To the Grave (chapter 1) By Marc Lewallen (all rights reserved)

It was just past eight thirty when Lucas showed up at Ben’s apartment for dinner. He stood in the hallway holding flowers in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. "May I come in?" he smiled earnestly.

"Like you need to ask." Ben laughed, tiptoeing up to kiss his cheek. "Come on in," he pulled Lucas inside.

"You have a very nice apartment." Lucas surveyed the space. Candles were lit through out the room, the lamp on the sofa table turned down low. He paused to study a photograph in a brightly painted frame on the entertainment center. Jacob and Ben at an amusement park in front of a roller coaster. He picked up the picture, his thumb blotting out Jacob. "You’ve made this place very comfortable looking. Very much a home," he smiled.

"Thank you." Ben said. He showed Lucas around, giving him the grand tour. "I love this apartment. I was crashing with my friend Stephen when I first moved up here, but when I saw the ad in the paper looking for a roommate… I called the phone number, met Jacob and he showed me this place and the rest, as the cliché goes, is history."

"Well, it’s very nice." Lucas slid out of his coat and hung it on the coat-rack.

"What about you? Where do you live?"

"Down in the warehouse district. I’m trying to convert an old factory space into a livable loft," Lucas said.

"That sounds cool."

"It has a lot of potential," Lucas said. "I’d like you to see it sometime."

"I would like that," Ben said. "Would you care to do the honors?" He passed the bottle of wine toward Lucas and disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve the corkscrew and wine glasses. "Dinner is almost ready," he called. "Another twenty minutes. I hope you’re hungry."

Lucas watched Ben from the kitchen doorway, his tongue darted out, wetting his lips. "Ravenous."

After dinner was over, Ben cleared the plates and headed to the kitchen, anxious to get the dirty dishes in the sink to soak, so he could get back to Lucas who he had left sitting on the couch smoking a cigarette. Ben was feeling skittish, wanting everything to go well. A hand fell on his shoulder and Ben let out a choked gasp, the plate he was holding fell from his grip and shattered in the sink.

"I’m sorry," Lucas said, the expression on his face made him look like a boy about to be scolded.

"That’s okay." Ben let out a nervous laugh. "It’s not your fault."

"I didn’t mean to startle you. I was going to offer to help you in here."

"That’s really sweet." Ben sifted through the water, looking up at him.

"Be careful." Lucas warned. "Don’t-"

"Ouch!"

"…cut yourself."

Ben pulled his hand out of the soapy water to find a small, jagged gash on the meaty part of his thumb. Lucas watched Ben staring at the cut for what seemed an eternity.

"Nothing big," Ben observed.

"Let me see that." Lucas grasped Ben’s wrist and studied the dark crimson blood pulsing ever so slightly from the cut. His nostrils flared and he began to salivate.

"It’s nothing. I’m just gonna go put some alcohol and a bandage on it." Ben moved down the hall toward the bathroom. "Give me a sec…"

Lucas watched Ben go, the hunger beginning to crawl within him. He’d been certain to feed well before coming here tonight. A few blocks from the warehouse he’d found a homeless man rooting through rubbish in an alley, his dog tied to a rusty wagon. Lucas had stood in the shadows watching as the man began to dig through a Dumpster, anxious to find something that might provide shelter from the cold that night. Lucas approached silently, not seeing the mangy dog wagging its tail in excitement. Lucas reached down and unleashed the dog from the length of rope tied to the wagon. The dog whimpered anxiously, circling itself, watching as Lucas tore its master’s head from his body and drained the vessel dry. He drank his fill, juiced up, as he liked to call it. For the time, slaking the unquenchable thirst. Lucas was no longer hungry…

…but here was Ben’s blood. In four dime sized drops on the white laminate counter. Lucas stared at the tiny splatters, aching to taste Ben. He smelled the rich, metallic scent, and looked down the hall with eyes shimmering red. His breath was coming short and his skin turned cold as his body temperature escalated. Lucas could hear the bandage being pulled from the waxed paper backing, could feel Ben’s heat coming down the hall. He looked back to the precious, tiny droplets. He leaned over and his arid, swollen tongue caressed the blood, lapping the countertop clean like a greedy, hungry animal.

The taste was sublime. Young and healthy. And aroused. A low growl came from the back of his throat. The smell sent him moving down the hall, hungry for more.

Somewhere in the remote part of his brain that tied him to humanity, he didn’t want to do this. The taste, however, so ripe and fresh, drove him forward. The creature licked his lips, his fangs forcing through his gums. It was more than desire. The need throbbed in him.

Lucas stood panting in the hall outside the bathroom door, the monster inside him ready to rip open Ben’s throat and bathe himself in that thick, delicious, powerful blood. He quivered, trembling and weak from what his need compelled him to do.

Ben came around the corner, and in a flash Lucas was on him, pulling the smaller man’s body closer, ready to drain him. He growled, ready to slice through the salty sweet skin of Ben’s neck and take in the blood. Using the most intense will power he had ever called upon, Lucas pulled the hunger back inside. He shuddered and pressed his lips to Ben’s, tasting his kiss at last.

Their kiss deepened, Lucas pressed Ben against the wall, grinding against him, ravaging him, the memory of how desperate he had been to feed was fading fast, being replaced by a new need. A need that was quite unfamiliar to Lucas. A need to touch, to caress, to hold Ben, and be with him.

Ben pulled the buttons of Lucas’s shirt open, sliding it off his body, pressing his mouth against the hairy chest. He felt the heat and the stiffness in the crotch of Lucas’s blue jeans jutting against his stomach. Ben let out a growl of his own.

"I want you so fucking badly, my sweet, little Ben." Lucas sighed, pulling Ben’s shirt off, feeling the smooth skin, the taut muscles under his strong hands.

Ben grasped Lucas’s belt, fumbling to unbuckle it as he tugged Lucas down the hall toward the bedroom. Ben towed him into his bedroom and fell to his knees, yanking the button fly open. Lucas kicked the door shut, then fell against it heavily. He could feel Ben’s mouth pressing against the cotton of his underwear. Ben’s cool fingers slipped under the elastic, pulling the shorts down. Lucas growled again, feeling Ben’s warm, wet mouth surround him. His eyes rolled back in his head, confused by this intense pleasure. His fingers slid through Ben’s short dark hair, holding onto him, not wanting this feeling to stop.

Lucas felt his insides clinching, his body tightening. He pushed Ben away, toward the bed, where he rolled him onto his belly on top of the linen comforter. Lucas’s hands moved across Ben’s firm muscled body. He parted Ben’s legs, his hands kneading the hard muscles of his ass cheeks, then lowering his face, his tongue began to move between them, opening Ben, getting him ready.

Ben squirmed around, taking Lucas into his mouth once more and the two of them continued to explore each other’s bodies. Hands and mouths touching and tasting each other. Lucas could take the intense pleasure no longer. He wanted more. Needed more. He lifted Ben up, holding onto him, and guided himself into the smaller man’s body. Ben cried out, flinching, biting Lucas on the neck almost hard enough to draw blood. Lucas tensed up, struggling to remain strong. Ben relaxed after a moment and he began to grind against Lucas.

Lucas’s hands journeyed over Ben’s body, exploring, as he pounded into him. He felt Ben surrounding him, the warm welcoming flesh holding him as Lucas moved within him. Their lips met, tasting their own bodies on each other’s mouths.

Lucas lowered Ben onto his back, continuing his animal thrusting, railing against him. He growled lowly between their kisses, felt Ben grinding against him and realized he was unable to stop. Lucas felt his heat erupting inside Ben, felt Ben clinching him as he delivered quick jabbing thrusts. His muscles singing, his body quivering, feelings so long forgotten they seemed to be happening for the first time.

When it was over Lucas collapsed on top of Ben, unable to move his tired and sweating body. He buried his face in the hollow of Ben’s neck, listening to the blood flowing, feeling Ben’s heart pounding against his own still chest. Lucas shut his eyes against the red glow, feeling Ben pinned helplessly beneath him, tasting the sweat from his neck, willing himself to maintain control.

"Incredible," Lucas muttered.

He offered a roguish grin. Then he laughed. Ben kissed him and let out a sigh.

"That was fucking incredible. You are fucking incredible…" Lucas buried his face again, felt Ben’s arms wrap around him and the two of them, invigorated but exhausted, fell asleep.

On the other side of the wall Jacob was lying in his bed, welcoming the silence that finally came from Ben’s room. He sighed and rolled over again, looking at the nearly full moon hanging low and red in the cloudless November sky. His jaw clinched repeatedly, unable to keep himself from thinking about what he had been forced to listen to going on in the next room.

From the minute he arrived home at quarter past eleven, he had been greeted with evidence of Lucas’s presence. An expensive black leather blazer on the coat rack in the front hall, dishes for two in the kitchen sink. Further in, the black Armani shirt lying on the floor outside Ben’s bedroom. He had known what was happening behind that closed door without having to hear them going at it through his bedroom wall.

"Fuck!" he whispered through gritted teeth. He punched his pillow for emphasis. "Fuck! Fuck!"

It was a long time before he finally fell into a fitful sleep. A few hours later he woke with a start from a bad dream, the details of which broke apart as soon as his eyes opened. Something compelled him to check in on Ben. His feet hit the cold hardwood floor, sending a chill over him, making him realize he had to piss. He moved to his door, found it open a crack, almost certain he had shut it tightly. He pulled it open and slipped out into the hall.

Jacob moved quietly. Mindful of the creaky joint outside Ben’s bedroom door, he side stepped it and padded toward the bathroom. He stood in front of the toilet emptying his bladder, looking up at the mirror to see the doorway and empty hallway reflected behind him. Jacob looked back down, watched himself finish pissing then flushed. He turned to leave the bathroom then recoiled, choking on a scream when he found Lucas standing in the doorway.

Jacob was now aware of the weight of his baseball bat in his hand, but not before he lost his grip on it and it crashed to the tiled floor in a noisy clatter. Although he could not remember doing so, he apparently had plucked it up from its place beside the dresser before he left his bedroom.

The two men stood glaring at each other tauntingly. If not for his supernatural powers and inhuman strength, Lucas might have found a worthy adversary in Jacob, who at six foot four was a couple of inches taller but maybe a few pounds lighter than himself. They squared off, naked, face to face, inches apart, neither of them speaking.

Lucas pulled his lips back in a humorless smile.

Jacob stood in front of him, his hands curled into fists, his jaw working as he tried to hold his temper. All he could think about was how much he wanted to beat the shit out of Lucas.

"Go ahead," Lucas said almost imperceptibly, "take a swing."

"You fucking think I wouldn’t?" Jacob growled.

"What’s going on?" Ben opened his bedroom door, peering out into the hall. "Jacob? Lucas? What are you guys doing?"

The men still stared at one another, neither wanting to break eye contact first. To do so would be to admit weakness, vulnerability.

"What is it?" Ben called again.

"I got up to take a piss." Jacob finally looked down the hall toward his roommate. He wanted to smile, but wasn’t able. Lucas was still staring at him.

"What was that noise?" Ben looked at him curiously.

"I thought I heard something." Jacob bent over and picked up the ball bat. "I guess I forgot you had company."

"Oh," Ben said, still rather dazed and half-asleep.

"I seem to have given your roommate a start." Lucas turned and headed back to Ben. He grazed Ben’s cheek with a kiss, then turned and shot a triumphant look at Jacob before disappearing into the bedroom.

"Good night, Jacob." Ben pulled his door shut.

"Night, Benj-" Jacob’s voice echoed in the dark, empty hall.

The next morning as the first sliver of sun was beginning to peer over the edge of the horizon Lucas silently slipped out of bed and got dressed. He wrote a quick note, explaining he had an early business meeting and placed it on the bedside table next to the alarm clock. He wondered how long the lies and excuses would work. He stood in the doorway and gave Ben a long look. Lucas did not want to leave, yet knew that he must. He couldn’t stay. But Ben looked so peaceful, a pleasant smile touched his lips, and his arms had been so warm. Lucas went to him, knelt beside the bed, kissed him gently, and then headed home.

Lucas rushed to his apartment, racing against the burning fingers of sunlight that were beginning to chase away the comfortable shadows of night. He made it into the darkness of his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed, his hunger already starting to gnaw into him. The incredible sex last night had taken a lot out of him. The thought of it still made his head swim in a way that was not dissimilar to feeding, but it had been exhausting. He would need to feed as soon as he awoke, but for now he must sleep, here in the crypt-like blackness of his bedroom and away from the baleful glare of sunlight.

Kyle sat outside the bedroom door all day long. Watching. Protecting Lucas lest anything disturb him. He was here full time with his master, keeping everything safe for him. He understood that he would never be like his Master, he would never have that strength. Kyle did however have special powers. Powers to protect his Master and that was all that mattered.

Kyle looked through the keyhole into the bedroom. He saw Lucas’s muscular frame sprawled naked on the giant bed, covered in a light diaphanous shroud. Kyle stared at the creature, stunning and sexy in his state of constant death. His snake like eyes narrowed to slits watching as his master lie sleeping. His forked tongue darted over arid lips.

He longed to please Lucas. It was his duty and his honor to protect his Master. And while much had changed for Kyle and his needs, peering in at Lucas, he found one need that remained the same. Kyle reached into his trousers and pulled his cock out. He rolled it in his hand, moaning. His tongue slithered out again, his black eyes rolled back in their orbits as he coiled in front of the door, masturbating as he stared through the keyhole.

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