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First Impressions
(Saturday)March 19, 1994.
Millennium Base.
Eastern shore of the southern island of New Zealand.
5:44 AM.
Everything was quiet on the extensive grounds that surrounded the buildings, together forming one of the bases for Millennium. Early morning, the sun would be up soon. All activity had stopped a while earlier, no need for the soldiers and scientists to be scurrying about so close to dawn. Most of them couldn't stand the sun, and all of them were grateful for a chance to sleep, whether immortal or not. Once in a while a wind would whistle across the grounds, corralled into slight alleyways as it barreled around the corners of the closely constructed buildings. Aside from it the only other movement in the area came from the roof of one of the bunkhouses that stored the soldiers, breaking both the silence and stillness of the early morning.
Shouldering open the heavy door, a figure stepped from the stairwell that lead back to the lower levels of the building and out onto the desolate roof of the bunkhouse. There was a clang and a click as he shut the door again and it locked itself. The intervals of wind carried the scents of the nearby vegetation and ruffled through his already disheveled hair and clothing. An hour of tossing and turning in an attempt to get to sleep left him missing his tie and belt, with his white shirt half untucked and unbuttoned. The green jacket, draped over his shoulders and left open, had been thrown on as more of an afterthought than an attempt to keep warm.
Picking a path between the smokestacks, ventilations shafts, and clusters of dried leaves that littered the shingles beneath him, Zw�lf made his way to the slightly slanted edge of the roof. Sitting down, he drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, resting his head on his bent knees. Staring out over the training grounds below, he listened to the wind as it blew about the roof and mussed his hair and clothes. He sat thinking in the sparse light of just-before-dawn, the horizon showing the faintest traces of the blue the sky would be in maybe a little over an hour, until his solitude was interrupted when he sensed the presence of another. Straightening from his slouch but not removing his arms from his knees, he turned his head slightly to let the other know he acknowledged them.
"I'm not coming down from here, so you can just turn around and go back inside..." Before the sentence was even finished, Zw�lf realized there was something wrong and whirled around. The presence behind him was not one he recognized as that of a Millennium member or sibling, and as he turned he threw out the illusion of normality, in hopes whoever it was hadn't seen him too well already. He quickly hid his tail, ears, and tattoo, and covered his abnormal red eyes with green, and stared at the form behind him.
Leaning against the nearest smokestack was a young man dressed almost entirely in dark colors. The only bit or white on him was a button down shirt that was covered mostly by a black, high collared vest, so only the sleeves and tail ends poked out. Dark grey pants were tucked into a pair of impressive boots that looked as if they could break any shin they came in contact with. His long, black hair was pulled into a low ponytail about halfway down his back, held in place by what looked like a piece of cloth of some sort, maybe bandages or gauze. Startlingly blue eyes observed Zw�lf from a face whose skin was a pale tan, a shade completely exotic to the half-breed sitting in front of him. The man's expression and stance revealed a complete calmness that set the other on edge slightly.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" Zw�lf skittered backwards a bit, his movement sending some of the leaves tumbling off the edge of the roof. The man said nothing, but instead caught Zw�lf's gaze with his own. They stayed locked in their staring contest, neither daring to break eye contact, until the intruder shook his head once, a sharp swing from left to right, and answered Zw�lf's questions with one of his own.
"What in the world are you?" he asked. Caught. Zw�lf dropped the illusion, knowing it was pointless, and let his regular features become visible once more. Turning back towards the edge of the roof, he pulled himself into a tighter ball than before, curling his tail around his feet.
"An abomination," he muttered, once again watching the training field below. "But you're not exactly normal yourself, are you?" The hybrid's ears twitched in the wind, catching the soft noises of the shifting scenery around him.
"I can't say that I am," the stranger replied, giving a half shrug against the pipe he was leaning on.
"Vampire." Zw�lf uttered the single-worded statement almost immediately after the intruder finished speaking. It was followed by a heavy silence, only broken by the faint sounds the wind carried; the stranger neither confirming nor denying the accusation. The two were still on the rooftop for a while, Zw�lf watching the ground below and the intruder watching Zw�lf. Finally, the man shifted his position slightly and spoke.
"So, you know this and yet you aren't he least bit concerned? I could easily come up behind you and kill you right now, you know." To emphasize the point, he pushed away from the smokestack and stepped toward Zw�lf, moving forward so his shadow fell over the bent back of the hybrid. To his surprise, the boy in front of him answered him only with a harsh laugh and continued staring downwards.
"Believe me, if you
could kill me, you'd be doing the world a favor." The tone of the half-breed's voice held an emotion that was hollow sounding and cold.
The man took a step backwards away from Zw�lf.
"
What?"
"Oh I meant it. Seems I really can't die, even if I want to." Zw�lf turned so he was facing the vampire, drawing his right hand up to the side of his face. Curling in all his fingers but his index and thumb, so his fist made the shape of a gun, he pressed his index finger to his temple, and pricked the side of his face with one long nail. A single rivulet of red blood trickled from the wound down along his jaw line to his chin, several droplets falling down to stain the white of his shirt.
"Bang. Not even a bullet to the head."
"That wasn't what... Never mind..." The stranger spoke, turning his face away. His voice sounded awfully quiet in the night air.
"Oh," Zw�lf blinked, dropping his hands back to the ground. "Oh.
That. Well, you would. Especially for me. I really don't want to...
exist like this..." he murmured, crossing his arms and leaning them on his knees.
"And what's so horrible about this existence that you can't stand to live it out?" Turning back towards Zw�lf, the vampire arched one brow in a questioning gesture.
Zw�lf scoffed. "Everything. When you're the damnedest of all of God's damned creatures, some kind of twisted combination of a vampire and werewolf, and you were created for the sole purpose of being a weapon with no say in the matter, then I think you'd find very little worth existing for as well."
"A hybrid like that is impossible! The mixing of blood would cause all sorts of problems, and the end result would either be imperfect or mutated." The stranger shook his head in disbelief.
Really? Well, I'm sitting in front of you, aren't I?" Zw�lf grinned and waved one hand at the vampire.
"Still, you'd have to have extensive knowledge and research on both vampires and werewolves, and scientific theories and equipment as well. Even just
trying to start up a project like that should be nearly impossible," the man muttered, crossing his arms and leaning back against the smokestack.
"When you've got a bunch of Nazis dedicated to creating an unstoppable undead army, then you can bet they'll find a way." Zw�lf tapped the roof under him with his foot, swaying back and forth slightly on the spot he was sitting at.
The vampire straightened from his leaning position slightly as Zw�lf had finished speaking. "So this is a
Millennium base. I was wondering what organization it belonged to."
"How do you know that name?" Zw�lf asked, twisting around so he could see the stranger and eyeing him warily.
The man shrugged. "It's my job to know. I can't really hire myself to any normal organizations, being a vampire and all, so I have to know the underground ones that don't mind what I am to make a living. Ne?"
"I... guess that makes sense," Zw�lf replied hesitantly. "But... Why hire yourself out in the first place? I can imagine it'd be easier to just live in the world taking what you need when you need it. Not to mention that it must be a hassle to even find any organizations willing to accept to."
The vampire shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, my friend. Living as a vampire in a completely human society isn't as easy as you think. You constantly have to be on your guard, and always lying about what you are... I'd much rather go through the trouble of finding those who will be glad for what I am, than to have to hide it from those who would be terrified it they knew."
Zw�lf was quiet for a minute, thinking about what the vampire had said. Shrugging his shoulders he finally spoke, continuing to watch the barren ground below.
"I suppose you have a point... I just figured anything would be better than being here... But that's just opinion, yeah? Different for everyone and whatever situation they're in and stuff..." Squinting down at the field underneath him, Zw�lf blinked and then pushed himself up from his sitting position.
"I'd better get going... It's almost dawn." He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, leaning backwards while a series of pops and cracks sounded from his stiff limbs.
"Don't like the sun...?" the vampire asked, his own gaze shifting over to the brightening horizon.
"No... Not really that... It's just... I tried staying out in it before, and it made me feel really sick, you know? Like I was gonna puke up my guts... Had to go inside and lie down. I missed drilling that day and pissed a lot of people off." Zw�lf gave a crooked smirk and laced his hands behind his head.
The stranger gave a soft laugh and stepped forward, extending his hand towards the half-breed. "I might as well get on my way, too. I have a bit of a ways to travel before the sun gets up completely. Thanks for the info, it makes my job a lot easier, and it was certainly... interesting meeting you as well. Seems Millennium might make an intriguing client."
Zw�lf stared at the vampire's outstretched hand before nodding his head and gripping it with his own.
"So, is there a name I should know to go along with this face, should you ever follow up on that interest?" he asked, curiously tilting his head to one side.
"DeFanu," The vampire replied. "Tomm DeFanu. I suppose you could just call me Tomm. And you are...?"
"I don't have a name, really..." The half-breed shrugged and mumbled, staring down at his feet. "But I do have a number... Zw�lf... Means twelve in German..."
"So there is a reason for this," Tomm muttered and dropped the handshake. He reached out and caught Zw�lf's face in his hand, fingers ghosting over the numerical tattoo on his left cheek. The hybrid jerked his head violently away from the contact, eyes wide and startled, before he blinked and laughed nervously, bringing a hand up to rub sheepishly at the back of his head.
"Yeah..." He coughed, clearing his throat, "Yeah, there's that too..." Almost unconsciously his hand drifted up to trace the all too familiar pattern beneath his eye, rubbing lightly at the spot where the other's hand had brushed his skin. He stood quietly for a moment, eyes unfocussed and fingers tapping lightly on his cheek, before blinking several times and shaking his head.
"So, see you around then maybe, yeah?" Zw�lf grinned and stepped backwards over the edge of the roof. Startled, Tomm moved forward to peer over the gutter just in time to see the hybrid catch the sill of an open window and flip himself through with a rustle of curtains.
"Show off." Tomm grinned as well and stepped off the roof himself. He fell gracefully past the window Zw�lf had disappeared into and landed lightly on the field bellow. Glancing upwards, he caught the auburn-haired half-breed poking his head out of the window and grinning down at him before reaching out to close the window and lock it with a soft click.
Tomm turned and began walking away from the base at a steady pace, leaving no tracks in the dust behind him. Avoiding security hadn't been that much of a hassle getting in, and was easy enough to avoid while leaving, as well. As he hopped the last in a series of fences he turned back to look at the bunkhouses of the base, eyes picking out a specific window, three floors up and two in from the corner. Yes... Millennium had the possibility of being a
very intriguing client...
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