I hastily directed my

attention to her face. She had a nice face, though she was wearing

way too much eye make up. It made her look tired, instead of

achieving the desired effect. Whatever that was. Her hair was very,

very blonde, obviously a color that came out of a bottle, and it

really offset her chocolaty skin tone.

"Er... sorry, ma'am. What can I do for you?" I grinned disarmingly.

The woman gave me a hard look, the expression on her face changing

from something that had been almost predatory to nearly maternal

concern. Put with the rest of her getup, it looked too weird for

words. "Aren't you a little young to be in here?" She said sharply,

pointing a finger at me. She had on fake fingernails. They were

painted bright red.

I backed up a step so that her fingernail wouldn't impale me, and

shrugged helplessly. "We're supposed to meet someone here."

"A lot of guys your age are supposed to meet someone here. So you

met someone. Now get out and come back after you've reached

puberty." She gestured toward the door and moved forward,

obviously planning on chasing us out, if need be.

I dodged. "My name is Duo. I called yesterday. One of you ladies

told me to come down here for a meeting. I'm not joking!"

Whatever the magic word in my spiel had been, it stopped the woman

cold. "Duo, huh?"

I nodded. That's me. Ever helpful.

"She didn't say anything about any friends. Just one guy named

Duo." The woman crossed her arms, mercifully covering her breasts.

I had been starting to get embarrassed on her behalf.

I risked a glance back at Wufei and Quatre. Quatre was blushing.

Wufei looked like he was going to faint. He hissed at me. "Don't

you dare leave us alone out here!"

"I'm not going anywhere without my backup, ma'am. I hope that

won't be a problem."

The woman glared at us, then finally shrugged. "It's Carmen's own

business if she wants to take on three boys. Follow me." I let out

a soft sigh of relief and followed her, doing my best not to look

at her butt. I'll never understand how someone can stand wearing a

thong. Can you say "butt floss?" Dear god.

At least we had a name now, though. Carmen. I was hoping that was

who I talked to. If not, we were in big trouble.

She led us quickly through the little shop of horrors, which was

nice, because it didn't give us a chance to look at anything else.

The nice little conga line we formed followed the woman down a set

of steps covered with extremely worn carpet and into a long, bare

hallway. The hall was white and lit starkly with several bare

light bulbs. The paint was peeling badly, revealing an older

coating of grey paint beneath it. Graffiti covered every available

surface, but it had the flat look of something put there for

effect, as opposed to vandalism. There were doors on every side,

covered with the same crappy white paint as the rest of the hall.

Someone was moaning behind one of the doors. I really didn't want

to know.

When we were almost at the end of the hall, the woman stopped and

opened a door. "Go in. I'll get Carmen." She shut the door behind

us.

Silently, all three of us took in the room. It was small, no more

than four meters by four meters. There was a bed along one of the

walls, and it took up most of the room. The light was provided by

a dim, unshaded light bulb, and there were all sorts of

interesting looking hooks on the ceiling. There was also a chest

against the wall opposite the bed. It had faded red hearts

stenciled on it. That was it. The only places to sit were the bed

and on top of the chest. All three of us opted to stand.

Wufei glared at me. "What kind of place have you brought us to,

Duo?"

"Sorry! I didn't know." I shrugged helplessly. "You have to admit,

it's certainly educational." I winked at Quatre while Wufei

sputtered.

There was a scuffling sound outside the door, and the knob turned.

As nonchalantly as possible, I tucked my hand into my jacket for

easier access to my gun. Call me crazy, but I was nervous. The

door opened, and woman entered.

The best word I could think of to describe her is "statuesque."

She was tall, she was beautiful, and even better for my personal

comfort, she was wearing a bathrobe. It was dark green, threadbare,

and very tattered, which looked odd when compared to her heavy eye

make up, her carefully done up curly brown hair, and her pale skin.

But it was a hell of a lot better than what the woman upstairs had

been wearing, so I was definitely not going to complain, even if

it looked a little odd. Without hesitating, she padded over to me.

She wasn't wearing any shoes, and she was still at least a foot

taller than me. "You're Duo." She said.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

The woman held out a hand and I hesitantly took it. Her handshake

was firm and business-like, nothing more. She smiled, and suddenly

the hair on my arms stood on end. "I'm always happy to meet

another practitioner of the Art."