Revelations
~o~
Roxas woke, startled. He wasn't at his watch, he was in a bed, feeling cold. He sat up, feeling tired, and trying to remember what happened. His body wasn't working right and felt heavy, it ached. It scared him.
"Nobody's even missed you, you know," a voice drifted over to him in the darkness. Roxas tensed, his heart pounding incredibly fast as everything came back to him. His eyes locked on the beautiful monster, who was watching him from his moonlit perch.
"What do you want," Roxas managed. His tongue felt like lead. Axel turned to him, amusement lighting his eyes.
"You shouldn't move, not yet," he cautioned. Roxas scoffed and defiantly got out of bed, only to fall on his face. He groaned miserably. Axel tsked, watching him for a moment before helping him back into bed. "They aren't going to miss you, so what's your hurry?"
"How would you know that?" Roxas asked tensely. Axel was close, too close. Roxas wanted to run away but he doubted he would, even if he could. Axel's green eyes shimmered in the moonlight.
"I watch you," he said simply, making the blood in Roxas' veins grow cold. The man's eyes lidded. "A lot of us watch you," he told the boy.
"Why haven't you attacked?" Roxas whispered, his throat was incredibly dry, but it was getting easier to speak. Axel's smile became impish.
"Lea, forbids it," he told the blond, making the boy shudder. So then, Lea was still around.
"Roxas," the Vampire purred, in a way that made the blond's breath catch, "Why don't you want me using your real name? Are you special perhaps, hmm?" The boy's mouth worked uselessly for a moment.
"It's nothing," he denied.
"Ah, ah, ah, no lying to me, now," Axel corrected. "I've always told you the truth, after all." Roxas felt his face redden. He held his breath for a long moment.
"Protection," he murmured, finally. Axel hummed softly. Roxas' fists balled up.
"What do you want?" he repeated. The Vampire leant closer and their noses brushed. Roxas' heart pounded out of control.
"I left you weak, I didn't want you to go and die on me because you were vulnerable," he told the blond, "that just isn't in the cards, Roxas."
"I don't believe you, I think you wanted to leave my comrades in a position to be attacked by your friends!" the blond accused. Axel's lips curled upward, his beautiful eyes locking with Roxas'.
"Oh no, they wouldn't dare. However, I should return you soon." Green eyes flashed brightly. "Sleep now, be at ease, we will see one another soon, slayer." Roxas' eyes grew heavy. He couldn't help himself and in a few moments, he was asleep. Axel continued to watch him. "I wonder, now that you know, what will you do," he murmured to the boy. "Don't go disappointing me, now, Roxas."
xXx
Roxas woke in the early morning, the sunlight assaulting his tired eyes and he groaned tiredly, shivering at the bitingly cold weather. He felt a little better but reminded himself that he needed to be on his guard when he saw Axel again. The thought of seeing the red-head again sent a trill of excitement through his lethargic body and he didn't quite know how to feel about it. He lifted his hood, both to keep the cold at bay and to hide his neck.
His sister relieved him of his duties roughly an hour later and he thanked her vaguely. His mind still felt scrambled. Then he climbed down to the street and made his way down a dark alley, opening the back door to a restaurant and climbing upstairs. He needed to speak with his father. He knocked on the fourth door, the last one on the right side of the hall and said, "It's me," when he heard movement. The door opened, revealing his father, the leader of their resistance.
"I wasn't at my post last night," Roxas told his father, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. Anger crossed Cloud's features, any happy form of greeting dying on his tongue.
"And why not! Roxas, do you even know how important you are to our cause? You can't slack off like this! Keeping watch might be boring but it is an important job!" Roxas held his hand up.
"Do you know how many people noticed?" he interrupted, "None!" His father was about to continue scolding him when Roxas spoke again. "Want to know something else? Our positon is compromised. Because I wasn't at my post, I discovered that Vampires are watching us."
"What? Why haven't they attacked?!" Roxas shrugged, not entirely sure himself. He didn't know how trustworthy Axel was.
"We need to be more careful, we need to watch out for one another, if we want to have any hope of being successful. That's why I wanted to tell you." His father looked stricken.
"Were you careful? Did anybody follow you here?" Roxas shook his head tiredly.
"I didn't act suspiciously, if that's what you mean. I didn't see anybody following me, plus its daylight," he replied.
"Okay, good job, thank you for bringing this to my attention. You did well," he told Roxas, pulling him into a hug. Roxas nodded tiredly.
"I think I'm gonna lay down," he said with a yawn, "See you in a few hours." Cloud nodded in approval and Roxas slipped away, fingering the bites on his neck as he left. With a tired sigh, he fell onto his bed and soon, an intense dream.
xXx
He was sneaking out into the night, looking back once more before disappearing into the darkness. He focused and he sensed something, and it was drawing him in. Cautiously, he fingered his weapons, reassuring himself that they were still there, ready for any unexpected encounters.
He slinked in the shadows to avoid detection, as he followed that intense, burning feeling of being drawn toward the familiar. Then he leapt up, up, up, perching on a ledge and peering into a window, watching a sleeping blond that Roxas recognized as himself.
Roxas sat up gasping and snapping the curtains shut. It was dark, how long had he slept? He groaned at his dream, rubbing his palm into his eye. It was like he'd been someone else entirely. His heart was pounding out of control, Axel's bites were throbbing. He didn't feel well. He put his head in his hands, closing his eyes tightly.
Come to me, Roxas…
Blue eyes shot open. He'd heard Axel's voice just then. He stared at his window but when he opened the curtains, no one was there.
He got dressed and left his room. Oddly, everyone was gone. Roxas' stomach growled irritably and so he ate some cereal before deciding to go out and clear his head. He put on a jacket before going out the door, locking it behind him and descending the stairs. He went out the restaurant's front this time, just in case Axel really was waiting for him. He scanned the streets. No one was around, there were no strange presences that he felt he needed to worry about, so he made his way down the street.
The area he lived in and the surrounding areas were populated by humans. It was supposed to be secret but somehow, as Axel had shown him, the Vampires had figured it out. They'd been watching them. That and God knew what else. Roxas shuddered. He didn't want to have to start all over and find somewhere new, where it was safe. Safe havens from the monsters seemed to be getting farther and fewer in between. The last thing they needed were Vampires finding out where they were staying and it seemed that Lea himself was in charge of the group that had found them. Perfect. It puzzled Roxas that Lea was ordering them to hold back though.
With a sigh, he ducked into a building and descended the stairs, rapping on the door thirteen times to indicate his identity as a human. The door opened and Roxas went inside, immediately surrounded by reverberating music and pounding base. Somehow, he didn't think being alone and thinking of Vampires was a good idea. So, he decided to dance.
The club was full of strangers and Roxas liked that. He didn't like being known as Cloud's son by everyone he met. He let time escape him but gasped when hands grasped his hips from behind. It was so familiar, too familiar. Axel's name was on the tip of his tongue but when he looked up, he saw blue eyes. Roxas blinked in confusion when the man danced with him. He had that same red, red hair. A soft smile came to his lips and he leant close.
"Were you expecting someone else?" His voice was alluring, it was drawing Roxas in. The man pulled him closer and purred pleasedly. Roxas swallowed, his heart was racing. The blond gasped suddenly, feeling a burning gaze and his eyes met green ones across the room. "Ooh you were," the man teased, nuzzling his neck. Roxas blushed but before he could say anything, the man was speaking again. "You didn't tell me about this one. I can smell your scent on him. How many times, brother, are you going to taste him before you're done playing?" Roxas was completely embarrassed. There was another Vampire and he'd been dancing with him. Worse, this one had red hair too. Was this Reno or Lea? Did Reno and Lea have more relations than they'd thought? He gasped when he was tugged out of the man's grasp. Axel was smiling wryly.
"You should know by now, that I know what I'm doing, Reno," he cooed. Roxas paled. It really was one of them. Reno. Oh shit.
"Does that mean that Lea is here too?" he mumbled, trying to get his thoughts together. Reno laughed.
"Oh I see, Axel," he grinned. It made Roxas nervous. Reno smiled at his brother before disappearing into the crowd. Roxas floundered, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He turned, looking into a mirror and his face blanked in horror. His reflection was the only one in the room. The red-head didn't fail to notice.
"My scent is on you, that's why they're leaving you alone," he told the blond. "Come with me." Terrified, Roxas did as he said. Axel smirked at him when they went into a small room and were alone. "You couldn't even tell the difference, could you?" he asked. Roxas' face flushed from embarrassment.
"What makes you so special that they'd leave me alone, for you? I've never heard of you before," he told the red-head. Axel's smirk widened.
"Really now? I'm surprised. I thought your information was more up to date than that." Roxas looked away and again he asked,
"What do you want from me?" Axel shrugged.
"Maybe I thought you should see what we're really like. I do know who you really are, Roxas," he told the blond. "You look just like Cloud. I know that you're going to take his place." The blond began to panic.
"How did you find me tonight?" Axel glanced at him amusedly.
"When we made love, you tasted my blood. We have a bond. I can sense you," he told Roxas.
"Is that why I want you so badly?" Green eyes flashed in surprise and Roxas knew that the answer was no. Axel watched him, a newfound interest in his gaze. The red-head smirked. Seducing the boy had been easier than he'd thought it would be. Still, there was no harm in further encouragement. He was going to completely ruin Roxas.
xXx
TBC
