Tainted But Beautiful
Part 1: The Hunters
8. Hunt
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), noncon, rape, graphic scenes, character death, 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: Bleh. Not so fond of this chapter, mostly because I don't think I wrote Xaldin quite right. Yes, it has Xaldin in it. And I don't like him that much, so that's probably why my interpretation of his character is a bit wonky. Oh well.
Also, I'm going back on my promise to always stay one chapter ahead of what I've published (just like for The Captive...), because I have not finished the ninth chapter yet. I'm almost done, but still have a scene or two to write, so...yeah. Expect slower updates, at least until winter break comes. Then I'll have all the free time to write I could want.
This chapter's a little more action-packed and Roxas-centric. To me, this marks the introduction of the main plot (about time!), and soon we'll be moving into part two. So yeah...sit back and try to enjoy the show.
Demyx did his very best to forget what had happened that night in the park.
It was hard. On the whole walk home, he'd kept the crushed butterfly clenched tightly in his fist, afraid to show Zexion--because he knew Zexion was going to seize on that and...and say what Demyx feared most. What Demyx himself believed the broken butterfly to symbolize... The instant he'd gotten home, he'd disposed of the butterfly's black remains in Axel's trash compactor along with leftovers from lunch, earning the gratitude of the scullery maid.
After that, Demyx resolved never to even think about what he'd said to Zexion last night--except on one count. He looked up the name "Xemnas" in the online slayer database, and even painstakingly combed through several dull old history tomes in Axel's library for the name. Much to his surprise, Demyx found that he'd been right. Every single account stated that Xemnas had been a prominent Algieran slayer way back in the eighteen-teens, renowned for his slaying prowess and ability to wield two stakes at once. He had died a tragic, early death in 1823, in the prime of his youth--he'd been only thirty-two. Nowhere did any of the accounts suggest that Xemnas was anything beyond a vampire slayer; certainly not an immortal vampire.
Hmm. So Zexion could be wrong. It made Demyx feel good in the strangest way--finally there was something he knew that Zexion didn't! Just when he'd starting thinking the vampire was all-knowing...
But Zexion had been so sure of it. He had spoken with absolute certainty when he'd stated that Xemnas was the leader of his coven, and Demyx by now knew Zexion well enough to know when Zexion was absolutely certain, or wasn't. And Zexion had believed beyond a shade of doubt that the man who led his coven was the same man whom Demyx knew as a long-dead slayer.
Dimly, Demyx sensed the faintest--the faintest--tremblings of something ominous, something looming in the distant horizon. The firsts seeds of a mystery, the first frosts of a winter of discontent. But he didn't know exactly what it was, so he chose to file this knowledge, along with everything else he'd said to Zexion that night, far in the back of his head and never think about it again.
Roxas's every nerve was quivering from eagerness. He simply couldn't sit still--his arms were shaking, his legs compelling him to get out in the dying sun and run--
It was strange. After he'd seen the monster slaughter Hayner, Pence, and Olette, Roxas had become convinced that he could never feel anything again. Nothing beyond a dead, numb emptiness gnawing in the pit of his abdomen, that burned and froze at the same time. He'd lost them. His friends. The people who'd seen him through thick and thin, teaching him how to live in the streets after he'd been thrown out of the orphanage. Hayner, always so cocky but a true leader; Pence, steadfast but a dreamer; Olette, the mother of the group but a closet romantic. Dead. Gone forever. The prey of a vampire.
Sometimes Roxas wondered why he hadn't just--why he hadn't just died too. Why he hadn't just taken his own life as he stood over his friends' mangled corpses, convinced that he no longer had anything to live for...
But instead, he sought revenge. His blood throbbing in his ears, his mind numb, Roxas had picked up a length of lead pipe and chased the hunter down. He had found the vampire, the horrible, blood-stained, snarling demon, and had--had attacked him. A part of Roxas wondered if he was trying to commit suicide, but no, he wasn't. He really wanted to kill the vampire. Even though he knew it was hopeless. Knew he was a stupid little boy whose only combat training came from fighting Seifer's gang in the streets, and had no idea how to fight a vampire. But he'd done it--
And he had been rescued. Rescued by Axel and Demyx, vampire slayers both--who had then gone on to praise his fighting abilities. That had caused a ray of light to shine in Roxas' grief-fogged mind--made him realize that maybe, even with his friends dead, he did have a place on the Earth--
He'd gone farther than he could even dream of. He had become--a vampire slayer's apprentice. Sometimes, deep in the night, Roxas would idly wonder what Hayner, Pence, and Olette would think about him now. He hated it whenever it happened because then it felt like he was trying to stab himself in the heart with an ice-cold knife, like all his insides were trying to claw themselves free from his chest, pouring out in an uncontrollable deluge of grief and agony. Roxas couldn't remember how many nights he'd spent, shivering and curled up tightly in a ball beneath his sheets, trying desperately to hold back the tide of pain, trying to keep his entire being from falling apart...
But at the very least, he was feeling something. There was none of that previous numbness. And it wasn't all so bad. There were good things about his current life, too--principal of them Axel.
Roxas had never met anyone quite like Axel before. The slayer was confident, but it wasn't like Hayner's crass confidence or even Seifer's cocky confidence; it was a confidence born of a supreme sureness in himself. Axel couldn't be knocked down by a well-placed insult the way Seifer could have been. Though Roxas had never seen anyone insult Axel yet, he was quite sure that all the slayer would do was shrug it off and laugh in his friendly but confident way. It was just his nature.
(Even though he had been acting oddly these past few days...but he'd clarified everything last night, hadn't he?)
Axel had another side, though. A kind side. He never really bothered to let it on--Roxas could tell from the very start that Axel was someone who liked to keep his emotions to himself. But Axel was kind--he'd saved Roxas that first time, and last night, he had said (among many other things), in a far kinder and softer voice than Roxas had ever heard from the slayer before:
"I...I really care about you, Roxas. You and Demyx both. You're both my students and I--I figured that if I...I mean--if anything were to ever happen to you...I wouldn't want that. I was just--look, you don't have to worry about me. I'm never going to let you down. I can promise you that much. So trust me, all right?"
Roxas would. He had already made up his mind that first night when Axel had rescued him--he would follow the confident, red-haired vampire slayer to the ends of the earth itself.
Funny, he thought to himself sometimes, again reflecting on how numb he'd become after his friends' death. Funny how he told himself he'd never feel a single thing again, and yet here he was feeling all over the place: grief, unconditional trust...eagerness.
Eagerness because today would be his first ever hunt.
Roxas finally decided that it was futile to convince his electrified-with-eagerness body to keep sleeping, and so he threw his blankets off, yanked on his clothes (new clothes; the first really clean clothes he'd ever owned), and dashed downstairs as fast as his legs could carry him. Axel's butler, Saunders, threw Roxas a dirty look as he passed, but Roxas didn't really care what Saunders thought. The butler seemed to hate his guts for some unfathomable reason. Oh well, Roxas couldn't do anything about Saunders's opinion of him so he decided to just live and let live.
When Roxas got downstairs, he was surprised to see that both Axel and Demyx were up, leaning over the dining room table and poring over several sheets of paper strewn over the table. Roxas ran to join them.
"Oh, morning, Roxas," said Demyx, looking up from a paper to flash Roxas a grin and a wave. Roxas found it wasn't hard to return the gesture--he quite liked Demyx. The blonde slayer was friendly and good-natured, and never begrudged Roxas' presence--even though it diverted Axel's attention from hunting with Demyx.
Not anymore, though. Now, Roxas could join them on their hunts.
"What are you reading?" said Roxas, walking over to Axel's side. Axel seemed absorbed by the paper he was holding, only inches from his face. Roxas had discovered that Axel was quite curiously far-sighted, requiring reading glasses to make sense of small text. The glasses lent Axel's roguish face an oddly scholar-like air.
"Oh? These?" Axel turned to face Roxas, pushing his glasses up to his forehead at the same time--he didn't like to be seen wearing them when he wasn't reading anything. "Slayer quotas for the month."
"I see," said Roxas. Axel had taught Roxas about slayer quotas--orders issued by the slayer HQ every month to vampire slayers around the world. In them, HQ laid down specific numbers of vampires each slayer should be able to bring in that month, according to his individual abilities. They were less absolute orders than a game, though; slayers competed strenuously to outdo each other and kill more vampires than their rivals. Some slayers tended to focus on only one aspect of the orders--deciding to only kill purebloods, for example, or in the case of weaker slayers, ignoring the pureblood orders completely and just killing as many made vampires as they could. HQ itself seemed to recognize the orders' game-like nature, because the numbers were random every month.
"Not too many made vampires this month," said Demyx lightly, folding his paper into quarters. "Just seventy-five..."
"Every competent slayer's gonna be doing twice that," said Axel, "so we'll aim for that too. Pureblood quotas are..." He slipped his glasses back on to examine the paper.
"They want twenty-three this month," said Demyx, and then, for some strange reason unleashed a forlorn sigh. Roxas frowned at Demyx, a little concerned for the blonde's well-being--what was bothering Demyx? Axel, however, spoke before Roxas could asked Demyx if he was okay.
"Twenty-three. Yeah...specific names, same old same old. Geez, no one seems able to catch this 'Sephiroth' guy...but since he was last sighted in Uzbekistan, I don't think he's a realistic quarry for us. As for North American purebloods...nothing different so far..."
"Hey wait, there's a new guy on the list," said Demyx. "Who's this 'Xaldin'? And look at this--he was last sighted not too far from our city..."
"Got his picture somewhere. HQ put out a specific wanted poster for him," said Axel, starting to dig through the pile of papers on top of the table. Roxas, however, sighed a corner of a page with an "X" as the first letter, and acting on his guess he reached for it and pulled it out for Axel. Axel smiled at Roxas when Roxas handed it to him.
'Thanks, Rox," he said. Roxas returned Axel's smile, his heart giving a strange little jolt. He didn't know why, but he really liked it when Axel smiled at him...maybe it was because he'd never before had an authority figure who'd ever been proud of him.
Or maybe it was something different. Something...more.
"Took four victims already, this 'Xaldin'," said Axel, skimming over the poster. "All young, pretty, and female. Just showed up in the city...around a month ago or so, and since then seems to have been taking a victim every week. It's unknown how many made vampires are under his command. Slayer HQ in Canada's been trying to apprehend him for years, but no luck. Guess he decided to go south of the border for a change or whatever."
"Wow..." said Demyx, looking awestruck and revolted at the same time--almost as if he was trying to keep his breakfast down. "Uh...sounds dangerous..."
"Of course he's dangerous," said Axel, tossing asside the paper with a contempuous flick of the wrist. "That's why we're not going after him, you idiot. So--try for ten made vampires tonight?"
"Huh? Really? That many?" Demyx's voice rose in alarm. Roxas, too, was surprised--how could Axel think they could kill that many vampires in one night?
"Yeah, Dems," said Axel impatiently, already striding towards the armory--he'd shown that to Roxas on Roxas's second day. "Don't you watch the news? There's been an increase in vampire activity in the city, so we shouldn't have trouble locating a bunch to kill. Doing the city a service, y'know?"
Demyx made a noise that sounded something like a derisive snort--but started off towards the armory after Axel. Roxas stood uncertainly where he was, not sure if he should follow, but then Axel turned and beckoned him.
"Hurry up, Rox! What're you waiting for?"
"Oh--uh--coming," said Roxas, running after Axel, wondering why his heart was pounding so violently in his chest...
Just before they exited the dining room, however, a voice, quiet but cutting, drifted through the silence: "Excuse me. Are you all going already?"
All heads whipped around to face the staircase, so quickly that Roxas almost cracked his neck. Standing at the base of the stairs, his arms folded and surveying the scene impassively, was--a slight young man with a shock of slate-blue hair, his skin pale as death. Axel's vampire. Roxas felt a faint shiver run up the base of his spine--he'd only seen Axel's vampire once but that was already enough to convince him that he didn't want to again. There was just something insidious...dangerous...about the vampire.
Of course there is, Roxas scolded himself. He's an undead bloodsucking monster. Of course he's dangerous!
Axel reacted immediately, turning to face the vampire and oozing a thick cloud of black ill will. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I heard you gathering downstairs. You are quite loud, did you know that...? Anyhow--Master--if you would permit me, I have a request of you."The vampire's words were clipped and polite, and when Axel addressed him the vampire kept his head down, not meeting Axel's eyes.
A vein was twitching in Axel's forehead, and his lips moved to form the word "no". What he said, however, was, "Sure. Okay. Go ahead. But make it quick--I've got a hunt to go on..."
"Actually, Master," said the vampire, still politely, still not looking up, "the hunt is the reason I...that is to say, if you'd permit me--"
"Get on with it," said Axel, his tone biting. Roxas didn't like the change that had come over the slayer--his eyes had hardened, his face darkened. He was nothing like the cocky, amiable man that Roxas knew...dimly, out of the corner of his eye, Roxas noticed that Demyx had stiffened at Axel's sharp words, looking displeased. Roxas didn't know what that could mean...
"Very well, then, Master." The words were dull, flat, emotionless; but Roxas still felt uncomfortable. Hearing the vampire refer Axel as a "master" was just...so odd. "In brief...I wish to--I wish to come with you."
"What?" Axel's voice rose in alarm, and he took an ominous step forward. Demyx's jaw actually dropped in surprise, and Roxas, too, could only stand where he was, frozen on the spot, quite sure that he, too, was gaping open-mouthed at Axel's vampire.
If the vampire noticed their responses he didn't seem to care. He continued, in as lightly polite a tone as before, "Pardon me, Master; I couldn't help but listen. Especially the part where you said there was increasing vampire activity..."
"Hey, if you think this is an escape opportunity--" began Axel, his voice acquiring a dangerous edge.
"I think no such thing," replied the vampire, as evenly as before. "I know you won't afford me an opportunity to escape, Master. In fact...I'd like to volunteer my services."
"Your services?" The vein on Axel's temple was twitching so violently that Roxas felt the sudden irrational fear that it would explode. "Look, you little...I mean, what, you expect to have some massive orgy out there--"
"I mean, Master, that I am a vampire," said the vampire, for the first time allowing a slight hint of annoyance to enter his voice. "I can sense other vampires. You wanted to kill ten tonight--? Well, with my help you could do double that. Perhaps more. It depends on how active the vampires really are..."
"But Zexion," said Demyx (so that was the vampire's name--Zexion), intercepting before Axel could say anything, "why would you want to kill vampires...? It doesn't make much sense to me..."
"Because they're not mine," said Zexion coldly, holding a finger up to shush Demyx. "Why should I give a damn about those mindless servants of other vampires? All they are to me are rivals for food. The more of them there are, the less food there is for me. It is a basic tenet of survival. Besides...I'd like to get out for a short while." He threw Axel a brief, but meaningful, glance. "I behaved quite well last night, didn't I...? Demyx returned alive, at the very least."
"That--it--" Axel's face was contorting in all sorts of nasty ways, between anger and hatred and disgust; while Demyx had become strangely glum, folding his arms and becoming immersed in floor. Roxas started to feel like he was the only normal, sane, person in the entire room. "Look, you little monster--don't be such a little smartass--"
"You had better make your decision quickly, Master." Was it just Roxas's imagination, or had Zexion let a faint derisive note enter his voice at the last word? "It is getting dark outside, and you wouldn't want more competition from other hunters, would you?"
"Fuck you," replied Axel in a fit of maturity. Roxas cast Axel a helpless glance, which Axel ignored. "All right, all right. Come over here!"
The last words were barked with the authority of an order--unpleasant, coming from Axel. The vampire obeyed in an instant, sliding away from the staircase to come to a stop only inches from Axel. Roxas's heart twinged slightly when he saw how close Zexion was to Axel, but he didn't know why. The weird uncomfortable feeling in his chest only increased when Axel gripped the vampire by the shoulder (Zexion hissed and flinched, for some reason), and with the other hand grabbed the vampire by the wrist, tightening his grip around the silver cuff on Zexion's wrist. The vampire jerked back at the motion, letting out a sharp gasp of pain, but Axel drew him closer, so close that their faces were almost touching (again, a twinge at Roxas's heart), and hissed, in such a low voice that Roxas had to strain to hear it:
"You can come, but one move--ONE wrong move--and I will not HESITATE to kill you. Understood?"
Roxas didn't hear Zexion's response, but the vampire's lips moved to form the words, "Yes, Master."
"Good." Axel shoved Zexion aside in one brusque motion. Roxas didn't know whether to be disquieted by the rudeness of the gesture, or relieved because...what? Axel was no longer touching Zexion? "Now, come on. All of you. Let's go. Chop, chop. I'm not waiting for any of you."
Axel was in a bad mood, thought Roxas--and he didn't like it. He silently followed the still-steaming slayer to the armory, his heart still thudding violently in his chest. And he didn't know why.
The report from a pistol, a shuddering half-groan, half-roar, as the wild-eyed, pasty-faced creature slammed hard against the ground--
"Seven!" shouted both Demyx and Axel at the same time, Axel giving his gun a casual twirl. Both he and Demyx turned to face each other, scowling heavily.
"That was my kill," said Demyx.
"Like hell it was. That was totally me," shot back Axel. "You shot a second after me, so it was me that killed it. Got it memorized?"
"Hey, flatter yourself if you want," shouted Demyx, jabbing his finger into Axel's chest. "I shot first and I know it."
"Yeah, I bet you're one of those idiots who thinks Greedo shot first," said Axel, rolling his eyes.
"No fucking way. Han shot first and so did I, and what does Star Wars have to do with this?"
"It is Demyx's kill. He shot first." Zexion's voice, cold and toneless, cut through Demyx and Axel's squabble. He unpeeled himself from the wall he'd been leaning against, stepping lightly between Axel and Demyx. Roxas couldn't get used to the way the vampire moved--his every motion was filled with grace and purpose, and he didn't seem to walk so much as drift wherever he wanted.
"Yeah, you'd take Demyx's side," said Axel, the vein throbbing again in his forehead. He spat on the vampire's corpse, as if he just wanted something to be angry about. "And how the fuck do you know, anyway?"
"I heard," said Zexion icily. "If you do not wish to believe me, then by all means go ahead. It does not change the truth. That is Demyx's kill. If you so desire, you can make up the lost kill by heading south, towards the projects. Three vampires are gathered in the abandoned public housing complex. Actually..." The vampire folded one arm across his chest and lifted the other to his chin, seemingly becoming immersed in thought. "They seem to be waiting for someone. So who knows? You might get a pureblood kill in there."
"Fine, you take it." Axel didn't so much say this as snarl it at Demyx, before whirling around and turning south, his coat flapping behind him and his hand on Zexion's chain, compelling the vampire to stumble after him. Roxas didn't hesitate to follow, and Demyx joined them after he'd obtained his proof of kill.
It was now past midnight and the moon was high in the sky. The night was cold, but Roxas found he didn't mind--his adrenaline warmed him enough to keep moving. Already, Axel and Demyx had killed five vampires between the two of them, and even Roxas had managed to take down one. Axel had congratulated him to the skies, embarrassing Roxas somewhat--he hadn't meant to do it; the vampire had just ambushed them and Roxas had reacted on instinct, whipping out his gun and shooting the vampire straight in the head. A purely lucky shot.
But he'd done it. He had killed his first vampire. He was--a real slayer now, never mind that he didn't yet have his license. The gun bouncing against his thigh as he walked, the knives tucked inside his coat, the presence of blood drifting around him--these were enough to mark him as a real vampire slayer. Strangely, he felt none of the fear, none of the violent numbness either, of that first night when the vampire had burst out of the darkness and attacked him, Hayner, Pence, and Olette--
Just a fierce, steady resolve. The resolve to get revenge. To clear every vampire from the streets so they would become forever safe, forever free from cruel and random attacks such as the one that had torn his friends from him.
"Four," said Zexion tonelessly, breaking the intense silence the slayers had been engaged in. "Four more have arrived. I don't think this is a gang. It's hard to tell what they're thinking--thoughtless monsters they are--but they're most definitely waiting for someone...their lord, most probably..."
"Lord?" Demyx's throat convulsed, and he suddenly turned several shades paler. "Um, Axel, I don't think this is such a good idea..."
"Shut the fuck up," was Axel's rude reply. "If you're scared, you can run and hide. I'm going on ahead."
True to his word, Axel marched resolutely ahead, dragging Zexion beside him. Roxas and Demyx hung back, walking at a more stately pace.
"Axel is really intense, isn't he?" said Roxas. Demyx turned to Roxas, looking surprised.
"...oh. Yeah. I guess he is," he said, and shrugged. "I don't know. He's always been intense..."
Again, that strange twinge at Roxas's heart...Roxas shook his head to clear it. "You've known him for a long time?"
"Uh-huh. Twelve years, now...I think. I'm kind of bad at math..." Demyx laughed and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Roxas laughed, too; he couldn't help but feel happy with Demyx. Demyx was just a happy person, overall. "Even though he didn't speak to me for three of those years...but whatever. That's life for you."
Twelve years... Roxas had to admit that he was somewhat jealous. He wished he could have known Axel for that long... "You guys must be really close."
"Not really." A trace of sadness entered Demyx's words, and he lowered his head slightly. "Not as much as I'd like...the thing is, no one gets close to Axel. I've known him for as I long as I have and even then I feel like I don't know the real Axel. Who can ever tell what he's thinking?"
"Yeah," said Roxas because he had nothing else to say to this. His heart was thudding so violently he thought that it could be heard a mile away. He quickened his pace, and Demyx followed suit, neither speaking.
The abandoned housing project loomed in the near distance, a dark and threatening sillhouette in the silvery moonlight. Roxas knew the complex, though not well--sometimes he and his friends had used it as shelter during the day. But not often, and they always left before night--none of them ever said out loud why, but deep inside it seemed they all knew there was something dangerous about the place...
Well, now Roxas knew. It was the lair of vampires.
As they came closer, Roxas could see the vampires now--seven dark shapes huddled near the base of the construction site, oozing an ominous intent. He shivered, slightly, but told himself that he was being unreasonable...there was nothing to be afraid of; they were just a bunch of evil bloodsucking monsters...
All right, maybe there was something to fear. But in Axel's presence Roxas refused to let any of his fear show, and so straightened his back and squared his shoulders, hoping that the violent thudding of his heart against his ribcage didn't betray him...
The slayers exited the dark alleyway they'd been creeping in, entering the wide, dusty construction lot. Roxas suddenly felt vulnerable, out here in the open...but quashed his feelings and marched bravely by Axel's side. The seven hulking figures straightened from where they'd been hunching, turning to face the approaching slayers, wafting an unmistakable smell of blood and darkness in the slayers' direction. The smell of a vampire.
(Zexion was hanging back in the alley, watching the scene dispassionately--he had always hung back at every killing. Roxas didn't know why, but he supposed it was because Zexion didn't want to fight his own kind. Or maybe Zexion couldn't fight at all. He was an incubus, right...?)
"Hey, we interrupting anything?" said Axel, raising his hand in a friendly manner. His only response was a collective hiss from all seven vampires.
Axel didn't seem perturbed. He just cocked his head to the side and said, "All right. Don't want to be friendly? Fine by me!"
And in that instant, he yanked out his two guns, firing straight at the gang of vampires. It took Roxas and Demyx less than a second to join in. The ring of shots and the howling cries of the vampires tore through the silence of the night, but Roxas barely heard--he only heard the thunderous pounding of blood in his ears, drowning out all other sounds. He was focused on only one thing, and that was slamming on the trigger over and over again and unleashing silver bullet after silver bullet into the dark crowd, at the monsters, the devils--nothing else existed--
Roxas fired until his arms were numb and he'd ran out of ammunition. Annoyed, he scrambled in his pockets for more ammunition--he wanted to keep on killing them, the same monsters that'd killed his best friends in the world--but Axel placed his hand on Roxas's shoulder, stopping him. Roxas jumped, startled--Axel's hand was surprisingly warm.
"Eager much, Rox? That's good, that's good...but take a look." Axel swept his arm before him, at the construction site. Roxas stared--and saw nothing but a few mangled piles of black, leaking dark blood into the dust.
"We..." he paused. "We killed..."
"That was easy, huh? They didn't even put up a fight," said Axel with a good-natured laugh, striding confidently towards the vampire bodies, his still clutching Roxas's shoulder. Roxas didn't know whether to shake it off or not, but he liked the comforting, heavy warmth of Axel's hand on his shoulder. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud...
"Yeah," said Demyx, frowning. He was already crouched over one of the bodies, gingerly poking it with one of his knives. "It seemed a bit...too...easy, don't you agree?"
"What the fuck do you mean, Dems? They were just weakl--LOOK OUT!!!"
Demyx screamed at the same time that Axel did, as the vampire he'd been inspecting leapt up in a whirl of tattered dark cloth and flying splatters of blood, grabbing Demyx by the throat and slamming him, hard, into the heavily graffitied plywood wall. Demyx's entire body convulsed, and, with a shuddering gasp, he drove the knife into the vampire's chest--but missed the vampire's heart by a long shot, piercing it instead near the abdomen.
"Demyx!" howled Axel, yanking a gun out of its holster and aiming at the vampire--but not firing. Roxas knew why: If Axel fired, he couldn't be sure if he would hit the vampire or Demyx. "Damn you...oh, hell. Oh...hell...no! You can't be!"
"Huh? What? What is it, Axel?" cried Roxas anxiously, seeing the sudden horror that had come over the slayer's face, seeing Axel slowly lower his gun arm and take one step, then two, backwards...
Slowly, insidiously, the vampire turned around, lowering the hood of its bloodstained cloak, a sadistic smirk spreading across his face. A smirk on a hard, chiseled face, the deep purple eyes glittering with a maniacally satisfied light. The vampire's hair hung in heavy dark dreadlocks around his face, and he was tall, strong, well-built. As he fixed his eyes on Axel, a faint wind stirred Roxas's hair, chilling him to the bone.
"Y...you..." whispered Axel. He stood ramrod straight, but his fingers were trembling. Very slightly, almost imperceptibly, but Roxas could see, and it worried him. "You're..."
"You're right. They were weaklings," said Xaldin with a low, satisfied chuckle, pulling the knife out of his abdomen and tossing it aside casually, not even seeming to care that it was made of silver. "A fine trap, wasn't it? I admit that I was hoping to attract slayers of somewhat...higher...caliber than you. But oh well, beggars can't be choosers, I suppose."
"Ngh Axel," groaned Demyx, his voice thin and weak. His fingers were wrapped around Xaldin's wrist, but the vampire's powerful grip wouldn't budge. "Don't--"
"How did you hide your presence?" said Axel, his voice sharp, but trembling beneath the commanding veneer. Roxas took a step closer to Axel, terrified that his heart was going to burst from worry. He'd never--never--seen Axel like this before... "How! I should've sensed you--"
"You would be surprised at the things you don't know, Axel," said Xaldin, his tone friendly--but again brimming with a sadistic delight beneath.
"Don't call me by name," said Axel as sharply as before. Roxas kept his eyes fixed on Xaldin, just as Axel was--but out of the corner of his eyes he could see that Axel was reloading his gun behind his back. "And quit it with the games. Let go of him."
"I don't think I will," said Xaldin. "What's this human slayer to you, anyhow?"
"That is irrelevent," said Axel through his teeth, anger coloring his voice and darkening his brow. Roxas had never seen Axel so angry before--not even with Zexion--and again he couldn't help a strange spike of jealousy. But no, these were awful feelings...he should be feeling bad for Demyx, not irrationally wishing that he was in Demyx's place--
"I'm sorry Axel," wheezed Demyx. He seemed to be turning progressively bluer, but was still struggling to force words from his lips. "This is...this is my fault. I'm just...an idiot...like always..."
"Don't say shit like that," snapped Axel--and he yanked his gun from behind his back and fired straight at Xaldin's heart--
Only to have another vampire--one of the "corpses"--leap up and intercept the shot for its master. The vampire convulsed, blood spurting from its chest, before collapsing with a shuddering sigh and a long, gurgling exhalation into the dust again.
But more were rising. One vampire, then two, then three and then four and five--all shuffling to awkward standing positions, even though their bodies were riddled with silver bullets and barely holding together. But they were--they were up, and alive--or as alive as vampires could be in the first place--
"What the fuck is this?" swore Axel as the five not-quite-dead vampires surrounded him and Roxas in a loose circle. "Are they vampires or zombies?"
"Are you aware of a certain spell?" said Xaldin, his tone gloating. A stronger wind was blowing now, whipping Roxas's hair into his eyes, causing his coat to flap madly around his ankles. "Do you know that if a vampire takes the blood of four virgin girls, and feeds it to his followers on the night of a new moon, they will be practically invulnerable...?"
"What kind of shit is that!" shouted Axel, fury causing his words to shake. The vampires were advancing, penning Axel and Roxas in with each shuddering step they took...Roxas backed into Axel, clutching his gun, but it was useless, empty. His mind was blank; he didn't know what to do.
Then the vampires attacked.
Roxas hadn't even seen the vampire move before a heavy body wrapped in shreds of dark cloth and reeking of blood slammed into him, knocking him to the dusty ground. The boy reacted immediately, swinging his gun in a arc above him and slamming it into the side of the vampire's death-white face. The vampire let out a howl of pain as the silver-plated gun burned its skin, but refused to release its grip on Roxas's throat. Roxas struggled against the monster, his head spinning, the scent of blood and darkness overwhelming his nostrils--he continued beating it with the gun, kicked and thrashed and threw futile blow after futile blow...
"Demyx!" Axel's cry, raw with agony, rang through the night, and Roxas caught a brief glimpse of Axel struggling wildly in the grip of three vampires, who were tugging him back even as he fought to throw them off, fought to stumble towards the construction project and Xaldin--
Xaldin who was--was rising, jumping from level to rickety level, still clinging tightly to a white-faced Demyx. He was taunting Axel, laughing, shouting, "Do you want to save him? You want to save your little human slayer friend? Then go right ahead! What are you waiting for?"
"Damn--DAMN YOU!!!" howled Axel, fighting like an animal against his captors. A fourth vampire had joined in, hooking its claws in Axel's coat and helping to drag the slayer backwards, even as Axel struggled forward, clawing so hard at the ground that his fingernails bled, rage--anguish--desperation--twisting his face, wild roars tearing from his throat. "DAMN IT--DEMYX--"
"Come and get him," taunted Xaldin, now standing on a long, slender pole on the very top of the project. He balanced on the pole with a surprising grace, looking so steady it was almost like he hadn't left solid ground at all. Demyx was trembling and groaning in Xaldin's grip, though, and looked slightly green--he obviously wasn't handling being this high so well.
Axel's only response was an inarticulate roar of rage. Roxas didn't get to see more because the vampire on top of him rolled over, bearing him face-down into the dust. Roxas struggled and kicked against the vampire, madly trying to scratch its face because he'd lost his gun--he could feel the knives clanking inside his jacket but couldn't quite reach them--
"Come, come! Your little friend needs saving!" Xaldin continued crooning, his words like thunderclaps in Roxas's ears. Roxas finally managed to locate one of his knives, and with a snarl he stabbed into the vampire--but missed its heart. The knife instead sunk between the vampire's shoulder blades--the vampire roared in rage-from-agony, spraying Roxas's face with foul-smelling, blood-flecked saliva--
"Damn it YOU!!!" Axel half-roared, half-snarled. But somehow, Roxas sensed that Axel was no longer addressing Xaldin, but someone else--someone hiding in the shadows behind them, quietly watching. "HELP--damn it--help us you fucking--you care about him, don't you, then DO something--don't just STAND there--FUCK--"
"Have you finally snapped?" said Xaldin with a low chuckle. "What's the matter, Axel? Why aren't you helping your friend?"
"I AM--you fucking--are you LISTENING to me, you fucking little monster?" Axel was alternating wildly between addressing Xaldin and Zexion, but neither vampire seemed to be paying him much heed. Xaldin continued standing atop his pole, chuckling as he dangled the trembling Demyx precariously over the edge. Zexion remained silent, stolidly hanging back in the dark alleyway.
No one would help them. No one but themselves.
"You don't seem like you're putting much effort into it," said Xaldin disinterestedly. "He doesn't seem very interested in saving you, does he?" This was addressed at Demyx. Roxas couldn't hear Demyx's reply, but he saw very clearly tha Demyx was shaking his head, over and over again...
Locating his other knife, Roxas made another wild stab at the vampire's heart. This time, to his numb shock, he made it--he first saw the knife disappear up to the handle inside the vampire's chest, and then a deluge of dark blood burst from the vampire's chest, splattering all over Roxas, as the vampire stared in stupid surprise down at him.. Then, with a tremor that coursed through its entire body, it rolled to the side and fell, hitting the dust with a muffled thump.
Roxas wasted no time crawling back to his feet, his heart pounding a marathon, knowing that the vampire was only going to get up again. He sprinted across the dust, running for the rickety tower, not thinking about anything but Demyx, dangling helplessly up there in the grip of the sadistic vampire--
But as Roxas approached, a sudden gust of wind blasted him straight in the chest and knocked him off his feet. His cry of surprise died in his throat as he was flung back several yards, slamming into the dust beside Axel and skinning his elbows. He struggled up again, but it was difficult--the wind had picked up, assaulting him in a tumultous gale, whipping up dust storms that stung his eyes and blocked his vision...
"Demyx! Demyx!" He could still, faintly, hear Axel's furious roars. But Roxas focused less on Axel and more on stumbling to his feet, struggling through the dust storm in a vain effort to find the construction project and scale it and rescue Demyx--
But he was knocked down by a clawed hand snatching the back of his throat and slamming him hard to the ground, driving the breath from his lungs. Roxas struggled, not caring if this was the same vampire he'd just "killed" or one of the vampires that had been attacking Axel. He suddenly wished he'd pulled out his knives after sticking them into that vampire--now he had no weapons--
"Your little friend is quite fun." Xaldin's voice cut through the commotion with the clarity of a resounding bell, slicing through the fog that had clouded Roxas's mind. To Roxas's astonishment, the wind died down too--and the dust cascaded back to the ground, leaving the air clear again. With the roaring wind gone, the silence pressed heavy, ominous, against Roxas's ears...
"D-damn..." hissed Axel from where he lay on the ground, piled on by five vampires. "Demyx..."
"I think I'll play with him for a little bit," continued Xaldin, and Roxas shuddered at the level of sheer sadism permeating the vampire's voice. "I suspect I won't grow tired of him for a long, long time..."
"Axel..." Demyx's voice was thin and broken, barely audible, but in the heavy silence even the smallest sounds rang unnaturally loud in Roxas's ears.
"Don't--!" cried Axel, but it was too late--a sudden gust had started blowing again, whipping up clouds of dust, blocking the slayers' vision. Roxas struggled to keep his eyes open, but the stinging dust unrelentingly assaulting his eyes was too much to handle, and despite himself he had to squeeze his eyes shut. He strained to keep his ears open, though, for Demyx's voice, or even Xaldin's--but heard nothing above the howling wind.
After what seemed like an eternity of lying huddled to the ground, bearing out the windstorm, the maelstrom finally died. At first, Roxas remained in his prone position, afraid to move--afraid of what he was going to see. With the howling storm gone, Roxas could now hear nothing but the violent beating of his own heart, and the silence--vast, empty, a presence with the weight of the entire universe pressing down on him, ringing in his ears...
Slowly, unwillingly, Roxas hauled himself back up, wincing when he put pressure on his skinned elbows. He almost didn't want to look at Axel, but his traitorous eyes made him turn in Axel's direction and stare--
Axel was kneeling in the dust, his vampire assailants gone. His hands were clenched into fists, his face a terrible mask of anguish. Roxas's heart gave a cold jolt when he saw the older slayer, at his mentor, in such pain--he wanted to comfort Axel but had no idea how--
"Demyx," whispered Axel, his voice low, torn, and he drove a fist into the ground. "Demyx...damn it...Demyx...."
"Axel--" said Roxas, just as softly as Axel was speaking, holding out his hand to--to what? Stop Axel? He didn't know--
"Demyx!!!" screamed Axel, and the name reverberated in the still night silence, echoing across the empty lot and seeming to shatter the stars themselves. "DEMYX!!!"
No answer came to Axel's desperate cry. The pole atop the construction complex was empty, bare as the trunk of a dying tree. There was no sign that Xaldin and Demyx had ever stood atop it.
Not terribly fond of this chapter, overall, but whatever...I feel like Xaldin needed a better reason to kidnap Demyx...sigh.
Chapter nine is better, in that, well...it's got a ton of AkuZeku abuse in it. So whee, enjoy that. Here's the preview for it (called "Blame")--
"What the fuck do you think I mean!" roared Axel back, his voice just as angry. He grabbed Zexion by the arm and jerked him back up to his feet. Zexion met Axel's eyes--and it took all of his self-control from taking a shocked step backwards. He'd never seen Axel like this before. Never. Not with such anger burning in his green eyes, twisting his features... The slayer was covered with drying blood and injuries, but he didn't seem to care. It was like his rage was keeping him on his feet, electrifying him, keeping him alive...
See? Abuse a-plenty. But I won't post it until I finish chapter ten, so...again, a slow update. Sorry.
In the meantime, please review!