Demon Seed
10
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GW
and its characters don't belong to me, but to Sunrise/SOTSU
Agency,
Bandai, etc. etc.
Chapter
10 of Demon Seed.
No
real warnings, maybe some mild gore and language. I feel like I
kind
of rushed the whole chapter, having skipped a few events since
the
last chapter and trying to explain all that had happened in the
length
of time, but maybe it sounds okay, it's up to you guys to
decide
I guess.
Anyway,
for whoever decides to read this chapter, I hope you enjoy it.
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The
morning sun was just beginning to peak through the clouds of dawn
when
the motley crew of travelers had finished packing up the last of
their
belongings. Hildie bit the inside of her lip and looked over,
for
what was the countless time, at her friend. The usual feistiness
and
determination seemed to have left her, leaving in its place a
solemn,
melancholic girl, who had not spoken one word since they had
all
awoken.
Being
the only other female in the group, not to mention her best
friend,
Hildie felt that she had to approach Relena and find out what
was
wrong, though she figured it was Heero's abrupt departure that
was
affecting her friend the most. She slowly approached her,
thinking
of what to say, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she
knew
she had erred.
"Is
he really worth making you suffer? This isn't like you Eena. You
never
let anything affect you in such a way. You're to strong to be
pining
away for a guy who obviously doesn't feel the same way about
you."
Relena
pulled the last leather strap through the buckle of her pack
and
slowly rose to her feet, looking Hildie directly into the
eye.
"Why don't you focus on yourself and your true feelings and stop
worrying
about mine."
"My
what? I was just trying to…"
Throwing
her pack on the ground, the half-breed girl gripped Hildie's
shoulders
and spun her around until they were both looking over at
Duo,
who was securing his own pack on his horse.
The
raven-haired girl closed her eyes, almost near tears having
caught
the meaning in what Relena had told her.
And
since that day, six months ago, Hildie had never left Duo's side,
as his
friend or his lover. The lost prince had found his princess
that
had been before his very eyes for what had seemed like eternity.
**********************
"Eena,
you're not concentrating. What is distracting you today?
Continue
like this and you will be worthless on the battlefield."
With a
growling huff the vampire princess thrust forward once more,
the
sword in her hand as steady and as graceful as her movements,
though
today they could not best her teacher the werewolf Wufei as he
sliced
his steel under hers which sent it flying to the side, far out
of
reach of his newest pupil.
spanspan>Still,
with the sharp tip of the silver blade at her throat, Eena's
remained even and her glare emotionless. "Seems I lose."
"Seems
you have." Wufei's Asian eyes narrowed at her, though he
lowered
the sword and rested it at his side. "You've never been this
careless,
not even when you were a novice."
The
young female vampire straightened her stance and turned
away.
"I'm just not into this today."
"Well
then, you better get into it, because if what our sorceress
friend
says is true, you will need every ounce of your concentration
and
skill, Relena."
"I
told you not to call me that!" Eena spat at him in anger hearing
her
birth name, a name she hated and despised. She then stomped away
in an
attempt to calm her nerves and hide her tears.
Wufei
said nothing as he watched her leave, a slight frown was on his
lips
even as a pair of silken arms curled around his waist and tender
pink lips
kissed his cheek. "She's acting perfectly normal for a
vampire
her age, on the threshold of leaving her childhood to become
an
adult."
Wufei's
frown turned into a slight smirk, as his eyes seemed lost in
distant
memories. "At least she's not as bad as what Heero was at
that
age."
A
light feminine giggle escaped Sally as she pulled closer to her
husband
and snuggled into his chest. &ques, es, it's a good thing we
needed
to rebuild our house to begin with."
*****************
Milliardo
tossed the dead carcass onto the table in front of the two
men
that sat at it.
"There
you are, I killed the wolf that was attacking your sheep. Now
pay me
what you promised me."
With
dark beady eyes one of the men sneered at him. "How can we be
certain
that this is the wolf we want?"
I
could smell the damned thing, thought Milliardo as he tempered his
anger,
knowing that he could not disclose his heightened abilities
that
he had inherited through his vampiloodlood. He had run away with
Lucrezia
after a heated battle with his cousin Treize that almost
left
him for dead, and if it had not been for his chosen mate's
tender
care he surely would have died. And for now, he and Lucrezia
had
decided to do their best to live among humans, as humans. Though
they
had found it hard to survive on what little money Milliardo
could
make as a tracker and hunter.
Lucrezia
went back to work as a seamstress, her profession before she
had
became involved with Treize, but she found she could not go out
during
the day, for since having been turned she would easily blister
and
burn in the sun. So she spent her days working out of her home,
able
to be free of the wooden confines only at night. She had also
found,
that she was in need of more blood then even her half breed
husband
who often killed for her to limit her exposure to humans.
I've
done this many more years than you, he would tell her, it would
kill
me if anything were to ever happen to you, or our child. He
spoke the
tender words to her as he stroked her abdomen, which housed
within
it the life of their unborn baby who had been conceived the
night
of her crossing over from her human life to her demon life.
What
the child would be, or how the child would fit and cope within
the
world they did not know and because of this they both feared for
it.
"I've
been tracking and hunting since I could crawl. I know ravenous
creatures
when I see one, and from the descriptions by those who have
seen
it you know very well that this is the animal that's been
attacking
your herds."
The
other man nodded his head and tossed to the ex-prince a small
burlap
sac of coins. "As agreed upon. Forgive my partner. He's quite
cynical
and greedy." He then rose to his feet and extended his hand,
which
Milliardo accepted, though apprehensively. "If we need you're
services
again can we count on you?"
"As
long as you have gold to fill my pockets I am at your service."
Milliardo
nodded a good-bye and then left the establishmemounmounting
his
horse and beginning his long ride home to the outer banks of the
village
where he and his wife had settled. A few miles down the road
he
picked up a presence behind him.
"Come
out, Stalker. I know it is you."
"Still
as sharp, I see." Heero speed up his horse slightly until it
was
side by side with Milliardo's. "So what's the great prince of the
second
kingdom doing working off his ass for a few gold bits? Is your
kingdom
on such hard times? How the mighty have fallen."
The
blonde hair man did not seem to physically react even as he
spoke.
"I'm no longer associated with King Peacecraft. I've no doubt
been
branded a traitor and will soon have bounty hunters right on my
heels
having been promised pockets full of gold and jewels to show my
father
my head."
"Isn't
right for a father to turn on his own son, no matter who that
man
may be."
"I
don't need your pity."
"I
don't pity you. Half of me feels you deserve what you have gotten,
though
I'm curious as to what turned you from your father."
an>
was going to betray me to my cousin. I was set to turn the tables
and
betray him, but something happened, she happened and in one
night,
my life and ritirities changed, I changed." Milliardo studied
the
other half-breed out of the corner of his eye when he didn't
reply.
"You must really think me a fool now, Yuy."
"To
throw you life away for a woman. I don't understand it."
"Love's
never gotten you, has it? Not even my sister's. I figured by
now…"
Heero
quickly questioned Milliardo, cutting off his words. "You're
sister?
Who would that be?"
"The
girl who attacked me to save you, the blonde with the quick
temper
and sharp tongue. Her birth name is Relena."
That girl…your sister?" His eyes grew wide as he halted his
horse
and remained stunned for several seconds while Milliardo
continued
on ahead.
The
wind rustled the long gold locks of Milliardo's hair as he turned
his
head to yell back at the shocked Slayer. "If you're in need of a
place
to stay, feel free to spend it with me and my wife. I figure
you
have a lot of questions you wished answered.
****************
"Why
have you called me back here wife? I was on a very important
mission
before I heard your cackle to return home."
The
brunette woman cocked a thin brow as she sipped on her glass of
blood.
"And as any obedient dog would, you came, when called."
A half
smile formed on Treize's mouth as he took a sip from his own
glass.
"No one is master over me, wife, not even you."
Setting
her glass down Anne stood up from the table and stepped
gracefully
over to where her husband was seated, taking a seat
herself
in his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. Her left
index
finger traced the line of his nose and then the curve of his
lips
as she bared her fangs slightly before darting out her tongue to
lick
the side of his mouth. "And you, my darling, only wish you had
Taking
a deep breath through his nose the vampire king of the first
kingdom
growled, his hands tightening their grip on the hips of his
queen.
"Well, I suppose," he spoke to her in hushed tones and through
whispery
kisses on her face and neck, "if you had not sent Dorothy
out to
find me when you did, I would be…"
"Quite
dead, my love. Be glad I have the gift of foresight and
dreamed
of your peril two nights before it had happened."
With
his wife still in his arms, Treize rose from his chair to make
their
way to their bedchambers. Lady and now Queen, Anne Une
Kushrenada
tightened her hold on her husband and closed her eyes,
thinking
of another dream that she had began having for the last
three
nights. Come hell nor high water, my little blond beauty, you
will
never steal him from me, Relena.
*********
"I
am absolutely exhausted." Hildie sighed as she plopped herself
down
on the bed that along with a table and dresser furnished her and
Duo's
one room cabin.
"So
are you enjoying your training as a sorceress?"
"Absolutely.
I think Lady Catherine knows everything. Of course she
tells
me I have a natural gift, considering my mother and grandmother
were
both witches. Who would have known she could tell that by my
aura."
The raven-haired girl rolled on her stomach and kicked her
feet
up in the air. "How was your day?"
"Same
old same old. My cousin, Quatre and I worked with the owls
today.
You know, I think owls are even smarter and greater hunters
than
the other breeds of birds Trowa has. I never would have thought
our
family would come from a long line of falconers and such, and
then
to find out I have a second cousin who is rightful heir to the
first
kingdom, it's a small world ain't it?"
"Yea."
Hildie sighed as she placed a curled hand under her chin. "To
think we
grew up never knowing our families and now, we have so many
people
to call family."
Duo
walked over from the table he was standing at to sit beside his
ladylove.
She laid her head down on his lap and closed her eyes
relishing
in the feel of his calloused fingertips running through her
dark
locks.
"You're
beautiful ya know, and the day when I get back my throne,
you'll
make an even more beautiful queen."
Hildie
rolled on her back and stared up at him as she raised her hand
to
smooth his cheek. "And you shall make quite the dashing and
handsome
king."
"Well,
that's pretty much a given." Duo teased as he hunched his back
and
lowered his head to steel a kiss from the glorious girl below him.
*************
Heero
sat in a nearby tree, unable to stay inside of the small house
that
served as the home of Milliardo and Lucrezia. He had taken the
ex-prince
up on his offer, desperate for information on Eena, er
Relena,
or whatever name she went by. He hated himself for still
thinking
of her, that since he had left, no other woman's arms or bed
ever
felt right or warm to him. She occupied his thoughts night and
day
and it took every ounce of strength he had, not to go rushing
back
to her like one of Trowa's trained birds.
Now he
had found out that she was part of the very family he had
vowed
to hate. The cousin of the very man who stood by and watched as
his
uncle raped and killed his mother and left him broken and crying
in the
dark, his clothes and skin drenched in her blood as he held
onto
her dead body sobbing. The same blood that had been forced to
drink
by King Peacecraft, which had brought him from the boughs of
death
himself, left alive as a cruel punishment for his mother's sin
of
taking a vampire lover and giving birth to a half-breed child. He
had
grown up hating the Peacecrafts and Kushrenada's and now he found
out he
was in love with the very girl that carried their name as well
as
their blood.
"She's
not to blame for any sins my father, or cousin had committed."
Heero
refused to look at Milliardo who had joined him and interrupted
his
thoughts; the blonde half-breed tried again.
"Do
you wish to kill me? Her?"
"I
should kill you, but your father doesn't care about either of you,
killing
you both would not hurt him the way I want to hurt him."
Milliardo
knew Heero's stern words were his way of saying that he
bore
no ill will towards him or his sister.
"Do
you think she knows of her true identity, her family's history?"
"I
don't know." Heero whispered and shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well,
if you think my father is bad, you've never met my cousin,
your
half brother in fact. He is ten times worse and I'm afraid he
has
set his sights on having my sister for his own pleasures, as well
as to
bear a son for him. And he'll have her, whether she is willing
or
not."
The
thought alone made Heero burn with anger as well as fear for
Relena,
yet he remained calm. "So why don't you go and save her. She
is
your sister."
"I
cannot go and leave Lucrezia. She is too far along and I…"
"Well,
then." Heero snapped as he jumped down from the tree and
walked
a few paces to his horse. "It's a good thing that she is
training
with one of the best swordsman I know."
In a
flash Milliardo was beside Heero's mount looking up at
him.
"You're not going to save her?"
"She
is no concern of mine. She is merely a girl who I have vaguely
any
interest in."
"And
you say my father is a bastard."
"Then
perhaps I am even more of a member of your family then you
realize."
With
those words, Heero left Milliardo alone and silent in a cloud of
dust
as he rode away on his horse.
*****************
Smoothing
back her wet hair, Relena rested her naked back against the
edge
that rimmed the hot spring. The steam that rose from the heated
waters
encased her body in a hazy mist. She leaned back her head and
looked
up at the clear night sky and gold full moon, her ears picking
up the
sound of Wufei and his wife in the distance no doubt on a hunt
for
their latest prey.
Wufei
and Sally are so happy and content together. I wonder if I'll
find a man who is beholden only to me and I to him? Oh Heero,
can't you love me and why do I still have feelings for you? I'm
like this, I don't need anyone, I've never, no don't lie to
you know your life would be empty if you did not have Duo
Hildie to comfort you in your childhood, but even now, both of
are so wrapped up in each other they hardly know I exist. But
happy for them…they belong together. Perhaps Heero has the right
Vampires are meant to be solitary creatures. Besides if he ever
out what my family did to him…it's hopeless, he's not coming
and so I'll just move on…then why did I just wish on that
star for him to return to me?
And
far away, in another land, lying on his back on a mound of grass
that
looked over a valley like any other valley, was a lone half
human,
half vampire man. His eyes searched the sky as his head rested
on
clasped hands behind his head in an attempt to gain comfort so
that
sleep might overtake him, yet it did not come for his thoughts
were
elsewhere as his eyes caught a flash in the sky. But, before his
mind
could stop his heart, the beating organ made a wish on the blaze
of
streaming light to return to the maiden who it loved. The brain
agreed,
sealing the wish, so that even in denial he could not resist
speaking
her name, "Relena."
TBC…