Hilde felt her hands trembling as the full realization of what she'd done really hit her. She had just taken a child's life and turned him into a vampire... but what choice had she really had? It was either allow the child to suffer and die of the Black Death or at least give him another chance at life as a vampire. Whether she wanted to admit it or not Hilde knew that she hadn't wanted Thomas to die, and she knew Duo wouldn't have wanted it either.

That's why she had done it... Sally had tried everything to keep her from feeling all the guilt. Yet there wasn't anything the blonde vampire could do that would truly comfort Hilde until Duo and Heero arrived back at the castle and she could tell them. Yet Sally wasn't so quick to give up on trying to improve Hilde's mood. She'd realized this was also her chance to tell the chef exactly what she'd been wanting to for so long. Perhaps it was bad timing considering what was happening with Thomas and everyone else in the castle... but this would probably be the last opportunity she'd ever get.

Both vampires waited impatiently by Thomas' bedside as he began to recover and they could see Thomas' body slowly getting used to his transformation. Already he looked a lot paler than before, but at least the two of them were able to see that everything was going smoothly. If anything were going wrong they'd have been able to tell if his lips began to turn slightly blue or show any other signs of death. For such a young human to be turned into a vampire it would take nearly two days for him to finally regain consciousness meaning that he'd fully recovered. Adults or young adults typically only required about a day or less to recover which was why they never needed such long periods of rest. Children on the other hand, their entire body was being strengthened which took much longer since they hadn't fully developed.

"Hilde," Sally took the vampire by the arm and began to slowly lead her out of the room where they could talk. Once she'd closed the door to Thomas' room Sally began to lead Hilde away, and the first servant she spotted she told them to wait by the child's room in case he woke up. "You haven't had any sleep in almost a day, and no nourishment at all. Let me get you something so you can at least look alright when he wakes up."

While Sally found some of the blood being saved for meals and something to serve it in to Hilde she tried to form a plan. She could either just come right out with it or accept whatever Hilde's response is, she could just forget about it all together, or she could just continue to drop subtle hints that Hilde would probably never pick up on. As she finally discovered where there were some bowls, Sally just grabbed one and poured the blood into it knowing it wouldn't matter all that much to Hilde anyway.

As she came back out she could see Hilde having an internal struggle of not knowing whether to regret her decision or accept it as the last resort. Sally already knew Duo wouldn't be mad at Hilde for what she did to save Thomas. The difficult part was just getting Hilde to realize this, but Sally knew she would just have to keep trying until she succeeded.

Handing the bowl over to Hilde, she gratefully began to sip at the crimson liquid, but didn't really seem in the mood for it. Instead Sally tried to think of some way to distract her from this whole situation in hopes that she may start to go back to her optimistic self.

"So Hilde... how long have you been here at the castle working for Master Heero?"

The question seemed to snap Hilde out of her trance as she stared at the floor thoughtfully trying to count the years. Sally was patient in waiting as Hilde thought about her answer, but Hilde could see the relief when she finally answered. "It's been about sixty years or so... before that I lived in the town at the base of the mountain. Master Heero actually saved me back then. My life was a living hell with no husband and no real life to look forward to. Master Heero showed up one day and offered me another life that I could start over, and I took it, of course."

Listening attentively Sally had no intention of interrupting Hilde's story, but the woman stopped and didn't seem to want to start the conversation back up. Sally wasn't quite ready to drop the conversation yet, so she thought of another question she'd been dying to ask. "So how long have you been alone? Have you ever tried looking for your own partner?"

"No, you know servants aren't really permitted to look for partners. We're a lower status than a vampire like you, so vampires like Master Heero don't usually encourage us to search. If we did then head vampires wouldn't have servants to serve them like this, and too many vampires would live for much too long." Hilde set the bowl down on a small table beside her and then looked up at Sally. "It's the balance of vampires. Servants, such as I, have a much shorter lifespan because we're usually killed before we turn into beasts. While head vampires live out their lives for eternity until they are killed."

Sally suddenly grabbed Hilde's hand and held it firmly while the other vampire stared at her confused. The blonde vampire wasn't about to let this chance go without a fight. "Master Heero would understand if you wanted a partner Hilde. He has more respect for his servants than those other vampires do and would allow it without any objection. So will you... will you become my partner?"

A tense silence fell upon the room as neither of the women spoke and nobody else was around. It seemed like ages that the two of them just looked at each other, Sally with determination and Hilde looked dazed. Finally the silence was broken as a servant bustled into the room and pointed a finger towards the direction on the room Thomas was resting. Both vampires jumped out of the seats and ran towards the room fearing the worst.

Bursting into the room they saw Thomas sitting up in bed turning his over and staring at them curiously. He looked up from his hands and smiled peacefully at them before his childlike attitude came back and he bounded out of bed to hug the two women. They looked down at the child in wonder at his impossibly quick recovery, and Sally could see Hilde smiling while tears started to come.

"Sally... I would love to be your partner."

----

Waking up Duo realized that it was still light outside, but the sun was setting so it would only be a little while longer before the sun was gone. It suddenly hit him as the half-vampire sat up in the bed and Duo realized that Heero wasn't there anymore. As he got out of bed, Duo didn't feel any panic about Heero being gone, but he just felt uncomfortable being on his own in this strange place. He walked to the door and hesitated as he wondered if it would be better to stay or try to find Heero.

Eventually Duo decided on searching for Heero and getting the chance to clear his head from everything happened over the last couple of days. As he walked down the hall he realized that Gabriel wasn't materialistic as he had previously thought, but in fact the vampire was just honoring what appeared to be his ancestors. All of them people in the portraits had very distinct blonde hair that almost looked silver and their fierce green eyes gave them a very unique look. The atmosphere of the castle was very relaxed and peaceful which made Duo feel a little more comfortable as he wandered the corridors.

After a while of examining all the portraits Duo ended up in what appeared to be the entrance hall of the castle, and there at the bottom of the large staircase was Heero and who Duo believed is Gabriel. The vampire towered over Heero and his hair was dark and slicked back, and it reminded him of all the stories he'd heard as a child in town. He was even paler than Heero was and that started to make Duo wonder exactly how old Gabriel is. The two were speaking in hushed tones, and Heero looked furious about whatever Gabriel was saying so Duo wanted to know what was going on.

Both vampires shut up as Duo started down the stairs, and Heero refused to look over at Duo. Gabriel looked up at the half-vampire and Duo almost stopped as he looked into the vampire's crimson eyes. Those eyes looked so malevolent, and it made Duo reluctant to go any closer to the two of them. Most likely the fear was coming from whatever part of him was still human, but his vampire side was just wary of this new person. As he reached to bottom of the stairs he took his place beside Heero, and Gabriel just turned and walked away from the two of them.

Once Gabriel had completely disappeared from sight Duo turned to his partner with questioning eyes. "What's going on Heero? Did something happen?"

"It's nothing you should be concerned with Duo... My carelessness allowed that bloodling to escape last night. I should've stayed and killed him right there, but I didn't want you to remain there for another second." Heero tried to hide the confusion of whether to be guilty or be happy with the decision he'd made. "Tonight we must return to the castle. Gabriel is not happy about my bringing you here as only a half-vampire. Be ready soon."

Duo just gave a solemn nod to let Heero know he understood, but when he thought Heero was going to leave him the vampire didn't move an inch. The half-vampire then guessed that Heero was just waiting for him to leave first, so he turned and walked back towards the staircase but stopped as he realized Heero was following him. "Heero, you don't need to feel guilty about all of this, because it's my fault. If I had just allowed you to turn me into a vampire in the first place then I wouldn't have caused all this trouble. So you don't have to follow me around if you have things to do."

Heero didn't say a word, but apparently he decided to defy Duo's wish. The two of them just walked around the castle together wasting the last little time they had to wait for the sun to disappear. Finally Duo was able to watch the last bit of the sun sink beyond the horizon and Heero turned as his sign that they needed to leave now.

When they stepped out into the fresh night air Duo felt rejuvenated, and he felt ready to finish the race he had with Heero last night. But he could tell Heero wasn't in such a great mood, so he decided to try and make him smile at least once before they arrived at the castle. The two of them took no longer than a few seconds to be at their full speed, and heading directly towards the castle they loved to call home. When Heero refused to speak with Duo, the half-vampire decided to just go ahead and start the race himself. He waited until an opportune moment and pushed Heero just a bit so that he tripped over the root of a tree and came to a skidding halt.

"Sorry Heero," was the only thing Duo called back as he sped ahead of his partner knowing that he either just made a huge mistake or did the right thing. As he heard Heero quickly approaching behind him he just hoped he'd made the right decision. Once Heero was right beside Duo, the vampire looked over with a smile that said the competition was back on between the two of them.

Duo tried to keep up with Heero, but not he realized how one-sided this was. The previous night Heero had been slowing himself down just to give Duo a small chance of beating him. That almost made Duo stop as the realization finally dawned on him of how much stronger, faster, and just better Heero was than him. The whole reason Heero probably wanted to make Duo a vampire was because of how restraint he must've used all the time around Duo. One thing Duo hated more than anything else is knowing people treat him as being weaker, and finally he knew he was ready to make peace with his life as a human.

No longer would he force Heero to be restrained.

----

His rest had been undisturbed, and he woke up without suspecting a thing and let his guard down. That was Quatre's big mistake. As he gathered his things just in case he needed to leave in a hurry he suddenly realized that someone was waiting for him outside of the door. The blonde vampire continued to pack his things and tried not to alert the stranger beyond the door that he was awake now. Obviously it didn't work though as the door creaked open and in came in the innkeeper much to Quatre's relief. Quatre smiled to show he wasn't angered by the intrusion even though he was a bit perturbed by it.

"Good evening lad! You slept right through the entire day! I gotta tell ya, I miss the days when I could do that..." He smiled nostalgically and apparently got lost in thought for a moment before Quatre cleared his throat and brought the man back down to earth. Blinking a couple times as if it would help him snap out of the trance the innkeeper then spread a huge grin across his face. "That reminds me lad, you have a visitor. He's been waiting for you since about noon for you to wake up. Has the patience of a saint!"

As if that was his cue to enter the last person Quatre wanted to be there came into the tiny room. The innkeeper bowed out and shut the door behind himself which just served to trap Quatre even though he knew it was just to give them privacy. Obviously he had been so stupid not thinking Trowa wouldn't recognize him... it was just too hopeful to believe the dark had made him less oriented last night. The two stood in silence as Trowa just seemed to glance around the room with slight curiosity which was just a way to avoid looking directly at him.

Neither spoke at first, but finally Trowa stopped averting his eyes and looked directly at Quatre. Even without saying a word the intensity in Trowa's eyes was enough to make Quatre look away ashamed knowing the truth was in plain sight. Anybody would know he was the murderer since it had all the signs of a vampire, and Quatre was the only vampire in this tiny little town at the moment. "Last night was a foolish thing for you to do Quatre... Wufei didn't remember you though, so you're lucky."

"Listen Trowa, I can explain everything... about the girl I mean. What happened to her was a complete accident, and it was actually the first time I'd ever bitten an actual human before. I hadn't expected my thirst to be so incredible, but I know it's no excuse." Quatre's jade eyes refused to look up as Trowa approached him, and he was preparing for the worst. Well, the worst that could happen is Trowa could pull those curtains back to reveal the burning setting sun. Or he could perhaps just behead him right there... "At least give me the mercy of making it quick..."

The sound of the slap seemed to echo in the room, but Quatre suspected that was just his minds playing tricks on him. "For a supposedly educated vampire you sure can be blind. I'm not going to kill you for something you couldn't control, but you're not going to go without some form of punishment."

Quatre was struck speechless as he watched Trowa about to leave he finally found his voice. "Trowa wait! There's something I have to speak to you about. It's urgent so please don't leave yet!"

The vampire hunter stopped and Quatre knew that this was his one chance to at least tell Trowa of his feelings. "I know the two of us aren't close, per se, but there's some kind of connection I feel with you that I can't ignore. Ever since we met over a year ago you've been the only thing I've thought about, and I know that you are the only person who could ever make me truly happy. So I want to know if you would... accept my offer to become a vampire to be with me?"

Not even a flicker of astonishment or any other emotion showed on Trowa's face as he looked directly at the blonde vampire. "Quatre, I don't want to give you an answer yet, because I'm too attached for my humanity. You've given me the option of deciding, but this is too big for me to make without thinking it over... Besides, don't you think you should choose someone who isn't in the profession that hunts down your kind?"

Somehow this was a totally different scenario than Quatre had been imagining in his head. Maybe he was too hopeful that he would have a fairy tale ending and live happily ever after with Trowa. He really just wanted to go destroy himself right then, because he felt the pain of living alone would be too great a burden for him to handle. Trowa seemed to read his mind and hesitantly placed a hand comfortingly on Quatre's head.

Without actually intending to Quatre leaned closer and laid his head on the taller man's chest. This took all thoughts of killing himself out of his mind, and he realized he was being so selfish asking Trowa to do this just for him. Obviously he had his own life, and Quatre could understand his reluctance to lose everything in his human life to become a vampire. Better than anyone else Quatre knew he should understand this, but now he also kind of understood Heero better.

How long had Heero been suffering like this?

"If you really want to prove to me that this isn't just some temporary infatuation... wait for one more year. After that time I will come to Heero's castle or find you wherever you are and you're still waiting for me I would gladly join you. But there's always the chance you might discover a better person than me for you."

Quatre didn't know if he could last that long, but for Trowa he knew he would try.

----

So as most of you can tell this series is coming to an end, and hopefully a satisfactory one. I know some readers are a little tired of me dragging this out, and I understand. So I'm wrapping this up probably with just one or two more chapters. Hopefully I haven't annoyed too many readers with all this drama, etc., etc. and so that's why I'm feeling this is a good time to end the series.

Hope everyone enjoyed.

Please R & R!

Shari Maxwell