Here we go! The next chapter. I'm having abit of problem though. I try really hard to update my stories at about the same time but I'm writing more on this story than on my other. Hmmm. Oh, well. Once school starts up again, I promise to update more often! I always have loads more time at school. Kinda contradictory, huh? But I digress. I will put out more chapters on A Taste of Midnight when school starts.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Gundam Wing blah,blah,blah I'm not making any money same old same old.

Chapter Thirteen

Kinau had been silent ever since Heero and Duo had come home. The Lady, after hearing about the deal between himself and Rai, agreed with the vampire when he had said that Kinau should tell his lovers sooner rather than later. Tomake it easier and give them more time to say goodbye, she had put it quietly. He had done everything since they got hurt the past week. Even now, he was cooking pancakes while his beloveds were sitting at the table. Kinau was thinner than he had been in years and dark bags big enough to lay an elephant in were under his eyes. He had been covering all three of their shifts at the club. Heero and Duo were having a light conversation about what was better: sex, chocolate or a good old fashioned killing spree. It was a tie between the killing and sex because, as Duo put it, killing was like a kind of sex. Kinau's lip was trembling outside of his control. He couldn't help it. He was going to lose them in just a few short days and they didn't have any idea. He flipped the last of the pancakes onto the plate with the others. The sorrow was overwhelming but he had to hide it. He couldn't let them see so he disguised it with irritation or anger at their attackers or even at anything else he could find. Like stress.

" But I can't think of anything better than crawling under the sheets, sweaty and ready to blow with you and Kinau waiting." Duo sighed wistfully, a lustful look in his eye.

He winced in pain as his burns were aggravated once more.

"I'm fine." He said merrily, acting as if he didn't have serious burns at all.

Duo wouldn't be having sex again anytime soon. Not until his burns healed and the doctor cleared him. It almost made Kinau smile to think that in a couple of days, his lover would be itching with need. Not that it helped any. He wouldn't be able to touch them. Not with Rai's claim over him. The thought upset him greatly. He wouldn't be able to truly say goodbye. Kinau walked over and slammed both the plate and the syrup onto the table hard enough to crack the porcelain. Heero looked up at him blankly and Duo jumped backwards only to wince in pain once again.

"Hey! What gives?!" He said indignantly and somewhat angrily.

Kinau had been irritable and angry at everything since they had come home. He had been quick to provocation but he was very tired and hadn't been taking care of himself recently either. Heero doubted that he had been snatching more than an hour of sleep a night.

"You are NOT FINE, Duo!!! You're HURT! Don't you understand that?!" Kinau yelled as he blew up at one of the most precious people in his life.

Kinau spun around, leaning heavily on the counter that was still sprinkled with pancake pre-mix and thick gobs of the white almost liquid. Tears threatened to overtake him as he gathered his bearings. Closing his eyes, he breathed heavily. When he opened them again, the room was silent and he felt more together. At least alittle.

"I'm going to let Rai turn me." He whispered but he knew that Heero and Duo heard.

He knew because it was like they both stopped breathing. As if the weren't there at all. Kinau turned around to make sure that they hadn't left the room and he hadn't noticed. That would have been bad. When he saw that they were indeed still sitting at the three-seater, staring at him as if he had done something heinous and disgusting, he felt infinitely worse. Heero's eyes were blank. They may as well have been bottomless pits. Duo looked disbelieving at first, then shocked and soon after his eyes filled with rage. The older pilot stood while Kinau's eyes were leveled at the ground. Kinau didn't see the hand raised until a fierce CRACK rang through the room. Heero's eyes widened but went unnoticed.

"How could you…?" Duo whispered furiously but Kinau gave no answer, "How?! Why?! Why would you do this?!! I knew it! I knew you were going behind our backs but with a fucking VAMPIRE
?!!! That is just sick! And I'll bet you just LOVE your pet Dark Lord! Tell me does he watch or does he fuck you too?!"

He screamed, fury taking over all logical thought. Kinau felt that hand that had treated him so gently in the past hit him again. And again, until he was kneeling on the floor, still silent while the hits kept coming. Suddenly, they stopped and Heero was standing beside Duo. A cold icy anger had taken hold of the man. He wanted to see Kinau hurting like he and Duo were hurting after learning of their lover's duplicity. He gave the teen such a glare that it wouldn't have even graced the lowliest of scum.

"Let's go, Duo. We don't have to give consequence to whores and traitors. Traitors of the worst sort. Let's go to bed. I'm in the mood for some more…pleasurable activities. Something a little more tasteful." He hissed, pulling his partner out of the kitchen and towards the bedroom, making sure that Kinau could see.

Kinau heard the bedroom door lock through the cloud of his shock and despair. Their words were ringing in his ears. Somehow he managed to crawl to the couch and curl up around one of the throw pillows. Only once he was seated there did he let out his tears. He could hear the sounds of Heero and Duo's lovemaking from his place in the living room and knew at least they couldn't hear him cry. Still, he bit the pillow, trying to stifle the cries. Kinau thought for a split second that he shouldn't have made the deal but quickly smothered the thought. That decision was going to keep Duo and Heero safe. He was infinitely grateful to Rai no matter what happened because at least they would be able to go on with their lives. He had been an intruder in their lives from the start. He had barged in and taken their kindness for granted, making a home for himself with them where he didn't belong. How dare he? How dare he interfere in their happiness? He had taken some of that happiness for himself selfishly when he had become their lover. Maybe he should have just stayed in England. Somewhere other than with the Dursleys. Was that possible? Could he have gone anywhere where Dumbledore wouldn't have found him and sent him back? Doubtful, and if he had he would have had to live with someone else, infringing on their lives. He should have just killed himself. Just taken his aunt's kitchen knives and run one through his bastardly black heart. Kinau felt his vision swim before he blacked out completely.

Sometime in the night, the distressed teen slipped back into consciousness. He wasn't sure what had woken him but the apartment was silent. Heero and Duo must have fallen asleep. The thought of them and what they had done brought a fresh wave of tears that overtook him for some minutes. His cheek still hurt from where it had been repeatedly smacked, over and over. Kinau felt weak. He realized, not wholly surprised, that he hadn't eaten hardly at all today. He swore under his breath at his anemia and gently 'accio'ed the plate of pancakes that had been left on the table. Even cold and bare, they were delicious to his empty stomache. He ate four of them before he was finished. While he chewed on his dinner, he pondered over what he could do. He didn't have work tommorrow but Duo and Heero did that night. Maybe he should just leave? He could go to the Lady. She would know what to do. But his thoughts were hindered by the wave of nausea that came when he realized that his beloveds didn't want him anymore and he rushed to the bathroom to heave all of his food. Kinau winced. He hated to puke. He could just go to Rai early but...no matter what they did, he didn't want to leave them. And there was still Trowa, Quatre and Wu-Fei. Would he ever see them again? He would go and visit them tommorrow. Kinau slowly made his way back to the couch.

oOo

Now Evan wasn't exactly the most virtuous man in the world or underworld. He was a Shade, destined to stay on this mortal realm in the service of his beloved Lord Rai. He had been a vampire in life and had relished in the kill. He had been a mercenary and a hard man. But the scene that he had just witnessed through the scan of the Maxwell-Yuy home was enfuriating and sickening. How the two pilots had treated their kind lover was unjust and cruel. And just for admitting to becoming a vampire!!! He growled low in his throat. If he could, he would go down their and rescue the trembling child from their ungrateful and mistreating care. Unfortunately, such was not his job. He had been instructed to remain silent but vigil in his watch and to protect the two pilots and Kinau while he was there from harm. He watched over the young boy as he cried himself to sleep once more, utterly beside himself with shame at not being able to help. Rai however had specifically told him to make sure his presence went unnoticed. Damn! He'd never been able to stand such situations like these. His lover sat beside him, clearly thinking the same thing. Elayna shook her head in disgust. She hated humans and the way they treated eachother.

"The way they treat their mate is disgusting, Evan. If only our Lord would kill them and get it over with, his youngling could be him at last." She fumed, tossing her thick silver braid back over her shoulder.

"It isn't that simple, love. The youngling is reluctant. He is still in love with the humans, even though they have made their stand on his choice clear. He will see that our Lord is best for him."

A long silence stretched between the two while they watched the child sleep fitfully. Elayna took him hand gently, the heat of her skin a joy against the coolness of his own.

"I'm glad you would never treat me so. You were always there for me, even when your clan despised you for it. I'm sorry." She murmured with a sigh, that peculiar accent she had making her words all the more beautiful.

He smiled and squeezed her hand in return.

OoO

Kinau jerked awake, automatically on alert and wondering why he was so sore. Then Heero and Duo came out of their bedroom. Heero fixed him with a death glare that could shrivel even the bravest of hearts. Duo ignored him as best as possible until they had to walk by him to get out the door. Apparently they couldn't bare to be in his presence until it was time for them to go to work.

"We've decided that it would be best if you left. Preferably before we get back. We don't want to see you anymore. So just go on to your vampire. We are over so...Don't come back." Duo said blankly, his glare piercing through Kinau's heart.

They both left without another word. When the door closed, Kinau barely even heard it he was so immersed in shock. He never thought that it would go so far...He never thought that they would be so angry. Where was he supposed to go? He bit his lip until he felt blood trickle down his chin. Curling in on himself, he breathed hard, trying to make the world make sense again. Oh how Dumbledore would laugh at him! He would bet anything that that bastard was having hysterics in his grave. The very thought made Kinau stand up, only to sway alittle before he regained his balance. It was pouring sheets outside. The sky was so dark that it looked like dusk. Kinau barely registered what he was doing. If one were to ask him what he did in those miserable hours, he couldn't say. When he finally opened the door, it was even darker out and the rain even harder in it's fury. In his hand was a single framed picture of the three of them surrounded by Quatre, Wu-Fei and a laughing Trowa. It had been taken on Kinau's fourteenth birthday. He walked slowly as if one condemned tothe level above their's, getting soaked all the way. The apartment levels were seperated by a black metal pathway that stood open to the elements. When he finally came to apartment number 503, he knocked softly. Surely, they were home. But...What if Duo and Heero were inside? Kinau felt his insides cringe and he unconciously backed away from the door. Was he afraid of them now? Yes. What if they had told the others about his treachery? Would they think him disgusting too? He leaned against the door, feeling his knees give and hit the hard platform. Hot tears cascaded down his face and he let them come. He couldn't stop them. He huddled around the picture until the door behind him opened and he looked up. Quatre was standing above him with the saddest look on his face that Kinau had ever seen.

"Do you hate me now, too, Quatre?" He whispered, dissolving into sobs.

Behind them, he could see Trowa stepping out of the kitchen with an apron on and Wu-Fei getting out of the shower. Quatre leaned down to hold the miserable boy tight in his arms, tears filling his eyes at the sight of his broken friend.

"No, Kinau. I don't hate you. I know you only meant well."

Kinau felt himself picked up and carried into the house, dripping wet and crying with the picture still in his hands.

Wu-Fei wrapped a towel around him trying to dry him off alittle and surveyed the scene. Kinau was still wearing the clothes from yesterday that he had worn to work and his hair was a mess. On his cheek was a huge black and purple bruise. Trowa turned off the television and took of the oven mits he was wearing.

"Kinau, what happened?" Quatre asked and kneeled down to get a good look at the downcast boy he loved so much.

Kinau took a shakey breath.

"I told them. I told them about deciding to let Rai turn me."

The three pilots shared similar looks of anxiety. Wu-Fei tilted his head up with a gentle hand, turning it to the side to see the bruise better. His eyes flashed with fury that someone had dared to hit him.

"Who gave you this?" He hissed, glaring at the offending discoloration.

Kinau bit his lip again, refusing to look at him. If he told him, Wu-Fei would go after Duo. What would happen then? Someone else would get hurt and it would be all his fault...His hesitancy made the chinese pilot frown deeper.

"Kinau..."

"Duo." He finally answered at his friend's warning tone.

The silence that stretched after his answer scared Kinau more than Wu-Fei's glare. The fear buried in his heart, worming a cavity there where love used to be. What would he do without Duo and Heero? What else was there...? He had only agreed to Rai's deal because of them but now they hated and despised him. What more was there? Nothing. There was nothing left for him. It was a thought that would stay with him for the next day and ahalf.

oOo

Kinau sat up in Wu-Fei's bed where he had been sleeping that night. A large pair of pants and an oversized t-shirt were layed out for him on the end of the bed. Wu-Fei had already gotten up for the day. Outside it was still raining just as it had the day before when he had come to their home. Quickly, he dressed and tried not to think about the turn for the worst his life had just taken. His friends' apartment was just like Duo and Heero's excpet the decorating was much cozier. Of course, Quatre had decorated this one so, naturally, it was nicer looking. The walls were all painted a soft inviting blue that almost looked purple in certain lights. The doorways and entryways were all white. The three pilots all sat at the breakfast table around omelets, rice and a soft flakey sort of pastry that Quatre called a kunafa. It smelled heavenly but when Trowa offered him a plate, Kinau's stomache turned. Instead, Quatre plunked down a glass of white grape juice and three iron tablets. He had forgotten that he had an extra bottle of medication here...He whispered out a 'thank you' and the blonde smiled at him. After swallowing the pills, however, all he could do was sip at the juice. He knew that his friends were sharing concerned looks over his head but couldn't bring himself to care. He felt...empty.

"We have to go to the store today, Kinau. Is there anything you would like?" Quatre asked cheerily, but got only a negative response.

"No, thank you."

He heard a small sigh come from one of them but ignored it in favor of staring down at the table. The pounding rain slammed against the window pane outside. The whole house thrummed with the sound. Breakfast was cleared away but Kinau's plate was left in hopes that he would at least pick at it. They got ready to go, Quatre and Trowa to the grocery store and Wu-Fei to the auto-repair shop. It was a sad affair. Kinau watched them all get ready and felt lonelier than ever. Quatre had felt his forehead and an instant later deemed him too unwell to leave the house. He said he had a fever but Kinau felt fine, if only slightly dizzy if he moved too quickly. They bid him farewell and promised to bring him back some mochi before leaving him alone. He sat for some time in the silence just listening to the rain pound the small home. Just sat there, curled on the couch just as he had been the night he left home.

'Whore! Traitor. We don't give consequence to whores or traitors...How could you?! Don't come back. I knew you were going behind our backs but with a fucking vampire

It would be better if he just...He had nothing left. Nothing left for him to give. He was drained. Completely without hope. He reached under the coffee table where he knew Trowa kept his emergency throwing knives. He fingered the sharp edge with a slight smile. Duo didn't want him to come back. Neither of them did. And he always gave them what they wanted. Clutching the picture to his chest, he walked toward the bathroom with the blade in hand. He hadn't let go of that damned picture since he got there. Kinau kneeled down on the cold tile of the bathroom. He didn't want to get his dirty blood on their clean carpet and cause his friends even more grief. His hands were shaking and he had a moment to think that maybe he really was sick before shrugging it off and making the first cut. It welled blood fast. He'd cut deep. He made an 'X' on each wrist. They didn't need him anymore. So what use was he? It was better if he just went on to whatever came next. He didn't want to hope or wish. It only hurt in the end. As his vision began to blacken, Kinau felt tears slide down his face. He could feel the knife slip from his numb fingers and he squeezed the frame tighter. Half concious, half not, he imagined that he heard shouts. Someone screaming his name. Too late...He blacked out.