Tainted But Beautiful
Part 1: The Hunters
2. Meeting
Pairings: AkuZeku, Zemyx, AkuRoku, AxDem
Rated: M
Warnings: Vampires, vampires, vampires...uh, yaoi, AU-ish-ness, abuse (if it has AkuZeku, it has abuse in it, okay?), noncon, graphic scenes, overall weirdness.
Summary: Axel is a powerful vampire slayer who's captured Zexion, a vampire, as his pet. What Axel doesn't bargain on is Demyx, his former student, developing a strong attraction to Zexion...
Notes: Yay, the second chapter is up relatively quickly, because I wrote the bulk of this quite some time ago. I've finished the third chapter but haven't started on the fourth, so expect a slower update here.
This chapter is looong. I hope I don't turn anyone off by the length...O_o It's just because it contains a lot of...stuff. Like, character interactions. Plenty of pairing goodness (the most I've ever written, I feel) ...and heeey, Zexy gets his big introduction! So we'll see how it goes.
The first thing Demyx saw was Axel, but that was because Axel had entered the room first. He stepped inside, entirely oblivious to the stricken hush that had fallen over his guests, or perhaps realizing it and reveling in it, one hand in his pants pocket, almost sauntering as he entered with a spring in his step. He was exactly as Demyx remembered him--tall, spiky red hair, green eyes shining with a hint of sardonic amusement, and that smirk, that ever-present, wide, superior smirk that he had often, so many times, cast upon Demyx.
But most of the guests weren't interested in Axel--not at all. They, after all, probably got to see him on a weekly basis. No, all of them were craning their necks for a glimpse of what was behind Demyx--the pureblood vampire he had captured and mastered. Demyx found it not hard to follow suit.
After Axel had fully entered, he turned around and swept his arm in an overly dramatic "after you" gesture (that was how Axel had always been--so needlessly dramatic). Demyx, however, wasn't fool enough not to see the gleaming silver cuff Axel had around his wrist, and from that cuff a silver chain that led to a matching cuff, around the thin pale wrist of--
--Axel's new acquisition. Demyx stared, wide-eyed, realizing that this was his first time truly seeing a pureblood vampire--and he was surprised. He had expected, well, something a little more Dracula-ish, with slicked-back black hair and red eyes and a mad cackle, clad in a long billowing black cape, but no, the only obviously vampiric things about the young man who had followed Axel were his pale-as-death skin and clawed fingers, and the hint of fangs protuding from his tightly shut mouth. He was shorter than Demyx and startingly thin, and sported an impressive shock of slate-colored hair that covered one eye. He kept his head down and his gaze fixed firmly on the floor, making it hard to see his face. Nor was there any sign of a billowing black cape--instead he was clad rather plainly, in a black turtleneck and matching slacks.
But above all...he was beautiful. It was strange that he was thinking this of a vampire, but Demyx couldn't help it--something about the vampire's pale, drawn features and the quietly dignified way he carried himself radiated a beauty that went beyond the physical, that seemed to be embedded in his very being. Well,Demyx had expected him to be alluring, given that he was a pureblood vampire. But he'd imagined "attractive" as in, well, "Dracula" attractive, the kind of foreign Russian-accented man who made women swoon in droves, or something that...sparkled. He hadn't been expecting this beautiful but also astoundingly young-looking boy.
Both Axel and his vampire pet walked into the room, through the crowd which parted like the Red Sea before them. The guests could only stare and gawk silently, but Axel didn't seem to care about all the attention. He strode on cheerfully, smirking to himself at some private joke, while the vampire followed with his eyes on the floor, several paces behind Axel. Axel stopped, suddenly, seemingly annoyed at his vampire's slowness, and gave a jerk of his cuffed wrist that caused the vampire to stumble ahead somewhat and almost fall.
"Hey, hurry it up, you," said Axel, his voice unnaturally loud in the silence. The vampire lowered his head even more, but quickened the pace of his steps nonetheless. Axel's smirked widened exponentially.
Gradually, the hush that had fallen over the party-goers dissipated, and they descended into whispered flurries of conversations, that, as whispered conversations always went, rose in volume until they filled the room in a loud continuous hum, just like things had been before Axel had entered. This time, however, everyone was discussing only one thing--Axel's new pet. Many, too, had crowded around Axel and his pet, bursting with questions and many trying to get as close as possible, although Axel always made the guests keep a distance.
"Don't want to bother him, you know. All these loud noises," he said with a wide, disarming smile.
And the lights, too, thought Demyx, wondering exactly how Axel's new pet was tolerating the brightly lit room. He didn't seem to be taking it very well, with his head lowered and movements jerky and uncertain. Axel, however, appeared entirely ignorant to his vampire's discomfort--and Demyx realized that the brightness and noise of the room might have been a security measure, to keep the vampire under control. That's Axel for you, he thought. He's one clever son of a bitch.
"Wow, he looks a lot more human than I thought he would," Larxene was saying beside Demyx, engaged in an animated conversation with Marluxia. "I was expecting something, you know, a bit more like Dracula, or--"
"Now, now," said Marluxia with a smile. "Can you imagine even Axel topping Dracula or Edward Cullen?"
Larxene paused to ponder this point for a point. "Yeah, you're right," she said with a careless shrug.
Demyx couldn't care less about Marluxia and Larxene's inane discussions, however. He slowly moved away from them, unconscious of all of the fluttering party goers in their dresses and rich scents, to push through the crowd straight toward Axel and his vampire. A few people unleashed loud objections as Demyx rudely pushed past them, but he couldn't care less.
Axel had by this point noticed Demyx, and he broke out of conversation with a scarred man with an eyepatch, to turn and cast a gaze directly in Demyx's direction. Demyx's stopped dead in his tracks at this sudden acknowledgment from Axel, startled by the intensity of Axel's green-eyed stare, but more than that, startled at the familiarity of it all. It had been so long--years--since he'd last seen Axel, but almost nothing had changed. Axel's smirk was still as confidently assured as Demyx remembered, and the near-maniacal amusemet shining in his eyes was almost painfully familiar to Demyx. He stood still, and waited silently for Axel to approach him.
"So I see you took up on my invitation, Dems," said Axel, still smirking as he came to a stop in front of Demyx. "That's very kind of you."
"Yeah, well, after being snubbed for what, three years--" began Demyx.
"A-hem, make that two. Two and a half," said Axel with a casual wave of his hand. "Glad to see you again, though."
"Same here," said Demyx. "You...you've really gotten quite accomplished, haven't you?" He cast a glance behind Axel, at the beautiful slate-haired vampire who was still staring intently at the floor. Axel laughed.
"Oh, yeah, that..." he said with a shake of his head. "He was hell to get, all right, but it was worth it in the end. It was all worth it. Wasn't it, my pretty pet?" With that, he gave a sharp jerk on the cuff. Axel's pet jerked in response, and looked up, ever-so-slightly, but enough for Demyx to see that his eyes (well, at least his one visible eye) were a deep shade of blue. Demyx's gaze then traveled to the silver cuff around the vampire's thin wrist. The wrist beneath the cuff appeared an unsettling burned red shade, in stark contrast to the vampire's stark deathly paleness.
"Silver, right?" said Demyx. Axel's eyes followed Demyx's, and then he threw his head back and laughed.
"You don't miss a thing, pupil," he said with a grin.
"Hey, I stopped being your pupil, what, two and a half years ago," said Demyx, somewhat annoyed. There's that condescension again...
"Of course," said Axel, although his grin stayed as superiorly condescending as always. "How time flies. Sometimes, it's hard to forget...anyway. You'reright. It is silver." He gave a jerk at the cuff again, causing a little gasp from the vampire. It was the first time Demyx had heard the vampire so much as make a single noise. "Hurts, doesn't it? But be glad I'm being this lenient with you. You know I could do worse...much worse."
Something about the low, almost insidious tone Axel was taking with the vampire bothered Demyx greatly...although many things about Axel happened to bother Demyx greatly. Demyx really didn't want to linger long on the "much worse" things that Axel could do to the vampire...had probably done to the vampire. Again, he remembered the way to master a pureblood, and gave a slight shudder.
"How'd you get him, Axel?" he found himself asking. He was aware that a little crowd had surrounded the two of them, intrigued now--Demyx doubted that many of the guests had even noticed him before. "I mean, I've known for a while that you'd gotten a pureblood, but how'd you do it?"
"Ahh," said Axel, scratching his head. "The inevitable question."
"Quit playing games," said Demyx, somewhat annoyed. A nasty part of him--that dark sullen part of him--wondered just why he wanted to know in the first place, since he'd never get good enough to subdue a pureblood anyway. Like he did every time, Demyx forced this part of him to shut up and go hide and fester in the darkest most unexplored corners of his mind.
"Don't you have any patience, Dems?" said Axel, though he didn't sound irritated, just amused. He tugged on the vampire's chain again, causing the vampire to stumble slightly, though he caught himself before he fell. "Hey, how about this. You tell him, why don't you. Go on ahead. Don't be so shy, especially since you usually spend your every waking moment cursing at me. What's with this sudden silence, huh, boy?"
The vampire did nothing in acknowledgment to this. Demyx suddenly felt very uncomfortable--he could feel the eyes of all the guests on him, Axel, and the vampire now, could practically hear their ears prickle in anticipation. Most, Demyx realized, probably also wanted to know the raw details of how Axel had acquired his vampire.
"Don't want to talk?" said Axel, frowning a little. He snaked out a hand to catch the vampire by the chin and force his face up so that he and Axel were eye to eye. Demyx noticed, with a strange unpleasant feeling, that Axel had a quantity of shining silver rings on his hand. It didn't take a genius to guess what those rings were for.
"Don't want to talk?" said Axel again. "Well, you little monster? I went through all that trouble to capture you--I could've just killed you, you know, woulda been easier for me--and you repay me by not obeying? Oh, well..." He removed his hand from the vampire's chin, and the vampire immediately looked back down again. Axel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before turning back to Demyx with a helpless shrug.
"It's okay," said Demyx, wondering just what the vampire would have said in the first place, anyway. "I just wanna know."
"Well, there's no much to say," said Axel with another shrug. "It wasn't too hard, actually. Little bitch himself made it easy. Do you know, he sought me out! Just crept into my window one night, crawled into my bed, and tried to seduce me. Ha! As if that would ever work out. I made short work of him, as you can see." With that, he threw his head back and let out a laugh, several short, sharp, and harsh-sounding barks. Demyx shuddered again--something about that laugh implied that it really hadn't been as easy as Axel had said...
"He tried to sleep with you?" said Demyx, catching on to the first part of the story.
"Incubus," said Axel simply, rolling his eyes at the ceiling. "Even you should remember, Dems."
"Yeah, I do," said Demyx impatiently. There was Axel again, leaking condescension in a thick puddle everywhere he went. Of course Demyx would remember his school lessons--hadn't he giggled uncontrollably throughout the entire lesson on incubi and succubi (he supposed it was partly Axel's fault, trying to teach Demyx at eleven what the "nightmare demon" vampires were like)?
"Ha ha ha," was all Axel said in response, and he ran a hand through his vampire's silken hair. The vampire turned away from Axel and lowered his gaze even more, if possible.
The other guests had started talking now that Demyx had fallen silent, and Axel had his attention diverted by them for a moment. He entertained them easily, with the experience of having done this too many times to count. And he had, since it seemed, to Demyx at the very least, that Axel tended to hold a party every other week.
"Why'd ya bother capturing it 'stead of killing it?" said the eyepatch man, glancing at the vampire who had become immersed with the carpeting again. "Seems like an awful pain, doesn't it, dude?"
"What? Wouldn't you?" said Axel with a disarming smile. "Admit it, Xig. He's quite the specimen, isn't he?" He pushed the vampire forward (the vampire actually let out a surprised little gasp) into the man's face, whom Demyx recognized now as Xigbar, a former slayer turned weapons manufacturer after a nasty run-in with several Egyptian vampires. Xigbar had occasionally come to visit Axel and Demyx during their school days, though he'd always paid much more attention to Axel than Demyx, for obvious reasons.
"Well, I guess," said Xigbar with a shrug, "but he ain't my type, you know?"
After that, Axel and Xigbar fell into a long and animated conversation about the kind of girls they liked, with Axel heavily implying he didn't like girls at all and Xigbar implying that he lived for the swimsuit issues of Sports Illustrated. Demyx, bored, drifted away, with half a mind to find more fruit punch. He could have sworn that he'd seen a punch bowl somewhere amidst the carousing party-goers...
As the novelty of Axel's new acquisition faded, the guests began to drift away from Axel and his vampire and dispersed across the room in conversing groups that became progressively less and less sober as the party wore on. Demyx himself hadn't drank anything since the party had started, mostly because he was underage and also because he abhorred alcohol. It was something that came with the trade--vampire slayers needed all their wits about them. Although that didn't explain why half of the drunk party-goers seemed to be vampire slayers...
The atmosphere in the room was beginning to become stuffy and overbearing to Demyx. He decided, however, that the final straw was Larxene bounding up to him and demanding a dance with all too much eagerness and obviously too much alcohol. Over her whined protests he rebuffed her, and headed aimlessly out the door, through the empty hall, down the stairs, and outside in the villa's expansive courtyard.
The night was refreshingly cool after the stuffy heat of the house, made even more refreshing after Demyx unwound his bow tie and undid the top few buttons of his shirt. He looked up to the sky, a midnight blue sky sprinkled with shining white stars. There was no moon out, casting the courtyard in harsh contrasts between the dark shadows of the moonless night and the pools of golden light from the lamps placed strategically around the yard. Demyx looked around--the courtyard was wide and the floor was paved elegantly in flagstone. Elegant vines snaked up stone statues of naked women and fat cherubim. Aside from the distant sounds of revelry from the house, the only sound was the gentle tinkling of the many fountains in the courtyard.
For a moment, Demyx thought that he was alone, the only person out to enjoy the cool darkness of the night. However, his attention was diverted by a figure sitting on a bench in front of a rectangular, perfectly still pool. The figure was in shadow, but Demyx could make out enough to see that it was rather thin and small, with a shock of hair covering one side of the face...
Slowly, barely breathing, Demyx approached the figure on the bench. He was within a few feet of the bench when the person suddenly turned around, dispelling all doubt--it was Axel's vampire. And Axel was nowhere in sight.
"Uh...hello," said Demyx, after his mind began working again. All he could do was stare, feeling somewhat ashamed for some reason, but also feeling a faint terror churning in the pit of his stomach. Just what the hell was Axel's vampire doing all on his lonesome, sitting in the middle of the courtyard without any supervision? There was something more than a little bothersome in this situation, even if the vampire hadn't done anything suspicious yet. In fact, he was just sitting there watching Demyx with a faintly bored look on his pale face.
Don't be stupid, Demyx, you can definitely control this situation, Demyx told himself angrily. You're a goddamn vampire slayer, have you forgotten what that means? Still, that didn't dispel the fact that this was a pureblood vampire and Demyx had never faced anything like one before. Besides, Demyx didn't have any of his weapons on him, and he knew that in spite of the vampire's frail appearance that he probably wouldn't be able to best the vampire in a physical fight.
"Hello," said the vampire. Demyx took a step back, surprised--it was the first time he'd ever heard Axel's vamprie speak. Although Demyx had long dispelled his "Dracula" (and "Cullen") expectations, he was still caught off guard by this vampire's voice. There was no hint of a Transylvanian accent and, even more surprising, absolutely no insidiousness to the vampire's voice either. It was a soft voice, a quiet voice that matched exactly what the vampire appeared to be--an introverted teenage boy.
"Uh...yeah...uh...why're you out here?" said Demyx awkwardly, slipping his hands into his pockets. He felt more than a little strange--a vampire slayer, having a friendly conversation with a vampire? It went against everything that Demyx had been taught (by that bastard Axel, too...) You didn't casually converse with vampires. You killed them.
Although Demyx suspected that Axel would be none-too-happy if he killed Axel's precious little "pet".
The vampire regarded Demyx for a long, long time with his exposed dark eye. His expression was unreadable but (or maybe it was just Demyx's overactive imagination) he seemed almost bored. Demyx suddenly felt like he'd interrupted something, something he should not have been intruding on--but what? All Axel's vampire had been doing was sitting outside on a bench staring into the dark flat pool.
"What do you think?" said the vampire with a faint sneer to his voice. "It was getting too bright for me in that house. So he allowed me to leave."
"And he didn't leave?" said Demyx, finding it not hard to refer to Axel as a heavily emphasized he, like the vampire was doing. Demyx had done that often enough in his head to have become used to it.
"Why should he?" said the vampire, turning back around. Demyx foolishly noticed that the vampire had crossed his legs, like a woman. "He is having far too much fun entertaining all his silly 'friends'. At the very least he is not exhibiting me around like a mere...a mere pet." He spat in distate at the ground with the last word.
"Yeah, but...wouldn't you, you know, try escaping?" said Demyx. The vampire turned to give Demyx another unreadable look.
"Do not be foolish. He is not an idiot. He has taken, ah...appropriate precautions." With those words, the vampire lifted his thin wrist to indicate the silver cuff still locked around his wrist, chain danging limply from it. "I cannot run."
"Uh...okay," said Demyx, although he didn't see the use of the cuff if it wasn't bound to anything else. But it was probably warded in other ways, ways that prevented the vampire's escape...
Demyx stood there for some time, hands in his pockets, shuffling anxiously from side to side and never breaking his gaze from the vampire. The vampire appeared entirely disinterested in Demyx's presence, and continued to gaze into the dark still waters of the pool. They remained like this for some time, neither talking, until the vampire broke the silence.
"What are you doing?" he said, turning around ever-so-slightly. "Go back inside."
"No thanks," replied Demyx, and before he knew what he was doing he took a step, and another, and another...until he was right next to the stone bench. The vampire stared at him with a surprised look that mirrored the surprise raging inside Demyx. Just what was he doing, approaching a vampire like this? He should follow the vampire's suggestion, but no...sure the vampire had that probably-warded cuff, but all the same, it never hurt to be too cautious.
And besides, there was something...something else, about the vampire's intent dark-blue-eyed stare, something beyond the bored irritation currently flashing in those eyes...a sort of depth that intrigued Demyx. There was a story in that eye, and (Demyx cast a glance at the red burn ring around the vampire's wrist) not a happy story either. The nasty dark sullen part of Demyx wondered why he was feeling sorry for a vampire, but like always Demyx told this part of him to shut the hell up, he could do as he damn well pleased, and with that settled he took a seat beside the very surprised slate-haired vampire.
"I hope you don't mind," said Demyx, casting the vampire his best cheerful grin. "Just thought I'd make sure you wouldn't run away."
"You are a fool," was the vampire's one response, and he turned away brusquely. Demyx sighed.
He was sitting on the far opposite side of the vampire, as he didn't want to get too close. This was a pureblood vampire after all, and despite Axel having said it was low-ranking Demyx still didn't want to take any chances...and he still doubted his ability to fight it. Sitting far from it would enable him to get up quicker and escape it, and sound the alarm to the other party-goers, who would surely be more skilled slayers than he...
You're being a coward, you idiot, Demyx told himself angrily. Besides, it didn't appear that the vampire was going to be doing anything. He was still sitting with his legs crossed and his head bowed, examining his clawed fingers with an almost polite disinterest. Demyx heaved a heavy sigh--it appeared Axel's vampire wasn't one for conversation. Although why he'd try to hold a conversation with a vampire in the first place was beyond him.
"Who are you again?" said the vampire, breaking the silence again. He turned to cast Demyx another glance, this one a little more interested than his previous one. Demyx was suddenly foolishly aware of how much taller and well-built he was than the thin and pale vampire, although that probably wouldn't make much of a difference in a fight. "You are a slayer, correct? But not a strong one."
Demyx ignored the slight. "Yeah, I'm a slayer," he said.
"Aren't you his student?" continued the vampire, still watching him with what was almost interest. "Your name is, I forget, Daniel or something along those lines."
"Demyx," said Demyx, feeling slightly stung at the vampire's mangling of his name, although he shouldn't be too upset. For some reason or the other whenever people mangled his name, they invariably chose to mangle it as "Daniel". Why, Demyx hadn't a clue. "My name is Demyx."
"Ahh. I figured it was something silly like that," said the vampire with a shrug of his thin shoulder. He turned away from Demyx again, and looked back down into the pool. Demyx looked into the pool as well, seeing his reflection--but not the vampire's. He wasn't surprised, although it was rather disquieting.
"What's your name?" said Demyx, and right after he asked it, he regretted it. Who cares? that sullen voice said, and for once Demyx agreed with it. Damn it, it was just a vampire. He didn't need to know its name. They were all just bloodthirsty monsters out to kill all humans and drink their blood. They had no names and if they did, the names didn't mean a thing. They were monsters.
The vampire seemed to be of the same opinion. He jerked, looking almost startled, but quickly composed himself, his expression returning back to perfect flat neutrality. "Why do you need to know? There is no need for a killer to know the names of his victims, is there?"
"I'm not a killer," said Demyx, feeling annoyed. Killers killed people, like Jack the Ripper and Hannibal Lecter and so on. He slew vampires. There was a difference, a major one. "And I just wanted to know...that's all."
"It is not important, anyway," said the vampire, gazing down at his non-reflection in the pool. "You may address me as 'pet' or 'monster' as he does, if you address me at all."
Demyx winced. Somehow, it felt wrong. The thing talked, for Heaven's sake. It talked and obviously had conscious thoughts (probably more thoughts than Demyx did!). To call it a "pet" or "monster" just seemed wrong on an innate level...despite the fact that the thing was a monster. And it was Axel's pet. Still...Demyx had too much experience with vampires as brutal, bloodthirsty pasty-faced beasts, as the lower echelons inevitably were. But this vampire appeared little more than a skinny pale youth who happened to have fangs and claws. And an aversion to silver and sunlight, and no reflection...
But it still seemed more human than vampire. It was nothing like a lower-level vampire and it was even less like Demyx's preconceived image of the stereotypical pureblood vampire.. He couldn't call the thing--the boy--"pet" or "monster"; that would be too demeaning. Regardless of what it really was.
"But I want to know," he said lamely.
"You are quite stupid," sighed the vampire with a shake of his slate-blue head. "Very well, then. If you are so desperate to address me, then you may address me as 'Zexion'."
"'Zexion'." Demyx tried the name out--it wasn't a bad name at all, actually. It certainly wasn't his idea of a pureblood vampire's name but what did he know about vampire names besides "Dracula" and "Lestat" and "Edward"? Something about the way "Zexion" had said the name piqued Demyx's interest, though, and Demyx had to ask. "'Zexion'...is that your real name?"
"No." Zexion's answer was brief and matter of fact. "But it is good enough for you."
Demyx shrugged, sensing he wasn't going to get any more answers out of Zexion. He searched for something else to say--the silence felt strange, unnatural--and finally decided on, "Do you like it here?"
The instant he said it he regretted it. Of course Zexion didn't like it here. He was being imprisoned and tortured with silver and light. The answer to Demyx's idiotic query was so blindingly obvious that it made Demyx feel nauseous to think that he had asked that stupid question.
Zexion thought the question was stupid too, for he turned brusquely away and said, "What do you think, you idiot?"
"N-no...uh, I'm sorry," said Demyx, feeling genuinely abashed "I really, truly am, I'm sorry."
Zexion's only response was a brief and cruel laugh. Demyx jerked in surprise, since he hadn't heard anything close to amusement from Zexion until now. Zexion's laugh died away as quickly as it had came, however, and he turned to Demyx with a little smirk that made his fangs all too much visible. For the first time Demyx realized, with a shudder, exactly what he was dealing with...
"You do not have to waste your apologies on me," said Zexion. "How a fool like you became a slayer...they must have lowered their standards quite a bit."
Demyx decided to live and let live and ignore Zexion's very blatant insult. He instead settled for sitting stolidly on the bench, watching his reflection and then, when he became bored at his narcissism, looking up and watching Zexion. Zexion didn't seem to mind or notice, as he was now staring off into space rather than at his non-reflection, legs crossed, hands folded demurely in his lap.
He's really quite pretty, thought Demyx inanely, just as he had earlier that night. But it was true. Zexion, for all his unhealthy thinness and deathly pallor, was quite a good-looking young man. Not in a Dracula seductive way, either, but in a way that Demyx could only describe as "beautiful", like a girl. A beauty that was almost innocence, although Demyx knew that Zexion couldn't be as innocent as he looked, since he had been "mastered" by Axel...and made his living seducing girls (or men? Maybe he was an incubus who went after those of the male persuasion) and planting nightmares in their heads.
And then, unknowing, too caught up in his observations of Zexion to notice, Demyx committed an immensely foolish action that, later in life when he was old and in Depends, he would still curse himself for when he thought back on it.
"You...you know, Zexion, you're really, really pretty."
It took Demyx a fraction of a second to realize, mortified, just who had uttered those words in that all-too-familiar loud voice. He felt the same horrific mixture of sensations he had felt back when Larxene had asked him about his (lack of) pureblood kills--the wrenching cold twisting his stomach, the blazing heat flushing his face--only magnified at least ten time. He couldn't t breathe--the combating sensations of cold and heat were constricting his throat and making it impossible for him to draw air. All he could do was sit while his insides squirmed and clenched and froze and blood rushed to his face. It was bad enough having said something like that to a person he'd known for less than two hours. It was even worse saying that to a vampire--an incubus--he'd known for less than two hours.
At this point Demyx's only real coherent thought was: Okay, God, Vishnu, Flying Spaghetti Monster, whatever's out there, please smite me down now.
Zexion, conversely, didn't seem to have reacted much at all. Oh, he had turned, all right, when Demyx had spoken those horrid words, whipped around so violently that Demyx thought he could hear Zexion's neck crack, but now he was just regarding Demyx with an expression of vague interest through a half-closed blue eye. It was all very disconcerting to Demyx and it just made Demyx feel worse. He squirmed under Zexion's scrutiny.
And then, slowly, a smile--a thin, triumphant, insidious smile--cut its way across Zexion's face, revealing his fangs, and an all too familiar sadistically amused light came to his eyes...a light that Demyx was far too used to seeing in Axel's eyes. Seeing such a familiar expression on a total stranger's face disconcerted Demyx more than anything else that had happened that night. Disconcerted him so much, in fact, that he didn't notice that Zexion had moved closer, until he felt Zexion's breath tickle his neck.
"Hey! Whoa!" choked out Demyx when he saw that Zexion was kneeling on the bench, his face only inches from Demyx's neck...where the vein leaped and twitched in double time. "H-hey!"
"So..." said Zexion, his voice low and controlled, but ringing with a sort of wild delight as well. It was such a discrepency from his usual flat, brisk, business-like tone that for a moment Demyx wasn't even sure that it was Zexion speaking, but it had to be, his mouth was moving and the words were definitely coming from him. "So...you think I'm pretty, hmmm?"
"Ah--um--get away--get away--!" squeaked Demyx, ashamed at how high his voice sounded now that it was twisted from terror. His heart thudded against his ribcage causing the vein on his neck to leap even more--the vein that was now mere inches away from Zexion's fangs. "Get away, you--!"
"Answer my question, Demyx," whispered Zexion, his tone seductive. Demyx let out another squeak when Zexion's hand rose to cup Demyx's cheek, not with force, but with a deliberate gentleness that was even worse. He pressed a claw, with that same gentleness, into the skin, and Demyx almost leaped off the bench. He was aware that Zexion was practically in his lap now, aware that all Zexion had to do was lower his head and he'd be able to suck all of Demyx's life out of him.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT, thought Demyx furiously. A vampire slayer did not get into this situation. Compromised, weapons-less, about to get eaten by a vampire. No self-respecting slayer did...but since when had Demyx ever been a self-respecting vampire slayer? He was a loser, a pathetic idiot, and nothing said it better than this current situation--the current situation that was all his fault.
"I asked you a question, Demyx," whispered Zexion, and to Demyx's surprise his mouth had moved up, to carress Demyx's ear with a rough but sensual motion. Demyx winced when he felt Zexion's fangs scrape against the earlobe and when Zexion sank his claws even further into the skin of Demyx's cheek. "You think I am pretty, do you not? You think I am attractive."
"Ahh--well, maybe--" gasped Demyx, trying to pull away, but that was impossible when Zexion was sitting on Demyx's lap. "Look--get off me--pretty please--"
So that was the true measure of his patheticness. Never before had Demyx thought that there would ever be a day in his career where he would have to say "pretty please" to a vampire.
"Ahh...you are a fool," sighed Zexion. "But at the very least you are an honest fool. How would you like to be my servant, fool?"
"What?" Demyx's voice came high and thin and strained from terror. He knew what Zexion was talking about--what Zexion was suggesting. So the vampire wasn't trying to drink him, but even worse--turn him into a vampire. And he wouldn't even have the privilege of becoming a self-aware pureblood like Zexion. No, Demyx would end up being nothing more than a menial low-ranked monster, a made vampire, existing only to do the bidding of some higher pureblood lord--in this case, Zexion.
"No--no--no--I think you've got the wrong idea buddy--" Strike two. Not a good idea to call a vampire who's sitting on your lap about to make you his servant "buddy".
"Why not? I promise you, fool, that if I make you my servant, you will be able to have as much of me as you damn well please. How does that sound to you, hmm?" He leaned forward, moved his mouth upward, nipping roughly at the tip of Demyx's ear. Demyx, to his shame, whimpered at this gesture, prompting a low chuckle from Zexion. "You know you will like it, Demyx. You who says that I am 'pretty'...." Another nip, harder this time. It was fitting that Demyx's answer was an even more pathetic whimper.
"I don't know what you're talking about now get the hell off of me." Demyx tried pushing, but Zexion just wouldn't budge, belying his thin and frail appearance. But he was a vampire after all...a vampire who was simultaneously seducing Demyx and trying to make him. It was enough to make Demyx sick--sick at himself, mostly, for getting in this situation in the first place.
"I enjoy victims who struggle," said Zexion in a low murmur. "Don't struggle too much, however, or I'll be forced to call on my powers. And we can't have that, can we? Now stay still and let me drink your blood. It won't hurt a bit."
For the first time, a ray of logic shone its way out of the animal terror fogging Demyx's mind, and he seized--desperately, hungrily--on to the one small opening that Zexion had revealed. I'll be forced to call on my powers...we can't have that, can we? Zexion didn't want to use his powers. But why? Why? Because...Demyx's eyes flickered to the silver cuff still around Zexion's wrist. Because of that. Obviously Axel had warded it to either prevent Zexion from using his powers, or, more likely (since it took less effort) send a warning to Axel whenever Zexion used his powers.
It wasn't much of an advantage, but it was a start.
Strange how the edge of death--or in this case, the imminent end of existence as a conscious, sentient, non-blood-sucking being--could bring such clarity of thought. Whereas before Demyx had been terrified out of his wits and unable to think properly, he soon found that all of the fear had vanished, replaced only by a cold, hard resolve. Somehow, somehow, he had to get Zexion to use his powers. He had to struggle. That was right, he had to struggle for all his life until Zexion had no choice but to start summoning bats and shapeshifting.
Or, he could just scream for help.
The second idea was far more preferable to the first and Demyx wondered why he hadn't even thought of it in the first place. Probably because he'd been too scared. Ignoring Zexion's (rather meager) weight on his lap, ignoring Zexion's mouth now resting directly on his vein, Demyx sucked in the deepest breath he'd ever taken and prepared to unleash it in a wild burst of extremely undignified screams for help.
But in the end, he was spared even that effort, because just before Zexion bit down, an all-too-familiar voice, but unfamiliar because Demyx was used to hearing it sardonic and good-natured, not cold and twisted with rage and hatred as it was now, said, "Just what the HELL do you think you're doing?"
Demyx turned around so fast he almost twisted his neck--but he didn't need to look to see that it was Axel, jacket open and tie undone much like Demyx, striding across the courtyard at a breakneck pace, the most frightening expression Demyx had ever seen blazing on his face. Years later, the memory of Axel's fury--of the rage etched on Axel's handsome face, twisting it into an ugly mask of fury--would continue to haunt him, would perhaps be his most vivid recollection of the entire experience.
Zexion reacted instantly, flinging himself away from Demyx with such speed that it took Demyx a second to realize that there was no one on his lap prepared to suck the blood out of him, that said bloodsucker had hurled himself to the far edge of the bench, as far away from Demyx as possible. Demyx turned to look at Zexion, heart still hammering a mad staccato at his bare recovery from his near-death experience, and then his heart stopped.
Before, Zexion been so powerful and in command, a superior and seductive smirk on his face. Now, his expression had dissolved into one that Demyx could describe only as terror. He was trembling, throat convulsing and lips moving soundlessly in a terrified attempt to explain himself, but it was clear that Axel, drawing ever closer, would not even allow him the privilege of that.
"P--please--please--" stammered Zexion when he had found his voice. The tone of his voice--beseeching, terrified, almost sobbing--astonished Demyx more than anything else that had happened that night. It was such a massive change from the low and seductive tone he'd been taking only a few seconds earlier with Demyx that Demyx's head was practically reeling from the dissonance of it all. He could only watch, numbly, as Axel advanced on Zexion, step after stormy step.
"Please what?" snarled Axel, his tone feral, stopping right before Zexion. "Please what, monster?"
"Ahh--p-please--Master--this isn't--what it looks--"
"I know exactly what you were doing," said Axel. "Don't try that stupid excuse with me. Stand up!"
Zexion shot up to perfect attention in less than a second. The more sardonic part of Demyx was surprised to see that he hadn't saluted. Most of Demyx, however, wasn't feeling very sardonic, and he could only watch in cold horror as Axel drew his hand back and slapped Zexion hard across the face, causing Zexion to tumble hard to the ground with a sickening thud.
"H-hey--" stammered Demyx when he somehow found it in him to speak. Neither Axel nor Zexion acknowledged him, however. Axel had snatched Zexion roughly by the elbow and hauled him back up to his feet. Zexion was trembling so violently he could barely stand, and Demyx could see the burn marks on his face from where Axel's rings had connected.
"Bitch," said Axel in a low, ferocious whisper. "You do not attack one of my guests, do you understand? If it was just anyguest I'd be angry enough to throttle you. But that guy isn't just any guest you've threatened." He jerked a thumb in Demyx's direction. "Do you know who he is?"
Zexion shot a brief, hysterical look in Demyx's direction. Demyx felt his insides squirm when he saw the look, but could do nothing about it. "H-h-hi-his n-n-n-name i-is D-D-Demyx," stammered Zexion.
"Ooh, someone's been doing his homework," said Axel sarcastically. Zexion flinched as if he'd been struck. "Yeah, his name is Demyx. But more than that--he's my student. Well, was, but that doesn't make a difference. The point is, he's the last person out of everyone here you should have chosen to threaten. Not that you could have gotten away with threatening anyone else, but you get my point. Don't you, monster?"
With that he took Zexion by the shoulder and gave him a hard shake. Zexion nodded violently, fear causing his voice to shake as much as his body. "Y-y-yes M-Master."
"Good," said Axel simply, although he didn't sound very satisfied. "Now hurry up and come along, bitch. I hate to cancel a party early--you wouldn't believe it--but right now your discipline is what's most important."
"Huh? Wait--Axel--what're you going to do?" shouted Demyx when he managed to regain his wits. Axel had grabbed Zexion roughly by the wrist and begun to drag the vampire after him, who took stumbling lurching steps to catch up with Axel's longer strides. "Axel! Hey! Wait!"
"What do you think, Dems?" said Axel, turning around, a hint of irritation to his voice. "I'm punishing the monster for his misbehavior, obviously. He'll soon learn that he can't eat whatever guests he likes."
"He wasn't trying to eat me," protested Demyx inanely...although that didn't mean much as Zexion had been trying to do something much worse.
"Who cares?" scoffed Axel. "Don't tell me you're sticking up for a fucking vampire. Who attacked you, by the way."
Disapproval emanated Axel's voice, a disapproval that was highly familiar to Demyx--it was a teacher's disapproval in his student. Demyx sighed and conceded that Axel had a valid point. Nonetheless...he couldn't wrap his mind around the sheer ferocity of Axel's fury. As touched as he was by Axel's concern for him, he also felt that much of Axel's anger had nothing to do with Demyx, and everything to do with...something else, something Demyx couldn't quite understand. And there was Zexion. Sure, he was a vampire who had tried to turn Demyx into one of his fellows, but all the same, Demyx couldn't help the squirm of pity that coursed through his insides when he saw how terrified Zexion was, to the point where he was trembling so badly he couldn't even stand. It was more than apparent that Axel had done some horrific things to the vampire if he was so damn scared of Axel.
"Axel--" he began.
"Shut up, Demyx, and go home. Enjoy the rest of your evening watching porn or whatever," cut in Axel, his voice still rough and feral. He was dragging Zexion behind him so quickly that Zexion almost fell at times. Axel displayed no sympathy when that happened, only hauling Zexion back up with a rough jerk on the arm.
"Huh--? Porn?" Demyx let out a choked cry of shock, but was too startled to move after Axel. He could only watch as Axel disappeared into the cheerful warmth of the house, still mercilessly dragging Zexion after him. The door slammed shut, and then all was silent.
Demyx remained rooted to the spot for the longest time, unable to breathe, unable to move. At length, shaking his head, he lurched to the bench--the same one where Zexion had been trying to make him not ten minutes before--and collapsed in an aching and weary heap.
The only thought running through his mind was, What the HELL just happened...?
TBC
See? Long! Actually, I feel like a few chapters of The Captive are a bit longer than this, but I doubt that the people who read my KH fics are the same people who read my SGA fics. Soo...that means nothing, really.
The next chapter, "Incubus", involves even Zemyx interaction and--*gasp*--my first attempt at an actual sex scene (besides the one tossed into the "Sin" story of Recollections). So if you're looking forward to that, stick around. I promise I'll update as soon as I can (which doesn't mean very "soon", but...).
Obligatory paragraph-long preview:
Demyx couldn't help it--his first reaction was pity. Huddled in the cell like that, his head down, his slate-colored hair obscuring his face, Zexion looked small, fragile, easily breakable. Silver cuffs cleamed around his wrists and ankles, and long, thin silver chains led to bolts on the wall--there was no way he could escape. He was still wearing the black turtleneck and slacks he'd been at the party, but the shoulder of his sweater was torn, exposing pale skin and--dried, crusty blood over several deep gashes. Demyx had the nasty suspicion that Zexion only had more injuries on his body.
If you read this, review, please. I'm getting irritated at people who read but can't be bothered to leave a comment or two. So please? For every review I'll send you an e-cookie. And e-cookies have no fat or cholesterol in them, so they're good for you.