Spiked

[Ludub]

Title: Spiked

Type of Fic: Long Fiction

Main Characters: Brody, Tori, Justin, Mason, Raffy, Phoebe, and other main characters.

Genre: Mystery

BTTB Rating:  A

Does it contain spoilers: No

Warnings: ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT

 

Summary: Brody is dazed and confused in hospital after a very strange evening in the restaurant. His immediate reaction worries his family, and his behaviour afterwards is even stranger. What happened to him that night and how will they deal with the aftermath?

 

N.B. This is a bit of a different take on Brody... Also, in this reality, the drug storyline has never happened, so we’re basically picking up a few months ago, shortly after he broke up with Jeannie. .

Thanks to Bijou who requested a Brody-centric story. Hope you like it!

 

CHAPTER 1

 

Saturday Morning…

“Where is he?!” asked Justin, rushing from the doors of the elevator towards his sister, “Can I see him?!” 

“Oh God, Justin!” cried Tori, as soon as she spotted him. Her face was unmistakably blotched and tear streaked from all the crying, and she just threw herself into his arms as soon as he got close enough. “It’s just awful!” she sobbed, as she buried her face in his chest, “I think… I think he’s been… Oh God! I can’t even say it!”

He hugged his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. “Hey, hey…” he said, rocking her gently from side to side, “He’ll be okay” He hoped for the love of god that that was true!  He gave a little sigh as he caught sight of Nate standing there just behind her. He could see the concern etched across his face and he knew right then that it had to be serious. This wasn’t just his sister overreacting. Something terrible had happened!

“Can I see him?” he asked, pulling back from the hug and looking down at his sister.

“I don’t know” she said, staring towards one of the treatment rooms, “He won’t allow me in there… He doesn’t want me to see him.”

“He might let me in?” said Justin, giving her an apologetic head tilt. Over the years, he and Tori had become like mother and father to the younger two, and Brody had always gravitated towards him when it came to his worries and woes, whereas Mason was much more of a ‘mummy’s boy’. Brody was more likely to talk to him, than to Tori, and they both knew it.

“I can ask him” said Nate, stepping forwards with a chart under his arm, “But I have to warn you, he’s asked that you all stay outside… He’s been very clear about that… No family.”

“What?!” asked Justin, looking more than a little shocked, “Why?!”

“That’s what he said” sobbed Tori, “He ordered me out as soon as I went in there…” She shook her head at him with tear-filled eyes. “He was so angry, Justin! And scared! …I’ve never seen him look like this!” she said, “He wouldn’t even tell me what happened!”

“Didn’t the paramedics tell you?!” he asked, “When they brought him in?”

“No, they didn’t” she said, lowering her voice a little, as though to protect her brother’s dignity, “He was naked when they found him, Justin… Naked on the beach and unconscious… What does that tell you?!”

His heart kicked up a gear as he began to put two and two together. This was bad! “Do you know what’s happened?!” he asked, turning to look at Nate, “Has he told you?!”

“You know I can’t tell you that” said Nate, shaking his head with an apologetic sort of grimace, “He’s asked for full confidentiality… I’m sorry, but I have to respect his wishes.”

Tori nodded and went to sit down on one of the chairs in the hallway. “I just don’t understand this” she said, running her fingers through her hair, “We’re his family… Why wouldn’t he want us in there?!”

“I want to see him” said Justin, starting to move towards the door.

“I can ask him” said Nate, catching him by the arm to stop him, “But you’ll need to wait here…”

“He’s my brother” huffed Justin, trying to pull his arm away, “I don’t care what he says…”

“Justin!” pleaded Nate, “Don’t make me call security… He’s made it very clear that he doesn’t want you in there… You have to accept that.”

“But it isn’t right, Doc!” he said, starting to look a little weepy, “He’s our brother and… and we love him...”

“Justin!” said Tori, wiping at her eyes and trying to pull herself together, “Nate’s just doing his job!” She forced a smile and nodded at Nate to go and look in on Brody. “He’s in good hands” she said.

“Can you at least tell him we’re out here?” said Justin, with a frustrated sort of sigh, “That we’re here… and we’re not leaving?”

“I’ll go and see if he’s changed his mind” nodded Nate, “He might have second thoughts if he knows you’re out here.” He gave him a pat on the arm and a sympathetic little half-smile. “I’ll let him know that you’re worried.”

“Thanks, mate” said Justin, watching helplessly as Nate headed towards Brody’s room. He put his hands on top of his head and spun around to look at Tori. She gave him a ‘what the hell is going on?!’ kind of look and then put her face in her hands.

Justin just shook his head and looked at the ceiling. None of this made any sense! What could have happened last night that would have made him behave like this?! After all that they’d been through in witness protection, he felt like they could get through anything. They were strong, as long as they all stuck together! Surely, this was when Brody needed his family the most?!

 

Friday Evening (the night before) …

“You know, you could help!” said Brody, glancing disapprovingly at Justin as he sat on the other side of the bar with a beer in his hand, “This place is part yours… You could come round this side of the bar and give us a hand?!” He was frantically wiping down the bar surfaces and tidying empty bottles away. The barman had nipped outside for a smoke break, but a couple of the staff had called in sick as well, and there was no-one else to cover. One of the waitresses was doing her best to take drinks orders, even though she knew next to nothing about cocktail making, and was having to consult the menu card they kept behind the bar.

“I could” said Justin, as he took a slug from his bottle of beer and glanced towards the door, “But I’ve just come from work… You know that place with all the cars, and the grease, and the tools and stuff?!”

“Justin!” he complained, “You know we’re slammed tonight!”

“You were the one who decided to buy this place…” replied Justin, giving a little shrug, “This restaurant is your thing… You make the decisions… You decide… You’re always saying that… I wouldn’t expect you to come down and fix cars for me… So… forgive me if I think I deserve a sit down after a hard day’s work… and a few drinks with my girlfriend…”

“I’m just asking for a few hours!” said Brody, looking at him pleadingly, “Mason’s got a shift at the hospital, or I’d ask him!” He could see one of the waitresses seating a big group booking. There were at least twenty of them! Things were about to get so much busier! “Pleeeease, Justin?!”

“I thought you hired new staff?” asked Justin, in a distracted sort of way. He’d just seen Phoebe walk through the door in that hot pink dress of hers and he was too busy smiling at her. He loved the way that it hugged her in all the right places. Even better, was the fact that he knew what that dress meant!

“I did” said Brody, following his gaze towards Phoebe and rolling his eyes, “I hired two new waitresses… but some of my guys called in sick…” He knew, as soon as he spotted Phoebe’s dress, that he had next to no chance of getting any help now, so he just stopped talking. She was wearing her ‘Let’s get it on!’ dress, and that only ever meant one thing! She and Justin would be keeping everyone awake tonight! He got a little sick in his mouth at the thought of it.

“Hey babe” said Justin, hugging his arms around Phoebe’s waist as soon as she was within reach, and devouring her with his eyes. “How was your day?” he asked, as his lips curled up at the corners and he leaned in for a kiss, “Ready for a drink?”

“Mmmm-hmmm” she moaned, as she pressed her body up against his, and returned his kiss enthusiastically.

“Never mind” sighed Brody. He wrinkled his nose and shook his head in disgust as they kissed a little too passionately for a public bar. With a sigh of relief, he saw his barman walk back in. It meant that he could get back to the kitchen and make sure that things weren’t falling apart in there. “Well… I… uh… I guess…” he said, grimacing as they kissed with a little too much visible tongue, “I’ll leave you two… to… whatever you’re doing…”

“Hey Brodes!” mumbled Phoebe, laughing a little, mid-kiss, with her arms flung around Justin’s neck. She hadn’t even looked at him.

“Yeah, hey Pheebs” he muttered, waving at her over his shoulder as he headed towards the kitchen, “I’ll catch you later…” He walked back into the kitchen and gave a loud huff when he saw what a shambles it had become. The place was cluttered with dirty dishes and pans, and his chefs looked thoroughly flustered. “I’m back!” he shouted, taking over from his sous chef and nodding for him to get back to his station, “Let’s get this place back on track!”

As he began to clean down the work area, and start to reorganise things, he realised that his stomach felt like it was tied in knots. He was breathing very heavily too. He was angry! He was angry and resentful, but he didn’t really understand why… or rather, he did, but he realised that he was being unreasonable! It was busy tonight and he really could have used their help. That was true. Would it really have killed them to drop things for a couple of hours and roll up their sleeves?! Surely, they could have done that?! He would have done that for them… he was pretty sure… But then again, was it really fair of him to ask that? They’d already done their day’s work. They didn’t owe him anything!

He knew in his heart that it wasn’t really about that though. If he was honest with himself, it was that he envied them their happiness. He hated seeing them together when they were like this! And he really hated having to hear them through the bedroom walls. It turned his stomach. He wondered whether he should just sleep at the restaurant tonight. It might be easier. He couldn’t really explain why it annoyed him so much. It just did! He hid it most of the time but sometimes he found it difficult, and tonight was one of those nights! It wasn’t that he wanted Phoebe, despite what Tori and Mason sometimes insinuated. Far from it! She was a nice girl, and he liked her a lot, but he didn’t want her that way. Not Phoebe, not any girl! Not anyone! What he wanted was to have that feeling. That’s what he was jealous of! He wanted to feel that way about someone… anyone! To experience what that was like! To want to rip someone’s clothes off! To want to be with them so much that nothing else mattered! To want to be naked with them! He’d never had that. Sad as that was, he’d never felt that way about anyone… not ever! He’d tried to fake it over the years, to put on a show for everyone else’s benefit, to be ‘normal’… but he just wasn’t. He’d even tried to fake it for himself in the hope that it might ignite something inside him and maybe he’d somehow become ‘normal’ like everyone else, but he’d just been going through the motions. It wasn’t like he’d never had sex, he’d just never enjoyed it. He hadn’t been able to make himself feel the things that he was ‘supposed’ to feel. He just wasn’t made that way. All he’d ever felt was shame and revulsion! He didn’t like the nakedness. Sometimes he’d try to shut that part of himself off completely and pretend that it didn’t exist. He would have been happier if it didn’t, like a Ken doll with nothing between its legs. Life might have been easier…

But, in truth, he was tired of being alone… He didn’t want to be on his own anymore… He wanted someone to curl up on the couch with, and someone to do things with. Someone to belong to… He wanted companionship… and all the things that being in a relationship was supposed to bring… apart from the sex. Was that so much to ask?! Why did everything have to come down to that?! To some animalistic urge to ‘mount’ each other?! To get naked and hump each other silly?! Wasn’t there more to love and life than that?! Something on a higher level? Something more ‘cerebral’? Or was it really just about ‘bumping nasties’? Was that all that the ‘normal’ world really cared about?! It seemed that way.

He sighed to himself, as he picked up a paintbrush, and swiped a trail of beetroot reduction onto the plate beside the goat’s cheese tartlets. Perfection! It looked beautiful! This was what he’d been hiding behind for years now. His ‘career’ had been the perfect cover, as well as ‘witness protection’. ‘I can’t have a girlfriend when life is so complicated!’, ‘How can I have a relationship when we might have to go on the run?!’, ‘I don’t have time! I need to concentrate on my training!’ …What was going to be his excuse now?! He’d tried explaining things to Justin once, but all he’d done was ridicule, and tell him that he ‘mustn’t be doing it right’. And the one time he’d tried to have an honest heart to heart with Tori, she’d jumped to the conclusion that he must be gay. That was why he’d run after Jeannie in the way that he had. He’d needed to get Tori and Mason off his back for a little while and it seemed to have worked. He just wasn’t ready to lay his cards on the table and ‘out himself’, so to speak. He wasn’t brave enough for that. Not yet.

He felt physically sick with nerves as he slipped the plates up onto the pass and called ‘service’. He smiled a little sadly to himself and shook his head. To anyone looking at him now, he would have appeared the picture of calm. He was anything but! He was like a swan, all serene and dignified above the surface, but paddling furiously underneath! Why couldn’t he just be ‘normal’?! Why did he have to be such a weirdo?! Why was he such a freak?! Those questions whirled around in his head as he plated up the next order. He was always insulting himself and calling himself names in his head. “Service!” he shouted, and smiled at the young waitress when she came to take the plates. He glanced at her breasts, so visibly pert in that tight work top of hers, and wondered at how other men might find them tantalising. They’d probably be imagining her naked, or fantasising about what they’d like to do to her. They’d be thinking about the parts of their body that they’d like to insert into hers. Two sweaty bodies, slipping and sliding against each other, with all the smells and the sound effects that that entailed. He shuddered at the thought of it. All he saw was a pretty young girl with a nice set of boobs. ‘Nice’. Not a word that a red-blooded heterosexual would use to describe them. But he wasn’t homosexual either. Neither body did it for him. He was nothing… and that was even worse! ‘I hate myself’ he thought to himself, as she walked away, ‘Why can’t I just be ‘normal’?!’

“Brody!” shouted the barman, sticking his head in through the door of the kitchen.

“What now?!” he snapped back at him.

“There’s a guy out here wants to speak to you…” he answered.

“I’m busy” snapped Brody, only looking up at him for a moment, “Can’t you deal with him?!”

“He wants to speak to you” he replied.

“Declan!” he complained, “Seriously… I’m only getting things back on track…”

“He’s some… some food reviewer from the city…” said Declan, “He said he wants to write an article about Salt…”

“Oh!” exclaimed Brody, setting the plates up on the pass and wiping his hands on his apron, “Um, okay… Tell him… Tell him I’ll be out to him in a minute.” He turned to look at his sous chef and gave a nervous little grimace. They’d been trying to get a number of food critics from various magazines and publications to come and review the new menu for weeks. This wasn’t the best night for it! Not when they were so understaffed!

“Here goes!” he said, nodding for the sous chef to come and take over from him again, “Wish me luck! …I’ll try not to be too long.” With that, he wiped the sweat from his brow, and gave himself a quick check in the mirror that they had at their wash station. ‘Okay, you’ve got this!’ he said to himself before walking out to the dining room as calmly as he could. He didn’t want this guy to know how flustered he was.

“That’s him” said Declan, pointing at a man on the far side of the room.

Brody looked across to the booth table that Declan was pointing at and gave a little gasp when he realised who it was! He recognised him from the little headshot at the top of his printed reviews. He was Kris Novotny! “Oh, my God!” he exclaimed, smiling in a forced sort of way and talking to Declan like a ventriloquist, “That’s the reviewer for Foodie Paradise! I’ve been trying to get him to come down here for months!”

Suddenly the man looked up from his dessert and spotted Brody behind the bar. He raised his hand to say ‘hello’ and beckoned for him to come over with a friendly sort of smile.

Brody gave Declan a little nod and headed straight over to Kris’ table. “Brody Morgan” he announced, sticking his hand out to him with a proud little smile, “I love your magazine…I just want to say thanks…”

Edited October 11, 2018 by QUIET ACHIEVER

[Ludub]

Okay, so here's chapter two! Hope you all like it! I won't post all the chapters so close together. Just these two were originally one chapter but it got too long so I split in two...

(Again, thanks for all the lovely comments folks! )

 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES!

 

CHAPTER 2

 

Friday Evening continued…

“No, I want to thank you!” said Kris, shaking Brody’s hand and motioning for him to sit down at the table with him, “It’s not often that I come across a menu as well put together and well judged as this one… That goat’s cheese tartlet was to die for! …I mean… the pastry… Just out of this world!”

“Oh, my God!” giggled Brody, feeling a little overcome, “I… I… don’t know what to say!”

“You can start by telling me how a chef as talented, and as inventive as you clearly are, has… and I don’t mean this to sound insulting in any way… How you’ve ended up in a little town like this?!”

Brody gave a little grimace and took a deep breath. He didn’t know where to begin. How do you explain away years of running from a drug syndicate? Years of hiding? He knew that his true story, about the years that they’d spent in witness protection, would probably make this guy’s eyes light up. A story this juicy was hard to come by! He could just picture the front page of the magazine with his face splashed across it! ‘The Witness Protection Chef!’ It would certainly create a stir and the restaurant would probably be booked out for months! But he didn’t want his success to be based on some sort of gimmick. He wanted to succeed on merit and for people to come here because they wanted to try his food. He wanted to be taken seriously! “Well…” he began, “I see myself as a sort of pioneer… I want to be the one to put Summer Bay on the map…”

“Who’s that guy that Brody’s with?” asked Justin, pointing with his beer bottle towards the booth where they were sitting. Phoebe had gone to the bathroom so he’d finally come up for air long enough to notice his brother’s impromptu interview.

“Some magazine reviewer” said Declan, busily making a couple of cocktails for a girl at the other end of the bar. He put a metal straw in the cocktail shaker, covered the top with his finger to siphon some up, and then tasted it. “He seemed pretty excited about it.” he said, with a little smile as he added more lime juice “Some magazine… ‘Foodie Heaven’ or something like that.”

“Way to go, Brodes!” exclaimed Justin, taking another gulp of beer as he turned on his stool to watch. It seemed to be going well. They were both smiling and laughing.

“Hey!” laughed Phoebe, when she returned to her seat and found Justin staring across the room at Brody, “I thought you were ordering me another Cosmo?!”

“Oh yeah, sorry” he muttered, as he tried to figure out what was being said. He wasn’t good at multitasking.

“What are you doing?” she asked, turning her stool so she could watch Brody too, “Spying on Brodes?!”

“Yeah, he’s got some hotshot reviewer guy in” he whispered, in a conspiratorial sort of tone, “It looks like it’s going well… Doesn’t it?”

She glanced over her shoulder and motioned for Declan to get them another round of drinks before turning her attention back to Brody and Kris. “Yeah…” she said, raising her eyebrows in interest, “It looks like it’s going very well!” She’d just seen Kris throw his head back with laughter, and Brody had flushed up a little red, and giggled in a sheepish way. The more she watched, the more she thought it looked like they were flirting?! She put her hand on Justin’s thigh to get his attention and tilted her head at him in a mischievous sort of way. “You don’t think?” she asked, smirking a little, “You don’t think it’s more than a business meeting… do you?!”

“Huh?” asked Justin, failing to follow her train of thought.

“Look at them, Justin!” she said, motioning with her head towards them again, “Look at the way that guy is looking at him…” Kris had his head resting on his hand, and he was gazing at Brody all dreamy eyed. “Look at the way he keeps touching him on the arm when he says something funny” she said demonstrating on Justin’s arm. “Oh God! You’re so funny!” she exclaimed, in an exaggerated way, before throwing her head back and laughing, “I just luuurrrrrve you!”

“What?!” exclaimed Justin, suddenly joining the dots, “But Brody’s not… I mean… He’s not…?”

Phoebe raised her eyebrows at him and shrugged. “Isn’t he?” she asked, “Are you sure about that?”

“I don’t think…” he began to say, looking startled, “I mean… he’s not...” He couldn’t say 100% for certain that he wasn’t. He knew that Brody had never really had a girlfriend that he was serious about, unless you counted the lesbian that had run off with another girl. He didn’t think that she and Brody had even been sleeping together. And things with Jeannie hadn’t lasted more than a few days. So, maybe he was gay?! How had he never figured that out before?! “I mean…” he said again, “You really think…?”

“You’re telling me you’re not getting some serious ‘vibes’ off those two?!” she laughed, “Cos that guy looks like he’d do anything to get in your brother’s pants right now!”

“Ewwww! Phoebe!” scolded Justin. He didn’t want to think about his brother in that way! Not with a man!

“What?!” she laughed, motioning with her head for him to look again, “I’m just saying… I know what I want when I look at a man that way!”

“Yeah” he said, furrowing his brow as he watched the other man. He recognised a lot of Phoebe’s ‘moves’. It was pretty clear that this Kris guy was gay and that he was sending out a hell of a lot of signals. You would have had to be an idiot not to notice!  Brody seemed to be a lot more reserved though. He was laughing and talking in an animated way but he wasn’t being as touchy feely. He didn’t look like he was flirting. “Just cos the other guy is hot for him” said Justin, “It doesn’t mean Brody’s gay.”

“True” said Phoebe, picking up her Cosmo that had just arrived for her and taking a big sip. They continued to watch as Brody and Kris laughed and chatted. “He does seem to be enjoying his company though” said Phoebe.

“That still doesn’t mean he’s gay” said Justin.

“Shhh!” exclaimed Phoebe, seeing Brody get up from the table and start to make his way back towards them at the bar, “Act natural!”

“Oh sorry!” they heard him say as he bumped into a blonde man on his way across the floor, “I didn’t see you there.” He’d been too distracted and lost in his own little world to watch where he was going and he’d spilt the guy’s drink all over him.

“Hey Brodes!” said Justin, trying to sound as casual as possible when he joined them at the bar, “Looks like things are going well with that reviewer guy? He seems like a good bloke?”

“Yeah, he is!” smiled Brody, as he stepped behind the bar, “He’s great!” He nodded at the blonde man to come over and handed him a couple of free beers as way of apology.

The guy still didn’t seem too pleased, wiping at his stained shirt in an exaggerated way, but he took the drinks and went back to his mates.

Brody motioned at Declan to get Justin and Phoebe another round of drinks and then grinned excitedly at them. “It’s Kris Novotny from ‘Foodie Paradise’!” he practically squealed, “I can’t believe he came down here!”

“Yeah, and it looks like you’re getting on like a house on fire?!” said Phoebe, throwing Justin a knowing sort of glance, “So… he’s here to do a review of Salt?”

“Yeah, he is!” nodded Brody, as he reached for one of their most expensive bottles of wine and two glasses. “It’s the most amazing thing!” he gushed, “He’s gonna do a full two-page write-up on Salt! He thinks my menu is the best bistro style food in New South Wales!”

“I bet he does!” snorted Phoebe.

Justin shook his head at her disapprovingly. He didn’t like her making fun of him under the circumstances.

“Aw, thanks Pheebs!” he said, failing to pick up on her mocking tone, “I just need to get the name ‘Salt’ out there, y’know?!” He picked up the wine bottle and the two glasses and motioned with his head towards the booth table where Kris was eagerly waiting. “Better get back over there before he changes his mind!” he said, with a smile stretched from ear to ear, “You two have a good night!”

“You too, Brodes!” laughed Phoebe, as she watched him practically skip across the room and take his place again beside Kris in the little booth. To anyone who didn’t know any better, the two boys would have looked like a gay couple on a romantic night out. “Oh, come on?!” she teased, throwing her hands out and giving Justin a ‘told you so!’ sort of look, “You can’t say you don’t see it?!”

“Okay! Okay!” he groaned, turning back towards the bar, “Maybe… and I mean ‘maybe’… Maybe you’re right!” He didn’t want to watch anymore. Now that Phoebe had opened his eyes to this startling possibility, watching them felt like intruding on something quite intimate. It felt wrong, like a kind of voyeurism. He thought they deserved some privacy.

“I’m always right” laughed Phoebe, as she drained the last of her Cosmo and flashed him a little grin, “Always!”

Justin picked at the label of his bottle and quietly mulled things over. He’d never really given much thought to Brody’s sexuality. They’d never really talked about it. With all the years of being on the run, none of them had really had the opportunity to form close relationships, and when they had, they’d often had to drop everything and leave people behind. Brody had never really attached himself to anyone for very long. He hadn’t really thought anything of it. But maybe there was more to this thing? Maybe he was gay? It was certainly a possibility. He was a little sad if he’d felt that he couldn’t tell them. Surely, he knew how much they all loved him, and that there was nothing he could ever do to change that? Being gay wouldn’t make the slightest bit of difference to how they felt about him. None at all! All that mattered to any of them was that he was happy. Surely, he knew that?!

“C’mon?” he said, sliding off his stool and taking Phoebe’s hand to make her follow him, “Let’s go… I don’t want to cramp his style…”

 

Saturday Morning…

“I want to go home” huffed Brody, sitting huddled in the bed in his hospital gown, “You can’t keep me here!” He had his arms hugged around his knees, making himself into the smallest ball possible. “No tests! I don’t know how many times I have to say it!”

“No-one’s keeping you here” reasoned Nate, “but I have a duty of care… and you were unconscious when the paramedics found you… You were… you were naked, Brody.”

“So?!” he asked, “What has that got to do with anything?!”

“I would have thought quite a lot” said Nate, with a worried little frown, “I would like to run some basic tests… some blood tests…”

“I’m okay” huffed Brody, “I don’t need blood tests… I’ve told you, I just drank too much… Will you stop overreacting?!”

“I don’t think anyone is overreacting!” said Nate, frowning a little as he looked around the room. Brody had clearly been out of bed and closed the blinds since he’d been gone. The room was decidedly dark and gloomy now. He wondered if he had a headache or some other light sensitivity. The sooner he got some blood tests and a head CT the better, he thought to himself. God knows what drugs he’d been given! “People are just worried about you…” he continued, “I think it’s fair to say that your behaviour is a little out of character.”

“How would you know that?!” snapped Brody, “You hardly know me!”

“I think I know you well enough to know that you wouldn’t go running around on the beach naked…” said Nate, “…and that you hadn’t been drinking enough for you to lose consciousness.” They hadn’t been able to run the normal tox screens, because he’d come round in the ambulance, and been refusing treatment ever since! They couldn’t take blood without his consent unless they got a psych evaluation to say that he was incompetent. They’d paged Psychology for a consultation but no-one had appeared as yet. “I just want to make sure you haven’t had a head injury” he said, looking at him with concern, “…or anything else that we should be worried about.” He didn’t want to jump to conclusions but the signs were all pointing in one direction. Even his hostility was a sign in itself! He felt very sorry for him.

Brody pursed his lips and looked out the window. “I just want to go home” he said, sounding like a petulant child, “I’m just tired.”

“I understand that…” said Nate, sitting down on the side of his bed with a sympathetic little head tilt, “But you were out cold when those people found you… and we just want to find out what happened… and make sure that you’re okay” He was using his ‘now, now, be a good little patient’ voice and giving him his warmest smile. “Come on, Brody?” he coaxed, “It won’t take long… just a couple of blood tests… and if you’re okay with it, I’d like to take a look at those wounds on your neck.” There were two small circular marks on the side of his neck. From a distance, they looked like the burns from a Taser gun.

Brody’s hand shot up to his throat, more out of reflex than anything else, and his eyes widened a little. It was like he’d suddenly remembered something. “I’m okay!” he said, getting up off the bed on the side opposite Nate. “I just want to go home…” he said, wobbling a little and having to catch the side of the bed to steady himself. He was obviously a little dizzy.

“Brody, please?” pleaded, Nate, “You’re in no fit state to go home!” He could see that he had his eyes closed and seemed to be swaying a little. He came around to Brody’s side of the bed and tried to take hold of his arm.

“Get off me!” shouted Brody, flinching away from him quite violently and backing up against the wall, “Don’t touch me!” He looked frightened.

“Okay!” said Nate, holding his hands up in an attempt to calm him, “No touching… Just… Can you please get back into bed?”

“No!” he snapped, giving him a big shove in the middle of the chest and pushing past him, “I’m discharging myself!”

“That’s really not a good idea!” said Nate, catching up to him and holding the door closed, “Please, Brody? Be reasonable! You’re not a well man!”

“I don’t care!” growled Brody, shoving him again so hard that he landed on the floor, “I’m leaving… You can’t keep me prisoner!” Nate stared up at him in shock, as he watched him pull the door open, and barge out into the hallway.  He hadn’t expected him to react so violently or for him to be so strong.

Justin and Tori stood up, looking surprised as they saw their brother run past them in the waiting area. In a flash of white, with his hospital gown gaping open at the back, he was gone!

“What the…?!” said Justin, as he saw Nate come running past them too. “Brody?!” he shouted, running down the hallway after them, only to find Nate, standing there looking confused. Brody was nowhere to be seen. Just two long corridors with lots of open doorways! He could have gone anywhere!

“He’s gone” said Nate, looking left and then right, “I don’t know which way he went!”

“Okay” said Justin, as Tori caught up with them, “I’ll go this way, you go that way… and Tori, you check the stairwells!” With that, they ran off in different directions.

Brody stood inside one of the patient’s rooms with his back against the wall. He was out of breath, and feeling faint, but he couldn’t let Nate catch him! He had to get out of here before they found out what really happened! He couldn’t let anyone know the truth! He froze stock still, holding his breath, as Nate stopped in the doorway. ‘Please?! Just move on!’ he pleaded with him silently, ‘Just keep on going! I’m not in here!’ Nate looked inside the darkened room, but all he could see was the body of an elderly man, with that soft ‘suck whoosh’ sound of a ventilator going on and on. After a moment, he moved on down the hallway. ‘Thank God!’ thought Brody, as he listened to his footsteps growing ever more distant. Now was his chance! He went to the locker beside the man’s bed and opened it. There was a gym bag inside and he sighed with relief when he unzipped it to find a selection of folded up clothes. It was the clothing of an eighty-year-old man, all brown corduroy pants and flannel shirts, but he pulled them out of the bag, and threw them on as quickly as he could. He looked like an extra from a movie about the Great Depression. They were far too big for him! He stuck his head out into the hallway to check for Nate, or the others. The way was clear. It was now or never!

Within a few minutes, he was out, and running for all he was worth. The streets passed in a blur as he ran and ran... His feet burned because he wasn’t wearing any shoes, and the ground was hot from the midday sun, but he just kept going. People were stopping to stare because he must have looked so wild-eyed and desperate. He had no idea where he was going, or what he was going to do when he got there, but his every instinct told him that he had to run! One thought, and one thought only, ran through his head. He had to get away!

[Ludub]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments! I really appreciate it and I'm really glad that you're all enjoying it! Hope you like this one! 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES! 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

Sunday Morning…

“Justin, you know they said they’ll call us as soon as they hear anything” said Mason, sitting down at the kitchen table with a sandwich and a packet of crisps, “Kat said she’d call” He opened the packet and held it out to his older brother. He could see that he looked tired, and he knew that he hadn’t eaten or slept since yesterday. He’d only just come home! He shook the packet a little to get his attention.

“No… thanks” said Justin, waving away the crisps in a frustrated sort of way and setting his phone down on the table. “I can’t just sit around doing nothing!” he groaned, glancing over at his younger brother with a look of disapproval. “I don’t know how you can eat at a time like this…” he said, “Brody could be hurt… He could be dead for all we know!”

“He’s not” said Mason, with a mouth full of ham salad sandwich, “We’d know if he was…”

“You can’t know that” sighed Justin, “People just go missing.” He picked up his phone, checking it for the millionth time today, and sighing when he saw that there were no new messages. Tori was out driving around now and she’d said that she’d let him know as soon as she found him. He’d been doing the same for hours! Just driving around and asking everyone he saw. There was no sign of him.

“Yeah, they do” mumbled Mason, still chewing through a huge chunk of white bread, “But he’s only been gone a little while…”

“21 hours!” said Justin, “He’s been gone all night! …And he’s not in any fit state to be wandering about out there.”

“Yeah, about that?” said Mason, waggling his half-eaten sandwich at him as he tried to swallow a mouthful of bread, “I don’t understand what the fuss is… I thought Tori said he’d just overdone it and passed out on the beach?”

“There’s more to it than that” sighed Justin, “But we didn’t want to tell you when Raffy was here.” He glanced around him to make sure that she wasn’t within hearing range and then got up to go and check that she wasn’t hiding out in the hallway. They’d sent her to walk Buddy about fifteen minutes ago, but she did have a habit of sneaking back in unnoticed, just so she could eavesdrop.  Once satisfied that she wasn’t around he turned back to Mason and shook his head a little sadly. “We think…” he said, lowering his voice a little, “We think he might have been assaulted.”

“Assaulted?!” exclaimed Mason, suddenly getting to his feet, “By who?!”

“Shhhh!” warned Justin, motioning with his hand for him to keep his voice down, “We’re not sure… He was talking to some restaurant reviewer the other night, and the guy was coming on pretty strong… Being all flirty… Next thing Brody’s on the beach naked and dead to the world… I mean… out cold! Like he’d been drugged or something… or I don’t know… hit on the head maybe? …It could be either…”

“So” said Mason, looking wide-eyed in shock, “When you said ‘assaulted’… you meant…?”

“Yeah…” said Justin, nodding in a deliberate way, “That’s what I mean… He’s been acting pretty weird…”

“How’s he meant to act?!” asked Mason, grimacing at the thought of it, “I mean… you think… you think he was…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words. He just hoped it wasn’t true!

“Yeah… I do” admitted Justin.

“He was what?” asked Raffy, skipping through the back door with Buddy on his lead. “You think he was what?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two with narrowed eyes. It was clear that they’d been caught out talking about something that they didn’t want her to hear. She was having none of it. Surely, she was part of this family too?! “Justin?!” she whined, when she got no response, “You think Brody was what?! He’s my brother too!”

“Oh… just that he must have been pretty drunk” he said, going over to her and putting his arm around her shoulder, “Don’t worry, Raf… He’ll be home soon.”

“You never tell me anything!” she groaned, “I’m not a little kid! When are you gonna stop treating me like one?!”

“We don’t” said Mason, “That’s the truth… we were just talking about how drunk Brody must have been.”

“Yeah… right” she said sarcastically, “That’s why you went all quiet when I came in!” She let Buddy off his lead and shook her head at them in disgust. “I’ll go to my room then, shall I? So, you can talk about stuff when I’m not here?!” With that she pushed past Justin, and started heading for her room in a strop. “Maybe Brody had the right idea?!” she shouted as she headed out into the hallway, “Maybe I should run away from home too?!”

“Raf…” shouted Justin, as she stomped down the hallway, “Don’t be like tha…” He didn’t get to finish the word before the door slammed shut. “Great!” he muttered, “Just what we need…”

Mason just rolled his eyes and took another bite of his sandwich.

There was a sound of jangling keys at the front door and they both turned to look with hopeful expressions. Maybe he’d just come home?

“I couldn’t find him” sighed Tori, as she came through the door, throwing her bag on the floor, and herself on the couch, “I asked everyone I saw… I showed them his photo… Nothing… No-one’s seen him!”

“Did you try all the guys at Salt?” asked Mason, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

“We’ve tried everyone” said Justin, sitting down on the arm of the couch and putting his arm around Tori. He gave her shoulder a little squeeze and she looked up at him with a tired sigh. Neither of them had stopped since Brody had run past them yesterday morning. He could see how tired she looked. “Phoebe’s got people out looking round the caravan park and up and down the beach” he said, glancing at his phone again, “I don’t know what else we can do… We’re running out of places to look.”

“Kat said they’ll put out a missing person’s report once it’s been 24 hours” said Tori, “It’ll be on the TV and radio news…”

Suddenly they all turned to look when they heard the sound of running water, as though the shower had been turned on in the bathroom.

“Is that Raffy?” asked Tori, looking at the other two boys.

“I don’t know” said Mason, starting to make his way towards the corridor, “I think she had a shower about an hour ago?”

Tori looked up at Justin and gave a little shrug before getting to her feet and following Mason out into the hallway. All three of them gathered outside the door and Justin knocked a little timidly. “Raf?!” he called, before knocking a second time, “Are you in the shower?!”

Raffy opened her bedroom door, up the corridor behind them, and stuck her head out. “No… I’m in here” she said, sounding a little confused, “Who’s in the bathroom?”

Justin glanced at her and then at the other two with a look of surprise.

“Well it’s not Buddy!” said Mason.

They all rolled their eyes at him. It couldn’t be Phoebe either. She was still out and about searching… so that only left one other person that it could be!

“Brody?” called Justin, pressing his ear up against the door and listening for any sound inside, “Mate, is that you in there?!” There was no answer, but his eyes widened when he realised that he could hear crying. It wasn’t loud, but it was the unmistakable sound of someone softly sobbing. “Mate?” he called out again, “Please, Brodes?! We just want to help… Please let us in?!”

Tori pressed her ear against the door too and locked eyes with Justin. She made a little grimace when she realised what she was listening to. Her heart went out to him. “Please, Brodes?!” she pleaded, “We all love you… and we… we just want to help… Can you open the door for us?”

“Go away!” came a sudden throaty scream, full of pain and anguish. He was sitting on the floor of the shower with his knees pulled up to his chest and tears were flooding down his face. He didn’t want anyone to see him right now. He just wanted to be alone. Why couldn’t they understand that?!  “Just go!” he begged them.

“Barty?” pleaded Tori, using his old name and stroking the door with her hand as she began to cry, “Please?! Don’t push us away…”

“Mate, please?!” called Mason, “We’re not going anywhere…”

“I don’t want you!” sobbed Brody, “I don’t want any of you!” It wasn’t true.

“Well, mate…” said Justin, “You’ve got us whether you want us or not… and I’m gonna break this door down if you don’t open it!” He took a step back to put his shoulder against it.

“No!” mouthed Tori, shaking her head at him in admonishment. She knew that Brody needed to open the door of his own accord. If they were right about what had happened on Friday night, then he’d already been forced to do things that he didn’t want to do. Taking his privacy by force was not the way to go. “He’s not gonna do that!” shouted Tori, in the kind of voice that she normally only used with difficult patients, “No-one’s gonna break the door down… You can keep it locked if you want to… But we’d really like it if you opened it… We’re worried about you…”

“Yeah, mate… listen” said Justin, throwing her an apologetic look, “I didn’t mean that…”

Brody sat and stared at the door. He knew that they were all out there waiting for him. His entire family. The people who loved him. The people he loved… and he needed them more now than ever. But how was he ever going to explain things to them? How would they ever look at him the same way after what had happened?!

Justin motioned at the other three to go back to the living-room and to leave him there to try to talk to him on his own. Tori nodded and shepherded Mason and Raffy ahead of her down the hallway. “Mate, it’s just me now” he said, sitting down on the floor outside the bathroom with his back against the wall, “You can talk to me you know… about anything…”

“Please, Justin?!” sobbed Brody, “I don’t want to talk to anybody right now… It’s just… I just… I can’t!”

“Mate” said Justin, turning to look at the little gap below the door, “You can… You know you can”. He wanted to put his face down there and peer underneath. He wanted to see what he was doing in there, in case he was hurting himself. He wouldn’t do that though. Tori was right. They had to respect his privacy. “No matter what’s happened…” said Justin, “It doesn’t change the way we feel about you…”

Brody stared at the door in a sad sort of way. He wanted to open it so much! He wanted to have his big brother put his arms around him and tell him that everything was going to be alright. He wanted that more than anything. He didn’t just want it, he needed it! The problem was that he didn’t believe him. They would see him differently when they found out. Everyone would! And they’d be right to!

“Come on, mate?!” pleaded Justin, “Open the door?”

He gave a little sigh. He could see Justin’s shadow under the door and the tips of his fingers as they rested on the floor. This would probably be the last time that he got to be part of a family. The last time that he got to have brothers and sisters and people who really cared about him. The last time that he got to just be a normal guy. It wouldn’t be long until they found out what he really was, so maybe he should just try to make the most of it, while he still had the chance? He wiped his face and got to his feet a little shakily, turning the water off, and pulling a towel around his waist.

Justin listened to the water stop and turned to look at the door a little hopefully. There certainly seemed to be some movement in there! Maybe he was coming out?!

Brody turned and wiped at the steam on the mirror above the sink. ‘How will they ever accept me?’ he said to himself, sighing heavily as he gazed into it, ‘How will I ever explain this to them?!’

“Brodes, come on…” said Justin, getting to his feet when he heard him approach the door, “Please… just open the door?”

With a little click, Brody unlocked the door, and pulled it open.

“Brody!” gasped Justin, throwing his arms around his brother and pulling him into a tight hug. He felt him tense for a moment, as though he was going to pull away, but then he just collapsed in his arms and started to cry inconsolably. His whole body was shaking. “Hey, it’s okay” he said, rocking him from side to side, and cradling the back of his head in his hand, “It’s okay, mate… It’s all gonna be okay… I’ve got ya…”

Brody clenched his teeth as he allowed his brother to hold him against his chest. He could hear Justin’s heartbeat thudding in his chest and feel the warmth of his brother’s embrace. He was going to miss this. This simple human kindness. The bond between family members who care about each other…

“Hey, Brodes?” said Justin, rubbing his hand up and down his brother’s back to try to warm him up a bit. He figured that he must have run out of hot water in the shower and been sitting there with cold water crashing down on top of him. “You’re freezing, mate!” he said, gently leading him towards his own bedroom, “C’mon… Let’s get you dressed?”

Edited June 28, 2017 by Ludub

[Ludub]

Okay, so... I am exceedingly nervous about this chapter  I hope you like it...

 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT! (You have been warned!)

 

CHAPTER 4

 

Back to Friday night…

“This is me” said Kris, giggling a little anxiously as he fumbled with the keys to his hotel room. He was obviously quite excited. So much so that he couldn’t get his fingers to work properly and he ended up dropping them on the floor. “Sorry!” he laughed, as he bent over to pick them up, “Butter fingers!” He was also drunk from the two bottles of wine that they’d had after dinner.

Brody gave him a nervous smile. He didn’t know what had possessed him to come here with him, but he was here now, and in some ways, he felt obligated. He wondered if it could have been the wine? He was pretty drunk, and he was definitely behaving in a way that was very out of character, but there was just something about this man that drew him to him. He couldn’t explain it. It was like they were connected in some way. “Don’t worry” he said, as he watched the other man unlock the door, “It’s fine.”

Kris pushed the door open, revealing a hotel room, with romantic lighting and a big double bed right in the middle. It was one of those high-end boutique type places, with lots of dark wood, and dipped lighting, but crisp white bed linen. It was down by the beach and all one side of the room was glass. He dropped the keys on the table by the door and turned with a little smile. “Well?” he asked, as Brody dithered in the doorway, “Are you coming in or what?”

“Uhhh… yeah” mumbled Brody, as he stepped inside, “Just for one, though, yeah?” He didn’t know why he’d accepted this invitation. He’d been invited back for a drink, but it wasn’t like there was any doubt about what that meant! If they’d wanted another drink, they could have stayed in the bar. Coming back here was for one reason, and one reason only. They both knew it! The thought of having sex with him, both disgusted and intrigued him. He’d never enjoyed sex before, but he’d never had sex with a man before either, so maybe it would make all the difference? Maybe this was what he’d been missing out on for all these years?! ‘Maybe I’m gay’ he tried to tell himself, ‘Maybe that’s why I’ve never liked sex with women… How will I know if I never try it?” Deep down, he knew it wasn’t true.

“Course!” said Kris, with a knowing little smile, “What d’ya feel like?” He headed over to the minibar, crouching down in front of it, and opening the door. “Sooo… we’ve got whiskey, vodka, gin…” he said, moving the little bottles about, “Um… beer… wine?”

“Whiskey?” said Brody, shifting from one foot to the other in an anxious sort of way, “No ice.” Kris nodded and pulled one of the little bottles out of the fridge to set on the counter above him. As he rummaged around in the fridge a little more, trying to decide what to have himself, Brody couldn’t resist having a sneaky little look at his bum. He had to admit, he did have a nice body. He was toned, but not one of those muscle-head gym guys, and he had nice tanned skin. He could do a lot worse, he thought to himself. ‘But am I physically attracted to him?’ he asked himself, “Do I want to have sex with him?’ He really didn’t know. He spotted a leather armchair and decided to go and sit in it. Maybe he’d look less nervous if he was sitting down? Maybe he’d feel less nervous? Anything was worth a try!

“I’ll just get the glasses” said Kris, giving him a little wink as he walked past him. The glasses were in the bathroom.

Brody watched him go. He looked at the shape of his back and shoulders as he walked away from him. He tried to imagine what it would feel like to have those arms around him and that naked body pressed against his own. It would be very different from his previous experiences with women, that was for sure! For one thing, it was clear that Kris would be the one in control, and that he would have to take the more submissive role. He was pretty sure that he was going to be the ‘bottom’ if it ever came to it and that really frightened him. He wondered if it was going to hurt. He hoped not! But then again, maybe he’d enjoy it? Gay men obviously did! They couldn’t all be masochists!

“So” said Kris, coming back in with the empty glasses, “Let’s have that drink then, eh?”

“Yeah… um…” stammered Brody, “Cool… Thanks…” He picked up a leaflet off the arm of the chair and pretended to read it. He couldn’t really see straight enough to read it but he needed to do something to distract himself! ‘How drunk am I?!’ he asked himself.

“No ice?” checked Kris... When he didn’t get an answer, he turned to look at him and repeated it in a louder voice. “NO ICE?”

“What?!” asked Brody, jumping a little and dropping the leaflet. “Oh, yeah, sorry… no ice” he said, picking it up again with an embarrassed little smile. “Sorry” he said, before dropping it on the table in front of him.

“Relax!” said Kris, pouring the drinks into the glasses and then handing his to him. He gave him a sympathetic little head tilt and said, “I know this is your first time.”

“What?!” asked Brody, looking up at him in shock, “How… I mean…?!”

“Oh, come on!” laughed Kris, “You’ve got ‘first-timer’ written all over you!”

“Thanks” said Brody, flushing a little red and looking down at the floor. This was mortifying!

“Don’t be embarrassed!” said Kris, lifting his gin and tonic and coming to sit on the arm of the chair beside him, “Everyone has a first time…” He took a sip of his gin and gave a little shrug. “I mean… I don’t know if this is just some experimental phase for you…” he said, “If it is, that’s cool…I don’t mind… But we don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do…”

“I uh…” said Brody, giving an embarrassed little shrug. He didn’t know what to say.

“Seriously!” continued Kris, “If you just wanna have a drink and then say goodnight… That’s fine.”

Brody looked up at him again and gave him a relieved little smile. It was certainly true that he liked him. He’d really enjoyed tonight in the bar. This was the most fun that he’d had with someone in a very long time, and he felt a strange bond with this man that he couldn’t explain. They kind of ‘got’ each other and there was definitely an attraction there! It might not have been sexual, but it was definitely there! He found him funny, and very charismatic, and he liked it when he smiled… but he wasn’t so sure about seeing him naked. The thought of having to deal with another man’s penis made him feel a little bit sick… But then he’d never really felt that attracted to anyone. He certainly didn’t like lady’s bits, so it wasn’t about him being the wrong gender. He just didn’t want to be that up close and personal with anyone else’s genitals… Male or female! He even had mixed feelings about his own! But maybe this whole sex thing was just something that he needed to get past? Maybe if they had sex tonight, then it might be easier the next time? Maybe he’d just get used to it, like having an embarrassing medical exam that got a little bit easier each time you had to do it? Not something you enjoyed, but not that bad once you stopped worrying about it. And maybe it wouldn’t actually be that bad? If it wasn’t, then maybe he’d be able to do it more regularly, and actually have a ‘normal-ish’ relationship with someone? Maybe even with Kris? If he could have a boyfriend that he got on with as well as he did Kris, then maybe he could put up with having to sleep with him every now and then? It might even be easier with a man because he’d be able to take a more passive role? ‘Lie there and think of England’, so to speak. Or Australia, he supposed? Maybe it was just the price he’d have to pay for companionship? …He took a deep breath and then threw his glass of whiskey back in one go.

“I mean it…” said Kris, looking a little disappointed, “I really enjoyed tonight…” He’d seen him throw his whiskey back, and he figured if he was drinking it so quickly, it must mean that he wanted to leave. He gave a little nod, when he saw him start to get to his feet. “So, if you want to go…” he started to say, “…that’s okay.”

Suddenly Brody reached for him, pulling him forward by his shirt, and planting a forceful kiss on his lips. ‘Oh God!’ he thought, feeling surprised at his own actions, ‘What are you doing, Brody?! What the hell are you doing?!’

“Oh!” said Kris, pulling back for a moment and looking at him in surprise, “Are… are you sure?!”

“I don’t want to go” said Brody, taking his glass out of his hand and setting it down on the coffee table, “I want you to show me.” ‘What are you even saying?!’ he screamed at himself, ‘You want him to show you?! To show you what?! …Are you insane?!’

“Okay” said Kris, with a surprised little snort.

Brody smiled and gave a little nod. On the outside, he looked relatively calm, but inside he was panicking! His heart was beating so fast it felt like it might burst. ‘What are you doing?!’ he screamed at himself, as he found himself kissing him again. A hot meaty tongue suddenly found its way inside his mouth and he felt his stomach give a lurch. It was disgusting, and he wasn’t enjoying the feel of it at all, but he tried to concentrate on doing what he was ‘supposed’ to do. ‘Act normal!’ he scolded himself, ‘Pretend that you’re enjoying this! Everyone else in the world enjoys this stuff, so what the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Come on!” said Kris, getting up from the arm of the chair with a look of excitement. He put his arms around his waist and leaned in to give him a tentative little peck on the lips. When he saw Brody smile, he went back in for a much harder kiss, and pulled him in close against his body.

‘Oh God!’ he said to himself, when he felt Kris’ groin press up against him. There was a noticeable hardness there! He was clearly a lot more excited about this than he was! They began to stagger across the room as Kris became a little more aggressive about things. Before he knew it, he’d allowed him to pull his shirt up over his head, and now he was kissing his neck and chest. He couldn’t quite figure out what to do with his hands, so he reached up and tangled his fingers in his hair. That only led to Kris kissing him even more passionately, so much so he could hardly breathe. It was all quite frantic, and he felt like it was moving at much too fast a pace. It was clear that he was being pushed, step by step, backwards towards the bed. ‘Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!’ he repeated to himself, as his heart thumped and thumped, in sheer panic, ‘What are you doing?!’ Was he really going to do this, he asked himself?! Was he going to go through with it?! Was he really going to let this man have his way with him?!

Suddenly he was on his back, and staring at Kris in fear. He watched him swiftly get undressed. He’d never seen someone take their shirt, trousers, and underwear off so quickly, and yet in such a seductive manner. This clearly wasn’t his first rodeo! He gave an involuntary gasp when a now naked Kris climbed on top of him and kissed him. The heat of the other man’s skin against his own and the sudden closeness of his body was a shock. ‘Oh God!’ he said to himself again, as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. It was as though it was happening to someone else! He couldn’t move! He felt frozen, somehow. Paralysed! It was as though he was simply a bystander and unable to do anything to stop it. A naked and very aroused man was now straddling him, and undoing his belt with practiced ease.

“You’re really hot, you know that?!” smiled Kris, as he continued to undress him, “I mean, this whole shy-boy act is a real turn on…” He tugged his trousers and boxers down to mid-thigh level and then gave him a mischievous little smile. It was done in a ‘what do we have here?’ kind of way.

Brody glanced down at his own crotch and flushed a little with embarrassment. It seemed that his body was ready to go, even if he wasn’t! Within a moment, all of his clothes were lying in a dishevelled pile on the bedroom floor and they were both fully naked! How had this happened, he wondered to himself?! “W-wait” he stammered, as Kris began to kiss down his abdomen towards his groin. “Wait!” he gasped again, this time reaching down to pull him away.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve gone all shy on me again?!” teased Kris, as he moved back up to kiss him on the mouth. “I mean… it’s cute and everything… but…”

“Please… just…” he managed to get out between kisses, “Just… wait!” He kept having to tell himself to try to relax his mouth. All the girls that he’d ever kissed had complained about that. One of them had even said that he kissed like a ‘letterbox’! He’d taken it to heart, and become more and more self-conscious about it, so fixing it was easier said than done. And he wasn’t enjoying this at all, truth be told, so it really wasn’t easy to relax. “Wait?!” he pleaded again, as Kris’ hands began to wander a little too much for comfort, “Wait, Kris?! Please?!”

“Wait… for… what?” asked Kris, slipping his hand up Brody’s inner thigh with a mischievous little grin, “You know you want this!”

“Oh ****!” exclaimed Brody, jolting a little when Kris’ hand took hold of him unexpectedly. He gave an involuntary groan, part pleasure and part shock, and reached for his hand to stop him. “Stop!” he said, pulling at his wrist, “Wait, please?!” He was really panicking now! He didn’t want this! He didn’t want him!

“Shhh!” laughed Kris, ignoring his protests and stopping his mouth with a hard and passionate kiss. “It’s okay!” he said, coming up for air with an excited smile. “It’s okay…” he insisted, continuing his efforts despite Brody’s half-hearted attempts to stop him. “Relax!” he whispered again, with a little smirk, “Shhh shhh shhh! Relax! …It’s okay!” He didn’t think that Brody really wanted him to stop…

‘Okay’ thought Brody, desperately trying to relax as panic raged through his body, ‘Just try… try to enjoy it… Just try!’ He could feel tears threatening to come, but he was telling himself off in his head. ‘Other people enjoy these things!’ he told himself, trying to zone in on some of the more pleasurable sensations, and ignore how violated and embarrassed he felt, ‘Normal people enjoy this stuff…” he told himself, “Just try to be normal for once! Stop being such a freak!’ It was certainly easier said than done! Having someone that he’d only just met fondle his private parts was not something that he was used to. It was a little bit like having his testicles examined that time at the hospital… or having a catheter put in. Immensely embarrassing when you weren’t used to it, but something that had to be done. Something that had to be got through… The only difference between that time and this, was that the person doing the fondling was obviously hoping for a very different outcome! ‘Pretend!’ he told himself, clamping his eyes shut for a moment to try to stifle his tears, ‘Just pretend you’re enjoying it…’ He let out a little moan, looking up into Kris’ eyes, and doing his best to make it seem like he was okay with this. He even tried to force a smile. ‘Maybe it’ll get better…’ he told himself.

“Don’t worry!” whispered Kris, leaning down to give him a kiss on the neck, “I’ll be gentle… You’re in good hands…”

Edited June 30, 2017 by Ludub

[Ludub]

Okey dokey, so here we go... Hope you like this one!

 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT!

 

CHAPTER 5

 

Sunday Morning…

“Where is he?!” asked Tori, standing up as soon as she saw Justin walk into the livingroom. She’d heard him come out of the bathroom, but Justin had taken him to his room, and they’d been in there for at least half an hour. She’d been getting anxious. “Is he okay?!” she asked.

“I think he’s pretty far from okay” said Justin, heading into the kitchen and filling the kettle, “But he’s in his room now…” he said, turning and leaning his back against the kitchen counter to look at them, “So, I’m gonna make him a cup of tea.”

“Has he said anything?” asked Mason.

Justin glanced at Raffy in a ‘careful what you say in front of the kid’ kind of way. “Uhhh…” he stalled, “He uhhh…”

“She knows” said Tori, sitting down on the arm of the couch and putting her arm around Raffy’s shoulder, “I didn’t think it was fair… keeping it from her”

Raffy frowned at him. “At least someone thinks I deserve to be part of this family!” she said huffily.

“It’s not like that, Raf!” he said, rolling his eyes and turning back to the boiling kettle. Why did they always have to undermine him like this? It always put him in an awkward position. “We’re just looking out for you” he said, over his shoulder.

“Yeah, well…” she replied, pouting and folding her arms across her chest when she saw him glance round at her, “I’m not a little kid!”

“Okay!” he said, in an exasperated tone, “I’ll keep that in mind!” He opened the fridge and got the milk out, just as the kettle clicked off.

“Well?” asked Tori, “Has he said what happened? Is he… Is he hurt?” This was killing her, not being able to go in there and see how he was for herself. She couldn’t help feeling a little resentful, and it was coming through in her tone.

“He’s not really talking” he said, lifting two cups down from the cupboard and dropping two teabags into them, “But at least he’s out of the bathroom… and I got him some warm clothes.”

“It’s over 30 degrees!” said Mason, wrinkling his nose in disbelief, “How is he cold?!”

“I don’t know…” he said, picking up the cups of tea and a packet of chocolate biscuits to take out to Brody’s room. “I think he took a cold shower or something… Or maybe he’s in shock… or maybe it’s just cos he slept outside all night… but whatever it is, his hands are ice cold! …I mean, like, freezing!”

“That could be something serious…” said Tori, standing up and starting to move towards his bedroom, “I want to see him… I need to get a look at him!”

“Woah woah woah!” said Justin, stepping into her path, “You do that and he’ll barricade himself in his bedroom!”

“I can’t just sit back and do nothing!” she snapped, “If he’s cold, it could be any number of things… Shock, a head injury, blood loss…” She tried to step around Justin again. “I need to examine him!”

“He asked me to keep you away” he said, with an apologetic head tilt, “He isn’t ready to deal with people…”

“I’m not people!” she snapped, “I’m his sister!”

“He’s barely even talking to me!” he reasoned, “You need to let me do this, Tori!”

“No, Justin!” she argued, pointing out at the hallway, “I need to! …I need to be in there because I’m a doctor and I have a duty of care!” She tried to push past him again but he wouldn’t move. “Justin!” she shouted, “Get out of my way!”

“No, Tori!” he shouted back, “I promised him…”

“But Justin?!” she whined, “This is ridiculous!”

“I promised him!” he repeated, “And right now, he needs to know that he has someone he can trust!”

She stared at him for a moment with pursed lips. She hated it when he went all ‘head of the family on her’! And she hated it even more when he was right! If Brody didn’t want her in there then she had to respect that. She knew that! She’d dealt with her fair share of rape victims in her time. “Fine!” she huffed, sitting back down on the arm of the couch, “But you need to come and get me if he…”

“I will” he said, nodding at Mason to look after her, “I’ll keep a close eye on him.”

“You’d better!” she said, scowling up at him. She knew that it wasn’t really fair to be angry with him. It wasn’t his fault that Brody felt more comfortable talking to him than to her, but she couldn’t help feeling rejected. They’d both basically raised him! “Can you at least see if he’ll let us take him back to the hospital?” she asked, “We need to find out what happened to him…”

“I know that” sighed Justin, “But right now, all I want is to make sure he stays put… We don’t need him running off like that again… He needs to feel safe.”

“I’ve let Kat know that he’s back” said Mason, holding up his phone, “She wants to come over to take a statement from him when he’s ready…”

“He’s not ready for that” he said, shaking his head, “You haven’t seen him … I don’t know what’s happened but it’s not good.”

“He can’t just leave it unreported!” said Tori, “Not when that guy’s out there… maybe doing it to other people!”

“I know that!” he snapped, “But he’ll talk when he’s ready… and not before!”

“Okay” said Tori, “But you can be the one to tell Kat that!”

“Fine with me” he said, as he turned and headed up the hallway.

They watched him go and glanced at each other in a worried sort of way. Raffy turned to look at Tori and began to tear up a little. “He is gonna be okay, isn’t he?” she asked.

“Yeah, sweetie” she said, resting her head against hers and glancing over at Mason with fear in her eyes, “Of course, he is!”

Justin walked up the hallway with the two cups of tea in his hands and the packet of chocolate biscuits under his arm. He was surprised to see Buddy scratching at the base of Brody’s door and giving worried little growls. “Hey! Buddy!” he called, when he got a bit closer, “What are you doing, boy?!”

The dog ignored him and continued scratching at the door as though he wanted to dig his way through. His hackles were raised and he was scratching furiously at the gap under the door. It was like there was a rat or a mouse hiding in there. Whatever it was, he wanted at it!

“Buds!” he called a bit louder and this time the dog looked up at him. “Come on boy! C’mere!” he called, but the dog ignored him again and went back to digging. Justin turned back down the hall and yelled “Raffy! Can you come and take Buddy outside?! I think he needs to go!”

He smiled when the blonde girl came out into the hallway, but frowned a little when she didn’t return his smile. She walked straight past him, taking hold of the dog’s collar, and then passed him again with her nose stuck in the air.

“Raf! Come on?!” he pleaded, “Don’t be like that!”

She just kept on walking. Buddy kept glancing back as he was pulled away and making a strange sort of high pitched whining noise. He didn’t want to go!

Justin put the two cups in one hand so he could open Brody’s door. “Brodes?” he said, in a gentle tone of voice, as he pushed it open, “I made us some tea… Is it okay if I come in again?” He was surprised to see the room so dark. Brody had closed the curtains to keep out the bright morning sunlight. Understandable really, seeing as he’d been out all night and probably hadn’t had any sleep.

“Yeah” said Brody, sitting crouched on his bed in a pair of jeans and a heavy long sleeve t-shirt. They’d thrown his ‘old man’ clothes in the wash basket. He had his arms wrapped around his knees and he was gently rocking back and forth where he sat. He nodded for Justin to set the tea down on the bedside table, trying to hide the fact that the thought of it was making his stomach churn, and desperately trying to give him a smile. “Sorry!” he said, as his attempt at a smile turned to a grimace and he started crying again, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” That wasn’t true.

Justin sat down on the bed and placed the two cups on the bedside table. “It’s okay, mate” he said softly, “It’s okay to cry.” He set the packet of biscuits down on the bed between them and gave him a soft little smile.

“You don’t understand!” cried Brody, burying his face in his knees, “You don’t know!”

“You could try to tell me?” he said, in a coaxing tone of voice, “Mate…. There’ll be no judgement here.”

Brody gave a little snort and wiped his eyes with the heel of his hands. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew” he said, bursting into tears again, “You wouldn’t!”

“Try me” said Justin.

“I can’t” he said, shaking his head, “I just… I just can’t!”

“Mate, there is nothing you could do” said Justin, reaching over and squeezing his shoulder, “Nothing you could do that would make me not love you…” He looked him in the eye and shook his head a little sadly. “Don’t you understand that?!”

“Not this!” said Brody, shaking his head in a decisive way, “Not this! You won’t forgive this!”

Justin furrowed his brows at him. How could he think that he would ever think badly of him for something like this?! He’d been sexually assaulted, for Christ sake! Did he think that he was going to tell him he deserved it for being gay, or something?! That he’d brought it on himself?! What kind of Neanderthal did he think he was?! The world had moved on from views like that, surely?! He was a little offended that he’d think so little of him!

“Brody” he began, looking down at the bedcovers in an embarrassed sort of way, “It… It’s okay if you’re… y’know… if you’re gay?”

 

*****

 

Back to Saturday morning (around 3am)

 

Brody staggered along the beach in only his underwear. He had the rest of his clothes in a little bundle in his arms. He’d simply grabbed them and run! He hadn’t taken the time to put them on because he’d just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, but now he was holding them to his chest in the way that a small child would hold a soft toy. It was comforting in a way. Maybe it was some sort of instinctual thing of needing to be held, or to hold someone else when you’re hurting? He was in pain. Not just physical, but emotional too. He couldn’t stop shaking. So many thoughts were whirring around in his mind…. Why had he gone there tonight?! What had he been thinking?! How could he have been such an idiot?! What was he going to do now?!

To anyone passing by, he would have looked a rather shocking sight. He had a blood smear right across his cheek from where he’d wiped his nose, and his face was red and blotchy from all the crying. He looked a mess! He gazed around the moonlit beach and gave a relieved little sigh. At least there was no-one there to see him. No-one there to make him feel even more ashamed of himself than he already did!  

It was dark, except for the light of the waning moon, and the beach was deserted now that all the residents of Summer Bay had gone to bed. He was the only lost soul, still out and about at this late hour, and walking along the water’s edge.

He stopped walking, and set his little bundle of clothes on the sand, before staring out to sea. There was no wind tonight. The water was calm and tranquil, contrasting sharply with the utter turmoil that was raging inside of him! He glanced up and down the beach again, to make sure that no-one else was there, and then slowly slid his boxer shorts down. He wasn’t usually one for nudity, and part of him was terrified that he’d get caught skinny-dipping, but right now, he needed to feel clean. He needed to wash away what had happened tonight! But more than anything, he just wanted to forget.

He edged his way into the water. It was cold, and he was quickly shivering and shaking, with chattering teeth, but it wasn’t so bad once he got a bit further in. He stuck his head below the surface and took a mouthful of salty sea water. Coming back up, he held the water in his mouth, and swished it about to try to clean away the taste of Kris. Then he spat it out. He felt his stomach churn a little, cringing at the thought of what they’d just done in that hotel room. He’d never felt more disgusted with himself. He felt dirty… and used. He began to wash himself, trying desperately to remove any trace of this evening’s events, but he winced a little with discomfort. Kris had ended up hurting him, even though he’d promised not to. As it turned out, he’d been right to be worried. That same question whirred round and round in his head. ‘Why did you do this?!’ he asked himself over and over, ‘Why did you go there with him when you know you’re not gay?! Why did you do that?!’  He didn’t have an answer. Tears began to well up in his eyes.

Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him on the beach, and he froze stock still. There was someone there! There was someone watching him!

‘Oh God!’ he screamed inside his own head, ‘It’s him! He’s followed me here!’ He was in full panic mode. His heart was going a mile a minute and he felt like his legs had suddenly turned to jelly. What was he going to do?! Here he was, naked in the water, and there was nowhere for him to go! He wanted to escape! He wanted to disappear! What he didn’t want was to ever see that man again! He didn’t want to see him. He didn’t want to talk him. And he definitely didn’t want to be anywhere near him! The thought of him touching him again in any way just made his skin crawl…

Slowly, he began to turn around. The presence behind him hadn’t moved away. He could feel his eyes on him, as though they were burning a hole in his flesh. Why couldn’t he just leave him alone, he wondered?! He began to shudder at the terrible thought that he might be back for round two! ‘Please go away’ he pleaded with him silently, ‘I didn’t want it before… and I don’t want it now!’

As he turned to face the beach, he saw him standing there on the sand. It looked as though he was waiting for him, just standing there beside the pile of crumpled clothes, and watching him from a distance. A cold shiver ran down his back as he met the other man’s eyes. There was something truly threatening about the way that his gaze lingered on exposed parts of his body. It was like he was simply a piece of meat and there to be devoured! He was petrified!

“What… What do you want?!” he asked, unable to hide the tremble in his voice, “What are you doing here?!”

Edited July 4, 2017 by Ludub

[Ludub]

Thanks for the kind comments folks! Much appreciated! Here's the new chapter! 

 

WARNING: ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT!

 

Chapter 6

 

Sunday morning continued…

“What?!” exclaimed Brody, looking shocked and disgusted, “I’m… I’m not!” If there was one thing that he knew now, it was that he wasn’t gay. Friday had more than answered that question for him. There was no doubt in his mind. He wasn’t straight, he wasn’t bi, and he definitely wasn’t gay! He was nothing at all! In fact, he was even more ‘nothing’ now, than he had been then… And now he was angry!

Justin tilted his head at him in pity. “It’s okay” he repeated, “I hadn’t realised it… but when Phoebe said…”

“Phoebe said what?!” gasped Brody, pulling away from him with a look of pure disgust, “She said…? She said that I’m gay?!” He wrinkled his nose in revulsion. “Where does she get off…” he growled at him, “…making assumptions like that?! Talking about me behind my back?!” He was genuinely hurt. Had they been laughing at him?!

“She… she thought…” stammered Justin, realising that he may have misjudged this a little, “She thought maybe…”

“Well, I’m not!” he shouted at him, clambering off the other side of the bed and hugging his arms around his chest. He could see the doubting expression on his brother’s face, almost mocking him. He hated him right now. “I’m not!” he roared at him.

“Mate, I know you left the bar…” he said, wondering how best to phrase this, “…with… with that guy?”

“So?!” he asked, feeling a little shocked that Justin had been keeping tabs on him. He guessed that Declan must have told him. Had they all been having a good old laugh at his expense?!

“So maybe …maybe you liked him?” asked Justin, in a cautious sort of way, “Maybe you went back to his?”

“That’s none of your business!” he scowled. He still didn’t understand why he’d done it. Nothing could have been more out of character! Hooking up with some random guy and going back to his hotel room with him?! What the hell had he been thinking?!

“Come on, Brody?!” said Justin, getting to his feet, “I don’t have a problem with it… I mean… y’know? …If you are…”

“Oh, well!” exclaimed Brody, in a theatrical tone of voice, “…That’s kind of you! …I mean, I’m glad you don’t have a problem with who I sleep with! …That’s such a relief! …It really is!” He knew, deep down, that he was being unfair to him, but he was just so angry right now. He wanted to make him feel bad.

“Brody, come on?!” Justin started to say, “I didn’t mean to upset you.” He could see how angry he was and he felt like kicking himself for how badly he’d handled this. Maybe he should have let Tori come in here after all?! Maybe she would have done a better job?!

“No really!” continued Brody, now pacing the room, “That’s such a weight off my chest, Justin! …It’s been keeping me up at night! …I’m like ‘Maybe I won’t sleep with that guy because Justin wouldn’t like it?!’… Because that’s what I do, isn’t it?!… I let my family decide my relationships for me!”

“Brody!” groaned Justin, “You know that’s not what I meant!”

“No, seriously!” he said, with a forced little laugh, “It’s really good to know… I mean… My brother and his girlfriend put their heads together… like a little committee… and decided…You decided that it was okay for me to **** men?!” He knew that putting it in such crude terms would make Justin uncomfortable, and that’s what he wanted right now. He wanted to make him squirm. “It’s okay for me to suck **** …and take it up the ass?!” he said, glaring at him from across the room, “ …Because you and Phoebe say so?!” Saying the words actually made him cringe himself. He couldn't shake the memories of Friday night no matter how hard he tried.

“Okay, okay” replied Justin, holding his hands up in front of him, “I just meant… That I’d support you… no matter what!”

“Oh! Well, let’s hear it for Justin Morgan then!” he sneered sarcastically. “Giving me his permission to sleep with men?!” he continued, “How very modern of you!” He knew that it wasn’t true! Justin wouldn’t support him if he knew the truth about him. None of the family would. Everyone had their limits!

“Brody?!” he said again, in an exasperated tone, “You don’t have to…”

“No really! Thank you, Justin!” he said, cutting him off and giving him a slow round of applause, “Thank you so sooooo much!”

“Mate, come on…” sighed Justin, as he took a step towards him, “That’s not…”

“No, I mean it!” he laughed, in a strange forced sort of way, “Brother of the year!” He continued to applaud him in a slow and deliberate way. “Take a bow!” he teased. How dare he and Phoebe sit around talking about him like that?! How dare they?! If they were already making fun of him like this, then he couldn’t help wondering what they’d say when they found out the truth! When they knew what he’d done? What would they say about him then?!

“Brody?!” tutted Justin, “I know you’re… just lashing out… because of what happened on Friday… I mean… You have every right to be…”

“To be what?!” he demanded, “To be angry?!” The mention of Friday night was the last straw. Oh, God was he angry now?! He’d been trying desperately to forget about Friday! The last thing that he wanted was to be reminded of it! “What do you know about it?!” he snarled at him, “What the **** do you know?!” The hotel had been bad enough. The thought of it made him shudder… but what had happened on that beach afterwards had been the stuff of nightmares! Like something from a bad horror movie… He had a mental image of himself, chest deep in sea water, as he stared up at him. That dark figure of a man that would change his life forever. He felt physically sick!

“I… I don’t know” stammered Justin, “but…”

“But nothing!” he said, glaring back at him, “You don’t know anything!” He shook his head and marched over to the door. “You know what?!” he said, as he pulled it open and motioned with his head for him to leave, “Just get out!”

“Brody, can we just talk about this…?” asked Justin, “Please?!”

“I said get out!” he bellowed at him, “Get out of my room! Get out!”

“Brody… I’m not going until…”

“Justin, will you get out of my room?!” he yelled again, standing there with his arms folded, “I want you to leave!”

“Okay” said Justin, giving him a sad little nod. He could see how upset he was, and refusing to get out of his room clearly wasn’t going to help matters. “Okay, I’ll go” he said, walking out past him, and then turning to face him again with a worried expression, “but…”

“Just go!” he said, slamming the door in his face. As soon as it was closed, he slid down to the floor, and sat with his back against it. ‘Why did you do that?!’ he asked himself, as the tears began to flood down his face again, ‘Why did you push him away like that?! All he was trying to do was help… and you just threw it back in his face!’ He just felt so confused.

Justin stood outside, just staring at the closed door, and wondering what to do for the best. He’d obviously made a terrible mess of this! All he’d wanted to do was help, but Brody was even more upset now than he had been earlier, and here they were again on opposite sides of a closed door. He’d somehow managed to make things worse and alienate him even further! Dropping that question on him now had been the wrong thing to do, and he could see that now. He wondered how he could have been so stupid! Asking him if he was gay under these circumstances had probably seemed like an accusation. As though being gay was an explanation in itself! Almost like victim shaming! As if he thought that Brody being friendly, and flirting with the other man, had somehow justified what had happened later. That being raped was somehow connected to whether he was gay or not. That wasn’t what he’d meant, but it was obviously how Brody had taken it! And now he was in there, on his own… hurt and frightened and isolated. The worst thing was that he could hear him crying again! Just sobbing his little heart out. He felt terrible! “Brodes?” he said, in a tentative sort of voice, “I’m really sorry… Mate, I didn’t mean to hurt you…”

“Just go away!” he shouted back at him, “Just leave me alone!” He wanted more than anything to open the door and let Justin hug him… but he just couldn’t. He put his hands over his ears to try to block out the sounds from the rest of the house. He needed to be alone. He needed to try to calm down.

“Okay… but I’m not going anywhere” said Justin, “I’ll just be in the livingroom… Shout if you need me.” He waited for a response but he got none. “Okay” he said again, before heading back down the hallway to speak to the others. He knew that they would have heard the shouting, so there’d be no hiding the fact that he’d messed up, and that Brody had thrown him out. He felt ashamed and embarrassed. So much for this ‘special bond’ between the two of them! He couldn’t have done worse if he’d tried!

“Well, that went well!” said Mason, as he walked back into the room.

They were all looking at him. He gave a defeated sigh and nodded. What else was there to say?!

Tori got up when she saw how upset he was. “Come here” she said, walking straight over to him and throwing her arms around him, “It’s okay… you did your best”

“He’s just so…” said Justin, starting to tear up a little, “He’s such a mess, Tori! …I’m scared for him!”

 

*****

 

Back to Saturday night (after he left the hospital)…

Brody limped along the darkened city street, hugging his arms around his chest, and trying desperately not to make eye contact with anyone. On one side of the street were dilapidated buildings, some of them boarded up and derelict, and some of them simply fallen into disrepair. There seemed to be broken windows everywhere but some of them had been patched up with cardboard and packaging tape. Everything had a look of squalor. Of being uncared for… On the other side was an open area of wasteland that ran down to some railway tracks and the underpass of a bridge. There was a lot of rubbish lying about. Bin bags, and cardboard boxes, and a few stolen shopping trolleys that had seen better days. It was a very rough area to say the least! He was scared. Very scared! All around him were unknown and hostile looking faces. People were staring at him as he made his way past. Some of them even stopped in their tracks to turn and watch after him. Maybe it was his strange clothes, or the fact that he was barefoot, or maybe it was because he just looked so lost and frightened. Whatever it was, he seemed to be drawing a lot of attention wherever he went. He couldn’t help feeling threatened.

He wondered if they knew somehow? If they could tell just by looking at him? Would they know what had happened last night?! Would they know what he was?!

He didn’t know where he was going. He was just trudging forward. Endlessly forward, in a mindless sort of way. He was shivering now, but his feet were badly blistered from running on hot tarmac all day, and the skin on his face felt hot and horribly tight from being out in the sun. Maybe that was why people were staring?! Maybe it was because of his sunburn?! He could almost hear Tori now, scolding him about not wearing sun protection! That made him laugh a little. He was going to need much more than sunscreen to protect him now! 

“Hey, watch it, creep!” someone warned him, shoving him in the middle of the chest.

“Sorry” he mumbled, glancing up at her only for a moment before stepping out of her path. It was a rough looking young girl that he’d just bumped into. She was glaring at him with such hostility!

“You will be if you ever touch me again!” she snarled, as she pushed on past him, “Pervert!”

He stood against the wall and watched as she walked away. She was very young to be out on the street alone so late at night. He didn’t think that she could be more than maybe 16 years old, and this was a very rough part of the city. There were prostitutes and pimps, and drug dealers, on every corner. Every doorway seemed to harbour a hopeless body in a sleeping bag, or maybe even two. There were even a couple of burnt out cars and he’d nearly stepped on a used syringe more than once, which was why he’d been keeping his eyes fixed on the pavement. It wasn’t somewhere that he ever would have chosen to come to, but he’d somehow felt drawn here. Like something was calling him? Calling him to this place…

He tried to start moving again, but he staggered a little, and had to catch hold of a railing to keep himself from falling over. He felt so dizzy! He’d gradually become aware of a strange gnawing pain in his stomach, but it had taken him quite some time to realise what it was. He was hungry! He hadn’t eaten since Friday night so it had to have been more than 24 hours! He patted the pockets of his trousers with a little sigh, realising that these weren’t his clothes, and that he didn’t have a penny to his name! What was he going to do?!

He took a few deep breaths and then pushed off again. He would have to find something to eat and soon. He wondered if he could sit down in a doorway somewhere and try begging? Maybe some kind passer-by would drop a few coins for him? Maybe they’d see what a mess he was and help him out with a few dollars so he could buy some decent food?! He hoped so! He just needed to find somewhere suitable to sit…

As he stumbled on, he became aware of the number of other people begging on the street. The sheer number of other hopeless cases out there, with their hands held out, looking for money. What would make him a more worthy cause than any of these other waifs and strays?! Why would someone believe him, when each and every one of these people probably had a better sob story than he did?! How was he going to compete?

He continued on for a couple of streets, picking a paper cup off the ground to beg with, and only stopped when he came to an area that looked a little less rough. There was a step that was unoccupied, so he limped over to it, and lowered himself carefully down to sit. For some reason, he felt weak and fragile, and as though his body was made of glass! He set the paper cup on the step and wrapped his arms around himself. He was shivering badly. He was pretty sure that he had a high fever because he felt like his body was on fire. He glanced at the cup, and then at the handful of people that were making their way down the street towards him, and wondered what on earth he was doing?! Why was he begging on the streets of Sydney when he was a highly-respected chef, and a restaurant owner?! What was he doing asking people for money when he had a healthy bank balance and a home of his own to go to?! Why had he run away today like some kind of teenager who’d fallen out with his parents?! Why was he running about the place barefoot and wearing some other poor man’s clothes?! Had he gone completely crazy?! What on earth was he doing?!

‘Phone Justin!’ he said to himself, ‘Phone Justin and get him to come get you!’ He put his hand on his pocket again out of instinct but he had no phone! He gave an audible tut. He was going to need money to use a payphone! He was going to have to beg after all!

He gave a heavy sigh as he sat there waiting for the small group of strangers to draw level with where he was sitting. They looked young and drunk, and very giddy, but he was hoping that someone might be generous enough to give him a little change.

“Can you spare some change?” he asked, sticking the cup out towards them when they got close enough, “Please?! Some change?” He’d never felt more pathetic.

They glanced at him in a pitying way, mumbled half-hearted apologies, and then just scooted on by. Another young couple did the same thing a few moments later but they didn’t even acknowledge him. The woman simply gripped her handbag a little closer in case he might try to steal it, and then sped up to get past him faster. He tried again and again and again, but very few would even look at him. Only one man stopped, but he said that he had no money, and handed him a cigarette instead. No-one gave him any money. No-one wanted to know. After a while, he set the cup at his feet and simply watched the people walking past. It was like he was invisible, as though he didn’t exist. He felt separate, somehow. Distanced from everything… Like he didn’t belong to this world anymore…

But suddenly, he became aware of a presence. There was someone watching him. Someone to whom he wasn’t invisible! He didn’t know where he was, but he could feel his eyes on him, and it was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It was like there was a small voice inside his head, saying ‘He’s here… He’s watching you… You can feel it!’ He stared around him, searching the faces of all the people passing by, searching the doorways up and down the street, searching the windows of the buildings opposite… He was here somewhere! He just couldn’t see him!

He could feel his heart thumping as he began to get more and more anxious. “Where are you?!” he said under his breath. He needed to know where he was, in order to know which way to run. He got cautiously to his feet, getting ready to bolt if he needed to, and did a slow sweep of all the doorsteps on the other side of the street. “Where the **** are you?!” he muttered to himself.

That’s when he saw him! Blonde hair and black clothes… and very pale skin. That same predatory gaze. That same cold stare… What was he doing here?! What did he want with him?! Hadn’t he already taken all that there was to take?!

Suddenly he was running again. Running for all he was worth! Pounding the city pavements despite the pain in his swollen and blistered feet. He kept looking behind him to check that he wasn’t being followed. He couldn’t see him! He didn’t know where he was! He stopped for a moment because he was out of breath, and incredibly hot, and he immediately staggered because he was feeling dizzy. ‘Oh ****!’ he thought, as his vision began to go funny, ‘I don’t feel so good!’ He glanced sideways and saw a darkened alleyway. Maybe he could hide in there for a while? Maybe he could just sit down in there and hide?

He staggered his way up the alleyway, feeling weak and shaky, and squinting to try to see straight. Right at the end, he found some steps, and what looked like a boarded-up doorway. He decided to sit there. No-one would see him from the street from here, he reasoned. He’d be safe here. He lowered himself onto the step and curled up against the wooden boarded doorway, dragging some of the discarded cardboard around him, partly for warmth and partly for camouflage. And then he shut his eyes…

[Ludub]

Hey everyone! Sorry for the really long wait for this chapter. That was a long 'few days'!  Really hope you like this next chapter.

WARNING ADULT THEMES!

 

Chapter 7

 

Sunday night…

 

“Do you think I should go and ask Brody if he wants some dinner?” asked Tori, as she set the bowl of salad in the middle of the table, “I mean… do you think he’d agree to come out here?”

“I doubt it” said Justin, with a little sigh. He carried the pan of pasta over to the table and set it on one of the place mats. “I just don’t think he’s ready…”

“But if we don’t at least try to make things normal for him…?” she started to say.

“It doesn’t matter how normal we try to make things” he said, giving a little shrug “Things aren’t normal… and he’s not dealing… like at all!”

“He needs to eat” she replied, “Maybe eating with the rest of us would make him feel a little better?”

“Tori! You can’t force things!” he argued, “You can’t just make him feel better because you want him to… It doesn’t work that way.” He’d certainly seen that earlier, and he was surprised that Tori was so clueless about dealing with a rape victim when she would have seen so many of them in her role as a doctor.

“I know!” she sighed, as she slumped into one of the chairs at the dining table, “I just… I feel so helpless!” She wanted to barge her way into that room right now and throw her arms around him. She knew that it was the wrong thing to do, and that he wouldn’t thank her for it. She knew that absolutely! As a doctor! As a rational thinking human being! She knew that forcing things with him wasn’t going to help at all, but her heart said something different… “I just…” she said, tearing up a little, “I hate this, Justin… I hate this!”

Justin walked around the table and put his arms around her. “I know” he said, resting his head on top of hers, “I hate it too.”

Suddenly, they heard Brody’s door open.

“Is that?!” asked Tori, turning to look.

“Yeah, I think it is” he replied, letting her go and walking towards the hallway. “Brodes?!” he exclaimed when he saw his brother walk out into the livingroom, “We didn’t think you’d want any…”

“I don’t” said Brody, glancing at the table of food with a look of revulsion.

“Where are you going?!” asked Tori, taking in the rucksack that he was carrying and the fact that he was dressed in his work clothes, “You’re not going to work, are you?!”

“Yeah… I am” he said, as he headed towards the door. It was clear that he wanted out of there as quickly as possible and really didn’t want to talk to them. ‘Why didn’t I just go out the window?!’ he thought to himself.

“Wait, Brodes?!” called Justin, as he raced towards the door and caught hold of his arm.

“Get off me!” he growled, glaring at him and wrenching his arm away, “Don’t touch me!”

“Brodes, please?!” pleaded Justin, “Just stay… Stay and talk to us?”

He shook his head and tried to open the door again but Justin held it closed. “I need to see how the restaurant’s doing” he reasoned, as he tried to pull the door open, “I can’t just let thigs fall apart.”

“Phoebe and Mason are looking after things tonight” said Tori, who was now standing beside Justin with her arms wrapped across her chest. She looked so worried for him.

“Who made that decision?” asked Brody. He couldn’t help resenting Phoebe being involved in all of this. He didn’t like that she’d been gossiping about him.

“Well… you weren’t here” said Justin, “So… we figured out shifts so we could all cover.”

“Yeah, we’ve all done a few hours” said Tori, “Everyone’s been really good… Phoebe, Ash, even Olivia!”

He looked at his siblings’ worry-filled faces and felt a pang of guilt. Everyone was being so kind to him and he’s was being so ungrateful! “Thanks” he said, softening a little, “I appreciate that.”

“Will you just sit down and talk to us?” asked Tori, seeing a small chink in his armour, “We just want to… It might… It might help if you… y’know… if you talked about things?”

He gave a little snort and shook his head. No amount of talking was ever going to fix his problems! “I need to go” he said, nodding for Justin to let him open the door.

“Come on, mate?” coaxed Justin, “I’m sorry for what I said earlier… I’m an idiot!”

“You are” agreed Brody, “But… it’s okay… I know you didn’t mean any harm…”

“I am, sorry, though” said Justin.

“So… do you wanna sit down?” asked Tori, sounding much more hopeful now, “Maybe have something to eat?”

He glanced across at the table and saw the pan full of pasta slowly congealing. It was penne pasta with Justin’s favourite store bought pasta sauce dumped on top. The mere thought of it made his stomach turn! “Uhh… no thanks” he said, giving them an apologetic little shrug, “I’m still gonna head to the restaurant and see what’s going on.”

“Okay” said Justin, “I’ll come too.”

“No, you won’t!” snapped Brody. He hadn’t meant to sound quite so hostile but it had come out that way. “You’re staying here” he insisted.

“I just… I’m worried about you Brodes” said Justin, looking more than a little hurt, “Are you sure you want to go out there… alone?”

He gave a little snort. “I’ll be fine” he said, backing away in a ‘don’t follow me’ kind of way, “I’ll talk to you later… when I get home.”

He walked away from the house and started to head towards the restaurant. Every now and then, he glanced back to check that Justin and Tori weren’t following him, but so far it seemed like they’d respected his wishes. He just wanted to try to be normal. Maybe if he threw himself back into his work, then things would be okay?! Maybe he could just carry on as though nothing had ever happened? After all, he’d spent his whole life keeping the real ‘him’ a secret from everyone he knew, in more ways than one! He was a seasoned liar, a master at hiding in plain sight… Maybe he could do the same with this? Maybe he could just suppress his desires, and pretend that they weren’t there? Maybe just try to live a normal life? Maybe he could do it if he tried hard enough?! Maybe no-one ever had to know?

He glanced at the stretch of beach where ‘it’ had happened and shuddered a little. How had he let such a thing happen to him?! Why had he allowed himself to be a victim?! Why had he been the one chosen?! He still didn’t have an answer to those questions.

He paused for a moment outside the surf club and looked up at the brightly lit restaurant above. How was he going to do this? Just walk in there and pretend that everything was exactly the same as it had been on Friday night? As though his whole world hadn’t been turned upside down?! How was he going to pass himself? God, was he nervous!

He went inside and slowly climbed the stairs. He could already tell that the place was heaving! Just full to the brim of young holidaymakers and students! He could hear them all in there. So full of life! He stopped at the door and looked at the sea of faces. That 2 for 1 cocktail voucher had certainly done the trick. He hadn’t seen the place this busy for a long time!

Suddenly, he became aware of a scuffle going on near the bar as some glasses got knocked off the bar and smashed. Two men seemed to be fighting and a crowd had formed to watch. There were excited shouts and whoops, and loud grunting noises.

“Hey!” he shouted as he made his way through the crowd, “Hey! Stop it!” The crowd parted and he managed to push his way through. It was Mason and a man with a beard. He had him on the ground and he was sitting on top of him. He couldn’t see who the other man was.

“**** you!” growled Mason, as he punched the man in the face repeatedly, “I know what you did! I know what you did to my brother! You sick ****!”

“Mason!” yelled Brody, as he moved forward to drag him off the other man. What were their customers going to think?! What kind of place was this, if they allowed their staff to attack people right in the middle of the restaurant?! “What are you doing?!” he roared, as he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him away, “What the hell are you doing?!”

“It’s him!” shouted Mason, as he pointed at the bloodied body on the floor, “It’s him… the bastard just walked in here, like he owns the place!” The other man had his hands up in front of his face now and appeared to be crying. “It’s that bastard that… that… that raped you!” shouted Mason.

Brody’s mouth fell open. It was Kris on the floor, all covered in blood, and Mason had just announced to the whole of Summer Bay that he’d been raped! He looked around the room at all the shocked looking faces. They weren’t looking at Kris anymore. They were looking at him!

“What the ****?!” coughed Kris, as he sat up and hugged his arms around his stomach. Mason must have kicked him there too. “I didn’t ****ing rape anyone!” he exclaimed.

Mason made a move to go in for round two, but someone held him back.

“This is assault!” said Kris, looking around him at the crowd of people that had just watched Mason kick lumps out of him, “And I have witnesses!”

“Shut up!” snarled Mason, as he took his phone out of his pocket. “I’m gonna call the cops! See how far you get with your assault charges when they find out what you did!” He made a show of dialling the number, but Brody snatched the phone out of his hand and shook his head at him.

“Kris… I…” Brody started to say.

 “I didn’t do anything to you!” shouted Kris, as he clambered to his feet and stared at Brody in anger, “And if you’re saying that I did, you’re a ****ing liar! …You wanted it! You were into it! …You know it …and I know it!”

Brody looked around at all the shocked faces again and noticed that Justin was standing there. He and Mason were both looking at him rather expectantly. He just wanted to run away.  “He… he didn’t” he stammered, “He didn’t rape me…”

 

Back to Saturday night…

 

“Hey” said a young female voice, “Hey, mister… are you okay?!”

“Mmmm” groaned Brody, as he slowly became aware of something nudging him and poking him in the shoulder. He was being rocked back and forth rather insistently.

“I don’t have all night mister” said the young voice again, “I need my money…” She sounded a little edgy and frustrated. “Come on!” she whined, as she kneeled down in front of him and gave him a hard shake with both hands. “Wake up!” she shouted at him, “He won’t pay me unless I do it!”

“Wuh?” he asked, in a groggy sort of voice.

“Wake up!” she said again, sounding increasingly impatient.

He opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at up at her. “Uhhhh… where am I?” he asked, becoming more and more aware of a range of unpleasant smells surrounding him; a mixture of rotting food, and damp, and human body fluids. He was lying on a very old and soiled mattress, in what seemed to be some kind of doss house or squat. The whole place stank to high heaven. As he squinted to try to see her a little better, a look of recognition slowly passed over his face when he realised who she was. It was the same rough looking young girl that he’d bumped into earlier. Up close, she seemed a little older than he’d originally thought. Maybe 18 or 19?

“Does it matter?” asked the girl, with an angry little shrug.

“Does it matter where I am?!” he repeated, furrowing his brows at her in confusion, “Yeah, it matters…” He sat up, and had to put his hand out to steady himself. He was still so dizzy and weak! The pain in his stomach was only getting worse, like someone had a hold of it and just kept twisting and twisting! He’d never experienced hunger like this.

“It shouldn’t” she said, rolling her eyes at him.

“What is this place?” he asked, as he started to become accustomed to the gloom. It seemed to be some old business premises of some sort. Maybe an old clothing store? There were a couple of broken mannequins propped against a wall and what looked like wooden serving counters. Whatever it had been in the past, it had long since been abandoned and allowed to fall into disrepair. All the windows were boarded up, with chinks of artificial street lighting casting an orange glow on the walls. The light fittings overhead had been disconnected, and only loose wires hung there now, and even the light switches had been torn out. There were mattresses everywhere, just like his, and bodies crashed out on them wherever he looked. There were used needles lying around, as well as little bits of burnt tin foil and spoons. This was clearly a drug den. Someone had brought him to a doss house and turfed him on a mattress to sleep among the junkies! How had he gotten himself into a mess like this?! The last thing that he remembered was passing out in an alleyway. “Who are you?” he asked, “Why did you bring me here?”

“I’m no-one” she said, standing up again and staring down at him a little coldly, “And this is nowhere…”

He shook his head and stared around him. This didn’t make any sense. What had she been saying about money before?

“It’s where Morten told me to bring you” she added.

“Morten?” he asked. He didn’t know anyone called Morten.

“Yeah…” she said, rolling her eyes at him again. It was like he was the dumbest person that she’d ever met and everything that came out of his mouth was incredibly stupid. “He told me to take care of you.” she said, looking at him with pure disgust on her face, “So, can we get the show on the road so I can get my money?!”

“What d’ya mean?!” asked Brody. A terrible thought was running through his mind. Was this young girl a prostitute? Had someone paid her to sleep with him?!

“He told me to bring you here” she said, in a tone that said, ‘I don’t have time for this… Can we just get on with it?’.

“For what?!” he asked, beginning to panic.

She gave a frustrated sort of huff and stopped to look at him. “You really don’t know?!” she asked, “You really don’t know why you’re here?!” She was looking at him as though he was something she’d just scraped off her shoe.

He shook his head. He didn’t know anything for sure right now. All he could hear was a heartbeat and it was thumping so loudly that it seemed deafening.

She gave a little snort, and stood there looking at him with her hands on her hips. She was obviously waiting for him to say something or to make a move. “Really?!” she repeated in a disbelieving way.

“I uh… I don’t know what…” he began to say.

“Oh, for God’s sake!” she exclaimed, before stomping off across the room and out into the hallway. He watched her go, and wondered at the fact that he could still smell her, even after the door had banged shut. No-one had ever smelt so good to him. She almost smelt edible.

God, he was hungry! He sat there on the mattress and wondered whether he should get up and try to find something to eat. Then he noticed a backpack on the floor. The girl must have left it there. He could see a brown paper bag poking out of the top, the kind you might get from McDonald’s, and wondered whether there might be some food in there. He looked around quickly to make sure that he wasn’t being watched and then opened her bag to have a better look. The bag was from a pharmacy and was stuffed full of energy drinks and bottles of iron supplement pills. But right in the bottom of the bag was a sandwich! He was in luck! An old sweaty looking sandwich wrapped in cling film, but beggars couldn’t be choosers! He would have eaten anything right now! He snatched it from the bag and then looked towards the door again. He didn’t know where she’d gone or how long it would be before she got back. Stealing from her really wasn’t cool, he knew that, but surely it was better than sleeping with her?! Then again, she didn’t seem too friendly. She probably wouldn’t take too kindly to him stealing her food. Maybe he should try to run?!  Maybe he should just get up and go while he had the chance?! He took a deep breath and tried to stand up, but staggered immediately, and fell back onto the mattress. His head was spinning! He felt sick. ‘Okay’ he said to himself, ‘Eat the sandwich first… then run!’

He began to unwrap the sandwich and brought it towards his mouth. It looked like some kind of cheese but it smelt revolting! Like something decomposing! He opened it a little to look at it. It was just yellow cheese and a few slices of onion. It didn’t look bad…

‘Just eat it!’ he said to himself, ‘You need it… You need food!’ With that, he took a big bite, and began to chew. The taste was overwhelmingly bad; like eating meat that had been rotting for weeks! ‘Oh God!’ he thought to himself, as he started to retch, ‘Oh ****, this is disgusting!’ He stood up and began to retch, leaning on a wooden counter for support.

“What the **** are you doing?!” shouted the young girl, “Were you eating my sandwich?! How ****ing stupid are you?!”

He turned to look at her with teary looking eyes. “I was hungry” he said, before starting to retch again and vomiting what looked like blood on the floor. “Oh ****!” he said, wiping at his mouth and staring at the blood in horror.

“That’s what happens” she said, swiping the half-eaten sandwich out of his hand, “That’s what you get for trying to eat my sandwich! …You can’t eat that, not anymore!”

“You… You poisoned it?!” he asked, collapsing back onto the mattress, “You poisoned me?!”

“What?!” she asked, starting to laugh, “You think… You actually think I poisoned you… I poisoned a sandwich just in case some idiot tried to steal it from me?!”

He stared up at her in fear and clutched his stomach. That growling hunger was back, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore. Why did she smell so good?! How could he be getting sick, but find the way that she smelled so enticing?!

“How dumb are you?!” she asked, laughing and shaking her head, “I can’t believe you actually tried to eat a sandwich!” She was laughing hysterically now.

“I don’t understand?” he coughed, “What’s so funny?!”

“Morten said you were fresh” she said, before flopping down on the mattress beside him, “But he didn’t say you were completely ****ing clueless!”

“Who the **** is Morten?!” he asked, with a little flash of anger. He was sick and he didn’t like being laughed at.

She smirked, as she continued to giggle, and began to unwind the scarf from around her neck. “You really don’t know?!” she asked.

“No! I don’t ****ing know!” he growled, “Can you stop talking in riddles?!”

“How can you not remember?” she asked, “I mean… He’s the one that ‘made’ you… I think I’d remember that!”

“Made me?” he repeated. He didn’t understand.

“Yeah… y’know?” she said, using the sort of tone you would with a two year old, “The vampire that made you… Fangs and stuff… That guy!”

He stared at her in shock. Did she just say ‘vampire’?! Some part of him had been pretending that this whole thing wasn’t happening. He’d been trying to tell himself that he’d just imagined it, and that the bites on his neck were really just the marks from some sort of insect. Or maybe the blonde man that had bitten him was actually just a mental patient and he’d simply been drawn into this delusion by the power of suggestion? Or maybe it had all been a dream?! But here she was, some girl he’d never met before, and she’d just said that he was a vampire! What on earth was going on?!

“I’m a… You’re saying I’m a… a vampire?” he stammered.

“You’re saying you’re not?” she asked, tilting her head at him in a mocking sort of way.

“But… there’s no such thing as vampires…” he said, “I mean… they’re make believe…”

“So… you’re trying to tell me that you don’t like the way I smell?” she asked, as she sat there with the scarf still loosely wound around her neck, “You don’t look at me and think ‘my god, she smells amazing!’”

He looked down at the floor in shame. Of course, he’d been thinking that! There was something about her that drew him to her, in a way that he’d never been attracted to anyone… and now that she’d pointed out what it was, he couldn’t ignore it. She had a scent that was overpoweringly delicious. He wanted to lick her from head to toe. What was wrong with him?!

“You aren’t looking at me like you’d look at food?” she asked.

He glanced up at her in a shamefaced sort of way. She did smell tasty to him. He was sure that he could hear her blood coursing through her veins.

“I thought so” she smirked.

“But… I…” he stammered. This was insane! How could he really be a vampire?! How could they be sitting here talking about vampires as though it was the most normal thing in the world?! As though they weren’t just fantasy characters in movies and books. Why was he looking at her wrists in this way? Looking at the veins… Was that his own heartbeat that he could hear, or was it hers?

“Morten said it was your first time…” she said, becoming all ‘business’ about it again, “So… I need you to know that there are some ground rules…” She unwrapped her neck and revealed the marks for the first time. There were multiple puncture wounds in neat little sets of two.

“Who the **** is Morten?!” he gasped, “Did he do that to you?!” His hand had shot up to the marks on his own neck. He only had one set of puncture wounds, she had about six!

“Morten’s your master” she said, with a little shrug, “Isn’t he?”

“My master?” he asked, looking more than a little perturbed.

“Yeah…” she said, giving him a look that said ‘how dumb are you?!’, “He’s like… the one that ‘made’ you… You know, the one that bit you and let you drink his blood?”

‘Morten?’ he thought, ‘That fits’ The blonde man that had bit him had never told him his name, but ‘Morten’ seemed appropriate. He’d had a sort of Scandinavian look.

“So…” she said, unzipping her hoodie a little further to fully expose her neck and chest area, “So… You need to know when to stop… You feel my heart start to slow down and you have to ****ing stop! Okay?! …Morten won’t be happy if you drink me dry!”

He was horrified! She was offering to let him drink her blood?! She was offering to let him feed on her because he was a vampire! Because Morten had paid her to do it!

“I’m serious!” she said, leaning her neck towards him, “You take it easy… I don’t want to end up dead!”

He shook his head. He couldn’t do it! His stomach may have been crying out to him, and every fibre in his being was yelling at him to take what was on offer, but he just couldn’t do that to her! Brody Morgan was not going to bite some poor girl and drink her blood! He just wasn’t!

“What’s wrong?” asked the girl, opening her eyes and frowning at him, “You got stage fright or something?”

“I can’t” he said, shifting down the mattress a little to get away from her, “I’m not…”

“What?!” she laughed, “You’re not that kind of vampire?! …You’d prefer a boy or something?!”

“Don’t call me that!” he snapped at her, “This is ridiculous… There’s no such thing as vampires…”

“My neck would suggest otherwise” said the girl, with a snort.

“But they’re just bites” he said, “Doesn’t mean they actually drank your blood…”

“You think Morten didn’t drink yours?” she asked.

“No… well… I mean… it felt like he did” he admitted, “…but maybe I was just imagining things…”

She just smirked and shook her head. “You keep telling yourself that” she said, “But you know you’re looking at me right now like I’m a juicy steak just sitting here right in front of you…”

He tried to keep his eyes fixed on the floor, but lasted all of about 5 seconds. He couldn’t resist looking. She had a large vein in her throat that was just pulsating and screaming for him to bite it. He could hear her heartbeat too, just thundering in his ears… He couldn’t stop staring at her neck.

“Just do it!” said the girl, offering him her neck again with a little sigh. “You’ll feel better when you do… and I’ll get my money.”

“Maybe…” he said, feeling himself drawn in, “Maybe just a little?” She was offering after all. He wasn’t taking it by force, even if it was some weird sort of prostitution. Was drinking her blood as bad as sleeping with her? Should he be feeling ashamed of himself?

‘What are you doing?!’ he screamed at himself, as he leaned in towards her neck, ‘What the **** are you doing, Brody?! You are not a vampire!’ As though in answer to his own self-denial, he felt his eyeteeth shift and grow. They were long and sharp now, and cutting his lip a little. ‘Oh ****!’ he gasped in his head, ‘I have fangs! I have ****ing fangs! …I AM a vampire!’

“Just don’t kill me!” moaned the girl, tensing her whole body as his teeth pierced her skin, “…Please don’t kill me!”

Edited July 17, 2017 by Ludub

[Ludub]

Thanks again all you lovely people for your comments. Really hope you like this chapter!

 

WARNING: VERY ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT!

 

Chapter 8

 

Sunday night…

 

“You see?!” roared Kris, a he held his arms out to the crowd as though to say ‘I told you so!’. He shook his head in disgust. “I didn’t hurt anyone!” he insisted, “He wanted it…”

Mason frowned at Brody. “But… but I thought?!” he stammered, “I thought…”

“You thought wrong!” snapped Kris, as he grabbed a napkin off the bar to wipe the blood off his face. He looked quite a mess! “We didn’t do anything he didn’t want to do!” he growled, “…You can’t just go accusing people of **** like that! …You can’t go throwing your weight around, attacking people like that… and saying those kinds of things about people! I could have you for slander as well as assault!”

“Brody?!” said Justin, taking a step towards him with his head tilted to one side, “You don’t have to cover for this piece of ****…” He knew that everyone was watching and waiting for Brody’s response but he seemed to be transfixed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Kris since he’d come in! “You don’t have to be ashamed… It’s not your fault…”

You have to tell us if he hurt you…” said Mason. He was looking increasingly worried. What if he had just assaulted an innocent man?! How would that look to his bosses at the hospital?! “You don’t have to lie!” he said, in a tone that sounded a little plaintive.

“I’m not” replied Brody, in a distant sort of voice. All he could smell was Kris’ blood. The delicious salty scent was wafting its way towards him, and all he wanted to do was go over there and lick him clean. God, he was hungry right now! That blood smelt amazing!

“See?!” shouted Kris, in a triumphant sort of way, “This ****head attacked me for no good reason!”

“You’re not lying?” asked Justin, giving him a look of concern. Something about the way that Brody was staring at the other man made him think otherwise. He looked dazed and frightened. Was he simply too scared of him to accuse him in public? Was he covering for him out of fear?! He glanced at the blood covered restaurant reviewer with suspicion. He didn’t like his smug face!

“I’m not lying” droned Brody, as though he was a zombie, “Kris didn’t rape me…”

 

Back to Friday night…

 

‘Oh ****!’ thought Brody, as he lay on his side in the bed, ‘This is horrible! This is so horrible, it’s not even funny! …I need to escape… I need to get out of here right now!’ He was feeling breathless and panicky. It was like he’d only just come to his senses, and found to his horror, that he was lying with his back to a naked sweaty man! As though he’d played no part in it! As though he’d been detached from what was happening earlier, when they’d actually been doing the ‘deed’. Like someone lending their house to a friend, only to return, and find it trashed. He was back now, and he wasn’t one bit happy about what had happened in his absence! Their two bodies were intertwined, in what would commonly be referred to as a spooning position. Their legs were tangled together and the other man’s crotch was pressing up against his buttocks. He squirmed a little, trying to pull away, but Kris stirred and pulled him back in. He was obviously a cuddler… and he was strong! He had his arms around him, holding him tight against him, and his bearded chin nuzzled into the space between his neck and his shoulder. They’d collapsed, exhausted and panting, with Kris on top of him, and just laid there for what seemed like an eternity. He’d been too dazed to even move, or to try to extricate himself. He’d never had a naked man lying on top of him before. He didn’t know what to do! ‘How the **** did this happen?!’ he kept asking himself, as he lay there with aches in very unfamiliar places, ‘Why did I do this?! What the **** was I even thinking?!’ He hadn’t even fought it when Kris had pulled him into this position. He’d been too shocked to register what was happening. Now he felt sticky, and hot, and uncomfortable… and like he might explode if he didn’t get away. They were both covered in sweat from the evening’s exertion and all he could think about was how disgusting the other man’s clammy skin felt against his own. It was like they were stuck together. Like when you sit on a leather seat in shorts and your skin gets stuck to it. ‘I have to leave!’ he thought to himself, ‘I have to get out of here…”

He started to pull away from the man sleeping behind him but as soon as he moved he felt him start to pull him back with a little murmured moan.

“I have to… to go to the toilet” he said, as he pulled away much more insistently.

“Don’t go?!” mumbled Kris, as he held onto him. He didn’t seem to really be awake. He was just ‘aggressively cuddling’ him in his sleep.

“I have to!” insisted Brody. With that, he took hold of Kris’ arms and pulled them away from his own body. As he separated himself from Kris’ embrace, he was a little bit sickened at the stickiness of their skin. ‘This is repulsive!’ he thought to himself. As he got out of the bed, he felt an instant sense of relief to be putting some distance between himself and this human radiator!

“Mmm… come back to bed?!” moaned Kris, still mumbling in a way that said he was just sleep-talking, “I’m lonely on my own…”

Brody shook his head as he began to gather his clothes off the floor of the hotel room. He wanted to shower as soon as he possibly could, and wash his mouth out. The desire to scrub himself from head to toe, both inside and out, was becoming more and more urgent the longer he stayed here. Looking at that naked man in the bed now, and the used condoms on the floor, he felt decidedly nauseous. He’d just had sex with a man. Why had he done that?! What kind of person would sleep with someone the way that he just had?! When they really didn’t want to and had to fake it the whole way through?! Why would someone do that?! In some ways, he felt like a prostitute. He imagined that this was how they felt after the deed was done… used and dirty. But maybe he was worse, because he hadn’t even been paid? At least that would be an excuse! He’d done it for no good reason at all!

He tiptoed to the bathroom, trying not to wake the sleeping body in the bed, and shut himself inside. He clicked the lock and threw the clothes on the floor. “**** you!” he whispered to himself in the mirror, as he began to cry. His voice was trembling as tears began to stream down his face and he could barely see his reflection. “How ****ing stupid are you?!” he asked himself. He’d never hated himself more! He cast his mind back to the conversation at the table in the restaurant and tried to understand his thought process. What had he been thinking?! Why had the idea of sleeping with a man suddenly seemed so appealing?! He’d never done anything like this before. Why now?! Had Kris drugged him or something?! It was possible… He thought about the number of times that he’d left his drink unattended, and how many opportunities he would have had to slip something in it. It would have been so easy! Maybe he’d done it again when they’d got back here?! He turned the taps on and began to splash cold water in his face. Looking in the mirror again, he tried to gauge whether he might be high or not. He was definitely a little drunk still, but surely if he’d been drugged, he’d be a lot more out of it than this?! ‘You’re just being paranoid!’ he thought to himself as he picked up a towel and dried his face, ‘Nobody drugged you! You’re just an idiot!’ He was still crying. ‘Okay’ he said, under his breath, ‘Get it together, Brodes! …You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out! …Just get dressed and leave… and do it NOW!’

As he bent down, to pick up his clothes, he was startled by a loud bang on the bathroom door. Kris was outside! “Are you in there?!” he yelled, as he began to batter and batter on it, “Why the **** are you hiding in there?! …You don’t hide from me! You hear?!” He began to kick the base of the door, as though he was trying to kick it open. “Get the **** out here now!” roared Kris, “Get that little ass of yours out here now or I’ll whip you till you bleed!” It didn’t sound like his voice. It was more like he was mimicking the voice of an older man.

Brody cowered against the wall and stared at the door in fear. What the hell had just happened?! Was that really Kris out there, and if so, how had he suddenly turned into this violent monster?!

“Don’t make me break this door down and come get you, you little ****!” shouted the voice outside. The banging became even more aggressive, and he jumped when he realised that Kris had shoulder-charged the door. Luckily it hadn’t opened! His heart was racing like it never had before. He had to escape! He looked up and saw that there was a window high up above the shower. It was very narrow, but at a glance he was fairly certain that he could squeeze through it. It was the kind of window that didn’t open so he was going to have to break it. The only question was whether there was something heavy enough to break it with. He stared around the small bathroom, looking for a suitable implement, as he tried to drown out the incessant threats and banging from outside the door.

“You little prick!” roared Kris, as he started kicking the base of the door again, “I’m gonna make you squeal when I get my hands on you! You little ****! I can hear you in there, crying for your mummy! …You make me sick!”

Brody was really beginning to panic. What would he do if the psycho actually managed to get in?! How would he defend himself?! His eyes fell on the lid of the cistern. That was heavy, and if he could lift it high enough and swing it, then it would certainly break the glass!

“I’m gonna ****ing kill you!” roared Kris, as he shoulder-charged the door again, rather ineffectively, “I’m gonna strangle you with my two hands!”

SMASH! The window was broken.

Brody managed to hoist himself up the wall and started to wriggle his way head first out the window.

BANG! Kris crashed through the door, just in time to see Brody’s naked feet disappear out through the small rectangular window.

It was quite a drop and Brody hit the ground with a terrible thump and smashed his face. “Mmmrrrhmmm!” he cried, as he sat in a heap on the ground outside and stared up at the window. His nose was bleeding and his head hurt.

“Oh, Jesus!” came a gasp from inside, but he didn’t seem to be making any effort to follow him out the window. He heard his voice repeating the word ‘****!’ over and over in a quieter sort of way as he retreated out of the bathroom. Was he coming for him?!

“Oh, God!” exclaimed Brody. He needed to go! He needed to get up and go as fast he could, before that psycho came to get him! He wobbled to his feet in a dazed sort of way, and pulled on his boxers.

“Brody?!” shouted Kris, as he appeared outside in a dressing gown and ran towards him. He looked wide-eyed and bewildered. “Brody?! Please?!” he pleaded holding up his hands in a sort of surrender as Brody backed away in fear.

“Stay away from me!” warned Brody. His clothes were still in a heap on the ground, and he was trying to decide whether he should just run in only his pants, or try to gather them before he left. Could he risk stooping for them?

“Brody?!” repeated Kris, “I’m so sorry! …I …I sleepwalk sometimes… I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“You’re a psycho!” spat Brody, “You were gonna kill me!” His heart was still hammering at an alarming rate. He’d rarely been this frightened.

“I wouldn’t have!” said Kris, “I’m sorry… I know I probably said some… some weird stuff… but…”

“It’s not okay!” said Brody, wiping at the blood that was now dripping from his nose, “I need to go…”

“Okay” said Kris, looking dejected, “I am though… Really sorry…”

Brody took a tentative step forward and bent down to pick his clothes up, but he kept his eyes fixed on him the whole time! Just in case he had to make a run for it.

“My dad!” blurted Kris, “I dream about my dad…”

He looked up at him. Was he trying to make him feel sorry for him?! Really?! After what he’d just done?!

“All that shouting? …He used to shout at me like that…” said Kris, with his eyes fixed on the sand below their feet. It was clear that he was very close to tears. “He used to scare me…” he said, his voice trembling a little.

“I can’t do this” said Brody, with an exasperated little laugh, “I can’t be your shoulder to cry on… not after that… not after tonight…”

“But I…” he started to say, but he saw from the look on Brody’s face that he’d had enough. “Okay” he said, sniffling a little, “Just… please?!  Please don’t tell anyone…?!”

“Don’t tell anyone?” repeated Brody. He was still a little too stunned to understand what he was asking.

“I have a…” said Kris, looking up at him in a shamefaced sort of way, “I have a reputation… a career…”

Brody shook his head at him in pity. Was that all he cared about?! A few minutes ago, he’d been trying to kick down a door, and threatening to kill him?! He obviously had bigger problems than some one night stand telling tales about him!

“Please?!” he pleaded again.

“**** you!” said Brody, before turning and limping away. He could feel Kris’ eyes on him as he made his way across the beach with his clothes bundled in his arms. So much hurt. So much neediness… He just didn’t have the energy for it! Not with everything else that was swirling around his head right now. He had enough to deal with, without adding a ‘boyfriend’ with daddy issues, and a major ego to the mix! He was tired. All he could think was that he wanted to go home and curl up in bed. He wanted to hide under the covers and try to forget the things that had happened tonight. Maybe if he tried really hard, he could wipe it from his memory, and start again tomorrow as though tonight had never taken place?! Maybe?

 

Sunday night continued…

 

“I tried to tell him!” exclaimed Kris, sitting down on one of the stools and dabbing at his injured eyebrow. He showed the bloody tissue to the gathered crowd. “I tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen! …He’s a ****ing animal!”

The crowd had started murmuring and staring at Mason in an accusing sort of way.

“****!” sighed Mason, with an exasperated little huff. How much trouble was he going to be in now?! “Look, mate?” he said, taking on a much more apologetic demeanour, “I uh… I’m… I’m sorry… You can understand why… I mean…”

Kris shook his head at him. “I don’t want to hear it!” he said, as he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket, “I’m calling the cops!” He looked around the little crowd of people still nosily watching the scene unfold, and pointed at his phone. “You guys are all my witnesses!” he said, “You saw what this guy did to me! You saw!”

Brody made a sudden move forward and grabbed the phone out of his hand. “No!” he said, through gritted teeth.

“Hey!” exclaimed Kris, trying to get it back, “You can’t do that!”

“I think I can!” growled Brody. He pulled in uncomfortably close to him and stared him right in the eye. Being so close to him now, with all that blood on his face and hands, he was practically salivating!  He was having to fight the urge to bite him right there and then! ‘I know what you really are!’ he told him silently. He mimicked his father’s voice in his head and said ‘If you don’t come out of there, you little ****, I’m gonna whip your ass till it bleeds!’

Kris’ eyes widened a little, as though he’d heard him. All his bravado was suddenly gone. He was a snivelling little boy whose dad was angry because he’d wet the bed.  “I came… I came here to apologise!” he stammered, “For the other night… but… but then… then your psycho brother just attacked me!”

“He got it wrong” said Brody, talking deliberately loudly for the benefit of the gathered crowd, “It was just a misunderstanding… You know what that’s like?” He gazed intently into his eyes. An image of a newspaper floated into his head, with the headline ‘Celebrity Food Reviewer Attacks One Night Stand’ emblazoned on the front page. ‘I’ll do it!’ he warned him mentally, ‘You make that call, and hurt my brother, and I’ll do it in a heartbeat!’

“Okay” said Kris, giving a little nod, “Okay… fine.” He sounded panicked.

“Good” smiled Brody, “Now go!” He couldn’t bear to be around him or his tasty tasty blood anymore. It was driving him insane. If he didn’t leave now, he was going to have to have a little taste… one way or another.

“What about my phone?” asked Kris, glancing in an embarrassed way at the people watching. They were all staring at him with confused expressions. How had this whole thing been shut down so quickly?! And why had he changed his mind so abruptly?! It didn’t make sense! No-one looked more confused than Mason and Justin.

“Here” said Brody, handing it back to him, ‘Now **** off!’ He said it with a flash of his ‘vampire’ eyes and couldn’t help chuckling a little when he saw his reaction.

Kris staggered backwards, in a sudden panic, and nearly fell over people to get away. They all watched as he scurried out the door.

“How?” asked Mason, looking at Brody in surprise, “How did you…?”

He looked at Mason and gave a little shrug. “I threatened to tell people something that he really doesn’t want to be made public”

“Which is?” asked Justin. He was still worried that he was covering for him. Something about the way his brother was behaving just wasn’t right!

Brody gave a little shrug and just walked away. Now that Kris was gone, the overpoweringly strong smell of blood was gone with him. Now he could hear everyone’s heartbeat around him. Calling to him… taunting him… The noise of it was deafening! Any one of them would have made a tasty treat! He wanted them all!

“Are you okay?” asked Justin, as he followed him towards the door.

“I’m fine!” snapped Brody, as he turned and put his hand on Justin’s chest to stop him in his tracks. “I need some space!” he said, “So, I’m gonna go… and you’re not gonna follow me.”

“But I…” said Justin.

“You’re not going to follow me!” repeated Brody. He was enjoying this whole mind control thing! Who knew that he would be such a quick learner?!

Justin just nodded and took a step back.

“Where’s he going?” asked Mason, as they watched him walk out the door.

“Who knows?!” sighed Justin, “Who the **** knows?!”

[Ludub]

Okay, so here we go! The next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!

WARNING: ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT!

 

Chapter 9

 

Monday evening…

 

“Justin?!” exclaimed Brody, as he staggered a little backwards, “What the…?!” He’d just come out of his room with the intention of apologising but Justin had come bowling towards him and nearly knocked him off his feet.

“I’ve been so worried!” said Justin, throwing his arms around him and holding him in a tight embrace.

“Uhhh… Justin?” said Brody as he tried to pull away, “I’m okay… You don’t have to worry so much.”

“I tried to wake you earlier” said Justin, refusing to let go, “But you were dead to the world… You wouldn’t wake up at all!”

“I was tired” sighed Brody, “I got in late…” He’d come home just before sunrise and snuck in through his window. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t woken anyone.

“Yeah… I know” said Justin, “I waited up for you.”

“You shouldn’t have done that” said Brody, “I’m not 12 years old!” He tried to pull away again but Justin was having none of it. He was holding him tight and hugging him as though his life depended on it. He wanted him to let go, but he didn’t want to hurt him either. He knew that he could easily free himself if he really wanted to, but it was much harder to judge his own strength now. With very little effort he could probably break one of Justin’s arms, and he really didn’t want that!

“I love you” said Justin, stroking the hair on the back of his head, “I want you to know that… We all love you… and we want you to… to tell us the truth about what happened on Friday.”

Brody glanced at Tori. She was standing there watching this strange and overly-affectionate scene. He wondered if it looked as weird and uncomfortable as it felt. When had Justin become this ‘huggy’?

“We do” she said, with a teary look to her eyes, “We both love you…” She was looking at him with such a sad expression on her face. He felt terrible!

“You don’t have to be ashamed” said Justin.

He gave a little sigh and buried his face in his brother’s neck. Just for a moment he allowed himself to breathe in his human scent. He could hear his heart beating in his chest and the whoosh of his tasty red blood through his veins. It was taking everything he had not to sink his teeth into that juicy artery right there in his neck. It was pulsing right in front of him, and almost crying out to him, with each beat of his human heart. ‘Bite me, bite me, bite me…” it repeated incessantly, just like that guy’s had last night. How could he explain to his family that he’d become a vampire? That the marks on his neck weren’t from a Taser gun, but from the fangs of a three-hundred-year-old vampire?! How could he tell them that his human life had come to an end two nights ago? That he’d spent last night hunting, and that he’d drunk the blood of a young runaway down by the pier? Not enough to kill him, but enough to quell his thirst. How could he tell them that this body of his was already dying and that his heart would cease to beat when he made his first kill? How could he tell them all of that?! What would they think of him then? Their brother, the Vampire?! The cold-blooded killer?! Where would their unconditional love be then?!

“You don’t have to lie about it” continued Justin, pulling back from the hug and gazing at him with tears in his eyes, “Come on, Brodes? …Tori looked at your chart today… She shouldn’t have, but she did… You have to tell us so we can help you!”

Tori just nodded at him. She looked a little shame-faced.

He looked back and forth between them and began to weigh up his options. He could lie to them, and let them think that he’d been raped, but that would mean making a statement to the police and playing the part of the sexual assault victim. He’d have to see it through… And he’d have to try and pass as human. That was becoming harder and harder as time went on and he knew that it wasn’t really a possibility… Not when he couldn’t eat or drink! Being a chef was going to be pretty difficult now! The alternative was to throw caution to the wind, and come clean. Just tell them the truth, and nothing but the truth, and see how they reacted? Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he thought?

“Please?! Brody?!” pleaded Tori, with those big blue eyes of hers, “We just want to support you…”

He thought about it for a moment or two more before speaking. “Okay…” he sighed eventually. Maybe it was time to bite the bullet? How long could he really keep it a secret from them anyway?! The truth would always come out… He stepped away, wanting to put as much distance between himself and Justin as he could. He just smelt so good to him! Like the scent of barbecued meat wafting on the air when you’re really hungry, it was driving him insane! He sat down on one of the armchairs and motioned for Justin to take a seat beside Tori. “Ummm…” he began, rubbing at his neck in a nervous sort of way “I don’t know where to start...” He didn’t know how he was going to put it into words.

“Can you try to… to tell us what happened on Friday?” asked Tori. She was giving him a look that said her heart was breaking. He couldn’t help feeling bad for worrying her so much. He’d miss this. Having a family that cared about him so much! Feeling like he belonged… But the time had come! He couldn’t hide it from them anymore. He knew that he couldn’t hold out much longer…

“Friday?” he sighed, wondering at how long ago it felt! So much had changed since then! He wasn’t even the same person anymore. He wasn’t even human!

“Just start at the beginning” suggested Justin, “What happened after you left the restaurant?”

"You left with that restaurant reviewer, didn’t you?” Tori prompted him.

“Kris” he confirmed, giving a little snort, before looking away. He was embarrassed. What had happened between the two of them had been incredibly confusing!  While it hadn’t been 100% unpleasant, or nearly as painful as he’d thought it might be, he’d found the whole experience beyond mortifying! Kneeling on the bed, with Kris just grunting away behind him, like two dogs going at it in the park?! He couldn’t understand why he’d done it. The whole time it had been happening, he’d been lost in his own confused thoughts. Desperately trying to convince himself, and his lover, that he was into it. That he actually wanted to do this thing… He’d started making the noises that he thought were probably appropriate, faking them, and doing his best to stifle the ones that weren’t. It hurt! It hurt a lot! It probably hurt more than it should have, because every muscle in his body was tense, and Kris telling him to ‘relax’ every couple of seconds definitely hadn’t helped! The whole thing just seemed so sordid! So basic and animalistic! Body fluids and horrible squelchy sounds and smells… He didn’t know how people did that stuff and then just went about their daily lives?! How did they not die of embarrassment?! How were they not as ashamed of themselves as he was?! He felt bad for the women that he’d slept with in the past, not that there were very many of them. But being on the receiving end was definitely much more unpleasant than being the one in the driving seat. Allowing someone inside your body was a seriously weird thing to do. Like letting someone else pick your nose for you! It was disgusting! When he thought about it now, he couldn’t help cringing.

“Yeah, Kris!” said Justin, feeling a little frustrated by his brother's evasiveness, “It was him, wasn’t it?!” He didn’t believe what he’d said in the restaurant last night. Maybe having to admit it in front of all those people had just been too much for him?! Maybe he was just too ashamed?! If he hadn’t been raped, why would the hospital say that there were signs of sexual assault?!

“It wasn’t Kris” said Brody, “I told you that already… Kris didn’t rape me… Something happened on Friday… but it isn’t what you guys think.”

"So… you're saying it was someone else?" asked Tori. She could see the look of surprise on Justin’s face. He’d been so sure that it was Kris, and he’d been sure that Brody was just covering for him.

"It..." he said, looking down at the floor again. He was trying not to look at Tori's throat. She was wearing a blouse for work with the collar unbuttoned and her long slender neck was very much on view. He could hear and smell her blood pulsing through her veins. It was maddening! "It wasn’t what you think…” he continued, “I mean… it… it… it wasn’t rape!” 

“You mean…” asked Tori, glancing at Justin in a surprised sort of way, “You’re saying it was consensual?!”

"With Kris…” he said, giving a little shrug, “Yeah, it was… consensual, I guess...”  He couldn’t look Justin in the eye. He felt embarrassed. “But that’s not the… the thing that happened…” he said. He had his arms wrapped around his chest and one of his legs was jittering up and down in a nervous sort of way. He was hungry, and having two sources of juicy juicy blood around him was making it hard for him to concentrate. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he'd have to give in and kill someone. Much as the idea of it horrified him, he knew that he wouldn't be able to hold out forever. The urge was getting stronger the longer he sat here! He just hoped it wouldn’t be one of them!

“The thing?” asked Justin, sitting forward in his seat. He didn’t understand this at all!

“It happened…” he began, staring down at the floor again and taking a deep breath. There was an overwhelming scent of human blood filling the room and Justin’s was particularly pungent. He wanted to sink his teeth into that vein right there in the side of his neck! Oh, how we wanted to do that right now! He wasn’t even looking at it, but it was there, pulsating only a short distance away. He couldn’t take his mind off it! "What happened...” he began again, a little shakily, “It… It happened after..."

"After what?" asked Tori, glancing at Justin in an ‘I’m not sure I want to know!’ kind of way.

"I left him there...” he said, staring straight ahead of him as though he was watching it play out in front of him again, “I left Kris... at the hotel... after we…" He rolled his eyes when he saw them give each other a rather pointed look. They obviously thought that he was gay!  He couldn’t blame them for thinking that. After all, he had just slept with a man. The evidence did suggest it. They couldn’t know how conflicted he was about all of this. How confused! For them, you were either one thing or the other, but what if you were neither?! What if you really just didn’t like sex?! What if you just weren’t attracted to anyone?! …And worse than that, what if none of that mattered now because you were essentially dead?! What then?! "I just... I just walked him home" he explained, with an embarrassed little shrug, "We had a few drinks in his room... And then… some things happened…” He gave an exasperated laugh. “But… after that…” he said, “Afterwards… I went to the beach for a while... to… to clear my head."

“To clear your head?!” asked Justin.

“Yeah…” he admitted, “I just needed some space.”

Justin glanced at Tori again. This didn’t make sense. Was it a lovers’ quarrel?!

“I just…” said Brody, with an exasperated sigh, “I needed to get my head straight…” He rolled his eyes when he saw Justin give a little smirk. Given the context, he’d obviously found the use of the word ‘straight’ amusing! He could be so immature sometimes! Brody gave a little sigh before continuing. “So… so, I went down to the water and I was in there… and…”

"Then what?" asked Justin.

He ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a big breath. Talking about this wasn’t easy. He wanted to just blurt out what had really happened! To be able to talk to them about it. But how do you say ‘I got attacked by a vampire, and now I am one!’ They’d never understand!

“Brodes?” asked Tori, trying to get him talking again.

He gave a little sigh and tried to smile at her. “I felt someone... a presence… someone standing behind me…” he said, staring into the distance, “You know when you can just sense that someone’s there?”

Tori nodded at him. “Go on” she coaxed gently.

"They came up behind me...” he said, shaking a little as he spoke. “And I was scared… I thought maybe it was Kris… I thought maybe he hadn’t got the message…”

“But it wasn’t Kris?” asked Tori.

“No” he said, giving her a pained grimace, “When I turned around… It was… it was someone else… and he was just staring at me… and… and then it… it happened!”

“Jesus!” exclaimed Justin, imagining some stranger just pouncing on him! A violent rape scene flashed through his mind, savage and cruel, like something you’d see in a movie. Somehow it seemed much worse than the date rape scenario that he’d imagined earlier.

“I couldn’t do anything to stop it!” he said, wiping at the few tears that had started rolling down his cheeks, “I couldn’t do anything!” He trembled at the memory of being bitten. The moment that those fangs had pierced his flesh! The thump of his own heartbeat as he felt his blood being drained. That terrible pulling sensation! He remembered it all… and then the darkness. He’d known that he was going to die…

“Oh God!” exclaimed Tori, reaching for his hand and gasping when she felt how cold it was. Her flesh burned with a heat that his no longer did, as though to emphasise the river of yummy blood inside her.

He could see the concern on her face, but all he could think was how tasty those blood-filled fingers of hers looked right now. He wanted to bite them! 'You can't eat your own sister' he told himself silently, ‘You can’t eat Tori!’

“Sweetheart!” cried Tori, rubbing his hand between both of hers to try and warm it up. “I’m so sorry!” she said. She was looking at him with concern. His hands were just so cold! All sorts of diagnoses were running through her head.

All around him now was the deafening din of human heartbeats. They were calling out to him, with a thump thump thump that seemed to say 'eat me!', and which he was finding it harder and harder to ignore. He could almost taste their blood in the air! That sweet metallic scent of iron and salt! He wanted it! Couldn't he just have a little sip? Just a little one?! Maybe Justin wouldn’t mind?! ‘No!’ he said to himself, ‘That’s ridiculous! Of course, he’ll mind! No-one wants to be fed on!’ He pulled his hand away from Tori and covered his face with it. He didn’t want to be this monster! He wanted his humanity back! Even being sexually assaulted might have been better than this! It would have been a human problem at least. Something to get counselling for, and which his family might have been able to support him through. No-one could help him with what was really troubling him! He was alone in this!

“What… what did he do?” asked Tori, giving him that same heartbroken look.

“He… He uhhh…” he said, looking down at the floor and taking a deep breath. “He… He bit me!” he blurted out finally!

There! He’d said it! The cat was out of the bag now! There was no turning back! Now they’d know what he was! Now they’d know the awful truth!

“He bit you?!” exclaimed Tori.

“Yeah…” he said, craning his neck to let them see the bitemark, “He bit me… and …and he drank my blood.”

“He drank your blood?” repeated Tori, giving Justin a worried glance. It was clear from her tone that she’d just recategorized him from ‘rape-victim’, to ‘crazy person’ within two seconds. Now she was worried about his mental health! He’d obviously lost it!

“Yeah…” he said, picking up on her tone of disbelief, “He… He was a vampire… and he fed on me and…”

“A vampire?” repeated Justin, giving him a look of pity, “A vampire…?”

“Yes!” he snapped, “A vampire! He fed on me, and then he let me drink his blood …And now… now I’m one too!”

“You’re a vampire?” asked Tori, furrowing her brows at him, “A real blood drinking vampire?” She was really worried now! It wasn’t unknown for patients that had suffered serious trauma to invent alternative realities as a coping strategy. Maybe his mind just couldn’t cope with the fact that he’d been raped and had created this vampire fantasy instead?! It was sad, but it was likely that he really believed it.

Justin glanced at Tori and she gave him a ‘play along with it’ look of warning. “Wow! Mate!” he said in the most patronising tone possible, “That’s uh… that’s pretty amazing… A vampire, huh?”

“Yes!” he snapped at him. He could see that they weren’t taking him seriously. “I’m a vampire… but I don’t want to be…” he said, “He just did it to me… against my will!”

“He made you a vampire against your will?” repeated Tori, in a tone that said ‘if you just listen to the words that you’re saying, you’ll see how ludicrous this is!’ It was a tone that she often adopted when dealing with mentally ill patients. She’d noticed the use of the words ‘against my will’. Those were important here. He was obviously talking about the rape in terms that his sub-conscious was more comfortable with. Replacing ‘rape’ with a vampire scenario. She was already mentally filling in forms to have him admitted to the psych ward, and figuring out which specialist would be best placed to deal with him. “He did it against your will?’ she reiterated.

“Will you stop repeating everything I say…” he complained, “…and actually listen to what I’m trying to tell you?! …You wanted to know what happened… Well, I’m telling you!” He felt a little ridiculous. He could certainly see why they might not believe him. After all, he hadn’t believed it himself at first!

“But… Brodes?” said Justin, in a pitying sort of way, “Vampires don’t exist… you know that!”

Tori shot him a disapproving glance, but looked back to Brody to see what his reaction was.

Brody just gave a frustrated little huff and sunk back in his arm chair. What was the point?! Neither of them really wanted to listen! Neither were willing to see what was staring them right in the face. ‘No such thing as vampires?!’ he said to himself, ‘I could show them right now?!…’ Part of him wanted to ‘vamp out’ on them and reveal himself as the monster that he now was, but another part wasn’t ready to upset them like that. Letting them see his fangs, and claws, and glowing white eyes would frighten them out of their skins. He didn’t want to do that to them! Especially when he didn’t have anywhere else to go. What would he do if they just threw him out?! What would he do without them?! He wasn’t ready to lose them just yet! Maybe this was for the best?! Maybe it would be easier to let them think that he was crazy, than have them know the truth. Maybe he’d get to have a family for that little bit longer?

“I didn’t want to talk about this!” he said, trying to get up, but Tori put her hand on his knee, and gave him a pleading sort of look. He looked down at it. He could hear the blood coursing through the veins in her wrist. It was taking every bit of willpower that he had not to pounce on it now and sink his teeth into it. All he could think about was how good it would taste. That salty ‘iron-y’ goodness! He could still taste that guy’s blood from last night if he concentrated hard enough. So hot, and salty, and full of life! The hunger was driving him insane! No human desire had ever been this strong. He couldn’t think about anything else! He couldn’t push it from his mind!

“Brodes, please?!” she pleaded, “We need to talk about this properly… we want to help!”

“I said that I didn’t want to do this!” he growled, pulling his knee away from her hand and jumping to his feet, “But you just have to keep pushing! Don’t you?!”

“Brodes?! Come on?!” said Justin, getting to his feet and holding his hands up in front of him in an attempt to placate him, “Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” he roared at him, “You have no idea what this is like for me!”

“We’re just trying to help” said Justin, with a sympathetic tilt of the head. How could he really think that he was a vampire?! What on earth had happened to him that night?! Had something simply broken inside his head?!

“I can’t do this!” snarled Brody, “I can’t!” With that, he kicked the coffee table over, stomped out of the room, and then slammed his bedroom door. If they wanted crazy, he’d give them crazy!

“Well, that went well!” sighed Justin, righting the coffee table before flopping down on the couch beside Tori.

“He opened up a little at least” said Tori, leaning her head on his shoulder with a sad little smile, “It’s more than he was doing yesterday… and with a bit of help, we can probably get him past this vampire thing…”

“A vampire?!” said Justin, biting his bottom lip as he tried not to laugh, “I wasn’t expecting that!”

“A vampire…” repeated Tori, covering her mouth as she started to laugh too, “He thinks he’s a vampire, Justin! …I mean, it’s not funny, but…”

“It kinda is!” he snorted. He put his arm around her shoulder and they sat there giggling in a tired and exasperated way. It wasn’t that it was funny exactly, it had just been the last thing that they’d been expecting! Brody the vampire! It just seemed so ridiculous! After a moment when they’d both quietened down a little, he glanced at her in a mischievous way and pulled his lips back to reveal his eye teeth. “I vant to suck your blood!” he said in a Transylvanian accent.

“Justin!” squealed Tori, elbowing him in the ribs as she began to really laugh again, “That’s not funny!”

“It so is!” he laughed, as he leaned his head against hers and they sat there laughing softly. They were both tired.

Inside Brody’s room, he paced back and forth across the floor, holding his hands tightly to his ears. He couldn’t block out the noise. He could hear them from all directions! Justin and Tori in the livingroom, Mason and Raffy out in the garden, and even Buddy sleeping in the kitchen. Heartbeats hammering away there incessantly! Boom bada, boom bada, boom bada… advertising the presence of warm and salty blood within easy reach. He gave a gasp when he felt his eyeteeth suddenly start to shift, growing longer and longer, and pressing against the soft flesh of his lips. ‘Fangs’ he thought, with a heavy sigh, ‘How am I going to explain these if they won’t go away?!’ He glanced at the door to his room. The noise was getting louder! Boom bada, boom bada, boom bada… He needed to feed! He couldn’t wait any longer!

He went to the window and slowly pulled back a corner of the curtain. It was nearly dark outside! The sun had finally set! With a sigh of relief, he threw back the curtains, and slid the window open as quietly as he could. He was going hunting! As enticing as his family members were, he couldn’t bring himself to feed on them! He would have to find someone else!

[Ludub]

Okay... so I'm a bit nervous about this chapter, so at this stage, you probably know what that means....  I really hope this isn't too dark for you...

 

WARNING: VERY ADULT THEMES & SEXUAL CONTENT (You have been warned!!!)

 

Chapter 10

 

Saturday night in the drug den...

 

‘Please don’t kill me!’ she pleaded silently, giving pained little moans as he held her close, with his teeth buried deeply in her flesh. He could hear those words repeating over and over, resounding in his head like the chorus to a song. ‘Please don’t kill me... just don’t kill me!’ she begged again and again. Her blood was coursing over his tongue, hot and salty, and more delicious than anything he had ever tasted before. No human food had ever come close to this! But more than the blood, it was the feeling of their two hearts as they beat now in unison. That ferocious thump of her panicked heart, fighting her decision to give herself to him, and telling her to run. His heart was beating just as fast and keeping rhythm with hers. He felt so alive! So excited! Nothing had ever felt so right! The connection was overwhelming, almost like taking possession of her mind and body. He felt that he knew this girl in a way that he had never known anyone else. She was giving herself to him so completely. All of her! Her whole life was flashing through his mind. Faces and places from all stages of her life! She hadn’t been lucky. That was clear. She’d been used and abused, practically from birth. No wonder she’d ended up here!

‘My heart is slowing.... don’t you hear that?’ she said to him, again letting the words just float through his mind, ‘You need to stop!’

‘Stop?!’ he thought, refusing to let go, ‘I can’t stop now! I can’t!’ He began to drink faster, tearing at the flesh of her throat more viciously. He was overtaken by an urge like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Nothing could have made him release her. Nothing!!!  All he could think was that he wanted to know her. The real ‘her’. All of her. He wanted to devour her!

‘Stop!’ He heard a voice say inside his head, ‘Stop! You’re killing her!’

He gave what was almost like the growl a dog would give when it was guarding a bone. ‘She’s mine!’ he replied to the voice inside his head, ‘She belongs to me!’ With that he drank that bit faster. Suddenly, he could feel the pain of her body. The pain of her heart. It was like he was killing himself.

In a sudden flash, he was on the floor, growling and snarling, and scratching at the body on top of him. There was a hand around his throat pinning him to the floor! “You do what you’re told!” growled a voice that was clearly not human, “I made you and I can kill you too!” He started crushing his throat in a way that was meant to warn. He couldn’t make him let go though. It was like fighting with a statue made of flesh covered stone.

‘Morten?!’ he asked silently, as he gazed up in fear at the vampire face above him. He remembered him only too well from the night before, but he hadn’t known his name then. That pearlescent white skin, the glowing eyes, those sharp teeth. Did he look like that too, he wondered? Is that what he’d become?! He was lying limp now, just staring up at the terrifying blonde man who was holding him down. ‘Are you Morten?’ he asked again.

“I am your maker” snarled the blonde man, “I am Morten Christiansen.... and when I tell you to do something, you do it!” The man stared into his eyes a little longer, and tightened the grip on his neck until he was really squirming. It was clear that he wanted to make sure that he knew he really meant it. “Do you understand?” he asked him.

‘You’re my maker, you’re my maker!’ gasped Brody’s internal voice, ‘I do what you tell me!’

With that, he allowed him to pull his hands away. “Good boy!” he said, smiling and giving him a little pat on the cheek. He sat up and helped him to sit up too.

“But... but you brought me here?” stammered Brody, “You gave her to me?” The girl was curled in a heap on the floor, her eyes hanging half open, her mouth lolling. She looked dead.

“Not to kill her” said Morten, as he leaned over and softly stroked the cheek of the lifeless girl on the ground, “She’s one of my best girls... tragic, beautiful... Never boring...”

“Did I... Did I kill her?!” gasped Brody, looking at her blue complexion with horror and disgust. He couldn’t believe himself capable of such a thing! “Is she dead?!” he asked.

“Not yet... no” he replied, hoisting the young girl’s body up onto his shoulder in an effortless fireman’s lift. “There’s a doctor at the hospital who knows the score... Maybe, if I get her there now...?”

“You’re going to save her?!” asked Brody, looking decidedly surprised, “You’re going to let her live?!”

“Business is business” he said, as he made to disappear out into the night, “You stay here... I’ll be back...”

Brody gave a little nod and wrapped his arms around his chest. What had he just done?! He’d nearly killed some poor girl?! He’d nearly become a murderer?! How had this happened?! He wasn’t a killer! He didn’t even like killing spiders in the house. How had he ended up here, with some poor girl’s blood warming his stomach?! How had he become this monster?! Why had Morten chosen him?!

 

 

Back to Friday night....

 

Morten stood on the outside looking in. It seemed like he’d spent an eternity doing just that. Watching as humanity carried on without him, as they wilfully partook in the simple joys that he had been denied now for over 300 years. How many times had he watched, hiding in the shadows like some kind of supernatural peeping Tom? How many times had he watched as they licked and sucked and fondled, and did things that looked downright painful! How much did he wish that he could feel what they felt, even just once? Sometimes he just watched from the side-lines, while other times he actively directed the show, using their bodies like puppets to realise his own fantasies? How many times had he put himself in the body of some young thing, looking through their eyes, and tried to imagine what they were feeling? Both male and female. Both entering, and being entered. Why was he so obsessed with this simple animal act, he wondered? What was it about sex that captured his attention so much? Was it simply that he had never had the chance to do it himself? That of all the things that were taken from him when he’d been ‘made’, that was the thing that had hurt the most? That he’d been a virgin? That his human life had been cut short before he’d had the opportunity to experience that most basic of animal acts?!  Was that why he kept doing this?! Was that why he kept torturing himself with something he would never fully understand? Was that why he couldn’t leave it alone, like an itch that needed to be scratched?

He watched through the window as the young bearded chef allowed himself to be pushed down on the bed. It was clear that he’d never done this before and that he was frightened. He wondered what was going on inside that head of his. He could plant ideas, and he could see through their eyes sometimes, but he couldn’t read minds. The private thoughts of his victims remained just that, private... At least until that special moment. That moment of union. That moment when two became one, and he got to feel the thunderous pleasure of a beating heart again. His own had stopped beating at the tender age of seventeen. 328 years ago and counting... He would sink his teeth into the neck of some young and vibrant man or woman and marvel at that wondrous sensation. That thump thump thump of a terrified heart. A heart fighting for survival, pumping blood at an enormous rate, in the futile hope of escape... He would see all their thoughts then, all their wishes and desires, all the things that they kept hidden deep inside themselves. Even their worst fears. He would watch their lives like a picture show, with flashes of faces and places, and feel their physical memories as though they were his own. Experiencing both the pleasure and the pain... It was the closest that he ever got to being human. He tried to hold it for as long as possible, revelling in this most intimate of connections... Thump, thump, thump! He absorbed their lives with each ferocious heartbeat... And then the slowing... that gradual thump...thump..........thump of a heart that couldn’t keep up anymore... that had no more blood to pump. And then the terrible silence. He hated that part! It always made him feel a little sad. To take a thing so beautiful, so full of life... and extinguish it. But needs were needs and he couldn’t resist the urge.

‘You want this’ he said to the young bearded man, ‘You want to try this... to see how it feels...’ He planted that thought in his head over and over, as though it was his own voice, his own thought. ‘You won’t know for sure unless you try.’ He could see the young man’s body relax a little but there was clearly an internal conflict raging in his mind. ‘His hands feel good on your skin’ he told him again, ‘You feel close to this man, you don’t know why but you do... You want to make him happy’.

He smiled a little when he saw the chef reciprocate a little, clumsily moving his hands up and down the other man’s back. He’d accepted the suggestion to some extent and was improvising of his own accord. Humans were so easy to manipulate. All it took was a suggestion here, a suggestion there... Their minds and feelings were malleable, especially when drugs and alcohol were involved. They were so very vulnerable! He gave a little chuckle as things moved on at a rapid pace.  The restaurant reviewer had flipped the young chef over and was getting him into position. The discomfort and fear on the young man’s face was plain to see, but more than anything else, he looked embarrassed.

‘Just focus on the ‘good’ sensations’ he told him, ‘This man wants to make you feel good. He doesn’t want to hurt you... This is what people do... This is what everyone does...’ He saw him give in a little. Like a conscious throwing of a switch. As though he’d said to himself ‘this is happening whether you like it or not!’ He scrunched up his face and closed his eyes as the restaurant reviewer moved in from behind. It was obvious that it hurt.

And then ‘it’ was happening! That thing that he so desperately wanted to experience himself but couldn’t. How he envied them right now! Especially him! He couldn’t help giving a little giggle of excitement. ‘It’ was happening, just like he’d planned! Sometimes this mind manipulation failed at the last moment and the natural instincts of his prey would kick in. They’d scramble kicking and growling across the room in an effort to get away, or beat the other person senseless, while cursing themselves for their own strange behaviour. Sometimes they’d even blame the other party, insisting that they must have been drugged. Understandable really, since he often revelled in taking his prey so far out of their comfort zone that they couldn’t think otherwise. Thoroughly heterosexual men and women would suddenly find themselves engaged in homosexual acts, or vice versa! It was like they’d suddenly ‘come to’ and realise what was happening. Then they’d put the brakes on and everything would come to a screeching halt. He’d find himself shut out all of a sudden. Unable to influence them at all, as though a wall had gone up. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, he found himself being uncharacteristically cruel. He would give them a particularly painful death, taking pleasure in their suffering instead, and drawing it out over hours and hours. He didn’t like it when his playthings fought back. He didn’t deal well with disappointment... But not this time. He’d chosen well this time! He’d come across him completely by accident but something about this handsome young chef had caught his attention. There was a vulnerability there, a suffering, an inner conflict... He’d seen it immediately when he’d spilt his drink on him. He’d watched him all night after that and begun planting suggestions... pushing him towards the restaurant reviewer who was so plainly flirting with him. ‘Why don’t you have another bottle of wine?’ he’d suggested, planting the idea in his head as though it was his own, ‘It’ll make you more relaxed!’ Watching him now through the window, he was sure that he was glad of that wine, and the glass of whiskey he’d suggested on their arrival. He was probably even more glad of the pill that he’d had the reviewer slip inside his glass when he wasn’t looking. For some reason, he didn’t want to hurt this one. He cared about this one... Maybe it was because he’d been so easily manipulated, so easily led? Maybe it was that he’d submitted himself so beautifully, allowing himself to be plundered, and given himself without complaint? Or maybe it was just those haunted eyes of his? Whatever it was, he couldn’t take his own eyes off him!  There were two men in that room, grunting and groaning, but for him, in this moment, there was only one. Only one that mattered! He tried to put himself inside the young man’s body, to see through the young man’s eyes... to imagine what he was feeling. He wanted so much to understand. To know him. Was he falling in love?! Was that even possible?! Or was it simply that he wanted to be him?

The young man winced, noticeably tensing his body as the restaurant reviewer picked up the pace. ‘Go with it!’ he told him, actively manipulating his body through the power of suggestion, ‘It feels good!’ The tortured confusion on the chef’s face was more than he’d hoped for. He wanted to be inside that body, kneeling there with that young virile man behind him, feeling all that there was to feel... He wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything... He felt a shift as he began to see through those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that had captured his attention so... He could see himself, a tall blonde Norwegian figure standing there, just watching through the window. He could see the hands of the chef, as though they were his own, white knuckled as they gripped the sheets below him. He could see the sweat trickling down the arms and the trembling of the body. But what good was this if he couldn’t feel anything?!

Suddenly, he was back outside the glass again, and the chef was looking at him. His eyes were open and he was staring right at him... or he seemed to be? Those piercing blue eyes! So full of pain and confusion... and anger! Was he looking at him? Could he see him?! Did he know that he was there?! He felt like a rabbit caught in the headlights. No human had ever made him feel this way...

The restaurant reviewer was still giving it his all, but the chef was staring fixedly at the window. It felt like he was staring right into his eyes, right into his soul, if he had one. It was a pleading look. He was asking for this to be over. It was clear that he wasn’t enjoying it at all. There were tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. Then he heard it! ‘Stop!’ Just one word, but loud and clear! Had he just planted that word in his head?! No one had ever done that before! ‘Stop what?’ he asked him, feeling pretty sure that he would get no reply. ‘Make it stop!’ he pleaded again. He stared at the chef as his body rocked forward, over and over, rhythmically, and he twisted his hands in the bedsheets. Had he really spoken to him?! Or had he just imagined it? ‘Stop what?’ he asked again.

‘**** you, Brody!’ hissed the young chef as he stared at his own reflection in the glass, ‘This is your own fault... Why are you doing this?! How ****ing stupid are you?!’

He stared at the young bearded man, thoroughly dumbfounded. Was he hearing his internal thought process?! Was he reading his mind?!

‘I don’t want this! I don’t want this!’ said the chef, still staring directly into his eyes, ‘Why am I doing this?! What the **** is wrong with me?! This is awful! …Oh, God, please make it stop!’

It was clear that he wasn’t talking to anyone but himself... but this was delicious! He’d never heard the thoughts of his victims before. Never heard their internal voices! For the first time in over 300 years he felt a real connection to one of his victims. A real connection to a living breathing human being... He didn’t know why. It wasn’t like the others hadn’t cried. It wasn’t like they’d never begged for it to stop. But there was something different about this one... No one had ever put themselves in his head before. No one had ever looked at him like this. He didn’t want to hurt him. In a strange way, he almost wanted to protect him! ‘It’s okay’ he said to him, ‘It’ll be over soon’. He continued to listen as the young man switched back and forth between self-loathing, and berating himself for not enjoying what he saw as a natural part of human life, and his own genuine feelings of disgust. He kept trying to tell himself that he should be enjoying it. That he wasn’t ‘normal’ if he didn’t!  Even without his help, there was so much confusion in the young man’s head! He couldn’t stop listening. He was transfixed! How could someone with every opportunity to have sex hate it so much?! He’d spent 328 years envying humans that ability. This was the first one that seemed to find the whole concept repugnant. He explored the young chef’s memories and wondered at the sense of revulsion that every sexual exploit seemed to hold for him. The pure torture of having to pretend to enjoy something so physically revolting to him that it almost made him vomit. This latest experience was just the latest in a string of extremely unpleasant rendezvous. He had basically been doing to himself what he’d been doing to his victims for centuries. Forcing them to have sex when it went against every natural instinct that they had. He’d been ‘raping’ himself, in effect! It was fascinating!

“Awww****!” shouted the young restaurant reviewer, as he collapsed, panting on top of the chef. Two breathless sweaty bodies lay there still locked together for what seemed like a very long time. Eventually the one on top, rolled onto his back and gave a little laugh. “For a first-timer, you were pretty ****ing amazing!” he said. He leaned over and tried to turn the chef towards him for a kiss but he wouldn’t let him. He kept his head turned away. Those blue eyes continued to stare out the window “Hey, you okay?” asked the restaurant reviewer, turning onto his side to look at him.

“Yeah... I’m just tired” said the chef, rolling over so he had his back to him. He was quiet now, as though dazed and shocked. 

“Yeah, me too” said the man, now spooning behind him, “It’s late... we should go to sleep”

He watched through the window as the restaurant reviewer tied a knot in the used condom and then leaned over the young chef to throw it on the floor. He used it as an opportunity to put his arms around him.

‘Oh God!’ groaned the chef, as he allowed himself to be manhandled again, ‘What the **** just happened?! What are you doing, Brody?! What are you doing?!’

As he watched him through the window, and stared into those teary eyes of his, he began to wonder what to do. He couldn’t bear the thought of killing him. A mind that strange... that interesting... He couldn’t extinguish it. But that left him with a problem, because he couldn’t deny himself either. He needed to know what tonight had felt like. What it felt like to be him. A person who truly hated sex?! He needed to understand. The only way he could do that would be to feed on him, and the true melding of minds only came after the point of no return. It would mean draining him to the point of death... There was only one other option open to him, but he needed time to think. He could only do it once. It was a precious gift, and not one to be given lightly.  He had to choose carefully. Was this the one he really wanted? Was he the right one? Why now? Why him? After 300 years?!

He turned and walked away.  He needed to feed on someone else first. Making decisions on an empty stomach was never a good idea...