Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 21:09:42 -0700 (PDT) From: kyler pettry Subject: When Dark Powers Stir pt 1 It was his own fault, he knew that. There as no way around it. You would think that after twenty years, you would learn not to trust a pretty face. Or a sculpted ass, or beautiful cock, or succulent little lips, or the sex drive of a rabbit. Alone, no, you can't trust any of those things. But when you put them all together, they make one damned hard force to resist. Darren knew that was where he went wrong. As usual he'd let his own rather insatiable need for sex overwhelm his beleaguered mind. Well one thing was for certain, this was the last time. He could still see the look on Richards face. It wasn't even shock at being discovered, there was no casting about for an excuse. Only anger at having been interrupted. `At what point did I let this happen to me.' Darren asked himself. He knew things had been a little tense for that last couple months. He wasn't doing to well at work. His position in his father's company was probably about to become tenuous, if non-existent. His recent coming out to his parents hadn't done anything to mend the rift the he and the old man had lovingly developed since Darren hit puberty. It wasn't anything that he hadn't expected. Darren had known he wasn't straight for a long time. He as only twenty four, and had his first sexual encounter at the age of fourteen. Old for some, young for others. He had also known that his father would never accept that kind of behavior from his own son. Richard brought himself out of his revere long enough to avoid smashing his jeep into the tail end of a geriatric behind the wheel of a Cadillac that could at best be the automobile version of the titanic. An apt comparison as it seemed that here breaks were about as fine-tuned as the flood control doors on that very same maritime colossus. His mind immediately went back to Richard. Who didn't even bother to let him have a moment to become righteously angry. Even that small decency was denied him. His partner of three years didn't even pull his dick out to the warm hole it was currently occupying. His words were simple and had the terrifying ring of finality to them, "Get out." Darren didn't know what to say, he would have stood there in shock, had Richard not immediately started ramming his incredibly large fuck stick into the suffering asshole. The boy at the other end didn't even look old enough to be enjoying that particular guilty pleasure with someone over the age of twenty. Darren just walked out of the room. His world was crashing down around his ears and there was nothing he could do to pull himself out of the shock. That had been three weeks ago. His thoughts were still centered of the sociopath he'd dated. Nearly a month had passed and not a night went by that he didn't nearly cry himself to sleep. He'd had more than enough money save to get him his own place. And his belongings were out of Richards apartment before the week was out. At least the bastard had enough courtesy not to be fucking anyone then. Though he had been cold and terse to the point of rudeness. Darren shifted to the turn lane. The dark shadow of his parking garage blotted out even more of the sun. Not that anything so beautiful as the sun still managed to break through the smog of New York City. The headlights of his navy blue jeep cut the deeper shadows of the garage and he drove to the third floor. His spot was conveniently by the elevator. He grabbed his briefcase, and as he walked away heard the responding beeps as his finger caressed the door lock button. The elevator was a brown box with ugly wooden paneling. The music was enough to set his teeth on edge. He had to face it. He was in a bad a mood. There was nothing really wrong with the elevator, or the old biddy in the too big Cadillac. There hadn't been anything wrong with the briefs that he had fussed with all day. Just as there was nothing wrong with his secretary who probably was going to be putting in for a transfer as soon as she could nail down someone in personnel who owed her a favor. The ride up was interminable and only his self admitted bad mood saved his disposition from approaching the homicidal. When he heard the door `ding' the seventh time, and `watch your step' came over the speakers with robotic efficiency, he stepped into the tenth floor hallway with a great deal of relief. If only he could make inside his apartment with nothing else going wrong. He would be eternally grateful. His shoes were deposited in a heap next to the front door and his pants and shirt in a ragged trail to the bathroom. His socks were deposited without a second thought and his boxers were shrugged next to the tub. The water didn't even have time to warm up, before he was beneath it. The temperature didn't matter. The water hitting his skin blocked out the weariness of the day. He breathed and for the first time since morning it was a relief when it came back to him. The soap was in his hand and passed over his pecs, the softness of the herbal soap causing his nipples to harden. He felt the tightness spread as he passed the bar all over his body. By the time it made its way over his hard stomach, he dropped it and used the lather on his hand to work the cleansing bubbles into his aching cock. The deep red of his member would have been en erotic sight with all the white slush around it. Not that he bothered to look. No sex act still possessed any true enjoyment for him. It hadn't for nearly a month, and now that he thought about it. Even before his encounter with the darker side of his lover. He masturbated now, because though his heart was dead or dying, his body still had needs. And the masturbating let some of the tension drain out of him. He hadn't been to the gym in weeks. He hadn't started to feel a change in his body yet. Though his energy level had dropped dramatically. Not that the gym could possibly help that. Darren thought back to the phone call he'd received today. The harried secretary, under a barrage of his orders, telling him he had a call. Well, of course he had a call he'd been busy. He even remembered the small touch of happy surprise he'd felt when he heard who it was. Terrence Foster. "Terry? My god, is that you?" He'd asked. "Yeah, pal. It's me, how'ya been?" The voice on the phone was nothing less that melodious. Terry had been the lead in there glee club in college and hadn't lost it in the two years since. "Been better, but it sure is good to hear from ya! What the hell you been doin, cept ignorin your friends. Last I heard you were somewhere in South America or some shit?" He tried to sound jovial, and to terry's credit, he didn't have to force it too much. "Brazil, and before that the Yucatan." The voice brought back, "I heard you were settled down with some cock hung gladiator type and trying like crazy to beat nature and make brats." The laughter in the voice was the only thing that kept Darren from crying. It took him a moment but he did respond without a catch in his throat. "Yeah, well, I guess you could say that I am a free man again." There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone. "Sounds like it's still pretty raw." Darren could feel his friend's sympathy, and terry was the one person that he didn't resent giving it. "Yeah, it is, but hey, can't win'em all. Tell me about you, out and about. Seeing the world." He really didn't want anymore reminders for now about the lamented reason for his present lack of humor. He let himself drown in his old friend's voice. Remembering the closeness that they had always shared, he let the innocence of that relationship buoy him up from the dark pit he was in. Darren knew it would only last for a little while, but that was okay, he could deal with that. "Well, I saw it, and frankly it got old fast. Listen I am coming back into town for a while and wanted to know if you wanted to get together or something?" The voice on the other end never missed a beat, and for that matter neither did Darren. "No, what you wanted to know as whether or not you could crash at my place till your dad could wire you the money for an apartment." Darren knew his friend well, and if all terry wanted was to get together the irresponsible bastard would have waited till he was in town, not bothering to call ahead. It was one of the things that made Darren rather glad he had never done anything to act on his initial crush with Terry. Not that terry would have reciprocated, but still it is as good an excuse as any. "You got me, I thought I might be smooth enough. If it is an inconvenience, don't worry about it, I'm sure I can come up with something." There was real conviction in his voice. And Darren knew that he was lucky. Terry would rather sleep on the street that do something that would bother his friend. Terry wasn't usually that considerate of people and Darren knew he had a special place in the other man's heart. "No, don't worry about it. No trouble, it would be good to have some company right now." He didn't want any bitterness to enter his voice he knew he failed. "It must have been bad. Listen dude, I'll be there in a day or two, then we can sit down and have a real long talk about it. Then we'll get totally smashed and think of some really evil things to say about the bastard. It'll make you feel lots better." Terry had him laughing before he could think not to. He got the flight info and said his goodbye to Terry, and went back to work. It had only taken him five minutes before he lost his cheery mood again with the drudgery of his day. That brought him back to the shower which was now rather comfortably hot, and his roaring throbbing cock, which was even hotter. A few moans, and a thick ribbon of hot cum flew out of his dick. It splattered the wall and started to run its lethargic way down. Darren re-lathered rinsed and turned the water off. He toweled himself off and dropped the towel to the floor. Normally he would have taken it to the hamper. But tonight he felt like being a slob. A quick look out his window and he noticed that night had already fallen outside his window. The glare of the big apple's lights obscuring any hint of stars, not that he would have been able to see them over the buildings anyway. He thought for second about neighbors who might be able too see into his window. He knew he would cut a nice figure for some strangers wanking fingers. His freshly milked cock all ruddy with the aftermath of its chosen course. And his shoulder length brown hair still wet from the shower, clinging to his corded neck. He may not be as built as Richard, but he damned sure knew he was good looking. His stomach was etched in the immortal six pack and his chest had just enough definition to be hot but not too over done. His legs were thick and well muscled and again, not too over done. He had a classic swimmers build, maybe a little thicker. All in all, he would sleep with himself were he someone else, that was all that he really needed. He plod nude to the kitchen, found a half eaten box of take out in the fridge from the night before. Not bothering to heat it up, he scarfed it down. Feeling the empty sensation in his stomach lessen with each bite. That was all he was after. He didn't enjoy the food, hell... he barely even tasted it. It wasn't long before his head hit the pillow and he was out. There wasn't anything but hurt and self deprecation in staying awake, and it had been too trying the last few weeks. He simply didn't have the strength left for more emotional heartache. His broken heart let him fell almost immediately into a dreamless restful sleep. The next two days at work went by in a haze. He could see his father giving him the evil eye from across the office. The old man wouldn't even talk to him anymore. He had given up trying to make peace with him, and had in fact started searching for a new job. He'd had the good manners to apologize to his secretary; he'd even gone so far as to buy her one of the confections she loved so much, a gaudy affair of Bavarian creme swimming with chocolate. He hadn't heard she was on the Atkins diet, but then, everyone was, so why should she be any different. Of course her need and desire to lose weight was all in her mind, she was good looking, though not exceptionally. Had he been straight and she willing, he was sure something would have happened. She had politely refused his gift, then looked at him as though he had horns and snatched it out of the box. He'd never seen a look on anyone's face like that, at least not without four hours of mind-blowing sex behind them. It seemed that they had made up, he knew she made-out at least, he almost felt sorry for the eclair. Though if one had to die, he could think of worse ways. He looked at his watch. It was two thirty, Terry's plane was arriving in an hour. He wasn't going to meet his friend at the airport, the world traveler would take a cab to the apartment. Which was perfect, considering that Darren had totally forgotten that he had nothing in his home to feed his road weary friend, unless Terry had developed a taste for fake potted plants. He gathered his things and said goodbye to Christy his secretary. It was just too eerie how her eyes looked with those purple contacts. And headed for the elevator. He was sure he felt his father's dark scowl as he left the office. At this point it was his opinion that the old bastard could take his disapproval and shove up his ass. The ride to the supermarket was uneventful, though time consuming and rather expensive. He didn't know what his friend's palate was like after two years in central America, but if his constitution was anything like it used to be, whatever he bought had to be in vast quantities. He made sure there was plenty of everything, including beer, though he didn't drink it himself, he remembered that terry had a wooden leg for the stuff. His jeep was so full it took him three trips to get everything to his apartment. Another half an hour was spent putting everything away. It hadn't dawned on him how long he'd been without settling into this place. He didn't even have a spare bed. There was only the futon in the living room, a cast off he'd meant to be rid of but had by a miracle kept. Though it wouldn't shift into a flat position. He didn't even know why he'd bothered, his only TV was in his room, so there wasn't a whole lot of reason for the futon. The clock on the wall said it was nearing five, he didn't realize it was so late. Terry would be there shortly, he might have time for a quick shower. He'd made sure to give Terry the pass code to get in should there be some reason he was out. All was set, so he shucked his clothes and grabbed a change out of the bedroom. A cool set of shorts and a sleeveless muscle shirt that wasn't so much for appearance as it was for comfort. The water was good and hot this time. He let the heat pull him back to himself and felt a little more focused than he had in a while. The soap and shampoo sent him back to the clouds and then brought him back again. A sound at the edge of his hearing caught his attention. It sounded like a thud, though he couldn't be sure. He rinsed the last of the water from his eyes and body. Running his hands over his stomach he sluiced the worst off and grabbed the towel from the hook. He dried quickly and wrapped it around himself. He opened the bathroom door and stuck his head out. There was no evidence of anybody. "Hello" he called. There was no answer. He cinched the towel around him and walked out of the bathroom. He walked down the hall towards the kitchen, and rounded the corner. He was neither mentally nor physically prepared for someone to be standing there. When the two nearly collided, he screamed and his wet feet coupled with very unmanly panic conspired to send him to the floor in a mess of soaked towel and sprawling limbs. His first thought was to run or shout for help. But the sound of laughter quickly cut through the haze of fear and gave him an indication of what had happened. He closed his eyes and set his teeth shaking his sodden head just for effect. Then opened his eyes and looked up at Terry. What he saw nearly took his breath away for the second time in twenty seconds. The dirty blonde had always been a cute boy, but what stood before him now was a fucking gorgeous man! There was still a strong trace of that boy with mischief in his eyes, and a wild streak a mile wide. Of recklessness and hedonistic abandon. The face had filled out and the shoulders, once thin with scholarly devotion were now full and box like. The hair which used to be long and flowing was cut with some kind of shaggy spiked thing that somehow made him look totally different. Darren immediately missed the hair, but couldn't deny the change it had made in him. The tight once-white shirt should a density of muscle that Darren never thought to see on his rather too thing friend, and the thighs, my god, they were straining the denim. It was almost painful to look at. "Well, are you gonna sit there gawking, or get off the floor and stop showing just how happy you are to see me?" Terry's amusement was thick in his voice, he was nearly guffawing. The urge was undeniable when Darren realized exactly what terry was talking about. His towel had come quite undone and his overwhelming reaction was becoming more than evident in Darren's more indiscrete organs. He blushed harder than he had in grade school. And a lifetime of gay fear came rushing back to him. "Oh come on dude, get off the floor. Its not like I never seen one before. Hell its nice to know someone thinks of me." He was still laughing but he was trying to hide it. I mean what are friends for. His hand reached down and grasped mine. The grip he had developed was phenomenal, he pulled my to my feet with no trouble what so ever. He quickly re-cinched the towel and tried to babble something about changing when the terry cloth did nothing but make my humiliation larger by tenting with white. Terry laughed again and nodded me towards the bathroom. So much for a friendly reunion. I had just managed to flash my house guest and show him some seriously private information. Darren waited in the bathroom long after he changed, making sure the eight inch traitor had learned to behave itself. When he came back out Terry had made himself at home on the futon, which was in the bed position. When Darren just looked at him, he said, "What?" "That thing hasn't opened in the last year. It was frozen solid, Me and Richard together couldn't get it to open. What did you do?" Terry got an uncomfortable look on his face, and then returned, "WD-40k, it was just rusted." As far as Darren could remember there hadn't been any rust on the bed but then, it would be a stupid thing for Terry to lie about. "It is sure as hell good to see you, sport." Terry said, coming off the futon. His wide arms wrapping around Darren as his own arms did the same. It was like the last two years hadn't happened and the two good friends hadn't been separated. Though it was a little strange for Terry to initiate physical contact. The other boy had never been known as a hugger. Well the latin American peoples were notoriously affectionate, and with a body like that Darren wasn't complaining. "Your tellin' me, man. God, when you called I swear it was like it was last term all over again. I couldn't believe it was you." Terry was swept away with a wave of happiness at seeing the closest friend he'd ever had. Terry moved back and took his place on the futon, Darren followed and the conversation took off, Their old camaraderie was undeterred and took off like a twin jet engine. It wasn't long before Terry got the whole Richard fiasco right from the horses mouth. The look on his face was not a friendly one. "God, man, that is rough." Terry collected his thoughts, "I mean I knew your were gay. Everybody did, you didn't keep it a secret or anything. Its just that you were never really gay acting... you know. And you were so full of life, I can't believe someone would do something like to you." There was real sympathy and a harder edge to Terry's voice. Like he would have loved a chance to have a man-to-man talk with Richard. But, then that was the way Terry was, he was protective. The best big brother an only child ever had. "It wasn't anything that I didn't let happen. That's why it so damned painful." This was the first time Darren had talked with someone about it. And as soon as he started, so did the tears. He didn't sob, but he knew he was getting puffy. He could tell Terry was getting mad. "oh god, dude I'm sorry, I shouldn't have spilled all this on you, you just got back." He wiped tears away. "This isn't your problem." Terry didn't even give him time to finish the thought. "No, its yours, but you're my friend, God! That makes it my problem Dar." The use of the nickname was the last straw, Darren melted. He couldn't take it anymore, the need to know what had happened to change his friend into this walking god of a man. The pasty, kind a crazy kid that everybody liked and feared a little bit, now returned from south America with a tan so golden he could establish a new exchange on the market, and a smile so infectious it made little parts of Darren stand up and do the shimmy. "Enough, this is stupid, he was stupid, I shouldn't waste another minute on em. Tell me about you instead." He even let a ghost of a smile play on his lips, not hard while he was looking at Terry. He wondered just how long he'd had feelings like this for his friend, he certainly hadn't been conscious of them to this degree two years ago. For his part Terry blinked and had a slightly strained look on his face. "Well, I went down originally to help my dad in the field. He'd just found that new sight in Copan, well, it turned out that it was a major find. We even got our names in a couple of books. But..." Somehow with Terry there was always a but, "It was just the tip of the ice berg. That site had references to another maybe even older site, in south America. It took six months to decipher and trace the landmarks, luckily most of them were still there." His story ended. "Well...?" "Well... what? "Did you find it?" Terry looked at him, "Oh yeah, we found it. Biggest thing in archeology since the first dinosaur tooth, not that it really matters." Darren was nonplussed and he looked it, Terry laughed and took pity on him. "The government of the area, more like a regime than a gov, actually... they took the site. Claimed that it was there heritage and they didn't take kindly to gringos taking there heritage out-country. We nearly didn't make it out." It was mind blowing, the thought of Terry the original MTV kid, living in the jungle with the Indians, excavating ancient ruins. Well, it certainly explained the tan. "God that is so exciting. What was the site, I mean, what was so important about it?" Terry continued, "Well for starters the name of the site was Loh Kept'chuakal. It was the central temple for an obscure sect. The interesting thing was though that the hieroglyphs on the structure we found predated the known civilizations of the area, or any other for that matter. And the pictographs themselves were unusual. They were Egyptian, or form of writing so closely related to the Nile Valley civilization that they were nearly indistinguishable." By the light in his eyes, it was clear that for Terry, this was a major thing, for Darren it meant several minutes of pretending he knew what the hell his friend was talking about. Terry continued, "The really strange thing though was the temple itself. The structure was made entirely out of white marble; a kind of marble that isn't found within an eight hundred mile radius of the place. So whoever built this place had to cart tons of stone nearly a thousand kilometers to the site. Given the tech of the day, it would have been nearly impossible. And I mean this thing, dar...it was huge. Nothing less than the jungle would have been able to hide this thing." Seeing so much passion in his friend's eyes made Darren warm inside a little bit. He remembered when he had that feeling, like life was so very much worth living. It would be really hard to get that back. But seeing how happy Terry had been in his little jungle hell hole, made Darren realize that he would, one day. "Sounds like you had the time of your life. Playing with the Indians, and digging around in dirt. Who would have guessed?" He laughed, and Terry joined him. The other not missing the irony of who had been and how he'd changed. Darren waited happily while they just laughed then asked the question, "So, you seein anybody, I'll bet there were a line of sweet, nubile, young Indian girls knockin each other over to get into your tent." Darren thought it was funny. But the look that crossed Terry's face made it look like he'd had some troubles of his own in the relationship department. "You want to talk about it?" Darren was curious, for though he was cute, always had been. There had only been a few women in Terry's life. Terry looked at him, like he was weighing the possibilities. "I did hook up with someone down there. It was really intense, and I got hurt. I don't really want to think about it. But lets just say that I won't trust anybody on their word again for a long time. At least not without a damned good reason." `Poor guy, someone must have really done a number on his heart too' Darren thought to himself. He looked at the clock and saw that it was after twelve. They had talked for nearly four hours. God it didn't seem that long. "Well sport, it looks about that time, you gotta be tired from your flight. So, I'll let ya turn in. I'm afraid there's only the futon and the bed. I know the futon is damned uncomfortable, so if you want you can share the bed. It's a queen, just..." "Just...what?" "You gotta promise not to get fresh in the middle of the night." He replied with a straight face, he even through in a little creeping shudder of fear at the very thought. Next thing he knew he had a pillow from the futon in his face. "You should be so lucky, last time you had anything this good looking interested in you, it was in the middle of a REM cycle." They were laughing. When Terry got up and followed him into the bedroom, suddenly Darren got the hint. `He's takin me up on my offer. Oh jesus!' He thought to himself. Darren hadn't had anybody sleeping next to him since Richard and even Richard wasn't quite as hot as his buddy. He knew he would be getting very little sleep tonight. He would be too afraid of saying something in his sleep. Terry shucked his clothes and followed Darren into the bed. The soft covers enveloping the two. The one luxury that Darren had always indulged in was his bed. If it wasn't like sleeping in a dream, he didn't want it. The coolness of the sheets on his now bare stomach and chest were entirely too good feeling at the moment and he had to clamp down hard on his blood flow which had taken a brief migration south. "God this bed is like sleeping on a cloud, you have no idea how good it feels to be in a bed again and not on a damp cot on the ground." Darren really did shudder at the thought. There was nothing in the world worse than sleeping on the ground, even when he went camping, Darren brought an air mattress. "Yeah, well never say I didn't give you anything." He smiled over his shoulder. Much to his amazement, he was asleep in record time, just the presence on another person in the bed with him lulled him to the land of dreams rather than reminding him of bad times. Sometime in the early morning, not even yet four, he awoke to a pressure around his chest. The feeling of warmth he had was too much for just the blankets to explain, and no matter how expensive, he'd never felt a blanket yet that felt this GOOD! He looked down and was surprised to see and arm around his stomach the fingers curled just over his belly button. That would also explain the ecstasy-like sensation coming from his back. A quick look with his head over his shoulder and he knew from where the pressure originated. Terry had his body pressed up close in a spooning position. The light from the nearly full moon lent a touch of soft silver to the gold of his body. The covers had slipped down a little and most of his upper body was bared to the chill of the room. The smooth skin was enough to cause Darren to lose a moment's breath. The heat of the hand on his stomach the only thing brought another beat out of his choking heart. He lowered his head back and scooted a little closer to his friend, the heat of their bodies even stronger now. His own hand fell over the one on his stomach. It was a moment of touching intimacy. Darren wished it had never happened and prayed at the same time it wasn't the last. He tried to drift back of to sleep, and eventually he did. With the morning's harsh dawn-light falling through the window Darren's eyes opened again. The pressure at his back was still there. For a moment he'd thought he'd dreamed last night. He was so elated that he hadn't his ears actually roared. He didn't want to move, less he disturbed Terry. "I didn't think you would ever wake up." The words stopped him in his tracks. It was one thing to accidentally roll over and hold someone in the middle of the night. It was still quite another to know you did it, and not let go. There were definitely some signals being sent. Had his brain not deep-fried itself in its own juices at the sound of his bud's voice he would have picked up on that. "How long you been waited?" He didn't want to sound nervous. He knew he failed. "A few minutes. Sorry if I bothered you last night. Down south if got really cold at night, you get used to snuggling up to people." Terry yawned a little and though his grip on Darren didn't quite let go it did slacken somewhat. Darren wouldn't have gone anywhere for all the gold in fort knox, so it didn't really matter. "No problem, to be honest, it's still hard to get to sleep unless someone else is there." He didn't hear a single trace of anything in his voice when he said, well time heals all wounds or something like that. "Well, glad I could be of service. It wasn't much of a chore, you're really comfortable." He pulled his friend closer and gave him a squeeze. Then released him and rose from the bed with a stretch that looked damn near painful. "So what are we gonna do today. You promised me a day out and about, reminding me of what was so good about the states." His skin was bronzed in the light of morning and the sun haloing his head made him look as though he were heaven sent. Terry found his voice, "I thought we could hit the museums and galleries and stuff. I didn't really know what you wanted to do so I didn't plan an itinerary." Terry walked to the small bathroom off the bedroom and disappeared for a minute. Then the sound of a thick stream of piss came wafting through the air. It was a sound that immediately turned Darren on, in his mind a thick stream meant a big dick. And for the first time in weeks his sex drive was kicking some serious ass. The sound stopped the sink ran and a minute or so later Terry emerged, looking very much fit for the day. It was darren's turn, or at least in would have been if he had developed a morning wood so bad it hurt. He made a few quips at his friend who eventually sauntered into the kitchen to scrounge up some food. Then he made a break for the bathroom. The door closed behind him and his cock was free from the confines of his pants. His fist pounded the pud for dear life. There was no mercy in his death grip. In moments he was roaring ot a finish that left him shaking and clutching the bathroom sink. WHAT IN THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? He asked himself. He had never cum so fast in his life. Maybe his denial of needs was not a healthy something to be doing. Finally his dick calmed down enough that he was able to piss without pain, and put his little soldier away and walked into the kitchen. Intent that he was gonna show Terry one hell of a day, and forget about the sexual tension that for some strange reason was making him lose his bloody mind. ________________________________________________________________________ The smell of his prey was nearby, of that there was no mistake. He could smell the blood in his veins. The hunger that beat within his breast. He knew. He knew the beast was here. The last of the despoilers. The last of the forsaken was within the walls of this city. This sprawling chaos of smells and sights and sounds. It had taken him several hours walled up in a sewer before he could bring himself to face the mayhem brought to him by his senses. There was had never been anyting like this in the jungle, not in all the centuries that he had lived there. But deep down he understood that this was just another kind of jungle, one where the enemy had the upper hand. He was on familiar territory. Now wouldn't be the time to make mistakes. Now was the time to play the game well indeed. The stranger picked up his bag, it would look ratty and out of place in their sparkling world of glass and steel. Nothing smelled alive hear. That, it would seem, was the way these strange ones preferred it. He would have to see to getting new cloths, otherwise his prey might be able to track him. In all his long life, the hunter, whose own name he had forgotten long ago, could never remember a hunt having lasted this long, or reached so far from his home jungle. He had left the continent of his birth. Before he had been forced to follow the defiler, the concept had barely touched upon his mind, now it seemed to overwhelm him. One thing was certain. This was the last, there could be no more after this one. Then perhaps, the dark ones would die, and their foul taint would be forever wiped from the earth, nothing more than an odd story on the walls of an ancient and crumbling temple. Finally, after so many long and lonely years, he would be able to sleep. To take his eternal and much deserved rest. The hunter watched the people as they moved by him. They did not see, none of them saw. He could smell them, their unconscious determination not to see. It would make his job harder and easier. And in truth it disturbed him, that people had fallen so far. They'd placed there faith in machines with no soul, no life. And they wander why their humanity begins to fade. He made his way down a confection of cement and people. No one bothered to notice. This was a city of ten million blind souls. None of them seeing, none of them hearing. It would be the perfect place for the parasite to hide. It would also be the perfect place for him to die. No one would hear him scream as the dawn took him. That thought allowed a ghost of a smile to play on his face. The smile did not fade as he effortlessly blended his way through the massed throng of the streets.