Deadly Desire

XO'MagickMoon'OX

000


000

"Cloud?"

The blonde shook his head. "How the hell do you know me? Who the fuck are you?" Cloud may have been one to curse on a regular basis, but only when he was truly disconcerted did he ever curse more than once over a span of ten seconds. "LET ME GO, DAMMIT!" he shouted when Leon just stood there, pinning him to the doorframe, seemingly unable to form coherent words.

"…Cloud…?"

"YES, MY NAME IS CLOUD! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?"

This sent a group of approaching trick-or-treaters away, screaming about strange men and bad language. Cloud groaned, finally taking the initiative and breaking free of Leon's now-limp grasp. The stunned brunette staggered backwards onto the porch, staring at the door as it closed and locked with an audible click.

Oh, the perks of being a vampire.

Leon dissolved into the air and reappeared on the other side. From his spot on the sidewalk, Riku heard a terrified scream, followed by an interesting string of colorful language which basically went like: "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN HERE? HOW IN THE FUCKING HELL DID YOU GET IN? WHAT ARE YOU, A GODDAMN STALKER? I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THE HELL YOU ARE!" and so on. Riku chuckled before melting into the shadows and retreating to some farm on the other side of the island where he planned to get his nightly meal. It looked like Leon was going to miss out, but it didn't really seem that he had much of an appetite anymore.

Leon was currently pinning Cloud to the blonde's couch, straddling his waist and holding Cloud's wrists above his head. Cloud was breathing heavily, flushed and frightened. Leon had to resist the urge to take advantage of this very compromising position and instead allowed the blonde a minute to calm down. But he was only offering a minute. It had been, after all, fifteen hundred years since he'd last seen Cloud.

Finally, when the brunette could sense that his captive was a little more relaxed, he said, "My name is Leon." Cloud just blinked, waiting for further explanation. Leon had to keep his wits about him to refrain from losing himself in Cloud's eyes. Such beautiful eyes… "I…uh…I'm…" Now that he'd gotten this far, what was he supposed to say? The sheer shock of seeing Cloud had initially spurred him to pin the blonde to the doorframe and then afterwards follow him inside, all leading up to where he was now sitting on him on the couch, holding him prisoner. But, what was he supposed to say?

"So Leon," Cloud spoke, feigning casualness, "d'you mind telling me what the fuck you're doing in my house?"

Leon grimaced. "You really have a dirty mouth."

"Oh forgive me," Cloud scoffed. "I'll remember my manners the next time I'm jumped by a goddamn stranger!"

Leon winced, not at Cloud's caustic tone, but at being called a "stranger" by the one person that was as strange to him as the back of his hand. "Cloud…I…" His mind was reeling with memories, with anxiety, with uncertainty. What if Cloud rejected him? He didn't think he could live with that. But, with Cloud here, right in front of him, he couldn't pass up the opportunity of rekindling their old relationship. So, finally coming to a decision, albeit a pretty irrational one, he said, "Iloveyou."

All anger melted from Cloud's face, and he blinked. "What?"

Leon took a shaky breath, repeating himself more slowly. "I love you."

Cloud huffed. "Okay, Leon, quit fucking around with me and get the hell out of my house! I don't even know you!"

Leon shook his head earnestly. "Yes, you do. Or…you did."

"Look, man, I don't know you and, even if I did, you're wasting your time because I'm not gay." Cloud blew a skewed bang out of his eyes, idly noting that his arms were getting tired from being pinned above his head.

Leon let slip a dry laugh. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Mind if I test you?"

"Whatev—wait, what?"

Without further warning, Leon bent down and captured the blonde's lips with his own. He felt the resistance fade from Cloud as his initial struggles died, and Cloud kissed him back, losing himself in the moment. For some reason, the sheer familiarity of this "stranger's" kiss made him forget…everything…

Of course, when Leon pulled back, Cloud's mind returned to him, and he blushed a deep red. "What the fuck was that for?" he demanded heatedly.

Leon smirked. "Not gay, huh?" Then, his thoughts drifting, Leon murmured, "It's just a stupid label, anyway. I hate this century; everything's about labels."

"What are you going on about? And who are you?"

"My name is—"

"Cut the crap, I know your name. But who are you?"

"In a past life, I was your lover."

Cloud seemed to turn this over in his head once before deciding that it was total bullshit and asking again, "No, seriously, who are you?"

"I just told you."

"In a past life?" Cloud echoed dubiously. "What are you, some New Age hocus-pocus freak?"

"No, I'm a vampire."

"All right, so—hold on, a WHAT?"

"A vampire."

"THE FUCK! What are you trying to pull? Get the hell off of me and out of my house!"

"No."

"YES!"

"No."

"YES!"

"…No."

"ARRGH!" Cloud screamed, about ready to pull his hair out if only his hands weren't trapped.

Ding Dong.

Cloud glanced over at his door. "Trick-or-treaters," he murmured.

Ding Dong.

"Persistent little brats," Leon growled.

Cloud seemed to have calmed down again. He looked up at Leon warily. "Are you really a…"

"Vampire?"

Cloud nodded.

"Yes, I am."

The blonde frowned. "Prove it."

"What do you want me to do? Bite you?"

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"Well, I can read your mind."

"Liar." Cloud smirked. "Then what am I thinking, right now?"

"That I'd look hot in leather."

Cloud blanched. Though that hadn't been the forefront of his thoughts, he had been thinking that somewhere in the back of his mind. "I-I…I wasn't thinking that…!"

"Then why are you stuttering? You only stutter when you lie."

"And you would know this…how?"

"Because you used to try to tell me that you didn't want me, that you were disgusted with me, that you never wanted to see my face again—every time before you let me kiss you and hold you and sleep with you. And you always, always stuttered." Leon smirked self-satisfactorily at the anxious look on Cloud's face, reiterating, "You only stutter when you lie."

Cloud groaned. "BUT I'M NOT GAY!" he claimed definitely.

"Of course you're not. You're just in love with another man. A vampire, to be precise."

"Would that be considered bestiality?" Cloud wondered absently.

Leon grimaced. "No. Vampires aren't animals."

"Then what are they?"

"Demons."

"Oh, that's so much better," Cloud scoffed. "And I'm not in love with you!"

Hurt flashed briefly through Leon's steely eyes, replaced quickly with a wistful sort of understanding. "I know. I don't expect you to be. I'm just…asking for you to give me a chance to make you fall in love with me…again." He sighed, taking the somewhat audacious prerogative to flatten himself on top of the blonde. Cloud resisted the urge to push the vampire away, feeling somehow…comforted by Leon's nearness, as absurd as it seemed. Feeling suddenly very out of character, but not caring in the slightest, Leon whispered, "I've just…missed you…a lot…and I never thought I'd actually see you again…"

Cloud frowned as he found his now-free hand moving to stroke Leon's hair. "What… What was I? In my past life, I mean."

"A knight."

"A…knight?"

"Mmhm, in medieval Europe."

"…Wow."

"Yeah."

"…Leon…?"

"Hmmm?"

"How did I…die?"

000

Sora was depressed. Really, with a bucket of candy in front of him, one would think, "How is it possible?" But it was. Sora was depressed. He was suffering from Riku withdrawal.

So it had only been a couple weeks since he'd seen the silver-haired vampire, and it was true that he didn't exactly know Riku, or was in any sort of relationship with him, and yet here he was, suffering from being deprived of Riku's presence. He felt pathetic.

Kairi and Naminé were sitting on Sora's front porch with the brunette, happily chatting away and munching on Hershey's chocolate, Reese's Pieces peanut butter cups, and other assorted sweets collected from their trick-or-treating. Sora stood, brushing off his pants, and announced, "I'm going for a walk."

Kairi looked up, her heavily outlined eyes blinking. "What?"

"I'm going for a walk," Sora repeated.

"Oh." Kairi seemed concerned. "Do you…want us to come with you?"

"Nah, I just need a minute alone," Sora said, beginning to head across his front lawn.

Naminé stood, also looking worried. "Okay…um…just don't go very far! Curfew is in a half-hour…make sure you're back by then!"

Sora waved idly over his shoulder. "I know!" Sensing his friends' uneasiness, he turned around and flashed them a smile. "Don't worry!" he called. "I'll be back in a few minutes!"

He turned onto the sidewalk, and soon he was out of the girls' sights. Breathing a sigh, he tucked his hands behind his head and glanced up at the moon. It was a crescent, and it was really pretty. Sora's princely cape twisted in the wind around his legs, the breeze combing through his cinnamon locks, teasing his hair. He knew it wasn't normal to miss someone who was practically a complete stranger so much, but…miss him, he did. His mind couldn't help but drift over the various kisses he'd shared with Riku, twice on the first night he'd met him (which he now remembered as clearly as if it had been last night) and then the third time at the pumpkin field where Sora had practically jumped him. Not that Sora really knew how to jump someone, but that wasn't the point.

With his meandering thoughts, Sora found himself softly singing a whimsical tune. Whatever the original lyrics had been, they'd now all been replaced with one word: Riku. He alternated stressing the syllables to fit the song and kept with the melody, and soon found himself feeling rather giddy.

Until he was interrupted.

"I think I know that song."

Sora stopped and looked up. There was Riku (no one saw that coming, right?), reclining in the boughs of a palm tree. He smirked down at the boy and leapt from the tree, landing gracefully before Sora. Sora took the opportunity to glance around and realize that he'd strolled down to the shore, which wasn't, in fact, that far from his house. Riku also took the opportunity to look Sora up and down, a frown creasing his beautiful features.

"What are you wearing?" he asked.

Sora looked up. "Huh? Oh, a Halloween costume."

Riku felt a headache coming on as his mind was bombarded with forcefully suppressed memories. "Any…particular reason you picked that costume?"

"What?" Sora looked down at his royal getup, from his blue tunic to his black, wide-cut pants, the ends tucked into a pair of ankle-high boots. Around his waist, he'd tied a simple rope to act as a belt of sorts, his black cape fastened to his shirt at his shoulder. "Um…not really…"

Riku's breath hitched as his eyes fell on the amulet hanging around Sora's neck. He reached out and took it between his fingers, dropping it quickly, as if burned. "Dammit," he cursed.

Sora's feeling of unease began to blossom. "What?"

"Where'd you get that?" Riku asked earnestly, pointing at Sora's necklace.

Sora looked down at the silver amulet. It was shaped like a crown, hanging on a matching silver chain. "My father gave it to me," he answered, chancing a glance back up at Riku, who seemed particularly irked. "And his father gave it to him, and his father gave it to him, and so on. I guess it's a family heirloom. Either way, I-I thought it went pretty well with my costume."

"Hn." Riku seemed to be fighting to keep some sort of emotion from leaking into his expression.

After a few moments of tense silence, Sora murmured, "Riku?"

At Sora's fearful tone, Riku melted, his hard countenance softening into something akin to sympathy. "Hm?"

"C-Can you…erm…well, uh…can you…k-kiss me?"

Riku looked surprised at that, but eagerly obliged, grinning and wrapping his arms around the shorter boy, pulling Sora into a fierce kiss. Sora barely had time to squeak in surprise before his mouth was sealed by Riku's, not that he minded or anything. But what he did mind was the bitter tang of blood on Riku's tongue. He pulled away immediately, wiping at his mouth.

Riku gave a sheepish laugh, understanding Sora's reaction. "Sorry about that. But…a guy's gotta eat, you know? And," he continued quickly as Sora opened his mouth to speak, "before you ask, no, I didn't bite a human. It was a cow."

"A cow?"

"Yes. As a rule, vampires don't bite humans."

"Oh." Sora didn't know what to say. He licked his lips, debating on whether or not kissing Riku was worth the acrid taste in the vampire's mouth. Wrapping his arms around Riku's neck, he decided that it was.

Riku was immediately lost to the sensations of Sora's lips and tongue and whatever the hell else was connecting with Riku's mouth, and suddenly wanted to be somewhere where he could comfortably lay down and enjoy everything all the more. That was what led him to teleport away from the shore and into Sora's living room, where they appeared on the couch, Sora on top of Riku with Riku's arms around the brunette's waist. Sora was too far gone to really notice the sudden change of scenery.

But he did notice when Kairi suddenly screamed, "WHAT THE HELL!"

Sora jumped, consequently falling sideways off of Riku and off of the couch. Riku sat up, promptly glaring at the redhead. "Must you always interrupt?" he couldn't help but snap.

Kairi stomped up to the silver-haired boy and raised her fist, swinging it forcefully to connect with Riku's jaw.

"SHIT!" Riku swore as stars erupted behind his eyes. Didn't see that coming, he thought dryly. Damn, she packs quite a punch. He was vaguely aware of collapsing back onto the couch

"KAIRI!" Sora shouted, climbing back onto the couch to check on the other boy.

"Sora, what the hell has gotten into you?" Kairi demanded. "And who the hell is he?" she added, gesturing towards Riku. "AND WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GUYS COME FROM? You tell us you're going for a walk and we wait and come back inside to find you making-out with this whore on the couch we didn't even see you come in how the hell did you get in here and what the—"

"Hold it!" Riku shouted above the redhead's ceaseless ranting, rising to his feet. "Who are you calling a whore?"

"Take a wild guess!" Kairi replied heatedly.

Riku stood so that he was practically nose-to-nose (or…eye-to-nose what with the height difference and all) with Kairi. The anger was so thick one would swear they could cut it with a knife. But no one would dare attempt that because surely either Riku or Kairi would take said knife and try to run the other through with it.

"I AM NOT A WHORE!" Riku exclaimed. For some reason that accusation stuck in his mind above all else.

"THE HELL YOU AREN'T! You don't even know Sora and here you are, all over him like you own him! So, what? You couldn't find some other slut to screw so you had to go after innocent, unsuspecting SORA? I bet you could just tell, you could just tell the first time you laid eyes on him that he'd be an easy lay, right?"

"FUCK YOU!" Riku cried, unable to think of a witty retort (a first, surely).

Kairi smirked. "No, you'd rather fuck Sora—"

"Damn right I'd rather fuck Sora," Riku rejoined. Sora, sitting by on the couch, squeaked in surprise. "And do you want to know why?" the silver-haired boy continued, unfazed by Sora's reaction.

"Because you're a whore?" Kairi deadpanned.

"Because I'm in fucking love with him!"

This shocked the others into silence.

Then, Naminé spoke for the first time since the beginning of the whole ordeal. "Wh-Who are you, Riku?" she asked quietly.

Riku opened his mouth, but immediately closed it again, seemingly indecisive about his response. So, he answered with a question of his own. "What do you want me to say?"

"How about a full name?" Kairi said in a clipped tone. "Perhaps an address? We've never seen you around here before. Or, what about an age? How old are you?"

"My full name is…Riku. I don't have a last name."

"Oh, that's not suspicious at all," Kairi quipped.

Riku ploughed on. "I don't have an address, per se, and I don't know how old I am. I'd wager I'm at least three thousand years old."

"The hell?" was Kairi's immediate response. "Are you insane, Riku?"

The other smirked. "No, I'm a vampire."

Silence.

Kairi was the first the break from her stupor. "Yeah, and I'm Captain Hook."

Riku adopted a deadpan expression. "I'm serious."

"He is," a quiet voice piped up from behind Riku. Sora appeared, nestling his chin in the crook of Riku's shoulder, snaking his arms around Riku's waist. "He's really a vampire."

Kairi shook her head. "Sora, are you on something?"

"Why don't you believe us?" Sora asked.

"Sora, seriously!" Kairi threw her hands up in exasperation. "Why would you expect me to believe a story like that? A vampire? Get real!"

Sora giggled, something that seemed very out of place for the moment. Reaching up, he hooked his fingers at the corners of Riku's mouth and pulled, exposing Riku's teeth and eliciting a protest from the silver-haired boy. "Look!" Sora said, ignoring Riku's objections. "He has fangs!"

Kairi and Naminé stared. Sure, they looked like "fangs", but…anything was possible nowadays. Kairi asked, "What's the proof that they're real?"

"I could demonstrate." Riku grinned, watching Kairi like a wolf would watch its prey.

Sora whacked Riku on the head. "No," he admonished. "No biting. What about your ethics?"

Riku rubbed his abused crown. "Jesus, I was just kidding."

Kairi wasn't so certain.

"Well," Sora said, "you asked how we just suddenly appeared in the living room. Riku can teleport! He has funky vampire powers!"

Naminé couldn't help but giggle at the boy's sunny demeanor. Leave it to Sora to brighten what should be a serious and very creepy situation.

"And he can read minds!" Sora added. "And he has these really cool tattoo things, seven of them! One for each Deadly Sin. Show 'em, Riku!" Riku sighed and brandished his right wrist, displaying the "Gluttony" marking. Sora stared at it inquisitively. "I've never seen that one," he said.

"You've only seen one, Sora." Suddenly, Sora grinned and grabbed Riku's wrist, bringing it to his mouth and running his tongue across the characters. Riku whimpered, shivering as a wave of pleasure rolled over him. "S-Stop that," he demanded halfheartedly. How had Sora known that his markings were sensitive? He could only remember Sora knowing that in his past life.

"I was just experimenting." Sora smiled innocently, though one could see through the glass doppelganger of innocence to the devilish grin hiding beneath.

"Hn." Riku pulled his arm back to his side.

"Riku?"

The silver-haired boy turned to face Naminé. "What?"

"Are you really…a vampire?"

Riku smirked. "Yup."

Kairi frowned. "All right, let's say we buy this story. That still doesn't explain how you know Sora, or why you're 'in love' with him."

Riku brought Sora in front of him, wrapping his arms around Sora's shoulders from behind. "I fell in love with Sora fifteen hundred years ago," he explained, "when he was the son of a noble in medieval Europe. He, well…he died, and so I've been waiting for him to be reincarnated."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Naminé cooed.

"So that's who I was?" Sora asked, looking up at Riku, who nodded affirmatively.

"In fact," Riku continued, "you all lived in medieval Europe. You see, souls tend to stick together through the cycle of reincarnation. So people who you were close to in a past life will generally be reincarnated into your next life with you." Riku thought for a moment. "Speaking of which, Sora, do you know someone named 'Cloud'?"

"Huh? Yeah, he's my kendo instructor."

"Kendo?" Riku echoed. Smiling, he said, "So, you're still into sword fighting. It's only natural, of course."

"Riku, why do you want to know about Cloud?" Sora asked.

Riku shrugged. "He was your brother in your past life."

"My…brother?" Sora's blue eyes widened.

Riku nodded.

Silence reigned for the third time that night.

Then, Naminé decided to try and regain some semblence of normalcy, saying, "So, who's up for a movie?" She pulled off her angel wings and tossed them onto the floor beside the couch.

"Right," Kairi said, also tugging off her cat ears.

"Can Riku join?" Sora wondered.

"Sure, why not. Just so long as he doesn't try to jump you in the middle of the movie."

Riku just grinned. "So, what are we watching?"

Kairi made a face, muttering, "Dracula."

000


000

Review!

TBC!

000