THE BOY HEROES FROM THE LAND OF ERIK (A Series of Epics)

Epic no. 4 -

 

Lev's Tale

 

By DamiJon

Email at damijon123@gmail.com

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Chapter Four.

 

Aldan walks briskly to the temple. His fun earlier has reinvigorated him. As well, it has renewed his commitment to finding a way to help Lev and save him from his fate. He's not wearing his uniform, though he is, of course armed with sword and daggers. Returning to the temple he climbs the steps, making sure that Aizen isn't performing on his stump. He passes through the coffee room, pausing long enough to buy a small bag of beans. He makes his way into the depths of the apartment level, retracing his steps. At what he hopes is the correct door, he stops and knocks firmly.

Quickly after he knocks, a stranger to Aldan opens the door. He soon remembers the face. It's the half-elf boy that he and Lev caught having sex with Aizen. The elf gasps, "Ah, it's you! You must know where Aizen is, right?"

Aldan furrows his brow. "I'm actually here looking for Aizen. I have no idea where he might be."

He grips on the front of his long light brown hair, ready to pull it out by the root. "You have to be kidding me! This is crazy! I don't understand!"

Aldan's face weighs heavy with concern. "When did you last see him? Have you any idea where he might have gone?" Aldan enters their quarters, pacing near their table. Remembering the beans, he scoffs and sets them on the table. "We can't panic, we don't know that anything is wrong. Perhaps he's at the market buying food or studying."

Holt shakes his head. "No, no! I went to the fish market he goes to and he wasn't there. Went to his school and met with his teachers and none of them had seen him there either. He's never late for his classes and I always see him before he leaves in the morning. None of it makes sense. It's not him." Holt looks to Aldan, serious and distraught.

Aldan starts to reach out to the young elf but catches himself. Anthros and non-humans don't always like to be touched. "Calm yourself, boy. When did you last see him? Did he mention any plans? Anywhere he wanted to go or anyone that he wanted to meet?"

He sits down on the bed and thinks for the hundredth time. "Nothing. I have no clue. He was fine when we went to bed."

Aldan sits in one of the chairs at the table. "He was gone when you woke?"

The boy nods.

"Dress yourself."

Holt walks over to the dresser, remembering the mess they made last night. He had washed the sheets and clothes himself since Aizen was gone, a first time for him. He equips a sword and lifts out his armor, a leafy green color to it. It's a beautiful piece of work, light, but very solid and would withstand a blow or arrow but doesn't compliment his eyes all too well. "Should I take this with?"

Aldan thinks for a moment. "Yes, I think so. I don't know Aizen well, but I can think of three places to look. The third of them might be dangerous." The soldier in him admires the armor that Holt has. Decorative, but well made. He hopes that he's wrong and that the young elf won't have need of armor today.

Holt quickly equips his military clothing and weaponry but neglects the pads for his arms. It fits tightly around his thin body. His muscles are larger than months before from working and training others in the forest as to how to hunt and prepare for fighting. "My name is Holt... You probably already knew this, but I'm Aizen's boyfriend. Half elf. There's a few among us in the kingdom, but not many." He smiles to him, although that fearsome look is still on his face. "Shall we get going?"

Aldan nods. "You've fought before. It's not a question, but an observation." The way he wears his armor, how he positions sword and daggers for easy and quick reach. "Yes. The obvious place to check is Lev's home. Perhaps he's there for some reason. We should check there first, though I think it unlikely. But it is possible, and it is closest. If you would?" He opens the door and waits in the hallway, letting Holt lead the way.

Holt stops midway through the hallway, pointing along at two doors. "It's on these two... We'll have to take a gamble. He chooses the right door, knocking hard the first two times, soft the third time, seemingly pointless and trivial. A minute passes before someone opens the door swiftly and loudly. The older man looks at him, standing around seven feet tall with large muscles in his arms, a broad chest, hairy legs. He's wearing a plain white shirt that reveals his upper chest and baggy black pants, no socks. His horns are long, around eight inches, twisting and curved like that of a goat. Even though most of his body looks overpowering, his face is simple and sympathetic even when he's bothered by someone knocking at the door. He faces Holt and Aldan and asks, "What do the two of you want?"

Aldan looks at the man. In his mind, he's thinking 'Whoa. Well, I've killed bigger'. He speaks politely, though, "Does the young boy, Lev, live here?"

The older man stands to the side, letting them enter. "Yes. He's not here. With a friend. I'm glad that he, uh, has found someone to talk to finally. He's not the happiest boy in the world."

The apartment room is almost a near replica of Aizen and Holt's, although there's an extra room with no door, which would be Lev's room. The bed is against the wall and the kitchen is tidier with more cooking equipment hung from the walls. It's clean and tidy. The older man's wife is writing letters at a small table against the wall from the opposite side of the bed. She glances up to them, then back down. Her face is still young, black hair kept short, and her horns are much shorter. They don't look like they'd be made for each other, but a romantic painting of the two of them against the wall tells otherwise. Candles are lit to help lighten the room. The old man whispers into his wife's ear and pulls up to two seats. They're extremely small, even for Holt.

Holt puts his hands out. "I'm fine. We're fine. I'm just looking for my boyfriend, Aizen."

He goes to the kitchen to sip from his cup of coffee. "Yes, I've seen the two of you around. It's good to finally meet you, Holt. Your boyfriend is a great musician as you already know. And you are?" He looks to Aldan, sizing him up. "Human? Did Lev do something wrong?"

"No, he hasn't. He's actually become a great friend to my son." Aldan nods. "But, beg pardon, as Holt says, we're trying to find Aizen, and thought that perhaps he may be here."

The older man puts his cup down. "I'm afraid that he's not. I'm guessing you've checked his school. I'm not sure I can be much of a help to you."

"In this matter, perhaps not." Aldan speaks respectfully. "But I would like to speak with you and your wife at some point as regards Lev. Unfortunately, we must continue to seek Aizen. He's disappeared." Aldan moves closer to the door, trying not to appear rude. "If I may return another time, with your permission?"

He pulls out his arm, wanting Aldan to take his as a way of greeting. "Yes, I think I would like that. It's important to get to know who your grandson is hanging out with. You can bring your son over here whenever you want. We can't promise that he won't be shocked by our culture, but he's welcome. We're much different than humans, but just as kind as any sort of folk."

Aldan takes the man's arm, firmly. He nods, "I think Bryan would like that. He thinks that Lev's just about the best thing ever. I don't mean to be rude, but we must find Aizen." He nods to the woman. "Ma'am."

The man walks them out of the room and shuts the door quietly. They both venture upstairs to the shop room. Fresh beans are being roasted and the smell is intoxicatingly beautiful.

Holt grunts, "Well, that's that. Where to next?"

"I didn't think that was likely, but it was close and easy to check." Aldan looks around to make sure Aizen isn't in the shop. He continues walking towards the exit with Holt. "I think that perhaps he may be visiting Drew's grave. Trying to gain some insight or just to pay respects."

Holt slaps a hand against his head. "Of course... Oh Gods! How could I be so insensitive? I barely even asked him about his friend... Figured it was too soon and he didn't want to talk about it. Am I an idiot?" He walks out into the daylight. The leaves on the trees have turned to a bright red and orange.

"You're not an idiot. But let's not be slow. Keep an eye out in case he's heading home as we're heading there." Aldan leads the way. His bearing and weaponry easily encourage most to move aside for the pair as they briskly walk. Aldan's head is on a swivel, looking to and fro through the crowd. For Aizen, for anything unusual. He looks at his companion. Such delicate features. He's heard stories of how elves can fight but has never seen it. "So, Holt, how did you and Aizen end up together, if I may be so bold?"

The half-elf catches up to him, hand at his side, a simple paranoid gesture he always has. "Quite funny that you ask... We were both living in the forest. It was morning and he invited me for coffee. I fell victim to his beans, and then fell in love with him in an instant. Like magic or fate. We were bound for each other. We are forever." He whistles a song that Aizen wrote for him months ago.

Aldan grunts. "Really? That is . . .uncanny. Drew and I were literally meant to be together. And we shall be again, one day. We, too, are forever. I wonder if it's more than coincidence that the four of us . . ." He pauses for a moment. "Now the three of us. If it's more than luck that we're drawn into these events? Two pairs of fated lovers?" He thinks for a moment. "Seeing Lev with my son, perhaps three pair..."

"I think you're just imagining prophecies." Holt shrugs. "So you were in love with this Drew that Aizen once knew?"

Aldan grins. He's rubbing off on him. "That rhymes." He chuckles "Yes. Very much in love with Drew. I still am. We were bound together by a priestess of Selune. She recognized that we'd been together in past incarnations and that we would be again. When Aizen . . ." Aldan struggles for the right words. "When he spoke to Drew, opening a portal somehow, I think he knew as well. Drew spoke to Aizen, giving him messages for me and taking back my replies." He looks wistfully at the sky. "Could it really have only been a few days ago? It was very taxing for Aizen, and he was exhausted. I had to carry him home, unconscious, and put him to bed. I hope by the Seven Redeeming Knights that he's visiting Drew now." He points to a set of low hills. "There. That's the cemetery and Drew lies, facing the river." He quickens their pace into a slow jog.

Holt puts out his hand and front of him to slow him down. "Calm. Walk slower. I wanted to say... That I'm sorry for your loss. I know you've probably heard it before, but I mean it. You must be very strong to carry on with him not here anymore." Holt notices Aldan's necklace, which shines just once for a second. He blinks a few times and concludes that it must have been his mind playing tricks on him. "We've only lived here for a month and my love has already learned so much. It's crazy how fast demons absorb information."

Aldan nods. "And they're so warm to the touch. I miss that warmth in my arms. Aizen surely has a unique gift for music." He smiles and slows as Holt suggested. "Drew would read two, three, four books in a night as I slept. I had to bring him more." He looks at Holt. "I'm not strong. I don't carry on because I'm strong. I miss him every second...Even this morning... I'm not strong. I'm just trying to fulfill Drew's last wishes. Save Lev and live my life."

They reach the grave site. Aizen is laying there, dirty and asleep on his stomach, wearing rugged clothes from yesterday. His staff lays to the left of him. There are small rocks circling the grave, marking where the invisible field is set. It becomes more noticeable in its waves as the two of them come closer. Holt is relieved and rushes to his love, feeling a strange shock of electricity jolt through him as falls to the grass make sure he's unharmed. "He shouldn't be sleeping today. It's too soon. I wonder if it's because he's beginning to mourn. Maybe he didn't act like he needed me yesterday because he was still in shock..." Holt brushes the younger boys blonde hair away from his eyes. His breath is calm, slow, and quiet.

Aldan kneels down beside the two of them. "He may have tried a spell or ritual to contact Drew for some reason. Why else be here and passed out? I can carry him, Holt. We should get him back to your home. Dare we try to wake him?"

"I don't know..." Holt rubs his back under his shirt. "I think I should stay here with him until he wakes up. However long that takes, I don't care. What if we take him home and he's bothered by me? That won't do. I'll stay here."

"Why would he be bothered by you? You're his partner." Aldan feels the unconscious demon-boy's forehead. He takes his water skin and moistens part of his cloak. He offers it to Holt. "We need to find out why he's here and what happened."

"We will after he wakes." He pulls off his boots, sitting down to the left of him. A flute is still attached to Aizen's belt. He doesn't have any weapons on him. "You should go. If you'd like, you can always bring him food for when he wakes up. Thank you, Aldan, for helping me find him." He kneels on one foot and puts his head down to you before assembling back to his relaxed position. "Seriously."

Aldan stands. He covers Aizen with his cloak. He gently brushes the boy's cheek. Turning to Holt, he smiles. "Stay with him. I'll be back shortly. Don't worry, Holt. Everything will be alright. He's lucky to have you."

The prison guard heads to the nearest market. He remembers how hungry Drew would be after waking. He's certain that Holt hasn't eaten since he missed Aizen. He moves from stall to stall, purchasing bread and cheese, raw and cooked chickens and fish. He also buys wine and coffee. And a blanket. He heads back to the cemetery. Aldan is gone for about an hour. Unfortunately, the young blonde demon is still asleep when he returns, but his face is gentle and happy, as if he's somewhere nice. Holt is still sitting near him, waiting for him to wake up.

"I brought supplies for you and Aizen. And a blanket if he should sleep into the night. My heart tells me to wait with you, but I should get back and see to Lev and Bryan. I may bring them here later." Aldan looks at Holt. "If you're not here when we come, we may visit your apartment?"

The boy nods. "You're welcome anytime. Just make sure to knock before you enter... Not to be selfish, but is all of the food raw? I'm starving."

Aldan laughs. "I know what it's like to be with a demon. There's cooked chicken and fish. And bread and honey. I guessed that you haven't eaten since Aizen went overdue." He kneels down and places a hand on Holt's shoulder, sliding it to the back of his neck. "No one who saw the fear and worry in your eyes would ever think you selfish, young elf." He squeezes the back of Holt's neck and smiles warmly at him. He sighs. "You're set up then." Aldan steps to the marker and kisses Drew's name. Waving to Holt, he departs, heading for home, to check on his son and the third demon in his life.

Holt begins to eat as watches Aldan walk off, sorting through and arranging a container of raw goods for Aizen for when he wakes up. He falls into meditation with the nature as he waits and doesn't speak a word. "I hope you're okay, Aizen. If not, I don't want you to hide anything from me. I want to be here for you no matter what."

 

Both Lev and Bryan have taken baths, cleaned up, and put-on new clothes already. The weather is slightly warm, humid, and the wind is still. It's looking to be a beautiful day. Both of them run back downstairs after changing and Bryan takes the change his father left him into a pocket. They exit through the backdoor. Lev notices a stack of swords left out and resting by a stack of hay. He looks at them closely, wanting to hold one of them for a moment, but decides it's better to ask permission. Further along, he see's a target for arrows set up. "Hey Bryan, when's the last time you practiced sparring or anything?"

Bryan slides to a halt. He turns and runs back to Lev, wrapping his arms around him and a great, fierce hug. "I practice almost every day. Either with dad or at school. Sword and bow." He lets Lev go. "Which are you better at? I'm better with the bow right now, but daddy says I'll get better with the sword as I get older."

The wolf demon hugs him back, but not as tightly. He's too curious about the weapons. "Well, I've actually never held anything of these sorts in my entire life... In fact, I'm not supposed to according to the school I go to, but it's not like they have their eyes on me every second of the day. Maybe you could show me some stuff?"

Bryan smiles broadly and nods. His smile fades. "These aren't toys, you know. You could hurt yourself or someone else if you're not careful." For a moment, his expression is so like Aldan's that it's almost as if the older man is there, lecturing them. His smile returns and Bry giggles, heading for the swords. "We have to be careful, Lev. How come your school won't teach you to fight? How are you supposed to protect yourself?" He looks at Lev, his eyes lighting upon his horns. "Oh, your horns! Can you fight with your horns? Or your claws and teeth? Or maybe that red dick of yours!"

Lev laughs at and sits up on the hay, his hand inches away from the sword he wants to hold. "Well, it's a rehabilitation school. It's close to wear your dad works, actually. Kids go there sometimes instead of going to jail or worse – typically it's because they're crazy, like I am. You've forgotten that I have other ways of protecting myself." He forms a flame in one hand, then it vanishes. "How about this. You show me a few things and I'll show you a few things. Of course, you can't learn magic that I've been born with, but I bet you've never seen anything like it."

Bryan nods in agreement. He takes one of the swords and moves towards a pole Nearby. It's nicked and hacked from weeks of use as a target for Bryan's practice. "What do you want to see, Lev?" Bryan faces the target and moves his body sideways, sword arm closest to the pole. He swings his arms and loosens his shoulders before he begins mechanically striking the target. "Daddy says I have to build up my strength in my arms and shoulders."

Lev stands up, hands behind his back, and keeps his distance. "If I ever have to use a sword in a fight, what should I do with it?"

The brown-haired boy stops and looks back at Lev. "That's easy. Stick the pointy end in your enemy. More than once if you can." Bryan starts stabbing at the pole, aiming for a section of padding close to where a grown man's stomach and chest would be. After a few minutes, Bryan holds the sword with both hands and begins chopping down and across the target. "The important thing is to let the swords swing itself into the next blow so you don't lose your power." He tries to demonstrate but has a little trouble with the mechanics. Still, Lev is able to understand the basic idea.

Lev begins to circle around him, picking up details here and there. "Can I try?"

Bryan lets the sword hang at his side. He breathes heavily, and trails of sweat mark his faces and neck. "Maybe. You have to promise to be super careful, though. And I want something in return."

He walks up to him, grabbing him gently where his privates are before taking the sword with one hand. "You get anything you want from me, obviously." Lev kisses him before he takes the sword with both hands, facing the pole and target. It seems easy enough with what Bryan told him, but it's awfully heavy. No wonder he's so strong for his age. "Hmm..." He swings one time, almost bringing himself down. The second time he's able to control it a bit better, but it's obvious he's sloppy. After a few more strokes, he remembers what Bryan told him about making each swing end in a way to form the next one. This time he gets the swing that he wants out of the sword, then goes on to stab at the target a few times before handing Bryan back the sword. "This does seem difficult. No wonder you have to train every day. And to think that people fight battles, wars with these things! Do you want to be in epic battles like your dad?"

Bryan takes his sword back. He looks down and shrugs, "I did. Before Drew. Now, I don't know." He looks at Lev. "I can't serve a king who chops off boy's heads. It just doesn't feel right. I could be a merc, sell my sword to the highest bidder. But what if they're wicked and cruel, too?"

"You could always serve at the other kingdom that's become infamous now... The one with the water dragon mage and his friends who fought off a cult rebellion. They don't allow executions on young ones as early as we do." He frowns, noticing that Bryan's mood has changed a bit. "Hey, I said if you showed me something, then I'd show you something. Come to me." Lev walks out in the middle of the backyard where there's only grass. He sits down and holds out his hand for his love.

Bryan smiles. He jogs over to return the sword to where they found them, then he jogs over to Lev, taking his hands and sitting with him. "Are you going to show me magic?" His face is bright with excitement and anticipation.

"Yes. I should explain first. This isn't something simply that anyone can do. It takes decades of meditation and spiritual dedication to get it done right. Somehow, I'm able to do everything without any real sense of learning for prolonged periods of time." They hold each-others hands, face to face. His tail curls under his right knee and rests by his feet.

Bryan nods his understanding. His eyes are wide and glued on Lev's face. He scoots a little closer, their knees touching. He leans forward and whispers quietly. "Is this dangerous? It must be if people spend decades learning it. You won't let anything happen to me, Lev, I know." He nods again. "I love you! What do I have to do???"

He squeezes his hands a bit tighter. "You won't get hurt, but it will get very hot very quickly, so I won't hold it too long. My body isn't affected by heat." Lev closes both eyes, looking down. "Don't close yours. You can watch..." He's silent for a minute and then out of nowhere, a sphere of fire emerges around them, about six feet away and ten feet tall. It's like a cobweb ball of flames. The fires don't burn away at the rest of the grass though and the fire doesn't smoke. It's perfectly controlled. Slowly, Lev opens his eyes. "My medium was blown away that I could do this. What makes it more bizarre is that I can release it, which means the fires would break and spread out in just milliseconds, burning through everything in its way. With enough power, they could tear through anything for miles, but I don't think that would be smart. She says that it's disturbing that I can produce such destructive magic." The web of fires around them diminishes, vanishes, and the burn of grass in the ground is barely noticeable. "So that's one thing. What do you think?"

Bryan's jaw hangs slack and open. His eyes dart from point to point all around, examining the web of fire. "Woooowwwww." He says softly, afraid that if he speaks too loudly, he might break the magic and fall victim to the flames. When the flames disappear, he sits perfectly still for a moment. He slowly smiles. Letting go of Lev's hands, he leaps to his feet and runs around the grass looking for signs and marks from Lev's display. Finding very few, he looks back to Lev. "Wooohoooo! Wow, wow, WOW! That was unbelievable, Lev! Holy cow!" As he shouts, he twirls and jumps, swinging his arms around wildly. Suddenly he stops and runs at Lev, sliding onto his knees in front of his friend. He settles into a sitting position, taking Lev's hands and moves so their knees touch. "That was fantastic, Lev! Do you have more?"

"Well..." He looks down at their hands, removing his left to show him how he can not only cast fire in it, but have his hand on fire without it hurting him. "So this is pretty easy for demons, to form a flame, then have it on your body without hurting you, which then leads to being able to release fire, which I won't do. Releasing fire tires most demons and it takes a lot of time to perfect how much you can use. Think of it like as if you're wearing the heaviest armor with the most massive weapons, but after fighting for just a short moment you're already tired. That's most magic in general." He changes his hand back to normal, taking both of Bryan's as he stands up with him. He thinks for a moment, trying to see if there are any other spells he can do without causing too much destruction. "I don't know what else I can show you, since I don't want to destroy anything your family owns. Some of the other things that make me weird is that I can move, build, and destroy things without the use of fire. Fire helps though. There's this specific magic in me that some people believe is cursed. Nobody has ever seen anything like it before, neither have many seen a demon move things like I can... It's a fire spell that causes nothing but destruction and can be used from a far distance. I could be standing here and use it on something fifteen miles away from me if I wanted to."

Bryan's eyes go wide. "Fifteen miles? Like, how do you move things?" He hangs onto one of Lev's hands, clutching it tightly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just... Imagine it and it happens. I don't know why. Teachers tell me not to use it, because it's dangerous and evil, like the rest of me." Lev looks to his boyfriend, wanting to eagerly kiss his lips. "Yes, you can ask."

Bryan leans his head to one side as he speaks. His brow is knitted in boyish concentration. "Have you ever hurt anyone that didn't hurt you first? Even on accident?" He looks shyly into Lev's eyes. "I don't think you're evil, Lev."

The demon wolf lets go of his hands, walking over to the stack of hay and sits down on it. "Uhm... It's kind of a long story. Probably best if I don't tell you."

Bryan follows Lev to the haystack and sits down next to him. He takes his hand and leans his head on Lev's shoulder. "Why? Drew and dad were meant to be together and dad didn't stop loving Drew. He hurt people, too." He leans back, pulling Lev back with him. They lay together on the haystack, holding hands and staring at the clouds as the slowly pass across the azure sky. "You can tell me anything, Lev. I'll still be your boyfriend."

After a moment of silence, Lev smirks, "Yeah, but he was cold blooded. I at least had reasons why I hurt people." He pulls his hand from Bryan, locking his arms against his chest.

Bryan frowns at him. "Hey." Turning onto his side, facing Lev, he slides one arm over Lev's stomach and lays his head on Lev's crossed arms. "Don't be a butt to me. If you had a reason, why would I be mad or anything? Tell me and then we'll ride Whirlwind and get some coffee and sweetcakes."

The demon wolf sighs dramatically. "Fine... There was this girl at school making fun of disabled person. It bothered me, so I started choking her. I hurt another student that tried to stop me, but I was able to stop myself before it was too late. Obviously, I had to be kicked out of school for that and they wanted me to go to jail for a long time, but they instead decided that I was insane and needed treatment some other way. So that's why I go to a school by the jail." The boy's frustrated now that he had tell the story again. "That bitch had it coming. I'm sure she will never bully someone ever again now."

Bryan nods his head. "You could have set her on fire, right?"

"Yes... But I never wanted to, you know...."

"That's my point. You could have set her on fire and killed her." He starts playing with Lev's arm, walking his index and middle finger along Lev's arm. "You choked her. Maybe you shouldn't have, but you could have done worse. She won't be mean to another disabled person against. Besides, maybe if you weren't in your school, we would never have met. All's well that ends well, Lev." He turns his head to look up at Lev as he keeps it on Lev's arms. He smiles and sticks his tongue out. "Still love you. So there."

He wants to stay that he loves him back because he does, but is afraid, so he just continues to hide in silence. "Should we... Get going, or, uhm, something?" Eventually, he returns the touch, brushing his fingers over Bryan's shirt.

Bryan's smile returns. He scoots up and kisses Lev on the lips, a gentle and sweet kiss. "We can ride to the market or maybe go swimming in the river. What sounds like the most fun? Or we can just lay here and stare at the clouds and wonder where they come from and where they go and what happens to the people who live on them."

Lev kisses him back, standing up and holding his lovers hand. "I think... I want to lay here naked with you and just relax."

"Okay." Bryan blushes and begins pulling off his shirt. "We can go to the market later or tomorrow even. You have to show me your temple, too. And your room." He starts to pull off his boots and trousers. His skin catches the sunlight, highlighting his light tan and lack of body hair. He folds his clothes and sets them atop his boots. Before he pulls off his undergarment, he looks around. He slips them off quickly and stretches. "Wait here!" He dashes back into the house.

As soon as Bryan is gone, he begins to strip, placing all of his clothes beside his boyfriends. His tail wags impatiently, seemingly confused, and curious. He looks behind him, grabbing it and picking out pieces of hay and grass from it. "Damn thing needs to be cleaned again. Ow!!" He pulls out a long thin needle from it, throwing it back at the stack, then scans over the black hairs on his anthro body.

Bryan storms out of the door, his arms full, holding a blanket and a small bundle. A small lid mug sloshes and spills as he hurries back to his boyfriend. "Take the mug and satchel." When Lev takes them, he unfurls the blanket over the hay and leaps atop it. Rolling over, he holds his arms out for Lev. "Hay can be really itchy. Well, maybe it won't be for you, since you're covered in that soft fur of yours now."

Lev helps him put the blanket down, sits down across from him, and sniffs from the mug before drinking from it. "This is nice, isn't it?" He hands it back to him, his shiny black tail moving into his lap so he can pull anything else from out of its fur.

Bryan takes the mug when Lev is finished and takes a drink. It's lemonade, and he smiles and licks his lips, a little suggestively, as he stares at Lev, his eyes twinkle. "It's very nice. You have to teach me how to clean your tail. What about your ears? And how to fuck you so that you like it even though my dickie is really small." He glances down, remembering Lev's full length.

Lev plays with Bry's soft penis. "It's twice as big as mine when I was your age. You can fuck me tonight if you'd like. Right now... I just want to be close you." He kneels down to his legs and lets his tail so that he can lick at it. "Is this gross? Should I stop?"

"It's not gross. What's it like having a tail? Does you have to worry about fleas?" He moves close to Lev, sitting so that their legs touch. He reaches out and tickle Lev's paws for a moment before settling down to play with them. He examines each one closely. "When you clean your tail like that, what do with any gunk or anything? You spit it out, right?"

"No, no." He moves his hands as he explains. "There are medicines for anthros and demons alike, you know. They're quite simple. Use it just once and you're good for life. And our spit is very clean and sanitary, much more than humans... Having a tail is sort of annoying when you're wrong. Even with all of my powers I have trouble controlling it. There's only one other kid I know who is able to stop theirs from going crazy, this girl that basically everyone has a crush on, I guess."

"Oh." Bryan nods along. "So, but when you lick it to clean it, do you swallow the dirt or spit it out? Who's this girl?" He reaches out and strokes part of Lev's tail. "I like your tail, Lev. It's like a sign. It moves around a lot when you're excited or happy. I like when it wraps itself around me. Do you brush your tail?"

He thinks for a second. "I guess it could be brushed. That would be efficient. It's just there. We don't give it much thought or meaning."

"Really? But it's so pretty and cool. I guess you're used to it." Bryan frowns, but quickly brightens up. "I think your tail is really neat and I like it a lot. I like your ears, too. And your horns."

The demon wolf's ears flap and react when he says that as he blushes. "Come closer, lay down with me." He lays on his back.

Bryan gently, playfully pokes Lev in the arm. "I've been waiting for that, silly." He stretches out next to Lev. He lays on his back, resting his head on Lev's arm and chest. "I like just being with you, Lev."

"Me too, Bry. You're the best boyfriend one could ever have." He holds him close, staring endlessly at the clouds, touching his boyfriends soft hairless skin lightly.

 

The two young lovers forget about time and what it is that they're supposed to do that day. In fact, Lev has forgotten that he was supposed to school. At one point he remembers this, flaunting out of his resting position, paranoid and afraid. He doesn't know what would happen. Maybe Aldan could talk to them about making sure he doesn't get in trouble. He could say that he was sick, but demons never get sick like humans do. Bryan watches him look around, knowing something must be wrong, and calls him back to his side. For a while they kiss, lay on top of each other, and frot with their penises together again, then relax some more. The two of them wish they could be like this, so free, forever.

Bryan holds Lev close, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the warmth of his demon-boy boyfriend. Something started to upset him, but Bryan was able to calm him and return the two of them to their languid sunbathing, necking, and frotting. He's sure that he's in love and sure that he'll never love anyone as much as love's his demon-wolf. His Lev.

 

Aldan walks briskly along the lane towards his house. He halfway expects to find Lev and Bryan in upstairs, in bed, fucking their little hearts out. He smiles at the thought. Young love. He glances over to the barn, a habit to make sure nothing's amiss. Aldan, veteran warrior and survivor of war and rebellion, stops short. Atop a mashed down haystack, he sees Lev laying on top of his son. He doesn't see everything, but enough to know that they're doing what boys in love do. He watches for a moment, touched by their lack of worry over being caught or observed Too in love to worry. His own cock stirs, remembering the warmth and pleasure of their mouths and Lev's ass. Aldan blinks and shakes his head, dismissing his arousal. He whistles loudly to alert the boys and waves at their panicked expressions as they see him. Father, guardsman. They've been caught.

Lev looks up to Aldan, unsurprised and not too worried since he just got fucked by him this morning. "Hey, babe, your Dad is here." He pats him on the shoulder, slowly walking over to his clothes and putting them on. He stretches out after getting dressed and does a front flip in the air off of the haystack to get his blood going.

Bryan looks over and see his father. His instant reaction is panic. "Oh crap!" He's calmed by Lev's touch but hurriedly dresses. He's dressed and brushing hay from the blanket when his father approaches.

Aldan smiles at them both. "No shyness for you two, eh? Good thing the neighbors don't live any closer." He moves next to Bryan and he and the boy hug, father kissing the top of son's head. Looking at Lev, he hesitates but moves to hug him as well. "I trust you boys had fun while I was gone? Ready for a walk?"

Lev nods his head. "Uhm, sir, do you think you could walk with me to school tomorrow? I missed class today and thought maybe you could help them excuse me for my absence." He reaches over for Bryan's hand and takes it as they begin their walk.

"Yes. That won't be a problem, Lev." Aldan gives Lev a fatherly pat on the shoulder as they walk. "I should tell you that I met your grandfather today." He watches to see Lev's reaction.

Bryan grasps Lev's hand firmly, not wanting to be out of physical contact if he can help. "I'm sure they'll listen to daddy. I bet he could get them to let you change schools and study with me."

Lev looks to his boyfriend. "Yeah, but it's only for another few months and then I am transferred back to my old school. Uh, what did they say? They're kind of... Antisocial, in my opinion."

"Well, I have to admit that I didn't expect your grandfather to be so large and imposing." Aldan shakes his head and whistles. "I would hate to face him in anger. He was quite friendly. Holt and I were trying to find Aizen. I thought he might be at your apartments, and it was the closest theory to check." Aldan explains as they walk. The market is crowded, but he guides them all through the crowd with practiced ease. Bryan holds tightly to Lev's hand as he looks around in all directions, dazzled by the crowds and colors. Several times he would have been left behind, distracted by the merchants and their wares. Gentle tugs from Lev keep him trailing along. Aldan checks on them repeatedly as they walk, glancing back and smiling. "So, after talking with your family, we found Aizen. Unconscious at Drew's resting place. He may still be asleep. I won't be easy until he's awake and at home again. I thought that perhaps you'd like to see the grave, Lev. After all, it was Drew who told Bryan to befriend a half-wolf, half-demon boy."

As they walk by, Lev mocks at other coffee shops that will never be as infamous as his as the temple. His nose follows the smell of fish farms and butcher shops and he also catches a shop of tea leaves and spices, which reminds him immediately of Aizen. "Is he alright?"

Aldan nods. He stops and leans close so as to speak without being overheard, "I think so. He seemed to exhausted. Like the first time we visited Drew's grave. When he spoke to Drew. Afterwards, Aizen passed out and I had to carry him home." He looks around, with his warrior's suspicion. "Holt thought it best to let him sleep. I brought them food and drink for when he wakes." He looks at his two boys. "Did you have lunch? I'm a little puckish. Meat on a stick or meat pies?"

Bryans nods emphatically. "Meat pie for me. And some sweet beer!" Aldan nods and the three of them move to a food vendor where he buys each of them a small meal and a sweet, nonalcoholic beer. The vendor has some raw trimmings of beef, pork, and chicken. Fortified, they continue on, eating and drinking as they walk.

Lev uses his hands to eat the trimmings of raw meat, a bit unsatisfied by how greasy it is. Definitely not fresh, but it'll do him good. He messes with Bryan by sharing his beer with him, bugging into his shoulder every now and thin, tickling his side, whispering dirty words into his ear when his dad isn't paying attention.

Bryan eats, happy as he's ever been. He laughs with Lev at his teasing and jokes. At one point, they're forced to stop as a horse and cart block their way. Bryan looks around and quickly kisses Lev on the lips, slipping his sweet-beer tasting tongue into Lev's mouth for a moment, then pulling back. His wild grin the only sign of his misbehavior.

Aldan grunts when the cart finally moves enough for them to pass. They cover the last quarter mile to the cemetery quickly. They approach Drew's grave. Aldan, who had become more and more quiet the closer to the cemetery they moved, is a mask of worry and concern when they approach Drew's hill.

Up by Drew's grave, Holt and Aizen sit side by side. The half-elf gives him water, then returns to hug and hold him.

Lev notices them almost immediately, then the lake, and very far away to the left, he see's the shadow figure standing under a tree. He can feel it's magic and influence on him, causing him extreme uneasiness. His tail flaps back and forth three times, trying to understand if he's seeing things or not. "It's definitely there... Aldan... I don't think I should be here."

Sensing the unease in Lev's voice, Aldan is on guard. "Why, Lev? Drew would welcome you, I'm sure."

Bryan feels Lev's hand suddenly tense in his. He sees his tail flapping, a different more agitated movement than he's seen before. Lev is staring into the distance. Bryan stares in the same direction, shielding his eyes with his free hand. "What's wrong, Lev?" Bryan's voice is low and soft.

"Nothing, Bry..." The figure disappears and he feels an intense cold chill rush through his entire body. They continue walking downhill to the two of them. Holt walks out, giving thanks to Aldan. Aizen smiles sadly to the younger boy that he has yet to meet. He greets him with a hello. Lev keeps his distance from out of the sphere, his own hands behind his back.

Bryan hangs back with Lev. "You're lying. I should have brought my sword, shouldn't I?"

Aldan moves to assist Holt and Aizen. "I'm glad that you're awake. But what in the blazes happened, Aizen? You near had Holt mad with worry!"

Aizen pulls himself up, his tail wagging the grass out of it with two slaps. "I didn't mean to make anyone worry. After Holt fell asleep, I had kind of lost it, coming to the realization about my friend, so I ran out here hoping I'd be able to speak to him again. I became so depressed that I just somehow fell asleep... Strange, huh? It happened a lot back when my parents passed away. I just... I don't know. I'm still so confused." Holt stands behind him, rubbing his arms and shoulders to comfort him.

"You were not just asleep. You were out. Cold." Aldan shakes his head. He looks back at Lev and Bryan Look at Lev. "Something's wrong. You were knocked out. Lev looks like he's about to crawl out of his own skin." He looks at Holt. "Did you notice anything unusual while you were waiting?"

Bryan holds on to Lev's hand. "Tell me what's wrong, Lev! I've been here many times and never felt any danger or anything other than sadness and peace..."

Holt answers, "No, not really, other than Aizen grieving, which is reasonable due to the circumstances he's in." Aizen nods his head in agreement.

Lev feels his body go limp, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he falls to the ground, falling in and out of consciousness. He crawls closer towards the grave, but the second he enters where the field is it reacts violently with a bright white light, shocking the demon and throwing him back on his back. His mind immediately jolts into an intense trance and he screams out loud in pain. He see's Drew killing the men by the bar and the man he robbed. He see's the men he killed killing other demons. Every moment of Drew's life, specifically the pain he felt, flashes through his eyes in a matter of seconds. A voice speaks into his head and says to him, 'Make no mistake. This kingdom does not want you or care about you. They will kill all of your people when the time comes. That is, unless you kill them all first. What will it be? Save your people or be a coward? Look what they did to one of your brothers. Look at how he suffered. What he had been forced to do. Isn't it beautiful what he did to those people? You can do more. Those people around you, they think you're a monster. Even the demon you call a friend. He's a traitor to his own people. You can't trust him or any of them. You must slaughter them. Tear them all apart.' As the voice comes to an end he curls into a ball, still screaming, but also crying maniacally as well. Flames burst up into the air and shield him, then vanish. The air becomes windy and trees croak. The river in front of them all is chaotic, splashing heavy waves. "Too much pain. I can't escape it."

Meanwhile, Bryan screams and drops next to Lev, heedless of fire or wind or anything but Lev's pain. He cradles Lev, shielding him with his own body against whatever is causing the young demon pain. "Lev! Lev!!" He cries out in anguish. When Lev doesn't respond he looks at Aldan, tears streaming down his face. His voice croaks as he begs. "Daddy! Help him! Please!"

At Lev's outburst and cry, Aldan's hand is on his sword. He looks around as he dashes towards his boys, trying find some foe or target. He heart stops for a moment when he sees the flames. "My gods! Drew, I failed!" he thinks, but when the flames disappear, he feels a flash of relief. It is short lived as the tears and cries of his son wrench his heart. He kneels down, whispering reassurances to Lev. "It's okay, Lev. Stay calm. We're all here. To help you."

Holt holds on to Aizen, supporting him. He watches and listens, his first thought to protect his husband.

Lev's body grows tired, still feeling whatever is inside of him trying to win back control. "I don't know much longer I can control it. Bryan, I don't want to hurt you." He reaches back to his head, feeling a piercing torment rip through his skull. "AHHHH!!! Get out of my head! Leave me alone! I won't give in! I won't hurt them!"

Bryan screams, "Leave him alone!!! Leave him alone!!!" Without thinking, he pulls off his necklace and pendant and slips it over Lev's head, carefully even through his tears of his love's horns. He holds Lev close and rocks him.

Aldan replays the conversation with genocidist. Stab him through the heart and this all ends. He dismisses the idea as quickly as it comes. Not just because Bryan is right there and would see his father killing his lover. But because he can't bring himself to kill another demon-boy. He curses himself silently. `There must be a way to detect the shadow, to force it out of Lev and destroy it.' He looks at Bryan. A thought comes to him. A desperate, insane thought.

Lev squeezes fists of grass, spit falling from his mouth as he pants and sweats, trying his best to take control. The necklace doesn't seem to help him, although it's glowing now. Aizen whispers something into Holt's ears, walks up to him carefully, and puts one hand on the back of his head, the other against his chest. He speaks quietly in the daemonic language. After a minute, his moans are less painful and loud. Aizen wipes away at the sweat under Lev's long black hair, continuing his healing ritual. Now it's Aizen that's sweating and in pain. Those green eyes finally return, and he exhales rabidly as if he were just drowning. Aizen looks relieved to see that it's worked for now. Lev falls onto his back on the upward slope of the hill, tired and empty of thoughts. Aizen continues to stare. "He needs some water, but he will be fine, now."

Aldan pulls his waterskin, spraying cool water on Lev's face before helping him take a drink. He does the same for Aizen. Bryan continues to sob as he holds Lev, whispering 'I love you' over and over as if by this alone can Lev be healed.

"What the blazes happened? Are we safe here? Or do we carry them back to the temple?" Aldan asks Holt. His voice is strained.

Holt helps his boyfriend up, combing his hair with his fingers before letting him hug and rest his head over his shoulder. "I think we should take these demons back home."

Lev looks to Aizen, using his lips without speaking to tell him 'thank you'. He looks to Bryan, one finger to his right cheek, and cleans his tears before kissing him. "I'm sorry. Like I said before, I'm sick..."

Bryan hugs Lev tightly. His crying has stopped, but he holds his love as if he's afraid to let him go. Wiping his eyes, he whispers to Lev. "Then we have to make you well. We have to, Lev, we have to."

Aldan takes a deep breath, forcing himself to relax. He looks at Aizen, then at Lev. "I can carry one of you. Or both, but that wouldn't be comfortable for either of you. Bryan, gather up the blanket and our gear when you can, son. We'll head to the temple where you two will rest and we'll try to put some sense to today." He kneels next to Lev, resting one hand on Bryan's head, the other and Lev's shoulder.

Aizen turns to Aldan. "I'm fine. I can walk. Worry about Lev."

Lev can barely stand up and almost looks sick, his eyes darting and his head lazily rolling back and forth.

Aldan nods. "You're not fine, but if you can walk with Holt's help... Bry, fetch the blanket, son." Bryan kisses Lev's cheek and rushes up the hill, returning with the blanket. As Aldan wraps Lev up warmly, Bryan returns to the spot where Aizen had passed out and quickly gathers up the food wrappings, remains, leftovers and any other gear. He jogs back down the hill, falling in step beside his father as Aldan lifts Lev and carries him. He's very light to the veteran, and looking back to make sure Aizen and Holt are following, they begin walking back to the temple. Aldan sets a slow pace, to accommodate Aizen. He glares at anyone who give the group a stare or cross-eyed look.

Aizen and Holt aren't too far behind and the young blonde demon seems to be gaining his strength, although he speaks to his boyfriend quietly about why he left with apologies. The two of them make up and keep their conversation reserved from the others. Meanwhile, Lev tries to keep himself alive and awake. He licks his lips and speaks, "So thirsty... Feel like I'm going to be sick. I need more water." Bryan shakes the skin, but there's nothing left in it.

Aldan carries Lev to a fountain, just on the side of the road they're on. Fresh, cool water bubbles up out of a fountainhead resembling a lion's head to collect in square basin. Local folk and those passing by fill buckets, cups, or splash their faces before continuing on their way. Bryan takes one of their sweet-beer mugs and fills it with water. As Lev drinks, Bry refills the water skin, and offers Lev a second mug.

Lev gulps the water down fully and quickly, gasping and exhaling loudly after he finishes each pint of water. "Thank you." His breath slows down, but he still looks a bit frail.

Aldan carries Lev easily, though his face is strained with the stress of the day. They weave their way through the traffic and crowds. Bryan walks alongside his father, continually checking on Lev, smiling at him, offering him water, asking him how he feels. A blind man could see the worry and fear that the boy is feeling. The temple comes into view. All of their spirits are lifted. Safety and home.

Aizen and Holt enter the temple first, waiting patiently behind before they continue down the stairs. The half-elven boy looks to the warrior. "Thank you for coming back like you promised. We owe you." Holt looks up to Lev. "Take it easy, bud. If you need anything you can always come to our room, but don't forget about your median either. You have more support than you realize. Use it."

Lev nods his head, slowly slipping off of Aldan's back and holding himself up by the wall. He looks to Bryan and takes his hand. "Thanks, Holt, and thank you, Aizen, for your help. Ready to meet my grandparents, Bry?"

Bryan hugs Lev as they stand outside the door. He whispers as they embrace. "I love you." He steps back and nervously smooths his clothes and finger combs his hair, only to have Aldan tousle it as soon as he's done. He glares at his father, "Stop it, dad!"

Lev opens the door carefully, hoping that they're not going at it right now. Luckily, they're not. His mother and father are kneeling side by side, facing a large cauldron of fire as incense burns. Candles keep the apartment lit up. "Grandma, I have some people coming over. I'm, uh, can you make me that special tea? I had another episode..."

Both of them stand up, his grandma running to him and feeling his head to make sure there's no fever. "My poor boy. Pull up a seat." She glances at the two humans. "Come on in. Make yourself feel at home."

The tall, monstrous grandfather pulls up three seats in the middle of the room and puts out the fire. He looks to Aldan and asks, "Did you find Aizen by chance?"

As Lev's grandfather stands, Bryan 'eeps' almost imperceptibly, his eyes growing wide as he sees his first adult sized demon close on. Aldan offers his hand to the large demon, "We did, sir. He was at the gravesite of my husband, Drew. That's where Lev had his episode."

Aldan sits and Bryan follows suit, offering the tall, buff, and well-rounded demon his hand. "Thank you, sir, nice to meet you."

The Grandfather, Drake, nods his head. "Good on you for finding him. I knew you would. Thank you for bringing our grandson back to us as well. Sit, please."

Lev walks into the kitchen, dragging Bryan along with, their hands still tight together. He looks to his Grandma, Julia. "Ahem... This is my new friend, Bryan. That's his father over there." Julia hands him his tea and the black-haired demon sips it slowly, almost instantly being revived from it. She reminds him not to drink it all too fast.

Bryan smiles at Julia. "Hello, ma'am." He clings to Lev's hand, nervous and worried.

Aldan sits. "Lev's very special to Bryan and I. He's almost like another son. I'm worried for him, though."

Julia puts one hand on his shoulder, smiling with a sense of grace as she introduces herself. "Nice to meet you, Bryan. My name is Julia. Lev, why don't you show him your room?" She looks down, noticing the two are holding hands, but doesn't comment. Her face lightens up, glad to see her grandson find someone that makes him happy.

From the other side of the room, the other two chat; Drake attempting to calm the younger man and assure him that all is well and will be fine, Aldan arguing that what's going on with him is not normal and is in dire importance of being helped.

Lev looks to his boyfriend. "What do you say? Want to check it out?"

"You bet I do!" Bryan says with clear excitement in his voice. His face lights up.

He holds his cup of tea close to his chest and takes him out of the kitchen and to his room, which has no door and is only a dozen steps away. As soon as he enters, the candles on the floor and against the while light up and brighten the room. There's a mattress on the floor with blankets and pillows, a small matt on the left side with a fire cauldron beside it, incense sticks, a small bowl for sage and other things as well, and about twenty jars or random herbs and leaves that he uses for rituals and magic. On the right side is a large painting of a family of wolves, one with white fur, three with gray, and one with black fur. They're humungous, as is the painting. There's also a dresser, which is halfway open, clothes hanging out of it. "Sorry it's a little messy. All of the apartments are quite small, since our community is poor." He sits down on the mattress, taking another sip from his tea before putting it to the side. "What do you think?"

Bryan stands and turns slowly, taking in the décor of the surroundings. He looks at the painting, moving closer to the piece and then further back. He looks at Lev and points to the painting. "Is that your wolf family?"

"No, no, silly." He turns over and looks to it. "Those are the five ancient wolves that lived forever ago! That one on the right with the black fur is Kaijin. He lived for over six thousand years and like the other wolves taught his children how to be at peace with their self. The black wolf focuses on meditation, contemplation, the wisest of them all. When his philosophy moved to the Northern continents there were mass genocide against the black wolf anthros, more hatred and death towards them than any other. Armies of humans came to Inux with hundreds of ships. It took three thousand warriors to kill him. All of the elder wolves had been killed by now by those from Faihan, but karma returned, their island was wiped out by a storm. There are more gray wolf anthros and white wolf anthros then there are of my kind."

Bryan listens carefully as he slowly moves and sits down next to Lev. Without thinking, he reaches out and plays with Lev's legs and feet and toes as he listens to the history of Kaijin and the wars against him. When Lev finishes, Bryan leans forward and kisses his cheek. "I'm glad you're my boyfriend. You know so much. They haven't taught us about this stuff at school. He looks at the cauldron. What spells and rituals can you do?"

"Oh. All sorts of stuff." He walks on his knees to the mat. "Most of the time I just give offerings and thanks for my temple, friends, and grandparents. Sometimes, I will make medicines here, which I can sell upstairs. It's kind of nifty, because the black wolves focus solely on meditation and demons practice a lot of that too. The only difference is that demons like to do things before and after or have music and percussion while they relax. Do you ever do it, Bry?"

Bryan knee-walks over to Lev. "Meditate? I don't think so. Do you play an instrument?" He looks around the room. "You don't have any toys. Do you ever have anyone sleep over?"

"No... no instrument and nobody sleeps over. "He moves away some his jars, showing him a tiny gong. "I can play this, I guess." He laughs and hits it. "My grandparents don't like having people sleep over, anyway. They like their peace and quiet. They're very religious people. That's why I'd rather stay at your place than here." His tail fidgets, hitting Lev in the face one time.

Bryan laughs. "I think your tail is mad at you. Can we make something together? Something to make me dream of you at night?" He looks around the room. "Do you think they'd let you live with me?"

"I don't know." He strokes his chin, then his voice cracks as he says, "Oh, I know now! You want music, right? There's a deity that some demons give offerings to." Aizen specifically focuses all of his prayers to him. He looks through his jars, opening one of bright pink leaves that glitter. Lev starts up the fire in the cauldron with a snap of two fingers and tosses it in. "Give it a second. We wait for the color to turn pink. You can sit here beside me if you'd like."

"Where else would I sit, silly?" He watches Lev carefully. "Do you have any books? Or homework? I don't want you to get into trouble at school because of me." He stops. "But first I have to do this." He leans forward and kisses Lev, teasing his lips with his tongue. "You needed a kiss. Me too."

Lev kisses back much rougher, almost causing Bry to fall back and kick the cauldron. He holds him up though, letting his tongue inside. They kiss for almost an entire minute until he notices the fire turning an angelical pink color. "Homework? No, not really. I have to go back to school tomorrow. I missed class today. Your Dad said he'd talk to them though. Okay, okay! Get ready!" Lev moves his but around to get comfortable. His tail tickles his way up his boyfriends back and under his shirt. He closes his eyes, putting his palms up and on his kneecaps. He chants. "aes, sacred essence aem ya universe, ya core oth ya atom aem ozz, saon za zarsuk. esaeu ona ya taes oth ya loes qae ya haeng aem hiksq. la ozt esaeu qae k'oes ya unique zaerdh aem haewa yoq transmutes oth connects zes lover, Bryan oth I, k'aoza zes haeng zarsuk, l'tael uz xaouqes ynaeuks zuziy oth haewa." The fire rises up a bit higher, then comes back down. Loud sounds burst out, a raging symphony, almost like an epic battle, but then it calms into a lush, serene ambient sound. It becomes more and more complex in layers and seems to play forever, reminding them of calm ocean waves... Lev holds to Bryan's hand tightly. Little does he know that Bryan has already seen magic like this performed before, just under different circumstances. The two of them sit there for a long time, shoulders and hands touching. Aldan is standing by the door, watching the two of them, his eyes red and ready to cry. After a whole thirty minutes the music fades calmly. The fires die out. Lev looks to Bry, hugging him tightly. "Woowww!!!! What did you think of that? Our song was beautiful huh? We're going to live together forever!" He squeezes his cheeks and kisses his lips. "I love you I love you I love you!"

Bryan listens and closes his eyes as Lev chants. His mind wanders and he imagines he and Lev atop a great hill. With them is a giant black wolf, Kaijin? Surrounding the hill are hordes of wild-eyes humans screaming in languages that Bryan can't understand. He looks to Lev, who conjures fire in his hands, hurling balls of flame into the hordes of attackers. Whenever a wildling reaches the hill top, the giant wolf falls upon them, ripping them and sending their bodies back down the hill, blood spraying. Bryan realizes that he's armored, he draws his sword and stands in front of Lev, defending him and striking down any foe who comes near. The sun sets and rises, and sets and rises. For three days, the three of them fight. The wild hordes press closer and closer until finally, the giant wolf is brought down. With a thunderclap, Lev and Bryan are elsewhere. The sound of waves calms him. Looking into the sky, he sees a constellation forming. A wolf. The Wolf. He looks at Lev and points. Lev nods. Lev kneels in the sand and writes something in the sand in his daemonic script. The letters are unreadable. Lev kisses Bryan. When he looks back, he can read, in the sand, the word - FOREVER . Another chime and he wakes in Lev's room, Lev kissing him.

Lev looks to his left, noticing Aldan standing there and wiping away his tears. "Is everything okay? I can come over again, right?"

Aldan enters the room. He kneels down and looks Lev in the eye. "You can come over anytime. Your grandparents approved of it, Lev. The two of you remind me so much of Drew and I." He grins sadly. "You're welcome, Lev. Very welcome."

Lev nods emphatically for once. "I'll get dressed, since I'm sure they want me in something more religious than this." He strips naked, opens his high dresser and ties a new fundoshi, then puts on a shiny olive-green robe. "I don't need to bring anything else." He runs over to the bed, grabbing his tea and finishing it before walking back over to Aldan. "Shall we get going?"

Aldan frowns. "Nothing else? Surely and extra fundoshi and robe? Would it be helpful to have some tea on hand for you?"

He walks back to his dresser, grabbing a leather schoolbag and stuffs an extra fundoshi and robe inside of it, even going to grab one jar and putting in there too. "Yeah, I'll ask Granny." They exit his room, the fires vanish immediately, and he walks into the kitchen, fidgeting around to find the right jar. She comes in shortly after, helping him find it and pack a tea bag for him. She reminds him to make sure he drinks it slowly and carefully, only if he starts feeling it come back again.

Julia puts one hand to Aldan's cheek and thanks him before heading back to the living room. They exit quietly.

Lev turns to his boyfriend. "I know it's not much... We don't have a horse or anything. It's been a crazy day, huh?"

Bryan nods and sighs, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, from start to finish. Or at least so far. I hope tonight is boring! Just dinner and playing." He blushes as he realizes Julia heard him. He's sure that she can read his mind and knows exactly what they did that morning. "Umm...with my soldiers, I mean."

Before they leave the temple, Lev purchases a special bag of coffee beans that were roasted today. He puts them in his bag and washing his feet off outside before they continue walking the path back home. "It's a bit colder outside then before, huh? How did it get so dark? Have we really been out all day?"

Bryan shivers and takes Lev's hand, leaning close to him as they walk. He yawns. "Yeah, I guess we have." He leans his head on Lev's shoulder as they walk.

Aldan takes off his cloak and wraps it around the two boys. "A lot of things happened today. It's hard to believe it's the same day that we all made love together. Which, by the way, we shouldn't mention that to your mother." He fixes his eye on Lev. "And you haven't explained what happened to you at the hill."

He looks to him in the eyes, showing that he's honest when he's speaking. "It was waiting for me... Somewhere from far away. The shadow was watching us. It attacked me and when I tried walking to Drew's grave... I don't know what happened then. It's all a blank. Only thing I remember after that is waking up and having Aizen heal me. I think it knew everyone would be there and I'd be vulnerable there. There's something else too. I don't think I can enter because the shadow creature is either still inside me or some of it is lingering... The protection spell put over the grave keeps it safe from anything that would cause it harm. I think the shadow meant to do something there."

Aldan's face is obviously troubled as he listens. "What could it want to do there?" His face transforms into a mask of horrified worry. "You don't think it wanted to steal Drew's remains or desecrate them somehow, do you?" Then as if answering his own question, he continues. "Aizen can communicate with Drew. Maybe you could, too, if you could approach the grave. Maybe the shadow seeks to sever our link with Drew. Gods, I wish I'd been able to talk to Aizen more. Tomorrow I'll visit him before returning to the prison. I've missed too many days recently. Technically, all guards are in the army and if I miss tomorrow, I could be viewed as a deserter. So many duties pulling at me." He sighs. "Enjoy being young, boys. Don't forget, Milliken will be home in a couple of days." He gives the two of them a knowing wink.

Lev looks down. "It didn't want to sever or desecrate his grave. It wanted me to learn the one power of his that made him unique. Now I have it. I have everything." He continues to walk without speaking, holding his boyfriend closer, which is unnoticeable under the blanket.

"The power to destroy us all." Aldan says flatly.

They pass the rest of the journey home without speaking. Aldan's mind works hard, trying to assemble what they've learned into some sort of order that will suggest a course of action. There has to be a way, he's certain. But what? As he watches Lev and Bryan walk, it's obvious to him that they are lovers, not just boys experimenting or having fun together. He has to save Lev, which will save Bryan, which will offer some atonement for his own guilt over Drew.

Once they get home Lev and Bryan tend to Whirlwind for about an hour, taking their time, then sucking in the nature around them. Lev pulls Bryan up close to them as they look up at the full moon. "You know what that means up there? I'm not sleeping tonight." He notices how tired his boyfriend is and him yawning. "Can I give you a massage before you go to bed? We've been walking all day. You need your toes tended to before you go to school tomorrow."

Bryan flings his arms into the air and falls back into Lev's arms with a theatrical flourish. "Carry me! I'm so tired. We should take a bath before dinner. Bath, dinner, massages and play time, and then bed for me."

"Sure." He reaches into his messenger bag, pulling out a jar. "This is a special salt you can bathe in that keeps you extra clean and relaxes your muscles."

"Will you take a bath with me?" He looks at Lev. "What will you do while I sleep?"

He thinks as they walk back into the house. "Your brother is coming home soon. I thought I'd read through the stuff he writes and then write my own feedback towards it. We're both writers, so I think we'll get along pretty well."

Bryan shakes his head back and forth, raising his eyebrows. "Oh no! You can't do that. Mikey is very private with them. He only shows them when he thinks they're perfect. If he knows you looked at them without asking, he'd explode like your fire web! You can read his other books, though. But you should wait for his stories."

"Alright... I'll just read his books. Don't worry. I won't get bored." They venture into the bathroom. It doesn't take long for Lev to strip nude since he's only wearing two things. He starts up the water and pours about a cup worth of the salt into it. Immediately, steam rises and a high pitch, yet peaceful sound echoes through the room. He stretches out his legs and lays his butt on the side of the bathtub, waiting for his lover to join.

"That smells nice, too." He leans to Lev as he pulls off his clothes. He sniffs. "Oh, that's you. You smell nice." He smiles, his tongue poking out of the right side of his mouth. He finishes getting undressed, stretches, and reaches his arms far above his head, letting Lev see him, naked and dirty. "Am I disgusting?"

Lev grabs him by the ass, exploring his crack and touching his hole, then pulling him chest to chest. "Dirty, clean, smelly, doesn't matter. I'll still love and kiss you the same way." They tongue kiss until the bathtub is halfway full and then they jump in after Lev has heated it up.

Bryan giggles as they wash. Suddenly, he yawns, and his eyelids grow heavy. "Wow, all of a sudden, I feel so calm and sleepy." He turns in the bath and leans back, Lev's furry chest to his back. He shimmies his hips and butt until he's comfortable. "Hold me."

Lev takes Bryan from in front of him, washing at his neck and hair with his soapy hands, massaging his shoulders as he does so. "Don't fall asleep too quickly. I'm too weak to carry you. That is, unless you want your Dad carrying you up naked to bed." His hands feel underwater and play with his stomach, the reach down to his soft penis.

Bryan twists and looks up. He kisses Lev's muzzle and giggles. "If I fall asleep, wake me up when the water gets cold or for dinner. You're gonna make me hard, Lev."

"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure that's clean too." He scrubs at his boyfriends sack as well, then pulls Bryan's legs up against his chest so that he can clean them too. "You think the salt is working too much? You still have to eat."

"I know. It's just so nice in here with you. I feel . . .I don't know. Tired and sleepy, but excited, too." Bryan splashes water on his face and quickly shakes his head, letting his face and lips go loose. "And happy, too. I feel happy."

There's a knock on the door. Aldan opens it and peeks in. "Dinner as soon you boys are dressed and at the table." He exits quietly, closing the door behind him.

Bryan yawns and stretches. He twists around again, straddling Lev and grinding his crotch into Lev's crotch. "If I'm tired after dinner you can wake me up, okay? You know how, right?"

The wolf boy grabs him by the cock. "Yeah, I know. Let's get cleaned up. Don't want your food to get cold!" He pulls the drain, leaps out and grabs one towel, wiping himself down first before then cleaning his boyfriend.

Bryan happily lets Lev dry him off. He dresses quickly, and before opening the door, kisses Lev again. "How old do you think we need to be to be married like dad and Drew were?" He looks at Lev, a little unsure. "Or is that a little kid question?"

"I don't know." As soon as they enter, Lev asks Aldan, "So, does your Selune, allow marriage of any ages if the love is true?" He sits down next to Bryan.

Aldan arches one eyebrow. "Well, first off, she's not MY Selune. Second, I don't know. We'd have to ask. But I think you boys might want to wait a little while before life bonding with each other."

Bryan's about to answer when his mother, as she sits a large platter of roasted pork on the table, comments, "You didn't wait long with your demon, did you, Al?" She turns on her heel and goes back to the stove. Bryan lowers his head and grimaces. Aldan takes a drink from his glass, refilling it with a deep red wine.

"We were under a bit of a time crunch, weren't we?" His response is measured and even.

Lev stays quiet, feeling a bit embarrassed. He feels like maybe he should just leave.

Aldan takes another sip of wine. "I've apologized, Kate. I never meant to hurt you. You know that. And neither did Drew."

Katy brings a pair of bowls to the table, one filed with smashed potatoes and carrots, the other with raw eels. She sighs as she sets them down. Sally and Jereminy are happily eating bread, oblivious to the tension in the room. "I don't mean to snap at you, Aldan. It's just that I am so pregnant. I can't for your little brother or sister to decide it's her time, Bryan. I'm sorry, Lev." She goes back to the stove. "I wish you men could get pregnant. Then you'd understand."

Aldan leans close to Lev, whispering to him, "She's like this every time she's with child. It's not personal."

Lev eats his eels calmly and slowly, nudging and tickling Bryan under the table when he begins nodding off. He looks to Katy. "Uhm, if you'd like, I can help you make breakfast tomorrow. I'd like to learn more on how you humans cook, if that's okay."

She smiles warmly, "That would be lovely, Lev. Thank you so much." She serves the last dishes and sits, watching and feeding the younger children, as she herself eats.

"Yeah, that would be Leverly." Bryan teases. He eats happily. Playing with Lev under the table. At one point, he takes a finger of potatoes and gravy and draws them across Lev's cheek, quickly moving in the lick up the mess. "Geez, Leverly, you're so messy when you eat!" Giggling loudly, Bryan goes back to his dinner.

Lev doesn't like the feeling of the potatoes and gravy on his face or his fur, but forgives him since he is his lover after all. He finishes off his eels, then goes to his messenger bag to grab the tea bag his mom gave him. Just in case, he thinks to himself. He finds a coffee mug, fills it with hot water and heats it up with a single finger. Once he returns to the table, he allows the tea bag to steep. "Aldan, you're still going to talk to my principal, right?"

Aldan nods. "Yes, I'll go with you to your school and talk with them before I head for the prison. Any hints for dealing with your principal or teachers?"

He laughs. "The principal is an old grump and loves the king, so he'd probably do whatever you told him to do."

"Well, that should make things easier."

The rest of the meal goes pleasantly. Everyone is able to eat their fill. Bryan helps his mother clear the table and helps with the dishes. After that he joins Aldan and Lev in the sitting room, laying down in front of the fireplace. He starts to pull out his soldiers, but falls asleep, his hand wrapped around a small, toy archer.

After Bryan falls asleep, Lev puts the wooden toy soldiers away, thinking for a moment if he should just let him sit there or not. He walks up to Aldan, who is smoking out of his pipe and cleaning a sword. "Uhm, Bryan fell asleep. Can you carry him upstairs? I'm not strong enough to support him yet."

Aldan takes a long puff on his pipe and smiles warmly at Lev. "Have you ever been in love before, Lev?" He stands and picks Bryan up in his arms, cradling him in his arms. He slowly ascends the stairs, pipe clenched in his teeth.

Following upstairs, he answers, "No, I haven't. In fact, I thought I was destined to be alone because of how weird I am with, you know, these powers and all... And being a demon, a wolf..."

Aldan frowns at him over his shoulder as they enter Bryan's room. "There's someone for everyone. I'm glad you found Bryan, Lev. You make him very happy." He lays Bryan on his bed. "Will you sleep tonight?"

Lev shakes his head, looking over at his boyfriend's younger brothers book collection. "No. That's fine though. We spend most of our time studying while everyone else is asleep." He grabs five books, putting them on the floor in the center of the room. "I'll probably lay with him for a few hours after I finish reading these though. Being with him is like meditation." He flinches his nose and his black wolf ears flap as he pushes his hair out of his eyes view. "I don't want to destroy the world... The shadow does. You understand that, right?"

Aldan sits on the edge of Milliken's bed. He sighs and rubs his eyes and the bridge of his nose. "I do, Lev. I went to see a so-called expert on your kind. He told me that if I wanted to save the city, I should kill you." He watches to see Lev's reaction. "Just stab you through the heart. I just can't accept that as the solution, though. If I thought you wanted to hurt Bryan or the rest of my family, I'd have already done it. No, Lev. I don't believe that you want to hurt anyone. Not unless you're provoked." He looks down at his hands. "And I understand those feelings. When we've saved you and banished the shadow, I'll return to that expert, the genocidist against your people, and I'll kill him."

He feels at his heart when he says how the shadow would be removed from him. "Right through my heart, huh? There really is no other way to save me?"

"According to the expert who murdered your people to study them as they died? Who thinks that I should lead the guards on a campaign to kill every demon in the city? That's what he said, but I'm not inclined to accept his conclusions. There has to be another way. Somehow." He takes a puff on his pipe. "If this were a fairy tale, you and Bryan would be bonded, and your shared love would drive the shadow out. If only that were the answer."

Lev walks over to Bryan, taking off the necklace around his neck and putting it around him. He finishes his cup of tea and looks up to the warrior. "I'll see you in the morning, Aldan..." He looks down into one of his books, scanning the words quickly as he rubs at his chest.

Aldan stands and pats Lev's shoulder. He kisses the sleeping boy good night and heads for the door. "I'll leave it to you to tuck him in, Lev." He leaves. Lev is alone, listening to breathing of his sleeping boyfriend.

 

Chapter Five.

Notes: This is a pretty long chapter. Dark at some points, lots of plot before porn, but yes, there's the latter in this, too.

 

 

Night goes on and the moon rises, brightening their room. Lev carefully goes to the bed after finishing the first book, laying beside him quietly, wishing he could be asleep with him. Hours pass like minutes and eventually the sun rises. He carefully moves out of the bed, putting his robe back on and making his way downstairs. He meets Katy and Sally, who are about to prepare breakfast. They're just as excited as he is to see him. Lev follows their instructions on how to help with cooking with precision as if he were in class, asking before he speaks, and trying to be as careful as he can be. Eventually, Aldan comes to the kitchen as well. Bryan is last to wake up. Lev wipes away dust from his boyfriends seat, filling his plate for him as well. The boys kiss. Sally giggles and asks Katy about it. She doesn't know how to feel about it yet and doesn't comment. Lev rushes to make the coffee for everyone, pouring cups at the table. It smells invitingly fresh and beautiful, like toasted marshmallows and blackberries. Finally, he takes his seat at the table, even though his boyfriend is halfway done with his meal. "That sure is exhausting. I can't imagine doing that four or time times a day! Katy, Sally, thank you." He nods his head before digging into his plate, a small and light piece of raw fish meat. "How does it taste, Bryan?"

Bryan looks up from his plate, bits of fried potatoes falling back onto his plate. He chews two or three times, swallowing hard. "It's great!"

"It is very good. Thank you, Lev, for helping Katy and Sally with breakfast." Aldan savors his coffee between bites. "Although I fear you're going to make us look bad, now!" Everyone at the table laughs.

He finishes his food, takes the dirty plates to the sink, and cleans it. "Oh, I just wanted to do something nice since you have let me stay here." His tail is curved upwards as we walks back to the table. "You have school today, Bry?"

Bryan nods, stifling a small yawn. "Yuppers. I should be home before 4-bells. What time will you be home?" he grins and blushes. "I mean, what time will you be here?"

He puts a hand on his boyfriends left knee. "Around the same time."

"Good!" Bryan beams with delight.

Katy hands both of the boys a small basket with a handle. "Lunch for you. Lev, there's a jar of eels, but I've sealed it with bee's wax. Try and bring the wax back as well, I can use it again." She hands a slightly larger basket to Aldan. They embrace and he kisses her warmly, patting and kissing her belly, too. "Behave little one." He admonishes the belly badly, even shaking a finger at her round stomach. "Right, Lev, Bryan, off to school, boys."

The three of them head out. It's a crisp, cool morning. Fog lingers in the low-lying areas, but there's very little cloud cover and the wind is cold and light. It promises to be a cool day. As Lev and Aldan head towards Lev's school, Bryan is forced to take a different path, He hesitates and hugs Lev hard, squeezing him very tightly. "I don't want to leave you."

They hold each other for a while. He heats him up with his power and gives him a deep kiss. "I'll be a good boy. You be one too. I'll see you when you get home, ok? I love you."

"I love you, too!" Bryan starts to head off only to be brought short by a cough from Aldan.

"Don't I get a hug?" Aldan holds out his arms and Bryan races back and hugs him, kissing him on the cheek. With that he jogs off to school. Aldan rests his arm on Lev's shoulder as they walk. "Is it stressful living with your grandparents?"

He walks close by, feeling a sense of pride that he gets to walk with someone who's so strong and noticeable in the kingdom. "It can be. I feel like everyone else in the temple makes it more stressful, because of how they see me. My median tries to help, but sometimes I feel like she's scared too. The kids at school are nice and so are the teachers. There's only two of them though." His eyes follow all of the different shops and people walking by. "It also sucks that I'm probably the only black wolf around here. There's less than four hundred of us left on the planet. I'm the only half breed of demon and black wolf too, but I already told you that. So it's hard for people to relate with me or me to relate to others. That's changing though because I have you, Bryan, Aizen, Holt, and so many others now. I have to remember what holt told me last night and not forget it."

"What did Holt tell you?" He gazes around, trying to read the faces and reactions of people who notice Lev.

"He said that I need to remember all of the people I have to support me. Not everyone has that."

"Well, you do have a lot of friends. Very loyal friends, at that. You're not alone anymore, Lev. We have an idea of what's happening, and we're working hard to try and figure out a way to solve this problem once and for all." Still looking over the crowd, he continues, "Then you and Bryan can take all the time to figure out what the two of you are together. What would you grandparents think if they knew about you and Bryan?"

"I think they'd be very happy and relieved." They're coming up to the school nearby the prison, which appears more like a small house. "Here we are."

Aldan adjusts his uniform and sword. He's wearing several campaign ribbons and badges of service. He smooths his hair and looks at Lev, very sternly. "Impressive enough, do you think?"

The boy nods. "Principal will like you no matter what." He leads the way inside. The walls look like clay. There's a main classroom as soon as they walk in, two teachers are at their desks, sorting through papers, and five boys and two girls are conversing with one another. Most of them are older than Lev, but at least two of them look about his age.

Lev leads him into the principal's office, which is glamorous with statues, bookcases, and a large window behind him. The old man at his desk looks like he's in his nineties, but still healthy. He adjusts his large glasses. "Ahhh, Lev. Good to see that you'd come back to school. We were worried about you, almost ready to send people to go looking for you."

Lev sits down on the left chair, biting his lip. "Well, I'm glad you didn't... I wasn't feeling well and couldn't make it to class. I have someone here as witness of my sickness." He looks up to Aldan.

Aldan looks around the room as if he's inspecting it. He turns to the principal. "I didn't get your name?"

He holds out his hand. "Jeremen. You are Aldan. Yes, I know you. I've been around for quite a long time. So you're of witness to this?"

Aldan shakes the man's hand. "Principal Jeremen, I am. Lev was quite stricken. A severe headache and nausea. My wife and I allowed him to stay over with our son. He's still not 100% but insisted that he needed to return to class."

Jeremen looks over at Lev, nodding his head. "Alright, I understand. Lev, if you're not feeling good today, just come to my office and I'll pull out a mattress for you. I know it's not the softest thing in the world, but we don't have much." He transitions to Aldan. "Good young man, watching over him." He pauses. "Boring job you have, I'm sure. Do you wish you were back out on the battlefield?"

Lev walks out of the room, grabbing his school bags and walking back into the classroom while the adults continue to speak.

"No. I've had my times in battle. I miss my fellow soldiers. The marching through all weathers, and the fear before a battle? I don't miss those at all. War is a young man's game, at least on the front line. Did you ever serve?"

The much older man nods his head. "For forty years, my young man. That's longer than you've been alive! Eventually, my body couldn't handle it, especially after all of the near-death experiences. It's a miracle that I lived. After my last recover, having a sword plunged right into my stomach and twisted, arrows lodged into my legs and back, I knew I was done with fighting. One night, I came home and saw a teenage girl talking to herself at night in the streets. She had an illness in the head, with no family either... At that moment, I knew what I had to do. The king gave me this place as for my good duty serving him and it will be here until this planet is no more. Like I said, it's not much, surly not right now... But that girl I mentioned? She became our schools counselor. Unfortunately, she passed away three weeks ago, which has made things a bit more difficult for us, especially the kids."

"I'm sorry for your loss. For the school's loss. For the student's loss. What will you do now? How do you find someone to fill that role?" He continues looking around the room, especially the bookcases.

Jeremen sighs. "I'm attempting to take on where she left off, but it hasn't been easy." After a moment of silence, he stands up. "Well, as I said before, it's nice meeting you. I hope to see you again, Aldan." He smiles and nods, opening the door for him. Lev is at his seat at the front of the classroom, taking notes studiously. He notices Aldan and waves before returning back to his studies.

"I'll visit again if I may. Unless you think it would upset the pupils?" He shakes hand with the principal and exits the school with a warm wave at Lev. He looks so cute when he studies. He walks the short distance to the prison, hi mind thinking back to yesterday morning. At least Bryan has good taste for demon boys. He walks the familiar corridors towards his station. The building has seemed heavier, more weighted, and colder than before. His mind drifts back to Drew. Always back to thinking of his time here with Drew. He reaches his station and sighs. The same faces, as always.

The warden stops him at the main part of the prison. A few of the other guards are playing cards and chatting as they always do. He looks displeased. "How do you do, Aldan?"

"I'm fine, sir." Aldan tries to conceal his irritation. He just wants to do his job in peace.

"Sure..." The warden exhales. "Not sure if Dakota was on your watch or not. Does his name ring a bell?"

Aldan thinks for a moment. "No, sir, I can't say that it does."

"Alright, well I'll give you the wrap up." He looks at his papers, which are wet with messy handwriting, spilled coffee on them. "Crimes being that he sold drugs to children, one of them overdosing, and killed one of his addicts that refused to pay him. He's being taken to the block today. Get him ready as soon as you can. Everything should be cleaned and tidy for him in about thirty minutes." He slaps Aldan on the shoulder with his papers, then yells at his guards to get off break and get back to work. "He's cell C13."

Aldan sighs and begins looking over the paperwork for this execution. He grabs a cudgel and heads into the block to cell C13. He can't form his plan for transporting the prisoner until he sees what he has to deal. "Poisoner, starshatter dealer, murderer." Aldan sighs. "At least this one deserves it."

Dakota leans up more in his bed as he notices the guard. His hair is a seaweed green, mid-length, and messy. He's smoking a hand rolled cigarette. His clothing is average for a prisoner, brown pants, a thin light grey shirt exposing his chest. "Haven't seen you before." His voice is developed, and he's clean shaven.

"You won't see me after today. Today's the day. Any last requests?" Aldan tries to get a gauge on the prisoner's age and physical prowess. How much of a threat could he pose?

"Huh. Aren't you supposed to have food or something? What a load of shit." He puffs on his cigarette, walks over to his table and kicks at his chair. "Figures they'd treat me like shit. Yeah, I know what happens today."

"What would you like to eat, Dakota? If you'd like to make a formal complaint regarding your treatment, I can guarantee no reprisals from the guards."

He looks out his window. "Well, all I really want is a glass of water. I'm not hungry."

"Alright. I'll take care of that." He looks at Dakota. "It doesn't say on your sheet. How old are you? Will there be any family coming?"

The teen takes another drag on his cigarette. "Fifteen and a half. Two of my older brothers will be there. The rest of the family said they wouldn't come. Too afraid to watch." He brushes his hands through his green hair with the cigarette in his mouth, then sits down.

Aldan nods. He thinks to himself. `Another kid. Not another kid.'

"I'll be right back with the water. Nothing else?"

Dakota shakes his head. "I'm fine. Well, maybe another cigarette."

"I'll be right back." Aldan returns to the guard room. He grabs a wooden mug and a pitcher, filling it with water. He moves over to one of the other guards. "Balon, roll me three cigarettes. I'll need Kenwood, Balon, Wonus, and Edberg for escort duty on this one. Ken, go check on the block get an idea of when they'll be ready." Aldan takes the water and smokes and head back to C13 and the boy, Dakota.

"I've got water and smokes. Stand clear of the cell door."

Dakota keeps his hands behind his back and walks away before the door is opened.

Aldan unlocks the cell and heads inside before he closes and locks the door. Placing the water and cigarettes on the table, he sits across from Dakota, ready to draw a dagger if needs be. "Do you need a priest or cleric? You can tell me any message for your family. I'll make sure they get it."

He reaches for a cigarette, lighting it with a match, then drinks down half a glass of water. "I'm fine. I have some letters here." He digs to under his pillow, pulling them out and handing them to Aldan. "For my family. And get your damn hand off that dagger. You and I both know there's no way I'd win in a fight with you."

Aldan takes the letters. "I'll make sure they get these. I've known prisoners facing the block who thought a sword or dagger would be quicker or easier. It's not, but they don't know that until they're stabbed and still facing the block." He relaxes a bit. "Is there a letter for a girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

Dakota spits. "No way. Had a girlfriend, but she dumped me when I got charged. Fuck her." He finishes his glass, continuing to puff on his cigarette. "Don't you want to know why I'm so evil? Why I'm such a bad guy?"

Aldan leans back and crosses his legs. "I've been doing this a while. I'll tell you two things right now. One. You're not evil or a bad guy. Two. If you want to tell me, you'll tell me. If you don't, nothing I say will make you. If you want to tell me, I'll listen. But I don't think you're evil, Dakota. I've met evil. You ain't it. So, what happened to land you here?"

He finishes his cigarette, relaxing into his chair. It's the first time Aldan has seen him calm. "Poverty. Simple as that. I have eight brothers and three sisters. My Dad lost one arm and a leg in war. Mom is a dancer and a prostitute. Where's the money in that life for all of us? So I started selling starshatter. Have to support them somehow. Guess I just got wrapped in the world of selling after a while. But oh well. Now they'll have to figure it out without me." He sips from his glass, looking to the window, then back at Aldan.

He nods. "A veteran's pension won't come close to providing for a family that size. Your brothers and sisters are older or younger than you?"

"I'm the middle child. Dad just uses the money on the crap I was selling." He touts, then sighs. "Appreciate the water. Do we need to get going?"

"We have time. One of my men will let us know when they're ready." Aldan leans forward, resting his arms on the table. "Have you thought about the last few minutes? You said two of your brothers will be there. Older or younger?"

"Older. They're twins. Seventeen. He taps another cigarette against the table, but decides not to smoke it. "My best buddies. Said they'll hit anyone in the crowd that causes trouble."

Dakota leans back in his chair, then falls back into place, looking at Aldan's armor and weapons. They're beautiful to him. There's something about him that he finds different than the other guards.

"If I can, I'll give you a minute with them if you'd like. Warn them not to cause trouble. Anyone in the crowd that crosses the line will get their thumping from my men. All your brothers will do is get into trouble." He looks at Dakota. Now he can see it. He's had it rough, clearly, but he's so young. "Maybe they could join the army. Between the two, they could scrape enough extra pay to help your family. Just keep it away from your dad. Just whatever they do, tell them to never become a prison guard."

He nods. "They're already in training, sir." He gulps, looking down. "I don't... want to speak to them. They can read the letters. I told my brothers and sisters to never resort down my path."

Aldan pulls out his flask. He unscrew the top and takes a swig, then holds it out to Dakota. "It's smooth and strong. It might make things easier. Not too much though, or you'll be sick. Listen to me, Dakota, when we go out there, ignore everything but me. Focus only on me. Everything else doesn't matter. Just watch me, focus on me. We'll march through the courtyard quickly. Then up the scaffold. You give your coin to the executioner. Stay focused on me. I'll get you in position. I'll be talking to you. It won't hurt. One swing and it's done. Do you understand? Do you have any questions?"

The teen thinks for a moment, putting out his hand. "I'm fine. The cigarettes have me calmed." I've had a few months to prepare. He stands out of his chair and stretches, feeling in his pocket for coins. "How big is the crowd going to be?"

"That, I don't know. This time of day, with the weather. Less than a hundred I'd guess. They might get loud, they'll insult you, say some vile things. Family of your victims may be there. We'll try to keep them from spitting on you. I won't let them defame your body." He looks at the boy. "Are there arrangements for your body?"

He finishes his glass of water slowly, calmly answering. "Apparently, I'll get a burial in a poor, compact cemetery. That is all." He sits down on the bed just for a moment to adjust his boots, then back up to the table.

Aldan looks at him again. "I'll see to it you have someplace decent. Not the pauper's graveyard. Your younger sisters shouldn't have to go there to visit you. Wait here. I'll check on the timing of this thing."

Aldan heads back the ready room, looking for the guard he asked to on the preparations. Spying the guard, he asks for a status report. "Kenwood, how are the preparations coming along? How long?"

Kenwood walks up to him instead of shouting, not wanting to get the other inmates riled. "Everything is cleaned and prepared, sir."

Aldan nods, "Right. Get the men ready. I'll be there with the prisoner in a moment." Aldan heads back to C13. He lets himself in. "Dakota, it's time. Are you ready?"

Dakota takes a few steps to him and nods.

"I'm going to have to shackle your hands. Hold them out in front your stomach, wrists together." Dakota does as instructed, and Aldan chains his wrists. He steps closer to the prisoner and hugs him. "I'm sorry for this, Dakota. Just remember what I told you. Focus on me. Only on me. Let's go."

He guides Dakota to the ready room, barking at the other members of the detail, who fall into position, moving as a well-oiled machine. The group marches a short way, pausing before a set of thick, double doors. One of the guards pounds the doors with his gauntleted fist. The doors open and the group moves into the execution yard. The platform is there, the executioner standing atop it. Sawdust and hay are spread around the block and underneath.

"Focus on me, Dakota. Focus on me. Do you want to face the city or the river?"

He thinks, looking up at the sky. "It's a beautiful day... The river sounds nice. By the way, I really like your necklace. Whoever gave it to you must have really loved you." He smiles, then looks up at the platform.

"He did. And I him." Noticing Dakota looking at the platform, he steps in front of him. "Focus on me, Dakota." He leads Dakota up the short flight of five steps. The executioner steps forward, silently extending his hand. Dakota pulls coins from his pockets, placing three in the large, strong hand. The execution hands two back. "One's the price, young lord. If I take more the gods will punish me." He steps back and Aldan leads Dakota to the front of the platform. A clerk standing in front of the platform, on the flagstones, reads off the charges, verdict, and sentence.

Dakota keeps his eyes away from the crowd, looking to his left, right, and downwards. He thinks of a song he heard when he was younger to cut out the sounds of the crowd.

The crowd boos his charges and cheers the verdict and sentence. Scattered calls for blood are heard. Aldan's men keep the crowd in line and they mostly cheer. Aldan moves in front of Dakota, guiding him by his shoulders to the block. He pushes the boy down into a kneel.

"What unit do your brothers want to be in when they finish training?" He asks as he leans Dakota forward, placing his neck on the block "Will they go for cavalry do you think? Better promotion and extra pay for horsemen. I'll tell them when I see them." He places Dakota's hands on either side of the block, keeping them out of the way of the blow. The axeman draws his axe from beneath the straw. He takes two steps and is to the side where Dakota is not looking. "Of course, if they've a taste for real danger, they could opt for the scouts. That's hard training." The axe rises and falls in a smooth motion as Aldan mentions the scouts. The crowd cheers as blood sprays from the severed neck. Dakota's head falls, landing in a small basket. Aldan grimaces and chokes down bile. He takes the head and looks at the eyes. He keeps them facing him until the light has gone from them and they are flat and lifeless. Then, as his duty requires, he holds the head to the crowd, which draws larger cheers.

As the body is placed in a plain, rough coffin Aldan apologizes softly. He closes the eyes carefully and gently adds it to box. "Be careful. Send him to the cemetery at Robin's Road, overlooking the river."

In the middle of the crowd, two brothers stand, their hair also green. They lock their eyes on you for a while before leaving. The crowd was larger and much more out of hand than most that Aiden has seen for a young one. Once everyone has left, he steps down from the platform, falling to his knees to cry for a moment. He holds his necklace in his palm, remembering the things Drew told him to do. By the time he stands up the rest of the guards, including the executioner, have left. Aldan walks back towards the prison, frustrated, furious, ready to explode.

Aldan returns to the ready room. There's a report to be made. There was a time when these reports were made to ensure that execution went smoothly. Now? They're expected, but Aldan honestly wonders if anyone even reads them anymore. More than likely, they end up used to start fires on a cold day.

He's tense as he works. `I can't do that again,' he thinks to himself over and over. `I can't do that again. I can't keep a child calm so he can be executed without incident.' He argues with himself. `Keeping them calm makes it easier for them and for their family. But they shouldn't be executing children.'

He finishes the report and turns it in to his commander. "Report on the execution, sir."

His commander looks it over, grinning widely up to him. Everything looks good as usual. "I hope you're alright. There's a young girl waiting for hers tonight." He walks back to his desk, trying to find her report. "Oh what does it matter. They all belong in the same hole anyway."

"How old is she, sir?"

"Ten. Is that a problem?" He sizes Aldan up.

"Not for me." He stands to attention. "Request to be relieved from that execution, sir."

He looks at Aldan, bothered and angry. "There's no excusing. You know your duty. Do your thing, calm her down, and get her ready!" He spits into the guards face as he talks.

Aldan blinks. Once. Twice. He looks around at the other guards. The newer ones are watching, grinning. The older ones, who have served with Aldan, watch, worried. "No, sir." Aldan's voice is low and menacing.

The commander grabs him by his collar and yells, "I'll have you on guard and being responsible for every youth execution for now on! No more adults, no more monsters for you! Disobeying me like that. What kind of man do you think you are?" He lets go, tossing Dakota's paper down the hallway.

"What kind of man am I?" Aldan raises his voice slowly. "A civilian, you sadistic fuck. Consider this my resignation from the service. Kill kids yourself, you paper hanging goat fuck." Aldan turns and leaves, giving a terse wave to his fellow veterans. "Good luck, fellas." He checks the addresses on the letters and heads for the closest one.

Before he leaves the commander yells slurs at him. He falls over and has guards help him up. As Aldan vanishes, he screams into his hands, realizing he lost his best guard.

 

Aldan is enraged. He walks with purpose, not because he has one but because he's operating on training. He knows he wants to deliver the letters to Dakota's family. To comfort them somehow. `Then what?' He asks the wind.

When he enters the neighborhood on the letters, he slows and looks around. Really looks. `How do these people live? What surrounds them every day?' He watches how they move, how they talk to each other, how they watch him. `Nervous. Worried. They're wondering who I'm here to take away. Maybe even making bets. Who will it be? Will they resist?' He notes the hopelessness in their eyes, in the way they move. `My gods. What have I been doing for all these years?'

He sees a public fountain and sits on the edge. The water flows slowly and sluggishly. The font is cracked and leaks slowly onto the street. Moss has grown, so it's been broken for months or years. He takes a handful and sips. It's brackish almost, tasting of something. Polluted. Shaking his head, he notices the road. Loose stones and cobble. Potholes. Clogged sewer grates. Everything speaks to neglect. Neglect and a lack of hope. The richest city in the kingdom and these people are forgotten. Or worse. Abandoned. No wonder Dakota turned to selling forbidden herbs and concoctions.

Aldan continues his walk from out the city of privileged citizens and into a small town, known for being poor and full of crime. The houses are trashed. Hookers and drunken scattered on the streets and nearby shops. He feels no need to clench his weapon, knowing that they're just as scared of him as he would be to them. Even though the sky is azure and the Earth has come alive, everything seems to rot here. He looks back up at the letters and sighs. They all lead to this one house. It would be a decent house for a small family, but one of Dakota's size? The roof is mossy, and the windows broken. Random trash, empty bottles of booze, and torn clothes are scattered in the front yard. As he walks up to the front door, he notices that it's open. Before he steps inside a young woman stops him. He immediately knows that it's the mother. She's young and her features are boldly beautiful, but it's her face that catches him. Her eyes are slumped into tired black rings. She wears the ultimate face of defeat. Her body is so skinny and frail. It's quiet from inside of the house. She rolls her eyes, licks her lips, and nods to Aldan. "You are?"

For the first time in years, Aldan is nervous. "Ma'am. I, um." He sighs. "Dakota asked me to see you. To give you his final messages." He feels the weight of every child execution he's overseen on his shoulder. He can almost hear their voices. "I was in charge of his detail, ma'am. At the end."

She takes the letters, looking to each of them. "How nice of him. Wrote a letter for everyone except me. I saw him a week ago and all he could say was that I was the worst mother that anyone could ever have. I'd never hit him. Never treated him wrong." She looks up at Aldan. "Thank you, anyway. All of the kids are at school. Two of his brothers should have been there, but they will be on their way back to training soon." She leans to the side of the door and sighs.

"He thought that if you were mad at him, it would make it easier for you." He looks down at his hands, expecting to see blood. "His twin brothers were there."

"They shouldn't have gone, but you know how kids are. They rebel. Never listen to their parents." Her eyes grow red. She wipes away her tears, snorting back her snot, and holds herself together. "And nothing went wrong, right? He didn't feel anything?"

Aldan starts feeling the sorrow and pain from every child execution he's overseen. "It went well. He was brave. He didn't feel anything. The last thing he heard was me explain what his brother's training was like. The last thing he saw was me talking to him. I'm having him buried in the cemetery on Robin's Road. Overlooking the river."

"Robin's hood." She pauses, then almost falls over. "The Gods must have given him good fortune at his end. No criminal is ever buried there."

Aldan steadies her. "Mayhap you should sit." He helps her inside. "Dakota was more child than criminal. More desperate than evil."

She lets him guide her to a chair in the main room. Her husband is asleep in his chair, an empty bottle of liquor to his crotch. "He was good and only wanted to help us. It wasn't until he started to pull in too much silver that he started to change. By the time he was there we couldn't help him. He became addicted to selling. It's all he wanted to do for the rest of his life." She reaches for a rag, wiping her face with it.

As soon as she seems composed again, she falls apart, sobbing into her rag. "Please... Just leave me. But thank you for delivering his messages."

Aldan stands. "I was hoping to see his brothers, but I'll leave if that's what you want, ma'am."

She doesn't respond. Maybe she can't even hear him. Either way, she wants to be left alone.

Sighing, Aldan heads for the door. What did he expect? Absolution? Forgiveness? He pauses outside, looking over the house and yard. `What chance do the little ones have? How many of his brothers and sisters will end up in prison or on the block? Why am I worrying about this? What the hells can I do about it?' Slowly he walks away. He doesn't know where to go or what to do. There's so much misery and poverty and he's just one person. A middle-aged ex-guardsman whose trying to save the entire city. Why does this bother him so?

As he continues his path through the poor city, he notices something glowing on him. He lifts his necklace up and sees the purple crystal flicker at him three times, but then the light vanishes. Is Lev here? Listening to him? Why would it shine at a moment like this?

He stares at the crystal. "Drew. . .What do I do now? I can't ignore it." He wanders aimlessly until he finds himself outside of Lev's school. He sits across the road, watching the school and the nearby prison. One represents hope, the other, despair. Can he move from one to the other?

A teacher emerges from the front door of the school, loading a pipe with tobacco and smoking from it in peace. She holds out her arms to feel the cool wind glide against her skin. As she smokes, she notices the defeated warrior sitting by himself, seeming hopeless and lost to the world. She waves at him and smiles before heading back inside. The door is still halfway open.

Aldan stands. He heads for the school. The reason he was assigned to oversee the executions of the younger convicts was that he was always able to keep them calm, to help them go through the end with some dignity. If he could do that for the condemned, could he do it for kids not condemned?

As he enters, he sees the kids inside having lunch. They're broken into three groups and the teachers are too busy checking homework to watch over them. Lev is in the corner with two others, sitting on his knees and leaned over his desk. Across from him is a boy, probably eleven or twelve, with seaweed hair just like Dakota's. His face is sullen, and he looks as if he had just finished crying. A girl sits to the left of him, rubbing his back as Lev and the boy speaks. Aldan notices something else about the younger one. His wrists are covered in scars. They're most likely self-inflicted. He hurries out of the room and into the principals office before they can notice him. Inside, the principal is overlooking a mess of papers. He drops his cigar from out of his mouth when he notices you, putting it to the side as he steps up to shake his hand. "Aldan, Aldan! My good friend. You're a bit early. School isn't out for two hours."

Aldan extends his hand, greeting the principal warmly. He pulls out his pipe and packs it with sweet smelling tobacco. He sits when offered a chair. "I'll cut right to it if you don't mind. I had to oversee a fourteen-year-old boy's beheading earlier. Then I was ordered to handle the process for a ten-year-old girl." He pauses, waiting for some reaction.

Jeremen nods, returning to his cigar. "Yes... I know very well about this boy. One of our students is his younger brother. I take it that you didn't handle it all too well."

"I handled it perfectly. I always do." He sighs. "Dakota was just a boy. No hope, poor family. Got into selling starshatter. I did what I always do with the young ones. Calmed him down. Helped him be brave. Helped him die well." He drops his head into his hands. "I helped a fourteen-year-old boy die well. Three months ago, I helped a boy I loved die well. Why can't I help them live well?"

Jeremen is silent for a moment, turns to his window to think. He stands up, walks over to the chair to the left of Aldan and sits down. "What makes you think you can't help them live well?"

Aldan looks at Jeremen. "Well, I resigned my position. Even if I was still there, I get them maybe a month before they're scheduled for execution." He leans his head back and sighs. "I don't know why I'm troubling you with this. I just wanted to wait for Lev. Him, at least, I can help."

The older man shakes his head, looking at him like as if he's a fool. "Don't you find it strange that you came here and spoke to me saying that you wanted to help those still alive to live well? You could help me, you know."

Aldan looks at him, his eyes processing. "As security?"

He laughs. "Bahaha! Security? I might have given up fighting, but I could still take you on! I might not win, but hey! No, no. Not security... I told you that the counselor here had passed, right? And you look like you're in need of a job. It won't pay as well as what you were doing, but I promise that you will save lives."

He looks at Jeremen. Not quite understanding, still. "Counselor? What does that even mean? I'm a soldier, a warrior. A killer. What does a counselor do?"

"He does what a soldier does in some senses. He protects, he supports, he saves lives. You would simply speak to all of our youth for thirty minutes a day and help them find ways to express themselves positively. I was a killer too, you know. You're not the only one that stared evil in the eyes. Now I'm here. I believe that something guided me to this. Maybe something guided you here too. What do you say, Aldan? You'll get your own office. There's not many students here either."

"Let me think on it. There are people I have to ask first." He peeks back into the classroom. "A half hour a day with each of them?" Whatever darkness had descended upon him was lifting. This was something different. A new challenge. A new life. For Aldan and for the students he'd be working with. But he needed to talk to Kate. "I'll let you know tomorrow, if I may."

"Yes. Take your time." He stops himself. "Wait! Before you leave... I think it's important that I make another point. You say that you had been assigned many youth at your job because you were able to calm them, level with them... Our previous counselor was once offered a job by the prison to help the young ones facing the block or rope to deal with their issues and find peace before they met their end. She turned it down, believing it would be too hard on her. Nobody has taken it ever sense. In our neighbor kingdom, Aigua, they have such a person that does this. Of course, they're age stands at fifteen and ours is still too young, and hopefully given time our laws will change. But Aldan..." He shuts his eyes, emphasizing on his words. "Aldan. I think, I think you should reconsider your resignation. You don't need to do what you were doing, but you can continue to help in a different way." That's all I have to say. As he walks to his desk, he stops, noticing Aldan's necklace. It's shining like a beacon, a gorgeous purple that presents the crystals unique and detailed design.

Aldan nods. Noticing the principal staring at him, he looks down. Wordlessly, he hold the crystal up before his eyes. He'd never noticed the details before. Staring at the crystal, he tried to decipher their meaning. He utters one word, so softly that Jeremen barely catches it. "Drew."

"What a remarkable necklace." He holds his cigar like it's a magnifying glass. "I've never seen anything like it. Is it magic? The necklace shines even brighter as his name is spoken, then dims."

Aldan nods. "Yes. Yes, it is." He smiles. "Jeremen, I accept. Tomorrow, I'll be here with Lev. I'll schedule a meeting with the warden and we'll help those children, too. Maybe we can persuade the King to change to law on execution." He gazes at the crystal again. "I have permission now."

The crystal shines one more time, brighter than before, then returns to as it was at its normal state. The warden sits down, smiling to himself. "My my my... Am I a lucky man or what! To have you by my side. Aldan, I have no doubts about you. I was going to hire you one way or another when I saw you walk back into the door. For celebration, you may take Lev home early. Tomorrow I'll introduce you to the students and teachers, show you to your office, and walk you through some stuff. My good man... There's always time to be a better man." He organizes his paper and puts out his cigar. "Go on. Spoil him if you can."

Aldan nods. "Tomorrow then." Aldan touches his forehead in a relaxed salute before heading into the classroom. He stops at the door, checking if Lev is still talking with Dakota's brother. Who else could the green haired boy be? He waits by the door, leaning against the wall, watching the children of all ages at their lunch. He wonders to himself how he'll spoil Lev tonight. "Lev and Bryan."

Lev notices Aldan, waves to him, and whispers something into the green-haired boys ear. He carefully steps out of his seat, his tail wagging curiously and cautiously, and then he walks up to Aldan. Is everything alright?"

Aldan lowers his voice. "His brother was executed today?" He nods towards the green-haired boy.

Lev nods, talking quietly, "He's okay for the moment. Principal Jeremen is going to take him home and help around their house tonight. We shouldn't talk it about that. You don't want him to hear. He doesn't know who you are."

Aldan nods. You're free, by the way, to leave now with me."

His mouth opens. "Are you serious? He holds his excitement, but his tail says otherwise. Wait a minute. I have to grab my bookbag." Lev walks over to his desk, putting his schoolbooks into his messenger bag, hugging the green haired boy and waving at the girl before he walks back to him.

Aldan smiles at Lev. He puts his arm around his shoulder as they exit. "I have bad news."

He shivers, looking sadly up to Aldan. "What's wrong?"

"I had to oversee Dakota's execution this morning." Aldan's face reflects the sorrow and regret he still feels over that duty. "He gave me letters for his family. I took them to his mother after." He looks for a reaction from Lev.

Lev nods. "I had a feeling you would be there... What's the big deal though? Don't you have to do that kind of stuff every week?" He stretches his legs and arms as he walks.

"Used to. I resigned. Quit."

"You quit?" He scratches his head, licking his hand to clean his ears. "But, how will you provide for your family?"

"A friend helped me find a new job. Two friends, really." Aldan smiles, not bothering to hide that he has a cool secret.

"Oh." He lightens up. "Oh! Well, that's awesome then! I'm glad for you. Sounds like we need to celebrate! Well... I think I should at least do a prayer offering for Dakota at some point before we do so."

"Don't you want to know about the new job? And yes, we should make offerings for Dakota and his family."

Lev runs up in front of him and walks backwards. "Of course I want to know! Man, I wonder what Bryan's gonna say. Isn't his brother coming home tonight?"

Aldan nods. "Tomorrow night, actually. Well, you and I can do something special together. Since you helped me get my new position. You and Drew."

"Drew?" He looks to Aldan's necklace. "So he spoke to you, did he?"

"Of a fashion." He holds the necklace. "You don't seem surprised."

"They're made for protection and guidance. Why would I be surprised that he helped you find your way?"

"Well, he gave me a sign. And you and I are going to see a lot more of each other. You should think about something special you want to do. Since I'm your new school counselor." Aldan grins. The sorrow of earlier is gone for now.

He flips out. "Counselor? WHAT? So that's what you and the principal were talking about! A counselor... Well, I can see it. You want to help me, right? And you helped Drew too."

Aldan laughs. "I want to help all the kids in your school. And the ones in the prison. Before their time is up."

He smiles genuinely to Aldan. "Huh. Maybe that's what Drew wanted from you. I think you'll do good at my school. We're tough and it takes work to get through to us, but you're a natural with me. I think you have a gift for helping people, Aldan."

Aldan blushes at Lev's praise. He blushes the same way Bryan does. "Thank you, Lev. That means a lot. I'll do my best and I'll need your help with the kids. But for now, we've got a few hours before Bryan is out of school. What fun do you want to have, kidd-o?" He bumps Lev, playfully almost tickling him.

They're reaching closer to the house. "I don't know. Bry tried to teach me some stuff with his sword yesterday. Maybe you could show me a few things? We could also... No. Nevermind." He blushes. "Training sounds nice."

"I'd be happy to help you learn swordsmanship. What was the other idea? I think we're well past keeping secrets or being shy with each other." He puts his arm around Lev as they walk. "I'm still glad to know you."

Lev brushes his head into the taller man's chest. "Well, I wouldn't want to do the other thing unless I asked Bryan first." They walk up to the front of the house. Lev walks to a well, filling a bucket of water up to wash his feet with.

Aldan enters the home, leaving the door open for Lev as he washes his feet. The voices of Sally and Jereminy playing inside carry over the threshold. Upon entering, Lev see the two younger children playing with lettered block in the sitting room. Kate sits in a comfortable chair mending a child's shirt. She has a basket of other clothes on her left, and on her right a pile of carefully folded clothes. She smiles at Lev, brushing a stray stand of her light brown hair from her face. Sally and Jereminy look up at Lev and wave, with the youngest boy greeting him with a sing-song 'Hi Lev-y!'. Kate informs him, "There's fish and meat for you in the chill box, Lev. You really should tell me what cooked foods you enjoy, Lev. That way I can make things that you enjoy. Fresh fish doesn't stay fresh for long."

"Fish is stinky!" Sally offers.

Lev walks to the kitchen, checking over the fish. "I hope I'm not burdening you. My body is kind of weird if I eat too much cooked meat." He drinks a mug of water, flinching his nose as he looks around the house, waiting for Aldan's instructions.

Aldan pours himself a mug of chilled beer. He grabs a biscuit and some ham, making himself a biscuit sandwich. "What happens if you eat too much cooked meat?"

He pretends to puke. "Blleeeehhhh, Bleeehhhhh. That's what happens."

"Oh, I see." Aldan munches on his biscuit. "Is that the case for all demons? What about other cooked foods?"

"Not all demons are that sensitive." He takes a piece of the fresh fish out of the box, which is packed with ice. "I think it's because of my wolf side. Are we still going to train outside?"

"Yes, yes." Aldan nods. "Give a man a moment for some lunch. Do you have any training or experience with swords or bows?"

He shakes his head. "No. Yesterday was the first time I've held a sword. I can do this though!" He forms a sword of fire in his hands after he finishes his small snack, but quickly dissipates the flames when he remembers he's still inside.

Aldan's eyes go wide and he coughs crumbs in surprise. He quickly takes a drink. "Well, that's impressive." He chuckles and leads Lev outside. He grabs a sword and hands it to Lev. Over the next few minutes he shows Lev the proper way to hold a sword and the basic defensive maneuvers of swordsmanship. After a few minutes, he stops. "Lev, can you make flames appears along the blade of your sword?"

"Probably..." He holds out his blade away from Aldan in case something goes wrong and focuses his energy on the sword. It quickly rises into short flames. Lev swings it through the air, which makes a loud destructive sound. "Should I stop?"

"Yes."

They vanish as soon as Aldan answers. Lev swings the sword around, trying to do some tricks with it, unknowingly of how dangerous the weapon he's yielding really is.

"Whoa, whoa, Lev. Be careful. That's not a toy." He grabs a melon from the garden, placing it on a post. Drawing his own sword, he casually swings through the melon. He looks at Lev and picks up the two halves and arranges them on the post. "That was without really trying or using any training or skill. Just playing around you can maim and wound someone very severely. With training, you can do this." He swings his sword in an upward arc, slicing through both halves from the bottom, sending each skyward. He redirects the blade twice, almost faster than Lev can follow. The melon hits the ground in several pieces, with Aldan's sword poised in front of him to attack or defend. Counting, the melon has been sliced into ten chunks. "Against an unarmed man, I've just beheaded him and removed one or both arms. My choice."

"Well, I'd expect no less from a man of your regards." He walks to the chopped-up melon with his sword in one hand, his tail moving from side to side as he kicks the pieces towards a tree. "Do I get a melon?"

"Certainly." Aldan grabs melon for himself and offers a chunk to Lev. "So, fruits and veg don't make you ill? What about bread? Or cheese?"

"Cheese? Like milk? Gross!" He pulls out his right hand, raising the chunk of the melon into the air, which floats and spins. "That's cheating though, isn't it?" He swings at it, missing it by a few inches. It's too high above his own head.

"Oh, my poor boy! No cheese? You don't realize what you're missing!" He takes a stance and show Lev some more basic defensive moves. "Notice, and this is important, every move leaves you in a position to act or react to your opponent. Swordsmanship is more than swinging hard for the head or stabbing for the chest. It's watching your foe. It's blocking his blows, leaving yourself in a position to counter and attack and drawing him out so that his maneuvers leave him out of position and vulnerable." He stands close behind Lev, holding his arm, showing him grips and blocks. His power is easily felt by Lev as is his practiced ease with blades. He rests one hand on Lev's hip and whispers his instructions in Lev's ear.

Lev tries as much as he can to focus on holding the heavy sword in the uncomfortable ways that Aldan tells him to. "Do you think that if I don't destroy the world, the kingdom will use me?" He stands still, still holding the blade like he's been told to. "The boy that can transform into the water dragon is just a new pawn now. Will I become one too?"

"Hmm. I think the kingdom will try to use you." Aldan hugs Lev from behind, then climbs the fence, straddling the top. He takes a long drink from his mug. He's sweaty. "Take a break. I think that some bright boy in king's service would love nothing more than to use you as a weapon. They may try to win you over with gold and wealth. If that fails, they may fall to threats. You're something new. Something powerful. It won't even enter into their minds that you're just a boy." He takes another drink "But, we won't let that happen. There's no reason for anyone outside our little extended family to know what you can do. Unless you want to be used as a weapon of war?"

The wolf demon shakes his head and stabs the sword into the grass. Lev walks over to Aldan, tightening his robe. "I don't think I could serve this kingdom. Not after what was done to me..."

"I can't blame you. In fact, I'm where you are now." He sighs. "At least I can't unless things change. You and your people need to be valued and welcome as equal citizens. And we need to stop executing children. Maybe, if we could make those changes, I could fight for the kingdom again. For now, I'm called to fight for my own soul. I've much to atone for, Lev."

"We all have something to atone for." He puts a hand on your shoulder and smiles empathetically.

"You were defending yourself." Aldan sighs and looks away, staring at the clouds. "I've led dozens of children to the axe. I've led boys and men who didn't understand that they were going to be killed, much less that they had committed a crime. You know, I had a young man, 20 years old. We'd play cards. Or some version of cards. He knew the rules, and they changed night to night. He could understand any real card games so he made up games. When I leaned him on the block, he looked at me . . ." Aldan pauses. He takes another drink and exhales roughly, clearing his throat. "He looked at me and said, "Aldan, guess what? I've got a new game for us to play after this. Can we start when this is over? Please?" He said please. He didn't understand anything. Simple minded fool." He looks at Lev, his eyes red and moist. "I helped kill children and simple-minded men. You defended yourself. There's only one monster here, and it's not you, Lev. Not you."

"You're right." He points at his chest. "It's right here. Inside of me."

Aldan drops his head. He looks over to Lev and places his hand on Lev' chest. He closes his eyes. He concentrates on Lev's chest, trying to picture his beating heart. His lungs filling with air and then exhaling. Somewhere in there is the shadow. Where? He slows his breathing and tries to feel where the shadow is. If it can be forced out by stabbing Lev's chest, it must have a physical presence. Maybe it can be felt and detected. And if it can be felt, maybe it can be forced out some other way.

Lev puts his hand up to Aldan's chest, the takes a few steps away from him. "The law is simple. If a person kills an innocent, they shall pay with their life. Not all murderers are flat out evil or horrible people as you know, but they knew what they were doing. Don't you think you at least did them some good by being there for them? I'm sure not all guards were as gentle and caring. I imagine many are beaten and whipped. You are the one that guides them to finding themselves again." He walks over to the sword, pulling it out of the ground, and levitates the melon into the air. As he exhales, he chops it down, brings the two pieces back up, chopping the two into fours. Bryan enters through a gate, waving his hand to Lev before he rushes to get water for Whirlwind.

Aldan nods. "Perhaps there's some good I did. Maybe helping a boy or a girl keep their dignity at the end is worth something. Maybe a kind word and caring hand made it easier. Maybe." He hops down from the fence. Moving over to Lev, he resumes his instruction. "If you hold it this way, the strain is less on your wrist. See? Feel the difference." At Bryan's call, he turns and waves to his son. As Bry heads to the barn, Aldan takes Lev's sword. "Lesson's over for now. Go. Be with Bryan. But don't tell him the news. I want to tell everyone at dinner. You're a good boy, Lev. Thank you."

Bryan enters the barn. He moves over to Whirlwind, who whinnies excitedly. Bry leads him out of his stall and let's him run in the corral. Whirlwind neighs happily and runs around the edges of the corral, stamping and rearing, almost as if in play. Bry laughs as he watches, talking to the horse as he pulls water from the well. He fills a trough along one section of fence and Whirlwind canters over and drinks, shaking his head and sending water flying, before ducking his head to drink again. Bryan strokes his muzzle as he drinks.

Lev walks to his boyfriend, leaning his arms over the corral as he watches Whirlwind. It's wet in the barn, which means he will have to wash his feet again. He looks to the bottom of them and tisks. "Hey Bryan. How was school?"

Bryan smiles and playfully splashes water on Lev. He sticks his tongue out at him. "It was okay. I missed you all day. We studied history and letters. I have to write something tonight and bring it in tomorrow." He looks irritated. "Balls!"

"Who's balls?"

Aldan tosses the melon pieces into the grasses near the road and heads into the house. He smiles back at Lev and Bryan.

 

Bryan looks at Lev. "Huh?"

"You said balls. Were you speaking of mine or yours?" He looks vaguely serious.

Bryan laughs. "No, silly. I say that when I'm frustrated. But never where mother can hear me! I like yours though." He giggles. "How was school for you? Did daddy smooth things over with your teachers?"

Lev nods and moves up to closer to Bryan so their shoulders touch. "Yeah, he figured things out and now he's..." The boy covers his mouth with his paws. "Uhm, class was fine. Sort of sad today, but my teachers said I'm making lots of progress."

"Why was it sad?" Bryan's face falls into worry. He wraps an arm around Lev's waist. They watch Whirlwind drink and trot as they talk.

"One of my friends at school, his brother was executed today. I guess he killed someone and sold drugs and whatnot." He sighs, his eyes following Whirlwind. "I told him that I'd do an offering for his brother that would protect his grave. That's what Aizen did for Drew." He brings him in for a hug. "Are you hungry?"

Bryan purrs and lays his head on Lev's shoulder, burying his face in his neck, hugging him tightly "Yes. I'm sorry for your friend. Did. . . Daddy help execute his brother?"

"Yeah. I don't think he was very happy about being there. Come on. Let's go eat." He slaps Bryan's butt. "We can come back to Whirlwind later."

"One sec!" Bryan runs into the barn and returns with armfulls of hay. He tosses the hay into a box just inside the corral fencing. Whirlwind trots over happily. Bryan jogs back to Lev and takes his hand and heads back into the house. They enter the kitchen, where Katy is checking a large turkey, roasting in the oven. She has other foodstuffs and ingredients on the table. Potatoes, peas waiting to be hulled, flour, butter, spices, and more.

"Lev, I hope you don't mind, but I thought you might be getting tired of eels, so tonight I've got a pair of partridges for you and the innards from the turkey. I hope that's alright?" Kate says as she bastes the large bird before sliding it back into the over. She adds a small log to the fire and sits at the table. "If you want a snack, Bryan, there's a sammich and milk for you." She nods at one end of the table. "Lev, there's a fresh trout in chill box for you. And Bryan, I've mended yours and Mikey's clothes. Take them up to your room when you've finished your snack."

Bryan nods and grabs a handful of cookies from the jar, shaped like a squat brown bear. He grabs his sammich and milk and heads for the other room as his mother reminds him to be quiet as his brother and sister are napping. In the other room, he finds two stacks of clothes and balancing everything in one tall stack leads Lev up to his room. "What do you want to do?"

"Well, I'm kind of hungry, Bryan, but we can play if you want." He watches as Bryan puts his clothes away, waiting patiently by the door.

"Your dad left the lubricant on your nightstand." He notes out loud.

"Well, eat your fish." Bryan looks at the lubricant, then at Lev. He grins and stuff his sammich into his mouth, struggling to chew as he takes a sip of milk. He begins pulling off his tunic and undershirt. Those removed, Lev can see his smooth skin. His little muscles rippling underneath a thin layer of baby fat as he drops to the floor, pulling and tugging at his boots. He's still working on his mouthful of food as the first boot comes off.

"Let me help you." He seats Bryan to the bed, taking off the second boot, then pulls off his long white socks. Lev is growing an erection, but it's unnoticeable under his fundoshi and robe. He kisses Bryan softly, holding his cheeks as he does so. "After we eat, we can ride Whirlwind to wherever my friends brother is buried. Then we can come back here and I can give you a lay."

"Aawwwww." Bryan stops chewing and swallows hard, drinking the rest of his milk in one gulp. He wipe his mouth with his arm. "I thought you wanted to now." He sounds disappointed. "I suppose you're right though. You did promise your friend. What's his name? Maybe we can be friends, too. Do you think he'd like to ride Whirlwind?" His eyes sparkle as he looks at Lev.

"His name is Jay. I think he's your age. You're 11, right?" He scratches his hair and his ears twitch. "Anyone would like to ride Whirlwind, but I'm first!" He tickles Bry's armpits, grabbing him by the arms to get him up. "Come on come on! I'm starving!"

Bryan giggles as Lev tickles him. He lets Lev pull him up and wraps his arms around his boyfriend. He kisses Lev, deeply and hungrily, surprising Lev with his passion. After a minute, he stops and pulls back, sighing and smiling. "I needed that! Now we can go." He grabs clean clothes pulling them on as they head down-stairs. Aldan is in the kitchen with Kate, they're chopping vegetables and talking quietly. They overhear part of the conversation as they enter.

"Oh, he's kicking hard today!" Kate grimaces as he holds her belly. Aldan leans over and rests his hand on her stomach. "Oh, indeed he is!" He agrees.

Lev grabs himself a plate, filling it with the innards, fish, and bird. He then starts a new brew of coffee, pouring himself a cup, and returns to the table. "Thank you, ma'am for the delicious food." He looks shy as he chews down one of the pieces of raw meat.

"Well, I'll give you this, Lev. It's easy to cook for you." Katey laughs, before grimacing again. A pained expression passes her face for a moment. "Bryan, come feel your little brother tormenting his mother."

Bryan walks over and leans his head against her belly. He pulls back suddenly, laughing. "He kicked me!"

Lev laughs. "How close do you think you are, Katy?"

"Oh, by the end of the month, I pray! Two weeks, and no more, I'd say." She laughs. "And after four, I'm an expert on the subject."

Aldan laughs, "She was dead on with Sally and Jereminy. Right down to the day, she predicted them in the last month. By the time we're done with children, I hope she can predict the birth date right as we finish the conception." Aldan laughs loudly. Bryan giggles. Katey shakes her head as she chuckles.

"No more after this, Aldan! Five is enough for any woman." She says with mock seriousness. "Although one or two more to care for us in our dotage might be wise." Everyone laughs.

Lev finishes his fish and downs it with some of his coffee. "Who do you see when the time comes for you to give birth? Our people go to the hospital of white mages."

"We have a midwife. She helped with Sally and Jereminy. She visits twice a week to check on our progress. We'll birth here or at her home if there is any difficulty. Katy shells peas into a large pot of water as she talks. She'll use various herbs and ointments to make the birthing easier."

"Ah, how fancy." He keeps himself upright in his chair, remembering all of the manners he's been taught and had forced into his head at school. "Uhm, Aldan. Weren't you going to say something?"

Aldan widens his eyes in a semi-glare at Lev. "I was going to wait, but now is as good a time as any. He takes a deep breath I've left my position at the prison."

Katey looks at him sternly, "Oh, I do so hope that you have more news than that."

Holding his hands out in front of him, he explains, "I do, I do. I've already taken a position at Lev's school. I'll be assisting the principal and counseling the pupils. Additionally, I'll make a proposal to the warden that I be allowed to counsel young people slated for execution." Kate nods as he explains. Bryan fidgets happily, poking Lev in the ribs. "I just can't have a hand in executing people Bryan's age or younger. Most of them have decent hearts and just fell into evil for an instance, a horrible moment. But they're not evil in themselves and I can't kill them anymore. Every time, I kill some part of me as well." His voice rises as he talks. "I just can't, Kate. Between the school, the prison, and my veteran's allotment, we'll be okay. Remember, veterans of The Ruby Fords have an extra stipend from the crown."

Lev brightens up and smiles proudly at him, looking to Bryan to see if he shares the same response. Both Bry and his father's necklace glimmer and shine for only a brief few second. Lev wants to do nothing more than kiss his lover now but hides his face in his coffee cup instead.

Katey sighs and shakes her head, "I suppose we'll just have to make do, Aldan. If you feel so strongly, you know I'll support you. I just wish you'd spoken with me first." She sighs. "I suppose we can always sell Bryan. He's of that age now where he would fetch a good price."

Bryan startles and looks at her, then to his father, "Hey! You can't sell me! You wouldn't. . .would you? No, you wouldn't. . .Right? Daddy?" His face changes from laughter to worry and back and forth until Katey and Aldan both burst out laughing.

"No, we won't sell you, Bryan." Aldan looks at Lev. "When he was really bad and obstinate, we used to tell him to behave, or we'd sell him. It's a family jest."

Lev tries to crack a genuine smile as he eats, but hearing them joke about Bryan like that forces him to relive the abuse his parents put on him. He closes his eyes. Remembering their beatings and things they called him. As he opens them up his mood quickly dies. He finishes his food quietly, washes it at the sink, and sits back down, waiting for his lover to finish eating.

Bryan stands. "Can we take Whirlwind to make an offering for Lev's friend?"

Aldan's mood shifts noticeably. "For Dakota?" When Lev nods, Aldan nods as well. "Yes, you may. Be back as soon as you're able, though. Before dinner at the latest. Make an offering from me, too, boys."

Lev nods. They move from out of the kitchen, through the main room, and out to the backyard. It's growing dark outside, just a sliver of the moon shining tonight. The two boys run over to the fence. Lev leans over it, his tail high in the air as he waits for his lover to catch up to him.

Bryan runs past Lev, slapping his butt as he passes, laughing loudly and calling for his horse. "Whirlwind! We're going for a ride. Come on, boy, let's get your saddle." Bryan lets Lev watch as he saddles the horse, walking him through the steps. It's take Bryan very little time to saddle his horse. Whirlwind waits patiently, stamping anxiously when Bryan finishes and pats his neck. "Ready to go?" Without waiting, Bryan climbs into the saddle. He reaches down to help Lev up onto the saddle behind him. "Remember to hold me tightly, Lev."

Lev reaches up worriedly and holds on tight across Bryan's stomach when he leaps up. He adjusts himself onto the saddle, which is a bit uncomfortable considering he has much less supportive clothes than his boyfriend. "I didn't ask your Dad where he was buried. You want to go ask while I stay here?" He gulps. "I'm kind of afraid to get off of Whirlwind."

Bryan looks back at Lev. He smiles, "Don't worry, we won't let you fall, Lev." He goads Whirlwind in the flank and trots over to the back door. "Dad! DAD!!" Aldan opens the door. "Where's the boy buried? From this morning?"

Aldan wipes his hands on his pants. "Robin's Road cemetery. Near where Drew is buried. He should be faced to the river."

"I wonder if we will run into his family there." Lev waits impatiently, wanting to hold his arms around Bry again.

"Do you think we might?" Bryan asks as he guides them on to the road. He sets Whirlwind into an easy trot, guiding him around people and obstacles with surprising ease. "See, this is easy. If there we less people around I'd show you how fast we can go!"

He tightens his grip around Bryan and relaxes to the calm cold breeze in the air. There's something meditative and spiritual about Whirlwind to him. It's no wonder that his boyfriend has such strong affection for the horse. "I wish I could lean my chin on your shoulder, but my horns would be in the way."

"I know! Sometimes I wish you didn't have horns, but sometimes I wish they just weren't so sensitive too, so I could touch them. I dunno. I like you the way you are though." He shrugs. "We'll be there lickety-splitty."

"You do realize I'd be dead without my horns, right? They're connecting right into my brain and spine. It's the same with my tail, too. Even though we can be powerful, we do have those weaknesses. Outside of the kingdoms, there are people that hunt us and destroy villages to collect our horns for sport. Aizen can tell you all about that."

Bryan turns to look at Lev, a look of horror in his eyes. "They hunt you for your horns?!?! But. . .but. . .you're people. That would be like killing Sally for her hair. Why???"

"Like I said, it's sport. It's not like the keratin from our horns provides any health or beauty benefits. They're just there, you know? To make us look weird." He tries to lean his head on Bryan's shoulder, but comes to the problem that he was just mentioning.

Bryan is surly and upset the rest of the ride. Lev can feel it in Bry's body. It's a short trip, and soon they spy the cemetery. Bryan stops and stands in the stirrups, looking behind them for the river. Fixing their location he looks at the cemetery's hills, searching for a fresh grave.

Lev tries to get off of Whirlwind, but instead ends up falling off and on his back. He laughs to himself, wiping off grass from his robe as he stands up. Further along downhill and about fifty feet away from Drew's grave is a fresh one. The dirt is leveled to the grass. A tombstone has already been put up, which must have been prepared before today. Lev checks to make sure nothing is watching him from the trees, then makes his way to the grave, kneeling before the dirt. There are several flowers tossed down. The young demon wolf looks confused. He doesn't understand why people litter graves with things that will at some point rot over them. "You can sit beside me if you'd like or you can visit Drew, too."

Bryan hops down easily. Whirlwind looks at Lev, his large, brown eyes looking almost sadly at the demon-boy. Bryan kneels down with Lev. "I'd rather stay with you. I can say hello to Drew before we go home." He points at the flowers. "Someone was here already."

"Yeah. Probably the family. His brother was really choked up at school." Lev slaps his hands against his knees, shuts his eyes, then raises his hands up a few inches, palms upwards to the sky. He whispers a long piece of scripture for a while perfectly. If it were another demon and not Bryan sitting beside him, their jaw would drop in surprise over how well he can speak the memorized words. After he finishes, a sphere emerges over the grave, which sparkles with white lights. The two of them can feel the jolt of energy that has been created around it. He says a few more words, mentioning some names before he finally opens his eyes and looks to Bryan. "Done and done. I made it to where only his family and the two of us are allowed to visit his grave. It will never be harmed by man or nature, just like the one beside it." He looks over to Drew's grave. "I wish there were a way I could go inside his sacred space and speak to him. He knows more about what's going on with me than anyone else does."

Bryan leans his head on Lev's shoulder. "Me too." He looks at Lev, then at Drew's grave. "What about daddy? I bet he'll want to visit this grave too. We can't forget to tell him." He stands. "What if we hold hands and try to go through?"

"One second." He slaps his knees again, muttering a few more words and adding Aldan's name. "Are you sure? What if what happened last time happens again? I could do something really bad, Bryan. I don't think you understand how bad it can get."

"You won't hurt me." He looks at Drew's grave. "If you get closer, can you feel the barrier? Is it like fire? The closer you get, the warmer it is so that you can stop before you get burned?"

Lev thinks. "When I tried to step toward it, I felt my entire body explode He makes an explosion sound and hand motion. like this! Pooooosh. But I didn't, which is good. I don't know. I'm afraid, Bry."

"I'm not." He looks at Lev. He leans forward and kisses Lev's cheek. "Wait here, then. He lets go of Lev and move to Drew's grave." He kneels next to the headstone and starts speaking to it. He gestures and carries on as if he's talking to a living person. He points back at Lev, then leans close to the marker, seeming to whisper. After a few minutes, he stands, brushing dirt and grass from his knees. He heads down the hill, waving back at the stone. He stops in front of Lev. "Okay. Back home, I guess."

Lev stands up and takes Bryan's hand. "They walk to Whirlwind. Did you know him well like your father?"

Bryan's eyes go wide and he blushes. "No! You're my first!"

"I didn't mean it like that, silly. I meant as friends or just knowing him, I guess."

"Oh!" Bryan giggles. "My bad." He shrugs and hops aboard Whirlwind, reaching back for Lev. "We talked a lot, I guess. But he seemed to know me. He talked like he knew me and knew my future, almost. He talked about you, too. I just feel like if he were still alive, we'd be really close and he's sad that he had to leave." He shrugs again. "I miss him."

Lev reaches up and hops back onto the horse, positioning himself again. "I'm sorry that you had to go through that. It's sort of like you just met him and the next second he was gone. That's not right. You should have been given more time. Maybe when I get this damn shadow thing out of me or to stop attacking me I can let you speak to him again. It's only temporary and can only be done once every two years, but I could probably give you two a few minutes if you'd like. Unless that would just make things worse. I don't know. He quiets down and warms his boyfriends body again."

"Naw." He sets the horse for home, allowing Whirlwind to set his own pace. "If you can, you should let dad talk to him. He misses him more than me. I liked Drew a lot, but daddy loved him. Like I love you."

He blushes hardcore and gets an erection. "Yeah... I love you too, babe."

"I know. I can feel it in my heart." He giggles. "And in my butt. Is that your secret horn?" Bryan laughs and the horse picks up his speed. "I know what we're doing after dinner." Bryan whispers in a sing-song voice. "Lev is gonna fuck me..."

His hands reach lower, rubbing at Bryan's thighs. "You're getting me too excited. You're right though. I will fuck you."

Bryan giggles. "Twice? Maybe?"

"Well, I thought that maybe you could do me too."

"Really??" He turns and looks at Lev. He's obviously excited. "But mine is so small compared to daddy's."

"True, but four inches can still feel really good." He reaches for Bryan's dick, which is hard. "Man, are we home yet?"

"Soon!" He digs his heels into Whirlwind's flanks. The horse rears a bit and breaks into a fast trot, avoiding pedestrians and obstacles. In minutes, as stars begin to fill the sky, home comes into view. Bryan steers Whirlwind into the barn. He hops off and reaches up to help Lev dismount safely. "Let mommy and daddy know that we're back. I have to brush Whirlwind and make sure he's fed and stalled."

"Okay, babe." He slaps Bryan's butt again before he runs inside. Katy and the rest of the kids are playing with toys as she reads to them, while Aldan is sitting in front of them, reading a book of his own. Lev walks up to the warrior and tells him in his ear that all has been done and to not knock when the two of them go upstairs. Lev waits by the stairs for his boyfriend, waiting eagerly. Aldan grins sinisterly, imagining the things they'll soon be doing.

Katey informs Lev that dinner will be in a few minutes, but there's enough time for Lev and Bryan to clean up first. Aldan shrugs at the look of disappointment that crosses Lev's face. Katey heads back into the kitchen while Aldan takes the little ones to wash up for dinner. As he waits in the sitting room, Lev's erection aches terribly. He hears the back door open and the muffled voices of Katey and Bryan. Shortly, Bryan trudges dejectedly into the sitting room. He takes Lev's hand and leads him upstairs to his room. Bryan exits and returns with a porcelain basin and jug of water. He takes off his clothes and washes himself quickly with a cloth. "Take your clothes off. Mommy doesn't like horse smell at the table. Can you do it to me super quick? Like five minutes?" His eyes are hopeful, his boycock announcing beyond doubt his eagerness to be with Lev.

Lev immediately takes off his robe and undoes his fundoshi in a matter of seconds. Naked, his red hot knotted erection sticks out proud and pronounced. He takes the cloth to wipe himself down, throwing it across the room, and then grabs the lube I think that's enough time. "Why don't you lean against the bed?"

Bryan nods, moving to the bed. He leans forward at the waist, pointing his butt at Lev and sticking it out. He shakes it playfully. "Please hurry! I want you in me before dinner. And after, too!" He looks at Lev's naked body and licks his lips, reaching down to pull his dick. "Fuck me, Lev!" He begs.

Lev lubes himself up, putting some against Bryan's butt too. "This isn't gonna be as gentle as before since we're limited on time. But I won't get my knot in, so don't worry." Without warning, he thrusts into him, leaning his body down so that his stomach and chest are laying against his younger lovers back. "Ahhh. Fuck. You're so tight too. Nothing feels better." He begins to move, kissing his back as he fucks him.

Bryan squeaks as Lev enters him. He grunts and whimpers at the first few strokes. After a few strokes, he arches his neck back, raising his head and moaning. Without thinking, he throws one knee onto his bed, allowing better access for Lev to go deeper. "Ohh... fuck me... Yeah, Lev....Faster."

Lev pants and moans, sucking on his neck as he fucks him harder and faster. He tries not to bite him, but just the slightest touch penetrates and cuts his skin. "Sorry. It was an accident." He brings himself up, holding Bryan's as cheeks as begins to slam most of his cock into him. "Fuck yeah! You like that, you dirty boy? Want me to fucking cum inside of you?"

Bryan twists his head around to try and kiss Lev. His tongue seeks his demon boy lover, eager to tastes his kisses. When Lev bites him, he moans out loudly. "Not too hard...I like it, Lev." He begins moving in time with Lev's thrusts, backing his hips and butt against Lev's onward rushing cock, welcoming the demon dick deeper into him. "I love it, Lev. Fuck me, please. Make me your dirty boy. Yes, cum in me.... Please cum inside me..." He's panting and moaning as he's being fucked, loving every second and every inch, wishing he could have the knot inside of him as well.

Lev lets go, letting his power from thrusting guide him and out. He leans over to tongue kiss his lover again, then returns one hand on Bryan's back, arcing as he power fucks him deep and hard. He's impressed that he can move like that on him. "Fuck... Here it comes, babe!" He pushes as deep as he can into him, moaning loudly as he shoots his load into him. Slowly, he pulls out, slapping the end of his dick against Bryan's hole. Semen drools out of the tight slit. It's still clear, relevant to the fact that the wolf-demon boy is still young. Bryan walks over to the other side of the room where his brothers bed is and uses the cloth to wipe off the rest of his erection. There were some tiny dirty remnants on him, but overall Bryan was cleaner than he thought he'd be. Katy is calling out for them. Lev laughs as he runs over to his clothes. He puts on his fundoshi quickly, kissing Bryan as he puts on his robe. "Man! Can't they be any more patient?"

Bryan leans against the bed, cleaning himself with a rag, trying to catch his breath. His eyes are slightly glazed and he stares Lev adoringly. His little dick is still hard, bouncing up and down with his heartbeat. Once he's done cleaning himself, he sits on the side of his bed, smiling broadly and humming to himself as he slides on his undergarments and pants. He gestures for Lev to come to him. When he's close, Bryan kisses his belly, standing up slowly and kissing licking his tummy and chest, nibbling his nipples. Finally he kisses Lev, deeply. Pulling on his shirt, he's totally happy. "We should do that before every meal, I think."

"I agree." He laughs. "We better get going! You think they'll notice?" Halfway down the steps, he mutters. "Oh, who cares if they do!"

"I think daddy will. He'll be mad that we didn't wait for him." Bryan laughs. "I don't think mommy will. She's always so busy with Sally and Jer." As they enter the kitchen, everyone is seated around the table. Katey sighs and begins dishing out the side dishes while Aldan carves and serves the turkey. He looks at the boys, notices their flushed faces, and traces of sweat. He nods and smiles at them. Lev's place has a lovely pair of partridges, plucked at trussed, raw as he prefers. Sitting next to him, Bryan slyly opens his pants and slides his hand down the front for a moment. He elbows Lev gently until he see what Bry is doing. Bryan giggles as the removes his hand and licks it. "Mmmm....gravy!"

Lev elbows him playfully, coughs, and then digs into his bird. "I think I might head back home later tonight to get some more tea from my grandma if that's okay."

Katey looks up at him, then glances outside, her face worried. "It's awfully late, Lev. Aldan, go with him. I don't like the boys to be out alone after dark."

Aldan nods. "That won't be a problem." He looks at Lev, anticipating an objection.

"I think I have to help Bryan with his homework before I go though. Right, Bry?" He smiles, quickly devouring his delicious meal. "Man, you literally have no idea how tasty that was to me."

Bryan nods, a flap of turkey skin hanging out his mouth. He slurps it up and takes a drink of water. "Yes, I have to practice letters for tomorrow." He smiles at everyone, mixes his peas with his potatoes and gravy and dunks a biscuit in the concoction.

"Do your grands stay up late? I'd hate to disturb them. Maybe we should go after dinner and you help Bryan when we get back?" Aldan suggests.

He thinks deeply, then bursts out in laughter. "Sleep? We're demons! What are the chances that they'll be asleep tonight? Although, it probably would be good to show up early since... they typically, uhm, have a private time together late at night."

Aldan laughs. "I totally forgot that you're a demon and that they are too." He stops for a moment. "Lev, that's not an image I needed in my head." He laughs again.

"You're telling me! I've walked, uh... Nevermind." His face grows red as he leans into his arms to hide his face, making his horns more noticeable. His black tail is cocked upward as he leans forward, his chair scooting outward.

Katey and Aldan laugh and Bryan begins to blush. "Not like that's ever happened to us, has it?" Katey laughs heartfully It's goes along with having children.

The rest of the meal passes quickly, with good natured joking and talking around that table. Soon, everyone is full. The little ones are already sleepy, their heads drooping as the finish their last bites of food. Bryan takes Lev's hand and pulls him towards his room. Aldan begins clearing the table as Katey puts the small ones to bed. Bryan and Lev are alone in Bryan's room. Bryan has his board and chalk, but he's staring at Lev instead of doing his work.

"Should I leave now or later tonight?" He sits beside him on the bed, cleaning his tail with his tongue.

Bryan shrugs and puts on an innocent expression. "Oh, that's up to you." He leans into Lev, slipping his hand inside Lev's robe and cupping his package. "It's probably too soon to fuck me again, I bet. I guess you could get your tea and we could do it when you get back. Remember, I get to do you! Man, daddy's going to be so jealous." Bryan laughs, but keeps his hand on Lev's privates.

Lev leans back, his tail flapping around behind his back. "I don't know, Bryan. You're getting me pretty hard again already." He moans softly, licking his lips as he unties his robe.

Bryan sets his board and chalk to one side and pulls off his shirt. He leans down and kisses Lev's belly button. He begins fumbling with the fundoshi. "How do you untie this???" He stands and strips out of his pants. "What do you want to do?"

Lev reaches right under his tail and undoes the fundoshi in a single second. His dick whips out, leaking with pre cum again. "You said you were going to fuck me, right?"

Bryan nods vigorously, "Yeah, yeah." He pulls on his boner. "What do I do? Just stick it in? I need grease, right?"

"Yes. You do." He reaches over to pull off Bryan's undergarments and grips three fingers around his smaller dick. "But not yet." He leans further down, rustling his hair away from his eyes as before he licks at the head. He uses one hand to softly massage his balls.

Bryan stands still, pushing his hips out a little so that Lev can lick him more easily and so that he can watch more. "I really like when you do that." He carefully holds Lev's face, avoiding his horns. "It feels so good. Everything you do always feels so good."

Lev goes down, slurping and sucking on Bryan's dick slowly, but with ease. He licks his lips again, drooling spit onto it, and sucks harder. After his mouth is tired, he stops and kisses his way up to his boyfriend, bellybutton to chest to nipples, shoulders, and neck, then to his lips. "Love you so much. More than you know."

Bryan wraps his arms around Lev, squeezing him as they kiss. "I wish I never had to let go. I wish we could do this forever and not have to worry about school or anything!" He kisses Lev again. "I hope you can stay here and live with us. We can visit your grandparents every day but I want to see you every morning and . . . Lev! I just want to always be with you!" There's almost a note of panic in Bryan's voice as he pushes Lev towards the bed.

Lev massages his hole as he leans up against the wall on the bed. He strokes himself with his other hand, spitting on it so get more friction. "That's gonna be weird to explain to your brother when he gets home tomorrow."

Bryan laughs. "Yeah, I know! Do you think he'll want to play with us? Like, all four of us?" Bryan's eyes are wide as he asks. "Wow!" He gets a strange look on his face for a moment. "That would be weird." He shrugs and kisses Lev again. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know what he looks like yet or much about him. I guess we will have to wait and see." He pulls up one of his legs to his chest. "You'll put that stuff on my butt hole, put some on your dick, and put it in me. You can finger me too if you want. I should be fine though. I'll put my legs over your shoulders so it's easier for you to fuck me."

Nodding, Bryan does as Lev instructs. He greases Lev's hole and then his own dick. He places his dick against Lev's hole. He's got a look of complete concentration, his tongue just poking a tiny bit out of the right side of his mouth. He looks up at Lev and smiles. "Okay, Ready?"

Lev nods and puts his legs to Bryan's chest and over his shoulders. He moves the pillow up against the wall so he's more comfortable, then puts his hands to Bry's back, begging for him to put himself inside of him. "You can fuck me now."

Bryan nods, the look of concentration returning. He pushes his dick against Lev's hole, his tongue popping out again. For a moment nothing happens. And then, Bry's head slides in, past the first ring of muscles. Bryan looks surprised for a moment, then his mouth drops open into an "O". He pushes deeper in until his pubis and hips are pressed against Lev's buttocks. Bryan, who's been holding breath, exhales and looks at Lev. "This is awesome! You're so warm inside! What do I do now? Just in and out?"

"Yeah, babe. Fuck... That feels so good." His hands go lower, softly gracing Bryan's hairless ass.

"Wow...Okay. Here goes." Bryan pulls out, going to far as his dick pops out. With an embarrassed 'I'm sorry', he pushes back in, against until his body is flat against Lev's. He pulls out, being careful not to pull out completely. He's being so careful. He pushes in again, a low moan escaping his lips. "Can I go faster? Will it hurt you?" He pushes in and pulls out as he speaks, staring down and watching his dick disappear and reappear in Lev's sweet, hot ass.

"Please, go at whatever pace you want, babe. Go slow..." He moans, squeezing his ass cheeks. "Go fast. Just fuck me. Make love to me."

Bryan nods. Little beads of sweat pop out on his forehead and chest. He pushes in again, pulling out carefully. He goes a little faster, then paces himself more. He's got his own pattern and soon is pushing in hard and fast, almost with abandon, then pulling out carefully. He's watching his dick and Lev's ass and they merge over and over. Without thinking, he turns to his left and kisses Lev's ankle and foot, licking and nibble them. He's fucking Lev, his lover, his life. He wipes his forehead against Lev's foot. "Can I go faster??? Can we kiss?"

"What? Of course?" He pulls him in by his back, latching him into a deep tongue kiss. Their tongues collide and slide into each other's mouths in perfect harmony as Bryan increases his pace. Every once in a while, Lev has to pull away to moan out, but then returns to kiss. He strokes his own red cock as he's getting fucked.

Bryan kisses Lev hard, through an almost delirious smile. He's fucking faster and faster, their skin colliding more and more loudly. Neither boy really notices though, lost as they are in each other. Bryan whimpers and moans as he fucks his boyfriend, going faster and faster. His dick sometimes slides out, but he quickly reinserts himself and continues. He stops kissing, instead resting his head against Lev's neck and shoulder. He's squeaking loudly now with every thrust, his eyes closed tight, and sweat pours from him onto Lev. He begins shaking and trembling struggling to maintain his pace but pushing deep as hard as he can. It's not Aldan, but there's a passion and desire from both boys that heightens their pleasure. Love. Bryan cries out, shouting Lev's name as his body jerks and spasms. He struggles to breath as his muscles and brain are nearly shorted out with the intensity of his orgasm. He doesn't understand exactly what's happening, but he doesn't stop fucking. He cries out again and once again before collapsing on Lev, whimpering with each breath.

Lev can feel that his boyfriend is close by the increase in pace and how his lovers dick tenses inside of him. He holds one hand between Bry's crack, eagerly begging for him to keep fucking him hard and rough. When Bry starts to moan he does the same, although his voice is deeper and his are much more intense, that of the pleasure of being the one penetrated. As Bry finally lets go, Lev leans his head to the side in the pillows, one of his horns ripping a hole into the sheets. He stays there, still, his heart beating rapidly fast. "Fuck, Bry... That was incredible. Better than your Dad!" He waits to catch his breath before he explains. "He's good and he's bigger, but there's something different with you. It's because we're in love. Because we're one. You know my body so much better than anyone else could. And I know yours..." He kisses every spot that his fingers touch and massage." As soon as we've calmed down, I should get going. I'll only be gone for a few hours. If you're asleep I'll stay in bed with you until you're awake."

Bryan lays on top of Lev, utterly spent. It's as if part of him was expended into Lev through their act. He lifts his head and smiles, his hair matted with sweat. As a drop drips from his nose onto Lev's neck, he lowers himself to lick it up. His tongue stays on Lev's flesh as he moves up from the neck to his chin and from his chin to his mouth. He kisses Lev tenderly, but not weakly. Both boys can feel the regret and loss as Bryan grunts and rolls off of Lev. Bryan lays on his back, his arms and legs splayed apart, his body forming a sweaty, boy sized 'X'. His dick is semi hard, softening slowly, hardening for a second when he unconsciously flexes. He looks over at Lev, smiling an exhausted but utterly happy smile. "That was neat. Does it feel that good for you when you fuck me?"

"Yeah." He sits up. "It feels really good. Like as if we're both one body. It's the most beautiful and peaceful feeling in the world, yet it's intense, crazy, messy... I love it."

"Me, too. I wish we could feel that way forever. I like when you fuck me. I like fucking you." He sits up and sighs. He looks at Lev, a questioning look on his face. "I'm so thirsty! And hungry, too." He pulls on his clothes, skipping his undergarments, for a loose shirt and pants from earlier. He stands and stretches. "I'll walk down with you. Can I ask you a question, Lev?"

Lev stands up out of bed, putting back on his fundoshi and reaching for his robe. "Ask away, my love."

"Does drinking blood make it feel better? Like, I know Drew would bite dad and drink his blood. Does that make it better? 'cause if it does, you should bite me next time. Okay?"

Lev looks at him weird. "That's their thing, I think. I don't want to do that to you, Bryan. Even if you asked me to, I don't think I'd want to." He tightens his robe and moves his hair out of his eyes.

"Oh, okay. I thought it was something all your people did." He looks relieved. "I would have let you, but I'm glad we don't have to. At least, not yet." He takes Lev's hand and leads him downstairs. As they enter the sitting room, Aldan is grinning ear-to-ear. The sounds of dishes being moved and clattered echoes from the kitchen.

"You boys ready for dessert?" He doesn't stop grinning. "Or should I say second dessert?" He chuckles to himself.

Lev sticks out his tongue and hugs Bry to his side. "I think we're both pretty full and exhausted."

Bryan is red from his neck to the top of his head. "We were wrestling!"

Aldan laughs. "Oh? Wrestling was it? And you had to call out Lev's name when he pinned you?"

Bryan sputters for a moment. "I'm gonna get dessert." He looks at Lev. "Are you leaving for the temple right away?"

Lev grabs Bry by the shoulders, kissing on the cheek, then lips. "I'll be back in a few hours. Okay, babe?"

Bryan holds on, not letting Lev go. "Promise? You're sleeping with me. . ." He glances around.

The demon nods. "Of course I am! Well, I don't think I will sleep until tomorrow night, but I'll definitely sleep for real with you then!"

Bryan looks very sad. He holds on to Lev hand, swinging it slightly. He looks at Lev. "Okay, I guess. Just be careful and hurry back." He leans forward, holding Lev's shoulders. He kisses his him gently on the lips. Whispering into his ear. "I love you." He turns and takes a half dozen running steps to the kitchen. He stops and turns around, a shy grin on his face. "Can I have your dessert?"

"I probably wouldn't eat it anyway if it's human food." He looks to Aldan, who's ready to go, but the wolf boy runs back to the kitchen to peck Bryan on the cheek one more time and whisper to him. "I love you too." Lev squeezes his arm once before running off to the door where Aldan is. His heart is fluttered with love.

 

Chapter Six.

Notes: No horny stuff in this chapter. Instead, this one is more based on character building and plot. Trigger warning – this chapter does have some intense violence in it.

 

 

Aldan waits by the door. He smiles at his boy and boyfriend. "You two are so cute. I just want to eat you up." He opens the door and heads out with the young, troubled demon boy.

Lev dances as he walks, forming fires in his hands as he moves in circles and somersaults around. Eventually, he stops and calms down, standing to Aldan's side. "Sorry about that. I just can't hold in how happy I am to be with him. Do I even deserve someone as beautiful as him?"

"Deserve?" He shakes his head. "Did I deserve Drew? How happy we were for all of five days? Do I deserve Katey and my children?" He shakes his head again. :Deserve has so little to do with what happens in our lives, Lev. Don't worry about things like 'deserve'. Be happy and let yourself be happy. Keep making him happy. Who can say why we love who we love?"

"Huh... A little to philosophical for me to understand." He rolls his eyes, still grinning and messing around with you. "Love sure is weird. Do you mind if I hang out with Aizen for a bit after I get my tea? You can talk to my parents or Holt. Holt's kind of... Awkward though. He's always so serious, but he's kind of relaxing to listen to."

"You'd better not be stepping out on my boy!" Aldan teases. "Certainly, Lev. Do you think you'll be a while? Demons and elves don't sleep, but I do." He chuckles. "It will be fine. Honestly, I hope that maybe you and Aizen will have some insight into our problem. I'm stumped right now."

"The only insight we have is drinking a bottle of absinthe between us both." He laughs, bumping into him playfully. "Just don't try and hit on Holt. Those two are super duper in love with each other and would never consider anyone else in their love life." Lev sprints, jumps up a tree, then does two flips in the air before he lands down on his feet. "Almost there."

"What kind of man do you think I am? I'm married, after all." Aldan laughs. "Twice married, as a matter of fact. I don't need any more lovers. I'm happy with my three."

"Okay, love bird. You have any coins on you? I wasn't kidding about that bottle." They're close by and seems to be a busier night out than usual. All of the tables are filled outside and there are baristas filling out their orders and handing them their drinks. Horsecabs try to make their way through people. Musicians play further out in the street. "Holy cow! Wooh! They're making hella business tonight. It hasn't been this busy for months!"

"I have coins." He takes a half dozen gold coins from his pouch, and a like number of silver. Handing them to Lev, he speaks, "This should be plenty. I'm not exactly the most welcome fella in the shop, you know." He looks at Lev. "You do realize that I do care about you. Not just as Bryan's love, not just as whatever we are..." He waggles his finger back and forth between them. "Anyhow. That should be enough coin."

"Thanks. Don't worry, you can have some too." Lev shakes the coins around in his hands as he walks in. Almost all of the bar stools up front are taken. His tail moves side to side swiftly and cautiously, showing that he's anxious by the number of people inside. Some of the people that live in the building are volunteering to work, which is not normal to see. Lev squeezes between two girls, who pout and look at him strangely as he speaks to one of the people behind the counter. His tail uncontrollably hits one of the girls in her face, but she doesn't call him out. A few minutes later, Lev returns with a large bottle of absinthe, no label on it, just a vibrant green color inside of the bottle. "Long day for you, huh? You probably deserve the drink more than anyone else." He hands you the leftover change, popping off the top as the two of them head downstairs. "One of the girls at the counter said that our high lord Rath passed away today. Drank himself to the grave. Don't worry. Nobody liked him anyway. This place is going to be much better without him now that my median is going to be the new high lord." He drinks straight from the bottle, gulping down two mouthfuls of it before he hands it to Aldan. "Wooo!!! Careful with that! Bites like a viper."

"High Lord Rath? I think I met him once." Aldan takes the bottle, raises it in salute to Lev and takes a swallow. He purses his lips and whistles. "Never did get used to the taste of this. It's strangely refreshing and unpleasant at the same time. Can't help but feel sorry for someone who lived their life in such a way that people are happier that they're dead." He walks with Lev through the apartment levels, still tasting the absinthe and feeling it's burn as it goes down.

"I hope none of the customers upstairs ventured down here. They're not supposed to. Sometimes people get so trashed that they end up in the hallway of our apartments!" He takes the bottle, holding it to his chest, then stops midway at the stairs. "Rath did a lot of good in his early years. You could say that none of us would be here if it weren't for him. Well, we'd just move to Aigua or back to our villages. At some point, he stopped helping people and became fixated on the shop upstairs, so much that he stopped caring about anything else. Everything has been in shambles ever sense, leaving it up to the four medians here to mentor the few hundred demons living here. He became a drunk and abandoned us all. So yes, I'm glad he's dead. Last month was the first time I ever heard about Drew, you know. I find that crazy. Drew and I had so much in common, lived in the same hallway, but never met. I mean, how is that even possible? It's almost as if something was blocking our minds off from connecting with each other..." He puts the bottle to his head, taking another swig. His tail wags as he tries to remember what he was about to say. "He said that I would end up like Drew. That I'd kill people and end up with my head on the block just like him. That I might as well just kill myself so I don't do any harm. He was a drunken bastard. A cowardly man. But I digress." Lev continues walking down the stairs, stopping at the last door at the end of the hallway.

As they walk, Aldan wraps an arm around Lev's shoulders. "Yeah, I did meet him once. Drew stopped me from killing him behind the bar up there. It would make sense that whatever the shadow is that whispers to you wouldn't want you and Drew to talk. The more alone you are, the more the shadow can influence. It's probably really pissed that you have friends. Fuck it, more than friends. A second family."

Aldan looks back along the hallway. Remembering his brief attempt to get Drew's father to visit his son.

Lev jokes, "Should I knock or just burst in again?"

"I think we should knock."

The boy sticks out his long wolf tongue. "Alllllright...." He knocks on the door with his bottle. A seconds later, Holt opens it. The blonde demon boy is sitting on his coffee table playing a harp that's as tall as he is.

Holt looks to the two of them, giving a faint smile. "Hello, Lev and... Aldan, is it? What brings you along?"

Lev pauses for a second, then gasps. "Crap! I was going to get my tea from my Grandma before I came over! Well, I had to stop by to get my medicine, but I also wanted to chat one on one with Aizen if I can. You and Aldan can have some alone time too, if you'd like."

Holt raises a brow to Aldan, trying to decide whether he will do so or not. "Aizen is just finishing up his practice work. You may enter. And Lev, thanks for knocking this time."

"No problem!" He shouts proudly as the two of them enter.

Aldan enters. He removes his sword, leaving it near the door. Moving to the table, he takes a chair, watching Aizen manipulate his harp. "To this unrefined ear, that sounds pretty good, Aizen. Holt. How are the two of you? Any ill effects?"

"I've been fine." Aizen pauses his practice, going for a mug of water before he walks to his closet. "Tomorrow, I have a small solo concert for my school. It's at the library that you always go to, Lev. I'm supposed to play three original compositions, so I rented this beautiful, but tiresome instrument and started to compose for it. Hopefully the Goddess Learo will help me overcome my performance anxiety!"

"You have to compose three original pieces before tomorrow?" Aldan seems incredulous.

"It's fine. I won't sleep tonight anyway. Plus I've been feeling very inspired today." Aizen pulls out a robe and fundoshi, throws it to Lev, then grabs some of his own clothing. "You haven't bathed yet, have you? We can have our chat if you'd like. Are you ready, Lev?"

Lev jumps in excitement. "Oh, yes! We'll be on our way! Give us thirty minutes. Is that enough?" He looks to Holt and Aldan for permission.

Aldan nods to Lev. He looks to Holt. "Is it alright if I wait here? I don't feel comfortable in the shops upstairs."

"Oh, I understand. You may go, my love." Holt gives his nod for them to leave and the two demons exit quickly. "He really has been fine since the incident. I've kept my eye on him and we've had a bit of a talk. I wouldn't worry too much. He's taking a lot of his emotions out on the music he's creating. I think you should come tomorrow. It'll be very special... Someone is going to write a review about it in the papers. He wants to do something revolutionary, but I'm trying to calm him down from doing anything too extreme." Holt is still dressed in his suit and armor, sword arranged to his side.

"Good luck with that. Our demon-boys seem to thrive on extremes." Aldan watches Holt. The way he moves and how he carries himself. The young elf reminds him of another elf he knew when he was young. Realizing that he's staring, he coughs and looks around the apartment. "It must be rather cozy here for the two of you."

"It's small, but I think it works for us. Having it like this makes sure that we don't hide from each other. We're always together, always close... Everything I do is for him." Holt takes the half full bottle of absinthe from off of the counter, grabs two glasses from the kitchen, and fills both of them a third of the way up. 'This is for us, right?"

Aldan looks at the door. "It is now." He chuckles. "I think he meant to share it with Aizen. I don't think he'd mind if we each had a glass. So, Lev has described you and Aizen as "super duper in love." How did you meet?"

He takes a small sip from his glass. "Had I not told you? We met out in the forest. Aizen had traveled alone from home to come here. The same way that we met we had made a pact to stay true to each other forever. It was some kind of demon marriage ritual."

"They don't really seem to marry other demons, do they?" Aldan laughs. "I can't complain, though." He stands and retrieves his sword, sitting back down and laying it on the table. "You're a warrior, obviously." He looks at Holt's sword and points at it. "Do you mind?"

Holt unsheaths his blade and hands it over. "I think you and I are exemptions. You know... The performance that Aizen is doing is being dedicated to Drew. They were very good friends growing up. I'm sort of afraid that he's showing symptoms of depression and I won't be enough to help him through it. He probably needs a professional." He crosses his arms, waiting for his approval. "It was a gift I was given on my first day of duty."

Aldan stands and unsheathes the blade. He examines the finish, the workmanship of the blade and hilt. He holds it out it front of it, feeling it's weight. He lets the blade dip, twisting his wrist and letting the blade travel in a circle until it returns to his original position. "Very nice. Superb balance. You fight with finesse. It's a declaration more than a question. We should practice together sometime. Since I'm not longer a guardsman, I'll need someone to practice with to preserve my skills."

Holt takes his bad, putting it back in place and walking past him. "We have a room specifically for that, if you believe it. If you're not too tired, maybe you can teach me a thing or two?" He opens the door, leading the way.

Aldan takes his sword and rebelts it. "I'm tired, but I don't think any foe would let me rest. Practice when you can, so that you can fight when you must." He follows Holt. He flexes and stretches his arms and shoulders as they walk. "Is sword your best weapon? Or do you prefer the bow or spear?"

"I'm best with a bow, but good with a sword too." He leads the way halfway up the stairs, then into the labyrinth of various rooms. In some of them, there are people meditating. He stops, pointing to one door. "This is where Lev and Aizen are right now. We're a little bit further away." He goes further down the hall, opening a white door. The room is massive and the walls are blood red. Candles are still lit from whoever was last in to practice. There are dozens of weapons hung from the walls. The carpet is as soft as the finest grass. Holt stretches out his legs, unsheathing his blade again, then points it to his left side at an archery target. "From this distance, I can hit the bullseye with my eyes closed every time."

Aldan nods. "Impressive. I'm adequate with a bow. Perhaps you could give my boy, Bryan, some lessons? He's intent and being well rounded as a warrior. I can teach him well enough with a sword, but a bow is another matter." He unsheathes his own blade. "Rules?"

"Rules... Hmm." Holt thinks. "No killing and no limbs being cut off. Are those good? We're just messing around, but I think you'll forgive me if I accidentally draw blood from you." He bends his legs, holding the sword straight out as he levels it towards the man, concentrating on how he will respond.

Aldan takes a pair of low swings as he moves into position, warming up. "Why do all the devastatingly handsome boys want my blood?" He grins at Holt and nods. "Let us begin." With that, he shifts into a defensive stance. He keeps the grin, as he slowly circles to his left. Counter to what Holt would expect from a right-handed swordsman.

Holt slowly moves his blade upwards, following his steps as he moves in closer. He doesn't want to take the first swing out of fear of messing something up.

Aldan watches Holt as Holt studies him. "Would you like to talk as we spar? Or do prefer silence?"

"Doesn't matter to me." He takes this as his advantage, moving in and swinging his blade to swipe Aldan's blade to the left, bringing it down as he does so, but is then countered back as the trained warrior swings back with just as much strength. Holt defends himself from the second swing as he stands back up, settling back into his original stance.

Aldan feints to his right, moving left instead and aiming low. Holt shifts parries the blow, their swords ringing out as the clash. Aldan waits less than a second before moving in again the same low attack. When Holt blocks him, he redirects to a higher attack, which Holt also blocks.

Holt turns his second block into a riposte, stabbing at Aldan's torso. Aldan moves back as he settles into his position. Holt is fast and nimble. "Very nice."

"You're going easy on me, aren't you?" Their blades continue to clash. Holt is beginning to work up a sweat and his body is tired from working all day, but he's having too much fun to be tired by now. When Aldan moves in to attack towards his stomach, he does a high back flip, landing right on his sword, then stepping up with one step and swinging his blade to Aldan's head. It's countered and hit heavily, which knocks Holt down to the ground. Aldan goes to the "kill", but Holt rolls out of the way seconds before the ground is pierced, jumping back up into position. "My blade wouldn't have touched you even if you hadn't blocked that. Wouldn't expect any less from a man who has fought in wars."

"You've fought in anger, I'm sure. I can see it in your technique." Aldan feints left, the feints right, as he has been the entire session. Instead of attacking, he waits a split second for Holt to react to the second feint then attacks from the left. He moves quickly and when Holt brings his sword up to counter, he feels the edge of Aldan's blade against the back of his neck. "That would be a killing blow. Agreed?"

"Yes, it would." Holt backs off, stepping down on one knee and bowing before standing back up. "Your moves are simple, but so perfect and swift. Here I am jumping around like a monkey." He laughs. "Do you know what Aizen's preferred weapon is?"

"Magic? Fire?" Aldan sheathes his blade, taking a fresh towel from a stack by the door and wiping his face. "I haven't seen him with any weapon."

Holt walks to him, finding a towel of his own to wipe his face and arms down with before he sheaths his sword. He throws it into a basket, then opens the door, leading the way. "A dagger. He has a sword and staff as well, but prefers to use a blade just an inch larger than your hand. Can you imagine defending yourself in the forest with something so small?"

Aldan walks beside Holt. "I've had to use only a dagger to defend myself. In the right hands, a dagger can beat a sword. I'm not surprised though. Given his love of music and art, a smaller weapon, easier to use makes sense."

As they walk out of the labyrinth of rooms Holt changes discussion to something more serious. "Aldan... What was your first battle like? How old were you when you first went? I'm only thirteen and feel as if I might be going into battle by the end of the year."

Aldan is startled at Holt's admission. "Really? The end of the year? Against whom?"

He looks surprised and confused. "Do you not know of what's going on in the forests right now? How the people of Cruiburg have begun slaughtering more than sixty villages in the past few years? Thousands of non-humans have died. It's why I've been put to train others on combat in the forest, tracking, and other important survival tactics. The king had been holding off on it for the past year, but it's obvious that he's preparing for it, especially since Prince Asher had convinced him of this wars importance."

Aldan frowns. "I've heard rumors, of course. I didn't realize that war was so close." He slaps his hand against his thigh. "Dammit. It make sense. They've always been a brutal people, especially to anyone who wasn't human." He looks at Holt "But you're not in the King's army. I've never seen you in uniform."

"I'll have to fight so that I can protect my people and Aizen's as well. They were able to withstand their first attacks, but who knows how long it will be until they come back with more men." Holt leads him downstairs, back to the hallway, and to the apartment room, which is still empty. "More absinthe?"

Aldan holds his hands up and shakes his head. "I still have to get home tonight. If you have any wine, that would suit me better." His face grows serious. "If you're set on fighting, it's a good thing we're talking. I'd like to teach you as much as we can before war erupts. I may have to go with you. I'll have to wait and see what troops are called to muster. Anything I can do to help, name it."

Holt sighs. "No wine. Sorry. I'd appreciate anything you can teach me. In the meantime, I guess we should wait for the two of them to come back to us..."

 

As Holt and Aldan went to spar and get to know one another better, the two young demons left upstairs for the baths. They speedily head through the maze of hallways and rooms until they reach the enormous dimly lit bath house. It's almost completely vacant as of now; an older couple has taken one of the baths nearby the door. Lev points to one of the far opposite side and strips off his clothes quickly, settling himself inside of the warm black water that smells like chai spices and vanilla soap. He swims over to one side, sitting down in the Jacuzzi-like bathtub and relaxes his muscles. "I've missed taking baths here. The one at Aldan's house is just too small and the room is so awkward. Maybe I'm just a bit homesick?"

Aizen climbs into the baths and settles in to the warm, relaxing waters. He sits near Lev, leaning back against the edge of their tub, his legs stretched out in front of him. "Why do you take baths at Aldan's?"

"Because I like doing it with Bryan, now that he's my boyfriend and all." He blushes, his tail sticking straight up out of the water before settling back down.

Aizen is absent minded, tapping out the beat of one of his new compositions on the surface of the water. He looks over at Lev, smiling broadly and slides closer, loosely grabbing his friend's arm "Boyfriend? Really? Tell me everything! Everything." He looks around, frowning after a moment. "Didn't you have a bottle of absinthe for us?"

"I left it downstairs. Uhm... Well, you met him yesterday. He's a cutie, a younger version of his father. He has a horse that he calls Whirlwind, which looks like the ones you have from where you're from. He's a year younger than you, but his dick is an inch bigger than yours." He sticks out his tongue.

Aizen wrinkles his nose and sticks his tongue out. "Why are you measuring my dick?" He laughs. "He's cute, I agree. You've seen his dick? You've bathed together? Or more?"

"You're the one that yelled out "Suck my three incher!" when Aldan and I walked in your room that one day." He nudges him on the shoulders, then descends to the bottom of the water, rising up to start rubbing the soap into his skin. "Of course I've seen his dick if we've bathed together. We've had sex too."

Aizen's eyes go wide with surprise. He dips beneath the water, rising and wiping his hair from his face. Reaching behind him, he takes a sponge and soap and begins washing. "Sex? Really? He's so young. Even as a human he's young, no?"

"Is he? I don't know. Aren't there plenty of older people that marry people our age? It's not like he's stupid or anything. He's probably smarter than me!" He reaches for the silver bowl next to the bath, grabbing his own sponge.

Aizen shrugs as he reaches one arm straight into the air. He washes his arm. "Lev, smell my armpit and let me know if I need to wash it." He says with a serious face.

Lev doesn't need to move in order to smell him with his half-wolf senses. "You're a dork. You won't get body odor for a long time to come." He stands up on the ledge with the water to his knees, scrubbing away at his lower legs, genitals, and ass, before falling right back into the bath and swimming over to the side by Aizen.

"I know. I just wanted to see if I could get you to smell my pit." He sticks his tongue out, "I forget some times that you're part wolf. Well, Holt and I are both young and we're married. Not officially, but we made our own ritual. We'll die if we betray each other. I don't know about humans, though. They don't really think things through sometimes. If Aldan finds out about you two, he might get angry, and we need his help. Have you and Ryan? Sean? What's his name again? Have you used the "L" word?"

"The L world?" He looks confused. "His name is Bryan. You don't have to worry about his Dad because..." Lev gets really up close to him and whispers, "He did it with the two of us." He then swims back over to the bowl, grabbing a bar of soap as he begins to clean his tail. "But I don't think I want to do that again. I just want it to be him and I. Maybe we can do the ritual too some day, but I feel like I should wait a few months or a year first."

Aizen's jaw falls open. He stares at Lev for a moment, two moments, three moments. He blinks and shakes his head. "All three of you together??? How was it? Wait. It must have been bad if you don't want to do it again. How did that happen?" He stands in the water, lightly scrubbing his stomach and chest, as well as his privates.

"It wasn't bad. If anything, it was great! At first, I just wanted Aldan to show us how to do it in the butt." He giggles at himself immaturely. "Of course, things got out of hand. I don't want to do it again because I only want Bryan, nobody else, just like how you only want to be with Holt, you know?" He puts his bar of soap back into the bowl, relaxing in the bath up to the tip of his shoulders. "I still think it's wild that you and Holt were able to commit to the marriage ritual so quickly. I think it was the same for Aldan and his husband... They just felt destined for each other. If I'm unsure and want to take things slow, does that mean my love isn't pure or destined?"

Aizen dunks himself again, rinsing himself. He surfaces and swim, floats next to Lev. He crosses his legs and sighs, "I love Holt. More than anything. And when we have sex or make love or fuck, it's incredible. But there are times that I fantasize. I think that's normal? Even if we did find someone we both liked, I don't know what we'd do. It's fun to think about sometimes." He reaches over, laying a hand on Lev's shoulder. "Love is weird sometimes. When I first sensed Holt, first smelled him and sensed his spirit, it was as if I was discovering something that I'd lost so long ago that I'd forgotten about it. He was so familiar, so comfortable. The ritual seemed so obviously the thing to do. He felt it too." He pauses and purses his lips. The tip of his tail sways. "Just because it's a little different for you and Bryan doesn't mean that you're less meant to be together. It doesn't make your love not pure. It just means your path is different. Lev, you also have the shadow to worry about. Maybe that's why you can't commit right away like we could. It would make sense."

"Yeah..." He nods with a frown. "I mean, what if I do something bad like everyone says I'm going to do? For the longest time, everyone said that I was going to go on a rampage murdering people and now I've been told that I'll not only destroy the entire kingdom, but the world! So I'm scared of myself and also of hurting him."

Aizen looks at Lev, sadness for his friend in his eyes. He leans over and hugs Lev. "I'm not scared of you, Lev. We'll figure it out. The shadow is worried that we will, so it might try to trick you somehow into doing something. Just remember your heart, remember how it feels to love your Bryan." He smiles at Lev. "I'm performing in a concert tomorrow evening. I want you and Bryan to be there. Promise me you'll come. I think that as long as you keep Bryan and love in your heart, the shadow can't make you do the things everyone worries about. But!" He dances his fingers over Lev's arm as he talks. "There's nothing wrong with taking things slowly. Some songs have a quick beat." He taps out a rapid rhythm on the surface of the bathwater. "Some are more slow." He taps out a slow rhythm. "But every song is beautiful when played in it's own time."

Lev's frown transforms into a pleasant smile, showing how proud he is to have such a supporting friend in a community that is mostly scared of him. "Thanks, Aizen. I promise that we will make it."

He exhales, relaxing in the bath with his eyes closed until a woman enters the room, fully dressed in a robe. Her hair is crimson red and she's most likely around Aldan's age. The woman kneels down on her feet beside the bathtub and speaks. "Hello boys. I'm sure that you've already heard about Rath's passing?"

Lev nods. "Yeah. We heard. You're supposed to become the new high Lord, right?"

She stands up, walking over to grab them two towels and put them by the silver bowl. "It has already been done. If you'd like to give offerings to him, you would need to do so tonight because we are taking him out to be buried tomorrow. The shop will be closed for the next few days until we have things situated around here."

The redheaded woman looks to the blonde-haired demon. O"h, Aizen? I almost forgot to mention that I've mentioned just about everyone tonight about your concert tomorrow. We're all very proud of how far you've come just in the short time span of living here." She bows, then exits at her own leisure.

Aizen looks at Lev. He swallows hard. "Did she say everyone? How many people do you think that is?"

"I don't know. Aren't there around two hundred demons in our kingdom? It looks like you're going to be sold out and make tons of money!" He jumps out in excitement and starts wiping himself down with a towel.

Aizen climbs out of the tub and begins drying himself. "Two hundred? I was expecting twenty people, maybe thirty. You, Byran, Aldan, Holt. Some of the parents from school." He sighs. "No pressure, Aizen. I guess I should practice more tonight. Will you stay for dinner with us?"

Lev shakes his head, grabbing his robe with one hand as he wraps the towel around his waist. No. Sorry. I'm going back to Aldan's home to sleep with Bryan and then I have to go to school tomorrow. Are you going to be wearing those fancy human clothes at the concert?

Aizen dons his robe. "I don't think so. I have something nice that I made. I'll wear that, I think. You should talk to your Bryan. About anything that bothers you. That's what Holt and I do." He smiles. "It's lucky that neither have to sleep more than a few hours a week."

The two demon boys walk out of the hallways of mazes, which are uncommonly filled with many people who have come to give ritual offerings for the previous high lord that is now deceased. They make their way downstairs and Lev stops at his Grandparents door, tugging on Aizen's arm gently. "I have to grab my tea. Wait here for just a moment."

He smirks. "But I'm just a few doors down from you?!?"

Lev rolls his eyes, rushing in and out of his and his Grandparents apartment in a matter of a few minutes, emerging back out in the hallway in a clean kimono robe, which is pure black, matching his hair and fur, his wolf ears, and tail. "Okay. I'm good!"

The two of them burst back into the apartment at the very end of the hallway and find Holt and Aldan sitting beside each other by all of Aizen's instruments. They've already pounded their way through most of the bottle and are laughing at each others drunken, horrible jokes. Aizen rubs his temple, trying to comprehend how they got through so much of the alcohol that fast. "Oh my... Now I have to take care of this drunken elf all night. He's going to be dizzy and seeing different colors even in the morning."

Holt and Aldan notice the two demon-boys. They put their glasses down, Holt adopting his 'innocent face' that Aizen knows well. Aldan seems in a little better shape, being heavier and more experienced as a drinker. Holt stands and points at Aizen. "That one is mine!" He walks unsteadily to his demon. "You are clean? I hope. Becaushe I am going to do thingsh to you that will make us both shcream." He leans in to kiss Aizen, smelling of sweat and absinthe.

Aldan diverts his eyes and stands, holding his chair for a moment. He nods. And carefully moves toward the door. "I should wait a few minutes and drink some coffee, but I don't think....um, Holt! Yeah, Holt wants to wait for that."

Aizen pushes him away for a second. "Get off of me, silly. No sloppy kisses in front of everyone else." He takes him to the bed, tongue kissing him a bit more naturally, feeling under his shirt and armor as he makes out with him. "That's better. Now you can do all of those things you want to do to me." He looks to Lev and Aldan. Lev's mouth is dropped in awe and he tugs on Aldan's belt, trying to drag the much larger and stronger man. "Come on. Let's go before they start going at it in front of us again!"

Aldan looks down. "Uh, don't grab me there. Unless you want to...I mean, I'm a little drunk..." He shakes his head, grabbing his sword and strapping it on. He looks back to Aizen and Holt. "They are. . . .beautiful, aren't they? We should go before. . . .yeah. . ."

"Don't worry. They're always going at it. You'll catch them some other time." Lev leaves the apartment, guiding Aldan back upstairs, through the closed shop, and out to the streets. "Are you going to know your way back home or do I need to help you this time?"

Aldan looks at Lev. "I thought you were staying over with Bryan?" He reaches out unsteadily and holds Lev's face with one hand. "He really needs you, you know. After Drew..." He looks at Lev and his eyes blur and lose focus. "Drew..." He stands silently for a moment and his eyes meet Lev's. "I have to save you. I don't know how yet. But I will, Lev. I will." He struggles, obviously wrestling in his own mind. He runs a finger along Lev's jaw.

Lev looks at him awkwardly, confused. "Of course I'm coming back with you. I'd just be a little lost on my own is all." He turns his head and continues walking his path, whistling to himself every now and then.

They walk, Aldan somewhat slower than usual. They're approaching the halfway point when he stops. "I have to know...what is Lev short for? Or is it just Lev, Lev?" He looks up, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. "I don't mean is it short for Lev, Lev. Lev-Lev would be a strange name, even for a demon. I meant Lev, COMMA, Lev. See?"

"It's just Lev. Is it weird?" He walks backwards in circles around him, quite noticeably sober and much more awake than him.

"It's unushual. But you're unushual, too. Unique." He watches Lev and smiles. "Why do I alwaysh love the elf and demon boysh? Ish that weird? It feelsh weird."

"It's not weird at all. I think the alcohol suddenly getting to you. That's what our absinthe does. You think it's just normal absinthe, but it works its spell." He winks.

"No. I loved you all before the abshinth." He's suddenly serious. "It'sh like without Drew, I have all thish love and he'sh gone so I don't know what to do. I know I'll shee him again. He beckonsh Lev closer I liked fucking you and Bryan. It wash almosht ash good ash being with Drew." He whispers. "I have to shave you. Bryan shouldn't feel the way I do."

Lev is uncomfortable now, especially having him talk about him like this in public. There's not many people out and about nor would they be listening, but he can't help being somewhat bothered. "Aldan... I don't think I want to do what we did ever again. It felt great and I loved it, but I want to be only with Bryan. I don't want to hurt you, but it's just the conclusion that I've come to."

Aldan nods. "I undershtand. No, no. I do. It'sh okay." He looks stricken. "It'sh good, you know. You know why? Becaushe it meansh you really love him and that makesh me happy. I'm a big boy, Lev. I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me. I'll be fine."

The two of them are quiet for the rest of the walk home, but Lev feels a little bit better now that he was able to get that off of his chest and leave it on good terms. They enter the pitch black house as quiet as mice. Lev forms a flame with his hand, leading Aldan to the door of his room. "I'll see you tomorrow morning. Are you going to start working tomorrow at the school or just get to know everyone?"

"I don't know yet. "He yawns "I'll wait to shee how I feel."

"Okay. I'll see you either way. Good night." He hugs him before he heads up the stairs and makes his way into Bryan's bedroom. The boy is asleep, hugging one of his pillows too. Lev smiles and thinks about waking up for a moment. He looks out the window towards the moon, then to where Whirlwind is, and back to his boyfriend. The brother will be home sometime tomorrow, whom he's excited to meet, but also equally nervous as well. He strips off his robe, propping it on a chair by Mikey's writing desk, then notices a stack of papers that weren't there before. Lev spreads them out on the table and reads through them rapidly. They're signatures. Maybe two hundred of them. Some of them even have text and letters in there with them. He stacks them back into place, walks back to the bed, and tucks himself in, thinking about what he just saw. They're signatures for a petition against the current law that's in favor of child executions. Bryan and his brother have probably been gathering these ever since Drew was executed. Lev remembers what Aldan said about how losing Drew had been hard on his son. The wolf-demon moves up closer, spooning him and holding him close, kissing his shoulders and neck before he pretends to fall asleep. By the time morning comes he's already downstairs and continues his cooking listens with the mother and sister. Afterwards, he makes coffee for them all, sets up the table, and waits patiently for breakfast to begin.

Aldan quietly moves into the sitting room. The embers of the fire still glow slightly. He pokes them, blows air on them to relight them, tossing a few sticks of kindling and a medium log on the revived fire. He pulls his chair closer. His tea from earlier still sits on the table. He takes a swallow. Cold tea. He's had worse. Pulling off his boots and jacket, he dumps them on the floor along with his sword. He watches the flames dance, stretching his feet closer to the heat. He stares at the fire, thinking of Drew. Everyone he loves, he can't have. His sorrow deepens as he remembers the words of his training sergeant all those years ago. "Soldiers do not cry. Soldiers do not cry." Whispering to the night, Aldan reminds the night. 'I'm not a soldier any more.' He holds his face in his hands and cries.

 

The next morning, he wakes to Lev's rummaging in the kitchen. He goes to the back door, to the well, drawing a bucket full of water and dumping it over his head. He shakes it back and forth before returning to the kitchen. "I really need coffee, Lev."

"Done and done." He hands him the warm cup of coffee, smiling at him brightly. "I think it's the best I've made all month! Have at it! Man... When is Bryan going to be up? I don't want to wake him out of his beauty sleep."

Aldan takes a long drink. "Mmmm. That's very good. Thank you. I have to clean up, but if you let him, Bryan will sleep until noon. Go ahead and wake him up." Aldan heads upstairs with his coffee.

Lev sighs, walking back over the girls. "All of this work done and they can't even respect us! Oh, and I almost forgot to ask! When is the other son coming home? I forgot his name..."

Aldan calls from the base of the stairs, "Milliken. Did you want me to wake Bryan?"

"Yeah! Go ahead!" He yells. He helps set the food on the table, getting a big piece of raw liver for breakfast.

Five minutes later, the sound of pounding feet echoes from upstairs. It's easy for Lev's sensitive hearing to follow the progress. Bedroom. Hallway. Stairs. Bryan tears around the corner, pausing just long enough to see his wolf-boyfriend. He charges into Lev, grabbing him in a huge bear-hug, toppling the two of them onto the floor. Bryan begins kissing Lev's face. "I missed you last night! Missed you, missed you, missed you. You should have woke me up!" He kisses Lev hard on the lips, slipping his tongue into Lev's mouth.

Sally quietly asks her mother, "Are they getting married?"

Kate shakes her head. "I have no idea anymore, dear. Keep stirring."

Bryan suddenly pulls away from Lev. He spits on the floor, sticking his tongue out and wipe his sleeve along its length. Seeing Lev's face, he gawks, "Raw liver????"

"It's super healthy for you!" Lev moves his seat closer to Bryan's before he sets down so that he can let his tail lay in his boyfriends lap. "You don't have to watch me eat it. I know it's weird to humans." He puts his coffee cup in between their plates. "You can drink from my cup, you know." He kisses him on the lips once, bumping shoulders with him. "I didn't want to wake you up. It just seemed like the wrong thing to do if you're going to school today. Plus, I need you to be wide awake for tonight."

Bryan's eye go wide and he his mouth drops open. He begins to blush. I... I... uh. . .Lev.. ..uh."

Katey plops two fresh biscuits on Bryan's plate, along with two plump sausages, two fried eggs. Sally follows with a heavy skillet ladles gravy over the biscuits. She looks at Lev. "Do you want gravy or anything, Mr. Lev?"

"Not like that, Bry!" Lev elbows him. "I'm fine ma'am. Actually, my friend Aizen will be playing live at the concert house tonight for his school. You're all invited to come along. It's only three silver coins for entry! He's a genius musician, only eleven years old, and learns instruments the second he touches them! You have to come tonight. It would mean the world to him."

"Oooohhh!" Bryan blushes more I knew that. He rips into his breakfast, cutting the sausage and combining it with egg, biscuit, and gravy in one huge bite. Gravy dribbles on his chin. As he chews, his mother puts a glass of milk in front of him.

"You have the table manners of drunken monkey, Bryan." She sighs. "Are you sure there's more you'd like Lev? I have a sausage or two that are still raw."

Bryan laughs, covering his mouth with one hand. He leans over to Lev. "I have one, too." Lev feels biscuit pieces against his cheek.

Lev uses to his tail to go through his boyfriends pants, under his garments, and tickles around his genitals as he speaks freely. "I'd love some raw sausage." He licks his fingers clean after devouring the piece of liver, drinking from his coffee cup to clear his palette, then plays footsie next to Bryan as his tail exits out of his pants.

Bryan smiles and continues eating. Happiness and horniness radiant from him like he's a little sun.

Aldan fairly trudges into the kitchen, his coffee cup empty. He looks better, freshly shaved, and changed into clean clothes. He smiles at everyone and Sally runs to him and he grabs her in a hug. "How's my best little girl today?" Looking at Kate. "And my best big girl?"

Lev finishes his plate quickly, reaching under the table with his right hand as he slips it into Bryan's pants, tugging on his hard pecker as his boyfriend eats. "Today is the start of a new life, huh Aldan?" He continues to rub at it until everyone has sat down at the table.

The family exchanges small talk until Aizen's concert comes up. 'Is there an occasion? A holiday for your people, Lev?"

Lev shakes his head. "No, no. We don't have a holiday for another month. He's just doing it because he has to for school. Well, it's what he wants to do with his life..." He stands up, stretching out his back, then takes his plate to the sink and cleans it. Afterwards, he stands beside Bryan and waits for him to finish his food. "We're going to be late for school soon! That's what happens when you drink a bottle of absinthe in less than an hour, Aldan."

Aldan gets a look on his face. Almost panic. As quickly as it appears, it's gone. "Um, Holt drank his share. I didn't drink the whole bottle."

Kate looks at him, arching her left eyebrow. "So, that's why you were out all night."

"I slept downstairs all night. I didn't want to wake you. I had a few drink with Holt, the elf husband of Aizen."

She shakes her head. "Men."

Aldan breathes a sigh of relief and looks at Lev.

Bryan Devours the rest of his breakfast, rushing upstairs to grab his books and chalk tablet. As he's thumping about upstairs, Aldan finishes his coffee and moves into the sitting room. He's dressed in normal clothes, no uniform and tugs at his collar and rolls his shoulders every few moments. Grabbing his sword, he stares at it for a long time. As Bryan begins jumping down the stairs, Aldan tightens his sword belt and sighs comfortably. He looks at Lev. "It feels strange to be out of uniform. Without the sword is too much. I'll leave it in the office when I'm working with the kids."

The three of them prepare to leave, Bryan kissing his mother, and Aldan kissing Kate and the younger children. Kate gives Bryan and Aldan each a small basket, and Lev a small clay pot sealed with bee's wax. She pats Lev's shoulder gently. "And I didn't forget you."

"Thanks, Katy." Lev blushes and bows to her, before following his boyfriend and Aldan outside to the front of the house. "Your mom is so much nicer than my Grandma."

Aldan and Bryan both nod. Bryan smiles. "She's a great mommy. I'm glad you like her. I don't think she'll mind when we ask her to let you move in."

Aldan whistles. "I don't know about that. We've got your little brother coming. Adding Lev too. You should leave that to me, Bry. We have to see how you and Mikey get along, too." He glances at Lev. "How do you feel about scholars?"

Bryan laughs and elbows Lev. "Scholars who never stop asking questions until you tickle them and make them pee themselves."

"You often forget that I once wrote for the papers." Lev says proudly, sticking his tongue out at his boyfriend.

"Oh?" Bryan narrows his eyes at Lev. "Will you pee yourself if I tickle you enough?" He reaches for Lev's side, trying to tickle his ribs and under his arms.

Aldan grabs Bryan's shoulder and steers him away from Lev. "No pee-tickling before school!" He laughs. "You guys are a hoot."

"Fine, fine..." Lev uses his tail to tickle Bryan's back and under his shirt, holding him in a hug so that he can't be free from it. "What's wrong? What's so funny? You're not gonna pee, are ya?!?" As soon as he feels his boyfriends stiffie getting hard he stops, afraid that he might actually make him pee. They're at the point in they're walk where they have to part. "Oh man. It sucks we have to take opposite ways. Aldan and I might have to run anyway. He doesn't want to be late for his first day at the new job!" Lev pecks Bryan on the lips, tickling his side before he finishes it. "I love you. See you after school?"

Bryan leans into Lev's kiss, almost losing his balance as Lev pulls back. He takes Lev's hand for an instant. "Of course, silly. I'll meet you at your school when you get out." He hugs Aldan, receiving a kiss on the cheek. Running down the road, he turns and waves. "I'm gonna make you pee!" He calls out, with several passers-by giving him a strange look as he disappears towards school.

"Man. This is gonna be wild today. You're going to be the new counselor at my school! You do realize everyone there is absolutely crazy like me, right? The only reason we're not in prison is because we got away with an insanity excuse." He smells his clay pot of food, licking his lips as his animal hunger grows. His ears twitch and he turns his head, hearing a fight break out from a third of a mile away, then turns to face Aldan again. "You and Jeremen will get along well, but our two teachers are just normal folks. They've never fought in any wars or anything, so I don't know if you'll like them as well."

Aldan smiles. "You know, I can like someone who's not a stone-cold killer! I'm a man of many talents and mysteries." He looks seriously at Lev. "Is there anything I need to know? About the other teachers or any of the kids? I know Jeremen will brief me, but you probably know a lot that he doesn't."

He holds the clay pot with one hand as he pauses to think. "Hmm... I'd say to go easy on us and don't talk down on us like we're kids even if we are, because the only thing we need from you is to feel like we're actually being heard. That's my best advice."

"That makes sense. I found that with our inmates, too. At the end, many of them just wanted someone to listen and treat them like sentient beings, not monsters." He looks down. "Even if they'd done monstrous things."

They walk quietly through the crowded streets until they reach the school. Lev looks at his feet before he enters, which are a bit dirty. One of the teachers has left a bucket with a lid over it along with a cloth outside of the school by the front door for him, which he uses to clean his feet before he enters. All of the other kids are already present, and the two teachers are almost prepared to begin classes. Lev puts his food away in a tub, ushers Aldan into the small school, and takes place at his seat.

One of the teachers, a young woman with very short brown hair notices him and holds out her hand. "You must be Aldan. We saw you yesterday but didn't know that you would be our new school counselor. We wish you luck. Right kids?" They all respond with a 'right' or 'yes ma'am', some of them enthusiastic while others couldn't care less.

Aldan looks around the room. Spying the boy with green hair, he thinks of Dakota. Was that just yesterday? He nods and awkwardly waves. "I hope I can help."

The other teacher, a young man in his early twenties, quite short and skinny, runs over to Aldan and the female teacher and greets him with excitement. "My name is Jack. I was once a student here. We feel so fortunate to have a new member to our family. I hope you enjoy being with us and that we get to know one another better as time goes on."

Principal Jeremen comes out of his office, slaps one hand over Aldan's shoulder, and walks him to his office after greeting him. "Your room is much like his, except there aren't any books or artwork anywhere inside." He shows Aldan the furniture in the room, pulls out the drawers of the desk, points at the case files for each student that are now his to keep. "So this is where you'll be working. Like I said, you'll speak with every student for about thirty minutes every day. All of their information is in the files, but I wouldn't go straight by that. It's best to get to know them first before you make any judgements on their characters. Some of these students have done some atrociously disgusting things, but it's not because they themselves are evil. No, quite the contrary. They were just on the wrong foot path and guided wrongly with no nourishment. We've had one hundred and twenty graduates come out of our school. It's a small school, so you can't expect much either way. Unfortunately, thirty-six of them didn't complete the program and repeated their past behaviors, committing even more serious crimes that lead them to the rope or block. That is the greatest tragedy of all, but I'm speaking to the choir, huh?" He laughs to diminish the seriousness of the conversation, patting him on the shoulder as he gets Aldan to touch the fine leather of his seat. "Pretty good office, huh? You can bring whatever you want in here. Take your time and just get yourself situated. Read over the files. Tomorrow the real work will begin. Any questions?"

"Am I permitted to observe classes? In the prison, we'd sometimes take a prisoner who had showed remorse and contrition, and we'd make him a trustee. They'd have more privileges, a little more freedom." Aldan is still examining his office. "I was wondering if something like that would work here?"

Jeremen walks over to the window and looks out as he answers. "Yes, you're allowed to observe classes. Do whatever you please. You will be having lunch with the students and teachers as well."

"Thank you, Principal Jeremen. I'll do my best to justify your confidence and to help the students. To help "our" students."

"Good. Good. I'll let you be then. Take as long as you like and feel free to leave or come back whenever you want. You may even start today if you feel as if you can do so." He pulls out a cigar from a sleeve pocket, placing it on the desk. "A gift. Come by my office anytime you want." The principal leaves the office elegantly, leaving the door open as well.

Aldan takes the cigar and smells it. It's a good smoke and he sets it in his desk draw for later. He looks out of his window, learning his view, opening the window for some fresh air. Sighing, he sits at his desk and looks through the files looking for a last name that matches Dakota's. He's nervous and excited.

He finds the green haired boys file, noted as Jay Codoc, eleven years old, admitted to the school half a year ago after running away from home for the third time and hiding out in the forest. He's been noted to have suicidal tendencies through the act of self-mutilating himself. Also says on his report that he was sexually abused by his Grandfather when he was seven, who was executed by hanging after being found guilty. There are follow up reports on many sessions, all of them showing that he has made no progress at all.

Aldan leans back in his chair. He taps a finger on his desk. "His grandfather. Dakota, did he do that to you, too? Is that part of your story?" He looks through his desk, searching for ink, quill, and paper.

Aldan stands and exits his office. He heads for one of the classrooms. Leaning against the door frame he watches the teacher and students, trying to learn what he can as they study and teach and talk. He makes mental notes on anything unique or distinguishing for the students.

All of the students seem pretty engaged into what they're learning. That is, except Lev, who's tail sways from side to side in boredom. They're reading a history book, which he has closed and rests an arm on. The teachers call on students to read from time to time and speak loudly and cheerfully. Even Jay seems surprisingly relaxed as he reads from his textbook. Some of the students notice Aldan, but none of them stare for too long. For a moment Aldan is surprised that any of these students would be considered deviant and having committed crimes.

Aldan listens to the history lesson, curious about they'll teach about the battles and wars he's been a part of. Quietly, he moves to the other classroom and observes. The room is small, only three students in it at the moment. All of the desks have been moved out of the way and the female teacher is sitting with them in a circle as they meditate in silence together. She notices him watching but pretends he's not there as she guides them with breathing exercises.

Aldan does his best to quietly move back to his office. He takes Lev's file and sets it in front of him. He doesn't open it. Instead, he moves it to one side and takes the top file from the stack and begins reading through. He examines each file in order, keeping Lev's off to the side, until lunch.

At lunch, the once quiet school transforms into a explosion of loud conversations and gossip. All of the students gather into the main classroom, splitting into their typical three groups as they eat together. The teachers sit together as well, having their small talk and such. Lev sits with the green haired boy and a girl as he did the day before. Eventually, the principal stops by Aldan's office, knocking on the open door and asks if he wants to join the teachers for lunch. Aldan grabs his basket and follows Jeremen.

Jeremen leads Aldan to a wide desk that the teachers sit at. The girl speaks first. "I noticed you peaking in on our meditation session today. We do that once a week. We think it reinforces our students to learn how to better calm themselves by shutting off the worries in their mind and just focusing on the now. I never formally introduced myself, did I? My name is Raven."

Aldan nods as he sits. "Good to meet you both. I served with a fella who meditated every morning and evening. What else do you teach, Mrs. Raven?"

Raven finishes her food, putting it off to the side before she answers. "I do mathematics. Jack does history and literature. We try to spice up the stuff we teach if we can and ask students what they want to learn."

Jack puts down a turkey leg before he asks, "Have you ever had any experience as a counselor? You don't look like a teacher. Look more like you just fought in a war to me!" He laughs at his own joke and Raven hits him on the shoulder.

Aldan unpacks his lunch and eats. Fried chicken, biscuits, cooked carrots, and a pecan-honey hand-cake. He tucks into the chicken, enjoying his wife's cooking. "Well, Jack, until yesterday I was a guard at the prison." He points with a chicken leg towards the prison. "I've been regular army since I was a teenager. I've fought in most of the wars and rebellions of the last twenty years." he looks at Jack. "When you get to recent history, I'd be happy to offer some perspective."

Jack finishes his chicken leg, licking his fingers clean as he speaks with a full mouth. "Well, there's a lot of scholars out there that read books and think they know how to help people just from that, but then there's people like you who might have it all figured out by experience. I'm guessing that's the case for you."

Aldan shrugs, "Depends on what you're talking about. War and fighting? I have training and experience. Dealing with convicts? More experience than training. Dealing with condemned? That's all experience and what I've taught myself. "

"Well, I wish you good luck."

Raven hits him on the shoulder again, reminder him that he already said that. Eventually lunch comes to an end and the students prepare for their next classes. Raven asks, "You want me to give a formal introduction to the students and let them know who you are? Make sure you're loud when you want their attention at first or else you'll never get them to listen to a word you say."

Aldan nods. "I think that's a good idea. I'm not sure what to say. I don't want to scare them."

"Well, too bad." She slaps him on the back as she walks up in front of the class. All of the students immediately look up at her. "Everyone! We have a new member in our family! Please give a warm welcome to the new school counselor, Aldan!" Everyone is still too busy pulling out their books to really hear or pay attention. Jack walks up beside her, crossing his arms, waiting for the students to pay attention.

Aldan leans over to Raven, whispering. "I could use my sword to get their attention, but I don't want to traumatize them?"

Raven quickly puts her hand over her mouth, whispering back in a harsher tone. "No, don't do that! Just yell something like 'hey'."

Aldan nods. He takes a step forward. He takes a deep breath. "GOOD AFTERNOON, STUDENTS!" He shouts with the voice of a 20-year veteran, projecting his voice to the furthest corners of the classroom. "MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!"

All of the students immediately shut up, almost shitting themselves in surprise. One of the kids responds, "You have our attention!" A few others laugh in response.

Aldan relaxes, returning a more normal, father of four voice. "My name is Aldan and I'm the new. . .your new counselor. I'm here to help each of you as best I can. You're welcome to my office anytime." He looks around. "If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer while we have a few minutes."

Nobody raises up their hands or responds. Instead, the kids speak to each other in whispers. One the kids blurts out. "So we can see you whenever we want? Do we have to see you every day like our last counselor?"

Aldan tries to identify who spoke. He tries make eye contact. "Whenever you want, but I'll meet with each of you once a week. Every day would be too much. I don't even like me that much!" He grins at his own joke.

Raven walks over to Aldan and hushes down the class. "Alright, alright. Now let's give Aldan a round of applause and then we'll be onto our ancient history studies." Two of the kids groan and complain while the others clap. She smiles and licks her lips as he walks away. It's obvious that she has a crush on him.

Aldan pauses at the doorway. "I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Thank you, Mrs. Raven for letting me interrupt your lesson." He smiles and waves. He pops into the principal's office. "Excuse me, Jeremen, but do you happen to have ink, pen, and paper? I couldn't find any in my office."

Jeremen steps out of his chair, looking around his table for a moment. "Sure. Everything alright?" He walks over to him and hands him a handful of pens, a closed container of black ink, and a stack of thick papers.

"Everything's fine. If every day is like today, this will be the easiest job that I've ever had." He smiles again, taking the supplies. "I just want to make a list of ideas for the children, working with them. As well as a reminder of things to bring from home."

"Alright. Well, I'll let you be." He shuts his door as Aldan leaves. One of the students is already bugging a teacher about seeing him. Raven gives the go ahead and he follows along as Aldan walks to his office. The boy is chubby, short bright red hair, and wears glasses. He asks even before Aldan notices him following behind. "Uh, Aldan? Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Certainly." He leads the boy into his office. "You can shut the door if you'd like, then take a seat and tell me your name." Aldan sits and once the boy tells him his name, he looks for the lad's file.

The boys name is Youenn Aubert, aged 14, placed into the school for repeatedly robbing from street vendors and for possessing starshatter after he was arrested. He lives with his mother as an only child. His report reads that he's made some progress but has had two incidents of relapse in the past. No history of abuse.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Aubert?"

The redhead slumps down in his seat, twiddling his fingers as he looks around the room. "Uh... I don't know. I guess I just feel down in the dumps, ya' know?"

Aldan nods. "I think so. Is everything okay at home?"

He nods. "Yeah... We're pretty well off since my mother is a white mage." My Dad died when I was really young in the last war, so I never really knew him.

"That must be hard. Just the two of you. Your mom probably has a hard time understanding how it is, being a boy and all."

He sighs. "I guess the reason I wanted to talk is because I want to go back and use. I'm always thinking about it and if I get caught again, I'll have five years in the prison says the judge. What does it matter to him? I'm only harming myself."

"Yeah." Aldan nods sympathetically. "Well, and your mom, too. Your friends maybe. But if you want to spend your allowance on that, why should the judge care?"

"I know, right?" He pouts, locking his arms. "If I don't use starshatter for three months, then I can get out of this school and my charges and dropped, but what does it matter if I'm going to go back and get high anyway?"

"If you can go three months without it, why go back and use again? Would you like it more in another school?"

"I can't decide. This place is pretty cool and all." Youenn sits up a bit straighter. "Then when I leave here and go back to my old school, I'll lose all of the friends and support I made here. It all seems so pointless."

Aldan looks confused, "Why not just stay here and finish school with us?"

"I don't know. You think you can ask Jeremen if I can?"

Aldan blinks and nods, "Sure. Do you think that would help you stay away from the starshatter?"

"Maybe." Youenn bites his lip, nervous. "Well, thanks for speaking to me. I think I'll get going back to class."

"Youenn..." Aldan says as the boy starts to leave. "Even if you can't stay here, you can still come and talk to me. I'll make time, okay?"

Youeen nods with a grateful smile. "Okay. Thanks, Aldan! It's good to meet you." He disappears from the doorway view for a moment, then peaks back in for a brief second. "Oh, and welcome to the family." And then he runs back off to his desk.

Aldan sighs. It occurs to him that he had no idea what to say or do. He stands and goes to his window, staring out over the view. "Gods, Drew, help me. I don't have any flippin' idea what I'm doing. It was so much easier when they were in cells and couldn't leave." He sighs and returns to his desk. Taking paper and ink, he makes small selection of carefully written notes and adds them to Youenn's file. Finished with that, he takes the top files and begins reading.

Aldan runs by Lev's file. All of the information in it that you already know is there. Thirteen, half demon, half wolf, both parents deceased, killing them in self-defense. History of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect. Sexually assaulted by six men when he was seven. Violent tendencies and sporadic outbursts. Lives with his Grandparents. Relationship with his people is strained. Placed into the school after attacking two students. If it weren't for his Grandparents pleading for him, he would have been placed into prison for five years. The previous counselor writes that not only has he not made any progress, but his issues have seemed worsen. She writes that he's the highest priority student. It's also written that he speaks a lot about being lonely, afraid of himself, and has a deep hatred for the king.

"Well, we're making progress on the lonely part." He shakes his head. "And none of us are fond of the king these days." Aldan ponders the boy-wolf. "Does he have issues with his temper because of what the shadow does to him? Or is the shadow drawn to him because of his anger? Are they even related." He thinks back to the genocidist. A wound to the chest may drive the shadow forth.

Time passes, but nobody comes by. It seems like all of the students are too busy in their studies or too shy to speak at the moment.

Aldan makes a short list of things to bring from home for his office. He begins trying to come up with some sort of priority system for the students. He starts by reviewing their case files and sorting them into piles. One pile for seriously at-risk students, like Lev. Students that could readily pose a danger to themselves and others. Another pile for students that seem to be recovering and might soon be considered to return to their 'normal' schools. A pile for students who aren't dangerous, but who would be put at risk returning to a normal school.

After an hour of reading and filing, with boredom setting in, Aldan visits the two classrooms. He stands at the door, just watching. He pays some extra attention to Lev and to Jay.

As always, Lev sits in class with his book closed, bored as usual. Jay sits beside him, just barely able to pay attention. He looks like a tired zombie. Raven is walking around the classroom, looking at the student's progress on their science homework.

Aldan chews on the inside of his cheek as he watches Lev and Jay. He tries to imagine what must go through their minds at times like this. Bored with school. Poor kids. Suddenly he stands and heads back to his office. He retrieves Jay's file and goes through it.

Aldan puts Jay's file with Lev's. His top priorities among the students right now. Glancing out the window, he thinks for a moment. The prison runs on a set schedule. Soon, Gerald, the Warden, will taking his afternoon coffee. That would be the best time to make his proposal.

Aldan informs the principal of his plan, and with permission, heads over to his former place of employment. Force of habit almost takes him back the guardroom, his guardroom, but he winds his way through corridors and up stairways until he arrives at the warden's office. He asks the attendant outside for a moment of Gerald's time. Then, with an effort, Aldan relaxes. After all, he's here as an educator, not an underling.

A few minutes pass before the warden exits his office, dressed in his armor and uniform, looking to Aldan with a confused grin. He's a bit old, maybe in his sixties, but very healthy for his age. He pauses before he speaks. "Your commander says that you up and quit yesterday. I thought to myself, 'Aldan? One of my best guards quitting?' It must be true by the way that you dress." He walks over to a table by his office, filling up his cup of coffee as he walks back into his office. It's dark inside, cluttered and small, the polar opposite of what principal Jeremen's office is like. "What seems to be the deal, Aldan? Want your job back? I can make that happen. Need more money? Different shifts? Come. Sit down." He has to squeeze in between his desk and files just to get through to his chair.

Aldan sits down. "That's very good of you, sir. But just can't do it anymore. The kids. I can't. But that doesn't mean I don't want to do my bit. Just that my bit has changed since yesterday."

"Ahh... What is it that upset you so much yesterday?" He leans back in his chair, lighting a cigarette as he stares at you.

"I oversaw a boy yesterday. And he seemed just a boy who'd made some fucked up choices. Sold and used starshatter. Killed another who bought and couldn't pay. But, he wasn't evil." Aldan leans forward I understand the law. "But next was ten-year-old girl. I just can't do it anymore. I have to try and get to them before they're coming here to have their heads lopped off." Aldan pulls his finger across his throat.

"A ten-year-old girl?" He exhales smoke from his nostrils. "There is no such person in the prison fitting that description. Your commander must have been playing with you."

"He picked a poor time for such a joke."

"Yes, he did. What was his name again?"

"Commander Joshua?"

Aldan nods. "Yes, sir." Aldan stands. "It's a good thing I resigned. Otherwise, I'd be looking at arrest for striking an officer...What kind of officer lies to his men about something like that?" He paces, agitated, angry. "Gods damn him for a fool! We're not playing a game down there."

"No, we're not... Sit down, Aldan! You're driving me mad walking around like that. We'll pay Joshua a visit after we're done speaking. Now you said you still want to do your bit. What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry, sir." Aldan sits. "We'll I've landed at the school next door. As a counselor. Someone for the students to talk to, so they don't end up here, hopefully. I was thinking that perhaps a deal could struck where I could come in and talk to some inmates. The younger ones. The children. To try and make their last time easier? Maybe help them reconnect with what was taken from them that made them do whatever ended them up here. Essentially, what I've always done, except I won't be helping kill them at the end."

"I see. Congratulations on the new job then. You know, there's nothing wrong with rethinking what you want to do with your life. We can only be warriors on the battlefield for so long, right? Or else we'd just be like Cruiberg. So you'd like to be a counselor of such for them like they have in the other kingdom..." He spins his chair to the other side, pulling out an application paper and sliding it over to him. Gerald puts out his cigarette, grabbing a pen and a tray of ink as well. "We've always had this job open, but nobody has taken it. You wouldn't be making as much money as you did though."

Aldan nods. "Well, I'm sure we can come some fair agreement on that. I wouldn't expect to make as much, sir. I wouldn't be here ten hours a day, after all. And if it works well, there's always bonuses and perks". His face goes serious. "But what of Joshua, sir? The next most senior man down there after me is Lt. Davyth. He's no fan of Joshua's either and when he finds out that the commander induced me to resign on a lie, you may lose him, too." He shakes his head in disgust. "A man like that doesn't deserve your trust, sir. Pardon me if I'm speaking out of turn."

"Hold your tongue on Joshua for a moment. We'll get to him momentarily." He lights another cigarette, looking over the application again before turning it over to him. "You know, I've heard the rumors around the prison that you found your husband in one of our cells a few months ago. I don't quite understand it completely, but I trust you, Aldan, because you have always been a loyal and honest worker with me. It makes sense now that you would want this job."

"The rumors are true, sir." Aldan contains his sorrow in speaking of Drew, maintaining his mask of professional soldier. "One of the convicts. Drew, the demon lad. We. . .were very happy for a very, very short time. I did my duty with him. As husband and guard. As lov . . ." He catches himself. "Excuse me, sir, as friend and executioner. I see things a little differently, sir. I guess for some men it's growing old that changes them. Or losing a child. Or drink, for the unlucky. For me, it was love."

"I'm sorry for your loss and what you had to go through, regardless of the crimes he committed. Now let's go over this application." He uses the pen to point at different bullets on the paper and goes through them with him. "The job would require that you oversee the wellbeing of anyone held by us under the age of eighteen sentenced to execution. You would give them therapy, make sure their needs are being met, whether it's food or clothes or hygiene, if they are trying to contact their family, etcetera. There are never any more than nine in our prison under the criteria and never any less than three. It should keep you busy. You will not help in the executions like you did before, but it is suggested that you observe the executions for their wellbeing. But this is only a suggestion. You can sign here and here, and I will have you hired now. You can begin working tomorrow. Any questions?"

"Rate of pay, sir? And who do I answer to about the prisoners?"

He flips open to a different page to check. "Thirty silver an hour. You'll answer to the other guards, their commander, or me."

"I know the routines and regulations better than most of the other guards. And the watch commanders, too. If they give me latitude and work with me, I don't think we'll have any troubles, sir." Aldan signs. "But if one of them hurts a prisoner without just cause or tries to start something. . ."

"If one hurts a prisoner, you will come to me and we will take care of the situation appropriately. Now onto Joshua." He lets his cigarette hang from his mouth as he goes through other papers. "Ah hah... He's on duty right now. Row D where the women are held. Let's pay him a visit, shall we?" He stands up, grabbing his sword and attaching it to his waist belt. He can't help but to laugh as he tries to squeeze his way out of the office again.

Aldan stifles his laugh behind his hand. Checking his own sword belt, he falls in behind the warden. It doesn't occur to him at first that he doesn't have to follow two steps behind and one to the left. It's ingrained.

The commander walks in front towards the main center hall, where many of the guards greet and bow to him. They make their way into D hall quickly. Gerald goes through a sleeve pocket for his master keys and walks by each cell carefully, trying to find Joshua. Eventually, they find him with a prisoner. Joshua has his pants down and he's raping a woman. She's naked and there's a puddle of blood coming from her. Joshua hits her and roars, "If you try screaming again I'll have your head on a spike with your mouth around my cock!"

The cell door swings open and the commander stands to the side, letting Aldan walk in. Joshua immediately rolls over, stopping himself as he reaches to pull his pants up. The naked woman back away towards the wall and starts to cry. Gerald looks to Aldan, unsurprised. "You remember asking me what would be done if someone harms a prisoner?"

Aldan's hand is on his sword. His face has gone absolutely calm. Few men have seen him with that look. Gerald was one of them. At the village so long ago. Aldan looks at the woman. "What's her crime?" He asks quietly.

Joshua answers, "She's a killer and a whore! What does it matter what I do to her?"

Gerald yells. "Silence, traitor! My inmates will be treated with dignity and respect regardless of what crimes they commit. Not only have you committed one of the worst crimes in the kingdom, but you have done so in my prison! This is a crime that goes against the warden! GUARDS!" Four guards quickly run to the cell, standing outside. Observe this moment well and tell your fellow colleagues about this. He holds onto his sword, spitting with anger. "By the power invested in me by the king and as warden, I sentence you, Joshua, to death for committing rape against an inmate. Aldan!" He turns to him. "Kill this man for me. Make him suffer. Make it slow."

Joshua wails out, crying, kicking his feet as he puts his pants back on and looks to his sword, which is on the bed. The girl has now balled up in the corner of the cell. "Please, you must understand! She's only a whore! You can't do this!"

Gerald speaks louder. "Aldan? Do you need me to take care of this for you?"

"No, sir." Aldan walks in past Joshua. He grabs his sword from the bed. He pulls the blanket off and drapes it over the woman. "You may not want to watch this." He stands and looks at Joshua. "Then again, you may want to."

Aldan looks at Joshua. "Last words?"

Joshua looks up to him and laughs hysterically. "What's wrong? I didn't know you'd take the joke that bad. Demon loving scum!"

Aldan draws Joshua's sword. "I'm going to kill with your own sword. So that at least once, it will have served an honorable purpose." He stands in front of Joshua. With a quick thrust and flick of his wrist, Aldan removes Joshua's left testicle. It flies across the room, squishing against the cell wall and sliding to the floor. "We're going to remember you, Josh. All the guards. When a guard rapes an inmate because he can't get women at home, we'll call that "A Joshua"." Another thrust and wrist flick and the right testicle is removed. "Whenever a guard shits his pants because he's too sick or drunk, we're going to call that "A Joshua"."

Aldan takes a fencing stance, he feints at Joshua's legs, then shoulders, finally removing his penis. "It looked a little lonely without your balls, so I thought it'd be best to reunite them. Whenever a man can't get it up or please his lover, that's "A Joshua"."

He kneels downs, just out of arms reach. "I forget, Josh. Are you married? Do you have children?"

Joshua is bleeding out to death, sobbing and wailing in pain, unable to speak. Gerald speaks for him. "He has nobody at all. Nobody will miss him. Guards, are you watching?" He looks to them, and they respond with a 'yes sir', standing still in amazement and disgust. "Please, continue Aldan."

"I guess they're lucky they don't exist. They don't have to know they were married to a coward, fathered by a coward." Aldan turns to the woman. "Did he bite you? Punch you? Kick you?"

She pulls down the bedsheet, nodding, still traumatized and afraid. "Yes."

"One of you men, take her to the infirmary. She's been through enough." When the woman is taken away, Aldan drives his fist into Josh face. Three times into his mouth, until Joshua is spitting blood and teeth. "That's for biting."

He takes Josh's right hand and crushes it beneath his boot. Then does the same with the left hand. "That's for striking a prisoner." Pulling his legs straight, he stomps down on Josh's ankles. "That's for kicking a prisoner." He punches Josh two more times, then reaches into his mouth pulling out his tongue. He severs it with a quick stroke. "That's for lying to me. And for talking about my husband."

One of the guards pukes and Gerald grabs him by the shoulder, forcing him to watch on.

Aldan stands and paces the cell. He pauses a few feet back, looking at Josh. "Does it hurt yet? Does it sting just a bit?" He walks back up to Josh and kneels beside him. Grabbing a handful of hair, he yanks Joshua's head back. He leans in close. "Congratulations, Josh. You've earned all of this. Every moment. More, even. But I have to get back to work. But you should be happy. You're the last person I'm going to ever kill in the prison. Unless there's another war, the last stroke I make in anger. Good bye, Josh. I'll forget you by breakfast." Aldan draws the blade slowly, deeply across Josh's throat. He keeps him pointed away from himself or the others so the spray doesn't soil them. And when the spray is only a gurgle and Josh's eyes begin to dim, Aldan stands and goes back to the door. He looks back at Josh's remains, smiling at him. He turns to the warden and other guards, "I'll do worse to any man who abuses a child inmate."

Gerald lights another cigarette, pacing around the cell as he looks at the mess. "Guards! You will clean this room and dispose of his body. Notify any extended family of his of his crimes and that his remains will not be found. Have them burned outside. As you clean his body please take into consideration how serious I am about the wellbeing of my inmates." Gerald exits, following him back down the hallway. "Are you okay, Aldan? I was not expecting to see him doing that when I opened the door. No. What was on my mind was to have him fired in front of you. Come up to my office and I will pay you for what you have just done. Three hundred silvers. Consider it a bonus."

Aldan nods. He briefly considers refusing the money. But with the baby coming. And it might let him do some things for the students. He follows Gerald back to the office. His mind is calm, which unnerves Aldan. He should be feeling something. But he's not. It's as if he just swatted a fly away from Whirlwind's flank.

Gerald goes back to his desk, fetching out a bag of coins, which he throws down in the middle of the table to him. He takes the signed paper, tucking it away in a file, then moves his chair over to the right, going through more folders. "Ah, yes. Before you leave, I'll need to find out who it is you'll be working with. Any information new inmates that fit the criteria will be given to you by me. You said you're working as a counselor at the rehabilitation school, yes? How many do you have there?"

Aldan looks up." Still somewhat detached from himself Sir? I'm not sure exactly. No more than twenty."

"Ahh.. So you'll be quite a busy man then." He makes further small talk as he gathers the files, slapping them against the desk and putting his cigarette out. "Alright. You can take these home with you if you'd like or leave them in your old cabinet." He flips through them, reaching for his stack of cigarettes, which are now empty. "You have six on your caseload here. Five of them are new and one of them has been in for two weeks now. You're free to leave whenever you want now. Make sure you take your money, though, Aldan." He tries to snap Aldan out of it by raising his voice in a more serious tone when he says his name.

Aldan looks up. He blinks a few times. He shakes his head slightly and clears his throat. "Yes. I will, sir." He stands and gathers the files. He tucks the sack of coins in his tunic. He starts to salute, catches himself, and instead extends his hand to the warder. "I won't let you down, Gerald."

"I know you want, Aldan. You're a very, very brave man for taking this job. I think very highly of you. You do know that, yes?" He takes Aldan's hand in a firm handshake, then lets go to walk him out of the office. "Forget about Joshua. Nothing like that will ever happen again in this prison after what you did. My good sir, I'll see you tomorrow, yes?"

"Yes, sir. I'll try to have a plan, or at least an outline for you of how I hope to proceed. Good evening, sir." Aldan leaves, slowly making his way through the halls. He wonders how far the story's gotten already. He exits the prison and takes a few deep breaths outside. Clutching his pendant, he looks at it, before kissing it reverently." I'm sorry, Drew, my love. Forgive me." Clearing his throat, Aldan spits in the street before heading back to the school and office to go over the new files.

Halfway through Aldan's walk to the school the purple stone illuminates before his eyes. It stays lit even after he notices it, the light only fading out a minute later.

Aldan smiles and head in. "You always were a better demon-boy husband than I deserved."