New chapter! Kinda short, but there's loads of fun stuff. My next update may be a bit of a wait, with Thanksgiving right around the corner and because finals at my university are right after Thanksgiving break, so all my free time will be spent hitting the books instead of the keyboard.
Hopefully, it won't be too long!
Enjoy!
Noin was furious. Absolutely, positively, utterly furious. Not even Une was trying to calm her down, because she was just as angry.
Dorothy sat, as usual, in the center of attention with her 'chosen' crowd, Duo having successfully chased off or killed any of the 'unworthy' earlier that night.
Which was why Noin and Une were pissed.
"That fucking bitch," the purpled-haired woman muttered darkly, clenching a shot glass so hard it broken in her hand as she looked over at the person of her animosity. "She promised she would leave the club alone, that was one of the only things I asked of her. Nothing serious, just leave our place of business alone. And what's the first thing she fucking does? Starts shit in OUR fucking club!"
"Yes, well a mouth like that certainly won't get us anywhere, now will it?" Une replied dryly, though her disposition was equally tense. "I don't want to say it again, but..."
"I told you so, yeah, yeah, I know," Noin glared at the bloody shards. "Don't remind me. Where in the hell is Heero when we need him?"
"I think Catherine went to get him."
"She's been gone a long time," she grumbled, cleaning up her mess.
Une chuckled. "She is human, you know. Has to do it the old fashioned way. Then of course it's going to take ages to coax Heero into coming here, especially with the way his mother's acting and how much he -adores- spending time with her."
"I don't blame the guy for avoiding us and Masquerade," Noin sighed, tossing her dirty towel aside and leaning over onto her lover's shoulder. "I screwed up big time, Middie. I hope we can get rid of Dorothy before she does too much damage."
"If we get lucky, maybe the slayers will off her," Une remarked under her breath, wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. "Not that I'd seriously wish that blasphemous desire on any of our kind, but she's definitely an exception."
"No kidding," she snorted. "Just don't let anyone else hear you say that."
"Yes, well you certainly don't have anything to worry about there, I like living too much," Une replied amusedly, kissing her lover's forehead.
"Look at her just sitting there, preening over herself. It makes me sick-"
Whatever Noin was going to say was interrupted by the double doors exploding open with a splintering crash and the now familiar violet blur flew in.
Duo did not seem very happy as he stalked over to where Dorothy and her crowd were. Everyone parted like the Red Sea as he approached, going straight up to the blonde woman reclining in the red plush couch. Curiosity extremely piqued, Noin and Une crept their way through the throng to eavesdrop in on the situation.
"Darling! You're back early! Have you taken care of our little...problem?"
Une glanced over at Noin and mouthed 'Problem?', but her purple-haired partner only shrugged in befuddlement.
Duo's disturbingly smooth voice filtered into their ears. "The problem was handled. However, there is a small hitch."
"A -small- hitch?" The air of the room dropped twenty degrees.
"Wufei is dead. There was a complication when it came to Heero, though I believe he is as good as dead."
The two women stared at each other, eyes wide as saucers in horror. "Where is Catherine!" Noin whispered harshly, dragging Une through the swarm of people towards the now busted exit.
"I can call her, but we need to get out of here now," her face was a pale green. "How could he do that? I don't understand. Wufei was his lover, how-?"
"You've seen how Dorothy treats him, he's twice bitten Middie, we don't know what she could do to him or what he can do," Noin said, highly distressed. "I've never particularly liked Heero, but shit, he didn't deserve getting killed by that thing."
"Maybe he's not dead, Duo said there was a complication- maybe..."
"I'd put my money that he's a pile of ash somewhere now, as much as I hate to believe it," she gripped Une's hand tightly. "Call Catherine, see what we can find out."
Several tries proved fruitless. "She's not answering. I hope Catherine wasn't the complication, because you know Dorothy won't hesitate to eliminate any obstacles in her path."
"Oh do I know, and I hope she's all right too."
"It's a good thing we were able to stop the bleeding."
"Yeah, well, you guys were lucky we decided to follow you instead of sitting around here trying to come up with a plan."
"Look. He's waking up..."
He felt so very heavy, as if his limbs were full of lead. The buzz of voices around him slowly dragged him back to consciousness, pain beginning to stab through his body like a million needles. When he tried to open his eyes, a violent wave of nausea crashed over him like a brick wall and had him rolling over to empty the contents of his stomach into a bloody bucket on the floor.
"Oh, shit! Irea, go get somebody else in here, quick!" He dimly recognized the agitated female voice as she grasped his shaking form. "Hey, it's gonna be all right, just breathe and try to relax...I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about, but it works for everyone else, so hopefully it will for you."
"What's wrong Catherine?" The new voice he knew instantly, despite the fact that the owner sounded like he was having difficulty speaking. "Is Heero all right?"
"I don't know! We've never dealt with anything like this before!" Catherine replied bewilderedly.
"Heero?" Wufei's hands replaced the others, his ragged voice gentle. "Listen to me, I need you to talk to me, I need to know what you're feeling right now."
Heero could only manage a guttural moan as he rolled back over, the sickness subsiding enough for him to open his eyes and glance up the Chinese man. His throat had almost perfectly outlined, black and blue handprints wrapped around it, his expression the most tormented one to ever grace his features. They were in his and Duo's room again.
"At least I can safely say that you've looked better," Wufei smiled slightly at the positive response. "Do you remember what happened?"
He nodded a little then mumbled thickly, "Why didn't I die?"
Any other vampire that had been attacked by Duo thus far has turned to dust, so why didn't he?
Wufei shifted uncomfortably. "Quatre, Trowa, and Irea showed up just as D- that thing bit you, going by Catherine's word since I was incapacitated then, and ran him off before too much damage was done."
"Then what's wrong with me?"
"That's a good question," he frowned, unconsciously touching his bruised neck. "All the vampires he's killed were fledglings, you're the first pureblooded vampire. Or you -were-."
"-Were-?" Heero was becoming more alert now, fighting to ignore his aching body's protests. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well..."
"Wufei, what's happening to me?"
The Chinese man was refusing to meet his gaze. "You're losing your immortality," he pointed over at the bucket beside the bed. "Your body is rejecting any of the blood in your system that you have consumed within the past couple of days. Quatre said he sensed your vampirism vanishing since the attack."
"So basically..." Heero's foggy mind was struggling to comprehend what Wufei was telling him, why he felt so...vulnerable.
"You're human, Heero, you're one of us now."
Quatre lay exhausted, his head on Trowa's chest and wrapped up in his arms, as they rested in their room down the hall. He didn't even have the strength to block out the tendrils of confusion and suffering that came to him from Wufei and Heero, their conversation evident.
The past few hours had been some of the most difficult they had ever been through, and his empathy could only take so much before it shut down on him.
When Catherine and the other two had left, it hadn't been so much of a decision as an instinctive response when he, Trowa, and Irea went after them. He hadn't expected to feel and see what he had.
The way the new Duo treated Wufei, it was almost heartbreaking. Never had he sensed such misery and pain as he had from Wufei, and knowing that it was Duo who was inflicting the agony only made it worse. He had almost let himself get killed because of his emotions, Wufei was just lucky Catherine had been there.
Heero was a different case entirely. How could a pureblooded vampire be turned human? Apparently there was something involved in Duo's abnormality in itself, nothing of this nature had been documented in their archives before. Not only was he extremely powerful physically, yet so subservient mentally, but he also sustained himself off of other vampires. So far, there had been no evidence that he had killed humans, so it seemed that his system could only tolerate the immortal blood.
Quatre was interrupted out of his brooding as Trowa suddenly rolled him over flat on his back and straddled him in between his muscular legs. "Stop thinking so much, angel," he smiled at the empath's shocked expression, dropping a soft kiss on his forehead. "You need to relax and not think so much, you'll be helping no one if you stress yourself out like this."
"I know, but-"
Trowa cut him off before he could finish with a swift kiss on the lips. "Stop. I won't have any more of it, right?"
"All right, all right, I'll stop. For now. I won't make any promises that it'll last very long though," Quatre sighed.
"Then I'll just have to properly distract you," his unibanged lover kissed him again, slowly beginning to unbutton his shirt.
WEEEEE! (grumble) I wish I wouldn't get into trouble here for graphic scenes. Once I get an account at a more adult friendly site, I'll be much happier.
Anyway, hopefully next update won't take three weeks, but I don't make promises around the holiday and exam times...(sigh)