House of Darkness

Dear Gods, what have I gotten myself into now?


Beautiful sapphire eyes looked around as he made his way along the winding drive that led him to his new campus. It was later in the day, perhaps edging on twilight, so there weren’t many on the street to hinder his path.


Why did the Searcher have to mark me? Why couldn’t I have stayed a normal human boy with my normal human friends? Was that really so much to ask?


Already he was missing Hayner, Pence and Olette. They were the best of friends all through school, they did practically everything together. He and Hayner were inseparable since they were in the third grade. Roxas had moved to Twilight Town and had known pretty much no one.


He had dated Hayner when they were in the third grade. It was mostly an on-again, off-again sort of relationship though they always remained friends. Olette had become his best friend, aside from Hayner, and they did almost everything together. Pence was the technical one of their small group. Give the boy something with wires and he could reprogram a cell phone into a laptop.


Remembering his friends, Roxas smiled to himself. You’d think a sophomore’s life would be a lot easier than this. he thought. But then his smile faded as he remembered his friends reactions to his being Tagged by the Searcher. Gods the look on Olette’s face when she’d seen his marking was one of utter repulsion. Completely abhorred by the idea Roxas was joining the House of Darkness.


It was a House where individuals with markings could take refuge; else their bodies would starve for the energy that only the House of Darkness could provide. There, those marked by the Searcher could learn about their abilities, as well as learn of the normal studies a high school would provide.


Or so Roxas had heard.


Driving up the paved road in his white Mazda 3, Roxas’ eyes widened as he eased on the brake; his eyes widening to the size of saucers as he took in the great gothic appearing building-no, it was a castle. It looked almost exactly like the Carcassonne castle in France that he’d read about last year for his science project. The only difference was that instead of clean white brick, here the castle appeared to have black glistening onyx stone. With several high towers and beautifully made archways, the fortress was truly beautiful.


Shaking his head, Roxas pulled his car up to what appeared to be a covered garage. He eased inside, finding a parking space to rest his Mazda. He shut the engine off, picking up his satchel and sliding it across his shoulder as he stepped out. Once his car was locked up, he made his way toward a gothic looking door, easing inside. He blinked at the darkness within only lit by the occasional sconce with black candles lit with a beautiful almost white flame to give off light.


“Welcome Roxas. We’ve been expecting you.”


Roxas yelped at the deep voice beside him. He whirled around only finding a tall male with silver hair and the most prominent golden eyes staring down at him. Said eyes almost seeming to glow in the darkness and peer straight through Roxas’ very soul.


“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know there was a time limit on arriving here.”


A faint smile actually touched those cruel lips. “It’s fine Roxas. I’m here to introduce myself. I am Xemnas, the head Master of the House of Darkness. I will also be your mentor throughout your stay here at our home. Is there anything you wish to ask me as I show you around the campus?”


As Xemnas turned, Roxas stepped up beside the tall male and began walking at his side down the dark hallway that now didn’t seem near as dark.


“Um, yeah. Can you tell me about being Tagged?”


“Of course.” Xemnas gave a nod as he led the way down the hallway. “You were Tagged by the Searcher because they saw something extra special lying dormant within you. The House of Darkness is a home to those with certain powers or affinities that would normally not fit in with the human crowd.”
Roxas blinked at the sneer he heard in Xemnas’ voice when he said the word ‘human’. “Powers or affinities?”


“Yes; A power such as mind control or an affinity such as one of our elements. You will be able to bring some sort of unique trait to the House of Darkness.”


As they walked and Roxas listened, something black with glowing golden orange eyes walked from the shadows right up to Xemnas. It reached up, taking his hand and nuzzling seemingly lovingly.


Roxas’ eyes widened. “What is that?” He asked curiously, watching Xemnas slide a hand down the creature’s head in a soft pet. A soft squeaky sound came from the creature as those bright eyes closed happily at the attention he was receiving.


“That is a shadow heartless. The shadow heartless can take many different shapes once they have found their person.” Xemnas began, gently petting the creature’s head. “They will also take on the eye color of the person they choose.” He motioned to the little creature’s eyes that were the same shining golden orange as his own. “The shadow heartless are very picky, despite the rumors that they are devoid of emotion. They will grow to be a part of you.”


“So, I might eventually have one find me?”


“Yes, if you are lucky enough to have a shadow heartless choose you make sure not to take advantage of that fact.”


Roxas gave a nod just as a male wearing a black zip up leather trench coat and black pants with heavy black boots came up to Xemnas. He had wavy brown hair and a sort of ‘rock’ appearance about him, especially with those stone grey eyes that had a hint of blue within them. Roxas noticed Xemnas’ shadow heartless had disappeared with the appearance of the new male.


“Superior, we have a problem. Professor Xigbar snuck into Professor Vexen’s laboratory and switched his vials, creating a huge mess.”


Xemnas lifted a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a long suffering sigh. “I will be right there, Lexaeus.”


The male named Lexaeus bowed and turned, waiting on Xemnas.


“Roxas, will you please make your way outside into the garden? It’s straight down the hall; turn left and then walk through the opened doors. You can’t miss it. I’ll return as soon as I deal with this... problem.”


With that, Xemnas walked down a side corridor with the tall male; grumbling something about the fifteenth time this month Xigbar had messed with Vexen’s lab.


With a chuckle, the blond made his way down the hall as Xemnas had requested. Looking around the eerie hallway, Roxas noticed several different corridors that led to places unknown.


Roxas.


The blond blinked as he stopped in his tracks. Did he just hear his name whispered by the shadows from the hallway to his right in an eerie fashion?


He knew he should have walked along the hallway and search for the gardens like Xemnas had wanted, but his curiosity won the battle between it and rationalization.


It wasn’t very far before he saw something moving within the shadows. Roxas blinked then squinted as he crept along.


Go, turn back now. His mind tried to turn him away.


But instead of listening to the voice inside his head, he continued down the hallway until he rounded a corner. His eyes widened at the sight he found there.


There was a male, perhaps a teenager that was perhaps one or two years older than Roxas himself, leaning back against the wall, reclining in an almost lazy manner. His head was leaned back against the wall and was breathing a bit ragged as he stood there. Roxas thought to himself how handsome the male was, he seemed strong and with the black dreadlocks pulled up into a ponytail, he also looked dangerous. A giggle sounded and drew Roxas’ eyes downward to find, to his shock, a lithe form in the same black trench kneeling before the dark haired teen.


She was running her slender fingers up inside the unzipped front of the male’s trench. Roxas couldn’t help but look at the strong, muscled chest bared beneath the leather duster. And the female couldn’t resist sliding her slender fingers against his muscle either even as the slid her other hand up to cup his crotch, massaging him through the fabric of his leather pants.


Roxas shouldn’t be watching this like a voyeur, he had to leave. This was none of his busi-


“Stop!”


He froze in his turning, his eyes hesitantly glancing over his shoulder. Had he been seen? Was the teen talking to him?


“You know you really don’t want me to do that.”


Roxas almost fell to his knees as relief swam inside his chest. He hadn’t been noticed. He couldn’t help but think that the husky voice of the female on her knees sounded nasally with an underlying edge of desperateness.


“We’re not doing this anymore. We’re not together, can you not understand that?” His gruff, out of breath reply sounded completely turned on.


“I can understand that you still want me, it’s not as if you can hide this.” She said as she traced her fingertip up the center of his crotch in a teasingly manner.


Then she did something that completely shocked Roxas. She used her fingernail like a knife and sliced through his leather pants, cutting a thin line into his muscular thigh.


“Stop this now. You’re really starting to piss me off and I don’t want to hurt you. What cant you understand that we aren’t together anymore? I don’t want to do this. It’s over between us, can you not understand that?”


“How about you stand there and relax, hmm? Let me take care of you.”


She leaned forward to slide her tongue along the little cut to his upper thigh. It should’ve repulsed Roxas, should have made him turn on his heels and slink back to the hallway where he could make his way to the gardens like he was instructed to. It shouldn’t make his mouth water, damn it! He closed his eyes, trying to shake the feeling from his head.


“No!”


But then, he felt eyes upon him.


Roxas lifted his eyes, opening them only to find that the male having his thigh sucked watching him. His eyes a beautiful mixture between navy blue and violet were completely wide and focused on Roxas. A dark blush hit his cheeks and he took a step back.


“No!”


This time directed at Roxas’ retreating form. He turned and ran as silently down the hallway as he could. He reached the hallway and walked down the corridor. Trying to calm his breathing and his blush as he walked through the opened doors and sat down on the stone bench to await Xemnas.


He know of blowjobs, he’d preformed a couple on Hayner and vice versa. Seeing someone else in the middle of a blowjob shouldn’t bother him as much as it had.


Or was it the blood?


Gods he had so much to learn about this new lifestyle he had been thrust into.


~*~*~*~*~


“Sorry that took so long, Xigbar is notorious for messing with the teachers and even some students.”


Roxas lifted his eyes up to Xemnas, offering a slight smile. He’d been looking out at the gardens for the past couple minutes, worried that the two teens would have ventured outside and found him. But no such luck.


“It’s ok. Is Xigbar a teacher too?”


“Yes. He teaches the course on Standard Literature. I do believe he is your third period teacher.” Xemnas said as he motioned for Roxas to stand and follow him.


Standing, the pair made their way around the beautiful garden filled with night blooming flowers of all sorts. The inner part of the flora seeming to cast a glowing light inside. There were even small little fairies floating around the little central part of the garden, glowing beautiful shades of blue, yellow, green and orange as they flitted about around the large fountain. It was so... surreal to watch actual fairies dancing within the water of the fountain.


Looking up, Roxas’ eyes widened as he stared at a large building built in a catholic style with high arched windows filled with stained glass and an arched doorway that led inside. “Wow.”


Xemnas glanced to Roxas, following his eyes up to the dorm room. A faint smile turned his lips.


“That is Dorm One. The dorm you will be staying in. Would you like to see your room and meet your room mate?”


Roxas gave a nod, smiling up to Xemnas. “If that is alright.”


Giving a nod, Xemnas made his way to the dorm’s door and opened it, letting Roxas walk inside. The inner room was a very large foyer with several chairs ranging from colorful beanbag chairs to rocking chairs with even more colorful pads on the seat and back. Already there were several students sitting around with various sorts of health food snacks being passed around. All present smiling widely and saying their hello’s to the Superior or Head Master.


The stairs were to the side of the foyer, leading up to the second story set of rooms. Xemnas led the way down the hall to the door on the far right. He knocked and there came shuffling from inside before the door opened.


Standing there in a pair of baggy shorts and a muscle shirt with a pair of overly large sneakers was a brunet male that had a soft set of sky blue eyes. He grinned at seeing Roxas. “Hi Roxas! I’m so glad you made it!” The brunet automatically latched onto Roxas in a hug, tugging him into the room.
“Roxas, this is your room mate Sora. He’s been looking forward to your arrival since the Searcher let us know you were tagged.” Xemnas smiled gently. “Sora, I will leave Roxas in your care. Make sure Roxas receives his schedule before class starts.”


With that, Xemnas made his way from the Dorm.


Roxas coughed as he patted Sora on the arm. “Um, dude, I can’t breathe.”


“Oh! Sorry!”


Sora instantly let go, Roxas coughed and rubbed his throat as he stepped back into his own personal space. He looked around the room, taking in the island theme that Sora had decorated the entire room with. Complete with sand colored carpeting, waves painted on the walls and clouds on the ceiling. His eyes soon finding two beds, one on either side of the room. Sora’s had turquoise sheets and a star pillow upon the bed. His closet door open, showing several sets of school outfits and lounge clothes.


“I really am glad to have you for a roommate, Roxas.” Sora said, sitting down on his twin bed.


It was then that Roxas realized that he’d been ignoring the brunet. “Oh, sorry Sora.” He smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to ignore you; it’s just that all of this is so much to take in.” He chuckled softly.


Sora beamed as he sat cross legged on his bed. “Yeah, when I came here I was in awe too. But it’s really a much nicer place than normal high schools.” He smiled, watching Roxas curiously. “Where did you come from?” He motioned to Roxas’ bed for him to sit so they could talk before they had to get ready for class.


The blond turned, his eyes widening as he looked at his bed. His navy blue jersey sheets were on the bed deemed ‘his’ with his dark blue pillowcase pillow and his crescent moon bed pillow. And they even had his cedar night stand from home, with his star touch lamp too!


“Holy crap, those are my things!” Roxas gaped, looking to his chest at the foot of the bed. He opened it, finding all his quilts and extra sheets.


“Yeah, they bring your things from home once you’re tagged. Your clothes are in the closet as well as your new school clothes.”


Sora pointed to the closed closet to Roxas’ left. As the blond walked over and opened the door, his eyes widened further. Sure enough, all his regular clothes were hanging up on one side and his school clothes were on the other.


“How’d they know my size?”


Sora shrugged as he sat on his bed. “I don’t know. The faculty here know a lot more than they should about the students. Some can read minds while some just know things. You’ll get used to it, though you’ll never be able to sneak around campus.” He chuckled gently. “You’ll need to take out a uniform since school starts in an hour.”


Roxas blinked as he looked back to Sora with a frown. “Starts in an hour?” Roxas looked up to the wall clock above Sora’s bed. It read eight forty-five. “We have school so late?”


This time it was Sora who blinked at Roxas. “Oh yeah, sorry about not clearing that up.” Sora laughed at himself. “Let me start with this: At the House of Darkness, we worship the God of Darkness, Erebus. We are all born to live within the Darkness, heck our very powers are of Darkness borne. We can still walk in the daylight, but it tends to make us very tired and weaken our powers considerably.”


The blond sat on his bed, biting his lower lip gently. “Well, what about drinking blood? Is that a normal thing?”


Sora laughed gently as he gave a nod. “Yeah, or so I’ve read. In Darkness Sociology with professor Xemnas the chapter we’re reading is on the introduction about feeding. I think it said that when we’re in our third year or juniors as high school standards go, we actually develop what could be labeled as blood lust.”


“Like as in vampire blood lust?” Roxas squeaked.


Sora smiled, giving a nod. “Yeah, that’s why our powers manifest best during the night. Xemnas didn't tell you that you were turning into a vampire, did he? He probably didn't want you to take on so much your very first day/ Er, night. But yeah, we’re turning into vampires if we can survive the transition from a fledgling into an adult vampire. But the teachers really don’t talk much about vampires until the students are incorporated into the school further.” Sora bit his lip gently. “You aren’t freaked out, are you?”


Roxas gave an avid nod. “Yeah, yeah I am actually. But at least that explains why the sight of fresh blood makes my mouth water.” He let out a heavy breath, rubbing his face.


“Wait!” Sora very nearly bounced off his bed. “You already have a taste for blood and you’re only a first year?! That’s so cool!”


“No, it’s really not. I was walking down the hallway an-” Roxas broke off, watching Sora closely. “Promise me you will not repeat what I’m about to tell you?”


Sora gave a nod, looking like he was about to fall off his bed with the incentive of a big juicy secret about to be revealed.


“I was walking down the hallway when I arrived and I accidentally came across a couple in a dark corridor. A blond girl was giving a dark headed guy head and she cut his thigh. The smell of his blood made me want to push her out of the way and lick it away myself.” Roxas’ cheeks tinted red again as he looked away. “I’m a freak, aren’t I?”


“No way! Roxas I think it’s awesome that you already have a taste for blood. You might get your fangs sooner than any of us!” Sora grinned, leaning over until he pretty much crawled off his bed and sat with Roxas.


Roxas lifted his eyes to Sora. “I’ll get fangs too? So I really am turning into a vampire in the end, right?”


Sora wrinkled his nose gently as he looked away. “Well, you might.” He started.


“What do you mean that I might? Sora what aren’t you telling me?”


“Well, not everyone can make the transition into a vampire, Roxas. There’s been several kids here that have died; it’s why no one knows about us eventually turning into vampires in the end. It would scare the people around us and they would all become bigots and attack our sanctuary here at the House of Darkness. The mass think it’s a school for those who have special powers or skills. If they knew vampires were real then they’d rush here and try to kill us, saying that we were ungodly creatures.”


Sora sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck gently.


“So basically I’m a vampire, working to reveal my special skills that will help me become a better vampire? And that is only if I make it through the transition?” Roxas asked, looking to his roommate.


That made the brunet smile and nod. “Yeah. You’ll learn everything that will help you learn to become a vampire, if you do transition that is. But c’mon, school starts soon. We have first hour together with Professor Xemnas. Then you’ll be able to get your schedule.”


Sora smiled and hopped off Roxas’ bed, grabbing his clothes and made his way to the bathroom. Roxas sighed as he looked to his leather trench coat, black leather pants and black boots. He noticed a symbol on the space of the breast pocket. It was a silver outline of the sun.


“That is the symbols for the first years. The Goddess Hemera is the daughter of Erebus, she is the Goddess of Sun so she watches over the first year fledglings since they come from the sun and slowly make their transition into darkness to live under her father.”


Sora stood in the doorway to his bathroom, wearing a white muscle shirt and his black leather pants that seemed to be painted on with his black boots resting untied on his feet. He laid his trench coat down on his bed as he stretched, sitting on the edge of his bed.


“What are the symbols for the rest of the years?” Roxas asked his question, his head tilted curiously.


“Well, the second years have the symbol of Erebus’ son the God of Sky Aether; who watches over second years. His symbol of two clouds with a setting sun between them is stitched in silver as well. The third years have the symbol for Hypnos, the God of Sleep. His symbol is a silver crescent moon and star to signify the closer transition to a vampire. And the fourth years wear the symbol for Erebus’ other daughter Cer, the Goddess of Death. She is the final chooser of each and every fledgling that makes the transition to a vampire. She decided who is worthy to be watched by her father. Her symbol, if you can believe how ironic it is, is a skull and cross bones embroidered in silver.”


Roxas blinked, giving a nod as he listened. “So we’re watched over by Erebus’ four sons and daughters, they see that the strongest make it to the next God or Goddess who will help prepare us for Cer’s final pick?”


Sora gave a nod. “Yes, but the Gods and Goddesses choose if we aren’t strong enough to make it along the way.”


Giving a nod, the blond thought over everything he’d learned. He picked up his outfit and made his way to the bathroom to change from his day clothes into his uniform.


Roxas couldn’t help but to stare at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes riveted to his chest where the symbol the tracker put on him resided over his heart. It was merely a red outline of a heart with an upside down Fleur de leis on the bottom; the center of his mark was solid black.


What is really so special about this plain symbol?


With a sigh, he tugged his uniform on; soon emerging wearing his black muscle shirt and tight leather pants that were quite comfortable and lightweight, his trench coat hanging open as he sat on his bed, tying his shoes and putting away his clothes to be washed later.


“Alright.” Sora said as he stood up, hands on his hips. “Ready to start your new life at the House of Darkness?”


Roxas took a deep breath, standing he zipped up his trench coat and marveled that the equally soft leather was so breathable and light. He smiled to Sora and gave a nod. “I’m ready.”


He hoped that was true, anyway.

~*~ tbc ~*~

AN:
T: We hope that you enjoy our venture into an Organization XIII version of the House of Night series. Thanks so much for reading! Please remember to leave us some nice reviews to encourage quicker chapters from us. But we don't appreciate flames, so be nice if you decide to give constructive criticism.

B: Yeah, reviews are good and we do accept constructive criticism.
To those of you who have read the House of Night books, we hope that you enjoy our take on House of Night Organization XIII style. We tried hard to follow the storyline and be unique at the same time. We hope you've enjoyed Chapter One! Stay tuned! ;)