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.

JANUARY 4th

I woke up in the morning smelling bacon and cigarettes, the combination making me feel nauseous.

I sat up in the settee, sighing as my body felt stiff and painful, clearly angry at my choice of bed.

"Look awful stiff there, Jakey," I heard Syd's arrogant voice say. "You'da been waking up with a whole lot more comfort if ya had just slept in bed with me."

"Sure, but I'd be pretty low on self-respect."

I turned around and found Syd lying immersed in his bathtub. He was face up in the water, ridiculously wearing his cowboy hat while he bathed. He seemed more intent on relaxing than cleaning himself. The soapy water was just covering half of his big, soft dick. His muscled upper body, wet and sudsy, was out of the water. I shook my head when I saw what was dangling between his lips.

"Smoking in the bathtub, Syd?" I asked. "Really?"

"No better place for a smoke, if ya ask me."

"Well, you're getting ash on your chest."

"Feel free to come over and sponge it off, baby."

"No thanks!" I walked over to the window and opened it. I could faintly hear that humming or buzzing sound again, and wondered if there was a bee hive nearby. "Goodness, it stinks in here."

"You knew I smoked, Jakey."

"But before, you never smoked in the house."

"That was back during the unfortunate period when I had to impress you, and you didn't know that you couldn't get lung cancer."

"Great, now all my clothes are going to be tainted by that smell. By your stink."

"Oh, poor, miserable Jakey has to put up with cigarette smoke. Someone should give him a Purple Heart."

"Be quiet, Syd. I just woke up, and somehow your annoying voice has already given me a headache."

"Your breakfast is on the dresser," he said.

I opened the platter lid and made a face. "Bacon and eggs?" I scrapped at the eggs with my fork, and then made a face. "And why does everything you eat have to be covered with five inches of cheese?"

"Cheese makes everything better."

"Do I have time to get something else?" I asked.

"Nope, you gotta be meeting with Cornelius in fifteen."

I scraped away the cheese off the eggs and ate what was underneath.

"You know, yer lookin' a might dirty from here," Syd said. "Feel free to join me in the tub. I'll get you good and clean."

"I don't think that tub will hold two people at once, Syd."

"Oh, it will. Trust me, I have plenty of experience with it."

"Oh darn, too bad I bathed last night."

After I had gotten ready and cleaned up, I left Syd's bedroom. He gave me directions to Cornelius's office, which were ridiculously complex.

As I went through the Great Room, I was anxious Jericho would be sitting on his throne. Thankfully, the room was completely deserted. I passed through it, going downstairs in the process. Cornelius's office was in a quiet hallway and clearly marked. I knocked on the deep brown, wooden door.

"Come in."

I stepped into an office that wasn't exactly small, but seemed not nearly large enough to fit the myriad number of old books, hand-written journals, a grand piano, and various artifacts which absolutely stuffed the room, making me feel claustrophobic. The walls, floors, desk, and shelves all were carved out of a dark mahogany type of wood.

Cornelius was seated at his desk, dressed in his mid 1800 style suit, writing in a book with an old fashioned fountain pen. He had a pipe in his mouth, and he looked up at me as he removed it with his hand.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Groves."

Looking at him, I found it oddly strange that he seemed markedly less attractive than all the other male vampires I had seen so far. Though, he was certainly attractive in his own way, his Hulilee looked totally ridiculous, and he looked shorter and scrawnier than most vampires with a slighter frame. Even discounting all that, there was something kind of plain about the man. He really gave off the air of an old scholar, and I half expected him to be wearing thick glasses.

"Hello, Mr. Baker," I said, shutting the door behind me.

"You can call me Cornelius," he said, shaking my hand.

"Oh, okay, call me Jake."

"Please, take a seat," he said, pulling off some books off a chair and motioning me towards it. "Will the pipe smoke bother you?" he asked.

"Normally, yes," I said. "Smoking is terribly carcinogenic. Second hand smoke included. But, I've been assured that I can't get sick anymore."

"That you can't," he said.

Still, the smoke itself was a little overwhelming, but I declined to mention that, hoping to start out on good terms with this man.

"Now, you've been told I will be overseeing all the major details of your upcoming nuptials, yes? As Head of Cabinet, these official matters of the state always come under my hand. As one of the Governor's children, this is almost considered to be a royal wedding, and there are a lot of special ceremonial requirements that go along with that prestige."

"Oh, okay," I said, really not caring at all about this, and wanting to change the subject. "So, Cornelius, how long have you been Jericho's, I mean, the Governor's, Head of Cabinet?"

"Ah yes, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I've been in this role for many of your lifetimes," he said. "I was appointed by the Governor's predecessor."

"His father?"

"Yes," he smiled, his eyes drifting back in time. "He was a captivating leader. I swore to him that I would serve throughout his son's term before he died. My wife has long since left this place for a particular island paradise. It's been decades since I've seen her. I long more than anything for my work to finish here so I can rejoin her. But she knows my responsibility here. She's made me sworn I will stay out of trouble, stay safe, and return to her when my oath has been completed."

"That's very touching," I said honestly. "I noticed that you're not afraid to talk back to Jericho like the others in his Cabinet seem to be."

"That's because I'm the sole member of the Cabinet not to be appointed by him. And I'm the only one who he cannot remove. I'm the only one here who has the authority to lay down the law upon him should he break Logan Blood rules. And believe me, not a day goes by when he doesn't try to push those boundaries farther. Sadly, though the existing legal edicts are solid, they are much too thin, and our ancestors did not have the foresight to think of specific conditions modernity would place on us, and wherever there's a gap in legal oversight, the Governor is excellent at exploiting it." He took another long drag of his pipe.

"It all sounds very frustrating," I said.

"Yes. But what is life if not a series of frustrations?" He paused for a moment, possibly in reflection. "Now, onto the matter at hand. Before we get to the ceremony itself, I wanted to ascertain how much you understand about a vampire marriage. I don't have to look at the clothes you are wearing to tell that you are a fresh arrival here, and may not be familiar with all of our customs. Would you like me to go over the expectations those marriage vows entail?"

"Yes, please," I said, wanting to know what I was supposedly getting into.

Cornelius cleared his throat. "First of all, it must be said that the value of marriage in vampire culture is significant. In your society, marriage seems to have more of a religious importance than a legal importance. Vampires are atheistic, but culturally and legally, a marriage is a serious matter, not something to be entered into lightly. Breaking those vows isn't just a matter between spouses, it has legal ramifications in our society, causing the vow breakers to be arrested and imprisoned for some time. We don't have divorces like you do. The only way for a person to dissolve their marriage contract is if it is proven the other person breaks their vows, or if they are imprisoned for some other legal reason. Or, of course, if they pass on."

"I had no idea these marriage laws were so severe. If my society instituted something like that, divorce rates would dwindle. Of course, so would marriage rates."

Cornelius nodded. "What I think is most important for you to take home with you, is that in our society, the vows are slightly different for fanged individuals like Syd than for non-fanged individuals like yourself."

"Uh-oh," I said. "How so?"

"For non-fanged parties like yourself, I was told you met Dr. Logan and her wife, for example. Well, those two women have vowed to never have sexual relations with anyone else, and to build a life together. Since they both live forever, those vows will last as long as they do. You will be taking the same sort of vows, Jake."

"And what will Syd's vows be?" I asked, dubious.

"As the fanged-party, the vows are much less stringent," he said.

"Why am I not surprised?" I asked.

"Because of our particular nature, in that we must feed to survive, and feeding itself is sexual in nature, sexual relations outside of the relationship are permissible. What's not permissible is developing a strong romantically emotional bond with someone they are feeding from. What this means is, the fanged individual cannot have a side-girlfriend or boyfriend. The sex must be casual in nature."

"Syd's not going to have any problem with that one," I said. "This whole deal sounds grossly unfair to people like me."

"Yes, it can be," Cornelius said. "Some more romantic couples make their own agreement in which the spouse will be the sole provider of the blood for their fanged partner, and in turn, the fanged party pledges sexual fidelity. But this kind of agreement is never done in writing, and provides no formal legal ground for annulment should the fanged party turn out to be unfaithful. Of course, should you ever be turned into a vampire, the terms of your marriage vows would change to match his, and you could both cheat as much as you wanted."

"How romantic," I said. "Anything else I should know? Do I have to pay my entire wealth as a form of dowry or something?"

"No, nothing like that. But since Syd is the heir to the Governorship, it's important for you to know about his potential heirs as well. If an old Governor comes back from a time in which they didn't rule, the Governorship goes back to them. That means that if Jericho's father somehow raised up from the dead, he would take over as Governor again. Of course, that would never happen, it's just an example. Any boys born to Syd within a marriage will get first priority as heirs, with the eldest coming first. Perhaps one day, science will come to a point where this fact will be important to the two of you. Or, if you became a vampire, he could impregnate you with his child. But if not, there are really just two possibilities for children. Either you adopt, or one of you procreates with a surrogate mother. Any children you and Syd adopt must be done so consensually and before the child is of five years of age. If the adopted child is a boy, they would be considered to be the heir only if the marriage has not produced any other natural children."

"And what if one of us provides our sperm?" I asked.

"If Syd is the provider, and you adopt the baby, then the baby is considered a natural heir and would get first priority as heir. If, however, you were to donate the sperm and Syd was the one to adopt, then this offspring would be counted as an adopted child, and would only be considered for Governorship if there were no other natural heirs."

I was amazed how little value was being placed on my role here. Instead of an equal partner, I was being set up as something inferior to Syd. "Well, I don't think we'll be having children," I said.

"In that case, the next in line would go to any bastard children Syd has or will have."

I shivered at the idea of Syd being some poor soul's father. "Does he have any bastard children?"

"None that he's aware of, if he's being honest with us, but who knows? Syd has been with a lot of women out there, and he's going to be with a lot more in the future. In the case of the current Governor, when he got his mistress pregnant, as soon as they found out it was a boy, he decided to marry the woman properly before the child's birth so that the baby would be in line as a potential natural heir. Now, if there are no natural heirs, legitimate or not, or adopted heirs, the Governorship would pass to the Governor's little brother. If he had no brothers, then it would go to his father's uncles, then to any paternal cousins he had, and so on. If no male paternal relatives exist, then the Governorship would pass to the oldest male the Governor turned into a vampire, if there are any."

"So, I would never potentially become Governor?" I asked.

"Actually, if the deceased Governor has no living males that he turned, the Governorship then passes to his spouse, as long as that spouse is male."

"Well, of course," I joked. "We wouldn't want any of those weak women in power, would we?"

"Quite right, traditions must be upheld" Cornelius said, clearly not realizing I was joking. "Now, it should be said that if the Governorship falls to the passing Governor's spouse or someone he turned, it won't stay there, not unless those people have actual Logan blood in them, which is unlikely. Because the Governorship must reside in the Logan family line, after the spouse died, it would go to the next oldest male with a claim to the Logan bloodline. Understood?"

"Yes. It's all very fascinating. Arbitrary and cruel, but fascinating."

Cornelius made a bit of a face, and I wondered if he was insulted by me cutting down all of these rules that he seemed to hold it such high regard. "Now, for traditional male, female pairings, traditional gender roles in the ceremony are required."

"Why is that not surprising?" I asked again.

"For same sex couples, there is an option. Either one person in the couple chooses to play the role of the opposite sex member of the relationship. This correlates with the chosen gender roles that person may have in their relationship. For instance, two women getting married sometimes opt to have one of them play the groom's role in the wedding if that person is considered the more masculine, dominant personality. And then, just like Dr. Logan and her wife when they got married, many choose just to have two brides or two grooms in the wedding."

I was about to tell him that there would most definitely be two grooms in our wedding, when Cornelius continued.

"Syd has already notified me of this decision," Cornelius says. "He has stated that he will be the groom, and you will be playing the bride's role in the wedding, as this fits perfectly with the nature of your romantic relationship."

I had promised not to contradict Syd when he made up these lies, so I sat there and said absolutely nothing, though my face burned painfully in outrage. Of course he had chosen this just to embarrass me.

"I've already sent out announcements to the entire Logan Blood, specifying the date of the nuptials in one month's time. That gives us very little time to plan an event that will bring together all the major families in the Logan Blood, and all other persons of prestige. As the bride, your roll is to produce this whole event. I hope you have a creative streak, because every color design, every menu choice, every piece of entertainment will be picked by you."

"Oh, great."

"Was that sarcasm I detected?" he asked. I knew Syd asked me to try to sound enthusiastic about our wedding, so I worried about leaving a negative impression with Cornelius.

"Uh, no? I am seriously excited by all this," I lied, hoping he would buy it.

"So, you have a lot of experience with major event planning?"

"Uh, sure. I love event planning!"

"Great," he said. "I am so excited then. A few years ago, when the Governor married Glaucia, her inexperience with these things shone through. I thought her choices were endearingly naïve, but after the ceremony, she was widely mocked by the guests. It was all very, very sad. I'm so happy to be assisting someone with true artistic vision."

"Yes, that's me," I said.

"Because of the high demands that will be placed on us in the next month, I'm going to schedule every morning until the ceremony planning with you. If you should need more of my time, just let me know."

"Ah, okay," I said, realizing I was about to hate the upcoming month. "So, what exactly is Syd's role in all of this?"

"As the groom, his role is to select his groomsmen and be taken out to his bachelor party."

Again, my face went hot with anger. "Got it," I said.

I slammed open Syd's bedroom door. "You chose for me to be in the traditional role of the bride, Syd?" I demanded, slamming the door behind me.

His lazy butt was in the same place I left him, soaking in the bathtub. "Well, Cornelius put me on the spot and asked me which way we preferred. I figured you'd like to get all gussied up like a bride. I know how much you love being the prettiest thing in the room."

"Oh, yes, that's exactly how I am. And why on earth are you still in the bathtub?"

"I'm just getting out," he said.

He stood up, and all the soapy water poured all over his sculpted body, back into the basin of the tub. His dick was hanging, wet and soapy yet still soft, dripping suds from its big head. He grabbed it and shook some of the water off of the monster, clearly all for my benefit.

"You know, after that meeting, it's all starting to make sense. Why you would stand to go through with this false engagement. It's because you have it cushy and get to sit in a tub all morning while I have to pretend like I'm some sort of party planning genius with Cornelius every single morning for a month."

He shrugged. "Hey, sweetie, you know I'm with you there in spirit," he said, swinging his dick free of the excess water right in front of me.

"If that is true, why don't you tag along to all those meetings?"

"Well, maybe not that much spirit."

"I didn't think so. Oh, and he went over the exact terms of what our pretend marriage will be. Apparently, I have to be faithful to you forever, while you are permitted to have almost unrestricted dalliances with whomever you please."

"Hey, I didn't make the rules," he said. "But whoever did will be getting a serious hi-five from me. In fact, I'll make you a deal. I'll marry you for real. That would mean you wouldn't just be safe from Jericho for one stinkin' month, you'd be safe forever. In return, I want you to let me top you, and really give yourself over sexually to me. We both know you'd love it if you only give it half a chance. Basically, I want the old, lustful Jakey back. I can do without the new, angry Jake."

"You know, I'm no sap, but somehow, I always imagined my wedding proposal to be a little more romantic than that one, Syd." I squinted at him. "Oh my goodness, I can't believe you are willing to trade forever with someone you don't love for some sex."

"An eternity of sex, and AB negative blood from the one with that activated, special gene. That ain't so bad."

"Marriage is supposed to be about love, Syd. None of those things should matter. Don't you see how short-sighted you are being here? And no, I would never marry you. If I had to be married to you, I'd kill myself after a couple decades, I'm sure."

"Great!" Syd said. "Then it wouldn't be forever for me anyway. Perfect deal."

I rolled my eyes. "Absolutely not."

There was a knock on the door. "Lunch delivery for two, Mr. Logan!"

"Come in!"

"Aren't you going to put some clothes on?" I asked.

"For what? There's nothing any of those servants ain't seen before."

"Well, I feel dreadfully sorry for the servants here. House servants have crummy enough lives without adding into the mix being permanently mentally scarred from having to see you naked all the time."

A woman servant came in, did a double take when she saw Syd walking around naked, and then handed me two trays of food, an embarrassed look on her poor face. I thanked her and apologized, and she left.

"I don't know why yer apologizing for," he said. "Did you see the look on her face? Seeing my Texas stallion of a body, includin' my red-blooded, huge cock? That just made her day. Scratch that, it probably made her whole goddamned life."

"Oh, I'm sure." I opened the first platter. "This must be yours," I said, handing him the grilled cheese sandwich. I opened the second platter. Inside was a huge head of iceberg lettuce. I glared at him.

"What? You wanted something healthy."

"You know what, I'll take it." I started to gnaw on my lettuce, while Syd wolfed down his food.

A few minutes later, another knock came on the door.

"Yes?"

"It's Parker," said his sweet voice through the door.

"Come in!" Syd said.

Parker came into the room, dressed in an old fashioned suit like he had been the previous day.

"Syd, put some clothes on!" I snapped.

"It's nothing he hasn't seen before either," Syd said.

"It's true, I really don't even notice anymore," Parker said.

"Oh, lucky you," I said. "Let's go."

"See you later, Syd," Parker said warmly.

"Later bro, and goodbye, my sweet lover."

"Goodbye," I said tersely, totally unable to respond with any similar address. When we were walking down the hall, I asked, "So, where do you think we should hang out and get to know each other?"

"Well, I thought it would be downright pathetic if we just went to get a drink in the mansion and talked. I wanted this to be a proper date, with some amount of fun. So, I asked Syd what kind of things you liked to do. He mentioned you liked working out or partaking in sporting events."

"Yes, but I like modern sports. Basketball, football, soccer, tennis, whatever. I have a feeling that none of those will be played in the Territory."

"You're right on that account," he said. "Every sporting event we have here either involves guns, horses, or bulls. There's something else I do that most others around here aren't refined enough to appreciate."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Fly fishing," he said. "We have a beautiful stream just a short walk from here."

"I love fly fishing!" I said, liking Parker all the more.

"Oh, perfect then," he said. "I don't have anyone to go with me at the moment."

"Are you sure you'll be able to manage that, Parker?" I said, referring to his leg. "I don't want you to push yourself on account of me."

"How very sweet of you to be concerned. I wore my sporty prosthetic leg today. My other one looks a lot more realistic, but when I have this one on, I can do most things. I'll be fine."

"Alright, you're on."

"I notice you're not wearing a sidearm," Parker said. "I should warn you that anytime you leave Mareshead, you're at danger. I always carry a revolver in these occasions," he pointed to the holster on his hip. "Do you have one for yourself?"

"I don't," I said.

"Well, let me get one for you."

"I don't even know how to use one," I said.

"Oh, better not take one then," he said. "You should learn how to use one first. We have a shooting range on the premises, and I'm sure Syd would love to teach you how. In the mean time, just try to keep close to me out there."

"Will do."

Parker got our rods, and we left the mansion together. We exited going through the Great Room, and instead of it being empty like it had been that morning, it now held two people. There was a man, clearly a human, in the steel cage to the side of the room. He was in his twenties, fairly skinny, and disturbingly naked. The other person there was a vampire cowboy guard, seemingly there on account of the prisoner. This whole place was so bizarre.

"What's that for?" I asked Parker as we left the building.

"You don't even want to know," he said, and I didn't ask further.

As we left the house, I again noticed that odd buzzing sound coming from the north, but that faded away as we moved south. Before long we had hiked over to a stream, about the same size as the one Big Horn had made his camp on, plenty large enough to hold some good fish.

"I've always thought there was nothing more relaxing than hitting the stream," Parker said. "It takes so much patience to land and reel in a fish that most others give up long before completion. But for those of us who have the patience, the reward is great indeed."

"I've always been a natural fisherman, but only rarely had the opportunity to go." It wasn't exactly like my father would ever take me fishing, or do anything with me that could ever be construed as father/son bonding.

I pulled out my sunscreen and started applying it to my face. I always used a lotion with a SPF 30, just to make sure I wasn't going to be affected by the sun, but I'd been trying to put on even more ever since I'd been spending so much time outdoors.

Parker looked at my sunscreen and laughed. "You don't know how difficult it is getting some of my non-fanged friends to wear sunscreen when they are outside. But you're more like us vampires, Jake. You're not going to get skin cancer or any other sun-related malady. Sunscreen is only useful to you now as a moisturizer."

Now I understood why Syd had always snickered at me whenever I had put the stuff on before. I'm sure he neglected to tell me it was ineffective just so he could continue to laugh at me.

"Well, at least that's one beneficial part about being who I am," I said.

As we began to fish, Parker was being such a sweet gentleman; it was making my little crush on him bloom all the more. He could have just started to fish straight off, and let me fend for myself. When I told him it had been so long that I had fished that I was rusty about the whole process, he made the excursion entirely about helping and socializing with me instead of enjoying himself on his own. He handed me my rod, asked me to select a tie from his box, and asked me if I wanted him to tie it on for me. I told him I could tie it myself, but then realized that I could only halfway remember the correct knot to use. He swept in without any judgment or superiority, telling me the knots were complex, and he only could remember them because he used them so frequently. He told me he already could tell I was smarter than him, so I'd get those knots quickly with just a little practice. He put his hands on mine and helped me learn the knot through repetition, and the simple touch of his gentle fingers on mine gave my whole body goose bumps.

Once my tie was on and I started to cast, I asked him if I was using correct form. He said I looked great, but reminded me to put more of a curve into my cast, showing me with his own rod the difference. When I asked him to help me get the movement down, he warned me that it would require him touching me, and if I was sure I (and Syd) would be comfortable with that. Only after telling him it would be alright twice did he proceed, and then he only put his left hand on my back, with his right hand encircled my right hand and gently guiding my cast into a loop. After I had it, he moved away from me, not lingering with his touch for a moment longer than necessary.

Parker wouldn't even cast with his rod until I had reeled in my first fish. When the fish bit, Parker reached over and made sure my rod was tilted up. He coached me through the reel in process excitedly, and even pulled the fish out of the water himself and presented it to me with such pride. We decided to throw the poor fish back, and Parker took the fly out and made sure the fish wasn't harmed before we moved up the stream.

Pretty soon, both of had caught fish, which we were releasing. "Wow, it feels so good to be out of that horrible house," I said.

"Doesn't it though?" he asked as he tied a new fly onto his rod.

"You know, Della really loves you," I said. "I mean, she obviously loves Syd in a way that a mother has to love even their most atrocious children, but when your name is brought up, she is positively glowing. She told me to make friends with you as soon as I got here."

That warm smile came out. "Aww, what a sweetheart she is. I love her too. Always wanted to make her proud. We've both hated what my father has single-handedly done to this Blood. The only truth that gets us through it is that in spite of his intentions, my father can't be around forever."

"And then Syd will be Governor, but Syd will be a terrible leader," I said as I cast. "Can you imagine him owning up to any responsibility?"

"I don't feel like it's appropriate for me to be honest with you about that question given your relationship to him, and at the same time, I cannot lie to you. So I'll stay quiet on the matter."

I had to beg him over and over before he finally came forward with his opinions.

"Well," Parker said. "I hate to say this because I love my brother, but the truth is, Syd doesn't have the patience to be a ruler. I think he'll ask loved ones, like you, Della, or even myself, to take on the responsibilities of being a leader while he goes and lives it up. When that day comes, it's up to us to undo all of my father's wrongs and set out to make this Blood as good as it can be."

"Were you close to Syd as a child?" I asked him, wondering if anyone possibly could be close to that egomaniac.

"Well, we spent so much time together. And Syd could be so much fun, though sometimes his verbal jabs could sting, even if they were just intended to be playful. But he always had to outdo me, and that included when it came to the girls. Any girl I brought home was likely to end up in Syd's bed sooner or later. And the worst part is, he never owned up to any responsibility by becoming someone's boyfriend. He just took advantage of them, and left them dry. I resented him for that."

"As you should," I said. "Those girls must have been crazy to pick Syd over you." As soon as I said it, I regretted it, wondering if I had given him too much of my real feelings.

"Well, thank you," he said, smiling sweetly at me, making me feel warm all over. "Even if I don't agree with you at all. My brother most certainly is the better catch. Take comfort in that. Anyway, Della wanted us to be educated outside of the Territory like she had been. She lamented that so many in the Territory were satisfied with the equivalent of a high school education. Of course, though Syd was more than willing to leave the Territory and to burn through his money partying, I always wanted to walk in her shoes. I was accepted to Yale, got my degrees in Chemistry, a budding science at the time."

"That's great, Parker. I didn't know you were an educated man."

"Oh yes," he said, smiling proudly. "I enjoyed my line of work so much, I traveled around the country, even made a few trips to Europe, teaching at universities and writing theses."

His happy face turned dark.

"Unfortunately, when my grandfather died, my father took the Governorship and ordered the end of my rewarding chemist life."

"That's awful!" I said.

"Yes, well, my father absolutely hated both of his sons. You see, in our society, a parent cannot force their child into an arranged marriage. However, and this is especially true in powerful families like mine, it is expected that the children will let their parents select their spouse. You see, a marriage is often used as a diplomatic tool, or a way to bring more money or power to a family. In fact, the two main reasons for having children is so that you produce heirs, and also that you produce marriageable offspring. It's a sign of respect that children will go along with these traditions."

"And let me guess. You didn't want Jericho to pick your spouse?"

"Exactly. Plus, I wanted to live my life outside of the Blood, which my father was against but which my grandfather permitted. He never forced Della or my father into arranged marriages, didn't believe in those. So, I was surprised when as soon as we were adults, Jericho wanted to marry us off to people of his choosing. My sister always went along with whatever he chose for her, but Syd and I were more rebellious. Syd refused to marry anyone, saying he didn't believe in marriage. And I followed suit, saying I would only marry out of love, and only when the time was right for my life. Of course, after that, my father has tried to destroy any person Syd or I have been romantically involved with. Unfortunately, his wrath will now be directed at you as well, I'm afraid, especially after Syd refused to marry his selections on the basis that he would never marry."

"I'm not afraid of Jericho," I said. "But it's idiotic of him to take out his problems with his family members on me."

"It's highly uncalled for, yes. But knowing you are in the moral right doesn't make his attacks sting any less. Anyway, sometime about a decade or so before my grandfather died, I discovered I was a special."

"Like Big Horn?" I asked.

"Yes, only my power has nothing to do with teleportation. Do you want me to demonstrate?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm, is this an offensive ability? I mean, will this demonstration result in me getting blown up, burned, maimed, electrocuted, or anything else physically damaging?"

He laughed. "Not in the least, I promise."

"Alright then, go ahead."

"Watch... carefully."

I stared at him, though he didn't seem to be doing anything at all. Then, all of the sudden, he wasn't there anymore. Only the stream was.

I whipped my head around, trying to find him. "You moved so fast, I didn't see you go, isn't that what happened? Where'd you go?"

"I'm still right in front of you," said his voice, but I could see no one was in front of me, so I figured he was playing tricks on me. "Do you mind if I hug you?"

"No, I guess not."

"Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine."

The next thing that happened totally set my heart racing. Though I was still looking straight ahead and not seeing anything in front of me but the stream, I felt someone large and strong press their body against me from the front and wrap their arms around me. I could feel skin on my face, and realized someone's face was pressed against my own, though my eyes told me no one was there.

"Hello there," said Parker's voice, only now the voice was so close, it sounded like it came from my own mouth.

I jumped back, startled and disturbed. Parker burst into a fit of laughter. "I'm invisible, Jake," he said.

"That is too weird," I said, calming myself. "I'm sorry. It's just recently that I finally accepted this supernatural stuff, and since then, those supernatural boundaries keep getting pushed further and further. It's difficult to accept something can be invisible."

"Think about how it felt to be the person who turned invisible," he said.

"Right, I guess I should be thankful I'm not in those shoes," I said. "So, I can hear you, I could feel you, and but I used to be able to smell you, and now I can't."

"Used to be able to smell me, huh? I hope I'm not too sweaty. I promise I showered this morning."

"No, you don't stink, Parker. You smell rather nice. So, I'm guessing your power just makes your skin into the ultimate chameleon?"

"That's a good guess," he said. "But look at this."

I started to hear the sound of shoes being removed, belt unbuckling, zipper opening, and various clothes being pulled off. All of the sudden a pile of clothes just appeared in mid-air, and then landed on the ground. I noted curiously that the pile included his pants and underwear, and everything else he had been wearing, save for his false leg. It was all quite a tease, to have this stud naked in front of me without being able to actually see anything. My mind wondered, was he flirting with me, or was this just a normal demonstration of his powers? One thing was certain, I hoped he would turn visible again before he got dressed.

"I see," I said. "Though I mean that metaphorically, of course. You've proven it's not your skin that's making you invisible, not unless all of those were magic invisible clothes. Not long ago, I would have thought that kind of explanation as fantasy, but look where those kinds of notions got me."

He laughed. "As a scientist, I know firsthand that there are a lot of things in our world that would seem to defy nature's laws. But all of these abilities and powers are rooted in the body itself. Some of these amazing traits we've been able to explain with science. Others are more elusive, but it's clear that when science progresses, we'll have explanations for those pieces too. All of this it to say, these things may seem magical to you, but they are not. All of this is organically natural in origin. I've seen a lot of physical feats that seem to go beyond my imagination, yet none of them is magical in nature. There's no such thing as a magical item, or a cursed item, for that matter. Inanimate objects still operate in the same ways you've learned in Chemistry and Physics. So, you can cross that explanation off the list."

"Wow, it's great to hear things from a scientific, logical perspective, instead of Syd's more sensational explanations," I noted, smiling at where I assumed his face would be. "Okay, so it can't be your skin that is making you invisible. Otherwise, I'd be able to see your false leg now, wouldn't I?"

"That's very true," he said. "Also, anything I pick up and hold will seem to be invisible to you. At the same time, I do not appear invisible to myself, and neither does anything else I touch. Della and I researched this power for a long time, and came to the conclusion that I somehow physically control people's vision and olfactory organs when I turn invisible. It's a good thing people can't smell me, or else I would never be able to use my ability around vampires, who can smell someone's bloodtype if they are close enough to them. It seems to affect all animals, and it happens automatically, whether or not I am aware of the person or not. My clothes and any objects I hold also are affected, though I can't be holding something too large, like a person. And it works from many miles away, if you were to look at me with binoculars."

"What about cameras?"

"Amazingly, I seem to affect those in the same way that I affect people's eyes. One major drawback to my power is that although I can usually turn the ability on and off at will, sometimes the power just sort of turns itself on without my consent. It can be quite embarrassing, let me tell you. Especially since sometimes a strong emotion can trigger it."

I heard him walk over to his pile of clothes and then his clothes disappeared, garment by garment. I was disappointed that he was putting them on again without going visible, and decided he had never been flirting with me after all.

"So, how did you discover you could do this?" I asked.

He turned visible again, dressed in his suit once more.

"It first happened when I was back east, making love to my girlfriend at the time," he thought back fondly about this. There was something sweet about the way he said `making love,' and it made me jealous. Syd's sexuality was completely incapable of tenderness. "I don't know why it would trigger at that point."

"Maybe because of the excitement?" I asked, wondering if this meant he was straight, or hopefully, bisexual like Syd. Weren't all vampires bisexual?

"Probably," he said.

"Tell me the details," I said.

"I don't want to offend you with the explicit details of my sex life. It wouldn't be proper."

"I'm very mature, Parker. No detail would ever offend me."

"If it did would you tell me to stop right away?"

"Yes."

"But still, I never kiss and tell."

"Parker, if she's a human girlfriend, I assume she must be long dead. She certainly wouldn't mind if you told me this."

"Well, alright. Anyway, I was on top of her, all over her, inside her. Extremely happy with it all, of course. She shut her eyes, enjoying the romantic moment as much as I was. And then she opened them. Though, instead of looking into my eyes, her eyes floated around, flicking over my face, then elsewhere, as her face turned from passion to panic. Her hands came up, and pushed against my chest and shoulders. Then, she let out a gut-wrenching scream."

He shook his head.

"I didn't know what she was responding to. At first, I thought our lovemaking was causing her pain. It was the first time we had intercourse, as we were both highly worried of hurting her. Our sexuality up to that point had just involved me pleasuring her with my hands and mouth. She had told me she had never been with anyone nearly as... well, no one like me, so I stopped my thrusts and laid still, feeling extremely guilty. I said her name softly, but that just freaked her out more. She started to hit me, and tears were in her eyes now, so I pulled out of her and got off. She started yelling, `Parker, Parker, where did you go?' I told her I was right there, and touched her face, but she screamed and jumped back. I told her I thought she must have gone blind for some reason, hoping to myself that this odd condition was just temporary. She assured me that she could see everything just fine. Everything except me. Only, I could see myself clearly. I went the bathroom, and there was my naked form in the mirror. I thought she must have been going crazy. It's the only explanation that made sense to me. I felt very, very concerned for her."

I stopped casting, and watched him attentively, riveted by his story.

"Clearly the lovemaking was over, so I put my clothes back on. She yelped, as to her, my clothes seemed to disappear, one piece at a time."

"Just like I just experienced with your clothes," I said.

He nodded. "I told her she must be hallucinating, and she agreed, yet she swore she had never hallucinated previously. She started to cry again, this time the tears were more from sadness than terror, as she thought through the ramifications of being labeled insane. I felt horrible for her. I tried to touch her to comfort her, but she pushed me off, unable to accept what she couldn't see. I asked if I should call the doctor, and she replied that what she really needed was a stiff drink."

"I don't see how that would help matters," I said, perhaps a bit judgmentally.

"Trust me, in those days, a stiff drink was the only cure for practically every ailment. I left the room of the hotel we were staying in, and walked down to the bar, which was fairly busy. I sat on a stool and asked the bartender for a drink. He spun around, looking at the guy sitting next to me. He seemed to assume that that man had asked for the drink, and gave it to him. I said, no, bartender, I ordered the drink. He turned to look in my direction, but he looked right through me. `Who said that?' he asked. The guy sitting next to me said he could hear a voice, but not see anyone. He asked if the place was haunted. I asked again if they could see me, spinning around in my chair. The bartender's eyes fixed on my stool, and yelled that the stool was spinning on its own."

"Uh-oh."

The humor returned to his face. "Now, everyone around was looking, with some men starting to scream. Somebody reached up and poked my back invasively, so I spun around and gave him a small shove. At that, everyone started shrieking that the bar was haunted, which was a lot more believed at the time. And I realized that my girlfriend hadn't been crazy. I knew I was invisible, and I realized that I must have been one of those specials. When I went back and told her she wasn't crazy, she was very relieved. She even let me touch her again, though not without flinching every time I did, which I never, ever blamed her for."

"Did you learn how to control your power that day?" I asked.

"No, I did everything I could imagine to do to turn it off, but it had eluded me. I came to the conclusion that this ability did not have an off switch, that it would be permanent for me. I was terribly, terribly depressed. Just the idea of living my whole life without ever being seen was awful enough. Most seriously, though, I was being confronted with just how difficult being invisible was."

"I'll bet!"

"I was in Boston at the time, in a very busy urban area. I had never really been extremely aware of my surroundings, tending to instead be lost in my own thoughts. Suddenly, that lack of awareness became dangerous to me. Just standing in a busy hallway, not even trying to walk through it, was difficult. You have to constantly be conscious of who is about to walk into you and avoid them, even if they are coming at you from the rear. Actually moving through a space like that requires not just awareness, but extreme physical grace, literally dancing and jumping over moving people, while at the same time, never making the tiniest sound. I had never before needed to teach myself to keep this quiet before."

"What a nightmare. Though, truth be told, I sometimes wish Syd would go permanently invisible," I said.

He smiled. "For me, I'd rather he go mute," Parker said. "Anyway, given the situation, and my surroundings, I was totally forced to learn fast, though it took me a good month to really be able to function without people suspecting that I was around. Thank goodness my girlfriend was there. If she hadn't been, I'm sure I would have either been revealed or been killed. Though I learned to move around people without them noticing, there was so much I couldn't do. If a door was shut, I couldn't open it if there was anyone looking, and I had to listen through the door and use my vampire hearing to guess if anyone was around on the other side. I couldn't go into a restaurant and order food, or go buy anything from any market. All I could do was steal food and other goods when no one was looking, and leave money around so I wouldn't feel guilty about it. I couldn't go to the lobby and ask for an extension on our room, or pay our bill. She had to do all of that. I remained invisible when I slept, and she made sure no one disturbed me. I fed off of her every day, otherwise I would have starved. When I went to the bathroom, I had to be careful not to use a urinal if anyone else was around, for fear they would hear and see my urine suddenly appear as it hit the porcelain."

"Your girlfriend sounds almost angelic," I said.

He nodded sadly. "She was, though it took a toll on her mentally. After a few weeks of life like this, she insisted we go back to the Territory, to see if Della could help take care of me. I had to agree. She booked us a cabin on a train across the country, and kept me locked in. When we arrived at the Territory's boundaries, no horse would let me ride it. We had to take a stagecoach to Fools Gold, and meet Della there. My poor girlfriend left me, telling me she could not accept this life. I understood, though I had to start paying prostitutes for their blood to keep myself alive. Della helped me understand the ability, and after a couple weeks, I figured out how to turn it off. I had never been so relieved."

"Did you get back together with your girlfriend?" I asked.

"We did, and I went back to the east to my work again. But sadly, things were never the same between us. I tried all I could to be gentle to her, but she always seemed to be scared of me. My family got wind of my new ability, but my grandfather didn't care. He just wanted me to enjoy living my life. When he died a bit later, my father ordered me to quit being a chemist, since he had no tolerance for higher learning or intellectual pursuits, and to move back to Mareshead, which he was starting to twist into a hellhole."

"I'm not surprised," I said.

"Obviously, I hated it there, and I was terribly lonely. Of course, he wasn't insisting I be there because he wanted to be surrounded by kin. He wanted to exploit my little ability, and he could order me to do anything he wanted. He was asking me to commit the most terrible atrocities, slipping into his enemies' lairs and murdering them. But I was able to convince him I could be just as effective as an information gatherer without the violence. I had to prove myself by working harder than ever, sometimes lurking hours or days in one of his enemies' home bases before witnessing a key conversation or coming across an important object. Suddenly, with me gathering intelligence, my father was at a huge advantage." He snapped out of those bad memories and turned towards me. "Well, my word," he said. "Della used to say to me when I fist started dating, `the most important thing on your first date is to listen as much as possible, and not to overwhelm the person with your own story.' She'd be seriously disappointed in me today."

"It's okay, I've loved hearing about you, Parker."

"Well, thanks. You truly are a sweetheart. But I'd like to hear about you. And I want you to be just as wordy and lengthy as I was. Spare me no detail."

After hearing all about him, I had really come to trust and care about the guy. It wasn't just easy to let my guard down around him, I realized I seriously needed to. So, I started to give him my whole life story. He listened very carefully, putting an arm around me during the sad parts, and cheering me during the happy ones.

I was into my teenage years when I was interrupted by Parker looking at his watch. "We'd better head back," Parker said. "I don't want Syd to worry I've absconded with his delightful fiancé."

"Do we have to?" I asked. I was so enchanted with Parker, I didn't want our date to ever end. "Maybe we should just run away."

"You don't know how many times I've gotten that urge. But running out on your Blood is a serious crime to vampires. Anyway, are you free tomorrow?"

"In the afternoon."

"There's something I want to show you. Something that will make you very happy. Think of it as the continuation of today's date."

I smiled wide. "I'm already excited."

When we hiked back to the mansion, he wanted to go clean off and disassemble his rods outside, so we said our goodbyes and I went into the mansion.

"Wow, you're dressed!" I said to Syd when I walked into his to see him in his cowboy duds.

"You sound disappointed," he said. "I can be undressed again in the blink of an eye, if that's what you prefer."

"No, I wasn't disappointed," I said. "Just shocked out of my mind."

"So, how was your date with the other Dr. Logan?" Syd asked.

"I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Your brother is a kind, good man, with integrity to spare."

He smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Wipe that drool off your lips," he said. "You are totally in love with the guy."

"I am not," I said, which wasn't a lie, though I was crushing on the man hard.

"Look at you, you're completely aglow." Realization hit his face. "Wait a minute, I know that glow. That's the post-first-class-fucking glow! You totally got fucked this afternoon, didn't you?"

I frowned. "No, of course not!"

"Uh-huh, sure. You `thoroughly enjoyed yourself' all afternoon long! Where did he take you?" Syd prodded.

"We went fly fishing on a nearby stream," I answered. "It was very pleasant."

"Oh, fly fishing, how boringly geriatric of him. Of course, he only takes people fishing if he's really fond of them. I bet he took you out to the steam, pulled out his fishing rod and had you play with it, am I right?"

I rolled my eyes. "You couldn't be more wrong, Syd. Your brother doesn't think like you. He's totally above all of your sexual mischief."

"Hey, you don't have to deny it," Syd said. "I could tell he liked you from the moment he met you. I don't care. If it's not going to be my sperm inside you, at least it's still the Logan DNA, right?"

"Eww, that's disgusting, and highly false."

"We've got some riding to teach you in preparation for our rodeo competition," Syd said. "Let's get your cute, slutty little ass downstairs to the stables. And then after that, we have a dinner date together down in the mess hall."

"Can't we just order up here?" I asked.

"Nope, we did that last night. We will be expected to be seen around together, acting like the couple we're supposed to be."

Syd led me through the Great Room, into some of the first floor hallways, and out the eastern end on the mansion. Mareshead Mansion's front entrance, where we had come in yesterday into the Great Room, faced west. To the south was that east/west stream that Parker had taken me to. And now, to the east, I could see that there were many other structures that seemed to make Mareshead almost a little town. Many residential structures, including smaller houses and larger dormitories, as well as other functional buildings, such as storehouses, little shops, and stables. All of these were constructed out of what looked to be the gorgeous white remains of Spanish missions.

But most of the space to the east was taken up with empty fields, with the brush cut down, creating areas that were clearly meant to be used for various horseback riding activities. At that moment, there were several horseback riders in the fields, and there was so much space in between then, clearly they would never get in each other's way. Far beyond the riding fields was a large, arena-like structure.

"This way," Syd said, leading me towards the large, wooden stables.

As soon as we stepped inside, my nose wrinkled from the stale smell of horse urine, hay, and manure. The place had over a huge number of horses in it, each in its own cage, with many more empty cages as well. Looking around, the place seemed dirty and not well cared for.

There was one human among the horses, a skinny, white man in his late twenties or early thirties. He was lounging in a pile of hay with his shirt off, even though the air was cool. His body was lean and tan, probably due to him having a fear of proper clothing, though much too skinny for my taste. His face was somewhat attractive, I supposed, but any attractiveness was abated by the cigarette he had in his mouth, especially since he wasn't a vampire and didn't have the excuse that he wouldn't ever get sick from the habit, and there was something about the way he handled his cigarette like an old friend that told me it wasn't his first time.

I walked up to the guy, putting myself in his field of vision. "Hi," I said.

He looked me over carefully, but said nothing.

"How do I go about renting a horse to ride?"

"You don't have to pay anything, the horses are free to borrow," he said, through a particularly brutal Texas accent. "You just have to ask me to get you one."

"Oh, well, could you get me one, please?"

He raised a skinny brown eyebrow. "Maybe. But right now I'm on my smoke break."

"Oh, how long does that last?"

"Sometimes a few minutes," he said, blowing smoke. "Sometimes the whole fucking day."

Syd came up from behind me, stepping into the guy's field of vision as well, and it seemed to be the first time the guy realized that I wasn't alone. "Hi there, fella," Syd said, all charm. "You must be the new stable boy here."

The guy looked Syd up and down, his mouth dropped open, and he jumped off the hay to his feet. "Hi, yessir, Donnie's the name, pleased to meet ya." He stuck out his hand to be shaken, with all the pleasantness he had just denied me oozing out all over Syd.

Syd took his hand. "Please, forget the sir," he said. "All my friends call me Syd." The way Syd said it, it seemed to imply this Donnie was now some part of Syd's important inner circle.

"Alright, then Syd," he said happily, still shaking away at Syd's hand, almost refusing to let it go. "Anything ya want me to get for ya in here is all yours." His eyes never left Syd's eyes, but his free hand roamed over his bare chest.

"Jakey, why don't you go out into the fields and I'll bring us the horses when after Donnie saddles them?"

"Okay," I said, glad to leave the smelly stable, walking back outside into the sunlight.

Just to the east of the stables was a male cowboy practicing, so I walked towards him, observing. He was on foot with a rope lasso in his hand, his horse tied to a nearby pole. There were wooden poles a few yards in front of him that he was concentrating on. As I moved closer, I realized how handsome he was. He was a short-haired black man with skin a bit lighter than my own, clearly a vampire, whose green eyes contrasted sharply with his mocha skin.

He wore the typical cowboy getup, complete with boots, belt buckle, and hat, but he was also dressed in some riding gear which included chaps. The chaps were over his jeans, and covered everything except his crotch and butt, which were both covered with denim. Instead of the typical button-up cowboy shirt, he had on a buckskin top that looked Native American in style, stitched together with thick white string at the seams. It hugged his upper body, showing off his powerful muscles, looking very attractive. The collar of the shirt was split down to his upper abs, showing off his hairless pec cleft. Strands of decorative buckskin hung from his collar and the outside of his arms. Speaking of his arms, the buckskin hugged his huge bis really, really well.

He started to spin his lasso above his head effortlessly, and as he did, I could see how powerfully muscular his upper body was, a feature I was finding more and more common to male vampires. He threw the rope, and lassoed one of the poles easily, then ran forwards to retrieve it. I looked at his lower body and was happy to see his tight chaps hugging his stout legs wonderfully. Because the chaps covered his thighs but left his crotch uncovered, this left no place for his dick to hide, creating a bulging package in the crotch of his jeans that was absolutely mesmerizing, even though he was still quite a distance from me.

He turned his head and noticed me staring at him, so I looked away, embarrassed I had been caught watching him. It seemed like Syd was taking forever with the horses, and I didn't want to linger around this practicing cowboy, as good looking as he was, because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, so I went back towards the stable door.

When I walked back into the stable, I heard odd noises straight away. When my eyes adjusted to the shade after a moment, they locked onto the bed of hay that Donnie had been lounging on when I had come in earlier. I I saw he was once again lying on his back in the hay, only this time, the cigarette was conspicuously absent, and instead of Donnie's feet being on the ground, they were now up in the air, with his knees tucked up. Also, instead of the bored, lazy expression that had been on his face before, Donnie's face was now rapt with lust and pleasure, his mouth emitting rhythmic high pitched, girlish squeals.

On top of Donnie the stable boy was Syd, his jeans pushed down to his ankles and his cowboy shirt ripped open. He had his firm hands on Donnie's calves, holding the guy's ankles up in order to give him easy access. His huge dick was penetrating Donnie's butthole, and every time Syd pulled his dickhead as far back as he could without it slipping out, I could clearly see the ring of the condom he was wearing.

I noticed two things about Syd's sex with this guy. The first was that Syd was absolutely ramming this guy with crazy amounts of passionate drive, showing no sign of compassion or gentleness, just screwing the daylights out of him.

The second was that Syd loved having the guy looking up at him as he performed his sexual feats, clearly feeding off the fact that Donnie considered him an absolute stud.

"Yeah, Donnie, take it, take it!"

I left the stable in an angry huff, figuring I wouldn't be getting any horse this afternoon after all. I started to walk back towards the mansion when a rope lasso appeared from overhead behind me, swooping down over my head. I angrily tried to push it off of me, but it quickly tightened around my waist, pinning my arms down by my sides.

I turned around to see the handsome black cowboy about ten yards away, holding on strong to the throwing end of that lasso, and I tried to assess whether he was being aggressive with me, whether he was taunting me, or if he was just playing a harmless joke on me.

He let out a half smile, and pulled me towards him. "Look what I rounded up this time," he said, his voice as Texas cowboy as everyone else in the Territory, but rugged and deep. As he pulled me closer, I could see a broad nose, bushy western-moustache, thick masculine lips that were a slightly more pinkish shade than the rest of his perfect mocha skin, neatly trimmed hair, bushy eyebrows, and those dark green eyes. His teeth were super white, and his smile showed off a lot of teeth. He was so handsome, I didn't protest as he pulled me closer and closer to him. "Sure is a whole lot more handsome than any of the cattle I've roped, to be sure." When I was just a few feet from him, he said, "I saw ya lookin' at me before, and I was thinking maybe there's something ya need me for."

"Oh, uh," I stammered, trying to think of something.

He pulled me in the lasso until my body was flush against his. His form was so muscled and hard, it was almost like slamming into a brick wall. I loved the feel of that package in his jeans accentuated by his chaps that pushed against my groin, and I felt a familiar stirring in my dick. "What'll it be?"

"Uh, well, I came down here to learn how to ride for the rodeo competitions."

"Rodeos are my life's passion," he said. "I'd be happy to show ya what I know. The name's Boyd Slade."

"Oh, hi, I'm Jake Groves. Look, I'd love to learn a few things, I know absolutely zip about riding, but I don't seem to have a horse this afternoon."

"That's okay, I got mine, she's right over there." He pointed at his horse. "I can even teach ya how to do this roping move I just used on ya, if ya promise not to use it on me. But we should start with the riding." He loosened his lasso and pulled it off of me. "Why don't ya climb up on that filly and we'll see whatcha got."

"Alright, but you should know I hate horses," I said. "Are you sure she'll let me get on?"

"She's very tame."

I went over to the horse and got on carefully, making sure not to mount the horse so I'd be facing backwards, like I had the first time I had rode. Boyd unhooked the horse, and I took the reins in my hands.

"Just take her around for a spin so I can see what you got," he said.

I nodded, and kicked her lightly in the ribs, getting her to start moving. I meandered around the surrounding fields for a few minutes, always within sight of Boyd, until I saw him motioning for me to come back.

"How'd I do?" I asked as he steadied the horse and I carefully climbed off of her.

"You sure you've ridden before?" he asked me. "You look awful on that thing. Not at all at home."

"I've barely rode at all," I said. "Think you can teach me?"

"It's not just the riding. Have ya ever roped cattle before?"

"I've never used a rope for anything besides tying cargo down in the back of flatbed trucks," I said.

"What the hell is a flatbed truck?" he asked.

"Never mind. Point is, I have no experience with rope."

"What about throwing axes? Ya got any skills there?"

"Holy crap, is that seriously a part of the rodeo?"

"In Mareshead, it is," he said.

"Well, my brother always whined that I looked at him with daggers coming out of my eyes, does that count for something?"

"'Fraid not."

"No, I never did anything with any axe," I said. "But, I'm a quick study. Think you can turn me into a rodeo star, Boyd?"

"I'll make no promises, but it sure will be fun trying," he said with a smile. "But if I'm gonna help you, it means we do the training my way."

There was too much at stake here for me to refuse him. "Your way or the highway, Boyd."

"High way?" he asked. "I guess sometimes my methods are a bit low, but that's the way I work."

I chuckled at his failure to understand modern metaphors. "Boyd, I agree to your terms. When can we start?"

"We'll start right now. Let me just put away this horse and get another one, be back in one hot sec."

He grabbed the horse and moved her into the stables. A bit later, he came out with another horse, and as he approached with the animal, my eyes went wide.

"That's the biggest horse I've ever seen," I said.

"She's a Clydesdale, Jake," he said. "But a boosted one, made for two riders. Parts of the rodeo competition will require you to ride one of these."

"I'm sorry, you lost me at `boosted.'"

He smiled. "Means she's been feeding on vampire blood," he said. "When non-human mammals consume vamp blood, they get stronger for a time. This boosted horse is meant to carry two riders, and not just that, but she's capable of some serious athleticism if we want to push her."

I cringed, trying to picture her oats being soaked in vampire blood. "Where does the vampire blood come from?"

"Jericho has been so committed to boosted animals being a part of rodeo, he requires us vampires to donate a few times a year. Now, I want you to climb up on the horse."

"Are you sure this horse is safe to ride if she's been drinking vampire blood?" I asked. "I don't want her growing fangs and biting me, or turning all devilish on me."

"I promise you, the vampire blood only makes them stronger, it ain't gonna affect their personalities. And she's a very tame horse. Now, go on up."

"I'm not even sure I'll be able to climb up on this huge creature."

"I'd love to help you," he said.

I stuck my left foot in the left stirrup, which was way higher than any stirrup I'd previously used, and grabbed the saddle horn. I felt Boyd's strong hands on my butt as he pushed me up, and that was all the boost I needed. I got in the saddle and put my right foot in the right stirrup, feeling like I was so high up.

"This saddle is huge."

"It's meant for two. Now, ain't no better way to show you how to ride better than for me to get up there with ya," Boyd said. "Scoot back now, and get yer feet outta the stirrups."

I scooted back, and Boyd easily mounted right in front of me. The saddle was just big enough for two, and it created a valley between us, so it naturally pushed my front against his back. I didn't want to make him uncomfortable, so I scooted as far back in the saddle as I could to put some space between us.

"Now, the problem I'm seeing with your riding is that you're basically staying completely motionless in the saddle," he said. "You're just using your reins to control the horse."

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing?" I asked.

"Riding is much more about how you move your body in the saddle. Partially because you use body language to communicate with yer horse, and partially because you need to use yer balance to stay up on a horse through quick turns and movements. You need to move your body with the horse." He grabbed the reins in his hands.

"I hear what you're saying, but I'm still not sure what to do differently," I said.

"That's why I wanted us to ride like this, so you could see and feel my body in action," he said. "Not to mention, there's even a rodeo event like this, where you'll be riding behind me, with me in control of the horse in front of you. Now, get ready, I'm gonna go." Instead of kicking the horse, he said, "Yah!"

The horse started to move forward suddenly, making me lose my balance, and this time, I didn't have that saddle horn to grab onto. I had to dig my legs into the horse's sides, squeezing my thighs hard to keep my balance.

Suddenly, the horse took off at a run, and I was about to fall off. "Slow down!"

"You're making her go, Jake, not me."

"I am?"

"Stop squeezing yer legs like that," he said.

"But I'll fall off!" I said.

"Ya gotta hold onto me, Jake, not the horse."

I reached forward and put my arms around his upper body, closing the space between us in the saddle. Only when I felt secure did I loosen my leg muscles. Almost immediately, the horse slowed down.

"There ya go," Boyd said. "One thing you'll have to learn is that when we're riding in this position, I should be the only one communicating with the horse. You should just be trying all ya can to hold onto me without setting off the horse."

"Okay, just don't go too fast."

My heart started to relax as I settled into the relaxed pace we had switched to. Instead of holding onto the horse with my legs, I held on firmly to Boyd's chest, loving the feel of his firm pec muscles under that tight buckskin shirt. My face was pressed against his shoulder under his hat, and I loved the way he smelled, a mixture of hay and masculinity.

"Now, I'm gonna make a right turn, and I want you to hold onto me. Feel with your hands how my body tells the horse what to do more than my reins do."

"Okay."

The horse started to turn right, and I did noticed how subtle the motions he was making with the reins were. "Ya got yer hands on my chest, but I want you to feel how it's all in the legs," he said. He took the reins in his left hand, grabbed my right hand with his right hand, and put it on his rock hard right thigh, right on the chaps. "Feel how I use my right leg to dig into my stirrup and lean to the right?"

"I think so," I said.

"Yer not grabbing hard enough," he said. "Grab really hard and give me a good feel."

"Umm, okay." I dug my fingers into his thigh, loving to get a handful of his hard, flexed muscles. "Yes, I feel it."

"I use my right leg to keep the horse's balance through the turn, but I'm actually signaling the horse to turn with my left leg. Here, feel this one too."

"Um, okay." I placed my left hand tentatively on his left knee.

"Not there," he said, taking my hand. "Here." He pushed my left hand against his hard left inner thigh. "Now, really give me a good squeeze. What do you feel?"

My hand was so close to his crotch, I felt his package weighing down on me, which was totally hot. But I figured that was not the kind of answer Boyd was looking for, so I concentrated on what else I was feeling. "Your left leg is pushing forward and squeezing into the horse," I said.

"Exactly. That's the cue I'm using to signal to the horse to turn. As you can see, I've dropped my reins, and yet still, she's making a clean right turn. Now, keep your hands where they are, and I'll demonstrate that you do the exact same technique for a left turn, only in reverse."

He pulled his left leg back and put his weight on the left stirrup, leaning in that direction. At the same time, I felt his right leg move forward and press in. "Yes, I see."

Just like that, the horse effortlessly began to turn to the left.

"Now, I want you to see you I slow down the horse even without the reins."

"Okay."

"Keep yer hands on my legs. Yup, atta boy. Now, feel how I'm sitting back in my seat, my legs relaxed?"

"Yes."

"And see how I'm leaning back?"

"I do."

"That's my signal to the horse to slow down."

And we did slow down, dramatically.

"Now, in order to speed up, I take the opposite stance." He leaned forward, and we started to move much more quickly. "Get a real good grab on my thighs there," he said.

"Uh, okay," I said.

He grabbed the back of my hands with his palms, and then forced my hands to his inner, upper thighs. "What do you feel there?"

"Uh, your thighs are really, really flexed."

"That's right. I'm squeezing the hell outta this filly, and that's her signal to take off. Now, just keep yer hands there."

He leaned forward even more, and my hands ended up sliding back unexpectedly, landing right on his crotch. I felt his huge package through his denim jeans, absolutely loving the feeling.

"Whoops, sorry," I said. I tried to move my hands away again, but we were moving so fast, I was worried that any adjustment of my grip would make me lose my balance.

"Hey, that's alright, partner. Ya got a sweet pair of hands on ya, and what yer doing there don't feel half bad. Now, as we ride quickly like this, if this was a rodeo competition, it would be your job to keep yer body close to mine and mirror my body's leanings."

"Okay."

"If I'm turning to the right, like this, I want you to lean to right just like I do, got it?"

"Yeah, I think so," I said, leaning into the curve, keeping my body locked onto his.

"And if I start turning to the left?" he asked, and then started shifting his weight to the left.

I moved to the left as well, my body pressed against his.

"Perfect, that means the horse ain't getting any mixed signals. Now, what if I want to speed up?"

He sat forward in his saddle, and I kept my body against his back, leaning forward with him. "Then I'll lean forward with you."

"And If I want to slow down?" he asked.

"I'll lean back," I said, shifting my posture along with him, making the horse come to a halt.

"Ya got it, ya got it! Now, I got somewhere to be right now, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut the lesson short. But I promise next time, we'll get you behind the reins. Ya did real good today, Jake."

"Thanks!" He got off the horse much too easily, and I carefully tried to dismount myself.

"Here, let me help ya there," he said, turning to face me and helping me carefully down to my feet.

When I turned around to face him, turning my back to the horse's side, I realized he had both his arms up, over my shoulders, holding me in place. "Yer a quick study, kid," he said, smiling. He leaned in so his nose was almost touching my own. "In no time I should have you in rodeo shape. It don't matter none how many lessons it'll take us, we'll get ya there."

"Wow," I said. "Thanks so much for agreeing to this, Boyd. I don't know how I can repay you."

He flashed his pearly whites. "Well, to start with, how `bout rustling up some grub?"

"You mean dinner? I'd love to buy you dinner, but I'm afraid I don't actually have any money. It's been commandeered."

"No, I'll take you out to dinner. My treat. Tonight,"

I raised an eyebrow. "What would be the point of you treating me as payment for you teaching me how to ride?"

"Yer too goddamn cute for yer own good," he said. He put his arms around me and moved his body right up against mine. "In case my behavior before wasn't clear enough, I like ya, Jake. I think yer a real looker, and ya got a sweet way `bout you too."

"Oh," I said, realization coming to me. It was such a weird shift ever since I came into the Territory and suddenly had all these men interested in me sexually. Before the vampires, I had very little luck with the male half of the species. Really, only two men were ever attracted to me, and both had turned out to be real jerks. Out of those two men, one hadn't been that attractive, and another had been attractive, but wasn't at all my type. So, the Territory was the first place where men who I thought were amazingly physically attractive also showed interest in me, and it was odd to adjust to that. Wonderfully odd, but odd just the same. I smiled at Boyd and my face went hot.

"I wanna take ya out tonight, on a date, Jake. How `bout it?" he rubbed his sexy lips against mine, and I knew the answer would be yes. I thought this guy was totally hot.

"Boy Slade, what exactly do ya think yer doin' with my fiancé?"

I looked to my right, to see Syd had appeared from nowhere, pulling along two horses by their reins behind him. Instantly, the sweet moment ended and my anger reappeared.

"Wait a second," Boyd said, backing off of me. "You two are engaged?"

"That's right, Boy," said Syd.

"It's Boyd! Engaged to be married?"

"Uh, yup. That's pretty much what the term fiancé means."

"Ah, hell," Boyd said angrily. "Well, I didn't realize. My mistake."

"Anyway, I got yer horse right here, Jakey."

"Forget about it, Syd," I said. "Boyd here agreed to give me rodeo lessons, right Boyd?"

"Well, yes I did, though that seems much less enticing now that I know you're not single. But hell, I'm a man of my word."

"See Syd? I don't need you. Maybe Donnie the stable boy will think differently and let you instruct him."

Boyd scoffed. "I'd doubt it. Donnie got that job `cause he's one of the best human rodeo riders in the Territory."

"Well, I'm sure I'll find something left to teach him," Syd said.

"Alright then," Boyd said. "Jake, I'll see ya same time tomorrow? I promise to keep it strictly business from here on out." I hated that my potential romantic chances with this guy were being spoiled. He shook my hand, and left with a smile.

"Alright, see ya later, Boy." Syd tipped his hat to him.

"Boyd!"

"Same difference."

"No it ain't."

Boyd looked at Syd with severe irritation, and then left, heading back towards the stable with his horse. As soon as he was out of earshot, Syd looked at me. "Hey, ya know what? It ain't gonna help us convince no one we're getting hitched if ya run around making out with every vampire stud in Texas, ya understand me, Jakey?"

"I don't see why it's so bad for me to flirt a bit with a guy I find attractive, but it's perfectly fine for you to jump into bed, or in this case, a hay pile, with anybody you please."

"Like I said, I didn't make the rules, but even if I was caught fucking the stable boy, it wouldn't matter because even if I was married I'd be allowed to do that. You are signing up for monogamy, so you cannot, cannot mess around like that."

"I'm not promising anything," I said.

"Well, if you get caught, it's yer own ass on the line then. I won't always be there to come in and save yer slutty ass."

"I don't need you to save me, Syd."

"Huh, yeah, that's rich. Now, are we gonna ride together or not?"

"No, I'm done for the day."

"Fine, I'll train by my goddamn self then, it don't make a lick o' difference to me."

"See you back in the room then."

I suppose I walked over new ground as I made my way directly towards the mansion, because I found two small wooden structures nestled against the building. The first I passed was labeled with a "Ladies" sign on it, and I realized they must have been outdoor bathrooms. The second one was labeled "Men," so I went inside.

It was the crudest constructed of bathrooms, but seemed clean enough. All the walls were constructed out of wooden planks stuck into the ground, and the floor was made of stone. There was no ceiling on the structure, so daylight poured into the space from above. There were huge barrels of water in the center of the structure, lifted up about a dozen feet by poles. In the main room of the bathroom I was in, there was an area for changing, as well as sinks that got their water from the barrels. Various wooden plank stalls lined these central barrels, a couple containing toilets, but four of them seemed to be for showers, just what I needed. I found clean towels around the changing area, took off my clothes, folded them neatly, and wrapped a towel around my waist.

When I got to the shower stalls, I noticed that one of them was being used. I could hear the shower water running in that stall, and the stall door, which was shut, ended a few inches from the ground. I could see a large, black, obviously male foot in that stall, soapy water running down off of it. Was that Boyd's sexy foot in there?

"Jake? Is that you?" said Boyd's deep sexy voice from inside the shower, startling me.

"Yeah, it's me, Boyd."

"Thought I smelled you," he said, and I supposed he meant he could smell my unusual bloodtype. I guessed that made it unlikely I'd be able to sneak around vampires unnoticed, at least not as close to them as I was to Boyd. "I always love a good hose down after I'm done riding," he said. "Don't want people in the mansion to mistake me for a horse."

"Yeah, I had the same idea," I said.

There were two stalls next to his, and then a fourth that was not bordering his stall. I chose the stall immediately to the left of his, opened the door, and walked inside. The stall was roomy, and I put my towel on the hook on the door after I shut it. The showerhead was on the far right side of the stall. The walls were tall enough so that no one would be able to see over into any other stalls.

But there was something odd about this particular stall: the top of one of the boards that divided my stall from Boyd's had been knocked out, leaving a huge space in which I could see into his stall, though so far, I couldn't see Boyd. The showerhead was right up against the wall that divided our two stalls, so I went over there and turned on the water. I was amazed to find the water was hot. They must have had some sort of heating system being used in those barrels. Instead of a liquid soap dispenser, I found little white bars of soap. I found one that was unused, and picked it up. I hadn't seen any washcloths; I guessed they were too unsophisticated for those. I got under the water and started to wet my bar of soap.

"Hey there!"

I jumped as I saw Boyd's face enter the space where the plank had broken off. "Hi."

I realized that because both of our showerheads were situated with just a foot or so apart, it forced us to stand right up against the wall that both of us shared. This meant that the broken top of that plank really didn't show off anything besides one's upper body.

Boyd was facing the water on the inside wall just like I was, and that meant his left side was facing me through the broken plank, and it was already clear to me that the guy was seriously muscled.

Both his hands were raised in front of him out of my view, and that meant his bare upper left arm was somewhat flexed. He was thick with muscle from his round shoulder down to his knotted triceps, all of it lined with bulging veins. Once again, it was clear to me that fanged vampires weren't capable of holding the slightest bit of fat on their bodies, lucky them. His skin was a flawless chocolate brown, all of it soaking wet and glistening in the sunlight.

Beneath his left elbow, the broken plank kept on descending, to my pleasure. I could see the tight ridges of his left obliques, and that cut valley where those muscles met his hip muscles, which made my eyes go wide. But the hole in the plank ended at about waist level, disappointingly. At least that meant I was free to ogle what I could see on Boyd's form without worrying about my own unit getting hard, as I knew he wouldn't be able to see below my waist either.

"Ya did real good out there today," he said.

"Thanks."

"You'll have to let me know if yer sore tomorrow," he said. "Especially yer legs and ass. If ya ain't at least a little bit sore, I ain't been doing my job."

"I'll let you know."

Boyd made a ninety degree turn to his right, meaning his back was facing to me, and I turned my head to look through the broken plank, not even needing to hide the fact that my eyes were worshipping his body, as there weren't any mirrors in the stalls that would give me away. His wetly ripped, muscled back glistened in the sunlight before me, every inch of his smooth, chocolate skin hairless and perfect. As the water poured all over his back, he reached his muscles arms behind him, trying to soap it up with his large hands. His brawny arms were surprisingly nimble, but still, there was so much back, that Boyd could only soap up most of it, but not all of it. He needed a back scrubber, but I wasn't about to offer up my services.

The way the soapy suds ran over his every crevasse was just marvelous, adding milk to his chocolate skin. The suds all ran down to the top of his buttcheeks and into his crack, which I could just barely see before the hole in the plank ended.

Boyd spun around quickly to face me, and I quickly looked away from the broken plank, hoping I hadn't been caught staring. But when I dared to glance back at him, I realized his eyes had been shut ever since he had done that about face, as he had water pouring over his beautiful face.

This meant I was once again free to admire his body, and my eyes happily looked downwards. I could see the front of his whole upper body through the broken plank, and wow, did it ever look magnificent. Just seeing it was making me respond on a physical level.

His traps were wide and built, buffering up his strong neck. I could see both his shoulders from the front then, big and meaty with lined muscle under smooth skin. The bis of both his arms were amply large and appealing, covered with veins. His thick forearms had just the tiniest bit of damp black hair.

My eyes went straight to his beautiful chocolate chest. The water was pouring all over his huge pecs that were packed with potent muscle. Two small nipples, darker in shade than his skin, looked delectable. His chest was completely hairless.

The hairlessness extended over his cut 8-pack abs and over the front view of his ridged obliques. Water poured through the cuts in his abs, down that cut V- line muscled shape, towards his crotch.

I could just barely see the top of his black, wiry pubes, but sadly no lower than that.

As if my view wasn't amazing enough, he took the soap in his manly right hand and started to lather up his gorgeous upper body right in front of me.

He stuck his left arm in the air, putting his beautiful armpit into view. He used the soap to lather up the black, wiry hair there thoroughly. He soaped up his entire arm, then lowered it again and scrubbed his shoulders. He lifted his right arm and soaped up that pit as well. Then he lathered up the hairless, perfect pecs of his, swirling those black nipples in soap. He scrubbed the white suds into his cut, hairless abs, then his hands moved down to his pubes. I loved watching his lather up those short, thick hairs with his bar of soap.

He took a step back, and that was just enough for the top of the base of his dick to come into view. I could see less than an inch of the thing, but it was so big around, it made me gasp. His hands moved down and started to wash down there, and it took him so long, clearly there was a lot of meat to wash.

But then I realized he had taken that step back to get his head out of the shower spray, and I noticed he wiped his eyes clear of water before opening them, so I turned my head to face my own shower.

After a few moments, Boyd turned the water off and walked towards the far side of his stall. I knew that if I were to look directly through the cracked plank, I'd be able to see him in his completely naked glory. But I had no reasonable excuse to look at him, and I couldn't see through my peripheral vision which way he was looking, so I couldn't risk it.

"See you tomorrow, kid," Boyd said, and I used that as an excuse to turn my head and look through the broken plank.

"Ah, yeah," I said, looking at him smiling at me with his towel around his waist, the white color of it contrasting with his dark skin but matching his the pearly whites he was flashing at me. I had missed him naked, but he looked so amazing even in his towel.

He left the stall, and I looked down at my body, glad no one was there to see my dick so hard.

I heard someone in the shower stall on the other side of Boyd's empty stall. When I stood on tiptoe, I could just see over the stall walls. Looking up and over in that direction, I could see steam coming from both the other two shower stalls, clearly meaning they were occupied.

Something caught my eye in Boyd's empty stall, and I stuck my face right into the broken plank to catch a look. Directly across, on the far wall of that stall which bordered the next stall, I realized that there was a worn-out hole in one of the planks, about three inches in diameter, about waist level in height. I focused on the hole, and could see a man's skin through it.

The empty stall's door slammed open, and a fat, balding older man walked in, not even wearing a towel. His eyes caught me looking into his stall, and his face turned angry as he covered his modest equipment with his hands.

"Oops, sorry," I said, turning my face back towards the shower, embarrassed.

About a minute later, I heard someone knock on my stall door. Before I even had time to say "occupied," I heard the door being slammed open, and then came a rude whistle.

"I thought I smelled yer sweet blood in here."

I looked back to see Syd had walked into the stall, still fully clothed, boots and hat included. I don't know what he had been doing out there, but he was absolutely covered in dirt.

"If you would have told me you'd be gettin' naked in here, I'd a come along and enjoyed the view," Syd said.

"If you had been here watching me shower, Syd, you would have stayed and admired my body for a few seconds, then gotten bored and left. You don't like anyone else's body as much as you love your own."

"Well, that's true, Jakey. But yours comes in a close second." Syd then seemed to notice the broken plank for the first time. "Ah, nice to see ya, Matt!" Syd said to the heavy man.

"Same here, Mr. Logan."

"Well, Jakey, lemme join you."

"Absolutely not," I said. "You can get your own stall."

"There's no other open stalls," he said,

"Well, I'm sure you know how to form a line and wait. Actually, on second thought, I'm positive you don't know how to do that, but this is the perfect time to learn."

"Ha ha, oh, honey, you are such a kidder."

Syd walked towards me until he was out of sight of Matt, and then he pointed towards the guy's stall and made an unpleasant face. He grabbed my soap and quickly wrote on the wall: "One of J's spies," and he pointed again furiously at Matt. I assumed "J" referred to Jericho, and I sighed, knowing that our behavior was potentially being monitored for any signs we weren't a couple.

"So, I'll be joining ya in here, sweetheart," Syd said.

"Well, um, honey, I'm not sure that would be appropriate, for the two of us to share a public shower stall."

"The only one who can hear us in here is Matt," Syd said. "You don't mind if two lovers share a shower next door, do ya, Matty?"

"Nope, I don't care," he mumbled.

"See? It's totally fine, punkin.'"

"Oh, my lucky day," I said, trying to mute any irony in my voice.

Syd kicked off his boots and threw his hat off. He started pulling open the buttons of his dusty cowboy shirt, and soon that too was on the ground.

"Honey, there's a place outside where people undress and put their dirty clothes," I said, annoyed at the mess he was making in the stall.

He paid me no mind, he just pulled off his pants and threw those to the ground as well. He was standing there buck naked, and I remembered he never wore underwear or socks these days. He was still covered in a huge amount of caked on dirt. Even his huge, soft dick was caked in dirt.

"I know ya love it when I get my smoking hot body wet, sweetpea," he said. "How many baths have you made me take with you since we got here, my lovey?"

"I can't remember," I said. "At least none, I suppose."

"You can't remember because it's been far too many to count. And we sure do enjoy our romantic baths together. But ya used to love the showers we took together back in Tahoe, `member?"

"Yes," I said.

"Now, this is yer dream come true, to be able to worship my Adonis body under the falling water."

He stepped towards me, and my first reaction was to run away, but I looked at the broken plank and realized Matt was keeping a watchful eye on what was going on, looking much more suspicious than enticed sexually by the proceedings.

"Well, that kind of shower will have to wait until another time, honey, because I'm all clean now and ready to get out," I said, and that wasn't a lie, either. "You can have this stall, honey."

I started to walk towards the stall door, leaving Syd the showerhead.

"Oh, clean already, huh?" he asked me.

I felt him grab me from behind and pull me against his body, and I could feel his dirt rubbing onto my back. "Syd!" I yelled, disgusted. He rubbed his dirty chest against my back, and stuffed his soft, dirty dick all over my buttcrack.

He spun me around in his arms and then embraced me from the front, his dirty skin pressing against all of my own, everywhere. "Now yer just as dirty as me, sweet pea!" He bounced his body up and down, rubbing as much of the dirt onto me as he possibly could, grinding his flaccid unit into mine. "Now you'll have to join me."

If I wasn't being watched, I think I would have punched him in the face. I was so, so, grossed out by his actions. But Matt's ever-constant eye was still upon us, and I couldn't even let my anger show on my face.

"Syd, how could you possibly have gotten this dirty?"

"From riding, of course."

"How did you manage to get even the skin protected by your clothes filthy?" And then I remembered he'd been naked in the barn with Donnie. I realized just what manner of riding he had been referring to and that made me feel even more grossed out about the dirt that was now all over my body. "Never mind, don't answer that."

I stepped back under the water, newly determined to get his filth cleaned off of me, grabbing a new bar of soap.

"That's right, honey, I know how much you like giving my dirty body a rub down. Go for it."

I looked at Syd's cocky smile, so angry that he was using this opportunity to exploit me sexually, but really not the least bit surprised. I saw Matt still looking at me questionably, so I had to go along with it.

"Oh yes, I'll wash you," I said, trying to sound like the idea appealed to me. "But we'll have to make it fast because we need to be at dinner, honey. I'm so hungry I could faint."

"If yer hungry, I have some huge meat I could feed ya," Syd said.

"Unless you really want me to chew it up and swallow it, that's not going to help satiate my hunger."

"But you always tell me how my jizz loads are so huge you could live off them alone, darlin'."

I burned hot at his filth. "That's not going to cut it tonight, Syd," I said.

"Alright, better start with my back then," he said, turning around in the water, waiting for me to start washing him.

Once again, I saw Matt looking at me, and I started to scrub, so pissed off not only at Syd, but at whoever decided washcloths weren't needed in these facilities.

I scrubbed the soap over the muscled of his upper shoulders and traps, and wrinkled my nose as lines of brown liquid dripped down his back. I started to scrub, and I could not bring myself to approach this with the slightest bit of affection or gentleness, instead I scrubbed down those back muscles with some real elbow grease, rinsing off the dirt in the water constantly.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you have to scrub quite so vigorously."

"I'm just trying to be thorough," I said.

"Well, try to remember you're washing your sweet lover, not scrubbing down a dirty stove."

I ran my hands through the crevasse of muscles down the center of his back, then started in on his dirty bubble butt. I washed down the back of his hamstrings and then soaped up his calves.

"Time to get my front," he said, spinning around suddenly, sending his dirty, soft dick flying and hitting me straight in the face. "Oops, sorry `bout that, but you know how much you love getting whipped in the face by my huge cock."

I only glared at him as he lifted up his foot and offered it to me, which I washed real hard. I did the other foot, then soaped up his muscled thighs.

He pulled me up to my feet. "Here, better get gravity working in yer favor," he said. He stuck his beefy right arm over my shoulder. "Start there."

I washed Syd's forearm, bis and tris, and then he lifted his arm up to the sky, and I washed out his gross pit. I did the same treatment to his other arm, then started scrubbing the white soap into his dirt- caked chest hair. When I got to his abs, he said, "Ya think ya should clean out my dirty clothes on the best washboard nature ever provided?"

"How about you do your own laundry?" I asked.

"I know you really just want to get to my dick faster, that much is so obvious," he said, thrusting out. "Well, go for it, sweetpea."

Trying not to let Matt see how displeased I was, I rubbed the soap into his dirty pubes, then moved lower, rubbing down first the base of his long dick, then the head. I also cleaned off his balls.

Finally, I was free to wash myself again, and I started cleaning off the awful dirt he had left on me.

"Lemme get yer back."

"I've managed to get it," I said. "I'm good at getting my own back."

"No, yer not really that good at it, darlin.' Ya still got brown muck all over your back. I'll get it."

I sighed as Syd started to soap up my shoulders, which I had been absolutely positive was clean, but there was no arguing with him.

"Looks like there's some dirt in yer sweet ass, darlin," he said.

I felt his hands jump down from my shoulders to my upper butt cheeks as he rubbed the soap into them. He massaged both cheeks thoroughly before starting in on my crack, which he washed up and down a lot more thoroughly than anyone would ever need.

"Don't think I don't know how much ya like yer pretty love-hole good and spic," he said, then stuck a soapy finger into my butthole suddenly, surprising and annoying me. I tried to tense up my hole, but he plowed through, then actually started to move the finger in and out, actually fucking me with his finger. He added a second of his huge fingers, and then I said.

"That's perfect, thanks," and took a step forward, pulling away from his fingers.

He stood up again. "Wait, darlin,' still need ta clean yer back."

He took a step forward, putting his body against mine as he stuck his hands on my back. I felt his not hard dick stick between my thighs and knock against the bottom of my balls and soft unit, and I was shocked that he had gotten hard.

"Sorry, sweetpea, you know I can't help but get excited washing you."

I heard Matt's shower go off, and I looked towards the broken plank. Instead of his face looking at me, I saw his backside as he walked out of his stall, finished washing.

"Syd, you--"

I was about to yell at him, but he put his finger to his lips, indicating that we could still be heard.

I pulled away from Syd immediately, crossed my arms, and shot Syd the evilest look I could muster, hoping he would burn under my gaze, but he didn't even display the slightest bit of smoldering.

"Ready to go to dinner, sweetie?"

"I need to go to our room to get a clean set of clothes."

"I'm starvin.' Why don't you just change back into the clothes you came in on?"

"And not change my underwear or socks?" I asked, grossed out.

"Go without `em," he said.

"That's gross, Syd."

"Well, I tell ya what. I brought a clean pair of clothes for me in my bag out there. There's a pair of underwear and socks I was gonna change into. Take those."

"YOU were going to wear underwear?"

"I figured it was a special night."

"What, were you planning on meeting the pope tonight?"

"Nope, just going to dinner with you," he said. "Honestly, they're my lucky pair of drawers. I was hoping I'd get lucky with you tonight. Not that I need luck, of course."

"And you're sure they're clean?"

"Yes."

"As in, never been worn since you washed them last?"

"Oh, well in that case. Yes! I may not have ever washed my clothes in Tahoe, but in the mansion I got servants to do that for me."

"Fine."

I grabbed my towel, dried off, put it around my waist, and then left the stall and went out to the main room. Matt was still hovering around, I noticed. I found Syd's bag with his clothes, and I pulled out the underwear and socks. Still not trusting his assertions, I had to do a sniff check of them before I would put them on. Matt looked at me askance when I put Syd's underwear to my nose, clearly assuming the pair was dirty and I was sniffing it in order to satisfy some sort of sexual fetish. Embarrassed, I put on the rest of my clothes.

Syd came out, threw his clothes on, and then tossed his dirty clothes in his bag. "Alright, sexy, I'm ready for supper."

We walked back into the mansion, and I still wasn't free to talk, because I noticed Matt was following us nearby, acting like he just happened to be going to the mansion at the same time we were. Syd led me through the halls towards the mess hall, holding me around the waist, which very much annoyed me, but we at least seemed to lose Matt.

The mess hall was almost like its own little restaurant inside of the mansion, completely designed out of beautifully carved, polished wood. As soon as we walked in, my ears were filled with dishes clanking, people chattering, and music. The majority of the couple dozen tables strewn about the room were occupied with country western folk. A country western band was playing on a stage, though no one was dancing. A bar and bartender was on one side of the room. There was also a dartboard and a pool table, both of which were being used. Clearly, this was the place to be in the evening in Mareshead.

As we walked into the crowded space, the majority of the diners glanced at me as I walked by; mostly disdainful glances that were clearly due to my modern clothing. But the vampire men close enough to smell my blood type glanced at me with a different look entirely. I had never liked being the center of attention, but I wasn't about to conform to the ridiculous clothing tastes here in order to fit in, and there was nothing I could do to hide the smell of my blood. All I could do was hope that the longer I was here in Mareshead, the more these people grew accustomed to my presence.

Syd led us to a counter against the wall of the room that was connected to the kitchen where a sad- looking woman was ready to take our order. I ordered grilled chicken, bread, and vegetables, thrilled that I'd be able to eat what I wanted for a change, and then Syd told me we should take a seat and they would bring the food.

We started moving towards an empty table when we heard, "Syd and Jake!" We turned to see Parker and Glaucia sitting at a table together, waving to us. I couldn't believe how good it felt to see Parker's warm face again.

"Hello, soon to be Mr. and Mr. Logan!" Glaucia said. "Come join us!"

I smiled and led us towards their table. "Hi there."

"You're welcome to join us, unless the two betrothed would prefer to sit by themselves, Glaucia," Parker said, trying to be as respectful of our needs as possible.

"Yes, actually," Syd said. "Jake just told me he wanted a romantic dinner with just the two of us, one where I could hand feed him every bite." I turned hot with embarrassment. Why out of all people did he have to say these things to Parker?

"Really?" Parker asked.

"No, not really," I said. "He's kidding."

"Oh, is that so, honey?" Syd asked, elbowing me, clearly reminding me I had agreed to not contradict him anymore in public.

"I mean, yes, I did suggest that," I said. "But I hadn't realized that Parker and Glaucia would be down here."

"And Lewis," Glaucia said. "He's over there playing jacks." She pointed, and I could see Lewis and a couple other small children close to his age sitting around playing. Lewis didn't look like he was having much fun with the game.

"Syd, are you sure you're okay with joining us?" Parker asked, clearly sensing his brother's horny nature.

"As long as you two don't get embarrassed by two passionate lovebirds," he said, and I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Not me," said Glaucia. "I'm a very sexual being. I'm embarrassed by nothing."

"Parker, on the other hand, has all the sexuality of a monk," Syd said.

"I'm sure I'll survive," Parker said.

We sat down with them, and I noticed they were about halfway done with their dinner. Glaucia reached across the table and grabbed my hand, her face turning serious. "I am so very sorry for the way I treated you yesterday in that stagecoach," she said. "When I urged them to give you up, I had no idea you were engaged to Syd. He must have announced that to everyone when you people first boarded, but Lewis and I were too late to hear it."

"Yes, I did announce that, of course," Syd lied.

"It's okay, Glaucia," I said. "I actually agreed that the first priority should have been the life of the child."

Glaucia quickly brushed the topic off and switched back to her overly cheerful self. "It's hard to believe it, but soon I'll be your mother-in-law. Feel free to call me Mama Glaucia!"

"Well, it's a proper reunion of the Pariah Club," Parker said.

"Or, as Lewis called it earlier, the Piranha Club," Glaucia said. "He doesn't know the real word."

"He must have suspicions now that we're all flesh-eating fish," Parker said.

"What's the Pariah Club?" I asked.

"When I was here before Lewis was born, we always found that we tended to eat dinner together because no one else would want really want to befriend us," Glaucia said.

"Except, of course, all the ladies that were lining up to bed me," Syd corrected proudly.

"But those ladies just wanted one thing from you, Syd," Parker said. "They had no interest in truly befriending you."

"If this was high school, you three would be the popular kids," I said. "How come no one here wants to be around you?"

"For me, it's because I'm an outsider," Glaucia said. "I try to dress like they do and talk like they do, but they don't care."

"People here judge me aplenty just `cause I prefer the outside world to the Territory," Syd said. "They consider that a slap in the face to their way of life."

"I have the same problem," Parker said. "I spent most of the latter part of the 19th century trying to run away from here."

"Oh, come on, Parker," Syd said. "You've been here for too long for most of these folks to remember that. That's not why. It's because of his fancy-pants education. Folks know that you like lookin' yer nose down on everyone else who maybe knows their letters, and that's about it."

"That's not true. I respect everyone, regardless of their education level. Most of these people didn't even have an opportunity for any further level of education than what they receive, and if anything, that just makes me feel for them all the more."

"I think what Syd is really complaining about," I cut in, wanting to defend Parker, "is that Parker looks down on Syd because he had an opportunity to get educated, and he threw it away. But Parker's absolutely right."

"Oh yeah, cause if I woulda gone to school, that woulda made all the difference for me. Everything that sucked in my life would have turned to rainbows, cause that's just how Parker's life turned out, ain't it?"

"Please, let's not argue again," Parker said. "Not so soon after your return here, Syd." Parker raised a glass. "Here's a toast to the newest Pariah Club member... Jake. Because he's got all three of our deficits combined. He's an outsider, he prefers the modern world, and he's received higher education."

"To Jake!" Glaucia said.

"To Jakey! It's gonna be hell, darlin!"

"Thanks guys!" I said. "So, Glaucia, do you ever eat dinner with Jericho?"

She laughed. "We don't exactly have the same appetites."

"Tell me, Glaucia," Syd said. "What exactly do you see in dear ol' dad?"

"Syd, that's a very forward question!" Parker chided.

"It's okay," Glaucia said. "Well, to admit, our relationship at first was purely... sexual."

I tried not to make a face as I imagined Jericho having sex with someone. He was a monster, incapable of tenderness. How could Glaucia ever get anything sexually out of a person like that?

"Well, that part I understand," Syd said, always managing to have a train of thought that ran completely incongruous to my own. "Us Logan men are pretty damn irresistible, aren't we, Park?"

"Speak for yourself, brother," Parker said. "I always considered myself pretty damn resistible." Parker smiled at me, again warming my heart. I had to wonder what Parker would do if I wasn't engaged to his brother. Would he have been just as enamored with me as I was with him?

"Okay, I guess I'll speak for myself then," Syd said. "Now, I wasn't around when you came into our world, Glaucia. I didn't meet you until the wedding, but if I had been here, I'm sure I would have been pursuing you along with him. And I'm sure you wouldn't have been able to resist me, once I turned it on. I mean, okay. Jericho is as good looking as a god. He's manly. He's got a perfect body. He's super hung. He's confident. All good reasons why you wanted to fuck him. But I have all those same qualities, exactly. And, I got all the charm, while he doesn't have a charismatic bone in his body. Sexually, he is only interested in pleasing himself, am I right? What if you had someone who looked like him, but knew every button to push on you to make you weak in the knees?"

Glaucia laughed uncomfortably. "It's good for Lewis's existence's sake that you were not there to interfere, then," she said. "I got the best thing that ever happened to me, thanks to Jericho."

"Good thing," Syd said. "'Cause I ain't never having kids. Anyway, Jakey here can tell you first hand how irresistible I am in bed, right Jakey?"

I smiled, trying to cover up my anger. "Right."

"Jakey likes getting pounded so hard, we've already broken three beds," Syd said. "Ain't that right, sweettits?"

"That's right, Syd." It took everything I had to pull that line off.

"Well, I think that's great," Glaucia said.

"But don't think its all emotionless sex for us," Syd said. "We are also very romantic, right sugar?"

"Right Syd."

"We cuddle all night long," Syd said.

"That is so sweet," Glaucia said.

"Jakey can't sleep without me being all the way inside him, isn't that right, pookie?"

"Mmm," I mumbled.

It was clear that Parker was embarrassed hearing about all this as I was. When we had been asked to join their table, I was hoping Parker would rescue me from having to dine alone with Syd. I should have known that instead, Syd was going out of his way to embarrass me in front of Parker. I suddenly wished I had gone along with Syd's request for the two of us to dine alone.

Luckily, our dinner came right then, and so I had a chance to change the subject. I tried to think about something interesting to say about the food that might generate some conversation, but all I could think of was: "This looks scrumptious." I started to dig in.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Jakey?" Syd asked, sounding just like my mother always did when as a child I forgot to say grace.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Whenever we have dinner together, you like to kiss me before we start eating, for good luck."

I forced a smile, and laughed embarrassedly. "Yes, Syd, but we are here with guests."

"Oh, we don't mind. Go ahead and kiss," Glaucia said.

"Oh, alright."

I turned towards Syd and moved my face towards his, with my lips puckered. His lips met mine, and I tried to just plant a little peck on him and back off. Instead, he reached his hand around and put it against the back of my head, forcing me towards him. He opened his lips and stuck his tongue into my mouth, licking away furiously. He didn't let me go until he had licked my lips, leaving me shocked, dazed, and totally grossed out.

"Wow, that was some kiss," Parker said, more annoyed than amazed.

"Jakey won't stand for anything less, right honey-butt?"

"Yes," I said angrily, digging into my food finally, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Hey, this song reminds me of something," Syd said when the band started playing a new tune. "It reminds me of a hot and nasty woman I knew."

"Syd, all of your memories involve hot and nasty women," Parker said.

"Very true."

"This band isn't nearly as good as the one in Lettie's," I commented. "They don't seem to be playing with any soul."

"That's because they are slaves, Jake," Syd said. "They don't want to be there. They are forced to play to keep on living."

"Are you being metaphorical?"

"No, he's not. When Jericho took over as Governor, he instituted something the vampires had never done before... slavery," Parker elaborated. "It's the worst evil my father has ever committed, and he has committed a lot. The Logans used to subsist just on prostitution, gambling, and minor drug trafficking. Jericho has been responsible for bringing in serious drugs, illegal arms trade, and the slave trade. He's made the Logans' pockets overflow as a result, but not without paying too big a price."

"Unbelievable. That guy needs to be removed from power."

"Most of the servants in this mansion are slaves," Syd said. "Sure, you get the occasional weird coot like Tucker who volunteers to work for Jericho, but most sane free men usually avoid him. So, as a result, this place is practically swimming with human slaves."

"So, that man I saw in the cage earlier?"

"A slave," Parker said.

Now I understood why Polly was so concerned that I didn't have the "L" tattoo on the back of my neck that denoted me as a free person.

I wanted to go into a whole tirade about Jericho thinking he lived in another century, but Glaucia was looking very uncomfortable. I forgot we were verbally attacking her husband in her company. I kept quiet.

"Well, looks like we're all done with dinner," I said. "Should we call it a night, Syd?"

"I know you're eager to get me upstairs and rip my clothes off again, but there's something you forgot, sweetheart," he said.

"Oh? What's that?" I tried to ask pleasantly.

"I ordered this cream cheese cake because I know it's yer favorite," he pointed to a very large, very unhealthy looking slab of cake on one of his food plates. "You told me as we were coming in that I should order it so I could feed it to you, just like I'll be doing on the real day."

"Mmm," was all I could muster.

"I want to see this!" Glaucia said.

"Here we go, my love!" Syd said as he picked up a large section of frosting covered cake with his hands.

"Aren't you going to use a fork?" I asked.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Syd asked.

"The cake is always, always served by hand at weddings," Glaucia confirmed.

I wanted to cringe, but instead, I forced my mouth open, getting angrier and angrier at Syd as I watched him stuff his cake-covered fingers into my mouth. Even after he had placed the food n my tongue, his fingers still lingered in my mouth, wiping the frosting on my teeth.

"Go ahead and lick the frosting off my fingers, lovie," Syd said, but I did nothing. "Come on, don't pretend you don't know how to suck. You were sucking a lot more than my fingers just before we came to dinner."

To get him to shut up, I closed my lips around his fingers and cleaned them off, trying to figure out just how many calories that bite had, wondering when the last time Syd had washed his hands was.

"So cute!" Glaucia said.

"But wait, there's more!" Syd said. "Jakey actually told me he'd rather me feed him the cake by mouth. That it's more romantic that way. Let me see if I can manage it, right honey?"

I was so, so pissed. "Mmm."

He leaned down and bit directly into another large morsel of cake. Then, with Glaucia's ooohs, he lifted his face up to mine. Again, he placed his hand on the back of my head, and pushed me towards him. I knew what was expected of me; I opened my lips and took the cake from him, trying to get as little contact with his lips as possible. But even when I had the cake in his mouth, he pushed his tongue inside me, kissing me, wiping every last bit of the frosting into my mouth with his tongue. I almost retched.

He kept kissing me for what seemed like forever, and then we parted finally.

"Ta-da!" Syd said.

"Yea, that took some real skill!" Glaucia said.

"Alright, can we go now?" I asked.

"Yes, sweetie. But let's take the rest of the cake. Remember, you begged me to let you eat something sweet off my lovestick tonight? You wanted to lick every inch?"

He grabbed the cake and brought it with us.

"You lovers have fun!" Glaucia said.

"Jake, are we still on for tomorrow?" Parker asked, and it was mortifying to look into his embarrassed face.

"Yes, Parker, see you then."

On our way out, we passed Lewis playing jacks with his group of young friends.

"I win again," said a young girl about Lewis's age. "You're rotten at this."

"That's because this game sucks," Lewis said.

"What do you mean it sucks?" the girl asked.

"It's so boring," he said. "If Mom hadn't taken my board games, we'd be playing those. They are totally cool."

"Ha ha, you talk queer," she said.

I knew Glaucia wouldn't like it if she heard her son letting on that he was clued into modernity, and considered stepping in to remind the boy. But Syd's hand conspicuously groped my butt and guided me towards the exit.

Syd led us into the Great Room, which unfortunately seemed to be the main hub of the entire mansion. My heart froze with fear as I first laid eyes upon, and then heard, Jericho in the room. He was standing against the bars of that cage, leering at the naked man inside like a cat eyes a caged bird.

"I think you'll find I'm a very fair man," he said, his voice sounding anything but fair. "What's your name?"

As Syd led me upstairs towards the third floor, I tried hard to walk softly, not wanting to do anything to capture Jericho's attention.

"Juan," said that young man in the cage, fearfully.

"Tell me, Juan. Everyone is talented at something. What is yer talent?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"There must be somethin.'"

"I've always been a really good horseback rider," he said.

Jericho smiled. "Ah, perfect," he said. "Let's play a game, shall we?" He reached in his pocket and pulled out a modern-looking key and used it to unlock the cage. "Come with me outside," he said. "To the stables."

Jericho grabbed Juan's arm roughly and pulled him along towards the door. By that time I was already up the stairs.

"We'll see how well you handle yourself on a horse."

Jericho pushed him out the front door, and I heard no more. But I ended up at Syd's room feeling very, very creeped out.

As soon as we were safely in his apartment, I pushed Syd's intrusive hand off of me.

"You are a disgusting pig," I said in an angry huff.

"What, Jakey?" he asked. "You need me to sell the lie that we are in love. I'm just working towards that angle."

"We're supposed to be in love, yes. But you make me out to be a total slut! It's mortifying, and you know it!"

He shrugged. "Look, everyone knows I'm a sexual beast," Syd said. "No one would be convinced I was in love with someone who wasn't totally appreciative of my talents. So, that's the only angle that's believable."

"Don't try to legitimize your actions," I said. "I think you only made such a show about it because we were in front of your brother."

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Syd asked. "You're worried he won't fuck you again on your date tomorrow now that he's seen us carry on?"

"Shuttup, Syd."

"Well, don't worry. He was completely and utterly jealous at that dinner. If anything, tomorrow he'll fuck you twice as hard."

"I said, shuttup Syd! I'm going to bed. Don't you have some woman to take advantage of somewhere?"

"Me? Nah. Already did that this afternoon. I'll go to bed too."

Something else was niggling at me besides Syd's shenanigans. "Do you think all of those criticisms of Jericho hurt Glaucia's feelings?" I asked.

"No way. Their marriage is more of a sham than ours is," Syd said. "He only married her because he knew she was pregnant and he knew it was a boy, and he wanted another heir that he could brainwash. There is no love between those two. They don't even live in the same apartments. Their apartments are both on the top floor of this mansion, side by side, but totally separate."

"Syd, where is your alarm clock? I need to be up early for my meeting with Cornelius tomorrow."

"I used to have one, until I threw it out the window," he said. "Don't worry, I'll wake you up."

"You'd better."