STARBOUND Chapter 3
DISCLAIMER IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY OVERT DEPICTION ALTERNATIVE SEXUALITY, ANYTHING TABOO, OR ROMANCE AND ESPECIALLY SEXUALITY BETWEEN CONSENTING MINORS DO NOT READ THIS FICTIONAL WORK. ALMOST EVERYTHING, APART FROM SOME HUMAN EXPERIENCES DESCRIBED, AND SOME PLACES MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK ARE FICTIONAL AND RESEMBLENCE TO ANY REAL PEOPLE IS ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL OR BASED ON SUBCONSCIOUS EXPRESSION BY THE AUTHOR. THE AUTHOR STATES FURTHERMORE THAT ALL ELEMENTS OF THIS THREAD ARE, ACCORSING TO THE AUTHORS KNOWLEDGE AND INTENT, COMPLETELY ORIGINAL, SPAWNED FROM THE WARPED MIND OF THE AUTHOR.
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CHAPTER 3
Old friends, new friends, memories, and sparks.
This part of the story is a distraction from the drama going on in Montana with Jay and Alex.
Teresa's brother Tash definitely knows more than he is letting on. Their family has some strange secrets that need to be hashed out between Tash, Teresa, and Jaysen later that week, but a hospital is no place for conversations about what they are and what it means, especially since Tashrael needs to lay low so his mother and her people don't find out he is alive. That is a long story.
Estranged is an understatement for the relationship between the Allston twins and their vile draconian mother.
They don't even know who their real father is, that's not how people like their mother do things. The old Dragon Women of the previous era in the superhuman world had been forced by circumstances they couldn't control to become cold and calculating. Everything served a purpose, their purpose, as they had served the purposes of their elders. When they need heirs to their power, they found someone whose DNA they wanted for their offspring, and used them, and left them wondering what the hell happened the next morning, or worse, they wake up buried alive or locked in a cage until the desired result is achieved.
Tash had saved him and his sister from the fate of becoming a slave to that kind of authoritarian parenting, and he'd do the same for anyone being used in that way. That was what he and his network of friends and allies did. He wasn't the top dog in that organization, but he was as close as one came to second in command when his only superior had been doing the work single handedly so for millennia, saving and hiding whatever innocence and good-heartedness there was left in the world.
Presently, that old friend, who also might as well be family, had asked Tash for a personal favor, and while Jaysen recovers in the hospital, his uncle is going to try and convince a wayward orphaned teenage superhuman to discontinue a dangerous lifestyle.
Tash wondered how HE suddenly became such a role model and guidance counselor figure, but his skills of empathy, understanding, and communication were in demand right now, and he needed fine with this practice as he would be dealing with 60 to 88 gifted teenagers showing up to the grand opening of the Bitterroot Crest Academy campus next fall.
Tashrael walked into the venue, which was appropriately named "Club Strange" where he was supposed to meet his old friend Chester, the Club owner to discuss the target asset of his mission.
Chester was a small older looking man, sort of stocky. The club was a source of income, and Chester usually didn't turn his nose up at income, but a certain young man whom he had hired was attracting too much attention and making too many businessmen's wallets and bank accounts disappear. He wasn't taking the money for himself, he was using it to wage a vendetta against the people who killed his beloved and his family.
IF the Words "takin candy from a baby" applied, this was more the reverse, the baby taking money from the rich dirty pervs who ogled him on stage after they joined him in his hotel room or in the secluded back rooms of the club.
This kid wasn't entirely human, or rather, not what humans think of as human, he had some genetic attributes that could be traced to strange origins, Much like Tash and his family.
Seducing a whole crowd, whether with the voice, the body, or the mutated pheromones that made both genders want a piece of whatever part of you that was offered was a talent that a lot of these special people shared. Those an unnatural Allure and influence over bland humans were called Bacchans (Bacchant male, bacchante female) for reasons that were obvious to anyone who of is familiar with classical mythology.
Tash and this kid had a lot in common, they were both Bacchans, as were Teresa and Jay, though they were prevented from developing their full potential by Jaysen's grandmother. This similarity was why Chester had called Tash for help.
The 17-year-old boy's Bacchan blood made him look closer to age 22, definitely not like a teenager, and his fake ID said he was 24. He was of course gorgeous and had the voice of a siren, which he could use to intoxicate and mesmerize almost whomever he pleased, which combined with his supernatural sexual allure, made him dangerously appealing.
He hadn't been to high school, he had been married, and His husband had been murdered by the same cult that killed his in-laws in a fiery explosion that had killed everyone in their club across town.
Married before age 17 was normal for the superhuman community, especially bacchants who wanted to acquire the favor of another Clan, and especially if they were orphaned, as it was in this case.
Bacchan men, went through a transformation from child to adult within 6 weeks, sometime after their 13th birthday.
Leading up to, and during that time, they are irresistible to human males, and WILL likely be raped if they do not escape from society, which is why they were generally shipped off to a special retreat around that time, and as they returned 6 weeks later in control of their supernatural allure, and appearing to have aged 6 years in those 6 weeks, they were given new names and identities.
Jay's Bacchant nature had been bound by a pretty vile form of alchemy used by his grandmother, and Tash suspected that that was part of what was making Jay sick, and as soon as Tash gets back to Montana he would put things right and Jay would go through the transformation at Tash's home. For now, he has another young Bacchant to save.
Tash's generation was the last to go through proper rituals of the transformation, and not all of them were collected, as there were a lot of families in hiding, and a lot of them were orphaned and raised by "bland human" families (as the snottier of the superhumans call the majority of us.)
Those who were left behind turned into incubi or were simply raped to death my humans driven mad by the effect of their uncontrolled supernatural allure. It is a sad and sick process when one of their kind didn't receive help or guidance between age 13 and 14, as they would become either predator of prey to unsuspecting humans who couldn't control themselves.
This made it a sort of double edged sword that Jaysen had been relieved of this experience until he was older.
Bacchants were also hunted by witches for their Allure Essence, their pheromones and bodily secretions of all kinds to be used in witch's love potions and fertility drugs. They are tortured, and when they can no longer secrete their essence, they are killed and dissected for their glands which are also powerful additives to the potions of witches and alchemists. This is one reason why witches and alchemists, as well as bacchants and bacchantes, female bacchants, are rare today, they and other superhuman species had hunted each other to near-extinction trying to gain an advantage over each other.
However, some witches chose to mate with their bacchant slaves and produce hybrids, these are what Jay and his family are, hybrids of two or more different kinds of superhuman, this boy whom Tash was going to try and persuade to enter his protection, as it turned out, was Siren and Bacchan hybrid.
He had almost been twisted into an incubus, but was saves by a clan of siren witches.
After sizing up his target, Tash spoke to Chester.
"Chester, you old cradle robber, where the hell did you find this one." Tash said. Teasing his old friend and one-time business partner.
"This one is robbing the rest-home actually, he was prostituting himself on the corner outside of the Club. After hearing his story, and hearing him sing, I gave him a job tending bar and singing once in a while so I could keep an eye on him.
Turns out he was a little more of a talent than I bargained for, he has become a main attraction, pun intended. He's gonna get himself killed if he keeps drawing the kind of attention he does, he may in into an incubus, in which case we will have to rehabilitate him, or he could get me shut down once people find out his real age and identity.
What IS his story. I'm sure I can guess most of it, but fill me in. Tash asked, listening carefully to Chester.
"Typically, he went through what happens in most cases to abandoned or orphaned Bacchants. He up more or less normal in a human family, started his transformation not knowing what the fuck was going on, he started raped incessantly by his older brothers who couldn't resist the pheromones.
He went on the run, and stated away from humans until he learned how to control his Allure. He fell in love with a Siren, joined their clan, got married a oit a year before the cult eradicated their clan with most of them in it
He witnessed two members of the cult RITUALLY killing his husband, he caught the sickos in the act and dispatched both of them, luckily there were no witnesses to track him down, they will be out for his blood though, and he's out for theirs. We have to see if we can get him to channel that energy into your project before he brings all the wrath down on mine."
So you want me to convince him to stop shaking that... oh so fine ass of his and lay low with me in the mountains and pretend to be a regular human?
"Ah ah... now... don't get sappy or sloppy, you have to get this naughty little bastard on board... I have every confidence you two will hit it of splendidly though, you did both date men from the same Siren clan... his husband was Damian's little brother Aaron.
"no shit, the one that Ashley was pregnant with when Damian died trying to protect him from that rogue Chimera?"
"The same, you two may not be Starbound, but you share something fated. Now, without further ado, let us go meet the little scamp." Chester said winking in a way that said, "you are going to get yourself in too deep with this one." Chester and Tashrael didn't need words, they knew each other better than anyone else. No one knew Chester like Tash, except maybe Tash's mother, but that was a sore spot for both Chester and Tash.
"Just show the kid some compassion. He hasn't had much of it from anyone but me, everyone else is too busy fawning drooling and touching themselves inappropriately when he's around, and you KNOW that the siren bitches didn't give him or his pretty little husband any breaks, that brought in the dough, or they got the drain treatment to compensate."
Tash shivered. Draining a Bacchant's Allure Essence was a vile things to do, it left them weak and nauseous for weeks at a time, whichever reminded Tash of Jay's situation. He had to get back and teach his sister the err of her ways raising a Bacchant male.... surely Mother was behind the misinformation. But now that there was a Bacchant Alpha male in their life again who was a proper superhuman doctor and role model, things were going to change for them.
He finally had the resources to build a real, safe, natural community, for people like him, starting with the Bitterroot Crest Academy for Extraordinary Men.
"Jaden, you naughty thing," Chester teased his talented employee. "I want you to meet my friend Tashrael. Tash is a building a new academy for, extraordinary young men like yourself, the precursor to the superhuman community of tomorrow, he's the man who is going to save us all." Chester said flattering his friend and former business partner.
"It is so nice to meet you" Tash said shaking Jaden's hand. "It isn't every day I come across an absolutely stunning young hybrid like yourself Tash said, taking a line out of Chester's playbook and beginning with flattery.
There was nothing facetious about the complement whatsoever though, stunning was an understatement for the blond haired light blue eyed beautiful you man who stood before them, he was tall, full lipped, and in perfect shape.
"So, YOU are the Visionary "Doctor of Everything" Chester keeps going on about? Jaden asked Tash, though he knew the answer, he was keeping the flattery train on track.
"Yeah, we go back a long way, Ole Chester was one of the guides I had when I went through MY transformation." Tash said, acknowledging what he was sure Jaden already knew, that they were both Bacchants. "He gave me my first job, although it was more of a cover for the real work I had volunteered to help him with."
"You volunteered to drink my booze and screw my customers! Chester accused.
Hey, I replaced the booze with better stuff, my own recipes, and then, I kept your customers coming back! Tash returned.
"So IS this my replacement Chester, huh, did you trade me in for a newer model?" Tash asked.
"Fuck no, this little shit is TOO new, he needs to learn a thing or two about moderation." Chester said motioning toward Jaden, who looked thoroughly amused by everything up until that point.
"Since when is moderation even a word around here Chester?"
Well, this town isn't what it used to be, the world has some very polarizing ideals springing up. We are going to need that nice rural community of yours up and running ASAP." Chester said, avoiding talking directly about the Club Vocal massacre across town in front of Jaden, but driving his point home for his benefit anyway.
Chester and Tash knew how to put on a conversational show that had whatever effect on the bystanders that they desired.
Jaden cut in with his opinion of Project Community.
"I am skeptical of your pie in the sky philosophy Doc, as long as the anti-superhuman cult is still out there, there is always a threat to your community, that is why I want to use my talents to raise the funds to hunt them down."
"This cult group is just the most recent of a long line of threats, young man, we were always safest in groups until they got ahold of bombs... Which is why I chose the location I did, the mountains make natural lookout points into the valleys, each valley can be a small community, each one specialized in something the greater community needs, the way the Essenes did it in the days of the Qumran Essene community... according to an old anthropologist friend of mine."
"The nearby property owners are being provided with security systems on the perimeters of their properties as well as armed guards and hidden surveillance equipment.
I've even got the government installing surface to air defense systems for airborne attacks, for their purposes mainly, but an unauthorized aircraft is what it is. I have done favors for some high level people to make this work, and Chester has aided every government in the world in hiding assets for centuries, between the two of us, we have unprecedented cooperation from the global community.
There have always BEEN threats to our community, our FAMILY, but there has never been a widespread global protection network like we have now.
There will always be threats to manage, we can manage them together, Tash said, his lecture over.
"Enough talk about business" he changed direction "let's get a drink down in the members only, (Chester's private bar in the basement for high powered Supernatural clientele) You know... I helped formulate most of those liquors that Chester hoards down there like a dragon hoards shiny trinkets. 40 different varieties of absinthe, made from local ingredients, some of which are quite rare and can only be found in the mountain range where the community will be located, where I and my sister hid from the old dragon woman until she was captured."
"OK, if Chester wants us to talk, I'll hear you out, but like I told him, I'm not running scared from those crazy, snake wearing nutbags who killed my husband, I want them to pay." Jaden said.
"Just don't BECOME them in the process, or become an incubus, it has happened to better men than ME when vengeance became their only goal." Tash warned.
"Now, Just humor an older gentleman will you?" Tash said kissing his hand and turning up the charm factor."
"Your reputation precedes you , Doc, but somehow expecting it does not ruin the effect entirely." Jaden said suddenly seeming quite taken with hid new acquaintance.
Tash chuckled, this little `fart in the wind' was flirting with a Bacchant 3 times his age... that took a lot of nerve. He may not have strong enough Psychoactive Allure Hormones, being young and having used them too much recently to have the potency necessary to effect on someone like Tashrael Allston, but damn it if he wasn't trying to charm him the old-fashioned way. This was always the game that new acquaintances of their kind played. Seeing who could be more charming without the effect of their supernatural allure, which didn't work on each other.
"You have stones for days kid, but you ARE a kid...compared to a relic like me." Tash said hopefully not putting him out too bad.
Jaden pouted sarcastically. "Age is only a number."
"The number of partners you've had recently is a greater number though, you really ought to save up and replenish your Aura and Allure." Tash cautioned, putting himself into the protective older brother role again.
"If you get too low on energy and start unintentionally feeding off of humans, that leads to becoming an incubus, which is the superhuman version of a cannibalistic meth addict." He said.
"Yeah yeah, you sound like Chester, I'll take tonight off." Jaden said.
They sat and visited in the private Bar downstairs as Tash mixed up one of signature drinks, the "FairyFucked Absinthe" for the young cock charmer, which was complete with Wormwood sugar, and a puree of peyote cactus floating on the top, as well as some other rare ingredients, none of which had the same effect on them that it would on a human, but had other benefits.
The wormwood sugar was finely crushed so that it looked, of course, like green fairy dust, and the Peyote was a good replenishment for the psychoactive elements their bodies produced naturally.
This powerful elixir would help Jaden recover his drained Chi and Allure Essence. He had really been overdoing it trying to scam people all he could out of money to Fuel this vendetta of his.
Tash wondered if he wasn't trying to distract himself from grief more so than anything.
Tash got right down to pulling on heartstrings as he handed Jaden the drink.
"So I hear you were part of the local Siren clan before the cultists erupted and made their debut?" Tash asked as if he hadn't been briefed on the situation.
"I was married to one of the only male sirens left in the clan, possibly in the world besides myself and a few other hybrids.
Before you ask, no, it wasn't arranged, and it wasn't for protection, We were the real deal. I only joined his Clan to keep the peace between him and his vile clan Mother. He would have left them for me, if I'd have let him, but he'd have ended up the same way he is now, and I wouldn't have that be MY fault." Jaden said, suddenly sullen and dark in tone.
"My sweet young man, if that is the case, then we have something, very deep in common." Tash said, in a soft gentle tone. drawing it out so that Jaden would have to ask him what he was referring to.
Tash had a way of forcing people to engage deeper into a conversation. He was a master communicator and manipulator.
"Well, did you lose Your husband to a terrorist cult ritual killing too?" Jaden said dryly, trying not to be baited into identifying with the older man too soon.
"No, actually, as it happened, My truest love was a male siren from the same clan, I was a part of the clan for a while after I returned from the world thinking I was dead, as surviving the plane crash was impossible.
My own beloved Damien... he was killed defending Ashley, the clan child-bearer from MY mother's vile Chimera creations.
You must have heard the story, and so you know who the male child was that she was Carrying in her womb." Tash skillfully dropped the latch of the verbal and emotional trap.
They were both silent for a good while, communicating wordlessly with their eyes and subtle body language.
Jaden had chills on his arms, and tears welling up in his eyes.
"They always told us that story, as if the dark witch faction of their clan hadn't started the mess in the first place by creating werewolves and Vampires from scratch.
Tash, you ought to know, Aaron, and Ashley neither one blamed your mother for what happened to Damien. That Chimera was, after the witch blood in her womb, albeit it was Aaron's innocent witch blood, in Ashley's womb, but the Elder witches provoked the wrath of the house of Dionysus, they brought his death on us. Jaden said, taking a sharp breath.
The Chimera were supposed to attack everyone of Agatha's lineage who had magic. That included baby Aaron.
"We should blame my mother somewhat, Tash said. I do anyway... I tried to save Damien and Aaron both that night, I fought against My mother's vile beast that night. It was reckless of her to use those abominations for her dirty work. She treated me little better than an enemy ever since.
I am glad that hers and Agatha's reigns are both over now. We will make this world over in OUR image, in Aaron and Damien's Image.
Jaden was quiet for a bit, pondering the possibility.
Tash continued, "The difference between me and my mother and her damn clan, is that I don't harm the innocent, or let them be harmed on my watch. That is why after I made it back alive, I stopped her from harming my twin sister more than she already had.
I have children of my own now, and I know, were things reversed, and Damien were still here, he'd have protected them." Tash said, letting slip the greatest secret he had, the life of his Twin sons in the balance. That was how one gained trust, by laying something big down on the table.
Jaden looked up into Tash's eyes, afraid to say what he needed to in order to complete the honest and trusting interaction that was going on between them.
"You are more than a doctor then, you are a warrior, and in that case, perhaps your community plan will work, Tashrael, I do hope so, for the sake of your child, and for the sake of mine...wherever he is." Jaden said.
Tash had gotten more than he bargained for in that answer.
"What? He stammered, "You mean, You had a child? You kids these days grow up too fast, even for Bacchan standards." Tash said looking worried.
Jaden explained,
"The one kind thing Clan Mother Rolinda, ever did for Aaron and I, and I am sure she had her private motivations... She used her scientists to remove the DNA from a donor egg, and insert my DNA in it's place, and fertilized it with Aaron's seed, then Ashley did as she always did for the family, with her Bacchante Womb she carried the embryo that was truly mine and Aaron's biological offspring.
The first child born from two biological fathers, the three of us were so happy, we were a family. We were so happy that Aaron and I were both in blissful ignorance about the threats that existed." Jaden said.
"I can't ask you the question, I want to know, but I can't do it." Tash said. Looking off into nowhere trying not to get too sappy.
"That part is good news...our child is alive!" Jaden said answering the unaskable question. He's safe, for now. When the cult business taken care of he can come home, that is why I am so desperate to eradicate the threat to his life here." Jaden said.
Suddenly his vendetta against the cult has a whole new meaning. Tash couldn't ask him to stop fighting for his own child's safety. He would, and had bee doing the same thing. Jaden surprised Tash though.
"If WE I can make that community plan of yours a success, he can come home to me." Jaden said, finally reaching the point they'd been headed to.
"You are right, Tash" he admitted, "You are right about about where I should be working to save my son. Damien, and Aaron would want to know that a male child born of their line, and of ours, would be taken care of by his real family, not living the way I had to."
"After all, MY son is the last of their Siren Bloodline, it is MY job to keep him safe, not some strange human's."
"When Aaron died, I panicked and did precisely what my parents did, I got our child away from the monsters, and I stayed to fight them. My parents must have died, and it did ME no good because monsters still came when family that raised me turned into monsters because of me." Jaden said.
"That is precisely why I am trying to give back something positive," Tash replied, "To honor those among us who gave a damn and wanted better for us all, rather than letting the anger turn ME into something like Rolinda, or worse, Agatha, or my own vile mother.
They didn't start out the way they were, neither did the Old Dragon." Tash said referring to his own mother, they lived lives like you Jaden, and like Damien and Aaron, they were used by their parents and siblings until they were the only ones left to do the using and abusing. They lost loved ones, and they sought vengeance and power." Tash lectured.
"I see that now, I don't know why I was so blinded by hate... when there is a child out there who needs my love." Jaden said looking ashamed.
" You know what changed me? What brought me back to life after losing Damien and made me see what needs to be done?" Tash asked. "IT was when I met my sons."
There are MANY children like them, like us, who need the love of someone who understands them.
"My nephew and his lover too, they need that, they will be the first in a long time to be loved and understood and nurtured by parents who know what they are facing. I would feel more confident if you would come and join me in this endeavor. You know WHY I am doing this more than anyone, you have your own child to prepare a world for. I want all of the young ones to thrive and reach their full potential, whether they have parents that know what they are headed for or not, we will be there so they don't suffer the same kind of hell that you and I did."
"That is my new life's goal." Tash professed.
"I'd like that... Jaden admitted. I haven't had a chance to clear my head since Aaron died." He said looking up into Tash's eyes and seeing a familiar kindness he hadn't seen for a long time. "You remind me of Aaron you know." He said finishing his drink and smiling, looking up at Tash in a way that made him shiver inside.
"Damien helped me become who I am." Tash said pouring two shots and preparing for a toast. "To our sweet departed men!" he said, and they both drank down the shot, which made their bodies feel immediately warm and relaxed.
Jaden looked at the bottle of liquor curiously, and no words were needed to get across the message. "That is some good shit"
Jaden was the next to speak "Tash, have you dated anyone since you lost Damien?" He asked.
Tash's face showed the fact that that question had thorns, and Jaden was sorry he had asked, but he genuinely wanted to know how someone could cope with losing their beloved.
It was so hard to find someone who was immune to their Allure. It was hard to find someone who could be real and honest with them. Sirens were immune to their power, that is why there were so many hybrids of the two, they knew whatever they felt for each other was genuine and not just pheromones and hormones. Finding a gay male siren was even more rare.
Tash answered "No, I make myself feel again, especially in the final war against my mother and her faction, even if I hadn't been at war, no one could compare to him.
Damien melted everyone's hearts, and he stole mine. I didn't know if I even could feel love again. I thought for the longest time that my love died with him.
Then I met my sons. I didn't choose their mother, but when I investigated the report Chester had forwarded to me, I Found her, dead, and those two little twin boys all alone clinging to each other as if, as long as they had each other, the world could burn and they would still have something beautiful." Tash said, feeling almost poetic.
" I fell in love with the little guys at first sight. I was going to try and track down their real father, I knew their mother had been at some of the same Bacchanal Festival Orgies that I had helped lead, so I did a DNA test on them, not thinking there was ANY possibility that they were mine, because I'm gay, and I thought I was careful when it came to being around females at the orgy, but those things get a little unpredictable and I guess at some point I didn't know what was going on... fluids fly and well... things get messy, especially with the supreme fertility and cum production of us Bacchans... it's like a damn fountain. (some men claim to be able to fuck all night, Bacchans actually can, and keep the cum showers flowing until dawn.)
I redid the test several times and it ultimately showed every time that the twins were mine. I guess more happened at that orgy than I realized." He laughed nervously.
"Shit happens," Jaden said. "Sometimes good shit happens." He added.
"I was probably going to raise them either way," Tash added. "So THEY didn't end up having to grow up not knowing who or what they were, it's hard enough dealing with the transition when you HAVE parents who know what is happening to you. You know what happens when they don't."
Jaden nodded, understanding him completely, he'd lived through that hell, he wouldn't wish it on any kid.
"So," Jaden said, switching gears, "When can I come see the School?"
"Are you thinking of applying for a job?" Tash asked
"Well, here is the thing...I never went to high school, I know that I don't look the right age exactly, but there will be other Bacchan guys there so I won't be the only one right?"
"It's possible," Tash said, "Wait are you thinking of enrolling as a student?" he asked surprised.
"My life has been a freaking crazy ride, but all that that you said about helping people like me reach our potential whether they have parents who understand them or not... well... there's plenty I could learn, and doing something normal people do, that would be a nice change of pace. I like learning, I read as much as I can about history philosophy, science and classical mythology, world religions, I want to learn everything about the past superhumans throughout history and their origins," Jaden said.
"Fuck, someone who is as pretty as you are actually WANTING to learn our history... I could literally propose someone like you right fucking now if you weren't 1/3 my age." Tash said, amazed more by Jaden the more he learned about him. Jaden was blushing a bit. It was a feat to make a Bacchan blush, but he was young.
"I want my kid, when I go and find him, to have a father he can be proud of, not... well... what I've been lately." Jaden said.
"Damn, that's amazing, man, you are alright." Tash praised him. "Come by my hotel tomorrow and we'll talk about when you can come visit. I've got some situations to deal with when I get back home, so now probably wouldn't be best."
Jaden suddenly kind of looked a bit nervous.
"Yeah, it's gotta be soon though, or I'll lose my nerve." He said. looking even more nervous.
"Okay then, We will make the arrangements tomorrow morning, my travel agent can set something up for you, It's all on me, I have connections with the company." Tash said.
"Come here, Tash beckoned to him with his arms open. "We had a pretty intense conversation tonight, there's a lot of healing for both of us to do, but we'll get through it." He said hugging the much younger man.
He wrote down his hotel room and phone numbers, and departed from the Club, leaving Jaden there at the downstairs bar to think.
Later that night there was a knock on the hotel room door as Tash got out of the shower.
Tash thought it must be the food he'd ordered from the night menu, and he liked the way the boy who did the deliveries had been checking him out earlier, so he opened the door with Just a towel around his waist, thinking that he'd give the little fucker something nice to fantasize about.
Tash was never shy, and he was never lacking in confidence, that was one thing Jay had missed out on about having his Bacchan nature unnaturally suppressed, the way people react to you.
He opened the door to find Jaden standing there, looking nervous.
"Come on in, what's the matter?" Tash asked.
Jaden started talking abruptly and at a barely comprehendible pace. "You know when I said I didn't want to lose my nerve, well.it wasn't for the trip down to the school. He said, "That is definitely happening." He added.
Before Tash could say or do anything the young, tall, blond, beautiful creature in front of him leaned in and kissed him on the lips desperately, as though if he didn't, he'd suffocate, which was pretty much how Jaden had felt ever since they parted 2 hours ago.
He couldn't sleep, eat, breathe, or even think. Something about Tash had drawn him in and awakened parts of him he thought were dead.
Maybe it was as simple as the fact that he liked him, that he was kind, and genuine, and real, and that he knew it wasn't because either of them had the Pheromone whammy because they were both immune to it, Jaden was doubly immune because of his Siren genes.
Maybe it had to do more with the fact that they'd both loved and lost very similar men, and the connection they had regarding the Siren men, and their mutual friendship with Chester, or the fact that they were both young fathers who wanted a better life for their kids.
It was a tough call as to what had made him feel so strongly for the beautiful older man, but he didn't care about the age difference, he had to find out if there was anything possible between them, even if it was a long shot.
Tash didn't turn away or lean back out of the kiss, he just let it happen. After all the emotion the two had shared earlier, it wasn't surprising that the kid was confused, but he enjoyed the feeling of his full lips, and the closeness. He closed his eyes and kissed him back, just enjoying the feeling of a real kiss for the first time in what seemed like a century.
Tall auburn haired, perfect bodied Tash was so distracted that he let the towel around his waist drop to the floor in the open doorway.
Realizing that he was standing naked, in front of a 17 year old sex fiend, who had just passionately kissed him, he argued with himself about what to do, meanwhile his genitalia were not confused at all... and it was becoming obvious.
"Fuck it, come on in", he said putting his arm around the sweet young thing and guiding him into the room.
Tash left Jaden sitting on the king size bed of the large hotel suite, and went into the bathroom and closed the door so he had some privacy to think, but not even half a minute later the food arrived, and glad that he'd ordered enough for two people even though he was alone.
He paid the delivery kid, giving him a generous tip, having not even bothered to put on a towel, and the studly young delivery kid, who had definitely been eyeing them both, thoroughly pleased with the view, and having been effected by the Allure effect of the two Bacchants inhabiting the room who were both emotionally confused and hormonal enough that they were having trouble controlling their Allure.
Tash and Jaden could tell that the cute redheaded 19 year old was rock hard in his Khaki uniform pants, and was sweating profusely from his arousal and dripping precum just from the view and the subtle effect of them without their even trying.
When he had been paid and told them to have a nice evening, he was fighting to pull himself out of the room as if he were caught in a net. Once past the door, the young man leaned against the wall, and not even touching himself went into an orgasm, making a mess of his uniform.
Of course being the kind of creatures they were, Tash and Jaden were both amused by this, and their extremely heightened sense of smell had detected the fluids leaking from the young stud even through the door and this lit a fire in their groins that was only a spark to begin with. This didn't help Tash's inhibition any, as it had already been going down like a plane on fire.
Tash split the meal with Jaden, barely saying a word, both of them trying to decide what was going to happen next, neither of them sure entirely what they wanted from the other, but knowing that there was a tension and an attraction, and even a bond and a chemistry they couldn't deny between them.
When they were both done eating their portion of the large meal, someone was going to have to say something.
"Look, I know, if you are freaked out because I'm so young, and I might be your student next year... I get it." Jaden said. "I shouldn't have come here, but, I don't know, my feet did the walking and my lips did the kissing, my brain just kind of went along for the ride... and my heart doesn't fucking know what wants," he said looking vulnerable and upset, laying back on the bed and staring at the ceiling feeling hopeless.
Tash couldn't get any words out, he started several times trying but there was no answer that was both the right thing to say, and felt right when he started to say it. Tash NEVER had that problem. Words were his bitch, he always knew what to say and it always felt right as he was saying it. He knew 14 different languages and how to read lips and body language and even knew what people were thinking or feeling because he could read every language of human interaction to some degree. And yet, this little street rat had him absolutely tongue-tied.
It wasn't how it would look or who would think what about them being together that bothered Tash.
It wasn't really even the age thing, but he didn't want to feel like he would be taking advantage of a confused kid, and yet, he knew that logically this was not a 17 year old average run of the mill human hottie.
It WAS someone he had an intense amount in common with. It WAS someone who had already loved, married, had a child, lost his beloved and who knows what while he was on his own before the sirens took him in, and the things he was doing for money probably even yesterday.
This wasn't a naïve teenage kid, he was an adult descended from a line of superhumans who delighted in sex and hedonism.
He still had a sweetness and gentleness about him though, and that made him irresistibly cute and yet have Tash reason to pause.
As Jaden was getting up to walk out the door, feeling stupid and doubting that he'd even show up to talk about seeing the school the next day because he'd be too embarrassed, a voice inside him asked a profoundly simple question.
A voice in the back of Tash's mind asked him the same question, which he knew was the only logic that mattered now.
"Do you both deserve to be happy?" is was what they both asked themselves at that moment.
As Jaden turned and looked Tash's direction, their eyes locked onto the other's.
They knew that, much like another pair of hearts that are linked in this story, they were completely and utterly at a loss to explain the bond that had formed between them in over last 10 hours. Just like Jay and Alex, these two knew that if they had to be apart, they wouldn't be able to think about anything productive until they were together again. They would feel like part of them was missing.
One of these pairs had known each other their entire lives, the other had just met, but both of them were Bound by some force they could never deny, something beyond love and lust and concern, it was something from beyond the stars, a cosmic synchronicity that just simply was.
Tash walked over to Jaden, pulled him close, and they walked together over to the king size bed, which, for as close to each other as they slept that night, was kind of a waste.
I know it would be more exciting if I were to tell you that they screwed until the break of dawn, and that's what might have happened were it not for the pure and sincere intimacy that they felt just being in each other's arms.
When, for whatever reason life throws into you path someone who understands you, and connects with you on that kind of level, I think we are all helpless to try and deny it.
Tashrael had just the insight he needed to help his young nephew with the same kind of problem. Jay had tried to explain the feeling, the way Tash felt about Jaden now, and he'd done a good job.
Who could help being starstruck, or starbound by someone who you just know deep down that you belong to, and want nothing more than to give yourself to them completely. It was, as so many experiences that these men had had lately, impossible,
End chapter 3.
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Your storyteller - M.R. Masterson.