**Warnings, disclaimers in earlier parts
I hope this is enjoyable, it came out quicker then I thought it would ^_^
Author: Mel

Life Blood...
Chapter 13...

Listen as the wind blows
from across the great divide,
Voices trapped in yearning,
memories trapped in time,
The night is my companion
and solitude my guide,
Would I spend forever here
and not be satisfied
- Possession - Sarah McLachlan

Quatre listened to Catherine talk, his chin resting lightly on his palm. She had the most beautiful personality, she seemed above everything he had thought she would be. And it was amazing to watch Trowa around her. He seemed to open up, his green eyes lit in a way Quatre had never seen. But then again, he mused as he found his eyes on those lips as they moved, he had only known him so well for what was almost a week.

"Didn't you ever wonder where Trowa got the money to buy the Jag, Kat?" Duo asked with a smile, "or even how I knew him? Trowa's company offers scholarships to students once a year, Trowa personally interviews each of the students, and last year they gave it to me." He grinned in delight. It made sense, how else could Duo afford to go to school here with no family behind him, for that matter how did Wufei? With Heero there was no question, just a simple hack into some bank and-

"And then the two of you ended up screwing like monkeys in heat," Catherine grinned. "How ever did you end up with this bunch Quatre?"

"Just lucky I guess," answering her with a grin. His honest words and smile sent her into hysterics in moments.

"You're a gem Quatre, I'll never understand how you can live with the Little Rascals here," she smiled at the boys, who glowered back. But even Heero was in a beautiful mood. There was just something so alive about Catherine that made the last few days feel like a dream. Heero caught his eye, his arms wrapped around Duo's shoulders as they shared the big armchair. He smiled and Quatre's heart lifted. He felt better, but in turning back to Catherine, as they all did, he missed the pained look that shadowed Heero's face.

"And on that note boys, I have to be gone, I've already put off a few important things to come and see you, but dinner tomorrow?" She stood and Trowa stood with her, moving with her to the door.

"Of course," he grinned, looking like a giant weight, that Quatre hadn't even noticed he carried, had been lifted from his shoulders just by being with her. "I'll even bring Quatre with me, seeing as you prefer his company to my own."

"Good," she said with a cheeky smile that would put Duo to shame before kissing his cheek. "I'll see you then. Good-bye boys," and just like that she was gone.

+

"She's beautiful Trowa," Quatre smiled at the taller boy whose arms were wrapped around his shoulders. They watched the sunset together from the roof, Quatre cuddled up to Trowa's chest. Wufei and Duo had been at each other's throats all afternoon, Trowa had assured him it was perfectly normal and that they'd probably be off somewhere dark and alone within the hour. Though that sounded lovely, Quatre enjoyed the silence at the moment. He was happy to sit here with Trowa, letting the companionable silence wash over them. The soft fluttering kisses to his temple also helped... they made him smile and he felt slightly giddy.

"She is, and she adores you," another kiss that produced an impish smile from Quatre. "I knew she would."

Quatre was quiet for a long moment before he spoke. "How did you come to be the president of Barton industries Trowa?" The question had been plaguing him all day, all he knew for certain was that Trowa had inherited at a young age. There was so much mystery behind the billion dollar corporation, not that that was anything new, all corporations had they're secrets... Barton industries had more then most.

When he felt Trowa stiffen, he thought he had asked the wrong question, and he opened his mouth to tell Trowa that he didn't have to answer if he didn't want to. The sudden tip of his chin, and the soft press of lips against his own stopped him from asking anything.

When Trowa pulled back he smiled softly, "That's an interesting question, Kat." Again he tried to tell Trowa that he didn't have to tell him anything he didn't want to, but he cut in, "And quite a long story. I never did tell you about the first Vampire I killed."

It was Quatre's turn to stiffen, his thoughts on Duo a few hours before and his pained confession of what had happened to his best friend Solo. He knew without thought that all their first meetings with Vampires were going to upset him.

"I was six at the time, I don't remember much, but he wasn't a nice Vampire. He didn't just want to take the life from my whole family, he wanted to watch us burn. There was so much fire and our parents threw Cathy and I out of the burning trailer. She was screaming, trying to get help but not wanting to leave me there, she was only ten and there was nothing she could have done. She thought he was trying to help, she was so young, but I knew different and he grabbed Cathy. When she saw his teeth she just fainted, it was all too much for her. And when he went to snap her neck - she was useless to him unconscious- I," he paused suddenly, "I don't remember what happened.

"When we woke up the trailer was all but ashes and the people I had grown up with surrounded us. You think they would be quick to help us after our parents were gone. But they weren't and it didn't take long to work out why. The Vampire lay beside us, barely recognisable as the being he had been last night. It was easy to see that his death had been no accident, he had been slaughtered. His body was slashed in a thousand places, most of them were still leaking blood. He had no eyes, that's one of the things I remember clearly, his eyelids were open, but he was missing his eyes. The people of the small village where we had been born had no idea what to do. It was one old woman that picked us up and took us away. Nanny Gelda we called her. She took us to her home and looked after us.

"It wasn't till a week later when the mayor came to see us. The Vampire had been Trowa Barton, the head of a big company. He had groomed no one to take over for him, and as he died here in this small town with our laws, even at only six, I was entitled to be the president. I didn't understand, and I still don't, no matter how many times Cathy tries to explain it. The executives thought that they could get away with anything by making a six year old, whom had just lost his parents to a freak fire, the president. Their worst mistake was allowing me to make Cathy my Vice-president, which meant all decisions went through her first. I'm sure you've noticed how smart she is."

Quatre smiled, he could well imagine Cathy, even at ten, as a formidable opponent.

"Nanny Gelda looked after us, and she knew enough about business to help us make the right decisions until we were old enough to make them ourselves."

"What about the Vampire?"

"His name was Trowa Barton, the name I took after he died. Everyone believed some wild cat must have killed him, judging by the way the cuts had been made."

Quatre's eyes widened. A cat? Trowa had done that sort of damage to the Vampire. But only Duo, and apparently himself, could kill a vampire bare handed. "Did you have your knives with you?"

There was a slight pause and Quatre felt Trowa's body shudder lightly around him. "I don't remember."

Quatre didn't say anything else, he asked no more questions. He sat there, in Trowa's lanky arms, his head rested against his shoulder. But he didn't mention anything else, letting the silence fall over them. And he tried hard for a long time to not allow Trowa's words to hurt him. It was the first out right lie Trowa had ever told him, Trowa did remember, but he could not bring himself to tell Quatre what had happened.

And that hurt the most.

+

The sun had long since gone down when they went back through the window and into the room. It seemed like Wufei and Duo had finally worn each other out and lay asleep on the large bed. Duo was naked, his glorious body wrapped around Wufei, who was partly dressed in black pants.

Quatre's breath caught at the sight of the two of them and reminded him that he had fallen, and fallen hard and fast. He loved all four of them, and that was amazing.

Heero sat at the small desk, typing away on his lap top, his eyes scanning the page he worked on briefly, before looking at the two of them. The slight upturn of the right side of his lips and the quick glance he spared Wufei and Duo, his eyebrows quirking, showed his amusement.

Trowa chuckled, moving to join the Japanese boy and Quatre, left to his own devices, followed, stripping himself of his top as he moved. The room wasn't overly large, as none of college accommodations were, and they were by his side rather quickly. Heero pulled Trowa onto his lap, kissing the taller boy's temple gently, bringing a smile to Quatre's lips. He wondered if Heero had ever stopped being possessive with those he loved.

He turned his face up to Quatre as if reading his thoughts. Quatre hovered over it for a moment before giving into the impulse and kissing the other young man. Heero's lips parted easily beneath his own and Quatre opened his, tongue meeting tongue, pressing softly and gaining entrance to Heero's mouth. He explored the wet cavern as Trowa's lips caught his ear, sucking it into his mouth, biting tenderly. Quatre groaned, his hunger rising as the two played him as a musician would play a finely tunned instrument.

They stopped suddenly, all three sets of eyes falling on the bed. Duo's head was pillowed on Wufei's chest, violet eyes open and heady with lust. Wufei was also awake, smoky eyes watching them in the same way. Wufei's eyes of infinite darkness called Quatre to him, compelling the blonde to lift his swollen lips from Heero's and join the other two in bed. He wondered if this was part of Wufei's power until the Asian boy caught his wrist and tugged him into bed with he and Duo. And after that he forgot all else except for the hands and lips that caressed his pale skin.

+

Quatre woke sometime later, it was still dark, and the digital clock somewhere on his right blinked that it was sometime after two. Something had woken him up, and he wasn't sure what it was. Determined not to loose anymore sleep over something that he didn't want to worry about he snuggled into Wufei's body.

Until he realized even in foggy sleep that it wasn't Wufei at all, but a pillow and that he was in fact all alone in bed. That woke him up quickly. He blinked a few times and realised that the bed was empty and that what had woken him was the door closing. He was up and out of bed quickly, slipping into a pair of pants and tugging on what appeared to be Wufei's white shirt before moving quickly to the door. He didn't have time for shoes, but they'd only make noise anyway so he slipped quickly out the door without them.

He hurried down the hallway, hoping he was going in the right direction whilst at the same time feeling foolish. He shouldn't have to follow them around like a lost dog, had he not proved himself? He wasn't a child, why did they insist on going off without him?

They weren't in the foyer and Quatre slid down the rail and looked around. He went out the front door quickly and could hear Duo's soft voice. He followed it, being silent, around to the corner of the building. Quatre peaked around the corner and was thoroughly amazed by what he saw. Duo was decked out in black leather. The pants rode down low on his hips and hugged his legs like a second skin. The black jacket was Hilde's, and it seemed a little big for his slim frame though he wore it with pride. He had black leather gloves on with the finger tips cut out of them so Quatre the pale cream of his fingers. Duo's hair was pulled back in his braid, and tied with a dark violet ribbon at the end.

Wufei wore black slacks, his chest bare, the ceremonial robe that reached the floor was one Quatre had not seen him wear before. It was full length, black and satin. Embroidered on the back in scarlet was a Chinese Dragon, blowing flames into the sky. The satin reflected the pale light of the moon like inky water as did his hair which was down, rippling around his shoulders. In his left hand was a sword, its blade sharp and well taken care of. By the easy way Wufei held the weapon, it was obvious he knew how to use it to its best ability.

Trowa was in dark snakeskin pants and a black tight top that hugged his chest. He wore heavy black boots and had his hands in his pockets as he walked silently, which no one should be able to in boots like those. There was a belt around his waist that had two knives attached in holsters to it. Army knives, big, sharp and dangerous, more than a little scary to think of them in Trowa's hands.

Heero was in black jeans and a dark cobalt shirt, complementing the shade of his irises. Of all four of them he looked the most at ease in this situation, his dark hair falling messily into his eyes. The muscles of Heero's forearms twitched as he changed the grip he had on the staff in his hands. Or at least Quatre had assumed it was a staff until Heero moved slightly and the blade reflected light back at him. At first he thought it was a scythe, but on closer inspection he realised it was a glaive, the blade shorter and more intricately curved then that of a scythe. The blade had symbols covering its surface that were in some language Quatre had never seen, which was strange as he was familiar with most languages and writings. They looked like they were getting ready for war.

Quatre followed them as silently as he could manage, keeping a fair distance whilst attempting not too fume in anger. They were going out Vampire hunting without him, when he was certain he'd been through this with them before. The blonde didn't quite notice that Heero wasn't amongst them till he found himself thrown up against a wall, the glaive resting at his throat. Heero had never looked so surprised as he did at that moment, as if he couldn't believe Quatre had snuck up on them.

"Kat?" The blonde could only nod for fear that any other movement would slit his throat. Heero cursed in Japanese before glaring at him and removing the glaive from his neck. "I could have killed you! What are you doing here?"

That was pretty much the last straw and the adrenaline that coursed through his body after the scare made Quatre bold.

"What am I doing here? I could ask you the same question. I thought we'd decided you weren't going to keep me in the dark any more." The others joined and at least Duo had the grace to look a little guilty.

Heero's eyes narrowed further. "If you'll remember, Quatre, I agreed to no such thing. I'm taking you home."

Something snapped and the adrenaline was replaced with something else. Something deeper, older. It coursed through his veins, filled him and for a moment his eyes fluttered close as he let it merge with him, it was a part of him and he welcomed it.

When his eyes opened white light sparkled from his sockets, filled his aura. Heero, who went to touch him, was thrown from Quatre's body.

"Do not touch me."

The voice was old, it trembled with anger. The others stepped back in surprise. Only Wufei had seen Quatre like this, but he had not been angry, more sad then anything else, like a fallen Angel being told to cut off his wings. Now Wufei could see how Lucifer had been God's most beautiful Angel a moment before he fell. Quatre was power and beauty, pure and simple, the light radiated from the inside and they could see the betrayal on his face.

From Heero's position where he lay on the ground he stared up at Quatre's fury, for a moment the pain laying open on his face. "My Prince, I-"

"I have asked for nothing more than your love and trust and you throw it back in my face," Quatre was crying, neon white tears running down as his cheeks as the anger left him, replaced entirely by sadness.

Heero stood, reaching out, taking the blonde in his arms, and resting his head upon Quatre's soft hair. The white light faded as Quatre melted into Heero's arms. "I'm sorry, I-"

Quatre stiffened his arms, letting loose a scream. He covered his ears with his hands, burying himself in Heero's arms. "O My God."

And walking down across campus, no more then a hundred feet from where the five stood, was a man. His hair was black and curly, his face drawn. There was no mistaking the way he walked. He was a Vampire.

And it was obviously that Quatre sensed something in him.

"He is the one who killed Hilde."

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