Author: Blue
Category: AU, 2x5, 2x3, 4x3, 4x5, 1x2
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: OOCness, yaoi, language, light lime.
Spoilers: Do I have to say it again? No.
Note: Let's see . . . not much to say this time. Other than the fact that there has been nearly overwhelming concern for Wufei's . . . sexual needs. *grin* Oh, and suzume is a big, huge bully. She made me start a livejournal. *sigh* Of course, now I can mock her publicly. There's always, always, an up side.

Dance With the Demons + Part 17
Brightest Nights

Duo awoke several hours later, still pressed against Heero. He sighed and snuggled into the covers contentedly. At some point last night, he had come to a decision; he still trusted the vamp. Reasoning, logic, everything else aside, he had to admit to himself that Heero had simply reacted to the threats posed against those he considered his and had protected them. When exactly the vampire had come to the conclusion that Duo was included in this group was really not that important. It might come up later, but for now, Duo was more than a little happy with the arrangement.

However, Duo refused to admit that Heero had influenced said decision. If he had, it was probably around the time his tongue was in Duo's mouth. It was a very persuasive argument. Then again, it could have been when his hands were . . . but, since the vampire had not influenced his decision in the least, the point was moot. And that was that.

Rolling over in Heero's loose embrace, Duo watched his face as the vampire slept. Or did whatever it was that vampires did during the day. Duo lightly touched his fingertips to the curve of a cheek, trailing across slightly parted lips. A puff of warm air brushed his hand. He rubbed the pad of his thumb back over Heero's lips, then let his hand drop down until it rested against the side of his neck. He wouldn't be up and about for another four hours at least.

Duo frowned. And just how the hell did he know that? He glanced around, looking for a clock. He knew there was one on Heero's desk in the other part of the room, but it was both too far away and facing the other direction. There were no windows, nothing for him to use as a guide to estimate the time. His frown deepened, and was reaching epic proportions when a knock sounded on the door, followed shortly by the sound of someone entering the room. Duo tensed, then remembered that anyone who entered Heero's chambers without waiting for permission could only be either Quatre, Trowa or Wufei. Since Heero was out for the count, it couldn't be Quatre -- the blonde would be curled up somewhere asleep. Something familiar brushed through Duo's mind, and he knew who it was.

Duo's frown faded, replaced by a smile. "Morning, Wu," he said when the shifter passed through the opening between the curtains.

Wufei's deep black hair was sleep-tousled, small chunks of it falling down around his face. He was clad only in a pair of coal black pajama bottoms. Padding barefoot over to Duo's side of the bed, he absently scratched his nose.

"This looks comfortable," Wufei said with a half smile.

Grinning, Duo said, "And you sound bitter about it."

"Really? I thought I hid that well."

"Nope, it managed to sneak through. Here, crawl in if you dare," he added with a laugh as he lifted the edge of the sheet and glanced down. At least that side was clean.

"It does looker warmer in there than out here," Wufei said, eyeing the bed critically.

"In or out, Wu, I'm getting a draft."

Wufei laughed, sliding underneath the sheet and curling up beside Duo. "Much warmer. I-" he cut himself off, nostrils flaring.

"What?" Duo said, glancing around and rolling out from underneath Heero's arm.

"Nothing," the shifter said, blinking. His already night black eyes had become a few shades darker.

"I know that look, Wufei, don't give me that 'nothing' crap."

Wufei pushed himself up on his elbow, staring down at Duo briefly before he dipped his head down and rubbed his face against Duo's chest. "It wasn't so strong when I wasn't this close to you," he said, lips brushing over Duo's skin as he spoke.

"What wasn't?" Duo demanded, refusing to be distracted by the soft caress of Wufei's hair where it touched him.

The shifter's hands came up, running over Duo. He pushed the sheet off of them both, exposing Duo's nude body.

"Whoa, Wu!" Duo exclaimed, "What's gotten into you?"

Wufei's hands had continued their explorations, trailing over Duo's hips and down his thighs. He looked up, meeting the longhaired man's wide eyes with his own clouded ones. "Your skin . . . you smell like blood and sex . . . power." His voice had grown rough.

"You've got a severe obsession with all three of those," Duo said softly.

"I know," the shifter breathed, face still pressed close to the other man. Then he sighed. "You have to get up."

"What for? This is as good a place as any to be right now." He arched an eyebrow.

"Heero didn't tell you?" Wufei looked up, resting his cheek on Duo's chest.

"He didn't get a chance to tell me much," Duo said, unable to keep a grin from forming on his face.

"So I see," the shifter murmured, touching Duo's neck.

"Before we both get so distracted that we forget our names, what do I have to get up for?"

"Meeting," was all Wufei said as he buried his head in the crook of Duo's neck. His tongue darted out to lap at the soft skin and a tiny shiver coursed through him. "You taste so good . . . ."

Duo blinked. In this particular context, wasn't that a weird thing to say? He had fallen asleep, covered in the products of a bout of very good, very messy sex with a vampire. Oh. Duo blinked again. Blood, sex, power. Riiight.

"What meeting?" Duo asked, tilting his head unconsciously to the side so Wufei could have better access to his skin. Since the shifter was so dead set on having a little taste, there really wasn't any reason why Duo couldn't enjoy it.

"The one I called."

That wasn't Wufei's voice. Duo turned his head slowly, coming face to face with a certain half-asleep, blue-eyed vampire. Heero's speech was slow and measured, as if it required a great deal of energy. It probably did.

"What are you doing awake? You shouldn't be up for a few hours yet," Duo commented, absently brushing Heero's hair away from his eyes.

Wufei slid a leg over Duo's, moving so he lay half on top of him. "Hello, Heero," he greeted.

"Your energy woke me, Duo," Heero said accusingly after a brief nod to the shifter. "I can't sleep next to you when you're like that."

Duo was about to protest that comment, but one quick glance below his waist would mark him a liar. Not that he had felt his power stir, but there was the vampire, awake with more than three hours to go until sundown.

Turning back to Wufei, Duo said, "Do you think I should apologize for that?"

"It's a nice way to be woken up," Wufei said.

"I think you should apologize, Wu."

"Me? Why?"

"Because it's your fault."

"It is not. It's your fault."

"How's that?"

"Your power woke him."

Duo snorted. "Yeah, well, you started it by licking my neck."

"He was licking your neck? Already?" Heero said, his eyebrows shooting up.

"He tastes good," Wufei said with a shrug.

Heero's expression was just this side of a leer. "Really."

Wufei nodded. "You already knew that," he said, looking pointedly at the tiny scar on Duo.

Heero buried his face in his pillow and groaned.

"Heero?" Duo asked, not sure what that meant.

"This is why I always sleep with Quatre," the vampire mumbled into the pillow.

"Huh?"

"Quatre doesn't stir during the day," Wufei explained.

"And?" Duo prompted.

"Neither one wakes up to disturb the other."

"Oh." Duo felt like smacking himself on the head.

"If you don't mind," Heero said, his voice still muffled, "would you please both find another bed to continue this on? Or continue it later with me as a participant?"

That surprised Duo, though it probably shouldn't have. Wufei was still his, even after he and Heero had been together. It wasn't like any of it would change. He already knew how Wufei felt about it, the shifter had developed a habit of urging him into Heero's arms, then curling up with them both. Smiling sheepishly at Wufei, Duo rolled over on his side and nudged Heero's face away from the pillow. Sleepy blue eyes met his, an unspoken question in them.

"Morning, Heero," Duo said, pressing his lips to the vampire's. "See you later, when you're feeling a bit more . . . spry."

Heero laughed softly, eyes slipping closed again. The sound trailed down Duo's spine, making him think thoughts that were definitely not mentioned in decent company. Fortunately for him, the company he held right now was decidedly not decent.

Wufei slipped off of the bed, waiting expectantly for Duo. Crawling somewhat less gracefully, Duo got to his feet. The shapeshifter's gaze traveled down the length of Duo's body then returned to meet his eyes. Taking a quick step forward, Wufei wrapped his arms around the longhaired man's waist and buried his head in the crook of Duo's neck.

Startled, Duo automatically returned the embrace. "Wu?"

"I want you, Duo," Wufei said, his voice low and husky. He nuzzled Duo's neck, teasing the soft skin with lips and tongue.

Duo drew in a shaky breath, pressing the length of Wufei's body firmly against his own. The thin barrier of pajama bottoms did nothing to contain the heat radiating from the were.

"What meeting did Heero call?" Duo asked. Amazing. His higher brain functions were still working.

"We're to brief you on the situation involving Odin," Wufei answered, his breath hot against Duo's skin.

Duo's hands slipped lower, resting on the curve of Wufei's hips. "How long until you guys brief me?"

"Trowa is still asleep with Quatre."

"Good."

+

Duo was pacing. Again. Trowa silently tracked Duo's progress from his perch on the arm of a black wingchair, green eyes following each step and turn exactly.

Stopping, the braided man turned to Wufei, who was sitting in the same chair that Trowa had settled on. "And neither one of you has any idea where they went? No one does?" he asked for the fourth time.

Wufei sighed. "No, Duo, no one knows. It's not odd for Treize and Dorothy to go out on their own."

"I don't like it," Duo said, frowning. "The timing is bad."

"It is," Trowa agreed, "but they don't know anything about Odin yet."

"Still . . . I don't like it," Duo repeated. They may have left before the little encounter with Odin, but that hardly meant they knew nothing about it. Maybe he was just being overly paranoid; or maybe his sense of self-preservation was kicking in. About damn time, too. He was already neck deep in monsters.

"So you've said," Wufei commented.

"Where the hell is Heero?" Duo half-shouted, resuming his pacing. "He should have been here by now, what can be taking him so damn long?" Knowing Heero, the vampire would only show up when he was good and ready. Near immortality gives a person a hell of a lot of time to fuck around.

Duo stopped short, grinning. Then he started to chuckle. When Quatre and Heero finally appeared in the doorway of the blonde's room, Duo was laughing outright, his shoulders shaking with mirth.

Wufei glanced at the longhaired man, then the vampires, then Trowa. "Do you have any idea why he's doing that?" he asked, gesturing vaguely.

"Perhaps the stress is getting to him?" Heero offered as Quatre eyed the laughing man suspiciously.

The blonde gave Duo a wide berth, eventually sliding into the companion wingchair. He glanced at Trowa, who slipped off the chair's arm and seated himself at Quatre's feet.

"Stress?" Wufei snorted. "What stress? He couldn't possibly be stressed. Tired, yes, but not stressed."

"No, I suppose not," Heero mused. "Do you think his mind has snapped?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Why 'no'?"

Wufei shrugged. "I don't think he has much of a mind left after last night for it to have snapped," he said pointedly.

Duo had finally gotten control of himself, and was viciously glaring at them both. "Would you two stop talking about me as if I wasn't here?"

"You weren't here," Trowa put in lightly. "At least your mind wasn't."

"What were you laughing about?" Heero asked.

"Never mind," Duo said shortly. "Treize and Dorothy have gone AWOL."

Heero nodded. "I know."

"And?"

"They are the least of our worries at the moment."

"They're a loose thread, Heero," Duo said, "I don't-"

"Like it, we know," Quatre interrupted.

That earned the vampire a glare. It didn't seem to bother him in the least. And that didn't help Duo's mood.

Everyone in the room, save Duo, turned towards the door. Seconds later, a tentative knock sounded. Une cracked open the door at Heero's word.

"We've found Treize," she stated simply. "Catherine has him in the front room."

"Catherine!?" Duo exclaimed.

Une simply nodded. "He is undamaged as far as we can tell. She wishes to . . . talk."

"What the fuck does she want NOW?" Duo said viciously while at the same time entertaining thoughts of slowly throttling the woman to death.

"You could go with Heero to find out," Quatre said pointedly, rising to his feet.

Had Quatre always been such a smart-ass? Duo grunted, then turned on his heel to follow the Erus. Quatre quickly caught up with them and fell into step beside Duo, the two shifters, as usual, bringing up the rear. Duo took the opportunity to stare blatantly at Heero's ass.

The vampire had somehow managed to pour himself into yet another pair of straight-legged black pants, and, amazingly enough, they weren't leather. Une opened the door leading to the main room, and Heero turned around to address the others before he followed her inside. The pants, Duo noted, rested low on his hips, the front slit open with only a deep, blood red thread lacing them loosely together. Very loosely, he thought with a fair measure of appreciation. His black shirt was webbed, baring more skin than it covered. Long sleeves draped down over his hands, the cuffs flared and wide.

Heero held out his hand to Duo, something black coiled in his palm.

Quirking an eyebrow at him, Duo waited for an explanation.

The vampire picked the item up, uncoiling it. An intricately woven chain dangled from his fingers. "Nichol arrived sometime last night. He is a . . . ." Heero paused, searching for a word, "representative of the Assembly."

"Assembly meaning that crew you mentioned before," Duo stated.

Heero nodded.

"So what's that got to do with it?"

"It marks you as one of us," Quatre said. "If not in form, then in mindset."

That sounded rather ominous.

Duo took the choker from Heero's hand, looking critically at it. The black threads of metal twisted in upon one another in a dizzying pattern, reminding him of the Celtic knots he'd seen in Mariemeia's apartment. A single coil of silver trailed through the black, framing a teardrop stone woven amongst the strands in the very center. Duo tipped it to the side, watching it catch in the dim light. Black diamond and something the color of fresh blood were melded impossibly close together, spiraling in an endless helix to create the solid stone. It was beautiful.

"The Assembly wishes proof that you are no threat to us," Heero said, retrieving the chain. "Nichol was sent here to see that proof."

"It doesn't just mark me as one of you," Duo said, fixing Heero with a heated glare, "it marks me as yours, doesn't it?"

[cont]