Tainted But Beautiful
Part 2: The Secrets
19. Blood
Pairings: AkuZeku, Zemyx, AkuRoku, AxDem, minor onesided VexZex, XemSaix
Rated: M
Warnings: Vampires, vampires, vampires...uh, yaoi, AU-ish-ness, abuse, 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: OMGFZ!!! AN UPDATE!!! I know...I just felt guilty for abandoning this story especially because it has so many fans, so I've decided to continue updating it now that I have more time in the summer. I do plan on finishing Tainted, this I swear. Hell, it's been so long that my opinions on Battlestar Galactica have managed to do a complete 180. I hate that show now thanks to the utterly terrible series finale that aired. Talk about copout! I hope Tainted will have a much more satisfactory ending...
Note that this story will be put on the backburner compared to my serious fiction projects, two of which are in the works--the one I'm mostly working on is a fantasy-science fiction novel with a very epic storyline for which I've already pretty much planned every scene, so the actual writing is going fairly easily. The other is a series of short stories told from seven different first person views, about a girl in love with her gay childhood friend, who tends to pursue abusive relationships. It's very dear to my heart and I've been working on it for quite some time. You can check out both of them on my Young Writers Society account (Bickazer), if you're interested.
I do plan on finishing Tainted But Beautiful, though; it's summer so I've got plenty of free time to work on three projects at once! So on with the story. I wonder if anyone remembers what's going on, seeing as it's been so long...XD Something about, hmm, some revelations concerning Xemnas...
Damn it...
Zexion had sunk to a defensive crouch in front of Demyx, snarling at Saix and a combination of fury and adrenaline soaring through his veins--clearly trying to convey the message back the hell off to the werewolf. He didn't know how effective it would be, though, since Saix had made it more than clear that he was much stronger than Zexion. There'd be no way Zexion could hold up against Saix in a fight...gritting his teeth, he tried to block out the pain still throbbing in his cheek, where Saix had hit him earlier...
Most of Zexion was beyond logical thought, though. He was propelled simply by two instincts--the deeply-ingrained hatred of the beast, the dog, before him, and....and his own desire to protect Demyx.
Saix, however, wasn't moving--he simply stood at the head of the pavilion, surveying the scene with an almost bored expression. Certainly, he had no eyes for Zexion; in fact, it seemed that most of Saix's attention was fixed on the man standing at the very front of their strange gathering, gun aimed straight at Saix's heart and an unpleasant smirk twisting his face.
Axel. Of course, Axel would be the greatest threat to Saix at the moment...what were an incubus, a human slayer, and a half-made vampire compared to the heir to one of the most powerful vampire slaying families in the world?
Not to mention the simple matter that Axel was armed, while the rest were not.
"Well, well...." Saix turned a dispassionate gaze towards the two dead werewolves scattered across the plaza, trailing dark blood over the flagstone, and the one injured werewolf, sucking in its last, dying, breaths. "How very rude of you, Axel, killing my underlings like that..."
"Yeah, whatever," retorted Axel, his mouth twisting unpleasantly, anger burning in his eyes. He raised the gun a fraction of an inch. "Hey, why don't you tell me what's going on, wolf? Why're you chasing Roxas and--them?"
With the "them", Axel waved a dismissive hand in Zexion and Demyx's direction. Zexion heard Demyx's sharp intake of breath from behind him, but made no move to turn around to see if the slayer was all right--all of his attention, every quivering atom of his being, was focused on the hateful wolf standing before him...
"You're only partially right, Axel," said Saix, his tone still bored and careless. "I was chasing him--" a jerk of a gesture towards Roxas "--but they were helping me."
"The fuck?" Axel whirled around, his coat flapping around him, to face Zexion, his face livid. "Why would you--"
Zexion opened his mouth to protest, somehow, though he didn't know what to say--after all, Saix had just spoken the truth. He had been helping Saix track down Roxas...although Saix (or the wolves in his pack, at the very least) seemed to care very little if Roxas lived or died. Saix, however, spoke before Zexion could say anything to his own defense--which the incubus supposed was a good thing, given that he'd had absolutely no idea what to say.
"I suspect, Axel, that there are plenty of things that you're not aware of..." For the first time, Saix's dispassionate manner changed--his golden eyes narrowed, and when he spoke his voice trailed off into a low, threatening, hiss.
"Tch, I haven't got time to play riddles with you, wolf," snarled Axel in response--and he flicked forward the safety of his gun. "I really don't care who you are or what you want. All I know is that you've been trying to hurt--to hurt him--"
And he gestured towards Roxas. Roxas jerked like he'd been slapped, a look of utter confusion on his face--but then his expression brightened, understanding dawning on his face...
"--and I can't allow that." Axel cocked his gun again, his finger hovering dangerously over the trigger. "Even if I won't get any credit for this kill...it'll be entirely worth it."
"Axel..." whispered Roxas, looking stricken.
With that, Axel fired.
The gunshot shattered through the night, loud enough to cause Zexion's ears to ring and set off a car alarm in the distance. He almost shouted a warning at Axel ("Use a silencer, why don't you?"), but anything he'd been about to say became stuck in his throat when he saw--
Saw Saix simply standing there, a streak of blood running down his shoulder from where the bullet had struck but otherwise appearing uninjured. Certainly, he seemed to be feeling no adverse effects from the silver bullet... When the werewolf glanced back up from his shoulder towards Axel again, he was smirking, ever-so-slightly, but the smirk was definitely there and there was no hiding the smug quality in Saix's eyes, twitching in his smirk...
"Is that the best you can do, Axel?" he said, and his voice was laden with sarcasm.
"Damn you to fucking hell!" snarled Axel back in one breath. He raised his gun again and shot--but in an instant Saix transformed into a wolf, blue-furred and filled with feral grace, and leapt readily out of the way of the bullet, which impacted into one of the windows on the Nordstrom behind Saix. The sound of shattering glass rang through the night, but then all was silent again.
Silent, save Axel's fierce, ragged, breathing. Silent, save the tiny choking noises of disbelief Roxas was making as he stared wide-eyed at Saix. Silent, save the sound of Demyx--hyperventilating, it seemed--from behind Zexion. Only Zexion and Saix made no noise, merely watching each other through wary eyes, as the wolf-Saix circled the plaza and Zexion tracked his every moment...
"We have him. The servant," said Zexion after some time, electing to break the silence. He spoke slowly, choosing his words with utmost care; somehow, he knew he had to defuse the situation, with the only weapon he had--words. "That is enough for you, is it not?"
With a growl, the wolf became a man again, and Saix turned to fix Zexion with a withering, golden-eyed stare. Against his will, Zexion flushed a little, flustered by the intensity of Saix's disapproval...but managed to get ahold of himself and meet Saix's gaze with one equally as cold.
"Hardly," retorted Saix, his tone acid. "There's the matter of the slayer Axel to attend to...not to mention, you do realize that three of my underlings are dead..."
He gestured towards the three dead wolves scattered across the plaza. Zexion replied with a snarl.
"That is your fault, then, for not controlling your underlings better. They attempted to kill my servant even though we had already found him. I could have taken him from there, but they saw fit to attack him. What they got was simply what they deserved."
With that, Zexion turned to the side and folded his arms, as if to show that he couldn't care less about Saix's dead wolves--and truthfully, he didn't. Also...he didn't want to see the rage he was sure would be on Saix's face, at hearing a mere incubus insult his underlings... Zexion was aware of Demyx making an abortive motion to comfort him, but Zexion was glad Demyx had decided not to--he didn't think he'd be able to handle Saix's reaction if Demyx acted all...well...mushy...towards Zexion instead of just hyperventilating like he was now.
Saix, as predicted, wasn't pleased with Zexion's response. He emitted a low, discontent, growl that sounded less human than animalistic, and when he spoke, his words were sharp. "You'd do well to show a little more respect, incubus."
Zexion replied before he could think about what he was saying. "I only give respect where respect is due."
He only had time to register a blue bur thundering towards him before he was knocked off his feet and sent flying backwards, slamming hard into the ground. His head made contact with the hard flagstone and stars burst in his vision--Zexion cried out in pain, but could do nothing about it, not when the huge wolf was pinning him down, its claws digging into his chest, its weight pressing insistently down upon him, preventing him from rising...
"Zexion! Damn it--Zexion! Get off him!" Demyx had started shrieking in the background, and Zexion was quite sure the blonde idiot would be jumping around waving his arms and making a complete fool of himself...but Zexion couldn't see Demyx; he could only see Saix's blue muzzle inches from his own face, could only see the hatred blazing in the wolf's feral golden eyes...
"What are you going to do?" continued Zexion; he had no idea why he was still speaking. The best thing to do would be to just shut the hell up and hope Saix took mercy on him, but for some reason Zexion's mouth just kept running against his will. "Kill me? Is that it? Kill me? Are you going to kill me for my insolence?"
The wolf snarled, a low, throbbing sound that Zexion felt as much as he heard. Then, it raised its muzzle, the fury still blazing in its eyes, opened its jaws (bathing Zexion's face in its horrible stinking breath), and lowered its head, obviously preparing to tear open Zexion's throat with its razor-edged fangs...
For some reason, Zexion didn't find himself fearing death much at all. The only thing he regretted at the moment was not being able to say good-bye to Demyx, but that was all right...dying would take care of everything. He wouldn't have to deal with Axel's rage, with Roxas's confusion that was sure to morph into hatred, with the Superior's disapproval--
The Superior.
"Now, now, Saix...I should think that's enough. Kindly remove yourself from Ienzo, please..."
Zexion felt ready to faint, so overwhelmed he was by the Superior's all-powerful, all-encompassing presence--a dread presence, a presence like the darkness, like heavy fog, pressing down on him on all sides and causing his senses to go haywire, filling him with a horrible sinking sensation...but even as lay helpless, trapped by the Superior's presence, Zexion became aware of a lessening of pressure on his chest...became aware that the Saix-wolf had slid gracefully from Zexion's body, to lope towards the opposite end of the plaza, where...
Where the Superior stood. The Superior, alone, his silver hair gleaming in the darkness, his orange eyes burning like dying suns in the dark expanse of his face, his long coat blowing slightly in the night breeze. He stood tall, radiating power and utter, confident, command--the perfect Superior. A faint ghost of a smile at the corners of his lips seemed to imply that he found the current proceedings amusing above all else.
Saix, still a wolf, padded to the Superior's side, and rubbed against Xemnas's leg almost as a cat would affectionately rub its master. Xemnas unleashed a slight, satisfied chuckle and placed his hand on Saix's head, absently stroking the silky blue fur.
Zexion wasn't mollified, though, by this tender display from Xemnas--if anything, it just made him leap even more to his guard. Slowly, Zexion pulled himself up so that he was kneeling: he didn't stand, as he didn't trust his legs to support him. No, he was shaking too hard...still struggling to draw breath after his encounter with Saix. For a brief moment, Zexion feared he would fall over again--but the smell of sea-salt drifted in his direction, and a warm hand rested on his shoulder, steadying him...
Zexion turned slightly, but knew what he'd see--Demyx standing by his side, his hand on Zexion's shoulder, a gentle and reassuring smile on his face. His eyes were still red-rimmed from when he'd cried, earlier, and there was a quavering, hesistant, quality to his smile--but the intent behind the gesture was clear, and Zexion found it all too easy to return Demyx's smile with a slight one of his own.
That was right...no matter what happened...Demyx was there for Zexion... Always.
But then moment was shattered by Axel's voice, raw with disbelief and confusion, shrieking, "What the hell is going on? Who the hell are YOU???"
Zexion whipped around that instant to face the Superior, and he knew Demyx had done the same. Now, everyone's attention--his, Demyx's, Axel's, Roxas's, Saix's--was all focused on Xemnas. On the man whom Zexion knew as the leader of the Coven of Thirteen...and on the man whom Demyx and Axel knew as a powerful, long-dead slayer from the early nineteenth century.
"I don't understand!" Axel continued, his voice shaking from frustration-born-of-fury. "The fuck are you--I mean--you're--you look just like--no, you are--you're Xemnas! But you're--you're dead!"
"Is that really so now, Axel...?" said Xemnas, and the amusement in his smirk became even more pronounced. "I wonder..."
"S-Superior." Zexion found that, again, he'd spoken without thinking, the name tumbling unbidden from his mouth. For a moment, he wondered--hoped, more like--that he'd been too quiet for anyone to hear, but that moment was quickly ruined when the Superior turned his direction, now looking inquisitive.
"Ahh...Ienzo. What is it?"
Superior..." Despite himself, Zexion flushed bright red; he was just too...too flustered to think properly. To deal with the Superior properly...and just what was he, a mere incubus, thinking about, he could never deal with the Superior, ever, he could only sit back and accept the Superior's judgments...
By now, Zexion had become aware of the silence, in the utter stillness of the dark night. He became aware of all the eyes trained on his form--aware that everyone was staring at him, intently, waiting for what he had to say. It made him uncomfortable, being on the spotlight right here and now of all places, in front of the Superior, yet...yet he could see no way out of this. He had to speak.
"Superior...I...ah...I was wondering...ah..." Zexion had to clear his throat to continue, and shake his head to get his thoughts in order. "Superior...who...what...who are you?"
Much to Zexion's surprise, Xemnas replied with a--a chuckle, one of his familiar low, insidiously-amused laughs. "Obviously, Ienzo, I am your Superior."
"I--I know--I am aware of that!" Zexion flushed brighter, even more embarrassed--who the hell was he, to take that sharp tone with the Superior? But Xemnas looked more amused than disapproving, so Zexion felt free to plunge onwards. "I mean...Superior...I was wondering...after all...to them, you are..."
He paused, unable to think of what else to say, how exactly to phrase his confusion...and that worried him. Hadn't he always prided his ability with words? But before Xemnas, before the Superior, at this moment...what could he say? How could any word, how could any clever phrase, stand against the Superior's steady gaze, the Superior's confident smirk?
So he fell silent, and trusted that the Superior understood what he meant. He was helped, somewhat, though, by Demyx speaking up, in a high voice tinged with something approaching hysteria.
"Y-yeah! Zexy's right--tell us what's going on! I mean, I know you're Xemnas and you're the Algieran slayer from the 1820's, so why are you here, and why are you a vampire? It doesn't make any sense!"
Zexion turned around slightly to glance at Demyx. The blonde slayer was facing Xemnas, his hands clenched into fists, his entire body shaken, his expression one of mingled confusion and frustration. Zexion sympathized entirely, and almost moved to Demyx to return the earlier sympathetic gesture, and place a comforting hand on Demyx's shoulder, but at that moment the night breeze blew a fresh wave of Demyx's tantalizing sea-salt scent in Zexion's direction, and Zexion's backed down, shaken by the sudden desire that had seized him--the desire to just grab Demyx and sink his fangs into the slayer's neck and lap up his sweet, hot, freshly-flowing blood...
He shook his head to clear it, and took another nervous step backwards, putting more distance between himself and Demyx.
The Superior didn't seem bothered at all by Demyx's near-hysterical ramblings, and spoke calmly in response. "'Zexy', now? That comes from Ienzo's outside name, does it not...Zexion. Zexy. Hmm. How...cute."
"That's not what I was--damn you--just answer my question damn it!" cried Demyx, flushing a horrible shade of red rather reminiscent of a beetroot.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zexion noticed Axel watching Xemnas with unusual intentness...and Zexion realized with a cold jolt exactly why. No--don't--no, Superior--don't tell him my true name! Don't--!
"How insistent you are, Demyx," said the Superior, an amused edge to his tone. "But very well...I suppose I haven't got anything to lose by telling you...come, Saix."
The Saix-wolf nodded slowly, once, and then became a man again. Saix stood by Xemnas's side, not protesting when Xemnas wrapped an arm around Saix's waist even while facing the motley assortment of slayers and vampires gathered in the plaza. Now, the Superior's presence had...had changed. All of the amusement was gone, replaced by something deeper, darker, and far more terrible...something Zexion didn't understand and didn't want to understand. Something that burned deep beneath the Superior's eyes, dark and malevolent...
"You are right--all of you. I am Xemnas, the accomplished vampire slayer who lived in the early eighteen hundreds. But I am also the Superior, the leader of the Coven of Thirteen."
"How? How--Superior--how can that be?" It took Zexion a moment to realize that he had spoken, so quiet and strained his voice had come out. "You can't be a made vampire, you wouldn't be--"
"No, of course not, Ienzo." Zexion stiffened unconsciously--again, the Superior was blithely addressing him by his real name... "Not in the conventional sense, at the very least..."
"What's that mean?" shouted Demyx loudly, before Zexion could speak--yet Zexion felt with a tingle of understanding that he might just know what Xemnas was talking about...yet it didn't seem right, either...
"Neither was I given the Gift, if that's what you're thinking, Ienzo," said Xemnas, speaking over Demyx, his tone almost sharp--but also amused. Demyx and Roxas looked even more confused, but Zexion understood, and Axel did too, if the tiny jerk of a nod he gave at Xemnas's words was any indication. "No...my case was, well...shall we say...a special case..."
"Special? How?" said Axel roughly.
"I'm getting there, Axel," said Xemnas, though he didn't sound exasperated at all--although Saix glowered at Axel. "All of you...you are all aware of the method of making a vampire slayer?"
"Huh? What?" said Demyx, sounding utterly perplexed, but then, "Oh--! You mean, with the blood--"
"Yes," said Xemnas serenely. "Now, Demyx and Axel...this is where your assumptions about my nature are correct. Some two hundred years ago...I was the vampire slayer Xemnas, the scion of one of the oldest vampire slaying clans in the world. By tradition, my family had long used the blood of the griffin...but my parents were rather...experimental...by nature. They had begun to worry about the growing power of pureblood vampires...and sought a way to combat it. Sought the blood of a creature stronger than the griffin to impart upon their son..."
Zexion stood where he was, rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to close his ears, listening with increasing horror as Xemnas spoke, with the increasing feeling that he did not want to know the truth...
"What kind of creature, though, could match a vampire equally in combat?" Xemnas had begun to pace up and down, his hands folded behind his back, his orange eyes turned to the sky, seemingly ignorant of everyone, of Saix beside him, of the four others watching him... "My parents eventually came to the obvious conclusion: Only a vampire."
"No--!" Axel reacted first, breathing sharply and taking a startled step backwards. He lifted his gun arm, which had been dangling limply by his side ever since Saix had evaded his last shot, and raised his gun by a tiny fraction--but enough to see that he was pointing it at Xemnas. "They couldn't have, that's insane--!"
"Oh, but they did, Axel," said Xemnas, his tone dark, silky. "That's right...when I was very young...only around three, or perhaps four, they injected me with two drops--simply two drops--of vampiric blood. That was enough, though...enough to give me heightened senses, greater powers, strength beyond that any human could have had. And my existence, at least for the first twenty-five or so years of my life...seemed to vindicate my parents' theory. I was indeed far stronger, far more talented, than any other vampire slayer at the time. Perhaps stronger than any vampire slayer before me. Kill after kill I racked up, until I had become widely acknowledged as the greatest vampire slayer in all the world."
Zexion stared in amazement at the Superior. The words washed over him, meaning nothing, yet eliciting a rising sensation of mingled dread and disbelief within the incubus. Injected with vampiric blood...stronger, more talented, than any other vampire slayer...greatest vampire slayer in the world... None of it made any sense. How could the Superior, the leader of the most powerful coven in the world, also have been the world's greatest vampire slayer two centuries before? Vampire slayers didn't just turn into vampires, unless they were made (as Zexion had done with Roxas). But the Superior couldn't be made, he had to be a pureblood vampire...
"It seemed perfect, and indeed, other experiments were planned, experiments to create vampire slayers from the blood of vampires. But...but not all was well." Xemnas had stopped pacing, and his expression became pensive, distant, focused on a point that only he could see. "You see...as I grew older, with every year...I began to change. It started simply...simply with an urge, a subliminal urge, buried deep within my blood...but then it escalated from there."
Nobody spoke. The silence pressed thick and dark around them, surrounding them like a heavy, muffling, blanket. When Xemnas spoke again, his words seemed to carry the age and wisdom of centuries, the melancholy of a dying star.
"At first, I became irritated at simple things, things I never would have noticed before. Things like light...and the silver weapons I handled every night, as I chased down my quarry, began to feel heavy and strange in my hands, became almost painful to handle. I noticed my body changing...my canines sharpening...my senses becoming even more finely tuned than they had been before. And above all--I began to crave blood. I didn't understand it, at first. I didn't understand the urge that stabbed through my veins every time I came near a human, every time I inhaled the scent of their blood...but you understand, don't you, Ienzo?"
"Yes, Superior." Zexion spoke in barely a whisper, and nodded. He understood what the Superior was talking about--understood too well the burning hunger, the desire for blood...and once again, was forced to turn his thoughts away from Demyx.
"I might not have understood the urge...but I knew enough to fear it. I began to isolate myself from humans, but of course, that did nothing for me but delay the inevitable. And the simple matter was, I was still a vampire slayer. I still had to fulfill my obligations...still had to hunt down the vampires. It was during a mission, in fact, that everything changed...that I turned from Xemnas the slayer into the Superior, the vampire..."
Zexion could no nothing, nothing but stand where he was, chilled to the core of his being by the Superior's words, and listen, listen, always listen, as the Superior spoke, as the Superior told his horrifying story...
"It was a purely routine mission, routine in every way. I still remember it...the December of 1823, only days from the winter solstice. I, along with three other vampire slayers, was given orders to pursue a den of pureblood vampires in Romania. We went, we found the vampires, and we engaged them in battle. Routine, as I said. We slaughtered most of the vampires quickly...but even as I fought, I felt the silver staves in my hands burn...and I felt the desire in my blood, stronger than it ever had been before--"
"You don't mean--" gasped Axel, sounding stricken.
Xemnas continued speaking as if Axel hadn't even spoken. "And then...when the mission was over...not only did the pureblood Romanian vampires lie dead...but my three 'comrades' did too. They lay dead, pale as ice, their blood streaming in rivulets from the holes in their necks...that is, the few remaining ounces of blood that I hadn't consumed in my raging hunger..."
"Oh, God..." For a brief, wild, moment, Zexion didn't recognize the voice--but then realized that this was Demyx behind him, shivering and pale-faced, looking ready to retch, his voice high-pitched and trembling from horror. A horror that Zexion felt quite acutely, rising from the pit of his stomach and spreading through his frozen veins...
"That night, I discovered why no vampire slayer had ever used vampiric blood to create a slayer. The blood was far too powerful--even a single drop, less than I had been given, would have been enough to subdue a human's blood. Over the past three decades, my vampiric blood had been slowly taking control, spreading through my veins, overwhelming my natural human blood, until I finally, that fateful night...it burst forth, completely shut down my human instincts...and transformed me into a vampire."
Zexion gasped sharply at Xemnas's words, but lost the sound of his own gasp beneath the horrified buzzing that had seized his ears, beneath the startled cry Demyx had released, beneath the sound of Axel's shocked curse, and the rather curious sound Roxas had released--half a groan, half a choke. A part of the incubus wondered darkly why everyone was so surprised, though...he had been expecting this, ever since Xemnas had declared that he had been infused with vampiric blood, yet...
Yet it all seemed so...so impossible. So fantastical, so insane, so...it just didn't make sense. So Xemnas had been infused with vampiric blood, but didn't that make him a made vampire...? Yet Zexion was certain that the Superior was a pureblood; he couldn't be a made vampire and be as powerful as he was now...Zexion shook his head to clear it, but no elucidation came. He was still as perplexed as ever before...
"How...how, Superior...how can you be--be a made vampire?" Zexion spoke, once again, without thinking--but this time, his words matched his thoughts exactly. This was what he'd been wondering, what had been frustrating him...he even dared a glance at the Superior, to see Xemnas just standing there, looking serene as always, and Saix by his side, hardly confused at all--so the wolf knew all this...
"Because, Ienzo...I am not a made vampire," said the Superior, an amused smirk spreading across his face. "No, don't interrupt--listen. I am not a made vampire. I am the rarest of creatures...something that perhaps has never existed before, and never will again...I am a human given vampiric blood. And because of that...I am a vampire. A vampire with all the strength, all the speed, all the reflexes, all the wisdom, of a pureblood. Perhaps even stronger, even better, than a pureblood. I am not a stagnant creature as pureblood vampires are, but one created through constant change, through the blood cycling through my veins--you understand, don't you, Ienzo?"
"I...I'm afraid I don't quite, Superior..." said Zexion cautiously. And he didn't. If the Superior had been speaking cryptically before...now, he was speaking nonsense.
"That's perfectly all right; I expect there are limits to the understanding of an incubus..." Xemnas unleashed a heavy, almost theatrical, sigh. "But never mind that. You see, Ienzo--all of you--that as the years have passed, the vampiric blood flowing through my veins has only grown stronger. What was once merely two tiny drops has become the very essence of my being. Every year, my vampiric instincts, my abilities, strengthen...do you see now? This is the true power of vampiric blood; this is the reason why it has never been used to create a vampire slayer. The true power of vampiric blood is its ability to strengthen over time, its ability to suppress, to transform, to completely take over the body of its host...its ability to create a vampire far more powerful than any, pureblood or made, that has ever lived."
A glint that Zexion could only describe as mad was now shining in the Superior's orange eyes, and his smirk had tightened, become more threatening...Zexion took a step backwards, startled by the change that had come over the Superior's countenance, the Superior's bearing. He didn't know what it could mean, but it couldn't mean anything good...
"What the--the hell, that doesn't--how the hell do you think I can believe that? That doesn't make any fucking sense!"
Zexion turned in Axel's direction, alarmed by the shaky, near-panicking tone to the redheaded slayer's voice. Axel was standing, but just barely--he was shaking like a madman and though he had his gun aimed straight at Xemnas's chest, Zexion was sure that the bullet would never find its mark when fired; Axel was just trembling too much to get off a good shot.
Xemnas's smirk simply tightened when he saw Axel, not seeming to care at all about the gun aimed at his chest. "Now, now, Axel...you ought to be careful with that..."
"God damn you to fucking hell!" snarled Axel in one heated breath. He raised the gun again, but his arm was shaking insanely. "You--you--what is all this nonsense, this--this--vampire blood crap, this--and why are you with that werewolf, I thought vampires and werewolves were--"
"Ah? Saix?" Xemnas tilted his head slightly to his side, while extending one arm towards Saix--Saix, acknowledging the gesture, stepped closer to Xemnas's side, and Xemnas wrapped his arm around the werewolf's waist. It took all of Zexion's willpower to keep from squeezing his eyes shut from disgust... "Well...we met, one day, not very long ago...and I quickly became enthralled by him. And, or so I like to believe, he by me. Before we knew it...we had formed our alliance. The Coven of Thirteen, and Saix's pack."
Zexion couldn't help it--upon the Superior's words, he gnashed his teeth and emitted a disgusted scoff. He regretted his reaction, though, when Xemnas noticed.
"But Ienzo doesn't seem to think much about our new alliance, do you now, Ienzo?" Then, to Zexion's horror, Xemnas turned to face Zexion, a teasing quality shining in his eyes...a quality that Zexion didn't quite like. "Well? Have you got anything to say, Ienzo?"
"N...no, Superior..." hissed Zexion, turning angrily to the side so that he didn't have to meet the Superior's eyes any longer.
"You seem upset. Do you not like my alliance with Saix, Ienzo?" The Superior pressed on, cruelly, his words stabbing like icy knives against Zexion's ears.
"It is not in my place to question you, Superior," replied Zexion in a low mumble, lowering his head, letting his hair fall into both of his eyes and hide his face from the Superior's scrutiny...but no. There was no hiding, and definitely no hiding his hatred of Saix, of the stupid wolf leaning so languidly by the Superior's side...
"Now, now, Ienzo..." said the Superior, clucking disapprovingly. "I won't tolerate any lying...after all, if you really weren't concerned over my alliance with Saix...you wouldn't have treated him so insolently earlier, now, would you have?"
"S-Superior...!" Zexion jerked in shock, unwillingly staring back at the Superior and Saix. Xemnas was regarding him with the same patronizing playfulness as before, while Saix had on a strange, pleased, half-smirk...but of course, he'd be pleased to see Zexion receive his comeuppance. And Xemnas did know about Zexion's earlier insolence towards Saix...
"You only give respect where respect is due, do you now, hmm?" Xemnas continued speaking, his tone light, but tangible disapproval now shining beneath every word. "Well, I will tell you this, Ienzo--Saix is due respect. He is due respect because he is my second-in-command, my valuable ally. I will not have you, a mere incubus, treat him with rudeness and disrespect. You do understand, don't you, Ienzo?"
"Yes, Superior..." Zexion lowered his head again, feeling his face burn. There were no lies, no secrets, before the Superior...the always undivinable Superior...
"That's good, then...that's good," said the Superior, but his tone was somewhat distracted. But then, with a sudden dose of sharpness, "Still, I figure a little...punishment...ought to to drill the lesson home to you..."
And Zexion realized with a startled jolt that the Superior's overwhelming scent of darkness and cold command was moving ever closer in his direction...and that the sound of footsteps ringing across the flagstone was steadily approaching him...
But then, before Zexion could react properly, a presence of sea-salt and ocean-breeze drifted in front of him, and alarmed, Zexion opened his eyes to see--
To see Demyx, standing defensively in front of Zexion, his arms thrown out and a look of determination--tempered by nervousness--on his face. He was shaking badly, but the gesture had been enough to stop the Superior dead in his tracks, about two yards from Zexion, looking surprised, but less in a shocked than quizzical manner.
"Well, well..." he said quietly. "We meet again, Demyx...seeing as you're still alive, I suppose it's safe to assume that Ienzo didn't decide to eat you...?"
"Yeah, whatever, who cares?" retorted Demyx in a high-pitched, strained voice--but he continued to stand his ground, defending Zexion...
"Demyx..." said Zexion, barely above a whisper, staring up at Demyx's back, at the blonde slayer guarding him, protecting him, blocking him fron the Superior...at the man who had said he loved Zexion...who had hugged Zexion, and kissed him, and reassured him that everything would be all right...who had wept while his dreams had been blasted apart, but then who had placed a comforting hand on Zexion's shoulder...
Zexion blinked, hard, and shook his head to get his thoughts in order again. It wouldn't do to get lost, not here, not now...
"Now, Demyx, kindly move out of the way," said the Superior, taking a step closer towards Zexion. Demyx did not back down, though his body convulsed in a violent shiver.
"I won't!" he shouted, still in that high, strained voice. "I won't! I won't sit back and let you hurt him--!"
For the first time, Xemnas's serene countenance cracked; an ugly expression spasmed across his face, his orange eyes narrowed, and the corner of his mouth twitched unpleasantly. When he spoke, he addressed Zexion, and his voice was dark with disapproval.
"Ienzo...now, what gives you the right to complain about how supposedly 'wrong' and 'disgusting' my relationship with Saix is...when you are in a relationship even more disgusting? Imagine that...food, of all things..."
Zexion lowered his head further, not wanting to endure more of the Superior's fury...and he knew, inwardly, that the Superior was right. That this was the reason why he refused to let his relationship with Demyx become just that--a relationship. Because Demyx was a human, and he was a vampire. "You're meat, the lot of you," he had said to Demyx, and that was right--that was all humans were, meat, and Demyx was too, no matter how often he might have protected Zexion, comforted Zexion, kissed Zexion, smiled and said to Zexion, "I love you"--
"Demyx, back down," he said quietly--too quietly, he thought for a moment, for Demyx too hear. But Demyx did hear, because he glanced back towards Zexion, looking stricken.
"What--? You serious? No way, Zexion, I'm not abandoning you to him--"
"Ah, well...never matter..." Xemnas took another, then another, threatening step forward, closing the distance between himself and Demyx... "I can handle a mere human slayer. You're nothing but an obstacle..."
With those words, to Zexion's horror, Xemnas slowly extended a threatening hand forward, his claws gleaming in the moonlight...obviously prepared to snatch Demyx by the throat and--
Zexion almost leapt up to--to do something, he supposed--but before he could, a gunshot shattered the silence for the fifth time that night, and Xemnas reeled back in surprise, dark blood spilling from a point on his chest, staining his coat with grotesquely shining liquid...
To the left of Demyx stood Axel, his gun held before him, his arm trembling again--this time not from being overwhelmed, but from fury. Corrosive hatred was etched in every line of Axel's face as he glared at Xemnas, and his mouth was twisted in a horrible snarl. He looked barely human, so seized with wild rage he was, yet Zexion felt he understood the dark fury emanating from Axel's entire being, felt he understood the instinct that had propelled the slayer to take on a vampire too powerful for him to beat...
"You take another step closer to him--you try to hurt him again--and I'll shoot your fucking head off, do you HEAR me?" snarled Axel, pouring all of his fury into his words, shaking even more violently now.
"Y...yeah." This was Roxas, struggling to his feet as well, and taking a place by Axel's side. "Don't...don't hurt Demyx."
Xemnas stared back and forth between Axel and Roxas, his eyes wide from surprise--but then he threw back his head and unleashed a deep, supremely satisfied laugh, sounding as if he hadn't seen anything more amusing before in his life. He didn't even seem to register any pain from the bullet wound.
"A ha ha ha ha....ohhh...how amusing, how utterly amusing..." The Superior chuckled weakly again, shaking his head in a paternally exasperated manner. "Do you all love Demyx, then? Given how willing you are to die for him...?"
"It isn't like that, fucking vamp," retorted Axel in a low snarl, the corner of his mouth twitching unpleasantly. He continued aiming his gun at Xemnas's chest, even though his previous bullet had had little effect. "It's just that if you hurt my people...I'm gonna have to hurt you."
"Go ahead, Axel. Hurt me, if you can..." Xemans laughed again, and to emphasize his point, he reached out and wiped the blood from the front of his coat, not even flinching when he ran his hand directly over the bullet wound.
"And he is not alone." This was Saix, stepping forward, a threatening gleam to his golden eyes. "If you are really as intelligent as you think you are, Ienzo, you will stand down and come quietly with us, to face your punishment. Come."
Zexion didn't move at Saix's order, though--not only because he didn't want to, but because...he couldn't. He just couldn't summon up any strength in his legs, any strength to stand and obey Saix and Xemnas and hope that they would take mercy on him...he could only remain where he was, kneeling on the ground behind Demyx, watching helplessly...
"You're not moving?" This was Xemnas, taking a step closer--although a slightly more cautious one than before; perhaps he didn't want to risk getting shot by Axel again. "I will give you one last chance, Ienzo: Move. Now."
"Nghhh...." Zexion knew with a pounding in his blood, with a rushing in his ears, that he had to move...that he had to stand and approach the Superior and beg for forgiveness, but...but he couldn't find the energy within him. The will. The will to surrender himself to the Superior...
But not just that. Because surrendering himself to the Superior meant not just giving himself up for punishment...but also giving up Demyx. Xemnas wouldn't allow Demyx to live; not after everything Demyx had done for Zexion's sake, and all the things Zexion had done for Demyx. To Xemnas, Demyx was a dangerous influence on Zexion, was an entity that deserved to be silenced. Silenced...and Zexion had the nasty suspicion that Xemnas would eat Demyx to accomplish that, or worse, force Zexion to eat Demyx...
And Axel and Roxas, too...Xemnas couldn't allow them to live, particularly after Axel had shot at Xemnas. Roxas was slated for death no matter what; killing a vampire's servants was a routine part of his punishment. And while Zexion might not have cared for Roxas that much, and definitely felt little more than antipathy towards Axel, to...to see them die on his account...
No. He couldn't allow that to happen.
"Come, Ienzo," Xemnas was saying, over and over again, his tone soft and cajoling. "Ienzo, come here. Move. Come to your Superior. Come, Ienzo...come, incubus..."
"Hurry," said Saix, somewhat more insistently. "Hurry and move, incubus, we haven't got all day..."
Slowly, hesistantly, Zexion did begin to move...somehow, he managed to find the strength within his frozen muscles to pull himself from a kneel to a crouch, and then, trembling, a cold sweat shimmering on the back of his neck, he forced himself to stand. For a heart-stopping moment, Zexion feared that he would fall over--his legs were trembling too much--but managed to steady himself in time, enough so that he could stand by his own power. He turned his gaze from Demyx's back to Xemnas and Saix, both fixing him with expectant looks.
"Zexy, what are you--" gasped Demyx, turning slightly to shoot Zexion a confused glance, while Axel cursed loudly when he saw Zexion's movement.
"That's good," said Xemnas, taking another step closer to Zexion, a dangerous smirk spreading across his face. "That's very good. Now come here, Ienzo. Come to your Superior."
Zexion straightened his shoulders, met Xemnas's eyes, and replied in as steady a voice as he could muster:
"No."
Holee...that was all one scene....
I feel evil for leaving things off on a cliffhanger, so here's a preview for chapter next, "Darkness":
He was talking down to Zexion, treating Zexion like a child or worse. No, like an incubus. Zexion gritted his teeth and took another step backwards, closer to Demyx's sea-salt and ocean breeze presence. No one moved; all were tense, waiting, waiting for the inevitable reaction. There could be no turning back now, once Zexion had openly defied the Superior. He could never, even if he eventually came to regret this decision, crawl back to the Superior and beg for forgiveness. He'd irrevocably put a chasm between himself and the Superior. In a way, that frightened him, but at the same time, in strengthened him, gave him a sense of fierce resolve.
Pretty long, huh...? Anyway, with chapter twenty, the second part Tainted But Beautiful, "The Secrets" will be over and done with. We're almost two thirds the way through! Wow, a fanfiction that's thirty chapters long...though that's nothing compared to my fantasy novel, which if my plotting is correct will have thirty-six frakking chapters. But if that's the way things must be, then it is the way things will be...
I'm very happy that I'm returning to this story, because I love it to pieces, and hope to be able to update it semi-regularly. Although I haven't finished chapter twenty yet, so it'll be some time before it comes up. But I am definitely not abandoning Tainted But Beautiful! Keep the reviews coming, people. :)