I just want to thank you,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart
For all the sleepless nights
And for tearing me apart.
              -Lyrics from 'Long Way To Happy' by Pink

Crimson Ties Part 27

"The poor dear lost her whole family," Midi frowned as she wiped down the dining room table. Since Anna's arrival into her family's home, the brunette had found ways to busy herself to keep her fretting mind occupied after learning of the newborn Vampire's story.

Shaking her head, the 'mother' Infected continued to speak in her native Latin tongue when she sighed sadly, "I can see why someone so young who worked so hard to live would not want to see that it was all for nothing... even if it means an existence like ours."

His tall frame leaning against the wall as he watched, Trowa swallowed roughly and he looked away. The guilt of his originally thinking of killing the Irish native sinking in all over again, he shuddered. Speaking in their language, he replied softly, "I have to agree that there are few as strong as her. I have never seen anyone bounce back as quickly as she has after what she had endured."

It was his wife's turn to shiver, her hand pausing in its wiping motion. Biting her lip, she stared down at the wooden table as she stated, "We have known for some time of others like us taking enjoyment in the suffering of humans. But that strange Vampire... with the incredibly long fangs and strange eyes that had poisoned her... do you suppose that there may be more like him out there?"

Barton hesitated before he peered back at her to answer with a sigh, "I don't know. Considering the fact that we've changed over the years to being able to walk in the sunlight, there's really no telling what other shifts in our bodies our kind might be capable of. Treize and the others will have to hear about this as soon as we cross paths again. Maybe they've encountered other Infected like that monster."

"Monster," Midi repeated softly. Her brown eyes narrowing, she straightened herself and shook her head, "It is those creatures that will give the rest of us Vampires a bad name with the humans. If there is to be any chance of the living accepting us, the last thing that they need is to have reason to fear us."

There was no arguing that point. Such were the concerns of countless Infected throughout the world.

Closing the distance between them, Trowa gave his bride a reassuring smile and wrapped an arm around her waist to squeeze her against his side. "Some day we'll be more than the makings of scary stories told to children to keep them from wandering around in the night," he reassured in a whisper before he kissed her temple.

As far as the humans knew, the few who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they existed, the Infected were still confined to only being able to come out after dark. With any luck, the more and more 'normal' they were in comparison to the living, the better the chance for the bridge between their kinds to be forged.

It would take time... and a lot more of it. But there was the hope that the day would come.

The bright ring of Anna's laughter carried down from the hallway, followed closely by Heero's in response to the infectious sound. Giggling, Midi stepped back from her husband and raised an eyebrow. "So, do you think that there might be something more than a friendship between those two? It seems that everyone else we know is pairing up while our dear cousin has been on his own all this time."

Not even needing to take the time to consider, Trowa stared down the hallway and smirked, "I would not go wasting too much time trying to force anything there, my love. Their situation is very... different from most. Our fellow Vampires turn the ones that they see as a suitable mate whereas Anna was..." He frowned at not having better words than his muttered, "In the wrong place at the wrong time."

The brunette's eyebrow rose again as she suggested, "Or the right place at the right time. She would have died for sure had you and Heero not been close enough to help her."

"Still," Barton snickered, "I can tell that their relationship is not exactly the kind that I can see becoming more than what it is now." At another round of laughter from the said pair, he grinned, "Not that there is anything wrong with that, as Heero is easily the happiest that I have ever seen him." Unable to argue that, his wife smiled widely with a firm nod.

Over the last week since her turning, the Irish Infected followed Heero the way that a tail-wagging puppy would follow its beloved master. Already eager to fall into Yuy's world, Anna was ready and willing to abide by his ways of hunting animals so as to never develop a taste for human blood. The redhead also diligently studied the parts of her homeland where she could go and what places to avoid so that their identities were kept from the humans.

Because she had no other family or friends still living, there was no concern of Anna ever wishing to reunite with any familiar faces from her past that could report and potentially kill them. A loner and traveling performer, few would wonder of her whereabouts and soon forget her altogether.

And above all other things, Midi and Trowa were most pleased by how their new 'cousin' was nothing but grateful to be what she was, even in the sight of understanding the challenges that would come with it. That gratitude was something the likes of which they had never experienced from another Infected... even within themselves.

Back down the hallway, in Heero's sealed off room, Anna lay on her side on her rescuer's bed. Dressed in a new violet dress the likes of which she never would have dreamed of being able to afford, she wound a few strands of her long hair around her fingers as she met the cobalt-and-gold eyes watching her. "So," she began with a playful grin, "How is it someone as handsome as ye have been unattached te another creature this long?"

Yuy blinked at the question as he shifted where he sat at the edge of the mattress and shrugged, "I never really felt a connection to anyone the way Trowa and Midi, or another paired Infected's that we know have for each other." Biting his lip, he hesitated before admitting softly, "I just haven't met the right guy yet, I suppose."

At that, Anna shot up to perch on her knees, golden blue eyes wide as she beamed, "So you... oh, Heero, thank you for trusting me with that." She closed the distance between them to wrap her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. "Yer secret will stay safe wit me," she vowed by his ear.

Snickering, Heero closed his eyes and returned the hug. In the short time that he had come to know the redhead, he had come to appreciate their unique bond. There was nothing romantic between them, but there was no question to how strongly tied they already were through his being the one to turn her. Already, he knew that he could trust her with anything... including this, the most private thing that he could share about himself.

When she pulled back, the other Vampire gushed, "I do hope that ye find him some day. And since I have ne intention of ever leaving yer side, I will be there fer when the happy day comes, however many centuries it takes... brother."

Brother. Never one to hold that title before, Yuy took a moment to have it set in before his surprise melted into a wide smile.

Leaning in, he pecked the redhead's cheek and smirked, "Thank you, sister."

*   *   *   *   *   *

Two months later...

"Anna?!"

Flying into his shared home, Heero moved down the hallway towards the living room with hurried steps as he scanned the rooms he passed. Trowa and Midi rushed towards him, their eyes enlarged with concern when they neared. "Have either of you seen Anna?" he frowned urgently. "We split up in our hunt over an hour ago when I lost track of her. I was hoping that she just beat me back here"

His cousins exchanged a glance before Barton replied to him, "You are the first one back."

Muttering a curse in his native tongue under his breath, Yuy glanced back to the front door and stated, "We took the furthest back lands for the first time to see what wildlife we would find there. She wouldn't know what places to stay away from on her own. I never expected us to be forced to drift as far apart as we had to."

Now Trowa had a second time in which he witnessed his cousin distraught with worry when the Japanese Infected began to pace the floor to silently consider where his proclaimed sister might be. And those concerns were not completely unfounded; if Anna were to stumble unexpectedly onto humans in her attempt to find her way back.

Really, the possibilities were endless to what may or may not have happened... and not many of those options were particularly pleasant since the redhead would never have purposely strayed away from her brother for long when she was still discovering herself.

"I'll go with you to look for her," the tall Latin announced. Kissing his bride's cheek, he told her, "Stay here in case Anna beats us back." Wringing her hands together at her waist, Midi bit her lip and nodded before the two cousins ran from the house to disappear into the pitch night in blurs.

In only a matter of just over an hour, Heero and Trowa covered the edges of the whole Isle, each starting from one coast and reconnecting at the furthest tip of the country where Yuy and his sister had last been together in their hunt.

Panting from his growing panic rather than the actual need for air from his run, Yuy ran a hand through his hair and resumed his pacing in the middle of the clearing where he and the other Vampire caught up. "Not even a hint of where she could be from my end," he frowned deeply, shaking his head in frustration.

Trowa chewed on the inside of his cheek as he offered, "Perhaps she already found her way back home. For all we know, she could be back with Midi waiting for us now."

"No, something kept her away," his cousin replied, the confidence of that as clear in his voice as his concern. "She would have come back to me if it was not for... whatever it was made sure she did not reconnect with me before."

That only served to make Barton's own alarm grow. Knowing fully well how two tied Vampires had an unexplainable awareness of each other, he believed that Heero was right in his feeling that something else was amiss with his sister.

Just as he was about to make a suggestion of splitting apart to scan the central lands, Trowa looked up to the star-filled heavens and froze in seeing some of the stars in the distance blacken out before his heightened vision. Billowing over the treetops of the forest wrapped ahead of them was a plume of dark smoke tinged by a strange, deep purple hue on its edges.

There was only one explanation for such smoke. And the two Infected had witnessed many a burning of their own kind to realize exactly what it was.

In seeing his long-time friend's eyes widening, Heero followed his gaze. Back seizing on him with a gasp, he breathed, "Anna." Determination filling his narrowing eyes, he darted through the clearing to charge through the trees as his cousin followed close behind.

Once they broke into the forest, their noses were filled with the scent of incense smoldering and followed it to the source. It took them all the way to one of the low rises of hills that they knew to be uninhabitable and so free of humans for many miles.

Deep within the cusps of one of the rockier crests, the Vampires came to a sudden stop when they found a familiar frame standing at the top of a pile of stone with its back to them. All but collapsing with his intense relief, Heero bent forward to catch himself against a boulder as he sighed, "Anna."

When his sister never so much as looked back at him, the Infected's frown deepened as he slowly climbed her rocky perch. Staring down into the flames that rose above the edge of the ring before her, the redhead's hair caught the dancing light to appear as if her own, loose locks were ablaze. A cold and empty expression on her face, the Irish native continued to gaze down when her brother reached her side.

Gasping when he did have a chance to appraise her face, Heero blinked in shock in finding her fangs hanging past her pursed lips and dripping unnaturally dark red blood down her chin. "I never fergot 'is scent," she muttered in a low growl. "Even as lost to the pain as I was, I could pick that foul stench for miles."

The corner of her mouth curling up, she chuckled darkly, "The look on 'is surprise when I found 'im and 'earign 'is cries when I finally had 'em made it worth all what 'e did. 'e gave me a good chase 'n fight, but 'e was not going to get the better of me. Not again."

Stunned, Trowa took in the redhead's ragged dress. Its sleeves and skirt had both been completely shredded to long strips blowing on the breeze. He scanned over the dozens of bite marks her arms and legs when he cautiously climbed to her other side.

Every one of those marks was dripping her own dark red blood. From where he was able to peer from the flames, he found splatters of black fluid against the rocks around. A cold wave of realization sank in at the sight of those splotches and at his cousin's words.

Anna had found her attacker... at least the strange snake-like Infected. And fight her he had, doing his best to kill her once again with his poison. Only now, she was equipped to drain the vile concoction from her veins herself to spit it back out. It must have been one hell of a struggle between the two of them before the redhead finished her attacker off.

"'E won't do this te another," Anna finally sighed, content with her actions and not at all remorseful. Not that Trowa blamed her one bit... quite the opposite, in fact. She had done well to see that another human would not endure the nightmare that she had. There would never be another girl taken in the night to suffer a painful, tormented end.

Heero clearly shared the same opinion as a proud grin spread across his lips when he stared into the burning heaps of body parts that were disintegrating into dust that was carried into the rising smoke on the wind.

That smile faded when he regarded his sister again. Tentatively reaching forward, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder with a soft, "Anna." With a sharp pull of air, the redhead's gold-rimmed blues met his when her head snapped towards him. In that instant, her fangs retracted, her resolve evaporated and her vision shimmered with large tears.

Sniffling, she launched herself at her brother to wrap herself around him as tightly as her shuddering body could manage. Heero clung to her every bit as fiercely, raining kisses on the side of her head and whispering, "Good hunt, Anna."

A sharp laugh broke from the redhead at that. Pulling away, she allowed him to reach up with both hands to wipe away her free flowing tears with the pads of his thumbs. As she peered down at her bloodied, dirtied, tattered dress, she turned to Trowa and ducked her head.

"Midi made such a lovely dress," Anna murmured. "I feel horrible fer the shape it's in."

Snickering, Barton pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her temple. "That would be the last of her cares," he reassured. "You are far more important than any dress, dear cousin." Holding onto her shoulders as he stepped back, he winked, "Besides, there are countless others that she's had years to make where that came from."

The flames of her labor were quickly dying out as the last remains drifted from the world as Heero stepped up to slip beneath his sister to scoop her onto his back. Giggling, Anna hooked her legs around his waist and her arms loosely at his neck. "For now, little warrior," he smirked over his shoulder, "Let's get you home so that you can feed from me while those wound are tended to."

Resting her head on his shoulder, Anna sighed and closed her eyes. Trowa stayed behind to see his cousins off before he followed in their run back home.

(End Flashback)

*   *   *   *   *   *

Duo sat back in his chair, slowly releasing the breath that had locked in his lungs. Thinking to the freckles that covered Anna's arms and legs, he wondered how many of those were actually natural marks from her birth and how many were the scars left from the Infected that had attacked and done battle with her. He would have to take a closer look the next time he was in her presence.

Finally finding his voice, he breathed, "Damn."

Nodding Trowa replied, "Indeed." With a shrug, he chuckled, "Heero and I call Anna one of our first Preventers since it was decades before Treize and Lady Une formed the organization."

"Any word on the second Vampire that had attacked her the night she was turned?" Maxwell questioned. Chewing on the inside of his cheek in worry, he added, "The bigger of the two?"

His arms folding across his chest, Barton sighed deeply, "No. Considering how many of our own have taken the process of eliminating Rogues into their own hands, we're leaning to the optimistic hope that he's already met his demise."

Gold-and-emerald eyes narrowing, he hissed under his breath, "And I hope it was every bit as slow and agonizing as what his friend endured when he crossed paths with Anna the last time."

It was not a very Catholic thing to wish any ill on another. But then, Duo had previously wished nothing but the worst on every Infected before coming to meet Heero and his family. Now, he found himself hoping that every fiber of that bastard screamed in pain in a timeless death.

Finding the silver lining, the braided teenager let his rage fade away and grinned, "Well, at least Heero had her to keep him company over the years before he found me."

At the end of his sentiment, he blushed at how that sounded. That whole 'fate' thing between an Infected and their Chosen that he had scoffed at before had become quite the real thing to him now.

"Yes," Trowa smirked with a firm nod. "They were able to feed from each other for centuries to sustain their needs and Heero actually came to appreciate what he was thanks to her example."

Lips curling in a wistful smile, he stated, "Before, my cousin had resented how he had been forced into our existence. Anna's graciousness and immediate acceptance of her fate were just the things that he needed to find peace in himself. In many ways, she helped him live again."

Snickering, Barton went on, "As for my guilt over originally thinking that death was the best option for her, I talked to her directly about it. She just laughed, kissed my cheek and told me there were no hurt feelings."

Duo laughed. That would be the kind of response his sister would make, always finding a way of brightening a potentially dark matter. He watched in surprise as the Infected drew a deep breath and glowered in an unexpected frustration.

"If only every one of our kind could see Heero and Anna's relationship in the same light. But then, you never heard any of this from me," the tall Latin grumbled. Blinking, the teenager leaned forward in his seat.

Gesturing with his head to the back of his house, Trowa growled, "Meiran is trouble. In more ways than one. The rest of my family have too much respect for Treize and Lady Une to say anything. However, I have no qualms in telling you to watch your back when you're in her presence."

A chill ran down the living's back and he straightened upright. Shaking his head, the Vampire warned, "There is nothing good about that one. I get the impression that her own clan is keeping her in their loop only so that they can keep an eye on her."

"Well, I noticed that Anna seemed to have a real problem with her in particular," Duo muttered.

Chuckling bitterly, Trowa commented, "With good reason. Meiran has been bold enough to call Anna a bastard because she had to lie, cheat and steal her way through life as opposed to being of a noble or prestigious upbringing. That wench has gone as far to say that it was only because Heero pitied her that he changed Anna at all and that she should never have been given that chance when she was such a lowly human."

The breath rushing out of his lungs as if those words were meant to strike a blow against him, Maxwell's face reddened with rage and his fists clenched as his violet eyes narrowed in a heated glare. Already leery of the dark-haired beauty, he had nothing but a fierce anger towards her now for ever suggesting such horrible things of his sister.

"Meiran was fortunate on many occasion that Wufei did not tear her apart for the things she said with him in earshot," Barton stated. "But as I said, were it not for Treize and Lady Une's trying to believe that there is good in all creatures and the respect that we have for them, their cousin would not be allowed anywhere near us."

Raising an eyebrow, the Latin Infected informed, "She also has had an obsession over Heero since they first met centuries ago."

His rage giving way to worry, Duo felt the unintelligible grunt that left him. There was much to that announcement that he'd presumed on his own based on his few encounters with her. Only now having the confirmation to his theories, he couldn't help but be concerned in knowing how he could never compete with such a captivating being.

Quickly lifting hand, Trowa laughed, "You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Heero wouldn't touch her with a fifty-foot pole, sooner accepting death than ever taking her in as his Companion."

With a smirk, he lowered his hand and shrugged, "Meiran has yet to realize that beauty is only skin deep for Vampires every bit as much as it is for humans. As lovely as she may be physically, there are few more repulsive beings alive than she is as far as we're concerned."

Serious once again, he made sure to speak slowly when he made the point that he wanted to set in, "I only tell you this because it's all the more reason to keep an eye out whenever she's around. I wouldn't put anything past that one if it meant that she would come out with what she wanted."

Allowing those words to take hold, Duo nodded firmly, "Got it. Thank you for the heads up, Trowa." The Infected bowed his head.

Heavily sinking back into his seat, the teenager sighed and wiped his face with his hands. "Now hearing about how she was raped, I know why Anna was so hurt when Heero snapped and reminded her about how a human being forced into something against their will hurt Anna so much this morning," he thought aloud.

When Trowa suddenly sat up rigidly in his chair with wide eyes, Duo felt his throat constrict at the horrified expression on his cousin's face. "He said that to her?" the Vampire breathed, his already pale skin lightening even more.

"O-out of anger, but yea," Maxwell stammered after he had to swallow roughly to dampen his throat. Heart hammering, he asked in a whisper, "He wasn't referring to that night when she was turned?"

Biting his lip, Barton hesitated before he answered just as quietly, "No. Anna was over her rape quite quickly. Heero was talking about something... much more devastating to her than that." His next movement was unconscious, Duo noted, as he watched the Infected reach up to rub the back of his neck with his fingers lingering over the fresh bite marks that Midi had given him.

As if waking from a dream, Barton shook his head and put on a smile as if nothing had happened. "Well, clearly all is fine between them again," he said nonchalantly.

Duo opened his mouth to ask something, only to be stopped when the Latin raised his hand again and smirked, "I value my existence too much to be the one to bring that story up. You'll have to get that one from your siblings... but that will only come when they're ready to share it on their own."

Fighting the urge to pout at that, the living simply nodded. Maybe that tale was another example of something that he would rather not know about... one of those blissful in ignorance moments.

Before he could dwell on the thought any longer, Maxwell nearly jumped at the sound of the front door opening. Followed closely by all of his family, Treize smiled widely at the sight of the teenager in the living room when they entered. "Duo," he greeted, bending at the waist in a deep bow. "This is a most pleasant surprise."

And it seemed to sincerely be a 'pleasant surprise' to all of the arriving Infected... spare one. Meiran looked anything but pleased when she first spotted him in her entrance. That flicker of disappointment and almost anger vanished to be replaced by a the forced smile that the braided youth now saw it to be.

Oh, he would heed Trowa's words in watching his back with her.

Smiling as he rose, Barton addressed the Head Councilman, "Since he is an official member of our family now, Duo expressed interest in sitting in on our Preventer meeting this evening."

"Wonderful," Lady Une beamed before her husband even had a chance to respond. Nodding to the living, she ignored the amused chuckle from Treize and reassured their guest, "You're always more than welcome."

Duo smiled back, only to be cut off before he could voice his appreciation when Meiran inquired, "So, where is Heero? He never misses these meetings, and since he was on the hunt, I was sure that he would be here to give the report on the discoveries made."

Holding his tongue, Maxwell eyed the seemingly innocent Vampire. Wufei and Anna were also missing, but of course they were of no concern of hers to mention.

There was no doubt in his mind that he'd have to keep an eye on her. Discretely, he lowered his rolled up sleeve to cover the band-aid on the inside of his arm before she noticed.

For his part, Trowa kept his voice and expression its usual calm as he answered cryptically, "Heero should be finished preparing himself any moment."

*   *   *   *   *   *

"Are you going to just stare at the bag all night or are you going to drink from it?" Anna giggled as she leaned against the doorway of her brother's living room.

Seated on the main couch, Heero held onto the medical bag holding his Other's blood. His captivated eyes looked away from the swishing red fluid to meet his sister's gaze.

Then, with a wide grin, his fangs grew in and he pierced through the plastic.

TBC...

 

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