A/N: Inspired by just about every supernatural sci-fi/fantasy thing I've ever read. In particular, a shout out to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files… 1x2X3, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.
Warnings: Language, violence, sex, language. Angst. AU. Gore.
A/N #2: Thank you so much to the lovely Cuzosu, who is my wonderful beta!
A/N#3: My work is now archived Shenlong's Gundam Wing Diaries, so if you want to read them in a different format – or read the works of some really great authors – check it out! I will, however, still be posting all of my work on as well.
A/N #4: I've started posting chapters for my next fic, Lost Dreams. It's another Gundam Wing AU fic – of a very definite fantasy bent, featuring Duo, Trowa, and Heero as the main characters. The first four chapters are already up. Check it out – if you want.
A/N #5: Lemon-ish ahead. Very brief.
Umbra
Chapter Fourteen
The hospital smelled just as horrible as before, and Duo was mildly gratified to see that Trowa's nose curled up in disgust at the smell as well.
As they approached Heero's room Duo's steps started to slow, and he was half afraid to open the door. The blinds had been drawn, and the room seemed ominously dark.
Wufei was curled up in one of the chairs in Heero's room, reading one of the house wife magazines the hospital seemed to own stock in.
He looked up at their entrance, but Duo's gaze had already moved past him to the hospital bed. It was empty.
"Where –oh fuck. No." Duo felt every ounce of life drain from his body.
"What? No, no." Wufei stood and threw down the magazine. "They took him into surgery just five minutes ago. I called Hilde – she said you were on your way here. I didn't want to panic you."
Duo felt his blood start to flow again, but he sat down in the spare chair and buried his face in his hands.
Seeing that empty bed had been Duo's worst nightmare ever since he had left the hospital earlier that day, and the shock of it becoming reality – even if only for a moment – had been devastating.
"Are they going to remove the rest of the silver?" Trowa asked.
Duo could feel the shape shifter standing just behind him, his body radiating heat, but Duo fought the urge to lean back and accept any comfort.
"Who are you?" Wufei asked instead of answering.
Duo sighed. "He's… well, he's –"
"I'm a friend of Heero's," Trowa saved Duo. The firm confidence in his voice made Duo look up at him. Trowa's jaw was set, and he was glaring at Wufei with enough force that Duo wondered if the two had met before. "And you must be Wufei Chang? The fed that took my sister out to dinner last night?" His voice was icy.
Duo's jaw dropped and he turned back to Wufei. The Chinese man stood and met Trowa's glare with one of his own.
"Yes, I am. Your sister is an amazing woman and I have every intention of seeing her again."
"No, you don't," Trowa assured him, his voice barely more than a growl.
"Your sister is a grown woman – older than you – and has every –"
"My sister is almost six thousand years old," Trowa agreed, "but that doesn't mean she's learned to avoid getting involved with nulls. Stay away from her."
"Why –"
"You're the bad guy!" Trowa practically shouted. "What happens when you have to arrest her for breaking the law and rebelling against her master? What happens if she's lucky enough to kill him? Are you going to be the one to execute her? I'm telling you, end things now or BOTH of you are going to regret it. She might LOOK like a human to you, but she's a shape shifter. Do you understand what that means? Are you willing to become one of us just so you can be with her?"
Wufei sniffed disdainfully and turned back to Duo.
"I informed the hospital staff that Mr. Yuy was under federal protection, and that you would be returning to watch over him. They shouldn't bother you about visiting hours being over."
Duo nodded, a little shell shocked from the argument between the two men, but grateful that Wufei had thought to arrange for him to stay.
"The doctor seemed confident that they would be able to remove most of the remaining silver fragments with this operation, but he was still concerned about the blood poisoning. They should be in surgery for the next five to eight hours."
Duo nodded again, trying to decipher from Wufei's words if there was any hope for Heero actually returning alive.
"I suggest you put a bandage around your neck before one of the nurses sees you," Wufei sneered, his dark eyes cold as he glared at Trowa.
Trowa glared at the Chinese man as he left the room, but as soon as he was gone he stripped off his jacket, bowtie, and dress shirt.
Duo watched as Trowa rifled through a cart of medical supplies until he found gauze and wrapped it around his neck.
Task complete, Trowa sat down in Wufei's vacated chair, across the empty bed, but still in Duo's line of sight.
He was grateful that Trowa didn't feel the need to speak, even if it was clear that the other man was fuming over something. Likely the thought of Catharine and Wufei together.
They sat in silence for at least an hour before it started to unnerve Duo.
Duo's gaze kept coming back to Trowa's neck, and every time he saw the bandages he felt a fresh rush of anger.
Remembering Anthony seemed to have brought on Duo's protective and possessive streaks, and all he wanted to do was track down Treize and wrap the vampire in a silver collar. And then kill him, of course.
"Shouldn't you shift or something to heal that?" Duo eventually asked.
Trowa frowned and ran a hand over the bandages at his throat.
"I didn't want to be rude."
Duo arched an eyebrow, amused despite himself.
"It seemed crass to heal such a minor injury when Heero is…" Trowa trailed off and shrugged.
Duo nodded, appreciating Trowa's thoughtfulness.
"Yeah, well, if I have to look at those bandages again I'm going to hunt down Treize and –"
"I do not need you to fight for me," Trowa growled.
"Clearly you do, because from the day I met you you've been nothing more than Treize's pet. Unless you have some master plan that involves being tortured and raped on a regular basis?"
Trowa glared at him.
"Too many people are relying on me. I can't just attack whoever I want. If I killed Treize all of the shape shifters would be punished. I won't have that on my head."
"Because they're all doing so great right now."
"Why does it bother you? Don't you just want us rounded up and executed anyway?"
"No," Duo hissed. "I don't."
Trowa sneered. "Now that you've fucked one of us it complicates things a bit, doesn't it?"
"God damn it! Why are you so fucking annoying?" Duo ran a hand through his hair. "I swear to God I don't know what I ever liked about you in the first place! I do not want all shape shifters executed! I did not want to kill those children! I've spent my life trying to protect people from harm from magic users and those kids," Duo shook his head. "I hear their screams every night when I close my eyes. Of all the things I've done, THAT is the one that haunts me the most. I'm going to hell, sure enough, as soon as I die, and I know that I've earned my place there. But I never wanted to harm children."
Duo laughed bitterly. "It's ironic, isn't it that I've wished for my own death every day since then, but I just don't seem to fucking die. Jason won't let anyone execute me, and no one's been stupid enough to go against his orders. Instead it looks like I'll just live forever. And maybe that's the punishment I deserve. Now I get to watch everyone I love die instead. Maybe this is hell."
He shook his head and looked back at Trowa. The green eyed man still looked hostile, but there was something in his expression that told Duo he was growing as tired of fighting as Duo was.
"I'm sorry you're stuck with me. And let's be honest – we're both powerful Old Ones, so it's only a matter of time before our magic forces us to finish the bond between us. So I'm sorry. Maybe you'll get lucky and someone will kill me before that happens. But –"
"I asked you," Trowa interrupted him, "I asked you if you were a serial killer or a mass murderer. You said no."
Duo sighed. "Yeah, well, I guess I lied about that."
Trowa shook his head. "No, you didn't. That's what's so fucking annoying about you. Why can't you just be a sadistic bastard like the rest of them? Why do you have to feel so much pain and regret for what you've done? Why won't you just let me hate you?" He paused. " I've lived for a very long time, and I've been a slave for most of my live. But I've never been owned so completely by someone as I am by–" Trowa stopped himself and shook his head. He laughed bitterly. "Our bond doesn't even matter. I was falling in love with you before that, and I knew what you were. I know that you've killed without remorse, but I also knew – Martha told me – that every innocent life you took ate away at your soul. Even now – all I want to do is comfort you! It's impossible for me to hate you."
Trowa glared at him. "You aren't the only one who's watched everyone you love die. We're both fighting a losing battle right now. And maybe – maybe we're just too used to fighting."
It was an invitation to forgive each other and move on, and Duo desperately wanted to accept it.
"I still don't like you," he informed Trowa.
The other man smirked. "Yes you do. I'm irresistible and you know it."
In the face of Trowa's confidence Duo gave in.
"Fucking hell," he muttered and jumped out of his chair.
Trowa met him in the middle of the room, and Duo felt like a fire had been ignited under his skin when their lips met.
The familiar taste of cinnamon filled Duo's mouth and he groaned. He could feel the heat of Trowa's body through his thin undershirt, and he ran his hands under the hem and over the hard flesh of the other man's chest.
Trowa pulled off Duo's coat, but Duo had to brush aside his fingers and remove the sheath for his scimitar. That task accomplished, Duo went back started to pull off Trowa's shirt, intent of feeling the other man's naked flesh against his own.
His hands traced over Trowa's scarred back and he stilled.
Both of them were impossibly flawed, Duo realized. It was entirely likely that Trowa had just as much emotional baggage as Duo himself did, and NOW his perfect body had been destroyed by none other than Duo himself.
"This is crazy," Duo whispered and pulled back. "I can't do this anymore. Heero's nearly dead because of me. And you – Christ, Trowa, look what I did to you!"
"It's about time you apologized for ruining my illustrious career as an exotic dancer," Trowa muttered, still smirking. He closed the distance between them and kissed Duo again, teasing his lips until he started to respond.
"You said it yourself – as soon as Treize knows we're Soul Mates your life is forfeit." Duo tried to pull away again, but Trowa kept his grip firm around Duo's waist, and it was very hard to fight against the lure of all that warmth and golden magic.
"That was before."
"Before what?"
"Before the Arbiter became a Council member. Before Jason's Emissary reminded the entire Council that Jason still protects you. Before – before I understood you and Heero."
"What about me and Heero?"
"You are his reason for living. You know that." Trowa ran his thumb over Duo's jaw. "And you. You're amazing at hiding your emotions, but not when you look at him. You would do anything for him. You would sell your very soul if it meant you could trade places with him right now."
Duo swallowed hard. Everything Trowa said was true.
"I want that."
The words were raw with emotion, and for once, it was easy to read Trowa's eyes. Duo could see the naked longing in them, and through their connection he could feel Trowa's desire. It had little to do with sex and more to do with belonging.
"You and Heero –"
"We understand each other," Trowa said.
"You don't like to share," Duo reminded him.
"If sharing you feels like it did on Friday night then I want to share you as often as possible." The earnestness in Trowa's voice made Duo want to laugh, but the surge of pure lust he felt from the other man had him smirking instead.
"Heero and I, we – I fuck things up pretty frequently. He's like the only good thing that's happened to me in a long time, though, and he's… he's like oxygen. I need him alive. But this relationship thing is new. Hell, I haven't lived with anyone since Anthony, and it's not – this isn't going to be easy."
"Duo, whenever I touch you all I feel is hope. With you around the past is just a memory. I can't feel the pain, I don't see their faces, I'm here, in the present. You have no idea how much I want to fight for that feeling."
"Yeah, I do." Duo shook his head. "It's the same for me. I'm not kidding when I say that I need Heero, but you – you're warm and fucking golden and you make me want to see tomorrow."
"Okay then."
Duo jerked awake and nearly fell out of the hospital chair.
He scrubbed his eyes and looked around the hospital room. Heero's bed was still empty, and Trowa was curled on other chair, somehow managing to look comfortable.
His cell phone rang again and Duo cursed. WHY was he doomed to always be woken up by the damn thing? He remembered the days before phones of any kind, and he felt nostalgic for how differently paced life had been back then.
The caller ID said it was Wufei, and Duo answered it cautiously.
"Yeah?"
"Hilde found Dorothy's body. I'm on my way to the hospital to pick you up. She says you need to see it."
Duo frowned. Why hadn't Hilde simply called him?
"She… Duo, Hilde does not cry. She doesn't panic. As much as I think she takes stupid risks, she's one of the most cool and collected agents I know. She's a mess right now. I could barely understand her on the phone."
Duo reached out for Hilde through their connection but he couldn't feel anything from her.
"Fuck. How soon will you be here?"
"Two minutes."
"I'll meet you out front," Duo told him and hung up the phone.
He cursed again. Hilde simply wasn't trained well enough to close off the connection between them, and if Duo couldn't feel her it meant that something was blocking out her magic from him or that she was in bad enough shape that her magic simply wasn't functioning. Neither scenarios were good.
"Trouble?"
Trowa's voice was slightly gravely from sleep.
Duo looked over at him and noticed that while the other man sounded as though he was still half asleep he looked completely alert.
"Yeah. Serial killer. I think." Hilde hadn't freaked out about the other bodies, and she certainly didn't know Dorothy well enough to become that emotional over her death. Maybe this WAS unrelated?
"I'll call you as soon as he's out of surgery," Trowa assured Duo when he glanced at the empty bed.
"Thanks." Duo felt like he should say something else.
"Don't do anything stupid," Trowa told him.
Duo snorted.
"You've met me, right?" He smirked, grateful that Trowa had broken the tension.
"Unfortunately," Trowa deadpanned.
Duo resisted the urge to kiss him and instead pulled on his sheath and then adjusted his duster over it. He nodded to Trowa and then left the hospital room.
Wufei was waiting for him when he stepped outside of the hospital, and no sooner had Duo sat down in the passenger seat did the Chinese man threw the car into gear and took off.
Duo barely managed to slam the door shut.
"Chang –" Duo's complaint died on his lips when he saw just how frantic Wufei looked.
The car ride was short, but the tense silence between them made it feel like a lifetime passed before Wufei came to a screeching halt in front of an apartment complex a few blocks east of the Strip.
Duo followed him up to a second storey apartment that was already taped off and had two federal agents guarding the door.
Wufei barely flashed his badge before storming past them, and Duo was close on his heels.
The moment they entered the apartment Duo understand Hilde's panic and just why he hadn't been able to feel her.
The air was thick with magic, choking Duo and pressing in on him. He could feel it seep into his pores, and it was like a toxin. All of the relief he had felt over the past few hours evaporated and was replaced by despair and grief.
"Hilde!" Wufei shouted, and Duo tried to shake himself out of his depressive coma.
He saw the woman kneeling on the floor beside what could only be described as a mess.
Duo could feel the power behind the ritual circle. It was considerably stronger than any of the other ones they had encountered, and it practically pulsed with the poisonous magic that Duo could even now feel flowing through his veins.
Dorothy's body was recognizable only because of her pale blonde hair. Everything else – it barely looked like a human corpse. This had NOT been a ritual sacrifice. It looked as though her body had been torn apart, as though claws had ripped it to shreds, and there was blood and bits of tissue scattered throughout the circle. The gore stopped abruptly where it met the edge of the magic, and the stark white carpet was a garish contrast to the bright red.
Wufei was trying to comfort Hilde, but she was completely unresponsive to his touch.
Duo crouched down beside her and forced her to look at him.
"Duo." Her eyes were wide and bright with Duo's and her voice was hoarse, as though she had been crying or screaming for hours. "I can't – I'm cold. I can't feel anything."
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him, but even that physical contact didn't allow him any hint of her magic.
"Hilde, I can't feel you. Your magic – is it?"
"I can't feel anything," she repeated, her voice a near hysterical sob. She clutched at his shoulders, her short nails digging into his skin even through his layers of clothing.
He tried to force a bridge between them. He dug up the memories and sensations of kissing Trowa and the feeling of the golden warmth they created between them. He shoved them at Hilde and the woman in his arms moaned.
"You and –"
"Yeah, yeah. Me and him. You felt it?"
"Barely. Not like before. Duo, what's happening?"
"The circle. The magic is trying to drain you – drain us," Duo corrected himself as he realized that he was having a hard time fighting against overwhelming depression.
"I – I think it's affecting me too," Wufei said with a scowl.
Duo looked at him and then turned to glance at the uniforms by the door. Sure enough, even they were looking pale and forlorn.
"Damnit. We're feeding the circle with our own emotions. We need to take it down."
"How? I can't even reach my magic and –"
"Let me in."
All three turned to see Zechs standing at the open door, his way blocked by the uniformed agents.
Wufei scowled.
"You need me to take down the circle," Zechs said, directing his gaze at Duo.
Duo frowned. The last time he had forced a ritual circle to collapse on itself he had had Solo to help him. He knew that Zechs was incredibly powerful, but the only time they had ever used their magic together had been in the middle of sex.
"Take Hilde and clear the perimeter," Duo told Wufei.
"But he –"
"He's right. I need him to do this. I can't manage it on my own."
"Can you do it?" Hilde asked.
"I don't know. But this thing is self-perpetuating. It's not going to go away on its own."
Hilde eased away from him and stood shakily.
"How long should it take?" Wufei asked.
"I don't know – if I can't do it in half an hour I won't be able to do it at all." Duo suddenly wished that he had Trowa here. It would be easy enough to tap into HIS magic. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Hilde to get him, but then he looked back at Zechs. He did NOT want Treize's lover to know that Duo was involved with Trowa Barton.
"In half an hour we're coming back in for you, then," Wufei said. He gestured for the other agents to let Zechs through, and all of the humans backed away from the apartment until they were out of sight.
Zechs came to stand above Duo and the look on his face as he surveyed the bloody remains of his servant was one of devastation.
"She was very loyal," Zechs whispered. "And very powerful."
"Too damned powerful," Duo muttered. "Whoever did this used her magic to create this… poison."
"I know. I can feel it." Zechs shook his head and looked down at Duo. "What do we do?"
"I can destroy it – after all, destruction is what Dark Court Faeries do best – but I need your magic to help me."
Zechs frowned.
"You and I don't have any bond, and we aren't even the same species. The only time we've ever shared magic was during sex." Duo shook his head. "And I don't – please tell me you can think of some way for me to tap into your magic without us having sex."
"No. If you were a Light Court faerie then yes, but you aren't. You aren't even a full Dark Court faerie." Zechs shrugged. "Unless you want to become my servant?"
"No chance in hell. You want to become mine?" Duo sneered.
Zechs smirked. "Still delusional after all these years, I see."
"Look –"
"We can stand here and argue and the circle is only going to get stronger. With the two of US feeding it there's no way it will simply die down. Besides, sex with me isn't THAT bad, is it?" Zechs asked.
It certainly wasn't, but Duo's life was complicated enough as it was.
"The last time we –"
"It faded, didn't it?" Zechs interrupted. "Or are you that afraid of me?"
Duo scowled, but he could feel the circle continue to drain him, and he knew that the only way to destroy it was to act soon.
He sighed and started to undress.
Zechs started to do the same, and Duo was grateful that the other man didn't try to turn this into something more that a quick, necessary means to an end.
Once naked, Duo looked over Zechs' body, still perfect and golden after all these years, and he felt the long forgotten tug of lust. Zechs was incredibly beautiful, and a very skilled lover, but he and Duo had never had anything more than sex in common. And even that had been infrequent – Jason had treated Duo like his favorite toy, and he didn't allow others to use him very often.
"Well?" Zechs asked, one eyebrow arched and his lips curved upwards in amusement as Duo looked him over.
"Yeah, let's just… get this over with." Duo closed the space between them and tentatively reached out to touch the other man's skin.
Zechs was much less tentative and he pulled Duo firmly against him before bowing his head and kissing him.
Duo resisted out of instinct, and simply because the kiss felt so different from Heero or Trowa, but he forced himself to relax and respond. It wasn't long before Duo felt his arousal grow, and he knew it was more from Zechs' magic than from his touch.
Relena and Zechs came from a long and powerful line of Light Court Faeries whose magic was deeply rooted in sex. Neither was truly a succubus – though both grew more powerful after intercourse – but the act of sex allowed them to connect their magic to that of their partner. It was how Zechs had first healed Duo when he had been punished by Deathscythe. Of course, the bridge that sex created also allowed Zechs and Relena to have a small measure of control over their partner – control that faded with time. Before, Duo had felt a lingering sense of devotion for Zechs for weeks after they had sex, and even though he had fought it, the sensation meant that he was more likely to agree with Zechs and be under his power.
With Relena, things had been completely different. She wasn't as powerful as her brother – either that, or she simply hadn't honed her ability to control others after sex as well as he had – and Duo had never felt anything more than affection and respect for Relena afterwards. While that could have been a result of her magic, it had never really faded, and Duo never bothered to fight it.
Neither Duo nor Zechs had planned for this encounter, and the only lubrication Zechs used to prepare Duo was saliva. But by that point, Zechs' magic had driven Duo to the point where he only cared about having the other man buried inside him, no matter how much the initial penetration hurt.
As they moved together and Duo felt his climax approaching he reached out to Zechs with his magic and felt the other man respond in turn. As they came together, Zechs with a triumphant shout and Duo more with a sense of relief than anything, the bridge between their magic solidified.
Before it could start to fade, and with Zechs still inside him, Duo reached out and hurled their combined magic towards the ritual circle.
He could feel it resist –the dark, dangerous magic tried to absorb their magic but it was too strong, and the circle collapsed in an explosion of agony that swept over both Zechs and Duo.
Zechs involuntarily clutched Duo tighter as the magic washed over them.
It passed, and Duo pulled away from Zechs. He felt incredibly cold, and more than a little dirty. The act of destroying the circle had drained most of his magic, and he knew that without someone as powerful as Zechs, there would have been no way he could have destroyed it.
"Thanks," he panted, trying to catch his breath.
"If you really want to thank me you can allow me the chance to enjoy you more thoroughly next time," Zechs said with a smirk.
Duo frowned. Now should be the part where he felt obligated to agree. He should feel the lingering touch of Zechs' magic trying to convince him to obey, but instead, Duo felt… very empty.
"No thanks," he said.
Zechs frowned, but the expression quickly turned to a scowl.
"What – how are you resisting me?"
So Duo wasn't hallucinating. He should have been offering to service Zechs as soon as possible, but instead he felt no desire to sleep with the man again. None at all.
He laughed at the bewildered look on Zechs face.
"Guess you're losing your touch," he told the other man and started to pull on his clothes.
"No. This has never happened before. You – what did you do? You've never been able to resist me."
"Guess I built up a tolerance to you."
"Impossible. Not even Treize can say no to me after we make love."
"Could be I'm just stronger than him," Duo suggested.
Zechs snorted derisively. "Hardly. You aren't strong enough –"
Duo looked up as the other man trailed off.
"You are stronger," Zechs corrected himself. "Your magic feels different. I didn't think about it before. But your human servant isn't powerful enough to change you this much. What have you done?"
Duo froze in the middle of buttoning up his shirt. He wondered if his increased magical strength had anything to do with partially bonding with his Soul Mate? It wasn't a question he wanted to pose to Zechs. He made a mental note to ask Relena.
"I'd love to stay and chat," Duo said, avoiding answering Zechs' question, "but we need to ,er, clean this up. I'll give you a few minutes alone with her." He nodded at Dorothy's body.
Zechs scowled, clearly wanting to argue more, but then he nodded.
"Thank you."
"You might want to get dressed, too," Duo added before he left Zechs.
Hilde and Wufei were huddled by the hood of his black Suburban, while the other two uniforms were drinking coffee inside the warmth of their car.
"What did you do?" Hilde asked as Duo approached them. "I felt the circle fall. It was like this wave of magic crashed over it."
"Yeah. I borrowed some of Zechs' magic."
"You look exhausted," Hilde commented. She reached out to him with her magic, and he was relieved to feel the brush of it against him. "And your magic is really drained."
"Yeah," he agreed, suddenly feeling as exhausted as he looked. "I could really use a cup of tea right about now." He scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
"Was this the same magic at the other circles?" Wufei asked them.
Hilde nodded
"Yes. But it was stronger. Much stronger."
"And it wasn't the same ritual. He didn't want her magic. He wanted to punish her, and he wanted her to feel pain."
Hilde nodded in agreement. "What concerns me is that it took both you and Zechs to break the circle."
"Yeah," Duo sighed. "This shit just got a lot scarier."
Wufei started to speak, but Zechs left the apartment and started to leave.
"I need to talk to him for a few minutes – I'll join you inside," Duo told them and moved to intercept the Faerie.
"Zechs."
The golden haired man looked over at him and sneered. He continued to walk away.
"Zechs, I need to talk to you about this."
And, magically, Zechs stopped and turned back to him. The expression on his face was one of complete disbelief.
"Holy shit. Did I just – did I make you stop and turn around?"
Zechs scowled. "Clearly."
"Damn." Not only was he able to resist Zechs, but he was able to reverse the flow of power and control him. Duo wanted to gloat – wanted to remind Zechs of all the times that he had been nearly helpless before the other man, but even he knew that now wasn't the time.
"You know who did this," Duo said.
Zechs nodded jerkily.
"Tell me."
"You claim to be so smart. Figure it out on your own."
"I haven't figured it out yet," Duo pointed out. "And your human servant is dead because of that."
"Then clearly I have nothing left to lose."
"Except your life. Or Relena's."
Zechs's shoulders stiffened at the threat.
"Treize has forbidden us to speak of it," Zechs eventually bit out. "He no longer controls the Ephemeral, but once he did."
Duo frowned.
"What, so it's one of Treize's human servants?"
Zechs barked a harsh laugh.
"No, this Ephemeral is the servant of no one. He is the master of our greatest threat."
Duo scowled at the cryptic words.
"Zechs, I'm serious, you have to tell me what you know!"
"I've told you all that I can. I've given a blood oath to Treize."
Duo swore. That meant that Zechs was literally unable to tell him more – or he would die.
"Why the secrecy? Doesn't Treize understand how dangerous this Ephemeral is?"
"Oh, he understands." Zechs glared at Duo. "May I go now?"
Duo nodded. "Sure. I'm sorry about Dorothy."
"Thank you," Zechs said in clipped tones before he turned on his heel and left.
Duo started to walk back to the apartment, intent on going over the crime scene with Hilde and Wufei, but his phone started to ring.
It was Trowa.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"He's out of surgery. They just brought him back to the room. They removed all of the silver fragments."
Duo let out a sigh of relief. "What about the blood poisoning?"
"The doctor -Robbins? – wants to try a blood transfusion, but Heero's blood isn't human OR magical. They don't have any type he will accept."
"What about mine?"
"I suggested it to the doctor. He doesn't think it will work – I told him that you and Heero had similar blood types – Heero needs too much blood."
"Yeah, well, I've got plenty to spare."
"I'll let Robbins know you're on your way."
"Thanks – I mean that, Trowa."
"I'd be a shitty Soul Mate if I let him die," Trowa pointed out.
Duo laughed.
"Yeah. I'll see you soon."
Up Next: The exciting conclusion to the 'will Heero die' segment of this fic.
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Definitions:
Council: the body that presides over magical creatures and users in the US. The Old Council refers to the European Council.
Dryad: A nature spirit, like a Sprite. Another Old One. Usually associated with a tree, and different 'families' of Dryads are associated with different trees.
Ephemeral: a human who can use magic. Used interchangeably with witch.
Jinn: alternately Djinn or Genie. They are spirits, supposedly created by God (if you're Muslim), and can be good or bad.
Old Ones: the powerful magical races. Vampires, Shape shifters, Faeries, and a few more to be named later!
Old Ways: reference to the way that the European Council ran things or the way things were before magic was legal. Sally Po refers to the old ways – a reference to the practices of Native American Shamans, and NOT the Council.
Null: a human without magical ability.
Shaman: A Native American mystic or holy person. Used in this context to mean an Ephemeral.