What the hell happened to Duo? Only he is capable of disappearing into thin air without a trace in just a few hours. Now not only was everyone in the castle going to suffer, but most likely this entire town would as well. All because Duo had to once again be careless and forget to at least check in with Heero. Sally had never imagined the half-vampire to be so irresponsible, but she'd learned never to doubt something like this would happen. It was just another typical thing of Duo to do... the only reason she wouldn't strangle him on sight was because of Heero's warning.

As she descended down the mountain she stopped as something unusual caught her eye. Sally could tell something had happened, but found it odd that it happened on the very edge of the forest. Most likely an ambush from the look disturbed area, but her main clue was the small scrap of cloth that looked similar to Duo's clothing. Without a moment of hesitation Sally went into the town and headed in the direction she knew to be the schoolhouse. She knew Duo wouldn't be there, but hopefully Thomas would and perhaps he could enlighten her about what happened.

The schoolhouse was completely empty of all signs of life which left the vampire with no clue of where to search next. Instead of dwelling on the reality of the situation, Sally tried to be optimistic and decided to search the town in hopes of finding the boy. She called his name and searched everywhere for the orphan, and just as she was about to give up hope when she found him. It was nearly morning when she finally discovered the child asleep on the street corner. Oddly enough he looked at peace as he slept on the cold ground.

"Thomas wake up!" She shook the boy awake, and once Thomas had opened his eyes there was a look of shock. "What are you staring at? Hurry up and get on your feet!"

"I thought that you guys had abandoned me already... since Duo never showed up I was sure that I was being dumped again." Thomas wanted to hug Sally, but knew better than to do that. "So where is Duo...? Is he alright?"

Sally let out an exasperated sigh as she knew what this meant... Thomas had no idea what happened to Duo either. This was becoming troublesome, and now she had no leads whatsoever in figuring out what happened to the half-vampire.

Not only was she annoyed and disappointed at the realization, but fear also began to consume her. Just knowing that Heero was waiting for her to return with Duo, and the thought of her not showing up with the half-vampire was horrible. Imagining what would happen to the townspeople if she didn't bring Duo back was even worse to imagine.

"You don't know anything about what happened...? Nothing at all?" Sally knew that even the boy could hear the fear as she spoke. "Is there nothing you saw or heard that was strange to you?"

Thomas shook his head hesitantly, not wanting to disappoint Sally and make her angry. Instead of going into a rage the vampire actually bowed her head in defeat and then picked Thomas up by the waist. "Are we going back to the castle Ms. Sally?"

"I will make sure you are safely returned for Duo, but unfortunately my safety is not guaranteed."

----

It took every ounce of his willpower to restrain himself from wreaking havoc on the town, but he impatiently sat there waiting for Sally to return. The vampire was obviously taking her time as the sun had set hours ago, and she had yet to return. The vampire had attempted to distract himself by focusing on other issues, but there were none more important than Duo's disappearance. Finally he heard Sally entering the castle, but stopped at the top of the staircase when he saw no Duo.

No... The only other person he saw with Sally was that wretched boy...

"Where is he Sally? I thought you had understood my message loud and clear, but obviously that isn't the case. Duo's not hear which means you failed at your mission." Heero descended the staircase in a matter of seconds and was at the door before he stopped to look back. "Be wary Thomas... if I return without Duo you will be the first to die. After all, had you not shown up none of this would've happened."

He could see Thomas trembling and knew that the child probably wouldn't sleep tonight. After that last glance Heero took his leave out into the night air and wished it wasn't such a horrible occasion to be out on such a glorious night as this one.

Before he left Sally grabbed the vampire's shoulder with desperation in her eyes she pleaded with him. "Master Heero, I know Duo is your beloved, but you can not risk yourself like this. Without you the entire castle will collapse and all of us will be plagued with chaos until your return."

The woman obviously didn't realize just how much Duo meant to him... She also didn't realize that Heero hadn't killed her on the spot for the outburst because he knew Duo would hate him for it. "You've overstepped your boundary one too many times Sally, but luckily I will overlook it this last time. You must manage the castle in my absence and nobody is to leave my territory for any reason."

He figured with such straightforward orders there would be no misunderstandings. Without any more interruptions the vampire took his leave and didn't even slow down as Sally called after him. There would be no one and nothing to stop him from finding Duo, even if it meant risking his own existence, as long as Duo was safely found and back in his arms.

As soon as he reached the outskirts of the forest, Heero discovered the same little area Sally had. Immediately he was able to see the signs of a struggle even though there was evidence of trying to cover it up. Examining every little thing out of place gave Heero no real hints other than this must've been where Duo fought. Obviously whoever this attacker was knew about Heero's castle being near here. That narrowed down the choices to strictly vampires.

Once that elimination was made it was pretty obvious who the person doing this was. It had to be the bloodling who'd threatened him the other day, and apparently the young vampire had discovered something precious to Heero. How he did it wasn't the issue of the moment, but all that mattered was trying to remember where the hell the bloodling had established his territory. There were so many bloodlings in this area that it would be hard figuring out which one is the one he is looking for.

The newest bloodling he was aware of goes by the name of... what is that stupid name? Apparently this bloodling wasn't very original and had decided to keep his human name unlike most vampires. Most vampires wanted to forget their pasts in hopes of making a better future, yet this bloodling hadn't. Which probably meant that this bloodling wasn't ready to let go of his humanity yet. There were several possible reasons as to why that was, but usually it was because the vampire wanted revenge of some sort. This kind of thing goes beyond merely tampering with prey or treading on another's territory, whatever this bloodling wanted was probably something Duo did instead of Heero.

Still, this didn't make Heero give the ignorant vampire any pity as he continued to map out all the territories in his mind. Apparently he'd have to resort to visiting an old friend and neighbor in order to figure out the identity of the bloodling.

Heero now made his next destination to be the castle of Gabriel and unfortunately the journey would take him the last few hours before dawn to reach his old colleague. "Gabriel... you'd better attend those meetings still."

Flitting was the fastest form of transportation for a vampire, but even as Heero forced himself to go speeds beyond normal it was not fast enough. His mind was screaming to have the familiarity of Duo's presence and to just have the half-vampire beside him once again.

----

The only thing Duo knew could be completely sure of is that Janus had a real grudge against him and Heero for absolutely ridiculous reasons. Maybe what Janus had told Duo wasn't the truth, but he seemed pretty convincing. So Duo didn't really doubt it.

Yet there was just something about the blank spot in his memory about where he knew Janus that seemed odd. Never before had Duo realized he had parts of his past he'd forgotten, but now it seemed like a lot of his life was trapped in a fog. Heero had never spoken of this before... so maybe this was just Duo's imagination? Or perhaps he was still recovering from whatever drugs Janus had given him.

Whatever it was it made him feel terrified. Just the thought of losing the memories of his life as a human... it made him feel like he was losing everything to his vampire side. Is that such a bad thing though? Most likely it wasn't as bad as Duo was thinking it would be, but he just wasn't capable of convincing himself of that.

Janus didn't give Duo much time to himself as the bloodling came back after only a couple of hours. He had a smug look that made Duo despise the vampire even more, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was wait for the right moment to attack Janus.

"Feeling nostalgic Maxwell? Or are you going to pretend to be brave?"

"Why don't you stop hiding over there and come closer?" Duo countered as he gave a light tug to the restraints. All he wanted was answers, but that obviously wasn't going to happen without a bit of prying. "How do you know my name Janus?"

Janus took a few steps closer, but still kept a safe distance from Duo. He gave the half-vampire a scrutinizing look as if trying to take Duo apart with his eyes. Then a smirk slowly spread as he turned to his two huge servants expectantly. "You two feel free to play with this hybrid."

Duo didn't allow the fear he was feeling show on his face as the two men towered over him. "Always going to let others do the dirty work, aren't you Janus?"

When Duo said it, it must've triggered part of his memory as he suddenly heard Janus' voice in his head.

'What happened to being blood brothers? When did it become possible to break that bond?!'

One man had grabbed Duo's arm by the time the half-vampire snapped out of his daze. He watched as Janus gave one last look before disappearing around a corner, and that's when Duo knew things were about to get really uncomfortable. But what these men weren't expecting was that Duo wasn't about to take anything like this willingly.

As soon as the servants had let their guards down since they had finally started to get some of Duo's clothes off. The first guard was easy to take out as all it took was as simple twist of the neck until it cracked. The man must've thought Duo was just enjoying himself too much when he wrapped his arms around the huge vampire's neck, but that servant didn't suffer any as his neck was broken in only a few seconds.

The second guard couldn't seem to believe what had just happened to the other vampire, but didn't allow Duo to take him out so easily. When Duo attempted to give a swift kick to the head the huge servant grabbed his leg and threw him as far as the chains allowed before nearly ripping Duo's arms off as he came to a sudden halt. The half-vampire tried to recover quickly and put on a good show for the vampire who had began to get cocky.

"Not so brave, are we? I'll just break all the bones in your arms and legs so you won't get anymore stupid ideas." He bent down a little to try and grab Duo up off the ground, and that was his mistake.

Duo shot his arm straight in the vampire's face as he targeted the servant's eyes. He hit his mark as the huge man let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain and fury. As the vampire was now in a blind rage he lashed out randomly not realizing what Duo was planning. The half-vampire held up his chains as the man came closer trampling over his dead comrade.

Finally the vampire came close and lashed out catching one of Duo's chains. He didn't seem to realize what it was and instantly broke one of the links clean in half. Duo was now almost free, but the servant seemed to be calming down a little more by the second. So the half-vampire threw the other chain and mocked trying to hurt the huge vampire with it.

Luckily he still wasn't thinking clearly and took the bait. This time he just ended up ripping the links apart and gave Duo the freedom he'd been waiting for. Duo still had to wear the restraints around his wrists, but now he didn't have 30-feet of it trailing behind him. One arm had about six feet of chain while the other only had four.

"Thanks a lot! I feel so much better having my freedom back, so now I'm in a much better mood!" Duo knew he had the chance to escape now, but he felt that he owed his captor a little payback before he left. It appeared that Duo had only destroyed the vampire's left eye as he suddenly glared straight at Duo with his one eye.

It was actually a little comical to see the one-eyed vampire trying to intimidate Duo with a glare from only one eye. Yet the half-vampire didn't allow himself to become too distracted or underestimate the guy just because he'd lost one eye. All vampires had an unnaturally strong survival instinct which made Duo at a slight disadvantage at this point.

He was drained of quite a bit of his strength just from exhaustion and the drugs, but he knew if he screwed up now that would lose his only chance of fleeing this place. So he taunted the vampire hoping to get the idiot to make a bad move, but apparently he'd regained his wits. Which was making the situation look even worse for Duo.

Still nothing was going to stop him from getting out of here and going home. Not even if the entire world came crashing down on him! Duo made the first move bursting into a full sprint straight at the guy which didn't catch the big vampire off-guard. But when Duo dropped down into a slide to knock the servant's feet from under him. That caught the vampire by surprise and he fell straight to the ground. Duo did hesitate as he used the end of the chains still on his wrists to beat at the vampire's head and throat.

All the frustration Janus had caused Duo was being taken out on the poor vampire's head as when Duo finally stopped there was not trace of that ever looking even remotely like a human or vampire. Duo had to throw up in the corner before he felt like he was able to leave.

As he stepped out of the cave he found it to be the dead of night. He let out a relieved sigh as he began to survey his surroundings when he felt a presence behind him. "Damn... I thought I'd managed to get away without getting caught. But I guess not-"

Duo turned to come face-to-face with Heero, and he felt like crying. The half-vampire made sure not to though.

"What happened to you? Did that bloodling have the guts to actually damage you?" Heero was inspecting every inch of Duo's exposed body, but the half-vampire felt his body beginning to scream at him. He didn't even know what the hell a bloodling was, but at the moment Duo didn't even care because all that mattered was he was safe now.

"Forget Janus and all of this... just please take me back to the castle... I need to be back with you and everyone else." Duo felt himself losing consciousness again and was glad he didn't have to make the journey alone. Apparently that fight had taken a lot more of his energy than he'd originally thought.

----

"I can't believe this is happening on top of everything else!" Sally was pacing beside the bed with Thomas lying in it. Hilde was feeding the child a homemade remedy she'd made in case any of their humans ever caught the plague. She was almost positive it would cure the illness up in a few days, but the child's fever just continued to grow. "Master Heero didn't care for the boy... but Duo... God he loved this child like a son and I allowed him to catch the Black Death!"

Hilde ushered the blonde vampire out of the room and tried to quiet her as Thomas was falling into a fitful sleep. Once the chef had led Sally away from the room and sat her down Hilde went to fetch something for her to drink. Hilde came back with two wine glasses with blood and handed one to Sally before sitting down.

"There's nothing you could've done Sally... they say the Black Death is air-borne and there's not way to stop it." Hilde rested her hand on Sally's leg while the two tried to ignore the tension in the air. "Duo will not hate you for something that you could not prevent... Thomas is human and they are prone to catch illnesses."

Sally suddenly looked up at the chef when she had an idea of possibly saving the boy.

Quatre didn't encounter any obstacles when clearing the wall around the town, but now he had to worry about the police on patrol on the road to the next town. Obviously they would be suspicious of Quatre leaving a supposedly sealed in town at midnight, but the blonde had to get there before dawn.

He made sure his timing was flawless as he crept right out from under the police officers' noses and Quatre had to make sure not to get too caught up in his victory. After walking about a mile away from the town and not seeing a trace of any humans Quatre decided it was safe to flit the rest of the way to the next town. Hopefully they wouldn't be on guard as well, because the blonde didn't feel like scaling anymore walls tonight.

Just as he was about to flit he heard voices coming down the road towards him, and the blonde vampire had to hide in the forest. At first Quatre thought the voices were familiar, but then he just shrugged the thought off. Nobody he knew would be this far from his hometown, but as he watched the people turn the corner he was shocked to see someone he did recognize.

It wasn't just anybody either... it was Trowa!

----

Quatre restrained himself from jumping out and startling the two men. Obviously they were still vampire hunters even though they no longer were as notorious as before. After the incident with Duo and Heero, the blonde vampire knew that anyone would stay away from them. Those two didn't take well to outside meddling at all, but Quatre hated that it had driven Trowa away from him just because of those two.

He was trying hard to think of what he could do now that he'd finally found Trowa... It was almost dawn and the two hunters were heading straight for the town Quatre had just escaped from.

"Guess I have no choice but to follow them back... I'll just wait until the distract all of the patrollers and then get back inside the town's walls." The blonde sighed as he knew this was a lot more trouble than he'd even expected when setting out to search for Trowa.

----

Happy New Year to all of you awesome readers! I was hoping to post this earlier in the week, but I kept getting distracted. So here is the next chapter to Vampire Love Child.

As always, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say, so please...

Read & Review!

Shari Maxwell