"I appreciate you could come over at such short notice, Mister Barton." Heero stood up from his chair to shake Trowa's hand. A shiver went down his spine when he touched him; Trowa's skin felt incredibly cold.
"You told me you had very important information about the case," Trowa said. His voice sounded neutral and calm, but Heero could almost smell the curiosity and impatience in the other man. "You said you couldn't send it by courier or tell me over the phone."
"I prefer to hand it to you in person," Heero said. "I know that you're the most trusted person in Mister Winner's immediate environment."
"I'll see to it that he gets it straight away." Trowa took the envelope from Heero's hand.
"Coffee or tea perhaps?" Heero said. "My secretary isn't around, but I know how to operate the machine."
Trowa didn't hesitate for a second. "No, thank you," he said. "I'll return to Mister Winner straight away. He's very concerned about the people involved in all of this."
"And so are you," Heero said.
"Excuse me?"
"Concerned," Heero said. "Aren't you?"
"But of course. We're talking about human lives here."
"Do you believe in otherworldly creatures, Mister Barton?"
"I've read Duo Maxwell's report on the Schbeiker case," Trowa answered. "He mentioned some kind of creature, but I don't believe in supernatural hocus-pocus. I have to see it with my own eyes before I'll believe it."
"Then you will see it with your own eyes," Heero said, and he didn't bat his eyes when Wufei emerged behind Trowa and knocked him out with the hilt of his katana. Before Trowa could express his surprise, he sank silently onto his knees to the floor. Wufei caught him quickly.
"All right, let us get to work," he said. "Get Maxwell here for the ritual."
Heero hurried to the room where Harriet parked any visitor to his office. Duo sat on the plush sofa with Shinigami on his right shoulder, as usual. Next to him was his big, black backpack.
"It's your turn," Heero said.
"All right." Duo got up and hurried after Heero to his office where Wufei had laid Trowa on the floor, arms neatly arranged besides his body. Heero was appalled to see Trowa lying like that; he looked dead.
"Hurry, I can sense the distress," Wufei said. He looked up at Heero. "What are you doing here? The demon will try to find another person to parasite on! Get out of here!"
"Move, Heero!" There was no tenderness in Duo's voice. Heero hesitated, not knowing if Duo needed any protection - but who was he kidding, who could protect Duo better than himself? Reluctantly, he left his office and closed the door, but kept watching through the glass panels.
Duo was setting up candles, and Wufei cut with his katana in the carpet, tracing the lines of Trowa's body. Shinigami flapped around the room, anxiously. Duo dug through his backpack and took out a small satchel filled with powder or herbs and sprinkled it over the unconscious Trowa. When he was done, Wufei finished cutting the carpet, and both took a step away from Trowa. Shinigami hovered in the air. Heero's eyes went wide when the creature's mouth went open. Shinigami blew a puff of fire, and the candles ignited, their flames high enough to reach the ceiling, revealing such an intense light that Heero had to shield his eyes. Trowa's body cringed and moved on its own, arching in a back-breaking position. Wufei held his katana straight in front of him.
"Introduce yourself!" He demanded.
Something appeared in the flames, a dark creature caught in the fire, squirming and screeching.
"Introduce yourself!" Wufei repeated. The katana reflected the intense heat and the creature screeched wildly and violently.
"Ky-loon-aung," it said. "Who are you?"
"You know who we are," Duo answered. He held his hands pressed together, as if praying. "You will be banned, and judgment will be passed on you."
"So it's you, Executioner, and you, Judge!" the creature spat its words. It didn't have any eyes, but Heero could've sworn it was staring directly at him. An amused cackle followed, met with silence from the two in the room. "Do you really think I'm ready to give him up? You're both crazy!"
"Blah blah blah," Duo said. "Do you really think we haven't heard that before? You have nowhere to go to. You will be banished to Nothing."
Ky-loon-aung let out a stream of expletives that made Heero run shivers down his spine. It tried to lash out, and its screams pitched higher and higher, its words vulgar and crude as it noticed there was no flaw in the ritual Duo and Wufei had prepared.
The banishing became clear to the demon and it turned outrageously mad, crying and yelling and screeching, until Wufei raised his katana and sliced right through it. Shinigami scorched the separate pieces and the creature dissolved with the flames.
The dragoyle flew back to Duo's right shoulder, perched itself on top of it, and bumped its snout against Duo's cheek, as if wanting to say 'job well done'. Duo scratched it on top of its head.
"Well done, partner," he said. Then he made a signal to Heero that he could come in. Wufei didn't look up, as he was too busy inspecting his katana.
"Is it over?" Heero asked.
"No," Wufei said, as Duo said "Yes." They exchanged an annoyed glare.
"It's over in the sense of this part is over," Duo said, pointing to Trowa. "When he comes around, he'll be himself again. The parasite is gone, and his soul is safe. He probably wasn't aware of it at all, so you have to come up with a good excuse why you had him knocked out in your office, Heero. As for the rest… what is going on… No, that's far from over."
"Too easy," Wufei muttered. "I expected it to try to re-attach, to either Barton or Yuy."
"To me?"
"I told you to run away," Wufei snarled. "Idiot! By standing so close, it could have tried to attach itself to you. Not many people can withstand a boss, unless you have a very strong heart and soul."
"I'm sure that Heero could've withstood anything the boss wanted to throw at him," Duo said sharply.
"What do you know about that? Do you know him that well already to know that he does not have any secrets? No skeletons in his closet? Or did you just fuck him to find out?"
An icy silence fell. "You're tired, Wufei," Duo said, his voice unearthly low and deep. It was eerie to hear absolutely no warmth in his voice. "Go home and get some rest."
"No. I have to care for the library, and do research on Ky-loon-aung. I have never heard of such a name before."
"You go straight home and you get your ass into bed, Chang Wufei," Duo said and it gave Heero a little bit of satisfaction to see the other flinch. On the other hand, Duo's voice was as chilly as a cold grave, and he almost flinched himself.
"Fine." Wufei strapped the katana to his shoulder, and without another word, he walked out of the office.
Duo calmly went to collect the candles, blew them out and carefully wrapped them in paper before storing them into his backpack.
"Are you the Executioner or the Judge?" Heero asked.
"Not now." Duo's voice didn't leave any room for discussion. Heero watched as he pulled the strings on his backpack. Shinigami was on his right shoulder, its head tucked between its wings, moving along with his master as if it was a statue. Trowa moved, if only a little. Duo got up and pecked Heero on the cheek.
"Take care of him," he said. "Come to my apartment when you're ready." He disappeared just as quickly as Wufei from the office.
Heero needed a moment to recover and grunted when he saw that not only he was left with an unconscious Trowa Barton, but also with a ruined, scorched and cut carpet. Harriet was going to kill him.
Quatre Winner wasn't pleased at all that his business associate had been attacked. Wufei's katana hilt had left a perfectly round bruise in Trowa's neck. Heero had brought the clearly confused Trowa to his apartment and helped him into bed. After he was sure the other was comfortable, Heero used Trowa's smart phone to call Quatre's personal number. He couldn't come up with any excuse for Trowa's situation, so he decided to tell Quatre the truth; and the next thing he knew, was that he was summoned, along with Duo, to Quatre's office the following morning.
Quatre's angelic blue eyes were clouded with anger. His fingers, holding onto the delicate tea cup, were trembling. The only one, who appeared to be relaxed in the large room, was Duo.
"Confusion and disorientation are a normal side-effect of being leeched off of for so long," Duo said, his voice vibrant. "He probably has a few gaps in his memory, not huge ones, but some things he won't recall or remember."
"How long is it going to take for him to recover?" Quatre's voice even trembled. Anger, Heero thought, was an emotion that didn't suit him well.
"A few days, a week tops. All he needs is fresh air and some extra rest."
"This isn't funny, Duo!"
"I'm not trying to be funny, Quatre." Unfortunately, Duo could jump from being serious to joking and back again without batting an eye. "I'm telling the truth. I apologized to you profusely, and I'll be more than happy to apologize to Trowa as soon as he's back on his feet again. If you want to, you can sue me; there's a lawyer present. Fact is, though, I saved his life and yours by default. I can't even start to think what the demon could've accomplished if he stayed in Trowa's body and mind for much longer; it was definitely out to do bad things."
Quatre looked a little pale and his grip on the teacup tightened.
"Who else can be targeted?" he asked, showing Duo and Heero that he had accepted the truth.
"I think anyone of the slightest importance in your social circle," Duo said. "Khushrenada was important, because he was easy to manipulate into performing a ritual. The rift in his house tells us more than enough: it's the current center of the breach between our world and the demon world. It's the focus point of gwynnfyrs and qulu'anns crossing the border, and all the complaints, sickness and aggression, stems from there. We need to go back to the villa and finish it once and for all."
"I don't like the sound of this," Quatre said. "How come they choose me and used Trowa like this?"
"They found they couldn't manipulate you, so they decided to use the one closest to you instead." Duo ignored Quatre's faint blush. "They decided to keep you happy and warm, wrapped in a cozy blanket. You mentioned lately that you never have slept better. You're literally lulled to sleep, so you don't see what's going on. I have to see Trowa's work: his e-mail, his projects, everything he was involved with."
"That information is confidential!" Quatre gasped. "He worked on a lot of projects."
"I can assure you that I won't memorize any of it," Duo said. "However, it might be better if you combed through it. You know those projects, you notice immediately if something's wrong."
"All right," Quatre said, slightly relieved. "Though I'm sure I won't find anything suspicious. And what about the attack on Heero?"
"I think it was probably meant for me," Duo said. "A warning to tell me to fuck off, if you'll pardon my French. The war is on, now that we have discovered the rift. I have to find out who the master boss is or we're fucked."
Quatre shivered. "I really, really don't like the sound of it. I'll cooperate of course, for the benefit of my people and the company. I'll sift through Trowa's work, and you had better apologize to him."
"Does Trowa stand open for the supernatural? Do you know why he could've been possessed?"
"What I'm going to tell you, is very personal," Quatre said, "and when I notice you slip up about this in his presence, you'd wish there was a demon world to escape to, do you understand?" When the other two nodded, he continued: "Before Trowa came into my service, he was an orphan who didn't even have a name. He felt extremely alone and abandoned, and it goes to show how strong he is for making a life for himself. He worked himself up to get out of the slums he grew up in, and he worked hard to get where he is now. I can only think of that boss leeching off of his feelings of loneliness from his past, to get an opportunity to attach itself to his soul."
"My thoughts exactly," Duo said. "Not that I knew this about Trowa of course, but sadness and loneliness are the first things dark entities prey upon."
"But it happened so long ago," Heero said. Duo shook his head.
"It doesn't matter when it happened, yesterday or twenty years ago. A hardship in your life, a moment of grief, sadness, a traumatic event… A parasite will use it against you, and in your weakest moment, it strikes."
Heero went silent. He thought about the lonely days just after the death of his adoptive father, leaving him in a cold, dilapidated apartment with no food in the fridge. How he had to work his way through countless dead-end jobs to pay for his tuition, studying and working until deep in the night. He worked so hard that he didn't have the time to feel lonely - but it was there, along with the resentment towards his real father for abandoning him, not knowing who his mother was and why she had given him up - more than enough negativity for a boss to parasite on. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his pants, feeling uncomfortable.
Relena was happy to see him. She was clad in an unflattering pair of sweatpants and an over-sized t-shirt that had something about strawberries and whipped cream written on it. Her hair was put up in a lazy ponytail, and next to her on the couch were a huge bowl of popcorn and a bottle of soda. Heero chuckled. She popped some popcorn in her mouth and grinned.
"Finally, no charity ball, no fundraising event, no nothing! This evening is totally for myself, and I can do whatever I want."
"Is that really you, Relena? Or is it your twin?"
"Humor me all you want," she said, "but I'm glad I'm not wearing any Versace tonight. How's everything going? You're not really hunting for new furniture."
"I know, work's been so busy, especially the Winner case."
"Zechs doesn't mind helping you out, if you need more time to get back on your feet."
Heero mumbled something inaudible. He hadn't been in his apartment since the attack. He had stopped by the building a couple of times to collect his mail, but he hadn't had the time to even open the letters from his insurance company.
"I better make a list first of everything I need," he said instead. "Everything was cut up, even my kitchen towels."
She threw a handful of popcorn at his head. "You never set one foot inside your kitchen, Heero."
"Well… I don't set a foot inside my kitchen," he said. She didn't understand and looked at him quizzically.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know…I'm dating Duo Maxwell, and he's a very good cook," he blurted out.
Relena stared at him, mouth agape for a moment before she burst out in a joyous laughter. "Heero, finally!"
"Finally what?" he asked, dumbfounded.
"Finally you got someone!" She poked him in the chest. "I've been hoping for so long that you'd meet someone who would take you away from that hard-working-lawyer-with-no-time-for-a-social-life cliché. I'm so happy for you!"
"It doesn't bother you?" Heero asked.
Relena shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous! How would you finding love bother me, be it with a man or a woman? What counts is that you're happy; that's the most important thing of all." She hugged him. "I didn't know you had such good taste. He's very good-looking."
"It was sort of spontaneous," he said.
"And still you're not blushing," she teased him. "You're talking about the love of your life, and still you don't even get the lightest hint of color on your cheeks. How do you do that? Are you sure you're human?"
"I'm a real man," Heero said, "and real men don't blush."
"Real men don't leave their spouses either," Relena said. Heero was shocked.
"Mark has…?"
"No no, that's not what I meant," she hurried to correct herself. "We're not separating, thank goodness, no. I love Mark with all my heart and soul." A wistful smile. "I wish he never decided to run for mayor, however. He has no time for me or for his social life whatsoever, and he can only talk about 'when he gets elected into office'. We had a fight last night…" she heaved a sigh, looking unhappy, "because he wants me to quit that 'silly job' of mine."
"That doesn't sound like Mark at all," Heero said.
Relena didn't hear him. "I build that office with my father from the ground up! And he calls it a 'silly job' and wants me to quit! He wants me to be at his side, as a 'perfect' wife: silent, baking cookies, and dolled up!"
Heero frowned. Mark had always expressed his admiration for his wife's independence and strength. A terrible thought struck him. Mark had also been at the party. Mark had been in Khushrenada's villa. Mark was running for mayor and was a friend of Quatre Winner. His stomach started to clench.
"Relena, have you noticed something different about Mark lately?"
A little downtrodden, Relena hid her face behind her sandy colored strands of hair, the bowl of popcorn totally forgotten. "Not really. I knew his campaign was going to take a toll on our marriage, but I didn't realize it could be so intense and overwhelming. I go to bed alone and wake up alone. I can see from the imprint on the pillow that Mark has been in bed, for a few hours or so, at least. He used to joke that if his campaign failed, we could still live off of my salary and he would flip burgers." She laughed briefly.
It's a boss, playing parasite on Mark, Heero thought. His personality is changing, and he's probably the one who made that late phone call I overheard. I have to get Relena away from him.
"I'm sure everything will work out," he said, feeling sick to his stomach about the lie. Relena looked at him, staring silently at his face as if she was expecting him to admit his lie, but then a smile softened her worried features.
"Thank you, Heero," she said and grabbed the remote control, buried under the bowl of popcorn. "There's an incredible sappy romantic flick on TV," she said. "Watch it with me?"
"I'll watch it with you." Heero settled next to her on the sofa and popped the bottle of soda.
"Crap," Duo said out loud. He put the horn back onto the cradle of the phone, adding another "Crap!"
Heero sat at the table, trying to befriend Shinigami. The dragoyle was cleaning out a pan with leftover mashed potatoes, gobbling as loud as it could. "What's the matter?"
"I can't reach Wufei."
Heero waited for Duo to elaborate. In the background, the noise of Duo's laundry machine was audible; it was currently washing a load of Heero's clothes. The small apartment had only one, cupboard-sized guestroom that currently served for stashing Heero's things. No one had spoken the official words of 'moving in together', but it was the simple truth that Heero spend most of his time at Duo's place.
Shinigami, his snout smeared with potato mash, opened one eye to look up from its scrunch fest.
"It's not like him at all," Duo complained. "He always keeps in touch."
"And how close is your contact?" Heero said. He tried to make a joke out of it, and Duo ruffled his unruly hair.
"Don't worry, we only work together, sexy lawyer mine. Wufei is in love with his katana."
"Where does he live anyway?"
"On the same compound as Master Long. It's private property, but I don't know what's going to happen to it now that Long has passed away."
"Maybe he left everything to Chang," Heero suggested. "I can take a look at the paperwork if there are any legal issues involved."
"Thank you, dear." Duo leaned into him and kissed him on the nose. "You should be at your office though, thinking of a way to properly apologize to Trowa and to come up with an excuse about how your carpet has been sliced. I'm so sorry, but we didn't have much time left. We had to work fast."
"I'll pay for the damages," Heero said. "Don't worry about it. Relena will be delighted to pick out new carpet."
"Are you still worried about the husband?"
"Very much so."
"If I can stop this all, the entity will leave the husband, Heero. Everything will be all right."
"I'm worried. This is a really dangerous job, Duo. I'm not kidding."
"I know you aren't. But it's my job, it's what I do."
"You still haven't answered my question, though."
Duo frowned. "What question might that be?"
"If you were called the Executioner or the Judge, remember? That creature called you and Chang 'Executioner and Judge', and I still don't know who's who."
Duo was silent for a moment, and tapped on Heero's nose again. "I want to go to the Long compound."
"What will it take for you to answer that question?"
"What question?"
Heero frowned again. Duo sent him a blank look. "Fine. I'll drive you there."
"What about the office?"
"I'll write all these hours on the Winner case."
"Winner isn't going to pay for every trivial thing…"
"I just need some time to come up with a good excuse for Barton, damnit."
The Long compound was outside of New Port City, and Heero found himself enjoying the ride. He was driving with Duo next to him, the radio on, playing general rock music. Duo was worried but hid it by fiddling with the radio and talking or singing along, horribly out of tune.
Duo had only been to Long's compound twice and didn't know the exact address, so they ended up lost and had to ask their way around at least four times. Finally, hours later, driving on a dusty, sandy road that seemed to lead them into the middle of nowhere, Duo suddenly yelled out: "Yes, I remember! It's got to be around here!"
"'Around here' could be anywhere, Duo," Heero answered deadpan. He checked the fuel gage, mentally patting himself on the shoulder for filling up the gas tank before they left the main road. Duo poked him in the shoulder.
"Don't mock me! Just drive! We'll see it any moment now."
After another large curve in the road, Heero had to admit that Duo was right. A majestic compound was lying in the middle of nowhere, with huge, bare land around it, like an oasis in a desert. It was built in Chinese tradition; Heero noticed the typical layout of the compound, and the walls and tiles that made it stand out. Never had he thought to see anything like this. The huge metallic dragon on the gate reminded him of the ones embroidered on Wufei's clothing.
Heero parked the car and got out, followed by Duo. "Wufei!" the American immediately hollered. "Wufei!"
Heero walked towards the gate. The heavy bars were tied together with a metal chain, looped through each other; not a very friendly welcome sign. There was no bell or an intercom system to announce a visitor. Through the bars, Heero could see the gardens, the main building and the two smaller buildings flanking it. The red roof tiles caught the sunlight; it looked slightly neglected but not dilapidated. If Wufei was the only one around here, he would have more than his hands full with maintenance.
"Wufei!" Duo's voice was brimming with agitation and annoyance. Heero stepped away from the gate and eyed the walls. He was thinking on how he could climb over them, when Duo returned.
"Nothing to see," he said. "Can you give me a boost?"
"All right." Heero leaned against the wall and cupped his hands for Duo to step onto. As soon as Duo was on top of the wall, he reached for Heero. After some pulling and grunting, they slid down on the other side of the wall, right into the garden, overgrown with weeds.
"This is worrisome," Duo said. "The last time I was here, the garden was beautiful. Now the fountain isn't even working. It's not like Wufei to neglect these kinds of things."
"Do you think something has happened to him?" Heero might not be too fond of Wufei, but that didn't mean he wished him harm. Not much harm, that was.
"I do, yes," Duo said, voice low and jaw tight. "And if someone has hurt him, there's going to be hell to pay."
The door to the main building was open. The look on Duo's face turned grim, and Heero noticed how his own muscles tensed. He was bracing himself for a fight, and this time he was going to fight back. No one was going to punch him in the face ever again.
The wooden door didn't show any damage. Duo stepped over the tall threshold and his footsteps echoed hollow in the long, tiled hallway. Dust was gathering in the corners. The dark red walls with golden dragons and characters loomed eerily in the silence. Low, dark wooden side tables carried tall vases; perhaps Ming, perhaps from another antique dynasty.
Nothing seemed out of place. Nothing was damaged. Heero and Duo opened a number of doors: bedrooms, a closet, a bathroom, a kitchen. Not a single dirty dish in the sink, and no electric appliances: no fridge, no radio, no microwave.
"I don't think anyone's around here." Duo looked sad. He was genuinely worried for his friend. Finally, they walked to the back of the house, only to meet a few distraught chickens. Duo put food into the feeding bins and tapped fresh water from the pump. Heero looked around.
"It doesn't feel right," he said.
"I don't sense anything out of order here," Duo said. "It's perfect. Compared with other buildings I've seen, this is a sanctuary…" He stopped mid-sentence.
"What?" Heero didn't follow him.
"Khushrenada," Duo said. "His villa. Wufei must've gone there to check on the rift! The idiot! He was tired, and he hadn't eaten! We have to get to Khushrenada's villa!"
Duo had barely finished his sentence before he started running. Heero had to break out in full pursuit just to keep up with him. They helped each other over the wall again, and Duo almost stumbled twice in his haste to get back to Heero's car.
"I should've known," he said over and over again as Heero drove back to the city. "He's such a stubborn asshole! He was so tired, and I should've made him spend the night in the guest room, so I could keep an eye on him."
"You're not responsible for Chang's lack of better judgment," Heero said.
"I am," Duo snapped. "I owe a lot to Wufei, and we're both unique in our kind of work. We need each other to be able to do this. Without him, I couldn't have done this at all!"
"I know," Heero answered, even though he didn't know.
"Please drive faster, Heero."
His foot pushed the gas pedal deeper. Now wasn't the time to discuss this. He was having a bad feeling about this as well.
Chapter 6 | Chapter 8 |