::hides:: I'm so sorry guys! I didn't mean for it to take this long in updating this fic, or any of my fics for that matter, but with school starting and a bunch of other things (I bitch about it all in my livejournal, it'll keep you all updated on the fic stats), it just happened. I am so sorry! I hope you will all forgive me for the lateness, and I will try not to take so long with the next chapter!

So, without further adieu...Chapter 3!

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Heero pulled on his leather jacket as he entered the night outside, the crimson light from the neon sign flickering balefully in the darkness.

Now he was most definitely concerned. If not even Une knew what was going on, then whatever Noin had in motion was a lot bigger than he suspected initially. Heero had softened the truth when he had told Duo and Wufei that the female vampires had been watching him, really he felt as if Noin, or someone she knew, was everywhere he went all the time.

It was why he was so paranoid of the old aristocratic crowd that used to frequent the club when it was The Marquis. They all had deep connections to the underground, especially Noin, Une, and, when they were alive, Zechs and Treize.

And there were plenty of people in the underground that wouldn't mind seeing him mysteriously 'disappear' the same way Khushrenada and Marquis did.

Kami-sama, why did he agree to get Duo and Wufei that information?

'Because you can't tell them no,' his subconscious teased.

Heero shook his head disbelievingly. He did not like where this situation was heading, not at all. Just the thought of it made his insides cringe forbiddingly. But, he had promised and he could not back out of it now because of his own fears.

'You just don't want to disappoint them.'

'Shut up you.'

The annoying little voice in his subconscious had been driving him insane since the party incident months before. It particularly liked to tease him after the rare visitations and run-ins with the slayer couple. Heero liked to believe that it was just what minuscule bit of guilt he was capable of feeling trying to make him repent for his betrayals to his kind, but the voice knew better. Heero just chose to ignore it.

He looked up at the sky and judged that he had about two hours before he had to return to his apartment as he turned down one shadowy alley after another.

At least Noin wasn't the only one with connections, and he still had a few faithful people he could talk to without arising suspicion in the underground.

The buildings around Heero faded from residential to industrial as he made his way through the back roads, his pace gradually slowing down until he reached a large, security dominated medicinal research compound.

He knew he could count on Doctor J to give him the information that he needed.

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"We're home!"

Duo beamed as he burst loudly through the front door of the apartment, Wufei close behind with his hands over his ears mockingly. The other half of their quartet were lounging lazily on one of the loveseats in the living room as they came out from the front hallway after unloading all their gear in the closet.

"Wow, you're on time for once," Trowa smirked.

Duo stuck his tongue out. "I resent that. I'm not always late now, I've gotten a lot better about it." He flopped down tiredly in the nearest overstuffed armchair.

"Not unless you're in one of your moods to give me a heart attack," Quatre commented slyly.

"Where's Irea?" Wufei cut in, keeping the braided slayer from retorting as he sat down on the arm of his chair. "Did she leave already?"

"Yes, she went back to one of our other safe houses in the area, but she'll be back tomorrow night," the blonde empath replied, his brow furrowing thoughtfully. "It was very weird tonight, it started out like normal, but then suddenly all the streets emptied out at around three. There wasn't a single vampire or any other kind of creature out."

"Wasn't that about the time you 'n me left Heero to come home?" Duo said curiously, glancing up at his Chinese lover.

"It was."

"Huh. Well that's a weird coincidence," he frowned. "What makes it even weirder is the way Heero was acting, right 'Fei?"

"Oh, come on now, I don't think he has anything to do with it," Wufei demurred, shaking his head. "He was just fine until we started pressing him about the underground."

Trowa was by this time looking mildly interested. "So what does he say?"

"He was squirming in his seat like he had ants in his pants. From what Wufei's told me and what I gathered from Heero, he's gotta bad past with the underground, 'cause when we asked him about it, he got uncomfortable as hell," Duo sighed, absently toying with the end of his braid. "I don't believe that he lied to us though, he was being honest when he said he didn't know what had been going on recently. He's been trying to keep away from the underground and everything involved with it for a while, but he said he knew some people he could trust to give him some new information for us to use. Wufei and I are gonna meet up with him at the Dragon in two nights."

"Only two nights?" Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, I assume his contact is within the city," the Chinese man shrugged indifferently. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least."

"If you say so."

Quatre spoke up suddenly, concern evident in his voice. "Duo, are you feeling all right?"

Wufei turned his onyx gaze down at the braided slayer, who had just paused in massaging his temples at the attention he was receiving. "Yeah, Q-bean, I'm fine," Duo dismissed offhandedly. "Just tired, that's all."

"Are you sure?" the empath prodded tentatively.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he insisted rather sharply.

A flicker of a past hurt flashed briefly in his cerulean eyes before he smiled. "I only want to be certain I'm not being overly sensitive after a long night."

"I know, I know...I think I'm gonna go crash and get rid of this killer headache, see you all in a while," Duo stood abruptly, giving his Asian lover a quick kiss and disappearing into the bedroom corridor.

"He's told you what's going on, right?"

Wufei's gaze went back to Trowa as he sighed heavily. "Yes, he told me on the way home earlier, even though I had to practically browbeat him to get it out after he nearly passed out on me. I thought you two hadn't noticed yet, or he was shielding himself pretty well from being found out. Most likely the latter."

"I did only just feel it tonight," Quatre bit his lip. "But you make it sound like it's been more than that."

"He's been keeping me awake the past two days with his tossing and turning, and when I finally do get to sleep I wake up to him trying to crush my ribcage clinging to me. It was only tonight that the headache was noticeable. However, he told me that the headache has been fading in and out the past -few- days." Wufei folded his arms tightly across his chest as if he were cold. "Duo was so confused and upset when he spoke, he said he doesn't even remember what happened, only what he saw in his nightmares."

Trowa nodded in acknowledgment. "Quatre and I had been living with some of his sisters when they got the call about the attack."

"Apparently his foster parents were major figureheads in the slayer world like my family is," the blonde added. "And they made some equally prominent vampires very angry, so one night they found the Maxwell's safe house and destroyed it, killing them and their son Solo. We have no clue how Duo managed to make it through the carnage, but my sisters found him and brought him back with them."

"But why would this all start up again out of nowhere? This was years ago," his green-eyed beau pointed out.

"That's exactly what I said," Wufei sighed again. "All I got was an 'I dunno 'Fei', so I dropped it because I didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already was."

Quatre's expression went pensive. "I wish I knew the answers, but all I'm drawing are blanks."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's talk to Irea tomorrow, maybe there's more that she and your other sisters know that they neglected to say. Right now though, I'm going to bed to try and get -some- sleep before our next shift."

"Sounds good, good night Wufei."

The Asian waved as he walked back into the hallway to his and Duo's bedroom. He paused in the threshold, watching his longhaired lover, who was wrapped with an iron grip around Wufei's pillow as a substitute for his missing human teddy bear.

Wufei sat on the edge of the bed, caressing his slender fingers down Duo's pained face, smiling slightly as the pain lessened and he leaned into the warm touch. He kissed his forehead lightly before standing back up and stripping to his boxers, then gently saved his pillow from certain strangling. Wufei crawled under the covers and prepared for another restless day as Duo reattached himself to his human teddy bear.

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Heero squinted up at the lightening sky as he made his way off the compound property and out onto the empty streets. He could still make it back to the apartment before the sun rose, he'd just have to be quick about it. He hadn't realized that what he thought would be a short visit to Doctor J would end up taking so long.

J had not had any good news for him at all. If anything, he was feeling even worse about the whole situation now that he knew what was going on. Why Noin had called this person...he would rather wait for the sun to rise and burn to dust than to have revenge exacted upon him by Noin's confidant.

'She knows how we feel about each other...it's probably less than I deserve for my punishment, but I most certainly did not expect her to go this low,' he thought darkly.

Heero suddenly stopped cold in his tracks, his cobalt eyes darting around, searching for the intense presence that surrounded him as if summoned by the mere thought of its existence.

What little bit of heart he had plummeted to the ground as his gaze was met by a chilling, ice blue one.

"Odin."

"Why yes Heero, you do not sound too pleased to see me. I wonder why? I think we need to have a chat, you and I..."

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Not so bad, ne? :)

Reviews!

Nelia: Yes, I know, so many questions, so little time...some of your questions are answered in this chapter, but many more pop up also. This story is going to be full of plot twists and secrets, it'll never be boring!

Mako-chan: Yeah, I can be declared clinically insane. ::sweatdrop:: I'm just a sick, sadistic person, what can you say? But yeah, I'm happy my dad's back and he's not going anywhere any time soon, and I apologize for taking so long to update, but what with school and getting teeth pulled and braces and designing sets for my school and all sorts of insanity, I haven't even had five minutes alone just to -breathe- for over a month now. sigh But yes, soon more questions will be answered and many more will arise! Fun, fun, fun...

Lex: I apologize for the long delay in updates! I'm glad you enjoy my story!

KDA: Yaay! One of meh fave reviewers has returned! glomp Yesh, I -finally- started the sequel, and I'm sorry for the long delays in updates, but real life is mad crazy, you know? Like I told Mako-chan, for over the past month I haven't even had five minutes alone to myself just to breathe, let alone do anything else, I slammed this chapter down in one night when I just happened to not have very much homework (thank Goddess). I'm trying to be quicker about it, so I apologize! ;-;

Avenged Suffering: Another of meh fave reviewers!!! Yes, I finally started the sequel I said I would write like a year ago. ::sweatdrop:: Took a year, but it's getting there! Now it's just finding time to continue writing it...sigh But yesh, I do believe we'll actually make it to the 1x2x5 in this fic, doing the slow build up process, ya know what I mean? But everything else will be explained soon!

Dannii Malfoy: Don't worry! I never give up on my fics, it's just finding time to write that's the problem! I'm glad you're enjoying my mad craziness, it's only going to get better from here!

By the way...I started a website the other day when I got bored in Web Design class, it's pretty crappy right now cause I slapped it together in like 5 minutes before the bell rang, but it's now my homepage on my author profile and on the website you'll find links to all my important stuff. Eventually I'll take down the links and be able to make it into an actual archive for my stuff so I don't have so many different web hosts for fics and my art and all that good stuff, it'll all be on one website! But that probably won't happen until Thanksgiving or Christmas break, which ever I get the time to sit and be able to work out all the HTML coding and stuff to get the website put together.

Feed this authoress' ego and leave me a review! All comments accepted...flames will be used to roast my marshmallows. ::smirk::