Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Shade Darker ❯ Chapter 12

Disclaimer: All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. The characters of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.

Author's Notes: I'm gonna warn you, Duo is OOC a little in this chapter. Now, I would like to thank everyone I usually thank and my readers. Without you, this couldn't happen.

A Shade Darker Part 12

By: Elf

Aurora was surprised as Duo bent down and brushed his lips with hers. She gasped in shock and he took that moment to go on, placing his mouth over hers completely. His mouth was hot against hers, impossibly soft and hungry.

No, I can't. Damon will kill him too, she thought as she jerked back away from his warm form. She took her hand and slapped him as hard as she could. His head snapped back. He turned back to face her, his violet eyes wide in surprise. She stood there, breathing hard, watching him.

She kept her eyes on his face, not letting herself look at his nude torso. He stepped back, smirking, giving her a full view. He placed one hand on his hip and smirked. Now, she really did want to slap him.

And stare at him.

He was beautiful. His body matched the face. His arms were well sculpted as well as his chest. He wasn't too defined, but he was perfect. His shoulders were broad and his waist narrow. Add that long chestnut hair of his and those startling violet eyes and you got someone who didn't look real.

He turned away from her, showing her his perfect back. His braid swung with each graceful movement. He put down the black silk shirt he was holding and slid into the tank top. He turned back to face her. The silver cross gleamed against the darkness of the shirt. He smiled at her.

He slipped into his duster and said, "I'll see you later." He began to walk out of the room.

She stood there, furious with him and wanting him more than ever. She snapped, "Burn in hell."

He turned to face her with an impish smile. He answered, "Give me a few days, okay." With that, he walked out of the room, leaving her alone.

She turned away from him, furious at the tears forming in her eyes. I bearly know him, why the hell do I feel this way about him? She thought as she clinched her fists.

******

The Carpathian mountains, they had finally made it. Minerva sighed and shook back her long hair, leaning against the cool brick wall. Snow was blowing around the two women, glistening like silver almost. Noin asked, "So, Treize is here?"

Minerva nodded and answered, "Yeah. He is. I just don't know where."

"That's convent," Noin said bitterly, sighing as she leaned against the wall as well. They were both tired, that was evident, and Minerva was starting to get hungry. Noin asked, "How long before dawn?"

Minerva sniffed the air and answered, "A few hours." She closed her eyes as she leaned against the building. They had driven here in record time from the Sanq kingdom. It had taken them about 34 hours, her and Noin taking turns, to drive here. Minerva needed less sleep than Noin, so she did all of the night driving. She had to curl up in the back when the sun came up.

Noin stuffed her hands into her leather flight jacket. Her breath made tiny puffs of steam in the cold air. She asked, "Now what?"

Minerva shrugged and answered, "I don't know." Then she sensed it. Her head spun around. There were at least six other vampires watching them. "Shit," she cursed as she pulled her pistol out of her jeans.

Noin took out her pistol and held it in a typical military stance. She asked, "What?"

"Six of them," Minerva said, moving silently into the alley.

"What?" Noin asked, more annoyed now.

"Vampires. Lucrazia Noin, you're going to get your first good look at the undead," Minerva said as she began to slip into the alley. She was about to motion for Noin to stay put, but the former Oz commander followed her into the dark.

Then she smelled it. The horrible, rotten stench wafted up to her nostrils. Only two things smelled like that, zombies and ghouls, but she didn't sense any of them. All she felt was the six vampires. She could smell that rotten, sweet stench, but she couldn't feel them in her head.

"Fuck," Minerva cursed as she looked around. She heard a soft, childish laughter tinkling like a silver bell. She heard it again, this time from above her. She spun around and cursed again, "Fucking shit."

"What?" Noin asked, her voice edgy.

She sighed and answered, "The Ghoul Queen."

"What?" Noin asked, looking around. Minerva squared her shoulders and started to move down the dark alley again. Snow swirled all around, catching the light of the half moon above in silvery sparkles.

She heard the sound of a little girl crying. Noin turned around, and so did Minerva. Great, the vampire thought as she saw the small girl with the fall of silvery blond hair. She was dressed in a purple sweatshirt, overalls, and a fluffy pink coat. The epitome of a sweet, perfect little girl. Yeah, right.

Five other vampires stood around Illiana, the Ghoul Queen. Minerva recognized the bright red hair and golden eyes of Hawk, one of Lilith's less disciplined flunkies, but the other four she never seen before. She sighed as she pointed her gun.

Hawk grinned and said, "You're one of Forest's bitches, aren't you?"

Minerva cocked her head and answered, "Actually, I'm no one's bitch. But, I wouldn't say the same for you."

Illiana looked at her with huge purple eyes. Minerva noticed pale burn scars running all over that doll face of hers. She stored the information for later use. Noin snapped, "Let the girl go, now, scumbag."

Minerva said, "Lucrazia, that's not a little girl."

"Yes it is," she argued.

"No, she's not," Minerva bit off, giving her a "no arguing" tone.

Noin replied, "She looks like one to me."

"And I look like a teenager," Minerva replied smoothly.

Noin looked at her and asked, "She's a vampire?"

Minerva nodded and answered, "Yeah, turned during the Black Death. I think." Her history on most vampires were vague at best. She had been turned druing the middle 20th century, listening to Elvis and the Beetles.

Illiana giggled and said, "You're no fun."

Hawk crossed his brawny arms and said, "Lilith ordered us to kill you. You two are useless."

"Over my undead body," Minerva said, telepathically telling Noin to: Run as fast and as far as you can. Don't let them get you.

Noin's feelings to that were, "I'm staying right here." Stubborn bitch, Minerva thought, grudgingly admiring her. Then, the high pitched wailing started. Ghouls couldn't growl or talk, the only sound they could make was a high pitch whine or scream. It was grating on the ears, like the screams of Hell.

Then the white ghouls crept out of the darkness. One of them rolled at Illiana's feet. Minerva could read Noin's fault's very clearly at that moment, That's hideously discussing. That girl . . .

Minerva said, "Ghouls don't eat vampires, remember." She held her gun out. She needed fire or something to cut their heads off with. Her silver bullets would rip the six vampires, with the exception of Illiana who was ancient, into shreds. They wouldn't touch the ghouls.

Hawk flexed and said, "That's why we're here, bitch."

Minerva aimed her gun. Right as she was about to pull on the trigger, Hawk threw a silver blade right into her hand. The metal started to sear into her hand. She shouted as she yanked the blade out of her hand. Then, she looked up to see a sharp kick come right at her head.

Growling fiercely, she reached up and caught the kick, stabbing the vampire in the leg with the knife. She swung her body gracefully around, throwing a kick at another vampire's legs. She needed to get to her gun.

Hawk came at her from behind. She started to turn to fight him, but he reached out and grabbed her long hair. With a snap of his wrists, she was slammed into the wall. Her face was smashed against the sharp rock, crushing it in a rush of blood. She slumped to the ground, snarling in pain and anger.

She couldn't see. Blood was dripping freely into her eyes. She licked the blood off her lips that had trickled from her nose. She stood up, wiping the blood from her eyes. Hawk threw another punch at her, but this time she was ready. She reached out and caught his fist, holding it with brute strength.

He was stronger though.

He slammed her body back into the wall, her head cracking on the brick. She gave a little whimper before everything went black.

******

The grey skinned, red-eyed monsters were coming at Noin despite all the rounds of silver bullets she had shot into them. Gritting her teeth, the young woman changed clips as the ghouls, that was what she heard Minerva call them, came right at her. They came at a slowly grueling pace. That little girl with the pale blond hair simply giggled while she watched.

Noin grunted as she shot some more. Her bullets weren't even stopping them. She heard Minerva cry out, sounding like the little girl she wasn't. Noin grunted, shook her dark hair out of her eyes and faced the ghouls. They were making this high pitched wail that grated on her ears.

They were starting to surround her now. "Dammit," she cursed as she started to run away. She hated to run. It meant cowardance and that she couldn't take care of herself. The ghouls stepped in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

She gave a startled cry as she looked around her. They were very where, getting closer by the moment with their slow shuffle. She heard that brat's demonic laughter in the background. She started to move again, to get away.

One of the ghouls grabbed her. It was unreasonably strong. She cried out as it pushed her to the ground. They knelt as one. She clutched her eyes shut, as if that would stop this horrible nightmare and she would wake up in the Sanq kingdom with Relena safe and sound.

Suddenly, she felt strong arms wrap around her, lifting her up away from the ghouls. She opened her eyes to meet a pair of icy blue eyes directly. She gasped.

Her heart began to pound. Tears formed up in her eyes. He was here. He was alive. "Zechs," she whispered, wanting desperately to wrap her arms around him and hold him close.

"Noin," he said simply, caring her to safety. She watched as he turned back to the ghouls, a sword drawn. It was like a katana, except the blade was not curved. His platinum blond hair was blowing in the wind and his black duster was blowing around him. She blinked, this was a Zechs she wasn't familiar with.

With a savage snarl, he plowed into the ghouls. He took heads off with clean swipes, sending them tumbling into the ground. Noin watched breathlessly, watched how fast he moved, how inhumanly fast.

She saw Minerva's body crumpled on the ground. She saw the red-haired vampire lift her up, positioning Minerva's slender form against the wall, a wooden stake in his other hand. The brat shouted, "Hawk, watch out!" The ghouls formed a shield around the two vampires. Noin looked around for the other three and saw only ashes filtering to the ground.

Zechs was fighting off ghouls, kicking and beheading methodically. He reached out for Minerva. Hawk took off running, picking up the child fiend as he did. The ghouls followed them, running surprisingly quick.

The wine haired vampire woke up, placing her hand behind her head. She looked up at them with her brilliant, light green eyes and smiled ironically. Zechs glared down at her then looked over at Noin. She smiled slightly and his expression softened.

Minerva stood up and squared her shoulders. She said, "Okay, we've got stuff to talk about."

******

"Where's he going?" Quinn asked as Duo walked out of their hotel room. Heero watched him. There was something very different about the Deathscythe pilot, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It was almost like Duo didn't care about anything anymore. And that wasn't like Duo Maxwell not to care.

Heero had thought, for quite a while, that Duo cared too much. Now, this Duo that had just walked out of the room disturbed Heero quite a bit. Aurora immerged from the room, looking shaken. Heero knew that Duo would never hurt a girl. It didn't fit his nature. Why Aurora was wide eyed and trembling, Heero didn't know.

He wished he did though.

******

Duo walked into the club. It was just your typical dance club, pulsing lights and music. He gave his coat to the girl at the door and made his way through the pounding music and multicolored lights. He sensed something behind him.

He narrowed his eyes and continued to search. It was a vampire, a very old and powerful vampire, sorta the norm lately, who could hide their presence very well. Suddenly, a cold hand reached out and grabbed his arm. Before he could react, he was drug into a dark corner of the club.

He looked up into a pair of silvery blue eyes. The face was angular with a splash of dark red hair falling over the pale skin of his forehead. The vampire's eyes were emotionless, just like Heero's, but even more to the extreme. He stared defiantly into the vampire's eyes.

The vampire made no move to kill him, instead, he just looked at him. He let Duo go and said, in a quiet voice, "I am Joshua Hunters."

What's up with the emotionless eyes and quiet voices? Duo thought. Then he recognized the name. He froze, momentarily terrified. The Hunter. The vampire's equivalent to the Called. He hunted vampire hunters and had the highest body count of Called and Damphiers alike.

He took out his cross and let it spill on the black fabric of his shirt. He stared the vampire down defiantly and said, "Look, I'm gonna die anyway, so you can kill me now, or I can go fighting the Cycle of Darkness."

"I don't want you dead, God of Death," Hunters said, nothing passing in his eyes.

Duo shook his bangs out of his face and asked, "Why not?"

The lights of the club played with the pale features of the vampire's face. His eyes darkened as he answered, "Because I don't want the world to end."

"It's only ending for humans, not you vamps," Duo spat, ready to fight.

Hunters placed a hand on each side of Duo's shoulders and got face to face with the pilot. Duo didn't flinch. He met the gaze head on. Hunters said, "I don't want the world to end. If demons controlled the world, it would be pure chaos and pain. No honor, no rules."

"No justice," Duo quipped, trying to sound like Wufei.

Hunters actually smirked at that. He said, "Exactly. I'm giving some advice."

"Like what?" Duo snapped, glaring at the vampire.

Hunters answered, "The demons are huge. I suggest get your Gundams as soon as you can."

"What?" Duo asked, surprised. Out of all the things he expected the vampire to say, this was the most remote of the possibilities.

Hunters said, more gravely, "Get your Gundams. Stop Lilith. She's insane." With that, he stepped back. He turned away saying, "Try to live as best as you can, Duo Maxwell as well."

Duo took a breath as the vampire left him alone. Then he turned to look down at the club.

******

Quatre was surprised to see Zechs walk into the mansion with Noin and a girl his age. The girl was striking with her long, burgundy hair and pale, brilliant green eyes. Trowa stood beside him and asked, "What's happening?"

Quatre looked up at his friend and answered, "I don't know Trowa. They just got here."

Trowa's features hardened as he looked at the girl. He said, "She's a vampire."

Quatre swallowed. He felt Treize behind them. Treize said, "But she's on our side. Trust me."

"I don't have much choice," Trowa said bitterly as he watched the girl. Treize walked down to them, smiling. The girl smiled too, knowingly. She looked like she had ages of knowledge to her and knew how to use it.

She said, in a husky, rich voice, "Hello, Treize."

Treize smiled and replied, "Hello Minerva. Why are you here?"

"Good question," Zechs and Trowa said simintainously. Minerva looked up at Quatre and Trowa, taking them both in, memorizing details and storing them for use at another time. Quatre walked down the stares with Trowa following him. He could sense his friend's grim mood but thought nothing of it.

He held out his hand and said, "Hello, I'm Quatre Rabeba Winner."

She took his hand with a pale, cool, long fingered hand. Her handshake was firm as she said, "I'm Minerva Celestine."

"After the Roman goddess of wisdom and warfare," Quatre recalled.

She smiled and added, "And don't forget the arts. My parents had a fondness for mythology. Besides, with that name they knew that I wouldn't have to worry about being in a class with two other girls with the same name."

She held out her hand to Trowa. Trowa took it icily. She looked at him knowingly. They looked at each other with different shades of green eyes. She said, "You've just been changed."

Trowa said nothing. He simply glared. He tilted his head and looked down at her. She looked right back at him.

Zechs asked, "Why the hell are you here, Minerva?"

Minerva turned to him and answered, "Relena's been kidnaped."

******

Relena watched as the raven haired beauty lounged on an ornate chair. Her legs were thrown over one arm while her back was propped up on the other. Her head was tilted back, letting her raven hair fall all around her. Relena asked, "Why do you want Heero?"

Lilith looked at her with hooded golden eyes as she answered, "He'll be useful to me. Besides, even if he doesn't join us, princess, he'll be distracted and discussed with himself." She flipped her hair off her shoulder with a smile.

"Whatever do you mean?" Relena asked her, clinching her hands into fists at her side.

Lilith looked over at her with now turquoise eyes shot with threads of green and blue. She smirked as she asked, "Have you ever fantasied about having sex with him?"

Relena blushed and stammered, "I wouldn't . . . It isn't . . ."

"Proper. Damn, princesses haven't changed over the millennia," Lilith sighed as she swung her legs so she was sitting in the chair properly. Relena wasn't going to admit to this leech that she had. She even had trouble admitting it to herself.

Lilith leaned toward her and Relena backed away. Lilith smirked as she stated, "You have though, haven't you? It's obvious. You've thought about having him inside you so far that you don't know where you end and he begins."

Relena blushed at the intimate image that brought to mind. She had always wondered, ever since she took off his helmet that first time, what he would be like. What he would feel like against her.

"Was he gentle and careful, or was he passionate and seductive?" Lilith asked, standing up in a fluid motion. Relena tried to back away and hide the red of her cheeks. She couldn't help it. She wanted Heero. Badly. The vampire circled her like a shark, smiling malevolently. She tossed her hair and placed her hand on Relena's shoulder.

She said, "You have. I know you have. I can smell the lust just by mentioning his name. Hell, I would too if I was some pampered princess."

"How dare you," Relena snapped, jerking away from the vampire.

"I dare a lot," Lilith said, perching herself on the thrown again. She tossed her head and said, "I wonder what you taste like."

Relena paled now. Her blood ran cold in her veins. Lilith let out a delightful peal of laughter as she said, "Ah, princess, not for me, but for your sweet knight."

Relena was confused as she asked, "You're planning to make Heero a vampire, aren't you?"

Lilith chuckled and shook her head. She answered, "Nope. He's half vampire, dear. That's why I have you."

"Why?" Relena asked, trying to keep the tremor of fear out of her voice. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

Lilith inspected her nails as she said, "Because, you're the temptation, unless he's gay and has the hots for Duo Maxwell."

Relena blushed again at that. She knew that Duo wasn't homosexual simply by watching him with Hilde. It was obvious that he cared deeply for her. He had risked death for her by facing the Mercrious and Vayeight with Heero and Trowa's thought patterns programed into them.

Still, she asked, "What do you mean by 'temptation'?"

"You're going to be the one to get him to drink blood," Lilith answered simply, "Your half-brother crumbled pretty easily, actually. He drunk someone who meant nothing to him, someone that he wasn't even attracted too."

"Milliardo?" Relena blurted out, "He's not human?"

Lilith sighed and answered, "Nope. Not entirely. You two have different dads. Your dad was the King Peacecraft while Zechs' daddy was a vampire named Quinn. Coincidentally . . . Never mind that." She smiled in an all-knowing matter. She said, "You'll just have to wait and see."

******

Duo swayed in time with the pulsating beat, feeling the music in his body and the general rush of emotions through the people. He was enjoying it, he knew. He could feel several girls' lust for him as he moved. He opened his eyes and looked at a girl dancing near him.

She was small, pixie like with dark reddish blond hair and hazel eyes. He smiled at her and she moved closer. He felt a spark of power, elemental actually. He asked, "Wiccan?"

She nodded and asked, "What are you?"

He smiled as he swayed closer to her. He answered, "Something else." She studied him and saw his cross.

She asked, her voice directed only to him, "Are you the God of Death?"

He smirked at that and moved closer. He bent down to her ear and whispered, "Yeah, but you can call me Duo."

She smiled at him and said, "You can call me Tetra."

Duo grinned as a slow song started to play. He collected Tetra in his arms, but the girl he was dancing with was an entirely different person all together with long blond hair and silver eyes.

******

Dawn was breaking. Quinn had retired to his resting place, leaving Heero and Aurora alone. The young woman was standing on the roof of the hotel, wrapped in a blanket, and holding a cup of coffee in her hand. Heero joined her, nursing his own cup of coffee.

She looked at the pink streaked indigo sky as she drank. Heero stood beside her and decided that the sky, above the pollution, was beautiful. She sat down on the cold ground, wrapping her blanket closer to her. He sat down beside her, ignoring the cold.

"Something happened to Duo," Aurora stated as she looked at the sky.

Heero's reply was simply, "I know."

She sighed and said, "I told him to go to Hell."

"Why?" he asked her, trying to get a better grip of what was happening to his friend.

She blushed and looked down at her coffee. She took a quick swig and looked back at the sky. Her fingers flexed on the mug as she answered, "It's personal." He noticed a pink tinge to her cheeks. She was blushing for some reason.

"Tell me and I can help," Heero told her, trying to take the edge off of his voice. He wasn't good with this sort of thing. He had the ability to comfort stripped away from him a very long time ago.

He watched her scarred hands as she played with the mug. Did he . . . Heero began to think as he studied her. She looked at him and said, "I didn't sleep with him."

"Did he . . ." he took a swallow, somehow nervous by all of this, "pressure you?"

She laughed and answered, "No, all he did was try to kiss me. And I slapped him for it."

Heero smirked at that. Duo Maxwell had met a girl he couldn't charm. The irony was all too great.

She sighed and tilted her head back. She said, "But I wanted to sooooo badly."

"Then why did you stop him?" Heero asked her. It didn't make any sense to him. If what he knew was true, then sleeping with Duo, or anyone for that matter, would save her life.

She sighed and looked back down at her coffee before she took another sip. She answered, "Because I don't want to see him killed."

"What do you mean?" Heero asked. He added, "Duo's perfectly capable of taking care of his self. He is the best survivor out of all of us."

He noticed that her eyes were starting to well. She sniffled as she answered, "Because everyone else I cared about had been killed by that bastard."

"Damon," Heero said. He had seen how the vampire had reacted to her. He was probably resentful that he couldn't have the girl for himself. He was a crafty enemy and someone to be dealt with quickly and painfully.

She sniffled, a few tears slipping down her face. She said, "I found my parents bodies one night. Then Damon. Then my friends were killed. He'd even seduced one of them to throw it in my face. I ran. I found another necromancer. An old woman. She was strange but she showed me a lot. Then Damon killed her. He ripped his throat out.

"I managed to get to the colonies. I tried . . ." she blushed, "to you know, but I couldn't. It didn't seem right. I wanted to be with someone I loved. I wanted to be with that one person and that one person only. I couldn't just . . . Anyway, I kept running. With those couple of guys I tried, Damon killed before anything could happen.

"Finally, after I thought it was it, you and Duo came along. Now I don't know what to think." She sighed as she placed her mug on the ground.

Heero studied her. He said, "You're afraid that Damon's gonna kill Duo."

She nodded, sniffling and using the edge of her blanket like a hankerchift. She said, "Yeah. I mean, vamps can smell lust. And Damon's not stupid, like that fucker, Hawk. He'd put two and two together."

Heero looked at her and grinned just a little bit. She blinked and asked, "Do you have anyone special?"

Heero thought briefly of Relena. He shook his head and looked at the sky. She swallowed and he heard her whisper, "Come back, Duo."

******

"That was great," Tetra smiled, stretched out on the bed, her arms above her head and her eyes closed in contentment. Duo said nothing. He was sitting on the bed. His back turned to her. She reached out and lightly tugged his braid.

He turned to see her, smiling like an enchantress, her nude body bared to him without shame. He told her, "You weren't so bad yourself." He still couldn't believe what he had just done. He had sex, multiple times, with a complete stranger. He wasn't an innocent by any means of the word. But, by technicality, he had been a virgin. Had being the key word.

He knew a lot about sex and wasn't inexperienced. He had many girlfriends in the past that he had done things with, just not actual intercourse. He found out that actual sex was better than the other things before and he know had the knowledge that he wasn't going to die a virgin. Because I am going to die, he thought with a grim certainly as he stood up from the bed.

She asked, "Where are you going?"

He pulled on his boxers then his kakkis without looking at her. During the whole night, he couldn't stop thinking about Aurora. He didn't have sex with Tetra; he was having sex with Aurora. Tetra was someone who was Aurora's height and physical body type with similar features. He slid on his tank top and made sure that the cross was under the fabric. He didn't feel like looking at it this moment. Or ever again for that matter.

She asked, "Duo? Where are you going?"

He took a deep breath. The room rank of the musky smell of sex. He answered, "Thanks."

"What do you mean?" she asked, watching him.

He slid into his duster and took one look at her. He answered, "I'm gonna die now."

As he left her apartment, he heard her shout, "WHAT!"

******

Heero had left Aurora alone with Quinn. It wasn't the best decision that he had ever made, but he really didn't want the necromancer with him when he found Duo. He didn't know this city at all, he was going on pure instincts and using his newly found abilities to track Duo down.

He wandered down alleys, looking for the braded baka, and having no luck. Then, he saw Duo, sitting on a bench, watching traffic. Heero walked over to him and Duo looked up at him. Heero asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Duo looked up and leaned back. He answered, "I'm dead."

"You don't look it," Heero told him as he sat down beside his friend.

Duo chuckled manically. He answered, "I will be in a few days. You'll get out of this okay, but I'll die."

"What do you mean?" Heero asked him. Duo wasn't suicidal, actually, he was as far from it as one could get.

Duo smirked joylessly as he answered, "The Called always die stopping the Cycle. There's no other choice."

"So?" he asked him. Duo's head snapped around to face him. Heero went on, "As a Gundam pilot you faced the knowledge that you could die every day. How's this any different?"

Duo studied him and nodded. He said, "You're right, but I was born for this."

"I was planned to help you," Heero told him.

Duo chuckled and said, "Ah, Quinn, Quinn, Quinn. Conniving bastard, aren't you?"

Heero smirked and replied, "Yeah."

Duo stood up and asked, "Now what?"

"You hurt Aurora," Heero told him tonelessly.

Duo blinked and exclaimed, "You weren't the one she slapped! It hurt! She may be little, but she's got some strength to her."

Heero smirked and replied, "You deserved it."

"Why?" Duo asked as Heero stood up beside him. They started to walk back to the hotel.

Heero shook his head, not ready to explain the irony of it to Duo Maxwell. Duo glared and said, "I'm sensing smugness, you son of a blood sucking fiend."

"You can't charm your way out of every situation," Heero told him.

Duo smirked at that and replied, "Try me." Then he said, "How the hell are we gonna get to the Carpathian mountains and get our Gundams?"

Heero looked at him and said, "Good plan. Overkill."

"Actually, under kill for the things we might have to face," Duo said as he looked up to the sky.

******

Aurora was on pins and needles. Heero had been looking for Duo for almost all day, and dark was approaching. She sketched on a notebook that someone had left in the hotel. She had drawn a number of things from Heero's face to an old pizza box.

She grunted as she turned the page and picked up the pencil again. She started with a few contour lines. Before she knew it, a wide pair of eyes were looking at her in a gamine face. She added a few sweeping lines to make the braid and she had Duo Maxwell's smiling face looking at her.

Quinn looked at her and said, "They're coming."

Aurora looked up to see the door open and Heero and Duo step in. She had the urge to run up to him and hold him close. She stood up then she felt it. Someone's aura was lingering to Duo's. She looked at him and swept out of the room.

She stormed up to the roof and locked the door so only she could open it. She looked at the darkening sky. She was angry, angry at him, angry at herself, and angry at the girl that he slept with. She could sense him coming after her.

She said, "Go burn in hell, you bastard." She heard him struggling with the door. She smirked and said, "You're not gonna get it open."

Then, suddenly, it slammed open. She spun around to see Duo smirking at her, twirling a lock pick in his long fingers. He said, "You wanna bet."

"Fuck you," she told him clearly. He walked out onto the roof and looked around. She tried to ignore him, but he was too close, too bright of an aura to ignore. She crumbled and asked, "Why?"

"I did something very stupid," he told her.

"You sure did," she snapped.

He sighed and said, "Aurora, I'm gonna die on the 21st, the Called always die stopping the Cycle. I don't want to die. So, as my protest, I thought I was gonna live my life to the fullest."

"So you had sex with a girl you didn't even know," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. It was cold out, and without her jacket or a blanket, she was beginning to shiver.

He tugged on his braid with a wiry grin. He answered, "Yeah, pretty stupid, huna?"

"Yeah," she told him, avoiding his gaze.

He smirked and said, "You're jealous."

"Am not," she huffed, trying not to look at him.

"Yeah, you are," he said calmly smirking. Then, suddenly, he took her in his arms. Before she could protest, his lips descended on hers again. He gave her no chance to resist.

The kiss was hard, hot, and intense. She gasped as his hands tangled themselves in her hair and he pulled her closer. He kept kissing her, nibbling and sucking on her lips, leaving her senseless. She reached up and wrapped her hands around his neck, holding onto him as her knees became weak.

Then, he stopped. He pulled away from her and smiled. She looked up at him, panting for air. I can't believe he just did that. That felt so good, she thought helplessly as she looked into the drowning pools of violet of his eyes. He chuckled as he walked off the roof. Aurora walked after him, confused by her feelings for him.

******

Damon growled deep in his throat. He wanted Aurora for himself and if he couldn't have her, then no braded idiot of a Called was going to have her either. His laptop signaled an oncoming communication. He answered it to see Lilith's smiling face.

He bowed politely and said, "I haven't been able to capture the girl."

Lilith chuckled and told him, "Come back home, Damon. They're eventually going to get here anyway."

Damon asked, "What about keeping the necromancer in tact?"

Lilith inspected her crimson finger nails as she answered, "They're going to be too busy running from Hunters, you know that. Besides, that little girl is almost a nun. Don't worry Damon. We'll be ruling this planet within a week." Then, the screen went black. Damon snarled, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it.

******

'We head to the Carpathian mountains now," Quinn said, looking at Heero's laptop.

Duo said, "Good plan, but how are we going to get there?"

Heero answered, "Public transport. Be as obvious as we can. They won't attack us in public because it'll blow their cover, even though it makes it easer to track."

Aurora asked, "When do we leave?"

Duo smirked and said, "ASAP, baby."

"Tonight," Heero said, looking at Quinn, who only nodded.

Duo stood up and said, "Well, lets go."

To Be Continued!