Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 15:35:28 -0700 (PDT)
From: CloseTheCellarDoor <closethecellardoor@yahoo.com>
Subject: Evil is a Man: Dog Eat Dog No More -- Chapter 9

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Wow, chapter nine.  This story is getting to be too long.

This chapter is fairly significant.  I suggest you read it to the end.

I'm feel a little creatively blocked on chapter ten.  Hopefully it will
come soon.

Send comments or suggestions to "closethecellardoor@yahoo.com."


CHAPTER NINE

On Monday evening Case and I left in the Chevy, on our way to New York
City, where we would get on a flight to London that night.  As we left the
house, Case reminded everybody that Will would be in charge in his absence.

"You two be careful out there," Will advised us as we were leaving.
"London can be a dangerous place.  Be sure to watch your back around
Hadrian."

"Hadrian's a good guy, don't worry," said Case.

Will raised an eyebrow.  "I know Hadrian too.  Don't forget, I used to be
an alpha.  He's ambitious as fuck.  Just be careful."

Russ patted me on the head without smiling.  "Be good, kid," he said.
"Remember who's boss, don't give Case any shit."

Matt, standing beside Russ, smiled and echoed this statement.  "Yeah, be
real good, kid."  He winked at me.

Russ looked at his watch.  "You'd better hurry," he said to Case.  "You'll
be late.  I would have left an hour ago."

"We'll be fine."

Malcolm carried our suitcase out to the Chevy for us.  It was a large,
clunky thing made of brown leather and looking to be several decades old.
Case had asked me to share his suitcase since it was the only one they had.
Obviously they weren't accustomed to travel.

After Malcolm hoisted the suitcase into the truck with ease, he looked at
Case, smiling.  "Why do you have to go and leave that fuckface Will in
charge, boss?" he asked with that goofy grin back on his face.

"There's no other choice, Malcolm.  It sucks, but you'll have to deal with
it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he said, brushing it off.

And then we were on the road, heading to NYC.  When we were on the freeway,
I looked over at Case, who was in the driver's seat.  He had a pair of blue
jeans on, and a black T-shirt.  Like usual, his cool shades were wrapped
around his face.  Case was damn sexy, and my meeting with Matt the night
before had left me sexually charged.  Was Matt right?  Would I be able to
seduce Case if I tried?  Looking at him there, holding the bottom of the
steering wheel with his hand between his open thighs, I knew I was willing
to give it a shot.  I just didn't know what to do.

He turned to look at me, noticing me looking at him, and he smiled.  "You
think we'll be able to have some fun on this trip?" he asked.

"Huh?" I asked, sure that he had been reading my mind.

"I mean, we'll be spending most of our time with a very old wolf just
talking.  I hope that we'll have some time to really go out and explore the
city, you know?"

Oh, so that's what he meant by `fun.'  "Yeah, I hope so too," I said.

"So, since we'll be spending quite a lot of time together in the next
several days, I thought we should get to know each other better," he said.
It was the gentle, sensitive side to him showing itself that I had seen in
the museum.  It seemed to contradict his tough exterior.

"What do you want to know?" I asked, willing to play along.

"Tell me about your family," he said.  "That's a good place to start."

I told him everything.  About how I never knew my biological father, about
how my parents were immigrants who worked hard to get where they were now.
I told him about my two sisters, how much it sucked being the middle child,
and the only boy.  I told him how conservative my family tended to be, both
religiously and culturally.

"Do you miss them much?" he asked me.

I looked out of the window at the road.  "No," I said.  "It's sad to say
but I don't.  I feel like, I never really knew any of them.  My family was
so rigid, you know, and so concerned with superficial appearances.  It
didn't leave any room for any strong bonding.  I love all of them and they
love me, I know.  But, no, I don't miss them, and I don't think I ever
will."

I paused and turned towards him.  "What about your family?" I asked.

He frowned.  "My family?  There's nothing interesting about them.  Grew up
in Detroit.  My parents were an interracial couple, which back then was a
really big deal.  I loved them both, but they're long dead now.  Never had
any siblings.  No, for some time now, my family has been the guys.  Russ
and Matt have been with me for a long time.  Malcolm and Cougar are more
recent additions to the family, but they're family nonetheless."  He
reached over and grabbed my shoulder.  "I consider you in the same boat,
even though you've only been around for a couple of months.  You're still
young, but I can tell that you have a place in this pack.  Like a puzzle
piece that we never knew was missing."

Wow.  I really was touched by his kindness.  I reminded myself that Case
had been nice to me since the beginning.  He was the only one who refused
to order me around.  He seemed to truly prioritize my feelings.  How come I
had never given him the credit he deserved before?

There was a large bang accompanied by a huge bump under the Chevy.

"Oh, shit," said Case.

We obviously had a flat tire.  Case pulled over onto the shoulder.

"It's a flat," he confirmed as he hopped out of the car.  "Don't worry,
shouldn't take too long to change it."

I got out of the car to help as Case was pulling the spare out.  "Jesus
Christ," he said.  "The spare's flat too.  Which one of those shitheads got
a flat without repairing the tire?"

So, Case had to call AAA on his cell phone.  At first it seemed like we
would have to get the Chevy towed to some tire place to get a replacement.
But Case explained the rush and got them to bring a replacement tire to us,
which he paid for handsomely.

Finally we were on the road again, heading towards our flight.  Only we had
wasted a lot of time.  Case was speeding all the way to the city.

"Will we make it?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said.  "Call the airline and make sure it's on time."

I used his cell phone to find out that the plane was leaving on time.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 9:30.  We got to the ticket counter at
9:36.

"I'm sorry, that flight just left the gate," said the abundantly cheerful
desk person.

"Well, tell them to come back and pick up two of their passengers," said
Case.

The woman laughed nervously.  "That goes against airport regulation.  Shall
I reschedule you for another flight?"

Case gave me a frown.  "When's the next one leaving?" he asked the woman.

"Well, the next one leaves at 11:00, but it's full.  If you want, you can
wait as a standby and see if any seats open up."

"What are the chances of that happening?" asked Case.

The woman looked upwards, considering.  "Slim, but sometimes you get
someone who just can't manage to be on time.  If that happens, you can take
their spot."

Case clenched his jaw.  "No, I don't want to wait around the airport all
night.  Just book us for the next flight that has seats available."

She looked at he monitor.  "Looks like there's plenty of space available on
tomorrow's 9:30 pm flight."

He shook his head.  "Isn't there anything sooner?  We need to be there by
then."

She smiled again.  "No, I'm afraid not.  But I could book you on a sooner
flight to an alternate destination.  There's a flight for Oslo leaving in
an hour."

"No thanks, just book us for the 9:30 flight," said Case.

"Okay, sir, how will you be paying for this?"

"What?  I already paid?"

"Sorry, sir, but you missed the flight you paid for."

After Case argued his way through two levels of management, they finally
decided to pay for the flight.  We headed out of the airport with our ugly
suitcase in tow.

"Back to Philly?" I asked.

"We could go back.  Or, I was thinking, we could stay some place here for
the night.  Does that sound okay with you?"

Of course it did.  I had never stayed in New York City before.  We left the
car in long-term parking, and took a cab to a hotel that was close to the
airport.

"This way we can have a chance to explore the city some tomorrow," he said
to me when we were in the back of the cab.

The hotel was nice, but nothing extraordinary.  It obviously was targeted
at traveling business people and probably made a great deal of money off of
people like us whose flights they had missed for whatever reason.

The room was standard fare, but clean looking.  Two double beds and a small
bathroom.

As he set down our suitcase, Case asked, "Are you hungry?  I'm hungry.
Let's order room service."

After ordering a hamburger and claiming a bed, I just watched TV as Case
made a series of phone calls to London, delaying our hotel reservations,
and then calling Hadrian's den, letting them know that we'd be missing our
scheduled meeting.

Afterwards, our food came, which we promptly ate.

"Should we maybe order a movie and then head for bed?" asked Case.

"Okay," I said.

While he was trying to find a film that he wanted to see, my mind was
starting to drift to sexual thoughts again.  We were alone together in a
hotel room.  This, I was sure, was my chance to seduce him.  But how was I
going to do it?  I knew that for me, the more skin I could see, the more
horny I got.  I wondered if the same was true for Case.

"I'm hot," I proclaimed, lifting my shirt off my head and tossing it to the
ground.

Case looked over at me.  His sunglasses were on the bedside table, so for
once I could see his eyes.  I was hoping he might raise an intrigued
eyebrow at the sight of my upper body on display, or perhaps start
salivating.  Instead, he frowned in a look of concern and pity.

He walked over to the air conditioner and turned it on.  "This should
help," he said.

"Thanks," I said.  After a few minutes of cold air pumping into the room, I
had gotten so cold I had to put my shirt back on.  Back to square one.

We started the movie.  I was hoping he would choose a good sci-fi movie or
maybe one of those adult titles.  Instead he ordered a heavy WW2 film that
I was not into at all.  Yes, I get it all you filmmakers, WW2 sucked and
all the soldiers were terribly brave.  Time to move on.

I was thinking that thought when another more immediate one came to mind.

"I can't really see the TV from here to well," I said.  The TV was situated
more in front of Case's bed then my own, although really I could see it
just fine.  "Mind if I join you?" I asked suavely.

"Sure, I don't care," he said.

Gleeful, I jumped over to his bed and laid down beside him.  But once I was
there, then what was I supposed to do?  We weren't touching; we were just
watching the TV.  He never even glanced my way.  Surely my proximity to him
hadn't been at all beneficial.

Then I remembered how much Matt had complimented my ass.  I didn't get it,
and I certainly didn't agree with him, but maybe it was a straight guy
thing that was completely beyond my comprehension.  If my ass did have some
special power, I could at least try and use it to my advantage.

I turned on my side, facing away from Case on the bed.  I stuck my ass out
slightly towards him.  Sure, it was hard to see the TV at this angle, but I
had lost touch with the movie's plot several scenes back anyway.

Case never even looked at my ass.  He seemed completely absorbed by the
film.  It was extremely frustrating.

Finally, the movie ended, with me not having any success at all in getting
him interested in me.

"That was quite remarkable," he said, turning off the TV.

"Yes, Oscar-potential all the way," I said.

"I'm gonna take a shower before bed," he said, rummaging through our
suitcase.

I acted fast.  "Oh, I need to take a shower too."  I was hoping he would
invite me to share the shower.

"Well, I won't be too long," he said as he headed for the bathroom.

While the shower ran, I thought about just walking in, saying I needed a
glass of water or something.  But I figured that was too obvious.

He came out a few minutes later wearing just a pair of shorts.  His
half-naked body looked grand.  He was muscular, somewhere in between Russ
and Malcolm in size.  His skin was a milky-brown color, and he had some
chest hair and a fairly pronounced treasure trail.  He was still wet from
the shower, and was toweling off.

Then I realized how much he was succeeding at turning me on when it was me
who was supposed to be turning him on.  I stalked into the bathroom, and
took my shower.

Feeling bold, and not wanting to lose this imagined game of seduction to
someone who didn't even know we were playing, I just walked right out of
the bathroom completely nude once I had finished.  This time, I was sure he
was looking at me as I walked passed him, probably just from shock though.

"I like to sleep naked," I said.

"Oh, okay, I'm down with that," he answered nonchalantly.

I jumped on my bed, staying above the covers.  This was my opening.  "Do
you sleep naked too or am I just weird?"

He stuck his thumb into the waistband of his shorts.  I was sure he was
going to pull them down, but he was just gesturing to them.  "I sleep in
these," he said, hoping into bed under the covers.

"Yep, I guess I'm just weird then," I said.

"Ready for the light off?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so."

He turned it off.  "Goodnight," he said.

"Goodnight."

*****

The next day, after we had gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, Case asked
me what I wanted to do with our one day in New York.

"How about a museum?" he asked.

I grimaced.  "We could go to a museum anywhere.  I want to do something
more New York."  I thought about it for a second.  "How about going to
something on Broadway?  Don't all tourists go see CATS?"

He winced.  "I don't think werewolves were meant to sit through anything
like CATS.  Besides, the shows would probably all start too late anyway."

So we ended up going to Ellis Island, which seemed like an exciting
prospect, but turned out to be just one big museum.  I should have known
when he said it would be educational.  The ferry trip out, in my opinion,
was the most exciting part.

Once we were on the island, I was sort of taken by the beauty and age of
the place.  Case seemed completely absorbed in the whole experience.

"Think about it, Rick.  12 million immigrants came through here.  12
fucking million!  Right here, these were your parents.  This is the
beginning of the entire history of or modern society, right here."  I
didn't tell him that my parents immigrated long after Ellis Island had been
shut down and certainly didn't come through New York.

"Yep.  Darn impressive."

He was obviously thinking profound thoughts that seemed to escape me.
Bored, I started checking for hot looking guys in the crowd.  Too bad none
were as hot as Case.  While he ogled the black and white pictures of
immigrants from long ago, I was ogling his ass behind him.  His jeans
caught him just right; not too loose, not too tight.

After Ellis we went to eat in Manhattan.  Driving back in the cab bad luck
struck as a second time.  We got into the worst traffic jam the city had to
offer, caused by a major accident.

"We're not gonna make the flight," I said.

"We'll make it," said Case.

After picking up our suitcase at the hotel we got to the airport late, but
acceptably late.  Only problem was the check in line for our airline was
horribly long.

"This line is longer than the ones in the pictures we saw today at Ellis
Island," I said.

"Maybe we can skip it.  We'll carry-on our suitcase."

I laughed at him.  "Haven't you flown anywhere?  You have to be able to fit
the carry-on items into a small space that's like half the size of our
suitcase."

He gritted his teeth.  "I'll buy a fucking ticket for bag and it we'll just
put it on the seat next to us."

I shook my head.  "Inventive, but in order to buy our suitcase a ticket,
you'd have to go through the line anyway."

Having no other brilliant ideas, he agreed to get in line.

When we finally made it to the front, we ended up at the ticket counter
with another absurdly perky lady.  She looked at our tickets.

"Your flight is boarding now.  You'd better shake a leg!"

"Alright, thanks," said Case as he darted away from the counter.

"Hold on please, sir," said the woman.  "We just need to ask you some
important security questions about your luggage."

Case sighed and returned to the counter.

"Question one--has your suitcase been out of your possession at any time?"

"No ma'am."

After several more questions, we were finally allowed to go to our gate.
Of course, then we had to go through security, which took forever, although
I did get a good pat-down, which is always a treat.  By the time we were
done with that, we were running to our gate.

When we got there, my heart sunk as I noticed that everyone had boarded
already, and they had shut the door.

"God doesn't want us to go to London," I said.

"Flight 352 to London?" said a man by the door.  "Better hurry up and
board."

Elated, we got onto the plane and found our seats as the plane started
taxiing to the runway.  The plane was only about half full, so Case and I
got a row of three seats to ourselves in the back of the plane.  He took
the window seat and I sat beside him.

After they had brought us some food and put on a boring movie, I was
getting tired.  We'd be flying through the night, so I figured I should try
and sleep through as much of the flight as possible.

I realized that this was another opportunity for physical contact with
Case.  I grabbed my pillow.

"I'm gonna try and sleep some," I told him.  "Mind if I lean against you?"

He shook his head.  "No, I don't care," he said.

I took that tiny pillow and put it against his arm, resting my head against
him.  Then I stretched my feet out to the end of the row.  Just that
simple, innocuous touching was completely comfortable to me.  I became more
drowsy than ever, and soon I had fallen asleep.

I woke up some time later.  The main cabin lights had been shut off.  My
neck was killing me from leaning against Case.  I looked over at him.  He
was reclined back, sleeping with his mouth hanging open.

Wanting to get more comfortable and closer to him at the same time, I
lowered my pillow to his lap, laying my head down on top of his thigh so I
was lying down completely.  After a few seconds, he woke up with a grunt.
I pretended to be asleep.  He must have notice me in his lap, because he
put his hand on the top of my head, not to push me away, but just to rest
it there.

Feeling warmly reassured, I fell asleep again.  I had a feeling that this
was going to be a damn fine trip.

*****

I woke up when the captain told us that we had begun our decent.  I noticed
that the pillow had somehow fallen out from under me as I had slept.  Now
my face was buried in the crotch of Case's jeans, right against the mound
of his package.

Embarrassed, I whipped upright.  I looked around, hoping no one had seen
me.

Case stirred in his sleep.  He moved his hand to where my head should have
been.  Upon finding nothing but empty air, he stuck his hand against his
crotch.  Then he opened his eyes.

"We're landing," I said.

"Already?"

When we got to London, we headed for the baggage claim, both of us very
sleepy.  It was morning there.

We waiting as every other passenger got their bag and left the area before
we realized ours wasn't coming.

"Shit," growled Case.

We went and talked with a woman in charge of baggage problems.  She was
just as perky as the other clerks we had recent run-ins with, only adding
an English accent to mix things up.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said when she looked at her monitor.  "It seems your
bag didn't make it onto your flight.  You must have gotten there late,
remember we tell everyone to arrive at least two hours before departure
time."

Case was about ready to explode.  "Well stop apologizing and get it over
here."

She frowned then, looking at her monitor.  "Let's see.  It seems that it is
scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?  No, screw that.  Get it here sooner."

"I'm sorry, sir, but that is the soonest we can manage.  If you're staying
local, we can deliver the bag to you tomorrow morning.  In the mean time,
you two can each take one of these, absolutely free."

She handed us two small plastic bundles with a smile.  Inside were assorted
toiletries.

"I hate fucking flying," said Case as we walked out the airport doors.

Without a suitcase, we took a cab to the hotel Hadrian had arranged for us
on the West Side.  Unlike the last one, it was very grand in an English
sort of way.  "Posh," the cab driver had called it.

"See?  Hadrian spared no expense," said Case as we went into our room.

It was a huge suite with two rooms.  One room had a couch and a large TV,
with a small kitchenette in the corner, and even a desk with a nice
computer that had online capability.  The other room held two queen size
bed, and a very large bathroom.  I had never been in a hotel room like this
one before.

Our beds looked so comfortable that we decided just to sleep away our
jetlag.  We both plopped on our beds in our clothes and slept for a couple
hours.

Later, when we had both awoken, Case asked me what I wanted to do that day.
"We won't be meeting Hadrian now until Friday, so we have some free time to
poke around the city.  Let's get out there and enjoy ourselves."

*****

The hazy yellow of the streetlights illuminated the remains of the
structure charred to black.

"So many lives lost here," said Case.

After poking around the West End during the afternoon and evening, seeing
the bustle and activity the city had to offer, we came here, to the East
End.  Somewhere in the middle of an industrial area lied this building,
what used to be the den that Hadrian had been alpha of.

"It was one of the biggest in the world," Case told me.

"How many times have you been here?" I asked.

"Just once," said Case.  "When I climbed to alpha, Hadrian invited me here.
He took on the responsibility of keeping tabs on all of the dens across the
world.  It must have been a huge chore."

"Why would he have done that?"

"So that there we kept up some communication and cooperation between
packs."  He looked one more time at the building.  "Let's go," he said.
"It's cold here."

Even though it was late, and the streets were mostly deserted, neither of
us wanted to go back to the hotel room.  We weren't tired enough, so we
walked to the Thames, and strolled along its banks to the west.

"Case," I said as we continued along the water.  "Do you think you make a
good alpha?"  I had remembered that Russ thought he was too nice to be a
leader.  I was eager to get his point of view.

He shrugged.  "I take the position very seriously," he said.  "When I got
to be alpha, I was as green as hell.  But, I've worked hard to be the best
alpha I can possible be.  Sure, sometimes I make a mistake or two.  But,
the guys, I'd do anything for them.  Besides, I didn't ask to be alpha, did
I?  It's not my fault that I am always the strongest fighter."

I shook my head.  "What do you mean?  If you didn't want to be alpha, then
why would you have challenged Russ?"

"Because I had to know if I could beat him.  I mean, that's the way things
are for us, the strong lead, and the weak step down."  He put his arm on my
shoulder, stopping me, as he sniffed the air suddenly.  "There's a smell
here," he said.

I looked around.  "What?  Where?"

Then he took my arm, pulling me forward again along the river.  "There's
someone behind us," he said, not turning around to look.

I quickly glanced behind us.  There was a figure back there, way behind us,
the only other person around.  The air was thick with fog and he was far
enough away so I couldn't make out any of his features.

"Don't look back," said Case sharply.

I turned forward again.  "Is it a vampire?"

"No," he said.

"A wolf?"

He shook his head.  "No, I don't think so.  Something else, a new smell."

This surprised me.  "What else is there?"

"I don't know."  I could tell be his tone of voice that he didn't like the
mystery.

We walked faster, starting to approach a bridge over the river.  Behind us,
I could hear the man's footsteps.  He was getting closer.

"Stay with me," Case said needlessly.  The last thing I was going to do was
to leave his side.

Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.  Was he gone?

Case spun around, and ran back behind us.  I turned around just in time to
see Case attack this man in black, hitting him with dizzying ferocity.
Suddenly standing alone, I felt very vulnerable.  I wanted to help Case,
but knew that I was completely useless.

"Run!" Case yelled back in my direction as he knocked the man down
momentarily.

I took off without hesitating, sprinting my fastest towards the bridge.
When I reached it, and started to cross, I looked back towards the battle.
Case's body was growing rapidly, he was changing, and he was winning the
fight.  I stopped, feeling reassured.  After all, Case was supposed to be
one strong wolf.

Then I saw a bright object in the man's hand rush towards Case's stomach,
and heard him growl in pain.  I wanted to scream, I was absolutely shocked
and afraid.  Case's body returned to his man form as he slumped to the
ground.  He never even got a chance to finish the transformation before he
got knifed.  Anguish poured through me.

The man's face turned towards me, and he took off running my way at an
unbelievable speed.  That was enough to make me forget my sadness at the
sudden loss of my friend, and begin to run again.

I went as fast as I could down the bridge, but by the time I was at the
midpoint, he was on the end of the bridge and approaching fast.  He still
had the knife in his hand.

I knew there was just one option.  I climbed over the railing, looking down
into the black water below.  I couldn't believe I had the guts to do it.
It was a long drop, but I was more terrified of getting stabbed than I was
of the fall.  I jumped out towards the water, shutting my eyes as I felt
gravity pulling me down.

I fell a great distance, but never hit the water.  Instead, something
grabbed me from behind, holding around my waist.  I opened my eyes.  I was
just a couple feet from the water, flying towards the east.  Flying?!  Yes,
we were definitely flying.

I tried to look up at my captor, but he held my head forward.  I tried to
scream, but felt a hand covering my mouth.  I struggled as much as I could,
stalling our flight as he adjusted his hold on me, locking my body still
with his legs.

I looked to the side.  The river bank was just twenty yards or so from our
position, and there was Case, running faster than humanly possible trying
to catch up with us.

When he reached us, he leaped out over the water in a jaw-dropping long
jump, disappearing over my head.

We lowered suddenly, my feet entering the cold water as Case must have
landed on the creature's back.  Then he was frantic, heading upwards and
away over the river.  I couldn't believe that he could carry us both
through the air.  I couldn't see Case, but I heard what sounded like
snarling, and then flesh ripping, and I heard the creature scream as he let
me drop.

Suddenly I was falling again, only this time from a greater height.  I hit
the water this time with a terrific force, the cold jolt rushing through me
as I submerged.  I was down so deep that at first I thought I would drown.

Then again I felt hands around my body.  I instinctively struggled as I was
pulled back to the surface.  Only then did I realize that it was Case who
had pulled me up.  Both of us were completely soaked, and he had lost his
sunglasses.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I think so," I said.  My heart was still racing, my hands were
shaking.

He pulled me to the edge of the river and we removed ourselves from the
water.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he said.  "A nightmare.  It got away before I could kill
it."

"I thought it was just werewolves and vampires."

"So did I.  Come on, let's get back to the hotel before it comes back."

I was eager to comply.  Unfortunately, we had a hell of a time getting a
cab to drive us back across town.  Case had to give a large preemptive tip
before anyone agreed to take two soaking wet passengers.

By the time we had gotten back to our room, I had calmed down.  Case had
assured me that we were safe.  It was true, I did feel safe with him.  If
it hadn't been for him, I might have been dead already.

"Home sweet home," I said as I walked into the TV area of the room.

"You're getting dirt everywhere," he said.

I looked back.  I was leaving muddy footprints in my wake.  What I needed
to do was get out of these clothes.

"I'm going to go take a shower," I said.  "It'll help warm me up."

"Don't enjoy yourself too much in there," said Case.  "I need to take a
shower too."

I walked into the luxurious bathroom leaping between each step to prevent
as much mud tracking as possible.  After I had shut the door behind me, I
started to remove my filthy clothes, using one of the four bath towels as a
mat to keep the clothes from dirtying the clean white tile floor.

Then a devious thought occurred to me.  Both of us would be taking showers
and stripping out of our clothes.  Without our suitcase, we had nothing to
change into.  I'd be fine naked, but Case would probably try to wear one of
those bath towels.

I shook myself to my senses.  We had just come back from a life-threatening
experience, this was not the time to think about sex.

But then I reconsidered.  I was thinking about sex whether it was proper or
not.

I opened the door a crack.  "I'm gonna lay these towels on the floor so we
can dry our clothes on them," I yelled.

"Okay," he said distantly.

After giving him fair warning, I put all four bath towels on the floor, and
spread my clothes out liberally, making sure each one was thoroughly
soiled.

Then I hopped into the shower.  Luckily, I had the combination of the hotel
soap handouts and the airline toiletry bag, so I could really clean up.

Afterwards, I dried myself off with a hand towel, and, after taking a deep
breath, strolled out into the room naked.

Case was at the desk experimenting with the internet when I came out.

"You done?" he asked, turning to face me, noticing my nakedness.

"There's no clothes," I said, "so I'll be wearing my birthday suit until
our suitcase comes."

"That's right," he said.  "Oh well, I'm off to shower.  No point in
avoiding the inevitable."

He went into the bathroom, and soon I could hear the shower running.  When
he had finished, he stuck his head out of the bathroom door.

"Did you know you used all the bath towels for the floor?" he asked with a
trace of annoyance.

"Yeah, I thought there were more under the sink but there was nothing but
toilet paper."  I was such a quick thinker.  "Sorry."

"That's okay," he said, shutting the door again.

After that, I just lay on my bed pretending to read the room service menu,
wanting to see him clearly when he came out of the bathroom naked.  A
couple of minutes passed, and then he opened the door and stepped out.  To
my great dismay, he had a hand towel wrapped around his waist.

The sight of him, this huge, muscle-bound tough guy wearing nothing but a
flowery hand towel made me laugh out loud.

"What?" he asked me, as if he didn't know the reason for my laughter.

"Nothing, you look terrific," I joked.

Really, he did look terrific, just because he was almost wearing nothing.
The hand towel was just thick enough to cover the tops of his thighs and
his crotch.  Plus, it was barely long enough to wrap around his body.  He
had just barely enough overlapping material to pinch the towel shut, and
the slit was at his side, showing the bare skin of his entire hip.

"I don't know if this puppy will stay on for long," he said.  "It keeps
falling open."  He was holding it up at the moment.

He had really gone to absurd lengths to keep his cock covered.  Was he just
being polite, or did he have something to be ashamed of?

He walked over to his bed, pulling back the covers.  "If we go to bed now,
they'll deliver the suitcase by the time we get up."

I wasn't at all interesting in sleeping.  "Are you really tired?" I asked.

"Not at all," he said.  "Truthfully I'm a bit hungry.  How bout some room
service?"

He walked in front of me, snatching the menu away from me.  Standing there,
I just started right into the towel in front of me.  I could see the
outline of a package straining against the taut cloth.

"Do you want anything?" he asked me.

I asked for a sandwich.

"I'm gonna get a steak," he said.

"Isn't it a little late for something so big?" I asked him.

"No, I don't think so.  Wolves are carnivores after all."

He put in the order to the kitchen.  Both of us were thankful that the
kitchen was open all night.

"They'll be up in a half hour," he said.  "Want to watch some TV till then?
See how bad British programming is?"

"Sure," I said, following him into the TV room.

He was a few feet ahead of me and almost to the couch when, as it was bound
to happen, his towel fell off.  I stopped, looking at his bare ass.  It was
muscular, hairless, and the same smooth color of the rest of his body.

"Fuck!" he said, reaching down to the floor to retrieve his towel.  As he
knelt down, his legs spread, and I could see the dark shadow of his balls
from behind just briefly before he had the towel wrapped around his again.
"Sorry, didn't mean to moon you just then," he said.

"It's okay, I don't care," I said, hopping onto the couch.  "I'm mooning
you left and right."

He sat down beside me, and flipped on the TV.  Actually, they had a lot of
American channels that we were familiar with.  He settled on the History
Channel.  There was a boring show on about World War One that he was into.
I was bored to death, however.  History had been my least favorite subject
in school.

To try and entertain myself, I stared as much as I could at the towel
wrapped around his thighs.  His knees were open, and the towel was spread
so tightly that I knew if I was on the ground I'd be able to see
everything.  I tried to think of a reasonable excuse to get on the floor,
but couldn't.

Finally, there came a knock at the door.

"Room service," said the woman in the hall.

I jumped up. I obviously couldn't open the door like this.  "You'd better
get it," I said.  I quickly ran into the bedroom as he got up, shutting the
door behind me.

I heard the door open.  "Great, thanks a lot," said Case.

"Shall I push the cart in?" asked the woman.  I wondered what she thought
of his choice of clothing.

"No thanks.  Could you just hand me the trays?"  There was the clinking of
metal.  "Thanks," said Case.

Then I heard the woman give a short, startled yell.

"Oh, sorry about that," said Case.

The door quickly shut.  I went out into the main room.  Case had two large
silver platters in his arms.  Lying around his ankles was his towel.

"I just flashed that poor old woman," he said.

As I laughed, I looked down at his crotch, thrilled that I had finally got
my chance to see him in his full glory.  He certainly had nothing to be
ashamed about.  Below a small bush of wiry black hair was his soft cock.
It looked about the same size as Russ's cock, only about a half inch
shorter or so.  That was still quite big in my book.  Behind his dick were
his lightly hairy balls, which seemed to match Russ's size exactly, and
hung loose and low.  But what really got my attention was that he was
uncircumcised.  It was the first time I had seen a foreskin.  It covered
his cockhead completely.

"You probably made her day," I said.

He was walking towards me.  "Don't just stand there, take these fucking
things."

I grabbed the trays from him and set them on the table.  His hands now
free, he went back to retrieve his towel.

"This fucker just won't stay on," he said.

"Why don't you just forget about it?" I suggested slyly.  "I'm not wearing
anything, and I've already seen your dick anyhow."

"Yeah, okay," he said.  "I used to run around naked all the time through
the house when I was a kid anyway.  We'll live like kids until our suitcase
comes in the morning."

My mom had never let me run around the house naked when I was a kid, but I
agreed with him anyway, and sat down to eat.

Unfortunately, sitting across from him at the table meant not being able to
see his dick.  But, at least the upper half of him was almost as erotic.

After I finished my sandwich, I couldn't help but yawn.

"Are you tired now?" he asked me.

I was feeling a bit tired, but I wasn't going to admit that to him.  "Not
at all," I said, opening my eyes wide to prove it.

He patted his six pac.  "The last thing I want to do after all that food is
sleep," he said.  "I was thinking we could go to Westminster tomorrow," he
said.

"Sure," I said, not really sure where that was or what was there.

"You think I could check online to see the hours everything is open
tomorrow?" he asked me.

"Probably, yeah."

He stood up, offering me a great view of his cock, and then went to the
computer desk and sat down.  I went back to the couch and started flipping
through channels.

"I'm not finding anything," he said.

"That's odd," I said, getting up and moving behind his chair.

I looked at what he was doing.  He was completely off.  "No, you can't just
type `Westminster' as the URL," I said.  "You have to search through a
search engine.  Haven't you ever done that before?"

"No, I'm completely new to the internet," he said.  He wasn't kidding.

I kneeled down beside him and leaned over to the keyboard.  As I was typing
in the address of a search engine, I realized that my whole side was
touching his chest.  I looked down, into his lap.  There was his cock, just
lying there over his balls on the chair.

"What now?" he asked.

I looked back at the screen.  "We need to search for `Westminster.'"

After I did the search, multiple sights popped up that looked promising.  I
clicked on one.

"See?" I said.  "Here's a good resource page."

"It's like magic," he said.

No longer having any excuse to be leaning across him, I pulled back
regretfully.  But the proximity of his warm body was finally making me hard
against my will.  After holding my repressed hardon back for so long, I was
finally losing the battle.

He wasn't facing me, thank god, so I went in front of the TV, and sprawled
face down on the floor, hiding my erection.

"I think there will be some good stuff to see tomorrow," he said, turning
off the computer, and walking over to the TV.  He stopped behind me, when
my figure must have come into view in front of the couch.  Was he surprised
that I was on the floor?  If he was he didn't say anything.  He just stood
there for a moment, and then sat down on the couch behind me.

By this time I had gotten my hardon back in control.  Knowing that he was
sitting naked behind me made me lament the fact that I was facing away from
him, so I sat up, and spun around to face him.

"What exactly is our itinerary for tomorrow?" I asked.  It was the perfect
excuse to face him.

"I figured we'll probably be sleeping late seeing as how we're still up
now, so we'll have to limit the sight-seeing to just in the afternoon."

He continued on, mentioning particular destinations, and my attention
drifted to his dick.  He was sitting there, facing me, with his legs open a
fair amount, so I could see his cock perfectly, just lying against the
sofa.  I wondered what it would be like to have an uncircumcised dick.
Then I wondered what it would be like to suck an uncircumcised dick.

"Rick," he said.  "You're staring at my dick."

Startled, I looked back to his face.  It was completely expressionless.  I
had to say something to excuse my behavior.  "Sorry, Case," I said.  "I've
never seen an uncircumcised one before.  I myself am circumcised."

"So I've noticed," he said.  Then, remarkably, his opened his knees wide
apart, and stuck his hand down to his crotch, grabbing a hold of his thick
tool.  "Mine's just like yours," he said.  He pulled the foreskin back with
his fingers, revealing the pink, shiny head.  "See?"

"Look at all that skin," I said.  Then, trying to push things further, I
asked, "Do you mind if I touch it?  Just to see?"

"I guess not," he said.

He held his dick out to me in his hand as I crawled up beneath him to the
couch.  Wedging my chest between his knees, I stuck my hand between his
thighs, and, very gently, took the thing into my hand.  It was still soft,
but real big and heavy.  The foreskin was back over the head, and the skin
felt really loose and wrinkly, rougher too.  There were large veins
sticking out all over it.  I slowly pushed down the foreskin, revealing the
shiny head in my hand.  I touched it with my finger.

"It's smooth," I said.

"It's almost the same as yours," he said.

As I rolled the foreskin back over the head, I felt his dick jump with
excitement.

"You'd better stop before I get hard," he said.

Was this it?  Had I come all this way just to have it all end here?  No, I
wasn't throwing in the towel that easily.

"I don't mind," I said, rubbing it softly with my hand.

He didn't say anything more as his dick grew in my hand, ending up a
stunning seven and a half inches.  I pulled the foreskin off of his head as
he sighed appreciatively.  Figuring that I had done something right, I
wrapped my fingers around the foreskin and gently tugged it up and down
over his head.

"Look, kid," he said after a bit.  "You'd better stop.  I don't want you to
do anything that'll make you uncomfortable."

"I'm not uncomfortable, I'm enjoying myself.  To tell you the truth, I've
done this before.  To Matt, Malcolm, and Russ."

His head darted forward.  "Are you serious?" he asked me.

"Yeah."

"They should have asked me," he said.  "They shouldn't have used you like
that."

Meanwhile I was still jerking his hard cock.  "It's okay, Case.  Like I
said, I don't mind."

"They didn't make you do anything else, did they?" he asked me.

I decided to be honest.  "Matt and Russ had me suck them off a couple of
times," I said.  "If you want, I could do the same for you."

He looked down into my eyes.  "You don't have to do that, Rick," he said.
"Just because they made you do that doesn't mean I'm going to as well."

I shook my head.  "Case, I want to."

He smiled.  "Well, if that's what you really want, then be my guest.  I'm
not gonna refuse an offer like that."

Smiling, I leaned forward, putting one hand on each of his hips.  Then I
pulled myself towards him, my chest sliding up his thighs, until my face
was right at his cock.  The foreskin was pulled up.  I tasted it with my
tongue, feeling the rough texture of it.

"If you want you can nibble on it a bit.  It's not gonna hurt me."

I took the skin into my mouth and bit gently on it, tugging on it a bit.
Then I stuck my tongue into the opening, tasting his smooth head, and
lapping up a bit of precum that was starting to ooze out of the slit.  I
tuck my tongue under his foreskin, moving it around the rim of his head.

"Here," he said, pulling down his foreskin with his hand so that his whole
head was uncovered.

I dove down on him, taking the head into my mouth and sucking gently.  I
reached down with my hand and felt his balls.  They were bigger than
Matt's, and I realized I had a thing for big balls.

"That feels great, you're doing great."

I kept sucking, pleased at his gentle encouragements.

"Hold on, let me reposition myself," he said.

I pulled off of him and sat upright. Meanwhile, he leaned forward on the
couch so his ass was just hanging on the edge of it.  Then he draped both
of his legs over my shoulders, and I stuck my face down between his thighs,
taking his dick into my mouth again.

"That's much better," he said.

I wrapped my arms around his butt and pulled against the top of his
asscheeks.  With that stability, I was able to lower myself until his whole
rod was in my mouth, conquering my gag reflex like an old pro.

"You're good at this," he said.

I mumbled my appreciation, and kept on sucking, rubbing my chin against his
nuts.

He leaned forward and cradled my head with his body.  I thought he might
start to fuck my face, but he didn't, he just stayed like that, completely
relaxed.

"I'm about to shoot," he said.  "You'd better back off."

I didn't back off, I wanted to swallow his cum.  His muscles spasmed, and
he squeezed onto my head tighter than before, and then his hot liquid
started filling up my mouth.  There was more of it than in Matt's load.  He
just stayed there for a moment, rubbing my hair with his hands.  Feeling
his cock starting to go limp, I pulled my lips off of him, sucking every
last drop of his semen into my mouth before I swallowed it all.

"You didn't have to do that," he said.

"I know.  I wanted to."

He sat back against the couch, stretching his arms into the air.  "Now I
could sleep," he said.

Looking down, I noticed that I had leaked a large amount of precum onto the
carpet.  I stood up and walked over to the counter to grab the box of
tissues to clean up with.

"Look at your dick," said Case as he watched me walk.  "You really did like
sucking me off, didn't you?"

"I'm gay, Case," I said.

When I had cleaned up the cum from the carpet, Case said, "You can beat off
if you want to, I don't mind."

Pleased, I wrapped my hand around my cock and started jerking myself
quickly, getting a tissue in my hand to catch my load with.  Case was just
watching me.

He patted his naked lap.  "Come here," he said.  I noticed his cock was
completely soft again and resting over his balls.

"You want me to sit on your lap?" I asked.

"That's right."

I walked over to him and sat down on his lap, feeling the top of his bush
against my ass, and the bottom of my thighs lying on the tops of his.  He
reached around me, embracing my chest, and pulling me back into him.  Being
wrapped up in his arms like that felt more erotic to me than actually
sucking him off.

"Go ahead and finish yourself off," he said.

I started jacking again, concentrating on the feeling of his chest pressed
against my back.  I could feel his hard nipples against my skin.  He
nuzzled his nose into the back of my head.  I felt a hand move down from my
chest down the side of my body to the side of my ass.

"You have such a beautiful ass," he said.

I laughed, still working my cock.  "That's what Matt told me."

"He didn't fuck you, did he?"

"No.  I didn't want to, and he said he didn't want to hurt me."

He rubbed my hip in slow circles.  "That's good," he said.

I bucked up as I started to shoot, catching all of my cum into the tissue I
was holding.  After that, he just held me there in his arms.

"We should have done this before," he said.

"I didn't know if you'd be into it," I responded.

"Getting your dick sucked, no strings attached?  What's not to be into?
It's a rare occasion that I find a girl and get laid.  Getting my dick
sucked beats jerking off any day of the week."

"Alright, Case," I said, reaching down between my both of our legs and
grabbing his flaccid cock in my hand.  "Anytime you want it, I'm here for
you."

"Let's go to bed," he whispered into my ear, still holding me in his arms.

He let go of me, and I got up.  I brushed my teeth in the bathroom while he
peed into the toilet beside me.  After I had peed as well, I left the
bathroom.  He had gotten into his bed, and he was pulling the covers over
his body.  I went to my bed and pulled back the blanket.

"I have a wild idea," he said.  "How bout we share a bed?"

"I was hoping you'd ask me that," I said, abandoning my cold bed and hoping
into his warm one.  He quickly turned off the light.

As I slipped under the covers, I scooted against him.  We were both on our
sides, our bodies facing each other.  I pulled my body against his.

"Wait, let's get into a good position," he said.

I thought the position we were in was perfect, but he told me to roll
around so I was facing away from him.  When I did, he embraced me from
behind, spooning me with his body.

"That's better," he said.  I had to admit, although it wasn't my first
choice, his position was very comfortable.  "Good night," he said.

"Good night."

I thought about the realization that I had the other night about not
knowing someone until you knew them sexually.  Now I knew Case sexually and
there wasn't anything new to report.  No secret wild side to him, just the
nice, gentle guy that he always was.  As we lay there, I melted back into
him, trusting him entirely.  I knew that this was just the beginning.

*****

The phone was ringing, shaking me out of my comfortable sleep.  Behind me,
Case was holding me tight against his body.  I could feel his hard cock had
slid against my ass crack during the night.

"Case, answer the phone," I said.

"Hmm?"

"The phone."

He woke up, yawning, and peeled himself off of me to pick up the phone.
"Hello?  Oh, great.  Could you have them bring it up to my room?  Thanks."
He hung up the phone.  "Our suitcase is here," he said.

He hopped out of bed and walked into the bathroom, his hardon sticking out
in front of him as he went.  I wrapped myself up in the covers as I heard
him peeing, and then he came out of the bathroom, his dick now soft.

"Where's that towel?" he asked me.

"Over by the front door," I said.

He went into the other room, leaving me alone.  I soon fell back asleep.

I was only vaguely aware of the suitcase arriving, and then Case showering
as I continued to slumber.  Finally, he shook me awake after he was fully
dressed.

"You didn't fly all the way out to London just to sleep, did you?" he asked
me.

"Okay, I'm up," I said, looking at him.  He had another pair of sunglasses
on after losing the first in the Thames.  "How many pairs of those do you
have?"

"A few.  It's good to keep some alternates around just in case."

I got up, took a shower myself, and got dressed before being dragged around
on a leash through a sightseeing frenzy of Westminster.  Case obviously
enjoyed himself immensely, and I did too, although for me mostly I was just
happy to be around Case.

I noticed as we toured around that a lot of women couldn't keep their eyes
off Case.  I could understand why, he was a big, strong stud, and he really
stood out.

As the day went on, I noticed what a serious guy Case was.  He seemed to
have little or no sense of humor.  If I made a joke, he would laugh
politely, but not try to engage me in any banter.  I didn't mind.  After
spending so much time with Matt and Cougar, I was happy to be around
someone who took things a little more seriously.

That night, after dinner, Case took me to a pub nearby the hotel so we
could get drunk English style.  The place was packed and crowded with
activity.  Rock music was playing so loud that we had to shout at each
other to hear, but it was all in good fun.

"I have something to admit," I said after I had downed a few beers.
Alcohol always acted like a truth serum for me.

"What?" he asked.

"Before we came on this trip, Matt gave me a secret task to accomplish.  He
told me that I had to get you to let me suck your dick."

Case laughed.  "So that whole time, you were just trying to get into my
pants?  You horny bastard.  Why did Matt put you up to this?"

I shrugged.  "I guess he just wanted to share."

"Well, I'll have to thank him personally when we get home.  If you wanted
to suck my dick so bad, why didn't you just ask?"

"That's not the kind of thing guys usually ask each other," I said.

"No, I guess not."  He lifted his beer.  "Here's too us," he said.  "May
both of our sex lives be mutually fulfilling."

"To us," I said before drinking.

Later on, as the heavy crowds cleared out and the loud, driven music turned
to quiet, reflective tunes, the conversation turned more serious.

"Case," I asked.  "How many people have you killed?"

"I don't count."

"But if you had to guess?"

"I don't know.  One for every month I've been a wolf, I guess."  He took
another swig from his beer.

"Doesn't that bother you?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course it does.  I never wanted to kill anyone.  I still don't
want to kill.  But, I didn't ask to be bitten, did I?"

"Who bit you?" I asked.

"Russ.  I had come to Philly to see the sights.  He met me while I was
there, and by the end of the trip I was a wolf.  I was supposed to go home
after four days.  As it turns out, I never went back.  That first full
moon, the first time I felt that hunger, I hated myself for what I had to
do.  But, I came to grips with it.  I mean, what was I supposed to do, just
let myself die?"

I shook my head.  "That's rough," I said.  "I would never want to be a
werewolf.  The killing is bad enough, but then there's the constant danger
of being killed by a vampire or another wolf or whoever else.  It seems
like there's nowhere safe to go.  Everywhere you turn, there's someone else
who wants you dead."  I laughed.  "Of course, it's practically the same for
me, being whatever the hell I am.  Ever since Will stuck a gun in my face
in Baltimore I haven't yet felt safe.  Like that thing last night, whatever
that was.  You saved me then, but what about the next time?  It could be
the end for me."

He shook his head.  "Rick, look at me.  You don't have to worry.  You've
got me, I'm one of the strongest wolves alive.  I would never, ever let
anyone hurt you."

I knew he was being completely honest with me, and I felt reassured.
"Thanks, Case."

We staggered back into the hotel room late into the night.  Case plopped
down on the couch, looking pretty much wasted.  He ripped his shirt off,
and tossed it onto the floor.  He still had his sunglasses on, even though
the room was dark.  I was unashamedly checking out the fine physique of his
upper body.

"What are you looking at?" he asked me.

"Your body.  You've got such a great one."

He rubbed his hand over his chest.  "You want to touch it?  Go for it."

I sat next to him on the couch, reaching out my hands to feel the muscles
in his arms, the curve of his armpits, his big shoulders, and his firm,
round pecs.  I massaged his nipples until they firmed under my touch.

"Can I taste them, Case?" I asked.

"Sure, of course."

I licked the tip of one, then sucked on it, and finally nibbled it a
little.  Meanwhile, my hands were exploring his defined abs.  As my mouth
switched to the other nipple, I let my hand travel down to the hard lump in
his jeans.

Then I realized how badly I had to pee.  "I'll be right back," I said.

"What?  Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom."

I got up off of him and went to use the bathroom, pissing out of my hard
cock.  When I left the bathroom, I noticed Case was on his bed, lying on
his back, completely naked expect for the shades, with his cock pointing
towards the ceiling.

"It's waiting for you," he told me.

At that sight, I ripped off all of my clothes in seconds.  I had an idea.
I went back into the bathroom.

"Where are you going now?" he asked.

"Hold on," I said.

I grabbed a small bottle of lotion and returned to Case on the bed.  I
jumped on top of him, and straddled his abdomen with my legs, facing
towards his dick.  In front of me, my balls were resting on his bush, and
my dick was sticking out, totally hard, touching the head of his cock.  I
poured some lotion into my right hand, and surrounded Case's dick with my
fingers.  I pulled back the foreskin and lubed up the head.  Then, I poured
just as much lotion into my left hand, and put that around my own dick.

With one cock in each hand, I began to stroke slowly in rhythm, touching
the tips of our cocks together.  Precum started leaking out of both of us,
mixing with the lotion, and creating sticky strands between our two slits.

Behind me, Case was rubbing my ass with his hands.  He surprised my by
sticking a finger into my crack.

Beating both of our cocks furiously, I shot as I let out a sharp moan.  My
semen flowed onto his cock and my hand in front of me.

As my orgasm passed, I kept on beating him off.

Just when I thought he was about to shoot, he pulled my hand away.  "I
don't want to cum like that," he said.

Not sure where he was going, but trusting him entirely, I felt his hands
wrap around my body.  He spun both of us over in the bed, so I was lying
face down.  He grabbed the pillow and put it under my head.

Then I heard the lotion bottle open again.  Suddenly I felt a wet finger
against my asshole, massaging the lotion into it.  It felt great, but I
started to get nervous that he was going to take it further.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

I felt the massive weight of his body on top of mine, pushing me into the
mattress.

"I'm going to make love to you," he said.

"Case, I don't want to do that."

I craned my head around as much as I could, but I felt his hand on the back
of my head pushing me into the pillow.

My heart racing, my adrenaline pumping, I felt something warm and moist
against my asshole that I knew was much too big to be a finger.

"Case, seriously, I don't want to!"

I tried to struggle, but I couldn't move under his weight.  I felt his cock
start to enter me.  It felt like it was ripping me open.  I cried out from
the excruciating pain.  He slowly went all the way in until I could feel
his pubes against my ass.  It didn't get easier, and it definitely wasn't a
good pain.  I wanted it to be over.

I slowly started moving in and out of me, every movement burning like hell
inside of me.  Tears moistened up my eyes as he squeezed my chest tight
with his hands.

"Case, that's enough!" I said, squirming under him with all my strength.

He squeezed me with his arms until I couldn't breathe.  "Don't fight me,
Rick.  I'm trying to be gentle.  Right now we're making love.  But if you
keep on fighting, I'm just gonna fuck you, got it?"

I stopped struggling, instead just biting into my pillow.  The pain inside
me was so great I was sure that it would never go away.

He kept on going on me for what seemed like forever.  Finally, I heard him
cry out as he exploded inside of me.

"That was heaven," he said, kissing the back of my head tenderly as he
pulled his cock out of me.  I could feel his semen drip out of my hole.
Somehow, with his cock removed, my ass only seemed to hurt more.

He rolled off of me and onto the other side of the bed, apparently drifting
off to sleep.

After I was sure he was out, I got up off the bed and went into the
bathroom.  I cleaned myself up, still feeling the incredible pain that
definitely had not been worth it.

I looked at my face in the mirror.  I looked used up, worn out, too old for
a 19 year old.  I had gotten used to the physical pain, the tears no longer
stung my eyes.  But now I felt like crying from a different kind of pain.

He was drunk, I told myself.  Too drunk to act responsibly.

Somehow I knew that was bullshit before I even thought it.

Turning off the light, I went back into the bedroom.  The place that had
once seemed to hold so much positive energy had now turned dreadful in my
mind.

I hopped into my own bed.  I didn't trust Case enough to sleep with him.

*****

The next day Case woke me up after he was showered and dressed.

"We need to get moving if we're gonna be on time for Hadrian.  He's sending
a wolf over here in forty-five minutes to pick us up."

I got up, wincing as I felt my insides were still sore.  I was hoping that
morning that Case would apologize to me or something.  At least acknowledge
what happened.  He didn't.

"I missed you in my bed last night," he said as I was eating the breakfast
he had ordered for me.  Was that all he was going to say?

I just leered at him for a moment.  Did he want me to apologize to him?  I
wasn't going to.  I went back to my breakfast without saying a word.

A wolf picked us up in a black Hummer.  The man looked big and
intimidating.  He made me feel unsure and unsafe.  Suddenly Case's body
next to mine in the backseat became a comfort to me again.

"Where's the new den?" asked Case.

"Bankside," was his one word answer as he continued to drive.

He drove us to an old brick warehouse type building, driving in through the
garage.  As we got out of the car, the immensity of the place struck me.
It was just a huge, wide open, dark building.  There was absolutely nothing
in it at all.

"This is the den?" I asked.

"You'll see," said Case.

The wolf led us to the center of the building, where there was a large
metal grating on the floor.  I followed him onto it, thinking it just
another part of the floor.

"Get the fuck off," he said.

I jumped off the metal as the wolf tapped it with his boot.  Below us, I
could hear locks being unlocked, and then another wolf raised the grating.

"Down there," said the first wolf, who apparently wasn't going with us.

Case and I followed the second wolf down a ladder.  We ended up in a dark,
dank corridor of cement and steel.  He led us through many interconnecting,
confusing hallways, passed many doors.  Other wolves who passed us by
invariable stopped to stare at us.  No, not us, it was me they were staring
at.

He led us to through an open door and into a large, dirty room.  Pipes were
leaking water from the ceiling, forming dirty puddles on the cement floor
with nowhere to go.  Carefully placed away from these puddles was a rusty
metal table and several chairs.  On one of those chairs sat a man smoking a
cigar.

"Hadrian," Case said as we stepped into the room.

"Case," he said without standing.  "Come in and sit down."  His accent was
rough, working class English.

The door shut behind us as we walked towards the table.  Hadrian was
sitting, but I could still see his sizable stature.  He had Matt's height,
but was broader.  His wrinkly skin and graying hair made me think he was
about fifty (or rather, was turned when he had been around fifty).  His
hair hung in greasy, curly locks to his shoulders, and his face was dirty.
He wore a dusty old trench coat.

"He can have a seat too," said Hadrian to Case about me.  I sat down in the
rusty chair.

"His name is Rick," said Case.

Hadrian looked at me.  "A pleasure," he said, but from the way he was
glaring at me I wasn't so sure.

"Sorry we missed our first appointment," said Case.

He nodded.  "I would have tried to see you sooner if I wasn't so damn busy.
New packs are coming together all over the world.  Alphas have been coming
in and out of here for weeks.  Case, you and I have some wolf business we
need to go over."  He glanced sideways at me.  "Is it okay to do it in his
company?"

Case nodded.  "He's one of us."

"My nose tells me otherwise, but alright."

"First Hadrian, I need to ask you something."  As Case said this, Hadrian
looked a bit taken aback.  "We were attacked two days ago here in London."

Hadrian nodded.  "Vampires.  They're just crawling through the city.  I
gather that the vampire army that circled the globe before in their bloody
offensive has spread out, posting guards in every major city.  But, how did
they recognize you?"

Case shook his head.  "No, it wasn't a vampire.  It was something else,
something I've never seen before.  Scary son-of-a-bitch."

Hadrian took a deep puff of his cigar.  "Oh, them.  Something else
entirely.  They can fly, right?"

"Yeah."

"We don't know what they call themselves.  When I was younger, people used
to call them `goblins' or `devil's sparrows.'  Now we call them `bats.'"

"How come I've never heard of them before?"

"I don't know.  You Americans are just ignorant, I suppose.  Here in the
Old World, they appear from time to time, usually kill our kind pretty
efficiently, and then leave.  They can pick us out of a crowd with no
problem, so they must be able to smell differences like we can.  If we can,
we kill them, but as far as I know, nobody's ever bothered to hunt them
down and exterminate them."

"Why not?" I asked.  My encounter with that creature had left me terrified.

Hadrian glared my way.  "Because it's too much work.  If they want to kill
a weak wolf every now and then, so be it.  They're clearly not our real
enemies.  And that's what I need to talk to you about, Case.  The
vampires."  He picked up a folder on the table and handed it to Case.  "Do
you recognize this?"

Case leafed through it.  "Yeah.  We have one just like this at home."

"That's because I gave a file like that to every alpha in the world.  It
contains the names of all living wolves, which den they belonged to, what
order they were in, where their den was located, addresses, phone numbers,
etc.  I made this file in an attempt to create some sort of communication
among the wolves of the world.  But, it was a mistake.  Somehow, the
vampires got a hold of this file.  Now, ninety percent of our population is
dead."

"But it wasn't the file alone that did it," said Case.  "Even if all the
vampires in the world new who we were, we still would have been able to
take them.  There were so many more of us than them."

"That's right.  The vampire population suddenly exploded for reasons I
cannot explain.  I'll tell you what little I know.  This spring, we
suddenly lost contact with the den in Cape Town.  You remember the alpha
there, a wolf by the name of Marlow?"

"Yeah, I've met him," said Case.

"He had a huge pack down there, and then suddenly they had disappeared.
Gone without a trace.  I think this is when and where the vampire army
struck first.  They wiped out the South African wolves, and then weeks
later, they moved on to the rest of the world."

"Which would imply that the base of operations for the vampires was in
South Africa," I said.

Hadrian nodded.  "Possibly, yes.  But of course, that is completely
irrelevant information.  We are barely surviving as it is, there is no way
we could launch any sort of investigation in South Africa, where there are
no wolves left alive.  Anyway," he lifted up the folder, "all the
information in here is now outdated, except for the location of your den,
which is the only one that survived.  Yours was also the smallest pack in
the world.  The vampires must have not considered you a worthy target.
But, they undoubtedly know about you.  You may want to consider
relocating."

Case shook his head.  "We've always been there, and that's where we'll
stay."

"I don't care either way, it's your ass, not mine.  But, I will tell you
this.  There will never be another folder of information like this one.
Each alpha needs to know that his den is completely autonomous and
individual."

"That's how it is already for us," said Case.

"Good.  Now, about this man here."  He gestured towards me with his cigar.
"I think it would benefit everyone if he were to stay here, with me."

"I don't want to stay here," I said.

"He belongs with us," said Case.

"Fine.  But it's important that you keep him from escaping."

"We know that," said Case.

"And that you make sure he isn't bitten."

"He won't be."

"Keep him locked away during the fool moons just to be sure."

"Alright," said Case.

Hadrian put his cigar out on the table.  "If you're not going to leave him,
then I'll let you take him away.  But first I want you to give me a moment
alone with him.  To talk to him.  Johnny!"  The wolf who led us into the
room opened the door.  "Take Case with you and give him a tour of the den."

"Yeah, okay," said Johnny.

Case got up.  I was uneasy about being alone with Hadrian.  I got up with
Case.  "Don't leave me alone, Case," I said.

He smiled at me.  "Don't worry, Rick, you can trust Hadrian."  And then he
was out the door.

I turned back to face Hadrian.  He was still sitting there, glaring at me.
His eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.  "So, you're scared of me, huh?"
He stood up.  "Case thinks, because you're so weak, so vulnerable, that you
aren't a danger to us.  I know better.  I know that you could be a new
breed of assassin after your successor died.  Unlike his balls-out attacks,
you play it smarter.  Pretend to be ignorant, pretend to be weak.
Ingratiate yourself with the wolves.  And then, when the time is right, you
take them out from the inside."

He was walking towards me.  "No, you've got it all wrong," I said.  I
backed up into a corner.

"Yeah, and why should I trust you?"  He was coming closer, standing in
front of me.  "Do you know how many of my brothers your successor killed?
Do you know how much pain you people have caused?"

He grabbed me by the throat.  Terrified, I shook my head.  "No, I didn't do
any of that, it wasn't me."

"Shuttup!"  He punched my across the face.  Pain rocked me and I slumped
down in his grasp, dazed.  "Did you think you wouldn't have to pay?"  He
hit me again, harder, and again.

"Case!" I screamed.  "Case help me!"

He hit me again.  "How does it feel to be on the receiving end of the
abuse?"  His attack continued.  Pain seared through my entire body.  I was
struggling to breathe.

"CASE!!"  I yelled with all my strength.  But he never came.  After a
couple more hits, my vision faded into darkness, followed by my
consciousness.

*****

"Rick, wake up!"

I opened my eyes.  Case was looking down at me.  I only felt barely alive.
Every part of me hurt.

"Thank god," he said.  "I thought you might have been in a coma or
something."

We were still in that room, but Hadrian was gone.

"I didn't know he would do this to you.  Said he wanted proof that you
really were as weak as you said you were.  Come on, I'm going to get you
out of here."

He started to lift me up, but his touch was extremely painful.  "It hurts,"
I mumbled.

"Let's go home."

I blacked out again as he was carrying me away.


TO BE CONTINUED