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Chapter Summary: France and Canada wind up at Norway's house, attracted by the scent of power but side-tracked by Denmark. Japan and Turkey try to get Norway to help Greece, only to discover he may have been safer with the vampires.

Ch. 18: Distractions

October 31, 7:30 PM

As the incubi fly through the dream-world, constantly distracted by one another, they smell something incredible. More energy than they know what to do with; more than enough for both of them. They chase after the scent of it, full of laughter and lust, and finally tumble out into the open air above Norway's house. "Really? I must say, I did not expect to end up here of all places," says France. "Our dear sorcerer must be drawing that energy from the other side. Our side."

"Does it matter?" asks Canada.

France laughs. "Of course not! So long as he is willing."

"The downstairs lights are on!" Canada points toward the house. "That's a good sign!"

"Most certainly," France winks, smoothly landing on the grass. He sweeps out his wings and entwines his tail with Canada's. Then he pauses. "Do you hear...singing?"

Canada blinks, looking up. There's a rustling in the huge oak tree nearby. And, yes, singing. His eyes narrow. "I hear it."

Meanwhile, Denmark has begun singing 'Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall'. For the third time. Not that he knows it's the third time, of course. But he does feel a vague sense of de ja vu, up here on the third-to-top branch, swinging his legs. "Eighty-six bottles of beer on the wall, eighty-six bottles of beer..."

"Take one down, pass it around, eighty-five bottles of beer on the wall..." Denmark sings happily, though he's actually quite bored. "Norge?" He calls into the darkness. "Can I come down now?" There is no response. Sighing, he swings his legs. "Eighty-five bottles of..."

"Perfect," Canada says, "a snack." He licks his lips and heads for the tree, trying to look nonthreatening.

The trouble with being an incubus is that it's very, very easy to get distracted. The moment an easier or more palatable prey presents itself, they instantly go after it. France grins past his fangs and follows Canada, swinging his hips. When they reach the tree he rests his body along the length of the trunk and purrs, his voice carrying the power of sleep and lust. "Good evening, Mattias. You look cold. Poor thing; you must have been out here for so long. Why not rest? We'll take good care of you."

"Why don't you come down here and watch the stars with us?" Canada says coyly, his hands sliding over the trunk, long nails digging into the wood. "It's a lovely night for it."

Denmark looks down at the voices. Whoa. Frannie and that other dude have really done it up for Halloween. He grins. "You want me to come down and...?"

"Oh yes, cheri. We want you very, very badly. We could even come to you, if you'd like." France runs a hand down his bare chest, arching into it and moaning.

"Oh, hell yeah," Denmark says happily, trying to climb down the tree as fast as humanly possible. But the minute he touches the iron chain, he hisses and flies back up into the branches. It's only when he's firmly seated on the third branch from the top that he shakes himself out of it and tries to remember what just happened.

Frowning, the incubi look at one another. "Per'aps we should go up to him?" asks France, spreading his wings.

"Yeah. That would be best," Canada agrees.

"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles..." Denmark begins all over again, kicking his legs out and swinging them. Being in this tree really seems to fuck with his concentration.

France launches himself into the air, then hovers by Denmark's branch. "Come cheri! We could carry you down, if you'd like! Though I make no promises as to where we will land."

Canada, too, takes flight, circling to face Denmark. "You can land on me, if you want," he purrs, reaching out to touch their mark's pretty impish face.

Denmark blinks, shaking his head in disbelief. And then he lets out a scream. "BATS!" he yells, smacking one in its oddly nation-ish face. "GIANT BATS! GETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!" He grabs one of the lighter branches above him and cracks it off, swinging it at them.

France shrieks and darts away, half tangling with Canada as they both fly. "Ah- wait, Mattias, it's- ow! stop it! - it's us, we just want...EEP!"

"TALKING BATS!" Denmark yelps. "HOLY SHIT, GIANT TALKING BATS! NOOOOORRRGGGEE!" He continues to swing, but loses his balance and just manages to grip the tree in time to keep himself from falling. His leg touches the chain and he climbs back up to his usual branch, just as he had before.

"Um..." Canada blinks, hovering out of Denmark's range. Clearly, something about that chain bothers the imp. "Fran?"

France rubs his scraped elbow and hisses at the tree. "I can't decide if he's just playing a trick, or if something else is truly going on. Either way I am unamused. But! We have a Norwegian to fuck, don't we?"

Canada blinks as he remembers. "Oh, yes we do." He grins, taking off toward the house.

Denmark, oblivious to all of the previous events, begins singing again. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall..."

XXX

Having exhausted all the entertainment to be had within the house, Norway considers going outside to taunt Denmark before making his way elsewhere to stir up a little trouble. According to some very interesting correspondence he has discovered in his host's phone and papers, there are plenty of interesting things happening tonight, including a pack of werewolves. He rather likes werewolves; these might make excellent pets.

Just as Norway reaches the front hall, there's a knock at the door. It seems the entertainment has come to him. He opens it and squints at three figures on his doorstep; the rising moonlight is so bright that it leaves them in shadows. One of the three is carrying another; how delightful. He steps back to let them in. "What happened?"

"Vampire kittens," Japan seethes. "They seem to be very much attracted to Hera's blood. We need to stow him somewhere safe and heal him." It is only when he fully enters the house that he notices something is... off. Like someone dimmed all the lights, or closed every door and window. It feels stifling. He continues anyway; it would be impolite to mention such a thing. "We were hoping you could help us. There is a spell for this, isn't there?"

"Vampires, eh?" Norway asks, raising an eyebrow. Then he realizes exactly what was said, and cannot hide his honest surprise. "Vampire...kittens?"

"Yes; didn't Kiku tell you on the phone?" Turkey replies, shoving down the urge to let Greece's head smack against the door as he carries him inside - but only because he's already unconscious. The man is limp and pale as the moon.

Even Norway (or rather, the thing occupying his body) might not believe such a thing, but there are several floating, mewing balls of fluff following close behind the group. He lets a few enter the house, just to keep it exciting, before slamming the door shut. He grins when he hears at least one smack straight into the wood. "Of course. Bring him to the guest room upstairs, I'll take a look."

They follow Norway up three flights of stairs and around the corner. He seems to be purposely taking them to the back end of the house, but Japan can't say for sure. He's too worried about Greece.

"He's very bad off," he says softly, his hand supporting Greece's head as Turkey lowers him to the bed. "He doesn't seem to understand what's happening to him. He's unconscious now, but when he was still awake he wouldn't let us keep the kittens away."

Norway hums in response, leaning over the prone form and laying a hand over his chest. The breathing is shallow and the heart is too slow. He can practically smell death on him, and he wonders who might come to claim a nation. Odin, Freyja, Hel? Probably not; probably one of this one's own gods. "He's dying," he says, without remorse or comfort.

Turkey starts, and then tries to pretend the thought doesn't worry him. "You can fix it though, right?"

"Oh Kami Sama!" Japan gasps, dropping to his knees by the bed and combing his fingers through Greece's hair. "Please! Please say there's a way-" A vampire kitten lunges at Greece and he automatically tosses it away with a tentacle, then looks to see if Turkey noticed.

Turkey is busy appearing very intentionally unworried, but Norway notices. He almost reaches out to grab the tentacle, but decides that can wait for later. There is still fun to be had right here. He could do just as they ask and heal Greece, then keep him safe. That, however, is much too easy, and there's a spell he's been wanting to try for ages. "I can do something. I'll need to get the right items together and find a place for the ritual. Perhaps the basement; I've never tried this before, it's always best to have a cage handy if things go wrong."

A...what? Japan looks up in shock, his eyebrows raising. "Isn't there a spell? There must be. Oh, Hera, come back. Please..." he whispers. But that skin is cool and pale, and he knows there's no way Greece is coming back without help. "We have to move fast."

"Not really. The body will keep for a night at least." Norway shrugs and stands, beginning to make his way toward an imp-proof cabinet of magical necessities.

"Wait - the body?" Turkey frowns, hand running idly over Greece's leg as he tries to keep the blood flowing. "You can't mean you're going to let him die!"

Norway waves a dismissive hand. "Oh relax, I'm going to bring him back. 'Zombie,' is that the popular term these days?"

"Zombie?!" Japan shrieks, jolting to his feet. Norway wants to turn Greece into a zombie? "What the hell is wrong with you!" he cries out, unable to contain his anger. "No! You will heal him! There has to be a way!"

Norway looks over his shoulder and smirks. "There is. I'd just much rather have a zombie, wouldn't you? Something to add to our little collection of monsters." He looks over Japan and Turkey meaningfully.

For a second, Japan turns white. "How DARE you?" he yells, about to reach out and strangle Norway with his tentacles. "He's dying! You can't- Lukas, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Norway laughs; low, wicked, and not at all like himself. "Oh my dear, such a face should not be wasted! The things I'm going to do to you!"

Turkey hisses, hackles standing on edge and his nails suddenly long and sharp. He steps in front of Japan. "You won't lay a hand on either of them, or I swear I will rip you to shreds."

One of the kittens hisses at his shoulder, baring its little fangs at Norway. Yet the man keeps laughing. "Adorable! I never expected it to be this easy to get everyone riled up."

"That's it!" Japan starts toward Norway with intent to maim, at least. "You will perform the spell to heal Hera, or I swear to you, I will-"

One of the kittens gets brave and actually lunges for Norway. It hisses, swooping down, claws and fangs bared. But Norway is too fast. He grabs the kitten around the middle, crushing its legs so that it can't claw and ignoring the little bites on his hand. He opens a window and throws it out, as hard as he can.

"No!" Turkey launches himself out the window after the kitten; it's just a baby, and dizzy like that the poor thing won't be able to fly.

Norway blinks and raises an eyebrow. "...did he know we were three stories up?"

"Sadik!" Japan screams, throwing himself toward the window. No! No, he can't lose them both. He peers out the broken window, looking for a body on the ground. But there is none. Where could he have gone?

Norway looks over his shoulder, eyebrow arching higher. "Curious. Well, maybe he's in the bushes. Shall we go scrape him up? Two zombies are even better than one."

"Sadik!" Japan wails, pushing Norway away and running down the stairs, out the door. He has to find him. He might still be alive, they might be able to do something. They have to. He can't live without Greece and Turkey; he might as well jump from that window himself.

Norway follows casually, shaking his head. What kind of a world is this when a man jumps out a window to save a kitten? But then...Turkey is not a man at all, is he? None of them are. Perhaps there lies the answer to his boredom. A new plan begins to form in his mind, and he smiles behind Japan's back, even opens the door to let him out.

There, beside the door, stands Turkey, smoking. There are a few cuts on him from the glass, but he has an intact kitten on his shoulder. He looks up and exhales quickly at the shock on Japan's face. "What?"

"You- Sadik, you're-!" Japan's eyes well with tears of joy, and he throws his arms around Turkey's neck, ignoring both the kitten and the cigarette to kiss the man full on the mouth. He revels in it, even the taste of the smoke, and pulls him as close as lovers can get.

Surprised but pleased, Turkey wraps his arms around Japan and kisses him right back, letting the cigarette fall to the dirt. The kitten yowls and he pulls back with a small smile. "I always land on my feet."

Norway snorts. Such foolish sentimentality. Well, let them make eyes at each other all night, so long as they stay out of his way. He has a zombie to make. The door slams shut.