Chapter 32 / 37
Written by Jessi Maxwell - send C&C to Megami_no_Remon@hotmail.com
Duo jolted awake at the sound of whispered voices not far from the window. He blinked fuzzily and sat up, briefly wondering how a window that contained no glass also didn't let the warm air out or the cold air in. Zechs sat up beside him.
It was still dark outside, but the light from several torches illuminated a party of ten. All were men, dressed in dark clothes and thick leather. The lot of them virtually bristled with wooden stakes at their belt, crossbows, wooden poles...all manner of wooden weaponry. Their intent was very visibly clear. They were hunting vampires.
Duo scowled darkly at the group, and barely restrained a yelp when a grappling hook flew in his window and caught on the frame. He slowly slid out of bed and pulled his clothes on, drawing his knife and glancing at Zechs, who was doing much the same. He kept his voice to a very low whisper.
"What should we do?"
Zechs scowled darkly at the window. His immediate reaction was to say that they should defend the castle, but he had a strange reluctance to do so. "These men are here to attack our host...while it's true he's been good to us and seems honorable enough, we don't know for sure what manner of man he is or what atrocities he may have committed. For all we know, they could be the good guys."
Duo's dark scowl showed that he didn't care to entertain that possibility. Zechs' lips twitched up in an almost feral grin - he was relieved his lover was on the same page.
About this time, the first of the would-be slayers was pulling himself into the window. He stopped at the sight of Zechs and Duo, surprised, and almost toppled back out of the window. "Who are you?!"
"Well now, I don't see how that's any of your business," Duo responded, his voice low and carrying a dangerous edge.
The man in the window slowly set foot on the floor, eyeing them suspiciously. "How did you come to be here?"
"We're travelers passing through." Zechs responded levelly. The man's posture immediately changed, though he was no less urgent. "You're not one of them! You are in grave danger here!"
"Really..." Duo drawled, tapping the flat of his blade against his arm.
"Yes!" the slayer nodded anxiously. "This is the home of a foul vampire, an evil creature that has slain tens of thousands...a dark, unliving monster that feeds on the very lifeblood of the innocent and unsuspecting!"
Duo arched an eyebrow. "He really doesn't seem all that wicked. Besides, it looks like YOU are attacking HIM."
The slayer gaped at the m for a moment. "You...he must have clouded your minds! He surely intends to consume you!"
Duo rolled his eyes. "Alright, look, pal. I'm gonna give you one...count 'em, ONE chance....to turn around and take your friends with you. If you don't...well, you don't know just who you're messing with."
The slayer narrowed his eyes. "You're in league with the monster! Then you shall share his fate." Without further ado, the man launched himself at Duo. He obviously had extensive close combat training.
Zechs was about to help his lover when a crossbow bolt whistled past his ear. More of the slayers had started coming in the window. With a low growl, he yanked one of the metal torch-rods out of its socket on the wall.
Duo twisted his body to avoid the thrust of a sharp wooden dagger, scoring a deep slash of his own. The slayer was good; he was better. Within the matter of a few moments, he and Zechs had taken down half of the slayers' party despite their inferior equipment and numbers, although both of them had taken a few good hits.
The newest addition to the fight hesitated at the window. Before either Duo or Zechs could react, he was abruptly torn away screaming. Several more screams echoed from the ground a moment later. Duo stuck his head out of the window just in time to see Rook tear the last slayer's throat out with his bare hand.
Zechs caught Duo and took note of the shocked, somewhat queasy look. "Yikes...it's a good thing he's on our side..."
A moment later Rook appeared in the window, dusting himself off. He noticed the five bodies in the room and frowned in disgust. "My apologies...my personal fights should not have extended to you as my guests."
"Who are they?"
Rook sighed. "They are men, raised on the belief that because I am different from them, I am a creature of evil. I will not deny my need to feed off the blood of the living. That is an irrevocable fact of my existence. But I cannot help how I was born. I do not slaughter needlessly or for fun and I actually do make an effort to pick targets that will not be largely missed by society in general. So the Slayers' Guild trains men and women that share the beliefs that all my kind...as well as several others...are evil and must be destroyed. In most cases, they're probably in the right."
Duo sighed, and then brightened. "Did ya talk to whoever ya needed to talk to?"
Rook nodded and reached into a pouch at his belt, withdrawing a small circular amulet. The surface was gold and edged with runes, set with three small gemstones that appeared to be emeralds. "This is a teleportation device capable of breaching the barrier and the distance between our worlds. It only contains enough power to be used three times." Rook paused, and then smiled. "It will take you home, and allow you to come and go one time further, should you ever wish it. I will go with you to retrieve the dragon, should he yet live. I can make my own way back."
"Wow...that's awesome! So all we have to do is go back to get Quatre and just...wish ourselves home? And you'll bring the other dragon back so he can help his brother, everyone wins!"
Rook nodded slightly. "Yes. Keep it close to you, however...I still do not know how these rifts were caused in the first place. It'd be a terrible thing for you to be accidentally pulled here again and not have the means to go back. But quickly, gather your things. We must make haste. The magic used to create that device...the device itself... all flies in the face of the Demon Goddess' laws. Even as we speak, she is hunting us down."
"Well, hopefully we can run a bit faster than whatever she sends after us."
Rook couldn't help but smile, charmed by the braided boy's innocence of the world in which he lived. "Young master Maxwell, I assure you, there will be no need to run. My magic may be limited, but that does not mean it's entirely absent. I shall teleport us to this cave, if you will allow me to see it in your mind."
"Er...see into my mind? What...like mind-reading?" Duo fidgeted a bit at the thought of someone crawling around through his personal thoughts.
Rook nodded once. "I assure you, merely a retrieval of your image of the cave. I shan't be inclined to poke about where I am unwanted."
"Oh. Well. Er, I guess that's alright."
"Gather your things. Make haste."
It didn't take Duo and Zechs long to comply, and Rook strode forward to Duo, smiling reassuringly. "Picture in your mind, focus on, the image of the cave where your dragon friend lives and your friend stays. Ah, yes, grab a torch too; it won't hurt to have some light when we arrive. Caves tend to be dark."
Duo plucked a torch from its position on the wall and nodded at Rook. "Alright. I'm thinkin' cave." Duo felt the slightest fuzziness in his mind and the oddest little feathery brush of something whisking through his mentality. It was gone as abruptly as it occurred, and Duo snapped back to attention. "Why do your eyes change color?"
Rook blinked, and then chuckled a bit. "My eyes only show their true color when my fangs are not retracted or I am utilizing my vampiric abilities. Otherwise, they subside and it allows me to be less visibly remarkable."
"I'm not so sure that's possible," Duo snorted, a half-cocked grin on his face. Rook arched one elegant eyebrow before chuckling.
"Flattery will get you everywhere, master Maxwell. However, I do not think your mate overly approves." Indeed, Zechs' hackles were up and he looked as though he had at least briefly considered snatching Duo to himself and screaming 'MINE!'
"Aw, Zechsy knows I love him and him only."
"Of course. Now, let us go. We've not the time to sit around." Rook murmured softly and made a couple sharp, practiced gestured with his fingers and the air swirled in front of him. The swirl soon increased in size until an oval of whirling color, easily large enough to walk through, had formed. Duo gawked openly at it and Zechs stared as well, although much less openly awed. "There. Come along." Without further ado, Rook strode into the swirling portal and vanished.
Duo eyed Zechs, then grinned wildly and darted into the vortex. Zechs was right behind him.