It was close to ten-thirty. Wing and Scythe were laying down in their corners in the kitchen, sated from a big meal of deer-steaks. I know, I spoil them, but I had brought down a deer earlier that day and I'd never be able to eat two hundred pounds of meat alone. I stretched and yawned. My muscles were sore from a full day of working on parts for a company on the other side of the mountain. I always thought it was strange, having a lab so far from any city, and the place always gave me the creeps. Still, I wasn't rich enough to pick and choose who I sold parts to, and they paid well.
Abruptly, Scythe raised her head and perked her ears, followed only a second later by Wing. In a flash they were both out the door and barking like mad. I chuckled to myself, thinking this was just the perfect finish to my day. I drew a long breath and pulled a hand gun out of the kitchen drawer, checked the bullets, tucked it in my waist band, and headed out the door to greet our new guest.
I left the house to the sound of both girls barking like mad. Somebody was in the yard, trespassing, and the girls weren't happy about it. It only took me a minute to find the guy, he was sprawled out on the grass panting like mad while the girls circled him and growled. I wondered what the hell this guy had tried to do, walk up the damn mountain? I had just about marked this guy off as stupid but not a threat, when he pulled a gun out and aimed it at Wing. Scythe was on him in a second, latching her jaws onto his wrist and, if not causing him to drop the gun, keeping him from aiming. I kicked the gun out of his hands a second later.
I grabbed his wrists as he flailed weakly beneath me and ended up sitting on his chest, pinning his hands above his head. I told the girls to heel before turning to my captive.
"Well, buddy boy, what can I do for you today? It's not exactly the best way to make friends, trying to shoot a man's dogs, but you tell me your name and what you're after and I'll..." I stopped dead as the man looked at me. His eyes were haunted and panicked, they darted trying to look everywhere at once. His face was thin and gaunt, hands shook from exertion, and there was more than a little dirt on him. Still, I recognized that face.
It couldn't be!
"H-Heero"
His eyes turned to me with a faint glimmer of recognition before the sound of dogs barking in the forest drew him back into a panicked state and he struggled anew. He was wearing his usual shorts and tank top with a white lab coat over top. The clothes were tattered and torn and there was blood all over him. I knew that whatever barking thing out in the woods that had my love so panicked was not going to get past me and hurt him again, but I also knew that if Heero didn't stop struggling he'd hurt himself. I couldn't get off of him because I knew that he was panicked enough to run and I wasn't sure I could chase and protect him at the same time, but I was probably further injuring him with my weight. Quickly deciding on a course of action, I held his wrists down with one hand and snapped my fingers in front of his face. His eyes darted to my fingers and then to my face. I began to speak to him in a slow, almost rhythmic tone. "Heero. Listen to the sound of my voice. You have nothing to fear. You are safe. You have no pain. You are warm. Nothing will harm you. You are loved. You needn't fight. You are safe. Relax into my voice. You are warm. I'm here to protect you. You are loved. Let your problems slip away. You are safe. You are warm. You are loved"
I let my voice trail off. Heero's eyes were half shut and his body had gone lax. It was odd, he should have been asleep, but I didn't have time to think about it. Whatever had been coming was just about here, and I needed to go give it a proper God of Death welcome. I turned around just in time to see something that looked like a dog the size of a small horse jump the fence and attack Wing. He grabbed her by the neck but her long fur kept his teeth from sinking in. Scythe was on the thing before I even got there, biting and taking huge chunks out of it, but it wouldn't relinquish its hold. That's when I got pissed. Bad enough that this thing scared the hell out of my love, now it was trying to kill my dog? I could feel my eyes blazing as I stalked up to the thing, grabbed its jaws, and wrenched them apart. The lower jaw broke, spraying blood all over the place. It backed up, then prepared to attack me again. With what, I don't know. It rushed at me, and I wondered how in the hell this thing was still standing. When it passed me, I got a good look at its top jaw. Only after seeing the fangs did I realize it was a vampiric mutt.
"Perfect!" I hissed before jumping over another attack and slamming my weight down on the dog's back. Before the mutt could do anything, I grabbed its head and pulled until I heard the bones snap and the tendons give way. I tossed the severed head over my shoulder, instantly putting the dead monster from my mind, and went over to Heero and my dogs. Quickly checking to make sure the girls weren't hurt, I picked Heero up, grinning at him in hopes of comforting him. He still seemed a little on edge, be it a very groggy edge, but he didn't protest when I began to walk back to the house, Wing and Scythe trailing at my heels. As soon as I arrived I took Heero up to my room. The grogginess was fading and he began to shift in my arms. Instead of laying him on the bed I decided to sit him in the old sofa that ended up in my room for lack of better place to put it. I set him down and took a step back to give him some air. He shook his head and tried to focus his eyes on me. "Duo?" he managed to whisper. "Uh-huh," I replied calmly, settling myself on the edge of the bed to give him some time to adjust. He suddenly threw himself across the room at me. I was so shocked that the next thing I registered was his head buried in my chest as he sat on his knees in front of me. His shoulders where heaving and he was clinging to me in an almost painful, desperate manner. I put my arms around him and pulled him into my lap. He seemed to conform against me, trying to get as close as he possibly could. He was shivering, sweating, and burning up. His face was flushed and I knew he had a fever, but I was really worried about how injured he was. "Heero? Heero, look at me," I stated. Tentatively, as though he were afraid I might have left when he wasn't looking, he raised his eyes. "It's still me, buddy," I told him and he seemed to relax a bit, "Buddy, we needed to tend those wounds. I don't know about you, but I don't want your guts all over my carpet," I said, smiling gently. He nodded and rose to his feet, backing away from me a few inches. It was only when I rose and felt a tug on my hair that I realized he had a hold on my hair. He was holding so hard that his knuckles were turning white, and I realized I wasn't getting my hair back. I looked from my hair to Heero, who was wearing an almost guilty look on his face, and smiled. "It's ok, hang on to my hair if it makes you feel better." I realized this was a strange sentence coming from me, since I almost never let anyone touch my hair, but the sheepish look of relief that he gave me was more than enough to make up for it. Now, back to the problem at hand. I couldn't see any of the wounds through the dirt that covered Heero. He must have been running for days to get in such a state. Speaking of his state, what could have happened to him to make his a nervous wreck? Apparently he had not been with Relena, so where the hell had he been?
"Heero, I need to get you out of those clothes so I can so I can see your wounds, alright?" I asked. Heero nodded and proceeded to try and shrug off the jacket one handed. His struggle was useless, there was no way he could get out of the jacket one handed and with god-only-knows how many injuries. Slowly, I reached out my hand and began to pull the jacket off him. Heero stilled and let me pull the jacket completely off his left arm, but jerked when I got to his right. Deliberately, I moved his left arm over to where his right was holding my hair, showing him that I could get the jacket off without needing him to let go. He switched hands and I finished removing the jacket. There were scrapes and bruises all up and down his arms. I couldn't help but hiss my breath out when I saw them. Damn, that had to hurt. Heero tried to lift his arms, I realized to take the tank-top off. However he stopped, almost whimpering in pain only halfway. His shirt and shorts were just about torn to pieces and I realized he must have taken the jacket off to keep it from being ripped, then wondered why. "Damn, Hee-chan, you really did yourself over, didn't you? Here, the clothes are beyond salvageable, just let me cut 'em off," I told him and waited for a small nod before getting the scissors. Heero wasn't exactly thrilled at having the scissors so close to his skin and flinched a couple times, but I managed not to cut him. I looked him over and found lots of cuts and bruises, maybe a separated shoulder, and a couple of fractures, but mainly he was exhausted and dehydrated. After I was assured he wasn't going to bleed to death, I steered him to the shower. Knowing how horribly embarrassed I would be to see him nude, and how bad Heero would hate me for it later, I put him in the shower and told him to throw his underwear over the top. I had to laugh as I caught them. There had never been a doubt in my mind what was under those skin-tight shorts. Briefs. It only took ten minutes for Heero to finish his shower. He stepped out as soon as I handed him the towel. The door was barely open before he toppled into my arms. I set him on the toilet with a sigh and began to bandage all the cuts I could. Then I picked him up and carried him to the bed. When I set him on the bed he didn't immediately let go of my neck. At first I thought he was going to have another one of those breakdowns, one that I would have time to properly calm him from, until his arms constricted around my neck hauling his head up to my shoulder. His breathing was erratic, coming in short little gasps. His face was only inches from my neck, his mouth was open, I could feel his breath. His teeth brushed against my skin and he jerked back as though he had been shocked and pushed away from me. It all happened so fast my only thought was, "What the Hell"
When I returned to my senses, there was Heero, his back pressed against the headboard of my bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, his face in his hands, sobbing brokenly. Instinctively I tried to sooth him, reaching toward him slowly like a frightened child. "Sh, sh, hush. Easy Heero. It's alright, it's ok, you're safe. Don't cry..." I said as I reached out and touched his arm with my fingers. "NO!" he yelled, his head coming up and his whole body jerking in the other direction. I pulled back and he stopped trying to get away. Ok, new tactic. "Heero, babe, what's the matter? I'm not going to hurt you, you know that. Tell me what's wrong. I'm here for ya," I cooed. Wrong again, I guess, Heero looked as if I slapped him. Giving a heart wrenching moan, he buried his head in his knees again, shaking his head in protest. "No, Duo, no. You can't! You can't! I'm not worthy, I'm evil, don't you know that! No, no, no, no, no!" he repeated over and over. I was stunned, but at least he was talking to me. "Why not?" I asked him simply. His eyes came up to meet mine. There was so much pain and fear there that all I wanted to do was hold him, but I knew I couldn't. What was he afraid of? Me? Didn't he know that I'd never hurt him? He did, didn't he?
"I-I'm not really a person Duo. I-I just tried to bite you! I'm leech and a blood sucker and...and...and a vampire!" he said with a choking sob and buried his head back in his legs. Heero-Vampire. Vampire-Heero. Heero the vampire. The vampire Heero. Vampire the Heero.
It took my mind a moment to connect those words, but when it did hope took wing and soared toward the heavens. Heero wasn't human, he was a vampire, maybe, just maybe.
"I-it's ok," I told Heero, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stopped crying long enough to do something like snort. "That's what I love about you, Duo, your humanity. I love how human you are, the way you feel and love and..and...I just love you for being so human. I don't think I could live without your humanity in my life," he told me. Hope did a nose dive and broke it's neck upon impact. Heero loved me. Heero loved a me that was human. What if he found out that the real me wasn't human?
"H-Heero"
His eyes turned to me with a faint glimmer of recognition before the sound of dogs barking in the forest drew him back into a panicked state and he struggled anew. He was wearing his usual shorts and tank top with a white lab coat over top. The clothes were tattered and torn and there was blood all over him. I knew that whatever barking thing out in the woods that had my love so panicked was not going to get past me and hurt him again, but I also knew that if Heero didn't stop struggling he'd hurt himself. I couldn't get off of him because I knew that he was panicked enough to run and I wasn't sure I could chase and protect him at the same time, but I was probably further injuring him with my weight. Quickly deciding on a course of action, I held his wrists down with one hand and snapped my fingers in front of his face. His eyes darted to my fingers and then to my face. I began to speak to him in a slow, almost rhythmic tone. "Heero. Listen to the sound of my voice. You have nothing to fear. You are safe. You have no pain. You are warm. Nothing will harm you. You are loved. You needn't fight. You are safe. Relax into my voice. You are warm. I'm here to protect you. You are loved. Let your problems slip away. You are safe. You are warm. You are loved"
I let my voice trail off. Heero's eyes were half shut and his body had gone lax. It was odd, he should have been asleep, but I didn't have time to think about it. Whatever had been coming was just about here, and I needed to go give it a proper God of Death welcome. I turned around just in time to see something that looked like a dog the size of a small horse jump the fence and attack Wing. He grabbed her by the neck but her long fur kept his teeth from sinking in. Scythe was on the thing before I even got there, biting and taking huge chunks out of it, but it wouldn't relinquish its hold. That's when I got pissed. Bad enough that this thing scared the hell out of my love, now it was trying to kill my dog? I could feel my eyes blazing as I stalked up to the thing, grabbed its jaws, and wrenched them apart. The lower jaw broke, spraying blood all over the place. It backed up, then prepared to attack me again. With what, I don't know. It rushed at me, and I wondered how in the hell this thing was still standing. When it passed me, I got a good look at its top jaw. Only after seeing the fangs did I realize it was a vampiric mutt.
"Perfect!" I hissed before jumping over another attack and slamming my weight down on the dog's back. Before the mutt could do anything, I grabbed its head and pulled until I heard the bones snap and the tendons give way. I tossed the severed head over my shoulder, instantly putting the dead monster from my mind, and went over to Heero and my dogs. Quickly checking to make sure the girls weren't hurt, I picked Heero up, grinning at him in hopes of comforting him. He still seemed a little on edge, be it a very groggy edge, but he didn't protest when I began to walk back to the house, Wing and Scythe trailing at my heels. As soon as I arrived I took Heero up to my room. The grogginess was fading and he began to shift in my arms. Instead of laying him on the bed I decided to sit him in the old sofa that ended up in my room for lack of better place to put it. I set him down and took a step back to give him some air. He shook his head and tried to focus his eyes on me. "Duo?" he managed to whisper. "Uh-huh," I replied calmly, settling myself on the edge of the bed to give him some time to adjust. He suddenly threw himself across the room at me. I was so shocked that the next thing I registered was his head buried in my chest as he sat on his knees in front of me. His shoulders where heaving and he was clinging to me in an almost painful, desperate manner. I put my arms around him and pulled him into my lap. He seemed to conform against me, trying to get as close as he possibly could. He was shivering, sweating, and burning up. His face was flushed and I knew he had a fever, but I was really worried about how injured he was. "Heero? Heero, look at me," I stated. Tentatively, as though he were afraid I might have left when he wasn't looking, he raised his eyes. "It's still me, buddy," I told him and he seemed to relax a bit, "Buddy, we needed to tend those wounds. I don't know about you, but I don't want your guts all over my carpet," I said, smiling gently. He nodded and rose to his feet, backing away from me a few inches. It was only when I rose and felt a tug on my hair that I realized he had a hold on my hair. He was holding so hard that his knuckles were turning white, and I realized I wasn't getting my hair back. I looked from my hair to Heero, who was wearing an almost guilty look on his face, and smiled. "It's ok, hang on to my hair if it makes you feel better." I realized this was a strange sentence coming from me, since I almost never let anyone touch my hair, but the sheepish look of relief that he gave me was more than enough to make up for it. Now, back to the problem at hand. I couldn't see any of the wounds through the dirt that covered Heero. He must have been running for days to get in such a state. Speaking of his state, what could have happened to him to make his a nervous wreck? Apparently he had not been with Relena, so where the hell had he been?
"Heero, I need to get you out of those clothes so I can so I can see your wounds, alright?" I asked. Heero nodded and proceeded to try and shrug off the jacket one handed. His struggle was useless, there was no way he could get out of the jacket one handed and with god-only-knows how many injuries. Slowly, I reached out my hand and began to pull the jacket off him. Heero stilled and let me pull the jacket completely off his left arm, but jerked when I got to his right. Deliberately, I moved his left arm over to where his right was holding my hair, showing him that I could get the jacket off without needing him to let go. He switched hands and I finished removing the jacket. There were scrapes and bruises all up and down his arms. I couldn't help but hiss my breath out when I saw them. Damn, that had to hurt. Heero tried to lift his arms, I realized to take the tank-top off. However he stopped, almost whimpering in pain only halfway. His shirt and shorts were just about torn to pieces and I realized he must have taken the jacket off to keep it from being ripped, then wondered why. "Damn, Hee-chan, you really did yourself over, didn't you? Here, the clothes are beyond salvageable, just let me cut 'em off," I told him and waited for a small nod before getting the scissors. Heero wasn't exactly thrilled at having the scissors so close to his skin and flinched a couple times, but I managed not to cut him. I looked him over and found lots of cuts and bruises, maybe a separated shoulder, and a couple of fractures, but mainly he was exhausted and dehydrated. After I was assured he wasn't going to bleed to death, I steered him to the shower. Knowing how horribly embarrassed I would be to see him nude, and how bad Heero would hate me for it later, I put him in the shower and told him to throw his underwear over the top. I had to laugh as I caught them. There had never been a doubt in my mind what was under those skin-tight shorts. Briefs. It only took ten minutes for Heero to finish his shower. He stepped out as soon as I handed him the towel. The door was barely open before he toppled into my arms. I set him on the toilet with a sigh and began to bandage all the cuts I could. Then I picked him up and carried him to the bed. When I set him on the bed he didn't immediately let go of my neck. At first I thought he was going to have another one of those breakdowns, one that I would have time to properly calm him from, until his arms constricted around my neck hauling his head up to my shoulder. His breathing was erratic, coming in short little gasps. His face was only inches from my neck, his mouth was open, I could feel his breath. His teeth brushed against my skin and he jerked back as though he had been shocked and pushed away from me. It all happened so fast my only thought was, "What the Hell"
When I returned to my senses, there was Heero, his back pressed against the headboard of my bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, his face in his hands, sobbing brokenly. Instinctively I tried to sooth him, reaching toward him slowly like a frightened child. "Sh, sh, hush. Easy Heero. It's alright, it's ok, you're safe. Don't cry..." I said as I reached out and touched his arm with my fingers. "NO!" he yelled, his head coming up and his whole body jerking in the other direction. I pulled back and he stopped trying to get away. Ok, new tactic. "Heero, babe, what's the matter? I'm not going to hurt you, you know that. Tell me what's wrong. I'm here for ya," I cooed. Wrong again, I guess, Heero looked as if I slapped him. Giving a heart wrenching moan, he buried his head in his knees again, shaking his head in protest. "No, Duo, no. You can't! You can't! I'm not worthy, I'm evil, don't you know that! No, no, no, no, no!" he repeated over and over. I was stunned, but at least he was talking to me. "Why not?" I asked him simply. His eyes came up to meet mine. There was so much pain and fear there that all I wanted to do was hold him, but I knew I couldn't. What was he afraid of? Me? Didn't he know that I'd never hurt him? He did, didn't he?
"I-I'm not really a person Duo. I-I just tried to bite you! I'm leech and a blood sucker and...and...and a vampire!" he said with a choking sob and buried his head back in his legs. Heero-Vampire. Vampire-Heero. Heero the vampire. The vampire Heero. Vampire the Heero.
It took my mind a moment to connect those words, but when it did hope took wing and soared toward the heavens. Heero wasn't human, he was a vampire, maybe, just maybe.
"I-it's ok," I told Heero, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stopped crying long enough to do something like snort. "That's what I love about you, Duo, your humanity. I love how human you are, the way you feel and love and..and...I just love you for being so human. I don't think I could live without your humanity in my life," he told me. Hope did a nose dive and broke it's neck upon impact. Heero loved me. Heero loved a me that was human. What if he found out that the real me wasn't human?
