Chapter One: Raphael
Devil's Keep was alive with the wild thrashing of the young men and woman dancing in fast paced, jerky movements to the hypnotic, almost evil beat of the music pulsating through the walls like the throbbing heart beat of some bloodthirsty demon. They wore leather, silks, metal, vinyl, and even rubber, all of it black or shades of deep blood red. Men wore black lipstick and thick bans of eyeliner, their nails polished and painted, and some girls even went as far as to wear fishnet tops with little to nothing underneath. They swayed against one another; perfect strangers touching and grasping at each other like lovers being reunited after a lifetime of being apart. It was so much, but so little. I was too much, far, far too much to handle anymore and the music beat against the dancers mercilessly, pushing them so far over their own limits they had all become numb within themselves. So numb that little to no notice was taken of missing friends who had disappeared amongst the shadows crisscrossing the dark walls hours earlier.
Those that weren't dancing, if the nature in which some were moving could at all be called dancing, were smoking long black cigarettes that filled the air with strange perfumes and gray nicotine clouds. Most also had drinks in front of them, ranging from beer to vodka to some that gave the word 'intoxication' a whole new definition. They wore jaded, weary expressions that almost seemed to be painted onto their powdered pale faces, tinged with hints of predatory lust as they scanned the others for potential conquests.
Raphael Ellio watched all of this from his perpetual 'safe haven' in an empty booth against the far wall of the club. His chest was vibrating in time with the beat and lyrics the performing band of the night screamed out into the sea of people. His head was spinning with the stagnant fumes of the alcohol that smothered him from all sides, and the crazed flashing of the strobe lights overhead hurt his sensitive blue eyes. The smoke machines in every corner weren't helping either; they filled his lunges with the dark, synthetic fog to the point that breathing had almost become a difficult task for him. His head was throbbing, aching horribly, and he pressed his fingers to his temple, closing his blood shot eyes as he tried to relax the pained area. But even through tightly closed lids he could see the constant flashing of the lights, and the incoherent screams of the singer refused to allow him a chance to clear out his near blinding headache.
"Raphie! Raphie, check it out man!" A blonde girl dressed head to toe in black with far too much eye makeup rushed the cracking young man, laying out across the booth beside him and grabbing at his thigh. "Isn't this place awesome?"
Raphael frowned at the young woman, eyes opening into irritated slits of sky blue. He swatted her hand from his leg, unhappy with the intimate contact, "I wouldn't call it 'awesome'."
"Then what would you call it?"
"Loud." He closed his eyes again as she pulled herself up off of her stomach and onto her knees, her flimsy black skirt riding up on her long legs. He grasped at his head as though he were trying to hold it together, fearful that it would split right open at any moment.
"I know!" The girl laughed as she waved her hands in excitement, the sound almost completely drowned out as the singer emitted another long, unnecessarily loud scream. "This band is amazing! Their songs are incredible!"
"You can understand what they're saying?" Raphael looked up with a snap of his neck. He looked at her unbelievingly as she nodded, her blond hair falling wildly around and across her face as it fell loose of the clip she had secured it all at the back of her head with. "All I can hear is screaming..."
"'Cause that's all they're doing." Another had joined their group, a man about the same age as Raphael with choppy, neatly groomed mahogany brown hair and amber eyes. He too wore all black and a loosely knotted blue tie that stuck out brightly against the dark colors of his clothes.
"No they aren't!" The girl protested, frowning at the second boy, "Listen to the lyrics. They're really deep!"
"There aren't any lyrics to listen to, Maria." The young man gave her a calm look, digging his hands down into the pockets of his black jeans.
"Yes there are!" She rocked back on her knees, plopping down onto her backside and leaning into Raphael's shoulder, "Tell him, Raphie."
Raphael clamped his eyes shut once again, trying in vain to drown out all the noise around him, "I'm with Leon on this one. All they're doing is screaming into a microphone to a crowd of dancing, drunk emo kids."
Maria scoffed dramatically at her two best friends, crossing her arms over her chest. "Men..."
Momentarily defeated, the young woman fell silent as she leaned against her male friend's shoulder, providing Raphael with a chance to clear his foggy mind and wonder to himself why he had even bothered to come to the club in the first place. He had subconsciously known that no good would come from a place named 'Devil's Keep', and yet he had allowed the woman to drag him along.
"Hey Raphie...?" Maria nudged his shoulder sharply, breaking his train of thought and ending his moment of peace.
"What?" He hissed out irritably, digging the pads of his fingers deeper into the skin at his temple. She nudged at him again, this time turning to tug insistently at the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt, "Do you know that guy or something?"
"What guy?" Raphael glanced up at her, confused and annoyed.
"That guy over in the corner near the bar. The hot one in leather." She was looking out across the dance floor now, having released his arm to fold them over the table top. She rested her chin on the tops of her arms, thoughtfully watching the man indicated. "He's been staring at you for a while now..... Boy is he good looking!"
"What are you talking about?" Raphael questioned sharply, glancing over at the long, dimly lit bar across the room. Three people sat on stools there and one stood leaning back on his elbows against it. Each had a drink in his or her hand and was looking out into the throng of thrashing bodies. Every one of them were dressed in dark colors, black being most prominent, and one of the men even wore thick dark eyeliner and a mesh shirt over his bare chest, but not one of them had anything leather-like on. Surprisingly.
"In the corner closest to the door." Leon nodded his head to the place, his amber eyes fixated on the same person Maria was enthralled with. "He's against the wall at the back of the group there. Been staring at you since we came over."
"Whatever," Raphael muttered dispassionately. His eyes slide back down to the table top, hands coming down from his head to wrap about himself. His arms crossed over his lap as he leaned over to press his chest against the edge of the table, "He's watching Maria then, not me."
"Oh no, he's definitely watching you, Raphie." Maria chirped sharply, a jealous expression lifting to her face as she pried her eyes from the man in the corner, "I've been watching like a hawk and our eyes haven't met even once. His haven't left you."
"Why the hell would he stare at me?" Raphael demanded, lifting his eyes to his friend's face, "I'm a guy."
"I've heard of stranger things before." Leon said pointedly, glancing sidelong to his friend.
"Oh please," Raphael made a face, "that's disgusting."
"Well say whatever you like, Raphie," Maria sighed longingly, "but there isn't a thing disgusting about this guy. He's absolutely gorgeous."
"Yeah, I bet..." Raphael rolled his eyes, looking away from his friends.
Despite himself, he glance back towards the bar and then further back along it to the club door and the corner off to the side of it, and sure enough there they stood. Shrouded in the dim darkness where the strobe lights couldn't quite reach them. There were four men and three women, all wearing reasonably dark colors and blending in for the most part with everyone else in the club. But something about them was off. They were pale and thin, yet they all had an aura of strength about them. Like they possessed a hidden power deep down beneath their fragile looking skin.
The one closest to the door, a man with shoulder length dark hair, possibly black, wore what looked like a dark brown suit jacket over a navy blue high-collared shirt. He had a very bland, stone cold serious look on his pale face and was being clutched at tightly by a woman with short light brown hair. She wore a black, pleated miniskirt and a tight white shirt with a dark scarf wrapped around her slim shoulders; black and white striped stockings traveled up her legs to mid-thigh and average heeled black boots covered them to just below her knees. Beside her was another woman with wild blonde hair who wore a pink shirt with white lace rimed short sleeves and low neck line that hung off the shoulders. Black ribbon crisscrossed at the front of the shirt, giving off a corset like look to it; she also wore a black glove on her left hand and large rings on her fingers as well as two necklaces, two bracelets, and black string wrapped tightly about her left upper arm. The two women were chatting happily to each other.
Deeper into the corner were four others, one a soft looking young man in a black tee-shirt and jeans with clean, groomed brown hair that had been styled into many swooping sections on his head. Another girl stood among them, closest to the soft looking youth. She had long gold tinted brown hair that had been pulled back with a dark clip, much like Maria's, to match her dark short cut black dress. The only difference was that this girl had a section of her long locks pulled down into a braid that ended with a blood red ribbon tied into a droopy bow; a marking of some kind was visible beneath her left eye, though Raphael couldn't make out what it was in so little light. To the right of this girl was a third man. A short haired blond with a long black trench coat that flared out around his long legs. He was leaning in close to the final member of the group as he spoke something Raphael couldn't have even hoped to hear.
Raphael blinked as his eyes came across the man the blond was talking to. He was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed firmly across his chest and head tilted to the side as he returned Raphael's stare. Flustered and confused by the man watching him from the corner, Raphael unconsciously let his eyes wander down the man's strong, lithe body; he wore a dark tank-top that clung to his chest and abdomen nicely and a pair of low slung black leather pants that hugged his hips tightly. Snapping his eyes back up to the man's face in embarrassment, Raphael felt his face heat up with a subtle blush to find that the man now wore a knowing smirk on his lips; his long blond hair spilling over his shoulders to contrast beautifully with his dark shirt.
Raphael adverted his eyes away quickly, mortified and made jumpy by the man's shadow darkened eyes and feral grin. He focused on the table top, oblivious to the people around him as he forced his jittery nervous to calm and relax.
"Saw him, didn't you?" Maria's voice broke his staring contest with the table long enough for Raphael to glance sidelong at her.
"Yeah," he nodded vaguely, his gaze falling back to the table and then up to Leon's calm face, "Is he still looking this way?"
"Yup," Leon glanced to the unidentified man in the corner, "Still staring."
Raphael groaned, bowing his head and covering the back of his neck with his hands, "Why the heck is he staring at me?"
"Well," Maria giggled softly as she nudged her hapless friend playfully, "you are awfully adorable, Raphie. Real cute. Almost like a girl sometimes."
"I do not look like a girl!" Raphael exclaimed a little loudly, slamming his hands down onto the table to grip the edge tightly as he glared at Maria. He was actually very thankful for the loud music at that moment since it had been far too loud in the club for anyone other then himself, Maria, and Leon to hear his exclamation.
"I.....think he's laughing at you, Raph." Leon interrupted with a smirk on his face, nodding over towards the staring man.
Raphael and Maria both looked over to the man, watching as his shoulders shook slightly against the wall while he continued to stare across the thrashing club dancers at the flustered young man. Raphael scoffed nastily, sneering at the man and throwing himself back against the seat. He crouched down in hopes of hiding himself from the harassing gaze.
"No way he heard me from all the way over there." Raphael huffed irritably, crossing his arms in a show of stubbornness, "Too loud for that in this place. It had to be something that blond guy talking to him said..."
"Yeah, but jeez Raphie," Maria turned to her friend curiously, "what the heck did you do to get that guy's attention in the first place?"
"I didn't do anything!" Raphael exclaimed in quiet earnest, blue eyes widening in frustration as he stared at his friends, "I haven't moved from this place all night long!"
"Well, whatever it was you sure caught his eye with it." Maria returned to watching the man with unconstrained longing, "The guy is so obviously in to you, Raphie."
"Shut up." Raphael glared at the table, frowning heavily.
"No, really Raphie!" Maria urged, "I mean, the dude hasn't looked away for a second. He doesn't even blink!"
"I know that!" Raphael hissed, "Now tell me something I don't already know. Like how to get him to stop!"
Maria scoffed at her friend, giving him a once over, "Stop? Why would you want him to stop?"
"The guy's a creep!"
"The guy is a hunk, Raphie." Maria smirked suggestively, "I say you should go over and talk to him."
"What?!"
"Go talk to the man. Chat. Flirt a little." Maria rolled her eyes at him, "Hell, would it kill you to actually dance tonight? You are in a night club after all."
"Are you out of your mind, woman?" Raphael stared incredulously at the girl. He slid his gaze over to Leon at the sound of a low chuckle from the man and was taken aback by the smirk he found directed at him.
"You know, I think she might have a point there, Raph." Leon chuckled at his friend's dumbfounded expression, "Go talk to him. See what he wants."
Raphael looked to each of them in turn, shocked that they would be so supportive of something so wrong. He didn't even know the strange man in the corner, and both of them knew how uncomfortable he was with strangers and people in general. "I knew Maria was crazy from the beginning, but now I'm starting to think that you're both mad," He leaned forward towards Leon, hissing urgently to the man under his breath, "Have you lost you mind, Leon? Go talk to him and see what he wants? Do you have any idea what you're telling me to do?"
"Go make friends?" Leon offered with a smirk, "Come on, Raph. Just loosen up some already, you're out to have fun not sit and pout all evening. You can do that all you want at home."
"I do not pout," Raphael huffed, sitting back again with an irritated scowl. "And I am not going to walk up to some perfect stranger and ask him what he wants from me. He could be planning to abduct me or some freaky shit like that."
"Oh please, Raphie...." Maria scoffed loudly, "Do you honestly think Leon and me would just let you walk out of this place with a stranger? We're just saying that maybe you should dance with him or something, have some fun, ya know?"
Raphael scoffed bitterly, "I don't do 'fun' in situations such as these." He glanced sidelong past Maria's hair to the group by the door, his eyes immediately locked with the strange man's. He glared pointedly at the man, earning himself another evanescent smirk that was far too light and carefree for his tastes. He looked away, sitting up straight in his seat and snapped his fingers at Leon, "Hey, hand me my coat."
Leon did as he was told, reaching over to his side to retrieve the large brown item. Maria turned to look at Raphael questioningly, "How can you be cold in this place?"
"I'm not." Raphael muttered his thanks to his friend as he scooted closer to Maria and turned his body to exit the booth, "I'm leaving."
"Leaving?!" Maria exclaimed incredulously, "Why are you leaving?"
"Because I've got a monster headache and I'm sick and tired of being harassed." Raphael told her sternly, glancing over to the dark corner near the door as he spoke, "Plus I'm tired and wanted to drop by the studio tonight. I've got a deadline and I'm falling behind already."
"Raphie, it's a Friday night! You're suppose to party and get drunk off your ass like all the other healthy, good looking twenty-three year olds in the world. Working at a time like this when you're at a popular night club with your friends and an extremely hot guy is checking you out is not only abnormal, but down right wrong." Maria squawked at him shrilly, "It's practically a sin, Raphie!"
"Then I guess I'm headed for hell then," Raphael rolled his eyes at the pout that formed on Maria's lips, "Now come on, Maria, let me out. I've had enough of this place."
Maria glared at him for a moment before scooting out of the booth to let him out. She stood with her hands on her hips as she watched him stand and pull his coat on over his shoulders; she scoffed loudly at him, "What is it with you arts-y type guys? You act like having a good time will kill you or something."
"He's just a moody artist, Maria." Leon smirked at his coat clad friend, "Let him be for tonight. He's out of his element."
"Thank you, Leon," Raphael sighed heavily, muttering sidelong at Maria, "At least someone around here gets it."
"Jeez, men.... you're always siding with each other despite the issue." Maria glared at each of her friends in turn. Sighing in defeat, she leaned up to wrap her arms around Raphael's neck in an affectionate hug, "Fine. If you gotta go, then go... but you had better call me the minute you get back home, ok?"
"What are you, my mom?" Raphael arched a brow at the blonde girl.
"No. I'm nowhere near as bitchy as that woman…" Maria scoffed, "I just want to make sure you get home fine is all. New York isn't the best place to walk around at night and you know that, Raphie. Especially when you're alone."
"I know, I know," Raphael offered the girl a small smile, complying with her demands. "I'll call once I get home, but I've got to stop by the studio first. I have a painting due by the end of the week and I've just barely begun to start it."
The friends bid their farewells to each other, Raphael swearing to Maria that he would call her the second he walked into the door of his tiny, one room apartment. Pulling the buttons of his coat closed over his chest, Raphael turned to make his way through the tightly packed throng of swaying dancers. He narrowly missed a painful collision with a shirtless man covered in tattoos and about seven too many metal studs piercing his body, and had to wrench himself out of the grasp of an obviously drunk woman with purple hair who was determined to dance with him in a manner that brought a heated blush to his pale face.
Raphael inhaled deeply; shaking the dizziness from his head as he finally broke free from the dance floor. He stood still for a moment, steadying himself and pulling his wits back together before taking a step towards the door. He hesitated slightly as a thought crossed his mind.... he would have to walk past the strange group in the corner in order to leave and that meant he would have to basically approach the staring man he had refused to go anywhere near not ten minutes ago.
Fitting a hard expression onto his face, Raphael squared his jaw and lifted his chin arrogantly as he pressed forward once again. As he passed the group he looked pointedly to the man leaning against the wall, shooting him with a glare that could chill a person straight down to the marrow in their bones. His glare was met with a friendly smile and a nod of the head from the man. Raphael heard himself growl deep in his throat as he forced the door to the club open more forcefully then he had intended to.
Stepping out into the chilled night air, he stuffed his hands down deep into his coat pockets and began the thirty minute walk down the street to his lonely studio. A sour expression was stuck on his face, his mind still on the affectionate smile he had received from the handsome stranger.