After Dark

Part IX

By Mieren

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

It took all of his willpower to force his finger to pull the trigger. He was only able to do it when he saw the prominent fangs forming in the braided boy's mouth, proving that he had reached the end of his ability to resist. Aim true, the crossbow bolt shot straight towards Duo's heart where he stood immobile, screaming. Before the bolt reached it's target, Duo's eyes flashed gold and he snatched the wooden arrow out of the air gracefully.

Snarling, Duo whipped his hand forward, sending the bolt back to its owner. Not expecting the instant retaliation, Heero grunted and staggered when the wooden shaft embedded itself firmly into his chest, directly through his left lung, clipping his heart. Trowa tried to catch him as he slumped to the ground, unresponsive. Even knowing that it was medically irresponsible to do so, at the same time, he couldn't leave it in for any length of time. He ripped the bolt out and threw it to the ground, trying to stop the flow of blood with the palm of his hand.

The move left him defenseless. He realized his mistake when he felt something slam into his back. He would have fallen over, but whatever was in his back was holding him up. Feeling the blood trickling down his chest, his eyes flickered downwards, locking disbelievingly onto the fingers protruding from his chest directly beside his sternum, crippling his right lung. Vision fading, he tried to take a breath, choking on the blood welling up in his lungs.

Quatre cried out and tried to move forward to pull Duo off of the tall pilot. His efforts were thwarted instantly when a bronzed hand clamped around his upper arm, throwing him to the ground. Reflexively, he rolled back to his feet to face his attacker. Aquamarine eyes widened in shock and disbelief when he found himself facing Wufei, sword held between them. The Chinese pilot's eyes were glazed.

Knowing that the small blond pilot was about to be skewered by the controlled Chinese teen, Trowa swung his elbow back, aiming for Duo's face. As he expected, he was dropped, a booted foot lashing out to meet his ribs mid fall. Gritting his teeth, Trowa rolled away. He wasn't fast enough. Before he could regain his bearings, he was hauled into the air by his neck. The world began to spin. Desperate, he let out a whimpering noise, praying that the mercenaries would understand him.

In the commotion of the battle between mercenaries and vampires, he wasn't heard. Clenching his teeth and fighting off the darkness, Trowa forced his abused lungs to draw breath through his crushed throat. He let out a half-human shriek that rang clearly through the air.

The thirty-four remaining mercenaries responded immediately. Weapons clattered to the floor, abandoned and useless. Loud cracking noises and growls filled the air. Muscles and organs moved as sinew and tendon relocated, reformed. Thick fur began to sprout from filthy skin. Even though there were over a thousand vampires, they pulled back, afraid. One thousand to thirty-four, the vampires backed away from the battle-hardened werewolves.

Duo dropped Trowa instantly, backing away from the gasping brunette youth. Trowa's head snapped up, eyes flashing gold in the gloom as he bared elongated canines at the braided vampire. The European pilot took a staggering step towards his former friend, unafraid of the battle presented to him. The two supernatural creatures faced off for several seconds before Duo turned and vanished into the darkness with the other vampires and Xellos. Wufei started to follow, but was knocked cold by Quatre the moment his attention was diverted.

Quatre's gaze was locked onto his best friend even as he knelt down to help Heero, who was still bleeding profusely. Heero's former taunt echoed in his mind on repeat. After all, L3 is infested with werewolves.

The little blond tried not to shiver with fear as he carefully carried Heero towards the stairs, Trowa following behind with Wufei over his shoulders and several dozen enormous wolves following at his heels.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Wufei bucked mindlessly, frothing at the mouth as he fought against the bindings holding him helpless. Blindfolded, he couldn't tell where he was, and thus neither could Duo. Inability to see, however, didn't prevent him from fighting brutally to be free.

In the far corner of the safe house, Quatre sat crying, trying to deny what was happening. In one night, he felt he had lost all of his friends. Both Duo and Wufei were mindless creatures of destruction, neither able to defend themselves against what had happened. Trowa was a monster. The tall European pilot who had been his best friend, who he had hoped would someday be even more, was a furry beast. Even Heero, who Quatre had almost turned to, had ended up driving away the small blond. The stoic L1 pilot was now set on killing all of the pilots except Quatre. They'd been forced to tie him up and drug him.

Trowa was no more optimistic than the Arabian pilot. He knew the situation they were in was hopeless. To him, three of his comrades were now a threat and the fourth was positively terrified of him. Sighing, he deliberately ignored Wufei's weakening struggles and Heero's cold glare from where he was bound helplessly in the corner, unable to move due to the drugs in his system.

Moving across the small safe house, he pounded loudly on the door to the room where Quatre was crying. He couldn't take it anymore. Something had to be done. Even if it was a futile effort, he wanted the blond to come out for a few minutes. He didn't know what to do and wasn't opposed to any sort of action, no matter how useless it seemed.

"Come out," he called through the door. "I want you to try again."

"No."

Trowa frowned at the muffled response and thumped the door again with his knuckles, fully intent on getting the blond out of the room, even if it entailed dragging him by his silk boxers.

"He's getting tired. It might work this time. Come out," he entreated, using up his vocabulary for the day.

A wary aquamarine eye peered out through the tiniest crack in the fractionally opened door. Trowa moved away from the unnerved pilot, knowing he was still uncomfortable with the whole situation. Quatre didn't move to leave the room until Trowa finally retreated into the next room.

When Quatre finally approached the main room, Trowa seated himself firmly beside Heero, crossing his legs in a position that would clearly take him time to rise. His proximity caused Heero to renew his struggles against his bonds and the tranquilizers running through his system.

He only glanced once to make sure that Wufei couldn't escape his bonds before intentionally diverting his attention away from the blond. If Quatre saw that he was being watched, he would retreat to his room in an instant. As it was, he only caught a glimpse of the Arabian pilot gingerly reaching out to his Chinese counterpart.

Concentrating on Heero so as not to upset his friend, he decided he would try again to calm down the Japanese pilot as long as he was sitting beside him. He leaned down to whisper directly into his friend's ear.

"I know you're probably still not listening to me, but I'll try again anyways. The scientists know about me. They're the ones that came up with the medication to keep myself and the mercenaries sane." Heero simply bucked again, trying to clip Trowa with his skull. The European pilot frowned, his temper finally getting the best of him. "If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it already," he snapped. Heero froze, suspicious cobalt eyes boring into irate emerald.

They were both distracted from their heated glares when Wufei and Quatre let out simultaneous pained shrieks.

A moment later, Trowa collapsed, convulsing helplessly on the floor.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Quatre sat in the corner of the smallest room of the safe house, in a definite state of panic. He barely registered the tears streaming down his cheeks. His entire life had fallen apart. All of his friends were gone, and with them, the hopes of winning the war. He couldn't defeat the Alliance by himself. Heero was as good as mad in the state he was in. Trowa couldn't be trusted. Duo and Wufei were blatant threats. Sobbing, he curled into a tighter ball, feeling more alone than he had in his entire life.

He was shocked out of his self-pity when someone knocked loudly. Flinching, he scrabbled for the gun at his hip, pointing it at the door nervously.

"Come out," a flat voice called through the closed door. "I want you to try again."

"No," he answered miserably, trying his best to sound firm.

"He's getting tired. It might work this time. Come out."

Frowning, Quatre moved hesitantly towards the door, gun leading. Pulling the door open a mere hair, he peeked out, staring nervously at Trowa where he was standing across the hall. Unwilling to leave the room, he stayed where he was until the taller pilot moved away from the room and into the tiny living room. More confident in his safety, Quatre inched out of the room.

He found Trowa seated on the floor when he entered the living room, very close to Heero, who was still in the process of throwing an almighty fit. He had to restrain himself from flinching when emerald eyes flickered from him to Wufei. Clenching his teeth, he firmly told himself that the European pilot was simply reassuring himself that the Chinese pilot was firmly bound.

Taking a deep breath, he reached towards Wufei, who was still writhing in his bonds. He settled his hands on the Chinese pilot's jaws, pushing his mind forwards. Chaos surged out to meet him and he had to forcefully pull his mind under control so as to not be swept away in the madness that he found.

What Trowa had told him proved to be true. Wufei was indeed tiring. Feeling confident, he pushed further into the turmoil, searching for some remnant of his friend. Half forgotten memories and emotions of pure terror flowed past him as he pushed deeper.

Able to move so freely in his friend's mind, he lost track of where he was. Only belatedly did he realize that he was too deep to withdraw without hurting either one or both of them. He cursed himself for his stupidity. In a matter of seconds, he had fallen out of control of his own empathic abilities. His pride and self-confidence had gotten the better of him and he knew he would now be paying the price for it.

Desperate, he flailed around with the remaining fragment of his free mind, catching the tail end of Trowa's one-sided conversation with Heero.

"If I wanted to hurt you, I'd have done it already!"

Quatre froze, the logic of that simple statement resonating in his skull. Despite himself, he realized that Trowa must have been like he was for a long time. And he had done nothing to hurt them. He almost wanted to laugh, suddenly recognizing the reason why the tall pilot was able to work with the animals at the circus so easily. He was one of them.

Now confident of his actions, Quatre wrenched himself free of his comrade's mind, intentionally drawing Wufei's psyche with him. The pain of the psychological shift caused both of the pilots to howl in agony, unintentionally drawing the attention of the two brunette pilots in the far corner of the room.

Desperate for anything that could save him from the pain of his own mind, Quatre lashed out towards the first familiar mind he could find, latching frantically onto the stability he found. Trowa cried out in pain as he was drawn involuntarily into the chaotic battle.

While the other three pilots were occupied in their pain, Heero deftly slipped out of the handcuffs and ropes binding him. He wasted no time in retrieving his gun.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

To Be Continued…

Sorry. I know that was short. My free time is virtually nonexistent. I'm going as fast as I can, but with everything I have to do, that doesn't mean much. R&R to let me know that you still love me. ^_^;

For those of you who didn't see that werewolf thing coming, shame on you! I left a very good hint to those means, so if you didn't see it, you need to be beaten like a piñata. Except if you're male. Then you can be excused on the fact that men don't pick up on any sort of hints. Hell, most men don't recognize direct orders. And those that do… Well, you kind of have to wonder…

And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I am evil incarnate. It's fun, you know?