SOULBOUND
By Wes
Leigh
This is a work of fiction (or
is it?) intended solely for the entertainment of my readers; any resemblance to
any real people or places is purely coincidental. Readers who would like to chat are encouraged
to contact me at weston.leigh@protonmail.com.
This story is the property of
the author and is protected by copyright laws.
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the
author's consent.
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please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/.
Before the
story begins,
Is it such
a sin,
For me to
take what's mine,
Until the
end of time.
We were
more than friends,
Before the
story ends,
And I will
take what's mine,
Create what God would never design.
-- Avenged Sevenfold, `A Little Piece of Heaven'
The next morning, Daniel was still thinking about Connor and
his miraculous recovery, about Gabi and Andreas and their snarling reaction to
the college scout, about the game and the almost triumphant roar from the Agony
fans when the head referee's leg snapped and he had to be carried off the
field.
But the thing that puzzled him the most was that he didn't seem
to care. He wasn't thrilled that the
referee and the wide receiver for the Stallions got what they deserved. Nor was he upset that they were injured. Their fates didn't seem to concern him in the
least, because his thoughts were dominated by the memory of the warmth of Connor's
head as he slept next to Daniel in the back of the Finnigan's SUV. And the feeling of Connor's skin beneath his
fingers as he stroked the older boy's hair.
The heat of Connor's breath blowing against Daniel's cheek. The excitement in Daniel's gut from touching
Connor the entire ride home.
Fortunately, Daniel's parents respected his odd mood at
breakfast, chatting between themselves about how his dad's new job was going
and about his mom's prospects for a job as a nurse with a town
pediatrician. Daniel munched his cereal,
reminded his mom about Xavier's party that night, and asked to be excused. His parents watched him leave the table,
wondering if their moody teenager was making a return appearance.
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͠
The music was loud and harsh. It pounded against Daniel's eardrums when he
exited the car.
"Have a good time," Judy yelled, trying to be heard above
the music.
"Call us when you're ready for a ride," his dad shouted.
Daniel nodded and waved.
"I will. Thanks. Enjoy the movie."
His parents drove off, and Daniel walked up to the
house. A heavy metal band was screaming,
"She was never this good in bed even when she was sleepin'. Now she's just so perfect. I've never been quite so fucking deep in."
Daniel eyes widened in surprise at the lyrics and he muttered,
"What the hell?"
The door opened as he walked up. Xavier stood there, smiling. He reached out and took Daniel's hand. "I was worried you wouldn't make it."
Daniel couldn't quite understand what Xavier was saying,
with the music so loud. "WHAT?" Daniel
shouted.
"HANG ON," Xavier shouted.
Turning around, Xavier screamed, "GREGOR!" From across the room, Gregor turned and saw
Xavier making cutting motions across his throat. "TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!"
Gregor nodded and adjusted a slider on the sound
system. The band continued screaming,
"And a word to the wise when the fire dies, you think it's over
but it's just begun ..." It was still loud
and harsh, but at least they could hear each other now.
Xavier grimaced.
"Sorry about the music, Daniel.
We put Gregor in charge of the entertainment, and his playlist is a bit
... menacing."
Daniel shrugged.
"It's okay. I like variety in
music."
Xavier chuckled. "With Gregor, you certainly get that. Come with me."
Xavier led Daniel into the house and through the crowd of
partying kids (mostly Ravens with a few Rabbits, from what Daniel could tell),
down a hall and into the kitchen. "Pick
your poison," Xavier said, pointing at a table lined with a variety of
sodas. "There's no alcohol. Mother made it clear there would be none, and
even Gregor was afraid to sneak any in.
I'm sure Mother is more concerned about her reputation than anything
else, so I apologize if this isn't the kind of wild party you were expecting."
Daniel poured himself a root beer. "It's fine, Xavier. My parents would lock me in my room `til I
turn eighteen if I got drunk at a party."
"Things could still get a bit wild ... if you want them to." Xavier's voice trailed off on the end.
Daniel smirked, taking the hint. "I wouldn't mind a bit of wildness."
"Good," Xavier replied.
"Bring your drink and follow me."
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͠
Daniel sat on Xavier's bed.
The door was closed, so the noise of the party was muffled. He and Xavier were alone, and this wasn't the
bit of wildness he had expected.
Xavier sat in his desk chair, facing Daniel, with an
acoustic guitar in his lap. He was
gently strumming the strings, humming a few notes. Glancing up at Daniel bashfully, Xavier
softly spoke. "I came across this song a
few days ago. It's an older song. One you only hear on the classic stations
these days. But I loved the lyrics and
the tune ... and it made me think of you."
He glanced at Daniel, blushed and bent over the guitar, strumming the strings
and softly singing, "If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd
like to do is to save every day `til eternity passes away just to spend them
with you."
He paused and looked at Daniel. "Sorry if that's too mushy for you."
"It isn't," Daniel whispered. "It's beautiful."
Xavier smiled and said, "There's more. If you want to hear it."
Daniel nodded, so Xavier began singing again. "If I could make days last forever, if words
could make wishes come true, I'd save every day like a treasure, and then,
again, I would spend them with you."
Daniel closed his eyes and allowed his heart to beat in tune
with Xavier's music. Xavier continued
singing, softly, wooing Daniel with the gentle lyrics and strumming notes. "I've looked around enough to know that
you're the one I want to go through time with—"
The music stopped suddenly as Xavier stood up and set the
guitar aside.
Daniel opened his eyes and saw that familiar sad and hungry
look in Xavier's eyes. Xavier walked to
the bed and reached out for Daniel's hands.
He pulled Daniel to his feet and held him a foot away.
"Daniel, there is something I need to say. To you.
And I hope it doesn't blow up in my face."
Daniel felt his stomach tighten with anticipation. "What is it, Xavier?"
Xavier nodded toward the guitar. "That song ... the words ... they say what I feel
about you. I think you ... I mean I want
you ... SHIT, Daniel, ..." He closed his
eyes and sighed. "I can't believe I'm
having such a hard time saying this."
Daniel squeezed Xavier's hands in his own and pulled the
taller youth down so they were sitting on the bed next
to each other. Daniel said, "Sometimes,
you just have to say what you're thinking and not worry about what happens
next."
Xavier nodded slightly and said, "My people ... ummm ... my family has a ... tradition, I guess you'd call
it. A tradition that has been passed
down through the generations. The only
way I know how to explain how I feel is to tell you about this tradition."
"Okay. Go ahead."
"Whenever two people have a deep love for each other, we
call it becoming soulbound. It's more than falling in love. When you're soulbound,
you're connected in the deepest possible way.
It's ... it's ... well, you can't help yourself. It's like your souls are already linked, for
eternity, like the song says. You want
to spend every moment with that person, until even eternity passes away, and
you can't stand the thought that you might not have them with you."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"And what does that have to do with us, Xavier?"
Xavier stood up and walked nervously away a few feet. With his back to Daniel, he whispered, "I
think I've become soulbound with someone."
Daniel stood up and walked behind Xavier. He placed his hand on Xavier's shoulder and
turned him until they were facing each other once again. "Who, Xavier?
Who is it?"
Xavier eyes filled with tears. He choked and said, "You, Daniel."
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͠
They sat in patio chairs in the back yard, ignoring the
muffled noises of the party coming from inside the house, as their breath
puffed out in warm clouds in the chilly night air.
"Being soulbound is beyond your
control. You don't CHOOSE to be soulbound; your souls bind THEMSELVES together. One day, you see someone
and you feel an immediate connection, deep in your soul, and every moment you
spend with them makes the connection stronger."
"And that's what you feel for me?" Daniel asked.
"Yes."
"Okay."
"And you? How do you
feel about me, Daniel?"
Daniel grinned and bowed his head. "It's ... complicated."
"Complicated? Well,
okay. I understand."
"No, you don't understand, Xavier. Let me explain." Daniel took a deep breath and began. "When I first met you, I was intimidated by
you. By things that happened at the theatre."
"I'm very sorry about that."
"No. Let me finish,
Xavier. I don't care about any of that
now. What's important is that I felt the
same thing you felt, I think. Like we
were meant to be together. I kept
wanting to spend time with you. To get
to know you better, despite feeling a little scared around you. Does that make sense?"
Xavier nodded.
"And when we kissed," Daniel continued, "it was like you
were sucking the life out of me, but I wanted it. I wanted to give you my life and have you make it your own.
Strange, huh?"
"No. Not
strange. That's how it is when you're soulbound. And
that's why I'm scared for both of us."
Surprised, Daniel asked, "Why?"
Xavier sighed. "Don't
you see, Daniel? You and I? We can't be soulbound."
"Because we're both guys?"
"No! Because we're
from different worlds. And if you gave
me your life, I would take it! In
between heartbeats. I'd take your life and
leave you with nothing and then I would have nothing."
Xavier began crying.
Daniel reached out and touched Xavier's cheek, collecting a
tear on the tip of his finger. "If I give
you my life, what will you give me in return?"
Xavier slowly shook his head from side to side. "What I have to give, you don't want."
Hearing that, Daniel sat quietly next to Xavier, lost in his
own thoughts. Daniel was puzzled,
struggling to understand how Xavier could feel such a bond with him and yet
refuse to accept it. Finally deciding
what he had to do, Daniel turned to Xavier and said, "It seems to me that this
isn't a decision you get to make by yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that it affects both of us, so I think I should have
a say in what we end up doing?"
"Oh, Daniel. You
don't know enough about me, about my world—"
Daniel interrupted him.
"Then EXPLAIN it to me, Xavier! Tell me who you are. Who you really are! Stop toying with me and tell me."
Xavier stared at Daniel, unblinking, until he realized
Daniel meant every word he'd said.
"You really do want to know?" Xavier asked.
Daniel nodded.
"Whatever it is. Just tell me."
Xavier sighed and stood up.
"It's easier if I show you."
͠ ͠
͠
Xavier led Daniel down a stairway to a family room located
in the basement. Dim lights lit the
room, making it possible to see furniture and shadowy figures moving
about. Daniel heard voices, not talking,
but moaning in ecstasy, or perhaps anguish.
As he and Xavier moved further into the room, Daniel saw naked bodies
intertwined on the sofas and in the floor.
He recognized the faces of other kids who'd come to the party. Some were Rabbits. Most were Ravens. All were nude, revealing hard cocks and soft
breasts, exposed necks and sweaty flanks.
Daniel felt wrong somehow, watching them so obviously
aroused, but no one looked up, no one seemed to notice him or Xavier standing
there.
In the middle of the room, Gregor stood behind a slender
girl, his hands barely touching her hips.
He wasn't moving, so Daniel assumed he wasn't screwing her, but she was
gyrating as though being penetrated over and over. Her lips curled and she whined, with her eyes
squeezed closed. She began panting and
froze, quivering as spasms passed through her body. Gregor's eyes glowed red as he leaned over
her shoulder and breathed deeply, his mouth slightly parted, with protruding
fangs. He leaned forward slightly and
touched the girl's neck with his fangs, but didn't push, didn't penetrate the
skin. He closed his eyes and breathed in
again, deeply.
The girl stopped quivering and seemed to collapse in
Gregor's arms. He lowered her gently to
the floor and walked to a couch, where a naked boy sat, apparently
sleeping. Gregor bent down and stroked
the boy's chest, sliding his hand down to his groin. The boy moaned and stretched, arching his
back. His cock hardened quickly, and
Gregor trailed a fingernail from the glistening end of his cock to the boy's
balls and lower still along his taint.
The boy moaned again and began panting.
He bit his lips and cried out, thrusting his hips forward and spewing
creamy cum all over his stomach and chest.
Gregor leaned down and touched the boy's neck with his fangs, once again
not penetrating but simply breathing in and sighing with obvious satisfaction. The boy collapsed much like the girl had, his
head falling to the side as he slept.
Gregor stood up and turned around, searching for his next
victim. His cock was hard and
throbbing. His eyes glowed. He saw Xavier and Daniel standing there,
watching, and he frowned, as though perplexed.
He looked at Xavier and asked, "Are we dining on him too?"
"No," Xavier stated.
"Then why is he here?"
"To see. To
understand."
Gregor shook his head.
"You're violating the Ordinance, Xavier.
You'll be punished."
"It's my decision, Gregor.
Go back to your feeding." He
turned to Daniel and said, "Come with me."
Xavier led Daniel back upstairs and down the hall to his
bedroom. He closed and locked the door
behind them and motioned for Daniel to take a seat on the bed. Xavier sat next to Daniel, and for several
minutes, he explained the horrible truth about living in Agony.
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͠
"I thought vampires
only came out at night to suck the blood from their victims," Daniel said.
"You've been watching too many movies, Daniel. This isn't Hollywood. This is Agony. This is reality, not some movie producer's
fantasy."
"So you can go out in the day?"
Xavier nodded. "We
don't enjoy it, and that's why we usually wear sunglasses. It's also why we live here. The weather makes it more acceptable to be
indoors most of the year."
"And you don't drink blood?"
"Rarely. Although
what we do is a lot like sucking the life out of someone. We feast on emotion, the stronger the
emotion, the better. Some enjoy the
taste of fear. Others, like my cousin
Gregor, prefer lust. They say it
satisfies their hunger better. You saw Gregor's
fangs. They only come out like that when
we're feasting, and he was obviously enjoying his meal, as you could tell."
"Will those kids be okay?"
"They won't remember a thing. Gregor and the others will wipe their
memories after they're done. The humans
will leave the party, recalling that they had a good time for the most part,
although there will be blank spots in their recollection. They will feel uneasy about it, and they may
wonder what happened, but they'll be fine otherwise."
Daniel nodded and frowned.
"Now I know what happened to me at the theatre."
Xavier ducked his head.
"Yes. Now you know."
"Did Gregor dine on me that night, or did you?"
Xavier looked up, alarmed.
"I've never done that to you, Daniel."
"So what happened to me?"
"We came to the theatre to eat. We had permission to dine on fear during the horror
film, but we weren't permitted to induce fear, only sup passively. Gregor didn't care for the taste that night,
so he left and didn't come back right away.
I suspected him of messing around.
He does that sometimes. I found
him in the restroom with you. He had
taken control of your mind and had caused you to have an orgasm. I stopped him and made him leave. Then I cleaned you up and wiped the memory of
it from your mind. I'm sorry, Daniel,
but I had no choice."
"What do you mean?"
"I couldn't permit you to know about us. About vampires. The humans here in Agony are never permitted
to know. They suspect, because their hearts
warn them of the danger whenever we're near, but we won't allow their minds to
know the full story. It's the only way
we can stay safe."
"And yet, you're telling me all this now."
Xavier nodded.
"Because you insisted. Because you
and I are soulbound."
Daniel stood up and began pacing. "I just thought my life was complicated. I'm a short, skinny kid who's struggling to
come to grips with the idea that I might be gay, and now I find out I'm soulbound to a vampire.
This is crazy! You can't make
this stuff up!"
Daniel stopped pacing and turned to face Xavier. "So now what?
Are you required by Vampire Law—"
"It's called the Ordinance," Xavier interjected. "Technically, it's the Smyth Covenant
Ordinance, because each vampire covenant establishes its own Ordinance,
tailored to the needs of its community and members."
"Okay, the Smyth Covenant Ordinance, then. Good grief!
Does your Ordinance require that you erase my mind now? Do we head back to school Monday, still
kissing and trying to figure out what it means to be soulbound?" Daniel stopped pacing and turned to stare
intently at Xavier. "Are you even gay?"
"Gay is a human concept.
Vampires don't operate under the same principles of sexuality."
Daniel snorted, growing more and more agitated. "So ... what am I to you? Your lover?
Your future husband? A meal every
now and then?"
Xavier stood up and grabbed Daniel by the arms. "I thought I made it clear what you are to
me, Daniel. You are the soul that binds
my soul. You are the one I want to spend
all time with, for eternity. And that
tears me apart, because yours is a human soul with a mortal human body that will
not last for eternity, and because I am bound to you, I know I must willingly
choose to die when you die."
Daniel was stunned, unable to respond.
"Do you understand now, Daniel? Do you see what I am going through because of
you?"
Daniel nodded and whispered, "That's why you said you were
scared for both of us? Because I'm human
and you're a vampire?"
"Yes."
"And there's nothing we can do?"
"There is nothing I am willing to do."
"But there is a way out?
A way to fix this?"
Xavier nodded his head sadly. "There is, but I could never ask you to do
that, Daniel."
Daniel leaned in and pulled Xavier into a hug. "Once again, Xavier, it seems to me that I
have a say in all this. If there is a
way to make it work, shouldn't I get a vote?"
Xavier pulled away.
"You get more than a vote, Daniel.
You have veto power in this decision.
I would never force such a thing on anyone, and definitely not on the
one to whom I am soulbound."
"Then tell me. What is
it, Xavier? What do I have to do?"
Xavier swallowed hard.
"You would have to become a vampire too."
The end of SOULBOUND, Chapter
Seven