Authors: SM Johnson
Daniel opened the door and was astonished to find Reed standing on the stoop.
Reed stared into his eyes and said, “This is not your house. Tell me this is not your house.”
Daniel stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I came to see if you were all right, considering last night your face was a bloody mess…” his words trailed away.
“Ah, that’s so sweet.” Daniel glared at Reed, still pissed that he’d blown him off last night and starting fucking around with a twink. “It wasn’t my blood. It was his.”
“I told you not to leave with him.”
“Yeah, well.” Daniel didn’t know what else to say.
“What happened?”
Daniel sighed. It was none of Reed’s business. Reed wanted him to be yesterday’s fuck, nothing more, and was always, always pushing Daniel away. Except that Reed was here, looking for him, worried about him. He had to tell Reed something to explain away what he’d seen. Maybe Reed had gone into the house and found Leonard dead. “He tried to cut me with a knife and I flipped out. My hands were in cuffs chained to the wall. I don’t know, the bolt must have been loose or something, because when I freaked, the bolt came flying loose and caught Leonard in the face, chains and all.” Daniel started to shake, remembering it, remembering how close Reed had been to seeing everything, to knowing more about Daniel than he would ever want to know. “Christ, there was blood everywhere. You don’t think I killed him, do you?” A test—had Reed gone into Leonard’s apartment? Had he found Leonard?
“Leonard? Doubtful. But maybe you taught him an important lesson about going too far.” Reed rocked back on his heels, staring up at the house, and asked his original question. “Is this your house?”
Daniel was relieved. “Of course it’s not my house. Jesus Christ, what eighteen year old kid has—”
He bit his own words back, but it was too late.
Reed’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Eighteen?” He scrubbed at his face with both hands, then raked them through his hair, staring razors into Daniel. “Fuck. This has to end. Right fucking now.”
“Reed.” Daniel made his voice soft, comforting. “Reed, it’s okay.”
“I thought you were twenty-one.”
Daniel grinned. That was bullshit. “No you didn’t. You never believed that.”
Reed sighed. “Okay, but definitely older than eighteen.”
“Whatever you needed to tell yourself,” Daniel observed gently. “It’s all right.”
“It’s not all right. It’s wrong. I am way too old to be fucking you.”
“There’s no one to care, you know.” Daniel stepped in close to Reed and wrapped his arms around him. “No one.”
“Your guardian.”
“Nope,” Daniel assured him. “He doesn’t give a flying fuck. Trust me.”
“His son, then, just to cause trouble.”
“Maybe,” Daniel agreed, squeezing Reed tighter, going up on his toes to grind his hips against Reed’s crotch. “But it’s my call who I want to be with, not his. He left me.”
“You can’t guarantee I won’t be arrested.”
Daniel didn’t suggest that Roderick would kill Reed before he ever caused him legal trouble. “Yes, I can. I promise you won’t be arrested, because now you’re just being silly. The age of consent is probably sixteen. It is in most places. And I am eighteen. Completely legal.”
Reed pulled away from Daniel, backed down the steps, all the while just looking at him. “I don’t know what to do. I want to stay away from you, I do… but I just… can’t.”
That was probably the sweetest thing Reed had ever said to him. “Then don’t. Come in, look around.”
Reed stared into him, then nodded and came up the steps again, through the door and into the entry. Daniel tried to see it from Reed’s point of view, living room to the left, big screen television, three young couples—all of them gay—lounging, watching a movie. Lights turned low.
“What is this place?”
“It’s my after-hours party. I invite twinks and pre-twinks back here to party.”
Reed’s comment was dry. “It’s not quite after hours yet.”
“Some of them hang around indefinitely. A few seem to have moved in permanently. But I like them. I don’t like padding around this big place alone.”
“Who owns the house?”
“DeVante. My guardian.”
Reed raised an eyebrow. “Does he know what you’re up to?”
Daniel laughed. “Probably. I’m sure.”
And even as he said it, the room changed; there was a sudden, dense quality to the air that made it hard to breathe, as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of the space. Speak of the devil himself.
DeVante’s carefully modulated voice filled the foyer. “Make no mistake, I am well aware of what goes on in my house.”
Daniel turned to watch the master vampire glide down the stairs, and DeVante’s voice continued. “Though I may not be the most visible master of the manor, I do keep tabs on my young charge.”
His voice flowed into Daniel’s mind.
Interesting set-up, Daniel. I trust you’ve been… dining in?
Daniel thought he saw a glint in DeVante’s eyes, a glint that had never been there before… respect? He blushed, and then nodded.
DeVante spoke aloud again. “Leave it to the young to buck the established system.”
All players stilled except DeVante, who had reached the bottom of the stairs and continued toward Daniel and Reed. Reed’s voice, holding a note of challenge, filled the heavy silence, his chin raised as he faced DeVante. “And do you approve?”
Daniel was sure DeVante was
doing
something—he felt rooted to the floor. He flicked his eyes toward the living room and all was still and silent there, his six guests sitting like statues, even the television gone soundless. But Reed… Reed was fighting it, managing to speak, to challenge.
DeVante walked silently right up to Daniel, into his space, and he took Daniel’s chin between his fingers and tilted his face upward, staring into his eyes. At this even Daniel’s mind went completely still. DeVante stared into him, let his gaze crawl into Daniel’s mind and down his spine with the strange but now familiar sensation Daniel thought of as a ‘zip-flash.’ Daniel submitted. He knew he would always, always submit to DeVante, that there was no choice.
DeVante’s words, when they came, were directed at Reed although he continued to stare into Daniel’s eyes. “Young Daniel must find his own way. How else will he ever grow up?”
DeVante’s release of Daniel was twofold; first he broke eye contact and released Daniel’s mind, then let go of his chin, brushed Daniel’s cheek, and released his body.
The vampire’s gaze swiveled to Reed. “I do not know how wise it is for Daniel to become entangled with a…” his eyes flicked over Reed’s face, traveled along the lines of his body, and his voice paused for the barest of moments, too brief, Daniel thought, for Reed to even notice, “…man, but there is no stopping Daniel from going after what he wants. And you, Reed McKenna, might consider that a warning.”
Daniel grinned. Reed acknowledged the grin with a nod.
DeVante strode past them to the open door, then turned back. “And remember Daniel…”
Keep hunting and fucking separate
, Daniel thought, but said, “What?”
“Dawn comes sooner than you expect.”
And he was gone in a swirl of long black coat, his exit nearly as dramatic as his entrance had been. Daniel suddenly found he could breathe. And move.
That was it. No fallout, no censure. DeVante really was going to give him forty-seven miles of rope. Daniel could hang himself many times over with it.
Reed was staring out the door. “That was cryptic.”
“Well,” Daniel replied as the sound from the television in the adjoining room suddenly resumed, too loud in his ears. “He is the crypt-keeper,” and he laughed, hoping Reed might now stop worrying about his age.
And then they could…what? Have a “real” relationship? The irony of his relief struck him and Daniel laughed even more. “Come on, let me show you around.”
Daniel began and ended the guided tour in the bedroom he never actually slept in.
Mere minutes after fucking Daniel into his own mattress Reed said, “Why did you go with Leonard after I told you not to?”
Daniel was still breathing hard. Hell, his cock was still hard because Reed didn’t let him come. He shrugged and nuzzled his face against Reed’s chest. “I don’t know. I guess because you told me not to.”
Reed let out a sharp bark of laughter. “You’re going to kill me. But at least you’re honest. So… what did he do to you before the big dramatic ending?”
Daniel squirmed, embarrassed. He didn’t think he could talk about it.
Reed waited in silence for a long moment, then said, “Well?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t.”
“Really?” Reed said. “You’re the most talkative little shit I know. So tell me, did he spank you like a naughty little boy?”
Daniel ducked his head, feeling heat rise to his cheeks, then nodded.
“Did he tie you up and make you swallow his cock?”
Daniel remembered gagging on Leonard’s thick dick, too much, too fast, the tears streaming from his eyes. He breathed out noisily, wishing he had a cigarette or a drink or something for distraction. “Yeah,” he finally admitted.
Reed shifted his body so his cock bumped against Daniel’s hip. It was hard.
Again.
He lifted his arms to Daniel’s head, dragged his fingers through the blond strands, pulling Daniel’s head back by his hair and whispering into his ear, “Did you like it?”
“Ye-e-s,” Daniel stuttered, his breath caught in his throat.
Reed pulled Daniel by the hair, forcing him to scoot up the bed or endure pain. He licked Daniel’s throat, kissed the line of his jaw, and finally caught Daniel’s lower lip between his teeth. Then let go of Daniel’s hair with one hand and wormed it between their bodies to grip Daniel’s erection. “Tell me that you liked it,” he said against Daniel’s mouth.
Daniel moaned. “I liked it.”
“How much?” Reed ground his teeth against Daniel’s lips, bruising them.
“A lot,” Daniel said stupidly, because he was too… something… to speak.
“Did his mastery over you make you hard?”
“Yes,” Daniel said, and felt pre-cum leak from his cock. Reed caught it with his thumb and smoothed it over the head, making Daniel twitch.
Then Reed rolled them over so Daniel was lying beneath him, trapped. Reed twined their legs together and held Daniel’s face between his hands. “Full sentences, beautiful boy, tell me why you liked it.”
Daniel shook his head as much as he was able between Reed’s hands. “I haven’t thought it all through. I don’t even know.”
“So think about it. Now. Analyze away. I’ll wait.”
Reed shifted to the side, sliding off Daniel’s body and allowing Daniel’s head to rest again on his chest. Daniel’s fingers tingled patterns against Reed’s skin. He wasn’t sure what he had thought Leonard was giving him, or what he was taking away. Couldn’t he chalk the whole bizarre experience up to mere curiosity? But no, he had to admit to himself that there had been a moment, maybe even a few, during the forty lashes with the crop, when something in him had broken loose and flown off to someplace else. A moment (or a few) when his whole world felt like it was in symmetry.
Chapter 28
How to find a man
Okay, Tony, since you met this guy at a sex party doesn’t it make sense to look for him at a sex club? A strip club, maybe? Lead me to one, boy.”
“I’ve never been in one, because I’m not old enough. But if I were, there’s one close to here, just off the strip. It’d be the place where the sign says Free Topless Party, right?”
“Sounds about right,” Roderick said.
Tony led him to a joint just a few blocks away on Flamingo, it’s monstrous storefront sign proclaiming
Dancing Girls, Let us Entertain You
. Inside, it was so dark Roderick thought it was a wonder mortals could find their way. Tony made a disgusted noise and said, “Ewww,” and even visibly flinched. “He won’t be at a place like this—he’s like… money. Entitled. They all were.”
Roderick nodded, said, “Well, I’ll ask around,” and made his way up to the rail in front of the stage, where a woman old enough to be his mother smiled at him while dancing to jukebox music. Roderick nudged in beside a concentrated patron. “Any idea where I might find a classier operation?” he asked. “Not that the girl ain’t cute enough, but I’m looking for a particular girl. Younger. Calls herself Angel.”
The man beside him snorted. “They all call themselves Angel.” He waved a five-dollar bill in the air. When the dancing girl noticed it, he called out, “Sweetie, is your name Angel?”
She approached them, leaned down to accept the five and offer a kiss to the man’s cheek. “It is tonight, sweetheart.” Up close her face was lined and her voice gravelly from too many years smoking cigarettes.
“See?” the man said, turning to Roderick. “Who needs a classier joint?”
Roderick lowered his eyebrows, showing slight displeasure, and the man said, “Okay, there’s a joint across from the Hard Rock Hotel called Club Paradise. There’s a thirty-dollar cover, though. Or you could try The Library, but that’s out on 95, not even close to the strip. But the girls—well, they’re ultimately all the same, you know.”