A/N: Thanks for the reviews! It's good to know that you guys enjoy what you're reading. Don't forget I've got another story going (which I haven't been able to update in a while on account of this story) that you can read if you haven't, Love is a Dangerous Angel.
Also, there's quite a bit of sexual content in this chapter, slash and otherwise. No lemons, so don't freak out. Just general content. If it bothers you then you can skip over those parts.
Disclaimer: I own Mae, and he is MINE. Other than that…well, at least I've got Mae. Teehee.
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT: CHAPTER FIVE
Riku was a Child. He was one of them. He was a newborn vampire, just seeing the world for the first time. Everything was more beautiful than it had been as a human; everything was silver and gold and dripping with sensuality.
He was lying on the floor in the apartment, with the light from the new moon drenching him in its pale light. He looked unrecognizable; like a different person, and in many ways he was. He never thought he would take such pleasure in losing his humanity, but clearly whatever he had become was not monstrous, nor a work of Satan; it was nearly angelic.
The transformation had been terrible, however. It felt as if his very bones were breaking and mending back and then elongating, and his mouth felt as though it were bleeding him dry. He had screamed so loudly that Kadaj and Yazoo had been forced to keep their hands over his mouth until the pain left him and the fangs came in. He thought then that dying would be better than experiencing pain like that, but then it was gone, and it left him a new Child of the Night, with his senses heightened and his eyes clearer.
Although he could not see his reflection, he would be stunned if he could see himself. His aqua eyes had turned neon green; his pupils shrank to near slits. His face was paler and sharpened as if it were carved of fine marble. His hair had attained a constant shimmer that radiated his now god-like form. Kadaj and Yazoo were stunned speechless when they first witnessed the beautiful immortal they had created.
Now they left him to himself while they went out for dinner. Kadaj had told him that he probably needed time to adjust to his senses before going out anywhere. Riku could have laid in that darkened living room all night, amazed at everything.
A vampire's eye is something no human can imagine, nor ever witness. It is like being born into a new world, where everything is beautiful, every movement quicker and more elegant, every dark corner lightened. For a while he lay staring at the brilliant white of the ceiling paint, wondering how in the world he had ever taken such pure color for granted.
During his revelation, at some point, for the first time in two days, Sora crossed his mind. He wondered if Sora would be worried when he came up missing. He missed not being there at school with him, shoving him playfully in the shoulder when they passed in the halls and flicking french fries at him at lunch.
Such simple, human things he had once done, and now he was immortal and could never be anywhere near that behavior again. He would no doubt fall in love and forget the boy with the chestnut hair and eyes like the ocean. He would love recklessly like the immortal he was and leave his lovers bled and dry. It wasn't choice, it was destiny, something he could never fight, nor run from.
But what about Sora? His young, ignorant beauty would fade. He would become a man, marry a woman, have children…then he would wither and die with old age and disease. A mortal's fate. All of this while Riku would live on, forever young and wild, never fearing those simple dangers mortal's like Sora would face…
It wasn't fair. He was to live a life of immortality, where nothing could touch him or hurt him. And Sora would die. It would take years, but he would die far quicker than Riku ever would.
Riku suddenly realized that he didn't deserve this life. He didn't deserve to live forever, and now that he thought about it, nor did he want to. His life had been full of hardships and confusion, in which he lied, cheated, and backstabbed to get by. And then he was handed this card, the vampire's kiss of immortality, and a card he had never earned.
Suddenly he felt himself swell with rage, and he seriously contemplating heaving himself out the window and hoping to whatever God's watched over him that the early evening traffic would bring him to his death, as the fall would no doubt fail to do.
Before he could go along the lines of any more morbid suicide, Kadaj and Yazoo burst through the door, both holding half-drained bottles of wine and slightly swaggering and they burst in.
Yazoo was singing some kind of drinking song that sounded ancient and completely ridiculous, while Kadaj looked completely sober and tempered, except for his bloodshot eyes.
"Dear Riku!" Kadaj slurred, prodding him with his foot. Yazoo giggled and stumbled into the kitchen, still halfway singing horribly off-tune.
"Still lying on the floor, are we?" He asked, and he flopped down beside him as well. He turned his head restlessly from side to side. He flicked Riku in the head.
"How boring." He snorted and hoisted himself back up, dragging the dazed Riku up with him. Kadaj shoved him with the palm of his hand and declared, "We're going out!"
Riku looked at him with lazy eyes and asked in a sad voice, "What for? You two are already drunk enough to have your fun here."
Yazoo laughed shrilly and hiccuped, falling lazily back into the room. "We've barely started!" He burped. "Plus, I'm horribly thirsty. How's about some nice Latin blood tonight, eh?"
Kadaj scrunched up his nose. "You'll have your taste, I'll have mine. I'm thinking some little rich girl tonight."
Riku rolled his eyes. "I'll stay home then." He slung himself down on the couch and stared at a candle on the table, its flames tiredly licking the air.
Kadaj cocked a pale eyebrow. "Staying in? I think not, not when you can share the fun!"
And that was how Riku, only having been immortal for three hours, ended up at a girl named Heidi Ingram's party with two of the most beautiful men anyone at the party had ever seen.
Kadaj and Yazoo had made up the alias of Ryu for Riku so that in case he was already missing, no one would notice that it was him. He obviously looked much different, and the second he stepped into the party with the two other Children, hardly anyone could look at anything else.
Yazoo spotted a Hispanic boy gyrating against another white boy very easily and knew he was just what he had the taste for. Kadaj kept his arm on Riku as if he belonged to him and mumbled instructions into his ear as they roamed the party, while many people watched them with open mouths spurting whispers.
"Take your kill outside. Make sure wherever you go that there is no one else around. It's crucial. If someone spots you, you can consider yourself a dead man." He instructed as they walked through, Kadaj expertly winking and smiling as he passed the young teenagers.
"Kiss them and tease them before you do it. You must be sure that they don't expect it. If you bite when you're doing this, they'll never expect what your intentions are. They'll think it's all fun and games until they can't breathe."
Riku nodded and Kadaj spotted a young girl standing in a corner. She was tall, with long blonde hair she wore in a ponytail at the base of her neck. She had her arm around her boyfriend, but kept scanning the party as if she desperately wished she were with someone else. That was where Kadaj came in. He winked at Riku and sauntered off, shaking is hips in his tight black pants, flicking his hair back and forth so that no one could take their eyes off him.
Riku wandered the party, not really searching for anyone or anything, nor craving the blood which Kadaj and Yazoo lived for. People gave him beer and cigarettes, all of which he held in his hand until he remembered he had them and threw them away.
That's when he saw him.
It was Mae, standing against the opposite wall, his eyes of blue ice searching the room for someone, until they rested on Riku's. Riku had never realized how unnaturally beautiful Mae was, and especially tonight. His chin-lengthed hair was never so much like the rain, framing the face of porcelain and the eyes that surely could burn through skin.
They held each other's gaze until Mae made the first move. He stepped away from the wall and towards Riku, his movements slow and elegant like a cat circling its prey. Only Mae would never realize until it was too late that he was the prey, and that the newborn vampire that Riku was would kill him mercilessly and drain the beauty from his body.
"Riku?" Mae asked, flicking his hair away from his eyes and tilting his head as if to make sure it was him.
Riku gave a small nod. "Long story." He said, letting his hair fall in his eyes a little so perhaps Mae would not notice how cat-like and inhuman they were.
The music in the room swelled and blared twice as loud as it had before, and suddenly everyone was dancing and thrusting around them. Mae blushed as he was pushed into Riku, and Riku caught the irresistible smell of his musky cologne, and suddenly his senses heightened and he was so turned on he could hardly bear it.
"Everyone's been worried about you at school!" Mae yelled, and Riku felt his hot breath caress his ear. Suddenly he could almost taste Mae's blood in his mouth like sweet, tangy honey. His teeth throbbed in his mouth.
Riku smiled up at Mae and shrugged. "I'll come back, I just needed to get away for a while, you know?"
A girl slammed into Riku's back and sent him pushed up against Mae, each part of him touching the other boy, his mouth throbbing so hard he could feel his pulse growing rapidly stronger. Mae laughed but didn't push away.
"Let's go outside where I can actually hear you!" Mae screamed, and when Riku nodded, Mae locked his fingers into Riku's and pulled him through the crowd and out the front door, back into the reckless streets of New Orleans.
The two boys, alive with the fresh night air, kept their fingers interlocked as they walked in silence. The fingers were doing all the talking for them; they grazed each other and felt the tiny hairs on the fingers, stroked each other's hands and felt each other's nails. Hardly realizing what they were doing, they walked past most of the nightclubs and businesses and tourist traps and entered the slums of the city.
The slums were never a good place for anything pure and beautiful to go, although Mae and Riku were hardly pure. No one would realize their inhuman strength until they tried to rape or mug them. Once Riku realized where they were, he tugged on Mae's hand and whispered, "Maybe we should turn back."
Black men in dark, baggy clothes passed them and snickered at how frail they appeared, holding each other's hands like those trendy bisexual boys that thrived in the cities. One man came close enough to breathe on Mae's neck and say, "What are two boys like you doing in a place like this? Looking for somewhere to stay the night?"
Mae tightened his grip on Riku and quickly and quietly they left, leaving the man smiling at them with golden teeth.
They found themselves laughing hysterically when they came to the small river that flowed through the less populated part of the city. "We're such dumbasses!" Mae cackled, and he fell to his knees in the black grass.
Riku chuckled and sank down beside him, fingering the inside of his black sweatshirt in nervousness, even though he knew he already had Mae where he wanted him.
They sat across from each other for a while, Riku with his back to the water and Mae facing him, their eyes shyly glancing at each other from time to time, then quickly looking away.
Finally Mae shifted closer and leaned forward, obviously waiting for Riku to cover the rest of the distance between their eager mouths. Riku had never kissed another boy. He'd made out with plenty of girls, immaturely licking and nibbling at their mouths, but he had never even come close to kissing a boy. And now, as he looked into Mae's pale eyes, watching his ripe lips, slightly wetted with saliva, only inches from him, it seemed the most appealing thing on earth. The blood now seemed only a bonus.
Riku leaned in slowly, afraid Mae might move away, or that he might do something wrong. It seemed to take forever for their lips to meet, but when they did it was simply electric.
Their mouths melted together slowly and sensually, each one exploring the other's carefully, as if they'd never before experienced such a kiss, and truly, neither had.
Riku moved his hand into Mae's hair, feeling it fall through his fingers like liquid silk. Mae pressed against his mouth harder and pulled him down on top of him into the grass.
Riku fit himself perfectly on top of the other boy, letting Mae move under him, Mae's lips making a trail of tiny kisses down to Riku's neck. Riku gasped when he felt Mae's tongue against the soft skin of his throat, then coming back up to his mouth. Riku knew that he had to do it soon, before he forgot what he was doing and made love to the other boy right then and there.
Riku moved his mouth down to the other boy's throat, to the soft spot to the right of the Adam's apple where he could feel the pulse beneath his lips. He grinned against his throat as he heard Mae's breath quicken, and he opened his mouth slowly, letting the cool fangs rest against the flesh as Mae began to moan, and finally, he sank the teeth in.
Riku was shoved off and sent flying three feet away before he had even realized what had happened. He had thought he was about to drink the poor boy dry, and before he knew it, his face was pressed against the hard ground and his leg was bent at an impossible angle. Confused, he forced himself back up and to his feet, grimacing as his leg popped.
Mae was standing near the riverbank, eyes wide and hands outstretched toward Riku as if they would shield him. "You fucker!" Mae spat, his arms visibly shaking.
Riku's jaw dropped when he saw the indention in the grass where they had been laying, compared to the spot he stood now. Mae must've thrown him a clear three feet! No human was capable of that strength…
"What the fuck are you?" Riku snarled, backing farther away from whatever the hell was standing in front of him, tripping slightly over a pesky rock.
Mae's eyes were like blue fire as he lowered his hands, his once beautiful mouth now in a tight, angry line. "Don't you recognize one of your own fucking kind when you see one?" His voice was nearly a whisper, like the words he spat were a secret.
Suddenly Riku's jaw dropped as the words registered. Another Child. Right under his nose the entire time. He had tried to sire someone who had been immortal all along. And as shocking as it was, it was also hysterically funny.
Riku bent over in loud, uncontrollable laughter, so pissed at his stupidity in the situation that it was hilarious. He had wondered why Mae was so stunningly beautiful, and knew just how to attract other boys…he wasn't even mortal.
Mae punched Riku square in the face during his laughing fit, sending Riku slamming into the tree behind him, still cackling despite himself.
"Shut up!" Mae snapped, his voice still hushed. When Riku ignored him, he sent his fist smashing into his face again, a punch that would have shattered the cheekbones of a normal human, but the most it did to Riku was shake him out of his state of hysteria.
"Do you want to attract attention, you sorry excuse for an immortal!" Mae snarled, his fist still clenched and near Riku's face.
Riku cleared his throat and decided to get a hold of himself. "Sorry." He mumbled, pushing away from Mae and towards the river.
There was a moment of silence before Mae stood beside him and said quietly, "Who did it to you? Who made you immortal? I've been looking for another since I turned."
Riku thought of whether he should tell Mae about Kadaj and Yazoo, but then wondered if perhaps the two silver haired men would let Mae join their group as well.
"There are two immortals named Kadaj and Yazoo, they sired me so that I could be their Childe." He replied.
"Do they live here? Where are they?" Mae asked, his voice sounding slightly more interested now than before.
Riku thought to take Mae back to the apartment and figured it was an okay idea. Making sure Mae wouldn't push him away, he took hold of his hand and led him back towards the city.
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The apartment was dark and smelled strongly of booze when they arrived. Riku instructed for Mae to take off his jacket and shoes at the door, and then gestured for him to come farther into the apartment.
He was going to take him to the couch so he could sit down and get him some drinks, before he noticed the skimpy feminine underwear slung over the side of the couch and the movement coming from it that sounded distinctly like intercourse.
Mae's mouth formed the shape of an "O" as Riku made a disgusted face and gestured for him to come into the kitchen.
Yazoo was in the kitchen, leaning swankily against the bar, a skinny glass of dark liquid hanging from his limp fingers.
"Who have we here?" He asked coolly, winking at Mae.
Riku smiled and said to Yazoo, "This is Mae. He's a vampire, Yazoo."
Yazoo's jaw dropped, and despite his drunkenness, he somehow seemed to understand the importance of this statement. "I haven't seen another in years…" He breathed, moving over to Mae, touching his hair.
Mae smiled uncomfortably, and said, "I've never met another immortal."
Yazoo grinned at him, displaying his ivory fangs. "Well, I'm Yazoo, nice to meet you." He had a slight drawl as he breathed the word "nice" but other than that made a fine impression on Mae.
"And that," Yazoo laughed, pointing a thin finger with a filed nail at the dark living room, "Is Kadaj." Riku chuckled despite himself. Yazoo's grin was so huge it looked like it hurt. "I'm afraid he couldn't seem to kill the poor girl, had to get in her pants first…"
The two silver haired Children laughed uncontrollably, Yazoo's laughs mixed with drunken hiccups, and even Mae found himself giggling before they straightened themselves out.
Suddenly, a completely nude Kadaj with the exception of a throw blanket wrapped around his waist sauntered into the room, grinning a red smile. "Who's your friend, Riku?" he asked, his voice lower than usual, more thick with the girl's blood.
"This is Mae. He's one of us." Yazoo said excitedly, nearly dropping his glass of wine.
Kadaj studied Mae with suddenly heightened interest. "You can't be serious. Aside from us, you'd be the only living vampire I've seen in fifty years."
The immenseness of his age suddenly frightened Mae, but he mumbled quickly, "It's true, am an immortal."
Kadaj put and hand to his forehead and leaned against the counter. "Good God." He whispered. "This is too good to be true."
From somewhere from inside the living room, came a clearly audible and yet faint feminine scream.
"She's still alive, Kadaj." Riku said, peering into the living room.
Mae felt his throat grow tense as he smelt the living blood, and the disgust that came with Kadaj's sexual killing. A smile spread across the half-naked Child's face and he went back into the living room. Curious, the other three slowly followed, Riku having to pull Mae along so that he would follow.
The girl was completely nude, cowering like a wounded animal on the couch, sweat and tears and blood covering her youthful, terrified face. Blood dripped in a steady flow from a wound just below the soft flesh of her navel. Out of respect, Mae tried not to look at her feminine form, more ashamed of that than his attraction to her blood.
"Please!" She whimpered, her angelic voice hoarse and shaky, "Please, don't hurt me!"
Kadaj crept closer to her, smiling at her as though he had done nothing wrong. "Darling!" He said in a mock surprised tone, "Why, you're bleeding!"
Girls' blood soaked blonde hair swung back and forth wildly as she convulsed in her sobs. She would live through the bite, Mae knew it, and if Kadaj would let her go, she could still live.
"Don't." she moaned as he came closer. "Please, don't!"
Kadaj smirked. "Don't what, darling? Why are you so frightened?"
Mae stepped forward, unable to watch the girl be tortured if he was just going to kill her anyway. He pitied the girl, wanted her to live and be free again like she once was.
"Leave her alone, Kadaj." He whispered. "Just please let her go."
The girl looked to Mae desperately, knowing immediately that he was her only chance for survival. She scrambled off the couch to him, throwing her shaking, nude body onto him, her arms wrapping around his neck.
"What is he?" She cried. "What has he done to me?"
Kadaj smiled at Mae and winked, making Mae feel sicker now than ever, as he wrapped his arms protectively around the girl, ignoring the way his mouth was pulsing, hungering from her blood. She had to live, this wasn't right.
"Do it, Mae." Kadaj said slowly. "Prove that you can be one of us, and we'll let you stay."
Immediately Mae knew it wasn't worth it. If they lived like this, taking innocent human lives, using them and torturing them for the fun of it, he would never live like that, not if they were the last of his kind on this Earth.
"I will not." Mae declared, his voice coming out as strong and clear as he had planned, tightening his grip on the girl's thin body, keeping his eyes strong and level with Kadaj's.
Kadaj laughed softly and shook his head. "Ah. I see. I was like you once. Still holding on to human emotion like some melodramatic idiot. You might as well kill her, she's as good as dead. Even if you let her live, she's carrying my baby, I made sure to that. An immortal child always kills the mother in childbirth, and even if you get rid of it she will become immortal, and you wouldn't want to curse her with your disease, would you?"
Mae didn't know what to do, so he took the girl to the coat-rack and put his trenchcoat around her shoulders, keeping her close to him all the while so that Kadaj would never have the chance to touch her.
Before he left, he said quietly, "Even if she must die, I will not let you be the one to do it. I have searched everywhere for more immortals, and now I feel so fucking stupid for wishing it." He took one last glimpse at Riku, who looked a mixture of horrified and stunned, and left the apartment, the shaking, bloody girl clinging to him for dear life, although she knew he could just as easily save her as kill her.
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I don't like the way this chapter ended, but I had to end it sometime. Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will end better. Please read and review! It would be greatly appreciated.
-Mel