AN: Educational pursuit is looming on the horizon, so I've been busy. This chapter is quite a bit shorter than what I normally post, but it was either this or waiting longer for a chapter three times as long. Chapter 10 is in the works and I ended 9 where it seemed appropriate.
Q&A time:
bookworm4ever81: You caught me!...sorta. The "universe" is a fairytale one, so I can't rightly say that it's Renaissance or Victorian or anything else of that sort really. It's more like, it takes elements from each time period and draws on those together, rather than sticking to one. And really, how do you choose just one?
RukiRomance: I'm really happy you're into the story! I'm working hard to make it as involving and gripping as I possibly can! Stay tuned!
mellow-panda7: That's really awesome that my story helped you out. That really means a lot. Yay!
Twilighttimefan: Of course I'm continuing! I get as much good out of writing it as all of you get from reading it!
To everyone else who read and who reviewed: Thanks a bunch! Your reviews really help me work! You guys are rockin'!
Disclaimer: You know the drill. If you know it, I don't own it!
The king navigated expertly through his castle's halls and once more they came to what Roxas remembered as the audience chamber. The grand doors opened to reveal even more expectant subjects on either side of the throne and dais. Axel continued with his head high down the central aisle and towards the ornate chair at the end. The only thing different this time was the smaller cushioned chair, gilded and delicate, next to the throne.
Roxas almost didn't believe when Axel motioned for him to sit there. The procession behind them joined the rest of the assembly as their king was seated, and the little blonde human wondered what was in store for him as the audience bowed before him and his vampire master as one.
Roxas had grown somewhat accustomed to Axel—to the arrogant, haughty, smirking, lusting….vampire. This new side of him—this side with servants and subjects and royalty—he had but glimpsed, and forgotten quickly. So it was quite strange for the boy to sit next to him now, in the presence of the vampire as a monarch; the authority over all of the primped and powdered people in the audience chamber.
But Axel was, after all, a king, and over a vast kingdom he presided. As such, it was only natural and obvious that he would have royal responsibilities to his subjects—and not all of them bore fangs.
One by one, problems were brought before the king of vampires to be addressed. The petitioner would come towards the dais, stop at a respectful position, and prostrate himself before the crown. Only then would he or she present their issue.
Some were minor, disputes between parties over lands and boundaries, complaints against one law or another, even appeals over taxes. Roxas would have found it absurd, vampires dealing with what were one common issues in his human world, were it all not so earnest. And Axel listened to each one carefully, considered, and gave a verdict. The petitioner would bow in gratitude, thank his Majesty, and was free to leave. Small matters we're cleared up in minutes.
Other petitioners came with more difficult queries. Two nobles came bickering over a human companion belonging to one but changed vampire by the other in an illicit affair; did the girl belong to her Sire or the vampire who had kept her as a human consort? Much discussion was held in the court, and eventually Axel ruled to send the newly transformed girl to her Sire, who would compensate the vampire he took her from. Both the girl and her Sire would be punished for their affair, the girl in particular because she had disgraced her vampire consort's blood.
Roxas cringed as he watched the small, sandy haired girl have her fangs removed by the lanky vampire with long, blonde hair from Axel's council. He nearly cried with her as the blonde enchanted the wounds for the teeth to not grow back until the next full moon.
More subjects came to present cases ranging from theft and fraud, to violence within vampire families and even one murder. Often, humans were involved, and once a faerie, which fascinated Roxas despite the grim circumstances of her mention.
Hours passed in this way and Roxas stopped paying attention mostly. Once the novelty wore off, the court affairs seemed quite boring. And then one petitioner came before the dais to see not the king, but Roxas.
Sora stood forlornly before the vampire king and his human. With a deep bow, he asked to address Roxas.
"Majesty, may I petition the Young Lord Roxas?"
The boy was nothing if not sincere, his eyes on the floor and his posture submissive. Axel's interest was peaked, and with a wry smile beginning to form, he gestured affirmatively towards the blonde boy beside him.
"Lord Roxas," the brunette began timidly, "please forgive me my disgraceful actions yesterday...you gave me your trust and...I-I betrayed it in the forest..."
Axel was intrigued. For all that the child's words were rehearsed, he could not doubt the honesty of them. They rang throughout the otherwise silent court, and the king wondered where it would all lead.
"...if it had not been for his Majesty..." Sora appeared not to know how to continue, both for fear of saying too much and for the emotions that constricted his throat. Instead, he turned to Axel and said,
"Majesty! Thank you for your mercy!"
And to Roxas,
"Please say you forgive me! Roxas!"
With that, the boy rushed to his bandaged friend and latched onto his hand, kissing the little knuckles with abandon, not caring that his action breeched court etiquette.
Roxas, on his part, was so stunned that he remained rigid and silent for a moment while his mind caught up. Moved greatly by the normally cheerful boy's gesture, he responded in kind, straining forward against his bandages to plant a kiss among his friend's brunette spikes.
It was the acceptable response.
With his former vigor returned to him in the face of redemption, the brunette child scampered off the dais after bestowing a kiss to Roxas' cheek, and one to the king's knuckles. And with that, the red haired vampire stood, signaling the end of his receptions for the night. There could be no better note to end it on.
x.X.x
Roxas didn't know what to expect next. The vampires in the grand audience chamber bowed deeply to their king as the end of the session was made known. He was apprehensive towards this shift in activity.
On the other hand, the ordeal had become quite boring until the very end. How often did Axel have these audiences? Would Roxas be expected to sit in on each one as he had? It seemed like a bit of a waste to him.
And what now? The sheer number of vampires in the vicinity made him quite nervous. He looked upon them, their hair and faces groomed impeccably, sparking with jewels around their necks and on their wrists and sewn into the fabrics of their beautiful garments. Yes, they were beautiful in their unearthly splendor, but Roxas had seen the other night what they were capable of when threatened. Specifically, what the vampire Axel was capable of. Did they all carry invisible claws and move with inhuman speed like he? Were their elegant lips concealing jaws filled with innumerable fangs?
Roxas shuddered at the thought and shook himself. Better not to think of it; whether or not the resplendent ladies with their stately gentlemen were hiding more monstrous aesthetics beneath their frocks, he decided he didn't want to know.
Following the king's example, the blonde boy stood, too. Feigning nonchalance, though he was dubious, the boy made the mistake of reaching up and stretching muscles that had become stiff after hours of sitting.
An abrupt tearing sound and the stab of pain reminded him that he was still injured, and that he had reopened the wound.
All across the room, heads snapped up, ears perked, and nostrils flared like the muzzles of a thousand wild horses. But no one moved save for the king himself.
With a grand flourish, the red haired vampire removed his outer robe and draped it over the human's shoulders, covering the place where blood began soaking through his fine clothes.
Axel lifted carried him from the room to an ambience that only resounding silence could produce.
x.X.x
"You were very good this evening, Roxas. So very good."
Roxas blinked in response. As foreign as the feeling was, the blonde found himself liking the praise on his ears quite a bit.
Axel was proud of the petite human. He sat through the lengthy evening hearings with poise and patience. His actions with Sora were deserving of particular merit; Roxas' instincts—for no one had taught him how to act in a situation such as the one that had occurred—were brilliant. Sora's timing was lucky as well, illuminating the vampire sovereign in a favorable light, bringing to attention the willing respect the brunette boy had put forth…and reminding all present the consequences of harming the king's human, and the measures Axel was willing to take to protect him and punish the offenders.
Everyone present knew about the incident. Roxas' sweet blood was easy to smell at a pinprick; Axel could only imagine the commotion the alarming quantity must have caused. Some obviously saw the king return with the human unconscious in his arms. Rumors traveled fast and no one expected Vexen to stay quiet, either. The cantankerous old vampire had done his king a good service, it seemed.
Yes, Axel had been very pleased with how the evening had played out. Even the incident at the end, Roxas' moment of indiscretion, had been mild; the incident had been taken care of before it started simply by removing temptation.
After escaping the hungry stares of the vampire court, Axel had brought Roxas back to his cavernous bed chamber at supernatural speed. The servants seeing to the linens and various other tasks were ordered away promptly and the boy was deposited in the center of the bed. Minutes later Axel was stripping off his ruined green doublet and formerly snow white shirt to get at the source of blood.
Roxas was surprised when the deft fingers, gentle though they were, did not cause the pain the boy expected. Not as the wound was cleand, not as it was stitched anew. In fact, besides the initial sharp stab when he had stretched his arms—pulling the skin at the stitches into snapping-there had been little pain; he really had forgotten for the most part that he was wounded, and nearly died of those wounds not one full day ago.
Axel didn't need to pry into the little mortal's mind to know who at he was furrowing his flaxen brow over. He knew the boy would wonder eventually.
"My blood," he said.
Roxas looked up at the pale face with confusion.
Axel began replacing the bandages. "You drank blood from me," the vampire continued. "My blood has made you stronger, makes you heal faster. Dulls pain."
Though the vampire was smiling, it didn't quite reach his eyes. Something was strange in the way he had said it; he hadn't gloated. His eyes were misty and distant, and his tone was despondent. Sad.
But as it came, it went away-seamlessly-and Axel's eyes were glittering again.
He reached for Roxas, tying off the gauzy fabric. Lust sparkled in the emerald eyes. Roxas quickly forgot the strange behavior of his vampire and began to feel the tingling pricks of desire.
Gentle caresses on his arms and chest and belly soon had the blonde twitching impatiently, so much that even the vampire was surprised. Sweat began to form on the boy's soft, peach skin like dew drops. His milky throat flushed and the sweet pink nipples hardened into candy peaks.
Blue, blue lidded eyes met smoldering emerald, narrowed in excitement and desire and sheer pleasure at the undoing their sensuous owner was causing his mortal.
The blonde boy's breaths came short and shallow, requiring effort and memory to happen. One never knew what to expect with this great white vampire, but instinct and a little experience suggested to the youth that it would likely be…pleasant.
Axel reached for the waistband of the youth's bloodied leggings and...
"You need clothes...of your own, Roxy. Let's visit the tailor tonight. In town. You've earned a trip outside, yes?"
AN2: Gotcha! Ne? Ne?! Chapter 10 on the way!