Disclaimer
First and foremost, the legalities. If you are under the age of consent, whatever that age may be in the state where you currently reside, read no further. This story is part of an ongoing serial fiction and contains graphic depictions of homosexual encounters. All encounters are of the masculine variety and are often done with little regard to `safe sex'. This is after all a work of fiction, so none of the characters can get aids or the like. It is the recommendation of the author of this story, namely myself, that if you absolutely must engage in copious amounts of man sex, then do so as safely as you can. The last thing you want is to turn into a victim of your own hormones.
Secondly, for those of you who have written me and expressed a like of my story, thank you. I have enjoyed corresponding immensely. I would also like to apologize. I was unable to post this story in a timely fashion as I promised to. I have several plausible excuses but in the end they didn't get this story here any faster. I hope you enjoy this installment.
*As always you may view my artwork and the sketches that will be going along with this series and all future series at my website www.designsbykyler.com . Love peace and chicken grease.
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Tep's ancient mind opened itself outward. He felt the mish mash of a thousand minds race within his own. Had he had one ounce less skill, it would have overwhelmed him. He knew the creature would be ecstatic here. He couldn't wait to feel the hot embrace of his jungle one more time. Though as the day slid into night, he started to feel an ache inside of him lessen.
A smile tugged at the corner of Tep's mouth. A small spike of joy swept through him, and fear. "Yeah Gods, he isn't ready, neither of them are ready." It was a whisper in the dark, not mean for human ears. He wrapped sleep back around him, it was a useful tool in blocking out the musk of rutting male that swamped the bed.
Darren's hands flew quickly as he tossed his clothes into the bag. The water and hiking equipment was already packed. He'd called his father, the voice on the phone had been rude before the old man had known who it was. As soon as his father recognized his voice it turned down right icy. But in the end, he won out and the tight old bastard given him the use of the cabin.
"You think you packed enough clothes?" Terry asked him the doorway.
Darren turned, the beautiful blonde was standing there, his entire stance one of nervous tension. The humor was a mask to show how not afraid he was.
"Yeah, well, we don't know how long we're gonna be out there. I mean it may be months, I want a change of underwear." He tried to offer his own humor to bolster Terry's. It still worked no better.
Terry crossed the few feet between them, and took the darker haired man in his arms. The feel of Darren in his arms, was visibly calming to him.
"Terry?"
"Yeah babe?"
"Are we gonna die?"
"Probably."
"Oh...Okay."
The two broke down in giggles. The odd humor of the moment doing what their forcing would, or could not. The held each other for another moment. Before breaking. The need to get on the move was growing stronger.
Darren grabbed the black and gray Adidas sports duffel and followed his lover from the room. It was strange, Darren noted to himself, he should be terrified. And he was...in a detached way, like a large part of him just couldn't believe what was going on. He laughed at himself, " they call that shock kiddo." He chided himself.
Tep was already to go, and had been for a while yet. He'd attracted the attention of the boys far to early, informing them that a swift departure was in order. When questioned he said only that they needed to leave, and further prodding yielded no results. Save of course for an exasperated sigh.
"Are we ready?" Tep's voice was polite, but his impatience was very much alive in the room.
"Sure are, we'll have all the modern conveniences, since Darren's packed the whole apartment." Terry laughed at his friend and lover. The sparkle in his eyes, spoke of his love.
Darren didn't respond, he was just as anxious to be gone as Tep was. For some reason he didn't know, the urge to get to some place green was beginning to become an ache for him. As though the city had no clean air, and he was suffocating.
It was an unusual experience, a feeling redoubled more than once as he caught Tep looking at him, a knowing expression on his face.
Tep's response to Terry's humor was an expression that didn't speak well for his views on modern conveniences. He harrumphed, and rolled into his jacket. Darren had noticed, once he really looked that man's grace wasn't just there, it was a cloak the older person wore. The image of a jungle cat rose to his mind. Strong, with a sense of predatory power that hung in the air. Tep was definitely not the guy to irritate in a dark alley.
"My car is in the garage." They were using darren's jeep as neither of the other two had cars. Grabbing a few necessities, they made for the door. In the elevator Darren had to keep from laughing. The image of Tep, with the sense of raw, savage power rolling off of him, combined with the elevator music was just about too much for his frazzled nerves.
Terry seemed to notice his effort to keep the grin from splitting his face and glanced at the dark coated figure in front of them. He immediately understood the humor and was soon holding his laugh behind trembling lips.
The floors swung by, the parking garage seeming to take forever, then there they were. The darkness would have been total, had it not been for the evenly place security lights. Not that they really offered that much security, but then the key to a happy life was one's illusions.
The brown vinyl of the jeep's top was seen over the faux suede of an expensive looking Cadillac. They made for it, the feeling of oppression within the garage exploding between them. Darren could feel everyone seem to go on a higher alert. But then that was the customary reaction to a parking garage.
The back of the jeep was close enough that Darren hit the alarm and the lights flashed once. The only warning he had was a tingle at the back of his neck, the next second he was ducking just as something impossible hot streaked above his head. He only dimly heard Tep yelling for them to get down. Terry was pushing him behind the Cadillac, and his eyes were burning, though he didn't know why.
There was the crash of glass and muffled grunts, and Tep yelling again. Though this time it wasn't in English. His thick bass ran through the garage, and Darren, his surprise and shock abated, felt the power in that voice coil through him. He felt the hairs on his arms stand to attention, as though to pay homage to the power he knew was roaring to life. Though he had no idea how his body knew and he did not.
Darren poked his head above the cadillac's sleek trunk, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tep. Terry was right there next to him. The blonde's eyes shown with adrenalin as much as Darren knew his own must be.
It took a second to find Tep in the now gloomy garage. Nearly all of the lights that had lined the columns of the labrynthine structure were blown. A spire of light that looked like a parade grade firework going off pointed the old man's position.
Darren's mind froze for the second time in thirty seconds. IT wasn't possible. He'd seen Terry, had felt the power, but what he saw just wasn't possible.
Tep, the dark, mysterious man that had insulted and spared him, and had gained so much favor with his new lover, was wrapped within a column of boiling light. His hands pulsing orbs of blinding scintillation that burned and flickered, somehow gaining and ebbing, without losing brilliance.
He heard Terry pull in a long hiss of surprise. A quick glance at his friend's face let him know it wasn't a pleasant exclamation. "What the hell is going on?"
Terry looked at him. "We have to get out of here...now."
"We can't leave, what about Tep, he's...." Darren trailed off, his words cut off by harsh laughter, followed by a stream of something incredibly hot and molten looking cutting its way through the darkness of the structure. It missed Tep and came no where near the boys. In the end, its only victim was an unfortunate SUV. Darren idly wondered how the complex was going to explain a ton of melted steel to the owner.
Terry grabbed his shoulder and slightly spun him, so that they were face to face. "Let's go."
Darren's first inclination was to do as he was told, then his mind caught up with him. "Terry, we can't just leave Tep." He couldn't understand why Terry was so ready to abandon Tep.
Terry looked at him, and his head flicked back to the dark man swathed in white flame. When he returned his gaze to Darren it was swimming with hurt. "We have to go, there's nothing we can do for him." The import of the words was not lost on Darren, who tried to protest. Another blast cut him off. Followed by something even stranger...Tep.
The man's voice boomed in his head, "GO--GO WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHANCE!"
The urge to obey was so powerful that it couldn't be refused, the two were in the jeep and careening out of the garage in seconds. The heavy darkness was broken only by a brilliant flash that broke the shadows and sent them running, before the light died completely. The two were almost blinded as the rear view mirrors roared to glares in the periphery.
They burst from the building and into the streets of the city beyond. Neither said anything, neither could. They just drove, Darren wondering how he couldn't even feel the steering wheel, and yet managed not the kill them.
Terry sat with his thoughts, though they were rare. Shock and the remnants of what he knew was compulsion, powerful, more powerful than any he'd ever seen before, slowly faded from his mind. The part of him that wasn't under the influence of the powerful magic reeled from loss and heartache. He had felt the moment of Tep's death, the incredible power of the ancient as it sent shards of white hot power coursing over his aetheric skin.
The loss of Tep meant many things, and none of them good. He prayed deeply to the mother of all things, to send them a miracle, because he knew if they planned on surviving, they would need one.
The old guardian had know what was coming, had known he was going to die. The bastard that had stood at the doorway of freedom for so many long centuries, had known he would soon meet his end. Though it wasn't as satisfying as the darkling creature would have preferred. There was no begging, no taking of mind or soul, assuming the old magus actually had one.
Tep had seen his end, and acted accordingly. The demon believed he knew exactly what Tep was up to as soon as he felt the pull of the old man's magicks. The slow tide of aetheric power was nowhere to be found, its horrendous scraping over his nerves was absent. This was different, harsher and somehow more personal, more powerful.
The demon remembered smiling. He mistook the flow of power as the old man's weakness, thinking that he was having to pull into personal power to defend himself from the flurry of aetheric blows that the dark being rained down on him. Only too late did he understand the nature of his dilemma.
Tep, guardian of the Aet'lan was doing something his evil counterpart would never fathom. The demon felt the power of Tep's lifeforce pulse and separate, as though the old man's soul was tearing itself free. It wrapped around the ancient human, pulling more and more of itself out of the surrounding aethyr. Soon the light of the single human soul had multiplied immensely, and he was left dazzled by the flaring tower of light that dominated the darkness of the man made cavern in which they fought.
He sent more volleys, hoping against hope that one of them would connect with something useful, none did. He felt the hands of light reach for him, and the power of the magus's mind calling. The beast within the shell fought and screamed not to be touched by the light. The power of the white fire arched after him, bringing soundless cries of pain from him. IT was shredding the thing that wore peter's body from the inside out.
The demon gave itself over to pain, trusting that it would die, or survive one, and then there would be hell to pay. Then, as suddenly as the pain burst upon him, the felt the arms of searing power leave him. No...not leave him, disband, they simply stopped.
It took several long seconds before the beast could stand, and when it did, it had help. Richard, his new counterpart, was helping to his feet. Several meters away, he could see the magus, in a pool of his own blood, a hole in his chest where his heart should have been. The small flickers of power his body gave off were already dying. The demon spit, and the watched with delight as the body caught fire. IT was still burning when they turned to leave. Richard slightly supporting his master until he quickly returning strength was back in full