Fire. The raging heat of it could burn almost everything. It should be able to burn everything. Fire was true beauty to a certain redhead. Its warm colours and hazardous nature brought him into a trance like state where all the heat and bright colours were bliss. He could sit in its middle, watching the flames engulf him in their rage while he stayed out of harm its way and alive. Well, if you could call him fully alive. With a deadly white pallor, unearthly green eyes and a grin so mad it would put the Cheshire's to shame. What was most peculiar about the menacing grin were the two razor sharp canines that graced it. They were said to hold a venomous liquid, able to keep a man's heartbeat going while the man in question, was dead.
Axel was a vampire, had been for quite a while now. When he had just turned into a man he and his twin brother were released out of the orphanage into the harsh world outside with only the clothes they had on their body and each other. That was also the day, well, night actually, that both of them got themselves a job as servants for an old rich man. It was the worst job they could've thought of, but they really needed it. There hadn't been a moment that either of them didn't regret making up their minds that fast, for both of them had gained vivid scars from the encounter with that old man. Physically they both had already been scarred; Axel's and Reno's faces had both been marked after a week in the orphanage. There wasn't a single person in the place who could keep them apart so it was decided that they had to have something neither of them had. Axel received two upside-down triangles on his cheekbones and Reno got two identical, slice-like marks on them. After they grew the marks started too look more intimidating, not a single person had wanted to take them in, either it was because of the marks, or it was only possible to have one adopted, and neither of the brothers allowed that to happen. So that's how they ended up with a servant's life.
Their master wasn't just any regular nobleman though. They figured as much after a week of servitude. The man was said to be well into his sixties but appeared no older than to be in his early thirties. Furthermore, he never ate, slept or left his room during sun hours. Neither did he want to have anything to do with any religion other than his own misfit obsession. The two brothers grew wary of him after they had decided that the man wasn't human; maybe even a demon of some sort.
One evening the more mature one of the twins, Reno, was ordered to join their master in his chambers; a place the two brothers had never been. They didn't think much of it; maybe it was a good thing, like a raise of salary. But the days after that proved them to be completely wrong; they had been torture to Reno, and Axel wasn't off much better. Having to watch his brother convulse in pain and to hear him scream in animalistic ways every single night made his skin crawl and his heart clench. It made him sick and slowly but surely turned him into an emotional wreck, thinking that his brother might never survive the extremely high fevers and at the same time fearing what would happen if he did survive them.
After eleven days Reno had finally recovered, much to Axel's relief. Or so it had seemed for a few hours. Axel had desperately tried to get him to eat something, but everything that went in came straight back up. As if his brother's body was rejecting the food in every possible way. Yet Reno grew hungry every passing second. It was only when he couldn't take it anymore that their master suddenly showed interest in the situation and stormed into the room, eyes ablaze and upper lip pulled back in a snarl. He had grabbed him by his neck before he could start at his brother and dragged him out of the room, leaving a shocked Axel to ponder over what he had just seen; inhuman vivid blue eyes and canines that shouldn't belong to any human, certainly not to his brother.
It was only after three days more that the redhead saw his brother again, a lot paler and skinnier than he had remembered, but at least he was still alive. Things got awkward between them, Reno never showed his face during the days and in the evenings it was like he tried to avoid Axel. Neither of them enjoyed it, but Reno hadn't any other choice in the matter if he wanted his brother to stay alive, and not dead because of him. Still, being the stubborn bastard Axel was at his young and rebellious age he wasn't planning on keeping things like that. After seven nights he just waltzed straight into his brother's room and demanded answers from him. He got his answers eventually, just not in the way he had hoped to get them.
He too had to suffer in agonizing pain for a week or so, it felt like his whole body was trying to push him away in some dark corner, freezing, yet burning at the same time as fever and hallucination took over his mind. Most of the hallucinations had been…frightening to say the least. Axel's howls had been even more haunting than Reno's had been, scaring even his master with the bestiality of them. Reno sat with him the whole time, at least trying to give him some comfort, kept telling him he would be completely alright. Axel didn't believe him one bit, he felt like he was being ripped up into a million pieces.
When he had woken up the demonic man that had caused this entire ruckus had replaced his brother, only giving the redhead a faint glance every now and then while the redhead in question was slowly regaining his senses. After a while the man spoke up, "I assume that you know what I did to your brother and what he in turn did to you." His deep voice and calm accent were remarkably calming to the young man lying on the bed. Axel tried to say something, but his raw throat refused to produce much more sound than a hoarse rasp. "Do not bother trying to use your voice. I am able to hear your thoughts anyways. Right now you're wondering how on earth that is possible, but it is one of the gifts I received when my master…changed me." His smooth voice was somehow very soothing to the redhead and he found himself getting a little drowsy. "You and your brother shall keep this home and stay young forever. For me it is time to take my leave. People are starting to wonder about my presence. Your brother shall help you…Axel Flynn." The second the vampire had spoken his name he was out like a light. The man had left without much ado, leaving everything behind to the young brothers.
The next few years were spent trying to keep Axel in control. He had become restless, his moods going back and forth between confused and his usual cocky self. Every time he got confused he would set everything aflame if he didn't stay focused. A well placed smack against his cheek usually did the trick. What confused him most of the time were the fires and the overly heightened senses. He could smell a rose from behind a closed door. See everything in the pitch black nights just as well as he used to see things in daylight. And hear the mice scavenge under the old mansion. But what was the worst, were the emotions. The overwhelming power of their strength just blew him away. There had been this one incident with a young girl.
She had been following him around for a while. To him it was clear that she had been attracted to his unreal features, but they all were. So at one point of her trailing after him like a lost puppy he lost it. He'd never felt that angry in his whole life. As if she had done his precious brother wrong in the most terrible way. Afterwards Reno had to dispose of the poor girl while Axel was sulking on their roof.
For the last eight years or so it hadn't been too much trouble to keep the fire starter under control. If one knew how to push his buttons it was all easy as pie. Too bad the redhead got a reminder of his dangerous nature when he had killed yet another young girl, not yet even sixteen. Up till then he had never fed on any child, pregnant woman, or elders. He couldn't have known though, one would swear she was in her early twenties.
Even with the fire bringing him in a state of hallucinating bliss he felt empty in the back of his mind. Guilt had eaten away an essential part of him.
Sirens started to come closer, voices belonging to worried people like whispers to the pyromaniac's ears. That was the moment he fainted. It had been over a week since he had last fed himself.
"Should we ask-…I don't k-…is it normal to-…I mean-….no-…..but I never-…" Small pieces of conversation slipped into the man's mind together with an annoying beeping noise in the far background yet piercing into his skull like needles. He blinked several times to get the fuzziness out of his blurry vision. "Ah! Doctor! He's awake!" Axel yelped when his eyelid was forcibly screwed open, an overly bright light boring its way into his eye. He shrewd his eyes shut and tried to back away from the light, finding it impossible to move any further back. The woman had gasped in surprise when Axel had let out that loud yelp and was now gaping at said redhead. "Olette, could you leave me with him for a bit?" The other voice asked her calmly. "But-" She protested, but before she continued she shut herself and walked out of the white room, closing the door behind her.
With a small groan Axel tried opening his eyes again, hoping that there wouldn't be yet another person who wanted to burn his eyes out of their sockets with a tiny flashlight. "Ssssh, don't do that just yet, you're eyes are not used to light yet." The doctor said quickly when he noticed what Axel was doing and sped over to the door where the light switch was and flicked it off. The redhead started to blink owlishly in the nearly pitch black room, it's only light coming from the small window in the door and from the machine Axel was connected to.
He stared at the doctor, a short young man with a pair of bright cerulean eyes and a mess of golden blond hair on his head. Cocking his head to the side he continued staring at the blonde, mesmerizing every little detail. The way his fingers were curled around the small flashlight, how soft his skin seemed and his boyish features. If he had been paying he would've noticed he could see everything perfectly sharp and in colour while there wasn't much light.
The doctor in question was staring straight back at the man, one eyebrow quirked and a ghost of a smile gracing his lips as he studied Axel's eyes. He didn't miss the upside down triangles on the man's cheekbones or his cat-like green eyes lined by red. Then he dared to ask the question that had been burning in him ever since he'd heard about this mysterious patient from his brother, "What in God's name were you trying to achieve from standing in a fire?"
Axel opened his mouth to answer, but closed it almost straight away when he realized he didn't know. Now he thought about it…what fire was the doctor speaking about…?
He…couldn't remember.