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.

JUNE 3rd

"As if this tenement building wasn't bad enough to begin with, I think this awful heat is making it literally Hell on earth, Rasheed!"

I pulled open the barricades on the windows and looked down.

"I can see the street down there. We are in the sun here in this tall building, but the street looks shady. Can we please go down there?"

"No, we are not risking our lives by venturing outside the safety of this room just so we can be a few degrees cooler."

"But we need to go out there. You don't have any blood packets left, Rasheed. We need to get more from the market."

"I have you now. I don't need the blood packets."

"You were eating three packets a day. That's way more blood than I can give you, you know that. I have the image of your son's near-disintegration to death under the sunlight permanently etched into my mind. I'm not going to risk losing another Farhat in that manner."

"I'm not going to disintegrate. I can survive with just a small amount of your blood."

"But not without eating food."

"I'll force myself to eat the Indian food I have here. That means we won't have to leave."

"But it's still crazy hot. Can't I please just open the windows?"

"No. It's just not safe!"

"Then we should go down to the street. Just for a little while."

"Absolutely not."

"How can you stand to just sit here and be steamed like lobster up here?"

"It's not that bad. There was worse heat on the other days. Maybe you should take your clothes off like me."

"The only article of clothing I have on right now is my watch!"

"Well, take it off. Oh wait, I know. You weren't complaining about the heat back when we were having sex this morning. We should go back to doing that, it obviously will take your mind off the heat."

"Are you insane? Your skin is almost as burning hot as my own, and I'm sweating buckets even though I'm sitting perfectly still. Sex is the last thing I need right now."

"But last time we did it, you didn't get hot."

"That's because last time we did it, it was morning, and the sun hadn't turned our room into an Easy-Bake Oven!"

"Well, take another cold shower."

"There is no cold water there, only hot!"

"What are you doing? Those clothes you are putting on now will only make it worse!"

"I'm getting dressed to go out, on my own."

"No, you can't! It's too dangerous!"

"You are a Shankar Blood vampire, who I know doesn't get as hot as I do. You can stay if you want, but I'm going down there."

I finished dressing.

"Well, at least take my sword with you."

"Fine."

I grabbed the sword, and left the room. As soon as I did, I heard him anxiously locking all the doors behind me.

With the sunlight coming through the windows, the tenement was much less frightening during the day, though just as dingy and gross. I walked down and went out onto the street, loving being in the shade of the building.

I stood in the shade for a long while, before coming across one of the kids I had seen sleeping in street the night before, a kid around ten. "Hey kid. Pran is your name?"

"Who told you?"

"I read it off your name badge."

"Wow, you can read?" He looked at my badge longfully.

"I'm Jake," I said. "What can you tell me about District Y1?"

"It's a district just for us unemployed."

"What about the guys who work at the market here or the tenements?"

"They work here, but they don't live here. Prob in District Y2, or maybe Y3. All the higher ones than Y1 are for the employed, and they are allowed to move out of their District to work."

"Are those Districts much better than this one?"

"I used to live in Y2 when I was working, and folks there have a place to sleep and can pay for their food, but they still can't afford doctors or school."

"Sounds terrible. What do you mean when you were working? Kids work here?"

"Sure. There's a lot of jobs kids can do better with their little hands than adults. I worked the looms."

"Is that why there are so few kids here? Because they are all employed?"

"Yup. This District is only for us that get injured or can't work for some reason. Me, I got this."

He pulled his right hand free of his sleeve, and I realized there wasn't a hand there at all. It was just a stump at the wrist.

"I'm so sorry, Pran. Did that happen to you on the job?"

"Of course."

"Did your employer give you any sort of compensation?"

"Only a pink slip. And now, no one'll ever hire me, ever. I'm stuck here for life."

"How do you get enough money for food here?"

"Begging. But begging only goes so far when you live in a District where almost everyone is as broke as you. And the tenement workers never gave me crap. But the Officer Wali, he's a good one. He gives us kids as much as he can. But that only goes so far. No, we get by as a group out here."

"What do you mean?"

"We have two gardens that we built ourselves, filled with fruits and vegetables. It rains so much here, fresh water is never an issue. Want to know how we get meat?"

"Sure."

"This District is crawling with rodents and snakes, and birds always land here. Most of us aren't fast enough to catch anything, but the vampires sure are. They exchange their meat for our blood they need to survive."

"Are there vampire children assigned to this District?"

"The fanged vampires heal so much better than the rest of us. But we do get them sometimes. We got one boy now who got his whole arm cut off in a gardening accident. They can't heal a whole limb back like that, so he got put here too."

"So, everyone here is injured?"

"Not everyone. Some are too old to work. Some are physically okay but have something else wrong with their heads, or are just too stupid."

I thanked Pran profusely for sharing and gave him as many rupees as I could afford.

I went over to the District's lackluster market, whose one big perk was that it had refrigeration and therefore was cool, and I bought plenty of food and a bunch of blood packets.

"Jacob Groves, come here!"

I turned around to see Officer Wali waving me over to him.

"Please, just Jake," I said.

"Alright, Jake. But I'm still Officer Wali to you."

"Fine. What did you need? Have you come to somehow demote me to an even worse Hell than this District?"

"Why do you always have to assume I have the worst intentions for you? I actually may have found you a job already that will pay you enough to move to Y3."

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, I noticed something odd yesterday. You were reading my list, I knew you were. Almost none like you are able to do that. So, I got you a job at the Hospital. Not as a nurse, since that would require education, but as a nurse's assistant in the operating room. I'd almost kill to be cleaning as much blood up as you'll be cleaning."

"Nope, I cannot work in the hospital, I faint at the sight of bleeding. But thanks."

"Alright, I'll keep looking for you."

"Wait a second. How do I know you aren't just getting me employed because you are trying to seduce me?"

"Would that be so bad? I'm a hot guy, I think you'd be impressed by the size of my police baton."

"I don't care if your dick is so large, it has its own moon orbiting it. I hate casual sex, and only sleep with guys who are potential mates."

"Would I make such a bad boyfriend? I'm single. A policeman is one of the best jobs vampire men have in this city."

"I would never date a policeman."

"What's wrong with us cops?"

"Well, where do I begin? In my world, the human part of the USA, cops were known for being thuggish and corrupt. In the Logan Blood, the only law enforcement man I knew was a detestable liar, who would arrest people just so he could sexually molest them. The police in the Logan Blood were even worse. They would just burn to death innocent people on the street, they were nothing but butchers. In fact, I killed some of them when they tried to kill me."

"Okay, I'm sure we have our corrupt officers here too. But you can't tell me every single policeman is a corrupt bad guy."

"I'm not saying that. You don't seem like the least bit corrupt. But even so, you are still a police officer, and I am an academic. I'm educated, and all of my exes have either been highly educated, or with incredible life experience to make up for it."

"I'm an educated man just like you are. I know all my letters and numbers."

"What is 2 to the power of 3?"

"I'm sorry, what is a power?"

"See? You don't even know basic algebra!"

"But I'm a good person, Jake. Doesn't that make up for any holes in my education?"

"One of my exes arranged to kill himself so that his insurance policy would pay for his sister to get a life-saving kidney transplant. Another was a complete saint, who died saving my life. Have your actions measured up?"

"I donate half of my salary to the people in this District."

"That's very nice, but it just doesn't cut it, I'm sorry. And so if you're only helping me because you are interested in me, it isn't going to happen."

"Lucky for you, you are one of the few in this city who know what this means. Read it!"

He pulled out his license and showed it to me, pointing at one word in particular.

"Heterosexual?"

"That's right. I'm the second most heterosexual guy in this city, right behind the Admiral Devar. I'm helping you out of the kindness of my heart alone, which is pretty incredible, given you keep on accusing me on having untrue intentions."

"I'll try to be more grateful in the future. Hey, I have a vampire friend who also needs help getting a job."

"And he probably doesn't read or write?"

"No, he is quite educated. And super strong. He is so old, his son was old enough to father a child and was incredibly strong himself. He is surging with strength."

"Sounds like the perfect candidate for the police academy! They only accept strong vampires who can read and write. Does he have the money to pay to get trained at the police academy? It's not that expensive, since they need to draw in recruits. The academy is just a couple weeks long, and then he would likely get hired. It's a sweet gig."

"I'll ask him about it, thanks."

Soon, I was back at Rasheed's room, knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" he asked, fearfully.

"Jake."

"How do I know that's really you and not some vampire controlling you with their Shankar Blood venom? Tell me something only you would know."

"Your son was Tahir."

I heard all the locks unlocking, and then the door opened. And then the naked vampire pulled me back in and locked everything up again.

I went to the fridge and put all of my groceries and blood packets there. He handed me a stash of rupees.

"Wait, why are you crying?" I asked, realizing the moisture on his face I had taken for sweat was something worse.

His voice cracked. "I thought you were dead! I thought I was all alone again!"

He started to pull my clothes off.

"Wait, I have to go back out there."

"I need you to hold me right now."

"Listen, the police officer out there asked me if you were interested in joining the police academy."

"Absolutely not."

"But these police officers seem like they can go anywhere. You could find a way to get to the place with Big Horn's portal."

"No, I'm not made of the kind of stuff to be a police officer. I am no hero. I could never be assigned to police a place like this."

"But you are a hero, Rasheed. You rescued me from a rapist, remember?"

"That was just dumb luck that I stumbled upon you and acted on impulse. It was highly out of character for me to be so brave. If I had known beforehand that I there was even some risk that I might need to rescue someone from a mad vampire rapist like that beforehand, I would have never gotten the courage to even leave the room."

I wanted to keep arguing with him, but felt a little hypocritical about doing so after turning down Officer Wali's job offer myself. "What should I tell him?"

"Tell him I'm an excellent architect."

I walked out of Rasheed's room and went quickly to talk to Officer Wali on the street.

"A cop is no good, sorry. Too much dirty work involved, he doesn't want to get his hands dirty. He's trained as an architect. Can you find him one of those positions?"

"A what?"

"An architect."

"I'm sorry, either we don't have those positions here, or my basic schooling wasn't sufficient to learn that word."

"Architect. Someone who plans the designs of buildings."

"Are you serious? There's nothing like that available to him. Listen, he's a strong vampire. Why doesn't he join up with the military? Serve under Admiral Devar? Those guys never get their hands dirty, they just stand around looking imposing while we police do all the peace keeping."

"I'll ask him."

When I found Rasheed's door locked again, I knocked once more on his room door.

"Who is it?" asked an afraid voice.

"Same person it was like four seconds ago!"

"Tell me something only you would know about me."

"Your son was Tahir."

"That's the same thing you said last time! An attacker from outside could have heard that and taken over your mind."

"Halah ws your wife."

He let me in finally, and this time, I gave him a look filled with daggers as I came in.

"That's a no to the architect position. But he has a counter-suggestion. A military position."

"No way."

"But there's a high likelihood that will give you the freedom to go to the palace. And he told me that they really don't do anything but stand there and look tough."

"I cannot look tough. I can only look laughable. No way, they will all laugh at me. And what happened when some unexpected foe attacks the city, and suddenly the military actually has to do something besides look pretty?"

"That's not going to happen before you get to the portal, Rasheed!"

"Still, it's not going to happen. Tell him I want something academic, but not something where I'd have to get in front of a group of people and present something, like being a professor."

I walked out of the room and back to Officer Wali, telling him the latest request.

"There's not going to be anything academic for either of you, with or without presentation skills required."

"I'm an excellent presenter, FYI. It's totally him making this request, not me."

"Okay, but I still won't have anything like that for you. But as for him, I have an idea. There's no way I'll ever score him an arachnatech job."

"Architect it the word. Whatever you just said sound like someone who builds mechanical spiders or something. Knowing this guy, just that concept would probably terrify him."

"Architect. We already have all those types of positions filled, but if he likes to build buildings so much, he can be a construction worker. They could always use his strong muscles there."

"Thanks, Officer."

I went back up to Rasheed's and knocked on that stupid locked door again.

"Who is it?"

"Jake. How many people have actually come to door the whole time you've been here besides me?"

"Well, none. Tell me something new that only you would know about me."

"Alright, here it comes. Tahir used to tell me that you were the emotional one in the family. Now I'm starting to think it was a serious euphemism."

"Fine, I'm letting you in again."

He let me in, and I told him about the job offer.

"No, I can't be a laborer. That would bring me in the path of other wackos out there."

"But you just have to be strong for a little while, Raheed. Once you get the portal, you'll go back to your old life and have no reason to fear the people here any longer."

"You have me all wrong. I was just as afraid in Badiya Ahmar. I never left my house unless I absolutely had to."

"Even with Marutuk dead?"

"Yes! Halah took care of me. She even went out of the house to do my job for me when a site visit was required, so I could do all my work in my own house with the occasional company of clients and workers who had earned my trust enough to let them in my house. I'm going back to the same situation."

"I don't get it. If I were you, I would never be scared out there. You are so strong. No one can touch you."

"The physical risk is just a small piece of this, Jake."

"What is the larger piece, then?"

"It's the way people treat me. They've always teased me and taunted me. Laughed at me. I'm not strong like you are. I can't take that pain."

"When was the last time someone made fun of you like that?"

"When we were walking home together last night."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, how every single person we passed on the street or in my building laughed or said rude things about me. How a good half of them spit at me or threw things at me."

"What? I don't remember any of that!"

"I know what you're doing. This is the same trick Halah and Tahir would try to use against me. Deny the truth in order to make me feel better about myself. Well, I know the truth. I can hear them talking, and they make me feel like crap every time I go out there. So much so that when I am forced to go outside, I almost have a heart attack just thinking about it."

"You are being delusional, Rasheed!"

"You sound just like my wife, and I'll never believe you, no matter how many times you say it."

"Fine, there's no point in discussing it, then."

That night, even though I had very purposefully worn my shorts to bed, I felt them being pulled down my legs and felt a very large something pressing against my hole.

"Look, Rasheed. I don't feel right about doing that again with you."

"But I need it. I need you. My wife took care of me, and now you have to take care of me."

"I realize now that I cannot provide you with the help you really need. I'm sorry."

"You can. You need to be my next Halah. You need to take care of me like she did. And part of that means letting me have this." He patted my butt.

"No, it's just not going to happen, I'm sorry."

"If you refuse to take her place, I have nothing to live for. I'll kill myself, is that really what you want me to do?"

"Are you threatening me?"

"This is not an empty threat. I'm being all too serious. If I don't have another Halah, I have no reason to live, and I will end it all."

I could not believe this. How could anyone seriously threaten suicide in order to get what they wanted?

"Fine. Do what you need to me. But you're lucky that this act is physically pleasurable for me, otherwise I wouldn't be able to stomach it."

As he started to push himself into me, I couldn't help but have a horrible smile. I felt like this was God's way of playing a joke on me by giving me someone who was so over the top with emotional vulnerability, he went well past it being an attractor for me and ended up with so much of a good thing, it ended up repulsing me. Well, either God's joke or Big Horn's, and I wasn't sure Big Horn would be able to tell the difference between the two in any case, since he was so convinced all his opinions were so right they were practically scripture.

The thing that really got me was, in spite of Rasheed hardly knowing me beyond what Tahir had told him, I felt like he really didn't even care to get to know me. Everything was just about me taking care of him. Did he ever really love Halah, or did he only love her because of what she did for him?

JUNE 4th

Then next morning, I was down in the street talking to Officer Wali, breaking to him the fact that I thought connecting Rasheed to any available job positions was a losing battle, given his psychological issues, when something completely floored me, so much I stopped talking, my mouth going slack.

"Are you okay, Jake? Your mouth just dropped open and you seem to be staring at the mound my police baton is making in my uniform. I told you already I'm heterosexual, which means no, I will not close my eyes and let you suck on me, so you can shut the mouth right now."

"I am not looking there!"

He used his two fingers to draw a line between my eyes and his package. "Um, I'm afraid to break it to you, but you really are."

"Okay, you're right, I am, but it was just accidental, I promise. I'm not surprised by your package, Officer. I'm shocked because I just realized something."

"That you finally will admit that I'm a really am a good theoretical catch?"

"No. I realized that this whole time I've been in this District, I haven't seen any girls here. It's been a sausage fest the entire time."

"Well, of course you haven't seen any girls here. Do you not understand the whole idea of the Districts?"

"Oh my gosh, District Y is for males because they are just for those with Y chromosomes, and the District X is for those with only X chromosomes, isn't it?"

"Oh great, lose me with you advanced vocabulary again like always."

"What I mean is, District X is for women while District Y is for us men."

"Precisely."

"And that's why that woman in X20 was so freaked out when she saw me walking by."

"Yes. Why, the cities where you're from aren't segregated by gender?"

"Not at all. And that would explain why Rasheed's wife was taken from him. They were walking together in an X District, when police arrested her and forced him to come here."

"Because they were both ID-less, just like you were, and in her case, since she was bringing a man into an X District, that's actually a female law she's breaking, and so the arrest would have been warranted."

"Wait a second. Was it you who made that arrest?"

"I had nothing to do with this. As surprising as it may seem, since I am the only cop you've seen on the streets of this District, I am not the only officer in this city. You cannot blame me for everything they do."

"But Rasheed was told later that his wife was killed. Perhaps executed for her crimes?"

"That could be. Harboring an illegal man is a crime for women. I may be the one who arrests these people, but believe or not, I have little to do with sentencing and punishment, I'm never sure what happens. But I can see if I can figure out what came of her. What's her name?"

"Halah Farhat."

"I'll look into it." He patted my cheek playfully and left me alone on the street.

I was walking back towards the tenement when someone caught my eye. There was an old-ish man laying in the shade of the building that I had passed plenty of times before. But this time, I got a close look at his neck, and noticed there wasn't an Adam's apple. And that's when I noticed small lumps under her chest.

I made sure we were all alone in the street before I went up to her. "Pardon me asking, but are you a woman?"

The person looked highly annoyed. "Yes, alright. Yes. Just please don't tell anyone else here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. I'm not usually so rude, and you have my total assurance that your secret is safe with me. My name's Jake."

"My real name is Yaksha., but you keep that to yourself."

"I will, I promise. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"You just did! I guess not, if you keep it all to yourself."

"I will. How long have you been here?"

"For years. Since I was a young woman."

"Did you dress up as a man so that you could find yourself a mate here or something, since the District you were raised in has no males?"

"I'm homosexual. I am sadly more attracted to myself than any other being that has ever been here. I am not here by choice, they forced me here. The folks in charge."

"Is that why they kicked you out of District X? For being a Lesbain?"

"For being a what?"

"A homosexual?"

"No. That's preposterous. There's plenty of homosexual women in the X Districts."

"What was it then?"

"I wanted to wear pants. You see, in The Raajya East, in order to qualify as a woman, you don't just need a vagina. You need to act like one too, wear dresses and all of the glitz. If you refuse, they don't count you as a woman, and you have to agree to become a man legally or be arrested. I was banished to District Y."

"That's insane! And you're forced to pretend like you're a man here?"

"While I AM a man in their legal sense, in reference to me pretending to have an actual penis? That's my doing. Not because I identify as male in any way, the idea disgusts me, actually. But because it was the only way I could keep myself from getting raped in here all these years. And even then, there were some close calls. Luckily, for the predators here that like men, I was never the best looking one here, so I didn't have much issue in that regard."

"Are you the only one like you here?"

"I couldn't imagine. But no one has trusted me enough to tell me if no."

"Would there be some like you in the higher Y Districts?"

"Nope. I was extremely qualified in my younger years for all sorts of male jobs, and I would apply for them all. But I never got a single one, even when it meant people who were much inferior than me got them. No, I think they put some sort of mark on your work record that keeps you from ever thriving here. Now, I have nothing to do but just wait here until I die."

I gave her some of my rupees. "Thanks for confiding in me. Would this help any?"

"Probably not, but thanks anyway."

I left her alone.

"Rasheed, Officer Wali told me Halah is still alive!"

Naked Rasheed was so over overcome, he fell to his knees. "Please don't lie to me about this."

"I'm not, I swear this is the truth."

He started to shake a sob. "Oh god, oh god, this makes me so happy!"

"She is in jail awaiting sentencing for her crimes."

"You have to find some way to help her."

"Why do I have to help her? You're her husband!"

"Because I'm not the hero. You're the hero. And if you save her and bring her back to me, that's the only way I'll ever be able to let you go without killing myself."

"I'll do my best, but I'm not promising anything."

A few minutes later, I was demanding Officer Wali. "There has to be a job you can give me that will allow me to go to the X District."

"There's nothing."

"What about being a policeman or in the military?"

"Those jobs would give you access, but they are only for vampire males, not human."

"Well, what if I told you parts of me were actually vampire?"

"Does that mean you have the strength and Blood abilities of a vampire?"

"No. I'm just an ordinary man in those regards."

"Then what, specifically."

"I have a digestive and reproductive system just like you do."

"But all us male vampires here had our female parts removed. So, I think you just mean that you have the digestive system I do, meaning you don't produce excrement."

"That's true, but there's more to it than that. I have the female reproductive parts that you pulled out of your body. I've been pregnant before."

"You, you've been pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me that from the very beginning?"

"It's kind of a personal discussion. I don't usually meet people, tell them my name, and then go straight to letting them know I have a uterus."

"Just how motivated are you to get into the X District, Jake?"

"Highly. Wait a second, not enough to trade sexual favors for it, if that's where your mind is going."

"You are referring to the mind of a police officer. I'd hope that none of us would ever lead you down such an illegal road. There's no sex involved."

"And no having to look at blood, bleeding, or general gore?"

"No. Still not sure why you would have any issue with all of those fun delights, but no."

"Then I'm totally committed."

"Grab your bags then. I may be able to get you a prestigious job as a Humanity History teacher that would most certainly give you access to the X Districts. There's been a position open for an outsider human with expert knowledge on human society affairs and history for years. There's so few human outsiders in here, that filling the post has been a tall order."

"That sounds perfect."

After packing grabbing my pack and following Officer Wali out of District Y1, we came to a civic-looking building outside of any District that was labeled D.M.V.

"Are you serious?" I asked. "The DMV? I hope you at least made an appointment online, or else we'd better plan to be in there for a few decades, and take enough supplies with us so we'll survive the line. Good thing we are both not aging, or we'd be old men by the time they called our number."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"What does DMV stand for?"

"District Membership Validation. It's where you can apply to be a woman. Did you bring your rupees like I told you?"

"Yes."

"Good, you're going to need it. Ms. Oza is waiting for you inside." He took my pack from me to hold.

"Can I add one more caveat to the things I'm not willing to do to get into the women's District? I'm not willing to go through a sex change operation. That is definitely not in the cards."

"Alright."

"I couldn't help you sounded a little disappointed there."

"I think you're imagining things."

Two hours later, I was seated at a fairly fancy desk with Ms. Oza, in a private office that was way nicer than any DMV I'd been to. I'd already had a physical with a female doctor.

"So, Mr. Groves, you're requesting to change your Y ID into an X one?" asked the older woman, a human.

"That's right, Ms. Oza."

"The doctor says you pass the physical to be classified as a woman here."

"I don't understand," I said. "She does know I have a penis."

"Having a penis would not disqualify you here if you can prove you are not able to procreate with it. She had you give a semen sample, and confirmed that your sperm is all dead and incapable of impregnating a human egg."

"I already knew all that, yes. What about female fanged specials? Since they have working sperm that comes out of their clitorises?"

"They are forced to get their internal testes removed so they can only procreate the traditional way if they want to remain women. In your case, since you have female parts inside you, I would just need some proof that you are capable of being pregnant."

"Oh, I know."

I grabbed my phone and showed her the video clip I took of Marutuk and I in bed. I was naked.

"See? That's a baby bump! And that was just recently."

"This will work, yes."

"Does it matter if I can no longer procreate like that?"

"It does not. Many of us women have rough pregnancies that end up making us sterile. Others simply get too old to become pregnant. As long as there is proof that part of you worked at some point, that is all we need to retain our designation. What will disqualify you is the clothes you have on. I can tell by your accent that you are an outsider, and your clothes confirm that. No woman in The Raajya is allowed to wear outside clothes, ever."

I did not like the sound of that. I liked my clothes. "I won't wear this stuff."

"Also, your current name is unacceptable. For outsiders like you who come into the The Raajya, they must choose a new, Hindi name for themselves." She showed me a list. "Please choose a first name for yourself."

"Leora," I picked at random.

She wrote that down and showed me another page. "And last name?"

"Menon," I said.

"Ha, nice try. None of these names are from any powerful families here, so don't worry."

"I'll just randomly pick one." I shut my eyes and pointed.

"Dikshit?" she asked.

I looked to see that was exactly the last name I had chosen. "Oh, heavens no, I don't want to get teased. How about Parkar?" That sounded close enough to Parker that I liked it.

She wrote that down. "Now, all that's left is the money so I can give you all you're the new clothes you'll need, and other items."

"I have a lot of rupees. You can have them all."

"Thank you. This will do perfectly."

"Does that mean you'll give me my new ID badge now?"

"No. I can't just give this to you and assume you will follow through with the supplies I've given you. I'm going to give this to Officer Wali. Only when he is satisfied that you will be able to walk into District X will he give it to you."

When I left the building, Officer Wali was holding my things for me. He gave me a smile. "Success, huh? Since it's so late today, I couldn't get your job interview until tomorrow, so there's no need to put on any of this until the morning."

"So, it's back to District Y1 for the night, splendid."

"Now wait. Since I told you to bring your things with you, and you are kind of in District limbo at the moment until tomorrow, why don't you stay at my place tonight?"

"Sure, if you don't mind, Officer."

He grabbed my hand. "Please just call me Asgar."

"Thanks, Asgar, I will. Can I assume that this handholding is merely friendly?"

"You cannot. I have romantic designs on you, I must say."

"Whoa. What happened to being the second most heterosexual man in the city?"

"I suppose even the second most heterosexual man in the city has room for attraction for men. Because I've had a change of heart."

"A change of heart and a change of body and mind as well, as all three would need to be modified for someone to change their orientation."

"Perhaps it was a latent bisexual side to me that I never knew existed. Bottom line is, Jake, I've fallen for you. Would you do me the honors of becoming my boyfriend?"

"N--"

He put his brown finger to my mouth. "Before you answer that question, I'm asking you to give me the rest of tonight to pitch this to you. Do not give me your answer until after." He pulled his finger away.

"Do I have your promise that my answer to you will have no negative bearing on my chances of succeeding here?"

"You do, I swear it will not affect me one bit. I'll help you just as I was regardless of your answer."

"Then yes, I agree."

"Then I want you to imagine today just how nice your life would be as my boyfriend. And it starts right here."

He pointed behind him, and I realized there was a horse tied up to the wall that hadn't been there when I went in the building. "Oh, wow, is that your horse?"

He laughed. "I do not have my own horse, Jake. But as a police officer the force has loaned me one."

It was then that I noticed the decorations on the animal identified it as a police horse. "That's very nice," I said. I didn't bother telling him that Maxim had owned many horses. It's not like any of that mattered to me one bit anyway, which I had told Maxim over and over from the start. He knew the money didn't impress me, yet he always gave me things anyway.

Asgar put me on the horse, and then led it himself by the reins in front of it, moving almost as fast as the horse was capable of on foot.

"Isn't my home, District Y18, absolutely to die for?"

My first reaction was how unimpressive the neighborhood was compared to X20. The buildings were tall and attractive in a sparse sort of way, but they all looked the same, and the streets were much too narrow, making it impossible for even trees to grow on the sidewalks as they did in X20. Still, compared to Y1 it was an absolute dream, with no sign of decay or dirt anywhere, and no one living on the streets. It was better than Alik's neighborhood had been, that was for sure.

"It's very nice."

"All of this could be yours, Jake. All you'd have to do is become my boyfriend. And, if that excited you, think about this. If I get promoted in rank in the police force, it means I will end up in Y19 itself!"

He pulled his horse through the District, showing me every single stone of place as if it was made of gold, and introducing me to every man we passed on the street as if they were celebrities that would have impressed me.

"Are you hungry for dinner, Jake?"

"Very."

"I have just the place."

He led me to an outdoor café on the street, pulled me down off the horse, and put the horse in a stable.

I looked at the menu prices while he returned. "Hmm. This is too expensive for me, sorry. I'm pretty strapped after buying those items today. I was just going to get some dinner at one of your markets."

"And as you've seen, the markets here are excellent. But I want us to have a romantic dinner date together at the finest restaurant in the District."

"I'm sorry, but I can't pay for that."

"I'll pay for it. I insist."

"Alright, thank you. But before you do that, I wanted to let you know that I do not expect you or any of my other potential boyfriends to pay for me to do anything. I should be able to pay my own way. If we do end up together, it's not because I'm looking for you to take care of me financially. I'd be looking for a job, and hopefully can pay my own way soon."

During dinner, he kept asking me over and over, "Isn't this food splendid?" It was such a Maxim line that I couldn't help compare it to Maxim. The truth was, the food was just fine. But it was mediocre at best, even though it was the most expensive in the District. Maxim would never have taken me there, or Vasos. Even Marutuk had put Asgar to shame in that single dinner he had taken me out to in the five minutes that he was actually trying to impress me. But again, being able to afford to give to me a fancy dinner date wasn't the way to my heart in the first place.

As Asgar continued to gush about how great the food we were eating was, I could see that he wasn't the kind of person that would lie to me and tell me something was better than it really was. Which meant he really believed it was excellent. Which either meant he had poor taste in restaurants, or this truly was the best he had been exposed to. I just politely nodded and agreed with it being excellent, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

After dinner, once I thanked him again as he paid for us, our old-man waiter actually fainted after taking the leftover tip money.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"That's me taking your recommendation to heart that I should be chivalrous in my life than I have been," he said as he helped the old man up. "I'm going to give every single thing I can spare."

"That's very good of you, Asgar."

His apartment was within just a block of the restaurant, so we went straight there without getting the horse. The inside of his complex, though cramped and simple, was still loads better than where Alik had lived or anything in District Y1. His place was well near the top.

"Isn't this the best living space you've ever laid your eyes on?"

"It's very nice, thanks."

Once again, the place was decent. But there wasn't really any attempt to have anything there that wasn't functional. No decoration hung on the walls. But it was MUCH nicer than Alik's place had been, without any grime or dirt anywhere, and with a moderately spacious interior. By my humble upbringings, I was impressed.

"Look at this living room! There's three different places to sit, a love seat and TWO single chairs! Imagine our lives here together, arm in arm in this loveseat. And even though this room has FOUR different seating spots, look at how much space there is in the middle there! You could do gymnastics in this place! See?"

He set my bag down, walked over there, and did a standing back flip.

"Ah yes, a space for gymnastics in my home, just what I always dreamed I'd have someday."

"And look over here! Have you ever seen a kitchen this big, Jake?"

I didn't want to answer that even my lowly house growing up had a bigger kitchen than his, so I just said, "It's very nice."

"But I have something that I'm sure you've never even heard of. Not just a refrigerator, here," he said, opening the frig and showing me his stock of food and blood packets. "But THIS incredible invention!" He opened up another door, showing me a frosty interior.

"A freezer?"

"You've heard of that before?"

"Yes. It's very impressive."

"Think of it, during the hot summer we are heading into, you could cool yourself all day with that freezer there! And have you noticed just how much natural light is coming through these windows into my whole place? That's because I have SIX, count them, SIX whole windows here! You could spend your whole day just cleaning those windows!"

As he carried on showing me every basic thing about the place as if it was as grand as Versailles itself, I couldn't help but smile at just how much he sounded like some slimly real estate agent. But then I chided myself when I realized he wasn't lying to me. He really did think every basic feature of his place was truly a godsend, and he wanted to share it all with me. I felt sorry for him that normal life would be so poor to make all of this seem so luxurious.

He walked into one of the small rooms, a study. Two, identical desks were on both walls. "Look at this desk! Since you are a scholar, you could spend an eternity working right here. And in the spirit of chivalry, I'm going to donate my other desk to those in need."

"You don't need one of your own?"

"I thought I would, but I never use it. I just got it for my prospective partner. And now, that can be you."

He pulled me into another small room, this one a child's room. There was a kids size bed on one side, and a crib on the other.

"This is where our boys can stay."

"Asgar, I'm concerned you are under the false impression that I can have your children. I have been pregnant twice before, though both times, the children were, well, aborted. But my ovaries have been permanently injured, which means I won't be able to have any eggs."

"But you could still carry our invitro fertilized eggs if they were donated, correct?"

"That's right. But I don't want kids anytime soon."

"Well, when you do, this is where they could live."

He pulled me into the next room.

"Look, a closet! Large enough for all my things AND yours!" He pulled my bags away from me and set them in there. "And in an effort to by giving and kind hearted, I'm going to give a lot of my clothes to charity. But you can keep what stays. As you can see, it is chock full of exquisite clothes."

In reality, the clothes were neither that great in number or in style, but I simply agreed with him. He pulled me into the next room, a bathroom, a simple bathroom, and went on and on about how wonderful his toiletries were, even though they seemed basic to me.

"This could be your bedroom. Look at it! Have you ever seen a bed as grand as that one? Think of the amazing nights we could spend in there!"

"It is a wonderful bed," I said. It was a simple design, but fine. And it was large, perhaps larger than a queen. But the large bed took so much room up inside the bedroom that there was barely enough room for a dresser.

"And look at this! How luxurious is this! A real-life fireplace! So we can keep warm together during the cold winter nights!"

"Very nice."

"You have to try this bed out." He pulled me onto the bed. "Isn't this the most comfortable bed you've ever been on?"

"It's nice, thank you."

He put his body on top of mine, holding me. It was the first time I had felt his muscles against me, and boy did his body feel good.

"If you are going to be my boyfriend, you'll need to try on my kiss on for size. I promise you won't be disappointed."

I looked into his handsome face, and nodded. He opened his mouth and kissed me on the lips. He wasn't just boasting, he was an excellent kisser, starting sweetly and then building up from there.

"See?" he said, pulling away from my lips finally.

"Your kisses do get my approval."

"But that's just the tip of the tigertail. Look at these muscles, Jake!"

He pulled his uniform down so he was naked from the waist up, and showed me his gorgeous upper-body physique, all knotted with brown muscle.

"Think of an eternity of these muscles belonging only to you, Jake."

"Does that mean you are looking for monogamy in a relationship, like I am?"

"Of course! Feel these pecs, Jake!" He stuck my hands on his muscled chest. "They could be yours to do with as you see fit until the end of time!"

"Very impressive."

"You don't even know the meaning of the word impressive. Not until you see this."

He ripped his pants down to his ankles and showed me his bare, muscled legs. But much more importantly, his wonderfully huge, uncut dick, a flaccid, brown chunk of meat that made my mouth water, over very nice balls.

"Very impressive."

"You have to feel the product you are buying with your skin, Jake. Go ahead and get a good feel of my police-baton."

I did as he suggested, feeling his uncut foreskin in my hand, surprised just how thick and robust it was.

"Think about how much pleasure that police-baton would bring you on the inside. My body is completely yours to command, and all you have to do is agree to be my boyfriend. Please, tell me now. Will you give me the honor of being your boyfriend?"

"But I feel like I barely know you. Are you asking for some long term commitment right this second, before we even know each other that well?"

"No. You are free to end the relationship if at any time you learn something about me that is not to your liking, no hard feelings at all."

"Then yes, I agree to be my boyfriend, for the moment."

His face turned ecstatic. "You agree to be my boyfriend?!"

"I do."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

I kissed him happily.

"Wait, no." He pulled away from me. "Please don't kiss me."

"Why not?"

"Because this was all a hypothetical, Jake. I was just asking, hypothetically, if you'd be my boyfriend. I don't really want you to be one. I'm totally heterosexual, like I said the first time."

I pulled away, disgusted. "What is the meaning of all this then?"

"I wanted to prove to you that I would make someone a good boyfriend. That's all this was about."

"Oh my goodness, this is all about me telling you I'd never be your boyfriend before, isn't it?"

"What you said really, really got to me. So much so that I had to prove you wrong. Didn't you get the least bit suspicious when I was kissing you and letting you touch me like that without ever getting the least bit hard?"

"No! Because I had no reason to be suspicious of any of this. How could you manipulate me like that just to prove some petty point?"

"Are you really yelling right now? There's no point in getting so angry."

"You spent the past two hours toying with my emotions, Asgar. How do you really expect me to react?"

"I thought you would laugh at this practical joke along with me. Please, don't be mad, I never thought I would hurt you. I just had to do this, you don't know what it's been like for me here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Most of the attractive men in this city don't even have regular access to the X Districts so they can't even meet women. My job has put me in contact with plenty of them. And you can see what I have here to offer one of them, and I'm willing to be a father, just like a lot of those women want their mates to be. But no matter how many times I've tried, no woman has ever wanted me. We are talking about a century of trying, with no hope. The grabbing you just did to my police-baton was by far more action than I've ever gotten from even the most humblest woman, which makes me dearly sad."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'm going to forgive your horrible manipulations of me because I really do feel bad for you. But you have to promise me, no more lies. Not even in the name of a practical joke."

"I promise. No more lies."

With the bed looking suddenly much less promising suddenly, all I wanted to do was get to sleep. We got ready for bed, with me wearing my sleeping shorts to bed, as it was a warm night.

Asgar got into bed naked beside me, and since he proved himself as being totally physically unimpressed by me, it made me wonder if he was doing that for my own benefit, perhaps his way showing off his sexy body to me as a sort of olive branch, if olive branches could be made of sex.

JUNE 5th

"First things first, you need to take a shower. And I want you to take my razor and shave."

"Shave what?"

"Anything besides your eyebrows and eyelashes that has fur on it. You have to keep yourself well-shaved. And take a leak because this is the last time in a long time you will be able to."

I went into the shower and shaved myself down. After I was done, I dried off as he came back into the shower, this time in his police uniform. He inspected me carefully.

"Good. Now, Ms. Oza gave me approval power for making sure you are a suitable woman. And here's how we are going to measure it."

He pulled his hot, soft penis out of his police uniform.

"What exactly are we going to measure with that? Knowing the size of your dick is not going to help us here!"

"Oh, but it is. Since I'm only attracted to women, that means my police-baton is the perfect measurement of your successful transition. Right now, looking at you makes me soft and wilted. Only when I'm hard will you pass the test and be given your license."

"I bet I could get you hard with a taste of my wonderful blood, Asgar. I would much rather get bitten by you than go through this ridiculousness."

"No. You'll be getting me hard without ever getting close enough for me to smell your blood, or you will not get the license." He grabbed the bag and tossed me a sort of tape I had never seen before.

"What on earth is this for?"

"What do you think? Use some imagination."

I made a face. "Do I really have to?"

"Yes!"

"Fine, but you should know that I never once even thought I identified as female. Never even played with my mothers clothing or anything like that. I identify as a man, and doing all of this is so degrading to me, it's almost not worth it."

"That's your choice. Hey, I could never become a woman like this. Do you want me to rip your license up, and return you to Y1?"

"No, I'm doing this. I got through being branded with a giant L and thrown into slave pens, I can get through the humiliation of this."

I started to tape my dick and balls up.

"You're doing it wrong. Somehow, your penis is even more visible than ever, and my dick just shriveled."

"I'm sorry, I never went to drag queen school. All of this is totally foreign to me."

He told me how to get the tape right. "There you go. Here, put this on you." He handed me perfume.

"Ugh, this smells horridly sweet. Why do I need this?"

"So you don't smell like a man."

"Well, I already put my deodorant on, so I'm not going to be stinking. I don't need this."

"You need it!"

"Fine!"

I put the horrid stuff on me as I wrinkled my nose.

He gave me female underwear, though there was no bra to go with it. And then the horrible part happened as he handed me my pre-Muslim India era dress. I was lucky that the dresses had some built in padding around the bust, making me think she picked those out for me on purpose. My shoes were thankfully flat, not giving me anymore height than I already had.

"A scarf to put around your neck to keep your adams apple from view. And gloves to cover up your manly hands."

I put both on.

"Check this out."

I looked at his dick and smiled. "You got hard with me in this dress! Does that mean I can stop?"

"No! I'm not hard yet. This is just mild firmness. But clearly, you are doing something right."

He tossed me something else. "What is this?"

"Lipstick."

"No. You cannot seriously expect me to wear makeup. This is bright red too. Couldn't they have given me something a little less obnoxious?"

"Put it on!"

"Fine." I put the lipstick on myself, and frowned. "I cannot believe I have to do this."

"Put the rest of it on!"

I put the eye shadow, the blush, and the eyeliner on. The person I was looking at in the mirror looked nothing like myself, and I hated it. But over on the masculine side of the bathroom, Asgar was in a decidedly opposite mindset of my makeup, his dick going almost fully hard.

"One more piece." He tossed me a wig.

"Can't I go without that? A lot of women have short hair these days."

"No! Put it on!"

I huffed and put the wig on. It was clearly meant to go with my race, as it was the hair of a black woman. But instead of the styles I had seen, I was looking at a totally ridiculous fashion that looked like some glamorous, modern pop star. "Clearly, that woman only had one black woman's wig in her collection, because this looks absolutely mortifying."

"Well, it's working on your measure of success. Look at me."

I looked and his big dick and it was fully hard. "Does that mean I'm done?"

"No. If I was fully turned on, I'd be leaking right now. You may look the part, but you don't act it. First of all, I need to see you walk."

I walked towards him.

"No, that was terrible! Do it like a woman!"

"That WAS me doing it like a woman!"

"I'm not giving you this license until it's right!"

After so much walking back and forth in that torture chamber of a bathroom that I swear I could have walked to Beijing, he finally deemed me a success.

"But the voice is still wrong. I need to hear a high, womanly tone."

I rolled my eyes. "How's this?" I asked, in a voice so falsetto-ly high pitched it was barely audible.

"I'm not giving you this until its right. This is no time to joke around."

He made me talk until every touch of my masculine voice was gone.

"You're leaking!"

I pointed out the dripping goo from the end of his penis.

"You pass, then."

He handed me my women's license, which I hung on my dress.

"We have an interview to get to, and your dick can't fit back in your uniform like that, can it?"

"No, it cannot. Luckily, all I have to do is summon up the image of your taped up genitals, and I go instantly soft. See? All ready to go now."

"I'm sorry that the sight of my real male parts is so appalling to you."

"As am I. If it wasn't for those parts, I'd ask you to be my boyfriend in your current state. Too bad the second I took off your dress I would make me repulsed at what was underneath, I might never be able to get hard again."

My license said District X1, because I was a new person, but Asgar was able to take me to the palace in X20 still. He brought me to an entrance on the side of the palace, not the main one but one that seemed to lead to more of the living areas of the place. Luckily, none of the guards there seemed familiar to me. And even luckier, when the male guards there wanted to search me before letting me inside to meet Chunni Menon, which I knew would lead to them cavity searching me, Asgar told them he had just finished searching me, and vouched for me being clean.

He left me there, and I was led to a room filled with books and desks to wait for Chunni Menon to appear. And wait I did. And waited. And waited even longer.

Just when I was about to get up and leave, sure that no one was coming, the door opened and Chunni came in with one of her guards, someone I didn't know. I stood up and bowed as she came over to me, her eyes on her notepad.

"Hello Ms. Parkar, Are you here for the Humanity World History position?"

"Yes, Lady Menon," I said in my best British accent that I had picked up from Edmund.

I had decided I wasn't going to get this position if Chunni knew I was the former Jake Groves, as she hated me and the position was only for women. I knew the only chance I had was to pretend to be someone else. Since the three times I had been in the palace, I had been so physically harmed that I was unrecognizable, I figured I had a shot. But she would remember my American accent, and so that had to go. There were four accents I had picked up well enough to fake them. Southern, which was too similar to my own. Russian, which I was worried about since she knew I had just been in the Petrov Blood. Arabic from Tahir, which I felt would have been too dangerous since I might actually be expected here to speak it to someone. That left me with British.

"Thanks so much for this opportunity," I said, praying it would pass.

"I've been trying to fill this job for years, but no one has passed muster, I'm afraid." She squinted at me and looked me over carefully for the first time. I could see her eyes poring over my features, looking at my lipstick and my ridiculous wig. "Wait a second. I know who you are just by looking at you."

"You do?"

"Yes! You'll never pass your true identity off on me. And lying to someone like me is a treasonable offense here."

"I, um--"

"You're that pop singer. Beyonce. I've seen your videos and I know it's you. Why on earth have you come here?"

I felt enormously reassured. She probably thought all black females look the same, and Beyonce was the only one she had seen. "That is not me, let me assure you, Lady. I am way taller than her, if you want to look it up just to make sure. And I am British, while she is American."

"My mistake. No, I don't know you. If you pass my quiz, I'll give you the position."

"Oh, should I take the quiz home and bring it back tomorrow?"

"It's an oral quiz. We'll do it right now. If you miss any of them, you will not get the position."

"Alright, Milady," I said, even though I was not confident in myself at all.

"What was the capitol of Republican China?"

"Hmm. Nanjing?"

"Yes. Which treaty was signed to end World War One?"

"Versailles."

"Yes. What Roman general conquered Gaul in the First Century?"

"Julius Caesar."

"Where was Christopher Columbus from?"

"Hmm. Is it Genoa?"

"The ancient city of Antioch lay within the boundaries of what modern country?"

"Turkey."

"In 1895, which African country claimed independence by defeating Italy?"

"Ethiopia."

"And finally: Who was Jesus of Nazareth's father?"

I was about to say God when I realized she was giving me a trick question to try and weed out religious folks.

"Joseph."

"Right. And why did Jesus make up all of the religious lies that he did?"

"He was just another cult leader using the fear of religion to get people to obey him. Just like Moses, Mohamed, Confucius, and all the others." As I said it, I asked God for forgiveness.

"Precisely. Alright then, you're hired."

She nodded at the guard in the room, and he left.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, milady."

"You can start today. I'll introduce you to my daughter. You will live here in the palace, with the other teachers."

"I'd love to meet your daughter."

That was the one reason for all of this. If I could just have some time with her, maybe I could make a difference. I knew it was only a matter of time before Chunni realized, but I also knew my life was protected here, so she couldn't punish me for lying to her. I just had to get to the daughter without seeing any of the guards who had been close enough to smell my blood or remember my facial structure.

"Oh, Sajan. Please come in and meet our new Humanity Teacher."

I looked, and I saw beautiful Sajan enter the room, and I felt terrified. There was no way I would ever fool him, I had been around him far too much.

"So nice to make your acquaintance, Ma'am," he said as he came into the room before he really looked at me.

"Leora Parkar, please meet our Admiral Sajan Devar, esteemed servant of the throne."

"Good to meet you, Admiral," I said in my best non-Jake voice.

And then he looked me in the eye for the first time, and he stopped cold and he jaw dropped as he looked me over.

Channi eyed him. "Admiral, you've become frozen. Is there something the matter with our guest?"

He looked me over again. I looked him in the eye and tried to implore to him that he not reveal anything.

"No, there is nothing wrong, Aarya Menon."

"Then why were you so frozen?"

"It's embarrassing to say, Aarya. Permission to speak freely?"

"Yes, granted, Sajan."

"Truth be told, I suppose I was struck by Ms. Parkar's rare beauty. So struck I forgot myself for a moment. I truly apologize for the slight."

"I'm sorry for his behavior, Leora. In all these years, I have never once seen Sajan slip up in this manner, even in the company of the most beautiful women."

"It's quite all right," I said, sure that he knew who I was and had just covered for me, and feeling grateful.

"I suppose this is a reminder to me just how long you've had the request of the throne that we find you a suitable wife and allow you to marry. How many years exactly has it been that you've waited patiently?"

"A hundred, seventy-four, My Lady. I give you that answer without the slightest trace of impatience. I would wait an eternity to be allowed to romance a woman, if that is what My Grace required of me. And I would gladly serve forever if that request was formally denied as well."

"I know you well enough to know you aren't lying to me," she said. "We'll have to revisit your case with Her Grace, my daughter. In the meantime, do I have you assurance that you will keep your loins fully in check around my poor female teacher?"

"You do, My Lady. I live to serve you."

"Sajan, please take our new instructor's arms and show her to her room."

"This way, Ma'am." Sajan held out his studly, brown muscled arm, and I grabbed his veiny bicep.

"Sajan, what was that?" asked Chunni. "You just flinched again."

"I beg your forgiveness, My Lady. I just smelled her for the first time. She smells wonderful."

My throat went dry as I realized that he smelled my bloodyupe, and she knew my unusual type as well.

"That really is my fault. That's just my favorite perfume. It's so strong because I absolutely love to douse myself in it."

Sajan walked me out of the room and into the beautiful palace hallways. As we passed others, I was trying hard not to get hard as my hands caressed the man's bare arm muscles and his masculine scent invaded my nose.

He led me into my apartment, and it was the first moment we had been alone, so I shut the door so he could talk freely.

The room was a gorgeous, Hindu style architecture room, far larger and more splendid than poor Asgar's place had been. How strange that he had worked so long for that place, and here I was, getting this nicer place so much more quickly.

He looked at the shut door. "I hope everything is to your liking here, Ma'am."

"It is wonderful We are alone now."

"Yes."

"Please drop the good manners and tell me what is really on your mind. Be completely frank with me."

"Completely frank?"

"Yes."

He looked away from me. "I just couldn't. I could never put to mouth every explicit desire I have for you. Please, don't make me do that, Ma'am."

I realized then that he believed I was a woman, just as I said. Otherwise, he would have told me he knew the truth. He wasn't keeping my secret, he was fooled by it.

"Never mind, Admiral. You don't have to respond to that."

"Thank you. I'm sorry again for making such a fool of myself."

"Quite alright, Admiral."

"Since you are my rightful superior, you may address me however you see fit. And yet, it would please me endlessly if you'd call me Sajan."

"I'd love that, Sajan. And I'd love it as well if you'd call me Leora."

He looked as astonished as if I had just threw a stick of sizzling dynamite at him. "I could never, Ma'am. The ladies here would never have it."

"Then could you call me it in private?" I asked.

"If I build up enough courage someday, Ma'am. I just want you to know that my men and I are here to defend your life and livelihood." He bowed and left me alone in the room.

As I was getting settled in, I pulled back my curtains so I could enjoy my wonderful view. I saw Asgar was waiting for me outside on the street, so I waved to him from the window and gave him a thumbs up, smiling. He nodded happily and left.

Very soon, there came a knock at the door. A male guard was asked to bring me to Chunni's office.

The office was a huge, grand room. Chunni was at her desk, while a young girl played in the corner with dolls. Chunni waved me in, dismissed her guard, and introduced me to her second daughter, Gangi Shankar. I bowed respectfully to the adorable little girl before she resumed her playing. Only after watching her for a moment did I see her arms moving at supernatural speeds at times with those dolls, showing me she was a fanged vampire.

Chunni was talking to another woman at her desk. "I'll be just a moment, Leora. Gangi, play with Leora until I finish."

"Come over and play dolls with me!" the girl said excitedly.

"I'd love to."

But as soon as I went over there, Gangi looked at me oddly, her fangs coming out. "Mom, this one smells so good!"

Chunni rolled her eyes. "Oh, what a pain it is having two fanged daughters." She brought over what I thought was a juice sippy cup. "Just sip on this, darling. That's what you need to do whenever those fangs come out, okay?"

"Yes, Mom." The girl drank what I realized was blood, and both her fangs and her bloodlust towards me went away. She looked back at her dolls. "I was playing the princesses who get locked up in a tower and need to break out. You can be the wicked witch who tries to keep them there." She handed me the ugliest doll she had.

"Do you have any boy dolls?" I asked.

"Do they even make those?" she asked.

I didn't want to get myself in trouble with her mother, so I accepted the witch doll and started to play. She was a very imaginative little girl.

The other woman left and Chunni called me over to her desk. "Leora, I have a new job responsibility for you that I only just realized would be a necessary component of your position here."

"What is that?" I asked.

"I need you to date Sajan."

I didn't like that idea. Any unneeded time with Sajan would only risk he would discover my true identity. "What if I'm not attracted to him. Milady?"

"I saw the way you were looking at him, earlier. You cannot tell me you were not heavily attracted to him. And how could you not be? Unless you are attracted to women."

"No, I'm not. Isn't there someone else who would be better suited to this than I am?"

"He is the second most powerful man in this Blood, behind my own husband, Vivek Shankar. Both of them are considered to be a couple of the handsomest vampires this Blood has ever seen. But while my husband's mother was half Arabian, making his looks not as pure Indian as the other males here, Sajan's beauty is deeply Indian. Honestly, there were so many times I've wished it was Sajan who was my husband, not Vivek, but that's obviously impossible. Vivek is a man I've never trusted for one second, calculating and shrewd. Yet Sajan is as loyal and demure as a lapdog, though physically as powerful as a tiger. And his loyalty isn't just false courtesy to my family given that he reports to us. I've known him for so long, I know just how deep his loyalty runs. He is a great man. Honestly, I was saving him in the hopes that he would one day be suitable to marry one of my daughters, though he never knew that. But with two fanged daughters, neither one will be ready to procreate for so, so long, there's no point in marrying them off any earlier. I saw today that I cannot make him wait that long, so I'm letting go of that idea, and finding a woman here who is suitable to marry him. Given how he looked at you today, I think we've met his match."

"And what if I find out we have nothing in common?"

"I cannot make you marry him. But if you want to keep this job, you are going to agree to court him. Which means, at least five dates with him. At that point, if you decide to continue the courtship, great. If not, I'll try and find him another suitor."

"Fine, I suppose I have no choice, My Lady."

"No, you do not. Your first date will be tonight. But this afternoon, you are needed as a teacher for my daughter. Here's your text book. Please be ready with your first lesson. After tonight, if my daughter has learned something useful, and if Sajan is satisfied with his date, only then will I give you your first paycheck."

"Devanshi, please say hello to your new Humanity professor, Leora Parkar."

"A pleasure, My Grace," I said, bowing to her.

I got nervous as she looked me over and sniffed me. Now that I knew she was a fanged vampire, like Sajan, that meant she had better senses to recognize me. I hoped that her being so far away from me up on her statue throne would be enough for her not to recognize me.

"So pleased to meet you, Ms. Parker." She showed no sign of recognizing me.

"I want you to listen to her and do any reading assignments she may assign to you. You'd better be a flawless student, like you are with your other professors."

"Yes, Mother."

We were in a small sort of classroom, with me standing at the head of the class.

"I have one other student for you at this time. Jagger!"

A young Indian woman came in, probably about my age. Her dress wasn't nearly as nice as the other two women, and her hair was short and plain, but she had so much natural beauty it was clear she was a vampire.

"Leora, meet Jagger Kaamat. She will be your other pupil today.

Jagger frowned at me and looked sharply at Chunni. "But I'm a year older than Her Grace. I already graduated."

"You graduated when there wasn't a Humanity professor, didn't you?"

"I guesss so."

"Then if you want to hold onto your degree, you will pass this woman's class."

"Fine."

Chunni left, and I had them pull out their textbooks. They were college level world history books, though that part of their labels had been covered up and just Humanity 1 written in.

My two students were sitting all the way across the room from each other. Jagger was sitting at just a normal desk, while Devanshi had a very fancy, special alcove in the room set up for her, clearly denoting her importance.

I was taking my lesson very seriously, starting at the earliest civilizations and moving forward. I knew my stuff, and it would make me very proud to be have students that were really learning from me. At first, I thought my class's response was a mixed bag. Devanshi was polite and followed my instruction to a T. She was clearly bright, and learning quickly.

But Jagger was anything but. She sat at the back of the room with her arms folded, glaring at me. Even the slightest bit of hesitation as I looked something up in this very unfamiliar textbook as I went through my lecture was met with her by chuckles. Anytime I asked her a question, all she had to give me was a sharp quip, making no effort to even try to learn from me. I was so tempted to match her quips with one of my own, but didn't want to show her hostility.

This made me gravitate as my lecture went on to Devanshi, as she as he only one really listening. But as the lecture went on, something occurred to me. Devanshi wasn't nearly as engaged as I had once believed. She was treating me with courtesy and doing everything asked of her, as if I was her mother. But inside, there was something cold there. She wasn't connecting with me at all. Any attempt I made to joke with her or get to know her were answered neatly, but there wasn't anything about her that conveyed truth.

Leaving that lecture, I felt seriously disappointed in my abilities as a professor. I knew the material, but I didn't know how to get through to my students.

I answered a knock at my apartment door, and there was Sajan, wearing full battle armor.

"Oh my goodness," I said. "You have a battle to fight, and you need to postpone our date. Is that it?"

He dropped to his knees and bowed at the sight of me. "Miss Parkar, I am here, reporting for our courtship meeting. This is my fancy dress wear. But if it displeases you in any way, I'll change right away."

That's when I noticed how beautiful his armor was, so old-fashioned Hindu in style, all of it very fancy. He wore a battle skirt, his muscled, bare legs appearing beneath it. His upper body was covered in armor, and his head was bound up in a very fancy Hindu bun.

"No, you look quite alright, thank you."

"It would do me great honor if you would allow me to kiss your hand in greeting, Miss Parkar."

I held my gloved hand out, and his brown lips kissed it sweetly. Once again, I was struck by his beauty. His large, strong hands cradled my hand like it was the most worthy royal treasure he had ever touched. His sweet brown lips caressed my hand, making me long to have them kissing my own mouth. His gorgeous brown eyes, large and adoring, looked into my own with such sweetness, it melted me. Even though one of them had been white, and the other Indian, there was so much in Sajan that was similar to Parker.

"Please, get to your feet, Sajan."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He stood up. "I am honored that you agreed to let me take you to dinner tonight."

"Oh, is that what we're doing? Listen, I honestly cannot afford much of a night out tonight, I'm afraid. I don't get my first paycheck until tomorrow. So, let's do something inexpensive tonight. Perhaps we can just get some quick food at some market for dinner, and then spend our time walking around the city and exploring?"

"I am at your disposal, and will do anything you ask of me. However, I expected to pay for you on our dates, as is tradition. I know you make a lot more money than I do."

"I do?"

"Of course! You are an esteemed royal professor, while I am just the head of military here. You rightfully will be getting far more compensation in just a short time than I ever will. But in spite of my low wages, I've saved up for this for an eternity. I've built up quite a large dowry, trying to lure a woman to marry me."

"You have a dowry?"

"Indeed, Ma'am. I know that the dowries us men collect are one of the only reasons for agreeing to marry us. Given that I am the richest man in this Blood who isn't a Shankar, my personal dowry is quite sizable. And as tradition dictates, the man pays for the woman during courtship out of his dowry funds."

"I'm actually not after your dowry money at all, Sajan. Money doesn't impress me. Just good character."

"You are as sweet as you look, then. Money was never a motivating factor for me either. That's why it's been so easy for me to save almost all of my money for my dowry. But regardless if my money impresses you or not, it would do me great honor if you would let me pay for you in this courtship."

"Alright, I agree."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I have a restaurant that I would love to take you to tonight, if you'll consent."

"I do. Wait a second, why have you been stooped over like that all day. Is your neck bothering you?"

"No, Ma'am. I'm merely showing you deference by stooping around you so that I am always keeping my head under yours, as is custom for important ladies such as you."

"Well, that's a custom I can do without. I'd rather you stand straight, Sajan, and show off your excellent posture."

He gulped. "Are you sure that wouldn't make you feel physically threatened by me? I am such a large, muscular person compared to you."

"I'm positive. Please stand up."

"Yes, Ma'am. You do me great honor by permitting me this."

He still looked into my eyes nervously and stood up straight as slow as possible, seemingly in case I should change my mind suddenly.

"There you go. I like that version of you so much better, Sajan."

"I will do anything to please you, Ma'am. Now, it would do me great honor if you allowed me the immense pleasure of taking your arm and escorting you to my horse."

I agreed, and sweetly, Sajan made a hoop with his muscled arm but did not dare to actually be the one to engage in the touching, I put my arm through his, gripping him. I loved having him close enough to smell his masculine scent. I had to remind myself that me longing for him was silly, as he was only attracted to this fake version of me, not the real deal.

He escorted me outside, and there was a horse waiting for us. Unlike with Asgar, this horse actually belonged to him, but he could only afford one animal. And since I did not have a horse, he decided to put me on his alone. Also, there was some mud on the ground, so he procured a rug from somewhere and put it in the mud for me to step in. I wanted to refuse all of this, but there were other women there on horseback, watching us, and I felt that any serious contradictions to their traditions might endanger me, and possibly him as well, so I let him behave like he was used to behaving for the other women.

He treated me like I was physically unable to do much of anything by myself, using his arm to help me into my saddle, yet he never was so bold that he touched me anywhere besides my arm. He took the horse by the reins and led it off himself, getting his own feet thoroughly muddy in the process, which made me feel bad, but what could I do? Obviously, women here were used to being pampered.

I felt all too silly when we ended up going to a beautiful restaurant just two blocks from the palace. "We could have easily walked," I told him.

"Walked? Ladies such as you do not walk, Ma'am."

Sajan once again placed the rug in the mud before he allowed me to dismount, and I grabbed his arm and let him escort me into the restaurant. The inside was just as grand as the exterior, one of those places that was so classy, it wouldn't matter if the food was terrible, because you could live off the atmosphere alone. The host bowed to me deeply as I entered, and then asked if I was dining alone.

"No. I'm eating with this man, here," I told him.

The host looked at him briefly. "Yes, your guard will attend to you while you are eating, but is there anyone else who will be joining you at the table?"

"No, I think you misunderstood me," I said. "This man is not here to guard me. We are here on a date. He will be seated with me."

The host looked at Sajan with surprise, perhaps giving him the first courtesy I had seen. "Oh, I see. Of course, of course. Let me seat both of you together, Ma'am."

The host led us to a fancy table, and it was odd how awkward he was when it came time to help Sajan into his seat. After the host left, Sajan and I both opened our menus.

"Uh-oh," Sajan said, looking at his menu with surprise.

"I know, this is way too expensive. Should we go somewhere cheaper?"

"No, this is not too expensive, I'm fine, Ma'am."

I looked around the place. I noticed that all of the diners were all women. Some were alone, others in groups, some even with young girls, but they were all female. I supposed that was the result of a society segregated by sex.

But there were almost as many men in the place as women. The waiters were all men. And the busboys were literally boys, making me angry again that this place forced children to work.

"Sajan, tell me. Do any women actually work in this place?"

"Of course," he said.

"Well good."

"Rest assured, there are two positions in every X District restaurant that are held by women. Men wouldn't ever deign to even attempt those positions, as they wouldn't have the intellectual capacity."

"Which positions, exactly?"

"Head Chef, Manager, and the owner herself. Don't worry. I would never insult you by taking you to one of the inferior restaurants in the Y Districts that are run by men."

I thought of the lackluster offering Y18 had had, the place Asgar had taken me to.

"Oh, look Ma'am, Salahakara Ogra is here eating dinner as well."

He pointed, and I saw the royal advisor in the nicest table of the whole place. She was throwing money around like it was paper and demanding the servers bring her the most expensive items they had.

"I don't think she sees us, Ma'am. Should we go introduce ourselves?"

I was trying hard to avoid the woman, one of the few people who saw me before I changed gender. "She looks like she is having plenty of fun all by herself. Let's just let her be. Have you been here before, Sajan?"

"Oh, of course. Many times. It is a favorite of mine. I would not have taken you here if I hadn't known this place, Ma'am."

"What is your recommended dish?"

"I haven't ever eaten here before, Ma'am."

"What were you doing here, then?"

"Well, I was on guard duty, Ma'am."

"Should we be going to a restaurant that you've actually eaten at and enjoyed?"

"I wish I could, Ma'am, but no woman has given me the pleasure of allowing them to sit down and break naan with them until this very moment. It is a great honor and eternal gift you've bestowed on this humble man."

I felt horrible that in all these many decades of service to the royal family, they never once took him out to a meal. "Have they ever let you shared a meal with them inside the palace, at least?"

"Oh, goodness no. That would be even more unheard of than eating at a restaurant."

"Does that make you feel at all resentful?" I asked.

"Not in the slightest," I knew what he was saying wasn't just something he spit out to all women, but something he believed to his core. This man was incapable of dishonesty.

"Sajan, have you committed some violent crime in your past? Is that why you're treated like this?"

"No crime. If I had, I would have been executed. No, I'm treated just as all other men are."

The waiter came and took our orders. I ordered first, and then Sajan said he would get the same as me.

Right at that second, a female gasp made us both turn to a table across the restaurant. One of the women angrily slapped a busboy on the cheek, making him grab his cheek and start to fight back tears.

"You male swine!" the woman scolded.

"Oh my goodness, what on earth could that boy have done to merit slapping him like that?" I asked.

Sajan used his vampire eyes to assess the situation. "He has the forks out of order, Ma'am. With such a disgraceful screwup, he's lucky it's only a slap. Lucky to have such a kind patron. I have been called far worse things in my time, all of them totally deserved, of course."

"Sajan, what exactly have you been called by women?"

"Ma'am, repeating what has been said about me would be highly inappropriate for any man to say to a woman."

"Sajan, I'm ordering you to be candid and tell me the things they have said."

"Yes, Ma'am. I am nothing but a disgusting male slug, I am too puny minded to ever lead a woman in any capacity, too feeble brained to ever learn any serious academic or scientific trade. Too stupid to ever be creative or artistic, only good for doing what I'm told to do and listening to orders. I am an inferior and disgusting creature, worse than mold. My phallus makes me a disgusting, idiotic creature that is only good to serve women. With a penis that is so grotesquely, just the sight of it makes women lose their lunch. And with it comes all the male wickedness of the mind. How I look at women with lustful eyes, like the base animal I am. I admit to all of these accusations completely, Ma'am. I am a disgusting, male creature, and just like all men, I am not even worthy to be allowed to breathe the same air as you. That's why it's so amazing to me that you've agreed to this date with me, and I cannot imagine how philanthropic you must be to find it in you to put up with my presence."

I reached my hand across the table and grabbed his hand. He looked at the gesture, absolutely bewildered. "Sajan, I want you to know I'm not like the others here. I'm an outsider. And to me, you're a wonderful person, regardless of your sex."

"I am so touched, I don't know how to respond, Ma'am."

"Tell me about your parents."

"My mother was a member of one of the major families of the Blood."

"A Devar?" I asked, knowing his last name.

He looked confused. "Males do not inherit their mother's last names. They take on their father's. My father was in the military like I was, though he died in the line of duty before he could rise up to my level."

"Did your mother help raise you?"

"Ma'am, females only raise other females, never males."

"I see. I feel like this is an interrogation more than a date. A date should be about both of us getting to know each other, and as long as you have a rule against asking me questions, that isn't going to happen. So please, ask away."

"If you insist, Ma'am. It would make me happy to hear about your life."

I laughed. "That technically wasn't a question, but I'll take it. But you know what? I'd like to save my history for another time."

He looked down at his feet. "I beg your forgiveness, Ma'am. I never meant to ask you anything personal or offensive. If you'd rather end this date right now, I would totally understand."

"I'm not offended by the question, Sajan. Do not worry. I'm just not in the mood to go over my history, as it is long and tragedy filled. I'd rather stay in a good mood with you." That was at least the partial truth. The real part was, I would have to come up with a fake history for my female identity, but I didn't want to lie to Sajan anymore than I had to. "Please ask me something else."

"Is your mother one percent as beautiful as you are?"

"My biological mother was a far more beautiful woman than I am. She's dead. As is my father."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. And see? What a horrendous person I am, asking about a dead parent."

"It's fine. And now you know we both have deceased parents. We have that in common." I squeezed his hand. "Listen, I think you are a very attractive man, Sajan. But I don't understand why you think I'm physically attractive."

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Ma'am."

"Is it my AB Negative bloodtype that attracts you? Is that it?"

"Do I have your permission to speak my mind honestly, even if the truth is less than savory, Ma'am?"

"Yes. I insist you answer honestly."

"In all honesty, your blood does smell amazing, and just being around you, just inhaling your blood, it makes my mind go to improper, all-too-male, base thoughts, Ma'am." Once again, he said it with a voice shaky with nerves, and looked away from me, his posture even going limp with shame. "But I've known as soon as I smelled you that I would never be drinking your blood."

"How did you know that?" I interjected.

"It's tradition here, Ma'am. All females have never permitted vampire men to drink their blood, not even when they are, um..."

"Having sex?"

"Mating, yes. Vampire males must drink only from blood packets. Before those existed, we were only allowed to feed from human men, an act that is all too awkward when you have no attraction to them."

"And let me tell you, that's a tradition I will not be breaking. I hate being fed from, and you will never get to drink from me, is that clear?." It was a lie, but it was necessary. I was all too worried about Sajan drinking my blood and realizing it wasn't just AB Negative he tasted, but something much better. I didn't know if he would recognize it as meaning I was the One, and therefore Jake Groves, not Leora Parkar.

"Yes, Ma'am, I never once even fantasized anything else would be true. So, back to my innermost desires. You see, your bloodtype, like I said, causes me impure thoughts. But the knowledge that those thoughts can never be sated, if anything, they make it slightly unpleasant to be around you, and be forced to have my vampire mind go to hungers that can never be filled. So, if anything, your bloodtype is actually more of a hindrance than a pleasure, which is why you can be assured it is not what I find attractive about you, Ma'am. I am physically attracted to you not as a vampire, but as a man, Ma'am."

"You're attracted to me physically? Even as big-boned and tall as I am? No other man here has given me even the slightest sign they are attracted to me."

"I don't care what the other men think, Ma'am. To me, you are heavenly to look upon, an absolute beauty. And yes, that includes your large size. If other men can't see the beauty that I do, then they need their eyes checked."

"Wait a second," I said. "Are you sure it's not just my exoticness that you're attracted to? Because I can assure you, there are plenty of other black women in this world who are far more beautiful than I. If you were to meet them, then you might decide that I was nothing in comparison."

"Believe it or not, The Raajya East sees its fair share of women of African descent here. I've seen plenty of women of all sorts of ethnicities here. And you know what? None of them have attracted me the way you do, Ma'am."

It was reassuring to hear.

The food was really superb when it came out, and I could tell just how touched Sajan was to be able to taste something as good as that for the first time. He was so moved.

I told him I had to go to the bathroom, almost slipping and calling it the men's room for a moment before catching myself just in time. I walked off and made myself go into the woman's bathroom for the first time since I was a little boy and my mother brought me.

When I came back into the dining room, what I saw horrified me: Salahakara Ogra was over at our table, her face all anger at Sajan. "You male dog!" she said. She stabbed a Bhuj, which was horribly sharp, and twisted it into his neck, making him scream in pain.

I ran over to her. "What is the meaning of this?" I asked angrily.

"Sajan had the gall to sit at a table meant just for women. I made him pay for his crimes." She twisted the instrument harder into him, making him yell and squeal in agony as blood poured all over his chest. "He tried to claim he was brought here on a date, but I know he would never get such an invitation."

"He was invited to this table by me. We are courting, and this is an approved date!"

"Oh, really? And who are you to be inviting the Queen's head guard on a date?"

"I'm the Queen's new Humanity History teacher. Asked by Lady Menon herself to court Sajan."

She looked at my face for the very first time, and her eyes looked me over with surprise. I was sure she knew who I was, sure she would tell Sajan.

"Ah yes, I suppose he is allowed to be here. Please to meet you." She said the last line with so little regard for me, it was clear it was artificial.

"Yes, just please let him free!"

"Oh, alright. If I must."

She frowned at me as she pulled out her Bhuj from his throat, with another yelp of pain from Sajan. He put his hands to his bleeding throat, stopping the bleeding as he healed. She nodded to us and went back to her fancy table.

"What was that?"

"That was the equivalent of a slap is to a human boy. Only for us, since a slap wouldn't hurt us nearly as much, they carry these tools to give us real, intense pain whenever we do something wrong. I'm surprised you don't have one, Ma'am."

"I saw you, Sajan. You didn't even try to defend yourself before you got knifed in the throat!"

"Defending myself against a woman is strictly forbidden. It's in her every right to punish me like that."

JUNE 6th

The next morning, I had to go through the first time I had to dress in drag without the help of Asgar, and once again, I absolutely hated doing all of that to myself. When I got dressed, I decided to skip the gloves this time. The women here really didn't wear them, and I knew they were to cover up my masculine hands, but I thought they actually ended up just making my hands look even thicker than normal.

I was just finishing with my makeup in a hand mirror on my desk when there came a knock at my apartment door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me," said Chunni. "Please, open up."

"Hold on, My Lady, I'll be right there."

I frantically hurried and finished my eye shadow and blush, and then remembered about that lipstick.

"I do not like to be kept waiting," Chunni said through the door.

"I'm just getting dressed."

I hurriedly put the terrible red lipstick on, and then headed towards the door.

Thank goodness I passed a full length mirror. I grabbed my head frantically as I realized I was missing my wig.

"I'm coming in!" she said.

I had already noticed my apartment didn't have any locks. Now, I understood why. "Wait, I'm not decent!"

"I don't care. We are both women, and it's nothing I haven't seen before."

I ran around, looking for my wig, but I couldn't find it anywhere. What on earth had I done with it last night?

I heard her start to open the door, and I grabbed a towel and put it around my hair in the nick of time.

"Ah, there you are," she said to me. "You look perfectly decent to me."

"Well, I just put this dress on, My Lady."

"I have something for you." She walked in and handed me a paper.

"What is this, My Lady?"

"Your first paycheck," she said.

I opened it and was floored just how much as I was getting paid. "Thank you so much, My Lady."

"I decided to give that to you for two reasons. Most importantly, Devanshi was able to tell me so much human history yesterday. She's already learned so much from you."

I was lucky she hadn't quizzed Jagger, who surely would have told her she learned nothing from me. "I'm so glad to hear it."

"And the second reason why I'm paying you is because I talked to Sajan this morning about your first date. He told me that before the date, he was attracted to you unlike he has ever been before."

"And after the date?"

"After the date, I made him tell me that he feels that he already wants to marry you, now that he knows you so well. Thank you for that. I expect another lesson and another date today."

"Yes, My Lady."

"Do you know where payroll is in this palace, so you can cash that?"

"No."

"I'll send someone over to escort you, then."

"Thanks, My Lady."

"Listen, I wanted a word with you about Jagger Kaamat. Besides the Shankars, there are ten ruling Indian families in The Raajya East, my own, the Menons, included. The Kaamats are not one of those, so Jagger will never rule here. But the last Queen, who died along with her mother, had a Kaamat as one of her favorite advisors, a human woman. The woman married a vampire, and now we have Jagger, even though the rest of the Kaamats are all dead. Do you need me to go over how our ruling structure works here?"

"Yes, My Lady."

"The oldest woman in the ten ruling families, which in my case was me, marries the oldest male Shankar, which in my case was Vivek. The male Shankars their union produces are raised by the other male Shankars, but the females are the ones who rule, or, if the females are too young, their mother. Too prevent inbreeding, female Shankars are prohibited to marry the males, and so if they marry, their offspring will not be allowed to rule. If the ruling Shankar queen dies, and she doesn't have a younger sister, her mother must produce another female heir with the oldest Shankar male. If she is unable or unwilling to do so, her marriage dissolves, and then her ex-husband would then be remarried to whoever the oldest female is in the four ruling families. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, My Lady."

"Which is a long way of saying, since Jagger Kaamat is of little importance here, but since her mother was a favorite of the old queen, I've done my best to see that she is raised like a person of honor. Yet, in spite of all my efforts, she has had nothing for me or any of her teachers but bile. I'm hoping you will finally be the one to break through to her. If not, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up convicted of some crime or something."

"She certainly is a tough nut to crack. I'll do my best, My Lady."

"Excellent. And just to warn you, when there's no more need for you here, at least for a couple years, I might send you over to Badiya Ahmar to help out my sister with her daughters over there. You see, Shah Jibril recently died, leaving no other living Bahar to take his place. That means that the ruling party is dictated by the Queen, and she selected my little sister, to lead. With the great power and influence the Shah had there now gone, my sister is quickly turning The Raajya West into a true reflection of us in the East, already segregating the sexes there."

I absolutely hated to hear that. Those people had suffered enough already, and didn't need the horrible mistreatment of men to be forced into their lives. "Ah, wonderful, My Lady. Whatever you think is best."

She thanked me and left me alone, and I almost felt good about my accomplishments for a moment.

Soon, I heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Admiral Sajan Devar, Ma'am. Here to be your escort."

"Hi Sajan. Please wait there. I need to look for something."

I pulled the towel off my hair and began searched the room.

"You would never just let yourself in without my permission, would you? The doors don't have locks."

"I would never, Ma'am."

I looked over the room carefully, and finally found my wig under my pillow on the bed. I had been looking that while time for where I would have left my wig the previous night after undressing, but I never imagined not taking it off at all. This whole cross-dressing thing was an absolute nightmare.

I made sure my wig was carefully secured on my head, then took one last spin in front of that mirror again just to make sure I had it all this time.

I opened the door, loving seeing Sajan's beautiful face again looking at me. Gone were the previous night's fancy battle armor. He was back in his normal guard uniform, his nearly naked look that was so exciting to look at, all of his gorgeous brown muscles on display. He was just wearing his sikh- turban, the cloth skirt, and his metal armbands and anklebands.

"How did you ever get roped into showing me around the palace?"

"Honestly, Ma'am? Lady Menon asked me to make sure someone from the guards escorted you, and I suppose I normally would have assigned someone else for that sort of responsibility. But I decided to do it myself."

"Well, that's very sweet of you, Sajan. Please let me know if there's anything I can do for you in return."

"Getting an excuse to be close to you is reward enough, Ma'am."

"I insist you think of something I can do for you to reward you. Perhaps I can give you a cut of this money that you are helping me pick up?"

"No way, Ma'am. Hmm. How about when we are through, if my work pleases you, you permit me to kiss you on the hand goodbye?"

"Yes, sounds good."

"Shall we proceed, Ma'am?" He offered me his arm.

"Yes."

But instead of taking his arm, I grabbed his hand again, like I had done the night before, and walked with him down the hall.

He gasped. "Oh no! Ma'am, please don't look at me, please look away."

"What is the problem?"

That's when I looked down and saw a massive, brown pole coming out of the front of his cloth skirt, totally hard. Well, I guess that proved my hunch that he was naked under those things correct.

"You're embarrassed because you're hard?" I asked.

Embarrassment surged through his body language as he realized I had seen him. "I beg for your forgiveness. I am nothing but an unworthy male vermin, who needs to be put out of his misery."

"I don't understand," I said. "Yesterday I was holding your hand without any problem. What has changed?"

"Your hand is ungloved today. Feeling your skin against my own for the first time is sending electricity to my horribly-male loins, Ma'sm. I'm so sorry."

"It's nothing to worry about. I understand your reaction. If anything, I think it's flattering."

"No. This is totally unacceptable behavior for a lady such as you. You should punish me like all the other ladies here would. Give me a taste of your Bhuj, it's the only way I'll learn."

"I do not have a Bhuj."

"I do, Ma'am."

Before I could even take a breath, he pulled out his Bhuj, pushed it into my hand, and then used his hand to force me to stab it into his throat as he screamed in pain. And then he twisted it, making the blood ooze.

"No! Stop that! Drop your hand right now! That's an order!"

He put his hand down to his side, and I had to look away in order not to faint as I pulled the Bhuj out of his throat.

"I'm confiscating this thing from you! There will be no more hurting yourself while I'm around you, you hear me?"

"But Ma'am, I'm a disgusting male pig, and I only am behaving how you smart females trained me to behave."

"I don't care! I've given you an order, and I want you to promise me you will obey!"

"Yes, Ma'am. I will."

"Good. And I order you not to get embarrassed at me seeing your erection."

"I'll try, Ma'am."

"Because I find it just as attractive as the rest of you."

"You, you do?!"

"Yes."

He smiled deeply, looking like a whole new world of possibilities was just opening up for him. I took his hand and continued down the hall.

"Just as long as you keep in mind that what is wonderful for my eyes isn't true for any of the other ladies, we should be fine as we walk into this busy hallway ahead of us. The last thing I want is for any of them to knife you in horror."

When we got to payroll, I told Sajan he could go, but he begged me to escort me back, so I agreed to at least pretend like I might get lost on the way back. After pocketing my money, he led me back up to my room.

"My feedback of your work is highly favorable, so I'm going to allow you to give me that kiss, Sajan."

"Even though I lost control out there, Ma'am?"

"Yes. Go ahead and kiss me, but this time, let's go into the privacy of my room, so we have the moment completely to ourselves."

Once I had shut the door behind us, I offered him my right hand. He knelt down on one knee and took my hand in his own. His eyes looked it with such reverence, it might have been the Holy Grail. All of this reminded me so much of the way Parker treated me.

He leaned down and placed his sweet brown lips on the back of my hand, loving me with his kiss. He breathed in my scent as he did so, loving it. He made the kiss last for as long as he possibly could before he pulled away.

"Ma'am, would another request be completely out of order?"

"It would not."

"Would you allow me to keep kissing your hand, Ma'am? It would make me so happy."

"Kiss freely, Sajan."

He smiled gratefully, and then he gave me kisses just like the first one, only this time, all over every inch of my hand.

"You are devouring me with your kisses, Sajan."

He stood up in sharp, terrified alarm. "I never meant to hurt you. I'm so sorry."

"I wasn't serious, Sajan, I was just kidding."

"Kidding? About devouring you, Ma'am?"

"Yes. It was a joke."

"Joke? Oh, is this in relation to a sense of humor, Ma'am?"

"Yes."

"Right now, I'm going to exercise that allowance you gave me last night to ask you a question. Do you consider yourself as having a good sense of humor, Ma'am?"

"I do."

"Well, I should warn you, Ma'am, I've never been trained to understand humor. I've been told that humor is a means of communication that only women such as you have brains complex enough to understand. Us men do not have the ability to laugh. I'm so sorry if this means at times I won't be able to understand your jokes."

This had sharply veered away from the Parker similarities. Parker, along with all the other men I'd dated, had at least good senses of humor.

"I'm fine with that, Sajan. I don't need to joke with you. I can be serious with you. I'm just as capable of being serious."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

I looked at my two students.

"Today I know I said we would be learning about Sumerians, but I want you to move ahead a chapter to Ancient Egyptians. They made many amazing accomplishments, as you can see, but they did it all with the help of their slaves. Without horrible, abusive slave labor, they would have never built the pyramids."

That evening, Sajan once again knocked at my door. This time, he was dressed in similar Hindu battle armor as before, but this one being slightly different.

He took me out onto his horse again in the same manner as before, and led me to a new destination, a large, gorgeous Hindu-architecture public hall that turned out to be a theatre.

Once again, as we went inside the theatre, I had to tell everyone that Sajan was my date for the evening before they would let him sit down beside me. Once again, all the staff was male, and all the patrons female.

Well, there was one exception to that rule. There was a woman almost as tall as I was seated in our section, but she drew more looks from me, as she looked sort of odd. Only then did I realize she was a man, like me, only he was Indian, like the rest of the folks in the room. No one else even gave him a second glass, but I could see through the disguise. But, I could neither say anything to him, nor say anything to Sajan, so I just kept it to myself.

That made me wonder if this was truly a transvestite or transsexual person who wanted to identify as female, or if, like me, it was a disguise to get the benefits of being a female without ever really belonging? Was this a human who had scammed their way into getting in somehow, or was it a bottom vampire who like me would be able to pass for female according to their rules?

I did notice that he wasn't wearing anything on his neck, and his adam's apple was bigger than mine. That made me think I could too get away with not wearing that annoying scarf all the time.

I also spotted Salahakara Ogra again, this time sitting in the fancy box seats of the place. She was once again demanding delicacies from the waiters.

It was a dinner theater, so the waiter took our order.

"What kind of play is this?"

"It's a comedy," he said.

"You planned this after I told you today that I have a good sense of humor, didn't you?"

"I suppose so, Ma'am."

"That was very thoughtful of you, Sajan." I reached down and grabbed his hand, and he all but melted at that simple touch. "Have you been here before?"

"I have, on guard duty, Ma'am."

"How was the play?"

"I couldn't say, but the women loved it, so I returned."

I almost made another joke, but then I stopped myself. "I don't understand. Why didn't you experience the play?"

"Well, Ma'am, I suppose I should try and explain something about myself. You see, I learned long ago, when I'm on guard duty, to block out everything unnecessary around me and just focus on keeping my women safe. Which means I almost never experience the entertainment or even the meetings they are in at all. I don't hear or see anything unless it's a risk, and that's what has allowed me to be so successful."

"Well, I don't want you sitting here, worried about protecting me on our dates. I want you to let yourself go for once tonight and experience this play as I am experiencing it. Experience the romance of being out together like I'm experiencing it."

"Yes, Ma'am. As the first woman who has ever said that to me, you don't know how much that means."

The play started, and it was great fun, with a band in pit as well as around a dozen actors telling a ridiculous story. I soon noticed that every actor and every musician were women.

As I sat there laughing, Sajan held my hand with a huge smile on his face.

During intermission, I said, "Judging by the smile all over your face, I'd say you might be at risk of growing a sense of humor, Sajan. Are you enjoying the play as much as I am?"

"Not at all, Ma'am. I'm sorry, but it's all going over my head. I told you that we men just don't have the mental faculties for this."

"Then why are you smiling so much?"

"I'm smiling because I love being in your presence, and I love seeing you laugh."

"I feel bad monopolizing the fun like this, Sajan. Should we leave and go do something you'd enjoy more?"

"Absolutely not. This courtship is about your pleasure, not mine. And it pleases me so much to see you happy."

"Well, if you don't want to leave, is there something else I could do that would make this more fun for you?"

"Would you allow me to stop watching the stage and just watch you and your beauty, Ma'am?"

"If that's what makes you happy, then go right ahead."

And so he did exactly as he had asked for the rest of the show.

When he dropped me off that night, I invited him into my room and shut the door, leaving us alone.

"Sajan, before we take this courtship any further, I need you to promise me something."

"What is that, Ma'am?"

"Promise me that if I ever do anything that makes you uneasy in any way or is the least bit uncomfortable for you, that you will stop me. I don't want you going along with anything I do just because I'm a woman, or because you are worried about putting your career in jeopardy. You promise me you'll let me know."

"Alright, I promise, Ma'am."

"Good. So you'll let me know if you don't like me doing this."

I put my arms around him and caressed the back of his head.

"I quite enjoy that, Ma'am."

"Do you mind if I take off your turban?" I asked, not sure if there was some requirement that he wear the Hindu headdress.

"Of course you can, Ma'am."

I took off his handsome turban and looked at his gorgeous, luscious black locks, short but still long enough to draw me to them. I ran my fingers through them, loving their feel, loving their scent.

"Tell me if this makes you uncomfortable."

I moved in and kissed his beautiful brown lips, before pulling back again.

"How can a kiss that tastes that good possibly be unwanted, Ma'am?"

I kissed him again, but this time, I really went for it. My hands ran through his hair as I kissed those wonderful lips. My mouth opened and my tongue came out, licking at his lips at first, and then pushing into his mouth. Wow, did his mouth ever taste good.

His kisses were sweetly restrained. Not restrained like Big Horn's had been. No, instead of the Native American's kisses, which had been uncomfortable and felt unwanted, Sajan's kiss was tender and affectionate, just too polite to ever lead me somewhere new. He was kissing me back, but he wasn't putting his own tongue inside my mouth uninvited. Likewise, his hands were twisting and flexing from the pleasure of the kiss, but at his sides, not on my body. The kiss was so good, it was hard to bring it to an end.

"Do you mind if I take off your upper body armor?" I asked him. "Would that bother you?"

"There's no piece of clothing I would ever conceivably have on that I would ever feel uncomfortable with you taking off, Ma'am." That line wasn't a joke, he was totally serious. "But the armor is very heavy, Ma'am. It was not meant to be handled by women. Please let me pull it off, if that's what you want me to do."

"Yes, please."

That meant I was free to admire his body as he took off his armor, leaving him shirtless. His powerful chest and arm muscles even flexed as they pulled off the armor, making me admire him even more.

"Tell me if this bothers you," I said.

I put my hands on his gorgeous, brown pecs.

"You're not saying anything."

"That's because I'm not the least bit bothered, Ma'am."

I smiled and I lowered my hands to his wonderful, dark nipples. His pecs were naturally hairless, and I rubbed those muscles appreciatively.

I moved my hands down to his brown, tight abs. He had a black treasure trail that was so cute. I also took a moment to rub his strong arms, feeling every vein with my eager fingers. His upper arms were bare, but his forearms showing black hair.

"Does this bother you?" I asked.

I kissed his manly right hand, and then licked at his finger.

"It drives me crazy, Ma'am."

"In a good way?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

I licked at his hand, and then moved my tongue up to his forearm, licking the black hairs there. And then I licked up to his biceps, getting every vein on my lips. I kissed his armpit hair, loving his manly vampire smell, and then kissed his shoulder.

Soon, I was licking my way down his hard pecs, loving the sweet flavor his dark nipples gave off in my lips. I licked at the edge between his lower pecs and his ribs, and then licked down his hot treasure trail, licking his navel and going down.

"Does this bother you?" I asked.

I yanked down his battle skirt until his gorgeous black pubes were in view.

I kissed and licked at his wonderful pubes, taking in that manly flavor of his there.

"You're not answering me," I said.

"So sorry, Ma'am. That's just because I was too shocked and in pleasure to answer. No, that doesn't bother me at all. I am in heaven."

"What about this?" I asked.

I yanked down his battle-skirt again, until the very upper part of his thick, brown stalk was in view. Wow, was it impressive. It looked like the hard battle-skirt was keeping him both pointed downwards and keeping him from getting fully hard, but he was clearly half hard, as his stalk looked almost painfully folded down.

He gasped. "This is getting painfully close to breaking a law, Ma'am."

"Because I'm about to expose your privates? But Sajan, we are in private bedroom. Nudity laws can't count in here."

"Not nudity laws. Sexual conduct laws. You cannot touch my penis or testicles, Ma'am."

"I can't? Is it against the law?"

"Yes, Ma'am. In any of The Raajya East areas."

"You know what? I'm fine taking the risk. I don't they will arrest me for this." I moved my hands towards his upper-stalk.

He jumped away from me. "As do I Ma'am, because it's not a law for you. It's a law for men only."

"Wait. So if I'm the one to touch you, it would be you who would get arrested?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Even if I'm the one who wants to touch you?"

"Even then, Ma'am."

"That is totally ridiculous! What purpose does that serve?!"

"It keeps us disgusting males with only sex on our brains from violating sweet women like you, Ma'am."

"Wait a second, how would anyone ever procreate here under that restriction?"

"We have to masturbate into a cup, and the woman then uses that to impregnate themselves with, Ma'am."

"Can't we just put a condom on you to keep yourself from touching me? If that wouldn't be sufficient, we could even wrap it up with plastic."

"Afraid not, Ma'am. There's a minimum thickness of a material that must be dividing my penis from your skin just for that reason that totally eliminates the use of condoms, papers, or even most cloths in that way."

"So does that mean I can't ever see you fully naked?" I asked him.

"There are no such restrictions on nudity, Ma'am. You are allowed to see me, just so as we make sure you never actually touch me there, we should be fine. You are frowning, but I see this as a positive, Ma'am."

"You do?"

"Yes, Ma'am. It keeps non-procreational sexual contact between the sexes focused on where it should be: with the men there to physically please the women, not themselves."

I yanked down his skirt another inch, until the sides of his dark balls came into view on both sides of that huge stalk.

That's when I felt my wig get pulled loose after hitting his shoulder. My hand went quickly to try to get it back in line, but I was too late.

The wig fell off me and hit the ground. I prayed Sajan had his eyes shut. I looked up, and his eyes were open, looking down at the wig.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"What are you sorry for, Ma'am?"

"For the wig!"

"So your wig came off. That doesn't bother me at all, Ma'am."

"It doesn't?"

"No. A lot of women here wear wigs. And I've learned that many women of African descent wear them to make it much easier to get ready."

"Here, I'll put it back on."

"You don't have to for my sake, Ma'am. I find you just as beautiful now as you were before your wig came off."

"Really? You're not just saying that?"

"No, Ma'am. Please feel free to be whoever you desire when you're with me, it has no bearing on my attraction to you."

That was sweet, but the wig was making me worry about all the other parts of this ridiculous costume I had on. I didn't feel secure continuing that night any longer. "It's very late, and I hate to keep you up any longer, Sajan. Why don't I kiss you goodnight for now and then continue with another date tomorrow night."

"I'd love that, Ma'am."

I gave him a very passionate kiss goodnight, making me sorry I had to turn him away.

He bowed gratefully and kissed my feet again before leaving me alone.

I picked up my wig off the ground, and as I did, I couldn't help but notice a huge amount of clear liquid was on the ground. It didn't take me long to realize it was just over where Sajan had been standing. Obviously he had no idea what he had left behind, as he never would have allowed himself to leave a mess of any kind.

I couldn't keep myself from putting my finger to the stuff on the ground and putting it in my mouth. His flavor was so wonderful.

JUNE 7th

"Before I let you out for the day, I wanted to hand back your first quizzes, which I corrected earlier." I gave a sheet back to Devanshi. "A hundred percent correct, Your Grace. Nice!"

"Thank you, Ms. Parkar. Will you please let my mother know about this score?"

"Yes, Your Grace. You're dismissed. Jagger, please stay put."

Devanshi left the classroom, leaving me and Jagger's impenetrable defiance alone. "Jagger, I'm sorry to say your first quiz was troubling." I pulled it out. "Your first answer was F,' which was incorrect. And then in the next answer, you selected U', which wasn't even one of the possibilities. And then you picked C,' which was correct, nice job on that one. And then you picked K,' which again wasn't even one of the answers. Oh my goodness, it just is hitting me, what you've done here." I looked at all the other answers to get the full, vulgar message. "Well, you may be failing Human History, but the at least your spelling is impeccable, even for such delightful words that you've chosen to express yourself with. I'll let your English teacher know to give you extra credit."

I crumpled up the test and threw it away.

"Can I go now?"

"What exactly have I done to earn your ire, Jagger? I was nice to you from the beginning."

She rolled her eyes. "Do I really have to answer that?"

"Yes!"

"It's so obvious. You are just another plaything of Chunni Menon, whom I despise. Just like all the other teachers. You are getting paid to spy on us for her."

"That's ridiculous!" I said.

"Now, that was almost convincing. I think they might be hiring at the acting studio in the city."

"I am not a spy for anyone. I swear to you."

"Oh yeah, that's exactly what one of her many spies would do first, wouldn't they? Why would I ever trust anything you say?"

"I understand. Actions speak louder than words. Well, watch this action."

I pulled my wig off, and she looked mildly surprised by that, which wasn't enough. So I pulled my dress off too, leaving me in just underwear.

"I'm not going to take off my underwear unless you absolutely insist," I said in my normal accent. "But I hope you can see I am a man."

"I see it fine."

"My real name is Jake Groves. I'm American, and I'm the One. You are the only one I am trusting with all of this, since we both clearly do not like Lady Menon. She and Devanshi made a deal with me to kill the Shah of The Raajya East in voting to save my life at a future Vampire Council meeting, which I managed to do at great sacrifice to me and others I cared about. But since it wasn't exactly what Chunni envisioned, Devanshi and her refused to keep their end of the bargain, and will be voting for me to die. I misled them both by creating my false identity, with the hopes that I would be able to get through to Devanshi when her mother wasn't around."

"Well, you're wasting your time," said Jagger. "Everyone knows Devanshi is a total Chunni clone. And how could she be anything else? She hasn't been allowed to have a single friend in all these years. Even Sajan, who is the head of her personal guards, hasn't gotten close to her in the slightest, she treats him and all of the servants like flies. The only people she ever is allowed to be a person around is her mother and aunts, who are just as evil and messed up as her mother. She isn't even allowed to play with her sister. No wonder she's so evil."

"I've noticed absolutely no results made so far in my teaching," I said as I put the dress back on. "She shows absolutely no emotion, ever. It's been quite a frustrating experience."

"I would just give up now, if I were you."

"Thanks Jagger. I'm trusting you to keep my secret."

"I will."

"You're dismissed."

She left the room.

I looked over and noticed there was a piece of paper left on her desk. Thinking she accidentally left it behind, I went over to collect it.

It was the quiz she had taken earlier, pulled out of the trash by her without me realizing she had done it. Her old answers had been crossed out, and in their place, all the correct answers had been written in. I couldn't believe that through all her complaints, that Jagger had actually managed to listen and learn from my classes. I felt suddenly moved by Jagger.

That evening, after once again being picked up by Sajan in his body armor, he took me to another beautiful theatre, this one larger the others, and having a distinct Hindu temple feel to it.

"What kind of entertainment am I in store for tonight?" I asked excitedly.

"It's a musical hall. Where they perform their great musicals, Ma'am."

As soon as he let me get down off his horse, I held onto his brown hand, much preferring to be walking in a manner in which I could hold onto him even though it meant using my own feet to get me around as opposed to being alone on a horse. Once again, I had to insist he was my date to get him seated with me or served dinner. And once again, all the patrons were female and the workers male.

This time I was looking more out for any sign of guys in drag, and I actually spotted three other guys like me in that theater before the lights went out, and they were not the guy I had seen the previous night. Which seemed to prove there was a healthy number of us out there. And once again, no one was giving any of them sideways glances at all.

Once again, dinner was served in the theatre, so we were given menus. I put mine down immediately.

"Ma'am, aren't you having dinner?"

"I am. But tonight, instead of you always ordering what I order, I want you to order whatever you think is best for me. I'm not the one who is versed in Indian food."

He looked over his menu. "Ma'am, there's something about me that I haven't told you yet."

"You can't read, can you?"

"How did you know?"

"That first night when you were at one of the X districts restaurants for the first time, you opened the menu and were shocked. I thought it was the high prices, but I realized you were upset that the menus didn't have drawings of all the food items like they do in the Y districts."

"You are very clever, Ma'am."

"Why can't you read? I met a police officer who could read, and these waiters can read."

"Well Ma'am, those jobs have reading as a critical job requirement. When my father had my job, it was actually required that he read and write, and he knew how. But when I took the roll, Ma'am, they told me, men as a whole are too stupid to learn much reading, with only the smartest men being able to. They said I wasn't even one of the smartest men, and would never be smart enough to even learn the alphabet. And so, imagine how generous they were to me."

"Generous? How on earth how?"

"Well Ma'am, they changed my job requirements so I would not have to know how to read, otherwise I would have never qualified. They figured my job was pretty much mostly physical anyway, so it wouldn't matter. They saved me from my own stupidity."

"I don't think you're stupid, Sajan."

"You are kind to say that, Ma'am. But I imagine that this means you want to end our courtship, as you want to find a man who can read?"

""Not a chance. Is there anything else you haven't told me that I should know?"

"Well, I do have a special ability that's kind of bizarre., I'm afraid to say, Ma'am."

"Which is?"

"Here Ma'am."

He put my hand on his nose.

"Hold on and pull."

I pulled on his nose, and it amazingly stretched out in my fingers. "Your special ability is to grow a Pinocchio nose?"

"Pull my finger, Ma'am." He held out his hand.

"Okay, but only because I know you don't have a sense of humor. Or the capacity to be gassy, for that matter."

I pulled his finger, and it stretched longer in my hands.

"I can stretch or bend all of my bones and cartilage in un-human ways, Ma'am. It doesn't affect any of my body parts that don't have bones."

"Is this something that happens accidentally?"

"I have a rubber on and off switch for my whole body that I control, Ma'am. Right now, it's on. In this state, you could pull me and bend me without me knowing about it. But If I turn it off..."

His fingers and his nose at once both snapped back to normal.

"Then I return to normal, Ma'am."

"I bet that special ability comes in useful sometimes!"

"It has aided me in battle for sure, Ma'am."

"And that's all you need to tell me?"

"That's everything, Ma'am."

There was a pit filled with female musicians, and on the stage, a huge assortment of dancers and actors/singers. The story was absolutely ridiculous, as it was a very over the top drama with the characters all breaking into song for no explainable reason at all. I wanted to cringe so badly at the story, and I was worried Sajan would notice me looking unhappy, after he spent all this money on me, so I just focused on the pretty music and blocked out the actors, which made it enjoyable.

"You're able to enjoy this music as much as I am this time, I hope?" I asked him at intermission.

"You must not know too many men, Ma'am. Our male brains are so busy thinking about women sexually that we are unable to appreciate or understand music."

"But you've been smiling through the whole thing."

"Just as last night, just being lucky enough to be here with you and see you happy makes me so, amazingly joyful, Ma'am."

That night, when Sajan escorted me to my room, I once again pulled him in and shut the door. "Do you mind taking off your turban and upper body armor again, Sajan? And I mean that in not just a polite way of asking you to do something, I'm trying to see if you desire those things once again."

"Yes, I do, Ma'am. Shall I go ahead and remove them again?"

"Yes please."

He took off his turban, once again letting loose his sexy, curly black hair into view to my delight. And then he took off his upper body armor as well, his upper body naked, with my eyes taking in those ripped, gorgeous brown muscles.

I grabbed a cloth and moved towards his head. "How do you feel about me blindfolding you tonight?"

He looked nervously at the blindfold. "Honestly, Ma'am?"

"Honestly. Please state your opinion freely."

"My freely stated opinion is that the idea of you blindfolding me worries me."

"Why is that? You aren't afraid of the dark, are you?"

"No, Ma'am. I'm concerned that me being blindfolded would impede me in doing my job."

"Please explain."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm worried that it would hinder me from my responsibility to keep you safe as your sworn protector, which always needs to come first, miles ahead of any sort of courtship activities we embarked on. What if some intruder were to break in here right now and threaten your life? I need to be here with all my senses intact. That's just my humble and lowly opinion, Ma'am."

"It's sweet of you that you want to protect me, Sajan."

"It's not sweet of me, Ma'am. It's my duty. It's my reason for existence."

"Right, sorry. And while I understand your primary responsibility, I do not agree with your logic. How likely is it that someone will burst in here tonight with the intention of killing me? How many times has that happened to you before?"

"Zero times, Ma'am. That doesn't mean there won't be a first time."

"Sajan, think about this. If I skip the blindfold fun tonight and just send you on your way home, you certainly wouldn't be here to protect me if something bad occurred."

"No, I suppose not, Ma'am."

"That's why even if you were blindfolded or even chained up, you would still protect me more than if you weren't here at all. So, I don't want that to be a reason why you'd be uncomfortable being blindfolded."

"I am so sorry, Ma'am," he said. "I am a complete utter failure for not seeing that logic. I beg your forgiveness. As you know, men like me are incapable of good logic. We have brains that are only able to fix on being attracted to females. And I must confess, ever since you came into my life, my mind has only been more distracted than ever. Please pardon my maleness, Ma'am."

"I do. So, putting all thoughts about your job out of the picture, I want you to tell me if being blindfolded upsets you."

"No, Ma'am."

I walked over and tied the cloth around his eyes. This actually wasn't about titillation. It was about making myself feel safe enough to do what I wanted to without fearing he would figure out I was a man. I dropped my wig to the ground.

"You aren't one of those vampires who will suddenly lose control of themselves and grab me unexpectedly, are you?" I asked.

"No, Ma'am! I am the most in control fanged vampires you've ever met. I would move a muscle here unless you ask me to."

"No matter what happens to you?"

"No matter."

"Again, will you tell me if I do anything that makes you uncomfortable?"

"Yes, Ma'am, as long as you don't ever touch my penis."

"I won't."

I felt so much freer than I did the previous day. I hugged him, wrapping my arms around his studly body, grabbing the ripped muscles of his back. I kissed his wonderful brown lips, pushing past them with my tongue and tasting his mouth again. I licked his chest and arms once again, dropping to my knees.

I yanked down his battle skirt until it was where I had it yesterday, showing just a couple inches of that thick stalk, his curly black pubes fully in view, as well as just the upper, outside parts of his balls. I took in the view of him there before pulling down his skirt a couple more inches, getting another surprised gasp out of him as I did so. I loved getting a close look at all that was revealed, included half of his uncut stalk, and much more of his balls.

I pulled down the skirt again, he gasped again, and I stopped so that all was in display save for his dickhead. This meant his giant nuts were then fully in view, and I looked happily at his scrotum, relishing their view. And then I looked at the rim of his dickhead.

I pushed down again to the sound of another gasp as I pulled his battleskirt down to his ankles. I had him lift his feet up one at a time and pulled the skirt away, leaving him naked except for his blindfold.

Boy, was he beautiful to behold. Just like the previous night, he was in a semi-soft state, though turned on enough that he was leaking precum everywhere. His shiny, dark-pink head under his foreskin was absolutely covered, and his precum was dripping into a massive pool onto the ground. Since I couldn't touch him, I decided to curb my frustration by using his hand as a stand in for my own. I grabbed his arm and used it to grab the stalk and shake it, sending the precum flying around me, hitting me in the face. Good heavens, was his unit ever weighty.

I was drawn to his wonderful dickhead, so I used his finger to pull his goo off his pissslit, and then rubbed around his head, pulling back the foreskin with his finger. I used his hand to wrap around his head, watching as he leaked more and more precum. And then it occurred to me that licking his precum wasn't against the law, so I put the palm of his hand to my face and eagerly licked at the warm stickiness. It tasted unbelievably good to me, salty and wonderful. I got bolder and used his hand to flick precum directly from the source into my waiting tongue, and it tasted better and better to me. Soon, he stalk was pulsing with more and more blood until he was fully hard, and I used his hand to jerk his hard dick. I heard him hiss in surprise.

I pulled back. "That wasn't a hiss of disgust, was it? Oh my goodness, you are a fanged vampire, and here I am, doing an act on you that could give you an STD, aren't I? You must be concerned. Well, don't worry Sajan. I'm physically incapable of getting any sort of illness or disease, whether it's viral, bacterial, or parasite based. Which means I cannot pass any such thing along to you, so any sexual activity with me is safe."

"How good for you, Ma'am. How does that work?"

I obviously couldn't use being the One as an explanation. "Oh, you know. Science."

"Ah, the `S' word. Us men are totally incapable of even following that one, so I won't ask you to elaborate, Ma'am. But I think you were confused. I wasn't hissing because I was worried about contracting a disease from you. Us men have been trained that when it comes to sex, it's the woman's choice if she wants to have safe sex or not, Ma'am."

"Even if she has an STD that could kill you?" I asked.

"Even then, Ma'am. Honestly, if you had some sort of STD that was deadly, I'd still want to be doing this with you. Being physically this close with you in worth dying for. And as a man, I was born to die for women anyway, so what would be more perfect that dying for being close to you, Ma'am?"

"That sounds morbid, Sajan. I don't even want you to think about all that, since now you know that I'm not going to get sick in any case. But wait a second, let me back up. If that hiss wasn't about STD's, does that mean it was a hiss signifying that you stopped enjoying yourself?"

"I am madly enjoying myself, Ma'am. But, Ma'am, I can't help but feel confused about all this."

"Confused?"

"Yes, Ma'am. You see, I was trained by a human woman in her seventies whose job it was to teach males how to have sex with women."

"Was she the only one you ever slept with?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"What did she train you?"

"She trained me how to please a woman sexually. She told me there were two kinds of women. Some would not be attracted to me at all, and would only be using me for my semen, to impregnate them and she told me I would have to be able to masturbate into a cup on cue and the woman would artificially inseminate themselves."

"And the other kind?"

"The other kind would be attracted to me and would want me for more than just my semen. They'd want me to have actual romantic contact with me, Ma'am. Just like I'd been craving for all these long years."

""Yes, Sajan. That's me, exactly. I'm the second type who is attracted to you and wants sexual contact with you."

"But my training never covered what you just did when you've been licking my body, Ma'am. Or making me hard and tasting my juices like that."

"Did she go over foreplay? Oral sex?"

"She did, Ma'am. She told me women required a lot of it to feel pleasure, and trained me until I was skilled at it. She taught me how to kiss a woman, and told me that I would be expected to lick every part of a woman's body."

"But what about what a woman would want to do to your body?"

"She told me no woman would ever want me to do anything but use my hands and my tongue on their bodies, Ma'am. As well as hold them close. Do you want me to show you what I've learned, Ma'am?"

"No, Sajan, not tonight. Tonight I want to jerk you off."

"But Ma'am, she never told me that any woman would ever be making me orgasm unless it was to masturbate into a cup for insemination purposes. She told me that all women found men's body parts repulsive, and that all sexual contact was about the women's body. I don't know what to do, Ma'am, I am totally unprepared for this."

"That's fine. I don't want you to do anything but sit here and jerk yourself off."

""Yes, Ma'am."

With his left hand, I played with his giant balls, and with his right, I held onto the base of his massive shaft, jerking the foreskin while at the same time keeping the thing in place. I heard him gasp in pleasure again, and I felt sweet precum splash all over my face.

I used his hand to slide couple inches more down, until he was three quarters of the way down, and the head was in still right in front of my mouth.

I pushed down, and Sajan start to stroke his uncut shaft with his hand as he made another hiss. While he stroked himself, I was rubbing and licking at everything I was allowed to touch: his hot pubes, his cut abs, his chest, and grabbing onto his muscled butt.

I made him go back and forth, back and forth. All of this was frustrating in some way because I was so rock hard myself, looking at this Indian stud. But there was no chance I could ever get off in his company, so I knew that everything I did to him would never come to a satisfying ending.

After a while, he said, "Ma'am, I'm concerned I may be losing that control I so bragged about earlier."

"Oh no. Are you going to start attacking me, or biting me?"

"No, Ma'am. I would never! I was referring to my loss of control over semen, Ma'am. I'm getting close to shooting, and I'm sure the last thing you want is for my seed to get on you. That would be against all my sexual directives. About not ever orgasming in the presence of a woman unless it is into a cup."

"But is that part actually in the law, like me not being able to touch your penis, or is it just what you've been advised to do?"

"Well, the latter, Ma'am. I'd never do that to you. It is a horrible dishonor to a woman. I care so much about you, Ma'am. I'd never want to dishonor you like that."

"I want you to forget that part of your training and just jerk off for me now. Just pretend like I'm not here, and you're masturbating alone in your room."

"What, Ma'am? What opinion exactly do you have of me? I promise you, I'm no criminal, Ma'am. I beg you, Ma'am, please don't start up false rumors to the contrary."

"You've lost me. How would any of that make you a criminal?"

"Us men aren't permitted to masturbate, Ma'am. It's illegal to sexually please ourselves on our own."

"Wait a second. So if you're a heterosexual man, like you, the only time you are ever allowed to get off is if you are masturbating into a cup so a woman can inseminate herself?"

"That's right, Ma'am. Which is one of the reasons men try so hard to attract a mate. So that we can finally know what it feels like to have an orgasm."

"So you've never jerked off before, Sajan?"

"No, Ma'am. I am a law-abiding person."

"Have you ever gotten off before, then?"

"Not in any pleasurable way, Ma'am."

"Where does all your semen go?"

"Well, Ma'am, in all earnestness, I have nocturnal emissions. But I'm a heavy sleeper, so I don't feel any pleasure during the process. I just wake up with wet sheets, Ma'am."

This made me think of the vampire who had tried to rape me, Kush Poddar. No wonder he was so horny after not having sex with a male bottom for over ten years. He wasn't allowed to jerk off like the rest of us. And yet, that did not make me like him any better. After all, Sajan was a heterosexual man who never had sex with a man, and therefore, never had sex with anyone. And so, he'd gone his whole life without sex as compared to Kush's measly ten years. And Sajan would never, ever force a thing on me, having as much control as Parker had.

"Well then, Sajan, I want you to come for the first time for me."

"Ma'am, I don't think you really know what you're asking for. This is a dangerous task you ask of me."

"Uh-oh, you aren't going to turn into a monster, bite me, and try to drain me dry, will you?"

"No Ma'am, I will never, ever get like that, I swear to you."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Well Ma'am, you might not realize this, but when a man comes, he produces a slimy, sticky liquid that is all too repulsive to you women, I'm afraid."

"I'm well aware of a man's seed, Sajan. And I want you to shoot it on my face."

"On your face, Ma'am?! I've never ejaculated like this before, and I am a virile male vampire. I could hit you so hard, you might never wake up again!"

I laughed. "That's not going to happen, I assure you."

"Ma'am, at least let come for you in the shower, while you watch from the bathroom door. I don't want to make a mess or risk hurting you."

"No, you're going to do it right here, right into my mouth."

"Your mouth, Ma'am! But that could drown you!"

"I'm not going to drown!"

"Ma'am, even if you don't get hurt physically, you will be so grossed out you might throw up. And you will get needlessly messy. I am begging you to reconsider."

"No, Sajan. Now get that hand on that dick and give me what I want."

He put his hand on his dick and started to stroke again.

"Ma'am, I'm giving you one more chance to reconsider. Please, please, come to your senses before it's too late for me to go back."

"Do it, Sajan. Stop worrying about me, please."

"Yes, Ma'am," he said in a defeated tone.

I focused on his world-class penis that he was stroking in front of me. I rubbed his black pubes, loving that they were straight and fine, shiny with sweat. Those sweet black hairs went where I could not, covering the bottom inch of his stalk as well as the top of his balls.

I loved how dark brown his stalk was, darker than his hand. The brown pole was enormously girthy and insanely long. The foreskin seemed thicker than normal, covered in long, brown veins. Even entirely erect, the foreskin totally covered his dickhead. Only when he pulled it back did I see his dark purple head uncovered.

Ever since he has started stroking himself, precum had been all over the place, so much I was sure glad he had that blindfold on. It was dripping all over his shaft and head, but even more so, all over the ground. Pretty much every stroke of his, in fact, caused a glob of the stuff to fly outwards.

"Watch out, Ma'am!" he tried one last time.

I was worried he was going to hit me with that thing accidentally, so I scooted back, ending my physical contact with him.

All those telltale signs told me something was coming: he flexed all his muscles, gasped, and went on his tiptoes. I could actually see his giant, brown balls get pushed towards his body as they totally drained out.

"Oh God!" he shouted.

His dick was so long, I could actually see the glob of seed go from the bottom of the shaft all the way to the top. His pissslit opened up, and a breathtaking-sized globe of white seed shot upwards.

I totally miscalculated the power that shot would have, as I looked up in equal parts awe and sadness as it hit the ceiling, drenching it in seed, as all a whole load ended up there.

As I looked long fully at the ceiling hot liquid hit me in the head. It hit me so hard; I figured it had to be the huge amount of white on the ceiling falling all the way down on me. I was shocked when I looked at him and realized he was not only still jerking his dick after all this time, he had lowered his dick so it pointed right towards me. When I saw the next white glob eject from his dick so quickly and hit me in the top of my head, I realized that the cum wasn't falling from the ceiling, he was still shooting blasts as hard and large as that very first shot. As more and more white shots hit my face and head, I realized he had been right to warn me, as they hit me so hard it stung on impact.

Once my whole face was totally frosted in white, he moved downwards and started to absolutely drench my dress, putting on me an endless amount of seed.

Only then did I remember I was trying to get some in my mouth. Afraid I was too late; I quickly positioned my mouth right towards his flying stream of seed.

But amazingly, he was still pumping away at his dick in an orgasm that seemed to never end.

I felt him absolutely gush that first shot into my mouth. I relished the flavor of his hot, manly cream. And then the second shot came almost immediately, as did the third.

By the seventh huge shot, I was worried he would do as he had warned and choke me with his giant load. I was able to swallow it all down without choking, noting that there was so much of it I was swallowing I might as well have had swallowed the worlds' largest glass of milk. But this was so much tastier than milk ever was.

When the orgasm finally, finally ended, his hand stopping his strokes, he had soaked not just me but himself and a good portion of the room.

"Now you can talk again, Sajan. How was that?"

"Ma'am, I am so ashamed at my gross, male self and beg your forgiveness."

"But you only did exactly as I ordered you, and you didn't break any laws. And I enjoyed myself tonight, too."

"Still Ma'am, I didn't follow all your orders."

"You didn't?"

"No Ma'am! Did you hear what I said when it started?"

"Where you took the Lord's name in vain?"

"I don't know what that means, Ma'am. I meant when I couldn't help but cry out when you asked me to be quiet. Despicable."

"Sajan, in the future, I give you all the permission in the world to make any noise you desire during sex. And right now, I want you to put me out of your mind and let me know how it felt for you."

"Just the most pleasurable experience of my life. Thank you so much for having me do that, Ma'am."

"You're welcome."

I grabbed a towel and wiped up all the seed on me, as well as the liquid on the floor and wall. Then I looked at him. The naked, brown muscle-man was covered. I started to clean him off, loving every moment of it.

His dick was soft but still swollen and dripping

"Would it break the law if I used this thick towel to wipe your penis off, with? I promise not to touch."

"That would be fine, Ma'am."

I used the towel to wipe down his hot dick of seed, then did the same to his balls.

I looked at myself in the mirror to make sure there was nothing out of place besides the wig, and I took off his blindfold. I kissed him sweetly.

"Goodnight, Sajan. Once again, I had a wonderful time. My evenings with you have become by far the best times I've had in this city, bar none.

"Goodnight, Ma'am. If I don't make a fool of myself for being so honest, my courtship with you has been my favorite time in my entire, long life."

"That's a kind thing for you to say, and no, I respect and welcome your honestly like that, always. I'm not like the other women here in that regard. I'll look forward to our date tomorrow. Please just let yourself out."

"Ma'am, will you permit me to put my clothes back on before leaving your room?"

"But Sajan, I love having you naked like this."

"Your order is my command, Ma'am."

His face turned red but he showed no other sign of disobedience as he walked buck naked out into the hallway of the palace.

"Sajan, come back!"

He turned and walked his naked hotness back towards me. "Yes, Ma'am? What do you need?"

"I was just kidding. I'm sorry, I forgot that you don't do humor. Please, put your clothes back on. I don't want you to get arrested on your long way back to your place."

"You are so very thoughtful, Ma'am."

He put his clothes back on, bowed to me, and was gone.

I laughed and moved a chair to start the long processes of cleaning all his seed off the ceiling. He never would have left if I had let him see this.