He began walking towards the other path and walked slowly. A breeze had started up and Axl cursed at every bit of cold that nipped at his pale face. The streetlights lightened the pathway, yet Axl could swear they did absolutely no good. He was trying to keep his eyes open and focused, but the darkness was making him more nervous and edgy than battle-ready.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!” A girl’s scream filled the night. Axl could swear he could smell something sweet and warm. The sensation was undeniable…so tempting.

Another scream came, breaking Axl’s thoughts. He took off running in the direction of the fatal cry of help. Following the weakening sound of the scream, he finally stumbled upon the scene of an attack.

Gotcha. Axl screamed victoriously in his mind. He hid behind a tree. Glancing over, he saw a tall dark figure crouched over a young girl. One of his hands went over her mouth and the other was fiddling with her pants and blouse; removing neither in her struggling. Something in situation Axl saw wasn’t quite right.

He clicked the trigger back and moved quickly. He grabbed the dark figure by his hair and held the gun to the back of his head.

“Didn’t someone teach you that ‘no’ means ‘no’?” Axl growled at the stranger. “I suggest you go home—,” Axl suddenly paused. He stared at the girl lying on the ground with wide eyes. She was bleeding from a slash on the side of her neck on her main artery point….

He’s….an vampyre?….How?! Axl’s thoughts broke; he watched the blood leave from her neck, spilling on the dirt. A sweet fragrance made its way to his senses and made his tongue and throat tingle in a raging matter. Axl staggered back and his gun fell from his trembling hand as dizziness took over him. He could feel his heart slamming against his chest as he gazed at the blood. His pulse was speeding and echoing in his ears. He could feel her pain, her thoughts screamed in his head and he watched her life flash through his eyes.

Wh-what’s this?! Axl clenched his head and chest. His spine began to ache in unbearable agony, the screams and thoughts were getting louder, becoming more and more undeniable. His teeth grinded together as he tried to fight the pain in his head and the nausea in his stomach that had building up dramatically.

A strong hand made its way around Axl’s thin throat.

The dark shadow pushed him up against a streetlight post, a nail or something stabbed its way into Axl’s back, causing a scream of pain to escape from his lungs. Axl opened his eyes to see a pair of blood red eyes and a wide smile filled with sharp teeth, stained with crimson liquid that smelled so good to Axl’s senses.

Axl pulled at the chain attached to his gun, but it was caught on something and he was losing strength quickly, suffocating slowly with his throat being crushed under the weight of the vampyre’s strong hand. But the feeling of breathlessness didn’t snap the screams and thoughts inside his head. He could feel her soul…he could feel it burning through him….sizzling in her blood…and it was unbearable….unreal….and it was slowly sucking the life from him.

Why…won’t it stop?! Axl shouted in his head. He could feel the air slowly evading his lungs as he attempted to kick and punch the monster from him, but the throbbing pain he was feeling in his head and the turning of his stomach kept his strength down. He felt paralyzed.

“So…you’ve been hired to kill me huh?” the monster spoke. “Well it looks like things are not going according to your plans tonight.”

Axl watched in utter horror as the monster flicked out a knife from under his sleeve. It protruded closer to his neck. But suddenly, the grip on his neck weakened. Axl fell to the ground and looked up in a dizzy haze of blurred vision. His aching heart still pulsing under his chest, and silent ringing flooded his ears as his sight came in and out of focus. A pointy tip of a blade was sticking out of the monster’s chest, while an angry Rev held the other end.

“Keep your filthy hands off my friend…..monster.” Rev growled before forcefully withdrawing the sword from the monster’s chest, sticking it through the skull in one swift movement of the stake. The cold blood splattered onto Axl’s sweaty face as he observed, wide-eyed at Rev’s amazing kill. The vampyre slumped forward and before it hit the floor….it was dead.

The aroma that had spun Axl’s mind lingered on his senses like forbidden fruit. Rev knelt in front of him, blocking his view of the girl and the small pool of her sweet-smelling blood. He felt his eyes strain…watching a black eerie glow shade around her….

“Axl?” Axl heard his name being called so faintly, as if it were being called across the earth’s end. “Axl, man? You alright?”

Axl slumped forward limply, landing in Rev’s arms. His throat became intolerably parched…and slowly….his lightheadedness took over him….

What….is….happening….to me? Axl blacked out, hearing nothing but Rev’s concerned cries and the weakening defeat of his fading thoughts….

Rance Rose sat with his heavy black boots propped up onto the comfortable setting of his desk. He felt the need of a long-needed nap to ease his growing nerves. Much to his displeasure, the vampyre ruler he had disposed off had been resurfaced. He gained this information from a little bat named Opal Sirius. Spineless little SEE elite he favored. SEE elites were very interesting at times, much because they were vampyres working for a slayer corporation. They had loads and loads of information breaking out of the seams of their bug fanged mouths. The door of his office flew open, his eyes glanced up to catch glimpse of the sweet face he needed for his long, drawn out plans. Through the mess of his curled, shaggy black hair, Rance grinned to the girl deemed the best of the SEE slayers. “You wanted to see me?” she hissed so utterly disgusted by the foolish beckoning Rance had sent. She seemed annoyed. Rance nodded to the sweet little petite figure, dressed in a leather tank top-like corset, black and dull, lifting to mid-drift over her flat stomach. A fishnet layered over the skin of her tummy, not hiding the heavy thick ink of a rose tattoo onto her side. Her outfit completed with a pair of black skinny jeans that cut low, with a pair of calf-high, leather boots. A twin set of Artemis guns were strapped onto her sides. Oh she wasn’t ugly. Rance grinned at the very thought that this may be his bride someday soon. “Oh yes, dear. I have a little job for you. It’ll be quick and easy.” Rance said, sliding a little file folder to the girl. She picked it up and opened it, the shadows hide her face, but her mouth was barely visible under the shadowed dim light of the lamp on Rance’s desk. “I won’t do this.” She said throwing the folder onto the table, turning to leave quickly. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” He cooed from his desk, following it was a light chuckle. The girl halted in the abrupt set of her steps. Her hand had not yet reaching the door handle, when Rance grabbed her wrist, turning her to face him. “It’s either this, or killing your precious little family….or watching both as my bride. Either way, the choice is completely yours my darling girl.” The girl grit her teeth, painfully biting her lip, a little blood ran down her chin as she snatched her hand away. She thought through her mind, wondering if maybe…just maybe she could kill him. But an Artemis gun wouldn’t kill a human man. “I’ll take the Blacklowe boy.” She choked out. Rance grinned a toothy victorious smirk. “Good girl.” He whispered to her, sending a chill through her body. She ran out of the office when he opened the door. Rance watched her dash off into the dark hallway. “Either way, my dear, I’m going to kill everyone anyway. Don’t waste your energy thinking otherwise…” he smirked to himself, shutting the door to his office with a content smile. Axl Blacklowe…would be dead soon. That was all he needed to know. ~ . ~ The city lights were bright and glowing, lovely in all the sense of warmth of Axl’s vision. The sight in itself was lovely and beautiful. Nothing could compare to it. From the city hall building, Axl could feel the summer’s breeze kick up under his feet, swarming around him to surround him in warm peace. His home, the wonderful home he had been in for so long. Yet the atmosphere was so unsafe feeling. It was dark, and even though the air was warm……Axl felt colder than death. And suddenly, the stinging pain shoots through his back, all the way through his chest. He feels something warm and wet as he grips his shirt. His eyes drift down to the bloody mess of a wooden point, sticking out of his chest. A stake. And so softly, coldly, and full of unregrettable anger slip from a tongue….who’s voice was not mistakable. “You pretended to be my friend….” Axl looks back at a pair of auburn brown eyes. Those same eyes that had watched him grow…watched his family fall, and watched Axl’s entire world collapse from under him. Rev…. ~ . ~ Axl jolted forward in waking from his terrible nightmare as he cursed under his panicked breath, being caught by a pair of strong hands. “Hey, man! Easy, easy. You’re fine.” A shocked Rev cooed easily to Axl. He eased a little and Rev’s hands released Axl’s tense shoulders. Axl couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with his friend…..flashbacks of the nightmare clouded his mind. Axl’s blue hues glanced around the comfort of his bedroom. He was still in his slayer clothes, tucked away under the warmth of his blankets. Rev suddenly observed Axl closely, eyeballing him while scratching at his chin like a cheesy actor playing a dramatic doctor. “You alright man? Are you traumatized? You remember my name?” Rev smirked after he asked his questions. “Shut up Rev. And get away from my face. Personal space, man. Personal space.” was all that Axl could muster to say. Rev just gave Axl a blank stare before turning away chuckling under his smirk. “Well, at least you remember my name. But just in case, what’s April Bowman’s phone number?” Rev asked with a toothy grin. Receiving a pillow being thrown at him, Rev burst into laughter, finding his humor amusing. “Geeze, can’t a guy get lucky?” Rev grinned after tossing the pillow back on the bed. Axl flopped backward, landing on the hard mattress. His face was covered with sweat and his hair felt damp and tangled from it as well. He ran a hand through his hair and down his face. He wasn’t in the laughing mood, considering the nightmare had to deal with Rev killing him with a stake. His own best friend….had ended his life in a real realistic dream. It was frightening, more frightening than anything he’d ever seen or felt…or experienced. And he fought and killed vampyres. “You going to school? You don’t look so good, so maybe you should just chill here at home. I’ll tell the Johnson’s you have a touch of the flu.” Rev asked fiddling through his own backpack. Axl cringed at the thought of school. Their weekend had gone by so fast. Successfully, Rev located a clean red shirt to match his tan khaki pants and red skull belt. Rev may have been a d bag about things, but he gave a crap about what he looked like. He had to especially care if he was hoping to get a date like April Bowman for the Winter Solstice Dance. Axl shuddered at the thought. The Solstice Ball was the winter formal of Astoria High. The one dance that he was forced to attend every year because of his dear best friend, Rev Crowe: who for some reason choked on his smooth skills at dances? Axl supposed Rev cracked under the pressure of corsages and what color dress his date was wearing…or the fact that he actually had to talk to the bimbo he decided to take. Things so superficial like dances in high school made Axl gag. He hated being Rev’s right hand sometimes, because he was thrown into social graces like dances and parties almost instantly. Finally, Axl drug himself out of bed, though his body was sore and wanted otherwise. He contemplated on Rev’s suggestion to stay home. “Naw. I’m going to school. I don’t like being cooped up. The fresh air will do me some good.” Axl finally responded to Rev, who had slipped into his red shirt with a satisfied grin. He ruffled his blonde locks of flawless hair and gave the mirror a famous smirky grin. Rev finally snapped out of his conceited state and glanced over to Axl, who was now brushing his teeth. Though it was a painful thing since his jaw was hurting worse than yesterday. “I think you should duck out for the day. You totally collapsed the other day.” Rev said leaning on the doorframe in his lazy poise. Axl eyed him with a ‘please-don’t interfere-with-my-sulking’ face, spitting plague and toothpaste into the sinking, grasping his jaw tight. The pain was getting really annoying. Rev shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to sign onto Axl’s laptop. Axl changed into a black t-shirt that had ‘ur ugly, lol’ written on it. A gift from the oh-so-lovely Rev. Slipping into the comfort of tight, navy blue jeans and a pair of Converse that were ridden and ragged with age. Several girls (and Rev) had written comments on the rims of the shoes, on the white lines. Something he thought was very trashy-looking, but it was nice to see some people liked him. He pushed his black hair from his face, brushing it out carefully with a brush. It was long and choppy, black as the dark sky, with a light shimmer of shiny softness. He placed in his snake bite lip rings, one on each side of his bottom lip. Two little black studs he liked to chew on when the day got boring. It was the only thing that kept him awake in chemistry. “You look a deranged emo kid.” Rev cooed from the bed, where he sat typing away on the laptop. “Like you look any better, Mr. Khaki.” Axl retorted. Rev and he didn’t have the same taste in clothes, which to everyone was hilarious since they were closer than water was to the sea floor. Black clothes, spike-studded belts, and piercings were Axl’s form of fashion. Khaki pants, collar shirts, and shark-tooth necklaces was Rev’s form of blending into Astoria. Oh conformity, how Axl hated it. “At least I don’t stick out like a sore, black thumb with snake bites.” Rev remarked back, his fingers not ceasing a beat as the clicking of his fingers kept moving. He was talking on IM. No doubt. “Just to let you know, you have a Facebook now.” “Aw, Rev. Didn’t I tell you I don’t like that stuff? Don’t you remember what I did to you when you made me a Myspace?” Axl growled. Rev had an obsession with internet social sites. “Relax. I didn’t make it for you. I made it so I can interrogate girls I like through you. For instance, Stephanie Brown thinks I’m hot and asked you to give me her phone number.” Rev grinned wide, showing his flawlessly aligned teeth. “Up until this moment, I was sure that I would never kill a human.” Axl said throwing the pillow that was near him at Rev’s swelled head. Rev smirked and laughed, typing away once again on the laptop. Axl glimpsed at the clock. It was seven twenty-three. They’d be late to school if he didn’t somehow get Rev off of the laptop. Axl sighed and strode over to his backpack. He peeked inside; making sure none of his slayer gear was in it. “Come one, Rev. Let’s stop and get some breakfast before we go to school.” Axl said, hoping Rev would respond to the mentioning of food. “Not hungry.” He said, typing frantically on the laptop. Axl rolled his eyes, walking over to the bed where Rev sat, his eyes glued to the screen. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but you’ve forced my hand.” Axl said in a sigh as he shut the laptop on Rev’s hands. His friend yelped out in curses, withdrawing his hands. “WHAT THE HELL! AXL! DUDE!” Rev whined at Axl, who was resisting laughing. “Did I break your nail, pretty boy?” he taunted, throwing the sash of his window up. Escaping out of it, listening to Rev’s screaming threats of ‘IM GONNA KILL YOU’ and ‘YEAH! YOU BETTER RUN!’ Axl slid down gracefully on the vineyard on the side of the Johnson’s house. Followed by an angry Rev who was climbing down the vineyard. Axl chuckled lightly and took off in a dead man’s run down the street. Rev chasing after him with a stick in his hand. The day…would be long. ~ . ~

Astoria High School buzzed with energy in the early hour of school. So much chaos occurred that even Rev was not getting his usual amounts of ‘hellos’ and flirty winks from clueless, brainless girls. The cliques gathered very closely at tables and trees in the quad, whispering about news that had not reached Axl’s knowledge only made him more curious.



“I hear she barely survived the attack! It’s so scary knowing a rapist is on our streets!” Emily Garret swooned dramatically.


“Dude, they’re talking about the girl we saved….” Rev murmured to Axl with an almost pissed look. “News travels freaking fast around this crap city.”


“Naw, man. Just the high school. These people have no lives.” Axl responded coolly. So SEE’s hypnosis technique worked flawlessly now, that was good news to Axl. SEE is the organization he and Rev worked for. A division meant to bring down the race of vampyres, forcing them to pay for their crimes of killing and consuming the souls from innocent humans….a punishment that Axl acted on with pride.

They kept walking, into the school building. Rev patted Axl on the back.


“I’ll catch you later.” He said rushing off to the Commons. A circular area filled with tables and vending machines. Rev regrouped with a bunch of other guys that the girls stared at, giggling like brainless drones. Axl smiled a little and headed off to wood shop. Glancing back at Rev who was laughing it up with Bryson Hilton, the quarterback and possibly the dumbest person to walk the halls of Astoria High. Axl thought the Commons is where people like Rev sat. Popular kids who liked being popular and superficial. Kids like him preferred to lounge in the library, hidden behind the tall bookshelves and occasionally skip class to sleep. The school itself was like a big circle, building-wise, and socially.

The entire subject was dull to Axl. Popularity and high life were temporary things, especially in high school. It was a concept that he had tried endlessly to teach Rev Crowe: the God of Astoria High School….and Axl Blacklowe’s only and best friend. Axl sighed. Rev was his friend, his best friend…yet he always wondered why. Now with that nightmare burned into his memory, it was somewhat frightening to guess that maybe Rev would turn on him. Kill him. Betray him. But for what? In the dream, Rev had driven a stake through his chest, killing him like the very thing they hated and hunted…..vampyres. The dream hadn’t made any sense in that matter…unless….he was…

That’s crazy Axl. Don’t even think about that! There’s no way in the world you could be vampyre! Rev would never kill me! He’s my best friend. Axl smiled a little at his calming thoughts. A dream was a dream. Reality was reality.

Axl finally walked into the comfortable setting of wood shop. The class he got an easy A in was probably the easiest. After all, he had Rev had invented many useful tools for slaying because of wood shop. Axl had even made the spear rod that Rev loved to slay with, and the handle for the stake that had saved his life yesterday. Vampyres died easily with a blade to the heart, and wood working was a good skill to have if you’re profession was killing vampyres.

Rev was in welding this semester, another useful skill that Axl applauded. Welding and woodshop combined would be good for them both. Rev had mentioned to Axl that maybe selling their vampyre slaying gear to SEE would up their pay. Axl had only grunted each time, as if slaying vampyres wasn’t enough, but selling their equipment?

Axl pushed his stool from the desk and dropped his bag on the side of his desk carelessly. He sat, with too many thoughts clouding his mind, that he didn’t notice the most beautiful thing in the world walk over to his desk.

“Are you tired, Axl Blacklowe?” a sweet, velvety voice cooed easily to him. Axl looked to his side and there she was. Skin pale, yet touched with tan, long dark chocolate brown hair that crimped into a wavy, natural mess of curls. Her eyes were a light brown, simple yet extravagant, and the corners of her perfect mouth were lifted into a small smile, lightly glossed with Chap Stick that smelled of sweet bubblegum.

Axl felt speechless, in awe of the lovely girl that had stumbled across him. She knew his name, even pronounced it right. Her voice was oddly familiar, as were her eyes and smile.

“Alice Capulet?” he grinned, looking for response. Alice shook her head yes. Axl’s smile grew.

“Long time, no see, Axl.” She said sitting in the seat beside him.

“I know. Wow, when…..when did you get back? How’s your family?” Axl had so many questions, but was still breathless from how unexplainably beautiful Alice Capulet had become. The last time he saw her, she was seven, he was nine. They used to play in the woods behind the old Blacklowe’s house. Alice’s father was a slayer, just like Axl’s father. They were good friends, until his father abandoned the work of vampyre slaying. Alice and her family disappeared soon after the Blacklowe family was killed. Axl had wondered about it for so long….because Maddox Capulet did not attend the funeral of his best friend.

“Fine and well as we can be I suppose.” She said as the corners of her mouth remained as fixed into a smile as they could. Alice looked around as students began filling the room. “I suppose I can’t tell you all the details here. You know there are rules I can’t break, and if anyone overhear—,”

“I understand.” Axl said, smiling. Alice looked at him, which only made Axl feel very warm and sick. His insides turned into slush. Alice must’ve felt the odd silence build because she breathed a little deeply with a sigh.

“Why don’t I meet you after school? We can catch up, and my dad is dying to see you. He’s been….promoted.” Alice said as her smile faded at the mentioning of her father. Axl’s heart skipped to his throat and he swallowed it down. He and Rev were expected to report into SEED for their mission on Halloween night. Though their appointment was at midnight, he knew Rev would want to discuss the issue of his passing out.

Oh the joy of being a vampyre slayer.

“I’d love to. But I got a thing with Rev, I’ll see if he can solo it. You remember Rev Crowe, right?” Axl wondered. Alice had barely met Rev when they were younger. She hadn’t taken a liking to him, especially when he flicked her countless times on the forehead and teased her for her glasses. She must have remembered clearly, because she made a face at the name of Rev Crowe. The face most of Rev’s ex-girlfriends made, except Alice’s face was more out of spite of Rev’s immature nature she so honestly remembered.

“Yeah, I remember him. And if you have plans, please don’t cancel. I’ll just catch you another time.” Alice assured simply.

“No, I insist. I don’t get a lot of free time with…well…uh…you know.” Axl said lowering his eyes to the desk, where his eyes were fixed onto his hands, fiddling with a pen. Alice only grinned.

“Sure. Just give me a call.” She pulled out a card from her purse, setting it on the table. Axl watched as Alice whisked away to her seat in the corner of the room. She was as pretty as he remembered. Without glasses, she was even prettier.

Axl slapped himself mentally. He knew Alice was forbidden fruit. She was expected to be married to a prestigious slayer. Not one like him, who killed for money and revenge and yet never moved up in the ranks of business. He’d heard their father’s discussing her future husband. Her father was a top council man of SEE before he left. The promotion he received was too easy to guess…vice president.

Maddox Capulet was a predictable man. Axl fixed his dazed stare to the card, picking it up gently with his thumb and index finger. It was a SEE card. On it was the name Maddox Capulet, beside it was his office and fax number. But on the back, written in pink ink, was Alice Capulet’s number

Alice Capulet….Axl smiled to himself. It all had such a sad sound to it.



~ . ~


Rance sat so relaxed behind his desk; he felt he could melt in his peace. He was anxious for the plans that were to take effect so soon. Only a few more days and Axl Blacklowe would be begging for death on the floor at his feet. It was a beautiful thing to imagine. The very sensation of sadistic torture made him very happy.

Oh but such a shame….his dear old friend, Mr. Amos Blacklowe, would have been so angry. He was dead now and that made the cruel man only sigh with displeasure. He missed Amos, who laid dead six feet under the Astoria Church Cemetery. Yet still, business was business. Axl Blacklowe had been chosen to carry a power that SEE could not let him discover.

That power….was the power of a vampyre.

He hoped his bride-to-be would act soon. If Axl Blacklowe was kept alive, his transformation would make him nearly invincible.

Rance slammed his fist onto the table. That thought…angered him to the seams. Axl Blacklowe would die.

Three-thirty finally came for Axl and Rev, at last, the end of the day. School was over, much to Axl’s happiness. He couldn’t wait to finally be able to talk with Rev about how Alice Capulet was back in town. Rev would surely flip his lid, since Rev never really liked Alice either. Ever since he watched her leave for the English hallway after wood shop, he couldn’t stop thinking of her sweet face. His jaw hadn’t ached all day since he had seen her. The feeling of no pain was great.


Rev elbowed him hard on the arm and smirked a bit. He must’ve picked up on Axl’s unusual but typical silence.


“Why are you smiling like that?” he asked, making Axl only cock an eyebrow.


“Smiling like what, exactly?” was all he said while Rev rolled his eyes, still grinning like the Cheshire cat.


“Come on, man. I know you! You’re making the same face I do when I see Katie Thomas in her pool from your back porch.” Rev always had such a colorful way of putting things. “So what’s the deal?”


“Nothing, I just bumped into an old friend today. Do you remember….Alice Capulet? Council man Maddox’s daughter?” Axl searched for a sign of emotion in Rev. The blonde stopped in his tracks, his smile for once was gone.


Maddox had been looking to adopt Rev for a while until he and his family picked up and moved suddenly. Rev had had a respect for Maddox greater than anyone….until he abandoned him. Rev was glad in a way though…that he had been left behind. If he hadn’t…Axl would’ve died that Halloween night.


“Yeah, I remember him. Is the whole family back?” Rev asked. He truly didn’t seem to be happy about the return of the Capulet family. Axl could understand why, but their jobs would be secure and hopefully grow from Maddox's favor.


"I don't know. But Alice doesn't seem too happy about him getting promoted, so I guess they will be here for a while." Axl confirmed. Rev sighed in annoyance.


"Well I guess we'll be busy for the next eight thousand years." he grinned, his mood lifting. It was amazing to Axl how Rev could push aside his hatred and use it for his job. Rev had anger issues, but it never showed unless you had witnessed him slaying on a day he had something to be pissed off about. The entire concept was hard for Axl to understand.


I guess it’s better than him ripping my limbs apart. Axl guessed in his mind. It was nice knowing he'd never be in the way of Rev's raging fire. But then again...there was that dream.


"Rev..." Axl said aloud, without realizing he had. The copper-haired lad raised an eyebrow to his friend's sudden call.


"That's my name. What's up?" Rev asked as Axl kept his eyes on a rock he had been kicking for the past block they had walked. It was a little black stone that had rolled very easily to the easy kick of his ragged shoe.


"Would you..." Axl paused, swallowing a bit "...would you ever kill me?"


A terrible, tense silence thickened the atmosphere around the two. Rev gave Axl a weird look, as if he didn't completely comprehend the question and all its randomness.


"Uuuhhhh...where's this coming from?" was all that Rev could seem to stutter out.


"I had a nightmare...that you killed me with your stake. It scared the crap out of me and i haven't stopped thinking about it all day." which was true. Axl couldn't stop thinking for a minute about how Rev had staked him through the chest. Whispering those cold words:


'You pretended to be my friend....'


That phrase was so awful and depressing to Axl's ears as it rang and bounced off the walls of his thoughts.


"Why the hell would I do that for? I think you've been working too hard or watching too much Buffy before bed." Rev laughed, trying to lighten up the mood. Though his eyes showed concern for the awful things Axl had so seriously said. "Come on, Axl. I would never kill you."


Axl looked up to Rev, who was smiling a little in reassure of what he had said. Rev punched Axl lightly on the shoulder.


"Why don't you back out for the appointment tonight? I can report in myself. You need the rest it seems like." Rev evoked easily. Axl was slightly flabbergasted at the thoughtfulness Rev was showing. Apparently, asking your best friend if he'd ever slaughter you with a stake was a call for rest and compassion.


"Thanks, man. I appreciate that." Axl thanked in gratefulness. He conjectured if he should tell Rev he would probably go visit with Alice Capulet. He settled against it. Maybe it'd be better...if Rev didn't think about the Capulet’s until he cooled off. They had been friends long enough to know when to leave conversations alone.


“So how much detention did Mr. Atkins give you for skipping third period gym to go make out with Stephanie Brown in the closed off hallway?” with a risen eyebrow, Axl waited for Rev’s answer. His friend had turned a bright red and stared at Axl with a ‘how-did-you-know-that’ look. “Oh, the power and joy of three of your silly, jealous ex-girlfriends being assigned to sit behind me in art.”


“You’re a jerk some days you know that?” Rev scoffed in embarrassment before smiling with pride as he recounted his experience with Stephanie. “Two weeks and ten laps around the track field.”


“Retard.”


“I know.”


~ . ~


From the shadows of the back alley way roof tops, the slayer watched the two boys walk along the path ways off the alleys. Her cell phone vibrated, and with a simple movement of her fingers, she flicked it open and hit the 'talk' button.


"What do you want?" she said with no tone in her voice. Rance chuckled on the other end of the line.


"I just wanted a little report. Have you found the boy, my dear?" he demanded like a snake. The girl could hear the excitement resound in his voice. The voice that whispered things like a snake, that snake whose venom could kill the whitest dove in less than a second. He sickened her to the depths of her soul. She hated him.


"Yes, I've found him." she answered back, still abandoning the emotions from her voice.


"Good. Very good." he chortled in disgusting joy. "What are your plans for him? Dare I ask?"


"I don't think he's a vampyre. I think you're wrong about him." the girl hissed through her teeth. Rance's laughter faded, leaving dead silence through the phone. She watched as the two boys rounded the corner, disappearing from her sight.


"He is a vampyre, without doubt. I analyzed his blood myself. I'd know that wretched beast's smell anywhere." Rance said in cool anger. The female slayer glared at her phone.


"I'll figure it out myself. If you're wrong, I'm not going to kill him."


"What is the favor you have for this fowl boy, my dear?" Rance demanded, his anger growing.


"He's..." she thought a moment, smiling a little.


The girl clicked her phone shut, ending the call. Rance listened to the dial tone as she hung up. He tossed the phone into a fish tank behind him and growled. The girl would be his bride. He would break her, make her his. Even if that meant keeping her barely alive…


~ . ~


Alice had a look of out-and-out shock when she answered the door to her house. The size of it was very small to Axl’s surprise, for Maddox Capulet was not a poor man nor modest. He was astonished about how stunning Alice looked. She was wearing a satin black dress with spaghetti-straps that stopped just above her knees, and black heels. Her curly hair was done up in ringlets in a bun, and her face was decorated in make-up, in which wasn’t needed.


“Am I interrupting something important?” Axl conjectured to her. Alice beamed a grin and nodded her head no.


“I didn’t think you’d come. You never wanted to come to my tea parties when we were little. I assumed some things don’t change.” She alleged, still in shock. Axl shrugged his shoulders, and chuckled lightly at the memory.


“I also thought girls were icky and you told me I had cooties.” He retorted, making Alice roll her eyes with a giggle. “And I hate tea.”


“Jerk.” Alice whined punching him remorseless on the shoulder. “How’d you ditch Rev?”


“He let me slide, I kinda freaked him out.” Axl said with a casual grin. Alice smiled back, standing aside with the door open.


“Wanna come in? My dad isn’t here, but he should be in a while if you’d like to stick around.” Alice said pushing a curl behind her ear. Axl felt gradually alright with taking up Alice’s invitation of coming over. If he could stay long enough to catch up with Alice, get it all out of his system, maybe he’d stop thinking about her so much. She had clouded his thoughts like a thick fog. He had been so anxious that he pretty much ran for the Capulet house after Rev had turned to leave to his apartment.


“You sure your dad won’t stick a stake in me if I come in?” he pondered, still standing firmly and comfortably on the porch. Alice giggled at the comment, though it was a fraud of a laugh. Axl pondered if maybe he had already said something wrong.


“Please, do you even remember Maddox Capulet? He was in love with you and Rev because of your aspiring, innocent enthusiasm of…” Alice looked around before pulling him inside with force into the house. “….vampyre slaying…”


Axl couldn’t help but want to laugh at Alice’s thick paranoia of exposing the slayer secret. She had not wanted to talk anywhere in public about slaying or anything to match. The laws of SEE were very strict, so it was explainable as to why the daughter of the vice-president of SEE would be so picky about where she spoke of slaying and slayers. But even Axl could see that Alice had another reason for not wanting to talk about slaying.


“Can I get you a drink or something? I was just starting dinner, are you hungry?” Alice spoke so panicked and fast as she scurried off into another room he assumed was the kitchen. Axl followed, observing Alice through the door way. She was cutting up some vegetables and meat. He could swear she looked so much like her mother.


“No, thank you. You have your hands full.” Axl insisted. He sat on a stool like chair where Alice would be watched cooking from a safe distance.


“How’s life been for you?” Alice seemed to be looking for conversation.


“Boring. Rev and I work more than we hang out.” Axl smiled at Alice’s chuckle.


“I know what you mean. SEE has been working my father to the ground lately. And now with his promotion, he’s been busier than ever.” Alice paused. “I guess it’s alright though. It keeps his mind off of mom and Obi. You remember my mom and Obsidian don’t you?”


“Yeah. Are they here with you and Maddox?” Axl regretted that instantly, because Alice shook her head and frowned in depression.


“No. Obsidian was killed in duty and mom died…” Alice grabbed a bell pepper setting it gently on the cutting board. “….of a broken heart I suppose.”


“Alice, I’m so sorry. I did—,”


“It’s alright, Axl.” Alice riposted with a small smile. The silence that came was completely and absolutely awkward. Axl knew he had probably upset Alice and simply waited for her to speak before he said anything else. He watched her as she cut up the bell pepper with ease. Then a scent emitted from the air as Alice dropped her knife, holding her hand.


Oh….God…Axl panicked. The smell was so familiar and sweet. His tongue began to quiver in its appeal to the irresistible aroma. He felt like a vampire…craving the taste of her blood which had smelt so temptingly incredible.


“Ouch!” Alice yelped in somewhat angry clumsiness. Axl snapped out of his lala land stage and looked down to see the crimson rush of blood run down Alice’s hand.


“You alright?” Axl asked quickly grabbing a towel, setting it on Alice’s hand. He gazed at the red lush of intoxicating liquid, pouring softly down her hand onto the sink.


“Yeah, I’m fine. It happens a lot.” Alice smiled. Axl didn’t see it though, he was too busy blinking at the blood. It was thick and dark red and for some reason….it pleasured him to see it.


“I should go rinse this off in the bathroom. I’ll be back.” Alice said scurrying off to the bathroom. Axl had nodded to her when she left. He turned on the sink, some of Alice’s blood stained his hand, when he went to rinse it off, and he couldn’t.


A sharp and sudden soreness appeared in Axl’s jaw as his throat went unbearably dry. He tried to shallow the feeling down, but it hurt to. He smelled the sweet fragrance that he had when he had watched the girl on Halloween bleed. A horror mass of dizziness over came him, and he realized his heart was pulsing slow but hard. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt, and somehow, his throat became sore. He remembered how he had seen that girl’s life flash before her eyes….the aroma of her sweet blood…..


Why is this happening to me?! Why…why can I smell blood—and…see...death?!…..and his thoughts faded. A terrible dreadfulness pulsed through Axl’s spinning mind. There was no way. No way….no way…


No…no….I’m not one of…them….Axl stared at his hand. He had read in the books in SEE’s library how certain vampyres craved human necessities. Youth…beauty….eyes….talents….

…Blood…..

He unconsciously watched it tremble as it moved closer and closer to his face. And suddenly, his tongue pressed to it, and a sensation of flavor erupted into his mouth. The taste was warm and sweet, so addicting Axl felt as though couldn’t live without it. He felt Alice….everything about Alice.


Then it hit him.


Axl quickly withdrew his hand. Looking at it, he realized Alice’s blood was gone, but now it was covered in saliva. He felt something staining his face, the hypnotic scent from before had lingered on his nose. He touched his face with the other hand; withdrawing it…Axl felt the need to vomit immediately. A small crimson smear blemished his pale finger tip.


No….no….no….


“Axl…?” Alice’s sweet and soft voice broke his thoughts of horrific terror. He spun around, seeing Alice there. Her hand was bandaged in gauze and medical tape, very neatly. She had a look of concern splattered across her paling face. Axl could feel the thickness of a thin line of sweat tremble down his temple.


“Axl…you look sick…are you alright?” she murmured to him. She stepped closer, touching his cheek and then his forehead with her bandaged hand. The heat of her hand was almost overwhelming. “Axl, you’re hot as a fire, let me get you some water. Sit down.”


Axl didn’t hear a word Alice said. Only seeing her soft lips mouth a few words. Her expression not changing. He could only stare at her bandaged hand. He could smell the blood from under the bandage…and it was making him was to throw up on the spot.


‘It is dangerous…’ a steady voice, deep and calm, echoed in Axl’s ears. It wasn’t his voice he was hearing. For once, his couldn’t hear himself think. The voice was contrasted so much. It was without emotion and feeling. Only warning and scolding could be heard through it. ‘Leave now, Axl.’

‘She knows Axl…get out.’ The voice didn’t stop even as Axl begged it too mentally. ‘I will not stop until you leave.’


Axl had no choice. He turned, moving out of Alice’s grip, running to the doorway. He flung it open without effort and immobilized at the sight of a man dressed in a black suit, with a tie that read: ‘I don’t bite’. The man grinned down at a breathless Axl. His hair cut somewhat short, dark chocolate brown, his skin as soft and light tanned….Maddox Capulet.


“Why, what a surprise. Axl Blacklowe. I couldn’t mistake you anywhere; you are indeed a splitting image of your father.” Maddox’s words were so cool that they seemed to be hissed. Axl’s jaw didn’t cease to ache as he grinded his teeth behind his closed lips. He knew he’d have to speak or Maddox wouldn’t allow his escape.


“Hello, sir.” Axl struggled as he spoke, trying to ease his pain by not thinking of it. “I was…just leaving.”


“Oh, I think not. I haven’t seen you since you were nine years old. We have a lot to catch up on.” Maddox insisted, stepping into his house, closing the door. Axl backed up and away from Maddox. He had been concentrating on a healthy blue vein in the man’s throat.


“Actually, sir, I can’t stay. I have to be home early on school nights—,”


“Nonsense. Tish, posh! School. Hah.” Maddox Capulet roared with laughter. “That institution can’t teach you things of the real world. That’s why my Alice doesn’t have to attend if she doesn’t wish to.”


“Dad, you’re home.” Alice broke in. She looked at Axl, with a disappointed look in her big brown eyes. “Let him leave. He doesn’t feel too well.”


“Oh, darling. What on earth happened here?” Maddox asked taking Alice’s bandaged hand.


“Just a knife incident. You know I’m a clumsy cook.” Alice said with a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “I think I made Axl a little squeamish.”


Axl tried to breathe easily. He struggled to not look at Alice’s hand. The scent was driving him mad. He felt the pain in his jaw numb and his heart kept pulsing hard and slow.


“Oh, he doesn’t like blood? Ha-ha. Well, that changes my insisting. Please Axl, go on and get well. I have a lot to catch up on with you.”


“T-thank you, sir. I’m sorry Alice.” Axl glanced at the two before bolting out of the door. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.


~ . ~

Axl felt the weight of his body build up as he ran without thinking. He was trying to breathe, wanting the taste of Alice’s blood out of his mouth. It tingled on his tongue like a sweet addicting want. He was disgusted by it. Hating every minute his body wanted more and craved the taste.


Suddenly, he halted in his steps.


‘Stop.’ The voice demanded, immediately Axl halted in his steps.


“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Axl shouted in irritated fury. He pulled at his hair, the ache in his mouth lingered and grew. He fell to his knees on the hard surface of wooden planks of a bridge. He opened his eyes, looking around at the scene of Mansfield Park. Axl looked around in a daze, how did he run all the way up to Mansfield Park? It was in the mountain area far from the downtown home of the Capulet’s. The park was dark and cold. The wintry breeze eased over Axl. It felt good, because he was burning with fever. No one seemed to be in the park but him, some must’ve still thought the ‘rapist’ was lingering there.


“Why did…I run here?”


‘Because I made you run here.’


“Shut up! Who are you?!” Axl smacked himself mentally. “This is crazy! I’m going insane! I’m hearing things and licking blood! This is a dream. I crazy dream--,”


“That is what we do….” The voice spoke. Axl heard, but not in his mind, he heard it coming from behind him. Axl spun around and in the undersized distance, a tall, gangling figure lurked in the distance. The moon illuminated the figure enough for Axl to examine the loiterer’s features.

He was pale as a sheet, flawlessly built yet his body was muscled in light fixture. His posture was faultless as he stood upright, with his hands tucked away in the pockets of a long, black trench coat. He couldn’t be much older than Axl, from his thoughts, because his face was pure with youth. Pale and ravenous, a strong jaw, his hair black with a bluish gleam of tint. One chunk of his delicately groomed hair was striped with white and black, like a raccoon’s tail.


“Hello, Axl.” The voice from before called out from the body that was now walking toward him.


“Who are you?!” Axl demanded instantly. He tried to stand, still weak and dizzy, his throat stung with the pain of unquenchable thirst. His body refused to move and Axl felt anesthetized by his agony.


“I am Onyx Alabaster.” The young male articulated without remorse or a stutter. He was confident in introducing himself, which only made Axl even further alert of the other’s presence. “I assume you are aware of what is happening to you, correct?”


The young male motioned closer. Axl forced his body to move as he shifted away. The male stopped, tilting his head. No emotion swept across the stranger’s face, though it could be heard within his tones. Axl felt the atmosphere around them change as the visitor moved nearer, it was a coldness that was stronger than breezes that cut through his body, a bitter chill that surrounded them and swathed taut in their ambiance. The air became heavy despite it being freezing, and Axl found his breath cease to reach his lungs without concentration.


“W-what do you want from me?” he pleaded from Onyx who’d started circling him like a vulture.


“Nothing. For now.” The little emotion that had flowed in his tones of voice was gone now. Axl kept his eyes fixated on the male. “Do you know what I am? I was sure a slayer of your stature would know, but it seems I have guessed wrong.”


“You know I’m a….slayer? Who are you? My stalker?” Axl tried to keep conscious. Onyx made a face of sudden curiosity.


“No, I assure you. I have been sent to find a very important leader to the monarchy I follow.” Onyx crouched down, observing Axl. “But it seems my fears have come to reality. He is dead and you possess the heart that used to sit without beat under his chest. I can smell his blood within your veins. But it is bewildering to me that he chose a slayer to take his place.”


Axl froze; staring at the intimidating oblivion of Onyx’s piercing black eyes.


“What did you say?” he muttered through grinded teeth. His jaw stung and hurt, the tingling in his throat and tongue returned.


“You heard me. I never stutter.” Onyx replied as he stood straight up, tall and big against the light of the moon glowed behind him from the sky. Axl’s head spun in a raging matter that made him want to faint. He knew he had to act or this freak would surely kill him. It was unclear to Axl if Onyx was a vampyre or not.


“Yes, I am a vampyre. In the future, should you have a question, please just ask.” Onyx stated as a command. Axl eyed him carefully, not removing Onyx from his sight. He forced his hand to obey his orders and reached for the Artemis pistol he kept concealed in the rim of his belt on his back. “Do not dare shot me, Axl, or I cannot protect you when I need to.”


“A vampyre protect me?!”


“You are a vampyre, Axl Blacklowe. You always have been, since they wired that heart into your body. That transformation has been taking place for the past three months. The heart he donated must have had some of his blood lingering inside it.” Onyx’s voice faded as he looked to the moon. A red shade started to cover the white sun of the night. “There is blood on the moon….your final transformations will be made soon….”


Onyx turned back to Axl, his mouth opened as he inhaled a breath of the crisp night air and the freezing atmosphere that seemed to lurk around Onyx. The creature pulled his sleeve up, exposing the most exquisite tattoo. It was a black, bleeding heart, swarmed with an elegant, gothic-like pattern. In red writing beside the heart, decorative in fine, book style lettering…it read ‘Alabaster’. The ink glowed brilliant neon.


Axl knew exactly what that neon glow was. That tattoo was the mark Onyx bore as a soul-binding contract. It was what marked him as a vampyre.


“You will be human for another three months unless I speed up the process. Three months is too long of a wait for the events that must occur. It is vital that you transform quickly. So please, be still.” Onyx ordered easily. Axl felt his heart pulse in fright as Onyx’s appeared behind him in the blink of an eye. Axl felt paralyzed, unable to move.


“Don’t touch me you son of a----!” Axl growled from the ground, the Artemis pistol loaded and ready for fire at a moment’s notice…but it was too late. Onyx’s fangs were pierced through his skin…..biting down hard on the flesh of Axl’s neck. He wanted to scream….horror filled his mind….


Axl ripped himself from Onyx and held up his gun, his hand trembling as he tried to catch his breath.


“And you are considered an ‘Elite Slayer’ of SEE?” he asked, swiftly, in a movement so fast that Axl couldn’t recall when it happened…the gun was out of his hand, and Onyx’s foot was crushing his palm under the weight of his suede shoes. Axl cried out in a stage of pain as Onyx’s immensely heavy foot sank onto his palm.


“Everything you know....will change.” Onyx cooed. “

“The ink will settle soon.” Onyx’s calm voice echoed like a faint whisper in the wind. “If you live….you are fit to carry the destiny that is vital to vampyre kind. If not, then your being chosen was a mistake and there will be another way. But the monarchy kind chose you….so you should live.”


Axl wanted to speak, but his body was limp and paralyzed, cold sweat sputtered on his searing hot skin, every bone in his anatomy was numb without life….his vision became a fading in-and-out haziness, and he could smell the mouth-watering aroma of his own blood.


“Please live, Axl Blacklowe. It truly would make both of our lives much easier.” And like a poltergeist, Onyx Alabaster evaporated like dust into the night airstream as if he had been a hallucination, or a ghost in a scary campfire story….


A sharp unbearable burning shot through Axl’s body. The hurt in his mouth had awakened and felt like a volcanic eruption. The scorching sensation made Axl scream in a vociferous cry. He grinded his teeth, his heart pulsated brutally against his chest. Axl dug his nails into the ground, breaking the surface of the hard, rocky pavement. His neck was throbbing with hurt, his throat dry from his yells and without being slaked in its thirst.


And finally, like it had been exorcised out his body, the burning pain was gone.


Suddenly, everything goes black.

~ . ~


The female slayer lurked in the darkness of Mansfield Park, deep in woodland where she could not be seen nor detected. A clove of garlic was wrapped on her neck, the scent itself would ward off any vampyre that dared moved close to her. She had been spying carefully on the Blacklowe boy.


Pulling out her cell phone, she jumped down from the tree, landing firmly on her feet. She opened the car door and got inside, turning the engine on. She hit the redial button and Rance Rose answered.


“My dear! Did you finally decide you’d like to be my bride?” Rance chuckled over the other end of the line, making the female roll her eyes in repulsion.


“No.” she snapped. “The Blacklowe boy has been awakened by Onyx Alabaster. The missing monarchy court heir of the Greece Vampyre Circle.”


“Interesting.” The swine on the phone bellowed with amusement. “Do me a favor dear, don’t kill him yet. I might be able….to rid the entire problem unit we have.”


“How could you possibly do that without our footprints staining the plot map?”


Rance hollered a sinister laugh.


“Just do as I say….keep him alive.”

The line went dead.

Tuesday.


Wednesday.


Thursday.


Three weeks later…..



“Looks like you’re alright. The attack should’ve killed you, but no harm was fixed in your body so you’re good to go. You’re quite lucky, Mr. Blacklowe.” Maddox Capulet washed his hands. He had taken out Axl’s stitches. One in his hand where Onyx had hastily stepped on it and spilt it open with his strength. And his scar on his chest that had somehow spilt open….The area on his neck- where two pierced wounds were now scabs- was cold and it had bothered him. It had taken him three weeks of comatose to finally wake from the cleansing treatment SEED immediately order for him. Despite the fact he was alright, Axl felt more dead and gloomy than ever.


The attack of Onyx Alabaster was the most frightening thing that had ever happened to him. The dread of being bitten by a vampyre that told him he would save the disgusting beasts was unimaginable. But it had happened, and Axl didn’t want to tell anyone. Hopefully, Rev would be able to track Onyx Alabaster and kill him before Axl had to talk about any of it.


Rev. Rev had been furious when he learned that SEE didn’t know of Onyx’s arrival. Apparently, they had been trying to find him for time. He was a key member of some vampyre monarchy. Axl supposed that it might have been the ‘monarchy’ that Onyx was talking about.


He urged his satin black hair away from his face with his hand. It had grown to pass his neck just a little. The very concept of his being in a coma for three weeks made Axl slightly uneasy of his health. But he was glad he would be going back to school, where the word of vampyre slaying and all its horror would fade away for a full six hours.


My heart is still beating. So maybe…Onyx’s venom didn’t affect me.


Axl prayed the notion was correct. Maddox punched his shoulder tenderly. For a grown man, Maddox Capulet was very youthful and laid-back.


“Don’t fret, Axl. You’re A-okay to head to school today. And the fresh air might do you some good.” Maddox insisted. Axl nodded, hoping perhaps the rush of being back in school would take his mind off of the events.


“Thanks, Mr. Capulet.” Axl mumbled in gratitude. Maddox had taken quite good care of him.


“No problem. Now go on. Alice and Rev are waiting, and Rev’s seems pretty excited to be your bodyguard. At least until Onyx Alabaster is caught and executed.”


That made Axl’s stomach twist and turn in a hasty fit.


Axl felt as though he wished Onyx would get away.


“Bye, Mr. Capulet.” Axl said as he grabbed his book bag that had been sitting on the floor with him since that Monday. Maddox gave a holler of a laugh and patted the boy’s back with his monstrous hand.


“Please call me, Maddox. Mr. Capulet makes me sound old.” Axl wanted to laugh at the statement, but nodded his head. He escaped the hospital room and hastened down to the waiting room, where Alice and Rev were talking at a table. It was nice to see they were getting along for him. He needed as less of drama as he could get.


“Hey, look who’s finally risen from the dead!” Rev joked as he smiled a broad grin. Though Axl smiled at the joke, it made him kind of nervous that maybe Rev wasn’t necessarily kidding.


“Glad to see you on your feet, Axl.” Alice voiced pleasantly from Rev’s side. She moved around the copper-headed boy to hug Axl tightly around the neck.


“Ah…Alice…I’m still a little—,” Axl went to say ‘sore’, but the feeling of Alice’s arms around him was warm and made his stomach flutter with butterflies. He hadn’t realized how bad of a crush he had on Alice Capulet. She gently parted, blushing.


“Sorry, I forgot you may be a bit tender.” Alice smiled, making Axl melt.


“ It’s fine, Alice. It’s nice to be back.” Axl said, with a small gradual smile.

He was alright and human. No jaw ache, no burning pain, it was like a happy ending from a horror film. The three escaped into the sunlight of the day. Axl was amazed how bloomed and beautiful everything looked. He’d slept through the coming of spring and the first blooming of the apple trees. The air smelt rich and fresh with the melted snow and the ending of the winter wonderland they knew every winter.


Today is a good day. Axl smiled at his thoughts and got into Rev’s crappy convertible.


‘You would think so.’ Axl’s eyes shot open and wide. The voice of Onyx Alabaster echoed in his mind. ‘Be ready, Axl….’

And then the voice was gone.

Axl breathed in a panicked gasp, then released it in a deep breath.

Calm down, calm down….you’re just being paranoid. Axl stated in his mind firmly. He waited for Onyx’s voice to invade his thoughts once more, but nothing happened. Axl breathed in a lungful of oxygen and relaxed.

~ . ~





“Mr. Blacklowe!” a high-pitched shriek caused Axl to sit upright in his seat. The entire class was staring at him as Mrs. Becker stood in front of his desk, tapping her rhythm less foot. Her fat body jiggled as she shook with frustration. “That is the sixth time you’ve fallen asleep in my classroom! Go to the nurse’s office if you don’t feel well or start paying attention”


Axl only lifted an eyebrow at the obese mass of flab that was his English teacher. He stood up, flinging his backpack over his shoulder as he strode out of her classroom. Everyone in the class snickered and whispered things to each other as Mrs. Pecker cried helplessly for everyone to stop chattering and finish Romeo’s plea to Juliet.


Oh the pleasure of English IV.


It had been like this since he arrived at Astoria High. Everyone was gossiping about Axl’s sudden return to school after disappearing for a few weeks. Rev had told everyone that he got hit by a car, yet other stories of his vanishing had surfaced. Some were as outrageous as him being a drug addict hiding from the police.


With all the stories mingling like nats in his head, Axl entered the school boy’s bathroom. The one hidden in between the locker area and the emergency exit. He preferred to pee in private silence and peace.


“I hate high school.” He groaned pushing his satin black hair from his face. He rubbed the back of his neck, where the base of his neck and spine connected. His jaw ached so badly. He dropped his backpack by a stall and looked up with a gasp following.


Axl paused at the sight of Onyx Alabaster. The features of the pale vulture were clear as day. He was standing in the glimmering sunlight, leaning on the large window in the English hallway. The same expressionless face he wore the night of Axl’s being attacked was there, plastered like a mask on his porcelain perfect visage. His trench coat was gone, replaced with a plain black t-shirt and white skinny jeans. A pin on his shirt read ‘Life Sucks’, making Axl slightly aggravated.



“Pardon my intrusion. Your school is quite nice. Small and filled with stupid people, but nice.” Onyx verbalized, pulling out two lollipops, holding one out to Axl. “Would you like one?”


“ARE YOU FRICKIN’ INSANE!” Axl whipped out a small blade from his bag (ignoring the stereotypical façade that he was an emo kid with a razor). Onyx raised an eyebrow, still no sign of emotion on his face. He stood upright as he had the night in Mansfield.


“I am not here to be killed nor to kill nor bite you, Axl.” Onyx alleged, holding up his hands in white flag surrender. “But if you should hand me over to SEE, I shall have to expose your new nature.”


“I’m not a vampyre!” Axl growled holding the blade up higher, more defensively.


“Yes, you are.” Onyx said, but his tone changed. It sounded like remorse, grief. “I did not wish to turn you, nor did I want you to live.”

In an infuriated rage, Axl grasped Onyx’s shirt collar. The vampyre did nothing to wrangle back. Axl’s anger grew. In didn’t make sense. Onyx’s attitude didn’t pass the way a normal vampyre’s did. Axl had never talked to a vampyre, but Onyx was just like a person. A human. A human on a mission he was determined to fulfill.

But that didn’t stop Axl’s rage boiling in him like searing thunder.

“Then why did you burn me?! Why did you try to change me?!” he yelped shaking Onyx violently, though Onyx’s body was heavy like stone.

“I must correct you. I did change you, not tried, but did.” Axl flung Onyx into a locker, pinning him against it. The impact of the vampyre’s solid build made the metal seem like boulders against measly foil. Onyx still made no struggle.” Secondly, I did not burn you, Axl. I ‘inked’ you. I awakened your mark.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Axl muttered through his teeth. Onyx sighed.

“Listen to me. I had to. It is in the vision. If I did not come for you, then both, humans and vampyres, will perish.”

“I don’t understand anything you’re saying!” Axl snarled. He felt his back sting in pain. His grip on Onyx weakened, and the vampyre easily slipped from it. Axl felt everything in his body befall weak as his back screamed for something to end its agony. Axl couldn’t fight it any longer, he….was changing into a vampyre. The aching back, the ink...the craving of blood….it all made sense. There was no denying it. “Why did you do this to me? Why me?”

“You will know everything in time, Axl. I just need you to keep changing. Tonight is the full moon, the night your transformation will be complete.” Onyx sighed under his cold breath. “I am so sorry. I never wanted to do this…to a human.”

Axl balled up his fist, cracking his stiffening knuckles. He turned, ready to thrash his fist into Onyx’s cold, dead face. But when he turned, he saw no one.

“What did I say about hitting and shooting?” a faint whisper cooed from behind him. Axl jolted, spinning around to see Onyx playing with the small blade, making Axl look at his hand in utter bewilderment. Onyx was clearly very skilled in speed, his gracefulness was almost overwhelming. Axl grinded his teeth together as his back burned and stung in agonizing pain. He slummed over in hope that it would ease the strain.

“I cannot leave. I must protect you until everything sinks in. Especially if that slayer stays looming too close--,”

“Rev is protecting me from you!” Axl growled irritated by Onyx’s mood-drowned behavior, which was freaking him out. He was bemused when Onyx raised a brow; still his eyelids drooped halfway closed, like he was high or faintly drunk.

“Rev is a female name?” Onyx asked without any sense of joking. He continued playing with the blade, flipping it up and down in the air and catching it by the tip on his finger. “The slayer following you the night I awakened you….was a female.”


Axl’s heart suddenly pulsed. The sensation stung, and his heart stopped a beat, and then proceeded to pump. Axl groaned at the inability to breathe, feeling Onyx’s eyes staring through him like fire.


“What?” he barked at the vampyre. He couldn’t believe he was having a casual conversation with a monster.


“You think I am a monster? That is priceless, for you know nothing of me, Axl Blacklowe.” Onyx stated as he gripped the handle of the blade. “You know, I cannot stand slayers, yet still, I do not perch hatred onto you.”


Axl sighed. The very thought of a vampyre not hating him was unthinkable. He’d killed at least ninety vampyres, he was sure Onyx knew that. But the fact that Onyx didn’t hate him…was odd. The pulsating pain urged itself into Axl again, electrifyingly pushing through his veins and muscles like venomous poison.


“Does it hurt, Axl?” Onyx asked. “It hurt me quite brutally when I was transformed. The feeling of your heart coming into its last beats is always a depressing thing to endure.”


“What do you mean by last beats?” Axl winced as he gaped at Onyx, who had sat down on the windowsill again. The blade still gripped firmly in his long, lanky hand. Axl had to admit, Onyx was quite calm and not-ravenous. He was so unlike some of the vampyres he had killed and fought. Most of the ones he had killed were bizarre, drunken off the sensation of consumed souls that seemed to send them into a drug-like high. But Onyx Alabaster was tranquil like a still river; everything about him was serene and peaceful.


“You are dying, Axl.” Onyx said, without any compunction in his tone. Axl’s heart skipped another beat as his stomach threw itself inside out.


“D-dying?!”


“Yes. If you live, that means the destiny inscribed in the heart you possess will prevail. Both humans and vampyres will be saved in the vision.” Onyx stopped as he spoke. He glanced back at Axl, who looked horrified as he stumbled to a trash can, vomiting. Onyx slipped off the sill and eased his way over to Axl, standing beside the trash can in a strong poise. “From what it seems though, you will live.”


“SHUT UP! I DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU! I’M DYING BECAUSE OF YOU!” Axl said as he finished puking. He held his spinning head.


“I told you I feel the utmost remorse for what has been done.” The vampyre alleged, his footsteps trailing off ward. “I hope you will grant me repentance when the time comes. The day after tomorrow is when you shall see me next. But this time, as a brother in blood. A vampyre.”


A hardened fist found its way to Onyx’s right cheek, sending him to the floor. Axl stood over Onyx, his hands balled up into clutched fists. The punch was well administered, but Axl’s knuckles felt like they had just collided against a solid wall of ice. Onyx blinked up at the boy; still no expression crossed his face.


“I will never be like you! You or those filthy monsters!” suddenly, Onyx grabbed Axl by the wrist, twisting it behind Axl’s back, his other arm locked Axl into an unyielding headlock. Onyx held the blade up and Axl gasped breathless as it protruded close and fast to his chest, stopping to just barely brush on his skin.


“How do you like it? Being like me?” Onyx hissed in rage, an anger that had not shown in the vampyre since he crossed Axl’s path in Mansfield Park. Axl felt the trickle of sweat climb down his face. “You see what you do? You see what you like doing?! It is disgusting pleasure, pleasure in slaughtering what could be an innocent vampyre!” Onyx dropped Axl from his paralyzing grip, the boy’s body hitting the floor harshly. The blade landed to crack into the tiled school floor beside Axl’s head. Axl shivered in trepidation as Onyx loomed over him like a hovering rain cloud.


“You will learn the horrible things you do so blindly.” Onyx said. Axl felt the world spinning around him as the clouds outside formed to grow darker and darker. Onyx was gone…..and Axl stayed lying on the ground in fright and despair.


I’m…dying?


“Axl?” the slayer jumped up, spinning to see Alice Capulet standing little ways from him, a concerned gleam in her eye.


“Alice? What are you--,” Alice held up a hall pass.


“I was going to the bathroom; being in Mr. Burns’s class is killer if you’re also his teacher’s aide. What are you doing lying on the floor?” Alice’s eyes turned to the stake, still pinned to the ground. “Was….there a vampyre?”


She sounded panicked. Axl contemplated on telling her the truth versus lying like a dog to keep her quiet.


“No. It fell out of my backpack.” Axl replied as Alice walked over to the stake, ripping it from the ground, spinning it gracefully over her index finger. The stake flipped around her wrist and she caught the end of it, holding it to him.


“I’d be more careful with that.” She grinned. Axl took the stake back and placed it in the secret compartment of its place in his bag. “So…”


“So?” Axl waited as Alice looked away, a slight pink tone overtook her face.


“I was wondering….if you’d like to go out sometime. Maybe a movie?” Axl froze. His supposed ‘deadening’ heart pounded furiously. Alice Capulet….was asking him out.


“Uuuhhhh….Alice….I don’t know if now would be a good time. You just moved back and….” Axl paused. How could he explain that he was transforming into a blood lusting monster? That he could hurt her….that he had once craved her blood. Though…it bothered him that he wasn’t craving it now. “I’m just dealing with a lot, right now.”


Alice’s face went from hopeful to defeated.


“Oh…well…I guess I’ll see you around then.” The brunette huffed and hurried off. Suddenly…Axl hoped he was dying.

~ . ~

“God, so much to think about.” Rev sighed in dramatic thought. “Who to take to the dance, Lilly Farmer or Samantha Hastings? Both are seriously hot and serious easy.”


Axl only rolled his eyes as he laughed somewhat at Rev’s predicament. They had been driving forever now, and wondered where Rev was heading to. Rev hadn’t shut up about the dance since Axl had met him after gym. Onyx Alabaster hadn’t invaded Axl’s terrible thoughts since they had spoken. He wondered if that was such a bad thing, perhaps Onyx was just a crazed figment of his imagination.


“I think you need to find a girlfriend.” Axl replied as Rev gave him a puzzled look.


“I have a girlfriend.”


“No, you have ten girlfriends. You need to settle for one.” Axl felt Rev’s ‘you-jerk-face’ look on him, making him smirk victoriously. If Rev didn’t detect Onyx’s presence, then most likely, it didn’t happen at all. Rev, after all, was the top junior slayer SEED had. If he didn’t sense a vampyre, then there wasn’t one at all.


“Fine. Let’s not talk about my effed-up girl trouble and talk about yours. Who are you going to take?” Rev asked, grinning his Cheshire cat grin.


“Whoever you don’t wanna go with but hire to go with me.” Axl replied smoothly. Rev hit him on the arm.


“You brat. I’m not gonna fish for you this time.” Rev said stopping at a stop sign. Though he was half-way into the intersection. Axl always suspected Rev paid off the guy who gave him his license, considering he was a terrible driver.


“Then I’ll go alone.” Axl alleged, satisfied at his decision.


“Why don’t you ask…?” Rev grit his teeth, his words came out like they were painful. “…..Alice?”


Alice?! Like Alice Capulet would go to a dance with him after the way he shot her down in the hallway. Axl found Rev’s humor bemusing.


“That’s hilarious. You should think of doing stand-up.” Axl chuckled a fake laugh.


“Oh, come on. I’m perfectly serious.” That made Axl laugh even more.


“You? Serious? Rev, you still laugh at Tom & Jerry when Tom gets hit with an iron board.” It was true. Rev Crowe, the smooth-talking, make-out god, still loved cartoons and singing turtles.


“It’s funny!” Rev defended himself. He hit the gas pedal hard, sending Axl against his seat like an air plane take-off might.


“Alice would never go to a dance with me, Rev. I’m not exactly Mr. Boy-Next-Door like you.” Axl eased to that thought. Rev had told him countless times that he was a chick-magnet, but didn’t add onto his mysterious, emo guy stature. Axl hadn’t befriended many people. He barely spoke unless he had to. Girl’s melted at the thought of dating a lonely, quite emo guy with hot piercings. It was necessarily common in cheerleader’s minds. Axl just never found dating a rush or that fun of a thing. “Besides, I don’t think Alice likes dances.”


“That’s perfect! You don’t either. You two can go for a while, wait until me and my date start making out and then ditch.” Rev held up his hand for a high-five, receiving Axl’s hand on his forehead. “Ow! That wasn’t very nice.”


“You know how retarded you are sometimes?” Axl asked his friend, who thought a moment before shaking his head.


“I think I’m amusing.” Axl laughed at Rev’s comeback. His thoughts sank to what Onyx had spoken about before abandoning him in the school hallway.


“Rev, is what we do…is slaying…wrong?” Axl suddenly asked, instigating a face from Rev. His blonde friend looked mystified by Axl’s hasty uncertainty.


“No. Axl, we’re ending the evil in this world to save the lives of hundreds of millions of humans. If vampyres keep infesting the earth….they’ll take over.” Rev’s knuckles washed out into a white color. His hold on the steering wheel tightened furiously and the car slowly began to accelerate at a hazardous speed. “Vampyres deserved to be killed. Everyone single one slaughtered! I want them all to burn.”


“But what if they aren’t so awful? What if we’re killing innocent people?!”


The car halted in a skidding stop as Rev parked on the side of the road. The sun was starting to set; the city lights were bright against the peach and pink sky of the afternoon. Astoria looked great from where they were.


“No vampyre….is innocent, Axl. Remember what they did to your family?” Rev issued his voice remote of all emotion but detestation and hatred. The very senses of his eyes were distant and honest, and Axl could swear the scent of Rev’s blood was rich with ice. The coldness of it was like slushy ice on a hot pavement in the summertime. For the first time in his life, Rev was like a stranger to Axl. A cold, bloodcurdling, murderous stranger that Axl knew would be his enemy….


“What if….I was a vampyre? Would you hate me?” Axl asked, fearing that Rev could catch onto his secret. But Rev just smirked and looked out to the scene of the city and the lights. He leaned back in his seat, folding his arms behind his head.


“No. I’d never hate you, Axl. But if you were a vampyre….” The blonde paused, “….I don’t think we’d be friends anyway.”


Axl’s heart fell into nothingness, sinking into the gravely silence of his soul.


The moon rose over the night sky in the distance of the city. Its light was vivid and clear with a red ring formed around it. A sign of trouble looming in the heavens above them made Axl shiver. While studying the vampyre history, they were very in tune with the habits of nature’s warning signals. A ring around the moon symbolized danger and pain to come for those who see it in the sky.


“Rev…there’s something I have to tell you.” Axl balled up a fist, his knuckles turned pale white as he grinded his aching back. He knew Onyx’s words would come true.


“What are you getting all tense for?” the blonde asked, pushing away his flaxen locks of his golden mane. Rev had always reminded Axl of a valiant, voracious lion. And Axl thought of himself as the little black bird that perched without a care on the lion’s hind, watching his back for danger, keeping close eye from the background.


“I….” Axl couldn’t make himself utter those terrible words.


I’m turning into a vampyre.


‘Say it’. Onyx’s intonation echoed in the depths Axl’s mind. He felt his heart jolt. ‘Tell your friend before it is too late.’


I don’t want to! He’ll hate me!


‘If he is your true friend…..then he will remain your ally.’ Onyx’s voice faded away, like the whispers in the breeze of the night.


“Rev, I’m a---,” Axl’s voice altered to stop as his heart beat stopped for several moments that felt like an eternity. His lungs quivered to breathe, to no avail, as everything in his body went numb and cold. He could feel the icy chill of death starting to take over.


“N-no!” Axl bellowed from the last breathes of his diaphragm. He felt every little nerve-ending in his body quiver in a pain that took over him.

~ . ~



“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”


“What the hell is wrong with him!?”


“I don’t know, just get a medic! Now!”


Axl felt the cold façade of a metal hospital table, one out of the few that SEED had. The pain was insufferable, and it was a million times worse from before. His body burned, like his flesh was sizzling and his blood boiled hot like lava. The horrendous agony overtook him like a dominate master, almost like Satan himself had set Axl’s body into the depths of Hell.


Rev held Axl still as the medic broke his skin with the piercing force of a needle. Axl bellowed a cry of torture as the cool liquid shot into his body, making the pain somehow worse. He struggled to move his body; the deadening sensation of his pulse was starting to take over.


“He’s losing his pulse!” Axl heard Rev screaming in fury at the doctor. “Axl, man, just hang on! Don’t you dare die!”


Like a shattering of glass, Axl felt his heart break. Rev was scared for him, trying to keep him alive. Axl painfully lifted a shaky hand, touching Rev’s arm.


“Rev…” he called in a soft voice, his throat was weak and desiccated. Rev leaned down; Axl could smell the sweat from Rev’s face. “….Onyx….A-alabaster….He….”


“Axl, you’re fine, okay? You’re not going to…to…”


Before Rev could mutter the sentence….Axl’s heart rate monitor turned into a blaring beep…and a straight green line. The blonde gaped, wide-eyed at his friend’s hand gradually slip down in a wilting, limp fall. It handed softly on the surface of the silver table. A chill filled the room and suddenly, Rev felt as if the sweat on his face was cold as the snow…as cold as Axl’s flaccid hand…his dead hand….


Rev scraped at the table with his nails; suddenly the sadness in his mind was gone. His cheeks were soiled with tears of bitter hatred. The odium filled him in a protracted few moments.


Onyx Alabaster. That’s who killed his friend. That’s the one who bit and poisoned his brother.


That’s who Rev would find and kill.


“I’m going to avenge you, Axl. I’ll rip that filthy monster apart with my bear hands if I have to.…” Rev pushed Axl’s hair back and tears flooded his face as he muttered the last word he could bear to voice. “….brother…”

~ . ~



“Axl Blacklowe…..is dead.” The female slayer announced to Rance Rose, who was casually standing in the light of a tall glass window. The surface of the clear crystal surface made the sight of the moon seem intensely brilliant in all its far-away wonder.


Rance blew smoke into the air, a gray cloud of circular smoke dazzled to dance in the atmosphere surrounding Rance.


“Good. Now, we will wait.” Rance grinned as he chuckled in his sinister matter of overjoyed pleasure. His plans were all falling into place oh, so, perfectly.

~ . ~

Axl pushed through the thick brush of branches and thorn bushes as the air beneath his feet felt as if it was lifting him from the ground. He moved like lightening, almost not breathing as he kept pushing himself to hurry. There was no time, not that he knew why….he just knew that if he stopped, it was all over. The air evaded his hurting lungs, and he questioned why his heart wasn’t colliding like thunder under the surface of his flesh.


Skidding into a halt, being nicked and scratched by the brush in a hasty matter, Axl felt as if he’d been cut to ribbons. His skin burned and stung with tiny, but strong senses of pain. Looking at his arms and legs, he was shocked to see that only his clothes had been damaged. He pressed his fingers to his skin. The sensation tingled as he finally was able to breathe in and out in inhales of oxygen. Wondering why his skin felt heavy and hard, like stone, with thoughts of doubt and fear Axl pushed away the thoughts.


The air felt heavy and thick with heat. It overwhelmed Axl at first. He glanced around. Trying to find where the presence of obscurity was lingering. He felt as if a thousand eyes were on him. But there were only two. A pair of bright golden eyes intently fixed on him, their stare like piercing needles sticking into and through his body. Axl swallowed a lump in his throat, his mouth was like cotton. A cracking of a branch echoed through his ears like rolling like rumbling thunder. His breaths became smothered gasps as a white smile illuminated from the darkness of the trees, appearing to be like the Cheshire cat…


~ . ~




Axl’s eyes flashed open as he gripped a handful of the bed comforter. Sweat trickled down his forehead, though it felt cold and his skin felt numb. He jolted upright, he wondered where he was….what happened….and that he was….


A lofty young male appeared in the doorway, a look of concern plastered onto his picture perfect features. His pale skin and oddly decorated hair made Axl suspicious in ways he didn’t understand. The other male ran his hand through his faultlessly groomed black hair; one small portion of it was striped black and white like the tail of a raccoon.


Onyx Alabaster…? Axl remembered the male’s name…but not his own.


In panic, Axl jumped up from the bed, causing Onyx to step backward a step. His dark, bleak eyes grew intense with alarm and distress. Though no emotion was shown in his facial expression, Onyx held his hands up.


“Axl….are you alright?” the male spoke easily.


Kill him. Kill him! The thoughts rang throughout Axl’s mind. The boy glimpsed at a bottle on the self. It read: “Holy Water”. He grabbed it, not necessarily knowing of what it might do, but Onyx seemed a little afraid of the vial. Axl held it up, making Onyx retreat his steps.


“WHO ARE YOU?!” Axl yelled. Onyx gave the boy a confused eyebrow.


“Onyx Alabaster, I am a vampyre like you. Axl, everything is alright. You are safe and protected, now tell me….do you know who you are?” the pale male requested, stepping forward. Axl didn’t answer the question, he just held the bottle up higher, his fingers ready on the top. Onyx stepped another tread forward, making Axl nervous. He opened the bottle. “It seems you have lost your memories….Axl, do you remember anything at all?”


“STAY BACK!” Axl ordered.


“Easy, Axl. I am not going to harm you.” Onyx eased his way forward, making Axl splash the liquid at the male’s face. Onyx gave Axl a face of irritation, wiping the ‘Holy Water’ from his eyes.


“What…..was that?” the male demanded. He smacked the bottle from Axl’s hand. “That was rude. You are banned from bottles.”


Axl stared up at the male in fright, though he had no idea why. He balled up a fist, punching Onyx in the chest as hard as his knuckles allowed him. Onyx didn’t move an inch, and Axl felt his hand crack from hitting such a solid object. Onyx was like stone. Onyx pushed Axl on a chair, in a blink; he had Axl tied down to the wooden seat. He sighed in frustration as he observed Axl struggle like a trapped bear.


“You can sit there until you have calmed down.” Onyx said sitting on the bed in careless amusement. Axl ceased his struggling and trembled with anger. He didn’t know why….but he felt such a strong hatred for Onyx Alabaster….the vampyre.


Vampyre. That was something he remembered. He knew what vampyres were. It was almost as if it were stained in his brain, craved into his very soul like words on marble. He relaxed after a few minutes, blinded by so many different questions that had erupted like a volcano in his mind.


“Who am I?” Axl mumbled from his seat in which he was captive to. Onyx raised an eyebrow.


“Your name is Axl Blacklowe.” The deep, smooth voice cooed easily.



“What happened to me?” Axl asked, the question easily fixed in his mind. It was odd for him, feeling so much hatred bottled into his body and soul…he hated Onyx…but didn’t understand why. There so many things unclear without his memories.


“You…..just recently became like I, a vampyre. I came searching for you because you are meant to help my people out of the darkness we have entered. Humans and vampyre kind are relying on you to lead us…as a king.” Onyx stopped speaking, he breathed a deep inhale of air, releasing it slowly. “I dug you up from the grave yard and brought you here to keep you hidden. Everyone you had ever known believes you are dead….”


Axl’s blue eyes widened in utter appall, his breath left him….


“Dead…?” Axl stuttered out like the words were venomous and hurtful. Onyx only acquiesced, nodding.


“I….could not stop it. I must find a way now, to restore those memories and quickly before time has run out.” Onyx stood, straight and tall, it made Axl feel intimidated. Though Onyx appeared to have very little appearing muscle, Axl had the strange secure knowledge that Onyx was not a fellow to tangle with. “Have you calmed now? Because I need you to come with me in order to get answers, Benvolio would never believe me if I told him myself that the king’s heart has been found.”


Axl only gave Onyx an ‘are-you-kidding-me’ glance before trying to wiggle out of the binding. He found that there was no possibility of escaping, and questioned who this ‘Benvolio’ guy was. Axl weighed his options: leave with a crazed vampyre(which he subconsciously found dangerous and sickening), or risk being starved to death in a chair.


“Yes…I’ve calmed down. Just get me out of this.” Axl ordered. Onyx bowed his head and with the tip of his finger nail, he undid the binding. Axl looked at the rope after it fell to the ground. It had been cut straight through….like a blade had chopped it.


“Amusing is it not?” Onyx breathed out like a noisily exhale of a statement.


“How did you--,”


“You shall learn in time, Axl.” That statement angered Axl, as if he had heard it repeatedly a thousand and two times before. Onyx tossed the boy a white t-shirt that had a picture of Kurt Cobain on it, a black wool beanie, and a big coat that looked like it belonged to a skater.


“Get dressed readily, Axl. We are going somewhere all vampyres love to go.” Onyx said, his words smirked for him since his porcelain face did not in the risk of cracking. Axl was slightly amazed on how flawless Onyx Alabaster displayed to be in the topic of looks. The vulture left the room, leaving Axl to his thoughts as the quietness of the room took over. Axl looked at himself in the mirror. He didn’t look too much different from Onyx. His flesh was paled to a snow-like white, glistening with icy droplets of sweat. His eyes were a fixture of blue and paled into a gray rim around the pupil, contrasting against everything was his jet black hair, tinted almost like a bloody red as if he may have been a raven looming in the sunlight.


Axl remembered his nightmare, the feel of his skin was lifeless…. numb….just like it had been in the reverie of his slumber. He brushed his fingers over the white tissue of his skin, feeling its tingling cool sensation. He had read somewhere…that vampyres could not feel a lot of pain….because they were technically dead.


…So….I am a vampyre…Axl felt his stomach sink when the thought entered and whisked through his conscience.


He slipped the clothes on, sliding the beanie carefully over his delicate black locks of hair. He felt odd for some reason, wearing a hat. Onyx entered the room a moment later, dressed in a button-down shirt, patterned with roses and skulls. The back of it read: ‘Dead With You’. His jeans were ripped and torn at the knees and he completed himself with a pair of Converse tennis shoes. The vulture’s hair was combed back from his dazzling gray hues, the slight mess of curls and locks of wavy tresses messed to fall perfectly along with the hunk of raccoon’s tail, matching his black and white checkered plug ear-rings. Onyx had a sucker stuck in his mouth like a cigarette.


“Are you ready for departure?” he questioned, merely receiving a slight confused nod from the boy.


“Where are we going?” Axl demanded, his nerves still on edge. Onyx irked him in ways that he didn’t identify with. The male tossed a sticky note to Axl gracefully, Axl scrambled to catch it. He read the wording in Onyx’s hand-writing:

The Nocturne
Night Club and Dancing
Open from Sunset to Sunrise
Run By Benvolio Seyton


Suddenly, Axl felt unsafe. A night club run by what he supposed was another blood-sucker, Benvolio Seyton. What kind of name was Benvolio? And his last name sounded way to close to Satan. In all matters worse…it was Onyx that was guiding him to this strange place.


“You do not trust me?” Axl nearly jumped out of skin when he heard Onyx’s voice suddenly coo those words of doubt. “That is quite fine, I do not expect as much from you, until I can prove myself loyal.”


Onyx’s expression was as always, blank. But his words were filled with determination and trivial remorse. The very attitude behind Onyx’s character made Axl’s mind spin. When exactly…..did Onyx lose his soul?

~ . ~