A/N: To all of you who have stuck with me, sorry these updates are taking so long. -'

-Chapter 4-

Heero sat in his office trying to focus on the intel reports in front of him and failing miserably. Though almost two months had gone by since Duo's attempted suicide, and several major things had happened, he still couldn't stop thinking of the braided man.

He thought back over the last five years since the war had ended, only now noticing all the subtle signs that had been there. The casual touches; the way Duo always chose to stick with him when he could; the way the normally cheerful boy had opened up to him and told him some of the darker things in his past. All the signs were there, and Heero had been to emotionally stunted to notice.

And then, when Duo finally decides to make it plain and clear, he had to go and blow up in his face like that. Heero grimaced as he remembered his own harsh words towards the violet eyed man. He hadn't really meant it, but he had been afraid. He'd felt like he was being put on the spot, and his own confusing thoughts had been painfully unclear.

It wansn't until Duo had fled the room with that pained look on his face that Heero had realised that he really did care for the braided pilot.

Maybe if I hadn't reacted that way...

His thoughts were cut short when the alarm sounded.

He stood so quicklly from his desk that his chair fell backwards onto the floor. Grabbing his pistol from the top drawer of his desk, he rushed out into the hall to be met by Trowa and Wufei. "What's going on?"

It was Wufei that answered. "The alarm was triggered from one of the interrogation rooms. Maxwell and Rei were down there questioning two suspected Lunar Rose members, and we were about to grab you and head down ourselves."

Heero grit his teeth. The thought of Duo being alone with two prisoners and a creature that was more machine than human was bad enough. Add to that the fact that they could currently be facing serious trouble made it even worse.

Making sure he had a full clip in his pistol, he hurriedly followed the other two former pilots as they ran to the elevators. The wait while they descended the four levels to the main floor, followed by the three levels to get to the detention level, was agonizing for Heero. He didn't let the others see this, though. But when they finally reached the desired level, he was the first out of the elevator. He could hear shouting and gunshots as soon as the door had opened, and as he rushed down the long corridor, he could smell the coppery tang of blood. Lots of blood.

He skidded to a quick stop when one of the doorways to his right was thrown off it's hinges and across the hall. Staring at the remains of the door, he realised that it hadn't been simply torn off, but had been ripped loose due to the impact of Rei's body being thrown against it.

-Duo's POV-

Oh Shit. Ohshitohshitohshit!

One minute, the guy is out cold, almost dead. Then he suddenly lunges up and rips the poor guard's throat out with his teeth. Un-fucking-believable.

Yet here the guy was, his blood-red gaze fixed on Rei, the dead guard's blood spilling down his face. His body was thin, like there was barely any muscle to him. Yet I just saw him snap the cuffs with no more effort than ripping paper. Then the guy's eyes turned to me, and I shuddered in revulsion. His eyes were open a little too wide, and appeared devoid of any actual human intelligence. They eyes that stared at me were the eyes of an animal, a predator. He advanced slowly on me, his mouth opening again in that awful grin, revealing razor sharp fangs right out of some old horror movie.

Shaking myself out of the numbing fear that had started to take hold, I whipped out my gun and shot him twice, point blank. He staggered back half a step, and look down at his chest. The wounds gushed small rivers of blood, but when he looked back up at me, his grin only widened as he resumed his approach.

"No fucking way." My voice cracked as I spoke. Dimly, I was aware of the other guard running to the door and hitting the alarm there, a precation against potentially dangerous criminals. The others would be here soon. Rei was shouting at the poor guard, telling him to keep watch on the other prisoner. The ragged kid just sat there, watching everything unfold with those eerie green eyes.

Then the red-eyed freak lunged for me, and I raised my hands to shield my eyes. When nothing hit, I looked up to see that Rei had grabbed him from behind, his left arm tight under the creature's throat, and his right arm across it's chest. His muscles bulged and I could tell he was causing the creature pain, because it hissed and attempted to throw him off.

Yet, somehow, Rei was able to keep his grip. The black haired young man began to weaken, his red eyes starting to slide shut as his throat was squeezed. Right before they closed completely, I saw their horrible color fade back into that dull blue. Once he was sure that the man was out, Rei dropped him. "You okay?" He was panting slightly, and obvious sign of the effort it had taken.

"Wh-what the Hell was that?" My voice was slightly panicky, and I hated it.

He looked down at the young man, with a mixture of pity and disgust. "Lunar Rose Specimen number IV, codename: the Vampire. I'd heard of him, but I had no idea that they'd used someone this young. Makes me wonder if-" Suddenly something flew past him to hit the wall next to me. As I looked down, I noticed the smear of blood on the wall that hadn't been there a minute ago. The object that had hit the wall was the head of the other guard. Just the head. My insides began to go cold. Hadn't he said once that there were more specimens.

I heard a low growl and whipped my head back up just in time to see Rei get thrown across the room, hitting the door so hard that it was torn from it's hinges. Both himself and the door flew across the hall to slam against the other wall. I heard shouts, then. Sounded like Wufei's voice. I heard two sets of footsteps enter the room, and Trowa shouting my name. But I wasn't looking that way. I was staring at what now stood in Rei's place.

It was a huge freaking wolf. It had to be nearly seven feet tall, I'm sure of it. It was covered in shaggy brown fur and had mean looking black claws. It was actually standing on it's hind legs, and I couldn't help but stare at the rows of gleaming white fangs. It's eyes were a vivid and intense green, filled with a frightfully human intelligence. One word popped into my head: Werewolf.

A gunshot rang out, and suddenly there was a spot of blood on the creature's shoulder. With a snarl, it turned and lunged. I watched as Heero and Trowa dove out of the way and continued to fire. I was frozen where I stood, and I hated myself for it, but everything I'd seen was just too much for me. Then I heard a whispery voice behind me.

"It seems everyone has forgotten about me." There was no time to move as my head was pulled sharply to the side and a pair of fangs pierced my neck.