Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 15:33:29 EDT From: VicHowel@aol.com Subject: The Avengers 5-7 'lo all. Hope you're enjoying this sequel to Confessions Of A Vampire. There will be some twists and turns as the story goes along but they should all be pretty enjoyable. I hope you won't mind my linking an impressionable young American with an east European pornstar (gasp! Could I possibly be thinking of Johan Paulik? He nor Bel Ami/Bruno Gmuender Verlag will ever know). Anyway, I would appreciate your comments (vichowel@aol.com). Sure, the story is written but that doesn't mean that it can't be made better. And, to the German-speakers out there, when you actually stop laughing at my destruction of your language, I'll gladly take pointers on correct German usage (I mean, it has been YEARS since I spoke it). Enjoy. CHAPTER FIVE Barbara no longer felt compromised by the man sitting at the head of the kitchen table like she had in the afternoon. She still didn't know exactly how Lynda had met this Karl von Muribor, but she had to admit there was little chance that meeting had a sexual nature. She was going to have to start curbing her jealousy. Yeah. After seventeen years she was going to have to trust Lynda Renfroe. At least, a little. Only, she was still so fine. It was hard for Barbara to imagine a man not falling all over himself for her. She cut another bite of Valatin's schnitzel. She knew she was going to find a German restaurant as soon as she was back in Washington; this stuff was good. She sat back and studied the Prince with hooded eyes. Her suspicion of him had been dying since Tom and Emil joined them before dinner; watching the three of them together had been enough to remove him as a competitor for Lynda. He was just one more queer boy now that his lovers were with him. She still didn't have the specifics on how her lover of seventeen years and this man met or had got on well enough he would invite her into his home. She was still surprised she, Lynda, and Jody weren't camped out in some hotel downtown. His obvious relationship with the other two men, however, made that into something she was simply curious about; the suspicion with which it'd infected her stood lanced and drained. He was good-looking - blond and slim - and young. She guessed him to be about 25 - his lovers too. But, while Tom and Emil acted natural, like young guys who were at home; this Karl von Muribor came off somehow having all the authority in the world. He wore it like it was a pair of skin-tight pants - and everybody around him just hung on his every word. Hell! Even Lynda seemed to be buying into it. Not as completely as Tom and Emil did - or that muscle-bound monster who made the best coffee in the world. But she was deferring to him more than Barbara had ever seen her lover do with any other man. It had to be the authority the man wore. There sure wasn't anything else about him that could hold Lynda Renfroe in thrall. All three of them were stylish beyond anything Barbara had seen among even the richest gay boys back in Washington. Then there was this house. She'd seen enough of it already to know it'd go for close to a million back in DC Probably more. There was another house back in Washington, too. So, the man was rich. Filthy rich. One of the three of them was, at least - and she was pretty sure it was this Karl von Muribor. Money seemed to sit well on him and she decided it had to be old money - like the Vanderbilts or Rockefellers in the U.S. of A. Money and authority in the same person - but completely separate aspects of him. Still, there was only this Valentin to keep things together in the house . . . Barbara had never hobnobbed with the rich and famous. She sure as hell wasn't one herself. She was sure it took more than one servant to keep a house this big running smoothly, though. There being just this Valentin was strange. But the strangest thing she'd learned so far was the distance Karl von Muribor kept between himself and everybody who came near him. Maybe it wasn't the distance itself - not exactly. It was more like there was a real openness about him - coupled with that yawning distance. The incongruity of that combination stuck out like a sore thumb. She hadn't got a handle on any of it. Not yet - but she was going to. Queer boys could inherit money. She supposed, if they were Europeans, they could even inherit titles like prince. She'd known a couple of Americans who had the kind of money she was feeling here - but they liked to live it up. They paraded their tastes and the people who made it all possible for them. This Prince von Muribor didn't. If she didn't have this house and that one back in Washington to guide her, Barbara Nightwing was sure she'd just assume the boys were simply well-off and not think a damned thing about it. * * * Barbara was still attempting to understand me when Valentin brought coffee and removed the dinner dishes from the table. She swallowed some of the thick, sweet, cream-ladened coffee and put her cup on the table. "How're you going to protect this place?" she asked. "She-" Barbara gently nudged Lynda with her elbow, "tells me some gaggle of crazy turkeys want to blow your head off. But you don't seem real concerned about it." "In what way, Ms. Nightwing?" Emil asked. She glanced at him, frowning slightly as almost a reprimand for interrupting her. I was finally picking up on her body language. I could read her now. She was struck at how Emil and Tom were somehow almost intermediaries to me she must go through. I stifled a smile at the resistance she wore. She turned back to me. "You don't have fences like you do around that house in DC. Shit! There isn't a damned thing to slow down some wise-ass with a gun. Plus, you've got that forest out there, completely covering one side of this property from the lake to the street." I smiled. I was reading her emotions as they flitted across the forefront of her mind - that, at least, was not a violation of my duties as a host. I confused her. There were only two mortals in my 153 years of life who had seen through my subterfuges - and they were both dead. Marcus Eichmann was one and Wurther the other. A retainer and a lover, neither of whose death had not been at my hands. But this petite woman with the black hair and intelligent eyes in her attractive, elfin face deserved some answer that satisfied her. She deserved to receive it from me - not from Emil or Tom. I was her host. It was my responsibility to assuage her doubt and the fear that lay behind it. "I'm not particularly worried, Ms. Nightwing," I told her. "This is Germany and that means that weapons are severely restricted. It takes time and effort to come by a gun with which to kill." I grinned. "And the police know everything to know about you when you do. "This is also the Grunewald section of Berlin. It has been an area favoured by those financially successful since before the turn of the century. Strangers are discouraged-" I chuckled. "There are enough little old ladies who, seeing a stranger, would call the police. Anyone who doesn't appear German, who doesn't seem to belong, elicits immediate attention. That includes the two German skinheads who came exploring last year - in ten minutes, they had fifteen policemen who insisted on escorting them back to a more heterogeneous area of our city." She smiled knowingly and I thought of the Mona Lisa. Had that woman truly understood Leonardo so thoroughly? "What you're saying is you haven't accepted that somebody's out to kill you," she said. I gazed at this woman who was a guest in my house. She saw through me much too clearly, coming perilously close to understanding my lack of concern at Lynda Renfroe's information. I did accept there were men insane enough to choose to kill me. She was wrong about that. But, unlike a mortal, that insanity bothered me not one whit. I was not mortal; it took more than some yokel with a gun to push me from this existence. I had taken Ms. Renfroe's information with a detachment that befuddled the mortal mind. This Barbara Nightwing, however, came close to skirting that befuddlement and deciphering me. That concerned me. Vampires had reason to avoid close proximity with our evolutionary forebears. Mortals, though weaker than us, were an overwhelming threat - if they understood us. If they truly knew us. They held the day-light and, thus, had us at a disadvantage that off-set every one of the gifts evolution gave us. Thus, we kept a distance between us and our mortal cousins. Unless they were retainers - such as Marcus Eichmann had been or Valentin was. Or lovers, as had been Wurther before his death or Emil before his transformation. Distance prevented such knowledge. A knowledge this woman was coming much too close to having. Valentin chose that moment to bring cognacs to the table. Pleasantly, the American women had enough grace not to pursue the obvious lack of defensive measures at Chateau d'von Muribor. While neither of them chose to pursue it, I sensed awareness in both of their minds. I looked forward to quickly putting both of them on an airplane that would again put an ocean between us. "Where's your son?" I asked Lynda, realising neither the young American nor our Czech youth had joined our table. "He's still with that cute boy you have working for you," Barbara said before her lover could speak. |He's with Johan? He's been with him most of the evening. Is this boy gay?| I demanded of my lovers. Emil's face went noticeably slack as I felt him send his thoughts out in search of the Czech. |Neither of us picked up on it last night, Karli,| Tom offered lamely. |Americans are easily manipulated. And what would you have me tell his mother if this boy comes back to my home yodelling like some Swiss Fraulein who's lost her maidenhead?| I demanded, accepting responsibilities I had no desire to accept. |She's lezzie-| |Parents are protective - regardless of species. The Americans especially.| |The boy's 18-| |And a guest in my home - under my protection.| |They're at the Sophiensale on Oranienburgerstraße,| Emil smiled at both us. |They both keep their hands to themselves and watch the dancers.| I peered at Lynda Renfroe and wondered if I should warn her that her son was on the town with a gay porn star. That they were only short blocks from gay Berlin. "It's nice Jody's found a friend his own age to pal around with." she opined, smiled, and took Barbara's hand in hers. |Leave it alone, Karli!| Tom commanded, slicing through my thoughts. |He can make legal decisions about what he likes to do and he may not want Mama knowing what some of those things are.| "Prince Karl," Lynda said and pulled my attention to her, "do you think one of you could show me around the gay section of town the next couple of days?" My jaw nearly dropped. "Why?" I managed to ask around a lump of coal that had strangely lodged itself in my throat. Did she know Johan Kys had her son nearly there at the moment? "I thought I could research it - you know, get a feel for it." She smiled disarmingly. "I could probably write three or four articles that took on one or another aspect of this place-" "And sell them?" Tom asked hurriedly, explaining the tract the woman's mind was taking. Lynda nodded. Her smile had somehow become a predatory leer. "A girl's got to eat, guys." "We can go exploring pink Berlin tonight - or tomorrow, if you really want to," he offered. Tom had taken over the conversation but he understood he had my support in doing so. Americans in their speech jumped from topic to topic, their conversation becoming incoherent to my ear. Nothing ever seemed settled before something else came barrelling to the fore. He carried on conversations that way too, most of the time - except when he spoke with only Emil or myself. With us, he knew better. Americans were prone to jump to assumptions as quickly as they changed subjects. I guessed I knew where she assumed she and my other guests would sleep and eat while she conducted her research - even if it had not yet been offered. I sighed. "You will need a place to stay - all of you - while you explore our Berlin's gay scenes. Please feel free to use my home as you will." She glanced at me in surprise. "I will." Her face broadened into a smile. "And thank you for letting us stay here by you - we'll be on our way home and out of your hair by the middle of the week." "You're going to go prowling through all the back alleys of this city?" Barbara asked, her voice a soft warning as she pulled her hand from the other woman's. "I'll get paid for it-" "And enjoy the hell out of it too." "You don't like city lights, Ms. Nightwing?" Emil asked, stepping into what he saw as the woman's underlying complaint. "You've got that one right," she hissed. "The city eats a girl's soul for lunch. All of them do. She loses everything that makes her what she is. This girl needs wide open spaces and long walks to keep her head together." Lynda chuckled. "This woman spends most week-ends back-packing along the Potomac River or the Appalachians in western Maryland. She won't stay home." Emil smiled at Barbara. "Then, perhaps, you will permit me to show you our small farm in Flaming while Tom shows Ms. Renfroe about the city." His smile widened knowingly. "We have few retainers and long kilometres in which one may stretch one's legs. It's also quiet out there." "Your farm?" "It's some sixty kilometres south from here - but it's as different as day is from night." Emil smiled at her. "You'll love it now it's autumn. It's even prettier after the first snow." "You wouldn't mind?" I chuckled. "Emil enjoys his long strolls along country lanes, Ms. Nightwing. We go out to the farm once a week for a day's communing with nature." I glanced from one to the other of my lovers. "This week-end suit you?" I asked them. * * * Jody pulled his jacket closer and shivered as they stepped into the narrow street beyond the dance club. Buildings pressed in on them in the chill. "You Germans really know how to let your hair down," he said into his scarf as he began to follow Johan along the street. The one good thing about being out in the November cold was he wasn't breathing all that cigarette smoke out here. The air in the dance club had been a haze because of it, leaving him gasping for breath. "Let our hair down?" The Czech turned back to peer at him, his face twisted into a question. "Let go of your troubles and have a good time," Jody translated. "I think I understand. They were having fun back there. But I am not German, Jody." "You aren't?" The American's face was perplexed. "You sure seem to fit right in." "I am from the Czech Republic - from near Prague. I speak German is all." "Why'd you leave?" Johan snorted. "I still live there but come here when the Prince's company has another video for me. All my life I wanted more than I could have living and working there. In the People's Republic - when I was a child - I was not even allowed into the academic gymnasium or the Drama Institute-" "Why the hell not?" "I am Sudeten - from the German area." He shrugged. "After the world war, the government was Czech and Slovak - Germans in my country were the lost people because of Hitler. We were prevented from bettering ourselves that the Slavs could raise themselves." "Jesus! What did you do?" "I was 12 when I came up for gymnasium." Hans shrugged. "I did what I was told. I was sent to an agricultural trade school - to learn to labour on a state farm." "And you wanted to be an actor?" Hans wagged his head slowly. "I dreamed of it as only a child can dream. I wanted to step onto the stage and become someone else. A Czech. An educated man." He chuckled. "Instead, the State decided I needed to milk the cows and feed the hogs." "So, how did you get to Germany?" Jody asked as they strolled back toward Oranienburgerstraße. "The communist State collapsed and Vaclav Havel became President. All life was disrupted - confused - including the old State's plans for me. Things changed, they improved for all of us." He grinned. "I was allowed a passport. An American offered me a modelling position in a video his company was making. It was close to acting and was much money. I could not refuse." Johan felt a lump grow in his throat and thicken as he came closer to admitting to this American the nature of his modelling career the past two years. Side-stepping that admission, he hurried on. "That brought me to the attention of some far backstreet stages here in Berlin and in Vienna. I performed in productions for them and I continued making more money than I could in Prague." "How did you meet these guys - the Prince?" "The Furst von Muribor, Emil, and Tom?" Jody nodded. "They had seen the video the Americans made - in America. It was sold there. Emil searched for me and found me when they were establishing their own company. Since, I have starred in the four videos they make this past year. I now have a nice flat in Prague and do not worry where I eat next." "Food?" Jody felt his stomach rumble. "I'm getting a little hungry." "You would like to eat, yes?" Jody nodded. "We go back to the Ku-damm." He grinned. "There are many food kiosks there." Jody stared at the thick sausage link covered with a sauce, pineapple bits, peanuts, raisens and things he didn't recognise in the cardboard bowl. "What's this called?" Johan chuckled. "It's currywurst. Indian and German food mixed up - I like it. We have nothing so cosmopolitan in Prague." "Yeah?" The American sounded dubious. "Tell me about you," the Czech suggested as they found a counter looking out on the flow of people along the wide street. "Me?" Jody snorted. "There's nothing to tell. I'm 18 years old and live with Lynda and Barbara in Alexandria, Virginia. Lynda's my mom. I graduated from high school last year and am in my first term at NOVA-" "NOVA?" "Northern Virginia Community College. I'm taking courses at the Alexandria campus." "Where is all this?" Jody looked up and peered at the other boy questioningly. "Near Washington, DC" "The American capital city?" Hans cut a piece of his wurst with his fork and put it in his mouth. "You read at university then?" "Read? Yeah, I guess so - only, it's just a community college. I didn't do so well on my college entrance exam." Johan stared at him in surprise. "And you have still entered this college?" Jody felt himself blushing. "Community colleges are sort of like going back through high school. Only, this time you're supposed to learn how to study on your own. They're two year schools, not real universities. Good grades from them get a guy into the real thing, though." "I see," Johan mumbled around another piece of sausage and nodded. "I wish we had these community colleges in my country. Then, I could become a graduate of university and have a real occupation." Jody bit into his sausage and smiled. "This stuff's good. Thanks for getting me to try it." "Everything is good in Germany," Johan mused quietly. Jody turned his attention to the street beyond them and was silent for long moments. "There's so many people out there," he finally mumbled, giving voice to his thoughts. "And it's so well lighted." "Your cities are not so alive?" "They get pretty dead at night. I guess that's because they're pretty scary-" "Scary?" "Murders, rapes, robberies - those kinds of things. The streets aren't very safe." Johan stared at him. "Where are your police? They don't protect people in the cities of America?" "Yeah, most of the time. Only, there aren't enough of them. In Washington, the only places I've seen any life after nine o'clock are around the universities and the gay areas." "The gay areas?" Jody jerked his attention back from the milling crowd on the street beyond the window and studied at the Czech boy carefully. He knew immediately he'd almost blown it. He'd almost sounded like he was admitting to being queer and that was the farthest thing from the truth. But he sure couldn't go admitting his mother was a lesbian either. "A couple of buddies and me - we scoped them out a couple of times," he explained, "Just to see what the deal was." Hans continued to gaze at him. "What did you think of what you saw?" "I guess it was all right." He snorted and brought the last of the sausage to his lips. "There were sure a lot of people out prowling around. One time this past summer, it looked like they had a real live street party going." "You didn't go inside the clubs?" He stared at Johan and decided he wasn't going to admit to the times Lynda and Barbara had taken him to their favourite bar. He liked this man and didn't want him getting any ideas about him. He shook his head. "Would you like to?" "Where?" he asked suspiciously, fearful he'd been somehow seen through. That something about him he didn't know had been tagged. "Here. The gay quarter is but several blocks from here." "You go to gay bars?" Jody asked carefully. Johan blushed slightly. "I go sometimes to the clubs, yes." Maybe he's homo, Jody told himself and remembered Hans stayed at the Prince's house when he was in Berlin. Resistance grew rapidly inside him alongside his suspicions. So what? he demanded, reining them in. Lynda and Barbara were as queer as three dollar bills, and they never offered his ass up to their gay buddies. A thrill began to grow in him. He was far from home and everybody he knew. He could really let his hair down and see what the whole queer scene was really all about without anybody knowing. And he sure as shit didn't have to do anything. "I guess I am a little curious." "Jody?" The American glanced at the other boy as they stepped from the small club and the cold hit him. "Yeah?" "I would like-" the Czech shivered. He wanted this American. He wanted to explore his body and learn if it was as tight as he suspected it was. He wanted Jody Renfroe to love him into the night. And he wanted their making love to have something more to it than an ending that had several hundred Deutsche Marks left on the night table and a man dressing hurriedly that he might leave and never see Johan Kys again. The American had been comfortable in the gay clubs - curious but relaxed. He had not appeared repulsed by men dancing with men. But Johan didn't know if that translated into interest in sex with him. Was he hurrying his invitation? Would it be rebuffed and end the friendship that had been growing between them through the day? "We could perhaps spend the night together?" he offered hesitantly. "I thought that's what we've been doing," Jody laughed. "I mean in bed." Jody stared at him blankly, his face burning. "You - you want to have sex with me?" he finally managed. "Please." "I-" "I have wanted you since I met you this afternoon." "I'm not gay." "You are curious - if only the little bit?" "I-" Jody couldn't think of an easy way out of this. He should have picked up on the boy's interest, but he hadn't. Instead, he'd walked right into it. This was where he should run like hell. Or beat the shit out of the guy. Probably both if he was back home. But Hans was only stating what he'd like to do - putting it out in the open between them. There was nothing wrong with that. Nobody knew about it except the two of them. He didn't have to defend himself against anybody knowing he'd been propositioned. Jody had to admit he had some curiosity about what it'd be like. Lynda and Barbara sure as hell got off on doing it together. Some of their queer buddies sounded like they were having religious experiences when they talked about it. This wouldn't be like getting it on with some guy back in Virginia and, later, finding out his buddies had somehow found out. Johan Kys was a million miles from there, and he was too. He sure as hell wasn't going to suck a dick or take one up the ass. That part of it wasn't going to happen, no matter what. But that didn't mean that Hans couldn't suck him off or, even, let him fuck him. The fact was that could be pretty nice. He'd find out what gay sex was all about and get his rocks off at the same time - all without going over the line and ending up queer himself. And he'd be doing it with someone he really liked. Someone he'd still like the next morning. "If you - shit!" Jody started and pulled himself up to a stop. "I admit to some curiosity about what it's like, Hans. I guess I can try it out tonight. But you've got to understand I'm not going to do anything myself." Johan looked up slowly, his gaze going to Jody's eyes. The American noticed tears glistening in them as they met his own. "I am happy to let you make love to me, Jody. I am satisfied with that." Both of them felt the tension evaporate from around them. Jody laughed. "I think we'd better find that bus back to the house then." CHAPTER SIX Jody Renfroe awakened slowly, luxuriating in the warmth of the well-being that held him beneath the bed covers. Memories returned and he held his eyes closed to relive them. The night chill growing as he and Hans walked from one club to the next along narrow streets. A still night hiding the damp chill that found its way through the denim-weave of his jeans. A bone-numbing chill. The enclosed kiosk with all the heat in the world and steam on its windows. Chowing down on some kind of sausage with raisins, peanuts, and pineapple in some kind of sauce that was better than just good. Hans telling him he wanted to go to bed with him. Jody's eyes flew open and he looked down the length of the bed in the late morning light. At the body under the covers with his. Hans' body. Pressed against his thigh. He hesitantly lifted the cover and saw they were both naked and Hans' hip was pressed against him. The remainder of last night came back to him then. Slipping quietly into the house and stealing up to the Czech's room. The embarrassment of undressing in front of the other boy. The embarrassment of his boner tenting his briefs before he could even get his jeans down his thighs. Hans had wanted it, Jody reminded himself. Justifying himself before guilt could spread over him. The boy was all over me the moment we got in the room. But, he had to admit he'd wanted it too. Just as much. He hadn't said no. He'd got naked before the other boy had. He'd got into the bed and held the covers back for Hans to come to him. And he'd thrilled when he felt warm, wet lips touch him in their initial exploration. Oh, yeah. He'd wanted it. And he couldn't seem to get enough of it once it started. He reached down along his body to caress the arsecheek pressed against him. Yeah. He'd wanted it. And he'd liked it once he had it. And kept wanting more of it until his dick was left with the consistency of wet putty. He smiled ruefully at that. He'd never believed there could ever be enough sex - until last night. Well, he'd still been willing - even if his meat wasn't. He dropped the bed clothes and stared up at the ceiling. His mind stayed blank as he tried to understand what had come over him last night. He would have run - if it had been anybody but Hans or anywhere else than here. But he hadn't run. He'd hopped on for the ride and enjoyed the hell out of it. He didn't feel guilty. He grinned to himself. He would be right there asking for more if Hans wanted him again. He slowly realised he wasn't in his room. "Oh, shit!" he gasped softly, afraid of waking the other boy. Hans moved in his sleep to lie on his back, his lips nuzzling against Jody's ribs. The American smiled and lightly traced the man's long jaw. It felt good knowing someone trusted him this much. He smiled down at the long face framed by light brown curls. I could get used to this, he told himself as he pushed back the bed covers and felt the chilled air hit him. His smile and the contentedness it'd held evaporated and he reached quickly for his jeans. "Jesus!" he hissed as he hurriedly pulled the denim up his legs. I could get used to it, he reassured himself as he pulled his shirt and sweater from the foot of the bed where he'd tossed them the night before. Shivering, he hurriedly pulled them on. The sex. Not the damned cold rooms. He picked up his shoes and glanced back at Johan Kys before he crossed the room. And smiled again. He blew the sleeping boy a kiss and let himself out the door. He made it down the hall to his own room without being seen. "Lynda'll never know about this," he whispered to himself as he closed the door behind himself. "God! My second night In Berlin and I get laid by a guy and it was better than I ever got before. Now, that's one for the books." He opened his valise and began to sort through the clothing thrown together there for a change of underwear and socks. He hadn't messed his shirt with that curry stuff last night and his Levi's were up for another wearing. He rubbed the fresh briefs against his cheek and thought of Hans' cheek. And smiled. He never allowed anything like last night to happen when he was a kid. That kind of stuff could ruin a guy's reputation before he even got started and Lynda and Barbara were already enough of a reputation. Only, Hans didn't seem to have any problems with it. Jody stood and wondered if there was that much difference between growing up in Europe and America. A guy who'd do what Hans had done would have been immediately labelled back in Alexandria. The only reason anybody'd even talk to him once guys knew about it was to get into his pants - and, then, it would only be on the sly. He snorted, imagining what would have happened if he'd ever given anybody the idea he'd fool around. It sure wouldn't have been experimenting. Whoever the other guy was, it'd been Jody slobbering on his dick and spreading his legs. Most of the guys he knew had a pretty good idea what Lynda and Barbara did at night behind the closed door to their bedroom. He'd sure had enough fights to make sure nobody got the idea he was like them. Only, now, Jody Renfroe wasn't a little kid learning the thing between his legs could feel good in addition to being something he pissed through. He was grown-up now. And Hans Kys had spent most of last night showing him just how much fun his dick could be. His whole body could be. It had felt right. Letting Hans touch him. Letting the Czech suck him into his throat. Getting between the boy's legs. Even kissing him. It felt real good. It felt right. There sure as hell hadn't been all that bullshit of talking him into doing it. Hans was out of his clothes almost as fast as Jody had been. He hadn't held back either, waiting for Jody to talk him into doing any of it. No begging, no promises of everlasting love. Just doing what felt good. For both of them. Afterwards, there hadn't been any tears, either. Shit! Hans was reaching for him again, ready for more. It was a hell of a lot better than what his girlfriend gave him this past year. Just two guys having fun together - and still being guys. There sure weren't any guilt trips. Jody Renfroe was humming softly as he stepped back into the hall and started for the water closet. He was pretty sure Hans wouldn't mind another night like last night. He sure as hell wouldn't. * * * Barbara saw Jody step out of the john and pulled the door to behind her, stepping into the hall. "Where in the hell were you last night, brat? Jesus! You had your mom and me scared shitless." He turned quickly, and she noticed he was blushing as he faced her. Curiosity crashed over her, washing away her anger. "Well?" "What's this, Barbara, 20 questions?" He stammered, stalling for enough time to pull his thoughts together. "Come on, asshole. No excuses. You're supposed to be a grown man but you're acting some eight year old who's suddenly realised mommy isn't watching his every move any more." "I told you Hans was taking me downtown to show me around. You even tried to give me some money." He frowned as he began to relax. "This isn't like you, Barbara. You don't play the protective mother hen well at all. What gives?" He was all right. She had to admit that. Maybe she was being overly protective. But this boy hadn't been home when she and Lynda went to bed last night. She knew he hadn't slept in his bed either. She'd looked in on him just after dawn on her way back from the WC. Maybe that Prince was right about this house being safe after all. Despite there being no fence to protect them from those crazy bastards Lynda said were gunning for him. Maybe. But that hadn't made her feel any better about Jody's safety when she didn't find him in his bed where he was supposed to be. She'd wasted an hour debating whether she should wake Lynda up and tell her fears. Only that would have had the whole place in a damned uproar in minutes as the red-head rocketed into orbit. "You've got to be a lot more careful around here than you were last night," she told him, holding back what she and Lynda had decided not to tell him. "Don't tell me you two boys were downtown all night." "We got back a little after one. Why do I have be so careful?" "Where did you sleep?" she demanded. "You sure weren't in your room." She watched him blush all over again. "You haven't told me why I've got to be so careful," he told her, trying to step around her attempt to pin him. "There's - where did you sleep, Jody Renfroe? If there was some little Fraulein in this damned house, I'd know exactly what you've been up to-" She stared at him then. "You and that German boy?" she demanded slowly as she began to understand.. "He's Czech, Barbara. Let's drop it, okay?" "Aren't you proud of having scored the guy? You sure were every time you scored your girlfriends. You wanted everybody in Virginia to know just how straight you were." "Barbara!" Jody hissed. "Come on, kid," she chuckled. "Tell Aunt Barbara all the gory details." "Shit!" Jody looked down at his hands, ashamed to meet her eyes. "He's a real nice guy." He looked around the dark hall, avoiding her eyes. "I like him a lot." His eyes met hers then, determination spreading across his face as he met her gaze. "Hans is a hell of a nice guy, okay?" His voice became stronger. "And I like him a lot." Barbara Nightwing's face became a warm smile as she realised what the boy was telling her. "You used rubbers, didn't you?" "Yeah. He has plenty." "Then I'm happy for you, Jody. Just don't become too attached." "Yeah," he mumbled, turning away. "We'll probably be leaving tomorrow-" "You've got through the week-end, kid - probably the middle of next week. Lynda's going to tour gay Berlin and that sandy-haired boy we met at the airport is taking me hiking tomorrow." Jody groaned: "Just enough time to really get to like the guy before I've got to leave him." Barbara gazed at him for long, silent moments. Another smile slowly began to tug at her mouth. "If you two are really meant to have something together, it'll happen to keep bringing you two back together until the time's right." * * * Hans stepped out of his room at the opposite end of the hall. He was in his briefs and held his clothes in one hand as he absently scratched his head with the other. He saw the dark-haired woman standing with Jody and immediately jerked his bundle of clothes down to cover himself. "Hello, Jody," he offered cautiously as he started toward them, unsure of the blond's reaction. "Hello, yourself," the American answered and smiled. "I enjoyed myself last night." Johan grinned and relaxed. "We must do it again then, yes?" Jody's smile grew to cover his face. "I'd like that. Anytime." Barbara nodded as the Czech approached them. "Nice body, if you like boys with swimmer's build," she whispered to the blond American teen-ager. "Butt out, Barbara!" Jody hissed back and stepped toward the Czech. "Hans, I want you to meet my Aunt Barbara - Johan Kys, this is Barbara Nightwing. She puts her nose everywhere it doesn't belong - but she can be pretty nice, too." She smiled and held out her hand. "I'm not really his aunt. I'm his mother's lover - but I've been around long enough to remember changing him." "Barbara!" Jody's face threatening to redden. Hans grinned. "Ah. But I think he has changed much since then. He is very nice now." He chuckled, gazing at Jody. "And everything works as it should." Jody stared from one to the other of them, his face reddening into dark crimson. "Am I going to get every single piece of my body dissected by you two?" "But it is such a nice body, Jody," Hans offered innocently. "Jesus! You'll have Barbara here panting to watch us get it on if you keep this up." Johan frowned as he worked his way through the other boy's words. Jody chuckled. "You want to get together and go somewhere after you finish your shower?" Johan's face immediately became another smile. "I would like that. We shall walk along the lake, yes?" Jody shrugged. "Sure. That might be fun." He watched the other boy step past them and move on to the water closet. "He's a nice boy, kiddo," Barbara told him in a normal voice. "Just remember that and don't hurt him." Jody frowned as he started toward the stairs. "I wasn't planning on it." "It can happen, though - if you aren't careful," Barbara continued as she followed him onto the stairs. "Just think before you open your mouth and say something that can be taken wrong." "I'm hungry," he announced as they reached the foyer. "That Valentin probably has the refrigerator full of good things to eat." He looked back at her and frowned. "I don't know about that. Yesterday the place was downright bare. There wasn't even any mustard or mayonnaise to put on a ham sandwich." "You should have been around for his schnitzel last night. That was out of the world." Jody glanced back at her as he led them toward the kitchen. "You should have had what I had last night - something called a blutwurst covered in curry." "Where was that?" "A kiosk someplace Hans called the Ku-damm. Like that Jack's on Platt Street or the food courts in the Light Street Pavilion in Baltimore. It was good." Barbara chuckled. "Maybe I can find you some mustard if you'll settle for another ham sandwich this afternoon." "I'm going to need a beer to wash it down with." He stepped into the kitchen. "Jody!" He turned and saw she'd stopped in the doorway. "You sure don't need to start drinking in the middle of the afternoon, kiddo. That kind of shit-" "They don't have anything else to drink but water. Besides, these guys make real good beer." "They've got-" She stopped before she could tell him the Prince's house was stocked with wine. "Just one - with your sandwich," she told him and realised just how grown up hers and Lynda's little boy had become. He grinned. "Just one. I'm going for a walk by the lake and don't want to be stumbling around." He chuckled. "I wouldn't want to give Hans the idea Americans can't hold their liquor." * * * Emil winked at me as my eyes sprang open at his slipping out of bed. His thoughts were closed to me as they were to Tom. He put a finger to his lips and picked up his pillow. I understood immediately what the Swiss was about to do and wished I could be anywhere but lying in bed in the centre of the havoc he was going to cause and unable to move because Tom's face was pressed against my arm, his arm around my chest. Even as I wished to escape being at the centre of a vampire waking under attack, I wished I could see the American's face when the pillow hit him and woke him. That one moment of feral shock would be an exquisite one to behold. I smiled back at Emil and held my head away from its angle of descent as he raised the pillow over his head. I admired his erection against his smooth tight abdomen as the pillow began its downward arc and gathered speed. A grin spread across my face as I imagined what we would all three be doing after Tom was over his shock and the two of them were through their play. A sound I had never wanted to hear again crashed in on us from the grounds below us. A rifle shot. "Scheiße!" I hissed as I sprang from the bed, my feet touching the floor at its foot the next moment. Emil had dropped the pillow in mid-arc and was rushing toward the French door on my heels. Tom was but a step behind us. I spotted a streak of red move in the mass of brown underbrush that edged the woods on my property. I watched the red join into plaids and spread across a large back as a man rose and began to make his way back into the woods. "Get him!" I hissed to my companions. "Don't kill him, though." A smile spread across my face. "Leave that to me. Take him to the cellar and hold him." The doors crashed against the outside of the house as both Tom and Emil rushed through them together, their bodies already changing before their feet could touch the balcony. Their elongating wings lifted them into the air even as their bodies grew smaller and hair grew over them. I rushed to the foot of the bed and pulled on clothes faster than a mortal could see - one moment I was naked, the next dressed as I had been at dinner the night before. Only then, as I returned to the balcony, did I extend my mind to the grounds and what insanity awaited me there. I felt shock beginning to grow into fear. Another shock was beginning to dull. I looked down at my porn star not more than 20 meters below me holding the American boy's shoulders and helping him to the ground. I paused to take in the tableau beneath me. The blond boy was holding his abdomen, his face lax with surprise. Blood spread heavily across his shirt and down over his groin into his jeans. Inside the house, three storeys below me, the two women were running toward other doors that opened onto the grounds. I knew their son was wounded as I projected myself to stand beside the two boys. From the dulling of his shock, I suspected the wound was bad. A hoarse scream reached us from within the woods as Lynda and Barbara came upon us. I knew Emil and Tom had found their prey. I hurriedly unbuttoned Jody's fly and pulled back his shirt to see his wound. And closed my eyes. Verdammte Ami Schweinen! The jagged, bloody meat of the exit wound gagged me. It extended from his navel to his pubis, from that line across his abdomen to his hip. I looked upon useless, senseless slaughter, no medicine could repair what America's insanity had brought to my house in Berlin. Barbara screamed. "You stupid asshole!" Lynda growled and tried to push me away. "You knew this was going to happen!" |Jody!| I called to his mind, ignoring them. |Don't retreat. You must hold on.| |It hurts,| his thoughts told me and I thanked the non-existent gods he was still coherent. Anywhere else and under any other circumstances, I would allow his soul to leave its mangled body. It was not mine to fix a new order to human life. My cousins on the other side of the evolutionary divide killed each other randomly. Jody was a member of that hodgepodge of cousins. He deserved no more - or less - than his brothers and sisters gleefully shooting each other down for the price of a coffee or a sought-after jacket. Unlike them, however, he was a guest under my roof. Under my protection. I was honour-bound to protect him. And I had failed. I knew there were but moments more for him to live, before his soul left on its journey. I knew also what I must do - for the sake of my honour more than for him. |You must make a decision that can't be undone. You must do it now.| His eyes opened and he stared up at me through clouding irises. I heard the thunder of distant hooves galloping toward us. The numbing swish of far-off metal cut through air. The sound was coming upon me from everywhere. It did not have a single direction. I knew with shocked certainty what I heard coming toward me. In the glen that was my back lawn there were but four of us hovering over the wounded American boy lying on withered grass. The glen, however, held the sound and fury of coming Death. There was but one among us that mythological horseman would claim. I could not permit that. My honour forbade it. I had already failed in my duty as the boy's host. I had not protected him against the dangers his mother came to warn me about. Failure or no, I would not surrender his life to death and multiply my dishonour a hundredfold. I would face Death on the field of honour rather than compromise my honour any more than it was already. I could not return young Jody Renfroe to the moment before his gut was torn from him. I could not undo what had been done. But I could give him life. Immortal life. It was the only life this boy before me would ever know again. |You're dying.| I told Jody, trying to ignore the closing approach of Death, and concentrated on holding the boy's remaining alertness where I could still reach it. |There's not enough time to get you to a doctor.| There was agreement behind the eyes that moved to hold mine. |You must decide now if you will die or live forever.| A frown touched his face as his eyes clouded further. |How?| |Now, Jody. Choose. You die in moments. Choose to live. For your mother and Barbara-| I seemed almost alone in his head. A dull barrenness covered the expanse of his mind. I dimly sensed his presence still. Then thought sprang toward me. |For Hans too?| For Hans? What was happening in my house behind my back? I forced curiosity from me. Death was thundering toward us to claim this one who was under my protection. I either surrendered the boy and my honour to him or I fought him for both. I had no time for curiosity. |Yes. For Hans too.| A moment passed. An eternity. His lips moved, attempting to form a word but the body beneath me no longer could muster the breath to say it. |Life or death, Jody. Tell me with your mind. Now!| |Life.| It was as much a mumble mentally as it would have been verbally if he still had the strength to sound the word. What was still there of him was retreating almost faster than I could follow it. I bit into my wrist, pierced a vein, and moved my arm to his mouth. A sullen darkness had claimed the glen as I again became aware of it. Over the sound of hooves was now the clank of armour. Close onto me. A horse's hot breath blew down my back. A breath that was not - but was. A breath from a preternatural horse reined in almost at my side. I heard Death draw his sickle, the blade whispering against the leather of its scabbard. One swift slice and the boy's soul would be severed from his body. I ignored Johan and the two women. Frantically, I visualised us both in his room. Anything to give me another moment. I cradled Jody close to me as we arrived beside his bed on the second floor. I needed distance between Death and his victim. A moment. Two. Long enough to claim the tatters of my honour. |Drink or die,| I told Jody even as I sensed his soul was making ready its departure. Jody's mouth was full of my blood. It dribbled down his chin. |Drink!| I commanded to arrest his soul's departure - and that of Death's approach to us as we stepped into the darkened room. |Swallow!| Standing beside his bed, I sensed Jody's throat convulse as he swallowed my blood. I lay him atop the sheets and knelt beside him that he could feed. And smiled as I heard death sheath his sickle. I cringed then. A myth or no, believable or not, something had come for this boy. And I had bested that something. I had reclaimed my honour and Jody Renfroe was transforming into a vampire. But at what cost to me? I had no knowledge of this creature I had not believed in until moments before; I knew not how he would react to what I had done. |You deny me this time, Furst von Muribor - but look to what you have wrought.| I had prevailed. But at what cost? The American boy lived but had I made a bargain with Death, the dimensions of which I did not know? I stared into the centre of the dark shadows that possessed the other end of the room. If I had given myself that the boy lived, so be it. I would die without dishonour. |I can't see you,| I told him, fear a growing gorge in my throat. |Nor shall you, Prince Karl. You are forever bound to life, unlike your mortal cousins.| Was he allowing me both my honour and my life? Did he mean he forfeited our contest? Was I to continue to live? |I didn't hear your approach when I made Emil a vampire-| There was laughter from every point of the room. Laughter that had no sound, nor was it in my mind. Laughter that had no point of origin. |I had no time to mount before your guilt was driving you to feed him.| |I would see you.| I felt my thoughts touched. I could not visualise the source of that touch. I had no sense of my surroundings as Jody lapped greedily now at my wrist. |I shall accommodate you, Furst von Muribor.| I sensed a softening, a near acceptance, in the centre of the shadows across from me. |And I shall employ you - you and your Sergei become Thomas.| Death chuckled. |Yes, you will feed me well as you wreak havoc on Chaos' plan.| I was surrounded by light. A hundred suns burnt in the boy's bedroom in my house on the Wansee. I shrank back, hiding my eyes. I held the sense of a man in white on a white horse, but saw nothing, not as I had seen for 153 years. |This assassin is mine?| My eyes narrowed until I remembered the man who would now be in my cellar. |He is yours, Lord.| |And the others who follow him?| |They, too, are yours, mein Herr!| I didn't dare wonder who he meant. It didn't matter. I had my honour and my life, even as I had another vampire transforming on the bed beside me. There was silence in the light of a hundred suns. Then laughter. |They shall rest uneasily in the Sheol; this I promise you, Furst von Muribor.| Death nodded his farewell then and I no longer sensed his presence.