He was a tall man, with light brown hair, golden brown eyes and tanned full lips. He wasn’t overly muscle bound, though he did have prominent definition. His arms bulged somewhat as he continued to work the belt around his pants.
“You didn’t, Joshua. But I’d really like to know the other boy’s name,” he confessed.
“I don’t know it,” Joshua admitted.
Kelly could see by the boy’s demeanor that Josh was a little jealous of his alter. He chuckled a bit, “no need to envy him, Josh. You’re as exciting as he is.”
“Yeah, right.” Josh stood and went to the table, sat and started eating again. “That’s why everyone wants him, not me,” he grumbled.
“Hey, you shouldn’t complain about something you don’t really understand to begin with, ok?” Kelly marched to the table and sat and watched Josh eat.
But Josh remained silent the remainder of the time that Kelly visited with him. He soon left a little hurt because Josh was acting so childishly—at least that’s how he saw it. To be honest, he was highly disappointed after deciding to stay with the boy that night. He didn’t mind sharing his disappointment with Stan, either.
No sooner than Kelly had left the room, Stan barreled down the stairs. Without a word, he came straight for Josh, anger contorting his face.
Joshua’s lips parted slightly as he watched the man amble heavily towards him. He couldn’t think of a single thing he’d done to upset Stan. When the man reached a powerful hand for Joshua’s hair, the boy ducked and tried to evade him.
“C’me ‘ere, you little shit!” he finally got hold of Josh’s hair and dragged him to the center of the room. With rope that he pulled from his pocket, he bound the boy’s hand and tied it to what hung from the ceiling.
“I’ll teach you to act like a bitch!” he grumbled as he removed his thick leather belt and began beating Josh fiercely. “And don’t you dare switch, whore!” he called out to the boy.
Josh cried out with each strike that stung so much. He fought the urge to regress and hide inside himself, knowing he would receive a worse punishment if he did. He hated Stan, who often represented cruelty and much of what he was recalling periodically from his past. How he wished the man would die or just go away and never return.
But try as he did, he couldn’t stop the switch. Stan saw it when it happened, having learned the differences between Josh and the alter.
“You fucking whore!” he bellowed viciously at the boy.
“C’me on, bitch!” Josh growled back. “That all you got?”
*****Out for a late night snack, a tall mysterious man strolled down the main boulevard in town. He was dressed to kill—a humorous metaphor—as far as he was concerned. Dressed entirely of black, his ritzy suit fit him like a glove. Added was the long black cape and stylish walking stick, just for a tease.
He smiled, flashing perfect teeth at passers-by and gave a genteel nod to the lovely ladies along with a, “Madam”, or “Ladies”. But, they were all safe from his primal hunger, for that night, he searched for a lovely young man.
His eyes drifted closed and he stifled a moan in his throat as he thought of soft human skin nestled against his body. Warm. Naked. Hard muscled. Pulsing with all that he desired.
He heard a scream and canted his head to listen closer, honing in on the commotion that surrounded the vile, yet exciting, riveting emotion of fear.
“Stop it, Stan! You’re hurting him!” Casey lunged at he man and shoved as hard as he could.
“You fuck!” Stan glared at his long time lover. “You’ve sold out to him, haven’t you!”
“I love him, yes, Stan. Now leave him alone!” Casey confessed to the man that he had only catered to for so many years, just to have someone to warm his bed and sometimes treat him the way he wanted in sex.
“No!” Stan shook his head slowly, his voice revealing disbelief. “You and me need to talk, bitch!” he grasped Casey’s arm and dragged him towards the steps.
“No! Casey! Please don’t leave me!” Joshua cried to the man, sensing that something terrible was about to happen.
“It’s ok, baby,” Casey blew him a kiss, then disappeared up the stairwell.
Joshua hung there, by the wrists from the ceiling, and listened to them argue above him. The voices rose vehemently to the point he could almost make out what was said. He caught a word here and there and knew they argued over him. Stan was enraged that Casey loved Joshua rather than him.
Casey finally admitted the truth to Stan.
Then…it happened.
“No, Stan!” Casey screamed.
A shot rang through the entire house and the thud of a fallen body that stopped Joshua’s heart. His lips parted as he tried to listen for new sounds and wondered what would happen next. Would Stan come down those stairs again and shoot him too? He was vulnerable…unable to defend himself…there was nowhere to run…nowhere to hide.
He heard shuffling, scuffing across the floor. Realization set in. Casey wouldn’t be back. His lover was gone.
Pain slammed him. His chest became tight and he found it difficult to breathe. The tears came that dripped from his jawline to his chest and rolled down his body. He wanted to die. There was no use in continuing if his love was already gone.
“Hmm…” the tall mysterious man shook his head slowly. “And such a tender age you are, my dear boy,” he muttered to himself.
The boy was so open; he read everything that had happened to Joshua in the past two and a half years. He also found much of what the young man had been recalling of his past lately.
Another shake of the head and the man tsked the situation coolly. Still the young man brought intrigue and many questions he wanted answered. Having lived centuries, he was given to most anything that intrigued him. The boredom of living so long without something to keep his involvement was often devastatingly painful. To find one, such as Josh, made for an excitement he had thought he had long forgotten.
He made his way out of town and followed the scent of freshly spilled blood to the house many miles from anyone or anything that could catch a sound.
But of course, he had heard it.
He stepped up the broad creaking steps onto the long porch of the old log cabin. With a light rap on the door, he waited to be invited in. Oh, but he didn’t really need an invitation. Evil had taken place in this home, which had dissolved the power of the threshold. With that remembrance, he grasped the knob of the door and turned it slowly. It clicked. The door gave way and opened to him.
With great anticipation, he stepped across the threshold into the living area. A large puddle of blood remained on the floor not far away. Yet, the body was missing. Now, where had that hellion gone with the boy’s lover, he thought to himself. Ah, but there was a trail to follow, which he did.
He slowly walked through the dining room and then the kitchen, following the trail of blood that led out the back door, onto the porch and down through the woods.
“Oh, my,” he muttered to himself. “Stan, you’re a messy one. The cops will have a field day with this. Crime of passion. Hiding the body. But, you’ve left all sorts of signs and such. They’ll hang you from the highest tree. That is if I hadn’t happened along.” He gave a short chuckle as he parked a shoulder against the old wooden barn and gazed upon Stan as the man shoved his lover down into an abandoned well.