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It was typically a near heartbreaking experience to see Taryn cover himself up with clothes again after getting out of bed. Hehehe, I know that we both couldn't stay naked all the time...that's obvious, disappointing as that may be...but I actually LIKED seeing Taryn enthusiastically wiggle his cute little bottom into a pair snug fitting briefs tonight. It made me giggle out loud to myself, causing him to look back over his shoulder at me with a smile.

"What? Hehehe!" He said.

"You're really on cloud nine about getting out of here, aren't you?" I grinned.

"Awww, babe...it isn't like I'm not having fun here and all, I just...I miss everybody, you know?" He said, coming back to the bed to give me a quick kiss on the lips. "Besides, think about all of the cool stuff we're gonna have to tell them about living in this big luxury high rise since we've been gone. They're gonna flip out."

"Yeah. That could be fun." I said, wrapping my arms around his waist, seeing no need to resist the urge to press my eager lips to his smooth cheek.

"I'll just bet you that Trevor and Michael are gonna be soooo jealous that we got to live like this! I can't wait to see his smug face when we tell him." He said, and he used his fingers to lightly brush some of my blond locks out of my eyes, a boyish giggle escaping his lips as he said, "What the heck, Justin? Now you've got one brown eye and one green eye? What kind of strange fetish tricks is this Jeweler guy teaching you?"

"Do I? Shit." I laughed. "I'm trying to balance it out. Give me a chance. At least I didn't wake up on the ceiling this time, or accidentally dowsing poor Jun with, what might as well have been, raw sewage."

"This is true." Taryn replied, but I could feel him lightly taking my arms from around, and giving me one more kiss on the cheek before patting me on the leg and saying, "Now get up! Let's get out of this man-made utopia for a night."

He hopped up on his feet, and started getting dressed again as I stretched and yawned and attempted to join him in his intense yearning to get back home. I found my clothes freshly washed, ironed, and neatly folded on top of the dresser. My own mother couldn't have done it any better. I will say this about The Jeweler and his staff...they certainly know how to treat their honored guests.

Taryn saw me putting my underwear on and walked over to me with a smile. "You're hard..." He grinned.

"Only a little bit."

He reached into the front and angled my growing erection upward towards the elastic band. "That's not a little bit. You're, like...'naughty' hard."

"Well, yeah! If you're gonna reach in my pants and start fondling me down there, of course my favorite toy is gonna react. What did you expect?" He kissed me on the lips, and I looked into his eyes, wondering if we could delay our little field trip back home for a little while longer.

But, with only a seductive rub or two, he smiled and said, "When we get back to the lot...I wanna do it in our trailer. Just like on our first night together."

"Or...we could do it right here, right now, on these expensive sheets and a soft mattress, and have some of my royal subjects clean up the mess for us by the time we get back?" I raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't falling for it.

"Nope. You just stay all hot and bothered, and keep this bad boy hard and ready until we get home. How about that?"

"We're fourteen, you know?" I said. "We can do both."

"True. But I like it when you're slightly agitated. You're so hot when you're anxious. Hehehe!"

"Tease..." I said, and kissed him again. Deeply this time. Hoping to break his will power down and get him to submit. But I think he was too invested in us going back to the lot to oblige me.

"You make it so difficult to say no to you sometimes."

"Then take these off, already. Let's start our evening off right." I said.

"Awww, you're adorable. And I want to, but..."

"No way! What was it that you always said to me? Ummm...never hesitate...don't do anything that...hold on..."

Taryn lightly put his hand over my mouth. "Nice try, goofball. Hehehe, now finish getting dressed before I'm forced to spank you."

"You promise? Sounds kinky."

"You! Clothes! Now!" He grinned. "Don't make me get cross with you, mister 'chosen one'."

"Hehehe! Yes, dear." I suddenly pulled Taryn to me and kisse him on the cheek. "I love you."

"Love you too..." He sighed.

It wasn't like Taryn and I had an entire wardrobe's worth of clothes to change into. I didn't bring anything with me, and neither did he. The Jeweler was very open about getting us any comforts or clothes that we wanted, but this place was full of robes and get ups that were more likely to get us mugged if we were just walking around the streets wearing them. Hehehe...still, it felt good to just feel like us again. Casual. Sort of under the radar', you know? I don't think I'll ever be cut out for this praise and worship stuff. I just want to be 'Justin'. That's enough for me.

"You ready?" I asked, brushing a little lint off of Taryn's shoulder.

He smiled at me, brushing my hair back to check my eyes again. "That's so weird." He whispered. "Yeah. I'm ready. So, like...what do we do? Do we have to ask permission to leave, or what?"

"I'm not really sure. I'm thinking we can just take the elevator to the ground floor and leave. I can't imagine that there's anything really stopping us, right?"

Taryn looked a little worried, but was working to conceal his feelings from me. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, and pressed my soft lips against his...with just a moment of sensual tongue play before we parted and got ready to leave.

We moved towards the elevators and I clicked the button to take us down to the lobby. Taryn was practically bouncing on his heels as he waited for the metal box to take us where we needed to go. It just made me smile to see him so happy. It truly warmed my heart. God, he was being so CUTE about all of this!

When the doors opened, I saw a few other patrons of the Jeweler's facilities waiting to get on and be carried upstairs. Their eyes widened when they saw me, and immediately moved back away from the door to give us room. They began to bow down on their knees but I was quick to stop them before they made a spectacle out of all of this. "No no...it's ok. Honestly. No need for all that. Go ahead." I said, stepping aside to hold the door open for them as they stared at one another with a great deal of confusion.

I think Taryn was slightly impressed with the way the others in the place reacted to my presence, but even more so with the fact that I didn't really want any of it. I mean, should I? I spent so much of my life feeling like I was so worthless, so irredeemable...that just being able to among them without being bullied and laughed at was a huge step up as far as I was concerned. I don't need power. I need friends. Real friends. And a community of people that allowed me to feel at home, no matter what.

I mean, once you have that? What else is there? That's my idea of divine glory.

All of the others moved into the elevator, each one nervously mumbling a 'thank you' as they passed me and nodded their heads. Still watching me as if this was going to end up being some sort of an elaborate trap or something. Weird.

Then, just as the last of them were shuffling their way inside, I heard footsteps and saw Suraj hurrying from the other end of the hallway to see if there was any room left for him. "Please hold! I am coming!" He said, out of breath, but nearly slid to a stop when he saw Taryn and I standing there. "Oh! Oh my..."

He just stood there in silence for a moment, and I smiled at him to ease his nerves. "Hey, Suraj. Going up?"

Geez! I thought he was going to pass out! "You remember my name?" He said, his voice trembling. "Oh! My manners! Greetings to you too, Lord Justin. It's an honor to see you...again..." He seemed to be looking at my face, and that's when I realized him noticing the two different colors of my mismatched eyes. "...Wow..."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. I wasn't trying to steal your extra or anything, it's just...these things kind of happen all on their own. I don't have much control over what's going on with my abilities until my body learns how to figure them out on it's own."

With a nod, Suraj reached out for me. "Please...take a hold of my hand." He said.

I did as he asked. "Ok. Now what?"

"Now, close your eyes...and think of an old picture of yourself. One that you might hold as a dear part of your heart." I did as he asked, but the one picture that always held such a strong emotional attachment for me was the one of me and Richie out at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. Just before he got sick. "Concentrate on your eyes..."

"I don't know if my eyes were really visible in that picture..."

"It is ok. The transformation is physical, but everything else is mental. Emotional. Remember the moment, and you shall remember everything that went along with it. Even if it doesn't show up in the photo, it is still a part of you." He told me. "Try."

I did as he said, and it was only seconds later that he told me to open my eyes again. I didn't feel anything happen. And it seemed like it was way too quick to make much of a difference. But, when I looked at Suraj, he examined my eyes for a moment and smiled.

"There you are. All fixed." He said.

"Wait, what? They are?" I turned to Taryn, and he gave me the sweetest look of surprise.

"Yay! Baby blue again!" He grinned.

Bewildered, I just let got of Suraj's hand and said, "Omigod, dude! Thank you! i didn't know how to...I mean...is that all I have to do from now on?"

"Well, shape shifting is a very precise exercise, so I guess it depends on how complex the previous transformation is and how much energy you used to pull it off. But the eyes aren't all that hard to fix." He said. "Your body will always go back to its original form eventually. It's like elastic. Or memory foam. But you can speed up the process by having a concentrated image to return to whenever you need it. Ok?"

I nodded, and gave Suraj a hug. "Thanks." I said, and I could feel him trembling as his skin turned dark with a boyish blush.

"You're welcome..." He giggled, and stepped back into the elevator to leave. Just as the doors were closing, I noticed all of the other patrons surrounding him and asking questions and patting him on the shoulders for being able to help out THE Vampire Mimic with something special, and getting a warm embrace for it. Heh...they are so easily impressed around here.

I caught Taryn giving me a sideways look, his smirk at full tilt. "What?" I asked.

"Suraj, huh?" He said. "Are you collecting more fanboys around here, or what?"

"He was just helping me get my eye color back to normal. You were standing right there, you saw what happened. Hehehe!"

"Yeah, well...I think I liked it better when you weren't such a big deal." He was joking, of course...but I'd be lying if I didn't sense just a tiny hint of something else in his voice. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I put an arm over his shoulder to bring him close as we were walking towards the lobby, kissing him roughly on the cheek. "Ugh! That's your answer for everything. Hehehe!" He said.

"But it works, right?"

Taryn sighed. "I suppose. But you're gonna have to come up with a few more tricks in the future. This isn't going to have the same impact thirty or forty years from now, ya know?"

"Sure it will." I grinned. "I'll just have to lower the kisses down to your neck every now and then to give you an extra shiver..." I nuzzled my face into his neck as he squealed with laughter ad tried to push me away. My heart is so totally his for the taking. Any time he wants it.

We were still giggling at one another as we walked past the guards in the lobby, and it was as if they had all tensed up simultaneously. As if they were completely gobsmacked by the idea that either one of us would dare to do something offensive, so brazen, as...going outside?

Four guards were quick to hurry forward and step in front of us while two others approached from behind. "Excuse me. We need you to stop." One of them said.

Taryn and I were still smiling a bit from our playful antics, wondering why they were standing in our way. I asked, "What is this? What's going on?"

"I'm afraid we can't allow you to leave the premises." He said.

Taryn and I exchanged a weird look, and I was like, "Hehehe, what are you guys talking about? It's cool. We're just going to hang out for a while. We'll be back before dawn..."

"We can't do that. We need authorization first."

"I just told you...we're just..."

But Taryn put his hand on my arm to keep me from getting upset. "It's ok, Justy. Let them call whoever they need to call, and then we'll go. Ok?"

I grunted a bit, but kept a level head. "Fine. Go. You can talk to The Jeweler directly. Tell him that 'Justin and Taryn' are downstairs and that we'd like to spend a few hours out on our own. Make it quick, we don't have all night." Taryn nudged me with a chuckle, but I meant every word of it. If my big Mimic reputation was going to be used for anything beneficial, I might as well throw that weight around long enough to get us out of here. To be honest, I'm surprised they felt the need to stop us at all.

A few of the soldiers downstairs seemed to put their hands on their weapons, and I noticed that there were a few more closing in around us that weren't there before. What was everybody so damn paranoid about? And aren't they aware of the fact that I could put every last one of them in a permanent COMA right now if I thought it was necessary? This is ridiculous.

Communications and code words were being spoken into walkie talkies, moderators were, apparently, on their way down to assess the threat of the situation, and I could practically feel the tension in the room increasing as the soldiers surrounding us thought about the idea of maybe having to keep us here against our will if ordered to.

That's when their main security officer, Cage, from before...came walking into the lobby to confront me. He was a hulking heap of toxic masculinity, reeking of stale cigar smoke, standing a full head taller than me and then some. But it would be silly to think that he could intimidate me, since he was only human. Since I've been in darkness, I've come to learn that those that walk in daylight aren't anywhere near as much of a threat in my life as they used to be.

"You two going somewhere special this evening?" He asked, his gravely voice rattling around in the back of his smokey throat.

"My boyfriend and I just wanted to get some air. Have some fun. That's all." I said.

"Have some fun. Is that right?" Cage asked. "Did you clear this with Mr. Lockheart first?"

"I don't understand why we would have to clear anything with anybody." I told him. "We're not his prisoners, we're his guests. I came here of my own free will. So did Taryn. I was assuming that it wouldn't be much of a hassle to leave the same way." Cage raised an eye brow, almost sarcastically, and began to walk away so he could talk to the higher ups on his com link. "There's really no need for all of this. We're not going anywhere far..."

"You need security clearances, son." Cage said without turning around to look me in the eye. He spoke into his radio, "Possible escape attempt confirmed. Please advise."

"Escape attempt??? What the hell are you talking about? We were just walking towards the front door!" I said, but as Cage was receiving his orders through an earpiece, I got fed up and took a hold of Taryn's wrist. "Fuck this! We're leaving!"

"Please remain still until we get further instructions!" One of the soldiers told us, and I noticed weapons being drawn from their holsters now.

"Get out of the way. You can't keep us here!"

"HEY!!!" Cage shouted behind us, but we kept walking forward. "STOP moving! Down on your knees!"

"Whatever you have to work out about this bullshit, you can work it out with The Jeweler when we're gone!" I'm said. "I'll answer for whatever we've 'done' that was so awful when we come back."

Now Cage was pulling back the chamber on a loaded pistol, telling his men, "If he goes for that front entrance...target the sire!"

I spun around with a blazing fury in my eyes. "What the FUCK did you just say???" Target my sire? My Taryn? Is he kidding me???

At that moment, Taryn said, "It's not that important, Justin. We can go back upstairs..."

"Stand behind me." I demanded. "The first person who so much as LOOKS at him in an awkward was is getting put down! HARD!!!"

"Don't do it, kid!" Cage growled, holding his ground.

At that moment, someone crept up behind Taryn and pulled him away from me, grabbing him by the back of his hair and yanking it until he cried out in pain. I turned, and without thinking, I turned my palms up and swiftly brought them down to my sides in a rage, gathering large balls of electricity in each one, and totally prepared to push them forward and incinerate that son of a bitch from the inside out!!!

But before I could let loose...something came sweeping in from the corner of my right eye! It was flat, and razor sharp, and it curved so swiftly that it was nearly impossible to follow it with the human eye. All I could hear was this sickening 'slice'...and the hand that was holding on to Taryn's hair had suddenly lost all feeling and let him go. I watched as the hand dropped down at an awkward angle...severed at the wrist, but not entirely. Instead, it was left to dangle from whatever defiant tendons this rogue soldier had left to hold it on with. He looked at his massive injury in horror as blood began to spill out of the stub profusely and cover his boots and the floor in his gore. He was too lost in his moment of shock to even scream at first.

Oh wait...yeah. Now it's sinking in.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" He fell to his knees, cradling his hand and crying as the pain of such a surgical cut began to envelop him with a moment of sheer panic.

And next to him, on the floor...looked like a large sheet of paper. Blank. But with the bloody traces left on the end of the page where it had dismembered him.

I moved to hold Taryn in my arms as he hugged me around the waist, and we both turned to see Bookworm standing there at the far end of the lobby...now closing that precious book of his once again. I guess the page he had just ripped out of it had done its job...