The following story is complete fiction. It didn't happen. Good thing; since it's a story about people who don't exist! If you don't like reading gay sex stories or aren't allowed to for legal reasons - then don't. If you do and you can, read on! This story is copyrighted January, 2004 by the author. It may be posted to other free websites as long as my name and email address are included and no changes are made. A courtesy email to let me know you plan to post to other sites would be appreciated. Thanks!!

EIGHTEEN FOREVER
THE LAST STORY

BY ROBBY SR.

CHAPTER ONE

The sound came to him the way light tries to make its way through a fog. He felt himself floating in that fog. He couldn't tell if he was floating around the sound, or if he was still and it was the sound that was moving around.

"Greg..."

He expected the proverbial brilliant white light but it wasn't there.  There was no light at all; only the sound. The sound of his name.

"Greg..."

It was definitely closer now. Still seemed like it was moving around some, but closer.

"Wake up, Greg..."

The voice was at once right next to him, and far away. Almost like an echo, but he thought he was hearing the echo first.

"Come on, my love."

He felt a pressure on his chest. Pushing. Like it was trying to push him down. Hold him down. He wondered why since he wasn't trying to go anywhere. Oh well, he thought. May as well see what all the fuss is about. . .

Greg opened his eyes.

Ely was standing over him, smiling. His hand was on Greg's chest, gently shaking him. Greg listened and heard the distinctive sounds of a hospital. He realized he was still there.

"I thought it was over," he whispered. "I thought I was...."

Ely leaned in close and whispered, "It is over my love. You are."

"I am?"

Ely snickered, "Yes, yes! You are!" He reached over and patted Greg's head, "Welcome my love. Welcome back!"

Greg's eyes widened, "The pain!"

Ely showed his familiar slight bow. "It is no more, I can tell."

"It's still gone!" Greg smiled, "It's gone! Oh man!" He twisted his body some, flexed his arms and legs, looked at Ely and clapped his hands together, "It feels great! I don't remember when the last time was I felt this good!"

"Yes, yes," Ely said with a small laugh. "But we don't have time for that now, Greg. You must leave here and go wait for me in the car."

"What for?"

"I don't have time to explain now, my love. Come, sit up," and he helped pull Greg up to sit on the edge of the stretcher.

Greg smiled and jumped off the stretcher. He looked at Ely and smiled, "I can do it myself now! Isn't that great?"

"Wonderful. But you must leave!"

"What's the hurry?"

Ely gently put his hands on Greg's shoulders. "Look, Greg." He turned Greg around.

Greg turned and saw himself. He saw his old self on the stretcher, eyes half closed, each
eye looking in a different direction, both eyes with a milky covering to them: the look of death. He brought his hands up to his face. He felt himself and knew he was standing up on his own, yet there he was lying on the stretcher. Dead.

Somehow it was more frightening than when he first discovered what Ely really was so many years ago. More frightening than the thought of Ely with fangs, and turning himself into a bat, and only living at night and the other legends that weren't true. He spun around and sucked in a breath and fell against Ely, burying his face into Ely's chest. His head was spinning. Suddenly he was afraid and shaking. Ely hugged him.

"I know, my love, I know." Ely held him. "It is not easy seeing how you look in death. But
you are not dead. What you saw you can say goodbye to, for it is no longer you." He patted Greg's back, "This is you now." Greg was sobbing. "You are alive, my love. Very much alive." He reached out behind Greg and pulled the sheet up over the face of the body on
the stretcher.

Greg pulled his face out of Ely's chest and looked at him. "Am I okay?" he asked while his eyes dug into Ely's, searching for the truth in them, "Am I really okay?"

"You are okay," Ely reassured him. "You are exactly like me now. You are more than okay."

Greg just stood still. He looked at his hands, looked down at his feet.

Ely snickered, "Don't worry, you are all there. But you really must go to the car."

"I don't want to be by myself."

"It won't be for long. Just until I can sign some papers and see to the boys."

"Why can't I wait here?"

"Because," Ely said with some exasperation showing. "Right now I am the only one who can see you. You must leave the hospital before any one else can see you. Especially
before any one can see you and recognize you. We can't have that!" He wrapped an arm around Greg's waist and gently pushed him toward the curtain. "Wait for me in the car. The window is open - you'll have to climb in that way."

Greg was walking but was looking at Ely, scared and questioning, but he'd spent his whole life listening to Ely and doing what Ely had told him to do. So even though his head was spinning with questions and fears, he went. Ely kept looking behind them to see if anyone was watching. He reached his hand out to the sensor over the entrance to the Emergency Room and the door opened. He pushed Greg out the door. "Lay down in the back seat and wait for me," he called out to Greg. "Keep down!" Ely scurried back into the cubicle.

Greg half walked and half stumbled to the car. It was parked on the street around the corner from the entrance to the hospital. Greg absent mindedly thought that one of the boys must have driven it to the hospital because he remembered that Ely rode in the ambulance with him.

Greg reached out to grab the handle of the car's door and missed. He tried again and missed again. Then he realized he wasn't missing. He watched as his hand slowly reached out, curled around the handle, and...nothing! It was like his hand went right through the metal of the handle... like a ghost would do.

A ghost!!

Greg's head started spinning again. That's what he was now, he thought. In spite of the training and preparation Ely had given him over the past 75 years, it was mind numbing.
He didn't dwell on it, but just climbed into the car through the open window; not even wondering how Ely knew the window was open since he didn't leave Greg's side that Greg knew about. Nor did he wonder how he could climb through a window when he couldn't even grab hold of a door handle. He just did it.

There was a shirt, jeans, and sneakers in the back seat. Greg saw those and then realized
he was naked. It didn't occur to him to be glad no one saw him walking from the hospital to the car. He simply pulled the clothes on, lay down in the back seat, held himself and shivered.

Greg opened his eyes and Ely was getting in the car. He didn't realize he'd fallen asleep.
He yawned, sat up and looked around. Night was falling. Street lights were coming on and it was tough to see people clearly who were walking down the street.

"It is allright now," Ely told Greg. "You can come in the front seat and sit up now."

Greg silently climbed over the seat and then sat still, staring straight ahead. "Is it allright for real?" he asked without looking at Ely. "Did it work?"

"It worked beautifully!" Ely said excitedly. "You came through it all as if you have done it several times."

"Believe me," Greg said slowly, "once is enough." He turned to look at Ely. "Now why all the hurry and secrecy in the hospital?" he asked as Ely drove down the street.

"Just as a baby's body must form over time in the womb," Ely explained, "our bodies must form and solidify after the human body dies. It is the last stage of the change. Until that happens, you are invisible to all but other of us."

"Okay, but if I was invisible why did you get in such a hurry to rush me out of the hospital?"

"As I said before," Ely said as he reached over to pat Greg's thigh, "the longer you can maintain your human body, the faster and easier you can get used to the final change. If you had only lived a short time, your new body could take a couple of weeks to solidify enough for people to see you." He glanced at Greg and smiled, "You hung on much longer than anyone I have ever known. For all I knew, your new body could have formed in a matter of minutes. At first people would not only be able to see you, but see right through you. It would not have done for the hospital staff to see that!" Ely patted Greg's thigh a little harder. "Indeed, I think you could walk around even now and no one would know what you really are. You made the final change very quickly."

"I feel tired." Greg sighed. "I don't hurt or feel bad or sick or anything. I just feel so
tired."

Ely smiled, "I was expecting that. A human baby exhausts itself during the birth process, and we too use a lot of energy making the final change and end up just as exhausted." He stopped the car at a light and looked seriously at Greg. "You cannot go home, I'm afraid," he said. "Some of the boys will stay there and your human body will lie in state for a day. The other boys and our friends will come around. They of course cannot see you as you are now. You must stay in a hotel for a few days until the house empties out again."

Greg yawned again and nodded. "I don't care right now. I just want to sleep."

Greg waited in the car while Ely registered in the hotel and then followed him to their room. Anyone watching would have thought Greg had been drinking by the way he was walking. He was only tired.

In the room Greg sat on the bed and kicked off his shoes. He was too tired to unbutton his shirt, so just pulled it up off his head like a t-shirt. He tossed it aside and ran his hands through his hair. He laid down and stretched his legs out, and then suddenly bolted up in bed. He ran his hands through his hair again. And again. And again.

"Hey!!" Greg yelled, his fatigue forgotten, "My hair! It's back! I got hair! Oh man I got a BUNCH of hair!!"

Ely laughed at sat down next to Greg. "You have much more than hair, Greg!" He wrapped his arms around Greg in a hug and said in his ear, "You have everything you had when you were 18. You ARE 18 again. I told you it would happen and it did. You are 18 again my love." He pulled away from Greg and Ely was also 18 again. Greg just stared and smiled and stared and smiled.

Greg suddenly jumped up and looked down and felt his bare chest. His pecs were back! His arms were filled out and muscled again! He felt his chest and arms and looked at Ely and smiled and said, "Wow!" over and over again. He ran to the wall mirror, looked at himself and said, "Wow!" Ely stayed on the bed and watched and laughed. Greg alternated from looking at himself in the mirror to facing Ely saying, "Look at this! Look at this!" and back to the mirror.

Suddenly he stared at Ely with his mouth hanging open and groped his crotch, "Oh shit!" he yelled and unzipped his pants. He reached in and pulled out his dick. Almost immediately it got hard. "Look, babe!" Greg yelled and showed his dick to Ely, "It's back! My dick! It works! My dick works again!"

Ely smiled and smacked his lips, "It certainly does, my love! It certainly does!"

Greg's expression turned sensual. He gave Ely a "you're gonna get it now!" look and
almost ripped his pants getting them off. He ran across the room and jumped up on the bed, jumped on top of a ready and willing Ely and jammed his dick in Ely's mouth.

Ely sucked and sucked and swallowed a load of cum and sucked some more until he swallowed another load and kept right on sucking. It was like Greg was trying to make up for almost 20 years of lost time right then and there. Greg didn't say a word but humped Ely's face and grunted and came. He pulled his dick out of Ely's mouth and it was still hard. He yanked Ely's pants off and Ely automatically spread his legs and Greg fell on top of Ely and fucked his ass fast and furious and shot two more loads before he collapsed on top of Ely sweating and panting.

Once again Ely tucked Greg in to bed and leaned over to kiss his sleeping cheek.
"Welcome back, my love." He reached back and felt his freshly fucked butt, smiled, and sighed deeply, "Ahh yes! Welcome back!"


CHAPTER TWO

Greg opened his eyes and after a moment of disorientation realized he was in the hotel room. He sat up and stretched. Then he remembered, and eagerly ran his hands over what he thought of as his new body. He smiled and checked out his once again buff chest, muscular legs and arms. His hand went by itself to his hard dick. It looked the same as it
did so long ago. He ran his hands through his once again full head of hair. He leaned back against the headboard and saw that he could see himself in the mirror on the opposite wall.
He smiled again and was glad that he could see himself after all. Another legend bites the dust! He blew a kiss to himself in the mirror and watched himself play with his dick.

He heard the clock next to his bed click off another minute and checked the time. He saw that Ely had left him a note by the clock. He read the note and smiled. Their car was in the parking lot for him. The keys were on the table by the window. Ely wrote that he had come in a few times to check on Greg and wrote that he could come home now. Greg checked the clock again and saw by the date that he had slept for two whole days! Wow! How the hell had he done that? He remembered that he was awful tired when he left the hospital but he didn't think it was that bad! He jumped out of bed and hurried into the bathroom and rushed through a quick shower (after he jacked off under the spray and hooted when he shot a load), brushed his teeth with the brush and paste supplied by the hotel. Ely had left some more jeans and a t-shirt for him and he dressed quickly. He was hungry - ravenous - but he wanted to go home first and see Ely.

There was another car in the driveway when Greg pulled up. At first he was afraid one of the boys was still there, but Ely wouldn't have written the note telling him to come home if it wasn't safe. Most likely it was a car he'd rented so he could leave Greg their's. So Greg stopped the car right outside the front door and almost left it running in his hurry to get inside and find Ely.

In the foyer he hollered out at the same time he heard Ely's voice holler out to him when the front door slammed open and then closed. The teenaged Ely ran in from the library and Greg didn't even slow down when he ran into Ely's wide open arms. Both of them hugged each other and spun each other around and wound up on the floor of the foyer hugging and kissing and Ely welcoming Greg back.

Greg was grinning ear to ear and raised up to sit on Ely. "Look at this!" he teased and
yanked his t-shirt off to show off his chest.

Ely's hands felt Greg's pecs and tweaked his nipples. "Mmm," he moaned. "It is so so nice
to have you back!"

Greg leaned down and kissed Ely, "Believe me! It's good to be back!" They rolled around
on the floor and clothes went flying in all directions and all the rest of the morning each used every part of his body to show the other how he felt.

They finally lay spent and wet with sweat and spit and cum. They lay side by side with their arms around each other and hugged while they caught their breath.

"It's been so long," Greg whispered to Ely, "It feels so good."

"It certainly does," Ely replied while he ran his fingers through Greg's new hair. "It is even more wonderful than it ever was. And you! You are absolutely gorgeous!"

Greg grinned and teased, "Yeah, I am, aren't I!" They both hugged and laughed.

Ely gave Greg's butt a playful slap, "Now! We must get busy. We are having company for
dinner tonight. We must start preparing it now."

"Yeah? Who's coming?"

"Well, now that you are one of us," Ely said as they stood up and gathered up their
clothes, "I thought you should meet a couple of others."

"How did you know I'd be back here today?"

"I didn't, really," Ely answered. "But they will be staying with us a few days so I knew there would be plenty of time whether you came back today or tomorrow."

At the bottom of the stairs Greg stopped Ely. "When are you going to tell me? I've been
waiting for too many years. When are you going to tell me the stuff you've been keeping
from me?"

Ely cupped Greg's face, "Tonight, my love. We'll start tonight after dinner." They went upstairs to their room, where the shower in the bathroom was probably thinking, 'Oh no! Not those two again!'

After their shower they stayed naked and prepared dinner under Ely's tuteledge. Ely had
told Greg years ago that cooking was a hobby of his. Greg learned early on that Ely meant
cooking completely from scratch. No instant or boxed or canned stuff for him! It took all
afternoon to get dinner ready. Well, it wouldn't have taken quite that long, but they kept
going at each other in the kitchen and by the time dinner was almost ready they were covered in cum and more sweat and flour and crumbs and had to take another shower. . .

Almost on cue, the door bell rang just as Greg and Ely finished dressing. Ely said the dinner
was to be casual, so they dressed as typical teenagers in somewhat baggy jeans and Florida style tanks and stayed barefoot.

Two guys came in and greeted Ely at the dront door. They were as young as Greg and Ely and similarily dressed. One was a typical looking Florida teen. Blonde hair, a little longish, slightly unkept looking. Sky blue eyes, a buff chest only barely contained in a tight t-shirt.
A pair of legs that anyone would want wrapped around them rose up and disappeared into a pair of shorts that stretched around a juicy looking butt.

By contrast the other guy was dark haired with thick eyebrows and what appeared to be a permanent 5 o'clock shadow. Just as buff and young as the others, a little more hairy, with eyes that teased and twinkled as much as Ely's always did. They came in holding hands. The dark haired guy and Ely hugged and they were obviously old friends in spite of how young they looked. Ely shook hands with the blonde and turned to Greg.

"They have heard all about you, Greg," Ely said as he pointed to the blonde guy, "This is
Ken." Ken and Greg shook hands. "Ken completed the change only a couple of weeks
ago," Ely told Greg, "But he has been able to go out in public only for the past few days."

"Yeah?" Greg asked, "How come?"

"I didn't last as long as you did," Ken smiled, "I was only 57 when I had a stroke." He
looked at the guys a little sheepishly, "I didn't make it..." he patted himself as if to reassure himself that he was still there, "...sort of."

"Believe me!" Greg told Ken as the others snickered, "93 is no picnic. I could have done
without it."

"Because he ended his human life while still relatively young," Ely explained, "he had to
wait longer while his new body formed and solidified to the point where he could let others see him." Ely hugged Greg from behind. "It only took you about a half hour or so."

Ely pointed to the other guy and asked Greg, "Does this guy look familiar to you?"

Greg shrugged his shoulders, "No, I'm afraid not," he shook his head and nodded to the
guy a little apologetically. "Should you?"

The guy laughed. "Not at all, Greg," he said. "We've only met once, and only for a minute,
and I didn't look like this." He walked forward to shake Greg's hand and at the same time
gave Ely a playful punch on his shoulder, "This old guy is just playing games with you. My
name is Alex."

Greg's eyes lit up, "Wait!" he said and glanced at Ely, then back to Alex, "The hospital, right? You called yourself Ely's 'witness' or something?"

"Exactly!" Alex said.

Ely somewhat gallantly swept his arm toward the dining room. "Let's continue at the dining table," he told the others and led the way. "For dinner is served."

It was an almost laughable contrast. Four teenagers sat around the table in jeans and
shorts and tanks and t-shirts. All were barefoot and all sat back overly casually. They could just as easily have been passing a bottle of wine around while a CD blared, and yet dinner was served and eaten with all the pomp and circumstance of old British Edwardian aristocracy. Ely's cooking "hobby" obviously extended beyond the kitchen through the table settings and into the library where brandy was served in heated snifters.


          CHAPTER THREE

There was a small book on the coffee table in the library. It was obviously very old. Greg
and Ken flipped through it and snickered to each other.

Ely told them, "That book was one of the first official studies of us ever done. Not a
scientific study by any means, but at least one that was accepted as official. As you can see, it is completely inaccurate - which pleased us immensely."

"Everything is here," Ken said. "All the stuff you're not supposed to do or like."

Alex laughed and put his arm around Ken, "You mean all the stuff WE aren't supposed to
do or like. Don't forget, you're one of us now."

"But that is all minor," Ely said. "There are in fact, a few things you need to learn immediately."

"Yeah!" Greg said. "More than a few, I think."

"That's right," Ken said and looked back and forth to Ely and Alex, "There's got to be a
lot of stuff judging by the secrets you kept hinting at all my life."

"You too?" Greg asked Ken.

"You bet!" Ken told Greg, "Every time I'd ask a question, it was the same old thing." He
mimicked Alex, "Not yet. Not yet. Later. Later. He never told me a damn thing!"

"Same here," Greg said and smiled, "They're a couple of sneaky old bastards, aren't they?" Ely and Alex looked at each other, smiled, and rolled their eyes. They'd both been through this before.

The brandy was changed to tea. Both Ely and Alex were originally British so there was tea everywhere. Spoons and cups clinked while Ely and Alex made small talk and Ken and Greg got acquainted with each other. Greg asked Ken what part of Florida he was from and Alex quickly stopped Ken from answering. The new guys looked at the old guys, puzzled.

"Now is a good time to learn one thing," Alex said and glanced at Ely. "Wouldn't you say so?" Ely nodded and had Ken and Greg sit facing each other. They did but each kept looking questioningly at his mentor.

"You will tell us what part of Florida Ken hails from," Ely told Greg with a smile. "You will find," he continued, "that it will be much easier to do now that you have completed the change." He told Greg to look into Ken's eyes.

"You must concentrate," Ely said while standing behind Greg. "The trick is not to tell youself that you are entering Ken's mind. The trick is to tell yourself that you are already there." He stayed silent while Greg and Ken stared at each other.

Greg stared into the pupils of Ken's eyes. He looked as deep as he would look into Ely's
eyes. He told himself he was traveling into those eyes. Along the optic nerve. Into the brain. Surrounded by the gray matter. Lights flashing as the nerve impulses jumped from synapse to synapse. He felt the same. Ken was seeing the same thing. He was entering Ken and at the same time letting Ken into his own mind. The lights brightened and settled and the gray matter changed from a mere brain into a man's mind.

"Whoa!!!"

Greg and Ken both jumped back a little. Both looked at each other with mouths hanging open. Eyes wide. Foreheads scrunched up. Greg was the first to find his voice.

"You're kidding!" he told Ken. "Colorado?!?"

Ken laughed and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah," he said. "A town near Denver."

Greg flexed his hands. "But you look so typically Florida-ish."

Ken laughed, "Blonde and blue eyed boys are all over." He smiled and nodded at Greg,
"So are dark brown and green eyed boys!" They both laughed. "Your hometown was smaller than mine."

Greg nodded, "Yours was small enough, though." He turned serious. "I'm sorry about your mom."

Ken shrugged, "I was still a baby. I don't remember. The doctors today say it was post-partum depression or something like that, but no one knew it then. She didn't leave a note I heard, so no one really knew why."

"And your dad," Greg spoke softly, "moved into a bottle and never came out of it. Your foster parents were worthless."

"Yeah," Ken lowered his eyes, "I was in their house so they got money from the government. That's all I was to them - a walking pay check."

Alex spoke up, "You have both risen well above your odds. Be proud of what you accomplished in your human lives and don't dwell on your beginnings. Whether you are one of us or not," he put an arm on both shoulders, "the important thing is tomorrow, not yesterday."

Ken and Greg talked some more. Both were amazed at how much information they had
gleaned from each other in so short a time. Seconds was all it took. Ely and Alex laughed
with them and assured them that the fun was only beginning. Then Alex looked serious and
told Greg to read him while Ken read Ely. The guys happily made eye contact with the
others' mentors.

But they were disappointed. There was simply nothing there. They concentrated. They stared. They almost broke a sweat. But all they saw in Ely and Alex were nothing more than a pair of eyes. Finally they gave up when Ely and Alex burst out laughing. Greg and Ken looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Ely sat down and put his arm around Greg.

"My love," Ely snickered. "That was just another lesson. You see, the same way you can
read other people, you can prevent them from reading you."

"Yeah, I guess so!"

"It is very important," Ely told them. "You must never go out in public without that mental block in place. Never!"

"Why is it so dangerous?" Ken asked.

"Psychics," Alex said, "mediums, clairavoyants, whatever you want to call them - they are real. You never know when you will come face to face with one of them so you can never take a chance."

"They are a threat I take it?" Ken asked.

"Not intentionally," Ely told them. "They aren't out looking for us or anything as crass as that. But they can read enough of us to know what we really are. Being human, they are completely unpredictable. In an effort to increase their esteem in others' eyes and prove their worth to the general public, they may very well try to expose us." His smile vanished now. His face was stern, his gaze seeming to bore right through Greg and Ken. "And we can NOT let that happen!"

Both guys threw their hands up.

"Hey! No problem here!" Ken said.

"Not from me!" Greg agreed.

Alex stood next to Ely, looking equally serious. "We cannot over emphasize the importance of this," he told the guys. "It can only take one accident and the consquences could be
immeasurable."

The rest of the evening was spent with Greg and Ken practicing reading each other, then
blocking each other. During a break Ely served dessert with the same flourish he served dinner. The night wore on and Greg mentioned how surprised he was at how easily he and Ken were learning the "tricks of the trade" as he called them. He got to where he could pick up Ken's thoughts in less than a second, as long as it took to glance into his eyes. Ken learned just as quickly.

"It's not uncommon at all," Ely told them, "It's in our make up to learn quickly. For us, and for you two now that you are one of us, it's actually instinctive. As instinctive as breathing."

Greg snickered, "And fucking?" He glanced at Ken, "I sure hope so!"

"Yeah, what's going on with that?" Ken asked, "I wasn't this horny when I really was 18."

Alex and Ely laughed, "You are correct," Alex told them. "Our sexual drives are heightened quite a bit. You must learn all over again how to control it. We can't have you jumping on every guy who walks by!"

"Why not?" Ken asked with a twinkle in his eye. "Can't we just look at them, pop a thought in their head, pop their butts, then pop the memory out of their heads?"

Alex and Ely sat down, sighed, and shook their heads. Once again, they'd been through this before. Greg sat back, pulled his feet up onto the edge of his chair which forced his legs apart. He gave the old guys a wicked smile and groped his crotch.

"Well come on, teach!" he told them. "Your students are ready to learn!"

What they did the next couple of hours didn't need any teaching. Or learning. The four of them wound up on the floor on top of a pile of their clothes. Their bodies were so entwined that a casual observer wouldn't have been able to tell which leg belonged to which body, who's face it was up in who's butt, or who's dick was getting sucked.

They kissed, they licked, they sucked, they ate, and they fucked. No one said a word, but
there was noise anyway. Smacking noises, slurping noises, squishing noises. Moans and sighs and grunts. The sounds of a bunch of guys having a nice "instinctive" fuck.

By the time they got up off the floor their clothes were wrinkled and damp with their own sweat. Four naked guys walked out into the night and splashed around in the ocean. They washed each other off and went at it again right on the beach. Alex and Ely - the old friends - made out on the beach while Greg and Ken took turns plowing each other's butts in the moonlight.

That moon crawled almost all the way across the sky before they were all spent enough
to think about getting back in the house before the early morning joggers started showing up on the beach. They stumbled, exhausted, into the house. Alex and Ken went arm in arm into a guest room and Ely took Greg into their room. They fell on the bed and slept immediately.

They didn't wake up until early the next afternoon. There was a note in the kitchen from Alex that he and Ken had gone into town to shop. They would be back in time for dinner.
Greg fixed breakfast for him and Ely, and while he carried the plates to the table he stubbed his toe on a chair.

"Aw fuck!" he yelled and slammed the plates onto the table. "I did it again, dammit!" He sat down and looked at his toe, expecting to see blood. "One of these days I'm gonna break
a toe I bet - aww Christ!"

Ely dropped his fork and it clattered in his plate. He jumped up and looked pained. "Greg!!" he yelled.

Greg stopped and stared at Ely. Ely had never spoken so sharply to him. Then he remembered what he was now and what he had said. He jumped up and wrapped his arms around Ely. "Hey! I'm sorry babe!" he said, "I didn't realize. We're not supposed to like that name anymore."

Ely relaxed and hugged Greg back,"No no, my love," he said softly, "It's not that at all.
There's nothing to be afraid of." He pulled away from Greg and put his hands on Greg's shoulders and looked deep in his eyes. "But Greg, if you're going to say that name - you're going to have to show much more respect than that!!"


           CHAPTER FOUR

Greg only stared at Ely, his toe forgotten. Ely wrapped his arm around Greg's waist and
led him into the library, sat him on the sofa and sat in a chair opposite. He leaned forward
and looked into Greg's wide and wary eyes.

"Let me tell you, my love, why we are here."

Greg didn't blink, but just sat back, his arms on the arm rest of the chair, feet on the floor.
This is what he'd been waiting to hear for the past 75 years. He swallowed and only nodded at Ely, who was pacing back and forth while he talked.

"All the holy books say the same thing. That God formed the heavens and the Earth," Ely began as he walked back and forth with one finger pointing up in the air. "When He made this planet, He made the people last."

Greg nodded. This much he knew.

"Before He made the people," Ely went on, "when the Earth was filled only with plants and animals, the planet could function completely on it's own. You see, God never intended to micro-manage the planet. Until He put people here, He really didn't need to manage it at all. Without people, the planet would still be functioning even today."

Greg shrugged his shoulders, "So He considers people something of a mistake?"

"Oh quite the contrary. God wasn't at all satisfied with the planet until He put the people here. As you know, with the first two people things didn't go very well. Eve committed the first sin by eating from the forbidden tree. She then committed the second sin by enticing Adam to do the same. Different people may or may not believe that story, but that isn't important."

Greg only stared at Ely as if to say that there must be more to it than this. There was.

"Regardless of how politically incorrect it may be in these times to say so out loud, it was women who screwed things up first," Ely continued. "But men and women both have been screwing things up since then. If you'll remember, they screwed up so bad that God decided the best thing to do was to start all over again, and He had Noah build the ark."

"Yeah," Greg said, "And Noah took all the animals and stuff and started populating the world all over again. Everyone knows that."

"Yes, but you see, God still doesn't want to micro-manage the planet. He wants the people - the humans - to manage the planet on their own. To that end, he gave humans four things that would allow them to manage the place without Him having to intervene all the time."

Ely ticked off the numbers on his fingers, "Those four things are: a brain, a soul, a conscience, and a will. He then turned humans loose to learn how to use those four things in conjunction so they could manage the place themselves."

Greg stared in awe. Even slowly shook his head and told Ely, "But that won't ever happen. Humans running the place without needing God? The whole world will have to work together and get along and - no - it won't happen!"

"Well," Ely flicked his hand as if he was dismissing an underling, "That they haven't yet is not at all unexpected. You see, Greg, a human baby must first learn how to sit up, and then to crawl, then to walk, then run. The human race must learn how to get along and manage the planet in the same type of baby steps. The planet and the universe have been around for billions of millenia, and the human race only for several thousand years. By comparison, the human race is still very much in its infancy. There hasn't been near anough time for them to learn much."

Greg was sitting with one hand over his mouth. He was looking away from Ely, not following his movements but staring out the window, deep in thought. Ely kept talking.

"As time went on and humans reproduced, God knew that He would still have to intervene at times and manage the planet until humans could learn how to do it themselves. But He also knew that if humans knew without a doubt that God was working for their benefit, they would become lazy and would not even try to do anything on their own. They instead would expect God to take care of everything."

Greg looked at Ely, "Haven't they already been doing that?" he asked. "They go to
church, they pray, they ask God to take care of everything. And they do it at least every Sunday. When I was a kid I was always taught that if I just believed in God that He will take care of everything. No one is even trying to do anything themselves."

"For the most part, that's true," Ely answered. "But there are some humans who are trying. If not, there wouldn't be any progress. Not in medicine, not in the engineering that built planes and rockets, not in technology. But there are others who, like Eve, are using what they know but not in a productive way. In fact, they are using it in terrible ways. The best example of that are the world's dictators. They use their knowledge to gather power, and then use that power to oppress and enslave their people."

Greg just nodded, "Okay."

"If God were to do everything Himself, humans would never learn, and God would always have to do everything Himself - exactly what He never wanted to do. So God needed a way to intervene now and then, but without humans having even an inkling that there was any Divine intervention at all. In fact, the best scenario would be for humans to think that they did it all themselves, thereby giving the entire human race a boost of confidence.  Most times, that intervention needed to be in the form of some task that would have to cause someone to come to some harm, or something to not work, even to the point of being destroyed. In other words - dirty work."

Greg was leaning forward, his hands clasped between his knees. He only stared at Ely.

"He couldn't have the angels do it, as angels are incapable of even considering doing anything other than good. He couldn't have Satan do it because Satan cannot be trusted. Satan won't do anything unless there is something in it for him. He certainly won't do it for the sole gratification of serving God."

Ely stopped pacing. He sat back in the chair facing Greg. He leaned forward and looked Greg in his eye. Greg stared back.

"That's where we come in, Greg. We are the ones who do God's "dirty work." Put in today's terms, we are the equivalent of God's CIA, his Divine Mossad, a Holy sort of KGB. And since I am using those metaphors, you can use them to understand why we have such a need for secrecy. If the public knew we not only existed but actually walked among them, they would revert back to the days when humans depended on God so completely that they did nothing for themselves. The entire planet would go back to being a tribal state. And the
population of the planet is much to big for that these days. The human race is headed in the
right direction and we must make every effort to see to it that things like that don't change.
That's why we perpetuate the legends that we are evil - demons - spawns of Satan - only existing at night, and so on." He reached out and put a hand on Greg's shoulder. "Those legends and myths are the best disguise we have. It is paramount that we not be exposed or only chaos would reign in the world. No one can know - can not even suspect - what we truly are and what we do. If they do, then we have failed. Miserably. See, Greg, I told you even back in the woods when we first met that when you complete the change, you would in no way be a "victim." And you are not." He leaned forward and cupped Greg's face in his hands. "What you are, Greg, is...chosen!"

The color had drained from Greg's face. He couldn't speak.

"So you see, my love, if you are going to utter His name in any context - you must do so with the utmost respect."

Ely knew from experience that now was a good time to leave Greg alone to think. He patted Greg's thigh and left him staring into space and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. As was his custom he spent a long time at it, cooking everything from scratch. When Alex and Ken returned from shopping in town it was already dark, and they found Greg still sitting in the library in the same chair, staring out the window, not even noticing that any one had come into the room.

Greg jumped when Alex put a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to come out of a trance. He looked back and forth between the two of them and out the window and at the clock.

"So Ely told you then?" Alex asked. Greg only nodded.

"Bowled you over like it did me I see," Ken said. Again Greg could only nod.

Ken went into the kitchen to help Ely with dinner. Alex sat down next to Greg.

"Did you have any idea?" Alex asked softly. He knew what was going through Greg's mind
now. Greg just shook his head.

"Are you pretty much okay with it?"

Greg took in a deep breath and sighed. "Not much of a choice at this point is there?"

"Not true," Alex smiled. "You always have a choice. You can choose right now to stop the whole thing if you want to."

Greg frowned at Alex, "You told me in the hospital that I was making my "final" decision."

Alex nodded, "Yes, I did. But can you understand that at that particular moment we hardly had the time to explain everything to you?"

"Well, yeah, but man it's all so overwhelming."

"Of course it is," Alex said, "It was the same for me, too. Ely went through it the same as
you are. If you trust him, and you are comfortable with me, then you should see that it isn't really a bad thing."

Ely stood at the door and in his usual flourish announced that dinner was served. He took Greg's hand and pulled him up out of the sofa. "Come my love, you must eat. As you have already learned, we still need to eat."

At the table Greg asked Ken, "So you know already?"

Ken nodded, "Alex told me about a week ago. I spent the whole day sitting in a chair and
staring at nothing."

Greg looked at his food and nodded. He spoke without looking up. "So I guess I'm just going with the flow."

"For starters, yes," Ely said. "The same way all of us started out. You are reacting quite
normally, Greg. Just as I knew you would."

Greg ate sporadically - not even aware of what was on his plate. He looked at Alex, "You said I could choose to stop right now." Ely stopped in mid bite and froze. "You said I could end it if I wanted to." Ely took in a breath and held it. "I don't want to, but how would I do it if I did?" Ely sighed and his whole body seemed to slump in relief. Greg didn't notice.

"Well certainly not with a wooden stake in your heart," Alex smiled.

"I know that one!" Ken chimed in. "All you have to do is drink blood from one of us."

"Huh?"

"That's correct." Ely said. "As long as we wish to stay here, we cannot feed on each other. That is the only way to end our existence on this planet."

"What would happen?"

Ely shrugged, "When humans die they immediately go to their reward, as it were. We would do the same thing. Except we don't have to die again. We've already done that. We
would simply vanish from here, and ascend to whatever would normally have awaited us in the next life."

"I thought we were here forever," Greg said. "I thought we were eternal. When you told
me we could be 18 again you specifically said, 'forever.'" Greg was speaking pointedly now, causing Alex and Ely to glance at each other.

"Yes, I said that," Ely smiled, "I wasn't lying, Greg, I was only selling the idea to you. I couldn't tell you the truth, remember, so I had to become something of a salesman. We certainly are eternal, and as is my fondest hope, we will be together forever. There are two reasons why we may not be here in this world forever."

Greg didn't really eat. He pushed his food around his plate. He listened.

"While we are no longer human," Ely went on, "we are still not perfect. There is a possibility that one or more of us could 'go bad' you might say. If that happens, there is a way to be taken out, but we have to do it to each other. To that end, we never know who all the others are. You know me and Alex and Ken, and you will meet others from time to time. But you and I and all of us will never meet all of the others. If need be, one of us can see to it that you drink our blood and vanish. It's a system that works very well."

"Has it ever happened?" Ken asked, "Have you ever had to do it to anyone?"

Ely shook his head, "I haven't myself, but if it was done I wouldn't know anyway. I wouldn't ask, and if anyone asked me, I wouldn't tell them. Other than teaching it to guys like you and Greg, we simply don't discuss it amongst ourselves."

Greg nodded as though he still had questions but wasn't ready for the answers. He simply
asked, "What's the other reason?"

"Well," Ely said between bites, "while we will be here for a very long time indeed, we won't be here forever. You see, there will come a time when humans do in fact learn how to manage the planet on their own. It may take thousands of years or thousands of centuries, but it will happen. When that time comes, we will no longer be needed here. We will then ascend to our reward the same as humans do on their deaths. Except we won't have to go through a dying experience as we have already done that. We can still be together, still be 18. And we will be at least that much forever. But we will not be here on this planet forever."

Greg ate without realizing what he was eating. He didn't say much, but kept nodding, as though it was all something he expected to hear but not at that grand scale. He looked at his plate without seeing what was on it. He twirled his fork around and then put it down and looked at Ely. "Why me?" he asked, "I'm not anybody. You came to me when I was 18 and I hadn't done anything. Nothing at all. Why not someone who'd already proven himself? Someone who'd already accomplished something great. Invented something. Found a cure for something. You know - someone who already showed how smart he was and you knew he could do even more if he became one of you?"

Ely put his own fork down (which was not something he was accustomed to doing in the middle of a fine meal), and reached out to hold Greg's hand. "My love - I knew what you
were capable of even before you knew yourself. I told you that back when we first met. You never were a 'nobody' except maybe in your own mind. Certainly not in mine. Yes, there are plenty of 'somebody's' around, but we do not want them. That is not to belittle their accomplishments during their lives, not by any means. They have done wonderful things, and there will be others.

"But they have also attained a kind of status. A notoriety. They have become accustomed
to being shown respect and special treatment. Were they to become one of us, they would immediately expect that respect and treatment to continue, and we cannot work that way. We are all equal. We have no boss to answer to here in this world. We have no chain of command, no corporate structure. We do not need the same kind of discipline that humans do because we are above that. We cannot have anyone in our group who sees themselves
as above even us, for that is not what was ordained."

He reached out with his other hand and held both of Greg's hands and looked deep in his eyes. "You have done great things too, Greg. And you have done them quietly, modestly, with no fanfare and no expectation of reward. Because of that, you and people like you shine so much brighter than the others. You are exactly the kind we seek out. I told you that I knew you even when you were a small boy. I watched you all those years. If I saw in you that you would ascend to the same kind of status as the 'somebodys,' I would not have approached you in the woods."

Dinner was over and Greg helped Ely clean up the kitchen but seemed to still be in something of a trance, a deep frown on his face. Ely stayed close by but didn't push Greg. Ely actually did most of the work as Greg was moving slowly, more into his thoughts than his actions. When the kitchen was finally clean Greg walked back into the library but suddenly came back into the kitchen. He looked at a puzzled Ely, shook his head, and headed upstairs to their bedroom. Ely peeked into the library and saw Ken and Alex making out on the sofa. Their shirts were already off and Ken's hand was inside Alex's pants.

Ely walked into the bedroom and Greg was sitting on the edge of the bed. Ely sat down on the bed next to a very confused looking Greg. Greg turned to face Ely.

"Isn't it wrong?" he asked. "Considering what you told me and what we really are and who we really work for, isn't it wrong for us now?"

Ely shook his head and smiled, "Oh no!" he said. "Nothing could be more right, actually." He reached over and took Greg's hand, "You see, when humans die, as I said, they go to their reward. We, however, don't go anywhere - we're still here. But we don't stay here unrewarded. Think about it Greg - being here on this planet, in this world, as long as we are destined to be can become insanely boring. There must be something to maintain our interest throughout all those years. Even when we were human, sex was the most interesting thing there was. It was the only thing that kept us going - the only thing we wanted to do, and the only thing that made us feel our best."

Greg nodded and finally managed a small smile.

"I already told you that now that you are one of us your sexual awarness, desire, and energy are quite heightened. That is because sex is our reward." Ely put his arm around Greg's shoulders. "We don't have to follow the same rules the humans do. We can do what ever we want with whom ever we want, and when and where ever we want. We have permission. When you think of anything sexual - know that for us, it is allowed.

Greg nodded, but looked at Ely like he didn't hear. "You could have told me something," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't a joke, Ely."

Ely stiffened. Greg had always called him "babe." He was afraid of this.

"This is....this is....." Greg spread his arms, "this is HUGE. You could have given me some
kind of a hint at least."

"No, my love, I couldn't. I swear to you, I couldn't."

Greg sat up and looked away from Ely. "This is a hell of a secret to keep from me all my
life!"

"Greg, I...."

Greg cut him off and yelled, making each word its own sentence, "Seventy!...Five!...Years!"
His head snapped around to look at Ely, his eyes narrowed, "You said you loved me!"

"I DO!" Ely pleaded, "I do love you! I've loved you all this time!"

"Bullshit!" Greg's eyes filled with tears, "I guess I was stupid! But I had this wild idea, ya know? I kinda thought that loving someone meant you also trusted him!" Tears were dripping off his chin. Ely reached out but Greg slapped his hands away. "I trusted you! I never questioned you - I never asked you anything, really. Certainly nothing to compare with this!!" Ely's face was buried in his hands. "I loved you AND I trusted you! You said you loved me but you never trusted me or you would have told me SOMEthing! You lied to me all those years!"

Ely's head snapped up. "NO!!" he yelled and stood up. He started pacing like he did in the library. "I did not lie to you. I DID love you! I DO love you. And I did trust you or I would
not have stayed with you all this time!"

Greg looked deep in Ely's eyes and shook his head, "No, you don't know what trust is. Or you don't know what love is. Or you've forgotten. Something as big as this - you should have told me. Told me something! You owed it to me!"

"I loved you all your life, Greg!"

Greg could hardly speak now. His eyes were open faucets, "You didn't love me. You fucked me. You trained me. You manipulated me. You used me."

Now Ely's eyes were full of tears. He pleaded with Greg, "No, no, Greg! Please! Let me
ex......"

Greg snapped his arm to the door, "I would like to be alone now please!" Ely hesitated.
"Would you leave me now please? Would you just go?" Greg wasn't trying to use any of
his power, but the expression on his face left no room for interpretation.

"Greg - I..."

"GET OUT!!"

Greg slumped back on the bed, his feet on the floor, his hands up to his face. He didn't see Ely leave the room. He only heard the door slam. He heard Ely's footsteps fade away down
the hall. He heard them go down the stairs. He heard the front door open and slam closed.
"Oh man," he mumbled to himself. "What have I done?



           CHAPTER FIVE

Greg crawled up onto the bed and sat cross legged. He hugged a pillow and sat. He glanced at the door when he heard footsteps and wondered why he didn't hear the front door again if Ely was coming back. He wasn't sure if he wanted Ely to come back, but found he was at least a little happy to hear the footsteps, and that feeling confused him even more.

The door opened but it wasn't Ely. It was Alex. Only it wasn't the teenaged Alex who'd been in the house the past couple of days. It was the Alex who was at the hospital. The Alex who looked to be in his 50's. Greg was puzzled.

"Greg," Alex said as he walked into the room. "We're going to talk."

Greg only glanced at Alex and looked away. "I don't wanna talk."

Alex stood at the end of the bed and glared at Greg. Neither one of them were happy at the moment. "I didn't ask if you wanted to, Greg. I said we're going to...."

Greg's eyes snapped up and glared back at Alex. "Don't think your little charade means anything to me!" he spat at Alex. "You can look like my daddy if you want but you ain't nothin' to...OOWW!!"

Alex's eyes suddenly seemed to widen. They slammed into Greg's eyes and the force Greg
felt slammed him against the headboad. He felt his head crack against it and then felt himself being pulled forward and then shoved back again until his head cracked against the headboard a second time. All the while Alex simply stood at the end of the bed with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes almost nonchalantly burning into Greg's mind. Greg sat still and stared at Alex, submitting but still obviously angry.

Alex leaned down, his hands on the bed, his eyes still boring into Greg. His voice was soft,
but it was what was behind the almost whisper that left no room for argument. "Don't you play with me, boy!" Alex slowly shook his head. "I've been at this far far longer than you have. When I say we're going to talk that means you're going to listen. I can hold you here like this as long as it takes. Or you can decide to make it easy on yourself and I'll let you go, but one way or the other, we are going to talk. Now!"

Greg couldn't move. The power behind Alex's eyes was a steel hand pushing him down on the bed and against the headboard. He actually felt the pressure of his head pushing against the headboard and he knew Alex wasn't kidding one bit. He couldn't move his arms or legs, so the only way he could let Alex know he was willing to cooperate was to simply think it. He knew Alex could read his thoughts as easily as he could hear speech.

Alex raised up and at the same time Greg felt the unseen hand release him. He looked at
Alex as he rubbed the back of his head. Alex walked around and sat on the bed.

"You're angry now, Greg, and in a way that's understandable. You're confused, and that's understandable too. But I don't understand just who you're angry with." Alex nodded toward the window, indicating Ely somewhere outside. "You're not really angry with Ely, not deep in your heart you're not. You're not angry with me, at least you weren't a few minutes ago. You're not angry with Ken, so exactly who are you angry with?"

Greg leaned over a bit to look Alex in the eye, "I'm pissed with everything and everyone, okay? I'm pissed that Ely kept all this from me when I should have had some say in it all. I'm pissed with Ken for acting like it's no big deal. I'm pissed with you for being a part of it all. I'm pissed because I feel like I wasted my whole life just so I can be used. It might not
make any sense to you but so fucking what? I don't care how many times you push me
down or how you use your fucking power on me but it doesn't have to make any sense to you. Who the fuck are you anyway? It only needs to make sense to me. And right now it doesn't make any sense to me at all. So go ahead and slam me up against the wall as much as you want, it won't change anything." He shifted positin on the bed to bring his face right next to Alex, their eyes only a couple of inches apart.  "Are you getting this, Alex? I'm not impressed!" Greg turned away, as much to give Alex the idea that Greg was done with him as to avoid Alex making eye contact again.

Alex stood up and walked to the window. "Allright, Greg," he said without looking at him. He looked out the window instead. "You think I'm just trying to show off? You think I'm just having fun with you? Ely told me you were a lot more intelligent than that. Was he wrong?"

"Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. What business is it of yours?"

"Oh, none I suppose," Alex shrugged as he walked back to the bed. "I just don't want to
see the same mistake made twice. That's all. Pure and simple."

Greg reluctantly looked at Alex, and saw that he had changed back into the teenager he
was when he arrived a couple of days ago. "Why do you keep doing that? I don't care what you look like. I know it's you anyway."

Alex just smiled, "I look like less of a threat this way." Greg only shrugged. "More approachable I guess. That's how I want to be."

Greg sat with his knees pulled up under his chin. He only glanced at Alex. "What mistake?"

"Well, Greg, both Ely and I have recruited many people. But I have only fallen in love with a guy I've recuited twice. Ely has only done it once. With you."

Greg lowered his head so his face was between his knees. "You mean Ken?"

Alex nodded, "Yes, he's something isn't he?" Now Alex was smiling.  "I guess you'd have
to call it love at first sight. You'll notice that Ken does seem to be okay with everything?
He does consider it a big deal but he's certainly not as torn up over it as you are. That's probably because I've done this once before and screwed it up, and learned my lesson by the time I met Ken."

Greg raised his head up and looked at Alex, "So there's another one of you - of us - out
there somewhere who you used to love?"

"Oh yes! And I still love him as a dear friend. Like a brother I guess you could say. And he's out there allright." He patted Greg's shoulder and pointed to the window. "He's out there sitting on the beach."

Greg's eyes went wide. "Ely?!?"

Alex smiled and nodded, "Yes, Ely. I'm the one who recruited him. When I told him the truth he accepted everything except that I really loved him. . . sound familiar?" Greg's mouth was hanging open. "He accepted the idea and the work involved and took the training." Alex looked toward the window and sighed. "And then he didn't speak to me for over a hundred years."

Greg stayed wide eyed and open jawed. He shook his head.

"I'm more than twice as old as Ely is, Greg. When you've been here that long, a hundred years isn't such a long time in retrospect. We eventually got back together, became friendly
again and even became lovers - fuck buddies anyway - but that special spark we had never returned and we only stayed friends. I don't know if it was my fault or his, or both of us, but the kind of love we originally had just wasn't there any more. I always regretted it all these years, and then I met Ken. Things are fine for me now." He sat back down on the bed, put his hands on Greg's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "And I want to do all I can do to make things fine for you and Ely too."

Greg looked into Alex's eyes. He didn't try to read him but only looked in his eyes out of
habit. Still he smiled. "Is that why you're here?"

Alex nodded and smiled, "Yes, it is. Ely called me when you were sleeping it off in the hotel. He sounded like a babbling baby!"

"Yeah? How so?"

Alex leaned back and grinned. "He was a nervous wreck! I can't remember ever knowing him to be in such a state, and I've known him a long time indeed!"

"What was he so nervous about?"

"He was afraid, Greg. He was afraid he'd blow it with you the same way I did with him, and he didn't want it to happen so badly that he was willing to dredge up old memories for both of us and ask me to come here as a friend and help see him through it."

"Wow," Greg said, "I can't remember a time when he wasn't in complete control. Some
times it made me nervous how cool he was about everything. How he had all the answers." Now Greg managed a small snicker, "It seems strange to think that there's anything he would need help getting through."

"Well," Alex said, "until now nothing had come up I guess that put your love for him in jeopardy."

Greg leaned back against the headboard and sighed. "I told him in the hospital," he said to Alex (and maybe to himself), while looking straight ahead, "That all he did was support me and teach me and take care of me."

"Yes," Alex said softly, "I was there, remember? But Greg, he didn't do any of that out of any sense of duty. He didn't do it because of an assignment. Everything he did, he did from his heart. He did it because he wanted to."

Greg looked at Alex questioningly. Like he was trying to decide whether or not to believe him. Alex saw the look and smiled. He reached over and took Greg's hand.

"Greg,  you're one of us now," he said. "You don't have to wonder any more. You don't have to question. You can find out for sure right now. Look in my eyes and see for yourself."

Greg did. He looked deep into Alex's pupils and suddenly Alex was an open book. Greg
knew then that what Alex told him was exactly the way Alex felt. Greg knew that Alex
wasn't trying to cover up even his own thoughts. It only took a second, and then Greg
felt like an intruder. He backed out of Alex's mind and mumbled, "Sorry."

Alex laughed, "Don't even be sorry, Greg. You have the power now so use it. Besides, I
invited you."

"I guess I'm acting silly but I feel like I've been hit by a truck. There's a lot to think about!"

"Yes there is," Alex assured him, "And no you're not being silly. What you're feeling is as normal for us as it is for humans. Let me ask you," he let go of Greg's hand and pointed to his feet. "You stubbed your toe this morning, right?"

Greg looked at his foot, "Yeah, I did. Why?"

"It doesn't hurt, does it? And it didn't hurt then either."

Greg thought a second, "You're right! It didn't."

"That's because you only reacted the way you did out of habit. You see Greg, we have no
nerve endings in our bodies that register physical pain. Only pleasure. You will never feel that kind of pain again no matter what happens."

"No kidding?!"

Alex smiled and shook his head, "You can be damaged," he said, "in a car accident for instance. You can have broken bones and be cut up and bleeding. You will feel no pain at all. It's only a change in the way your body is shaped at that moment. All you have to do is change yourself right back into yourself the same way you can change your age and looks, and poof! You're back to normal again."

"That doesn't sound bad at all!" Greg said.

"Yes, but then, that's physical pain. Now emotional pain is another matter entirely," Alex said. "That is something that does carry over from our human form. So don't tear yourself up because you feel confused or even angry. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. But please don't make any rash decisions, either. You haven't had enough time to think things through yet. And it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with Ely, either. He did what he had to do, and you will understand that in time. Give him a chance, okay?"

Greg reached out and squeezed Alex's hand. "Thanks," he said simply.

Alex smiled and nodded. "That's what I'm here for," he patted Greg's leg. "And as for you not having any say in it, remember I told you downstairs that you can choose any time to
end it all and go on to the next life. Do you understand how special that makes you?
Makes all of us?"

Greg shook his head.

"Ely was not kidding when he told you that you were chosen. We all were. But we are the only ones who have been chosen but given a choice. The others did what they were chosen to do and then went on to their next life. But we must stay here in this world for who knows how long? It can become quite trying, even oppressive. There are some who made the choice to leave but the overwhelming majority of us choose to stay and do the work we
were chosen to do. See?"

Greg's expression didn't change. "What do you mean, 'the others'? What others? Why did
they spend such a short time at it?"

"Oh, you know," Alex waved his hand, almost dismissively, "Moses, Noah, Jesus, King David, that bunch."

Greg let his head fall back against the headboard all on his own this time. "Okay," he said slowly, "I guess I understand now...wow!"

Alex stood up and walked toward the door, "If you need some more assurance, Greg," he said as he started out the door, "just turn off the lights in here and look out the window."

"Is Ely going to do something?" Greg asked.

Alex only turned and quickly winked at Greg, "No," he said, "No...not Ely. . ."

"Huh?" Greg said but Alex had gone down the hallway to his own room. "Aww allright!" Greg said to himself. He got up, crossed the room and turned out the light. He walked to the window.

He was confused as there was nothing to see. The sky had clouded over that afternoon
and rain fell off and on. It wasn't raining at the moment but the sky was clouded over and it was pitch dark outside. He knew that from this window he should see the beach but he saw
nothing.

As he watched he thought back 75 years ago to the night he sat with Ely in the woods. It was almost as dark then as it was now. He remembered that Ely told him he could give him a hint. . .

It was not something that could be written off to quirks of nature. There was thunder in the
distance and Greg knew more rain was coming any minute. There was also thunder in the
distance that night in the woods so long ago. Above the cloud cover there was a full moon.
Suddenly a pinhole opened up in the clouds, and while thunder rolled, a tiny beam of
moonlight shone down from the clouds and perfectly spotted Ely sitting on the beach. He was sitting with his head between his knees, seemingly unaware of the light. Only it wasn't the sheer white light like moonlight was. It was the same silvery, misty kind of light that bathed the clearing in the woods the night before he left town with Ely. It only lasted a few seconds and was gone. The beach was dark again.

Greg leaned his face up against the window. "Oh, Ely..." he mumbled to himself.
"Oh man..."

Ken was naked and had just pulled Alex's shorts off. He sat on Alex's thighs and rubbed his chest with one oiled hand and stroked Alex's dick with his other hand. They both glanced at their bedroom door when they heard a second set of footsteps go down the stairs and out the front door.

"I guess you did good," Ken told Alex with a smile as he stroked his dick with the oil.

"Yes, I suppose so," Alex smiled and reached out to tweak Ken's nipples, "But it's not
something I want to get used to! I'm glad I did it, but that was hard work!"

Well, here," Ken said as he scooted up a little on Alex's body. "Do something easy," he
said and grabbed Alex's oiled dick and held it up "Do something fun," he guided that hard dick up his butt and sat down on it. He started bouncing up and down on it. "Do it to me!" he moaned.


           CHAPTER SIX

Greg woke up and it was already noon. Ely wasn't there and his side of the bed was cold. Greg sighed and stretched. He figured Ely had woken up much earlier. He smiled when he thought about last night.

He had gone out to the beach and found that even in the pitch dark his new sixth and seventh sense guided him right to Ely. As he got almost right next to him, he saw that Ely was still sitting with his head between his knees. The wind had picked up some and the sound of the pounding waves masked his approach, but Ely looked up any way just as Greg walked up to him. Greg reached out and mussed Ely's hair as he sat down on the sand next to him. He couldn't see much, so he ran his fingertips down Ely's face and felt that his cheeks were wet. Ely had been crying. Ely sat stiffly, as if he was waiting for Greg to either speak, or make some kind of move. Greg spoke.

"Babe," he said softly. Ely relaxed some at the sound of his pet name. "If you're not planning on going anywhere, I'm not going anywhere either." Ely suddenly wrapped his arms around Greg and hugged him. "And if you are planning on going somewhere," Greg said in his ear, "I'm going with you." Ely hugged Greg tighter than he ever had before and Greg hugged back. They didn't speak but just held each other for several minutes. Greg
felt Ely rub his face into his T-shirt to wipe off his tears, and Greg remembered when he had done the same thing with Ely a lifetime ago. It was the first time in their years together that Ely had shown even a hint of vulnerability. Greg found that he was glad to see it. It made him feel needed, and that made him feel good.

Finally they parted but sat together with one of their arms around each other and holding hands with the other. Ely started talking, and Greg wondered if he was talking to himself as much as he was talking to Greg.

"The sea relaxes me," he said. "It somehow allows me to calm down and think clearly. I
can sit here in the daytime and watch the waves, or listen to them at night. I think that if I had not been raised on a farm I would have been a sailor." The waves were sounding like they were closer and Greg knew the tide would come in soon. Ely let go of Greg's hand and squeezed his thigh. "It's an amazing thing you know - the sea." Greg stayed quiet and let Ely talk. "It's even more eternal than we are. It was here first, you know. And it's the only thing that has remained constant since. There are mountains now where there were none before. There are plains and fields now where there will be mountains in the future. The planet is ever changing but the sea will always remain constant. It will always be here, never changing, always watching and always listening. It has seen everything, and it has heard everything. Can you imagine the knowledge it has built up after all this time? There are times - tonight especially -  when I wish with all my heart that there was a way I could tap into that knowledge. If I could, I would have the sea tell me where I went wrong with you tonight and hurt you so. And I would have it tell me how I could be absolutely certain I would never hurt you like that again."

In the dark Greg slid his free hand up Ely's arm to his face. He turned Ely's face to his and kissed him. Their lips stayed together for a long time before Greg reluctantly pulled away. "Did that feel like I'm hurt?" He asked. He ran his fingers through Ely's hair and felt him shake his head. "Being angry doesn't always equal hurt, I think," he told Ely. "Being confused doesn't either. If you had told me back in the bedroom that it was true you only saw me as some kind of project, I'd be hurt. But you didn't say that, and in spite of everything, deep down I knew you wouldn't. I was only pissed and I was striking out. I wasn't pissed at you, I was pissed at things, but you were the only one in the room with me so I struck out at you." He nodded toward the ocean. "That's what the sea would tell you - that if there was anyone doing any hurting, it was me hurting you. And it would tell you that I got a lot to learn, and that you're the best teacher for me." Ely leaned into Greg and Greg held him, "And I would tell you that you're the one I want to teach me."

The lightning picked up and now and then lit up the two guys making out on the beach. It wasn't long until each time the sky lit up it showed Greg and Ely with a little less clothing on until they were both naked. The rain that had been light all afternoon now turned into a downpour.

Greg laid under Ely and let his hands run up and down Ely's back as the rain beat down on them and the lightning and thunder came closer. "Shouldn't we go inside?" he asked.

Ely only mumbled and ground his dick into Greg's.

"What about the lightning?" Greg laughed.

"It can't hurt us anymore," Ely said as he slid his body down Greg's. "It can go right through us if it wants to, but it won't touch us. It does, however," and Ely snickered a bit, "seem somewhat fitting right now given the legends about us."

No one would be out on the beach in that kind of weather so neither of the guys worried about it. The sky lit up now and then making a natural slide show which first showed Ely on top of Greg, then Greg on top of Ely, then both of them with their heads buried between each others' legs. It showed Greg with his feet up in the air and then showed Ely on all fours.

The tide came in, and now and then a large wave would hit the shore and cascade over the two naked guys making love on the beach in the storm. They went at it and stayed at it
until the storm blew over. They didn't bother trying to find their clothes in the dark and went naked into the house and fell asleep in each other's arms as soon as they hit the bed. . .

The aroma of coffee and bacon was wafting up the stairs from the kitchen and pulled Greg out of his reverly. He took a quick shower (alone this time), put on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and went downstairs. Ken was in the kitchen cooking breakfast in his underwear. Greg walked in the kitchen and took a second to appreciate Ken's blonde body. Toned and hard. Smooth and tanned. Greg didn't blame Alex at all for being attracted.

"Morning!" Greg called out as he walked in the room.

"Hey!" Ken's face broke into a smile. He left the pan and crossed the room with his arms outstretched. He wrapped Greg up in a hug that lasted long enough to let Greg know he had a buddy. He pushed Greg back to arm's length and looked him up and down, seemingly checking to see if Greg was all there. "How do you feel?" he asked Greg with a smile.

"Fine," Greg said. "Still going through the initial shock I guess, but a lot better than last night."

Ken went back to the sizzling pan. "How 'bout some breakfast? I make a great omelette, bacon, hash browns and toast."

"Sounds good," Greg said as he realized how much his stomach was growling.

"I'm not the artist in the kitchen that Ely is, but I can hold my own," Ken laughed.

Greg poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. "So you know about last night I take it? Alex told you everything?"

Ken looked at Greg and shook his head. "Alex tried to blow the whole thing off but I'm the one who pried it out of him." He smiled and patted his butt. "I told him none of this unless he spilled. I guess I'm basically just nosy," he shrugged and grinned apologetically.

Greg just laughed, "It's okay," he said. "It helped! I'm not complaining at all."

Ken stirred some mushrooms, peppers, onions, and cheese into the eggs. He folded them over and cut the whole thing in half. He loaded them onto plates and brought the plates to the table with the bacon and potatoes and toast. "Dig in! Close your eyes and I bet you can imagine that Ely cooked it all."

Greg took a bite of the omelette. "Mmm I don't need to imagine anything. This is good!"
He attacked the bacon and potatoes. Ken could tell how hungry Greg was. Great sex did that. "Where did you learn to cook like this? Is Alex the chef that Ely is?"

"Alex is a great cook, but Ely is the chef. I learned to cook in my foster home. It was either learn to cook or starve."

"Oh yeah," Greg said and rolled his eyes. "That wonderful foster home."

Ken nodded, "The other guys were pretty cool. They were all straight but when I told them I was gay they told me to let them know if anyone hassled me about it. I really think they would have done some serious damage. They were pretty rough."

"I would have been in my grave a long time ago if I'd come out," Greg said, "The other guys took it all in stride, just like that?"

"Yeah," Ken answered. "We all came from the same kind of background and they figured
that was hassle enough. Our foster folks only sat back and collected the government
checks - you already know that. So we kind of had to look out for each other. I was the brainiac of the bunch. The other guys helped each other score with the girls, I helped them with their homework, and they kept everybody off my back about being gay. It was a nice trade."

"Did they do okay after high school?"

"One of 'em hit the road and we never heard from him. One's girlfriend got pregnant so he got a job and married her. The others went on to college. I don't know if they graduated, but they all went at least."

"When did you hook up with Alex?"

"Right after high school. I moved in with him the day after I graduated. Didn't even tell my foster folks I was leaving. When I turned 18 the government checks stopped anyway so I'm sure they didn't really care."

Ken jumped up and went back to the stove. "I don't know about you," he said over his shoulder, "But when I finished the change my appetite came back with a vengeance!"

"Me too!" Greg laughed, "You cook it, I'll eat it."

Ken made two more omelettes and fried up some more bacon. He sat back down with Greg.

"So what did you do while you were with Alex?" Greg asked.

"We lived near Aspen. Alex got me an entire resort and I ran that and started a ski school," Ken told him. "He bought the whole thing outright. I almost fainted when I saw him write out one check for the whole thing!" he laughed.

"Well they both had several lifetimes to save up some money." Greg laughed as he remembered a night years ago when Ely told him, "I have to keep it quiet so no one gets suspicious, but I have separate fortunes on deposit in over 20 banks around the world
under different names."

"That's one way to put it!" Ken said.

"So you were a ski bum and I was a beach bum," Greg grinned.

"Yeah, and we look like you should have been the ski bum and I should have been the
beach bum. You can never tell I guess."

Greg stood up and started collecting the plates. He rinsed them off and Ken put them in the dishwasher. Greg checked Ken out each time he bent down to put a plate in the dishwasher. He liked the way Ken's back muscles rippled, the way his butt cheeks flexed in his white briefs. Ken stood up, looked at Greg and smiled. His eyes quickly walked up and down Greg's body.

"You look great!" was all Ken said.

"You're the model," Greg answered. He looked down and saw the growing tent in Ken's underwear. He reached out and rubbed Ken's cock through the material as he smiled at Ken. "Damn nice one too!" Ken stood, still smiling at Greg, and kept his legs slightly spread. Greg slid his hand into Ken's shorts and pulled his blonde cock out and it finished getting hard in his hand.

"Ely told me anything sexual was allowed," Greg said a little sheepishly.

Ken reached out and pulled Greg's zipper down. He un-snapped Greg's shorts and they fell to his ankles. "Alex told me the same thing," he told Greg as he stroked Greg's cock. "It's a good thing. I'm horny as all fuck right now!" He slid a hand around Greg's waist and pulled Greg into him, their lips slamming together.

Greg wound up on his back on the kitchen table. Ken leaned down and let his tongue slide
down Greg's body and got his dick wet. Ken went to his knees while Greg's feet went up in the air and Ken ate Greg's ass out and tongue fucked him and Greg reached down, grabbed Ken's head and held it there at his ass while he begged Ken to eat him.

Ken was happy to oblidge. He got his own face wet with his spit while he licked Greg's hole and his cheeks. One hand went up to jack Greg's dick and a finger from the other slid up Greg's ass. He glanced up at Greg. "Did Ely tell you that we can't feel pain anymore?"

"Alex told me."

Ken jammed two fingers from each hand into Greg's hole. He used them to wrench that hole open and jammed his tongue inside. Greg didn't feel pain alright, but the pleasure made him arch his butt clear off the table and howl out loud. His feet slammed down on the table and he humped his ass into Ken's face while Ken happily tongue fucked and licked Greg from the inside.

"Oh shit!" Greg yelled. "Get up here Ken! Get up here and fuck me damnit! Fuck me now!"

Ken did as he was told.

It was a good thing they'd cleared the table off already. It was the breakfast table but it
was long enough to seat four people at its sides. Ken started slam banging Greg at one end, and by the time he'd filled Greg's ass with cum they had scooted all the way to the other end. Greg finally unwrapped his legs from around Ken when Ken's dick softened up enough to fall out of Greg's hole by itself. They gave each other an after fuck kiss and Greg laid on the table panting while Ken crawled off of him.

Greg's head fell over in Ken's direction. "Man! It just gets better and better!"

'Yeah," Ken said between breaths, "Alex said it would. He said I'd have to learn again how to handle it all."

Greg reached between his legs and felt his hole. It was still loose. "Well you're handling it just fine for me!"

Ken grabbed Greg's hand and helped him sit up. They looked at the door when they heard a car pull up. "They're back." Ken said.

"Who's back? Greg asked.

"Alex and Ely," Ken said as though Greg should have known.

"Back?" Greg asked. "Where'd they go?"

"Didn't Ely tell you?" Greg shook his head. "They went into town. Ely said he needed to see his realtor."

"His realtor? I didn't know he had one. What for?"

Ken said nonchalantly, "He said he needed to put this house up for sale."

"What!?!?!?"


          CHAPTER SEVEN

Greg ran naked outside with cum running down his leg.  Ely and Alex were pulling packages out of the trunk. A naked Ken followed Greg outside. Alex and Ely had frozen with their hands half in and half out of the trunk, watching questioningly at the two naked
teens running up to them. Greg stopped in front of the two of them. As if wired together, both Ely and Alex's eyes traveled down Greg's body to the shiny cum on his leg. They both
had knowing half smiles on their faces. Greg didn't seem to notice but both Alex and Ely appeared to be back in their 50's and both wore three piece suits in spite of the warm day.

"What do you mean, put the house up for sale?!?" Greg yelled. Both pairs of dressed eyes traveled back up Greg's body to his face. "What sale!? We never talked about selling the place! Ely?!"

Ken walked to Alex and shrugged his shoulders. Alex put an arm around Ken and smiled at him. His eyes glanced down to Ken's wet dick. Greg's eyes darted back and forth to all of them. No one said anything so Greg put his hands on his hips, looking like a teacher or parent who'd just caught a kid doing something that needed an explanation.....a naked teacher or parent. "Well??"

Ken said sheepishly, "I thought he knew. I only said you'd gone to put the place on the market, that's all."

"That's all?!?" Greg yelled. "That's all?!?"

Ely looked like he suddenly woke up. He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. "Oh good heavens! I forgot to tell him!" Alex started snickering. Even Ken had a smile on his face.

"Oh! You 'forgot' to tell me! Well that excuses everything, doesn't it?" He turned around
and started stomping back towards the door, yelling over his shoulder. "I guess I should just go pack and do what I'm told. Why discuss anything with me anyway? Who the fuck am I? Just the architect who made it all bigger and better, that's all! Lived here all my life so why the fuck should I have any say in anything, right?!?" At the door he spun around with one finger up in the air ready to make another point and then froze, staring at the three other guys.

They were all doubled up laughing. Ely was walking toward Greg with his hands waving in the air like he was trying to use sign language since he was laughing too hard to talk. Greg still had one finger up in the air and looked at each one of the guys while a sheepish grin spread across his face.

"I, uh..." Greg said, "I stepped in it again, didn't I?" That made the other guys laugh even harder. "I jumped in with both feet apparently."

Ely walked up to Greg and wrapped his arms around him. Between laughs he told Greg, "My love! Don't worry! We aren't going anywhere."

"Well what the hell do you mean? You put the house up for sale! What do you mean we're not going anywhere!?"

Ely tried to talk and catch his breath at the same time. "I have to, Greg! Every 50 or 60 years or so the house has to show on paper that it changed hands. Otherwise someone will get suspicious as to why the ownership hasn't been turned over from time to time."

Greg glanced at the other two - still laughing. Ken nodded at Greg. "Alex did it once
before I changed, so I knew what was going on. I just assumed you knew about it too. I didn't mean to jolt you like that."

Greg looked back at Ely, who told him, "I go to the realtor's office as an old man and put the house on the market. A month or so later I go back as a younger man and essentially buy the house from myself. I tell them I live too far away to come back for the closing, so it's all done with the real estate agents and the mail. I mail the paperwork to Alex. He puts it all in a new envelope and mails it back to the agent so there is a post mark from Colorado. I do the same for him when he needs me to."

Greg slumped into Ely and rolled his eyes in relief. He playfully spanked Ely's butt a little and said, "Don't scare me like that again!"

Alex just as playfully slapped Ken's butt. "Don't you scare him, either!"

"Oh no, daddy!" Ken teased Alex, "I don't wanna get in any trouble."

Alex made a show of looking up and down Ken's naked body, "Looks to me like you
already been in some trouble!"

"Oh I sure did, daddy!" Ken laughed, put his arms around Alex's neck and ground his dick into Alex's crotch, "I got in some real nice trouble!"

"Yes!" Ely snickered as he bent over slightly to look closely at the cum drying on Greg's leg. "And it appears as though the trouble he got into is right here!"

Greg grinned and took Ely's hand. He led Ely back to the car. "Well I guess you'll have to think of something to do to me, right daddy?" He looked at Ken and both of them laughed.
Greg pulled Ely's jacket and shirt off and tossed them behind him. He half lifted and half pushed Ely up on the hood of the car and then pulled his pants and briefs off.

Ken put both hands on Alex's shoulders and pushed. Alex went to his knees as Greg
climbed up on the hood of the car. Just as Ken shoved his dick in Alex's mouth Greg squatted and sat down on Ely's face on the car. "Go on, eat it!" he told Ely, "Eat me out and get me in some more trouble!"

Ken wound up bent over the open trunk. One hand held on to the trunk lid and the other was used inside the trunk to brace him as Alex fucked him. Greg bounced up and down on Ely's dick on the hood and shot a load that splattered all over Ely's face. Ken's load went  into the trunk and Alex's load went right up Ken's butt.

Now that there was cum in or on all of them they all grabbed the packages from the trunk and headed into the house. Inside the foyer Ely told Greg and Ken, "Since we are all
awake, how about we pack a bag and head down to Miami?"

"Sure!" Greg said and told Ken, "We'll have some nice 'trouble' down there for sure!"

"Actually there is another motive for the trip," Ely said. "All of us could use some nourishment. We can get some guys up to our suite and you two can practice some feeding techniques."

"Still sounds good to me!" Greg smiled. He grabbed Ken's hand and led him up the stairs. On the way up, Alex and Ely overheard Greg ask Ken, "Do you have to pack his bag for him, too?

"If I didn't the only thing he'd take is a damn suit!"

Alex and Ely once again looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

They hadn't been to Miami since Greg was nearing 65 years old; almost 30 years ago.
There were some changes, as expected. Ely had found a new hotel to call their favorite. He
explained that he had to do that from time to time anyway so he wouldn't be recognized by the hotel staff for too many years, or someone would wonder how he could live so long. The new hotel had huge suites with amenities all over the place. They checked in and followed their usual custom of immediately having a meal to try out the hotel's restaurant.

Greg was looking forward to going out and seeing what other changes Miami had gone through and doing some cock hunting with the guys. He was disappointed to be told he would have to stay in the hotel room while the other guys went hunting.

"You know some of the boys still live in the area," Ely told him. "We can't take any
chance of you running into them and having them recognize you. Until you feed on some other guys you can't change the way you look." He patted Greg's head and smiled, "By tomorrow night we can all go out and do whatever we want."

Ken decided to keep Greg company while Alex and Ely went out. They decided to make
themselves look older and rich. That way they knew they could easily find some boys willing to get naked for some cash. They got dressed and left and Greg and Ken were already pulling each other's clothes off.

Downtown the guys didn't need to use their eyes at all for other than cruising. There were
as many young guys on the streets as there ever were. Ely knew that wouldn't make Greg
feel good, but there was nothing further they could do. It didn't take long at all until one cute guy dressed to tease asked them if they were looking for some action. His smile widened when Alex offered a generous finder's fee if the guy could gather up three or four other guys for a nice orgy.

Greg and Ken were just getting out of the shower when Alex and Ely came in the room
with 4 of the hottest looking guys Greg had seen in a number of years. Every one knew
the game, and within a couple of minutes there were eight naked guys all over the suite
in different stages of a good fuck. Greg and Ken and the "dads" used their heightened
sex drives to fuck the four guys over and over again until they were exhausted. Greg and
Ken kept glancing at their mentors and Alex and Ely knew what they were thinking. That
this was one hell of an appetizer to their "meal."

When the guys were spent and just laying around with each other, Greg and Ken used
their new found talent with their eyes and while they only appeared to be making out with the other guys, they were actually sucking on their necks. Alex and Ely did the same with the other two guys. Greg and Ken spent a little time feeding on each of the four guys. With Alex and Ely's practiced talents, the four guys were left with nothing more than a hickey.

The next morning they all had a huge breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. The four guys were sent off with their stomachs full of food and their pockets full of money. They kidded each other about their hickeys but were more than happy with the night and the monetary results of it. One of them gave Ely his phone number and left with a promise that his services would most definitely be used again.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent in their suite teaching Greg and Ken how
to change their looks. Since they had taken in the DNA of four different guys, the combinations of looks they could achieve were plentiful. Again Ely told them the trick was not to think about the actual act of making the change, but to tell themselves that they
had already changed. Greg and Ken closed their eyes and concentrated. They found that
actually changing the way they looked was the easy part. When they looked at themselves
in the mirror they understood why Alex and Ely had burst out laughing.

Greg, who used to have dark brown hair now had a head of flaming red hair. The problem
was, his chest hair was jet black, and his crotch hair was blonde. He had one blue eye and one green eye. He certainly looked diferent - there was nothing of the old Greg left in him. At least that much worked!

Ken's blonde hair was replaced with dark hair, but his eyebrows were still blonde, while his
chest and crotch were covered in red hair. His eyes were also two different colors, and his
feet were two distinctly different sizes. They laughed at themselves and each other.

"When you're deciding what to look like," Alex told them between snickers, "You must
concentrate on the complete look. You must think of every tiny detail, as you can see."
The two guys were shaking their heads. "But don't worry, with practice you can do it all in
a second. You actually learn how to make that mental picture of what you want and then
change yourself into it in the blink of an eye."

The guys spent the afternoon practicing. They found that it was easy to get one look right,
and then return to it later without having to think about it. The difficult part was the act of
picturing a complete look that they hadn't tried before. Easiest was making themselves look like an older or younger version of themselves. Just for fun, the four of them went
out to dinner looking completely different. It was more important for Greg and Ely in case they ran into any of the boys, but the idea of the charade was fun for Ken.

They chose a restaurant in the middle of the gay area for its eye candy and atmosphere
and its eye candy and menu selection and its eye candy and its wine list. A very feminine waiter scurried up to their table, "Good evening, gentlemen!" he said, over doing it a bit, "My name is Archie, and I'll be your waiter this evening!" When they weren't looking at the menu or talking with the waiter they were checking out the eye candy.

Since it was Saturday night the place was crowded. The service was still excellent in spite of the crowd (which pleased Ely immensely), and the noise level allowed them to talk about as privately as an empty restaurant would. Ely ordered for all of them with his usual flourish. They all could tell the waiter was both impressed, and a little confused at such obvious experience coming from what appreared to him to be a teenager.

"Okay," Greg said after the salads were served. "I did what I did in my life - my human
life. So what's next? What do we do now?"

"Basically," Alex said, "We wait. We wait until we have some work to do. Until then we
just live a life much like we did when we were human."

"It's that simple?" Ken asked.

"It is until we have something to do. Then it can get somewhat complicated." Ely told him.

"You mean it gets dangerous?" Greg asked with a hard stare.

Alex and Ely alternated answering questions while they ate. Even though there were full tables around them they pretty much ignored the other diners and were ignored themselves. No one was paying any attention to any other table. The theory that the best place to hide something is right out in the open is a good one.

"Oh not really," Ely smiled, "Keep in mind we cannot be harmed, so what is dangerous for humans is no concern for us. But we can get fairly busy. And things can get complicated what with us having to keep what we do a secret yet get it done anyway."

"Like what?" Ken asked, "What have you guys done before?"

"Well," Ely said while looking down at his salad, "The last 'operation' I took part in - and Alex too and a few others," he waved to Alex, who smiled and nodded, "Was in the early
1940's . . . in Germany."

Greg and Ken stopped eating in mid bite.


          CHAPTER EIGHT

The waiter arrived carrying a small folded table. A busboy was right behind him balancing
a large tray on his shoulder. The waiter popped the table open and the busboy placed the tray on it with the same drama Ely used when he ordered.

Greg and Ken were still staring at Ely.

"Ah!" Ely exclaimed as though nothing untoward was going on. "The aroma is quite seductive, Archie!"

"THANK you sir!" Archie beamed, "I'm sure your palatte will be equally pleased." He made a show of carrying Ely's plate on his fingertips as if he was holding on to egg shells, and with a swoosh placed it in front of Ely who clapped his hands together. The others were served just as dramatically with Archie beaming and gushing his best wishes for a pleasant dinner. The busboy refilled water glasses and tea glasses and then both of them scurried away; leaving the guys to their dinner.

Greg and Ken were still staring at Ely.

"It looks, wonderful, doesn't it?" Ely asked no one in particular as he artfully snapped his cloth napkin open and spread it over his lap. "A flawless presentation! Wouldn't you say so?" he asked Alex.

"Undoubtedly!" Alex smiled. "Obviously this place is now on your list of favorites."

"Absolutely!" Ely said as he cut into the prime rib. He took a bite and almost dropped his
fork on his plate. "Mmmmm!" he leaned back and chewed with a smile on his face, almost
like he'd just cum right in his shorts. "Perfection!" he exclaimed, "There is none better!"

Under the table Greg's leg straightened out and he gave Ely's shin a swift kick, "Will you get ON with it?!?" he growled. His eyes quickly scanned the tables around them. No one was paying any attention to them.

Ely and Alex both snickered. "I'm sorry, my love," Ely said as he went back to work on his
dinner, "But nothing of substance has happened since then, and this particular story is becoming quite tedious to tell again and again."

Greg fixed Ely with a hard stare, "Try!"

Ken stared equally hard at Alex, "Try really hard!"

Alex started since Ely was still busy gushing over dinner. "Well, obviously our old friend Adolph had gotten completely out of control. Rather quickly, too. We needed to take him
out, and we needed to do it as quickly as we could while still remaining invisible to the general public."

"So you killed him." Greg was trying to hurry things along.

"No, no," mumbled Ely between bites, "He killed himself. What we did was guide things in
that direction. Remember, it had to be done so that society at large would think they accomplished his defeat themselves." He reached over and patted Greg's hand. "My love, please - eat."

"Ely!" Greg said and stared deep in Ely's eyes.

Ely saw the look, "Greg, no matter what - you must eat. And this dinner is particularly good. Please keep in mind - I was there. I helped. I do realize the seriousness."

Greg lowered his eyes, "Sorry."

"Not at all," Ely said and held Greg's hand, "What you don't understand quite yet, Greg,"
his eyes went to Ken, "Nor you, Ken, is that we consider the operation more of a failure
than a success."

Ken and Greg's heads snapped up. "A failure!?" Ken said, "How on earth could it be a failure? He was gotten rid of if the history books are correct."

"Oh yes, they're correct," Alex said. He took a deep breath, "But so so many were lost.
So many more than needed to be. We feel we got started too late, that we should have
went to work sooner and possibly saved more innocent lives." He shrugged his shoulders, "But as I'm sure Ely told you, we are not perfect, and that operation is much too good an example."

"Okay," Greg said, "How?"

"Well we couldn't just walk up to the man and plant this or that thought in his head." Ely told them. "He was very much unapproachable. Too well protected. We had to begin with the outer fringes of his circle. We had to first taste the blood of those in that outer circle so we could look like them. Once we accomplished that, then we could go further into his circle, feeding off his men at each layer, changing our looks, and advancing closer and closer to him. As long as we looked like the men that their superiors expected to see, we had no trouble making contact further and further up the chain until we could come face to face with old Adolph himself."

"So you had to have sex with all those guys?" Greg asked.

"Not at all," Ely said, "We had neither the time, nor the inclination. As you will both learn, having sex with guys while feeding is not a requirement. It is of course, the most pleasant way to feed as you know from last night. But all you really have to do is make eye contact and the man will do what you tell him."

Greg thought about it a second. "I guess I'm glad to hear that!" he smiled at Ely. Ely nodded to show he understood.

"It is also not an absolute that we feed from the neck," Alex continued. "We do - mostly because the neck is so close to a guy's lips, but any part of the body where the blood vessels are very close to the surface of the skin will do. The bend of the elbow where most hospital labs draw blood for example, or the area right behind the knee - which is what we used on his men, and on him. It's an area where a small bruise would be the least noticed."

"Understand," Ken said. He hadn't started eating, either. He looked at Alex. "I'm glad to hear it, too." Alex smiled and nodded. Neither Ken nor Greg would have been happy to learn that the love of their lives used to fuck Nazi's.

"Once we got to him, we started feeding on him," Ely said. "As I said, there were several
of us, so after we had all fed on him, his total blood volume was significantly depleted. Not
enough for anyone to notice immediately, but with the depletion of blood volume came a
depletion of oxygen supply to his body tissues, specifically his brain."

Ken and Greg glanced at each other but didn't talk.

"Greg, Ken," Alex smiled at them, "You want to hear more - you have to eat."

Both guys sighed and mechanically started eating. After the first bite they both fixed the other two with another hard stare.

Alex nodded, "The decreased oxygen supply didn't take long to show its effects. He started
making mistakes. Bad judgements. Wrong decisions. His inner circle stopped trusting him. No longer believed in him. Indeed, some of them even plotted to assassinate him. A few tried, as you know from your studies, but they were disappointingly unsuccessful."

Greg and Ken were eating without thinking or tasting. They only kept eating so Alex and Ely would keep talking.

"But still it was a slow process," Ely said without looking at the guys. "We were extremely frustrated. We were even discussing entering his mind and causing something catastrophic like a stroke or heart attack."

"Why didn't you?" Greg asked. "Seems like something like that wouldn't cause any suspicion. Not in those days anyway."

"It most likely wouldn't have," Alex answered. "If we had taken that step, it would have been the first time in our history that we killed a man outright. But as it happens, we didn't have to. Fortunately he made a big mistake in redirecting his armies away from western Europe and turning them east to Russia." Alex looked at the guys, "And you know what good that did."

"Yeah," Ken said, "The Russians beat 'em bad. Kicked their butts."

"Yes, and then the United States went into full gear and finished the job in Germany. Old Adolph finally saw the futility of his actions and finished our job for us," Ely said. "But we
all remain highly dissatisfied at the length of time and the lives lost during the process, but
we had to keep our primary mission in mind - that no one had even an inkling that it was us
working on Divine direction."

Greg and Ken ate and looked at their plates. "But still," Ken said, "You did it. You might
not be happy with it, but you still did good."

"Yes," Alex said with a sigh. He'd finished his dinner and leaned back in his chair. "Over
time we were happy with the way things turned out. But Ely is right, it certainly took a long time for us to feel better about it."

"One thing that helped us get over it, though," Ely told them, "was when we realized that it was going to work, we split up and traveled to the camps. You know - the death camps." He too had finished his meal. He pushed his plate aside and folded his hands in front of him on the table. "Working alone, there was no way we could overpower the guards. So we chose one and fed off of him. Afterwards we filled his mind with conflicting thoughts and sent him away. He wandered off and became lost and we took his place in the camps. We made eye contact with as many of the inmates as we could and planted a thought of hope in their minds. Enough, we hoped, to keep them struggling for one more day and one more day, as we knew the allies were on their way." He grinned at the guys, "In some places it worked so well that the inmates rose up and overpowered the guards themselves and escaped even before the allies arrived."

"I see why you don't feel good telling that story," Greg smiled and signaled the waiter. Archie came almost running to the table.

"I hope your dinner was satisfactory, gentlemen," he gushed.

"Oh it was certainly that!" Greg said before Ely could say anything. Greg winked at Alex.
"We'd like to see if dessert can live up to the entree."

Suddenly Ely's eyes lit up and he was back to his old self again. "Yes! Absolutely! Let's
have dessert!" he smiled at Archie. "I saw the display when we came in and haven't gotten
it out of my head!"

They had dessert and decided to walk back to the hotel. They were only one block from the
beach and could hear the waves hitting the shore as they walked. Greg could tell that Ely was listening to the waves and that they were relaxing him. He was glad to see it. So he guided them all toward the sand and they started walking along the beach.

They took off their shoes and socks and walked barefoot for a while. Night had fallen and the beach was almost empty. Here and there was a bonfire with guys huddled around it for warmth and companionship. The sounds of laughter and conversation flowed and ebbed with the waves as they walked past one group of guys after another. Outside the hotel they stripped out of their clothes and sat on the sand in their underwear. It wasn't a nude beach but they certainly looked out of place fully dressed. There was a moon out, and the street lights and lights from the hotel dispelled some of the darkness. But the late hour, the nearly empty beach, and lack of their own bonfire made them practically invisible. The two couples sat arm in arm facing the sea.

Greg turned to Ely. "That can't be all," he said with a smile. "What have you done that was all good?"

Ken nodded agreement. "I bet there's a lot more of that," he said. "It doesn't have to be
recent, but I bet there's plenty of those kind of stories to tell."

Alex and Ely laughed. They glanced at each other with a knowing look. Their protege's were taking care of them and they knew it. Get them to talk about something good so they'll feel better. They knew it was a psychological trick, but they silently appreciated the gesture.

"Well one thing that we can't take complete credit for, but are particularly proud of is this very country itself." Alex said.

Ken signed dramatically. "Oooookay!" he laughed. "Are you going to tell us you used to be Benjamin Franklin?"

Ely and Alex fell back on the sand laughing. Ken and Greg looked at each other and shook their heads. It almost seemed to be teacher against students, but playfully. They both jumped on their mentors and lovers and tickled them until the teachers begged the students to stop. A few other guys and couples walked along the beach past them and watched and giggled and then moved on.

When they were somewhat alone again Ely started talking again. "Oh no.." he said. "Nothing as spectacular as that." He looked at Greg and Ken, "But you remember we said that we have ways. We have ways to look out for each other. To watch each other. To protect each other. Even to remove each other if the need arises."  The guys nodded. "Well it is a system that works very well, as I said. In fact, it works so well that when this country was forming we thought the same kind of system would work here too, if it was put into place at the very beginning. So we were there in Philadelphia at the beginning. We planted the thought in a few of the delegates heads. It worked, and once again, society at large thought that they did it themselves. It boosted their confidence, and they finished the job of making a country without any further assistance from us. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Sure." Ken said and shrugged his shoulders, "Democracy, right?"

"Well, yes, in a way," Alex answered, "But not the idea of democracy itself. More of a single aspect of democracy. A single aspect, but we feel it was the most important aspect of all."

"I got it!" Greg said as he rolled on top of Ely and raised up to sit across his hips. "Checks
and balances!"

Ely reached up to carress Greg's face, "To put it in recent terms," he smiled, "Bingo!" Ely let his hands slide down Greg's body and grope his crotch but Greg snickered and pushed Ely's hand away. Ely looked puzzled.

"You're not done yet!" Greg teased. He scooted up a bit and ground his butt on Ely's bulge. "You wanna get up in here you gotta answer another question first."

Ely and Alex groaned. Ken agreed with Greg. "Come on guys!" he snickered. "You made
us wait all our lives. You said we'd be together forever. You said you couldn't tell us anything until now. So you can talk now and fuck later!"

"Yeah!" Greg tickled Ely some more. He winked at Ken, "But not too much later!"

Ken leaned over and ran his finger tips along Alex's lips, "One more," he teased, "And I'll give an apple to teacher!"

"Allright, allright!" Ely laughed and held a finger up in the air. "One more question. But
only one."

Greg stopped teasing. "How do you know? How do we know? How do we know when we
have a job to do? Who tells us? Does someone appear to us in a blinding light or something? Do we get a phone call that sounds like it's really really long distance.....?"

Ely put his fingers up to Greg's mouth to silence him and looked at a grinning Alex.

"You'll have to teach him what the word "one" means!" Alex kidded them.

"Well we wanna know!" Ken laughed and tweaked Alex's nipples, "Do we get an email that comes from TheBigGuy@yahoo.com?" he laughed.

"Oh come off it!" Alex rolled his eyes. "Of course not!"

Ken and Greg looked at each other and laughed.

"He uses Hotmail," Alex said matter of factly.

This time it was Greg and Ken who fell back on the sand laughing.

"Actually, that question doesn't have a clear cut answer," Ely said as he sat up. "We don't
really get 'told.' We don't get any definite communication in that sense." He crossed his
legs and looked at both of them. Greg had long since gotten used to the look Ely was giving
them. It meant he was serious now.

"You see," Ely went on, "You get a feeling. A sense. Something that you feel strongly
about. You see something happening somewhere in the world, and you feel that we need to do something." He had they guys' full attention now. "When that happens what we do is get in touch with each other. I, for instance, would get in touch with Alex. I would tell him what I was thinking and why." He held a finger up in the air. "If Alex were to say, 'I was
thinking the same thing, and I was about to call you.' Then I would know that my thoughts were on the right track. So Alex and I would then call someone else. If we got the same response, then we would know for sure that we had a job to do. But if even one of us seems
surprised or confused, or professes to not know anything about what we were talking about, we would have to re-think our position on the matter. Then we would travel and get together and discuss the issue amoungst ourselves face to face. We would go to work based on a majority decision." Ely shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose you could say that the initial thought was of Divine origin, but we've never questioned it. When you think about it, it's not really that important anyway."

Ken was sitting up and rubbing Alex's chest. "So what you're saying is that we don't really
know, but we know." He nodded a few times while he thought about it. "I guess you could
say it doesn't make any sense, but it makes sense,"  he grinned at the guys. "If that makes
any sense!"

Greg thought about the night in the woods with Ely when they first met, and the eerie light
that bathed the clearing in the woods. He thought about the other night with Ely on the
beach in the darkness and the same light again. "You know what?" he told the guys. "It
doesn't have to make any sense."

Ken looked down at Alex, "I lied about something," he teased. Alex only looked at him. "I don't really have an apple for the teacher!"

"Oh screw the damn apple!" Alex growled as he put his hand behind Ken's head and pulled
him down. "I want a blow job!"

They both got a very energetic blow job. Other guys walking along the beach stopped to watch a bit while they stroked their own dicks. They walked away smiling. Along the beach the noise from the laughter and conversations died down as word spread. It wasn't a nude beach before, but it sure was now!

The night wore on and the air grew chilly. The guys put on their pants and shirts, using
their T-shirts to wipe the cum off their faces. They laughed and headed back up to the hotel.

The lobby was empty when they walked in the entrance and headed to the elevators. Ken
pushed the button and Greg used the isolation to give Ely a quick kiss.

"In the morning we'll call room service and have breakfast in our room," he told Ely.

Ely frowned, "My love, you know how I feel about room service," he told Greg, "They are
always late, and the food is cold, and you never know how long it sits after it is prepared until they bring it to your room."

"Yes, I know, babe," Greg said with his arm around Ely. "But tonight," he reached between Ely's legs and massaged his dick through his pants, "I'm going to work your body over so hard and so long you won't care one way or the other what room service brings us tomorrow!"

Ely grabbed Greg's hand and they forgot about the elevator and ran up the stairs.


           CHAPTER NINE

The four of them made quite a comical group at the door to their suite. They were groping
each other and kissing and pulling each others dicks out while trying to slide their key
cards into the slot to open the door. The only thing they all kept missing was the key card
slot. It was a gay hotel after all, so anyone in the hallway wouldn't have complained at the
sight of four young teenagers acting like they were going to fuck right there in the hallway.

One of their key cards worked and they spilled into the room, and the four of them went to the same king sized bed and went nuts on each other. Ken and Greg had a new respect for their mentors and lovers and showed it to them all the rest of the night and that bed got a real trashing! Bodies slid over bodies, dicks got sucked, butts got fucked over and over again. They switched off and switched off and everybody took a load of cum up their butts and down their throats and all over their bodies.

Greg and Ken had fun changing their looks after each load of cum was shot. Ely and Alex
picked up on it and the guys felt like they were fucking a bunch of different guys. If the scene was filmed, the audience would have thought there was a huge orgy going on in that room. They changed their faces, make their dicks bigger and smaller, tightened up their butts, and fucked until after the sun rose.

They emptied all their cum and calmed down and laid together and held each other. When they finally tried to pull themselves apart to head for the shower they imagined hearing a sound much like velcro being pulled apart when they separated their naked and sticky bodies. The four of them slept together in the same bed until the early afternoon.

The room service waiter wheeled brunch into the room on a big cart loaded with food. He
didn't say anything about it but noticed that of the two king sized beds in the suite only one
was used. He left the room thinking to himself, 'Damn! I wish I could afford to stay here!'

They sat around the table and ate naked. This time Ely kept smiling and told Greg that
he was right - this particular meal was wonderful even though it was room service. While they ate they laughed at each other as each was playing footsie under the table and each guy snuck a foot up into someone else's crotch and used his toes to play with the guy's dick. Each also felt a foot up in his own crotch and they ended up back on the bed almost without finishing the meal.

They exhausted themselves all over again and emptied themselves all over again. The four
of them all fucked each other and got fucked by each other once again and they kept at it
almost until dinner time. By the time they couldn't get hard again, Greg and Alex had fallen off the bed and kept on fucking on the floor. Ely and Ken were spread eagled on the bed. All of them panted and smiled and rubbed cum into their bodies.

The shower didn't get a work out this time. The guys were too tired so they only showered
and hung out in the room. Ely flipped through the phone book, looking for another new
restaurant to try out for dinner. He read the ads like a food critic would and made the other guys snicker.

Alex leaned over to Greg, "I've told him several times he should open his own restaurant."

Greg thought about it a few seconds, "Maybe not," he smiled. "He may never come home!"

"You know you're probably right," Alex said. "Come to think of it, he has a degree in culinary arts and almost never came home from school!"

Ely grinned and shook a finger at all of them, "I will find us a good restaurant and you know you will all thank me!" he laughed and kept turning the pages.

After they laughed Greg asked Ken while flicking his hand toward Alex, "Does he have as many degrees as Ely does?"

"Oh man!" Ken rolled his eyes. "He's got more of 'em than I can count! When he told me
I should go to school there was no way I could argue with him."

"He told me I could back to school when I wanted," Greg said. "That it's something like
a hobby."

"Actually, Greg," Ely looked up from the phone book, "It is a little more than a hobby. I
considered it something like an assignment."

"Yeah?" Greg asked. "How is it an assignment?"

"Well, Greg," Ely set the phone book aside and Greg and Ken knew they were about to
learn something else new. "I have many degrees, as I said. Among the others, I am an ordained Christian Minister." Greg's eyes widened. "I am also a Jewish Rabbi." Now Ken's eyes joined Greg's. "And I am also a Catholic Priest." The guys rolled their eyes
and looked at each other. Ely pointed to Alex. "Alex here has studied the eastern religions. Together we make something of a team." Greg and Ken looked at Alex smiling at them, then back to Ely.

"Just like that!" Greg said, "You just decided to go out and get yourself all that training?"

"Not so much like that," Ely grinned. "It took over two hundred years. I went to school when I wanted something to do."

"Oh yeah!" Ken threw up his hands. "Bored? Got nothing else to do? Go to school and
become a preacher. Three times!"

Alex and Ely looked at each other and laughed. "You'll have to wait," Alex told them.
"You'll see how it can get. One of these days you'll decide that getting educated in different
fields is actually fun to do. We decided to study the religions, however, because we felt we
needed to know what makes those religious leaders tick. How they think. How they are
taught to think. When they make their 'declarations,' we know what they are really thinking."

"Come to think of it, there's a lot of them I don't trust." Ken said, "And I'm not even sure why. There's just something about them I can't put my finger on, but I don't trust them."

Ely was nodding as Ken talked. "Your lack of trust is well founded, Ken," Ely said. "Those
leaders truly expect to be followed. They feel that they are above the same requirement
that politicians and others have to explain themselves. In their opinion, all they have to do is speak, and it is your responsibility to listen, to believe, and to follow." He raised his
finger once again to make a point. "And most especially, to not question. In fact, there are some religions that have declared questioning the Bible to be a mortal sin. What that declaration couches, is the fact that it absolves the leaders of those religions of accountability. They claim that questioning the leaders is the same as questioning the Bible, and they say that such a thing is not done. Therefore, they claim that they have no need to answer those questions." Ely spread his hands, "You can imagine how dangerous such thinking is - they have assigned themselves the authority to do or say anything. As long they hold the Bible in one hand, they expect no reprisals from their words or actions." Ely sighed, "They hold the Bible up not as an instrument of faith or guidance, but only as a wall to hide behind. "

"Not only that," Alex put in, "but in countries where religious freedom is written into the laws as a right, they claim that any question of their authority in that respect is a violation of that right, once again absolving themselves of the same accountability that other leaders must submit to. But they do it in a round about manner; they are very cunning, never coming right out and saying so. People today see that behavior; it makes them suspicious, and that's where distrust such as yours comes from, Ken. As Ely said, it is well founded. Leaders such as those bear very close scrutiny."

Greg and Ken were both sitting with one hand over their mouths, once again in deep thought. Ken waggled a finger at their teachers, "You guys know don't you?" Alex and Ely looked at him, "You know who's right, don't you? Which religion is correct with what it teaches?"

Ely and Alex looked at each other as if they were deciding who would take this one. Ely smiled and spoke, "As we've said before, Ken, we are not perfect. We don't know everything. But when it comes to which religion is correct, we do know this - none of them are."

"Really?" Greg said, surprised, "None of them? None of them even come close?"

Ely shook his head, "You see, right now all religions teach their followers that they are elite. That while it is ordained that they show compassion and respect to people of other religions, those other religions and people are nonetheless inferior. As long as they teach that, they are not correct. When the day comes that they all teach equality in its literal sense, then they will all be correct."

"That day is a long long long way off!" Ken laughed.

"It certainly is," Ely said, "But by and large, when you look at all the individual churches
around the world, most of those pastors and reverends and such are nothing to fear. They
genuinely concern themselves with the welfare of their congregation, doing what they can
to help and guide, and they are certainly needed. There wasn't really a problem with them, and we paid them no mind until after the advent of the television in the 1950s. At that time a few of them rose to more prominence than what was good for the population as a whole. Those few corraled for themselves a wide sphere of notoriety, and far too much ability to exert influence on the government. Those are the ones who bear scrutiny, and we provide it."

"Have you ever had to take any one of those out?" Ken asked.

Alex shook his head, "Some have been taken out, but fortunately, it wasn't us who did it.
Their own people finally saw through their charade and did the job themselves. We are
ready, but as long as people take it upon themselves to not only ask questions, but demand appropriate answers, we will only have to watch."

"Watch TV!" Greg grinned.

Alex nodded, "Watch TV, listen to the radio, read, puruse the internet - however, whenever, and where ever those people show themselves, we need to be there."

Greg thought back over the years with Ely, and then it suddenly connected. He remembered all the evenings when he was studying or working on his designs, and Ely was sitting in his favorite chair in the library reading one magazine after another. It seemed he subscribed to almost everything in print. "So it wasn't just enjoyment, or a hobby," he said to Ely. "You were actually working, weren't you?"

Ely bowed slightly as was his habit.

"So I guess we need to start reading everything we can get our hands on, eh?" Ken asked.

"It used to be that reading the newspapers and word of mouth was the only way to keep up
with things," Alex told them as Ely went back to the phone book. "But now days there are
many ways to stay abreast of world events. Magazines are one way, television and radio, the internet especially. Over time we learned our lesson. When we are suspicious of
anyone; religious, political, academic, whatever - we find a way to come face to face with them. Even if it is from the first few rows of an audience, we make eye contact with them
and then we know exactly what is behind their words. It's actually a much easier job today than it used to be."

"So how much help do we have?" Ken asked. "How many of us are there?"

"Worldwide we number a few thousand," Alex answered. "We work much like a sales force does, each of us having a certain territory that we pay particular attention to and report to the others whenever something is up." He nodded to Ely, "Ely and Greg will keep an eye on the eastern portion of this country. You and I, Ken, watch the middle of the country. There is another couple who watch the western third. It depends on the total population of a particular area. Some countries have a few of us. Other areas of the world have one of us who watches several entire countries. We get together now and then - about once a century or so to socialize, discuss, and keep up with each other."

"But you said we would never know who all the others are." Greg pointed out.

"That's true," Alex said and nodded, "Even if we tried, we couldn't get all of us together in one place anyway. There's just too many of us, and when we're not working on a particular operation such as the last one in the middle of last century, we get involved in other projects to keep us occupied. Ely, for instance, would not have attended any gathering while he and Greg were looking after their boys."

"AH HA!" Ely yelled and made them all jump. He didn't notice. He kept talking excitedly, "Here is a place that sounds worth a visit. Upscale, classy."

"Sounds good, let's go," Greg said and grinned at the others.

"Somewhat elegant apparently," Ely continued as if he didn't hear, "A varied menu."

"Sounds good, let's go," Greg sighed.

"It has everything from seafood fresh caught from the ocean right outside to Italian to Oriental to Mexican!"

"Sounds good, let's fucking go!" Greg laughed.

"It's located just a few blocks from here and situated between two dance clubs. We can have dinner and then go check out the guys at the club. We can make ourselves look to be
in our middle 20's or so and have some fun." Ely looked up from the phone book and saw that the guys weren't listening to him any more. They were already getting dressed.


           CHAPTER TEN

A couple of years later Greg and Ely packed up their winter clothes and went to visit Alex and Ken in Colorado. The first thing they learned was that Colorado had real winters, not the psuedo winters that Florida had. The clothes they packed weren't warm enough and they had to go shopping immediately.

Alex and Ken had a large, secluded, and beautiful log home built on a mountainside. The living room was designed much like a ski lodge. Greg marveled at the fireplace which was located not in one wall, but right in the middle of the room so that a fire was like the bonfires Greg was used to on the beach. A hood was suspended from the rafters that connected to the chimney.

Their property bordered the ski resort that Ken owned. When Ken ended his human life he and Alex had his will fixed so that Ken left the resort to. . . well . . .to himself! He claimed the property as a young man with the proper but fake identification. That resort would remain with Ken as long as he wished, once a lifetime or so putting the property on the market as an old man and buying it back as a young man, the same way Alex and Ely kept their homes over the years.

Once every couple of months or so, Ken would sponsor (what was intially at the consternation of the locals), a Gay Days at the resort, and young gay men would fly in from all over. That was when Alex and Ken did their own feeding. Ely and Greg went to visit during one of the Gay Days.

Greg saw that the place was just as crawling with hot men of all types as the beaches of Miami were, albeit with the guys wearing considerably more clothing. What he quickly discovered was how much fun it was working all those clothes off! The living room of Alex and Ken's house saw many orgies with naked guys all over the place and in every bedroom. Any time the guys wanted a butt or a dick, all they had to do was turn their heads and one or the other was right there.

The lodge and hotel on the resort was what occupied most of Ken's time. It was just as beautiful as any hotel in Miami. Each of its guest rooms had a panoramic view not of the ocean, but of snow filled mountains. It also had a restaurant that Ely smilingly pronounced first rate. They spent many evenings there having dramatic dinners. Ken hired as many gay staff as he could but wasn't able to make it 100 percent.  Still, there was enough for some interesting office parties now and then!

In the evenings they would often go enjoy the gay night life of Aspen. Most times they would all pretend to be housemates and would bring home several guys to spend the night, and other times they would make themselves look older and do the daddy/boy thing. Greg and Ken especially had fun with that, now that they could be the "daddy." Greg was somewhat disappointed to learn that Aspen had its share of boys on the streets, and he would always make sure to include them in their sex play. He would slip some extra bills in their pockets the next day as he sent them off.

During their visit, Ken taught Greg to ski. Alex and Ely already knew how to ski, although they all saw how rusty Ely was. The resort also had a few trails that attracted cross country skiers. Not a lot of hills to them but miles of ski paths that wound around the resort. Greg was immediately caught up in the thrill of skiing with the wind rushing past him as he seemed to fly down the slopes. Hearing only the wind, he felt like all problems and concerns were actually blown away during a rush down the slopes, and he understood the attraction.

One morning Ken led Greg along one of the cross country paths. At one point, Ken veered off the path and they ended up skiing right into the woods. Greg followed but was apprehensive skiing right between trees. He had always thought that trees were something a skier tried really hard to avoid! Ken slowed down and made some turns and slowed some more and then came to a stop. Greg skied up next to him and gasped.

The woods broke into a small clearing, and right in the middle of the clearing was a tiny log cabin. Picture post card perfect!

"Wow!" Greg yelled as they took off their skis. Ken brushed a thick coating of snow off the door, opened it and took Greg inside. The interior was no larger than a typical master bedroom. There was a small fireplace on one wall, with wood all ready stacked next to it. More wood was outside. On the wall next to the door was a single bed. The opposite wall was lined with cabinets. The last wall held a sink and chair. The chair made Greg laugh. At the outset it was a regular chair. The seat of the chair lifted up to reveal a toilet.

The cabinets were stocked with canned and dehydrated food. One cabinet was a fairly extensive first aid kit. Another held a telephone, a small radio, and a flare gun with several flares. "There's twenty of these cabins all through the resort," Ken told Greg. "The idea is that lost skiers can hopefully stumble onto one of these cabins and have some shelter and food and a way to send for help."

"That's smart!" Greg said.

"Its worked several times, too!" Ken said. "The phone here is connected directly to Air Rescue. If it isn't working they can use the radio. If even that isn't working, they can fire off flares if the weather is clear." Ken showed Greg a folder that explained how to use the equipment. "If they're not injured and can move, they can build a fire and cook some food. The phone is the only electric thing in here, so they have to use to fireplace to cook." Ken showed Greg a cabinet that had a few pots and pans, plates and silverware of the type that a camper would pack.

Ken started a fire in the fireplace that quickly warmed the cabin up. "This cabin is due to be checked and re-stocked in a couple of days," he told Greg. "So it's okay if we use up some stuff."

Greg thought about the tiny trail they had come from. He couldn't imagine even an experienced skier trying to navigate the trails while carrying sacks. "How do you get supplies out here?" he asked.

"With snowmobiles," Ken smiled. "Most times I grab one and come re-stock these places myself just to get out and around. But I have a crew that regularly keeps up. In the summer I hire a bunch of college kids to spend the summer here and work on any repairs and fix up the trails and chop wood and stuff."

"Nice way to get it done," Greg said.

"Yeah, I put 'em up in the hotel and pay 'em good and feed 'em good," Ken said, "They either don't want to go home for the summer break from school, or they just want to make the extra money," he grinned at Greg. "Some of them bring their girlfriends and I have to make sure they work in separate places every day, or they spend the whole day fucking in the woods and don't get any work done!"

Greg laughed, "That sounds almost cruel!"

"Nah," Ken said, "You should see that hotel every night in the summer! Business is real slow then and the kids have the run of the place."

"Oh yeah!" Greg said, "Say no more - I know what they're doing!"

Greg was sitting on the bed. Ken came and sat next to him. He put his arm around Greg. "And," he said as he reached between Greg's legs and fondled his crotch, "it can get real interesting in the woods depending on who you come out here with!"

Greg smiled, "You sneaky bastard," he laughed. "It's getting real interesting right now!" And he leaned over to kiss Ken. They wound up naked on the bed with the fire in the fireplace in a tiny little log cabin way out in the woods and fucked each other over and over again until late afternoon. Ken sighed and said they needed to start back before dark.

Back at the house Alex left word that he and Ely had gone into town, and that they would
have dinner there. "We can go to the hotel and have dinner, or I can whip something up here if you want," Ken told Greg.

"Let's eat here," Greg said. "We can find something, can't we? Does Alex keep the
kitchen as well stocked as Ely does?"

"Oh yes!!" Ken laughed. "He likes to eat like Ely does - but even so - with all the spontaneous parties we have here we want to make sure we can feed everybody. Hey! How
about grilled steak?"

Greg looked outside at the snow covered patio. "How?"

Ken had gone into the kitchen. He came back into the living room with a grill and fit it right
over the fireplace. Greg nodded his approval. "Nice!" he said.

"The fire can burn down to a nice set of coals while the potatoes bake," Ken said and smiled. "We can actually grill 'out' without even going outside."

In the kitchen they washed and wrapped a few potatoes and put them in the oven to bake. Ken took some corn from the refridgerator that Alex got at the local farmer's market right after being picked from the fields. They sat at the table pulling the shucks from the corn.

"So do you still run the resort like you used to?" Greg asked.

Ken shook his head. "Alex talked me out of it. I hired a manager, so I'm considered something of an absentee owner. He convinced me that I don't have to work like I did when I was human. He said I'd have other things to do now."

"What are you doing now?"

"Not much, really," Ken shrugged. "I still go to the resort a lot, but more like a guest." He grinned at Greg, "No one knows me now. They think I'm a relative of the owner. I ski a lot more than I ever did. I started getting sick when I was in my early 40's and had to stop skiing, so it's kind of nice to get caught up with it. I drag guys over here when I can. Travel some with Alex now and then. How about you?"

"About the same," Greg said as he pulled what he thought were hairs off the cobs of corn. "We go to Miami a lot - there's a lot happening down there. We travel some too, up and down the coast."

Ken put the corn in a pot and sat it on the stove to wait until the potatoes were almost done. He got a couple of steaks from the refridgerator. He brought them to the table for him and Greg to tenderize and season. He saw Greg staring at nothing in particular, with something of a frown on his face. He sat down and put the steaks aside. He reached out and took Greg's hands.

"Hey," Ken said and looked Greg in the eye. "We're friends now, ya know? I really like you and Ely a lot. If something's wrong, you can talk to me. You can tell me anything."

Greg thought a second and broke into a grin. "Oh no no!" he pulled Ken's hands up to his mouth and kissed them quickly. "Nothing's what you'd call 'wrong', but," he even glanced to his sides like he was making sure no one could hear; even though no one else was there. "You know what I want to do? This fall I'm going back to school!"

"No kidding!" Ken smiled, "Cool."

"I'm just a little nervous about it, that's all," Greg snickered. "I had a blast in college when I was 18, but it's been an awful long time!"

"Sure has!" Ken laughed, "Why? What are you going to study?"

"Archeology."

Ken turned his head and thought about it. "Okay," he said slowly, "Um. . . what brought that up? That's coming right outta the blue."

"Well," Greg sat back, "It's not so much that I want to go around the world digging around looking for lost cities and all. But I want to learn the language, ya know? I want to be able to translate hieroglyphics myself, and studying archeology is a great way to learn that."

Greg was on a roll. He didn't notice that Ken was sitting back givng him a hard stare. He was excited and talked faster.

"And then after that I want to learn Latin and Hebrew and the old Greek languages. I know it'll take several years and all, but I got nothing but time, right? I been thinking about it a long time now, and I really want to do it." Finally he noticed Ken staring at him. "What?"

Ken leaned forward, still not taking his eyes off of Greg. "You want to read the Dead Sea Scrolls for yourself, don't you?"

Greg jumped back a little. "You didn't read me," he said. "You didn't come into my mind, I know that. So how did you know?"

"Because I've been thinking the same thing. Even when I was still human I was thinking about stuff like that. I've always thought that all those people weren't telling us the truth. I couldn't put my finger on it - still can't - but I always felt like they were hiding something. The Vatican has a ton of documents that they won't let anyone see. They just tell everybody to take their word for it. I've always been suspicious."

"Yeah!" Greg said, "When you guys were with us in Florida you said something about that. That's what got me to thinking about it. I've been thinking about it ever since. I talked to Ely and he said it sounded great to him. Aside from going back to college he said it's a great idea and I should go for it."

"What if we both did it?" Ken asked. "I could go to school here, and you could go in Florida. We could be a team after that!"

Greg shrugged and smiled, "Sounds great to me! Not only that but it would give us an excuse to travel around. If nothing else it'll be a lot of fun. We could go to Europe and all. Ely and Alex I bet would love to go back to England for a while."

They talked about it while the potatoes baked. They talked while they grilled the steaks. They talked while they ate and while they did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. They sat in the living room in front of the fire and talked about it with their arms around each other.

"What does Alex say about it all?" Greg asked.

"I haven't even talked to him about it yet," Ken said. "I've only been thinking about it is all."

Greg started to say something else and suddenly stopped in mid sentence and stared straight ahead. He seemed almost in a trance and Ken had to nudge him.

Greg turned to look at Ken, "You know what this means?"

"What?"

"You remember what Ely told us when you guys were with us in Florida? That night in Miami at the restaurant?" Greg turned to face Ken. "I've been thinking about it. Now I find out you've been thinking about it too. Ely said it sounded good to him. If Alex says to go for it too, then. . .well. . . "

Ken's eyes widened and he swallowed hard, "Yeah! It means it wasn't just us thinking about it. It means. . . "

Greg said it, "It means it's not just a thought. It's an assignment!"

"Oh man!" Ken said, "We need to talk to Alex and Ely!"

"When do you think they'll be back?"

Ken looked at the clock, "Alex likes late dinners. They're probably eating now. We could call them I guess."

Greg laughed, "Get Ely out of a restaurant?!? We'd have to tell him the house was on fire or something!"

Ken sighed deeply, "Man this is something! This is heavy!"

Greg nodded, "But we're up for it, aren't we? We can handle it. With the two of us and Alex and Ely's support we're not going at anything alone."

"Yeah." Ken had a huge smile on his face, "We're ready for it!" He stood up and pumped his fists in the air. "I feel good now! I feel pumped!"

They both did. They felt great. They had something to do now. They felt like they had a purpose. They had a job to do. They knew it would be a while before Alex and Ely got home, so they got naked and made very good use of the time.


THE END

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