Like Father, Like Son - 19

“Well hell,” Declan muttered an hour later. “If I’d known just how ‘enthusiastic’ you’d be I’d have told you about things a long time ago.”

Nicky laughed, turning his head to look at his lover. “I so doubt that. But now that you have, what next?”

Declan considered his question seriously. “First, I think, we’re going for a ride into the mountains.” He chuckled when Nicky’s whole body stiffened. “I’m not planning on killing you so get that thought out of your head. I want to show you something is all.” He kissed Nicky’s temple. “So move it.”

Nicky did, after giving Declan one final kiss. He showered and dressed before going into the kitchen to make coffee, while Declan did the same. He had the feeling they’d both need some to keep them awake since it was closing in on three in the morning and neither of them had gotten any sleep.  

When Declan wandered into the kitchen a bit later Nicky handed him a cup of coffee, asked if he had a thermos for the rest and filled it when Declan told him where it was.

“Clean out the pot and put the cups in the dishwasher,” Declan told him, his tone of voice verging on an order.

Nicky saluted, earning him a slight grin, and did as he was told, understanding that Declan’s ‘neat freak’ side required all dirty dishes be taken care of before they left the apartment.

“Exactly where are we going?” Nicky asked half an hour later.

“You’ll see soon enough.” Declan drove on for another mile before turning off the two-lane road onto narrow dirt trial barely wide enough to accommodate the car. A few hundred yards further and he made another turn, this time to park behind two tall pine trees.

There was barely room enough to get out of the car as Nicky discovered when his door made a solid thump against one tree trunk when he pushed it open. “Good hiding place,” he whispered once they were back on the trail.

Declan chuckled. “You can talk normally. There’s no one within miles of here.”

Nicky nodded as he walked beside Declan until the trial petered out, the only light they had coming from the small flashlight in Declan’s hand.

“Stay close,” Declan told him as he led the way between the trees which covered the sloping ground. “Almost there,” he said a few minutes later.

Nicky sighed in relief. Wherever ‘there’ was it had to be better than all the walking. Well, if he’s not planning on deserting me here. Nicky shook his head at that thought. This is not Hansel and Gretel.

A steep cliff devoid of trees suddenly came into view, the ground at the foot of it rocky and brush-covered. Nicky could vaguely see a darker shape in the deep gray of the cliff wall as thin moonlight lit the treeless space. “What is that?”

“A deserted mineshaft.”

“How the hell did you find it? Is this where..?”

“Luck, and yeah. I was looking for a cave and stumbled across this. The road that used to come up here is gone, nature took it back. As far as I can figure the mine probably failed a long time ago and that was that.”

As they moved down the shaft the fresh air dissipated and the rank odor of death took over, faint but definitely there. Nicky wrinkled his nose is disgust, gratefully taking the nose-plugs Declan handed him.

Declan stopped suddenly when they were well into the shaft. “Wait,” he said before moving forward. Seconds later light from a lantern standing in the center of the shaft lit up the area.

“Oh my God,” Nicky gasped. The sight in front of him was something out of a horror film. Bodies hung from the rafters in varying degrees of decay; female bodies, blonde females unsurprisingly. Straight ahead of him the woman he’d seen in the club earlier in the evening. “You take your time with them,” he said as he walked closer to see the destruction Declan had wrought on her body.

“I do.” Declan came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Nicky’s waist. “Does it bother you?”

Nicky shook his head. “For a second, yeah it did, but…” He leaned back against Declan’s chest, turning his head to look at him, his eyes gleaming in anticipation. “The next one we share?”

“Aren’t you a bloodthirsty young man,” Declan declared, a grin quirking his lips up. “Of course we do.”