Author: Mel
- see prologue for warnings and disclaimers -

Life Blood... Chapter nine

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof,
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you.
She tied you to a kitchen chair,
She broke your thrown, she cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the
Hallelujah.

"I'll meet you at the Skating rink Hilde." Quatre called as he pushed himself through the double glass doors of the school library. He somehow managed to balance three books in his arms as he manoeuvred himself through the doors. "I just have to drop these off, I completely forgot about them."

Hilde was smiling at him, but looked a little worried, "You sure? Duo would have my arse if anything happened to you."

Quatre smiled, "I'll be fine, get going. I'll be two minutes behind you."

"Okay, just be quick, I'm going to wait out here for you, all right?" Hilde looked like she wasn't about to take no for an answer so Quatre let it go.

Shaking his head Quatre dashed through the first set of doors, then through the second.

And ran straight into someone.

Cursing his own bad luck as he watched the books fall. Quickly he bent, picking them up. "I'm so sorry," he murmured, looking up.

And stopped.

Heero was looking down at him in something like amusement. Quatre flushed lightly, the tall Japanese boy catching him almost completely off guard. "Hee- chan. . ."

The look of amusement died rather quickly and Quatre couldn't believe he'd let the name he obviously was not suppose to say slip a second time. "Heero, I'm sorry." The dark headed boy ignored him, bending and retrieving his remaining two books, handing them over without a word. Quatre could only watch, dumbfounded as Heero walked away from him.

Overcome with annoyance Quatre stood. "You're going to have to tell them one day Heero. They have a right to know. You can't ignore us forever."

"I can," Heero said icily, leaving Quatre standing there as the Japanese teen left the Library.

Quatre shook his head, finally recalling where he was and that he was keeping Hilde waiting. He shook his head, sighing softly to himself. "Your wrong, something like this can't go unnoticed forever, one day it's going to return and bite you on the arse Heero Yuy. . ."

+

The Skating rink was quite unlike the nightclubs they had been going to over the last few nights. To begin with, it was bright, with fluorescent lights lighting up their movements. There was also a great deal of children floating around. Their voices rose high over the music and their cries lighted what had so far been an incredibly dim day.

The other boys stood and watched the children scream around the ring, though their thoughts, and conversations, were elsewhere.

"He wasn't there," Duo muttered icily, "it was like someone clued him in that I was coming and he hightailed it out of there before I had a chance to get at him." Duo looked peeved, his long hair falling around him, clinging to the Swede black pants and loose black shirt he wore. He sat, tightening the laces of his skates.

"Impossible," Heero whispered from his place beside the violet eyed youth. "He's probably after another kid right now."

"Keep an eye out," Wufei added, onyx eyes gliding over the rink, "he'll most likely be here, where all the children come to on a Friday night." The four boys descended into silence, watching the children and other teens fly around the rink.

"Here you guys are!"

They turned their heads and Hilde stood behind them, eyes sparkling in the fluorescent lights. She had her hands on her jean clad hips and smirked at them before skating easily up to them. "Hurry up, Quatre's been out there forever, just waiting for you lot to show up."

Duo grinned, "right, lets get out there! Last one there has to... well, I'll decide that punishment when we get home." Duo waggled his eyebrows, to which Hilde rolled her eyes and shoved him towards to rink.

"Get out there you idiot! Sometimes Duo all I want to do is strangle you."

"I bet you say that to all the pretty boys," Duo skated quickly out of Hilde's reach as she went to smack him one, and onto the rink. He moved faster then anyone on the rink, even Hilde who was the current skating champion of their college. They all knew Duo had the skill to be the best, if he wanted to, but he never seemed overly interested in the idea.

He caught up with Quatre, who had been on the other side of the rink when he got on, rather quickly. Catching the small blonde he almost made him loose his hard earned balance, but wrapped his arms tightly around him, keeping him in place. "How you doing Q-man!"

Quatre grinned, "what took you guys so long, Hilde and I have been here for almost ever!"

"My fault," Duo murmured slightly in his ear, "I wouldn't let them go until I'd finished doing my hair. As you can imagine, they got very grumpy." Quarter shivered from the closeness of the longhaired boy, and it was all he could do not to loose his balance and send them both crashing into the hard ground. "Don't worry, I've got you now," he whispered, placing a gentle kiss on the top of Quatre's ear.

"Would you two please get a room?" Hilde called as she passed them.

"Oh yeah, little miss, `I'm-so-good' just you wait."

Duo let go of Quatre so suddenly that the Arabic boy didn't have a chance to re-catch the balance he lost. Not that it mattered as Trowa and Heero both caught his upper arms, Wufei skating along behind him.

"Come on kitten," Trowa whispered in his ear as they pulled him upright, "show us what you can do." Quatre grinned with delight, shaking off their hands and sped off, chasing Hilde and Duo around the rink. . .

+

"That was fun," Quatre admitted to Wufei as they made their way back to the dorms. "I didn't realise Duo could skate so well."

"He's champion standard, if he decided to go in any competitions." Wufei conceded softly.

"Why doesn't he?"

"Hilde." Quatre looked confused so Wufei explained. "If Duo went into the competitions he'd upstage Hilde, and Duo doesn't want to do that. He likes seeing his friend happy," Wufei smiled, "and so do we, so we keep him busy and Hilde doesn't complain, even though she knows precisely what we're doing."

Quatre didn't deny that, Hilde was a lot smarter then she made out to be.

"Oh what happened to that-" Quatre's words were cut off as an intense buzzing filled his ears. If he were being truthful with himself he'd say he had heard since just before they left the rink, but it was so soft it hadn't bothered him. Now the cascade of sound grew almost deafening that Quatre had to cover his ears. Wufei looked worried for a moment before `hearing' something spark in his mind.

"Fuck."

Wufei stepped in front of Quatre even as the vampire struck. The enraged creature flung Wufei against the wall, catching him almost entirely off guard. Perceiving Quatre as no threat it went after Wufei, its speed reacting to Wufei's attacks before Wufei had the chance to pull them off. Not that it mattered, Wufei thought furiously, he didn't have his sword with him so he couldn't kill the beast. No wonder he had been gone when Duo had gone after him, the prick had been following them around.

Wufei took another swing at him, but he already knew this was hopeless. The only thing he was doing was buying time for Quatre to get away so that he could tell the others. Attempting to save another innocent, Wufei had the maddening sense of déjà vu as the vampire, aggravated with Wufei, slammed him up against a wall, hissing at him.

Wufei was unintimidated by the show the vampire put on. Glaring furiously he lifted his head high.

"Beg for your life boy," the voice was ragged and slurred through the fangs, extended now in an attempt to frighten him. Wufei snorted, lifting his chin and glaring regally at the vampire. Not likely, he'd never beg a creature like this for anything. That thought seemed to enrage the vampire more as he slammed his head against the wall. "Beg!"

"Leave him alone."

The voice rang out in the night, so much older then Wufei could have ever imagined it to be. Older and ringing with so much power that Wufei shuddered from the closeness of it.

Wufei looked past the vampire to Quatre and was awed by what he now saw. Quatre had stood from his crouched position, and though Wufei knew he was his own height, Quatre suddenly seemed so much taller. He could feel the fear that now filled the vampire that held him. His eyes glowed white in the night and Wufei could smell the crackling of power that radiated off him. When he stepped forward the vampire cowered ever closer too Wufei.

"Shining prince." The demon croaked, fear heavy in the air as Quatre finally reached out, touching him.

A single bright tear rolled down Quatre's face and Wufei felt Quatre's sorrow and wondered how anyone could feel sorry for these creatures. "I forgive you for your sins young one," came Quatre's ringing voice, "and so forgive me of mine."

And then the fear was gone and Wufei could only watch in surprise as a feeling of peace filled him. From the Vampire. The creatures face relaxed and Wufei saw it had blissful blue eyes.

"Thank you."

The sparkling white tears left tracks down Quatre's cheeks as he sobbed. The power in him surged through his hands, blinding Wufei. The Vampire sighed and the eyes fluttered peacefully closed as it passed on. The grip on Wufei relaxed as Quatre let him go and he fell to the ground. His body continued to sparkle with the light until it disappeared, as if never being there to begin with.

Wufei was silent as the glowing power left the other boy. He was still crying, though they were now real tears, and he whispered how sorry he was again and again. Wufei had never felt such pain in one person ever before and took the shaking Quatre in his arms. Wufei took the blonde boy home, unable to even comprehend what he had just seen.

It wasn't until he crawled into bed, holding the now sleeping Quatre close, that he realised what had happened. Quatre had killed a vampire. He was one of them, one of the few that could disperse of them. But was it worth the pain that still flew through the boy even now? Wufei didn't have long to think about it as Quatre's even breathing and smell of sun and sand lulled him to sleep...

+

Quatre awoke the next morning before the sound of a light tap on the door. He was the first to hear the sound, which should have struck him as strange. The other three boys had joined them in bed sometime during the night, and had been so quite that he hadn't even known they had returned.

The knocking continued, light and hesitant. Quatre could feel something in the pit of his stomach. Something wasn't right, something was very wrong. He had to find out what was wrong before the others woke up.

"Hilde, go away, it's a Saturday morning for Christ's sake." Duo grumbled loudly from his right.

"Duo?" It wasn't Hilde, it was Roger from down the hall. His voice sounded thick and strange. The feeling in Quatre grew worse as the other boys woke.

"I'm sorry Duo," the boy continued, "the cops are downstairs, they want to talk to you."

Stop him talking, Quatre's mind screamed, don't let him say whatever it is he's going to say.

"Duo, they found her body last night. They say it was a heart attack."

Quatre began to cry, he should have known what this feeling was, and that it was the reason for why he had awoken. Why hadn't he said anything?

"Hilde died last night Duo... "

[chap. 8] [chap. 10] [back to Mel's fic]