I remembered walking up the stairs and to the house after I woke up. The longing to see Duo overcame me and I had to get to the house, even if it hurt me. I remember seeing Duo sprawled languidly on a small couch, then nothing more. The first thing I felt as I drifted out of sleep was how comfortable I felt on whatever the warm thing was beneath me. Second was the hands gently running over my back and through my hair. Third, was the smell of Duo that engulfed me, lavender and sugar almost, but with a hint of something more exotic. I opened my eyes to meet his violet orbs and smiled at Duo. My Duo. I reached out and gently touched his face, running my finger across his cheek. And then I was suddenly very aware of three sets of eyes that were on us. I gasped and looked into the faces of Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. Of course, how could I have forgotten they were here?
And they knew my secret, yet they helped me. Why?
"Heero, ya hungry? Me an Trowa just went hunting, if you need some blood," Duo offered. My body was begging for some fresh blood and I realized that I could smell it in the room. I looked over to the table set up near Trowa and Quatre and found that it was covered in a grotesque meal. A pitcher filled with blood was surrounded by wine glasses. A tray of sliced cubes of raw meat stood next to it. It was all way more than I could eat alone, and even if it was only animals, it was going to go to waste. "Duo, I don't eat raw meat," I growled, glaring and pulling away from him. He went to say something, but Trowa interrupted him. "Yeah, but I do," Trowa said, snatching up a piece of meat and tossing it into his mouth before glaring at me. I gasped and blinked at him, forgetting to close my mouth again in shock. "Trowa!" Duo yelled, standing. "What?" Trowa hissed also standing. "I said I'd tell him, there's no reason for you to be so blunt about it"
"You had you're chance to tell him all week, Duo. You were just going to keep putting it off! He's not frail, Duo, we went through the war together! I think he can handle this"
"Barton!" Wufei barked, entering the argument, "You are letting your personal feelings cloud your judgement. Yuy came to Maxwell, Maxwell cared for him, it is Maxwell's decision when and how he should be enlightened in the matter"
Duo slowly backed out of the argument, figuring that Wufei could give Trowa a tongue lashing as good as anyone. Quatre wasn't sure what to do, part of him wanting to defend his lover and the other part was ready to help in the tongue lashing for Trowa's crude behavior. But Trowa and Wufei were the real spectacles. As the argument grew more heated and closer to physical violence, the boys' bodies began to go through subtle changes. Trowa's hair, usually neat except for his bangs, began to get unruly and turn a deeper shade of brown. His hands seemed to adopt claws instead of fingernails and his teeth sharpened. Mean while Wufei's hair began to lengthen and his skin began to shimmer like scales reflecting the light. He also adopted a set of claws. When the first blow was thrown I saw the biggest change. Both of them had tails! Trowa's tail was a brown wolf tail while Wufei's was a green, scaley lizard tail. That wasn't normal. That wasn't human. They weren't.
Before my mind could make that last jump I threw myself off the couch and backed away, trying to get away from them, trying not to see the truth. Duo saw my action and was instantly at my side, concern on his face, trying to calm me. "Knock it off, you two!" he yelled over his shoulder, but was ignored by everyone but Quatre, who started to come over. I felt a change in Duo, who was kneeling at my side, and looked up to see that the pupils of his eyes had turned to slits. He looked back over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes, and it suddenly seemed as if an energy pulse had hit the room. Trowa and Wufei were throw against a wall and Quatre was knocked on his butt. The room went quiet. "What was that for?" Trowa asked, some of his anger dissipating. It was Quatre who answered. "To get you two to shut up, that's what! Can't you see you're scarring Heero"
"Heero? Hey, you Ok?" Duo asked me, his face just inches away from mine, "Hey, come on, let's go into the kitchen and talk"
I couldn't! I couldn't stay. It was all happening too fast. It didn't seem real. It was like a nightmare. Could that be it? Was I still having a fever dream? It seemed more logical than the current situation. Pushing away from the wall I bolted out the back door at my highest vampiric speed, leaving the others behind me gaping in shock. Trees and bushes flashed past me, but I couldn't stop running. If I stopped running I would have to think, and if I thought about it, I might decide this was real. Then the voices started. For a moment I thought I was going mad, but I felt normal, so I dismissed the thought. I had been close to madness before, and that was very different from this. Still, that did not detract from the other's voices in my head, talking to one another, but never to me. Trowa, can you sniff him out?
No, Duo, his scent's not strong enough. If he'd slow down, maybe, but not at this speed. Did you tell Quatre to wait at the house in case he came back. Yeah. He says Heero's mind's too frantic for him track.
And who's fault is that?
Maxwell.
Yeah Wufei? You see him?
Not yet. I'm going to search the caves on the side of the mountain. He may have gone there if he planned to leave for a while. I'll be out of your range. We'll have Quatre call for you when we find him. Good luck. A dragon does not need luck. I have no idea how long I ran, but all the while I could hear Trowa and Duo in communication, telling each other good places to look. Finally, after what seemed like hours, my legs gave out and I collapsed at the base of a tree in a small clearing. Even though the sun would be rising soon, I was too tired to move. Too tired to care. Something flew overhead, but was gone by the time I looked up. Duo's ecstatic exclamation resounded through my head. Trowa! I found him!
Where?
The field in the valley about half a mile from where you are. I'm coming. And Duo?
Yeah?
Be careful.
Heero would never hurt me. Heero wouldn't, but a vampire would. Heero has been a vampire for as long as we've known him.
And he's always been dangerous. Like you're so cute and cuddly. Quatre thinks so. I'll have to talk to him about that. Later. The communication was abruptly cut and something seemed to land in the bushes next to me. Duo emerged, shirtless, and moving slowly toward me like I might run away again. Like I actually could. When he was close enough, Duo plopped down next to me against the tree. "Hey," he said quietly. "Hn," I replied, not sure of what to say. Duo chuckled sourly. "Don't tell me your going back to that again. I've gotten used to the Heero who uses whole sentences"
"The Heero that's a vampire"
"... yeah, that Heero. The one who felt so bad about drinking blood that he dedicated god-knows-how-long to a stupid war in order to become human again. That Heero"
"I have questions," I told him flatly.
"So do I," he replied instantly.
"Are you going to tell me what I want to know"
"I never lie"
"But will you tell me the truth"
"I promise I'll tell you everything, but I need to know about you too. Ok"
"Yes"
"I suppose you already know that Trowa and Wufei aren't human. Neither are me or Quatre"
"What are you all?" I wondered, somewhat stunned. Duo, however, took it in his stride.
"Trowa is a werewolf. Wufei is from an ancient race of creatures that can turn fully or partially into dragons. He may be the last of his kind. Quatre is telekinetic. A common belief is that telekinetics are human, but they're not, they're just very closely related to humans and they don't transform into anything. I'm Shinigami"
"A God of Death. But what is that"
"It's sort of an ancient race of vampires. For vampires, the older you are the stronger you get and with age comes new powers and transformations. Shinigami is the last stage of vampirism, but we're so old that we almost fall under the demon category"
"So... you're a type of vampire"
"Strictly speaking? Maybe. But I guess I'm really not all that different, just a lot older. So yeah, I sort of am. A rare breed of extremely old and powerful vampire"
"So...your a vampire too?" I asked again, trying to get my mind around it.
"In a way. It's different for me, because of all the new things that my body can do. But, yes, strictly speaking, I'm a vampire just like you, Heero." Duo-Vampire. Vampire-Duo. Duo the Vampire. The Vampire Duo. Vampire the Duo. Duo was a vampire. He wouldn't leave me. Ever. Not alone ever again.
It was almost too much happiness for me to take. And I was suddenly very sleepy. I let my head fall against Duo and closed my eyes, but he shook me awake. That was when I realized that Trowa had arrived while I was off in my own little world. "Heero, you can't go to sleep yet. You haven't had any blood, and I don't want you getting sick again," he said, and from the look on his face and the tone of the voice I could tell he wasn't certain I could hear him. He turned to Trowa. "We need to get some blood in him now. There's no way to get him back to the house in time and there's nowhere dark enough for him now. We don't have time to hunt so I'll just let him bite me and you can take him back to the house," Duo said, then reached for me. Trowa stopped him. "What do you think you're doing, man?" Duo asked sharply. "You haven't fed tonight. You don't have enough blood in you to feed him. I gorged myself earlier, so he can bite me and you can take him back. You're faster anyway. Pass him here," Trowa commanded. Duo looked from me to Trowa then reluctantly draped me across Trowa's lap. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to take blood from either of my friends, but I really needed it and I couldn't move, so I really didn't have much of a choice. Trowa placed his wrist to his lips and nipped it, causing a small gash which he put in my mouth. Trowa's blood was a lot like Duo's, if a bit more gamey. That's when the sun came up. I hissed in pain as it burned my skin, though through the blood it came out more like a gurgle. "Ah, dammit," Trowa curse as he tried to get himself between me and the light. But Duo was already on top of it, kneeling in front of us and spreading two wings from his back that blocked the sun. Two, huge, gorgeous black wings. As I stared at them, time seemed to melt away and the next thing I knew, Trowa was handing me over to Duo. "Take care flying with the two of you," Trowa warned. "Don't worry, I can fly with a lot more weight than just Heero here. Make sure you don't get lost on the way back to the house. Quatre 'd kill me," Duo joked. And with that said, Duo jumped into the air and flew back to the house, with me pressed against his chest. The flight was so peaceful, and with Duo being so close to me, I drifted off to sleep.