Chapter 10

Zexion woke to the obnoxious alarm Aeleus used to wake up every morning and clung tighter to his lover not wanting them to leave bed just yet. He had a nightmare that involved the brunette and bit his lip. He didn't recognize the other in the dream and was afraid to ask. There were no pictures of this individual in the house he roamed last night when he couldn't fall asleep.

Aeleus reached over to the nightstand and turned off the alarm. He glance down at the boy and smiled as he kissed the top of his head.

"Good morning...Aeleus. How did you sleep?" He looked up and smiled.

"Alright I suppose." he said and stood up. "How did you sleep?"

"...Fine." The vampire answered and reached up and ran a hand through the man's curls.

Aeleus smiled and kissed the boy softly. "Come on I want to drop you off before work."

Zexion hugged onto the pillow and closed his eyes. "Mmmm...can you go get my clothes? I left them at the door when I came yesterday..."

Aeleus chuckled at the boy and pulled off his pants to change into some clothes for work. "Sure."

"Thank you..." the teen took a deep breath and licked his lips. 'Who is Robbie?' He thought as he waited.

Aeleus changed clothes and walked out of the room and down to the entry way where Zexion left his things. He lifted the bundle of clothes and a stack of papers fell out. He picked them up and pulled one from the rubber band and skimmed though the letter. He frowned and headed back up to his room. He walked into his room and dropped the clothes on the bed. "Zexion... What are these?" he asked holding up the letters "Who's Marluxia?"

Zexion's eyes widened and he jumped out of bed quickly. "Ah! Th-those...!" He reached for the letters and bit his lip, blushing because he had completely forgotten about them.

"What are they?" he said with hurt in his eyes. "How can you say you love me when you have these?!" he said loudly.

Zexion looked to his feet and shook his head. "I-It's not like that..." He whispered.

"Then what is it like?" he asked threw the letters on the bed.

For awhile Zexion stood silent and hugged himself. "M-Marluxia...is my sire..." He whispered and closed his eyes.

"Well apparently he's more than just a sire to you. He's your lover..." he said and turned away from the boy.

"N-No! That's not it!" Zexion grabbed the man from behind. "I was going to burn them!"

Aeleus looked down at the boy. "Burn them?"

Zexion nodded. "If you look at the dates...they're all old... Aeleus... Marluxia is the one who killed me..." He could feel the waterworks about to turn on but he held them back.

Aeleus looked down at the letters and back at Zexion then pulled him into his arms. "I'm sorry."

"I hate Marluxia..." The vampire whispered. "Those letters are full of empty words..." Zexion hugged onto the older man.

Aeleus ran his hand through Zexion's hair and held him closer. "I believe you Zexion. Come on I need to get you home."

Zexion reached up to pull Aeleus into a kiss and pulled away. "I love you..." He spoke as if he were trying to prove something.

Aeleus caressed Zexion's cheek. "I love you too." he smiled.

The vampire pulled away and quickly changed into the second set of clothes and gathered up the letters. "I'm sorry, I totally forgot about them...I was going to burn them after you fell asleep..."

"Burn them once you get home." he said and ruffled the boy's messy hair. "It's alright, let's go."

Zexion nodded and left the room to go grab the cooler which still had a bag in it.

Aeleus followed the boy and stopped at the kitchen table to grab his badge, gun, and wallet.

The teen waited at the door and bit his lip. "Are you sure you slept easy last night?" He asked slowly.

"I had you in my arms didn't I?" he said with a chuckle.

Zexion frowned slightly. "I guess so..." He opened the door and tried to figure out why he had the nightmare.

"Are you ok? he asked and followed the boy out of the house, locking the door behind them.

"I'm fine..." He looked to Aeleus "...I just...don't usually dream that often when I sleep." He mumbled.

"Well what did you dream about?" he asked and headed to his dark blue avenger.

"Uh..." Zexion followed after the cop. "Who's...Robbie?" He asked tentatively and fiddled with the zipper on his jacket.

Aeleus stopped walking and turned to look at Zexion. "How do you know him?"

The teen bit his lip. "Uh…I…" He looked away and held his clothes close to his chest. "I can't really explain how I know him."

"Robbie was my older brother… Did… did you have a dream about him?"

Zexion nodded. "I, yeah, I did…" The vampire looked up with sad eyes. "I…I can tap into other people's minds and find their worst nightmare…but I didn't mean to look at yours…"

"That's ok. I mean it's not that big of a deal. I was planning of telling you eventually." he said softly and unlocked his car.

"But…I invaded your privacy…" Zexion whispered and went to the other side of the car. "How come you don't have any pictures of him in your home?"

"Too painful of memories." he said and opened Zexion's door for him. "Come on I need to get you home."

The vampire nodded realizing that he probably didn't want to talk about it and sat down in the car with the cooler on his lap and the clothing on top.

Aeleus walked over to his side of the car and got in. He stared the car and backed out of his parking spot. "Ok now where do you live?"

"Uh…" He bit his lip, trying to remember what the name of the street was that he lived on. "The…apartments at Bastion Avenue…? I think it was called that."

"Alright do you know what apartment number?" he asked and turned out onto the street.

"Uhhh." Zexion blushed and laughed. "I'm sorry…I can point it out to you when we get there?"

Aeleus chuckled and nodded his head. "Alright." he glanced over at Zexion and smiled. "I'm glad that you're alright."

"As far as alright can go for a vampire, I suppose…" He smiled. "Axel told me you're a regular at The Inferno…how regular?"

Aeleus laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Pretty regular…"

"Then I guess I'll be seeing you tonight." Zexion smiled. "I work every night but Sundays."

"Yeah." he said with a smirk. "Wear something cute for me?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Oh, I'm sure I can find something nice…" The vampire grinned. "I did see a-oh no I'll leave it as a surprise."

Aeleus smirked at the boy and glanced over at him. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I'll have to spend some time in the dressing room picking an outfit out, just for you." Zexion looked back to the road with a smile on his face.

Aeleus smiled and pulled onto Bastion Avenue. "Alright where do you live?"

"That one, building C." Zexion pointed to his apartment and bit his lip. "I really enjoyed last night." He looked to Aeleus.

Aeleus parked the car and looked over at the boy. "So did I." he said softly and pulled the boy into a gentle kiss.

Zexion kissed him back and pulled away. "I've kept you from work long enough, they're going to wonder where you're at if I don't leave you be." He whispered, a hand on the door.

"Just a little kiss." he said softly. "To get me through the day." he whispered softly.

"Ok…" Zexion took off his seatbelt and leaned over to kiss Aeleus and placed a hand on his shoulder the other resting on the dashboard.

Aeleus wrapped his arms around the boy and licked at his lips slowly. The teen smiled and parted his lips slightly, flicking his tongue out to meet the older man's before retreating back into his mouth. Aeleus pushed his tongue into Zexion mouth and let out a small moan. The vampire leaned closer to his lover and moved his hand to cup his cheek.

Aeleus smiled into the kiss and pulled back. "If I don't leave now I never will."

Zexion nodded. "Ok. I'll see you tonight then." He gave him a quick peck on the cheek and got out of the car.

Aeleus smiled and waited until Zexion got into the building to drive away.

The vampire headed up the steps and fiddled with the key to the apartment and when he finally got the door open he walked in and set his things on the kitchen table. He shoved the last bag back into the refrigerator and began heading to his room, clothing and Marluxia's letters in hand.

Axel poked his head out of his room. "Hey welcome home. How was your night?"

"Great." Zexion tossed his clothing on his bed and came out holding up the letters. "Bucket, now. I want these things gone."

Axel nodded and headed into the bathroom. He pulled a bucket from under the sink and used a cup to fill it with some water. "Here. Be careful."

Zexion knelt beside the bucket and dug into his pants for the box of matches. "…Aeleus found them." He ripped a letter from the stack and lit a match and set the piece of paper on fire.

Axel leaned against the door frame. "So… Details from last night?"

"We mostly just talked." Zexion stared at the flame with a hard eye. "I told him more about us-vampires, I mean…"

"Right. And how is he taking all of this?" he asked softly.

"He's wary…" Zexion dropped the remnants of the letter into the bucket and stared at the letters thinking he should simply burn them all at the same time.

Axel walked into the room and sat down next to the boy. "Did you tell him about being changed?

"I'm not sure what you mean…about the process or the fact that I can't bite him unless he asks me to?" Zexion pulled another letter from the pile and set fire to it.

"Either or." he said with a shrug.

"I haven't told him about the process… but…" he looked to Axel. "It's hard… I…" he stopped. "I had to bite myself at one point."

"Ooh… had to bite yourself. What have you been doing?" he smirked. "Have you slept with him yet?"

` The teen shook his head. "No I told him I wouldn't be comfortable if something didn't change." he dropped the letter in the bucket.

"So pretty much you told him no sex until he becomes a vampire." he said with a laugh.

Zexion blushed. "I-I… suppose I did… but I wanted him to think about becoming one of us… not because of sex."

"You love him though, he's your mate." he said. "Sex with your mate is mind blowing."

The younger vampire set the last few letters on fire." I don't want him to make a rash decision… when the time is right; he's not ready for it now."

"Have you told him he's your mate?" he asked.

"No. I don't think that really matters." the letters burned slowly in his hand. "We love each other, shouldn't that be enough of an explanation?"

"If you say so. If he says no you're going to be in a lot of pain." Axel said and ruffled the boy's hair.

"If I told him he was my mate, how would that change anything?" the teen dumped the letters in the bucket and sighed.

"I suppose it wouldn't, but it might. You'll never know." he said with a smile.

"If he said no… then I would understand. He's a cop. I kill things, steal from others… he doesn't understand yet…" Zexion stood up and wiped his hands.

"Said no to becoming like us?" Axel chuckled. "You would be in a world of hurt."
"Well then if that's the case… what's stopping me from drinking his blood?" he looked at Axel wit a dull look.

"Ok, I've been trying to hint at it, but I'm just going to tell you. And this is very important. If your mate denies you or being with you. Or if he dies either by your hand or another… you'll go through what we call a breakdown."

"What's that supposed to mean Axel?" he crossed his arms. "Didn't you say that I could just take his blood if I wanted to?"

"Yeah and when he dies you'll be in so much pain. Your heart will feel like it's on fire. At least that's how my breakdown feels. Everyone has different breakdowns."

"…Oh…" the teen bit his lip. "How can I convince him then?"

"Talk to him. If he loves you like you say then he'll go through the change." he said.

Zexion nodded. "Alright well…. When should we head to work?" he picked up the bucket.

"Not for a while. So why don't you relax for a little bit?"

The younger vampire nodded. "Where would you like me to take care of this?" he gestured with the bucket.

"You can just go dump it down the gutter in the street." he said. "It's what I do with mine. Dilute it with a little more water first though."

Zexion walked over to the sink and turned on the water dipping the bucket under the flow of water. "That was easier than I thought it would be."

"It's because they don't mean anything to you anymore." Axel said as he leaned against the doorframe with crossed arms.

"I guess…" Zexion turned off the water and pulled the bucket out with two hands. "I don't need them anymore."

"Because you have Aeleus." Axel said. "Is he coming tonight?"

"To the Inferno?" The teen started heading out of the apartment. "Yeah he said he'd be there…why?"

"Oh then you'll want to wear something special and cute tonight. I'll make sure Nam dresses you in something special." he said and walked to his room.

"I had an idea though…" He leaned on the door. "The white one…with the red?"

"Oh? You like that one?" he asked with a smirk. "You would look cute in it…. Oh… Does Aeleus like you in dresses?"

"So much that he questioned his sexuality when he saw me in the blue and black one." Zexion smirked.

Axel laughed and shook his head. "You do look real good in those dresses."

Zexion smiled and left the apartment to get rid of the letters.

~! #$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$# !~~! #$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$# !~

Axel stepped out of his dressing room while pulling back his hair. He looked over at Zexion and Namine's dressing room. "You guys ready yet?"

"Just a minute, this dress doesn't have a zipper…" The teen bit his lip as Namine pulled tighter on the strings on the back. "I didn't think this was going to be that hard…" He whined.

"Oh quit being a baby this is how women used to live their daily lives." she said and pulled the laces tight.

Zexion whined again and held onto his chest. "How the hell did women breathe back then?"

"We didn't." she said simply and tugged again before tying the laces and she looked at Zexion in the mirror. "You look good." she said patting his side.

The boy whimpered and looked in the mirror. "This better be worth it…" He attempted to stretch in the dress.

"Aeleus will love it. Let's just hope he can figure out how to get you out of it without ripping it." Namine chuckled and turned around to walk out of the room.

Zexion followed after the blonde and bit his lip looking up at Axel, flustered at not being able to breathe well.

Axel frowned. "Nam he can barely breath. I can't expect him to wait tables like this. Loosen it."

Namine sighed and crossed her arms. "Fine. Big baby…" she muttered and loosened the back or the corset.

The youngest vampire took in a deep breath and frowned slightly when he still couldn't breath comfortably but he would manage. "So…any news from Xaldin?" He asked as he glanced at the kitchen doors.

"He won't be coming in until the hunter issue is taken care of. He also seemed…. Preoccupied when I called earlier to ask how everything was." Axel said with a chuckle.

"Oh…Well…Ok." Zexion adjusted the red headband and bit his lip. "Well then, day two of work coming up!" He said and clapped his hands together. "Let's see if I can manage not to drop anything this time."

Namine smiled and led the way out into the café.

~! #$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$# !~~! #$%^&*()_++_)(*&^%$# !~

A blond boy ran through the alleyways and was pretty sure he had completely lost the hunter on his tail, but he was never too sure when it came to Seifer. When he heard heavy footsteps he quickly ran into the back door of a building and looked behind him to see if the young man was still chasing after him and ran into something hard. Zexion let out a yelp and threw the tray away from himself so that he wouldn't manage to make a mess all over the white dress. "H-Hey!"

Namine looked behind her to see why Zexion had stopped walking with the huge order of food. "Oh… And who might you be?"

Zexion looked up and shook his head. "Damn it!" He looked down at himself and sighed in relief when he didn't make a mess of his dress…just all of the hallway.

"Sorry!" He knelt down to help the teen up and rose an eyebrow. "Wait…do I know you?" He asked Zexion. The boy just looked bewildered.

Namine handed Zexion her tray. "Take this out and get the rest of the orders remade." she said and grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him into the back where the dressing rooms were.

The teen sighed and headed back into the kitchen. The blond stared at Namine and rose an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you." she said and took him into a spare dressing room. "Just sit here for a bit. I'm going to go get my sire." she left the room and hurried to the bar. "Axel. We have a little bit of a situation."

"A situation?" he finished making the drink that was in his hands and handed it to a man on the other side of the bar. "What's up?"

"Come with me." she said. Axel left the bar in the care of the other bar keep and followed Namine back to the spare dressing room.

The vampire in the dressing room stared at the clothing in the room and ran a hand through his hair wondering what exactly he ran into, was this some kind of vampire haven of some such?

Namine pulled Axel into the room and pointed at the boy. "He just ran in through the back door. I think he was being chased." she said.

"Alright alright." Axel turned and looked at the boy and instantly couldn't breath.

The boy narrowed his eyes at the redhead and he backed into the chair he was sitting in. "Wh-who are you?"

Axel shook his head and walked over to the boy. "My name is Axel. Who might you be?" he asked softly and kneeled down in front of him.

"Ruh…Roxas." He looked at the older vampire and bit his lip, not sure what to do. "What…what is this place?"

"This is The Inferno. It's a café and bar that I own." he said. "Where did you come from Roxas?"

"London." Roxas looked to Namine and his face scrunched up in confusion. He had no idea what was going on he felt like he couldn't move and felt utterly trapped under Axel's gaze.

"Namine can you give us a minute?" he asked not taking his eyes off of the boy.

Namine left the room closing the door behind her.

"What are you doing to me?" The younger vampire asked in a terrified whisper after the girl left the room.

Axel chuckled. "I'm not doing anything to you Roxas." he whispered and took the boy's face in his hands. "Didn't your sire ever tell you about finding a mate?"

"Ah, no…?" Roxas glanced at the green-eyed man's hands for a second. "I…" He bit his lip.

Axel chuckled and moved closer to the teen. "A mate is your lover. A reason for living you could say."

"A-a reason for living…?" He stared into the bright emerald eyes and licked his lips. "Axel…?"

"Yes Roxas?" he asked and caressed the boy face. "What is it?"

The blond vampire raised his hands to Axel's face and pulled it close to his own. "Stop talking to me like I'm some kind of child."

"How old are you?" he whispered with a smirk.

"Older than you think, though I can tell your older than all the people's ages in this place." He replied.

"To me you are a child." he whispered and brought Roxas' lips to his own.

Roxas wrapped his arms around the older vampire and kissed him back and nipped at his lips. Axel moaned into the kiss and ran his hands down the boy's chest slowly. He licked at Roxas' lips as his fingers ran down his chest. The teen tugged at Axel's hair and wrapped his legs around the vampire.

Axel smirked as he pulled out of the kiss to look at the boy. "You kiss pretty well." he said softly and rested his hand on the boy's hips.

Roxas let go of Axel as quickly as he had grabbed him. "Well, you kiss ok yourself…" He blushed and looked away.

Axel chuckled and offered the boy his wrist. "You look starved half to death."

"Just like that you're offering yourself to me?" Roxas looked at him warily and took the wrist in his hand.

"Well you're my mate, what's stopping you from feeding from me?" he said and lifted a hand to brush some hair from his face. "I want to feed you."

"I'm worried about what you might do to me." Roxas whispered. "I don't trust many people…I didn't trust my sire and I have no reason to really trust you…"

"Well if you didn't trust your sire why did you ask him to change you?" he asked and caressed the boy's face.

"Because I wanted what he was offering." Roxas brought Axel's wrist to his face and took a breath. "I'm a bit greedy…." He looked up.

"You wanted immortality…" Axel breathed and licked his lips. "You can be greedy with me I don't mind…"

Roxas bit into Axel's wrist and closed his eyes as he drank the other vampire's blood. "Mmmh…" He pulled Axel closer.

Axel moaned softly and pulled the boy closer. "That feels so good…" he breathed and wrapped an arm around Roxas' waist.

Roxas sucked more and looked back up at Axel and bit harder into his wrist. 'So I'm just a child to you, hmm?'

Axel stood up and lifted the boy up. He sat down in the chair and held Roxas in his lap. "Well that and you're my mate." he whispered.

Roxas turned and straddled the older vampire as he pulled away from his wrist. "That's no good…" He licked his lips and he pursed them in thought.

"And why is that no good?" he asked and ran a hand down over the younger vampire's ass.

"Not enough of it in the speed I want." Roxas leaned to kiss his neck. "I like it from here…" Be brushed his fangs high up against Axel's neck."

Axel swallowed and tilted his head to the side. "It's all yours. I would give you the last drop of my blood if you wanted it." he whispered.

Roxas smiled. "You really shouldn't say that…I might just drink all your blood."

Axel chuckled. "You wouldn't be able to handle my death." he breathed and ran a hand up and down Roxas' back.

"I wouldn't? I was fine with my sire's." He whispered and ran a hand up the back of his neck.

"I'm different from a sire." he said and pulled the boy closer. "How did your sire die?"

"…I killed him." He whispered and licked at Axel's neck.

Axel chuckled and moved his head back further. "Now why did you do that?" he asked softly.

"I guess he forgot to tell me to stop when he changed me." Roxas shook his head. "Why do I feel terribly honest when I'm around you?"

"Because I'm your mate." he said and wrapped his arms around the teen. "Come on. Feed and I'll let you get some rest. You seem tired."

"I've been running for three weeks." Roxas bit into his neck and sucked deeply from his mate.

"Yeah you need some sleep." he said while holding back a moan.

Roxas closed his eyes. 'I'm not sure if I should…I may have led the hunter to your place…'

"The hunters were already on their way here. Besides I'm not letting you leave me that easily." he whispered and wove his fingers into the blond hair.

Roxas pulled away and pushed away from Axel. "I feel like…I…" He bit his lip. "I can't sleep now." He whispered.

"Can't sleep?" Axel looked up into Roxas' eyes. "Now why is that? You were plenty tired a while ago."

"If I sleep, they'll find me again…" He slumped back into Axel's arms. "I can't sleep…ever."

Axel smiled at the smaller boy and stood up with him in his arms. "It's alright now. I'll protect you." he whispered and kissed his forehead.

"It's never safe…Leon always finds me…" Roxas whispered. "I need to stay…awake."

"He won't find you now." Axel walked out into the hall and over to his own dressing room. "I promise." he said as he laid the boy out on a couch.

"Promises are worthless." He mumbled and turned to the couch and closed his eyes. "Worthless…" Roxas continued.

"Mine aren't…" he whispered as he leaned down to kiss his temple. "Sleep well." he walked out of the dressing room and turned off the light.

Zexion was outside on his hands and knees cleaning up the mess he had made and turned. "What happened?"

Axel smiled. "We're going to be having someone else living with us." he said and kneeled to help the boy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Then teen glanced to Axel's dressing room. "That's the boy who ran into me the other day…"

"Is it?" he glanced over his shoulder at the door to his room then looked back at Zexion. "That's Roxas. He's that one who's going to be living with us."

"…Oh. Just for protection from that hunter?" He stood up and wiped his hands on a towel. "Note to self, don't bend over while wearing a corset…" He grimaced and stretched.

Axel laughed then smiled thinking about the blond boy. "Roxas is my mate." he said softly.

"Huh?" Zexion bit his lip. "What…what about…Reno?" He bit his lip. "Does it just change like that? Instantaneous…change of heart, just like that?"

"Don't say it like that!" he snapped. "I loved Reno… and yes he was my mate, my first mate in fact, but vampires can have more than one mate. I will never love Roxas like I loved Reno, but Roxas can be the same… in time."

"Sorry…" the slate-haired teen bit his lip. "I…didn't mean it like that…" He smiled. "I'm happy for you."

"I'm sorry I snapped. I can get a little defensive." he said. "Come on let's get back to work." he said and led the way back to the café.