Shouting, slammed doors, maybe a few tears. It all seemed to run together the last couple of months. Ienzo sat in his bed, the lights turned off, letting moonlight pass through the wide open curtains and illuminate a small square of his pale carpet. He stared at the door he had closed violently and bit his lip. Some random argument about his grades swiftly turned into a comparing of one son to the other. 'Why can't you be more like your brother? Why don't you have any friends? I'm sure you're brother could spare you two of the eighty he speaks with almost daily.' The young boy was tired of the constant analyzing and every time something like that would happen he would stuff one more item into his spare book bag he left for running away from his family. A flash of black skittered across the moonlit floor and jumped onto the bed, almost landing perfectly on Ienzo's lap. He stroked the cat lovingly and wiped his eyes with his free hand. His only friend purred at the touch and craned his neck for more. "It's not my fault people don't want to be friends with me..." He said quietly and sniffed. The cat opened an eye as he listened to his master. Ienzo glanced to the window when his room had darkened for a second but nothing obstructed the moon's glow. "I really am going to do it, Spook..." The boy whispered.
"Have you made up your mind then Ienzo?" a voice asked as a pink haired man stepped out of the shadows. "More problems with your parents, love?"
Ienzo gasped, as he always did whenever Marluxia came from practically no where. "Y-yeah...I don't want to be here anymore." He answered slowly.
Marluxia walked over to the boy's bed and sat down next to him with his arms open. "Come here, love."
Ienzo scooted closer to the man he had come to know over the past months. He leaned into his embrace and closed his eyes. "I just hate doing this every day..."
"I can give you a new life Ienzo. I can take you away from all of this." he whispered and wrapped his arms around the teen.
Ienzo bit his lip. "I don't want to be here anymore, I want to leave with you this time." He nodded.
Marluxia smirked and stood up, pulling Ienzo with him, his arms still around the boy. "Very well then. Do you have anything packed, that you want to take?"
The teen nodded quickly. "Yeah I've been preparing a backpack...actually." He said sheepishly. and looked in the direction where his pack hung behind the door.
Marluxia followed the boy's line of sight and smiled. "Shall we be on our way then?"
"I-I want to bring Spook too...if that's alright." He looked back in Marluxia's eyes and Spook rubbed his face against the mysterious man's leg.
He glance down at the cat then back up into the boy's eyes. "I would never take you away from you're only friend."
"Only?" Ienzo cocked his head to the side with a coy smile.
"Well isn't that what you've told me? That this cat is your closest and only friend?" he smirked. "Or where you referring to me?"
"Yeah..." He said quietly. "He's my only friend aside from you… I'll give you that." Ienzo laughed quietly.
"Is that all that you think of me as?" Marluxia let go of the boy to walk over to the door and grab the back pack.
"Well..." He bent down to pick up the black cat and pet him. "No..." He tried to hide the smile that was growing on his face. "I see you more than... just a friend."
The older man walked back over to the teen and set the bag on Ienzo's bed the tilted his head up. "Is that so?"
Ienzo smiled wider and he nodded before Spook jumped from his arms to escape the sudden closeness. Marluxia smirked and he leaned down to capture the boy's lips in a kiss. Ienzo raised his hands up to the man's neck and kissed him back, greedily. Marluxia wrapped his arms around Ienzo and pulled him closer, before letting his tongue out to lick at the boy's lips. The teen parted his lips to allow Marluxia entry and he snaked his arms around his neck slowly.
Marluxia pulled out of the kiss sensing a presence walking up the stairs. "More later, right now we need to get out of here." he whispered.
Ienzo whined slightly and suddenly losing the contact and nodded. "Ok, let's go." He said quietly, bending down once again to scoop up the feline.
The man grabbed the bag off the bed and put an arm around the boys waist as he led him to the window. He pushed it open and just as they were about to disappear out of the square hole in the wall the door to Ienzo's bedroom opened.
A boy just a bit older than Ienzo walked through the door, staring at the ground. "Listen, ah...Ienzo...I...I didn't mean… what I said. Downstairs." Ienzo frowned at the transparent apology and urged Marluxia to go.
Marluxia nodded and pushed off the window sill and landed gracefully on his feet outside of the house.
"Ienzo?" His brother looked up and switched on the light to see his brother missing and the window, wide open. "Ienzo??" He ran to the window and his mouth dropped. "Mom!!!"
Ienzo closed his eyes and pressed himself closer to his love.
"Hold on tight now. It seems your brother has seen us." he said softly and pulled the boy up closer to him and started to run in the direction of where his car was parked down the street.
"Great..." Ienzo held tighter to his pet and felt his heart sink down. "Why can't they just leave me alone?"
"They're your family they're not suppose to leave you alone. It's alright Ienzo, I'll get you somewhere safe."
"Well...they should..." The teen muttered and held Spook closer.
Marluxia stopped at the black convertible and set the boy down and opened the passenger side door. Ienzo begged for another kiss before landing himself in the car seat while Spook escaped somewhere behind him. Marluxia leaned down and kissed him softly before shutting the door and going over to the drivers side.
"I can't believe this is actually happening..." He whispered quietly to himself.
Marluxia sat down in the drivers seat and glanced at the boy with a frown. "Are you having second thoughts?"
Ienzo shook his head quickly. "No! I want to do this--It's just...I never thought I'd have the nerve to do it."
"You're not doing it alone though... You have me." he whispered and leaned over and pulled Ienzo into a kiss.
The boy smiled into the kiss and pulled away, although he didn't want to. "We should get away from here..."
"We should." he pulled away with a smirk and caressed the boy's cheek. "I'll make you mine tonight."
Ienzo bit back a smile and blushed a maddening shade of red. "I love you, Marluxia..."
Marluxia hid his smirk with a sad smile. "There's something that you need to know about me Ienzo."
The blue-eyed boy looked worried and turned his head to the side. "What, what is it?"
"Ienzo..." he took Ienzo's face in his hands. "Please don't be scared... I... I'm a vampire."
The look on Ienzo's face changed slowly to an incredulous look. "Yeah right...stop kidding around, vampires are just storybook characters..."
"Then you're living in a fictional world." he whispered and let go of the boy.
Ienzo leaned back into his seat and frowned in thought. "But...you aren't like the vampires I've read about..."
"No. I'm not. Real vampires are very different from the ones humans write about." he said softly and started the car.
Ienzo stayed quiet most of the car ride, stuck in deep thought. He tried to come up with something to say but all the questions that filled his mind sounded too lame to ask.
"Ienzo... You can ask me whatever you want." he said as he sped down the street.
"S-so...you're not going to kill me...right?" His mouth felt dry when he asked the question.
Marluxia glanced at the boy and laughed. "Of course not you silly boy. I want you to become like me." he said softly.
"Be-become like you?" Ienzo turned in his seat and looked at Marluxia with wide eyes.
"Yes." he glanced at the boy. "Is it such a surprised that I want you by my side for all eternity?"
"I-I guess not..." He paused. "How...old are you?" Ienzo asked slowly.
Marluxia chuckled. "I'm 2709 years old, love."
The boy couldn't help but let his jaw drop. "...Forgive me but...th-that's a long time..."
"Indeed, even longer since I didn't have you." he said softly and glanced again at the boy.
"I can't believe you haven't found someone else in all that time..." He whispered in wonder.
"There have been others, a long time ago. I've been waiting a long time to find you Ienzo." he whispered as he pulled up to a house.
"Well, what happened to them?" Ienzo scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion.
"They didn't want to be changed." he turned off the car and opened his door.
"Oh..." Ienzo bit his lip and looked to his hands, before opening his own door. "So...other than the obvious ones...what's real and what isn't from the books?"
"Well... I'm not too fond of garlic, but it won't kill me or ward me off. And a stake through the heart would kill anything." He climbed out of the car bringing Ienzo's backpack with him, and met Ienzo on his side of the car. "Let's talk later." he said and held out his hand for the boy to take.
Ienzo nodded and took Marluxia's hand, Spook skittered out of the convertible as soon as he could.
Marluxia smiled as the cat ran past them and up to the new house. Marluxia pulled the boy closer and kissed his cheek.
"So...your place looks nice." He chuckled. "I guess...it's my place too now?"
Marluxia nodded and squeezed Ienzo's hand. "Indeed. Welcome home, love."
A sudden thought came to the boy's mind and he looked up at his love with a curious look. "I wanna feel 'em."
The man looked down at the boy with a raised eyebrow, as he led him to the front door and opened it. "Feel what love?"
"Your fangs." Ienzo answered simply answered.
Marluxia chuckled as he shut the door behind them and smiled extending his fangs. "There."
The boy tentatively reached up to trace his finger along the sharp fangs. "Don't bite me." he teased.
Marluxia frowned and pulled away and grabbed the boy's wrist. "Don't say that, or I can't change you."
"Huh?" Ienzo looked up at Marluxia with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You have to ask me to change you." he said. "That's the only way I can do it."
"Well that seems inconvenient..." Ienzo frowned. "I have to...ask you?" He bit his lip.
"Yes, or I can't change you." he let go of the boy and took a step back.
"I see..." He said quietly. "Did...did I already mess it up then?" Ienzo looked sad.
"No." Marluxia cupped Ienzo's face in his hands after dropping the backpack. "You can still be changed." he whispered against Ienzo's lips.
The teen took the chance to kiss Marluxia again and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. Everything told him to stop and just think for a second but he was blinded by the promise of an eternity of love. Marluxia put his arms around the thin waist and effortlessly lifted the boy off the ground and carried him up the stairs to a bedroom.
Ienzo wrapped his legs around the vampire and pulled away to breathe. "I love you so much," he whispered.
"I love you too." he whispered and lowered them onto a bed. "You're so beautiful Ienzo." he said and brushed some hair out of his eyes.
Ienzo looked away, shy. "Not as beautiful as you." The teen said quietly.
"Now don't be crazy." he whispered back and kissed the side of Ienzo's neck. "You're a gorgeous boy..."
"Ah!" He felt Marluxia brush his fangs against his neck and he bit his lip. "I-I guess I'm crazy then..."
Marluxia pulled back with a smile. "You have to ask me, love." he said and lifted Ienzo's wrist to his mouth and grazed the skin with his fangs.
The boy looked up at the vampire. "Will you change me, then, Marluxia?" He asked quietly.
Marluxia smirked down at the boy. "Of course." he whispered and bit into the boy's wrist.
Ienzo gasped and closed his eyes, arching his back in pain. He twisted slightly away from the man's touch.
Marluxia stared down at the boy and lovingly and stroked his face with the back of his hand.
The boy knew he should have expected the pain but he never imagined it to feel quite like this. The slow yet steady suck of his life felt like utter torture to him.
'Shh... Calm down, love.' Marluxia said the words softly in Ienzo's mind.
Ienzo cracked an eye open to look at the vampire and he felt a tear slide down the side of his cheek. "Marluxia..." He whimpered quietly.
Marluxia pulled away from the limp wrist to lick away the tear. "Hush my dear. It'll be over soon." He said as a lifted his own wrist to his mouth and bit down.
The teen could hardly move, barely breathe. His chest felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly but he figured it was just his heart, attempting to beat. Ienzo looked at Marluxia with a hint of fear.
He took the bleeding wrist away from his mouth and smiled at the boy. "There's nothing for you to fear, love." he said softly and lowered the wounded arm the Ienzo's mouth.
When Ienzo tasted the blood he closed his eyes, attempting to savor the peculiar taste of the man he loved. Anything to drive his mind from the pain.
Marluxia smiled and moved the boy around so that his head was resting in his lap. "There, that's better." he ran his finger through the dark hair and smiled.
Ienzo wasn't feeling much better even with more of Marluxia's blood in his system. He did however have the urge to suck more blood from the vampire's wrist.
Marluxia smirked down at the boy and chuckled. "That's right, take as much as you need."
He closed his eyes and sucked more greedily from the wound, his tongue licking for even more.
"You should have your fangs by now Ienzo, use them." he urged.
Ienzo bit hard into the wrist and understood how handy they were, allowing the blood to flow even more freely.
"There, now isn't that better?" he asked softly and continued to pet the boy's hair.
Ienzo nodded and gripped his wrist and sucked deeper, wondering how much he actually could take--he felt like he could do this forever without tiring.
"Not too much more, love." he whispered then looked up and tensed when he heard sirens in the distance.
Ienzo pulled away and looked to his love, a bit of blood dribbling from his mouth. "Marluxia..." He whispered, with worry in his eyes.
Marluxia set the boy down on the bed and smirked. "Sorry love, but I have to go." he said and brushed some hair out of Ienzo's face.
"G-go? Go where? Why can't I come?" He felt sluggish in his words.
"You're too weak to go anywhere." he said and stood up. "But I'll come find you again to see if you've become what I want you to be. It's nothing personal I just can't cart you out of here right now. No time."
"Wh-what?" Ienzo shook his head. "No...that's...that's not how you said it would be..." He felt like he could barely talk.
"Relax I'll come back for you, if you become what you need to be." he said and smirked. "Now be a good boy and go through your change."
'If I become what I need to be...?' Ienzo thought to himself and his eyes slowly closed. He didn't understand what was going on, why was Marluxia leaving him behind?
Marluxia smirked then rushed out of the room and out of the house. Thinking that he was getting another free ride, Spook darted after the vampire and hopped into the car before the man could close the door. Marluxia turned the car on then took off down the street, just as a cop car sped up to the house and a tall man stepped out of the passenger side.
Ienzo didn't understand and he pulled himself close, feeling the chill of death sweep over him. He didn't get it, Marluxia didn't make any sense.
"Alright the woman said that the car we're looking for was parked here. Let's go look inside Xehanort." the man said.
Xehanort got out of the car and looked at the house. "I hate kidnappings..." He muttered as he got out of the car.
Aeleus sighed and stepped up to the front door, and pushed the slightly ajar door open.
Xehanort stepped in, his gun out. "Radiant Garden PD." He called to the house and slowly went through the hall leaving the upstairs to be checked by his partner.
Aeleus rushed up the stairs and heard gasping coming from a room. He stepped into the room and gasped dropping his gun and ran to the boy on the bed.
Ienzo looked at the man above him and his eyes widened. He was found and would be taken away...back to his horrible family. "No..." He whimpered.
Aeleus pulled the boy up into his arms carefully. "It's alright, I'm here to help. Can you tell me what happened to you?" he asked and brushed some of Ienzo's hair to the side.
Ienzo felt a tear roll down his cheek and he shook his head, repeating his whine. He didn't want any help, he wanted Marluxia.
Aeleus sighed and stood up holding the boy close. "Xehanort!" he called out and stopped to pick up his gun, then continued to walked down the stairs.
The tan policeman bit his lip when he saw the boy in Aeleus' arms. "Did he say anything? Did you find the kidnapper?" He started a list of questions.
"No and no." he said and quickly walked out the front door. "We need to get him to the hospital."
Xehanort opened the backdoor to the cruiser and then moved into the drivers seat. "How bad does it look, Aeleus?"
Ienzo pushed weakly at the man holding him. "No...no, noo.." He whined more and twisted slightly but the effort seemed to take too much energy.
"Hey calm down, we're going to help you." He said and climbed into the back seat with the boy. "Everything is going to be ok."
Ienzo closed his eyes and whispered his sire's name. Xehanort sped down the road towards the hospital and flicked his eyes back to the rearview. "What's he saying, Ael, I don't like this..."
"I don't know... a name maybe?" he looked down at the boy. "Ienzo, can you tell me what's you're saying?"
Ienzo stopped talking and his breathing went shallow. Xehanort went through the Emergency Entrance to the hospital and shook his head. "I hate kidnappings..." He said again.
"Ienzo? Ienzo don't go to sleep, come on you need to talk to me." he said softly.
"Take me...ba--" He gasped. "Take me back, please!" He shouted and stared at Aeleus with dark eyes.
The cop stared down at the boy. "Excuse me, what? You want to go back?"
Ienzo nodded slightly and closed his eyes again, wanting badly to sleep. Xehanort got out of the car and opened the back door again.
Aeleus climbed out of the car. "I'm sorry I can't do that. You need medical attention." he said and held the boy close.
Ienzo let himself go limp he was tired of holding on. Xehanort went to the desk and told of the situation.
"Ienzo?" he shook the boy gently. "Ienzo? Wake up."
The teen wouldn't respond and let his hand drop to the side, he was giving up.
"Ienzo!" he shouted then looked up and rushed the boy into the hospital. "He needs help now!" he yelled and held to teen tightly.
A nurse rushed to the cop and a gurney wasn't far behind. Xehanort ran a hand through his hair, not happy with what was going on. Ienzo stopped trying to tell his body what to do and let the change happen. Marluxia said he would come back for him.
Aeleus stared down at the boy and allowed a male nurse to pry the boy out of his arms. "I don't want to leave him..." he whispered.
"Sir, you have to let us take care of him." The other nurse raised her hands. Ienzo kept his eyes to Aeleus and tears streamed down his face.
"No..." he shook his head and kept his eyes on Ienzo. "No I have to stay with him." he said and reached for the boy's hands. "I won't leave you Ienzo."
"Aeleus, just let them do their job. We got him here..." Ienzo fell limp in his arms and his eyes glazed over. He finally let death overtake him.
"No! Ienzo!" he shouted and grabbed the boy's hand. "Ienzo..." he whispered. "You can't die..."
Xehanort bit his lip and ran a hand through his hair again. "...I hate this..." He watched his partner hold tightly to the boy's body.
"Sir, please we might be able to help him if you just let us take him!" The nurse pleaded with the cop.
Aeleus closed his eyes and let the boy's hand drop. "You can't let him die." he whispered and watched them push his first victim through double doors.
"Ael...We need to go back to the house where we found him...See if we can find out what happened..." Xehanort said quietly.
"I can't leave... Not until I know what's going to happen to him." he said softly.
"Aeleus, let's go, we've done our job here. We need to go back to the house." The silver-haired man repeated. "Don't you want to know who did this to him?"
"Of course I do and when I find out I'm going to kill that bastard who did this."
"Then help me figure it out. There's nothing we can do here." Xehanort frowned and put a hand on his friends shoulder.
Aeleus sighed then turned and followed Xehanort out of the ER.
The doctor walked out of the Er and shook his head looking for Ienzo's family. A nurse approached him and he nodded after she pointed out that the family had all come.
Aeleus stood of in a corner of the ER and kept an eye on the family. He had finished his investigation at the house and rushed back to the hospital as fast as he could.
"I-Is he ok?" Ienzo's mother asked but the look on the Doctor's face told her all she needed to know. She turned to weep into her husbands chest. "I'm sorry but… there just wasn't enough time..." The doctor spoke quietly.
Aeleus closed his eyes with a soft curse and turned away from the mourning family. His first time out in the field and he let the boy die.
The nurse that forced him to hand the boy over walked over to the large man and bit her lip. "You ok?"
He turned to the woman with a sad smile. "It's my fault. It's my fault that boy is dead. I couldn't get him the help he needed in time, and I didn't let the doctors take him when they needed to." he said softly and turned to leave the building.
"No...don't blame yourself for hat...There was nothing... nothing we could do." She looked over to him. "It was weird..." She pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear.
"What was it? The cause of death I mean?" he asked without looking at the woman.
"There was no blood in his system." She said quietly and shook her head. "I...I found a bite on his wrist. I-it just seemed so..."
"How is that possible?" he turned and looked at the woman. "How could he have no blood?"
The nurse shrugged. "I don't know. Like I said...It was weird… unreal."
Aeleus pulled a small card from his breast pocket and handed it to the woman. "If you figure anything out of find anything else please call me." he said and turned to walk out of the hospital.
"Sure..." The girl looked at the card and bit her lip, knowing she'd probably get in trouble for telling him that much. The doctor told everyone in the room to keep quiet about what really happened to Ienzo.
"No blood... how can that be?" Aeleus rubbed his head in thought as he climbed into his car and drove away from the hospital and mourning family.