Elf Master

Elf Master Chapter 10

Friday

Kyle

My ass was still aching from last night’s session with Gideon. I’d driven out there with Vieltag, the red cap, sitting in the passenger seat. He’d turned invisible, but I could still smell him. There was a distinct odor of blood and death wherever he went. Master had decided that he wanted someone to protect me while I was out because he was being targeted by hunters and they could try to get to him through me. Before he’d disappeared, I’d gotten a good look at Vieltag. He looked like an old man, about four feet tall with stooped shoulders. He wore boots with iron plates on the bottom and he carried a long wickedly curved blade. The serrated side of the blade appeared to be made of copper or bronze, and the razor-sharp side appeared to be made of silver. He had a long white beard and long stringy white hair. He was dressed in leather and wore a red hat on his head. The cap looked shiny and almost moist, and I was sure it was the source of that reek of blood.

I’d wondered if he had the same aversion to iron that my master had. After all, he was wearing iron boots. But I noticed that he carefully avoided touching any of the metal in the cab of the truck when he fastened himself in. Unlike Buckwalder, who was very shy, but kind, Vieltag radiated menace. I’d tried to talk to him to break the silence, but he merely scowled at me and then vanished. If he was as dangerous as he looked, I wouldn't have to fear being attacked by mundanes, but his presence didn’t increase my sense of safety in any way. I had the impression that he would kill me without a second thought if Master said that it was allowed.

Gideon’s store was called The Body Shop. It had nothing to do with cars. He offered waxing, tattooing and body piercing. I’d overheard Nico saying that Gideon offered other services to supernatural clients as well. When we pulled up, I went to the door and Vieltag peeled away from me, walking around the exterior of the building. I only saw him for a few moments before he disappeared again, but I could see his footprints in the dirt as he stomped along his way.

Next door was the place known as the Blue Room. It was a bar of some kind. I noticed a dozen or so motorcycles parked out front, along with a few pickup trucks and the occasional car. Two extremely hot guys in tight jeans and even tighter t-shirts were heading toward the door as I was watching Vieltag’s footprints disappear around the side of the building.

“Hey!” one of them called. “You in the right place?”

I looked over and saw that the speaker was one of those guys who blended the best features of his European and African ancestry. His long curly black hair was pulled back into a loose knot. His skin was the color of coffee with a lot of cream (just the way I liked my coffee, and apparently on the lighter end of the way I liked my men).

“Yes, Sir, I am. I have an appointment here at the Body Shop,” I replied.

He walked over and seemed to be appraising me, letting his eyes move from the top of my head, down to my feet. He nodded like he approved of what he saw. Then he said, “We could use another guy or two to dance in the Blue Room. You could do it if you lost this little belly you’ve got. Come over and see the manager, Mahendra Khatri, if you want to check it out. He’s here pretty much all the time.”

“Thank you, Sir,” I replied, feeling a little pride at his praise.

The other guy was white, a little older, but still in great shape. He had a short haircut (his head was almost shaved) and what I could see of his buff body was also free of hair. He also nodded and said, “You’re certainly hot enough. And about that little gut you need to shift… If you’re going to The Body Shop, you should know that Gideon has a er… new age weight loss treatment that works. If you’re open-minded enough, he can help you get rid of that gut. It’s almost like magic.”

I blushed and he said, “I suspect you know what I mean, considering how red you’ve turned. Talk to him. He’ll even work out a deal for you if you can’t afford the price. I got the full treatment for only $500.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll… um… I’ll think about it, Sir.”

“He’s probably got to ask his master’s permission first,” the younger, darker skinned guy interjected. “The blushing and all the ‘Sirs’ say it all.”

“Yes, Sir,” I replied. “My master makes all the decisions about my body.”

“That’s how it should be, boy!” the older guy growled. But he was smiling as he added, “Now go take care of whatever your master sent you here for.”

They were laughing at me, but in a friendly way, as I turned and walked into The Body Shop. Gideon was at the counter taking payment from the same couple who were in here the last time. A somewhat plain faced young man with long blond hair stood there in a pair of tight jeans and no shirt. He was very skinny, gangly in fact. He had half inch rings through his nipples, and he was gently poking a one-inch ring through the septum of his nose that hung down to cover part of his upper lip. There was a little blood there that made me think that the nose piercing was likely new. He also had a fresh tattoo across his shoulders in the back that read, “Faggot Slave”.

The man I presumed was his master was probably fifty years old or so. He had a bushy orange-brown beard and beer gut, but he looked powerful under that fat. He reeked of cigar smoke and body odor. I hated the fact that my dick jumped when I smelled him. I had become such a total jock bitch that any masculine aroma turned me on.

The master gave me a nod when he left. His slave followed him with his head bowed. I watched them leave the shop and then turned to face Gideon. “I’m not sure that boy is happy, Sir,” I said.

“It’s hard to tell with that one,” Gideon said. “He doesn’t look it, but he’s twenty years old. His daddy found out he was gay and put him in a cage in the barn for three years. Turned him into a sex slave before Jake, that’s the boy’s new master, took him.”

“How did the boy get away, Sir?” I asked.

“He didn’t. Jake found out about the boy and decided to go get him. He beat the boy’s daddy in a card game and took him as payment. The boy was underweight and in bad health. He’d been kept naked in the barn with only a few blankets to protect him from the weather. He never finished school or had vocational training of any kind. He only has a few talents, and they all relate to pleasuring men,” Gideon replied.

“But he doesn’t seem happy, Sir. Is he any better off with Jake than with his dad?” I asked.

“Jake’s a little rough around the edges, but he loves that boy and takes care of him. The boy has put on twenty pounds and he’s up to date on his shots. Jake protects him from abuse, and a boy like that would be ripe for anyone who wanted to take advantage of him. He told me that the boy didn’t even talk for over a year. He just grunted once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’. He’s made a lot of progress over the last two years,” he explained.

“That’s fucked up! His daddy should be in prison, Sir,” I said.

Gideon shrugged and said, “Probably should, but the boy’s an unreliable witness because he’s so easily swayed, and Jake… Well, what jury would think Jake was believable on the stand? There are other things that can be done. I won’t say anything because it’s not my story to tell, but the old man hasn’t escaped punishment completely. I hear tell that a big bear killed his cows six times over the last two years and clawed up his fancy truck as well.”

That struck me as strange since there were no bears in these woods, we’d been told that during our college induction. They’d specifically mentioned there hadn’t been any for a century or so as some people had voiced concerns. Still, I was glad to hear that the father was being punished. He reminded me of Eddie. Not that he was my dad, but he may as well have been. What would he have done if he’d found out for sure that I was gay back in middle school or high school? I didn’t understand what made people hate so much.

“What’s the boy’s name, Sir?” I asked.

“He doesn’t use it anymore. He prefers to go by ‘boy’, but Jake says he used to be called Luther Johnson,” he explained. “His daddy is Bart Johnson. He’s developed a reputation for bad luck around these parts.”

Gideon finished his business, locked the register, and then locked the front door. The shop was still open, but there was a sign telling customers to ring the bell if the door was locked. When he turned around, he said, “Strip and drop to your knees, slave.”

I wasn’t wearing much, so it only took me a moment to drop my shorts and jock and then take off my shirt. I dropped to my knees and awaited his next command. He walked over to me and ran his hands through my hair. “You’re looking good, Kyle. I like the muscle you’ve been putting on. Now follow me into the backroom but stay on your knees.”

I crawled after him into the work area in the back of the shop. He had a chair that could lay flat and turn into a table that he used for tattoos and piercings. There was tattoo art on the walls and a lot of sex toys. An open door led to a bathroom in the back, complete with a small shower. There was even a sling hanging from the ceiling in the corner. That was a new addition since my last visit.

He led me into the bathroom and started adjusting the water in the shower. He had it set to run the water through a hose attached near the shower head. “Get in here, ass up, head down,” he demanded.

I scrambled to obey. I didn’t know what Gideon would do if I failed to comply with his orders, and I didn’t want to. He seemed to have a very dominant personality. Although he’d always been kind when talking to me, he left no doubt in my mind that he was the one in charge. He pulled out an enema head and put it on the tube. He applied a little lube and then worked it into my ass. With the flip of a switch, he was filling me with warm water. He kept the head inside me until I felt ready to burst, then he turned it off and made me hold it for a few minutes before he allowed me to expel it violently in the toilet. I was mostly clean, having prepared myself before coming over, but Gideon liked to feel sure about it.

When he was satisfied, he had me follow him back into the workroom. I was still crawling since he hadn’t told me to get up. He led me over to the sling and said, “Stand up so I can get you in this sling face down.”

I gave him the mandatory, “Yes, Sir,” then leaned forward so he could make the adjustments. One strap went under my chest and the other under my abdomen. Then he attached one set of cuffs to my wrists and the other set around my feet so that I was crouched like a frog with my legs splayed out far enough to expose my rectum.

“Damn you look good this way, Kyle,” he said, running his fingers along my crack and stroking my hole. “We’ll be ready to start once I put some ornaments on your cock and balls.

He held up a strange contraption of leather and chains. “I’m going to fasten this around your nuts and then put some weight on it before we get started,” he said.

When I didn’t say anything, he smacked my ass hard. I shook my head and said, “Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

I felt him attaching the strange contraption around my balls. It was tight, but not painful. Then he added some weights, one at a time. It began as merely an odd sensation, but soon the pressure began to mount. I gritted my teeth and refused to call out my discomfort. There was something about Gideon that made me stubborn. No matter how he pushed my boundaries, I wouldn’t allow myself to show the slightest reluctance to go on. I felt some need to show him that I could take whatever he could dish out.

“Does that hurt yet, Kyle,” he asked, as he set the weights to swing slowly.

“No, Sir!” I said.

“Then I should add some more weight?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir, if that’s what you want, Sir,” I replied.

“That’s two pounds you have now swinging from your nuts,” he said.

Then he added a few more weights. He set them swinging again and watched my face for a reaction. I forced a smile and said, “Thank you, Sir!”

He shook his head and laughed. Then he added a few more of the small weights. The pressure in my balls grew stronger and I inhaled sharply. Gideon’s hand stroked my back gently and he asked, “You aren’t going to ask me to stop are you?”

“No, Sir,” I admitted.

“You’re delightfully stubborn, Kyle, and I find that almost irresistible. I’m going to stop at four pounds today. Next time, I’ll add more,” he said.

He set the weights to swinging again, picked up the lube and started rubbing it in my crack. His fingers felt great teasing my hole. I moaned and flexed the muscles of my butt to show him how good it felt. He chuckled and pushed a finger inside me and wiggled it a little.

“Your ass is needy today, Kyle. And it’s a pretty thing, too. It’s snapped back nicely from the last session, but I’ll have it open again soon enough,” he teased.

He had a giant bottle of lube; it was a brand I’d never seen before. He attached a small tube to the tip and pushed it inside me. Then he gave it a dozen or so pumps. It felt like he was filling my ass with the slippery gel. Then he began to probe me with his index finger. Gideon was a master with his hands, and he soon had my ass throbbing with pleasure. He worked a second finger inside and then a third. He thrust them in an out, like he was fucking me with his fingers, and my moans grew louder.

“You like that, don’t you Kyle?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir!” I replied, my voice catching a little in my throat.

He pulled out a little, applied more lube. He added the fourth finger to the first three and twisted them around, adding more lube as he went. Then he kissed the small of my back and pressed forward, He pushed inward until his knuckles pressed against the tightly stretched ring of my ass.

“I’m almost inside you now, Kyle. Just one more digit,” he said.

He didn’t immediately add his thumb. He continued to use his four fingers to push more lube inside me. I was as relaxed as I could be, but the final thrust was still going to hurt like hell. My body was coated in sweat, and I was breathing heavily, both from the exertion and the anticipation of what was to come.

I felt a momentary twinge of apprehension when Gideon slid his thumb in next to his four fingers, but I didn’t have long to contemplate it because he put his hand on the small of my back and pushed forward, twisting from side to side as he did. I let out a sharp scream as his knuckles thrust past my overly stretched ring. And then there was a feeling of blessed relief as my ass lips clamped down on his thick, but much narrower, wrist.

“You did it, Kyle. My whole hand is inside your sexy ass now,” he said with a low, calm tone of voice.

Then he curled his hand into a fist and twisted it from side to side. “Do you like this feeling, Kyle?” he asked.

“Yes and… maybe?” I replied. “It hurts like hell, but it also feels good. And it… um… it makes me feel kind of…”

I was trying hard to express what I was feeling, but that fist in my ass was distracting me. Gideon came to my rescue. “Does it make you feel vulnerable?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir! That’s exactly what I’m feeling,” I replied with a gasp because his fist was pushing deeper inside me, and my ass lips were beginning to stretch to accommodate his muscular forearm.

“Do you like to feel vulnerable?” he asked, as he applied more lube to his forearm and pressed forward some more, making the weights on my balls swing back and forth.

“Yes, Sir,” I said.

I was having difficulty putting my words together. The fullness in my ass, the pressure on my gay spot, and the calm sexiness of his voice were combining with that feeling of vulnerability to suppress my ability to reason. It was much later when I was able to gather my thoughts enough to ask myself why I liked this feeling so much.

“You’ll never feel more vulnerable than you do with another man’s fist inside you,” he said. “A guy like you, a big, muscular, strong guy. You’ve probably been expected to be tough, macho and in charge your entire life. For a guy like you, the chance to let go and give up control, to be completely vulnerable in this way, it’s a kind of catharsis, a release from all that pressure to be a man. But I’m going to let you in on a secret. Learning to be vulnerable and to let it all go is also part of being a man. It’s the part your upbringing probably prevented you from learning.”

His words made so much sense to me. Was that why I felt such a need to surrender all control to a master. It was the magic chain that had forced me to submit, but it was still something I had realized I needed. Even without the chain I would probably feel this need, maybe not all the time, but this was definitely a part of me.

Gideon began punching his fist inside me. He would pull it out slowly, then punch it in a little faster. With each forward thrust he went a little deeper. He kept saying encouraging things to me while he worked my ass. With each penetration, the weights on my balls swung a little faster. It was painful, but in some incomprehensible way the sensation was intensifying my pleasure rather than diminishing it.

“You’re doing a great job, Kyle.”

“Your ass is so warm and sexy.”

“I can feel your ass gripping my arm, and it feels great. You’re such a strong stud.”

“You look so sexy with your ass stretched around my arm, stud.”

I couldn’t really do more than grunt in appreciation because my whole body had grown tense, like every muscle I had was contracting at once. My balls pulled as close to my body as they could, given the weights that were pulling them down.

Waves of pleasure ran across my sweaty skin, like runaway lightning. Suddenly all my muscles relaxed, but they immediately contracted again. Cum flew out of my cock, and saliva burst from my mouth at the same moment, leaving gobs of drool hanging from my lips. It was like I was cumming from both ends.

Gideon unfasted my hands and feet and then gently helped me to my feet. He led me over to the chair he had for tattooing and piercing and adjusted it so I could recline. He went into the bathroom and filled a plastic tub with cool water and used it to clean the sweat from my body. Then he readjusted the table so I could lie flat on my stomach. He gently cleaned the sweat from my back. Finally, he carefully cleaned my ass. The warm roughness of the wet cloth felt amazingly good.

“Thank you, Sir,” I said. The gratitude I felt was real. He was being much more tender than he had been when my master was here with us.

“No, thank you,” he said. “Your ass is fine. I love it so much that I could play with it all day, every day.”

Then he proved the truth of his words by kissing my swollen ass lips gently, and then licking it. I let out a sigh of sensuous pleasure. Only Philip took care of me that way, and I thought it was the best feeling in the world. Gideon must have enjoyed it as well because he took a break long enough to say, “Delicious and so fucking tender.”

Then he went back to making out with my ass and I started crying out, “That feels so good, Sir. I can’t believe I’m getting hard again after I just came. You make me feel like a total bitch, and I love it!”

When he’d had enough he had me turn over so that I was lying on my back. He sat on the stool next to me and ran his hand along my jawline. I thought he was amazingly good looking, with his brown skin, his dreadlocks, and that goatee. He was wearing what looked like surgical scrubs, but despite his baggy clothes, I could tell that he had a thick muscular physique. I could also see his sizable cock tenting his pants.

Gideon’s fingers ran across my lips and said, “You have a beautiful face and a rocking hard body, Kyle. And yet somehow I don’t think you believe it, but any man would be lucky to have a guy like you. Now, since you seemed to like what I just did to you, I’m going to teach you how to do it – not the fisting part, although I can teach you that another day if you want, but the ass eating. Do you want to learn?”

“Yes, Sir, I do,” I replied.

An image of Simon flashed before my eyes for a moment. He was lying face down on a bed and his ass was lifted. I saw myself run my tongue between his gorgeous brown cheeks. That would probably never happen. I’d burned my bridges with him already.

“Hold on a minute,” he said.

He pulled out his phone and sent a text message. While he was waiting for a response, he knelt next to my head and ran his tongue around my lips. Then he kissed me. His lips were fuller than mine and they felt wonderful, like soft but extra-firm pillows. His tongue was pressing against mine when his phone chimed that he had a notification. He checked it and smiled. “Thought so,” he said.

“Can I ask what it is, Sir?” I asked.

Gideon chuckled and said, “I told Nico that I had a folder full of observations on the people he wanted to watch and that I was going to send it back with you. Then I told him that I was going to have permission to teach you to top properly or this was going to be my last report.”

“And?” I asked.

“And I’m going to be teaching you how to top. He said I could suck your dick tonight and if my information was worthwhile then I would be able to teach you the other parts of being a good top starting next Thursday night.” He seemed very satisfied with himself.

All I was hearing was that he had permission to suck my dick tonight. Since I’d been enslaved, I’d only cum once from anything other than ass play. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the feeling of someone playing with my ass, or plowing me with a big cock, but my dick felt lonely and ignored. It wanted some attention too.

Gideon adjusted the table, so the head was inclined slightly. Then he pulled his shirt off, revealing a broad chest that showed the clean lines of heavy gym work beneath a masculine coating of black curly hair. Next came his pants. It was obvious that Gideon did not skip leg day. His thighs and calves were firm and muscular. He stood there for just a few seconds while I drank in the sight of his magnificent body. He was wearing a pair of sexy high-rise briefs, the kind with the pouch in front to contain and display his package. Two things were obvious. First, he was fully erect, and the pouch was having difficulty containing him, and second, he’d been leaking so much precum that the pouch was soaked.

Gideon’s cock was big, not as thick or long as some of the monsters I’d taken in the last few weeks, but still bigger than mine. At five inches, mine was in the average range, but he had a couple of inches on me. His cock was bobbing around in front of my face as he moved around the table. I took hold of it with my hands and pulled it into my mouth. He tasted of sweat and masculine musk. I’d had a lot of experience sucking cock over the last few weeks and I knew what to do, or at least I thought I did.

Gideon pulled his cock out of my mouth and then moved between my legs. “Just relax and wait your turn, Kyle. This one's for you. You’ll get a chance to show me what you can do.”

My cock was swollen and throbbing. Gideon blew across it, making me moan. Then he began to tease my cock with his lips, and then with his tongue. He made love to it with his lips, kissing me roughly down both sides and then back up to the top. His tongue flicked along the tiny and sensitive cock lips, and then ran roughly around the head until I cried out. Despite my arousal, Gideon was able to keep me hanging on the edge of orgasm for several minutes. He pulled off my dick and licked the less sensitive areas, avoiding the head and pretty much the entire underside. As soon as my ardor waned, he swallowed my cock again and began doing the most amazing things with his tongue.

He continued this cycle, driving me closer to orgasm each time, while the cooldown periods became less and less effective. My body was coated with sweat again, and every nerve ending in my skin was tingling as if an electrical current were running through it. When I finally came, I felt like every muscle in my core was working together to force my load out in eight or nine massive loads.

I’d been rendered completely incoherent by Gideon’s skilled mouth, and a long stream of strange sounds had been issuing forth from my throat since he’d started. They grew louder until finally they were echoing off the walls as Gideon sucked every drop of my seed down his throat.

When he was done, he moved to the other side of the chair and lowered my head so that I was lying flat with my head turned to the side. He took his thick cock and swatted my face a few times and then said, “Your turn. Show me what you’ve learned.”

It felt really uncomfortable to me. I’d never sucked a cock at this angle before and I knew I wouldn’t do my best this way, so, in the spirit of trying out new things, I asked, “Can we please change places, Sir?”

He thought about it for a moment and then asked, “New position plus new techniques too much to handle at one time?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“I am pleased to see you asserting yourself in this way. Wanting to both please and enjoy are important milestones in anyone’s sexual awakening”.

We traded places and he adjusted the chair so he was reclining in a more comfortable position. I knelt in front of him and licked his cock, tasting the musky tang of his sweat. I tried to copy everything he’d done to me. Like all the supernaturals I’d encountered on campus, he was uncut, so I had the pleasure of pulling back his foreskin and licking the extremely sensitive frenulum and head. I swallowed his cock and took it all the way into my throat.

Gideon was enjoying the attention, but he did take the time to give a few hints and directions to improve my performance. I tried the same technique he had used on me. I used my tongue to massage his cock. I pulled back to give the head some attention, and then sucked it back down.

“Hum a little when it goes down your throat,” Gideon directed.

I did and he moaned deeply. “That’s it. When a man’s cock is big enough to go into your throat, give a hum like that and it will drive him wild.”

My ears burned as I realized that my cock probably hadn’t been long enough to feel the full effect when Gideon had done it to me, but it was a good lesson to learn. I managed to bring him to the edge twice before he finally came, flooding my mouth with his delicious seed. I swallowed it greedily, like it was my favorite meal.

Unlike my incoherent babbling, he didn’t miss a beat. “That’s right, Kyle. You’re doing a fucking amazing job… uh… Now! I’m cumming now! SWALLOW IT, KYLE.

Once he had started to soften, he got up and I let his cock slide out of my mouth. He patted my cheek and said, “Sit up now. I want to talk to you.”

“I’ve been chatting with your master, and I understand what he’s been doing with you. You were broken before he got hold of you, a self-loathing homophobe who lashed out with violence whenever you got aroused by the guys around you. If you’d discovered your sexuality naturally, you’d have gravitated toward being a top, and your natural self-loathing would have just transformed into a loathing of the guys who bottomed for you. It was essential that you learned to enjoy taking cock before you had a chance to top. It broke the cycle for you. Now that you’ve learned to enjoy being a submissive bottom, it's time for you to learn that the bottom doesn’t have to be submissive, and then learn to be a good top. It’s the only way you’ll ever be completely whole.”

“I think I understand what you’re saying, Sir,” I replied. “Why couldn’t my master have had this conversation with me?”

Gideon laughed and replied, “Nico is an elf. His mind is so alien that I can’t begin to understand how he thinks, but he doesn’t really understand human psychology either. He’s likely reacting to what he feels from you. He can sense your emotions and your needs, but I doubt he really understands them. There are a lot of supernatural beings in our world. Mages and skinchangers are essentially still human, but fey, demons, djinn and other ancient races from the outer worlds are not like us. We anthropomorphize their behaviors to help us understand them better, but never allow yourself to believe that they are thinking the same things we are, not even when those behaviors seem to be the same as ours. Don’t forget that.”

“I can’t ever forget it,” I said plaintively. “I’m never going to be free of him and it’s killing me to be trapped like this. If I could kill myself, I would. The idea of being enslaved, with no free will of my own for the rest of my life, is unbearable. But I couldn’t do it, even if I got to that point. I’m his property and I have to protect what’s his!”

“Don’t be so sure, Kyle. Not about killing yourself. Put that aside. You’re only now discovering who you are. You have your life ahead of you. But there will be a way out of this trap. There always is. That’s the way of the fey. If they make escape impossible, then it’s unsatisfying to them. They can’t win that way, and they love to win. What do you know about Nico that could help you?” he asked.

“Nothing!” I cried. “Don’t you think I’ve been trying?”

“No. I think you’ve given up, and that’s what’s leading to this depression of yours,” he said, putting an arm around me. “Now think about the facts you know.”

I thought for a few moments and then said, “He never lies. And he hates deception.”

“Close,” Gideon replied. “He never lies, but he doesn’t always tell the whole story. He hates it when others lie, because that’s easy to see through, but his people value deception. They make an art form out of it. What else.”

“He hates iron,” I said.

“Close again,” he replied. “He fears iron. Harming the fey with weapons is extremely difficult. They’re resistant to almost any material, except for iron. It passes through those defenses as if they weren’t there. Even some of their fey magic is ineffective against iron. What’s more, they heal so fast that you can see it happening before your eyes, but wounds caused by iron take as long to heal as wounds we suffer, maybe even longer.”

I nodded and added, “He couldn’t enter a room when all the doors and windows were protected by iron.”

“That’s right. Iron can repel them. If they touch it for any length of time, it can cause their skin to blister,” he said.

“But I don’t want to kill him,” I replied. “Despite his cruelty, he’s helped me to understand myself better than I did before. I just want to be free of his control.”

“I get that,” Gideon said. “But he will never free you. You will have to figure out how to escape.”

“How do you know so much about the fey?” I asked.

“My grandmother was entrapped by the fey and had to find her own escape,” he replied. “She did it through clever wordplay. No offense, but I don’t think you’re going to beat Nico that way. My grandmother was a master trickster and musician in her own right. You’re smart, but that’s not your talent.”

“I could throw iron shavings in his face and hope he inhaled them,” I chuckled sadly.

“If you want to kill him, yes,” Gideon agreed. “If you want to escape him without killing him, no.”

“Then what do you think I should do?” I asked.

“I think you should keep hope and wait for the right opportunity,” he said. “And trust to your friends. If you had one person who should know all that we’ve talked about, who would it be?”

My first thought was Simon, but he was more than a little hot headed. I could imagine him grabbing an iron weapon and going after Nico just to get himself killed in the process. I needed someone more level headed. “Oliver Rankin,” I said. “He’s a young mage who lives in Baylor Hall, my dorm. He should know everything you’ve told me. He’s smarter than I am. He’d know what to do.”

Gideon nodded at me and said, “I’ll talk to Oliver then. For now, let’s get you dressed so you can go back home. Remember that you’re not required to tell Nico anything unless he asks you.”

I started putting my clothes on and then a strange thought occurred to me. “Sir? If the fey cannot abide the touch of iron, why do redcaps wear iron boots?”

Gideon smiled and said, “The iron is only on the outside of their boots, and they wear very thick socks, so they don’t get burned. And… someone must be tasked with taking down fey who disobey the lords and ladies of the courts. Those boots are for use on recalcitrant fey.”

It had never occurred to me that there would be division among the fey, or that they would use such lethal methods to control their own people. Now I wondered who kept the redcaps in line. I was sure I didn’t want to meet them, whoever they were.

Gideon walked me out to my truck. Vieltag appeared next to me, sheathing his massive sword, but keeping his hand ready to grab it if the need arose. He looked at Gideon and spoke in a harsh half-whisper. His voice was deep for his small size, and gravelly like he wasn’t used to using it.  “22:18 behind your shop, Lynx-Wearer. Both of you help me get him in the back of the truck. I’ll dump him on the road.”

I hadn’t wanted to see what Vieltag had left of the hunter, and I doubted I’d ever want to think about it again. Gideon went through the man’s pockets, looking for clues, but he didn’t find anything. Vieltag gave him a crooked grin and handed him a notebook with observations of the shop in it, all in the same hand.

“He’s been watching you, and you didn’t see him. I guess the moonlight is fading,” he said.

Then we loaded the body in the back of the truck. Vieltag climbed in the passenger seat and said, “Drive back to campus by way of Wood Hollow Road. We’ll dump him somewhere shady.”

I didn’t argue with him. To tell the truth, this hunched little man scared me more than anyone I’d ever met. He’d killed a man by stomping him to death and hadn’t even bothered to clean the blood off his boots.

I drove us back along the narrow county way called Wood Hollow Road. I stopped in a particularly shadowy spot, and we rolled the body out of the back and onto the street. Then we drove back to campus, and I went to my bed. I promised myself that I would clean the truck in the morning, but I would discover that someone had done it for me, probably one of my master’s many servants.

********************

My dreams were vivid last night. I was walking through the Student Union, and I saw Kieran in that cute Asian suit he was wearing. He was dressed just like his boyfriend. I wanted him, and I hated him for making me want him. Inside my head I was screaming and trying to turn around and run, but I couldn’t. I had no control of my own body. My dream self was intent on playing this scene out just the way it had happened before. I followed him into the bathroom. With each step, my dream became more solid, more real.

I saw Kieran standing at the urinals with his back to me. For some reason, he was smaller than he had been. His red hair hung in loose curls down to his shoulders. His bright blue eyes were wide and filled with tears and he was even paler than usual. He tried to run, but I grabbed him, and my hands wrapped completely around his arms. He was screaming and trying to break away, but I overbore him and wrestled him to the floor. Then I fell on him and slapped his pretty face until his lips split and his fair skin turned red. I knew that he would be bruised tomorrow.

He was crying and screaming as I ripped his clothes off him. “Stop! I don’t want you! I only want Jason!”

His struggles aroused me to greater heights of need, and I was disgusted with myself. I tried to stop, but I couldn’t. I grabbed hold of the plug in his ass and pulled with all my strength. That night, it wouldn’t budge, but in my dream, I yanked it free. I pressed him into the cold tiles of the floor and shoved my cock inside him. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and I prayed for death if that’s what it took for me to stop myself.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind and thrown across the room. The massive wolf man lunged at me, and I thought I was going to die, but my attacker, Kieran’s rescuer, turned toward the crying boy who’d rolled into a ball, hugging himself and shivering. The wolf man growled at me and went to comfort Kieran. I ran past him, escaping with my life.

But somehow I had run into the hallway of our dorm. Kieran was ahead of me in that scandalously short kiddie robe with the dinosaurs on it. He started to run, and I could see the round curves of his buttocks as the robe swirled around him. He was pounding on doors, calling for help, but I was getting closer to him. I pounced on him from behind and ripped the robe off. Then I yanked the plug from his ass and thrust inside him again. Once more he cried out, “No! Leave me alone. I don’t want you. I only want Jason.”

It wasn’t fair! This had never happened! I’d followed him in that robe, but I’d only attacked him once, yet the dream was always like this. I followed him all over campus and attacked him, but this time it was so real that it vied with my own memories. I raped him again and again, in the hallway, in his room, in the art studio. He cried and begged, and I couldn’t stop my dream self from attacking him.

Then I awoke, screaming. Nico stood over me with his hand on my head. “It’s only a dream, but I think you’ve had enough dreams for this night,” he said. “Sleep now, soundly, without further dreams.”

I fell into a deep slumber.

 

Nico

Something was happening with Kyle. It was almost as if Kieran were attacking him in his dreams, but Kieran was too gentle to do anything so malicious. He wasn’t capable of it. There must be some other explanation. Maybe Kieran was a rogue mage whose powers were only now manifesting. Maybe Sebastian could explain it, but I was reluctant to bring him into my affairs when I’d only just gotten him to back off.

I sat by Kyle’s bedside and sang a song of tranquil rest. He was making great progress. Gideon had pushed me to advance my slave’s training, but I sensed that he was right. It was time for Kyle to move beyond his submission. From all reports, he’d learned to pleasure a man with both his mouth and his ass. Now it was time for him to learn how to properly use his cock to do the same.

I’d finished reading Gideon’s reports. The lynx-man had been thorough. He’d gathered a lot of information on a lot of the hunters in town. And if Vieltag’s report was true, he’d attracted the attention of those he’d been watching. Now I had to provide some protection for him as well. My resources were growing thin, but those who served me well fell under my protection. Maybe I would send the razor children to him, or maybe I could find some sprites who weren’t sworn to another elf and commission them to watch over him. The barriers between the mundane world and faerie were thin here in the numina flux zone.

I ran my fingers through Kyle’s hair, still damp from the night sweats he’d experienced. For a human he was really very attractive, and sturdily built. He’d blossomed under my tending and was close to becoming his true self. And he’d done it much faster than I’d anticipated. It seemed that the damage to his soul and mind was less deep than I’d thought. Inside he’d wanted to change; and that had made all the difference. Now he was like a carefully tended plant that had grown strong. However, if he remained in the metaphorical pot I had put him in, he would become rootbound and he would begin to wither.

I hoped I hadn’t made the escape routes too obscure for him to find. He was smart, and he had found a lot of friends to help him. I couldn’t just release him. While I understood the human need on an intellectual level, the idea was so alien to my nature, to the nature of my entire people, that it made me nauseous to even think about it. I had to make it a challenge, or it wouldn’t mean anything.

Sebastian should have found a way around the oaths I’d used to tie his hands by now, but he seemed overwhelmed with everything going on this year. I hoped that the little preborn werewolf didn’t try something stupid. If he came at me, I’d have to trap him as well until he could learn his lesson. He was one of my sodales, just like Kyle and Alonzo. It was exhausting to take care of all of them and to help them become what they were meant to be. But it was also a challenge; and my people thrived on challenges.

If I’d allowed Alonzo to keep the connection to the Goddess of the Crossroads, as he knew her, he would have burned himself out by now. Instead, he was becoming the powerful – immensely and almost intoxicatingly powerful – rogue mage that it was his destiny to become. I took that connection, and I was going to give it back to the Cailleach Phiseogach, not really a goddess in the way mundanes thought of the term, but rather a powerful and independent arch fey. Because I had maneuvered her Chosen into giving it to me of his own free will, the deed would enhance my status with the courts, which was the only real goal we fae have.

But Kyle may indeed be my masterpiece. When I compared him to what he had been, he was almost a work of art. Physically, he had gone from a slovenly, indolent, and unattractive young man on a downward spiral of self-destruction, to a handsome, energetic, and charismatic young man who was blossoming into the confident gay man he should be. As he worked his way through the mental scars that he bore, he was finding his beautiful inner self, and he was shaping his outer self to match. I needed to get him to seek help from a mind mage to help him learn to heal his mind and soul.

I wondered if the boy Kieran could do it. He had almost no training, but he carried a precious gift, one the mind mages thought they’d lost. If I could maneuver the two of them together, maybe it would work. I considered for a moment tricking Kieran into giving me his special gift. That would be another feather in my cap, but I didn’t have the heart to do it. The mind mages had been quietly seeking the remnants of this talent for centuries. They didn’t know that it also lay dormant in a young woman of the San people in Zimbabwe, or so the stories go. They knew only of its extinction in Bhutan during the Dream War and its fading to obscurity in Scotland during the Middle Ages.

I got up and silently left the room. No one was in the hallway this early in the morning, no one except for one of the sprites who was silently patrolling looking for troublesome intruders. I tried a minor spell to open the door I needed, but it didn’t work. Although it was long dead, there was memory of life in the wood of the door. I whispered to it, just enough to breathe a spark back into it. It told me that the far side was warded by iron. The little preborn werewolf was learning.

I went to the window at the end of the hallway. The frame was aluminum instead of iron. (Modern technology was making the mundanes less secure from true threats, not more.) I whispered a spell and it opened. I turned into a pigeon and flew out into the predawn light. I circled the building and landed on the ledge outside the window and tried to chirp out a spell of opening, but the window was also barred by iron. I wasn’t annoyed. I was proud of the boy for learning his lessons well. After all, he too was one of my sodales.

Back in the building, I tried the door next to the one I needed, and it slid open. Like most older buildings, the knobs were made of bronze, not iron. The two mundane boys who lived in the room were sleeping soundly. On a whim, I whispered a spell to send each of them a pleasant dream. They would awaken in the morning wet but spent and satisfied. The bathroom that connected the two rooms was unprotected. Simon hadn’t thought of warding the bathroom doors that separated the rooms.

Simon lay snoring softly wrapped in Drew’s arms. While asleep their dreams were easy to see. He was dreaming of Kyle. It was Drew’s dream that called me most powerfully and I had to get past it to look inside Simon’s dreamscape. Drew was dreaming of Zeno. It was a hard path ahead for those two. Werewolf packs were very tolerant of different sexualities, but they expected the alpha male and the alpha female to be joined. Drew resisted this, and if his dream were to be believed so did the female leader, Dawn. Even so, they paid lip service to the fiction. But Drew’s true love was Zeno. He was going to have to thread a very fine needle to maintain his position, especially with all the non-collegiate wolves coming to Severan of late. They were more conservative than the college crowd. I whispered a spell of encouragement to bolster his confidence. He too was one of my sodales and I had, perhaps foolishly, promised to protect them all.

I turned my attentions back to Simon. His dreams of Kyle were very explicit. Despite his small stature, he was mostly an aggressive top, but dreams had many levels. He was dreaming of Kyle moaning beneath him as he took pleasure in his muscular ass, but on another level, almost like a different room within the same dream, Kyle was moaning beneath him as Simon rode his cock. I could tell that the preborn wolf boy was blocking this part of the dream from his consciousness.

Only the merest thought of intervention had crossed my mind before the wolf spirit sprang before me and blocked my path. It was snarling a warning at me. I was impressed. For a preborn spirit, it was amazingly powerful. I wasn’t afraid of a spirit, especially since I was still in the mundane world, barely peering into the realm of dream, but I didn’t want the spirit to awaken Simon before I’d accomplished my purpose.

I laid my mind bare to the wolf and allowed it to sense my motives. I spoke gentle words in the language of wolves that I knew it would understand. “I come not to harm your human self, noble wolf spirit. He is under my protection as much as he is under yours. Read my intention to help him and allow me to speak to his dream self.”

Elves did not normally perceive the dream world, but when standing near a dreaming human or animal we see the dreamscape that forms around them. And it was the same for the wolf spirit. It could enter this dreamscape belonging to its human spirit but couldn’t see past it. Again, I was astounded at the precocity of this spirit. Even Drew’s spirit hadn’t felt me whisper to his dream self.

The wolf spirit backed off but kept a wary watch. I whispered to Simon’s dream self, “You can help Kyle best by bringing him together with Kieran so that the two of them can heal one another. And once he has healed, you can have him in all the ways your dreams desire.”

The spirit acknowledged me and then slowly growled its affirmation to Simon’s dream self, reinforcing my message. There was something familiar about this wolf. I looked deep inside it, using its eyes as a gateway to its true self. And there it was. Xav had wanted another to train as a spirit talker so badly that his own wolf spirit had split and a fragment had entered the boy along with the saliva in his bite. I wondered if Xav even realized that he had inadvertently created his own spirit twin.

I gave the wolf spirit a salute and withdrew. That boy had deep seated feelings of inferiority stemming from growing up with a mageborn brother and lacking the talent himself. Now he was going to get his hidden dream and become a mage in his own right, assuming he could survive the training. Not everyone did. Spirit magic was dangerous.

Back in my room, I slid into bed next to Kyle and wrapped him in my arms and began anew the song of tranquility. He needed me. He had no idea how many nights I’d spent doing this same thing, easing his troubled spirit allowing him to process all the new things he’d learned so he could continue to grow and heal. In my own way, I had come to love him. Not in the passionate, sexual way of his kind, but in a different way, like a man loves the animals around him. And, like that hypothetical human man, I knew that it would wound me deeply when his short life came to an end. But I would get over it.

I had pretended youth to insert myself into human society and to learn more about them, but that was not the way of my kind. I had nearly a century behind me, and the time before me would stretch forever, or at least until ennui and boredom overtook me and I simply faded back into the realm of faerie, perhaps to be reborn later.

Our kind couldn’t truly love humans, whose lives were like the brief flickering of a candle, but we could love the light, warmth and creativity that shone forth from them so long as it lasted. I intended to remain in the radiance of Kyle’s spirit for as long as it dazzled. It was beautiful and fascinating to me.

 

Kyle

“Wake up slave!” Master said, smacking my ass hard.

It was how I woke up every morning. Sometimes I thought my master hated me. I said, “Yes, Master” and rolled out of bed to kneel before him. I kissed his feet and then took his long, thin cock into my hands and guided it to my mouth. Usually, I just sucked him off quickly so I could get my day started, but this morning was different. I’d learned a lot from Gideon last night, and I decided to use it.

I tasted the head of his cock and licked away the slightly nutty precum, then I ran my tongue along both sides of his shaft and down to his balls where I spent some time kissing them. I held them in my hand and squeezed them. My master liked things rougher than any of the other guys I’d been with. I kept increasing the pressure while I kissed them, glancing up at his handsome but alien face. (He seldom wore his human glamor around me anymore).

“Are you trying to hurt me, slave?” he asked.

“No, Master. I’m trying to please you,” I replied.

“Good. You can’t really hurt me, but if you want to please me, you’ll squeeze twice that hard,” he said.

I squeezed harder. If he were human, he would be writhing on the ground in agony. But he wasn’t human. He let out a moan and his cock grew stiff as a – it felt wrong to say iron, given his vulnerability – like a bronze rod.

“That’s good,” he said with a smile.

I kept that tight grip on him as I put my lips back on the head and repeated the technique Gideon had shown me last night. I covered my teeth but kept the pressure firm as I swallowed him. His hands stroked my head like I was a favored pet, and he was its loving master. Then I remembered that he liked the feeling of my teeth on him. It was easier to apply the maximum suction when I wasn’t covering my teeth. His smile deepened and he grabbed my hair tightly and pulled it. It wasn’t enough to really hurt, but I could sure feel the tightness in the roots.

I worked his cock like I’d been taught, but I continually modified the technique in consideration of my master’s higher tolerance for (and love of) pain. Soon his cock was stretching and growing like it always did before he came. I tried to keep him on the edge, but he had other ideas. He growled and shot his load down my throat. I continued to suck on him until he had nothing more to give me.  Then he withdrew, ordered me to get my breakfast smoothie and get dressed for my morning exercise session with Simon.

I looked at the clock and noticed that he’d let me sleep an hour later than usual. I jumped up and looked for my clothes. I never chose them myself these days. Buckwalder had laid out a dark red jockstrap that was more of a posing strap, except for the thick band that had the words, “Kyle Mason, Owned Boy”, stitched in bold gold letters. The pouch barely contained my cock, and the straps were almost strings. The shorts were tight and white, made of a stretchy material that hugged every contour of my ass. It was embarrassing, but sexy. The biggest problem was my belly being more prominent than it was in loose shorts. I’d lost more weight this week, and I probably only had another fifteen to twenty pounds or so to go. I suspected that these last few pounds were going to be a lot harder to remove. My last article of clothing was a blue t-shirt that was transparent from my pecs to my waist. It looked like a sports jersey, but instead of a team name, it read, “Man’s Man 69”.

I just had time to drink my smoothie and slip on my athletic shoes before heading out the door. I met Simon in the hallway this morning. He was usually so careful with his clothes and his appearance, but he must not have owned any real exercise clothes. He was wearing loose knit shorts and a t-shirt, neither of them a designer make. In my opinion, he was even sexier when he was a little rumpled.

“I’m not used to getting up and started on exercise right away. I should make you carry me around the track,” he joked.

I picked him up and swung him around onto my back and started down the stairs. “I was just kidding,” he yelled. “I won’t get much exercise this way!”

“But you’ll be helping me get a better workout,” I replied, taking the stairs three at a time as I raced down to the lobby.

Simon stopped struggling, laid his head against my neck and pretended to snore. It was funny, but the feeling of his lips against my neck was making me hard. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I’d promised not to take advantage of Simon. He was just joking around innocently, and my body was turning it into something sexual. I felt a little dirty.

When we got to the first station, I let him down off my back and we got started. The trail began in front of our dorm so the first exercises we came across were stretches. I positioned myself so I could see him stretching, and I noticed that he kept glancing in my direction. I hoped he wasn’t getting uncomfortable from my attention.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to stare, Simon. It’s just that you look good stretching over there,” I said.

He laughed and replied, “We both know that I can’t stop staring at you either. That’s what caused all the trouble at the beginning of the year.”

“NO!” I said. “It wasn’t you, Simon. Don’t blame yourself. I was the one who attacked you, and I shouldn’t have. I just wish things were different, so we wouldn’t have this thing between us.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Look all you want, Kyle. It makes me feel good that you like looking at me. And it proves that I was right back at the beginning of the year when I thought you were sneaking peeks at me as well.”

We finished the stretching and then jogged to the next station. He was getting better at these exercises every day. We did the entire loop and found ourselves back at Baylor Hall. We were both breathing a little heavy and we did the stretching exercises again.

When we were ready to go back inside, Simon said, “Wait. I can’t go on pretending. I don’t want anything to ruin our friendship, but I do like looking at you. I like you.”

My eyes felt like they were going to pop out of my head, and I started hyperventilating. I sat down hard on a stone bench and forced myself to breathe normally. Simon ran over and sat next to me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I get it if you don’t feel the same way. It’s my fault that you’re in this impossible situation,” he said.

“No, no, no!” I insisted. “Everything is my fault. You were like this precious gift that landed in my lap, and I didn’t value it. I spat on it. Now, I’m not worthy of that gift, Simon. I’m dirty, filthy, damaged. You deserve so much better than me. I can’t… so long as I am enslaved, I’m nothing more than a whore for any man who wants me. I literally can’t say no to anyone.”

At some point, I’d stopped talking and started sobbing. Simon stood up and wrapped his arms around me. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said, holding me tight. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re the victim here.”

“It’s not just having no free will, Simon. Even in my sleep, I’m forced to relive the rape. And it’s so real that I feel like I’m doing it repeatedly. And I can’t stop it, no matter how hard I try,” I cried.

He held me until I stopped crying, and he rubbed my back. “This is only going to get better if you can sit down with Kieran like you are with me. Tell him the truth and make peace between you so you can both move on with your lives.”

I looked up at him and said, “Jason would kill me. He already told me that no one would ever find my body. I’ve been afraid he was going to murder me every day since the rape.”

“Maybe he understands that you’ve been punished enough,” Simon said.

I couldn’t stop my nervous laughter. “Have you seen how protective he is of Kieran?”

“Let me handle it, okay? I’m going to make sure that you can sit down with Kieran and talk without fear. I’ll get Darren to help me if I must,” he said.

I didn’t trust Darren either. He was the one who’d kicked my ass and then fucked me in front of the pack, starting the whole gang rape. But I didn’t want to argue with Simon. I had to take a shower, get dressed and get to my biology study group.

I did my best to focus on the material in the session. Oliver used my notes as a basis for the review again. Everyone was distracted today except for Ethan. Tristan seemed to be lost in his own head. Oliver and Eduardo kept looking at each other and smiling. Cameron kept watching Micah out of the corner of his eyes. And that made me look at him closely too. I could see why he was staring. Of all the cute twinks in the room, I thought Micah was the cutest. He had an olive skin tone, very dark hair and full, kissable lips. I should have been distracted by his appearance, but I just kept thinking about Simon, about how he’d said that he liked me.

I was disturbed by Micah’s collar. He also wore cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and it was clear that someone had him on a tight leash. It made me uncomfortable to look at it. Unlike me, he was a little guy, and that made me want to find the man who was doing this to him and make him pay. But I couldn’t even help myself. How could I help him?

I was feeling miserable when I went back to the dorm. I spent some time finishing homework from my other classes, then I made my shake for lunch. I was sitting in a downward spiral of despair when someone knocked on the door. No one ever knocked on our door. For a moment I did nothing, but then I got up and opened the door a crack, peering around the side so that whoever it was wouldn’t see that I was naked. It was Simon.

“I just saw Kieran walking toward the dorm. Give me ten minutes from now. That should be long enough for him to get on this floor and for me to get him in my room. Then come over to talk to him,” he said breathlessly.

“I don’t know if I should,” I replied.

I was more than a little afraid of Jason and what he’d do to me if he thought I was harassing his boyfriend. And I was embarrassed. What could I say to the guy I’d raped? What could I say that he would be interested in hearing?

“I need you to do this, Kyle. I’ll talk to Jason and tell him that I made you do it. It’ll be okay,” he said.

“You could do it you know; you could order me,” I said.

Simon shook his head and replied, “That would be the coward’s way, Kyle, and I don’t think you’re a coward. I have too much respect for you to make you do things against your will. You’re afraid that you’ll be embarrassed, but that’s okay. You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t ashamed of what you did. Just be honest.”

I sighed and said, “Okay. I’ll do it.”

He was right, of course. The real problem was that Kieran hated me, and he had reason to hate me. He was probably also afraid of me, and I didn’t blame him for that. Still, I waited and watched the clock. When ten minutes had passed, I threw on my shorts and t-shirt, headed over and knocked on Simon’s door.

When Simon opened the door, I walked into the room with my heart full of fear. I wished that I were allowed to wear less revealing clothing. I didn’t want to make Kieran uncomfortable. He was already pale, wide eyed and shaking. Damn! I hadn’t remembered him being this small. He was about eight inches shorter than me, and probably half my weight. I felt like a bully just looking at him. His long red curls were gathered loosely behind his head, held in place by a copper clasp. His clothing was almost as revealing as mine. Why did Jason do that to him?

It looked like he was terrified of me, but when he returned my gaze, I felt an uncomfortable tingling in my head.

“I don’t know if I can do this, Simon.” I said, my voice catching in my throat.

“Come here, Kyle. Come sit on this bed so you two can talk,” Simon said, leading me over to sit down.

Kieran sat in the chair and an uncomfortable silence hung over the room until Simon said, “Silence is golden, but you two aren’t going to solve anything if you don’t talk. Kyle, start by telling Simon what you’ve been wanting to say.”

I looked at Kieran and my mouth went dry. I started to say something, even I wasn’t sure what, but I hesitated and swallowed hard and said, “I’m sorry, Kieran. I… I didn’t… I wasn’t… Fuck it! I’m not going to make any excuses. I was a horrible piece of shit. I never should have put my hands on you, and…”

I trailed off. His face was locked in an expression of fear mixed with hatred. I could see that my words had no effect on him. And that’s when I started crying and sobbing quietly. Simon knelt so he could lean over and put his arms around me. He restored my courage and gave me strength to continue.

I looked up at Kieran and said, “I don’t deserve it, Kieran. All I deserve is your hatred, but maybe one day you’ll be able to forgive me. I’m not that person anymore. That person was full of hate and I’m not like that anymore. I promise. I’m… I accept who I am now. I’m gay and… I couldn’t accept it before. I hated myself and it made me hate others who didn’t hate themselves like I did. I…”

I couldn’t stop talking. It was like my mouth had a mind of its own, and not a very smart mind. I was rambling.

I was so glad when Kieran interrupted me and said, “I don’t know if I can forgive you right now, but I’m not curling up into a ball of anxiety and that’s a good sign. I need to… I need to know more, but I don’t trust your words. Can I…?”

He reached out with his hand, and I recoiled. I was ashamed to touch him, but I forced myself to relax. And that buzzing in my head was getting worse. All I could think about was my shame and how I wished I could just die and get it over with.

Kieran took a deep breath and stood up. “I can’t see what I need to see, unless I can touch you,” he said.

I stretched out my hand, but he shook his head. “No! I can’t have you touch me right now. It must be me touching you and your hands must be away from me,” he said.

I put my hands behind my back and stretched out my foot, so he wouldn’t have to come within reach of my arms. Kieran came forward onto the bed, being careful not to let our skin touch. Then he leaned forward and touched my forehead in the center just above my eyes.

Then he looked at Simon and said, “If he touches me, Simon, I’ll have a panic attack. I’m counting on you.”

If possible, the buzzing in my head got louder and more uncomfortable. Kieran’s other hand reached out and touched my throat. I felt a warmth spread from both these spots. Kieran was staring at me intently. Then I felt as if something were stabbing into my mind. I pushed back against it, but, whatever it was, it was too strong for me. All the horrific deeds I’d done, all the assaults I’d committed against gay guys when they had aroused me, all the assaults I’d committed against girls when they hadn’t. Even my attack on Kieran came to the fore of my mind. All the images were jumbled. I want to die! I screamed in my mind.

Kieran was merciless. I knew he was making me relive these memories somehow. It felt like he was violating me in return for what I’d done to him. The difference was that I deserved it, while he’d been innocent. He kept probing at a sore spot in my mind. I tried to push him out, but in this strange mindscape, he was much more powerful than me. Then I felt him penetrate me.

Suddenly I was a child, and I was being forced to do things. For the first time I had a clear recollection in graphic detail of Eddie fucking me with a vibrator when I was a child. I’d felt so low. He’d called me a faggot and then he’d raped me. And he’d gotten off on it. I remembered that bulge in his pants and how he’d cum from bouncing me on his clothed cock.

I could remember my own shame and horror as I berated a black classmate and called him vile names while my dad stood behind me and forced me to do it. I remembered all the other times I used racial slurs and other forms of hate speech. The things I’d said to black classmates, girls, and guys I thought were gay.

Then I was an adult and Eddie was raping me in that hotel room. I was sure he had been trying to kill me at the same time. He’d lusted after me but hated me. He’d probably been driven to hate me because he’d lusted after me, just as I had been driven by the same thing for all those years.

And then everything went dark. I was sobbing loudly, curled in a ball on the cold floor. In a burst of powerful light, Kieran shattered that hotel door. He towered over me like a giant, or maybe it was just that I was small like a child. Then he reached down and wrapped his arms around me. I felt safe for a moment.

I could hear the voices of my brother and my father calling me out and urging me to join their fun. I didn’t know what they were doing, and I didn’t care. Kieran whispered into my ear, “You’re not little and you’re not weak. You can send them away.”

I stood up and I grew to my full height. Now it was me who was holding Kieran, my arms wrapped around him, not really to protect him but to draw strength from him. Together we drew the images of my father and of Eddie toward us and then pushed them back into small dungeon-like cells and slammed the doors closed.

Only the third image remained, the most fearsome and malevolent image of them all. A third door opened, and the masked figure turned to walk inside its own cell, but I grabbed it and forcibly removed the mask to see the sad face of my brother Andy. He was only a little taller than Kieran. I drew him in for a hug as well. Even Kieran joined us. Andy didn’t go into a cell. He just stepped back into the shadows and faded from view.

“You did it, Kyle,” Kieran said. “You got rid of them.”

I shook my head and replied, “They’ll come back. They always come back.”

Kieran patted my arm and said, “But now you know how to get rid of them, and you know that you can do it.”

Suddenly I was back on the bed, and Kieran was kneeling next to me with one hand still touching my forehead and the other touching my throat. Despite his small size, he was like a god to me at that moment. I couldn’t stop myself. I reached out and grabbed him. I pulled him in for a tight hug. Simon tried to stop me. I heard him yell, “Kyle, stop! Simon says…”

Before he could finish the phrase that would force me to obey, Kieran let go of me. He reached forward and touched Simon’s throat and it was like Simon had gone mute. Kieran seemed to be uncomfortable as he said, “It’s okay. You’ll be able to talk in a minute or so, but… I don’t want to ruin this moment.”

Then he turned to me and said, “I’m sorry for forcing myself inside your hidden thoughts, Kyle. I was caught up in the moment and couldn’t bring myself to stop.”

“It’s okay, Kieran,” I replied. “We shared something deep there. I’ve never felt like that before with anyone. It was like our minds were one for a moment. And I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.”

I couldn’t explain it. Something was different. I knew it, but I couldn’t define it. Kieran wrapped his soft arms around my neck and hugged me. I was overwhelmed by fear of what Jason would do to me, but I didn’t care. Kieran felt warm and sweet in my arms. It was obvious why Jason held him by his side all the time.

“There’s an external force restraining your mind and your energy body,” he said. “I’d almost been able to touch it, and I know that I could remove it if I could just grasp it.”

“Don’t!” I exclaimed. “I don’t know what he’d do then. I can’t risk it.”

It had to be the compulsion that my master had put on my will. If Kieran was able to remove it, would Master take it out on him, or on me? Would he find some way to bind me even tighter? I kissed Kieran’s forehead and then drew back in alarm, unhanding him. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Given my record, I shouldn’t even be touching you, even if you did touch me first.”

He got off the bed and stood up. Then he said, “It’s alright, Kyle. You aren’t threatening me anymore. I forgive you.”

He turned to leave, and I couldn’t help but watch his little round butt moving in those thin shorts. I was hopeless. Even now, after everything that I’d done, after I’d attacked him, I was perving on him. Then he turned back and said, “I mean that Kyle. I forgive you. You aren’t the same person you were when you attacked me. I see that now.”

He looked so happy that I had to smile at him as he left. Despite everything, he’d forgiven me. Maybe I wasn’t a total loss after all. Sure, I was staring at his ass, but I no longer hated him because of it, and I had no desire to hurt him or force myself on him. I heaved a sigh of relief that those days were behind me now.

“See. I told you it would help you both if you talked,” Simon said with a smile on his face.

“Yeah. You were right. Now I just have to hope that Jason doesn’t kill me for hugging his boyfriend and Darren doesn’t kill me because I dared to be in the same room with the boy,” I replied with a grin.

I hugged Simon tight and said, “Thank you, seriously. I would never have had the courage to do it on my own.”

The remainder of the day was just as good. My master had agreed to allow me to try out for the soccer team. They’d already started playing, but Severan was a division III school, and the team could still use a few more players. And maybe I could get him to let me wear the soccer uniform to class sometimes instead of the booty shorts I usually wore. The teammates were great and really accepting, considering that I wasn’t a soccer player. A couple of the guys offered to help me with the basics so I wouldn’t look like a fool on the field. I didn’t hope to become the best player on the team (some of them were extraordinarily talented), but I hoped to become good enough to get on the field from time to time, not to just fill out the backup roster.

I was in a positive mood when I got back to the dorm, but I knew it had been a little too good. Maybe Master was thinking that I needed to be reminded of my place. In any event, Matt Silver was waiting in my master’s room. My heart fell when I saw him. Still, I didn’t want to anger Master. I quickly removed my clothes and knelt in the proper position, knees spread, back straight and hands behind my neck.

“Your slave is looking better every day, Nico,” Matt announced. “And he’s learned his place as a submissive bitch well.”

“He is making adequate progress, Matt,” my master replied. “But he still needs some work.”

Then my master addressed me. “You will go with Matt this evening, and you will take direction from him. He’s making a new video and you will star in it. He will bring you back before midnight.”

“Yes, Master,” I said.

I wasn’t happy about it. I hated Matt more than I hated anyone on this campus. He took great delight in humiliating me, and in hurting me. He enjoyed it. And I was a little fearful of whatever he might have planned for me.

“With your leave then, Nico, I’ll take charge of your slave,” Matt said.

“He’s yours within the bounds of our agreement until midnight,” Nico said. “Take him.”

Matt snapped his fingers and said, “Rise slave. Put on your shorts only.”

I did as I was told, even though the short shorts I’d been wearing could barely contain my cock without the support of a jockstrap. I wore no shoes because he hadn’t ordered me to do so. I followed him out of Baylor Hall and down the street to his dorm. He’d texted ahead and we were met in the parking lot by Josh Higgins who awaited us next to a big red SUV. He vied with Matt for the person I least wanted to see again. In his case, it was his dirty and unhygienic body. I knew I’d be servicing him in some way tonight.

Matt was driving and I was directed to sit in the back with Josh. We’d barely taken off when Josh said, “Take your shorts off, slave.”

“Yes, Sir,” I said as the compulsions put on me by my master forced me to obey.

Then Josh worked his sweats down over his fat ass and exposed his small and hairy cock. “Blow me while we’re driving,” he ordered.

Another ‘yes, Sir’ was forced out of my throat and I bent over to swallow his dick. It wouldn’t have mattered to me that he was fat. So was Abe Grossman and his cock had been clean and delicious. It was the smell of stale urine and BO. It seemed that Josh didn’t like to shower very often. I tried to hold my breath, but it didn’t matter. The smell permeated my nostrils, and the taste was even more intense.

I had no idea how long the drive lasted, but I sucked Josh’s cock the entire way. The unpleasant flavor never went away completely, but it did lessen as I sucked it … not clean, but cleaner. When he came, it was a small, watery load.

I started to pull off him, but he had other ideas. “Keep your mouth on my dick, slave, and don’t spill a drop of my piss,” he ordered.

So, I swallowed as he sprayed his piss inside my mouth. It was no worse than sucking his dick, not that I’d had a choice in either activity. He didn’t let me up until we got wherever we were going. Then Matt said, “Get off his cock and get out of the vehicle.”

I started to grab my shorts, but Matt said, “You won’t need those. Leave them.”

I left them in the seat and got out of the SUV. We’d parked at the side of a narrow two-story house with blue clapboards and white trim. Matt loaded me up with video equipment, including a tripod and a laptop. And he led me along the side of the house to the back door. The house was a little dusty, but not dirty.  We walked through the kitchen into the dining room and then into the living room.

 

Joe Peters

When the visitors arrived at the house, I wanted to warn them off, but I couldn’t. My master had bound me too tight to his will. It had been my fault. I was the one who just had to investigate, to try and find out who I was working for. I’d been recruited while working with the Caring Community for Christ (CCC) on campus. They’d tasked me with helping Pastor Mercy.

Two of the CCC members were also part of a secret group. They called themselves the coterie, and they’d given me a lot, with the promise of even more to come. It wasn’t money, power, or prestige I was after. I’d felt adrift, without a purpose. And they’d offered me one. They’d promised me that I could save people from the supernatural threats around us, the werewolves, the demons, and the witches. I didn’t know any better at the time. I didn’t know that there were worse things out there, like my master. And I didn’t know that not all werewolves, fae and mages were bad people.

And now that I knew, it was too late. I’d been blindsided by misinformation and I’d been too distracted by thoughts of saving Kieran from that werewolf I’d thought was his boyfriend. I was too distracted by thoughts of being a hero. And now I was the furthest thing from a hero. I was the villain of the story. Worse than that, I was one of the villain’s minions.

And the villain’s name was Vasili Radu, and the entire coterie was in thrall to him. And now I was a member, and I couldn’t act against him either. The blood he forced me to drink made sure that I couldn’t cross him.

The visitors were three mundanes. I knew that two of them were expendable nobodies, but Master wanted the tall handsome one as his agent. I didn’t know why he wanted him. He didn’t share his plans with me. But I knew that he would get him if he wanted him. He always did.

I went in and greeted them. Soon the master would be here as well.

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You can read each story in The Concordium Cycle independently, or you can follow the author's preferred reading order that will blend the stories together. The next chapter in the author's preferred reading order is The Pack 9. It will be out soon.

Special Thanks to my editor [email protected].