Shinigami floated away. I started following him. The cave was lit up in some weird luminescent stuff that glowed a greenish-purple. We continued to walk towards an entrance. We stepped out into the night.
This is Part 4 of this fic. I just found out that the very talented writer of Acherontia Atropos is none other than Katsu no Miko. So go read her fics! http://home.att.net/~tasuki/duo/duofanfic.html
I've been reading the entire series of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K. Hamilton. I'm up to the 6th book in the series called The Killing Dance. If you want a list of the book titles, feel free to e-mail me. Anyway... This is my first GW fic, there is some violence, strong language and it has the usual yaoi pairings of HeeroxDuo (I know I've said DuoxHeero before, but things change, and besides, I didn't really know it made a difference until now ^^), and QuatrexTrowa. So if you don't like male/male pairings, then don't read this, or pretend that Quatre and Duo are chicks. Okay?
I awoke, groggy and tired as usual. I pulled myself together and crawled out of bed. Heero was no where in sight. I looked up at the clock. It was 10 AM. 6 hours of sleep. Good enough. I put on some clothes and went downstairs to get some breakfast.
Trowa, Quatre and Heero were sitting around the table. Wufei was there too. "Mornin' everyone," I mumbled as I poured myself a cup of coffee. They all uttered some sort of morning greeting. "Wufei's got something to tell us," Heero said. We all sat down around the kitchen table and looked at him. He sighed and started talking. "You want to know what happened last night?" We all nodded. "Alright then..."
"After Yuy had taken Maxwell out of the club, I made my way towards the window. I started shooting like crazy, hitting each one in the heart. But as you may know, vampires don't die that easy. So they kept coming. Didn't have much choice but to jump. So I did. Two stories isn't all that high if you think about it. I landed, but I sprained something in the process. Two of the vampires came after me. I started running, but one of them caught up to me and scratched my face," Wufei pointed at the three gashes in his cheek before continuing, "and the other one came behind me. But I got my other gun out and shot them both. It was then that Anita and Sally walked up to me. I don't know how they found me. But once they saw me, three other vampires came after us. So we ran. Eventually, the vampires took a turn somewhere and we lost them. Then we came to where Duo and Heero were fighting. Anita had a shotgun, and blew off one of their heads. You saw that, right?"
I nodded. So that's how he got out... Still, it seemed kinda suspicious. How does one escape a whole roomful of vamps and not get anything more than a few scratches? I decided to question him a bit. "Why were you covered in blood?"
"That was when I was shooting at the vampires at point blank in the club."
That answer was too easy. Oh well, I would let it go for now. Wufei wasn't really a threat. Not yet anyway.
After that, the rest of the week seemed pretty quiet. We didn't bother going on outings, because the only information we had gathered was when Murdida attacked me and told me that Morbius was looking for me. Personally, if that's the only way to get information from vamps, I'd rather be left in the dark. So to speak.
Three weeks had passed since my visit to the lab. I drove up to the lab, hoping that they hadn't thrown out the results by now. I entered the lab and got the results. I didn't open the envelope until I got back to my apartment. I had been mooching off of Quatre's hospitality for too long. It was time to return to normal, if that's what I can call it.
I had thanked Quatre this morning for being so kind, and left with Heero. I dropped him off at the Preventer's office, and I told him that I wouldn't be working for another two days. He just shrugged and went in. Even after all this time, I still didn't know where Heero stayed. Did he have an apartment of his own? Or did he just stay with Quatre? Quatre did have a big house, and he did mention one of the rooms as being Heero's. Eh, whatever.
I walked into my apartment. The air was stale, so I opened a few windows. I walked into my bedroom. I drew open the curtains and opened the window to let some fresh air in. I hopped on the bed and I tore open the envelope. I took out the paper that held the results of the DNA testing. In bold red letters, it said, "DNA Match." Holy shit.
So Shinigami was my father. It was true. Then, as if on cue, a wind gusted into the room. A shadow suddenly covered the sunlight that had been shining on my bed. I thought it was Heero at first, but the energy didn't feel right. I looked and saw him. Shinigami.
"Now you know," he said in a know-it-all tone. I hate people who sound like that. "Shut up. Now that I know the truth, what do you want me to do?" He smiled. "Nothing. Just sleep." He walked over to me and put his hand over my eyes. I felt faint and then I passed out.
"Shit." It was the first thing out of my mouth. I didn't like to have expletives as my first word, but it was the only word fitting for the time. I looked around me. It was the same cave as in my first dream. "Another dream?"
"No," Shinigami said. He was standing behind me. "We are truly here, in the other world." I got up and looked around. Just the average cave to me. It had a slightly greenish-purple tint though...
Shinigami floated away. I started following him. The cave was lit up in some weird luminescent stuff that glowed a greenish-purple. We continued to walk towards an entrance. We stepped out into the night.
The world we walked into was like nothing I could have imagined. The entire area was lit by that same greenish-purple light that lit up the cave. We were standing on a hill, overlooking a city. The city was a bright light among the glowing plants all around. At least, I think they were plants. "Let us go." He beckoned towards the city. "Follow me."
I tried my best not to bump into anything. It was dark as hell down here. Heh, this probably was hell, by the definition of the term. But where were the flames? Where were the devils with pitchforks?
I spoke too soon. As we entered the city, demons and goblins of all shapes and sizes walked (or floated) around us. It was a living, breathing city. I surveyed the sights. In an alley were a group of creatures sitting around a fire. It was like a scene from one of those movies with the people huddling around a small blaze. But these weren't humans, and the flames here were hellfires. Evidently, Shinigami was also the master of that which is creepy and crawly. And I was his son? God, I hoped that I didn't have to take his place.
We walked down the streets towards one of the taller buildings. He said over his shoulder as we walked, "Feel free to talk to anyone, they will welcome you with open arms." I just nodded. No offence, but I didn't want to talk to the creepies from my childhood nightmares.
We reached a large building in the middle of town. It was tall, VERY tall, with flying buttresses and everything. It looked like a gothic mansion. "Uh... where are we?" I asked hesitantly. He turned to me, an enigmatic smile on his face. "This is my kingdom. Welcome to the Shadow Lands."
The double doors were a deep red, like blood. They were probably made out of cherry wood. They creaked as we walked in. The door led to an entryway. It was a nice open area, perfect for having a small reception. There was a curved staircase to the right, leading up to a small balcony-type thing. I'm terrible at describing things. Think about the Shinra Mansion in Final Fantasy VII. Heero keeps telling me I've been playing too many video games, but I tell him to bug off. God, I wish he was with me right now...
Anyway, the balcony-thing was more like an overhang, with two corridors leading from the opposite ends of the overhang. This was one big mansion, probably one of those that was bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. It was probably true. My sense of reality had flown out the window from the minute I had arrived here.
"Step this way, Duo." I looked at the direction that Shinigami was pointing at. Up the stairs. Okay, I could do that. Then all of a sudden, my stomach growled. "Eh heh... I haven't had a bite all day... do you have any food down here?" Shinigami sighed and led me to the door in front of us.
It opened to reveal a simple living room with a kitchen to the left. "Huh, cozy." I walked into the kitchen and looked for a fridge. There wasn't one. "Hey pops, where's the fridge?" He replied in a slightly disdained tone, "We don't have a fridge here. We have a pantry. Try finding something in there." He made a sound then said in a calm voice, "I'm going to do some errands. Your room is up the stairs and to the right. All three rooms there are yours. Enjoy." He walked out. I was left in a mansion with a pantry stocked with food. Yay for me.
I stalked into the pantry, looking for some food. A mouse ran past my foot as I opened the door. Oh goody. I looked around for a light switch. There wasn't one. Oh super goody. I looked around the kitchen. I found a lit candle in a holder. I could never remember what the name of the candle holder was. I'm sure it had some special name... oh well, whatever. I grabbed it and walked into the pantry.
It was dark, and it stank slightly of mold. It was a simple three-walled pantry. I looked up at the wall in front of me. There was some bread, and some unidentifiable substances in glass jars. My attention was brought to one of the jars. The liquid was blue-green, and something was suspended in the liquid. I took the candle closer to get a better look. The thing in the liquid twitched. I brought my face right up to the glass.
"HIISSSSSSSSSS!"
I fell back on my ass. That stone floor was damn cold. I got back up and looked at the jar again. It was swimming around, trying to get away from the light. It looked like a bird fetus, with the big eyes and stumpy limbs. "Did one of our ingredients scare you?" I turned around to meet that amused voice. Shinigami stood in the doorway, a smirk on his face. "Heh heh... The food's on the left." I looked over at the left wall. There was some dried meat, vegetables and fruits, and some spices. I grabbed some of the beef jerky. "I knew that," I said as I left the pantry. I don't think I'll be going back in there for a while.
"So, why did ya bring me here?" I asked. We were sitting across from each other, at a small table. Shinigami was sipping a greenish concoction. "I brought you here for your training to become my heir."
"My training?"
"Yes. Did you think you could just master your powers overnight?"
"Oh." So that was it. Knock the son out, bring him here for training, make him the next heir. Great. Just peachy.
That night, I had a dream. I was praying at an alter in a church, when my cross suddenly started glowing. I turned around and there were three dead sexy vampires looking at me. One of them was Heero. My cross glowed brighter, and they leapt after me. I jumped up into the air, shedding the trench coat I was wearing to reveal a sleeveless shirt, black jeans and a shoulder holster. I whipped a gun out of the holster and shot at two of the vampires. I hit them straight in the heart and they went down. Then the third vampire, who just happened to be Heero, caught me in a bear hug from behind. He clamped his fangs into my neck, and I started shrieking... in my dream, it wasn't a good sound. Then Heero stopped and let me go and we fell to the ground. I lay on the floor, on my back. Heero towered over me, his fangs dripping with blood and glinting in the candle light.
When I woke up, I wondered if it was Heero or me, who was the monster. Or maybe both.
I got out of bed, still kinda shaken from that dream. My room was pretty large, as bedrooms go. It was almost big enough to be a small apartment. There was a bathroom off to the right, and there was a desk to the left of my bed. On the chair was draped some clothes. I looked at them for a few moment, then decided, hell, when in Rome...
I got dressed in the strange clothing then looked in the mirror. Very Victorian. I had a dress shirt that had frilly sleeves, tight black pants, short black boots and above all, a cloak. It wasn't very comfortable, but I could get use to it.
A bell rang outside. I guess it was time for my training.
I padded outside. It was dark. The lighting hadn't changed at all. I waited for Shinigami. He walked, no, glided towards me. "Ready for your training?" I nodded. He raised a hand and three demons suddenly appeared. "Defeat these three with nothing but your hands, and this stick." He handed me a small wooden staff. I looked at him, unbelieving. "You gotta be kidding..." He shook his head. I snorted. "Okay, but don't blame me if I get killed..."
And I thought boot camp was tough.
I plodded into my room. I fell on the bed, not even caring for the dirt and what not on my clothes. I just battled three demons, an ogre and an imp. I was tired beyond words. I just wanted to pass out there and then. In fact, I did. Off to sleepy land...
I awoke groggy and rather smelly. I took a bath (there wasn't a shower to my disappointment) and changed back to my normal clothes. I put the once new clothes on the chair. They suddenly glowed and then they magically mended and cleaned themselves. I was impressed. I decided to put them back on, since they were now clean and fixed. I looked out the window. Still dark. I had no sense of time here. I don't think time was even a concept here. I walked downstairs.
At the end of the stairway was Shinigami. He was dressed in an outfit similar to the one I was wearing. I asked, "Is there such thing as natural light here? You know, like a sun?" Shinigami shook his head, a laugh emanating from his throat. "We are underground, my son. Of course there is no light." That would explain why it was always dark down here. "Can I go home now?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Not until you have completed the training."
"Can I at least tell the guys where I am?"
"No, they must not know."
"Why?"
"It is a rule in my kingdom. We are not to interact with the upperworld, and they are not to know about us. That is the way of things."
"That rule sucks ass."
Shinigami shrugged. "What can I do?"
I gave up. Guess I would be stuck here for a while. At least until I finished my training.
It had been a long time. I don't know, since there's no sun to tell the time with. My watch says it's been at least a week. I wondered if the guys were even looking for me.
As if my thoughts had summoned them, Wufei and Heero came barging through the door, surprising Shinigami and me. "Wha... How did you guys find me?!" I grabbed on to them for dear life. I hugged them so tightly, I thought they would push me off. But they tolerated me. They even hugged back a bit. I let go of them. Shinigami stepped forward. "This one," he said pointing at Wufei, "is a mortal. But the other..." He gestured towards Heero. "This one is not an undead... in fact, he is like you. Did you do anything to him?" I shrugged. "Er... I made him into a vampire?"
"You what?!?!?"
Jeez, I thought he knew. I guess not. "Well, you see..."
I explained what happened, with the car crashing into Heero, the strange sensation I felt before I drank his blood, everything. Shinigami didn't say anything after my story, so I turned to the others. "So guys, how did you find me?" Wufei replied, "Heero followed your trail. We found this weird portal thing outside of town. So we went in and then we found this place. Some of the demons outside tried to attack us, but Heero glared at them and scared them away." I just nodded. So Heero's patented glare was useful. But why would a single glare from someone who's not even from this world scare off the denizens?
Shinigami had invited Wufei and Heero to stay until I finished my training. Wufei didn't want to stay, but he didn't have much of a choice, since he couldn't leave without Heero. I guess he was afraid of the monsters leaping up and eating him. I was scared too, but I had power. Heero wanted to stay with me, which left Wufei no choice. The three of us stayed in my wing. Shinigami had given me the right wing of the house, which had two bedrooms connected in the middle by a bathroom. The left wing was off limits for some reason. Shinigami wouldn't tell me why. I wasn't going to ask. After what I had seen in the pantry, I didn't want to know.
After Shinigami told a servant to lead Heero and Wufei to their rooms, he dragged me towards the kitchen. "Duo, you do realize what you're done to him, right?" I realized he was talking about Heero. "No... Why, what's wrong?" Shinigami looked at me with solemn eyes. This wasn't good.
"Heero's powers are far more powerful then any normal undead. In fact, his powers may be more powerful than your own." I shrugged. That wasn't much of a surprise. He fumed. "How can you stand there and shrug like that?" He paced a couple of steps, then continued. "He is half-undead, like you. That makes him unstable. If he unleashes his power unchecked and you can't control him, it might create some problems." My eyes widened. If I couldn't control him... Heero...
Wufei took the smaller bedroom, and I could hear him practicing his martial arts. Heero and I stayed in my room. I was ecstatic, but I still felt suspicious to some extent. After all, he went to Relena, of all people, to get some blood.
"I love her like a sister, you know." I wish he would stop doing that. I snapped back at him, "I know that, and would you stop reading my mind?" His expression didn't change at all, he just looked away. I said, "Crap, man, look, it's been a tough... uh... week. Sorry." He just nodded and said, "I understand." He then walked towards the window. "Where are you going?" I asked. He looked back at me, his eyes filled with determination, the same look he got whenever we got a new mission. "If you're being trained, I might as well get some training done as well." With that, he leapt out the window. I got my coat and followed him. But I took the safe way out. I ran out the door.
The night life was coming to an end. Almost. The fires had died somewhat. There weren't as many people. I wondered what happened. Wasn't this place in perpetual darkness? I searched for Heero. He wasn't hard to find, his energy stuck out like a sore thumb. He was with Shinigami in the training grounds, in one of the arenas. Heero was fighting three demons. And an ogre. And an imp. All at once. Shit.
"Heero!" God, I almost sounded like Relena when I said that. All of them stopped and looked at me. I blinked. "Eh? Heero?" I walked up to the arena and hopped over the fence. All the creatures lowered themselves to one knee and bowed to me. Very strange.
"Uh, get up. There's no need to bow down to me," I said. "But we must, you are our prince." The tenor male voice came from the ogre. Definitely not what I would expect an ogre to sound like. "Me? Prince?" Oh yeah, the part about me being heir. Crap. I didn't want to deal with this. But I looked at the procession of creepies bowing at my feet... I knew that they were completely loyal to me and Shinigami. Oh boy, responsibility. Great.
"Hey! You guys!" I turned towards Wufei. He was running out here, his trench coat gone, wearing only his pants and tank top. He had his sword strapped to his back. He looked at the monsters calmly, before saying, "What's going on?" Heero answered in his monotone voice, "We're training." Then he and the critters walked to another part of the arena to train. Wufei looked back at me. "If we're gonna train, then let's train!" Shinigami tossed me a staff. Wufei pulled out his sword and held it in a ready stance. Jesus, what the hell was I going to do?
"Ow ow ow!!!" Heero was rubbing at my wounds with some herbal medicine. Wufei had played a little too rough today. He cut me a couple of times. But I had jabbed him in the stomach. We were even. But these cuts stung like a killer bee. "Dammit, do you have to put that stuff on me when I'm still bleeding?" Heero just looked into my eyes. His eyes were swirls of blue, like the ocean, so calming... I felt the pull of him in the back of my mind. He was trying to turn me. I shut my eyes and shook my head violently. "Stop it!" I felt his pull start to loosen.
I opened my eyes again. His eyes were just eyes. "You didn't do that on purpose, did you?" He just smirked. I can't believe he had the effrontery to smirk like that! I slapped him. I can't believe I did that! I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "I'm sorry Heero... what's happening to me?" He took me into his arms and cuddled me. Heero Yuy, cuddling me. This had to be a first. "Heero..." I could feel him smile. "You're my master. Of course you'll feel some need to be dominant." That's right... I was his master. I looked back into his eyes. "Then as your master, I want you to turn me. Make me forget my troubles, if only for a while..." I sunk slowly into bliss, as his eyes met mine and I felt my world fly away.
I woke up, groaning. My vision was a little blurry. "What the heck did you do to me?" I mumbled. Heero kissed my forehead gently. "Nothing." What? He didn't take advantage of me? He didn't screw me silly? All he did was 'nothing'? I was kinda frustrated. After all this, I give him the chance to do whatever he wants and he does nothing. Urg. I felt Heero's chest quiver. He was trying to hold back his laughter. I had forgotten, once again, that he could read my mind. I could feel his touch in my mind, like a wisp of a feather. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my mind?" He chuckled a bit. I don't know what happened, but I kinda liked Heero like this. He actually showed emotions. I snuggled into his warmth. I felt safe and protected. I could forget that there was a master vampire after my ass and that Wufei had nearly been killed.
"After I turned you, I just carried you to bed and held you. All night. It was very relaxing," Heero said, his voice sounding sort of wistful. My eyes widened a bit. It was relaxing? My heart fluttered. Maybe he... I shook my head before I could finish that thought.
"Oh, and I drank some of your blood."
"What?!?"
"Your neck."
I reached up to feel my neck. Sure enough, two little marks had been made. Oh well, I guess it just meant that Heero was MORE under my control than ever.
Training was tough. Basically what happened was that Wufei was being trained in sharp shooting and martial arts. That's all he would tell me. Heero was being trained with me, learning to control his powers. One day, Shinigami took me aside from the arena. I followed him to a small building. It looked like a shed. "Follow me," he said. We both entered the small room. He made a spell light and moved it above us. It hovered like a oversized fire fly. As the light flickered, he raised his hand. A small green light glowed in his palm. It went out quickly. "See that? That was a condensation of my power. You try it." I held out my palm. Nothing. Why wasn't I surprised?
"You must feel it, let it flow." I smirked. An image of Yoda popped into my mind. Shinigami laughed. "I too, have seen that movie. This is like the force. Just concentrate on nothing but making your energy into a sphere." I concentrated. I don't know how long I was standing there staring at my palm, but by the time I had a small globe of blue energy floating in my hand, my knees buckled. I dropped the power ball and fell down. I sat on the ground, gasping for air. Shinigami gave me his hand. I waved it away and got up on my own. "You're in less control than I thought. You will need to practice a lot more before you can truly control your power."
I stared out the window from my room. Another week had passed. I think. Either way, we were on week two, and my stamina was fading. I was returning to my room earlier each day. I don't think my power was up to the challenge. I had a theory that most of my power had transferred to Heero when I had drank his blood. I hoped this wasn't true, because if it was, then I would be left practically helpless if Heero died in battle.
I turned at the sound of the door turning. Heero walked in, his shirt torn in several places. The color of dried blood was the main color of the once dark blue shirt. Jesus. "Are you okay, Heero?"
"I should ask the same of you."
I think I may have blushed. "I'm okay."
"Then why do you keep coming back to your room so early?"
"I... I'm just tired. That's all."
Then Heero did something that surprised me. He walked up to me, and bowed down on one knee. "Take my energy, master." He held up his hand and a dark red ball of energy formed in his palm.
I thought I had told him to stop calling me master. But this time it felt right. I put my hand on the sphere. I gasped as I felt the power rush through me. It felt like I had been struck by lightning. His power flowed through my hands, my arms, to my chest and my heart. It shocked me to the bone. I collapsed onto the ground, sucking in as much air as my lungs would allow. My vision suddenly vibrated, and for a moment I could see all around me. I know it's not physically possible, but I could see everything around me. It was more like a feeling than actual sight. My vision returned to normal after a while, and I lay on the floor, staring into nothingness. I could vaguely hear Heero's voice, no, feel him as I passed into the blackness of unconsciousness.
It had about three weeks since I had arrived here. It was nearly the end of the third week when Shinigami decided that I was as trained as I would ever be. "Just practice those exercises that I taught you, and you'll be the strongest being ever." I nodded as I walked towards the portal. Heero and Wufei had already entered the portal and were probably on the other side by now.
"Oh, and one more thing."
"Yeah, what?"
"Don't change anyone else into a vampire. You're not trained for that kind of thing."
"Okay. Um, Thanks... father." I saw him smile, really smile, for the first time. I turned and entered the portal.
It was really weird, and I felt like I had been stretched beyond my limits, but I was finally home. Wufei turned to me as I walked out of the portal. "Well, let's go home." I nodded and looked at Heero. He gave me the barest hint of a smile as we got on the motorcycles and went home.
Back to: Part 3
I know it seems like I 'bastardsized" Wufei, but he's one of my fav G-boys, so just keep in mind that nothing is as it seems...
Anyway, feel free to e-mail me your rants and raves, just don't cuss me out, okay?
Copyright reserved 2000 Top Ace