Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2023 03:19:21 -0500 From: Fang Saito Subject: Welcome to Avernus - Chapter 16 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected under copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproduction is allowed without the author's consent. Conversations and feedback are appreciated to Greyson B. via email at hokkaidohotel86it@gmail.com. I love hearing from readers. As always, special thanks to Johnny Kape for the excellent editing assistance he has been providing me. If you enjoy this story, please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. You can also consider buying me a coffee or two if you want to support me as well. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GreysonB. It goes a long way to turning coffee into ink. You can find my other Nifty stories at: https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/cadence/ https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/a-ghost-finds-a-body/ I have begun a mailing list to notify people when a new chapter is posted. If you would like to be added, feel free to write and let me know to add you. Welcome to Avernus Chapter 16 Wren wasted no time when he showed up a bit later. I mean come on. He's hot, and I'm 15 and horny. I'm not exactly going to say no. Still, I know he's feeding, so it kind of taints the whole thing. Would we be together if he wasn't feeding? Right now I'm not sure I care. After all, the second my dick's touched, all the blood flows out of my brain. But once we were drained, laying there in our afterglow, and his skin was now warm, my brain started working again. Now I had to ask my questions. "What's the real thing with you and Dom?" I asked. "Your sister and Garrett both talk like he's a terrible person, and you kind of badmouth him. But for someone you claim not to like, you always seem to be in each other's business." "Hmm," he mused. "I guess it does look that way, from your perspective. Mostly it's more about doing business and favors for the council. They just happen to usually be his favors, when it comes to you." "Then why hasn't Montgomery been doing them?" I asked. "Dom literally said the guy was his right hand, or whatever." "Aww," Wren grinned. "Do you like him better than me?" "Who, Montgomery? I barely know him. The first time, he came off as arrogant, with that `apology committee' crap. But otherwise, I haven't been around him enough to know him." He looked at me a bit more seriously. "What's your real question, babe?" I sighed. "I've just tied myself completely to Dom, and I'm surrounded by people that I don't know if I can trust." "Harsh," he said. "And I'm one of those you don't know if you can trust?" "I mean, I totally want to." Fuck. Was I ruining things here? "I mean, we're doing stuff together. You know I really like you, and I'm practically feeding you whenever you want." "You're getting some pretty good sex out of this yourself," countered Wren. I couldn't tell his mood, exactly, but he sounded annoyed. "But for real, do you have any idea how often a Succubus has to feed?" I shook my head. Of course, I had no clue. "It's no big deal to go five or six months between feedings." "Oh. So why are you feeding so often with me?" "Because it's fun, and you're cute," he said. "I was hoping we kind of had something going between us." "Careful," I said, sitting up. "That's coming pretty close to being manipulative. You can't blame me for questioning things here. If you want to take this shit personally, that's on you." I was starting to get pissed. "I'm drowning in the deep end here. I'm just trying to figure out if I can trust you as much as I want to." Wren blew out his breath, as if he was trying to also blow out his frustration. He rolled over, wrapping his arms around my bare waist. "I get it, babe. Sorry if I was being judgmental. What can I do to help assuage your concerns?" "Assuage?" I repeated with a laugh. "Speak English, bitch." "Fine... bitch." He smiled. "What can I do to `lessen' your concerns? Better?" I leaned in and hugged him. "I wish I knew." We spent some time with me showing him my ideas for the table downstairs. He also asked me if, since it was just going to be me here for a while, why didn't I move into the master bedroom downstairs. I admitted that it would feel awkward, since I already thought of that as "my mom's room". Plus, by my room staying upstairs, it would help sell the idea that I'm not here alone, if we ever needed someone to do an in-home check on me or something. It was nearly nine when Wren got this look, like he'd had an idea. "Grab your coat," he said, and before I could really ask anything, he had grabbed my hand and dragged me from the house. "I want to test something," he said as we were walking down the street. "Whether you trust my motives yet or not, for this moment, I need you to trust me, that I'm not going to hurt you, alright?" I got super nervous, but I nodded my head. He reached out and took my hand again. "Run with me," he said. We started running down the middle of the street, the slap-slap of our sneakers the only sounds I heard in my ears. "Keep hold of my hand and let me guide you," he said as we continued running. "But I want you to close your eyes and do your best to stay with me." I started to object, but he quickly interjected. "I promise, I'll keep you from falling." It went against every instinct I had, but I closed my eyes. I concentrated on keeping my feet moving, on the sound of our feet hitting the pavement, of the pull of his hand. The pull became insistent, as if he was trying to pull his hand away from me, but I gripped him harder, picking up my pace to keep up. I was starting to lose my breath, but it eased up pretty quickly. It felt like we were slowing down. From what sounded a bit far away, I heard Wren say, "Open your eyes, Jason!" I did, and almost stumbled, losing my momentum for a split second. The houses were blurring by. It felt like we were barely running, but it looked like we were driving at interstate speeds! Street signs were whipping by so fast that I could barely tell there was writing on them. We were speeding past houses so quickly that I only got flashes of whether a particular light was coming from a porch light or a lit window. Wren laughed and yelled, "Let go of my hand, and see if you can keep up!" It took all the courage I could muster, but I did it. I let go of his hand. For a second I thought I was going to falter, but I managed to keep going. I gave a cry of delight, somewhere between a shout and a laugh. We ran for several more minutes, ending out by the hotel, but by way of the school, which was in the opposite direction. When we finally stopped, I collapsed to the grass on the side of the road. "Holy shit, that was awesome!" I shouted. Wren smiled down at me. "I think it's safe to say we found out one of your powers. But are you really tired enough that you need to lay down?" He looked at me curiously, seeing my response. I thought about it, really assessing how I felt. Obviously I should be out of breath, catching a stitch in my side, my legs feeling like jelly. I mean, how many miles did we just run? But I didn't feel any of that. I sat up, a sense of wonder flooding through me. "Wow, I guess not," I said. "So what else you got for me?" "Well, we know you have strength in there, but we will have to bring that out of you. Most of it is going to involve tricking your brain to forget what it has learned are your body's restrictions. That's why I needed you to close your eyes, until we could get you up to speed." "But how did you know I'd be able to do that?" I asked. "Speed is a very standard ability, as is strength," he said. "Almost all Vampyre have them, including Assecla." "What about that bit with brushing off mesmir and mental stuff?" "I'm not sure exactly. Maybe one in three?" Then he got a curious look. "But if you can go further than simply seeing through the mesmir, it will be interesting to see if you have any other psychic abilities." I popped up at that one. "What, you think I might be able to read minds, like Garrett?" "Probably not that far," Wren said. "But emotions, empathy, things like that, are possible. Actual telepathy is something restricted to Vampires and a few other rare Vampyre." We hung out for a bit longer, going for a run a few more times, until I felt more comfortable starting and stopping on my own. He also had me do some regular running as well, so my body could tell the difference. He didn't want me accidentally breaking the sound barrier in PE. "What, I can do that?" I exclaimed with a laugh. "You mean like this?" There it was again, that sound like a training clicker. Wren blinked out of existence for a split second, before reappearing. "What the hell was that?" I asked. "You might have heard it, or felt something," he said with a grin. "Here, take out your wallet. Hold it in your hand." I took it out of my pocket, holding it clenched in my hand. "No, hold it flat on your open palm. I'd rather not accidentally tear off your thumb or something." I did as he asked, while he walked twenty or so feet away. "You ready? You watching your wallet?" Taking my eyes off Wren, I looked down at the wallet. There was another `click' and I felt the tiniest pressure pushing down on my palm, as suddenly the wallet disappeared. Looking up, Wren was standing right where he had been, but now he was holding up my wallet in his hand. We walked forward to meet in the middle, and he handed it back to me. "That is awesome," I exclaimed. "Is that what we have been doing tonight?" "No, sadly. We've been moving pretty fast, but not quite that fast. Moving like that is only really good for short bursts. Try doing a marathon at that speed, you'll pull your body apart. Even for short distances, it takes a lot of practice to not touch someone so hard that you move into their space." He chuckled. "Trust me, that sucks." "I'll take your word for it." Then something occurred to me, a sensory memory. "Wait! You did that at the store, the day we first met!" "That I did. Good catch." The weekend was quiet, or at least, as quiet as it can be with a houseful of friends over. Friday, when Boots was over, us hanging out in the basement reminded me that I still needed to do something about that damned peephole and secret door. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance before the rest of the guys came over. A half dozen times I caught myself looking over at the wall at the bottom of the stairs, working out the best way to cover it all over. When I had been in school Friday, someone had been in the house. The refrigerator was newly stocked with lots of snacks and simple to make food stuffs, and all the beds and been stripped, the sheets washed, and everything remade. There was also a note that they would contact me after the weekend for us to speak, so they could get a better feel for what groceries I wanted stocked. I had been doing my own laundry for years, so I was able to avoid that embarrassment. Sunday was fun, because while I got Erin to work with Boots a bit on the rules for Hammers & Hordes, I got to play my very first game with my very own models. It was a really small game, and I got my ass thoroughly handed to me. But it was a lot of fun, and I was proud that it was with models that I built and painted. Boots seemed at first to be a bit awkward, and I remembered that he knew all about the Ravens. But I pulled him aside and promised him that she wasn't a Vampire, she didn't drink blood, and he was perfectly safe with her. I absolutely did not tell him how many actual Vampires there were in the shop at that moment. Monday I received another email the second I got out of school. I was apparently invited to dinner at the hotel at seven. Then I got another surprise when I got home, Boots in tow. There was a lady sitting at the dining room table. She was older, maybe a little younger than my parents, a little bit dumpy but not terribly out of shape, with long dark brown hair and a smile that seemed decently genuine. She set down her cup of coffee and the tablet she had been using, standing to greet us. "Good afternoon," she said. "Mr. Docker, I presume." "Jason, yeah," I said cautiously. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to know you?" "My apologies. My name is Darla Sinclair. I was hired on to be your part time housekeeper." It was what I was hoping, but good to get confirmation. Still, I wanted to make sure. Better safe than sorry. "Sorry, Mrs. Sinclair, you said it was?" She nodded. "Can you tell me, who hired you for this? Like, who arranged this?" "Oh, I completely understand," she said with a smile. "Everything was arranged with Mr. Tsui's secretary, a Ms. Flanagan. My understanding is that for now, I should come over to give the place a good scrubbing and do a bit of shopping for you. But I was also told that at some point, you might want me over more often, to do some cooking and such for you?" "Not yet," I said skeptically. "Let's just play it cool for now." We did sit down and discuss food preferences and such. She agreed that for now, she would come over twice a week while I was in school, to disrupt my life as little as possible. We exchanged numbers, so that I could add specific requests from time to time. She also agreed to make herself available for deliveries, which helped me out, since the pool table was due that week. I let her know it was supposed to include installation, which would include ensuring the table was properly leveled. She promised to oversee it personally. I meant to ask her what to do about that door downstairs, but decided to keep quiet, and deal with that myself. Before she let herself out, she did promise to ensure everything was stocked with snacks and drinks for the crew to come over on weekends. I also made it a point that she knew Boots would be a regular over at the house. She gave a knowing look at that, but I didn't care what she thought. "Holy fuck!" exclaimed Boots the moment she was gone. "How lucky is your ass? Whatever food you want, whenever you want? And she'll come cook it if you want?" "Only at the cost of both my parents," I muttered. "Oh yeah. I guess there is that. Sorry." "It's all good, my guy" I said, pulling him into a buddy side-hug. "So what are we up to today?" We hung out, just the two of us, for a few hours. We ended up going upstairs and pulling out our miniatures to work on. I even pulled out my laptop and put on a movie for us to ignore. Eventually I told him that I had a dinner appointment that I had to go to. He balked at that, but didn't say anything about it. But I made sure he knew he could stay or go, as he wanted, and I would be back in a few hours. When it was close to time, I made the walk over to the hotel. I decided I wanted to try to make a bit of a better impression, so I dressed up a little bit. I don't know, maybe it was something of a peace offering. I wasn't quite sure what was the best way to do this without raising a stink, so once I got there, I texted the number I had been given, saying that I was downstairs in the lobby. Stepping inside, I saw that the tall, creepy guy was at the desk. I think his name was August? I was glad I texted. I didn't want to talk to him, if I didn't have to. Within minutes the two goons came around the corner. Once we stepped into the elevator and one of them gave the password, I turned to the one I always seemed to get stuck with, the same one that had frisked me. "Hey dude," I grinned, turning and sticking my ass out a bit. "My ass is right here, if you need to cop another feel." He shook his head and smirked, trying to hide his embarrassment. His buddy grinned, but didn't say anything. When the doors opened, I saw that Dom's secretary was sitting at the desk, the same sourpuss look on her face. I walked over to stand in front of her. "It's Ms. Flanagan, right?" I asked, keeping my voice polite. She nodded, clearly hesitant to see where I was going with this. "I just wanted to say that I apologize if I have stepped on your toes in some way. I didn't choose all this, and I don't want to disrespect you." She sat there, as if waiting for a punchline. So I added, "Um, that's it. You just seemed like you didn't like me, and I didn't want you to feel like you needed to." "Well thank you," she said with a look somewhere between suspicion and distrust. "I think. Anyway, Mr. Tsui is expecting you," she said, pointing to the hallway. I had a completely different outlook going in to see him this time. Everything was just as lavish as the other two dinners, the food brought in for me just as excellent. This time I wanted to take a moment to compliment his shiny looking suit. I'd always thought his clothes looked cool. This time I wanted to say something. We discussed Wren's discovery of my super speed, and he promised to find someone that would work with me to see what else I could do, including learning to control my strength that we already knew I had. He even offered to make hand to hand self defense training available to me, if I wanted. He complimented me on my ability to see through the mesmir, and agreed it was a good idea for me to learn more. I did take the opportunity to clear up the same question I had asked Wren, this time from his side. "Last time we met, you said that Montgomery was your right hand man, I think is how you put it." He nodded. "So if that's true, why is it that Wren has been doing all the talking to me, instead of him?" "Hmm," he pondered for a minute. "You seemed a bit uncomfortable with Montgomery. But even more, Montgomery is not what you would call a `people person'." "Then why let him be your assistant?" I asked. "He's fine with other Vampyre. Just not with mortals." "Oh," I muttered. "He came off to me like I was beneath him. Does he still feel that way about me?" "He knows better," said Dom. "He will not give you any problems going forward." He took a drink from his cup. "So your house. Are things satisfactory?" "Oh, yeah, thanks. I met Mrs. Sinclair today. She seems nice. Thanks for that." "You are most welcome. Is there anything else I can do to help you settle in with the new dynamic?" "I mean," I hesitated, afraid to say what I really wanted to ask. Finally I said "fuck it" and asked what had been on my mind. "Are we strictly limited to this whole Vampire, servant thing?" "That depends," he said with a grin. "What might you have in mind?" "I meant what I said, I'm nobody's bitch. That includes Wren." Dom's eyes widened slightly, curious where I was going with this. I got up from my chair and stood in front of him. More softly I said, "I mean, unless you aren't interested in me like that. Maybe it's a bit too..." I reached out and ran my hand up the side of his face, pulling his hair back. "taboo?" Dom shuddered slightly, either at my touch or my words. "Some little birdie told me that a Vampire wouldn't want to feed from his own Assecla, that it would be too..." I pinched his ear lobe, drawing a gasp, "taboo. But I've been thinking about how it felt when you sealed out bond before." I lifted my leg and shoved him back a bit away from the table so I could straddle his knee. He kept his hands at his side while I put both of mine on his chest, fingering the buttons of his shirt. "I loved how that felt. I guess it's too bad I can't feel that again." "I suppose that depends on how far you are willing to go," Dom said, his voice husky with desire. "Taboo can sometimes mean caution, rather than refusal." I was pulled against his body, his lips finding my jawline, sucking and nibbling in their hunt for the perfect spot. I was instantly turned on, leaking into my shorts. My hands slipped inside his shirt, feeling his smooth chest, and digging down to explore his taut stomach. I felt when his fangs slid into my neck, no confusion what I was feeling. My stomach muscles twisted up, and I came in my pants without even having time to get hard first. It was the most incredible feeling ever, even better than the first time on the couch. Even better than Wren's feeding. I felt the suction of Dom's mouth on the side of my throat, and instantly seized up again, releasing a second load. Shit, you'd think I was a horny teenager or something. I reached down to feel up his crotch, and I could feel his hardness in his pants, beneath my hand. Before I could do more than give it a squeeze, however, he released me and pushed me back. He was breathing hard, his eyes glazed. His lips were a bright red and I could see a pink film over his teeth, but otherwise there was no mess, no blood dripping down his chin or anything. I reached up to touch my own throat, and felt no wound, no blood, and no pain. There was a tender area, like a days-old bruise, and some saliva, but that was it. "Shit," I said. "That was intense." "Indeed. Sadly I had to stop us," he replied, still in a daze. "I would want to have become carried away. Even still, thank you for that." "Any-fucking-time." I grinned. I felt a little unsteady on my feet as well, and sat back down, taking a long drink of my soda. I was ravenous the next morning, fixing half a pack of sausage links for breakfast with a bunch of eggs. Boots had stayed overnight, even though we had school this morning. He ate a decent helping of eggs and a couple of sausage links. I devoured the rest by myself. Apparently the protein did wonders for me, and were exactly what my body needed. Meanwhile, Boots looked at me like I had two heads, as I put down enough food for the two of us all over again. We headed to school together. I didn't ask if we needed to swing by his house. He was already starting to leave spare clothes over at my place. I liked that, because it meant he trusted my place to be a safe backup. I was a little sluggish most of the morning, even a little lightheaded at times. I was also kind of surprised with myself. When had I ever thought about throwing myself at Dom like that? If anything I was intimidated by him. Still, it had definitely been fun. Even if walking home with a cold, wet crotch had been awkward and, well, squishy. Thursday the new pool table was delivered, and I invited Liam over to help me break it in. We threw a bed sheet over the table, and trash talked about all the cool terrain we could get for it, like hills, building, and all of that. Friday, me and Boots broke in the table with some pool. Both of us were shit at it, but we had fun trying to figure it out. Saturday, Wheeler and Taki took over the table, both of them showing off an insane number of trick shots. I made a note never to play either of them one on one. After dinner Saturday, most of the guys went home. Boots and Taki planned on staying over one more night. Taki even offered to try to show us how to play better at pool. I was playing around on my phone, looking at some websites Liam had mentioned for some cool looking terrain, while the other two were going head to head at a shooter game. I became confused when the sounds changed in the room. The trash talk, the clack of the controllers, even the video game sound effects, all stopped. I looked up and saw that Boots had slumped over where he was sitting across from me on the futon. Taki had been sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the couch, but he was slumped over as well, the controller fallen from his hand. I started freaking out, whipping around to look behind me. Sure enough, there at the foot of the stairs was a wave of pinkish red mist, and floating in the cloud was that whatever he called himself. The floating head of an old man, with that gross spinal cord hanging down like a sick parody of a tail. I didn't want to show him I was scared this time, so I went with pissed. "The fuck do you want this time?" I yelled at him. "What bullshit name did you call yourself?" There was a whisper of sound, like the wind flowing through the tree branches in a forest. Not the peaceful summer afternoon forest though. No, this was the fall forest at twilight, when the setting sun was already being blocked by the leaves and branches. Then the sound became that of escaping steam, and it began to speak. "I have not... given a name... but instead... I give a warning." "Last time you gave a name. Plague, or some bullshit like that." It hadn't hurt me before, and I was probably getting a bit too cocky. Still, it was that or show fear. "Heed... what I say... Jaaa-ssss-on... Tell your master... that we will have... what was promised..." "Heed this," I said, flipping it off. "Get the fuck out of my house." God damn, why had I never blocked up that door? "I see... you need... persuasion..." The floating head drifted forward. I scrambled back, then hopped over the arm of the couch, almost kicking Taki in the head by accident. I rolled around, nearly losing my footing, and grabbed up one of the pool sticks. I cocked it back like a baseball bat, but it had stopped. Halfway between us, laying on the floor, Taki started twitching, throwing his head side to side, and moaning, "No, no!" He started convulsing, his whole body twitching violently, then began to scream. It took a moment, but I realized that the floating head, or whatever it was, was also screaming. Its spinal-tail was flailing around, and twice the amount of mist was jetting out of the bottom of the head like a steam engine. I felt frozen for a moment, in sheer confusion and panic. Then I came to my senses, leaping forward and whacking the head upside the, well, head, with the pool stick. I heard a muffled "crack" over the screams, and the head was shoved a foot to the side. It stopped screaming, instead turning into a whistling sound. Taki stopped screaming as well, instead crying and whimpering. Deep, chest, wracking sobbing-style crying. The head floated back, away from us. I whipped the stick back again, reading to swing, as once more it spoke. "You have had... my warning, Ja-ssss-son... We are on... your side... But we must have... what was promised... by Tsui..." Massive volumes of mist flowed into the room and the thing faded into the cloud. I knew it had just gone back through the door. That thing was getting fixed, asap. I tossed the pool stick to the ground, kneeling down to check on Taki. He had quieted, but was still rocking in his sleep, whimpering and moaning. "What the fuck happened?" I jerked up to see Boots sitting up on the futon, rubbing his eyes and staring at Taki. "What's wrong?" "Vamp bullshit," I muttered, sitting down and wrapping Taki in my arms. Boots came over and slid down on his other side. Together we held our friend for another fifteen minutes until whatever nightmare that was rushing through his head finally ran its course and his body calmed down. Boots looked up at me after a few minutes and asked quietly, almost in a whisper, "Are we safe here?" All I could do was shrug my shoulders and shake my head. "Are any of us really safe at all in Avernus?"