Evil Is a Man

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If you like what you're reading, let me know: SellarDhor@gmail.com. And let me know where you want the story to go and who you want Jake to end up with. And if you have any ideas for the future, let me know, I might include them.

MARCH 12th

I woke up before Maxim in the morning, and after using the bathroom, I noticed my clothes hanging neatly in the bathroom closet. I saw my fencing foil on the shelf, and not having anything else to do, I practiced fencing on my own, moving into the room proper so I wouldn't hit any of the walls. That lasted only for about a half hour, though, before Maxim began stirring.

"What are you doing out of bed, my solnyshko?"

"Just doing some fencing practice in the nude."

He groaned, hopped out of bed, also naked but very happy to see me that morning, and put his hand around the blade of the sword. That surprised me, and I quickly stopped moving the sword so as to not hurt him.

"Maxim, you're going to cut yourself!"

"I didn't cut myself, and if I had, no big loss, I'm a vampire. In case you haven't noticed yet, we're pretty darn good at that whole healing thing. I don't want you practicing this anymore, Jake."

"Why the heck not?"

"You don't even like fencing, isn't that what you told me?"

"I hate it. But I need to get better at it in case someone challenges me."

"That's a minute possibility, and if they did, you're already much better than all other Bourgeoisie. If someone does challenge you to a duel, that would be the time to start training. Not now. I think the fact that there is a chance you may need it in the future, no matter how unlikely that chance is, feeds into the obsessive compulsive part of you, which we both know is in there, Jake."

"Maybe so."

"Since it's not something you enjoy, it's just a pointless waste of energy and needless time-sucker, when there's plenty of better things I can think of for you to suck on. Especially now that you are already getting bitten by me daily, along with all the wild sex we have. No point now wasting energy on unpleasant trivial pursuits."

"No, I guess you're right."

"You won't fence anymore?"

"I won't." I set down the foil.

"If you're going through fencing withdrawal, I can provide an excellent sword of my own for you to play with," he said, laughing.

"Yours isn't as long as this one. Close, but not quite."

"But mine is MUCH thicker than that one, and a whole lot less floppy. I think you'll quite enjoy yourself."

He picked me up and threw me back into bed as both of us erupted into giggles.

I knocked on the bathroom door. "Alik, are you in there still?"

"Yes."

"Are you decent?"

"Yes."

I opened the door and stepped into the bathroom with him. We were in Maxim's house on the first floor. "Hey, there you are. I've got all the equipment Günter brought me this morning ready to go, and we're ready to move forward now, in Mission Command Central."

"You mean, Maxim's study, right?"

"Well, technically, I suppose." I looked down into the trash, and did a double-take. "Oh my goodness, what is that?" I grabbed a used syringe and showed it to him. "Did you just use this?"

"You weren't supposed to see that."

"Please tell me this is insulin you've injected into yourself."

He said nothing.

"Oh my goodness, you're juicing up, aren't you? I should have known by the size of your muscles. Muscles like that can't be natural."

"That's right, you caught me. Now, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Mind your own fucking business,' and his cousin, Leave me the fuck alone.' Because you really need to get real friendly with both."

"You are such a fake. Here I thought you had earned that body. Now I see you just paid for it."

"It's not like all I had to do was start injecting and that made me magically turn this big. I still had to put in all the hard work at the gym."

"Don't make excuses. You know, you're cheating in your boxing matches with that stuff. Not to mention destroying your health."

"I know all of that. But I weighed the potential risks, and the rewards were heavier. Just like all the other risks I take."

"Oh, I'm sure. Whatever, just get back to Command Central."

He followed me back to the study that Maxim had converted that morning into our control room. I had Günter's laptop hooked up and ready to go, while he had just sat there being completely useless with such modern technology, as usual. These three were lucky to have me there.

"Alright, we are ready to commence the first strike of our mission," I said to them. I handed them each tiny ear pieces. "Put these in. They are meant to be invisible in your ear, and stay in even if you jostle yourself around. With these, I can communicate to you from here." I watched them all put them in. "Can everyone hear me?" I yelled into the mic.

They all grimaced. "Turn it down, you moron!" yelled Alik.

I flipped down my volume. "Sorry. See, that's why we're here to test these things out."

"And watch your mouth!" said Maxim to Alik. "Talk about the kettle, it took me all of five seconds to diagnose you as not being the brightest candle in the candelabra. Jake doesn't always have to make every right move, he's still perfect just the way he is."

"I'll second that," said Günter. "He's a real hero."

"I think I'm going to be sick," said Alik.

"Maybe you shouldn't be injecting illegal substances into you," I suggested. "That just might make your stomach more settled."

"Or perhaps its having to sit here and watch these two licking away at your asshole that doesn't settle well with me. Let's get on with business and leave the wooing to behind closed doors."

"Fine, that's fine," I said. I grabbed three pairs of eyeglasses, and reached out to them. "Here, each of you pick one."

Maxim and Günter picked up a pair for themselves, but Alik hesitated. "I don't wear glasses."

"These aren't prescription," Günter said, putting his on.

"You look like a total dweeb wearing those," Alik said to him.

"That's okay, they aren't too different from the glasses I wear normally to keep my eyes safe from bodily fluid exposure at the hospital. No one will think these out of place."

"Wait, I have a pair that are just as nerdy as his," said Alik. "I refuse to wear these, I'll look like an absolute tool."

"You have to wear them, Alik," I said. "Each one of these has a hidden camera so I can see what you're looking at on my screen, as well as a mic, so I can hear you and anyone else you're around. It's a requirement to wear these."

"Well then, I'll trade with him," said Alik, pointing at the pair Maxim had grabbed, which were actually a pair of sunglasses. "His look so much more fashionable."

"No, I need the fashionable ones," said Maxim.

"You do not."

"Yes, I do. I'm the most well known person in this city, and everyone knows that I'm also the most fashionable. The only way I'll convince spectators that my glasses aren't something suspicious since vampires don't ever need glasses is if I can play them off as just the latest fashion. Your glasses will never let me play that angle, they'll be suspicious immediately."

"This isn't up for further discussion," I said. "You will wear those, Alik."

"Oops, I just broke them. Sorry, guess I don't know my own strength."

I huffed, pulled out some white tape I had and taped the broken halves of the glasses together, right on the nose bridge. "There, all fixed."

"Great, now they look even more nerdy."

"We don't care, put them on and shut up or you're not getting paid!" yelled Maxim.

He did as asked, and I pulled all of their video images on screen to make sure they were working.

"Great, now just be sure not to remove the glasses until I give you the go ahead. All three of you have important assignments today, and I'll be watching everything from here. If you ever need to tell me something, just try to find some privacy and whisper to me. Maxim, want to tell them what you'll be working on today?"

"Sure. It's part of my job to monitor the Decency Police. Occasionally, when an officer is accused of breaking a Code, it falls on me to confront the officer and let my father know that he can execute the man. I've had one of those cases fall onto my desk recently, one that seems like a very clear infraction of the Codes. Still not violating anywhere near as many codes in his whole career as I do on a daily basis, by the way."

"Why does that matter?" asked Alik.

"Because when an officer is found to be guilty of Code Breaking, any arrests they've made alone are thrown out immediately. And this is an officer who covers a beat out in the outskirts of the city, where he isn't given any partners."

"So Maxim's job today is reconnaissance. He knows this officer covers the same beat every day, but he doesn't know where he goes, so Maxim is going to tail the man today."

"Exactly."

"Günter and Alik will have the more critical job of getting Alik exposed to the flu," I said. "Günter, it's going to fall on you to get Alik into the quarantine ward at the hospital."

"I'll need to see him and diagnose him as having the flu. Alik, who is your current primary physician?"

"Dr. Dresvyanin."

"Well, that will have to change. Before anything, I need to go into your records and change that to myself. And then you'll come into the hospital complaining of flu symptoms, and they'll send you to me. Unfortunately, you'll need to pretend to be sick in order to fool the triage nurse. Think you can do this?"

"Alik, say something to me with your best faking to be sick tone."

"I'm Alik, and I'm very sick." He attempted a very weak cough.

"Awful, he's awful at this," said Maxim. "This will never work. He's going to blow this for us."

"Now wait," I said. "You're not allergic to anything, are you?"

"Just to cats, why?"

"You don't have any cats on grounds, do you, Maxim?" I asked.

"I don't have any pets, but there's a stray that the stable master has tamed. She lives in the stable."

"That will have to do."

While Maxim and Günter left to start both of their sides of the mission, their hidden cameras on, Alik and I went down to the stables. We found this stray cat, and I rubbed her fur all over Alik's face, telling him to breathe deep. In no time, he had red eyes and a major case of sneezing. I told him to rush off to the hospital before it wore off. Luckily, the hospital was extremely close by.

I went back to the study and watched my three co-conspirators on the laptop. Nothing happened out of the ordinary until Günter left his fake examination with Alik and went to the receptionist/nurse in charge of quarantine admittance.

"Mr. Chernikov, I have a patient in exam room 8 that needs to be admitted to the influenza quarantine."

"We are low on space here, Doctor. We'll need to activate quarantine two for him."

"But that would mean he would be all alone in there," said Günter, speaking loudly, clearly for my sake.

"That's right, Doctor."

"Can't you just squeeze him into this one?"

"Afraid not. I'm having him escorted to Quarantine Two right now."

People covered in gowns and caps came into the exam room that Alik was on, on my other screen, and escorted him to a quarantine, and then left him alone. They said they would need to find staff to man that quarantine, and left him alone.

"Günter, Alik is locked alone in the second quarantine."

"On my way," he whispered as he rushed from quarantine one to quarantine two.

Günter looked around to make sure he wasn't being watched, and then opened the door for Alik. And then he had Alik hide in a nearby closet before going all the way back to the nurse guarding the first quarantine.

"Mr. Chernikov, I've been informed that there is a medical emergency downstairs. I'm going down there now, and I'm ordering you to come along with me in case they need any help."

"I refuse the order, Doctor."

"You what?"

"Refuse the order. My place is here. We have plenty of other staff members that are equipped to handle medical emergencies."

"Is he even allowed to refuse a direct order like that?" I asked.

"Yes, he is," said Günter.

"Excuse me, Doctor?"

"I was saying, yes, they are equipped. Good day, then."

"Good day."

Günter walked away. "There's nothing I can do to get him to leave his post," he whispered to me as soon as he was alone. "It's hopeless."

"I can think of something to try. Go to a lab. Make sure it's an empty one."

"Alright."

Once Günter had locked himself into an empty laboratory, I said, "Günter, your semen won't burn through thick vial made of steel, will it?"

"No. I don't think I want to ask why, do I?"

"If you had a vial full of your semen, you could accidentally spill it on his scrubs, and it would burn right through them, and then you could tell him it was some dangerous chemical and he would need to change his clothes right away, he'll leave his post."

"Why couldn't I just get some real acid to spill on him?"

"And have it give him a chemical burn? Your semen won't burn through flesh."

"Can't I just use water and say it's acid?"

"He won't be impressed enough to leave his post unless he can see it burning through his clothes. You need to stop being so frightened of what you create, Günter."

"Alright, alright." He pulled down his pants and started to play with himself. "You know I can't get this going without any fresh blood."

"Is there someone around who would let you bite them?"

"No one who I could trust. And no one that would taste like you or Min."

"Well, I have a different idea. Just get some really cold, brightly colored beverage and spill it all over him. I guess it's saying something about my psyche that my first solution involves semen."

There came no response.

"Hello?"

Nothing. I looked at the screen and saw his camera was black. He hadn't heard my other suggestion, clearly.

I checked in with Maxim and Alik, and they could still hear me fine, so it must have just been Günter's line alone. After a long while of trouble shooting his laptop, I decided to reboot.

It took me a long time to get it all back online and going again, but even after all of that, Günter's screen remained black. I started to go online for help.

I guess I was so absorbed in what I was doing, that I didn't hear someone walk into the study and sneak up behind me. Next thing I knew, I had arms around my chest and fangs piercing me.

I knew from his typical smell of disinfectant that it was Günter. "What are you doing?!"

"Just having you get me going," he said.

"That's enough. I can feel you've gotten yourself going." He had his pants pulled down, and was poking into my lower back.

He licked my wound shut.

"Thank you. I think you should be fine from here without me."

"But it sure would expedite matters if you helped me out."

"No, that's not appropriate."

"To help me jerk off? But you were doing so much more than that only a few days ago."

"Look, Maxim and I just got together," I said. "So I'm sorry, I can't touch you like that anymore."

"You and Maxim, huh?"

"You're starting to go flaccid again."

"Well, it's not the sexiest thing I can think about, but I'm happy for you both."

"Thank you."

"Right, so I'll turn around then."

He spun around and faced away from me as he stroked himself for a few minutes and then came into a container. He pulled his pants back up and was on his way, putting his mic in and glasses back on.

A half hour later, Günter was walking down the hallway in front of the entrance to the main quarantine. He made a fake trip as he walked by Mr. Chernikov, which was all too over the top, forced, and cheesy to ever be believable. Luckily, he made up for his bad acting by managing to spill his vial all over his shirt and pants, but over nothing else.

"Oh my god, sorry, just tripped!"

"What was that you just spilled on me, Doctor? It's starting to hiss."

"It's sulfuric acid. It will eat through most things."

"It's burning through my clothes! Oh my god, there's some on my crotch, doctor!"

"Mr. Chernikov, come with me to the lab. We need to get those clothes off and get you under a shower, right now."

"Ahhh!" yelled the man, jumping up from his seat and running for his life after Günter.

"Alright Alik, you're clear to move into the quarantine. Just try not to look suspicious."

"I have no idea where that is."

"You've never been there?"

"Never."

One look at Günter's window told me he was way too busy to help, so I was on my own.

"Okay, I think I was paying attention enough watching Günter going there earlier that I can lead you there."

It was sure good that I had a good sense of direction. I was able to get him there with only 2 wrong turns.

"Günter, Alik is inside," I said to the doctor as soon as Alik was safe, letting him know he could stop distracting Mr. Chernikov.

The quarantine was divided into twenty or so small hospital rooms, each with one person within. Alik combed carefully through all of it. There was a definite shortage of staff in there, apparently they didn't think anyone there was sick enough to warrant special attention.

"All of these rooms are filled," complained Alik.

"I guess that's what they mean by the quarantine being at capacity."

"Hmmph. Is this a good time to tell you I got my flu shot this year?"

I angrily paged Günter. "Guess who forgot to tell us until now that he got his flu shot?"

"That's fine," said Günter, back in his office now. "So did the Tsar, of course. So did all those people in the quarantine. There's always an influenza strain or two that they don't think to include in that year's vaccination, and those are the ones the city is experiencing now."

I relayed this to Alik. "And is it too late to tell you that I've never had the flu at all? I have an excellent immune system."

"Oh, great, anymore bombs you want to lay on us right in the middle of the mission?"

"Nope, that covers it."

I told Günter. "Well, tell Alik that it won't just suffice to have him in the same general area as the patients. He's going to need to be touching someone who is really contagious for as long as possible."

I told this to Alik. "Just pretend like we're paying for your sex services for one of these people," I told him.

"I can do that. Wait a second. All of these people are probably old, frail, and gross. No way there's anyone in here that is even semi-decent looking."

Right then, one of the doors opened, and a female patient in a gown came out. She was a buxom young brunette that looked very hot, and somehow seemed to be wearing make-up.

"Well, hello there," Alik said to her, looking to her hand, perhaps to see if she was married, which she wasn't.

"If you really want to get intimate with someone here, especially someone as good looking as her, you will need to put on the charm. You are capable of having at least one iota of suaveness, aren't you?" So far, he had only come off as a brute, incapable of any sort of seduction.

"Why don't we shuttup and I go fuck you in your room?" he asked.

"Oh my goodness, I told you to be charming! You're going to end up with a restraining order instead of a lover!"

"That WAS me being charming."

"Oh, it was, was it?" she asked. "Wait, I didn't get a good look at you, but now I see. Oh my god, it's Alik Grishan! I watch your boxing matches all the time! I'm your biggest fan ever! What are you doing here?"

"Can't you tell by my robe? I've got the flu, and I'm quarantined in here."

"Me too! Oh, just my luck! Alik Grishan is quarantined with me! I'm Anja."

"Looks like there's no more rooms in this quarantine, I have no place to stay."

"You can stay with me in my room," she said, showing him inside. "If you don't mind me being sick, we could fuck the entire time we're in here."

"I cannot believe she actually went for that awful proposition. You're just lucky she was already a fan."

"I don't mind, I'm sick too."

In no time, the two of them were in her bed, making out.

"Alik is kissing one of the patients already," I said to Günter.

"I'm looking up the records of all the patients currently in the quarantine. What is her name?"

"Anja."

"Hold on. Ah yes, here she is, Anja Zhikin. This won't do at all. She's been in there for five days already, and is almost recovered enough to be out of quarantine. She's very unlikely to be still contagious. Tell him he will have to pick someone else."

"No wonder she barely looks or sounds sick." I switched over to Alik's line. "She's not contagious anymore, Alik. It won't get you anywhere to be with her."

"Oh my god, you're not Anja Zhikin, are you?"

"Yes, how did you know my last name?"

"Because I'm related to the Zhikins. You are like my fourth cousin twice removed or something. Please excuse me. I can't stay in here for fear I'd commit incest."

"I don't think it's incest when two people are hardly related."

"It is to me, sorry." He got up and left the room.

"Günter is looking up which of these patients are most contagious still."

"Please tell me it's this one," he said, seeing another hot woman, this time a blonde, enter her room.

"What did you say?" she asked him.

"I said, please tell me your name."

"Gera, who are you?"

"Alik."

"Gera, Günter, look for her."

"Gera, Gera, ah yes. She is for sure in a contagious zone, she would be fine."

"She's good!" I said to Alik.

"Well, aren't you a beauty," Alik said. "Sure would like to get to know you better."

"That would make one of us."

"Which part do you mean?"

"Both parts."

"Oh wait, it says here she's a homosexual, and she's married."

"All of that personal stuff is in their medical file?" I asked.

"There's nothing personal or private about your sexual preference or marital status among vampires, Jake. And it helps us doctors provide the right kind of healthcare."

"Alik, this one is off limits, I'm afraid. Better just move on."

"Nice talking to you."

"Again, that makes one of us," she said as she went into her room.

"Günter, who else would still be contagious?"

"Let me see. There's only a small handful, sadly. Three of these are men, but they are all heterosexual. Ah, here's one male who's a bisexual, like me. Looks like he's a top only. Would that work?"

"Alik, would you be willing to sleep with a male top?"

"Absolutely not. I have never done any such thing."

"No to that one, Günter. What elese?"

"There's only a male homosexual named Gavriil and a bisexual woman named Innochka. It has to be one of those two."

I relayed this to Alik, who was looking at the names on the doors, most of which were ajar. "Here's Gavriil," he whispered, then looked inside that room.

Gavriil was a massively obese, hairy man covered in sweat. He looked about as unappealing as I could imagine. "There's your match, Alik."

"No fucking way."

He left Gavriil's door and found Innochka's room. She was a petite but attractive woman in her late forties, lying in her bed.

"This will do fine," he whispered as he knocked and let himself into the room. She didn't wake up, so he said, "Innochka, wake up." Still nothing.

Alik went over and shook her, but she still gave nothing but snores. She was as bad as Syd has been when he was sick.

I could see Alik looking at her up and down. "Alik, you absolutely can't force yourself on a woman who is unconscious, especially not one that vaguely resembles my mother. It would be wrong!"

"I wasn't going to do that, god. I'm not some monster, I would never rape someone like that."

Alik tried one last time to wake her, but still nothing.

"Looks like you'll just have to choose the gay bottom in the other room, Alik."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"You said to me that you were used to unattractive people paying for you to sleep with them, so this should be right up your alley."

"I've never had anyone as bad as this one before."

"Well then, think of it as a career boosting challenge. Think of how great your performance evaluation will be if you're successful."

"Fine, if you shut up about it already, I'll do it."

Alik walked over to Gavriil's room and knocked on the door, waking Gavriil's up.

"Yes?"

"Hi Gavriil, I'm Alik. I'm new here, I don't have a room of my own, and I would love to share a bed with you, as little space in your bed that you are not occupying already."

"You want to share a bed with me?" he asked.

"Share a bed, maybe swap some spit while we're at in, and maybe share one of my thicker, whiter bodily fluids too. In case you're confused, I want to fuck the hell out of you. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh yeah, that's really romantic, Alik, great," I said.

"I can't think of a better way to pass our time here. Alik, come to papa."

Alik jumped into bed with Gavriil, and as soon as they started to kiss, I had to look away from his screen.

"Günter, target achieved."

In late afternoon, my flame-clone, this time happily clothed and with skates on, skated into the study, bringing delight to my face. Maxim entered with his giant smile all over his face.

"I thought we could spend the evening ice skating in our own private rink again, my solnyshko," he said. He had spent the day tailing the corrupt police officer, though he wanted to continue tailing him the next day just to be sure he had it all down. "It will be so much more romantic now that we're together, don't you think?"

"Yes, that sounds wonderful. Though I do resent just how clumsy your interpretation of me skating looks. I'll just have to improve my skills tonight, won't I?"

"You'll just have to promise even when you no longer are at risk of falling on your own, that you'll still play the novice card just to afford me the continued opportunity to skate with your favorite side of me pressed against my favorite side of you."

"Even though you sleep spooning me already, with both of us in a far greater state of undress?"

"I'll never, ever turn down even the slightest excuse to put you in a compromising position in the name of valor and helpfulness."

"Well then, I promise."

"I just need to call and cancel my dinner with the Ministerstvo at the Sneg Dvorec scheduled for tonight."

"What, cancel your normal plans on my account? No, absolutely not. Go out tonight, Maxim, I'll be fine here on my own. I have Alik still undercover here, and there's a chance he'll need my help tonight. If you don't go, they could make some dangerous decision together without you."

"I suppose that's true. But I'm so sad to leave you. I spent all day without you already. Now that I know how wonderful life can be when you're in it, I've come to dread those times you are not. I was SO dreading it today, in fact, I felt about ready to unleash my fire-dragon on the corrupt officer I was tailing today and serve him up to you flambé."

"It's just one evening, Maxim. I'll miss you too, but we will both survive."

"I suppose that's technically true. But I so want to take you with me as my partner."

"I'd like that too, but I can't show up there, obviously."

"No, I'd be the first to say it was far too dangerous."

Before he left, dressed excellently, he told me he had asked the chef to start cooking dinner for me, told me he loved me, and gave me a long kiss. It was all very sweet.

Alik ended up not needing anything from me that night, though I wanted to stay nearby the computer until I went to bed in case anything changed. After I ate dinner, I went up to Maxim's bedroom to find one of my books to read. Instead, I noticed my fencing foil.

I knew from experience that Maxim would be at his dinner all night, so I had a lot of time on my own. I knew he didn't like me fencing, but I just had some inner feeling somehow that fencing would be important to me in the future. I decided to practice and put the sword away long before Maxim returned.

I took it down to the study, where I honed my fencing skills in the large open space of the room while keeping an eye on the laptop for any activity by Alik.

I had only been practicing for less than an hour when I heard, "What is this?"

I turned around to see Maxim, surprising me. "You're early. You weren't supposed to see this."

"I finished early so we could be together. What the hell is in your hand?"

He jumped forward and ripped the sword from me, throwing it across the room.

"How could you lie to my face like that?! You swore you wouldn't fence on your own."

"I, uh..."

There was so much rage in his face and body language that I was at a loss for words.

"You lied to my face, you're a liar!" he was shouting so loudly, I could feel his deep voice vibrate in my gut.

Fire came out of his mouth, surely unconsciously, and it surrounded his body in that flame dragon that I had seen kill that officer the other day. Only this time, the dragon melded with him, making Maxim and the dragon interchangeable in my eyes.

A string of furious Russian came out of Maxim's voice. He moved towards me, the evil dragon opening his mouth, letting me see dozens of angry teeth. He would breathe fire and burn me to death, I was sure of it. I was terrified

Finally, the dragon blew hot, dangerous flame, and I shut my eyes. I opened them to see every spare inch of the room covered in fire, but the flames stopped all around my body, inches away from hurting me.

And then the fire ended, all at once, and it was like they had never been there. Maxim, enraged, stomped out of the room. I heard him leave through the front door, and I looked out one of the windows to see his stagecoach going.

He left me absolutely trembling in fear that he would burn me to death in a loss of control over his rage. And then, as soon as I calmed down, the tears started coming down my face. I was so stupid to have thrown everything away like that, I knew. Just a day together, and I had already broken us apart.

I took a moment to compose myself, and then decided I should be gone before he got back, that was the respectful thing to do. Günter would always have me, and I just had to hope I wouldn't get spotted on my way over there.

Hopefully, Maxim would be big enough tomorrow to not let his anger for me stop his involvement in our mission, because we obviously couldn't continue without him.

I went up to Maxim's room, opened my bag in his closet, and started to pull my clothes off hangers, fold them, and pack them away.

"What are you doing now?"

I jumped, always annoyed at how these vampires could just sneak up on me all the time. I turned to see Maxim coming into the closet behind me.

"I'm packing my things and moving out."

He came over to me, grabbed the jacket I was holding, put it back on its hanger and hung it back up.

"Well, I guess you did technically buy me that, so you can keep it if you want. I'll take the rest."

"No, you can't do this, you can't leave me, you can't."

His voice was cracking, and tears were breaking free. He frantically took my clothes out of my bag and put everything back just the way it was.

"I don't understand, don't you want me to go?"

"No! I love you too much! I don't ever want to let you go!"

"But you did just break up with me down there, didn't you?"

"No, I would never break up with you! Listen, I know why you're leaving. I lost control of my anger again, and lashed out much harder than I ever should have. I know I was wrong to hurt you like that, and I'm begging your forgiveness."

"You scared me half to death with that dragon thing. I thought you were going to kill me, Maxim."

He walked over to me and took me in his strong arms. "I may lash out when I'm angry, and I can understand that my dragon scares you, but sometimes I can't keep it back. But you have to know something about me. No matter how mad you ever make me, I would never, ever, hurt you. Not even the slightest scratch. Because I'm in love with you, my solnyshko." He continued to sob uncontrollably into my shirt. "Will you please, please forgive me for this stupid tantrum?"

"Yes, of course, I forgive you."

"And you still want to be my boyfriend? You won't leave me?"

"No, I won't leave you."

He kissed me frantically, while at the same time, surprising me by lifting me off my feet. He carried me into the bedroom and laid me down on the bed, never stopping his kisses. He pulled my clothes off in a mad heat and did the same to his own clothes. And then he held me naked in his arms, dick to dick.

I broke away from his kisses long enough to say, "Wait a second, I should be the one apologizing for the fencing. I didn't think it would upset you so much if I practiced behind your back. I was being insensitive."

"It wasn't the fencing that made me angry, my solnyshko. It was that you lied to me. I thought we were past ever lying to each other again, and when you proved the opposite, it felt like you had stabbed that foil into my body."

"I'm sorry, I really am sorry. I shouldn't have lied, it was stupid, and it won't happen again."

"I forgive you, of course I forgive you. Let's forget this fight ever happened and focus on the hot make-up sex, shall we?"

"Oh, wait, there was one other thing I was keeping from you that I need to come clean about. Before we were together, I was spying on you at night, and saw you, um, sleep with the fire copy of myself."

"You saw that? And it didn't send you for the hills?"

"I honestly just thought it was flattering."

"I didn't' even know I had the ability to do that to myself until you came along. You inspired me to adapt my powers."

"Could you make one of those things cold enough to bring me pleasure this time?"

"Yes. You want to be pleasured by your fire twin?"

"No, of course not. I'm not that vain. I want to be pleasured by a clone of you."

"Ahh, I can do that."

He puffed out some flame from his mouth, and that coalesced into a flame facsimile of himself.

"Wow, that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen you make out of flame," I said.

"That's very sweet of you to say, even though I totally disagree with you."

I looked over the Maxim's flame clone. He had the same size and musculature of my boyfriend, the same bone structure, the same facial features, complete with a flame beard. He even had the same sized penis, equally erect. Of course, the texture and the colors were all wrong, but it was still incredible.

"I want to touch it!"

"Go ahead, my solnyshko. I promise you won't get burned."

I tried to wrap my hand around the flame shaft. A warm brush touched my skin, but my hand went right through the flame, finding nothing substantial to hold onto.

"That's not fair!"

Maxim laughed. "It works better if you're being the one who is touched. Just lay back and let me take care of you."

"Can't argue with that suggestion."

Maxim's fire twin rubbed his unit against my arm, just the very edge, so it didn't lose its shape that time. It felt light and wonderful, like being kissed by warmth.

The real Maxim resumed his kissing me, and then licked down all over my body. I tried to reciprocate, but he held me down in place, not allowing it. His licks made their way to my dick. He completely enveloped me down there, giving me so much pleasure that I instinctively bucked my hips. He used his powerful arms to hold my hips in place, keeping me from moving. He wanted to be in charge, clearly. I stopped thrusting and just relaxed, and soon he was bobbing his head up and down.

While that was happening, his flame twin came over and started to kiss me, which was a bizarre but pleasurable experience as the flames twin's lips warmed my own lips, and his fire tongue went through my mouth.

That could have made me come, but he seemed to sense my pleasure building and stopped before it hit me. And then he tucked my knees up against my body and went lower. He started giving some wonderful oral attention to my hole, making me moan. Goodness, was he good at that. He took his time down there too while his flame clone continued to kiss me.

The flame clone moved away from my mouth finally, and Maxim took over kissing me again, rubbing his massive dick against mine, splashing my whole body with pent-up precum in the process. Soon, I felt fire against my hole, and realized Maxim was having his twin thrust against me there, which felt intense.

Maxim stopped kissing me and spun around so his knees were against the top of my head. He stuck his hardness inside my mouth, slow at first, then driving down. I devoured his manly flavor, loving the feeling of licking my tongue around the foreskin of his gigantic head, sucking down his hot precum eagerly, but not before letting his sweet flavor hit all my tastebuds. I tried to push my head up against him, but again, he made me stop, wanting to be in control. Holding my head still, he plowed up and down on my waiting mouth.

He leaned down and took my dick in his mouth at the same time, putting us into a sixty-nine, setting my dick on fire with his expert tonguework. Once again, he pushed his head up and down with fast energy, not letting me do any work.

He stopped again when I was close, and he made his flame twin divide into two. Soon, Maxim had flame triplets. One of them continued to thrust into my crack while the other gave my unit oral, neither one feeling nearly as good as the real thing, but still giving me a lot of pleasure.

The real Maxim grabbed my left leg and bit into my inner thigh, giving me that sexual rush of pure pleasure as he fed, the fire of his fangs rocking through me. The increased excitement was mutual, as he bucked his hips faster and faster, pulling in and out of my mouth, absolutely gushing precum.

With three points of pleasure occurring on my lower half, and being more and more turned on my Maxim's thrusts, it wasn't long before an incredible orgasm shook through me, and Maxim was on board as well. He grunted in pleasure as all of those creamy-tan, brawny muscles tensed up all at once. He pushed inside me all the way to the hilt. I felt his whole flagpole tremble as he shot his first into my throat. I too shot my load as the sweet taste of his milk put my on cloud nine.

Soon, he had shot so much of his firey seed inside my gullet that it poured out of my lips, way too much of it for me to ever swallow down or even hold in, white heat spilling all over my body.

He pulled off me and pulled me into his arms immediately, kissing me.

We just lay there for a long time holding each other, catching our breath.

"Wow, my solnyshko. That was incredible. Well worth the argument, if that was the price we had to pay. And we got stuff out in the open that will only make our relationship stronger."

"You won't have to worry about me lying to you again, so we have to cause to fight in the future, which is just how I like it."

"You sure we can't argue over something trivial, like the color of the drapes, just so we could have incredible make-up sex again?"

"I suppose that could be arranged."

After Maxim toweled us both off, we let sleep come as we held each other, naked in bed.

MARCH 14th

Two wonderful days later filled with intimacy and fun with Maxim, both in and out of bed, Alik had reported starting to feel sick and asking him to get him out of the quarantine as soon as possible, making it very clear that Gavriil had not managed to grow on him in the time they had shared a bed. And so, I was sitting in the study downstairs, looking at the three windows on Günter's laptop as our mission continued.

"Günter, are you ready for Maxim?" I asked.

"Yes, Nurse Wieska just started her shift and is alone covering the quarantine."

"Maxim, she's ready for you."

"I'm walking down the hallway towards her," he said. "Jake, are you sure you want me to do this?"

"We selected her specifically because she's single and she's only attracted to handsome vampire males. You need to get her away from that table so Günter can sneak out Alik. Luckily, you are one of the most charming men I've ever met. I want you to flirt with her just like you did with me the first time we met."

"And you're sure you won't be mad?"

"As long as you don't sleep with her, I don't care."

As he came closer, I saw Nurse Wieska, an attractive human blonde, in her old-fashioned white nurse's dress and cap. She smiled as soon as she saw Maxim, a smile that was meant to be professionally courteous, but betrayed some other interest as well.

"Uh, hi there," Maxim said to her.

"Hello, my liege. Are you lost? Is there something I can help you find?"

"Nope, uh, nothing, thanks."

"What?" I said. "Where's the Maxim wit, the flirtatiousness? If I had asked something like that the first time we met, it would have been answered with some suggestive yet amusing line."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Sorry for what, my liege?"

"Um, well, I'm not sure."

"Say something flirtatious!" I said to him.

"Okay. Um, what is your name?"

"Wieska, my liege. How does it suit me?"

Another great lead in for some witty line of his.

"Well, uh, fine, I guess." Once again, he failed.

"Tell her you think she's beautiful."

"So, um, you seem to be, you know, attractive, I suppose."

I rolled my eyes. "That sounded not the least bit believable."

"Oh thanks, same to you, my liege."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

"You need to get her away from the desk!"

"Okay, so do you, you know, want to take a walk with me or something?"

"Right now?"

"Yes, now."

"I'm not really supposed to leave my post."

"Oh, I see."

"No, you have to convince her!"

"Buuut," she said on her own. "I guess no one would even notice. Sure."

She got up, took his arm, and they started to walk down the hall.

"I know somewhere where we can be alone," she said.

"A-Alone?"

"Tell her that's okay!"

"Yes, okay."

I switched over my line. "Günter, you're free to proceed."

While Günter, dressed in scrubs, started to walk out of his office and towards the quarantine, Wieska pulled Maxim into a room and locked the door.

"Oh, a closet, how, uh, intimate," he said.

Wieska started to kiss him.

"Wow, that was, uh, a kiss! Are you sure you're okay with me doing this, my solnyshko?"

"Yes, it doesn't bother me at all," I said.

"Let's just say once I know what I want, I take it," Wieska said, thinking he was speaking to her.

They started to kiss, and although it was obviously hard to see, I could tell he was kissing her awkwardly and forced. Not at all the world class kisser he had been before. What was wrong with him?

Günter arrived at the quarantine, walked to the door, and opened it up. "Where is he?!" he snapped when he found no one at the other end.

I looked at Alik's window to see he was in the bathroom, looking down at his large dick below him as he took a leak.

"Alik, you need to get out there, now!"

"I'm pissing here!"

"That's great," I heard Gavriil say, clearly thinking he was being talked to from his bed. "I LOVE watersports. Give me ten seconds and I'll be in there giving you a golden shower."

"I'll be there soon."

"He's on his way, Günter!"

Back in the closet, Wieska straddled Maxim with her legs.

"That's okay, Maxim, you just keep her occupied."

"I, um, I. I can't!"

"Can't what?" she asked.

"Can't do this." Maxim pulled her off of him and set her down. "I'm sorry, it just feels wrong."

"Wrong why?" she asked, angrily.

"I'm in love with someone else, and it just makes me feel sick to be with you."

"Maxim, no, don't stop!" I said, but he didn't listen to me.

"You should have told me that before you asked me to take a walk with you!"

"Alik, you need to move, NOW!"

"I'm just shaking the piss off, and then I'll be out."

Wieska stormed out of the closet, walking back towards the quarantine.

"Abort the extraction, I repeat, abort now!"

Günter let go of the quarantine door and ran around a corner just before he could be seen by Wieska as she huffed back to her seat.

"Alik, it's a no go."

"I'm sorry, my solnyshko. I tried to fake it, but I just couldn't lie."

"It's okay, Maxim, I'm not mad."

I learned something about Maxim that day: though he was amazingly charming and equally seductive, those qualities would only be revealed to people he liked or were attracted to. He was unable to use those sides of himself deceptively. I almost wouldn't admit to myself that it was the one time I had wished Syd had been around. He had no qualms about seducing someone he had no interest in or attraction to if it meant some gain for himself.

"I have another idea that just occurred to me," Günter whispered to me.

"We don't have a plan B, so go for it."

Günter walked up to the quarantine desk. "Good day, Nurse."

"Hello, Doctor," Wieska said, trying to be professional but not able to conceal her recent annoyance.

"Nurse, I need you to extract a patient from the quarantine for me."

"Have they gone through their week and a half quarantine time?"

"No, but I need you to pull him out anyway."

"I cannot do that, Doctor. We can't have a flu patient walking the streets."

"Well, I was the one who diagnosed this patient before, but it seems I misdiagnosed him. The labs came back positive for strep throat, so he doesn't have influenza at all."

"Still, strep throat is highly contagious, and he should be quarantined until it's run its course."

"Yes, it's contagious, but's it's a bacterial infection, so us fanged vampires are immune, which is the primary reason we have such quarantines. I'll put him on antibiotics and send him home. I can't ethically leave him in a flu quarantine where he's likely to pick up that virus as well."

"If I consent to this, you need to monitor him for flu symptoms. If they appear, he needs to be brought here immediately, is that clear?"

"Yes, of course, Nurse."

"Alright, his name?"

"Alik Grishan."

"The hunky boxer?"

"Yes, that's him."

"Oh, here he is," she said, pointing out his name on the list. "But it says he's in quarantine two."

"Nope, he's here, I assure you. That's a mistake. Search yourself for him, you'll see."

"Alright, I will."

She put on full scrubs and gloves before entering the quarantine. She found Alik, took him to a washing room, and had him discard his hospital gown as she scrubbed down every inch of him, clearly a part of the decontamination process. She seemed to take a lot of pleasure doing that, so at least she ended up having some excitement after being let down by Maxim.

Günter walked into Maxim's study, his scrubs disposed of. "I've quarantined off Mr. Grishan's new bedroom upstairs. He's still not symptomatic enough to be in his most highly contagious phase, but I wouldn't be surprised if we could move forward tomorrow. Someone will have to tend to his needs overnight. I'd stay here, but I'm afraid my absence from the hospital would be considered odd. So, I'm going to teach some of your staff how to protect themselves when entering a germ infected environment."

"No need," Maxim said. "I don't want to ask any of my staff to put themselves at risk in order for us to complete our own operations. I'll tend to Alik myself."

"No, you're not a medical professional like Günter, and you won't know how to keep yourself protected like he does. If you get sick and die from the flu, I'll blame myself. I'm the one who is immune to illness, it should be me who tends Alik."

"But my solnyshko, sick people gross you out. And that's way too much hassle for you to commit to. I want you to relax."

"I've had experience playing nurse to quarantined people before, I'm sure I can handle just one night."

"It could be that Mr. Petrov doesn't like the idea of his boyfriend being intimately close with a man as virile and large as Mr. Grishan, and I would find his opinion relatable."

"No, that's not it at all," Maxim said. "Though I desire no one in my romantic life except for Jake, I don't require the same from him. I'm not the least bit jealous. They could be screwing under my roof and I'd feel nothing but happiness at their shared pleasure. Well, as long as he still belonged to me as well. If he ran off with someone and left me alone, that would be my end."

"You don't have anything to worry about. Alik and I are about as different as two people can be. Instead of worrying I might end up seduced by him, a far more realistic concern is if both of us will survive the night without killing each other."

"Why on earth are you naked?" I asked Alik. He was lying on the bed, his heavy equipment just hanging there for me to see.

"I only have the one suit with me, so I had to take it off because I didn't want it to get all sweaty. I've never been sweating this much, not even in my most intense matches."

"It's called a fever. That's what happens when you get the flu."

"Could you loan me a pair of pajamas?"

"You would split apart any of my clothes before you'd ever get them on your body. You are much larger than me, in case you haven't noticed."

"I'm not much bigger than Maxim. Can you get a pair of his pajamas to wear?"

"He doesn't wear them. And, to be frank, I wouldn't want you wearing anything of his unless we threw it away afterwards. Can't have Maxim getting sick."

"Well then, if you're not willing to help me fix it, I don't want to hear you complaining about my nudity."

I was already feeling like it was when I had to take care of a sick Syd all over again. But as the evening went on and Alik got worse and worse, I realized Alik was a blissful contrast to taking care of Syd. Syd had constantly been demanding I help him with every little task he needed, even if it was sexual in nature. And even when he couldn't think of anything else to demand me to do, he wanted me to be there with him at all times, and was constantly yapping to me.

A sick Alik was a very different beast indeed, turning completely quiet, though certainly no more friendly than before. When he was awake, he was constantly urging me to leave, telling me he was fine on his own. He either didn't want me to see him in that state, or he had some animalistic urge to take his ill body away from the pack and deal with it on his own. Since Alik didn't seem to care much about appearances, I would guess the latter motivation was true.

I let him have his space, only coming into the room occasionally to check in on him or bring him water or food. But I found that he would lie to me and tell me he could do things on his own, like eat some soup, then fail to follow through totally. I had to wake him up later and force him to eat, spoon feeding him myself, which made him extremely angry with me. Luckily, he wasn't too sick to walk, so he wasn't needing my help to get him to the toilet, which he probably never would have let me do anyway, even if it meant wetting the bed.

Of course, I was being real, real careful. I stripped down completely before I even went into the room to make sure my clothes weren't contaminated. I had a pair of undies that I left in the room so I wouldn't be embarrassing myself, which I would of course throw away when he was gone. Every time I left the room I washed myself in his shower with hot water and soap, and then after I shut the door behind me, I used hand sanitizer on myself as well before I put on my suit again.

That night, before Maxim and I had sex and went to bed, I called Günter and let him know that Alik's symptoms were worsening just as he had predicted, and we should all plan to move forward with our main attack the next day.

MARCH 15th

"I feel like I'm going to die."

"You're not going to die. And Günter is going to inject you this morning with all sorts of drugs to keep people from realizing you're sick."

"No, that's not good enough. I want to take flu pills of all kinds, as strong as they make them, in with me in case they keep me locked up for a while. Call Günter and have him go to a pharmacy before he gets here!"

"I will, as soon as we take care of the most important problem at hand. Alik, you reek."

"I don't smell anything."

"Because all the mucus in your head has thrown off your sense of smell. Let me assure you, you stink. I'm in charge of getting you ready this morning, and we can't have anything that would arouse suspicion that you might be sick. And since not bathing daily unless you are too sick to do so is actually a Decency Code, it won't fly."

"I'm supposed to be breaking Decency Codes today to get me arrested."

"Yes, but once you are arrested, it's critical you don't break any Decency Codes in front of Kirill. If you show up to him smelling like you haven't bathed, he'll kill you no matter what Maxim does to intervene. You need to be smelling fresh, and that means you'll need o take a shower."

"No. The idea of getting wet just seems all too repulsive to me for some reason."

"That's your virus playing with your mind to avoid cleaning all of your germs off you. You need to fight that."

"No, I refuse."

"If you're too weak to shower, I'll give you a sponge bath in bed if I must."

"No fucking way. Leave me alone. I'll just squirt some cologne on me, and it would take care of the problem."

"A tsunami of Cool Water couldn't get rid of your stench, Alik."

He stopped listening to me, and I knew there was no point in arguing further.

After he had eaten the oatmeal I had gotten him for breakfast, he got out of bed and stumbled, still naked, to the bathroom. He looked down, aimed his dick, and started to piss. That toilet was right next to the open shower door, and I got an idea. I took off my underwear, leaving me naked, not wanting to get them wet.

I waited until he was shaking off, and then I ran towards him so fast that he didn't even see me coming. I slammed him with my whole body and forced both of us into the shower, shutting the shower door behind me. I shoved the water on and the showerhead above started to douse both of us with water.

"Oooh, I hate you!" Alik yelled as I started to scrub soap all over him.

He started to wrestle me, and even though he was sick, he was much, much stronger than I was. But the door, which was behind me, pulled in to open, not out, and with both of us taking up a small shower, it was impossible for him to open. As I continued to soap him, he wrestled me around until he finally got his hands on the water faucet knob, and turned it.

"That's temperature controls, not the off switch, you moron. See? Freezing water. Is that what you really want?"

"I hate you more and more with each second!" he turned the water back to hot, and realized the main water faucet was behind me, too hard for him to reach without him turning around our positions.

He decided to do that, wrestling me around, while I fought him back, trying not to let him. It took him a couple minutes to finally win, turning off the water and getting out of the shower. But by that point, we had both wrestled around naked for so long that we were both completely covered in suds and hot water. All the struggling had made me satisfied I had scrubbed every part of him.

"Now you smell marvelous," I bragged as I started to get him dressed.

"One more smug smile out of you and I'll rip it off your face."

Two hours later, Maxim and Alik were gone from the house, travelling together by train across the city. Günter had given Alik so many injections I had to look away, but he ended up looking mostly like a healthy person, and just as Alik asked, he gave him tons of pills he had gotten from the pharmacy. Günter had given his spy glasses to Maxim, who pocketed the extra pair in case he needed them, and Günter and I were left alone in the study/control room.

"Günter, you've completed your part entirely. You should leave now."

"For where?"

"For the Chinese Blood. For Min."

"I was going to stay until Kirill met his end."

"There's nothing more you can do on that front. I'll make sure he does, Kirill. Might as well get out of the city now while no one is looking for you. No need to tempt fate."

"I suppose not. Though I still need to pack and appoint someone as head physician in the hospital before I go, so might not end up leaving until tomorrow morning anyway. And you'll let me know if something goes wrong?"

"Yes, I will. And you'll let me know if you find your way back to the Chinese Blood and you think it's safe for me to give their leader my required spiel?"

"Yes, I will. Will you promise that once Alik infects Kirill, you'll quarantine the boxer until his illness has passed?"

"Yes, I will."

"So this is goodbye."

"For now, anyway."

He looked me over and started to get misty eyed. "How do I express how much you've done and meant to me right now without fucking you or at least making out with you?"

"You give me a hug. That will work fine."

I gave him a hug, and he patted me on the back. "You saved my heart. Thanks for all you've done."

"Thank you as well, Günter. All the best of luck to you."

"And to you."

"Upstanding Officer of the Month, one Officer Severov, starts his beat right there," said Maxim, pointing down the street for Alik at a brawny vampire in a Decency Police uniform.

"I thought he was supposed to be alone," I said, noticing another officer behind him.

"He is, he works alone."

"Well, not anymore."

"Oh, just our luck, on today of all days," said Maxim. "Alik can't get arrested in front of a second officer who could verify his charges later. We're going to have to call this off."

"Wait a second, I know that second guy," I said, looking at the Russian man stuffing a cookie in his mouth. "He only just got turned, he must be new to the force. And when he was human, he was hugely obese. He must be a bit of a glutton."

"I'll do my best to separate them."

Maxim walked up to the pair of officers. "Hello Officer Severov, and Officer, um..."

"Officer Polunin, my liege."

"Right, of course. I was in the area and I thought I would come by and give you two men just what you needed most, which is what I always do when I see inspirational men such yourself, sworn to work for my father. I have gifts for both of you." He turned towards Officer Severov. "For you, Officer, well, you have a very unfortunate reputation in this city for have the worst looking face among all the Decency Police. Which is rather ridiculous, since even the ugliest fanged-vampire is still better looking than ninety-nine percent of the humans here. And I know you wear stylish clothes to counter this problem. I see you're wearing the version of the Officer's uniform that I helped pick out myself."

"Yes, it's very nice, my liege."

"That's because I'm also a fashionable man like you. And the newest fashion craze that has been garnering all the attention on the street has been these glasses, designed by an exclusive French designer downtown. They've flown off the shelves and are completely sold out, of course, but I'm giving my pair to you as a way to thank you for all your hard work on the force."

"Thank you, my liege," said the man as he took Maxim glasses and put them on.

"Officer Polunin, fashion is not the way to your heart, as I can tell by your outdated uniform," Maxim said. "But I know you are a brand new vampire, aren't you?"

"This is my second day on my beat, sir."

"And you got to choose where you would like to be assigned, didn't you?"

"I chose to be assigned here with Severov because of these," he said, showing Maxim his cookie. "There's a bakery nearby here that makes these pryanki hot every morning."

"As a fellow foodie, I think you've made the wrong choice in beat entirely. Is it too late to change?"

"No, I suppose not. What area are you thinking?"

"I'll show you," said Maxim. "It's downtown. There's this much better bakery that will give civil servants as many chernika tartaletki as you can possibly eat."

Maxim grabbed the man and walked away with him. "That sounds wonderful! You know, as a vampire, I've noticed that even if I've stuffed myself with food, I can always force down more, if I really try. Surely, vampires were made to eat."

"I quite agree." Maxim said, putting on the ugly pair of glasses that Günter used to have.

"Nice job!" I said, pulling up the window for Maxim's new camera and mic.

He had given Severov his own mic and camera, making it much easier for me to keep track of him as he walked through his beat.

"Alright Alik, move in and break a Decency Code of your choice."

Severov stopped walking right before he came to apartment housing, standing nonchalantly behind a tree, watching an effeminate, attractive human man hang in front of the place. I could tell he had no idea he was being watched.

Alik came up to the officer, walking into his field of vision. Severov seemed to take notice of him, and then returned to watching the man in front of the apartment.

Alik hawked up a loogie and spit into the street, a Code violation. Severov seemed to notice him, but didn't care. He was watching the effeminate man talk with another man who walked down the street.

"You've got to break a more serious Code, Alik."

Alik nodded and moved directly in front of Severov's field of view. "FUCK KIRILL! I curse the Tsar publically!"

That got Severov to move, he left his tree and moved forward towards Alik.

But he passed Alik entirely and moved towards the apartments. I realized that the effeminate man had led the other man into his place and shut the door. Severov moved to a spot where he could see into the window, using his telescopic vision to spy, surely.

"Something worse, Alik!"

Alik nodded. "I've wanted everyone to know that I've just started my own religious cult. Please join me now to worship my gods." Alik dropped down and started to pray on his knees, invoking his gods' power vocally.

But still Severov paid no attention.

"Something worse!"

Alik got up off his knees, unzipped his fly, and pulled out his dick right in front of the officer. He started to urinate in the street. When that still did not get Severov's attention, Alik used the last of his stream on Severov's boots.

Severov moved forward, and I thought he had finally had enough of Alik's antics. But instead he was running towards the apartments as the two men came out again, one of them walking down the street looking happy. Severov grabbed the effeminate man by the throat before he even had a chance to run, forced him into his own apartment, and shut the door.

"Officer, what seems to be the matter?" asked the man.

"Don't give me that bullshit, you whore. I saw you proposition a guy out there and bring him in here."

"Officer, it's not what you think, the two of us are just friends."

"I never seen you around here, I know you're new. As a new whore, you should try shutting your curtains. I saw him give you money, and then I saw you give him a BJ. Whore, you're under arrest for Code Breaking."

"No, please don't arrest me. The Tsar will drain me dead if you do, is that what you want, for me to die?"

"I don't give a shit about you, whore."

The man started to cry as the officer dragged him towards the door.

"On second thought, I may be able to cut you a deal. I'll use your services once a day, and in return, I'll turn a blind eye to your operation."

"Yes, yes, that's fine."

"And I'll cash in on my first freebie right now." He started to hastily undress, pulling the man towards his bed. There were mirrors around the bed, and I could see that even though Severov's face might have been less appealing than other vampires, he had the usual muscles and unit intact.

"Yes, let me give you a blowjob." The man started to bend down to administer oral.

"No, whore, that's not good enough for me." He forcefully turned the man around and forced him face down on the bed.

"But I don't do that for anyone!"

"I don't give a shit. It's the only form of payment I'll accept."

"Fine, I'll do it."

The man cried out and looked very uncomfortable when Severov penetrated him, and I couldn't blame him. He took his sweet time screwing the guy, leaving poor Alik standing out in the cold.

Finally, Severov got dressed again and emerged from the man's apartment.

"Alik, Severov seems to ignore everything except for prostitution. If he catches you doing that, he'll probably arrest you."

"Got it."

Alik moved back to the busy start of the street just as Severov came out into earshot. "Sex for sale!" he started shouting to the surprised people walking by. "My body is for sale to anyone with even a handful of coins."

Severov clearly heard Alik, yet totally ignored him, walking down the street.

"Clearly it's not prostitution he has an issue with."

"I think the problem is, he only goes after those he finds attractive. You're probably too big and masculine for his taste. Not pretty enough. You'll have to think of some other way to get arrested."

Severov was walking so quickly, block after block, that Alik had a hard time keeping up. Finally, Severov stopped in another section of town, looking at the outside of a restaurant.

As soon as Alik caught up, he picked up a snowball and threw it at Severov's back. "Snowball fight!" he yelled, knowing that was another Code broken, tossing more snowballs at the man.

Severov ignored him completely and went into the restaurant.

"Jamie, it's that officer again," called the hostess, and a waitress appeared, looking quite unhappy. She led Severov away from the restaurant's entrance.

"Officer, I thought when you didn't show up yesterday that I had finished paying my debts," she said, leading him into a nearby storage shed. I noticed she had an American accent.

"You are an illegal immigrant, Jamie. No one from the Logan Blood is admitted to the Carstvo without permission by the Tsar. Even for a human like you, that's punishable by execution. So, I'll fuck you whenever I want to until I get sick of you, not the other way around."

"Just tell me when it's over."

Once again, Severov stripped off his clothes. He pulled the woman's dress up and looked at her rear. "Tell me why you have such an ugly burn on your ass again?"

"I told you, it's a relic of being unlucky enough to be a human in the Logan Territory." I realized she had an "L" brand on her, and felt bad for her.

Before Severov could get himself inside her, the shed door pulled open and a huge amount of horse manure suddenly poured into the shed, covering both of them up to their chests in crap. I looked back at Alik's window, which I had been ignoring, and realized that he had dragged some cart of horse manure to the shed door and knocked it all into the shed door. Just seeing that was making my stomach curl, almost as if I could smell it myself.

"Ha ha, hope you like the smell of shit all over you!" Alik shouted to Severov.

Severov removed himself from the shed and grabbed Alik. "You! I'm putting you under arrest for Code Breaking! I am your judge and jury, and this is an executional offense! Since you are youthful and healthy, I'm taking you straight to the Tsar himself for execution."

Severov put his soiled uniform back on, handcuffed Alik, and marched him away. He took him to a nearby police station, where Alik was jailed as Severov showered and changed. And then Severov personally took Alik to the train station that evening, pulling him into the Tsar's personal train, both of them boarding.

The train started to move as Severov and his fellow officers led Alik down the halls. "Alik, they are going to strip you. If there's any medicine still on you, you need to ditch it now."

Alik grabbed his bundle of pills, kicked open the nearest door, which happened to lead into the cell with the Valmor Blood vampire, and kicked them into the room.

Meanwhile, Maxim was waiting on an overpass just as the train left the station, and I saw him assess the jump.

"Oh my goodness, that is a WAY larger jump than you made it seem. I can't believe I let you convince me this was a good idea. I prefer my boyfriend to be three-dimensional, not as flat as a pancake."

"It's sweet of you to worry, but I'll be fine," he said.

While my heart took off, he jumped off the overpass and fell the many yards down to the train, landing on his feet and grabbing on with his hands. I sighed in sweet relief. Just as Maxim had assured me, the train would still be building up speed, otherwise it would have crashed into him as he landed. He climbed around on the top of the train until he found an unused cabin with a window.

Once again, he did a dangerous move that made me anxious. He broke that window with a dramatic flip/kick move and dove into the train proper, safe at last, and trying to be as quiet as possible.

Meanwhile, Severov and the guards removed Alik's clothes, except for his glasses, and hosed him off before locking him up. Then, it was just a matter of waiting.

After a couple of hours, an officer came and told Severov and the others that the Tsar had heard he had a famous athlete as dinner tonight, and was quite thrilled.

They pulled Alik into the Tsar's bedroom, and they tied him up to the Tsar's bed the same way they had to me my first time there.

As soon as they left him alone, I said, "Alik, you need to get as many germs as you possibly can into that bed."

Alik rubbed his sweat all over the sheets, while at the same time licking all over the pillow. Even worse, he blew his nose into the sheets as well. Watching all of it was making me sick.

The door opened and Kirill came in, smiling down at Alik. "Since you, sir, are not only a distinguished athlete but also represent one of the largest amounts of blood I will ever consume in one sitting due to your large muscle mass, I am giving you a choice. I was thinking of perhaps losing this body and taking on one of my two remaining vessels. What do you say, would you like to be screwed by a man or a woman better?"

"Tell him a man, and tell him you'd rather it be with his form, not with one of his vessels."

"What was that, my solnyshko?" asked Maxim.

"Darn, sorry, had the wrong line." I started to switch the line over.

"A woman. For sure, a woman," said Alik.

"No, no!" I said to him, finally getting through. "Tell him it has to be him."

"Uh, can I change my mind?"

"No. In fact, that will be your last word, I'm afraid."

He went over to Alik and pounded in a nail into his head, silencing his words into screams.

"Don't worry, Alik. I know the nails suck, but Maxim will be able to heal all of the damage later."

Kirill left Alik alone. Later, the door opened and the woman who didn't remember her name, the Petrov Blood vampire, came in, clearly under the control of Kirill. She was wearing nothing but a robe.

"This is problematic," I said. "I had wanted to save her if I could. But she did tell me that her death would be worth killing him."

Alik seemed to decide to try to infect her, beckoning Kirill towards the bed.

I switched the line over. "Maxim, I'm uploading to your phone a still image I just captured from the female vampire who has been Kirill's vessel for ages."

"Okay. What for?"

"If you see her tonight, know that it's really Kirill. Don't let him try to evade you."

Alik tried to kiss Kirill, but she wouldn't let him.

"He won't kiss a Code breaker, even in her body," I said. "You'll need to get as much physical contact with her as you can, though."

I could see Alik looking back and forth at the woman's breasts and his own soft dick until the latter turned hard. He was getting himself ready for action.

"Oh my god, is Alik going to hurt this vessel?" asked Maxim, looking down at the picture on the phone.

"He's trying to, and she's offered her life to kill the man."

"No, he can't, you have to stop him!"

"Why?"

"Because this is my twin sister!"

"What? I thought your sister was dead?"

"So did I!"

"This can't be her."

"It is, I'm sure of it. Her hair is oddly black, but other than that, it's the spitting image of Helina."

I switched over my line. "Alik, you cannot infect this woman's body, it's Maxim's sister! Do you understand me?"

I saw his head shaking as he groaned unhappily, shaking his body on the bed.

"What's wrong?" asked Helina. "Did you get your first glimpse of what's under my robe, sir? Because that's when they all start to quake."

She pulled off her robe, and I could see she was wearing a huge strap-on.

"Isn't it marvelous? It's set to the scale of my own equipment. I use it whenever I take her body. You don't think that I would ever stand to be penetrated, do you? Even in this body?"

She jumped on top of him, and though Alik fought against her, the smaller woman easily outmuscled him. But in the process, he lost his glasses, which fell to the ground.

"Maxim, you need to interject now. He's gotten enough germs on the bed to infect Kirill when he switches back to his own body and sleeps there tonight. Try to stop your sister from being collateral damage."

Maxim rushed out into the hallway of the train, where a group of officers quickly corralled him.

"I demand to be taken to my father, right now! This is a matter of royal urgency."

"He's busy, your liege."

"I don't care."

Maxim marched straight to the man's bedroom, barging into the room just as she started to lube Alik's hole.

"Stay away from him, Kirill," Maxim said, so hot with anger his voice was trembling.

Helina's face looked shocked.

"Oh, don't play games with me, father. I know this is one of your two vessels. Your secondary power is no secret to me."

Kirill grabbed the robe and put it back on Medina's body. "What on earth are you doing here, Code Breaker?"

"I've come here with significant purpose, but the real elephant in the room, oh father, is how come Helina is one of your vessels?"

"This is not your sister, Code breaker."

"It looks just like her."

"Your sister had light hair, not this black mess."

"I think I would know the face of my own sister."

"She's not your sister, just some Code breaker who I have dominion over, as I do all who break laws."

"My sister would be protected from your filthy Codes."

"You'll never prove anything."

"A DNA test would--"

"I long ago instated the law that such tests can only be approved by myself, and I would never consent. It's not her, anyway. Now tell me why you've come to disturb me or I'll have you thrown out of my train, while it's moving."

"Maxim," I said, "you have to listen to him. We'll find some way to help your sister later. I don't want you to put your safety in danger, or Alik's."

"I've come to report to you one of your officers was corrupt."

"And a phone call would not have sufficed?"

"It happens to be a certain Officer Severov, the exact policeman who arrested this man, Alik Grishan, earlier today. Since there are no other witnesses to Alik's supposed Crime, we are required to let him go, unharmed."

"I'll need proof."

"I have the accusers statements right here," he said, going into his bag.

"Statements from filthy Code breaking humans? I have no stock in those."

"Hold on," I said. "I'm uploading the video recording of Severov forcing those two to repay in sex. I put it together earlier in case we would need it and edited out the victim's faces and distorted their voices, just to be safe."

"Is this proof enough for you?"

Maxim showed Kirill the footage of Severov sexually exploiting the people.

"I'll kill him myself for what he did," said Kirill. "I hate any Decency Police that would dare lie to me." She grabbed Alik's hair, holding his head, keeping him from moving it. "But I'm not letting this Alik go, he's volunteered to feed my thirst tonight."

Alik tried talking, but nothing clear came out.

Maxim grabbed one of Kirill's hammer, walked over to Alik's head, yanked out the nail, and then bit his wrist and healed the man's head with his blood. "Let the man speak for himself."

"I do not volunteer to die. I committed no crime, I've never broke any of the Tsar's wonderful little Codes, I'm a law-abiding man. Please let me go, my liege."

"See?" Maxim asked.

"Fine, he leaves. Luckily, I have a bigger, much more satisfying fish to fry this evening." She walked to the door and opened it. "Officers, get this man's clothes for him. And put Officer Severov under arrest."

"Yes, my liege."

Moments later, Alik's clothes were delivered, and Kirill unlocked his bindings. Alik quickly put his clothes back on.

Maxim looked out the window. "Ah, looks like we're coming to a station. We'll be going,"

"Wait, before you go, what is that?" asked Kirill, looking down at Alik's pant pocket inquisitively.

"What?"

Kirill reached down and grabbed something small wrapped in foil. "This pill?"

My heart dropped as I realized it was one of Alik's cold medications, the idiot hadn't dumped them all into the Valmor vampire's cell, he apparently left one behind.

"What? You mean my aspirin, my liege? I'm a boxer, I have aches on my body that you would never believe. I always have pain killer on me, over the counter and legal, of course."

Kirill gave the pill one last look, and then tossed it in the trash. "Go on, get out of here."

I didn't breathe normally again until I saw Alik and Maxim safely leave the train. They were at some station I had never seen before, so they had to wait a few minutes for another train to come to take them back to the city. Meanwhile, on fallen Alik's glasses, I could see Kirill leave his bedroom to take his own body back. I felt a sense of relief, knowing that we needed his own body to sleep in that germ-infested bed that night, and then instantly felt guilty as I realized in order to switch bodies back, Helina was going to have to experience being orally raped by her own form wearing a huge strap-on.

Due to my insistence they not ride together to not risk infecting Maxim, they ended up arriving separately. Maxim got to the control room first. "You'd better have washed your hands as soon as you got home."

"I did, I did."

"Oh, look, here comes Kirill!" I tapped the monitor. "About to jump into bed with enough snot germs to start a new blacker plague."

Kirill got undressed, used the bathroom, and then headed for the bed. But just before he got into it, something piqued his interest.

He pulled out the pill from his trash and read it carefully. "No aspirin. A decongestant."

He picked up his phone and dialed. "Hello? I don't care if it's the middle of the night, this is your Tsar calling! Apology accepted, sir. Listen, I need you to recall for me something very important. Was there a large boxer by the name of Alik Grishan at the pharmacy in the last couple of days, buying decongestant or other medication? No? Okay thanks."

Maxim and I both said, "Close one."

"Wait, one more question, sir. Did you see anyone else buying decongestants? Dr. Herzog? What exactly did he buy? So, about everything you could think of to treat a bad cold or flu. But doctors don't normally get their patients medicine from a public pharmacy like yours, do they? No, they are already supplied with it? They only get medicine from the pharmacy for themselves or their friends and family? Alright, thank you sir."

He hung up and looked down at his mattress, making a face of disgust. He threw pajamas on and opened the door. "Officers, get the cleaning crew in here! I've been the target of an attempt on my life, I'm sure of it. A conspiracy between my son, Dr. Herzog, and this blasted boxer. He had the flu, I'm sure of it. Anything he touched needs to be scrubbed down. I want all my bedding stripped off and burned. I'm going to take a shower and scrub myself hard just to make sure I don't have contagions on me."

"Fuck!" said Maxim, knocking over a bookcase. "All that for nothing!"

Alik walked in just at that moment. "I want what's coming to me. I want my money."

Maxim turned his anger towards the man. "Your money? Your money? That's all I ever hear from you is your money!"

"You know what our agreement was."

"Our agreement was that I would pay you when you killed the Tsar."

"There's no way he'll survive more than a couple days after I was done with his bed."

Maxim pointed at the screen. "See that? That's the great work you did right there, on display. Kirill's bed being stripped down, meaning there's no chance in hell he'll get infected."

"That's not my fault."

"You were the one who insisted the Doctor get you all those pills."

"And then you were the one who forgot to dump one of them when I told you to get rid of them," I said.

"Add to that the little detail that you would have likely killed my sister if I hadn't gotten to you when I did, and I think you should be paying me for this debacle, actually."

"Fuck you, man. Even if things didn't go to your fucking plan, I still did my part, and I deserve my fucking payment."

Maxim pulled out his wallet, took a wad of bills, and threw it at him. "Here."

"This isn't anything close to what you agreed to."

"It's four or five times what you would have gotten had you been working normally instead of being trapped here."

"That's fucking nothing!"

"Well, if you don't like it, feel free to burn it. If you need me to lend you my fire-breath to do so, I'd love nothing better."

Alik left the room in a puff of curses, but pocketed the money. I chased after him and strong- armed him into going back to his quarantine in the house.

Sex was rougher than it ever had been before with Maxim, pure wrath igniting every one of his already hot muscles. Not that he ever hurt me in bed, it just was so obvious how angry he was that our plans had failed. Once again, he didn't let me lift a finger, but this time, so much ferocity was in his movements that he was pushing my body much more than normal in order to bring us both pleasure. He wasn't even looking at me in the eye, he had them clamped shut, still clearly thinking of nothing but his father.

Only when we had both come, only when he had taken his fill of my blood did he calm himself down. His heart still pounding, his breath labored, he lied naked on top of me and let his unit slowly soften, holding me tenderly.

"I still can't believe she's alive."

"Did you actually see her body? Back when you thought she died?"

"No. I was on a summer trip as a teenager, and when I returned, he told me that she and my mother had died of illness. I guess I was too young, naïve, and grief-stricken to even investigate the truth of those assertions."

"So what, it's been over a century he's had her captive? She told me all the nails he puts into her completely destroyed her long term memory. She can't remember anything before he took her. All she can remember is trying in vain to save your mother's life as your father covered them in his firebreath until your mother turned to ashes. Burned your sister so badly her hair turned black, made her permanently afraid of fire."

"That bastard," he said, sobbing tears. "It should have been him in those flames, should have been him turned to ash." He shook his head. "If he was going to imprison someone and use them as his vessel like that, why would he not do it to me instead of my sister?"

"He won't touch sexually anyone he allows to live unless he is sure they are pure of soul. Meaning, not Code breakers. Gentlemen or ladies only, and he sees you as Code breaking filth."

"That makes perfect sense now," Maxim said. "She was always his favorite. She followed all of his ridiculous rules, while I loved breaking every one right in front of his face."

"Plus, he knew she was a special, while he never knew that about you. Perhaps her special power made her all the more appealing to him as a vessel."

"I have to do something for her, my solnyshko. I can't just leave her there to be tortured by him."

"Listen, I have an idea," I said. "If we can prove that he's kept his daughter locked up, what would happen?"

"He'd be under arrest not just for incest, but because she would be immune to the Codes, meaning he wouldn't have the right to dispose of her in his manner of choosing. But I already thought about this angle, and it's a bust. It would be his word against mine, and he's never consented to DNA tests."

"It won't be his word against yours if he lets it slip that she's Helina. Remember, we still have those glasses taking video and audio in his bedroom, which I am recording every second of. If he says anything that would incriminate him between now and when those camera's batteries run out in a week or so..."

"...We've got him by his glowing with decency balls. Yes, I love it. Almost as much as I love you."

He kissed me, all adoration and hope, and it tasted good.