(33) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"That was definitely worth all the hell you've put me though," Helmut murmured against Linden's ear once the two of them had regained some semblance of normality again.

"Me?" Linden bit his lip to keep from grinning. "It was your fault it took so long."

"Excuse me?" Helmut rested on one elbow now, looking down at him. "You were the one who kept teasing and then withdrawing."

"I never—well all right maybe a bit. Though you have to admit that the wait was worth it."

Helmut let a long pause ensue, as if thinking about that. Then he smiled. "Definitely worth it." He pressed a hearty kiss to Linden's lips. "We'll have to do it again sometime."

"Sometime?" Linden frowned, pulling away. "Like the next time I happen to be in the neighborhood and you're horny?"

"Perhaps," Helmut replied, not allowing any emotion to touch his features. Linden's words stung but he wasn’t about to let the boy know that.

"Well screw you!" Linden sat up, glaring down at Helmut. "They were right, everyone was right. You only use people, you don't care about them, you just use them."

Helmut shrugged. "That's what they say." He flinched when Linden's hand landed hard on his cheek. "Apparently you believe them."

"I didn't want to." A sob choked Linden's voice.

"Then don't," Helmut told him softly, gathering him into his arms. "People aren't always right."

Linden tried to pull away but Helmut was having none of that. "I'm not the best man you'll ever meet, my boy, but I'm not the worst either, nor nearly as bad as some people paint me. I'm not going to promise an eternity with you, I will promise that until one or the other of us decides to end this I'll remain faithful." He pressed a soft kiss to Linden's temple. "That's the best I can do."

"That's the best I can ask for," Linden replied with a watery smile. "And I promise the same."

"Then we're good, boy?" Helmut felt like a kid on a first date, wanting to know if there would be a second one.

"On one condition." When Helmut frowned, Linden chuckled. "Stop calling me 'boy'."

"But to me, you are. You're my boy."

Linden nodded. "Compromise. As an endearment, when you feel like offering one, boy is acceptable, but day to day how about just calling me Lin."

"I can handle that—boy." Helmut grinned, his hand beginning to explore again.

Linden laughed, not stopping him. "But can you handle me?"

"For damned sure going to try."

(32) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Because, my dear boy, I need to get out of these damned clothes." Helmut replied, suiting his actions to his words, quickly stripping off his shirt. When he reached for his zipper, surprisingly strong hands stopped him.

"Let me." Linden slid the zipper down, capturing Helmut's erection on one hand while pushing his jeans over his hips with the other. "Nice," he said, his voice filled with appreciation as he looked at his prize. Then he was on his knees, lapping away the leaking precum before taking Helmut into his mouth.

The shifter groaned, gripping Linden's head with both hands as the boy's expert tongue went to work. When Linden swallowed him, all of his long, thick cock, he shuddered with pleasure, unsure if he could restrain himself from coming then and there.

As if he'd read his mind, Linden pulled back, looking up at Helmut with a grin. "Sight, sound, touch, taste, and you taste incredible, and smell, I think we've covered them all."

"Oh do you now?" Helmut picked him up bodily and flipped him onto his back on the bed.

Before Linden could protest, which he had no intention of doing, Helmut's mouth was engulfing his cock. When he arched up, fingers pressed against his hole and one entered, and then a second. He let out a yip of pain and Helmut immediately withdrew them.

"Lube, drawer," Linden managed to get out while pumping into Helmut's mouth. Seconds later the tube was in his hand. He opened it, squeezing some onto the shifter's fingers. When they entered him again, he moaned softly then cried out with delight when one of them stroked his gland.

Helmut continued with his ministrations until he knew Linden couldn't hold out much longer. Releasing him from his mouth, he removed his fingers and then picked up the lube, handing it to the boy. Linden sat up just long enough to cover Helmut's rampant cock with it before lying back, pulling his legs up to give Helmut access.

"Ready?" Helmut asked softly. Linden nodded and seconds later hard cock met tight hole. Helmut pushed in slowly, giving Linden time to get used to his size, stopping when the boy gasped.

"No, I want it all, now." Linden thrust up, taking more in.

Helmut obliged, reveling in Linden's tightness even as he kept his eyes locked on the boy's face, ready to stop if he was too much for him. With patience he didn't know he possessed he pushed in inch by inch. "All right?" he finally asked softly.

"More than. Kiss me?"

Helmut did, hungrily, as he began to fuck Linden, slowly at first, then faster and harder when Linden urged him on with moans of pleasure.

Linden took himself in hand, pumping his cock in time to Helmut's penetrations. His balls tightened as he rode the edge. "I'm—" he cried out.

"Now, do it." Helmut felt Linden tighten around him and then streams of pearly cum decorated both their chests as Linden shouted out, "Yessssssss." Seconds later Helmut's shout joined his as he filled the boy's hole with his hot seed.

(31) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Off with the clothes. Now!"

Linden hesitated, eyebrow cocked, even though that was most definitely what he had been planning on doing. "Make me," he said with a small, defiant grin.

"Boy," Helmut growled, landing a hard smack on his butt with one large hand.

"Hey!" Linden looked at him in shock.

Helmut looked back, remaining silent, his face stony, and then Linden saw the small twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

"You're an ass," Linden muttered.

"Not in this lifetime, boy. That would be you. Now, are you going to undress?"

With a nod, Linden slowly unbuttoned his shirt as he asked, "What makes you think I'm not a top?"

"Instinct?" Helmut watched him hungrily.

As he unzipped his jeans, sliding them down over his slender hips, Linden met Helmut's gaze. "You're just going to stand there?"

"Perhaps. You're like a fine sculpture, one that should be studied and admired at leisure."

Linden smiled, turning slowly in a full circle. Then he moved closer. "To get the full effect all the senses should be engaged, not just sight." He took Helmut's hand, placing it on his swollen cock. "Touch, taste, smell, hearing, but touch above all others."

"Like this?" Helmut stroked him with the palm of his hand, reveling in the velvety softness sheathing the hard core.

"Just like that, and more," Linden replied, moaning low.

Helmut placed his other hand on Linden's tight buttocks, pressing a fingertip against his puckered hole. When Linden nudged against it, he pushed it in slowly, watching Linden's face, ready to stop if the boy so much as flinched.

"More," Linden whispered. "I won't break."

"We'll see about that." Helmut's finger found Linden's gland. He stroked it and Linden's cock hardened even more when the boy writhed against him with a cry of need. Seconds later, he pulled his finger out and stepped back, releasing his hold on Linden's erect member.

"Why?" Linden asked when he stepped into Helmut's space again and the shifter moved away—again.

Guardian Angels – Ambivalent - 13

"What the hell!" Mike set off at a dead run, Paddy right behind him. Squad cars and an ambulance were parked in front of the shelter, lights flashing. Mike came to a stop when a police officer standing at the front door asked who he was.

"Mike. Mike Desmond. I work here." He nodded toward Paddy. "This is Paddy O'Brian. He volunteers here. What happened?"

Rather than answer him, the officer stepped inside for a moment then came back, telling them they could go in but only into the front room. They were met by a man in a suit who introduced himself as Detective Massey.

"What's going on? Is someone hurt?" Mike asked. "And why are the police involved?"

"One of the boys was found unconscious at the bottom of the basement stairs. Apparently he tripped and fell."

"That doesn't explain why you're here. Wait a minute, hang on, how did that happen? The door is always kept locked. Only the people who work here full time have the key."   

"That's what Mr. Jones told us when he called to report the accident. He said the basement was off limits to the kids who come here." Massey barely smiled, adding, "No that it's beyond the realm of possibility that the victim could have picked the lock, but he'd have had to know what he was doing. It's not your everyday home lock."

At that moment the EMTs appeared, rolling a stretcher holding a teenager. He appeared to be badly hurt, his head restrained, an IV hooked up, one arm and a leg in medical splints and a backboard keeping him immobile. 

"That's Micky," Mike said. "He's an on-and-off regular here."

"Do you know his real name?" Detective Massey asked.

Mike shook his head. "He always goes by Micky." He watched as the stretcher was rolled out of the building. "Unless the kids join the Thirty-Day program we don't pry or try to get them to tell us their real names. All that does is make them wary of ever coming back."

Massey nodded. "Does he have any friends he hangs with?"

"No, he's pretty much of a loner from what I've seen."

"Not quite," one of the other shelter employees who had been listening in said. "I've seen him with Dizzy a couple of times. In fact, I think they came in together today. I can check if he's still here."

"If you would, please," the detective replied.

The man went through the doors to the rec room, returning two minutes later with a kid who looked about sixteen.

"Is Micky going to be okay?" he asked after the detective told him who he was.

"At this point there's no way of knowing for certain. I'm sure the EMTs stabilized him. Beyond that…" He shrugged. "Do you know how he managed to get into the basement, Dizzy?"

(30) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Ready to leave?" Helmut asked after a few more minutes of walking.

"I think so. This certainly gives one a sense of one's own mortality. Even me."

"We all die sometime, including us. What counts is what we do with our lives before it happens."

Linden glanced at him in surprise. "I didn't think you were one to wax philosophical."

"Occasionally, especially in a place like this," Helmut told him with a slight smile as they started back down the tunnel towards the exit. "Just don't expect it to happen too often."

"I sort of like that side of you. It's—umm, different from the domineering image you put out."

"Which is the real me."

Linden stopped, looking at him. "Is it?"

"You sound as if you don't believe me."

Tapping a finger against his lips, Linden searched Helmut's face in the dim light. Finally, he said, "I don't; but I think you believe it because you have to, because of what you are and what you do. It's not all of you though."

"Boy," Helmut warned, his voice low and growly, "don't try to make me into something I'm not."

"Why not? You are."

"Fuck you." Helmut started down the tunnel, not giving a damn at the moment if Linden followed or not. When he felt Linden grab his shoulder, he whirled around, ready to lay into him. He didn't get the chance to say a word. Linden's arms were around his neck as he kissed him ardently, holding nothing back. "You little shit, just what do you think you're doing," Helmut said almost angrily as he broke away.

"Same thing you've done to me. Only I meant it. For me it's not a game." Linden stood defiantly in front of him, not letting him move past him.

"You think it was a game for me?" Linden nodded once. "I'll show you games, boy," Helmut growled, grabbing Linden's hand, pulling him along behind him as he strode down the tunnel. When they reached the entrance chamber, he pressed Linden to the wall, not giving a damn if anyone was watching, and proceeded to ravage his mouth while grinding his hips against him.

He expected Linden to fight what was happening. Instead, the boy responded to both the kiss and the rest, moving with him as if they were totally alone in some darkened bedroom. Hardness met hardness and Helmut groaned low with need.

Linden broke the kiss, panting. "We have to—"

"To get out of here before we embarrass ourselves—"

"Which is going to be hard since we're—," Linden started laughing. "Hard."

"Yeah," Helmut agreed, taking a deep breath, trying to will his erection to subside so that they could leave.

"We could go back into the tunnel. That should help change the mood."

"Boy, right now nothing will do that."

"Sleazy old transient making a pass at you, your ugly first grade teacher, umm—"

"What?"

"Thinking of real turn-offs. Works for me."

Helmut checked and chuckled. "Apparently. So let's move it while we can."

(29) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Linden gulped when he heard Helmut, turning to face the shifter. "Out."

"Without me?" Helmut pushed off the wall opposite the door to Linden's room. "You were expressly told that you go no where unless I'm with you."

"Damn it I'm very capable of taking care of myself. This is Paris, not—not—"

Helmut cocked an eyebrow inquiringly.

"The slums of outer Mongolia," Linden finished lamely.

"I don't think those exist. Now, where exactly are we going?"

Linden gave it one more shot. "I don't know where you're going. Me? I'm heading out to the Cimetière de Montmartre."

"Morbid boy, aren't you. What after that, the Catacombs?"

"Catacombs?" Linden's eyes lit up.

Helmut laughed, slinging an arm around Linden's shoulders. "Come on boy, you want morbid, I'll show you morbid."

A short while later they were standing in front of the simple black door of a small undistinguished, building. Linden was sure it was Helmut's idea of a joke until the shifter asked the woman at the entrance for 'deux billets'. Once inside they went down a long spiral staircase into a small gallery; and from there into long, dark, damp tunnels. Linden still wasn't all that certain Helmut wasn't pulling his leg despite the presence of a group of tourists snapping photos of the signs telling when the various tunnels had been build.

Finally they came to a large chamber. There was a sign over the entrance to a dark hallway that said, "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la mort."

"The empire of death?" Linden murmured.

"Indeed," Helmut replied just as quietly. "Afraid to face it?"

"You're kidding; I live with it every day."

Linden almost regretted his bravado words a moment later when they walked into the hallway. What at first glance he took for walls made of small stones, he realized almost immediately were in fact huge piles of human bones. Tibias and femurs by the thousands were neatly stacked, interspersed with rows of skulls, some arranged in patterns. Most of the stacks of bones rose to a height of about five feet, and to a depth, he could see as he peered over the top, of anywhere from a couple of yards to at least twenty yards. The bones behind the ones creating the walls, he presumed, were spines, ribs and all the other sorts belonging to what had once been complete skeletons. The tunnels of bones stretched on and on, with the side passages blocked by locked gates.

"How long have they been here?" he wondered aloud.

"They began accumulating in 1786 from what I understand," Helmut replied. "They came from the cemeteries during the beginning of the Revolution, when they were becoming overcrowded. The relocation ended in 1860, and it's estimated that five to six million skeletons were moved here."

It was eerily quiet, except for the sound of water dripping from the ceiling and the muted voices of the tourists ahead of them. And dark, with only dim floodlights for illumination.

(28) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"No! No way, no how. I won't."

Roderick cocked an eyebrow. "It seems to me, Piers, that you said basically the same thing when I told you that you were going to be staying here. Now you're complaining because I'm taking you with me on my next assignment?"

"I—I'm actually enjoying myself for once, umm, watching Linden try to stay out of Helmut's clutches."

"I'm sure that's quite amusing but hardly a good reason to say no to me. After all, how many times do you get to go to Paris?"

"Well— Paris, huh? Can we go clubbing there? I hear they have some great ones."

"The whole city to explore and all you can think about is the clubs." Roderick's lips quirked up in amusement.

"So I miss them."

"Miss what?" Linden asked as he came into the parlor.

"The clubs. We're going to Paris!"

"Oh." Linden flopped down in one of the chairs.

"There's a definite lack of enthusiasm in that response," Roderick said.

"No, it'll be fun. It's just—"

Piers jumped in before Linden said the wrong thing, "That he'll miss Helmut."

Linden shot him a disgusted look. "Will not."

"Actually," Roderick told them, trying not to laugh, "Helmut's coming with us to act as your bodyguard."

"No way!" Linden looked at him in shock before burying his face in his hands.

"Way," Helmut said, smirking as he came in, leaning against the doorframe with crossed arms.

"I'm doomed," Linden muttered.

Guardian Angels – Ambivalent - 12

"It doesn't bother you… what I told you guys about me?" Mike asked hesitantly as he and Paddy walked to the shelter.

"Not in the least. Vic's gay and so is his… I guess they're partners by definition, though not in the Vic's business."

Mike snorted. "If they're that kind of partners it stands to reason he's gay too."

"Yeah, good point."

"What about you?"

Paddy shrugged. "I'm ambivalent. I've tried both and have yet to make up my mind. Probably because I haven't met anyone who put me in a position to have to, one way or the other."

"Paddy, I think the technical term for that is bisexual."

"True. So, yeah, I'm an ambivalent bisexual."

Mike studied him for a moment. "How old are you?"

If I told him the truth, he'd freak. "How old do you think I am?"

"Games?" Mike grinned. "Somewhere between… oh… twenty-eight and thirty-five."

"That's a pretty large span."

"Well you look close to thirty, but you act older, if that makes sense."

"It does. I'm twenty-nine and counting." And as far as appearances go, that's pretty close to the truth.

"I bet you're Irish, or have Irish blood in you."

Paddy chuckled. "The hair?"

"Yeah, for sure. Or at least when I think of the Irish I see either black or red hair. Of course the Scottish tend to be redheads too, I think."

"They do, but I am Irish born and bred, though I haven't been home in way too long."

"By choice?"

Paddy smiled. "Yes, by choice. I emigrated here when I was sixteen, with my family." An outright lie, but what else am I supposed to say. That I died in eleven-sixty-nine and have been all over the world since then? I doubt he'd believe me unless I showed him what I am. And as Vic pointed out that would definitely freak him out.

"Is your family still here?"

"In the States? Yes. They settled in New York, where every good Irishman starts out." Paddy laughed. "At least according to all the movies. I had a strong case of wanderlust so…"

"You became an itinerant private eye."

"In time, once I discovered I was good at keeping people safe and finding out who wanted them…" Paddy paused, not wanting to scare Mike although he suspected the young man wasn't easily frightened. Not after the way he'd lived for the past four years.

Mike shot him a look. "Found? Dead? All of the above? If that's what's on Mr. Keefe's mind I guess I'm glad I have you for a bodyguard now. I mean that is why you're sticking with me. Right?"

"That and… Yeah, to keep you safe and find out who really hired him, and why."

Tilting his head in question, Mike said, "And what?"

And maybe I find you interesting? Insane, and yet… No. I'm just, as he put it, his bodyguard. And while the body belongs to a man who seems to be bright and intelligent and caring, no way am I going to attempt… anything… other than keeping him safe.

Paddy was more than a bit shocked at the direction his thoughts had gone. He hadn't lied when he told Mike he was sexually ambivalent. Hell, the last time I made a decision to test the waters again was… much longer ago than even I want to think about.

"Earth to Paddy, did we lose contact?" Mike said, grinning.

"Sorry, I just had an errant thought about…"

Paddy was saved from finishing his sentence when they turned the corner onto the shelter's street.

(27) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Research," Piers told Linden when asked. "We need to find out all we can about revenants."

"Hot damn. I was hoping you wouldn't let Helmut scare you away from it."

Piers snorted. "Not even. I don't scare easily and," he hissed, "I do not like being lied to 'for my own safety'." He made air quotes as he said that last.

"I agree totally. Besides, we really do have to stop him. Helmut said people are still suffering and dying in the dungeon."

"Agreed, and we'll have to find out why." Piers retrieved the loose-leaf folder from the desk, thumbing through it until he came to the page he needed. "The books on the supernatural are on those shelves," he told Linden, pointing at them.

It took a few minutes but Linden found two that he thought would give them the information they needed. They each took one, reading the relevant parts and then trading off, taking notes as they did.

When they'd finished Piers said, "Well we knew this wasn't going to be easy."

"At least he can be killed if we can get close enough to him."

"The problem is revenants don't feel pain and can take tons of damage without even flinching according to both those books, so if we don't hit his heart or take his head before he gets to us we're the dead ones."

"Or we find out personally what he does in the dungeon," Linden commented with a shudder. "If Helmut wasn't just trying to scare the hell out of us then the revenant takes prisoners."

"Probably stocking up to feed on when pickings are scarce."

Linden nodded. "I wonder why he didn't grab us. He was watching. It had to be him. We need to find out how much of the land was his, you know. Helmut said we weren't to go within a thousand yards of the ruins. I wonder if he meant that literally or figuratively."

"Let me see what I can find," Piers said, going to the library table. "At least things are organized," he murmured as he opened the drawer where he'd found the sketches. He took a yellowed paper from one of the folders, unfolding it carefully. "And we're in luck."

Leaning on the desk beside him, Linden looked at the faded map. "For a castle it didn't have all that much land."

Piers shrugged. "The less the better as far as I'm concerned because it means we can get closer before we have to worry about running into him. At least now we know there's more to Rod's wanting to keep tourists off the estate than just the desire for privacy."

"What about the servants? I wonder if they've been warned."

"They're all human so he's probably just told them the same thing he told me, that the ruins are unsafe because the walls could still be unstable or the ground might cave in. I do know that Mr. Pope avoids the area even during hunting season."

"Don't want the hunter to become the hunted," Linden said with a small chuckle.

"Not by that thing, for damned sure. This is going to take a lot of planning, both about how to kill it, and how to get to the ruins without Helmut knowing."

Linden nodded. "But we've got time. It's not like we're going anywhere."

(26) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"And this revenant came back." Piers shuddered. "Is he—does he look human still?"

"Picture a movie zombie, that's pretty much what he looks like. This particular one has progressed with the times though. He wears modern clothes, not the ones he was wearing when he died."

"So," Linden asked after a moment, "he somehow managed to crawl out of the dungeon and has been haunting the castle ruins?"

"Yes, though haunting doesn't apply since he's not a ghost. Somehow, for whatever reason, it seems that he can't leave the land that belonged to him, the land the castle stood on when he died. As with all revenants, he seeks revenge on those who killed him and their descendants but he's caught here and can't fulfill his mission."

"Rod knows this," Piers said, anger lacing his voice. 

  

"He does, which is why he ordered you to stay away from the ruins."

Piers jumped to his feet, glaring at Helmut. "Why the hell didn't he just tell me?"

"And scare the shit out of you? He figured it was better for you to think he was worried about your getting hurt."

"Damn it, I'm a vampire. How much damage could a falling piece of masonry do to me?"

"If you got trapped by it and the sun came up before you were found, a hell of a lot," Helmut pointed out.

"Well, yeah, okay I'll give you that. But still—"

"Why are you telling us about this revenant if Roderick didn't want us to know?" Linden asked.

"Because the two of you ignored his orders to stay away from there. Personally I never really agreed with his reasoning but I only work for him."

"So," Piers said, a gleam of excitement in his eyes as he hopped up to sit on the edge of the table, "how do we get rid of this creature?"

"You don't even try," Helmut growled. "If I see or even hear of the two of you going near the ruins again you'll have me to deal with."

"Oooh, I'm so scared," Linden told him, grinning.

"Boy, you'd better be. I'll be on your ass twenty-four/seven. You won't even be able to go to the bathroom without me in attendance."

"And that's a problem why?"

"Might not be one for you, Lin, but I'd rather not have him on my tail like that, thank you very much," Piers muttered.

"But it will happen if you get within a thousand yards of the ruins," Helmut said sternly. "For now however, I think it's your bedtime since the sun will be up very soon."

"Mine too," Linden told him. "I pretty much keep the same hours."

"Then off with you both, and remember, I'll be watching."

(25) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

Piers chewed his lip, having heard and understood all of what Helmut had said. "Still suffering and dying?" he asked quietly.

"Exactly. Roderick told you, I'm quite certain, that under no circumstances were you to explore the ruins of the castle. Am I right?"

Piers nodded. "I did, or tried to once. He caught me at it and—" he gave a small shiver. "I've never seen him that angry."

"And yet the minute he's gone you decide to try again and take Linden with you."

"It's just ruins. Dangerous maybe if parts of it are unstable but it seems to me that after hundreds of years whatever was going to fall already has." Linden stated defiantly. He wasn't about to give ground, if for no other reason than to show Helmut he wouldn't give in to him in any way, shape or form.

"That, boy, is not why Roderick wants the two of you to steer clear of the place."

"I suppose you're going to tell us there are ghoulies, and ghosties and things that go bump in the night down there."

Ignoring Linden's snide remark, Helmut asked Piers, "What do you know about the ruins?"

"That they were once a castle and, from what Rod told me, war and the resulting fire destroyed it. I got the idea that that happened before he became the owner of the estate."

"It did. What he hasn't told you, apparently, is to whom the castle belonged."

"I figured it was part of the estate, part of the holdings."

Helmut shook his head. "The estate's original owner, Roderick's father-in-law, bought the land soon after the war that destroyed the castle. He build the manor house, which was completed somewhere around 1520. He intended to raze the remains of the castle but that never happened."

"Obviously," Linden muttered under his breath.

"Why not?" Piers asked.

"Because the land the castle stands on may have been part of the estates' holdings, but the castle itself still belonged to its original owner, and the original agreement when Roderick's father-in-law purchased the land was that the castle must remain as it was until the original owner and his descendants, if he had any, had all died."

Linden snapped his fingers, grinning. "I can see where this is going."

"Can you?" Helmut cocked an eyebrow. "Then tell me."

"The castle belonged to a vampire and like Roderick he kept returning as his own child down through the ages."

"Close, but no cigar. He was, and still is, a revenant."

"Isn't that just another name for a vampire?" Piers asked, frowning.

"Yes and no. Both are undead but, generally, a revenant rises from his grave to extract revenge on those responsible for his death. Notice I said 'generally'. In the case of this particular revenant that's not what happened. While he was alive, he was an evil man. He died during the battle at the castle, cursing God as his life drained from him. Loyal followers took his body down to the dungeons in the hope that no one would realize that he was dead. When the castle was set to the torch by his foes, he was buried by the rubble."

(24) Two vampires, a ghoul and a shifter.

"Get him back up here now, you young fool."

Piers was so startled he almost let go of the rope, just as a strong pair of hands grabbed it, hauling Linden to the surface with inhuman speed.

"Do you two have a death wish?" Helmut growled angrily after he'd set Linden on his feet. "Can't you feel the evil emanating from there?"

"We felt something earlier," Piers admitted.

"And still you continued. Children." Helmut sighed in frustration. "Come, I'll get the two of you home and then we'll talk."

He wrapped his arms around their waists, and seconds later they were in the library at the manor house.

"Get that foolish harness thing off of you," Helmut ordered Linden.

Linden was sorely tempted to say 'Make me', but quickly thought better of it when the shifter glared at him. Once he had, he asked rather petulantly, "Don't you ever sleep?"

"When I get a chance to." Helmut pointed to the two over-stuffed chairs between the desk and the library table. When the young men sat, he leaned back against the desk, looking at both of them with an upraised eyebrow. "Do you want to tell me just what you thought you were doing?"

"No," Linden said at the same time that Piers said, "Maybe, if you promise not to tell Rod."

Helmut pointed to Linden. "You, not a word." Before Linden could protest, Helmut added, "I mean it, and you," he turned to Piers, "Talk."

Piers fought the urge to pull rank because of his real age. He wasn't certain why Helmut was angry but he had the feeling he was going to find out quite soon and he didn't know if he wanted to.

Watching the emotions crossing Piers' face Helmut gave him a slight smile. "I've been alive a lot longer than you, so not only do I look older, I am by a good many years, almost one hundred to be precise. So if nothing else I have life experiences that you don't, especially since you've been fairly coddled by Roderick."

"I haven't," Piers protested.

"You've lived in the lap of luxury, and you," he shot a glance at Linden, "are not any better, boy. You may be his blood-bound servant but, to all intents and purposes, you're just as spoiled. Now, with that said, spill it, Piers."

"Roderick said there is, or was, a dungeon under the castle."

"So of course the two of you just had to go hunting for it. Did it ever occur to you that people suffered and died horribly there; and that they might still be suffering, and dying."

"Yeah, right," Linden spat out. "You're saying there are ghosts down there, bent on what? Revenge?"

"Don't discount the possibility, boy. However that's not what I'm trying to tell you."

Guardian Angels – Ambivalent - 11

As good as his word—almost—Mike arrived twenty-five minutes later. Paddy introduced him to Vic, and vice versa. Then Mike sat in the only remaining chair by Vic's desk, looking questioningly at the two men.

"First off, we need a list of all your family members, with the last address you remember for them," Vic said, handing Mike a pad of paper and a pen.

"Oh boy. Names I can give you. Addresses, not for all of them. One aunt and her husband lived here in the city. I don't know if they still do.  My second aunt lives back east and my uncle is down south. I do know which cities, because Mandy and I spent one summer visiting them. But no way do I remember specific addresses. 

"Cities should be fine for now. Any cousins who wouldn't still be living at home?"

Mike nodded. "Five of them and they were all older than me so I'd guess they've moved out." He smiled ruefully. "I was the youngest member of the whole family."

"Grandparents?" Paddy asked.

"Last I know of, only Grandpa Bailey was still around. He was my mother's father." 

"Paddy said your mother's dead?"

"Yes." Mike sighed. "That's when things started going wrong between me and Father. He took it hard, and then he seemed to channel all his anger onto me. Okay, maybe anger isn't the right word. He had this vacant space in his life and he tried to fill it by turning me into the perfect son who would become the perfect adult. I would go to college, meet the right woman, marry, have kids and be a millionaire before I was thirty-five."  

"Grandiose dreams," Vic said.

Mike nodded. "The college bit I really had no problem with, although he did want to lay out what choices I had as far as majors went. Some of them were actually sort of interesting. As for the rest, the wife and kids, that wasn't going to happen."

"Did he know that, in the end?" Paddy asked.

"Meaning did I come out to him? No. That wasn't the reason I ran away though. I just couldn't take his trying to run every facet of my life. Hell, I even dated a couple of girls just to try to make him happy. Neither of them lived up to the standard he'd set for my future wife, which”—Mike chuckled wryly—"was probably just as well." 

Interesting. Paddy glanced at Vic.

"Did you know?" Vic mouthed since Mike wasn't looking his way.

Paddy barely shook his head 'no'. Then he returned his attention to Mike. "The list?"

"Oh. Yeah." Mike set to work, frowning at times. He looked up once to say, "I'm presuming Mandy's in Wellton. That's where they moved to, or at least Father did according to the obituary I found."

When Mike finished the list, he handed it to Vic. "I'm sorry, that's all I really know."

"At least we have names, which is a start. How old is your sister?"

"She'd be twenty-three now."

"Did the two of you get along?"

Mike waggled his hand. "She was older, she was a girl, and she was the apple of my father's eye because she did everything he wanted. What do you think?"

Paddy grinned. "A touch of sibling rivalry?"

"You could say that, but we still loved each other as much as a brother and sister can." There was a brief pause then Mike said, "Okay, that didn't come out the way I meant it."

Vic broke up. "I would hope not, but I think we got what you were saying."

When Paddy stopped laughing as well, he said, "Vic will do the research on your family. Right?"—he looked at Vic, who nodded in reply—"And I'll stick with you, Mike."

"Meaning you're coming to the shelter again as a volunteer?"

"Yep, since I am one. Mr. Jones didn't say there was a limit on how often I could be there."

"Good Lord, no. We need all the help we can get, when we can get it."

"And you're due there soon from what you said, so we might as well get moving." Paddy stood, quickly followed by Mike. "You'll call if you find out anything?" Paddy asked Vic.

"Of course. And you'll call if Mr. Keefe shows up there again?"

"You better believe it. You're the only one of us with a car. If he does show I'll do my best to keep him there long enough so you can get over there and follow him. He has to be staying somewhere in the city."

"Undoubtedly, but we know it's not under the name Keefe. At least not at any of the hotels or motels."

Mike frowned. "You already found that out?"

"He checked while we were waiting for you to get here," Paddy told him, which was the truth. Vic has used his considerable computer skills to hack into the various hotel and motel registration files, and had found nothing.

"Okay. You guys are fast."

"That's what you're paying me the big bucks for," Vic replied with a straight face.

Mike paled a little. "I thought… Paddy said…"

"He's pulling your leg," Paddy told him. He chuckled at the look of relief on Mike's face and then, after Mike thanked Vic, they left.

It's release day for the 'Murderous Twins'!

Murderous Twins

https://www.jms-books.com/erotic-romance-c-29_94/murderous-twins-p-2476.html

 

GENRE: Gay Thriller Erotic Romance
LENGTH: 32,916 words

 

Blaine Ayers and Lloyd Thomas are identical twins -- separated at birth, reunited by accident, and serial killers by choice. Two men, posing as one.

Steve Cooke is a private investigator married to Gary Drake-Cooke, an interior decorator.

The four men's paths cross when Blaine and Lloyd move into a house across the street from Steve and Gary. What happens next has the potential to change their lives forever -- for better or for worse.

Warning: This story contains scenes of graphic violence.
 

EXCERPT:

"That woman," Blaine said, pointing to a middle-aged female, anger in his words. They were in downtown Chicago, heading back to the apartment.

"What about her?" Lloyd said. The woman in question looked like half the ones on the street. Well dressed in business attire, chatting with another woman as they walked.

"She's just like the ones Dad used to bring home. Snotty females whose only objective was to add to their ... their bucket list, by finding themselves a husband."

Lloyd glanced at him, seeing rage in his expression, which passed almost as soon as it had come. Murderous rage, if he didn't miss his guess. It gave him pause, not because it bothered him, but because he felt the same thing when he saw a man who resembled the photos Blaine had shown him of their father. A man he would gladly have killed, as a proxy for the now dead bastard who had dropped him off at the Safe Haven fire department as if he were a piece of trash.

He didn't say anything at the moment, but when they were home, and had eaten dinner, he broached the subject.

"You hate women like the one you pointed out this afternoon, don't you?" Lloyd said.

"You better believe I do," Blaine snarled in reply. "The predators looking for someone to keep them in the style they want. Someone to prove they can catch a husband, even at their age. The ones Dad would hook-up with, for a month or a year, who treated me like I didn't exist while taking all of his attention for themselves."

"You know," Lloyd replied softly, "you should do something about them."

"I wish I could."

"Why can't you?" Lloyd looked slyly at his twin. "How hard would it be to eliminate them? You know you want to. The same way I'd love to kill our father, except that isn't possible anymore."

"What are you suggesting?" Blaine replied. "That I attack a strange woman in some ... some dark alley that they'd never go into in the first place?"

"Would it make you feel better if you could?"

"I ..." Blaine frowned for a long moment then nodded slowly. "Bitches like them deserve whatever I could do to them. Slice their sagging bodies. Destroy their Botoxed faces. Turn them into what they really are. Worthless pieces of shit." With each word, Blaine's expression grew more ecstatic. "I can almost feel the rush I'd get when I've finished and look down at what I've done. Created dead meat only fit for dog food."

Lloyd tapped his fingers together, his smile turning wicked. "Do it."

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"As serious as a heart attack."

Leaning back, Blaine gazed at him. "Only if you find a man, or men, who remind you of our bastard father and take them out."

"They might only look like him. They might not be like him."

"Does it matter? It's not them you'd be killing. Well, it would be them, but it would be Dad, too, each time you did. Just like I'd be killing his bitches."

Lloyd took a deep breath. "Can we do this?"

"We can damned well try. If we fail, we haven't lost anything."

"We need to plan every step, especially our alibis."

"Lloyd, we are our alibis. While I'm busy doing it, you're off somewhere very public, being me, and vice versa. 'But, detective, it couldn't have been me the witness thinks they saw. I was at the club with a dozen other people. They'll all swear to it.'"

"They'll all swear you have a twin brother, you mean."

Blaine puffed out a breath. "Good point. So we do it somewhere other than here in the city, to see if we have the guts to go through with it. We, well one of us, can rent a motel room. Whichever one of us it is, we find our target and get rid of them, while the other one is very visible somewhere else." He looked dead at his twin. "Are you game?"

"It was my idea to begin with."

They'd done as Blaine suggested. Blaine admitted, later, that he'd almost frozen when it came down to torturing and killing the woman -- until he pictured her as one of their father's live-in girlfriends. "That's all it took. The feeling? Damn, Lloyd. Why haven't I done this long before now? It was better than the best sex."

Lloyd had found out what his twin meant when they went to another town so he could practice, as he thought of it at the time.

Then Blaine had gotten the job offer from an insurance firm in Denver. After a great deal of thought, and planning how they would set up there, he'd accepted it.