Blood or Chocolate?

The next few weeks passed by as normal life for me. I got my handful of customers, tinkered with the car, rescued a few cats caught in trees (thereby getting molested by owners of said cats), kicked some ass on Hilde’s behalf, and wondered night after night who the hell those two guys were. I gave their description to Hilde, wondering if they were the new neighbors, but she didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. The neighbors, as far as she knew, were two women, a sandy-blond-haired woman with twists, an auburn-haired girl with big curls, and a man that looked Japanese with startling blue eyes. Nope, that did not fit my guys.

After asking around and getting negative answers from a few folks that lived in that area, I gave it up as a lost cause. I mean, those two saps stood out in the worst way. There wouldn’t be any way someone would not have noticed them if they were still around. People blew into town all the time and then blew right out after a day or two. Mostly because they were running from the law, or just people passing through to some other destination, like Bandera County. Bandera was another hour or two up the road. My guess was they were headed that way. Yeah.

God, they were hot.

Tonight was Thursday, and I was watching the black and white version of Dracula. We were a couple of days from a full moon, so the night was a deep blue color with splotches of black. I was humming to myself when I heard a car pull up. I didn’t move from my sanctuary in front of the TV though. The door opened, tripping that little bell to announce I had a customer. I turned around to face the person only to turn right back around and face the TV.

“I’m going to need to fill her up. I plan to do some traveling tonight.”

“Uh huh,” I said.

“And I need to clean the windows.”

“Sure.”

“And I would like you to... accompany me tonight. Possibly be my escort?”

I snorted. “You want escorts? Then go to Austin, Sixth Street. They’ll be all lined up for ya.”

I heard Tsubarov lean on the counter. The wood creaked from his weight. “How are you, Duo?”

I looked at him from over my shoulder. He was such an ass. “I was fine until you got here.”

He bristled at that. Tsubarov was about as old as Long (if not older), wore too much cologne, was conceited and uglier than hell. He reminded me of a bulldog by the way his cheeks and wrinkles hung. “You idiot. You should see how fortunate you are that you have my attention.”

I ignored him and went back to my show. What made him such an ass was that a few years back, while digging in his yard he found some bones. Of course, being a lucky, cocksucking son of a bitch, he had the police called in who in turn contacted the authorities when the bones couldn’t be identified. It was discovered that they were dinosaur bones. Can you fuckin’ believe that? Anyway, he was given money for the bones, enough to impress the people in this town, but not enough to hold a candle to anyone in San Antonio, Austin or Dallas. So that little shit has stayed here and flaunted his money at people who would be impressed. I wished I gave a damn.

I heard him sigh and walk away from the counter. The bell clattered as he left. I glanced at the counter to make sure he left money there. He did. He went about filling up his car, although he didn’t do jack shit about the windows. I was watching the movie again and forgot all about him until I heard the bell again. He had an irritated look on his face. “Duo, the gas isn’t pumping.”

“Christ, I’m coming.” I really needed to do something about that. The only way to get the gas going after it stopped was for me to go out there, bang the damn thing on the top three times, kick it four times, back up, run at it and karate kick it on the left side. (Don’t ask me how I figured this out, it’s a long story). But soon enough the gas was going again. Relieved, I started to walk back when he grabbed my arm. Without any brain input from me, I yanked myself out of his grasp. He grabbed my other arm and the same thing happened again. We did this about seven or eight more times; when he grabbed my arm, I pulled free. When he grabbed my other arm, I pulled free. The shit was turning into some weird dance and before I knew it I was laughing. I couldn’t help myself. I saw his thoughts and knew that he wanted to kiss me.

He didn’t find this amusing though. In fact, he was getting pissed. “You stupid shit, hold still!”

I let him grab me this time, but instead I swung my rear-end around so that my butt was on his leg. I could feel his excitement go up and burst into flames as he registered the loud, stinky, wet fart I was leaving behind as a present. Three... two ... one...

“You nasty little shit!”

This time, when he released me, I dropped like a stone to the ground. I was laughing that hard. I wrapped my arms around my stomach as I rolled around, and my tears were having free reign on my face. That son of a bitch stomped to his car, threw the gas handle on the ground and jumped in. I had a flash of his thoughts, and laughed even harder when I saw that he contemplated running my ass over. He revved his car up and drove towards me to scare me, but at the last minute he made a sharp turn and got back on the road. I continued to roar as his taillights became smaller and smaller in the distance.

I couldn’t tell you how long I laughed, but after I finished I continued to lay on the ground to stare at the moon. God, it was so beautiful tonight. I could almost imagine it smiling down on me, giving me some sort of comfort while I bitched to it how dead-end my life was, how lonely I was, and how I wasn’t going to be anything. Damn, I was depressed. I was going to end up like the rest of the people in town. I was born here and heaven or high water I was going to die here. Great. Tsubarov’s ‘visit’ really got me down this time...

“Do you need CPR?”

I shot to my feet like a fire was lit under me. It was bad enough I didn’t hear anyone coming, but what I saw was just plain awful. There was this beautiful, sleek, canary yellow Toyota MRS parked at the pump, which had apparently been there for some time. My guess was the car was halfway full by now. With the car came two gods: one man had pale blond hair, bright blue eyes and a smile full of mischief, and the other had wild brown hair and intense, slanted blue eyes that were so seducing I was ready to drop my boxers then and there. Hey, wait a tick...

“Oh damn Heero. Looks like he’s breathing just fine on his own,” the blond one said, sounding truly contrite.

Japanese with blue eyes? I thought that was what Hilde said one of our neighbors looked like.

“Yes he is. Of course, if you were going to give him CPR I doubt he would’ve been able to breathe any better. Especially if you ended up snacking on him,” said this Heero person, who looked amused as hell.

I felt some moisture on my chin and discovered that it was drool. I didn’t understand why I had drool on my face until I realized that my mouth had been hanging open all this time. Hey, looking up and seeing a car with two passengers at the pump actively pumping gas without hearing them pull up just threw me for a loop, okay? It had nothing to do with the fact that they were sexier than hell. None at all. Or that they both had on tight jeans and tanks, showing off strong, muscled, perfectly chiseled arms and shoulders. Nope, not even relevant.

“Oh my. Don’t you look edible,” the blond one said with a smile, sauntering over to me. My heart started to race.

“Quatre,” Heero said in a warning growl. “Watch it.”

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt him.” He stopped right outside of invading my personal space, and smiled.

I’ll admit it freely. This guy, even though he was my height and size, scared the shit outta me. I’ve never had people come on to me (besides Tsubarov) and I haven’t had a date since high school. So it was safe to say that I wasn’t used to any sexual advances. But this guy just radiated experience. He felt dangerous too. Nervous, I started to open my mind up to see what he was thinking. Once again I met that brick wall, except this time I felt as if I had been bitch-slapped by it. The force was strong enough to throw me backwards, and I landed in a heap a few feet shy of the door to my little shack.

Christ, the pain! It was damn near unbearable. My hands flew to press against my forehead to help alleviate some of it, and I tried to hold as still as possible, panting through my teeth.

“Damnit Quatre, you said you weren’t going to hurt him!” I heard the stomping of Heero’s feet become gradually louder.

“I didn’t! I didn’t even touch him!”

“Then why the hell did he fall?!”

“I don’t know Heero!”

“Shit. Wufei will not be happy. We just got here and there’s already trouble.”

“There isn’t any trouble.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Of course you would.”

“Stay back!” I shouted, coming back to myself. I kept one hand pressed against my forehead as I scooted back until my back stopped against the wall of the shack. Still shaky, I used the wall to brace against as I stood up. I had to turn my face to the left to see past my arm, but I saw both of them standing a few feet from me, side by side, eyes glowing in the moonlight as they watched me with wary expressions.

Oh my god...

I felt something warm and wet running over my lips and chin. Using the hand that wasn’t trying to hold my forehead to my skull, I swiped at my nose and pulled it out in the light to see. It was blood. Damnit, I had a nosebleed?!

I heard a quiet moan, and glanced up to see Heero staring at me with this glazed look in his eyes. Well, to be more precise, he was staring at the blood on my face. Reflexively, I started to reach out for his thoughts when I felt a sharp sting. Deciding that I didn’t want to get thrown through the wall, I reigned in my ability and put a lid on it, tight.

“Heero...” This time it was Quatre who had the warning tone in his voice.

“I know,” he said, and he reached out for the hand that was glued to my forehead. He brought it down to my side and held it there against the wall, gently. Using his other hand to brace himself against the wall, he leaned forward and in one agonizingly slow lick, removed all of the blood from my chin to my nose. I closed my eyes at the feel of his tongue going over my lips, and in a sick and twisted way I was thrilled that someone was... licking my face. Dear god, I needed to get laid.

When he finished he rested his nose against my cheek, and I cracked my eyes open to see his eyes centimeters away from mine, bright under his bronze lids. I heard what sounded like a deep, guttural purr, and I damn near came in my pants. I couldn’t see Quatre, but I sensed him to my left. I started once again to try and see his thoughts, and felt that same sting I did with Heero. I flinched from the pain. Enough of this! I clamped the lid back on, nailed it shut and put mounds of duck-tape around it.

Heero stepped back when I flinched, and was now looking at me with something akin to skepticism. “He tastes different,” he said. “Smells different too.”

“Really? Let me taste,” Quatre said. He and Heero leaned towards each other and immediately kissed. I wasn’t talking about a peck on the lips; I was talking about deep-tonguing, ‘let me give you an oral exam’ kind of kiss, complete with growls and that ‘sloppy kiss’ sound. They pulled apart with a wet smack, and Duo Jr. cried at the stop of the show. Then Quatre stepped towards me and inhaled, damn near sucking my shirt off of me. It sounded weird too, as if there was a horse sniffing at me instead of a person. What the hell?

“Hmmm...” Quatre murmured, smacking his lips thoughtfully and staring into space. He looked for all the world like he was sampling a fine wine. I wanted to laugh.

“Yeah, I know,” Heero said, hands on his lips and looking quite annoyed.

“I don’t like this,” Quatre finally announced, glaring at me. The glare didn’t pack a lot of heat, but I wasn’t fooled. I felt he could do some serious damage if he wanted to. “What’s your name, handsome?”

I blushed, and felt childish for it. Why I didn’t tell them to fuck off was beyond me. Probably because it might bring pain. I had the distinct impression it would. “Name’s Duo. Duo Maxwell,” I said, and held out my hand to shake. Nevermind the fact that one of them has already licked blood off my face and they were just tonguing each other a moment before. ‘Manners are everything,’ my mother would say.

Apparently, their mothers didn’t teach them that. They stared at my hand like they were expecting it to do something. Rolling my eyes, I let my hand drop to my side. “If I heard right, I’m guessing you’re Heero,” I nodded to the Japanese man, “and you’re Quatre,” I nodded to the blond. I received two blinding smiles. God, their teeth were white! I wondered how much milk they drank for-

“What do you do, Duo?” Quatre asked. Heero watched me carefully.

I felt as if I were in some kind of test. I couldn’t help tensing a bit. “I work here,” I said, waving my arm around the area.

“Do you ever go anyplace after work, Duo?”

I had a feeling these were questions they already knew the answers to. “I go to the bar on Main Street. Howard’s. They have great burgers and fries.”

Quatre took another step towards me. I started to feel a bit claustrophobic. “What are you, Duo?”

All thoughts and ramblings in my head came to a sudden stop, killing all on board. That was an odd way to phrase a question. “What do you mean? I’m a gas station attendant.”

They stared at me for a minute, then at each other. Quatre spoke first. “I don’t believe him.”

“Neither do I.”

They looked at me again, then back at each other. “I see why he likes him.”

“Yes. Like Trowa said, he’s gorgeous.”

“And a fighter,” Quatre finished. “That is a necessary trait if he is to be in our... family.” They looked at me again.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

“We’ll see you around,” Heero said, obviously about to leave. “I believe we’re neighbors. We live on the other side of the pet cemetery, on High Creek Road. Come by anytime, you and your sister are more than welcome.” He handed me some money. Quatre was already at the car, hanging the handle back up. Heero jumped into the passenger seat, and in a whirl of tires and dust they took off and flew down the road. I watched until their lights disappeared from sight. Stunned, I went back into my little shack and sat in front of the TV, no longer seeing the movie. My brain was fried.

After another hour I decided to go home. I locked up, and was heading to my car when I felt that I was being watched. Automatically, I reached out but stopped at the last second. I was still in pain and quite stung from trying to see Quatre’s and Heero’s thoughts, and was not in the mood to repeat the experience. Fear got the better of me, but this time I gently took the lid off, and cautiously tried to make out who was out there and what they wanted from me.

There were quite a few of them. I guessed around twenty, although I was sure there were more. I couldn’t exactly pinpoint their location (I wasn’t willing to try either) but I felt that I wasn’t in any danger. The majority of the feeling I was receiving was curiosity. They were very intrigued by me but I didn’t know why. There were feelings of malice and undistinguished hatred, but it was held tightly in check. I also sensed lust, and someone thought I looked good enough to eat.

I quickly made my way to the car, and double checked to make sure no one was hiding in my backseat. I buckled myself in and before I started my car, I decided to follow an impulse. Rolling down my window, I turned in the direction where the majority of... whoever, were. “Be careful!” I yelled, making sure they heard me. “There are poisonous snakes and scorpions out here. Watch your footing!” I felt a lot of stunned surprises.

Satisfied, I drove home.

(tbc)