Under a Killing Moon
By Sakata Ri Houjun
Part 1/3
Pairing: Seto/Katsuya
Warning: Angst, sex, blood, death, AU
Beta: Munky
Disclaimer: Ha. Ha. Ha. No.
AN: This was a basic story idea I was tossing around. For the Halloween competition I was going use vampires, but everyone's doing it at this point rendering it a cliché. So combined the original plot of warring vamp clans with a draconic idea I'd been kicking in my head and added a twist of angst to enhance the bloodshed.
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No Good without Evil. No Love without Hate. No Innocence without Lust. I am Darkness. – Legend, tagline
It's buried deep within the past, I hope it doesn't last
It's something I already chased, I already chased
I try to give it all away, but it's never gonna fade
It's something I don't wanna face, I don't wanna face – My Heartstrings Come Undone, Resident Evil: Apocalypse
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We made love for the first time on a blissful dream beneath a shadow of death. With separation an impending possibility, we dared experience a lifetime of paradise in one brief night. We'd come to know one another in that hour of darkness to an intensity no writer had ever had the courage to envision.
His scent – not truly scent at all, but rather some vital warmth that bypassed nose and tongue altogether and thrust straight to my heart – that essence filled me now. It was unquestionable proof that he was truly alive and in my arms, and not some hallucination come to taunt my dreams.
His hair slid between my fingers, long and sleek. If I cared to open my eyes to look, I would see its' shade; a deep sable that faded to palest flax on the ends. He murmured something and stirred again, his scarred and callused fingers wandering aimlessly along my skin, beneath my tunic. A shiver rippled through me as Katsuya's cool touch slid around my ribs, pushing fabric aside so that his cheek could pillow against my bare chest. I smiled into the hair that tangled with my own. Even in sleep, he was still self-oriented, treating me as though I were a pillow needing realignment.
I wondered if he realized that this very spot that tongues and flesh entwined was where we first met. This detail would not surprise me if he could not – it was so long ago and he was considered a mere child by the immeasurable time our kind ages by. A changeling offered to my clan in supplication by a warmongering breed. The heated aura surrounding them was almost sacrilegious to our pristine chapels and gleaming spires, which was why the chosen place was of neutral ground that canceled out all strength and power.
They handed the last of their children to us, a youth no older than I who stood in wide-eyed wonder at those of us gathered. He could not understand our tongue, but the elders who held his fate in their filthy claws did. As they pushed the boy over to us, I heard the first sound from him; the scared wail of a child, full of fear and hate of his betrayal. His clan paid him no more heed, turning back and tail on him, abandoning their youngest to our mercies.
The images were vivid in my mind, as though destiny had been set into motion for us, that I would take this darkling whelp as my mate. Not that Katsuya made it easy. The dark-eyed child was not cared for by my clan, as unwanted among our shining, glittering throng as he was by those who abandoned him. For a time, he was shut away in a dark temple where he seethed in hate, narrowed crimson eyes glowing with a feral growl on his lips whenever approached.
I eventually forgot about the dark changeling child, seeing to my own growing family. The birth of my brother was a thing of great joy, something that overshadowed the memory of the boy who was taken in and locked away like an evil secret. By pure chance did I happen to find him, a shadow skulking about, newly escaped from his imposed prison.
At first I only looked at him in distaste, seeing the darkling as every one else did. He was a demonic creature, forged from hellish fires, and spawned by a bloodthirsty clan that once waged war upon us. I had heard the name given to him by the elders, a word that hissed on the tongue and meant so many unpleasant things in my language. He seemed a blemish amongst us, a black spot upon our pure white.
He did not know me, but with those eyes he hated me. I was not scared of him in the arrogance of my youth for I was the sheltered offspring of the elders, one who would eventually come to rule over the protected temples of our gods. In Katsuya's eyes however, I saw myself reflected back as one of a conceited race. Our fair appearance and piercing blue eyes came back illustrated harsh and cold as carved stone within his blood-tainted gaze.
Gods forgive me, I saw my own weaknesses tossed back in my face; the shortcomings I ignored and covered up with arrogance. My heart palpitating in fear of this truth, of his eyes, I ran. Once alone, I could only curse at my cowardice, knowing that Katsuya had no power over me for he was of a lesser race. Nevertheless, I strayed as far as possible from where the red-eyed changeling was held, avoiding contact rather than seeking a confrontation.
This did not stop him from hunting me out. With obviously newfound freedom found in the fears of my clan, he walked as freely as possible among us, everyone offering a wide berth to the child with the accusing stare. I knew this only from the hushed whispers that floated through temple corridors, later confirmed when I found him observing me from the shrouded branches of a tree overlooking the lush courtyard.
Rapidly, he grew older, his eyes ever-piercing like bloody daggers that made me shudder internally. I did not want to gaze up at him, to see once more what had been reflected back at me. With horrified certainty, it was inevitable, my head turning of its own accord to meet the crimson orbs. Although this time a new vision bombarded my brain. No longer did I see myself as he perceived me, but rather I saw Katsuya's reflection in my own gaze, like an unending mirror image tunneling towards infinity.
By the gods! He knew how he appeared to us, understood with clarity how much of a monster we regarded him as! In his eyes, he was a curse, something to fear and run from. Shame blazed along my cheeks and something akin to pity as well. He was an unwanted child, tortured by his loneliness.
The truth behind his clan's action eventually became known through his gaze. A race that was dying from its eons of battling, the blood wearing thin and knowing with dread conviction that extinction was a breath away. So the very last of their surviving brood was given to us in hopes that their blood would live on, that the ancient memories ingrained upon his young mind would carry to potential future generations. He was their living memorial and didn't even realize it.
Katsuya followed me from time to time, for I was the first to look back at him without drawing back in repulsion, the fear gone from my heart at the wretched visions I had beheld. I did not encourage his behavior, but I never stopped him even as my elders now held me in distaste. For the first time I was beginning to see my own kind the way Katsuya had because the more the darkling followed the more the appalled blue eyes turned to me.
One eve I was astonished to discover him curled up outside my chamber door, obviously exhausted from waiting for me. This was the first I laid hands on him, discovering an unnatural warmth to his dark skin and gleaming ebony scales. Fascinated, I carried him inside and laid him on my own bed. Through the night I watched, observing his restlessness, as though the very blood-soaked memories that had been implanted, that I had beheld within his gaze, haunted his nightmares.
For this act of kindness I was rewarded with his first smile the following morning. It was a timid uncertain expression, but one could see the shadowed joy that glimmered there in his accursed eyes. From then on, I welcomed his presence, finding an undeveloped desire to see more of this lighter emotion radiating from within.
I taught him to speak our language – his first thoughts conveyed were that he had always known the meaning of his name but bore it nonetheless with dignity. Secretly, I envied him of his drive; how he still strove to live even as he was beheld with contempt. He didn't wish to prove himself to anyone, only to be accepted for what he was.
In my stories, he came to see how we were an isolated breed that valued intelligence and thought itself divine in comparison with others. We never fought unless attacked first, relying heavily upon elemental forces rather than straight combat, which was in stark contrast to how Katsuya operated. His kind did not consider it true battle unless claws and teeth rendered flesh and they carved out the last dying scream of their opponent.
As we grew closer, our bodies continued to develop. On the day my wings unfurled wetly, his eyes held sad jealousy. Katsuya longed to experience the obvious freedom of flight. I could feel his longing through the intangible link that was slowly being woven between us, like an intricate braid of knots that pulled tighter every day.
The very hour that his own stretched to the heavens in newborn glory, I celebrated with him, taking to the skies to guide him since no one else would dare touch him. Katsuya's laughter was as genuine as his smile for he finally experienced what it meant to be draconic. I realized in that moment there was no true difference between our clans or us. There was also the comprehension that the pulling of my heartstrings was manipulated by the emotions portrayed within Katsuya's gaze.
In mid-flight, I took his hand and pulled him closer, challenging everything I thought I knew. That first kiss was the beginning of something dangerous for the both of us, something we had to hide for I feared what the elders would do to him and he more fearful of my fate in turn.
It was a beautiful beginning though, an emotion we shared and reveled in. Before my eyes he transformed into a laughing boisterous creature that no longer cared what others thought as long as I held his hand in secret. Katsuya took the callous whispers from my clan, losing himself against my lips, and for every stone that was tossed in hatred I would soothe the pain with my hands. The time came when we were both ready, and I took him to the very place where my eyes first beheld his dark and curious form.
In this neutral ground, we had no fear of others coming upon us – for in this place we all lose our power, no matter what the breed, and are rendered helpless. Without regret, I marked him as mine, teeth sinking deeply into the soft flesh of his throat. The primal and wild taste of his blood thrilled me and Katsuya licked my lips once I pulled back, sharing the flavor. Eventually the bite would heal, leaving a perfect pale scar to prove he belonged to no one but me.
With agonizing slowness tempered by sweet anticipation, our flesh joined, his lyrical cries mingling with my own. I never knew such sweet rapture before and knew I would never experience anything remotely close should I live to the very end of time.
This forbidden liaison would spell our doom. We both realized that the moment our lips first touched. Yet it was a price we were willing to pay, our lives forfeit to the gods' wrath in exchange for this moment.
In response to my thoughts, the firm, wiry body between my arms began to stir and I stilled both them and it with a mental kiss. As Katsuya settled back to sleep and my mind began to calm, I wondered if it would ever be my own again or if not, would I want it any other way.