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.

APRIL 1st

Maxim never came home the night before, so his stagecoach took me to the place Edmund had selected for the duel. It was a building on the lake that I had never seen before, a large water-sanitation plant, that seemed to be pulling water out of the lake and cleaning it for drinking water. Like all industrial buildings in the city, it had this steam-punk beauty to it. This building seemed particularly foreboding somehow, with its smoke-stacks reaching far into the sky. But it was the first real sunny, halfway warm day I had seen since arriving there, so I was going to take that as a sign of good tidings to come.

I was early, like usual, but two people were waiting outside the water plant when I arrived: the woman in a men's suit who officiated all the Sword Garden duels I had seen, and Maxim.

The latter, as soon as he saw me, lifted me off the ground and gave me one of his big bear hugs, kissing me at the same time. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"We were just apart for one night, Maxim," I joked. "And you look amazingly rested and perky for someone who claims he was up all night working."

"You know that until I started sharing a bed with you, I used to be an insomniac. I'm very good at a high level of functioning for someone who is sleep deprived."

"Maxim, why would Edmund pick this place for our duel?"

"Because his family owns it. That's the only reason, really. It must be comforting and familiar to him."

Looking at his devilishly handsome face, I couldn't help but rub the short, brown hairs of his beard and kiss those smiling lips, and he kissed me back. I made up my mind right then: I would not let the stakes of this duel involve him, or even worse, have negative ramifications for the whole Carstvo. If I happened to lose the fight—no, strike that—WHEN I most likely lost the fight, I knew that Maxim would want to resign for five years so he could accompany me wherever I went after I was banished. But as much as I loved him, I would have to insist that he not do it. The problem was, like Parker had been sometimes, Maxim was extremely hard to control when he had his mind made up about something. Unlike Parker, though, I felt like I had this ultimatum in my back pocket that I could employ that I knew would be effective: if Maxim didn't agree to my terms, I could threaten to leave him. It wasn't a pleasant tactic, but it might be a necessary evil to control him.

Once I was banished and he was still Tsar, I was sure we could work something out, like having him fly out every weekend to wherever I was so we could be together and continue our relationship. He could even have Helina there covering any leadership issues that might come up. The more she got involved the better, in my opinion, since Maxim didn't have an heir. I'd hate for someone like Edmund to see an opportunity to find a way to off Maxim in order for his awful cousin to be named Tsar. The more people saw Helina was a capable leader, the less anyone could make the argument she should not be heir, and that would put any such devious ideas out of those evil minded folks.

Alik arrived, ending my kiss with Maxim. I noticed his hands were bandaged, and went over to talk to him alone. "What happened?" I asked, concerned.

"I jerked off too damn hard again and broke my fingers."

"Really?"

"No, not really, you idiot. I sprained two fingers in a glove-free boxing match last night. What other explanation could there possibly be?"

"If you're stupid enough to box without gloves, then you deserve a couple broken fingers. You should be happy that's all that you are nursing today."

"Sure, the bad news is I gotta keep these on for a few days and I can't box or do much of anything else again till they're off. But the good news is, I won enough money to make it worth it."

"Don't you have a mother somewhere to keep you from mutilating yourself for money?"

"Nope, both parents are dead."

"No wonder."

Edmund came to the door then. He was already in his fencing gear, but had his helmet off, which meant I was unfortunate enough to have to see the redhead's face. The once handsome features of the pony-tailed man had twisted into dislike.

"Come in," said Edmund. "But don't forget that only his human coach will be permitted inside. You, my liege, will be required to wait here, outside." There was a sarcastic tone when he addressed Maxim as `my liege.'

"That's right," said the woman.

"I know. I'll be right here if you need me," he said, smiling. "Just forget about what's at stake and try to have fun in there."

I knew that was extremely unlikely, but I nodded anyway. And Edmund led the rest of us into the water plant. As soon as we were inside, I could hear the loud sound of rushing water within the machinery.

Edmund led us up a couple flights of stairs. He handed the woman a sheet of paper and rubbed the nail head on his scalp. "This is the doctor's validation that I just got at the hospital a few minutes ago proving that I've removed my vampiric powers effectively with this nail."

"Yes, this is in order, milord."

On the top floor of the plant, we came to a huge, circular room. A wooden fencing platform was in the middle of the circle, clearly this was where the duel was taking place. Obviously, this room had not been built to be a fencing room, it was just as industrial as the rest of the plant, but that's what it had gotten turned into at some point. I looked upwards, there was a clouded-glass, domed ceiling that was both beautiful and bathed the room in plenty of light.

What I was not happy to see was Zhora, dressed in his Police uniform, trying to hide behind some factory control levers.

"You're not allowed in here," said the woman to him.

"Zhora is serving as my selected fencing coach, actually," said Edmund.

"Alright, I'll let him stay." She went over to inspect the platform. "There's a huge water pipe right in the middle of the platform, sure to get in your way as you fight. I'm only going to allow this location if Jake Groves signs off on it."

The central water pipe was large enough in diameter to support the platform, which had been attached to it firmly. It went perhaps eight feet up and ended with a water spout above us. I guessed if we were to duel inside a water plant, this sort of thing was inevitable. I thought about telling them I wasn't okay with this and needed another duel site just to try and trip up Edmund, but I realized that this pipe would make it a lot easier to avoid Edmund in the duel, since I could hide behind it, and it gave me something to hold onto in case he tried to push me off.

"I'm fine with it."

"You know, this platform is the standard shape and material, but the ground underneath it is not exactly to code. We use a wooden floor usually because it's slightly less harmful to land on. This floor is hard steel with metal grooves on it. Mr. Groves, is this okay with you?"

"It's fine," I said. "The platform is not that high, and if I fall once, I lose. I'll have my protective gear on. That will soften my fall. Speaking of that, I'd better get it on."

"There's a changing room over there," Edmund said, pointing to a door.

I took my bag and locked myself in the changing room. I stripped down to my underwear, even removing my shoes, leaving my street suit folded with all my normal possessions. I put on all the fencing gear and the special fencing shoes that would help me stay on the platform.

While I changed, I could hear voices from the main room.

"Hey, can I have a word with you, milord?" asked Alik.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Edmund.

"While Jake's off changing, I wanted to beg that you show him mercy."

"He trampled on my honor. He deserves everything he has coming to him."

"Maybe that's true, but just keep in mind that this guy, well, he's a fucking idiot. We both know he failed out of school before coming here because he just couldn't muster enough smarts."

I rolled my eyes. I was trying to win this duel on my own merits alone, but he was determined to have us play dirty.

"Yes, he's not too bright."

"Not too bright? The guy is practically mentally retarded. I tried to teach him a thing or two about fencing, but he's unable to learn a single technique. He just swings his sword around at random out there."

"If that's true, how did he manage to win his Bourgeoisie Qualifying match?"

"I was his opponent, and I felt so bad for the guy, I just jumped off the platform to let him win. He would never, ever win a fencing match on his own merits, that's for sure. So, I'm just asking you to take it easy on him today."

"I'm not going to rescind the duel, but I'll keep in mind that he's so weak. At least it should mean I win the duel quickly without even having to try."

"Yes, probably so."

When I came out of the dressing room ready to go, Alik came up to me, tipped his news-boy hat, and asked, "You're not still planning to try to win the fight on your own merits?"

"Yes, I am. I'm not going to try and trick the guy."

"But I saw him practicing with Zhora. He's incredibly good! Way, way better than I am, let alone you. You'll never beat him on your own terms."

"All right, fine. If I can hustle him into thinking I suck, I'll try that. We'll do that plan. But I'm not going along with your other idea of bruising his emotions, that's just wrong." It reminded me of Jericho trying to make Parker lose by calling him a cripple.

"Alright, let's get this started," said the woman. "Fencers, please take your places on the platform."

Just as Alik had instructed, I acted like I couldn't climb up the platform on my own and needed his help to do so. Edmund took the platform without issue.

"As a reminder, you score a point by piercing the opponent's heart," she said. "First player to three points, or to knock their opponent off the platform, wins. Duelers, please show due respect by shaking hands."

Edmund and I shook hands without a word. We took our places and Edmund raised his sword, while I kept mine down.

"Gentlemen, begin!"

Just as Alik had told me, I didn't even hold on to the handle of my foil properly, I grabbed the base of the sword itself and held on loosely. I moved around the sword slowly and without any confidence, not doing any real move and instead just floating and pushing the blade around at random.

"You look terrible out there!" yelled Alik.

"I'm doing my very best!" I said slowly.

Edmund wasn't even moving towards me, he was just soaking it in.

I moved towards Edmund, and he moved past me, switching sides with me.

"At least do something! Try any move!"

"Okay, here it comes!"

I spun around my sword like it was anything but a weapon and jumped towards Edmund. But my real destination was the edge of the platform that let me face Alik.

"Ah, ah, I'm losing my balance, I'm going to fall!" I yelled, acting like I was trying to keep myself from falling off the platform onto the ground.

I kept my body looking panicked until I saw Alik subtly nod to me. That was his signal that Edmund had come up behind me to knock me forwards off the platform.

Suddenly moving like a flash, I ducked my body to the ground just before his hands could land on my back and push me forward. And I rolled my body back into him, trying to trip him forward off the platform.

It almost worked, but he ended up recovering just in time, and he must have realized he was being hustled, because he stopped going easy on me. We wrestled on the ground.

But I had the element of surprise, and I was able to stab him in the heart before he could get me.

"One point to Mr. Groves!" said the woman. "Gentlemen, please take thirty seconds to prepare yourselves."

"You were supposed to push him off the platform!"

"I tried to, but he caught on beforehand! I was lucky to score the point at all."

"Well, he won't be fooled that way twice."

"I'll just have to beat him on my own merits now."

"Oh sure, that really has a chance of happening."

I walked back to the platform, and Edmund took his place as well. Because of his mask, I had no way to read his emotions except for his body language.

"Gentlemen, resume."

This time, we both were done playing games, and I started with a proper en garde stance.

Hoping I still might surprise him with my skill, I started right off with my fastest lunge, but he parried it easily and almost got me with a riposte, so I pulled back to take the defensive and just watch his moves.

Witnessing him in action turned out to be an ego-bruising activity. He was moving that sword so precisely, so skillfully, and so fast, it almost made me question whether his scalp-nail was working all the way. He was able to chain moves together so quickly that I could hardly process them.

But then as I drew him into a lunge, I learned his weakness: he could barely manage to move in all that gear. It wasn't hindering his arm, so his sword movements were fine. But the second he had to travel across the platform, he showed just how slow he was to walk. I was much, much more practiced with it.

I tried to use that to my advantage, running as fast as I could, using the full space of the platform, dashing back and forth, and only attacking when it looked safe to do so. That strategy greatly evened out the match.

But not enough. He feinted, and I fell for it, lunging towards him. Once I was close to him again, he riposted, and I couldn't back up.

I dropped to my knees. The only thing that kept his blade from hitting my heart was to hold both my arms up to block him, careful not to drop my sword, which would give him the point. He jabbed my forearms over and over again, and it was only a matter of time before he would have the point.

"Hey, Edmund!" came a gruff shot from the sidelines. Alik's voice. "How does it feel to be fucking this Jake guy, and to ask him to be your permanent concubine, and then have him days later leave you for Maxim Petrov?"

"Shut him up!" said Edmund.

"Speaking on the sidelines isn't against the rules!" the woman said.

"So, basically, you fucked this guy, and he must have been, like, goddamn, Edmund is the lousiest top I've ever been with, right? `Cause why else would he leave you for Maxim? I mean, damn, I heard around the streets that Edmund has the smallest penis out of any vampire, ever, and I know that the only endowed redheads are chicks, but you must have such a tiny little penis, you couldn't even manage it get it into his asshole, am I right or am I right?"

"You shut up, you indecent buffoon, and let us finish this match in peace!" Edmund turned and waived his sword at him, and I took my shot. I grabbed the sword and thrust it into his heart.

"Two points for Mr. Groves! Thirty second break!"

"Edmund, I swear, I never said anything to Alik about your penis size or your skills in bed. I'd never try to bring something like that into a fencing match."

"I know. He's just evil. I'm not letting him get to me again." Edmund went off to talk to Zhora, and I went to hit Alik.

"I told you not to do that!"

"Well, you're winning now, aren't you?"

"It won't work again!"

"We'll see."

"I know you can't see the face I'm making at you with this mask on, but just in case there's anything ambiguous about the tone of my voice, I am pissed with you."

"Take your pissed self back to the platform, your thirty seconds are up."

I got back up on my side of the platform, joining Edmund.

"Gentlemen, ready?" asked the woman.

"Not quite," said Edmund. "Zhora, go ahead with it."

I watched Zhora, over in the control section of the room, pull a couple of levers. A mechanical sound started up.

I jumped as I saw the floor of the room split right down the middle and pull apart, leaving a gap in the floor. My first thought was that the platform we were on would fall through, but I realized it was safely attached to the top of a central beam.

"What is the meaning of this?" asked the woman.

As the floor continued to pull apart, the sound of rushing water filled my ears. Looking down, I realized that the hole in the floor was leading to a couple story drop into a metal well of sorts that was churning with white water. Any fall would surely kill anyone who wasn't a fanged vampire, and even then, with their penchant for drowning, it very likely would.

This realization made me want to try and jump from the platform back to the edge of the room, but by the time I thought of this, the floor hatch had pulled open so far, it would be impossible to jump from the platform to the edges. As the floor stopped opening, Alik and the woman stepped back to the four feet or so of floor that was around the perimeter of the room, near where Zhora's control area was.

"Again, what do you think you're doing?" asked the woman.

"I wasn't going to resort to this if you had left me any option of winning, but since I'm behind so drastically, this is my only option," said Edmund. "Jake Groves, you and I are going to duel like the Petrov Blood used to before it grew cowardly. No points, no rules. The only thing that matters is, whoever knocks the other man off first wins. Just like an old-time duel, this rightfully will end in one of our deaths, because you and I just can't coexist in the same world."

"No, we cannot go back to such outdated rules," said the woman, stepping forward and raising her arm at Edmund. "I refuse to let you go through with this. Put the floor back right now!"

"Alright, alright. Zhora?"

But instead of pulling any of those levers back, Zhora jumped out of the control box and pushed the woman from behind, settling her falling into the hole in the floor.

Shocked by this nasty turn of events, instinct told me to do something to try and save her, but she wasn't anywhere near me. All I could have done was jump in with her.

We all saw what would happen to anyone who fell in: her body fell many stories, hit the metal bottom of the well, killing her instantly. And then her body got sucked down into the water and disappeared. I felt so sick watching it, felt so awful for the poor woman, that it brought tears to my eyes and made me light headed enough to have to kneel down.

I saw Alik try to run for the exit, and all I could think of was, yes, go tell Maxim

"I don't think so," said Zhora, pulling out his old fashioned cop's pistol from his holster and shooting him in the heart.

Blood exploded into Alik's shirt as he fell to the ground, dead. Looking at him made me feel even worse, and I had to hold onto the platform beneath me to keep myself from falling. How could I have let this happen to them?

"What are you doing?!" demanded Edmund. "Why did you have to shoot him? Maxim is right outside, he'll hear it. You should have just pushed him in the water."

"For the dramatic effect, of course. There's no way Maxim heard anything through all this roaring water. And even if he tried to come in, the door is sealed tight in fire-proof steel."

"How could you do that to them?" I asked.

"Oh, stop whining," Edmund said. "The police had been collecting information on an illegal fencing gambling ring she's been running, and she died as a lawbreaker, totally justified. Alik was guilty of so many crimes, he deserved to be executed fifty time over."

"But I never broke any laws."

"No, you haven't. That's why the terms of this fight are true. If you can beat me fairly, Zhora will let you live. You just have to swear to us that you won't tell anyone he was even here."

"Alright, yes, I swear."

"And Zhora will be here to make sure the victor gets whatever medical attention he needs. For me, that will mean he can take out my nail. For you, he can heal wounds with his blood. And if I kill you, then life continues here for me as usual with no witnesses."

I had to get a hold of my emotions at the two tragic deaths that just occurred and focus on the duel. I still knew his weakness: the suit made him so slow to move, I could easily outrun him.

"I know what you're thinking. But before you go collecting your win prematurely, there's one last little modification to make to this duel, just to even the odds. Zhora, do it!"

This time, when Zhora pulled another lever, I reflexively jumped. This time, some hatch opened above us.

What looked like a large amount of water poured down on us. But as soon as it hit me, I knew it wasn't water. It had a strong smell, and it was milky-clear and sticky. Most of it landed harmlessly in the water below us, but in the process, both of us were absolutely covered in it.

And then it started to eat through my mask, eat through my clothes, like acid. I jumped when it touched my skin for the first time, but then realized it was like Günter's semen, it wouldn't eat through living flesh.

Before long, the ooze burnt through everything except our metal swords, even our shoes. We stood before each other completely naked. For the first time I had seen, Edmund's hair hung down around his shoulders, and I knew it was because his hair band had also been burned away.

"That should just about even us out. Don't worry, my nail is perfectly intact. For all intents and purposes, we are fighting man to man. Or, at least, man to lad."

And for the first time in the duel, I had to see Edmund's pleased half-smile.

"Now, gentlemen, I have one more trick to play." Zhora pulled another lever, and some mechanical sound from very nearby started in. "In twenty minutes, if I don't push this lever back, that water spout above you is going to explode with so much water it will knock both of you down, killing you. So, consider that a time limit for the duel. And I'm only turning it off if only one of you is left standing, no matter what. Now, I'm going to guard the stairwell just in case that jerk-off finds a way in. You'll need to yell really loud to get my attention when you're through."

Zhora walked towards the door.

"Gentlemen, arm yourselves!" yelled Zhora.

We both readied our foils.

"Resume!" And he walked through the door into the stairwell, leaving us alone.

I was much too stunned to actually try to fight, so I just moved in a circle around the center pipe, keeping it between him and me, keeping my sword up purely defensively. "Edmund, this is insane. Please, don't go through with this. I'm appalled by violence. I don't even agree with boxing. And you are asking me to fight you to the death with two very sharp blades? I can't do this!"

"If you're too scared to fight me, then do the honorable thing and jump to your death now. Because I for one would rather kill myself than suffer the pain of banishment. They'll take away everything I have, my title, my marriage. She'd be a divorcee with half of my assets. It would be the end of me."

"I didn't know your life was at stake here, Edmund. And I certainly didn't know mine was. I would have never agreed to this duel if I thought anyone would end up dead. Please, stop this now. I'll say I lost the match, and I'll be the one to be banished. You can go on with your life as normal, and no one else has to die needlessly."

"I can't trust that you won't just have me arrested the second we leave."

"I swear it!"

"You've used up all trust I have of you when you backstabbed me. Now, all I have left to do is return the favor."

With a fast series of movements, he was able to slice his blade across the skin of my back, just before I jumped back out of his reach. I screamed as I felt the pain of the slash hit me, and I could feel the disgusting sense of hot blood pouring over my back. Luckily, he had only managed to cut through skin, and my back muscles seemed to be working normally. And even better, I couldn't see the blood, so I ignored it and moved on.

Knowing that awful slash was just the beginning, I decided again to try and talk my way out of things. With all my reasonable, honest arguments made to try and stop him having failed, I was forced to try to manipulate his feelings, something I absolutely hated doing, but considered it vastly preferable to getting cut to ribbons and thrown to my death.

"Edmund, please don't do this. The truth is, the only reason I ever betrayed you to Maxim is because I was so hurt that you wouldn't marry be instead of Gala. Maxim has never meant anything to me. You're the one I love."

"I told you, I can't love you like that. I already love Gala like that. You should have been okay with being my number two."

"Yes, it should have been, but I was selfish. And now I'm stuck with Maxim, who just can't satisfy me in any way. His body disgusts me. I so miss your red hair, your amazing penis. Please forgive me and take me back, as your concubine, someone who will live to serve you sexually."

"Yes, that's exactly what I wanted all along. And if the public sees you leaving him for me, that could return some of the respect I've lost."

"Yeah. So what do you say, will you call this match to an end?"

"I will. But only if you do one thing for me first."

"Sure, anything."

"I know from Gala what you Western outsiders do. I want you to swear everything you've told me is true. But I want you to tell me, you swear to God. If you can tell me that, I'll believe you."

I narrowed my eyes, knowing he just found the weakness to my lies. "It would be wrong to swear like that."

"Then I can't believe a single word. Enough talk from you. Pick up your foil and fight!"

I couldn't believe I was going to have to do this. How would I manage to cut him and be cut up myself without fainting?

Looking at him only made me more intimidated. Without his clothes on, he was cruel reminder just how big he was. He may have taken away his vampire abilities, but there was no way to remove those vampire muscles he had wrapped around him.

I knew if I got aggressive, he would out maneuver me in swordplay. He was just too good for me. So, I took a defensive route, keeping the pipe between us as I tried to study him.

I realized that even though he was no longer encumbered by his gear, he still moved as if he was encumbered by something else. Being human, I realized. He had never fought without his vampire abilities before, and wasn't running around as fast as he really should have been able to. This meant I was able to keep just slightly ahead of him.

"You need to learn to sit still!" he snarled in frustration.

And then, instead of trying to chase me, he did something I would have never conceived of: he threw his sword at me. Its blade landed against my shin, slicing me open painfully, bringing me to a shocked halt.

And then he was right there, grabbing his sword handle again, taking advantage of my shock.

"Let's see how much running you can do with that leg cut off."

He slammed his sword into my shin again, and I yelled in pain, but the sword stopped on the bone of my shin. He seemed dismayed and confused, pushing the sword harder and harder, but he could not cut through the bone.

I used this setback of his to my advantage, seeing his right arm out in front of me, looking tantalizing. I slammed the blade of my foil into his arm, hoping to cut it off. I cut through his biceps, but could not cut through his arm bone when I got there. I wasn't strong enough to cut through bone either, it seemed.

Both of us yelled and jumped back, licking our wounds. I couldn't even look at the blood all over my calf, but I thankfully realized that the cut wasn't hindering my movement much.

On his side, his right arm was so bad off he was forced to switch to his left hand. He had tears in his eyes. "You stupid humans never heal. You just keep bleeding forever in pain, don't you?" It took me a second to realize he was talking more about himself in his current reduced state than he was about me.

That time, I was the aggressor, taking on him. His left arm clearly wasn't nearly as coordinated as his right. I lunged, and he was just able to parry. Suddenly, I knew I was on equal footing.

And then he did pulled a series of moves that I had never seen, a feint, which deceived me into parrying, and then he actually disarmed me, making me drop my foil to the ground as he proved he was still better than me, even with his left arm.

I dove to the ground, my hand grabbing the handle of the sword just before it fell off the platform. But before I could celebrate my save, I felt and awful pain in my left buttock, and turning back me see his sword thrusting deep into the muscle.

I screamed, pushed him away, and was only just barely able to get to my feet. And then I could only manage to limp around awkwardly, the pain was too great.

All I managed to do before he ran away was to cut his forehead in a long gash. It was a minor wound, but had the wonderful effect of blood running down his face, into his eyes.

"In case you haven't realized, I learn from my mistakes. And I won't let you disarm me ever again. So come and get me."

But all he was doing was running around, playing the same avoidance game I had started with.

"Come and fight me like a man!" I yelled. "Otherwise our time will run out and we'll both end up falling off!"

That seemed to make up his mind. He lunged towards me finally, I parried, and we both started in on swordplay that was blistering fast, with him seemingly completely over any drawback from fighting with his left hand, and me matching his skill with a level of talent that I didn't know I possessed.

And then, after it seemed like minutes of nothing but steel clashing could be heard, I found some reserves of talent that I never knew I was capable of. I moved faster than him for once, and got through him, thrusting my sword into his thigh, as he screamed in agony, stopping his movement.

I knew that he was as sedentary as I was.

Problem was, I was trying to retrieve my sword-tip from the flesh of his thigh, but it had gotten stuck, and would not pull out.

I saw him trying to take advantage of the situation by moving his sword towards my right arm, attempting to cut it off. I pushed my left arm up and blocked the blow, causing him to slice my left arm, not seriously.

But then he did something else entirely. With my left arm covering my right, it left my chest open to attack. He stabbed me with his sword right over my left nipple, sliding it through the flesh of my pec as I screamed.

Luckily, the tip of his blade stopped at my ribs. But he was twisting it around with his hand to try to get it through.

"You're not strong enough like this to cut through bone," I said. "Just leave it."

"I don't need to cut through."

He pushed and pushed, and I realized he was going to force my two ribs apart and slip between them, straight into my heart. I could feel them giving way. Just thinking about it was making me nearly faint.

That's when I finally got my sword out of his thigh. I defensively slashed at his right shoulder. He screamed as I created another huge gash, and the pain made him lessen his pushing.

The screaming stopped and he got ahold of himself finally, and I felt the sword come towards my heart again, so I slashed down the center of his chest, right along the clavicle. He screamed again.

"You know, the more and more pain I feel, the less it bothers me."

He proved himself by pushing through the pain and driving his sword into my chest, until I could feel the blade scraping against my heart. I was about to die.

"I'll show you pain." I reached down at sliced off his soft, uncut penis, which was amazingly easy to do.

And then, he was shouting and crying with so much traumatic pain that he finally stopped pushing at me.

I pulled his sword out of my chest and pushed his body aa hard backwards as I could. He fell off the edge, still screaming the whole time. Whether I surprised him into letting me push him off, or if he let me push him off after not being able to live with what I did, I would never know.

The trauma of all the wounds hit me right then, as if my mind had been too preoccupied to even really process any of the violence that had taken place. I suddenly collapsed, almost fainting until I put my head on the ground, and even then, I was barely able to keep myself from panicking due to all the red I could see all over me.

"Zhora, I won! Get in here and get this floor re-engaged!"

Zhora somehow heard me shouting through the sound of rushing water and came into the room, thank goodness.

"That's certainly not who I ever expected to find being the last man standing."

"Zhora, you have to turn off the water before the time is up and it knocks me down!"

"I know I promised Edmund that's what I'd do, but Edmund is dead now, so those promises really don't have any meaning anymore. And my life seems infinitively more complicated with you alive. So, consider this a goodbye." He walked back down the hall, away from me.

"Zhora, you can't do this to me, please!" But all my shouts brought me was a new invigoration to somehow save myself.

The platform was way too far from the floor on the edge of the room for me to ever make it, even without the hole in my butt cheek. Instead, I grabbed my sword and climbed up the center pipe. When I reached the spout at the top, I knocked my sword over and over again into it, damaging it with each hit.

Just when I was sure I would be able to completely close off the spout, my time ran up. The water started to push out of the spout, knocking me down.

I was only barely able to keep myself from falling off the platform entirely by grabbing onto the less wet area. There was one corner of the spout that I had knocked closed, which was the only reason I could maneuver myself to that side of the platform and just barely hang on.

"Do you hear this racket?" Zhora asked, reappearing in the room. I couldn't hear anything but his voice and the water. "Your boyfriend has been pounding on that door for a few minutes. Well, he went from pounding to trying to melt the thing down, in fact. Sure, he might succeed, given enough time. But what he doesn't realize is that there are three more locked doors between us that will take just as long to break through. It will be an hour before he comes to the rescue. Oh, and look, the water's coming out of the spout, so why the heck are you still alive? Edmund taught me something that should fix that problem."

He walked over the controls, pulled another lever, and I felt sick as the platform itself began to give way, starting to fall down into the water pit beneath. I managed to throw myself towards that central pipe and clung to it as tight as I could manage, knowing it was the only thing keeping me alive.

"Look who just won't die!" said Zhora.. "Let's see if you can survive a bullet to the head, shall we?"

He pulled his pistol off his holster and started to aim it at me. There was nothing I could do but hope he had bad aim.

I heard glass crashing, and realized it was the glass-dome ceiling above breaking down. My first thought was that his aim had been so bad, he had shot it down.

Instead, I saw Maxim diving down through the broken glass, a look of panicked fury on his face. He must have climbed up the outside of the building and broken the ceiling. He was diving down the several story fall towards Zhora, acting as if vampires could fly.

Just as Zhora looked up and noticed his intruder, Maxim landed on him, knocking his pistol out of his hand and into the water pit below. Zhora was knocked to the ground, rolling in pain, but Maxim was on the ground, unmoving.

No, please let him be alright.

I knew that vampires were tough, but I didn't think they could survive a fall from that height.

"Please God, let him live. Please God, let him live. Please God, let him live. Please God, let him live."

And then, when I saw him cough, I was so happy.

"Thank you God!"

But he was still unconscious, and Zhora was already fully recovered. "You may have destroyed my firearm, but I have a far more fun toy to play with. I keep this for whenever I need to arrest a fanged Petrov vampire, just to make sure they don't give off any fire."

He pulled out a curved sheet of metal with holes along its edges and placed it over Maxim's mouth. And then he pulled out what looked to me like a nail gun.

"Maxim, get up!" I yelled, but there was no response.

I heard the awful sound of nails being launched out of the chamber of Zhora's gun as he nailed the holes in the metal plate, completely stopping Maxim from being able to open his mouth.

That finally brought Maxim to consciousness, and he clutched at his mouthpiece in horror, but was unable to free himself from it. Instead, he jumped up and started to throw punches at Zhora.

"You know, without your firebreath, I really am stronger than you. I'm older and made far greater kills than you, drank far more blood."

Zhora wasn't exaggerating, Maxim was hitting him hard, but Zhora was taking the hits and giving them back even harder. Maxim's face started to swell up and bleed.

"As soon as I knock you out, I'm going to throw you into the water. Figure with your mouthpiece on, you'll have even less chance at surviving. Should be an entertaining death."

"Maxim, don't let him do that! Run away!"

Maxim started to run around the perimeter circle of the floor, and Zhora took off after him. But Maxim was just as fast as he was, so he was able to maintain his ten foot or so lead as the two of them circled the laps.

"I know what would make this easier," said Zhora. "I may not be able to catch you on foot, but my firebreath will cut the lead you have to nothing!"

Yes, fire was exactly what was needed, I had forgotten. Was that what Maxim was trying to get out of him? "Zhora, don't you dare burn my boyfriend!" I yelled, trying to work some reverse psychology.

"Oh I will, and I'll burn him good. Here it goes!"

He opened his mouth to release the fire, but nothing came out.

"What? Where's it go? Let me try that again." Once again, he opened his mouth. "Huh, I guess it's not working today. Maybe I shoulda filled up with petrol before I came here." He started to laugh. "Oh come on, I did some digging after you were so hard to beat in the fire duel and learned what your special ability must have been. You're pathetic attempts to manipulate me have been nothing but amusing, but the last thing I'm ever going to let you do is let you get anywhere near a fire. Oh, and one more thing to break to you."

He suddenly caught up to Maxim and knocked him back to the ground.

"Since I'm older and stronger than you, that means I'm really faster than you too. I just liked to play with you."

They started punching and kicking each other, with once again Maxim on the losing end of the fight.

"Yes, that's how I like to play."

I thought of something. I had my sword still hanging around my wrist. I grabbed it in my hand and started to bang the blade over and over on the metal pipe. But I couldn't get any spark.

"And now, playtime is over," said Zhora, slamming the back of Maxim's head back into the ground, stunning him to nearly stopping moving. "Now it's time to say goodbye to this playmate, forever." He slid Maxim to the edge of the water pit.

I looked at my sword and realized it was covered with water. I rubbed it against my side until it was mostly dry, and I raised my hand.

Zhora was pushing Maxim mostly off the edge.

I struck the sword against the metal pipe, and this time, a tiny spark appeared.

But the tiny spark grew quickly into fire and moved safely away from me.

"Say goodbye to your lover, Jake. Don't worry, you'll soon be together once more."

Zhora was looking down at Maxim's body beneath him, which he was about to kick off. He never saw the enormous, fearsome fire-dragon flying towards him from behind. The dragon emitted a breath of flame as it got close onto Zhora, and that's when the man started to scream.

Maxim was able to keep himself from falling over the edge, thankfully.

When the dragon's from actually hit Zhora, it completely consumed every inch of the man in fire, losing its clear form and becoming a writhing, angry mass of fire. Out of this mass, some odd shapes seemed to appear, a demon's head, for instance, mouth angrily agape and biting.

When the fire went out, there was nothing left remotely familiar about Zhora left, or even a tiny bit of moisture. He was just a black, charred mess.

Maxim picked up a hammer that Zhora had been carrying, and at first I had to remind myself that he could hold something as hot as that without any problem. He used the back of it to pull out the nails on his mouth and get rid of the mouthpiece.

"Life is so much better when I'm not muted," he said, the holes in his face quickly healing, along with his other scrapes. "God, I love you for making that spark."

"Maxim, I'm going to lose my grip. You have to get the floor to shut. The controls are over there." I nodded towards the control booth.

He ran over and looked at the myriad of controls. "Which one is it?"

"I don't know, I didn't see him push it. It's not labeled?"

"None of these are labeled! Okay, well I'll just push them all."

"No, you can't. We could end up with me in worse predicament than I'm already in here."

"Well, I have to do something! My sister is on the way with a rope, can you wait until then?"

"No, I don't think so. Go find someone who knows the controls!"

"You don't have to do that. I saw what he pressed."

I could not believe my ears, so I had to turn to look. There was Alik, alive, sitting up from the floor.

"How are you still alive?"

"The stupid guy just shot me once and assumed I was dead. I've been playing possum the whole time, and even managed to get a text out to Maxim to warn him what was happening. Anyway, I saw him pull a blue lever on the right side of the panel."

Maxim looked over the controls. "Yes, this is it." He pulled it.

Beneath me, the floor pulled in and the hatch closed just in time to catch me as my fingers gave out and I fell off the central pipe. Maxim was there almost instantaneously, and he moved in to lift me.

"No, you are not going to let me bleed all over another one of your suits," I said. "Please take it off before you touch me."

"Your order of priorities once again needs some severe work, I'm afraid."

"Just do it!"

"Alright, I'll indulge your peculiar psychoses."

He took off his suit and laid it aside, leaving him in just his boxers. He then lifted me against his chest as he looked me over.

"Look what that sick Englishman did to you. You're cut to pieces. But it looks like you haven't lost any limbs or any organs, so my blood will be able to heal you fully, I promise." He grabbed a knife from his suit and moved to cut himself.

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not in a lot of pain, because I am. But I don't think my wounds are imminently life threatening. Please, use your blood on Alik first. He took a bullet to the chest."

"That makes sense to me, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold onto life over here," said Alik. "You're not paying me nearly enough money for me to die here."

"I don't know if I'll have enough blood to heal both of you, and my sister should be here soon to help as well."

"That's fine, I can wait for your sister to get here to heal me, and you can heal Alik now."

"No, that's not even on the table," said Maxim. "Can you even fathom how devastated I would be if me saving Alik right now caused you to end up dying of your wounds? There's no way I could ever agree to put you as risk like that, especially not with you having such a martyrish streak. I would open up the floor-hatch again and end my suffering far before I would take another breath of air."

"But Maxim, Alik contacting you is the reason I'm still alive now. Shouldn't you reward him for his nobility?"

"He already made me agree to a twenty-five percent increase in his payment before he would show any hint of nobility."

"That is true."

"And since me removing Zhora was his only real shot and his own survival, since when did self- preservation be redefined as noble? Was it done in modern times? Because it most certainly wasn't done so in our lexicon. Oh, a lexicon is a list of words that--"

"I know what a lexicon is. I may have failed out of Engineering and the Decency Code exam, but I do know an English word or two, surprisingly."

"Well, I hope you know the word Monarchy as well. Because it means that I get to make all decisions here for you, and you are free to voice your discontent, which you've done quite well enough, but I don't need your agreement to carry forward."

"No, you can't force me to accept your blood."

"Yes, I can. I both have the legal authority to do this as well as the physical superiority."

He set me down on the ground and cut into his chest, abs, shoulder and arms. He then hugged me, letting his blood get into all the wounds on the front of my body, giving them an odd tingling feeling.

"No, don't waste your blood on me." I tried to fight back, to climb out of his grasp.

"You can struggle all you want, my solnyshko, it won't stop me from saving you. What I do I do out of love."

When all my frontal cuts were healed, he forced me onto my back. He used the knife to cut into his calves and thighs, and embraced me from behind, causing his blood to start to heal the wound on my back and the ones on my butt and legs.

As soon as I saw a rope coming through the broken ceiling and Helina sliding down it, I had forgiven Maxim.

"You have to hand it to her, your sister makes a far more sensible entrance than you do."

"That's exactly what my mom said to me when she told me how I raced out of her during delivery first and then my sister came out much more gently. And I do believe it was that dramatic entrance that saved your life just now. Helina, thanks for joining us at this fine little soiree. I'm in the process of mending Jake's wounds, could you do the same for Alik?"

She walked over and looked at his gunshot wound, her fangs coming out. "I've never done this before. Do I just cut myself and bleed on him?"

"That's right."

"Oh joy, just what I hoped this day would bring when I woke up this morning." She bit into her arm, a far less effective way of making wounds than Maxim's knife had been, as she had to constantly re- bite herself as she healed just to keep the blood flowing enough to heal him.

After all wounds were healed and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief, I kissed Maxim.

"Should I consider that a truce?" he asked me.

"Somewhere between a truce and a thank you," I said. "Plus an I love you to boot."

"I love you too." He started to really kiss me.

"Should I kiss you too, as a thank you?" asked Alik to Helina, seemingly seriously.

"Call me old fashioned, but I'd prefer a thank-you card."

Amazingly, Alik and I were both well enough to stand up again. And neither Maxim nor Helina had lost so much blood that they seemed ill, either. Maxim put his suit back on, and I went into the changing room to put mine back on as well, happy that my anal-retentive fastidiousness had led me to put my belongings there instead of laying them on the floor that would have disappeared during the duel.

"Maxim, the water beneath us, it's waste water, right?" I asked. "It goes into the sewers?"

"No, it's drinking water, purified from the lake. It goes into the city's water pipes."

I narrowed my eyes. "Would Edmund and Zhora have known that?"

"I'm positive Edmund would have, he owns this plant. Probably Zhora as well, but he's a little too, oh you know, charred black and smoking for us to ask him. Why?"

"Oh my goodness, we have to turn the water off!" I hurried towards the controls.

"Why, what's the problem?"

"Aren't you wondering how my protective gear came off? I wasn't trying to be provocative with my nudity or arrogant about my fencing skills. Zhora doused the two of us with some liquid that burned through everything we had on except for our foils."

"A liquid that will burn through clothes but won't burn through flesh?" Maxim's face went white with recognition.

"They must have stolen the supply of that bacterial agent and released it here into the water, just as your father had wanted. Please tell me there's some control we can hit to keep the water from leaving this plant!"

"No, the water is long gone by now," said Maxim. "People could be drinking it right now and dying from it! We need to tell the whole city not to drink any of the water!"

"My god," said Helina.

"Is there some sort of emergency alert system here?" I asked, feeling panicked.

"There's a radio station."

"Only the rich have radio," said Alik.

"The Sword Gardens," said Maxim. "It's our largest, most central bell tower. There's an emergency ring that will bring the whole city out of their homes."

"Yes, that will work," agreed Alik. "The factories are nearby here. They make so much noise they may not hear the bells. I'll run there and let them know." He ran out of the room.

"What should I do?" asked Helina.

"Eight blocks to the south and ten to the west is the radio station," said Maxim. "Run there as fast as you can and let them know to broadcast the message."

"I'm on it." She too ran out the door.

"You and I will go for the Sword Gardens."

We ran out of the building, and as soon as we were on the street, Maxim picked me up and carried me against his chest.

"I'm not too weak to run or anything, I feel fine."

"That's terrific, but you're much, much slower than I am, and we need to go fast."

I didn't argue with him, I was fine sacrificing dignity when I knew lives were on the line.

The streets were even busier in the city than normally, apparently being drawn outdoors by the sunshine.

"Maxim, stop!"

He skidded to a halt.

"Over there! That woman is about to drink from a drinking fountain!"

Because of my instruction, Maxim made a detour off the route to the Sword Gardens to bring us close enough for her to hear us.

"Don't drink that! It's poisoned!"

She pulled her lips away just before her lips met water. "Thanks!"

"Maxim, over there, that guy's about to take a drink too!"

Maxim took off in the direction I was pointing, towards a man in his forties that was about to drink from another of the many fountains.

"No sir, do not drink that!"

But he either could not hear me or wouldn't listen. Maxim ran him down, pushing him away from the water, and I hoped he hadn't swallowed any.

"What's going on?" asked the man. But before we could tell him anything, he fell to the ground and started to convulse in pain, digging his fingers into his stomach.

"No, no! Maxim, we have to do something to help him!"

"It's too late for him. He's already gone. All I can do know is break his neck to ease his suffering, is that what you want me to do?"

Our argument reached its end as the man quickly stopped moving and lay on the ground, clearly dead, white foam coming out of his mouth.

I saw another person about to drink from another fountain, this time a teenage boy, and I made Maxim whip towards him.

"My goodness, how many public drinking fountains can one city possibly need?" I asked.

"One at every corner, it seems like."

I shouted for the teen to not drink, and he heard and listened, backing away from the fountain.

"Maxim, I think I see another fountain over there."

"We can't go this way any longer. We have to go back towards the Sword Gardens."

"But if we don't stop her, she's going to die!"

I got mad when Maxim turned around towards the Sword Gardens and away from the woman, but he wasn't listening to me.

We moved past a large residential building, and a hill banked up to our right. It gave me a good view of the streets in that area. Everywhere I looked, there were drinking fountains. I could see people already on the ground, dead, others totally perplexed around them.

"Oh my," I said, realizing just how many people in every direction we would never be able to save. "Maxim, you were right. We just need to get the one thing that will stop the whole city from drinking as soon as we can."

"Indeed."

He kept us running towards the Sword Gardens, but as we ran, I constantly yelled at the top of my voice not to go near any public water, and I did notice a lot of people listening and being alarmed by my warnings as we ran by them.

Before long, the beautiful cathedral-like Sword Gardens was upon us, its bell tower one of the tallest spires in the city.

Maxim and I burst through the front doors, and we found the crowded interior to be bursting with panic. The duelers had stopped their fighting, both of them frozen on the stage, and everyone was looking in the audience for two people that I could see had died.

"It's the water!" I shouted. "Don't get anywhere near public water, it's been poisoned."

Maxim brought us to one of the Sword Gardens staff who was trying to keep people calm. "Someone needs to ring the bells, right now! The emergency chime."

"The bells? I'm sorry, the only bell ringer left living is old man Prokhor Dubrovsky."

"Well, he needs to be summoned immediately!" Maxim said, his voice in a panic.

"I would summon him, my liege, but he's just walked out the door for the train station."

Maxim looked at me. "If you and I went up to the bell tower, if I hummed you a tune, could you replicate it on the bells, do you think?"

"Maxim, I hate to break it to you, but not all of us modern church-goers know anything about cathedral bells."

Maxim looked back at the staff person. "What does Prokhor Dubrovsky look like?"

"He's about the shortest man you'll ever meet."

Maxim carried me out of the Sword Gardens and ran towards the train station. On our way there, we stopped four different height challenged men and asked them if they were Prokhor Dubrovsky, all of whom shook their heads no while we argued about just how short he actually was.

"Ah, there he is!" I said, pointing to a man that had gone almost the whole way to the station. The old man was a very short little person.

"Shortest man I've ever seen is right!" Maxim said when he saw him. He moved towards him.

"Mr. Dubrovsky?" I asked.

The man turned around. "Yes?"

"The city's water has been completely poisoned. Anyone who drinks it is dead. We need you to go back to the Sword Gardens and alert the city with your bells."

"Oh yes, I'm on my way." He turned around and headed at a trot towards the Sword Gardens.

"Is that the fastest you can go?" asked Maxim.

"I'm afraid so."

I pulled out of Maxim's arms. "Maxim, carry the man up to the bell tower. You don't need me with you."

"No, I suppose not. Sir, I hope this doesn't offend you."

"Absolutely not."

Maxim lifted the man into his arms.

"Oh, wait!" said the man, grabbing my arm. "There's something you must do!"

"What's that?"

"The Symphony Hall was designed to be sound proof. They won't hear the bells."

"It must be empty right now though, right? It's morning!"

"Normally it would be, but in springtime, they perform in the mornings for charity for grade school children. There are some classes in there right now. They serve snacks and drinks during the performance to keep the kids engaged!"

"Okay, I'll go there."

"Do you know how to get there?" asked Maxim.

"I think so."

Maxim ran off with the old man, and I ran towards the train station, getting on a train immediately. I went across town to the neighborhood the Symphony Hall was in, and then got off the train.

There were so many people walking down the sidewalk, I ran into the cobblestone streets, weaving around horse and carriage. On my way, I heard those bells go off finally at the Sword Gardens, and knew Maxim had succeeded. The denizens of the city recognized the alarming bell chime and began coming out of their homes.

When I reached the Symphony Hall finally, I forced the doors open and jumped over their ropes.

""What is the meaning of this?" demanded an angry usher.

"You need to stop the performance right now, it's an emergency!"

"But it's right in the middle of--"

"Stop it right now!"

"Fine, alright."

"Which way are the kitchens?"

He pointed, and I ran downstairs, into the kitchens. Trays of snacks were being carted out by waiters.

"Please tell me you haven't been giving out tap water to the children?"

"No, we haven't, we're just passing out our lemonade now."

"Lemonade made with tap water?"

"Well, yes. Why?"

"When did you make it?"

While the waiter was thinking that over, a woman's scream came, and one of the chefs fell over, dead. In her hand was a cup of the lemonade. The other staff gasped and screamed with shock.

"Don't eat or drink anything! And don't let anyone else either!"

"The waiters are passing out the lemonade now! To the children!"

I ran upstairs, into the back of the hall itself. To my annoyance, the orchestra was still going. On the left side of the theater, a waiter with a cart was passing out cups of lemonade to the young children in the seats.

"No, stop!" I screamed, but the orchestra drowned out my yells.

I started to run down the aisle towards them, waving my hands, but they had their backs to me and could not see me. I jumped over rows of empty seats, showing little regard for my own safety, just getting there as quickly as possible.

I managed to get there just in time to push the cup out of the little girl's hands before she could take a drink. Finally, the usher came onto stage and made the orchestra stop.

"The tap water has been tainted!" I shouted. "Please, no one eat or drink anything. Anything!"

The children, shocked, began throwing all their snacks and drinks away. The children that had been about to drink the lemonade were particularly thankful to me, as were their teachers.

One hundred and seventy-seven people died around the city, including the woman Zhora had shoved into the water. It was devastating to all of us.

Helina and Alik had both successfully completed their tasks, with Alik saving the lives of countless factory workers. Alik had complained of a head injury afterwards, and Maxim sent him to an upper crust private doctor on his dime. It turned out Maxim had severe concussions. A major hit to the head would likely kill him, which meant he wouldn't be able to box again for months until the injury healed.

While most of the city officials who reported to Maxim were out working on sanitizing the water again, Maxim and I were alone in a room in the Sneg Dvorec talking to Gala Woodville.

"You really mean to convince us that your husband planned to poison this city and you knew nothing of it?" asked Maxim, absolutely fuming.

"That's right." She wiped tears from her eyes. "I never would have let him get away with killing people. I knew he was a jackass, but I never thought he would be capable of that atrocity."

"I believe her," I said.

"Alright, I won't let them charge you."

"Thank you, my liege, but I ask for something more. If it gets out Edmund was responsible, they will make me give up all of my holdings that would pass to me through his death. Would it be too much to ask of you to publically lay the blame entirely on Zhora? I'd be able to keep my rightful holdings."

"I don't know, I hate to lie," Maxim said.

"But this is about peace. The only vampire left to take Edmund's place in the Aristocratic Ministerstvo is his cousin, Ronald Woodville. Ronald has already has his misgivings about you since you pulled out of your betrothal to Lorna. He's taken it as a slight to the Woodvilles. If you were to blame Edmund for this, I don't think he would believe you. I wouldn't be surprised if he led the English vampires out of the Petrov Blood for good. Don't forget what already happened to the French."

"I won't," said Maxim. "But I still don't like to lie."

"She's right, Maxim. And this is a harmless little lie since Zhora was involved in any case."

"Fine, I'll do it, you've convinced me, Jake. The last thing I need right now is a war with the Woodvilles."

"Thank you, my liege."

"And please ask Ronald Woodville to move to the city as soon as he can to join the Ministerstvo."

It didn't take them long to sanitize the drinking water again, and later that day, the city came together for a public cremation of all the bodies. Having been deeply disappointed in Parker's cremation, I convinced Maxim to give a speech, and he absolutely listened to my advice, even though his father had never given such speeches. He got up there in front of the whole city, in front of the victims' loved ones, and told them how honored he was at the sacrifice they made for their people, cracking up into tears many, many times during the rousing words, making me a mess as well, and even hardened Helina's eyes turn red.

APRIL 2nd

Maxim came home on the late side the next day, after dinner. He was back to his normal self, it seemed, smiling as he found me in our bedroom reading.

"I have another matter of legal importance that requires your attention." He handed me a piece of paper.

"If this is another grim court summons or a duel challenge, I'm going to voluntarily banish myself from the Carstvo just so I don't have to deal with any of it."

"You should be able to tell by my huge smile that it's no such thing. Surely there would never be a time when I would smile at your misfortune. Now I must admit I smile plenty at the continuing demise of your sexual chastity ever since you've been my boyfriend."

I grabbed it and started to read it. "What is this?"

"It's a legal document I was working all day on for you, signed by Vasos and myself. It forbids you from even being banished from the Carstvo ever again, unless you are convicted of a serious crime. Which means, if anyone challenges you to a duel again, there will be no legal weight attached to it. The only way I got them to legally agree to this is by going over what a travesty the legal system had been for you, putting you in a duel that nearly killed you."

"Maxim, this is so sweet of you, truly." I kissed him appreciatively, feeling my spirits lighten.

"This is your copy, but it's in public record as well should you ever lose this."

"Let's call that the official end to my fencing days," I said excitedly. "Should we celebrate with what time we have left tonight?"

"I haven't been able to think of anything all day except for that celebration, I must confess." He lifted up his vial of Liquid Fire and smiled at me. "And I have just the way we can celebrate your permanence."

"Are you sure I'm not going to get in anyway chemically addicted?" I was sure I could handle emotional addictions.

"I'm sure."

"Alright, let's do it. That way you can top me again without me putting up a fuss."

He gave us both drops. Of course, along with the inability to feel pain, it took away our inhibitions as well. First we stripped naked and danced like madmen around the room. And then we were both complaining that it was far too hot to stay indoors, that we needed to get outside.

"Let's go naked ice-skating again!" I suggested.

"That's perfect!"

"This time, bring that fancy lube you just bought!"

He handed me the lube, and once again carried me naked out to the ice-skating rink.

"Oh shoot!" he said.

"What?" I looked down at the ground. "Where did the rink go to? Rink, come back, rink!"

"It melted, Jake. It hasn't been freezing for a couple days. Everything's been melting, even the ice around the perimeter of the lake. It happens every spring. I can't wait for you to see this place in summer, you won't recognize it."

"Me too, me too. Should we go back to the room, then?"

"No, I've got an even better idea."

"You know how much I love your even better ideas. Well, almost always, in any case."

He ran with me out to his pier that stretched into the lake, and set me down. He pulled a rowboat out of storage and set it in the water. He helped me into the boat and started to row.

"Where are we going?"

"To the middle of the lake."

Once we got there, he set down the oars and started to kiss me.

"You were right, this is incredibly romantic, out here surrounded by all this water. Look how it's all reflecting the city lights and the stars! So beautiful!"

"As beautiful as my love for you."

"The one thing I wish now is that I could see you better. It's so dark out here."

"I think I can take care of that."

He blew fire, and I figured he'd male more of his flame candelabra to light the boat, but instead, he did something much more incredible. The fire surrounded his body, and then it was as if the he turned into fire himself. His hair even looked like it was actively burning, his beard included.

"Oh my goodness, am I hallucinating this? Did you give me bigger dose this time?!"

"No, my solnyshko, your eyes are reading true."

"Did your body just turn into fire?"

"Not quite. Go ahead and touch me."

"It won't burn?"

"I promise."

I reached out and felt his chest. Instead of sinking into the flame-skin, as I expected, my hand met hard flesh.

"How have you done this?"

"I'm creating a very thin layer of fire that surrounds every surface of me. It makes it look like I'm made of fire, but that's an illusion."

"How come you never did this before?"

"Because I didn't want to scare you. It's pretty strange. But the truth is, whenever I'm topping someone, this part of me wants to come out. Last time you and I..."

"...made love?"

"Yes, made love. Like I told you, that was by far the most pleasure I've ever felt making love, and that time I almost couldn't hold it in."

"Why did you have to?"

"Because I didn't want to turn you off, especially not our first time together, I wanted everything to be perfect."

"Maxim, you don't understand. I don't think you look freaky or bizarre or frightening. I think you look absolutely beautiful. As long as you can keep from burning me, I want you to make love to me exactly as you are."

"And that, right there, is exactly why I love you so much. Your huge heart."

He stood up, and I was looking up at this beautiful beefcake of a man, glowing yellow with fire in all his glory.

My hand reached out and grabbed his soft, flaming dick, a hanging pendulum of light. I grabbed it by its base and spun it weight around so fast all I could see was a glowing circle of fire.

Soon, my touching brought him a hardon, but that took away my fire-rope, as he became too hard to move pliantly. But seeing those giant balls covered in fire, his huge, veiny stalk sticking straight up, that huge head, all pointed up, it made me sick with desire. And the fact that his huge dickhead was actually spitting fire on top of it, looking like the largest and sexiest Roman Candle firework I had ever seen, brought an amused smile to my lips.

Those were the same lips that drawn to his fire stick, licking at the flame, which tickled with warmth, as I tasted the hot shaft and cradled his balls. I sucked down his dickhead, and perhaps that was the last sign Maxim needed that I did indeed enjoy his fire gift, as he went from an unusually passive state to his normal active self. He pulled my head farther and farther down until my chin was tickled by the flame on his balls. He held my head in place then and penetrated my face, moaning in pleasure. It was delightful to look down at his flame penis invading my mouth and moving in and out, in and out. Amazingly, I could feel the hot flames engulf my mouth and throat.

Maxim lifted me up and turned me upside down, still holding my mouth on his dick, and the front of my body pressed against the flame of his strong chest and abs. He had me in a sixty-nine, but instead of going for my dick, he placed in the flaming cleft between his pecs and licked inside my hole. Somehow, even when his tongue was completely inserted, I could feel that its fire remained on, giving a wonderfully sizzling feeling to my sensitive pucker.

Dizzy, I pulled off his dick. "Maxim, I love you. I want you inside me so bad."

He smiled. "That's exactly what I've been waiting to hear."

He grabbed the lube, put some on his fingers, and started to lube my hole without ever losing our positions. His sexual grunts went crazy as he fingered me with gusto.

When he was done, he pulled my head up away from his dick and moved me in his arms until he had me right side up again, facing away from him. I felt him bite the back of my left throat, only this time those fangs had fire on them, which only made the bite more powerful, his sexual energy rocking through every limb.

He held me completely off my feet and pushed my body down, lining up his head with my hungry hole. I relished the feeling of both the flaming tip of his meat lick my hole with its spitting flames as well as his precum soaking the thing. Soon, he pushed inside me, impaling me with his flaming dick stick. There was nothing but pleasure as the flaming head pushed inside me, coating my insides with such lovely fire. I cried out in pleasure as those flames licked my prostate for the first time.

"Oh my solnyshko, my love for you will never, ever burn out. I've bedded many women and men in my long history, but not of them even hold a candle to the pleasure you are making me feel right now. You are the first one to really let me be me."

"I love you too, Maxim. No more holding back. Every time you make love to me, I want you to be in this form."

"You're so good to me, you're going to make me cry."

And tears did start to fall, but even then, his passion never even dipped, he was so all consumed.

I knew there was nothing he would let me contribute, so I gave myself over to him and the pleasure. His brawny, enflamed arms lifted me up and down, up and down, as he thrust inside me over and over again.

With him sending such intense pleasure through my body from behind, I looked down at my dick, so hard, sticking up in front of me. My hand went to stroke it, but he swatted it away, wanting to do it himself. Feeling his fire-covered hand take a hold of me there and stroke me in perfect rhythm to his thrusts made me hiss in pleasure.

As was typical, he started to heave me around, trying to move positions. In spite of the drugs, I took a worried hiss as I saw the water almost reaching the rim of the boat as he moved us.

"Maxim, stop!"

He froze instantly. "Oh no, are you in pain again?"

"No, not in pain this time. Your constant need to switch things up during sex is almost causing us to capsize. Please, just try to keep it contained this time."

"But you know how important bringing us sexual pleasure is to me."

"Is it worth risking us capsizing in the name of heightened sexual pleasure?!"

"Yes! If it happened, you know I would get you back to shore safe and sound."

"I'm sorry, Maxim, but I just can't consent to that. Please just take it easy this time, for me."

"Of course I'll listen to you, my solnyshko. The last thing I want is any fear or anxiety you may have get in the way of making you feel my fire. And I'll just consider this a challenge, to prove to you that I can cause just as much pleasure for us with restraint as I do with my normal lack of the stuff."

I leaned back and kissed him appreciatively, and he resumed bouncing me up and down.

And then he did something that would have made me laugh if I wasn't so turned on: he went through every single sexual position change he could think of that would not cause the boat to rock. It was unbelievably romantic, and I cherished watching the fire in his eyes as he proved he could do it.

The sex got faster and faster, more intense than ever, the pleasure he was giving me pushing over the edge before I could warn him to hold off.

Amazingly, he was right there too, able to match my climax perfectly, his fiery muscles all tensing up even bigger than ever, his sweat dripping all over my body.

"Nothing could ever bring me more pleasure than letting my fire loose inside your perfect insides."

And then his huge load was released inside, and somehow that too felt like it was on fire. It was bringing a new meaning to the Liquid Fire, scalding my prostate as I shot all over myself.

And then the climax subsided, and I let calmness take over me.

"I love you."

"I love you too, my solnyshko." He said it over and over again as his fire faded away finally.

"I'll make you a bet," I said. "If you can somehow manage to get me to bed without ever pulling out of me, I'll let you sleep inside me all night long."

"Oh, you're so on."

Without ever getting soft or moving positions, he picked up the oars and rowed us back to shore. Then he was able to lift me into his arms and hold me against him as he climbed through the freezing water and walked us to shore, never caring about the boat being tied up or the temperature of the water that covered his legs.

When he carried me into the mansion, I shut my eyes, not wanting to see anyone who might catch an eyeful of us as he took me to our room.

And then, to show off, he even carried me into the bathroom and washed his feet off in the tub, telling me he knew how much I hated when he got the bed dirty.

Finally, he spooned me from behind in bed, still inside me, just starting to soften then. I grabbed a pad of paper and pencil and handed it to him.

"What is this for? Am I to sketch you nude?" he asked, excitedly. "If so, it would be my gift. The worst artist ever would still produce the most beautiful nude ever just because the model was so incredibly gorgeous."

"No, don't be silly. This is my second night under Liquid Fire. If I say anything in my sleep this time, please, please write it down."

"Mmm," he said. "I don't see the point, but given my phallus is currently completely immersed inside you along with my seed, I feel unable to say no to any of your demands right now."

"You're lucky I'm such a morally sound guy. Another lover would be demanding diamonds and pearls right now."

"If you ever did, it would make me all to happy to comply."

"You know wealth isn't important to me."

"I know. But if that ever was to change, I wouldn't be satisfied until you were the wealthiest person ever to walk the earth."

APRIL 3rd

The alarm went off again in the morning. I turned it off and woke up Maxim, without him slipping out of me. He was sleeping directly on top of me from behind, soft but still totally inside me.

"Oh god, how I hate going to work," he said. "Any chance you're still affected enough by the Liquid Fire to let me coax you into letting me stay inside you through my whole work day?"

"Nope, but the sentiment is very sweet."

"It comes out of my love for you. And here's another thing that I did for you because I love you."

He reached for the paper and put it in front of me. In his penmanship there were a number of words.

"Oh, you recorded them, thank you so much!" I said. "Was I speaking in Russian?" I asked, looking at the words.

"No, those are names. Russian names, none of them familiar to me."

"Not to me either. Though there is something odd about these. A sense of déjà vu."

"Anzhero-Sudzhensk is a real Russian town."

"In the Carstvo?"

"No, outside of it, in proper Russia. I've never been there."

"I feel like I'm so close to a breakthrough," I said. "All thanks to whatever this Liquid Fire is doing to me in my sleep. Can we do it again tonight? Will you record my words again?"

"Of course, but my solnyshko, I want you to want to do Liquid Fire with me again because it allows me to make love to you. Not because it gives you nightmares."

"No, no, of course that's the main reason I want to take it again, I absolutely love the sex we have under its spell. I love you, and I love being able to show my love for you just how I want to without the pain getting in the way. The dreaming part is just the icing on the cake."

He laughed. "I'll provide all the icing you could ever desire. The dreams are candles on that cake."

"Even less important, and you provide all the fire in this metaphor in any case. The dreams are the white doily under the cake."

He laughed his hearty laugh and nibbled on my ear. "You know how to make me love you even more with every word that comes out of your mouth."

"I just have this feeling that the dream is significant somehow. I can't explain it."

"I want you to listen to me, my solnyshko. Young people such as you, especially ones from the outside world, tend to have faith in senseless things. Astrology, for instance."

"I do not believe in astrology!"

"And your Christianity. I accept it as I accept every part of you, but I can't say I understand such blind faith. You are young my solnyshko. You don't always have enough maturity or enough power of reason to sift what really matters from what is just an empty illusion. Worrying about your dreams at this point will only bring you trouble. Perhaps, when you are much older, you will understand this. I know you don't see me as intellectually on par with Parker or Günter, but I actually have an IQ of 165, and was quite a gifted student in my time. I just decided not to pursue that life once I made the realization that academia is chock full of social outcasts who can't even get through a proper conversation with anyone.

"My IQ is significantly lower," I said. "Maybe that's why I couldn't manage the Decency Code test."

"Which is not something to be ashamed of. And you never completed your advanced education, while I have. That's why I need you to trust me when I tell you that I might have a stronger ability to intellectually arrive at a reasonable decision than you."

"Yes, I suppose you do."

"Instead of chasing nightmares, you should be concentrating on what really matters: keeping you alive and well for an eternity, if possible. To me, that means we need to finish gathering the Vampire Council and guaranteeing before your trial that I've paid off all the other Council members to make sure I've bought their complicity in your safety. If they refuse to be bought with money, I'll use whatever means necessary."

"That means I need to visit the other four leaders in person, Maxim."

"I know. I'll be there by your side. I can have Helina sub for me here for whatever periods we are gone. Nobody can keep you alive like I can. I can kill any of them with my fire if anyone even scratches you. I'll never leave your side."

"That sounds wonderful. I guess it pays to have such a genius boyfriend."

"You know that's not a consideration for me. I love you just the way you are, genius or no."

"For me, it's most certainly a no."

"Just make sure you run all your ideas and strategies by me to make sure you don't have holes in your logic again."

"I will."

"You know how delighted I am to fill any of your holes." He laughed big, and I realized he was rock hard. He must have been filling up as we were talking.

He began to thrust inside me, and then the pain came suddenly.

"That hurts, I'm afraid, without the Liquid Fire. Let's save that for tonight."

"Is it tonight yet?." He stopped thrusting, and instead showed his passion through a wonderful kiss.

He slipped out of me, and I fell asleep.

I awoke to knocking. "Maxim?" I asked, sleepily.

"No, it's Helina. Maxim just left. Can you speak with me, please?"

I realized she was at the door. "Sure, just a second." I found some pajamas and put them on before opening the door.

"This is the first time I've seen you up on your own accord so early," I said, letting her into the room. "I didn't take you for much of a morning person."

"Oh god, I am so not a morning person. My curtness in the AM hours is so profound, I make my normal disposition seem downright perky and sunny by comparison. But I woke up this morning with a new, very important memory hitting me, and I can't go back to sleep without telling you."

"Oh, I'm excited to hear it, I always love it when you get more of your memories back."

"I have a distinct feeling that pattern will end right now, as this is not a pleasant memory at all."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I hate hearing about any of your past traumas. Do you want to sit down first? I can hold your hand if it makes it easier to tell me."

"Yes, sit down, that's a good idea."

I walked over and sat on the bed. "Aren't you going to join me?"

"Huh? No, I'm not. You just stay seated. Okay, so here it goes. I remembered now that I have a vampire ability that had eluded me until just now."

"Oh, what is that?"

"Well, it's rather perverse in nature, I'm afraid. I'm almost ashamed to admit this."

"Helina, my friend Big Horn from the Logan Territory has a special vampire power allowing him to cut wormholes out of thin air with his penis. After seeing that, there's nothing that could possibly debauch me."

"Okay, I'll just let it out, then. You see, well, I can absorb insecurity."

"I'm not sure what you mean. Is that some sort of metaphor?"

"No, I mean what I'm saying. I feed off of insecurity in others."

"I'm not sure how that's possible."

"I quite assure you, it's all too possible. I'm feeding off your insecurity right now."

"My insecurity?!"

"Yes. It's almost like I can see it around your body, like an aura. And being near you makes me absorb this energy."

"And when you absorb it, does it go away?"

"No, it doesn't. It's still oozing out of you. And I can't chose not to absorb it, I just do."

"What happens when you absorb it?"

"It instantly makes me stronger and more energized. If I was in a fight with someone, your aura would perhaps give me the edge I needed to win. Too bad you weren't closer to me physically when I was fighting Emmanuel. But there's another piece to this puzzle that's a bit more embarrassing. It's not just that it feeds my strength. It makes me feel good too. Highly pleasurable in a somewhat sexual way, like drinking blood."

"Did this just kick in today?"

"No, it kicked in as soon as I got my vampire powers back, but I just let it register today. Not many of those around me have shown any insecurity, not Maxim, Alik, or Emmanuel. But you have been oozing in the stuff ever this whole time. It's particularly heavy this morning."

"It's true, like I told you before, my father messed me up as a kid, gave me all these awful emotions I was never meant to deal with. Insecurity is one of the ones I've always had to fight."

"Okay, well, since you continue to be my best friend, I wanted to warn you that your insecurity is going to have an effect on me. There's nothing I can do to avoid it."

"Sort of like smelling my blood type?"

"Smelling your blood is nothing but a tease. It's like tasting your blood, because it gives me the same strength and pleasure that would do."

"Well, I'm fine with that. I'm not going to stop being your friend because you have an unusual special power."

"Thanks, that's touching, but this is not my special power."

"Of course it is. What else could it be?"

"It's a Petrov Blood power we all have. Just like fire breathing and telescopic vision."

"No, that can't be right," I said. "I've never heard of this until now."

"That's what I was afraid of. That's why I had you sit down. I'm worried that Maxim is using you."

"Maxim can do this too? How can you be sure, with your memory gone?"

"Because I remembered all about this power today. Growing up together, we used to worry that other Petrov Blood fanged vampires would take advantage of us. No one can see their own insecurity, so we relied on each other to look at that part of us. We worked until there was no trace of it left, in either of us."

"How could he not have told me about this?!"

"As kids, we swore that we would never manipulate good people into becoming more insecure, but that's exactly what I'm afraid he's done with you. You always have insecurity around you, but it gets especially strong when the two of you are together, I've realized. You have to realize that with your special blood and your insecurity, you're about as desirable to a fanged Petrov vampire as you can possibly be. But that doesn't excuse my brother if he did manipulate you."

"Wow, I can't believe this. Just thinking about how I've just let him play me so easily, it makes me so disappointed in myself."

"Do you need a hug?"

"No, no, I'm okay."

"Thank god, because if you had said yes, I would have called in Mrs. Ford."

At about eleven, I was in Maxim's library, searching through the shelves. I couldn't confront Maxim over the phone, but couldn't wait until he came home that evening to talk to him either, as waiting was just too torturous, so I texted him earlier and got him to agree to come home for lunch.

I finally found what I was looking for, the last copy of the Decency Codes that Maxim hadn't realized he had kept, the same copy he had given me to study. There were three booklets, one was the hundred Proletariat rules, which was twice as long as the other two booklets. Those two fifty Code booklets were unlabeled, so I had to read a couple rules to see which one I had studied.

Once I had found the book, I looked carefully at the last page of the booklet. There, in tiny letters that I had never noticed until that point was the word, "Aristocratic."

I gasped.

"Oh, here he is, Mrs. Ford."

I turned around to see Maxim entering the room, followed by Mrs. Ford. He was all smiles, completely unaware of the anger seething inside me.

"Hello, my solnyshko." He came over and kissed me. He handed me a menu. "I'm having Mrs. Ford get someone to pick up lunch for us at Chekov's, and need your order."

I didn't want to argue in front of Mrs. Ford, so I just acted like everything was normal, looking at the menu. "I'll get a chicken sandwich."

"You'll be disappointed. Mrs. Ford, get us both kotleta plates and borsch soups. You'll love this."

Something inside me snapped. "I don't want that!"

"You don't even know what it is!"

"I don't care what it is! You always order my food, and I'm sick of it! I want to order my own food!"

"But why? I'm the one who knows about food. Haven't you been pleased with everything I've ever ordered for you?"

"Immensely."

"Then what's the problem with just letting me continue to choose for you?"

"I'm fine with you advising me about my food, but I get to have the final say, and today, I'm getting a sandwich. Mrs. Ford, please put that in for me."

"Yes, sir."

I clutched the booklets in my hand. "I need to talk to you." I looked around, down the hall, and it seemed wherever I looked I saw a servant. I needed privacy. "Upstairs in the bedroom."

"That sounds like a wonderful invitation." He loosened his tie and raised his eyebrows, and I knew what it was he thought I was suggesting.

As soon as we were alone in the bedroom, he asked me, "Guess what sort of wonderful information I've learned that will possibly get us closer to finding the Chinese Blood leader's location?"

"I will, but you get to go first. Guess what sort of important information I learned this morning?"

"About the Chinese Blood?"

"No, about the Petrov Blood."

"I give up."

"I learned that all fanged Petrov vampires absorb insecurity in others. Even you."

"That was news to you? Well, of course we do!"

"You never told me that!"

"Because I assumed you knew it. It's no secret, everyone knows it's one of our abilities."

"You've been keeping it from me this whole time! Taking over my life and making me feel insecure about myself! Well, if you can feel insecurity, I hope you can feel rage too, because there's so much inside me right now, I feel like I'll never recover."

"No, I can't feel anything but insecurity, and no, I always thought you knew I could absorb your insecurity, I swear it! And while I may have at times given into the huge temptations you've provided me and brought up matters that I knew fuels your insecurities, I thought you knew the whole time what I was doing to you and you were fine with it. I give you my word."

"Your word means very little to me now that I've discovered this!" I showed him the Decency Code booklet. "This is the booklet you gave to me to study. What does it say right here?"

"Aristocratic?" he asked.

"Yes! You gave me your booklet for Aristocrats instead of the Bourgeoisie one, lied, and told me it was the one I needed to study! Holy goodness, no wonder I got two-thirds of the answers right! The hundred Codes that I had studied correctly I got perfectly! I should have passed that test! And ever since, you've been feeding off my insecurity for losing!"

"No, I had no idea there was even a title in there at all. I thought I was giving you the right booklet all along, I would have never deceived you like that. Listen, I barely know these Codes, you should expect that I'd make a mistake like that, it's my fault."

"I don't believe it!"

He dropped to his knees. "I swear on my life, or, on what's even more important to me than that, I swear on my relationship with you that I'm being completely honest with you here. I'm baring my soul to you, you have to believe me. I never even knew I mixed up the books, and I never thought you didn't know I wasn't absorbing your insecurity."

"I don't know."

"Listen, there's other things I've lied to you about that I'm going to come clean about now, because I want you to know that there's absolutely not a single lie between us. But you're not going to like this."

"You'd better tell me now. All of it!"

"Well, I've sort of been lying to you about--"

"There is no such thing as a sort of lie! Either you've been honest to me, or you've been dishonest!"

"Okay, I've been dishonest, I admit. I lied when I told you that you couldn't gain unwanted pounds or suffer from bad health from eating unhealthy foods."

"What, why would you do that? I've been eating like a pig since then!"

"You've been eating like a vampire, like me! I did it because you restrict yourself too much. A little bad food isn't going to kill you, especially the way you exercise. And I wanted you to feel free to at least try the dishes I love. Wanted you to get as much pleasure as much as I do, when I'm enjoying them right there with you, and not feel guilty about your pleasure."

"That's awful!"

"Haven't you enjoyed what you've eaten since I told you that? All the food we've enjoyed together without your conscience impeding that enjoyment?"

"Yes, I have, too much."

"I was going to tell you if you ever showed any dangerous physical signs. You know I'd love you this much no matter what weight you got to, but if your future longevity was ever in question, I would have been the first to tell you. I would never let anything damage your health, ever. I want you around for an eternity."

"What else did you lie to me about?"

"There's one more lie, yes," he said. "It's related to the last. I lied when I told you are like a vampire in the sense that you can't become chemically addicted to anything. You can."

"OH MY GOSH, you've been letting me take DRUGS while telling me I can't get addicted?! How could you do that?!"

"It's just because I think you're much too uptight about those things too. Would I have ever convinced you to take Liquid Fire without lying?"

"No way!"

"And if did you enjoy the experience?"

"Completely! But was it worth getting a permanent chemical addiction to it? No!"

"Listen, I was going to tell you the truth the second you started to show any signs of addictions at all, I swear. Like I said, I require your longevity, and addictions won't help in that matter."

"What else? What other lies have you told me?"

"No, that's it, I swear. I have every hidden corner of myself open for you to see and judge. There's nothing else, and I'm so, so sorry for the lies I've told, I never meant to hurt you."

I realized I believed him, he was no longer lying to me. But what he had done made me so angry. "I need a night on my own."

"You mean, you want a night away from the obligations of a relationship where you are free to hook up with others?"

"No, I need a night without you in it so I can think about things and figure out if I can forgive you and stay in the relationship, or if I need to break-up with you."

His face broke into desperation. "Please, don't even say the b-word! You can't leave me, you just can't. Listen, I am head over heels in love with you. More than I've ever been with anyone, ever. I want you to answer this for me. Think about all the times we've been together. Not when other people were screwing up our lives, but when it was just us. Have you been happy or unhappy?"

I didn't even need to consider. "Happy. Ridiculously happy with every moment I've spent with you, Maxim. I've loved you."

He started to get choked up. "See? Then there isn't any doubt we belong together."

"I still need the night to think about it."

"Yes, yes, I understand."

"I'm not going to sleep in here tonight."

"No, you stay here, I'll sleep in a guest room. It was me who is in the dog house, me who has done the lying. You shouldn't suffer anymore than you have already."

"That's fine. And I'll need you to stay out of my way until tomorrow."

"Yes, of course, I'll go back to work now, even though I won't be able to think about anything but you there."

"You do realize that, if I do decide to stay with you, things will have to change. They lying has to stop."

"It will, I swear."

"And I'm not going to keep eating badly or taking drugs."

"No, that's fine."

"Which means, with no Liquid Fire, I won't be bottoming again. Is that really okay with you, Maxim? I know how much you love to top."

"Not nearly as much as I love you, love being your boyfriend. If you told me there wouldn't be anymore sex at all, it still wouldn't stop me from being in a committed relationship to you, make me care about you any less."

"And I'm going to try and work on my insecurity issues."

"I think you should be yourself. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

"Well, I'll keep that in mind, but I may end up having no trace of insecurity, ever. Would you still be fine with me then?"

"Of course I would. That's not why I love you. And if you stay with me, I'll promise to do all I can to stop your insecurity, if that's what you want. I'll be the perfect insecurity barometer. And I'll let you make all your own decisions."

"Then I'll have my answer for you by tomorrow morning."

He managed to compose his emotions and leave me alone, and I wrapped myself in covers and started to cry.

Parker would have never treated me like that.

No, he wouldn't haven't because Parker was perfect. At least to me he was perfect. I could not expect similar perfection in anyone else, nor was it fair to judge others on his perfection.

I wiped my tears away and went to find Helina, telling her everything that happened. She was vocally disappointed in her brother for the first time she could remember.

AUTHOR'S END NOTE:

What would you do if you were Jake in this moment? Forgive Maxim, or leave him? Let me know: SellarDhor@gmail.com.