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 8th

The next morning, after the endless routine that my getting dressed had turned into, I left my apartment and found the first palace guard I could.

"Would you mind telling Admiral Devar that he needs to come to my room as soon as he is free?"

"Whatever is the issue, Ma'am?"

"Oh, you know. National Security, or what not."

"Yes Ma'am!"

I went back into my room to wait for him, leaving my door ajar.

It was almost scary how quickly he showed up. He pushed open the door and ran in urgently, his Bhuj drawn.

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, he had knocked me to the ground in a very protective way and covered me with his body.

"Where is the intruder, Ma'am?"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, there wasn't really an intruder. And I don't know how the other guard got intruder from what I said, but I'm not under attack here."

"There's no one here, Ma'am? You're quite sure?"

"Yes."

He holstered his Bhuj and helped me to my feet. "What urgent matter brought me here then?" he asked.

I shut the door behind me. "I missed you. I just wanted to kiss you."

I reached over to him, hugged him, and kissed him.

"This time, I'm sensing some hostility there. You're not kissing me back like before."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. Really I am. But I'm ready to attack your assailant. Not ready to romance you."

"I thought it would be obvious to you exactly why I was calling you."

"Ma'am, my feeble male brain isn't strong enough to understand what you women call subtext. Please just assume that I'll believe exactly as you say."

I hugged him. "I'm sorry. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Now that you're here, do you want to kiss me and help me get through my morning?"

"Yes Ma'am."

He kissed me, and this time, there was that same passion as before.

"Wait, what is this?" I asked, pulling a piece of paper out of his hair.

"What? Oh, that. I'm so sorry Ma'am. Some of the guys put that stuff on me earlier in a surprise celebration."

"Confetti?"

"I suppose so, Ma'am. I tried to get it off me, but it seems I was not successful. Another woman would stab me with her Bhuj for this offense."

"I think it's cute. What were you celebrating? Oh my gosh, is today your birthday?"

He looked at me oddly. "Birthdays are for women, Ma'am. We men are forbidden from celebrating them or even recording them."

"Wait a second. You have no idea when you where born?"

"No idea, Ma'am."

"Then what was this about?"

"Us men celebrate work anniversaries, for those of us with jobs. That is the best celebration we are permitted here. Today happens to be one of those. Otherwise, I would have never have embarrassed myself with this mess, Ma'am."

"How wonderful! How many years now?"

"75 years as Admiral."

"75 is s special one! We have to celebrate today!"

"I have already celebrated quite enough, Ma'am."

"Well, too bad. I'm ordering you to celebrate more with me. It will start with this congratulatory kiss." I kissed him sweetly. "And continue tonight."

"I was going to take you to a dance performance tonight, Ma'am."

"Is that another one of those things that you'll tell me you aren't smart enough to understand and end up just spending the whole time looking at me again?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said sheepishly.

"No. I want to do something that you can enjoy too."

"This courtship isn't about me, Ma'am!"

"Today it is! And today we are going to go to whichever restaurant you've always wanted to try in this city, since it seems to me you are capable of enjoying good food. In fact, we'll consider today a break in our five courtship dates, one that will be my treat for a change. Tomorrow we can go back to the normal dates. That's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

That day's lesson was the happiest one I had done up to that point. Even though Devanshi was still the same polite, cold person as always, Jagger had left all traces of her old, obstinate self behind. She transformed completely, calling me "Ma'am," treating me with great respect, and soaking in every word I gave about my Joan of Arc lesson, asking all sorts of questions, the first time anyone had asked me any serious questions at all. II fed off her positivity, and that made my lesson all the stronger.

As Sajan escorted me into my room that night, I shut the door behind us again. "Since today is your special day, I may be inclined to reward you with more than dinner." I kissed him.

"I don't expect any reward, Ma'am."

"I need you to speak your mind tonight more than you usually do. That's an order. Understand?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I'll try."

"The first thing I'm going to ask you is, if you could have one sexual fantasy about me fulfilled tonight, what would it be?"

"Ma'am, I feel bad answering this."

"It's an order! Do it!"

"Yes Ma'am! In all honesty, I dream of not having you take care of me anymore, as I find that to be totally backwards. I was made to take care of you, not the other way around. I take pride in my training, and would love to show you my skills. You may not be the kind of woman who enjoys any sort of insertion of my fingers, and that's fine. I'll show your body pleasure without ever entering you, I promise, Ma'am."

"That's not going to happen. I'm sorry." I obviously couldn't have him try to pleasure my non- existent breasts or vagina.

"Ma'am, I'm so sorry my disgusting male mind even has wicked thoughts like that. I wish you had never ordered me to confess them. They are obviously too disturbing for you."

"I am not disturbed, and I'm still ordering you to continue with the honestly. You hear me?"

"Oh, alright, Ma'am," he said, almost sounding like he was close to tears with embarrassment.

"Besides how you've been trained to please me, what's one thing you fantasize about that is totally outside of the box and off limits?"

"Are you really going to make me confess fantasies that you could have me arrested for, Ma'am?"

"That's right. You have my word I am not going to say anything. Please tell me something."

"Well, Ma'am. As disgusting as I may be, the honest truth is, the blindfold was intense, but I actually am a very visual man. I like seeing things, if you understand my meaning."

"See me naked?"

He somehow looked more sheepishly away from me than he already was, but said no response, perhaps wanting to believe that I was asking a rhetorical question, or just unable to even bring an admission to words.

"I see. And what exactly would you desire most to see?"

"I can't say it, Ma'am. I'm sorry."

"I order you to tell me! That's an order, and the next word out of your mouth will be the part of me that you want to see, is that clear?"

He nodded, looking completely terrified of me. He opened his mouth. "Bottom."

"My bottom? You have a thing for my bottom?"

"Yes, Ma'am. It's the part I'm most attracted to. I'm so sorry, I'm such a dirty little male slug."

He started to cry.

"No, no, you are not going to cry on me. Sajan, I don't think you are the least bit dirty. I think you are beautiful, your mind just as much so as your body. All your desires as well."

"You are too kind, Ma'am."

"Sajan, wait here."

I went into the bathroom. I peed, brushed my teeth, and took off my wig. I left my make-up on because I didn't know what to do with it.

I went back into the bedroom and asked Sajan to lock himself in the bathroom until I told him he could come out. As soon as he was inside, I took off my clothes.

I lay facedown on the bed, and rearranged the covers so that they totally hid my chest. I likewise did the same around my crotch area until I was absolutely sure he would not be able to see my balls.

"Sajan, you can come out now."

He left the bathroom, and his jaw dropped to the floor as he saw me naked on the bed. He looked away, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Ma'am, I didn't realize you weren't dressed."

"Sajan, look at me, that's an order! Look and let it turn you on!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

He turned and looked at me, his eyes running over my skin, at first tentatively and afraid, but with growing courage. He was clearly in sexual bliss.

"Happy Anniversary, Sajan."

"You are the sweetest woman I've ever dreamed of knowing, Ma'am."

"I want you to get undressed and sleep with me tonight. I don't want to be too tired tomorrow to teach my normal class, so I'm going to bed. My only rule for you is that you look but do not touch me," I said, knowing that even the slightest jostle might expose my balls or chest to him.

"It is an honor just to share a bed with you at all, a million times so to be able to see you naked like this all night."

"I'm actually okay if you jerk off, I'm sorry, masturbate, as much as you want to while looking at me tonight, Sajan. It won't count as illegal activity on your part since you are with me, not by yourself. I'm fine if your semen gets on me or my bed, we can always wash it later. I'm ordering you not to worry about climaxing like you usually do and just feel free to come wherever you desire too, so long as you don't touch me with your body."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He pulled off his clothes and got into bed next to me, and he was already totally hard. Of course, seeing him naked like that made me hard too, but once again I absolutely could not do anything about it, so I tried not to get excited.

I had him give me a bedtime kiss to honor his anniversary again, and I was out.

JUNE 9th

When I woke up in the morning, I turned my head from facing down into my pillow to facing towards Sajan's side of the bed. He was over there, still on his side of the bed, and looking at my backside. He must have woken up just a bit ago so he could jerk off again before leaving, because he was sitting there stroking his enormous, hard brown pole, moving the foreskin so quickly back and forth with his hand he was actually blurring it to my eyes.

Goodness, did he ever look sexy, all covered in brown, knotted muscle, such a large and imposing man, completely naked, and stroking a huge slab of dickmeat. He must have been just finishing, because I was actually watching his dickslit opening up and gushing out his seed, launching the stuff incredibly far in my direction.

So far, in fact, the hot glop hit me in the face, and I had to shut my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Ma'am!" Sajan said, fearful. "I didn't know you were awake your eyes were in my way!"

"It's okay, Sajan, you are just following the orders I gave you."

I wiped away the liquid from my eyes to see he had finished his last shot and his uncut dick was in that swollen, loose stage I loved after climax, oozing the last bits of his load onto the bed.

"Thank goodness you are up, Ma'am. I need to be at guard duty in a few minutes."

"Why does me sleeping late have to do with that?"

"Well, Ma'am, you never gave me permission to either wake you up or leave the bed without your consent in the morning, or use anything in your room besides the bed, so I've been waiting here patiently for you to stir, like a good man."

"From now until the end of time, you have my permission to leave the bed as you like and wake up whenever you choose. And you are free as well to use my apartment as you please."

"You are so generous to me, Ma'am."

Sajan jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom. He left the door open, and made a beeline for the toilet, after which he peed such a huge amount that it was all too clear just how long he had been waiting to use it.

"While you are in there, I don't know if you know this, but you are covered with semen. You can't go to work like that. Please wash off first."

"You are so kind, Ma'am."

He moved into my shower and started to take a quick one, washing off with soap.

That's when I started to look at myself, started to feel myself. I could not believe just how covered I was with sticky, wet slime. There was a literal half-inch of the stuff on every exposed part of my back, and even more all over my butt. How could one man possibly produce so much of it?

"Sajan, there's more semen here than most men produce in their entire lives," I said as he came out of the bathroom, drying off.

"I was just following your orders, Ma'am."

"You most certainly were. To a T. How many times exactly did you climax?"

"Oh, I don't know. Us men aren't capable of understanding much math."

I knew he wasn't kidding, he had done it so many times, he could not keep count.

"I hope this didn't keep you from getting your much needed rest. How much did you sleep?"

"Truthfully, Ma'am?"

"Yes!"

"Well, in all honesty, seeing your bottom like that kept me up all night, Ma'am."

"All night?!"

"There was no way I could sleep when I had that to look at. And so I just masturbated over and over again, all night long. And the worst part of all of this is, just how much I enjoyed myself in ever moment. I never thought I could experience so much physical pleasure as I did last night. I told you, Ma'am. I am nothing but a disgusting male pig whose mind is depraved in lust for you."

"I guess it was all these decades of no sex, all coming out right now. I'm not grossed out by this, Sajan, I'm flattered. But I don't like the idea of you staying up all night and now you have to go to work."

"I'll be fine, Ma'am." He started to put on his armor again.

"No. Sajan, you are not going to work today. I want you to go home instead and sleep today. I'll see you tonight for our next date."

"Ma'am, I don't get vacation. I'm expected to be there."

"I'll tell Lady Menon myself that I ordered you to take the day off. The other guards will just have to do without you today. I'll pay her five times your daily wages. She won't be able to refuse the offer. Now go home, that's an order."

"Yes, Ma'am! Do I have permission to kiss you goodbye first?"

"Of course."

He kissed me sweetly. "I care so much for such a generous-souled woman who has come into my life! And taken me to places I never even knew existed, Ma'am!"

He left me alone, and I jumped up and walked into the shower, getting all of his huge amount of goop off my back. And then I grabbed the sheet we had been on and set it out for laundry service.

"See, Lady Menon? I told you I saw her." It was a woman I recognized as the palace math teacher, leading Chunni into the classroom and pointing at Jagger.

We were just about to start class. Devanshi come in behind her mother and took her seat.

Chunni looked at Jagger's male clothing and she gasped. "Jagger Kaamat, what is the meaning of this?"

"It's pretty simple. I'm wearing men's clothes."

"Please tell me someone forced you to do this."

"I did it by choice."

"What is this?!"

"This is me pulling a Susan B. Anthony or a Joan of Arc." I bristled with pride.

"Does this mean you are taking on the male gender and you want us to put you in District Y?" asked Chunni.

"No. I don't identify as male in any way. I'm still a woman. But I'm a woman who refuses to wear these ridiculous dresses and get so caught up in all the mindless fashions here."

"This is Gender Fraud," Chunni said. "A crime here. You know that."

"I don't care. It's a stupid law, and I'm not going to follow it."

Chunni looked to Devenshi. "My Queen daughter, please have this traitor and rebel rouser arrested for Gender Fraud."

"Yes, Mother." Devanshi turned her iciness towards Jagger. "I give my authority as Queen to have you arrested and convicted of Gender Fraud, without trial."

"Guards, guards, get the police in here!" yelled Chunni furiously.

Soon, some police officer that I didn't know was placing her in handcuffs and forcing her away.

"Now, Ms. Parkar, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't start your lesson," said Chunni. "Please begin."

I taught my lesson alone to Devanshi that day, trying not to think about Jagger. At least her crime was a minor one, and I was sure she wouldn't have much time to serve, if any. But I still couldn't help but feel responsible for her.

That night, when he came to pick me up for my date, Sajan was refreshed and extremely grateful. Since I could no longer use his anniversary as an excuse to take over the plans that day, he took me to a beautiful outdoor dancehall, where a talented, all-female dance troupe put on a Natya dance performance, which was beautiful to behold.

Of course, Sajan did not partake in the beauty on stage, again choosing instead to just hold my hand and watch me happily while I watched the dance. At least he enjoyed the food they brought, however.

Once again, Salahakara Ogra was there. That woman really got around. Apparently, if there was an expensive entertainment event happening, she was reliably in attendance, once again hassling the staff from her box seats.

I invited Sajan back to my place when he escorted me to my door. "You are welcome to sleep here again, Sajan. As long as you again promise not to touch me while I sleep."

"Of course I promise, Ma'am."

"And secondly, you promise to get some sleep tonight."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Then come on, let's get to bed."

"You are about to make my dreams come true for the second straight night in a row, Ma'am. You are unbelievable."

I had us do the same routine as the previous night. When we got to the part where I told him to come out of the bathroom, he walked to the bed, naked and getting semi-hard, thanking me profusely.

"Since we are so close to your anniversary, is there anything I can do for you before we go to bed that would please you?" I was thinking perhaps giving him a massage or something. "Pease tell me what would please you most."

"In all honesty, Ma'am?"

"Yes!"

"Well Ma'am, if you're twisting my arm. I would absolutely love to show you what I've been trained to do to please a woman like you. Now, I can see that you aren't comfortable with me seeing your frontal nudity, Ma'am, and that's completely your choice for the rest of this relationship. But I don't have to see or touch your front areas. I can just do what I was meant to do to the parts I can see right now. If you don't like it, then you know you can order me off you, Ma'am."

"Do you promise not to look or grab any part of me that's covered?" I asked.

"I promise. I am very old, Ma'am. Which means I am the most coordinated vampire in this city, by far. I'm not going to accidentally touch or move anything that I shouldn't, Ma'am."

"I suppose I don't see anything wrong with that. Sajan, have at it."

"I am so lucky to have you in my life, Ma'am! Just lie like that and I'll take care of you."

"How do you want my head?"

"Tilted towards me, so I can start with a kiss."

I did as he asked, and loved his kiss, which wasn't at all aggressive, but still as sweet as heck.

He pulled away from that kiss and started to massage my neck, hovering over my back lightly as he did, skillfully never touching me with his dick. I realized this was not meant to be relaxing, it was meant to be arousing. But once again, he seemed not to know that he was leaking, as I felt his hot precum hit my lower back, making me happy that even though he was working to please me this time, I wasn't the only one being turned on by all of this. One thing I had noticed about vampires is that if something aroused them, they would leak precum even before getting hard, and one look back at his soft monster, hanging down towards me, told me I was right. As he massaged my left arm, the hot precum started pouring all over my left lat. And when he moved to my right arm, it was my right upper-back that got soaked. I realized that his precum was turning me on just as much as his hands were.

He finished my arms and moved to my upper back. As he moved his way down my back, the tip of his penis was moved down my body as well. Soon, he was dripping precum on my tailbone, sending shivers through me. And he moved his legs lower until his dick was hanging over my butt. He used his upper body muscles to really massage my back, and as he did, his soft penis shook around like a pendulum, sending a totally new volume level of his precum all over my butt. It ran down into my crack and flooded it, with me letting out a hiss as his precum first touched my eager hole.

His dick ended up dripping on my legs as he massaged my butt with his strong, sensual hands. He grazed my hole, which made me insane, but did not penetrate me.

He worked his hands all the way down my legs, ending up on my feet.

"I'm going to start something new, Ma'am," he told me.

He moved back to my head, and licked my accessible ear. He licked from my ear down my neck, and only my shoulder. He licked all the way down to my hand, then moved to the other hand and licked upwards. He got to my neck and started to work his way down, once again dripping all over me. He licked all over my back.

When he got my tailbone, he licked it dutifully and kept on moving down. He licked all over my butt except for my crack, and then moved down to my thighs. He licked my calves and feet just as dutifully.

Thinking he was done, he instead moved back to my butt. This time, he pulled my cheeks apart and started to lick down the crack. When his sweet tongue hit my hole, I thought I was going to die. In spite of the tape on me, I was unbelievably hard.

He licked past my hole and to the bottom of my crack, and then moved back up and started to lick my hole in earnest for the first time. I wanted to die as I felt him stick his tongue inside me, licking tentatively at first, and then building up his limited bravery, moving as deep as his long, manly tongue possibly would go.

And I felt so sad when he finally pulled away.

"At this point, Ma'am, is when I was trained to initiate digital insertion if the woman wanted it." He rubbed my hole. "All you have to do is say the word. I'll never even see your front at all, Ma'am."

"Do you promise to go slow, Sajan?" I asked.

"Your wish is my command, Ma'am. As always."

"Then yes, go ahead." I was in too much lust to tell him no.

He kissed me sweetly, and as he did, his dick ended up right above my hole again. Soon, he sent a spurt of precum against my hole, causing my dick to twitch beneath me. He pulled away from his kiss and positioned his body on top of mine.

He never broke the wonderful kiss. But I saw him stretch out his index and ring fingers of his right hand with his special ability, making his fingers almost as long as his hard dick was.

He pressed slightly into me with his index finger, sending my hole into pleasure. True to his word, he pushed very, very gradually into me, giving me time, so much that I almost regretted asking him of that in the first place. But as he slid farther and farther into me, I let out a groan of pleasure.

His stretched finger was perfect for finding my prostate, and when he started to rub me there, I felt like I was in heaven.

And then he started with the ring finger as well, pushing both thick digits into me at once. When both of them together attacked my prostate, it drove me crazy.

With him still kissing me with his eyes shut, I looked to see his dick had gone totally hard. And I focused on the sweet view of that huge, brown pole as he worked his magic inside me.

"Ma'am, believe it or not, you can't believe how good it is to please you like this. Can I get your permission to be honest, Ma'am?"

"Of course."

"In all honesty, I am absolutely in love with you. This kind gift you've given me is just a tiny bit of it. I'm madly in love with you, Ma'am."

"That's very sweet, Sajan. I think you are an amazing person, even if I don't yet know you well enough to love you."

"I feel like I know you so well, and I love everything about you, Ma'am. I know they've told me over and over again that men like me aren't capable of real love. Before I met you, I never loved before, and I believed that. But now, I am so hopelessly in love with you, Ma'am. I have been told that my feelings are just my extreme manly lust playing tricks on me, that I am incapable of real love, but it sure feels like real love, in any case."

"It is real love. I for one believe you are capable of it, Sajan. Don't cut yourself short."

"Thank you, Ma'am" he said, and he started to cry.

I felt so guilty. Here he was, such a studly man, and I cared for him deeply and wanted him to care for me too. So much that I had fooled myself into believing that he DID care for me. But I reminded myself that this was just my own fantasy. I was not the woman he was in love with, that woman didn't exist. I couldn't kick him out tonight after already agreeing to have him sleep over, but I made a vow to end this the next day. No more romance.

And then I felt like he was scratching back and forth right against my prostate, absolutely massaging it. Fingering it over and over again, bring me such pleasure I was breathless.

Suddenly, I could feel myself going over the edge. I tried to stop myself, thinking about Giggles torturing me, but my attempts came too late, and I was gushing cum.

Instead of going straight under my stomach, it actually shot out of the side of my body.

I hoped Sajan wouldn't see it, but he looked at it and stopped thrusting.

"What?" he asked, and I knew it was over for me.

I tilted to the side, my front coming into view for the first time. "You might as well see it."

Sajan's hand went to my dick. His face looked shocked and horrified. "What on earth is this?!"

I was at a loss for words. I obviously knew our dating would be over. I just had to find a way to talk my way into keeping him from telling Chunni and the others about me, but how?

"I can't believe you have this!"

"Yes, I have a penis! I'm sorry! That's who I am."

"I know you have a penis, Ma'am!"

"You do?"

"Of course!"

"Then what were you so upset to find there?"

"Your tape, Ma'am. It's not used by most women with penises, so I can't understand why you even bother to wear it. I'm so sorry that I allowed myself a moment of surprise and anger, especially during such a gift you've given to me, Ma'am. I am such a horrible man. It won't happen again."

I pulled the tape off of me and threw it off the bed. "It's gone, then. I hated having that stuff on." I turned pulled away from him in bed. "Sajan, how long have you known I had a penis?"

"Since we first met."

"The day I was hired to be a teacher?"

"No, Ma'am! The day you first came with your Native American friend, Big Horn, into the Mahal Aranya. Are you forgetting that I stripped you naked? How could I not see your penis right then, Ma'am?"

I was totally shocked. "You know I'm Jake Groves?"

"I know you were Jake Groves, of course, Ma'am. What did you think?"

"I thought you didn't know I was the same person. That you thought I had a vagina and breasts."

"Ma'am, I know I am just an idiotic man, but I'm not that stupid. I spent so much time around you. How could I not recognize you, Ma'am?"

"Even though both times I saw you I was so badly bruised and battered, I didn't look like myself?"

"I was intimately close to you. Close enough to smell your blood. I cannot forget that, Ma'am. If I would have not recognized you, that would have made me question my validity as the head of the royal guards."

"I notice you're still calling me Ma'am even though I do not have a vagina. Can you tell me what makes me fit into that category for you?"

"It's what's on your ID badge, so it must be accurate. My opinion of you being a lady here is in line completely with the legal definition, of course, Ma'am."

"Which is?"

"You can have testicles and a penis, but you cannot be able procreate with your sperm. Vampire bottoms achieve this surgically here, just like us tops get our female parts removed and our anus's sealed."

"That's true for me. As the One, I cannot breed in that manner."

"And if you have a penis, you have to be a bottom. I think we've proven this correct today, with these activities, Ma'am."

"Correct."

"And you have to be able to have at one point capable of getting pregnant, Ma'am."

"I've been pregnant, twice. Though not for long."

"There you go, Ma'am. And you are required to wear female hair, or a wig in your case, as well as female clothes when out in public, and never wear male clothes. In private, of course, you are allowed not to wear any of those things, and just be naked, as long as you don't wear anything male, Ma'am."

"So, if I scrubbed off my makeup when we were alone, you wouldn't mind?"

"No! Of course not, Ma'am. Just as I don't care if you wear the wig in private or not either."

"What about my voice? Didn't you think it was weird that I started talking funny?"

"No. A lot of vampire male bottoms who decide to become women end up changing their voices just out of a personal preference when they are given new names. But many others talk as deep as they want to. Even some ladies with all female parts have naturally deep voices. That's not any issue."

"So, you don't care if I talk like this?" I asked, returning to my normal accent and timbre.

"No, Ma'am. I like you that way."

"And you're fine that I have a penis?"

"Yes, Ma'am! I love your penis. I just wish you would stop hiding it from me, Ma'am. I thought that maybe you had some permanent scars that the Shah had left on your front since the last time I had seen you that you were ashamed to show me."

"Because me having a penis would never conceivably be a reason someone would hide their front from you?"

"No, Ma'am. Why would it?"

"Well, I was told you were the most heterosexual man in the city."

"I'm not sure what that means. Perhaps because I refuse to date men. First of all, I have been looking for romance, true, but I also want a family. Human bottoms then are out of the question, because they cannot produce children, so that leaves me with vampire bottoms."

"Couldn't you adopt?"

"No, Ma'am. A single man or two men in a relationship aren't permitted to adopt. So, that means my pool of suitors would only be vampire male bottoms, a very low population group to begin with, and made even worse by most of them deciding to become ladies here like you did. And, even if I did find some bottom vampire man who wanted me, there was sort of this funny dynamic I felt the relationship would have given, as I am so much their superior. I have always been trained to love my superiors, like all women, or even Vivek Shankar, since he's the only vampire male who is above me, but he is another top, and I have no attraction to his personality in any case. So that's why I've made this only women rule for myself. That's why I'm so thrilled you came into my life, Ma'am."

"Sajan, you have to know, I too want children, but not for years down the line."

"I can wait as long as you need to, Ma'am. I've already waited forever for you to come into my life."

"Listen, I need to tell you. My ovaries are damaged, and I may never be able to conceive again."

"That's fine, Ma'am. As a woman, you have options. They'll allow you to implant donor ovaries, or even adopt. If it's a boy, you can make me father legally, something I could not do on my own."

"Sajan, it all sounds like great possibilities. I just want you to not get too invested in the future. I came here because I wanted to learn more about this Blood, and because I wanted to see if there was a way I could help it. And if I can convince the queen to not vote to have me killed by the Council, then even better."

"I understand, Ma'am. You have far greater things on your mind than some stupid male and his romantic fantasies, as you it should be. Like always, I am here for you as you would have me. If you want me to just be your friend, I will be honored just to be close to you. If you want me to be your lover, I will be even gladder. If you want me to be your husband, even more so. And if you want me to be the father to your children, I'd be elated. But the point is, it's your choice, and I'll be happy whatever you decide. You're the woman, and so it's your right to choose, Ma'am."

"Wow, that's a lot of pressure on my shoulders, Sajan. I'm afraid right now all I can decide is that it's late and I want to go to bed. But you're still rock hard right now. Did you want to finish yourself off first?"

"Ma'am, I never intended to get off tonight. My training has been to use my body to bring you pleasure, not for my own sexual satisfaction. I've accomplished that, and that's all I need."

I pulled him into the shower. I scrubbed off my makeup, and felt so good about being able to be honest with him about who I was, at least in private. I felt so overwhelmed by emotions for him all of the sudden, and I realized it was all because I was suddenly able to open up to him finally. I kissed him long and hard in the shower, taking in his sweet flavor. His dick never went down, though he was always very careful to keep it away from me.

"Sajan, I'm ordering you to set my alarm to wake you up with plenty of time for you to get to work tomorrow, is that clear? My place is your place, so use anything you need."

"You are so generous to me, Ma'am. But do I have to follow your previous order to actually get sleep tonight, when all I want to do is stay up all night watching you again, Ma'am?"

"Yes! There will be no staying up. You are to go to sleep with me now. That's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am! I love you."

It felt heavenly to sleep with him that night as I wanted to, without trying to hide any part of myself. I held him tight all through the night.

JUNE 10th

I was outside in the hot humidity, talking to Officer Asgar Wali on the street. "I do want to help you for getting me here, Asgar Even if one of your bits of wisdom ended up completely leading me astray."

"Which was?"

"You told me Sajan was the most heterosexual man in the city. How could that be true, since we are currently dating?"

"He hasn't seen the extra bits and pieces you have hidden up your dress, clearly."

"Actually, he has. He has seen every part of me, and he loves me completely as I am."

"Well, good for you. You finally got a catch far better than I ever was. I feel like I'm the only heterosexual male vampire left in the city. But you couldn't have found me today just to tell me that you are sleeping with the most important vampire male besides the ones who are named Shankar."

"No, I didn't. I need you to do something for me. Do you remember Halah Farhat?"

"I do. She's still in jail."

"I need you to release her. I want you to put her up in housing somewhere in one of the X districts."

"I can do that, but not on your authority alone. You may have that new position, but that doesn't give you the authority to release a prisoner."

"I'm not telling you this on my authority, Asgar."

"You aren't?"

"No. I'm giving you an order from my boss, Lady Menon."

"That will do it. I'll have it done immediately."

Before the lessen started, I talked to Devanshi alone. "You know, Your Grace, there's something that has been troubling me."

"Yes?"

"I've been talking to Vizier Bazzi, the legal advisor in The Raajya West, as well as two others who have the same position in other Bloods. They tell me Salahakara Ogra did indeed attend the school that teaches all the Vampire Blood legal experts, but she was kicked out after the first year for both failing her classes and trying to sleep with the principal. She really isn't supposed to be in this position at all. And they tell me that all of them swear to not take huge amounts of money from any of their employers, as it could tarnish their objectivity, as they are supposed to be unbiased. But I have seen her over and over again throw money around that she's clearly getting from somewhere. It seems to point towards her not being unbiased at all. I ask you to look into the matter."

She raised an eyebrow.

"I happen to know a woman from your Blood who is in the city who actually completed the whole course, and she's looking for a job. Halah Farhat is said to be the most qualified and least biased of all of the Vampire Blood advisors."

"If you have concerns about Salahakara Ogra, I'm not the one to give them to. Mother will gladly listen to them. Please save all such matters for her, and spare me the waste of time."

"I will, Your Grace."

But I was sure it was Chunni herself who was buying Salahakara Ogra out, so that was obviously not an option.

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

"It's Sajan, Ma'am."

I opened the door and kissed him on the lips. "Did you come for our last date already? If so, you are much, much earlier than I expected."

"This is not my last date Ma'am, that will still be happening later on. I'm here because I've been requested by Lady Menon to escort you to the Animal Spectacle Show. I just escorted her and her daughters to the stadium, and she wants me to let you know just what an honor it is that you are being invited, Ma'am."

"Which is one way of telling me I'm required to go, isn't it?"

"Ma'am, I would never even dream of giving you any sort of order. I am nothing but a worthless slug."

"I didn't mean you, Sajan. I meant from Lady Menon."

"Well, technically she did not order me to bring you, Ma'am."

"But the look on your face lets me know how afraid you would be to return to the Lady empty handed. Alright, I'm ready."

He seemed very relieved as he escorted me out of my room.

Soon enough, I was on his horse, and he was pulling me into a stone road that went deep into the lush jungle. It was very beautiful.

"If we had been allowed six dates instead of five, would this have made the cut as entertainment, Sajan?"

"No, Ma'am. As a stupid, unsophisticated male, I am simply unable to appreciate this event in the slightest."

"But you said the same thing about the other forms of entertainment you took me to as well."

"But with those things, even though I personally am unable to appreciate the artistry of the performances, I absolutely loved going as just an opportunity to see you enjoy it. But here, even if you love this as much as most of the women in this city do, I just cannot bring myself to enjoy it along with you. I've always detested this event, Ma'am. Everything about it disgusts me."

"Not a fan of animals?"

"I suppose not, Ma'am. This whole place smells bad, and there are always flies around everywhere. And that is just the start of my repulsion to this event. The only way I can get through it is to shut off the stage entirely and focus completely on protecting my charges."

We finally came to a beautiful, massive curved building, with seemed nearly as large as the Coliseum. It had an ancient, Hindu style to it that was beautiful, and even more so as it was licked by the jungle.

In the arch doorway ahead of us, men were leading women into the stadium. There was a huge pile of mud that seemed to completely encircle the building.

"See, Ma'am? They always try to clean this mud away, but it never stops encircling this building like a moat."

Sajan led his horse into the mud, sinking up to his knees as he pulled me safely along, not even getting one drop on me.

As we went through the mud and into the Animal Spectacle proper, I realized that it wasn't like the Coliseum at all, as instead of being a large circle, this was a half-circle, with all the seats facing the stage at the bottom of the building and the jungle beyond. The bottom floor of the pit looked like an animal enclosure at a zoo, filled with boulders, dirt, and plants. This was by far the largest theater I had been to, and it was amazing just how many women were packed into these seats. Just hearing them chatting to each other was almost deafening.

I could see that the royal women, including the young daughter, were seated together in the best box of the stands. Sajan led me to a section close by but not actually close enough to be a true honor.

He looked about ready to kill himself, his voice trembling so badly that he was almost unintelligible as he broke it to me that his duty required him to leave me alone and unguarded during the show because he was needed in the royal box to be at arm's length to the royals. I insisted I understood that was his job and would not be offended, and he thanked me profusely as he left me alone, vowing to keep an eye out for me where he was to make sure I was safe as best he could.

I could hear Chunni talking excitedly to Gangi. "Look, Gangi. Since this is your first Animal Spectacle ever, I bought you new dolls so you can play along with the show." She gave her the dolls.

"Wow, Mom, thanks!" She started to play with the new animals.

A waiter came by with a menu. As was the case with American sporting events, the drinks were all alcoholic and the snacks were all deep fried and unhealthy looking. Finally I found salted nuts on the menu, and ordered some of those. He handed them to me immediately, and I started to munch.

In the pit below, a platform rose up and a large tiger appeared. It was chained to the ground, keeping it from moving to all but a fifth of the stage floor. I did some geometry in my head, and realized there was a wise reason why the designers of the stadium had put the pit-stage ground so far below the audience. It meant that even if the animal got unchained, there was no way it could possibly jump out. When it appeared, the general chatter died down as people focused on the animal, with many people emitting Ooos and Ahs, especially the girls present. And then an orchestra in a pit beneath us that I hadn't even noticed up until that point started to play an exciting song.

"That's right, ladies, say hello to our largest tiger, Sanjay."

A woman appeared, dressed in a fine dress and holding a paper megaphone, up above the center of the pit stage, safely away from the tiger. I realized she must be our MC of sorts. She introduced herself as Miss Mana.

The women in the stands clapped for the tiger.

"Mom, it's a real tiger!" Gangi happily jumped and whistled as she pulled out her tiger toy and started to play with it.

"I know, honey, isn't it exciting?"

"Let's bring out our one animal that is even more dangerous than the alpha-male tiger. Ladies, are you ready to be scared out of your minds?"

The orchestra started to play a very frightening song. Many of the little girls started to look extremely scared, especially Gangi.

"Ladies, say hello to Lick-Lick! Our terrifying beast coined by you girls," said Miss Mana.

Another platform rose up, with another beast on a chain. But it took me a second to realize I was looking at a man on a chain, not an animal at all. It took me a moment because so much about his appearance was dehumanizing.

Lick-Lick was clearly a vampire, looking totally fierce. He was naked and covered with black war paint, his big dick included. He was missing a lower jaw completely. I could see why they called him Lick-Lick, as his tongue was hanging out constantly, the red flesh contrasting with the black paint. Either the tongue was larger than normal or that was an optical illusion given his missing jaw. His upper fangs were bared and out, and he hissed fiercely just like a wild animal would, making the girls scream. As he roared, he threw a lump of dirt right at the tiger, who looked back at Lick-Lick and roared right back at him, trying futilely to break his chain.

"In case you didn't already know, Lick-Lick is a serial killer who killed dozens of men before he was captured and arrested," said the MC in a tone of voice meant to chill. "Since he has started in these games, he's killed thirty-four beasts to keep him alive. Will his luck change today?"

"What are they going to make him do?" I asked the obese woman next to me.

"Why, the beasts fight to the death, of course. The winner is safe until the next show." She seemed absolutely delighted by the whole thing.

I was horrified, but had no one to vent my anger to. Even though this Lick-Lick was clearly a horrible criminal, he deserved a clean, easy death instead of this madness. If Lick-Lick had already killed dozens of animals in other matches, I felt horrible for all those animals, used in this way and killed pointlessly. Did Officer Wali know this is what happened to the men he was arresting?

"Mommy, I'm scared," said poor Gangi, who had started to cry and was hiding her face in her mother's stomach.

"It's okay, Gangi, there's no need to be scared by any of this."

"But that's not an animal, it's a vampire man!"

"What did I tell you before? Men are just stupid beasts, slaves to their own instincts to murder and rape."

"But Sajan is a good man!"

"Sajan is a good man, yes, one who never breaks any of our laws for men. And that's why we allow Sajan to serve us and treat him like the best man in this city. But even Sajan is still just a man, and does not deserve the respect we give to our fellow women. Sajan, come here and tell Gangi yourself."

"Yes, My Lady."

"Tell her the ugly truth about your inner nature, Sajan."

He looked at the little girl. "You mother is exactly right, Princess. As harmless as I may seem to you, if you were able to peek into my mind, you would see nothing there but a swirling chaos of male vampire unsavory urges and desires, both violent and sexual. And, Princess, I am too stupid to ever have a job any woman has here."

For the first time, Gangi's eyes looked at Sajan in a new light. With fear.

"You are right to be scared of him, Gangi. Because even though he has spent all his life fighting the urges that make him who he is, even a male who has never hurt anyone, they still have a part of them that can come out, completely unpredictably."

"The Lady is correct, Princess," said Sajan.

"And so, I want you to look again into the pit," said Chunni. "Tell me what you see chained up there besides the tiger."

She looked. "I see an, an animal. Nothing more."

"That's right, sweetie."

Every time Chunni opened her mouth, I was nothing but more and more horrified by this culture.

"Let's bring out our last beast," said the MC. I was confused. Why would they need a second beast?

Another platform raised up, and another vampire appeared on a chain, on the other side of the pit. It dawned on me that the woman beside me had been referring not to the tiger, but to Lick-Lick and this other man. These two people were expected to kill each other. The tiger would not be killed. The second vampire had no war paint, just handsome brown skin, also naked.

"This criminal beast is fighting his first spectacle ever. Will he be the first one able to put up a fight against Lick-Lick?"

The man turned around, and I got a good look at his face. I knew that man! I had barely seen him with his mask off, but his eyes had been seared into my brain. Kush Poddar. Did that mean he had killed someone too to get into these cruel games, like Lick-Lick?

"This beast is a convicted rapist, ladies. As tradition holds it, we won't give him the honor of a name until he wins his first battle. Which is highly unlikely, given that he is much, much younger than Lick-Lick, and never yet made any kill."

Even if he hadn't been a killer, I wasn't going to shed any tears over the suffering of a man who cruelly raped me.

"Let the Animal Spectacle begin!" said Miss Mana, and the orchestra started to play action music.

Kush was absolutely terrified. The way he was standing there, stunned at all these women looking down at him, he obviously never even conceived these sorts of events existed. There was no trace on his face that he had been given any sort of prep for this. It felt good to see that fear on his face.

As soon as the MC said go, Lick-Lick was all business, scouring the small radius his chain allowed him to move into. He was looking for something in the ground, perhaps uneven earth? He found it quickly and started to dig his fingers into the dirt.

I threw another nut into my mouth and chewed.

Across the pit, Kush couldn't see Lick-Lick or anything he was doing. He looked around aimlessly, not sure what to do.

Lick-Lick dug up a concealed rock under the dirt, clearly knowing it would be somewhere. He started right away to place the chain that was holding him against the hard ground and using the rock to start to pound through it. Meanwhile, Kush was just looking around blankly.

As I stuffed more nuts into my mouth, I noticed that the obese woman next to me was pouring deep fried goodies into her face. All around the stadium, women were doing the same thing, in between shouting and clapping for the spectacle below.

Some horrible realization hit me. Revenge had made me just as cruel as these women. I had to pull myself out of this depravity. I was above the dirt of this event. Above the bloodlust of watching my attacker suffer.

Kush Poddar deserved punishment, but not this sort. I felt guilty suddenly for turning him in at all. I had expected he would serve hard time in prison for rape, with the real hope of changing himself, not be made to play in some sick death game.

"There's a hidden rock buried in the ground you can break your chain with!" I shouted as loud as I could in my girl voice towards the pit. The women around me were giving me dirty looks, but I didn't care. But Kush couldn't hear me. My words were totally drowned out.

I jumped up and ran down to the lowest row of the stands, right above him. And I yelled at him again. This time, he turned and looked up at me, listening.

Kush started to search the earth for any sign of the rock. Soon, he started digging it free.

When he dug it up, I had to tell him how to use it to break through his chains, as it didn't come to him on his own. He started to pound the rock against the chain.

But Kush just barely had started when Lick-Lick broke free of his, with the crowd chanting his name. Lick-Lick quickly demonstrated how dangerous he was untethered. He ran over and tackled Kush.

The two vampires started to attack each other with their bodies. Kush kept trying to outmuscle Lick-Lick, but it became very clear just how much he was physically inferior. Lick-Lick, on top of Kush, licked the man's face in a show of dominance.

"How about it, ladies?" asked Miss Mana. "Shall we give Lick-Lick a hand for performing his signature move?"

The crowd cheered, and women chanted his name louder than ever.

"And isn't it something that even though he could end this match right now with just a paralysis bite, he never injects venom into his prey because he wants his victims to be thrashing back as he makes his kill?"

The women all cheered.

"Lick-Lick is being scary, Mommy!" yelled Gangi.

"This is just proof men are all animals on the inside, Sweetie. Both of these law-breakers are rapists, and this is showing male instincts in force. But that's why they are so far down below. I promise you, they cannot hurt any of us women up here. You are fine."

Devanshi looked on with a very teenage look of total boredom at all of these proceedings. Clearly she had seen plenty of all this before, as she seemed neither disturbed nor excited by any of it, just ice cold.

As they struggled, Lick-Lick turned him onto his front and started licking his backside. As I knew Kush was a top, I was sure he had his vampire female reproduction parts removed and sealed up, and that's why I was shocked when Kush started to scream as Lick-Lick started to rape him. But then I realized Lick- Lick wasn't inside him at all, he wasn't able to get inside, and so he was doing what he could by raping his buttcrack. All the women cheered to see him violate Kush.

"You'll never beat him like this," I said to Kush. "Stop trying to fight him back, and keep on working on that chain!"

He listened to me and continued pounding into his chain as Lick-Lick kept on thrusting against his buttcheeks.

But Lick-Lick ended up slamming Kush's head so hard, it seemed like he might have knocked him into a coma. He used the opportunity to start to rape Kush's slack mouth, again being cheered on.

I was pleased when Kush finally came to. When he saw what Lick-Lick was doing to him, he freaked out and tried to fight him off, before again focusing on his chain.

Soon enough, I felt so elated as I heard Kush's chain finally snap. He used the rock to knock Lick-Lick in the face just long enough to escape his grasp.

"Keep him off you!" I said.

Kush started to run away from Lick-Lick, but as Lick-Lick started to chase him, I realized that he would lose the race too.

"Use the environment against him!"

"What?"

"Throw things at him!"

He started to grab rocks, shrubs, and plotted trees and launch them at Lick-Lick, keeping him at bay.

"I'm out of stuff to throw! What now?"

Lick-Lick didn't wait for me to come up with a plan B. He attacked Kush with his thick muscles, getting him under him again as he beat him again and again with his fists. Soon, I could tell he was moments away from dying.

I looked at the tiger's chain, and I realized it was made from a much flimsier metal than the vampires' chains.

"Kush, throw the rock in your hand as hard as you can at the tiger's chain!"

With what seemed like his dying breath, he was able to throw the rock hard just where I had instructed. I thought at first the rock wasn't going to break that chain, but then I heard a blissful click as the chain broke and the tiger broke free.

Suddenly, Lick-Lick perhaps regretted antagonizing the tiger when he first came into the field, as that tiger went straight for the vampire in black paint. He knocked Lick-Lick off of Kush and started to maul Lick-Lick.

"Don't worry, ladies, Lick-Lick has taken down tigers of that size before. He should win this match in no time."

I saw Kush's body start to heal itself.

"You have to kill Lick-Lick while he is distracted!" I said.

He grabbed a boulder I would have never been able to lift and slammed it over and over again into his head while the tiger ripped into Lick-Lick's stomach.

I turned away as the blood came, but the women just cheered at all the violence, even when it was coming from Lick-Lick.

"Unbelievably, we have a new victor, folks! Lick-Lick is defeated," said Miss Mana.

Vampire workers came in, pulled Kush to safety, and pulled Lick-Lick's body away from the tiger. They rechained the angry tiger and pulled him away.

Human male workers came in and restored the arena to how it had been before the first fight. Clearly they were getting ready for round two. After the place was restored, they started adding new things entirely: a bunch of deadly looking Indian weapons hidden around the arena.

Miss Mana kept talking. "While we get ready for our next, action-packed fight, since many of you just wet your pants at the terrifying look at Lick-Lick, and now just as many of you are weeping at the tragic loss of such a treasured male pet who brought us so much drama, we here at the Animal Spectacle know we need a moment of levity in between the serious matches. So, get ready to laugh, ladies."

The orchestra started to play very humorous sounding music, and I welcomed some much needed comedy as well. Would they bring out a clown, a comedian, or some cute animals?

"Ladies, please put your hands together for our comedy duo today," said Miss Mana. "Two human male animals who have been both convicted of tax evasion. Both men are in their late seventies, and they are married to each other. The best part is, we took the liberty of cutting out their eyes earlier today, and misinformed the blind men that they will be fighting murderers they don't know, told them the only chance they have of surviving is to find one of the hidden, deadly weapons here and use them to kill the killers they are facing before the killer can. We told them all they have to do is kill the vicious murder of an opponent that they are facing, and they and their spouse will be let go and forgiven of their charges. Let's bring the comedy act out!"

I felt sick as I saw two elderly naked men with ropes around their necks raised into the arena. At the sight of their gaping red eye-sockets, the women all started to laugh. I hated these people.

"Let the comedy commence!" said the Miss Mana, and the roped men started to try to untie their rope knots.

I leaned down next to the man who was directly beneath me. "That's your husband over there!" I shouted. "Don't hurt him!"

I looked down angrily as he showed no reaction to my words.

"Why aren't you listening to me?! That's your husband!"

"Ladies, you may have noticed the blood coming out of their ears," said the MC. "Yes, after telling them their lies, we tore out their eardrums so they would not be able to hear each other either. Which makes this even more hilarious, right ladies?"

Along with the farcical musical cue, the women all giggled and clapped, crunching their snacks.

I hated not having any way whatsoever to help these two. I tried throwing something at the guy, hoping that might make him understand something was amiss, but that only started the all the people at the bottom of the stands throwing food at the two men in giggles, with no sign it was changing their behavior at all.

"Mommy, I don't get the joke. Why is this funny?" asked Gangi.

"Because two male lawbreakers, which just makes them more animals, they are both trying to kill each other, but it's so hard for them because they are deaf and blind."

The man closest to me was the first one to untie the knots of his ropes. The women laughed as he stumbled around the arena blindly hitting into things as he searched for a weapon. The other one soon untied himself as well and was doing the same.

"This match looks very close, ladies! Let's see who will be the victor."

When one of them grabbed a sword and started blindly chopping in the direction of his husband, to the laughter of the women around me, I couldn't stand it anymore and I turned off my own sight by shutting my eyes.

I tried not to listen to the MC listing the violent acts being done or the laughter all around me.

"Let's see what happens when we make it known who our blind victor just killed!"

I opened my eyes to see the workers grab ahold of the living victor, who was wounded, and move him over to the cut open, limp body of his husband. They took his hands and put then on the lifeless face of the man he had just killed.

The living man knew right away who this was, what he had done. He shouted and cried, on and on he went.

He grabbed the sword from the ground and stabbed it into his stomach. The women laughed as he fell down and died next to his husband.

The workers removed the bodies as well as the rest of the hidden weapons.

"We've got another exciting match in store for you," said Miss Mana, as the orchestra started to play exciting music again. "Ladies, behold our strongest human animal, who've we've all enjoyed watching kill all the men he's faced in here. Say hello to The Strangler!"

A muscular but small-penised naked man was raised into the arena tied to a rope leash. Everything about his body language suggested he had just almost as many psychopathic tendencies as Lick- Lick.

"Who will face the cold onslaught of this mass killer? Whose neck will be the next one strangled? We have an unusual surprise for you today, ladies."

Another naked person was raised up into the arena tied to a rope, only I was shocked and horrified to see who it was.

"Some of you ladies my recognize Jagger Kaamat. Yes, it's highly unusual for a female to fight in the arena, but she was convicted of betraying our female dress codes, and now she will be punished for her crime."

"I always told all of you who go to these shows and support this kind of behavior are sick indeed," she shouted.

I looked back at the royal box. Chunni's exhilarated expression showed she was the mastermind behind this. And once more, Devanshi looked totally bored by all of this.

"But Mommy, that's a woman down there!" yelled Gangi.

"Yes, but she's broken the law, and so she's become just as much an animal as any of these others."

"Since we don't have any other women to fight against her, Jagger is having the misfortune of having to face a human male, the fairest match we have. Will we have two back to back upsets? Will she be the first to out-strangle the Strangler? Let's see. Begin!"

The Strangler didn't bother trying to undo his knots. Instead, he dug in the dirt quickly until he found a rock that would be sharp enough to cut through the ropes.

I knew Jagger couldn't see what her opponent was doing, since this was across the field, so I wanted to help. "Jagger, he's found a sharp rock buried--"

"I know, Ma'am, I know!" she said back to me.

She didn't need my help at all. She dug up the stone and started to cut through her ropes faster than he did.

"The last fight had hidden weapons around the course," I said. "There could still be something left for you to find."

"I know these games inside and out, Ms. Parkar. There won't be any hidden weapons at all, trust me."

And there wasn't a tiger in this match either to help take down a strong opponent. There was nothing I could think of that would help her.

She ran towards a potted tree and ripped it off the ground. While The Strangler continued to cut through his rope, she threw the tree into his body, stunning him.

Before I could even breathe, she was on top of his body. She grabbed the rope he was still tied to and she pulled it taut. The next thing I knew, she was holding his body down into the ground with her knee in his back while she suffocated him with the rope.

He rallied to and started to fight her, tried to shake her off of him, but she rode him like a horse, never letting him break free. Soon, he stopped trying to struggle as his body went limp underneath her.

"Incredible! She actually wins, folks!" yelled Miss Mana as they played victory music.

I still could not believe how skilled a fighter she had been. I was so elated she wouldn't be killed so easily.

"Wait a second!" yelled Chunni from their box. "Gangi is so disappointed. I promised her there would be a whole pack of tigers here today, not just one. I say we bring out all the tigers and let them feast on our last survivor as the show encore."

"The royal family has spoken!" said the Miss Mana. "Bring out all the tigers and let's watch the woman be devoured!"

"Tigers, tigers!" the audience women all started to chant.

12 snarling tigers appeared in no time. They were on chains, and they quickly zeroed in on Jagger. There was no chance for survival, yet she still back up against the wall. The tigers pinned her there.

"Stop them!"

I turned around to see Devanshi standing for the first time that afternoon. Everyone was just as shocked as I was.

"Stop the tigers from hurting her!"

Her mother looked back at her with daggers. Devanshi, clearly frightened, left the arena entirely, Sajan following her out.

No one made any motion to follow her order.

"You heard the Queen!" I said. "Stop the tigers!"

The men pulled back the tigers' chains, keeping them back just before they were about to cut open her stomach. Jagger looked up at me with gratitude.

Everyone was looking at Chunni Menon with confusion. "What the queen means, she believes this lawbreaker's life should be spared until the next games. We will hold another Animal Spectacle tomorrow just for the purpose of giving this woman her justice. See all of you then."

The workers took Jagger out of the arena.

On my way out of the building, I came across Chunni talking to Devanshi.

"What was the meaning of that? You made your sister and I seem like fools!"

"I'm sorry, Mother. I don't know what got into me. I guess I just felt sorry for Jagger or something."

"Jagger is a criminal who deserves our justice."

"I know, Mother. You know I never liked these things."

"Traditionally, the Queen always attends these events to personally see that justice is being carried out. But that's not actually a law. Why don't you stop attending these, and I'll fill in for you."

"Yes, Mother," she said in a hushed voice.

Chunni gave me a sharp look as well. "I saw you leave your seat and run down to lowest row of seats, the area known as the red zone because people get splashed with blood there. What were you doing?"

"Oh, you know me. I will never turn down the chance to see violence up close and be splashed with blood. I really can't think of a better time than that, in fact."

"I suppose it makes sense."

I went back to the Palace, the weight of the horrible killing I had just seen sinking in. I vowed I would do everything the next day to help Jagger win one more time.

That evening, Sajan picked me up for the last of our traditional five dates of courtship, dressed in his most regal battle armor yet. He took me to a wonderful new restaurant, one much fancier than any of the others, where I had the best curries I ever dreamed of.

Even though I was required in public to wear my dress, wig, and makeup, I dropped the fake voice when we were alone, making me feel like I was being myself around him instead of trying to be someone else. And this time, I didn't have some fake English identity to keep. I could actually go back and answer all those questions I had dodged beforehand, going over as much of my life as he shared with me. I felt amazing to be able to open up to him and go through my whole history, and he obviously was touched by my candor.

After dinner, he took me on horse to a gorgeous music pavilion.

"This is a Carnatic Music Palace, Ma'am."

Soon, we were seated inside, holding hands.

When the room went dark, female musicians came on stage. There was a sarasvati vina player, a mridangam player, a tanpura player, and a Gottuvadhyam player. In addition, four different vocalists were present. The music was very beautiful, making me emotional. Making me fall for my partner just a little bit more.

Of course, Sajan spent the whole time just looking at me.

That night, I dragged him into my bedroom. It felt so good to take off dress and wash off all of my make-up. I felt even freer than ever, and that was making me more and more attracted to the hunky Indian man in my arms.

"Sajan, tonight, because I had so much fun with you on all of these wonderful dates, I want to show my appreciation by letting you have free reign of my body for the first time. I want you to do as you desire, without worrying if I'm uncomfortable with it. I am nothing but comfortable with you and your body, Sajan."

"Because I love you, it would please me to no end to let me show you everything else I was taught how to please a lady sexually, Ma'am."

"I'll allow it. Just tell me what to do."

"You don't have to do anything. Just let me take the lead, Ma'am."

He started by laying me down on the bed face-up. He gave me a massage that was at once loving and romantic as well laced with sexuality, keeping my dick hard the whole time. He started at my hands, then moved to my chest and went down. All the while, I stared at the muscled, beautiful Indian man with his brown skin and world class unit, hard and leaking, right in front of me. He finished with my dick, stroking me and getting me extremely excited.

He kissed my lips, and I couldn't help but reach around him and pull the studly man against me, feeling all his muscles against my body, with him careful not to touch me with his penis.

He broke the kiss, though, and then he started to retrace his steps his hands made, only this time with his tongue, setting me on fire. He licked at my balls and then started to lick up and down my shaft.

He turned me over and started to lick my other side over every inch as well. When he got to my butt, he licked up and down my crack, and the focused on my hole. He licked and licked, and then he finally pushed his hot tongue inside me, making me moan.

He licked inside me lovingly for what seemed like ages before he started adding a stretched out finger. I loved the feeling the pleasure my sweet spot with it. Once again, I could feel his hot precum splashing all over me. He licked my ear as he pushed his finger up and down.

And the he moved back down to my hole. This time, he licked at my hole as he pushed the second finger inside me. He licked me as he used both his fingers to work my insides.

Just before I was going to shoot, he pushed me on my side. Amazingly, he was able to use his stretching ability to bend his body all the way around mine, his mouth kissing the tip of my dick. He sucked down my dick, giving me one heck of a blowjob while he continued to finger my rear.

He knew how to please me: it amazed me how well trained he was to home in on my prostate, and it should have been obvious to me before that he must have been trained to please a man's body, as he would not have gone straight for that spot with a woman. It didn't take me long to hit my orgasm. I grabbed onto his muscled body and held on with all my strength, my whole body trembling as I felt the double pleasure of stimulation on both ends. I erupted, and he eagerly drank down my whole load before pulling his head back.

He pulled out of me and took his mouth away, holding me sweetly all night long.

JUNE 11th

I wanted so much to stay at home with Devanshi that day and skip the horrible Animal Spectacle, I figured Jagger might need my help, so I went along, this time needing to find my own way there as Sajan was back guarding the queen, which I could not believe how many apologies he gave to me about not being there to lead me.

When I got there, I gave up any pretense about sitting farther back and just went right to the very lowest seat, where I knew I would be able to shout to Jagger.

When Chunni and her younger daughter were seated in their box, the show began, and that Miss Mana came out again with the evil orchestra playing their exciting music again.

"With Jagger Kaamat beating her last match all too easily, our sponsor here, Lady Menon, has suggested that our previous tradition of matching a vampire woman with a human man was folly. Since she is a vampire, she should be matched with a vampire male, clearly. And how fortunate are we today that Lick-Lick happened to survive his wounds yesterday, ladies? Now he is fully recovered and more furious than ever. And this time, his opponent won't have a tiger to unleash upon him in order to get the advantage."

I shook my head. It was bad enough when Kush Poddar had been forced to battle Lick-Lick, that had been an uneven matchup enough, and Kush was a male vampire, so much physically stronger than Jagger.

Jagger gave me a look as she was raised into the arena from below. She certainly didn't seem confident, yet she had no trace of fear, either. It was more like she looked resigned to what would probably be her death.

Lick-Lick was raised up attached to a chain as the music turned scary again, and I for one was scared to death what he would do to Jagger.

The match began, and I told her to search for the rock that was buried in the dirt. She said she knew already, and went straight for it, digging it up quickly.

But when she started to pound the chain, it wasn't breaking at all. "What am I doing wrong?"

I looked over at Lick-Lick. "Oh my goodness, they've given you a much thicker chain than his! That's cheating! Okay, let me try to think of another way to help you."

"Another way to help?!" demanded a familiar voice, so close it made me jump. "I knew you were down here trying to help these convicts!"

I turned around to see Chunni's furious face, apparently sneaking up on me from nowhere, and I did the unthinkable: I yelled in my deep voice.

"What?! What was that croak?"

"I'm sorry, I meant to say," and I yelled in high pitched voice again.

"Oh no, you did not."

Chunni pulled down my wig and threw it away as she gasped. All she had to do was nod at the guards behind her, and they grabbed me. I tried to fight them, but in seconds, they had torn all the clothes from my body.

Chunni signaled for them to stop the music and waved Salahakara Ogra over. "This male filth has been deceiving me this whole time. Clearly, there is nothing female about this." She pointed at my dick. "I'm charging Jake Groves with imitating a female, and throwing him into the arena to have death dealt to him like any other prisoner."

"Sounds appropriate to me, Lady," said Salahakara Ogra.

I grabbed my license from my ripped up clothes and showed it to them. "I may not have a vagina, but I have enough female parts in me due to One magic that allow me to pass as a female here by your technical standards. My license was obtained totally legally, which the DMV can attest themselves. I am a woman here, and you cannot kill me."

"You may be a woman," said Chunni. "But you still deceived me about your identity and country of origin with your atrocious British accent. Deceiving me in order to come under my employ, especially in a position that puts me and my family in a vulnerable position from you, that is considered treason, and the penalty is still execution."

"She's right, My Lady" said Salahakara Ogra. "Execute away."

"Guards, throw her in! Let's make it a double match! So much more entertaining, isn't it?"

The guards grabbed me.

"Wait a second!" I yelled. "You cannot kill me like this, it violates the Vampire Council law! You aren't permitted to harm me until all the Blood leaders have voted!"

"I don't care about the Council. Throw him in!"

I looked at Salahakara Ogra.

"You can't let this happen. You know this is against the law!"

She seemed to be processing. "Wait! Guards, don't throw him in!"

The guards stopped and looked at her.

"If you throw him right there, Jagger will be in his reach and could aid him. Throw him in on the other side, where Jagger will never be able to reach."

"Yes, perfect," said Chunni.

The guards pulled me over to the other side of the arena. I fought them with everything I had, but there were four vampire males against me, and I could do nothing. They tossed me over.

As I fell down, I concentrated on what Parker had taught me about falling from large heights without killing myself, and I landed with a roll.

But no amount of landing gracefully could avoid the fact that it was a serious fall, and I blacked out when I hit the ground.

I woke up biting the dirt on the arena ground, face down. I could hear the scary music playing again, the ringing in my ears from my fall making it sound more eerie than ever.

I could feel muscles holding me down from above. I felt a large tongue raping my hole, making me horrified.

"Lick-Lick, Lick-Lick, Lick-Lick!" the women were cheering.

I had Lick-Lick's chain around my throat. He was slowly choking me to death. Jagger was trying to break her chain and come help me, but the chain was proving unbreakable.

I tried to struggle against him, but my body was still bad off after that fall, that I was barely able to do much.

"Stop this match!"

I turned to see Devanshi appear behind her mother, with Sajan behind her, looking down at me in horror. The orchestra stopped playing, and everyone looked at the queen in shock.

"What are you doing here?" asked Chunni.

"I want you to pardon Jagger Kaamat,"Devanshi said.

"She committed a crime. Neither of us have the power to pardon criminals, Devanshi."

"No, we don't. That's why this morning I went to the Great Houses and asked them permission to change the law she broke. They all agreed with me, and the law has been changed. The only house that doesn't have agreement is the Menons, but I looked it up and we only need all but three to agree to a new, permanent Shankar law. And so, the new law ends the requirement that women must dress in women's clothing. Women can now dress in any way they choose, and they won't ever have their womanhood taken from them. And they may take any name they choose, not only a traditionally female name. That's my order, and that change then pardons her."

I was so proud of her.

"Why do you care so much about her?" asked Chunni.

"She's my friend."

"Friend?" mumbled Jagger, not loud enough for anyone but me to hear. "But she hasn't even spoken a single word to me."

"How many times have I told you that a queen is not meant to have friends?"

"I know, Mother, and I'm sorry."

"Devanshi, even if you didn't need my vote as the head of the Menons to pass the new law, you still are not allowed to make any major decisions as Queen without my consent. You know that."

"She's right, My Grace," said Salahakara Ogra. "You are not allowed to make decisions without your mother's consent until you are eighteen."

"I know you always told us that, Salahakara Ogra," said Devanshi. "But you know what I found when I actually started to read the old Shankar Blood laws themselves?" She handed her mother old books. "I found out that when a queen turns eighteen, that is when they are counted as adults in key ways, such as reaching the age of consent, being able to marry, and being tried as an adult for their crimes. But, it says right here, that a queen is able to make her own Monarchial decisions starting at age 16. I'm well past that age."

"I've never seen these laws," said Chunni.

"I think we have Salahakara Ogra to blame for this. Either she's misinformed and confused, or she's been deceiving us. Either way, Ogra, you are being fired, right now."

"But, Your Grace," she looked at Devanshi with shock.

"Right now! Go!"

Salahakara Ogra left the arena angrily.

"I've already hired a new Royal advisor. Halah Farhat, come forth."

Tahir's mother appeared.

"Salahakara Farhat was most instrumental today in passing this new law. And since, mother, clearly you were just as much a victim of Ogra's incompetence as I have been."

"Yes, we were both victims, daughter."

"And you, I'm sure, can see the merits of the new law I passed, because I know how wise you are, I need you to let Jagger go now."

She thought for a moment. "Yes. Jagger Kaamat is to be released and forgiven. But Jake Groves will still die for her crime right here and now."

"But hurting her goes against our pledge to the Vampire Council."

"I don't care about the Council. She's in Shankar Blood territory, not at the Council."

"But you're not the one going to the Council. I will, and I refuse to have to answer for her death."

"How can you stand to not punish someone who lied to you just as much as she did to me?"

"Yes, she did lie about her identity, but I always knew. I could smell her bloodtype, and I knew who it was the whole time. She is technically my employee, so it me she deceived. She has been an excellent teacher, so I want her released and restored to her old post. That's an order to all of you."

Hearing those words made me so proud. I never knew anything I had said before in my lessons had ever had any real impact on her, but here was the sweet proof that it had all been worth it.

"Better do it quick before Lick-Lick finishes me off here!" I managed to yell through the choking.

"Sajan, I can see you are just dying to intervene. You have my order."

Sajan bowed to the queen, and then leapt heroically into the pit, the fall not fazing him one bit.

In moments, Lick-Lick was thrown so hard onto the wall, he ended up a bloody, unconscious mess. Sajan lifted me up, and held me in his arms.

"Now, Mother, I hope you won't be angry at me. You know I could never get through any of this without all the advice you've given me."

"We'll talk about it."

After the queen and her mother left, a stadium of bloodthirsty women left deeply unsatisfied. Workers hauled off Lick-Lick and then unchained Jagger. They gave us both sheets to cover our nakedness with.

Jagger was unhurt and left on her own, but I was still battered.

"I never wanted to see you in this sad condition, Ma'am. I'm taking you home."

"I can manage on my own, Sajan. You should be escorting the Queen."

"Her Grace kindly ordered me to look after you and see that you are well. It would be wrong of me not to follow her orders to a T, Ma'am. And so, you just relax and let me take care of you."

He carried me to his horse, and then led me back to the palace, at which point he helped me to my room. I felt like I saw a shadow watching the two of us from some upper balcony, but when I turned to look, it was gone.

As soon as he set me on my bed, I pulled my sheet off. "Sajan, before you go, I've got a bunch of cuts on me."

"I know, I've been able to smell them this whole time, Ma'am."

"Will you please lick them better?" I asked.

"You know I cannot do that, Ma'sm. I swore to you that I would never drink your blood."

"I asked you to swear that to me at the time because I was worried that, if you tasted my blood, you would know right away, because my blood tastes different, that I was in fact the One. But now that there's no secrets left between us, I want you to start drinking my blood. Why bother with the cold blood packets when I could keep you going?"

"It's wrong, Ma'am."

"You must think I am disturbed by the idea, Sajan. But the truth is, I've had vampires bite me plenty of times before and as long as it's someone I care about, then I really enjoy it. I really want you to do this, Sajan."

"It's against the law, Ma'am. I'm not permitted to drink a woman's blood."

"I won't tell anyone about this, ever. I swear!"

"No Ma'am, I cannot break the law! Do you want me to end up in the animal pits? Is it really worth that, Ma'am?"

"No, it's not."

He bit into his hand and rubbed his blood into my wounds, healing them. "This will have to do, Ma'am. I'm sorry."

JUNE 12th

After that law change I felt so free. I never had to put on another dress, wig, or makeup. Never had to talk in a high pitch again. I could be myself. I still thought it bizarre and emasculating to have everyone use the feminine pronouns about me, but it was so much more preferred than to the embarrassment I had been forced to suffer through before.

At first, Jagger and I were the only "women" wearing men's clothing, but soon, more and more women started experimenting. I noticed some of those male vampire bottoms who had been wearing dresses before also start to wear men's clothes again, but many did not, making me think of those ones as the true trans folks.

Sajan showed absolutely no sign that he was any less attracted to me now that I had lost any pretext of ever dressing like a woman in any company. He told me, as long as I was legally a woman, he was totally attracted to me as ever.

The best part of all of it was when I saw Yaksha, the old woman who had confided in me in District Y1, walking the streets of the X District again. She was so happy to see me. Not because she knew I had anything to do with the law change, but because she could finally walk in what she considered her home again, in the clothes she wanted. She walked with such radiance.

The only one who gave any sort of dislike for the new status quo was Chunni. Anytime she saw Jagger or me in the palace, she turned cold. Not that either of us could muster much warmth for the woman who had tried to kill us.

Halah came up to me and gave me a hug. She looked only a bit like Tahir.

"I'm conservative with my hugs, but I seem to owe you a dozen more."

"You don't owe me anything, Halah."

"I owe you me and my husband's lives when you helped us escape from the Shah's clutches. I owe you everything you ever did for my boy. And I owe you getting me released from prison just days before I was set to fight for my life in that arena of death. And I owe you for getting me this job. So many ands, I can't even keep track of them all."

I pulled away from her. "But I need to come clean about something. Something so horrible, it will make you retract that hug. You see, there was a time Rasheed and I were holed up together, alone, and we both thought you were dead. We did things then that I totally regretted the second I learned the truth."

"Rasheed already told me everything. I understand, and I forgave both of you. I already know how weak he is. Things are going to have to change with him. For ages, my full time job has been taking care of him. Now that I have this wonderful opportunity as a job, it will take up all my time and leave little to tend his needs. He needs to prove to me that he can grow up and handle being alone. They gave me an apartment in the palace which he's already moved into, as my husband. I need you to promise me something. If he tries to come to you while I'm away from work and ask you to help him, I want you to refuse. Especially if he tries to sleep with you again."

"I promise," I said. "I'm the first person who thinks he too needs to learn to be by himself."

"Thank you so much. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you here."

"Would you be able to get me a meeting with Vivek Shankar? I'm sure I could ask the queen if not, but I figure I would try not to bother her."

"I should be able to easily."

"Sajan? What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Ma'am, my presence here upsets you. I can leave." There wasn't the least bit of anger or sarcasm there, just the sound of a lost puppy dog.

"It is a pleasant surprise to see you, Sajan. Just surprising."

"I am here to escort you to Mr. Shankar's quarters, Ma'am."

"Isn't this your shift to guard the queen?"

"Yes, Ma'am, but I asked Her Grace her permission to let me guard you during your meeting. I placed my top guards on her while I'm away."

"Why are you so set on accompanying me? Is it just so you would have an excuse to see me? Because I always like an excuse to see you, Sajan."

I kissed him deeply.

"Ma'am, seeing you makes my heart feel things I don't have the words to communicate, since I am just a lowly male. But I would never compromise my job responsibilities just to have a romantic moment with you, as sweet as that moment would be. I'm here because I am concerned about your safety, Ma'am."

"Why are you so concerned for my safety? I'm just talking with Mr. Shankar. As far as I know, there will be no mortal combat involved. I love going a day without me being forced into those situations, let me tell you."

"I know you believe that you will just be talking with Mr. Shankar, Ma'am. But I do not have faith that he will treat you with the delicacy you deserve, Ma'am."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't say voice my concerns without betraying a man who is technically my superior, Ma'am."

"Well, could you at least hint to me what you fear is?"

"Well, Ma'am, I fear that he has had a history of physically abusing his subordinates or non- Shankar Blood people. With your specific bloodtype, I fear that this abuse could turn sexual. Keep in mind that his wife doesn't have much regard for your well-being, Ma'am."

"While normally, I might find your chaperoning a tad condescending, given that I seem to attract supernatural rapists faster than dead meat attracts maggots, I'll agree to it."

Sajan led me through the Mahal Aranya into the King Father's quarters. Even before seeing the man whose living space it was, I was struck how different the rooms looked from the rest of the palace. While Mahal Aranya was a gorgeous palace even grander than the Taj Mahal, these rooms seemed to belong to a different building altogether. It wasn't that they were small, as I would have expected given that they only belonged to a male, but I realized, the decoration of its occupant seemed to dictate the feel. While the whole palace was filled with huge windows or open walls, tons of natural light shining on everything, this apartment's windows were shuttered, leaving the room dark and foreboding. While Mahal Aranya made use of nature, plants, rocks, streams going into every room, this room had all of those aspects removed.

When Sajan and I walked into the room, there were two men already there. It was pretty obvious which one was Vivek. He was a well-dressed Indian man in a suit, one of the only well-dressed Indian men I had seen that wasn't doing so because it was part of their uniform. His muscles looked very attractive in his Indian clothing, and the bulge in his pants suggested he was just as hung as his vampire brothers tended to be.

I looked up at his face, expecting it to match the beauty of his body, but I was so surprised, I almost gasped. There was something strange about his face. I realized it looked human. Did I somehow mistake him for a vampire? Was he actually a man? Did that mean Chunnni was a special like her daughters? Is that how she was able to breed vampires with him?

He stood up when he saw us coming and looked at me. There was something strange about that look. It was very brief, much too brief for any new image of a person to stick. I had the odd hunch that he had seen me before. And as I pondered that thought, I realized that there had been a couple times in the palace where I had had the feeling I was being spied on somewhere. I was all but certain this was the man who was spying.

"Jake Groves, I'm Vivek Shankar."

"Good to meet you, Mr. Shankar." I extended my hand.

"I'm actually a bit of a hugger."

Without conceding, he reached in and hugged me, his hand going to my butt. He inhaled deep.

"You smell fantastic, Jake."

I could see his fangs pop out, and I knew he was a vampire after all. I looked again at his face. I suppose it was handsome enough, but compared to all the other vampires, it just seemed sort of off somehow. Squished or something. I knew that becoming a vampire means all of your unattractive facial features go away. Since he still seemed to have these, did this mean something went wrong in his creation? Or was it that his actual genes were just so, so bad, the vampire tweaks could only do too much? Either way, it didn't fit at all with the women who had told me he was an attractive vampire. Maybe they were referring to the neck down.

"Mr. Shankar, I do think your hug has lasted long enough," said Sajan.

Vivek looked at Sajan, who clearly had the man beat in the strength department, and pulled away from me.

And that's when I really looked at the other man in the room for the first time. While looking at Vivek's face gave me surprise, looking at the man he had with him gave me a completely different emotion: a deep-rooted fear that went straight into my soul.

The man was dressed in tight, black clothes. His muscles and large package again showed me he was a vampire. He was holding a katana in his hands, a deadly weapon, but that wasn't what scared me.

What scared me was the mask he was wearing. It covered his whole face, leaving him completely anonymous. It was dark black wood, but the front of the mask was carved with a red design. I realized it was a kabuki mask, but somehow the carving seemed so much more devilish than any kabuki mask I had ever seen. It was carved into the wood and painted blood red. Actually, as I looked closer at it, I wouldn't have been surprised with the mask had been painted with actual blood.

That mask chilled me to the bone. It wasn't just that it was powerfully scary to look at, there was something else there too. Some eerie sense of déjà vu that made me look back at that dream I had where I had been Vadim for any sign of that kabuki mask, but there was nothing but crazed werebeasts in that dream.

I pushed away the irrational fear. "Oh, look, what a pretty mask that is! But isn't it a few months still from Halloween? Oh, does that mean this is a masquerade ball that no one told me about? Should I grab my Abe Lincoln mask back in my room so I don't feel so left out?"

"Whatever you have to do to make yourself feel pretty," said Vivek in what I swore sounded like a joke from a man that was raised in the same place as humorless Sajan had been.

"Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, Vivek?" I asked.

"I'll let him speak for himself."

I looked at the kabuki mask. "Do you have a name, sir?"

He didn't utter a single word.

"Well, there's your answer," said Vivek.

"If he can't identify himself, why is he here, then?" I asked Vivek.

"He's here as my personal guard. He serves exactly the same purpose as Sajan to you. Wait a second, not exactly the same. He and I are both bisexual tops that have a platonic relationship. Not like you and Sajan, who is actually fingering you."

Sajan went angry. "Mr. Shankar!"

"What? My wife isn't the only one with eyes and ears all over Mahal Aranya. Though I've seen to it that my quarters are the one place in the whole world in which I am absolutely sure that my wife has no eyes and ears. So feel free to speak feeely."

"I am not upset about the fact that you know about the two of us, Mr. Shankar. I'm upset about the language you've chosen to express yourself with. I'm sure you did not know this because there's been a recent law change which removes female dress codes, but Jake is a licensed woman here. Which means, your colorful language is most inappropriate and perhaps even borders on the illegal."

"I had no idea. Forgive me my male rudeness, Ma'am." He spit out that last word in a way that Sajan would have never understood.

"Please speak freely, Vivek. I am here to ask you some questions, and I need you to just give me the unfiltered truth."

"Something tells me you are not here asking questions of me because of some kindhearted need to get to know and befriend me. And as much as I adore the idea that you are here because you want to open up that massive package I saw you checking out and give what's inside the old college try with that ass of yours..."

"Vivek, please!"

"What? She just gave me permission to speak my mind! And now that I look into your eyes, I can see the darkness there for the first time. You've heard they called me the Black Prince before my father died, making me king, haven't you? That's why you've sought me out?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"I have a reputation. Men come to me for a very specific reason. Look, for us vampires, all sex is amazingly fulfilling. But there's one kind of sex that absolutely blows away all the others. You already know what kind of sex that is, don't you?"

"I'm not sure."

"Oh, but you have a hunch. For us vampires, the hottest sex we have is when we drain our victim's blood, every last drop, while we are fucking them. The hottest sex for us vampires requires death. Countless men have sought me out to have me do the deed for them. There are three types of men who yearn for this black gift from me."

"Which are?"

"One is men who know they are already dying, and so they want to go out in the best possible way they can. But you are the One, and therefore obviously aren't chronically ill. Therefore I believe you are the second type of man, the one that may be physically healthy but suffers mentally so much that they cannot go on with life, and seeks me to give them a sweet ending."

I crossed my arms. "I believe you saw in me that I am a bit scarred from all the people I've lost. But I'm no way so depressed that I would ever consider killing myself like that."

"Well then, you probably belong to the last group. The group who are healthy and mentally sound, and yet realize that they too will only have the best sex of their lives if they let me kill them during the process. The sex is worth the death to them. Believe it or not, your kind is the kind I get most of all. Listen, I know that you aren't someone who likes to be kicked around during sex. I would be as sweet to you as a wave lapping at your feet."

"I am not seeking death from you, Vivek, no matter how good the process."

"Ah. Well, I suppose that's good, since you've probably heard that married men The Raajya East are sworn to be monogamous to their wives, even though the women themselves are never under the same condition. And since I belong to Chunni Menon, I am not permitted to even ever touch another man."

"Not to mention, Mr. Shankar, that you are addressing a woman, and even if you weren't married, it would be illegal for you to drink Jake's blood anyway," said Sajan.

"Yes."

"Well, isn't it lucky for me that I'm not here looking for you to top me into oblivion? I'm here to ask you about some events in your past in order to try and get a little more info about me trying to solve who murdered my father when I was a boy."

"Ask away."

"I'm interested in when you went to America to marry Giggles Logan."

"Ah yes. If there's one truth that was drilled into the head of all of the Shankar princes by the women around us even before we learn walk, it's that we are only here for one thing and one thing alone. Do you have a guess what that is?"

"Let me guess. Their wonderful ability to kill someone during sex?"

"Not exactly, but very related. It's our sperm. My whole life, I've been told I'm absolutely worthless to the my family or my people except for that one part of me. And a vampire prince whose semen has no affect because he is too young to impregnate anyone is the absolute worst creature imaginable, as dear Step-Mother Chunni kept on telling me when she was married to my father. And after my father died, I became strong enough to breed, and Chunni married me, do you know how many times she's slept with me? Five times she had me cum into a cup so she could inseminate herself. As soon as she was pregnant with Gangi, she stopped and never even looked at me again. Why would she? She doesn't need me to satisfy her sexually, as she has her own harem in the palace."

"She does? A harem?" I was shocked.

"Five lucky handsome guys she's taken to and made leave their jobs and their lives so they can be around full time to pleasure her sexually. No matter if they aren't attracted to her or had their hearts belonged to someone else, they are forced to be her personal sex slaves. The lucky ones are the human men because she always kicks them out when they turn forty. The vampires who don't age will be with her for all eternity."

"Does that at least mean that she lets you be more of a father to your daughter?"

"I wish. She hasn't even let me see my daughter a single time. I feel absolutely no connection to that child now. She might as well not have a single one of my genes."

I pulled myself back from the sarcasm to say something heartfelt. "I really am sorry for how you were raised, Vivek."

"Thanks kindly. Anyway, Chunni was sick of seeing my worthless self loafing around Mahal Aranya all day, so she sent me on an assignment. She had me marry Giggles Logan and move to Texas."

"Why would she make you do that?"

"To spy. Her last spy had gotten herself eaten by Jericho, so she had no eyes and ears in the Territory. So, she sent me. She told me she wouldn't let me come home until I scored her some seriously worthy piece of information. I did as she asked, and I came back here."

"But wouldn't you still be married to Giggles?"

"Here, a marriage can be dissolved by a ruling party like Chunni."

"What exactly was the piece of information that you gave her?" I asked, wondering if he had figured out my father had the One gene.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I can't remember."

"What?!"

"Sorry. I'm just a male, as I have been told over and over, I don't have the mind to remember such details years down the line, especially concerning matters that are so complex to begin with." Unlike Sajan, who totally meant it when he said statements like that, Vivek was obviously using that as an excuse to keep things from me.

"He's right, Ma'am. He's not able to give us what you came for, so let's go." Sajan clearly believed this to be true. He could not understand how a man could be capable of anything else.

"Fine, I'm going."

Sajan and I started to leave, with me feeling deeply unsatisfied.

"Wait! Don't go yet."

I turned to look at Vivek. "Yes?"

"I want to speak to you without Sajan."

"I don't like that idea at all, Mr. Shankar. Especially not hearing all of your talk about taking so much pleasure killing your victims during sex. Ma'am, you will not be safe without me."

"I'll allow it, but if Sajan leaves, so does Mr. Chatterbox over there in the mask. I refuse to be alone with him."

Vivek nodded. "That's fine. Sajan and my friend can wait right outside together. But first, I must insist, just like before someone visits my wife for an important meeting, that Jake be stripped of his clothes and searched, to make sure I am safe."

"I am not going to let you strip me naked and stick your fingers inside me, Vivek. You are obviously taking advantage of me, here."

"Fine. As much as I was looking forward to that, I'll let Sajan give you the search while the two of us look away."

"Me?" asked Sajan.

"Yes. You've done this hundreds of times on folks who are meeting with my wife. Just do it again to Jake right here. If you swear to me he is clean, I trust your word completely, as I always have."

"You want me to look for concealed weapons, just like Chunni has me do?"

"Can you really be so naïve to think weapons are all you are looking for? Even more important to her would be concealed recording devices."

"Sajan, go ahead and do as he is asking," I said.

Vivek and the masked man looked away, and I took off all my clothes and handed them to Sajan. He searched my body (warning me of course as he did it) and then searching my clothes. He confiscating the items in my pockets, but gave the rest back to me, and I got dressed again.

"Alright Mr. Shankar, Jake Groves is clean."

Sajan and the masked man left the room, and Vivek looked deep into my eyes. I felt like he was really looking at me for the first time. "I am giving you a one time off, and I implore you to take it. I have a very high regard for you, Jake."

"That's nice, but how could you have a high regard for me when you only just me?"

"I am not exaggerating in an attempt to manipulate your emotions here. I am being totally honest. I can't tell you how, but I already know you far better than you realize. Been studying you carefully. I know and trust you completely. It's only you who has just met me, not the other way around. Since I have a high regard for you, I want the two of us to be together. Not just romantically, not just physically, but in a strategic alliance as well in this game both of us are playing. You haven't noticed, but you and I are the most critical pieces in this whole game. If the two of us were one, think of how unstoppable we would be!"

"But I'm with Sajan."

He laughed. "You are dating nothing more than a soldier. Sajan is just a pawn. You have to realize that too."

"Sajan is the oldest vampire in your Blood. He's devoted his whole long life to improving his battle prowess. That makes him one of the toughest fighters of all the vampires."

"He's a fucking strong pawn, I'll grant you that, but he's still just a pawn."

"A pawn that makes it all the way across the board gets a promotion and becomes just as powerful as any other piece."

He laughed even harder. "Sajan will never make that journey. He is doomed to be a pawn his whole life. Leave that foolish nothing of a man behind and come with me."

"Do I have to remind you that you are already married? What about Chunni?"

"She'll try to stop us, but she won't be able to. I have it all planned out perfectly. You and I will be the perfect marriage."

Suddenly, him making sure I wasn't wearing a recording device made perfect sense to me. He was telling me things that could get him killed. But as it was, it would just be my word against his if I took any of it to his enemies.

"Didn't you just tell me that prefer sex that kills the other party? You wouldn't be able to control your urges to do me in like that too, would you?"

"I told you, non-killing sex is incredibly fulfilling for me as well. I don't need the killing. Our bodies will give each other so much pleasure without me ever even endangering you."

"What exactly are you asking of me?"

"I want to turn you into a vampire. You were meant to be a vampire, you would be incredibly powerful as one. You have to let me turn you."

"But I need to love someone to have them turn me."

"You will love me. You aren't attracted to lies, I know that. Once the lies are gone, and you know all of my secrets, you will come to love me. And then, I will make you the strongest vampire ever, and we will be together for the rest of time. I'm not asking you to sell your soul to me, Jake. We will be equal partners in the decisions we make."

"What great secrets exactly do you have to tell me?"

"It's not just who killed your father, Jake. I have answers to questions that you didn't even know to ask me. Questions that you will care about so much more than any of the petty things you care about now."

"Oh, really? Will you even tell me what happened to your father, who seemed to disappear entirely coincidentally close to the time that you became old enough to procreate, making you king?"

He smiled at that. I could not tell if the smile showed he was impressed or annoyed by my question. "Yes, even that. So, how about it? Will you dive into my pool, Jake?"

"While I can't say I'm not intrigued by your offer, Vivek, I have to decline. My loyalty is to Sajan, and furthermore, I have no desire to become a vampire. And you may feel like you know me well, but I just don't know you well enough to promise you I will enter into a romantic relationship with you."

"Is that your final answer? Keep in mind that if you changed your mind at some later point, there is no way you can ever go back to this moment. The offer expires in a few seconds."

"Yes, I'm sorry."

He sighed sadly. "Then please, forget I ever said these words to you." He opened the door, and motioned for Sajan and the kabuki man to come inside. "Sajan, please escort your woman friend out of my apartment. This conversation is over." He shut the door in our faces.

Sajan gave me back my things and escorted me away. "Was your meeting as productive as you had hoped?" he asked me.

"Not at all. All I have now are even more questions than before. I thought I was done with snakes when I left Badiya Ahmar, yet here is one who seems to have nearly as much bite."

The thing was, I was about to try and get Devanshi to start making things better for men here. But what troubled me is that all of the progress that was made in getting more equality for men would be just a little bit marred by the fact that Vivek would be benefiting from those improvements too. It made me want to see if there was anything I could do to limit his power from the very start.

"Ma'am, you seem uncharacteristically discontent. I hope I haven't managed in my male idiocy to upset you in some way."

"No, Sajan, I'm upset about something that has nothing to do with you. I'm just a bit frustrated because I searched the palace today for someone with news about how Vivek's father, Yash, disappeared, but I found nothing."

"Well Ma'am, you should have asked me first. I was on guard duty then."

"Was he murdered by Vivek, Sajan?"

"Ma'am, do you really think I would have let Vivek get away with that if I had witnessed it? No, he wasn't murdered."

"What happened?"

"Yash was already a mentally fragile man, Ma'am."

Not surprising considering how hard it was to be male in this Blood. "How so?

"Well, Ma'am, he locked himself in his room all the time, never letting anyone in. And he had all these plants he cared for. At first, his plant hobby seemed harmless. Even when he started to talk to the plants, I figured it was just loneliness. But when he named all the plants and started to give them more regard then any live people, I knew something had gone off."

"What did Vivek do?"

"When Yash was out of his room, Vivek broke in. By the time Yash returned, Vivek had taken each and every plant of his and burned them to a crisp, killing them all. He threw the ashes at his father and laughed. Yash cried at first, and then something changed in his face. Something broke."

"Sounds like Vivek strategically caused a psychotic break in his father."

"Yash ran out of the palace, no one expected it to be the last time anyone saw him. But he never came back, and no one has ever been able to figure out where he went."

"Sajan, what would happen if he returned?"

"As the oldest Shankar male, he would marry Lady Menon."

"Displacing Vivek."

"Vivek would become a prince again."

"Was there any kind of search attempt made?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Vivek sent out several search parties who looked for the man for days."

"Where did Vivek ask them to search?"

"The whole city and all towns in The Raajya East, Ma'am."

"Hmm. What about the jungle outside the city?"

"No Ma'am."

"I have a hunch that's where he went. If he considered plants to be closer to him that real people, Of course he would try to hide out where the trees rule."

"That makes sense to me as well, Ma'am. Not that you ever need my advice on any such matters, since I am just a stupid man."

"I do value your advice, Sajan. So much so that I'm going to ask if you have a map of the jungle."

"I do, Ma'am." He retrieved it.

I looked it over for a while. ""What's this, there?" I asked, circling a particularly dense section of green.

"That's the thickest grove of trees in the jungle, Ma'am. I've been there before, it's beautiful. But I haven't been there since well before he disappeared."

"I bet he'll be there. I think I'm going to pack up some camping stuff and go backpacking into the jungle."

"Is this another joke, Ma'am? You know I don't get your jokes, forgive me."

"I'm not joking Sajan. I'm going to go backpacking in the jungle."

"But Ma'am, you cannot do that! Women do not go hiking or walking, they only travel by horse, and there are no horse paths in the jungle."

"I'll go by foot."

"Women do not go by foot, Ma'am! I'll go through the jungle, I've been plenty of times. Men were meant to camp, not women. It is much too dirty, rustic, and dangerous for you!"

"Sajan, I've been backpacking plenty of times before. I'll be fine."

"You, you have, Ma'am?"

"Yes! And guess what? I survived every time, and I even enjoyed myself."

"That is unbelievable to me. I still think I should be the one to go without you, so you don't have to bother with any of this. It will take you two days to reach this grove, while it would only take me a long day, as I move very fast, Ma'am."

"Sajan, you are a vampire like Yash. Tell me, between the two of us, who has the more fragrant bloodtypes?"

"You do, Ma'am. You have the most fragrant blood I've ever been around."

"Well then, I should be the one out there, so he will smell me and come looking."

"But Ma'am."

"Sajan, stop arguing! I am going, and there is nothing more to discuss."

"Yes, Ma'am. Will you at least let me accompany you? I'll ask Her Grace to let me take a couple days off. I know so many beautiful sights in the jungle I can show you on our way. Waterfalls and such."

"You have a much more important job here than I do, Sajan. You should be here at your post instead of having me drag you through the jungle on nothing but a whim. I'll be fine."

"But it's dangerous for you alone, Ma'am. Wild animals and what not."

"Are there werebeasts, or anything else supernatural I should be worried about?"

"No, Ma'am. Only vampires and humans are allowed in our borders. But there is dangerous Indian wildlife."

"I will bring my firearms with me, and I promise to be safe."

Even though he agreed, his body language told me he was far from happy with any of this. Just to be safe, I went to Devanshi herself.

"Your Grace, I won't be able to continue our lessons for a couple days. I'm heading into the jungle to see if I can find your father."

She looked pleased. "Good luck to you. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well, Your Grace, I don't want Sajan to find an excuse to try and come after me. Will you please keep him occupied if that's possible?"

"I'll do my best."

JUNE 13th

I soon began to regret not bringing Sajan along after all about an hour into the hike through the jungle. Not because I needed him to help me hike or guide me, but because it was amazingly beautiful, and I wished I was sharing the experience with him. I had never seen greenery as lush and exotic as this was. Everything was just dripping and colorful.

Of course, the heat and the humidity really kicked in during the afternoon, but I was not a stranger to those two beasts, growing up in the South. The thick trees overhead meant I almost never was in direct sunlight, at least.

In spite of all the Indian wildlife I knew I had to be worried about, I never saw anything larger than a bird, rodent, or small reptile.

I used my map to locate a beautiful stream in the evening, and camped there for the night, getting a fish from the stream for dinner. It was nice not worrying about being noticed by any people around, so I cut down a small tree with my ax and chopped in into firewood. I built a fire and cooked my fish, noting how romantic the firelight was, and again wishing I had Sajan there to cuddle with.

I put out the fire before I went to sleep in my tent. I certainly wasn't using the tent because it was the least bit cold, just because there were a lot of insects around, and I figured showers might come at any time.

I awoke sometime in the middle of the night, not sure why I was awake. Was there something uncomfortable about my bed?

No. There was nothing wrong.

I heard a noise. Branches moving. Were those some nocturnal birds nearby?

I listened, but the branches moving were clearly caused by something much, much larger than any of the harmless animals I had heard so far.

I refused to just hide meekly in my tent and hope I was not attacked by some predator, so I grabbed my loaded handgun and flashlight, and stepped out of it.

I shined my flashlight in the direction that the noise was coming from, noting that no matter how beautiful the forest was by day, it looked nothing but creepy under the beam of my light.

I could hear something moving through the trees, right towards me. I held my gun up and shined my light in the direction of the sound.

I saw vines hanging from the trees moving around. Obviously, there was something large enough in the trees that would make that happen.

And then I looked closely at one of the moving vines, and I realized it was moving in a way that would have been impossible for an animal to create.

"Snake!" I said.

I shot a couple shots out of surprise.

I was no fan of snakes after my recent adventures, and I knew that any snake in the jungle of India could very well be poisonous. I could not let it slither around my camp.

Obviously, trying to shoot a snake was ridiculous, so I stepped over to where I had cut down that tree, and I grabbed my axe, and returned over my tent.

I found the slithering snake, and I chopped it against the tree with my axe in two.

I looked down at the dead snake, to find nothing but a vine after all.

Had all of this been my imagination? Was my scared mind turning vines into snakes in the dark?

And then I saw all of the vines around me rise up on their own and start to attack me. I was not imagining this, there really was some sort of attacking vine creature here.

Scared, I emptied my gun out into the attacking vines, but it did no good. I dropped my gun.

The vines attacked me, tying themselves around my limbs and holding me in place. I fought back as hard as I could, pulling many vines apart, but more and more came to take their place.

I could not believe what was happening. There obviously wasn't anything like this in nature, so once again, I was being attacked by something supernatural. But a living vine monster? How could this really exist, even in a world with vampires and werebeasts?

I thought I heard a deep moan or something. I turned around to see a creature coming towards me, a plant creature.

It stood taller than me. Wood had been carved into the form of a man. There was a wooden head, wooden muscles below, and wooden legs. Anywhere that there would be hair on a man had green shrubbery growing there.

It was walking towards me, and I realized that all of the vines that had been attacking me were coming from this thing.

I forced myself to wrap my head around what I was seeing. Yes, some muscular tree monster was attacking me, as impossible as all of this seemed. Was this some whole other supernatural race of creatures?

I looked down and realized by the giant, wooden (but soft) penis and testicles hanging between his legs, being topped by green shrubbery where the pubes would have bee, proved this was a tree-man I was wrestling with.

He opened the mouth on the wooden head of his, and let out another groan, this one sounding more and more animal-like.

He pulled me into the area where that tree stump was and he pushed my face into the stump as he roared with anger. "WOOD!" he managed to say out of that crazy wooden mouth of his.

"Yes, I cut down that tree, I admit it. But it wasn't anything like you, I promise. It wasn't moving around on its own."

There was no sign that the tree man could understand anything I was saying. Instead, it was using its vines to constrict around my neck like a snake, making me have to pull at them with all my strength just to keep myself from choking.

The vines stripped me naked, and pulled my feet up. The creature was looking at my butt for a long time, and I saw the disturbing sign of his soft penis good massively hard.

"No, don't you even think about that!"

"WOOD!"

I tried so hard to fight back, but he stuck his wooden dickhead into me. It was so rough, it cut through my chute right away, but he didn't care, he just kept on pushing.

I reached down and retrieved the fallen hatchet. I pulled it up and slammed it into the tree man's arm.

I was shocked to see dark liquid appear. Was that just the tree's sap?

I focused and looked closely. I had cut away a piece of the wood, and I could see brown skin there, bleeding. The wound healed quickly and the wood piece moved back in place to block the skin again.

I looked into the wooden face. Between the eyeholes were clearly human eyes.

"Yash Shankar!" I said. "You're Yash!"

"WOOD!" Yash said, showing no sign that he recognized that name.

"You aren't a tree monster at all, you're just pretending. You're nothing but a vampire Special. You're like Maxim and Helina, aren't you? With your ability to move things with your mind. But instead of having control over fire or, um, hair and dirt, you can only move plant matter, can't you? That's why you obsessively cared for your houseplants, wasn't it?"

"Wood!"

"Yash, you're hurting me. HURTING ME! Don't you understand me? You're ripping me up, Yash. STOP! NO!"

But he did nothing but kept raping me with his wood-covered penis.

His mouth opened, and this time, vampire fangs came out.

"Wood!"

He pierced my throat and started to drink my blood. Even with the numbness of the vampire toxin hitting me, my butt was still in excruciating pain. Was he going to kill me?

"Please Yash, you have to remember home. Remember home? Mahal Aranya? Your daughter, Devanshi? She needs you to come back to her now, she needs you to remember who you were. Please, I'm her friend, coming to try and rescue you."

But there was no sign my words were having any effect at all.

He screwed me and screwed me for what seemed like forever.

Finally, he came inside me, his white seed filling me.

He stopped drinking then and licked my neck wound closed. But he did nothing for my chute, which was still totally bloody, his seed stained pink because of it.

He grabbed me and started to drag me through the forest. It was incredible how he would not walk around the trees. Instead, the tree in the direction he was walking suddenly exploded into a million pieces. We would then walk though those pieces, and then behind us, the tree would recompose completely, in just the way it had been, with no sign that he had done any harm at all. In fact, I looked at the wood on the man and the vines swirling around him. I realized those were living plant matter.

When we passed the empty stump that had been where I had cut down the tree, he again moaned sadly at the sight of it. But, surprisingly, he wasn't able to use his power to move that one out of our way. I realized that dead plants could not be used by his ability. No wonder he was so angry at me for chopping it down, it created an obstacle for him that he actually had to move around, slowing him down.

"Yash, how have you survived all these years in the jungle without any blood? Is that why you needed this wood to protect your skin? Because it keeps you from getting burned by the sun?"

"Wood."

"No, that might suffice for a couple days without blood, but eventually you would enter a hibernation state without it."

I thought about the Pawnee, the other vampires living all alone away from any blood sources. They had been hiding a captive they fed off of everyday.

"You have someone captive, don't you?" I stood up and actually started to walk with him. "Yash, you need to take me to your home. Take me to your home, and let me meet your source of blood." I had to do everything I could to rescue that poor soul.

"Wood."

"I dearly hope that's a yes wood' and not a no wood,' because I can't say it's easy to distinguish between the two."

But when he led me to stream I had been camping on and stopped there, I wondered if we were just taking a pit stop. He stepped into the water, leaned down, and drank through the mask. I got my own drink upstream of him.

He saw a very large tree by the water he seemed to be particularly enamored with. He walked over to the thing and started to first feel all over the thing and then start to actually embrace it.

"Clearly, you have taken this tree hugger moniker all too literally."

"WOOD!"

"Whoa! Am I ever seeing some major wood now!"

I saw that hugging this tree wasn't just some cutesy, childlike fixation about trees having feelings and needing to be saved. He was actually sexually attracted to them. So much so that he was pushing his hard dick against them and leaking precum everywhere.

"Okay there. I'm sure glad these trees do not have feelings or any consciousness, because if they did, I'd be accusing you of feeling them up and violating them."

"Wood!"

Suddenly, where his dick was, a hole formed in the tree that hadn't been there at all before. I noticed how convenient it was that it was the exact size of his hard meat. So convenient that he started to madly screw away at the hole in the tree.

Given how turned on he was, I wasn't surprised at all when his fangs popped out. I was only mildly surprised when he stuck them into the tree as well.

But the real surprise hit me as I saw him suck out the tree-sap and swallow it lustfully.

"That isn't just someone who has a fetish for maple syrup. You are feeding off that tree, aren't you? Oh my goodness, your special power has given you the ability to survive not from the blood of humans or vampires, but from the blood of trees. You don't have anyone locked away in your home, do you? Why would you even bother when the trees give you all you need?"

"Wood."

"And when you had those potted trees in your room, it wasn't just that you cared for those things. You were actually living off them and screwing them, weren't you? They were your lovers that Vivek killed."

"Wood."

He finished feeding/sexing the tree, and pulled his dick out, white cream getting everywhere. The holes, both the penis one and the ones left from his fangs, disappeared from the tree.

He grabbed me and forced me underneath him. He had me face down into the grass, and he spooned me from behind, putting his soft (but still wood-covered) penis against my butt. It looked like he was tying to fall asleep.

"Oh no, you cannot hold me here. Come on, Yash, snap to it. Remember who you used to be and find some pity for me here."

"Wood."

"I am not your possession, you hear me? The second you fall asleep, I'm going to escape you, and you don't have that werebeast smell to track me down with, so you will never be able to find me."

"Wood!"

At that, vines came from nowhere, wrapped around both our bodies, and lifted both of us into the air. Branches grabbed us as well, and soon we were carried all the way to the very top of the trees, looking up at the stars. We were on a platform/bed made of logs and leaves, and there was no way down at all but to jump to one's death. As if that wasn't bad enough, braches in every direction around us were literally imprisoning us together, at least making it impossible to accidentally fall out.

"I hate you! If it's possible for a wooden mask to look smug, you've just totally accomplished it. And I find it very convenient that this time, you seemed to understand enough of my meaning to get that I meant to try and escape you during the night, while just a while earlier, you acted like you were incapable of understanding either any of my words or my body language when you raped me bloody."

He didn't even say a `wood' in his defense, he just held onto me from behind ad fell asleep. I saw no other option but to follow suit.

AUTHOR's END NOTE:

Question for you. Would you have taken Vivek Shankar up on his offer and left Sajan, or done as Jake did?

Email me and let me know at: SellarDhor@gmail.com.